Stairway to Equestria

by AlexUk

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Princess Luna, Original Character, Spike, Tragedy, Adventure, Princess Celestia, Human, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 347675

After a bad decision he goes through Death's grip and ends up in Equestria.

There is a world where Life and Death govern all imaginable realms. A world where Watchers guard over their planets and the creatures that roam them. In this world, a young soul goes on a journey to a place he never thought existed, after cutting an untold deal with Death.

Equestria, a place of magical creatures and mysteries, offers him a new chance at life. A chance he will have to pay dearly for. This is the written story of his adventures, some of the sorrows and victories of his life as he goes through great challenges and fights his inner darkness.

At the end of this journey, one begs the question: What is better? To be born good, or to overcome your evil side through great effort and sacrifice?

Tagged with Human for the prologue.

Follows show's cannon up until end of Season 2.

Now a published book!
And it's own TvTopes page!

Spanish translation: Here

First chapter published January 2012
Marked as Complete on 31st August 2014
Published (printed) on 25th November 2014

PM me for the full digital version of the now-printed book! (includes text PDF, full cover and fan art)

Published 2012-01-03 19:58:20 UTC
Last updated 2015-06-27 22:04:53 UTC

Part I, Chapter 1: Rebirth

Part I

Chapter 1

Rebirth

I woke up, slowly regaining my senses. My eyes were still shut but at least I could hear the wind. It felt weird; I couldn't move my body at all. I opened my eyes and immediately felt my head pulsing with pain. My vision was blurred but I could tell that it was still night outside. The wave of pain from my head was spreading to my whole body and I lost touch with reality as I passed out again.

After what felt like mere seconds, I regained consciousness. I noticed that a previous source of light had moved across the sky. It had to be the moon, which meant that I’d been out for hours.

Why does it hurt so much?

It felt like my whole body had been disassembled and put back together. I tried to move but I could only feel my muscles tense slightly, causing even more pain.

“Good, I'm not paralyzed, at least not totally,” I thought, regaining some hope.

The only thing I could remember was heading back to my hotel, then getting attacked in a dark alley. Shivers went down my spine as I recalled the pain and damage that I took in the fight. After that, I was talking to a strange, dark figure, fragments of the conversation coming back to me every now and then.

No, had to be a dream; I am still here, alive. They must have thrown me in a park somewhere.

I could tell that my body was shivering as the cold wind passed over it. “God, did they take my clothes? Why do I feel so cold?” I tried to move my head over the damp grass beneath me but I felt my neck muscles swollen and hot with pain. “Damn, I'm pretty fucked up”. Even my breathing was heavy as I struggled to keep up every time I tried to move. I mostly kept my eyes closed and trying to open them felt like a challenge itself.

The only idea that crossed my mind at that point was to get someone's attention. I slowly opened my mouth and tried to call for help. A muffled sound that I could barely hear myself came out.

“Shit, I will freeze to death here. No, can’t give up now - just need to keep trying . . .”

And so I kept calling and moaning, getting louder and louder with each attempt. I had to take small breaks every time I tried to shout, and felt completely spent after a while. The last attempts were just loud groans, slightly resembling the word ‘help’. My heart started jumping in my chest when I noticed a small light in the distance. With my last bit of strength I let out a final groan, then passed out from exhaustion.

Something - or someone - started touching me, voices bouncing in my head. I had finally been found. My only thought was that I was going to be safe and warm soon enough, my friends probably searching for me by then. I felt myself being picked up and carried away, and my awareness was lost again.

Warmth. My body was lying in what seemed to be a harsh bed, covered by a fairly rough sheet. Hospital was the first place that came in my mind.

I opened my eyes but immediately closed them in terror. The image was still being processed by my brain as a number of factors made my heart skip several beats. I was not in a hospital, but rather in a wooden shack of some sort. The light source was composed of several lamps and the bed I thought I was lying on was actually the floor covered by a thick coat of hay.

“This can’t be. Where the hell am I?”

I heard some distant voices and then strange footsteps coming towards me. They suddenly stopped and a few moments later I reopened my eyes, curiosity taking over. In front of me, looking directly into my eyes was a strange . . . creature. It looked like a small young horse but the body proportions were all wrong. The animal's facial expressions betrayed actual worry at first, but after a few seconds it smiled at me. It then quickly turned around and galloped out of the barn into a small room, its door closing behind it.

My mind was putting all the pieces together but I still couldn't believe it. My heart was pumping mad with excitement and fear at the same time. With blood rushing through my veins and with the help of an adrenaline surge, I tried moving my head again, tilting it down. This time it worked and I could see to my left side. I noticed I was covered in what seemed to be a rag, but soon my eyes fell on something even stranger that was poking out of it. It looked like a hoof.

My mind exploded with all the implications, theories and ideas of what was happening to me. My brain went into overdrive and I felt my heart beating even faster from what could be described as a genuine panic attack. Soon I passed out again.

“What the hell is wrong with me?” was the first thought that came to my mind as soon as I regained consciousness. It had to be the fourth time it happened since I had woken up after the attack. I opened my eyes again and soon I found that the hoof was still there.

“Ok, time to find out the truth. Come on, Alex, wiggle . . . your . . . finger”.

I tensed what had to be my hand muscles, and the hoof twitched a bit. Repeating the exercise a couple of times made me realize the fact that the hoof was indeed my hand.

"Of all the things...why me?"

A sudden realization hit me: I was no longer in London. That dream . . . had I really died? Did Death actually read my mind when it asked me where my heart belonged? The answer that came to me then was not my real home. It was, naively, Equestria, a land I longed to live in, both in my night and day dreams. Was I really sent here? The wave of questions kept crashing against my worn-out mind as I tried to make sense of it all.

It had to be dream, it just had to. I didn't want to continue misleading myself and enable my mind in that surreal figure of my imagination. But somehow, that was exactly what I was doing.

With another effort I managed to move my head back in an attempt to take a glimpse around the shed, but a hard object stopped it in its track. A strange jolt passed through my body from that contact. The only thing I could see was a support beam several inches away, but then my eyes noticed something else: a horn. My horn.

I’m a unicorn.

A strange feeling of happiness filled me as I had always admired unicorn ponies and magic. Realizing I was one made this all feel like a dream come true. But a dream nonetheless; I still couldn't let myself ignore that fact, as it was the only thing that probably separated me from plunging into insanity.

Sounds of movement and more voices could be heard. Out of the door the little pony had gone through came two other, grown ponies. They seemed to be of the earth type, having no wings or horns. Their manes were brown and it all seemed so strange compared to the animated counterpart. It looked so realistic, so fitting, so . . . normal.

“Kazooie, are you sure this was a good idea?” the mare asked in clear English.

“Yes dear, I didn’t want to risk harming him by taking him all the way into town. He seems like he’s been through a lot.”

The stallion came closer and through some sort of reflex, my eyes fell on his flank and I noticed that his cutie mark was made out of three wheat stalks. "Why am I feeding this delusion?"

“Go outside dear, and wait for Bonnie and Twilight,” the stallion said to his wife.

My heart skipped another beat when I heard that name and my eyes slowly widened at the stallion in front of me.

“It’s okay, we mean no harm. I found ya out near my field after I heard some strange noises in the night.” His calm voice made me relax a little bit, and he continued.

”I came outside and started searching for what made those noises. I found you on the ground passed out, so I brought you here on my back.”

He reached out to a bucket near me and grabbed a soaked cloth. Gently, he placed it on my forehead, around my horn. I shivered from the cold water the cloth was soaked in.

“It’s alright. We need to lower your fever,“ he said softly.

I then realized that my back was soggy with cold sweat, but somehow I still couldn’t feel the heat. It must have been a big fever.

“I’ve sent Bonnie to get help. You need special care, and Miss Twilight’s house is close to our farm. She is a truly gifted unicorn, you probably heard of her.”

“Probably heard of her?” My mind protested, but I immediately calmed down. “Why is my mind doing this to me? Of course I’ve heard of her . . . and soon I will see her too, even if just as a figment of my imagination,” I thought.

“Thank . . . you,” I whispered faintly to the earth stallion.

“Save your strength, young one,” he told me.

Those last two words suddenly reminded me of how that being addressed me in my dream. Somehow I felt that what I was going through wasn't a dream after all. It all seemed so real, and the pain was definitely a testimony to it. So I decided to go along with it and see how far my imagination could take me . . .

Suddenly the barn door opened. Through it came the farmer's wife and the small filly that had smiled at me. Following them was Twilight. She was actually there, the real Twilight Sparkle! She seemed tired but at the same time curious about the reason she was called to the farm in the middle of the night.

As she approached Kazooie and me, I stared at her, trying to take in all her features. She was exactly like in the show, but this was all real and more detailed, as I noticed several strands of hair standing out out of her two-tone mane. The young mare must have woken her up and I started to fear that she would hate me for that.

“Miss Twilight, I am so happy to see that you came to help. I didn’t know who to turn to,” the earth pony said to her.

“It’s ok,” she responded quickly. “It’s good that you called me now, he is probably very ill from what I’ve heard.”

Twilight then approached me slowly, her eyes darting from me to Kazooie.

“So you just found him in the middle of a grass field?”

“Yes, I was awake at the time and heard some strange noises. I soon found him lying on the ground, passed out in a hot fever. He can barely talk and I don’t think he should anyway. I haven't seen him before in Ponyville though. ”

“Me neither,” Twilight said thoughtfully, still studying me.

Her horn glowed a soft and beautiful purple as she took the sheets off of me. She then carefully inspected me but when her sight reached what was supposed to be my flank, her head tilted a little in surprise.

“Strange cutie mark . . .” For a few moments she looked back into my eyes, trying to figure out what to do. “But that’s not the point. He seems unharmed on the exterior but his fever concerns me. Only very sick ponies get this hot.”

Great, I’m going to die again.

I started wondering what would happen in that case. I really didn't feel like having a chat with Death again, dream or not.

“I need to examine him in detail to find out what’s wrong. Is it okay if I take him back to my house? I have a spare room with a bed I can put him in for the night.”

“By all means, Miss Twilight,” the earth pony responded. “If you need anything let us know. I don’t want to lose this fella; he seems like a nice stallion.”

Kazooie then leaned down towards me with the intention of putting me on his back.

“No need for that, I can carry him,” she nervously said.

“Are you sure, miss?”

“Yes, it’s better if I do it my way, so he won’t move a lot.”

I looked at the earth pony with great appreciation in my eyes. Without him I probably wouldn’t have made it through the night. He smiled at me, beaming with genuine kindness and goodwill.

“You’ll be fine; you have an Element of Harmony taking care of you. Do come and visit us once you get well,” he said, giving me a wink.

I noticed Twilight was blushing from the compliment, but soon her horn started glowing again and then I had the weirdest feeling in my life. My body was engulfed in a dim purple glow and I felt like hundreds of hands were gently lifting me from the ground. She reassured the earth pony and his family that I would be okay and slowly walked towards the barn’s door.

I was trailing behind her, in the same position in which I lain on the ground. My body was hovering two feet above the ground, surrounded in her magic. It was an amazing feeling yet I felt weak and helpless, at the mercy of a mare. Her presence was calming me though and I took a deep breath, relaxing for the first time that night.

As we approached Ponyville, I started to recognize some houses. I didn’t know exactly who they belonged to but I definitely remembered the architecture. These were the real deal and the details were astonishing. Most of them were made out of wood, and some had amazing carvings on them. The rooftops were either twisted or tilted in strange ways, but overall the houses still seemed sturdy and secure. Each home was uniquely decorated and painted and the windows were of different shapes and sizes, no house resembling the other. This was indeed Ponyville, so different from what I'd imagined it to be, but so familiar at the same time.

It was probably still midnight so no other ponies were out on the streets. The wind was still blowing slowly but Twilight's magic protected me from the cold.

“We're almost there. My house is right around the corner,” her calm voice filled my ears.

I could see the tree-house getting closer and closer. I still couldn’t believe what I’d been through in the past hours, as I was about to enter the house of none other than Twilight Sparkle. Needless to say my heart rate was everywhere. We reached the wooden door with a round arch and the knob slowly turned, surrounded by magic.

“Here we are! This is Ponyville’s library; I live here with my dragon assistant, Spike,” she said, walking inside and levitating me behind her. “But don’t worry, I've had him since he was hatched and he wouldn’t harm anypony that means well. He is probably still sleeping in his room, but when you get better I will bring him up so you can meet him.”

“As much as I appreciate your good manners and all, I still feel like I'm half dead inside,” I thought, slightly irritated. She went up the stairs, keeping me perfectly afloat behind her.

“I will put you in a spare room; it has a soft and cozy bed, and I can take better care of you since my room is right next to yours.”

“Now you’re speaking my language,” I thought, smiling at the idea of a warm bed. “Wait, what?! Take better care of me? Oh my god this is so weird. Haven’t you heard of hospitals? I need to visit one!”

I remembered that Ponyville had doctors, nurses and even a hospital. Why didn’t she take me there?

We reached the top of the stairways and I recognized her room’s door. Next to it was another, smaller door. Twilight opened it with her magic and flew me across. The room was small but had a medium-sized bed, a small table and, unsurprisingly, a bookshelf.

She realized the sheets were dusty and with a soft glow of her horn, the window opened and the bed sheets flew outside, stopping a few feet away from the house. She shook the dust off and brought them back, all in record time. Her magic sure was stronger in . . . reality, that word suddenly taking on a whole different meaning.

The purple unicorn then levitated me above the bed and placed me onto its soft surface. She then approached my bed and I noticed a book hovering near her head.

“I do hope that’s not a bedtime story book,” I thought, not being sure about what she had in mind.

Her horn suddenly started glowing again and I felt a touch on my forehead. That made me jolt a little as my horn reacted to her magic, passing a strange sensation into my head.

“It’s alright; I'm just taking your temperature,” she said, as the book opened in front of her to a specific page. “Don’t worry, I have knowledge in advanced medical treatment. Just . . . not a lot of practice. But I know what I’m doing,” she said quickly with a cute fake smile on her face.

That unicorn was my only chance, and knowing how much she liked books assured me in a strange way.

“You are still burning for some reason. I'll perform a diagnosis spell on you,” she said nervously. ”You won’t feel a thing and I need to do this to find out what’s wrong so I can nurse you back to health.”

“Okay . . .” I slowly muttered.

Twilight then took a last look in what seemed to be a medical book and then she put it on the table. Her horn started glowing again, and to my surprise she leaned towards me, touching it against my shoulder. A new sensation engulfed me and I felt a mild warmth spreading down across my body. As it went through my chest and back I felt it going inside me, piercing my skin. It was indeed painless but it sure felt weird. I closed my eyes and pressed my head further into the soft pillow, as Twilight’s magic was slowly searching inside my body.

“Can you say that she’s . . . feeling me up?” I chuckled inside a bit but quickly threw that thought away.

Her magic had passed the chest area and eventually reached my stomach.

“Is she scanning . . . my whole body?” I wondered, starting to blush uncontrollably.

She soon reached my thigh area as I felt her magic passing though my body like an MRI scanner. Twilight then hesitated for a moment, and as I looked at her I noticed she was blushing as well, her eyes shut in concentration. Luckily my privacy was preserved as the wave of magic quickly made its way down my hind legs, leaving the area under my belly alone.

“Ohh, I’ll laugh my ass off from inside my grave if it turned out I had a bad urinary tract infection or something, and she didn’t pick it up just so I could have my dignity intact.” Even in those circumstances I somehow managed to take everything with a joke alongside of it.

After reaching my hooves, the magic wave returned to my flank. She seemed to be quite ‘interested’ in my cutie mark and I soon felt energy piercing the skin around it, engulfing the whole top area. Was she trying to scan my cutie mark? What was my cutie mark anyway?

Suddenly, as Twilight’s magic went through it, I felt the air in my lungs freezing, a very cold and familiar chill taking over my whole body. In the same time, a deafening scream pierced my mind. I shot open my eyes, feeling as if I was waking up from a nightmare, my heart beating furiously in my chest. Twilight had stepped back from the bed and I could see fear on her face, while her sight darted from my flank to my eyes. She must have heard the same scream as I did.

“I . . . don’t know what happened,” she said, a sense of panic in her voice. “It’s like - I don’t . . . I have never done this on a cutie mark before. I probably shouldn’t have done it in the first place. I’m so sorry,” her voice steadily became calm again, but still a bit nervous. “Fortunately, I couldn’t find anything wrong with you . . . at this moment. Your body’s immune system is just reacting to something bad you had. It seems to be just a late fever. Wait right here.”

She turned away and left the room, leaving the door opened.

“Well that was weird.”

I needed to see my cutie mark; maybe it was something from my world only I could understand. As soon as I tried to raise my head, pain struck me again in the neck muscles so I just collapsed it back into the pillow.

“This is worse than I thought. It’s like I never used my body befor- oww . . .”

Where did my new body come from anyway? Was this whole experience like a physical rebirth? I needed to get in shape but for now, I felt tired like I never had before in my whole life.

Twilight soon returned with a small bottle in her mouth and a hovering glass of water behind her.

“Here, you need to take these; they will calm your fever and make you sleep well.”

I slowly nodded and the purple unicorn unscrewed the medicine bottle cap and took two small pills out with her magic. She hovered them to my mouth and I opened it slightly, as much as I could. They slowly went in, a stream of water from the nearby glass following them. Having water magically being poured into my mouth was probably the third weirdest thing that had happened to me that day, after the hovering trip and the magic MRI scan. My jaw felt warm with her magic as it slowly closed.

“This is so humiliating. I feel like an incapable patient.” I had to admit though that I didn’t mind the overwhelming attention coming from the purple mare.

My nostrils picked up a strange smell, something resembling sunflower. Was it her scent? It felt so warm and my whole body was melting from that strange little pleasure.

“It could be her freaky magic drugs…” the last thought passed through my mind as I fell into the deepest sleep I had in years.

End of chapter 1

Author's Note

Cosmic Afro's funny and inaccurate reading of this chapter here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z649IljEEWU

Chapter 2: Foal Steps

Chapter 2

Foal Steps

Darkness . . .

“Still trapped, still mine, young one!”

“Leave him alone!” a loud voice suddenly echoed, blinding white light filling the pit of blackness that was surrounding me.

I woke up and slowly opened my eyes. I quickly closed them shut, as light passing through the window had almost blinded me. A nightmare . . .

A banging noise came from outside the room.

Those Germans have no soul at all . . . and why does my head hurt so much?

My heart started pumping like mad as memories of the previous night came back to me, in order.

Please be a hotel room, please . . . no . . . please be a tree house. Damn it, make up your mind!

I opened my eyes in anger and realized I was still in that small room in Ponyville’s library. Two huge waves of emotions crashed against each other, deep inside my heart: one of sadness and concern for my old world and one of happiness and excitement of actually being in Equestria.

“So thirsty. That must be good,” I whispered between my dry lips. It felt so weird talking with my new, slightly bigger mouth.

“It’s a muzzle. I’m an . . . animal. Funny, this,” I said a bit louder, testing out my changed voice. It was certainly deeper than the one I had before.

I suddenly remembered I still hadn't seen what I looked like, or my cutie mark for that matter. I tilted my head down but could only see a strand from my dark mane, the rest of my body covered with soft pink sheets.

“Ohh no. Not pink. She knows I’m a boy hors. . . stallion,” I thought, with a bit more manliness coming from that last word. I quickly decided that was the least of my concerns and proceeded to pull the sheets off me so I could actually see myself.

More pain flooded my body as I struggled to move the sheets with my forelegs. I ignored it and continued moving and twitching, from an outside viewer probably looking like a fool. Finally, my front left hoof went over the sheets and with a last effort, pulled them down, uncovering both forelegs and my chest.

“Wow,” I let out, my eyes not believing what they were seeing.

The light filtering through the window cast its rays over my blue fur coat, revealing the splendid colour and details. I brought one hoof closer to my head and studied it with pure amazement, my mouth hanging open during the whole time. Out of the bright sunlight, the color was actually a deep blue.

“Midnight blue,” I thought, vaguely remembering the color’s name, “I like that.”

I was still amazed by the vivid details and shocking reality of my new body when I suddenly remembered the cutie mark Twilight was so curious about.

*** *** ***

Downstairs, the purple unicorn was seeing off an orange mare that came to borrow some books about gardening. She felt a strange excitement combined with concern that morning, having a sick stallion sleeping over. Taking care of somepony else was not a new thing for her, as she had always cared for her dragon, Spike, taking great care of him when he was sick. She felt that he was like a second brother to her, a huge part of her life, since the moment she hatched him.

Twilight went into the kitchen, where Spike was cooking something for the day.

“Smells nice, Spike, what is it?” she asked, smiling at him.

“That would have to be a surprise, Twi,” he responded, grinning back. “You will love it; I’ve been planning on making it since last week!”

Twilight shook her head in amusement. Spike had been getting good at cooking lately. She was always spending the nights reading and studying while during the days she either hung out with her friends or conducted various experiments with magic. Thus, the young dragon started showing quite the interest in making food, starting off as a necessity and turning into a small passion he never admitted.

“Twilight . . .” Spike said slowly, after a pause.

“Yes?”

“Do you . . . have a coltfriend?” he asked, slightly hesitant.

“What?” she jolted, starting to blush. “Why do you say that?”

Her mind quickly went to the pony she had brought in last night.

“Well, I noticed there was someone in the room next to you . . . a stallion,” he said in a playful voice, a mocking smirk forming on his face. "Hope you guys used prote-"

“Eww Spike, no! It's not like that! Look, I’m sorry; I wanted to tell you sooner about that. I’ve been busy all day reading about ancient magic, trying to find out something about a weird symbol,” she said, trailing off.

“Anyway, that pony is . . . well, I don’t know his name yet, but last night, Kazooie’s filly came to our house and said that her father had found a stallion passed out in the middle of his field. She said he was sick and asked for my help, so I had to go and see what was wrong. He could barely move and had a fever so I brought him in.”

“Aww, okay then,” Spike concluded, seeming a bit more relaxed now, despite his teasing facade. “So, can I meet him? Is he well now?”

“Well, I don’t know. I'll have to check on him first to see if he is awake. He seemed so worn out yesterday. I hope his fever calmed.”

In reality, Twilight was quite concerned about the strange pony she had taken into care. She woke up several times during the night to check on him. At first, he seemed to be in a deep, calm sleep, but as soon as the effects of the pills wore off, the colt started to have nightmares, moving and shifting in his sleep. She could only hope that once he woke up, the strange unicorn could tell her what actually happened to him.

Twilight opened the cabinet and levitated two slices of bread and some flowers out.

“I hope he likes daisy sandwiches,” she thought, while preparing one on a plate.

Twilight then poured some apple juice in a glass and levitated the simple breakfast out of the kitchen on a small tray, leaving Spike to his cooking.

*** *** ***

I was still resting, getting used to the sight of my new 'hands', moving and twisting them to see the joint limits. The pain was still intense and soon I had to stop because of it. It would be harder than I thought: I realised I had to do some physical recuperation to get the muscles up and running as they should.

A reminding thought passed through my mind right then.

I raised my head a bit, and with one hoof I pulled the sheets from over my lower body. It was certainly a sight, my brain trying to adjust to what my eyes saw. From what I could tell, I wasn’t bigger than the earth pony that saved me, but it was sure awkward seeing my new form, which looked quite alien. I then thought I would never see my old body ever again and that gave me chills.

As my eyes fell on my rather buff flank, a thought flew through my mind, replacing the previous sad feeling.

“ ’Dat ass . . .” I whispered, even making the lip biting gesture. I chuckled at my silly joke, my neck muscles responding with more pain.

Still, I couldn’t see my cutie mark from that position, so I slowly propped myself up with my forelegs on the pillow, raising my head.

“What the hell is this?”

The symbol that had to be my cutie mark was something I’d never seen before. It was a strange, black drawing of some sort, slightly resembling a Chinese mark but having some round shapes as well. There was nothing I could think of that could even try to match its description. Certainly it had to be from this world, or maybe from . . . another place.

Chills ran down my spine as I remembered that cold void in which I talked with . . . Death. Those dark voices that had been whispering to me also all along returned to my mind but I tried to think about something else. It was just too much; deep inside, I was scared, scared of the unknown, of that light, that superior being. Still, I had to find out what that symbol meant. It was my special talent, after all.
Suddenly the room’s door opened and my whole mind was emptied of those thoughts. A tray levitated in at first, followed by Twilight. She looked a bit . . . different. Last night I couldn’t see her clearly in the barn’s dim lights, but now, with sunlight flooding the room and my eyes rested, I could finally study her traits better.

She looked pretty much the same as she did yesterday but there was something different I couldn’t put my hoof on. Her horn was probably a bit longer than I imagined and her mane was in better shape, probably because last night she was awoken in the middle of the night. Her body also seemed bigger; as my eyes continued to check her out, I noticed her cutie mark. It was the same one as in the show: a large red star surrounded by smaller white ones.

I looked back at her face and noticed she was slightly blushing.

“Stupid me, why did I look at her flank like that. She obviously saw me,” I thought. “Now to say something so I won’t look like a freak.”

“Hey there, how was your sleep?” Twilight asked, smiling.

Too late, dumb ass.

I cleared my voice, thinking about what to say.

“It was . . . good,” I muttered slowly, embarrassment flooding my mind from that stupid answer. “I feel much better now.”

“That’s great to hear!”

She levitated the small tray on the table near the bed, as she slowly approached my bed.

“I brought you some breakfast; you must be hungry,” she said, with that warm smile on her face. “But first, you're probably wondering who I am. I’m so sorry I didn’t have the opportunity to present myself.”

“Here she goes . . .” I thought, holding back a smile.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia and one of the Elements of Harmony. I live here in Ponyville, where I study and take care of the library,” she stated, with a little bit of pride in her voice. And then, silence. She was now looking at me, waiting.

Aww god, she wants me to present myself too now. I can’t tell her my name . . . I don’t think it could be a name here; and what to tell her about myself? ‘Hello, I am Alex, I’m from Eastern Europe but I live and study computer programming in the United Kingdom’. Smooth, dude . . . she will definitely get it. I need a new name, a pony one as well . . . but I'm so bad at coming up with things, especially names.

“I’m . . .” I slowly started, “Midnight.” The color of my fur coat was the first and only thing that came to mind. Twilight blinked a couple of times, surprised.

Aha! “Midnight Blink,” I continued, thinking I nailed it. That had to be a believable pony name and frankly, I liked how it turned out.

“Well, nice to meet you, Midnight Blink,” she said, smiling.

“Please, just call me Blink.”

That sounded so strange, and I would have face hoofed at the whole situation if she wasn’t there.

“Well, Blink, I thought you may be hungry so I made you a daisy sandwich. I hope you like it.”

Awkward . . . a sandwich with flowers. That was going to be interesting.

“Thank you, Twilight. Also thank you for bringing me here; I don’t know what would have happened to me if it wasn’t for you or for that nice earth pony.” My voice was breaking, I was still weak.

“Aww no, don’t mention it. Save your strength and eat, you are still recovering from what happened to you yesterday. We can talk about it later, alright?”

She was right, after thanking her I felt all my energy drain out. Even speaking was a huge effort. I was also so hungry . . .

“I‘m sorry I didn’t bring you more,” Twilight said while levitating the tray on the bed in front of me, “but when I examined you last night, you seemed to have not eaten in a long time. There was practically no food in your stomach, so you will have to start eating slow. I will see if I can prepare something warm for dinner.”

I knew very well why I had no food in my body, but I obviously couldn’t tell her that yet. The smell of the simple breakfast in front of me made my stomach rumble loudly and I quickly blushed, as Twilight let out a smile.

“Are you going to be OK eating that?” she asked me.

“Yeah, think I’ll manage,” I lied, leaning towards the sandwich.

I stopped, realizing I couldn’t grab it properly using just my mouth. I kept opening and closing my jaws as I tilted my head, trying to approach the sandwich from different angles. It wasn’t going to work unless I ate it like a pig.

I then heard a soft, short laughter and the sandwich was suddenly engulfed in magic. It rose above the plate, just high enough so I can take bites of it.

“Here you go, silly,” she said, still giggling.

“Thank you.”

My blush only grew deeper, as I started taking small bites from the floating sandwich in front of me. The whole situation was so embarrassing, as I hadn't been treated like this since I was . . . well, a small child. Twilight noticed my blush and turned away, pretending to search amongst the books from the small shelf. Suddenly her eyes caught a title that she was actually looking for and using her magic she pulled the book from the shelf, all while keeping the sandwich afloat. Turning around, I could barely make the title of that book: Secrets and Mysteries of Dark Magic. She opened it and skimmed a couple of pages as I finished eating the sandwich.

Drinking from the glass should have been an easier job so, before Twilight could notice what I wanted to do, I gently grabbed the glass with my front teeth and raised it so that the sweet apple juice could pour in my mouth. I was surprised that the strange technique actually worked and felt a little better not having Twilight helping me on that one as well. I thought about using my hooves but coordinating them amongst the muscle pain couldn't have possibly given any good results.

Twilight heard me and turned her head away from the book.

“That’s a weird way to drink,” she said, tittering again. “But it’s probably best that you don’t use your magic until you get better anyway.”

I had completely forgotten about that. I was indeed a unicorn and I had . . . magical powers, at least in theory.

“Anyway, could you tell me what happened to you?” she asked, breaking my chain of thoughts.

My heart shrunk and I started to panic a little because of the inevitable confrontation. I thought and rethought my possibilities but I could only see one way out of that situation, something that felt like it could come back at me in the future. But nevertheless, I choose to do it. I choose to lie.

“I . . . don’t remember, Twilight,” I slowly started, “I can’t seem to remember anything before that night, just my name.”

It felt so bad lying to the pony that saved my life, but there was no way she would believe me anyway had I told her the truth.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Blink. You must have been through something awful that night. So, is there nothing at all that you recall before it? Like where you lived, or any kind of names at all, friends, family?”

“I’m afraid not; just my name, the rest are just . . . fragments, can’t really put anything together now.”

“That’s so strange, when I checked you last night you had no signs of broken bones or contusions. Except for the strange condition of your muscles and tissue, everything seemed normal; you should be in perfect health now.”

“My muscles?” I asked, worried that she might have figured something out after all.

“Well, as I said, I don’t have a lot of practical experience with that spell but it all seems very familiar to what a friend of mine had. You see, she’s a pegasus, and one day she overworked herself too much, almost tearing a wing muscle. I checked her with the same spell I used on you and I noticed the injury. She had to stay grounded for five days, and she kinda hates when that happens. And it happens quite often in her particular case,” Twilight explained, remembering how Rainbow Dash whined every day about not being able to fly while in the hospital's recovery room.

“So, before letting her fly, I checked again and noticed the muscle tissue had healed, most of it being replaced with new fibers. That exact thing I noticed yesterday on your muscles. It’s very weird, like you just recovered from a serious accident of some sort. I'm afraid that only magic can do such damage, both physical and at a psychological level. We will have to find the unicorn that did this to you.”

“Damn, she’s smarter than I assumed as well,” I thought, my jaw slightly hanging open from the whole explanation Twilight just gave me.

“Anyway, I guess you can’t remember anything about your cutie mark or your special ability, can you?“ she continued her series of questions.

“No, I really can't. Just saw the cutie mark myself and nothing came to mind. Could you find out what it means for me, please?” I asked, that time truthfully.

“Well, it’s something I for one haven’t seen before either, but I would be glad to search through my books. I do believe it’s a magical mark of some sort which would mean that you are inclined to magic, like me.”

“Thanks, Twilight; I don’t know what I would have done without you,” I confessed, looking into her warming purple eyes.

The mare blushed and returned a smile.

“No worries, I couldn’t leave you like that. You will have to stay here until you get better and I won’t have it any other way.”

The kindness I felt, the one that she'd shown me gave off a strange, warm feeling. A feeling I hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Now, you need rest and-”

“I want to go out,” I interrupted her. “I need to move, get some fresh air.”

“Blink, you know you are still recovering; you can’t go outside in this condition even if I let you,” Twilight protested, somewhat surprised by my random burst.

Before she could do anything, I jumped out of the bed, under the false impression that the sandwich actually made me feel better. Unfortunately, my muscles started screaming with pain as soon as I felt my body’s weight on my hooves. My knees bent and I would have fallen face first onto the floor if it wasn’t for Twilight’s quick reaction. My body felt like it was suspended in air, hooves barely brushing the floor. That strange feeling of floating engulfed me completely, and the purple unicorn floated me back to bed, a frown on her face.

“I told you: you are still weak, so bed time for now, mister,” she said, authority in her voice.

“Wait! Can I at least try to walk? I couldn’t stay in bed ALL day,” I quickly responded.

I felt so weak and vulnerable and had to do something. I had never walked on four legs in my life so excitement evidently was getting the best of me.

“Okay, but just a few steps and then back to bed.”

Twilight then flew me back down. My hooves retouched the floor and I slowly tensed my legs' muscles, getting them ready to support my weight. The pain was not as intense that time around. I raised my front left hoof, and slowly dragged it forward. Instinctively, the back right leg skipped across the floor. I did the same with my right foreleg and before I knew it, I was slowly walking on all fours, soon having reached the end of the small room. It must have looked like a foal taking its first steps, but I was too proud and excited to walk as a pony to even care. The pain grew deeper and my knees started shaking again, and I was soon about to fall again. Magic engulfed me and I let myself fall in the purple cloud, feeling competently exhausted.

I saw Twilight flinch a bit as her horn started glowing harder to keep me afloat.

“Wow, you’re heavier than the ponies I usually lift around,” she said, smiling. “Actually, you’re the first stallion I’ve carried like this.”

She hovered me back to bed and dropped me gently, covering my body with those damn pink sheets.

“Now get some rest and I’ll be back when dinner is ready. And don’t you dare move from that bed,” she ordered, her eyes pinning me down.

“Okay, okay . . .”

The mare then headed towards the door, the small tray and the book she had found flying behind her.

“Twilight, thanks again,” I said to her.

She turned to me and stared into my brown eyes for a moment.

“It’s alright, stop mentioning it already,” she answered, smiling.

Twilight left the room, closing the door with her magic. She let out a small sigh. A strange, alien feeling had started picking at her inner core recently, making her somehow lose track of time and fell strange every time she was in that room. She pondered for a moment all the possibilities and was quick to dismiss a contagious disease of some kind. Twilight shrugged it off, hoping time could tell what that feeling actually was.

*** *** ***

Hours later, a knock at the door woke me up. I started mumbling something about not getting enough sleep with those Germans banging doors all day but I quickly remembered where I was.

The door opened and a strange shape walked in. I quickly shifted in bed, a bit panicked. He then turned on the lights, and after a few seconds of adjusting my eyes, I noticed who it was that came into the room.

Spike, the scaly purple and green dragon was looking at me strangely from across the room, hesitating to walk further in.

“Hey there, S. . . small dragon!” I said, quickly avoiding mentioning his name. “You must be Twilight’s personal assistant, right? She told me about you the night she found me.”

“Oh yeah, that would be me. The name’s Spike,” he said, slightly sticking his chest out in pride. “And you are?” He threw me a suspicious glare, waiting for my answer.

“Well, my name is Midnight Blink, but just call me Blink.”

Spike certainly looked different from what I remembered. He was much taller, had a slightly longer tail and was thinner around the waist. It seemed that he was no longer a baby dragon, but a very young teenager. The details were amazing though: the texture on his scales, his reptile eyes and the now pointy spines on his back and tail made him look so . . . real.

“I really need to find some time references,” I thought. “He sure seems a bit older than how I know him to be.”

“Well, I made dinner and Twilight wanted to bring you some, but I thought you could come downstairs and eat with us. She did tell me that you are too weak to move and yada yada yada, but she always overreacts to things like these. So, are you up for it?”

“That’s nice of you, thanks. Well uhm, yeah I guess I can come.”

I had to do this; I couldn’t let Twilight take care of me like I was a dying pony. I was quite a proud alpha-wannabe guy back on Earth and I didn’t think I should be any different there. As I stumbled down from the bed and began slowly walking towards the door, Spike started to show signs of worrying.

“Wow, dude, what happened to you? You look pretty worn out.”

“I have no idea, Spike. Apparently a unicorn attacked me and I can’t remember anything before that except for my name. That’s what Twilight thinks, at least.”

I continued to walk slowly, following him. When I reached the staircase, I leaned against the wall, catching my breath and resting my muscles for a bit. Spike turned to me with a slightly impatient look on his face. I resumed walking down the stairs, my legs shaking with every step; walking like that was a whole new experience, and the condition I was in only made things worse. I began stumbling but the dragon rushed to catch me.

“Come on, big guy, I’ll help you down,” he said, holding me in balance.

“Thanks dude, you sure are a strong dragon.”

The compliment worked, Spike grinning back at me.

“Yeah, I know, I’m pretty much the 'stallion' of the house here and the only dragon in Ponyville,” he continued, boastfully.

“Hmm, those territorial instincts characteristic to dragons sure seem to show up,” I thought, smiling.

Eventually, with Spike’s help, I reached the end of the staircase and walked into a spacious room, where a small dining table lay in the middle, dinner on it. The tree house sure was bigger than it looked from the outside. The walls were mainly made out of wood, with carved shelves inside them, filled with books. Books. There were a lot of them; everywhere I turned my head I could see books of all shapes, sizes and colors, scrolls and parchments.

“This is Twilight’s dream house, she must feel like she's in heaven here,” I thought, holding in a chuckle.

“Blink, what are you doing here?” a strong voice came from across the room. Twilight was standing in what seemed to be the kitchen’s door, having a frown on her face.

“I told you to stay in bed. You're more stubborn than a certain pegasus I know.”

“It’s OK, Twi, I helped him down, it’s not like he galloped to Canterlot and back,” Spike came to my defense.

“Well now that you are here, I guess you can have dinner with us,” Twilight said, her tone now slightly more relaxed.

We all gathered around the table; Twilight and Spike each took a seat and I quickly climbed onto mine, trying to avoid getting help for that basic task.

“Well, I hope you guys enjoy my newest creation!” Spike said with pride in his voice. “Vegetable soup with fresh croutons, seasoned daisies and a touch of rose petals.”

“Wow, Spike, you've sure outdone yourself this time,” Twilight congratulated him, studying the nice smelling dish.

Steam was coming out of three bowls, one placed in front of each of us.

“It sure looks delicious,” I added, however with mixed feelings in my heart.

The daisy sandwich was sure delicious and I didn’t feel the flower’s taste as being a bad one, but it was still a bit weird having rose petals in what was already an all-vegetable soup.

Twilight and Spike started eating, the unicorn using her magic to manipulate the spoon and Spike doing it the old-fashioned way. He just grabbed the bowl and gobbled up its whole contents in a matter of seconds. It goes without saying that his table manners gained him a very harsh look from Twilight, but my concern at that moment was how I was going to use the spoon. Magic was out of the question and Spike’s method was certainly not an option; that left me only one way: my hooves.

“Here goes nothing . . .” I whispered to myself.

I moved my right front hoof towards the bowl's side and to my surprise, grabbing the spoon between the first wrist was easy. And so I started eating, gently bringing the poorly-grasped spoon from the bowl to my mouth. Every now and then my clumsiness would make me drop the spoon back into the bowl but before I finished the meal I was beginning to get the hang of it. The food tasted delicious, whether because I was extremely hungry or the rose petals and seasoned daisies were actually good. Strangely, it felt like that last one was true.

“Thank you for the meal, Spike, that was quite- delicious. You sure are a great cook!” I said to him from behind a completely empty bowl.

“Don’t mention it. It's nice having someone else around here. We always dine alone,” he stated, throwing a somewhat harsh look at Twilight. “Anyway, I think I’m off to bed. Good night, Twilight! Aww, good night to you too, Blink!”

Spike got up from the table and headed into what was supposed to be his room, closing the door after him.

“That dragon seems like he could be a han-uhh hoofful sometimes,” I said, looking at the purple unicorn that was sitting across the table. “But I guess he means well.”

“He sure does, I’ve been along his side since I hatched him and I feel more and more like a . . . sister to him; sometimes even a mother. We've had our rough patches, but everything turned out alright in the end. I practically consider him my little brother and I don’t know what I would do without him as my assistant.”

She smiled at me, and I smiled back. I knew how much she cared about Spike, but actually seeing the two of them interact in real life made it all so much deeper, bringing a warm feeling to my heart.

"What is it with these damn warm feelings recently? Definitely need to punch something soon," I chuckled at my own silly thoughts.

“Well, I guess it’s bedtime, you need plenty of rest for the next day. Tomorrow you’re going to start exercising and I’ll do another evaluation to see if there is anything else wrong with you,” Twilight broke my chain of thought, using a serious tone.

“Okay, Twilight, thanks again for helping me.”

We got up from the table, and I watched her silently as she floated the cutlery back into the kitchen without even breaking a sweat. We then walked up the stairs, to our rooms. I was still a little shaky, but she was by my side, supporting every time my knees threatened to give in.

“Well, guess that’s good night, I think I will be alright from here. See you in the morning! Good night!”

“Good night, Blink!” she replied, softly.

As I was entering my room, I couldn't miss the fact that she gave me a concerned look, her eyes fixated my cutie mark. She probably still didn't know what it meant and that must have bothered her a lot.

As I gave her a last look, I made it known that she was actually staring at my flank, a grin forming on my face. That made her realize that I might have got the wrong impression. She hastily turned around and headed to her room, a deep blush on her face.

I stifled a laugh at my own shenanigans and entered the room. I went to the bed and lifted myself onto it. With a full stomach and surprisingly comfortable bed, sleep was soon to find me. It had been a full and interesting day and I had a feeling that the next one was going to be even bigger.

*** *** ***

Out into the night, near the quiet fields around Kazooie’s farm, a dark figure descended from the skies, landing right near the place the farm pony had found the mysterious stallion.

Luna looked in all directions and slowly approached the place where he appeared for the first time into that world.

Her horn started glowing and immediately picked up strange magic residue in that area. She then raised her head towards Ponyville, great concern filling her eyes.

With a powerful beat of her wings, the alicorn launched to the skies, quickly heading back to Canterlot. Celestia had to be informed about this.

End of chapter 2

Chapter 4: Two Glows

Chapter 4

Two Glows

“Blink! Blink! Wake up! ”

Too loud . . . why is there so much noise?

“Blink, please wake up . . .”

My head was bursting in pain as I regained my senses. I slowly opened my eyes and noticed a purple blur in front of me. My vision adjusted and the blur became clear. Twilight was standing near my bed, with a very concerned look on her face.

“Hey there, sleepyhead!” Twilight said, smiling. She was still worried, though. “What happened? Are you okay? I am so sorry; Spike should have been watching you. I will take care of that dragon later-”

“No . . . please . . . it’s not his fault; it’s mine . . .”

The room was spinning and I started feeling dizzy. I closed my eyes, trying to focus on where the pain was coming from.

“Blink, what happened? I found you passed out on the floor. You fell and hit your head pretty bad, too.”

As she mentioned that, I finally pinpointed the pain. I raised my hoof to the side of my head and felt a small lump. Apparently I really did hit the floor pretty hard.

“It’s okay, nothing bad happened.”

I still couldn’t tell her the truth. What if she would send a letter to Princess Celestia? Luna would definitely have a reason to kick me out of Equestria or banish me and I didn’t want that just yet.

“I just . . . I think my magic manifested. I don’t remember doing magic before.”

Twilight’s eyebrow raised at that, but then her face lightened up.

“You silly colt, you’re still too weak for magic. You shouldn't have tried anything without supervision.” She seemed more relaxed now, concern fading away,replaced soon by a warm smile. “What did you do, anyway?” she asked, curious.

“Well, I knocked over that glass,” I said, pointing towards the cup under the table, “and before hitting the ground it just . . . happened: it stopped mid-air. Then everything went dark.”

“Do you remember doing magic before?” Twilight asked, hoping for an answer.

“No. This is, from what I feel, the first time.” I answered, honestly. “But . . . I want to learn. Think you could you help me with that?” I asked hopefully.

The purple mare looked at me with a mix of worry and compassion. A unicorn was not a unicorn without magic, so she just couldn’t keep that from me.

“Okay Blink, I will help you; but you have to take it slow, all right? I’ll bring you some books about the first steps in the field of magic. You’ll need to re-learn the basics in order to do the more advanced stuff. Also, it will be pretty hard to figure out what magic you are good at, as long as we still don’t know what your cutie mark means. But, I will teach you, as long as you promise to take it slow and not strain yourself.”

“All right, Twilight, I promise!”

“Pinkie promise?” she instinctively asked.

“What?” I reacted, managing to keep the appearances.

“Ahh, never mind, it’s a silly thing I do with one of my friends. You wouldn’t know about it,” she said, smiling, a little bit embarrassed by her assumption. "Okay, now get some rest; dinner will be ready soon. I’ll get you some reading material and we can start the magic training tomorrow if you want, does that sound good to you?”

“That sounds great,” I beamed at her, happy for a change.

“Remember, you still have to do your physical exercises, and I won’t accept tardiness.”

I nodded, holding a smile. Knowing Twilight’s studious and punctual nature, I couldn’t disappoint her. I had a lot of catching up to do, as I knew almost nothing about magic. The previous incident wasn’t quite reassuring as well, and I feared I wouldn’t be able to use my magic in that world at all, but I at the same time I couldn't give up that easily.

“Try to relax,” she said, calmly, “I have to check again that you’re in perfect health.”

She closed in, her horn glowing a soft purple. She touched my side with it, repeating the diagnosis spell she performed on me the night I arrived in that place. This time it felt much warmer, and my head and eyelids seemed to gain weight over the soft pillow. It wasn’t long before I slipped into a relaxing sleep, Twilight not even noticing it.

“Well, things seem to be quite . . . in order,” she said, blushing. Her scanning magic accidentally went a bit lower under the belly than the first time, but she didn’t know exactly if I felt it or not. To her surprise (and relief), I was asleep. Twilight smiled, hiding a worrying look. Not only did she not know a thing about my past or how I’ve gotten here, but she was now concerned about my future as well. For what it’s worth, I had no talent, no home, no family or friends . . .

She gently pulled the sheets over my relaxed body and then quietly stepped out of the small room. She went downstairs, into the kitchen, checking on Spike’s cooking.

“Hey Twi, how’s the big guy?” the dragon asked, somewhat concerned.

“Look who’s now interested in my ‘special friend’ ” Twilight retorted, playfully. “He’s fine. His first magical manifestation was apparently too much for him. But he’s okay now, sound asleep.”

"His first one? Isn't that a bit late for a unicorn?" Spike asked, half-distracted by his cooking.

“It is, but we still don't know anything about his memory loss and I can't stop thinking that I should have brought him to the hospital . . . I have to go investigate the area where Kazooie found Blink, if we are to find out who . . . or what did this to him,” Twilight said.

“No worries, I’ll keep an eye on him this time. I promise!”

Twilight shot the dragon a somewhat angry glare. “You better do so, mister,” she said firmly.

The mare then headed towards the library’s main room, and as she passed Spike, Twilight muzzled his side, gently. She knew she couldn’t stay mad at him for long; the dragon returned a warm smile, glaring at her with assuring eyes.

Minutes later, books started levitating through the main room, as the purple mare searched for the Introduction to Magic for Fillies and Colts.

“Well, he has to start somewhere,” she thought when finding it. Twilight then floated the book on a table nearby.

“Spike, I’m leaving now, be back in an hour. I left a book on the table; give it to Blink when he wakes up.”

“Okay! Take care, and don’t be late for dinner!”

“I won’t,” the purple mare responded, as she left the library.

*** *** ***

The distant sound of a metal object hitting a surface woke me up.

“Why are they cooking in the morning . . . ?” I mumbled, waking up. "I really need to move out of this flat . . .”

My eyes went wide as I remembered yet again where I actually was. “Well, guess I still haven’t got used to the whole thing.”

I chuckled and playfully rolled in the small bed, tensing all my muscles and pressing my head deep into the pillow, sheets tangled around my body. I let out a deep yawn. I felt so happy right then, even though my future was uncertain and my magic powers seemed to be tainted with something less than desirable. Remembering the beautiful world I ended up in and the warming welcome I’d been offered, I just knew I couldn’t spoil the new opportunity.

I got off from the bed and headed downstairs to check what the commotion was about. I found Spike running around the kitchen, getting plates and cutlery out of drawers.

“Hey there, Spike.”

“Aww, you’re awake. Feeling better?”

“Yeah, had a quick nap and I feel much better now; smells nice, by the way." My stomach rumbled in confirmation.

“Well, you’ll have to wait a bit more. It’s not ready yet and we have to wait for Twilight to return. She’s out to talk to the farm pony that found you that night. By the way, there’s a book for you on the small side table in the main room, Twilight said it’s for you.”

“Thanks, Spike, I’ll get it.”

I walked out the kitchen, worrying myself about what Twilight might find out. My eyes found the book Spike had mentioned. I got closer and inspected the cover, curious of what it was about.

“Introduction to magic for fillies and colts,” I mumbled, reading the title. “Huh . . . well, I guess I have to start somewhere.”

I gently grabbed the book in my mouth and strolled to the nearest couch. I laid across it, trying to get myself into a somewhat comfortable position for reading. Tucking my limbs underneath me proved to be yet a new challenge. As I was still barely used to coordinating four walking limbs, one would slip underneath me as I tucked in the rest. A frustrating minute later, I managed to get comfy.

As I started reading, I saw Spike popping his head in the room from the kitchen, probably checking on me. He returned to his preparations though, while I was reading the first chapter of the rather lengthy book.

*** *** ***

Twilight knocked on the door, hoping that someone was home. Soon enough it opened, a brown stallion behind it.

“Miss Sparkle!” Kazooie exclaimed, rather surprised. “What a pleasure to see you here again, come in.”

“Thank you very much, and please, just call me Twilight,” the lavender mare responded with a smile.

She followed the stallion into what had to be the home’s main room: a simple, medium sized chamber, with a big fireplace, a small table with three chairs and an old sofa in a corner. Pictures of family and friends rested above the fireplace, all of them apparently farm ponies. The stallion invited Twilight to take a place on the sofa as he pulled himself a chair.

“How is our friend? Has he recovered?” the farmer asked a nervous curiosity tainting his voice.

“He’s quite fine, no worries. His name is Midnight Blink and apparently he can’t remember anything that happened before you found him. Fortunately, from what I can tell at least, he’s quite healthy: he started walking again and even performed some magic.”

“That sounds like great news, Twilight; we here were really concerned about him. Bonnie in particular has been asking about him during the last two days, she’ll be so happy to find out he’s all right.”

“I’m sure he will want to come and visit you and your family soon. He’s very grateful that you saved him that night.”

“Don’t mention it, I couldn’t have it any other way. I’m just glad I could be of help.”

“About that,” Twilight started, “there is one thing I wanted to talk with you about.”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Did anything strange happen, anything at all, the night you found Blink? Have you seen anypony or anything out of the ordinary near your fields ?”

“Hmm, now that I think of it, there was nothing I could notice except the sounds he made to draw attention. But there was that dream . . .”

Twilight looked at the farm pony with a curious gaze.

“What dream?”

Kazooie shuffled in his chair, seemingly nervous.

“Well, I don’t usually dream of bad things but that night . . . I had a really strange one. All ah remember is that it was dark, and there were voices, nothing I could clearly tell apart. It woke me up and right after that I started hearing those sounds.”

“That’s all?” the unicorn asked, a bit disappointment about the lack of details.

“I’m afraid so, Twilight. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help. The next day I also checked the fields and the neighboring forest for any tracks or signs of other ponies. Ah found nothing, it’s as if the stallion just sprouted there in the field. I’m glad that he is all right, though. Ain't that all that matters?”

“I guess it is. But I still need to find out more about him and what happened that night.”

“Well, I wish you the best of luck, Miss Sparkle, I’m sure you will find out the truth soon enough.”

Kazooie spoke sincerely, having a warm smile on his face the whole time. He knew there were almost no clues about the pony's arrival, but he had faith in the Element of Magic, which had helped saved Ponyville countless times before with the other Elements of Harmony.

“Dinner will be ready soon and it would be a pleasure to have you with us, Twilight,” he suddenly remembered.

“Oh no, I’m sorry but I have to be home soon. My assistant must have set up our own dinner by now. Thank you very much for your hospitality.”

“Don’t mention it, if there is anything we could do to help, you know where to find us. And give Blink our best of wishes, we can’t wait for his visit.”

Both ponies got up and walked towards the door. Kazooie opened it for the mare and slightly bowed his head as she passed.

“Well, have a good one, Miss Spark- I mean, Twilight.”

The unicorn smiled at the brown stallion, amused by his formal tone.

“I wish you a pleasant night as well, kind sir,” she said in a playful tone.

They both chuckled at that and Twilight headed out to her home, thinking about what Kazooie had told her. She noticed a yellow shape descending from the skies right at her library.

“Hmm, that looks exactly like Fluttershy . . .”

*** *** ***

A faint knock at the door caught my attention. I raised my head from the couch, wondering who could it be. Spike rushed to the door, opening it.

“Hello there, Fluttershy! What brings you here?”

I immediately ducked my head behind the couch, hearing the name.

Oh god, Fluttershy's here! I thought, letting out a small squeal. Would she be the same cute, shy pony as I knew she was?

I had a weak spot for the cute and helpless ones, and Fluttershy was no exception. Doubt however started to cloud my thoughts as scenarios in which she simply ran away from me played in my head. Sure she might have been shy, but how shy was she actually in reality?

“Is Twilight home? I really need to talk to her about a book I need,” the softest voice I had heard in my life filled my ears.

“She’s out, but if you want, you can wait for her, should be home shortly; make yourself at home, Fluttershy,” the dragon said, welcoming her inside.

“Okay, thank you very much; I hope I’m not disturbing . . .”

“It’s all right, you’re not. I have to go finish dinner, care to join us?”

“Oh no, I mean, I appreciate it, but I’ve just eaten,” the yellow pegasus said in a tone barely above whispering levels.

Spike headed back to the kitchen, rolling his eyes, amused by the pony’s shyness. Even after all this time, she was still a calm, retreated pony, even among her friends.

The pegasus made her way into the main room, heading right towards the couch I rested on, which had its back turned towards entrance, so she couldn’t see me yet. I was shuffling my hooves nervously; I didn’t know how she would react to my presence. Had Twilight even spoken to her friends about me? If she did, why didn’t they visit the library yet? But if she didn’t, Fluttershy was in for a big surprise.

The yellow pony walked by the couch, her eyes on Owloysius, who was resting on the end of a small ladder, in the opposite corner of the room. I simply lost my voice, opening my mouth to say something but then deciding to stay quiet, not to startle the poor thing. My body was frozen as I was holding my breath.

“I’m so retarded, she will turn and eventually notice me,” the thought passed my mind. I clearly didn’t thought that through and I was somewhat worried about her inevitable reaction.

The owl turned its gaze at Fluttershy, let out his specific call and then looked straight at me.

“Damn it bird !”

The yellow Pegasus noticed the owl was focusing on something else, and then turned her head towards the source of the pet’s curiosity.

“Hey there,” I muttered.

And then she saw me. Fluttershy let out a loud squeal, jumped in the air and landed back on the floor, hiding her face behind her mane and hooves, shaking like a leaf.

“Sorry, I didn’t meant to scare you,” I said, getting off my couch and heading towards her.

Big mistake. The pegasus jumped to the other side of the room, rushing into the kitchen, yelling after Spike.

“Well that went . . . perfectly fine,” I said to myself.

I went after her, and found the scared mare clutching Spike, hiding behind him.

“There is no robber in the library, Fluttershy, don’t be silly,” the dragon re-assured her as I slowly entered the kitchen.

“His name is Midnight Blink, and he’s a guest here until he gets back on his hooves,” Spike explained, pointing at me.

“Sorry I startled you there . . . Fluttershy, is it?”

The pegasus relaxed and stopped shaking, letting go of Spike with a deep blush on her face.

“Yes, I’m Fluttershy . . . ” a barely audible response came from her.

“I’m Blink . . . Happy to meet you.”

I smiled at the still scared pegasus, while nervously moving a hoof across the floor.

“Well, I’m going to return to my reading. See you later, Fluttershy.”

I got back to my couch, feeling absolutely embarrassed by that first encounter. I didn’t want to make the poor pegasus feel more uncomfortable than she was already, so I thought I would just stay there and let her spend some time with Spike. Just as I resumed my reading, I heard the sound of the library’s door being opened. Soon enough, Twilight walked in.

“Hey there, anyone visited the library since I was out?” she asked.

“Yea, Fluttershy just came in.”

“Ohh, so you met her? Have the two of you talked already?”

“Well, she freaked out a little when she saw me, ran to Spike thinking I was a robber, but in the end, she told me her name.”

Twilight laughed, remembering her first encounter with the shy pegasus.

“That’s pretty much the same way I met her when I first came to Ponyville, although the details varied a little,” she said, heading into the kitchen, still giggling.

A couple of minutes later, Twilight returned with Fluttershy right behind her. As they passed me, I smiled to the pegasus, and she seemed to smile back.

“Sorry for getting scared like that,” she said, again, in a barely audible voice. “I heard what happened to you and I hope everything turns out all right.” The pony’s voice was fading away, and she was still trying to hide her face behind her beautiful pink mane.

“It’s okay, don’t worry, I should have made my presence known earlier and not startled you like that.”

“So, Fluttershy,” the unicorn interrupted, “why do you want that encyclopedia about birds again? I thought you knew everything there was to know about animals already.”

Fluttershy was still hiding her face, pawing at the floor. “It’s not that Twilight, but two days ago, this strange, black bird I’ve never seen before passed over my house, rested for a while on a branch and then flew into the Everfree Forest. I searched my own books about something similar to it, but didn’t find anything. I hoped you might have something . . .”

“Hmm okay, let me see,” Twilight said, her horn glowing a bright purple.

Out of a shelf came a fairly big book titled Flying creatures: A to Z. She levitated it down, handing it to Fluttershy.

“I hope it helps, this book contains all the information about bird species in Equestria.”

“Thank you so much, Twilight, I’ll return it tomorrow.”

“No problem, take your time, it’s not that often that I lend this book out anyway,” the unicorn said, smiling. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay for dinner?”

“Aww no, I couldn’t, I just ate. I also need to get the animals ready for bed.”

How on earth to you get animals ready for bed?

“All right, Fluttershy, have a good night, I hope you find what you need.”

“Good night Twilight; good night to you too, Blink,” she said, a little bit more secure on herself.

Twilight followed the pegasus to the door, opening it with her magic. Fluttershy flew off to her home, the huge book clutched in her forelegs.

“Dinner is ready!” Spike shouted from the kitchen.

The purple mare went to help him, levitating all the plates filled with food on the table, arranging them in perfect order in less than a few seconds. We each took a seat and dug in, enjoying Spike’s amazing hay fries dipped in mashed lilies and tomato sauce.

“Twilight, can I ask you a favour?” I asked, finishing my large portion.

“Of course, Blink,” she responded, levitating the plates away.

“Could you help me try out some magic? It’s still pretty early to go to sleep now.”

I widened my eyes at the purple unicorn, raising my bottom lip just a tad, not too much but enough to hint at a pleading expression. She rolled her eyes and then opened up to a smile.

“Have you read the book I left you?” she asked, now in a serious, almost teacher-like voice.

“Not all of it, but enough to get an idea,” I said, grinning.

“Okay then, but just one spell. I don’t want you passing out again; it’s becoming the norm for you. Follow me.”

I jumped off my seat and followed Twilight to a room next to the main one. It had nothing inside but shelves filled with books.

“How big is this tree house? And how many millions of books do you keep in it?” I asked, genuinely amazed by the efficient space management of the house.

“Well, this is a library, you know? It’s meant to have a lot of books. It isn’t as big as the library back in Canterlot, but I managed to add to its inventory some of the . . . essentials,” the purple unicorn said, harbouring a guilty smile.

“Anyway, I thought you might try out a levitation spell. It’s the easiest one to perform for beginners.”

“Yea, I hoped you’d say that. So, what am I lifting?” I asked impatiently.

Twilight opened a small box from a shelf and took out a couple of objects similar to pebbles. She threw them on the floor, in the center of the room. She then laid down next to them, signaling me to do the same.

“The first thing you need to do before attempting to use your magic is to clear your mind. You need to forget about everything in the world for a couple of moments and focus your magic. In time, it will become second nature, and you will be able to channel your powers even in stressful conditions.”

“Now . . .” she continued, her horn starting to glow, “You need to focus on getting your magic in one spot. The horn helps us do that and most spells require magic being channelled through our horns at first. The important thing is to relax, and most importantly, to take it slow.”

“But, how can I gather something that I can’t see?” I asked trying to grasp the concept of channeling energy.

“Even in the unlikely scenario that you have never done it before, you can feel your magic coursing through and sometimes around your body. For example, I can now ‘see’ your magic surrounding you. It’s like a thin, floating mist; yours is a beautiful . . . blue, and quite strong by the looks of it.” She smiled, her horn still glowing and eyes travelling across my body.

”That takes years of practice though, and means that one you have mastered the control and manipulation of magic. But that’s only part of the whole spell-casting process. Try focusing your magic as I did . . . and don’t forget, take your time, and clear your mind. Don't think of anything too complicated, just lift the pebble.”

I closed my eyes and attempted to clear my head, removing all thoughts that were currently inside. Slowly, one by one, my senses started to fade away. I couldn’t hear the noises of the settling night or feel the presence of another pony in the room anymore.

I felt like my mind was the center of the universe, and then, after a few moments of just existing without purpose or intention, I found it. At first, it was a hint of warmth that I felt flowing through and around my body, brushing my coat from time to time. It was a weird sensation, but slowly, I was getting more aware of its presence. I started to think about moving it, and as if it was listening to me, it shifted from its course. Slowly but steadily, I managed to direct it towards the top of my head. I felt my horn getting warmer and warmer, my heart pumping magic-filled blood through my veins.

I opened my eyes slightly, and noticed Twilight staring at me patiently.

“Now,” she said in a calm, soft voice, as to not break my concentration, “try to direct your channelled magic from your horn towards one of the pebbles.”

She quickly gave me an example, one of the small stones being engulfed in a faded, purple aura. I started looking at the other one, trying to keep the magic from dispersing from my horn. It was getting harder and harder to maintain control but then I felt a strange presence in front of me. The pebble was quickly surrounded by a blue, liquid-like glow.

“Remember Blink, take it easy, use a bit less magic.”

I let the focus drop a little bit and the glow became more like Twilight’s. I then realized I could . . . feel the rock. It was like being part of my body, my brain sending pulses to my spine, but also into my horn and into the rock.

“That’s perfect; now feel the magical connection between your horn and the pebble, then try to twitch it, as if it were a muscle.”

I continued focusing on the link between the horn and the object. I could definitely sense it was there, so I tried to pull it with my thoughts. The small rock jolted, moving slightly across the floor. I looked at Twilight and she nodded, encouraging me to continue. I tried moving the stone again and this time it jumped in the air a few inches. As it started descending, I focused harder on it, and it froze in the air.

Twilight gave me a big smile, a proud look on her face.

“You did it! Congratulation on your first, intentional, spell you remember to have cast!” she said with a giggle, then playfully bumped my shoulder with her hoof.

The magic link between my horn and the pebble had become self-sustaining, as I could look at Twilight while keeping the stone afloat. I then refocused on the object, trying to raise it higher. It slowly started to ascend, the pebble wobbling in the air as I felt the magical link stretch. The feeling of warmth in my horn was fading, all the magic draining away, to keep the link. The pebble was now almost two feet high, and I wanted levitate it to the ceiling, so I concentrated on drawing more magic from within and directed it to the horn.

My mind was not clear as it should have been, and soon various feelings imploding into my mind. Memories from past events started to resurface and before I decided to abandon the gathering of magic, my heart suddenly stopped for two seconds. I jolted, taking a deep breath, shocked by the sudden pain in my chest. To my terror, the air sucked into my lungs was freezing cold.

Twilight budged, quickly sensing something was wrong. She ‘saw’ my magic shifting from a light blue mist to a dark, black fog as cold air was flooding the room. She immediately knew that was not something normal. It was exactly like the magical surge she had when she was a filly.

“That’s impossible . . .” she whispered.

Her reaction was swift though, her horn glowing strong. Magic rushed towards me, engulfing my whole body in a strong, purple glow. As I stood there, almost paralysed, my panic was suddenly calmed by scenes of great beauty. Amazing wild life I had never seen before in my life, huge constellations of stars, a big, imposing palace, a huge hall filled with dressed-up ponies, six happy friends smiling and then . . . a warm embrace.

All the dark magic around me quickly dissipated and the pebble dropped to the ground. My chest was no longer tight, the air around me was getting warmer and all the voices I started hearing went away. I opened my eyes and noticed I was leaning onto Twilight, my hooves limp on the floor. I quickly regained all my senses and stumbled back on all fours, the mare helping me get my balance.

“Hey there, lost you for a second . . .” she said, worried.

“Well, what can I say, I like all the attention I can get,” I responded, shaking my head. Twilight laughed, happy I was all right. “Thanks for catching me there; I know I’m not a light one.”

“No worries, Blink, I have magic to help me. Anyway, let’s get you to bed, I think you had a little bit too much for today.”

“Okay, I guess I’m a little tired now.” I yawned. “I . . . didn’t clear my head there, when I tried to lift the pebble higher.”

“I know, it happens to beginners. Your case is a bit strange though, but we’ll sort it out in the future, don’t you worry.”

I looked at her and noticed a concerned expression hiding beneath her re-assuring smile. I knew she was holding something from me. She probably knew more about that strange magic I had just felt than I did, but I didn’t want to insist on it. I hoped that in time, I could manage to control it, and somehow understand it.

I got to my room, wished each other good night and parted our ways. I entered the small chamber and went straight to bed, pulling the sheets over me with my teeth.

That sure was a strange day but I felt so much better with Twilight near me. She used her magic and memories to calm me, subduing the dark presence. I knew then that if she could do it, I could do it as well. I couldn’t wait to resume training next day, yet fears of that strange energy still lingered in my head. My thoughts faded away into the night as I fell into deep, calm sleep.

*** *** ***

Celestia twitched and suddenly stopped, right in front of her royal bedroom. She just had another jolt, a feeling she hadn’t felt in years, not since her prized student cracked that dragon egg.

“That was him,” she whispered to herself.

It happened for the second time that day, but the last one was different.

“Twilight intervened . . .” Celestia knew.

She quickly turned and trotted away towards the castle’s library and halls of records. Guards that were standing by the entrance bowed to the Princess as she entered the library. She knew exactly where to go, and after navigating between the huge shelves, the princess stopped. Her horn glow a strong yellow, illuminating the books around. A small, black one came flying, stopping in front of her.

It opened, magic turning the pages. The words were barely visible anymore, and the pages had turned yellow. Suddenly, Celestia saw a symbol, a marking she had seen recently. Using her magic, the princess separated the page from the book perfectly, as if a laser was used to cut it. The book closed and flew back from where it came; the page was hovering in front of the princess’ eyes. She knew what that piece of paper contained, but only now the connections were made.

The page magically folded into a small bit, and the alicorn placed it under her harness. Celestia quickly walked out of the library and headed to one of the main towers. After going through a huge hallway with historic glass paintings, she reached a large vault door, carved with symbols of great magic. The alicorn used her horn to unlock the huge doors and they quickly opened, revealing a jewel encrusted case, suspended in air.

Celestia levitated the small chest to her and opened it. Inside rested five necklaces and a golden tiara. She put the wrapped up page inside the box and closed it, placing it back in the vault. The huge doors slowly closed, powerful light sealing them shut.

Princess Celestia let out a sigh, concerned eyes facing the vault door.

“I hope he was sent here for good reasons . . .” she said to herself, heading back to the royal residence.

End of chapter 4

Chapter 5: Master of Lies

Chapter 5

Master of Lies

Twilight’s horn dimmed as she finished writing a letter to the Princess. The brown quill slowly fell down on top of the desk while she wrapped the report with a red ribbon. The unicorn then conjured a golden seal that tied the ribbon’s ends together, sealing them with magic.

“Spike?” she asked, looking around the library, trying to find a trace of her assistant. “He must still be asleep. Again . . .”

Her horn glowed a bright purple and she shut her eyes. A blinding light emanated from the tip and in an instant, she was gone, leaving a blaze of purple sparks behind.

Meanwhile, in his room, Spike was napping on top of a large, round, red cushion. Having outgrown the basket a while ago, Twilight decided it was time he got his own room, so a redecorated storage place served that purpose quite well for the time being. Spike hated beds, even if it was now easier for him to climb on them. He felt uncomfortable with their square shape, which didn’t match his recently developed dragon-like sleeping position.

That red cushion was the best birthday present he received from Twilight, as the mare came to realize that books were not very good gifts for a young dragon. A small desk was placed in a corner, parchments, reports and checklists scattered all over it. Near his bed, a small nightstand held a framed picture of him and Twilight from when they were still in Canterlot, both of them smiling on a bench in the Royal Gardens. Near it, a common blue sapphire stood bare, glimmering in the light coming through the room’s small window. It was the one Rarity gave him after helping her find the diamonds she needed to finish an important commission and to that very day, Spike had kept it close to him.

A point of light suddenly appeared in the middle of the room; the spark then formed into a purple sphere of magic which quickly dissipated, revealing a somewhat impatient Twilight.

“Here you are!” she shouted.

Spike jumped out of his cushion, his spines and fins standing up. He quickly turned his head around, trying to figure out where the voice came from. The sight of Twilight levitating a letter made him frown in disappointment.

“Come on, Twilight . . . this was supposed to be my day off, what is so important that couldn’t wait till later?”

He made himself comfortable in the bed, hoping she would leave him alone.

“Spike, I need this sent to the Princess. It’s very important that she gets it as soon as possible!”

The dragon rolled on the bed, not quite ready to part from the comforting cushion. “Okay, okay, I’ll do it,” he huffed as soon as he heard Twilight’s impatient hoof taps.

He stood up slightly, the letter levitating towards him. He took a breath and then shot out green flames that engulfed the parchment, making it disappear.

“So, what did you write about Blink this time?” he asked, a smirk on his groggy, morning face.

Twilight rolled her eyes, bright light engulfing her again as she teleported out of his room. Spike simply shrugged, then curled up and immediately fell back asleep, like nothing had happened.

*** *** ***

A small ball of green flames startled Celestia slightly, as a letter materialized in front of her. It was quite a strange timing for a report from her student; she floated the teacup back on the table, grabbing the letter with her magic. Luna snuck a glare from across the table, as she continued to chew on a crème-filled croissant. The sun was gingerly taking its rightful place on the sky as the two rulers of Equestria enjoyed breakfast on a large balcony.

The Princess of the sun finished reading the letter and put it aside, resuming sipping from her tea. Luna was now staring at her sister, having noticed her trying to hide a concern.

“So . . .” Luna calmly spoke, “what news does your prize student bring?”

Celestia’s head jolted slightly, her train of thoughts fading away.

“Twilight? Well, she knows,” the Princess said matter-of-factly. “She feels that something is not right, at least.”

Luna let out a small sigh. “So what actions are we to take?”

“I do not know, sister. When we saw him the first time, he definitely recognized us, although he did seem a bit lost. I am sure however that for the time being, he is completely harmless.”

“But you very well know the potential of his magic . . . and that symbol,” Luna pressed on.

“I know about the symbol and its meaning. I managed last night to put away the last written record of it, in case Twilight gets too curious, which I know she will eventually. We are the only ones in Equestria that know about it and I think it is in the best of interests that it stays like this for now.”

“Still, isn’t it dangerous to leave him with thine student like so?” Luna asked, puzzled by her sister’s calm.

“Twilight is one of the most gifted unicorns I’ve ever seen. I’ve taught her to control her magic and master its art, and I fully trust her doing the same with Blink.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to intervene in this matter thyself?” her sister insisted. All of a sudden, her face brightened up. “Or, better yet, let me take care of it? If thou can have a student, I can have one as well,” she stated, breaking into a soft giggle.

Celestia truly smiled for the first time that day, the built up tension gradually fading away.

“No, dear sister, I’m afraid that wouldn’t be the right choice,” the white alicorn said, still baring a smile. “Besides, Twilight can handle this even better than I could, given the circumstances . . .”

Her sister slowly nodded in agreement, knowing very well that her Celestia’s decisions were always taken with the best intentions in mind. Even the one she took over a thousand years ago.

Celestia’s horn glowed again, a scroll and a quill appearing in front of her. The quill started moving on the surface of the paper, writing out a response for her student. After finishing, the message was wrapped up in the specific red ribbon and royal seal and with another glow of her horn, the letter disappeared.

Celestia turned her gaze towards the far away Ponyville, thinking about how the Elements’ lives would probably change in the near future.

“I trust in thine decisions, sister, and I hope everything will turn out all right. I found out firsthoof about Twilight’s talent and the power of the Elements. I must say, you taught her well,” the younger alicorn added.

Celestia returned a friendly smile, feeling somewhat reassured. “Thank you, Luna. I’m glad we are in this together.” After a pause she added: “Oh, and I must say, thank you for not harming him that night. I know it must have been hard not to do so, considering he’s not from this world and as such, not protected by our promise.”

Luna’s lips turned into a nervous smile, feeling a little embarrassed about her hostile reaction when seeing the blue unicorn for the first time.

*** *** ***

I yawned loudly, slowly waking up from what seemed to be the best sleep I had in days. It was probably because that time I wasn’t woken up by any loud noises, banging, or pain for that matter.

The sunlight was invading the entire room inch my inch, and was slowly engulfing my bed as well. I jumped out of it before the light could hit my eyes. It was one of the most unpleasant feelings in the world and I didn’t want to ruin that seemingly perfect morning. In a way, the sun in Equestria seemed somewhat stronger than the one back home.

Little time was spent pondering on that strange fact, as my nostrils suddenly picked up a strange scent. It wasn’t quite the most pleasant of scents and as I moved my head around to figure out its origin, I had a realization.

“Damn it, that’s me.”

The smell was very different from my usual bad body odor but it made sense since I had a totally different body. One thing was certain: I had to get a bath. Or a shower, or whatever ponies did to get cleaned.

I trotted out of the room, remembering there was a tub in the bathroom downstairs. Coincidentally, Spike was dragging his feet out of his room, half asleep.

“Morning, Spike!”

“Woow . . . keep it down, big guy, it’s still too early to be that loud,” the dragon replied, letting out a big yawn, exposing a row of very sharp teeth. “Why does everyone wake up this early when I’m having a day off?” he added, trailing off towards the kitchen.

“Sorry, Spike; anyway, can I ugh . . . take a bath?”

The dragon turned to me, raising an eyebrow and taking a sniff of the air. “Whoa . . . yeah, you can use the bathroom near the stairs. And hurry up, it smells like you’ve been working the fields all day.”

“Is it that bad?” I asked, surprised Spike had picked up the not so pleasant scent from quite a distance.

“Well, no, but us dragons have a good sense of smell, and mine has just started to develop. Now go and get yourself cleaned, you wouldn’t like Twilight to-”

“OK, thanks!” I cut him off, heading towards the bathroom, with sudden warmth in my face.

Spike headed back to the kitchen, a grin on his face. He seemed to enjoy teasing everyone when he had the opportunity, a habit Twilight blamed on him growing up and getting mood swings like all young dragons did.

I entered the bathroom and locked the door behind me, impatient in trying out what was otherwise a mundane task for the normal folk. After several painful minutes of calibrating the water’s temperature using only my mouth to turn the taps, I slipped into the bath, muscles twitching all around from the flooding sensation. The amazing feeling of lightness and warmth engulfed my entire body, while my mind was battling to decide whether that was more pleasant than being magically carried around in a purple mist. Strangely enough, the purple mist won, but all those thoughts faded away as I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, relaxing like I never did before.

*** *** ***

Twilight stood near a desk inside her room, having just finished reading Celestia’s response to her letter of concern. Her mentor had given her the task to continue training the stallion, as she was perfectly able to handle his unusual magic surges. She was also asked to encourage Blink in finding a way to fend for himself In the near future, as it would be inappropriate for the unicorn to overextend her hospitality. Lastly, Twilight was pointed out that starting from that point, he was in a way her student, and a strictly professional teacher-pupil relationship was desired between the two of them.

Right before her cheeks were about to turn red because of a wandering thought, a loud knock was heard coming from downstairs. She quickly rushed to see who it was that came to her library during a closed day.

Twilight opened the door to reveal four mares, all with different looks on their faces. Rarity seemed rather serious, which was an uncanny expression for her, Pinkie Pie was all smile as usual, Rainbow Dash was hovering around uninterested and Fluttershy was hiding behind them, an apologetic look on her face.

“Hey girls, come on in!”

“Twilight, I guess somepony is hiding something from her friends,” Rarity started, as they entered the library.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m so happy and excited, we’re going to throw a big welcoming party and we’ll have everypony invited and it will be so, so awesome!” Pinkie shouted in excitement.

Twilight soon realized they found out about the new guest from Fluttershy.

“I’m sorry Twilight, I thought they knew about it,” the yellow pegasus whimpered an apology.

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy, I was about to tell the rest of you about it but I’ve just been caught up in all these things since I found him.”

“It’s all right Twilight, but you could have told us about it earlier, we could have helped. How’s the poor thing feeling now, by the way?” Rarity asked, concern replacing her frown.

“He’s perfectly fine, except for the part that he can’t remember a thing before he was found by Kazooie near his fields, and that we don’t know what his cutie mark is, or if he has any friends or family anywhere in Equestria.”

“See, he’s fine, can we go now? I have stuff to do,” the blue pegasus spoke for the first time, obviously loathing the fact that she’s been dragged there in the first place.

“Rainbow Dash, you were taking a nap on a cloud when we found you, where’s your loyalty to your friends when they need you?” Rarity asked, slightly bothered by her attitude.

“Girls, I’m fine, really, I don’t need any help. He is just staying here until he finds himself a place of his own and a job. I’ll just help him find out what his talent is and train him to remember how to use his magic.”

*** *** ***

After getting all cleaned up, I got out of the tub and looked around the bathroom, in search for a towel that was nowhere to be found. Water was dripping from my coat and mane, as they acted like a sponge, absorbing what seemed to be an impressive quantity of water.

“This is going to take some getting used to . . . now where can I find a damn towel around here?”

I felt so strange being soaking wet and without any clothes but I took the challenge of leaving the bathroom to find Spike, who could probably give me something to dry myself with.

I got out of the bathroom, unaware that Twilight and her unexpected guests were right in the main room, near the entrance. As my eyes fell on the multicolored group of ponies in front of me, my heart stopped. I recognized all of them but the shock of actually meeting them left me without words; or motor functions for that matter.

The mares turned their heads to me in unison, their gazes feeling like knives piercing my skin.

“I’m naked,” was the only thought that went through my head.

Water was dripping on the wooden floor from both my mane and body and I couldn’t move a muscle, paralyzed by their looks and the shame bared down upon me.

Rarity had raised a hoof to her mouth in surprise, Fluttershy squeaked, covering her eyes, Rainbow Dash landed on the floor, raising an eyebrow at me and a smirk creeping on her face, and Twilight just stood there blushing, trying to look everywhere around but not directly at me.

Spike suddenly walked into the room from the kitchen, curious about the voices he’d been hearing.

“Hey gang!”

He then saw me and noticed the water dripping off of me. “Sorry dude, forgot to tell you, there are towels in the small drawer inside the bathroom.”

I shot him an angry glare, but before I could go back and grab some, a pink blur rushed to me, grabbing my foreleg and shaking it madly, making water splatter all over the place.

“Hey, I’m Pinkie! I heard you’re new here and that Twilight found you and took care of you and you are all better now but you can’t remember your friends and family so I thought I could be your friend and also throw you a huge ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party and have everyone invited and then you will have lots and lots of friends!”

My jaw dropped at her ability of not taking a single breath during that whole little welcoming speech.

“Hey there . . . Pinkie, I’m uhh, Blink,” was all I could manage to say.

“Name’s Rainbow Dash, best flier around these woods,” the blue pegasus alleged, a wildly confident look on her face.

“And I’m Rarity,” the white mare presented herself, cutting off Rainbow’s attempt to add anything else. “I own Carousel Boutique down by the market. I’m a fashion designer, the only one in Ponyville, if I might add.”

Her somewhat seductive blinking made me involuntarily take a couple of steps back.

“Well, it’s certainly nice to meet you uhh- ladies. If you excuse me I have to . . . ahhh, yes, towel,” I mumbled, backing up into the bathroom and quickly closing the door behind me.

I leaned my back against the door, cringing hard as my heart continued to pound from the recent events. I wasn’t quite the social type and I only behaved normally near friends and people I knew. That however was one the most awkward situations I’d been through since I arrived there and my rapid pulse was a testimony to that.

“Stupid, damn stupid towels; I need to cover myself. I feel so, so very naked . . .”

I searched through the small drawer near the door and grabbed two large white towels. Slowly and very clumsily, I managed to wrap myself in them and then I just sat there, near the door, too scared to get out before everyone else left.

*** *** ***

“Fluttershy, you never told us the colt Twilight is housing is such an . . . interesting stallion,” Rarity glared at the quiet pegasus.

“Now wait there just a minute-”

“Where’s Applejack?” Twilight suddenly interrupted Rainbow Dash before an uncomfortable conversation might start.

“I went to Sweet Apple acres to tell her about our welcoming party and also asked her to come with me and welcome our new friend but she was too busy and can only attend the party,” Pinkie said with a frown.

“You’ve already set a date for the party?” Twilight asked, forever intrigued by her friend’s speed when it came to organizing such events.

“Of course silly, it’s today!”

“Today?”

“Yeap, today, right here!”

“HERE?” Twilight asked, surprised. “Well- I- all right, why not,” the unicorn said, admitting defeat. There was absolutely no way she could say no to Pinkie.

“Don’t worry, Twilight, I’ll take care of it all! You and Blink just have to show up, which will be easy since you are already here.” The pink earth pony was all a smile, happy at the prospect of another 'Welcome to Ponyville' party.

“Well then, see you all at the party!” Twilight said, rushing her friends out.

“Be sure to bring that charming-”

Purple magic slammed the door closed, cutting off Rarity’s surprisingly forward request. Twilight rolled her eyes and let out a sigh, looking around the library and imagining all the chaos the party would leave behind.

“Is it safe to come out?” I asked from behind the slightly opened bathroom door.

“Oh sorry, I forgot about you. Yea, you can come out, they’re gone now.”

I stepped into the main room, covered in towels from head to hoof. That drew a chuckle from Twilight as she amused herself on my behalf.

“I never thought of you as a shy one,” she said.

“Well, I’m not that comfortable around new peo- ponies,” I explained, nervously scratching the floor with my front hoof. “Especially when they’re all mares, and I am not wearing anything.”

“It’s all right Blink, they are my best friends, and very kind and friendly ponies. Also, they all represent an Element of Harmony.”

“The Elements . . .” I whispered, realizing who the ponies I met earlier actually were.

“Yeah, you’ve heard of them?” Twilight asked me, curious.

“I’ve- read about them in one of the books you gave me and Spike told me who they belonged to now. Also, about that . . . I wanted to ask you something: when was it that the six of you defeated that Discord guy?”

“Hmm . . . that would be around three years ago.”

“Three years,” I said to myself, my mind trying to fill out all the blanks.

That information was the missing piece in a puzzle that explained a lot of things that were not quite as I expected them to be. That was why Spike was much larger, and that was also why Twilight and all the familiar ponies seemed a bit . . . bigger than I knew them. It wasn’t just because they were real, living and breathing ponies, actual non-imaginary creatures in a world that seemed to be real to me for the last few days. They had grown up, but I knew for certain that all of them were still young, most likely in their twenties.

“If you want, I can tell you the story of how the Elements defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord; some other time, of course, seems that today is going to be quite eventful,” Twilight’s voice faded in, bringing my focus back to the real world.

“Umm, yes, that would be wonderful,” I stuttered out.

“Are you all right? You seemed a little bit . . . away, right there.”

“I’m fine, I was just thinking. I’m going to get dry now, okay?”

Twilight smiled again, amused by the grown up pony wrapped up in towels in front of her. “Okay, just let me know if you need anything.”

I returned to my room and finished drying myself up. It was weird having my coat and mane so puffy after drying it with the towels.

“Need to talk to Twilight about-”

The thought made me feel like an idiot. Asking her how to perform basic hygiene tasks like combing your mane, taking care of your coat or hoof maintenance seemed quite personal. “Maybe there’s a book about it,” I thought, hopefully. That, in turn, reminded me of the ones she gave me to read. They seemed to be general-knowledge books, the kind of lecture you expect to find in school ponies’ curriculum. Most of them were about magic however, their difficulty ranging from initiate levels to medium.

My eyes then fell on a huge, black covered book. It was right at the bottom of the saddlebag Spike gave me. The golden inscriptions on the cover read “Mastering the inner magic”, apparently written by someone called Starswirl the Bearded. The name seemed oddly familiar, but my mind refused to find its origin at that time.

Opening the book at a random page revealed it was certainly not entry-level magic. There were complex diagrams and symbols, incantations, formulas and checklists of steps that needed to be followed before casting certain spells. Notes were scribbled down on the edge of most pages, and bookmarks were placed every now and then between pages, marking more complex things.

It was without doubt Twilight’s personal book, probably the one she used at that time to learn new spells; she either misplaced it or deliberately put it in the saddlebag.

“Wow, this stuff is so complicated,” I thought, my eyes peering over the lengthy instruction of how to cast what seemed to be an illusion spell.

Back home, when it came to learning new stuff, I usually picked an example of that new thing I wanted to learn, an above-the-average exercise, and then I would try to replicate it exactly, breaking the process into smaller, more comprehensible parts. I never liked wasting time with basic concepts and even though most of the time the results were quite good, not learning the simple things first often came back and bit me.

As I read more about that illusion spell, I realized that I’d found my first above-the-average sample of magic to replicate. The incantation seemed complex at a glance, but it allowed a great deal of customization, the caster being able to choose the fidelity of the illusion.

As I flipped the pages, I found out about a somewhat different version of it, perfected by a pony called Bellona the Wise. Her improved spell allowed the cast of multiple illusions that could act in a very realistic way, beyond mimicking the unicorn that created them. Sadly, the details about it were scarce and there were no instructions on how to actually cast the spell.

“Bellona . . . Bellona . . . Why does it sound familiar?”

I searched throughout the book for more references about that pony but failed to find any other. I then started probing my mind for the source of familiarness that name brought.

“I know!” I shouted out loud, “It’s Latin! A name that derives from a goddess of some sort.”

I smiled foolishly, giving myself a mental pat on the back for actually remembering something useful for a change, which was quite a rare occurrence.

“Hmm, she seems interesting, especially her spells. But why are there no other references of her in here?”

The question lingered in my mind for the following minutes but then I realized: “Twilight! She has to know more about her, she knows everything!”

It had been a while since I was that excited about solving a mystery, as I disregarded things that had no major impact on my life. As such, it felt good to actually have something to pursue, an apparently meaningless goal that made me wonder about things that I didn’t know at all.

I got out of bed and grabbed the book with my mouth, rushing out of the room to find the unicorn that might know more about that mysterious pony.

“Tiligh!” I managed to say in front of her room.

The door slowly opened, Twilight standing behind it. She burst into laughter at the sight of me carrying the book in my maw.

“You silly thing, we need to work more on getting you to use your magic properly. Come in!”

I slowly walked into what seemed to be a large study that turned out to be her bedroom. It came as no surprise that books reigned everywhere, large shelves filled to the brim covering the walls. Near the big, wide window that opened up to a balcony facing the fields and forest behind the library, there was a huge desk filled with scrolls and opened books. Quills were scattered around everywhere, even on the floor.

“Well, yousertainly… bleah” I placed the book on a small table nearby, trying my best to not look like a fool. Twilight was still giggling at the sight of my clumsiness, as I then tried to strike a pose of confidence and . . . stallionnes, in an awkwardly funny way.

“Well, as I was trying to say, you certainly like studying, by the looks of it,” I mentioned, looking around her room again, just realizing how many books were actually in there.

“Why thank you, Bli- wait, what’s up with your mane?” she asked, taking a closer look at me.

I immediately noticed my mane was indeed ravaged and had an unkempt appearance, being dried off by towel.

“Didn’t you use a brush?” she asked. “Ohhh, right. I’m sorry, I forgot about your magic; allow me.” Her horn glowed, and a brush flew at her side.

“Whoa there, I think I’m all right, no need for any of that,” I protested, a little bit panicked. Having my long hair brushed by a ‘girl’ was another example of a social situation I was clearly not comfortable with for the moment.

“Blink, I won’t have you look like that here, especially at your welcoming party today.” Her magic suddenly caught me, holding me into place as I tried to back away from the floating brush. “I admit I’m not even half as demanding as Rarity is when it comes to looking . . . presentable, but if my friends see you like this, they’ll think I rescued a savage pony; a ruffian as she would put it.”

The brush was carefully going through my mane, setting it straight and nice. In the meantime, she started sorting some books from her desk, not even looking at the brush going through my mane. I was amazed by her ability to multitask so easily and eventually gave up struggling and just let her do her thing.

“Anyway, I found this in the saddlebag I keep the books you gave me,” I pointed out towards the black book I placed on the table.

“Ohhh, it’s my personal copy of ‘Mastering the Inner Magic’, I was actually looking for that. Thank you, Blink,” she said with a grateful smile.

“But, but . . . I kind of wanted to ask you about something I found in it.”

“You read it?” she asked, suddenly curious.

“No! Well, I kinda skimmed it, and found an interesting spell.”

I used my muzzle to flip the book open at the right page where I placed the bookmark. Twilight came closer to it and looked at the spell I was talking about.

“This is advanced magic, Blink. Even I can’t cast this spell.”

“You can’t do it?” I asked, somewhat taken aback.

“It’s not that it’s too hard or anything like that,” the mare quickly added, a little embarrassed, “there are some spells that every unicorn will not be able to do. This is an example of a spell I can’t cast that easily. Maybe you will be able to do it, but I doubt that.”

“How can some unicorns cast certain spells easier than others?” I asked, intrigued.

“Well, it depends on each unicorn and their personality, so to say. As you can remember from yesterday, when you use your magic, you channel it from within your inner self, using your thoughts. Some spells require special, emotion driven magic, which varies from pony to pony. For example, calm and loving unicorns are better at healing spells, while more violent ones can deal great damage with destructive ones.”

“I didn’t know that. That’s quite interesting . . .”

“You didn’t know that because you haven’t read all the books I told you to read,” Twilight said in a scolding manner. “And besides, even if your magic would improve that much, I’m still not sure if you’ll be able to master that spell. It requires the caster to be quite a deceiver, given the nature of the spell, a master of lies, if I may.”

Lies… having the edge on everyone around me…

“Anyway,” I said, throwing that thought back into the depths of my mind, “it’s not actually about the spell, but more about a mage that perfected it: Bellona the Wise. Her first name sounds a little bit familiar.”

“Hmm,” Twilight pondered, scratching her chin with a hoof. “Bellona the Wise was an interesting mare. Some sources say she was the Captain of the Royal Guard back when Nightmare Moon tried to take over Equestria. There are not a lot of records on her other than that, and all I know is that she perfected certain spells, most of them invented by Starswirl the Bearded himself. Some ponies even say she was his rather personal . . . muse.”

“Anyway,” the purple unicorn continued, “she specialized in deceiving spells, like the one you saw and also other, darker spells, like inducing false visions in other ponies’ minds. The spell she is most known for is on the list of forbidden ones: a spell that grants temporary but complete mind control over others.”

I stood there amazed, not knowing the field of magic was so wide and rich, not to mention dark. “Do you have a book that tells more about her?” I asked with hope.

Twilight looked strangely at me, pondering if she should actually give me more information about a mage that used potentially destructive magic. Even though there were no records of Bellona actually using those spells against ponies in an offensive way, they were still very dangerous in the wrong hooves.

“Well, there’s a book that has more information about her, including some of her personal notes, if you’re that interested. Just . . . don’t try and do anything you read from there. Stick with the basic stuff for the moment, all right?”

“Sure, Twilight, it’s not like I’m a capable magic user or anything. I can barely lift pebbles off the ground,” I said, grinning innocently.

Twilight was somewhat concerned, knowing the actual powers of my untapped magic, the rest being shrouded in mystery and darkness. Having accepted Celestia’s request, she had no other choice but to work with me to find out my talent and bring the best out of it.

“Wait here a moment, I need to find it.”

Twilight’s horn started glowing and after several seconds of concentration, a small book from a top shelf flew towards us.

“This contains information about her spells and everything we know about her life, which is not much, to be honest.”

“Thanks a lot! I just want to know more about her, for some reason. I’m not that interested in her spells . . .”

“Okay then, Blink, I’ll have to go back to my work now, gotta finish everything by the time Pinkie comes by to start the party preparations. We’ll resume training tomorrow, just make sure you read those books I gave you,” she recapped with that serious teacher face of hers.

“All right; thanks again and see you later!”

I went straight back to my room and began reading from the book she gave me. It contained indeed, information about other spells Bellona had been studying or perfecting and near the end of the book I managed to find some more details about her.

Apparently, there was no information about her family or the way she became acquainted with Starswirl the Bearded. Most of her personal notes were about her research and I couldn’t understand most of them anyway, because of the terms used. The last few pages were bearing a different type of notes. There were no diagrams or lists at all, and it seemed even more impossible to read. It wasn’t because of the terms, I realized the page was written in another language.

“Damn it, this must be so old . . .” I thought, frustrated.

I looked to the end of the page and there was absolutely no translation. I then searched right before the notes started and found written with a different font, right before them: “These personal notes belonging to Bellona the Wise were found after her untimely death. They are written in an unknown language and nopony has yet managed to translate them.”

I started reading the actual text with more attention and soon recognized the language, to my amazement, as Latin, and quite an early version by the looks of it. I began cursing the hours I hadn’t pay attention in Latin class, back in school. I understood basic words and meanings but not everything, not by far.

I carefully analyzed the first sentence, feeling my heartbeat getting faster and faster. Why were the notes written in Latin? Why were there only two or three pages of them, and most importantly, why Latin?

As my mind desperately tried to remember the meaning of certain words, the pieces of the first sentence started to fall in order, one by one. It helped a lot that my first language was Latin-based, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to decipher any of it.

And then, my eyes fell on the last word in the sentence, the mystery behind it finally being resolved as I struggled to understand the implications of what I had in front of me.

“Equestria sideras sunt ita lucidum et pulchra, sed ego deesset quos a domum, a roma . . .”

“The stars in Equestria are so bright and beautiful, but I still miss the ones from back home, from Rome . . .”

End of chapter 5

Chapter 6: Pet of a New Home

Chapter 6

Pet of a New Home

Two hours had passed since I started reading the book Twilight gave me, and I was still trying to fully translate the first page of Bellona’s notes. Unfortunately, there were no other references of her previous home or origins. She only described how noble and kind ponies were, and how the whole society back then was better structured and more peaceful than ‘her own’.

I closed my eyes, a mild headache settling in after all that reading and translating. Thoughts about how she ended up in Equestria in the first place were still lingering in my mind, hours after the mentioning of Rome. I even considered the possibility of it being an old city name in this world, but there seemed to be no way of knowing for sure. I had to check for references of that city in other books, and the best way to find a book that might contain that reference was to talk to Twilight.

Soon I was outside of my room and heading downstairs, hoping to find an answer, when I picked up on a discussion that was taking place in the kitchen. It was probably because of the lower, concerned tone of the conversation that I stopped and eavesdropped.

“So what are we going to do?” the dragon asked, with slight frustration in his voice.

“I don’t really know Spike; we can’t keep him here forever . . . I know you two are good friends now but we have to face the truth: we just can’t afford having a permanent guest. I had to cancel my trip to Canterlot where I wanted to get some books I was saving up for, just so we can afford the food for the next weeks. Blink’s a stallion, he eats more than the two of us combined. We can’t let him starve either, since he’s barely recovering from that incident we still don’t know anything about.”

“I . . . I guess you’re right,” Spike admitted, realizing how many sacrifices Twilight had to make. He knew that month or so she would go to Canterlot and get some new books for her and the library, and truth be told, the salary of a librarian was average at best, so every extra expense had to cut from her books wish list.

“Don’t be sad, Spike, I’m sure we can find him a job and a place to live nearby. Plus, you’re going to see him constantly since I became his magic tutor.”

A fast and loud knock on the door interrupted their conversation, and as Twilight went to open it, I went back into my room. Pinkie Pie’s voice could be heard from downstairs. The life-filled pony came early to help prepare the ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party she wanted to throw for me. My mind, however, was not on the party, as I had just found out how costly my stay there has been for the pony that saved me.

I knew how important books were for Twilight, and I realized I couldn’t overextend my stay there for any longer. I had to find somewhere to go and the only thing I could think of was the farm I was found in the first place. I decided that the next day I would go visit Kazooie and ask him if he needs any help around the farm. It would be a temporary solution until I would find some good use for my magic.

The worst part of that experience was that my previous knowledge accumulated through years of study was pretty much useless here, as I doubted Equestria had any sort of computers or advanced technology for that matter.

I suddenly remembered I wanted to ask Twilight if she had ever heard of the city referenced in Bellona’s notes, but hearing her conversation with Spike made me forget about it. Pinkie Pie was now making a racket downstairs, and I started feeling the dread of your ordinary not-very-social pony, thinking about who would be invited to the party and what awkward situation I was going to be put through.

I grabbed another book from the pile on top of the bed and began reading it, trying to forget the inevitable but all so required event I had to participate in soon enough. As I flipped through the pages of the ‘Initiation in Magic’ manual using my hoof, a difficult task itself, I suddenly realized after a while that I was not using my foreleg anymore, but just waving my head. I also noticed a faint glow coming from the tip of my horn, as the pages were turning themselves.

I stopped reading right there and stared at the book, slightly amazed. I concentrated, trying to feel my own magic, as Twilight taught me. Surprisingly, I sensed it immediately, most of it gathered around my horn.

“Heck, the book can wait… or can it?” I thought, a grin forming on my face.

I started practicing the levitation spell with all the books I could find, and every time I picked up a new one in the air, I felt better and better control over them. After a while, I was able to turn the books as I was floating them, and even managed to open one without losing concentration. Soon enough I was trying to levitate two books at the same time, but it was substantially harder to keep both of them afloat simultaneously.

After all that concentration I was beginning to feel spent, not only mentally but strangely enough, physically too. I let the two books fall back on the bed and then gathered them all in the saddlebag. I then lay on the bed, yawning deeply as I relaxed into the pillow. I wanted to get all the rest I could, because starting the next day, my life would get way less comfortable than it had been in the past few days.

*** *** ***

The sound of a door being opened woke me up from my short nap.

“Hey, Blink, Twilight needs your help with something, could you come down?” Spike asked with an unusual enthusiasm in his eyes.

“Uhm, sure; be right there.”

I got out of bed and headed downstairs, intrigued by what Twilight would need my help for. As I walked into the unusual dark main room of the library, the fear of having another one of those nightmares came to me.

“Twilight?” I barely whispered into the darkness.

“SURPRISEEEEEE!!!!”

The lights switched on and the whole room burst into cheers, balloons and tons of confetti flying around.

It all happened in an instant: my horn started glowing immediately as my heart raced from the sudden screaming and lights. Twilight, who was in front of all the ponies that filled the library, suddenly felt a different kind of emotion inside the room, and saw the surge of magic building up inside me. She acted quickly and rushed to my side, her calming spell already starting to work on me.

“Calm down, Blink. It’s just a surprise party; you’re safe, try to relax now,” she said, quiet enough so only I can hear her, all while giving me a small, unsuspicious hug. “Welcome to Ponyville,” she then added, smiling.

“Thanks, Twilight, my magic just . . . started acting, I’m sorry about that,” I said to her, smiling at the rest of ponies who already started partying, unwary of what had happened.

“It’s alright, I’m pretty sure I was the only one that noticed,” she said, with a little pride for her abilities. She then looked at me with a more serious face. “But we really need to work on containing that magic of yours soon; it seemed that you were ready to blow up the entire library right there.”

“Really?” For some reason, a grin formed on my face. Twilight however gave me a harsh look.

“All right, all right, work on self-control, got it!”

Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared in front of me and hugged me tightly. I felt my spine being crushed, nerve access almost being restricted from the brain to the rest of the body.

“I’m being killed by a pink, energetic creature . . . why?” the thought passed my mind, as my vision began to cloud.

“WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!!!” she yelled happily, releasing the grip.

I was panting hard, trying to regain control of my body, making sure that I could still move my legs after that bone crushing hug.

“Hey Pinkie! Thanks, this is too kind of you.” My voice was a little cracked, and I hoped my vocal chords had not been damaged too much.

“Please excuse our friend, she can get too excited when throwing a welcoming party, especially since the last one was so long ago,” Rarity said, beaming at me.

“It’s all right . . . I think. Thanks a lot for this, I haven’t had a party in, uhm, well, I can’t remember when.”

Pinkie’s jaw dropped in utter disbelief.

“Ohh . . . it must be awful not to remember your past,” Fluttershy said, making her presence felt for the first time during that party.

“Forget about that! Have some cake, it’s awesome!” a blue mare added, approaching our group. Rainbow Dash was hungrily chomping on who-knows how many pieces of cake and cupcakes.

“How coarse of you, Dash,” Rarity added, noticeably disturbed by the pegasus’s behavior.

Rainbow Dash shot her an uninterested look then turned back at me, grinning, pieces of cake still stuck in her teeth.

“Howdy there!” I heard an unfamiliar voice. An orange coated earth pony mare with a long, beautiful golden mane was standing next to me. She grabbed my hoof and gave it a strong shake, her honest smile not dropping at all.

“Name’s Applejack, happy to finally meet ya! Sorry I couldn’t make it earlier, been busy back at the farm!”

“Nice to meet you too, I’m Blink,” I said, still staring at her blonde mane.

It’s so . . . nice.

Even if that was the fourth day I’ve been there, it still amazed me how beautiful and real everything was, especially the ponies. Particularly the mares . . .

I shook those thoughts from my mind and continued talking with everyone, even though I had little to add to any conversation. It felt so bad hiding everything from them, but that was the only solution I thought up at that time, and I had to stick with it.

Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were at the refreshments table set up in a corner at the back of the room and Spike was talking with Rarity and Applejack. I was with Twilight and Fluttershy, our conversation somehow ending up around books.

“So, did the bird encyclopedia I lent you the other day help?” Twilight asked the yellow pegasus.

“Well uhm, it actually didn’t. I still haven’t figured out what kind of bird that black one was, and the book has nothing on it, it’s definitely a new species. It’s so frustrating, I keep seeing it once or twice a day, hovering above Ponyville then flying back into the Everfree Forest. I have never seen birds do that before.”

The animal caretaker certainly looked upset that she couldn’t get to know a new creature, but I shrugged it off as just Fluttershy being obsessed about animals.

“Don’t be so harsh on yourself, you know there is no animal out there that wouldn’t want to be near you, it’s probably because it comes from the Everfree Forest; just give it some time and it will get used to ponies,” Twilight reassured her, not knowing what else to say.

“And you,” she turned to me. “I have something for you, wait here.”

I gave her a puzzled stare while she went upstairs into her room.

Weird . . .

“Hey there, Blink,” Rarity said, startling me. “I thought that since you are new in Ponyville, I might show you around; you could even visit my boutique, even if I am a dress maker, I always wanted to try getting into stallion clothing and you could be of great help for me!” She was smiling the whole time, with a somewhat awkward spark in her eyes.

Not sure if generous or-

“I’m back!” Twilight’s voice interrupted my thoughts, as I turned to see what she had to show me. “Please accept this as a welcoming gift; I don’t want my first student to have any reasons not to keep up with his training.”

She levitated a small black box in front of me.

“Wow, Twilight, you shouldn’t have . . . thank you. Uhh, what is it?” I asked, studying the peculiar box in front of me. It was actually made out of a strange, dark wood, and had a round lock the shape of a half-sphere on the front side.

“Silly colt, open it and you’ll see. Ohh, you’ll need to use magic to unlock it. It’s meant to be opened by unicorns, and only the first one that does it will be able to open it from then on. Just focus a little bit of magic on the lock, that should do it.”

I felt hesitant about that box but curiosity got me in the end and I closed my eyes, following the steps needed to focus energy into my horn. It was certainly easier now than it was the first time, and almost instantly I felt my horn charging with magic. I focused on the lock and it started glowing a faint blue. Suddenly, it snapped opened and the small strongbox opened. Inside it there were two books, several brown quills, two ink pots and a stack of pieces of paper the size of very small pages.

“Thank you, Twilight; I actually needed something like this!”

Indeed, it was going to be much easier for me to learn spells by writing down details and notes and it would also help me in my further attempts of translating Bellona’s writings.

“It’s basically a kit for unicorns that study magic. It has a notebook and the other one is a symbolism dictionary, you will need it when learning new spells. Quills and ink to note down your findings, and the stack of paper patches is hmm . . . it’s for more advanced stuff, we’ll talk about it later.”

“I really appreciate it, must have cost a fortune! Is there any way at all I can repay you for everything you’ve done?”

“Don’t trouble yourself about it, we’re just glad that you are all right and that we got a new friend. Now stop worrying and let’s enjoy the party.” She smiled at me and I returned the gesture, feeling much better.

We enjoyed the rest of the party, where I tried my best to socialize with the guests. One thing I noticed was that I felt much more comfortable between ponies than I would between people. Here, ponies wouldn’t judge me or care about my past and they were all quite welcoming to strangers like myself. It made me feel bad because I had to hide my true identity, and I realized that someday I would have to tell them about my past. Until that day however, I still had to find out my real purpose in Equestria. If there was one.

After a few more hours, the party was finally over and everyone went to their homes. Spike had fallen asleep on the couch, between several balloons and confetti. Twilight removed the mess from around him with her magic and then levitated a small blanket over his body, partially covering him. She softly kissed the young dragon on his forehead and then we went upstairs, wished each other a good night and entered our own rooms. I quickly fell into a deep sleep, tired from the eventful day.

*** *** ***

The next day started off as what could be described as normal. Spike woke me up and then we had breakfast: a rather simple meal, fried eggs and some cabbage leaves. As we sat down and ate, I noticed my portion was a double one, and Twilight’s conversation with Spike from the previous day regarding the money shortage came into mind. They were giving up on the small luxuries they had just to feed me . . .

“Blink, are you all right? You seem a little bit distant this morning,” Twilight asked, curious about my quietness.

“I’m fine, I was just thinking about what I can do today . . . decided I should visit Kazooie and, you know, thank him about what he has done for me.”

“That’s very nice of you, I know he’ll be happy to see you’re recovered and healthy. Also, there’s one thing I want you to help me with; consider it a replacement for your physical exercise.”

“Sure, anything, it’s the least I can do to repay you.”

“Well, I talked to Fluttershy at the party last night and she asked me if she could ‘borrow’ Spike to help her with one of her chores. Spike’s been so kind and had been helping everypony around, now since he’s almost as strong as a normal pony . . .”

“Almost?” The dragon asked, puffing black smoke from his nostrils towards Twilight.

“We’ll you’re still young, Spike, and don’t tell me that you could do Applejack’s work for example,” she responded, coughing from the smoke. “And I told you not to do that inside the library, one day this whole place will burn down. I thought you understood our little talk about fire safety in the library after you got your flame.”

“His . . . flame?” I asked automatically.

“Uhm, yea. Well, to be fair, he has been able to blow out magical green flames that could transport letters to the Princess. Celestia herself trained him while we were still in Canterlot, years ago. But for the rest of dragons, their ability to breathe fire comes at around Spike’s current age. He got his own flame several months ago, and now he is able to breathe both the magical flame and the normal one other dragons have.”

As to demonstrate Twilight’s explanation, Spike took a deep breath, bubbling sounds being heard from the bottom of his throat. He then spat out a short but concentrated column of bright flames for a few seconds, right above the table.

“Spike!”

“Relax, Twilight; I can control it much better now,” the dragon said, quickly putting out a small flame from his nostril. “I still have to work on the secondary air evacuation but I’m pretty much on top of it,” he stated, proud of himself.

“Secondary what?” I asked, confusion mounting up.

“I’ve been practicing with my new flame ever since I got it and Twilight gave me a book that had the whole process explained. It’s much more complicated than it looks,” he grinned.

“And I said you could train for how long you want, but not in the library! You also need to be at least five meters away from the tree house, and I’ll raise that to seven meters from now on.”

“You’re no fun,” Spike puffed at her.

“Anyway Blink, as I was saying before being engulfed in smoke,” her eyes darted at the dragon, who was smirking happily, “I wanted to ask you if you could go by Fluttershy’s house today and help her with whatever thing she needs done. I’m sure you are fit enough now to do whatever Spike would have had to do to help her.”

“Sure, I would be happy to! Could I do it after I come back from Kazooie?”

“I don’t see why not, you can see Kazooie’s farm from our backyard, near that small forest. When you come back, just go along the forest’s edge until you find a small lake. Beyond the lake there’s another forest, the Everfree forest, and just outside of it you will find Fluttershy’s cottage. You think you can do it?”

“Yep, sounds easy enough.”

“But you also have to know this: the Everfree forest is a very treacherous place, so don’t go in it, all right? It has a lot of dangerous creatures and plants and we never go there unless we are in a group,” Twilight said, serious.

“Got it! Now if you excuse me, I’ll be off to see Kazooie. See you guys later!”

“Okay then, take care, Blink!”

*** *** ***

I went out in the backyard and slowly headed towards the distant farm, gladly enjoying the fresh air once again. The sun was shining brightly, without a trace of clouds in the sky. All the trees and plants were blooming and full of life. It had to be the beginning of summer, since it wasn’t that hot outside, despite being the middle of the day.

I quickly reached the farmer’s house, recognizing it by the barn where I was brought to during that first night. I knocked with my hoof at the door and stood there quietly, waiting for a response. After a few moments, the door opened, revealing a yellow mare with blue mane and red eyes.

“Hey there, what can I help you with?”

“Uhm . . . hello, I’m-”

“Dear Celestia! You’re the stallion my husband found that night! I’m so happy to see you’re all right! Please, come in! I’m going to get Kazooie, make yourself at home.”

She went upstairs while I waited nervously in the main room. After a while, the mare and Kazooie came down.

“Hey there, stud, glad ya could visit us!” Kazooie almost shouted. “Please, take a seat.”

We all sat down at the round table in the middle of the room and the earth pony continued. ”Annabelle here and our young filly, Bonnie, were beginning to worry about you. So, how’s life in Ponyville so far? Had any luck with your memories?”

“Well, it’s been great staying here, everyone is so nice and welcoming. As far as remembering stuff, still nothing I’m afraid.”

“I’m sorry to hear about that. I’ve heard from Twilight that you’ve started doing magic again, haven’t you? Isn’t that a good thing for unicorns?”

“It sure is, Twilight even says it could be my special talent somehow. I still haven’t figured what my cutie mark represents so I’m pretty much clueless as to what I am really good at, even though I narrowed it down to ‘magic stuff’.”

“I see,” Kazooie stated, somewhat serious. A grin suddenly crept on his face. “So, how are things going with Miss Twilight?”

Annabelle shot him one of those ‘are you serious?’ looks, but he didn’t notice or refused to acknowledge it.

“Well, pretty well I might say, I’m making good progress,” I responded unknowingly, thinking he had referred to the magic training somehow.

“Good then, it’s about time that mare got herself a fine gentlecolt, I swear, every night before going to bed I can see the lights still up in that library. She studies day and night that magic stuff of hers, that’s way too much learning for a normal pony. Hopefully from now on, that light in her room will be out more during the nights, if ya know what I mean.” The stallion let out a laugh, while Annabelle’s jaw dropped.

“Whoa there!” I cried out, “I meant I’m making progress with my magic training, we’re not . . . we’re just friends, Kazooie!” I was blushing mad, ashamed of the conversational trap I had fallen into.

“Darn it Kazooie, why must you embarrass this poor stallion like that?” the mare complained with a harsh tone.

“Aww shucks, calm your saddle, dear, I was just messing with the guy . . .”

He gave me a wink and continued laughing, amused by my shame.

The steps of a young pony were heard coming down the stairs. The young filly had been drawn by the laughs and the strange new voice in the house, so she was cautiously coming down from her room.

“There she is,” Kazooie said, still shaking off some laughs, “come here, darling, we have somepony here you wanted to see.”

The young pony came closer and her face lighted up when she recognized me.

“Hey! You’re the colt daddy saved! My name’s Bonnie, I heard yours is Blink, how are you?”

“Hey Bonnie!” I said, smiling at the young filly. “I’m quite fine now, thanks for asking.” It was nice to see that certain filly again, she was the first pony I’ve seen in my life during that first night and she seemed so kind and sweet.

We kept talking about how it’s been for me in the past few days and with Bonnie now there as well, the conversation was sure to not drift away like it did before she came, much to my content.

“Kazooie, before I leave, may I talk to you about one thing?”

“Sure, anything!”

“It’s kind of weird for me to ask you about this, but it’s all right if you can’t help me. I was wondering, since I don’t want to abuse Twilight’s hospitality, would you need uhm . . . some help at the farm? I could work for you and build myself a tree house in the forest near the farm or something. I just need a job until I find out about myself.”

After a moment of thinking, Kazooie smiled at me.

“Blink, you’re in luck! My crops are near their first harvest period and this year I went a little bit too far and planted more than I could harvest on my own, even with muh’ family’s help. So I would be happy to hire you on my farm. But that means working. I know ya’re a unicorn, and I’ll make it easier for you at first, but you will have to get to a good pace if we’re to harvest the entire crop before it dies out.”

“I’ll take it! Thanks, Kazooie, I really appreciate your help.”

“Don’t worry, you seem to be a nice stallion and if Twilight trusts you living with her, I can as well. And I insist you stay in the small house we own near the lake. It’s not much, just two small rooms, but I think it beats making your own tree house.”

“Wow, that’s- that would be awesome!”

“Now, the lettin’ down part. We’re a family of farmers, making our living from the harvest we grow each year. We also have a garden for vegetables and some hens and pigs so unfortunately, I can’t pay you a lot of bits, but I’m sure we can arrange you eating with us at least two meals a day. So, how does that sound for ya?”

“More than fair, Kazooie, I’m pretty much ok as long as I have a place to sleep and a plate of food every day, and I would definitely appreciate anything extra that comes on top of that.”

“Well then, we have a deal: we’ll give ya a place to stay, food and a small amount of bits every week, depending on how much work you’ve done, and you’ll help us with our crop!”

He extended a hoof and I grabbed it, shaking it.

“So, you can start from let’s say, the day after tomorrow if you want; unless you wanna’ spend more nights at Miss Twilight’s,” Kazooie said, winking at me again.

“That sounds good to me,” I said with a nervous laugh. “The part where I start working, that is . . .”

“I’ll have to go and prepare the house then, I can expect you moving in tomorrow?”

“Actually, I would like to do it tonight, if that’s all right with you.”

As much as I enjoyed my stay at the library, the independent inside me was screaming for liberty. Having my own place to stay deeply reassured me, and I felt a little more secure about my future in Equestria, even if for a short term period.

I headed outside with Kazooie and we both walked towards the lake. We talked some more about how my first few days working at his farm would be, and it seemed that the adaptation period was indeed short. We reached a small lake, about five minutes of walking from his house.

I quickly noticed the small lake was actually a huge buildup from a stream. Fresh water was flowing from the Everfree forest into the lake, and on its other side, the excess overflown into Ponyville’s river, several hundred of meters away.

I followed Kazooie, who wanted to show me the place I was going to live in: a small, cozy house, right near the normal forest. It was made out of wood, with a solid rock base. The roof was made out of a thick layer of hay and there was a chimney to its side. We went in and at first I was surprised by how spacious the main room was. It had a small table, a couple of chairs, and to the side of the room there was an open kitchen. There were only two other doors, one linking to a bathroom and the other leading to a small room, with a double bed.

“Sweet,” I said, noticing the bed which was larger than the one I was sleeping in the past few days.

“Ah’ know . . . it sure looks big enough for two ponies and it’s all yours while you work at the farm,” Kazooie said, shooting me a suggestive smirk.

“Just . . . friends,” I grunted in annoyance.

“Sure, stud. Anyway I’m gonna’ fix up this place a little bit, and you can come back later this evening; or tomorrow, whenever you want.”

“Okay. Also, one last question: I saw the bathroom, but it had no bath. So wh-”

“Ahh, that! Almost forgot. Come along with me.”

I followed him outside, naively thinking there was some sort of separate structure or something like that with a larger bathroom in it.

“There’s your bathtub!” Kazooie said, pointing a hoof at a nearby huge willow tree, right beside the lake, where the stream was flowing into the creek.

“But, I can’t see any- don’t tell me . . .”

“Yep, the lake’s your tub, and the willow provides the curtains. Fresh water comes in, what more could you want from nature? I hope that’s okay with you.”

“I guess it is. Heck, why not? I could get used to this. Thanks Kazooie; for all your help,” I said honestly.

“It’s no big deal. Remember, you start work in two days, at noon!”

“I’ll be there, don’t you worry. See you later!”

I went out towards the Everfree forest, giving a last look over the shoulder to my new house.

After just a few minutes I saw a hut right at the outskirts of the unnatural forest, and I recognized Fluttershy straight away. She was spreading some food in front of her for several small rodent-like animals.

“Hey there!” I said to the pegasus, startling her.

She jumped into the nearest bush. I facehoofed right as it started shaking, stray leaves falling to the ground from it. Even the animals looked at the entire situation with various degrees of confusion, and then resumed eating.

“It’s me, Blink. Sorry for scaring you . . . again.”

The yellow mare got out of the bush, putting up a rather embarrassed smile.

“It’s all right. I didn’t know you would come, I was expecting Spike. What brings you here?”

“Well, Twilight asked me if I could help you by doing whatever Spike was supposed to do for you.”

“Oh, I see,” the pegasus responded, almost in a whisper. “I just needed some animal feed bags brought from my shed. They are too heavy for me to carry,” she explained with an innocent smile that somehow made my legs tremor from, for lack of a better word, cuteness.

“Sure! No problem,” I quickly said, trying to regain my composure in front of the mare. “So, bags; Where do you want them?”

“Right there, near my house,” she said, pointing at a small, covered workspace near her hut.

“All right, I’ll get to it!”

The shed was quite close to her house so my work was fairly easy. I used my back to carry the bags, dragging them onto me with my mouth. The thought of using magic passed through my mind, but it would have probably worked for only one or two trips before I would have exhausted myself.

After about an hour, I finished carrying enough bags to feed the animals for the next month. I then lay on the ground, in Fluttershy's garden, relaxing and watching all the animals around. The yellow pegasus had brought me a glass of fresh water, and to my surprise, joined me in watching the animals wonder around.

"Would you happen to like animals, Blink?" she asked with a tentative smile.

"I enjoy their company, I think. Twilight's owl is quite a nice creature although he can get a little creepy some times."

"That's uhmm, nice. I like animals myself; I don't know if Twilight told you but I'm kind of the local caretaker for animals. I've raised and took care of them ever since I found out about their existence, when I was a little filly."

"Somehow, I figured out you were an animal lover. The multitude of creatures around your cottage gave that away to be fair," I said, smiling at her.

And right then, as I was watching some small critters running around in the grass, a question arose.

Why not get a pet of my own?

Even if I used to live alone back home, a companion in that small house near the lake would have definitely been good for me. Thriving for independence didn’t have to imply living in loneliness, and I actually enjoyed the presence of animals as a child.

“Hey Fluttershy . . .”

“Uhm, yea?”

“I was thinking about getting, you know . . . a pet.”

“REALLY?” The yellow pegasus jumped out in excitement, startling me this time. “Ohh, I’m sorry!”

“It’s ok. So, what do you think I should get?”

“Well, I don’t know . . . hmm, come with me.”

Fluttershy walked to the back of her garden where she had the chickens shed and other shelters for different animals.

“You could get a cute little bunny.”

“Yeah, not sure about that,” I said, raising an eyebrow.

“But they are so nice and soft!”

She picked one from the ground and brought it up to me. Strangely, the small critter started shifting and kicking its legs, eventually escaping Fluttershy’s hooves and running away.

“That’s strange,” she said, worried. “Don’t worry, I can find you another pet.”

The pegasus then called an eagle, and it swiftly came to her, landing on her extended foreleg. “How about this one?”

As she turned the animal towards me, it suddenly panicked and flew away towards the sky.

“I’m so sorry about this, the animals must be scared of you because they had never seen you here before.”

“I don’t know what to say . . . you’re probably right, Fluttershy.”

Another lie; inside, I was beginning to fear the worst. What if the animals could feel that darkness inside me? What if they felt that I’m not from this world? My fears were slowly confirmed, as Fluttershy desperately tried to find an animal that wouldn’t run away from me as soon as I came close to them.

A sudden caw drew my attention. Far up in the sky, a black bird was circling around us. Fluttershy had also heard the noise and looked in the air, immediately recognizing the bird.

“That’s the one that I started seeing a few days ago!” she exclaimed, “I still couldn’t figure what kind of bird it is.”

The feathered creature started descending, getting closer and closer to us. Fluttershy got up into the air and slowly headed towards it. As she would do with all birds, she raised her foreleg, waiting for it to come and sit on it.

The bird however had other plans, and continued her descent, passing the pegasus without giving her any attention. It landed on a small fence, right in front of me. Fluttershy came back down and just stood there, watching the bird.

“I guess it likes you,” she said in a murmur, not able to believe that there was a creature in Equestria that would not befriend her first from all other ponies.

“What kind of bird exactly are you?” she asked the animal, as if it could speak back. The bird cawed again, looking at me and tilting her head.

“I’ve never seen something like her in my life,” Fluttershy admitted, turning towards me.

I looked at the bird but couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary with it; I had seen plenty if birds like it in my life. Maybe they didn’t live in Equestria. But that meant . . .

“Fluttershy, when did you say you’ve seen it for the first time?”

“Uhm, that would be around three or four days ago.”

“That’s when I arrived here…” I thought. And then I realized that was no accident. For some unknown reasons at that time, it was sent after me into that world. The bird was meant to be my pet and I had to admit, the choice was highly . . . symbolic.

“Can I keep it?” I asked flatly, my mind already decided.

The pegasus stared at the both of us for a moment and then nodded in agreement. “I don’t see why now. How are you going to call her?”

“Hmm, how about Raven?”

As soon as I said that name, the bird (an actual raven) flapped her wings and cawed again, louder that time. She flew from the fence straight to my back and cleaned her beak against my coat a couple of times.

“That’s a quite a strange name for a pet . . .” Fluttershy said, a little reluctant to approach the bird.

“I thought it might be,” I admitted, smiling. “Anyway, thanks a lot for helping me find a pet.”

“Uhh, no problem,” the pegasus responded rather disappointed.

“Hey, don’t worry! I can bring her anytime you want if you wish to study her or anything like that.”

“That would be lovely,” Fluttershy’s face suddenly brightened.

We eventually said our goodbyes and I headed back to the library, with a new friend by my side. Actually, on my back.

“So, Raven, guess you can’t tell me why you’re here, can you?” I asked the bird, as we crossed a bridge, the tree house now in sight.

Her response was just another loud caw. After a while she started climbing further on my back, and then onto my head. She stopped right at the tip of my horn, holding herself in place with her claws. The bird could now see above my vantage point, studying all the houses and the occasional passing pony, cawing at them and drawing strange looks. From time to time, she would clean her beak by rubbing it against my horn.

“Oww, stop it!” I said, laughing, “That tickles as hell.”

We reached the library and went inside, finding Twilight rearranging some books in the main room.

“Hey there, Blink! Already back from- uhm, what is that black bird on your head?” Twilight looked at me, her eyes widening at the sight of the creature.

“This right here is Raven, and she’s my new pet,” I stated rather proudly.

“Well that’s a rather strange name for a pet.”

“I know, Fluttershy told me the same thing. For me it just felt . . . well let’s just say it felt natural.”

“Oh, so this has to be the one that she couldn’t recognize. How did you get stuck with it as your pet?”

“I don’t know, she just came to me.”

“How strange. What else have you been up to?” Twilight asked, still giving the bird second looks.

“Well, I guess I’m moving out today.”

“What? But where?” She asked, looking somewhat disappointed.

“Twilight, I am extremely grateful for all that you have done for me. I owe you my life, in fact. But I can’t stay here forever, that wouldn’t be right. I talked to Kazooie and he offered me a deal: I work at his farm and get food and shelter, plus some bits. I’m going to live by the lake between the two forests, in my own house and work on his farm until I figure out what this means,” I said, pointing my head towards my cutie mark. “Don’t worry, Raven’s gonna keep me company, and I’m still coming by on our magic training sessions, right?”

Twilight seemed glad for me, and that was indeed the right thing I should have done. It was hard though to ignore the fact that my departure seemed to make her feel a little sad.

“All right. I’m glad that you found a place to stay, but I insist on having one last dinner with us.”

“That would be great,” I responded, trying to hold a laugh.

“What is it?”

“Raven . . . pffhahaha, she tickles my horn. Off you go, pesky thing,” I said, waving my hoof above my head. Raven instead jumped to my ear, pinching it. I yelped from the pain and shook her off. She flew to the nearest chair and then just stared at me, cawing from time to time.

“That sure is a strange one,” Twilight said, taking a liking to the bird’s behavior.

“Funny until she bites your ear off, that is,” I added, rubbing my ear.

I got to my room and started packing. Quite an easy job, considering everything I had was a saddlebag, a magic ‘student kit’ and a nice diamond Spike gave me when I met him. I put the diamond in one of the saddlebag’s pockets and squeezed the box in the other one. I also packed the rest of the books I had to read, including Star Swirl the Bearded’s copy of ‘Mastering the inner magic'.

I then headed back downstairs and joined Twilight and Spike for dinner. We talked about how the day went by for each of us and laughed at how Owloysius and Raven ‘cawed’ and ‘who-ed’ at each other.

“Blink, I almost forgot, I’ve got a letter from Princess Celestia, she told me it would be great if we could come and visit her tomorrow, with that occasion I could show you around Canterlot and give you a tour of the castle.”

“Oww, not the tour…” Spike pleaded, faking a faint, “He’s going to die of boredom. I’m going to die of boredom!”

“Don’t worry, Spike, I would definitely enjoy seeing the castle. Plus, it’s my last free day before starting work on the farm.”

“Perfect then, we’ll leave tomorrow at ten in the morning.”

“In that case, I’ll probably be heading out to my new place, I’m really exhausted from today.”

“See you tomorrow dude!” Spike said, somewhat saddened by my departure.

We wished each other good nights and then left, heading towards the lake. The sun was barely visible on the skyline, as the night’s darkness slowly crept in. Raven was on my shoulder, watching the sun’s last waves of light. We arrived at the house and I went straight into the bedroom, dropping my saddlebag somewhere on the floor.

Finally, a large bed I could be comfortable in. I noticed it had fresh sheets on and I made a note to myself to thank Kazooie again for his generosity. Inside the room was a proper desk, with drawers and everything, and also a small, empty shelf. For a fleeting moment I wondered what purpose that building served for Kazooie’s family in the past.

Raven flew into the room after me and landed right on the desk.

“Suit yourself, but the bed is mine,” I said to her.

I climbed into the soft bed and for a while I just stared across the new room. It felt good to have a place of my own, even if just temporary. I looked at Raven, who was already dozing off on the desk. I chuckled, remembering something I never found out, and probably never will, given the circumstances.

“So Raven, why are you like a writing desk?”

Raven looked at me and cawed gently, after which she put her head under a wing, quickly falling asleep.

“That’s what I thought . . .” I said to myself, and closed my eyes, falling into my own, deep sleep.

End of chapter 6

Chapter 7: Illusions of Peace

Chapter 7

Illusions of Peace

The sun tore through the sky, announcing the start of another bright, sunny day, a day that would also mark the beginning of the hot summer period in Equestria, when the first series of crops were going to be harvested.

The sunlight bounced from the surface of the small lake, reflecting onto the house nearby. A distant scene slowly began fading away, the dream world shifting towards the real one. One of my hind legs twitched, as I felt a somewhat pleasant touch on my horn, my mouth mumbling away in a conversation from a now distant dream. A soft nip at my left ear drew a wide grin on my face.

“Stop it, Twili-”

“Caaw!”

“What the?!” I yelped, causing the bird to flee from my face, as I pushed back into the bed, flailing my hooves in the air. I realized I was no longer in the library, and threw a scornful look at the raven, as it took her place on the desk.

“Just a dream . . . damn you, Raven!” I said, wiping away some droll from my mouth and yawning loudly.

I got out of bed and trotted over to the other room, where my eyes fell on a small basket over the table that had a note on top of it. It was filled with some fruits, a loaf of bread and a bottle of milk. On the note, a surprisingly calligraphic writing formed a short message:

Welcome to your new house! Enjoy your breakfast, it’s not much, but everything is from our farm, fresh and natural.

Annabelle.

“That’s so nice,” I thought, biting from a big, red apple.

Raven flew inside the room and landed on the table, looking curiously at the basket.

“What? You ruined a beautiful dream I was having. You aren’t getting any!” I said, smiling devilishly at her. She cawed back at me, that time a little more submissive and quieter.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m just kidding, silly bird; here, have some of this.”

I ripped a corner off the bread loaf and put it in front of Raven. She immediately started eating from it, hungrily.

“Someone’s got an appetite! I gotta talk to Fluttershy to see what else I can feed you with. Although you should be able to feed yourself, right?”

Oblivious to my question, Raven kept eating, grabbing a larger piece of bread and smashing it against the table, picking off the resulting crumbs.

I put the basket away in a kitchen cabinet and left the house, leaving Raven inside to finish her share of the breakfast. As I was heading towards the lake, I took in a deep breath, enjoying the fresh morning air. Reaching the edge, I tested the water with a hoof, but it was too cold for a dip so I just lied there on the grass, enjoying the view.

Not long after, the sound of an approaching guest became clearer and clearer, my ear automatically twitching towards the source of the noise. I turned my head, still lying on the ground, and saw Spike coming up to me.

“Hey Blink! How’s your new home?” he asked, while checking out the small house.

“Hello Spike, It’s nice; can’t complain, double bed for myself and the works. This is the life.”

“That’s cool, but I think Twilight misses you,” the dragon replied, hiding a smirk.

“She does?” I asked all too quickly.

“Ha! Gotcha, lover boy!”

“Just . . . friends,” I hissed back.

“Relax, big guy, I’m just teasing you. Now let’s get moving, we have to go to Canterlot today, or did you forget?”

To be fair, it had almost slipped my mind. I remembered how Twilight told me that Celestia wanted us to pay her a visit today. I still wondered what she wanted to talk to us about.

Spike and I started heading off towards the library, and on the way there, Raven flew on my back, having finished her breakfast.

“How did- ughh, guess I’m stuck with you for the rest of my life?” I asked, looking at the bird that was now sitting down comfortably between my shoulder blades as I was strolling alongside with Spike.

The dragon gave Raven a curious look. “How did you found that strange animal again?” he asked, receiving a rather angry look from the bird in question.

“Well, she kinda’ found me, I guess.”

“I’ve never seen such a bird, which explains why Fluttershy was so stressed out about it.”

“I could say that both of us are strangers to these places, am I right, Raven?”

The bird softly cawed in response.

We soon reached the library, where Twilight was waiting for us, packing stuff for the trip.

“Hey Blink! How was your first night in your new house?” she asked, as me and Spike walked into the library’s main room.

“It was okay, I guess. How’s the itinerary looking for today?”

“Well,” Twilight started, levitating a list in front of her, “we’ll have to visit the Princess first, and after that I can give you a tour of the city; something tells me that you’ll love it.”

“Something else tells me we’ll die of boredom,” Spike added.

Twilight rolled her eyes in annoyance and went outside through the back door, ready for the trip.

“Come on guys, it’s already afloat,” she shouted from the backyard.

I followed Spike, curious about where we were actually going.

“I hope you’re not afraid of heights,” the dragon said as we got out of the house.

Immediately my eyes fell on the huge hot air balloon in the middle of the yard. It was bigger than I would have expected it to be and the basket could easily fit four, if not five ponies.

“So legit,” I said, gasping at the huge thing.

“So what?” Twilight asked while getting inside, her magic getting to work and tweaking the burners.

“Legal,” I corrected myself. “I meant, is this thing legal?”

“Well of course it is, I even got a flying permit for it back in Canterlot.”

“That’s rather assuring.”

“Relax, we won’t crash or anything like that, I’ve done this a million times.”

The three of us got inside the basket and Twilight untied the anchor rope, letting the balloon gently rise into the air. As we ascended, the tree house became smaller and smaller, as the whole town of Ponyville revealed itself under us. Looking back, I could see the small lake and my new home near it. About a mile to its right was Fluttershy’s cottage, right in front of the huge Everfree forest.

Twilight’s horn began to glow and the balloon started heading towards a mountain region in the far distance.

“Are you driving it with your magic?” I asked, intrigued.

“Indeed, I am. It would take too long to reach Canterlot just by relying on the wind currents, so I’m just giving it a push.”

The balloon picked up speed and soon enough we were floating over Sweet Apple acres, Twilight taking her time to wave a hoof at Applejack and Big Mac, who were bucking the orchard’s first harvest.

My legs were shaking a bit, being the first time I flew in something like that. I had just gotten used to walking on all fours and I still had small adjustment issues with my new body’s weight distribution. There was a fun part to it though: even if the balloon wasn’t the fastest thing ever, the wind was still rushing through my mane, making me feel somewhat better. In times like those I wondered if I would have been better off as a pegasus, and I slowly began understanding Rainbow Dash’s passion for flying.

“Are you all right?” Twilight asked, noticing my slight discomfort.

“Yea, sure, just . . . new to flying I guess. It’s kinda cool, though.”

After about half an hour, I could see the edges of a big city, located at the base of a large mountain chain.

“And that’s Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria,” Twilight’s voice could be heard, as I was amazed by the actual size of the city in front of my eyes. It was so much bigger than I could have ever imagined, stretching for well over a mile along the mountain, a tall wall surrounding it from every direction.

“This certainly beats the one from the show,” I thought, my jaw still hanging.

“Isn’t it beautiful? I sometimes miss living here, but then I remember all the friends I have in Ponyville.”

“It sure looks busier and more uhm, classy?” I said, studying from a distance what seemed to be a luxurious neighborhood.

“It sure is, and yes, most ponies here are a little more sophisticated. I’m happy my parents aren’t like them. Which reminds me, I should pay them a visit. It would be a nice opportunity for you to meet them!”

“What?!” both me and Spike suddenly jumped.

“Twilight, I don’t think this is such a good idea,” Spike started.

“Yea, they may have other more important things to do than meet me, I’m sure,” I added.

“It was just an idea, what’s gotten into you, guys?” she said, rolling her eyes and then resuming guiding the balloon towards its destination.

I sat down near Spike, who was at the other end of the fairly large basket, and gave him a nod, appreciatively.

“Did she just suggest presenting me to her parents?” I whispered to the dragon.

“Yeap. You have to understand her, she doesn’t go out much. Like, at all, except with the rest of the gang. So, naturally, she doesn’t know about stuff like this. Also, knowing her parents, that would have been awkward for you,” Spike whispered back.

“Tell me about it.”

“No, I mean really, really strange. When we moved to Canterlot, her father, Night Light, made me promise I’ll take care of her and let no colts get near.”

“As any responsible father would say-” I started, but Spike quickly interrupted me.

“Yea, that was when we left Canterlot, she was still young then, and so was I. Now, whenever we visit her parents, they use every opportunity to talk to me in private and ask me if she has started seeing anypony. They’re worrying about her not going out like any young mare would.”

“So her bringing me to her parents all of a sudden would have gotten them the wrong idea,” I concluded.

“Exactly.”

“What are you two up to?” Twilight asked, turning her head towards us, noticing the whispering even though she was concentrating on steering the balloon.

“Nothing!” we answered in unison.

“Okay then, because we’re almost there! We just have to land on that pad there,” she said, pointing towards a platform.

The landing area was sticking out of a tower which was guarding the city’s main gates. It was quite high though, and we weren’t ascending fast enough.

“Spike, we’re low on fuel, can you boost it a little? Not much, just to get us up to the tower.”

The dragon complied without a hesitation. While Twilight set aside the balloons burners, he took a deep breath and this time, the bubbling noises inside his chest were louder. A bright, red flame shot out of his mouth, dispersing inside the balloon, making it suddenly rise.

“Nice flame, Spike,” I said, quite impressed. He gave me a wink in response, slightly puffing his chest out.

“Don’t encourage him,” Twilight complained.

After a few moments, the balloon was at the right height, ready to land. Twilight pushed the aircraft down on the platform, while Spike threw a sandbag with a rope attached out of the basket. We got out and Twilight quickly secured the balloon, with the help of a guard pony.

“Good morning, Miss Sparkle, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” the guard said.

“Likewise, David. How are things around here these days?” Twilight asked.

“It’s pretty much the same old busy place you left when you were younger. Not much has changed since you were gone, I’m afraid. And of course, I’m still in charge with the landing tower’s security. All in all, things are going well.”

“I’m glad everything’s fine. I’m sorry though, I can’t stay any longer and we really have to get to the castle for a meeting. So, see you later, David!”

“Miss Twilight . . .” the guard greeted her off, bowing his head.

“Don’t tell me you know everyone here too,” I asked her rhetorically, while we went down the tower’s stairway, after a few moments.

“Oh no, we just know each other from all my travels with the balloon. He’s been working as a guard at this tower for several years.”

“I see, but can’t you teleport here?” I asked.

Twilight let out a laugh and even Spike chuckled at my question.

“No silly, I can't. Even though I’m pretty good with the spell, it does have a downside: the greater the distance, the bigger the amount of magic needed to cast it. Even fully rested, my autonomy won’t exceed two, maybe three miles with maximum accuracy, or even up to five but teleporting at that distance is not precise and you don’t want to end up inside a mountain, do you?”

“That’s . . . awesome! When can I learn that spell?” I eagerly asked.

“Won’t be too soon, Blink. You’ve barely managed to lift pebbles off the ground. You have magic, in ample supply I might add, but you lack technique and control. Also, you have a lot of reading and studying to do if you wish to proceed in a magic based career. That is, if we don’t find out who you were before that night and your actual talent.”

That reminder gave me cold chills, as I was still uncertain how my whole cover-up would hold out in time. I could only hope she would give up searching for answers and just leave it be, which was unlikely, seeing as Twilight was quite persistent in all her endeavors.

We finally reached the bottom of the tower and trotted outside, right into a busy market square. The main gates nearby were bustling with traffic, hundreds of ponies, carriages, and carts making their way on what seemed to be the main street leading into the capital. I took a closer look at the wooden gates and noticed they were actually bigger and a lot thicker than they seemed from the balloon. They were also wide open on the inside, with lots of shopping stands right next to them.

“Twilight, those gates right there, they don’t usually close, do they?” I asked.

“Why would they?” the purple mare casually responded. That made me realize a bitter truth: no matter how much I enjoyed being in Equestria and trying to fit in, there was no doubt of what my true origins were. I came from a world of conflict, lies and hate, where everyone had to be suspicious about the rest in order to pull through.

Equestria on the other side seemed to be a calm and nice place to live, with no insecurities or worries about what the next day might bring. Order and prosperity were the words one could use to describe this wonderful place, and having an element of Harmony by my side just made everything even more surreal. Everything seemed good, too good in fact.

As I pondered on all those things, we kept walking across the busy street. Twilight lit up her horn, making me lose my trail of thoughts. A yellow carriage stopped in front of us, and I had to take a few steps back not to be ran over.

“You signaled, miss?” the buff, gray pony that was pulling the cab asked.

“I did, can you get us to the royal castle?” Twilight asked.

“Sure thing, miss, hop right in!”

The three of us climbed inside the small carriage, followed by Raven, who stormed inside after us, landing on one of Spike’s head scales, drawing a surprised cry from him.

“There you were, Raven! Thought I lost you in the big city,” I said, grabbing the bird off of what had become a pretty angry dragon. I placed the bird on the window frame, and then we started enjoying the view together, as the carriage picked up speed.

The cab quickly made its way up the busy streets and the more it advanced inside the capital city, the more the buildings became more beautiful and imposing than the ones in my world’s old cities. After a few minutes we passed a huge round square with a monumental structure at the end of it. Its architecture was simply amazing, unlike anything I had ever seen, beautifully decorated columns standing tall at the side of the building, supporting a huge dome that in turn held three pony-shaped statues, representing a pegasus, a unicorn and an earth pony.

“This building on your left is Canterlot’s Auditorium,” Twilight said, noticing the wonder on my face. “It’s the biggest building in the capital, after the castle, of course. It took four years to build and the most talented artists of Equestria have performed here since it was inaugurated. I for one just love Octavia’s cello pieces, although lately she hasn’t had that many shows, especially since she started dating a fellow pony in the music industry, as the newspapers said. Anyway, we should really go to a show sometime, it would be so much fun!”

Spike puffed and made a vomiting gesture. Twilight simply gave him an angry stare, but was soon replaced by a grin.

“Here they go again,” I thought, noticing the devious smile and just relaxed in my seat, enjoying the fight that was about to start.

“You were a little more willing to come to this place when you wanted to ask Rarity out, knowing that she might like the shows here,” Twilight said with an air of smugness. Spike frowned but a reply was already on his mind.

“So I guess that’s why you want to bring Blink to a show there?” he simply retorted.

Awkward . . .

I quickly turned my head back towards the windows, trying not to look at Twilight and pretending I wasn’t even listening. The purple mare was already blushing, to Spike’s satisfaction.

“That- I didn’t mean it like . . .” Twilight stammered, but was quickly cut off by the cab’s sudden stop, as I literally felt saved by the small bell that announced the reaching of destination.

“Canterlot’s Castle, main arrival gate, that would be ten bits,” the gray stallion said from the front of the cab.

We got out of the carriage and Twilight paid the driver pony, while I slowly approached the gates, my mouth open in amazement. The castle was towering above all other buildings, bringing great shame even to the huge auditorium we had just passed by.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Twilight softly said, joining me. “I sometimes miss it so much. Come on, you’ll love how it looks from the inside!”

The purple mare trotted through the entrance, Spike following her. Raven was making herself comfortable on my shoulder and now seemed quite absent, not sharing my amazement at all. I followed Twilight into the inner courtyard, guarded by defenders, all wearing golden armor pieces and Corinthian type helmets.

The outside wall was several meters thick, surrounding the castle all around. Small watch towers were situated every few hundred feet or so with guard ponies patrolling on top of the wall between them.

We walked across the inner court on a cobbled pathway towards the main entrance: two huge, oaken doors rested opened, various ponies going in and out of the castle. Everywhere I looked I could notice noble stallions and fancy mares, dressed up in expensive garments, trotting around with their heads held high.

We passed though the main entrance and found ourselves in an interior courtyard with a beautiful flower garden and a fountain in the center. Twilight went to the side of the courtyard and passed under an archway, the dragon and I following her closely.

As I walked, I noticed that most of the ponies that we came across looked at us curiously, and almost all the guards slightly nodding their heads when the purple mare passed by them.

“Do you know everyone at the castle?” I asked her, while we turned left into a long hallway.

“Well, I still know some of them from when I was a filly. I was Celestia’s personal student so they kind of got to know me and Spike after a while. It was so much fun when I could just sit anywhere I wanted and read all day long,” the mare trailed off.

“Ohh yea, tons of fun!” Spike laughed, sarcastically. “I kinda miss the food, though,” he added, his tone turning nostalgic as well.

“Princess Luna, what a pleasure to see you again!” Twilight’s voice suddenly broke the dragon’s wistful moment.

The Princess of the moon was right in front of us and seemed quite in a hurry. We took a deep bow and she returned the gesture with a longer nod of her head, directed mostly at the purple mare.

“Twilight Sparkle, glad to see you as well. I’m afraid I’ve got matters of great importance I must attend to. My sister is waiting for you in her study. I bid you farewell and I hope we can catch up soon.”

She then continued her trot, while we bowed yet again.

“Strange, I’ve never seen her hurrying before,” Twilight added, intrigued.

We continued our walk inside the castle, going up a long flight of stairs, through halls and under archways until we finally found ourselves in front of a wide door which was beautifully decorated: Celestia’s personal study. Twilight knocked twice at the door and a voice from within invited us inside.

The room itself was not that big, but three of the walls were covered with tall shelves filled with old books and parchments. The fourth one had a large window with an amazing view on what seemed to be the castle’s gardens and I couldn’t help but notice a strangely familiar maze in the distance.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight said, taking a bow.

Spike and I swiftly followed her example. Celestia was standing on a huge cushion on the floor, having a book floating in front of her.

“Ahh, you’re here! Twilight, I’m so glad to see you, my dear student.”

She got up, floating the book aside and headed towards us, lowering herself towards the purple unicorn, as they nuzzled each other.

“Spike, my little dragon,” Celestia then said, making him actually blush a little. “Not that little anymore, are we? You’ve grown so much since we last met. Are you still giving Twilight a hard time?” She asked jokingly.

“Well, If by hard time you mean having a little fun once in a while, then yea,” he answered with a characteristic grin.

“No matter what, he’s still my number one assistant, and I can’t really stay mad at him for too long,” Twilight added, smiling. “Although, his first growth spurt started this year and I’m concerned about how he’s going to fit in the library. He’s already taller than me.”

“I’m sure you’ll find a solution, Twilight. And about our last discussion, Spike, I take that you have made your mind for the moment?”

“Yes, princess, there is no way I am leaving Ponyville any time soon. Even when I’ll be bigger, the folks there will know it’s just me, Spike.”

“I’m glad that you have made this decision, then. You have a lot of friends here among ponies, and even though the last case of a dragon living among us was hundreds of years ago, I am sure everything will work out all right in the end. Sure, one can expect challenges but I’m sure your friends, both old, and new, will help you pull through.”

Celestia then gave him a gentle hug, and Spike returned the gesture, wrapping his arms around the princess’s neck. “I’m proud of you, Spike,” Celestia added in his ear.

“Thank you, Princess.”

Celestia then looked at me, resuming her royal posture and clearing her throat. “Midnight Blink. I am glad to see you are well. The first time we met you were still weakened.”

I swallowed nervously, not knowing exactly what I should say to the tall, white Princess standing in front of me. Deep inside I actually hoped she would not hug me, since my daily quota of awkwardness had already been met.

“Uhh, it’s a pleasure to see you too, your highness,” I stammered out.

“I noticed you’ve also improved your magic.” Celestia then gave me a strange, unfocused look. “Quite impressive, I might add,” she said, apparently noticing my magic field.

“How the hell are they doing that?” I thought, trying to keep myself relaxed.

“He’s still learning,” Twilight intervened, “Blink has a lot of work to do and unfortunately I still couldn’t figure out anything about his . . . origins. My scanning spells haven’t picked up any brain injuries or traumas that could have made him forget everything like he did. Also, it seems to be a strange case of memory loss,” she turned to me, having figured something out, “you seem to remember most of the basic tasks and have retained full speech capability; you also know about important personalities like Discord or the Princess here, are you sure you don’t remember anything else that could help me in my search? It’s safe to tell us, Blink, I’m sure the Princess here would help you herself with anything she could.”

I noticed Celestia nodding in approval, then Twilight gave me a hopeful look, waiting for my answer. The Princess was also looking at me in a strange, somewhat demanding way. She probably knew something about me after all, although I was not sure how much.

“I’m sorry . . .” I let out after a pause during which my eyes darted from Twilight to the royal figure, undecided. “I don’t remember anything.”

Twilight sighed in disappointment, but then smiled back at me. “It’s ok, I’m sure we’ll figure it out someday.”

“I’m sure of that as well,” Celestia added.

“Anyway, Princess, is this why you wanted us to come to visit?” Twilight asked.

“Indeed, I wished to check up on your situation with your new guest. Also, congratulations on finding yourself a new place to stay, Blink. Twilight has informed me of your new job, although I take it that you will continue your magic studies as planned, am I right?”

“Yes, Princess. I’m quite eager to learn about spells and magic, and Twilight has helped me quite a lot so far.”

“Perfect then, but don’t forget to take it slow, the art of magic is a mysterious and particularly difficult one to master.”

“I will,” I simply replied.

“Before we leave, Princess, there’s something on my mind,” Twilight remembered. “I’ve met with Luna earlier before arriving at your study; she seemed quite in a hurry, was something wrong?”

“Nothing in particular to worry, my dear, it’s just a meeting with some gryphon and minotaur diplomats, which she was apparently late to. I’m glad though that my sister resumed some of her royal duties since her return, I can finally relax more and catch up on my reading,” Celestia said, smiling.

“I’m happy she’s fitting in nicely after . . . all that time spent away,” Twilight said, a hint of caution in her voice at the last part.

“Don’t you worry, Twilight. That belongs to the past, and although tomorrow holds mysteries, today must be cherished as a wonderful gift, that is why we call it ‘present’.”

“You’re right, Princess,” the purple unicorn said, somewhat reassured, “we’ll be off then, it was nice seeing you, I will send letters with our progress. Also, my friends wanted me to say ‘Hi’.”

“Tell them I appreciate the gesture, and hope to see them as well soon enough. Have a safe return journey!”

Twilight took a bow with Spike and I following her in example. As she got out of the room with the dragon behind her, Celestia approached me. I stopped and looked at her, curious of what she might have to say to me.

“I hope that when the right time comes, Midnight Blink, you will be able to remember your past, so we can know more about you. I sense kindness in your heart and your magic has great potential, but hiding away in the shadows around you is not always the best thing,” Celestia said, making sure her student and Spike could not hear her.

The look in her eyes was warm and understanding and I simply nodded, knowing that not only she knew about me but also understood my reasons to hide the truth. The feeling of guilt was still somewhere inside me, however, stronger than ever.

I left the study, following Twilight and Spike back through all the hallways and out of the castle. Raven was waiting for me outside, irritating a guard pony by resting on the tip of his spear. I hadn’t even noticed she had left me and I called her back before she could piss off the guard even more.

“So, what should we do now? We still have a few hours to spare,” Twilight asked as we walked through the outer gates of the castle, into a busy street.

“I’m hungry,” Spike said, bluntly.

“That would make two of us,” I added.

Raven also cawed at the unicorn, as if to support us.

“Fine, let’s eat! I know the perfect place for takeout,” Twilight said.

We traveled to a fast food cart in a small square nearby, where Twilight hat told us they served the best hay fries in Canterlot along with the most delicious dip sauce ever made. And boy was she right. While sitting at a small table nearby, I began eating and finished my portion first, rivaling even Spike’s appetite. Raven occasionally took a hay fry out of our plates, drawing angry looks from the dragon whenever she took one of his.

We enjoyed the rest of the time spent there by slowly making our way back to the air tower at the city’s entrance. The walk wasn’t particularly long but having just eaten, climbing the tower’s stairs proved to be quite a challenge. We reached the landing pad where our balloon was anchored, and with David’s help we managed to board it and take off into the skies. The guard pony was kind enough to refill the burners as well, to our surprise.

“I’m kind of worn out after this trip,” Twilight said, as we reached a reasonable cruising altitude. “I’ll just leave the wind do its job this time.”

“Fine by me,” Spike replied with a lazy shrug.

“I have to admit, the view is quite nice, so I don’t mind either,” I said, looking upon the city we left behind.

I spent the rest of the trip quietly enjoying the scenery alongside Twilight, as we slowly floated towards Ponyville. Spike had dozed off on the floor of the basket, letting out small trails of smoke from his nostrils every now and then.

After about an hour, the sun was beginning its descent into the horizon, and the air was getting slightly colder. Soon, the burner became a source of light that cast shadows under us whenever it fired, keeping the aircraft afloat and on its course. A cold wind sent chills through my body, and I realized the temperature was getting pretty low at that altitude. A sudden touch made my heart pump faster for a couple of beats, but somehow I managed not to jolt in surprise. Twilight had slowly rested herself on my shoulder, which strangely made me appreciate the evening's cold air for a change. I gave her a look, not turning my head, and noticed she was still looking at the sundown, her thoughts apparently in another place. My heart was racing and I could even feel my pulse ringing in my head.

“Guys, we’re here,” Spike broke the silence from the other side of the balloon.

Twilight jolted, realizing what, or actually who she was leaning against and quickly shifted her weight back on her own hooves, giving me a quick, embarrassed look before preparing to land the balloon.

After a few minutes, the aircraft was deflating on the ground in the library’s backyard, as Twilight used her magic to pack the balloon back into its own basket.

“This was quite a fun day,” I said, still feeling a little bit lightheaded from the last part of the trip.

“Yea, at least we got out of this place for a while,” Spike added, heading into the tree house. “Good night, big guy. See ya later!”

“Good night, Spike!”

I then turned to Twilight, a smile on both of our faces.

“Thanks for taking me with you, Twilight. Canterlot was amazing, especially the castle.”

“I’m glad you liked it, Blink and I hope we can do it again some other time. Good night.”

“Good night to you too,” I said, and we both headed our separate ways.

The walk to my new home seemed shorter than expected, as Raven kept me company the whole way. I reached the small house by the lake and tiredly dragged my hooves inside. Even though I felt drained from the journey, I couldn’t fall asleep just yet, so I went and retrieved my saddleback from the bedroom’s corner and dumped all the books on the bed. I picked them one by one and placed them on the small shelf near the writing desk. I put the magic kit on the desk, opened it and took some quills, my notebook and Star Swirl the Bearded’s book about advanced magic.

I gently grabbed a quill with my teeth and slowly started copying Bellona’s notes into my notebook, doing a rough translation under each line, leaving some space for further corrections. The quill would slip or ink would splatter on the page every now and then, but I began getting better at mouth-writing and even though it took a while, I was eventually done after an hour or so.

Flipping the pages, I ended up at a bookmark I had previously placed right at the instructions of the illusion spell I planned on trying out. As I squirmed my eyes to read the test, I realized the level of lighting in the room was getting close to none. I looked around the room and spotted a candlestick on a shelf nearby, an idea springing in my mind.

“Ok, you can do this, you read about it in that book for starters,” I murmured to myself, pulling the candle in front of me on the table.

Focusing my magic towards my horn, I held it close to the candle’s fuse and after a few tensed seconds, a bright light hit my shut eyes.

“Ha! Fire! I made fire!” I almost yelled out in excitement, then realized how silly my celebration must have sounded to the usual grown-up unicorn.

I resumed reading the spell’s details and noted down the important steps. After what seemed like an hour, the candle’s light started flickering through its last moments of life, and soon after it went out completely. I blindly searched through the desk’s drawers one by one, and to my luck found a few more candles. Only after lighting the new one I saw that the moon was high in the sky and my eyelids felt much heavy than when I started. Raven was asleep on the corner of the desk, her head tucked under her wing.

“Wow, lost track of time there,” I said to myself, noticing how much I had actually written up that night: about ten pages of horrible mouth-writing. “Well that was definitely more than an hour.”

I closed the books, blew the candle out and dragged my hooves to bed, where I fell asleep instantly, the moon’s white light comforting my dreams.

*** *** ***

The next day marked the start of what had to be quite a monotonous life for the normal folk. I, on the other hand, found it more exciting than anything.

I woke up quite late that day, had breakfast from the basket Annabelle left me the other day and rushed to Kazooie’s farm, where I started my work. At first he was easy on me, as he gave me chores involving carrying around tools and equipment in preparation of the first annual harvest. Later that day I visited the library, where Twilight was already planning out my magic training, levitating a huge checklist around.

Unfortunately for me, the study sessions were shorter, and were replaced with theory lessons about the history of magic and the basics of the art. She said it was a key aspect necessary in fully understanding the field of magic, but I just couldn’t be bothered with all those dates and funny names of old pony wizards and mages. To top it off, Twilight seemed to be taking her teaching role quite seriously, and made sure I was paying attention at all the insignificant details. It felt very much like being back in high school, where I vowed that not even dead would I return to a place like that. Little did I know back then . . .

Days passed and I began getting used to the routine: work at Kazooie’s farm in the mornings and magic lessons every other two days in the evening, at the oaken library. I had dinner together with Kazooie’s family every day and I would always get a basket of food after finishing my job at the farm. Work at the farm was getting harder and harder by the day, as we began harvesting the crops using just sickles. Tiresome days like those only made me focus more on my studies, wishing that one day I could just lay back and let my magic do all the hard work.

As my knowledge and control of magic got better and better, I started combining farm work with practice my magic, cutting the wheat with a levitating sickle. Kazooie found my method rather ingenious, yet quite amusing as he’d never seen a unicorn work the fields before.

*** *** ***

One of those days, driven by a rather boring end of a week, I decided to finally try out the cloning spell I’ve been studying for so long, having learned enough to understand the instructions. I went into the small kitchen-dining room of my house and moved the table and chairs to the side to make enough room. I looked again through my notebook, which was by now half-filled with notes and markings.

“Ok, this is simple, I can do this. Focus . . . and channel the magic like we learned . . .” While I repeated that to myself, I closed my eyes shut and started to concentrate.

The tricky bit about the spell was that I had to focus my powers up to a certain level, and then try to map out an exact replica of my energy field to a target destination. After that I had to keep a link with that field and ‘jump start it’ with a large dose of magic to make it turn into a visible shape that resembled myself, since the energy field clone was invisible to begin with.

As I meditated, I felt the magic leaving through my horn, forming in front of me a shape that actually resembled a pony. I could see all that magic, but only when I had my eyes closed and my other senses drowned. Twilight’s ability to see magic fields whenever she wanted was truly amazing, and I knew it would take me a long time to reach that level.

While finishing the energy clone in front of me, the strange, cold chills began creeping up my spine again. Twilight and I had figured out that the strange and scary sensation I felt whenever I used my magic for too long was actually an unknown surge of energy. She wasn’t sure where it was coming from and why it felt different than my normal magic, but we decided it was too dangerous to try and temper with, let alone use it.

As the air was getting colder around me, I kept my undivided attention on the illusion, while trying to keep under control the dark energy that was slowly spreading around me. After minutes of intense focus and with a lot of determination to not stop the spell, I managed to push the darkness back, while keeping the illusion alive. I opened my eyes for a moment just to notice that in front of me was a smooth blue mist. Going through the last steps of creating the magical field, I braced myself, gathering all remaining powers to activate the illusion.

I felt the last bit of channeled magic leaving through my horn and quickly opened my eyes, hoping it was enough to complete the spell. At first, I had a small shock seeing the strange pony standing in my house, but as I closely looked at him, I noticed he was actually . . . me. The spell had worked, and a very realistic illusion of me, a shadow clone as I decided to name it, was standing two feet away from me, looking back with empty eyes.

Raven started cawing at the illusion, having been besides me all along. The clone was not moving at all, just standing there, looking through me, its eyes focused at nothing in particular.

“Good, so this is the idle state, I guess I don’t have enough magic left in me to control you beyond that. Well, at least I pulled it off,” I declared rather satisfied of my work.

I waved my hoof at the shadow clone and it passed right through it, leaving a trail of dark blue smoke in its wake. The illusion dissipated after a few more moments and right before it went away I noticed something strange about it.

“Hmm, no cutie mark. That’s weird . . . what the heck do you actually represent?” I asked, looking at the strange symbol on my flank.

An unexpected knock on the door interrupted the otherwise quiet atmosphere, making me jolt. I opened it and found Spike sitting in front of me, eating from an apple.

“Hey Blink, thought I'd come by and said hi. Here, have one!” he said, throwing another apple at me, which I barely managed to catch in the little magic I had left.

“Thanks, I guess. Come in, make yourself at home. On a second thought, please don’t. I don’t want this place to burn down.”

“Ohh, come on, that was just once, and Twilight managed to put it out in time,” Spike said, irritated by my recollection.

He took a seat on the small couch I had, finishing his apple in one bite.

“Hmm, do you want mine back? I’m not that hungry anyway.”

“All right, thanks, Blink,” he said, hungrily.

“You seem taller,” I noticed, looking at him attentively. “How’s the growth spurt going along?”

“Well, I’m still hungry all the time, I’ve even had fights with Twilight about eating. The thing is that I know I don’t have to eat that much in order to grow naturally, but it’s just so hard not to. Dragons usually eat whatever they can lay their eyes on during their first growth spurts but that way they just grow too fast and turn into greedy, mindless creatures.”

“Well then, better lay off those apples. Hey, watch this.”

I focused, finding some magic that had regenerated in the meantime and focused it at the apple in his hands. After a few moments, the fruit exploded into a blue puff of smoke.

“Oh, come on!”

I laughed, amused by his hunger-driven anger.

“What did you do to it, anyway?” Spike asked.

“Just something I’ve practiced with Twilight during my last training: teleportation; although I have no idea where I just sent it.” I answered, letting out a laugh.

Spike’s eyebrows raised slightly. “Wow, that’s awesome. So how long until you can teleport yourself?” the dragon asked, impressed by my progress.

“Still a long way. I can teleport small objects a few hundred feet or so at the moment, but I’m slowly getting there.”

“Cool. Anyway, that reminded me: Twilight wanted to invite you to come with us to Canterlot again. Something about her getting some boring books from the castle’s library.”

“That would be nice, when’s that?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

“Perfect, I’m free tomorrow. See you then! Now get out before you start sneezing flames in my house again.”

“Sorry dude, can’t help it, my methane chambers are growing.”

“I’m sure they can grow just fine outside of my house,” I said, rushing the dragon out.

Spike reluctantly got up and left, not before burping up a thick cloud of dark smoke in the main room, which made me slam the door behind him ever harder.

On his way home, right near the library’s door, his hungry eyes fell on an apple sitting on the ground. He picked it up and recognizing it, he looked in the direction in which my house would have been, as he stood there, thinking.

“Wow big guy, that’s more than a mile. Sweet . . .” he said, taking a bite out of the apple.

*** *** ***

The next day I met up with Twilight and her assistant in their backyard, the hot air balloon standing tall nearby, fully inflated. After the normal greetings, we got in and started our journey towards the city. We reached Canterlot in record time and landed on the same landing pad at the air tower near the city’s entrance gates.

“So, why are we here again?” I asked Twilight while trotting across a busy street, making our way towards the castle.

“I need to get some books from the halls of records. They might have something on your cutie mark. That would practically be the last place to check, I’m afraid. I’m sorry Blink, but I’ve looked though all of my books and found nothing about it there, so now I’m just burning through all the possible places I could find that information.”

“It’s all right, I really appreciate the effort you’ve made to help me so far.”

“No problem, things have been quite interesting since you showed up,” she said, putting on a smile.

We reached the palace, going through a different entrance and ending up in a different wing of the castle. After several turns in what seemed to be a maze of hallways and staircases, we reached the library.

“Here we are!” Twilight said, her eyes glittering with joy. ”I haven’t been here in like, forever!”

Long, tall rows of shelves lay in front of our eyes in a huge section of the palace, with a ceiling so high that you could easily fit Twilight’s balloon inside. The entrance was guarded by several white marble statues of various ponies, most likely historical figures of Equestria.

“Those are a lot of books,” I said, slightly amazed of the library’s imposing scale.

“And to think I might never have the chance to read them all,” Twilight added, genuinely saddened.

“Twi, you got issues,” Spike let out a laugh, drawing a chuckle from me as well.

“You two just stay where I can find you. I’ll be right back, just need to find a couple of books,” the mare said, disappearing among the endless rows of bookshelves.

The warning was completely disregarded as Spike and I went on and explored the library.

I immediately found the magic section, which contained a tremendous amount of books written by Star Swirl the Bearded alone. I noticed most of the titles were familiar, Twilight having a copy of almost all of them back in Ponyville. I trotted around, getting more bored with every shelf I passed by, until my eyes fell on one of the paintings on the walls.

The canvas seemed old, and it featured a unicorn pony with a large white beard and a rather funny looking wizard hat. The plaque underneath simply read: “Star Swirl the Bearded”.

So this is him.

I then noticed something in the background of the painting, the silhouette of another unicorn. I took several steps forwards, getting as close as I could to the painting. The pony in the background was wearing a strange, white tunic and had what seemed to be leather shoes on.

“I see you are interested in him,” a voice made itself heard from behind me.

I turned and noticed an old stallion with a pair of round glasses on his muzzle, dressed in a librarian uniform, if I could name it like that.

“Sorry if I scared you, I work here,” he said. “It’s strange to find young stallions like yourself here these days.”

“It’s ok. I was just looking at this painting, what can you tell me about this pony?” I asked.

“Hehe well, this stallion was a great wizard by the name of Star Swirl the-”

“No, no,” I interrupted him, “I’m talking about this one here, behind him,” I said, pointing a hoof at the pony in white dress.

“Ahh, that one.” The old librarian adjusted his glasses. “If my memory servers right, that there should be Bellona the Wise. Not much is known about her, just that she was close to Star Swirl, and was also a very powerful unicorn.”

“That makes sense,” I whispered to myself. “The white tunic she is wearing, and the footwear,” I said out loud again, “I suppose that is something ponies used to wear back then?”

“Oh, no. That’s what’s strange about Bellona, ponies never wore dresses like those back in that period.”

Of course they didn’t . . . but Romans did.

“Well, thank you so much for the information. I should be going now, I have a friend that’s probably searching for me,” I excused myself, leaving the old librarian behind.

I found Spike after some searching, and we both headed back to the entrance, where Twilight was already checking out a couple of books.

“There you are. I think I’ve found something useful. One of them might have something about your strange magic and the other one could tell us what your cutie mark means. Although I really hope it doesn’t, the book itself is about uhh- dark magic,” Twilight said, giving me a somewhat worrying look, “and there’s even a missing page in this one. Who would take a page from a book like that?”

“Relax, we’ll figure it out. In the meantime, let’s get out of here, all these books make me wanna fall asleep,” I added, trying to change the subject.

*** *** ***

Twilight decided it was a good idea to visit the royal gardens before heading back to Ponyville, so the three of us went out on a stroll.

The palace’s garden was as amazing as it was huge. Flowers of all kinds were on display, some of which I had never seen in my life. The air around us was heavy with a combination of the most beautiful perfumes I’ve ever smelled in my life. Insects were flying all around in a sea of aromas and everything seemed almost surreal.

We even visited the ‘living maze’, where Twilight retold the story of how she and her friends confronted Discord for the first time right there.

On our way back, we passed through what was called the 'Stone Garden', a small orchard with various statues on display, symbolizing famous ponies from Equestria’s history.

As Twilight briefly explained who each of them was as we passed by them, I began feeling a strange sensation overcoming me.

“And this last one is Discord himself, which we imprisoned in stone over three years ago using the Elements of Harmony,” the mare concluded the small tour.

As I looked at the twisted face of the stoned draconic figure, I started to feel ill, my mind drifting away to familiar places: to home. But there were no happy memories of my old world. Violence, pain, suffering, all those sensations came clashing within me as I felt my mind engulfed in dreaded images and memories.

“Blink, are you all right?” Twilight asked, snapping me to reality. “You looked like you could faint right here.”

“I’m fine,” I said after a short pause, “I just . . . I think I stood too much in the sun in the past few days at the farm.”

“All right, then, let’s get back home. We can get a cab.”

The trip back to Ponyville was longer than usual, but strangely, I started feeling much better when I got in the air. The evening’s cool breeze worked miracles on me, and as we approached our destination I was already feeling all normal and fine.

“Hey Blink, do you want to have dinner with us?” Twilight asked, still concerned after that previous incident.

“That would actually be wonderful, thank you. But I insist on helping out with the cooking,” I said, giving Spike a wink.

“Don’t mention it. It’s been a long time since you last ate with us.”

We soon reached the library, had a nice dinner and then I headed back to my house, Twilight making sure I took with me some extra studying material. She also promised she would go through the books from the palace’s library, and would notify me as soon as she found something.

Back in my house, I got in my comfortable bed, a book gently floating over me, my horn emanating a bright blue light to help me read. No matter how interesting some of my lecture was, I still couldn’t get out of my mind what happened in the royal gardens that day, and I felt chills running down my spine whenever I remembered those dark sensations.

Everything however felt fine as I laid in my bed, the whole of Equestria probably sound asleep under the fast-rising moonlight. I gently stroked Raven with a hoof, the bird sleeping calmly on the top of the bed frame near my head as if to comfort my unrest with her presence.

I fell asleep in minutes. There was a hard day of work ahead of me.

*** *** ***

A night guard pony was standing under the clear moonlight. The stallion looked around one last time before trotting out of the Stone Garden, making his way towards his next patrolling point for the night.

The first statue in line shook a couple of times. A crack formed on its head and a piece fell to the ground, revealing a closed eyelid. It opened wide, and the pupil shrank from the light of the moon, after three years of complete darkness. Under the now flimsy layer of stone, Discord smirked . . .

End of chapter 7

Chapter 8: Trapped

Chapter 8

Trapped

“How lazy can ya get, Blink?” Kazooie asked out of nowhere, startling me.

I took off the straw hat that covered my face and gave him an irritated look. It was noon, and the sun was already high in the sky, scorching everything exposed to its bright rays.

We were at the mill, where I was supposed to grind the wheat we’ve been harvesting for the past couple of weeks. The machine near me was quite simple in design: a big stone tub with a hole in its side. In it rested a round and heavy grinding rock. A horizontal wood pole was attached to the top part, with a harness at its end.

The farmer dropped another bundle of wheat near the mill, looking at me with discontent as I was lazily lying on a chaise longue I’ve made for myself.

“Come on, it’s not like I’m not working!” I complained, noticing his gaze.

The mill was turning by itself, a soft blue aura engulfing the top stone. Flour was pouring into a huge bag and a stream of wheat grains was floating into the mill, feeding it.

“Well, ah’ guess it’s all fine as long as you get the job done. I knew you unicorns aren’t built for this kind of working.”

“Hehe, guilty! I’m practicing my magic with the occasion, so it’s a win-win.”

“Speaking of, how are things with Miss Sparkle?” Kazooie asked.

“I told you, we’re just friends . . . actually, student and teacher-”

“I was talking about yer training,” the big orange stallion said, chuckling.

“Good one pff . . . funny indeed,” I stammered out, slightly embarrassed.

The truth was that things were indeed getting sort of weird between Twilight and I, especially since the time she accidentally leaned on me on that balloon trip from Canterlot. Lately, it crossed my mind to ask her out, but I never mustered the courage to actually do it. I was nobody in that world, working for food at a farm with no friends or family. Also, dating a pony stood against everything I knew about the subject. Would they have any rules of courtship, a list of do’s and don’ts? I could have asked Spike about it, but boy I would that be inquiring at the wrong species and the wrong age. I had no other colt friends and I wasn’t too keen on asking Kazooie about it either.

The issue was that I couldn’t risk getting involved with her due to the uncertainty regarding my future. For all I knew, I could have found myself back anytime in that dark place where it all started, with Death smirking at me and saying: “Hope you enjoyed your stay there, but your time has finally come.”

Every night I went to bed I was afraid that I wouldn’t wake up in the same place the next day, and although I started to miss my family and my friends, every morning felt like a huge relief, knowing I would spend another day in that world . . .

“So Blink, what are your plans?” the earth stallion asked, breaking my train of thoughts.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I don’t think ya want to be working on mah’ farm for the rest of your life, do ya now?”

“I don’t know. I’m still figuring things out at the moment. Life seems strangely calm and peaceful around here though.”

“So you seek adventure?” he asked knowingly.

“Maybe, but-”

“Do you want to be in the army?”

“Wha-? Why do you think I would want to be in the army?” I asked him, slightly surprised by his assumption.

He let out a laugh, shaking his head.

“I’ve seen you handling those tools with your magic. You could sure make a good guard pony, or even a soldier.”

“Are there unicorn soldiers?” I asked, somewhat excited by the prospect.

“Hehe, you sure seem to have forgotten a lot about things around here. There’s a whole regiment of them in Canterlot. It’s quite nice from what I’ve heard from muh’ cousin. He’s been serving for years now and they mostly do expeditions in the North Plains.”

“Expeditions? As in, discovering new territories?”

“Well, everything has pretty much been mapped by the pegasi hundreds of years ago, but since we haven’t had a war in Celestia-knows how many centuries, we’ve cut back on the army and been using the soldiers as guards, police ponies or for expeditions.”

“That’s quite interesting. I think I’m gonna give that a try at some point.”

“Well, the Royal Army Academy is in Canterlot, and you need to train there for at least one year before doing anything else. But ah’ guess you’ll do just fine.” He took a look at the mill, which was still spinning under my magic. “You sure came a long way from when I found ya that night,” he added, giving me a wink.

I smiled at the orange earth pony, remembering that cold but distant night.

“Thanks Kazooie, I don’t think I would be here without you.”

He nodded and went back to the barn, leaving me to finish milling the last batch for that day.

After an hour or so my work was done for the day. I headed back home, thinking about a possible career in the Royal Army. But before I could decide anything, I had to talk to Twilight about it.

Reaching my house, I felt the need to take a bath so I did just so, cleaning myself in the lake, the willow tree giving me some much needed privacy. The water coming from the stream was quite warm and I actually enjoyed the natural, personal space. I’ve even made it more comfortable to bathe in, transforming it into a sort of pool, placing flat rocks on the bottom of the shallow area that was the region where the stream met the lake.

After finishing cleaning up, I went into the house, eager to make myself something to eat. Soon enough, I was slicing some carrots for a light salad meal, using my magic to wield the knife. I got used to handling utensils pretty fast in the past weeks and everything seemed easier with magic. As I placed the carrots into a bowl, my eyes fell on the knife which was idly hovering in front of me. An idea passed through my mind.

I looked around and spotted a seemingly random spot on the other side of the room. Focusing my magic on the knife, I propelled it right into that imaginary spot on the wall, several meters away. The knife hit the wooden wall, embedding itself several centimeters deep, right on target.

“Hmm, not bad,” I said to myself, whilst thinking at all the possibilities that I’ve overlooked involving my magic.

Twilight told me about offensive spells but she seemed pretty determined to not teach me any, as she found them useless in that stage of my magic training.

Useless but fun.

I decided it would be pretty awesome if I started learning them by myself, and I already had a good starting point: my telekinetic abilities. Levitating objects around suddenly got even more interesting and thinking about all the possibilities filled me with a strange excitement that somehow reminded me of home.

After several moments of pondering on the moral implications of studying and actively practicing harmful spells in a world filled with peace, I decided it was no big deal so I quickly ate up my meal and went into my room to prepare for the following training session with Twilight.

On the desk I had my notebook, which was filled with notes and reminders on different spells, symbols and incantations. Next to it, Star Swirl’s book on advanced magic was opened at the same illusion spell I’ve been trying to learn for the last weeks. After reexamining the contents one last time I felt I was finally ready to test it again.

“Probably after my training,” I thought, while packing all the books in a saddlebag.

I left the house, not giving too much attention to the knife which was still stuck in the wall near the door. On my way to the library, I went through Ponyville to grab some snacks for the training, a growing habit over the last several sessions.

The small town streets were busy as always for that time of the day. Ponies were trotting around, enjoying a beautiful, but rather eventless day in Ponyville. During my first week there, they used to give me strange looks every now and then, but in time I practically became one of them. Some even greeted me as we passed by each other, and I always responded with a nod of the head. It was definitely a good change from the old town I lived in back home. In Ponyville, everyone seemed nice and friendly, and they always smiled back at you. At first I found it very peculiar, but quickly got used to the whole general state of kindness.

I bought a couple dozen minted daisies for me and Twilight and some soy jerky for Spike. Although I managed to adjust to and even enjoy the new diet (which was mostly herbivorous), I still longed for a nice, juicy steak from time to time. Good thing dairy products and eggs were considered normal things to eat in Equestria, but I still missed the meat.

Leaving the grocery store, I made my way towards the library. While crossing a small bridge over a stream, I noticed a young filly crying, sitting on the ground near the water.

“Hey there, small one. What’s the matter?” I asked the tiny pony while approaching her.

She kept sobbing, not even looking up at me when I talked. Her coat was a bright cream and she had a light blue mane. Her eyes were red from all the crying and her coat was even stained from all the tears. She also must have been pretty young since she didn’t have a cutie mark yet. I wasn’t that good with children and it seemed young fillies was not an exception, but I couldn’t just give up and let her sit there bawling, so I tried to re-assure her.

“Now, now, please stop crying and tell me what happened,” I said sheepishly, trying not to scare her even more.

She stopped weeping and looked up at me, her eyes filled with tears.

“I lost my mommy,” she let out, saddened.

“Kids . . .” I thought, trying not to roll my eyes.

“Well, I’m sure we can find her. Wanna come with me and search for her?”

The small filly nodded. She got up and as I was about to head off, I noticed she was standing in the same spot, her forelegs in the air.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I whispered to myself, looking in all directions as if what I was about to do would make me less of a stallion.

“All right, so you want a pony ride. I can do that.”

I lowered my head close to the ground. She managed to climb on my shoulders, with a little bit of help from my magic. We then headed towards the town center looking for some desperate mare in search of her filly. Her forelegs were resting on my head on each side of my horn, while her hind legs were digging in my shoulders.

“You sure do make a warm hoodie,” I thought, somewhat amused by the sudden change of plans in my day.

“So, where did you last see your mom?” I asked, trying to look up at her but giving up since she was practically on my neck.

“Near the tree with books. I saw a butterfly and tried to catch it and then she wasn’t with me anymore,” she responded.

“You mean the library?” I asked. In turn, I just received what seemed to be a sound of approval.

“Okay then, to the library!” I got on my hind legs, briefly waving my forelegs in the air then started a fast trot towards the library, all while making sure she would not fall off.

Always wanted to do that.

Our search soon came to an end when I saw a worried-sick mare, walking around, calling after somepony. When she saw us, her eyes widened in surprise and rushed to meet us half way.

“Cream Puff!” She almost yelled.

“Mommy!” the filly on my back answered in excitement.

The mother got the pony off my back, hugging her tight. She then looked at me, a wide smile on her face.

Thank you so much for bringing my daughter back,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I can’t believe I lost her, I’ll never let her out of my sight ever again. Is there any way I can repay you, mister uhm-”

“Blink. And no, I’m just glad I could help.”

“Are you sure? She could have been hurt, you practically saved her life.”

“Yes ma’am, I’m sure. Don’t worry about it,” I answered, almost embarrassed.

We parted ways and I headed to the nearby library. Twilight was right in front of the tree house, a couple of letters floating near her.

“Hey Twilight!”

“Hey there, big hero,” she said with a grin.

“You . . . saw that.”

“Oh come on, it was nice of you to help her out like that. I saw you carrying the little filly on your shoulders,” she added, smiling. “You’d make a great father someday.”

“What?” I jumped, surprised by her statement.

She responded with a laugh, heading back into the library while I followed her close behind. I didn’t even noticed her blush . . .

*** *** ***

We began our training: sadly, it was mostly a theory session. However I noticed things felt different that day: somehow, my attention wasn’t focused anymore on the teachings, but more on the teacher. Something made her more interesting but I just couldn’t put my hoof on it.

“Is it her mane?” I asked myself, while she was going on about the transfer of organic matter from one point to another without traversing the physical space in-between.

Or her fur? It seems a bit more purple today. How is that even possible? Could it be the light in here?

“-now suppose that one of the electrons is observed and is found to be in state A. Thus, the other electron's state is determined as B at the very instant the observation takes place, no matter how far apart the two electrons are-”

“No, it’s definitely a new perfume or something,” my mind went on, while I casually sniffed the air around, trying not to look too suspicious.

“-the particle state of the qubit thus becomes the following four-term superposition . . .” she kept lecturing.

I shook my head, mostly to myself. “Nope, it’s not a new perfume. She doesn’t use stuff like that anyway, except her mane. Her mane definitely smells like sunflowers.”

“-option one is highly undesirable because quantum states are fragile and any perturbation en route would corrupt the state-”

“Wait a minute . . . what does sunflower actually smell like?” I frowned, unable to come up with an answer.

“Yes Blink, that’s exactly how I felt about it as well,” Twilight said, the mention of my name startling me. “But remember, we can reliably measure quantum information with our magic field, so you don’t need to worry.”

I nodded in agreement, having no idea what she was talking about.

“Well, now that we got the basics out of the way, I guess you can try it out yourself.”

“What?” I asked, still clueless about what was going on. I then noticed that the blackboard in front of me had mysteriously filled up with symbols and formulas.

“Teleportation, of course.”

“Ahh, I can do that,” I replied, smirking like a confident idiot. “We’ve done it before.”

“Teleporting yourself, dummy. You know, the thing I’ve been explaining you for the past hour. You did seem to pay more attention today, I knew you would like this spell.”

“Wow, a whole hour just passed by like that? Damn, Einstein was right.”

“Who?”

“No one. So uhh, teleporting . . . myself. I can do that,” I stated, without a hint of confidence behind those words.

“Remember: don’t push yourself at first, aim for a couple of feet and you should be fine. Also, don’t forget about quantum leaks!”

I stepped in the middle of the large study where we were having our sessions and tried to remember what I’d read about the subject. It was a good thing I was always eager about the new stuff so I spent a couple of hours reading through the manuals about the whole self-teleportation thing beforehand.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Twilight said, standing on the edge of the room, leaving me enough space to try out the new spell.

I focused on the steps I needed to go through and visualized my destination, which was several feet in front of me, right in the center of a small carpet. I charged my magic around my body and suddenly started hearing a strange, high pitch noise, which was my mark. With one last surge of energy I zapped myself, from the tip of my horn down to the rest the body, evaporating my own molecules into thin air, leaving blue sparkles falling softly to the ground.

“Blink, shield yorse-” a voice echoed in my ears.

When I opened my eyes I immediately noticed I wasn’t at all where I should be. My heart stopped for a moment when I realized I was floating in a cold, dark void. I looked around everywhere but couldn’t see any light source. I started panting and my heart was beating out of my chest.

“Noo, What the hell have I done? Don’t tell me-”

“So you’re here again,” a deep voice rang from everywhere around me.

“Fuck. Not this shit again!”

I was already freaking out, waving my hooves, trying to get some sort of control. It was all in vain, as my body kept floating in the same direction.

“You should not be here, not like this anyway,” the voice continued, somewhat angered. “The price of your foolishness should be true death. Fortunately for you, I cannot enforce that rule . . . for now.”

“Look, I just tried a spell. I don’t know what went wrong! It should have-”

“Silence! Go back to your world and never return in this place unless you mean it . . .”

A loud noise and a powerful light filled the place where I was floating towards. For a brief moment I could see a dark silhouette in the distance and then my eyes closed due to the sheer brightness. Next, I felt myself falling down. Before I could react though, my body crashed against a solid surface, blowing the air out of my chest.

“Blink!” Twilight’s voice suddenly filled my ears. “Blink, please move Blink, please!” she kept shouting as I started feeling her grabbing me and shaking furiously.

“I’m fine, I think . . .” I let out, rolling on my back and slowly opening my eyes. My head was pounding like I was hit by a train.

“Thank Celestia, I thought you died! I searched for you everywhere around, I didn’t want to believe you will end up here.”

Looking around the room I noticed I was still in her study, right on the carpet I was aiming to teleport on.

“I don’t get it. I’m here, Twilight, I just zapped from there to here, right?” I asked, hoping the whole previous encounter had somehow taken place in my head.

“No Blink, you- you teleported over ten minutes ago.”

“What?” I couldn’t believe that, but then again she looked so scared, something had apparently freaked her out.

“You forgot to shield yourself against quantum leaks. I’ve told you so many times how important that is!”

“I- I’m sorry,” I said, slightly embarrassed.

I should have paid more attention to her and not her damn mane.

“You always need to do that right before teleporting or else you end up in a transitional state that theoretically should have killed you. Where were you, anyway?” Twilight asked, curious.

“I just-” the answer got stuck in my throat. “Nowhere, I think. I was here a few seconds ago.”

The lie was painful on me but I was just too afraid to tell the truth, the whole truth. Twilight simply sighed, still nervous.

“You scared me so much Blink, I shouldn’t have rushed with your training.”

“But-”

“No buts, do you have any idea how many ponies lost their lives figuring this thing out? The first unicorns that researched the spell didn’t have enough knowledge of the whole process or the physics behind it. All of them that tried teleporting like you just did, without shielding, ended up at their destination, but dead.”

“I’m sorry, Twilight, I really am. I promise I’ll take better care next time.”

My mind was a mess, trying to handle both the lie and the disturbing history behind that spell. Things were definitely not as simple as I had imagined them to be weeks ago, but somehow, luck was still on my side.

We decided to end the training early and eat up the snacks in the living room. Twilight and I quietly enjoyed the minted daisies, and Spike was gobbling up the soy jerky with one hand while holding a book with the other.

“Hey Spike, what are you reading?” I asked the dragon, from the sofa.

“Just a book about dragons and growing up,” he idly replied, stuffing more jerky in his mouth. “By the way Twi, the book says I’m due in about two months,” he added.

“You-re . . . due? For what?” I wondered.

“Spike’s going through his first growth spurt, which means that by the end of it, his wings will start growing. It takes about a week or so for a dragon to grow them and from then on, they will keep up with the growth.”

“That’s awesome Spike,” I admitted.

“Sure, can’t wait . . .” he said, somehow sarcastically. “I’m going to finish this in my room, see ya guys later.”

He got up from the floor, where he had been relaxing the whole time, and went to his room, holding the book under his arm and the bag of jerky in the other.

“Did I say something wrong?” I asked Twilight.

She stopped eating and let out a sigh.

“It’s because he’s afraid. I’m afraid for him as well. When young dragons get their wings they’re still with their mother. The whole process is quite painful, as the wing’s bone structure has to grow through his back skin. The mother usually stays with their young ones during the whole week and keeps them warm and safe.”

“So you’re going to help by being there for him as a mother?”

“I’ll do everything I can, yes. I’m just afraid because there have been no reports of any dragons surviving their first growth spurt on their own.”

“I see. If there’s anything you’ll need, don’t hesitate to ask me.”

“Thanks,” the mare responded, smiling. “By the way, I just remembered Applejack asked me to help her out today; something about fixing the barn . . . again. Is it too much if I asked you to help her? I really have some catching up to do on one of my writings and you could use the extra training.”

“But I’m already using magic at work,” I complained.

“Well that’s perfect! The more, the better. Plus, socializing will help. You don’t talk to anypony else except me and Spike.”

“All right, when do I need to be at her farm?”

“Hmm actually, right now!” she said, starting to panic as she looked at a clock. “Hurry up, you’ll be late. Actually, wait. I can help.”

“Don’t tell me-”

“Yes, but I’ll do it the proper way,” she assured me.

“Okay,” I said, getting off the couch.

Her horn started to glow and I was immediately engulfed in a purple, translucent ball. Then, three rings of white light formed along the edges of the sphere and started rotating, each alongside a different axis.

“Uhm Twilight, are you sure this is how-”

“It’s a long range teleportation of another organic creature spell; I need to charge the quantum field first,” she interrupted me while focusing on the spell.

The rings were spinning faster and faster and I started hearing that high pitch sound that meant I was about to go.

“Also, the first time you are teleported by someone else you might feel a little-”

The loud sound made it impossible to hear her anymore, and the rings were spinning so fast I had to shut my eyes from the brightness inside the sphere.

With a loud, deep thud, I felt myself falling down through the floor. I opened my eyes only to find out I was in the middle of an apple orchard with the high pitch sound still ringing in my ears.

“Wow that was amaz-”

I felt a sudden pain in the stomach and rushed to a nearby tree where I threw up. My head was still spinning and the aftertaste was horrible.

“Thanks for the notice, Twilight,” I muttered, wiping my muzzle with a hoof. “Now where the hell am I?”

I looked around the plantation and noticed a large house in the distance. I quickly made my way towards it and soon spotted a hulky, red stallion dragging a large wood beam near a barn. Out of the barn came Applejack, who immediately noticed me.

“Hey there uhm Blink, was it?” She greeted.

“Yea, that would be me. Twilight said you needed some help and she’s kind of busy, so here I am.”

“Hey there,” the red stallion I saw earlier said, coming out of the barn.

“What’s up? You must be Big Mac, Applejack’s brother, right?” I returned the greetings.

“Eeyup.”

“There’re just a couple of beams that need lifting up,” Applejack added. “I thought some unicorn magic might help us since we’re in the middle of apple-bucking season and all.”

“Well, we’d better hurry then.”

We quickly got to it, Applejack securing all the beams that were lying on the ground inside the barn. Using a pulley which was tied to the roof, we lifted the wooden poles one by one, AJ and Big Mac pulling them up while I used my magic to accelerate the process. Once up, it was up to me to prop them into place.

“So, how’s life in Ponyville for ya so far?” Applejack asked during a small break, still panting from the effort.

“It’s been pretty nice, can’t complain. Everyone’s been welcoming and I’m making some good progress with my magic training.”

“Ain’t that nice,” she added, giving me a quick, strange glimpse.

Since we started working on the barn Applejack had been behaving a little awkward, like she was expecting something, shooting me awkward glances every now and then. She left to bring something to drink, returning after a few minutes with a tray of refreshments balanced on her back. My nose immediately picked up the smell of apple juice, one of my favorite drinks back home.

“Here ya go, you must be thirsty after all that working,” she said, putting the tray down.

“Thanks!” I grabbed a glass and swiftly emptied it, enjoying the amazing taste of freshly made juice. I let out a deep sigh, my thirst finally quenched, and rested on top of a small hay stack. Two more beams and it would all be finished.

“Say Blink, did you enjoy the drink?” AJ suddenly asked.

“Sure, I love apple juice, reminds me of my childhood.” I casually responded without a second thought.

“Oh, so ya started to remember things?” the orange earth pony asked again.

“Damn it.” My eyes were closed while I was resting, so she couldn’t notice my sudden pupil dilation as I realized she was probably onto something. “Okay, let’s turn this around safely.”

“Yea, I mean I think I do. It’s all like small pieces of memory that I sometimes bump into. I like the smells of apples and I also like apple juice, it might be my favorite drink, right?” I asked, trying to seem as honest as possible.

Applejack let out a small sigh and turned to me. I stood up, assuming we were going to finish with the barn.

“Blink, ah know you’re lying,” she said, making me freeze into place. My brain had already started working relentlessly to find a way out of that situation.

How did she find out? Doesn’t matter, what am I going to do now? Play the innocent card? She wouldn’t buy that one, surely.

Right when I was about to open my mouth, she spoke again.

“I don’t know what and why, but ah know you aint telling the truth. And don’t try to get around me anymore, I’m the element of honesty, if that rings any bell to ya,” she added, seeing as I was about to do just so: lie some more.

I just stood there, looking down, not knowing what to do. It really didn’t seem like I had any way out of it.

“Applejack, I-”

“Now listen here cuz I’m only gonna tell you this once,” she started, getting closer to me. Her tone was slightly lower, but kept its gravity, “I can’t force you to be honest but you seem like a nice colt from what Twilight’s been talking about ya. However if you wanna be friends with us, you’ll have to start being honest about yourself. I don’t want to hear you’ve hurt any of my friend’s feelings by lying to them. And I also don’t wanna hear you hurtin’ because of something you’ve been hiding from us. Whatever it is, we can help. Do you understand?”

I slowly nodded and it took all of my courage to look the orange mare in the eyes.

“Yea, I’ll do that. I’ll start being honest,” I nervously said.

“Now don’t worry about it anymore sugar cube, I trust ya’ll be doing the right thing. Now help me lift this last beam so we can finish repairin’ this old gal.”

We promptly raised the last wooden pole and I nudged it into place with my magic. Once everything was done it was time for me to go home. The sun had already begun its descent, throwing the last rays of bright light over Equestria. Applejack insisted on filling my saddlebag with as many apples as she could, a token of her appreciation for my help.

I left the farm and her last words were about following the path of honesty, as good things would come across my way. As I walked back home, heading through the center of Ponyville, I contemplated on AJ’s words and all that had happened that day. I didn’t want to build my life there on lies, and I just wished things were a little less complicated. One thing was certain: I had to come out with everything, as hard as it might have seemed.

“Heh, with some luck maybe they’ll just think I’m crazy or something,” I mused to myself, approaching the library.

I reached the huge tree house and knocked at the door a couple of times. Spike opened it, letting me in.

“Hey big guy, how was work at the farm?” the dragon greeted me.

“Interesting, to say the least.”

“So you like fixing up barns, cool. Maybe you should get a job as a construction worker or something,” he teased.

“Hey Blink!” Twilight almost shouted from the small kitchen, right before I was about to give Spike a comeback.

“Uhm, hey Twilight.” My voice softened as soon as she entered the living room with her usual big smile on her face.

“I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone,” the dragon said, rolling his eyes and going to his room. Fortunately for me, Twilight didn’t hear him.

“I’m gonna get back at you Spike. One of these days,” I muttered under my breath.

“So, did everything go all right with Applejack? Did you guys fix the barn?” Twilight inquired, nodding towards the couch.

We each took a seat and I relaxed, letting out a yawn. “Yea, there was quite a lot of lifting, but we managed,” I boasted with a grin.

“Also I’m sorry for not giving you a warning about the side effects before teleporting you like that. Were you ok?”

“Well I was a little sick, but I’m all right now. Nice spell by the way.”

I then recalled throwing up what was practically my only meal of the day. I was getting quite hungry on the road back but somehow that feeling had magically disappeared since seeing Twilight again.

And then it hit me. The way I blushed every time I would see her, almost being killed by not paying attention at what she was actually teaching me earlier that day, lack of hunger and those dreams that one time. I was-

“. . . an idiot,” I slowly whispered to myself, Twilight not noticing it.

I can’t do this . . . can I? I mean I want to, she’s nice and everything but it would make things so much more complicated.

The mare next to me was going on about the spell which she performed, while my mind was silently yet violently battling with my heart.

Just hormones. Self-control, it’s easy. I can’t screw this up. I mustn’t . . . Ahh buck it!

In a split second decision, in which I felt like a whole galaxy of opportunities was born with one great big bang, followed by silence and aftermath, my mind was suddenly set.

“Hey, Twilight,” I started, conveniently right after she finished what was clearly a monologue.

“Yes?” she asked back, her big purple eyes looking straight at me, making what I was about to say feel even more uncomfortable.

“I was wondering if you would uhm . . .” My mouth remained opened but no words came out. In my mind I was beating myself up for not having enough courage to ask that rather simple question.

“If I would what?” She cocked her head, still smiling, amused by my stammering.

“If you would like to go out with me,” the words shot out of my mouth, as I felt my heart pounding in my chest. I tried to put up a convincing smile, although my eyes betrayed my nervousness.

“Well sure, Blink!” she immediately answered.

My heart almost jumped from my chest, as I felt like the luckiest stallion -and man- alive.

“We could go outside in the garden or on my balcony, if you want to get some fresh air right now,” she added with a smile, not aware of the actual meaning of my question.

What the actual fuck . . . I’ve heard of being socially awkward but this is just-

“Uhm what I meant was, if you would like to go out . . . with me,” I corrected myself.

She looked at me, a puzzled expression on her face. And then her eyes widened as she finally realized what I had asked her.

“Ohh, you mean going out like- a date?”

“Yea, pretty much. I mean, I think you’re really smart and intelligent and-”

“Blink, stop,” she interrupted me, her smile now gone. “Listen, you’re a nice colt and have a great talent for magic-”

“You got to be kidding me. This can’t be happening. Why?” My mind felt like a total wreck as she started her rejection speech.

“…but I don’t think it would be appropriate to go in that direction. I mean I’m like your tutor and I don’t really-” she stammered, her eyes looking everywhere as if in search of a reason.

“She’s lying; she’s trying to find reasons, but why?” I fed myself that thought in a desperate attempt to preserve my emotional stability. I didn’t take defeats too well, especially rejections like those.

I was raised in the belief that once you have your mind on something, you can achieve it through hard work and determination, and there is nothing and no one that could stop you. But that seemed like a sure victory, at least the first date thing, so I never even thought of not getting at least a chance.

“So we could still be friends, right?” she finished, making me snap back to reality. I had missed a part of her explanation, but liked to think that it was just the usual crap someone feeds you: “But we’re still okay… “, “it’s actually me, not you...”

“Yea, sure,” I said with a fake smile.

“I’m glad you understand.” She looked at me, somehow regretfully, her smile having returned even if just for sympathy.

“Yea so, I think I should head off. Kinda’ late and had a busy day,” I stated, getting off the couch and heading towards the door.

“Alright, are you sure you’re fine?” Twilight asked again, following me.

“Yep, I’m okay. No hard feelings. Well, good night then, see you next week for the next training, right?”

“Indeed, we’ll get into transformations, you’ll love it!”

I grimaced at her last words but fortunately she didn’t notice it, as I was going through the front door, into the night.

“Good night!” she wished me.

“Good night.”

I heard the door closing and let out a huge sigh, a mixture of pain and anger forming up inside my heart. I looked towards my home but decided it was too much to walk so I closed my eyes and started concentrating. Engulfing myself in a blue energy shield, I zapped myself again and disappeared into the night, leaving a dark trail of smoke behind.

Moments later I found myself right near the small lake in front of my house.

“Well, at least that worked tonight . . .”

I looked at the bright full moon reflecting itself on the surface of the water, and images of a perfect night by the lake with someone special came into mind. It only deepened my sorrow.

*** *** ***

Back at the library, Twilight was lying on the sofa, her eyes lost in the ceiling and her face down. Spike walked in, having heard the conversation from his room. The acoustics in that tree house were too good, so he heard everything even if he didn’t like snooping on ponies.

“Hey Twi. You okay?” He climbed on a sofa near Twilight’s, his voice softer than usual.

“I’m fine, Spike,” she quickly said, turning away.

“Why did you turn him down?” he bluntly asked. Spike didn’t like to interfere with Twilight’s personal life, uneventful as it was, but like her parents, he too had started to worry for her.

The lavender mare frowned at him and opened her mouth to protest but then closed it, a pained expression on her face. Lifting herself up from the sofa, she trotted to the main study. From there she climbed up onto the balcony, the sudden cold air of the night brushing against her coat. Looking up at the beautiful full moon, Twilight let out another sigh, images of a wonderful night with someone special coming into her mind as well. She shook her head, expelling those thoughts away and trotted back into the study.

“I’m sorry Blink . . . I just don’t . . .” Twilight paused, trying to rethink everything all over again, but as much as she wanted, the facts were still the same.

“-I just can’t trust you,” she said to herself, her mind putting all the pieces together. That was the problem: there were too few pieces to make a clear image.

“You had no head injuries when I found you, I’m sure of that, and absolutely no traces of magic that could have caused your memory loss.”

She paused again, looking on the blackboard in the back of the study room, where she had spent the rest of the day after Blink left to help Applejack. The board was filled with advanced equations, thorough calculations and everything had been double checked. It was the final scientific evidence that made her realize something Applejack noticed on a whim: someone had intentionally not been honest to her.

A final result written on the chalkboard was underlined several times.

“You told me those ten minutes you were trapped in that transitional state felt to you like a couple of moments. But given your lack of shielding and distance travelled, it should have been exactly sixty four point seven seconds in which you were perfectly conscious . . . what did you do all that time? More importantly, why would you hide it from me?”

*** *** ***

Back at the little house by the lake, the door swung open, engulfed in a blue aura. I stepped inside, my head hung low. The room was dark and I instinctively reached for a light switch that wasn’t there. A sharp pain surged through my foreleg. I then remembered the knife I left imbedded in the wall.

“Damn piece of shit!” I let out between my teeth, feeling my anger spilling out alongside the blood from my left hoof.

Remembering I had a light lamp in the bedroom, I made my way there. Walking through the darkness, I smashed my hoof against the table that was in the middle of the living room. The pain wasn’t as intense as the cut in my hoof but it was the last drop for the day.

With eyes watering from both the physical and the emotional pain, my horn burst in a bright blue light, and the table flew across the room. With the fading light from my spell I managed to make my way to the bedroom, where I lit up some candles and the lamp. Raven cocked her head at the sight of me, probably having heard the commotion in the kitchen-dining room.

As it turned out, the wound was superficial but painful nonetheless. This occasion called for trying a simple mending spell that would have healed the cut completely. After having a go at it, I managed only to close the cut and stop the bleeding, forming a long scar underneath my fur. I was definitely not in a mental state to perform a healing spell right, nor did I have the magic inclination for such spells, so I had to settle for that. Exhausted on all levels, I tossed myself onto the bed and let out another deep sigh, rubbing my eyes with my hooves.

“It’s all right . . . life’s still goes on,” I assured myself, falling asleep.

Outside, a cold breeze brought about a lurking shadow by the small house. Discord approached the window and peered inside, a devilish smirk on his face.

“Sweet dreams, little pony,” he hissed between his fangs.

*** *** ***

I was basking in the light and warmth of the midday sun, colorful butterflies dancing in the wind. A large green field extended in front of me and a forest stretched behind me. It seemed strangely familiar, similar to the surrounding area near the lake house, but there were no sign of other ponies around; or of Ponyville for that matter.

My ears picked up a high pitch cry somewhere behind me. I turned around and noticed nothing but the thick line of trees stretching endlessly from one side of the horizon to the other. I approached the forest, drawn by the muffled cry. As I entered the woodland, the air suddenly dropped in temperature and I paused for a few moments. Something was definitely wrong with that place; everything felt alien and unnatural. However I carried on, trying to locate the source of the sound, as if it was the only thing I could focus on.

I noticed a small shack hidden behind a group of thick trees. It seemed that inside was the source of the strange cry that somehow resembled the call of a bird. I pushed the door aside and my eyes fell on a small creature curled up into a corner. As I approached it, the animal raised its head at me, a curious expression on her face. It was a deer, most likely the source of the strange cry. Had it been parted from her mother, and why was it there, of all places?

The ground suddenly trembled, a distant roar piercing the air of the silent forest. I looked outside, and between the dense tree line I noticed a large dark shape quickly heading towards my direction, the ground shaking under its feet.

What the . . .

Turning to flee, I immediately remembered the poor deer. I let out a grunt, knowing I was probably going to regret my decision. I levitated the deer on my back, the poor creature bucking the air under her, frightened by the noises of the approaching monster.

I started galloping deeper into the forest, thinking that going into the clear would have been suicide. The beast was quickly gaining on us, letting out loud roars as it cut through the thick foliage like butter in its rampage. The added weight of the woodland creature on my back was wearing me out, and soon I felt like I would collapse to the ground from the fatigue. I had to do something fast or else that would have been the end of us.

A small cave got my attention as I maneuvered between the trees, trying to lose whatever was chasing us. The hollow was too small and shallow to provide enough cover for both of us, but an idea popped through my head. I hurried inside and placed the young deer down, then quickly got out. I pulled at the bushes nearby and placed them by the entrance, masking it.

“Don’t move little thing, I’ll come back for you.” I hoped it would not make any sounds before I could get the chaser’s attention.

My horn glowed brighter as I started galloping in the opposite direction. My plan had worked and the light was catching the beast’s attention. But even without the deer on my back I was soon panting hard, my heart doing its best to keep up. Right before deciding to turn around to face the approaching menace, a small house appeared in front of me, in a clearing. I gasped and slowed down, realizing it looked a lot like my home by the lake. In fact it was exactly that house.

The sounds from behind quickly snapped me out of it and I ran inside, thinking about my next move. The beast seemed large enough not to be challenged by mere wooden walls.

I locked the door of my room and slowly stepped back with my horn glowing bright, waiting for the imminent breach. My vision darkened, panic quickly sweeping through my mind. Loud bangs at the front door echoed inside my head. It was coming for me. The whole world plunged into darkness . . .

I woke up standing in my bead, cold sweat pouring down my face.

“A drea-”

THUD THUD THUD!

There was actually someone banging at my door. All my muscles tensed up, the dream still fresh in my mind. As I got out from the bed, a loud splintering noise filled the room outside mine.

“There!” a voice rang from the living room.

“Who the fuck-” was everything I managed to say before my bedroom door burst open, several ponies standing in the doorway. They looked exactly like guards from Canterlot, one of them being a unicorn. Their uniform was a golden armor plate and helmet, and sword hanging at their side; except for the unicorn, which apparently was unarmed.

“You are under arrest! Surrender now and you will not be harmed!” one of the guards yelled.

“What, why?”

The guards poured into the room, surrounding me. Instinctively, my horn lit up, channeling magic.

“He’s resisting, put him down!” their captain ordered.

A large stallion slammed me into the wall, pinning me. I quickly reacted, hitting him with my hoof right in his neck, between the armor. Shoving the guard away from me and getting some distance between us, I threw him into the opposite wall with my magic. Raven was awake and did not seem to like the new guests, scraping one of them in the face with her claws.

Two other guards surrounded me, blocking my way. I suddenly started choking, feeling a tight grip on my neck. The unicorn’s horn was glowing, his magic pinning me to the wall by my neck, immobilizing me.

“Quickly, shackle him!” he barked. Behind him, four other guards were ready to intervene.

I was panicking, desperately trying to teleport myself out of the room, but with no results. The unicorn’s magic grip was probably canceling my attempts to get out as well. The two guards held my forelegs, locking them in tight, metal binds. I was still struggling to get air while pinned to the wall, when I started focusing on a central point in the middle of the room, pouring all of my magic into that location. With only a light sizzle to warn of my intentions, the air around that point instantly expanded, creating a shockwave. Everyone inside the room was thrown to the floor or into the walls, the window’s glass shattering from the pressure.

I felt the magic grip releasing me and crashed to the floor, panting for air.

“Raven get out!” I shouted at the bird, pointing at the broken window. She cawed in protest but followed my order, flying out. Next, it was my turn to leave but the guards got up all too quick, one of them already slamming me back to the wall.

“The hell’s your problem? I haven’t done anything!” I let out, while the other guards finally managed to bind all my hooves.

The other unicorn began channeling a spell targeting my horn, effectively blocking any of my attempts to use magic. I was caught; there was no way out of it. The guards dragged me across the room, and then out of the house. My chest hurt from the last bashing, and I knew for sure that one of my ribs was at least cracked. Outside the house was a carriage pulled by four pegasus, with bars of steel instead of window blinds.

I was thrown inside, the door shutting close behind me, a metal click telling me it had also been locked. I coughed blood on the floor, my chest radiating with pain. The carriage took flight, soon leaving Ponyville behind. From what I could tell, we were heading towards Canterlot.

The journey barely took more than twenty minutes, and the large capital city soon stretched beneath the pegasus-pulled carriage I was in. We landed on a platform that overhung a dark building at the far edge of the city, right near the mountain wall.

A couple of stallions were waiting outside and as soon as the carriage touched the ground, they unlocked the door. One of them, a unicorn, quickly incapacitated my magic while the other dragged me out.

The building where they were taking me in looked like an old castle tower, several armored stallions patrolling along the perimeter. It was made entirely out of rock, dark and tainted by the years. Inside, I was thrown in an empty room, an unarmored stallion following the guards. He looked old, his dark mane riddled with white strands of hair. What struck me most was his cutie mark, a blindfolded mare holding a balance. They were actually police ponies and somehow I’ve done something to upset them.

“Midnight Blink,” the pony said, looking at me with a pair of cold eyes. “Is that your name?”

“Yes-” I barely responded.

“Where is the filly? What have you done to her?” he asked.

“Filly . . . what? I haven’t done anything to anyone! This has to be a mistake!”

“Lies! Tell me what happened to her!” the police pony snapped.

Ironically, that time I was not lying at all, but neither did I have any idea what that stallion was talking about.

“I told you, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Those guards broke into my house while I was sleeping and brought me here! Yesterday I helped a friend in Ponyville, you can ask them if you don’t believe me.”

“Yesterday, huh?” he growled at me. “How about last night? There are several witnesses that saw you foalnaping a young filly named Cream Puff right from her house! We found a bloody knife in your house and signs of violence and struggle.”

My heart suddenly stopped. The knife in which I cut myself, the table I threw in my rage after Twilight’s rejection, the filly that I help reunite with her mother. It was impossible, I did nothing wrong; how could I have taken her in the middle of the night? I was sure I was sleeping the whole time.

The door of the interrogation room swung open, a worried stallion looking up at the pony questioning me.

“Sir, we have news from Ponyville.”

“In Celestia’s name, tell me that you found the missing foal?”

“No sir, there’s another issue there. We might need to re-assign the guards from this station.”

The old stallion huffed, clearly not happy about the new development.

“All right,” he started, “chain this one and throw him into a cell. I need to see what this is all about,” he ordered the guard ponies standing by the door.

He then trotted out of the room while the guards pulled on my hooves. The unicorn levitated a thick collar over my head and rested it on the base of my shoulders.

“Stay still or it will hurt more,” he hissed.

I didn’t notice at first because of the room’s poor illumination, but the collar had long silver needles on it. The unicorn guard then fixed the strange band around the base of my neck and engulfed the thin rods in his magic. To my great horror, they started sinking in, the sharp pain jolting through my body.

“What the hell are you doing to me?” I screamed out.

“You’ve resisted arrest and are suspected of murder. Your hooves will be bound in tight cuffs and your magic will be incapacitated by this collar. Move around too much and you can get permanent paralysis, or worse. I wouldn’t try anything if I were you, chap.”

The spikes plunged into my neck a couple of centimeters while the other guard tightened the rest of my shackles. The unicorn then floated me out of the room and made his way downstairs, two rows of cells stretching into a seemingly endless dark hallway. He gently let me down in a one of the cells and then locked the door.

As soon as he left, I tried focusing my magic to tear apart the shackles, ignoring everything the unicorn told me. I wasn’t going to just let myself captured for something I didn’t do and there was also the issue in Ponyville that caught my attention. I was in a prison facility, that was clear enough, but if they needed to relocate some of its guards because of what was happening back in Ponyville, it meant that something was wrong. What if something really bad was happening there? My thoughts immediately went to Twilight and her friends.

Unfortunately, as I tried to focus, more pain seared from my neck where the collar’s needles dug in. The guard didn’t lie: it really incapacitated my magic. I crashed to the floor, exhausted. No matter how much magic I tried to conjure from my internal magic field, it all dissipated through those damn needles stuck in my neck. At least they were thin enough not to cause a lot of pain.

I heard commotion coming from outside and slowly approached the hole in the wall that served as the cell’s window. Guards were trotting all around near the station, heading out into the city, leaving just a few to actually guard the prison tower. The sun was now shining brightly across the city, but something about it seemed off. Soon enough, the large disk of light started turning reddish.

“I need to get out of here. Fast.”

My hooves were sore from the tight shackles and the anti-magic collar drew the very essence of my powers out of my body. I nickered in frustration, but somehow found a trace of determination buried deep inside.

*** *** ***

The entire room trembled, a scared mare clutching desperately to her stallion. After moments of deathly silence, one of the room’s walls exploded into millions of splinters, the furniture near it flying everywhere around. The sun’s strange light poured inside the room, illuminating the settling dust as it passed through it.

A draconic figure entered through the newly created hole, its body twisted and unnatural, with multiple body parts from different creatures. The evil being looked at the two frightened ponies with bloodshot eyes filled with only one desire: revenge.

The stallion stood his ground, in a protective stance. He would not let anything happen to his wife. Discord smirked and swung his claws at the two of them, drawing enough force to kill. A purple wall of magic suddenly appeared between him and his victims, stopping his attack short. Outside in the street, Twilight watched him in shock, but was determined not to let anypony get hurt.

“Discord, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, well if it isn’t my old, old friend, Twilight Sparkle,” the creature let out, turning from the couple, now focusing all his attention at the purple unicorn in front of him.

“How did you get back?” she demanded, a little nervous at the sight of an old enemy slightly larger than she remembered.

“Well Twilight, I can only say that I appreciate your hospitality towards complete strangers. I must thank you for having shown that colt around the castle’s gardens. His presence was so . . . inspiring.”

“No…” Twilight’s heart shrunk. “It can’t be.”

“Ooow, but it is. The chaos I’ve seen in his soul, the violence of his past. It was so alien, but felt so good and most of all, it felt powerful,” Discord said in a low voice.

Panic was settling all around Ponyville, its citizens galloping away from the city center in fear and terror. They have never seen a twilight sun in the middle of the day but they’ve seen Discord. They’ve seen Equestria’s old enemy appearing from the Everfree forest, blasting homes, carriages and stands in his way with his evil magic. He wanted to draw the attention of six special ponies; and it worked, Twilight Sparkle being the first to confront him.

“Last time I came here I intended to make Ponyville the capital city of chaos. But now I realize I don’t just want to cause harmless disarray anymore. No, no, thanks to your friend, who I made sure is not here with us, I now have a fresh couple of ideas,” Discord said, an evil grin on his face.

“So that’s why the guards took him in arrest a few hours ago,” Twilight pondered. “Your evil really has no boundaries, Discord. But it doesn’t matter, we’ve defeated you once, we will do it again!” Twilight shouted at him, more determined than ever.

Her horn shined brightly, but the draconic monster was quicker, teleporting right to her side with a snap of his fingers. He grabbed her by the neck with his talons, leaning his head close to hers.

“Evil? You haven’t seen evil yet,” he whispered to the shocked mare.

Discord then spun around, lifting the unicorn and throwing her towards a home across the street. The mare flew through the air and crashed right through the wooden wall, tearing a hole in it.

“I think. . .” the creature said with a smirk, “I think I’m going to enjoy this new chaos.”

End of chapter 8

Chapter 9: Rise and Walk

Chapter 9

Rise and Walk

Trapped.

I raised my head, opening my teary eyes, tired from all the sobbing. Sitting in a corner, I stared at nothing, feeling weak and helpless. The recent flood of emotions and events were too much. Tears slipped through and fell down my face, as I felt completely defeated.

The red light coming through the small hole in the wall fell onto the cold, damp floor of the prison cell. I tried to escape but there seemed to be no way out of that place. My hooves were bound so that I couldn’t reach the collar and pull the magic conductive pins out of my neck. Trying to use my powers only brought me painful results.

Something was wrong out there and I was stuck in that cold cell, unable to do anything. I was scared. Scared for the friends I’ve made in the past weeks in that wonderful world. Scared for Raven, which was somewhere out there but most of all, I was scared for Twilight, despite the recent rejection.

And then, a strange, yet familiar noise came from outside of the cell. I raised my ears in attention, turning to the gap in the wall. Sliding towards it on gentle hooves, I raised myself on my hind legs, trying to get a glimpse of the outside world. The sky was still an unsettling red. A small black figure fell right on the edge of the opening, startling me with a high pitched cry. My eyes shot wide open as I recognized the bird.

“Raven, you son of a . . . I can’t believe you came back for me.”

I was tearing again from the sudden joy I felt in my heart. I was not alone after all. The bird seemed offended by my welcoming, cocking her head at me and cawing something only other ravens could have understood. But I was just happy to see a friend.

Raven slipped through the hole, flapping her wings to ease the landing. I leaned down in front of her and muzzled her as gently as I could, so as not to crush her unintentionally. Her response was to bite my nose and give me what seemed to be a stern look.

“Well sorry for caring about you!” I let out, massaging my nose with my bound hooves.

The raven cawed back at me and took flight, landing right on top of my head. She passed by my horn, making her way towards my neck. By the time she reached the collar I realized what she had in mind.

“Damn, you’re smart!”

She grabbed one of the needles with her beak and started tugging at it, bringing waves of pain in my neck.

“For fuck’s sake, be gentler!”

She ignored my plea completely and kept pulling at one of the thin rods as I clenched my teeth. The pain was somehow resonating through my whole body, sending impulses of agony through my spine. I was sure that was not the way that thing was supposed to be taken off, but I didn’t have the luxury of time by my side. The agony ended as suddenly as it started, the sound of a dropping pin filling the prison cell, echoing in my ears; and then I felt like a little part of me was alive once again. The magic coursing through my body was back in contact with my mind and horn, even if just partially.

“Thanks Raven, you’re a lifesaver. I think I can manage now.”

I slowed my breathing and started focusing. The collar shook gently. I was at a tenth of my potential, but it was all I needed. The world around me faded away as I concentrated on a second needle. After a few moments, it started pulling itself out, slowly but steadily.

Another soft cling on the stone floor brought alongside a greater flow of energy. The third rod left my neck even faster as I felt my powers slowly restoring to their full potential. After the fourth and fifth needle, I opened my eyes, having no need to concentrate that much. In a small outburst of magic, the rest of the pins shot out, flying in all directions. The collar that held the needles into place dropped to the floor with a light thud.

I massaged my aching neck, feeling the small holes left by the pins in my skin. “Let’s go, Raven,” I whispered to the bird that was looking at me all along.

A blue aura engulfed the metal bars and the prison cell door broke out of its hinges, gently resting it to the ground as to not alert the potential guards. Stepping out I suddenly froze, having a dumb look on my face.

“Why am I so stupid?”

I looked outside the opening in the cell’s wall and focused on it. The next moment I found myself outside by a wall, blue smoke dissipating in the wind all around me. The fresh air was the biggest relief. The atmosphere was pretty much as grim as it looked from the inside, the sun still casting an unsettling red light all around.

“Raven, have any idea what might have caused this?”

My pet, who was perched on the top of my head, gave a loud answer, its meaning forever a mystery.

“Well that’s just great,” I grunted, looking around for any way out of that place. To my surprise, the facility’s outer gates were wide open and the guards that patrolled around when I came in were nowhere to be found. So, I pretty much did the first thing that shot through my mind and that was to just trot out of there.

After a while, I found myself in the middle of a wide, familiar street. Ponies were rustling all around me, visibly nervous from the unusual light. Carriages filled with guards were rushing towards the castle and I even saw a particular transport vehicle bustling with what seemed to be actual soldiers, wearing the same Greek-style helmets but having lighter armors and large, round, golden shields strapped to their backs. Long spears rested in their hooves, ready for action. Strangely, they were heading towards the city’s main gates.

All of a sudden, a purple column of magic rose from somewhere near the castle, casting a huge, round bubble all around the city, most likely a massive defensive measure. Whatever was happening, it seemed the issue was not in Canterlot. Somehow, I had to escape and reach Ponyville. I headed towards the capital’s exit, hoping there would be a way out through that shield. As I reached a huge square that I recognized as being the one near the Auditorium, I noticed a large group of guards fiddling around a central point, small squads of five ponies separating from the group every now and then, heading to their designated positions throughout the city.

I approached the guards, hoping to eavesdrop on what was happening with the sun and why soldiers were sent out of the city. As the group of stallions thinned out, I managed to spot what seemed to be their commander: a medium sized, white coated, blue maned stallion, armored to the teeth with a rather bizarre version of the guard’s armor. Another similar, but noticeably lighter equipped stallion stood by his side. His mane was blonde and had a brown coat, which I found quite odd for a stallion.

“And the rest of you keep a standard patrol route along the main road leading to the castle!” the leader shouted to the remaining guards. He then turned to his second in command and continued, on a lighter tone, “And you, Hallem, you’ll have to take care of the troops while I’m heading out to Ponyville to investigate; Princess’s orders.”

At that, the brown stallion with blonde mane widened his eyes. His commander pretended not to notice it but Hallem kept looking at him, dumbstruck.

“Sir, you know very well that is a lie! Our orders are to remain here and make sure Canterlot is protected.”

The unicorn shot him a glare, a very nervous look on his face.

“But I have to get to Ponyville, Twilight might be in danger!” he snapped. “If something bad would to happen to her, I don’t know what I . . .” his voice faded away as he imagined the possibilities.

I was taken aback at his words, my heart suddenly full of regrets. His comrade started to reassure him but I stopped listening to their conversation as my mind trailed away in deep thoughts.

“So this is the real reason . . .” I mumbled to myself, my eyes widened at the unicorn in heavy armor. “She has someone. Him.”

I turned away, trying not to think about it but it was too late. I couldn’t help looking back at the stallion in charge of Equestria’s capital defenses.

“What does he have that I-”

Another outburst of purple magic interrupted my pitiful thoughts, rising up in the sky and making the current shield glow stronger for a few moments. This time I could see its exact source: the white unicorn standing in the middle of the square.

“Ohh . . . that,” I puffed, my mind instinctually trying to assess him as a potential competitor for that special someone. Unfortunately, the results came back looking a little grim for me. I shook my head, trying to focus on what was actually important: getting to Ponyville.

A transport carriage pulled right by the white stallion and the remaining forces in the middle of the square. I managed to hear him order the rest of the troops to get in; that was my chance. I galloped to them, one of the guards getting himself in my way.

“Sir, Canterlot is on high alert; all civilians are to remain indoors until further news.”

“Please, I’m from Ponyville. I wondered if you could let me come along with them, I really need to get back there.”

To my surprise, the commanding stallion heard me and approached us, dismissing the guard.

“Ponyville might not be safe now, please remain here until we manage to figure out the threat,” he said, slightly grimacing at the last words. “Trust me, I know the feeling, but I have to remain here as well and make sure everyone in Canterlot is safe.” He gave his second in command an understanding look and he returned a reassuring nod.

So that way back was out of the question. I nodded at him and turned away, trotting off. I wasn’t going to give up that easy. As soon as I was out of the square, I started galloping towards the city’s main gates. There was someone I could talk to . . .

*** *** ***

Celestia made her way out of the castle and into the royal gardens. Luna was following her close, sharing her deep concern.

“Sister, I don’t understand. Why don’t we just go there and face that threat ourselves, whatever it may be?”

“Luna, if this is what I think it is, we might need the Elements.”

As the two princesses advanced further into the gardens, Luna seemed the most disturbed by the red light outside.

“What about the sun?”

“I tried to figure it out, but something has made it look like this,” Celestia answered, turning left and facing a row a statues. “We haven’t had it like that in thousands of years, since . . . Discord,” she added, frowning at a particular draconic statue.

Luna took a look at the statue in front of them, puzzled. “But sister, he’s right here, trapped in the stone prison conjured by the Elements of Harmony years ago.”

Celestia approached the statue, looking at it as if it was something completely alien.

“No,” she whispered, her eyes widened at the realization. With a swift glow of her horn, the air in front was cut with an invisible blade of magic. The statue’s top half slid off, hitting the ground and breaking in of pieces. Luna’s eyes matched her sister’s: the statue was hollow. It was a fake.

Celestia immediately disappeared in a burst of light, static electricity fading in the air around. Luna knew where her sister went so she teleported after her, leaving a dark fog dissipating behind her. When she arrived, the white alicorn had already unlocked the vault.

“I’m sending the Elements to their owners. They are our only hope right now.” Celestia said, hovering the locket in front of her.

“Are you sure this is the right choice?” Luna asked. “Shouldn’t we stop temporarily restoring harmony and actually do something beyond that?”

Her sister shot her a stern look, having had this particular conversation numerous times before.

“Luna, you know very well I am not supposed to do anything like that. I shouldn’t even be-” She stopped, taking a heavy breath.

“Let me do it then,” Luna stepped up. “Let me take care of Discord once and for all.”

“Dear sister, ruling this land was our choice but you know very well we are not to harm any living creature on it, no matter what. I will not allow you to break that rule, knowing very well it is beyond us to break. That’s why we’ve had the Elements restore harmony when it needed to be restored. Rest assured, I have faith in their new owners.”

“I hope you are right sister. As always, I trust in your decisions.”

“Thank you, Luna.” Celestia approached the princess of the night and nuzzled her gently. “Everything will turn out alright,” she assured her. Luna returned the gesture and after the close moment came to an end, Celestia veiled the small box in a bright yellow glow and sent it off to her student’s assistant.

“You’ve sent that to Spike, haven’t you?” Luna asked, reading through the spell her sister had just performed.

“Yes, I trust that he’s always at Twilight’s side. From here on, we can only hope for the best.”

She trotted away from the vault when suddenly she recalled the contents of the small chest.

“Oh no . . . the symbol’s meaning,” Celestia turned to her sister, her eyes widened, “Blink’s cutie mark!”

“Yes, you told me you’ve hidden the last piece of information- don’t tell me it was in the-”

“Yes. How could have I forgotten? I can’t believe I just handed it to Twilight like that!” Celestia started pacing nervously around the large room.

“Calm down, dearest sister. She would have found out anyway at some point,” Luna said.

“But not like this, not now.” Celestia turned to one of the large window paintings, one which depicted the moment of Discord’s defeat against the six ponies wielding the Elements of Harmony. The unnatural light of the sun shining through the glass painting gave it a grim look.

*** *** ***

“Come on David, I really need to get back to Ponyville!” I continued my pleading in front of the tower’s security captain.

“I can’t do this, orders are orders. Not even for a friend of Twilight Sparkle.” His tone was firm but had a hint of regret. We were right at the entrance of the tower, where I found him relaying orders to the other guards.

“But she might be in danger, and I think I can help. How would you feel if you found out that something ha-”

“Quiet down now,” he suddenly silenced me, looking around. After a pause in which he made sure nobody was near to hear him, he continued: “Follow me and not a word to anyone about this, you hear me?”

I nodded in approval and followed him up the spiral stairs of the large airport tower. We stopped near the top and stepped on one of the landing pads. The guard trotted to the end of it, where a very small, white balloon was anchored.

“Here, it’s the fastest one we have. You can use your magic to boost it, can’t you?”

“Yeah, sure. And thanks a lot.”

He let out a smile and turned to the balloon, his horn glowing a faded yellow and engulfing the vehicle in a thin aura. “Now head west and just follow the wind. You should reach Ponyville in less than an hour. The spell I cast allows the whole thing to pass through Captain Shining Armor’s shield.”

So that’s his name . . .

“If my superiors find out I did this without proper authorization, they’ll have my ass sent straight to the moon; so make it count, kid.”

I climbed into the basket and he unanchored the balloon. Raven followed me, taking her rightful place on top of my head. I soon started propelling the flying device forwards, right towards the edge of the protective barrier around Canterlot.

“Good luck, Twilight’s friend!” he shouted behind me and then rushed back into the tower.

“My name’s Blink,” I muttered to myself, slightly annoyed that he didn’t catch that when I was there last time.

And so I started heading towards where Ponyville should have been, hoping I could make it there in time. The sun’s light was shining through the white balloon, giving it a soft red glow.

*** *** ***

Spike suddenly felt a familiar itch inside of his chest and stepped away from Twilight’s bed.

“Is it a letter from Princess Celestia?” Rarity asked, noticing the dragon’s sudden reaction.

Spike’s eyes bulged out a bit and he started gagging. “Not- a letter . . .” He chocked, holding his stomach. A loud belch and the dragon let out a small blast of flames, a familiar chest dropping on the library’s floor. The rest of his friends gave it a confused look yet Rarity was the first one to recognize it by the encrusted jewels on it.

“That’s the box that holds the Elements of Harmony!” she gasped.

Those words somehow snapped Twilight out of her unconscious state.

“The Element,” she barely mustered, trying to sit up on her bed.

“Whoa there sugarcube, yer still in a pretty bad shape from that hit on your head,” Applejack leaned towards the bed, holding her still.

“But . . . Discord . . . returned. Need Elements. Where am I?” she stammered, trying regain focus.

“Relax Twi,” Spike stepped closer, putting the box on the nightstand, “you tried to fight that Discord guy and he threw you through a house. I told you not to go alone to investigate but you wouldn’t listen. Good thing Rainbow was passing by and saw the whole thing. She flew right into him and knocked him out, then picked you up and brought you back here. When I went there to show him why it isn’t a good idea to mess with our Twilight, he was already gone,” Spike added, puffing deep, black smoke from his nostrils. “I was so worried for you. We all were.”

The dragon leaned closer and hugged the mare, holding her tight to his chest. Twilight returned the gesture, her eyes slightly tearing up. “Ohh, Spike,” she let out softly. “Where is Rainbow Dash, by the way?”

“She went out with Fluttershy to make sure the ponies and her animals are safe. Poor thing wouldn’t stop crying at your bedside, but I assured her you only had a minor concussion and sent her off to take her mind off it,” Rarity explained. “I have to know however, how did you manage to survive that crash against the wall? It practically shattered it in pieces!”

“Guess I managed to shield myself in time,” Twilight said, rubbing a hoof against a small bump on her head. “Did you-”

“Ohh yes, I haven’t forgotten about that magic first aid training you gave me last year. I managed to reduce the swelling and eliminate as much of the negative effects of the hit as I could,” the fashionista stated, proud of her work.

“You did a great job, Rarity. Thank you.”

Twilight started focusing, conjuring a curtain of purple magic and making it pass through her body. After a few moments the glow died out and she got out of bed.

“Are ya sure you’re alright, dear?” Applejack asked.

“I’m absolutely fine. All healed up and as good as new!” She smiled at her friends.

“Wow, all that fancy studying sure made you, uhm . . . better?” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing around and ending up hugging the purple unicorn.

“It sure did Pinkie, it is my special talent after all. Now we need to find Discord and defeat him using the Elements. Again,” she said, rather annoyed.

“Twilight dear, are you sure you want to do this? You’ve seen how violent he was,” Rarity added, nervously fiddling around.

“Yes, and I also think I know the reason for that but the Elements are everything we have right now, and if the Princess has sent them it means she believes the same. Now let’s go find Fluttershy and Rainbow and get this thing done before anypony gets hurt.”

Twilight levitated the box and trotted out of her room, followed by the rest of her friends. They rushed as fast as they could to Fluttershy’s cottage, hoping they would find her there, safe and unharmed. When they arrived, Twilight didn’t spare any time and went right inside the house, finding Fluttershy sitting near a couch.

The yellow pegasus quickly turned at the sound of her friends coming in and almost broke in a sob when seeing Twilight. She ran to her friend and embraced her tightly.

“Twilight, I thought you-”

“Ohh Fluttershy, I’m perfectly fine, nothing magic couldn’t fix,” the purple mare calmed the quivering pegasus, gently stroking her mane.

Fluttershy suddenly remembered something. “Girls, you have to see this. I just don’t know what to do about it.”

She led her friends to where she was standing before, near the red couch. On it was a small, sleeping pony. She was a very young filly with a cream coat and light blue mane.

“I found her asleep in a small cave in the forest when I took the bunnies and otters there just now. I carried her here as fast as I could, and tried to wake her up but she’s been sleeping ever since. I just don’t know what to do, Twilight, please tell me if she’s alright.”

The unicorn got closer and immediately recognized the filly.

“I know her! She and her mother always pass by my library when they go out to play together at the park. They live two houses down the street.”

After a quick scanning, Twilight concluded: “Fortunately, I can’t find anything wrong with her; she was just cast a sleeping spell.”

Everyone in the room let out a sigh of relief, happy that everything was fine for a change.

“It’s alright dear. You heard Twilight, she’s fine; just taking a long nap.” Now Rarity was trying to calm the yellow pegasus. “Twilight, I do believe this is the filly that went missing last night. Should we not get her to her mom? Poor thing must be worried sick by now.”

“One moment, let me break the spell.”

The unicorn whispered the incantation of a dispelling spell, after which the young filly on the couch snapped her eyes open, a blue mist dispersing from within her. At the sight of five strangers and a dragon, she started to whimper.

“Fluttershy, your turn,” Twilight said, backing off and letting the pegasus calm down the young pony. “Ok girls, now we need to get the filly to her mom. Just relax and let me take care of this, we’ll be there in no time.”

Before anyone could ask anything, the purple unicorn shut her eyes in deep concentration and began casting a spell. Purple waves started flowing around the room, enveloping everyone. After a few moments of channeling magic, she snapped her head back, pointing her horn towards the ceiling and opening her eyes. No one even had the chance to see that they were slightly glowing white before they were instantly zapped into bolts of white lighting that returned to Twilight’s horn. When the last one went through a split second later, she herself evaporated in a small shower of white and purple sparks.

“Damn it Twi, could have warned us about that one,” one very confused dragon let out, temporarily blinded from the powerful light.

When their vision returned, everyone found themselves basking in the sun’s red rays in a small garden. Fluttershy was sitting on the ground shaking, hugging a filly that was as scared as she was due to the recent event. Rarity was helping a very upset Applejack up from the ground.

“Twilight, how many times have ah been tellin ya not to do that fancy magic of yours on me without any warnings beforehoof?”

The mare in question was frowning at her flank, noticing one of her cutie mark’s small stars fading from red to its usual white color. “Good thing it only activated the first one and recovered so fast,” she whispered, slightly concerned.

“Twilight dear, anything wrong? Are you hurt?” Rarity asked, peering at her.

“I’m fine, a bit tired from the spell. Let’s just get this filly back to her-”

“Cream Puff!” a loud scream was heard from inside the house. The door burst open and a worried sick mare galloped to Fluttershy, snapping her foal from her hands in a crushing embrace. Tears started streaming down her cheek as she thanked the yellow pegasus for bringing her foal back.

After making sure the filly and her mom were safely locked in their home, Twilight looked around the garden at each of her friends, feeling something was off.

“Where’s Pinkie Pie? And the locket with the Elements? I thought I-”

“Here I am silly smart pants!” Pinkie spontaneously appeared behind the unicorn, startling her. She was already wearing her balloon shaped necklace, carrying the box with the rest of the elements under one foreleg.

Twilight scowled at her then grasped the box with her magic, opening it and distributing the rest of the necklaces.

“Here Spike, hold this,” she said, handing him the box containing one last necklace.

“Hey, why do I have to be Rainbow Dash again?”

Everyone laughed, remembering the last time they’ve used them, having to replace Rainbow with Spike because she was nowhere to be found. The happy moment was short-lived however, as a speeding multi-colored blur traced the sky above them, followed by a larger, draconic-like figure giving it chase.

“Oh no, Rainbow Dash is in trouble!” Twilight shrieked, making everyone look up at the ongoing chase. The multi-colored pegasus was quickly banking left and right, skillfully avoiding Discord. Somehow, he was managing to keep up with Dash, his draconic wing flapping in time with the other, normal one. After a steep climb, Rainbow slowed down, trying to look back at her follower. She was certain he was further behind but to her surprise, Discord was rapidly approaching her, bearing a devious grin on his face while he prepared a swing of his talons.

*** *** ***

A rapid succession of small fireballs shot out in front of me, spreading around in a wide cone. The basket was shaking from the force of my magic, making the balloon tilt slightly in its glide. The blue flares burned extremely hot for a few seconds, drawing an arc towards the ground. Even with my eyes shut, the fireballs’ light felt like the sun itself was only feet away from my face. As soon as I reopened my eyes, I was happy to see that my plan had succeeded, the signal flare spell having its intended effect: getting Discord’s attention just in time.

He turned his head towards my direction, allowing Rainbow Dash to escape. Something was wrong enough to make the daring pegasus flee from a fight like that. That became a lesser priority as soon as the draconic monster started heading towards me, picking up speed.

“Well, that might have been a bad idea,” I managed to say to myself before Discord crashed right through my balloon, tearing a big hole in it. Piercing through the other side of the envelope, he turned and shot me a cold glare, somewhat surprised that I was there to interfere with his plans. I was unaware of any of that. My heart started to race as the balloon was losing altitude fast, panic sweeping through my mind.

Luckily enough for me, the resulting crash wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, the low altitude at which I was gliding having played a huge factor. Within moments I was on all fours, trying to get my bearings. I was definitely somewhere in Ponyville. Sweet Apple Acres was stretching on a distant hill way beyond several rows of houses.

Despite being aware that I survived and was pretty much safe on the ground again, my heart was still ripping from my chest. It was time for me to face what I’ve brought upon this world, and it wouldn’t be pretty. Not at all.

*** *** ***

Rainbow Dash landed hastily near her friends, wincing in pain when putting weight on her hind leg.

“Rainbow!” Twilight almost screamed, closing the gap between her and the blue pegasus in a heartbeat. She reached her friend just in time, grabbing hold of her before she could crash to the ground. “Are you alrig-”

The unicorn froze, immediately noticing a long gash in RD’s hind leg, right under her cutie mark. She laid her friend on the ground slowly while everyone else got closer to see what happened to her. Twilight was already performing an emergency healing spell on her wound, closing it and stopping the bleeding.

“You’ll be fine Rainbow, I’ve almost closed it completely,” she said after a couple of tensed minutes. “But you lost a lot of blood so you’ll be grounded for a while. What happened up there?”

“That mother bucker . . . got me on that last climb. Your egghead coltfriend distracted him when-”

“Blink?” the purple mare winced, blushing slightly at the pegasus’s way of referencing that particular colt. Dash’s signature cocky grin was now on full display over her face despite the state she was in. Her expression changed as soon as she remembered what followed after.

“You guys gotta help him. The nut job was out there in a balloon and that Discord went right at him.”

“But Rainbow,” Rarity intervened, “we do need all the Elements in order to defeat him. We can’t just-”

“We should make sure he’s safe first,” a shy voice came from the other pegasus, ending Rarity’s argument.

“Fluttershy’s right, we need to get to him and then regroup at the library. Rainbow, you just slowly fly there and try to get some rest. We will need all the Elements to defeat Discord,” Twilight said, removing the last necklace from the box and putting it on Dash’s neck. She levitated the empty box back to Spike’s hands.

“Ok, let’s go, I won’t let him surprise me this time,” the unicorn said, making her way towards the center of the town.

Rainbow flew back to the library, while the rest of the mares followed Twilight.

“Hey wait, what about this box thingy?” Spike asked, having been left behind holding the case.

“Can I have it?”

“Just leave it there!” Twilight interrupted Rarity, continuing her gallop.

Spike shrugged and was about to throw the container over his shoulder when he noticed something else left inside it. He grabbed a piece of paper with his claws and unfolded it, curious of what could be so important that it was stored alongside the Elements. His eyes traced from a familiar pair of drawings to words and symbols the meaning of which he could not process at that time. He swiftly folded the paper back to its original state and then tucked it in one of his natural pockets. He would definitely have a talk with Twilight after all that was over with.

“Wait for me guys, I’m coming!” he shouted after his friends.

*** *** ***

“So you managed to escape somehow, even from the authorities,” Discord hissed at me from the other side of the square, tensed in an aggressive stance.

Looking around, the town’s center seemed empty of any life except for me and that creature. Knowing what I had in plan next, it was probably for the best. I was nervous though, sweat dripping from my already worn out body. I started regretting throwing up that last lunch two days ago after Twilight teleported me to AJ’s farm.

My pulse was so high I could hear it myself. I was so afraid for my life but there I was, boldly standing in front of a centuries-old creature which has been corrupted by all the hate and anger that I brought with me from my world. I still couldn’t believe that it was all because of me. I knew for sure that because of my presence, he was free. All that agitation in Canterlot, all the worries and the ponies that probably have been hurt since he escaped. All because of me.

The sun was still casting a grim, red light everywhere. The whole atmosphere seemed to mark an impending doom to everything around.

I couldn’t let that happen. This was beyond me, beyond Twilight and my silly feelings for her; those didn’t even matter anymore. It was all about restoring peace to the world I was brought into. I still didn’t know why I was there in the first place but I couldn’t let anything bad happen to that beautiful world. Peace and harmony had to be restored . . . no matter what the cost. And that damn bird was nowhere to be found again!

My horn was emitting a faint pulsing aura from its tip. Small trails of blue magic were forming over the ground, rising in a column around me. I would need a hell of a lot of magic for the upcoming confrontation, so I figured channeling it around me and using it directly during battle would be useful, although maintaining permanent concentration was essential.

“Ughh, why so hostile?” Discord said, smirking at me. “It’s not like you actually stand a chance against-”

BANG!

A rock smacked right into his head, temporarily dazing him. All around the square, every object that could move was magically connected to me. Telekinesis, a powerful spell indeed. Discord let out a scream of pain, his red eyes immediately locking onto me. With amazing agility, he dashed towards me, the twenty foot gap between us getting smaller by the beat of the heart.

Swinging my head, I magically pulled at a couple of stands from the edge of the square, hurling them at a calculated position. As he was merely feet away, they impacted him with a loud thud and continued their flight, crashing into a house on the other side of the market, bringing down half of the building in a cloud of dust.

Well that was easy.

Pieces of debris suddenly flew everywhere, a raging Discord emerging from under the wreckage, seemingly unscratched.

“Two can play that game, pathetic pony,” he snarled.

Discord snapped his fingers and I noticed with the corner of my eye that the statue of Celestia from the center of the square’s started to shake. Without wasting any time, I threw myself to the ground in front of me, a second before the large statue flew through the air right where I was standing a few moments before. The heavy monument crashed into the city hall, tearing a huge hole in it.

Okay, this is bad. He’s well above me at this one.

I immediately dropped focus on all the objects from around me and re-focused my energy. Discord was again charging at me again, at the same time throwing bricks and other pieces of debris from behind him using his own powers. The blue swirls around me immediately shaped themselves into transparent defensive plates of concentrated magic, blocking everything that came flying at me.

I was a little bit rusty on my shielding spells so the makeshift protection plates soon shattered in front of my eyes. Luckily he was out of projectiles as well but was now right in front of me, his sharp talons swinging at me. Right before delivering their lethal blow, I shot him with a wide spread burst of magic, expanding the air between us and pushing it away. As a result, Discord soared through the air, landing on the ground several meters away.

His rebound was faster this time and my defensive spells had only made him angrier. At one point when he was getting up, I noticed the air around was getting colder, a familiar feeling that instantly brought me chills down my spine.

“Just focus… you can keep it together now, you’ve learned how,” I said to myself, clinging to good memories.

Then I noticed something even stranger: somehow, a sharp burning pain was in contrast with the air around and it was coming right from my flank. Taking a look at it I noticed part of my cutie mark had gone red.

“Now that’s new.”

My thoughts were interrupted by Discord bashing his head against my right side, throwing me to the ground. The air was forced out of my lungs and I coughed a couple of times, a deep pain invading the area where he hit me. I started to regret not keeping my focus and being easily distracted but that was not the time for regrets. I jumped to my hooves and focused. He was superior to me in every way and something told me he wasn’t even showing the best of his moves.

Discord slowly approached me to finish the job, but suddenly froze into place, my spell making its effect. The draconic figure was in the middle of a very large but thin bubble that sealed everything inside of it. It was strong enough to be airtight, and that was all I needed. With a small incantation, the air from within was sucked out, leaving Discord to choke to his death.

The evil bastard realized what I was doing but it was already too late for him. Or so I thought. Right as he was about to crash to the ground, he managed to disappear, teleporting himself out. I quickly looked around, trying to locate him, when I heard a noise from behind me; and then I froze.

I turned around a split of a second later, conjuring the defensive plates again in front of me but he was too close for them to help. Discord grabbed me, his larger talon hand gripping me tightly around the face. The back of his palm was covering my eyes and I could feel the tip of his fingers around my horn, digging into the skin. Panicked, I started shooting fireballs but it was to no avail, as I was only burning up my energy faster. He was bigger and physically stronger than me, his grip around my head getting stronger by the moment.

I then felt myself raising from the ground, the monster pulling me up into the air. Struggling around frantically only made him dig his claws deeper and blood started dripping from the punctured wounds.

Moments later, I was free-falling. In reality, he was swinging me towards the ground as fast as his wings could. A small peek between his fingers showed me the skies and red lighted clouds for one last time. A distant voice was screaming my name. It was probably her, I don’t remember exactly.

And then pain . . . The worst, most intense pain I felt in my life lasted but a second. Everything went dark, the world around me silent. I was about to meet that dark silhouette again and this time there was no place else to go except for the afterlife. But at least I tried. I tried and failed miserably. Hopefully she had managed to strike him using the power of the Elements while he was letting go of my lifeless body.

Minutes passed like seconds, an empty blackness being my whole world.

*** *** ***

Noise. My surroundings suddenly came back to life. Everything was muffled and seemed distant, but I definitely recognized sounds. I opened my eyes, the outside light making them hurt more than ever. Miraculously, I was still alive. My heart started pounding in my chest, blood fueling my almost dead organs. Fresh oxygen was getting to my brain, making me regain conscience.

The world around was an amalgam of yelling, lights and dust. I turned my head sideways in the dirt and saw movement. Everything was a blur. Ponies wearing armor were getting off from chariots like the ones I saw in Canterlot. A large figure was quickly moving around, striking at the smaller ones. Purple beams of light were tracing above me, hitting or missing their target. The sounds of the ongoing chaos were muffled and dull. The pain was settling in. I started feeling the damage of that crash to its full extent.

I turned my head the other way and froze at the sight, as much as an already paralyzed colt could freeze. A heavily armored pony was slowly approaching me. Its protective suit was of a pure gold and as it got closer, I immediately noticed I could see the distant Everfree forest right through him. He was a ghost.

“So I really am dead . . . you came here for me didn’t you?” I asked in an inaudible voice.

The pony stopped at my side, staring at me, completely oblivious of the surrounding battle. It was then when I realized he was actually a beautiful unicorn mare with long, straight mane and the bluest eyes I have ever seen in my life. Her armor was covered in white sheets of fabric, going along the protective gear like a robe.

“The angel of death,” I whispered, amazed by the sight.

“Non,” her gentle voice echoed in my ears. She took a step closer and leaned her head over my chest, kneeling near my limp body. Why that beautiful ghost of a battle unicorn was nuzzling my chest was beyond me but somehow it made the pain fade away.

The cold air around me got warmer, the noises coming from everywhere were no longer faded, I had regained my vision and could see everything clear again. That included the mare close to me. She raised her head and continued to look into my eyes, now with a hint of a smile on her face.

“Ascende et ambule, Blink. Pugnare pro te amicis . . .”

(Rise and walk, Blink. Fight for your friends . . .)

With those words she gestured towards the battle taking place behind me. And then the mare started backing away, fading in the distance as if everything was just a dream. I raised a hoof towards the place she was standing moments before, pain now seeping into my heart.

Her words kept ringing into my ears, having immediately translated their meaning. It was after several moments that I realized she had spoken in Latin. Was it all a figment of my imagination or did the actual spirit of Bellona the Wise talk to me in that dark moment of my life? Whatever the answer, I knew one thing was sure: I was back in the game and it was time to follow up on her words.

I got up, stretching my aching muscles. Failure was not an option this time. Gathering strength, I focused, unaware of the persistent, sharp pain in my flank. I didn’t even know that a second part from the right half of my cutie mark was now red as well.

All I was focusing on was remembering the personal notes from my notepad.

In front of me, outside the square, soldiers were retreating under the cover of a constant barrage of spells from Twilight. She was wearing her golden tiara, the Element of Magic. Purple shields were sporadically appearing around Discord, holding him away from the injured or from her friends. Rarity was behind, using her own magic to levitate the wounded ponies away from danger. Right by her side, Fluttershy was tending to a soldier, wrapping up his hoof in rows of bandages. Her experience with helping animals was being put to great use. Applejack and Pinkie were also helping the other ponies retreat to safety. Rainbow Dash was up in the sky alongside four or five pegasus fighters, executing dives in an attempt to down the raging Discord. Right in front of him stood a handful of brave soldiers, their shields up in defensive positions, constantly trying to land blows with their long spears.

Twilight was coordinating everything, bringing up shields that doubled the ones the soldiers had, buffering Discord’s powerful blows. To my surprise, Spike was right between her and the soldiers, spitting fire towards him whenever he had a clear shot and making sure nothing would happen to Twilight again.

That moment was when I realized they were no longer a bunch of young fillies and a baby dragon. They were the rightful owners of the Elements of Harmony, protectors of Equestria in times of need. They were brave, big hearted ponies (and dragon) that would do anything they could to protect the place they called home.

Suddenly, one of the soldier’s spears cut at Discord’s leg, making him crash to all fours.

“Girls, NOW!” Twilight shouted and all five of her friends rushed to her side. The unicorn’s eyes lighted up, powerful magic surging from her horn to the other five mares. Their necklaces started shining brightly, forming a pillar of light around the six of them. They slowly started levitating and the light grew brighter. Spike sprawled in a defensive stance in front of the pillar of light, prepared to witness the powers of the Elements.

Discord immediately realized what was happening but this time he no longer stood cocky in front of his imminent imprisonment. He raised his hand at the clouds, bringing it down after calling upon the chaos from the nature.

My heart stopped as a blinding white lightning bolt hit the dragon nearby, deafening everyone around. His seemingly lifeless body crashed to the ground, smoke coming out of his green scale tips. The soldiers were on the ground, dazed by the light and booming sound. Discord then teleported in front of the column of light right when a rainbow started to emerge from it. He quickly grabbed the hovering Twilight by her tail and mustering all his force, swung her at the ground, pummeling her into the dirt.

Ohh no . . .

I instantly cast the spell I’ve been charging all along, then galloped towards a pair of buildings around the market. While running, I lifted a couple of spears in the air, hurling them away in different directions.

The column of magic dissipated, the other bearers of the Elements gently coming down, shocked by what had just happened. Rarity immediately conjured the best shield she could make between Discord and Twilight’s body, as the others bravely went to her rescue.

Discord’s evil laugh echoed in the market and the creature was just about to strike at the rest of the mares when-

“Blink!” Rarity screamed, noticing a stallion galloping head-on towards the monster. “NO, DON’T DO IT!”

Discord looked to his left and agilely swung his claws at the approaching threat. Blood flew through the air, a precise killing blow landing on target: the stallion’s jugular. Everypony gasped in horror but the monster’s eyes soon widened when the shadow clone dissipated into a blue mist.

My advanced illusion spell fulfilled its purpose and now I was clinging to the beast’s back, having made my way behind him while he was distracted with my clone. I wrapped solid tendrils around his wrists and legs, binding them to my own body. He wasn’t going anywhere soon. My horn was starting to ache badly as I desperately tried to maintain both spells.

“Time to leave this world, you bastard,” I said to him, still clinging to his back, my front hooves wrapped tightly around his neck. His scales were hot, almost burning, and he was thrashing his head in a wild rage, trying to get rid of me.

The spears approached fast having traced a wide arc around the square, gaining speed. They were now closing in on Discord and I cast one more spell: a protective plate right between my chest and his back. The sharp weapons were going to go right through him, but not through me.

A tenth of a second before they hit, Discord disappeared yet again right in front of my eyes, leaving a red mist in the wind. I didn’t even have the time to curse him. I diverged one of the spears from its path, landing and digging itself deep into the ground behind me. But right when I was about to do the same with the second one, the monster reappeared right in front of me, somehow managing to wrap his hands around the approaching weapon.

“Ohh, fuck me!”

With a devilish grin on his face, he thrust the spear into me. The plate meant to protect my chest shattered at the force of his attack. A new meaning of pain presented itself to me, as the spear dug deep into my torso.

“Who’s leaving this world now, pathetic pony?” he snarled, his eyes made of pure chaos.

He did have a point there. As much as I tried, my magic wasn’t strong enough to push the spear out. Everything had happened so fast, I didn’t even know what to do anymore. I failed, yet again.

A rogue thought came through my mind. Hope wasn’t lost yet.

“We both are,” I whimpered my response in pain.

Gathering the remaining physical and magical energy I could muster, I grabbed the spear with my hooves and plunged it deeper into me, closing the gap between us. His smirk faded away when I grabbed his arm with my foreleg. The pain was now so strong I wasn’t even feeling it anymore.

I shut my eyes and cast one last spell, surrounding both of us in magic. It was so much easier to teleport when you had no quantum shielding . . .

*** *** ***

Darkness, again. Frankly, I was tired of all this. I was, yet again, drifting away between worlds, a direct result of not using any shielding before teleporting. My hind leg twitched, bucking at the cold air. I raised a hoof to my chest, where a dull pain lingered. All of a sudden, a hand gripped my neck, squeezing tight. In the darkness around I could distinguish Discord’s shape as I felt his hot breath against my face.

“Enough,” a voice boomed around us.

Discord’s eyes went still and he slowly released the grip around my neck. Dark shadows grabbed him, softly wrapping around his body. He drifted away in the blackness, never to be seen again. Black tendrils were now crawling down my own skin.

“Heh, sorry I brought guests, but-”

“Silence! This was the last time you-”

The dark voice that interrupted me had stopped for some reason. A warm feeling filled me up again. It wasn’t the same one I felt from Bellona, but it was certainly good. A light blue mist of magic started to hover all around me, the tendrils retreating from me.

“Be it as it may,” the ominous voice resumed, “but I will see you again very soon, young one . . .”

A white flash blinded me, the whole process well too familiar by now.

*** *** ***

I barely opened an eyelid before feeling the piercing pain from my chest. I noticed however the sun’s usual, white light. Everything had seemingly returned to normal.

“Hey there, hotshot. Stay still, will you?” The multi-colored blur hanging over me was most likely Rainbow Dash, the other white one being Rarity. I recognized her magic aura around her horn. I was so glad Twilight had given her that first magic aid training.

“Twilight, Spike . . .” I mumbled the names, dreading the thought that something bad had happened to them.

“At the hospital, they’ll be fine. Stop talking, dear; you need your strength,” the white unicorn told me.

And then I was gently levitated off the ground, blacking out moments after.

When I opened my eyes, I was lying in a soft hospital bed. The sight of Spike standing by my bed filled my heart with joy, even though he was facing the other way. My eyes then fell on the bed in front of him, recognizing those purple locks of hair from a million.

“Yo, Spike . . .” I nickered in a weak voice.

He jumped in place, immediately turning around and looking straight at me for a couple of seconds before leaning forward and giving me a tight hug.

“Spike, my wound!” I yelped.

“Sorry, sorry! I’m- I’m glad you’re alright, big guy. Been two days since you got here, doctors told me you should have been out for another day or two.”

The widest of smiles was on his face as he seemed perfectly fine, despite of what had happened to him days ago.

“Dude, the lightning, how did-”

“Ah, that. Well you know, us dragons are fire-proof,” he smirked, tracing a claw over his scales. “When a high voltage current passes through your body, it tries to escape, burning your extremities,” he somewhat recited from memory. Seeing the look on my face, he further explained: “I’ve read it in one of Twi’s books. It was still a shocker you know,” he added, managing a laugh.

The mention of Twilight’s name made me gulp and my looks shifted from the dragon to the mare lying in the bed next to mine. I threw the sheets from me and stood on the edge of the bed, looking at her.

“Where are we? How is she?” I asked, half-hearted.

“Ponyville Hospital, one of the best in Equestria. As for Twi’, doctors said the damage was big, but nothing they couldn’t fix. Celestia came as soon as she found out and insisted on performing the healing procedure herself. There won’t be any scars for either of you but Twilight will take a while until she wakes up. Celestia had to put her into a deep sleep or something like that so that nothing bad would happen to her memories and all.”

Spike took another look at his adoptive mother, letting out a sigh.

“Well, at least she’ll be fine. You’re also very lucky; doctors said that spear went right between your heart and lungs, missing them by an inch. Have to ask you something, dude: what happened to Discord? As soon as you two disappeared, the sun was normal. We found you several minutes right near where you were before you teleported.”

I closed my eyes, remembering the whole thing. For all I knew, Death had taken him as he wasn’t allowed to be there. But I couldn’t explain that to Spike, not yet.

“All I can say for now,” I began, taking a deep breath, “is that he won’t be a trouble for us anymore.”

Spike looked at me and I was unable to determine if he was happy or disturbed about the news. He then looked at my flank, namely my cutie mark, which was now normal again, the whole symbol being black as it always was.

“Blink, I wanted to talk to Twilight about something I found but now that you are awake . . .” He pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and started to open it with his dexterous claws when the door of the large hospital room swung open, a white stallion coming through. The dragon turned around and when he recognized the pony, he wrapped the paper back and tucked it into his pocket. “I guess it can wait.”

“Hey Spike!” The somewhat familiar unicorn stallion greeted. He went straight to Twilight’s bed, leaning over and grabbing her hoof.

At that particular sight, my blood raised a few degrees in temperature. It was him, the one I saw in Canterlot with his fancy metropolitan wide shield . . . Twilight’s coltfriend. My teeth started to involuntarily grind against each other. No, I’m not like that. If she’s happy, I’m happy and that’s that.

“Still the same?” the stallion asked, his eyes still on the mare.

“Yeah, pretty much. Blink woke up though,” Spike stated, nodding at me.

The white pony raised his head, blushing from embarrassment. He got up and quickly approached me, grabbing my hoof and shaking it hard. Physical contact . . . ohh, dear.

“A thousand apologies. I’m Shining Armor; you must be Blink. Thank you so much for saving Twilight, she means so much for me.”

Ohh you don’t say? Lucky bastard.

“If something worse had happened to my dear sister, I would have never forgiven myself for not leaving Canterlot that day . . .”

Uhh, say what?

My blood instantly cooled down and the obvious look of murder from my eyes faded away.

“Your sister . . .” I mumbled.

“Yes, I’m her brother. Hasn’t she told you of me? I for one have heard a lot of things about you from her letters.”

“Your sister. Heh,” I said again louder and then broke into a laugh.

I pulled his hoof, trapping him into a tight embrace. Somehow that particular information made me the happiest colt alive. Heck, I would have even kissed that white unicorn but I had my limits.

“Your sis- I’m so happy she has a brother . . . like you, I mean; a brother like you!”

“Hehe, well ugh- thanks. And thanks again for what you have done. I regret with all my heart that I haven’t helped you get to Ponyville faster when I saw you in Canterlot, but I didn’t know who you were then.”

“Tiss’ alright, don’t you worry, as long as you’re her brother.”

I am certainly getting creepy. Bah! I could blame it on the medicine!

“I’ll go now, will be checking back at you guys later today. I have my hooves full with all the aftermath of the alert state which was imposed in Canterlot. See you soon, and keep an eye on my sister,” he added with a wink, before trotting out of the room.

The obvious, goofy smile on my face persisted even after he left. It quickly faded away once I remembered something important to me.

“Spike, have you seen Raven? I think I lost her when my balloon crashed that day.”

“Ohh don’t worry, she’s at Fluttershy’s, healing up. When you were first hit by Discord she appeared out of nowhere and went right at his face! Should have seen it, it was crazy. She was hit though by that bastard and Fluttershy took her in her care. She should- wow”

A sudden sharp bird call rang inside the room and as I turned my head towards the window, a black thing flew right towards me, nudging itself in my neck. I quickly grabbed it and hold it in front of me with my hooves.

“Raven, you bastard!” I almost yelled, recognizing the creature. I nuzzled it until she started beating her wings and pinching my face. “Okay, okay, too much love, I get it.”

I put the bird on my nightstand and noticed part of her left wing was still bandaged.

“Someone hasn’t been listening to their doctor,” I scolded her, although my tone betrayed happiness. “You stay here until Fluttershy says otherwise, alright?”

To my surprise, the bird cawed what seemed to be an approval, which was quite unusual for the stubborn one.

The door opened again, and five very familiar mares trotted in.

“BLINKY!” Pinkie jumped at the sight of me being awake.

“What did you just- AAAAhhhh bandage!” I cried at the pink pony holding onto me for dear life.

“Ohh sorry, Blinky winky! I’m just so happy you’re alright and awake again!”

I could swear she was a unicorn in disguise or something because before I could protest at the new nickname that was bestowed upon me, balloons were floating from all the beds and everyone had a party hat strapped on. My jaw dropped when I saw Raven scratching with her claws at the tiny colored hat on her head, obviously annoyed by her new clothing accessory.

“How the-”

“Pinkie Pie . . .” Rarity interjected, trying to keep a serious tone, “It’s impolite to act like this in a hospital. Blink might be fine but Twilight still needs her rest- ohh dear Celestia.”

Rarity facehoofed as Applejack was already removing the party hat from Twilight, which was sleeping like a log in her magically induced coma.

Spike chuckled at the sight and removed his own hat. “She’s right Pinkie, Twi needs to recover.”

“Well, we’re glad you’re fine but ah reckon we can’t stay here for long, doctor said all this commotion could stress our Twilight here.”

“Here you were, little rascal,” Fluttershy said, seeing the bird on my nightstand. “I thought I left you with Angel back at my home.”

“Yeah well, she’s kinda’ stubborn, sorry for that. Is her wing alright though?” I asked.

“Oh, yes. She just needs to not use it for a while and get a lot of rest. I guess she’ll be staying here with you now. I’ll bring some seeds for her later.”

“Thanks Fluttershy; means a lot for me.”

“You’re welcome. And I’m happy as well that you’re alright,” she added in a low voice.

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, nice moves there, hotshot,” Rainbow’s voice came from the middle of the room, where she was hovering impatiently. “Would love to talk to you more and all but I gotta go, hospital rooms make me nervous. See ya later!”

With that, the cyan pegasus flew right through the window, making the rest of the grounded mares frown.

“Such a ruffian. Anyway dear, we’ll be visiting later. Do try and get some rest, both of you,” Rarity said sternly, looking at both me and the green and purple dragon.

Spike immediately complied, jumping into his bed on the other side of the room. I smiled at the ponies as they left then laid into my own bed, still looking at the sleeping mare from the bed next to me.

Spike was perfectly fine but the doctors wanted to keep him in hospital for a few more days, just to be sure. He was actually happy with that, as he had the chance to watch over Twilight. As for me, I could stay a couple more days as well. My wound was pretty severe but because no internal organs were harmed, the tissue had healed right when the magical operation took place the day I was brought in.

*** *** ***

Days passed and my recovery was going better than planned. Doctors visited regularly to check up on us, but most of all, on Twilight. During her magic-induced coma, she had healed perfectly as well. There was the option to wake her up using another spell but the doctors preferred to let the magic dissipate on its own to avoid any side effects.

Every day I would take a short walk outside with Spike before returning to the hospital room. I even managed to use magic again, without notable pain from my horn. Although physically healed, my magic had suffered quite a bit, up the point of what doctors said was a ‘burnout’. Also, there seemed to be certain anomalies showing up both on me and Twilight but they didn’t have the necessary expertise to clearly state what it was. Instead, they would have us sent to Canterlot’s special magical hospital for an advanced checkup, once both of us were out.

As days went by, I stood by Twilight’s bed, wanting to be the first pony she saw after waking up. Spike also wanted to spend as much time as possible by her side, so we did it in turns. The waiting was painfully boring but the doctor ponies had told us she should come by very soon. Worst part of it was the food from the hospital canteen. Luckily for us, AJ and Pinkie brought us some treats regularly and Rarity even snuck some gems into the pies and cakes for Spike, so that the hospital staff wouldn't find out. It was something about a stupid rule that banned them because of how they might interfere with some of the equipment. The only drawback was that I sometimes found the gems in the hard way. The very hard way.

Almost ten days after the battle in Ponyville, Twilight woke up. I wasn’t exactly a witness to that happy moment but I was close enough. Due to the fact that I’ve been pushing myself to stay awake for the last day, knowing she would wake up anytime, I had fallen asleep at her bedside, my head resting near her foreleg.

A warm feeling pulled me from the realm of dreams as I felt two hooves wrapped around my neck. Opening my eyes, I could see purple hair, my muzzle deep in Twilight’s mane. Sweet Celestia, if I could only record memories like those . . .

I pulled back and looked at her. She was happy and her eyes were red, tears having recently flown down her cheeks.

“Umm, sorry. Spike told me what happened when I woke up. He also told me why you had fallen asleep by my side so I- I couldn’t resist not giving you a hug. Thanks Blink, for everything,” the purple mare said, a warm smile on her face.

I stood up and cleared my throat, my eyes darting from Twilight to Spike, which gave me a wink, smirking.

“Well umm, I’m glad you’re now fine and uhm, doctors said we can all leave the hospital once you wake up. So . . . yeah,” I stammered, a little embarrassed by her recent affectionate gesture.

The main doctor, a gray pegasus with dark mane, came for a last checkup. Everything seemed fine so he signed our discharges and wished us the best of luck, thanking us for saving Ponyville.

The weather outside was wonderful, the sun was shining bright and the songs of the birds were filling the air around us. We were so happy to get out of that hospital, especially me and Spike. Raven was flying above us, basking in the sun’s warm rays, happy to be using her wings again.

Making our way towards the library, we shared each of our stories about what happened that day. I found out that the filly I had supposedly foalnapped was alright and safe with her mother. Twilight told me the sleeping spell that was cast on the little pony had traces of my magic and I immediately made the connection between that and the strange dream I had a night before I was arrested. Apparently, Discord’s magic was powerful enough to allow him to infest the dream world of sleeping ponies, letting him manipulate them like puppets on a string. The soldiers dispatched from Canterlot that were injured that day were all fine as well, having made a speedy recovery in the capital’s military hospital.

As we reached the library, Spike hurried inside, mumbling something about his room and his round, comfortable bed. He gave me one last wink before closing the door after him, leaving me and Twilight outside in privacy.

“Well, I think I might go and see the rest of the girls, they probably don’t know we were discharged today. Also I think my brother might be visiting me soon as well.”

“Yeah, I got to get back to my place and pay Kazooie a visit, kinda skipped work for a long time and one of the nurses told me a farmer pony with his wife and daughter visited me when I was out during those two days, so I owe them that. Guess I’ll be seeing you later . . .”

As I turned around to head to my house near the lake, Twilight spoke:

“Blink, wait. Look, I wanted to tell you that uhm- I kinda made a mistake when I uhh . . . declined your invitation that day.” I quickly turned to face the beautiful mare that was stammering more than Fluttershy would on a normal day for some reason.

“I wasn’t completely honest with you; I thought that I couldn’t trust you. Some things don’t quite add up, Midnight Blink, but I guess that in order for me to find out more about you, we would have to spend more time together, which kind of makes sense actually,” Twilight nervously went on.

“Does that mean that,” I slowly said, my heart leaping out of my chest in excitement.

“Well I guess we could . . . you know, go out someday?” she timidly asked, looking everywhere but at me.

“That would be nice, Twilight. How about tomorrow at sundown?” Damn that was cheesy as hell. “By the lake near my place?” Past romantic and way into inappropriateville!

“Okay!” Twilight answered, probably faster that she would have wanted. Her eyes stared into the ground, her cheeks so red I started to feel concerned that her heart might not be getting blood anymore, all of it being in her face.

“Aww, and I guess I never had the chance to properly thank you for what you’ve done,” she spoke softly, her big, beautiful, purple eyes now looking straight into mine.

And then it happened. It barely registered on the social scale of physical interactions but boy did it rock my world; both of them, in fact. Right after she leaned forward and gently gave me a kiss on my cheek, she hurried inside, muttering something on the lines of ‘see you tomorrow’, leaving me dumbstruck in front of her tree house.

It was my face’s time to fill up with blood, even competing with Celestia’s sun for the hottest thing in the solar system. I rubbed a hoof over it, a wide smile creeping on my face.

Well that was definitely something . . .

I went back to my home, the smile never leaving from my face during the whole time. I threw myself into bed and I think I pretty much smiled during that long half-a-day sleep as well.

Things had turned quite nice, it seemed.

*** *** ***

The presence of Bellona’s spirit that saved me when fighting Discord, the unusual change of my cutie mark after using a lot of magic, even the important thing Spike wanted to tell me about at the hospital. All of those didn’t matter for me the next day, because that day was supposed to be special.

I was standing near the lake, having groomed my mane as best as I could, making sure it looked perfect. The sun was preparing its slow descent into the horizon, the lake in front of me reflecting its light, creating a beautifully romantic setup.

I practiced a spell the whole day and as a result, a now invisible red rose was floating near me while I waited for my date to arrive. As soon as she would be there, I would surprise her with it. Truth be told, I wasn’t actually sure if she would eat it or not, the whole meaning of flowers still being awkward for me. They were pretty, but you could also eat them . . .

All of a sudden Raven approached, landing in front of me on the soft, green grass.

“Hey there; your wing feeling better?”

The bird on the other hand seemed quite agitated, cawing at me in an unusual, painful tone.

“What is it, what happe-”

Before I could get closer to her and finish my question, she let out one last loud cry and then took flight, heading towards the sunset, flying high and fast. Soon, she was just a dot in the sky.

“Where the hell are you going?” I asked, intrigued.

My eyes then widened, a sudden pain filling my chest. My cutie mark was burning on my skin and I felt my heart literally stop as I crashed to the ground, bucking my hind legs in a panic. The world around me went dark once again and I let out one last breath.

*** *** ***

A very, very far place away

A dark silhouette made its way on the white grass, a forest of unusually tall trees behind it. He raised his hooded head at the two moons in the sky, one of which was breaking apart, huge white chunks slowly entering the atmosphere, catching fire.

“Punctual as always I see . . .”

The black figure turned towards the one that addressed him. It looked the same as he did, the big difference being the pure white cloak he was wearing.

“Haven’t been here in a long time now,” the white one continued. He gazed at the apocalyptic sight of falling moon pieces. “But I guess you’re going to be busy here. How many?”

“Four billion. Not a bad day, if I am to be honest,” the first answered after a pause, now looking at the display in front of them as well. “They actually drilled into one of their moons for its riches, the fools.”

“Such a waste,” the second one sighed. “Anyway, I know that’s not why you called me. This here is your job and I don’t think a lot of new souls are to be born around this place anymore. So, what’s the matter?”

“You probably already know why I summoned you, brother. It’s about those two; they . . . manifested again. Mine even brought a demon in the Antechamber. I thought you might want to know.”

The white figure turned towards the black one, staring at him from under his cloak.

“The reason for which you Touched that one is still beyond me . . . at least mine lives a rather peaceful existence. That is, until yours came along into her life. Do they even know?”

“No,” the black one quickly responded. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. One of that planet’s Watcher made sure they wouldn’t find out. Also, the one I Touched is probably dead by now in that form. Too many times has he broken the rules beyond the living.”

“So be it then. Just make sure you guide his soul in the right direction this time.”

“I will, but first, there’s somewhere he needs to be. The Ever won’t accept him otherwise.”

“As you wish, brother. In that case, I wish you farewell, for now,” the white one said, disappearing in thin air.

Death kept looking at the sight in front of him, a tall wave of fire sweeping the horizon from the impact of a huge chunk of moon. The ground was shaking, mile-high mountains succumbing to the blast wave. Usually conversations were more . . . informal when his brother visited him at his workplace.

*** *** ***

I regained conscience, the slow beeping of hospital monitors waking me up. My head was pounding hard and each beep came like a crushing boulder. Opening my eyes wasn’t that good of an idea, because a white light blinding me immediately.

I fiddled around in the soft bed, feeling extremely weird for some reason. What the hell had happened to me this time? The last thing I remembered was the sight of the sunset near my house and then everything went black.

My muzzle itched badly. I brought up a hoof from under the sheets, every muscle throbbing with pain. The beeping of the heart monitor stopped for a few moments, reflecting the shock I had at the sight in front of me. Instead of a blue hoof, I saw five white fingers, one of which was connected by a clamp to the machines.

The beeps resumed, now at an extremely fast pace. My heart was pounding relentless and I was already hyperventilating.

“Ow fuck no . . . Twilight? Spike? No, no, no; this can’t be!”

But there was no one there. A TV hanging on the wall in the back of the empty saloon was presenting BBC’s news segment. I was back in my world . . .

“Noooo!” I let out in a loud, piercing scream, tears gushing down my human cheeks.

End of Chapter 9

End of Part I

Part II, Chapter 10: Of Life and Death

Part II

Climbing

Chapter 10

Of Life and Death

Sometimes you wish everything is just a dream from which you’ll wake up any moment. But sometimes, life isn’t that kind to you.

Even now, I can recall the excitement in my heart during that mesmerizing twilight. My future seemed bright and, for the first in a long time, I felt genuine happiness.

But then something, no- someone chose to bring me down from the Stairway, back into the cold world I left behind. Life and Death didn’t mean anything for me anymore. I was just an empty shell again. But everything that has a beginning has an end, and this was mine.

The battle had been lost and so, I admitted defeat. The Ever’s light in front of me called forth my name. It was time to move on . . .

*** *** ***
Earlier

Celestia retreated from her royal bedroom’s balcony. The last traces of the mighty sun were slipping inside her chamber, basking everything in its twilight colors. Soon the moon would rise, accompanied by the shining night stars.

It seemed to be another normal day since Discord’s mysterious disappearance not even two weeks before. Tomorrow she would meet Twilight and Blink to talk about what had happened that day. There were so many questions, even for the Princess of the Sun.

Celestia suddenly stopped, her heart jolting just a little. Her inner calm and composure were immediately replaced with dark feelings and fears. She rushed out of her room and headed to the throne room. There, a very agitated Luna stood, seemingly waiting for her.

“Tia!” she called with a worried tone. “Tell me it was only I who felt it.”

“No, dear Luna, it happened to me as well. I- I saw the black bird flying into the sunset.”

“Does that mean that Blink is dead? But why? Why now?” the Princess of the Moon asked in search of an answer which she tried to deny all along.

“I don’t really know. We are not supposed to judge His decisions.”

“What about Twilight?”

“We have to go to Ponyville. I feel that she’s been using a lot of magic, and knowing her she will not stop until she’s passed out from the exhaustion. Or worse . . .”

Luna gave her sister an approving nod and in a mutual silence they both headed out towards Ponyville, taking flight from one of the balconies.

*** *** ***

My initial screams alerted the hospital nurses. I was infuriated. I tried to walk out of my bed but my legs were too weak to carry my weight. The nurses eventually had to force me back to bed and sedate me.

After several hours of fighting against the drugs, I started to relax, exhausted from all the struggling. I was just standing there, staring at the white ceiling; after a while they removed my bindings. Occasionally I would bring my arm in front of my face and study it, losing myself in the memories of recent past. Every time I brought it up to my eye level I winced at the sight, hoping to see a hoof instead.

Had it been all just a dream? But it was so real. I was there. They were there.

They? All the ponies from a TV show? Don’t be silly.

Yes, all the ponies from the TV show.

I shut my eyes, trying to get the doubt out of my head. Doctors started coming in, telling me what happened to me the night I almost died. Apparently, my wounds were quite severe and when an ambulance arrived, there wasn’t much they could do. Resuscitation took forty minutes and in the end they almost gave up. That’s when I got a heartbeat again and that’s exactly when the light in front of me dimmed and Death decided my soul deserved a different fate. A fate that would change the way I saw the world, the way I lived and the beliefs I had.

There was absolutely no use in trying to tell them what happened to me over the course of the last months. They simply shook their heads and repeated the same thing over and over again: post-traumatic, coma induced illusions; essentially powerful dreams.

Hours later, the door burst open and I immediately recognized my parents. Mom was crying and dad was tearing up as well, holding my hand from the side of the bed. Seeing them again after all that time reminded of how much I actually missed them.

Yet I was in shock, still having memories from a different world heavily imbedded into my mind. Seconds turned to minutes, which turned to hours. My folks were happy to see me awake again but something kept those tear flowing from their eyes, made them hold my hand tighter. Something was wrong . . .

They had to leave after the doctor insisted I needed some rest from that whole emotional event. And so I found myself alone again, staring absently at the TV screen inside the room. Suddenly, a string of text from the news segment caught my attention. I rubbed my eyes and tried to focus on it but I certainly wasn’t prepared for what it read: “Hundreds of deaths registered in the last three days of protests in Germany and thousands more throughout Europe, marking the bloodiest week of 2014 so far. Situation in Ukraine is also still critical, following the fall of Kiev into Russian control. Political leaders have met yet again in an attempt to bring a solution that would minimize the huge impact Euro’s fall had on the global economy.“

“2014 . . .” I mumbled to myself, “I was in a coma for two years. This . . . this can’t be.”

I turned my head and looked around the hospital room, my eyes falling on a calendar by the door. The year was indeed 2014.

*** *** ***

Celestia and her sister landed in front of Ponyville’s main hospital and were immediately greeted by one of the doctors. The Princess of the Sun was sure she felt Twilight’s powerful magic surging from somewhere in the building. She knew exactly why as well.

“Your royal highness!” the doctor said, kneeling in front of the two monarchs.

“There is no time for such protocols! Quickly, lead us to where the unicorn Twilight Sparkle is,” Luna ordered hastily.

“Ughh, of course, right this way!”

The two alicorns followed the stallion to the last floor of the hospital, still concerned about what was going to happen next.

“She brought in a unicorn male about two hours ago,” the doctor started explaining between breaths while climbing the stairs. “He had no life signs but she insisted that we try and help him. He had absolutely no traces of violence, physical or magical for that matter. From what we could figure, his body simply shut down. After resuscitating for forty minutes, we stopped the procedures but she remained with him and kept the life-support spell on during all this time.”

“You mean the spell in its entirety?” Celestia asked, surprised.

“Yes, the whole spell: blood flow, cardiac massage, brain stimuli, artificial breathing. It’s amazing, only professional doctors can keep that for so long. She had a nurse with her supervising the whole thing. Unfortunately, he isn’t responding to it and I’m extremely concerned for her, she’s just been out of hospital herself mere days ago, and shouldn’t be straining herself like that.”

The three of them reached the room where Blink was taken. Celestia opened the door and went in, finding Twilight at the bed side, eyes closed in focus while pale purple wisps moved around the colt’s body in front of her. His chest was moving in a steady rhythm, but the air he expired wasn’t his own. All across his body, small tendrils of magic were moving in and out through his skin. The unicorn mare was practically living for him, keeping his vital signs and organs operational.

“My dear Twilight,” Celestia exclaimed, rushing towards her student’s side. The unicorn looked up to her mentor, her eyes filled with tears. She tried to say something but the pale glow around the body in front of her started fading.

“I’ll take it from here, Twilight Sparkle. Rest for now, you need it,” Luna stated, casting the same spell Twilight was using, replacing the purple auras and tendrils with her deep blue ones.

The unicorn mare then started wobbling and if Celestia wasn’t near to catch her, she would have crashed to the floor.

“Princess, please help him . . .”

“Shh, it’s alright dear. Luna’s taking care of it for now. You need to rest; you’ve exhausted yourself.”

The white alicorn then levitated the purple mare onto one of the neighboring beds, tucking her in. She started squirming but suddenly closed her eyes, falling into a deep, magic-induced sleep. Celestia’s horn stopped glowing and turned to her sister, which was now keeping the stallion’s vitals in check.

“Do you want me to do it for you?” the white alicorn asked her sister.

“I’m fine, Celly. It’s been a while since I’ve performed this spell but I still remember it. How’s Twilight Sparkle?”

“Exhausted, but all right. How about Blink? Is he really . . .”

Luna raised her head to meet Celestia’s concern gaze and gently shook her head.

“He’s gone. We can’t do anything from here anymore. Not unless-”

“Absolutely not. You know very well that is way above our authority.”

“Then what’s the point in doing this?” Luna asked, pointing towards the bed in front of her, where the half dead stallion rested, his organs kept alive by the princess’s magic.

Celestia turned her gaze towards her faithful student, who was sound asleep.

“For her. She’ll be up soon; she’s too strong for my spell to keep her asleep too long. We keep the life-support spell on Blink so that she won’t strain herself. We do this until Twilight realizes he’s really gone and can let go.”

“Will we tell her about them?” The Night princess asked.

“Indeed, princess Celestia, are you going to tell her about this?”

The two monarchs turned at the voice and noticed Spike standing in the door, a piece of old paper in his claws. His expression was one of anger and his eyes were red and puffy. He’s been crying, something quite uncommon for the young dragon.

“Spike . . .” Celestia started but was cut off by the dragon.

“What exactly does this mean?” He asked again, throwing the piece of paper on the bed besides the lifeless colt. “And why was it kept with the Elements of Harmony? I remember a book Twilight got from Canterlot’s library. I remember all of her books. That one had a missing page, something that should have contained information about Blink’s cutie mark. Why were you hiding it?”

Both princesses were taken aback by his attitude. They’ve kept a secret and Celestia knew she was going to regret her mistake of sending the chest with the Elements and that page. But her greatest fear was that she would have to explain why she did what she did. She only meant to protect them, yet it all backfired on her and there was no way out of it except to come out with everything.

A moan got everyone’s attention and they all turned to see Twilight waking up.

“Wha- What happened?” the unicorn asked groggily.

“Twilight, you need rest,” Luna said while effortlessly maintaining the life support spell on Blink.

“What about Blink, is he-”

“Please Twilight, it pains me to tell you this but he’s not going to wake up. I am so sorry.” Celestia then gave Spike a stern look, as if telling him that they would settle the issue about the missing page later.

The dragon puffed a small cloud of smoke in protest but got the message and nodded in agreement. He grabbed the page from the bed and put it in a drawer near the Blink’s bed.

Twilight’s gaze never left Celestia, her face grimaced in pain and denial.

“But . . . it can’t be. He can’t be dead. He was fine the other day, I just-”

“Trust me, my faithful student, not even I can go against things like death. It was just his time. I can’t tell you any more than that for now. Please understand.”

Twilight started to realize her mentor was right but she still couldn’t accept the fact that she had just lost a very good friend. The mare started sobbing as she got up and approached the bed where the midnight blue stallion was resting. She kneeled down and grabbed his hoof into hers, tears flowing down her tired face.

Celestia put a wing around her shoulders and held her close. Spike approached the bed and sat down on the cold white floor, looking at the colt on the bed. He knew very well that Blink was not going to come back, but he wasn’t prepared yet to lose a good friend. Tears formed around his eyes yet again as the four of them stood by the colt’s bed, Luna’s magic working around and inside his body, mimicking life. The dragon heard the princesses talk and knew she would keep the spell just until Twilight was ready to let go. But for that time they just stood there, silently bidding their farewells.

*** *** ***

I was gazing upon the seemingly endless city of London from the saloon’s balcony. I couldn’t sleep at all; not after everything that happened to me. The air outside was cold but my mind didn’t register any of that. The only thing I could think about was the world I left behind. Slowly I was starting to doubt everything. What if it was all a dream, like the doctors said? How could that have been even possible? They were just characters from a show, figments of my imagination that kept me company in my two year coma.

I clenched harder on the protective hand rail from the balcony. Why did something so cruel happen to me? Why did I have to imagine a wonderful place like that, only to have it taken from me?

I took a long look into my palm. Somehow it felt different. I then thought I’ve gotten used to having a hoof and the whole hand sensation felt alien to me.

But then I felt it: that mysterious, warm feeling pulsing from within my being. I stared harder at my hand and it took me several seconds for me to make sure I was not dreaming because all of a sudden, blue waves of light started rising from my palm. I closed my hand and knelt down on the balcony, holding tears away.

“So it was all real . . .”

I picked myself up and went inside, crashing on top of the bed. Hours passed and a doctor’s visit woke me up from my agitated sleep. My parents were standing by his side, their faces betraying dismay.

The doctor then started talking, but I wasn’t even listening to what he was saying. My mind and heart were still in a far, far away place. Somewhere between my parents sobs and the doctor’s long monologue, I could make out words like brain, trauma, inoperable, life expectancy, soon.

I somehow managed to put everything together and realized I was just told that I was soon going to die. My parents were crying while I just stood there looking back at them with absolutely no feelings inside my heart. There was nothing left there, I soon realized.

After a while, my folks found it in them to leave the room so I can get the rest my medic said I needed. I was alone and felt tired, which was weird since I had just slept. I shrugged it off and looked at my nightstand where there was a small notepad and an attached pen to it.

“Well, this may be a good time as any . . .”

I leaned over, grabbed the pad and started writing on it. Having fingers again made the whole process a lot more difficult after months of using only the simple shaped hooves of my equine form. When I was done I hastily signed the bottom of the page and threw the notepad back on the nightstand. I rested my head on the pillow and closed my eyes. I was so tired . . .

*** *** ***

A high pitched beeping noise woke me up from another restless sleep. My vision was blurred and my eyelids felt awfully heavy. One of my fingers was clutched by a plastic clamp and I realized the beeping noises were the readings of my heart rate.

My whole body felt numb and a throbbing pain filled my head, replacing all thoughts and sensations. I turned on the soft pillow and gazed at two blurry shapes near my bed. Everything became a bit clearer after a few moments. Before my eyes stood the beautiful image of my mother’s face, her eyes red and filled with tears but her smile as kind as ever. Next to her was my dad; strong, brave and reassuring until the last moment. They were both holding my hand. I felt so tired and I just wanted to fall asleep again. Somehow though I felt that it may be the last time I would see my parents.

I looked into their eyes and managed a weak smile. My eyelids were heavy. With my last strength, I gently squeezed their hands and managed to whisper one last thing. Not in my entire lifetime did I imagine that those would be my actual last words. But it did not matter. What mattered was that they represented the utmost sincere truth:

“I love you . . .”

The rhythm of the beeping slowed down as my entire world plunged into darkness.

I don’t know how much time had passed before a horrifying scream woke me up. All I knew was that I was alone and surrounded by pitch blackness.

“Welcome back, young one.” A dark, familiar voice.

“Fuck you,” I simply retorted, standing still on the soft ground of the afterlife, looking straight up.

“Hmm, I do get that a lot. Also, I sense that you are angered. I hope you remember our first conversation, do you not? I was pretty clear on the fact that you are still mine. That meant that whatever decision was supposed to be made concerning your soul, it was not yet made.”

“Can we get this over with? I’m pretty much bored by this whole dark bullshit scenery.” I was lying. It terrified me.

“As you wish. Oh, one last thing: would you be interested in watching your ceremonial departure?”

My funeral . . .

I simply nodded in the darkness and the very next second I had to shut my eyes from the sudden light. I opened them moments later and noticed I was outside. I quickly turned around and found myself standing near the edge of a cliff. Beyond it, a vast stretch of water filled the horizon. The ground under my feet was damp and the grass was swaying in the cold sea breeze. Several sun shafts pierced the clouds, creating a beautiful and serene atmosphere.

I turned to the sound of a familiar voice and noticed a small group of people standing near the edge, all dressed up in black outfits.

“. . . and you were and will always be the light and meaning of our lives. Your mom and I will forever love you and keep you in our hearts. Farewell, dear son . . .”

The man then stirred a small black urn in front of him, spilling the ashes it contained. My cremated remains scattered in the wind, slowly making their way towards the vast ocean.

“I dare say this is one of my favorite ways to commemorate the passing of one your own.”

I turned to the unexpected voice and noticed a bearded old man dressed in black standing right next to me.

“Are you-?”

“Yes, but in a rather more familiar . . . shape,” Death replied.

He kept looking at the two grieving parents standing near the cliff’s edge, holding themselves close to each other and staring at the last specs of dark ash as they faded into the fast wind.

“Everything that has a beginning-”

“-has an end,” I said, as it was my time to cut off Death. “It’s just too bad mine came so early. At least they followed my little testament I wrote in the hospital.”

“The love they bear for you is indeed immense, but we have to go now. Consider yourself lucky, as only few creatures witnessed their funeral.”

The surrounding scenery faded to darkness yet again and the sound of clashing waves against was replaced by low whispering noises. Or so that’s what I thought that darn sound was.

Somehow, I managed to distinguish the dark silhouette in all that emptiness. He pointed to a location in front of me and soon enough, a dim light started pulsing several feet in front of me, growing larger by the second.

“Ohh, it’s this again,” I said, halfhearted. I clenched my fist and closed my eyes. Miraculously, that strong feeling from deep within started to resurface. When I opened my eyes again, I was shocked to see myself as being a pony again.

“This is just a representation of what you would like the process of moving on to be. Some people enter a forest, other return to the home they lived as a child, but most imagine the light,” Death explained. “Thus, you will go on through a bright light as a pony, the creature you enjoyed being as the most.”

That was it. I was a pony again, a unicorn to be more precise. I was yet again in contact with my powers. But then I then felt His eyes on me: a cold, dark feeling that pierced inside of my soul, even though I was facing the bright light several feet away, focusing on drawing all the magic I had in me.

“Do you actually think that would work against me?”

I stood still, thinking about the whole thing. What was I trying to do anyway? Somehow kill Death and then return to Equestria? I always had a backup plan but that one had been forged out of sheer desperation, as a last resort to give me an ultimate goal to follow: survival. But I had failed.

The battle had been lost and so, I admitted defeat. The Ever’s light in front of me called forth my name. It was time to move on . . .

I let out a sigh, then turned towards Death, smiling. I let the built up energy inside my horn dissipate in a blue wave of magic.

“Well, it was worth a shot.”

I turned my head back at the light and started to slowly walk towards it.

*** *** ***

“I shall stop the spell, Twilight. Are you all right with that?” Luna asked with sadness in her eyes, breaking the silence inside the hospital room.

The purple mare looked up, her eyes red and swollen. The last trace of hope had left her and she was finally ready to accept the truth.

“Y- Yes,” she whimpered.

Luna’s magic slowly faded away from around and within Blink’s body. She then looked at her sister and Spike, telling them with her looks that it would be best if they left Twilight alone for a while. The agreement was mutual and the three of them started making their way out of the room, throwing one last glance at the deceased stallion.

Before leaving, Celestia pulled her prized pupil close to her and leaned her head onto hers.

“I will be at the library with my sister and Spike, waiting for you. We have something to discuss; rest assured, he will be given an honorable burial, I will personally see to it,” she whispered to the unicorn mare.

Twilight responded with a small nod and soon found herself alone in the room with probably the first colt she had ever had feelings for. And yet he was dead, taken down by something that nopony could explain.

She looked at him for one last time before turning towards the door to leave. And then she felt it: his magical presence, faintly radiating from within him. She was unable to explain why she felt that but the mare quickly turned back and got close to the colt, trying to pick up any sign of life.

Twilight immediately started looking after that faint trail of life she had felt, and found out that it was still some of it inside him, specifically in his chest. Twilight agonized about it being only leftovers of his magic, and that they were about to dissipate soon enough. But then again, why didn’t she feel it before, when performing the life-support spell on him?

Her thoughts suddenly exploded when she noticed the trails of inner energy slipping away from his body, not dissipating around but rather simply disappearing inside an area right above him. Without any hesitation, Twilight casted the life-support spell on Blink and started focusing on that area in which his last remains of magic were going into.

*** *** ***

The light in front of me was getting brighter and brighter and just as I was about to distinguish something inside of it, my hooves stopped moving. I started feeling that nice, warm feeling, but this time it was different. I couldn’t put my finger- well, hoof on it, but it was definitely familiar.

*** *** ***

Twilight was at a crossing of roads. It didn’t take her long enough to realize that Blink’s last traces of life were somehow disappearing to another place. It took her even less to realize that place was the afterlife, or a place where ponies go after death. But that didn’t change the fact that she was stepping into forbidden territory. What would Celestia think of her little plan she had cropped up inside her mind? Probably banish her to the moon, although she couldn’t explain why she felt that plan was perfect.

“Sometimes, friendship is worth fighting and breaking the rules for,” the mare whispered to herself.

She took the plunge.

Twilight released a huge amount of magic she herself had no idea was harnessing. After a few moments her front hooves were off the ground, as she slowly started to rise in the air, in front of Blink’s bed. Unaware to her was also the fact that four out of the five small stars on her cutie mark had turned to pure red.

The unicorn quickly tapped into the small ‘portal’ above Blink’s body, tuning into its quantic frequency. Everything suddenly felt more familiar as she started recognizing the science behind it: it was no longer a vile, profane or blasphemous thing; it was a physical, scientifically provable phenomena that took the last of her friend’s life. And she had to stop it.

Her energy was constantly changing but she recognized it to be the sort of pure energy that emerged whenever she used a lot of her normal powers. It also frightened her that it was the exact opposite of Blink’s magic that came out when he started learning or when he teleported without proper shielding.

Everything Twilight knew about her special abilities was what Celestia had told her not long ago. The Princess only told her that she had a gift, a very special gift that one day she would learn to use. Up until now, Twilight thought that the special magic was just a fairly large reserve of power and using that backup energy would make the stars on her cutie mark turn red one by one as she continued casting spells. In her experiments she had only managed to use up four of the total six stars and did not dare to use any more before she knew exactly what they actually represented.

One day, Twilight planned on going and discussing in person with her mentor, princess Celestia, about her newfound ‘gift’. That night though, she was woken up by Kazooie’s filly that told her about a sick colt found in the fields near his farm. That was the day she met Blink and since then, her life changed. So, it was easy for her to make her following decision.

Another outburst and the fifth and last of her small stars turned bright red. Wherever that portal was leading, she needed a lot of magic to project even her mere thought across its other end. Right when the symptoms of exhaustion started to manifest, she felt two presences somewhere in the place the portal was leading to. One of it felt cold and dark, in contrast with the other, calm and warm. She immediately recognized Blink’s magic signature and wasted no more time. Conjuring white tendrils, she hurled them at her fading friend’s image.

*** *** ***

I turned around and looked at Death, which in turn looked at a faded white shape somewhere behind us. Something about that shape seemed very familiar. Was it someone I knew? Or something I longed for? My memories were intertwined and I couldn’t remember anything at all. The presence of the blinding light in front attracted me like a magnet. What was I even doing there? All I knew at that point was that I had to reach the light for some reason. Suddenly, bright coils shot at me from that ghostly figure I noticed previously. They went right through me, not even touching me.

“That’s so weird,” I simply said. I turned my head away and back at the light. That strange thing could wait; I just had to go inside the light first. My hooves were still locked though. What was happening to me?

*** *** ***

Twilight’s frame was floating in midair. Powerful winds of energy were circling her, devastating the hospital room’s interior. She twitched her head. Twilight realized she wouldn’t hold on for much longer and to her despair, her spell was not affecting Blink. She saw him in a dark place, in front of a bright light. Her tendrils went right through him, after which he turned away from her as if nothing had happened. The connection between the realms was slowly fading away. She focused harder. That was the last chance she would have to get her friend back.

And then it happened: the last star on her cutie mark, the big, central one lit up, infusing her body with fresh powers, as her eyes turned a pure white. The link was strong again and she started feeling Blink’s presence clearer than ever. Twilight cast the spell one more time. The coils went at their target and that time managed to wrap around the unaware stallion. Her horn felt like it was about to break into thousands of pieces and a throbbing pain inside her head made focusing a lot more difficult.

The walls inside the room were starting to crack from the energy field emissions around Twilight. She was still floating in the middle of the room, inside a storm of magic, her mind connected to an unknown realm through the invisible portal floating above the colt’s body.

With an audible grunt, she commanded the tendrils to pull the lost spirit back. Doing so, the stars on her cutie mark changed again, turning a bright white. They shined across the room, brighter than Celestia’s sun.

*** *** ***

All the way across Ponyville, Celestia and Luna felt the powerful manifestation. They were inside the library, having just told the sad news to the rest of the Element Bearers.

“Luna, that’s her!” Celestia spoke, quickly becoming very nervous. Wasting no time, the Princesses teleported to the hospital in a bright show of sparks, just to reappear seconds later in the same place, in the library’s living room.

“Wha- this can’t be . . .”

Her sister, Luna, was just re-appearing in a blue cloud of smoke right by her side, where she stood just moments before.

“You too?” she asked, eyes widen at her sister.

“The magic she is using is so strong that we can’t even teleport there right now. Quickly my little ponies, we must get to her before she hurts herself!” The Princess told the rest of the ponies before galloping out of the library and taking flight alongside her sister and Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy was dragging behind and after her followed AJ, Pinkie Pie, Spike and Rarity.

*** *** ***

“BLINK!”

My ears picked up the faint scream as I felt myself being dragged against my will by white members wrapped around me. They were bright but semitransparent. Their warmth engulfed my whole body and my muscles soon relaxed, loosening up. Slowly, I started to remember distant thoughts and memories came back: my life, the first time I ‘died’, how I ended up in Equestria and then how I met . . . her. I felt my heart beating strong in my chest. I felt alive and warm. It felt exactly like when she gave me that hug at the hospital when she recovered.

And then I remembered where I was and what happened before I looked inside the light. I was supposed to be dead but somehow I could feel Twilight’s presence through those tendrils. She was trying to save me!

Death cocked his head at the whole event taking place right in front of Him and then suddenly disappeared into thin air.

“Blink, come back . . . I don’t want you do die,” one voice, a mare.

Twilight?

All of a sudden, the coils pulled harder and I was flying across in complete darkness, leaving the Ever’s light behind.

I felt my body crashing down against a surface. It was like all my body broke into thousands of pieces that were immediately put back together. Pain surged through my body and my brain quick fired, activating every nerve inside my body. My eyes shot opened and my respiratory reflex made me take large, quick breaths, as if I was drowning. The initial light was blinding but my eyes soon adapted and I started to distinguish the basic shapes of the room I was in.

I was lying on a rather soft bed in fact. My vision returned completely and I immediately noticed that the room was a total and complete mess. The walls were cracked, the windows had been blown to bits, and pretty much everything that wasn’t me or the bed was shattered or broken.

“Twilight?” was the first thing that came out of my mouth.

I looked down and noticed a purple pony lying down, slowly beginning to move.

“TWILIGHT!” I screamed, jumping out of the bed in spite of the pain in every joint and muscle.

She perked her head up and rushed to me. We met half on the front side of the bed and I grabbed her in a tight hug. The source of the familiar feeling I had was her, the mare I had such strong feelings for. We kept that embrace for a while and I even wished it would never end.

“Twilight, what the hell?” I broke the awkward silence, pulling her head from my neck. “You saved me from Death? How?”

“I- I don’t know,” she said, her eyes tearing up. “I only know that I couldn’t let you leave us like that. I- I couldn’t let you leave me.” She gently brushed off a flock of my mane out of my eye before burying her face in my neck again. Her hooves were wrapped tight around my back, to the point that it almost hurt. But that didn’t matter to me at all. I was happy again, yet most of all, I was alive.

The door started to open but immediately crashed to the floor due to the damage it had sustained. Celestia rushed in alongside Luna, five other ponies and a dragon right behind them. Their jaws dropped at the sight of the room’s state but the shock was even bigger when they saw me and Twilight, still holding on to each other.

We quickly got up, trying to act like nothing was going on.

“So, missed me?” I asked the group with a grin on my face.

I will forever remember the look on their faces that day . . .

*** *** ***

Outside the building, under the thick shadow of a maple tree stood a very dark earth pony. He was looking at the hospital, more precisely at the blasted window from the last floor of the building, and the smoke and magic residue coming out through it. The stallion had no cutie mark or other distinct marks and perched on his shoulders was a black raven, preening her feathers.

“Hello there, brother,” a warm voice made the dark pony slightly turn His head.

A white earth stallion slowly approached him, stopping at his side and looking in the same place his brother was before turning back to him.

“I must say, this shape truly brings out your uhm… eyes?” he added with a chuckle.

That drew him a stern look from his companion.

“What are we to do with them? It’s not like you didn’t feel the one you Touched manifesting this time, did you?”

“Well, truth be told, she did what she was supposed to do. And I sense that yours will start doing what he is supposed to do soon enough as well. What will be interesting is how both of them will go along, given the circumstances and their individual . . . talents.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a strange call coming from an approaching bird. The owl made her way to the two stallions and carefully landed on the white one’s extended hoof.

“Ahh, there you are! It’s been a while since I last saw you, dear.”

The white stallion gently nuzzled Owlowiscious before letting him rest on top of his head. The owl who-ed at the raven from the dark stallion’s back, receiving a loud caw in return.

“So, where was I? Ahh, yes. We were trying to figure out how those two ended up together. Hmm, I think it has something to do with you sending your Touched one on the planet where mine lives. Well, I guess the future will sure be interesting around here.”

“Are you saying that we let them live?” The other stallion retorted.

“And have us do what? If you wanted to kill him, you would have done it by now, I reckon. You’ve been here for a while but you haven’t done anything since he was pulled away from the Antechamber,” the white stallion said, looking at his brother with a smirk.

“You talk about their future, when you know very well how dark it is!” he hissed in return.

“But that’s the amazing thing about life, my dear, cold, old brother. We can never predict it, not even us. The future we see now can change based on their actions. I trust Blink, probably as much as I trust Twilight. Have a little faith.”

The dark stallion huffed, turning towards the white pony.

“All right then, we let them both live. Together. On the same planet.”

The white stallion simply smiled. He then raised one of his front hoofs, the owl on his back quickly jumping on it.

“So she called you . . . Owlowiscious, didn’t she?” The bird let out a simple whoo.

“You know very well who- ah hehe; silly me, you got me again. Anyway, I have to go now. You stay here and guard her, okay?” The bird let out a final whoo before spreading her wings and taking off, heading towards the hospital.

“Follow the Lifebringer in her path and guide her in her darkest times!” the white stallion called after His bird.

His brother did the same with the raven, holding her on his front hoof.

“You must return to him once again and stand by his side as if you would do with me. Be with him in his loneliest of times and assist him in the toughest battles he will wage. He will surely need the help. Go now, my friend, the Deathbearer needs you!”

Raven flew off, following in the trail of her ancient friend, both landing on the rim of the hospital window which was shattered just minutes before.

Life and Death took one last look at them before their bodies dispersed in the wind, returning to the realm beyond the living.

End of Chapter 10

Chapter 11: Master of Truth

Chapter 11

Master of Truth

“Twilight, I’m fine. Really,” I said for the tenth time that day while walking out of Ponyville’s hospital. The faint purple aura around my hoof joints faded away, restoring my full weight onto them. It wasn’t that I couldn’t walk without the help of her magic; it was a little harder, but it sure did miracles on my self-esteem.

“Jeez Twilight, we know you have a crush on him, but this is just lame,” Rainbow added to my defense, gliding around us.

“Well it’s not like he didn’t recently go through something awful. The whole experience must have been simply horrid!” Rarity weighed in, giving me a look filled with condolence.

All seven of us were gently strolling towards the library, everyone still bearing the shock of what happened just hours before. The Princesses seemed appalled at first but managed to regain composure right about when Owlowiscious and, to my added surprise, Raven, flew into the hospital room through the shattered window. After making sure I was fine, they insisted we visit them for an urgent matter before finally flying back to Canterlot. A mixture of fear and relief was brought by when she told us everything would be explained the following day.

I knew that I had to come clean with everything or else the whole situation would turn ugly for me. I didn’t want to keep lying to the pony that gave me another chance at life. Thus, it was my turn to make things right and I wasn’t planning on screwing that up as well.

“What do you think the Princess will tell us tomorrow?” Twilight asked with a low voice as she walked by my side.

“I don’t really know, but I think I’ll have something to say as well.”

“Blink, you don’t have to-”

“Don’t have to what?” I cut her off, “tell the truth? I have to. I can’t keep holding secrets from you guys. I can’t and won’t risk hurting you because of those secrets.”

The rest of the group was staring at me and I even noticed Applejack’s smile at my wish to confess the truth about myself.

“Tomorrow is going to be the longest day of my life,” I thought to myself.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to join you two tomorrow?” Fluttershy asked meekly.

“Yes Fluttershy, Celestia was clear about who should come. Relax; Blink, Spike and I are going to be back as soon as possible and we’ll let you know what happened when we return.”

Not everyone felt right about the secrecy, given that they were always together in tough times and Celestia was open to all of them as much as she was with Twilight. Whatever it was, they knew it was important. I knew it was more than that.

We soon reached the library and Spike prepared us all a big feast to celebrate my return. Pinkie Pie couldn’t resist the occasion and after excusing herself for a couple of minutes, she returned with a large cake that wrote: “Welcome back, Blink!”

“Pinkie, how did you pull this off?” I asked in amazement.

We were celebrating in the dining room, gathered around at a large table Twilight conjured to accommodate seven ponies, a dragon and two pets.

“Well Blinkie, you unicorns are not the only ones with magic powers,” she answered, giggling.

My jaw hung a couple of moments before Twilight reassured me she was kidding and in fact had no powers.

“I personally tested her,” the purple unicorn explained, “she has no magic field that would be uncommon to earth ponies; except for a thing she calls Pinkie Sense. It’s definitely weird, but I’ll tell you more about it later, don’t worry.”

After we each had a large slice of what proved to be a delicious cake (Pinkie actually finished everything that was left over, almost half of the original thing), everyone started heading towards their homes, wishing us good luck for the next day’s trip and meet-up with the Princess.

“Well that was the best meal I had since I came here! You really are an awesome cook, Spike,” I told the dragon while the two of us cleaned up the table.

“No worries, dude. It’s nice to have someone appreciate what I do around here!” he said in a crescendo, making sure the purple mare would hear him all the way from the kitchen.

I could actually imagine Twilight rolling her eyes at that right before she yelled back:

“Very modest of you, Spike!”

The mare entered the dining room and started to re-arrange the whole furniture back to how it was before the impromptu party.

“Whoa there! Yeah well, I think I’m gonna go now. We’ll meet up in the morning at the train station?” I asked, dodging a levitating chair.

“Okay, sure!”

As I was about to leave, I couldn’t resist it: I turned around, went to Twilight, and gently nuzzled her under the neck.

“Thanks for saving my life . . . again,” I softly said, somewhat afraid that Spike might hear it.

I don’t know if it was from the rather flirty tone I used or because of the sudden and unexpected physical gesture, but the next thing I knew, a cacophony of furniture landing on the floor happened as a result of everything under Twilight’s spell falling to the ground.

“Oops, sorry for that. Good night!” I quickly said, making my way out of the library as fast as I could.

“So, does that mean that you’ll soon move out with him and I’ll get this place for myself?” Spike’s voice came moments after I swung the library’s door closed. He was standing in the kitchen’s door, a large smirk plastered all over his face.

“SPIKE! What did you- what was- GO TO BED!” Twilight yelled, attempting to scold the adolescent dragon but ultimately failing miserably. The dragon showed no sign of remorse or guilt and kept on displaying the defying grin. Giving up, the mare rushed upstairs to her bedroom, slamming the door shut.

Spike let out a hearty laugh while making his way into the room near the base of the stairs. He flopped onto his round bed and started searching for a comfortable position to curl in. That was the first time in weeks he felt he could enjoy a good night’s sleep. There was still the following day’s important meeting with the Princess, and he had even kept the controversial piece of paper, just for that occasion.

The young dragon took a couple of slow, deep breaths to fuel the fire in his chest. The soft mattress beneath him warmed up under the radiating heat of his belly and chest. A sudden itch on his back started to annoy him but after scratching behind his shoulders a couple of times, he fell asleep in a matter of moments.

*** *** ***

On the outskirts of Ponyville, I was opening the door to my small house. Raven had been resting on my shoulder the whole time and I was glad to be reunited with her. Why she was still with me in the first place was a total mystery. Nevertheless, I was enjoying her company and somehow, knowing that her kind was not even present on that planet made me remember the world I had just left permanently. She must have felt as lonely as I did.

“Well, seems like someone finally came back home,” one voice, a stallion, came from inside.

I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn’t even notice the presence of another pony in my living room when I opened the door. Kazooie was smiling from across the table, apparently having waited for me for some time.

“Hey there, Kazooie! Sorry that I didn’t come to-”

I was cut short by the huge farm stallion grabbing me into a huge bone-crushing hug, one which rivaled even that of Pinkie Pie’s. Raven flew off my shoulder just in time, saving herself from the deadly gesture.

“Been waiting for ya to come back ever since the Canterlot guards came by and arrested you,” he said with a laugh, letting me go after a few moments.

“Yeah, I- I know . . . found out from the nurses that you visited me while I was- while I was out,” I sputtered out, trying to get fresh air into my almost collapsed lungs.

“Well, we’ve missed ya around the farm. Left you some food my wife made for ya in the oven. Welcome back, Blink!”

The brown earth pony smacked me on the shoulder, making me wobble on my hooves a little. A seemingly friendly gesture if he wasn’t so damn large.

“Thanks; I really couldn’t be grateful enough for your hospitality.”

“Don’t mention it, but as soon as you’re ready and fit, I’m expectin some extra work to get the wheat harvest all stored up,” he said, giving me a wink.

“Sure thing. I’m going to an important trip to Canterlot tomorrow, but after that I’m pretty much free.”

“Good thing! I’ll leave you to your rest. Good night!” The stallion added with a smile and started making his way towards the door.

“Hey Kaz!” I called after him, suddenly remembering one of his fixations. “You know Twilight, the cute mare obsessed with studying and all that? Of course you know her. She and I are kinda dating; thought you should know.”

The farmer turned around with a surprised face at first but then when he realized I wasn’t joking, he started chuckling.

“Hehe, I knew you had it ya you sly colt, you!”

He kept laughing all the way out of the house and I could even hear him going on outside as well, his laugh fading into the night. Nevertheless, I felt a hint of pride and satisfaction from admitting that to him.

Smiling, I went straight into my bedroom, leaving the food Kazooie’s wife made for me tomorrow, already being full from the copious meal I had at the library. I crawled into the bed while Raven flew after me and took her rightful place on the writing desk.

Sleep was eluding me, though.

Despite still being alive and back in the world I wished so much to be in, I couldn’t forget the fact that part of me died that day. Twilight pulled me from the realm of the dead, risking her life to save mine. Why was I given another chance? Why didn’t Death come after me as soon as I was brought back to life? Why did Twilight save me, a stranger, a liar, a fake?

All those questions pummeled my mind relentlessly until exhaustion finally pulled me into a deep sleep.

*** *** ***

A loud knock on the door woke me up. As I looked out on the window I noticed it was barely morning, the sun’s rays coyly making their way out from the horizon’s line. I let out a loud yawn, stretching my hooves across the bed.

Its comfort made me ignore the continuous knocks, up until a loud one was followed by an even louder thud. Slightly alarmed that I might be arrested yet again for who knows what reasons, I swiftly got out of the bed and stormed the dining-kitchen-room, horn glowing and ready to get dirty.

“Whoa there, big guy. It’s just me,” Spike said, taken by surprise.

“What the hell man? It’s too early in the morning for that kind of noise!” I whined, somewhat angered, and then looked at what was laying on the floor. “And why did you mess up my door?”

“Ahh, that. Yeah, I kind of went overboard with it. Sorry, let me fix it . . .”

The dragon proceeded in lifting the half-shredded door and whacking it back into place. I looked at the flimsy piece of wood that used to be my door and then stared at the dragon as he sheepishly smiled back at me.

“Have you gotten bigger?” I suddenly shifted the topic, noticing the slight difference is his stature.

“Well, I’m still in that growth spurt, remember? It should end soon, though.”

He smiled at me, revealing his rather big, sharp teeth.

“Okay . . . Anyway, I assume you came to escort me to the train station where Twilight is probably waiting for us already?” I asked.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Well then, let’s get going. Don’t want to keep the Princess waiting.”

Spike mimicked a disgusted face. “You’re already calling each other names like that?”

“I meant Celestia-”

“Sure you did,” Spike ended the conversation, winking at me.

I rolled my eyes and left the house, making our way towards Ponyville’s train station. I told Raven to stay around and explore; surprisingly, she followed my orders and took flight towards the forest, lazily flapping her wings and enjoying the morning breeze.

Spike and I entered the city, which was fairly busy for that time of the day; I just shrugged it off as just being a pony’s nature to be up so early in the morning.

“So . . .” Spike started, rather coyly, “what really happened yesterday? Twilight saved you, right? You were really . . . dead, weren’t you?”

“Uhm, I think this is what we’re going to talk about with the Princess today.”

“Ohh, okay then.” He tucked his hand into his pocket, making sure he had the missing piece of paper he would confront the Princess with. Looking around, he then tried to come up with another topic.

“Anyway, you and Twilight-”

“Yes. Maybe. I don’t know. Definitely something. Why, you gonna give me the ‘caring brother’ speech? Break me if I’m going to break her heart and all that?”

Spike gave me a devilish smile and the spines across his head and back stood up, emphasizing his reptilian dragon shape.

“Twilight hatched me, took care of me and loved me like family. She’s more than a sister to me. And yes, if you break her heart . . .” The dragon leaned closer to me and gently dragged a claw under my chin. I would have found that extremely awkward if it wasn’t for the sharpness of the green, translucent appendage that was running through my fur coat. That was definitely a warning.

As I was about to come up with a witty remark about me not being impressed by such displays of power, Spike took his hand away from my face, inhaled deeply after which he accurately blew a thin string of fire over the tip of his claws. He then brought his hand close to my head again and I could feel the searing hotness emerging from the reddened claws. My heart rate went up a notch, an unknown flammable liquid slowly dripping from their tips inches away from my eye. I could only imagine the horrific damage a direct hit from those things could do to someone.

“Okay, I get it. Not going to break anyone’s heart. I promise!” I gulped nervously, taken aback by Spike’s rather hostile display of affection for the one that took care of him since birth. His serious look turned with a large smile and he continued to walk as if nothing had happened, his claws leaving a trail of steam in the air.

The rest of the journey was eventless and we reached the train station right on time. Twilight, as I expected, was waiting on the platform. We got in the train right as it was about to leave and took our seats in an empty booth in the front coach.

Oddly, there wasn’t a lot of talking going on in the first minutes after we greeted each other and boarded, but there was certainly tension in the air. The train was slowly making its way through the tall mountain chains towards the capital city of Equestria. The trip was quite different from the ones I took the last couple of times with the air balloon. The stunning view of deep valleys and mountains alternated with the brief moments we passed through deep, long tunnels. Security outside the capital’s walls was a lot heavier than I would have expected, guards and scanning fields standing by the railway just before the train station.

We reached Canterlot in good time and I soon found myself wandering around the bustling capital alongside Twilight and Spike. After the recent events, ponies there were quite on edge, especially when seeing a young dragon passing by them. Even if the only things that happened in Canterlot were the state of alert imposed by Shining Armor and the unusual hours of prolonged twilight, ponies there seemed easily frightened for some reason.

“Hey Twilight, how come everyone around here is so jumpy?” I asked as we walked through a busy sidewalk, noticing that Spike acted like a pony repellent, making a clear way for us.

“Well, usually it’s because of Spike,” she started, drawing a stern gaze from the aforementioned, “but taking into the light the recent events, I wouldn’t blame them. Canterlot residents live in a routine and most of them are reluctant to change. Most city ponies are, for that matter. Thought you would at least remember that from before your accident the night Kazooie found you.”

“Yeah, I guess . . .”

My awkward smile proved enough to end that particularly inconvenient conversation, adding to the fact that we were about to enter the castle’s premises. As soon as they spotted us, the guards hastily got out of our way, a clear sign that we were expected.

“Miss Twilight, the Princesses are waiting for you in the Nighttime living room,” one of the guards stated as we passed by them.

“That’s weird. The Nighttime living room is in Luna’s private quarter,” Twilight said, slightly bemused.

I shrugged at her while Spike started casually walking towards the mentioned meet-up place. Twilight and I followed him suit, throwing each other occasional glances. The Princess of the Moon’s quarters were on the other side of the castle, facing the sunset and I figured we were on the right track as soon as I saw guards wearing deep blue armor instead of the usual golden one.

“Spike, how do you know this part of the castle so well?” Twilight suddenly asked, realizing she didn’t recognize the dark hallways lit with a cold, dim, white light.

“Uhh, well you know how I used to roam around the castle when we were still here? You know, before we moved to Ponyville?” the young dragon responded on a whim.

Twilight seemed to accept his response without any doubt, but I on the other hoof noticed the blunt signs of a lie: his tone was slightly tensed, the way his pupils reacted at the question and his general body language told me he wasn’t as truthful as you would expect from a number one assistant.

We reached the Nighttime chamber and Twilight was the first to step in after knocking a couple of times on the large, thick, wooden doors. The first thing that struck me was that the entire room was very dark. It wasn’t that you couldn’t see, but everything was perfectly blended together to match an astral style.

The usual feeling of confinement someone might get in such dark rooms was absent, mostly due to the fact that there seemed to be no ceiling at all. Instead, a perfectly clear night sky displayed its sea of stars above our heads. I immediately noticed a bright disk situated right about in the middle of the sky and I realized that was actually the sun. It wasn’t an illusion spell or a projection. It was the actual sky above the castle, the ceiling somehow enchanted so that you could see through it. Not only that, but also the sun’s contrast with the rest of the atmosphere was eliminated so that the stars would be visible in broad daylight.

“I take it that you are impressed by my chamber,” one voice said, a mare.

I picked up my jaw and looked after the pony who had just spoken. Luna was walking towards us, and if it weren’t for her talking moments before, I would have never noticed the Princess. As soon as I saw her, I also noticed the more striking white Celestia standing by her side. The three of us bowed down in front of the two monarchs, after which we quickly resumed our posture.

“I’m happy to see you have recovered almost completely, Midnight Blink,” Luna stated.

“Yea, I’m pretty much alright. You know, for someone that died and was brought back to life,” I said with a titter.

“A series of activities you are accustomed to by now, no doubt,” Celestia intervened with a tone that, for some reason, could have frozen the air around.

My heart started beating rapidly but I knew that coming out with everything had to be done and she was just speeding things along.

“Let us not be so serious about this, sister. It’s not like it’s their fault for what happened. It happened for a reason and we will have to live by it.”

“What about this?” Spike suddenly asked, almost cutting off Luna. He was waving an old page Celestia immediately recognized to be the one she had hidden in the box containing the Elements of Harmony.

Twilight was darting her eyes from Celestia to Spike and then to Luna, having no clue about what her assistant was holding in his claws. I shared Twilight’s confusion about that piece of paper but I had the feeling that a lot of cats were going to be let out of their bags soon. My intention, as usual, was for me to be the last one to do it and just let the whole situation unfold in front of me before that.

“Oh yes, about that, I would like you to join me for a walk, Spike,” the Princess of the Moon almost demanded, while levitating the missing page out of the dragon’s claws and placing it on a table.

“No,” he simply retorted. “All this secrecy has to end now. And I’m not going to-”

“We shall explain everything to you in private, Spike!” Luna cut him off with a harsh, demanding tone.

The rare use of the royal “we” quieted the dragon, and he immediately accepted the invitation, leaving the room, followed closely by Luna.

“My dear student, forgive me for my small outburst earlier. The same with you, Midnight Blink,” Celestia said immediately after the heavy doors swung closed. “It’s just that we’ve all been under a lot of pressure lately, and not only from local sources and events like the ones witnessed mere days ago. But that is not for you to worry about. We have more important things to discuss now.”

“About that, I-”

“Blink, before I further explain anything else, I must ask you this: who are your Princesses?” Celestia asked, looking straight into my eyes and further ignoring Twilight’s dumbstruck reaction to everything.

“What do you mean by-”

“The ones that are for you what my sister and I are for Equestria, the ones or the one who is in your prayers when things look grim, the one you look up to for guidance when you seem lost. Do you even know him or her?”

A long moment of silence fell as I processed what I had been asked. Celestia had let it be known that she was aware of my origins and she also established the fact that she was like a god to Equestria, a general notion I was having strong feelings about.

“I do not believe in our version of you, I’m afraid.”

Celestia stared at me for a while, after which she dropped her gaze into the floor, thoughtfully.

“Princess, what’s going on?” Twilight’s expected question came, breaking the silence that fell in the Nighttime room.

“My faithful student, there is something very important that I need to tell you two; something that must stay between us. That is why I had Luna take Spike away.”

Celestia walked to the table where the old piece of paper was resting on. She levitated it in front of her, recalling old memories. She then turned to us.

“I wrote this a very long time ago. You must have noticed its absence from one of the books you burrowed a while back from the castle’s library. I will try to be straightforward with you, but I won’t be able to explain everything, not yet. The rest will be for you two and you two alone to discover.”

The Princess took a deep breath, organizing her thoughts. Twilight and I looked at her with great anticipation, each of us having our own reasons to be nervous of what was to follow.

“You and Blink are two very special ponies . . .” Celestia started.

*** *** ***

Spike walked nervously across the dark hallways with Luna by his side. Every now and then, he would glance at the Princess, wondering what they would talk about that time.

“I’m sorry for my outburst earlier, but you must understand there are certain things they must talk about in private,” Luna said, breaking the cold silence.

“But what’s so secret that they can’t tell me? And why can Blink stay there, why is he so special?” Spike puffed out, annoyed.

“It’s not really their choice, I’m afraid. It’s something you will have to go along with. They might choose to tell you what they’ve been told today but it’s up to them. Promise me you won’t insist on this, Spike.”

The Princess looked at the young dragon with a kindness and understanding towards his situation, which quickly paid off.

“Alright, I promise . . .”

Luna rewarded him with a kind smile, a rare thing from the goddess of the moon. They reached a large dome-shaped room and the Princess was the first to enter, followed closely by Spike. The dome ceiling was enchanted with the same spell the Nighttime room was and the endless blanket of stars stretched over the two of them. Spike didn’t seem too impressed by that, given the fact that it wasn’t the first time he was there.

“So how have things been lately, Princess?” He asked more out of politeness, still having a downed tone.

“Quite fine, thank you for asking.” She wandered around the small observation room, glancing at a bright group of stars. “Ahh, here it is . . .” she whispered to herself.

“So, anything new and interesting on the sky?” Spike asked, noticing Luna’s interest.

As a response, the Princess’s horn started glowing and the whole room felt like it was pulled into the deep, dark sky itself. The small dots across the round dome that represented the stars started to spin, turn and move. Luna’s eyes were shut in concentration and it was quite obvious that she was mustering all of her powers to maintain the spell. This time Spike really seemed fascinated by the spectacle happening all around him.

“So, where are we going this time?” he asked warily, remembering the first and only time Luna performed that spell in his presence.

He was much younger back then, just after Twilight and the rest of the Elements had freed the Princess from her evil side. He almost kept as a secret his past talks with Luna, talks that occurred every time Twilight was invited to the castle by Celestia. In his youthful innocence, he had once asked Luna how the Draco constellation would look like up close. He was unsatisfied by the quality of the images Twilight’s telescopes provided and had hoped the Princess of the night might have something better. He believed a huge mighty dragon resided in the center of that constellation, his imagination roaming free after listening to bedtime stories Twilight would read to him every now and then.

The magically enchanted room acted like an observing eye under Luna’s spell, traveling across stars and galaxies. It was one of the most powerful abilities she possessed and came as her second signature spell, after the moon manipulation one.

“We are . . . further down the Orion Cygnus arm,” she finally responded, looking around on the ceiling to get her bearings, “and that is Sol.”

“Sol? What is that?” Spike asked eyeing the general direction at which Luna was looking.

“Sol is the name of a solar system. It’s rather close to ours but my sister’s sun light would still take tens of years to get there.”

“Still, there are millions of solar systems in our galaxy. What makes this one so special?”

“I see Twilight’s obsession for studying is not a bad influence on you,” the blue alicorn said with a light giggle.

“Well mostly she just keeps me up at night. That pony has no idea how annoying talking to herself is, especially when someone needs to get some rest, but at least now I have my own room. Anyway, what’s the deal with this . . . Sol?” Spike asked, still unaware of the source of Luna’s excitement.

Instead of replying, the Princess reactivated her spell again and the room picked up speed, getting closer and closer to a shining star nearby. They dodged past a vast barrier of meteorites, three very small blue planets, a large sand-like one with rings around it and finally a red planet.

Spike was still looking behind his shoulder at the last celestial object they flew by and was unaware that they had stopped; that is, until he turned back to the Princess.

“Here we are . . .” Luna announced with a hint of pride in her tone.

Right above them in the center of the ceiling was a blue planet with large portions of land. Near that odd looking planet, Spike noticed a very familiar object. It was a moon, just like the one he could see at night.

“What planet is this?” he asked, his voice tinted with emotion.

“I believe it is called . . . Terra. It’s quite a fascinating planet that shares a lot of resemblances with our own. It’s very hard to see it directly from here in Equestria, but my magic allowed us to go around the cluster of stars between us that blocked the view.”

“How did you know it was here? Does it have ponies on it too, or dragons?" Spike asked, rather excited.

The room suddenly got pulled back in a dizzying rush between the stars. They were ‘home’ again. The ceiling then turned dark and candles lit up around the room to compensate the lack of light.

“I had a certain inspiration that hinted me towards that planet. And no, there are no dragons or ponies there, I’m afraid.”

“They why did you show it to me?” the dragon asked, half still impressed by what he had witnessed and the other half confused by Luna’s odd behavior.

“One day you will probably find out. I hope that day comes soon, though,” she finished, heading out of the room.

Spike remained behind for a couple of moments staring at the ceiling, thinking about what he had witnessed and the implications of Luna’s words. Coming out blank, he shrugged it off as one of her weird moods and went off after her.

“So, have you decided upon your future plans?” the Princess asked when Spike caught up with her. They were walking along a corridor that was leading to the throne room.

“What future plans?” the young dragon asked, feigning not knowing exactly what the Princess was talking about.

“Have you forgotten our last discussion already?” Luna took a deep breath before continuing, knowing Spike was avoiding the subject much like he did when she had brought it up the first time. “A dragon’s lifespan spreads across centuries, if not more, my beloved subject. Your lifestyle and choices are dictated by you and you alone. Some live for many years in the wild parts of Equestria, alone and in content. Others choose to return to their homeland and dedicate their life to the service of the Master Dragon, or the Old One as he is named by his own. Wherever your choices may lead you, Spike, you will bear witness to great events and watch the world around you change as you grow old alongside it.”

Spike was shuddering at the thought and at what Luna was about to say. His claws were clenched tightly and he was making great efforts not to let tears flow. He had cried himself to sleep the night after the first serious talk with Luna. Hearing about his life expectancy and place in that world had brought him into a state of depression, and he wished that the subject would never be brought up again.

“But as you may know already, life is not that generous with ordinary ponies, I’m afraid-”

“Enough,” Spike interrupted her. “I know about all that, and I just don’t want to think about it. Not now, not ever!”

He eyed Luna, his harsh expression bringing on a combination of anger and deep sadness. The dragon then rushed pass the Princess, trying to get as far away from her as possible. She watched him leave with stern eyes, although wondering if she had done the right thing by talking with him about such things at his young age.

“Time never forgets, my dear Spike. But neither do we,” she said more to herself, the dragon being far out of hearing range.

*** *** ***

“Nice . . .”

“That’s NOT nice, Blink!” Twilight protested at the end of Celestia’s explanation about our source of magic. She hadn’t told us much and most of the time very ambiguous terms were used to describe the mystery behind our cutie mark’s weird changes when using magic.

Twilight’s powers were apparently centered on the notion of life and its protection, a reason for which she was very good with shielding and healing spells. Celestia used as an ultimate example the fact that the unicorn was able to bring me back to life, something that the Princess described as “impossible even for my sister and I”.

In my case on the other hand, Celestia had used a rather dismal tone, as if she was unhappy with my presence in her kingdom; and she had every reason to be, since the title my cutie mark brought to the pony that wore was the “Deathbearer”. I was in fact the first to ever wear that symbol in Equestria’s history. As far as Twilight’s cutie mark goes, she herself had asked her mentor how the stars on her flank could represent “life”. Celestia’s retort was as vague as the whole topic leading to it: “Count all the stars’ points,” was all she said.

Both my and Twilight’s cutie marks were roughly sketched on the page which the Princess made sure no one would ever read again. She had supposedly written that book centuries ago but refused to tell us what had inspired her to do so.

“Princess, but . . . why didn’t you tell me about this sooner? It’s been over a decade since you asked me to be your personal student.”

“I’m sorry, but you were just a young filly back then-”

“What about the time I saved your sister from Nightmare Moon and became one of the Elements? Or when we defeated Discord the first time almost two years ago?”

“You were still too young for this! I also never would have known Blink would come here. This was not how you should have found out about your talents,” Celestia confessed. She then turned to me and continued: “I’m afraid it’s time you tell her where you really came from, Midnight Blink.”

Twilight turned to me, an innocent look of curiosity on her face. That was it. It was time for me to come out with everything, admit that I lied to her and hope that she would understand and even forget my dishonesty. I took a deep breath and hoped for the best.

“Twilight, I’m sorry to tell you this but I . . . I lied about the night Kazooie found me. There was never a memory loss trauma or anything like that. I lied to you about my origins because I was afraid you wouldn’t understand.”

Twilight’s eyes locked with mine and I actually felt her look of disappointment tearing a hole in my heart. I hated doing that to her, but I had to. It was all my entire fault for lying in the first place.

“Where are you from, then?” she asked.

“I’m not even a pony, not until I came here. I’m not from this . . . world. I think we should sit down and talk about this when we get back-”

“You lied to me,” she said with a gentle tremble in her lips. “I actually cared for you and helped you get better, and all that while you were lying to me about everything? Is that even your real name, Blink? Is it?” She almost yelled out the last part, holding back tears.

She felt so embarrassed to be seen like that by her mentor, so she did the only thing she could come up with. Her horn suddenly glowed a blinding white and the next second, purple sparks were gently falling down on the floor where she stood moments before.

I let out a deep sigh, gaping at the spot from where the lavender mare teleported.

“That didn’t go too well,” I said to myself.

“The truth is painful to hear sometimes, but it’s the right thing to do,” Celestia stated, approaching me. “All I offered you two was the truth, nothing more. The rest is for you to discover. Now, I believe there is a certain mare outside in the castle’s garden that needs a proper apology.”

“Okay, I’ll go and talk to her, but I might have screwed things up too badly this time. I hope I’ll get to earn your trust back, soon.”

“It’s not my trust that is important, Midnight Blink,” the Princess said, after which she started casting a spell, engulfing me in a sphere of light. “Also, welcome to Equestria, Alex . . .”

The light around me intensified and before I could say or do anything, I found myself under the bright sky outside, having soft grass under my hooves. Looking around, I recognized the royal garden in its entire splendor.

My ears picked up a faint whimpering coming from behind a tall bush wall. I immediately recognized the cry to be Twilight’s. Picking up the courage, I went after the source of the sound to confront the purple unicorn. When I went around the natural wall, I found her standing on the ground near a small fountain, looking at her own reflection in the water. Occasionally, she would let out a stifle and a tear would fall down, small ripples in the water distorting her reflection.

I waited for another of her tears to fall and got closer to her. When the fountain’s reflection cleared up again she noticed me by her side. She turned and I saw her soggy eyes and sad face. It’s wasn’t actually sadness as much as it was disappointment and that made me feel awful.

“Hey . . . look, I can’t describe in words how much I’m sorry for what I’ve done. You’re right, you took care of me when I was sick, fed me and gave me a roof over my head until I could fend for myself. But most important of all, you saved my life and I will be forever in your debt.”

The look on her face seemed to brighten up a little and she had finally stopped crying. She opened her mouth to say something but I continued:

“I hope you will forgive me for everything. But if you don’t want to talk to me ever again, I understand. I’ll . . . just leave,” I said in a low voice, after which I made an important decision; the beautiful dream had ended, it was never meant to be. “I’ll leave Ponyville.”

I felt a jab in my heart as I said those words but was unaware however that the beautiful mare in front of me had felt a similar feeling when she heard my decision. As I turned to leave, planning to never return, I heard her getting up, after which her voice stopped me in my tracks.

“Wait . . . don’t go.”

My hooves almost quivered at those words and hope blossomed in my heart again. I turned to her only to notice she didn’t seem angry or disappointed on me anymore.

“I forgive you,” she continued, causing a huge wave or relief to fall down on me, “and I don’t want you to go. I li- . . . just no more lies from now on, please?”

I nodded my head and got closer to the unicorn mare.

“I promise, no more lies from now on. Thanks for giving me another chance, Twilight.”

To my huge surprise, she leaned her head onto my shoulder, letting out a sigh of relief.

“You have a lot of explaining to do when we get back to Ponyville,” she said, ending the hug.

Suddenly, I remembered something I never had the chance to do, so I focused my magic and looked around the garden.

“This whole life and death thing, our magic; what are we going to do? The Princess has never been so vague about anything since I became her student. It’s so unlike her,” Twilight said, looking at the fountain’s statue of Celestia and her sister, unaware of what I was doing.

“We’ll figure it out somehow Twilight, don’t worry. Meanwhile, there’s something I never had the chance to give you. It should have been on our first date, but you know, the whole sudden death and bringing back to life thing happened.”

She turned to me and noticed a beautiful red rose, slowly levitating between us. She stared at the flower for a moment then back at me, her cheeks turning a bright shade of red.

“It’s . . . beautiful. Thank you, Blink. I never had a flower give me colts before, ugh- I mean never had a colt give me flowers,” she stammered, turning even redder.

“It’s alright, I just-”

I didn’t even have the chance to finish my sentence, because Twilight actually took the initiative and leaned forward, pressing her lips against mine. I found the sudden invasion of personal space and the intimacy of the contact rather surprising but amazing none the less. The sensation of her being so close to me, the feeling of her warm lips timidly moving across mine, it all made the world around me melt in a blend of colors, sounds and sensations.

I closed my eyes and relished in the wonderful sensation that was our first kiss. Unfortunately, good things come to end all too soon, and the kiss was over as fast as it had started, leaving me in a daze, my heart pumping like mad from the rush of emotions.

“-or you could do that . . .” I said softly, loosing myself in her beautiful, purple eyes.

*** *** ***

From across the garden up in one of the castle’s balconies, Spike was leaning on the rail, watching the sight of the two ponies and their display of affection.

“You know, their life may be short in comparison to ours, but the memories we get with them last forever,” Luna’s voice came from behind him.

Spike glanced back at the Princess as she approached him, taking her place by his side.

“You still have a pony’s lifetime to spend with them, so why waste it thinking about the future when you can go and make those memories you will cherish for the rest of your life?”

Spike smiled for the first time after their talk and nodded his head. Turning towards the balcony’s entrance, he added: “I’ll stay.”

“Pardon?” Luna asked.

“My plans for the future. I’ll stay with them, with my friends; no matter what.”

The dragon then left the balcony content with his decision, a decision he would respect for the rest of his life.

Luna watched as he left, then turned to the garden, glancing at what had to be the most unusual couple she had ever seen in her long life.

“The Lifebringer and Deathbearer linked together by love. What say you, sister?” Luna asked, sensing Celestia behind her.

“I can only wish they will never have to rise to their titles,” she answered, joining her sibling.

“One can only hope, dear sister . . . one can only hope.”

End of chapter 11

Chapter 12: Growing a Pair

Chapter 12: Growing a Pair

Chapter 12

Growing a Pair

“Blink . . .”

“But I don’t want to, Twilight! I hate hospitals,” I whined in a voice I rarely used.

Twilight, Spike and I were walking down by the huge auditorium towards the Hoofton Coltboro hospital, after she had insisted on me going there to get a full medical record set up.

“We need to get you registered like all the other ponies. Since you don’t have any proof of ever being in Equestria since now, that means you need a new birth certificate and medical history. Thankfully, Celestia sent word to the hospital so that we won’t have any problems,” Twilight explained, her head filled with all the rules and legislations around being an equestrian citizen.

“I still hate hospitals,” I said, drawing an annoyed look from the purple mare.

The tensed atmosphere between us had lessened since our moment in the castle’s gardens, but the unicorn mare was still affected by the influx of information she had received during the day, even though she didn’t show it. Spike seemed lost in his own thoughts, staring blankly in front of him as he idly walked on the busy street, still acting like an ice breaker in the rush hour sea of ponies. Every now and then he would quickly throw us a look, scratching at his shoulders as an excuse. I knew that we would need to talk to him about everything soon, given his initial reactions at the palace earlier that day.

We reached our destination in due time, a large hospital smack in the middle of Canterlot. Ambulance carriages were going through in and out of the main entrance, while up on top of the five story building large chariots pulled by husky pegasus would bring in more urgent cases.

The clinic’s waiting room was emptier than I expected. There were only a hoofful of ponies waiting to be consulted for their minor issues. We checked in at the reception and were told to wait for a nurse to come and guide me through all the tests that needed to be performed. I waited in a chair, flanked by Twilight and her dragon assistant. My right hind leg was tapping nervously on the hospital’s white floor, the sickening sensation of anticipation settling in. Soon enough, a white mare unicorn wearing a tight, matching scrub greeted me.

“You must be Midnight Blink. I see here that you need a full registration procedure and medical record set up,” she said, floating a clipboard in front of her. “I’m sorry for the incident about your previous records, we rarely lose patient data as well as the backup,” she added, smiling meekly.

I had a hint about the ‘incident’ being linked with Celestia’s message to the hospital and I was quite relieved to have someone in high places pulling ropes for me. Not that it would be the first time that happened, but I liked things going in my favor every now and then.

The nurse led me to an examination room and the tests started without any other delays. In the first one I had to bite down on a rubber-like plate, my teeth leaving behind a clear print. Next, I was asked to place one of my hooves in a tray containing a white paste and press hard. These first procedures seemed a bit weird to me, but I was told that every foal gets them when they are born. Apparently, a pony’s teeth and hooves can be recognized after their first prints even when they are adults. The next one was a vision test, where I got an almost perfect score.

During the following test I was asked by the nurse to channel magic in my horn while having a few sensors attached to it. The end results showed some irregularities but everything seemed within normal boundaries. The last of them was a simple blood draw but it proved to be quite taxing on my system, as I hadn’t eaten anything all day.

The nurse advised me to rest until all my results would come back. Thus, I found myself in a hospital bed back in the clinic, in the admitting room. The place was brightly lit and packed with nurses, doctors and patients alike, a large row of beds with privacy drapes between them stretching along its length.

Twilight and Spike soon found me and came to my bedside.

“Aww, little big guy got a boo boo?” the dragon patronized, poking at my shoulder with a claw.

“You will suffer so much when I get out of here . . .” I mumbled groggily, my vision slightly blurry from the blood loss. “Damn hospitals.”

“Fatigue and exhaustion are normal effects one would experience after getting his blood drawn. You should be much better in an hour or so,” Twilight said, agitating a hoof at her assistant, which hadn’t stopped his teasing yet.

The nurse came by after a while, placing the results on my bed and magically grabbing a clipboard, turning to me.

“Okay, I will need your details to get the rest of the paperwork complete; so, name and occupation?”

“Uhm . . . Midnight Blink. I work at a- hmm farm? Yeah, just a temporary job,” I answered, trying to get my thoughts in order.

“All right then, D.O.B and address?” the young nurse recited from the form.

“Well, that would be 22th of June 1990, and I live near a lake at the outskirts of Ponyville.”

“Uhh, what was that again?” the mare asked, slightly confused. “Did you say 1990?”

“He meant 3342, right Blink?” Twilight intervened, looking at me with hinting eyes.

“Yeah, that’s right. Silly me,” I stammered, trying not to look too surprised by the wild number that had just come out of Twilight’s mouth.

The nurse nodded, scribbling something down on the clipboard after which she left to finish the formalities.

“1990?” Twilight asked as soon as the nurse was out of hearing range.

“We’ll talk about this later, along with everything else . . . but 3342?”

“Well, I guessed you are the same age as me so I just mentioned the year I was born in. The current year is 3362 AC, After Celestia,” the purple unicorn explained quietly.

As I tried to wrap my head around the idea of living in the year 3362, I didn’t noticed the stallion passing in front of my bed take an interest in me. He approached my bed, and only after turning towards him I noticed that he had a slight limp in his walk. The stallion had a light brown coat and a red medical cross with a question mark on top as a cutie mark.

“I wonder what your special talent would be, creating annoying art?” he asked sarcastically, getting closer to my bed and grabbing my results. He seemed rather curious of me for some reason.

“Excuse me sir, but who are you?” Twilight asked slightly concerned.

“Oh, just call me Dr. Stable,” he retorted, not taking his eyes off the papers. “It says here you are healthy,” he continued, not letting Twilight say anything else, “but according to the creatine kinase count in your blood and muscles, you are either less than one year old or someone screwed up the tests.”

Meanwhile, the nurse returned, notifying us that everything was done and I was free to go. Dr. Stable watched her leave with stern eyes, clearly not happy for being interrupted.

“So, where was I? Ah yeah, have you experienced any nausea or pain in the chest area recently?” the stallion asked, still flipping through my results.

The three of us returned curious gazes and I started to get nervous about him figuring things out.

“It’s in my nature not to interact with my patients but I think we speak the same language here. A simple yes or no will do. A nod maybe? Sign language?” he said, looking at the three of us as if we were mentally impaired.

“Ugh, we kinda have to go, no pain whatsoever though!” I excused myself, quickly getting out of bed and proceeding towards the clinic’s exit, not before grabbing my new records from him. Twilight and Spike followed me closely, throwing occasional glances at the random doctor that we left behind by my bed.

“Interesting . . .” the doctor said to himself, watching us leave.

“Stable, stop scaring patients and go back to your clinic duty!” a mare with dark curly mane said as she passed by him, going into her office which was labeled “Dean of Medicine”.

*** *** ***

We made our way towards Canterlot’s train station, arriving just in time to catch the last train towards Ponyville. The trip was as eventless as the one we had on our way into the capital, but we were clearly tired, both physically and emotionally.

By the time the three of us arrived back home the sun was already setting, creating a scene worthy for the name of the mare walking alongside me. With the library coming into view, I knew the moment was close; I was about to tell her everything about me and my origins. The truth had to be unfolded in order to make what we had to work.

“Guys, I’m done for the night,” Spike dismissed himself, waving a hand in the air, “don’t do anything too naughty tonight, you two.”

“SPIKE!” Twilight’s angry shout came a little too late, as the door to Spike’s room had been already shut by the sleepy, yet smirking dragon.

The mare turned to me with a sheepish smile, a little color in both our faces.

“So uhm . . . about that talk,” she started, looking to the side, avoiding direct eye contact.

“Yes, the talk. Have a seat, we have quite a lot to discuss,” I stated, pointing towards the table in the living room.

We both sat down at the large table, the room filled with the warm light from several candles and the small chandelier hanging above us. Outside, the moon was timidly showing up on the early night sky, casting its own, pure white light across Ponyville. Near one of windows, on a tall bird stand, Owlowiscious and Raven were sitting together side by side, silently gazing at us.

I looked around the room nervously, gathering up courage and ideas. How was I going to explain her everything over a casual talk like that?

“I didn’t used to be a pony, you know?” I grinned like an idiot. Not a good start.

“You told me that the palace. Would you care to be more specific?”

I felt her eyes on me as I tried to come up with an actually decent explanation. It was like she was staring into the depths of my soul.

“So. Back in my world, I . . . I was partying with some friends. It was night. I went back to the hotel and was attacked by some thugs. Then I-”

“Where was that?” She asked, as if she expected herself to know the place I was that dreadful night.

“It wasn’t anywhere around here. It was back home,” I said, letting out a sigh.

“Was it back in your empire?”

“Wha-”

“I mean, with the other changelings?” the mare looked at me, having an obvious false sense of understanding about the whole situation.

I remembered reading about those changelings in one of her books; insect-like creatures that could assume the shape of other ponies, driven by their common goal to feed off the love of others.

“No, you have this all wrong. I’m not a changeling. I’m not from this planet at all.”

The settling silence was slowly filling up with tension from me, and curiosity from Twilight.

“Did you come from Tartarus?” she asked after a lingering moment.

“No, I did not come from Tartarus. I was just coming back from a night out and got killed . . . sort of. I met Death, talked with Him and He sent me here. That’s the night Kazooie found me in the wheat fields. That’s the night you took me in!” I ended with a slightly louder tone than I would have wanted to use.

Frustration was washing over me, and I immediately regretted raising my voice at the mare in front of me. She looked at me like she would look at a complete stranger, but to my relief that lasted only a moment.

“Can you . . . tell me more about your home?” she asked.

I noticed a spark in her eyes. It was the same spark she would have whenever something new or interesting was presented to her. She had passed over the acceptance stage faster than I would have ever imagined, and now she wanted to know more.

“Sure. Well, it’s another planet. Close to the sun like this one, and with a moon as well. We have a lot of nations, cities and people . . . and forests, even if less than enough these days. Our wildlife is pretty similar, although I noticed you don’t have ravens, which is kind of weird.”

“Wait, you named your pet after the species it represented back in your world?” Twilight interrupted, smiling for the first time that night. “And how did she follow you here?”

“That, I don’t know. I think He sent her to me for some reason. And yes, Raven was probably not the most inspired name for . . . you know, a raven.”

“Okay. Well, do you have dragons?”

“Uhm, not quite. We call them lizards, and they are much smaller and harmless. Also, our animals are not smart like the ones here. They don’t talk or anything like that. Let me tell you, I had quite a surprise the other day when a cow asked me if I could pump her some water from the fountain near the town center.”

Twilight giggled a little, before presenting the next question.

“So, how is your kind like? I don’t assume you looked like this back in your world.”

I looked down at my hooves, trying to remember my former self.

“We call ourselves humans. Homo Sapiens, if you prefer the scientifically term. I don’t really know how to explain this but . . . basically we’re bipedal creatures, similar to your- umm, minotaurs? Yes, that would be the closest thing to a human I’ve seen around here; although we don’t have hooves, or horns for that matter.”

“Interesting . . .” Twilight pondered, deep in thought. “I presume you live in homes like ours, right?”

“Indeed, we live in houses or apartment buildings. I don’t know about your cities but some of ours are huge and can hold up to millions of people.”

The mare continued her barrage of questions: “Do you have the ability to fly, or use magic?”

“I’m afraid not. No flying or magic for us. We do have a lot of technology though. I’ve seen Equestria has some as well, but we are much more dependent on it. And before you ask: yes, we have books too, lots of them in fact.”

Twilight’s eyes sparkled at the prospect of reading such alien books, but she regained her composure as soon as she remembered the talk between me and Celestia back at the palace.

“So, when Celestia asked you today what your princess is called, you said that you don’t believe in your version of her. That means you don’t have a ruler?”

Pieces of said conversation sprung up into my mind, and I especially recalled Celestia’s reaction when I denied my belief in a superior being like herself.

“We have rulers, that’s not the issue. We even have princesses, queens and palaces but only in some parts of the world. I guess I just don’t believe in a human or a human-like being that watches over us and answers our prayers because frankly, we haven’t seen one yet. Celestia is a powerful and wise pony, and I wish I would have had someone like her present in our world.”

We looked at each other for a while, Twilight finally starting to understand me better. The conversation carried on for a while, as we discussed about random, trivial facts. We compared our worlds and tried to find the similarities as well as the differences. Both of us learned a lot about each other’s worlds that night, but understandably I had an unfair advantage.

I had to skip a lot of details about why some of those cities had similar names to the ones in my world, and most importantly, why there was a TV show that featured her and her friends as protagonists; frankly, I had no idea myself. For many long nights I’ve been thinking about where specifically Death had placed me when I first met Him. Was it in a different Universe? Judging by what little I knew about string theory and all that from back home, my conclusion was that all that could possibly be, was, but in different dimensions. I would have to remind myself to ask Him those details during our next unexpected meetup.

“So, anything else you want to know?” I asked, hiding a yawn. “There is a lot more to discuss but obviously it will have to wait, it’s getting late and your precious assistant woke me up too early this morning.”

The moon had traveled a fair distance across the midnight sky, and both of us felt very tired from the previous day.

“Yes, I would- I would like to know if you saw Him? The . . . other one?”

“The other one?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“You know, you’ve been selected by Death itself to be His . . . follower of some sorts. What about me? Who chose me?” Twilight inquired with a tint of hope in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t see anything else during my encounters with Him. I guess we’ll have to . . . wait and see? If the future proves to be half as interesting as the past few months, we sure are going to get a lot more questions answered.”

Meanwhile, I remembered Bellona and that time she showed herself to me when I was struck down by Discord and I started wondering. She couldn’t be the one that made Twilight the Lifebringer, before being a pony she was human, a Roman woman I knew very little about, but one of my kind nonetheless. I planned on telling Twilight about the mysterious Latin speaking mare later, when she would get used to the idea of me being an alien to her kind.

Twilight sank in her chair, disappointed that she didn’t find out about her other mentor. Without a doubt she was a curious unicorn, but there were certain limits when one can follow said curiosities. She was aware of her talents in magic, but was never able to explain the rare but strange behavior of her magic.

I got off my own chair and went to her, giving the purple mare a hesitant nuzzle. She accepted the small gesture and returned it gently. We stood like that for a few moments and for the very first time, the two of us, completely different beings that originated from worlds apart, felt closer than ever.

”It’s late,” she said, breaking the moment, “and I have a letter to write to Princess Celestia.”

Curse those letters . . .

“All right then, I’ll let you to it. Good night, and see you tomorrow. Raven, come!” I signaled towards the almost asleep bird. She stretched her wings and flew to me, landing on her claimed spot between my shoulder blades.

“Good night.” Twilight said.

I suddenly engulfed myself and Raven in a blue energy shield and in the next second I found myself reappearing in my house, namely my kitchen-dining-room area. The bird didn’t seem too impressed by my display of magic, flying off to the table and picking on some leftover bread crumbs.

“Come on, that was pretty bad ass. Wasn’t it? You think she was impressed?”

In response, Raven turned to me and cawed; I took that as a “yes”, even if it seemed to be the opposite.

*** *** ***

The sun’s light slowly crept into my room and by definition, my eyes. For some strange reason, I couldn’t remember what I dreamt about the previous night, but I felt that it was something nice and pleasant. I opened my eyes, yawning and stretching all my extremities, when I noticed- a tent? Made out of my sheets?

“Ohh hell no . . .”

Indeed, my body had decided to remind me of the embarrassing condition that manifested every several other mornings to a man; and apparently to stallions as well.

“A quick cold shower,” I mumbled to myself, but soon remembering my bathing facilities, “or . . .”

Just before I could try to mitigate the effects of my little problem the old fashioned way, I stopped and looked at my front hooves; and then it hit me.

“Ohhh, come on! How do I even . . . with THESE?” I exclaimed, raising my forelegs towards the ceiling.

Something had to be done though, as I felt that my blood pressure was getting dangerously low in the upper part of my body and my brain was refusing to think of anything but a certain purple mare and how it would be to-

A sudden rustling sound from the desk across the room reminded me of the presence of my pet, who was starting to awaken.

Fucking hell, I can’t traumatize the poor bird like that!

Just before she raised her head from under the wing to witness my indecency, I teleported myself in a burst of blue lights and sparks. My aim was off, and by a lot as well since there was no solid ground under my hooves when I opened my eyes. I yelped like a little filly as I fell into the ice-cold water of the lake outside my house. I then panicked, agitating my hind and forelegs in the deep, cold water. My little problem was far gone, all my blood rushing back into my chest to protect the vital organs from the settling hypothermia. I then realized that I had never swum before with my new body. I may have been good at it back in the ol’ human days, but right then and there I was starting to sink like a brick.

My head went under the water, despite the struggles to keep myself afloat. An eerie feeling sank into my thoughts as I realized I was probably never going to get out of there alive. Focusing all the magic I could muster, I engulfed myself in another energy sphere and teleported right back to my room. Fortunately for me it worked, and I was once again in the safety of my bedroom; the bad news, however, was that along with me, I also brought back the large volume of water displaced by the protection field. It all wobbled in the air around me for a second, after which it cascaded on the bed around me, soaking it and generously spreading on the floor.

Raven gawked at me rather angrily because of her unusual wake-up, but I just stared around at the damage with a dumbstruck expression, my heart slowing down from the recent surge of adrenaline.

Well that was a quite the wet dream.

I started laughing like an idiot at my own stupid thought while the water kept dripping all over the place. I got out of the bed and went to the kitchen to grab a towel, shivering from the feeling of my water-damped fur. While levitating it to gently dry up my mane and body, I returned to my room and inspected the damage. The bed was completely soaked and most of the floor was wet as well. All of a sudden, Raven started cawing at the window. I looked outside and noticed a fast approaching bird, which I soon recognized to be Owlowiscious. I opened the window just in the nick of time and the bird came crashing straight onto my bed.

He got up, who-ed at Raven once and then turned her head towards me. Tilting it just slightly, he lifted a leg to reveal an attached note. I removed it from him and unfolded it carefully, as to not tear it apart with my still un-tuned magic.

After reading the contents of what proved to be an urgent message from Twilight, I dropped it and immediately teleported right in front of the library. I was already feeling the fatigue and lack of energy after a third teleportation in such a short time span. Sparing the formalities, I bulged right in and started looking around, trying to remember where Spike’s room was. Right then, Twilight got out of said room, wiping her forehead with a hoof while levitating off a white muzzle mask, like the ones the doctors wear during surgery.

“How is he?” I immediately asked her.

“He’s fine. I’ve set up the environment as soon as I could. I managed to sterilize the entire room and enchanted the walls to be heat-resistant. He’ll need round the clock attention for the next week or so. I should have let him stay at Canterlot’s castle; I didn’t know his wings would start coming out so soon!” Twilight paced around with a slight limp, obviously worried and very nervous.

“Don’t worry Twilight; I know he’ll get through this without a problem. He’s got you by his side, and after all you’ve practically raised him since he hatched,” I said, trying to comfort the unicorn.

“Yes, but Celestia could have handled this better than me. Nopony has ever done this before! What am I going to do if something goes wrong?”

“You have your friends to help and I’m here for him as well, just tell me what needs doing.”

Twilight let out a moan and flopped on the couch, tired and almost magically drained.

“As much as the others wanted to help, I had to turn them all down. There’s nothing they can do for him unless they are unicorns, and the more ponies Spike gets into contact with during this week, the more exposed he is to infections,” the mare explained. “And he won’t let Rarity help because he’s acting all stallion-like about it.”

Noticing the confused look on my face, Twilight got up and headed towards the dragon’s room, signaling me to follow her. She got a new mask from a stack on the table, plus a spare one which she wrapped around my own muzzle using her magic.

“A dragon usually gets his wings at about the same age Spike is now, right at the end of the first growth spurt. It shows a healthy development and signals the passage into adolescence. The thing is that during this process, the dragon is dependent on his parents, usually the mother.”

While she explained, we reached the front of his room and Twilight cast a spell on me, molding a purple haze over my body, and then on hers.

“This is a sterilization shielding spell, so that we don’t contaminate his room,” she said, opening the door.

Immediately, a wave of intense heat hit me head on and my eyes started watering from the smell inside. The air was filled with a dark steamy fog, the visibility well under a couple of feet.

“There is very little information on the process of wing sprouting on dragons. What I know from the few recorded cases by pony-kind is that it takes roughly a week, the development is very fast and quite invasive of the immune system.”

As I tried to understand what Twilight was explaining, we got close to where Spike was resting, and I noticed his bed had been replaced with a cobblestone nest-like arrangement. The young dragon was apparently sleeping, though from his cringed face, I imagined he wasn't taking it so easy.

“Hey Spike, you okay?” I asked, getting closer to him.

“He can’t hear you, I cast a sleeping spell on him; actually, the equivalent of twenty seven of them. It pains me to see him suffer like this,” Twilight said, levitating a damp cloth over to Spike and gently cleaning his face with it.

“Twenty . . . seven?” I asked, taken aback.

“Yes, along with his first growth spurt, the magic immunity dragons naturally possess starts to kick in. Every spell I use on him must now be multiplied several times to get the desired effect. I just hope that he’ll get over this safe and sound before I get a magical burnout.”

The mare got closer to his improvised bed and I realized that the heat was actually coming from the cobblestone nest from underneath him. Twilight leaned over the dragon and started removing the bandages on his back using her bare hooves. It was then when I noticed two equally disturbing things: under the dressings over his back were two bloody stumps going out from behind his shoulders. The wounds were opened and a yellow cartilage could be seen in the middle, having jagged ends and protruding out of the skin. The second thing that made me feel even more uncomfortable was the sight of Twilight’s front hooves. They were a bit swollen and slightly burned here and there, the fur thinned or even completely gone in the affected areas.

The unicorn mare gently removed the old bandage and replaced it with a new one, making sure she would not tighten it at all as to not block the wing’s growth.

“Twilight, your hooves . . .” I said in a low voice while gently grabbing one of them.

Most of the burns were recent and I noticed she was actually holding back tears from the obvious pain she was in. I wrapped my forelegs around her and held her softly as to not cause her even more discomfort.

“It’s all right,” she stifled a sob, “but I can’t use magic in that area on his back because I don’t want it to react with his wings, so I have to change the bandages by hoof every few hours.”

She was definitely overwhelmed by the responsibility of being the first pony to ever raise a dragon, but she wouldn’t have had it any other way. Spike was like her little brother to her and she was not going to leave him when things got tough for any reason in the world.

“How did you burn yourself like that?”

“His scales,” she responded, pointing at the dragon’s reddened skin, “I superheated them along with the bed I’ve put together out of some volcanic rock Big Mac and Applejack helped me get here this morning from the mountain near Everfree forest. I guess his mother would have placed him in a shallow pool of lava during this week or breathe fire over him, but this is all I could do so that he woukd be in a sterile environment.”

Twilight’s horn glowed brightly as she rested in my forelegs and the stones from under the dragon turned red hot again. Spike didn’t even flinch at the sudden temperature change, still deep in his magic-induced sleep. We then walked out of the room, leaving the dragon to rest.

“Hey, I could help,” I told her, glancing back at Spike’s room. “We could do it in shifts so you can get some rest.”

Twilight was tending to her burn marks, using magic to diminish the swelling and heal the red patches of skin. She perked her ears and her face lightened up at my proposal.

“I could use your help; Spike could, in fact. Thanks,” she said, smiling kindly.

And so started a long week of sleepless nights and round the clock care for the young dragon. I tried to spend as much time at the library as possible, while resuming my job at Kazooie’s farm. The wheat season was ending and the brown earth stallion and his family could have not harvested and stored the whole field without help. After finishing work at the farm, I would go directly to the library and watch over Spike, changing his bandages and reheating his bed and scales with a special spell Twilight had taught me. The dragon would wake up every now and then but only for short periods of time, as the pain of constantly growing tissue and bone would be too much for him to handle.

On the third day since the start of the growth, a pigeon bearing royal marks came through a window in the living room, where Twilight was preparing new sheets of bandages for my shift. I was in the kitchen, making some sandwiches for what was about to be a long evening. When I went back into the room, Twilight was just finishing reading a small piece of paper.

“Blink, I got a message from Celestia. She sent it through a pigeon so that it wouldn’t disturb Spike,” Twilight explained, re-reading the message. “It says that she sent someone to assist us during the dragon’s last days of his growth spurt. I wonder who that might be . . .”

I shrugged at her and put a fresh surgical mask on, heading towards Spike’s door. “At least we’re getting some help-”

A loud cry filled the room, making me jump in surprise. I turned around and started looking after the source of the unexpected noise. A bright flame was flying around the room and I ducked to the ground right as it passed right above me.

“Twilight!!!” I screamed, less stallion-like than I would have wanted to.

“It’s all right, it’s just Philomena; although she’s smaller than I remember,” Twilight pondered, raising a hoof so that the bird would land on it.

I got up from the floor, staring at the magical being that gently landed on Twilight’s hoof. The bird was literally on fire but somehow, the unicorn mare wasn’t affected by the golden flames. Curiosity got the better of me so I approached the bird, which was casually preening her fiery feathers.

“Oh, I’m sorry! You’re Peewee!” Twilight realized, “Spike will be so happy to see you!”

At the mention of the dragon’s name, the bird let out another loud cry and flapped her wings, her whole body casting a brighter light for a few moments, while ashflakes gently fell from her.

“Ugh- Peewee?” I asked, still studying the creature.

“Yes, Peewee is Spike’s pet, so to say. He found her when she was just an egg a couple of years ago during a dragon migration and watched over it until she hatched.”

The bird nodded in agreement, turning towards me and returning my gaze.

“They were so happy together and I was thrilled to have a mythical bird like her with us. Sadly, we had to send her away to Celestia; as she got bigger, so did her flames. It was very dangerous to keep her in the library.”

“Ohh, I see. So, she’s the one Celestia sent to help us?”

Peewee nodded again, glancing at Spike’s room. She then flapped her wings, signaling that she wanted to go there. Twilight and I put our masks on and headed into the dragon’s room, followed by the phoenix. As soon as she found her master, Peewee rushed to him, landing near his head. Spike was still asleep in a curled up position, the bandages on his back wrapped around what looked like two extra members. The bird cuddled the sleeping dragon which, surprisingly, woke him up.

“Peewee . . .” Spike murmured, his eyelids barely open, “came to visit?”

He reached after her with a claw and the bird rubbed her beak over it in a heartwarming display of affection. We took that opportunity to give him liquids and some gems to eat; he was particularly pleased to find out the stones have been hoof-picked by Rarity herself. When he finished eating, Twilight cast a set of sleeping spell on him, enough so that he could rest comfortably without feeling any pain.

When we left the room, the phoenix stayed behind, finding a comfortable spot between Spike’s neck and the rest of his curled-up body. Before settling in, the bird spread her wings and her whole body gushed out waves of heat over the dragon, doing the job that Twilight and I would have done.

“I guess Celestia really sent Peewee to help Spike,” Twilight said, looking at the two of them.

The following days proved to be easier for us with the phoenix’s help, although Spike’s pain was still intense. The sleeping and numbing spells faded quicker than intended due to his newly acquired resistance to magic, and his moans or sobs would let us know he needed another dose. He was trying to be brave about it, holding the pain inside as much as he could. In the end, the agony of having tissue, bone and muscle grow constantly were too much. All of his friends came to see him at one point, with Twilight making sure the visits would be as short as possible, as to not put his immune system at any kind of risk. The progress was clearly visible, almost two centimeters of tissue and bone growing every hour. By the fourth day, the bases of his wings were completely formed, with small, sensitive, thin scales covering them already. The upper part of the appendages was coming up nicely but our bandaging task was made difficult because of the forming membrane between the wing fingers.

Peewee had never left his side during the whole time, helping us by heating the volcano rock beneath him. The shifts were tedious and exhausting, not to mention the burn marks I had acquired in the past days. The heat was nothing to take lightly as well, temperatures starting from fifty Celsius in the room and up to over one hundred near his bed. Even with the heat repellant spell I’d learned I couldn’t spend more than a few minutes near the dragon. But it was all for the greater good because any bacteria could sprout an infection, given Spike’s open wound.

*** *** ***

A few days later

I mumbled something incoherent, my senses returning to me as I was pulled from the realm of dreams. It was morning, and I found myself on the couch in Twilight’s living room. It took my brain a few moments to realize it but I had fallen asleep during my shift!

Twilight’s own shift was about to start and the mare could walk inside the living room at any moment. I stumbled down the sofa, hitting the wooden floor with a loud thump, and rushed to Spike’s chamber. It was empty and the air was clear, the windows opened wide.

Fuck. The one job I had!

The sound of the toilet flushing made my ears perk up towards the source of the noise. I went back in the library’s main room, only to see Spike casually leaving the restroom. He seemed relaxed and pain-free but then my eyes fell on his-

“Holy shit Spike, your wings!” I exclaimed, noticing his now fully healed new appendages.

The dragon’s wings were completely formed, tucked behind his shoulders. They were a bit small compared to his whole body but definitely passed as dragon wings. A small claw formed the joint in the middle of each of them, similarly to the ones of a bat. He was not the Spike I knew from back home anymore.

The dragon was now an adolescent, freshly out of his first growth spurt, rising up to over two meters in height while standing, having a longer tail, slightly elongated neck, head and broader shoulders. His hind legs were bulkier and their pads underneath his feet resembled those of a dinosaur. He actually started to look like a proper dragon. Allegedly, he was already growing when I first met him and even if I’ve been around for just several months, it was amazing to see how much he developed during his first sprout.

Spike spread his wings slowly, stretching them to their full length. My initial assumptions were a bit off. Those things were huge! Spanning almost four grown ponies in length, his spread-out wings were a magnificent sight. The thin, young membrane that formed them was filtering the sun’s light coming through the window, casting a reddish shadow on the floor.

“Like ‘em?” he asked grinning, his tone filled with pride.

“They’re pretty bad ass, I’ll give you that. Wait until Twilight sees you.”

“SPIKE!” A shout came from upstairs.

As I turned my head towards the purple mare whose voice had just boomed inside the tree house, she had already teleported down near her number one assistant and pounced on him, wrapping her forelegs around his neck.

“Spike, you’re okay!” she exclaimed between tears.

“Well duh, why wouldn’t I be, Twi?”

The dragon gently returned the hug, both of them enjoying the heartwarming moment.

“Your wings,” Twilight gasped after opening her eyes and noticing Spike’s new extensions, “they’re magnificent! They grew so fast since yesterday, and the membrane has developed beautifully,” she added, mentally comparing them with charts and drawings from her books.

Twilight then turned to me, a part of our talk from a week ago springing up in her mind.

“Is this how your lizards look like?”

I laughed, remembering how crude my explanations regarding that topic have been.

“No, our lizards don’t have wings like that, and are noticeably smaller. Also, they don’t breathe fire.”

“Uhm, what?” asked Spike, rather confused. “Lizards?”

“Yeah, I have something to tell you. You probably wanted to know what we and Celestia talked about back at the palace,” I said, also glancing at Twilight, “If she’s okay with this.”

“Sure, I think he can handle it.”

“Handle what?” Spike’s asked again, darting his eyes from me to Twilight.

And so I started talking. Again. We sat down at the table and I explained everything I had explained to Twilight just a week ago. Spike was listening carefully while munching on some rare diamonds the unicorn mare had brought for him as a treat. He seemed rather disappointed when finding out that actual dragons similar to him were just myths back from where I came. Needless to say, he was slightly outraged when I told him how rare diamonds and rubies were in my world.

“From what you’ve told me, your planet is larger than ours,” Twilight explained, having figured out the reason for which diamonds were so rare for me, “but apparently they share similar gravitational accelerations. That means that our planet is roughly the same mass as yours, and so its layers and core are more compressed.”

“And that means more diamonds for you guys,” I concluded, yet again impressed by her smartypantsness.

“Hey Blink,” Spike’s face suddenly brightened up, remembering something, “is your planet by any chance called Terra?”

I looked at him, staggered by the fact that he knew my planet’s name without me even mentioning it once.

“How did you-”

“I guess that’s for me to know, and for you to find out!” Spike smirked, teasingly.

*** *** ***

“Okay boys, I think it’s time to go outside for a walk,” Twilight said as our discussion had finally ended, “you’ve been locked up in that room at over one hundred degrees for almost a week. You could use the fresh air.”

We left the tree house, taking a stroll in the library’s large backyard. Peewee was sitting on Spike’s head, teasing her master by pinching his scales every now and then.

“She did that to him ever since she was hatched,” Twilight said, chuckling at the two, “At first I thought Peewee was just considering his scales to be something edible, but phoenixes are smart creatures. She’s just doing it for fun, giving Spike a taste of his own medicine.”

But the dragon didn’t mind at all. He was happy to finally be over that horrific week, and to have a pair of wings.

“I wonder how we can help you learn how to fly,” the purple mare pondered, “maybe Rain-”

“Did somepony mention flying lessons?”

A sudden multi-colored blur flew past over us, executed a steep U-turn then landing in front of us, striking a pose.

“-bow Dash . . .” Twilight finished her sentence, rolling her eyes.

“Nice pair you got there, Spike. Wanna test them out? Come on, I’ll teach you how to do a barrel roll first, it will be awesome!”

“Ugh RD, I don’t even know how to fly; like, basic flying.”

“Ohh okay, I can do that, fly school 101. Easy!” Rainbow said, flapping her wings eagerly. “Does Monday afternoons work with you? I’m busy coaching Scoots during the weekend.”

“Sounds fine by me,” Spike confirmed smiling sheepishly, a bit anxious about the prospect.

“Well, see you then! Can’t be seen talking to no-fliers!” Rainbow concluded with a laugh, taking off towards the clouds.

“Is she always so-”

“Yes,” Twilight confirmed.

We took a few moments to watch her fade out in the distance, after which Twilight and I continued our walk. Spike lingered for a few more seconds, imagining how it will be to fly alongside his pegasus friend.

“Blink, I was wondering if you would like to uhm- come to my place tonight-”

What?

“-and watch the stars from my balcony together? I haven’t been stargazing for a while and I would like to check up on some constellations.”

Damn it.

“Yeah sure, I would like that,” I responded with a smile, my heart slowing down from my initial assumptions. “Does ten o’clock sound all right?”

“The stars would be out by then, so yes.”

I then remembered what time it was and that I had to be at Kazooie’s helping him.

“Damn it, I’m late for my work at the farm, see you at ten!” I said, galloping towards the wheat fields that could be seen in the distance. “Take care, Spike!” I wished the purple dragon as I rushed past him.

*** *** ***

I breathed a couple of times in the back of my hoof, checking the freshness of my breath. It was a quiet night in Ponyville, and the library was standing tall in front of me. I felt a little bit nervous, but it was just a stargazing session, nothing serious. Or was it?

I knocked at the door, fixing a stand of my mane and puffing my chest out. Freshly bathed and groomed, I tried to look my best for the geeky date. Twilight opened the door, breaking into a smile at the sight of me.

“Hey there, how’s Spike?” I asked.

“Hello Blink. He’s fine, getting used to having those new wings on his back. I noticed they’re still growing, but much, much slower.” She paused for a bit, her eyes timidly studying my new look. “Also, someone’s been taking care of his mane for some odd reason,” she playfully said as I stepped inside.

My cheeks lighted up as if on fire. But this was a date! I was supposed to look good!

“Come on, the sky is perfectly clear tonight,” she stated, heading to her room.

I followed closely up the stairs, my eyes more or less involuntarily darting towards her . . . cutie mark area. Did she walk like that on purpose? I shook the thoughts from my head. I wasn’t that kind of guy- err stallion. I respected wome- err mares.

Her room was dark and the windows to the balcony were wide open. We stepped outside and I noticed everything had been carefully set up: a stack of astronomy books, a couple of small telescopes, two large floor cushions, and some blankets at their side. The pillows were a little bit far from each other for my taste but I wouldn’t expect more from her when it came to romance.

We sat down and made ourselves comfortable, copying Twilight’s movements and tucking my hooves under me. Sitting like that as a pony was new to me but proved to be really cozy while on the plush cushions.

“You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” She asked, watching me struggle a bit with the small telescope.

“Uhh no, actually not,” I said, smiling back nervously.

This was a date, but ironically I didn’t know what to do. She chuckled at my silliness and guided me through the fascinating process of tuning my telescope. When we were done, we started actually watching the stars, and she would occasionally note something down in her books. When I took a look through my telescope, I was surprised to see how beautiful the stars actually looked like up close. The magnification factor was quite large for such a small piece of equipment, but no doubt it was magically enchanted in some way. Ponyville stretched to our right, the numerous houses, the calm river passing through it and the various lights of the village forming a beautiful sight that I hadn’t seen before. The large moon was cresting the clear sky above, casting its aura over the peaceful lands of Equestria.

As the night took over, the cold air forced us to make use of the blankets Twilight had provided. After a couple of hours of stargazing, the cold had really settled in, a sign that the summer was nearing its final weeks.

My eyes noticed a slight tremor of her right shoulder. She was cold.

Finally things are going in my favor.

I decided to wait a little more before making a move. If I did it too early, it would seem that I am too desperate, if I did it too late, she would think that I don’t care about her. After just the right amount of minutes had passed, the mare shivered a bit, nestling into her pillow for warmth. That was my cue.

“Hey, you’re cold,” I more stated than questioned.

Without waiting for a reaction, I got up, dragged my pillow and blanket next to her and sat down by her side, using magic to gently lift her blanket and wrap it around the both of us.

“Uhm, thanks,” she said, her face red as a crimson rose.

Great success! The voice inside my head happily proclaimed.

We fiddled with our pillows, finding a comfortable position. Our bodies were touching only at the sides and I soon realized how warm she was, or I was. Actually the whole situation was quite intimate, and my heart was doing the usual marathon it would do inside my chest whenever that particular mare would be near me.

I could feel her heart beating, and it was beating fast too! But then that meant that she could feel mine as well, and that embarrassment made mine go even faster. An unexpected touch on my left shoulder made said heart backfire a couple of beats, the bones of my ribcage starting to sore a bit from the intense pounding.

Calm down man, you’ve done this before.

The fluttering sensation went on though, ignoring mind and reason. Then, her horn touched my cheeks, discharging a small static charge on contact. The amperage of the actual discharge wasn’t enough to stop my cardiac muscle, but the intimacy of the moment certainly did the trick.

Was she snuggling me, or did she want to kiss me? My body had completely frozen, my mind not prepared for such straightforward moves from her behalf. And that’s when I heard a faint snore. I mentally facehoofed, my heart jump-started back into normal rhythm and the hotness of the moment plunged to absolute zero values. She had fallen asleep on me.

Turning my head gently as to not disturb her, I noticed what a cute face she had when she was asleep. Twilight looked tired, most likely because of the sleepless nights of the previous week, yet happy and comfortable. My heart melted a bit, but not too much, as I then figured out I had the difficult task of getting her into bed.

I slowly got up, my horn glowing bright, keeping her head supported without my shoulder there. Wrapping the blanket around her, I then slowly lifted the purple unicorn in the air, focusing hard to maintain an even telekinetic lift force across her body. I slowly backed into the room, closing the large balcony doors after her. A strand of sweat fell from my brow as I concentrated in gently placing her on the bed, under the sheets.

Damn, that’s a big bed. I can definitely fit in there with her- No, that would not be appropriate. We have all the time in the world, why rush it, Blink?

I tucked her in, placed a small kiss on her forehead, silently wished her good night then went out of the room and into the illuminated hallway.

“Good call there, stud,” a sudden, deep voice made me jump in place.

Turning around I noticed Spike resting on the side of the wall, a rather condescending look on his face. I stared back at him, not really sure about the authenticity of the big-brotherly like attitude he was pulling. His lips turned into a deep smirk and then he let out a laugh, amused by my confused look.

“Just kidding, dude,” he said quietly, as to not wake up Twilight. “Look, I wanted to thank you for helping me the past few days, and helping Twilight as well. She would have exhausted herself trying to take care of me. I really appreciate you helping her.”

“No problem, man, but you owe me,” I retorted, winking at him.

“Sure thing. Hey, when I get a bit bigger, whenever that will be, and learn how to use these things,” he said, flaring his new wings, “you’ll be among the first to get a dragon ride.”

“Sounds pretty cool, Spike. Well, this was a big day, guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, casting a shield around myself in preparations of the teleportation spell.

“Pff, you call that date of yours a big day? Colts and fillies get more action then you two on your dates,” he added with a laugh, while going down stairs. “I grew a pair big guy, you should too.”

A flash of darkness and I found myself in my bedroom, the dragon’s teasing laughter echoing in my ears. My mouth was hanging open, ready to come up with a retort, but I had already teleported.

Damn, he’s mean.

I starting laughing at his words. Raven brought her head up from under her wing and looked at me, annoyed because of the rude awakening. She turned around in her spot on the writing desk, cawed at me once and resumed her sleep.

*** *** ***

Meanwhile, in Canterlot

A couple of royal guards landed on the cobblestone road in front of an old wooden building at the edge of the city. Immediately after, a third shape landed next to them, its claws scraping at the surface beneath. It looked around and along the dark alleys and then went inside, its tail waving in the air behind it. The guards remained outside, guarding the entrance.

The inn’s doors swung open and the receptionist perked his ears at the new visitor. He immediately recognized her to be the guest mentioned in the important letter from the palace.

“Ambassador, welcome to the Starlight Inn,” the middle-aged stallion said humbly.

The stranger’s wings were settling down from the long flight. She wore a hood over her head, hiding a piercing gaze.

“I’ve prepared your room, right this way please,” the receptionist said, picking a pair of keys and strolling down a hallway, the guest right behind him.

He quickly found the door to her room and nervously opened it, inviting her in.

“If there is anything you need I’ll be at my desk, miss . . .”

She looked looked back at the stallion that was waiting for her name, and gave him a cold, unfriendly gaze.

“Gilda,” she simply said before closing the door shut.

End of Chapter 12

Chapter 13: The Pact

Chapter 13

The Pact

“Faster! Even Fluttershy can out-wing you!” yelled Rainbow Dash, hovering in the air.

A very tired dragon gave the pegasus an irritated look and began flapping his wings again. Sadly, no matter how hard he strained them, he remained glued to the ground.

The sun was at its highest point in the sky, casting warm autumn rays of light around the randomly scattered clouds. The cyan mare had made sure that the conditions would be perfect for the dragon’s first flight, although all the preparations seemed in vain at that point.

“This is no use,” he said weakly, puffing smoke from his nostrils.

“Come on Spike, don’t give up now! Learning to fly takes a lot of time and practice,” Twilight said from aside.

“That means I can do it some other time too. So, see ya guys later!” he retorted, heading back towards the library.

He didn’t take more than two steps before bumping straight into a blue magic wall and falling onto his haunches.

“You ain’t going anywhere dude, not until I see your feet off that ground,” I told him, dissipating the barrier I summoned.

“But,” his voice quavered. He held his snout from the pain of the impact, darting his pleading eyes from me to Twilight.

“Any ‘but’ I want to hear is yours taking off into the sky,” said the polychromatic pegasus, crossing her hooves.

“This is my first day! How do you expect me to fly during my first try?” Spike complained.

“And you will remain grounded for a long time with that attitude,” I said with a sarcastically scolding tone.

The training continued for a couple of more hours, after which even Rainbow Dash’s determination started to slowly fade away. We were definitely not going to see Spike in the air very soon. The blue pegasus called it a day, giving the dragon the task of building up more muscle mass around the back and chest. Twilight had done the math the previous day and according to her, his wing’s surface was large enough to displace the minimum volume of air so that he could fly. What he needed was power and technique, Rainbow Dash insisting on in particular. As good of a flier as she was, it was next to impossible to show Spike a technique that might work for him, as the body and aerodynamics of a pegasus were quite different from the ones of a dragon.

“I’ll sleep till the next session!” Spike mewed, sprawled on the ground, panting from the recent effort.

“That’s in a week, Spike . . .”

“Exactly, Twi’.”

As I watched the two of them talk, I suddenly remembered a small detail I’d overlooked the entire day. “Well, time for me to go, see you guys later!” I said, preparing for an emergency teleportation.

Unfortunately, Twilight caught up with my plans and right as I was about to vanish in a blue cloud of smoke, the protective energy field around me dissipated along with my channeled magic, courtesy of Twilight’s anti-magic spell.

“And where do you think you’re going?” she asked as she turned to face me. I could definitely see a hint of anger in her face.

“Uhh . . . home? I got uhmm- stuff to do,” I responded, pulling my best innocent smile.

“Sure you do, they’re called magic lessons, which start right about now. You haven’t worked on your spells in weeks; you’re by far the tardiest student I’ve ever had.”

“Come on, I managed to defeat Discord, don’t I get points for that? And also, I think I’m your first and only student.”

“Exactly. And with Discord, you got lucky. Also, I’ve told you not to learn spells from that book,” Twilight said as we made our way back into the library, followed by Spike who was dragging his feet, wings flopped down.

We went into the main room and as we walked my eyes strayed away, trapped into the rhythmic swaying of the cute mare’s tail and . . . cutie mark. She started levitating all kinds of books at the table where we usually sat during my magic lessons while Spike went straight into his room, crashing onto his round bed and falling asleep instantly. The door to his room was engulfed in a purple haze and closed itself, all while the unicorn was going through some books about advanced magic.

“So, how did you do it?” she suddenly asked, dropping the book in front of her.

“Do what?” I instantly raised my eyes to hers.

“That illusion spell that you used to distract Discord, I’ve been meaning to ask you about it for a while.”

“It’s just a simple spell from Star Swirl’s book,” I said, grinning innocently. “I learned it in my free time; thought I might impress you with it,” I added, color invading my cheeks.

‘Well, I actually am impressed. It . . . moved; that’s not how it was supposed to react,” the mare said, going through another of her advanced books.

“You mean like this?” I asked smirking, blue wisps around my horn.

Twilight jumped when she felt a shadow clone nuzzling her mane from behind. Hastily turning her head, her eyes widened at the striking similarity between the stallion behind her and me.

“It- he- how did you?” she stammered, her cheeks flushed.

Twilight brought a hoof up to the clone’s face, touching it gently. I immediately felt a warm sensation right on my own face. The clone silently puffed in a cloud of blue smoke, and the astonished mare turned to me, noticing I was holding my hoof over my cheek.

“Did you . . . feel anything when Discord destroyed that clone back then?” she asked in a low voice.

“Yes,” I whispered, flashbacks from the fight going through my head. “I feel whatever it feels, even the pain. It wasn’t that bad though, adrenaline must have helped. Plus, the pain was short-lived; as soon as the clone dies the spell is broken.”

Memories flashed through my mind. Sneaking up behind Discord as my clone fearlessly charged toward the chaotic spirit. That feeling of dread as his clawed hand swung toward my image. The single instant of overwhelming pain, of my body being ripped apart, only to have it fade away mere seconds later. Sometimes I wished the memory had gone with it.

“Did it-”

“Yes it did, but not for long,” I interrupted her, knowing what the question might be. “Anyway, I think it’s time for some magic lessons, isn’t it?”

“Oh, all right then.”

Twilight brought up a book and started reciting something about magical multitasking, but I couldn’t follow for too long. I then spent the following couple of hours practicing several basic spells while trying to cast others simultaneously. The effort was substantially greater the more spells I had to keep active at any time, and if they were different ones as well, things got even harder.

“Why is this so hard?” I moaned, collapsing my head on the table.

“Well I guess that’s about if for today. Until next time, I want you to practice and get to ten simultaneous objects in the air or three different spells at once, one of which should be basic levitation,” Twilight concluded my homework, placing all the books back from where they came.

“Anything else, miss Teacher?” I asked, my tone dripping with sarcasm.

“Ohh, and catch up on your reading of Magic for Novices. I want you to finish that by the end of the week.”

“Uhh, I was joking, you realise that?”

“I wasn’t,” Twilight rebutted, throwing me a deadpan look.

Her face broke into a smile after a few moments, holding back a giggle.

“It’ll be fine, Blink. Once you get the basics right you can focus on more advanced spells. Now if you would excuse me, I have a sleepover to organize, me and the girls haven’t got together in a while. Also, I think I’m gonna tell them about you.”

“Wow, isn’t that a little . . . soon?”

“No. It will be all right, I’ll have a lot of time to explain. Don’t worry, they will understand, I hope.”

“Can I stay with you guys to-“

“No,” she interrupted me while we were heading towards the door. I sighed, but then decided on pulling the best puppy-eyes face I could muster.

“I know, I want to spend time with you as well, but I don’t want to neglect my friends either. I promise we’ll go out together some other time,” she said, blushing slightly.

“Okay then, have fun!” I wished her, leaning forward and giving her a quick peck on the cheek.

In turn, she grabbed my neck with her forehooves and hugged me tightly for a few moments, after which she returned my peck. The unicorn mare then mumbled something along the lines of “good night” all while her blush had started competing with Celestia’s own sun . . . if it went supernova.

The library’s door closed, the slam bringing me back to reality and my heart back into normal rhythm.

“Why do you always do that?” I asked looking down, pressing a hoof against my chest.

“HI THERE!” a high-pitched voice rang through my ears and triggered a defensive reaction from my brain.

“Please don’t hurt me! I didn’t- ohh it’s you . . .”

“Well of course it’s me, silly willy Blinky. Whatcha doing here?” Pinkie Pie asked, bouncing in front of me with the ease of an astronaut on the moon.

“Just finished some magic lessons with Twilight. How about you? How did you manage to sneak up on me like that?” I asked her, still recovering from the shock she gave me moments before.

“I didn’t sneak up,” she answered, grinning innocently. “You were daydreaming and then talking to yourself and I was passing by and saw you so I thought I might say hi before going to Twilight’s slumber party!” the cheerful pony said in a single breath.

“Okay then, don’t let me hold you. Have fun!” I said, honestly tired from the lessons I had that day with the unicorn.

I started heading towards my home, glancing behind every now and then to notice Twilight’s friends arriving one by one at the library for the get-together. After a rather short walk, I stopped by the lake in front of my small wooden house, glancing at the beginning of a wonderful autumn sunset.

*** *** ***

“There we go, am I a bad-ass carpenter or what?” I asked Raven as I gently placed a rudimentary beach-like chaise longue on the bank of the lake.

The sun was setting behind the Everfree Forest and I was getting ready to spend a relaxing couple of hours enjoying the view and practicing some magic. I laid down on my back over the result of several hours of work: a simple long chair made out of wood planks which I assembled in Kazooie’s barn, using mostly my magic. The piece proved to be sturdy enough to hold my weight so I relaxed in it, letting out a deep sigh.

Raven was settling on top of the headrest and we both silently enjoyed the beautiful view of the Equestrian twilight. I yawned and shifted a little in the chair, my eyelids blinking slower and slower, pulling closer to each other. The view slowly faded away as I succumbed to the tug of slumber.

A firm pull on my ear woke me up to a darker, colder setting.

“What is it Rave- woow.”

My jaw hung as I basked in the lake’s view, amazed by the stunning view. The sun had set and the moon took its place, casting an icy reflection on the surface of the still water. Everywhere around, thousands of fireflies gently danced in the air, all the way to the forest nearby. One of them landed on top of my muzzle and I crossed my eyes to look at it. The insect flew away after a few moments and a smile formed on my face as I watched the beautiful twinkling light of the meadow join its friends. I felt delighted that Equestria had them as well.

“Okay, time for some late night magic practice,” I eagerly said to myself and started focusing on a particular spell I wanted to perfect.

I closed my eyes in concentration and after a few moments I reopened them, only to be greeted by two midnight blue stallions facing me.

“I wonder who these two bad-asses are . . . whoops, it’s just me, hehe,” I snorted a laugh, drawing the most disinterested looks from my shadow clones. “You guys don’t have a lot of sense of humor, do you?” I asked the two ponies in front of me, provoking no reaction whatsoever.

I gave up, concluding that they are indeed mindless clones, and concentrated on ordering them to canter around the lake. I wanted to test the limits of the spell, see how long I could maintain it and what I could make them do.

The spell was a channeling one, meaning that I had to focus permanently on the two clones in order to keep them moving. Somehow, it felt much easier than the last time I performed the spell, even with two simultaneous shadow clones. After a while, I found myself able to close my eyes and still be able to maintain the spell. A few laps later, my mind started wandering (something to do with a purple mare) and as a result, one of the illusions tripped and tumbled into the lake with a great splash.

My eyes shot open and I felt that I couldn’t breathe all of a sudden. With the corner of my vision I caught sight of one of my doppelgangers standing still on the lake’s bank, watching something agitating in the water. Putting two and two together, I stopped thinking about the drowning sensation and soon enough, a puff of smoke came out of the place where the clone had fallen into the water.

“Damn you,” I blurted between coughs, trying to get fresh air, “stupid clone, guess they need permanent attention after all . . .”

I looked at the other one and decided to order it to go into the woods.

“Let’s see how you can navigate without me seeing the path.”

I watched the clone disappear into the woods and then I relaxed, continuing to enjoy the fireflies’ spectacle that was still occurring. My horn was gently radiating its usual blue light and I could still feel and control the illusion. Somehow, with my eyes closed I could almost see what the clone was seeing. I knew my plan was working, the main reason being I hadn't felt a sudden pain in my head which would have been caused by the clone hitting a tree or something.

The puppet I see, but where could your master be?

The barely audible whisper startled me and I immediately looked towards the forest, all the while starting to guide the clone back to me.

“Guess that’s enough practice for one day, right?” I looked towards Raven, who was oddly silent, gazing at the forest.

"And there the conjurer is, surely you must be his?" the same voice, this time closer and clearer.

I froze in place and slowly turned my head towards the source of the voice. I saw the second illusion bursting into a cloud of blue smoke several meters away, the magic channeling interrupted by my scare. Through the smoke came a creature that I was sure on the moment was not a pony. The air around crackled as I charged magic all around me in preparation of a possible battle.

“Rest assured pony of blue, as I’m not here to harm you,” the silhouette spoke with a strange female accent.

As the smoke completely dissipated, the moon’s silvery light revealed a strange gray pony with black stripes and a large black and white Mohawk-styled mane. I quickly relaxed, the build-up energy around me dissipating in the night’s cold air.

“Zecora, I assume,” I said in a tentative voice.

“That is indeed my name, blue one. The story of Midnight Blink I have heard gave me quite the stun. For what you have done I must thank you; the ponies I love are out of harm's way and this is the way I hope they stay,” continued the zebra.

“That’s okay, glad I was of help. Anyway, what brings you here if I may ask?”

“I was out to catch some of these fireflies for a brew with effects untold, and then I found the product of your spell lingering around my household,” she explained, taking a look at the lake and the pack of twinkling insects hovering around it. “I followed it to you; impressive magic you possess, blue one, it goes along with your special tattoo.”

I raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out what she had meant with that, but then I noticed her taking a quick glance over my flank as to emphasize her words.

“Ohh, you mean my cutie mark? Yes, it’s kind of a long story, I won’t bore you with it. Please, carry on. Don’t mind me,” I said, smiling meekly at the shaman zebra.

"There's no need for that chore, as I've already procured the ingredients, and don't need any more,” she responded, pointing towards a jar that was sticking out of one of the pouches on her back. "Midnight, it was nice meeting and I'll leave your training to you. For now, I must bid you adieu," Zecora said, heading back towards the forest.

"So that's how a zebra looks around here," I thought, taking in all the details of the shaman as she turned to leave: her weird hair style, her longer neck and face, pointier ears and the surprisingly large . . . cutie mark's canvas. It was larger than hers, but still attractive. I adverted my eyes, felling a little bit bad for looking her up like that.

“The puppets of magic your soul will mirror, that is, if you keep your mind clearer,” she spoke in her usual mysterious tone as she headed out.

“Wha- what does that mean?” I asked, but the zebra kept her path and soon faded away beyond the tree line.

I stood in place for a few moments, trying to figure out what she meant by that. I then cast another shadow clone and looked at it, thinking.

“You’re supposed to mirror my soul?” I inquired, receiving the expected reaction.

The illusion did not move at all and carried on staring nowhere in particular, his eyes unfocused and blurry. I turned back to the lake, forgetting about the clone and hoping that it would dispel without my uninterrupted concentration.

Raven was still sitting on top of my makeshift chaise longue, but started cawing as soon as I re-approached the lake, looking behind me.

“Yes Raven, they go *puff* when I don’t maintain the spell. It’s just an illusion, don’t worry.”

My feathered companion then started flapping her wings, crying out for my attention. Twilight’s image sprung into my mind all of a sudden and without a reason, my pulse went up a little. I ignored that random thought and tended to the annoying bird.

“Ohh come on, it’s gone. I’m not focusing on it anymore, see-”

My words were cut short when I looked back and noticed the clone was still there. Not only that, but he was now facing the other away, gazing at the library in the distance. I slowly approached it, trying to visualize the magical forces between us. Without a doubt the spell was still active, and I felt the smallest amount of magic linking us.

“It will mirror my soul, if I keep my mind clear,” I mumbled, recalling the shaman’s words.

Once I reached the stallion that was my image, I looked at his face reluctantly. I didn’t want to reinforce the magic link and turn him into a mindless pony again so I just sat there, staring at what he was looking. Soon enough, images of a certain purple mare returned to me. The feeling was like nothing I had ever experienced before, as I felt like I was in someone else’s mind; someone quite familiar.

“I . . . think we love her,” an equally familiar voice made itself heard.

I slowly turned towards the clone that had just spoken and noticed he was smiling, a relaxing and content expression on his face. I opened my mouth for some sort of a reaction but no words came out.

The mirror of your soul . . .

“I think- I think we do . . .” I told him and watched as the illusion dispelled in its characteristic way.

“Note to self, Raven,” I started as I headed back inside my home, the bird nestled comfortably between my shoulder blades, “never conjure shadow clones near Twilight again. Don’t want any ‘L’ bombs being dropped yet, especially by someone who isn’t me . . . sort of.”

*** *** ***

“Straighten those shoulders, I wanna see you do five full rotations this time before springing up!” yelled Rainbow Dash as she creased the clear skies above Ponyville, picking up speed.

“Will do!” a younger voice responded right from behind her.

“And don’t let your flank drag down this time, keep it up like you do around that Featherweight colt,” the blue pegasus continued with a smirk.

“I don’t-”

“Just do it Scoots, updraft’s right ahead!” ordered Rainbow Dash, banking to the side to give her follower room.

The blushing teenage mare fixed her gaze and tilted her wings sharply, starting to roll. As she rolled faster and faster her wings closed around her body, making her pierce the air like an arrow. After what she thought to be the required number of rolls, Scootaloo waited to be aligned with the horizon and snapped her wings open right as she entered an updraft.

Her joints and muscles tensed and pulled, her wings lifting her whole body upwards with blazing speed. After a few moments, she finally stopped accelerating and began hovering in place, breathing heavy.

“Great job kid, you did it. In fact, that was six rolls!”

“Sweet! Can’t wait to show Feath- I mean the other Cutie Mark Crusaders!”

“Ahh zip it, I wasn’t born yesterday. I still don’t get it why you’re so chicken about it and don’t ask him out already,” Rainbow teased. “Anyway, soon enough you’ll be doing way cooler tricks like the Speeding Carousel, or even a Rainboom?”

Scootaloo’s eyes shot open at hearing her role model’s signature move, and her wing beat sped up a bit, as she could barely hold her excitement.

“Neaaa that takes time, kiddo. But you’re getting there. Also, there’s one more-”

“Well look what we have here, did you find a job at the flying kindergarten, dweeb?” a mocking voice came from above the two pegasi.

Rainbow Dash turned, only to be greeted by a gryphon’s scornful look.

“Gilda . . . what are you doing here?” she hissed at her former friend.

“Been around Canterlot with business, decided to check up on you. I see you still have the same lame-ass life as before,” she answered with a laugh. “And who’s this one? You’re training foals to be as lame as you?” Gilda sneered as she flew towards Scootaloo.

She ran a claw under her chin, at which the orange filly slapped her talons with her fore hoof.

“Don’t you touch her, Gilda!” snapped Rainbow as she sped towards the gryphon.

The avian didn't flinch, instead ducking to the side and grabbing the charging pegasus by the throat. Gilda grinned maliciously as she brought her face closer to Rainbow Dash.

“Or what, dweeb?” she snarled between her beak. “Let me make you feel what I felt when you and your pink fat friend played those pranks on me.”

“Let her go!" yelled Scootaloo. She pumped her wings as hard as she could, driving herself toward the gryphon and slamming herself into the feathered attacker.

All she managed to do was upset her even more, and with a quickly executed turn, Gilda spun around and kicked the orange filly straight into the chest with a paw. Scootaloo was thrown away, coughing as the air in her lungs got knocked out. The orange pony began to panic when she realised she was off balance and in free fall. Concentrating hard, she managed to straighten her wings and glided down towards Ponyville. As stubborn as she was, Scootaloo knew that the situation was serious and decided to do the right thing.

“Hold on Dash, I’ll get help!” she called back to her trainer as she rushed towards the town’s library. If there was anypony who could help, it would be Twilight.

*** *** ***

“So that’s pretty much how it went,” Twilight smiled happily as she finished telling the story of how things unfold during the slumber party.

“Well, I can say that was better than expected, and it didn’t ruin your get-together either,” I mused, thinking about all her friend’s reactions upon finding out about my origin. “I kinda knew Fluttershy would be more interested about the animals back in my world than anything else, but damn it Twilight, why did you have to mention to Rarity that our kind wears clothes ALL the time?”

“Oh, come on, I’m sure she will just want to have a short talk about your fashion trends. Or a couple . . . but still, it’s a chance for you to get to know my friends better, and for them to get to know you. It’s strange that since you got here you spent most of the time with me and Spike. You should get to know other ponies as well, not only me and Kazooie’s family.”

“Guess so,” I agreed, while levitating a cup of warm tea and taking a sip, not without spilling some on the table. “Damn it, think I still need more practice with small objects . . . Anyway, you say you don’t like spending time with me?” I asked the purple mare in a rather accusatory tone, looking straight into her eyes while shifting closer to her on the couch.

“It’s not that, but making friends with other ponies is a natural and uhh- healthy thing to do,” she stammered a little, blood invading her cheeks.

“Maybe . . . but can I do this with other ponies?” I asked in a full-on cheesy low voice, slowly closing the gap between us.

As I leaned forward for a kiss, I gently closed my eyes with the same timing as hers, the inevitable and eagerly awaited touch of our lips just moments away. My heart still fluttered, the thought about feeling her in such an intimate way giving it the run of its life. Time felt like it froze in place, and the only sound that I could hear in the whole world was-

A succession of loud, rapid knocks at the door filled the room, shattering that illusion of serenity and happiness and one of the only close moments I could share with the otherwise extremely busy mare. I opened my eyes and noticed the look of disappointment on her face, as she quickly apologized and stood up to go answer the door.

I overdramatically raised my hooves in the air, muffling curses and protests to what felt like the un-fairest of lives, wondering if I would ever get some proper quality time with her.

“Misfortune smiles upon my love life, of that I am sure!” I mumbled, squinting my eyes suspiciously at nothing in particular.

It wasn’t until my ears picked up the words ‘help’ and ‘attacked’ that I sprung up from the couch and went to the door to see what was all the fuss about. I noticed Twilight was speaking with a young pegasus mare with an orange coat and purple-ish mane. Something seemed very familiar about her but the cutie mark on her flank –a long feather– was unknown to me. She seemed scared and very agitated though, so at least it was a good reason for her ruining the moment.

“Blink, Rainbow Dash is in trouble,” Twilight turned to me as I reached the library’s entrance.

“She’s above the bridge over the town’s river. Please do something to help her before Gilda hurts her!” the orange filly pleaded with a panicked look in her eyes.

“Gilda? Oh come on . . . Okay, I’ll go see what this is all about,” I said, trotting out of the library. “At least hopefully I’ll get some sort of action,” I mumbled to myself as I went into the square near the library and headed towards the bridge, still irritated about the earlier interruption.

“Blink wait!” Twilight’s voice came from behind, yet I headed it not.

As I got closer and closer to the point described by that young orange pegasus, I noticed the unmistakable form of Rainbow Dash, apparently struggling in the grip of a much larger brown and white flying creature.

“So that’s what a gryphon looks like . . .”

Further studying of this species had to wait though, and I rushed towards the ground point which was right under their aerial position. They seemed to be in a verbal standoff, although Rainbow Dash was in a delicate position, having claws wrapped around her neck, as she tried to loosen the grip with her otherwise flimsy forehooves.

All of a sudden, the gryphon raised her talons at the cyan pegasus and my heart froze in place as I feared for the worst. I panicked, going into a complete blockage as I saw the sharp talons slicing through the air, the whole image playing in front of my eyes in slow motion. The gryphon’s claw stopped probably inches from its target, surrounded in a purple haze. Twilight had followed me closely and reacted just in time. I darted my eyes from her to the scene above us, feeling a pang in my chest as I realised that if it wasn’t for her, the colored pegasus would have probably been seriously, if not fatally injured.

Rage filled my head and clouded my judgment. A friend of mine was threatened by that gryphon and the only thing I could think of at that time was how to punish her as swiftly and harsh as possible. I focused my magic on Gilda, engulfing her body in a shining blue aura and slowly dragging her down to the ground, while releasing Rainbow Dash from her grip.

“Oh, this will be good; you can’t fight your own battles so you call your pathetic friends, RD?” the gryphon hissed, struggling in my grip.

I gritted my teeth, trying to vent my anger somehow. When she was just a couple of feet from the surface I couldn’t contain myself anymore and slammed her against the ground.

“Careful what you say about me, featherbrain,” I threatened her, releasing the grip and stepping closer.

The gryphon spat and coughed at the ground, her bloodshot eyes filled with rage. “You stupid mammal, do you even know who I am?”

She got onto her paws and swung her claws at me in a fit of fury. I had enough time to react though, creating a burst of high-pressured air between us that hurled her away from me. The gryphon struck the ground hard and tumbled, coming to rest in a heap several meters from where she landed. She recovered quickly, scrambling up and glaring at me. I pawed at the ground and glared back.

Predator's instinct taking over her, Gilda began to circle me, eyeing me like I was her prey.

“Blink, stop it!” I heard Twilight’s distinctive voice yelling somewhere behind me. The sound unfortunately was muffled by adrenaline and the sight of a mad gryphon staring me down.

“I’ll stop it when she does-”

Gilda pounced, my eyes widening at the speed of the jump. With a reflex I never I knew I had, I displaced a large volume of air in front of me, compacting and using it like a sledgehammer to smash Gilda with. The gryphon took a full blow to her side, the rush of the moment making me use more force than it would have been necessary. She flew in the air spinning and landed in the river, which was at least twenty feet away.

My breathing was fast and heavy, and I hurried back to where the others were. Of course, Twilight was the first to talk.

“Blink, you shouldn’t have attacked her like that,” she said in an almost scolding way, looking out for the gryphon.

She was about to go after her, but then we saw the gryphon dragging herself out a long way down the river, having been carried out by the cold stream. She shook the water from her wings then looked at us. I could feel the hate emanating from her at that point but to my surprise, and Twilight’s relief, she took flight, heading away from us.

“Dash! Are you all right?” the orange pegasus asked, genuine concern in her voice. “You shouldn’t have done that for me.”

Rainbow Dash was gaping at the distant sky, still shaken up by the recent encounter with her old friend. She then turned to the younger flier, showing a nervous smile.

“I’m fine Scoots. I told you I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”

So she’s Scootaloo . . . glad she got her cutie mark after all.

“But, you’re hurt . . .”

I turned to the blue pegasus and noticed the fur on her neck was dribbled with small patches of blood, where the talons sunk into her skin. Twilight was already applying magical first aid, closing the wounds.

“Thanks Twilight. Knew I can always count on an egghead like you for help,” she thanked, feeling up her neck, surprised that she was almost completely healed. She then turned to me, seemingly angry all of a sudden.

“And you, what’s your problem anyway? I could have dealt with her myself,” she said, poking a hoof on my chest.

Surprised, I darted my eyes from her to Twilight, the latter mare giving me an ‘I told you so’ look.

“Listen, I . . .”

“You what? Do you think you can come to our world and become the big shot over the night, save the town and be the hero?”

Her words hurt me more than I expected. I was aware that Rainbow Dash was competitive, but this was a little bit over the top. Her irritation on the other hoof was quite perceptible so I decided to give in, swallowing my pride.

“I’m- I’m sorry. I just wanted to help, I apologize,” I said in a genuine humble manner.

“Pff, whatever . . .”

The pegasus then took flight, followed by her orange apprentice, their shapes quickly fading between a bank of clouds.

“Blink, we need to talk,” came a voice that snapped me from my thinking. “In the library.”

Ohh good, now she’s mad at me too.

A short trot later and we were back at her place, nervousness picking at my heart. I spent the whole walk back with my eyes on my hooves as I could almost feel the anger radiating off Twilight, visible in her stride.

“Blink, what you did today wasn’t right, even if she was threatening Rainbow Dash. You should have stopped at immobilizing her. Just because we possess magic powers, that doesn’t mean we can judge and punish other ponies on the spot. There are others that have that authority,” Twilight explained, pacing around as if she was scolding a foal.

“I might have gone a little overboard, but she was aggressive, you saw that yourself,” I tried to excuse myself, without convincing the purple mare though.

“That isn’t a reason to treat her like you treated Discord. That was different, and unavoidable. Gilda wasn’t. I just hope there won’t be any repercussions following this, the relations between ponies and gryphons are shaky as they are. I’ll have to write to Celestia about the incident, though,” she said in a low voice, heading towards a desk, grabbing a scroll and a quill.

“I’m sorry,” I said again, my eyes begging for forgiveness.

“I know you are. It’s all right, don’t worry. You stood up for my friend and I appreciate that; next time though please use less force, or no force at all. You’re still not in full control of your magical abilities and you could have killed her. Rainbow Dash is also pretty mad at you but that’s how she is, give her time and she’ll forget about it.”

“Okay then. So uhm-” I started, pawing sheepishly at the floor.

“I’ll see you on your next magic lessons; I need to write this letter,” she quickly dismissed me, the quill already beginning to scribble something on the parchment.

I felt a little bit hurt from that but did as she wished and left the library, heading back home. I spent the rest of the day sitting around inside doing nothing, a hint of guilt still lingering from what happened that day. Raven was probably out for a fly so I was alone with my thoughts. The night came quickly and I fell asleep thinking about how I could fix things with Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Proud as she was, I hoped that after a talk with her, the rainbow-maned pegasus would understand my intentions and forgive me. I didn’t want to lose a friend like that, even if we didn’t talk that much to each other.

Twilight was a different matter though. I had strong feelings for her and to see her disappointed like that made me feel terrible about myself. Going to sleep knowing things are not all right between you and the ones you care about is very hard, especially if one of them is the one you love.

*** *** ***

The morning came all too quick and with it, a loud series of knocks from the door that woke me up out of my restless sleep. I was beginning to hate those wake-ups.

I dragged my half-asleep self to the front door and opened it, only to be greeted by a familiar guard pony, surrounded by his whole squad. The un-armed unicorn from the group winked at me. It was the same team that was sent from Canterlot to bring me in on the false charges of foalnaping the day before Discord attacked.

The leader grabbed a pair of hoof cuffs from his satchel, and the unicorn floated a magic suppressing collar in the air.

“You probably know the drill boy, surrender peacefully and you won’t be harmed,” he said with a smirk on his face.

“Let me guess, that stupid gryphon pressed charges?” I asked sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

“Actually we don’t know why you are detained, but the orders come straight from the Royal Court,” the leader said between the cuffs in his mouth. He then placed them in front of me and I looked at them hesitantly. “Look, we know what happened last time, but we were just following orders. I know you broke out of detention and saved Ponyville and for that I’m grateful, my parents live here. The charges were dropped when the official report came that you were under the control of that wretched Discord fellow, but this time we have to get you straight to the Castle, under the Princess’s clear orders. So please, mister Midnight, come with us willingly,” he said, pointing towards the cuffs.

I stood there for a moment, thinking about what possibly I could have done to be brought straight to the Princess. Even if I was accused of assaulting Gilda, that would clearly not be a matter for the Royal Court. Whatever the reasons were, I didn’t plan on making another scene. I promised Twilight I would be temperate and logic about things.

“Okay, you win. You can cuff me yourself; I don’t know how those things work.”

I sighed, while the officer locked the surprisingly effective restraints around my front hooves, telling me to follow him outside.

“No collar,” he uttered towards the unicorn, “I’ll stay in the cage with him.”

Disappointment showed on the unicorn guard’s face and he placed that awful tool back in his saddle bag. The head officer and I got in the waiting carriage and we took off, the whole thing pulled by four large pegasi stallions.

The journey was short and gave me time to contemplate on whatever the hell I had done to deserve imprisonment for the second time. My mind came out blank every time, although it was slightly amusing to imagine that I was called for a strictly classified mission to save the kingdom from imminent danger.

The other stallion woke me from my daydream when he pulled something from his satchel.

“I’ll have to put this on your horn,” he said, presenting me a silver jewel-like object that could fit around my horn. “It’s a variant of that collar, but only suppresses your magic. I have to do this so it won’t seem that I broke protocols. You understand.”

I nodded in agreement while he placed the inhibitor on my horn. Immediately I felt like my energy had left my entire body and a great emptiness filled my stomach.

“Side effects from that fancy equipment; don’t worry, all unicorns feel strange with that thing on,” the officer explained, noticing the look of sickness on my face.

A strong shake of the cage signaled that we reached our destination. My mouth hung in amazement when I saw the view from the landing platform. We touched down on one of the Castle’s towers. From up there I could see the whole city of Canterlot stretching along the mountain, basking in the early light of the morning sun.

“Come on, sightseeing will have to wait,” the officer ordered, pulling at my chains.

I followed him inside the tower, flanked by six armed guards that were waiting for us. Two of them were unicorns and I noticed they each had a long dagger on either side of the armor plate covering their flanks. Security seemed much higher than the last time I visited the Castle.

“Captain, you’re late,” the deep voice of a stallion filled the corridor as we reached a large pair of doors.

“I’m sorry, General. The flight took longer than expected,” my escort said, saluting with a perfect posture.

“Okay then, hurry up, colt; the Princess is waiting.”

The stallion who had spoken was a large earth pony, probably bigger than Big Macintosh. He was wearing a full blue uniform with a lot of medal-like markings, but I could still notice his coat was a dark shade of gray. His short blue mane was showing a fair number of white strands and a deep scar ran along his right cheek.

He looked at me from above in a defying manner, then turned and nodded at the guards. The golden armored stallions opened the large doors with their magic and the General moved sideways signaling me to get in. I advanced, taking small steps as the chains around my forelegs limited my mobility. The large stallion didn’t follow me and when I turned back I noticed the sheer size of the room I had just stepped into. It was very tall, large thick columns on its side, spaced away by high windows with paintings on it. At the end of the room, around one hundred feet away from the entrance, I saw the distinct shape of the white Princess of the sun.

Two guards approached and escorted me to the Princess, who was sitting on a large throne. To her side was another, yet empty, most probably her sister’s. Her neutral expression and official façade made me a little nervous.

“Unshackle him,” she ordered, not breaking eye contact.

My bindings were removed, along with the magic inhibitor by a mix of magic auras.

“Midnight Blink, you do know why you are here, do you not?” she asked with a cold, official voice, like we have never met in our lives.

“Uhm- I . . . don’t?” I stammered.

“You are here to be trialed for the attack on Gilda Razorclaw. This attack took place yesterday at midday, in Ponyville.”

“Look, it wasn-”

“Alongside the assault charges,” she continued with a louder tone, reducing me to silence, “you have drawn upon yourself charges of plotting against the kingdom’s well-being and breaking the non-aggression pact with the Griffin Lands.”

“Hold up, where did that came from?” I asked, getting scared.

“Gilda Razorclaw of the royal clan is the official ambassador of the Griffin Lands; by attacking her you’ve put great stress on the relations between our kingdoms in a time of great political unrest.”

I froze. My heart started beating like every beat would be its last.

Damn it . . . I fucked up big time.

“I was defending Rainbow Dash. She was- that gryphon had her claws around her neck and- and I just-”

I began shaking, trying with all my might to compose myself and think of a way out of that situation.

“She sent word about the incident back to the gryphon King,” Celestia continued, toning her voice down. “I am so sorry Blink, but I have to judge you by the laws written in the pact. Relationships between us have been less than neutral for a while now. That agreement is all we have that keeps a potential conflict at bay. I can’t risk the lives of my little ponies, I just can’t.”

She then looked at me not like judge would look at a defendant, but like a friend would look at another friend. Her eyes softened and she let out an imperceptible sigh.

“I- I understand,” I barely uttered, staring into the floor.

The room fell into a deathly silence. Mere seconds flew by like hours and I never lost hope that somehow, Celestia would forgive me for my actions and never pass whatever sentence that pact invoked. I kept hoping, but then she took a deep breath.

“Midnight Blink, the court finds you guilty of the attack held against a high gryphon official. Under the laws stated in the non-aggression pact between Equestria and the Griffin Lands, signed two hundred and forty years ago at HoofRidge, I sentence you to lifetime banishment from the Equestrian kingdom, taking effect the next day.”

The world came down crashing for me, my hind legs giving way. I slumped down on my flank on the palace’s cold floor, shutting my eyes in anger, regret and sorrow.

Only one thought was torturing my mind: Twilight. I would never see her again.

End of chapter 13

Chapter 14: Game of Shadows

Chapter 14

Game of Shadows

Twilight placed the last book back on the shelf and took a long glance at the wall of tomes and parchments, feeling a sense of pride for her work. She had re-arranged them in order of proficiency rather than alphabetically, something she enjoyed doing back and forth every month or so. It was one of her small guilty pleasures, but recently it became a way to keep her mind off a certain colt.

The door to the library opened, and a worried dragon rushed in. Spike took a few moments to catch his breath, as small clouds of smoke rolled out his nostril and floated towards the ceiling.

“Take it easy Spike, you’ll damage the books!”

“Twi’, Blink’s in trouble. I saw a guard chariot flying from his house, I’m pretty sure they picked him up again.”

Twilight brought a hoof to her head, while letting out a nervous sigh.

“Why can’t we have a month pass by without things like this happening?” she asked herself, making her way to a nearby desk while levitating a piece of parchment and a quill to herself.

Spike started to cough loudly, and soon enough he heaved a stream of fire, a letter falling on the ground after the flames dissipated. Twilight turned and grabbed the letter, unfolding it and started to read.

“It’s from the Princess, I hope he didn’t get into too much trou-”

Her voice cut off as a lump formed in her throat. She re-read it again to be sure she hadn’t misinterpreted anything.

“This can’t be . . .” she murmured on the verge of tears.

“What? What happened?” her assistant asked worriedly, rushing to her side.

“Blink . . . he’ll be exiled.”

*** *** ***

“This can’t be . . .” I whispered, barely able to articulate at that point.

“You have to understand Blink, if I don’t pass this sentence I risk voiding the pact,” Celestia said flatly.

Light was falling on less and less of the throne room’s floor, the sun taking its place on the clear autumn sky. With the corner of my eye I noticed a large figure stepping out from a dark corner of the room, the light revealing her to be the Princess of the Night.

“Sister?” came more of a question than a greeting from the dark blue alicorn.

“Luna, this is the right decision; for us, and for him. He can go to the Crystal Empire, he will be given refuge there, I am sure,” Celestia said, without even turning towards her sibling. She knew very well that Luna had been present to that trial all along, hiding in the shadows of a pillar. She also knew her sister would not agree to her ruling.

“It may be the easy way out of this situation, but it’s not the only one. Midnight Blink, are thou aware that there is an alternate judgment that can be passed in case of breaking the pact my sister signed?” the younger princess asked, casually approaching me.

“Luna, no . . .”

“A judge or a high ruler of Equestria can also decide to send the accused pony to be trialed by the High Mountain Court of the Griffin Lands by their own laws.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, confused by why Celestia would have not told me about this in the first place.

“It means that after you receive thine punishment, thou can return to Equestria,” Luna explained, looking straight into my eyes.

“You know very well that is a harsher fate,” Celestia countered, stepping off of her throne.

“Yes, but I am sure he would like to see this kingdom again in this life. Pray tell Midnight Blink, am I not right?” the younger Princess asked, ignoring Celestia’s rebuke.

“What could happen to me at their court?” I questioned, considering the option.

“The gryphons are known for their harsh punishments, but luckily they don’t pass death sentences anymore. Imprisoning ponies is also something they refrain from,” she went on. “I studied extensively on this matter ever since I returned a few years ago. Signing that pact avoided conflict, although I would have preferred the more . . . direct approach to our political quarrels.”

Luna’s look became distant for a few moments, time in which Celestia came to me, determination clear in her steps.

“The laws permit you to choose between two willing supreme judges. It’s your choice then Blink, unfortunately a choice you will have to make now, as word must be sent to the Griffin officials in due time,” the white regal figure demanded.

That was the moment when I had to decide my fate. I had to choose between never seeing Twilight and the rest of my friends ever again and being punished by the gryphon authorities in their own kingdom. Judging the way their official ambassador behaved the previous day, I was inclined to believe that said punishment would be extremely disciplinary. However, as soon as Twilight’s image came into my mind, the decision was made. For the first time in years, heart triumphed over mind, and I would have gladly faced everything they could throw at me just so I could return to Ponyville.

Both sisters were patiently observing me, waiting for my decision. I turned towards the Princess of the Night, and silently nodded.

“Are you sure this is what you desire?” Celestia asked, her face betraying disappointment, “There are other places you can go in this world, and you could still keep in touch with the friends you made in Equestria, but traveling to the Griffin lands can end badly for you. The journey alone can prove to be dangerous, as most of your path would be out of Equestria’s borders.”

“I made my decision. I want to be able to return to my home in Ponyville-”

“Does she mean that much to you?” Celestia interrupted me.

My eyes widened at the unexpected question, and even Luna herself gave her sister a skeptical look.

So that’s what it’s all about . . .

“Yes, she does,” I answered firmly.

“So be it then,” Celestia spoke after a few seconds of consideration. “I revoke my previous ruling. Luna, as you support this so much, you may pass the sentence. I’ll require your presence immediately after this in the council room,” she said, making her way through a small archway near the throne.

When she left our sight, Luna turned to me, letting out a sigh.

“You will have to travel to the Griffin Lands and attend thy own trial, by their laws,” she explained in an informal tone. “The trip will most likely last a month, and even with the current advancements in technology you are expected to take at least two weeks. The sea between our kingdoms is a treacherous stepping stone in your journey, and you’ll also have to travel through the Dragon Lands briefly.”

“I’ll make it. Thank you for this chance. Can I-”

“No, Midnight Blink. I am afraid thou shall have to go through this journey alone. I forbid any of the Elements of Harmony to join you, if Celestia hasn’t done so already. It’s just too dangerous,” she added, as if she had read my mind. “They can, however, help you prepare for the journey, so make good use of Twilight’s knowledge in the field of magic. You have three days to get ready.”

“All right then. I think I’ll head back home if that is all,” I uttered.

I took a deep bow, avoiding eye contact with the Princess, and slowly turned away, waiting for the guards to escort me.

“Wait,” her voice came from behind, this time sounding friendlier.

She closed the gap between us and spoke in a whisper. “Tomorrow midday an escort will provide you with transport from Ponyville to this Castle. I wish to mentor you in magic training for a few hours. There are certain things Twilight Sparkle does not know or wishes to teach you. Those are the skills you will especially need in your journey.”

“Uhh, I- I don’t know what to say,” came my hushed response, caught off-guard by the more than generous offer from the princess.

“It would be wise to accept, given that thou needs all the help you can get,” said Luna all-knowingly.

“I really appreciate the help, I’ll be more than happy to come by tomorrow.”

She then nodded at a pair of guards and they quickly escorted me out of the throne room. I walked on unsteady hooves, my heart still racing after that blitz trial. All the way out I kept wondering why Celestia would take such a decision without any other consideration. Gilda was about to murder my friend, yet I was the one that became number one on their wanted list. Something felt wrong about that whole thing and I hoped that the following day’s private lesson with Luna would bring some light on the situation.

Soon enough I was on one of the castle’s large towers, where a chariot awaited me on an aerial pad. My mind was filled with questions and my heart was heavy with the fear of what was to come. I had to face Twilight and her friends; I also had only three days to prepare; possibly the last three days I would ever spend in Equestria.

*** *** ***

Celestia silently stood near a lone desk against a wall, waiting patiently after having finished a letter. The stale air and dim light complemented the rustic, spacious room, most of which was occupied by a vast circular table in the center. Only she remembered how many decades had passed since the numerous chairs had been sat in.

Luna made her appearance. The candle on the desk Celestia was at went out as her sister stepped into the room. A draft originating from the unknown traveled through the entire chamber, and the Sun goddess felt a chill down her spine.

“I apologize for that, sister; this room brings back . . . memories,” she said, glancing at the table and the two particular large chairs at one of its sides.

Celestia’s horn glowed for a moment, restoring light to the large room. She levitated a new parchment and began writing again.

“I take it that he went along with your proposal.”

“That is correct.”

“How many days until he departs? I need to send this official letter today,” Celestia asked, still scribbling.

Her tone was rather cold but Luna was not about to give in to her authority. Her innocent expression suddenly changed, becoming determined and somewhat irritated. She was about to have that conversation with her sister one way or the other.

“Three days. I assume you’ve already sent your protégé a letter of clarification on what she can and cannot do about it,” Luna quipped rather defiantly, “Perhaps, when the time comes, you’ll ask of her to send thou a letter reporting her loss of innocence to a stallion or a mare-”

“Enough!” Celestia voice resounded through the large room.

She dropped the quill and turned to face her sister, whose expression remained unchanged, even after the use of the Royal Canterlot Voice.

“This is no way to act as a monarch, especially the way you did in front of our subjects,” Celestia chided, taking a firm step towards her sister.

“Midnight Blink is not one of our subjects, and neither is Twilight Sparkle. You know that very well, dear sister,” Luna calmly rebuked.

“She is my student,” the white alicorn rushed, “of all the ponies in my kingdom, she is the one I care about most; she’s the Elemen-”

“Our kingdom, sister. And what about me? Thou have not any well-intended feelings for myself anymore?”

Celestia’s eyes widened when she realized everything she had just said. Her face drooped and her heart sunk in her chest as she stared at the gap between them.

Luna's straightforwardness pierced the thin veil of her reality as the consequences became staggeringly clear. Her own behavior was similar to how it was a thousand years ago, every day passing like nothing important had happened. Of course, there were the few weeks right after her return that were more interesting for the two of them, weeks during which they spent more time together, but after those precious moments, she didn't realize how their relationship fell into a deep monotonous pit.

“I am sorry Luna, I did not mean to . . . it’s been so long; too long. For over a thousand years I’ve taken care of this land by myself. You’ve been back for over four years and I sometimes still wake up in the morning forgetting that you are in the castle . . . with me.”

“And I was here, every day, for four years. Yet during that time you conversed with her more than you did with me. You haven’t even noticed when I stopped using the royal we; it was like I never returned. What has gotten between us, sister?”

Celestia’s eyes were now filled with tears of regret. The realization of how the link between she and her sister had degraded suddenly hit her. Memories flashed back to her, memories of how she, after finishing her royal duties, spent time writing to her protégé, the presence of her younger sister often lingering in the room. She knew very well of Luna’s ability to magically project herself over a distance, but Celestia always shrugged it off as being just the way her sister was, always putting out a show, trying to pass out as a mystical, elusive royal figure. Not for one moment did she realize that her sister was yearning to spend time with her. After a while, Celestia stopped feeling Luna’s presence.

“My little ponies,” Celestia said, remembering the thing that was most important to her, “I had to stay strong for them. It was so hard when you were not here by my side. For the first years after your banishment I used to shed tears every night, ripping at my soul and wondering if I did the right thing, if I took the best decision to protect this land and the ponies that live on it.”

“I am here now, and you can yet again share thy burden with me. Thou no longer have to wear the mask you’ve put on so long ago,” Luna said, trying to comfort her sister.

“I wanted him out of Equestria, as far away from her as possible,” Celestia confessed, her eyes still facing the floor. “I couldn’t spare him, Gilda would have sent news back home and the next and last letter I would have got from the High Mountain Palace would have been a declaration of war. So I knew that if I choose to banish him as punishment, they would never meet again. And she would be safe; they both would have been . . .”

Especially her . . . Things tended to revolve around that certain purple mare lately, Celestia realized in her mind.

“We should not interfere in such matters of free will, it wouldn’t be fair to them,” the younger sister spoke, leaning towards the white alicorn and gently bringing her face up with a hoof. “I’ve seen the sparkle in your eyes whenever you read her letters, the joy on your face shining through that regal mask you’ve put on for the rest. She means a lot to you, that I understand, but it’s her decision what she chooses to do in life. As for me, I am here for you, and I shall never leave your side, come the day the sun will shine for the last time and the moon will fall from the sky. I beg thee, let me be your sister again, dear Celly . . .”

Celestia’s heart jumped at the mention of that name, having never been called like that for over a millennia. Her eyes filled up with all the tears pent-up over the years and she reached to her smaller sister, wrapping her long immaculate hooves around her neck.

“Ohh Lulu, I’m so sorry . . .” Celestia murmured, hugging her tightly.

They kept that embrace for a while, before the white alicorn spoke again.

“I’ve tried to be a good Princess for everypony, yet I realize that since you’ve returned I’ve only been a bad sister to you and an awful judge to Blink today.”

“That’s all right, I forgive you. Our subjects are more important, and you did a great job ruling over this kingdom for so long. Now let’s return to our duties, we have enough time to discuss family matters at dinner.”

Celestia nodded in silent agreement and grabbed the unfinished letter from the desk. Both monarchs headed back into the throne room, the Princess of the Sun taking her place on one of the thrones. She brushed her tears away, hoping none of the guards had seen what she considered to be an act of weakness from her. The day court was about to start and there were numerous ponies waiting for an audience with her.

“I’ve taken the liberty of having Midnight Blink over tomorrow for a private lesson before he departs,” Luna said, joining her sister on the second, darker throne.

“I imagined you would. He could definitely use some of the skills you possess, although he has a good start already. Read this report Twilight sent yesterday on her magic tutoring with him.”

A letter appeared in front of Celestia’s glowing horn and was quickly grabbed by the smaller sister’s magic. She unraveled it and started reading, her eyes betraying how impressed she actually was by what the letter had to say.

“Seems to be one of Star Swirl’s spells, but from what’s written here they’re more than mere visual deceptions. This has Bellona the Wise written all over it!” Luna realized. “Pray tell dear sister, do you know of her final fate? I know that she was present during the time my darkness prevailed, but I can’t remember anything else unless . . . unless she died that night as well,” Luna ended in a lower voice, recalling the unfaithful events that took place over a thousand years ago.

“Indeed she went missing, but I don’t know any more than you do about that. It was a long time ago, and not even written word can reveal much about what happened back then,” Celestia mused.

A sharp immortal mind like hers on the other hoof . . . In truth, Celestia was more or less certain about Bellona’s fate. She had vanished, in front of the Sun Princess, like so many other brave ponies that blindly forfeited their lives for their imperishable ruler that dark night.

She shook the terrible image from her head, trying to focus on what was more important for her regarding that matter.

“Leaving that behind us, I believe Blink is not aware of her origins yet. On the other hoof, what he learned most likely from an advanced book on magic is quite useful for his future endeavors. With a bit of luck, he can actually return home in one piece.”

“I thought we wanted him banished, now we are assisting him?” Luna casually asked, smirking to her sibling through her mane. “Although tell me sister, is that really what happened yesterday? I watched that excuse of an ambassador blabber her rehearsed story to you but I won’t think for one moment that you believed her.”

“Twilight sent me a letter immediately after the incident took place. She was the one that saved Rainbow Dash from a potentially lethal attack, but Blink was there and things quickly got out of hoof,” Celestia explained, recalling the letter received from her student the day before.

“So the gryphon struck first?”

“Indeed she did, but believe me, if she wasn’t who she is, we would have had her standing in front of us today, not Midnight Blink. The way things are now, she has diplomatic immunity and because of that, she is untouchable. The word of the Griffin King’s niece is way above mine, let alone my student’s. He would have never reason with us if I wouldn’t have tried the one that harmed his ambassador.”

“I’ve read about their current king,” Luna suddenly remembered, “Arnost of the Razorclaw, was it?”

“Yes, the most ruthless ruler the Gryphons have had in a long time. Signing that pact with him did not come easy, I’ll have you know that.”

“I see that much time alone on that hard throne has made you soft inside, dear sister. It’s still my strong belief that a different approach should have been taken against the gryphons, and certainly not a pact,” Luna said, trying to hide her frustration and a look, a look her sister recognized all too well.

“Those times are way behind us, Luna. I would rather have generations of guards scarred in training exercises but alive and well, rather than their foals being raised by grieving mothers . . . or worse. Have you forgotten the horrors of war, Luna? If I can save the lives of hundreds of thousands of ponies over one, I will gladly and without any regret do it.”

The darker alicorn turned to the white one as the large wooden doors opened wide with an echoing uproar to allow the first ponies that sought audience enter.

“And what if that one pony would be your student? Thou certainly can’t expect the Lifebringer herself to settle down and live happily ever after? Not to mention her . . . counterpart?”

The question went unanswered, the Princess of the Night receiving just a profound look from her sister.

*** *** ***

“I can’t believe she would do that!” Twilight uttered, pacing nervously around the library’s main room, her eyes red from her recent crying.

I have never seen her so upset and concerned since the day I came there. When I arrived back to Ponyville, the library was the first place I went to. I found her surrounded by her friends, obviously in a very bad mood. And then there was the yelling; luckily for me, she made sure the rest of the gang would not be there to witness her wrath. It didn’t last long but she made her point: I should have not engaged Gilda that day. If I had just let Twilight immobilize her in the first place, things would have turned out quite different.

“I haven’t heard of a banishment sentence being passed on in centuries,” Twilight continued, seeming as shocked about the news as I was when I heard it. “And even the other option, it’s just- Gilda should have been at the trial as well, she was the first to attack! And us! We should have been called as witnesses, and . . . I just don’t know what to believe anymore. This doesn’t sound like the Princesses’ judgment at all!”

“She wants me as far away as possible from you.” I wished so much I had the courage to actually say that to her instead of only thinking it.

“Look, I only have three days to prepare. Tomorrow I’m seeing Luna for some last-minute magic tips or something so I kind of want to go home and get ready.”

I looked at the agitated mare and she stared back at me, frozen into place. She worded something but I couldn’t tell what she was on about. Twilight just didn’t know what to do. There were so many things to consider and plan out. She couldn’t take it anymore and just broke down in tears. I reached out and grabbed her into a hug, stroking her mane and whispering words of assurance.

“Please, get some rest for now, I’ll go home and do the same. It will be all right, trust me.”

I let go of her but she didn’t, keeping her hooves wrapped tightly around my neck. “No, don’t go. You need- you need to read,” she said between sniffs.

I sighed.

Of course I do . . .

She let go of me and hurried to the bookshelf walls, her eyes skimming the titles and her horn glowing seemingly random. One by one, books would fly out from different shelves and land on the table, slowly building up to a monumental stack. I was wondering how in the world I could have brought that home with me but she answered my question immediately after finishing her search. The stacks of books were engulfed in a blinding light and the next thing I knew, they were gone, completely vanished.

“I’ve sent them to your house; they’re arranged by the practicality of the information within them, so give a careful read to the top ones. I’ll have to plan a route, you don’t even know the geography of this world that well . . . and then make a checklist for everything you’ll need. I hope three days will be enough, ohh in Celestia’s name, why did this have to happen?”

I grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her deep in the eyes, putting an end to her panic-induced monologue.

“Look at me, Twilight. It will be all fine. Even if you are not allowed to come with me, I will manage. I took care of Discord pretty well last time, didn’t I? This trip will be a walk in the park. And I am sure Griffin laws are not that harsh.”

I was more than certainly lying, just to make her feel better. Fortunately it worked, and the unicorn mare relaxed, taking in deep breaths.

“Okay, I’ll calm down. I’ll still have to plot out a route for you; there is a long way ahead of you. With a bit of luck, I can have it done today. Now go study, you have a lot of reading to do.”

“I will Twilight, don’t worry. See you later, okay?”

“Ohh, wait. Spike!” she yelled after her assistant.

The dragon came out through a door, and I realised he was pretty bummed out from the news as well. When Twilight’s rather vocal scolding session had started earlier, he retreated to his room at the same time the rest of the gang left, yet he most likely heard everything.

“Spike, go with Blink and help him out. You know a lot about foraging and wild animals, you’ll cover that with him. As soon as you finish, come back here, we have a lot of work to do as well.”

“Okay, Twi. See ya later!”

We both left the library in a hurry, going straight to my home on the edge of the lake. There was a huge stack of books that could save my flank and they all needed to be read.

*** *** ***

Tiny drops of water poured down the window. The sudden rain begun right before we reached the house, so we quickly settled in for a long session of reading. The dark clouds outside appeared mean and relentless. For a single instant, a flash of bright, white-blue light illuminated the heavens, followed seconds later by a sound similar to a huge drum that had been beat in the sky, causing the earth below to tremble with its power.

A bunch of candles were lit inside the house, and in the middle of the whole thing was Spike and I sitting at the table, surrounded by open books and notes. A quill was gently hovering above my personal notepad, the same notepad in which I had written down and studied all the steps to conjure the shadow clones. Raven was silently watching over us, perched high on a coat hanger in the corner of the room. It had been over two hours of studying and noting down the description of every plant that a pony could eat out there in the wild.

“Okay, okay, so everything which is red is pretty much edible, as long as it doesn’t have any kind of spots or stripes on it, right?” I asked again just to be sure.

“Yeah, that should be it,” he confirmed, flipping through a book using his dexterous claw. “You can also always resort to eating hay or just grass, but that won’t keep you going for too long.”

“While I find them acceptable, I’d rather just catch something and cook it over a fire. I’m sure there are a lot of animals around the less green areas of this land.”

Silence fell as soon as I finished my sentence, but I continued writing things down. When I looked up I was met by Spike’s rather shocked expression and then the realization of what I had just said hit me.

“Damn it, I forgot. I guess everypony around here is herbivore, including you?” I asked.

“Yeah, ponies don’t eat meat. Dragons normally do but I was raised by Twilight so . . .”

“You mean to tell me you’ve never eaten meat?”

“We eat products that come from animals: milk, eggs, but never meat. You . . . did you use to eat meat back in your world?”

“Yeah, I did, although I haven’t had any since I got here. I sometimes miss it, but I can manage without as well.”

“Is it . . . good?” The dragon asked then immediately shook his head, raising a hand at me to stop me from answering. “Bleah, what am I saying? If Fluttershy could hear me right now, the poor thing would have a heart attack. Forget I asked.”

“It’s all right. Sorry I mentioned it,” I excused myself.

“Anyway, I think we’ve covered everything you need to know so I’ll head back to Twilight’s. She probably needs help on Celestia-knows-what checklist.”

“Sure thing, I’ll see you later. Maybe this rain will stop by nightfall,” I said, glancing at the window, the storm having settled to a calm dribble.

The dragon headed towards the door but when he reached for the handle, he stopped and turned to me.

“Uhh look, I have a question for you. Since you’re like- good with this romantic stuff. I wanted to know how I could tell someone that I - you know, like her?” he coyly asked, speaking in a tone that would have been reserved for sharing the highest of secrets.

I stifled a laugh, shaking my head left and right. “I really don’t think I’m the best one to ask for this kind of advice. But all I could tell you is: just tell her the truth. Most of the times it’s all that need to be said.”

Spike seemed to take that in, nodding in approval. “Thanks, big guy. See ya.”

He closed the door behind him, walking out into the rain and heading towards the library. I returned to my books and let out a sigh at the sight in front of me: books laid open everywhere, and I was still a long way from finishing them.

Later on, Owlowiscious came by to deliver a short written message from Twilight. She was apparently still dealing with the maps and figuring out a route. Her advice, which was more or less a command, was to keep studying up until the next day.

After a few more hours of going through topography maps, encyclopedias of wildlife, food chain charts and lists of dangerous wild predators, I was totally spent, and found myself falling asleep right there on the table, head resting on a rather large book about surviving in the wilderness.

*** *** ***

The next day came all too soon, and I had to present myself to the library after an interesting wake-up involving a certain owl crashing in my window.

“Hey dude!” Spike greeted as I entered the library.

The whole place looked like a tornado had passed through it. Hundreds of books littered the floor, notes and parchments thrown around everywhere. In the middle of the room there was a large round table with a huge map on top of it, sprinkled with notes, quills and what seemed to be a large amount of empty cups.

“Yo, Spike. Are those what I think they are?” I asked him as we made our way through the book-riddled calamity of a library.

“Yeah, a buckload of coffee. I don’t think she got a lot of sleep last night. I tried to help as much as I could but I went to bed shortly after midnight. Woke up today and she was there, asleep on the table.”

“Damn, I hate doing this to her . . .”

“Well, she’s used to this and you probably couldn’t have got away without her helping you. She even sent a letter to the Princess, but that didn’t change anything. Also, have you even noticed the guards outside your house and in the market near our home? They’re keeping a low profile but they are certainly here because of you.”

“Guards? Guess somepony doesn’t trust me. Anyway I-”

“Blink, you’re here!” a voice came from upstairs.

Before I could raise my eyes, an energy field materialized in front of me, puffing away a second after and revealing Twilight. The mare had visible bags under her eyes and her mane and tail were in disarray.

“Twilight, you look tired. You should really get some res-”

“There’s no time for that, Blink!” she uttered, one of her eyes twitching, followed by a slight jerk of her fallen down ear.

Oh, this is bad . . .

I took a step forward, reaching her out with a hoof. In turn, she leaned towards me and fell into my embrace, burying her face in my chest.

“I don’t want you to leave, Blink,” she whimpered.

I felt like an arrow shot straight through my heart, feeling the unfair pain she was experiencing right then.

“Come on now, don’t be like that. I told you everything’s gonna be all right.”

“But . . . it can’t be. The probabilities of you returning home unharmed are not in your favor at all,” she said, letting go of me and heading towards the table. “More than half of the journey will be outside our borders.”

I approached the large map, and noticed a traced line going all the way from Ponyville to the shores of a large ocean.

“All right then, what am I looking at here?” I asked, confused by all the actual complexity and detail of the map. The notes and markings everywhere made things seem even more complicated.

“Well, you start out from Ponyville, by train. It’s a two day journey south to Dodge Junction,” Twilight started, tracing her hoof along the line connecting our towns. “That’s pretty much where the limit between Equestria and the no-pony’s land is. You will have to travel by hoof for three days until you reach the Zebra Nation.”

I followed her hoof as it went past a line that was Equestria’s border into a less detailed part of the map, then going into the flatlands of the Zebra Nation.

“From there, you need to travel through Dragon territory for about a day. That’s the most dangerous part of the journey. Although they are not directly in conflict with us, they do not take kindly of strangers crossing their lands.”

“Oh great, and then? Their lands are on the edge of the sea, where are the Grif- ohh, don’t tell me they are over that damn sea?”

“I’m afraid they are. It’s a five day sea journey from the Port of Isaac, straight to Bay Openbeak. Both of those towns are in neutral territories, and they’re populated with ponies, zebras, minotaurs and gryphons alike,” Twilight explained, reading several notes written down right next to the establishments.

“Wait, what? What do you mean by neutral?”

“It means that there is no governing authority; basically, no laws but the ones they impose for themselves. As long as you stick to your route and don’t act suspiciously, you won’t get into any trouble. All you need there is to get a seat on a boat that goes across the sea. From what I know, that happens daily, so you won’t need to spend the night.”

“What about the other side of the ocean?” I asked, noticing that the map abruptly ended.

“I’m getting there,” she chided, pulling out a smaller scroll and unrolling it over the large map on the table.

It was a sketched map that apparently only showed the large peninsula containing the Griffin Kingdom.

“From here at Bay Openbeak you’ll have to head on east towards the High Mountain. There you’ll find their capital and royal palace, where your trial will probably take place. The whole journey should take you two weeks or less.”

Twilight then headed to a shelf and levitated out a small pouch from between several books, dropping it in front of me on the table.

“You’ll need to take this with you. I hope it’s enough for the return journey as well . . .”

As soon as the bag landed on the table, I saw that it was filled with golden bits. I immediately hovered it up and placed it back on the shelf.

“I appreciate your help, but I can’t take your money. You’ve already helped me a lot and I don’t want to be a burden to you anymore,” I respectfully declined, trying to be as polite as possible.

Twilight gave me a look that could burn through my soul, while levitating the bag back on the table.

“You are not a burden! There are so many things you need to pay for, and you don't have the bits to do so!”

“Twilight, I really don’t need you to-”

“But I want to!” she yelled, stomping a hoof against the floor. Tears formed into her eyes, and she immediately turned away. I realised how insensitive I was and decided to accept her help if only it would stop her from crying and feeling bad.

“Okay, okay, I’ll take it. Just don’t- don’t . . .” I repeated, holding her tight, slowly swaying back and forth to calm her.

She was clearly not going to back down from that, and all I could do was to accept her help. Truth be told, I would have been in deep trouble if it wasn’t for her lending me those bits. Working for Kazooie was mostly covering my stay at that lake house, a couple of meals a day and some spare bits to spend for myself. I managed to save some, but something told me it wasn’t nearly enough for what I was going to go through.

“I just want you to afford good meals and decent places to spend the night on your way to that place. Celestia-knows-what those gryphons will do to you,” she said, wiping away the tears from her face.

“Thank you for all the help, Twilight. I hope that one day I’ll be able to repay you somehow,” I told her, gently running my hoof through her mane.

“Coming back to Ponyville unharmed is the only payment I’ll accept,” she said, drawing a smile from me.

“Uhm Blink, there’s a chariot outside for you,” Spike’s voice came from the door.

“Listen, I have to go,” I told her, brushing a few rebel strands from her mane. “Thanks again . . . for everything. And I’ll keep to that promise, you have my word.”

*** *** ***

I nervously approached a pair of large, dark doors that had strange symbols carved all over them. The guard escorting me stopped and nodded towards them. Using his magic, he slid them open, revealing a dark, round room. I stepped inside, wondering where in heavens Luna was supposed to be.

The room’s ceiling was enchanted similarly to Luna’s Nighttime living room, the contrast of the sun toned down so much that you could see the stars, while the huge ball of fire was reduced to a mere small yellow disk. The room was round and seemed rather large for a study chamber. Tall columns that supported the dome-like ceiling were placed near the walls, which in turn had weird extrusions similar to window frames slightly sticking out of them. The lighting was coming from the stars themselves, a faint white glow pouring onto the black marble floor.

“Princess Luna?” I asked, my words echoing against the cold walls.

“Thou art here, Midnight Blink,” Luna’s voice came from behind a column, the dark alicorn showing herself. “Take a seat; you must first educate yourself in several aspects before we proceed.”

Right when I was about to open my mouth, a chair and a desk materialized in the middle of the room, followed by several scrolls and books. To say that the whole setting was freaky was an understatement, and it was probably obvious on my face that I was slightly taken aback by the whole thing.

“Ahh excuse me, I forgot to provide suitable illumination for such activity.”

Her horn lit up and a blue glow engulfed the whole ceiling a moment later. The stars slowly faded away into a blue atmosphere, and the sun regained its blinding shine. The whole room became brightly lit by the natural light, as if there was no ceiling at all. The windows also became transparent and through them, I could see the inner court of the castle, alongside the plains and hills in the distance.

I took a seat and skimmed across the reading material in front of me. It wasn’t much, but it was definitely something that I had never seen before in Twilight’s library.

“Read these writings, and please remember to keep any inquiries you might have until I return. I will be back in four hours, do not waste time.”

With that said, the younger Princess left the room, leaving me gawking at the door she closed behind her. I assumed that was probably her way of delivering a crash course through magic for survivors, yet it still felt unnatural and off. Disregarding her unusual behavior and the rather creepy room I was in to begin with, I directed my attention to the scrolls and books in front of me, curious about what was that Twilight Sparkle did not know or wish to teach me herself.

As soon as I flipped through the first book, I realised the importance and uniqueness of the information Luna had provided me with. They were all hoof-written, probably by the Princess herself, and they mostly detailed spells and a strange, recurring term: magic states. Most of them were fairly advanced, not beyond my expertise but definitely spells that would have taken much more than a couple of days to study before attempting.

Halfway through the four-hour deadline, a feeling soon started to form up in my head, a feeling that those pieces of writing were probably used in the training of spies or special troops of some sort. It seemed rather farfetched at first, but when you read about so many variants on blending, cloaking and deceiving spells, it quickly becomes the only thing on your mind. There was even a shape-shifting spell, but I gave up trying to understand it several pages into its explanation. Some of the terms used were completely unknown to me and the more I read, the more I felt like I shouldn’t know about them in the first place. Not that my particularly status would not allow it, but for a rather normal pony, they would have been clearly out of reach.

When I thought that things could not get weirder in the realm of forbidden magic, a particular scroll caught my eyes. At first I thought it was a mind reading spell, and even if it was forbidden to perform, its existence was known by me. After reading through the whole thing though, I comprehended its actual use: it was a mind autopsy spell, similar to the mind reading one, but could access old memories as well instead of just current ones. Right at the end I spotted a grim remark that brought chills down my spine:

Performed after torture, it can still yield results ten minutes after death, provided that the artificial blood circulation spell is applied.

I immediately placed the parchment under one of the books, keeping it as far possible from me. I couldn’t believe what I was reading, or actually why I was given that to read in the first place. Individually, all those spells were rather harmless, but the context they could be used made me question the dark alicorn’s reign before her banishment. More so, I was actually having doubts about Celestia’s judgment as well, as she was more than certainly aware of these things.

“Study time is over.”

Luna’s voice made me jump in my seat, but she passed by me like I wasn’t even there, closing in on one of the windows opposite to the door and just staring out of it.

“Uhm yeah, that was definitely . . . something. I learned a few things so . . . thanks, I guess?” I muttered, getting out of the chair and idly heading towards the doors.

I hoped that would have been the end of it, and although I didn’t memorize everything, I could certainly have tried out a few things the following day. As I reached the entrance and tried to open the doors with my magic, I realised that was not the case.

“Uhh Princess? The doors won’t open.”

I used a little more force, but there were no signs that they were going to budge.

“The training hasn’t finished yet, Midnight Blink. In fact, it begins now.”

Ohh, just great . . .

“The journey ahead of you is scattered with dangers. I don’t believe mere tomes and scrolls will keep you safe,” she said, turning around to face me.

Okay Blink, relax. It’s just practical training, I like to practice magic.

The books suddenly vanished, and Luna was taking slow steps towards me. The sky from the enchanted ceiling turned dark, storm clouds forming from all directions. There was less and less light in that scary room, and it did nothing to encourage me.

“Okay, what do you want me to practice?” I asked uneasily.

“Everything,” came Luna’s cold response. “I want thou to harm me.”

“Uhh what? Princess, I think that’s umm- I don’t know, unwise or illegal or something?”

“Kill or be killed!”

Fucking hell! Was all I could think when the desk between us suddenly flew towards me.

I ducked, and the massive wooden bureau shattered into thousands of pieces against the locked doors behind me. I looked back at the Princess; she seemed taller somehow and her eyes were literally leaking smoky darkness. That’s when I flipped my shit and ran like an idiot to the nearest window, actually considering jumping out. As soon as I touched the glass window, I realised it was actually stone. The room had no windows after all, everything being a projected image of what was outside, or in Luna’s head for that matter. I found it hard to believe that night was setting in already, but then I recalled which Princess I was apparently fighting. She was just projecting her natural environment, the one which favored her combat style the most.

I looked back and right there in the center of the room, stood Luna, smirking defiantly at me and taking her time like I was the an injured mouse and she the cat that caught it. I spread my hooves, taking a defensive stance, while gathering all the energy I could muster around me. The air was starting to crackle and buzz from the pure magic surrounding me, and that’s when I made my first strike.

I condensed the air behind her, which immediately burst with a loud bang. She slightly turned her head, letting me know she had let down her guard for a mere split second.

The air in front of her violently expanded as well, sending a powerful shockwave across the room and into the walls. It was so powerful that it almost blew out my eardrums. Somehow, however, she was still there, still standing, still smirking; no dissipating shield, no nothing. She probably didn't even flinch at what was supposed to be the equivalent of over a pound of dynamite exploding right in her face.

Phase two of my plan immediately went into action: I focused on her and levitated her body into one of the room’s pillars, smashing her pretty badly. In reality, she didn’t even budge, my magic only able to cause small ripples in her mane, like she was in a mere summer breeze.

Luna probably got bored of my pathetic attempts and decided to show me how it’s really done. Next thing I knew, I was laying on the cold black marble, while searing pain ripped through my head. I barely remembered how I flew and smashed against the wall, but it was the scariest thing that had ever happened to me. It was the first time I was fighting another pony with magic, -in my case an immortal alicorn- and not being able to see when you were about to get hit by a spell was extremely frightening. The lack of light inside the room didn’t help either, as I wasn’t even able to read her body language. By that time, however, I was pretty convinced she was able to cast without any visible warnings.

Darkness . . .

I recalled a spell I read just an hour before and, forced by the situation, attempted to cast it on myself. Surprisingly, it worked. My body slowly darkened, and in just moments, I turned into shadow. I was still material and physically present, but a special magical coating on me blended my body with the darkness around. I kept to the walls, the darkest areas of the room, slowly moving around the Princess, thinking about a strategy. Suddenly, I recalled my last lessons with Twilight about multi-casting.

“A fast learner, aren’t we? Thou forgets one detail,” Luna said, her body simply fading away. “I am the Night,” her voice came right from my side.

Two large shadow tentacles grabbed me by the neck and chest and flew me across the room, pinning me on the center of the floor with a loud thud. She gracefully approached what was supposed to be me, but right as she opened her mouth, the shadow clone let out a smile before puffing in a cloud of smoke.

Gotcha!

Still in hiding, I performed my next spell, trying to keep the invisible bubble around her as airtight as possible. It was a long shot, but I hoped that the time bought by the clone would have been enough. The area around the Princess was supposed to be airless by then, but she just stood there, looking at where my clone was seconds before.

Interesting . . . was what I saw her mouthing, as there was probably no air in her lungs to carry the sound anymore. Luna then turned her head straight to me and looked into my eyes, past the blending enchantment I had cast on myself. I felt my spells falling apart, all the connections of channeled magic failing one by one. Her eyes kept staring into mine, and soon a pure white light flashed in front of me.

I quickly turned my head away from the powerful light, and saw that I lying on the ground, face down. A weird sensation built in my chest, as I curiously scraped the surface under me with a hoof. It was a strange, dusty rock; I realised I was no longer in that dark room.

A shadow formed in front of me, and I raised my eyes to whatever cast it, a heavy lump forming in my throat. I coughed out the little air I had left, paralyzed with fear by the sight in front of me: a tall armored pony, her eyes leaking the same black smoke as Luna’s and the same smirk on her partially covered mouth. I could see the green and blue planet behind her and the bright lunar soil around me. I started choking even worse as I brought my hooves to my neck in a futile attempt to gasp for the air that wasn’t there.

“Why do you think depriving me of air would have worked? I’ve lived here for a thousand years, Midnight Blink.”

The dark mare in front of me didn’t move her lips as I heard that voice, and I realised during my futile attempts to breathe that those were actually her thoughts. She stared at me for a few moments, but soon enough my vision began to darken as my brain slowly ran out of oxygen. The pain in my chest was the worst by far, but it all became manageable as my body slowly went numb.

Darkness fell once again. I slowly lifted my head and found myself back in the room. I was breathing fast, massive pain still throbbing in my chest. All my senses slowly came back to me and the first thing I saw was the Princess standing a few steps away, having the same serious expression on her face.

“Nightmare Moon?” I carefully asked her, getting up on my shaky hooves.

“That was the evil part of me for a long time, the part that pooled all the negative emotions and turned them into what thou saw earlier,” Luna said, turning away and looking through one of the fake windows, “The Elements of Harmony only restored the balance in me, but that doesn’t mean it was removed entirely. It’s the darkness within me that I will have to live with, and I hope you will never lose thy own equilibrium as you go through life’s tests.”

"So," I gasped, my breathing still shaky, "wh- what now?"

“Thou must return to Ponyville and carry on with your preparation. You’ve proved thy ability to adapt and face the unexpected, but be wary, the perils you will face will be far more dangerous, and they will not stop nor will they show mercy.”

As she said those words, the doors behind me clicked and swung open, while the ceiling cleared of the clouds and returned to its previous state, showing off the stars in the midday sky.

“Thanks for the help Princess,” I said while taking a weak bow, my bones aching from the recent training.

“Move swiftly and travel with the moon and stars, Midnight Blink. My sister also sends you her best of wishes.”

I stepped out of that chamber, where two guards were waiting. They quickly escorted me to a waiting flying chariot, not saying a word or even looking at me. Although I still had some contradicting feelings about Luna’s teaching methods, I realised the importance of always having a contingency plan. That day I also found out that my affiliation with the darkness was stronger than I ever thought. Being one with the shadows for those brief moments pumped with adrenaline felt strangely comfortable. The spell itself came off so natural to cast, not having to emulate or change any energies within me to successfully cast it.

I arrived back to Ponyville as the dusk started to settle in. The chariot headed straight to the small house by the lake, landing near the water with a soft thud. The transport conditions were far better than the ones I had the last times and it was a relief to not be magically restrained for once.

I went inside my house after thanking the guards for the ride, but not before waving a hoof at two stallions that had set a small camp fire across the lake. To my surprise, one of the guards responsible for supervising me even waved back.

As I stepped inside the house, I noticed something that wasn’t originally there. In the middle of the books littered all over the main room, there was a steamy basket on the table, most likely containing food. A noise coming from my room caught my attention and as I approached, I noticed a familiar mare glancing at the writing desk, her hoof slowly running along it.

“Annabelle?” I asked.

Kazooie’s wife turned and greeted me with a smile, somehow not surprised by my sudden presence.

“Hey there, Blink. Was just looking at this old thing, it was mine a long time ago,” she said, turning back to the desk. “I brought you some freshly cooked stew, it’s on the table.”

“I saw that, thank you very much. So you’ve probably heard about my . . . incident.”

“Oh yes I did, it was very unfortunate for you and we are all sorry that you must leave. Your departure is tomorrow, right?” she asked, now looking at me.

“Yes, I’ll be leaving on a train in the evening.”

The mare nodded her head, thoughtfully. “Well, I wish you the best of luck and remember to travel cautiously on unknown lands,” she added with a kind smile, heading for the door. On the way out, she gave me a gentle hug then scuffed my mane playfully.

Her visit seemed awkward and the way she looked at that writing desk raised the same questions I’ve been asking myself when I got there. Was that desk hers in the first place? What was she doing before she started taking care of her filly? All those questions lingered on my mind for a few minutes; that is, until I picked up the lovely scent coming from that basket.

After finishing what proved to be a very delicious meal, I spent the rest of the day going through several guides and manuals about magic, trying to soak in as much information as possible. At one point I peeked outside and noticed the moon was already on full display in the middle of the sky. Dragging my sleepy self to bed, I instantly fell asleep, the night weaving a troublesome dream about shadows, Ponyville and the mare I cared the most for.

*** *** ***

The next day started out somewhat better than the previous ones, happy not to be dragged out by royal guards or called urgently by a worrying Twilight. The first thing I noticed when I stepped out of the house for some fresh air was that the guards were still there, talking to each other near the forest. The second thing I saw was yet another basket placed right on the doorstep. I brought it inside and opened it only to find three vials containing a very strange looking substance and a note. Unfolding it, I spent the next few minutes trying to work out what was actually written on it.

Apparently, it was a small gift from Zecora, who also heard about my misfortune. Accordingly to the note, those vials contained a special brew that could restore my powers and strength in the time I would need them the most. Removing the cork from one of them and taking a sniff was probably the second biggest mistake I had ever made after attacking that stupid gryphon. The smell was horrendous, my eyes instantly watering from it. I immediately screwed the cork and gently placed the vials back into the basket, debating in my head whether to take them or not. I simply couldn’t imagine a situation in which I would actually drink that. Nevertheless, I trusted Zecora’s freaky shamanism, so I placed the basket on the table, reminding myself to pack them as well.

A knock on the door drew my attention and when I opened it, I was surprised to see Applejack and Fluttershy, both carrying even more . . . baskets.

“Howdy there, Blink!” Applejack said cheerfully.

“Hello, Blink,” came Fluttershy’s more toned down greeting.

“Uhh, hi? What are you doing here? I mean, to what I owe this pleasure?” I asked, smiling sheepishly.

“We know about what happened an’ the three of us wanted to give ya a few things and wish you good luck on your trip,” said Applejack, placing the basket down.

“The three of you?” I asked, looking behind AJ and Fluttershy.

“Hi, Blinky!” greeted Pinkie, making me jump in surprise. It wasn’t the fact that I heard her that scared the crap out of me, it was hearing her from behind that really got to me.

I turned around and saw the eternally happy pink mare bouncing in place, the biggest of smiles plastered on her face.

“Hey Pinkie Pie, kinda startled me over there. How did you get in?”

“I used the door silly, how else could I have gotten in?”

I gave her a deadpan look and then turned to the other two mares, which simply shrugged.

“I brought ya some apple treats for your journey. You’ll probably have to eat some of em’ today cuz I think that would be too much to carry,” AJ said, pointing at the basket.

I levitated it on the table, and indeed it felt pretty heavy. “Thanks Applejack, really appreciate the help.”

“Oh, oh, oh! I also brought you something!” Pinkie chimed in, rushing in front of me with a pink card in her mouth.

I unfold it and was pretty surprised to find out it was an invitation to my ‘welcoming home party’, having a ‘to be announced’ date on it.

“Twilight told us you are very busy so instead of throwing you a 'good luck for your trip' party, I invite you to your welcoming back one!” she said eagerly, “Also, there’s some sweets in that basket there AJ gave you, but don’t tell her, she didn’t notice when I put them there,” she added in a lower voice.

“I bet she didn’t,” I said, letting out a laugh. “Thank you guys, this means a lot to me.”

“No worries sugarcube, we just hope ya’ll be all right. We knew that nasty gryphon would be bad news if she ever came back,” AJ said, taking me by surprise with a hug. For a moment all I could see was her perfectly blond mane. Taking an innocent sniff revealed that she actually did smell like apples, or actually like an apple orchard, but undeniably apple related.

“Oh, and this is for Raven,” came Fluttershy’s timid voice, snapping me out of the apple flavor-induced daydream. The yellow pegasus pulled a small sack out of her satchel and I took it from her with my magic. “They’re seeds I specially mixed with other nutrients. I usually gave them to sick or weak birds, but they are very nourishing for healthy birds as well if there is nothing for them to eat.”

Raven cocked her head up from the coat hanger when she heard her name and cawed at the pegasus, probably thanking her.

“Well, we’ll leave you to it then, we’ll all be there at the train station this evening. Take care!”

The three mares left as quick as they came, and I started packing the stuff I would need for the journey. I took the largest satchels I had and placed in them several useful books, my personal notepad filled with tips, tricks, spells and survival techniques, some of the less perishable food from Applejack, Zecora’s vials and the seeds from Fluttershy.

Another knock on the door. That time, Rainbow Dash was standing in front of it, having a rather mournful expression on her face.

“Hey Rainbow. How’s it going?” I asked as friendly as possible, trying not to start any more conflicts between us.

"H-hey Blink," she said, eyes on her hooves as she pawed at the ground beneath her, "Look, I was in the area and, well... I thought I might... I..." she sighed loudly, finally looking up and meeting my eyes with her own, "I wanted to say I'm sorry."

That took me by surprise completely, as I knew her to be not the apologetic kind. The whole incident must have been on her mind.

“I ugh- didn’t want for that to happen to you. It’s my fault; Gilda was my friend and I should’ve dealt with the situation myself,” she continued. “Thanks for standing up for me, though, that was pretty cool.”

“It’s okay Dash, but I just couldn’t let her go away with it. What I did was my fault and I must bear the consequences. It’ll be fine though, and even if I’ve said that lately to everyone, I really think everything will turn out all right.”

The pegasus cocked a smile, unfurling her wings. “Well, got to go then, I’ll see ya at the train station later. I’ll make sure the weather is perfect for your departure.”

And with that she beat her wings a couple of times, taking off into the sunlit sky.

Several hours had passed before another knock on the door interrupted me from a session of reading. Judging by who had visited me that day, there was only one more pony that I hadn’t seen. Opening the door revealed the expected pearl-white unicorn, her smile shining as bright as her coat.

“Rarity, what a pleasure. Please, come in,” I greeted, trying to sound as formal for her as possible.

“Ohh darling trust me that I would like to, but I’m just here to give you this,” she said charmingly as she levitated a small package in front of me. “I hope you like it, I found out where you would have to go and thought I could make something that would go with- well . . . everything!”

“Thanks Rarity; so I guess I’ll see you too at the train station?”

“But of course! I would stay longer but I’m afraid I’ll have to go for now, Spike asked if I would go somewhere with him. Apparently he has something he would like to tell me and it sounded pretty serious.”

I instantly recalled my conversation with Spike the other day and cringed slightly, finding myself in a very awkward situation. “Uhh, well, I hope it all goes well for you. I mean, I hope it’s- I just- have to pack up as well so yeah, see you later. Thanks again!”

I closed the door, bringing a hoof to my head. Why did I have to give that guy advice on romance stuff . . . should have kept my mouth shut.

I could only hope that things would go as he planned, yet it I couldn’t help but feel bad in case he would get rejected. I then looked at the light blue package Rarity had given me and started opening it, curious on what she could make that would help me. Naturally, I assumed it would be a scarf or something to keep me warm, as winter would soon begin.

To my surprise, it was a long cloak with a hood, bearing the same light blue color as the wrapping package it came into. I cringed yet again, feeling sorry for what could have been a rather decent traveling garment. That blue would’ve made me the biggest target out in the open, and I was sure even the night could not mask it.

Right before I was about to set it aside, I decided to try it out just to see how it would fit me. It was the first piece of clothing I ever owned -except for the bags I carried on my flank- and I really wanted to see how a cape would fit me. I threw the cloak over me, carefully tying it at the neck area.

I turned a couple of times to get the feel of it on my body and to my great surprise, it fit me perfectly; the hood attached to it was actually pretty cozy as well. With bitter regret I started untying it, but then I had even a bigger surprise. At first I thought I was just tired or seeing things but the damn thing changed color! It turned a light brown, having a pattern similar to . . . the wood tile that made up the floor and walls.

My eyes widened at the realization and I rushed outside the house, cantering over the grass around the lake, hope revived. Soon enough, the cloak slowly began turning a shade of green very similar to the one of the grass.

“This is the best thing ever,” I murmured, making a mental note to thank Rarity appropriately later that day. I ducked in the grass, playing hunter like a little cat. It was indeed the best thing ever.

*** *** ***

The unicorn fashionista was trotting gracefully across Ponyville’s square, heading towards the hillsides next to Applejack’s farm. She was slightly confused as to why Spike would want to see her there, but she couldn’t decline a request from her longtime friend.

She soon reached the place Spike had asked her to go to and, as expected, he was there. Spike grinned at her, waving a hand.

“Hello Spike, what is it that you wanted to tell me?” Rarity asked, gazing innocently at the teenaged dragon.

“Oh, well- I just want you to come with me somewhere where we can talk. Is that like, all right with you?” he asked nervously, scratching the back of his head with a claw.

“Of course it is; I hope it won’t take too long darling, we have to be at the train station when Blink leaves.”

The young dragon nodded happily, slightly unfurling his wings in excitement. He led the white mare to the top of a hill nearby where a blanket was set up under a tree. All the way up there he tried to appear serious but his eyes kept sliding towards the mare walking along his side. His mind was a tornado of pent-up emotions and confessions that he could barely hold anymore.

When they reached the tree he silently invited her to sit, and Rarity did as he wished, laying down on a pillow that was set up just for her. Spike took his place near the white unicorn, not too close but not that far away either from the beautiful mare. His heartbeat kept on rising, but his confidence never swayed.

The sun was about to start setting and large flocks of birds added color to the sky in their trip towards warmer places. The wind was carrying the lovely smell of freshly bucked apples from the AJ’s fields nearby.

“Uhh, are there no other ponies invited to this uhm- picnic?” Rarity asked a bit reluctantly, looking around and seeing no one else.

“Well, I- no, this is just for me and you,” he said, looking at the view in front of them, hoping that she was doing the same.

“Ohh, how nice,” Rarity added, trying to mask the awkwardness in her voice. She tensed up slightly, thinking of what he might actually say to her next.

Being quite familiar with those sorts of things, she was quick to recognize all the signals the young dragon was throwing at her. She was still hoping that everything was not what it looked like.

“I have something I wanted to tell you for a while now . . .” he started, taking a breath. He looked straight at her as he said those words, his eyes slightly quivering with nervousness.

Rarity’s heart stopped for a second, feeling that everything might come down crashing in a pile of rubble. The fear of what was to come overtook her.

“Spike, don’t do this . . .”

“What?” he started to panic deep inside, but carried on determined, “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time and now that I have grown a bit more,” he said, expanding one of his wings as some sort of proof and giving her a weak smile, “I think I’m ready to tell you this.”

“Oh Spike . . .” Rarity let out, praying to both Princesses that he would not carry on.

“I love you.”

He said it as fast as he could, not taking his eyes off her even for a single moment. She winced, trying to keep her composure and gather her words. The dice were cast and everything was out there in the open. The message itself was not shocking to her, what was truly terrifying for the white mare was the fact that it was said. Not hinted or dreamt in an innocent teenage dream, or murmured after she was too far away to hear it, but said straight to her face, where she could no longer play the illustrious game of innocence.

She panicked, little alarm bells ringing in her brain. What was she supposed to do? She knew very well what she would do in a similar situation, having turned down numerous suitors over the time, but this was her friend, not a random pent-up colt that was in only for her looks.

“Spike . . . I don’t- I really don’t know what to say.”

“Well, you can say that you like me as well,” he foolishly hoped.

“I can’t, Spike. I really can’t say that. I’m sorry, but I . . . I just don’t feel the same.”

It was the easiest way out of that situation for her, yet she couldn’t think of something else at that time.

Spike looked away from her, his ragged breaths signaling a crushed heart. His eyes teared up slightly but he closed them shut to stop the downpour of sadness trying to escape out of him. Rarity saw it all, how couldn’t she? Her heart ached in tandem with his broken one, feeling sorry for him. She couldn’t have lied to him and the truth was that she couldn’t see more than a very good friend in Spike. The white mare knew for a long time what his feelings for her were, but she always hoped he would grow out of them one day.

Spike stood up, and without a word, headed back to Ponyville. Rarity watched him leave, trying to mouth some sort of apology, something that would make everything better, something that would fix that whole mess, but nothing came out.

Spike kept walking.

*** *** ***

I looked at the nervous mare pacing around my house, ticking off Celestia-knows how many things in her mental checklist.

“Twilight, I think I have everything- would you stop pacing, you’ll dig a trench in the floor!” I said, snapping her out of it.

“I know, but there are so many things that can go wrong!” she despaired, flopping down on the floor.

“The train will leave soon. Come on, everyone is probably there waiting.”

“Blink,” Twilight uttered, getting close to me and magically checking up the straps of the two heavy satchels on my lower back, “promise me . . . promise me you’ll be back,” she said in a low voice, the weight of those words making her eyes tremble with emotion.

“You have my word Twi’, I will return.”

I threw the cloak over my back and took one last glance at the small house, before stepping outside, followed by my beloved magical tutor.

*** *** ***

The seconds went by agonizingly fast. Raven was sitting the whole time on my back, surprisingly quiet. She probably felt what I was going through, but I could never tell for sure with that bird . . .

I soon found myself at the train station, where the rest of the Element Bearers were waiting for us, alongside several guards that were there to make sure I was the only one boarding the train from our group. I smiled as a hello to each of them, being too nervous to actually say anything.

The train’s whistle pierced the air, and my eyes locked on to Twilight’s. I was sure she was as nervous as me, probably more, but there was nothing that I could do about it.

“Take care of ya’ Blink, and don’t trust any strangers!” Applejack’s wish distracted me from the purple unicorn.

“Don’t be late for your welcome back party!” said the pink mare in a surprisingly happy tone, “It will have cake, music, games and I even heard Twilight’s gonna be there too,” she added jokingly, jabbing me with an elbow.

“Uhm, take care of yourself and don’t forget to keep Raven warm if the winter catches you,” came Fluttershy’s murmur.

“Hey, strange alien guy . . . thanks again for what you did. And be safe!” said Rainbow Dash, flashing me one of her signature smiles.

“I see that the cape fits you perfectly, darling, but it might need a little trim on the back. Oh well, I’ll be more than glad to give it a few touch ups when you return,” Rarity said, somewhat more nervous than the others.

“Hey Rare, are ya all right?” AJ stepped in, and the whole group noticed Rarity’s discomfort.

“I’m fine; I just had an eventful evening, that’s all. I’ll tell you all about it later, girls,” she said with an obvious fake laugh.

“All aboard!” the conductor yelled, causing my heart to skip a beat.

“Ugh, where could Spike be? I told him to be here on time,” Twilight said, looking around for her assistant. “Anyway, remember to check the map often, and do a double check with the stars as well like I thought you. And try to stay safe, don’t abuse your powers.”

“I will, I will . . .” I repeated, burying my muzzle deep in Twilight’s mane as we hugged for one last time.

The pain of leaving her was the worst one I’ve ever felt by far, and it hurt even more to know that I was probably not going to see her ever again. When we parted from the hug she gave the best gift I could have received, as she pulled me into a deep kiss. I felt the saltiness of her tears that had fallen down her face and met our touching lips. For a few moments, the world around us faded to nothingness, the surprised squees of her friends muffled by the synchronized thuds of our beating hearts.

The harsh reality didn’t take too long to fade in, and I was back on the train platform. But I was not alone. Looking around, I saw the smiling faces of six mares that would be by my side, even if they couldn’t come with me. Cringing, Twilight pushed me with a hoof, as the train was about to leave and the guards started staring. I got on the train right as it started moving its heavy wheels, steam flooding the platform. Slowly, it picked up speed, and Twilight’s pained smile became more distant by the second. Everypony was waving, shouting the best of wishes, everypony except me and her.

“I will return,” I whispered.

*** *** ***

The compartment was warm and cozy. I took the first seat near the entrance. Raven rested on the head of the opposite seat, looking outside at the beautiful twilight. The door near me opened every now and then as ponies took their seats. Fortunately, there weren’t many passengers on that particular night train so most of the section I was in was empty.

The door behind me opened and closed again, but that time whoever that came through it stopped near my seat and slowly sat down on the opposite bench. I looked at him, into his scared eyes as he clutched tightly to the backpack he set aside next to him. That look of great sadness in his eyes told me the whole story.

“Is this really what you want, Spike?” I asked, letting out a painful sigh.

His only response was a nod.

“You’re hurting a lot of ponies, Spike. Even the one that hurt you.”

“I know, but I can’t go back; not yet at least. . . I need time to think. I left a letter; I hope they’ll all understand.”

“Well, if that is your decision, I guess it’s okay to come along, since you’re not one of the Elements,” I said.

Damn it Spike, what have I done?

All of a sudden from behind him, a brown bird showed herself, jumping on the head of seat next to Raven, cautiously observing her.

“Is that . . . ?” I began, noticing the somewhat familiar bird.

“Yeah, Peewee wouldn’t leave my side ever since I got back from . . . you know. So I decided to take her with me, guess our pets will be good friends now?”

“Why is she . . . not burning?” I asked, amazed by how normal she looked without the flames.

“Oh yeah, they can do that when they need it, for example in nature they turn themselves off to protect the nest.”

“That’s pretty awesome, I’ll give him that,” I said, smiling at Spike.

The dragon smiled back and so, his heart started feeling a little less sore.

*** *** ***

On the other side of the compartment, a unicorn also wearing a dark cloak shuffled in her seat, taking small glances at the stallion and his dragon companion, careful not to be seen. She let out a smirk and then turned her head towards the window.

The blue mare’s cutie mark - a sparkling crescent moon and a wand - was barely visible behind the cloak and her pale blue mane was carefully tucked in her hood. She watched the night settle in, happily knowing that in a few days that colt and his unexpected friend would be outside the borders of Equestria.

End of chapter 14

Chapter 15: Dodge

Chapter 15

Dodge

The sun’s light coyly made its way into Twilight’s bedroom, brightening up the room through the small pair of windows. She groaned from the visual irritation, bringing up a hoof to cover her eyes.

As soon as all of her senses came to her, she quickly remembered the reason why she had such a troublesome sleep last night. She trotted downstairs, heading straight to Spike’s room. The round bed inside the dark room was empty and the window curtains were closed.

He wasn’t at the train station when Blink left the other day and he usually wasn’t late either. Growing worried, she drew open the curtains, flooding the room in the morning’s light. The small chamber had nothing special to it and no furniture save for the round bed and a couple of nightstands. Twilight then noticed something was missing: it was Spike’s picture of the two of them and the gem from Rarity he kept since the diamond dogs incident. Instead of those two precious belongings, a letter was resting on the edge of the nightstand.

She hastily grabbed the parchment and started reading it, her eyes darting back and forth over the words written by her very own assistant and best friend. As those words sunk in deeper and deeper into her mind, and the realization of the painful truth settled in, her whole world felt like it had collapsed around her. She barely heard the knock on the library’s door and she didn’t even notice the unicorn that has made her way in the tree house and was standing in the door.

Twilight turned to Rarity, her eyes teared up. The sight of her friend sparked an internal battle of emotions, not knowing how to react in that situation. Judging by the look in Twilight’s eyes, the dragon’s empty room and the letter floating next to the librarian, Rarity instantly realised what happened. She turned her eyes away from the hurting unicorn, desperately searching for words that would defuse the situation.

“Twilight, I-”

“He left,” she said, tears running down her face, her eyes focused on the fashionista, “he left because of you!”

*** *** ***

Celestia was going through the documents that demanded her attention, sealing off one last official letter. With a faint glow of her horn the letter disappeared, and with it her duties for the day. She stepped off from her office chair, making a mental note to dedicate some time one day to pick a new chair. After a few decades of sitting in that one in particular, the need to have something new in her life, even that small, surpassed the strength of her conservative nature.

Celestia then made her way through the castle’s halls, taking her time to admire the beautiful garden that could be seen through the huge windows of the interior court. Without needing to be in any place particular, she decided it would be a good time to take a walk through Canterlot, spend some time with her subjects or just visit some shops and get the feel of what was popular those days. She didn’t do that very often, to her regret. After all, what was the point of watching over that nation if she could not live among the normal ponies every now and then?

All of a sudden a chilling breeze nipped at her mane, making Celestia stop in her path.

Celestia . . .

The Princess turned her head, trying to figure out who had just called her name in a whisper like that.

“Luna, Is that you?” Her voice echoed against the walls of the long, empty corridor.

There was no response. Celestia felt a strange presence, but soon realised it wasn’t one of Luna’s pranks. It was a far darker presence and it was coming from outside. She fleetly made her way out of the castle, taking vigilant steps into the huge courtyard. The gardeners had probably finished their work, as there was nopony in sight. The cold and dark feeling kept giving Celestia chills down her spine as she walked deeper into the garden. After passing a fountain surrounded by a tall living green wall, she looked down the path in front of her and found the unmistakable source of her nervousness.

Celestia took a deep breath, donning her regal mask before approaching the lone pony. He was a dark, one might say black earth stallion, standing quietly in the middle of an open area of the garden, his eyes glancing over the beautiful display of pastels the royal garden had to offer. The Princess approached him with a mixture a confidence and curiosity, suspecting the reason he had to visit her. She ignored the small area of dead flowers and grass around the dark stallion, stopping a couple of feet behind him, her royal poise leaking with nervousness.

“Did you call for me?” she asked.

The dark stallion turned towards the monarch, studying her discretely. “Yes, yes I have,” he simply responded.

“Are you here because of my decision regarding Blink’s fate?” the alicorn continued, her curiosity rivaling with her nervousness. “I know that it’s uncommon for you to . . . visit, especially me instead of Luna.”

“Indeed it is, but this is an uncommon situation after all,” he serenely stated, returning his attention to the garden in front of him.

Celestia grew impatient, but there were only a very few instances in which she could not be her authoritarian self, and this was one of them. It was an extremely rare occurrence, but whatever the reason for this visit was, she knew it was important.

“I just wanted to ask you, was the decision you mentioned made with consideration to your subjects’ well-being and their well-being alone?” the stallion simply asked.

“No, not entirely,” Celestia immediately responded. There was no reason to lie about it, there was no way she could have anyway. “It was also the only way I thought I could protect my student, I hope you understand.”

The dark pony turned his head towards the Princess again, apparently showing interest at the mention of Celestia’s student. He gave that idea a thought, remembering the very important detail that had previously skipped his mind.

“Ahh, the Lifebringer . . . I must say, I’ve forgotten to apologize for the rather delicate situation I’ve put you in, it rarely happens, save for you and your sister, of course.”

“Having two Touched ones in the same-”

“Exactly. But even under the current circumstances, I will have to remind you that a Watcher’s duties do not include meddling in their lives. Luckily, there seems to be no issues with your decision, it’s like Blink’s unexpected journey is just what the doctor ordered, if I may use one of your species' sayings,” the stallion said with a light chuckle.

“In that case, why did you trouble yourself to visit?” Celestia asked, further betraying her curiosity.

“I just wanted to make sure you understand that things will get a little . . . unpredictable in the future. You probably remember the times when you were a Lifebringer and your sister, a Deathbearer, don’t you?”

“That was a different Cycle, we don’t bare those titles anymore! We are more than that now,” Celestia protested half-heartedly.

“Yes, but your decisions and actions were unaffected by the personal desires of your Watcher then, and that is how I want things to be this Cycle as well, have I made myself understood?” Death asked, slightly raising his voice.

Celestia kept her pose, but her internal core was shaken by the deep voice. It was so unlikely for her to be talked into submission, but this time she couldn’t protest or complain at all, considering who was standing in front of her.

“I . . . I understand.”

“Good. I really do not want you or your sister to disappoint us, my brother has a lot of faith in you and I do as well. You have been very good Watchers so far, given your public exposure to the creatures of this planet. I will make my leave now, please tell your sister I said hi and good luck with your duties, both as a princess and as a Watcher.”

The dark stallion did not wait for the alicorn’s response, and he stood up and began walking straight ahead of him. As he went on, the grass around his hooves and the flowers near him dried up and died but soon his body started to slowly fade away into oblivion.

Celestia remained in her spot, staring to where Death had been moments before. She let out a sigh, trying to recollect her thoughts. It’s been so long since she received a visit like that but there was something else troubling her. His words were stuck in her head in an endless loop that wouldn’t give her peace at all.

Things will get unpredictable in the future.

She tried to ignore them, but no matter how much she wanted to shelter herself from it, that was the truth. There hasn’t been a more volatile period of her reign like the present and living while knowing, or in fact, not knowing what was to come made her feel permanently on edge. As Watchers, she and her sister could take comfort in feeling how the future might unfold. They were not seeing events destined to happen but they always felt deep inside their core if things were to go good or bad at some point ahead of time. It was the same feeling she had a millennia ago, right before Luna’s descent into darkness. It scared her greatly, and not even Blink’s departure managed to wave that feeling away.

At that point, one thing was certain for the Princess of the sun: the future was dark, clouded by a veil of uncertainties that even she couldn’t lift.

*** *** ***

The Ponyville train station had been particularly quiet for the last couple of hours. Silver Wisp surveyed the platform, noticing the same stallion that had been waiting on a bench for the last minutes. He then looked up at the large clock and figured the next train would be arriving soon, and then he’ll be alone with the other two guards again. The night was slowly settling in, the chilly air of the autumn’s end pulling at his mane.

“Kyle . . . hey Kyle!” he called for the other guard.

Kyle, a large unicorn stallion, appeared from around the station’s corner with an annoyed look plastered on his face.

“What is it this time?” he asked grumpily. The guard stepped onto the platform, his perfectly polished armor denoting his starkness and dedication to his job. “You’re next on perimeter patrol, by the way.”

“Wha-at? No way man, I’m not doing patrol duty on a nearly empty train station. Those ponies are never going to show up anyway.”

“It doesn’t matter. We have our orders from high up; none of the Elements’ bearers are to leave Ponyville for another two days,” Kyle cut him off.

“And what are you going to do if they decide to do that anyway? That Twilight gal is Celestia’s student, she beat Discord twice!” Silver uttered in a rather praiseful tone.

“I heard it was that strange guy who actually got rid of Discord,” a third voice came from above, “the one that got banished. What was his name? Blank or something like that?”

The two guards on the platform looked up through a gap in the rain cover, where the other guard stood, having just landed from his air patrol.

“He’s not our concern. How’s the area?” Kyle asked the pegasus.

“Seemed clear, captain. Can we call it a night already? Wife’s waiting for me back home and-”

“We’ll break camp after the last train leaves. So you’d better . . . ohh you have got to be kidding me!”

The other two guards turned towards where Kyle was looking and noticed a purple glow approaching fast. The unicorn guard grabbed a parchment from his satchel and magically sent it away in a puff of smoke.

“Damn featherbrain, you said the area was clear,” Kyle chided the pegasus after sending the message.

“Well, it was. Is that the mare on our list? Seems she has a few friends with her as well.”

The unicorn brought a pair of goggles to his eyes, pointing them towards Ponyville. Casting a night vision spell on the military-grade lenses, he could clearly tell apart five ponies approaching the station at a fast pace and a multicolored one hovering above them. They appeared to be having an argument, all five of them following the purple mare.

“Yeah, that’s her, Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the Elements of Harmony. Damn it, why couldn’t they stay home? Remember, they are not allowed to board the train. Help will arrive soon.”

“Help? I don’t know about that, captain . . . she seems pretty determined,” Silver said in a slightly scared voice while taking his place alongside the unicorn guard, trying to look as guard-like as possible.

Twilight soon reached the station, stepping onto the platform, all while continuing what seemed to be a heated discussion with the rest of her friends.

“I don’t care! I have to!” was all that Kyle could pick up from the argument before he spoke firmly, taking a step and blocking the mare’s path.

“Halt right there! You are not allowed to leave Ponyville on any southbound transportation for the next two days! I’m going to ask you to return to your home.”

“What?” the startled mare asked, finding her way blocked by the large unicorn guard. “You don’t understand, I have to get Spike back, he’s my assistant and a very young dragon. He ran away from Ponyville and he’s heading towards a very dangerous place!”

“I’m sorry Miss Sparkle, but my orders are not to allow any of you to leave with the next train.”

“I am not going after Blink, I need to get my assistant back before something bad happens to him! Now please move away.”

The guard backed away a bit, spreading his hooves in a defensive stance. His horn glowed a faint yellow, and the sword from his waist unsheathed, gently hovering near the side of his body.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, miss. Orders are from the Princess herself, and I can’t disobey them.”

Before he could manage another word, a purple aura engulfed the sword, canceling the guard’s magic. Twilight was staring down the surprised guard, taking slow steps towards him. The weapon shook a little in midair under her magic before slowly tearing apart into several pieces, then falling on the ground. Kyle however kept his pose, even if his heart was racing, torn between his loyalty to the Princess and the prospect of being seriously injured by a female pony younger than him.

“Twilight,” came a whimper from a yellow pegasus behind her. Fluttershy was shaking, scared by the display of power from her friend. The rest of her friends weren’t that brave either, all of them staring at the mare that had just disarmed a royal guard. Even Rainbow Dash had landed and was gaping at her friend.

Twilight broke eye contact with the guard for a second, glancing to her side. Seeing the expressions on her friend’s faces made her realise what she had just done. The mare then looked back at the guard, who was still locked in his defensive stance, although on rather shaky hooves.

“I’m . . . I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“Twilight Sparkle!” a loud voice echoed through the platform, the Royal Canterlot volume causing everyone to jolt in surprise.

From the dark sky above came a series of fast moving smoke trails that smashed against the station’s platform behind the guards, expelling even more black smolder everywhere around. After the air cleared, everyone recognized the tall shape of Princess Luna, stepping towards them with determination.

“Dismissed, you can return to Canterlot,” she said while passing by the guards, her eyes focused on her sister’s student.

The guards saluted then silently headed in the opposite direction. Luna stopped when she stepped on a shard and then noticed the broken sword at her hooves. She levitated the pieces in front of her, briefly studying them.

Hmm, quite impressive. These are the new issued carbide steel blades my sister’s been talking about, almost as hard as diamonds . . .

“Princess,” Twilight uttered in a shaky tone, taking a bow. “I’m so sorry-”

“It’s all right, Twilight,” Luna interrupted her, throwing the broken sword pieces away. “I’m sure my sister won’t be mad at you for 'bullying' her guards,” she added in a rather playful tone. “Anyway, I hoped you knew better than to go over my sister’s request of not following Blink.”

“I’m not! I’m trying to find Spike, he left yesterday and I think he went after Blink,” Twilight explained yet again.

“And pray tell, why did Spike leave in the first place?” Luna asked, intrigued by that news.

Far back in the group of friends, Rarity’s eyes betrayed her guilt and sorrow. Her usually perfectly styled mane and tail were in disarray, and the white of her coat seemed dull in the station’s lights. Having not slept all night definitely took its toll on her. She didn’t know at that time that Spike had left, but nevertheless, the events of that day played out in her mind over and over again. The dragon’s pained look was imprinted on Rarity’s mind, and even when she tried to sleep, the memory was there to haunt her peace. After a night of squirming and tossing in her bed, a night in which sleep was the last thing on her mind, she decided to go and speak with Spike and clarify things. On that fateful morning though, she found out that Spike was gone, the full weight of her actions came crashing down on her.

She felt directly responsible for everything and it took a great deal of patience and apologizing to calm Twilight. In the end, the librarian accepted the fact that she couldn’t pin the fault on one of her best friends, but she had to act. One by one, her friends found out about what happened and tried to support her as much as they could. Twilight had planned to grab the next train to Dodge Junction, which was that day at midnight, and follow in Spike and Blink’s steps. She was well aware of what Celestia had told her in one of the letters but she couldn’t let her dearest friend go like that on a dangerous journey and technically, she would not follow Blink at all, despite the fact that she was already missing him. What she didn’t expect was the intervention from one of the Princesses.

“I believe it was because of me,” the white mare stepped out from the group. “I uhm, said something to him that . . . should have been said in the different manner.”

Luna raised an eyebrow at her, but she soon realised what Rarity was actually talking about. She knew very well about Spike’s childish infatuation for Ponyville’s fashionista, the Element of Generosity herself, but she did not expect him to keep all those feelings intact throughout his adolescent years.

“Princess, I really need to get him back,” Twilight said with a pleading look targeted at the dark alicorn.

“I’m afraid I’m can’t allow you that, Twilight, this is for your own safety.”

“But, I can’t- he’s so young and-” the unicorn’s voice began to crack, her eyes now teared up. Fluttershy wrapped a hoof around her neck and held her friend gently.

“However,” Luna’s started, stopping Twilight’s imminent sob, “I understand that he means a lot to you. He is my friend as well, and because of that I shall go and look for him.”

Twilight’s face suddenly lit up, hope sparkling in her moist eyes.

“Although if I recall correctly, the day after tomorrow will be his birthday,” the Princess continued.

The purple unicorn looked at the dark alicorn slightly confused, but then realised what she meant. “He’ll be of legal age, according to Equestrian laws,” she said with a shaking tone.

“Thou probably understand what that means.”

Twilight shook her head silently.

“I shall do my best, Twilight. Now excuse me, I have a train to catch. Remain here in Ponyville for now. I trust that you will honor my passed judgment and my sister’s request and will not further attempt to head south.”

With that, the Princess of the Night flapped her wings once and instantly turned into several trails of smoke, hurling towards the night’s sky. The six young mares remained on the platform for a while more, comforting their friend with reassurances and their loving embrace.

*** *** ***

I woke up to the train’s gentle shaking, several strands of sunlight having found their way between the sleeping compartment’s blinds. I yawned, slowly recalling the events of the previous day. That’s when I recalled I had left on a dangerous journey to the Griffins Lands, where I was expected to partake in my own undeserved trial and face Celestia-knows what punishment.

As I parted the curtains of my cabin, I was reminded of another small detail. Well, actually not that small: Spike was sitting on the edge of his compartment, which was vis-à-vis from mine, his gaze lost in the depths of his mind. He noticed me and gave me a pathetic smile, his pettiness and sorrow visible from a mile away.

“Come on Spike, let’s get breakfast. Food will probably take your mind off things and make you look less like a bag of pure sad.”

He smiled at that and I felt a little better about my weak attempt to make him happier. We left the sleeping compartment, heading towards what was supposed to be the restaurant section of the train, right near the locomotive. Passing by a window, I noticed it was midday and the sun had already started its descent into the horizon. Raven and Peewee were sitting on their respective owner’s shoulder, probably as hungry as we were. They had fallen asleep on a coatrack well into the night, watching me talk with Spike about pretty much everything we could think of. It was a long night and I even managed to cheer him up and make him forget about the whole incident with Rarity. However, it seemed that the realm of dreams was quick to remind him of that.

The long-haul train was huge, having counted at least ten compartments between our normal seats and the dining cabin. Passengers were ponies of all kinds, and I even noticed several zebras which were conspicuously secluded, as if they were trying very hard to not get noticed.

“Twilight once told me that zebras are normally very shy in Equestria and choose to keep a distance from ponies,” said Spike, noticing that I was gawking at every zebra we would encounter as we neared the restaurant.

“How are Equestria’s relations with the Zebra Lands?” I asked, slightly concerned.

“We’re allies, although apparently we don’t do much except trading. Very few ponies live in their lands and the same can be said about zebras around here. You probably know Zecora, right?”

“Yeah, I met her a few days ago, before this whole gryphon fiasco started. She’s nice,” I said, recalling her helpful advice and even her generous but foul-smelling potions she gave me before I left.

We finally reached the dining compartment and found ourselves a free table. A waiter came soon enough to take our orders. Spike asked for a double-sized portion of hay fries and I just went with a couple of daisy sandwiches with ketchup on the side. While waiting for the food, I decided to use the time to find out more about Spike’s general state, as I wasn’t that sure anymore if it would be a good idea to have him tag along with me.

“Spike, I kind of understand why you are now here with me, but I just need to ask you: is this really what you want?”

“Come on, you said you would be all right with me coming along,” he swiftly answered, perhaps too swiftly.

“I know I said that. I know. But I just want you to know that I would be much happier if you returned to Ponyville when we reach Dodge Junction,” I calmly said to him.

“I can’t go back. I just can’t.”

“I know how you feel Spike, trust me, but you know this is dangerous and I really don’t know what I would do if something happened to you. What would I tell Twilight?” I looked into his eyes, and seeing the little shake in them made me realise that was after all, a difficult decision for the young dragon. It wasn’t easy for me either, but I had to man up and accept that I would have to face my journey all alone.

“Look, we’ll talk about this more when we reach Dodge. It shouldn’t be much longer anyway.”

His face brightened up a bit and after a few silent minutes, our orders were served. The waiter was kind enough to notify us that we would arrive to our destination in just under an hour. We hastily finished the late breakfast and returned to our seats. The sun was already setting and I really didn’t want to have to spend the night in Dodge. The long part of the journey was still ahead of me and I would have to somehow deal with Spike as well before moving on.

*** *** ***

“Twilight, are you sure you don’t want us to come with ya?” Applejack asked as her eyes watched the nervous mare wander around Ponyville’s library.

Twilight darted her eyes from one part of the room to another, trying to find one last book that she needed. All of her friends were there in the library, having arrived one by one during the day that followed the train station incident. The last week was quite eventful ever since the Gilda incident. To top it all off, it also occurred right after they had found out about Blink’s true origins.

It was enough to take in that Twilight was somehow destined for more than just an average life and finding out that the Princess had called her a Lifebringer was quite big news on its own; but things, as fate proved over time, were never simple in Ponyville.

“Yes, I am sure.”

“And do you really think the Princess will help you?” asked Rarity.

“I don’t know, girls, I really don’t. But there are things I need to discuss with her. Something is going on and I have a feeling that she isn’t telling me everything.”

“And what if she doesn’t want to talk to you?”

“She’s my mentor, she will; I hope so. Just stay here, and if Luna returns tell her where I am.”

“And how do ya reckon you’re gonna catch a ride to Canterlot? I don’t know of any trains leaving at this time o’ day,” added Applejack, gazing outside a window at the settling night.

“I won’t go by train but I know some ponies that will hopefully lend me a hoof,” she responded in a rather shameful tone.

*** *** ***

“This is not going to look well in our report, captain,” muffled the earth stallion between his teeth as he pulled tightly on the reins of the small army chariot, getting them into place.

“Can it, Silver. We’ll just say that the Princess arrived in time and she ordered us to return to Canterlot,” rebuked Kyle.

“And what about the sword, sir?” asked the pegasus member of the group.

“I don’t know, I’ll think of something, you just get that harness on you so we can get out of here, you lazy bunch of foals.”

Silver stepped up his efforts, and helped the pegasus stallion with the harness. He then connected it to the chariot and they were soon ready to head away. Their captain however heard something from behind them and as they were on the outskirts of Ponyville during midnight, he did what any soldier would do.

“Draw weapons!” he barked the order, turning around.

Silver immediately jumped out of the chariot, drawing his weapon mid-air. He landed on his hind legs, one of his front hoofs tightly grasping the wide grip of the sword. His captain’s horn shined brightly, flooding the area around them in a pure, white light. The pegasus bound to their vehicle pulled a switch from his chest harness with his teeth, releasing him from the straps and pulls. He spread his wings wide and with a powerful flap, he jumped into the chariot, from where he retrieved a bow. With his left hoof steadying the ranged weapon he skillfully used the right wing to nock an arrow and then draw the bow back.

Right in front of them stepped a young mare, holding a hoof to her eyes to protect them from the captain’s powerful light.

“Uhh, hello? It’s just me, Twilight Sparkle.”

“For Celestia’s sake,” muttered Kyle under his breath. “Stand down.”

The two other guards placed their weapons back and Silver quietly started re-harnessing the pegasus to the carriage, throwing occasional glances at the intruding mare.

“What do you want now?” the captain harshly requested, making her wince slightly.

“I wanted to tell you that I am sorry for what happened today, I should have not used magic against you like that. Is there a way I can repay you for the damage on your sword?”

At the sight of the apologetic young mare, Kyle instantly regretted the way he spoke to her previously. He was not that kind of stallion, he’d been disciplined and respectful to other ponies his whole life; plus, the personal student of Celestia, the one that saved Equestria so many times and brought the Princess of the Night back, was right there in front of him, apologizing.

“It’s all right Miss, don’t worry about it. Guess those new swords are not as indestructible as my lieutenant boasted. So, what brings you here at this time of night?”

“Well uhm, I needed to see the Princess urgently and there are no trains to Canterlot at this time so-”

Captain Kyle raised a hoof, silencing her. “Say no more, Miss. It would be our honor to have you travel with us back to Canterlot. Hop right in, we’ll take off in a moment,” he said, gesturing towards the small carriage.

Twilight got in, followed by Kyle and Silver. The flimsy-looking gold painted vehicle squeaked loudly under the added weight, but managed to hold together.

“No worries, this baby is built for moving heavy cargo,” remarked Silver Wisp, drawing a look of indignation from the mare next to him.

Realizing what he had just implied, he turned his head in front of him, urging the pegasus to go, all while trying to hide his blush. His comrade flared his wings and began pulling the carriage, the large wheels continuing to screech from the weight. After a few seconds he was already galloping, flapping his rather large wings faster and faster. They took off moment later, heading into the black night.

*** *** ***

The train came to a slow stop, steam from the locomotive flooding Dodge Junction’s station. I stepped out onto the platform, followed closely by Spike. To my surprise, not a lot of other ponies got down with us and after a short while, the train’s wheels started moving again, pushing the huge locomotive on its tracks.

When the smoke dissipated, I looked around and noticed nothing but empty wilderness under the clear moonlight. Raven and Peewee took off from our shoulders, stretching their wings after almost two days of being trapped in that train.

“Uhh, Spike? Where’s the town?” I inquired, looking around after any signs of life.

I then saw a pony trotting along the platform away from us.

“Uhh, excuse me, miss?” I called for the hooded pony but she didn’t respond, and kept walking until disappearing around the corner of the station.

“Ponies here sure do seem helpful . . .” I muttered to myself.

“Dude, come here,” I heard Spike’s voice calling me.

I went to him on the other side of the station and then realised how dumb I was. All that time I assumed the station would be facing the town but it was the other way around.

“Well, I expected it to be . . . smaller.”

The border town was huge, old-style western houses stretching along the large, dusty main road. We made our way in it, all while gawking at the scenery in front of us. Lights were coming out of houses, taverns and shops, and several ponies were walking by the side of the main road, with chariots slicing through every now and then from the neighboring roads. It seemed like a pretty busy town compared to Ponyville at that time of the night but we weren’t there to stay.

“Spike, how about we go to that tavern over there, and check on the map?” I suggested, pointing a hoof at a two story saloon that seemed a little bit quieter than the rest.

He nodded and we went towards it, curiosity following in my steps. I had never been to a bar in Equestria and I wasn’t sure what to expect, especially from a town like that. Everything seemed so different from Ponyville, the lack of trees and vegetation being a prime example. All the ponies I saw on the wooden walkway at the edge of the road seemed to be in a hurry, but most of them threw curious glances at Spike as we passed by them.

I entered the tavern, which had a plate outside that named it “Morgan’s corner”, and looked around. All sort of stallions were sitting around small tables, every one of them looking more unlawful than the one next to him. What struck me was that a lot of them had pieces of clothing on them, either leather Stetson hats or belts, cowboy boots or other similar outfits. Most of them were engaged in rather heated discussions and the smell of alcohol and tobacco made my eyes water a bit as they adjusted to the pungent smoke that hung heavy in the air.

As soon as Spike came in after me however, a lot of them just stopped their chatting and stared at us.

Aww fuck, I really didn’t need this attention . . .

Unfortunately for us the only free table I noticed was on the other side of the salon, but since we were inside anyway, I thought it would be even weirder if we just turned around and left. So we walked, rather nervously to said table. Slowly, ponies resumed their discussion, but I was well aware of the fact that they were probably talking about us.

We reached the small wooden table and sat down, trying not to gather any more attention on us. I got out my notebook, where I had the map of the journey.

“Where did our pets go to?” I asked, suddenly remembering that detail.

“Before we came in I saw them flying around above us. They probably needed to stretch their wings. I don’t think they would enjoy the air inside here that much, anyways.”

“Okay then, that still leaves us with one more thing: what are you going to do from here on?”

Spike shifted in his seat at that question, and let out a sigh. His eyes lowered, staring intensely at the uninteresting wood surface.

“Spike, I understand how you feel, but you will need to face the truth at some point. Remember, she doesn’t hate you and she probably misses you as much as Twilight and the rest do. Look at this,” I said to him, tracing the line of my journey over the map, “this is going to be a hell of a ride, do you really want to do this instead of returning to Ponyville?”

He looked for a few seconds at the map on the table, considering his options. It wasn’t like he didn’t like an adventure but he was gone for almost two days and he already missed his large comfortable bed.

“I’d like to come with you but, if you really want me to go back, I will,” he said, giving in.

“Then it’s settled,” I concluded, finally relieved of not having to worry about his wellbeing as well as mine.

I threw my eyes back at the map and noticed the line marking the border area of Equestria. “Well apparently I’ll need to head southeast towards the Zebra Lands from here on. Hopefully all zebras are as nice as Zecora, right?”

The slightest smile touched his otherwise frowning expression as he tried to not look as disappointed as he actually was. He was failing badly at it.

“Okay, mister Sad Dragon, let’s get out of here and find you a place to stay for the night. I hope there’ll be a train to Ponyville tomorrow,” I told him, packing the map and putting it back in my satchel.

“Wait, you’re not spending the night here as well?”

“No can do. Had a good rest in the train and I need to keep to my schedule. Also, Luna told me to try and travel as much as possible during the night. And after the training session I had with her, I kinda get why.”

“Okay then, I’ll go find Peewee and Raven, they’ll probably want to say goodbye to each other . . .”

“You head out, I need to go to the bathroom first, meet ya outside.”

We stood up from the table and Spike headed toward the exit while I went through the bathroom door right next to the bar.

I headed towards the exit, this time not drawing as much attention as when I came in. As I squeezed through a couple of stands however, a light blue aura formed into a bat right next to me, smacking a rather large stallion right in the back of his head, throwing away his cowboy hat. The stallion froze for a moment, and the whole salon went quiet. He stood up from his chair, turning his face towards me. He was a bulky brown earth stallion, scars riddling his face and parts of his fur coat.

“Dude, I did not do that, I swear,” I blurted out in my defense.

His face cracked a wide grin and then he spat his cigar at my chest. The wave of alcohol smell from his mouth also hit me, and I realized I was basically fucked.

“I can-” was the last thing that left my mouth as his hoof collided with my face, sending me crashing onto the table behind me. The racket of smashing wood and shattering of glasses filled my ears as my vision went dark for a while.

I tried to get up, but stumbled and fell back onto the floor. Pain flooded my thoughts as I realised I had cut myself on some broken glass, that at that point was littering the floor around me. My blood was boiling out fumes of pure anger so after my second attempt to get up succeeded, I looked at my attacker and flew half of a broken table into his face. This only made him wince slightly, after which he immediately charged at me.

The best thing I could come up was to summon a shield between me and him. He came crashing into it face-on, and I felt the impact resonating through my horn as I focused to gather my magic strength. It all seemed like the gryphon incident happening all over again, but that time I would not do the same mistake.

Or so I thought. As he got up from the floor, the drunken stallion reared towards me a little and then bucked me in the chest, sending me flying through the air. That time I was more conscious so I was able to damper the impact by shielding my back. Looking around the bar, the reaction of the other ponies was just as I would expect: all of them stood around watching, some cheering, encouraging my adversary to carry on.

“Son, are you mad? Stay the fuck down!” a stallion hissed at me from behind as I got up.

Indeed, getting up only made the brown guy even angrier. As he approached me however, I grabbed him in a magic grip, lifting him off the ground. Then, I swung my head to the side, making him fly through the salon and crash into the bar, breaking half the bottles on display. The cheering and yelling stopped all of a sudden and as moments passed, the brown stallion rose from behind the counter but quickly flopped back down, too drunk and dazed to keep himself up anymore.

“I'll teach you to mess with my brother, fucker!” came a voice from behind several ponies near me.

A gray unicorn stumbled out, pushing the other away. His horn was glowing and his eyes radiated pure anger, but I was not expecting what came next. Time slowed to a crawl as I realised there was something else engulfed by his magical aura, something coming from a satchel near his belt. My heart stopped as I recognized the object and I didn’t had time to react at all, my eyes terrifyingly recording every second of what was happening in great detail.

The small silver hammer drew back, and the cylinder began spinning, aligning the projectile with the barrel. The hammer clicked and snapped against the cap of the bullet, causing a small explosion that lit the inside of the barrel and spat the projectile out. Fine smoke trails from the floating magnum rose towards the ceiling, mixing with the cigarettes’ smog that filled the tavern. I witnessed that terrifying scene not being able to do anything and soon I felt a warm liquid running down my neck and chest.

The whole scene began fading and I collapsed to my side, the world around me slipping into a quiet racket. Images that were slower and slower imprinted on the back of my eyes spotted a large purple form coming into view. Animating around, the sound of its screams were only hums to my ears. A powerful and bright green light made my eyelids squint a little, and then closed.

When I re-opened them, I found myself standing on all fours, in the middle of a field. The tall grass waved under the soft breeze of the wind, its lively green shining under the sunlight. Far out into the distance I could spot the capital Canterlot, standing at the base of a large chain of mountains.

“It’s you again . . .”

I turned and immediately recognized the black shadowy figure. Death was staring at me yet again. I took a look around me one more time, confused by the setting.

“Why am I here? Is this the real place?” I asked, not interested in any other detail other than that.

Before I could get an answer, a large pony materialized all of a sudden at Death’s side. It was Luna.

“You have saved him,” the shadowy figure spoke.

The Princess however ignored that and turned her attention to the place we were in, seemingly confused as I was. She then gazed at the capital city in the distance for a while, before facing Death.

“Is this what’s to come?” she simply questioned Him.

The ground trembled slightly, a mighty horn blowing in the distance.

“Yes,” came the cold response.

Luna then turned and slowly approached me.

“It’s time to wake up, Midnight Blink,” I read on her lips, the world fading already.

As my eyelids closed yet again, the last thing I noticed was a golden barrier surrounding the city in the distance; and then darkness.

*** *** ***

My senses eventually came to me and I found myself in a large room, resting on a bed. A candle was flickering on a nightstand near me, casting dancing shadows on the white walls around.

I sensed tightness around my neck and when I brought a hoof up under my chin I felt the silky fabric of bandages wrapped around the wound.

“Greetings, Midnight Blink.”

From the shadows of the room came the Princess of the Night herself, pacing slowly towards my bed. The dressings around my neck slowly unwrapped under the Princess’s magic.

“I’m not as good as my sister at this, but I think I did pretty well, thou not agree?”

I looked down and could still see the dried out blood in my fur coat, but there was no wound anymore. I checked my neck and couldn’t feel any pain or discomfort either.

“It was indeed in the neck. A few inches and you would have had a longer discussion with Him and I back there.”

“Was that really you?” I muttered between my dried lips.

A glass of water levitated towards me. Being thirsty as hell, I grabbed it and drank it all in one go.

“We don’t have time to discuss that now. We have to talk with Spike,” she said, putting the glass away.

“Where am I, anyway?”

Before I could even properly finish the question, I was surrounded by black smoke. I choked and coughed, leaning my head down to avoid the thick curtain of blackness. When it all faded away, we found ourselves on a long hallway with prison cells on one side of it.

“P-p-princess Luna!”

I turned and saw this stallion bowing down, dressed a lot like a sheriff would be.

“We demand the release of the dragon prisoner, under my personal pardon,” demanded Luna, looking down on him.

“Right away, Princess.”

He got up from his deep bow and grabbed a ring of keys from his leather belt. He trotted towards the first cell from the row and we followed in his path. After fumbling with the lock, he opened the cell door and stood aside, taking another bow for the Princess.

“Dismissed.”

“Blink?”

“Spike!” I almost shouted, seeing the young dragon inside the cell.

He ran out and almost strangled me in a big hug. His eyes then spotted the Princess and he immediately showed his respects for her.

“Stand up Spike, there is no need for that.”

“Princess, how did you know?” he quickly asked, surprised as much as I was by Luna’s presence in Dodge Junction.

“I didn’t, but I came here because of a dear common friend of ours,” she calmly said.

“Twilight?”

“Yes. She is very worried for you, so I came here to talk to you about what you are doing.”

“There’s no need for that, Princess. He agreed to return home just before that fight took place. Spike, I can’t thank you enough for helping. That’s why I assume you are here, right?”

“Yeah, when I heard the racket from the tavern we went in, I came as fast as possible. When I arrived, you were lying on the floor with blood coming from your neck. That bastard was going to shoot you again so I just- I don’t know, I just spat fire at him. And then the sheriff came and arrested me.”

“So how did I get to the hospital?” I asked, darting my eyes from Spike to Luna.

“A pair or more good-willed stallions pulled you out and took you to the local clinic. I came from Ponyville and found out what happened, so I hurried to the hospital and removed the bullet myself,” said the royal figure, a little bit of self-pride in her tone.

“Uhh- thanks, to both of you. Is the guy that did this okay?”

“I healed his wounds as well. It was even more difficult than yours, since they were made by magic fire, but he is fine now. He and his brother won’t be out drinking for a while, that I assure you,” she added with a smirk.

“I just don’t know what the hell went on in there. Some unicorn smacked him in the back of his head and he thought I did it. Good way to start a trip like this one.”

“You must be wary, Midnight Blink, danger will lurk everywhere where you are going. And regarding you Spike, Twilight will be very happy to know you will return.”

“Actually . . .” he started, taking a deep breath, fumbling his claws, "I changed my mind; I want to go with Blink."

“Ohh, come on!”

“You need me, dude. If I would’ve been there with you in the first place, that wouldn’t have happened. You will need my help, and you said I could come along if I want to. But I guess,” he then turned toward Luna, “Twilight told you to bring me home . . .” he said in disappointment.

“As a matter of fact,” Luna intervened, taking a look at the moon outside through the cell’s window, “I cannot do that anymore. Happy birthday Spike, you are now a free dragon.”

*** *** ***

The carriage landed on a secluded street of Canterlot with a rather soft thud. Kyle got out first, making way for Twilight.

“Thanks a lot for the ride, guys; and I’m sorry again for all the trouble,” she said, turning towards them.

“It’s all right, miss; glad we could help. Sorry if we seemed like we were standing in the way of you getting your dragon friend back. I hope everything works out in the end.”

“Thank you, and don’t worry; your duty towards the Princess is your priority, I understand. Have a good night, sirs!”

“Good night, Miss Sparkle,” said the guards in unison.

The captain got back into the carriage and they took off, making their way to the castle. She turned her attention to the house nearby and approached it, her heart fluttering from the memories that place held for her. Twilight knocked on the door a couple of times and waited. Lights turned on inside and she instantly felt bad for waking them up.

The door opened slightly, revealing a mare with purple and white mane, her eyes slightly puffy from being awoken from her sleep. As soon as she recognized who was at the door, she immediately opened the door wide and grabbed Twilight, squeezing her tightly.

“Ohh Twily, I can’t believe you’re here, dear! What brings you here?”

“Mom, you’re squishing me!” Twilight was barely able to articulate due to her mother’s grip.

“I’m just so glad you finally decided to visit! We haven’t seen you in months; your dad will be so excited. Come in!”

Twilight Velvet finally let go of her daughter, and welcomed her inside the warm house.

“I won’t be able to stay long, though. I need to speak with the Princess in the morning about something. I hope I didn’t wake you up.”

They walked into the living room, where Twilight sat on the comfortable sofa she always enjoyed reading on when she was younger. Her mom sat next to her, measuring up her daughter like she hadn’t seen her in years. A blue stallion walked inside, rubbing a hoof at his eyes.

“What’s with all the noise, Velve?” he asked, letting out a healthy yawn.

He then spotted the second mare in the room and his face immediately lit up with happiness. He ran to her and wrapped an arm around her neck, nuzzling her like any proud father would do.

“Come on Orion, you’ll suffocate her,” complained Velvet, scowling her husband with her look.

Both Sparkle and Orion gave her a deadpan look, after which her dad took a seat in his couch.

“So, how’s it been going lately?” her mom started the usual barrage of question she asked whenever Twilight would visit, “found any nice colt to be your special somepony yet?”

Twilight frowned, but then her face lit up, red coloring her cheeks. It was the same question her mom would ask her every time they met ever since she left for Ponyville over four years ago. And every time she would go through that embarrassing situation of answering with the same no every time. Not today.

“Actually, I did,” she timidly answered.

“What?!”

*** *** ***

“W- what? What do you mean free?” Spike blurted out the question.

“Twilight is no longer your legal guardian; you are free to do as you wish,” said the Princess. “She will be saddened by the news, however I understand your reasons. You can send her letters and once I return to Ponyville, I will teach her the spell needed to send you letters as well. Promise me thou shall keep in touch with her, and with my sister and me as well.”

“I will, Princess, I promise,” he said honestly.

“Happy birthday man, you should have told me it was today,” I wished him, thinking of what I could give him as a present.

“I will leave now; honor thy promise Spike, and good luck in your journey, both of you. I won’t be there next time another weapon will be pointed at you, Midnight Blink, so make sure you won’t be in that situation in the first place.”

“I will. Thank you for all the help. Please tell Twilight that . . . that I miss her.”

“Same from me,” added Spike, “but not in that way!”

Luna smiled and nodded once, before exploding into trails of dark smoke then hurtled through the cell’s window.

“I got to hand it to her: she does make good exits,” I said, looking at the shadowy smoke that headed out into the night. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

We left the town’s small prison without anyone even asking a question and we made our way on the dusty main road. Raven and Peewee showed up, and I was actually happy for once to see my mysterious pet. Peewee’s flame was bright and seemed rather hot even from a distance, but Spike didn’t seem to mind it at all, as she snuggled her master’s neck. It was a good thing he was heat resistant.

“Silly bird, I’ve missed you too,” he lovingly said to her, scratching her neck with a claw.

After a few more minutes of walking, the houses on our sided were less and less frequent, until we reached a sign post that read “This way to Zebras”. The road had pretty much ended a while ago, and there was only that sign and a few bushes ahead of us. The sandy terrain was lit by the bright moon of the night, and the landscape in front seemed void of any life. Peewee had calmed down after reuniting with her owned and gradually turned her flame off, as to not make herself as well as us to visible in the dark. I threw my cloak on, and it soon enough turned pale beige, matching the ground beneath me.

I took a couple of steps before realizing Spike was not following me. I turned my head around and noticed him staring into the distance, then looking behind him, and then at the sign.

“What is it, Spike?”

He gulped.

“If I take one more step, I'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been,” he simply said, looking at me.

What he said hit me as I realised the implication and what that journey had become for me and him. But then I remembered something.

“Spike, every step I’ve taken since I arrived in Equestria has lead me further and further away from my old home, and I will never be able to go back. But now I have a new home, and I promise I will do everything that’s in my powers to come back to that home. And I sure ain’t going back without you, Spike. That, I promise.”

He continued to look at me with his wide dragon eyes, Peewee standing at his side reassuringly. He clutched his backpack’s strap a little tighter and eventually, his scared expression turned into a smile.

And then he took the step.

End of chapter 15

Chapter 16: Chasing Memories

Chapter 16

Chasing Memories

The Sparkle family’s living room sparked to life after the unexpected reply to a question that had always been answered with the usual ‘I’m too busy studying for that sort of thing’.

“Oh thank Celestia, our daughter finally has a special somepony!” Velvet cried out, clutching her offspring even tighter.

“Finally?” came the choked-out reaction from a crumpled Twilight.

“Don’t get us wrong sweetheart, we’re both happy for you,” spoke Orion from his seat, “it’s just that your mom likes to show it more than it’s considered healthy.”

“Orion! How can you say that?” argued Velvet, finally releasing her daughter from her grip.

Her father brought a hoof to his face, much to Twilight’s amusement. She always enjoyed spending time with her parents and watching them have it at each other whenever she visited. Both of them had very stubborn personalities but it was usually Orion the one who would concede every fight. And that day was no different.

“So how is he like? Is he a unicorn too? Does he like magic and studying as much as you do?” Velvet started her barrage of questions, having silenced the fatherly figure.

“Well, he’s nice and-”

“Ohh, I hope you used the protection spell I’ve told you so many times about, you’re not having any foals until you are married, it’s the only-”

“MOM!” shouted Twilight, her face turning a huge blush.

"Tea!" Orion blurted suddenly, quickly rising from his seat and turning toward the kitchen, "We definitely need more tea, I'll go make some now!"

The three ponies however suddenly turned their attention to the door after a series of knocks turned the room to silence.

“Who could that be at this hour?” wondered Orion, stepping towards the door to open it.

After a quick peek outside, he immediately opened it wide.

“There’s my boy, Shining!” he welcomed the tall, white stallion with blue mane.

“Hey Dad, hope I didn’t wake you guys up,” he said, leaning over to hug his father.

Twilight’s ears immediately perked up at the mention of her brother’s name, and a few swift motions after, she was over the couch and at Shining’s neck, her hooves wrapped around him tightly.

“BBBFF! It’s been so long, how are you?”

“Twily! Well for one, I wasn’t expecting you to be here,” he said, returning the hug.

“She arrived here just before. Still haven’t found out why she’s in Canterlot at this ungodly hour of the night, thanks to your mom,” complained Orion, drawing the unwanted attention of his wife.

The two siblings giggled at that, but Shining remembered why he was there in the first place and cleared his voice.

“Well, I came here first to tell you some big news, after which I would have gone to Ponyville to let this little one know as well,” he started, gathering the attention from everyone. “But you’re all here, so it’s even better.”

“Hurry up and tell us already!” demanded Twilight eagerly. She knew it was supposed to be something important; the only times her brother used the words ‘big news’ was when he was promoted as Captain of the Royal Guard or before marrying Princess Cadence.

“Well here it goes . . .” he took a deep breath. “I’m going to be a father!”

*** *** ***

The red morning sun rose above the horizon, its light growing in annoyance as it poked at my tired eyes. The night before was spent on traveling and even Spike was showing the clear signs of lack of sleep.

“Travel with the moon and stars my ass,” I mumbled, rubbing my heavy eyelids.

“Shouldn’t we have a break or something?” asked Spike, barely able to keep his head straight while walking.

I scouted the area around us, and soon enough I spotted a lone tree in the upcoming distance.

“Yeah, we’ll get some rest by that tree over there. Maybe I’ll check the map while we’re at it.”

As we neared our target, I noticed a small watering hole right by that tree. I dropped my satchels on the ground and pulled out the empty canteen I had on me along with my notebook. I approached the murky water and dipped in it, filling the whole thing up.

“Dude, that doesn’t look pretty good,” said Spike, watching me fill up the container.

“No worries. As always, Twilight prepared me for something like this.”

I flipped my spell journal open and searched for a particular note on a cleansing spell. Finding it, I briefly went over the steps and then cast the spell on the canteen, hovering it in front of me. Gray fumes raised from the bottle accompanied by the bubbling sound of boiling liquid.

“And done!” I proudly stated, sensing the container getting warmer. “I removed the impurities, boiling it at the same time. It should be as good as the tap water back in Ponyville, once it cools a little bit.”

“That definitely sounds like something Twilight would insist on teaching you. Can you fill mine up as well?” the young dragon asked, going through his backpack.

“Sure. By the way, what’s in that thing? Looks quite heavy to me.”

“Uhh well, one half-empty bottle since we dragons don’t really drink that much water, and some gems,” he said, opening up the pack so I could see its contents.

The whole thing was filled to the brim with crystals, diamonds and rubies.

“Some? Sweet Celestia that’s a lot of gems! Well, good thing you got yourself some snacks, at least I won’t have to share my rations.”

I stretched, letting out a chewy yawn. “Okay, I’ll get some rest. Raven, since you napped in my bags last night, could you keep watch and make some noise if you see anything coming our way?” I took her loud caw as a yes. Having taken care of that, I sat down by the bare tree, the bird flying off above, resting on one of the branches. Peewee joined her soon enough, her bright fiery body forming a beautiful contrast with Raven’s jet-black feathers.

“See ya in a few, Spike. Make the best of this; it’s going to be a long time before we’ll stop again.”

The dragon returned a nod of the head and then lied down on the ground next to me. My eyelids blinked a couple of times before closing, the image of the barren no pony’s-land lingering somewhere in the peripheral of my mind.

Spike pulled his backpack close to him, but before closing it, he drew out a small object draped in piece of cloth. Unwrapping it gently, he uncovered a blue sapphire that sparkled softly in the daylight. He looked at it with heavy heart, letting out a pained sigh before putting it back into his backpack and resting his head on top of it, his mind drifting away to his youthful days of innocence.

“You've been very patient today, Spike. And for that, you get the finest reward! This is from me, to you.”

He just stares at it, then at her.

“Is something wrong, Spike?”

He hugs it to his chest, amusing her.

“No - It's perfect!”

*** *** ***

It was Shining Armor’s turn to be on the receiving end of Velvet’s hugs and attention as the teared-up mother couldn’t be happier for her son and future grand-foals. Twilight herself felt more than delighted to find out that she was going to be an aunt, even if she would have a hard time grasping that title. And as always, Orion’s pride for his son was showing in his joyous smile and sparkling eyes, words having completely left him.

“How come you didn’t bring Cadence along?” came from Velvet the question that was lingering on everyone’s minds.

“Well, she’s caught up with a lot of work back in the Crystal Empire. I really hope she’ll be able to visit Canterlot soon, though.”

“I’m so happy for you two Shining, have you found out the foal’s gender yet? An early magical scan could reveal it pretty easily if done by a good unicorn doctor,” suggested Twilight, letting her rational part of her brain take over again.

“Unfortunately not, it was just Cadence uhm- I don’t really know, she just ‘felt’ it somehow. We went to the Royal doctor back there and he confirmed the pregnancy. I guess she just magically felt the little one inside her.”

“The exact thing happened with me when I had Twilight! One day I just knew that there was another heartbeat along mine,” recalled Velvet, pulling her kids into another deep hug.

“Except for you,” added Orion, prodding Shining’s chest with a hoof, chuckling, “Vel thought she was getting fat until she actually went to the doctor about it.”

“Orion!” protested his wife, much to Shining and Twilight’s amusement.

Knock Knock Knock !

It was the third time someone was at the door that day, and already the early morning’s sun was casting its rays through the windows of the Sparkle residence.

“Who could that be, now?” said Orion as he went to the door and opened it.

The third unexpected guest turned out to be no one else than Princess Luna herself. The stallion dropped into a bow as soon as he recognized the royal figure standing at his doorstep.

“Princess Luna, what an unexpected visit! And not the only one today I might say.”

“Orion Sparkle,” greeted Luna, slowly nodding at him as a salute, “I actually came here for Twilight. I was told by her friends back in Ponyville that I could find her here. May I come in?”

“But of course, Princess!” exclaimed Orion as he allowed Luna to come inside.

The rest of the family showed their respects for the royal figure, which actually irritated Luna.

“There is no need for such formalities, you are as part of the royal family as Shining Armor is,” she said, stopping in front of the mentioned white stallion. “Congratulations on your future foal or foals, Captain Shining. News came to me from Cadence via my sister; may the moon shine brightly upon your bigger family.”

“Thank you, Princess,” the stallion responded, taking another short bow.

The Princess rolled her eyes before shifting her attention to his sister.

“Twilight, there are important matters we need to discuss. Can we proceed to a more private place, I don’t wish to disturb the rest of your family’s celebration,” she said rather sternly.

“Sure, uhh- I think my study room upstairs should be clear, right mom?”

“Just the way you left it, darling,” Velvet confirmed.

Twilight and Luna both made their way upstairs. There, a door at the end of a long corridor revealed a small and spacious mansard containing a large desk and several shelves stacked with books and scrolls. Scientific equipment of all kind littered the remaining of the available surfaces and a wide balcony sealed one end of the room.

Luna studied the room she was in, the room that during her stay at Canterlot, meant the entire world for the young mare next to her.

“I must admit, there are only few ponies I recall that shared thy passion for learning. Have you ever thought about becoming an Archmage?”

“An- an Archmage? Me?” Twilight stammered, taken aback by the unexpected topic.

“But of course. You most certainly possess the desire to learn and your skills in magic are formidable for a unicorn your age. Adding into the fact your two titles of Element of Magic and Lifebringer, I fail to see who could actually be more worthy of that position other than you.”

“I don’t know, Princess . . . even if I grew up here in Canterlot, I feel that my home is back in Ponyville. I don’t know how I could manage here again without my friends,” Twilight explained, looking out the balcony window over the peaceful city.

“It was a mere suggestion, Twilight Sparkle. You would still have a long way to go until thou can actually be named an Archmage of Equestria. There are a lot of things that books cannot teach, and only the passing of time can share that knowledge with you.”

Silence filled the small chamber, as Twilight thought for the first time in a long time about what she wanted to do in life. She loved studying, especially under Celestia’s tutelage but she also loved her friends and her life in Ponyville. As much as she liked being home with her parents, moving to Ponyville with the task of learning about the magic of friendship was the best thing that could have happened to her. It had been almost four years since that fateful day; four years of studying, four years of making friends and great adventures, four years of feeling integrated in a welcoming and heartwarming community. Since then, she came to realise she wouldn’t trade a lifetime of knowledge spent in the biggest of libraries for the little tree house and her six best friends; not to mention the recent colt that came crashing in her already hectic life, wreaking a mess all around him as well as in her heart.

The short moment of pondering was interrupted by Luna, as she approached Twilight near the balcony doors.

“However, that is not why I came here now,” she stated, her eyes focused on the castle in the distance.

“Yes, I know. How did things go with Spike? Was- was Blink with him? Are they alright?” Twilight asked, remembering the situation his assistant was in.

“I was too late, I’m afraid. He was of legal age when I found him so I couldn’t ask him to return home on your request. However they are- relatively fine. Midnight Blink got into some trouble with the local townsmen but the issue has been dealt with.”

“So Spike is not coming back?” Twilight asked in a low voice, her eyes quivering from the emotion.

“He made his own decision and also felt very responsible about how you would feel about it. I have asked him to write to you the moment he gets order in his thoughts. Rest assured, his partnership with Blink makes their travels outside our lands much safer.”

“So, we can write to each other?”

“Indeed you can, however the spell required to send messages from a unicorn to a dragon is no common one. It was in fact invented by my sister as you probably are well aware. Come to the castle today and she will happily teach it to you, although I assume your visit to Canterlot shared a similar goal.”

“Yes, I wanted to speak with her about-” Twilight paused, not wanting to have that conversation with Luna, “-my studies.”

“As you wish. I shall return to the castle, I bid thee good bye, Twilight Sparkle.”

"Wait," Twilight called as Luna made her way downstairs.

Luna turned back, only to be met by the concerned expression of the unicorn mare; and so, something special happened to the dark Princess: for the first time she looked at Twilight beyond the smaller stature and purple coat. Behind those, deep into her inner self, Luna felt the incurable thirst for knowledge, the magic that held the essence of life itself and the pure kindness in her heart. For a brief moment, she saw her sister from a far different time.

“Do you really think they are going to be all right?” Twilight’s question broke the chain of ancient memories from Luna’s mind.

The alicorn’s thoughts lingered a few moments before she spoke her honest opinion. “The challenges will be there, but they will prevail, it is such that I hope. And Twilight . . .” Luna paused for a moment, the teal in her eyes briefly glistering in the morning sun, “The most important thing is not to lose one’s faith.”

Twilight managed just a nod, afraid that her voice might not hold under the emotions. Her dearest assistant was out there with the colt that held a special place in her heart and the only thing she could do was to sit there and wait for their return. And everything just because of Celestia's questionable ruling over that stupid incident.

The veil of doubt and pity quickly faded however, as a more gruesome realization slowly started to sink in: She would confront her own mentor that very day.

*** *** ***

Someone was shaking me. Through my fast-blinking eyelids, the light from the midday sun warned me that many hours had passed since morning.

“Dude, wake up. Look over there.”

I got my head up after a few more thorough jolts from my travel companion, only to notice a strange shape in the general direction in which he was pointing.

“What is that?” I asked groggily, not able to recognize the distant object at all.

“Looks like a traveling salespony. He’s coming our way too.”

I rolled my eyes, feeling too tired even after resting to deal with random merchants in the middle of literally nowhere. I sat up on my behind, leaning on the tree and watching as the stranger got closer and closer, apparently pulling a small caravan after him. As he got close to us he stopped, apparently holding back on the account of the dragon sitting next to me. I waved at the stallion, letting him know that we mean no harm. Spike did the same, and after a few moments of reassessing the situation, the merchant resumed his approach.

He was a gray earth stallion with a golden legal scale as a cutie mark. His long mane was wrapped into a ponytail, white strands hanging loose at the base of his neck, revealing his age. However he was strong and resilient for his years, the ambulant kiosk behind him being packet to the brim with all kind of wares and items.

“Hello there travelers!” the stranger was first to speak. He released the hold on his caravan and approached us cautiously, stopping at a safe distance from the menacing teenaged dragon. “Is there anything you might be interested in buying or trading? I have fresh water, supplies and many more, dear travelers.”

After studying him a little more I concluded that he meant no harm but Spike was already walking towards him.

“Do you have quills?” he asked fumbling his fingers, trying not to look menacing in any way. His innocent smile didn’t help at all, revealing more sharp teeth than planned. The merchant gulped, but encouraged by the prospect of a sale, went over his fears and broke a weak smile.

“But of course, sir dragon-”

“Just call me Spike,” he said, following the stallion as he went to the back of his caravan to search for the inquired item.

“Okay sir Spike; quite an unusual item to need in a place like this, but luckily I still have some. Here they are,” he uttered after a few moments of searching, coming up with a hoof full of long, dark quills from a small box filled with books and scrolls.

“Sweet, really needed one to write a letter, how much will that be?”

“Twenty for three, thirty for all five o-them.”

Spike opened a small bag of coins and gathered a few into his palm. “Here, just three please.”

The merchant looked at the dragon as he tucked the bag of bits back into his side, fascinated by how the bag simply disappeared into him.

“Scale pockets,” he smirked at the awestruck pony, “it’s a dragon thing. Thank you for the quills.” He then turned to me. “Do you need anything, Blink?”

I was studying the exposed merchandise all along, but found nothing interesting or of importance for our journey.

“Neaa, I’m good. Don’t really have bits to spare on-” I suddenly stopped, noticing a very familiar-looking object displayed in between several random objects on a top shelf. “What is that?” I asked, pointing a hoof at what sparked my interest.

“Hmm, the item in the leather holster?”

“Yes, is that a gun?”

“It sure is, sir: a magnum designed for use by unicorns. Custom build, has a magic grip enchantment on the hammer for fast firing, so I’ve been told. Never got to shoot it myself since the trigger can only be moved by magic but I think it should still work.”

“Why would it not work?” I asked, levitating the holder to me and pulling the gun out of it.

The silver gun was almost identical to the one that stallion in Dodge used to shoot me. It looked very similar to the ones back home, although it had a very small handle that didn’t even seem to be designed to provide a grip, since hooves wouldn’t be that good at it.

“Well, I never tested it and I’ve also had it for a long time now but-”

“How much for it?” I cut him off, having already made a decision.

“Uhh well, since it doesn’t usually catch the eye of my clients, I’ll let you have it for two hundred. You can keep the holster as well.”

“Deal.”

I brought the bag of bits from my saddle bags and got forty pieces of five bits out.

“What about the ammo?” I remembered, floating the bits back up from the small counter at the side of his caravan.

“There should be some in here,” he said, retrieving something wrapped in an old piece of cloth from the stash of items on display. He pulled out what seemed to be several strips of bullets and a couple speed loaders, each having six silvery rounds. “It’s all the ammo I got for this: thirty bullets in total. Don’t know how these things work however.”

“It’s okay, I think I might just know, thanks.”

I placed the bits on the counter and grabbed the rounds, levitating them to me. Besides the fact that the projectile part seemed to be made of a strange, dark metal, they looked pretty similar to normal bullets I knew of. They were rather large for a normal pistol, and so a juvenile squee almost left my lips as I considered the possibility of having a .50 or more caliber revolver.

“Well if that’s all, I’ll leave you two to your traveling, thank you for the business, sirs!”

Spike bid his farewell, but I couldn’t be asked to do more than a quick wave, the weapon in front of me sucking up all my attention. The merchant strapped himself to the caravan and went off towards where we came from, probably to do more trading in Dodge.

“Dude, why did you buy that?” Spike asked, picking up a speed loader, studying the six bullets attached to it.

“What do you mean why?” I asked, slightly taken aback by his question. “It’s a gun! You saw what a thing like this can do. Although I have to ask: why are they so rare? I haven’t seen any until yesterday when one discharged in my face.”

“These guns? Because of the same reason I asked you why you bought it in the first place: It’s against the law to have them -at least in Canterlot-, and only unicorns can use them.”

“I don’t get it. It’s still a powerful thing.”

“Well, Twilight told me about them and I had the same argument with her when I thought it’s awesome to have something that shoots metal pieces at high speed.”

I shrugged. Twilight’s logic; I’ll soon regret having bought this.

“What did she say?” I asked, letting out a sigh.

“Well, only the ponies that cast spells can use them. And there are a lot more dangerous spells than a bullet from that thing,” Spike started.

He was right. I was already starting to think that wasn’t the best investment. The merchant was far away already as well.

“But what if someone tries to get into the castle and has one of these?” I rebuked, not admitting defeat yet.

“Have you seen what those guards are wearing? That’s gold plated armor, but under that coating the metal is very tough. I got to see how some of those were made back when I was young and Twilight studied there. I really don’t think those bullets will get through them.”

“How about ugh- I don’t know, soldiers? I know Equestria has an army, Kazooie told me of it.”

“Hmm,” Spike mused, scratching his chin with a claw. “Yes, we do have an army. But they don’t use guns.”

“What? Come on! Don’t tell me they all have swords and-”

“They used muskets!” he uttered in a triumphant manner, happy to finally make use of all the historic knowledge fed to him by Twilight.

“What? What do you mean used?”

“Well, Twilight and me went to a lot of museums, you know? So there was a history one back in Canterlot. There is where I saw those things exposed: long wooden spears but instead of a pointy metal thingy, they had a shot barrel that fired some sort of magic projectile. They were used in a war before Luna’s banishment, a long time ago. After that, Princess Celestia kept peace up until now, so I guess they’re just antiques these days.”

I took all of that in, soon realising I should have probably went to Canterlot more often or learn more about the history of the place I was in. The silver revolver in my magic grip shone beautifully in the sun’s light, having been kept in very good conditions by that merchant pony.

“So this is over a millennia old?” I asked Spike, floating the gun to him.

He cautiously grabbed the piece, running his claw over the well-kept metal, turning and studying it carefully.

“I don’t really think so. They probably didn’t have guns like these back then. But I think I remember Twilight telling me something about them being made for the rich and eccentric or something like that. Also I can tell they are definitely not mass produced; neither the gun nor the ammo.”

“How come?”

“This is not how cast metal looks like,” he explained, scratching at the gun’s barrel with his pointed claw. “And the bullets have small imperfections along the casing.”

All that time I was giving him a deadpan look, thinking he was either joking with me or actually knowing how things of metal were made.

“What?” he asked, noticing my doubtful look, “Look, whenever Twilight was studying at the castle with Celestia and whatnot, I would sneak to the royal blacksmith. I learned a lot there about metals and stuff, even diamond cutting; not to mention the waste from the cutters was absolutely delicious.”

So that’s how he knows about all that stuff.

“Okay, okay, I won’t argue with you,” I conceded, picking up my bags and placing all the ammo in them, save for one strip of rounds.

I started walking on our originally planned path, Raven and Pewee already scouting the area ahead of us. Spike got his own backpack and went along my side, watching me as I fed the bullets into the cylinder one by one in midair.

“But I still don’t care. It’s a good gun,” I stated proudly, snapping the fully loaded cylinder back into place and placing the gun in the holster that I had just attached to a satchel on my back.

“It could bring a dragon down, could it not?” I teased him, as we walked.

“Have you seen my scales?”

“Damn you . . . other unicorns that don’t have a gun?”

“Twilight’s simplest shields could probably deflect those easily.”

My face dropped. I, Midnight Blink, having the tile of Deathbearer and possessing a huge, yet untapped source of magic, was able to spawn shadow clones of myself, blast foes with invisible forces and teleport over short distances, yet I still thought that a gun was cool.

Some things never change.

*** *** ***

The lone merchant stopped for a moment and his ears perked towards the source of the strange noise. It was already dark outside but he was so close to Dodge Junction that he didn’t stop to make camp.

He was sure that there was something -or someone- out there, focusing his eyes in an attempt to spot anything beyond the veil of darkness that came with the night.

A flick of light and a powerful wave of air pushed the earth stallion through the air. The harness broke loose from the force of the spell and he came crashing into his own caravan. Mere seconds after that, he felt his neck being squeezed as he was pulled out from the wreckage, held mid-air by a pink magical grip. He flailed his hooves around frantically, to no avail, ending up holding onto the invisible force around his neck.

“Where did he go?” a voice came from somewhere in front of him.

He barely distinguished a hooded silhouette several feet away, the faint aura around the unicorn’s horn being the only light source around.

“W-w-who?” he choked the words as breathing became more and more difficult.

“Two travelers left Dodge Junction: a dragon and a unicorn. Where were they heading?”

“T-to the- zebra- lands . . . please I’ll give you anything just-”

“WHERE in the Zebra Lands?” the female voice grew more irritated.

“Saw him going- towards the F-flat lands . . .”

Mere moments after divulging the two travelers’ heading, the merchant was yet again blasted away, crashing against the hard ground, tumbling a couple of times. When he painfully raised his head, the attacker was not there anymore.

*** *** ***

Twilight’s hoofsteps echoed in the Castle’s hallways as she neared Celestia’s study. After Luna left from her home, she managed to explain to everyone in her family about Spike and Blink’s grim situation. Shining had even offered to help as he was still Captain of the Royal Guard, but before he could do anything he had to discuss with his higher-ups: the Princesses.

Twilight appreciated his support but insisted on discussing with her mentor herself before turning to the others for help. There were a lot of things she needed to hear from the Princess herself first. As she approached the large decorated door of Celestia’s personal study, her mind kept joggling all the questions and secrecies that have been troubling her ever since the incident with Gilda. She knocked at the door while nervously trying to get her thoughts into order.

The door opened, a yellow aura surrounding its edges. Twilight stepped in, immediately noticing Celestia behind her large desk. The Princesses’ eyes were rapidly skimming through the pages of a book that looked particularly old in contrast with the ones around. She stopped reading and turned to face Twilight.

“My dear student, I’ve heard about what happened with Spike from my sister,” said Celestia, getting up from her seat and closing in on Twilight.

She leaned over and nuzzled her tenderly. The unicorn however didn’t return the gesture, just passively accepting the close presence of her mentor. Her mood and feelings simply didn’t allow her to enjoy such closeness with the one that made not one, but two special friends of her leave their home. She tried very hard not to be angry at Celestia but the more she bottled her frustrations, the more she felt like resenting the white alicorn.

“I’ve had to go through one of my personal books to remember the exact specifics of the letter sending spell,” continued Celestia, heading back to her desk to grab a freshly inscribed scroll.

She floated it over to her student and Twilight simply grabbed it and placed it in her saddlebag. Celestia darted through her room, not paying much attention to the unicorn that continued to stare at her in silence. In reality, Twilight was struggling to find a way to reach her mentor, a way to confront her about her decision. She never argued or defied Celestia in any way and the thought of raising her voice at the ruler of Equestria was the only thing that kept her mouth from articulating any words.

The Princess grabbed a few stacks of paper, most likely official documents, and then returned to where Twilight stood, next to the door.

“I’m so sorry that I can’t stay with you any longer, I have important work that needs to be taken care of. I’ll send a letter as soon as I get the chance. We’ll talk about everything soon, my student.”

“But I really wanted to ask you-”

“Twilight, I wish I could answer your questions, but I really don’t have the time at the moment to do so. As ruler of this kingdom, there are things that I need to attend to that have priority,” Celestia excused herself, looking Twilight in her eyes for one last time before heading out.

Hidden reasons and more secrecy were too much for Twilight to take anymore. The door shut in front of Celestia, stopping her in her tracks. The white alicorn stared at the door in front of her for just a few moments. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh, then turned back to her student.

“I need to know why you banished Blink,” Twilight said a little louder than she would have wanted to the royal figure.

Celestia however didn’t show any signs of anger or annoyance. She wasn’t even surprised by the boldness in Twilight’s tone, even if it hadn’t been used in her presence for a long, long time.

“I guess at some point I would have had to tell you about it,” Celestia said thoughtfully. She approached the unicorn and sat down, her mind rummaging for the most distant of memories.

“I . . .” she paused for a moment, unsure about how to translate her thoughts into mere words. An idea flashed through her mind. She immediately thought of the consequences but the questioning eyes of the mare in front of her were enough to push her forward.

“Hold still, please.”

Celestia leaned over and gently touched Twilight’s horn with her own. In an instant the unicorn felt like her entire world went out of focus, her vision going blurry then turning a pure white moments after.

Her senses came back to her one by one: first she heard nature’s noises, and then she felt the warm wind across her coat. The strange smell of what seemed to be flowers flooded her nostrils, tingling her slightly. Opening her eyes, the first thing she noticed was how weird the honey-warm light seemed. It appeared to be broad daylight, but the sky was fuzzy and bright and she couldn’t tell where the sun was.

Looking around, she found herself near a small town that reminded her of Ponyville. Almost everything she tried to focus on however was blurry, as if a thin veil of plastic filtered part of her view. Twilight turned and saw Celestia standing next to her, her eyes a pure white and horn glowing powerfully.

“Where is this? Wait- this is . . . magic,” Twilight murmured, moving her hoof in front of her as if there was a cloud of steam there.

There wasn’t any smoke but she could feel the magic of her mentor surrounding her everywhere. It was so much of it, and she had to focus very hard not to be overwhelmed by the sheer energy that was put into forming everything around her.

“Indeed, everything you see is just a spell to show you some of my memories,” Celestia stated, casually looking towards the town, her eyes iris-less.

“Why are some things unclear?” Twilight inquired, again trying to study the sky or any other specific object at a distance. “I’ve read about this spell, and it said that even if the memory holder does not remember everything around him at that time, the missing pieces would be replaced by the conscience of the pony that’s viewing the memory,” she recited from her mind.

“That is because I don’t want you to see everything,” Celestia’s calmly responded.

Twilight stared at the alicorn, wondering what reason she had not to show her seemingly trivial details like the sky or the buildings in the distance. All she could notice clearly was the grassy field they were on, several mountains near the horizon line and distant hills harbored by tall forests.

Her ears picked the sound of two approaching ponies and she turned her head, her eyes widening at the sight of two very familiar mares.

They were playfully cantering from the town, laughing at one another in an innocent game of chase. What shocked Twilight was that the tall ponies were undoubtedly Celestia and Luna, however slightly different in appearance. The one being chased was supposed to be a younger Celestia, having a light pink mane and shorter horn. Her coat was as white as always and her cutie mark was the same, although somewhat smaller. The one behind her was Luna, looking a lot like she did when she was first released from within Nightmare Moon. Her short, blue mane bounced in time with her rapid steps, her wings half-opened as to provide balance in her chase.

The two of them approached Twilight and Celestia’s location and the unicorn gulped, taking a step back. She tried to focus on the fact that nothing was real and everything was just a memory but the realism of it slightly overpowered her judgment.

“When is this?” Twilight asked hesitantly.

“I believe that there is no answer to that question that would make sense for you, so please leave it at that,” Celestia requested.

The two mares came to a stop, just feet away from them. Twilight watched them with rapt attention.

“Tired you are Celly, or do you show your defeat?” spoke the younger Luna, catching up to her sister.

“That is not, Lulu. I just wanted to have you see what I found of my powers,” Celly rebuked, searching through the grass as if she had lost something. “Here be it; look!”

She closed her eyes and focused, causing a yellow glow to surround a small, growing flower. The plant started getting bigger, sprouting weird leaves and green bulbs. The bulbs eventually opened up to reveal large, colored petals. She stopped channeling her magic when the plant reached her height and turned to her sister, irradiating proudness.

“Wow, that be happening since long ago?”

“I trust so, Lulu. Our magic is stranger than the other’s; we have more power. Night before you scared me from the dark, I did not see you coming from the shadows.”

“There is something else, sister. I- I think I know of our true magic,” the younger sister spoke in a low voice.

“What that be?”

“Your powers gift life while mine take it away. Look . . .”

The blue mare then approached the large, overgrown flower. Reaching out with a hoof she touched it barely. Dark smoke trails crawled from around the tip of her limb, spreading across the plant. The petals darkened and crumpled more and more until the whole flower turned into the same blue smoke that came from her, dissipating in the wind. Celly looked at the fading magic, amazement plastered on her face.

“That is diresome, sister.”

“It is my power, Celly. I fond the moon and you, the sun. You are the day, as I am night,” Lulu said, pointing at their cutie marks.

“But you must not do bad with this, Lulu. Promise you won’t do as you just did ever again,” the white mare asked of her sister, her eyes pleading.

“I shall not, dear Celly, that is promised.”

The image of the two sisters blurred and Twilight turned to her mentor, her heart beating fast from the implications of the powerful moment she just witnessed. Celestia’s eyes glowed brighter for a split second, and after a white flash they found themselves in a forest, the moonlight freely passing through the poor foliage of the tall, strange trees.

“Needless to say, she did not keep her promise,” Celestia uttered, her eyes glancing over the dim setting around them. “A few days after that she dreamed of a dark silhouette that told her about her destiny. I believe you have met Him the moment you pulled Blink from his grasp.”

“You mean- Death? You and your sister were-”

“Yes. At one point in our lives we bore the titles you and Blink do now,” Celestia explained, her attention partially directed to the unusual texture of a tree next to her.

“But, what happened then? And why were you speaking like that? It’s wasn’t even old Equestrian.”

Celestia smiled, still entranced by the tree near her. “That is because we based the Equestrian language on the one you just heard.”

Twilight stared at her mentor, trying to figure out how the two mares from that memory could have spoken a language that was not made by them, since presumably they were the first ponies to roam the lands of Equestria.

“So why am I seeing this? What does this have to do with me or Blink?” Twilight asked, redirecting the Princesses’ attention to her.

She let out a sigh, hearing the approaching frenzy. “It’s because I want to show how it was living alongside my sister considering our special powers,” Celestia said, looking past her student at the approaching group of fleeing ponies.

Twilight turned her head and noticed a small group of four running towards them. What struck her as odd was that two of those stallions had both wings and horns, and all of them were as tall, if not taller than the Princess. They were wearing filthy leather outfits, their manes in disarray and their faces traced with scars. Getting closer and closer, Twilight could distinguish the fear on their faces. Suddenly, a puff of smoke burst right in their way, expanding violently.

One of the stallions cast a shield in front of him, the others trying to scatter away from the imminent danger. With a swirling sound, several silvery objects flew from the trails of smoke, right towards the bolting ponies. One of them struck its target, a large chestnut earth stallion crashing into a tree, blood pouring from his chest as he drew his last breath. One of his companions had a dagger fly past his head, cutting through his left ear. The third one managed to completely avoid the thrown weapon and suddenly reconsidered his options, charging at the black mist, teeth gritting and horn glowing powerfully.

From the smoke jumped a dark pony which Twilight recognized to be Luna herself. She headed straight towards her attacker, charging at full speed. The black clothing she was wearing made no sound as it flapped in her crazed run. Her eyes leaked pure darkness in the last moment before collision, and in an instant she passed through him, as if she was a ghost. A thin strand of magic in her wake caught the stallion by the neck, wrapping around him tightly.

The one with the injured ear used that as an opportunity and took flight, trying to escape his fate. A few seconds later he crashed against the ground head first, his wings shredded by the multitude of daggers thrown at him by the dark sister. She then turned towards the last one of them and approached him slowly, her death glowing eyes locked with the shaking bandit’s. The snarls and struggles of the asphyxiating stallion behind her came to a stop as his eyes closed for one last time.

A quick burst of flames from the last stallion’s horn was skillfully evaded by Luna’s superior magic. She countered with a swift swish of her head, sending forward a burst of air so sharp that it sliced through the stallion’s horn, the upper part of it falling off completely. He crashed to the ground, raising his hooves to his head, screaming in agony.

“Lulu, NO!” a voice came from her side. The white shape of her sister approached, her breath heavy from the flight.

Celly’s eyes then caught the horror around her, her shocked gaze eventually turning to her sister. “Please don’t,” she begged her. Lulu didn’t even flinched, casually stepping towards the suffering stallion. “Don’t part in this, Lulu; you’ve already taken much a life this night. Let he be tried by the queen!”

“I shall not do such!” Lulu snarled at her sister, blinded by anger. “You want him out of our sight, never to see again, knowing he will be passing days in confinement but with light in his eyes?”

“That would be just, dearest Lulu,” Celly uttered, on the verge of tears. “We most need of calm is such moments, sister of mine, we do.”

“Calm?! Calm knowing him breathe and mum and dad not?” yelled the crazed mare, her eyes spitting shadows in the serene moonlight.

Celly let out a pained sob between her teeth, desperately trying to keep her head up. “Yes, Lulu. They be wanting that from us,” she said, her voice cracking near the end.

Lulu turned her death gaze towards the cowering murderer, magic channeling around her. A dark blue object resembling a long knife formed next to her, the blade letting the moonlight pass through its semi-transparent form.

“Mum and dad are not here anymore to know of this,” she whispered, plunging her blade in the stallion’s heart. His cry muffled off and his breathing stopped, eyes quickly losing their glare. A twist of the magic-made weapon jilted the corpse slightly, allowing the warm blood to flow freely out of him.

A powerful white light engulfed Twilight and Celestia, flooding the memory in it. Re-opening her eyes after a few moments, Twilight found herself back in Celestia’s study.

“Things turned worse after that day. As a Deathbearer, my sister craved for the thrill of taking lives. I wish I would have been there earlier that day and stop the first bloodshed,” the alicorn spoke, her eyes glistening in the room’s light.

Twilight just stared at her, not knowing what to say in such a situation. Finding out her mentor was once a Lifebringer brought more questions than answers but the worst part of it all was seeing Celestia’s reaction to her own memory: Her eyes now returned to normal, the Princess was absently staring at her study room, her mind shaken by the events she had re-witnessed who-knows how many times.

“I didn’t want the same thing to happen to you. I wanted him to be as far away as possible,” she continued, turning to her student.

“But . . . he’s not like that. He’s kind and caring and even if he will instinctually want that to happen, I’m sure we could find a way to get him to realize it. I’ve been writing reports about friendship for years now, I would have expected you to understand and give him a chance.”

Celestia hung her head and took a deep breath. Her student was right; she had been putting emphasis on learning about the magic of friendship ever since she met her and it all culminated with Twilight’s departure to Ponyville, where she met the rest of the Elements and united with them against Equestria’s most dangerous adversaries along the years.

“You are right Twilight,” Celestia finally spoke after a pause, “I should have given him a chance. I’ve let my judgment as a ruler overcome my rational thoughts as a friend and most importantly, as a mentor. I am sorry for that however there is nothing I can do about it anymore. I can only thank my sister for her decision to send him to the Griffin Kingdom instead of just exiling him like I initially intended. I must leave now Twilight; I hope that in time you will forgive me for my hasty decision.”

That being said, the Princess evaporated in a multitude of golden stars that gently fell on the floor. Twilight stood there, staring at the fading magic residue of her mentor. The whole conversation did not make her feel better about the current situation her friends were in, but at least she knew that Celestia was sorry for her judgment.

Curiosity got to her in the end and she decided to return home and learn the spell Celestia had given her in order to send letters to Spike. She knew that the faster she would master it, the faster she would be able to send her friends a message.

Twilight left the castle in the dead of night, but before she was out of the yard she noticed several gryphons standing guard near a couple of chariots, all of them wearing full uniform and were armed with muskets. Royal guards were present there as usually but there seemed to be no interaction between them. She wondered who would receive such an escort and her mind immediately went to Gilda, but the letter she received the day Blink was trialed mentioned the ambassador had left Equestria. Twilight also wondered if that was the cause Celestia was in such rush when she talked with her.

*** *** ***

The attention of everyone in the room turned to the exploding puff of magic that marked Celestia’s arrival. The fire from the lit torches around the large room flickered for a moment before resuming their calm dance.

“Celestia! An honor to have you here with us . . . finally.”

Luna turned her gaze to the gryphon that had just spoken, staring him down. However, he ignored the younger alicorn’s reaction and continued to study the Princess of the Sun as she approached and took a seat at the table.

“Apologies for my late arrival. There was an issue I urgently had to resolve. You must be Grael, king Arnost’s new advisor; a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Celestia said, bowing her head slightly towards the gryphon at the other end of the table.

“Yes, that would be me. Let us tend to the issues at hand, shall we?” he nonchalantly spoke, not bothering with any formalities.

Celestia looked at the official guest, studying him for a brief moment. He was Arnost’s new advisor, a medium-sized light brown gryphon with white neck feathers and his beak bared a small scar near the tip. Being the King’s advisor, he was basically the second in command and when a new right hand would take the position, he would usually bring with him a lot of changes, thus the need for official visits to all the kingdoms.

“Your sister here informed me about that the punishment given to that scoundrel that attacked our official ambassador was put into effect so I believe we can move to the next matter,” he spoke, opening up a scroll of paper and noting something down.

Celestia looked at her sister, calming the obvious anger in her eyes. Despite all things, Luna was showing much restraint in the presence of the cocky gryphon official but Celestia knew that restraint would be put to the test soon enough.

“Ahh yes, the issue regarding Equestria’s ‘International Integrity Decree’,” he started, citing the document with sarcasm in his tone. “You must be aware of our kingdom’s growing population and our need to expand to other territories. What we had in plan was a small colonization of the Dragon Lands region near Port of Issac. Most of it is uninhabited anyway and not even close to your borders, but your act blocks our opportunity.”

“Allow me to clarify mister Grael,” intervened Celestia, “that decree was written by me over one hundred years ago to avoid conflicts between the big nations of this planet. It ensured that every realm keeps its territory and no longer invades each other. Expansion must result only after thorough negotiations between the involved parties; I thought that the decree was clear enough on this.”

“The dragons are not using the lands we intend to occupy and there is also no possibility of negotiating with those mindless creatures. Your act is just a hinder in our progress, just because you think that you are some sort of gods in this world doesn’t mean you can dictate over every nation-”

A hoof slammed against the table, silencing the gryphon. Luna was about to stand up from her chair but her sister’s throat clearing subtly reminded her of her official position, and all that it implied.

“Choose your words carefully griffon, if you do not wish us to exemplify our powers and plunge your lands in eternal darkness,” muttered the dark Princess.

The official stared back at Luna and matched her gaze, a grin creeping up his face. “Do you think we are that stupid anymore, to believe that you can raise the moon and lower the sun across the lands? Suppose that you can do that, which fate should our kingdom face? Eternal night and coldness or the everlasting scorch of the sun? Because the other one is the one Equestria will have to go through as well.”

“There is no need for threats like these from either sides,” Celestia stepped in, her tone higher than the other’s. “However mister Grael, since you don’t look older than several decades, I must remind you that your king has signed that pact as well, almost two hundred years after the one at HoofRidge. By breaking the International Integrity Decree, you will break the former non-aggression one as well and attract hostile reaction from neighboring kingdoms.”

“So you’re not going to consider the re-negotiation of that pact?” the gryphon asked, his voice lowered and slightly dabbed with defiance.

“We will do no such things. That pact has proved to be effective and has kept the world’s peace for the past century. I am not going to change it just because of your inability to negotiate with one of the realms involved. And I will have you know that a dragon representative from the Old Ones’ council was also there when the pact was signed and proved to be more than a delightful conversation partner; unlike someone else that stands before me at this moment.”

Grael parted his beak to launch a rebuttal but stopped and re-thought his next move. Feeling angry that he had been compared to what he thought to be low-minded creatures as the dragons, he grabbed his papers and stuffed them in his satchel.

“I see how this is going, Princess. The day will come that you will regret your decision to ignore and even worse, oppose our initiative. King Arnost will know of this,” he spoke while leaving the table, heading towards the doors.

“I’m sure he will,” Luna ended, shooting an icy glare at the leaving gryphon.

After the official left with his two guards after him, Luna let out a loud groan, the air around her suddenly dropping in temperature.

“I must say dearest sister, I’m surprised of how well you took that threat,” spoke Celestia, admiring the gently falling snowflakes formed by the condensed humidity near her sister’s vicinity. “I would have expected you to-”

“I’m sick of their spineless tactics and void threats!” hissed Luna. The shadows casted in the room vibrated along with her voice.

“Rest assured sister, they won’t do anything. The balance of power shifts in Equestria’s favor if any conflicts were to arise. I’ve known Arnost since he hatched, cruel and strict as he may be with his gryphons, he wishes not their harm.”

Luna eventually calmed down and stared quizzically at her sister. “But what if they do? What if they search for allies in their greedy need of expansion?”

“None will answer their call. Peace was paid with a hefty price and every nation is happy with it and has been so for the last few hundred years,” said Celestia, getting up from the table. “And regardless of that, Arnost’s new advisors have always tried to appear threatening to the other kingdoms.”

The younger sister got up as well and headed towards a balcony. “I hope you are right. As always, I trust in your decision.”

That said, the Princess of the Night magically opened the windows and flew into the night, stirring the fires from the nearby torches.

*** *** ***

I muffled a scream, biting into my forehoof as a tear managed to escape my watering eyes.

“It’s alright now, I think I got it into place,” said Spike, looking apologetically at me.

“You think!?” I yelled at him, the pain from my leg overtaking my fear of being heard by anyone.

“I’m pretty sure that’s how it should look like normally. It will be fine in a couple of days, just don’t lean on it too much,” he answered, tightening the wraps around the splint with a firm pull.

“Ghhh- damn it, Spike!”

It was the third day of walking through the barren Zebra Lands, yet we have not seen anyone or anything other than endless dry plains and the occasional puddles of water with some vegetation around them. After only a few hours of sleep spent during the night before, I was foolish enough to push myself and postpone the break until we would have reached the tree line visible in the distance. As a result, exhaustion and lack of nutrition led me to somehow trip over a rock and twist one of my back hooves. Luck had it that I didn’t break anything, but the pain was intense nonetheless, subjecting Spike to some colorful vocabulary that I feared he would ask me of at some point.

“Guess this means we’ll make camp here . . . as I suggested,” Spike followed his sentence with a scowl.

“Yea whatever,” I mumbled, lying down on the ground under the descending sun.

I unpacked several scrolls and my notebook and resumed writing my letter to Twilight, searching my mind for a way to end it appropriately. The throbbing pain from my leg was of no assistance at all. Coming up with nothing, I eventually turned to Spike.

“Uhh Spike, how would you end a letter to Twilight?”

“Hmm, Your number one assistant, Spike?” he suggested absently, entrenched in his own message. “Ohh- you mean how you should do it? Could use: Your dear friend, Blink?”

I scowled at him, hoping he was just messing with me. “Really? That’s the best you got?”

“Excuse me, I sometimes forget you two are a thing since, you know, you don’t do much about it,” he added with a smirk.

“Pff, I’m not the one that’s here because-” I stopped, the words that followed lodging up in my throat.

Spike shot me a wide-eyed glare which quickly turned into an angry one, his pupils elongating all the way. He then turned his head back to the letter, small trails of smoke starting to rise from his shaking nostrils.

“Spike, sorry about that; I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s alright, I started it,” he quickly excused himself, still not looking at me.

“No it’s not. You were just joking and I was a jerk to you.”

He still didn’t pay attention to me, continuing to stare into his scroll. That moment made me feel like I was the worst pony alive.

“Look, when you were helping me prepare for the trip and then asked me for advice on how to approach -you know- a mare, I realised what you were planning on doing and really hoped it would’ve worked out. I know how it is to be rejected; Twilight did the same thing the first time I talked with her about this and for you it must’ve been worse than it was for me. If you want to talk about it, I would be-”

“It’s alright,” he repeated, this time throwing me a half-hearted smile. “I’m dealing with it; really, I’m gonna be okay. Thanks.”

Silence fell between us following that as we both resumed writing our letters. Glancing at him every now and then, I noticed he still looked troubled, like his mind was battling with himself as he wrote to his dearest friend with his dexterous claws wrapped around the large, black quill. I tried to believe and to convince myself that he would be alright after all that, that somehow he would find the peace and closure which he came searching for.

Turning my attention back to my own message, I tried to be reassuring and let Twilight know that we were okay and mostly on schedule. I left out the part where I got shot in the neck and Spike got jailed. I didn’t want her to be more stressed than how she probably was already.

I shivered, feeling the wind becoming a bit more chilling that evening. The magic controlling my quill wavered for a moment, but then resumed its clumsy dance on the paper scroll. I felt like winter was finally coming to those lands and I could only hope that we would be back before its full force would catch us on the road.

“Patiently yours,” came Spike’s voice, cutting through the stagnating silence.

“Huh?”

“For your ending. Patiently yours sorta’ fits. Forever yours is too much and miss you already would just remind her that you’re this far away from Ponyville.”

His kind eyes and self-pleased smile gave me a happy grin of my own. I ended the letter following his advice and folded it down carefully.

“How come you know so much about this kind of stuff?” I asked, handing it to him.

“You forgot? I’m the one that writes these things all the time for Twi’.”

He rolled both letters and held them up in his claws, staring absently at the written scrolls.

“Here it goes,” he mumbled, taking a breath then blowing a pure green flame over them.

They started burning, gentle green sparks fizzing off from the charred paper. Soon enough there was nothing left in his hand and he followed the faint smoke trails with his eyes as they climbed higher and higher, dissipating in the wind. The twilight was coming to an end, the sun throwing its last rays over the vast Zebra Lands.

“I hope she’ll receive them. I never sent letters like this,” Spike said, looking around our surroundings. “Should we call it a day? That leg of yours needs the rest,” he suggested.

I nodded, stripping down my saddlebags, letting them drop on the ground around me. I wrapped Rarity’s cloak around me as I folded my hooves under me. I let the injured leg lay free on the ground but propped against my bags for support.

“Damn lands, would have been nice if we had some firewood; and that damn forest is still too far away,” I complained, tucking myself even more.

“Neaa, I got this,” said the overconfident dragon, starting to dig up a hole between us using his sharp claws.

After it was wide enough and several inches deep, he drew air in his lungs and I could hear the familiar bubbling noise from his flame chambers. He then patted himself under his neck using his fist, drawing a deep cough from himself. For a moment Spike looked like he was choking as he began to spit a clear liquid across the shallow ditch. Alongside that liquid came through a few strands of fire, that in turn ignited the rest of the flammable substance. The fire filled the round area and burned with a small flame, providing a pleasant source of warmth.

“Dude, you’re awesome,” I uttered in disbelief.

The hole was deep enough so that the fire would not be visible from afar and the flames burned slowly but steady, releasing enough heat to warm us up; or actually just me, since Spike was cold blooded anyway, I assumed.

“I know I am,” he said with a grin, revealing his sharp fangs with pride.

I levitated from the bag what was left from Applejack’s tasty apple fritters and started munching them hungrily, gazing at the stars above us. Spike helped himself with some of his gems but I could notice he would peak at my fritters every now and then.

I always assumed he could survive on gems as I knew he always preferred them over normal food. However, his main diet did consist after all of things ponies would normally eat. I then realized those gems were probably providing as much nutrition as candy would to a normal pony. I chose the largest fritter out of my remaining ones and levitated it to him. He immediately gave me a surprised look, but I insisted before he could refuse.

“Take it. I know you still need some normal food, those gems can’t possibly give you all the energy you need.”

“T-thanks,” he said coyly, grabbing the fritter from the air and gobbling it up in one go.

We finished eating, making sure we left enough for the following days as well. There wasn’t much left so I could only hope that we would make it in time to Port of Issac. In two days tops we should had been on a ship towards the coastline of the Griffin Kingdoms if everything went well.

I shuffled closer to the fire and lay my head over my hooves, waiting to fall asleep after a long day. The two bids huddled up against their respective owners as well, Raven pushing herself against my neck in search of warmth. We fell asleep under the midnight sky, the moon shyly peaking over the distant mountains, as if watching over us from a distance.

*** *** ***

I squeezed the metal trigger gently, making sure the sights were aligned at the same time. The following blast was much louder than I expected and the recoil sent the revolver out from my magic grip and into my face.

“Son of a bitch!” I shouted, dropping the gun on the ground and pressing a hoof against the swelling bump on my forehead.

Spike was in a laughing fit over my failed attempt to finally test the gun and even Raven’s caws seemed demeaning. I opened my mouth but I had nothing to say that could have made me look better under those circumstances. I decided it would be better to not say anything so I went to inspect the damage on my target, which was a tree around ten feet away from us. Getting closer to it, I noticed the bullet had indeed penetrated the bark and was lodged deep inside the tree.

“Looks that it actually did more to this than to your face after all,” said Spike, coming closer to see the ‘target’ himself.

“How funny we are this fine morning, need I remind you who’s actually wielding the gun here?” I asked, waving the weapon in front of me.

He held a snicker with his claw, and then nonchalantly walked back to where we had our saddlebags, letting out a laugh every now and then. I followed him, albeit slower due to the splint around my twisted hoof. Fortunately he was nice enough to carry my bags in order to put less strain on my injured leg. It was because of things like those that made me wave away all his jokes and jabs, which I had to admit I enjoyed taking part in.

I revealed the cylinder of the magnum and popped out the empty shell, replacing it with a new bullet. I didn’t have a lot of ammo so I decided it would be best not to waste it on useless shooting. The gun had proven to work, although a firmer magic grip on it was needed, testimony for which stood the large bump on my forehead.

“Blink, how far away did you say the small portion of the Dragon Lands we have to cross was?” Spike asked, his wings flurrying slightly.

“According to the map, this forest holds the boundary between Zebra and Dragon Lands. There’s a valley we need to cross and another forest at the other side of the mountain chain and we’ll be to Issac in no time. Why, nervous of seeing your own kind?”

Spike’s face dropped a bit, his eyes darting around nervously. “It’s not that, just- I don’t know. I’ve only been close to other dragons when I was younger and that didn’t turn out too well. From what I know, we’re gonna enter the territory of an actual dragon and from my experience that’s never a good thing.”

“Relax, it’s going to be fine. We just need to not stop for breaks and we’ll be out of their territories in no time,” I reassured him, trying to be convincing.

Truth be told, I was extremely nervous myself. I knew what Spike could do with his claws and fire, and I didn’t want to think about what an adult of his kind would do to us.

“How are those wings coming along?” I asked, changing the discouraging topic.

Spike extended his brand new wings, giving them a couple of beats. “They’ve grown a little bit more, still no air time though,” he muttered, flopping them down.

“Well at some point you’ll need to learn to fly properly. Might come in handy, you know?”

He turned a weak smile and we carried on, heading deeper and deeper into the forest. After several hours of walking we stopped for a quick break. I laid down on the ground to rest my hoof and removed my notebook and the map from the bags. I inspected it to make sure we were on our right course and then opened the notepad, searching for a spell that hopefully could solve my ammo problem.

“I’m gonna go and search for some food, maybe there’s some berries around. I’ll be back soon,” said Spike as he got up.

He looked around, taking a couple of sniffs in hopes of picking up the scent of anything edible.

“Alright, don’t go too far; we have to leave soon, Dragon Lands is up ahead,” I told him, focused on my notes.

He nodded and went in his search accompanied by his pet, Peewee, leaving me alone in the small clearing. Raven was missing too, probably scouting the areas around us as usual. I looked around, feeling a bit weird to be alone in an unknown place like that. I returned my attention to the spell I was looking for and started going through all the steps.

Finally content with it, I pulled my pistol and removed all the bullets from the barrels. I kept one, hovering it in front of me.

“Okay, let’s see if this works.”

Magic channeled through my horn and around the levitated bullet. The blue aura spread to the gun as I scrunched my face in concentration, trying to make everything perfect. It had to be. The intense magic faded away as I finished casting the spell. Looking at the pistol I was very happy to see six bullets loaded into the barrel, all of them a duplicate of the one hovering next to the gun.

I let out a sigh, glad that ammo shortage was no longer an issue. Looking back into my notes I was reminded of the only drawback of that spell: the effect was temporary and the duplicated items would not last too long after the spell had been cast. Excitement getting the better of me, I decided I should try the gun out again. I aimed it at the center of a tree, holding it steady and firmer than the last time.

I pulled the trigger with my magic and the hammer snapped against the back of the bullets. Nothing happened. I pulled again. Same result. I angrily dry-fired the weapon six times without any result. The hammer made contact with the cap every time but for some reason it did not explode. I removed the ammo and studied it carefully, comparing the duplicated bullets with the original one. To my frustration, they were all the same. Then, right in front of me, the six rounds puffed away from existence as the effects of the spell wore out.

“Damn it; back to the drawing board . . .”

I was going over the spell again when a noise caught my attention. I looked in front of me, trying to spot its source through the dense forest. I shrugged it off, thinking it was just a critter or something. A few moments later, I heard steps coming from behind me but I recognized those to be Spike’s.

“Dude, found some blueberries, they’re awes-”

I heard a twang in front of me, followed by a swooshing sound over my head. Time seemed to slow down as my eyes instantly fell on a dark chestnut pegasus in a tree in front of us. He was looking at something behind me, a bow held in his hoof. My heart stopped when I pieced everything together. I turned my head towards where Spike’s voice came from and saw him standing feet away from me. His wide eyes moved from me to the arrow stuck in his chest, his mouth slightly opened as he tried to utter something to me.

I beat my hooves against the ground as I tried to get up as fast as possible. While darting towards him, I summon several shield plates behind me, scared that the attacker might shoot again.

“Blink, w-what was that,” he asked surreally as he continued to stare at his chest.

I put my hooves up to him but hesitated touching the arrow, not knowing how to react in that situation.

“H-how the hell did it hit you, Spike? Your scales, damn it! How?!” I sputtered, panicked.

I kept gawking at the arrow stuck inside of my friend, noticing the scales covering his chest were thinner than the rest. I then heard the flapping noise of the pegasus’ wings. As I turned around, I saw him hovering twenty feet in front of us, staring at us, a new arrow held against the bow attached to some sort of leather straps around his right hoof.

I didn’t wait for him to draw his next shot so, fueled by the pure anger inside of me, I focused on a nearby small tree. A foggy energy field started forming around me, my channeled magic becoming visible. The tree was surrounded by blue wisps, and with a grunt I pulled it from the ground and hurled it at the pegasus. He graciously tumbled in the air, dodging it. Meanwhile I had summoned a tendril that dragged across the ground towards him. Right as he recovered from his evasion, the tendril shot from underneath him and caught his hind legs.

“Got you, bastard,” I hiss, pulling him to the ground.

He hit the ground and I charged at him --as much as limping towards him at a fast pace can be called a charge--, my only goal being to eliminate the threat that he posed. He trashed his legs against the ground and quickly got up, assuming a defensive stance. Using his wing he pulled what looked like a knife from the gear strapped to his back. I immediately wrapped my magic around it and pulled it from his grip, to his surprise. I looked back where my bags were and fetched my gun, sending it flying to me.

As I reached him, he started beating his wings, trying to run away. A blast of air to his side sent him back to the ground in front of me. My horn was glowing powerfully and my leg hurt from the running but I only had one thing in mind. The pistol by my side, I aimed it at him. His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something just as I pulled the trigger.

I’m an idiot. The pistol was empty, as I had removed the real bullets to put the magic ones in.

“Don’t!” he pleaded, “I thought he was attacking you, I tried to save your life!”

I blinked. It took a moment for me to process that and to switch off my death-inducing furry. Just for a bit; I wasn’t the kind of guy that wouldn’t listen to reason.

“Speak, fast,” I barked, heading back towards Spike, pulling him after me using a tendril as a leash.

“I- I was flying through the woods when I heard you. I came to the source of the noise and saw you standing here in the clearing reading that book of yours. Then I saw that dragon coming up from behind you with blood on his mouth so I shot him with my bow. He looked like-”

His speech was interrupted by Spike, who got up, dashed surprisingly fast towards us and pummeled him into the ground with his fists wrapped around each other.

“Spike, what the hell are you doing?” I looked at him, quizzically. “Stay down, you have a god-damn arrow in your chest. He said he didn’t know you were with me, don’t kill him.”

The anger in his look toned down a little and he sat on the ground, taking deep breaths, still in shock after the sustained wound. The stallion he had smashed down slowly got up, shaking his head.

“I’m sorry, I- I can fix this. It’s obviously the arrow didn’t hit your heart otherwise you wouldn’t have had that power in you,” said the pegasus, visibly shaken by the dragon's attack.

Spike grunted, blowing smoke through his nostrils. The chestnut stallion approached him hesitantly, looking back at me for confirmation. I closed in on Spike, looking into the other pony’s eyes.

“If you do something funny, it will be the last thing you do, I swear,” I said in a low voice, my horn starting to glow again.

He nodded and directed his attention to the arrow, gently placing his hooves near the penetrated area. A loud caw filled the air as Peewee landed on his owner’s shoulder, back from her flight. She stared at the new pony, darting her eyes from him to Spike. “It’s alright,” whispered Spike, running a claw under the bird’s neck to calm her.

“Ye’re in luck dragon, it only went in a couple of inches. The tip should still be between your ribcage.” The pegasus then turned to me. “You can do this better than I could, I want you to grab it with your magic and pull gently. I’ll hold the scales apart.”

I stared at him and then at Spike. “Do it,” he mumbled, his teeth clenched from the pain. I took a deep breath and gently formed a magical point of contact around the arrow’s end. The pegasus used his hoof to spread the scales between which the projectile had penetrated. I started tugging at the arrow, eliciting painful groans from the dragon. With a stronger pull, it finally started to come out. A few drops of sweat came down my forehead as I tried to exercise an even force on the arrow.

“Got it!” I almost shouted, the arrow floating in front of me. I brought my saddlebag and retrieved some compresses from a small first aid pack Twilight had given me. The arrow had indeed only penetrated a couple of inches and there wasn’t a lot of blood coming out of the wound.

“Here, hold this against it for a while,” I said, handing Spike the white bandage.

“I told ya it was going to be alright,” spoke the pegasus, drawing a somewhat angry stare from Spike.

I grabbed him and walked away from the dragon, debating in my head what I was going to do next.

“Thanks for helping him out there, and the whole misunderstanding . . . what are you even doing here of all places?” I asked him.

I took a moment to study the strange stallion for the first time. He had a dark, rusty coat and a cream colored mane. He wore leather straps around his front hooves that he probably used to handle his bow. He was also wearing a vest with several pouches on the side and had a built-in quill with a few arrows in it.

“I live here,” came his response, somewhat reluctantly.

“What?” I looked at him, slightly shocked.

“This forest has been my home for the last couple of years. Look, I should probably leave. If you want though, I could take you and your friend to where I’m camped at the moment. I got some food and a nice place to rest; he’ll need to stay in one place for at least the rest of the day with that wound of his.”

I pondered on his offer and somehow accepting it didn’t seem like a huge mistake. In fact, I was curious to how the pegasus had ended up in a place like that in the first place. And most importantly, Spike and I needed a safer place to stay.

“Okay, let me pack our stuff and we’ll follow you to your place.”

I rushed back to where Spike was sitting and helped him get up. “Listen, he has a safer place to stay and you can’t possibly travel with that wound open.”

“Are you insane? That guy tried to kill me!” protested Spike, obviously still angry at the pegasus.

“Hey, it was a mistake, or so I hope. I’ll keep my eye on him, don’t worry. Better risk it and stay safe where we can see him rather than having him watch us from the forest when it gets dark.”

“If I wanted you dead I would have done so in the first place,” came the other stallion’s voice from behind us. “I would have shot you first then incapacitated the dragon and killed him off after. But I don’t do that, I don’t kill ponies; or dragons.”

Spike eyed him for a moment, hesitating in his decision. “I guess we can give him another chance,” the young dragon finally decided, “but do anything strange and I’ll burn you where you stand.”

“Fair enough,” the stallion nodded his head.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I turned to him. “Never really had the opportunity to properly greet each other; I’m Midnight Blink and my friend over here is Spike.”

“Name’s Chaser; sorry we had to meet in these kind of circumstances. Follow me, my place is not far from here.”

We grabbed our stuff and slowly made our way deeper into the forest, following the pegasus. My eyes never left him as we walked through the untamed forest of the border between Zebra and Dragon lands. At the same time, I couldn’t stop thinking that not even half-way into our trip we had already got ourselves shot, jailed and almost killed. I could only imagine how the other half would be like.

An eerie sensation however never left my mind after the previous encounter. My thoughts kept going to that exact moment when I was close to Chaser, my revolver pointed at his face. That little effort to magically trigger the gun seemed so tantalizing even after deciding I would trust him. It was as if somehow, I still wanted to do it: to kill him where he stood, to feel the life pour out of his dead body, to know that I myself sent his soul to Him, that dark silhouette that made me what I was.

I suddenly got distracted by the faint blue light cast on my snout. I realized my horn was glowing ever so slightly and I immediately felt the magic link between it and something near my bags. I turned my head back and notice the gun engulfed in the dark-blue aura, trying to get out but prevented by the holster’s strap.

“Everything alright, Blink?” Spike’s voice snapped me out of that weird state, my energy channeling dropping in an instant.

“Yea, I’m uhh- I’m fine . . . I guess” I said, but whispering the last words.

End of chapter 16

Chapter 17: A Different Kind of Diamond

Chapter 17

A Different Kind of Diamond

Twilight ran a hoof over her cheek, brushing away a few tears that had managed to fall despite her outstanding restraint. Her magic held the second of the two letters she had received unexpectedly while packing the few thing she had brought to Canterlot.

The first one was from Spike, and despite her being upset at him for leaving home like he did, she managed to cheer up after reading about their travels. Somehow, it reminded her of their own adventures and the realization that he was growing up was finally starting to sink in. Spike had apologized numerous times throughout the letter for what he had done, but in the end Twilight realised it was, after all, his decision. She always knew that ‘finding himself’- as the young dragon had put it - would be an issue they would have to go through at some point. However, she never imagined she wouldn’t be there for him, especially when he was emotionally weakened the most.

Twilight took a couple of deep breaths and then rolled the messages up, placing them in her saddlebags. She went downstairs and after saying goodbye to her parents, she headed towards Canterlot’s train station.

During her train ride her mind was mainly set on the previous day’s events, namely the unsettling memories of Celestia. She always considered the royal sisters as the most special of ponies that ever existed, deities among regular ponies. However, in that specific memory they seemed somehow normal, apart from the last bit that showed Luna’s darker side. The whole experience did little to settle her mind and only raised more questions: who was the ‘Queen’ the younger Celestia talked about? Why was their language that different? Who were the others ponies and why was being an alicorn such a common thing at that time and place? All those questions never gave her a moment’s rest during the ride home.

In Ponyville, Dash was the first one to see her while handling a few scarce clouds. Soon, all her friends were at the library, going over everything they heard after listening to Twilight. The news that Spike was not going to come back soon brought everyone down, and even finding out about Shining and Cadence’s future foals couldn’t lighten the mood for the six friends.

“It’s all right, sugarcube, our Spike will be home soon, you just wait and see,” claimed Applejack, giving Twilight a strong, comforting hug.

“So will Blinky, and you two will be back to smooching in no time!”

Pinkie drew the blushing unicorn into a bone-crushing hug herself.

Between all her friends, Rarity was the most quiet. She stared at the floor, watching as a tear fell and hit the floor. Truth was the sadness in her eyes never went away ever since the young dragon had left Ponyville.

Drenched in her thought, she suddenly felt a warm touch engulfing her.

“It’s not your fault, Rarity . . .” whispered Twilight, clutching her tight.

The white mare stifled a sob, returning the gesture. She was out of words and soon, the rest of her friends were around her, their close presence bringing a soothing calm into her troubled mind. And so Rarity’s thoughts were a little less dark, because between her naked tears she could tell that no one was judging her, no one was mad at her. She could only see the five other ponies and the sturdy bond of friendship between each of them. The Elements were once again shining bright.

*** *** ***

The fire burnt eagerly, cracking and throwing a few dozen sparks every now and then as Chaser placed another small log over it. I was absently staring into the dancing flames, throwing Spike and the pegasus an occasional look. An empty can of soybeans laid in the dirt besides me, while my traveling partner was already on his third.

“Why are you here? Why are you living in a forest between Zebra and Dragon lands?” I finally found the courage to ask.

Chaser looked at me, eyes glistening in the camp’s fire. “Because here, I’m free.”

I stared at him a few moments, trying to figure out what he meant by that. However the night was not young anymore so the tug of sleep kept me from asking more questions.

“I’m going to sleep; I suggest you do the same, especially you,” he said, looking at Spike. “Your wound needs rest and tomorrow we’re waking up early if you want me to lead you towards the Dragon lands.”

“Lead us?” I asked, surprised by his gesture.

“The least I can do is guide you on a safe way towards your destination. That is, if you accept my help.”

“We do,” I muttered slowly, watching him strip down his quiver.

He gently grabbed his bow with a hoof and a couple of blades with the tip of his wings, slowly placing them on the ground between him and the fire. I took it as a gesture of trust however I was still unsure whether to trust that total stranger. I made myself comfortable on the ground, using the saddlebags as a pillow but keeping the holster in the cup of my hooves. Spike had shifted closer to me and was already fast asleep, probably tired from the sustained injury. Peewee was resting on one of his spiked scales, vigilant for his master. Raven was just above us on a branch, her eyes fixated on the fire.

Sleep inevitably took me after a couple of lazy blinks. After what felt like seconds a distant, spine-chilling screeching sound woke me up. I sprang up and to my horror, Spike and Chaser were missing. My heart started racing and I tried to pierce the darkness of the forest around me, but couldn’t see anything or anyone. My lips trembled as I was about to call after Spike, unsure if it would be a good idea to make any loud noises. A whisper from behind me froze the blood in my veins.

I was exposed, illuminated by the only light in sight as it shone like a beacon in the dark. I showered the low-burning campfire in dirt, extinguishing it, and then slammed my back against a nearby tree, trying to calm my loud breathing. In complete silence, I scanned the forest for any movement. My eyes were slowly adapting to the perpetual darkness around when I noticed a pair of white orbs deep into the tree line. They looked awfully familiar to eyes and I gulped, not knowing whether that thing was aware that I noticed it. I shut my eyes close and focused, recalling the training session I had with Luna.

The cold air of the night started piercing through my body as I became a shadowy form, blending with the darkness around. I felt lighter and more agile, but at the same time colder, as if my heart had become a deep void. As I was about to head to whatever was watching me, I picked up the same whispering sound, but it was coming from another direction.

“You should have killed him,” a strange voice came from my side. “Like this . . .”

I spun around and managed to recognize the floating shape of a pony, engulfed in a deep blue aura. It jumped towards me and I instantly raised a shield between us. The pony however didn’t lounge at me but crashed in the dirt, a couple of feet away. From the faint glow of my shield, I managed to recognize him. It was Chaser, and he was dead. Looking back up, I could tell that another pony, a unicorn, was there.

“Where’s Spike?” I asked, unsure.

“Why didn’t you let me kill him?” he answered with a question, his head hung low.

The deep night didn’t allow me to notice anything else other than the fact that he was a unicorn stallion. My eyes darted from the dark figure to the distant eyes I initially noticed, and found out that they were closer. I didn’t know what the hell was going on and started fearing for my companion’s life.

“Who are you? And where’s Spike?” I asked again, that time louder and firmer.

“Why didn’t you let me kill him with our gun?” came his rebuke.

His head jerked a little and I suddenly felt something hanging around my waist. I looked down and saw the holster, which wasn’t there before. The eerie sensation felt right before arriving at Chaser’s camp returned and I noticed how the revolver was yet again trying to get out. It was then that I realised the faint aura around it was coming from the dark stallion. My heart froze: it was the same magical aura as mine. The weapon eventually came out and floated in front of me, its hammer coking up.

“W-what are you doing?” I asked, seemingly unable to do anything in response to my own weapon being pointed at me.

“What am I doing? What are you doing?”

He came closer, close enough for me to see him better. He raised his head and to my horror, I realised he was me.

“How-”

A fast blur of smoke collided with him, smashing him against a tree. The black cloud materialized between us, taking the form of a tall, familiar alicorn. Throwing me a quick glance, I saw the same eyes that were watching me earlier. I had never seen Luna like that, and that scared me even more.

“You won’t be able to watch over him forever,” my strange clone spoke, letting out a pained laugh and fading into the forest’s decor.

As I was about to ask Luna what the hell was going on, a loud caw right next to me caught my attention. I turned my head and saw Raven, close to my face. The lights in my head went out for a brief moment, and then I heard her again. Opening my eyes, I found myself lying on the ground, daylight creeping through the thick forest. Raven was nibbling at my forehoof, occasionally throwing me tilted looks. I got up and saw Spike rummaging through his bag.

“Morning,” he said, continuing his search.

So it was all a dream.

“Hey . . . uhh- where’s Chaser?” I asked.

The images of his cold, dead body were still fresh in my head, drawing chills down my spine. Although there wasn’t much light in my dream, I remembered his mutilated, bloody shape as if it was the most real thing I had seen in my life.

“He said he went out to get some supplies. Said he’ll be back soon and we can then leave.”

“How’s the wound?” I looked at the fresh bandages around his chest.

“Aching a bit. He helped me with it this morning though, changed the dressing. What happened to you?” he asked, probably noticing my faster than normal breathing.

“Just a dream, don’t worry,” I dismissed it.

I grabbed my saddlebags and got ready to leave. Chaser arrived after a while, landing near us in perfect silence.

“How do you do that? Land without making any sounds?” Spike looked at him questioningly.

“It becomes a necessity if you want to live in the wilderness like I do. Come on now, we need to head out.”

We followed him through the dense forest, checking my map regularly. Every now and then a noise would make me flinch, the dread of seeing the clone from my dream never leaving me. It seemed we were on the right path and after a couple of hours, a few mountain peaks could be seen in the distant horizon.

“That be Razerclaw’s Valley, nearest path that leads through the narrow portion of their land,” Chaser explained, stopping for a small break. “So you two’re heading to Issac’s Port?”

“Yes,” I muttered, pulling out my water canteen and taking a sip.

“You don’t look the kind.”

“Pardon?”

“Issac is where you can find outlaws of all races and types. And you don’t look the kind. So, either taking a boat to the Great North or the Griffin Lands. Which one?”

“Griffin Lands, official matters,” I answered sharply, not wanting to reveal more information than needed.

I studied him again, seeing that it was the first time I could clearly observe him in the daylight. His cutie mark was visible enough for me to figure out that it was an arrow, similar to the ones he had in his quiver. I could also notice that his coat was traced by several scars and there was a small portion on his hind leg that had no fur on it.

“What about you? What were you doing before taking refuge in these woods?” I questioned, not wanting to be too forward and ask about the scars and the more than likely burn patch.

“Hunter of the Canterlot Woods.”

“But ponies don’t eat meat,” Spike intervened.

“Ponies no, the rest yes. There are quite a few gryphons and minotaurs in Canterlot that need meat in their diet.”

“Seems like the perfect job for you. Why did you leave?”

“Because of reasons. Let’s go now, break’s over,” he said, getting up and heading towards the mountains.

*** *** ***

“I’ll be off now, sugarcube; my brother’s at Fluttershy to repair a chicken coop so I’ll need to do his chores as well,” said the orange mare, giving Twilight one last hug. “Take care now, ya hear?”

Evening was creeping over Ponyville, with the sun beginning its descent across the cloudless late-autumn sky. Rarity and Applejack were the last ones to remain at Twilight’s library. The rest of her friends had gone home one by one, and after AJ closed the door behind her, there was only Rarity left.

“You should go too, you’ve been here almost all day,” Twilight urged her friend.

“Are you sure, dear? I could stay if you want,” Rarity said rather nervously, her eyes darting around, searching for a reason to be there.

“It’s all right. I’m fine, really-”

“I’m not,” Rarity interrupted, her eyes getting misty. “I just can’t get that image out of my mind,” she continued, curling up on the couch. “The disappointment on his face. I broke his heart, how can you still consider me a friend?”

Twilight rushed to her, wrapping a hoof around her neck. “You’ll always be my friend, Rarity; and I know you didn’t mean for that to happen, I know you would never harm him. He’s going to be fine, I know that.”

She gently rocked back and forth, calming the fashionista with her close presence, as her tears eventually stopped and her heart had calmed down, much to her relief. After a few more moments, Rarity gave Twilight one last hug and then left without saying anything else, rushing to her boutique in the hope that she might find solitude there.

Twilight, let out a deep sigh and plopped on the couch, feeling exhausted after the emotionally-draining day. However from out of nowhere, something drew her attention, her ears involuntarily perking up at an absent sound. She got up and made her way to a window facing the outskirts of Ponyville, where she started outside, looking for whatever had caught her attention in such an unusual way.

Scouting the distant edges of the forest and Kazooie’s farm, she didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, until she caught something with the corner of her eye, right by the small lake and the wooden house near it. A purple flash filled the library and Twilight was gone, lone sparks of magic falling onto the library’s floor.

Along with warnings of the impending winter, the wind outside also brought chills to the unicorn mare standing outside of Blink’s house. She stared at it curiously, wondering if she probably imagined seeing the strange pony that went in. It was, after all, a fairly great distance from her library and her subconscious might have played a trick on her.

Twilight went to the door and hesitantly pushed it open with her hoof. The noise made by the old hinges filled the small living room and was soon followed by the unicorn’s hoofsteps. The house looked exactly the same as it did the day Blink left. Twilight stared at a particular spot on the floor, recent memories resurfacing from her mind.

“Blink,” Twilight uttered, getting close to the stallion and magically checking up the straps of the two heavy satchels on his lower back, “promise me . . . promise me you’ll be back,” she said in a low voice, the weight of those words making her eyes tremble with emotion.

“You have my word Twi’, I will return,” came his promise.

The unicorn let out another sigh but before she had the chance to delve into other memories, a sudden feeling ticked her off. Going on a hunch, her horn started glowing as she cast a spell to detect nearby presences. It became clear to her that there was magic inside the house, a somewhat strange type of magic, but she was definitely not alone.

The only other room in the house was the bedroom so she approached it cautiously. When she got close to the door, Twilight stopped and listened. There was nothing but silence in the whole dwelling.

Curiosity tipped her over the edge so she opened the door, clenching her teeth and preparing for anything that might happen. What Twilight saw however, was nothing she could have been prepared for. Right near the old writing desk there was a white mare dressed up in strange garments. It wasn’t the clothes that caused Twilight’s heart to come to a complete stop; it was the fact that the pony standing in Blink’s room was translucent.

Twilight took a few steps back, the apparition seeming as surprised as she was. The lavender unicorn immediately attempted to trace any kind of magic links that would explain what she was seeing. A few seconds were enough for her to realise that it wasn’t a magic trick of any kind. In front of her was an autonomous, sentient source of magic, very similar to other sources of magic she saw on a daily basis: a unicorn; the ghost of a unicorn, to be more precise.

“Dator vitae . . .” whispered the white mare, staring back at her.

Right before Twilight could say anything, the ghost headed straight towards a wall and galloped away, passing through it without even flinching.

“Wait!” Twilight yelled after her, her hoof suspended mid-air.

Another flash of purple light and Twilight was outside the house, scanning the edge of the nearby forest for movement. A bright, distant flicker in the tree line caught her attention so she galloped towards it, determined to find out who exactly was the pony she had seen. After a few moments of chase, Twilight was starting to catch up with the white mare. They were heading deeper and deeper and as the trees around her became darker and darker, Twilight realised she had entered the untamed territories of the Everfree forest.

Every step into the dark, tainted land made it harder and harder for Twilight to make out the branches, moss and slippery rocks standing between her and the unknown pony. After a while, the white mare was nowhere to be seen, as it was expected since she had the advantage of passing straight through the obstacles the forest provided.

Twilight slowed to a canter, then a trot, eventually stopping to take her breath. A few head turns and she realised it would be impossible to continue the chase. The daylight’s end was drawing closer and closer with the Everfree letting even less sunlight pass through its rich corona. She took one last look into the forest’s heart and turned around, slowly heading back towards Ponyville.

A lot of mysterious creatures came from the Everfree, but not once had she ever seen or heard of ghosts or spirits other than from fantasy books. Whoever that was, she knew that it showed interest for her friend’s house and that had to be for a reason.

*** *** ***

Meanwhile, several miles away, in a small, cozy cottage near the edge of the same forest paced Fluttershy, her heart racing like it always did when he was around. Angel was scolding her, to no effect whatsoever. No matter how much he pushed and pulled at her mane, it was never enough to make her actually do something about her feelings.

Outside, Big Mac was finishing repairs on the old chicken coop, wiping away a few beads of sweat. He placed his trustworthy hammer back into a satchel and went to the cottage’s door, giving it a couple of firm knocks.

Inside, Fluttershy’s heart jumped.

Did he finish already? But, it’s so soon, that means he’ll have to leave now . . .

She rushed to the entrance and opened the door, hiding most of herself behind it. And there he was, the large red stallion, with his thick shoulders and messy, short mane.

He smiled at her, and her heart went even faster. “I finished fixin yer’ coop, miss Shy,” he said, looking quite pleased of himself. “Is there anything else ya might want me to help with?”

Fluttershy just stared back at him, turning a blank face. The most perfect of statues, if it wasn’t for her fur that gently swayed in the outside’s nippy breeze.

“I’m- I’m okay, thank you for the help. . .” she squeaked in a barely audible volume.

Big Mac smiled, understanding. He always knew she was the shyest of his sister’s friends and never wanted to make her feel uncomfortable. So he did like he always did: a nod of his head and a gentle salutation.

With him on his way back to the farm, Fluttershy was still not moving at all, staring at Mac as he left. Her chest hurt from the beating and her mind was a storm. Nothing out of the ordinary considering he was still in her eye sight.

She tried to remember when that started happening. It was probably at one of Pinkie’s parties when he asked her what she thinks about the event. Nope, she clearly recalled her heart racing the same back then.

He was crossing the small bridge, still in her yard.

Why can’t I just do it? What if I will never be able to say it?

She was quivering in place, a low squeak escaping her lips. Obviously, it wasn’t loud enough to catch his attention.

He was still walking, almost near the gate.

I have to do this, I have to . . . but I can’t, I just can’t!

He reached the gate and nudged it open with a hoof. Big mac was soon to be out of her sight, and she would have to wait again for something to break or find a reason to visit Applejack’s farm. She wanted to see him. She liked seeing him. Even the almost-conversations she had with the big, red stallion were a thrill for her.

The gate swung open and he went through it. That was it, the last she would see of him for Celestia-knows how many days.

No . . . not this time.

“Wait!” she gushed, her legs carrying her forwards at a surprising speed.

His hoof froze on the gate, just about to close it shut from the other side of the small fence. She didn’t know how it happened but soon she found herself over the small bridge, slowing down as she regained control over her legs. He was close again.

“Yes, Fluttershy?” he turned his head, the same lazy smile on his face.

She froze again, but that time something pushed her out of that state. Her eyes quiver slightly as she took a quick, small breath.

“Would you- uhm, like to come inside for some- herb tea, or just some water? Or food?” she said in an almost whimper.

Did I just invite him to dinner? At my place? Now?

She couldn’t believe that she actually managed to say that. And she was definitely not ready for his answer.

“That’s mighty nice of ya’, miss Fluttershy,” he responded, his smile never wavering. “But I’ve to . . .” Mac paused, taking a quick look behind him, towards the farm. His leftover chores could probably wait a bit more. And his sister did insist on him staying there as long as he needed for some strange reason.

“That would actually be lovely,” he decided, his grin somewhat brighter and warmer.

Fluttershy smiled back, blushing madly behind her mane. Inside her head, she was leaping with joy.

*** *** ***

“Spike, are you all right?” I asked in a hushed voice, slowing down.

The dragon several feet behind me was almost dragging his feet, drained from all the walking. The day before that Chaser left us at the edge of the forest, having fulfilled his promise of guiding us towards the safest passage through the Dragon Lands. With each step, less and less trees filled the toughening soil beneath our feet. Soon enough mountains and cliffs loomed over our heads as we made our way through the narrow valleys and passages between the old massifs.

“Okay, time for a short break,” I decided despite Spike’s look of protest.

“I can do it; really, I’m fine,” he said between gritted teeth, his head lowered as to hide his pained expression. He brought his claw to the bandage wrapped around his chest, cringing slightly when touching the area around it.

“Spike, you’re not fine. That wound is not healing at all and the closest thing we have to a hospital is in Issac’s Port. That’s almost two days away, at a normal pace.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. Things were not looking good at all for either of us, and the journey was beginning to take its toll on me.

“I should have never let you come with me in the first place,” I murmured, shaking my head.

We ended the break after half an hour, almost double the time the last break was. The valley we were crossing was wider and small pathways lead up to its edges or to different, smaller pathways. I remembered Chaser’s advice to not climb up higher and stay as low as possible. Although dragons weren’t common in that part of their territory, some still flew above it every now and then, so minimizing our exposure was a must.

A strange, distant noise caught my attention. I turned my head around and scanned for anything suspicious.

“You hear that?” I asked Spike, coming to a stop.

“What?”

“It was like-”

A sudden pink light flashed across the right side of the mountain, above us. I lowered my head and hugged the left wall, thinking that it was another dragon passing over us. The ground beneath my hooves shook slightly, more of a jolt than anything else. Raven, which was perched on my shoulder let out a faded caw. Peewee was also smart enough to turn herself off, not to attract any unwanted attention. But then I felt it: magic. Somehow, I could sense another magic source. It was something I started getting the hang of during my studies with Twilight.

Then it hit me: the pink flash might have been a spell. I signaled my companion to be quiet as I moved ahead, tilting my head up to get a better glimpse of what was above us. I didn’t like our situation at all: we were traveling through a deep valley between large cliffs and mountains; we couldn’t be more vulnerable than that.

Another shake, this time stronger. A cracking sound erupted from above and the ground started trembling as more pink flashes filled the valley.

“RUN NOW!” I shouted, my upper field of view clotted by large boulders rolling down towards us.

I dashed ahead as fast as I could, throwing quick glances behind my shoulder to make sure Spike was following. Fortunately, he was keeping up; barely. Raven had bolted up and Peewee was close behind her. So much for our loyal companions . . .

Large chunks of displaced mountain crashed down behind us, and more kept coming down ahead of us. The path behind was blocked, leaving us no option but to pray we were fast enough to outrun the avalanche.

A larger boulder bounced off the left side while rolling and smashed against the right walls of the valley, shattering in a multitude of fragments, all coming down right in front of us. As I ran, I clenched my teeth and shut my eyes, letting the pure energy erupt out of my body as I tried to channel as much magic as possible in the shortest of time.

Large, translucent plates formed out of almost pure magic materialized above us, crudely stacking on top of each other to cover ourselves as best as possible. The rain of boulders started hitting the shields, each hit sending nerve-racking jolts through my horn. Some of them started cracking, and others that I couldn’t manage to focus properly on simply faded away.

My heart froze as a larger boulder smashed through one of the cracked shields, hurtling towards me. A bright, golden light flashed across the sides of the shaking valley and the rock exploded in a fiery burst, sending smaller fragments everywhere. Some managed to hit me across my back and legs, but the adrenaline blocked out the pain as I kept galloping. My horn however felt like it was about to burn into my skull.

The avalanche seemed to have ended, the sound of the rockslide ceasing all of a sudden. Spike was fortunately right behind me, apparently uninjured. With the corner of my eye I spotted the one that probably saved my life: Peewee was gaining altitude, her flame stronger than I had ever seen before.

Seeing that no more rocks were tumbling down, I slowed to a crawl, eventually collapsing on the ground, taking large gulps of air to calm my heartbeat.

“Spike- you okay dude?”

No answer.

“Spike?” I asked again, turning my head.

The dragon was laying on the ground face-up, right behind me. His chest was rising and lowering slower than expected after an event like the one we went through and he seemed to be in noticeable pain. I got up and rushed to him, craning his head up with a hoof.

“Spike? What the hell, you all right? Talk to me Spike!”

“My- my chest,” he mumbled, his eyes barely opened.

I looked down where the wound was and noticed a small strand of blood coming from under the soaked bandage. I gently removed it and to my horror noticed that his injury was dribbling puss and dark blood.

I started panicking.

“It’s infected. Damn it, I don’t know what to do. I don’t have any meds, I can’t even, I . . .” I froze, the thought that my friend could very well die in the next day if he wouldn’t get any help creeping slowly in my mind, clouding my judgment.

I went through my bags and pulled out the last bandages I had on me. I also retrieved a scroll and started searching through Spike’s backpack for his quills and ink. Peewee and Raven had returned to us and the phoenix took his place at Spike’s side, gently nudging his chin with its head.

“Spike, I’m going to write a message to Luna,” I started, furiously scribing an urgent message onto the piece of paper. “I need to you to send this to her, can you do that?”

Spike opened his eyes and looked at me. He drew a couple of pained breaths and again I heard the sound of his liquid chamber. A violent cough fit overtook him and he ended up spitting to the side the clear, flammable liquid that he used to breathe fire.

“I can’t . . . my flame- too weak.”

My panic attack got even worse. I started thinking about everything I could possible do that didn’t end in Spike dying on me. My mind came blank. The path behind us was blocked by large boulders, so that ruled out the possibility of going back and seeking Chaser for help.

A small tremble of the ground followed by a loud roar that echoed against the valley’s walls made me spring back to my hooves. When I thought that things couldn’t get worse, they did: a large bird-like shape came down towards our position, landing twenty feet away from us.

I backed off until I met Spike’s body, my mind a storm as I realised I couldn’t flee and leave him there. In front of us was an actual dragon, which was slowly approaching us, its eyes focused apparently on me. It wasn’t as big as I expected, probably a head taller than Spike, but its wings were slightly larger and looked more worn-out than his, for obvious reasons. The tail was also longer and it had larger fins on the side of its head and on its back.

Its body was a washed-out red, with lighter, purple-tinted scales on the belly. Its golden eyes were elongated and locked onto me, smoke coming out in puffs out of its nostrils.

I focused, trying to block the tremendous pain in my skull. A pale shield emerged in front of me, separating us from the approaching menace. The spell caused the dragon to stop for a moment, the blue light apparently surprising it at first. But just a moment. It resumed its approach and the spell eventually failed as I was unable to keep the magic channeled properly. With my last powers, I pulled the gun out of my holster and pointed it at the dragon.

I knew I probably couldn’t cause any damage to it but it was everything I could do to protect my friend. Raven was standing on my head, cawing aggressively. Peewee was also by its master’s side, her flames a bright red. The magic grip on the weapon was weak and the weapon shook, barely floating ahead of me.

“Stay away, I’m warning you!” I shouted.

The approaching dragon didn’t seem to mind my warnings, its look remaining stern and smoke still pouring from his nostrils.

It looked a lot like Spike, but something about its body and shape made it different from him. Its head lowered as it sat on all fours, craning to the side, as if it wanted to get a better look of my friend. I got in the way, still holding the gun pointed at it. The dragon however ignored me and was staring at the angry phoenix, showing a particular interest in the bird.

The strangest thing then happened: after the red dragon blinked a couple of times, Peewee’s flaming body ‘calmed down’. It then approached Spike, continuing to ignore me, and grabbed his arm with its claws, running them up his scales with great curiosity. Without even a warning, it strafed to the side, pushing me away with its body.

I almost fell to the ground but managed to regain my balance and pointed the gun at the dragon’s head, cocking the hammer. I didn’t expect to see that the red one had lifted Spike onto its back, holding him by his arm, all in an instant. It stared at me for a few moments, puffing dark smoke through its nostrils.

“Ponies . . .” it huffed, turning around and going down the valley, shaking its head in discontent while carrying my friend onto its back.

“Excuse me?” I asked, surprised that the dragon had actually spoken.

“Just be quiet and come with me. He needs care,” the red one spoke, and somehow its voice betrayed a hint of femininity.

“Where are you taking him?” I insisted, following the dragon.

“To one of my caverns. I thought I told you to be quiet, pony.”

I held my tongue and followed him, despite all the alarms in my head telling me to run away or man-up and fight the imminent danger. I had no idea what that red dragon was going to do to him but it seemed that he meant no harm, otherwise I wouldn’t be standing there in one piece.

I quietly followed her through narrow ways between the mountains, hoping that it wouldn’t be too late for my friend. A few junctions later and we found ourselves in front of a cave, which was nicely hidden by a few dried-out bushes. I went inside, staying close to her and for the next few minutes we walked through a large, dark tunnel.

Just as I was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable from the darkness and narrow tunnel, I found myself in a large dome-shaped area under the mountain. Sparks, followed by bright flames, pierced the surrounding darkness and I couldn’t believe my eyes as I looked around the cave.

The walls had torches at regular distances and a large chandelier was hanging from the cavern’s ceiling. A huge pile of gold pieces and diamonds at the back of the ‘room’ caught my attention, the precious gems glistering in the joyous dance of the torch’s flames. My mouth hung open at the whole display of riches and I couldn’t help notice other unusual things in there: a large shelf covered a small part of one of the cave’s tall sides, and there was even a pile of fabrics that looked like they served the purpose of a comfortable bed. They were by no means ordinary rags, but looked very much like the finest silks and sheets I had ever seen.

Something under my nose caught my attention and looking down I noticed it was a large, gold coin, similar to the bits back in Equestria. I reached a hoof to touch it, but a deep growl made me jolt.

“Don’t touch anything,” the dragon snarled, coming towards me without Spike on her back. It grabbed the coin with its claws and tossed it far away towards the large pile at the back of the cavern.

Behind her I could see Spike laying on what seemed to be a long table, his bandage gone. The dragon returned to him and started fiddling with a few jars, searching for something she needed. After finding it, she placed it near Spike and started studying the wound. My companion was probably unconscious for a while, as he didn’t react at all at the dragon’s touch.

The red dragon then started breathing fire around the wound, carefully spreading the flammable liquid with her claws.

“This wound is at least a day old. Why didn’t he cauterize it earlier?” she asked, focused on her task.

“I . . . we used a bandage, changed it every few hours,” I answered, getting closer to them.

“It wasn’t good enough. The infection would have killed him in a couple of days, and it would have been very painful as well. I need to cauterize it, I suggest you stay back,” she warned.

“Didn’t you just do that?”

“Don’t be foolish, pony; that was just sterilization. The scales are resilient to fire, especially his for some reason. I have to burn between them to cleanse the wound. Luckily for him I have a special cream that will heal the injury, but I need to make sure it’s clean on the inside first.”

She closed in on Spike’s chest and drew another breath. Using her claws, she parted the scales and exposed the injury, then started breathing a steady, thin stream of liquid flames into the wound. Almost immediately Spike came to and started screaming from the pain. It was then when I noticed she had chained him to the table, keeping him in place. I approached him and held his shoulder with a hoof, while trying to ignore the vile smell coming from the smoking wound. Moments later, she stopped, apparently satisfied with the ‘operation’. Grabbing the jar she had previously found, the red dragon scooped a claw-full of the green paste and applied it directly into the small hole in Spike’s chest, drawing another pained scream from him.

“He’ll be all right. The wound should heal in a couple of days and the scales will cover the scar,” she said, returning the jar from a shelf nearby, completely unfazed by my friend’s discomfort.

“Just a few days?” I asked, taken aback by the rather optimistic prospect.

“Yes. Now stay here with him, and don’t touch anything of mine; I have to go and check something outside,” she said, storming out of the cave.

As I watched her go, I felt something wrapping around my hoof. I turned around and noticed Spike was holding on to it, his eyes now open.

“Wh-what happened?” he mumbled.

“Some random dragon just saved your life. Now shush, you need rest. You’ll be fine; she fixed up your wound,” I explained.

“I thought he was killing me . . .” he muttered, his eyes closing again.

“She. Now rest, we’ll talk after; you’re safe here.”

His pet phoenix huddled next to him, keeping him company as I resumed studying the cave. It wasn’t long before the red dragon returned but unfortunately for me, she was somewhat angrier than usual, her eyes resembling the one of a killer whose prey just insulted him. She went straight at me and wrapped her hand around my neck, bringing me close to her smoking nostrils.

“Who else did you come with here?” she snarled in a low voice.

“No one! Only me, Spike, and our pet birds, that’s it!”

Her eyes elongated and I would have even appreciated their beauty if it wasn’t for that fact that they were drilling holes into my soul. She released the grip, puffing black smoke through her nostrils.

“I’ve found the tracks of another four-legged creature, most likely a pony,” she said, pacing around nervously. “They were right where those cliffs ripped apart. Are you sure you don’t know anything about that?”

Of course, the flash of light.

My mind exploded with the implications, and immediately I realised that the same kind of magic was the one used to anger the drunken stallion back in Dodge.

“I saw a pink light across the valley above us right before the avalanche started, must have been a unicorn.”

“Do you have anyone that would be out to get you?” the dragon questioned me, underlining her last words by poking me with a claw. “Or him for that matter,” she added, nodding towards where Spike was resting.

“I uhh- could think of some, mostly gryphons though. That’s why I’m on the road; need to right some wrongs, according to Celestia’s decision and orders,” I huffed, having reminded myself of that stupid incident a couple of weeks before, from which that whole journey had started.

“Well, that was not a gryphon.” She went to Spike and checked his wound again, then went through under a rag curtain that covered the entrance to a small storage room of some sorts.

She returned carrying what seemed to be like ragged cushions and threw them on the ground, near the table Spike lay on. She then picked a smaller one and, to my surprise, gently raised his head and tucked the pillow under it.

“You can make yourself a nest here and rest for a few hours until he’s better. Then you and your friend can return to your path. And if you tell anyone about my home, I’ll make sure you both die,” she said sharply, retreating to her own ‘nest’ made out of fancy cushions and the purest of silk sheets.

I smiled, for the first time in days. It was clear that she meant well, despite her strange social skills. I shrugged it off as just being the way ‘normal’ dragons behave, although I still had my doubts, having never seen another dragon except Spike before. I made myself comfortable on top of the cushions and fell asleep within minutes, exhaustion having overcome me.

*** *** ***

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was Spike standing beside me, staring at the sleeping red dragon from across the cave.

“Hey, feeling better?” I asked him in a low voice, glancing toward our host.

“Yeah, I feel awesome,” he said excited, but still not taking his eyes off the other dragon. ”What happened? I can barely remember anything after the mountain crashed on top of us.”

“That was apparently the work of a unicorn. Don’t know why someone would want me dead, save for a gryphon, of course. She found us, the avalanche probably waking her up, dragged your ass here and fixed you up. Don’t touch that!” I scolded him, as he was about to scrape off the top layer of that cream that had hardened in the meantime.

“What is this stuff? It’s really good, I can’t feel pain anymore.”

“Some special cream of hers. You’re lucky she found us, I was starting to lose it a bit when I saw you like that-”

“She?” His fins stood up and his expression betrayed even greater curiosity than when finding out about the cream.

“Yep. Seemed weird at first when I thought it was a ‘him’, but it explains her color and voice.”

Spike resumed his stare, his breathing apparently more elevated than before.

“Guess someone got his fire back, and what a fire that is,” I quipped, letting out a chuckle at his stern, but ashamed reaction.

“She’s a- she’s a dragon. Beside some jerks I met when I was younger, she’s the first one that was actually good to me. And she’s also the first girl dragon I’ve ever seen.”

We both watched as her beautiful, yet solid red frame went up and down peacefully as she slept.

“What’s her name?” Spike questioned after a few minutes.

“No idea, didn’t get to that part. I’ll have you know, she’s not the most sociable of creatures.”

“I don’t even have anything to give her as a thank-you for saving my life,” his fins dropped, sadness overcoming him. “Unless . . .”

He grabbed his backpack and started going through it. There no more diamonds in there, the whole supply gone the day before. There were only a few scrolls, quills, a couple of canned beans from Chaser and a small wrapped object left. His face dropped as he stared at the cloth covering something that seemed important.

*** *** ***

In Ponyville’s library, Twilight was starting off the night surrounded by tons of books spread all over her study. Her horn glowed slightly under the faint light coming from a nearby candle, pages of a large book about Equestria’s history turning every few seconds as she desperately tried to remember where she had seen that pony before.

She didn’t have a lot of leads, but she did remember the strange garments and knew for sure she had seen them somewhere else.

Flipping through several pages mentioning Starswirl, Twilight finally remembered. She closed the book and grabbed another, smaller one, opening it exactly where she needed. A few worn-out pages into a particular section and she had found exactly what she was looking for.

“Bellona the Wise,” she whispered, running her hoof over an old picture showing the familiar mare wearing the strange, white outfits, but over armor. “Captain of the Royal Guard and Starswirl the Bearded’s research assistant,” Twilight continued, reading the caption.

She then instantly remembered Blink’s particular interest in her, back when he was still living in her guest room. She knew he found her notes on a variety of improved spells, but never found out why the sudden interest in herself personally, given that she was dead for over a thousand years.

At the end of some of her personal notes, a paragraph caught her attention:

“These personal notes belonging to Bellona the Wise were found after her death. They are written in an unknown language and nopony has yet managed to translate them.”

Under the paragraph, Twilight tried to read the text:

“Equestria sideras sunt ita lucidum et pulchra, sed ego deesset quos a domum, a Roma...”

She stared at the text for a few moments, trying to figure out what it meant. Since the previous caption warned that the note was never translated, she gave up on it; but not on the whole mystery.

Levitating an old record to her, she opened it and started going through the pages that detailed all the captains, generals and noteworthy military figures in that timeframe that served under both Princesses as well as under one of them after the Nightmare moon incident.

Owlowiscious was perched on the window frame, silently watching over her master as the moon started rising across the midnight sky.

*** *** ***

“So we should be around here somewhere.” My hoof circled a spot on the map within the Dragon Territory. “Without any other interruptions and if we leave tonight, we should be able to arrive in Port of Issac by tomorrow evening.”

“That means we’ll have to spend the night there,” Spike intervened, frowning at the prospect.

“It’s okay. If we find a ship at that time, we take it, if not, we’ll have to wait. I know Twilight said we shouldn't stay long in that town and with that damn unicorn out to get us, I don’t really know what else to do.”

“How do you know he’s out to get us?”

“That night in Dodge, when that stallion almost killed me. I remember the same pink magic that hit his brother and started the whole fiasco. It’s the same guy. If I find him, I’m going to take care of his sorry ass, but we still have to go on with our journey-”

A low growl caught our attention and we turned our heads towards the approaching dragon. Spike gulped, his feet getting weak.

“Hey there!” he greeted, nervously thumbing his fingers.

“You are better. That was fast, even for the cream,” she stated, her eyes focused on his wound.

“Well, I always was a fast healer. Aren’t we all like this?”

She returned a quizzical look. “You- don’t live among other dragons?”

“Uhh no. I was hatched by a unicorn, and have been living with her for the past years in Ponyville. I’m sorry, I’m Spike,” he introduced himself, extending his hand.

She gazed at it for a moment before reluctantly returning the salute.

“I’m Ruby. You really are raised by ponies, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Haven’t seen any dragons do that before,” she said bluntly.

As much as I liked seeing Spike behave awkwardly as hell in the presence of the first dragon of the opposite sex he had ever seen, I had to remind myself that we had our journey to return to.

“I’m Blink by the way. Uhm listen, I really wanted to thank you for saving my friend’s life and I understand that you’re probably not used to others hanging out in your home so we can leave now if you want us to.”

Spike stared me down, but he had soon realised that not only did we have somewhere else to be, but also that we were in the residence of another dragon. From his past experience, he knew dragons did not take kind to strangers invading their caves.

“You can stay longer if you want,” came Ruby’s unexpected response. “At least until morning. It’s a cold night and the valley is pretty dangerous at this time,” she continued, her eyes darting across the cavern’s floor.

Is she . . . nervous?

My mouth hung for a while, trying to figure out how to respond to that offer, given the circumstances.

“It would be cool, I guess,” Spike quickly made the decision for me.

And so Ruby invited us to sit down around a fire she quickly set up in the middle of the cave for me, since I wasn’t blessed with having my own cozy source of warmth inside my chest as they did. They did most of the talking and I found it interesting how curious Ruby seemed to be about Spike being raised in a complete pony environment.

Throughout the hours that followed, Ruby mostly behaved the same, distant way she did with us before being introduced to Spike, however every now and then she would smile or let out a chuckle at Spike’s adventures with the six mares in his life. She seemed knowledgeable of the major recent events in Equestria and she even knew about the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony. I found that odd but then again I wasn’t expecting a bookshelf filled to the brim in a dragon’s cave. Spike continued with an interesting story about how he and his friends -but mostly him- saved the fate of the Crystal Empire from a dark lord named Sombra.

Ever since we sat down in front of that fire, it occurred to me just how much living with ponies had changed Spike’s behavior and how different he seemed for his own kind. Despite his rebellious nature, he only meant well for his friends, and kindness overcame his blatant laziness most of the time. There was still the issue of modesty however . . .

“And right as I was about to hit the ground, Cadence came flying and saved me! You both should have seen it, it was amazing. Obviously I still had the Crystal Heart in my hands and in the end I got a window painting in the Royal Castle back in Canterlot with me on it,” he finished, grinning proudly.

“I think I heard about that a couple of years ago,” Ruby spoke with excitement, reminding herself of the time she heard about the return of the Crystal Empire.

“That sounds quite awesome. Yet still, you almost died on me twice since we left; that is, if we consider the arrow and infection as separate events.”

“So that’s how you got that wound, who did that to you? The zebras? Hunters?”

“It was Chaser, a pegasus living back in the forests we came through a couple of days ago.”

“I’ll kill that pathetic mammal once I see him again,” Ruby snarled, eyes elongating again as she revealed a row of sharp teeth.

“Don’t, please! He didn’t mean it; he just thought Spike was going to attack me. He actually took care of us and led us to the border between lands.”

The red dragon calmed down a bit but remained irritated, her fins perked up and smoke pooled from her mouth and nostrils. “I know about him. He resides in the forest south of here, in the Zebra Lands. When I fly high over the peaks, I often see him scouting from here.”

“He is a lonely pony. From what he told us, he came to those woods a while back. Don’t know exactly why he left but, I don’t think it really matters. He meant us no harm,” I explained, trying to get over that particular incident myself.

Silence filled the cold cavern for a few moments before the red dragon raised her head at us, eyeing us curiously.

“Where are you two heading anyway? It’s rare to see travelers coming through these parts,” Ruby inquired for the first time about our intentions.

“Port Issac, then the Griffin Lands for official business; which reminds me, we should really be going. There’s a lot of ground to cover until we reach that city and we really don’t want to impose,” I said, getting up and starting packing up.

“Well, it’s actually been interesting having you as guests. Older dragons would probably kill you if you even set hoof in their home, so don’t get near any caves until you get a fair distance away from these lands.”

Spike got up half-heartedly and followed me and Ruby as she showed us out. The cold air of the early morning hit me in the face, drawing a shiver from me. I wrapped my cloak around me tighter and pulled the hoodie over my head.

“You should head that way,” Ruby advised, pointing a claw towards a small pathway. “Keep walking until there are no more mountains to your sides, then a few more hours. You should see a small city and the great ocean in the distance at that point.”

“Thanks Ruby, we owe you big time,” I said, giving her a small bow of my head.

She smiled back at me and returned the gesture, then turned to Spike, who was nervously scratching the back of his head.

“I- I want to give you something,” he reached into his backpack and retrieved a small object wrapped in a simple, white piece of cloth. “I know it’s not even a rare one, but it’s the only thing of value I have and it means a lot to me.” Uncovering the object, Spike revealed a blue diamond, large enough to fit comfortably in his palm.

Ruby’s eyes went wide and her blush must have been fairly strong if I noticed it despite her red scales. She darted her eyes between the diamond and Spike, her mouth slightly opened as she tried to find her words.

“Are gifts not a good thing in your culture?” I asked, the tension in the air reaching uncomfortable levels.

“Uhh well, no, but when you give a precious stone to- uhh, I don’t really-”

“Please, I want you to have it,” Spike insisted.

Ruby stared at him for a moment before finally taking the diamond. “Thank you,” she uttered, her face still somehow redder than the rest of her body.

“Okay then, we’ll be off then. I guess it’s okay if we visit on our way back?” I asked, breaking the silence of the moment.

Hearing that, both dragons turned their sight towards me, their faces lighting up, especially Spike’s.

“That would be okay. Good luck; to both of you,” she said rather coyly and then returned to her cave with great haste.

Spike stood there for a while, looking absently at the cave’s entrance as the night’s cold air started nipping at my exposed hooves. His fire might have started burning stronger for the first time since we left, but mine was only getting weaker with each step I took further away from Ponyville, further away from her.

“Come on Romeo, we’ll visit Ruby on our way back. If we’re still alive by then,” I chuckled, jabbing him with a hoof.

We set out into the end of night, our pet birds scouting the way ahead, gently gliding in the valley’s updraft winds. The sun’s rays were giving them a little warmth in the otherwise cold, late-autumn morning.

I couldn’t help but look at Spike every few minutes, making sure he was all right. The arrow wound healed almost completely but he seemed changed. He was still lost in his thoughts, but somehow a barely noticeable smile resided on his face. Probably because another wound had healed a little bit that day as well.

I liked to think that it did.

End of Chapter 17

Chapter 18: And then Darkness

Chapter 18

And then Darkness

Click, click, click . . .

I pulled the trigger, spinning the cylinder.

“Stupid piece of-”

Click, click, click . . .

“-shit!”

I inhaled deeply and then, trying to calm myself.

It’s just a spell . . .

And it still doesn’t work!

It took great restraint not to throw the gun as far as I possibly could. The duplicated bullets disappeared in small puffs of smoke.

“You really aren’t going to let this go, are you?” Spike questioned behind me.

We were walking up an empty hill, the sun hung high in the cloudless sky above. Behind us, the daunting mountains bid us a silent farewell. We had covered the small stretch of the Dragon territories with relative ease after we left Ruby’s cave.

“It’s supposed to work. The spell should duplicate this bullet and the clones should perform like the original. Frankly I don’t care whether they last a minute or a day; I just need them to exist long enough to hit the target.”

I cast the spell again, creating a single copy. I held it floating in front of me and studied it carefully.

There are absolutely no differences on the outsi- ohh . . .

I slapped a hoof against my face as I realised the stupidity of my flawed logic: I was assuming the spell would make exact replicas of the original bullets. It did, but that was only ‘for show’.

“Spike, you have claws; try to scrape off the jacket of this one, please,” I asked, levitating the clone bullet to him.

He grabbed it and started running the tip of a claw over the meeting point between the bullet and the casing. His face scrunched in irritation as he failed to pry them apart.

“I- I can’t,” he gave up.

“Thought so. The damn clones are all solid inside. It makes sense actually, when I cast the spell I only think of how the object looks on the outside. I can’t see the inner primer and the powder . . .”

“Told you that gun was a bad buy,” he interrupted, gaining on and passing me.

Spotting that satisfied grin on his face with the corner of my eye didn’t exactly help my mood either. I returned my attention to my notebook, trying to figure out how to fully duplicate an item so that it preserved its properties both on the outside and the inside. However, the strong winds lashing from ahead of us made the task quite a difficult one.

“I think we’re here,” said Spike all of a sudden.

I raised my muzzle from the notebook and looked around quizzically. Barren grounds and a few trees were all there was to the local scenery. “Hmm . . . not quite, Spike. We still have-”

“Ahead of us, numbskull.”

I shifted my gaze, looking past Spike. Out in the distance, the massive ocean stretched towards the horizon, the sun’s light shimmering on its seemingly calm surface. A small gulf harbored on its edges a rather large port-like settlement, several building standing tall above the outlawed town. It was very similar to Dodge Junction, yet slightly bigger.

No more words were wasted between me and Spike as we headed towards the distant city. My stomach tightened and I wasn’t sure if it was due to nervousness or hunger. Or both. I tucked in my magical cloak, the cold wind picking at my fur.

Winter was coming.

*** *** ***

“Princess Luna?” the gray mare asked, her golden eyes focused more or less on the scroll gently floating in front of her.

“Yes. Spike’s not here to help me with it so I hoped you could do it for me this time. Is it okay? I mean, do you even deliver that far away from Ponyville?” Twilight inquired, unsure.

“Of course I do! I’ll get right to it, Twilight!”

The mailmare grabbed the scroll mid-air and stuffed it in a large bag hanging off her shoulder after which she returned Twilight a happy grin.

“Well, thank you then, Derpy.”

“No worries, happy I can help!” the pegasus exclaimed, flying out the library’s door, while waving a hoof at Twilight.

She closed the door and hurried to her room, where she hastily equipped a saddlebag and then teleported out, leaving a trail of small purple stars to fall on the wooden floor.

The Everfree forest looked as threatening and dark as any other day, yet Twilight paid little attention to the usual dangers of the forest. She looked up in the sky and made a note in her mind about the sun’s position before trekking ahead into the woods.

The tip of Twilight’s horn emitted a bright light, illuminating her surroundings as she went deeper and deeper into the forest. The night before was one without much sleep for the troubled mare, as she went over everything that happened during that particular day. Her eyes and senses couldn’t have misled her; the strange apparition resembling a powerful unicorn that lived over a thousand years ago was real, and Twilight intended to find her.

Eventually she reached the place where she had lost track of the ghost the day before. Twilight looked around and tried to notice anything strange other than the wild environment around her but failed to spot anything that might look like a thousand year-old specter.

She shut her eyes tightly for a few short moments. When she reopened them, a purple haze had replaced the white around her irises. In front of her an invisible magic field pooled all traces of energy around and focused them towards Twilight’s eyes. She continued walking, using her new vision to sense any kind of unusual energy fields from a great distance. Inside her head, the normal view on the world had changed completely as every animal, plant and tree around her streamed the basic essence of life that her spell immediately picked on and amplified greatly.

Twilight stopped after not even a couple of minutes of scouting and closed her eyes, a small tear escaping from the glow under her eyelids. She had never used that particular spell in such a crowded place and the toll on her physical body was beginning to show. Her eyes were not at all used to perceive the world through that prism. Determination however had its final word and so Twilight anxiously carried on in her search, trying to block the pain out through sheer focus and concentration.

*** *** ***

“Try not to get us into any more trouble this time; don’t really think these guys are like the ones from Dodge,” Spike whispered, leaning towards me.

“Are you kidding? This place makes Dodge look like Ponyville,” I said in an equally quiet voice, glancing at all the strange creatures around.

Port of Issac was bustling with ponies, gryphons and even minotaurs as the day was approaching to an end. The large beasts towered over everyone and not even the largest of stallions could reach their chests’ height. I tried not to stare too much at them as they didn’t seem the most sociable of individuals. The whole port-town itself was in a far worse shape than Dodge, houses built from flimsy wood planks barely keeping themselves together.

Caravans and heavily loaded carriages sped across the main road, heading to and from the shipping bay. The large port harbored numerous ships of all shapes and sizes, from small rafts to large full-rigged ships very similar to those of what I imagined pirates would have.

The sun was barely above the blue horizon so we went straight to the nearest ship we found anchored and searched for anyone that might be part of its crew. After a while, a white stallion with a leather eye patch got off the large wooden vessel, walked a few steps onto the dock to a pile of bags and started placing them onto his back.

“Uhh, hey there! Mind telling us if there are any ships sailing towards the Griffin Lands today?”

The stallion stared at us for a few moments, his only eye lingering more on Spike than me, before returning to his task. “Aye, but not today. I’m heading to Openbeak’s for a shipment tomorrow just before sunrise. I’ll take ya lot for fifty coins if you want,” he added with a small grunt, lifting the bags and heading back on board.

“Sure thing. Have any idea where we could spend the night?” I quickly asked while I still had his attention.

“Other side o’ town. Old Oily’s the inn; they got rooms,” he said before leaving our sight. “Don’t be late, I ain’t waiting for no-one!” came a last call from him, presumably from inside the ship.

“Well that was easy,” muttered Spike, turning around and peering at the town, in search of anything that might look like an inn. “Come on, he said the place is on the other side of this town.”

I stared at the ship and then out on the dock, where a few other heavy bags laid stacked on top of each other, waiting to be loaded.

“Gimme a sec, I’ll be right with you,” I told him, my horn starting to glow.

*** *** ***

The white sailor threw the last bag from his back on top of the others inside the ship’s hull. He ran a hoof over his forehead, wiping away a few drops of sweat. He scratched around the leather patch, relieving him of the irritating sweat.

The sailor took a deep breath and went back on deck, knowing there were still a lot more things left to be hauled on board. He didn’t despise his job; he only loathed the fact that he wasn’t sailing his ship through the troubled seas, fighting tall waves and angry storms. He hated the time spent on land, even if he was an earth pony.

He let out another sigh, nostalgically recalling the adventures he went through back in the army, flying his own zeppelin in exploration missions with his trusty crew. The seas and skies were his refuge and would always be.

His eyes widened as he noticed the rest of his shipment had all of a sudden found itself on deck. He looked towards the town and noticed that blue stallion returning him a glance and a nod. He watched him and his dragon friend as they faded out in the crowds, a smile forming on his salt-dried face.

*** *** ***

“Why are you here?”

Twilight flinched at the sudden voice and immediately turned around. There was no one there. She focused and continued scanning the area around her however she couldn’t pick anything up.

“Where is he?”

She turned back, but again, wildlife was everything that surrounded her. The spectacle of light and energy captured by her spell didn’t reveal anything pony-like. That is, until she spotted a faint pulse of magic that echoed in the dark forest. The outline and energy signature was clearly the one of a unicorn. She charged her horn and disappeared in a flash.

Once the daze of the teleporting spell faded away, she got a glimpse of a white creature that disappeared deep into the forest.

“Wait! Come back!” Twilight yelled, yet she received no answer.

She galloped into the woods, following the faint traces of magic left by the apparition. Tree branches and wild plants cut at her face and hooves yet almost involuntarily, the magic channeled around her healed the small cuts and bruises in mere seconds.

The ambient light became dimmer with every step she hastily took in her chase, yet all of a sudden the world around her exploded in an almost blinding light. Twilight shielded her eyes for a few moments until they adapted to the sun above. Looking around, she found herself in a clearing, with no trace whatsoever of the mysterious being she so desperately sought.

It took her a couple of head turns to notice the washed-out ruins of a castle nearby. She immediately recognized the place as the castle where the Elements of Harmony were previously kept. Her heart beat even faster, yet she headed towards the remnants in unspoken silence. Something, someone was drawing her to that place. She didn’t even need the vision spell anymore to sense the powerful energies emerging from that forsaken place in the middle of the wildest forest of the Equestrian land.

Every step forward on the forest’s cold ground brought her closer to that source of magic yet the moment she placed her hoof on the first stone step, the whole world plunged into silence. Her ears perked up at the sudden shift in the environment’s energies and she held her other hoof midair, hesitating for a moment. Overcoming that moment, she carried on, the taps of her hoofs placed one after another on the ancient stone melting together with the sound of the wilderness around.

The ruins stood tall around the unicorn, seemingly whispering their story to the unexpected guest. Twilight knew- no, she sensed that the place was tingling with some sort of an ephemeral presence. Remnants of the Element’s stone cases lay bare on the floor of what was once a great hall in the old castle.

Memories of the fall of her first foe flashed in front of her eyes, her ears picking up the ghostly sound of Nightmare Moon’s evil laugh from years ago. At the back of the broken room, near the bare mosaic windows stood a serene white pony, her equally white robe draped over an ancient royal armor bearing the marks of the alicorn Princesses.

“B- Bellona?” Twilight’s hushed words barely reached the white mare.

“That is right.” Her voice was calm and pleasant to hear, yet the walls around rustled with restless magic as those words left her cold lips.

“Wha- how are you still here? Are you really her?”

“We are still here because of what happened long ago,” came the eerie answer.

“Who else is here with you? I mean, you weren’t here when we fought Nightmare Moon.”

“But we were. We stood here and watched as you and your friends released our ruler from her dark self. We stood silent, like we did ever since that night one thousand years ago.”

Twilight took a few steps forward, gazing at the strange pony and her garments.

“Where is he, where is dator mortis?” she asked, Twilight recognizing it to be the ominous question heard earlier in the Everfree.

“Who?”

“The one that bares death; I gathered the bringer of life would have known about him living in such nearness of her home.”

“Blink? What do you want from him? And how do you know about us?” Twilight asked, shuffling uncomfortably in place.

“So you do know him. I need his help in an important matter. You wouldn’t know about it. He wouldn’t either, but he is the only one that can help me.”

“You died, y-you died a thousand years ago! How are you still here? H-how can you still roam around? This is unheard of, I can’t even . . .” Twilight stammered, pacing around while trying to calm the storm in her mind, ignoring Bellona’s initial question.

The implications of what she was going through were baffling. There was nothing like this that her studies had prepared her for, the only mentions of ghosts and spirits being in storybooks told to foals on stormy nights to give them a scare.

“Midnight Blink. Where is he?” Bellona asked again, unfazed by Twilight’s nervous pacing.

“He’s gone. He left over a week ago. What can he help you with that I couldn’t? I mean you clearly know about our . . . specific abilities, what is it that you require from them?”

“That is to be spoken only between us and him. Leave us now, and warn him of our existence once he’s back.”

“But- but I can’t just-” Twilight stammered, almost unable to contain the influx of questions her mind was throwing at her.

The white mare at the other end of the ruins simply broke into thousands of translucent, white tendrils of magic that lost themselves in the walls of the ancient remains. The frightening rustle of magic around Twilight faded in an instant, and the sounds of the nearby nature quickly replaced them, as if nothing had happened.

“Wait, don’t . . . don’t go,” she pleaded to no one, frantically turning her head around in search of the ghostly mare.

Her eyes shifted colorful glows as she scanned the area in all spectrums known to her, yet there was nothing there anymore save for the old stones. She hung her head low, but didn’t lose her determination. She would come back the following days, and the days after those until she would get in touch with Bellona again.

As the evening drew close, she returned to the library. Her mind was trying to wrap around what she had seen that day, and the prospect of coming up with a letter to send to the Princess didn’t make things easier either. She had one important task for the next day however, and that was to find out as much as possible about Bellona before going back into the Everfree.

*** *** ***

The powerful belch pushed the flames dancing on the candles, one of which was on the table between Spike and I. “That was good,” he said with a satisfied smile, gently patting his belly with a claw.

“Sure was, the inn’s cook can sure make a hell of a stew.”

I levitated my mug to my mouth and took another sip of cider, my face puckering from the alcohol’s bitterness. I wasn’t a drinker, not even a social one, however that night I decided I would get something mild to celebrate ‘safely’ reaching the middle point of our journey (which was actually a quarter of the trip altogether).

“Don’t be a foal, it can’t be that bad,” Spike teased, smirking at my non-existent experience in the art of drinking.

“Don’t make me tell Twilight when we get back that you had two of those. I don’t think I’ve ever seen alcohol stored in the library,” I told him, returning the defying smirk.

“I’m an adult dragon now, at least by pony standards,” he was quick to remind me. “Also, I’ve been drinking before. Pinkie usually slips me some of the rum she’s using on her deserts and AJ and I’ve been having a pint of young cider every time I help around at her farm ever since last year or so.”

“Still a bigger drinker that I ever was,” I admitted, raising my mug and clinging it with his. We both took a long sip of our drinks, however I was the first one to rest mine on the table, as Spike gulped down the rest of his drink in one go. “A confident drinker and a ladies man I see,” I added with a smile.

However, there was a slight frown on Spike’s face at that last part and his looks dropped into the table. Apparently some things were harder to forget than others.

“Cheer up, bud. Hey, we’ll still visit Ruby on our way back after this whole thing.”

His raised his head at that, eyes glistening in the faded candle light.

Heh, he’s easy . . .

“You know, you can even ask her to come in Ponyville for a visit, I bet she’s never seen any pony settlements. She might like it,” I dared to continue.

“You think?” He asked, hopingly.

“Yeah, you could even –you know– maybe show her your hoard and stuff? I bet dragon chicks dig that.”

“I don’t even have a hoard,” he said, his fins and scales flopping down in dismay.

“You got time. Hell, I could even help you get started. Anyway, tomorrow before sunrise we’ll be on a boat on who-knows what kind of seas so we better get some rest,” I urged, packing up the map I had laid on the table and opening the door to our sleeping room with my magic. Spike charged past me and practically jumped on the top bunk, boosting himself up with a couple of flaps of his wings.

“I got tops!” he cheered, wasting no time to make himself comfortable on the dirty sheets.

Peewee was sleeping sound on a nightstand, irradiating a soft, golden glow around her. As for my pet Raven, she was out into the night for some reason. She did that every now and then but I was hardly worried about it, although I had no idea what that bird would do at nights, considering they aren’t nocturnal. But Raven wasn’t an ordinary bird for that matter either.

The ‘room’ we rented for the night was basically made up of a wider hallway with a table and a couple of chairs, a sink, a small room with a bunk bed and a tiny restroom. The price was however affordable and the food and drinks we got from downstairs were pretty good, despite the unsanitary conditions around. I didn’t make a fuss about that and Spike didn’t seem to care that much either, however I reckoned a few ponies from back home in Ponyville would have been quite vocal regarding the conditions.

I settled in my bed, and despite the lack of heating in the cold room, sleep overtook me in a matter of minutes.

*** *** ***

The scruff pegasus silently pushed the door open. He checked the number again, verifying that it was the room given to that stallion with the odd cutie mark and his dragon.

The trace of alcohol in his breath was a hint to how many drinks he had before deciding to pay those two travelers a visit. His keen eye, trained and with years of experience in catching the sight of valuable things, spotted the silver revolver around the blue stallion’s waist. Seeing the heavy-looking bag of bits he had pulled out to pay for the room was all it took for him and his partner in crime to make the decision.

It was late into the cold, early winter night when he entered the inn’s small room; so late in fact that the sun’s foretelling blue had started to bleed into the black, nighttime sky. The sleeping room’s door was cracked open and he tiptoed inside.

After taking a glance at the sleeping forms of the two travelers, he gently made his way towards the opposite corner of the room, where a few saddlebags and a holster were resting. The room was unusually chilly and a weird sensation racked at a corner of his mind.

He disregarded it completely. His ‘reward’ was right there in front of him. Step after breath-holding step, he eventually got to the bags and reached for the shiny revolver. However, as soon as the tip of his wing touched the weapon, it silently puffed into a dark, blue smoke.

“What the-”

*** *** ***

I stood watchfully, slowly pacing behind him. The darkness of the room carried my hooves in utter silence, the spell Luna had taught me finally put to good use. Inside the shadows there was no cold, no fear or worries, only me and pitch darkness, yet the world around was brightly lit by even the smallest source of light.

The cloned pistol dissipated at the intruder’s touch.

“What the-”

“Don’t even move,” I warned him, stepping out of the shadows behind, the real revolver floating to his side, its hammer cocked back.

He wasted absolutely no moment and dashed towards me, ramming me into the door, closing it. A loud cry left my lips as the air in my lungs was quickly evicted. The temporary lack of concentration made the gun fall against the floor, but I didn’t give up and threw the attacker off of me.

As soon as he restored his balance, he spun around in place to buck me straight in the face, yet he forgot about the sleeping dragon in the room, which wasn’t asleep anymore. Spike jumped down from his top bunk, pummeling him into the wooden floor, cracking a few boards with the force of the impact. Smoke gushed out of his nostrils and he was ready to use his fire if needed.

“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re good at that?”

Before Spike could even sketch an answer, the door behind me burst open, a brown unicorn standing in it. I was just about to freeze when I saw his rusty revolver floating by his side, however something pushed me into reacting in a split second: the thief’s accomplice flew across the tiny hallway and smashed against the wall with a dull sound.

My reaction was so quick that a burst of sparks had gushed from the area around my horn as pure magic channeled itself into the spell way faster than it should have, resulting in large quantities of residue and a throbbing pain in the top of my head. I closed my eyes from the sudden agony and one of my front knees gave in, almost causing me to bite the floor’s wood.

“Damn! Used . . . too much,” I hissed between fast breaths, trying to get up.

“NO!” Spike’s loud scream filled my right ear.

As I turned my head to the nearby dragon, I was instantly put face to face with a knife. The sharp-looking blade was pointed right at me and I realised that Spike’s grip on the first stallion’s wing was the only thing that kept it from plunging into my face. I hit the ground and backed away as fast as I could, trying to focus and bring my magic up.

Spike was struggling to control the scum, even though the dragon was bigger than him. The thief thrashed furiously, flailing his hooves around and desperately trying to get his wing free. He started smashing his left hoof into Spike’s face and that pushed him over the edge. With a deep growl, he smacked the teeth out of the stallion’s mouth, took a gulp of air and spat burning hot liquid onto the thief’s wing, releasing his grip on it.

“You want it so bad, take it!” he snarled at him, pushing the aggressor away.

The pegasus instantly started screaming his lungs out, the foul smell of burning feathers and skin quickly filling the small room as he flailed around in pain. Considering that wasn’t a punishment fit for the crime, I grabbed him with my magic and smashed him through the room’s only window, sending him crashing to the ground from the first floor of the inn.

The sounds of hooves against the wooden floor made us turn our heads and notice his accomplice dashing out the main door.

“You must be fucking kidding me if you think I’ll let you get away,” I said to myself, teleporting away in a cloud of blue smoke.

When I returned to the normal plane of existence, I found myself in the middle of the floor’s hallway, scaring the hell out of the brown unicorn and stopping him in his tracks. I felt that my head was about to explode from the pain, and I realised I couldn’t risk using too much magic anymore. Unfortunately the crook somehow noticed my winch and decided to charge at me. For the second time that night my air got smashed out of my lungs as the thief and I fell to the ground in a heap of limbs.

His horn started glowing and the same rusty revolver emerged near him, ready to be discharged at me.

“Again with the gun?” I yelled, desperately throwing ‘punches’ at his face as he pinned me down, his weapon menacingly pointing itself at me.

I tried to ram my head into his in hope of stabbing him with my horn however I was way too immobilized to afford such freedom of movement. I flopped back to the ground and trying to block the imminent pain, I focused on the nearby stairway’s wooden rail and yanked it out, smashing it into his head.

That dazed my aggressor long enough for me to overcome him and flung him off of me. I then wasted no time and started smashing him with my hooves. Sadly, hooves are not hands and my front limb’s mechanics didn’t allow for very powerful punches. A moment of inspiration struck me so I tried to imitate his friend from earlier and spun around in place, pushing my hips –and by extension, my back legs– towards him.

My first buck ever failed miserably, hooves landing more than a few inches off their target. The result however was impressive, the kick managing to send numerous splinters flying off from the smashed wall. Just as I was about to try again, Spike came from behind my opponent and grabbed him by the horn, stopping his second charge. He swung his head against the nearby staircase and the resulting impact knocked the guy straight out.

We stared at each other in a very awkward moment of silence.

“Dude, we need to go,” he eventually said between ragged breaths, staring at the stallion he had just sent to sleep.

“I- I agree, let’s get the hell out of here.”

We went in our room, grabbed our stuff and hurried outside. On the way out I noticed the pegasus that tried to rob us laying in the cold mud, shards of glass surrounding him on the edge of the road. His right wing was just a mere remnant of what it used to be, some parts of it showing off bare bone, smoke still rising from the burnt flesh. His agonizing swaying and dull moans told me that he was still alive, which was strangely reassuring. Even though my anger at him was completely justified, I just wasn’t ready to have the life of another pony on my consciousness.

Spike silently watched the stallion wallowing in pain as we passed him, his eyes betraying no emotion whatsoever, which at the time I found quite worrying. That however wasn’t a time to reflect on our actions as we had to make our way towards the docks before we got into more trouble. Knowing that Port of Issac answered to no other jurisdiction other than their own, I didn’t want to stay there for long.

We reached the docks and head straight for the first ship, recognizing the white stallion with the eye patch who was hanging off a ratline, pulling at a nod from the mainsail with his teeth.

“Morning!” I shouted to him, walking up on the flimsy board that led to the ship’s deck.

He threw us a quick glance and went back to his work, finally releasing some thick binds that probably kept the sail wrapped together. With surprising agility, he jumped off from the ratlines and landed on deck, quickly regaining his balance from the hard fall.

“Thought you wouldn’t show up. Just ‘bout in time as well.”

He went to the side of the ship and kicked the boarding plank away, which splashed in the dock’s calm waters. Scared seagulls flew off the foremast and into the morning sky, scared by the sudden sharp noise in the otherwise early calm atmosphere of the dock.

“Well don’t just stand there, tell that lil pet o’ yers to fly up and get that there’s sail bind and free it.”

“Uhh what did you call me?” Spike asked, his eyes slitting narrowly at the ‘captain’.

“Whoa there, he’s not my pet. His name is Spike, and he’s a very free dragon, okay?” I warned, placing my hoof around Spike’s arm and gently tugging it back. The last thing I wanted was another fight.

The stallion eyed my friend carefully with a mixture of surprise and wonder on his face. “Aye, apologies then. Would you please help me with the sail, dragon Spike?” he asked in a surprisingly respectful tone.

Spike puffed a round of smoke through his nostrils and then took a deep breath. “I can’t reach it,” he answered in a calm voice, his eyes no longer threatening.

“It’s okay; I got it.”

I focused on the mast’s top end and tugged at the binds, freeing them. The dirty sail unraveled and fell into place, inflating in the breeze. The ship jolted out of place, and started to float gently away from the dock. Our captain was feverishly working on the side of the ship, untying all the ropes that kept the ship attached to the dock’s wooden pylons.

“Don’t you have an anchor?” I asked as he finished the job and made his way to the ship’s wheel.

“Didn’t use it; one-pony crew journey, hard to pull the anchor up alone from the bay’s muddy floor bed.”

I approached him, leaving Spike behind to stare at the sea ahead from the ship’s rear side. The white stallion was on his hind legs, using his front hooves to direct the ship out of the packed harbor.

“But why alone? Don’t you usually have a crew?”

“This be a shipment vessel. It’s light and fast, I use it to carry supplies from our lands to griffin’s; haven’t had a stable crew ever since I left the exploration battalion back in ol’ Canterlot.”

“You were in the army?”

“Sure was, up till the day the last zeppelin parked in the capital’s mountains for the last time. My crew and I went on our separate ways. Some remained in the army; me, I came here and have been doing shipments ever since. Couldn’t really do anything but wheel-spinning, be that in the air or at sea.”

The sun’s shafts started filtering through the dirty sail, casting dancing glows on the ship’s deck. We started picking up speed, the splashes of the waves against the hull growing louder and more frequent. A bright spark caught my eye and as I looked up, I found our two pets gliding in the gentle breeze side by side. Peewee was burning bright, probably having ignited herself as the sun started rising in the sky behind us.

“Well ain’t that something, that there’s a phoenix!” the captain exclaimed, looking at the beautiful bird above, his eyes wide with amazement.

“That’s Peewee, Spike’s pet. The other one is Raven; she’s my bud.”

“I’ll tell ya, haven’t seen anything like them in a while. Actually, I don’t remember seeing anything like that black one of yours.”

“Raven’s special, let’s leave it at that,” I said knowingly.

“Well, by the way I’m Pearl. Found out about your friend over there, how bout’ you?”

“I’m Blink. Thanks for having us.”

“What are you two doing over at Openbeak’s?” Pearl asked.

“I need to reach the Griffin capital city, there’re some matters I need to straighten out. We’ve been on this damn road for some time, can’t wait to get this whole thing over with and get back . . . home” I said with a sigh, heading over to the side to watch the blue sea passing under us.

“Missing friends and family I see. Ehh, some days I think about my older cousin back in good ol’ Ponyville. Haven't seen the guy in a while, last I heard his filly was born," Pearl sighed, his eyes flicking off into the distant north. "Didn't even get a chance to see her."

My eyebrow rose a little. Back in Ponyville?

“Are there unicorn soldiers?” I asked, slightly excited by the prospect of actually being in the army, a thing I admired back home.

“Hehe, you sure seem to have forgotten a lot about things around here,” Kazooie started. “There’s a whole regiment of them in Canterlot. It’s quite nice from what I’ve heard from mah cousin. He’s been serving for years now but they mostly do expeditions to the North Plains.”

“Your cousin . . . Kazooie?”

Pearl turned his head at me, a rather happy-shocked look on his face. “You know Kaz? Well I’ll be damned!”

“He helped me a lot when I got to Ponyville; gave me a job and a roof over my head. He mentioned a cousin of his doing expeditions to the North Plains, but you said your crew was decommissioned years ago.”

“That’s when I last heard of him, and him of me. When I moved to Issac, the letters between us thinned out. I never told him about me leaving the army.”

“You should write him. He seemed very proud when he mentioned you.”

“I will. Thanks kid.”

Silence fell on board, the only sound being made by the waves splashing against the front of the ship and the sail’s flutter in the wind. Looking back, Issac’s Port was behind us, the mainland getting smaller and smaller, fading into a thin line in the ocean’s massive blue.

*** *** ***

Twilight let out a groan, resting her head and messy mane against the table. The spell she had been trying to comprehend all day long proved to be harder than she had previously thought. Although keen on finding more about Bellona and how she reached her mysterious state, she felt overcome by the desire to write to her assistant and dear friend.

Celestia’s spell that sent messages to Spike through his magical fire was on a level of complexity higher than she had ever attempted. The factors weighing in its success depended on too many variables to leave any room for error. Not only did Twilight have to understand Spike’s entire fire breathing system, but she also had to work on understanding the magical link between them. Every time an object would be sent through that method, the sender would have to tap into the emotional link between him and the recipient.

Twilight learned that way how amazingly complicated Celestia’s use of magic actually was. She didn’t base her spells on their scientific explanation like Twilight did when experimenting. Celestia’s way of using magic was on a much higher level; Twilight considered that the Princess was either above the ‘common’ laws of physics, or she was at a level where all the science bits just fell together in her favor effortlessly. Her desires were followed by the rules, not the other way around.

Twilight’s eyes widened a bit at a sudden realization. It was exactly like the time she pulled Blink from the darkest of realms and back into the land of the living. She never tried to explain that feat other than through pinning it on the whole Lifebringer status. However, it reassured her that it would be only a matter of time before she would master the spell and send messages to Spike.

A knock on the library’s door broke the silence of the moment. Twilight raised her head from the table, staring at the door. It was Saturday after all, who could it be? She opened it from across the room with her magic, revealing Ponyville’s pearl-white fashionista, carrying a cautious smile on her face.

“Twilight?” she asked, stepping in slowly. “Are you okay, dear?”

“Just a moment,” Twilight responded, trying to straighten out the mess on her desk.

Rarity approached her, her hesitant steps betraying concern. “How long has it been since you left this place?” she asked, looking around the disordered room. She then went straight into the kitchen, the only thing Twilight could hear afterwards being the sound of cupboards opening and closing. She returned a few moments after, her face turned into a huge frown.

“You can’t just live off noodles and hayfries, dear. We are going out to have a proper meal and then shop for some healthy groceries,” Rarity stated, determined.

“Those are healthy things,” Twilight retorted, shopping being the last thing on her mind.

“I won’t take no for an answer. I know it’s been hard without Spike and Blink around, but that doesn’t mean that a lady should stop taking care of herself properly.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, but then tucked her hooves under her, not wanting to let Rarity see-

“Dear Celestia, how could you!?” the fashionista’s high-pitch voice filled the room.

Too late.

Rarity came to her friend and yanked a hoof, exposing it as if it were the most gruesome thing she had ever seen. “You hooves! How long ago did you file them? I can’t stand to this, I absolutely can’t! We’re going to the spa right now to take care of you and then we’re going to eat.”

Ashamed, Twilight lowered her head, mumbling something in acceptance of her fate. Being in no mood to argue with her friend, the two of them went out in town. While not being the most preoccupied mare about her aspect, Twilight however kept herself presentable and as clean as possible at all times, having spent most of her childhood in the presence of the Princess herself.

The spa ponies gave them a warm welcome and soon enough the two mares were enjoying a full treatment, courtesy of Rarity.

“So dear, have you heard the news?”

“Hmm?” was all Twilight could muster under Aloe’s skilled hooves running over her back.

“Our dear Fluttershy is finally dating her special somepony.”

“Mmmhhh- what?” Twilight sputtered, taken aback.

Rarity gave a soft giggle behind her hoof, amusing herself with her friend’s expected reaction.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked again, unconvinced.

“Her indeed. It was quite the news for me when I found out as well. I’m just happy for them, it’s such a great thing that she finally opened up to someone of the opposite gender. Not that doing the same with a mare would have been bad in any way,” Rarity quickly added.

“So I assume you are referring to AJ”s brother, Big Mac?” Twilight verified.

“But of course dear, those two were bound to bump into each other’s lives at one point or another. Took them quite some time as it is. However, I don’t think Applejack is very happy about it.”

“How so?”

The massage having ended, the two of them proceeded into the invigorating hot bath.

“Well, uhh!” Rarity jolted slightly, the water a bit too hot and her descend into it too fast. She eventually made herself comfortable and Aloe came over and applied a mud mask to both mares’ faces. “Well, Applejack loves Fluttershy dearly, as we all do; I guess she’s just worried in case something might happen between the two of them.”

“I’m sure everything’s going to be all right. When did all this happen, anyway?” Twilight asked, relaxing in the hot water.

“Most likely while you were keeping yourself locked in that library. We were starting to get worried, you know.”

Twilight initially remained silent and closed her eyes and enjoyed the hot water. It had been a while. ”I know. I’m sorry about that. And thank you for this, Rarity; I really needed the time off.”

“We all do every once in awhile, dear. Plus, what would have Blink thought if he had seen you like that?”

Twilight blushed under her mud-mask, embarrassed by the prospect. “He hasn’t even reached the Griffin capital by now . . .”

“But he will, and he will also return soon enough.”

“I know, I just-” Twilight took a heavy, deep breath, “I miss them so much. I can’t stop thinking about him and what they are going through. And I miss my dear Spike as well.”

She then felt the gentle touch of a reassuring hoof over her shoulder. “I know dear, I miss them too. We all do.”

Twilight thanked her with a warm smile and then the two resumed their comfortable therapeutic bath. Eventually Twilight mentioned to Rarity the encounter she had with Bellona’s spirit in the Everfree Forest yet the fashionista reacted mildly, seemingly more interested in the ghost’s choice of fashion with the white robe over the royal armor. After all, stranger things had happened in her life ever since she and Twilight became friends.

After finishing the relaxing treatment at the spa, the two of them made their way to a restaurant at the edge of town. Rarity was having an exotic tea while Twilight ate a ‘healthy’ daisy sandwich. She kept staring at the forest in the distance, occasionally throwing a glance at her friend, who was enjoying her drink undisturbed by the recent news.

“Are you really not troubled by the fact that there’s a ghost in the Everfree?” Twilight asked all of a sudden. Her question had caught the attention of some of the ponies nearby, but Twilight just returned them a sheepish grin.

Rarity continued sipping from her tea while directing her gaze at said forest. “I don’t know what to say, dear; it seems like a lot of nasty, dirty things reside in that awful place, but this is different. I think it would be better if the girls and I accompany you next time you go there.”

“That’s a great idea! And with the Elements on our side I think we could handle anything, even though she didn’t seem threatening at all. We’ll meet up in two days at the library and start out from there. Could you please tell the others? I need to prepare, thanks again for today!”

“Uhh, of course!” Rarity nodded, watching the now energetic mare rush back to the library.

She then took another sip from her lukewarm tea, glancing occasionally at the sun setting over the dark forest.

*** *** ***

I flicked my tail against my sides out of reflex, sending off the annoying fly. What was more irritating was that the damn thing would eventually come back. Doing my best to ignore it, I continued to quietly eat out of my food can.

Pearl, Spike and I were all gathered around a low, round table below the main deck, eating out from the captain’s own rations.

“Thanks again for the food. Sorry about not bringing that much with us, we had to leave Issac in a hurry,” I said, wiping my muzzle with a hoof, comfortable with having something warm in my belly.

“It’s all right, kid. As long as the two of you help me steer this here lady to Openbeak’s safely, you’re all part of the crew; and the crew gets free grub.”

“If we’re your only crew, who’s steering the ship?” Spike asked all of a sudden.

I turned my eyes to Pearl, realising my friend was dead right. The white stallion casually waved a hoof, mumbling something with his mouth full of food.

“What?”

“I said: it’s all taken care of, don’t fret,” he spoke after swallowing his food.

“How?” I asked, thinking about how he could possibly solve the problem without some sort of an auto-pilot.

“Simple, I tied the wheel to the mast with some rope.”

I stared at him, starting to rethink whether going with him was a good idea after all. Then I remembered getting a glimpse of his cutie mark earlier and noticing it was actually a steering wheel.

“So your special talent is driving ships-”

“And zeppelins!” he added with a self-pleased grin.

“- and zeppelins, yet you tied the ship’s wheel with a rope,” I finished with a deadpan expression of my face.

“Aye. One-man crew needs to do what a one-man crew needs to do! And don’t you think that because there’s three of us I’d let you sail this here’s ship o’ mine. I trust that rope more than I trust two lifelong land walkers.”

After a few silent moments, Spike burst into a hearty laugh followed by me and eventually by captain Pearl. The casual moment ended shortly after our sides started hurting from the chronic laugh. The white earth pony got up and headed towards the deck, leaving me and Spike alone.

“So, are you okay?” I asked him, having noticed he was quite retreated ever since we boarded that ship early in the morning.

“I’m fine, why you ask?”

“Not talking about now, but I’ve seen you were keeping to yourself all day. Is there something on your mind?”

His smile slowly faded from his lips, replaced by a somber look, eyes empty and dull. “This journey-” he started, sighing, “-it was awful.”

“Yes it was,” I approved, absently nodding my head. “I told you it would be hard. And it’s not even over.”

“I mean we almost died; both of us; twice!”

The gentle sway of the ship and the creaking of the hull’s structure were the only things animating the gloomy scene of our conversation.

“When I saw you walking broken-hearted into that train compartment back in Ponyville, and that look in your eyes . . . I knew that you had set in your mind to do this; with me. And I appreciate it, I would have been dead without you by now. But I still think you should have turned around at Dodge.”

Spike shook his head. “You know I couldn’t do that. I needed this journey. I needed it to learn how much better my life in Ponyville was. But I have never hurt anypony before in my life before that night in Dodge,” he muttered, looking at the palms of his hands. “I’m afraid I became something awful.”

“No you haven’t. You’ve done what was right. You saved my life, so I owe that to you. You’re a good dragon Spike. Don’t let anyone else tell you different, not even yourself. Come now, let’s watch the twilight.”

His face brightened up at that so we joined Pearl on deck and watched together as the sun sunk into the ocean’s distant horizon.

“It’s so beautiful, I’ve never seen anything like that,” Spike said, admiring his first sunset at sea.

“It’s something. But it still does little justice to our Twilight,” it somehow slipped my lips.

“Dude, I’m not even gonna tell you how cheesy and lame that was,” the dragon said with a patronizing chuckle.

*** *** ***

“Ready, girls?”

“Ready!” came the all-around answers from the rest of the group.

The six ponies thus entered the Everfree Forest, ready to meet the spirit of a long gone unicorn. They had gathered at Twilight’s the day before, where the unicorn told them about everything. Most of her friends were surprised to hear about a restless spirit residing in the ruins where the Elements of Harmony themselves were originally kept, yet they didn’t hesitate to come forth and help Twilight in her research.

The trip was short and eventless, Twilight knowing exactly where to go that time. The colorful line of ponies came to a halt as the tall remnants of the ancient castle stood gravely before them.

Twilight advanced slowly, climbing up the bare stone steps, the clicking of their hooves echoing against the old ruins. They stopped in the middle of the large, half exposed room where the battle between them and Nightmare Moon took place years ago, and where Twilight had seen Bellona the last time.

“Bellona?” Twilight said loudly, “We want to talk to you! Can you please show yourself?”

Nothing happened. A gust of the early winter’s cold wind was the only response. Fluttershy hurdled close into Rainbow Dash, shaking madly, however not because of the cold.

“Are you sure this ghost of yours is real?” Dash rolled her eyes, bored.

Twilight didn’t respond, yet as she was about to open her mouth again, she started feeling that strange sensation she felt the last time she was there. The walls themselves ringed with a distinct background-noise of pure magic, easily felt by the skilled mare.

“Twilight dear, are you . . . feeling that?” Rarity asked, taking a few steps closer to her friends, her eyes betraying a hint of fear.

“I’m feeling something in my bones as well,” uttered Applejack, eyeing the surroundings cautiously. “This here’s bigger than a Zap Apple night.”

Dash bolted straight into the air, leaving shaking Fluttershy to seek refuge at someone else’s side. “Finally, some action!” she puffed her chest out smugly.

“Where is he?”

The ominous voice echoed throughout the ruins, making several of the ponies jump in fright.

“Bellona, it’s us, the bearers of the Elements. We just want to talk to you. Can you please show yourself?” Twilight asked again with confidence.

In front of them, swirls of white tendrils formed into the tall mare that was Bellona the Wise. Her translucent form allowed the sun’s light to filter through, casting a glassy shadow behind her.

“The Elements themselves have come back to their resting place. What is thy occasion, Lifebringer?”

“We want to talk about what happened to you and how we could help. If there is anyone that could do it, it is us. We just want to help.”

Bellona stepped forward, eying the five mares behind -and above- Twilight. All of a sudden, a pink blur dashed from behind the spirit, stopping in an inch. Pinkie struck a hoof through her then waved it frantically up and down.

“Girls, she really is a ghost!” she happily exclaimed, bobbing her head from behind Bellona’s side, even though it wasn’t necessary due to her transparent body.

Fluttershy almost fainted, AJ’s eyes went wider than dishes, Twilight facehoofed and Dash barely held a snicker. Rarity immediately rushed to her pink friend, pulling her away.

“Pinkie Pie! You can’t just invade this here mare’s personal space like that, it’s uncouth!” She then turned to the spirit, her face a large, uncomfortable smile, “I’m sorry for that, Pinkie sometimes goes a little bit overboard with her silliness.”

Bellona sketched the faintest of smiles and then turned back to Twilight. “I appreciate the thought, however you cannot help me. Not even the Elements themselves can.”

“But- the Elements can restore harmony in everything, isn’t that something you could benefit from?” Twilight asked, not willing to give up so easily.

As the sun started going down, the magical resonance of the place intensified. Twilight immediately felt it, and realised there was more to that place than she had thought. The walls started bleeding the same white shadows that Bellona came from, flooding the room in soft, dancing glows. The rest of the girls huddled close to each other, watching the spectacle with gaping mouths.

Ponies started forming from the mystical wisps. Tens of armored stallions and the occasional mares stepped forward in their transparent forms, heads held high. Their empty eyes were locked on the only six living creatures around. There was no trace of hate or anger on their faces yet their stern looks betrayed sadness and hope.

Their armors were shiny and their weapons looked as sharp as the day they were forged. All of them proudly bared the mark of the Royal Sisters, the two alicorns they had sworn to protect until the day they died and apparently, beyond that.

“Harmony is not what we need, Twilight Sparkle,” Bellona spoke softly, glancing at her subordinates.

“It’s peace that we wish for . . .”

*** *** ***

Spike threw up his lunch over board, clutching to the side rail. I was also holding on to a ratline, focusing as best as I could to keep a tear in the forward sail closed with my magic. The violent swaying of the ship under the huge waves did little to help me however.

“This’s a big one, boys! Hold on if you want to see Celestia’s sun again!” Yelled Pearl from the front deck, somehow still managing to steer the ship in that huge storm.

A bolt of lightning ripped through the darkness, hitting the ship’s main mast. The crow’s nest snapped right off and caught fire, crashing in the waves behind us.

“Is this what you call a ‘mild drizzle’, god-damn it?” I yelled out, trying to maintain my focus.

It was the third and hopefully last day at sea, however we had entered under a dark patch of clouds just before we could even get a glimpse of the coastline. Pearl somehow misinterpreted the currents and we ended up in the middle of the biggest storm of the year, if we were to believe him. Fifteen-foot high waves kept coming at us however thanks to the captain’s skillful steering we always managed to cut right through them.

“Spike! Hold on to something!” I yelled at the seasick dragon.

A strong gust of wind hit us from the front, and somehow that poor bastard’s wings snapped open, lifting him in the air.

“Spike!” I screamed, desperately trying to reach him with a dark tendril of magic.

With the biggest of luck, I managed to wrap it around his leg just in time, pulling him back on deck before he could fly off into the storm. The moment of panic distracted me from keeping one of the sails together and as a result, we were facing the storm with just the mainsail, which was barely keeping itself together.

“Blink, you better get your flank here right now!” came Pearl’s shout from the front deck.

I stumbled onto the slippery wooden floor, making sure first that Spike was tightly holding a ratline. I crawled my way forward, being drenched every couple of seconds by large splashes of cold salt water. The storm was merciless and there was absolutely no sign of clear skies ahead of us.

Eventually, I reached the captain’s wheel, tugging at his hoof to get his attention. He turned to me, his eyes filled with terror. “Kid, I hope you can magic our asses out of this one or we’ll all sleep on the ocean floor tonight.” He then pointed his hoof into the blackness of the storm ahead of us.

At first I couldn’t see a damn thing because of the darkness, yet after a few lightning bolts flashed upon the waters in front of us, my heart stopped as soon as I realised what I was looking at. A huge wall of water headed straight towards us, the biggest wave I had seen in my life. It slowly rolled the ocean’s water upon itself, a deathly last sight for any pony, sailor or not.

“This ship can’t make it over that, boy,” Pearl said in a disheartened, yet firm voice.

I swallowed hard, bitterly tasting the saltiness of the water. My thoughts went out to Twilight and my heart broke as I hadn’t even managed to send her one last letter.

The thought of her and never seeing her again managed to give me strength however. I found it in me to stand up, drag my soaked body to the front rail against heavy rain and wind, and clutch my hooves around it.

I closed my eyes and blocked the outer world for a few moments. Magic gathered around me as I prepared the only spell I thought could save us. Energy rippled around in its purest form, disintegrating raindrops before they could even hit me. The ship started ascending the huge wave and I held the rails tighter in my grip. Feeling that I was finally ready to face our doom, I opened my eyes and focused on the top of the wave we were riding, targeting it.

With a large grunt, I triggered the spell.

The air blast ripped through the sound barrier, pushing away all the rain in an expanding sphere around. The large, directed displacement of air hit the top of the wave, blasting tons of water clean off. The resulting force was so powerful that the tip of the ship wasn’t there when I opened my eyes to watch the effects of the spell. Hope lingered as the cut in the wave seemed large enough for the ship to pass through it.

Pearl’s joyous shouting however was short lived, because right as we went over the wave, we started dropping off of it into the threatening ocean. I turned around and grabbed the base of the wheel, trying to brace for the inevitable impact. Pearl dived to the ground behind it as well, reaching me out with his hoof. The angle the ship was descending on the wave was so steep that it was almost impossible to reach it.

I threw my hoof towards him, our limbs inches apart. Just as the tip of our hooves tapped, the ship hit the waters behind the wave head on. I remember flying through the air, smashing through the front rails. The impact must have been huge, because the ship’s main mast snapped like a twig.

Time slowed to a crawl as I saw my own hooves desperately flailing, trying to hold on to nothingness. Lighting brazed the dark skies above, the pure white illuminating the millions of tiny droplets of rain and their beautiful patterns shaped by the winds of the storm.

My back was stabbed by the cold blade of the ocean’s waters. They quickly engulfed me, desperately pulling me into the dark abyss. The last thing I remember seeing was the outline of the ships broken mast, coming right at me.

And then darkness.

End of chapter 18

Chapter 19: The Blind Side of Justice

Chapter 19

The Blind Side of Justice

They say death is only the beginning, a doorway to a new world.

He waits for you and guides you to it, whispers cold stories of truth into your ears, shows you what was, and never will be. You expect Him to give you the answer to the burning question that’s been on your mind ever since your last breath: why?

Yet He doesn’t. He points at the bright spot of immaculate light and whispers “go on”. And you do so. You follow that iridescent point with hope in your heart, hope that soon your questions will all be answered and that you’ll finally be able to rest.

But all of that didn’t happen to me because I hadn’t died yet. Not that time.

*** *** ***

My eyelids started irritating me, and a throbbing pain in my chest sprung up as I came to. The cold touch of the sea’s water against my back sent strong signals of pain to my brain. The gusty wind blew over my pained body and as I tried to move, my fur and skin tore and pinched from the dried-out salt covering them.

My ears picked up voices and soon I noticed movement between my half-lidded eyes. The sound of splashing waves nearby raised and lowered in my head as I struggled to keep my conscience.

The lights went out for a few moments. When I opened my eyes again, I craned my neck up to look around and a dark, feathery face was staring at me with a piercing gaze.

“Is it him?” a voice came from somewhere outside my visual range.

The gryphon before me raised his arm, his talons curled into a ball. "Yeah," he said, swinging it down.

The blow sent my head crashing into the cold sand, colors and sounds mixing in a dazing spectacle of senses.

I opened my eyes again, feeling the stinging pain in my snout. My hooves were held together with some sort of shackles but that became the least of my concern as I gazed to the side of the rather small wooden cart I was in. Stretching underneath me hundreds of feet below were eroded chains of mountains and valleys, much like the Dragon Lands. As I raised my head to peek over the edge I noticed the cart was pulled by the two large gryphons that had found me on the beach.

My first reaction was to try and channel some magic and free myself however I immediately realized something was preventing me from focusing my powers. As I moved my head to the side, I felt the added weight of something on my horn.

Magic suppressor, not this shit again . . .

I let out a frustrated sigh and cringed from a sharp pain in my chest and sides. I tentatively took a large breath and the stabbing pain made itself noticeable again, in the same places.

Ohh cool, broken ribs as well.

I couldn’t manage to stay conscious for much longer, the pain and fatigue pulling me into another deep black-out.

Somewhere in my mind a voice kept yelling, reminding me of what had happened before being found on the beach. Images of a ship lit by bright, white thunders flashed back to me. Spike clinging to a ratline in the middle of a downpouring storm, Pearl’s extended hoof millimeters away from mine as well as every torturous second after the ship’s smashing against the ocean’s water, all those images pulsed in tandem with a dull pain deep in my head.

I opened my eyes again.

Mountain peaks passed by, the high wind’s whispering sound telling me that I was still up in the air. I peeked over the side of the small chariot and I had to blink a couple of times, unsure of whether I was hallucinating or not.

A vast city of stone lay in the embrace of an ancient tall mountain, its walls standing untouched by the centuries. Thousands of gryphons were flying in and out of the capital in orderly patterns, squads of armored guards patrolling all around the air space. My eyes were instantly drawn by their pure golden armors that shined ten times brighter than any of Celestia’s guards.

The chariot suddenly banked, angling dangerously as I was thrown to the side of it, my bound hooves straightening the chains locked against the front of the cart. A tall, narrow castle-like building appeared in front of us, its base starting out from within the mountain the city was resting upon. We went straight through a gateway in the middle of the castle that seemed to be used by other guards and their chariots. The aerial docking bay inside the castle was huge, with hundreds of members of the Griffin Guards in transit to their posts and assignments.

The chariot shook violently as we landed and the two gryphons that had brought me in called for their superior. Soon enough, an old captain arrived, giving me a glance before signaling his subordinates to get me out. They grabbed me and tossed me out of the vehicle, letting me fall to the ground.

All my muscles screamed in protest against the sudden movement but I decided it as in my best interest if I didn’t complain at that time.

“Midnight Blink?” the large gryphon asked, reading from a scroll of paper.

“Yes,” I said in a low tone, trying not to stare right into his eyes.

“Good. Come with me, your trial will start soon.” He then turned around and headed away towards a set of large doors at the entrance of the bay.

I fumbled my hooves in an attempt to get up but another gryphon guard pulled me up in a not so gentle manner, pushing me on my way. I started walking behind the older gryphon, but keeping up with him was hard due to the chains that were keeping my front hooves tied. Every now and then, the guard behind me shoved me forward to keep up.

On the inside, the castle looked little like the one in Canterlot, all the hallways having tall ceilings and huge statues of gryphons guarding every corner. Guard posts were mostly several feet in the air, their occupants watching me silently with their sharp eyes as I went under them. Several patrolling guards carried heavy chainmail vests underneath steel plates painted in the kingdom’s colors, wooden flints resting on their shoulders.

We went into an antechamber, and the leading gryphon turned to me and pointed at a wooden bench nearby.

“Wait here, you’ll be called in front of the judge when the next case ends.”

He then nodded at one of the guards standing near the court room’s door and handed him the scroll from which he had read my name. Silence fell in the small room as I was left with the two unmoving gryphons. The inhibitor around my horn still irritated me the most, until I was hit by the sharp pain in my chest. I licked my dry, cracked lips and I was thus reminded by the fact that my throat was drier than sand.

The doors to the court room swung open, and a chained gryphon dragged by two gryphons armed with spears came through. To my horror, I first thought that the one they were carrying was dead, however I noticed his chest still moving.

“He passed out, probably when he heard the sentence,” a guard spoke, signaling me to get up and follow him.

I got up and walked through the double doors, however I kept looking back at the gryphon being dragged out until the moment he went out of sight. As I returned my attention to the court room, I noticed the judge at the end of the room, behind a wooden stand. I gulped, seeing his stern, somewhat annoyed look. The guard leading me went to the stand and handed him the scroll of paper he’d been entrusted with.

I found it rather weird that the judge was wearing a white gown with black sleeve ends and that there was nobody else in that room except for a line of guards at each side. The elder gryphon at the stand was feverishly writing in a ledger, throwing an occasional glance at me as I stood in the middle of the court room.

He closed the book and unrolled the scroll he had been handed, giving it a once-over. The judge then cleared his voice loudly and started talking with a rather frightening indifference.

“Eleventh case of the day has now started. The accused, Midnight Blink, is brought forth in front of the royal High Griffin Court to be tried in the incident that took place in the Equestrian town of Ponyville, which involved an official Griffin ambassador and the member of the Royal family, Gilda of the Razorclaw . . .” he took a pause, taking a breath. “As per the non-aggression pact signed at HoofRidge by King Arnost and Celestia you have chosen to be tried by our laws as opposed to facing eternal banishment from both kingdoms for your gruesome acts. Is that right?”

He raised his look from the scroll and stared at me, waiting for an answer.

I gulped. “Uhh, basically yeah.”

“All right then, if there are no further comments, I will proceed to passing sentence in this case,” he said, grabbing a quill and opening the large, leather bound ledger.

“Wait a minute, what do you mean pass sentence? Don’t I get to defend myself? Don’t I get to be represented by someone?” I asked, starting to feel nervous, my stomach tightening around itself.

The judge raised an eyebrow at me, as if I had said the most stupid thing he ever heard in his life.

“You have assaulted a High Griffin Official. There is nothing you or a representative can say that would make any difference at this point. If I were you, pony, I would have gone with the banishment.”

My mouth hung open, the sudden realization that I was royally screwed coming down crashing on top me. The only comfort I had was knowing that they didn’t pass death sentences. That is, if Luna was to be trusted.

“Attacking a Griffin amb-”

“I didn’t attack her first!” I raised my voice at the old gryphon.

My gesture drew the attention of the nearest pair of guards, which came to my sides and grabbed onto the chains holding me, as if they were expecting me to lash out.

“- is an offence punishable by death under normal circumstances. However, since we cannot execute non-gryphons under our jurisdiction, I will have to do the next best thing.”

My eyes widened further, a light tremble in my numbed leg signaling just how tense and most importantly, scared I was.

“In the name of King Arnost and the High Royal Griffin Justice Court, I hereby declare you guilty. Your sentence: fight to the death inside The Cage,” he added while scribbling in the book as if it was the most casual things to write down.

“Wait, what?! You said no death penalty! What the hell’s wrong with you?!” The guards pushed down on the chains, keeping me pinned to the floor.

“We won’t execute you, pony. You just have to kill the thing in The Cage before it kills you. Quite a reasonable sentence for such a crime,” he said and I could see a hint of a smirk forming on the corner of his face. “Court is adjourned!” he then proceeded logging the sentence.

The guards immediately picked me up and turned around. I found myself facing the double doors again as the two gryphons pulled me into following them. I craned my neck to stare back the old gryphon but he didn’t even spare me a look as the guards dragged me out.

I couldn’t believe what had just happened to me. I had put all my hopes into having a fair trial, while facing my accuser in a lawful way. Minutes later we arrived at a cell block, somewhere probably under ground level, since the floors’ windows had been replaced by deep vents.

The cell was freezing and dirty, a foul stench of rotten lingering all around. I lay on the cold stone, closing my eyes to try and block the atrocity that was my world. My fur was still sticky from the salt water, and the floor’s filth mingled with it as I stopped caring about cleanness. Somehow, I missed the cell I was thrown in back in Canterlot when Discord showed up. It was clear that the Griffin did not value their prisoners and criminals more than they valued putrid garbage.

“Your fight is today, pony,” a guard announced me at some point.

After that, everything blended together in a concoction of cold, filth and pain, the darkness of the cell acting like a powerful mortar. I took notice of my dried lips at some point, yearning for the tiniest drop of water, a drop that never came. In and out the world around me faded, as colorful memories of a faraway place lingered at the edge of my conscience. I had hope that Spike and the captain survived somehow. The ship was damaged in the storm, yet the last moments I remembered from the previous night showed a ship very much afloat over the troubled waters.

The prison filled with the clinging of opening doors and a familiar shape stopped in front of my cell. It was a pony.

“Midnight Blink?” the new voice spoke, a hint of concern buried deep in the strange accent.

I stood up from the ground and got close to the bars, the faint light of a torch revealing a dark blue stallion, strands of white painting his dark mane.

“I’m Clever Quill. I’m sorry I couldn’t see you sooner, I just found out that you were brought here after your trial.”

“Wh- who are you?”

“I’m the Equestrian ambassador in the Griffin Lands. I came here to let you know that they’ve found your two companions.”

Hope blossomed and my face stung as a faint smile cracked the salt dried skin around my lips. “They found Spike and Pearl? Are they okay?”

“Yes, don’t worry about them. The captain is trying to salvage what’s left of his ship and your friend Spike is with a trustworthy friend of mine outside the capital city. It’s not wise for a dragon to enter this city so he’ll stay there for the moment. Your two birds, the phoenix and that strange black one are also there.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. Thank you so much for that . . .”

“Don’t worry, that’s my job. Princess Celestia notified me about your imminent arrival weeks ago. I’m sorry about what happened to you, but it’s good that they put you to fight in The Cage. I had to pull all my strings for that to happen, short as they are.”

“You . . . what? You made the judge sentence me to a fight to the death?” I asked, anger heavy in my voice.

The ambassador went over my reaction. “You don’t understand. This was the mildest punishment you could have received here. It was that or life in prison. A prison far worse than this one,” he added, glancing around.

The sound of metal doors opening drew the ambassador’s attention. “Look, I’ve been told that you would be prepared for a fight. You are either going to be put up against a gryphon with the same sentence or with a wild animal.”

The talonsteps of an approaching guard signaled the imminent end of the ambassador’s short visit. “It could be a northern cockatrice or a mountain anaconda; they once had a sand Manticore but I haven’t seen one being used in The Cage in a long time,” he said hastily. “You will need to be fast no matter what you face, the cockatrice is almost impossible to dodge and the sand manticore is immune to all sorts of magic-”

“Visit is over,” the armored gryphon announced.

“Of course, I’ll be right out,” the blue stallion said, proceeding towards the hallway’s heavy steel door. “I will be in the stands, you can do it,” came a last whisper from him as he left the prison.

I plumped down, drenched in relief. Relieved not because I knew what I would face, but because my friend was safe. I curled up on the filthy floor and tried to keep the low-burning flame of hope alive. It would all end soon, one way or the other.

Sleep overtook me at some point, but a sudden metal clang jolted me back to reality. Panic seized my heart as I was unsure whether the moment of truth was upon me or not. Freezing cold suddenly swept the already chill prison row, a weird feeling forming deep in my stomach.

I could only see the clear shape of a gryphon stopping in front of my cell door, the distant torch in the hallway unable to shed more light on him. I looked at the would-be guard but after several moments of him not doing anything, I lowered my gaze again, thinking he was probably checking up on me.

His pawsteps made themselves heard again, but to my surprise, they became louder. I raised my head. The gryphon was in the cell, a couple of feet away from me. Fog formed in front of me as I could see my breath from the cold.

There had been no sounds from the cell door opening yet somehow, the gryphon was right there with me. The poor illumination could only allow me to notice that he was a very dark gryphon, probably black feathered, and that he wasn’t wearing any guard outfit at all.

“You are closer to Death than you realise, young one,” he said with a deep, chilling voice. He then reached down and placed a metal object onto the floor.

I backed away the small distance there was between me and the wall behind, my heart leaping from its place. A small area around my flank started stinging. I turned my head and realised my cutie mark was ‘smoking’. A pale gust of wind, and the pain went away.

I turned back to the black gryphon but he was no more, the ill-lit cell harboring only me once again. I looked at the ground and realised the object the gryphon had left was a mug. I approached it hesitantly until I saw its content: a clear liquid. Throwing caution to the wind, I clumsily grabbed it with my bound hooves and drank the whole thing up. It was water; clear, fresh water.

“Thanks,” I uttered between my lips, salt-dried no more.

*** *** ***

“It’s peace that we wish for . . .”

The six mares watched in awe as all the spirits in the old castle ruins stared back at them. The guards stood tall, time not being able to wane their pride and sense of duty. The night’s air made the six ponies that could still feel it shiver from the cold.

“Yo-you’re all Royal Guards . . . what happened to you?” Twilight asked, looking around at each and every one of them.

“All the ponies you see in front of you served in the dawn shift over a thousand years ago. They . . . we all died that day, serving our Princesses,” said the spirit of Bellona while stepping around the ruins. “And ever since then, we have been trapped here, where the Elements were laid to rest after our beloved Luna’s banishment.”

“What happened back then?” Twilight questioned the lingering spirit, the need of an answer more desperate than ever.

“Nightmare Moon,” a new voice came from the entrance to the old castle.

Everyone, living and dead, turned their heads to the Princess of the Night, standing at the head of the stone steps. Hesitantly, Luna proceeded walking forward. The moon seemed to have risen higher, soaking the place in unfiltered moonlight. She looked at the spirits of the ponies around, her eyes filled with regret after the realization of what she had done so many years ago, dark memories tainting her mind with remorse and sorrow. With unspoken reflexes, every spirit guard stood at attention as their Princess walked before them.

With unspoken reflexes, every guard stood at attention as their Princess walked before them.

Luna stormed into one of the castle’s study late into the night, her breath hastened and her eyes sharp.

“The nerve of her!” she spat, pacing around.

She just had another argument with her sister over the night time celebrations and public events. Lately, she’d been having those more and more often. It started out as a jest, when she proposed to have an entire week dedicated to celebrating the night, a week of nocturnal festivities that would end with the Winter’s Night celebration marking the longest night of the year. Celestia at that time deemed the idea ridiculous, bringing in the argument that everyone’s day to day lives would be affected too much by such extended events.

Later on, Luna had proposed just the Winter’s Night celebration alone, yet her sister dismissed that as well. Countless days and nights were spent arguing on what had become a serious matter, and neither sister was willing to compromise.

That’s when she started hearing it, the voice she didn’t hear ever since she became a Watcher of that world. It was the same voice tormenting her as a Deathbearer, the whispers of death that lead to her life’s end during the previous Cycle.

That night marked a high point in their conflict. When Celestia told her she shouldn’t get involved in Equestria’s official matters anymore, the voice in her head grew even more restless, even more taunting.

A table flew across the room, smashing against a wall. Luna stopped, staring at the wooden waste left by her fit of anger. “No . . . no, no, no,” she clamped her hooves around her head, shaking it. “SHUT UP! Shut up . . . shut up,” the pleas left her trembling lips as she rocked back and forth, trying to control herself.

Yet they went unanswered. Luna’s irises slit in her eyes, her mind clouded with darkness. The inner battle had been lost in an instant. Nightmare Moon lowered her hooves from her head, an evil smirk hidden by the shadows.

In the throne room, Celestia was seeing off the last pony that had an audience with her. She didn’t normally handle the night hearings, however her sister and she just had another fight and talking with her subjects was among the few things that brought peace to her mind.

She raised herself from the throne, the clinging of her golden shoes across the floor’s marble echoing into the great hall.

“Well, well, dear sister . . .” a strange, yet familiar voice rang in the room.

Celestia froze and her ears perked up. “It can’t be. This is impossible . . .”

The guards along the large stained glass windows turned their head left and right, yet remained in their positions.

The tall shape of Nightmare Moon walked out of the shadows of a pillar, slowing pacing towards her white sister.

“Luna, no . . . you are not a Deathbearer anymore,” Celestia said hesitantly, dreading the reason for which her sister had taken that form.

“Nor am I your pathetic little sister who hath no involvement in the ruling of this kingdom. Your arrogance and defiance towards our night is unforgettable,” Nightmare Moon spoke, getting closer and closer to her sister.

Meanwhile, the guards had silently alerted the whole castle, the ones present in the throne room gathering quickly in front of Celestia. Their weapons were readied, yet not pointed straight at the dark alicorn.

“Stand back from the Princess, whoever you are,” spoke a captain in the group.

“Ohh, this is just lovely! Thine little ponies standing up for you. Be gone mortals, this is not any of thy concern. We are thy princess as much as she is, henceforth thou answer to me!”

The guards didn’t move from their positions one bit, but pointed their weapons at the intruder. Nightmare Moon stared at the spear’s point that was in her face.

“So be it.”

A black tendril wrapped around the weapon and snapped its tip off, then, with lightning speed, plunged it straight through wielder’s head and helmet. Celestia’s wide, trembling eyes looked upon the body that collapsed on the floor, splattered drops of blood from the fallen guard painting her immaculate white chest and face.

Before the other guards could react, she raised a shield between them and Nightmare Moon, stopping the stallions in their tracks. “GET AWAY FROM HER!” she yelled, and the guards started taking a few steps behind, but mostly because their Princess was also backing away.

“Luna, what have you just done? How could you take the life of a pony? How?”

“Spare us, sister! It is time we claimed what is rightfully ours. Too many centuries thou have ruled this kingdom as if it was only you sitting on the throne.”

She resumed her slow walk, stepping over the already cold body of the guard.

“Always superior, always the better, yet weak in taking the important decisions that need be taken.”

“We rule this kingdom together like we’ve done for so many years. And now you take one of our subject’s lives because of your fixation on celebrating the night? Is it worth it-”

“YES IT IS! Not only have thou ignored my rapport to the way this kingdom grows and ignored our simplest of requests, but you’re also a weak leader, Celestia. Our enemies grow stronger behind the pacts you so desperately try to maintain, and every few hundred years, they spit over them and strike our kingdom when least expected!” Nightmare Moon said, her eyes still leaking shadowy rage.

“Peace is why we are here! We are Watchers of this world, we decided to be part of their lives because we could guide them and make a better world for them; not only for our ponies, but for all species across this planet.”

“There will always be hate and resentment among mortals, that is what thou always forget, dearest sister.”

The guards kept their positions despite Celestia’s repeated pleas to stand back. As Nightmare Moon got closer and closer she jumped directly at her sister, yet was struck down mid-air by a powerful bolt of magic, sparks and pure magic flying off everywhere from the point of impact. Nightmare Moon was thrown several feet away, landing on her armor-protected back with a loud clang.

Celestia watched her sister in shock, and then looked for whoever had cast the spell.

“I am here, your Highness,” came a voice from her side. Celestia turned to an armored mare, the signature sheets of white fabric adorning her armor fluttering in the aftereffect of her spell.

“Bellona, you do not understand. Take the guards and leave, this is too dangerous-”

“Nonsense, your Highness. We are here to protect you, and we shall do such. Guards, follow my lead! The enemy must not get close to our Princess ever again!”

Rows of guards steadied up behind her, the elite members of the Royal Guard having made their way to the throne room once they were alerted of an enemy presence threatening their leader. The Captain of the Royal Guard, Bellona the Wise, stood in front of them, eyeing the recovering Nightmare Moon. Heavily trained mares and stallions held their weapons tight, not one bit of hesitation in their eyes as they stood in front of Celestia.

A loud neigh pierced the night when the assault of the guards started, Bellona’s horn glowing wildly as she cast clones of herself to form a vanguard between the enemy and her troops.

Silence fell among the ruins in the Everfree, Luna having stopped talking.

“At that time I was still struggling to regain control of myself. The last thing I remember seeing through Nightmare Moon’s eyes was the sparkle in your eyes between your visors as you charged at us,” Luna continued, looking at Bellona. “After that, I was no longer myself at all.”

Her voice was heavy and at the verge of cracking. The regret and sorrow for one’s actions couldn’t have been more apparent even if they would have been spoken out loud.

“The battle went on for most of the night,” spoke Bellona for the first time since Luna had arrived, looking back in her eyes. “Princess Celestia soon realised she couldn’t possibly stop us from trying to protect her, even if my ponies fell left and right. It was not all in vain, not even my own death. The battle strained Nightmare Moon enough so that Princess Celestia could use the Elements of Harmony themselves to banish her inside the moon. It was the most blinding white light I’ve ever seen in my life. It was the last thing I saw with a beating heart.”

She lowered her gaze, hesitating to ask something that has been on her mind for literally centuries. “Your majes-”

“I’m sorry,” Luna said suddenly, her eyes still focused on the former captain of the royal guard. “I am so, so very sorry.”

Bellona’s shaking eyes re-met the princess’s.

“You’re here because of me,” continued Luna, her mind putting all the pieces together. “My- my sister never told me what actually happened after I lost myself completely. She didn’t have the heart to tell me the truth.”

The former captain didn’t sketch any gesture at that, yet Luna didn’t need any confirmation.

“It was our job to protect the crowns, and we did as such without any regrets.”

“But I killed you; all of you,” Luna said, turning around and looking at each and every ghastly remain of a royal guard. “And by doing so through Nightmare Moon’s form, I cursed thy souls; cursed to never leave this world, cursed to lie undyingly next to the Element’s resting place in this forgotten place.”

“And we would do it again if it would be demanded of us. However that will not be needed. The years of solitude did little to wane our hardened spirits, for we have trained our entire lives to serve and protect the royal Sisters, be that from enemies or even themselves,” Bellona stated, walking away, her eyes focusing on the city of Canterlot in the distance, barely visible between the old ruins and wild forest.

Silence filled the night’s cold air, only to be broken by two soft clings across the stone floor. As Bellona turned around, she noticed her troops as well as the six colorful mares staring at the center of the great hall. There, to the mare’s surprise, kneeled Luna herself, her gaze buried in the cold floor.

“I thank thee and your guards for your actions, Bellona the Wise. Thine acts of bravery and sacrifice saved these lands from a terrible fate.”

A rustle started brewing between the rows of armored guards, their eyes darting around from each other to the kneeling Princess in front of them. Never in their lives have they seen or heard of one of the Princesses to kneel before anypony else. Bellona herself remained speechless in front of the unprecedented gesture.

“You and the ponies under thine command are relieved of your duty,” Luna said, standing up again and facing the ghosts. “Wonder not into this world anymore, for thine right to a peaceful afterlife hath been earned.”

The guards however moved not one inch from their lines, eyes darting from the Princess to their fellow captain. Bellona glanced over the ponies under her command, and with trembling eyes nodded her head once. One by one the guards stood at attention, presenting a last salute to their beloved princess before turning away and walking towards the sunset’s direction, into the ruined walls. Their outlines slowly faded away, having finally received the permission to stand at ease after centuries of wandering among the abandoned castle.

Bellona watched until the last guard left the realm of the living and then turned to the Princess. “Thank you, your Highness; thank you for freeing our spirits so that we may finally rest.”

After a moment, just before Bellona started following her men, she stopped and turned back. “I forgot . . . I will remain here for a while more; I need to talk to the one known as Midnight Blink.”

Luna shared a quizzical look with the six mares next to her.

“There is something I need to talk to him about how we both . . . got to this world. Let him know once he returns that I seek to speak with him; I will be here, waiting.”

“Wait, you came from the same-” Twilight’s question got cut out by Bellona’s disappearance into the night. “-place?” she murmured, her eyes glancing around for any sign of the spirit.

But she was gone.

Twilight then turned to Luna. “Princess, are you all right?”

The younger royal sister did not respond at first, her eyes focused on the place where Bellona previously stood. “I’m . . . fine, Twilight Sparkle,” she spoke softly in the night’s cold. “I need to be alone with my thoughts. Thank you for the letter and for coming here, but I must go now.”

Without saying anything else, she spread her wings and flapped them once powerfully, vanishing into the night and leaving the six mares alone.

“Ah think we should head back; the sun’s about to come out soon,” said Applejack, breaking the settling silence.

“That- was it?” came Rainbow’s remark, accompanied by a disappointed sigh.

Twilight shot her a bone-chilling look, silencing the pegasus. “It’s good that they finally came to rest, but I’m more worried about the Princess. She really didn’t know about what she had done that night,” Twilight said, jabbing idly at a few pieces of stone laying on the ground. They used to encase the Elements a few years ago, before Twilight and her new friends uncovered them on the night when Nightmare Moon returned.

They watched in silence for a few more moments before deciding to return home. Back at the library, Twilight wasted no time, sitting at a desk and grabbing a piece of paper and a quill.

Dear Princess Celestia,

She stopped, pondering on what to report to her mentor about the recent events. But then she reminded herself of who really needed that letter. She put the paper to the side and grabbed a new one.

Dear Princess Luna . . .

*** *** ***

A deep rumble shook the ground and walls of the dark antechamber. Outside the huge wooden door plated with rusty metal in front of me was a lively crowd gathered to witness my most probable demise.

I stared at the entrance to The Cage, desperately trying to gather any shred of self-control I had left. I was elated, not being bound by chains or magic inhibitors; I was about to put this freedom to good use soon, however.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus on what I had to return to: Spike, our pet birds, Ponyville . . . Twilight.

A loud clang dispersed the image of the unicorn mare from my head, the grim reality settling in without delay. I closed my eyes as soon as I had opened them, the powerful light of the day greatly contrasting the dark environment of the Griffin prison I had been in the past hours.

“Move, pony!” came an order from behind a door to my side.

I tried to ignore the gryphon guard and took a deep breath before stepping outside. The deafening reaction of the hundreds of gryphons gathered to see me fight who-knows what caught me off guard. The Cage was a large arena with a round, sand-made floor and two heavy doors at opposite ends of each other, one of which I had just come through. Above me, between the fighting area and the stands was an actual metal cage, bits of gruesome remains hanging from the bars, tangled with blood-tainted feathers and other remains. The significance of that place’s name started to sink in.

The crowd was restless and thirsty for blood, chanting a strange word over and over again that I couldn’t distinguish clearly. Surveying the crowd above me, I noticed a more separate, higher stand, where my eyes fell on a smirking Gilda, next to a few other high-class looking gryphons. Next to that stand, between the ordinary gryphons, I managed to spot a pony.

Moving a little bit around and squinting my eyes to see past The Cage’s bars, I recognized the ambassador that had visited me in my cell. His worriedness betrayed his stern facade. As our eyes met, he pointed at his horn and shook his head.

It wasn’t long before I found out what that meant. The opposite doors opened and a large creature stepped out. Its dark mane fluttered in the High Mountain winds as it placed one large paw in front of the other, making its way towards the center of the arena. As it walked, the beast stretched its bat-like wings in the sun, reveling in the sensation of freedom, much like I did when I stepped into The Cage. Its long tail swayed behind it, my eyes focused on the large sting at its end.

“Sand manticores . . . immune to magic,” I mumbled disheartened, recalling the ambassador’s words.

I was truly dead. There was no way I could have fought something like that with just my physical power. The creature was closing in on me, the noises from the crowd taunting her on. I backed away slowly, trying to keep a distance from it.

The manticore charged and I instinctively raised a shield between us. Seeing the sudden appearing object, the creature let out a roar, stood up on its feet and lashed her tail at the glowing energy field. The impact dispelled it completely and even though the strength of the blow was not as big as I expected, the magic link between me and the summoned shield disappeared in an instant.

"You fucking anti-magic piece of- Oh shit!" I yelped, the manticore’s tail brushing right through my tail as I jumped to the side in the last second to avoid the lightning fast attack.

The start of the combat poured more gas on the flaming rustle of the gryphon crowd, cheers erupting all around the arena stands.

I got up from where I landed in the sand and scrambled as fast as I could away from the creature. I was panicked, my heart about to rip out from my chest. I desperately looked around for anything that could have helped me fight the damn thing yet there was absolutely nothing I could have used to my advantage.

The manticore lunged at me, its teeth glistering and stinger dripping a green liquid. Acting on instinct yet again, I tried to blast the air in front of me and send the beast flying. The air blast was powerful yet the manticore was not flung back as I expected. The spell stopped her charge for a moment as she looked around disoriented, trying to figure out what exactly had happened.

Not used to fighting a lot of unicorns, are you?

That was my chance.

I focused, horn glowing a deep blue as I channeled magic around it. My opponent had already started to move towards me again. All the gryphons in the arena –and probably the ambassador as well- went silent as the glow grew stronger and stronger until it all imploded back into my horn. An instant later, a single spark at its tip ignited the air around, bright red flames blasting all around me.

Fortunately, controlling fire wasn’t as hard as it seemed, and the chaotic blasts started focusing into condensed pillars that swarmed above me, similar to my black tendril spell. The flames were bright yet not particularly hot, the spell acting just as a visual deterrent to keep the manticore away from me. It worked, the beast was hissing and roaring at the flames, pawing the air in front of her.

My short moment of relief ended however as soon as I realised my magic energy was being consumed way too fast just to keep the flames controlled where I wanted them. The cogs in my brain turned wildly as I tried to think up of a way to actually defeat the manticore. She was approaching me again, becoming undeterred by the wall of heated magic.

The imminent threat was feet away when I decided to change tactics. The pillar of flames fizzled out and I stood on my hind legs, focusing my magic on the tip of my front hooves. When I smashed them against the ground, the whole arena shook, a powerful shockwave sending tons of sand flying through the air all around the manticore.

My horn was dripping blue sparks of energy as I tried to maintain control over the sandstorm. I was not prepared for anything like that. The sheer control required to maintain that much sand in the air seemed impossible to achieve. However, even in my chaotic spell casting, the sand particles managed to swirl around the angry beast, causing it to back away.

Just as I thought I had the edge, the manticore stopped and seemed to stare right at me, using her wings to protect the eyes from the dust and sand.

“Ohh shit . . .”

I remembered the creature’s actual name, figuring out how bad of a choice sand was as a weapon against it. With surprising agility, the manticore pranced at me and the next moment it was covering my entire field of view. I ducked and dived to avoid her maul, yet somehow her paw managed to hit me. The only good news was that it was the back of its paw and not the actual razor-sharp claws. Nevertheless, I was propelled to the side, smashing into the coarse sand, its rough texture burning through my coat.

I got up as quick as I could, trying to shake off the huge daze I was in. The crowd’s rhythmic beats as the gryphons tapped their paws against the stands helped paint the surreal world around me. I was so close to dying, and I felt that despite my powers, there was nothing that I could do to save myself from being shredded to death by an angry, blood-thirsty manticore.

My shoulder hurt like hell and any movement of that leg brought even more pain. I would not survive another fast attack like that last one. As I looked at the beast circling around me, getting ready for another jump, my eyes fell on the arena’s wall behind it.

As fast as I could, I focused on the large, loose stone that was part of the wall, yanking it out. The beast sprung on its hind legs again, extending her whole body in the air like the agile half-feline she was. The rock impacted her just in time, deviating her course just enough so that it passed my side, her paws thrashing wildly as they tried to rip away at my head. The crowd was wilder than ever. I immediately raised the boulder again and let it fall against the beast’s tail, eliciting a painful roar from it.

The appendage’s tip, a venom-filled sack with a sharp sting was hanging from the rest of the tail, a small patch of skin barely holding it attached. As the manticore flailed her paws around in pain and rising sand, I focused on the stone one last time. At that stage I was barely able to keep the levitation spell working so the rock just slipped from my magic grip, still landing however on my opponent’s head.

Its thrashing around intensified as the crowd went silent and the beast’s loud roars turned to muffled chocks and hisses. Blood painted the clear sand of the arena, drops landing as far as next to me, accompanied by green splatters from the chopped-off tail.

The gryphons watching the event started cheering again. They cheered for death and blood, not justice.

The fight however was not over yet. Mortally wounded, my opponent’s violent flailing managed to send out one last attack. Its tail whipped through the air, and even though it was too far away to actually hit me, the poisonous liquid from the venom sack flew through the air, splattering on the sand around me. I backed away, but it was too late: a second spray of green substance landed on me. My face and back started burning and I let out the loudest scream in my life.

I desperately tried to rub away the burning stuff that managed to get straight into my eyes, but the world around me had already dissolved into a green mess, then slowly faded to black. I could barely feel my body, and the last thing I remembered was a fade thud across my side as I crashed to the ground, the sound of the arena ebbing away into the depths of my mind.

*** *** ***

Fleeting echoes of the fight rang through my mind, jolting me from a world of dreams to a world of pain. In the middle of the surrounding darkness, I reached out with a hoof, opening my mouth to let out a scream that never came. My throat was drier than the sand I fought in, only a barely audible hiss passing through from my vocal chords. My breathing instantly intensified as I tried to figure out where I was.

A softness underneath me pointed out that I was laying on a bed, but the rest was a total mystery. A groan finally escaped my lips, as the intensity of the pain started to settle in and focalize on my back and face. As I flailed my hooves around through the darkness of the room, claws suddenly wrapped around one of them.

“It’s okay, dude; just relax.”

My heart skipped a beat as I recognized Spike’s voice. I reached out with my hoof to his body, tapping his chest in the dark, not believing he was actually there.

“Water . . .”

His claws grabbed the back of my head and raised it gently. Soon, I felt the touch of a wooden cup against my lips. I clumsily held it, emptying its content in a heartbeat.

“Spike . . . what happened? Where are we?”

“You’re in a safe place. The pony ambassador brought you here from the capital. You won the fight, so they let you go.”

A caw to my left notified me of Raven’s presence.

“Ughh, my back. It hurts . . .” I said after another deep moan, clenching my teeth. “What happened to my back and face?”

“Try to relax, Clever Quill patched you up well, the wounds will heal, but-”

“Spike,” I cut him off, my mind starting to catch on with the lack of light in the room. “Spike, why’s there no light in here?”

The dragon remained silent. He gently squeezed my hoof, and I could hear a faint sigh.

“The manticore’s venom got into your eyes.”

“No . . .”

“Quill said he couldn’t fix it with his medical knowledge.”

“Am I . . . blind?” I swallowed hard, tears forming around my injured eyes.

“We’ll get back home, he said doctors may be able to fix it. It’s going to be all right dude, just try to relax for now.”

“I’m blind . . .”

Tears started streaming down my face, their saltiness adding to the burn of my wounds.

“You’re going to be fine,” the dragon repeated, and I could sense he was saying it to convince himself as well.

He didn’t leave my side for hours as I plunged into a painful silence, my mind becoming a storm of thoughts. Not being able to see was surreal, an abyssal darkness being all that surrounded me. The hours passed and the ambassador eventually showed up to talk to me. He congratulated me on defeating the manticore, admitting that my chances of survival were less than favorable considering my magic immune opponent.

Between numerous apologies for not being able to heal my eyes, I found out from him that King Arnost himself was present in the crowd. The fight I put up turned to be an entertaining event for the gathered gryphons, yet the end result didn’t seem to please the king, or his niece for that matter.

The ambassador was kind and tried to be as reassuring as possible, despite the current, grim situation I found myself in. He promised that I was going to get better and see again if I went to a doctor back in Equestria as soon as I would return. He even made arrangements in Open Beak to have Pearl’s boat repaired, hiring him to sail us back to the continent as soon as I could get out of bed.

The eternal darkness however was eerie. Despite coming out of The Cage alive, I felt defeated. A fight with a great opponent had left me sightless, and all the reassuring words in the world didn’t mean anything to me at that moment. Eventually, I was left alone to rest with my thoughts, alone in the darkness.

*** *** ***

The painful reality blended with the dream world seamlessly.

A sound perked my ears up. I ran a hoof through my sheets, reminding me of where I was. The sound of approaching hooves stopped next to my bed. The strange sensation I was feeling intensified as a cold draft sent shivers down my spine. I knew whoever was there wasn’t the ambassador nor Spike. I clearly recalled Death visiting me in the cell as He brought water to quench my thirst. But what was He doing there now? I gulped, gathering the courage to ask what I almost knew for certain.

“Death?”

Silence was the only answer I got. Something was not right. The chills I got, the eerie sensation I was feeling deep down in my bones were not the same as back in the prison. I hesitantly reached out to the side of the bed with a hoof, probing the darkness with my heart standing in my throat.

It was met by fur, a chest covered in fur. My hoof wondered upwards across the neck extending out of it. A mane, and eventually further up, a horn. That was certainly not Death, yet it would have felt more reassuring if it were. I retracted my hoof, ready to call out for Spike.

Somehow, I could almost hear the unicorn’s smirk creeping across his face.

“Who are you?” I asked in a low voice.

I heard a soft tap of his hoof against the wooden floor as I felt him lean over to my ear.

“Me?” came back my own voice from his lips, “I’m your Nightmare.”

End of Chapter 19

Chapter 20: The Nightmare Within pt.1

Chapter 20

The Nightmare Within

The large doors of the throne room swung open, the heavy sound echoing in the large hall. A hooded pony walked through, escorted by four gryphon guards. On the far side of the room, from a large iron throne, King Arnost kept his gaze on the one he had called forth, impatiently tapping his talon against the large chair.

The pony stopped several feet from him, a pink aura unveiling her head. She took a bow, her pale blue mane shining in the moon’s light that filtered through the large windows.

“He lives,” Arnost simply said, his voice echoing in the throne room, “and the fight he put up today was not as impressive as I expected it to be,” he immediately added before the pony could speak. “How could you fail such a simple task? Thousands of miles of wasted opportunities, just for you to return to me with him still alive.”

“I . . . apologize, but he was helped all those times: Luna, that dragon friend of his, even their birds. I will get them on their way back, the great and powerful promises!”

A loud, splintering crack filled the room as Arnost slammed his talons against the throne. “You are a great and powerful nothing in here!” his strong voice accompanied the echoes of his fist slam. “A worthless defector of your own kind, nothing more.”

“But I-”

“Silence! You’d better make sure they don’t escape unharmed this time,” he said, signaling with a claw a pair of guards next to him.

The gryphons grabbed a chest from behind the room and brought it in front of the mare. After placing it gently on the marble floor, they opened the top lid.

“It’s called a Magebane; take it and finish the job you started. After that, return to Equestria and await word from me.”

Trixie stared at the content of the chest, her lip trembling slightly. “Is that a-”

“Go, and ask no more questions!” Arnost ordered, causing the mare to flinch.

She grabbed the object inside and slid it inside her robe, packing it securely in a satchel on her back. Trixie then bowed her head in front of the gryphon king and left the throne room in great haste.

*** *** ***

The sounds of the night pierced through the dense forest around me, the howling of unknown creatures sending deep chills in my bones. I looked up towards the moon, its shimmering white bringing a tang of comfort into my restless soul.

“Waiting for someone?” a familiar voice came from behind a tree. Its bearer came out into the moonlight, carrying a malicious grin on his face.

His pitch-black orbs that served as eyes gazed upon me as he approached, his hoofsteps unheard. He bore no cutie mark for some strange reason, yet there was no doubt about who he was. The last two days have been marked by his pungent presence inside my head, his words tantalizing orders of maddening actions.

He was me . . . my own Nightmare.

“She can’t come here and save you again,” he said, stopping at a frightening safe distance, just out of my immediate reach.

Was he going to fight me that time?

The encounters with him had been weird and sometimes violent, but I realised what he was actually doing: slowly but steadily he was breaking me, getting into my mind and planting the seeds of chaos and death that was to come.

“Who are you talking about?” I lied between unsteady lips, trying as best as I could to appear disinterested in him. That didn’t usually work in my favor; he hated being ignored.

“Luna can’t visit you unless you’re in a dream, and we both know that very well.”

“You are not real, therefore you are a dream; a creation of my subconscious.”

Clouds or dark smoke invaded my view, sipping into my nostrils and eyes as he teleported right next to me. He was at my neck, his hoof extending black tendrils around it, squeezing it dangerously

“I am as real as you are,” he hissed between his teeth. I dared look into his abyssal eyes and saw nothing but eternal darkness, emptiness and an unquenchable thirst for blood.

My horn flared magic into the dark night as I grabbed a nearby log and smashed it against his head.

“I will never let you out, whatever the hell you are!” I shouted, wrapping my blue magic around the tree behind me and uprooting it.

I pummeled the blue stallion with it, driving him deep into the ground. The tree broke in half, and the half broke as well after several more beatings. The remnants of the tree dropped with a thud on the ground. Moments later the stallion got up and stared at me as if nothing had happened. Puffing out of existence in a cloud of smoke, he instantly reappeared inches away from me. “Fighting me is useless, how do you not understand that? You cannot keep me locked inside forever!”

The ground shook slightly. A distant call of my name echoed in my head. My Nightmare tilted his head, staring into the dark sky. “Until next time,” he whispered in his cold voice.

He then backed away, his hoofsteps leaving unnatural ripples like a stone dropped in water in the forest floor. The sounds of waves splashing against something solid faded in, along with another call of my name. At the same time, the world around darkened and darkened until there was nothing.

“Blink! Hey, Blink, how are you? Feeling better?”

I raised my hoof, and it was soon grabbed by the worried dragon. “I’m okay, Spike; just another bad dream.”

“It’s well into the evening, and you’ve slept all night,” he clenched my hoof harder. ”Are you sure those visions are not real?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, heaving a deep breath. “How long?”

“Last time I asked Pearl, he said we should be there tomorrow.”

I fumbled my hooves around and stood up from the makeshift hay bed, my back stinging with every move. “How bad is it?” I asked, gently running a hoof along the back of my neck.

“The ambassador fixed it up pretty good. Most of the fur already grew back. But dude-”

“What?”

“You really need a mane-cut. And a fur trim for that matter.”

A smile formed on my face, yet quickly faded away.

“Come with me, I wanna show you something,” came Spike’s voice as I felt his claws wrap around the end of my unkempt mane and tugging it gently.

“Show me something? What a funny dragon we are today. And I thought I told you to stop doing that, I’m not a workhorse, you know?” I said, following him.

“You didn’t like the rope leash I made for you,” came his retort.

The sound of the sea became louder and clearer. As I dragged my hooves along the wooden floor, I realised we were on the deck of the ship, the wind battering against my coat. A few moments later, we stopped. Spike’s claws reached for my front hooves and he pulled them up one by one, letting them rest by what had to be the wooden rail.

And then I felt it: an unusual and barely present sensation across my face. I took a deep breath, taking in the cold ocean air, its salty smell imprinting itself deep into my mind.

“How . . . how is it?” I simply asked.

“Well, it’s still shimmering a little. It already got that purple haze around the horizon, and the color is reflecting in the ocean’s water all around us. It’s just as beautiful as last time we saw it.”

I searched deep through the depths of my mind and pulled the memory of the last sunset me and Spike had watched together. I tried to place that image in front of me, and for one moment, have a little bit of light in my otherwise dark world.

“Thanks, Spike; for everything. Especially for coming with me on this stupid journey.”

“It’s all right, I guess. We’ll soon be back home in Ponyville, you’re gonna get fixed up and then we’ll forget about this in no time.”

I rested my head on my front hooves, trying to keep the twilight’s image in my mind.

“Sounds like a plan,” I added with a sigh.

*** *** ***

The door glowed a magical yellow and opened wide, allowing Celestia to step into her large study. She stopped the moment she noticed the unusual presence of her sister, staring at a wall of portraits. The late morning’s light filled the room, but even so, the air was gloomy and dark.

Celestia closed the door behind her and stepped warily to her desk, idly checking several scrolls and waiting for her sister to talk first. Yet Luna remained silent, staring at the multiple portraits on the wall with rapt attention.

“So little sister, anything troubling you?” Celestia asked, deciding to break the awkward silence.

Her sister shuffled a little in place, re-directing her attention to another portrait, the one of a mare she had just recently seen. “Only the dead’s unrest, and the sins of my past.”

Celestia froze, and the moment she noticed Luna was looking at the portrait of a long gone Captain of the Royal Guard, Bellona the Wise, she figured out her sister somehow knew.

“What- what do you mean, sister?”

“Why did you withhold the truth from me?” Luna simply inquired, turning her attention to Celestia.

“I- how did you find out?”

“Twilight sent me a letter, informing me about a strange occurrence in the Everfree. It was in the old ruins where the Elements were kept. Dost thou wish to take a guess at what I found there a couple of nights ago?”

Celestia remained silent. For her, it was a surprise to find out Twilight sent her sister a letter about something important, and not to her in the first place.

“Twilight-”

“Yes, dearest sister; she sent me a letter, not you. I do wonder why; maybe because you’ve sent her beloved to die on a strange land, and that her dearest friend followed said stallion in his quest? Alas, the worst part is not even that . . .”

“Ohh Luna, you know very well that I only meant what’s-”

“Did thou mean well when you hid the death of tens of stallions and mares from me as well?” Luna cut her short.

“I- I didn’t want you to know that, so that you wouldn’t have to carry that burden with you,” Celestia said, her eyes pleading for any form of understanding.

“Yet the burden of knowing no rest for over a thousand years was carried by them! They were all there, every last one of them. They were there when I returned from my banishment and was saved by the Elements. They have been there ever since, waiting for something, for someone to free them of that burden.”

Celestia had frozen in place, almost unable to take in what her sister was telling her.

“And yet I managed to release them from the curse that has was bestowed upon them by Nightmare Moon the day they all died by her hoof. Now tell me sister, was a few years of my peace worth it?”

The white alicorn opened her mouth to speak, yet no words formed on her lips. Luna turned back to Bellona’s portrait, her eyes filled with emotions.

“Thou told me to leave my heart opened for you. How can I do that when one doesn’t even show honesty towards the other?” Luna said quietly, her eyes shut as to keep those emotions in. She then turned around and left the room, leaving Celestia to stand alone in the middle of the study, her apologies untold.

*** *** ***

My entire world was pain. The fight had been going on for hours and hours on end. I let out a deep groan as I got up from the ground. Another powerful blow out of the blue sent me flying again through the air, ending up smashing myself against something hard.

Pain flooded my body again but I couldn’t give up. There was no way I would let that happen. I got up, the broken bones and muscles healing up almost instantly. Fighting in my own head against a darker side of me was surreal, an indescribable experience I wished upon no one. I couldn’t die, but that was exactly what he wanted. He wanted to break me, make me give in and let him do his bidding.

When emotional attacks showed no results, he resorted to inflicting pure, unfiltered pain, delivered straight into my head through countless beatings that I managed more or less to stand up against. Fighting my nightmare was like trying to reduce numbness with pain medication. On the outside I was in control, but inside his powers were greater that I could ever imagine, which made me even more determined to not let that evil out.

“Still not giving up?” he asked from a distance, coming towards me.

The world around me shook and plunged itself into darkness without warning. The cold air sent a shiver down my spine, forcing me back awake.

“Blink, you okay? Let’s get you into bed,” came Spike’s concerned voice from nearby.

He helped me get up and guided me inside the ship, towards my makeshift bed.

“Wha- why am I not in my bed already? I remember being outside on the deck, talking with you . . . you told me we would arrive at Issac that day, and then I lost it somehow . . . why are we still on the boat?”

“Blink, we just had that talk a few seconds ago, when you fainted. What’s happening to you, man?”

Panic engulfed me. I’d been fighting my Nightmare for what seemed to be hours, not moments. The situation was getting desperate and I was running out of ideas and even willpower to push on against him.

I laid onto the rough bed, covering my shivering body with a piece of cloth. “I’m fine. I just need to keep fighting him.”

“Can I help?” came Spike’s genuine, concerned-filled question.

“No, I need to do this alone . . .”

I let out a deep breath and relaxed my body, the creaking of the hull slowly fading away into the depths of my mind.

When I opened my eyes I could see once again. My Nightmare was, as always, waiting for me inside my mind, prepared for another round of torture. The endless forest around me stretched towards all four horizons, the colors of the night blending together in the distant line of sight. The large clearing we were in marked the place where we usually fought against each other like crazed animals.

I looked him in the eyes, and the depthless pits of darkness that were his stared back. I channeled my magic, ready for another head to head against my darker self. As I focused that energy, a single glance at the nearby trees revealed a most fascinating spectacle, something that I’d been totally oblivious of in my recent encounters against him.

Each tree seemed to glow gently, soft pulsing points raising from their roots and into their crowns. The faint glowing wisps then propagated throughout the many branches, sparking other glows in the neighboring trees.

I realised I was literally inside my head, and the spectacle was breathtaking.

“Lovely view indeed, but I would rather enjoy the one . . . outside of here.”

His voice immediately snapped me back to reality. “NO!” I yelled as he took a step towards me.

My horn shined brightly through the dark night, illuminating the forest around and causing the neuron-like trees to send out powerful pulses to each other. The blue light imploded back into the horn, my eardrums popping from the sudden change of pressure. He didn’t even have time to flinch before the whole ground underneath him exploded violently in a large area, throwing tons of dirt into the air all around him. As the large mass of debris rained back down, so did he, and ended up trapped feet under as I redirected the whole mass displacement back on top of him.

It was shortly after the last pebble fell back onto the freshly made mound that a blue hoof came through it. In moments he was out of the ground, his blue coat smeared and dirtier than before.

“You fool,” he started, choking out and spitting dirt, “do that again and you’ll spend the rest of your pathetic life drooling like a bland vegetable!”

Ohh . . . shit.

That must have been quite a lot of brain matter I just blasted away, given that even my own Nightmare was worried. I made a quick mental note not to mess around with the environment anymore, the prospect of sucking up food with a straw drawing a frightening image in my head.

That moment of pondering was short lived, his face appearing inches away from mine as he teleported next to me. He then drew a front hoof back, his dark magic glow encasing it and forming itself into the dark shape of a blade. With a powerful swing, he plunged the blade through my chest, knocking the air out of my perforated lungs as pain overtook each one of my senses. As soon as he withdrew the blade from me, he plunged it back in, using black tendrils spawned from his other hoof to hold my by the neck. Wave after wave of mind-breaking pain crashed against my conscience with each stab, the forest around flashing like a lightning storm with every new spike in my agony.

A loud cry filled the night, and his blade-wielding hoof froze mid-air. The Nightmare barely had the time to look to his side when a dark shape crashed against him, lifting him into the air. I recovered from the pain and looked up, trying to spot whatever took him, but failed to spot anything into the dark limits.

The sound of a falling object faded in, and with a bone-crunching sound that made me shiver to the core, his body crashed against the ground, feet away from me. Moments after, the powerful flapping of a very large pair of wings became louder and louder.

I was expecting Luna, I was even expecting Celestia or Death Himself in the shape of a dark angel to land next to my Nightmare’s limp body, but what I didn’t expect was the a huge jet-black bird that instantly reminded me of a dear friend.

“Raven? What the fuck?!” I yelped, the five foot tall raven tilting her head at me quizzically.

She was huge, her rapid head movements as she looked around being shockingly similar to her real movements as the creature that would usually sit between my shoulder blades out of pure laziness. I approached her hesitantly, but there was no doubt about who she was. Her signature caw even made my eardrums vibrate in pain. She was Raven all right.

A groan escaped the lips of my Nightmare underneath her and Raven instantly locked her eyes onto the barely moving corpse, her instincts driving her. I was almost sure the impacts I’ve put him through our battles were more powerful than the fall he just took, so it seemed that somehow, Raven was able to really hurt him.

His horn began to glow but immediately Raven drove her beak down with lightning speed and crushing force, the sound of breaking neck bones filling the silence around. He gasped as Raven ripped the flesh apart with every peck of her beak, retaliating violently to the tiniest movement he enacted.

As the gruesome evisceration took place right under my eyes, I stood there in silent shock, a strange mix of petty and satisfaction overtaking me.

“Blink, wake up!”

I raised my head, searching for Spike’s presence with my hoof.

“Come on, let’s go; we’re here.”

“Here?” I followed him, the ocean’s sounds no longer there, replaced however with the powerful ambient of the bustling port city.

“Aye, Blink. Managed to bring ya’ll to shore safely this time,” came Pearl’s voice from somewhere on the deck.

“Thanks for that, and if you ever find yourself back in Equestria, give us a visit. Especially to your cousin.”

“Sure thing, lad. Take care of ya, guys!”

Bidding our farewells, we left the ship and headed towards what I assumed was the city.

“Spike, how the hell are we going to get back home safely with me not seeing a damn thing?” I asked, adjusting the cloak on my back and magically checking that I had my holster and pistol strapped underneath it.

“It’s gonna be fine, you’ll see. Plus, I can take care of-”

“Well look who decided to show its face around here again,” came a coarse voice from up ahead.

I bumped by nose against something hard, most probably Spike’s back scales.

“Spike, what’s happening?” I asked worried as I felt him back away, guiding me back with his hand.

I felt a spike of senses deep inside. Something with a lot of magic had suddenly appeared around us, and the strange part was that it wasn’t even originating from whoever was in front of us, but from somewhere behind.

“Look, if you want to go against me again, you’ll have to bring more friends than that,” Spike threatened, and I could clearly hear the bubbling noises in his flame chambers as he breathed in and out.

“Eyy! Get lost Snatcher, these guys are with me,” came Pearl’s voice from behind as I heard his hoofsteps approaching us.

“Can it whitey, that beast there knocked me out and burned my buddy, I think I might just return the favor, ain’t that right boys?”

A series of laughs and approvals erupted from all around us. I then realised how many stallions had actually ganged up on us. I gritted my teeth in exasperation, not being able to stand the overwhelming sensation of vulnerability I had. My horn glowed slowly as I grabbed the pistol under my coat, and for a split second, I was sure that my mind was playing me tricks because I could have sworn I felt the stallions and dragon in front of me in a very visual manner, almost as if I got a glimpse of their outlines for the briefest of moments.

“Back away, lad!”

I heard a hard impact sound from my left, where Pearl should have been. Immediately after, Spike’s deep inhaling as he prepared to spit fire at whoever was attacking us notified me that the fight had started. And I couldn’t see or do anything about it.

Acting on instinct, I raised a shield plate in front of me. As I used my magic to do that, fleeting traces of color filled my vision for the briefest of moments. Raven’s loud caw came from my shoulder. The strange sensation of something magically powerful was still behind me, and it was stronger than ever. A shot rang through the air from nearby. A groan cut short Spike’s fire breathing attack.

And then the world suddenly came to an abrupt stop. No sounds, no movement, no sensation.

I opened my eyes and found myself in the middle of a large commotion, all frozen into place as if time had forgotten how to flow. I couldn’t move my body, but my head was somewhat mobile. I could see. I saw Pearl to my left, his hoof departing from its impact site, teeth flying from a scruffy stallion’s mouth.

I turned my eyes to the right. Ignited drops of liquid were sprayed out of Spike’s mouth and nose in an unfocused manner, as if he had choked with his own fire. His eyes were closed shut in pain. A small shimmer caught my attention. A bullet, next to his left shoulder, dented and torn as it had just bounced off a harder scale.

The thug in front of him. I recognized him to be the second guy that assaulted us at that motel the night we left Issac’s Port. The barrel of his revolver was smoking and his eyes were filled with hatred and a pure desire for revenge.

“Quite . . . a . . . view,” a familiar voice said in the eerie silence.

From behind one of the many thugs in front of me stepped out a blue unicorn. My jaw hung in shock. He was alive. The Nightmare was not over.

“Why so surprised? Do you think your precious bird actually killed me? Thing is Blink, you can’t kill me, until you actually die yourself,” he said with a wicked grin. His face however turned serious as soon as he directed his dark gaze somewhere behind me.

He came towards me, passing me and then walking for few more feet before stopping.

“Ohh, this explains so many things. Never thought I would see you here. And what the hell is that, a horn?”

His hoofsteps made themselves heard again as he stepped back in my field of view.

“Seems like we are in a pickle here, old friend,” he said trying to sound smug, yet his voice was tainted with nervousness. “That one behind you is the same pony that tried to kill us on the way here. The strange feeling you’re having comes from her weapon. So, you either let me out to deal with this-”

“Fuck you!” I shouted, determined. “That’s never going to happen, you hear me?”

I clenched my teeth. It could have well been my last moments alive, but I had one last card to play. “You will die, once and for all. As you said, if I die, you die. I’m okay with that.”

My Nightmare flinched, anger overtaking him. The shimmer from the bullet that bounced from Spike’s shoulder caught my attention. It was moving. Painfully slow, the bullet was moving through the air. Time was unfreezing.

The Nightmare looked at the bullet as well, his façade of power and superiority beginning to crack and crumble visibly. That was my last chance.

“Help me, and we walk away from this,” I calmly said. I was knowingly stepping into a very dangerous game, but it was that or the death of me and my friends.

“Help you?” he hissed, locking his dark eyes onto mine.

“Yes, make me see and I can fight these guys and whoever is behind me.”

“You idiot, I can’t make you see. All you’re seeing now are just frames in time, built from all the input of your sense. You are still blind.”

“Then how am I supposed to fight?”

“Use your magic, fool. Every time you do, you can see their signature in your mind, instinctively.”

He shuffled around, nervously staring at the thug’s revolver as its cylinder slowly spun a new round. He was visibly strained by the spell he was probably casting so that we could have that conversation while everything around was frozen in place. A caw came from above me. Raven was sitting on my horn, apparently unaffected by time’s flow.

“All right; I’ll help us,” he finally conceded. “We will just feel a slight pinch when I surface a bit, but you still need to let me loose a little, otherwise you won’t get any power.”

“Deal. Raven, listen to me. If I lose control you kill me, just like you did with him back in my mind. Can you do that for me?”

Another caw came as a confirmation. Sounds started ringing in my head, as my vision went dark.

“Remember, use your magic to see them, and watch for the charging one behind us,” came my Nightmare’s last words.

The echoes of the gunshot filled my ears as everything started happening all over again. My insides suddenly started burning and I flinched in pain, dropping on one knee.

“The bullet bounced, shoot him again!” came a voice from afar.

I focused and suddenly the air around me went out as a torrent of energy began flowing into a pool around me. My cutie mark was burning.

Whoa, that’s a lot of magic.

The first spell cast was sending a powerful blast in the direction where I remembered the gun wielding stallion was. My whole world of darkness was instantly lit up as I channelled the powerful magic. Blue smudges of smoke and vapors blended in to form the shapes of every living creature around me. I could see all of the thugs that had ganged up on us, and some of them had weird mists around them. I then noticed those were the ones that had horns, the unicorns. I could literally see their magic.

A scream faded away, and I saw the flying shape of a stallion, currents of my own magic blast flying past him. He came to an abrupt stop and I heard the sound of breaking wood and glass.

“One down,” I muttered to myself. “Spike, burn em’!” I yelled to my partner as I pulled my own revolver from its holster.

The imminent approach of the powerful force from behind was however impossible to ignore any longer. I turned around in place and saw a unicorn galloping towards me. Its magic was latched onto a blade-like object which was the actual source of unrest.

With a thought, I raised a solid shield between us. The unicorn smashed against it, stopping in its tracks. The blade fell from its grasp, the momentum sending it sliding on the ground to my feet. I stared down upon it, the horrendous thing now clear in my mind. The dagger-like weapon was sharp and slightly curved but what was truly weird was the handle, a unicorn’s horn with its tip severed. The broken appendage was leaking strange magic right into the blade’s edge and tip, the weapon’s profile shining the brightest in my magic perspective of the world.

A nearby presence reminded me of the fight going on. I turned back just as one of the thugs swung a knife at me. It would have been too late if not for the black tendril that somehow conjured itself and latched onto the attacker. My blood was boiling, a mixture of pure magic and rage filling my veins. Without hesitation, I cast another tendril and smashed the stallion into the ground.

A very bright stream of magic filled my view, obscuring everything else. I looked closely to my side and realised it was actually Spike’s flame. Who would have though he carried so much magic?

The pained screams of those unfortunate enough to be caught by the flames erupted, filling the air like a sweet melody to my ears. My senses caught up to two other fast approaching ponies. I turned around in time, my revolver ready. As I poured magic into the weapon, I felt a strange thing in it. And then I remembered the words of the merchant that had sold it to me.

With four effortless squeezes of the trigger, the revolver spat its bullets one after the other in the blink of an eye. The sounds of the shots were ear-shattering, the recoil was powerful but the gun steadied itself immediately after each shot, the enchanted fast triggering mechanism kicking in, fueled by my magic. The thugs dropped to the ground, one of them with a shattered leg bone and a deep hole in his shoulder while the other one was missing half his jaw and his left ear.

The smell of blood just seemed to add to my powers. I raised my gun to the next stallion but immediately noticed his missing eye.

“Whoa there, don’t shoot! It’s me, Pearl!” I saw his lips move.

My gun shook a little as I internally fought against my instinct to blast him into the afterlife. “I’m in control!” I let out, hosting the gun with a grunt.

Movement behind me. I snapped my head back at where the blade that was lying on the ground but it was gone. On the other side of the town’s street, the unicorn attacker was rushing inside a narrow alleyway between two wooden buildings, its cloak fluttering behind him.

An electrifying sharp sound rang in my ears as the crackling energies focused in front of me in a huge ball of invisible but very potent magic.

“Ughaa!” I let out the feral cry, casting the spell.

The blast created a powerful shockwave, knocking me behind and landing on my rump. Dust raised around me in an expanding circle travelling at the speed of sound, my eardrums ringing from the blast. I focused and tried to visualize the aftereffects of my spell, yet my eco-locating magic could only form images of living things and magic fields in my head.

Spike’s contour was frozen in place in my head, just feet away from the spell’s cone-shaped area of effect. To my relief, his magic field moved, his head turning towards me.

“Dude . . . just wow!” I heard from him.

I felt being raised from the ground. Looking at the stallion grabbing me, I barely traced the shocked features on Pearl’s face. I flinched my hoof from his grasp, starring madly at him for some I reason I couldn’t explain exactly.

Raven broke the moment by landing on Pearl’s head and cawing at me loudly. Her magic signature was shadowed by a translucent one, several times bigger. It looked the same way it did in my head when she saved me from my Nightmare. Seeing her like that triggered something in me and I immediately relaxed myself, my whole body and its muscles de-tensing as if something had left from within.

“You’re welcome, fool,” came the echoes of my own voice from somewhere deep in my head.

“I think we should get out of here,” Spike suggested, approaching me rather cautiously. “You okay? How did you manage to do that back there without seeing?”

“Let’s say that I’ve come to a relative peace with my inner self.”

My cutie mark still burned on both sides of my flank and my head was throbbing a rising pain. As my magic usage went down, so did my visual sensory abilities. Soon, my entire world was a cold emptiness, devoid of any colors or lights. The chilling wind, empowered by the nearby ocean’s breeze pulled at my mane and coat, and I started shivering as the heat around me leaving alongside the channeled magic.

“Who was that?” I asked as we made our way out of the town, ponies and creatures of all kinds that transited it staring at us along the way and avoiding our path.

“Who?”

“The one that attacked me from behind. The unicorn that ran between those buildings.”

“Well, I think that was a mare. I didn’t see her very well but her blue mane seemed very familiar.”

I winced, finding out that whoever had been on my receiving end of that last spell was just a mare. A mare with a strangest weapon I had seen in my life, one that would have probably ended my life if I hadn’t reacted in time. “What happened to her, did you see where she ran to?”

“Uhh dude, there was barely anything standing after you blasted those buildings; I didn’t see her . . . body however.”

“That was some serious magic there lad, I’ll have ya know that,” came Pearl’s familiar voice from my side.

“I really appreciate what you did for us Pearl, but I don’t want you to escort us anymore. You did enough as it is.”

“Ye’re kidding, right? I can’t go back there after knocking the whites out of one of the sheriff boy’s mouth.”

“The sheriff?” I asked, taken aback. “I thought those were all the thieves that tried to rob me and Spike that night and their friends or something.”

“You forgot this is Issac’s Port we’re talking about, lad. Sheriffs here are the ones that turn their eyes the most from stuff like that. It ain’t Equestria here, so I was hoping ya fellows won’t mind me coming along with you. I wanna give my cousin a visit, see my niece as well, ya know?”

“We could use an extra pony given our situation,” Spike added, thoughtfully.

“All right, but we need to move fast. I don’t like how everyone is looking at us,” I said, picking up the pace.

“How- how can you tell?”

“I just feel it. Let’s go.”

*** *** ***

A distant roar echoed throughout the valley, barely audible in the dry wind. I slowly placed my hoof onto the last ledge and so I found myself on top of the tall plateau we had been climbing for the last hours.

“What was that?” I asked, turning my head around, trying to pinpoint the sound’s source.

“What was what? Ah didn’t hear anything.”

“Same here,” added Spike, still guiding me gently across the narrow valley top.

“Must have been my imagination again. So, see or smell anything, Spike?”

“No . . . there’s nothing around in sight,” came Spike’s response after he probably scoured the entire horizon of the Dragon Territories. We were near the end of the thin stretch between Issac’s Fields and the Zebralands, and finding Ruby’s cave or Ruby for that matter seemed like an impossible task, as we didn’t recognize any of the strange valleys.

I moved to glare at Spike, but was slapped by the brutal irony of my predicament. “Story of my god-damn life. Climbed all the way up here to find your precious drakefriend and all, and she ain’t even around.”

“Wait, we climbed here to find yerself a dragon?” Pearl raised his voice from behind me. “Are ya out of yer damn minds?”

“Nah, that one’s special. Spike’s got the hots for her; literally. She blew fire onto his chest and all, melted his heart,” I said with a chuckle.

“Shut up you-”

A clear roar rang inside my head again. “Shh- tell me you heard that one.”

“Ah think I did. Does that sound like yer friend’s mate?”

“Hey! She’s not my-”

“Shut it both of you!” I spat at them, all of my senses all of a sudden bombarding me with sharp pinches, as if I had fallen in a pit of needles and sharp blades.

”Ohh- I- I think I can smell that,” said Spike in a chilling, trembling voice. “I don’t like it, Blink. This was such a bad idea, I think we should get down from here.”

My horn buzzed, energy coursing through it faintly. An immediate magic presence came to life in front of my blind eyes, its signature having a magnitude and a color like I had never seen before. The loud, slow flaps of his wings went ignored by my ears, as every sense I had was focused on figuring out the magic reading in my head. My heart stuck to my ribcage, and if I hadn’t had my eyes closed already, I would have done so out of sheer terror.

“Lads, we need to move, do it slowly or we’re all-”

“We’re dead anyway. Aren’t we, Spike?” I asked, knowing fully well that Spike must have felt something similar to what I did, given the nature of the inbound creature.

His silence spoke more than anything else. His claws wrapped tighter around my mane as he shuffled towards me and Pearl. Raven was silent as well, feeling her hiding between my shoulder blades. I gazed with my temporary vision at the large shape, the odd hue sticking at a notion lodged deep into my head.

“Don’t move an inch. Whatever he is, I feel that he is immune to anything I could throw at him.”

The roar filled the air, that time only a few hundred feet away from us. The valleys beneath us shook from the deep call, and even the rock underneath my hooves trembled. The outline of one of the largest things I had ever seen in my life descended in front of us. By the looks of it, the dragon was probably as tall as two of Twilight’s library trees put one on top of the other, but I couldn’t tell for sure; the magic around him was too powerful to even tell apart from his normal outline anymore.

The ground shook again, and with that I assumed that he had landed in front of us. Gusts of wind smashed against my face, accompanied by the sound of latent wing beats. Two other presences made themselves known as they landed at each side of the huge dragon. Compared to the first one however, they could have passed as his newly born, but were still larger than Spike by several magnitudes.

“Sweet Celestia’s mother,” came a murmur from behind me.

I went through all the possible scenarios in which those three dragons were hostile, and in the best possible case, I would teleport away, leaving my friends to die and sharing their fate a couple of days later, after an agonizing, blind crawl through the dry valleys of the Dragon Lands or the arid flatlands that belonged to the Zebra.

“Don’t harm us, please; we’re just traveling through these lands,” I said, my voice almost cracking from the fear.

“You have trespassed on our lands, mammals,” came the deepest voice I had ever heard, the ground itself shaking as the mammoth dragon spoke. “You there, dragon. Of what shire you belong to?”

“I- uhh- I’m from Ponyville sir,” said Spike in a very shaken voice.

“Sir?”

A chuckle filled the air, its heavy bass rumbling deep into my chest and bones.

“You don’t know who I am, do you now?” spoke the large creature again.

“Excuse my friend, he’s been raised by ponies and you’re probably among the few he had seen in his life.”

“Keep your words to yourself when the Old One-” came from one of the smaller dragons, but was immediately silenced as I saw the large dragon’s claw raised in the air.

He leaned forward, approaching me with his claw. If my magical reading was correct, the appendage was probably bigger than me. As it approached, the tip pushed me to the side with impressive gentleness, after which, with even more dexterity, unveiled the cloak from my back and jabbed my satchel away.

I clenched my teeth, scared that he might kill me on the spot for bearing a weapon, his eyes probably studying my revolver. A powerful jolt of magic shot through my entire body as I felt the very tip of his claw pass over my cutie mark. I saw him flinch his arm away as soon as that happened and then he slowly retreated it back.

“What are you doing here, unicorn?” he addressed me directly, his tone slightly more grave.

“I’m returning from the Griffin Kingdoms, and we are heading home to Ponyville. We didn’t mean to trespass on your lands,” I said as humbly as possible.

Silence rolled on for a few long, tensed seconds. “So be it, ponies. Make your way into the Zebra Lands with haste, I won’t guarantee your safety from the dragoness that has claimed these narrow valleys.”

“Thank you uhh- sir,” I said, taking a deep bow just as a precaution.

The sound of rapid wing beats approached us. I tried to scan for its source and saw a smaller dragon almost Spike’s size landing near us on top of the valley’s ridge.

“Grandfather!” came the more suave voice of the newly arrived dragon, and I noticed it immediately take a bow.

“Ruby?”

“Spike?”

“Spike?” inquired the large dragon, the name rolling out of his mouth like an avalanche of boulders.

One of his guard drakes took a step forward and sniffed the air. “It’s his scent, Great One.”

“You’re the one that gave a gift of stone to my niece?”

Ohh shit.

I sensed the two escorting dragons taking a few steps towards us. I lunged forwards in front of Spike, and moments later felt Ruby’s hard back scales pressing against my muzzle as she, in turn, put herself between us and the three dragons. “No grandfather, he didn’t mean so! He’s just a stupid drake that wandered on my territory a while ago.”

Tremors went through the ground beneath us as the large dragon spoke again. “You mean to tell me he didn’t purposely ask of you to be his mate, without my given permission?”

“I did what?”

“Shut it drake,” Ruby shushed him right away. “No, he didn’t. In his culture it’s probably considered a sign of gratitude for me helping them out when they stumbled upon my territory.”

Another laugh rolled heavily through the air. “I know of his culture very well, young one. And I know my eyes are not what they used to be centuries ago, but I can still tell that those are scales on his skin and claws at the end of his hands, not fur nor hooves.”

Another few silent moments ticked by agonizingly slow as the large dragon probably pondered on what to do with us after in that unexpected predicament.

“Many I have seen in these long years, but a dragon raised by ponies is among the few I haven’t. As the old code dictates, my niece is to decide your fate while you’re on her territory. Meet me at the great peak further up north when you’re done here, young Blood Eyes.”

The giant dragon took a heavy step towards us as the other two accompanying him took to the skies. “Send my regards to Luna, unicorn. I have heard of her recent return. And you,” he continued, turning away from me, “you would benefit from learning our ways if you’re to consider giving more gifts like those in the future, especially to my niece.”

With that, the dragon flapped his large wings, sending powerful gusts of wind in every direction. The heavy wing beats faded out as I traced the magic aura of the dragon, my heart still pumping mad from the adrenaline rush.

“You fools, you’re lucky he didn’t have you burned to ashes,” came Ruby’s harsh scolding immediately after the dragons were no longer in visible sight. “What were you doing on high grounds?”

“I . . . I was trying to find you,” Spike mumbled, nervous.

“Blood Eyes?” I asked, cracking a dry smile.

“Yes, that is my shire-given name. Ruby is how I like to be called- wait . . . what’s wrong with you?”

I heard various shuffling sounds around me and felt a pair of claws wrap gently around my jaw, turning my head slightly to the left. “Your eyes . . . what happened?”

“I’m fine. Just need to get to a doctor back home and it will be all right.”

“You can’t see anything, can you?” she asked.

“No. Just . . . feel; with my magic. But not all the time.”

“Come then. I’ll escort you all to the edge of these lands. Relax pony, I won’t bite, whoever you might be.”

Hearing that, I remembered we had an extra member to our crew that hadn’t formally met the dragoness. “Pearl, this is Ruby. Ruby, this fine sailor here is Pearl.”

“Captain . . .”

“Captain Pearl,” I corrected myself. “Now, captain Pearl, let’s carry on before we encounter more things that can kill us,” I said drily.

We followed Ruby through the intricate maze of valleys and mountain paths, a painfully slow trip as Spike had to guide my every step on that treacherous land. The chilling winds that whipped through the mountain scape were a constant reminder of the winter’s settling presence.

“So who was the big guy? Was he really your grandfather?” I asked after around half an hour of walking in complete silence.

“He goes by the name of the Old One. And yes, he is my grandfather. The dragon that mated my mother left her when I was still an egg,” Ruby explained.

“So your mother is-”

“-was his daughter. One of the many daughters he had across the centuries. But she was the last one of his clutch.”

I sensed the tension in her voice, so I chose not to press the subject of her mother and the use of the past tense further along.

“So is he like, a clan leader or something?” Spike picked up the lingering pause.

“No, he is the head of the Old One’s drake council, the one who all of us dragons respect and look up to. He is the ruler of our lands and the protector of our entire race.”

“So he-”

“We are here,” said Ruby sharply. “Follow the path ahead and you’ll reach the outskirts of the Wildforest. Traverse it and you will find yourselves near the Zebra’s Flatlands. I gather that you know your way from there on.”

I heard Spike turning back, his guiding grip on my mane gone.

“Ruby, I’m sorry about that part with the diamond back when you saved me- I mean us. I didn’t mean to- you know . . . not that I wouldn’t like it! I mean I wouldn’t like it because that’s weird to say but I- I should probably stop talking now.”

“Good call lad,” said Pearl from behind me.

A melodic laugh filled my ears. It felt like a blessing after all the grumbles, shots and screams of pain from the last few days. “You should go now, grandfather is waiting for me,” Ruby said, trying to hide her amusement. “You’re invited to come back to my territory, Spike of Ponyville, I’ll probably teach you a thing or two about using those wings of yours.”

With that, I heard the red dragon take flight, heading back into the Dragon Lands.

“Smooth lines there, Spike-o.” I suddenly said, breaking the awkward settling silence.

“Whatever,” he retorted, gripping my mane and pulling me on the right track with a little bit more force than necessary.

“No, really. I mean, proposing to a dragoness chick hours after you just met her? Now that’s some hardcore rebound,” I said with a chuckle.

“That sounds serious lad,” added Pearl with a snort.

When Spike didn’t retort, I realised how he must have felt after that whole experience, especially after not being able to hang around with Ruby because of her grandfather.

“Hey, cheer up bud, least you got out of this with your eyesight intact and everything.”

“Damn right,” muttered the eye-patched captain from behind.

“And she said you’re allowed on her territory. Don’t know about you, but to me that sounds like a date in dragon terms and all.”

“I guess,” concluded the young dragon, and I could feel his spirits going up a little.

With all the things we’ve been through recently, moments like those came with great relief. Despite my situation, I somehow managed to keep hope alive, hope that I would soon see Twilight again, in its full meaning. The road ahead of us was still long and our hooves and feet were tired, but soon our troubles would be behind us once and for all.

To be continued . . .

Chapter 20: The Nightmare Within pt.2

Chapter 20

The Nightmare Within

Cold rain fell gently across Ponyville, the sun blocked by the endless clouds of doubt. The burst of blinding light faded away, her white coat starting to accept the chilling raindrops. She looked around the library’s front yard, and made her way to the door.

Her royally-adorned hoof lingered inches away from the wooden entrance for a few moments before tapping against it a couple of times. The door opened a few seconds later, revealing a rather disheveled Twilight, her mane a mess and the bags heavy under her eyes.

“P-princess?” she said, her eyes wide. “What are you doing here?”

“I apologize for not announcing this impromptu visit, however I had to talk to you about something important.”

“Well uhh- come in, please. I was expecting you to visit but I thought it would’ve been sooner after the . . . incident in the Everfree.”

Celestia flinched slightly at that mention, but stepped into the library, her coat matted in several spots from the rain outside. A lingering glance as she passed her student made her realise Twilight was not at all as excited as the mare used to be when she visited her in Ponyville. The princess let out a barely noticeable sigh, the turmoil inside her mind stronger than ever.

“Any news from Spike and Midnight Blink?” the Princess asked.

A long pause. Twilight eventually turned back to her and cracked a faint smile.

“They’re coming back. Spike just sent me a letter this morning, telling me that they’re going through the forest at the edge of the Zebra Lands, and that they should be back home within a week or so.” She paced around to the table nearby, picking up a scroll with Spike’s signature writing on it. “He didn’t tell me much more about their situation but he mentioned . . . he mentioned Blink got hurt in the Griffin capital, but that he’s going to be fine. I still can’t send messages back with that spell, but I’m getting there.”

“That is good news, Twilight. I’ll make sure there’s an escort waiting for them near Dodge Junction, to avoid the events that occurred when they passed through that town last time.”

Twilight looked at her with a weary smile, giving only a nod of appreciation as silence rolled through the otherwise empty library.

“I wanted you to know that I am sorry about everything that happened,” Celestia said after a while. “It was my fault and I should have taken better care of my subjects. I let my feelings and personal interests for you outweigh the most common of obligations a ruler has over his followers, even if said followers are not even originally from these lands.”

Her eyes locked with Twilight’s but she couldn’t hold onto that link for too long. She averted her gaze to a nearby bookshelf, regret still heavy in her heart. “It was wrong for me to assume that my experiences with Luna when we bore your titles would be the same this time as well. I- I hope that time’s passing will help you forgive my wrong decisions.”

She stood up and walked back towards the door. For her, there was nothing more to be said, the decision taken being set in stone. Celestia stood by the door, her magic wrapped around the small handle. “The place where Luna had set those spirits free . . . was it the old castle in the Everfree, where the Elements were kept before you took them upon yourself and your friends?”

“Yes, Princess.”

The white alicorn turned to Twilight, sharing one last look before leaving. “Goodbye Twilight,” she simply said, letting herself out into the cold storm outside.

Twilight stared at the door, going through everything her mentor had just said in that rather short visit. No matter how much thought she put into it however, she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something off about Celestia. That thought lingered in her mind as she returned to her studies, trying to figure out the spell that would allow her to send Spike messages.

Outside, the rain kept falling, dark clouds adorning the skyline all around.

*** *** ***

An alien sound, out of place in the forest’s wild symphony. I channeled magic around me and immediately picked up an outline of a pony.

“What is it?” asked Spike, munching on some apples near the camp fire we set up.

A smirk painted my dirty face. “Well if it isn’t the game keeper himself,” I said to no one in particular. The pony’s presence in the distance stirred and eventually took flight, heading towards us. My horn stopped glowing and I was yet again surrounded by nothingness.

“Hey, it’s Chaser!” uttered Spike with an almost full mouth.

“Well I’ll be . . . how did you manage to see me there in the tree?”

I pointed a hoof at my eyes. “The official business I had in the Griffin Lands wasn’t that kind to my eyes. But I sensed you with my magic.”

“He fought a sand manticore in their Cage and won!” exclaimed Pearl, having heard the story himself across our journey on the sea.

“So you’re-”

“-blind for now. Hopefully that will change when I get back to Equestria. So, any reasons you were watching us from afar?” I asked, taking measured steps towards the small camp fire and stopping when I felt the warmth was close enough. “You’re free to join us for grub.”

“I was waiting for you to return,” Chaser said, stepping into the tight circle around the fire. “I wanted to know if you would travel with me back to Canterlot.”

“Canterlot? Tired of living in the wild?”

My ears flickered at the sound of a distant thunder. Lone raindrops started falling, triggering an avalanche of sounds from the tiny drops impacting the leaves above us. The rain was cold, but gentle.

“I . . . I guess so,” Chaser sighed, his voice low. “I want to visit my family. Last I heard, my little sister was getting married.”

“That’s actually nice. Well, you’re free to join us. We’re stopping in Ponyville, but you can carry on towards Canterlot easily. Currently the three of us are sharing, well, three eyes in total, so we could use the extra pair.”

Light chuckles erupted around the fire and we all carried on with our dinner. Chaser even opened up his premium food stash, scented soy beans and a few cans of marinated peach. With our bellies full and tired from the last days’ journey, we decided to make camp right there for the night, and with Chaser’s help, we all slept under the protection of a skillfully raised natural tent. In just days we would be in Dodge, after crossing the empty Flatlands ahead. Excitement blended with fatigue and my dreams were weird but colorful. He wasn’t there anymore, probably he decided I deserved a break. Or maybe, just maybe, we both started to realise that we were one and the same after all.

*** *** ***

Days passed and the tedious journey through the massive Flatlands began to show its toll. The little food we had was drastically rationed between us and I could feel getting weaker and weaker by the day.

My whole body was a beacon of suffering, all the accumulated broken ribs, cuts and burns starting to affect my grip on reality. I could only fix so many things with my limited knowledge of magical first aid.

I would manage to weld my ribs with a bone healing spell, only to have them crack again in my sleep or at the end of a long day of walking. The skin on my back and face was still sore from the manticore’s venom burn but it was only one source of pain in the sea of hurt.

Each cold night would throw me into a restless sleep where I would dream myself into the Cage back in the Griffin capital, every time facing a new enemy. My Nightmare would appear every now and then but only to silently watch me from the empty stands.

The others became concerned as the days passed and my physical and mental state was getting worse. They always tried to give me more food and water from their share but I couldn’t accept it. Even if they looked better, they were still doing not that well.

Spike seemed surprisingly well, considering he got almost the same portions we did and that he had been through almost everything I did since we started the journey. I would often use my magic briefly and see him gaze into the distance and I knew his mind was filled with dark thoughts and turmoil. Every now and then he would hold a claw to his chest, near the scar made by Ruby’s fire when she healed his infected wound. He might have not been vocal about it, but he was in pain as well.

In one such night, the four of us were huddled around a small fire, silently eating our meal for the day. I was facing the fire, unable to see its light but finding refuge in the gentle warmth it offered as I munched on a dried-out piece of bread. The evening had been quiet, none of us finding the power to spark a conversation after the long day of walking. I ground the bread stick with my hoof, waiting patiently for Raven to eat a few crumbs. The bird found out quickly that I wouldn’t continue eating if she didn’t had a few bites herself, no matter how much she didn’t want me to share my food with her.

“At least the moon and stars are beautiful tonight,” said Chaser, breaking the long-installed silence.

“No more rain clouds?” I asked, curious.

“Not anymore. The nights are almost always clear in the Flatlands. I like to think that Princess Luna raises the moon after her sister’s sun, then paints the stars with her magic one by one, every night,” Chaser continued.

“If ya like dem stars so much, why do ya have a bow on yer ass?” Pearl asked, breaking the pegasus’ quiet moment.

“Because that’s my talent, apparently. But I always loved the stars; did so ever since I was a foal. My mum named me Star Chaser for a reason. Dunno how she knew I would like them so much, but she knew.”

Silence settled again over our camp, until Chaser spoke again. “You two said you know the Princess. How is she?”

“Who, Luna? Well, I guess she’s nicer than ponies usually think of her,” Spike started. “She doesn’t actually raise the moon, if that’s what you want to know.”

“I know that!” Chaser intervened immediately. “I just wanted to meet her one day, ever since I found out she returned a few years ago.”

“I think I could have that arranged once we get back,” I said.

“You could do that?”

“Yep; if not me, Spike here could certainly pull it off. He spent his first years of life growing up there.”

“I’ll tell you, nothing is as good as the desserts made by the castle’s staff,” he recalled with a pang of melancholy.

“There’s nothing as good as my simple bed back in Ponyville,” I said, scratching the back of my head with a hoof. “Why does it itch so badly?”

“Uhh dude, you got fleas.”

“I got what?”

The other two stallions broke into a laugh, which didn’t help at all. “What, were you born yesterday? You’ll get used to it, boy. Happens a lot when livin’ under the clear skies.”

I wanted to contradict him and explain why I never had fleas in my life, but decided it would be better if I kept that story to myself for now.

After a while we started falling to sleep, one by one. I shuffled around, trying to cover myself as best as possible with the worn-out cloak. The night was colder than any I had been through, my teeth chattering wildly as all my muscles shook to keep my body warm. I then heard a noise to my left and after a few moments I felt Spike’s hard scales brush against my fur as he settled next to me.

“I can hear you shaking from a mile. My flame keeps my blood warm when I want to,” he simply said, and I immediately felt warmth radiating from him. I shuffled closer to him, resting my head over his shoulder.

“Thanks, Spike.”

“Don’t mention it. I mean it, this doesn’t leave this camp, ever."

I smiled, making myself comfortable against his warm scales.

*** *** ***

Days later, the first snowflakes started falling just as we entered the famous Dodge Junction town, our bodies -save for Chaser’s- tired from the exhaustive journey and wet from the previous downpours that brazed the large Flatlands.

“We’re almost there, dude,” said Spike, patting me on the back. “I know, Peewee, I miss the library too,” he added with a sigh as he comforted his pet Phoenix. She probably wasn't a fan of that kind of weather.

I focused some magic and located Raven’s strange signature above us, scouring the surroundings. Looking straight ahead, I could notice the shapes of many ponyfolk going by their normal day in the busy town. My special vision didn’t allow me to see any buildings or even the snow that was falling gently across the bustling town, but hopefully it would all be a temporary condition.

“Midnight Blink?” Came a strict voice from my side.

What is it this time?

I took a deep breath, but didn’t turn. Having a black cloth wrapped around my eyes should have been a clear sign that I couldn’t use them. I appreciated Chaser’s ‘gift’ and even believed all of them when they told me I looked kinda menacing with it on.

“It’s fine, they’re guards,” muttered Spike to my ear. If I could’ve given him a deadpan look, I would have. Instead, I was satisfied with conveying my reluctance towards the official members of the Royal Guard with a snort.

“We’re here on Princess Celestia’s orders to escort you safely back to Ponyville. Welcome back to Equestria.”

An eerie weight lifted off my chest. “Hah! For a moment there I thought you were here to throw me in jail . . . again,” I said, cracking a smile, my horn glowing gently as I glanced at the guards briefly. One of them gulped, almost taking a step back.

“Dude, your eyes just glowed under the blindfold when you did that. Told you you’ll look bad-ass with that.”

“Whatever, let’s just go.”

“An express train is leaving in thirty minutes from the station, we can have a carriage reserved for us,” one of the guards informed me.

“Perfect, about time we got a break. All these stallions and Spike here are with me though, the darker one gets a free ticket to Canterlot too,” I stated as I brushed past them.

*** *** ***

Several hours later we were sound asleep in the fast train, the gentle sways of the carriage rocking us in deep sleep.

The dream I had however changed to a dark, familiar forest. The shape of a unicorn walked towards me, and I instantly recognized those black, depthless eyes. He looked weak and skinny however, his ribs showing across his back and sides.

“What happened to you?” I asked with little pity.

“You mean what happened to you? We’ve been on the road for weeks now. Low rations do that to living creatures, you know. You should see Spike and the captain, they’re not in that good of a shape either.”

He was right; we didn’t have the best of meals ever since I returned from the Griffin Lands, but the hunger was somewhat manageable.

“That’s not the issue, soon we’ll stuff our faces with god-knows what Pinkie and the others will make for us,” he said, and I could see a nostalgic smile sweeping across his face. “But you have to wake up. That blade. That unicorn. She’s here!”

I flinched hard and stood up in the small sleeping cabin, sweat pouring down my face. He was right. The strange feeling I had in Issac’s Port when I was ambushed by that mysterious unicorn was back. I got out of the cabin, landing with a thud on the narrow hallway’s floor. I tried focusing my magic and immediately picked up the shape of the two stallion guards, lying on the floor at the entrance of the carriage. They were still alive, but not moving.

“Guys we’re under atta-”

A powerful blast sent me flying across the wagon, smashing against something hard. My head was spinning, and the magical outlines that served as a replacement for my vision became blurry and distorted.

Something was approaching fast, the sound of hooves clopping across the wooden floor getting louder and louder. The energy signature of that ridiculous weapon was almost blinding. I raised a shield in front of me.

“A bit of help here!”

“Cry all you want, they won’t hear you!” came a mare’s voice in front of me.

An agile, fast moving shape came into view, smashing against the side of the unicorn assassin. His wings skillfully wrapped around a pair of small blades from his satchel and hurled them at the attacker.

“Chaser, kill that bitch,” I grunted, getting up.

A powerful blast of colorful pink filled my vision, and Chaser’s outline was thrown across the air. The sound of smashing glass and his disappearing presence made my heart stop.

“Why you-”

I summoned tendrils of magic that lunged forward to wrap around her legs. Two of them missed her completely, my depth perception not very good with that kind of vision, but one managed to wrap around her hind leg. I raised her into the air but before I could do anything else, she levitated the blade around, slicing the tendril and sending a jolt of pain into my horn.

Focusing, I started feeling the same sensation of great power and energy. My Nightmare was there with me again. A pair of blue wisps jumped from my horn in front of me, two shadow clones forming from them. They didn’t waste any time, the first of them charging at the mare while the second attempted to flank her in the narrow space. The first clone smashed into her, but was immediately stabbed by her blade and puffed into a blue smoke cloud. The second one was unlucky as well, attempting a buck that grazed her jaw, the two hooves ending up smashing a wooden rail before the attacker managing to stab the clone in the chest, sending another wave of pain while the spell dissipated.

Before I could react with another attack, I saw the blade flying towards me, missing my head by less than an inch as I ducked. The sound it made as the blade impaled itself in the wood door behind me rang loudly in my ears, distorting my senses.

Another blast of magic, that time across my face, almost knocked me out. I felt the attacker inches from me, her telekinesis spell pulling the blade from the door. I picked up the faded sound of a door bursting open on the other side of the wagon, but the assassin next to me was already swinging her blade at me.

“Just give up already!” she hissed.

I ducked, avoiding the first attack. I flailed my hooves at her outline, grabbing onto her cloak. I pulled hard and smashed her against the wall, while summoning another tendril that wrapped around her waist.

“Not today!”

I pulled that tendril away, sending her crashing through what I supposed was a sleeping compartment. She returned in a matter of seconds, charging at me with the blade by her side.

My ears picked up the sound of a flying object and then a powerful metal clang as her blade was apparently hit and knocked out of her magic grip. Startled, the mare turned her head and I saw Chaser’s pegasus outline smashing into her, that time more powerfully. She flew across the air and into the door behind me, bursting it open.

I heard the loud sound of wheels against railway tracks, and figured we were on the last compartment of the train. The mare got up atop of me and with the corner of my magic vision I saw the blade floating up again, pointed at the approaching pegasus. I hurled my hoof into her stomach, sending her dangerously near the edge of the wagon and with a final, pained half buck to her face, she fell over out of the train, the blade following in her magic grip. Her shape quickly faded as the train kept going and soon I lost any track of her.

“Ya’ll right?” asked Chaser, helping me up from the floor.

“She just won’t give up, damn it!”

“She’s the one you said attacked you guys in Issac?”

“Also the one that followed us and almost got me and Spike killed twice.” I let out a groan, a throbbing pain emanating from my side. “Ahh, my ribs again. This just won’t fucking end. Ohh shit, the others!”

I rushed to the middle of the carriage, bumping into rails and debris as I tried to feel with my hooves the drapes of the sleeping compartments.

“Blink!”

“Spike?”

“I’m here, what the hell happened?” I heard from a compartment behind me. “My- my head hurts so much.”

“We got attacked by that unicorn again. Managed to barely survive, thanks to Chaser here.”

“The guards are coming to!” I heard him yell from across the train carriage.

“Must have been a sleep spell or something like that,” Spike assumed, his voice however tainted with fear.

I heard the crisp, burning sound around me, accompanied by Peewee’s loud caws.

“Whoa relax there; we’re okay now,” I heard Spike trying to comfort the bird.

“My bloody head!” came Pearl’s voice followed by a loud thud. “I’m all right lads, I’m all right,” he groaned, getting up from the floor he had just crashed against.

“Everyone seems fine now,” said Chaser. “You’re lucky I was stretching my wings outside along the train and came back when I noticed some weird pink flashes inside.”

“Thanks for that,” I said between deep breaths, trying to put some order in my thoughts. “But this shit just won’t fucking end. Why the hell is everyone trying to kill me?” I shouted, smashing a hoof against the floor beneath me, causing more pain.

The settling silence spoke for itself. It was that moment when I felt the most vulnerable that I have been in my life. Depending on sheer luck and other ponies’ help just to make it through the day was the most demoralizing thing I could experience. That night I didn’t sleep, staying awake just because I knew that if someone was going to attack me again, it would put in danger my friends as well, and that was the last thing I wanted to happen.

The morning came late and with it, we had finally arrived in Ponyville. I thanked Chaser for all the help and for saving my flank that night and parted our ways as he took another train to Canterlot. He promised he would visit one day and I could only hope he would keep to that promise.

As the three of us walked towards the town, I started forgetting about everything that had been grinding me into depression. The general state of illness was no longer something that I felt, the pain from my injuries, even the fact that I couldn’t see; all of them paled in comparison to the burning flame in my heart.

I was back home.

Outside was cold. It was the first winter I would be going through as a pony. Rarity’s cloak had worn out and I couldn’t even see if it still camouflaged me. My exposed fur tingled from the gentle touch of the rapidly falling snowflakes. The short trip was drenched in silence, and I knew each and every one of us had a reason to be nervous and happy at the same time.

“We’re at the square. The library’s close,” said Spike, his voice on the edge or breaking.

I shut my eyes behind my blindfold, trying to keep the tears inside.

Deathbearers shouldn’t cry, muttered a voice deep inside. Yet I ignored it.

“Kazooie’s farm is that a’ way, right?” asked Pearl, and we stopped for a short moment.

“Yeah. Thanks for all the help,” I heard Spike say.

“No problem lads. I’m sorry for that first trip at sea; sorry that I drove you into that storm.”

“It’s all right. See you soon?”

“Aye. Take care of yerselves lads.”

And so, Pearl departed from us, his hoofsteps across the settling snow fading out as he made his way towards the farm near the forest.

“Are you ready?” I asked Spike.

“Let’s go.”

He grabbed my mane and guided me through the front gate. Voices from within the library sent my heart racing. Spike stopped. A couple of knocks across the wooden door brought silence in the tree house. I heard Spike opening the door and I felt a wave of warmth from within. We stepped inside. My hooves were shaky.

A light squee, the sound of wings stop beating, a few gasps. I burned with the desire to light up my magic and see them. See her.

But I didn’t need to; her presence was almost tangible. The sound of rapidly approaching hoofsteps stopped my heart. I raised my hoof, barely containing its tremble. The initial wave of heat from inside the warm library was nothing compared to what I felt next. Twilight’s hooves wrapped around my neck and my hind legs gave in as I fell into her embrace.

Her scent flooded my nostrils, the most wonderful smell in the world I had ever taken into my lungs. The greetings and voices of the others around us went unnoticed. There was nothing I cared more about at that point than the warm presence of the mare holding me. I buried my muzzle in her mane, taking in her beautiful smell, the odd, unexplainable perfume of sunflowers with a hint of lavender.

“Ohh Blink,” she said in a whimper, her voice completely lost.

“Twilight . . .”

Moments turned into days for me as I just sat there limply, enjoying the warmth of her embrace. She then let go and my heart sunk, but I soon realised there was someone else that needed that welcoming warmth and comfort as well. As she hugged Spike, the other mares showed their welcoming affection in their own way. My emotions were too high however to tell apart the hugs and the taps on the shoulder, but all those gestures were sincere and brought back little by little the joy I had missed in the past almost two months.

“Blink . . . what happened to you?” Twilight asked between sobs, emotions getting the best of her.

“It’s . . . quite a long story.”

“Your eyes, are they all right? Can't you see me?”

“No, I can’t. And I would really like to fix that right now.”

The blindfold around my eyes was damp with tears, but I didn’t care anymore.

Twilight wasted no more time and almost dragged us to Ponyville’s hospital. Both me and Spike got checked in and went through numerous tests, x-rays and all sorts of different scans. The events unfolded so fast I could barely keep up with them. Internally, I felt pure happiness. Twilight was by my side the whole time, trying her best to relax me. I got admitted on the spot and was rushed into surgery, an entire staff of unicorn doctors taking care of me.

While I was under anesthesia, I dreamed myself at the edge of the small lake near my house, Raven keeping me company as we gazed at the unreal sky above us. When everything around faded to black once again, I started hearing voices, some familiar, others not. A throbbing pain made itself noticeable but I quickly tossed it aside when Twilight’s voice rang in my ears.

“Blink, you’re awake. The doctor’s going to remove the bandage now, they said you should see again.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?” I asked nervously. The words came out of my mouth harder than they should have, the effects of the anesthesia still lingering in my system.

Scissors went through the dressing around my head, tingling and itching my fur underneath the band aids. When it finally came off, I had to immediately shut my eyes from the powerful explosion of light that went off in my head.

“Too bright!”

“It’s okay, just take it easy,” advised the doctor.

Eventually I managed to pry them open, millimeter by millimeter, while keeping a shaky balance between pain and the act of actually opening my eyes and revealing the world around.

The first predominant color that stood up in the otherwise bland hospital room was purple. The beautiful smile adorning her face was the best thing I could have seen for the first time in weeks. We hugged each other again, losing myself in the sea of purple hues of her mane.

“Sorry, but I need to check his eyes,” said the doctor after the hug ended.

He leaned over and started examining my eyes.

“Ahh, too bright!” I complained when he struck the small flashlight thing in my eye.

“Sorry about that but-”

He fiddled around with the light but decided to put it away. He leaned back over me. “Please look straight at the tip of my horn.”

A small point of white light formed at its tip, getting progressively stronger. After a few seconds, my eyes started watering, and eventually I shut my eyelids. I heard him sigh.

“Severe irritability at measured seven hundred lux light intensity,” he murmured, taking notes on his pad.

“But that’s not too bright,” added Twilight from the other side of the bed.

“I know. Blink, we managed to operate on your eyes and restore functionality on both of them. Your irises and corneas were heavily burned by the manticore’s poison, but it seems it went deeper than that and might have affected you at a neurological level.”

“So, what does that mean?”

“I am relatively sure that as a result of those side effects, you’ve developed photophobia. It means that your eyes are now oversensitive to bright light. We’ll monitor your status a little bit more but I’m afraid there is nothing that can be done to a case like this. I’m sorry.”

Silence fell in the little hospital room, the doctor apologizing again and leaving the two of us alone.

“I- I’m sure there is something that can be done to fix it. We can go to Canterlot and see some other doctors, I could try and find a spell that would-”

“It’s all right Twilight,” I said under my breath. “It’s good that I can still see. That’s all that matters,” I said, looking into her tearing eyes. “Hey, don’t you cry now, you hear me? I’ve always wanted a reason to wear sunglasses anyway.” She managed a smile at that and leaned forward again, holding me in a tight hug.

“How’s Spike by the way?” I suddenly remembered.

“He’s relatively fine, compared to you. Minor injuries, a scale infection and a scar on his chest. He’ll be out in a couple of days.”

“If it wasn’t for that heartbroken assistant of yours, I wouldn’t had made it through all this.”

“I know . . . he told me almost everything. You’ve been hiding so much in your letters.”

“I didn’t want you to be concerned, that’s all. What about me?” I asked, taking a look under my bed sheets. “I’m half covered in bandages and ughh- everything hurts.”

“Your condition was more serious. The doctors found four broken ribs, a fissured shoulder bone, cuts, bruises and a really bad case of fleas.”

“Hah, damn those fleas, itched like hell,” I said with a laugh.

“Everything is healing now, save for your general hygiene,” she added, comically scrunching her nose, waving a hoof in front of it.

I took a tentative sniff and realised that gesture was more sincere that it seemed. I was reeking. “Well that’s what I get for not traveling first class.”

We shared another laugh before Twilight’s eyes widened as she remembered something. “Blink, there’s something else. Does the name Bellona the Wise sound familiar?”

Her look was serious and I thought she might have stumbled onto my findings of her. “Yes. I’ve learned some spells from that book, those that were perfected by her. She- I think I even saw her once, never told you about it though. I didn’t know how to explain it.”

Twilight nodded her head understandingly. “I met her, in the Everfree. She’s waiting to speak with you at an old, ruined castle. I don’t know why, but she needs to do this before moving on.”

“Ohh, okay then. I’ll go there as soon as I’m out of here. I bet there’s a whole story behind that, isn’t it?”

“You wouldn’t even believe it,” Twilight said, taking a deep breath. “I was in library when I looked out the window. Something caught my eye in the woods near your house so I went there to see what was happening . . .”

*** *** ***

The door to the hospital room opened slowly, waking up the tired dragon from his sleep and his pet phoenix standing guard on his nightstand. Spike turned around with a smile on his face, expecting to see his travelling companion or even Twilight again. Instead, a white unicorn mare made her way into the room, her steps echoing in the silent room.

His heart began racing and his smile faded slightly, the crush of his life once again in front of him, and him alone for the first time after he had expressed his feelings for her.

“Hello, Spike,” she greeted simply, a slight tremor hanging in her voice.

“Hi . . . Rarity.”

“Can we talk?” she asked more out of formality, determined to have that conversation no matter what.

“Of- of course.”

Rarity stepped towards him, coming to a stop near the edge of his bed. She sat down, her eyes almost at level with his.

“I just wanted to let you know that I’m glad you’re back,” she stated, her mind working out a way to approach the elephant in the room. “And I’m sorry that you had to go through all this because of me.”

“It’s all right, Rarity. I don’t blame you for it,” he said, actually meaning it.

“But I am. I should be blamed. I hurt you and I didn’t want to do that, I never wanted to. I just- when you talked to me on that day before you left, I told you such mean things, I broke your-”

“No. You told me the truth, Rarity, you should never feel bad for that. Please; I understand, I really do.”

A tear dropped down the mare’s cheek, dampening her soft fur. “You almost died because of what I said, how can you not be mad with me for that? How can you still want to be friends with such a nasty pony like me?”

“Because I wanted to do it. I wanted to leave, it was my own decision. I had to . . . think, I had to clear my head and understand the situation. Rarity, look; you don’t have to feel bad. You’re still my friend, you’ll always be. And now I feel that I am completely fine with that.”

Rarity opened her mouth to say something, yet words simply failed her. She struggled to control her tears, not knowing what to say to the dragon before her. Spike opened his hand to hold Rarity’s hoof, and she slowly reached for it, managing a bittersweet smile as she clenched her hoof around his arm, tears streaming down her face.

They remained like that in complete silence, staring at each other and exchanging more words that way than it would have been possible through a thousand spoken words.

Deep inside, Spike felt his heart swell with pain again. But it was a new pain; it was the pain of letting go while holding on, the pain of never being able to see something despite staring straight at it.

It was the worst kind of pain, the soul-healing sensation he had sought after for so long. It was the pain of knowing that as a dragon, he could have all the diamonds in the world but at the same time, those three diamonds would never be his.

It was the painful realization that he was finally at peace with that.

*** *** ***

Snow fell gently in the cold, moonless night. I wrapped the winter cloak around me tighter, adjusting it. Twilight was walking by my side, taking me to the place she had described to me in hospital a couple of weeks before.

“Here it is,” she stopped, pointing her hoof at a stone formation ahead of us. “I’m going to wait here, all right?”

“Thanks. I hope she’s still here.”

I walked towards the snow-covered ruins, taking careful steps as I entered the castle’s remains. The formed great hall still offered some protection from the weather, but wind had managed to bring snow in anyway. I looked around the empty place, trying to spot anything similar to a spirit.

A distant sob caught my attention and when I turned my head towards the source, I couldn’t believe my eyes. A translucent armored pony was standing near a taller, whiter one, as if comforting her as she wept. The larger, living pony was without doubt Celestia herself, her wings and horn confirming it right away. She turned towards me when I approached, then looked back at spirit that murmured something to her and then gave a nod.

Celestia stood up slowly, her eyes still lingering on Bellona. I stood there and watched the entire scene, and eventually Celestia parted from the spirit. The royal figure kept her head hung low as she walked towards the entrance of the hall. When she was near me, she stopped for a moment, her eyes uncertain under their tears.

“I’m sorry; for everything,” she simply said before walking away.

I darted my eyes from her to Bellona until Celestia was out of sight.

“Midnight Blink,” she spoke. “We finally meet.”

I stepped closer, and my eyes fell onto a golden crown near the spirit’s feet. I stared at it uncertain, then back at Bellona, as if pleading for an explanation to what was happening. The mare simply smiled, running her hoof through the crown, unable to touch it.

“Great leaders can make mistakes too,” she continued, still focused on the crown laying on the floor.

“What- does that mean?”

“It means nothing . . . and everything, all at the same time.”

I stared at her in confusion yet her smile never faded. “You helped me when Discord attacked. I remember you clearly. Your armor, your robe . . . your personal notes. No one ever managed to translate them. Do you . . . still miss the stars from Rome’s night sky?”

She looked up through a hole in the ruined rooftop, as if to see the covered stars of that cold night. “So you know of my origins.”

“I do. How did you get here? Did Death sent you here as well? Were you a Deathbearer?” the questions left my mouth, the burning sensation of finding out the truth becoming harder and harder to resist.

“You could say that I’ve met Him. But He didn’t make me like you. I was a spy for the Roman Empire when I died. He said I couldn’t leave this world yet, as my destiny had not been fulfilled yet.”

“Your destiny?”

“Yes. When I arrived here I was . . . frightened; and alone. I managed to survive in the village Trotingham and made my way into the Royal Guard, all while trying to fit in as a pony intro this world. There is where I met Starswirl and he took me under his tutelage. Years passing, I became the captain of the Royal Guard. I met Celestia personally and she was the first to know of my true origin.”

She paused for a while, stepping to the empty hole in a wall that once held a large window. I kept listening to her with rapt attention. “And then the Nightmare emerged from within her sister. That was the night I died, protecting Celestia, protecting Equestria.”

“So your destiny . . . was to save the land from eternal darkness?”

She smiled again at that, her eyes however empty and reminiscent.

“I do not know what my destiny truly was. But once the returned Princes of the Moon released us from the nightmarish curse that was cast upon us, I found peace. I waited here to talk to you. Deep inside I also wished to talk with my beloved Sun Princess one last time. Tonight, the gods honored both of my wishes.”

“You’re gonna . . . go now?”

Bellona just nodded.

“But you can’t go. I still have so many things to ask you. I mean, what am I supposed to do here? Why was I sent here like you? What was supposed to happen that didn’t in my old world?”

“I’m afraid I cannot tell you what your own destiny is, Midnight Blink; that is because I do not know such things. You and only you alone can live your life. This world is strange and filled with wonders, and it will be hard to find your own place in it. Something tells me however that you already took the first steps. You have friends, friends that care for you already. Cherish thy bonds, for they will last a lifetime.”

I wanted to speak out, to ask her more questions, but what she said seemed to have calmed my deepest desires for knowing the truth. I found myself strangely content with what I knew and horribly excited about the prospect of tomorrow. I gave her a silent, understanding nod.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, young man. Learn to be yourself in this new world, the challenges will not stop here.”

With that, she turned away and walked slowly towards the center of the hall, her shape fading away little by little.

And then I was alone amidst the cold ruins.

A snowflake fell gently in front of me, brought by the winter’s daring wind. I raised my hoof and caught it, watching it slowly melt. The world around was drenched in its white siblings, visible even in the night’s deepest darkness.

It was cold outside, but Twilight was waiting for me.

*** *** ***

My stomach churned and my throat was dry. I hadn’t felt this nervous in a long time. My world lit up as Twilight pressed her lips against mine, her warm touch reassuring me. Her magic worked on the straps and belts of my backpack and satchels. I took a deep breath.

Outside my small house, the birds were chirping and the sun was shining bright again. It had been over three months since I returned from my long journey in the Griffin Kingdom. Three long, winter months, spent in the comfort of a warm house and in the almost daily presence of the mare I loved so much. Three months of joyful holidays and heartwarming moments with all my friends, new and old.

Three months ago I last saw Celestia at those ruins in the Everfree, her crown abandoned on the stone floor, its shadow casting disappointment and failure of herself and her subjects. Three months had passed since Equestria saw, for the first time in over thirty three centuries, a new ruler sitting on the Great Throne. Ninety days ago, Twilight received a last letter from her mentor, a letter damped with dried tears and one last apology. Luna had taken the throne in the most official of ceremonies, Celestia addressing Canterlot and all her subjects one last time, reassuring every pony that her sister’s dedication to her duties will outmatch hers in the least.

Princess Luna had visited us and spoke of her sister’s internal downfall ever since she had found out about the spirits residing in the Everfree ruins, her former subjects that had died for her, cursed to remain on this realm for over a thousand years more than they should have. She also told us that Celestia was still living at the Castle, managing the transition and making sure it would be as smooth as possible. Luna did not confront her about what had to be the most shocking decision in history, as she saw it as a chance for her sister to find herself again after over three millennia of continuous ruling over Equestria.

“Even Tia needs some rest every few eons or so,” Luna joked to us in one of her visits. “And I need to finally take responsibility for this kingdom. My sister will be gone once all the matters are taken care of, she did not tell me where. Rest assured however that she will return; she just needs some time alone.”

Those were the words of Princess Luna over three months ago. And there I was, standing in the middle of my house, with Twilight checking all my straps and satchels, making jokes of my short, freshly cut mane. A strange sense of déjà vu overtook me.

“You’re going to write every week?” came more of a command than a question.

“I will, and every two weeks I’ll have leave so we’ll see each other,” I reassured her with a peck on her cheek.

“The library will feel so empty again without you and Spike.”

“He’ll write to you too. Plus, he won’t stay too long in the Dragon Lands anyway, don’t think he’ll risk bumping into the Old One again.”

“Ruby seems nice, from what you’ve told me. And Spike seems to like her,” Twilight said after a short pause.

“Told ya, melted his heart. Literally.”

She smiled, a smile mixed with the uncomfortable feeling of recalling that part of our story.

“Do you really have to do this?” she asked, putting up a slight pout.

“It’s only a year or so. It sounds like a long time but we’ll see each other regularly.”

“You really want to become a soldier?” she asked for what must have been the tenth time since I brought it up a while ago.

I let out a sigh. “Yes, I think this is what I’m supposed to do. I don’t call it destiny, but deep inside I want this. Luna advised it as well, she told me I’ll have a drill sergeant appointed by her personally to help me in my training. I need to learn how to control my powers; books and studying sessions can only get me this far.”

“All right . . . I’ll miss you, Blink. And our studying sessions.”

“I’ll miss you too, Twi’.”

“I-” she started, her cheeks burning a bright red as she gathered the courage. “I . . . love you.”

My heart skipped a beat. Or several. It could have actually stopped entirely for all I knew.

“I love you too . . .” I said to her for the first time as well.

We joined in one last kiss before the shrieking caw of a certain pet raven interrupted the moment.

Damn bird.

We laughed it off, and headed outside. I floated my sun-glasses on to protect my eyes. The slick pair was an amazing Hearth’s Warming gift from a certain rainbow-maned pegasus. It was a good thing that, as the bearer of death, I was mostly fond of the night-time and took solace in dark shadows, so my condition wasn’t that big of an issue.

We made our way towards the train station, Raven flying up ahead. Twilight walked close to me, our steps and hearts in perfect sync. Our tails had wrapped around each other, the comforting feeling of our closeness warming our souls.

The entire universe would have probably stood still if it knew of the scene unfolding near the outskirts of Ponyville, in which a bearer of Death and bringer of Life stood side by side, united in the most magical bonds of love. Out in the distance, five of my other friends waited for us, to bid me a farewell goodbye and wish me luck on starting my new career. I smiled, and felt happier than I ever was in a long time.

As a wise unicorn mare said to me, one must live through his fears and challenges to discover his own destiny. Although I do not believe in such things as predetermined events or fate, all the coincidences life throws at your gets you thinking.

For one day you’re lying injured on the ground in a dark alley in London, and the next one you find yourself in a totally different world, filled with wonders and magic. Although questions linger, the chain of events that form up one’s life goes on until its last link lies bare.

I am the master of my own destiny. I refuse to believe that there’s a mould that shapes each link of our life. Our choices, our actions, each new person or creature we met suggest a new potential direction, a dent in the chain, a rebellion against fate. The friendships I made in this world are already inscribed deep into my heart. Every passing day is a new step in a journey that is sure to bring many hardships, yet even more beautiful moments.

Yesterday, I believed I would never have done what I did today. Yet here I am, looking up the stairway I started climbing not so long ago.

I’m nearly there.

*** *** ***

The large room was silent and the air was stale. The gryphon’s eyes were pinned on the map laid out in front of him on the large table. He reached out with a claw, going by several chess-like pieces of ponies laid all around the territory of Equestria, stopping near a large mountain formation, right on top of Canterlot.

Arnost picked up the slightly larger marble figure that showed a white alicorn standing on her hind legs and brought it close to his face. He stared at it, then glanced at one of his last reports from Equestria.

He let go of the piece, and it fell to the ground, shattering in tiny pieces.

“General?” he demanded, and a large gryphon stepped behind him.

“Sire?”

“Order the worker nests to start the crop rotation and begin special training in all barracks across the kingdom. Scout all nest cities and villages and begin recruitment immediately. Also, prepare our ambassadors for journey.”

“Journey to where, sire?” inquired the general, the strict discipline heavy in his tone.

“Malas, the minotaur capital city and the Changeling Hive up in the North,” said the king, his voice dripping anticipation.

“How long until you want the troops ready, sire?”

“Two years. In two years, Equestria shall fall.”

End of Chapter 20

End of Part II

Author's Note

Part 3 will commence soon, and please don't get too mad about the ending (I know some of you have found it rushed or poorly executed), but I did it this way for a reason, as there is a big change coming up in part 3 and it needed some preparations.

Many thanks to my dear editors (Cosmic, Sparklight, I brained my damage, Gdot) for the help ! You guys are the best.

PS: Watch this inaccurate reading of Stairway to Equestria by CosmicAfro! Tons of lels to be had!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yv6fx4u3y6U

Cya soon !

Chapter 22: The Tug of Life

Chapter 22

The Tug of Life

A gentle summer breeze caressed the sparkling surface of the lake’s water, sending dancing ripples across it. Under the setting sun, Blink floated motionless in the water, his chest rising and falling in a peaceful rhythm, almost as if it was in tune with the nature around him.

The slick pair of shades protecting his eyes reflected the reddening light of the descending sun, his only companion being his pesky, pitch black raven that was conveniently resting on the tip of his horn, inches above the almost lukewarm water.

“Really?” came a rather irritated voice from the not-so-distant shore. “How do you even do that?”

Blink turned his head towards the young dragon standing at the side of the lake, much to Raven’s annoyance as the pony’s horn she was perched on dipped slightly in the water.

“Featherweight spell,” he said serenely, paddling one of his front hooves through the water to ‘turn’ towards Spike before bringing it back up on top of his chest.

“So this is your idea of helping me out?” the dragon continued in his complaint.

Blink simply waved him away. “Planning is the most important stage, my dear Spike,” he said after a chewy yawn. “Plus, it’s not always that I get to enjoy a relaxed afternoon, you know?”

Spike puffed smoke in annoyance, but as he turned away, a sly grin crept onto his face. With a powerful couple of wing flaps, he took to the skies, aiming for the scattered clouds above.

Blink lifted his head slightly, and when he failed to spot his scaly friend, he just shrugged and dipped the back of his head into the water as his body floated away across the surface of the lake.

The song of the birds and the whisper of the calm wind were everything that reached Blink’s ears. He sighed deeply, taking a mental note that the water was getting colder as the sun was losing its dominance on the darkening sky. Just a few more minutes and he would-

He opened his eyes, ears flicking upwards towards the source of an odd, whistling sound. His mouth hung a little, his entire attention focused on the rapidly approaching dragon. Spike was diving straight towards the lake water at a ninety degree angle and Blink could swear he saw his grin all over that scaly, purple face of his. The stallion immediately canceled the featherweight spell, deciding not to get out of that situation defeated. He dropped into the water, only his head above surface. Raven was long gone, wisely deciding to watch the forthcoming show from high above.

Blink looked up and his horn started glowing; Spike was falling at terminal velocity, his wings no longer flapping as he snapped them against his body and was now rotating in his fall, his slim body cutting through the air like a bullet. Blink placed his front hooves on the water, a soft glowing aura coating their base. With a low grunt, he pulled the rest of his body onto the surface of the water, managing to stand on top of the lake’s surface, water dripping from his mane and coat.

Moments afterwards, Spike pierced the water, sparks and smoke trailing from his mouth right before the impact, his chest swollen with air. The unicorn braced for the waves created by the dragon’s cannonball dive but the only effect was a tall, slim column of water that recoiled from the impact and then settled back into the lake. The stallion stared at the water beneath his hooves. Maybe he was too cautious about Spike’s initial intentions, maybe the young dragon just wanted to scare him and show off, maybe-

Blink’s eye’s widened as the distant bottom of the small lake lit up, Spike’s contour visible through the water. He raised his head towards the library, just in time to notice Twilight coming towards them, a beautiful, innocent and yet unaware smile on her face.

“Help!” was the last word that came out of the stallion’s mouth.

The crystalline surface trembled in sync with the ground around it, throwing Blink off his balance and into the water. As he fell, the lake’s center exploded, spitting out a column of water and steam. A powerful wave lifted Blink up, swallowing him into the large volume of displaced water. His entire world spun and tumbled, until a purple aura surrounded him, slowing him down. Eventually, the ground found its way under his hooves, the shallow water around him poring back into the lake.

He took deep, heavy breaths, his eyes darting around the now unfamiliar landscape. He cast a sun shielding spell on his eyes, his shades gone in the torrents. He found himself at least twenty feet away from the actual lake, the entire area around covered in retreating water, an uneven rain in the cloudless day complementing the disaster. The lake itself had lost a fair amount of depth, the visible inner walls being covered with the torrents that poured back in.

“Thanks, Twi’,” Blink managed after a thorough shake. To his luck, the lost pair of shades were floating by him. He grabbed them with his magic, putting them back on.

“Don’t mention it,” Twilight said through clenched teeth, trying to get a hefty bunch of wet stands of mane and grass from her eyes.

“Before you start scolding left and right, it wasn’t me,” the stallion said with a sheepish grin while approaching Twilight. “Also, have I told you how nice you look with your mane wet?”

That immediately prompted a blush from the mentioned mare and Blink nuzzling her didn’t help either. “No! You won’t get away with that!” She took a step back, her composure regained. “Now which one of you did this? I saw Spike diving into the lake, was it him?”

Even beneath a few strands of wet mane, her angry pout still packed quite a punch, forcing even the finest of Royal night guards into submission.

“Spike did it!” Blink blurted, trying to avoid being under Twilight’s deathly glare for too long.

“What in Celestia’s plump crown happened here?” A distant voice filled the evening air.

Blink turned around towards the small house by the lake, which surprisingly didn’t fall apart following Spike’s little stunt. A white, eye-patched stallion stood in the door, checking the skies above for the hurricane he thought had passed over his house.

“Hey Pearl!” Blink greeted him, waving a hoof. “How’s it going?”

The former ship captain made his way towards the two unicorns, taking in the mess all around them. “Just fine before you showed up; what did ya do this time, you half-wit horner?”

“Horner . . . really? And why does everyone assume I did it?” The question instantly drew a ‘say what, now?’ frown from both Twilight and Pearl.

“Okay, there have been some uhh- training accidents around here in the past months but that doesn’t mean I should be the first one to be blamed.”

“Ohh, hey Twi; Pearl,” Spike greeted them, hovering over the lake. “Did you see that? Tell me it wasn’t awesome!”

Twilight’s frown instantly found a new target, Blink shaking a big no to the dragon to let him know he was in trouble.

“How many times did I tell you not to do that in Ponyville?” the mare started.

“Do what? How did you know I did the firebomb at the bottom of the lake?”

“Spike, I know all your tricks, only that one has enough force to displace all that water.”

“Ohh, come on! I wanted to get back at Blink for being a lazy ass and not helping me with my house as he promised. It’s just a little water,” the dragon rebuked, thin smoke trails starting to come out of his nostrils.

“Spike, language!”

The dragon recoiled at Twilight’s scowl, his eyes narrowing angrily at her for a moment. “Whatever, I’m out of here,” he said with a roll of his eyes, before taking off into the sky above.

“Who sunk his dinghy?” Pearl wondered as he watched the dragon fade in the sunset.

“He’s been temperamental for a while now, it probably has something to do with him moving out,” Twilight pondered, a slight concern in her voice.

“Relax, he’ll be all right. It’s my fault after all, I did promise to help him today, but I just couldn’t focus right. So after a few hours of helping him, I had a swim in the lake. I'll talk with him later," he said, but quickly noticed the rapidly descending sun, "Ugh, damn it. I need to leave for Canterlot if I want to get the last train. I’ll be back in a few days, I’ll get leave to attend the Gala with you and the rest. We’ll talk then!”

He gave Twilight a big hug, the mare already casting a spell on him to dry his fur. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay for dinne-?”

A pair of lips silenced hers, her eyes widening at first but then slowly closed as she melted in the goodbye kiss.

“No time, need to go, love you! And see ya, Pearl! Tell your cousin I said hello!”

“Will do, but bring Chaser with ya for a drink next time!” the white stallion responded in his classic, sailor way.

After a nod, Blink’s horn lit up and a multitude of dark sheets of magical fabric appeared out of thin air and wrapped in a sphere around him, eventually dispersing in every direction along with him.

“Uhh, that’s a new way of doing that magic disappearing thing you unicorns do.”

Twilight however didn’t share Pearl’s impressment. “I would bet Princess Luna taught him that,” she said rather bitterly, but still feeling the pleasant tingling of her recently touched lips. Yet again, her feelings were all meeting at a crossroad, looking at each other cautiously and waiting for the other’s first move. Young love, as always, stood apart from the rest in the end.

“Well, I’ll be off now, Miss Twilight. And don’t cha’ worry about Spike, he’s a good lad, ya know that better than everypony else.”

The mare managed a weak smile and a nod towards the white stallion. “Thank you, Pearl. See you around, and sorry again for the whole mess,” she said, looking around the flooded foothill.

“No worries, miss. Nothing I’m not used to. Have a good one.”

“You too, Pearl.”

The two ponies went their separate ways, Pearl going back into the wooden house and Twilight making her way towards the nearby library. Every few steps she would look across the sky, hoping to see Spike coming back.

*** *** ***

On the other side of Ponyville, Silver Wisp stopped in front of the town’s large hospital. The off-duty royal guard had finished his shift just in time to catch the last train to Ponyville. The settling darkness of the night reminded him of the first time he came to that little town almost a year ago. He and his comrades had been given orders to travel to Ponyville’s railway station and make sure none of the Elements of Harmony left by train for a few days.

The mission somewhat failed, but Princess Luna did not take that as a sign of incompetence. After all, they had faced Celestia’s top student. Silver however remembered the place not for the incident at the train station, but for the quiet and tranquility of the small, cozy little village placed at the Everfree forest’s mouth of all places.

He soon found himself coming back to that town every now and then and simply strolled through the main street during an early weekend noon and even visit the few shops from around. Sometimes he imagined how it would be to live in that place, away from the bustling, noisy capital he grew up and lived in.

A place he would never miss in his escapades was the Sugarcube Corner, where none other than the Element of Laughter herself, Pinkie Pie, served him the tastiest treats he had the pleasure of savoring. He was surprised that she had recognized him and was also taking her time to talk to him as if he had lived there for his entire life. Silver very much enjoyed the company and everyone’s hospitality and might have even asked the pink, energetic mare out eventually if it wasn’t for one mare in particular.

That mare, that smart, hardworking white earth pony that bore a red cross as a cutie mark just happened to be inside Sugarcube Corner during one of the days Silver visited the town. He remembered staring at her, at her perfectly immaculate coat and her neatly arranged pink mane.

It must have been quite the long stare, because the next thing he knew, Pinkie was by his side, joining him in the less than couth gesture of looking at someone in public for too long. “Guess somepony has sweet eyes for a certain mare in here,” chimed the pink pony in a playfully melodic tone, yet quiet enough to preserve their conversation’s privacy.

“Sweet- what? No, no, no, I’m just-”

“Staring at her?”

“No, that’s not-”

“Checking her out?”

“No, I’m define-”

“Window shopping for that special somepony?”

“Wha- No! I mean yes, but I don’t know if I can- what if she has someone else?” Silver said with some stuttering, his eyes darting from the pink mare to the white one.

A smile crept on Pinkie’s face as soon as she got the confirmation she needed. “Don’t worry Silver Wisp, let me take care of everything.”

“How do you know my-”

Before he could finish the question, Pinkie grabbed his chair and spun it around wildly, sending him off. When the room finally stopped spinning, Silver found himself at the table with no one else other than the mare she was looking at moments before. She was slightly surprised to see the stallion on the other side of the small table, and even more surprised when Pinkie dropped a plate with a slice of delicious looking cake in front of the two of them.

“He’s Silver Wisp,” Pinkie started, “he’s been coming here for a while now but I think he’s kinda lonely, so could you show him around Ponyville for me? Maybe he’ll move here one day from Canterlot where he’s a Royal Guard so I’ll have to throw him a welcoming party!”

The two ponies stared at Pinkie for a while, before the mare broke the silence. “I- I guess I could show him around-”

“Ok then, it’s a date! See you two around!” And then the pink one zipped away back into the kitchen, traces of her large grin hanging ghostly in the air.

“Huh, how did she know what I was doing?” Silver asked, trying to ignore the D word as best as possible.

“Well, she’s special like that. So, you’re from Canterlot?”

“Uhh yeah, I guess. Guard duty and all that . . .”

“That sound pretty amazing. As you know, I’m from around. My name’s Redheart by the way.”

“N- nice to meet you meet you, Redheart . . .”

“Nice to meet you too, Silver.”

The two earth ponies looked at each other, their coy smiles already hard at work building that special connection between them.

“Silver?”

The stallion’s focus returned from the pleasant memory of their first date, fuzzy flashbacks lingering somewhere in the corner of his mind. The white mare was approaching him with a happy smile on her face, a smile that greatly contrasted her tired features and the few messy strands of her mane.

They met in a long kiss, which turned into a close moment of nuzzling under the moon’s early rays. They eventually parted, staring silently in each other’s eyes; it was their little ritual, a symbolist handshake of their souls after a long period of being apart from one another.

“I thought you wouldn’t make it today,” she said to him.

“Well, I pulled an hour from my shift so I can catch the last train. Weekend’s been a pain, but at least I’m off for a few days. I’ll be on Gala security duty,” Silver said as they started heading towards the town, keeping close to each other.

“So, where do you exactly plan on staying for the following days?” Redheart asked mischievously when noticing the backpack Wisp was carrying over a shoulder.

“I bet I’ll figure something out,” he returned with a rather sly grin.

“Hmm, I guess we could work something out,” she purred.

The two continued their walk towards Ponyville’s center, now with a slight spring in their steps; the night was still young for the two lovers.

*** *** ***

The moon started to peer over the distant horizon, basking the tall buildings in Canterlot with its lustrous light. Blink gave it a quick glance as he stepped into the now empty barracks, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to wake himself up faster from the short nap he had on the train to the capital. He made his way to his bed, dropping the saddle on top of it.

“Well look who decided to finally show up to work.”

Blink turned around to see Chaser approaching him, already wearing the full guard armor. He stopped near him and dropped a similar set of protective items from his back right near Blink’s hooves. The dark armor pieces hit the floor with a loud set of clangs, but were quickly grabbed up by the unicorn’s magic. “Got yours as well from armory. You're bloody welcome,” muttered the pegasus.

“Sorry, Chase’. Last train ran a bit late,” Blink excused himself, already doing the straps to all the individual pieces of the armor around him at the same time. “You shouldn’t have waited for me, could have got another unicorn to get you prepped for your guard shift.”

“Tis’ all right, we’re teamed up on city duty anyway.”

Blink raised an eyebrow at the old English usage but eventually shrugged it off. “Ohh, okay. Let’s head out then.”

They left the barracks, Blink's magic coating them with the proper night uniform: darker toned manes, slit-shaped irises, and bat-like ears forming from their own. The feathers from Chaser’s wings receded back into the members’ bones, magically melting into a thin membrane that stretched out to form a pair of dark bat wings.

“Much better,” Blink said, taking a large breath of fresh air under his new appearance. His ears twitched and moved every now and then, focusing on the new sounds of Canterlot’s night life that were previously unheard.

“Ain’t that the truth! Spent the last years living in a forest, the nights were not very much different from the days,” Chaser recalled with a hint of melancholy, “but the eyesight this transformation spell gives us is nothing short of amazing, mate.”

Blink however trailed behind, his attention caught by something into the night. “You hear that?”

Chaser shot him a quizzical look, before slowing picking up the distant disturbance. Without another word said, they turned right onto a busier street and went straight towards a well-known settlement they frequented. After a minute of cantering through the small crowds of ponies that went about their night life, they got within sight of their destination. The timing couldn’t have been better, as a stallion was just flying through the bar’s window.

Chaser and Blink turned their heads towards each other, their cocky grins radiating amidst their dark appearances. The two guards strolled into the establishment, half-silencing the restless crowd. The bar was filled with stallions in various stages of intoxication, a wrong move having recently caused a chain reaction that had lead to a full-out brawl.

At the sight of the two guards, most of the merry drinkers made the wise decision to leave the bar, squeezing past the stallions standing in the doorway. The location became less crowded, but there were still a hoofful of ponies that remained, directing angry stares at the ones that had just interrupted their fun.

“Well if it ain’t her Royall High-n-ass trusty steeds! Bet you’re just- just a new batch o’ foals sent to ruin our gud’ fun, eh? ” a wasted green bloke stammered, his tongue swirling in his mouth on the verge of incoherency. To his luck, as soon as he stepped towards the guards, he stumbled and dropped to the floor, Zs already floating above his head.

“You gotta love paydays,” Chaser said with a light chuckle.

A jab to his side from his partner directed his attention to a smaller group of stallions, stallions which seemed quite unaffected by whatever the bartender had on offer for that night. Between them there was a pony that was barely standing on his feet, his face bearing the clear signs of a recent fight.

A small flicker came from between the feathers of one of the sober pegasus, and into the poorly lit room it instantly caught Chaser’s attention. “Weapon!” he snarled, assuming an offensive stance.

“Debt collectors, guess this is going to be an interesting night after all.” Blink’s horn lit up, swirls of magic waves circling around him, channeled and ready for whatever spell their summoner would think of.

“Beat it hot shots, this is none of your concern,” their leader, a scruffy black stallion with a brown leather jacket muttered, spitting out his cigar.

“Mate, put your weapon down, and lay on the floor with your hooves and wings spread out!”

Blink shot Chaser a lazy glare, as if he had said the silliest of things. “Really? You think they’ll just drop-”

The small group of stallions broke into a gallop before Blink could finish his sentence, charging straight at them. They were fearlessly coming at the two guards, assuming they would do exactly what other patrol squads would do: retreat to a safe position and call in for help, which would give the fugitives enough time to leave the bar and disappear into the night.

Blink’s smirk touched his ears. They were not an ordinary patrol squad.

He disappeared into a cloud of smoke, and Chaser gave a powerful stroke of his wings, turning around on his front hooves, while planting them securely against the wooden floor. His hind legs retracted then sprung out into a powerful buck, sending the first runner crashing into one of his friends.

Blink re-appeared in front of a few of them that planned to escape through the back door, stopping them in their tracks. The horn’s glow reflected against his dark helmet as he wrapped his signature black tendrils around their legs then snapped them upwards towards the low ceiling, leaving the stallions to hang upside down. From behind the two tangled ones, a couple more passed by in a rush, attempting to run while hiding behind a few toppled tables.

The unicorn guard disappeared again. Near the front exit, Chaser was, in an impressive display of weapon wielding, spinning his spear using his wings and front limbs, balancing himself on the hind legs in front of a small group of four troublemakers. As they flung themselves at him one by one, he smashed them against the head with the wooden part, knocking them out.

Back on the other side of the bar, Blink re-appeared in front of the last two runners, pawing at the floor with a hoof, all while maintaining the devilish grin on his face. One of the two ponies, a unicorn, lifted a table with his magic and flung it at the guard with rather impressive force. The sound of Blink’s teleportation spell was heard behind the flying table and he re-appeared right in front of the two stallions.

The unicorn’s friend spun around to deliver a buck, but Blink had disappeared again, that time re-emerging instantly at the attacker’s side, basked in dark smoke. A hoof was swiftly delivered to the stallion’s face, who didn’t even had the time to see it coming. As the limb was breaking contact with his jaw following a rather powerful blow, blue sparks trickled from Blink’s horn, his magic surging to even higher levels. Out of the blue, an identical copy of the guard landed on the stallion, grabbing him by the neck and raising him upwards, exposing his underside.

The original Blink readied his hind hoof and sprung it back at the nothingness behind him, all while teleporting in place, however ending up rotated so that his leg would hit the runner straight into his stomach, sending him to the ground. The entire counter-attack on the bucking pony had taken place in just a couple of seconds, leaving his unicorn friend wide eyed and with a hanging jaw. As soon as Blink turned his eyes to him, he dropped on his rump and raised his hooves in the air.

“Don’t hurt me, I surrender! Please!”

Blink narrowed his eyes and flung a forehoof at the unicorn’s face, making him flinch in an attempt to protect himself. Just before the hoof impacted the cheek, Blink teleported away, the dark smoke left in his wake persisting however. As the shaking unicorn cracked an eye to see what had happened, the smoke enveloped him, twirling and twisting as he flailed across the bar’s floor. In the end, the smoke took a snake-like appearance and settled around his limbs, binding them together and incapacitating him.

The bartender, which was watching the ongoing fight with a mix of scare and excitement well behind the counter, jumped in place when the unicorn guard appeared in front of him, sitting perfectly on one of the few tall chairs that remained upright. Blink levitated a small bag from under his armor, searched through it and then slammed his hoof against the bar, revealing a couple of bits.

“A glass of sparkling water, please.”

The bartender’s face was painted with amazement, frozen in place as his eyes darted from the unicorn guard in front of him to the pegasus one near the exit, which was still fighting a last couple of ponies. “W-water?” he asked, still unsure of what was happening to him.

“Yes, I’m in my shift,” Blink said, casually waving a hoof at the fight behind him, “so I can’t drink. Wouldn’t anyway, I don’t really like alcohol. How you doing there, Chase’?” He asked, turning his head towards his partner.

“Screw you, at least help me with these two!” As he said that, one brown unicorn stallion threw an already broken chair towards him, while the other, a skinny pegasus, rushed towards the smashed window.

“Okay, okay, don’t need to be antsy,” Blink accompanied his words with a sigh.

He pointed his horn at the running pegasus, a bolt of crackling energy and shadow trails shooting out from the tip. The targeted pony was caught midair by the blast, smashing him against the window frame and knocking him out.

“Tell Luna I said hi,” he muttered, then turned back to the bar. “Water. Bubbly. One for my friend here as well, please.”

“How bloody nice of you,” came the pegasus’ irritated retort from behind him. He was tying the rope around the hooves of the last stallion, sweat dripping all over his face after that little fight.

He then joined Blink at the bar, grabbing the glass of water with the tip of his wings. The two guards clinked their glasses and emptied the content in one swig.

“I’ll have to admit this to ya’ Blink; far less damage tonight that we usually manage. Well, less than you usually manage.”

The bartender had refilled their glasses, not really keen on interrupting the guards’ break.

“Don’t remind me. I still get flashbacks from when we broke that fight at ‘Pink Saddle’ or whatever that place was called.”

“Sweet Luna, I didn’t know there were so many of ‘em in that gang. Sure as Tartarus didn’t know there were so many of you as well.”

Blink was silently staring into his glass, a touch of his magic swirling it around as to not let the water settle. “That night I almost lost control,” he said bitterly.

He had used his shadow clones extensively in that fight. He recalled in vivid detail how his mind and soul felt as if they were stretched and chopped into a multitude of pieces, all scattered around in different vessels. Chills ran down his spine as he remembered the cold voice running amok in his head.

“Come on, the night’s still young and our shift just started. As for you,” Blink said, motioning towards the bartender, “we’ll notify the nearest precinct and have them send out ponies to clear these guys out. Sorry for the disturbance and have a safe night, sir.”

The bartender’s only reaction was to wave slowly at the two leaving guards, then he took a moment to look around the damage of his establishment. The troublesome stallions were either knocked out or bound in dark ropes of magic, waiting to be picked up the local enforcement ponies.

Outside, Chaser and Blink were resuming their patrol along one of Canterlot’s main streets, their ears at attention as to catch any more disturbances. The moon was high above their heads, its light soaking the city in its empty glow.

*** *** ***

The Night Princess stepped across the short grass of one of the castle’s inner courts, followed by a suit of various ponies. “Thou did not have to come all the way here to thank me,” she said idly towards one of the larger stallions at her side.

“That said, your Highness, it is still an amazing honor to be invited to an event of that importance. So again, I thank you.”

Luna stopped and waved a hoof, shaking her head. “Nonsense. The Gala has been for many years an occasion for the high class society to spend a night alongside Equestria’s rulers. However, I believe that such an opportunity should be available to many others. As Golden Quill here proposed, the heads of our Royal Guard and army reserve should be among those that benefit of such opportunities,” Luna continued.

“Princess?” a firm voice came from behind one of the garden’s archways. Out from the shadow stepped a tall white unicorn with a long, blue mane, no one other than Shining Armor, captain of the Royal Guard.

He approached the group, nodding at his subordinates and his military counterpart, as to dismiss them. The ponies saluted and left the three of them alone. Shining looked at the mare next to Luna then back at the Princess herself.

“You may leave us, Golden Quill.”

The mare complied and head towards the castle, leaving no one in the interior garden but the Princess and Shining Armor. “Captain, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Luna asked, resuming her stroll on the moonlit pathway.

“I wanted to talk to you about the reports we’ve been getting recently. Do you know about them?”

“Indeed, I was made aware of them by none other than my assistant.”

Shining’s brow furrowed at that, as he stopped for a moment into place but then quickly caught up with the Princess. “So pardon me for asking, but don’t you think it would have been wise to summon a council meeting and discuss our stance?”

“I’m afraid that will not be necessary, Captain. If the reports are to be correct, this conflict does not affect Equestria at all. What the Changelings and the Griffons do is none of our business,” the princess said, stopping and holding out a hoof in front of her. A bat soon came from the night’s darkness, landing in jagged motions on the tip of Luna’s hoof.

“But what if the reports are not correct? Both nations are massing huge numbers, we might have to intervene if some of their battles will be fought on our continent,” Shining pressed on.

“You are right, Shining Armor; and believe me when I say that I am taking into consideration your concern. I will receive word from our informants in the following days, and based on how the situation develops, I will decide whether to re-unite the council or not.”

“As you wish. I will be off now-”

“Nonsense, Captain. Walk with me,” Luna interrupted, making her way through a separating archway.

Shining followed in her wake, both ponies eventually ending up in the exterior garden. The high moon basked the dormant plants in its silvery light, accompanied by small, pulsing blips of light that floated around them.

“Tell me Shining, how are Cadence and Emerald?” the Princess asked, addressing the captain for the first time that night by only his first name.

“Well uhh- they are fine; both in the Crystal Empire for the moment, they’ll come here the day after tomorrow. Cadence and I are going to be present at the gala and as a matter of fact, we would like to sit down at some point and have a word about-”

“Yes Shining, you may.”

“Excuse me?”

“You have my permission to move permanently in the Crystal Empire.”

Silence fell in the empty garden, the stallion starring at Luna as she idly used her magic to open up a flower, its white petals soaking up the moon’s rays, emitting a soft glow of its own. Shining was at a loss of words, his eyes tracing the Princess’ cosmic mane as it blend with the star-riddled sky behind it.

“Did- Cadence tell you about that?”

Luna turned around, a surprisingly calm smile adorning her face. “No, Shining. However I did noticed ever since my sister left that thou have not been the same out there as a Captain. I don’t blame thee, Shining Armor, as you’ve sworn to protect my sister and my sister alone back in the days when I was only mentioned in stories that frightened foals at night.”

“Your Highness, it’s not that-”

Luna raised a hoof rather solemnly. “Please, we are basically of the same family, Shining. You can call me Luna, especially since you are off duty. And there is no need to excuse thyself. The Crystal Empire is thriving under their queen’s rule, but the firm hoof of a king is needed as well, that I understand. If that is what you and Cadence desire, who am I to stand against thee?”

“Your hi- I mean, Luna; I don’t know what to say. It’s not that I don’t want to serve you. It’s just . . . I don’t really know what it is, to be honest.”

“As I said, thou doesn’t have to worry about it. A king is harder to come by than a Captain,” Luna mused, her eyes chasing a stray firefly.

“Would you happen to know when Celestia will be back?”

The stallion’s question caught Luna off guard but she tried her best not to show it.

“I do not know that. She hasn’t answered my letters in months; I don’t even know if she receives them anymore,” the Princess admitted with a sigh.

“I see. If you do get word from her, please let me know, Princess.”

The alicorn raised an eyebrow at him.

“I mean Luna. Sorry,” he corrected himself with a sheepish smile. “I’m off for tonight. If there is anything you need me for, I’ll be in the east tower’s guest chamber.”

“Thank you, Shining; and have a pleasant night.”

The two ponies saluted each other with a bow of their heads. Soon, Luna was left all alone in the rich garden. She stretched her wings, and with a couple of flaps took to the skies, disappearing into the night’s void.

*** *** ***

The wind blew strongly across Spike’s scales, and the dragon’s reflexes kicked in, his wings locking up downwards to maintain the altitude. His head fins were fully extended as well, helping him stabilize his flight path.

After the unexpected gust passed, Spike relaxed, flapping his wings freely. Flying was still a relatively new thing for him but it goes without saying that he made a lot of progress in the past months. First time he got caught in an updraft he panicked and froze, stalling within a few seconds. If it wasn’t for Ruby’s fast intervention, he would have crashed pretty hard.

Recalling those moments, the young dragon’s heart started beating a little faster partially because of the near death experience and also because of the awkward moment that insured when both him and Ruby landed on the ground, the dragoness still holding him close.

The moon hid behind a few clouds, darkness spilling over the Everfree forest. Spike snapped back from his memories, focusing to see in the now pitch black night. A swooshing sound caught him my surprise as something flew past him at a very high speed. He darted his head left, right and above, failing to spot whatever it was that almost hit him.

Just as his ears picked up a similar sound coming from below, he was struck to the side right under his wings, causing him to tumble midair. He quickly recovered and his eyes were finally starting to adjust to the total lack of light. And then he saw the shape of the attacker, and his hot blood froze. It was another dragon.

“The Everfree dragon . . .” he whispered, his eyes widening as a bright fireball shot straight at him. He managed to dodge it in the last second, sending a few of his own green balls of fire at the general flight path of the attacker.

Seeing the dragon was approaching him again, he flapped his wings one last time, leaning forwards into a dive. More fireballs whizzed past him as he snapped his wings against his body, the same as he did earlier that day. Seconds before crashing against the forest trees below, he sprung his wings open, catching enough air to slow him down and pull back up, flying just feet away from wild tree branches.

The sound of his stubborn chaser followed him every second, and Spike decided to try and fight back. He rolled on his back and locked his wings so that he glided belly up. With sharp intakes, he spat out jets of flames in his wake, however the other dragon was skillfully evading every shot. Coming up to him, he launched a fireball of his own at Spike’s exposed underside. The young dragon clenched his teeth hard and tried to roll back, but was hit in the back.

Despite the lesser efficiency of the attack against his fire resilient scales, the blow was powerful enough to destabilize him, sending Spike in the forest below. With a last maneuver, he prolonged the spin and ended up executing a full roll so that he would land on his back. Lastly, he turned his wings, using them as an airbrake as he crashed against the ground, bouncing against the dirt and hitting branches and bushes along the way. Coming to a grinding halt, he propped his hands into the ground below to get up, but the shape of the other dragon landed right atop of him, pinning him down.

With his claws on Spike’s chest, the Everfree dragon kept him lying on the ground. As Spike prepared one of his powerful fireballs, he noticed the attacker was actually smaller than he remembered when he met him in his youth. In fact, he was barely a foot bigger than him. The moon peeked from behind the cloud it was hiding behind, and what it revealed made Spike swallow deep, suppressing his attack.

“Hey Spike!” the dragoness on top of him said in a peculiar playful manner, her red scales a lot more noticeable in the lit environment.

“R-Ruby? What are you doing here?” Spike sprung up with renewed vigor, catching the dragoness by surprise with a hug that was too tight for her usual preference.

When she noticed she was still leaning onto the green dragon, Ruby backed away a few steps, averting her eyes in a rather Fluttershy-esque manner. “Yeah, sorry about that; just wanted to see how your flying was. Nice cushioning on your impact though.”

Spike stared at her for a moment, the recent events perspiring through his mind like they never even occurred. “What are you doing here? I remember you said you wanted to visit Ponyville at the beginning of winter.”

“Well, I did; but I’ve been waiting for a while to visit your territory and I have never seen a pony settlement up close before. I saw a huge city on the mountains on my way though, not so far away from here.”

“That would be Canterlot. And you can’t refer to Ponyville as my territory. It’s my town, that’s all.”

A surprised look caught up with Ruby, her head slightly tilted in an almost comically manner. “So if a dragon stranger would move into Ponyville, will you allow him to stay?”

“Well ye-” Spike’s expression froze before he could finish the short sentence, his imagination fabricating one such situation, while his instincts shouting ‘No!’ at the top of their lungs.

A smile broadened on Ruby’s face as she went past the green dragon. “See? That’s territory. Come on now, I wanna meet this Twilight Sparkle and her friends you’ve been talking about!”

With that, she took to the skies, evading the branches and trees as she pierced the forest’s dense corona. Spike followed her closely, leading her to the scattered blips of lights that were Ponyville.

They stopped their flight near the Library tree, landing in the back yard one after the other. “Well, this is my cave I guess.”

“It’s . . . nice,” Ruby said halfheartedly. “I mean, it looks cozy, but a tree? You actually live inside a huge plant?”

“I know, I know; but I haven’t had any accidents in years. And I’m moving out anyway; wanna build a burrow anywhere between here and that lake over there,” he said, pointing with a claw at the moon’s reflection in the small body of water further downhill. “Come now, hopefully we’ll catch Twilight still awake reading her books.”

*** *** ***

Twilight focused harder, maintaining the stream of magic around her. Her eyes started glowing under their lids as she attuned her powers with the nature around her. After all, she was living in a giant tree, and it couldn’t have been closer to a living thing even if-

A series of images flashed through her mind, images of her and a certain stallion together, close to each other, a strong, earthly bond uniting them. The images shifted and turned. She didn’t knew exactly why, but the bond was darkened, eclipsed by something inside of him, a dormant evil that was never truly laid to rest. Her light was not bright enough to shine away that darkness, he was slipping, drifting slowly out of her reach.

“Blink . . .”

Her eyes snapped opened, the purple-white magic around her dispersing in thin air. Twilight’s heart was racing, pumping blood as if she had ran a marathon. All around her, fresh wild sprouts teared from the wooden floor. She floated a notebook and scribbled something down, the feather shaky in her grasp.

She looked at the green sprouts around. Yet again, her magic had caused the manifestation of everything nearby that carried life. However, more troubling for her were the images that still juggled in her mind, devoid of context or details, but filled with eeriness and uncertainty.

A couple of knocks on her room’s door dragged her out of that state of mind. “Yes?” Twilight asked.

The door creeped open, revealing a young dragon with a hesitant look clouding his face. “Hey Twi? I uhh- wanted to apologize for how I behaved earlier today.”

Twilight, still a bit down from the recent experience, took no time to recall those events, instead choosing to jump at Spike’s neck, holding him in a tight hug. “It’s okay Spike, I know you didn’t mean it.”

Her assistant’s embrace drove off the clouded memories in her mind, until a loud noise coming from downstairs reached her ears. “What was that?” she asked, staring at her room’s door. “Did you bring anyone home with you? Is it one of the girls?” Twilight kept asking, making her way downstairs.

“About that!” Spike said, raising a claw after the mare, who was already out of the room. “I got someone I want you to meet.”

Spike followed her down the stairs, trying to catch up. Another loud noise filled the main room, followed by Twilight’s loud yelp. Spike caught up with the unicorn, finding her almost face to face with Ruby, who was holding in her arms a couple of plant pots, a sheepish, innocent grin on her face.

“Twilight, this is Ruby. Ruby, meet Twilight, my foster uhh- mom?”

The unicorn relaxed, the tension in her limbs fading away as the possibility of a threat was dismissed. Noticing that, Ruby rushed forward a little bit faster than she should have, extending a welcoming paw, while her tail hit a few more plants, sending them to the ground. “Sorry about that! It’s just that this place is a little bit-”

“Small?” Twilight completed her with a smile.

“-cozy. You can call it small too, but also, it’s a tree. Anyway, happy to meet you, Twilight of Ponyville,” she said, shaking the unicorn’s vigorously, almost sending her to the ground.

“Spike, you didn’t tell me Ruby was older than you.”

Hearing that, the dragon’s eyes widened, his fins flattening down in shame. “We’re almost the same age actually, her tail is longer, that’s all.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her assistant. “Someone’s having a size complexity. Anyway, it’s nice to finally meet you as well, Ruby. Spike’s been telling me so much about you.”

“Well, he’s been talking about you and the other . . . Elements as well. I’ve read about your adventures, and also learned a lot from what Spike and Blink told me the first time I met them.”

Twilight blushed slightly from under her purple coat, such attention being uncommon for her.

“Also if I recall what Spike’s been telling me, Midnight Blink is your mate, is he not?” Ruby asked casually, causing Spike to slap a hand over his face, and Twilight’s blush to intensify tenfold.

“I uhh- he’s my colt friend. I wouldn’t call him a ma- I don’t-” she blabbered, attempting to contain herself.

“Yeah, she hates when that’s brought up,” Spike rolled his eyes. “To put it in a way you understand, they are courting.”

“I’m going to go prepare some dinner,” Twilight excused herself in a hurry, disappearing from the room.

“That’s Twilight,” Spike said with a self-explanatory head shrug, drawing a chuckle from Ruby. “Come on, I’ll show you the rest of the library. ”

*** *** ***

Spike stretched his arms and wings, satisfyingly patting his belly with a claw. “That was a good late night dinner. Rare thing for Twilight if you ask me, but don’t tell her I said that.”

“It was quite interesting to say the least. Haven’t really had any pony food up until now, but it’s amazing what they can do without meat.”

“Well actually, I taught her everything she knows,” Spike boasted, sinking further into the soft cushion.

Ruby pat her own pillow, her claws sticking in what was a very unusual object for her. She made herself comfortable and raised her head up, gazing at the stars above. The gentle, late summer wind caressed her scales, gently rattling the library’s branches and leaves.

The two dragons sat quietly on one of the library’s balcony that faced the rest of the town, gazing both at the Ponyville’s nighttime lights as well as at the sparkling stars above.

Spike stole a glance at Ruby and noticed her concerned look as she stared across the sleeping town. “Is there anything wrong?”

Ruby returned to the present moment, putting up a smile that would reassure the gallant dragon. “I’m fine. It’s just- you live in a very strange world, Spike of Ponyville. Every pony here seems happy to live near each other, their territory is so compact, yet so-”

“Cozy?”

“Yes,” Ruby said, staring into his eyes, as if a simple look could make her understand that whole life of his.

Truth be told, she was more intrigued about that lifestyle than she would have wanted to admit. Used to living alone most of the time, even as the granddaughter of the Old One she chose to live the same way as the rest of the dragons did: a solitary life filled with deathtrap valleys and nothing but shadowy jagged mountains to watch over at night. One thing however was the same as back home: the stars. The night sky’s twinkling white pearls looked the same way they did in her own barren territory, but here she could also see an intricate purple and green dragon that had much more than dry rocks and hungry scavengers to wake up to everyday.

Caught up in her inner thoughts, Ruby noticed a bit too late that Spike’s lips were moving, as he tried to convey something to her with what looked like a very sincere expression.

“Uhh, what?” she asked, clearing the thoughts from her head.

“I asked uhh- what you did with that diamond I gave you when we met for the first time,” his eyes locked onto everything but her, hiding from her gaze like an embarrassed colt talking with a filly for the first time.

“Oh, that diamond. Well, I kept it.”

It was no mistake on her part. She purposefully kept the diamond he gave her as a sign of gratitude for helping Spike and Blink back when the unicorn had to travel to the Griffin Kingdom for his trial. She kept it, despite the symbolism behind the gift, and she chose not to mention it during the time Spike visited her for the first time, when she taught him how to fly.

She recalled those memories in vivid detail and all the days spent under the hot sun training the purple dragon. His sustained effort and her unnatural patience eventually paid off as he took to the skies for the first time in his life. Following that trail of thoughts, her eyes unintentionally fell on Spike’s chest, focusing on the scar she made him while saving his life from a nasty arrow wound infection.

“And . . . what does that mean?” he asked, the blood in his cheeks spiking by a few degrees.

“It means that I liked it. Nothing more, nothing less; for now . . .”

Ruby laid back in her own cushion, going back to watching the stars and leaving a storm in Spike’s mind . . . and heart. When he eventually laid back into his pillow, Ruby carefully shifted her tail, resting its tip over Spike’s.

There were no more words spoken between the two dragons as they watched the moon and stars shift across the sky. Eventually Ruby slipped into Luna’s realm, exhausted after a long journey and a nice meal. Spike followed her soon after, the thought of a red dragoness holding his tail not enough to keep him awake anymore.

In their sleep and unwilling to them, their tails intertwined a little bit more, their hearts sensing each other through the touch, agreeing on a common rhythm.

*** *** ***

Blink came to a stop in front of a pretentious looking shop in the middle of Canterlot. He adjusted his shades on his face, looking left and right across the street as if he would be doing something entirely illegal.

No matter how normal it may have been however, his stomach was not giving him any rest at all. He paced around for a few moments, treating the shop’s door like the most dangerous of nightmares. He even contemplated leaving that place and returning to the barracks for a well-deserved sleep but after a few quick, deep breaths, he swallowed his heart and stepped into the brightly lit venue.

“What can I do for you today, sir?” the shopkeeper greeted the stallion with a wide smile.

*** *** ***

The infinite sand was filling half of her vision, the other half filled by the endless strip of a cloudless sky. Her closest companion, the sun, was high above her, basking everything in its life-giving light. Her other companion, a bit smaller but much older than the star above, strolled alongside her, unaffected at all by the harsh conditions.

“Hiding is never the solution, Celestia. Our life, our decisions, and our failures; we bear them for eternity, even us, those that are above mortal creatures.”

Celestia remained unfazed, dragging her hooves across the hot desert sand. She eventually stopped and looked at the white pony next to her. No matter how she felt about things, she couldn’t ignore Life.

“My wrongdoings have tempered with the laws of life and death. Mortal souls trapped for years and years on end; all because of me.”

“You are not the one to blame. Luna was at fault and she paid her price.”

“I gave up the Elements of Harmony to ponies because I couldn’t bear to use them myself after what I’ve done to her.” Celestia stopped, and turned to face Life. “What does that say about me?”

“More than you may think. Those Elements are given to every Watcher and they take the name of that world’s most prized virtues. It is not uncommon for them to have mortal representatives; you can’t be everything at once, Celestia.”

The alicorn princess sketched no reaction or feeling, and chose to carry on her lonely voyage. The following hours dragged by in complete silence, as slow as Celestia’s advance through the hot land. Life stayed at her side, shadowing her steps and waiting with an unnatural patience for the Watcher to open up to him.

On one of her tired steps, Celestia’s hoof slipped through the sand, sending her to her knees. Her deep breaths touched the falling drops of sweat, sending them onto the scorching sand beneath where they would vaporize in an instant. After weeks of wandering under the sun, the body of a ruler was finally getting tired.

“You are not only punishing yourself, but the ones that once looked up to you, Celestia,” Life said, breaking the heavy silence. “Your form will not take this for long; return to your sister . . . or ascend beyond mortal form and become deity. One way or the other, two must watch over this world.”

Hearing that, Celestia stared at the stallion above her for a moment, the sun’s rays shimmering through his white mane. Ascending was in fact the reason she had come there, but she didn’t have the courage to do it just yet. There were so many things to consider, so many reasons that still held her in that mortal shape. But with each step, she got further and further away from those reasons.

“I trust you Celestia, like I always had.” With those last words, Life turned around and walked away, his shape slowly dissipating into the air.

Celestia flopped her head down, eventually passing out from the combination of heat and exhaustion. Her world morphed into images of her life, memories that flashed and overlapped, carrying her on a path of reminiscence, a path paved with lustrous moments of her glory next to murky puddles of hard decisions and sorrow.

Her eyelids fluttered open, the sun’s light blocked by something. Her vision came into focus for a fleeting moment, capturing the image of large zebra staring down at her, her lips letting out words that never reached her ears.

And then darkness.

*** *** ***

The night was yet again settling over Canterlot, catching Blink walking back to the barracks, his gaze lost in his thoughts. He went in the mess hall, where his eyes scouted for a particular brown pegasus.

Seeing him, he navigated through the many night guards enjoying their first meal of the night and when reaching his table, he took a seat next to him. Chaser, who was enjoying a rather displeasing looking mush by himself, shot him an awkward glare. “Whe ya’ve been?” he asked with a mouthful.

Blink looked at him as if he hadn’t even heard the question, his face bearing a serious expression that was uncanny for the midnight blue unicorn. “You once said that you know how to play the piano.”

Chaser stopped chewing for a moment, unsure of where that conversation was heading. “Uhh, yeah; I know some tunes. Why?” he asked, finishing the food in his mouth.

“Chase’, I plan to do something at the gala that’s in a couple of days, and I would really appreciate your help.”

The pegasus put his fork into his plate and pushed it away with a wing. “Ooookay . . . what exactly do you plan on doing at the gala?”

Without saying anything, Blink reached for his saddlebag, grabbed something and placed his hoof on the table. When he retracted it, Chaser saw a small, simple box just standing there over the worn out table. Blink then opened it with his magic, revealing a small yet amazingly crafted earring.

“Sweet Luna . . . are you serious, mate?”

Blink swallowed hard, and nodded his head. “Yes . . . yes I am.”

End of Chapter 22

Chapter 23: The Green Gala

Chapter 23

The Green Gala

Blink returned to his seat in the guards’ canteen, carrying a plate of that same mush Chaser was eating minutes before. The pegasus stared at him for a moment, putting aside his meal while his brain tried to digest the information he had heard. The small, elegant box rested on the table in front of him but was grabbed by Blink’s magic and placed back into his saddlebag.

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” Chaser asked again.

Blink gave him a tired, yet understanding nod. “Yes, I am. I finish my training in a few months, and I wanna be with her.”

“This . . . this is big mate, you know that? I mean, I’m happy for ya and everything, and I will help you at the Gala but, it’s just . . .” he trailed off, his mind fleeing to other places. He snapped back from it and returned to his friend. “I’m sorry. Congratulations, Blink. Now, if ya excuse me, I’ll go visit my sister. I’m pretty sure she has a piano, I’ll see if I can come up with something for the Gala.”

Blink lingered for a moment, nodding his head slowly. “Thanks a lot, Chase’. It means a lot to me.”

Chaser got up from the table, patted his friend on the back and went outside, leaving Blink alone with his thoughts. He let out a deep sigh and jabbed at his meal with a spoon, his thoughts running amok in his head.

*** *** ***

Chaser steadied himself after a powerful gust of wind almost caused him to crash. He scouted the skies above, trying to find the moon that was hiding somewhere behind the thick clouds. He gave up after a few moments and landed on a brightly lit street, looking around for a certain house.

The neighborhood he had landed in was one of the nicer ones in Canterlot, but not exclusive enough to come off as a high-class part of the town. The houses were close to each other and had relatively small gardens, with carriages going down the street every now and then. After a few minutes of wandering, he immediately recognized one of the houses, hurrying to its door. Chaser knocked, his eyes following the lights turning on inside the home. The slow, off-beat steps of the roused resident echoed behind the door.

“Hey, sis!” exclaimed the pegasus as the entrance opened up, revealing a gray mare in what looked like a comfortable dressing gown.

“Chaser!” Her face lit up as if it had suddenly become daytime, wrapping a hoof around the stallion’s neck. “What possibly could you be doing here at this time of the night? Come in; it must be chilly outside, they said a storm is coming.” She quickly waved him in.

Chaser stepped inside, taking a moment to look around the main room as he took off his light armor. A glance at the pictures resting over the chimney flooded his mind with memories from a distant past. The smell of an early Heart Warming Eve morning, the sight of a gathered family, happiness and warmth. His sister closed the door and joined him, standing by his side.

“So Concerta, how are things?” he asked, turning to the cyan earth pony. “I’m sorry that I woke you and your uhh, your-”

The cellist’s brow frowned a bit at his hesitation, but immediately relaxed in an understanding smile. “-my wife; you can call her that, you know? And no, you didn’t wake her, she is still at work, rehearsing for the Gala performance.”

Chaser scratched behind his mane with a hoof, a sheepish smile on full display. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to- I’m just a bit too old-fashioned for my own good sometimes,” he excused himself nervously.

Concerta radiated a warm smile, giving her brother another hug. “I know you didn’t mean any harm. I’m still surprised you showed up at the wedding. All the way from the other side of the mainland, as well.”

“Well, I took it from your letters that you found someone special, and when I made my way back to this here’s city with a bunch of friends, I thought I would meet the guy myself before you two got hitched.”

The cellist stifled a giggle, recalling the day. “That look on your face when you found out who that stallion actually was. I wish I had taken a photo.”

Chaser simply shrugged. “As long as my sis’ is happy, I’m happy. Anyway do ya still have that piano dad left me when I was young?”

Concerta’s face lit up at those words. She got up and grabbed her brother’s hoof, taking him through a hallway and into a large room at the end of it. When she turned on the lights, Chaser’s jaw dropped at all the instruments gathered around.

Numerous cellos of all shapes and sizes, violins and even tubas occupied the spacious room. Each was hung or carefully placed with great care on their rack, given their own space like precious family portraits. Near the far end of the room, a large, black grand piano stood lonely in a corner, various music sheets resting on it.

“How could I not keep it?” the mare asked, walking up to it and dusting the seat with a couple of hoof beats. “Have you decided to start playing again after you finish your guard gimmick?”

“It’s not a gimmick; Ah’ actually enjoy being in the royal guard very much. And I don’t know yet, but a friend asked me for a favor at the Gala and I need some practice.”

He took a seat, lifting up the fall to reveal the white and black keys. His mind filled with memories of a distant youth, when he would play it under his father’s scrutinous eyes. He unfurled his wings and brought up his hooves, gently stroking the surface of the immaculate keys. Pressing a hoof into them woke the dormant instrument, a B flat playing clearly in the silent music room. Soon, other notes followed, his primary feathers pushing in the perfect keys to strike a tune.

“Looks like you haven’t forgotten papa’s lessons after all. Are you positive you don’t want to take a step in the industry?”

“I don’t know sis, maybe one day. I still have my duty towards the crown, ya know?”

Silence reigned for a few lone moments, before Concerta made her way to a table, grabbing a few sheets of paper and some quills.

“I’ll help you with the sheet music. How is this song of yours?” she asked, taking a seat near her brother, readying a quill.

Chaser hummed and stroked his chin. "I was thinking it would go something like this . . ."

*** *** ***

Her world was the world.

Scenes from across the realms played in front of her eyes in rapid succession. It’s been millennia since she had seen the planet like that. She watched, as she did for centuries before taking mortal form. A Watcher never stops watching.

Yet the images became unclear and slowed to a halt. A hut in the middle of a freezing desert night. A makeshift door drives open, revealing a zebra lying next to . . . her.

Celestia’s eyes fluttered weakly. She spotted a figure standing up from her side, walking to the open door and closing it. She swallowed painfully. Her throat was dry and she was cold. A simple rag covered most of her once pristine white coat, but it was not enough.

The room’s other occupant turned at the noise and approached the ruler. Celestia recognized the zebra from her earlier vision. She leaned over her, basking a piece of cloth in a nearby bowl. She then took the cloth between her hooves and squeezed it gently over Celestia’s lips, hydrating the thirsty alicorn. Celestia raised her neck, mouthing words that never made it out.

“Shh . . . tired. Must rest,” the zebra said in a whisper.

The alicorn looked her in the eyes, feeling a nurturing compassion from the striped creature. She did not need rest, nor did she require any sleep. Her body would be functioning at maximum capability, yet somehow she felt the dire need to lay down and just . . . rest.

The morning came, all too soon. Celestia opened her eyes only to notice a few beams of light piercing the hay roof of the hut. She got up and stretching her limbs, trying to recall how long it has been since she had a normal sleep.

Her mind drew a blank and she decided to check the world outside of the little hut, as if she hadn’t seen it in a long time. The sun, her sun, greeted her with full force, warming up her coat within seconds.

She basked in the luminescence of the celestial body, unaware of the tens of nearby zebras that turned their heads towards her and let their activities coming to an abrupt stop. When Celestia’s gaze turned to her surroundings, she found herself in the middle of a nomadic village, huts sprouting here in there between a large dune and a small oasis.

The inhabitants gathered around Celestia, bombarding her with a cacophony of greetings and trying to touch her, even if only the tip of her extended wings. One of the zebras in particular, grabbed her hoof and led her to a larger hut. Eventually the crowd of villagers dispersed as Celestia and the zebra entered the home.

Inside was far more different than the bare hut she was in. It had a place to sleep, shelves with pots and jars of all kinds and numerous smoking sticks spread across the floor. Most importantly, a large zebra stood in the center, his eyes closed as if he was in a deep meditation. Celestia noticed the rings around his neck, the large earrings adorning his ears and the bracelets around his hooves.

The zebra opened his eyes, eyeing up the large, alicorn guest, before kneeling in front of her. A string of words left his mouth in a dialect Celestia had not heard in her life.

“Chief says: welcome, great white ruler from the green hills,” came from the zebra that had brought her in.

Celestia turned to her. “You know my language?”

“Yes, I am one in village that reads about life of ponies from books.”

“Who exactly are you?” came Celestia’s next question.

“We are desert tribe of zebra. We travel the south and live like old ones did,” came the answer from the young one next to her.

The older zebra rose up, taking his place in the center of the hut. He continued speaking.

“You, ruler of ponies, why come here where sun is born each day? Have you heard mother’s call?” the younger one asked, translating her chief’s question.

“I was merely . . . traveling. What is this call you are speaking of?”

After hearing the young zebra’s translation, the chief nodded his head at her.

“I show you.” Her frown then dropped slightly as she was about to lead Celestia out of the hut. “Forgive me for not saying early, he is our tribe chief, Zel-Nuku; Sand Tamer.” She then pointed at herself. “I am Zed-Draky. In common tongue, Dune Flower.”

Celestia bowed her head at the chief, then turned to the smaller zebra. “Pleased to meet you, Dune Flower. Were you the one that stood by my side last night?”

The zebra shrunk a little, her eyes hesitantly avoiding the alicorn. “I found you sleep in desert. Brought you to tribe. Chief said is sin to wake sleeping god, I made him see you tired, so we helped.”

“Don’t worry Flower, you did nothing wrong. Now, show me what you wanted to.”

The zebra’s face lit up and then led Celestia outside, followed closely by the chief zebra.

*** *** ***

The outside rain echoed through the castle corridors, the storm’s occasional white flashes overlapping with the warm light of the numerous torches hanging on the walls.

A night guard hurried through the hallways, eventually reaching a large door guarded by two other guards. They silently let him through into the large, empty chamber. The storm was visible through long glass windows at one end of the room, the lighting filling that every now and then. The guard looked up, noticing the chamber’s semi-circle balcony near the ceiling. It looked a lot like a small banquet hall but the chandeliers were bare and there were no tables or furniture inside whatsoever.

The door closed behind the stallion, and he immediately felt the warmth around him fade away. Horn glowing, his helmet came off, revealing his dark, bat-like features.

“Princess . . .”

Moments later, Luna came out slowly from the shadow of a nearby wall. “I see you’ve received my letter,” she answered him.

“What is this about, if I may ask?” the guard spoke, his features shifting and morphing back into the normal ones of a unicorn.

“I wished to speak about the Gala, Midnight Blink. The second night after this one and we shall all be attending the ceremony in formal attire, enjoying the company of Equestria’s higher class,” Luna said, raising a hoof and admiring it sarcastically. “A boresome way to spend a night but alas, it has to be done. I wanted to ask of you to assist me in greeting the noble folk but it has come to my attention that you might have other plans for the night.”

Blink instantly blushed, taken aback by unexpected revelation that the Princess was aware of his plans. “I’ve only mentioned this to another soul hours ago, how did you find out?”

Luna smiled at the naive stallion, taking slow steps towards the large glass windows. “Let’s just say that someone’s dreams have been quite ambitious lately.”

“I’m pretty sure that breaches certain privacy laws, doesn’t it?” Blink asked, slightly annoyed, yet keeping a sarcastic layer over his words. “Just because you can go into ponies’ dreams, that doesn’t mean you should.”

“Relax, dear guard of the night, I only read through thine dream because it was quite a powerful one. That said, I wish you the best of luck at the Gala, Midnight Blink.”

“Thanks . . . I guess.”

The air’s temperature inside the room fell even more, a haze draping over the stallion’s eyes for a moment, his legs feeling weak and his head light.

“Putting that aside, the real reason why I called you forth tonight was because I wanted to host an impromptu training session. It has been a while since our last one, doesn’t thou reckon?”

The stallion’s corner of the mouth rose slightly in a grin. His blood was already pumping faster and he started feeling strangely better all of a sudden. The wait to prove his training’s progress had come to an end. “It has been indeed, Princess. Shall we?”

Luna returned the grin, turning to face the stallion from the other side of the room, over twenty feet away. “Oh, we shall.”

Time slowed to a crawl; a spark of magic erupted from Blink’s horn, his revolver coming out from a small satchel on his night armor, its hammer cocked back by the blue aura. It snapped against the back of the drum, sending away one of the bullets. The magical rapid firing mechanism kicked in under Blink’s control, the hammer almost instantly snapping back and then slamming itself against the next round.

The six bullets left the revolver in a blink of an eye, yet Luna’s body was already a heap of dark smoke by the time the first one went through her, whizzing its way into the glass window behind.

Blink clenched his teeth while he ejected the casings out of the gun. He floated a single round out of the satchel and looked at it for a second, focusing on the details. He then snapped his eyes at the approaching smoke that was Luna, the revolver in his magical grip ready and waiting, containing six cloned bullets inside the drum.

He always hated that attack. In the last second before the impact, the smoke materialized into the Princess. She rammed into the stallion with her shoulder, using her larger weight and powerful momentum to knock Blink’s air out of his lungs as he crashed into the floor several feet away.

Taking desperate gasps of air, he continued firing the pistol at Luna, but she skillfully evaded all of them either by strafing or going in and out of her smoke form. The next he knew, Luna reached him, landing with her front hooves on his chest, a distinct cracking sound making its way to his ears.

The stallion’s eyes rolled into his head, his body twitching and then bursting into a rapidly fading smoke puff. Just as Luna was about to turn hear head and look for the real Blink, a tendril wrapped tightly around her neck. It then pulled her into the air with a force so great it was close to a miracle that her neck didn’t snap then and there.

She phase-shifted into dark smoke again to free herself from the tendril, but as soon as she materialized back, Blink came from her side, smashing his hoof into her face. Luna hit the floor beneath with a loud thud, smiling while blood dripped out of her mouth.

“I see you’ve gained vast understanding in the art of deception, Midnight Blink. Let’s proceed to the next part, shall we?”

It sounded more like a statement than a question. Her eyes slit, a magical aura traveling over her body bit by bit, leaving in its wake a dark coat, covered here and there by pieces of armor crafted into the deepest recesses of her mind. She turned her head towards Blink, who was rather nervously watching her transformation.

“Wake up, I need you. Let’s play with the Princess here, okay?”

“About fucking time . . .”

The stallion closed his eyes, focusing on letting out his inner darkness and at the same time making sure the leash around its neck was tight enough, just the way he’s been practicing with Luna for the past year. When he opened his eyes, it was as if a filter was placed over them. The darkness of the night was no longer hiding things from him; the lack of light was still there, but it was not an inconvenience to him anymore.

His coat was darker and the segments on his cutie mark were all lit up, a warning that his Nightmare was pulling the reigns of his physical form. His mane had turned pitch black and was much longer, the edges blurred into a smoke emitting haze.

“Nightmare Moon,” he hissed at her.

A split second later both of them puffed out of existence at the same time. They re-appeared in the middle of the room, face to face. Blink lowered his head, the tip of his horn pooling magic around it, while Luna lunged two daggers at him from her sides.

They would have hit their mark, but a couple of black tendrils got in their way, the deadly weapons sticking into them with a fleshy sound. Blink’s horn tip exploded, sending out a blast of magic that rose the dust in the entire room around him. Luna managed to strafe her head in the last second, the bolt hitting the wall behind her, sending debris and dust everywhere.

“Impressive force! Alas, it is not enough.”

Small blades materialized near her and shot out towards Blink at great speeds. He simply smirked, the projectiles going through him as if he was a statue of smoke.

“Neat trick, huh?” he said defiantly.

Luna simply disappeared.

“Not quite, young Nightmare . . .”

His eyes widened as those words were whispered into his ears. Before he could react, a powerful blow sent him crashing into a wall. The only thing that kept his spine from not breaking like a twig was the fast deployment of a shield around his body that partially absorbed the shock.

That was it. His eyes dimmed even more and started bleeding pure darkness. He teleported as his horn erupted in a great burst of energy that left melting blue sparks falling on the floor in his wake.

Luna immediately felt he would reappear nearby. She prepared a blade of magic and plunged it in the stallion as soon as he teleported next to her. In turn, he simply smiled as blood dripped out of the corner of his mouth.

A hoof smashed into her side again. Luna turned, noticing the real-

A powerful buck into her stomach left her thought hanging, sending her in a world of pain. She wondered if there were two of them yet she quickly realised how wrong she was as a huge hammer came down on her back, smashing her body into the floor.

“Three of you?” she hissed, getting up.

The shadow clones faded out of existence, leaving the original Blink standing feet away, the hammer hovering next to him.

“Well, four, with the one you got first,” he said with a grin on his battered face, resting the large weapon against his shoulder. “Is that all you got, Princess?”

“Not quite.”

Luna sunk into a black pool underneath her, emerging right in front of Blink’s hooves. As she came out of the ground, she struck a knife into his shoulder, eliciting a powerful scream from him. He recoiled away, pulling the blade out as panic started sweeping through his mind. The wound left behind festered and sizzled, a tar-like substance dribbling out. The pain was getting stronger as seconds ticked by, his teeth almost shattering as they clenched in his mouth.

“How does it feel to have the flesh of thine body rot in front of your eyes?”

“Screw you!” came what was more a whimper than a shout from the injured stallion.

Acting with haste, he materialized a rod in front of him, focusing intensely on it. The small bar started glowing red as magic surged around it, releasing heat directly into the metal. He then floated it near his shoulder and plunged it in the rotting wound, a rancid smell of burning dead flesh filling his nostrils and his own scream deafening him.

“Play time’s over!” He said, pain dripping from his voice.

The rod disappeared, having burned away the spreading rot. His magic however found another purpose: chains erupted from the floor, grabbing Luna by her hooves. She shifted into her smoke form, however the chains mimicked her every transformation so that when she materialized, her hooves would still be bound.

A bolt of magic struck her in the chest. The chains held her in position as the powerful blow cracked her front armor piece. It fell off with a clang, and before she knew it, another set of blasts struck from below, knocking her helmet off. When her eyes dropped on the stallion standing in front of her, she noticed a dark sphere of energy floating near the very tip of his horn, pulling magic from around it, growing bigger and bigger.

Luna realized she wouldn’t survive whatever attack that was. She could feel the tremendous quantity of magic in that sphere, however she also saw something else. A dagger formed at her side and she hurled it away. It flew past the stallion channeling the ultimate attack and into the back of the room’s darkness.

The air suddenly went out. The chains around her hooves melted away and the sphere dissipated into thin air. The pony charging the attack took a few steps backwards in shock then puffed away.

For a couple of long moments, the sound of the outside storm was all that was heard. A lightning bolt torn the skies outside, filling the castle’s large chamber with a white light for a few seconds. It revealed the real Blink clenching his chest with a hoof, the shadow that was leaking from his eyes fading away.

He had escaped the battle after purging his wound, and only used his magic and clones to attack Luna. The Princess of the Night however saw him in the background, hiding in the shadows. It was a dumb decision, trying to trick Luna, of all opponents, like that. And that mistake would cost him dearly.

She appeared next to him, her hoof wrapped around the dagger stuck into his chest. He fell with his back against the floor, the dark alicorn looming over him like Death himself.

“All that effort, for the same outcome,” Luna spoke, jabbing the dagger deeper.

Blink gasped for air, feeling his heart slowing down, too tired to continue. Pain was slowly leaving the center stage of his thoughts, as cold and darkness embraced him. A corner of his mouth raised a little, trembling as he neared his demise. “Not the same . . . outcome.”

A faint blue wisp of magic left his horn, orchestrating one last attack. Luna’s eyes widened when someone grabbed her from behind by the horn, rising her head. Thin metal slit through skin, as the last shadow clone dragged a blade across Luna’s neck before disappearing back into the void.

“Wise . . . move,” she managed her last words, her blood gushing out in a rapidly fading rhythm, painting his coat red.

She lingered for a moment, but her legs eventually buckled and she collapsed to the unicorn’s side, both of them drawing their last breath.

Blink’s eyes shot opened, the nerves in his body triggering at the same time. He gasped for air, as if the last few seconds before that moment were real. Next to him in the center of the perfectly intact room, Luna was waking up as well. She gently ran a hoof over her neck before turning to Blink.

“You made great progress, Midnight Blink. It’s the first time thou has managed to defeat me, yet you still paid the ultimate price.”

Blink got up, still feeling the ghostly pain of his wounds from the fight. “Well, I gotta handle it to you Princess, I barely felt it when I fell asleep this time. Still, I got you. Thousands of years of experience, gone . . . puff! Like that,” he said, gesturing with his hooves while wearing a sly grin on his lips.

“I convened my congratulations, however you seem to forget I carried the task of maintaining the dream world in which we battled, all while containing my own Nightmare as well as thine.”

“Still, a good battle, right?”

“Hardly what I would call a good battle. Yes, thou are improving your ability to deceit in combat and yes, thou are getting proficient at coming up with ways to inflict bodily harm, as well as to snare and ambush thine opponent; yet there is a lot of work to be done on channeling your magic efficiently, young Blink.”

“Ow yeah, that . . .”

“I’ve seen you use up your vitality at an alarming pace. It is clear that you would have not lasted that long if it weren’t for thine Nightmare. Also, try to remember that these are just training session, Midnight Blink. I very well hope that you may never have to use those powers outside our dreams. The only reason we are having these exercises is to learn how to channel our power to ultimately do good in this world, as well as relieve ourselves of our . . . urges.”

Silence fell inside the bare, dark room. Luna stepped towards the windows, watching the storm outside as it calmed from its violent peak.

“These . . . urges; they never go away, do they?” Blink asked as he came to her side. His breath steaming in the room’s cold.

“Sadly, no. Even I have to face those crude instincts. You see: my Nightmare, as well as yours, is like a trapped crystal miner; always tapping, always letting us know that it’s still there, alive and hungry for death.”

“What I don’t understand Princess, is why. Why do we have this darkness inside of us? Why do I have it?”

“We were touched by Death, young Blink. Every creature in this universe has a darker side; and once you become a Deathbearer, that side of you grows under the nourishment of your own mind. It becomes part of who you are, and there is nothing thou can do about it.”

Silence hanged on those words, Blink staring outside into the night, his mind churning away at what Luna had said.

“Let us be rid of these thoughts Midnight Blink, and tell me if you may, what you intend on doing after finishing your training in a few months’ time?”

His thoughts lingered on the previous part of the conversation for a few moments before re-focusing on the Princess’s question. “Uhh- actually I don’t know yet. Sounds weird, but I really wanted to settle down for a while.”

“Settle down? An adventurous spirit like you? Pray tell, is it in your wish to leave Twilight Sparkle heavy with foal and then live out a normal life like ordinary folk?”

Blink slowly raised his brow at the Princess as she spoke, surprised by her forwardness and archaic choice of words at describing the unwanted -at least for now- side effects of something he had been longing to do with his marefriend for some time.

“First of all, this whole conversation is getting somewhat weird, kinda feeling better talking about those new ways of inflicting pain and stuff. Secondly, I’ve lived the larger part of my life in a static, laid back way. Ever since I came here though, it’s been one crazy thing after another. Had too many conversations with Death for my preference as well, so when you ask me if I wanna settle down, hell yeah I wanna settle down. At least for a while,” he finished with a knowingly smile.

“Settling down it is,” Luna declared, making her way towards the door. A bat came flying down to her, landing on her extended hoof. She nuzzled the creature briefly as it sang its unheard song. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll be off to my duties. And I do think that there is a mare looking for you, if the little one here is to be believed.”

“For me? Is it Twilight?” Blink asked somewhat confused.

“Worse,” Luna finished with a wink.

Her horn glowed for a moment, the chandeliers above lighting up and flooding the room with much needed light. Blink shielded his eyes as he adjusted with the sudden brightness. Luna then opened the door and stepped out of the room.

“Princess Luna! What an honor to see you here,” came a familiar voice from outside.

Blink’s blood froze in his veins as he recognized the voice and realised what was to follow.

“Greetings, dear. I believe the stallion you are looking for is inside. I’ll let you two get to work.”

Moments later, through the door came in no one else other than Rarity, covered in a chique raincoat and a matching umbrella.

“Cursed be my life,” Blink muttered.

“Blink darling, I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

“Everywhere? What are you doing here?”

Rarity scoffed at him, rolling her eyes. “I knew you were busy with guard duty and all that dreadfully boring patrols, so I decided to come to Canterlot and finish all the girls’ dresses here. Gives me a bit of a break from Ponyville as well, with the Gala tomorrow and all.”

“Well you must be busy, so thanks for stopping by to say hi and everything, I’ll now go and leave you to-”

“Now wait just there,” she said, pulling him back by the tail with her magic right as he was trying to escape through the door. “Your costume is the last piece I need to do, and I require your measurements. Don’t want you to appear at your first gala using a cheap garment bought at Celestia-knows what shop.”

“I was actually thinking about going uhh- natural?” he voiced his thoughts sheepishly.

The fashionista burst into a vivid snicker, raising a hoof to her mouth to maintain her lady-likeness. “Oww Blink, don’t be silly. You need a suit, it’s a special occasion after all.”

His ears instantly perked up. “It . . . is?” he asked nervously, afraid that somehow his plan had been unveiled.

“Of course it is, darling. The Grand Galloping Gala is the most prestigious and exclusivist event in Equestria. You simply cannot show up wearing something that is less than pristine, and pristine is what I’ll do tonight!”

Blink relaxed, his secret was still safe. “All right then, let’s get this over with, I have someplace else to be tonight as well.”

*** *** ***

Thousands of miles away, the night was still a few long hours late. The sun was still governing the clear skies above, scorching everything underneath it.

Celestia walked into a large hut, following Dune Flower closely. Inside looked exactly like Celestia would expect a house in the middle of the desert to look like: there were two low hay beds and a few chairs around the center of the one-room house, presumably where the family would make fires every day to protect against the desert’s cold nights and cook their food. The top of the hut was cone shaped, and had a little mushroom-like vent on top to allow the smoke to come out. Food and other materials hung either by the walls or rested on the numerous wooden shelves.

A gasp got the Princess’s attention. She gazed at one of the beds and noticed a zebra standing near what had to be her child, who was laying motionless on the bed. The mother dropped into a deep bow, murmuring something Celestia did not understand.

“She says: thank you for listening to prayers of mine.”

“I-”

“Her young one is sick, she thinks you came here to save her. You not here for answer her, are you?” Sand Flower asked in a low voice.

“No, I was just . . . I was merely travelling through these lands,” Celestia said, glancing at the sick little zebra in the bed. “But I will help her.”

The alicorn approached the bed and kneeled down next to the little one. The zebra’s eyes were scrunched in pain, her breath heavy as if a weight was resting on her chest. Sweat dripped down her forehead, as she struggled to get the precious air in her lungs. Celestia’s magic engulfed her, a yellow glow hovering over the young zebra. After a few moments she stopped, then turned to her Flower and the mother.

“She is very sick,” she declared disheartedly, eyes darting to her mother. "It seems to be late stage pneumonia." A subtle crack in her voice was picked up by the parent. She desperately turned to the translator with her eyes wide, her internal dams straining to hold her sorrow back. With a self-loathing sigh, Celestia said, "I can't... do anything for her."

Dune Flower started translating and as she did, the mother’s spirit seemed to slowly break apart and she embraced her daughter, holding her tight. She started talking again between sobs.

“She said, if sun god herself can’t make my young one whole, then the skies are opened for her,” the zebra said, looking at the mother holding her child in her hooves. “Please white god, you know certain that you cannot heal her? She was good zebra, liked the animals of the sand, when grow up, wanted to gather herd for tribe,” Flower pleaded, her eyes tearing up from seeing the small zebra trying to gasp for air, her mother unable to help her in any way.

Celestia sighed, knowing very well how horrible the mother must have felt since even her presence wasn’t able to help her dying child. “I simply can’t. I’m- tell the mother I’m sorry,” she said, leaving the hut in a hurry.

Outside, the tribe members that went about their lives noticed her, yet kept their distance, no longer swarming around the white monarch. They all knew very well about the sick zebra, and seeing Celestia coming out of her home alone like that sent a strong message.

“I need some time alone, Dune Flower,” Celestia said, hearing the door behind her opening.

With that, she flapped her wings, raising sand dust around as she took towards the skies. She flew away, not bearing to look back. Minutes later, her hooves touched the hot sand as she landed at the top of a dune, far away from the nomadic village. She clenched her eyes and let the pain ravage through her heart.

Yet again, fate had decided to throw her through a situation in which she had no control whatsoever. She sat down in the yellow sand. A tear started running down her face.

“I cannot help her; I’ve failed another creature of this world,” she said, knowing very well someone else was nearby.

Life stood stoic by her side, watching with his white eyes as the sun descended into the sea of sand. “Yet you weep. The flame inside a young creature is about to go off, blown by the wind of fate, but you shed tears for her soul.”

“Her mother thought I answered her prayers. She thinks a god came down from the skies to heal her youngling,” Celestia said, more tears joining her first one.

“Plenty die every day; it’s how life is. Well, actually, it’s how death is. Sometimes I think my brother is busier than I am; but then I remember: I guide each and every creature into this world, while he leads them off after their passing. So tell me Celestia, why do you weep for this one in particular?”

Celestia’s eyes pinned the ground beneath her hooves. She moved one of it across the sand, entranced by the sensation. “I have let down so many ponies. And now, a dying zebra, that did nothing wrong in her life. What good am I among these creatures?”

“Asked the alicorn Princess. Great power surges through your physical form, Celestia. Your will to make a difference is the only limit.”

“But what can I do? I cannot fix her on that level, her body does not know how to fight what’s killing her. The only thing that could make her better is medicine and doctors back in Eque-”

She stared at Life, as he simply returned a smile. Her mind and heart took the decision in a flash. Ascending could wait for now.

She returned to the village with newfound purpose commanding every hastened hoofstep, looking for Dune Flower through the still amazed tribesmen. “Sun goddess, you did not leave!” a familiar voice came from behind.

Celestia turned to find Flower staring at her, her eyes glossy from the tears she shed for her friend.

“Quickly Dune Flower, I need to speak with your chief. Bring the mother of the sick child as well,” Celestia spoke, making her way to the large hut in the center of the village.

*** *** ***

An explosion of blue smoke scared off a stray cat at a street’s corner. He gasped loudly as he realised he aimed a bit high and fell sprawling onto the street.

“Damn your elevation, street!” he shouted at no one, smashing a hoof against the sidewalk.

Blink got up, and started looking around for the street’s name. Luckily for him, the storm cleared out, revealing a quickly descending moon. Unluckily for him, it was almost morning and he would have to probably wake up the ponies he was searching for. Rarity’s session of taking measurements and sketching ideas for his suit took a bit longer than anticipated yet after an hour she allowed him to go, despite not revealing who he had to visit with such urgency.

“Ughhh, where is that- aha! Constellation Street!”

He dashed along the houses, his galloping echoing in the calm late night. Although feeling tired after a long night, he had to do what he came there to do, so that he would have enough time to rest and prepare for the Gala. Finally spotting the right house number, he came to a halt in front of a large, terraced house with an open balcony on the top floor.

Blink took a deep breath and knocked a couple of times. Soon enough, noises were heard from the other side.

“I have to do this, I have to do this . . .” he murmured to himself. Blink then briefly checked his armor, making sure he was as presentable as he could be.

A unicorn mare with purple mane and white highlights answered the door, her face hanging from the sudden awakening. “Yes?”

The stallion's ears dropped. He took off his helmet, putting on a brave smile and hoped his unprotected appearance would jog her memory. “Hi! It’s me, Blink. Wanted to have a talk with uhm . . . Night Light. Sorry for waking you up, but I wanted to do it before the Gala,” he said, ending with a nervous laugh.

Twilight Velvet stared at him for a moment, the cogs in her mind going into motion. As soon as she recognized Blink, she instantly put the other pieces together. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped, refraining herself for waking the neighbors with her joyful yelp.

The mare pulled Blink into the house with surprising force, catching him a little bit off-guard. “Stay. Right. Here.” Velvet then disappeared up the staircase, leaving Blink all alone in the living room.

A few moments later she came down, followed closely by Night Light. He laid eyes on the guard standing in his house and froze into place. “Is . . . something wrong? Did something happen- ohh, hello Blink,” he said, relieved to recognize who was behind the night armor. His wife pushed him on, then left the room, bearing the largest smile Blink had ever seen someone bear.

“I don’t really understand what’s gotten into her. She told me you wanted to speak with me, is everything all right?” Night asked, as clueless as they can get.

“Yeah, absolutely; sorry for barging in at this time, it’s near the end of my shift and I just had to do this before getting some rest.”

Night Light looked at him, still not realising what the stallion could possibly have to talk with him about right before the Gala. “Okay then . . . and don’t worry about the time, I’m sure you have your reasons; plus, we barely get to see you, and that’s only when we pester Twilight about it. So you’re going at the Gala this year?” Night asked, curious.

“Yep, with Spike and the girls.” Blink felt like his throat had swollen, the words coming out harder and harder as he neared his question.

“That’s great, so what was that you wanted to talk to me about?”

“I . . . Twilight and I have been seeing each other for over a year now, as you surely know; and we’ve spent quite some time together, even with my training and all . . .” Sweat was forming on his forehead, suddenly the armor turning into a furnace.

I’ve faced Death itself, why the hell is this so hard?

“And I really care about your daughter.” Blink continued, throwing away his nerves. “I love her very much, Mister Night, she makes me as happy as I can be . . . It probably seems early but I’ve lost my life twice now . . . so to speak,” he added, figuring how weird that, although true, might sounded to Night Light.

”But she was there to shine light on my path, and literally brought me back into this world. I would lose my life many times more, as long as I would not lose her. And for that reason I’ve come here, to ask your daughter’s hoof in marriage, sir.”

The deafening silence that followed slowly tortured the young stallion’s mind, as he sat there in the Sparkles’ living room, looking at the father of the mare he wanted to marry.

“It does indeed seem early, as you’ve said,” Night started, his tone as serious as it can get. “But if she is happy with you, I will not be the one to stand between her and that happiness,” he said, breaking a smile.

A sudden yelp filled the room, and a purple flash blinded Blink. His eyes snapped shut, but he soon felt Velvet’s warm embrace.

“Seems someone’s been eavesdropping around,” Night joked before he himself was dragged into the tight hug.

Just as Blink regained sight, Night grabbed his hoof, giving it a shake. A couple of moments later, the grip tightened, almost painfully.

“No need to say what’s going to happen if you hurt my daughter.”

“Nope, no need, no need at all.”

“Good. Well, since we are all up and Celestia’s morning is upon us, care to join in for some breakfast?”

The guard shook his head. “As much as I would like that, I need to get some sleep. Tonight’s a pretty big night, as you probably know by now.”

“No worries then, we’ll let you have your rest. Good luck for tonight, Blink,” Night Light wished the stallion as they made their way towards the door.

“Thank you, and thanks again for trusting me.”

“Don’t thank me, son. There’s still one more pony you need to convince.”

“Take care, darling!” Velvet said cheerfully, waving a hoof as he went out the door.

“I will, miss Velvet!”

A vortex of blue magic engulfed him and he teleported away, ending up back at the barracks on the other side of the capital. For some strange reason though, the barracks were unusually cold and not to mention, darker than a cave.

A light pulsed from the tip of his horn, revealing mountains upon mountains of-

“Potatoes?” he asked, looking around the room that was actually a basement storage below the barracks.

“Fucking elevation!” he huffed, throwing the potato to the ground.

*** *** ***

The long awaited night had finally arrived.

“Look at me, mate.”

Within less than an hour, the ceremonies for the Grand Galloping Gala were about to start, gathering the most prestigious of ponies to an annual event of splendor and class.

“Blink, look at me!” Chaser raised his voice, catching the unicorn’s attention. “I’m asking you again, are you sure ya wanna do this?”

Blink shot him a rather angry glare, that molded into a confuse one. “Yes. Yes I am, why do you ask?”

“Okay then, just don’t screw it up. I’ll be off now, gotta get ready. Looking mighty fancy by the way.”

“All right, thanks; this really means a lot for me.”

“Don’t cha’ worry. You’ll owe me big time for this anyway.”

Chaser left the dressing room, leaving Blink alone with his thoughts and emotions. He looked himself in the nearby mirror, pondering over his own reflection. He dragged a hoof along his chest, feeling the material of the suit.

Rarity had managed to truly surprise him. The attire followed the design of a tuxedo, with a black bow-tie and a pearl-white shirt underneath it. The fabric of the tux was black, yet somehow the shading of the material shifted its tone slightly when viewed from different angles, not too much as to catch attention from afar or seem tacky, but enough to keep ponies looking at it once they noticed it.

I’ve enchanted the fabric so that it shifts its chromatic bounds, it will definitely give you that dark and mysterious look you’re going for, while keeping it all quiet, formal, and let’s not forget, stylish.

Blink recalled how Rarity passionately explained the suit’s design when she brought it to him, all while he kept staring at it, almost mesmerized. The tuxedo went all the way over his back, stopping at his unique cutie-mark, the sleeves covering only his front hooves. He patted his chest pocket, feeling the shape of the earring’s box. With a sigh, he turned and made his way to the window, staring outside from one of the castle’s towers.

From there, he could see the whole main entrance, the breathtaking decorations and the astonishing lights. Gazing out that window made him feel even more nervous. He decided to leave the room, as Spike and the girls were about to arrive at any moment. As he descended down the staircase, he passed by a window that didn’t face the commotion of the lights and feast that was the Gala’s reception.

He stopped and approached the window, resting his front hooves over the edge. A cool night air caressing his mane gently, filling up his lungs with fresh air. A sea of stars laid bare on the dark canvas, simply there for him to admire as they twinkled their own song, a sea of worlds that went unfazed by the events he was experiencing. So many distant places that knew nothing of him, all but one.

“I . . . don’t know if you can hear me. God this feels so stupid . . . anyway, just in case you do, I wanted to let you know that I really miss you guys. I’m-” he sighed, emotions slowly getting to him. “-proposing today to the mare I love. Heh, that might sound weird to you, but it’s okay, because I’m a pony too now, ya’ know?”

After a few moments of silently staring at the stars, he continued: “I wish you could see me, or at least know that I am okay, alive and happy on another world. I love you so much . . . I’ll never forget you; not here, nor anywhere life will take me.”

On the star-filled sky, a few photons from a once familiar star managed to make it through the dense clouds of solar systems between the two worlds. A small speck of white twinkled among the others, a distant hello from his old home.

*** *** ***

“Hey there big guy!” A hand landed on his back, almost sending him to the floor. Blink stared back and noticed a purple and green dragon grinning at him. “Someone’s looking fancy,” Spike commented, admiring Blink’s suit with a hint of jealousy. “Look, about how I acted back in-”

“Not a word Spike,” Blink cut him off, “it’s all right, as long as you’re okay with Twi. Nice bow-tie, by the way.”

The dragon stared down, stroking the simple garment around his neck with a claw. “Hehe, I didn’t let Rarity make me a full suit, she had too much stuff to do anyway. This will do anyway.”

They stood at the top of the stairs of the main entrance, ponies passing them as they made their way into the main room. The parade of sophisticated outfits and display of nobility caught the stallion’s attention every now and then, but ultimately he returned his gaze to the main gate, awaiting the arrival of Twilight and her friends.

“So, how’s Ruby?” he asked after a few moments of silence from the two of them.

“How did you know she visited?”

“Well, as stealthy as she is, she still managed to raise some flags at the watch towers around the border, not to mention the guards throughout Equestria,” Blink explained.

“Does that mean she’s in trouble?” Spike asked worriedly.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. They just keep an eye on foreigners; you know, gryphons, dragons, whatever . . . this is a pretty visitor friendly nation, and she’s allowed to stay for how long she wants. Tell her that- ooww wow . . .”

His jaw hung at the sight of six mares climbing up the stairs, wearing the most breathtaking dresses he’d ever seen. Obviously his eyes immediately fell on Twilight, who stood out from the rest, maybe because she had the most beautiful dress, or maybe just because he would be proposing to her that night.

She approached him, a rather unusual shyness twinkling in her eyes. Her dress was a two-toned blue, a simple star-shaped necklace hanging at her neck. An association lurked in every fold of her attire; the finest weaves had been skillfully used to bring out the things that made her as beautiful as she was: her large purple eyes, in which one could lose himself for eternity; her beautifully arranged mane, with every lustrous strand of purple unique as the stars in the night sky themselves.

Rarity had really outdone herself, and even if Blink had never actually seen their previous years’ dresses, he would have put hard money on the fact that that year was Rarity’s best so far.

There wasn’t more breath to be taken out of Blink when he noticed twinkling dots across Twilight’s dress, her very own stars that you could stare at.

“You . . . look amazing, Twilight.”

She responded with a warm smile and a gentle nuzzle under his neck, keeping her head next to his for a few seconds. “Thanks, you look great too.”

The other mares and Spike had left them alone, sharing laughs and whispered thoughts about the two as Blink took his time to admire Twilight. They eventually started walking inside the great ball room, side by side. The pair caught the eyes of many attendants, yet their own had interest only for each other.

“What did Rarity even do to these dresses?” Blink asked, still gazing at the sparkling stars in Twilight’s dress.

“Well, this year she decided to bring back the line she made for our first gala, but with some improvements. Back then, we thought those were the most amazing things we had worn in our lives. Each year however she proved us wrong, and I believe this one is no different.”

“You know, you’re very lucky with the friends you have,” Blink said, making their way towards the line of ponies that waited to be greeted by Luna herself.

“Well someone looks mighty fancy tonight.”

Blink turned his head and saw the other girls and Spike right behind him and Twilight, their faces a gleeful smile. “You look amazing too, Applejack.” The stallion took a deep breath, noticing a slight change in the air. “Is that by any chance your . . . perfume?” He asked, sniffing around.

“Well, as a matter of fact, this here’s just Rarity’s little gimmick for my dress. Ah really like it, to be honest.”

“It smells like an apple orchard,” Twilight stated, enjoying the sweet, familiar scent as well.

“It’s a proximity scentilizer spell, just one of the additions I've made to this old fashion collection from our first Gala,” Rarity said, proud of her work.

Blink turned his eyes at the rest of them. Immediately he noticed Rainbow’s dress had actual cloud trimming at its end, while the butterfly-shaped hairpin on Fluttershy’s mane gently flapped its wings for a brief moment.

After a while, they eventually had their turn at being greeted by Luna. Next to her stood the closest royal figures she had left, no one other than Princess Cadence, with Shining Armor at her side.

“Cadence, Shining! I’ve missed you so much!” Twilight said as she hugged her brother and old foalsitter. “Have a nice journey here? How’s Emerald?” she asked Cadence excitedly.

“He’s absolutely fine Twilight, just eager to see you as always. He fell asleep by the time we arrived in Canterlot barely a few hours ago. I left him with your parents, but they seemed oddly cheerful for some reason, especially your mom.”

“My mom? She’s probably happy to see her grandfoal.”

Meanwhile, Blink was overhearing the conversation from the side, relatively close to Luna.

“By the looks of it, I gather you’ve informed the father,” Luna chimed in, during a moment in which the flow of guests had dribbled down. “An admirable gesture, one that sadly has faded out of tradition around these parts. You look astounding in that suit, one of miss Rarity’s creations, I assume?”

“Yes indeed, and thank you Princess Luna.”

“Regardless, I wish not to withhold you any longer, as the night is young and eager, Midnight Blink. Enjoy and make the best of it.”

Blink answered with a deep nod and with that, he left Luna to attend to the rest of the guest. He grabbed a couple of glasses of champagne from a passing waiter, making his way towards Twilight and the rest.

“Hey, grabbed you a drink,” he offered to her gallantly.

“Thank you, I don’t usually drink-”

“Come on Twilight, loosen up!” came the unexpected voice of Pinkie Pie as she snuck between the two, grabbing the mare by her neck. “This party’s gonna be awesome! My tail has been twitching all day though, which is usually a sign of something bad that’s about to happen, but then I remember my tail also twitches every time I have a huge surprise or something totally unexpected happens. So that means-”

Ohh for Luna’s sake . . . forgot about Pinkie’s ridiculous sensing abilities. She can’t possibly know what I have planned though, or at least I hope she doesn’t.

“-and then I was happy because you guys didn’t actually forget about my birthday party-”

“I’m off to the refreshment tables, see ya guys around!” Spike decided, gulping down his second glass and taking off.

“Same here, boy am I hungry!”

“I’mma go talk with Spitfire, see you later!”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash repeated Spike’s gesture of gulping down their drinks, before taking off to their own interests. Rarity was long gone as well, striking a conversation with a rather posh looking pair of ponies. Fluttershy had followed Spike, talking with him as he feasted on portions that were small even by most pony standards.

Blink looked around him, only Twilight remaining around. Even Pinkie Pie had disappeared somewhere, but that was to be expected from the energetic mare. The two of them begun enjoying the night, talking to each other or even with certain high profile ponies in the magic field, who Twilight seemed to know very well.

*** *** ***

“I’ll get that, thank you!” Spike grabbed another glass from a waiter, that time making use of his dexterous tail end, snatching the drink right off the serving tray.

“Someone’s really enjoying their cider, eh partner?” a certain farm pony asked, elbowing him in the side.

“Applejack, don’t encourage him! Spike, don’t you think you’re having too much?” Twilight scolded him, while Blink tried to keep a straight face.

“Come on Twi, it’s not like I’m doing anything wrong; relax, enjoy the Gala!”

“I am not taking sides on this one,” Blink said as soon as Twilight darted her eyes towards him, looking for an ally. “But Spike, don’t go overboard, okay? Anyway, I’m off for some fresh air. Twilight, could you come with me?”

The mare kept her gaze on Spike for a few more seconds before turning back to Blink. “Sure, I could use some air too . . .”

The ceremony was in bloom, merely a couple of hours having passed since it started, the clock striking twelve o’clock in the night. The two made their way out through a balcony door, the air outside immediately filling their lungs. The garden they stepped into held the rarest, most beautiful plants in the land, twinkling fireflies buzzing into the night, decorating the atmosphere with their pulsing light.

“You all right there?” Blink asked, noticing Twilight was staring at the ground absently as they walked.

“Sorry, I’m okay; just not used to seeing him growing up so fast like that. It’s like yesterday he was just riding along on my back, cleaning up the bookshelves and helping me with my letters. Now he’s sleeping with a dragoness-”

“He slept with Ruby?” Blink asked, wide-eyed.

“No, no, no; I mean they slept on the balcony in the tree house the night she came to Ponyville,” she corrected herself, a touch of red filling her cheeks.

Blink chuckled, always enjoying seeing her in an embarrassing situation. “Don’t worry Twi, no matter what he does, he’ll always be Spike, your number one assistant. That dragon has a huge heart, but it needs room to grow and even someone else to share it with,” he said, turning his gaze towards the full moon above.

Twilight sighed, leaning onto him as they stared at the night’s beacon of light. “The moon is so beautiful, a few days early for it to be full, though,” Twilight said, observant as always.

“I have a slight hunch about who might have done that. Anyway, I was thinking . . .” he started, making his way into the garden, Twilight following him shortly after. When he reached a clearing, he stopped in the center, turned around and extended a hoof towards her.

“Care for a dance, my lady?”

She tried to hold a giggle, but eventually humored the stallion when she saw he wasn’t joking. She grabbed his hoof, and Blink reared up, pulling Twilight up on her hind feet. Their chests smashed softly into each other, as the mare stared into the stallion’s eyes.

“But there’s no music, Blink.”

“Oh, I beg to differ,” he said, then nodded towards a secluded garden dome nearby.

A piano tune filled the air shortly after, elegantly marking the start of a slow song. Chaser’s wings and forehooves danced across the piano’s keys, impeccably playing the song he’d been rehearsing the night before with his sister’s help.

Twilight looked towards the garden dome, recognizing the pegasus as he nodded back at her. She turned to Blink, whose eyes beckoned her to start their dance. He placed a hoof around her waist, the other one cradling her left hoof. She raised her right forehoof onto his shoulder, brushing past his chest pocket by mere inches. It didn’t matter though, because his heart was already thumping madly; it was hard for it not to, considering the sight in front of his eyes.

Spurred by the music that filled the garden, more fireflies took to the air, dancing in the clearing among the two ponies, encouraging the pair to keep up with them.

Blink stepped in small circles, shadowed by Twilight as they fell into a slow, steady rhythm. Their hind hooves brushed across the grass, while their forehooves held each other tight.

“This is beautiful,” she whispered to him as they danced, “did you plan all this?”

“Yep; I’ve been waiting for this moment for some time now.”

“You didn’t strike me as a dancer, Midnight Blink.”

“Same goes for you, Twilight Sparkle.”

The song continued as the pair went on with their slow, rhythmic moves. The rather cold air outside had no effect on the two ponies, their hearts and bodies too close to let each other feel any of the night’s chill. Every now and then, one would make a wrong move, hitting or stepping over the other’s hind leg, yet they brushed it off with a chuckle and a reassuring smile.

They gazed at each other’s eyes as the piano notes tingled their ears, their legs moving on their own by that time. Twilight buried her face in his neck, resting in the comfort of his embrace. Blink took in the scent of her mane, the same characteristic smell she always had: sunflowers, with a hint of magic.

Alas, words were to be said, and questions had to be asked.

“Twilight?”

“Hmm?” she purred from the comfort of his neck.

Blink raised her chin gently with a hoof, his eyes catching hers. The temptation to lay a kiss onto those lips was proving a torture by itself, but through immense restrain, he managed to keep his thoughts on track. Their horns touched gently as she held herself close to him, waiting for what he had to say.

“Remember the day we met?” he asked, his tone barely over a whisper.

“How could I forget? Not every day a stallion crashes into my life out of nowhere.”

“Well, that night you took me back to your house, helped and protected me. You taught me how to use my magic, and you told your friends that they can be my friends as well. You even saved me from Death himself. Words cannot describe how much I appreciate what you have done for me and how much I love you. But maybe this can . . .”

Blink then stopped dancing, letting her go as they rested on all hooves again. He nervously reached into his pocket with his magic as he kneeled down on one of his front legs. Twilight simply stared at him, having not realised yet what he was doing.

“I love you with all my heart, soul and mind and I want you to be mine forever . . .”

He pulled out the small box, floating it between them and then gently opened it, revealing the shining earing.

“Twilight Sparkle, will you make me the happiest of stallions and marry me?” he asked, looking up to her.

She gasped, unable to believe her eyes and ears. Each second in which she darted her eyes from the engagement earing to Blink felt like the longest for the kneeling stallion, his heart literally pausing, waiting for the answer that seemed to never come. Tears started flowing down her face as she covered her mouth with a hoof.

Eventually, she nodded.

She kept nodding, straining herself to say the word he was waiting for so desperately. Yet, there was no need for it. The two unicorns fell into each other’s hooves, hugging one another as tightly as possible.

“Yes, yes, yes,” she eventually managed between tears.

Gasps could be heard from somewhere out there, but the two had no ears for them. The music was still playing, the fireflies were still dancing around and the moon was basking them in its approving light. The rest of the world could have ended, yet that moment would still last forever for the two lovers.

They kissed and hugged, then kissed again, holding themselves close to each other as they laid on the grass.

“I can’t believe you did this, Blink . . . it’s so, so beautiful,” Twilight said, admiring the small, star shaped earing.

She took it out, then slid it through the base of her left ear, the only one she had pierced. As it hanged, the moon’s light bounced off of it, sparkling as bright as the stars above.

“So, what do you think?” she asked.

“The most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen is standing in front of my eyes, and you’re asking me what I think,” he murmured, gently brushing a strand of hair from her face.

She hugged him again, then shared another deep kiss. Occasionally, a teardrop would fall down her cheek in the path of the first ones; Blink could hardly believe he was living in the real world himself, praying that he wouldn’t wake up from a dream any minute.

“My parents, oh my gosh, when they’ll hear this they’re going to freak out,” she said, wiping away the numerous tears of joy from her face.

“Already taken care of,” Blink stated, rather proudly.

“They knew?!”

“Well, yeah; I did ask your father for your hoof the other day.”

“Blink, this is just . . . you thought of everything, didn’t you? Spike, the girls! We’ll have to tell them!” she gasped, excited of bearing the news to her best friends.

“True, but I don’t think they’re going anywhere soon. Someone went through the trouble of moving that moon for this occasion, I say we enjoy it a little bit more . . .”

So they stayed there, standing on top of the grass, basking in the night’s light. Chaser had finished the song by then, yet he continued with another piece, as the two ponies enjoyed the closest moment they ever had in their lives.

The night went on, the bringer of life and bearer of death holding each other close, wishing for the moment not to ever end.

After several other serene minutes had passed, the cold began to make its presence felt amongst the two ponies. A soft, chill wind sent shivers down Twilight’s back, and she squeezed Blink a little bit tighter.

“Come on, let’s go inside; it’s pretty cold out here . . .”

They got up and made their way back towards the ceremony, their legs still shaking from the recent events. As they left the garden, Blink gave Chaser a meaningful nod, a wordless thank you for his good friend. The pegasus’s returning smirk made it clear it was not worth mentioning it at all.

As they walked inside, a small group surrounded them, one of which was a dragon.

“Twilight!” Fluttershy was surprisingly the first one to jump at her neck.

The usually quiet pegasus had obviously cried recently, her puffy eyes and dried teardrops being very clear indicators of that.

“We saw you two out there, I’m sorry if you didn’t want us to,” she whimpered, eyes tearing up.

“Relax, sugarcube, she’s happy for ya, that’s all,” Applejack re-assured Twilight when she noticed the unicorn’s confusion as to why exactly Fluttershy was crying.

In fact, all of them had recently had tears in their eyes, save for Spike, who was desperately trying not to go down the path his other friends went. Instead, he leaned down, wrapping an arm around Blink’s neck. “Gratz, big guy! Didn’t know you had it in ya. Twi!” He then made his way towards the unicorn mare, careful not to bump into the others. Rarity was just letting Twilight go from a hug, when the purple mare saw her assistant.

“Twi, I’m happy for you,” he said, grabbing the mare in his large embrace.

“Thank you, Spike,” she answered, her hind legs inches above the marble floor.

“Wow, this is . . . wow.”

Spike stared at the engagement earing hanging from her ear, his eyes going over every minute detail of the small, rare stone.

“Is this . . . Blink, is this white diamond?” he asked, turning towards the stallion as he slowly let Twilight go.

“Ohh, so that’s what it is!” Rarity chimed. “I’ve never seen one up close before. It’s amazing darling, must have cost you a fortune!”

Blink simply shrugged, putting a sheepish smile on display. “Let’s just say I managed to save some bits from my duty pay over the past year and a half.”

“Blink, you shouldn’t have.” Twilight hugged him again.

“I don’t even want to hear about it.” Blink returned the hug, the friendly gaze of their friends bringing warmth in the two ponies’ hearts.

“What about the wedding? Not to mention the party! It’s gonna be the bestest, greatest party in the whole Equestria! Can I organize it? Can I, can I?” Pinkie cried out, bouncing around Blink and Twilight, casually defying gravity. “And my tail’s still twitching, which means even more surprises! Can you believe that?”

“Okay Pinkie, we’ll let you organize the party,” Twilight said, having given up trying to keep her eyes on the pink pony.

“Hey, Blink.” Applejack and Rainbow came from either side of him, leading him a few feet away.

“Congrats on popping the question, dude,” Rainbow Dash started.

“But ah don’t need to mention what ya’ gonna be getting if ya break our friend’s heart, ‘aight?”

“Remember, you’re not the only one with military training, ground boy.”

“Point taken, girls. And by the way, good job on finishing your training Dash; air squad leader, that’s quite a feat for someone straight out of the academy.”

“Thanks dude. How about you? How’s guard duty treating ya?”

“Well, technically I’m still a Private First Class, for some reason my staff sergeant doesn’t see it fit to promote me to corporal. Anyway, I’m a Royal Night Guard thanks to Princess Luna’s recommendations, so I got that going on.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it; you got more important things in your life now anyway.”

“Indeed I do,” he said, looking back at Twilight.

Next to her was Shining Armor, messing her mane up as he always did to her little sister. Mustering the courage, Blink went back to them.

“Well look who’s here, my new brother in law!” Shining greeted him happily. “Now listen here, private, if I hear at any time in the future that my sister’s not as happy as she is now, you’re not gonna see daylight ever again.”

His serious glare then shifted back to a smile, as he grabbed Blink by the neck and ran his hoof repeatedly through his short mane.

“Your sister. Happy. Got it!” he said as he struggled free of Shining’s embrace. “Boy, why is everyone threatening me today?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t let them hurt you,” Twilight said, nuzzling the stallion under his jaw.

“Sir, apologies for disturbing you.” Blink turned and saw a waiter standing patiently behind him. “A gentlecolt would like to have a word with you.”

“Uhh sure. I’ll be right back, Twi.”

Blink followed the waiter, who led him to a group of several stallions, all wearing official service dress. The one in the center, a large stallion with a scar on his face, bared the highest number of medals and decorations.

“General Blueheart, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Blink said with a perfect salute, recognizing the gray stallion with the scar.

“Likewise, Midnight Blink. Not the first time we meet though, is it now?”

Blink tried to figure out what he meant by that, but soon enough memories from over a year ago flashed back to him.

“I remember . . . you lead me into the throne room when Celestia judged me for attacking that gryphon.”

“No hard feelings, son; was just doing my job,” the general excused himself, patting Blink on the shoulder.

“Not at all sir, I perfectly understand that.”

“I really wished we had met in better circumstances back then, but I see that this time things are going rather well for you, aren’t they?”

“Indeed sir. So you have heard the news? And how do you still remember me?”

“Well, it’s easy to figure out by just looking at you guys. Your soon-to-be wife, Twilight Sparkle . . . the Elements of Harmony themselves; you have good friends, private, powerful too. Word also has it that you’re the most talented unicorn on active duty. Ever thought about a career in the field?”

“Well, sir, I’m considering all options to be fair, but I think I want to settle in first.”

“I understand that. Regardless, congratulations, and the best of luck. Now don’t let me hold you from your celebrations.”

“Thank you, sir. Enjoy the night,” Blinked wished them respectfully.

“Most talented unicorn,” he chuckled as he returned, feeling his pride swell. Despite not being advanced past private yet, he was still performing admirably in his training, both the military and the off the record ones with Princess Luna. All that ultimately seemed to fade away into the background. He was about to marry the mare he loved dearest, and nothing could make him happier.

As he re-approached the group, he saw Chaser walking towards him, wearing his official guard uniform, save for the helmet.

“Chaser man, I owe you big time. It was the best song I’ve ever heard, really.”

The pegasus didn’t looked at him.

“Hey, don’t tell me you’re back on security duty? I thought you’ve been given leave for today.”

He kept walking however, merely affording a short glance at Blink.

“Uhh Twilight, did you talk with Chaser yet?”

“No; really would like to though, the song we danced to was beautiful. Ow, here he is!”

“Hey mate! Congrats to you two!” Chaser approached them, wearing the same suit he had while playing the piano outside in the garden.

His following words went right past his ears, as Blink turned around, looking for the guard that had passed him. Scouting the crowd, he spotted him walking straight towards the three stallions he had recently talked to.

His eyes wide, Blink saw the exact moment the guard pulled something from a satchel using his right wing.

It happened so fast, that no one even noticed it at first. The helmet-less guard pulled the knife out of the general’s chest, then plunged it back in, twisting it with his wing. In a flash, he pulled it back out, and stuck it in the neck of one of the other army stallions next to him. The general’s heart stopped beating before he even hit the floor.

As the third one reacted, lunging himself at the guard, a green flame conjured at the top of the pegasus’ head, leaving a black, jagged horn exposed. A green burst struck the attacking stallion, felling him.

A scream pierced through the calm air. The music came to an abrupt stop. Cold chills ran down Blink’s spine. Somewhere, three ponies were seeing Death for the first time. Green flames erupted throughout the main hall, chaos settling in.

A nearby guard plunged his spear into the chest of a stallion wearing a service dress. His companion stared at him in shock. When he realized what was happening, he desperately fumbled to get his sword out, but a pair of green flashes from across the room left two gaping holes in his golden armor. He too, was dead before he hit the ground.

Blink’s instincts finally kicked in, his horn spewing pure, excess magic onto the floor as he charged his spell. Dark shapes raced out from the shadow his body casted on the ground. They came to a stop around the group, and from them materialized several shadow clones, all determined not to let anyone or anything approach his friends.

Blink heard a couple of flaps, one of them much louder than the other one. As he turned to look back, he saw that Shining had propped himself in front of Twilight and Cadence, and so did two of his own clones, dark shields floating side by side Shining’s large, blue one.

Screams and sounds of desperate fights filled the air, ponies running in every direction as they tried to escape the slaughter. Bolts of green magic flew through the air, striking tables, walls, statues and ponies alike.

“Protect the Princess!” was a common holler that Blink could hear amidst the chaos from the other side of the banquet hall.

The posing guard that killed a pony in front of their eyes with a spear had locked his eyes onto someone, unfortunately for him, someone in Twilight’s direction. Right as Blink was about to blast him out of existence, a large thing smashed the impostor into the floor from high above. Spike pressed his foot into the attacker’s chest, crushing it like an eggshell. A green flame engulfed the body, revealing the lifeless body of the insect-like creature.

“Spike!” Twilight screamed at her assistant, shocked by his attack.

“Twilight, get the girls out of here, now!” Blink shouted. “Teleport them out!”

Unfortunately, only Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had remained close to Twilight. Rainbow Dash had flew off with Spike, and Blink spotted her fighting with an attacker, beating its face into a pulp. Applejack was bucking at a pair of impostors, two of Blink’s shadow clones helping her out.

A guard approached Blink, a green spark reflecting in his eyes. As he pulled a sword from its sheath, a burst of magic launched out of Blink’s horn tip, ripping the attacker’s limb completely off. He fell to the ground, his disguise fading away in flames as he flailed and hissed in pain. Spike was soon on top of him, grabbing the insect by its neck. The dragon then breathed a stream of burning liquid onto his face, the sound of sizzling meat and popping cartilage bringing chills down the spines of everyone that heard it.

Several bolts of green magic hit Spike in the back, and he immediately snapped his head back, his slit eyes searching for the aggressor. A couple of thin smoke trails were coming out of his magic-resistant scales, yet in a moment he was in the air heading towards the attackers.

“I cannot leave you, please just take Fluttershy-”

Rarity’s plea fell on deaf ears as Twilight engulfed her and the weeping yellow pegasus in a sphere of light. The next second, only a trail of smoke stood where the two ponies once were.

A loud bang rang through the air, and it didn’t come as a surprise for Blink to see a certain pink pony behind a smoking cannon. Mere feet away from her was an insect covered in a variety of food products, blindly shooting up green bursts from its horn. Two guards struck the creature down, before moving on to help a rainbow-maned pegasus as she faced two large attackers.

“Damn it, Pinkie,” one of Blink’s shadow clone said to the earth pony, wrapping his hooves around her.

“No, I have to help my friends!”

A dark pool formed under the two of them and they sank into the ground, the black patch fading out of existence.

On the other side of the hall, Luna stared in pure shock as her ponies were murdered under her very eyes. Her Nightmare thrashed and fumed inside of her, begging to be released. Unfortunately, it was beyond her to will to harm another living creature of that world. All she could do was help her ponies, shielding the fighting guards from green bolts.

“Leave now fools, and protect the others!” She screamed at the guards hurdled in front of her. “I said, leave! Your duty lies with your fellow ponies, not with me!”

The guards that were gathered to protect her finally listened to the conflicting order, galloping down the stairs and into the main room. The bursts of green still lit across the hall, but the balance of the fight was inclining towards the ponies at a rapid pace.

“An amazing event, if I might say so.”

Luna turned, her eyes falling on Golden Quill, her very own personal assistant. “You. That’s why you wanted all the high officials of our army present here. But this is impossible, you can’t be a . . . I would have sensed if you were one of them!”

“You couldn’t see behind my disguise because you weren’t looking for a pony,” the mare said with a grin. Her horn glowed, as she pulled an oddly-shaped blade out of her saddle bag.

Luna froze, staring at the blade in shock, feeling the ripples of magic from the weapon deep within her bones. “That blade . . . how did you get that?”

“This thing here? Just a-”

“Princess what the hell’s going on- ohh shit!” Blink cursed, staring at Luna’s assistant. “That weapon. You’re the assassin that tried to kill me on my journey to the Griffin Lands?”

“Huh, it doesn’t matter, I’ll take both of you!” she yelled, galloping towards Luna and Blink.

“Blink, I cannot harm her!” Luna said to the stallion next to her.

A tendril immediately wrapped around the charging mare’s leg, causing her to come crashing down.

“I’ve had it with you, whoever the hell you are!” Blink grabbed the blade with his magic, shooting it straight into a wall. He then lifted the mare up in the air, but before he could do anything, she managed to hurl a pink ball of magic at him.

“Thanks, Princess!”

The magic attack had smashed against a shield Luna raised in front of Blink, cracking it slightly. Several other followed suit, but the shield repelled them all. Blink decided to cut courtesy short and smashed the unicorn mare into the ground repeatedly.

As he approached the moaning mess, he saw a pink glow engulfing the assistant, leaving in their wake an azure coat and a cornflower blue mane.

“This is not the last you’ve seen of Trixie!” Magic erupted from the tip of her horn, making Blink shield his eyes from the powerful light. When he looked back, the mare was gone.

“Are you all right, Princess?” he asked, returning to Luna.

“Yes, you can say so.”

The stallion stared across the large hall, noticeably focused. “My fellow clones can’t see any more active threats. My magic is weakening Princess, the original me is next to Twilight,” he said before his body turned to smoke, mixing in the hot air.

Despite that being true, the ceremony grounds looked like a slaughter house. The statues, marble floors and even the walls were riddled with holes and cracks. Guards were rushing into the hall from all entrances, evacuating everyone that could be moved. Shining Armor and Cadence were leaving though the main entrance, under a heavy escort formed by crystal pony guards. Twilight was standing at the side of a fallen guard, her magic working hard to stabilize him. Blink was next to her and a gray mare that was playing for the Gala, the two of them standing at each side of Chaser’s side. The pegasus had a deep injury in his shoulder, but Blink was managing to take care of it despite the heavy magic burnout he’d just been though.

Luna stepped to the blade stuck in the wall. The sharp, curved end had nothing special to it. It was the handle that brought chills even to her. It was a horn; the blade was coming out of its base, while the tip was broken off.

A white sphere burst next to the Princess, the guards nearby pointing their weapons at the source of magic.

“At ease!” Shining ordered them as the smoke cleared out.

“Princess, I’ve teleported Cadence back to my parents’ home, her royal escort and several of my best stallions are there. What- what is that thing?” Shining Armor asked, staring at the blade stuck in the wall.

“That weapon is a very powerful artefact. Someone tried to kill me with it tonight . . .”

“Your majesty, that is-”

“It matters less for now; how are the others? Who did we- who did we lose?” she stammered, the situation slowly overcoming her.

Fear grew in Luna’s heart. For the first time in many years, she felt lonely. Celestia was no longer there taking care of things, and everything fell on her. She gulped, turning to face the main hall. Luna couldn’t avert her eyes from the blood that was painting the otherwise white marble floor. Some green, but most of it red, forming a gut wrenching painting of death . . . and treason.

Slowly, Shining’s voice faded back into her attention.

“. . . initial reporting that General Blueheart and our three lieutenant generals are dead, as well as several colonels and majors that were present at the festivities. At least ten civilians died as well as twenty of my guards. Several wounded, but they’re already being treated.”

“Princess, why would the changelings do this?” he asked after a pause.

“I don’t know, Shining Armor,” Luna said in a low voice, staring at the center of the hall.

Between the swarming guards and medics, Blink was standing on the floor, holding Twilight to his chest and whispering soothing words to her. Her dress was stained by the blood of a guard she had managed to stabilize until the medics arrived. Spike was behind them, holding his head in his palms.

A guard approached Luna, holding several scrolls in his magic. “Your Highness, urgent messages for you.”

The Princess took them from him, opening up the first. Her eyes traced the short sentences, taking her time and going through all of them. Once she finished, she wrapped the last one up, handing it back to the messenger. She then took a deep breath, closing her eyes shut for a few moments.

“Shining Armor . . .”

“Yes Princess.”

“I’m sorry to bare this news, but I’m promoting you from Captain to General of the Army, effective immediately.”

After a pause, Shining broke the settling silence. “Princess, the highest military rank Equestria has had in recent history was general. A General of the Army is only appointed in case of-”

He stopped, realising what Luna was implying.

“Have the meeting chamber behind the throne room prepared and gather all thine higher ranks that are still fit for duty. If the reports I hath received are to be trusted, Equestria is now officially at war . . .”

End of Chapter 23

Chapter 24: The Reigns of War

The ground trembled, their hearts quivered

Hooves grasped tightly around their weapons

Eyes facing the coming Death . . .

Chapter 24

The Reigns of War

Two powerful surges of magic filled the room, causing the ponies inside to turn their heads towards the source of the disturbances.

“Twilight!” Rarity burst out, latching herself at the mare’s neck as the magic sparkles settled. “Are you okay, darling? What happened there? Is the Princess safe?”

“She’ll be alright. The changelings attacked us, I . . . I don’t really know anything more than that,” she said, still visibly shaken.

“What is this place? Where are we?” Blink asked from her side, pacing inside the bedroom.

“This is actually my old room from when I lived here. It’s the safest place I could think of to teleport you girls . . .”

“It’s alright, sugarcube, we’re all fine; but tell me Pinkie is with you guys.”

Blink’s eyes suddenly widened as he recalled what happened to her. “Uhh, she’s safe. When I saw her battling a changeling with her . . . cannon thing, I had one of my clones take her in a place no one could harm her.”

“And where is that?”

“I . . . it was the best place I came up with at that time.”

“Blink, where’s Pinkie Pie?” Twilight asked, staring him down.

“In the castle’s dungeon.”

“What?” Dash jumped.

“He’s right . . . it was the safest place at the time we were attacked,” Twilight said with a sigh, plopping down on the floor.

Meanwhile, Blink cast a spell, a freshly summoned shadow clone nodding at him as it walked into a dark corner of the room, disappearing completely. The stallion then brought a hoof up at his head, trying to hold back a winch of pain.

“Where’s Spike?” came the hushed voice from under the covers of the room’s large bed.

Rarity embraced the pegasus as she came out of her cover, patting her mane gently. “It’s alright darling, nothing is going to happen to you here. I’m sure Spike is perfectly fine, is he, Twilight?” she asked, her voice straining as her eyes begged for a happy piece of news.

“Yes, Spike’s perfectly fine. I’ve sent him back to Ponyville to check up on everyone else back home. He’ll check your farm first AJ, but I’m sure nothing happened to them.”

“Thank ya’, sugarcube. Ah’ don’t know what I would do if anything would ‘of happen to Applebloom and the rest.”

Another muffled sob came from the pegasus held tightly by Rarity. “Shhh, it’s okay . . . no one can hurt us here,” Rarity repeated, gently rocking back and forth, as to calm her friend. Slowly, it became obvious that she too was barely holding herself from breaking down. “I want to see Big Mac,” the pegasus said, still trying to take cover under the sheets.

Blink darted his eyes between every pony in the room. Even Rainbow Dash was on the verge of crying as she paced nervously around the window. He had pondered whether it would have been a good idea to mention that Trixie was involved in the attack, but seeing them in that state made it seem like a bad idea for the moment.

He looked down at Twilight, who was standing on the cold floor, her ears flopped down and her eyes on the brim. The stallion wrapped a hoof around her, squeezing her to his chest. “It’s gonna be alright, Twi. I won’t let anything happen to you, or our friends, okay?”

A dark patch grew on the wall nearby. When it was large enough, the shadow clone Blink had summoned stepped through, followed by Pinkie Pie. Her eyes were tired and her mane was flatter than usual, her joyful smile all but gone. Everyone rushed to embrace her, silence weighing heavily in the air.

“I need to go. Don’t worry, I’ll just be talking with the Princess,” Blink said. “I promise you’ll be safe, the whole capital should be on lockdown by now. The castle is the first place to be swept for any kind of danger, but I’m leaving him here for now; if something happens, I’ll be here in an instant.”

He nodded at his shadow clone, then made his way towards the door.

“Blink, wait!”

The rushed hoofsteps of his beloved were followed by a strong hug. He sunk his head into her mane, knowing he would dread every second away from her. “Take care of the girls, I’ll send extra security in this tower just in case.”

*** *** ***

The fresh candles and torches burned brightly, filling the large room with a pale, yellow light. Ponies were rushing around the place, mounting lights and stocking up the large round table in the middle with scrolls, paper and quills. Several pegasi hovered in front of the large, wide wall, removing a huge, yellowed map and replacing it with a new one.

Luna walked in, a large escort of mixed day and night guards walking behind her. Their armors were different from the ones of normal guards: they were bulkier and covered the entirety of their bodies; only the white in their eyes could be seen through the visors. Gold and dark blue trails of magic were left in their wake, as every piece of equipment was enchanted to make the heavy armors lighter. Their steps resounded in the chamber, the guards marching in perfect sync behind their Princess.

One of the workers walked towards her, joining Luna in her hurried step. “Apologies your highness, this is all that we could do about the lights on such a short notice, the room hasn’t been used in centuries and no wiring was installed in the meantime.”

“Tis not a problem, we have all that we need. Hurry your stallions out, matters of great urgencies are to be discussed here.”

Taking a bow, the worker stallion then let out a loud whistle, signaling his work colleagues to finish up and leave. As they left the room, Shining Armor entered, followed by several army-dressed stallions and mares. The Princess’s elite guards lined themselves against the four edges of the room, standing as a second set of walls between the outside and their leader.

She circled the large round table, eventually reaching the two massive chairs that stood out from the rest, facing the large map on the opposite wall. She ran her hoof along the slightly larger chair, then, after a few moments of lingering, took her seat on the one that belonged to her.

The doors closed, and the ponies all sat around the wooden table, some of them more nervous than the others. Shining Armor was to Luna’s left, levitating several scrolls in front of him. Whispers sparked between the table occupants, but were immediately cut off by Luna as she dressed her voice.

“I assume you all know why you are here. This year’s Grand Galloping Gala was interrupted by dramatically, unforeseen events.” Luna’s eyes traveled around the table, seeing too many new, unfamiliar faces for her liking. “First of all, Shining Armor; if you may, please inform everyone of the specifics that took place tonight and make the necessary introductions and announcements.”

“Uhh sure, Princess. Gentlecolts, mares . . . first I want you all to know that the Princess of the Crystal Empire, Mi Amore Cadenza, will not be attending this meeting as she is tending to the security of her . . . of our heir, Emerald Armor,” Shining corrected himself. Several sets of eyebrows raised at the odd use of the pronoun, which the stallion noticed immediately. “I say our heir because today I would have announced my stepping down from the title of Captain of the Royal Guards, and officially joining my wife on the Crystal Empire throne. That said, plans have changed drastically. As you all know tonight, the royal castle has been the target of a changeling attack. There were no threats made previously and no one is claiming the responsibility for it, which makes me believe this was ordered from the Changeling Hive city by none other than the current queen, Chrysalis.”

Rumble spread out across the table but it all settled down when Shining cleared his voice loudly. “There are a total of 43 casualties, including guards and civilians. General Blueheart is among those that died, as well as all three active lieutenant generals. Most majors present tonight have been killed, as well as numerous colonels. Following this attack and from gathered information that I will reveal shortly, I want to let you all know that Equestria is now in an official state of war.”

“War?” A rather old unicorn stood up while the rest erupted in discussions. “Equestria hasn’t seen war in over a millennia. What happened to the diplomatic preemptive approaches? Princess Luna, are you approving this?”

“Yes, Dark Shine. In fact, I’ve personally appointed Shining Armor as General of the Army minutes after the attack. And he has not finished his announcements yet.”

The pony’s mouth opened to say something else, but he decided against it and sat back down while the room quieted down.

“That being said,” Shining resumed, “I now have to appoint tree new generals to replace those that we . . . lost today. They’ll answer directly to myself and Princess Luna only, and each of them will organize their respective troops.” The room fell into a deep silence, everyone looking left and right at their possible new commanders. “Major General Iron Hooves . . .”

The mentioned stallion pinned his forehooves into the table to lift himself up at attention. His wide shoulders and buff frame dwarfed his table neighbors, making them look like foals compared to him.

“You are now the Earth Lieutenant General,” Shining Armor stated, nodding at him. The earth stallion responded with a silent, disciplined salute. “Archmage Dark Shine,” Shining continued, looking at the unicorn across the large table that had previously interrupted him. “You now also bear the title of Lieutenant General of the Unicorns. I suggest you get accustomed to it and the responsibilities it comes with, because there doesn’t seem to be a diplomatic way out of this.”

“Yes . . . sir,” the stallion muttered, his face locked into a neutral expression.

“And finally, Lieutenant Spitfire; you just became the youngest Lieutenant General in recent history, and you will oversee and lead the pegasus in battle. Also, your Wonderbolts team is re-introduced into active service.”

“Sir, yes sir!” the young fiery mare shouted with a firm salute.

“If I may, what battles are we even talking about? But more importantly, sir, how did we even get in this situation in the first place?” a yellow unicorn mare with red mane asked from her seat.

“I can answer that, Shining,” Luna stepped into the conversation, drawing all eyes on her. “I believe this is a plan set in motion by the griffons. Last year they’ve been trying to convince us to void the ‘International Integrity Decree’ that kept the boundaries of every kingdom secure from one another. They’ve deceived our informants by faking the intention of attacking the Changelings. The reality is that they wanted to catch us off-guard.”

Luna floated a couple of red circles of paper and placed them on the map, in the ocean between the two continents. “They’ve been amassing troops for the past year and reports are coming in that they are crossing the ocean and will be debarking near Port of Issac within the week.” She then floated three green circles and placed them up in the north, to the right of the Crystal Empire. “Scouts have also brought word of huge swarms of changelings in these areas, split into three groups. Two of them heading to each of our coasts and the third one coming south towards us, through the Searing Canyons.”

“How is this even possible? Shouldn’t we have been notified of this earlier? I’m sure that many changelings would raise alarms somewhere over our northern outposts,” Spitfire voiced her thoughts.

“The reason why we didn’t see them earlier is that they were not there. Not yesterday, at least.”

All eyes in the room widened, shock starting to take refuge in everyone’s hearts around the table.

“They traveled over the Frozen Canal and penetrated our mainland in almost a day; they ignored the Crystal Kingdom completely.”

“The decision we have to take now is what to do in regards to our troops,” Shining said, picking up where Luna had left. “Our reserves are scattered across the main cities but if the Changelings keep advancing at this pace, there’s no telling what city they’ll end up attacking. Las Pegasus and Fillydephia are in full alert as we speak, but we need to make a decision with haste.”

Shining looked across the table, searching for an answer to his question. None of the ponies knew what to tell him. None of them had ever been in such a situation ever before, save for Luna. War however was something she had not been part of in over a millennia, and the loneliness she felt as she gazed on the larger, empty seat next to her almost overthrew her entire experience.

The hinges of the room’s large doors screeched as they swung open, a gust of slightly colder air rustling the candle flames across the War Chamber. From the entrance, a midnight blue stallion stared at everyone inside.

*** *** ***

“Sun goddess, no more water cans?”

“There will be no need for more water Dune Flower, what I’m carrying should be enough for her.”

Celestia floated the last water bag into her already packed satchel, carefully tying the straps together to secure it in place.

“Long journey, hard journey, won’t you need to drink?” the zebra insisted.

“No, I will need no water for myself, it would only make me heavier.”

The adult zebra in the hut patted the soft mane of her young child, whispering shooting words into her ear. The chief of the tribe bore a curious look on his face, his eyes locked onto the white alicorn in front of him. Flower kept pulling on the straps, locking into place the base of a large harness over Celestia’s back.

“It is ready, sun goddess,” she declared after a few more checks.

Celestia then leaned close to the ill zebra, her yellowish magic engulfing her completely. The Princess levitated the zebra onto her back, sprawling her across her entire form. She tucked the unconscious zebra’s forehooves across the joints of her wings so that they wouldn’t get in the way, while her mother and Flower closed the last straps of the harness.

The chief said a few words, looking at the mother of the sick zebra, before turning to Celestia, carrying on the conversation.

“He said: we are grateful for the help, we feel unworthy of your presence and we all pray that she makes it through the journey.”

“Before I leave, could you tell me her name?” The Princess asked, realising she never found that out.

“She is called Gal’ Neea . . . Early Shimmer; on her day of birth, she came on this world right as your sun rose.”

The mother gave her child one last hug, before throwing her hooves around Celestia’s neck, telling her something between sobs.

“She said: forgive me, white one, but I’m grateful for your help. My child’s soul is in your hooves, guide it where you see fit.”

Celestia said nothing as she went through an internal struggle to maintain her composure, trying her best to look as reassuring as possible for the mother of the one she was about to travel with back to Equestria, in a desperate race to save her life. She stepped outside, followed by the three zebras. The sun was still high in the sky, casting its merciless rays across the vast desert.

“I will teleport as far as my magic can take me, then fly towards my kingdom. I’ll send word back when I reach Canterlot. I hope I will make it back in a week.”

The villagers had gathered again, watching the three zebras and the alicorn with one of their own on her back.

“Our village will stay here, wait for news from the green lands, we thank you again, sun goddess.”

“Please, call me Celestia. I’ll go now, make room around, and cast your eyes away.”

Magic from Celestia’s horn slowly engulfed her, the aura growing into a large translucent sphere of light, getting brighter and brighter. The zebras gazed in amazement at the light, stepping back from the alicorn. A buzzing noise also got louder and louder as yellow waves of magic circled the growing sphere around the Princess. Her shape could still be distinguished clearly through the yellowish sphere, her eyes shut in concentration.

The sand around them took to the air, blown away by the immense air pressure near the sphere’s edge. Celestia then opened her eyes, taking one last glance at Flower. All the zebra could see was a pair of white eyes looking at her for a split second. The sphere imploded, releasing a powerful blast wave that lifted the sand around it in an expanding circle.

As the dust cleared, only a large, burnt patch of sand could be seen where the white alicorn stood moments before.

*** *** ***

A distant sound in the late night woke up the sleeping stallion out of his slumber. Silver Wisp stood up on his haunches, the sound of the siren instinctively waking him up. The sound however was different from his usual mornings at the guard barracks; the bed was softer too, and the sheets, finer. His eyes widened in the darkness. He snapped his head to the side, his suspicions immediately confirmed: he was not in Canterlot.

Redheart was waking up as well, rubbing her eyes awake with a hoof. “Silver, what’s going on? Is that the emergency alarm?”

The white mare instantly sprung up, rushing to a wardrobe nearby. “I have to get to the hospital, something bad must have happened.” She dug around the wardrobe, pulling out a large backpack with a red cross on it.

“Where’s your local guard post? I have nothing on me,” the stallion said, grabbing his pack and following Redheart out the door.

“It’s right down near the town square, left from the mayor’s office. There should be at least one pony on duty at this time- is that . . . Spike! Spike!” she yelled after the dragon passing by high above them.

He turned his head and descended towards the two ponies, landing abruptly in front of them. Silver instinctively planted one of his forehooves in front of the mare, staring at the larger than him dragon with mixt emotions.

“Silver, it’s all right, he’s Twilight Sparkle’s assistant. Spike, do you have any idea what’s going on?” Redheart asked, looking around for any obvious signs she must have missed.

“The capital is closed . . . there was an . . . attack at the Gala tonight,” he said, taking quick breaths before each few words, exhausted from the effort required to reach Ponyville in such a short time. “Twilight sent me here to check on everyone.”

“The Gala? Is the Princess safe? Who did this?” Silver asked immediately.

“Princess Luna’s fine. The changelings did this, don’t know any more than that. What’s with the alarm?”

“All the cities in Equestria sound their emergency sirens when an attack is made in the capital. Last time I heard it was the royal wedding over three years ago . . .” Silver Wisp was staring into the distant speck of light that was Canterlot, realising he wouldn’t be able to get back into the city, at least not for some days.

“I’ll go check on someone, I haven’t seen anything wrong at Applejack’s farm on at the hospital. I don’t think you need to get there, nurse Redheart, but if you do, please stay safe.” Spike then sprung up into the air, making his way towards the library with great haste.

The two ponies left behind in the darkness of the street looked at him as he flew away. Silver checked the surroundings one more time, making sure nothing lured in the shadows. He then draped a hoof around Redheart’s shoulders and after a quick hug, they slowly returned to her house. In the village, lights went on in all the houses one by one, as the dreaded sound of the siren pierced the calm night.

In under a minute, Spike came down in a rough landing in front of the library. He slammed the door open and crawled inside through the door. “Ruby? Ruby are you here?”

“Who?”

“Not now, Owlowiscious,” he dismissed the bird perched on a coat hanger that just woke up.

“Who? Who!”

“I said I’m not-”

The dragon stopped mid-sentence when he noticed the bird was staring out a small window facing the back garden. He bolted out the back door and noticed in the last moment a silhouette slipping into the distant forest.

“Ruby!” He shouted, extending his wings and taking flight. He reached the forest in a heartbeat, but his friend was nowhere to be seen. The darkness of the untamed forest was everything he could see; but not the only thing he could smell.

Ruby’s distinct scent filled his nostrils, and drawing from his instincts, he immediately began the chase. No branches or bushes stood in his path as he raced across through the thick forest, scarce rays of moonlight barely penetrating the foliage. His pupils were wide and slit to the brim, catching the tiniest hint of light and revealing the path his nose indicated him.

Soon, he reached a cave, and for a second time, he carried on without giving it much thought. As he rushed deeper and deeper into the hollow, he came to an abrupt stop as he smashed against something hard, yet movable.

“Ughhh!” The air in his lungs made a quick escape through his mouth as he fumbled around, trying to get up from whatever he had bumped into.

“Spike, that hurt!” came Ruby’s annoyed voice from somewhere underneath him.

The dragon froze, realising the uneven ground under his claws was actually Ruby’s body. He recoiled off of her, the blood in his cheeks already boiling.

“Uhh, sorry. What are you even doing here?”

“I was sleeping in your room when I heard this loud noise. I went outside the library and this pony that came out of a house screamed when she saw me and fled inside her nest. I thought your guardians would come to hunt me.”

“Guardians? We don’t have-” he shook his head, prioritizing his thoughts. “There was an attack on our capital, the sirens you heard are just a way to alert everyone that something bad happened and they should be ready. I found out when I came here that they sound off in all the cities in Equestria.”

“Then why did that pony scream when she saw me and fled into her nest?”

“-home, we call them homes; and ponies are very scared of strange, new things, especially in this town, and especially with a siren going off in the middle of the night-”

A deep growl resonated through the cave. Spike froze, while Ruby immediately assumed a defensive stance, laying all four of her legs on the ground, her scales and fins standing straight.

They could feel the floor shake slightly with each thud. Another dragon soon appeared from the depths of the cave, several times bigger than any of them. Spike remembered too late why he had an off feeling about going into that cave. He placed an arm in front of Ruby, slowly backing away towards the exit.

“Hey there, buddy! Long time no see, huh? Sorry for barging in unannounced . . . again; we’ll just be on our way-”

Completely ignoring him, the large dragon prepared a lethal swing with his razor sharp claws. Right as he was about to deliver the blow, Ruby boldly stepped between him and Spike, lifting several chest scales with her claws, exposing the thin skin covering her heart.

“Kiir se Wuth-Gein!” She said with confidence and determinacy in her voice.

The dragon stopped mid-swing, starring the pulsing skin under her scales. Spike simply stood behind her in shock, unable to comprehend what was going on. Eventually, after several tensed seconds, the cave occupier lowered his hand. “Leave . . . never return,” his deep voice bounced against the walls, resonating in their very bones.

Ruby turned around and made her way out, making sure Spike was closely behind her.

“What just happened? What language was that?” He asked as when they found themselves back in the forest outside.

“It was the old dragon tongue. It’s not spoken than much these days but all dragons at least a century old know it,” Ruby explained.

“So why do you know it?”

“I’ve been learning it on my own. Remember those books in my cave that you couldn’t read? Those contained ancient teachings passed down by our ancestors in the old tongue. Is it safe to go back now? I would feel better back in your territory.”

“Sure, let’s get out of here.”

Ruby flared her wings, lurching herself upwards towards the sky. Spike followed her and soon they were out of the thick forest, basking in the late moonlight. The short journey back to the library was quiet and uneventful, but Spike could notice Ruby was troubled by something. They landed on the large balcony they slept on the day before. The dragoness curled her tail and tucked her feet in, gazing out towards the distant mountains and the capital on it.

“Were any of your friends hurt in the attack?”

“No, but a lot of other ponies died. I came here to check on the village and, well, you. I’m glad everyone here is fine though.”

“I’ve read that Changelings are the most deceptive of creatures, but our kind had never come into contact with them. I’m sorry for the ones that perished today.”

“It’s the second time they attacked us in recent years. It’s just . . . I feel like there is much more to it this time,” Spike said, recalling the royal wedding events with sadness in his voice.

They both stood there in silence, before Spike decided to bring back one thing from their recent encounter. He sat next to Ruby, his eyes ever so slightly searching for hers. “When you said what you said to that dragon, you also showed him the skin under your chest scales. What does that mean?”

She turned to him, knowing sooner or later he would ask her about it. She used her claws and again, exposed the soft tissue under the hardest scales a dragon has. Spike stared at the warm, pink skin underneath, noticing the beating heart which lay mere inches underneath the soft layer. He felt somewhat uncomfortable looking at that spot, but at the same time found it simply amazing to see the faint light radiating from the inner fire next to the dragon’s heart.

“I did it to save ourselves . . . I’ve told him about my heritage; exposing the skin over your heart is the most sacred gesture of trust a dragon can show to another. It means that he vows with his own life that what he said or did was the truth and nothing but the honorable truth. Otherwise, the other dragon is allowed to run his claw through your heart if he knows as a fact that you were untruthful.”

A thought flashed through Spike’s mind, something he had been wanting to ask her for a while, but never found the courage to do so. However, seeing Ruby stand up for him in front of a creature several times bigger than both of them and putting herself in the most vulnerable of positions, made him muster the needed courage to ask that very question:

“So, is the diamond I gave you back when we met more than just a simple thank you gift now?”

Ruby’s eyes widened, her heart visibly starting to beat faster in her chest. She looked down at her hand, which was still holding several scales by their tips. Her inner fire burned stronger as the realization came down on her that she couldn’t get out of that situation by simply ignoring the question or lying about it.

As a dragon living alone for most of her life, emotions were something she usually dismissed, all up until the day Spike made that gesture unknowingly. Somehow, ever since that moment, the fire inside started burning differently. It wasn’t the symbolic meaning of the gesture that changed everything, but the warmth and kindness it was delivered with by the naive dragon.

Her eyes eventually found Spike’s, the slight tremor in their pupils saying more than she ever could. With all the courage mustered, he grabbed her hand that held the scales up and cradled it gently. Ruby raised her other hand to his chin as their heads approached each other slowly. Their lips met into a soft kiss, which they held for as long as they could before breaking away for a breath of fresh air.

Instinctively, their tails had found each other yet again, intertwining as their owners shared their first kiss. Spike scooted closer to her, while Ruby rested her forehead against his. High above the cloudless night, the moon stood witness to the young ones’ brewing love. That night, two fires burned stronger than ever in Ponyville.

*** *** ***

“I’ll leave thou to debate our options; I need to have a word with someone,” Luna excused herself, leaving the round table, and walking towards the blue stallion standing in the door. “My safety is assured, no need for additional escort,” she said to the elite guards that were about to follow her. She walked past Midnight Blink, giving him a quick glance that urged him to come with her.

“Princess, what’s happening?”

They walked into the adjacent room, the Throne Hall. Luna stopped near the two thrones, looking at the large banners hanging behind them that depicted her and her sister.

“First of all, Midnight Blink, are the element bearers and their friends safe?” she asked, facing the stallion, a spark of concern hidden in her voice.

“Yes.”

“Are you all right?”

“Uhh yes, Princess.”

“That is good. As for your question, Equestria is at war. There are massive changeling movements north of us and gryphons are arriving at Port of Issac as we speak.”

Blink opened his mouth to say something but no words managed to come out. He gave Luna a look of confusion mixed with anger as he tried to digest the news.

“What now, then?” he asked after a few moments, for lack of a better question.

“We prepare for battle. The safety of my ponies comes first however, so I will try to summon their representatives for a peace talk. If this conflict can be avoided, I want to make sure every possibility is attempted; it’s what my sister would have done . . .” Luna said distraught, staring at her sister’s banner.

“And . . . how can I help?”

“Midnight Blink, I would tell you that the best option for you would be to protect your fiancée, and your friends . . . far from the battlefield; but I assume you would go as far as to disobey that order.”

“And I would do it without a bit of hesitation, Princess.”

“I assumed that much,” she added with a faint smile. “Well, since there has been an opening recently, I would like to officially promote you.”

“Promote me? Uhh, to corporal? Or . . . sergeant?” he dared.

“Captain of the Royal Guard. More precisely, captain of my personal guard unit. It’s a mere formality, mind you, as the entirety of the Royal Guard will go into active duty for the war. What’s left are the ponies standing guard back in the war room, a mere platoon of highly trained guards specialized in fending off spies and guarding high priority targets.”

“All respect considered Princess, that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with frontline war.”

“It doesn’t, but as I said, it’s a mere formality. None of the military ponies you saw earlier have been through war or even witnessed war in their lives. Thou on the other hoof come from a world plagued by conflict. You may or may have not been part of any of that conflict, but it’s the best we have, and being Captain of the Royal guard secures you a seat at that table, where thine voice can be heard.”

“I . . . I understand.”

She started walking towards the Throne Hall’s entrance, leaving Blink behind, near the thrones. “I need to attend to some private affairs, return to your friends and rest for now, I will seek you later.”

Luna thus left the large room, making her way towards the castle’s east wing. Rows of guards went up and down the corridors, taking a few moments to salute the Princess as she passed them. She eventually reached the busy reception inside the clinic ward, which was filled with wounded ponies from the earlier attack. A stallion in a white gown came to her assistance in a heartbeat.

“Princess Luna, how may I be of assistance?” he asked with a quick bow.

“I am looking for one of the injured ponies, as I wish to visit him. Last I heard he was in good condition.”

“Absolutely, Princess. His name?” The doctor levitated a clipboard in front of him.

“Chaser. Star Chaser,” Luna said clearly.

“Hmm, last room down the west section; shoulder injury, just left magical surgery, stable condition and one hundred percent recovery rate over the next 72 hours.”

“Thank you, doctor. Please, return to thine duties.”

With another bow of his head and saying no more words, the doctor ran back to one of the less injured ponies awaiting triage, while nurses and other doctors swarmed around the busy reception.

Luna turned towards the west section and made her way down the hallway, eventually entering one of the last rooms and closing the door after her.

*** *** ***

As Blink made his way back towards Twilight’s room, his vision went blurry all of a sudden, while his horn chucked a few blue stars of magic. “Ohh boy. Damn it, Rarity!” he snarled to no one in particular.

He dragged himself up the stairwell, and barged right into the room, all the heads inside turning towards him.

“What did you find out? Are you okay?” Twilight asked, worried a bit by his dazed appearance. Blink’s eyes went half lidded for a moment, several other sparks flying off his horn. He started swaying on his hooves but Twilight propped against him for support, just in time.

“Your magic,” she whispered, her eyes turning a lighter shade of purple as she inspected the stallion’s inner magic field. “You’re having a minor burnout.”

Blink shook his head and squeezed his eyes closed for a moment, before taking a step away from her, inside the room. “I panicked when we were attacked, used too much . . . but it’s not what’s causing the migraines though.”

He looked at his clone, which was still there. Rarity was standing right beside it.

“You intellectually stimulated it and triggered a surge in the link between us,” Blink said, pointing a hoof at the mare. “Never do that again.”

“I’m so sorry darling, I just asked him-”

“She asked me if I know that I’m not the real one,” the clone said, staring at Blink with empty eyes, his voice hollow as well. “Am I not?”

Blink waived a hoof in the air, and the clone disintegrated into a gentle blue storm of particles. Silence fell in the room, which was eventually broken when Blink told everyone the latest news.

*** *** ***

The sun rose all too early the following morning, catching Twilight sleeping close to Blink, who was awake, eyes pinned against the ceiling of his fiancé’s old room.

The night before, all six ponies listened to what he had found out from Luna, including his untimely promotion to Captain of the Royal Guard. In the middle of all that, Twilight’s horn lit up, a letter appearing in front of her. Spike had sent them news that nothing was wrong in Ponyville and told them that he would spend the night there, as he was too tired to fly back to Canterlot.

Blink then called it a night and had several guards come in and personally escort everyone to nearby rooms so they could get some much needed rest. He and Twilight remained in her room.

Blink got out of the bed, and looked outside a window, gazing across the entire capital. Hundreds of guards marched on the streets bellow, with as many pegasi roaming the skies above. He stared at the troubling scenery for a few more seconds, before turning his attention to the mare in the bed. He approached her and rested himself on the edge of her bed.

A hoof hovered above her head, brushing away a few strands of her mane. Her beauty and the surreal calm of her sleep took his breath away, as it has always done to him. With a sigh, he sat up and left the room, making sure he made as little noise as possible.

Outside, two heavy armored guards stood waiting for him. “Good morning, sir. Your new armor, as requested by Princess Luna,” they said, levitating a new set to his hooves. He darted his eyes from the equipment to the two guards, feeling slightly uncomfortable by being addressed like that. His magic surrounded the pieces, and he started walking, followed closely by the two stallions.

“I assume there is an agenda planned for today,” Blink said, leaving the thoughts of his Twilight somewhere in the back of his mind. While walking towards nowhere in particular, he strapped the new armor to himself, piece by piece. It was a modified night armor, with straighter cuts and made out of a more durable material. He smiled at the sensation of the new straps, feeling the soft paddings around the parts that pulled the tightest around him.

“Princess Luna requires your presence in the artefact room,” one of the guards stated as they marched alongside him.

Blink followed them without saying anything else. Reaching a stairwell, they descended a few levels before turning left in a large corridor and ending up in a long, wide room. Hundreds of objects of various colors, shapes and sizes rested on pedestals or behind glass cases. Most of them were armor pieces, jewelry or even parchments and banners.

The two guards led Blink into a smaller, adjacent room, stopping at the entrance. He went inside where, his eyes immediately met Luna but other ponies as well. He noticed the other ponies were all unicorns, one of them wearing an intricate attire, embroidered with various symbols.

“Captain Midnight Blink, glad thou could join us,” Luna said with a slight nod.

Blink returned the gesture. “Princess . . .”

He then noticed everyone else was standing around a pedestal. Chills started running down his spine when he saw the object resting on it. “Is that the weapon Trixie tried to attack you with?”

“It is indeed.”

“An unspeakable insult to our race,” the robed unicorn spat, eyes fixated on the weapon. “Starswirl did not deserve such audacity.”

“It’s his horn?” asked another unicorn stallion from the group.

“Yes, that is indeed Starswirl the Bearded’s horn,” Luna said with surprising calm, gazing herself on the handle of the dagger. “This is indeed the mythical weapon that I’ve read about when I returned from my exile. This is the Magebane.”

“How did Trixie get something like this?” Blink asked.

“Most likely from the ones that motivated her to commit such acts of treason. The Magebane has been just a legend for most of the time, an artefact lost in a chain of trades and deals over the centuries. The last rumors dated decades ago placed it over the ocean, where the Gryphons reside,” one of the ponies studying it explained.

“Be that as it may, the weapon is now safe from enemy hooves and claws. It shall be condemned to Tartarus as soon as this conflict ends. Until then, I will move it into the Royal Vault.”

“Are we not using it against them?” Blink asked, probably a bit too soon after Luna finished her sentence.

“The risks are far too high and the only ones we can use it against are changelings, which are easy to defeat as opponents. The rest of our enemies are non-magic creatures.”

“The rest? I thought it was only the gryphons and changelings.”

“That is something we’ll discuss in the next meeting. Until then, you are dismissed,” Luna said, looking at the rest of the unicorns in the room. “Save for you, Dark and Blink.”

The two stopped in their tracks as they were about to leave, and turned to the Princess.

“Dark Shine, this is Midnight Blink, the new Captain of the Royal Guard. And Blink, this is the new General of the unicorns, Dark Shine.”

“Archmage Dark Shine,” the older stallion corrected Luna. “And you are the unicorn I’ve heard so many things about. A mere guard just days ago, a Captain today-”

“That being said,” Luna cut him off, “Midnight Blink will not answer to you, Dark Shine. The Captain of the Royal Guard answers only to the General of the Armies and me, is that understood?”

The Archmage shot her an almost defying glare underneath his frowned brow yet conceded when her eyes met his for a second.

“Yes Princess. Anything else I can be of assistance?”

“That would be all. Dismissed.”

Dark left the room, not before giving Blink one last despised glance. The blue stallion simply smirked at the older unicorn as he made his way out.

“Who’s that wimp?” Blink ask when the door of the secure room slammed closed.

“He is Dark Shine, Archmage of the Royal Institute of Magic. He is, as we speak, one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria.”

“Him? Are you sure?”

“Don’t let his age fool you, Midnight Blink; he is times more knowledgeable than thou are in the field of Magic and although his potential is much lower than thine, at this point he would defeat you in a duel, I have no doubt about it.”

“I understand. Well, what’s that meeting about?”

Luna engulfed in magic the pedestal on which the weapon sat, and made it disappear, most likely in the Vault she had mentioned previously.

“Two stories above,” she said, before black, cold fabrics engulfed her from every direction, leaving nothing in their wake. Blink’s mouth formed a slight smirk. He, in turn, dissipated into dark smoke, teleporting above into the War Room.

When the magic around him cleared, he found himself in the large room he had found Luna and the other military ponies the night before. Everyone was there, and Luna was just about to take her seat. Shining armor sat to the right of Luna, next to a larger chair where Celestia would have stood. Dark Shine was there as well, shooting daggers at the blue stallion with his look.

Blink approached the table, taking his seat on the last chair that was of normal size, the one left of Luna. His eyes went around the table, recognizing some of the military personal there; his eyes stopped on the chair between Luna and Shining.

“Celestia has not returned,” Luna told him, noticing his stare.

“Good, it’s probably for the best,” Blink said with spite, still harboring loathe for the former ruler.

Luna said nothing, her eyes however holding disapproval and sadness. She took a deep breath, then faced the rest of the table.

*** *** ***

Celestia’s horn threw a couple of sparks, causing her to wince from the pain of her imminent burnout. She raised her head and looked around the empty desert. She had managed to teleport almost three hundred miles north of the zebra village, however she was still a long way from Equestria. In fact, the desert had not even ended.

For the last twelve hours, Celestia had been walking through the freezing night, using what was left of her powers to coat the little zebra on her back in a warm, comfortable magic blanket. She was getting tired though and her magic waned as the hours ticked by.

Her luck was that the sun was peering over the distant ocean of sand, and, for a few hours the temperature outside would be allow her to rest and regain some of her magic. A cough made her ears flinch back, towards the source of the noise. She craned her neck and cast a worried glance over to the zebra strapped in the harness.

“It’s interesting how frail a spark of life can be,” a cold voice came from her side. A black pony without a cutie mark walked alongside her, as if it had been then for a long time. As the sun’s early light shined across his features, Celestia caught sight of his empty eyes, and couldn’t help but feel a knot in her stomach as she stared in the two spheres of infinite void.

“You are not taking her,” she said firmly.

“Oh, I’m not here for her; no, not yet. And I’m not here for you either, as you are not able to . . . die, so to speak. I came here to simply spectate this attempt to delay my visit.”

“Then feel free to gladly spectate, away from her,” Celestia spoke as she carried on walking.

“You see, I find something unfair about life,” Death continued, ignoring Celestia’s warning, “’I find it unfair that, as a Watcher, you are not allowed to harm any living creature in your world, while attempts to save one of these frail little things brings no consequences whatsoever.”

“And your point is?”

“No point at all, just bringing voice to my thoughts.”

Celestia remained silent, continuing to walk with determinacy in her step.

“I expected your brother to be here, not you,” she spoke eventually. “I think Luna would appreciate your company more than me.”

“My brother is actually speaking with your student, and Luna is rather busy at this time.”

Celestia stopped and turned towards the black pony. “He’s speaking with Twilight?”

“He told me that the time has come for him to meet her. There are troubled times ahead for your ponies, Celestia; you most certainly have felt that in the recent days.” She remained silent, a silence that came only as an admission to His words.

“I will go for now,” Death spoke in a serious tone. “She is slipping, Celestia, and I will come and take her if she falls. It is how things work.”

The Princess looked back at the zebra, watching her back rise and fall slowly, too slowly. Death was gone, but Celestia did not care for that. She levitated a canteen containing a special herb tea to the zebra’s mouth, gently letting the content pour in her mouth.

“We will reach Equestria, little one, I promise . . .”

*** *** ***

Twilight froze as she came back into her room in Canterlot’s castle from a breakfast with her friends. A pure white pony gazed out the window, almost as if he was admiring the scenery of the capital city.

“Who- who are you?” Twilight asked, her horn lit up. A strange sensation was overcoming her, and he noticed immediately that the stallion had no cutie mark.

“Twilight Sparkle,” he said, turning to her. “It’s nice to see you in- person; it’s been a while; you’ve grown so much.”

“How do you know me?” she asked, taking a few, precautious steps towards him.

Deep inside, Twilight knew almost immediately who the white creature in front of her was, but she couldn’t be sure. She felt His magic all around her, it was so powerful, assaulting all her senses. It was surreal, so different from any kind of magic she had ever felt; except for hers.

“I believe you know very well who I am,” he said, a contagious calm sipping from his voice.

“I- I have so many questions . . . who exactly are you, why did you choose me to become what I am today?”

“I am the one that welcomes life into this universe. I know for a fact that your entire life was twirled around the concept of exact knowledge: science, facts, data, magic . . .”

In the space between them, symbols, images and examples of those enumerations came and faded away one by one, his entire body glowing slightly as he brought life to His words.

“While my own presence here is enough to shatter all those pillars you’ve built your believes around, I can only assure you that those concepts stand at the very base of my existence.”

“Did you . . . create this world, the universe?” Twilight asked, gaining confidence and letting curiosity take over.

The white pony laughed in a light manner, returning a smile to the thirsty-for-knowledge mare. “No, Twilight, I did not. There is a natural path one must follow in order to achieve information like that. I am inclined to say that you are a long way from that journey, and the visit from my brother that marks its start.”

Twilight eyes widened at his words and all the implications.

“However, I cannot stay here for long. I am merely here to tell you that there are hard times ahead, Twilight Sparkle. You will have to find it in you to rise above and use your powers to the greater good that they were meant to. What that entitles, is up to your very own judgment. Listen carefully though, that there will come a time, very soon, when you will have to make a decision, a decision that will shape your entire future. It will not be an easy one to make, but you will have to use your heart to make it, not your mind.”

“What decision are you talking about?” She asked hurriedly, getting closer to the white pony. Life simply smiled at the unicorn, thus answering her question.

“You’re not going to tell me, are you?” Her ears flopped, eyes begging for more time to talk to him.

“A last word from me before I go: your inner strength; do not be afraid to use it for what is to come. I am not talking about your Lifebringer powers, I’m talking about what’s in here . . .” he said, placing the tip of his hoof over Twilight’s chest.

As Twilight stared into his white eyes, feeling the very touch of Life over her heart, He disappeared into the early rays of the sun that permeated through the window. She stood there watching the window, her heart heavy with the regret of not spending more time with the one that changed her destiny.

Twilight sighed, gazing out the window upon a nation readying itself for war.

*** *** ***

The War Room’s doors burst open. Shining Armor marched out, snorting steam through his nostrils at the decision that had been reached. Inside, Luna was sitting on her chair along with the rest of the table, a worried Blink at her side.

“Princess, what he said makes sense. Now that we know minotaurs are in this as well, we should try not to let our enemies become even stronger.”

“Captain, you know very well that they are only interested in the capital. We can’t expend troops over audacious missions like that,” she said firmly, addressing the stallion by his official title.

Blink felt the harshness of her tone to the bones, yet he did not escalate his voice to match Luna’s. “If that middle swarm reaches Tartarus, it will be a matter of days until the guardian falls, maybe less. You don’t even want to tell us about everything that is in that place, and you expect him to be happy about letting the changelings get their hooves on it?”

“The routes to Canterlot are blocked, we will have to handle the attack ourselves. Doesn’t thou not understand why we can’t risk sending a contingency to defend Tartarus? Our capital would be exposed, more than it is now! My orders were clear, we stand here and defend ourselves.”

“We have a little over twenty thousand earth stallions readied,” Iron Hooves’ heavy voice came from the other side of the table. “We began urgent recruitment from the civilian population of the capital and the small cities and towns around it. By tomorrow evening, all stallions fit to fight will start learning how to use a spear or a sword.”

“How about unicorns?” Luna asked, facing Dark Shine.

“Ten thousand military magic users. Most of them however can’t do more than swing a weapon with their magic. I’m gladly leaving those in General Hooves’ command to do what he sees fit with them. What we have left is a shy over two thousand specialized unicorns: mostly healers, some teleporters, and just a few offensive mages.”

“Twenty five thousand pegasus,” came Spitfire’s turn to report. “Most of them are based on Cloudsdale. However, I believe we can get almost fifteen thousand more from the coastal cities if I have your permission, Princess. They will have to go around the changeling swarms, preferably at night.”

Luna considered the idea, but the decision came without hesitation. “Gather them. If what we hear from our scouts is true, the other two swarms will converge on our capital and join with the third.”

“Princess, the third swarm, the central one that is heading towards the Tartarus Gates; we have information that Queen Chrysalis is in it,” a young pegasus mentioned, shuffling scrolls over the table.

“It matters not. We hold our ground against the enemy, and ready our troops from the coast cities to come in our aid when the armies will come charging against the capital. Unfortunately all our diplomats’ attempts to bring the heads of the three hostile nations to a discussion have failed.”

“What about our allies? Will they not help us?” a voice made itself heard from around the table. Approving noises accompanied the two questions.

“The letters have been sent. Alas, do not put your faith in them, they are too far from us, both in distance and in spirit. You are dismissed, prepare your stallions and mares. We have but a few days,” Luna ordered, sitting up from her chair.

Every pony in the room sat up at attention as the Princess made her way out. Following her request, Blink was at her side, trying to keep up with her large, hurried steps.

“What about Shining? He didn’t take that news very well,” Blink said, reminding Luna about the General of the Armies that stormed out of the War Room before the meeting was over.

“He needs to out his frustrations, but I am sure he will not disobey direct orders. He is too loyal to the crown and the kingdom, he will help us greatly in the war.”

Blink continued to follow Luna as they went outside of the castle. Several guards flanked them, making sure no one would even look towards their way. The unicorn conjured two translucent lenses over his eyes to protect them from the outside light.

“So why do you want me to come with you again?”

“There is need for thine input on the matter of weaponry we have at our disposal. I am certain you will find the building we’re heading towards to your liking.”

“The Royal Armory?” Blink asked, a smirk on his face.

“Indeed.”

End of Chapter 24

Author's Note

Bonus points for whoever translates what Ruby said to the Everfree dragon!

Also, remember there is still an ongoing contest (see more here: http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/172200/announcing-prize-contest-stairway-to-equestria-update-misc )

Chapter 25: The Last Dawn pt.1

Chapter 25

The Last Dawn
Pt.1

“What if you don’t come back? This is not how ah wanna see my cousin for the last time!”

Kazooie stood in the small bedroom of the wooden house, begging Pearl for the last hour not to leave. The white stallion had already made up his mind, and was packing the very few things he owned in a small saddle pack.

“You take care of Annabelle and Bonnie, okay?” He placed one last scarf inside and flipped the top closed. “Yer’ lucky the guards decided you are needed here more than out there, but I don’t have a choice. I served in the army, and have to serve again when they need me to.”

He threw the saddlebag over his back and cantered out, walking past Kazooie.

“Pearl . . .”

The white pony turned and found himself trapped in a tight hug. “You be safe, all right? Don’t do nothin’ stupid.”

“I won’t cuz, I won’t . . .”

And so, Pearl broke in a gallop towards Ponyville’s rail station, not looking back at all. Inside, however, the seasoned captain felt a great pain clutch at his heart. A bit over a year after the unexpected reunion with his cousin and he was yet again forced to leave him, unsure whether another meeting was in his future.

Reaching the station just minutes later, the sorrowful white stallion got on a busy train that was just about to head out to Canterlot.

The platform was packed with ponies, all saying their last goodbyes to their loved ones. Guards stood watching as the train was boarded; mothers hugged their sons, almost all of them young stallions that had never held a weapon before.

Pearl stared out the window wide-eyed, slowly beginning to understand the gravity of the situation. He, like all those that were about to embark that train, had received a visit from guards in the early morning of that day, telling them that Equestria was in danger and that they were needed. The news came down on everyone like a hammer, smashing to pieces the common vision all ponies had about the calm society they’ve lived in their entire lives.

None of them have ever been in a war, most had never even studied such ancient history. For them, war was an abstract concept, the kind of event you would find in bedtime stories and legends.

Pearl kept watching the platform as the guards rushed the stallions to hurry up, albeit with heavy heart. His breath held up as he saw an old mare hold her tears while a very young one couldn’t, sobbing at the neck of a red stallion. Pearl recognized them to be the Apple family by their cutie marks, yet Applejack, the only Apple member he had met personally, was not there at all.

Outside on the platform, the last ponies were boarding the train, steam shooting wildly from the exhaust pipes. A white mare pressed herself deeper into a kiss with an earth pony, her hooves wrapped tight around his neck.

“I’ll be fine, okay? Don’t worry about me,” the stallion managed between the hurried kisses.

He stepped onto the train, his hoof holding hers tightly in its grasp.

“Promise me you’ll be safe!”

The train jolted forwards, the wheels starting to drag the heavy train down the platform. She cantered along with it, holding his hoof the whole time.

“I will, I promise! See you soon, Red!”

He let go. She stopped on the platform, staring at him with puffy eyes. The train kept going, leaving a heavy trail of steam and tears behind.

*** *** ***

The small compartment’s door slid open. Silver walked in, taking a seat without even looking at the other stallion inside. He rested his head against the window, gazing on the passing landscape, his thoughts stuck somewhere back in Ponyville.

“Wisp?”

The guard turned towards the other stallion in the compartment, ears perking up at the mention of his name. His face dropped.

“Pearl?”

“Ha, it is you, ya’ bloody slack!” The white stallion jumped at his neck, slapping his hoof against Silver’s back.

“Pearl, I can’t believe you’re here! I thought I would never see you after you left the fleet!”

“Water nor air can hold me back as long as I’m in a ship!” he said, laughing loudly.

“Wow, so you really got yourself a vessel and didn’t get killed in all these years. How long has it been?”

“Too long, Silver, too long. But ah still remember da’ day I had you coming on muh zep’ as a greenhorn. Those were the days!” he said with a sigh hiding in his melancholic words.

Old memories of long expeditions came rushing back to Silver and Pearl, memories of their time spent aboard the fleet’s flagship zeppelin, all filled with perils shrouded in the unknown.

“So, why come back from the ocean? Did the war-call tug on your soft strings, captain?”

“Naah, I’ve been in Ponyville for a while now; it’s a much bigger story than that actually . . .”

Silver took a glance out on the window. The capital was still far away and the loaded train was chucking heavy clouds of steam just to keep up with the slopes that lead to the mountain-based city.

“We got time, captain.”

Pearl cracked a smile. “All righty’ then. Well, here I was, over a year ago, back in good ol’ Issac’s Port . . . I was getting ready for a shipping run over to tha’ gryphon’s lands when this unicorn and his dragon friend come to me on the docks . . .”

*** *** ***

Heavy iron doors swung open. Lights went on in rows in the large hall that housed the Royal Armory. Princess Luna walked inside, her steps echoing loudly in the otherwise silent facility.

Blink’s shades faded off as he took a good look around, disappointment quickly replacing his excitement. Behind them, several guards and a unicorn wearing blacksmith clothing followed in their steps.

“Here is where we keep our main inventory. We have another hall across the city by the police barracks, but we use this one for guard and army supply storing,” the blacksmith said as he tried to keep up with Luna and Blink.

“It is very much as it was before my . . . time away,” Luna spoke, eyeing a nearby rack stacked with long swords.

“In fact your highness,” he said, levitating a sword to him, “these are new, carbide-steel issue swords. The blade has been magically treated to toughen the carbide so it won’t shatter easily; it also has a black diamond tip,” he added, his eyes gleaming in appreciation of the weapon.

“Swords and spears! In over a thousand years all you’ve done was toughen up the blade?” Blink finally voiced his thoughts, head turning around and spotting the same weapons everywhere. “Is that everything we have for our armies?”

The blacksmith froze, nervously gulping as he noticed the unicorn’s armor. He figured out his rank in an instant, having seen a similar design, but in gold, on Shining Armor.

“We have something else too, if you’ll follow me sir; and your highness.”

He led them further down the deposit, where he rushed towards a rack, floating back to them several new pieces. “Standard issued ranged weapons, sir,” he said, presenting a bow, a crossbow and what seemed like a spear but with short barrel at the end of it.

“You must be kidding me-”

“If you allow me, Captain,” Luna intervened before Blink could say another word. “Do you happen to have the items we’ve sent you this morning?”

The blacksmith unicorn nodded. “I’ll bring them right away!”

As he left, Blink floated the crossbow over to himself, studying it. “I can’t believe we’ll have to use these ancient things against them,” he huffed, throwing the weapon back on the rack it came from.

“Fret not, Midnight Blink. Thine worries will fade off quickly.”

As Luna spoke, the blacksmith returned in a hurried gallop, several weapons on his back. He placed them on the floor between the ponies, and stepped back to allow them to study the items.

“These are samples of what our enemies have, namely the gryphons. As you can see, Captain Blink, they make extensive use of spears and swords as well.”

“What about this thing?” he picked up a long rifle-looking gun from the stack of weapons and studied it closely. “Looks like a musket.”

“Uhh, yes sir; that is indeed a long range musket.”

“So you do know what things like these are, don’t you?” he asked, floating his magnum out of the holster underneath his armor, dangling it in front of the blacksmith.

“Well, we do have something like these muskets,” he said, pointing his hoof at the long handle with a half barrel on its end. “They are most effectively used by unicorns, but non-magic ponies can use them as well.”

Blink brought the odd looking weapon to his eye level, staring down the half barrel, to the blacksmith’s rather uncomfortable cringe.

“Please don’t do that sir; that one is enchanted and ready to use. You need to aim it and just think about triggering it, the spell cast on it does the rest.”

Blink quickly pointed it away from his face, slightly embarrassed by what was normally a very huge rookie mistake. He looked around, and for lack of a better target, he simply lowered the weapon and frowned, wishing for something to happen. The next thing he knew, a green blast fired from the tip of the short barrel, ending up in wooden rack of swords nearby. The shot was powerful enough to blast the rack into pieces, sending the weapons scattering across the floor and leaving patches of burnt wood, sizzling a dark-green smoke.

“This is somewhat better,” Blink stated, genuinely impressed by the force of the oddly looking gun. “We need these; lots and lots of these. At least one for every unicorn, what about ammunition? How does this thing actually work?”

“Magic charcoal,” Luna spoke after a lengthy period of silence from her part.

Her magic engulfed the weapon, taking it from Blink’s grasp. She removed the thin handle, and slowly peeled apart the rather sturdy barrel, much to the blacksmith’s amazement. What was left when she discarded the torn metal was a soft glowing, dark rock. “A rare kind of charcoal that can absorb magic energy. I remember these when they were used to light up underground rooms,” the Princess said, her thoughts drifting away into the past.

Blink raised an eyebrow. “Underground?”

“No smoke,” she said flatly.

“Aha . . . so, how many shots like those can this thing pack?” he asked the blacksmith.

“Each piece can do about five discharges, sir. You can replace the piece inside rather easily. The barrel is the one enchanted to trigger a reaction from the stone inside.”

“Good; don’t need me to tell you that we need all the magic charcoal we can get, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Stop calling me that . . .” Blink muttered, his brow dropping slightly.

“Call you what, sir?” the Blacksmith retorted, rather confused.

Luna turned her head towards the newly instated Captain, equally curious as to what made Blink uncomfortable by being addressed appropriately, given his rank.

“Nothing . . . one more thing though; have you ever heard of a machine gun?”

“A- what, sir?”

Blink sighed.

*** *** ***

As night fell across the land, Shining Armor could find no sleep for himself. The stallion stared at the ceiling, as he had been doing for the past hours. Twilight’s old room’s ceiling was still decorated with stars and nebulae, some of them fading in an out with a peaceful, soft glow. Their parents hadn’t done anything to the room ever since his sister left for Ponyville all those years ago.

Shining’s thoughts however were too many, too fast, and too dark for his liking. He turned his head to the left, catching in the dark the shape of his wife and son sleeping peacefully. Cadence’s wing was draped around Emerald, holding him close in her motherly grasp.

The stallion got up from the bed, careful as to not wake up any of them. He went to the balcony and simply stared out into the night. His eyes fell on the castle in the distance. He knew his sister and her friends were safe, but he didn’t know for how long. He could hear patrols running through the otherwise peaceful streets, and he could spot the sentries that were assigned to guard the most important pony in Equestria after the Princess.

Shining returned inside and went to the bed, gazing upon his sleeping son and wife. He leaned forward, gently placing a kiss on Cadence’s head. He then nuzzled Emerald softly, wishing that he would never leave their side. Alas, his mind was set. The stallion left the room, taking one more glance at his beloved family, before gently closing the door behind him.

*** *** ***

A lightning grazed the skies, momentarily drowning the sound of the falling rain with a loud, shattering thunder. The flash of light revealed a spec of white in the eternal barren, an alicorn standing lost in the middle of the wilderness.

Celestia raised her head, waiting for another lightning strike to get a glimpse of the distant horizon. A flash revealed distant hills and mountains, and a nearby forest. After days of walking she finally made it, but the cost was to match that feat. Her horn glow dimmed more and more as she tried to keep the zebra warm with her magic. She could no longer feel her wings, desperately trying to hold them parallel to her back as to not let the rain fall on the one she vowed to save.

Still, there was no sign of relief for the former Princess. Although the never-ending sand dunes were behind her, it could be another few days until she reached a settlement in Southern Equestria. A glimmer of hope sparked in Celestia’s heart as she spotted a lone light near the nearby forest.

When she reached the summit of the hill, a small house revealed itself, right at the edge of a young forest. The light she noticed before was coming through the windows, most likely a chimney fire with a family around it. Celestia knocked on the door, rain still falling as the skies wept across the land. Slow hoofsteps behind the door sent her a beam of hope. “It’s going to be fine, little one . . . we’re almost there,” she whispered to her sick passenger.

The door opened, revealing a rather old earth stallion. He stood there for a moment, before Celestia found her words. The pony’s ear flickered as soon as he heard the Princess’s voice.

“Apologies for disturbing you, but we are in need of shelter-”

“Say no more; come in, please, come in,” he invited her inside, opening the door wide.

Celestia hurried inside, where she was met with a desolating view. There was only one other room other than the main one, which held a simple table and a makeshift chair. The chimney was small and in desperate need of repair and care, the fire struggling to survive in the small space it had.

“I’m sorry if the place looks bad, it’s been some time since I had any visitors,” the stallion said, a sad hint in his voice. “You said you and someone else needed shelter, where is he?”

Celestia turned towards the pony, settling her wings down against her body and revealing the young zebra. The old pony however kept staring absently towards them. And then Celestia realised . . . “You’re-”

“Yes, dear lady, I’m blind; but now I can hear your friend you’re carrying over there and she doesn’t sound so good. I’ll make you two some herbal tea and fetch something to eat.”

Before Celestia could say anything, the pony went to the other room, returning after a minute with several torn blankets. He placed them in front of the fire place, where the Princess was working on releasing the harness so she could rest the zebra by the fire.

“Thank you, thank you very much,” she said, taking the blankets from the stallion’s hooves as he held them in front of him. She then removed the zebra from her harness with the little magic she had left, placing her gently on the wooden floor near the chimney, over the rags.

“I’m sorry, but this is all I have,” he said, dragging a sack over to them. “Please, help yourselves . . .”

Celestia opened the bag. Inside, some apples rested on top of a stack of dry hay. She grabbed an apple and crushed it with her magic, then slowly fed the small pieces into Early Shimmer’s mouth. To her relief, the semi-conscious zebra had enough strength to start chewing on the sweet apple mush as soon as she felt it.

“Is your daughter all right?” the stallion asked.

“She . . . is not my daughter.”

“She must be someone important for you to carry through this weather, not to mention these lands.”

Celestia quietly watched over the zebra, holding her hooves over the small fire, drying herself off. “She is important for someone.”

"Dear stranger, if I may ask, what is your name? And how did you end up in these parts?" the stallion asked, while dumping an old pot in a barrel of water and then placing it over the fire, stirring the flames.

“My name is . . . Celly,” she answered after a moment of reluctance. “We’ve been traveling through the great deserts for a few days now. The young one’s name is Early Shimmer, and she’s very sick; I must reach a hospital in Canterlot as soon as possible otherwise she won’t make it.”

“You’re in luck then, Miss Celly. There’s a small town several miles north,” the pony said, stuffing several herbs in the boiling pot, spilling some of the water in the process.

“Please, allow me.” Celestia straightened the pot over the fire and stirred the herbs inside.

“You’re a unicorn, right? Haven’t heard the sound of magic in a long time. Never thought I would miss it . . . I’m Bright Hope by the way. I know it sounds a bit ironic, but life is filled with irony, isn’t it?”

Silence settled as they stood by the fire, the two ponies and zebra listening to the calm sound of the rain’s dance over the rooftop.

“Bright Hope, is there no one else here living with you?”

“I’m afraid not, miss; just me and mother nature. Once every few years, a weary traveler or two knock on my door, just as you did tonight. We exchange stories and then part ways; in fact, you are the first pony I’ve talked to in over three years.”

“May I ask, how did you end up alone out here?”

“Well, I could tell you the whole story, Miss Celly, but the main reason is that, well, I’ve made mistakes; and I never took the opportunity to fix them. Instead, I spent the last twenty odd years of my life at the edge of the kingdom. Eventually I lost my sight after I got struck with an illness, and ever since then I never found the courage to go back.”

Lone sparks flew from the fire, dying off into the air. Celestia took the pot off the flames, and continued stirring the herbs inside quietly.

“I too ran away from my mistakes,” she eventually spoke. “I still don’t think I could fix them in any way . . .”

“There’s always a way to fix the past, Miss Celly. I was once a young stallion with bold dreams and aspirations, now I’m waiting for the seasons to come and go, wondering which one will be my last. I feel bad . . . not for myself, but for the ones I left behind.”

“Then why don’t you go back? Why is it too late for you to fix your past?” Celestia asked.

“I’m afraid there’s nothing for me to go back to. I’ve simply waited too long,” he said, his eyes letting a tear down his face.

The alicorn looked at the stallion, and saw the disappointment on his face, sensed the sadness in his heart. By her side stood a pony that came to terms with his misfortune, a pony that made peace with his regrets, but never managed to move on.

From the very few words of the old, blind stallion, Celestia understood more than she did from the months of senseless roaming across barren lands. A simple lesson, all but forgotten, eclipsed by centuries of watching over an entire nation. A true ruler simply does not run from responsibilities, nor mistakes. With all the things left unsolved back home, Ascending suddenly felt like a coward’s way out, a path Celestia never thought she would ever consider.

The two alicorns stood in the middle of an endless field, jagged, hot mountains painted over the horizon. The clouds were restless and the ground beneath still seemed warm after millions of years of natural terraforming. Two silhouettes stood before them, one donning a long, pure white robe, the other, a pitch black veil of darkness.

The white alicorn was the one to speak first. “We, Celestia and Luna, vow to watch upon this world, live among its creatures, and keep harmony using the Elements bestowed upon us. These elements: kindness, generosity, honesty, laughter, loyalty and magic, are to be the defining qualities of this world. No harm shall be done from our part to any creatures that might arise in this world, and we will respect their free-will no matter our involvement in their lives. We vow to watch upon this world, come the day when the last being shall part from its mortal form.”

“My sister hath spoken thy truth. These be our commitments . . .”

“Very well, Celestia and Luna. We wish you the best of luck as Watchers of this world. Remember your responsibilities and your limits. Always stay true to your virtues, as they will weave the fate of those that are to inhabit these lands until the very last day the sun will set upon them.”

With that, Life turned and walked away, his shape slowly fading into the sun’s shimmering rays. Death lingered for a few more moments, its cold stare eyeing up the two alicorns.

“You may Ascend at any point of your immortal lives, and continue watching over from above. Be wary, you would become deity, but never be able to return back from the skies.”

He too turned away and left, never to be seen again for centuries.

Celestia and Luna looked at each other for a fleeting moment, then down at the ground in front of them. A young sapling stood shyly above the fertile ground, leaves swaying gently in the calm breeze.

A dry heave cough brought Celestia back to the present, into the small wooden house at the edge of her kingdom. She placed a gentle hoof on the stallion’s shoulder next to her.

“Thank you, Bright Hope; for everything. I have to leave now however, she must see a doctor as soon as possible,” Celestia said, filling up a canteen with the hot tea and preparing the zebra for transport.

“No worries, Miss Celly. I’m glad I had someone to talk, and I hope your little friend gets well.”

Celestia floated Early Shimmer over her back, strapping her in, carefully tightening the various belts. She then made her way towards the door, the old stallion following in her wake.

“Keep going north along the small pathway, the town is a couple of hours trotting distance,” he advised, standing in the door. “And remember, there are no mistakes that can’t be undone.”

“I will remember it; and I also promise to come back one day for a visit. I feel that there are a lot of things we could talk about, Bright Hope.”

“That would be nice, Miss Celly,” he said, his face forming a genuine smile.

Celestia’s steps faded away into the night, and Bright Hope closed the door of his house. His smile faded as the harsh reality settled in: he was alone again. But as he walked towards the fire, he felt something odd under a hoof. He carefully grasped the light object with the tip of his forehooves and ran his nose across it.

The long, white feather tickled him slightly. His smile returned to him.

*** *** ***

“They told me Luna is responsible for it, ah wanna talk to her right this instance!” Applejack yelled at one of the large elite guards. “Blink! There ya are!” She yelled after the blue stallion walking by in the castle corridors, flanked by several ponies.

“I’ll be there with you in a minute guys,” he excused himself. “AJ, why-”

A hoof collided with his helmet, almost sending it flying off his head. The impact was powerful, but Blink knew it was only a warning one, coming from the apple-bucking mare. “Applejack, what the hell?” He asked, while quickly dismissing the guards that were about to intervene with a wave of the hoof.

“Don’t you cuss on me, mister fancy army stallion! Twilight’s worried sick for you, you haven’t talked to her in almost two days since that attack. And now ah’ find out muh brother got called in this war of yers? What gives?”

Blink’s eyes widened, and he raised a hoof to get a chance to retort; also, to prevent any further attacks from the angry farm pony. “No! I remember clearly mentioning Princess Luna to have any relatives or close friends of ours not included on the drafting lists. I checked those lists myself, your farm didn’t get visited by any guards.”

“Then why did ah see him passing by the castle court and headin’ towards Celestia-knows-where with so many other ponies?”

“AJ I don’t- ughhh, you,” he gestured towards a nearby guard, “please escort her to whoever is managing and training the newly drafted stallions. On my orders, her brother is free of serving duty.”

“Yes, sir,” the guard snapped to attention, joining Applejack’s side, waiting for her.

“AJ, I’m sorry, but I don’t have more time. I hope this helps,” Blink said, rushing back on his way towards the blacksmith.

As he took a corner, a hoof grabbed him by the shoulder. He turned his head, but found himself in an entirely different place that he was a mere moment ago. Luna was standing right by his side, staring up into the night sky.

“Is this- where did you-”

“This Midnight Blink, is the Observer. I use it to see the night sky even when it is sun outside.”

The stallion turned his head around, taking in the stunning sight. The lines of the top of the room were almost unnoticeable, as if they were actually under the midnight sky.

“Why is it that you fear responsibility?” Luna simply asked, taking a few slow steps towards the center of the room.

“What do you mean? I’m not afraid of responsibility,” he said, but his voice betrayed the fact that he was having a rather hard time convincing himself.

“You loath being called by your new rank, you hesitate when we speak our minds in the War Room, and you ask those under your command to do thinks as if you were asking for a favor.”

“I don’t want to have anyone depend on me,” Blink admitted after a short pause. “I was just a guard a few days ago; I’m not a captain . . . I can’t lead anyone.”

“Yet you are wearing one’s armor.”

“You gave it to me, I didn’t ask for it.”

“I did so because I believed you can bear it. War is at our doorsteps, Midnight Blink, I cannot waste time bringing out the leader in you. It is something only you can muster.”

Blink took a silent, deep breath. “All right, Princess. I’ll try to act my rank.”

“The blacksmith, was it not?” Luna asked, staring at the Observer’s dome while her horn started glowing.

“Huh?”

The room seemed to tilt, and as the stallion staggered on his hind hooves, he found himself passing through a dark shadow on a wall. He immediately felt intense heat against his back, and found himself in a busy hall filled with steam and work stallions.

His mind still joggled Luna’s words when his ears picked up on the most unexpected of voices. “Ohh darling, you’re here!”

Rarity was nearby, close to an assembly bank. The production managers he had been talking to previously were next to her.

“Rarity, what are you doing here?”

The pearl-white unicorn floated a handkerchief to her brow, wiping it with utmost of grace and finesse. It all came as a great contrast to the full-grain leather apron and metal hoof protectors.

“I just couldn’t sit there in the castle, knowing what’s about to happen. I thought I might be of help here, so I did just that.”

“She’s a natural, sir. Fixed several hundred sets this morning alone,” one of the chief blacksmiths nearby said to Blink.

He raised an eyebrow. “Fixed?”

“Well you see Blink, there isn’t much I can do about making armor look . . . fashionable, but why shouldn’t it be worn comfortably? All those straps were placed in the most inconvenient of places!”

“Rarity, that’s great, I guess, but don’t you think this places is a little too . . . dirty?”

“Nonsense! Why shouldn’t I do my best to help everyone I can? Pinkie has been helping out in the canteen for the new recruits and Rainbow Dash is in Cloudsdale by now, preparing for the worst,” she said, her voice becoming tainted with sorrow as she talked. “We’re all trying to help somehow . . . Speaking of which,” she suddenly remembered, her face lighting up a bit, “your armor is ready!”

“My armor?” Blink looked down on his Captain set, the one worn by Shining Armor before him.

“Yes, your battle armor.”

It was Blink’s turn to have some interest sparked in his eyes. He approached the bench and took note of all the laid-out pieces. It was a dark, heavier version of his former night guard armor, and seemed much more resistant; and heavy.

“It was already made, I simply adjusted it for your size. Hope it fits well for tomorrow, I heard you will have quite a training session.”

“Ahh, that. Thank you, Rarity. And thanks for all the help with the armors, I’ll pick mine later tonight.”

“No worries, darling, take care.”

The fashionista then resumed her work on several pieces, while Blink made his way to the furnaces further down the vast, royal blacksmith halls. He stopped in front of a casting line, where several stallion were hard at work, hammering at several long barrels taken right off their dies.

“Iron Melt?” Blink asked, addressing all the ponies there which were wearing full face and body protection.

“Yes, sir!” one of them approached him, taking off his heat mask.

“How’s it looking? Think you can get some of them done by tomorrow?”

“We’ll try, sir; but I’m afraid we won’t be able to make more than four of these, five if we’re lucky. We just don’t have enough ponies assigned on it, everyone’s swamped.”

“How about ammo?” Blink asked, studying the long, red-hot barrels from a safe distance.

“We re-assigned that task to a small factory that used to deal with casting. It’s a mile away from here, near the central industrial part of the capital.”

“What did they produce before this?”

“Door hinges.”

Blink’s face dropped.

“Don’t worry sir, some of the ponies that used to produce rounds for hoofguns like your magnum oversee the production, they said they can do it.”

“I hope they can. You can return to your work then . . .”

With that, Blink left the production halls, checking the output on his way out. Thousands of armor sets, rows upon rows of stacked arrows and racks filled with magic muskets were leaving the lines, hundreds of stallions -and even some mares- swarming around in the hot, smoke-filled mess. Once he got outside, he gulped for fresh air, squirming his eyes to protect them from the light.

The sun was high on the sky, signaling that it was about noon. He focused, horn glowing stronger and stronger until a flash of blue engulfed him completely. A moment later he appeared in an inner court inside the guard training campus near the barracks.

“If it isn’t our beloved Captain of the Royal Guard. Late as usual, I see . . .”

Blink turned to his right, noticing General Dark Shine throwing him a rather spiteful look. Luna was to his left, attempting to hide a smirk.

“Well hello to you too, Dark,” he said, not even glancing at him as he made his way to the line of stallions in front of them, trying his best to ignore the grumpy old Archmage.

“These are our special magic units,” the Princess spoke, approaching Blink.

“Why are their horns so . . . long?” the stallion asked, somewhat uncomfortable staring at the slightly longer horns of all the ponies standing at attention in front of him.

A chuckle escaped the Princess’s lips. “They were born like that. They are highly skilled in the art of precision magic,” she explained.

“Well, let’s see what all the fuss is about, then.” Blink nodded towards one of them, and he saluted, albeit somewhat awkwardly.

“Most of them are not from a military background,” the Princess explained. “But their talent make them essential for this war.”

Everyone backed away, leaving the pony Blink instructed alone, facing a distant target. He opened a sealed, metal box next to him, and floated a very small capsule-like object next to him. His horn started glowing, and his body was engulfed in a thin, protective magic layer. The capsule floating in front of him opened up, revealing a minuscule pebble of some sorts. Blink squinted his eyes, trying to figure out what it could be, but it only seemed to be an ordinary rock.

The stallion’s horn kept glowing brighter and brighter, a white, translucent hemisphere forming from its tip, aimed at the target dummy a couple hundred feet away. The tiny rock-like object was no longer visible, as waves of pure magic emanated from the very ground the pony stood on, spinning and twirling around the unicorn.

A sudden explosion of light almost blinded Blink, his eardrums ringing painfully from the cracking sound. He covered his eyes with a hoof, having forgotten to cast a pair of protective shades for himself. The pillar of flames that erupted from the tip of the stallion’s horn was as bright as the sun and the entire beam was aimed with the help of the magical hemisphere.

When the infernal sound stopped a few seconds later, Blink raised his eyes warily. The distant target was no longer there, and a dark line of burnt ground went all the way from the long-horned stallion and beyond the place where the target used to be. It seemed to have went into a large tunnel, from where smoke was already emanating.

“Impressive, is it not?” Luna asked.

Blink shook his head, trying to get rid of the ringing in his ears. “What . . . exactly was that thing?”

The pony that demonstrated the spell floated the same rock he had brought up back into its capsule, and into the metal box next to him. The shield that was acting like a second skin faded away as well.

“Molecular-precision grade magic,” said a light blue stallion wearing a pair of glasses which standing next to them. “All of us here have a particular talent. We can work on an extremely small scale with our magic. Most of us are in fact scientists, some even doctors.”

“That didn’t look small scale to me,” Blink said, approaching the one standing by the metal box. He turned to them, a sly grin on his face.

“Most big things start out small,” he said, picking up on the conversation. “We make use of a rare material, Grenium 241. We cast a spell on it, increasing heat and pressure to trigger a fission reaction, of which output we control and direct using a dome-shaped energy field.”

“You’re blowing up nuclear bombs at the tip of your heads,” Blink said, jaw hanging from the realization. “How are you still alive?”

“Uhh, we’re not really blowing up anything sir, it’s just a controlled chain reaction with directed output. Albeit, it’s dangerous and often fatal if proper shielding is not used, but under appropriate protocols, this sort of spell is used to create tunnels or melt tougher materials.”

“This is great! How long can you maintain the spell though?”

“Ten second continuous burst, maybe a bit more. But then we require a cooldown of at least five minutes. The nature of our precise magic application causes our horns to . . . well, overheat. Not talking about a magic burnout, the cartilage itself actually overheats when casting that spell due to the passing of accelerated parti-”

“-I see, I see. Lots of damage, slow reload,” Blink muttered while staring at the other unicorns, doing some mental calculations.

“Did he just compare us to weapons?” one of them asked a friend in a hushed voice.

“That’s not enough!” Blink declared, more to himself, having finished his calculations. He then faced the stallion he interrupted. “You seem smart. Nitrogen; liquid nitrogen. I’m sure you’ve heard of it, right?”

The unicorn’s ears dropped, and he took a big gulp. “Uhh . . . yes?”

*** *** ***

“Next!” shouted a unicorn, standing at a makeshift table, holding a quill in his magic grasp.

Canterlot’s train station was filled with steaming trains and hundreds of ponies from the nearest cities and villages. Long lines of stallions were waiting for registration at the few tables manned by army officers, waiting to be told where to report to. Silver took a step forward, saluting the superior.

“Private Silver Wisp, 22 West Capital guard battalion, day shift. Was on a leave to Ponyville, took this train here.”

“Report to your barracks, dismissed! Next!”

As he left, Wisp turned his head, nodding at the white stallion behind him.

“Captain Pearl, Exploration Division veteran.”

The officer looked at him from under his brow. “The Zepp Force?”

“Yes, long time ago.”

“Report to the Iron Hangars. Don’t get your hopes up, though; don’t know if there’s any more room there.”

With a salute and a smile on his face, the white earth stallion left as well, squirming through the packed Central Station. Large chariots pulled by sets of six littered the streets nearby, carrying the new recruits to their designated barracks. Pearl climbed into one of them which had a sign that wrote “Mountain Base” and joined other ponies on a bench. Most of them seemed to be workers and all of them were earth stallions or unicorns. A jolt rocked the carriage, prompting Pearl to hold on to the bench beneath him.

The carriage sped through the busy streets, eventually entering a tunnel that looked recently re-opened. Pearl immediately recognized the service road to the Iron Hangars and all the trips he made through there back when he was part of the Equestrian army corps.

Minutes later, the vehicle halted and everyone jumped out. A powerful wind hit Pearl straight in the face as soon as his hoof hit the stone platform overseeing the docks. Everything looked the same way it did over a decade before: a dangerously narrow pathway clinging on the mountain, leading to a row of five huge iron doors dug deep into the mountain. The Iron Hangars rested on the opposite side of the mountain the capital did, and could hold ten zeppelins in the five hangars. Four of the huge iron doors were open, a zeppelin peeking out of every one of them.

“Captain Pearl? Well I’ll be damned!” The white stallion turned to face the one that called him by his former rank, and found quite a familiar face.

“Dust!” Pearl exclaimed, recognizing the old earth stallion with a long beard. “Don’t tell me you’re still Dock Master!”

“Sure am! What happened to you? Came back from the seas to save our asses?”

“Now that’s a long story and ah’m not sure I have the time for it. But I can say I’m glad to be back.”

Another carriage stopped behind them, several stallions carrying equipment out in a rush.

“Busy times with the war and everything Pearl, but I heard some good news: they want to put back yer’ old ship.”

Pear’s face dropped. “O’rlly? Well bugger me, is she still in one piece?”

“Like the day you left, mate; she hasn’t flown ever since.”

Out in the distance, a large group of pegasi, all wearing blue uniforms, approached the landing platforms near the four hangar bays which were open. They all landed in perfect formation, and marched inside the hangars.

“Who are the blue princesses?” Pearl asked with a mocking grin.

“They’re the crews of them four zepps. But don’t ya worry though, you’ll get your own in no time, if Spits approves it.”

“If I approve what, exactly?” came the voice that made Dust freeze in place. He turned and saluted the newly instated Pegasus General, who slowly approached the two of them. “Ma’am, this is a former captain of one of the exploratory zeppelins. I know him from way back in the days.”

As he spoke, another chariot stopped nearby, and a new wave of earth and unicorn ponies stepped out. They, however, were not workers, nor dock personnel.

Meanwhile, Spitfire inched closer to the white captain, who gave her a rather lazy salute. She stared at his only eye, and puffed out: “An earth pony? Captain in the Royal Zepp Force? Sounds absurd! Yet somewhat familiar . . .”

“He was the best in the entire force, ma’am,” the Dock Master said without any hesitation.

“Hmm . . .” Her eyes caught something that left her almost speechless. “Well then captain, you can have your old ship back . . .” She paused, eyes scanning all the faces in front of her. “So you’re the famous non-pegasi fliers. I hope you’re all ready to fight for this kingdom, we need all the help we can get. Dismissed.”

A set of hooves standing at ease stomped behind Pearl. He turned around and almost could not believe his eyes. Several earth and unicorn stallions were lined up behind him, looks glimmering in the light of the falling sun. Silver Wisp himself was there, a wide smirk plastering his face.

“Well, it seems your ol’ crew is here as well now,” Dust said, elbowing Pearl.

“You boys . . . you bloody boys came back?” Pearl’s voice began to crack slightly.

“Once a zepper, always a zepper, captain!” shouted one of them, drawing the rest into a joyful frenzy as they celebrated their reunion. Their voices and shouts echoed across the mountain hangars, just as they did so many years before.

*** *** ***
To be continued

Author's Note

Pt.2 coming soon! (within a week, maybe earlier)

Chapter 25: The Last Dawn pt.2

Chapter 25

The Last Dawn
Pt.2

The candles were burning away, their flames casting dancing shadows on the cold walls of the round chamber. The silence in the War Room was deafening; the table was packed with ponies. Blink sat, as always, next to Luna, yet on the other side of the Princess’ two seats were now free, instead of one. The ponies that were present would sneak a glance at the empty seat, all wondering the same questions. The reunited army council was stunned by the news, and Luna was darting her eyes from one pony to the other, seeking some sort of unspoken answer.

“He could have just- I don’t know . . . why would he do such a stupid thing?” one of them asked. “Our General of the Armies . . . gone; dead for all we know-”

“He has not perished!” Luna broke out.

“Dead or not, this is treason,” Dark Shine’s tongue slithered from one side of the table.

Blink shot a deathly glare to the one accusing his soon to be brother-in-law, the air around him dropping in temperature.

“A very small battalion; two, probably three hundred stallions; most of them ponies he directly commanded when he was Captain of the Royal Guard. This was done in great secrecy, and we only found out of this by hearsay,” another high ranking officer said.

“Do we know anything else about their current whereabouts?”

“They must have arrived at Tartarus by now. Same is to be said about the main changeling swarm,” Luna spoke. “Now we can only hope he knew what he was doing. What other news do we have?”

After a heavy moment of silence, Spitfire was the one to speak first. “Your Highness, we managed to gather fifteen thousand more pegasi. We now have almost forty thousand ready, all gathered on Cloudsdale. The city is relocating to a safer location as we speak.”

“Any other supplements?”

“We have some forces coming from up north. They managed to sneak past the changeling lines without being detected, though the report is unclear as to how,” Iron Hooves reported.

“That is good. How do we look on casualties so far?”

“Minimal, your highness. Most villages and towns in the changeling swarms’ path were evacuated. Ponies took to the forests and mountains where they would be safe. The swarms seem to be heading straight towards Canterlot now. Gryphons are flying from the east and now we have more reports about the minotaurs coming from south-west. They’re all closing in on us.”

“It'll be hard to call this a war. It'll be over in one battle,” Spitfire murmured, more to herself.

“How many days?”

“Two. Three if we’re lucky,” Iron Hooves estimated.

“Have we considered all possibilities? We have entire divisions on each side of the continent,” Blink asked.

“They’ve been ordered to move towards us, and small battles with enemy troops left behind have already taken place. Their armies are sandwiched between us and them, but even so, we are greatly outnumbered. We have to wait for all changelings, gryphons and minotaurs to strike before we can order the outer troops to move in. If we don’t time it properly, one of our sides will be devastated, and then the other will have the same fate.”

“Meeting adjourned,” Luna interrupted them. “We’ll resume it as soon as we get more information from our eyes out in the kingdom.”

The room was filled by the sound of chairs dragged across the floor as all the ponies stood up to salute. “Training session, first thing in the morning,” the Princess briefly told Blink as she left. He nodded in understanding then left as well, making his way towards one of the castle’s towers.

As soon as he opened the door to Twilight’s old room, the unicorn rushed to him, trapping him into a powerful embrace. It has been less than a couple of days since the night he proposed to her, yet they’ve only talked to each other but a few times ever since.

“Twilight, we need to talk.”

She raised her tearing eyes to him briefly before burying his face into his neck. “Shining left me a letter.”

Blink’s heart sunk in his chest. “Twilight . . . I didn’t know he would do this. We just found out as well.”

She looked him in the eyes. “I don’t want you to go.”

He stood silent.

“I said I don’t want you out there! It’s bad enough as it is, and I couldn’t convince Rainbow to stay with us either.”

Blink began to shake his head. “I’m sorry, Twilight. I can’t. I have to do this.”

“No you don’t!” she yelled, tears flowing down her face. “This isn’t even your kingdom!”

He felt a pang in his chest, her words cutting deep. Yet he knew she would say just about anything for him to stay with her. There wasn’t a thing in the entire world that he wouldn’t have wanted more than that, but to him that was simply not a possibility.

“We are outnumbered Twilight, I can’t stay in this castle while thousands die to defend it. My friends will be out there, fighting. Pearl, Chaser, even Rainbow Dash.”

“I can talk with Princess Luna and have all of you exempt. And you can still help from a safer place; Blink, please . . . I don’t want to lose you. It’s hard as it is knowing that Shining might be-” She sat down on the floor, her legs too shaky to hold her. Twilight’s eyes wandered around as she raised a hoof at her trembling lips.

“I’m going to be safe, Twilight. I promise. I don’t want to do this as much as you do, but-”

“Lies! You want to fight, you want to kill!” Twilight face was now scrunched in anger, her eyes red from the tears and pain. “Admit it!”

It hurt him to hear that, not because the words were said in anger and spite, but because somewhere behind them, behind the thin veil of meaning, Twilight’s words were true.

“I have to do this . . .” he simply said, his eyes avoiding hers. “I hope you can understand, but there’s nothing you can do to change my mind.”

The tremor in her eyes was enough to figure out the pain she felt. “But we’re . . . together, Blink. As- as mare and stallion,” she stammered, desperately trying to find something that would make him stay.

“I know. That’s why I’m doing it,” he added with a pained smile then did the hardest thing he had done in his life: he turned away, and without giving her another look, Blink left the room, leaving Twilight alone in her dismay.

He barely made it to the bottom of the tower, before smashing a hoof in a wall. “Fuck it! Fuck it . . .” he muttered, trying to calm himself. “It’s okay, she’ll be safe . . . it’s all that matters. It doesn’t- ohh god, what have I done . . .” he said with a lost gaze, trying to convince himself that he did the right thing back there.

“Blink . . . Blink, are you okay, mate?” a familiar voice brought him back to reality. Chaser was standing in an archway nearby, looking somewhat worried.

“I’m fine,” he said with a fake smile, clearing his voice.

“Yeah, nice try. What happened?”

Blink went past him, and Chaser followed him. “Nothing just . . . marriage problems, I guess,” he said dejectedly, trying to pass a light chuckle. “Don’t worry about it though, you all right?”

“Yeap, shoulder’s perfect now and they just let me go from the castle’s infirmary ward. Now I was looking for ya. Nice Captain uniform you got there. How did you manage that again?”

“Luna appointed me, but more to give me a seat in the War Room.”

“Ohh, someone’s important now. So, how we doin’? Heard there are three nations coming down on Canterlot in a few days and our General left the capital last night with a division.”

“Yeah, Shining went rogue with a bunch of his old guards, have no idea how he’s going to face an entire swarm like that. He really didn’t like the idea of leaving Tartarus to fall in Changeling hooves. I don’t know what to do Chase, Twilight is devastated and I just- I don’t know how to handle everything.”

“Well mate, first thing’s first: you need to stop feeling bad for yourself, and remember that we’re all in this together. I know you Blink. You’re strong, but you just don’t know it; and I’m not talking only about magic here. Look, I’ve been ordered to remain in the castle for now, been promoted to Royal Guard Officer after the Gala attack, so I I’ll see you around, okay?”

Blink nodded. “Yeah, I guess I’ll see you around. Thanks, by the way.”

“Don’t mention it . . . Captain,” he added, throwing a salute in a comically manner before he went on his way.

*** *** ***

The night came, all too soon. Blink was sitting at the top of one of the castle watch towers, overlooking the entire city. From there he could see the mountain, the only one that dared to rise above the imposing castle behind him. Under the old peaks, a city of hundreds of thousands stretched wide, protected by an outer stone wall as old as the castle itself.

The capital, as the blue stallion watching over it, was sleepless. Thousands still worked feverishly to provide for the upcoming conflict, smoke trails rising from blacksmiths, factories and workshops around the city. High above in the skies, several tens of kilometers away, a large blob of clouds harbored another major city. Cloudsdale had stopped its approach on the capital so that the pegasi could rest for the night undisturbed. Even so, the floating city’s lights leaked though the clouds, shadows shifting as the base clouds moved around, restless in the night’s breeze.

Blink watched stoically as the moon raised above the distant line. His eyes pinned the horizon, wondering how far the enemy was from them. His heart leaped every time his eyes thought they saw something. An approaching set of wings beat made his ears flicker towards the source of the sound. The corner of his mouth twitched towards a slight smile as a purple dragon landed several feet in front of him, on the watchtower’s edge. He approached the stallion and quietly sat next to him on the stone bench.

“How’s Ponyville? Is Ruby okay?” Blink was the first to exchange words.

Spike watched the breathtaking view, eyes darting across the land and skies in front of him. “She’s fine. Everyone back home is fine. I arrived here a few hours ago, found out about Shining, also talked with Twilight and the rest.”

The night’s relative silence settled as the dragon paused, as if expecting Blink to say something regarding that. He didn’t keep him waiting too long. “I fucked up, Spike. Really bad.”

“I know,” Spike replied, not a tinge of anger in his voice. “And I would have doused you in flames by now if you hadn’t done it with a good reason.”

“So you understand?”

“Well, strangely enough, I can relate. Ruby was quite . . . angry when I sent her home.”

Blink stared wide-eyed at the dragon next to him. “You what?”

A pained smile formed on Spike’s face. “I told her I wanted her to stay in Ponyville, since I knew from one of the guards that our town is not in relative danger. She refused, saying that she wanted to help in the war and then I just- I just told her off. Said that she isn’t welcomed on my territory anymore. So she flew back home, to the Dragon Lands.”

“I’m sorry, Spike,” Blink said in genuine understanding. Spike simply nodded, trying to hold back his feelings. The stallion rested a hoof on his shoulder. “I know it’s hard, but it’s also for the best. Come on now, move your ass back inside the castle and watch over Twilight for me. Can you do that?”

“Yeah, guess I can. See you tomorrow?”

“I’ll be around, yeah. Good night, Spike.”

“Good night, Blink.”

The drake stood up, approached the edge of the tower and gave Blink one last look over the shoulder before jumping off. His wings caught the mountain’s breeze as he slowly glided down into the castle’s court, several hundred feet away.

Blink turned his head back towards the view in front of him, thoughts slipping away at the upcoming events. He threw a night guard cloak over his back. The autumn’s wind was getting colder with every passing day. Just as he was about to light up a torch from a rack nearby, the sound of hoofsteps made their way to his ears. He would have dismissed it as just a guard doing his round on the castle wall if it wasn’t for the distinct lack of armor’s clinking noises.

He inched closer towards the edge of the tower, craning his neck to see who it was on the wall beneath. It didn’t come as a surprise when he saw Luna simply standing there, staring at the capital basking in her moon’s light, her mane waving in the cold wind. But then a guard came from an archway on the wall, and stopped next to her.

“My Princess . . .” he said in a somewhat familiar voice, without even bowing.

Blink focused his eyes on the night guard, ready to teleport next to them and deal with him at the earliest signs of a threat. Luna however turned to the eerie guard and smiled lovingly, making Blink raise an eyebrow in confusion.

“Somewhere up there,” the guard said, pointing to a few clouds close above them, “is where we first met. I still remember that night, Luna. You looked beautiful, as you do now, my Princess.”

Blink’s jaw dropped. Princess Luna, having relationships with a guard? It all seemed so odd to him, an immortal alicorn pursuing a love interest with an ordinary pony was something Blink couldn’t have imagined. His mind worked feverishly, trying to figure out who the unknown stallion was. The guard’s helmet helped preserve his identity, however the familiar voice irked him greatly.

Luna draped her large wing over the guard’s back, and only then Blink noticed he was a pegasus, the Princess’s large feathers putting the stallion’s to shame. All the pieces started falling into place inside Blink’s head, yet the realization came just a moment after the guard removed his helmet. As the two lovers below softly pressed their lips against each other’s, Blink recalled a certain pegasus’s words as they stared at the night sky back in the Flatlands.

“I always wanted to meet her one day, ever since I found out she returned a few years ago.”

Blink stood there dumbstruck, watching as his best friend share a deep kiss the very Princess he served. He slowly returned to the stone bench, the initial shock fading away as loneliness replaced it. Deep inside, he genuinely felt happy for Chaser, but he couldn’t shake the sadness that came with his current predicament.

He pulled the cloak tighter around himself, steam gushing out his nostrils in the cold night air. “So that’s why he’s so fucking happy every time she’s around,” he huffed into the night, and despite all that was happening around him, a grin found its way on his face.

*** *** ***

Twilight walked alone along the Hall of Heroes, a long corridor riddled with large, white statues of old heroes of the kingdom. She remembered with heavy heart the days when, as a small filly, would roam the corridors and rooms of the castle, but the place she would love spending the most time -second to the library- was that particular hall.

Her eyes went over the life-size statues, their names imbedded in her memory. ‘Greyhound the Brave’, a courageous earth stallion that fought against the manticore packs way before Celestia and Luna revealed themselves to the ponies of those lands. Further down the hall the statue of ‘Silver Thought’ rested peacefully, a mare that even in present times was considered the greatest chemist to have ever lived.

Like them, many other dusty, white statues captured the figures of the greatest images of Equestria’s history. Eventually Twilight reached the end of the Hall of Heroes, and looked up to one particular pony statue. ‘Starswirl the Bearded’ posed bravely as one of the greatest wizards in pony history.

Twilight ran her hoof over the statue’s name plate, wiping the thin film of dust that had settled. There were no more cleaners ever since the Gala attack, just soldiers. She sighed, and left the hall in search of Princess Luna. She had come to realise that she’d fought for Equestria so many times before, and that should not be a moment to start making exceptions. Twilight wanted to help somehow, and Luna seemed to be the perfect pony to talk about it.

As she passed several other statues, ones that depicted ordinary guards and were an often sight in the rest of the castle, her eye caught a familiar glimpse. She turned and galloped down the sunlit corridor, darting her head in every direction once she reached a crossway.

“It can’t be . . . she hasn’t been here in almost a year,” she murmured to herself, rubbing her eyes. The stress was probably making her see things. Yet somehow, she caught the same glimpse through a large, tall window, into the floor right below and opposite to hers.

Twilight rushed through a staircase nearby and cantered into the wing of the castle that held the royal bedchambers. She halted near a large oak door, which was half-opened, sun rays sipping through and casting a bright spot on corridor’s stone floor. Her horn threw a spark, and a scroll puffed into existence, dropping on the sunlit part of the floor. The moment she noticed the seal on the message, she stepped inside, ignoring the message completely.

Her once pristine coat was dirty and damp, the royal garments were long gone and her silhouette was much thinner than she remembered. Yet the look in her eyes as she turned her head from the large window was warm and compassionate, the same as it always was.

Twilight ran to her mentor, hugging her chest while tears starting flowing down her already damp cheeks. “Princess Celestia . . .”

“Twilight, my dear, dear student . . .” Celestia whispered softly, draping a hoof around Twilight’s neck.

*** *** ***

A large golden shield bashed against his side, sending the stallion to the ground. Blink quickly raised to his hooves, eyes scanning the ponies in front of him.

A semicircle of stands formed an open-air arena, yet there were but a few attendants, which numbered, among other high-ranked military personnel, Luna, Rarity and a guard Blink recognized as Chaser, standing at a socially safe distance from the Princess.

A couple of pegasi charged at Blink, and he managed to avoid them in the last moment by blinking away. His recently mastered spell provided instant short-ranged teleportation, however, after a few dozen times he’d used that spell to dodge incoming attacks, his magic was already beginning to wear out.

The visor of his armor was annoying him, and the weight of the entire ensemble was not helping either. The heavy chainmail coat that stood between his fur and the actual armor pieces was hard to ignore, as it limited his movements and drained his stamina with every step he took.

His lungs burned for fresh air, heart pumping faster than an engine. An earth stallion swung his sword at him from the side, but Blink managed to grab it with his magic, throw it away, and then bash the attacker with an invisible magic blast.

He’d been at it for almost an hour. The exercise was organized specially for him, and it focused mainly on crowd control. Over three hundred soldiers were amassed for that drill, and a hundred of them had already been taken out of battle by the Deathbearer. No hard hits were swung from either side, yet there was a fair share of broken bones and flying teeth up until that point.

A large earth soldier charged at the tired unicorn, planting his hind legs into the ground and swinging a heavy sword at Blink. For a fleeting moment, the memory of a lovely noon was everything that crossed Blink’s mind.

“This, this is very weird,” Blink murmured from under his shades, lazily glancing at a book he was floating over his head.

“What’s weird?” came Twilight’s voice as she raised her head from atop his shoulder, the calm summer breeze rustling a few strands of her mane. She placed her own book that she was reading atop a saddlebag.

The stallion kept watching his book as he spun it slowly in the air, the blue glow around it shifting from corner to corner. “The less surface I hold, the bigger the lift force has to be to keep it afloat. That’s weird.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, a light chuckle leaving her lips. “Actually, it’s the same magical lifting force, you just have to concentrate it on a smaller surface, thus the illusion of it being harder to lift. I see Luna isn’t teaching you a lot of magic theory, is she?” the mare added with a playful jab.

Blink raised his head from the ground, taking in a deep breath and stretching his forehooves. He glanced at the lake and small house nearby, feeling a slight remorse for not living in that house anymore. It mattered not however, since he was still able to spend quality time with Twilight at their usual date spot by the lake.

“Blink?”

“Uhuh, yeah. Sorry about that, phased out for a bit there. Anyway, I was wondering: what would happen if you increase the magical force while decreasing the contact surface?”

“But . . . that seems like a very inefficient way of moving an object.”

“Yes, moving. But I was thinking about destroying it.”

Twilight rolled her eyes again. “Well, that is exactly what’s going to happen if you change those two parameters as you said: a ruined book. Imagine applying a lift force enough to move a few hundred grams on just a group of molecules.”

“Exactly. Or better, a thin barrier of magic with a pulling force that increases exponentially the closer an object is to it.”

“I’ll never know why you don’t use all that thinking to learn useful spells.”

“Hey, you never know when you might need it!”

Twilight shook her head, then slowly settled back into the stallion’s embrace, resting her head across his shoulder.

His horn surged with magic, time seemingly grinding to a halt as his eyes pinned the rapidly approaching sword. Bitter anger was everything that brought out the last drops of magic from within.

“It’s all for you, Twilight . . .”

The sword came bearing down, aimed directly at his shoulder. Mid-air, however, it hit a barely visible magic barrier, causing a burst of sand-like particles to emerge on the other side of it. The sword passed through the magic field, disintegrating itself under the tremendous forces.

The attacking stallion lost the momentum of his heavy weapon, and fell face first onto the training ground’s floor. He got up in a heart-beat, noticing he was no longer holding the entire sword in his hoof, but only the handle with a tiny part of the blade’s base still there.

Blink’s eyes started to hurt, as the pair of small magic-born lenses began to fade. His head was spinning and the tip of his horn was spitting blue sparks of residue.

In the first row of the stages, the Princess did not look too glad as she watched the exercise. Blink’s front knee buckled, and he fell against the arena’s dusty ground. A group of unicorns that were about to attack him with a rain of fire bolts stopped in the middle of their spell-cast, the fiery spheres fizzing away into the air.

The ruthless drill, the constant attacks from a multitude of enemies and especially the heavy armor had taken their toll on the midnight blue stallion. He raised his hoof as to halt the entire thing, however that proved to be a mistake. A dark bolt of magic blasted into his side, sending him tumbling across the arena. All the soldiers stared silently at the attacker, as she approached Blink with hurried steps, a thin strand of smoke coming from her horn.

“Thine enemy shall not ponder to give you rest. Dismissed!” Luna yelled at the rest, and the entire arena began emptying.

Blink got up, teeth gritted from pain and anger. “This thing is too fucking heavy,” he spat, throwing the helmet from his head. “And they’re too many. I can’t handle all of them without using more magic.”

“If thou uses more energy, thou shall also perish sooner, when the last drop of magic will flee from your body.”

“I can use my Night-”

“Thou shall do no such thing!” Luna’s voice boomed. “I would rather lose the battle than the entire world to your dark side.”

“If I may, Princess?” a more suave voice came from behind the alicorn. Rarity smiled sheepishly as he approached the two. “I wanted to see how he moves in combat so I can adjust the piece for him, but given how restrictive and rather heavy the entire thing is, I think I can come up with a better alternative. I’m a bit unsure about the availability of the materials though.”

“Do it, I will see to it that you have everything you need,” Luna said, and the white unicorn left to the castle in a hurry.

The Princess then leaned forward, grabbed Blink by the shoulder and helped him up. She floated the helmet from the ground and handed it to the worn-out stallion. “You must focus at all times, Captain Blink. I know of your fighting skills but today your mind was not in this arena.”

“I wonder what makes you think that?” he asked sarcastically.

“I am aware of your disagreements with Twilight, but you can not let that affect you, not when we are so close to the biggest conflict this kingdom has seen in centuries. It may sound harsh, but tis the truth: there are more important things at this moment that thy little ruckus.”

“I understand, Princess,” the stallion muttered, brushing the dust of his armor.

“Let us return to the castle. There is little we can do at this time regarding your training but I trust that you will bring out thine best in the fields of battle.”

“On the battlefield, you mean.”

“Tis’ what I said.”

Blink rolled his eyes, joining Luna in the short walk from the training grounds to the castle.

*** *** ***

An ear-piercing, obnoxious racket filled the metal hallway of the barracks at the dead-end of Hangar 1. Ponies came out of the small bunk rooms, their hoofsteps running against the grilled floor adding more to the rumpus. At the exit of the crew’s sleeping quarters stood Pearl, wearing a hearty grin while bashing two pots against each other.

Once all twelve stallions were out and standing in the hallway, he threw the pots away. “Come on ya lazy bastards, we’re late for chow.”

“Glad some things never change, Captain,” a tall unicorn with a chipped horn said, leaving the quarters first on his way to the canteen. The others followed suit, rubbing their hangover out of their eyes.

“I don’t think it was such a good idea to drink last night,” Silver said as he walked alongside Pearl.

“It was a bloody fine night, I’ll tell ya that, greenhorn.”

“That was over ten years ago, I’ve been a guard ever since, you know that from last night.”

“I’d be lucky if I remember any of yer or the boys’ stories from last night. Still, it’s nice to have the old crew back. Well, most of it.”

The two of them joined their crew in the hangars’ canteen, all sitting at one of the five large tables placed on a rock plateau overseeing the hangar’s interior from the mountain’s heart.

“Looks that those pansies still don’t have eyes for the likes of us,” one earth stallion said with a mouthful of potato salad, returning a spiteful glance at a nearby table seated by young pegasi wearing blue uniforms and matching army bonnets.

“To hell with ‘em! They’re just jealous that we did a better job than their daddies,” the tall unicorn with chipped horn said, food flying from his mouth as he spoke.

“Calm down Tiny, we’re in this war together,” Silver urged, digging into his food.

Soon after that, the entire canteen stood up to attention as Spitfire landed nearby, flanked by two other high-ranked pegasi officials.

“At ease!” came her loud order, and she headed towards Pearl’s table. “Captain Pearl, take your stallions and follow me to Hangar 1.”

The ponies at the table got up, muttering protests under their breaths, some of them snatching some food for the road, while others devoured the content of their plates as they rose from their seats in a hurry to follow the fiery General.

“You and your crew are slackers. But luckily for you, you’re the oldest, most experienced active slackers in the Zepp Force. And tomorrow I’m expecting the best out of you, do I make myself clear, Captain?”

“Yes ma’am,” Pearl replied while walking alongside her, his crew following in their steps.

After going through a service tunnel, they were back to their respective hangar, but that time they were on the service platform of their zeppelin, situated at the bottom of the large pony-made cave. Tens of workers and engineers were swarming on and around the zeppelin’s closed basket, hammering, drilling and moving equipment. Two metal arms branched out of the basket mid-section, holding a pair of engines but only one had a brand new eight-foot tall propeller attached to it, the other one lying on the ground nearby. On the side, one could barely make out the name of the ship, the paint almost being almost entirely peeled off.

Spitfire raised an eyebrow, then turned to the white captain. “Celestia’s Pearl? This zeppelin was never white to begin with.”

The Captain and his entire crew behind him held devious grins on their rough faces. “Well pardon me General Spitfire, but have you ever seen Celestia’s pearl to know of its color?” Pearl asked, refraining from bursting into a laugh.

Spitfire’s mouth hung opened for a few seconds but as she narrowed her eyes at the white stallion, the pegasus quickly remembered her priorities. “You and your crew are to be ready for battle by tomorrow. The hangar’s master engineer over here is going to explain all the technical details regarding your air ship. And no more drinking tonight, we’re at war for Celestia’s sake!”

She then turned away from the stallions and took flight, followed by her subordinates.

“Well someone needs to get that stick out of her fine rump, and I know just the thing that’ll help,” one stallion said, playfully jabbing the engineer with a hoof, sporting a mile-wide grin.

“I don’t know about that gentlemen, but uhh- yes, your ship is-”

“Lay it out straight doc, how bad is she?” Pearl asked, picking up a piece that looked as if it came from one of the engines, then throwing it away over his shoulder.

“Well, she needs a lot of work. The basket is pretty old and the walls’ metal core is rusting away. I also noticed when I first went in that it was originally an open, low hanging basket.”

“Ye’r right about that, doc. Crank Shot, up ‘n center!” Pearl shouted at his crew, and a short unicorn stood out of the group. “This horny grease monkey did all the work on Celestia’s Pearl. Even soldered the basket shut and taped it to the balloon, for more speed and agility.”

“I see,” the engineer said, thoughtfully. “We had to re-weld the piece but it should be fine now, don’t really have time for a proper conversion, I’m afraid. Now, about the engines: they were dead. Replaced most internals, had to adjust and put together many pieces just to make them fit into those two ancient things. They’re the largest I’ve ever seen, I’m surprised the arms held being pulled by them with all that torque.”

Followed by the crew and their captain, the engineer walked along the platform, going through a small archway and outside of the hangar, on an exterior platform. There, a large balloon spanning at least a hundred feet across was slowly being filled up, huge canisters hooked up to it.

“The old one was in too bad of a shape, so here’s the new balloon. Again, we had to use the largest we had just so it can lift the whole basket once it’s fitted. Similar to the other ones however, the material for your balloon was enchanted by Archmage Dark Shine himself to repel exterior forces. Don’t rely on that however, it won’t last too long under concentrated attacks.”

As he spoke, the sun was slowly blocked away by a front of clouds, and one by one, the crew members raised their heads and stared at the sight above them. Dark layers of clouds advanced high up in the skies, putting the huge mountain to shame. The light levels lowered and lowered, the day turning into a late evening. The stallions continued to stare as the fast moving cloud layer revealed its end, which brought the realization of what it truly was.

Spread across the edge of the cloud base were over twenty spinning propellers, each roughly the size of one of their zeppelins. The blades slowed down, eventually coming to a stop, and banks of clouds extended out to the side, slowing down the floating city. Thousands of pegasi flew in and out of the clouds, looking like flies from the ground.

“Cloudsdale’s been ordered to re-locate behind the capital’s mountains, it’s the first time in decades they had to move out of their normal drift path. Anyway, back to your zepp,” the engineer said, noticing an approaching flocks of pegasi workers. They came down lowering large crates over onto the platform, over a dozen of them carrying each box.

The engineer grabbed a crowbar and pried open the side of the closest crate. “And this is another reason why your ship needed a larger, stronger balloon.”

Pearl let out a whistle as he ran a hoof along the large cannon inside the shipment container. “These are bigger than the ones I’ve seen on pirate ships at sea.” He then craned his neck and saw seven more crates stacked behind that one.

The engineer’s smile matched the captain’s enthusiasm. “Eight 42-pounder, fast reloading cannons. Largest ever built; we pulled them out of a museum for you guys. All the other zeppelins are fitted with 34-pounders.”

The crew burst into celebratory cheers, taking joy in their recently-confirmed weapon supremacy. The Captain snapped the whistle from the engineer’s neck and blew it loud, calming everyone down.

“Now then, open up this one too,” he advised, pointing at a slightly smaller crate with labels reading ‘Danger’ and ‘Extremely Fragile’. The engineer pony complied and as the side of the crate fell against the platform’s floor, everyone from the crew hustled to see the content.

The box contained hundreds of cannonballs resting on racks stacked on top of each other as well as several other smaller boxes at the bottom. Tiny took one such crate in his magic grasp, eagerly pulling it out. His chipped horn however made him use more magic than intended and he ended up spilling the content on the entire platform, much to Pearl’s annoyment.

“What the bloody hell are these?” one crew stallion asked, running a hoof through the layer of hundreds of large bullets littering the floor.

“This,” the engineer said, picking one of them up and showing it to everyone, “is ammo for something we’ll be getting by the end of the day from the city.”

The entire crew stared at it, the amazement on their faces fading into an eagerness one would normally see on foal’s faces when they opened up Hearth’s Warming Eve’s presents.

*** *** ***

The silence in the royal study was palpable. Twilight raised her eyes to her mentor as she fiddled with a large chest, floating it in the middle of the room next to them.

“So, how is she now?”

“The doctors said she will recover. I’m just happy that she made it,” Celestia responded, referring to Early Shimmer. “She’s resting in the royal medical ward right now, but hasn’t woken up yet.”

She opened the chest, the settled dust rising in the air. “Obviously it will need to be adjusted for you, but I am sure it will fit nicely. Twilight, I must say this again: are you sure you want to do this?” Celestia asked after taking a long look over the content.

“Yes, Princess, I am sure. I fought for Equestria in the past, this won’t be any different.”

The door opened slowly, revealing a multi-colored-maned pegasus. Twilight’s face brightened at the sight of her friend, who opened the door wider to reveal four other mares behind her. They all looked tired and stressed, Rarity having several dark spots on her otherwise pristine white coat.

“Oh my, you’re really back, Princess!” Fluttershy gasped, raising her hooves to her mouth.

“It is true, my little ponies. And I’m sorry for having to leave everyone in the first place. Those were very troubled times for me . . .”

The mares gathered around the alicorn ruler, and Celestia could do nothing to resist their warm, friendly group hug. Some of them however showed reluctance, namely Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Celestia somewhat understood Dash’s behavior, based on the military grades she wore on her flight uniform, but Applejack’s palpable sorrow was troubling her greatly.

“Applejack,” Celestia spoke, approaching the farm pony and laying a hoof over her shoulder, “I’ve heard about Big Mac, but other than relieving him of his duty, there is little that can be done to stop him.”

“It’s all because of this damn war,” she eventually spoke, eyes touched by a slight tremor. “He won’t even consider not fighting. The same with this hard-head over here.”

“Even so, there is another reason why we all came here,” Dash retorted. “Some of us will be fighting in this war, one way or another, and don’t think I don’t know about your plan, Applejack.”

The earth pony said nothing. “What plan?” Twilight asked.

“We’re going to be near the battlefield,” Fluttershy said, much to everyone’s surprise. “Applejack and I will help the injured ponies out. She wanted to be as close to Big Mac as she can, and I do too . . .”

“In that case, I will not stand here while you two are risking your lives like that,” Rarity affirmed.

“I don’t mean to be rude Rarity, but treating injuries isn’t as easy as it sounds,” Fluttershy said meekly. “I have a lot experience with animals and so does Applejack-”

“Fluttershy this is ridiculous!” Dash exclaimed, interrupting her. “It will be hell out there, and you of all ponies want to go into that?”

“Girls please, let’s not fight,” Twilight said, trying to calm everyone else before things would escalate. “If- if they want to go, then I guess they can go.”

Dash’s face dropped. “What? How can you support this, Twilight? You know very well that-”

“Because I’ll be there too. If Fluttershy and Applejack want to come and help the injured, I can’t tell them that they can’t because I understand why they are doing it. We all have ponies we care for which are about to face who-knows what very soon. And because of the bonds we share with them, making these kind of decisions is . . . understandable.” Her ear twitched a bit as she talked, feeling the slight weight of her engagement earing. “I believe however that Rarity and Pinkie Pie should stay here, in the city,” Twilight continued, turning towards the two ponies.

“You two can help much more here than you could on the war field. Rarity, I know you’ve been working the last days without resting, adjusting and improving armor sets for our soldiers and I also know that you, Pinkie Pie, have been cooking in the canteens for the new recruits ever since this whole thing started. While I have no idea how you managed to make enough food for thousands of ponies every day, I know for certain that we will need all that help in the following days as well.”

“So, that’s it? We’re all going our different ways?”

“No Rainbow Dash, we will all do our best to help Equestria face another danger, just like we always did. And we will never be separated, because our friendship is stronger than mere distance. I know this might be scary girls, but this time, this danger we face is much bigger than us, and we have to work with others to pull through it.”

“Wait just a minute,” Pinkie interrupted, pulling a small box from behind her, snapping it open in the air so that five necklaces and a small crown would land on everyone’s necks, and Twilight’s head. “Why don’t we use these? If we made Discord and Nightmare Moon go away, we can probably use them to help us!”

Before anyone could ask how she had the Elements with her the whole time, Celestia intervened: “I’m afraid the Elements of Harmony will not help us. You see, they were bestowed upon me and my sister so that we could use them to restore balance into this world. The presence of the spirit of Chaos and my sister’s Nightmare were things that disrupted this balance, and that’s why you were able to use them to defeat them. This war however is not an imbalance of such kind, but merely an attempt made by some of the species to restore natural order on this planet.”

“So, that’s a no, then?”

“Yes Pinkie, that’s a no,” Dash said with a groan, removing her necklace and tossing it back in the box. Just then, a loud knock was heard from the already opened door.

“Yes?” Celestia invited the guard in.

“Your majesty,” he said, taking a low bow. “It’s actually about you, ma’am,” he then turned to Rainbow Dash.

“Me? They already want me back up? Spitfire said I could take the day off!”

“No ma’am, it’s not that. I’ve been sent for you from the main gate. Canterlot’s main gate. They said someone by the name of Little Strongheart wants to speak with you.”

“It can’t be,” Rainbow murmured, dashing out the door.

“Also, your highness,” the guarding turned to Celestia, “I was told that your presence was required as well.”

The ponies looked at each other before leaving the study and making their way outside the castle. They took a chariot to the city’s gates, followed closely by a contingency of royal guards. As they went traveled the city, the heads of every pony would turn, and happy cheers were heard coming from everyone once they saw the returned Princess among them in those times. Celestia however couldn’t feel but worse about her absence, especially since she hadn’t even spoken to her sister yet.

Arriving at the gates, she stepped off, followed the five mares. Dash was already there, having a lively conversation with a large buffalo, guards littering the place.

“Guys, do you remember her?” Rainbow asked, turning to her friends.

“How could I forget? That was the best apple-pie fight I had in forever! Wowzye, Little Strongheart, you’re not that little anymore!” Pinkie exclaimed, somehow having climbed up on her old buffalo friend, looking in her eyes from above her head.

“Pinkie! Can’t say I miss your musical, but I’m glad to see you too.” She then saw the Princess and took a bow as best as she could.

“Princess Celestia, news of your departure was not a happy one for our tribe last year. I am glad to see you returned as well as to see you for the first time ever, it is truly an honor.”

“The pleasure is mine, Strongheart. If I may, why did you come to our capital, surely you must have heard about the impending war?”

“We did, your majesty, that’s why we are here.”

“We?” Twilight asked, looking behind her, yet failing to see anyone else but guards and other ponies going in and out of the city.

“Yes, we,” Strongheart repeated, heading out towards the gates. The six Elements bearers and Celestia followed her curiously, a thick tail of guards keeping close behind them. As they stepped outside the city walls, they all noticed a large group of buffaloes waiting outside. From the group, a particularly large one stepped out, he too taking a slow bow at the sight of the Princess.

“It’s good to see so many familiar faces and I’m glad you are all well. Princess Celestia, a happy day indeed to have you back among us. Ughh, forgive me, I forgot to introduce myself: I am Chief Thunderhooves, Great Chief of all the buffalo tribes across the dry lands. We came to answer the call of help made by your sister, Princess Luna; I brought one hundred of our tribes’ strongest males to fight by your side, because even if ponies usually don’t live together with buffalo, we are still Equestrians, and it is our duty to protect it as well.”

“Chief Thunderhooves, it’s an honor to meet you,” the alicorn said with a short bow of her head. “While I am not in charge of organizing our troops, I want to thank you on behalf of everyone for your help.” She then turned to the nearest guard. “Please see to it that Chief Thunderhooves and his buffalos are accommodated within our city, and notify the generals and my sister about their arrival.”

The guard saluted and at Thunderhooves’ command, the entire buffalo herd proceeded to follow the guard, into the city.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to fight with us too?” Dash asked Strongheart.

“Why not? By the looks of things, you are going to fight as well,” she said, pointing a hoof at dash’s uniform and military grades. “We’re all in this together after all, right?”

Dash’s mouth hung open as she failed to find a proper argument. “Yeah, I guess we are. Thanks for the help, Strongheart.”

“No worries, Rainbow Dash, see ya later, okay?” the happy buffalo girl said, joining the chief.

As Celestia was about to step into the carriage, a group of guards landed nearby. From within their ranks, Cadence stepped out.

“Celestia!” she exclaimed, rushing to the white alicorn.

“My dear Cadence, I’ve heard about Shining from Twilight; I’m so sorry about what happened,” Celestia said, embracing the smaller alicorn, which returned the hug immediately, her eyes tearing up. “I’m sure he is all right however, he would never leave you or Emerald like that.”

“I- I know he wouldn’t. Ohh auntie, I’ve missed you so much! I searched for you at the castle when I heard about your return then came here after you. Are you okay, where were you all this time?”

“I’m fine Cadence, don’t worry about me.”

“Your Highnesses, I’m sorry to interrupt but I think you need to see this.”

A distant noise of marching soldiers coming from the front gates became louder and louder, making everyone stop in their tracks and turn their heads towards the capital entrance.

“Princess Celestia!” a deep voice was heard from behind them.

Coming out of a war chariot were General Dark Shine and Iron Hooves. They immediately took a bow in front of the Princess. “It’s good to have you back in times like these, your Highness,” Iron Hooves spoke, but his attention was soon caught by the increasing noise coming from the gates. “It has to be the troop core from the North that made it through the changeling swarms.”

Soon enough, the first lines of soldiers came through the gates, marching in perfect sync. All of them were fully armored earth stallions and sported banners of the Crystal Empire. They continued their march into the city, their seemingly endless numbers coming to an end only after a few minutes.

“This is impossible, they couldn’t have sneaked past the changelings in such numbers, those creatures can feel ponies from miles!” Dark Shine said from behind the Earth pony General.

The entire block of soldiers came to a sudden stop as soon as the last line of them was within the city’s walls. Their formation stretched for hundreds of feet and filled up the main road going into the capital.

“Who is your commander?” Iron Hooves asked, stepping towards them. Neither of the thousands of ponies in the formation bulged. The Earth General turned his head back, his eyes landing on Cadence.

She hesitantly took a few slow steps towards them. “I’m not sure who they are . . . the Crystal Empire doesn’t have that many soldiers.”

The entire brigade of armored stallions snapped to attention in perfect unison, then turned ninety degrees to face their Princess. A single banner pony took a step forwards, ignoring Iron Hooves and only looking at Cadence. He smashed a hoof against his chest piece, the gesture repeated a second later by the thousands behind him. He then took his helmet off, making everyone’s eyes widen in amazement. Everyone’s, but Celestia’s, who simply approached her nice.

“Cadence, these are not real ponies. It is why the changelings didn’t feel their presence.”

Cadence’s mind worked relentless, eyes darting from her aunt to the troops in front of her. Soon enough, a distant memory from her fillyhood resurfaced.

“The legends of the Crystal Guardians? It can’t be true!” she said in a low voice. “It was just a tale you told me when I was young, I . . . I never saw them in the Crystal Empire!”

“Do you remember how the legend went?” Celestia asked, looking into Cadence’s eyes.

“The crystal warriors sleep an endless sleep in the depths of the caverns underneath the Crystal Palace, and awake only to protect their beloved ruler in times of need,” Cadence murmured, recalling the old tale she heard from her aunt as a filly. “But I don’t get it, why didn’t they come out when we fought Sombra all those years ago?”

“Well, if I recall correctly, you became their Princess after you saved the kingdom from Sombra’s darkness.”

“Sounds like a weird technicality to consider, if you ask me,” Twilight chimed in, taking a closer look at the Crystal Guardian standing at attention. “But they do seem to be made out of pure crystal, and there’s a strong magic presence in each of them,” she added, her horn glowing slightly as she scanned the banner pony. “So, they don’t speak?”

“It is said that they don’t talk nor feel; their purpose is simply to serve their Princess in dire times. Their origins alone are unknown, some ponies think they are the ones that built the Crystal Empire and protected it as it grew with life,” Cadence continued recalling the legend.

“This will be a great addition to our ground troops, Princess Cadence,” Iron Hooves said, sizing up the brigade.

“You are right, but . . . I can’t be the one leading them into battle.” She turned to her soldiers, her decision already made. “Crystal Guardians! We thank you for your invaluable help in the brink of war. The Crystal Empire, and Equestria itself is forever in your debt. However, I will have to ask you to answer to General Iron Hooves from now on, as he is a much better strategist than I am.”

The soldiers snapped their hooves again, the loud sound of their armors echoing throughout the city entrance’s square.

“Thank you, Princess Cadence, this will help us greatly in the ground war,” the general said with a salute. He then cantered off to the front of the block of solider. The brigade turned ninety degrees again, facing the inner city, and started marching in place as they waited for Iron Hooves to take the lead.

When the large earth stallion reached the front row, the soldiers started advancing, following their new commander. “Now where in Celestia’s beard am I going to put these?” he asked himself, looking over his shoulder and across the thousands of Crystal Guardians marching behind him.

*** *** ***

“This here is one damned contraption!” Pearl exclaimed excitedly, looking at the smoking twin barrels mounted in a nest recently welded underneath the front of ‘Celestia’s Pearl’. “They’re like revolvers, but bloody faster, and bigger!”

“You’re damn right they are,” Blink approved, looking happily at the result of his close collaboration with the royal blacksmiths and engineers in the past days. “Sadly only five of these will be made in time, had a talk with Spitfire and decided we should put them on the zeppelins.”

“You’re a fine mate, Blink. I mean, Captain Blink,” he said with a laugh, throwing a casual salute in the air.

“Whatever, Pearl; just don’t get yourself killed, okay?”

A couple of loud shots made the unicorn jump in place, his tail finding refuge between his legs. He snapped back at the MG nest sticking out of the zeppelin’s basket, throwing an angry look at the pony behind the triggers.

“Crank Shot, get out of that thing!” Pearl yelled at his crew member.

“Sorry skipper, muh hoof slipped!”

“God damn it . . .” Blink muttered with a frown, “anyway, I’ll see you later, Pearl. Have to go check on my armor and some other things.”

“Hey Blink,” Pearl said before the unicorn could teleport out, “be honest to me, how we doin’?”

Blink hesitated for a couple of seconds, then took a few steps on the outer platform of Hangar 1, nearing the edge before sitting down. Pearl approached the blue stallion, and sat next to him. Blink was staring at the skies above, watching the breath-taking spectacle that was Cloudsdale basked in the early moonlight.

“We’re . . . better than we were a few days ago. Got some help today from the buffalo tribes and about five thousand Crystal soldiers arrived as well. You should see those guys, they’re made out of pure crystal.”

“Ah’ heard of them; scary thing that is, I’ll be honest. But what happened to that Shining Armor guy that left with his soldiers to fight the changelings? Did he won?”

At the mention of his brother-in-law, Blink’s eyes dropped, his brow immediately betraying a hidden pain. “No one knows this yet, but we got word a few hours ago that- ohhh shit . . .”

He raised his front hooves, sinking his head into them. Perl hesitantly rested a hoof over his shoulder, feeling the sorrow his friend was going through.

“Nothing is actually confirmed, but the main changeling swarm was spotted leaving the Death Valley near Tartarus this morning. I don’t even know how to tell Twilight about it.”

“He’s probably made it, ya never know,” Pearl said, trying to lift his spirits up a bit. “After all, he-”

“Wait, you hear that?” Blink asked all of a sudden, standing up. In the background, apart from the noises coming from the workers doing the final preparations on the zeppelins, a low, deep horn rang into the clear night. In front of them, high above the low clouds, tens of flashes of light blinked from several cloud towers across Cloudsdale.

A loud upheaval erupted from the hangars behind them, chief technicians barking orders at the rest of the workers, who broke into a rush to finish their jobs as soon as possible. Before Blink or Pearl could say or do anything, multiple sirens triggered from the other side of the mountain. Soon enough, the Iron Hangars’ own alarm erupted, its crescendo making Blink’s heart freeze in his chest.

“I need to go-”

“Well bloody go already! Look up for me when we’re going to be out there, okay?” Peal then raised his hoof in an honest military salute. Blink did the same, his horn engulfing him in a blue sphere of magic.

On the other side of the mountain, the unicorn appeared on one of the castle’s high walls that faced the lands below the capital. His heart thumped madly in his chest, and his thoughts during those hard moments immediately went to Twilight.

“She’s safe, she’s safe here,” he kept telling himself, however his eyes could not leave the sight in front of him. The moon’s light was stronger than usual, and many of the things that would have been hidden by the night became visible to the naked eye.

Only the barely distinguishable shapes of two approaching birds were able to distract the unicorn. One of them, a dark one, came gliding down and landed on the wall’s high edge in front of Blink. Her companion, a familiar looking owl, flew over his head and entered the castle through a balcony window.

“Raven, you’re here,” he whispered to his bird, rising a hoof for her to jump on. He immediately noticed his limb was shaking pretty bad, and took a deep breath, trying to collect his thoughts. Raven cawed loudly at him. “You’re right buddy, I should be strong.” Canterlot’s sirens however were louder than they’ve been in centuries.

His eyes fixated in the distance again, where the horizon painted blurry red lights on the left side, most likely torches belonging to the enemy ground troops. On the right side, a distant mountain joining the earth and sky was slowly covered with flying dots of light, too far away to even tell who was behind them. In the center, spread in three wide groups, thousands upon thousands of pair of wings and glossy bodies reflected the moon’s white light.

“I don’t need to see through your eyes to know that there is something stirring out there . . . as much as I’m stirring in here.”

Blink’s jaw clenched at the distant sound of his own voice, coming from deep within the dark corners of his mind.

End of Chapter 25

Author's Note

Last chapter of the year! It has been a great journey so far, and Stairway to Equestria will be soon going into it's third and final year. The conclusion of the story is closing in, and I want to thank all of you that have been with me ever since the first chapters, as well as those that joined in later on! Here's to a great new year, happy holidays everyone !

Chapter 26: Battle of Struthill

“I don’t fear Death, but the ones that fear it less than I do.”

Chapter 26

The Battle of Struthill

“Move out, move the fuck out! Everyone get your flight suits and get ready to drop!” a pegasus captain yelled after bursting into a garrison in the dead of night, waking everyone up.

Dash sprung from her bed, landing on her feet. The haze of slumber was quickly dispelled from her mind as she instantly realised what was happening. She rushed out of the barracks and went straight to the nearest commanding post, just near the outer perimeter of the base.

Sirens and alarms across Cloudsdale rang relentlessly, driving thousands of pegasi out of the military base’s sleeping quarters. Above their heads, formations of hundreds of ponies flew at different altitudes, most of them however conveying towards the center of the flying city.

“Dash, Rainbow,” the mare told one of the officers standing at a long table overwhelmed by pegasi.

“Dash, Dash . . .” he muttered, going through several pieces of paper filled with names. “Here we go: Rainbow M. Dash. You’ve been assigned as centurion squad leader for squad Haylift, first brigade, third battalion, second company. You are to suit up ASAP, and take drop formation in Hurricane Square.”

“Sir, yes, sir!” she shouted, and then dashed into the armory building nearby.

Rainbow searched through the racks for a costume that would fit her, trying to keep her calm in the general frenzy that had gripped all the pegasi. Ponies were shouting left and right, the air dripping with excitement and fear. One particularly loud voice caught her attention: a stallion perched on a metal table, repeating the same set of instructions on and on while holding part of the flying gear, putting it on and taking it off repeatedly.

“This is the newly issued CFA, combat flight assistant,” he started again for a group of pegasi that had just entered the armory. “This backpack-like piece of gear might save your damn lives today so listen up!”

He threw it over his back and fastened the belt around his midsection, securing it in place. Two long, thin pieces of metal sprung out from the gear, aligned with the pegasus’s wings. “It goes on your back like this, then when these come out, you slide your primaries through them.” He demonstrated it, retracting his wings then slowly pushing their tip along a groove in each of the two pieces of metal. When he finished, the front parts of his wings were covered by the metal exoskeleton. “The CFA has a central mechanism that conserves momentum from your normal wing flapping and stores it to be used later when you need an extra boost. It also has an emergency system that when triggered, locks your wings so that you can glide back to ground safely.”

Dash took a look at the small, thin backpack next to her uniform, her mind torn between taking it with her and leaving it there.

“You’re not thinking about not wearing it, are you now?”

Dash turned her head to a turquoise pegasus mare nearby, and immediately recognized the fiery mane and the wide, cocky grin. “Lightning Dust!” Rainbow said rather cheerfully, bumping hooves with her old friend. A year or so after the events at the Wonderbolt Academy, the two pegasi met again under better circumstances, and after Lightning Dust’s sincere apology, the two became good friends in no time.

So, they dug you up as well for this war?”

“I’m in the Academy now, joined right after you graduated. Everyone there had to enlist for this, even the drill instructors. So, you really aren’t taking that with you?” Lightning asked again, noticing Dash had thrown the CFA gear back onto a rack.

“Slows me down too much, and I already have to wear that flight armor and the hoof blade. Plus, I don’t need any fancy tech to help me fly. What squad did they assign you to anyway?”

“Well, Rainbow Dash, I think we will be flying together again. I’m a right-wing Centurion in squad Haylift, ma’am.”

Dash looked at the turquoise mare for a moment, her face sketching no expression whatsoever. She then dropped her eyes to her suit and armor, fiddling with the various belts and straps as she began to put them on.

“Dash, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just wished I didn’t had anyone on my squad that I knew personally. I’m not that good at telling friends what to do . . .”

Lightning patted her roughly on the back a couple of times in a gesture that could be seen only as reassuring for the cyan pegasus. “You’ll be fine, Dash; I know how good of a flier you are, and I’ll have no problems following your orders, okay? Come on now, I’ll help you with your armor, then you can do mine.”

Rainbow nodded happily, content with saying nothing more as they helped each other with the tricky flight armor pieces.

Twenty minutes later, they were armored up and ready to go. A short flight later saw the two pegasi arriving in a huge square laid down on a bed of dense clouds, spanning hundreds of meters in width and stretching in length across the city’s diameter. Thousands of pegasi ready for battle were in formation, and more arrived with every passing moment. The entire square was lit by street lamps and large stage lights, as the night was still far from over.

*** *** ***

Spitfire landed on a small platform on the large tower-like structure that stood tall in front of Hurricane Square. She was soon joined by a group of Colonels, Generals and Majors, all of them already wearing their combat gear. Spitfire took a moment to look over the square, her eyes seeing for the first time so many pegasi all in one place. It was an understatement to say that she was nervous. Despite her calm and composure shown ever since she was promoted after the Gala incident, her mind had been a constant battleground between ideas, fears, and challenges.

“Ma’am, I think we should go in.”

Spitfire turned to the stallion that had just talked, who gave her a rather reassuring nod.

“You’re right.” She then stepped into the building, making everyone in the large control room stand at attention.

“General on deck!” came from somewhere in the room.

“At ease everyone. Captain Rain,” she said, saluting the blue stallion behind a large helm in the middle of the room.

“Take the wheel, officer,” Rain said to a nearby pony, then stepped off the high platform that held the large steering wheel as well as other panels. “General Spitfire, so the time for battle has finally come.”

“It really has, Captain. I hope you didn’t mind the orders that came earlier, it’s something that was decided in the last minute.”

“Orders are orders, General, and I’ve done as instructed. We’re flying Cloudsdale over the mountains and over Canterlot so our pegasi will have a shorter flight to the battlefield, but once the drop is complete, I’m returning at a higher altitude and will park the city behind the mountains again.”

“Actually, after we drop, I want you to turn on all propellers and go south at maximum speed, do you understand?” Several crew ponies in the control room turned their heads to the General, while others carried on their duties, however keeping their attention on the conversation.

“Ma’am? We haven’t flown at max speed in decades-”

“This is a personal order, Captain Rain. Cloudsdale will have hundreds of thousands of civilians left unprotected when the battle starts. I want this city to be as far as possible from this place when that happens.”

“Is it that bad, ma’am?” Rain asked straightforwardly.

“No. But it’s not good either. Regardless of that, protocol, and Princess Luna herself, require me notify you that you’re to take command of the kingdom’s entire forces in case we lose Canterlot today, or you don’t hear word from the three generals or any of the Princesses.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Rain acknowledged with a salute.

“Five thousand feet drop altitude reached, sir. We’re also above Canterlot,” the officer holding the helm announced.

“Now, we wait for our order,” Spitfire said, moving to the front windows, where most of the ponies were staring out though. Miles away, underneath them and covered by the night, hundreds of thousands of changelings, gryphons, and minotaurs marched and flew towards the city beneath.

*** *** ***

The blue unicorn stallion burst in a room from the balcony, a dark raven perched on his shoulder. Through the room’s open door he could see ponies and guards rushing down the hallways, and the commotion outside was getting louder and louder as the capital’s sirens went on into the night. His heart was racing out of his chest at the sight he had just witnessed, as well as the voice coming from the darkest corners of his mind. He started pacing around the room nervously, eventually stopping in the middle and clamping his hooves to his ears, trying to seal the outer world off for a moment.

A violent shake snapped him out of his panic attack. “Blink! Damn it, Blink, are you okay?” Chaser’s voice faded in. He looked at him for a moment, and thoughts once again began to filter through.

“I’m fine. I’m just- I dunno, my life’s so fucked up.”

“I guess all our lives are pretty fucked up right now, mate. Darn it, I see my talk didn’t do much to you, now did it? Come on, tell me what’s on your mind, then we can go win us a war, okay?”

Blink stared at the pegasus with a slightly disgusted look in his eyes, his heart rate already going up again. “You’re damn right your little talk did nothing. What the fuck did you even mean by ‘we’re all in this together’?”

“Mate, I meant that I know what you’re going through right now might seem hard-”

“I left my fiancée crying in her room yesterday, saying that I can’t stay with her after she found out her brother might have died in a stupid attempt to secure a strategic location. The pony I love the most in this world probably hates me now, and it’s all because I wanna fight in this damn war I’m now afraid of!” Blink spat, causing Chaser to back off a little and Raven to fly off to a bookshelf nearby.

He took a couple of breaths of air, then continued. “You can’t possibly know what that feels like. Ever since the Gala I’ve barely slept, thinking about what’s to come and how I can keep all my friends alive and well! I’m not like you, Chaser, screwing the Princess in her fancy royal bedroom and feeling relaxed and fine the next day. I haven’t even had s-” his words froze in his throat, realizing how crass he was actually sounding the entire time. He took a deep breath, pressing his front hooves against the floor when he noticed how hard they were shaking. “I haven’t even been with Twilight,” he continued with a calmer voice, “and I fear that I might not even get to kiss her one last time before I die.”

The room plunged into an uncomfortable silence, as Blink stared into the floor, avoiding Chaser’s look. His heart was still beating fast in his chest. However, the recent rush of emotions and having said all those things made him felt somewhat better. That feeling lasted but a moment, as Blink quickly realized how insulting some of those words were for his friend. He looked towards him to apologize, expecting an angry pegasus to stare back. Instead, he only saw a gloomy stallion whose glistening eyes hid untold sadness.

“You’re right, Blink. I don’t understand any of that, but I understand how it is to have someone to care about. I love my sister with all my heart and feel like the worst pony in the world for leaving Canterlot all those years ago and living in a forest all by myself. Those were some hard times for me, and after coming back with you, Spike, and Pearl, I realised how much I missed out on.”

He got up and slowly paced towards the balcony. “Maybe I don’t know how it is to make the mare I love unhappy. But in my case, one day, I don’t know how far in the future, that will happen. And there is nothing I can do about it; it’s something that has kept me up many nights, Blink.” He turned back towards his friend, the filtered moonlight reflecting in his cream colored mane. “When I said that we’re all in this together, I meant that you can always talk to me about anything that troubles you. I know you prefer to hide all your issues away and try to solve them in silence but . . . that’s what friends are for, mate. You know what, after all this is over, we’re going to sit down for a pint and have a long talk, okay? I won’t take no for an answer either.”

“That would be nice,” Blink answered, cracking a faint smile. “Look, I’m sorry about what I said. It was stupid, selfish, and it was-”

“Don’t want to hear about it. It’s partially my fault as well for not telling you about me and Lu- Princess Luna,” he corrected himself.

“I’m sure you had good reasons, Chase’. But you’re right, right now we need to win a war. I’ll hold you to that pint.”

The two stallions slowly made their way out of the room, but immediately found themselves in front of two high-ranking royal guards. Chaser saluted them, and they in turn saluted Blink. “Sir, we need your orders. The troops are assembling as we speak. Where do you want us for this battle?”

Blink stared at them for a couple of seconds before remembering he was, after all, the captain of the entire royal guard. Even if some of the guards had been re-assigned with the war or left with Shining Armor to defend Tartarus, he still had a considerable number of stallions under his command.

“Look guys, I know this whole thing is a mess. I’ve been promoted to Captain just because Luna wanted me in the War Room. I also know you kept a secret the fact that Shining took several hundred of you and left in the dead of night,” he said, raising a hoof to hold off an imminent interruption from the guards in front of him. “But I don’t care about that. I won’t dare to demand you to respect me the same way you respected Shining Armor. He earned his position through hard work and determination, and most of all, he earned your trust. I’m not your Captain, gentlecolts. Right now, I’m a soldier that wants to fight off those damn invaders.”

He looked to his left, at his friend, and smiled devilishly. “Officer Star Chaser over here will take my place as Captain of the Royal Guard for the moment. I need to go now, but in my opinion, the royal guards that are left here should remain in the castle and protect the Princesses like they’ve always done. Officers, Captain,” he saluted them, and went off towards the blacksmiths.

*** *** ***

“Captain, I see you’re finally here,” Luna said to the rushing unicorn as he passed the hallway outside the War Room.

“Princess, I’ll have to correct you on that. I’m no longer a Captain, just a soldier,” Blink said, stopping for a moment near the group of ponies surrounding the Princess.

“Wait for me inside,” she simply said, to which the military stallions and mares around her made their way into the War Room. “Midnight Blink, mind telling me why you are no longer the Captain of my guards?” she asked when the hallway emptied.

“With all due respect, I don’t have time for that. I’m fighting in this battle; that was our agreement. I’m sure my best friend Chaser will do a great job filling in my horseshoes,” he said, emphasizing the pegasus’s name.

Luna’s eyes narrowed slightly, her mouth opening up to say something when Blink beat her to it. “I know about you two. As long as he’s happy, I’ll forgive you guys for not filling me in on that little detail. I assume, however, that there are more pressing matters on hoof at this point than your personal life, Your Highness, and I would very much like to tend to those matters.”

“Correct, Midnight Blink,” Luna said, her face however gaining a bit more color. “The enemy troops are less than forty miles away. However, there has been a decision in the War Room earlier today that we will fight them outside of Canterlot. They are too many to defend against, even behind our large walls. The sheer number of fliers they possess could overrun the capital in minutes.”

Blink’s face dropped. “But this is . . . this is suicide, Princess. Anything we put out there in the open will be lost. Is this all you guys thought of in that room?”

With a heavy sigh, Luna nodded. “I’m afraid so. Our only chance is to hit them with all we have out there and bring down as many as we can. There are almost two hundred thousand ponies behind enemy lines, they’ve all regrouped from the coastal cities but will not reach the enemy by the time they reach us first. Our only hope of not losing Canterlot is to hold them off as much as possible until reinforcements arrive.”

“That still doesn’t warrant the move of all our troops out in the open. We can stand right here and defend Canterlot,” Blink argued, not taking the news lightly.

“And what are thou planning to do about our zeppelins, or our special troops for that matter? You know very well that our army’s composition can be effective only in an open area. If those swarms ever get near Canterlot as they are now, the city will be lost before noon. Must I also remind you of the hundreds of thousands of unlisted civilians that are still here?”

Blink opened his mouth to retort, but couldn’t find any words that were to his liking. The pressure was mounting by the minute, and he had no time to review Luna’s strategic decisions.

“Fine, but this is on your hooves, Princess. How about news from our allies?” he asked, a tinge of hope still residing inside his mind.

“None. We now have forty thousand pegasi in Cloudsdale. They will fight against the biggest part of our enemy’s troops. Almost two hundred thousand changeling fliers and gryphons are approaching us as we speak. Over a hundred thousand enemy ground troops, changelings, and minotaurs will fight against our thirty thousand earth and unicorn soldiers. We also have five thousand Crystal Guardians, as well as a hundred buffalo, our special unicorn troops and our zeppelin air force. I want thou, Midnight Blink, to lead the vanguard of Crystal Guardians today. Major General Iron Hooves, currently General of the Armies, wants to be in the front lines as well. Do you think you can join him?”

“I don’t see how that will be a problem,” Blink said rather nervously. “I’ll be able to get in and out of battle if I need to, but what about the rest, Princess? All those lost lives . . .”

“The magic users have been tasked with recovering injured troops in the battlefield. They will teleport casualties back to Canterlot, more specifically in the auditorium downtown that is being refitted as we speak to act as a remote field hospital. My sister will personally aid in saving the lives of the troops that get sent there. All our doctors and physicians that had no combat training are now there. I dread losing pony lives as much as you do, Midnight Blink, probably even more, but it’s all we can do to save as many as we can in this situation.”

“I understand. But did we ever find out why those minotaurs joined the changelings and gryphons? I thought we had good standings with them.”

“It’s most likely that they got an offer they couldn’t refuse from Arnost, the gryphon king. He only wants to dethrone me and my sister, and make sure Equestria is unable to intervene when he’ll invade the Dragon Lands to expand his empire. The Minotaurs were most likely promised our southern territories as reward for their involvement and the Changelings will be given a foothold in central and northern Equestria.”

“So Arnost is the head of this whole thing?”

“Yes, but we have knowledge that he is not present among his forces.”

“Figures,” Blink puffed out, “Anyway, I’ll be off now if that is all, need to get armored up,” he added, lingering for a moment.

“Just- just be careful, Midnight Blink. Remember what you’ve learned and remain focused at all times. Void thyself of emotions in battle so that your decisions will always be the best thou can take.”

“Thank you, your highness.”

He then turned around and trotted off towards the blacksmiths, not looking back for one moment.

*** *** ***

Redheart slipped her hoof through a brush handle, then damped the scrubber into a bucket and started cleaning a gurney. She pressed hard against the stretcher, making sure the surface was as clean as possible. Her heart and mind however were with Silver, who she hadn’t even had the opportunity to see after she arrived into the capital the day before.

In an urgent letter coming straight from the central Hoofton Coltboro hospital, Ponyville’s hospital was notified that they should send all their non-essential medical personnel on the last train to Canterlot for the imminent confrontation. As such, nurse Redheart found herself in Equestria’s capital city, where she was rushed out to the central auditorium downtown to prepare medical equipment and participate in the efforts of saving the lives of those coming from the battlefield.

With thoughts wandering, her hoof slowed down, eventually stopping as soon as the prospect of seeing her coltfriend on one of those gurneys crept into her mind. She brought her front hooves to her head, trying to shake that thought away.

“I find it better if I don’t think about it,” a calm, warm voice came from behind her.

Redheart turned her head, only to be greeted by the sight of no one else other than Princess Celestia herself, looking down upon her with a kind set of eyes. As the nurse started getting up to bow down to the royal figure, Celestia simply sat down next to her, grabbing a scrubber in her magic and starting to clean another stretcher.

The nurse was wordless. Even if she had seen Celestia around the auditorium assisting with the preparations, it was the first time she had even been addressed by the white monarch. “H-how can I not think about it?” she made the courage to ask, grabbing her own brush and continuing her work alongside the Princess.

“We all need to do our best to help those that will be fighting today. Thinking about all the bad things that could happen will just make it harder for us to help them.”

“I don’t even know why we’re fighting this war,” Redheart said in a low, dismayed tone.

“It all comes down to the decisions made by certain leaders of this world. As a nation, we haven’t seen war in centuries, and I was foolish enough to think something like this might never happen again . . .”

Nurse Redheart looked up to the alicorn next to her. “Do you think that things would have been different if you were here?”

Celestia stopped her scrubbing for a moment, the yellow wisps of magic still floating around the brush. “There hasn’t been a second ever since I returned a few days ago that I stopped thinking about that. But I know my sister very well, and I know she did everything that could have been done to resolve this in a diplomatic matter. Even so, not being here is probably the biggest regret in a . . . millennia,” she said, her voice and thoughts trailing away towards the end.

“I’m glad you came back, Princess. It makes everypony feel safer when they see you.”

Celestia returned a weak smile, and returned to her cleaning. “It remains to be seen if I can really protect my subjects in these dire times.”

*** *** ***

Blink rushed into the royal blacksmiths outside the castle, from where hundreds of ponies were leaving with the last supplies needed for the upcoming battle. Most of the forges were cold, as the worker ponies tended to last minute adjustments on weapons and armors. One however stood out, not because it was still burning, but because of the green fire and sparks coming out of it.

“Spike?” Blink asked, reaching the section where several ponies were fussing about. The dragon was taking out red-hot layers of material out of the forge that undoubtedly burned with his own magic fire.

“Hey Blink! Rarity, I think that was the last one,” he announced.

One of the ponies there took off her mask, revealing the sweaty and messy face of Ponyville’s fashionista. “Thanks darling! Blink, you’re here, right on time!”

“Well, I’m off dude, need to get my armor on. Rarity made it for me, you’ll see how awesome it is!” he said with excitement.

“So you’re fighting too, huh?”

“What, you thought I would miss it? No chance. Anyway, stay strong, man,” he added before leaving, patting Blink on the shoulder.

Blink noticed the concern he was trying to hide but didn’t have the chance to say anything else, as Spike sprung up in the air and left the blacksmith through a huge ventilation hole in the tall ceiling. When he turned back to the forge, Rarity’s face bearing a wide, rather fake smile was blocking his view.

“Blink, I know you said you wanted a set of armor that is lighter and better for you . . .”

“Rarity, what did you do?” Blink asked, picking up on something. “Did you mess up the straps or something? Will parts of my body be exposed with your modifications?”

“No, no, no, that’s not it. I still have the set you wore at that training session, haven’t changed a thing on it.”

“Ohh, so you made something new, I assume?” Blink asked with a confused look.

“Yes. I just wanted to tell you, before you uhh- try it on, that the old set is still an option.”

“Rarity, we are about to be invaded. Please just show me the new armor, I need to move out.”

She turned back and gave a hesitant nod. Four of the ponies there took off their blacksmith’s masks and each retrieved a device of some sort, sliding them around their hooves.

“I couldn’t think of anything better than what you had, but then I remembered about a certain material that would be a perfect substitute,” she explained as he walked Blink to the forge. “I’m not going to lie, it’s not finished yet, because . . .”

Her magic grabbed something from a work bench nearby and held it in front of Blink. It was a patch of a material of some sorts, still glowing hot near the center, while the edges were slowly darkening as they cooled down.

“Don’t tell me this-”

“Yes it is, darling. Black hydra leather, extremely rare, but we had some in the royal inventory. Put this on,” she said, returning the leather patch on the table and retrieving a full body underwear piece.

“So how long until you stitch it up?” he asked, reluctantly slipping into the white onesie.

“We’re going to do it now, but we need to assemble it onto you directly,” she simply said.

“Rarity, are you insane? Those- things are still hot!” he protested, pointing a hoof at the line of hot strips of leather.

“Yes, but if it cools down, we won’t be able to stitch it with anything we have. It has to be done while they are relatively . . . warm.”

Two ponies brought a couple of buckets and spilled their entire content over Blink’s body, then grabbed their brushes and began scrubbing underneath the white garment around him.

“That solution will help you a little and we’re going to cool the material as much as we can before putting it on you. Your skin should not get too burned if we time everything properly.”

“I cannot believe you are doing this- waa, careful there!” he said to the stallion scrubbing his underbelly. He paused for a moment, staring at the pieces of leather on the workbench. With a gulp, his decision was made. “Okay, do it.”

A unicorn approached him, and he could see she was wearing a medic’s uniform. The mare’s horn glowed and her magic surrounded his body, his entire head becoming light all of a sudden. “A partial anesthesia spell, sir, it will numb out any acute sensations, it will wear off after half an hour or so,” she said, then stepped back. “I will stay here in case I need to recast it, miss Rarity.”

“Thank you darling! Blink, we’re going to start now, all right? They are the best dressmakers in Canterlot, we’ll try to finish the stitching as fast as possible.” Blink looked at the other four stallions and mares around, all giving him weak re-assuring nods and fake smiles. “I won’t be able to add your rank to it, I’m afraid-”

“It’s okay, Rarity, I’m not a Captain anymore. Wow, I can’t feel anymore,” he off-tracked, running his hoof over his chest. “Okay, let’s do this, just- just keep talking about your special armor, please,” he asked, standing his ground and clenching his teeth. He felt a fuzzy sensation underneath him and noticed a layer of magic from one of the dressmakers holding him upright.

Rarity grabbed a couple of pieces of hot material and sunk them in a bath nearby, steam rising from the liquid. “Black Hydra leather is among the most durable and flexible materials-”

“AAaahhhh!” Blink’s scream pierced the air, as Rarity placed two strips over his back. His legs buckled under the immense pain radiating from the top of his body, but the magic grip underneath kept him leveled. Two ponies immediately began binding together the two pieces, using the portable industrial sewing kits they had. “Careful not to pierce the skin,” Rarity advised, bringing another patch and placing it next to the other two.

The mechanical noise of the kits was muffled in Blink’s head, as he was desperately trying to cope with the immense heat slowly engulfing his body.

“-the material is magic resistant, as well as fire-proof. Also, once it cools down, it will act very much like a second, thicker skin.”

“Great! Just . . . great!” Blink managed between clenched teeth, his vision blurred by the tears in his eyes.

*** *** ***

“Give him another one.”

“Princess, that would be a bit too much-”

“Just do it, this stallion needs to be on the battlefield in the next hour!”

The voices blended together, fading in and out as his head spun into a sea of darkness. A sharp sensation in his chest started getting stronger and stronger. Blink opened his eyes, and was greeted by the sight of Princess Luna, Rarity, and some other ponies wearing medical uniforms.

“Good, you’re back,” Luna stated, drawing hidden, scornful looks from Rarity and the medics.

“Why does it feel like my heart will explode?” Blink asked, rather frightened. He looked around, noticing he was lying in a tub filled with water and floating ice cubes.

“That’s the adrenaline, we gave you two doses,” said one medic pony.

“You passed out in the middle of getting your armor onto you. Sorry about that, dear, but now it’s all done.”

“Why am I not feeling it anymore?”

“Princess Luna cast a more potent numbing spell,” one of the medic mares reluctantly said. Seeing Blink’s stare made her continue the explanation: “You’ve suffered first degree thermal and magic burns on over 90 percent of your body, and second degree burns on your back, face and neck. It can all be fixed fairly easily, but you will need extensive magic surgery as soon as possible.”

Blinked raised a hoof from the water, and saw the black, matte leather wrapped around it, covering his entire forehoof down to the base. He started flailing around, and got up from the tub, with Rarity’s and the medics’ help. Standing up, water dripped from over and underneath his armor, yet he wasn’t feeling any of the atrocious pain he went through before passing out. He looked around and, as if reading his mind, the fashionista floated a tall mirror in front of him.

Blink’s eyes widened. His entire body was encased in black hydra leather, the stitching running along in random patterns denoting the shape of the strips. Even his face was covered and only his horn and the dark brown mane and tail stuck out of the armor. The eye holes were made out of a dark material, yet he was still able to see clearly, as if they were just a pair of glasses.

“Rarity, this is amazing,” he said, rising on his hind legs, testing out the flexibility of the armor. “It really is like a second skin. I’ll think of a way to make it up for you. Wait, how long was I out?” he suddenly remembered.

“Almost an hour. The last troops are leaving Canterlot as we speak,” Luna said, matter-of-factly. “Our forces will stand at the top of Struthill, less than a mile north of this city. That is where the first battle will take place, and it’s where you have to be.”

“I’ll be on my way then. Thank you again Rarity,” he said, then took a slight bow in front of Luna and galloped away.

“Be careful, the numbing spell will wear off in several hours!” the medic shouted after him, yet he chose to ignore it.

As he was about to exit the castle, Blink stopped in his tracks. His mind was oversaturated with regret by that point regarding a certain mare, so he decided to follow his heart in what could be his very last hours. His horn glowed, and moment later, the stallion appeared in front of Twilight’s old room, blue sparks gently falling around him. He burst through the door, yet there was no one inside. A large chest was placed over the bed, its contents missing completely. His eyes fell on a nightstand nearby, and opening it, he retrieved his revolver and several bullet types that were to be used as molds for his cloning spell.

With a burst of magic, he found himself standing near the castle’s entrance. “You!” he pointed at a guard nearby, “have you seen a purple unicorn leaving the castle by any chance?”

The guard jumped in place at the sight of the black-armored stallion, lowering his spear at him and taking a defensive stance.

“I’m Midnight Blink, you idiot, your former captain!”

The guard reluctantly aimed the spear away. “Uhh- sorry sir, you just don’t have any official markings on your-”

“Purple unicorn with a star-shaped cutie mark! Have you seen her or not?”

“I remember seeing such a pony leaving the castle and taking one of the earlier carriages. Didn’t see her cutie mark though, she was armored.”

“Damn it!”

“Private Blink!” an approaching stallion shouted as he was leaving the castle premises as well.

“Iron Hooves?” the unicorn asked, unsure. The stallion that called him was large enough to be the earth pony General, and the massive, golden armor was adding at least several inches to his stature. Only his head was not covered by the impressive protective gear, his helmet resting on the small of his back, over a large sword and a shield.

“That would be me, son. So, heard you bailed out on your Captain duty; too good for that, heh?” he asked with a hearty chuckle. “Come on, we’re late for the battle, and we got a vanguard to lead, you and me!”

He rushed to a closed carriage parker outside the castle’s fences, while Blink followed him closely. “You’re lucky, this is the last ride to Struthill, and it’s been waiting on me to get out of that damn War Room.”

He climbed through the back of the vehicle and tapped one of his massive hooves at the front of the transporter, signaling the drivers to go. Blink took a seat opposite to him as the carriage jolted forwards. The earth stallion rested his helmet and large shield on a seat nearby, leaving his equally large two-sided sword sheathed over his back.

“Nice armor you got there,” he said, looking at the unicorn’s battle gear.

“Thanks,” Blink responded through the very small opening of his helmet. “General Hooves, aren’t you . . . afraid? I mean, I don’t want to be rude but you’re . . . an earth pony-”

A loud laugh interrupted Blink, the General shaking his head, completely amused. “Why of course I’m afraid, we’re about to battle an army eight times bigger than ours! But that’s what I am, Midnight Blink: a soldier. I’ve trained all my life not to show my fears and the day has come to see all that training put in use. I’ve heard about you and your magic talent, but tell me, aren’t you afraid of death?”

Blink pondered for a moment. “I don’t fear Death, General Hooves, but I do fear the ones that fear it less than I do. And I also fear myself, and what’s inside of me, more than anything else,” Blink said, shivers going down his spine at the thoughts of his own Nightmare.

“Huh, that’s an interesting thing to say. Well, you’d better get ready son, because today we’ll be fighting a lot of creatures that don’t have the same notions of life and death as we do,” Iron Hooves said, patting the unicorn in front of him with his heavy hoof.

The carriage jolted and shook as it left the capital and went down a dirt path towards Struthill. Blink looked out through the back of the vehicle, witnessing the rare sight of a city carved into the mountains, and another one floating high above it.

*** *** ***

The last ponies arrived atop a small vantage point between the capital and the hilltop in front of them. A temporary camp marked by military tents and equestrian banners swarmed with unicorns and high ranking officials, one of which was former Archmage, now General of the Unicorns, Dark Shine. He was standing near a table among other ponies, rallying orders and assigning tasks. Nearby, a couple of communication officers were rallying the commands through a couple of large radio stations, while scrolls kept popping into existence and falling onto the table in front of the general.

“You lot,” he said, turning towards the newly arrived, “the ones that have medical training make your way towards the east side of the front lines. The combat mages . . .” he turned his attention towards the battlefield, darting his eyes to the map every now and then, “-the combat mages should go and provide addition escort to them!” he said, pointing at circle of soldiers slowly marching towards Struthill, seemingly nothing between them.

As the group of arrivals split, following their respective command, one remained, a lone pony covered in a pale cloak. A purple hue tugged at the tip of the hood, and Dark Shine focused his entire attention onto her as he recognized the unicorn.

“Twilight Sparkle, the Sun Princess has told me you’d arrive, she did not tell me you would be late however.”

“Sorry, Archmage Shine, I had to make sure I wasn’t seen leaving by someone-”

“Let me guess, by Blink Midnight, that insolent brat under Princess Luna’s tutelage? I wondered at the news that you accepted his proposal to marry him; I’ve heard good things about you, but-”

“Enough!” Twilight suddenly snapped, drawing surprised looks from all the other military ponies around. Her lip quivered as she was about to defend Blink, yet stopped as the battle in her heart and mind still went on. “Just- just tell me where the life support and magic transport teams are stationed.”

A silent moment followed in which their stares fought against each-other, yet eventually, Dark Shine choose not to escalate the spontaneous conflict, despite the fact that the mare in front of him was young enough to be his granddaughter. “Go that way, you’ll see the field hospital ahead,” he said, pointing to a pathway lighted by torches and recently installed lights.

Twilight went off in an angry canter, not looking back at the unicorn General. The night was slowly coming to an end, the eastern horizon warming up to the upcoming sunset. As she approached the place that Dark Shine pointed her to, she started noticing large groups of ponies departing for the front lines, mostly unicorns, and all wearing medical markings.

“Twilight Sparkle?” an armored mare with golden mane asked her, slowly approaching her.

“Yes,” the answer came, yet her attention was still caught by the sight of seeing so many ponies making their way towards what could be their very own death.

“You came in right in time, Princess Celestia sent us word that you will be leading the triage today. This way, please,” the mare said, making her way to a wide area filled with gurneys and anxious medics.

“The . . . triage? But I don’t have advanced medical knowledge.”

“I’m the head doctor for this team, I will advise you on each individual case we get, however Princess Celestia told us of your extremely good organizational skills, as well as you magical abilities.”

Nervousness started getting to her, however Twilight knew that it would be a great challenge, and if she was to help out like she wanted to, she would have to take some big responsibilities.

“Ok, I’ll do it,” Twilight decided, and she floated the cloak off her back.

The first rays of the morning came just in time to reflect off the armor given to her by Celestia herself. The impeccably white set bared a breathtaking silvery shine, and fit the unicorn’s form perfectly. The Sun Princess had made sure it would be her size in time for the battle, and had gifted it to her protégé with the hope that it would help Twilight more than it would help her.

*** *** ***

Carts filled with spears ending up in short-barreled muskets flew across Hurricane Square, as officers were handing them to each group if centurions.

“Three for each squad, make good use of them!” said one of the officers while he grabbed three weapons from a cart and gave them to squad Haylift’s commander.

Dash turned back to the other four members. “Lighting Dust, I know you were good with these. As for the rest, distribute them according to your marksmanship exam results.”

“I didn’t even take that one yet, squad commander,” said a blonde, green coated stallion.

Dash stared at him for a moment, then promptly gave the remaining muskets to the other two pegasi left in the squad. “Listen up: we’re a light-fliers-only squad, so we’re going to do the trimming. The big studs will push into the enemy swarms and we’ll head on towards the top and pick off the ones out of formation. We strike and then pull out, there shouldn’t be anything to outfly us, got it?”

“Yes, ma’ am!”

The air suddenly filled with reverb coming from speakers throughout the city, the sound catching everyone’s attention and making them look up to the city’s control tower at the end of the square.

General Spitfire slowly approached the edge of the rail at the tower’s top level, not wearing her uniform anymore, but normal battle gear like the rest. Captain Rain was behind her as well as a few other high ranking pegasi. She took a moment to stare down along the main road that cut the city into two, culminating with the large open area underneath her that was Hurricane Square.

“Centurions of Equestria!” she addressed the thousands of armored pegasi beneath her eyes, speaking into a set of microphones brought there specifically for her speech. “I would have never thought- no, no one would have ever believed that we would fight for our kingdom a couple of weeks ago. Yet so, events were put in motion by the Gryphon Kingdom and their hastily-gathered allies. Their decision to attack us came as a surprise for us all, but don’t think for a moment that there won’t be a day when they shall come to regret that decision!”

Spitfire then reached out for the helmet placed on the ground next to her and put it over her head.

“And today is that day!” she let out, louder and firmer. “Today we fight for our kingdom, for our nation, for our families! Today we show everyone what pegasi can do!” She grabbed onto a microphone and extended her wings, flapping them once to bring her on top of the rails she was holding onto. “Join me, centurions! Fly high and may the wind guide us all on this fateful day!” she shouted her last words, before throwing the microphone away and diving forwards, off the tower’s edge.

Spitfire folded her wings to get as much air speed as possible, her falling silhouette seen by almost forty thousand soldiers lined up and ready to fight. With a barely audible pomf, the Pegasus General smashed through the bank of clouds that formed Cloudsdale’s ground. Almost immediately after, thousands upon thousands followed in her wake, diving forwards in place, letting themselves fall through the clouds below their hooves.

“Eyes on me, and keep formation!” Dash shouted before she too plunged into the city’s ground itself, her helmet now secured over her head.

Her heart raced madly as she sped through the multiple layers that formed the base of their floating city, her visors alternating between freezing and getting wet as she cut through the numerous clouds. The layers got brighter and brighter until her entire point of view cleared up, revealing the capital below and the distant sunset to the right. Pegasi squads dropped all around her, and the brigades slowly began joining up into battalions, which in turn started forming entire fronts spanning hundreds of meters across.

Rainbow Dash looked back up, and her squad was in perfect formation behind her, just as she had told them.

“We’re right here, Rainbow Dash,” came Lighting Dust’s voice through the small speaker inside the pegasus’s helmet.

Dash adjusted her course, veering towards the lines of ponies located along the top of Struthill. Her eyes focused on the bone-chilling sight ahead, where hundreds of thousands of changelings amassed into a large swarm several miles away, while the ground troops came baring down in a hurried march towards the city.

*** *** ***

“Get in, Tiny! NOW!” Pearl yelled through the Zeppelin’s boarding door, before storming back inside.

The interior of the flying ship was now less roomy that it had been before they managed to fit the cannons, however the crewponies made their way effortlessly among the high caliber artillery and the ammunition stored pretty much everywhere onboard the ship.

The large unicorn that was Tiny boarded the zeppelin, bringing with him one last crate of bullets for the twin-barreled MG nest placed in front of the ship’s reinforced basket, under the captain’s wheel.

Pearl took his place behind the front windshield of the closed basket, rising on his hind legs and resting his forehooves on the large helm. As the large iron doors of Hangar One opened wider in front of him, he pushed the accelerator handle from the small control panel to his side. The zeppelin jolted away, and the noise of the two motors powering the large propellers got louder and louder.

“There ya’ go, girl, there ya’ go . . .” he whispered, gently bringing the ship out of the docking hangar. He turned his head back to the crew. “Alright you air monkeys, get ready for the fight of yer’ lives! Crank Shot, take the fancy guns below; Tiny, get on loading duty; Sour Buck and Green Horn prepare to aim the cannons, and Silver, you’re on spotting duty.”

“Aye, captain!” came in a choir from behind him.

Crank Shot opened up a hatchet in the floor right behind Pearl, and slid into the cramped machinegun nest. “Feed me bullets, boys!” he let out, before slamming the hatchet closed.

A couple of stallions dragged strips of ammo from two large boxes nearby, and ran them through a pair of holes in the hatchet. Crank Shot used his magic to grab onto the first bullets in the series, sliding them into the MG loading trays located underneath his seat. The nest was sphere-shaped, extremely cramped but mostly made out of hard, reinforced glass, which allowed him to see everything below and in front of the zeppelin. He grabbed onto the large trigger sticks between his legs and lit up his horn, simultaneously pulling the bolts back and loading the guns. His magic then engulfed the top part of the nest, and he began rotating the entire turret, testing the rails one last time.

Up on the deck, Pearl applied the wind brakes, bringing the ship to a stop right near the edge of the exterior bay. In front of the ship, standing on a scaffolding blocking out zeppelin’s way, was a unicorn, waiting patiently for his orders. To the left side, along the mountain, four other ships came to a stop, each having their own unicorn in front of them. Pearl threw a salute to the other zeppelins right before the radio in the control panel next to him turned on, initially playing loud static, before automatically tuning on the right frequency.

“-is the War Room Command Center, calling all Royal Zepp force members, report your status,” a rugged voice came through the speaker. Pearl fumbled with the controls for a bit, trying to find out where the transmitting button was.

“Damn thing, they replaced the old station, where the hell is that damn button?”

“Black Prince reporting, sir.”

“HMS Blue Bird ready and waiting.”

“Where the hell is that thing?” Pearl shouted in frustration, the lights inside the basket turning off as he kept pressing random buttons on the brand new control panel.

“Try that one,” Silver said from over his shoulder.

“Purple Barron, awaiting orders.”

The engines suddenly choked as the emergency stops were triggered. A red warning light started spinning inside the ship, making the other crew members groan in frustration.

“Skip’, what are you doing?”

“It’s this bloody new panel, I didn’t have the time to-” he grabbed what was the transmitter, and studied it attentively. “Why in Celestia’s fat arse did they replace the old microphone? How do you even turn this-”

“What did he say about my sister?” came a distant, background voice from the radio. The operator then started speaking again: “We copy you loud and clear now, Celestia’s uhh-”

“Celestia’s Pearl! Hehe, that’d be us, the scoundrels of the ol’ zepp force!” Pearl quickly said, his mane standing up on the back of his head.

“Roger that, all zeppelins, prepare to enter the battle!” one last command came through the station.

Pearl hung the mic back onto the upper panel, then rested a hoof on the helm while the other grasped the acceleration. “Get ready, boys, this ain’t gonna be pretty!”

*** *** ***

The ground trembled slightly, a mighty horn blowing in the distance. The capital city behind was slowly encased by a golden magic barrier, sealing it from the rest of the world. The silence on the field was eerie, only the flaps of the Equestrian banners carried by a few still traveling through the air.

Blink held his ground, his teeth clenched and hooves heavy as lead. His eyes dared to drift from the sight in front of him for a single moment, and he used that second to look at the ones standing behind him. A thin line of Crystal Guardians was spread across the entire hill chain. In between them every ten feet or so, a buffalo wearing golden armor plates stood, ready to fight for the same land shared by their equine allies.

Behind that vanguard were thirty thousand soldiers, stallions and even mares, all united and wearing the same golden armors. They bared large, round shields, swords and spears, some even magic muskets or bows. They stood in front of an army several times larger than their own, yet their bravery matched that of their enemies without any compromise. Some knew very well they might not come back home, but everyone felt that they were exactly where they were supposed to be.

“Getting cold hooves, eh?”

Blink turned his head towards the sturdy General of the Armies, but said nothing.

“Listen, we tried to find her, she’s probably not even here. Worse case, she’s at the field hospital behind us. Right now however you have three entire armies coming this way. I’ll start the counter-charge soon enough, that is your current focus, you understand?”

“I do,” he said, “I’ve been asked that a lot recently . . .”

Iron Hooves turned to the rows behind the two of them. “I don’t need to remind you who we’re fighting for today! I don’t need to tell you what will happen to the city behind us if we don’t hold them off here long enough! Now for you, Crystal Guardians!”

The entire couple of rows formed by the un-living crystal soldiers smacked their shields against their breastplates, standing at attention.

“Your Princess has ordered you to follow my commands; and I just want to thank you for coming to our aid! Future scribes will write the tale of this battle, and it will not be legend, for you have been here with us, and fought against our enemies, to protect Equestria and the Crystal Empire! We’re also grateful for your help, buffalos from the canyons and plains of our southern lands! And the same goes to all other races present here among us, which chose to fight for the freedom of this world and the peace between nations! We may not have as many allies as the Gryphon Kingdom, but today we-”

An amalgam of distant, awkward calls started reaching the ears of everyone on Struthill, stopping Iron Hooves’ speech. The enemies ahead had picked up their pace, now only less than a mile away, the fast minotaurs overtaking the non-flying changelings, while the air troops were even further away. Yet the waves of high-pitched shrieks did not come from them, but from somewhere on right side of the battlefield.

Everyone stared at a distant hill that flanked both armies, behind which the sun had arisen from. The morale of the entire equestrian army suddenly rose as they realised what was happening: thousands of silver armored, equine-looking creatures flooded the flanking hill in a full charge, their sharp war cries specific to only one known race: the zebras.

Iron Hooves cracked a wide smile before closing the visor of his helmet. “Let’s get there and help our friends! What say you?” he shouted his question, which was followed by the uproar of all the soldiers on the field, save for the Guardians, who remain rather unfazed by the commotion behind them.

The General of the Armies strapped his shield around the front side of his left hoof, then raised his right one in the air. He looked behind him at the approaching pegasi, then to his right at the zebras, making sure all the troops under his command as well as his allies would counter at the same time.

After several tensed seconds, he brought his hoof forward, breaking into a gallop. The entire vanguard yanked off in a perfectly synchronized charge, heading straight towards the incoming minotaurs.

Blink started his charge along the large earth stallion general as well, however he shortly began lagging behind, his muscles still feeling numb following the spells cast on him earlier to block the pain of the hot armor pieces. The Guardians galloped past him as he desperately tried to keep up the pace. He felt something suddenly yank his mane, and found himself thrown in the air, after which he landed on a rapidly bobbing surface. He held onto the edges of the gold object, and soon realised where he was.

“You looked like you needed a lift. Are you all right, pony?” chief Thunderhooves asked.

“Just numb, it’s a long story . . . but you shouldn’t have,” Blink said from atop the buffalo’s back as he held onto him for dear life.

From that vantage position, Blink could see the entire battle that was about to unfold. Behind him were the earth and unicorn soldiers; above him, the pegasi halted their descent and leveled at around one hundred feet, heading straight towards the huge swarm up ahead. Leading that entire air force was none other than Spitfire herself; Blink also noticed a larger silhouette among the pegasi behind her, which was undoubtedly Spike. The small zebra army to the right had already clashed with the enemy ground troops, the sounds of metal smashing against metal already reaching his ears.

“Ok, focus time,” Blink murmured to himself.

The first scattered rows of minotaurs were about to hit their Guardians vanguard. His horn started channeling his magic.

“I won’t go too far in,” Thunderhooves announced, “we’ll be surrounded too fast by the insects!”

“It’s all right, chieftain. I am, after all, a unicorn.” With those last words said, the black armored unicorn puffed out of existence in a cloud of blue smoke.

He re-appeared right in the middle of the charging minotaurs, right behind their front lines. The dust around him started rising, twirling around him as he charged his first spell. He rose on his hind legs and then came back down, smashing his hooves against the ground. The air in a large area around him suddenly compressed downwards, making the knees of everyone nearby buckle under the instant rise in air pressure, sending them tumbling into the dirt.

Blink began walking forwards, eyes darting all around him, analyzing the swarming mass of troops flowing around him. From behind, he could hear the initial clash of the two armies as the fight broke out. His eyes focused on a fallen minotaur nearby that got up and lunged at him with his horns lowered, while his eyes were bloodshot with rage.

The minotaur’s weapon, a large double-sided axe, flew from the ground and imbedded itself into his owner’s chest, felling the large creature to the ground with a loud thud. The blue magical aura surrounding it faded away, and Blink simply stared at the now lifeless body of his enemy. Cold chills ran down his spine underneath the hydra armor, yet the taste of killing is always an acquired one.

His eyes narrowed. The large warriors nearby had noticed him and were already approaching the stallion with every intention to kill. Blue shield plates materialized and started spinning around Blink as he planted his hooves into the ground. “Come on, show me what you got,” he snorted, horn glowing brighter and brighter.

*** *** ***

“Aim aaannnd fire!” Dash yelled the order.

Three bolts of green magic left the spear-muskets of her squad’s members, joining the other thousands fired at the gryphon line ahead. In the next second, the enemy fliers returned fire, spawning a cloud of smoke from their gunpowder muskets, as blazing fast bullets hit the pegasi armada full on.

The gryphon’s round of fire hit first, falling hundreds of pegasi as both armies still flew towards each-other, still not within dogfight range. Bullets whizzed all around, and the cyan captain pulled up, trying to get themselves away from the center of their troops.

“Keep ascending at seventy degrees, we need to get the hell out of their line of fire. Don’t stop shooting! Empty out your guns and- ahh!” She dodged a falling pegasus in the last moment, banking a sharp left. “-and prepare for close range battle!”

She craned her neck down, unable to refrain from knowing the fallen centurion’s fate. As he was struggling to move his wings, his combat flight assistant emergency mechanism triggered, locking his wings and setting him on a glide path towards the back of their lines. As she saw all the fallen pegasi that were still alive make use of their CFAs, Rainbow began regretting not taking hers along. She threw those thoughts away and tapped her right hoof. A blade jutted out, locking itself in position.

Bullets still flew past them, but none of the light class fliers of Haylift had been hit yet. They finished their ascend to the top of their forces, and aligned towards the enemy front lines.

Lightning Dust finished emptying out the musket’s magic coal, and fumbled with a switch at the base of the short barrel, ejecting the smoking rock. She reached out to a compartment near her chest piece, and retrieved one last piece of enchanted coal. The other two pegasi in the squad that had spear-muskets were already out of ammo, throwing the weapons away and bringing out their hoof-blades.

“This is it, we’re going in,” Dash announced in her helmet mic.

The two armies finally clashed against each other, the largest pegasi leading the vanguard smashing against the even larger gryphons. The two groups were almost identical in numbers, yet behind the gryphon fleet, the changeling swarm was still trying to catch up, due to their flyers’ smaller, less effective wings.

Dash banked, heading towards the nearest approaching target, a gryphon that was still using his musket. “Engagement distance, featherbrain,” she muttered, doing a barrel roll to avoid the gryphon’s last bullet. Rainbow then straightened her wings upward, swinging her right hoof underneath her as she passed above the target’s head.

The blade struck the base of one of his unprotected wings, severing it completely. With a piercing scream, the gryphon began falling down, flailing his limbs in a desperate attempt to avoid his certain death.

Rainbow brought her eyes back to the fight nearby, her hooves however shaking as the realization of what she had done started overcoming her. She stared at her hoof blade, entranced by the vivid red that stained it. The blood skidded across the shiny metal, meeting at its tip and dripping down towards the hell bellow.

A hot, green projectile passed right in front of Dash, striking a gryphon that was about to plunge a spear into her. The attacker veered off-course, the weapon slipping from his hand, joining him in his fall. Dash caught a glimpse of his empty eyes through the helmet’s visor, smoke coming out from a gap inside his chest armor.

“Rainbow Dash!” came Lightning Dust’s voice through the helmet’s receiver. “What the buck was that just there? Snap out of it, we’re in deep horse shit right now!”

The cyan pegasus darted her eyes to her, the tumultuous reality around settling back into her mind. She mustered her inner courage and all the military academy’s training started kicking in. Tens of thousands of gryphons and pegasi engaged into dogfights and brawls, filling the air with screams, grunts and metal clangs as they hit, stabbed and shot each-other into oblivion. Below them, the enemy ground troops continued to pour into the fight, the front lines of that battle located behind their position. The minotaurs had been the first to clash with the earth and unicorn soldiers, and as such, the two air armadas met further away from Struthill than the ground troops had, causing a dangerous misalignment for the Equestrian army.

Dash entered a steep dive after a group of gryphons started chasing her. “Haylift, shake these four off my tail!” Her agility allowed her to dodge and navigate through the cloud of fighting soldiers, and at one point she fully extended her wings out, breaking her fall. She then flapped them madly as she sprung up in the air, towards the ones chasing her. She dodged both an axe and a pole-arm in the last moment, before sinking her blade in a gryphon’s neck and using the stopping momentum to smash another one with her hind hooves, sending his tumbling into the air. Two stallions from her squad hurtled past her, engaging the two remaining chasers.

“General announcement on all frequencies, Royal Zepp Force is about to deploy, all air troops must stay clear of the red smoke flares, I repeat, all air troops must get away from the smoke flares. Fall back behind the smoke as soon as you see it and prepare to defend the zeppelins from concentrated fire.”

The entire dynamic of the air battle suddenly shifted, the pegasi dragging the fight behind in what was the first tactical retreat thus far.

“You hear that?” Rainbow asked her fellow squad members, “get behind those flares, we’re too far ahead already! We need to-”

“Dash, watch out!”

A sudden impact threw her off course, and soon pain started radiating from her right wing. She tried to regain control of her flight, and through her spinning she saw her squad members being chased off by a large group of gryphons wearing heavier armor sets than the rest, decorated with royal symbols and markings of their kingdom.

Dash felt another impact as something latched onto her. A pair of wings and a furry tail made their way into her line of sight as she realised she was in the claws of a gryphon. Using her wings to get some momentum, she spun around, freeing herself from the strong claws. As she rotated, Rainbow flung a hind leg at the enemy behind her, and then her right foreleg. The hoof missed and the blade got stuck into the gryphon’s shoulder guard.

The pegasus noticed the armor was well crafted and polished, bearing some sort of royal signs that the other gryphons did not have. As she struggled to get her blade out of the shoulder guard, she used her other hoof, smashing the assailant repeatedly. The gryphon grabbed her left hoof and used the other set of claws to lift the visor of her helmet, before wrapping them around Dash’s neck.

“Gotcha’, dweeb.”

*** *** ***

“Deploy, deploy, deploy!” The radio station inside the airship boomed.

The five unicorns standing in front of their respective zeppelins closed their eyes as they focused their entire attention on the spell, their magic auras encasing the airships completely. A ring of non-translucent energy began forming around each of them, starting to rotate faster and faster.

Inside the basket, the light coming through the large windshield was almost blinding. Pearl pulled on a lever over and over, attempting to re-ignite the choked engines.

“Damn engines be dying on us! To Tartarus with you!” he shouted, smashing the control panel. He then grabbed the radio mic. “Command Center? This here’s Captain Pearl, we request you ta’ stop the darn deploy for our ship in front of Hangar 1, our engines are dead.”

The only answer he received was static. “Ohh no . . .” he murmured, looking at the magic shield surrounding his ship, putting two and two together. “Green Horn!” He outright yelled behind him, “Grab a couple starter cartridges, get your ugly flank outside and fire up those engines or we’ll be dead in the water! Now!”

The unicorn searched through few containers at the back of the basket until he found a cardboard box containing several large cartridges that were used to jump-start piston engines like their own. He grabbed several of them with his magic and rushed back to the front of the ship, where the boarding door was located.

The cracking of energy and magic suddenly got doubled by a powerful, rising high frequency noise, and the ship started shaking violently.

“Hold onto something, boys!”

The white light coming from outside exploded, filling the entire cabin as the world lost all sound for a few short moments. With a deep thud, the zeppelin jolted violently and everyone was thrown backwards then forwards as the airship halted in place. Luckily they were holding on, save for the Captain, who smashed against the helm and had his lungs emptied in an instant.

“Damn it, Captain!” Silver said as he rushed in to help the white stallion stand up.

Green Horn opened the metal door and his face dropped at the sight. From the right side of the zeppelin’s basket, he could see the entire battle unfolding in front of and under his eyes. Thousands of retreating pegasi flew past their ships and started re-grouping around them. He turned his head to the left, towards the enemy troops, and saw the approaching gryphons as well as the many insect-like creatures behind them. His blood froze in his veins.

“Green Horn, why aren’t- why- why aren’t my damn engines running already?” Pearl’s hollers came from within, interrupted by his coughing fit as he regained his breath.

“On it, Captain!” The unicorn said, grabbing a roll of rope. He tied one end securely around a metal beam, then took the other end in his mouth, stepping outside on the thin outer edge of the basket. He glued his body to the ship’s hull, slowly dragging his legs along the ridge, making his way towards the engine and crawling underneath the tip of the canons that stuck out through their hatchets.

Inside the MG nest, Crank Shot spun the turret around facing forwards, and his stomach too sunk deeply at the chilling sight in front of him. He lined up the sights, but there were still a lot of pegasi fighting gryphons at danger close distances.

Outside the ship, Green Horn walked carefully on the supporting structure beams that held the engines attached to the rest of the ship, wobbling dangerously above the edge every now and then. He reached the first engine, the right one, and quickly removed the service hatch. Grabbing a cartridge from the box, he slammed it into the emergency ignition slot.

Captain Pearl hit the start button for the first engine as soon as he saw his crew pony crawling his way out of the area in front of the large propeller. An explosion blasted dark smoke out of the engine, causing the blades to start spinning.

“Hurry up with the next!” Pearl ordered from the cabin, feverishly pointing at what was coming in front of them.

Green Horn spat the rope out of his mouth and grabbed it firmly in his hooves, before jumping off. He swung to the engine on the other side of the basket, grabbing hold of the supporting beam and pulling himself up. Moment later, a starting cartridge was loaded into the second engine as well. Pearl smashed the second ignition button and the ship became fully functional again.

“Help him back up and load the portside cannons!”

The unicorn outside tied the rope around himself and jumped again, ending up dangling underneath the ship. Crank Shot turned the turret towards him, saluting him with a wide grin. A couple of crewponies began pulling on the rope, dragging the unicorn back into the basket.

After the door hatch closed, Pearl spun the helm madly to the right, accelerating the left engine to the maximum. The zeppelin banked sideways, forcing everyone to hold on again. Improperly stored cannonballs rolled around the floor, drawing another series of curses and slurs from the white captain.

Pearl equalized the engine’s powers after turning the ship halfway back. “Portside better be ready!”

With the help of the large stallion that was Tiny, Sour Buck and Green Horn finished preparing the first firing round, sliding the fourth portside cannon out the hatchet.

Outside, the lines of centurions had fallen back right behind their position, as the gryphons pushed forwards, now dangerously close to the zeppelin lines. All flying ships were turned 90 degrees and were already firing their cannons as well as their machine guns at the approaching waves of enemies.

Noticing that from the front of the cabin, Pearl tapped the MG nest’s floor hatchet with a hoof. “What are you waiting for, monkey? Fire that damn thing already! The rest of you, open fire!”

“Skip’, we still have ponies dogfighting in our line of fire!” Silver said, lowering a pair of binoculars from his eyes.

Pearl opened his mouth, but didn’t find anything to say, so he resumed at smashing his hoof against the helm. “Open fire at the ground units then!”

The two unicorns tasked with aiming the cannons lowered all four, 42 pounder barrels at the battlefield beneath, then sparked the triggering chambers with their own magic. The blast shook the entire basket with its ear-shattering discharge, causing the ship to dangle slightly from the strong recoil.

Inside the MG nest, Crank Shot aimed the twin-barreled machinegun at an incoming group of gryphons. After making sure there were no friendlies along that line, he pulled at the two triggers with his hooves, unleashing the firepower of the 50-caliber-fed monster.

The rounds spat out at greater-than-sound-speed velocities, tearing through the group of enemies with ruthless accuracy. “I’ll be fucking damned!” he shouted, more from the fact that his ears were ringing from the sound of the twin beasts. Three gryphons were torn to shreds from the short burst of fire, and the other broke formation immediately. Crank Shot’s horn glowed as he turned the basket, and began firing after the rest.

The rounds traced through the air, initially missing the gryphons entirely as they left the flying bullets behind them. After a quick adjustment to his aiming technique, Crank Shot opened fire again, aiming the guns slightly in front of his targets, that time hitting at least another two of them. The ammo belts jiggled above him, as the hungry monster consumed them at what was considered a mind-blowing pace by the small unicorn.

The basket shook strongly, another round of cannonballs fired to the changeling ground troops below that followed in the steps of the crazed minotaurs.

*** *** ***

His ears caught a whistling sound getting louder and louder, and just as he was about to turn his head, a blast threw him in the air and into the dirt. Blink rolled onto his back, running his hoof over his side and chest. Small metal fragments were embedded into the black leather armor, yet none had made it through.

He looked at a minotaur’s body next to him, noticing the several piercing holes in his armor set. “I’ll be damned, remind me to get you a nice Heart Warming Eve’s present, Rarity.”

Blink got up and assessed the status of the battlefield. He found himself still way behind the engagement area, the horde of minotaurs passing by slowly turning into a swarm of ground changeling troops. Luckily for him, the bipedal creatures did not overrun him entirely, and only had to teleport away a couple of times.

The changelings however showed more interest in the dark armored unicorn, charging at him relentlessly before the cannonball hit the ground next to him. One of the shadow clones he was using just before being interrupted came back to Blink, helping him get up from the dirt.

“I need a damn weapon!” his illusion spat at him.

“Sorry, this baby takes a lot of magic to duplicate,” Blink said, picking up the revolver from the ground and firing a couple of rounds at an incoming changeling. Right behind it was another one, which jumped head-first straight at him.

The unicorn grabbed his shadow clone by the shoulders and moved it in front of him. The insect soldier hit him in the back, its jagged horn sticking through and out of the clone’s chest.

“Yeah, this is even harder to clone, it’s too magical; so I just made it out of normal leather,” Blink said, referring to the clone’s armor that had failed to stop the fatal stab.

“Just great,” he muttered back, blood trickling from his mouth. The clone puffed out of existence, and the real stallion brought his gun to the changeling’s head, blasting it away with a hollow-point round.

“Rrrrhhhaaa!” A primal scream filled the air, as a large soldier bashed his way through a small group of changelings, sending them flying. He planted his hind legs firmly, reached for the large broadsword on his back and swung it at another couple of enemies, slicing the head off the first changeling and cutting the second one’s chest open with one strike.

“Iron Hooves, happy to see you’re still alive there!” Blink said to the stallion that came to his side as he was picking up his breath.

“That makes two of us, lad.”

A group of Guardians, not more than eight or nine, advanced forward from behind in a deadly gallop, slicing and stabbing their way to their appointed commander.

“I see our crystal friends are still at it,” the black armored unicorn declared, rather surprised. He snapped his head to the side, sending out a blast of magic to a new wave of changelings.

“They are a strong bunch, haven’t seen anything like it. If it weren’t for them and the buffalo to break the minotaur ranks, I don’t know how we would have made it so far.” He suddenly raised his left hoof right in time. A flying insect smashed into the shield that was still attached to the hoof and the impact was instantly followed by the noise of crunching bones and ligament. Iron Hooves then took his sword, rotated it and stuck it into the struggling creature, twisting it once for good measure.

“We need to go soon, we won’t last too long now that these bugs caught up with the gryphons and minotaurs.” He looked up in the air, behind them, where the air battle had moved around the zeppelins, one of them already letting out thick streams of smoke from an engine.

“It’s too early. We can’t leave yet,” Blink protested while bucking a changeling that jumped him.

“Son, we’re losing soldiers! Lots of them! If we don’t start falling back there won’t be anyone left to protect the city! Our main troops are still far away, we will have to hold them off in Canterlot until they reach us.”

“Fine, you can go then, sir! I can always teleport out if needed.”

“Don’t take too long, ya hear?” The General then turned and galloped back to their lines, surrounded by the small group of Guardians.

Blink cast several shadow clones, which engaged with an incoming group of changelings and minotaurs, keeping him away from the fight as he laid out the plans of his next moves. Lightning bolts came down somewhere behind him, and the thunders made the ground rumble underneath his hooves. The mages had entered the field, it seemed.

Seeing that he wasn’t doing that much damage behind enemy lines, mostly because the attackers were determined more than anything to reach the city rather than kill everyone in sight, Blink decided to head back to the main combat area of the battle.

A blue flash and he found himself in the middle of the real battle, thousands of soldiers locked in desperate clashes, some stallions facing even two or more changelings at a time. Minotaurs were still present on the field, spreading terror and fear among the Equestrian ranks with their superior strength and heavy weapons. The only ones bigger than them, the buffalo, ran amok across the field, smashing horns-first into anything that wasn’t a pony.

The Crystal Guardians were engaging as many targets as they could at once in an attempt to keep the rest of the troops as safe as possible while the hostile army kept pouring among their ranks. Fast, agile silver-armored zebras fought alongside with the golden soldiers of Equestria, slicing through enemy waves with long, double-edged, double-tipped swords in an amazing display of combat proficiency.

Unicorns wearing light armor and matching golden robes navigated through the battlefield by teleportation, casting various spells onto the enemies around them. Some of them, wearing medic markings, assisted the fallen ponies, buffalo and zebra, getting them out of the field by teleporting out.

“We need to fall back soon! Stop advancing, they’ll overcome us!” shouted someone, Blink didn’t see who.

“Okay, time to take control of this,” Blink muttered to himself, horn lighting up while blue waves of energy started materializing around himself. “Let’s see how you invading scum handle the Four Stallions of the Apocalypse.”

With those last words, his entire body burst into pure, black smog. The dark cloud swirled around for a moment before separating in distinct shapes, materializing themselves into four unique shadow clones. The first bared a huge, heavy combat hammer over his shoulder; the second clone was surrounded by two, thin swords levitating to his sides, and had spiked chains hanging around his neck and into the air, while the last two stood behind them back to back on their hind legs, bearing no weapon.

*** *** ***

“Critical!” Golden Heart, the medic mare with blonde mane shouted from the side of a gurney, on top of who a stallion was struggling in pain.

Twilight rushed to the other side, taking a moment to study the bleeding wound right below his jaw line. She was not wearing Celestia’s armor anymore, choosing to cast it aside soon after the first injured started to arrive, which allowed her greater mobility.

She cast a spell on the affected area, and the torrent of blood slowed down considerably. “It’s . . . very critical, he lost a lot of blood.”

“All right then, send him out, we need the gurneys,” Golden Heart urged her, quickly binding the groaning soldier’s hooves with some tape. “You’re gonna be okay dear, we’re sending you to Canterlot, this is just so you don’t fumble too much during the teleportation.” She comforted him with a few strokes of his mane, while searching her medic bag. Finding what she was looking for, Golden pulled out a sticker pad and, using her magic, wrote down on a red one the word ‘transfusion B+’ with a pen, before applying it to his chest piece.

Twilight’s purple magic encased the stallion, while she closed her eyes in concentration, focusing on the auditorium building back in the capital. With a bright flash, the stretcher was empty, the only proof of someone laying there just moments ago being a couple of large, fresh blood stains.

Two spheres of magic materialized nearby, and a couple of unicorn stallions dragged themselves out of them, each carrying an injured pony. Twilight looked around, taking in the sight of long lines of filled gurneys and the erratic medics swarming around them. She mentally went over her checklist, deciding she would have exactly twelve and a half seconds before needing to check on two almost-critical cases pending transport.

The two unicorns both came to the same gurney where Golden and Twilight stood. The blonde unicorn mare rushed to one holding onto a pegasus, inspecting him.

“Wing, broken forelegs,” said the soldier holding him.

The mare looked at his back but could only see a wing and a bleeding stub. She then darted her eyes at the other injured stallion who was screaming in pain and noticed a smoking hole in his side. “Get the pegasus to the field tents, tell them to secure the broken legs and cauterize the wing. And you, you put the earth stallion over there.”

The second soldier placed the injured pony with the side wound on the gurney, before trotting away, disappearing into a burst of magic.

“Wow, we’re getting more of these now, damn it; they must have started fighting the changelings,” Golden said, removing the armor while casting a series of spells to check his vitals. Meanwhile, Twilight used a mild pain numbing spell, trying to ease his suffering while not wasting too much magic.

“It- it stings so much!” he managed between clenched teeth, breaking into a loud moan. “Am I gonna die? Tell me if I’m gonna die!”

“You’re going to be fine, sweetheart,” Golden tried to assure him, while removing the chainmail layer.

The wound was deep and wide, and smoke was still coming from the burning edges, while blood streamed out from everywhere. The two mares’ eyes met for a moment, and the medic mare shook her head subtly. Twilight immediately felt a pang in her chest, and even if her decision was correct, she was still unable to accept it completely. The pony’s wailing wasn’t helping her either.

“I can- I could keep him under my full life support spell, seal off the missing liver and kidney functions and restore-”

“Twilight! While you do that, ten more that you could save in that time and with that amount of magic would die.”

Her ears flopped down, accepting the morbid situation and the fate of the stallion in front of her.

“Can I at least send him to Canterlot? They have more pain meds . . .”

Golden sighed, and retrieved another couple of pads from her bag. She stuck a black one on his armor, and another white one with “pain meds” written over it. Twilight then cast the spell and the dying pony disappeared completely, purple sparks burning out on the blood-stained stretcher.

*** *** ***

“We got another critical transfusion over here!” shouted a caramel-coated stallion in a coat that was once white and not filled with red.

The entire main hall, where performances and shows used to play not a few days before, was now riddled with hundreds of medical beds and stretchers, all filled with injured stallions and mares of all races. To one side of the tremendous hall, several buffalo lay on the floor, medics desperately trying to heal their injuries even with limited knowledge of their anatomy.

The soldier with the deep neck wound was lying on the stage, which was completely cleared and had several magic markings recently engraved into its wooden boards. The medic grabbed him by the tail and hastily dragged him out of that spot. A unicorn with a floating gurney came to help and they both placed him onto it.

“This one needs to get into surgery ASAP, and fix him up with a liter of B+ on the way there!”

As the unicorn rushed off with the gurney floating behind him, the medic slumped down on the front edge of the stage, trying to catch his breath. He and other several doctors had been triaging ever since the battle had started and the first injured soldiers arrived. The stage was littered with sticky notes of various colors, most of which were red. His eyes dropped to his hoof, and the sickening sensation overcame him again; it wasn’t the blood or gore, as a medic he was used to that. What made his insides churn was the small, black post-it note under his hoof, which was stained by several drops of blood. There were more and more of those coming through recently.

His ear twitched at the crackling sound of bursting magic behind him, which had become the norm for the last hours. He tried to turn his head but was soon stopped by a gentle hoof.

“You need to rest, or else you’ll cause more harm than good,” said to him a mare nurse that he had only seen in passing that day. “Go, I’ll replace you.”

The medic nodded and jumped off the stage, making his way to the storage area where he knew he could find something else less stressful to do. Redheart then climbed the small ladder and joined the others in triaging the transported soldiers on the stage. Her heart was fluttering relentlessly, fearing that every pony that arrived there could very well be him.

Back towards the exit of the main auditorium hall, the medic floating the stallion with the neck wound had finished prepping his transfusion bag, yet the soldier was already unconscious. He grunted in frustration and rushed forwards, entering a busy hallway with the stretcher behind him in his magic grasp. The atmosphere was utterly chaotic, medics and nurses rushing in every possible direction in and out of the rooms that were just dressing chambers the day before. Screams and moans came from the critically injured waiting to be taken care of, their vocalized pain breaking the spirits of even the most hardened medical staff.

“I need a surgeon, he’s dying here!” the stallion with the injured pony behind him shouted, checking every chamber along the hallway. Unfortunately for the soldier taking his last breaths on the gurney, the improvised surgery rooms were all full, with medic unicorns having a pony on the table while at least another one or two waited on gurneys laid down on the hallway.

“I’m free!” came from a room nearby.

The unicorn rushed inside as soon as another stretcher carrying a sedated pegasus left the room, and much to his surprise, the surgeon standing by the metal table was no one other that Princess Celestia herself, wearing a stained coat and cloth mask over her muzzle.

“Your highness, there is another critical with heavy internal bleeding on his way here,” stated one of the assisting doctors.

“It’s all right, we have time for him; get an artery clamp ready, please,” she asked with a calm that completely defied the situation.

Celestia floated several medical instruments next to her, and as soon as the soldier was placed on the table, she immediately began operating. Her horn pulsed several times initially, the entire wound area around his neck clearing out of any excess blood. She then pried it open, exposing the severed neck artery to the powerful light coming from the tip of her horn. In mere seconds, the pulsing end was clamped while a small circular needle joined the tiny, life-bearing tube back together. Releasing the clamp, she watched as blood inflated the artery back with a steady, pulsating twitch. The alicorn floated a small bottle to her and poured no more than a couple of droplets over the joined artery. The liquid instantly gelatinized, sealing off the tiny leaks that remained.

She then closed the wound and stitched it with a larger needle, applying a powerful clotting spell. What was mere moments ago an almost fatal wound, had become a fresh scar.

Just as the soldier was carefully lifted off the table and placed on a stretcher to be taken out, the critical case had entered the door. An assistant padded Celestia’s face with a dry cloth, while offering her a bottle to drink from.

“Please get in touch with Luna and have them update me on what’s happening at Struthill,” she asked between changing her facemask and rehydrating herself.

*** *** ***

Information officers and radio operators were working feverishly in the War Room, as Luna stood in front of one of the walls. Near it, several unicorns maintained a special linking spell, projecting a fluid image on the wall in front of them.

“Why aren’t they engaging with all of their forces?” the Princess asked herself out loud, studying the fuzzy stream of images.

She raised a hoof and swiped in to the left. The entire perspective shifted accordingly, and the initial gaps and broken depth issues fixed themselves gradually, as the unicorns focused on strengthening the spell.

“Our zebra allies are fighting admirably; they aided us in keeping the right side of the battlefield steady. Still, the enemy is holding back . . .”

Behind the ongoing battle in the air, a large mass of changelings flew in a compact formation along the battle area. The gryphons were still engaged with the pegasi as the battle had moved in front of the side-facing zeppelins, and groups of changelings were fueling the fight from behind.

On the ground the same tactic was applied, waves after waves of changelings pouring into the field at a constant rate. The ponies were losing hundreds by the minute, and Luna realised she had to call a retreat soon enough. The main plan of hitting the swarms with as much force as possible had failed, as the large part of the enemy’s armada was standing behind their vanguards.

“Princess, we’ve received more news from our main army forces coming from the outer cities,” a stallion floating a parchment in front of him reported. “They are encountering resistance on their way here, mostly changelings left behind with the exact purpose of slowing down any reinforcements. No major losses reported, but they say they’ll be here around dawn at the earliest. Also, we have word that several survivors have been found outside of the Death Valley near Tartarus. The prison itself is unopened.”

“Is Shining Armor among them?” Luna asked with renewed hope.

“Not from what we know at this time, your highness.”

An explosion coming from a zeppelin’s basket made Luna re-direct her attention back to the magical projection on the wall. The sky was filled with bright, orange flames, spreading upwards and encasing the whole balloon. The ship began falling to the ground immediately, and several pegasi could be seen flying out of it just as the ammunition reserves blew up, creating a second, more powerful explosion.

“Your Highness, Princess Celestia wants to know how the fight is going on, and if she needs to refresh the shield spell surrounding Canterlot,” asked a pony from behind a radio transmitter.

“Tell her that we are faring well for now. And you,” Luna said, looking at a pegasus officer, “order our special unicorn troops to enter the field of battle, post haste!”

“Yes, Princess.” He grabbed the transmitter and tuned in to a specific frequency. “This is central command from Canterlot’s War Room, deploy the Avatars, I say again, the Avatars are to engage the enemy troops!”

*** *** ***

Dash tumbled through the air after kicking herself free from her captor, desperately trying to get a bearing amidst the swarm of enemies around her. A gryphon smashed into her, followed by a close-call from a couple of changelings.

“No one interferes, she’s mine!” the gryphon in royal armor yelled from the top of her lungs.

“Why are you doing this, Gilda?” Rainbow asked, looking wearily around her as enemy fliers advanced past the two of them. “You lived half of your life in Equestria! Now you’re killing ponies that’ve never done anything to your kind? What was in your uncle’s mind?”

“It’s all politics, Dash, my dear. And why should I care about you or your precious friends when you chose them over me so many times?” the gryphon retorted, flying wide circles around the cyan mare.

“You became an insufferable bully! You made fun of my friends and mocked them even after I’ve told you to stop! Why would anyone want to be friends with you?”

Gilda huffed in anger, narrowing her eyes at who was once her best friend. She charged at her, extending her sharp, metal-covered claws. The pegasus dodged her easily in the last moment, yet didn’t strike back.

“Gilda, don’t make me do this!” Rainbow Dash warned her again, desperately trying to deter her somehow. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I’ll do it if you continue with this; just walk away!”

“Ohh, the little pegasus making threats. Look around Dash, this war was won when my uncle decided to invade,” she said, flying towards Rainbow, prepared to strike again.

That time the pegasus dashed forward, navigating through the enemy waves while trying to return to her squad and allies. Gryphons and changelings blocked her path constantly, forcing her to bank and veer sharply just to avoid being shred into pieces of blasted away by green bolts of magic.

Just as she was about to rise above the path of the enemy fliers, Dash was yanked back by the tail.

“You are not getting away that easily, Dash!”

As she turned, the pegasus found herself trapped again between Gilda’s claws, which were dangerously wrapped around her neck, squeezing tighter and tighter. She tried to pry open the claws with her hooves but she was no match against the gryphon’s strength. Finding no other way out of that situation, and with Gilda’s sharp claws already drawing blood, Dash brought her hind legs to her stomach then bucked forwards repeatedly as hard as she could, eventually freeing herself from the death clutch.

Dash then propelled herself towards Gilda, right hoof readied to the side. With a strong jab, she drove the blade through the gryphon’s armor, stabbing her in the shoulder. Gilda screamed for the sudden burning pain in her arm, flailing her claws at the pegasus. Some of her attacks landed on their target, shredding Rainbow’s light armor and even cutting deep wounds on her neck and wings.

Gilda managed to get a hold of Dash’s right shoulder while her hoof blade was still stuck in her arm. She spun the pegasus, revealing her back, grabbed a beating wing and snapped it in half. The sound of broken bone sent Rainbow in a world of pain, and soon a pained scream left her lips. Only moments later did she realize that Gilda was holding her in the air by the shoulders.

“You should have stayed in Ponyville, now you gave me no choice, Dash,” the gryphon said in a low voice, the shadows of a once strong friendship lingering somewhere in her tone.

With that, Gilda let go of the pegasus, pushing her forwards to her death. With her heart racing at the prospect of death, Dash desperately extended her front hooves and reached the gryphon’s legs, grabbing hold of them.

“Gilda! Is this really what you want?” she yelled at the flier that was now struggling to get her off.

“Our friendship . . . is dead, Rainbow Dash, and so are you! Now have some dignity and let go!” she warned her, raising her metal-covered claws.

“Then we’ll die together.”

Dash pulled hard, lunging herself upwards. With a swift motion, her blade sliced through the air, taking half of Gilda’s left wing off and an array of her primaries from the remaining half.

Both fliers began losing altitude, as gravity claimed their fates. Rainbow struggled for a few moments to somehow stabilize her descent, however her only functional wings was not enough to keep her in the air or even slow down her descent. Her entire world began spinning, the ground mixing with the air in a storm of colors as she spun, falling to her death.

“Haylift, do you hear me? Anyone in Haylift, this is squad comman-”

“Dash, are you okay?” Lightning’s voice filled her helmet. “We lost you in our retreat, tell me you’re somewhere around the zeppelins or behind them!”

“I’m falling . . . fast,” she grunted, vainly trying to stabilize her spin. “Just want you to tell my friends-”

“Dash where are you? Tell me your location!”

“Don’t know, between- uggggff!”

She hit something in her fall, most likely a changeling. Her shoulder radiated with pain from the impact, but it didn’t matter anymore, as the ground approached her faster and faster.

“Rainbow, are you okay? Just tell us-”

“Shut up, Lightening, and just remember to . . . damn it, remember to tell my friends they meant everything for me. You’re pretty okay too, I guess . . .”

The pegasus unlocked her helmet from the main armor piece and let it go, the voice of her friend coming from it fading into the wind. Her multi-colored mane was now free, dancing wildly in the air. With her back facing the ground, Dash could see the swarms of enemies advancing above her, their entire forces now heading towards an engagement. Higher in the air to her left, Gilda was struggling to remain up, but was essentially in the same situation as her old friend.

“I’ll miss you guys,” Dash whispered, the image and recollection of all the moments spent with her friends going through her mind. Tears lost themselves in the wind, and her eyes closed one last time. The ground was only a few seconds away.

*** *** ***

The twin-barreled machinegun ate the remainder of the ammo belt, spitting the last strands of death at the multitude of targets whizzing around the zeppelin.

“More ammo, I’m out!” Crank Shot yelled from his nest underneath the basket.

The entire crew was working at full capacity. Most of them were moving cannonballs and loading them into the large artillery pieces, and some were firing their spear-muskets through the cannon hatchets. The basket shook and trembled every time one of the large 42 pounders spat out their charge. They were either explosive cannonballs for the enemies below, or special fragmentation projectiles that blew up into thousands of shrapnel pieces soon after leaving bursting out of the cannons.

All the zeppelins were facing Canterlot at that point, slowly heading back and dragging the front line along with them. The pegasi forces were continuously engaged in clashes around the airships, their cannons alternating between providing air support and assisting the battles taking place at ground level.

“Captain, they’re everywhere,” Silver shouted while changing the magic coal from his musket. “Purple Barron is down and Blue Bird’s crew is now evacuating, we need to fallback faster!”

Pearl looked to his left, and then to the hill below, considering his options. His right hoof was holding the acceleration control steadily, while his eyes darted across the battlefield around him. “If we go faster, we break the damn frontline and lose everything. Keep firing those cannons, we don’t retreat until we’re told to!”

“Skip, hurry, you need to see this!” Crank Shot said, his head sticking out of the hatched behind the captain. “Six o’ clock, I’ve never seen anything like that,” he added, pointing his hoof towards the back of the basket.

Pearl and Siler rushed to the back, and slid open a couple of visors to peer through. “What’s that thing, captain?” Silver asked, noticing a large flying shape hurdling down towards the ground somewhere behind enemy lines. “Looks like a flying contraption of some sort, attached to-”

“I think I’ve seen him before in Ponyville once,” Pearl muttered, eyes glued to the strange object in the distance.

*** *** ***

The constant, fast rhythm of propellers cutting through the air made its way to Dash’s ears. She opened her eyes at the familiar sound. The ground was only feet away.

Suddenly, she was yanked up, something large grabbing hold of her back armor piece. The sharp deceleration threw her body to the side, her hooves almost dragging across the fast moving ground as the sound of spinning blades above grew stronger. The fall stopped, and Dash found herself gaining altitude again. She looked behind at what was holding her and immediately broke into an ecstatic sob. The large, deep, warm eyes of her beloved pet stared back at her, his powerful jaw clamped tightly around the pegasus’s back armor.

“Tank, what are you doing here?” she asked between tears, raising a hoof behind her back and patting the huge tortoise along his neck. “I can’t believe you saved my life again, how did you even know?”

Tank’s response, as usual, never came, but if he would have had his mouth free, his large smile would have been the only answer needed. The two magic-powered helicopter blades attached to his thick shell spun in both directions, providing enough speed to allow them to easily outfly any attacks coming from the ground troops below.

Soon, they flew past the front lines of the ground troops, making their way to the medical field near Struthill’s ridge. A couple of green magic bolts flew past them, while one of them hit Tank’s shell. He grunted deeply into Dash’s armor, but kept his heading.

As the hostile passed them, he didn’t account for the tortoise’s spinning blades, which severed one of its leg and cut a deep wound into the insect’s body. Fatally injured, the changeling came crashing towards the ground below, while Tank and the injured pegasus kept to their destination.

Just as it was about to hit the ground in a clearing on the hill, the changeling instantly disappeared in thin air, follow by a bone crunching sound.

“Luna’s sake!” one of the stallions shouted, the carcass of the enemy landing inches away from him. “Quantum Light, you could have added a darn shield component to your cloaking dome spell!”

“Sorry boss, I wanted to save my magic as you’ve told us to. Screw that tho’, have you seen that flying giant turtle holding the pegasus?”

Eight other ponies underneath the invisibility dome looked at the body that landed in the middle of them, then back towards the top of the hill, where the tortoise was headed.

All of them were unicorns, and wore dark-gray, full-body armors. Each of them also had two tanks attached to their backs, with tubes coming out of them and into the upper parts of their helmets, underneath their ears.

“ . . . I say again, the Avatars are to engage the enemy troops!”

One of them raised his hoof, grabbing everyone’s attention. “You heard them, boys, that’s our cue. Spread out, thirty feet apart. The zeppelins and the rest of our own are seventy degrees above us. Everyone will aim below that line, all right? Our nitrogen will give us cooling for about eight, maybe ten shots if we’re lucky. Remember, two-second bursts, ten seconds apart to let your horns cool back down. Now move out!”

The long-horned unicorns starting moving slowly along the hill, spreading as instructed.

“Bunsen, hurry up, they’re getting closer,” one of the armored ponies said to his friend behind him, while keeping his eyes on the approaching changeling swarm.

“I know, I know, but this damn lead armor is so fucking heavy! I don’ know how we’re going to get out of here after we fire our charges.”

“Relax, they told us to pop the yellow flare when we’re done and some unicorns will be kind enough to teleport our flanks outta here.”

“They’d better,” Bunsen muttered, stopping in his spot. “See ya later, Quantum!”

Thirty feet or so later, Quantum stopped as well. His horn glowed underneath the metal encasing around it, and pieces of his armor resembling mechanical legs extended out, digging themselves into the ground to his sides. He moved his hip and shoulders around, making sure he was secured in place. The stallion then floated a small container from an armor compartment, then pried it open, throwing the case away. He took the thin vial inside containing a murky green, minuscule rock and attached it to a socket on his head piece, right under the base of his horn.

His helmet came to life, a light turning on and making a few small dials visible inside his visor. “They could have made a simple heads up display for these readings,” he huffed, checking the tanks pressure and radiation levels. “All good, okay, let’s do some science in here.”

The modular horn protector burst open piece by piece, until the entire cartilage was exposed. Liquid nitrogen vapors sprayed along the base of the horn, keeping it as cold as possible.

“Final ready check on Avatar squad, please confirm,” a voice said on their radio channel.

All ten unicorns confirmed, and the final order came: “Burn them boys, burn them good.”

Quantum immediately began casting the spell. The tip of his horn lit up, creating a more powerful pulsating light a foot away from his head. His helmet ejected a tiny fragment of the radioactive matter, which flew into the bright beacon. The unicorn then created a half-sphere shield, in order to re-direct the upcoming blast.

The light and heat coming from the central focusing point of the spell in front of him was getting stronger by the moment, as he focused to create the perfect conditions to facilitate a small-scale fission reaction. He made his final adjustment to his aim, and dropped a matte screen in front of his helmet’s visor in the last moment.

The ground trembled, a powerful burst of energy emanating inside the shield inches away from the unicorn’s horn. The explosion ejected outwards, blasting through the air in the form of a concentrated yet thick column of pure flames and heat. The beam hit a changeling swarm that was just about to engage one of the zeppelins, tearing through them with no resistance whatsoever.

After exactly two seconds, Quantum canceled the reaction, and the column of fire dissipated almost immediately, while a thick gust of nitrogen was already cooling down his horn. Similar blasts followed soon enough, tearing through the air and burning gaping holes into the ranks of the enemy fliers.

Quantum kept his eye on the small temperature gauge, after having peaked at more than two hundred Celsius at the tip of the horn. The nitrogen worked fast however, bringing down the temperature to under twenty in several seconds. A pulsating beacon of light formed again in front of him, as he repeated the entire process, aiming towards another, larger group of changelings.

*** *** ***

The black armored stallion with a gigantic floating hammer to his side patted himself on the body. “This is the real deal, eh?” he asked, turning to the two unarmed, identical looking ponies behind him.

“Spared no expenses, all four of us are wearing the same kind of hydra armor.”

“There goes the whole magic conservation plan,” said another. “I feel we have less than half available, and that’s between the four of us.”

A bright beam of light went over their heads, cutting through a cloud of fliers way above them.

“Avatars are on field, I guess,” the one bearing two swords and the spiked chain said, admiring the view.

One unarmed Blink sprung forwards, galloping towards the advancing enemy lines. “I haven’t split myself into four to watch the fireworks, we got things to do!”

The remaining three dashed onwards as well splitting up to cover as much of the front line as possible. Fierce clashes were still happening across the battlefield, the ponies now stacked into groups, using their shields to form large circles and exposing themselves only to strike the enemies around.

Some Crystal Guardians still fought on among the others, most of them however missing either armor parts or even limbs, their immortal will however remaining as strong as it was in the morning.

The hammer-wielding unicorn struck powerful blows, sending changeling carcasses flying about. Occasionally, a minotaur would attempt to engage, yet he would be swiftly crushed by the magically summoned weapon. To the right of the field, the second weapon-bearing shadow pony sliced and dashed among the enemies that were constantly reinforcing their own. His twin katanas cut through the air in swift, focused blows, claiming the body parts of those that were unfortunate enough to be near him. As more and more enemies noticed him, he quickly became their main focus.

The two remaining stallions galloped into the enemy lines somewhere between their armed variants, engaging into close combat with whoever was closer to them. As they approached their first group of targets, their horns lit up in sync. They turned and bucked two separate changeling soldiers, sending them into a few other behind them. Almost instantly, a large group swarmed around the two, hissing and spitting at them while aiming their horns.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

Four changelings rushed into them, but a couple of them were met with a strong hoof in the head. With their hooves locked, the two stallions spun around, delivering similar blows to the other changelings. Green bolts of magic shot through the air, hitting them in various parts of their bodies. Their magic-resistant armor absorbed the blasts, which left only thin smoke trails emanating from the impact area. The two ponies then counter-charged, fighting in perfect synchronization with each other, their backs never facing anything else other than themselves.

A furious minotaur broke the changeling circle surrounding the two soldiers, and brought his large axe down upon them. They never blinked however, as the blade passed right through both them as if they were made of air, and embedding itself into the ground. He didn’t even had the time to act surprised; a hoof surrounded by a blue glow smashed into his side. The armor piece cracked, then burst into flying pieces, the hoof carrying on and dealing the same damage to his ribcage.

“Close one!” one of them exhaled for a short second, before resuming the melee fight with the rest of the changelings in the group.

“That also took out quite a bit of juice,” the other one shouted, sending his hind legs into another skull-crashing buck.

“Don’t be cheap with your defense! If one of us dies, we all die!”

Their attention was distracted by a low tremble in the ground, coming from somewhere to their left.

The hammer-wielding variant struggled to keep his balance, as the ground in front of him rose, something very eager making its way up.

”Whoa, you’re a big one!” he shouted with a grin, readying his heavy weapon.

The creature that broke through the ground was very similar to other changelings, but three times the size and wearing an odd-looking, multi-layered chitin armor.

The unicorn wasted no time and hurdled the hammer at it, yet the creature did the unexpected and pranced to its left, dodging the hammer with uncanny agility before letting out a primal roar.

“Good, but not good enough.” With a swift spell cast, the hammer that was still flying through the air disappeared in a blue puff of magic, before re-appearing right above the changeling’s head. Since the weapon’s momentum remained strong, the hammer smashed into the beast’s back, cracking its armor and making it cry in agony.

Flailing for a moment, the changeling showed no signs of defeat, and in the next second it was charging at the unicorn with impressive speed.

“Oh shit, help!” he shouted to the other three, dashing back towards the hill.

The other weapon-wielding shadow stallion blinked right on top of the running beast. He rose his blades and then plunged them into the changeling’s back. The two katanas broke into shards at the contact with the hard carapace armor.

“No frikin’ way!”

Wasting not a moment, he then levitated his spiked chain from around his neck, wrapping it around the elite insect soldier. It immediately began struggling, jumping and bucking in place, trying to break free.

“Dodge this!” the stallion yelled, and his magic pulled hard at the chain as he held himself on top of the changeling. With the force distributed evenly along the chain’s length, it began to drag along its body, while continuing to wrap around it. The spikes scratched the hard armor, but dug deep into the unprotected joints and flesh covering its underside. A deep shriek left the beast’s mouth, thrashing wildly until it crashed to the ground with a large thump.

“Dude, it’s dead . . .”

The stallion sitting atop the carcass pried his eyes from it, the chain under his spell still grinding away at the lifeless body.

“I knew that,” he said flatly, retracting the chains around the changeling’s body, wrapping it back around his neck.

“You’re disgusting,” the hammer wielding shadow stallion said to him, while curiously poking the body.

“I’m you,” he concluded with a grin, idly scraping a bloody piece of chitin off a chain spike.

“Incoming, you numbskulls!” the two unarmed unicorns yelled, galloping past them towards a wave of minotaurs.

The ground trembled again, and split along almost the entire front line. The shadow stallions stopped right in time, and as they peered their heads into the wide gap, a column of fire rose from deep underground, rising several feet into the air.

“You fool!” came a rather familiar voice behind the four stallions. “A full retreat was issued and you’re prancing around with your clones!”

“Dark Shine, a pleasure as always,” one version of Blink said, not doing the best job of hiding his loath for the old Archmage. “And no, I haven’t heard the damn retreat call, I’ve been busy killing this!” he said, pointing at the huge changeling lying dead in the dust.

“Well if you would have used any of your eight eyes, you would have seen that there are tens of those that just broke through our lines; now fall back!” he ordered firmly, disappearing into a burst of magic.

The four shadow stallions started galloping back towards the hill as the fires from the pit Dark Shine summoned burned away. As they fell back, the eerie sound of burning objects reached their ears, but all four of them somehow shrugged it off as being the fire wall they were leaving behind in their dash. It wasn’t until they started feeling a massive heat wave that one of them looked up.

“Teleport the fuck away, now!” he yelled, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

The other three did the same, and regrouped at the base of the hill, among the hundreds of stallions falling back. Looking back to where they teleported from, a burning zeppelin was crashing into the ground, its large balloon set ablaze. Explosions rocked the ground, as the ammunition store inside the basket blew up, sending shrapnel and flaming pieces everywhere.

Unicorns teleported in and out across the fields around, searching for any injured they might find before leaving the place for good. The last of their forces were already over Struthill’s summit, and the remaining two zeppelins were pushing back at max speed, the entire pegasus force surrounding them.

The four black-armored ponies stared at what followed in their hoofsteps: up in the air, a still somewhat large swarm of changelings with several gryphons mixed in their ranks followed the pegasi and the zeppelins they were guarding, while on the ground, thousands of troops waited impatiently along the wall of fire summoned to delay them.

The painful truth however overcame them as they eyes fell on the ground around them. The entire battlefield was littered with bodies, mostly golden armored soldiers that had fallen in the fierce battles against the minotaur vanguard. To the right side of the hill, the gold-armored remains mixed with silver ones, the bulk of the zebra reinforcements having perished in battle along with their allies. Many of the one hundred buffalo were also lying dead, scattered along the furthest point the equestrian troops had reached in their counter attack.

Fragments of the everlasting Crystal Guardians littered the ground, their bright, shredded armor pieces standing as headstones over what was left of their bodies. They had fought until they could stand no more, waves after waves of minotaurs and changelings chipping away at them as they stood as a funnel between the large enemy army and the equestrian troops.

Even with the Guardians’ immeasurable help however, their army had taken a massive blow in that fight, and it seemed that the worse was still to come. Blink considered for a fleeting moments if it would have been better if they stood their ground in Canterlot after all, but the deed was done, and he knew at least their entire forces had a short at the enemy.

The last columns of fire from the Avatars faded away, hundreds of burning soldiers falling in their wake.

“At least that worked.”

“All right, guess it’s time to break the spell,” one shadow unicorn said.

All four stallions transcended into a dark mist. Out of it came Blink, his senses and mind trying to accommodate with the sensation of being put back together into one. But something was wrong; an odd sensation overcame him, as he felt his magic weaker than before.

“I believe you forgot something . . .”

Blink froze in place at the sound of his own voice coming from behind him. He turned to the unicorn stallion with blue coat and dark mane, a pony that shared all his physical traits, save for the black armor.

“I think I’m up for my re-match now,” he continued, grinning madly, a spark of craze shining in his eyes. “Last time I had the awful disadvantage of fighting inside your head. Now that I don’t care about what I’m about to destroy around here, not to mention that pesky pet of ours, I think we can have a fair duel. What do you say?”

End of Chapter 26

Author's Note

Biggest chapter of this story to date! Next one will also be quite big, so stay tuned for more action and answers to questions that might be popping up in this one!
Please let me know if you spot any mistakes, I really appreciate all the help!

Ongoing prize contest for all of you guys! Read more here: http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/172200/announcing-prize-contest-stairway-to-equestria-update-misc

Picture of the air battle by: http://equestria-prevails.deviantart.com/

Chapter 27: Siege on Canterlot

Chapter 27: Siege on Canterlot

Chapter 27

Siege on Canterlot

A battle horn’s deep call resonated through the air, its daunting song filling the hearts of those that could hear it with fear and despair. The turmoil within one of the mobile first aid team had grew into a general state of panic and non-responsiveness. Ponies wearing white cross bands scoured away alongside the retreating troops, leaving a few brave hearts to stand among the injured gathered in one small spot under a willow tree at the base of Struthill.

“Fluttershy, we need to go!”

“I can’t yet; we haven’t even seen him. He might still be out there!”

Applejack gave her pegasus companion a pleading stare, but Fluttershy wasn’t even looking away from the injured stallion next to her. She rolled a bandage around his bleeding hoof, her face locked in utmost concentration. Every spare moment she had, she would glance at the soldiers galloping past them, trying to spot a certain pony’s blond mane or red coat through the armor. A couple of flashes nearby revealed two unicorns, who rushed towards the small camp.

“Last round, you two need to get out of here right now!” one of them said, wrapping a hoof around an injured pony’s neck.

His partner grabbed a hold of the last of soldiers laying on the ground before teleporting away with him. “Run, damn it! We don’t have enough magic to come back! Run up the hill and towards the city! Now!” the last unicorn yelled, disappearing in another flash.

“That’s it, Fluttershy, we’re going now!” Applejack grabbed Fluttershy and rushed her up the hill. The pegasus struggled for a while but eventually gave up. Her heart was racing from the fear that was slowly overcoming her initial bravery, but as she took one last glance at the mayhem behind, all of her reasoning switched off in an instant.

“It’s him!” she yelped, breaking free of Applejack's firm grip, much to her surprise. She leaped in the stallion's direction in a mad dash.

“Fluttershy, you come back right now, ya hear?” she yelled, breaking into a chase.

Despite the fact that the wall of fire summoned by Dark Shine to protect the retreating forces was fading away with each passing second, Fluttershy somehow managed to ignore the impending threat as she rushed to a certain fallen soldier.

The stallion was not moving at all, everything pointing out that he had shared the same fate as the other lifeless bodies around. The pegasus however approached him, her heart sitting on a bed of pins.

“Mac . . .” Fluttershy whimpered, turning the body face up. Her tears began falling on his stained armor, and her hooves were trembling as they reached for the helmet. They plopped down on his chest. She simply couldn’t do it.

Fluttershy pressed her head against his chest piece, sobbing over the stallion of her life. Applejack caught up with her, her hoofsteps shortening as she took in the sight of one of her best friends crying over her brother’s corpse.

“Ohh no, Big Mac.” She leaned over next to the large stallion, resting a hoof over his helmet. “Why did ya’ have to do this, Mac?” Her tears were beginning to fall as well, while she gently removed her brother’s head piece.

“Fluttershy? Thi- this isn’t Big Mac!” Applejack said, her eyes widened in shock. The pegasus raised her head instantly, her eyes focusing on the dead soldier’s face. Although similar to Big Mac, the earth pony’s features were undoubtedly different from the ones of the apple farmer.

AJ wrapped her hooves around Fluttershy’s neck, holding her as she went through the inevitable breakdown that had been waiting to happen. “Come on, Shy, we really need to go. I know this here situation is hard on ya. It’s hard on me too. I’m sure Big Mac’s safe; he’s probably on his way to Canterlot with the rest.”

In the corner of her eye however, Applejack spotted several large, green balls of fire falling towards the ground near them. She immediately ducked behind the soldier’s body, pulling her friend with her. The bolts smashed against the ground, throwing searing green flames all around the impact zones. Out of them stepped several changelings, their jagged horns charged and ready to fire at the two ponies.

“Run!” AJ yelled, pulling at Fluttershy and breaking into a gallop.

Magic projectiles started whizzing past their heads, hitting the ground around them and exploding into flames. Other changeling fliers joined the others in their chase, closing in on the two mares.

“Fluttershy, fly ahead! They’ll get both of us if you stay with me!” AJ managed between quick breaths, her gallop getting slower as they climbed the hill. A changeling was only a few meters away, its hiss reaching the ponies’ ears.

“I . . . can’t . . . leave you, Applej-”

A wrong hoofstep made the already tired pegasus lose her balance and fall down with a loud cry. Applejack stopped in her tracks, turned back and rushed to her side. Seeing the changeling about to attack them, she placed herself in front of Fluttershy and prepared to deliver a powerful buck.

Her attack was interrupted when a flame blast hit the changeling straight in the face, sending it sprawling down the hill, its head already consumed by the normal fire. The shadow of a large silhouette went over them and landed nearby. The dragon planted his feet and sprung forward, using his wings to boost himself. He smashed into two other changelings, beating one into the ground and engulfing the other in his flames.

The dragon then returned to the two ponies. Instead of the smiling hero Applejack expected, Spike was tense and enraged. He was wearing a light, yet comprehensive armor, which mainly covered his chest and belly, as well as his joints and key parts of his back. “AJ, Flutters’, what are you two doing here?”

“Spike, so glad to see you!” the farm pony said, while the pegasus simply jumped at his neck, using her wings to reach it.

“You shouldn’t even be here!” Spike said angrily, not wasting a moment and going up the hill while still holding Fluttershy.

“We just wanted to help out, that’s all,” AJ rushed to explain.

“Yeah, then why is Fluttershy in the middle of a battle when she’s usually afraid of the noises coming from her own animals at night?”

The pegasus raised her face from his neck, brushing the tears away with a hoof. “It’s Big Mac; I wanted to be close to him so I enlisted as a field doctor . . .”

“Fluttershy that is ridiculous! This is-”

His ear flicked at a barely audible sound coming from behind. He turned his head, took a deep breath, and spat a fireball at a group of enemies closing in on them. The blast hit two changelings, splattering burning liquid on the others nearby, making them scatter for their lives.

“You need to get as far away from this place as possible,” Spike said, flames still dripping from his mouth. “Applejack, make sure you both get back to Canterlot,” he added, putting Fluttershy down on her hooves and turning back, gazing at the approaching enemy troops. “Now go!”

The two ponies reluctantly left the dragon’s side, making their way over the hill’s top and towards the city. Spike kept his eyes on the advancing airborne armada high above him, as well as the ground forces that were beginning to cross the fiery crack that had split the battlefield into two.

*** *** ***

The concentrated beam of energy fizzled away, falling magic residue cracking and popping on the ground in front of him.

“That’s it, I’m- I- I’m burned out . . .” one of the unicorns wearing heavy lead armors muttered into his helmet.

The small dials on the side of his visor were cracked from the heat, and the top of his head was burning hot as the horn glowed faintly from the overuse of magic. He took a couple of steps towards the group of other Avatar troops behind before collapsing to the ground with a heavy thud.

“Bunsen!” Quantum called out, rushing to his friend’s side as fast as he could.

A few other unicorns came to help, but all they could do was place ice-packs on his helmet piece and help him up.

“He’s out,” a mare’s voice came from behind one of the lead helmets. “Severe magic burnout, and his brain is shutting down from the temperature. He needs to be taken to Canterlot and have his gear removed as soon as possible!”

Another special tasks unicorn waved at a small group of soldiers. “He’s also urgent; take him and the other three out first.”

The standard unicorn troops each grabbed a hold of a fallen Avatar, one coming to pick up Bunsen as well. They then disappeared in bursts of magic, leaving the remaining six Avatars on the hill’s secluded ridge.

“All right. Quantum Light, tell me you still have some juice left for that cloaking spell,” the commanding stallion asked as he stared at the enemy troops passing above them.

“On it!”

A translucent bubble expanded from the tip of his horn, growing larger and larger. It encased the six ponies within it as it formed into a dome big enough to cover all of them.

“Don’t make a sound,” one of them whispered as soon as a large squad of gryphons landing nearby.

“They’re falling back as expected, sir,” one of the gryphons said to a larger one bearing several high-ranking marks on his bloodstained battle armor.

“Good. Maintain pursuit but let the changelings lead the way, we lost half of our troops so far. And someone tell queen Chrysalis to bring down the capital’s protection barrier with her fliers as fast as possible.”

“Sir, what are we going to do with their remaining troops? They are closing in from all sides. They will be here by dawn,” another gryphon pointed out.

The military leader took a few steps forward. He brought his battle axe down and propped himself into it, eyeing the distant royal castle. “This changes nothing. We will pull our troops as soon as they get near, and leave the bugs and tusk-heads to fight them.” He lifted his weapon and brushed it clean against the grass a couple of times. “Until then, however, I want the limp bodies of their two Princesses to hang by their necks from the highest tower in their capital. With that message sent across, they will not dare to defy our expansion anymore.”

Several flashes erupted inside the cloak bubble as five unicorns teleported in. The six Avatars turned to the soldiers, desperately signaling them to remain quiet. When they laid their eyes on the enemies nearby, they also saw them looking back towards their general direction, their ears focused for the faintest of sounds.

The soldiers hurried each to a lead-armored unicorn, preparing to teleport out.

“I’ll go last, need to keep this spell up,” Quantum whispered to the nearest soldier.

“I’m-”

“Go see what that was!” the gryphon army leader ordered, pointing at their direction. Several warriors began approaching the hidden group of ponies, readying their weapons.

“I can’t, I’m sorry!” the soldier told Quantum, “We can only take one at a time and this was our last trip, I’m not sure we’ll make it as it is.”

“No, Quantum!” a mare’s voice came from the armored pony next to the unicorn. “Please, you have to take my brother as well!”

“We’re all drained, this is the last possible run for us. I’m so sorry, I thought there were only five of you left,” he said to the disheartening of the Avatar next to him. Looking in front of them, the gryphons were getting closer and closer, now certain of a presence nearby.

“Everyone out, now!” came a hushed command.

Several flashes erupted inside the bubble, and one by one the unicorn soldiers teleported out, taking the Avatars with them.

“Lumen!” Quantum yelped, as his sister jumped at his neck, their armors clinging together loudly. “You have to go, Lumen; you have to save yourself!”

“Ma’am, we need to go now,” the unicorn urged, his eyes pinned at the approaching gryphons. “I’ll notify someone when we reach the camp to send back for him.”

“Quantum please, don’t do this! I can’t leave you here!”

“I love you Lumen, tell our parents I love them too,” the stallion said, pushing the mare away. “Go!” he said to the last soldier.

He nodded and touched the Avatar with his horn’s tip, and they both disappeared in a bright flash. Quantum turned to the enemies just feet away, which were somewhat confused as to who was speaking in front of them. The tip from a gryphon’s spear went through the cloak shield and he jumped back as soon as he noticed his weapon was half missing.

“There are unicorns in there!” one of them shouted, taking a swing with his axe at the invisible dome.

The spell broke, revealing Quantum standing alone, his energy almost completely drained. The group of gryphons immediately jumped at him, some taking flight to attack from above.

The first couple of blows struck without any resistance from the scientist pony. He was thrown to the ground from the force of the attacks, yet the heavy lead armor kept the injuries limited to bruises.

Quantum raised his head, sending in a burst of magic into one of the gryphons, blasting him away. The large pole arm of another enemy came bearing down on his neck, but stopped inches away as it hit a purple barrier of magic. The stallion looked up at the gryphon but the feathered warrior was staring at something behind the Avatar.

The protective shield expanded in front of the fallen unicorn, pushing back the gryphons. As Quantum turned to face his savior, his eyes could not stray away from the white armor encasing a purple unicorn mare.

“Are you the last Avatar here?” she asked, her voice fading in the stallion’s stunned mind.

“Yeah, I am. You- you must attack that gryphon immediately!” he snapped, remembering that the enemy military leader was feet away, while his troops surrounded the two ponies. “Get him now, he’s the gryphon army’s commander!” Quantum urged, pointing a hoof at the feathered general.

“Him?” Twilight asked, her eyes finding the mentioned gryphon in an instant. “I- I’m here to take you back, I’m not-”

The gryphon soldiers started bashing Twilight’s shield with their weapons, throwing gusts of sparks as they landed against the strong barrier.

“You need to do it!” Quantum screamed.

Twilight however just stood there, her eyes darting from the gryphon to the Avatar near her until the protection spell began to fade. She focused her magic on the stallion on the ground and zapped herself and him out of there.

The gryphon commander looked at the smoking spots on the ground, and his mouth slowly formed a devilish grin.

*** *** ***

“I thought we had an agreement!” Blink said, circling the midnight blue stallion that came from the deepest recesses of his mind.

“An agreement?” he asked, flashing a wide grin that instantly turned to a scowl. “You think that letting me play with Luna’s pet makes me your pet as well? Her will is strong and her dark side is broken by centuries of isolation. You and me on the other hand . . .”

“Shut up and go back from where you came from!” Blink ordered, magic charging up all around him.

“Or what?” the unarmored Nightmare asked spitefully.

Blink disappeared in a cloud of smoke and re-appeared inches away from his darker self, swinging a hoof surrounded by a blue glow at him. The Nightmare ducked in time, jumping out of Blink’s range.

“You think that fighting me will work? You will fail as soon as you realize that I am you, and then I will finally be able to spread the darkness this place deserves! Who knows, maybe I’ll take Nightmare Moon out to join me.”

“You think I would let you do that?” Blink shouted, casting a spell and summoning two swords by his side.

He charged at the Nightmare, swinging his swords in a desperate attempt to end his existence. All of his attacks missed, as the stallion disappeared in puffs of smoke, his laughter only managing to taunt Blink. With a last dash and a preemptive swing of a sword, Blink finally managed to land a hit, slashing the left side of his chest, right next to the shoulder.

“You made a huge mistake coming out,” Blink stated, turning back at the Nightmare while cleaning the blood off the sword against his armor. “How long do you expect to last, huh?”

“I would ask you the same thing. You still don’t get it, don’t you? I. Am. You.”

Blink stared at his darker self as he stressed every of those last three words, trying to understand. The longer he tried to wrap his head around that notion, the more he was getting angrier that something as evil as the look-alike stallion in front of him was actually part of his soul.

The sound of the approaching army behind told Blink that the enemies had crossed the flaming crevice in the ground, and were now making their way to the capital city up ahead. Blink took a step forward, readying his katanas in his magic grasp, but immediately felt a sharp pain underneath his unscathed armor.

The Nightmare smiled at him, and Blink dropped his eyes to his chest. A dripping stream of blood was filtering out through the seams of black hydra leather, falling onto the green grass below.

“No . . .”

“But yes. And here is an intricate dilemma we are facing, my dear, innocent Alex.”

Blink’s eyes widened at his words, his mouth trying to voice the avalanche of thoughts, but to no avail.

“Aww, did we forget who we once were? I bet you felt so happy when we bit the dust and ended up all the way in sweet, lovely Equestria. Save the day, travel around a bit, and get the girl in the end. That was our plan, right?”

His sadistic smile suddenly turned to an angry frown. “Wrong. When you came here, you took your greed with you, your lies and your thirst for destructive knowledge. You took me along for the ride, and with this Deathbearer thing going on, we just couldn’t stay the same. Now back to our dilemma: you managed to cut me. But since we are one and the same, you now suffer the same injury. I guess you’re now reassessing that plan to get rid of me the ol’ fashion way, aren’t you?” he asked, tone dripping with sarcasm and superiority, his hoof reaching for his chest, a blue aura closing up the wound.

“Enough!” Blink spat, “If you think that this gets you a free pass to this world, you’re wrong. I will get rid of you, and I will do it even if it kills me,” he stated, his magic working underneath his armor to close his own open wound across the chest.

“Of course you will!” the Nightmare barked with a laugh. “That’s because you’re a selfish prick that wants to be the hero every time. You would happily plunge that sword into my heart and die knowing that the entire nation will praise and admire your sacrifice after your untimely death.”

“I’ll do it because I know very well what you could do to this world,” Blink growled, despising the fact that some of his Nightmare’s words carried bits of truth.

“But I know you won’t actually kill me; well, us, to be more specific. You care too much about who you would leave behind if you die. Just think of it: poor, innocent Twilight, a widow before her own wedding. That’s a rather sad thought, isn’t it?” he asked, feigning concern.

The sound of charging enemies from behind came to Blink’s attention a bit too late, and was forced to teleport away just as he was about to be speared by a minotaur. The laughter of his Nightmare rang in his head as he traversed the space between Struthill and Canterlot in just a moment.

He reappeared on the top of Struthill, amidst a frenzy of ponies, soldiers and medical staff alike. His ears picked up the odd sound of an incoming chopper and his eyes could barely believe what was descending on a clearing near the camp: a huge tortoise holding a pegasus centurion by the back of her armor landed on the violently waving grass. He put the flier down on the ground, as the blades coming from a small device on the top of its shell retracted.

A distant hoot signaled the approach of an owl. The bird landed on one of Tank’s blades, and tilted her head at the pegasus in front. Rainbow Dash got up from the ground, holding her broken wing straight from the pain.

“Dash!” Blink teleported next to her, startling the pegasus. “Relax, it’s me.”

“Blink? What’s that thing on you?”

“Let’s just say that Rarity has outdone herself-”

“Wait, are you bleeding?” Dash cut him off, her eyes spotting his blood-stained armor.

“I’m fine. Now listen: we don’t have enough time before he might come, this whole place should have been deserted by now,” Blink said nervously, looking at the chaotic scene around the field hospital and command post.

“Who are you talking abou-”

“Dash, you need to get out of here. Retreat to the capital. You can take one of those troops transporters,” he said, pointing at a line of large carriages being loaded with injured ponies and equipment. “I don’t have time to explain; I need to find Iron Hooves. Just remember not to trust anyone that looks like me from now on, you got it?”

“What do you mean not to trust anyone that looks like you? Blink, what’s happening?”

“No time, Dash! Now go, please!”

Blink then broke into a gallop among the sea of swarming ponies, eventually reaching a secluded area with a large table covered with maps and surrounded by higher ups relaying last second orders.

“I need to find Iron Hooves! Anyone seen him?” he blurted, getting the attention of the military strategists around the table.

“He’s still on the field where you should be as well. Weren’t you the great unicorn that bared death on his foes?” the ever so condescending voice belonging to Dark Shine came from amidst the commanders.

Blink stifled a retort, taking a quick, deep breath instead. “We have a huge issue on our hooves, Dark Shine.”

“Just one? The enemy ground troops are just about to reach us, and changelings and gryphons will fly about our heads at any time. What is it that you want?” he demanded sharply.

“My darker self . . . he’s-”

Dark Shine teleported right next to him, his stern look turning into an even colder one as he eyed the black-armored stallion. “Don’t tell me you used his powers,” he growled.

“I cast the spell from my own magic pool, but it involved splitting myself into four clones. He just hijacked one of them, I didn’t-”

“In two minutes I want this place emptied, just as planned,” the Archmage ordered, turning to the commanders behind him. ”The city gates are to close as soon as the last pony enters the capital, no later than ten minutes from now.”

“Sir!”

The ponies scattered, joining the last of the troops and personal to retreat from the set-up command post on top of Struthill.

“And you,” Dark Shine said, turning back to Blink. “Care to explain how your Nightmare managed to escape?”

“H- How do you know about that?”

“Princess Luna told me about the condition the two of you share. I’ve been advised to keep an eye on you because of that, but I see you’ve managed to mess it up all by yourself just fine.”

“What are you two still doing here?” Iron Hooves’ voice came from a distance.

The earth stallion general was rushing towards them, his helmet gone and the rest of his body armor dented and even pierced in a couple of places.

“Luna’s little prodigy dropped the reins on his Nightmare in the middle of Equestria’s greatest battle.”

“Get off his saddle, Archmage. We’ve been told that this might happen, but our primary focus right now is the capital defense. I want both of you to retreat out of here as fast as possible,” he said, looking up in the sky at the enemy forces passing over their heads.

“I wouldn’t say your main concerns are in the city, gentlecolts.”

Blink winced at those words, turning to the left and seeing his unarmored look-alike casually walking towards them.

“I will handle this,” Dark Shine muttered, but was immediately shoved aside by the massive earth pony general.

He grasped the large sword on his back and drew it, holding the weapon with this front hooves, its tip scraping the ground as he advanced towards the blue unicorn. “I said, get back to the capital! Now!” Iron Hooves barked at Dark Shine and Blink behind him. He then turned back to the grinning blue stallion, lifting his weapon and reading it for a strike.

“Iron Hooves, don’t do that!” Blink yelled as a white field of magic surrounded him and the Archmage. A loud crackle filled his ears and he winced as the powerful light was too much even for his armor’s tinted visor.

After the ringing in his ears stopped, he opened his eyes to find himself at the city’s entrance. Next to him, Dark Shine was already busy giving orders to the troops that were arriving from Struthill. Blink sat down. His heart was on pins as he waited, staring with empty eyes into the ground.

“Iron Hooves is . . . dead,” Blink simply told the Archmage.

He looked back at the black armored stallion. “We know what happens if we hurt either of you. General Hooves would have tried to hold him off as much as possible.”

Blink got up, taking a moment to look around. Soldiers, medics and wounded ponies began pouring through the capital’s large main gate, as ripples of magic surged across the shield that covered the capital. In the distance, two zeppelins were passing through the barrier, the spell allowing the ships access into the city’s protected airspace. Following them, thousands of pegasi also entered through the force field, stopping on building rooftops across the capital, resting after several hours of fighting.

“Hey, don’t just stand there! Get ready for the siege,” Dark Shine urged the distracted stallion.

“Where’s Twilight? Have you seen her anywhere?” Blink suddenly blurted, remembering he couldn’t find her earlier that morning.

“She’s fine,” the Archmage told him, his voice harboring less loath than normally expected. “She helped treating casualties in the field hospital during the battle. Last I heard, she was rescuing a stranded Special Troops unicorn. The gates will soon close. Be ready for what’s coming.”

A pegasus with strands of fiery mane coming out her helmet landed before them. She removed her helmet and addressed the unicorn general. “Dark Shine, we need to form up the defense right away. Do you know where Iron Hooves is?”

“He’s trying to delay what Princess Luna told us about him,” Dark Shine answered, nodding towards Blink.

Spitfire gave the stallion covered in black armor the once-over, her expression remaining unfazed. “You’re Midnight Blink?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Heard impressive things about you from the Princess. But if your issue will become a threat in any way to the safety of our troops or civilians, I hope you know what to do, because if not, I will do it myself if I have to.”

“I understand,” Blink said, the grim statement coming from the General of the pegasi sending chills down his spine.

Dark Shine began casting another teleportation spell, his magic channeling around him. “The changelings will begin their assault on the shield dome soon enough. I need to advise with Princess Celestia regarding the protection spell. General Spitfire, you’ll have to pick up whatever’s left of your air troops and prepare for the worst. As for you,” the Archmage continued, turning towards Blink. “You’ll organize the first line of defense at these gates. Try not to mess that up as well.”

Dark Shine then disappeared in a flash of white, leaving a burnt patch on the ground. Spitfire lingered for a few more moments, before putting her helmet back on and taking flight, giving Blink one last glance once she was in the air.

The stallion looked around, his eyes lost in the sea of ponies coming through the main gates. A couple of wing beats followed by the sound of hooves hitting the ground caught his attention; as he turned, he couldn’t help but smile as he recognized the Captain armor he would have worn if it weren’t for Rarity’s idea of a new set.

“Chase’, I see my old armor fits you well.”

“That’s Captain Chase, soldier, or did ya already forget?” he retorted with a grin.

“How could I? Now what are you even doing here? Thought I left you back at the castle to protect Luna.”

“I heard about what happened out there, so I formed up whatever I could find in this city and came up with a couple thousand mixed forces, royal guards, and some of the conscripted civilians that remained here.”

“That’s good, we’ll need every last one of them.”

Behind the pegasus more and more royal guards were landing, their shiny armors and weapons having not passed through battle yet, but worn and held eager in their grasps.

A silver-armored soldier broke from the swarm of ponies and stopped in front of Chaser and Blink, catching their attention with the tall black and white Mohawk sticking out through the top of the helmet. Removing it, he revealed himself as one of zebras from the contingency that came to their help at Struthill.

“I am in search of the high commander of your forces. Would that be you, black magic wielder?” he asked with a thick accent, looking at Midnight Blink.

“Those would be the three generals representing each pony race. Two of them just left, one is still at Struthill. I’m just responsible to handle the front gates defenses.”

“Those that still stand amongst our own will continue the fight,” the zebra commander said, reaching for his double headed blade and resting it on one of its tips in front of him. “I will await and follow your strategy, magic wielder; use my warriors as you would make use of yours.”

“Wow, are you guys normally that tall?” Chaser asked, studying the large zebra warrior and drawing an under the brow look from him.

“Shut up Chase’, we got a lot of things to do,” Blink shushed his friend while staring at the archway near the main gates that allowed passage for several train tracks.

*** *** ***

The giant tortoise landed in front of the auditorium, his blades slowing to a halt. Dash slid down his carapace and let out a breath of relief after having spent the past twenty minutes between Tank’s shell and the fast spinning blades, holding on to the enchanted rotor encasement strapped onto him.

“Great landing, champ! Really improved yourself on those,” Dash said, rubbing a hoof under her pet’s chin.

The tortoise returned the gesture by pressing his head fondly into the pegasus, almost knocking her to the ground.

“Easy there, Tank. Now that medic mare said Twilight would be here. I’ll go inside and look for her, you stay and wait for me here, okay?”

Dash rushed into the large building, sparing a fleeting moment to gaze at the large magic dome protecting the city. When she got inside the auditorium’s large foyer, however, her face fell from the sight. Hundreds of ponies walked about, mostly bandaged soldiers making their way out. Everyone’s eyes drifted to their less fortunate comrades as they passed rows upon rows of body bags lined up to the edges of the foyer.

Nurses and medics rushed past them, pushing carts of supplies or carrying gurneys with injured ponies on them. Dash was left without words, only advancing through the crowd while searching for any familiar face. As she was about to enter the main hall of the auditorium, she spotted a familiar looking tail coming out of a white armored pony. Seeing the stars recently embedded on the hind parts of the armor, Dash rushed to her, calling after her.

“Twilight!”

The armored pony’s ears twitched and she turned right in time to have two hooves wrapped around her neck in a tight hug.

“Dash?” Twilight asked, spotting the multicolored strands of mane coming through the pegasus’s helmet.

“I’m so happy to see you, Twilight! It’s been . . . It’s been horrible out there-”

“Your wing, what happened to it?” Twilight asked as soon as she saw Dash holding her left wing limp to the side.

The pegasus paused for a moment, her mind flooding with images of the fight she had with her oldest friend less than an hour before.

“Gilda was there. We fought against each other and . . . I was certain I would die right then and there,” Dash said, remembering the gryphon’s last words which cut a deep hole in her heart.

“Let me secure that,” Twilight said, immediately beginning to tend to Dash’s broken wing. After a moment of fiddling with her back armor, the unicorn noticed something was missing. “Rainbow, where’s your flight assistant gear?”

“Oh, that. Well, I didn’t take it with me this morning. Made me too heavy and-”

“Dash, what the hay? All the pegasi I’ve seen that survived air battles and serious wing injuries were still alive just because of that thing! How did you even made it to safety without it?”

“That’s the awesome part. Tank just came out of nowhere and saved me before I was about to hit the ground!” Dash stated with excitement, despite Twilight very serious look. “I’ve also seen your pet owl at that medical camp where Tank took me. And then Blink showed up in a full body black-”

“Blink? Was- was he okay?” Twilight interrupted her, her entire attention shifting from the pegasus’s wing to her words.

“He was fine, I guess; he did sound kinda scared and didn’t make any sense, telling me to not trust him if I see him again or something like that- Aaaahh!” Dash yelped, her eyes instantly filling with tears while her legs buckled from the sudden pain.

“Hold still, I just managed to put it in a cast,” Twilight advised, her magic solidifying a white paste she had applied on Dash’s broken wing. After her magic worked on the cast for a few more seconds, she started dressing the entire area around the broken bone in bandages. “Was he injured?”

“Couldn’t tell. He was wearing this thick, black hide stitched together as armor; there was some blood on his chest but he told me not to worry about it. What about the rest of the gang? Have you seen anyone else?”

Twilight took a deep breath, trying to stay focused on tending Dash’s injury. “I don’t know exactly. Rarity should still be at the royal blacksmiths. Last time I heard, Pinkie was still managing ration production. She’s been working nonstop for days, but at least she’s safe. Applejack and Fluttershy however . . . I met them when the retreat started. They went through some close calls, but eventually made it back to the camp on top of the hill and then back to Canterlot; they are helping out the other nurses and doctors inside the main hall,” she told Dash, pointing down the vast foyer. “There, that should do for now.”

With Twilight’s magic releasing the wing, Dash moved it up a down. “That . . . wow that feels so much better.”

“I just secured the fracture, you’re lucky it remained internal. I don’t think I need to tell you that you won’t be flying anytime soon, right? And it will still need some proper medical attention but that will have to wait for now.”

“Thanks egghead, I owe you one.”

“Told you not to call me that- wait, what are you doing?”

Rainbow triggered her hoof blade and inspected the weapon for any damages. Finding it in a satisfying condition, she retracted it and began walking out. “Broken wing doesn’t mean I can’t fight anymore.”

“Dash you can’t go back like that. Are you insane?!”

The pegasus kept walking however, picking up a centurion helmet off the ground and trying it for size. “I need to get in touch with my squad, I’m still their commander. Catch ya later!”

Before Twilight could catch up with her, Tank was already taking off in front of the auditorium. Dash waved a hoof at her friend, holding onto the side of her pet’s shell by the straps of his flying mechanism.

A powerful beam of light shot out towards the sky from behind Twilight, impacting the protective dome. Waves of energy spread from the impacted area, doubling the magic shield. A deep, low echo of the spell persisted for a while after the beam faded away, as the fresh waves of magic traveled across the surface of the dome.

Twilight turned to the source of the spell, and found her alicorn mentor standing right outside the building. “Princess!” she called, rushing to Celestia.

“Twilight, I’m so glad you’re safe.” The tall alicorn draped a hoof over Twilight in a quick hug then checked to see if she was harmed.

“Princess, it was horrible out there, we lost so many ponies, I don’t-”

“I know Twilight, but you have to keep calm and focused in moments like these. Remember what we talked about back at the castle this morning?”

“I- I do, it’s just that I didn’t expect it to be this bad . . .”

“No one was prepared for this, Twilight.”

“Princess Celestia,” came Dark Shine’s voice from behind them. ”I re-iterate that you have to return to the castle at once. If what that unicorn said is correct, they will do whatever they can to reach you and your sister.”

Celestia turned to the unicorn General, taking a moment to consider her next action. “I’m going back as soon as the enemy troops will pose a threat against the ponies around me. Until then, there are a lot of injured soldiers that require my attention. Twilight, if you wish, I could use your help with that.”

The purple mare followed her mentor as Celestia made her way back into the auditorium building, leaving the Archmage outside. “The shield won’t last forever, Princess! We’ll have to face our enemies very soon!” Dark Shine huffed, and with a flash of magic, he teleported away.

The sparks of his spell fell hastily on the War Room’s floor. He approached the younger royal sister, which was studying a magical holograph of Canterlot among a few other military ponies.

“The population would be greatly at risk if we give away half the city, I simply cannot do such a thing, Gregor.”

“But your Highness, we will not be able to keep our defenses up along the entire perimeter,” the gryphon in question repeated.

“I bet your fellow griffins would like to get half the capital without lifting a claw, wouldn’t they?” a stallion from the other side of the table said. Gregor focused his gaze on him, his claws that were resting on the table forming into a fist.

“There will be no such accusations in this room,” Luna ordered loudly, turning to the stallion. “Must I be the one to remind you, Fast Hoof, that Captain Gregor here has been wearing the Equestrian armor far longer than thou have? We have over fifty gryphons and several minotaurs fighting today side by side with ponies for our cause. I won’t allow such outbreaks to tarnish their sacrifice.”

“I apologize, your Highness . . .”

Luna then noticed Dark Shine as he stepped forward and joined the rest of the military personnel around the table. “General Shine, I’m glad to see you’ve return unscarred from the battle. I assume you’re here with news.”

“Indeed I am; our remaining troops have returned to the capital and the main gates should be closing as we speak. Your sister has reinforced the shield over Canterlot, but I can tell that she is exhausting her magic quite fast. Also, she doesn’t want to come to the castle until the very last moment. Lastly, General Spitfire is organizing our air defense but General Iron Hooves remained on Struthill to delay Midnight Blinks uhh- issue.”

Luna’s eyes widened slightly and her face dropped, more so that before. “Where is he now?”

“I’ve left him to organize the first line of defense at our gates for the moment, and I was planning on returning there myself, unless you can make use of me somewhere else.”

“No, I want you to stay with him. Make sure that whenever he appears, you’re there to help in any possible way. What about Twilight Sparkle?”

“She’s fine as well, helping out your sister as we speak.”

Luna’s gaze returned to the holographic map of the city, spinning it with her magic so that the gates came into focus in front of them. “What are we to do with this?” she asked, pointing a hoof at the railway bridge coming out of a small archway near the gate. “I want you to make sure this won’t be an issue.”

“Will do, Princess. Now, may I return?”

“Please do so. A word of caution however: our reinforcements are still a few hours away so we cannot rely on them to defends the city until then.”

Dark Shine nodded, before disappearing in a magic flash. Luna returned her attention to the map; small, black dots were slowly approaching the city’s dome as the second and last zeppelin made its way inside the protected airspace.

*** *** ***

“The fuel pipes broke, we’re leaking like a hose in a wild rose bush,” the large unicorn stallion shouted back into the airship, after which he closed the metal door to the side.

“Deal with it Tiny, we need that left engine!” Pearl shouted, grabbing the radio. “Celestia’s Pearl here, we made it inside Canterlot. That whole dome however digs into the mountain at the back of the city so we can’t go over it and dock inside the Iron Hangars.”

“Central Command receiving, you are instructed to remain under the protection of the dome and prepare to defend against enemy fliers.”

“Are you crazy? We’re barely crawling over here! There’s just two zepps left in the air including us and we don’t even have any more ammo left for that fancy gun, or fragmented cannon balls for the artillery!”

A few seconds of radio static later, the voice from the other end came back. “We’re looking into organizing a quick run to supply and service your airship. Park your zeppelin over a flat rooftop near the city’s center and await further instructions.”

Pearl slammed the radio mic back into the panel. “You’d better,” he muttered. The captain began turning the helm of the ship while gently pulling down the altitude lever at the same time.

“That building over there looks good,” Silver, who was next to him, pointed out from under his binoculars. “Hopefully they’ll give us some ammo for our muskets, we’re all out and those damn bugs got way too close on our way back.”

“Get every fragment cannonball we have ready and re-load the cannons with them! If that there magic shield will collapse, we’ll have a whole lotta’ fliers swarming us in no time.”

“To all remaining airships, resupplies are en route to your locations,” a voice from the radio announced.

Out on the basket’s window, Pearl and Silver could see a large group of pegasi approaching the zeppelin, with a few of them pulling a small chariot behind them.

“Take the helm, anchor her here,” Pearl told Silver while leaving the basket through the metal door.

“Sir!” one of the pegasi saluted him on the building’s roof, while his team immediately began checking on the airship. “We got you guys some cannonballs, right out of the oven.” He pried open a box in the small carriage they brought, and gently patted the ammunition that laid in a bed of hay. “Careful with these though, highly explosive, will burst into magic on impact. Their core is pretty much the charcoal you get in those muskets.”

“Tiny, Green Horn, get your hinds over here and help this gentlecolt with these fine cannonballs; and don’t drop em’!” Pearl yelled behind him, and the two stallions in question jumped onto the roof from the zeppelin and began carrying the crates inside.

“How was it out there?” the pegasus technician asked the white captain while he gazed at the shield above their heads.

“Bad enough. And it won’t be getting any better soon, I’ll tell ya that. Me and me hearties barely made it through the whole thing and that’s because luck smiled at us today. Hey, no magic rocks for our muskets?” Pearl asked, as the last crates were carried into his airship.

“There’s a couple of larger wooden boxes among the ones your crew brought in. You’ll find in them some magic charcoals for the muskets and a few ammo belts for the automatic gun. Sorry we couldn’t bring more, but all the gunpowder supplies and bullets remaining at the assembly factory were just requisitioned by some high ranking pegasus guard.”

Pearl gave the maintenance pony a long stare. “What in the hay are they gonna use gunpowder and bullets for if not for cannons or those guns?”

*** *** ***

The train wheels let out a deafening screech as it came out of a curb, setting itself on one of the two lines that lead out of Canterlot. Chaser cursed the makers of those tracks as he held onto whatever he could find in the locomotive booth.

Once the train was on straight tracks, he pulled the main lever even more, and turned a pressure valve to dangerously high levels. Indicators from various dials across the panel began rising well into the red markings. They began bursting one by one, sending glass everywhere in the booth. The steam engine in front of the locomotive went into overdrive, sending hot steam into the pistons driving the wheels.

The train sped through a pathway built into the city’s thick wall, coming out on a wide stone bridge alongside the mountain. Chaser wasted no moment and grabbed the edges of the locomotive’s booth entrance, bucked the main control lever, snapping it off, and then jumped out of the train. He opened his wings and began putting some distance between him and the train while drawing a musket from over his back.

On the wall above the large gates, Blink and a few other stallions stood watching as the steam-shooting locomotive accelerated down the bridge. Minotaurs and changeling were already marching up the railway path, but began backing off frantically as they noticed the train heading their way.

“That’s gonna leave a mark,” a soldier said with a sly smirk, watching as the advancing enemy troops threw each other off the bridge in their desperate attempt to get out of the train’s path. The train started plowing through the hordes of enemies, either crushing them under the heavy wheels or forcing them to jump off the railway bridge.

A green bolt erupted from Chaser’s gun shooting straight into one of the train’s front carriages. A split second later, a powerful explosion rocked the mountain, quickly followed by a fast traveling wave that carried the sound of the blast. Thousands of projectiles and fragments flew in every direction, impacting the mountain, dust rising where they hit. Flaming cannonballs shot through the explosion’s fireball, landing among the enemy troops, the mountain or some even into the magic shield, sending powerful ripples across the dome.

The explosion rocked the mountain’s very core, leaving a huge gap where the railroad bridge once was. Chaser returned, and after going through the shield that allowed the passage of ponies, landed near Blink, taking his helmet off.

“Are you okay?” Blink worryingly asked his friend.

Chaser shook his head a couple of times. “Yeah, I’m just-” he stammered, rubbing his head and ear with a hoof, “-that was bloody loud. Whoa . . .”

His eyes fell on the side of his armor, where several pieces of shrapnel were imbedded. He reached for one of them with his teeth and pulled it out gently. “Well, lucky me none of them actually went through. Cheers mate, your fancy captain armor saved my life.”

“Well that’s probably the only good outcome of me naming you Captain of the Royal Guard.”

Chaser pulled another fragment from a shin guard, but the tip of the metal shrapnel was red. Blink’s response was a rather serious stare.

“It’s all right, don’t worry; it just scratched me.”

“Get it checked by a medic anyway.”

Blink then turned to the formation of soldiers standing around the capital’s main gates. The look in the eyes of most ponies was filled with fear and nervousness. Some of them had just came back from the first battle ever, and the rest were the remaining drafted civilians left to protect the city.

The black armored stallion opened his mouth to address them, but his attention was caught by the unusual sight above. The light outside began to dim, the sun’s rays becoming obscured by a thick swarm of changeling fliers. They traveled across the lower edge of the city and up across the dome in a snake-like formation.

The changelings started smashing against the shield, and the whole capital echoed with the sounds of the assault on the magic barrier. White sparks fell down from the all impact points, creating a surreal image of a darkened city sprinkled by magic residue, as if they were all trapped in a grim winter globe.

“They’re coming!” a shout came from the top of the wall.

The ground began trembling. Blink teleported on the wall, and his eyes bared witness of the approaching menace. Hundreds of large changeling monsters like the one he took down at Struthill charged towards the gates, followed by the remaining minotaurs and several other thousand changelings.

“Archers and other ranged fighters, get up on the walls now! The rest of you hold the gates!”

A flash of magic erupted next to Blink, and Dark Shine emerged from it. “You blew up the railroad bridge with all our remaining ammunition?” he yelled at Blink as soon as he spotted him, wasting no time at all. “You’re very lucky that actually helped us, otherwise-”

“We got worst things on our hooves now,” Blink shot back, pointing over the wall, through the shield barrier.

The front wave of changelings crashed against the gates, pushing them back under the fierce strength of the massive creatures. The ponies surrounding it braced the gateway, while unicorns floated large beams, propping them against the entrance. Archers and musketeers fired through the arrow slits in the wall, but neither the small tips of the arrows nor the powerful blasts from the magic guns managed to penetrate the thick carapaces of the tank bugs.

Behind the walls across the inner square, a massive cannon was slowly crossing through the crowds of soldiers. Blink caught sight of it not because of the size of the artillery piece, but because of a familiar looking tail and mane popping from under a simple armor set.

He teleported near the artillery piece and tapped a certain pony that was pushing it amongst others. Blink levitated her helmet off, revealing the messy, yet still bright pink mane and a pair of half apologetic, half tired eyes.

“Pinkie, what the actual fuck,” Blink asked her, gesturing at the large cannon.

“Ohh Blinkie, is that you? I just want to help drive out those mean hgmm hmmff-” Pinkie tried to speak, yet Blink’s hoof across her mouth prevented any reply from the mare.

His horn glowed and a shadow clone materialized next to him, grabbing Pinkie with its front hooves.

“I know you want to help, but this is the last place I want you to be right now, okay? Last I’ve heard you’ve been up all day for days.” His horn glowed again, as he slowly approached her. Giving the cannon next to them a look, he said one last thing before tapping his horn against her mane gently: “Thanks for the party cannon, Pinkie.”

A tiny blue jolt of magic shot through her head, sending the mare in a deep, well-deserved sleep.

“Take her back to the castle where she can sleep somewhere safe,” Blink ordered his clone. With a nod, it sunk into a dark pool of magic underneath, taking the mare with him.

“Ohh Pinkie, where the hell did you even get this thing?” Blink muttered, scrubbing the dust off a golden plate on the cannon. “Royal special-issued 68 pounder point artillery,” the stallion read from it. “All right, listen up! I want four ponies to operate this! Open fire at the first thing that goes through those gates!” Blinked shouted at a group of soldiers nearby. They gave the odd-looking black armored stallion a weird look, but began carrying out the command nonetheless.

Meanwhile, the main gates buckled under the constant pounding of the enemy troops. The thick wood began cracking, and the metal reinforcement strips bent under the assault.

“Get ready for the breach!” Dark Shine’s voice echoed from above the wall.

Chaser landed next to Blink, in the first line of soldiers that were dreadfully awaiting for the gates to fall. A few rows of powerful stallions pushed against them, holding the invaders out for as long as possible. Above them, the dome still rained sparks of magic under the assault of the changeling fliers. A light blue beam of magic which Blink recognized as being Luna’s hit the dome in its center, strengthening the spell.

“Ready for this?” Blink asked his friend, as the stallions holding the gates scattered before the imminent breach.

The soldiers in the front lines raised their shields and weapons, waiting for the enemy. Chaser readied his bow and drew an arrow from the quiver with his wing, aiming his weapon through a couple of shields. “As I’ll ever be, mate.”

A powerful crack split through the air, and the top hinges of the gates burst out. The tank bugs smashed the remaining pieces out of their way, crawling through the debris.

“Fireeee!”

An ear-shattering blast raised dust in the air around the entire square, as the massive cannon spat its ordinance at the first changeling heavy troop. The insect exploded into bits, sending blood and pieces of chitin flying everywhere. The cannon’s first blast was followed by a barrage of magic projectiles from the spear muskets and the mages, eviscerating three other tank bugs. Their rock-hard armored body parts were no match to the wave of initial firepower, bursting and cracking from the sheer force of the hundreds of magic projectiles of various kinds.

Dark Shine channeled his magic above the entrance, and a tornado of fire formed among the swarm of changelings pouring inside the capital, engulfing the enemies and setting them ablaze. The ones that made it out of the fire haze kept advancing towards the equestrian front row shields, but fell to the ground struck by arrows.

The haunting sight of screaming changelings and minotaurs charging towards them while set on fire made even the toughest of stallions take an instinctive step backwards. They held the shields strapped to their front hooves close to them and grasped the spears and swords tight with the other front hoof.

Chaser released arrow after arrow, striking the enemies in their heads and necks, or any other weak spots he could spot. “They keep coming, Blink! Did you take a vacation back there at Struthill or something?”

“I’d wish!”

“What are you even looking for damn it, kill something!” Chaser urged him, noticing his unicorn friend was darting his eyes everywhere, looking for something.

“I messed up at Struthill, Chaser. I lost control of him and now he’s out there somewhere!”

The pegasus released another arrow, felling a minotaur to his knees, while others finished him off. “That thing inside of you that you were telling me about?”

“Yeah, the one that you were saying it’s all in my head. Well, not anymore.” Blink grunted, snorting air at nothing in particular. “Damn it, not now . . .”

“You all right? Blink, you need to start killing these things before they overwhelm us!”

“It’s just- ughh, damn burns, I’m starting to feel them. But it’s okay, I got it.”

Before Chaser could ask him anything else, Blink broke out from the front lines and engaged the changelings, using blasts of magic to send them flying back. Meanwhile, the fire tornado had dissipated, but Archmage Dark Shine began casting powerful lightning strikes at the enemies.

A chain launched at a minotaur that was just about to clash with the soldiers that formed a wide but tight inner circle around the city’s entrance; it wrapped itself around the warrior’s neck and was then pulled back with such a force that the sound of the spine snapping was heard all the way back to Blink, who was in the middle of the enemies. He stopped the spell and the chain turned to smoke, all while summoning a sword and a shield in front of him.

The cries coming from the bugs were sharp and eerie. The creatures desperately plunged themselves at the waiting equestrian forces, shooting bolts of magic from their jagged horns before ultimately succumbing to the arrows and musket blasts. Their never-ending waves quickly surrounded Blink as he held his ground, striking any enemy that passed near him.

A green fireball from above smashed into a group of insects, and a distinct flap of wings filled Blink’s ears. He continued to hold his position right in front of the broken gates, while feeling something behind him smashing and burning the enemy troops.

“I’m glad to see you,” Blink shouted between strikes, however not looking back at all, focusing on keeping his blows effective and his defense intact. A series of green bolts hit him in the head and chest, but the hydra leather absorbed the attacks, which only sent him sprawling on his flank. He got up in an instant and shot a blast of air so powerful towards his attackers, that it shattered their bodies; a cone-shaped ditch formed where the attack had passed by, while dirt that was settled under the road scattered in the air for the first time since it was laid.

“I knew that was you Blink,” Spike said from behind after spitting a row of flames at some nearby troops. “Nice armor.”

Blink took a quick moment to check on his friend; the dragon was tired and worn out, a streak of blood was coming down his neck from a cut underneath his jaw and his armor was dented and smashed. Even so, he fought on, spitting flames and cutting deep into the changeling troops with his sharp claws.

“Go back now, they’re too many!” Blink yelled, and the dragon flew away, a couple of bolts of magic hitting him in the back. Luckily for him, his scales, much like Blink’s armor, were magic resistant and the attacks only left a few dark, smoking spots on his back.

The changelings’ advance continued relentless, waves after waves of insects pouring through the smashed gates and running over their own troops’ carcasses to get inside the city. The exchange of arrows and magic bolts was still intense, and the enemies had begun reaching the first line of soldiers that were waiting with their shields up.

Blink teleported to the rooftop of a building near the wall from where he took a moment to watch the raging battle below. All the enemy troops were funneling through the city’s main entrance, the shield -which had taken a blue hue from Luna’s magic- still holding against the constant battering of the numerous fliers.

As the stallion scouted the city behind him, he saw thousands of pegasi resting on buildings across the capital, all their eyes pointing up at the dome, waiting for the imminent breach. Some of them had been there in the exact same situation many years before, when the changelings invaded Canterlot during the royal wedding.

Back at the entrance, the lines were holding strong, enemies being decimated one after the other. Blink caught sight of Chaser sending arrows in the troops below from a building roof across the square, while Spike rested behind the formation on the ground, catching his breath. But then he saw something that froze the blood in his veins.

His Nightmare was perched atop the wall above the gates, staring right at him. The strongest of chills ran down Blink’s spine as he realized what his darker ego was carrying. In one of his hooves, the Nightmare held a stallion’s head by the mane, while blood was dripping from the severed neck. Even from the rooftop of a building across the city’s entrance square, Blink could still see the opened, glossy eyes of the decapitated head belonging to Iron Hooves.

The Nightmare’s evil smirk dripped with death.

*** *** ***

“Cannons loaded with the new ordinance, sir!” a voice came from the back of the zeppelin’s basket.

“Good, get them ready, they’re gonna be-”

A loud snap filled the air, the echoes resembling the sounds of a frozen lake’s surface cracking in the early spring. Captain Pearl peered upwards through the windshield, but could see very little above them because of the balloon’s front side. Through the rain of magic sparks falling from the impacted shield however, he witnessed a visible crack forming across it. A piece of the dome the size of a house dislodged, fizzling away as it fell down from the magic dome.

The changeling swarm formation immediately started heading towards the opening, slithering towards it like a gigantic, hungry snake. An alarmed voice filled the radio coms as enemies began pouring into the city from above. The entire crew stared at the radio, while Pearl and Silver looked out the front of the basket.

“The shield has been breached! They’re going through, I repeat, Canterlot’s protected airspace has been breached, changelings are flying into the dome!”

End of Chapter 27

Chapter 28: Of Light and Darkness

Chapter 28

Of Light and Darkness

The snake-like swarm of changelings descended through the first breach and slithered inside the capital’s dome. Green bursts of magic erupted from the formation, as insects crash-landed into the streets below, emerging afterwards from the resulting crates.

High above the city, the airship’s right engine worked at full power, while Pearl spun the helm to turn the zeppelin’s starboard cannons towards the changeling formation. The MG nest below the basket was already firing on the enemy swarm, dropping hundreds of bugs out of the air with the high-caliber rounds.

“Fire!” Pearl shouted at his crew, immediately as the ship aligned.

The entire starboard erupted with the booms of discharged cannons, spitting cannonballs straight at the changeling formation. The projectiles exploded mid-air, forming a red-hot shrapnel barrage. They shredded the entire side of the enemy swarm, causing thousands of changelings to drop dead from the skies. From the other side of the city, the other zeppelin had also opened fire, causing another wave of bugs to fall on the streets and buildings below.

Much like an injured beast, the enemy formation lashed out at the second zeppelin, as tens of thousands of fliers descended upon the aircraft. They tore the vessel to pieces, ripping apart the magically enchanted balloon in just seconds with their attacks. As the zeppelin began to fall, explosions rocked the basket, while the engines fell apart from the rest of the ship under the barrage of magic bolts.

“They’ve torn them to pieces! Pearl, we need to get outta here now!” Silver urged, grabbing a musket and loading it with a charcoal piece.

“Keep those cannons singing and prepare for an attack!” the white captain ordered, adjusting the speed and the direction of the airship as to put some distance between them and the swarm. He grabbed the radio mic. “Hey, where’s our pegasi bunch?”

Several hundred changelings began flying towards them, while the crew armed themselves with muskets, opening up small hatches along the back of the ship’s basket.

Inside the machinegun nest, Crank Shot pulled at the two belts of ammo feeding the twin-barreled gun, trying to get as much as he could in the cramped emplacement. He re-chambered the weapon and aimed it at the enemies.

*** *** ***

Countless bolts of magic flew around them as the two unicorns battled in the square located at the entrance of the city, amidst thousands of equestrian and enemy troops engaged in their own skirmishes. Blink smashed his hoof into the other stallion’s face, and immediately felt blood pouring from his own muzzle.

The unarmored Blink spat a mouthful of blood at the ground, returning a reddened grin to the black armored stallion. “He was never a friend of ours, why do you care so much about him?”

Blink stood back, coughing his own blood through the tight helmet. He focused his magic on the broken nose, trying to mend it as best as possible. The spell barely worked, as his mind was filled with anger and thoughts of revenge, his ears burning from the Nightmare’s defiant mockery.

Still keeping his smile, the dark stallion smashed his front hooves into the ground, causing a powerful shake. A crack formed from the impact area, which traveled to the broken gates nearby. A few moments later, the entire section of the wall among the entrance began crumbling, large pieces of rock falling from the protective structure as it crashed down under its own weight.

The tall landing tower on the corner of the now broken gates fell apart as well; ponies engaging the enemy from the structure fled for their lives, pegasi flying off while unicorns raised shields to protect themselves and their brethren from the collapse. The whole building came crumbling down inside the entrance square, raising a thick cloud of dust that engulfed the troops locked in combat.

“I believe that bringing down the barriers between nations will bring an end to this conundrum we’re having here,” Blink heard his Nightmare’s voice through the settling dust, his ears perking at its source. “Don’t you agree?”

Blink focused his telekinesis on a spot several feet in front of him, and felt that he gripped someone. He caught a glimpse through the curtain of dust of his own self trapped in a blue haze of magic, and hurled the Nightmare into nearby house. A sharp pain invaded his back, his knees buckling under the sudden ache. Blink held onto his armor’s side, certain that at least a few ribs were cracked from bashing his Nightmare through that house.

A hoof grabbed his shoulder, turning him to face a dust-covered pegasus. “Blink, ya’ll right?” Chaser asked, getting him up his hooves. “I called a retreat, they’re swarming over the bloody collapsed wall.”

“I’m sorry, Chase’ . . . I can’t stop him without killing myself,” the unicorn spoke through deep grunts of pain, struggling to stay up.

“Don’t think about that, we need to get you outta here first.”

“No . . . the city will fall . . . we can’t leave-”

Blink felt his friend slide underneath and pick him up onto his back, carrying him away. Around them, the equestrian ground forces fell back further into the city, while holding a flimsy front line against the never-ending swarm of enemies.

“I need a medic here right now!” Chaser yelled at a column of carriages carrying injured soldiers and field doctors.

A couple of ponies got off a cart and rushed to the pegasus captain as he lowered Blink onto his own hooves.

“You can’t take it off,” Blink said as one of the medics tried to un-dress him from his armor. “My side hurts, try to do something about that,” he urged them, holding onto the pain-filled area.

The two medical ponies began casting their diagnosis spells, locating and patching up any injury they could find.

“This might hurt a bit,” one of them said, and Blink heard and felt a loud crack coming from his muzzle. Warm blood immediately began seeping through the helmet, while the initial pain faded away under the effects of the medic’s spell. “Broken nose re-aligned, sir, cast the coagulating spell to halt the bleeding.”

A loud explosion filled the air as a flaming-green comet crashed into a house further up the street. Others soon followed and smashed into the ground or buildings around, raising thick plumes of smoke and sending debris everywhere. Changelings emerged from the craters and broken structures, wasting no time in attacking the dazed ponies or zebras that were unfortunate enough to be near the crash sites.

Chaser drew an arrow, raised his hoof, held the bow steady and fired it at an insect soldier nearby. The changeling died before it hit the ground. The pegasus searched his quiver using a wing tip, only to feel no more than three arrows left. He took one out and slid it along a combat hoofband designed to hold a single arrow for fast firing.

“His body temperature is too high,” one of the medics noticed, running his hoof over his armor. “Is it because of this weird lather?”

His colleague’s focus shifted from the back injuries to the unusually high temperature. His spell swept through every nook and cranny of the otherwise magic proof armor, eventually finding the cause of the heat.

“Sweet Celestia, It’s not from the suit, he’s burning a fever.”

“A fever? From what?”

The medic unicorn looked at his colleague, surprise still plastered on his face. “His entire body under that armor is burned. First and second degree but still . . . sir, how did this happen to-”

“They’ve assembled it directly onto me while it was hot. Princess Luna cast a numbing spell of some kind so I won’t feel it, but it’s fading away. Can you do something about it?” His plea was followed by a couple of long stares from the two medics. The sound of a building crashing nearby filled the street, as the line of defense began pulling back deeper into the city. “Anything!” Blink urged them.

“Casting partial anesthesia on epidermis-”

“Preserve your magic, the spell won’t hold for long and you may paralyze an important muscle,” the other medic said, retrieving a minuscule tube container from his first aid backpack. He popped the cap off, revealing a small needle at the end. The unicorn then struck it into the skin around Blink’s mane that was sticking out of the armor. “That should last a few hours, you’ll start feeling it in a bit.”

“Is he okay? We don’t have a lot of time left,” Chaser yelled at them from above.

“His ribs are still in a bad shape, but the pain will be manageable for the mome-”

“I’m fine!” Blink said, arching his back as he stretched on the ground. Getting up on his hooves, he took a moment to adjust to the strange vision blurs that clouded his eyes for a while. His vision cleared out and sounds became sharper and unblemished as the whole world around him came back into focus.

“What did you give me? Everything is so . . . clear now.”

“Cortisone and morphine,” one of them shouted back as the two medics galloped down the street.

“Morphine? Ohh boy.”

A couple of magic bolts flew over his head, as the battle continued not a rock’s throw away from him. The changeling assault had redoubled as they flooded the streets. Another projectile hit Chaser in the leg, blasting away the armor covering his hind hoof. He immediately landed with a thud and inspected his limb.

“Those bloody insects, almost took off my leg!”

Bright flames engulfed the air above them, and two changeling soldiers that were about to pounce them dropped dead to the ground, their crisp bodies sizzling and popping from the immense heat.

Blink and Chaser’s wide eyes moved from the two carbonized carcasses to the dragon latching onto a building nearby. “Spike, I thought I told you to go find Twilight and the rest and take care of them,” Blink scolded him as he channeled his magic and focused on several fliers above.

Spike took to the skies, and sent a changeling into the windows of a two story house with a powerful swipe of his claws. “And let you have all the fun here? Nice try, dude, but no.” With another swipe, he cut short a gryphon’s attack, severing his wing and letting him continue his now fatal dive.

“Suit yourself, Spike, but at least try to keep up!” Blink shouted through the tumult of the battle as he cast his spell. A barrage of bright blue projectiles flew out from the tip of his horn, tracing arc-like paths as they sought their targets in the sky, felling tens of changelings that were unlucky enough to be hit by them.

Meanwhile, Chaser galloped across a rooftop, making his way towards the front line of their troops. A group of changelings came crashing into the building in front of him, emerging shortly afterwards from the wreckage. Their haunting hisses were shortly followed by pounces, as three of them jumped at the stallion while the rest stood back and fired green magic projectiles at him.

The pegasus propelled himself in the air with a powerful wings beat, avoiding the bolts and drawing his bow mid-air. His hind hooves smashed into the rooftop, sending shingles flying as he landed back. The arrow from his hoofband was now drawn back into the bow, but it didn’t remain there for long as Chaser released it into the first pouncing soldier.

“Don’t you go anywhere, you bloody bastard!” he grunted at the dead changeling as its body slipped down the rooftop. The pegasus rushed towards it, and right when it was about to fall, he managed to snatch the precious arrow from its head in the very last second. Falling off the building, Chaser used his wings to get right back at the other bugs. As soon as he touched the rooftop again, his right wing reached at a satchel below his chest piece, pulling a couple of daggers and hurling them at two changelings that had jumped him. Meanwhile, using his front hooves he drew the bow and launched the blood-stained arrow at another changeling. The projectile pierced the first target in its path, lodged into the leg of another one, then finally imbedded itself between the brick layer of the building’s chimney.

“Two fer’ one, how bout’ that?”

The ground suddenly trembled under every soldier’s hooves. Shingles fell from the broken rooftops onto the death-filled streets below. Stallions in the frontline held their shields closer as they backed away, eyes pinned on the monstrosities ahead: three large changeling soldiers, each the size of a small house approached them with heavy thuds as they stepped onto anything in their path, even their own. They were considerably larger than the tank bugs that smashed through the city’s gates. The outside of their bodies was made of a thick, black carapace, and their massive heads were reinforced as well, with large antlers sticking out from the sides. Their short legs and necks exposed no weak spots, as even their shoulders and sides seemed to be protected by their natural armor.

Spells cast by the unicorn troops behind the main line of defense were all futile. The various-colored bolts of magic bounced off their armor, turning buildings and streets nearby to rubble. Blink came out of a dispersing cloud of blue smoke near Chaser. He looked at the rapidly approaching creatures, trying to think of a way to take them down. Blink then looked back towards the capital’s center and saw the main swarm engaged with the remainder of the pegasus armada, the changeling fliers winning more and more ground as they approached the royal castle.

The breached magic dome surrounding the capital pulsed several times before the entire spell finally broke. In its wake, a rain of colorful sparks gently fell over the besieged capital, giving way to the remaining swarm to freely advance inside.

“Chaser, we have to fall back,” Blink said with a disheartened voice, all of his hopes dwindling much like the falling magic residue around him. “Canterlot has fallen, we need to evacuate the city.”

*** *** ***

A broken pipe shot hot steam inside the basket. A bolt of magic tore through a hatch, hitting the ceiling and starting another fire. A crew stallion fired off a cannon, but the projectile struck a changeling clinging onto the hatch and exploded right outside the zeppelin’s basket, sending hot pieces of metal back inside. The crew member dropped on the floor behind the cannon, blood gushing out of his fresh wounds, his screams drowning the chaos around for just a moment.

The airship’s interior had become a death trap, as hundreds of changelings swarmed Celestia’s Pearl and tore it to pieces. Silver Wisp was lying on the floor near the helm with a gash on his head, while the captain desperately tried to figure out his heading through the swarm in front of him. Another crack tore through the large windshield, as spell after spell hit the reinforced glass, leaving dark spots where they impacted.

“Tiny! Fire another flare! We ain’t getting sound outta this one if they don’t be sending us help soon!”

The large unicorn in the back of the ship got near a hatch and fired several bright red flares from his horn. Sparks flew everywhere, and they couldn’t even know for sure if any of them had made it through the enemies trying to breach the zeppelin.

Several crew members were tending to the wounded as best as they could, in the middle of what was basically a falling metal trap. Bolts of magic penetrated the hull, striking crew members, pipes and command panels. Crew ponies dropped dead or injured among the heavy artillery pieces, the rolling cannonballs hilting in their limp bodies as the ship began leaning towards its starboard. The radio station had a smoking hole in it, and the ship’s commands barely responded under Pearl’s control.

Light flashes of different colors erupted throughout the zeppelin, revealing several armored unicorns. They quickly got their bearings set and rushed to the downed crew members, teleporting out with them.

“Captain Pearl?” one of the unicorns approached the captain, his voice slightly muffled by the full-face helmet he was wearing. “Hold on to me, sir.”

“No, I’m the last! Take him. Now!” He shouted, picking up Silver’s body from the basket’s floor.

Part of the windshield burst from an attack, spitting a column of glass inside the airship’s cabin. The unicorns teleported one by one, taking with them the injured crew members. The soldier in front of him held Silver over his back, his horn charged with magic as he waited for the captain.

“Crank Shot, get out of there. We’re abandonin’ ship!” Pearl dropped to his knees, yelling through the machinegun nest’s hatch. The sound of the weapon however had been absent for a while. “Crank Shot?” the captain asked again, turning the small lever and opening up the access hatch.

Inside the turret, the small unicorn was resting on his back on the gunner seat, a hoof still grasping the trigger. The entire nest was riddled with holes from the changeling attacks; blood poured over the bullet shells gathered underneath the gun, smoke still coming from some of them.

A bolt of magic tore through the windshield, flying above Pearl’s head. It hit a cannon, lighting its fuse and moving the barrel away from the firing opening, towards another cannon nearby.

“Get out!” the captain yelled at the last unicorn that was carrying Silver, before taking cover behind the turret’s hatch in the floor.

The roar of the cannon’s blast resonated throughout the basket, filling it up with flames and sending shrapnel everywhere. The explosion wave broke off the hatch Pearl was hiding behind, sending both into the ship’s helm. Lights went out for the white stallion.

When his senses returned, he opened his eyes to a fire-engulfed ceiling, the heavy hatch resting on his chest, while the helm spun on itself. With a heavy grunt, he pushed off the round metal door off of him. The heat wave from the burning ceiling was getting unbearable, as the fire slowly spread to the entire basket.

Pearl raised his head painfully, his eyes full of wonder at why the ammunition had not exploded yet in all that chaos. Cannonballs and gunpowder charges rolled across the hole-riddled metal floor as the ship leaned dangerously towards the starboard. The captain got up, holding onto the helm for support. There was no one around that was still alive in the zeppelin. He looked outside through the ravaged windshield, and was able to get a glimpse of the city’s wall and the fierce battle taking place in the streets below. The enemy air troops had ceased their assault on the ship, probably right after it had started crashing towards the city.

His eyes quivered, darting from the ground invading forces to the control panel around him. “You bastards. Not taking me down that easily . . .” He grabbed the helm, gently sliding his hooves through the handles. Among the chaos, death and suffering happening all around him, Pearl closed his eyes, sliding into a world of his own. Pipes burst around the basket, and the entire airship screeched from all its joints. The captain however drowned all that noise, and took a moment to enjoy the sensation of the wheel’s wood through his fur, before focusing his eyes on the city’s broken wall in the distance.

He reached for the speed controller and pushed it to the max. Various flashing buttons and dials revealed the dying state of the airship, yet he ignored them all.

“Come on girl, stay with me for one last stretch. We’re going home. Just you and me . . .”

The zeppelin was losing altitude fast, but the engines had ignited again. They managed to spin what was left of the large propellers, while spitting smoke and flames behind them. With a jolt, the airship started accelerating. Pearl turned the helm, finding it difficult to actually divert the ship from its original crash path. The steering was off and not in sync with the engines anymore. At that rate he wouldn’t turn the zeppelin in time.

“Let me help ya out there, girl.” He reached for the speed lever of the left engine, pushing it further down. As more and more fuel pumped into it, the explosions taking place inside the engine got louder and faster. The flames it was spitting also grew, and the pistons began falling out of sync, making the entire ship shake violently.

“Steady there, we’re almost on path.”

The zeppelin eventually turned right a few degrees, at which point the captain set the other engine to maximum speed as well. The ship gained more and more speed. The faster it went, the more it would shake and screech, its engines and propellers falling apart in clouds of thick smoke. The ship’s balloon was engulfed in flames, no longer able to provide any lift at all, sending the zeppelin to its ultimate fate.

Pearl held firmly onto the helm as the airship jolted violently, one of its engines being ripped off by the rooftop of a tall building. The broken walls of the city’s entrance were everything the captain could see through the basket’s smashed windshield. He closed his eyes, knowing the thousands of changelings invaders swarming before him would be no more soon. And then death embraced him.

The zeppelin crashed into the market square at the capital’s entrance, sending a large ball of flame in the air. The loud noise of the metal basket hitting the ground shortly after was followed by a huge explosion that shook the very mountain the city was standing on. Fueled by the caches of ammunition left inside, the blast sent out a powerful wave, collapsing the buildings around and sending all enemies nearby to the ground. Thick clouds of dust rose along the explosion’s mushroom, flooding the streets around the square and dispersing the enemy troops in all directions.

“Quite a sight you made there Pearl.”

The stallion’s ear flicked at the somewhat familiar voice. As he opened his eyes, he saw and felt a black-armored pony letting him go, breathing hard through his full-face helm. Pearl’s eyes widened, as he found himself at the top of a wall a mile away from the main entrance into the city.

“B- Blink? Is that you?”

“Not really,” the dark soldier spoke, still struggling to breathe. He looked down to his chest and noticed a piece of shrapnel imbedded into it, blood already pouring out onto the black armor. “I managed to see your ship in time; something told me I should send a clone to check it out. Glad I did so,” he spoke his last words before his shape dissipated into a blue mist.

*** *** ***

Red Heart pulled a gurney near the makeshift arrival terminal, her entire body and mind exhausted from the recent hours. Several spheres of light exploded on the stage, revealing more and more unicorns with one of two other ponies each at their side.

One of the soldiers turned to the medic mare. “They’re from the last zeppelin, we got five injured, two look critical.”

The white nurse brought the gurney closer so that one of the soldiers could rest an injured pony onto it before being taken off by other assistants and doctors near the stage. Her hooves worked automatically at that point, pulling out and preparing bandages and dressings.

She leaned over one of the stallions that was bleeding from his head and pressed onto the blood gushing wound. The pony’s face was completely covered by his own blood, and Red Heart tried wiped it with her free hoof while checking for other wounds. As she did so, the crew member’s features formed into a very familiar face.

The nurse froze, her heart stopped beating and a heavy lump formed in her throat. She recognized the passed out pony as her coltfriend, and her mind locked up completely.

“Nurse, nurse! Come on, we got to get him into surgery!” a doctor shouted at her, standing on the other side of the injured stallion.

The mare snapped back to reality. “I- yes, yes we need to.” She began preparing a stretcher to put Silver on, then grabbed another dressing to wrap his bleeding wound on the head. Her hooves however were shaking badly and her eyes barely left the stallion’s face.

The doctor nearby noticed all that and her watering eyes. “Hey! Do you know him?” She didn’t seem to acknowledge that question at first. “Nurse! Look at me.” Her eyes faced him, a hoof covering her grimacing mouth, on the edge of breaking into tears.

“Yes. W- We’re together-”

“You’re no use to me, or to him, in that condition. Quick Patch!” the doctor immediately yelled at another medic tending to the injured crew members. “Come here and help me out with this critical, we need to get him into surgery, stat!”

The two immediately began moving Silver Wisp onto the gurney. Quick Patch then used his magic to levitate it out towards the makeshift surgery rooms in the auditorium. “Stay here and take a break. I’ll make sure he’s taken care of,” the doctor said, stopping Nurse Red Heart from following them.

As the two medics left, taking with them her loved one, Red Heart sat on the floor amidst the chaos of a was clinic. Her legs couldn’t hold her up anymore, and she broke into sobs then and there, as lives were lost and saved all around her.

An alicorn closely followed by a unicorn passed by the devastated mare. By then, the sight of emotionally compromised ponies was no longer a rare thing.

“Where are you going?” the unicorn asked as she tried to keep up with the alicorn’s much larger steps.

“I’m going to stop all this suffering and pain from its very source,” Cadence said as she trotted outside of the auditorium building.

“What about Emerald? You can’t just go out-”

“Yes Twilight, I can!” the pink alicorn snapped. She had geared up after several hours of helping out the medics and nurses, and was wearing a royal battle armor that matched her mane and coat.

Her eyes were tearing up as she tried to hold off her emotions. “Somewhere out there,” she said, pointing at the swarm of changelings battling the pegasi formation above the capital’s center, “the same thing that attacked Canterlot at my wedding, that evil parasite that killed my husband is still taking innocent lives-”

“We don’t know if he’s dead!” Twilight yelled at her former foal sitter, now queen of the Crystal Empire. Her tears were falling freely on the ground, eyes red and puffy. “He’s my big brother, and the father of your foal; how can you still not have hope?”

The alicorn stopped for a moment and turned to Twilight. “Emerald is safe. I left him in the care of your parents. They’re all in Cloudsdale, miles away from this place by now. I can’t allow this to happen, Twilight. Too many ponies are dying just to keep a few out of harm’s way. I’ve stopped her once, I’ll do it again.”

With that, Cadence took off, flying straight towards the aerial battle that was steadily shifting towards the royal castle. Twilight didn’t even had the chance to call after her sister-in-law, as a wave of soldiers rushed into the auditorium’s vast courtyard. Thousands of beaten, bruised or injured stallions flooded the area, led by the unicorn General Dark Shine.

Seeing Twilight standing in front of the make-shift field hospital, Dark rushed to her. “Is Celestia still here?” he yelled from afar.

Twilight shook her head, while trying to figure out what the soldiers were all doing out there. “Celestia left . . . a while ago. She’s at the castle by now. Why are you all here? Are the changelings in this neighborhood already?”

“They tore through our defense at the city’s entrance with huge monstrosities from the darkest depths of their hives. Those wretched creatures only seem to want to reach the castle,” he spoke, stopping near Twilight and catching his breath.

“But what about the Princesses?”

“We’ve lost too many,” he answered, looking back at the distant air fight. “The pegasi will soon pull back as well. The city is lost, Twilight Sparkle. Luna’s last orders were for us to evacuate as many as we can. Almost all civilians have left Canterlot through the crystal caves underneath the mountain, this auditorium is the last place we need to empty out.”

“They’re all here then? All the soldiers we have left are with you?” she asked with dismay, a small group of silver-armored zebras passing by them while no more than a few thousand soldiers continued flooding the courtyard.

“Yes, that’s why we can’t fight anymore. Until our reinforcements arrive, we have to evacuate. You might want to know this however: only a few returned to the castle to defend it, and among them was Midnight B-”

A purple flash sent magic sparks flying all about. Some of them hit the archmage’s battle robe, his mouth still hanging open, “-link.”

*** *** ***

A row of elite guards marched in front of the Sun Princess as she made her way through the castle’s hallways, stopping in front of a tall door. Just as each half of the massive entrance was engulfed in two of the unicorns’ auras, the Princess’s yellow one canceled them out.

“My orders are clear,” Celestia spoke while staring at the door, “leave the premises of this castle, and evacuate the city as planned.”

“Princess, we cannot-”

“This is a direct order,” she retorted, looking back at the larger guard in the group.

The heavy doors swung open, and Celestia stepped inside, closing them behind her. The light of the dawning sun filtered through the imposing stained windows of the hall, illuminating the archways and marble floor with the intricate drawings painted onto them. The Princess walked towards the two thrones, her hoofsteps echoing in the almost empty room.

The commotion from the world outside the throne room was muffled and dull. Celestia climbed the short steps and seated herself on her rightful place. “Good evening, sister.” She looked to her side at the pony occupying the second throne.

Luna returned the greeting with a slight nod. “Sister.”

“Has the castle been evacuated?” Celestia asked quietly.

“All staff are long gone by now. Along with them, part of the city used the crystal caverns underneath us, which hath been sealed off. The rest of the population and our injured troops were evacuated through the tunnels near the auditorium’s square.”

And so, a deep silence fell in the throne room, the two sisters simply staring at the large wooden doors at the end of it, waiting patiently.

*** *** ***

Fragments of buildings and walls flew in every direction, as an entire house collapsed in the wake of the magic explosion. A thin strand of smoke rose from Blink’s horn, as he panted hard in a defensive stance. The soldiers around him hid behind their shields, cautiously trying to peer at the damage.

They were only a couple of streets from the castle, where the enemy ground troops reunited with their air forces, clashing down on the last bastion standing between them and the castle.

A powerful earth shake was followed by an avalanche of debris as a large changeling monstrosity smashed its way through the makeshift barrier formed by the collapsed remains of the street house. Green bolts began erupting again through the smoke, as waves of changelings poured alongside the slow moving giant bug.

The equestrian soldiers began falling back again, keeping their shields up to protect them from the barrage of fire. Chaser fired one last arrow before grabbing his sword. He and Blink hid behind a group of soldiers and their shields, while moving back step by step, in order to remain under the little protection their formation offered.

In a fleeting moment, Blink looked on the other side of the street. There, another group of stallions retreated at a slow pace. One of them was falling behind, his back stuck against a flight of stairs. The deadly bolts hit all around him as he stayed crouched, holding his shield up.

A magic burst shot through the soldier’s shield, and his eyes cleared of any fear, dread, and even life. He slumped down against pavement, the smoking helmet rolling onto the debris-littered street. The shield slowly lowered over his body, as other shots continued to hit all around him.

“We’re getting slaughtered out here!” Chaser yelled through the battle’s mayhem.

Several blue shields of magic materialized all around the remaining troops, covering their retreat. “You think I don’t see that?” Blink snapped back at him. “We need to let the castle defenders know about this. Spike! Spikeeee!” Blink yelled at a building behind him. Balls of flames were shooting out from a window at the second floor, but stopped soon enough.

A dragon smashed through the house’s weakest wall, landing several feet away from the soldiers.

“Go to the castle, Spike. Tell them they are too many to handle; they need to evacuate ASAP,” Blink shouted at him right as he landed on the street.

“What about you guys?”

“Go now, god damn it!”

Wasting no more time, Spike darted across the street. He jumped over a fence and into a garden separating the row of houses, taking flight and heading straight towards the royal court.

“Come on, soldiers, pull back! Head towards the castle, we’re leaving the city through the crystal caverns!”

The stallions began galloping down the street, magic shields protecting them from enemy fire. Blink stayed behind them, making sure his protective spells held. The ground continued to tremble under the heavy feet of the gigantic changeling soldier. Chaser engaged with fliers that got too close, delivering deadly blows with his sword as they tried to fly above them.

“Chaser, stop sticking around me! Go already or we’ll never make it!”

“And leave ya here alone? Who’s gonna-”

The house next to them blew up into an avalanche of bricks and rubble, burying the pegasus in an instant. Blink’s eyes widened as he saw his friend eaten by the pulverized building. “CHASER!”

A changeling similar to the giant one behind them tore through the wreckage of the house, its large eyes behind the armored head focused on the standing unicorn. He let out a scream, dust rising around him as his magic surged to even higher levels. A blue aura encased the front part of the house-sized changeling, stopping it in its tracks.

Blink focused all his anger into a spell he hadn’t used since training. The creature let out a shrieking scream, as dust of its own hard carapace began to emanate from its head. In just moments, the dust turned green, as the unicorn’s spell reached the inside of its skull, continuing to pull it apart particle by particle.

The spell dispelled and the stallion fell to his knees, too exhausted to maintain it. The changeling stood on its legs for a few more seconds before collapsing against the neighboring house and rising a thick cloud of dust.

Blink rushed to the remains of the house in front of him, coughing wildly from the dust. “Chaser . . .” He started digging through the rubble, searching for any kind of sign from the buried pegasus.

He found a hoof sticking out of a mountain of remains. “Buddy, I’m here. I’m here,” Blink murmured while clearing out the bricks and beams, revealing his dust-covered friend. His eyelids fluttered open, greeting his eyes to the sight of his unicorn friend.

“You’re okay, thank god. Give me a minute Chase’, I’ll get you out of here.”

The pegasus’ hoof grabbed his own however, holding onto it as tight as he could.

“Too late. You’re . . . you’re not getting this off of me,” Chaser managed in between coughs.

“It’s just a stupid beam, I’ll fucking lift whatever’s left of this damn house if I have to-”

“You’ve barely got . . . any magic. Save it.” A few tears streamed down his dust-covered face, joining the vivid blood seeping through from his mouth. “Tell my sister I’m sorry-”

“No, I’m not doing that Chase’, you tell your own sister that if you want, I’m not leaving you behind. Just the same as you didn’t leave me.” Blink focused on the support beam pinning Chaser into the ruble, but he didn’t have nearly enough energy to even budge it. In the near distance, the sound of approaching enemies got louder and louder.

“Tell Luna . . . I enjoyed every moment spent with her . . . and I’m grateful for the each and . . . every star-filled sky she brought us every night.”

“Shut up, Chaser. You’re bleeding inside, you need to stay quiet until I can get you to a medic . . . somewhere.”

The pegasus simply smiled. His eyes slowly closed, while his grip faded away.

“Chaser . . . come on Chase’ don’t do this to me, don’t you fucking dare die on me like this.” Blink held onto his friend’s forehoof tightly, while he desperately tried to use whatever magic he had left to heal his wounds. The energy couldn’t even form into the healing spell, dissipating as soon as it left his horn.

“Chaser no . . .” he cried, pressing his head against his friend’s. Blink’s eyes were filled to the brim, yet he couldn’t look away. The immaculate red line of blood that poured from the corner of his friend’s mouth, the dust-covered fur coat and mane, and a couple of his feathers sticking out from between the rubble. Yet the smile on his cold lips was content, eyes closed as if he was taking a much-deserved rest after a hard day of training.

“I guess we cared about this one a bit, didn’t we?” a voice came right from behind him.

A hoof touched Blink’s shoulder and the world plunged to darkness. A fraction of a second later, he re-appeared on the rooftop of a building overseeing the castle. Blink turned back, teeth gritted as he recognized the voice before he was teleported away.

“You die. Now!” Blink shouted, jumping at the Nightmare. He smashed into the grinning stallion, locking him into a tight grip around his neck. They struggled for a few hectic seconds before falling off the edge of the building, plunging to their deaths.

“I didn’t even need to do it myself,” the Nightmare said with a laugh as they fell. “Well, I might have inspired that little changeling guy. He just loves to play fetch!”

A hoof collided with his face, and again, and again. Blink’s fury was unmeasurable, and even though he was hurting himself with every punch, he kept striking the dark side of him, relinquishing in the pain he felt.

The Nightmare simply laughed between hits as they fell, the ground fast approaching underneath them. Another dark flash and Blink found himself in the middle of a pony-filled area. Dazed from the hits, Blink turned his head around a couple of times, noticing more than a few soldiers staring back at him. They all seemed to me heading alongside a tall building, which Blink soon recognized as the auditorium.

“Let’s see what our friends here have to say,” the Nightmare started, but was cut off by a loud voice from behind them.

“Midnight Blink! You brought him here? Dark Shine, help me take them out!”

The general of the pegasi herself walked towards Blink’s Nightmare, getting onto her hind legs and triggering her hoof blades. She swung the weapons at the un-armored stallion, while Blink simply sat there watching him evade every hit. Just as the dark stallion flashed out and then back in right next to Spitfire’s side, a powerful burst of light was followed by a shield appearing between him and her.

Dark Shine appeared behind them, ready to fight. “I told you to take care of him! We cannot have him run rampant through our evacuating troops,” the Archmage yelled towards the real Blink.

“You won’t, I’ll make sure of that.” He jumped at his Nightmare again. They rolled over onto the ground, trading punches and hurting each-other as best as they could. Blink was almost out of any magic, and it seemed his Nightmare was also in a similar, albeit much better state.

“So you’re embarrassed to show me to your friends? I seemed to make quite on an impression on the dead ones!”

He blasted Blink off of him with a burst of magic into the chest. After hitting the ground, he got up as fast as he could, determined to not let the Nightmare out of his sight. He darted at him again, every part of his body now screaming in pain from all the injuries. Blink tackled the Nightmare to the ground, before surrounding both of themselves in a magic sphere and disappearing out of there.

The two stallions fell against the hard surface of a street, Blink’s landing somewhat cushioned by his foe’s body. He held onto his neck and smashed him against the ground. A stabbing pain immediately seared through the back of his own head, yet he continued bashing the Nightmare’s head against the cobblestone.

“Stop it, you’re gonna kill us both!” the stallion underneath Blink hissed, holding onto Blink’s hooves, stopping the attack. His devilish grin resurfaced in that moment of pause. “- it’s just that I’ve yet to have a word with our mutual love interest! Do you think she’s still alive? I don’t-”

A hoof smashed into his already battered face, sending fresh droplets of blood flying. “You will never touch her. Do you hear me?” Blink asked, a strand of blood seeping through his black hydra helmet and onto the Nightmare’s face. “You will never touch anyone else, for the rest of your life. I know where to put you,” he continued, horn glowing as he gathered some magic for one last spell.

Teleportation is always less demanding without quantum shielding . . .

The two unicorns disappeared in an explosion of magic, sending sparks flying about on the deserted street. As Blink came through, he felt his hooves were still wrapped around his darker self’s neck.

“Ohhh, this place. I- I feel Death lingering just nearby,” the Nightmare murmured. “Clever move to bring us here, dearest self, clever move.”

Blink however darted his head around, confused by the surroundings. They seemed to have teleported on Struthill, but time seemed to have flashed forward, as the last rays of sun brought color to the star-less sky. A step in the grass nearby startled Blink, and he got up on his hooves. He saw a minotaur warrior walking down the hill towards them, with hundreds more behind him.

“What the hell are you doing here,” he muttered, trying to come up with a way out of that situation. He started gathering his energy, and the entire area around his cutie mark began to burn underneath his armor, despite the fact that he was drugged and not supposed to feel anything.

The closest minotaur kept walking, eventually passing the two unicorns, dragging his two feet across the grassy hill and ignoring the two ponies. On the back of the warrior’s head there was a large gash from where blood has stopped dripping long ago. As soon as he realised what was happening, Blink already spotted a dark silhouette pacing among various pony, griffin, minotaur and zebra soldiers.

“Where are the changelings?” Blink simply asked, Death now a couple of feet away from the two of them.

“Only free-willed creatures truly live . . . and die.”

“So we’re-”

“The same place you were when we first met.”

Thousands upon thousands of soldiers walked down Struthill, their pace slow and their eyes focused in the distance. At the base of the hill, the lost souls faded away one by one, having reached their final destination. Blink pried over the hilltop, but saw no city or settlement standing where the capital should have been. A wave of questions ate away at him, but he chose to postpone them and tend to the more urgent matter.

“I’m sorry I came here again with unwanted guests. But I can’t fight him. I’m losing everything back there: my friends, my home . . . my life.”

“What makes you think that bringing me to the Antechamber will solve your problems?” the Nightmare asked defiantly while getting up from the ground.

“Casting your problems to this place will not bring you peace,” Death said, ignoring the un-armored stallion. “But she’s here to lend you help, and with it you can make sure your darkest of thoughts remain here,” He continued while looking up at the sky, his face hidden by his cloak.

Blink followed His gaze and saw a familiar black bird flying long circles above them, her call echoing in the air. The bird dropped in a dive towards the unicorn.

“Raven? What are you-”

He raised his hooves up just as the bird flew straight at him. The raven passed through him and into his chest, where he felt a deep pang. Raven flew off as she passed through him, taking her place on Death’s staff.

A wave of renewed energy flooded inside of Blink, as his cutie mark continued to sear. The air in his lungs froze, dark whisperings began plaguing his mind, yet his magic refilled. It felt darker, colder but much more powerful than anything he had ever felt.

“There are powers that come with the title of a Deathbearer.”

“So you just gave them to me like that? Just because of what I am?”

“I’ve not given them to you. You’ve called upon them unwillingly. Being here was mere coincidence. A fair warning, young one: the more you make use of those powers, the more you come closer to your inevitable fate.”

“Let me guess, that inevitable fate is you?” Blink asked, looking Death straight in the eyes, his insides churning with magic beyond his understanding.

The dark figure responded with an eerie silence. Blink turned to his Nightmare, who was staring him down with what seemed to be eternal wrath and hatred. By then, black steam was emanating off of Blink’s armor, his eyes leaking darkness.

“It feels like his powers,” he grunted, still getting used to the new sensation.

“They are the powers that fuel your darker part of your soul, but they belong to both of you.”

Blink stared at the pony across the field, while plenty of dead soldiers from all sides of the battle carried on in their last walk. A black chain shot out from the ground, wrapping itself around the Nightmare’s neck. He held onto it with his hooves, struggling to escape. “You think you can hold me?” He spat, his horn emanating a dark wave of magic. The energy started shaping itself into a long tendril that launched towards Blink.

As soon as it was about to wrap around its target, Blink’s horn erupted in a more powerful blue light, keeping the tendril at bay. The blue light ate at it, eventually dissolving the Nightmare’s spell into nothingness.

“You are going to remain here until the day I die, no sooner,” Blink said as more chains came from the ground. They all wrapped around the Nightmare’s hooves and body, pinning him down. The chains tightened all around him, pressing the dark stallion into the ground.

He trashed his head and flailed his body in anger. “I will come back,” came his rage-dripping shout. “You think mere chains will keep me here forever?”

“Mere chains? No, not mere chains.” With another surge of magic, several black horse-shoe metal shapes materialized above the bound Nightmare. One by one, they dropped into the ground, further immobilizing his hooves.

“You cannot defeat your own terror!” came the Nightmare’s last words, right before a long piece of fabric wrapped itself around his muzzle. Another one then covered his eyes, before a final shackle dropped down and immobilized his neck.

Blink fell on his rump, sighing in relief. His head however was still buzzing, and the recent events were burned into the back of his eyes replaying again and again. Raven sat on his shoulder, remaining silent.

“You did it, mate.”

The unicorn raised his head at the familiar voice. His breath caught up as he recognized the smiling stallion wearing a captain’s armor right in front of him. He got up, throwing a hoof over the pegasus’ neck. He tried formulating words, but none came out.

“I’m sorry I had to leave ya, Blink.”

The blue stallion stepped back and looked at his friend, noticing several other soldiers standing behind him. Amongst them, the Earth General was giving him a reassuring look.

“You . . . you died because of me,” Blink managed to say to him, but was cut off by the large earth pony.

“I died to protect Equestria. I see that I have not died in vain, kid.” He smiled, then began walking down the hill, followed by the others that have stopped. They all nodded at Blink, most of them having lost their lives battling side by side with the unicorn.

Eventually, it was only Chaser that remained. He placed his hoof on Blink’s shoulder. “It’s time for you to go back and finish what we started.”

“I can’t . . . I can’t leave you here. Not again. Not like this.”

“There’s nothing you can do about it, mate.”

“I can take you back with me. I have the power,” Blink struggled.

“I know you do, mate; but it wouldn’t last. I feel the calling, Blink, and I need to get there. I’m sorry.” With a sigh, the pegasus patted Blink’s shoulder and got up. “Take care of yourself out there, and make them pay for what they did,” he said, walking away.

Blink remained seated on the ground, watching his friend going down the ghastly Struthill, surrounded by numerous other fallen soldier.

“Save me a seat at your wedding, will ya?” Chaser shouted from the bottom of the hill, waving a hoof. He turned his head back towards the endless stretch of land that lied ahead of him. “Huh, strange.” His form faded away, leaving Blink to stare with empty eyes at the nothingness left behind by the pegasus.

The unicorn got up and walked towards the top of the hill. Raven sat on his shoulder, her claws holding onto his black armor. With his stare still empty and unfocused, the stallion murmured in a hushed voice: “I’m going back.”

Death, who was right by his side, stood patiently as if waiting for him to make a decision. Blink raised a hoof, stopping a fallen minotaur that was walking past him. At the boundary between the afterlife and the real world, a distinct moment of silence hung in the air.

“Such actions would-”

“Shut the fuck up,” Blink cut off Death, his magic erupting around him as he stared at the minotaur.

*** *** ***

Teleporting to the royal court, Twilight rushed through one of the castle’s hallways in search of Blink or her mentor, Celestia. A group of stallions marching towards her stopped in their tracks, eyeing the armored mare.

“Halt, who are you and why are you wearing the Princess’ battle garment?”

“She gave it to me! I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

“I know you,” one of the guards recalled. “You’re Celestia’s student. She is with her sister in the throne room.”

The elite guards continued their march, leaving Twilight to stare in their wake. The unicorn began heading towards the main hall hoping Blink would be there with Luna, when a loud hoot caught her attention. A rather familiar bird whizzed past her, flying through a small archway.

“Owlowiscious? What are you doing here? Hey!” Twilight shouted, following the unresponsive bird. The archway lead straight into a balcony, where Twilight froze completely at the sight ahead of her.

The sky was moving with tens of thousands of changelings approaching the castle grounds. Green flashes erupted throughout the cloud of enemies, as bugs crash-landed into the ground below, forming lines of attack.

In front of the castle, all the elite guards lined up in a defense formation, effectively disobeying the Princesses’ orders.

“No . . .”

The owl took flight again, hooting at Twilight as she went back inside the castle. The unicorn followed her pet, calling after her with little success. Owlowiscious kept hooting, beckoning Twilight to follow.

Eventually the mare found herself in the Hall of Heroes, where life-sized statues of Equestria’s greatest heroes and personalities stood. She had visited that hall before the battle had started, and, much like then, she began feeling small and insignificant near the notorious ponies of the past. Her pet owl was resting on the statue of a soldier, furling her wings and calling upon her owner.

“What is it Owlowiscious? Why did you bring me-” Her eyes widened as the realization came upon her. “I’m out of magic, I can’t do anything like that anymore . . .”

The owl’s eyes shined with a bright light for a moment, and then she dived off the statue, right towards Twilight. Before the mare could even react, the owl went through her and her armor, leaving Twilight stunned and slightly light-headed.

Pure, white strands of mist began rising from her already white armor, as a strange magic flew through her core. She immediately recognized it as the untapped powers she had always felt when performing certain advanced spells. It only took the bright unicorn a moment to know what she had to do.

*** *** ***

Silence reigned in Equestria’s throne hall. Eventually, Luna turned to her sister, her face betraying insurmountable sadness and regret.

“I fear I might have not taken the right decision, sister.”

Celestia’s expression remained one of calm as she gazed back at her sibling.

“We lost so many at Struthill, I can’t stop wondering if we could have avoided all those lost lives. Maybe if we simply evacuated sooner-”

“You did well, Luna. The civilians got enough time to leave because of that delay. Our troops also had the chance to fulfill their duties to the best of their abilities. From what Dark Shine told me last I saw him, they have downed almost half of the enemy forces.”

“Yet they’re still at our doorstep. So many ponies have died, Celly . . . for what?”

Celestia got off her throne, and sat down next to Luna’s. “For their families, for their friends, their kingdom . . . for us. Now it’s our time to make sacrifices for them; by staying here, and drawing our enemy to us, instead of our ponies.”

Luna joined her sister on the carpeted floor, leaning her head underneath Celestia’s neck. The white alicorn embraced her, holding her tight.

“The troops from the outer provinces,” she spoke calmly, “they’re not going to be here soon, are they?”

Luna ran her hoof underneath her eyes, wiping away a few lone tears. “I’m afraid not. At least not in the next hours. Are we- are we going to Ascend?” she asked, looking Celestia in the eyes.

A deep, low hum filled the air. The two alicorn sisters perked up, feeling a tremendous amount of magic in the air around them.

“Is that-”

A series of bright columns of light descended through the throne room’s ceiling, some going into the marble floor to the lower levels while others stopped there. More beams of light could be seen and heard outside and throughout the castle. One by one, the same way they started, the columns of light came to an abrupt end.

Celestia took a few steps in front of the two thrones, all her senses on edge. “That’s the same kind of magic I had back in the previous Cycle, when I was a Lifebringer. That means Twilight’s still here-”

A crack was heard coming from the walls, catching the sisters’ attention. They darted their eyes from the windows, walls and statues, until something quite unexpected happened. The two statues portraying royal guards near the thrones twitched. They began moving, looking at each other and then at the two alicorns.

The two guards got off their pedestals, cracking the marble floor as they landed onto it with loud thuds. Holding granite spears in their hooves, they marched out the throne hall, opening the front gates and turning left on the corridor. The two statue soldiers joined a row of other lifeless figures, all on their way towards the castle’s front court.

Princess Celestia rushed outside the throne room in pursuit of the statues, with Luna following her closely.

*** *** ***

Spike ran through the castle’s court gate, carrying a wounded pegasus in his arms. Several rows of soldiers galloped in his wake, all volunteers that stayed to defend the castle. They all fell back behind the thin rows of elite royal guards, catching their breath and preparing for their last stand.

“Thanks, Spike,” the pegasus mare in his arms said as he placed her on the ground.

“It was still stupid of you to be there anyway, Rainbow, especially with that wing like that. What were- what were you even thinking?” He asked, coughing clouds of dark smoke and ash.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m just-” A stronger coughing fit overtook him, and he started spitting more and more smoke through his mouth and nostrils. “My fire . . . I can’t breathe fire anymore, I’m spent.”

“Wrong place to be then, dragon,” one guard said, turning to them. “I suggest you and your friend get out of here, the entrance to the crystal caverns beneath the castle has been sealed.”

“Then why are you still here?” Spike asked, trying to clear his throat.

“We stand by the Princesses. It is our sacred oath.”

“Prepare your ranks!” an officer shouted, standing before them, readying his shield and spear. The rows of stallions behind him lowered their spears as well, forming a long wall of shields in the castle’s court.

A murmur from above got louder and louder, urging the guards to raise their heads towards the sky. Swirls of pure-white energy circled above the entire castle, forming a wide area of light. From that magic-infused cumulus, numerous columns of light shot into the castle building, the air around buzzing with magic.

“What in Celestia’s name?”

The rows of elite guards stared at the skies above, their eyes wide in utter amazement. Spike spotted a familiar figure floating in the air at a balcony facing the outer court, and his jaw dropped, joining Dash’s.

“Is that-”

“Yeah, it’s Twilight alright,” the dragon concluded as he stared at the unicorn above them. Her purple mane and tail waved violently in the swirl of energy circling her, and her body hovered above the balcony’s floor, eyes bleeding a bright light.

“Sir, that statue is moving!” a stallion yelled, backing away from one of the large monuments guarding the castle’s entrance.

“Stand your ground, I think they’re friendly!” the officer ordered, eyes darting from the two large guard sculptures to the enemy troops that had halted their advance for the time being.

The castle’s main doors burst open, and two endless rows of animated statues marched out, spreading themselves in a defensive line in front of the already established rows of elite guards.

“We’re not alone, boys! Prepare yourselves!” the guard commander shouted at his troops, resuming his battle stance. In front of them, the fearsome changeling army started approaching them again, as the light from the spell began to fade away. From the aerial chunk of their armada, a particularly larger-than-average silhouette emerged, hovering in the air near the front lines.

“How much I admire you devotion,” she spoke, her voice instantly recognized by many that had heard it years ago at the Royal Wedding. “This time, however, none will be spared. My swarm shall rule over your northern lands, enslave your precious ponies-”

“Queen Chrysalis!” an unexpected voice echoed through the air saturated with heavy sounds of insect wings and hisses.

A powerful blast of magic hit the changeling Queen, sending her into the ground. As she regained her bearings, an alicorn landed next to her, wearing a battle armor that matched her pink and purple mane.

“How dare you come back here? How dare you harm these ponies again?” Cadence angrily asked the changeling queen, her eyes filled with a fury uncanny for the Princess of Love.

“If it isn’t Princess Cadence. Long time, no see? Your dear husband told me to say hello-”

Another magic blast, much more powerful, sent Chrysalis into one of the castle’s ground floor windows. Cadence looked at the rows of statues and elite guards behind them, and the stallions nodded at her, grinning underneath their helmets.

“Go on, Princess. We can handle her precious swarm!”

With a powerful flap of the wings, Cadence flew into the castle through the broken window. The sounds of magic bolts and explosions resounded shortly from within, with green and pink flashes glowing through the window.

The attack on their queen enraged the changelings, which charged at the rows of statues and ponies. The first wave clashed with the life-infused sculptures and their shields, filling the air with the sound of broken insect bodies and cartilages. The rows of guards behind them picked off the soldiers that managed to sneak through, slaying them with merciless strikes of their long spears. Behind them, a group of unicorn guards combined their powers, as tendrils of various-colored magic swirled near them. A dark cloud formed above the castle, spurred by the unicorns’ spell. Deafening bolts of lightning struck from the summoned cloud, felling hundreds of fliers at a time as the deadly rods jolted from one to another. The two large statues that used to ornate the castle main entrance now wreaked havoc among the groups of enemies, using their gigantic swords to send them flying in heaps of broken bones and cartilage.

“Dash, we need to get to Twilight!” Spike told the pegasus, pointing at a group of gryphons landing onto the higher balconies.

Both friends rushed inside, just in time to avoid a barrage of green bolts coming from the changelings. The attacks chipped and cracked the frontline statues, and the elite guards filled in the voids in the defense. The ground trembled under their hooves. A couple of siege-changelings stomped their massive feet towards the castle, their chitin shells glistering in the dawning sun.

*** *** ***

The alicorn crashed into a large shelf of books, filling the room with torn pages and dust. She quickly recovered, sending several bolts of magic through the dust-filled air.

“You cannot defeat the swarm,” an ominous voice reached Cadence’s ears. “Your precious little crystal kingdom shall be devoured by my hatchlings.”

The alicorn darted her head around, trying to locate the queen in the devastated library wing. An evil laughter echoed around the room, making Cadence shiver in fright as memories of a large, dark crystal cave filled her mind.

“He fought so bravely, so passionately . . .” the voice continued, “and all for naught.”

Tears started falling down Cadence’s face. Her entire resolve snapped, and a bright beam of magic erupted from her horn, tearing through the bookshelves that were still standing.

“Shut up! Just shut up already!” she screamed.

The corner of eye caught a fleeting shadow. It pranced upon her, knocking the alicorn to the ground. Her armor, although battered and damaged from the previous attacks, still protected its wearer from the impact. Chrysalis however managed to pin down Cadence, binding her hooves to the floor with her powerful magic.

“His love for you . . . for your offspring; It’s what made the victory so easy for my swarm back at Tartarus. And that same love you share is what ended you today,” the queen hissed, her forked tongue dancing inches away from Cadence’s face as she spoke.

Cadence’s eyes fell on the changeling’s face, noticing a fresh scar underneath her jaw. She instantly felt the magic residue left in the injury.

“You ran,” the princess spoke, staring Chrysalis in the eyes. The queen’s pupils immediately shrunk, her face turning into an angry frown.

“What did you say?”

“You fell back,” Cadence grunted, struggling from the queen’s grip. “Tartarus didn’t fall into your hooves, that’s why there are no monsters and daemons with your armies. He did that to you.”

“Silence, scum!” she commanded.

The changeling queen’s magic faltered for a moment, the anger brought by the accusations clouding her already dark mind. It was all that Cadence needed.

“My husband is not dead!”

Chrysalis froze and her body tensed up, as the very last breath stuck in her throat. The large, transparent wings on her back twitched a couple of times, as her eyes fell down between her body and Cadence’s.

“And you will never hurt him or me ever again, Chrysalis.”

The green magic holding Cadence’s hooves dissipated away, and the changeling queen fell to the floor near the alicorn. Cadence stared at her, eyes fixed on the small dagger stuck in the insect’s heart. She would have to remind herself to thank Celestia for insisting on her wearing the battle armor and saddlebag.

Outside, the air filled with the cries of thousands of changelings that lost the link with their queen. Their screams brought chills to the very bones of anyone that was still there to hear them. Luckily, the life-infused stone guardians had no such fears.

Each of the two house-sized statues clashed with the enraged siege-bugs, battling for each step forward or backward. Around them, the changeling ground troops swarmed forth, crashing against the last standing guards like violent waves against a rocky coast. The sizeable number of fliers descended from the skies, blanketing entire neighborhoods around the castle.

Overlooking the battlefield from one of the castle’s balcony, Twilight pushed herself and her abilities to the maximum. Around her, the marble floor was eroded in a sphere pattern, as powerful waves of Lifebringer magic swirled around their caster. The shields she was desperately summoning to protect the couple hundred guards were everything that gave them a fighting chance against the tens of thousands of changelings besieging the castle.

“Twilight!” Celestia’s voice came from the balcony’s entrance.

“Sister, no!” Luna shrieked, pulling the white alicorn back just in time.

The tip of Celestia’s ever-floating mane was dissolved by the magic field surging around Twilight, its swirl sucking the very energy from around the caster regardless of the origin.

“It is too dangerous to touch her! She cannot even heed our calls, her focus is too strong.”

The two alicorns couldn’t even hear the pawsteps coming from further down the corridor. “Princess Luna! What an honor to finally meet you. I see your sister has returned from her little self-exile, hasn’t she?”

The leading gryphon general smirked behind his scar-riddled face, several other soldiers standing behind him, weapons pointed at the alicorns.

“I’m afraid this diplomatic meeting of ours will need to be cut short. You see, I have my orders,” he said, unsheathing his sword.

“So we were your goal this entire time?” Luna snarled at the gryphon.

“Well yes,” he admitted with a laugh. “You were the leading figures standing between us and the takeover of the dragon lands. And I’m afraid king Arnost doesn’t like it when someone interferes with his plans.”

“All those deaths, just because of one gryphon’s greed for land?” Luna shouted, taking a step towards them.

“Tis’ war, princess,” the general pouted, mockingly. The gryphon then moved towards the two sisters, his eyes narrowing on them.

Celestia summoned a magical barrier between them with the little power she had left. “Sister, no! We cannot harm them.”

Luna gritted her teeth in frustration, backing away as the gryphons started smashing their weapons against the protection spell.

“What about Twilight?” the younger alicorn asked as they turned onto a corridor, returning into the throne hall.

“They won’t be able to touch her even if they wanted. The magic around her is too dangerous,” Celestia said as she closed the massive doors behind them.

“And what are we to do now? Wait here as they tear down the doors?”

Noises of chaos and fights echoed through the throne hall, the room itself resting in an eerie calm. Celestia looked around, her eyes seeing beyond what there was to be seen.

“The castle’s surrounded and the enemy is already inside. There is nowhere else to go, dearest sister.” The doors shook violently, as a series of bashes put the hard wood to test.

“I can probably cast one shield spell, Celly,” the younger alicorn said, hesitantly. “My magic is as low as yours at this point.”

Splinters flew from the wooden doors. The entrance rattled, blasted by several magic attacks. With one last explosion, the doors scattered in pieces, littering the throne hall.

Luna narrowed her eyes at the figure coming out of the smoke. “You . . . how could you do this to your own ponies.”

“They were never my ponies, Princess,” Trixie said, performing a quick, mocking bow in front of the two alicorns.

She wore a combat armor similar to the ones belonging to the gryphons behind her. They were all embroiled with the royal markings of the Razor Claw clan. “All your subjects ever did was to shun and ridicule me and my performances. Especially your little student, Twilight; she’s currently too busy defending this place to even know we’re here. Rest assured, I will pay her a visit right away.”

“Don’t you dare harm her, Trixie Lulamoon!” Celestia boomed, stepping forward.

“I’m afraid that’s not up to you,” the unicorn said sternly. She then turned around, making her way out the throne hall. “I’ll leave you to it, gentlegriffins. I believe my job here is done.”

Without saying anything else, Trixie disappeared around a castle’s corridor, heading towards the place where the Princesses had last seen Twilight. In the meantime, the group of gryphons grew in size, slowly advancing towards the two alicorns. Celestia and Luna backed away slowly, remaining close to each other. Their steps echoed with fear, even if their eyes seemed to inspire bravery.

“It’s alright Lulu . . . we’ll be Ascended by the time this day ends, and our kingdom shall move on, even without us here,” Celestia spoke calmly as they reached the back of the hall, their exits all covered. In her mind, she already came to terms with the fate that awaited them, knowing very well they will be watching over their ponies from omniscience. That last through gave her a hint of closure.

The tension broke however, as a loud roar erupted from the hall’s entrance. Celestia could only see a large green and purple figure tearing through the gryphon soldiers, and instantly recognized it as Spike.

The dragon grabbed at the nearest attacker, breaking his neck with a swift move. A smaller figure jumped from behind him, screaming as she plunged her hoof blade into another gryphon’s chest, cyan feathers flying about. Before they could even turn around to face the mad dragon and pegasus, bright flashes erupted through the throne room.

Spears plunged into the gryphon warriors, a chaotic fight breaking out. Behind those spears, the battered, wounded but relentless elite royal guards were spurred by the knowledge that their Princesses were still safe and that they have made it in time. Cadence appeared as well amidst the hectic skirmish, helping other by shielding them from any projectiles coming from griffin muskets.

The last Equestrian forces in Canterlot danced a bloody tango in the throne room that evening, and the commotion coming from outside the castle only told them that dance could be their very last.

*** *** ***

The last of the two giant statues collapsed into rubble, its granite sword embedded into a siege changeling. It had taken hundreds of magic bolts from the swarm before finally succumbing. The castle’s entrance was now held by only a handful of cracked statues, as the rest littered the courtyard.

Twilight watched in awe from the balcony as the never-ending waves of changelings continued to besiege the castle. Having finally admitted defeat in front of an insurmountable force, she turned to enter the castle, but was met with a pony she would have never thought to see ever again.

“Trixie.”

“Twilight.”

The two mares stared at each other, and as Twilight was just about to try and convince her to not go through with this, the blue unicorn’s horn lit up.

“Draw!”

Bolts started flying, and the two unicorns engaged into a decisive magic duel. The uncontrolled armies of the Changeling Hives ran rampant just outisde as they exchanged spell after spell.

Twilight raised a thick shield to block a barrage of pink projectiles that each exploded into sparks on contact. “Why did you do this, Trixie? Just because of a failed performance in Ponyville all those years ago?”

“Just a performance? Hah! Neigh, Twilight Sparkle, not just because of a performance. I’ve done it because they were the ones to truly value my talent! The gryphons accepted me, took me among their elite society and appreciated my work!” she said, launching a more powerful blast that shattered Twilight’s shields into pieces.

In turn, she responded by absorbing the entire attack with a magic buffer and returning it back tenfold, sending Trixie flying through a balcony’s glass. As the fight moved inside, the betraying mare made walls’ bricks come off as she sent them one by one flying towards Twilight. She managed to evade or deflect all of them as an energy wave erupted from her horn.

After the purple flash, the entire world turned upside down for the two duelers. Twilight landed safely on the ceiling, while Trixie fell into a messy heap. She quickly scrambled up her hooves, visibly disoriented by the gravity shift spell. Her attacks became weaker and weaker from that point, and she was stepping back on the ceiling’s surface, unable to stop Twilight’s advance.

Just as Trixie caught hold of a chandelier with her magic, another purple flash filled the hallway, reverting the previously cast spell. Both mares landed on their hooves that time with the help of their magic, and the duel carried on.

“Was it all worth it, Trixie? All the lives lost because of your selfishness?” Twilight shouted, her entire magic reserve almost depleted.

“Yes it was! You have absolutely no idea.”

Trixie tugged at the long hallway carpet underneath her opponent’s hooves, and combined with a powerful magic air blast, she sent Twilight flying further down the hallway. The attack was followed by several bolts that erupted into deafening firework explosions, the resulting sparks lighting up everything flammable around them.

Twilight clutched at her hoof. It radiated with agonizing pain, keeping her on the floor. “Trixie, don’t do this,” she pleaded, slowly crawling back as the blue mare approached.

“Too late for that, Twilight Sparkle.”

Her horn glowed, readying another attack. Twilight closed her eyes, wincing in painful regret. An electrifying sound echoed along the hallway, after which a morbid silence settled in swiftly. Twilight stifled a sob as she opened her eyes, her horn smoking from her last spell. In front of her Trixie stood motionless, completely petrified head to hoof. Her defiant grin remained plastered for eternity on her now gray face, and Twilight couldn’t take her eyes off her as a tear fell down her face.

The unicorn simply stood on the floor next to the statue that Trixie had become. Her lone tears fell on the floor. She couldn’t feel any signs of life nearby. Trixie was dead, her body trapped in a stone coffin of itself.

The air around became colder, drowning the flames that started engulfing the castle corridor. Twilight immediately felt something was terribly wrong.

The cries and hisses of the swarm outside were bone-chilling. The last of the animated statues were defeated, and the changelings were flooding the castle’s main gates, a ghostly last order from their queen embedded in their minds.

As the cold wave of air swept the entire area around the castle, the insects paid no attention to it. Dark, whispering smoke trails started rising from the ground, and only then the mindless creatures felt something was not good.

A loud, sharp cry filled the air, as a dark phantom shot out from the center of the castle yard. The mist jutted violently around, eventually rolling up into the shape of a terrifying stallion. He raised his head, eyes filled with nothing but shadow. His entire black armor was bleeding trails of ever darker smoke. Cold air expelled from his nostrils, capturing the water in the air and turning it into ice crystals all around him. The Deathbearer had returned from the Afterlife’s doorstep.

He let out a guttural cry fueled by nothing but blind rage. The changelings nearest to him turned to dust as a wave of magic erupted from the tip of his horn. The rest of the insects didn’t take too kindly of the unexpected guest, charging him from all possible sides.

The air went out and the ground started trembling beneath their hooves.

An axe jutted from the ground somewhere in the court, held tightly in a cold hand. Dirt flew about as a minotaur crawled his way out from the ground. Nearby, a pair of sharp claws grabbed at a changeling’s hoof, pulling it under as the gryphon lifted himself up from the earth beneath. His eyes were empty and the soul was unwilling; but the Deathbearer had his orders.

In the middle of it all, Blink continued to fight the changelings with uncanny strength and power. His horn erupted in waves of energy as he dropped the enemies one by one. No one could even get close to him without losing its soul. More and more living dead raised from the ground to fight under his command. The gryphons and minotaurs did exactly as they were bid, slashing and smashing the changelings with their weapons or bare claws.

Green bolts flew everywhere, most of them striking the dead. All for naught. With their wills bent by the dark powers of the Deathbearer, they stopped at nothing as they tore apart the invaders with ruthless efficiency. It was the only purpose they still had in that world, as they would not know rest otherwise.

A changeling flew straight at Blink, its teeth sinking deep into his neck piece. The thick hydra leather kept him protected, and he levitated the attacker off of him, snapping his fangs off. Holding him in the air, Blink cast his most morbid of spells again. The changeling shrieked with all its might as its body was turned to nothing but mere dust.

Blink calmly gazed upon the castle, while the battle raged on around him. He pointed his hoof at two gryphons nearby, and all three of them disappeared in a heap of smoke.

*** *** ***

Blood stained the throne hall’s floor, its potent and defiling smell filling the nostrils of those that still had a beating heart. Fallen royal guards and gryphons stood testimony to the fearsome clash that eventually came to an unresolved state.

On one side, several gryphons, including their general. On the other, three Princesses surrounded by several heavily armored guards. A dragon laid injured on the floor next to a bleeding pegasus. He had dragged the unconscious mare to the edge of the room, protecting her with his last strength.

“Give it up already. Your brethren lie dead around you, while your immortal leaders scour away behind your shields,” the general addressed the last standing guard. ”Leave this room now, and you will get amnesty . . . at least from my gryphons.”

The guards spoke no words. Their shields stood up and their spears remained lowered at the enemy in front of them. A gryphon rushed into the hall and went straight to the general himself, relaying a message into his ear. “You saw what?! That’s impossible.”

From the shadows of the pillars nearby stepped out two gryphons and a stallion. Spike stared at the shadowy pony, recognizing him instantly. Luna felt the dark magic she too once bared flowing through the stallion’s veins. The one bringing news to the general turned to flee as soon as he saw the three figures. A blue aura surrounded him, then pinned his body against the wall.

The two undead gryphons moved towards their still-living comrades. Before they could react, the cursed souls had slashed the necks of two of them with their sharp claws. “What is the meaning of this?” the general yelled while backing off, the rest of the griffin behind him. “Stand down right this moment!”

The dead ones had no ears for him. When they got closer to the group, a few gryphons stuck their blades and spears into one of them, while another discharged his musket at the second gryphon. Their faces were immediately filled with dread, as the two pale soldiers remained on their paws.

One of them worked his jaw, his pierced beak opening up and spitting the bullet on the floor. The other one wrapped a claw around a spear and broke it off, pulling the end from his shoulder. With the other claw, he held onto the blade stuck in his chest and slowly took it out from his cold corpse.

“You made a big mistake coming here,” Blink spoke as he calmly approached them. Inside however, his rage and thirst for death was hardly contained. Using the storm of dark magic that flowed through him, he lifted all the remaining gryphons near the general in the air.

Their gruesome cries filled the throne room, but lasted only a few moments, as their bodies were swiftly torn apart molecule by molecule. In their wake they left behind only a fine red dust.

“You won’t be so lucky,” he said, grabbing the general in his telekinetic grip.

“You wretched daemon!” the gryphon muttered, struggling against his magic.

Blink’s magic aura enveloped the general for a second, then dissipated completely. The gryphon started shaking violently, and the stallion dropped him on the floor. His eyes rolled in the back of his head as the convulsions continued. His skin darkened and his feathers started falling off, as Blink continued to stare at the agonized gryphon, no trace of mercy on his face.

While the general’s soul continued the gruesome struggle to leave his already dead body, the unicorn turned to the last gryphon in the room, the messenger pinned to the wall by his magic.

“I want king Arnost to know everything that happened here today.”

The soldier’s heart was racing with fear, his eyes darting from the dark-shrouded stallion to his tormented general. Eventually, he shook his head, speaking no other words. The magic grip gave way and he flew out the throne room through one of the broken windows.

“That was that,” Blink muttered, finally letting go of the dark powers that he’d summoned earlier in the Antechamber. With all the Deathbearer magic leaving his body, he fell down against the floor, unable to keep himself up. The two undead gryphons shriveled up, their skin eroding off until there were only bones left. They too eventually turned to dust, their souls now free to resume their last walk.

Blink’s mind was clouded and everything felt fuzzy and painful. He began to feel the burns on his body from the hydra armor, as well as the broken ribs and other injuries. The effects of the drugs he received earlier that day did not survive through the recent surge of magic. He was welcomed back to the crude reality of his mortal shell, but his mind was not ready for it yet.

He slipped away out of consciousness and fell into a deep, troubled dream. Between closing eyelids, he saw a familiar face standing in the throne hall’s entrance, wearing a white armor, her purple mane flowing freely over it.

End of Chapter 28

Author's Note

The battle is not entirely over yet.

Also, a small spoiler: there are 2 more chapters left in the story. After over 2 years, this monstrosity of a fanfic is almost over!

Chapter 29: The Last Walk

Chapter 29

The Last Walk

Bone-chilling roars filled the skies across Canterlot as the night began settling across the desolated capital. The remaining changelings fled the city despite the fact that the minotaurs and gryphons brought back to life had turned to ashes in the middle of the fight. Large shadows moved across the city buildings as sparks and flames brought light to the emptied streets underneath.

Inside the castle, Spike dragged himself to the edge of the room near a large broken window. Luna had rushed to Blink immediately after he collapsed on the floor, while Celestia and Cadence tended to the nearest injured ponies. Spike refused any help, insisting on Celestia taking care of Dash and the rest first.

The dragon’s leg was cut, and blood was pouring through the punctured scales, but he knew very well he would make it. He gazed outside wide-eyed; the light coming from the flames illuminated the dim hall through the stained windows that were still in one piece.

He looked behind him. Twilight was leaning over Blink, working with Luna and the very little magic they had left to treat his wounds. Upon realising he was not in dire condition, Luna left the stallion’s side to help those who needed her magic more, leaving Twilight alone with him.

Spike felt immensely worn-out and light headed, his entire body screaming from all joints. “Guys . . . there are dragons outside,” he announced, but his tired voice failed to notify the busy healers. Spike gazed back out the broken window, as the burning spectacle unfolded in front of his eyes.

Several dragons -all of whom at least a couple of times larger than himself- flew across the capital, burning and ripping apart what was left of the changeling soldiers. Their fire bolts engulfed entire groups at a time, leaving only ashes in their wake.

Spike stepped behind as he noticed something approaching. Another dragon burst through one of the few intact stained windows, sending glass shards everywhere. It only took Spike a moment to recognize the dragon.

“Spike!”

“Ruby? What are you doing here?”

Before he could say anything else, the dragoness approached the armored dragon and slapped him across the head so hard his helmet broke off. She then immediately proceeded to wrap her hands around his neck, holding him tight.

“What . . . what was that for?” he asked, sitting back down on the floor, dazed from the slap.

“Are you hurt? Tell me,” she asked flatly.

“I’m fine. Just . . . my leg’s a bit messed up. And my entire body hurts. Not to mention my face,” he spoke while Ruby inspected him, removing armor as she saw fit.

“You seem safe,” she stated. Letting go of him, Spike fell on his back on the marble floor. Ruby then got up and made her way towards Celestia.

“She means no harm,” the alicorn told a couple of guards that had got in between them. They retreated to their wounded comrades, while Ruby took a deep bow.

“Your majesty, it’s an honor to meet you. My name is Blood Eyes, I’m the nice of the great Old One, head of the dragon council and master of our sacred lands.“

“I know Draco very well, Blood Eyes. I partook in the ceremony where he was named head of the dragon council, many centuries ago. You must be the one called Ruby, am I right?”

“Yes, your majesty. I would like to apologize for trespassing on your territory with a contingent of soldiers, but I requested help from my grandfather after Spike rejected his invitation to have me on his lands.”

“I’m sure he only meant you to be safe.”

Ruby nodded in approval. “We are thankful that you stood by our pact. The message Princess Luna sent us arrived in time, but the council usually takes a while to make such decisions. I apologize for the delay.”

“It’s amazing to see dragons intervening so fast in a situation like this. We owe you our lives, Blood Eyes. Thank you. I’m afraid I’m going to be busy, however. We will discuss later,” Celestia said, lowering her head in gratitude before returning to the injured pegasus.

The red dragon bowed again as well, then returned to the only other dragon in the throne room. As she walked, her eyes followed the pools of blood and soldier corpses all around the marble floor. She settled down near Spike, pulling a satchel from around her back and opening it up.

“Are you upset with me? For sending you home?” Spike asked timidly.

Ruby held his leg, opening up the scales around his wound with her claws. She reached for a stack of moist herbs in her satchel and pressed them against the deep cut.

“So you’re not going to talk to me now? You know very well why I told you to leave. I didn’t want you near this place at all. It wasn’t your fight.”

“I know why you did it. But that doesn’t mean I’m not supposed to be angry. You only banish another dragon if he becomes your enemy,” she said, tightening a bandage around his leg with quite some force.

“Ouch! But- but you wouldn’t leave!”

“And you wouldn’t listen.”

“There was nothing to listen to.”

She continued to finish dressing his wound, sitting silent while Spike enjoyed the spectacle outside. Through the broken windows, he could see the large dragons chasing down the remaining changelings, their hot flames lighting up the late evening’s sky.

“That glass painting was of me when I saved the crystal heart,” Spike said, somewhat upset.

Ruby raised her eyes at the broken window she had gone through, recognizing his tail and spikes in the pieces of glass still clinging to the frame. “I’m sorry for that.”

“You don’t need to . . . it was just a piece of glass.”

“But that was your legacy. Don’t you value that?” Ruby asked, seemingly surprised.

“I value my friends and the memories I have with them. That’s what matters for me most.”

He looked behind him, his heart dropping at the sight of two of his best friends lying unconscious on the floor among the dead. Spike got up and dragged himself towards Twilight, who now had both Dash and Blink under her observation. Ruby offered to help him walk but the drake politely refused.

“Twi, are you all right?”

The mare raised her head, ears peeking at the familiar, warm voice. Twilight said nothing as she jumped at the dragon’s neck, a couple of sobs escaping here and there.

“Spike, I was so worried.”

“I was too. Are the others okay? Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy?”

“I- I guess so. Applejack and Fluttershy found Big Mac at the auditorium when the remaining soldiers retreated. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were there as well.”

Spike pointed at the two ponies on the floor as Twilight let go of his neck. “Are they all right?”

“I’ve managed to stop Dash’s bleeding. I had a bit of magic left so I closed her wound and sterilized the area with it. She’s out because of a concussion, but she’s stable.”

“What about Blink?”

Twilight turned her gaze towards the black armored stallion lying on the floor. His hydra leather helm was torn open, revealing his battered head. There was more hardened blood than blue fur on his face, and his breathing was slow and shallow.

“He’s not doing too well . . .” A deep sigh trailed off from her as she cast another quick spell on the stallion. “He’s breathing hard and I can barely detect any magic in him at all. He needs medical attention, fast.”

Across the throne hall, a burst of light spilled a heap of sparks around, as a unicorn teleported in near the Princess of the Night. “Princess Luna, we’ve contacted our troops and the rest of the ponies that left through the tunnels. They’re all coming back and Cloudsdale is also returning at full speed.”

Luna shot him a look filled with nothing but confusion. “They’re coming back? The battle rages on and thine enemy is still within our walls!”

“Your majesty, the reinforcements are here. First and Second armies, save for most of the air corps, are entering the city as we speak.”

While the unicorn spoke, more and more ponies teleported inside the hall, a mixt of medics and soldiers alike. Cadence left the throne room in a rush, as the wounded in her care were taken over by several other medics.

“Could you help him, please? He’s barely stable and I don’t know what I can do to help him!” Twilight asked a couple of unicorns as they approached the two ponies on the floor near her.

One of them began tending to Blink while another checked up the pegasus mare lying next to him. He held the soft underside of his hoof to Rainbow’s neck, taking her pulse. “Her heart rate is elevated, but stable. I assume you closed up her stab wound?” the medic pony asked, looking at Twilight. “She is bleeding internally, we need to get her to a hospital.”

“But the city is empty, there is no one to tend to them,” Celestia spoke as she approached them.

“Your majesty, we evacuated civilians, soldiers and wounded, but there was a group of medics back at Hoofton Coltboro that stayed to take care of the patients that couldn’t be moved. As the ponies we evacuated return into the city, the hospital will get more nurses and doctors, but her condition can’t wait.”

“All right then, do as you think is best.”

“He’s not doing too well either,” the other medic spoke as he examined Blink. “It’s a miracle he’s still alive. We need to get him on life support as soon as possible,” he urged, signaling a couple of other field medics to come over and help.

They moved the two ponies onto gurneys and they both joined a row of injured guards as they were floated out of the throne hall, the medics flanked by dozens of soldiers.

*** *** ***

Cadence flew across the city, rushing towards the broken city entrance. The dragons hunting changelings just minutes before were now chasing the rest out of the city, their flame bolts brightening the settling night sky. The capital itself was riddled with fires in different areas, most near the entrance of the city and royal castle, where the heaviest battles took place.

The young alicorn spotted a sizeable group of Equestrian soldiers galloping through the main street, making their way towards the capital’s center. She landed nearby, and a few surrounded her, their weapons readied.

“Don’t make a move, changeling!” an officer hissed, his spear pointed at Cadence’s face. “Nice try, but you’re not getting away that easily.”

The alicorn backed away, but found out there was nowhere for her to go. “What? I’m not a changeling! I come from the royal castle. I’m searching for my husband!”

There was some commotion outside the circle of soldiers surrounding the princess. One of them was shoved away as a few stallions wearing different crests on their armors stepped towards the alicorn.

“Hey! What’s the big deal?” the officer shouted at the three ponies that stood between the supposed changeling and his soldiers. His horn lit up to shed some light on those that interrupted him, but his face fell when he realized half of the first one’s head was missing entirely under his crushed helmet. “What- what in Celestia’s name are you? More changelings?”

“No!” Cadence shouted back. “They are Crystal Guardians, and they’ve come to protect their ruler.”

The ponies bearing marks of the Crystal Empire stood unfazed in front of the spears pointed at Cadence. Their armors were battered or missing entirely, and parts of their bodies were also gone. Their hard crystal forms glistered in the light cast by the unicorn officer, drawing looks of amazement from the soldiers under his command.

“Are you . . . the only ones left?” Celestia asked the nearest to her. A firm nod was all she got as a response.

“Get away, move! I said move!”

Two Equestrian soldiers were forced to the side, revealing a white unicorn stallion. “This can’t be . . . Cadence?” his voice dimmed, emotions catching up in his throat.

The alicorn’s eyes sparked and her heart swelled with insurmountable joy. “Shining! It’s- it’s really you!” He rushed towards her, and she grabbed him in a tight hug while tears streamed down her face. “How could you leave me? How could you leave us? What would Emerald and I have done without you?”

“I did it for you and him. To keep you as safe as I could.”

Her tears never stopped as she looked her beloved husband in the eyes. “You could have kept us safe here. Promise me you’ll never do this again.”

“I promise. I’m so, so sorry . . .”

“Sir, I know you’re eager to see your wife, but she just came here out of nowhere, and there are a lot of changelings still around-”

“It’s her,” he told the officer while holding her. He then noticed the three crystal soldiers standing next to Cadence. “I see that the Crystal Guardians made it in time.”

Her eyes widened. “How do you know about them?”

“We ran into the regiment on our way to Tartarus. When I noticed they weren’t talking at all, I remembered the story you told me about from when you were a filly; the one Princess Celestia used to read you with the ancient Crystal Guardians below your empire.”

Cadence hugged him again tightly. “You didn’t forget.”

“I didn’t.” The two began walking down the street, flanked by the three crystal guardians and the rest of the equestrian soldiers. “Is Emerald safe?”

“Yes. He’s with your parents in Cloudsdale. How did you make it alive at Tartarus? We were told your entire unit was lost defending that prison.”

“Not everyone. Only a few of us made it. We had to retreat inside the mountain but to our luck the inner gates were still closed. The changelings left afterwards. They were probably behind the rest of their army. Your aunt is going to have my head for what I did.”

“Don’t think about that. I’m just glad you’re safe,” Cadence re-assured him.

“Sir, there are no signs of changelings, and those dragons are now going to the royal castle. They seem non-hostile, what do we do?” a subordinate intervened.

“Divide the regiments. Half of them set up camp outside the walls, the rest begin helping the injured and sweep the city for enemies. Send a couple of battalions to the castle as well.”

The soldiers moved out, while groups of unicorns teleported out to spread the orders to the armies. Shining Armor, Cadence, and the ponies that remained headed towards the castle. The fires across the city lit up the murky clouds above as the smell of death settled amongst the deserted capital.

Across the city, the only public building still operating was tethering at the edge of chaos. Tens of injured ponies flooded the entrances to the hospital, limping inside alone or carried on gurneys as they fought to stay alive. The staff was overwhelmed. Every few minutes, a nurse or a doctor would arrive from the thousands that evacuated Canterlot earlier that day, but with them came even more injured. The atmosphere was grim and screams of pain echoed across the hospital’s hallways as the few doctors struggled to save as many as they could.

Nurse Redheart entered the hospital, squeezing alongside a stretcher with an unconscious stallion on it. Silver Wisp had gone through surgery at the Auditorium’s makeshift field hospital, and was evacuated with the rest of the ponies when the dragons reached the city. Soon after, the Equestrian armies arrived in the city as well, and the order to return in the capital was made.

The First Officer of ‘Celestia’s Pearl’ was still sedated, and Redheart never left his side after he was operated on. The hospital reception was overwhelmed, and medics were bouncing from case to case as they triaged the wounded. One such medic approached the nurse as the two stallions carrying his gurney placed him down in a corner of the room. “What about him?” he asked, quickly checking him up.

“Severe head trauma and several shrapnel wounds. All patched up, skull drilled to release the pressure; stable ever since,” a pony that was carrying his gurney said before leaving to help the others.

“Next of kin?” the medic asked the mare remaining next to Silver. “You’re a nurse, right?”

“Yes, I’m his marefriend . . . and yes, I’m a nurse-”

“Look, we need help here, we’re flooded with injured ponies and it will only get worse from here on out. I’ll put your coltfriend here in an ICU ward, but I’ll need you to help out in the ER, okay?”

Redheart nodded. At the doctor’s signal, a unicorn came and levitated Silver Wisp out of the reception area. “You can start right away- ahh Luna save us, what is it this time?”

A transport stretcher stormed through the hospital’s entrance, followed by several other. Soldiers and military doctors flanked them, as well as several prominent figures such as a white-armored unicorn and two dragons. A pony was straddling the first victim on his stretcher, performing chest compressions while a floating respirator pumped air into his lungs.

The medic talking to Redheart rushed towards them. “Critical?” he yelled as they trotted in.

“He’s non-responsive; we need to get him into surgery right away,” the pony that was performing CPR said. “There’s an internal bleeding right behind. She needs attention as well.”

“I'll see what I can get you. Take them into lab rooms three and four; all the other ORs are full.”

“I can’t let you through,” the medic told the unicorn and dragons behind the first stretchers. “Please wait outside, this place is already crowded as it is.”

“I can’t just leave! Please let me come with them; I need to know they’re okay,” Twilight pleaded, yet the doctor didn’t budge an inch.

“Look, I know you care about them, and by the looks of what you’re wearing and your two dragon friends here, they’re probably important ponies.” He then lowered his voice as he looked around him. “They’ll get the best medical treatment they can get in these conditions, but I need you to stay out of our doctors’ way, okay?”

Spike held the unicorn’s shoulders, eventually embracing her into a hug. “Twi’, we need to let them do their job. Come on, he’ll be fine. He’s always fine.”

Twilight’s tears fell down her face as she watched the two stretchers with Dash and Blink fade into the crowd of doctors and injured ponies. With Spike holding her, they left the reception, seeking a place to rest in the hospital’s court.

Inside lab room three, the transporter carrying Midnight Blink came to a halt in the middle of the chamber, while several doctors in coats prepared for the surgery. The one performing CPR got off of him and started hooking Blink up to monitors.

“Who is this fella? He wasn’t scheduled, was he?” a unicorn with dark green coat said as he levitated his sterile gown on.

“Must be an important one, haven’t seen that armor before,” another surgeon said while looking at the monitor. “Vitals are null, casting full life-support spell. Time’s fifteen past ten.”

His magic surrounded Blink as he laid lifeless on the table, only his face revealed by the helmet that was opened up.

“Roger that, Short Cut, keep the cycles to ten minutes, want to conserve our magic as much as we can.” The main surgeon then grabbed the black armor with his magic, trying to find the place where it was tied or attached. “What in the name of- does this thing not come off?”

“No time,” a third doctor muttered as he grabbed a large scalpel. “It’s made out of leather anyway.” After several attempts to cut the chest piece, he dropped the blade and focused on the armor. A concentrated beam of magic ran along its black surface, but it wasn’t leaving even a single mark on it.

“Damn thing’s tougher than anything I’ve ever seen. It’s magic-proof as well . . . what in Tartarus are we supposed to do?”

“Try cutting the stitches, they seem to be made out of . . . graphene thread? Who is this guy?” the surgeon asked as he looked at the stallion’s face.

“He’s definitely the Princesses’ personal guard or something. Okay, need some help with these stitches or we’ll lose him.”

“Full body scan as soon as we get this thing off of him.”

The doctors fumbled around Blink as they cut the bindings of the hydra armor as fast as they could. Eventually the whole ensemble came off, leaving the battered stallion on the table.

“Holy shit, this guy’s a corpse,” one doctor murmured as he scanned him.

“Nope, I feel his heart beating alongside my magic. He’s still with the living for now,” the doctor that kept the life-support spell said.

“Burns on the entire surface of the body, broken ribs, and pulled muscles and tendons.”

Another doctor performed a quick magic scan on his blood, his eyebrow rising at the results: “Blood has traces of a combat drug, morphine and other numbing substances.”

“Can barely sense any magic in him,” another joined in on the diagnosis. “If it weren’t for the horn, I’d say he was an earth pony. Feeling some residue from a total surface anesthesia spell as well.”

“They must have trapped the poor bastard in that armor today. Boy, I hope he wasn’t awake for that one.”

“Okay gents, let’s focus on his burns first, then the broken bones, then magic receptors and nerves, and finally muscles and tendons. We’ll jump-start the heart when we know it can take the load.”

The doctors began the long and tedious process of treating the magic burns while keeping him on the life-support spell. In the next room, Rainbow Dash was leaving on a stretcher, her bleeding stopped and her vitals returned to stable.

As hours ticked by, the hospital endured waves after waves of casualties. One by one, the other hospitals in the capital opened their doors again. Medics, nurses and volunteers rushed to treat the wounded ponies as the night settled over Canterlot. Part of the Equestrian forces swept the city in search of any hostiles left behind, while the rest began search and rescue operations in the capital and on Struthill, retrieving injured or the many bodies left behind after the battles.

*** *** ***

Sunlight filtered through the saloon’s window, glistening against the metal shackles holding the occupant tied to her bed. The door slid open, revealing a thin, cyan pegasus. The mare stepped in, closing the door behind her with the one wing that wasn’t bandaged.

She approached the bed cautiously, yet firmly, her eyes never leaving the gryphon resting on the bed. The pegasus sat on the floor as she continued to stare at the recuperating flier. “Gilda . . .”

The gryphon raised her eyes as soon as she heard her old friend. They were stern and brimming with hate. Gilda jutted her claw, the metal binding rattling against the bedpost. “Rainbow Dash.”

“They found you last night at Struthill. You were barely alive.”

“You made it,” Gilda muttered, eyeing Dash. “How?”

“My pet tortoise flew in and grabbed me in time,” she responded flatly.

“Bullshit.”

Dash didn’t sketch any response. “As soon as you are stable, they’re going to send you and the other prisoners back to your continent.”

“So you won the battle and now you think you’re a hot shot? Even more than before, eh?”

“Why did you do this, Gilda?” Dash asked, ignoring her previous words. “Why did you come to Ponyville two years ago? Because of you, the one who stood up for me and another friend almost died.”

“So? He dared to touch me-”

“You threw him in a cage to fight for his life for your entertainment. Do you see us doing the same thing to your own?”

“I come to straighten things out between us and he almost kills me.”

“You know very well you attacked first. He was just protecting me.”

“We had fights bigger than that. What happened, Dash? Did you grow weaker surrounded only by ponies all these years? Afraid of a scuffle between old friends?”

Dash stood up from the floor. “No Gilda, I’m not. Because we are not friends anymore.” The pegasus sighed, turning towards the door. “I don’t think we ever were . . .”

She walked out of the room, leaving Gilda alone. There was no pang in her chest, no deep gap in her stomach. She did not felt sorry, sad, or mad. She felt all right.

As the pegasus left the guarded hospital wing, she stopped by a saloon, but didn’t go inside. Through the partially shut blind of the glass door, she saw her friend Twilight fallen asleep in a chair next to a bed. On it, a blue stallion’s chest moved slowly up and down. Dash let a smile crack her lips shortly, before moving on down the hospital’s hallway.

Inside the room she stood in front of, Twilight adjusted herself on the chair, the light coming through the window itching her eyes.

“Chaser . . . come on Chase’ don’t do this to me . . .”

Blink’s ear twitched in his sleep. The heart rate monitor beeped once, announcing an elevated threshold.

“You’ve barely got . . . any magic. Save it, bud.”

Everything was covered with dust and the beam was too heavy for him to lift.

“Shut up, Chaser. You’re bleeding inside, you need to stay quiet until I can get you to a medic . . .”

The cloudy image of his friend’s face faded away. Blink opened his eyes. A tear fell down his face, but was absorbed by the bandages covering nearly his entire body.

*** *** ***

Two stories down, in the hospital reception, Celestia was greeted with bows by several of the staff and guards.

“Please, right this way, your Highness,” a nurse said, leading the Princess to a private saloon. “You will be happy to know she’s got much better.”

“Was she safe during the battle yesterday?” Celestia asked as they turned left onto a secluded wing.

“She was evacuated initially with the rest of the permanent patients, and had medical attention at all times. When it was safe to come back into the city, she was brought here. She hasn’t talked to any of the doctors or nurses yet, I think she was waiting for you.”

The nurse pony led the alicorn inside a small, private room, promptly leaving her alone with the patient. Celestia approached the bed. For the first time in days, she was smiling. The young zebra’s ears perked up at the sound of the Princess’s hoofsteps, and she woke up from her nap. Her face immediately brightened up at the sight of the large, white pony that crossed the desert to save her life.

“I’m glad to see you’re well and safe, Early Shimmer,” Celestia said, leaning close to nuzzle the zebra gently.

In turn, she embraced the Princess without saying any words or hint of hesitation. After a few moments she let go. Celestia kept her smile while gently stroking the foal’s short mane.

“I . . . better?” she asked, struggling to remember words from a language she barely studied back in her village.

“Doctors say your illness has been cured. You will be returned to your village in a week’s time.”

“They . . . better?” the zebra asked again, that time with a hint of sadness in her voice.

Celestia returned a confused glare. “Who are they?”

“The ponies. Day past was big fight. Fire and loud sounds. Enemy tribe attack. Why?”

The Princess hesitated for a moment. “Because we couldn’t get along. As for my ponies . . . we lost many, but the rest are now safe. I’m sorry you were in danger yesterday. I promise you will get back to your village safe.”

“I feel . . . sad for loss,” she said, her eyes filled with genuine remorse.

Celestia embraced the young zebra, resting her head over her own. “I feel sad as well, Early Shimmer . . .”

*** *** ***

A large shadow swept down the broken road. Blink looked up as he limped across the street. The large dragon was carrying supplies to the troops stationed outside the capital. On the streets below him, ponies worked relentlessly as the salvage operation continued.

“You can’t be doin’ this! You need yer’ rest,” Pearl pleaded as he walked alongside the recuperating stallion.

“His name was not on the list. Means they didn’t find him yet, or somehow he made it out alive.”

“Give it a rest, Blink. Go back to Twilight; she needs you, and you need her.”

“She was resting. I, on the other hoof, have been sleeping for days.” The unicorn stopped to catch his breath. His body was aching and the pain meds and drugs were the only things keeping him up on his hooves.

“Yer’ all right?”

“I’m okay,” Blink said, stepping towards a large pile of rubble, a remnant of a former house. “We’re here. This is where it happened. Come help me out.”

He navigated through several mounds of debris, looking for the place where Chaser spoke his last words. He wished so badly that he wouldn’t find anyone there, that he would only find specs of blood and signs that the emergency teams dragged someone out from there.

The sight of a dusted hoof sticking out of the house’s remains pulverized all his hopes. He dragged his hooves to it, falling on his knees near the pile of rubble. His breath caught up in his chest. Amongst the wooden beams and brick pieces rested his best friend. Chaser’s dust-covered face was still and his eyes were closed, just like they were after he spoke for the last time.

A stern hoof grabbed Blink’s shoulder from behind. “I’m here for ya,” came Pearl’s surprisingly reassuring voice.

“He died because of me,” Blink muttered as he struggled to scrape off the layers of bricks and wood pieces from over Chaser’s body.

“Either of us could have died there,” another voice made itself heard from nearby. Spike stood behind them. His leg and midsection were covered in bandages, but otherwise he looked fine. “It’s not your fault, dude.”

Blink said nothing as he struggled to keep the very little composure he had left. The stallion carried on cleaning the mess around Chaser, and soon another pair of hooves and one of claws came to his help.

Minutes later, they removed Chaser’s body from the rubble. Spike carried it to the nearest of the tents set-up across the city, where the fallen ponies, zebras or buffalo were all gathered to be identified.

Blink remained silently near Chaser’s body which was placed on a body bag, while Pearl and Spike rested on the road in front of the tent, watching the rescue ponies bring more and more bodies.

“Is he okay?” Pearl asked, staring at Blink.

“I have no idea. When I visited him this morning, he was barely awake. Doctors said he shouldn’t even be able to be up so soon after the surgery. His skin was burned by that armor and his magic is toast.”

“I wouldn’t be here without him,” Pearl muttered, kicking a rock with his hoof. A couple of dragons flew above the buildings, carrying more supplies and provisions throughout the city. “They yer’ friends?”

“Ruby came with them. Now they’re helping out with the aftermath. Wait- is that Luna?”

His guess was confirmed when the flying alicorn landed nearby. She hurried towards the tent, where Blink was sitting on the ground. Luna sat next to him, and even though they couldn’t hear her, Spike and Pearl knew the Princess was crying.

*** *** ***

The following days found everyone in the same state of shock and mourning. Bodies stopped being found almost two days after the battle’s end, and the Equestrian armies remained on high alert throughout the rescue operations. Cloudsdale was anchored just above the mountain that guarded the capital, where most of the pegasi forces stationed themselves temporarily.

In the castle’s gardens, a few ponies and two dragons had gathered, some of them seeing each other for the first time since the gruesome events. Although they were all glad to be there together again, the sorrow and sadness brought by the ones that perished clouded the small reunion.

Fluttershy sat quietly near Big Mac, holding onto his hoof as if he would be gone the moment she would let go of him. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack were next to them, while Ruby and Spike quietly lamented nearby.

“It’s too bad Dash couldn’t make it today,” Rarity said, breaking a silence that had been settling for a while.

“Doctors said she will be able to come out of bed soon,” Fluttershy said meekly. Her eyes darted around and her wings flinched every now and then at every sound. The red stallion next to her would hold her tighter and whisper reassuring words into her ears. Everyone there knew the shy pegasus was the most troubled by what had happened, but they were all there for her.

“Is Twilight coming?” Pinkie Pie asked, her once curly mane now still and devoid of its usual lifeness.

“She’s trying to make Blink come out. He’s been staying in her old room at the castle ever since he left the hospital.”

“He’ll be fine. He’s got to come out eventually. Tomorrow the funeral ceremonies take place,” Spike said, submerged in his own sorrow.

Over at the castle, the stallion in question laid absently in bed, staring out the balcony window. The light was too bright and his eyes were sore from going out without protection a few days ago to retrieve Chaser’s body.

“Blink, you have to come out.”

The stallion shifted his gaze at Twilight, who was sitting on the side of the bed next to him. “I can’t.”

“You don’t want to. It’s a difference.”

“I can’t even use magic anymore. I don’t want to be outside right now.”

Silence settled in the room again. Blink shifted in bed, covering himself up even more with the sheets.

“The funerals are tomorrow. You won’t come to say goodbye?”

“He’s dead anyway. What will me standing next to his grave change?”

Twilight shuffled closer to him, resting a hoof on his shoulder. “You miss Star Chaser. I miss him too, we all do. Celestia told me Luna hasn’t talked to her as well in days. I know he was one of your best friends, but you still have a lot of other friends that are alive and need you right now. I need you right now, Blink.”

The stallion stood up, taking a moment to look into her eyes. He wrapped his hooves around her neck and held her tight. “I’m sorry, Twi’.” She returned the gesture, a stifled sob leaving her dried lips.

*** *** ***

The next day came all too soon. The early morning breeze fluttered the half-masted flags of the capital, as the mourning citizens left their homes to gather in the city center. Many streets and buildings were still marked by the brutal battles that took place no more than a few days ago, rubble piled up in mounds occasionally stained with blood of the fallen.

On some street corners and sidewalks rows of flowers and lit candles marked the places where the brave soldiers were found dead. Their framed pictures scattered the streets, as ponies carefully went around the homages in their walk towards the center. The constant reminder of those that had perished was present everywhere in the grieving city. All the bells across Canterlot started tolling, announcing the start of the ceremonies.

The skies were covered with dark clouds that echoed the sadness of the citizens below, but there would be no rainfall, as the pegasi made sure that day. The six mares from Ponyville and their friends stood quietly near the royal castle’s gates, over a mile away from where Celestia and Luna would lead the funeral column.

A black raven landed onto Blink’s shoulder as he silently stared in the distance. He absently brushed his pet bird with a hoof, his mind still mulling over the sight in front of him.

An endless column of coffins rested on the main road crossing the capital. A crowd of tens of thousands of ponies gathered on the streets around and behind them. Blink and the rest of his friends were among the first to follow the column of coffins. Next to them, Shining Armor and Cadence held their son, Emerald, close to them; the former Captain of the Royal Guard wore full military attire, as well as Spitfire and several other officers. Dark Shine stood nearby, dressed in a black robe Archmages wore specifically in mournful times like those.

None of the main group wore anything other than simple black markings or dresses, in Rarity’s case. Blink, Big Mac, Pearl, Spike and Ruby had no garments, only their bandages and scars, plus a black eye patch for the white captain. Several survivors from the zebra contingent were at the front of the column in the very armors they fought in days before. Little Strongheart struggled to hold her sobs to herself. Her father, Chief Thunderhooves, died at Struthill along most of the hundred buffalos that came to help the Equestrian army. Rainbow Dash would lean against her side every now and then, making sure she didn’t feel like she was alone through all that.

The bells continued to toll across the city when the coffins in front of them lit up in white and blue glows. One by one, they were lifted in the air, and slowly began floating down the road.

“Are the Princesses doing this alone?” Blink asked as the gathered ponies and minorities followed the funeral cortege.

“Yes. Princess Celestia and her sister are leading the ceremonies; they decided they would be ones to carry the fallen to their resting places,” Twilight said while staring half-amazed at the magic feat in front of their eyes.

“There’s over twenty thousand of them,” Blink muttered.

“They feel that they should carry the burden of the fallen themselves,” came surprisingly Dark Shine’s voice from nearby. “The Night Princess blames herself for the defeat at Struthill while Celestia thinks this war could have been avoided if she had been here.”

“Struthill was inevitable. The city would have fallen faster if we hadn’t stood up to them on that hill,” Blink said, albeit remorsefully.

Dark Shine stared at the young stallion as they walked behind the cortege. “You fought well, Midnight Blink. I’m glad I didn’t have to kill you to get rid of your Nightmare,” he said with a hint of sincerity in his voice.

The funeral continued, extending well into the noon. The column of caskets and the thousands that followed in their wake slowly travelled through the city. The street was paved with millions of flowers and petals, and everyone kept to themselves as the bells continued to toll for the dead.

The funeral cortege left through the main gates. Down the mountain path, the white and blue figures of the Princesses could be seen in the distance at the front of the column. No one would even know what the two sisters shared between each other in those moments.

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked Blink, who was beginning to limp from his hurt hind hooves. They had walked a couple of miles, and the stallion already felt the effects of his unhealed injuries.

The mare didn’t wait for an answer. Her horn glowed faintly and a cast of magic formed around Blink’s leg, taking the weight of the steps from it.

“Thanks . . . I can’t even use my own magic to help me walk to my friend’s funeral,” he murmured.

“Your magic will come back in time, don’t worry,” Twilight reassured him as they continued their walk down the road leading away from Canterlot.

After another hour, the funeral column stopped advancing. The caskets were lined in endless rows across a beautiful meadow facing the city on top of the mountain. A calm river stretched to its side and tall trees stood guard nearby. Thousands of freshly dug graves extended across the newly founded cemetery, each marked by a headstone with the name and cutie mark of the pony that was about to be buried under it.

The large crowds were flanked by the military troops stationed outside the city. Citizens from across the kingdom were rumored to have come to attend the ceremonies and every pony from the nearby villages and towns were also there to pay their tribute.

On top of an improvised stage, Celestia and Luna addressed the crowds. The white ruler was the first to speak. Her demeanor was disheartened, yet she mustered the will to pay her respects.

“It is with great sadness in our hearts that we have gathered here today. The battle we faced days ago against an enemy we never sought disrupted our lives and tore us apart from our peaceful ways.” She took a short pause. The eyes and ears of tens, maybe hundreds of thousands were on her.

“Worse than anything else, the price we had to pay to defend ourselves from this aggression was a great one. I once thought that the time of wars and battles between nations of this world had come to an end many centuries ago. I was wrong. But I still have faith. My sister and I have been living among our subjects for over three thousand years.” She gazed towards the rows of caskets, the crowds listening to her words with rapt attention.

“And even though they are not the first we confine to the ground, we will continue to make our stand and ensure they are the last. For as long as we and time still stand, nations across the world will know the resounding strength, pride, and sheer determination Equestria and its allies have.”

“Yet today is a day we mourn for thy fallen,” Luna carried on for her sister. “Today we bring our reverences for the brave souls that fought to protect us all. They were our brothers, our sisters, our mothers and our fathers. They were our young sons and daughters that gave their lives for a greater cause. Their sacrifice is a gift to us. It comes as our sacred duty to cherish and pass on this gift through tales of valor, memories and stories . . .”

The young alicorn took a moment collect her thoughts and emotions. “Heroes never die, my dear ponies. When I look at their graves, at their coffins, I shudder. And that means they are with us. For when we remember them in our memories, our stories, our dreams . . . they are alive, at our side.” A single tear drop fell from her eyes.

The Princesses’ speech ended. Many more things could have been said, but words were not needed anymore. Families and friends spread around the meadow, joining their fallen loved ones as they began to be lowered into the ground, one by one.

In between the ponies, tens of larger graves served as a resting place for the buffalo warriors. Their bodies were carried by the Princesses among the caskets belonging to the ponies, but were not confined in wooden boxes. Instead, they were covered with the most colorful flower petals ever seen. Little Strongheart and the few other survivors stood near the graves of their tribesmen, humming their traditional hymns for the passing into the afterlife.

Near the end of the freshly-dug cemetery, a massive fire was lit, its thick smoke towering higher than the mountains around. The few zebra survivors kneeled to it and sung their rituals while dozens of unicorns helped their ceremonies. They floated the nearly two thousand wooden beds with zebra soldiers on them into the fire, while their living comrades prayed for the skies to open to their souls.

Pearl walked across the cemetery with the other survivors from his zeppelin. They stopped near several headstones belonging to their fallen crew members, and each brushed a hoof across them.

Blink and his friends came across Luna as they scouted the cemetery. She was silently shedding tears near a headstone with a bow and arrow on it as the cutie mark of the pony it belonged to. The unicorn sat next to her, watching the headstone and the casket behind it.

“I was there . . . when he died,” Blink said. Luna remained silent. “Among his last words . . . some of them were for you.”

The Princess turned to him, eyes filled with anguished tears.

“He said he enjoyed every moment spent with you,” Blink continued, recalling those dreadful moments right before Chaser’s death. “And that he was grateful for each star-filled sky you brought every night.”

The eerie silence that followed between the two of them was interrupted when a mare arrived and sat next to them, her eyes filled with tears as well. She rested her front hooves over the casket, and her forehead onto them.

“I shall return at a later time. Thank you for telling me that, Midnight Blink,” Luna announced in a low voice as she sat up and left the grave.

The rest of Blink’s friends joined him around his grave. The stallion approached the mare next to his casket, knowing she was most likely his sister living in Canterlot. He rested a hoof on her shoulder as she sobbed, and in time, without trading any words, she embraced the unicorn, recognizing him as Chaser’s closest friend.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t keep your brother alive. He . . . he loved you very much; I’m so sorry.”

While Blink comforted Chaser’s sister, Rarity brushed a hoof gently across the headstone in a show of respect. “Is- is this one whiter than the other?” she asked, noticing the difference in color between that grave’s headstone and the rest.

“It is,” Twilight murmured as she studied it.

“I’ve never seen this kind of rock before,” Pinkie added as she looked closer.

“It’s . . . moon rock,” Twilight stated, finally figuring it out.

She didn’t question the surprising fact for longer, as it wasn’t the time for such discussions. They all stayed near Star Chaser’s grave until a few unicorn soldiers came to float his casket into the ground. His friends all took their turn in tossing specs of dirt onto the lowered coffin, before it was ceremonially covered in its entirety.

The day went on as the crowds of ponies paid their last respects to the dead, the ceremonies extending well into the evening. One by one, coffins were confined into the ground, as families and dear ones said their goodbyes to those that bravely fought the invading forces.

The light of the day was steadily replaced by the thousands of candles lit on top of the freshly sealed graves. The fire at the end of the cemetery, where the zebra soldiers cremated their fallen brothers in arms, was still burning bright, sparks gently reaching into the night time sky.

The two Princesses sat atop a nearby hill, overlooking the vast meadow that was still filled with ponies.

“I am sorry for your loss, Luna,” Celestia said as she draped a wing over her sister’s form.

“We have suffered many a loss, dearest sister. You should be sorry for all of them.”

“He was special to you. It tears my heart apart to see yours broken, Lulu . . .”

“He’s in a better place now,” she murmured, almost to herself.

“He is, indeed,” came a graver voice from nearby.

At the Princesses’ sides, two silhouettes in the shape of ponies stood stoically. One was white, the other black. Now two pair of siblings guarded the ceremonies from the hilltop.

“It will never get easier, will it?” Celestia asked, tears still fresh in her eyes.

“I’m going to answer you the same as I did at your last mass burial; or the one before that, or any of the hundreds you’ve been through on this world,” Life responded, his voice calm and filled with warmth. “It never does. It is in your very nature to care for these creatures; it was also the consequence of the choice you two made when you decided to Watch them from within their own society.”

“Their birth, their lives, their death . . . you will be part of them, until the very day I escort the last soul from this planet away into the Light,” Death joined the conversation.

“There are better times ahead for your ponies, Lulu and Celly,” Life stated, addressing the two alicorns by their former names. “We wish you the best as you meet those times, and as always, we regret the events that led to this day.”

“Farewell, Watchers. May wisdom guide your actions,” Death wished them as the two brothers faded away out of that realm.

After a few moments, Celestia stood up and slowly began walking back towards the cemetery. She then stopped, turning her head back towards her sister. “Come Lulu, our ponies need us.”

The younger alicorn got up as well, joining her sister on her way to the crowds below. The night’s cool breeze blew across the saddened lands, the trees and grass dancing in tandem with it. Luna raised her eyes at the clear sky above while resting against her sister as they walked. A star fell above their heads, and another one chased it into the distance.

End of Chapter 29

This chapter is dedicated to the “Heaven’s Hundred”, the protesters that fell during the revolution in Ukraine in February 2014. Heroes never die.

Author's Note

Off-topic: bit late on this one, but I was very busy @ work for the past few months.

Chapter 30: A Blooming Love

Chapter 30

A Blooming Love

Blink stared at himself in the mirror. There was a small scar next to his left eye that still hadn’t fully healed, leaving less fur along a minute line of his face.

He groaned. He didn’t look as perfect as he wanted to even if the costume was, well, an amazing one. Very similar to the black suit he wore at the Gala where he proposed to Twilight, the piece combined Rarity’s extreme attention to detail with her increasingly powerful and breath-taking spells that altered the nature of cloths and other materials. It was a shining black, magically reflecting shades of light and ‘bringing out the mystery from within’, as Rarity put it.

“You look great, dude.”

“I don’t look great,” Blink retorted flatly.

“You do know you’re not the one who has to catch the attention of everyone, right?” the dragon next to him argued.

Blink floated the military insignia to the upper part of his chest, trying to clip it onto the suit. He frowned as the blue tendrils of magic wavered and dispersed, making the badge shake in mid-air. The insignia was a distinguished military reward that had been given to the unicorn for his actions during the battle of Struthill and Canterlot, but was currently irritating the stallion by not staying in place.

“Let me do it,” Spike offered, taking the badge in his claws and gently clipping it to Blink’s attire.

“It’s been four months,” the disgruntled stallion muttered, “and I still can’t use my magic properly.”

“You’ll get there, bud. These kind of wounds take longer to heal. You remember what the doctor said–”

“The doctor said I could never use my magic again,” Blink countered, staring at himself in the mirror. Somehow, the highest possible military award on his chest didn’t make him feel any better.

“Clearly not the best of doctors, ey?” came Pearl’s voice from across the makeshift dressing room. “You’re already picking up pebbles and whatnot all by yerself. It’s why I don’t trust them doctors more than I trust my left eye,” he added with a laugh, pointing at his patch.

The Captain was wearing a perfectly white suit, which somehow worked just fine with his already white coat. Black and yellow admiral insignias adorned his shoulders, and a formal Captain’s hat rested on a table nearby.

“I guess there’s something else that’s wrong with you, Blink,” Spike said with a grin.

The stallion’s face dropped. “What? What is it?”

“I believe you’ve got a serious case of cold hooves.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Blink dismissed, waving him off. “And you,” he continued, turning to Pearl. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

The white pony got up and grabbed his hat. “Aye, Captain!” With a salute, he left the room. “Your Highness . . .” came his words from outside.

The door opened again. Luna walked in, her expression quite stoic for that particular day. “Spike, may I have a few moments in private with Captain Blink?”

“Sure, Princess. Hey, I’ll see ya there,” he then told the unicorn while leaving the dressing room, closing the door behind him.

“Please don’t call me like that, Princess.”

“But you are still the Captain of the Royal Guard, are you not?” Luna asked, walking behind him as he continued to stare in the mirror.

“That rank belonged to Chaser. I didn’t claim it back after . . .”

“I understand,” Luna said after the settling pause.

“I promoted him so that I could go to Struthill, and that he would stay in Canterlot. I thought he would be safer there, protecting you and your sister.”

“But he was not. None of us were,” the alicorn responded, unusually calm.

Blink shifted his gaze on the mirror, looking at the royal figure behind him.

“Are . . . are you okay, Princess?”

“I’m fine, Blink, thank thee for asking. But the past is the past, so let us not think of such sad moments right now.”

“You are right. Why are you here, if I may ask? Afraid I will run off like the others seem to think?” he asked, chuckling.

“You’ve braved worse things than this, of that I am sure. I only wish to congratulate you and may the best days be ahead of you, Twilight, and your friends.”

“Thanks, Princess Luna, and . . . the same to you.”

The alicorn returned the smile. “The best days are always ahead of an immortal pony like myself. Also, you may simply call me Luna; we’ve been through too many events side by side to keep these formalities up between us.”

“No problem, Luna.” Blink continued to stare at the Princess, noticing something still lingered behind the mask of reserved happiness she had put on for that day. “That’s not all, isn’t it, Luna? Please tell me what’s wrong.”

The mask fell. Her eyes turned serious, yet troubled. “I didn’t wish to bare this news upon you, especially on such a day . . . alas, it concerns thy future.”

Blink turned to face her. “What about it?”

“You’re a bearer of Death . . . like I once was. And like me, I fear that thou suffers the same condition as I did.”

“Condition? What condition?”

Luna’s eyes faced the floor briefly before returning to meet Blink’s. “You are a Deathbearer, Midnight Blink. Life may never source from within you, for you can only end it.”

The stallion stared at her for a few moments, confusion slowly turning to understanding. “You’re saying that Twilight and I . . . we’ll never have a family?”

“I deeply regret it, but tis’ the truth I wanted you to know. I’m . . . I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have told you such a thing, especially today-”

“No, Luna. It’s all right; I always appreciated you being honest to me, no matter what. This time is no different. Although the timing seems off . . .” He pondered for a while before turning back to face the mirror. His mind churned at what Luna had told him, but he kept his spirits up.

“You are right. I should have not told you this now. It hath been on my mind to talk to you about it, I might have waited for too long. Again, my apologies. I mustn’t hold you any longer; I will see you at the lake.”

Blink simply nodded, and the Princess left the room. After a few moments, Spike came back, standing in the door with a serious expression.

“It’s time,” he said.

*** *** ***

The small town of Ponyville seemed packed, despite the fact that only a few ponies had come from places other than the town itself. Near the forest residing next to a wheat farm, a small wooden house rested close to a small lake. Facing Ponyville, the nearest neighbor was the Golden Oak Library about a mile away.

Usually it would be fairly quiet in that secluded oasis of calm, but on that day, more than a few had gathered in front of the lake for a special occasion. The sun was out, wildlife seemed more active than ever, and the guests were brimming with anticipation.

Right in front of the lake, on a small wooden platform adorned with life-filled flowers, Captain Pearl stood quietly as he faced all the other ponies. In front of him, a very nervous Blink shifted on his legs.

“Relax dude, it’s not like you’re going to war again,” Spike’s voice came from nearby.

Next to the dragon, Big Mac and Silver Wisp, Pearl’s second in command, stood silent, giving the unicorn the best reassuring looks they could muster.

“I’d rather go to war,” he muttered, swallowing hard.

“Aww, isn’t he just adorable when he’s nervous!”

Blink turned left to a group of five mares, all of which giggled behind their beautiful dresses and styled manes.

“Who said that?” Blink hissed between gritted teeth, making sure no one else heard him.

Their small horseplay however didn’t go unnoticed by the ponies behind them, and the first row of guests tried to hide their chuckles, in what was a rather sweet relief from the anticipating await.

Blink gazed behind him with embarrassment, but his eyes fell on a single empty chair in the first row. He sighed with a content smile, forgetting for a moment where he was as his mind wondered briefly to a painful memory.

“Hope you’re watching, buddy. Saved you a spot, as promised . . .” he said under his breath, eyes beginning to water.

It was then when everyone turned their heads back, murmurs filling the vibrant meadow. At the end of a long carpet that lead to Blink and his friends stood Twilight and her father. The stallion’s jaw dropped while his heart swollen in his chest.

The fabric of her dress captured the very essence of the sun’s warm light. The design was simple, yet somehow rivaled everything Blink had ever seen in both of his lives. Fitted underneath her neckline, the white dress covered her barrel, then flowed to the ground starting near her hind legs. The dress’s train was short, and the edges seemed to wave slightly above the ground, throwing specs of sunlight back into the air. She wore no veil or any other headwear at all, but her mane was beautifully styled and weaved in the manner she normally had it.

At that very moment, Blink had no doubt about it: she was the most beautiful mare he had ever seen. A slow chirping song began playing somewhere, as Twilight and her father, Night Light, started walking down the aisle.

Her gown trailed behind her and even if Night Light seemed to step over it as he walked alongside his daughter, his hooves never touched the dress, going straight through it as they walked.

All the guests watched breathlessly as the bride made her way towards the front of the lake where her stallion nervously awaited. While watching them, in the first row, Twilight Velvet tried to contain her sobs behind a hoof. Shining Armor, Emerald, and Cadence sat next to her and further to the end of the row, Celestia and Luna followed with genuine happiness as their two disciples met in front of Captain Pearl.

Night Light gave Blink a nod as he gave him Twilight’s hoof. He then returned next to the crying Twilight Velvet in the first row.

“You’re beautiful,” Blink mustered between nervous lips.

“You look great too,” Twilight replied, the blush on her face contrasting with her dress. She then took notice of the sun that was out that day, and Blink’s lack of shades to protect his eyes.

“Luna helped,” Blink mentioned before she could say anything about it. His eyes glimmered a faint blue hue for a moment. Twilight smiled, taking her hoof and running it along the scar line next to his left eye.

“It’s ugly, I know.”

“I actually like it. It makes you look more . . . like you,” she said, for lack of better words. The event was definitely taking its emotional toll on the mare’s ability to think straight. Her eyes kept locked onto his as she gently stroked his scarred temple before a pony nearby cleared his voice.

“There be’ a lot of touching each other tonight, my hearties, but now I need to get the two of ya wed!” Pearl said, drawing chuckles from everyone present.

The two ponies remembered they were in the middle of their own wedding and that a lot of guests had their eyes on them.

“Why are you in a hurry?” Blink retorted just for the sake of having the last word.

The Captain shook his head with a grin, and cleared his voice again. “Dearly beloved that be’ gathered here on this beautiful day!” he started the ceremony, addressing everyone present. “Some of ya’ve come far and wide, others not so much; but we are all here to see these two loveguls united in the strongest of bonds.“

“Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!” Pinkie squeaked amongst the Bearers of the Elements, unable to contain her excitement and drawing a couple of looks.

Pearl eyed her for a moment before returning to the two main protagonists. “Well then, without wasting any more time . . . Midnight Blink! Do you want to take this here Miss Sparkle’s hoof in marriage, to love her, protect her, and watch over her for the entire of yer’ life, till’ Death brings you apart?”

“I’d like to see Him try that. But yes, I do.”

“That’s one . . . Twilight Sparkle!” He continued, turning towards the bride. “Do you agree to unite yerself in marriage with this stallion, vow to love, respect, and protect him in turn for the rest of your lives?”

The mare looked Blink in the eyes, the happiest she had ever been. “I do!”

“Two outta’ two! Now then, under the watchful eyes of our Princesses here this day, and the close presence of your friends and family, I must say: you two be’ husband and wife! Kiss the bride, will ya!?”

While the guests erupted in cheers, the two shared the deepest kiss ever. The entire world faded out, as they had ears and hearts only for each other. When the married couple eventually parted, white and red petals fell from the sky while the guests stomped their hooves in celebration.

Music erupted out of nowhere, and the once peaceful meadow near the lake became the biggest party ground Ponyville had ever seen. Friends rushed to congratulate the newlywed couple. The girls took turns in hugging Twilight and Blink, while the groomsmen settled for strong pats on the groom’s back and quick hugs for Twilight. Spike however, lingered in his congratulation, holding the mare he’d lived with for his entire life longer than anyone else.

“Spike, are you crying?” Twilight asked, hearing a sniffle as he held her in his strong arms, her hooves not even touching the ground.

“No, I’m not. I’m just glad to see you happy,” he said, facing her.

Twilight held his cheek, comforting him. “You’ll always be my number one assistant . . . and friend. I love you, Spike.”

“I love you too, Twi.”

“Hey, where’s my hug?” Blink called out from between the group of friends.

Spike gently placed Twilight down and turned to the grinning stallion. In one quick motion, his neck was snuggled between the dragon’s arms, his hooves hovering above the ground as well.

“Watch the suit and mane!” he struggled to say as the air flow to his head was severely obstructed.

“Like you care.”

Meanwhile, Twilight was smothered by her parents, Velvet and Night Light. “Our little filly, I can’t believe you’re getting married!” Velvet cried, tears still fresh in her eyes.

“Mom, I’m not a filly anymore. And me getting married doesn’t mean I will stop loving you any less. You’re the best parents a pony could have.”

Nearby, Spike let Blink go, and Shining Armor was next to grab him. Fortunately for the just-married stallion, Shining’s grip was lesser than Spike’s, bordering towards a hug even. “You watch over my little sis, you hear me?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Come on, there are no ranks in family. Call me Shining from now on.”

Before he could retort anything else, Cadence grabbed him into a warm, gentle hug. “Congratulation, Blink.” Her slightly taller stature surprised him for a moment, as no other alicorn has shown him such affection before.

Soon he would experience the same gesture from the rest of the known alicorns, as Luna was surprisingly the next one to drab a hoof over his back and hold him to her chest. “I wish thou the very best. Take care of her, for she was the one that brought me back to my dear sister and ponies.”

The young alicorn moved on to the bride and now Celestia stood in front of the stallion. The two stared at each other reluctantly. Celestia still felt the heavy burden of remorse for what she had done to him two years before, and they had never revisited that conversation ever since before she left in her self-exile.

“I . . . I feel that before any felicitations are said from my behalf, it would be best if I-”

She was quickly silenced as the blue unicorn rested his head on her neck, a hoof holding barely above her shoulder in a reserved hug. “You’re sorry, I know. Heard you the first time.” He parted, giving her a quick smile before turning towards others that were waiting to congratulate him.

Celestia was content with that exchange and chose not to say anything else to the pony she had hurt so much in the past. At that point, she could only hope that, in time, their relation would soften and warm up. The Princess then found herself in front of her dearest student and soon was holding the beautifully dressed bride at her chest.

“I’m so happy for you, my dear Twilight. You’ve come a long way in your studies about friendship and magic, and you made me prouder than I’ve ever been in centuries.”

“You’ve been a great mentor too, Princess. I’m glad you’re back with us.”

“I would like you to accept this as a wedding gift,” Celestia said as they parted, her horn summoning a parchment midair.

Twilight grabbed it with her own magic and opened it, eyes skimming the contents. “. . . hereby grant full ownership rights to the public institution of Ponyville, the Golden Oaks Library as well as its contents . . . new owners, Twilight Sparkle and Midnight Blink.”

“I thought you might like having your own place, without it being opened to the public,” Celestia said. “Also, the books are yours to keep. All of them.”

“This is . . . amazing! Thank you, Princess.”

“Rest assured, I will arrange for the construction of another public library, and if you two wish to build a new home somewhere else, I can facilitate you with a land deed anywhere in Equestria.”

“I don’t know what to say. Thank you again, Princess Celestia.”

The alicorn draped a wing over her protégé. “The whole kingdom is in your debt, Twilight. It’s the least I can do.”

The endless rows of congratulations continued for many minutes, while Pinkie’s party settled over the town’s edge. The rows of chairs from where the guests had witnessed the married couple’s I do’s were replaced with many large, round tables. Food and drinks stations lined the edges of the meadow, while music played from tall loudspeakers cornering the party grounds.

At the main table, the wedding couple and their closest friends enjoyed what had to be Pinkie Pie’s greatest accomplishment in her career as a festivity organizer.

“This morning, there wasn’t anything here,” Blink stated a few hours into the party, baffled by all the logistics that went into his wedding’s ceremony.

“Thanks!” Pinkie said cheerfully, getting up from her chair just minutes after coming back from the dancing ring. “Come on now, it’s your wedding party! You can’t just stand around while Twilight’s out there dancing!”

Blink gazed at the crowd of partying ponies, noticing two particular ponies standing out of the crowd. It wasn’t because of who they were, but merely because of their borderline embarrassing dancing style. “Wow, so that’s where she’s got her moves,” Blink said with a chuckle as he admired Twilight and Night Light rocking on in the same unique style, much to the amusement of the guests.

The music slowly crossfaded from the up-beat disco song to a slow dance. Some ponies retreated to their table seats while others formed couples and stayed on the dance ring. Blink approached Twilight and her father. Night Light went back to his table, cracking a smile as he passed his now son-in-law.

“So, decided to show up?” the bride asked, her face lighting up at the sight of her stallion.

“I just had to save you from that embarrassment.”

Twilight’s face and ears dropped. “What?”

Blink burst into a laugh, grabbing her and lifting both of themselves on their hind legs. “Twilight, I love you more than anything, but the way you dance is . . . well, horrific.” He slipped a hoof around her waist, cradling the other one with his right limb. Blink then pulled her close, their chest touching and their muzzles not even an inch away.

“Well, didn’t see you do any better,” Twilight managed from behind her blush. Her heart began racing, and her throat dried up. The song carried on its slow pace as the two ponies swayed to its rhythm. “It’s just like that night . . .”

Memories from the Gala where he had proposed to her began flashing back one by one. He remembered the beauty of the clear night sky, the soft nuances of the song his best friend played, the beautiful image of Twilight as he held her close to him, their hearts beating in sync. “Yeah, just like that night.”

“Never imagined myself being here. Certainly never imagined myself being the first among my friends to get married-”

“Are we doing the right thing?” Blink interrupted her in a whisper as they danced, the sneaked looks of the guests upon them.

She looked him in the eyes. “You think we shouldn’t have married?” she asked sincerely.

“I don’t know. Not saying that because I don’t want to be with you, I’m saying it because I, for one, don’t care for formalities like these.”

“You don’t believe in marriage?”

“Well . . . not really; probably because of what marriage meant in my world. But for all it’s worth, I know I love you, and I know I would like to spend the rest of my life with you, and no one else. Plus, I promised it to the crazy Captain with an eye patch, so can’t really step over his hooves on that.”

Twilight chuckled, resting her head on his chest. “That’s enough for me.”

After a few minutes in which their dance continued under the settling evening, Blink noticed something odd about Twilight’s dress. “Did you change your wedding dress?”

“No, is it- Ohh . . .”

The now visibly shorter train on the end of her white dress was barely flicking wisps of light anymore. “It’s one of the features she worked on, I believe. As the sunlight dims, so does the edges of the dress. I believe she used a light absorption spell and enchanted thread to fit the-”

A kiss silenced the nerdy mare’s rambling. “It’s beautiful,” Blink said after they parted. “Not because of some spell, but because of you being in it.”

Twilight remained silent for a few moments, her face turning a grimace as she tried to contain herself. “That’s . . . so cheesy,” she burst into a giggle, still holding onto the stallion as his face froze.

“It’s how I feel, okay? Even so, how can you possibly know it’s cheesy? How many weddings have you had so far?”

“I’ve just read . . . novels; and they all seem so dreamy and sappy. My brother’s wedding was totally the opposite.”

“Don’t tell me you wanted us to be invaded as well?”

“No, this is much, much better. So many bad things happened in the past year, I’m glad that this moment is ours, and only ours.”

The couple continued their slow dance, while bright stars began painting the sky as day gave way to night. The moon itself peeked from under the horizon, curiously gazing upon the cheerful gathering of ponies at the edge of the small town.

*** *** ***

“I think this might be the greatest one so far, Pinkie,” Spike said as he downed another glass of champagne. “This is, like, the best mix between your fun parties and a special occasion like Twi’ getting married.” He grabbed another glass with his tail from the refreshments table he had strategically position himself near.

“Aye, young lass! This be the best one I’ve ever seen myself!” cheered Pearl from across the table, also downing another glass. Pieces of food stained the corners of their mouth, having enjoyed the amazing wedding cake Pinkie prepared.

“Thanks, guys. But I can’t actually believe this is happening!”

“I know, right? Our Twi’, getting married? Before any of you girls as well?” the dragon voiced, still in disbelief of what they were actually celebrating.

“Well Ah’m happy for ‘em. To our friends, Twilight and Blink!” Applejack toasted, raising a glass of cider.

After they all downed their drinks, the white captain got up from the table. He’d been eying a particular mare from across the party for some time. “I’m off to request a dance. Wish me luck.”

Blink and Twilight returned to the main table, joining everyone else that was not dancing or having fun with the rest. “Hey guys!”

“Ohh, look who it is!” Spike grabbed the stallion, holding him in a tight hug.

“Spike, how much have you been drinking again?” Twilight questioned him with the usual scolding tone she’d use whenever he did something bad.

“Relax, Twilight. He’s just having fun,” Applejack swiftly intervened. The bride simply sighed in response.

“How does everyone fare so far?” came Luna’s voice. The monarch cautiously took a seat at the table, bearing an unusual smile that contrasted her usually saddened demeanor.

“We’re great, Princess. Thank you very much again for your gift,” Twilight addressed the alicorn.

“What gift?” Blink quickly asked.

“It’s not something grand, dearest Midnight. Sadly, I am not the best at coming up with ideas for presents, as such tokens of friendship and appreciation have always been my sister’s talent.”

“Princess Luna offered to cover the costs of our entire wedding ceremony,” Twilight said, causing the alicorn to smile meekly. One might say she actually looked embarrassed by the recognition.

Blink’s eyes widened. “That’s . . . great! Wondered how we could afford such a party.”

“A toast, then!” Luna announced, raising a glass of champagne with her magic. Spike didn’t need a better reason to grab another glass. The others followed the Princess’s action as well.

“To prosperity and fulfillment. May the stars and moon guide the two of you on your journey together in life,” Luna wished the two of them and downed her drink, followed by everyone else at the table.

Night settled over Ponyville, but the party at the edge of the secluded town carried on unhindered. The food and drink were still plentiful, and the music never stopped. At the main table, only the groom and Spike lingered. One was deep into his thoughts, the other too tired to keep up with his wife on the dance floor.

“I’m really sorry Ruby wasn’t here for this,” Blink told the gloomy dragon, sensing the true reasons of his unusual silence.

“It’s all right. The Old One didn’t really like it that she came with those dragons to Canterlot and helped out, but she told me in her letters that she would be allowed out of her territory soon.”

“That’s good news, I guess. Cheer up, you’ll be going on dates with her soon enough.” Strangely enough, that didn’t make Spike seem any more cheerful. In fact, it didn’t drew any kind of reaction from him. He kept staring at the dance ring, his claws wrapped around a glass of some sort of alcohol from the bar.

Blink followed his gaze and winced slightly when he saw who the dragon was following with his eyes. “Come on, buddy, I’m sure they’re just dancing as uhh- friends?”

“It’s not that. I’m actually glad for her. She deserves to be happy. Even with . . . him. Wow, now that I don’t get.”

The two continued to stare in awe as Rarity and Pearl enjoyed a slow dance together. As the nicely-dressed Captain held the fashionista close to him in his hooves, they exchanged words in what seemed to be a rather affectionate display. Some of the guests were as baffled as the groom and his dragon friend sitting at the main table, especially their closest friends.

“So uhh, you and Rarity are actually okay?” Blink continued.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t we be? We both agreed that it couldn’t work out and we’re happy by just being friends. That was a while ago, Blink, and nothing changed. I just miss Ruby; I wish she was here.”

The stallion wrapped a hoof around Spike’s back. “Being away from the one you love hurts like hell. I know how it is. The bright side, however, is that the more you two are apart, the better the reunion will be.”

“I guess you’re right. By the way, she sent this with her last letter. It’s for you and Twi’. You know, for your wedding,” he said, retrieving a small, fine crafted wooden box from one of his natural pockets.

“I never understood that. Can you show me how you keep things behind your scales?” Blink quickly asked, more interested in that odd fact rather than in the actual gift.

“Just open your present,” Spike rebuked with a sly grin.

Blink grabbed the box from his claws. “Fine, whatever.” Using the tip of his hoof, he gently prodded the box open. It revealed two small, red diamonds.

“They’re called Soulmate diamonds. Apparently some dragons gift these to each other as a symbol of bond and love. They’re named like that because the raw diamonds are always found in pairs of two.”

“Wow, that’s amazing. Remind me to write Ruby a thank-you letter. Hey Twi’, come check this out!” Blink called after the mare, who was returning from the dance floor with several other of their friends. “Ruby’s gift for us.”

Twilight floated the box to her and opened it. “These are beautiful. Are they- I think I’ve read about these somewhere-”

“Is there nothing that genuinely surprises you anymore?” Blink complained, giving his mare a peck on her cheek.

Twilight couldn’t stare him down for long before she burst into laughter, followed by everyone else. “I love it. We’ll need to write Ruby a letter thanking her for these,” she said, turning to Spike. “And thank you everyone for all the gifts and wishes,” Twilight added, looking at all their friends around them.

They all conglomerated into a warm, heart-melting hug. That was, until a rapt voice hollered from nearby. “Gather your attention here, me’ hearties! I haven’t gone through announcing my present for these two young loveguls!”

“I should probably get married more often,” Blink said, actually surprised by how many gifts they received. Luckily for him, Twilight hadn’t heard him, as she watched the white stallion approach with slight hesitance.

“I saw that dandy balloon of yers, Twilight. It be a fine flier, don’t get me wrong, but the two of ya deserve better!”

Pinkie was quick to turn several spotlights towards the sky, where every pony partaking in the reception shifted their eyes.

“You got to be kidding me,” Blink muttered, wide-eyed.

A flying zeppelin approached the meadow, hovering just above the small lake nearby. It was smaller than Pearl’s ship that went down in Canterlot, and its basket was also suspended from the balloon, not joined like on Celestia’s Pearl. It had an open deck, with wooden handrails and a couple of small-caliber cannons on each side.

“Really, Pearl? Really? When you told me you were working on bringing back Celestia’s Pearl, you were making this all along?” Blink continued, his face plastered with a huge, goofy smile.

“It’s . . . I don’t know what to say, Pearl,” Twilight added, holding a hoof over her mouth as she admired the beautiful aircraft.

The color scheme of the zeppelin’s balloon was identical to the one of her hot-air balloon, and the entire body of the basket was sculpted in fine, noble wood. Two small engines with round, circular propellers attached to them rested near the back of the zeppelin, and carved symbols of their friends’ cutie marks decorated the front sides of the basket.

“This be a gift from me an me’ crew, plus this fine lass over here,” Pearl said, pointing at Applejack.

Rainbow Dash, who was next to her, dropped her jaw. “AJ?”

“Ah helped with the wood carving,” she meekly said, trying to hide herself behind her mane in a very Fluterresque manner.

As the zeppelin landed near the lake’s edge, several party guests got out from the ship, with Silver Wisp being the last one to get off. Pearl’s crew then gathered cheerfully around their captain and their friends, wishing the two the very best in life.

“I had the best mages in Canterlot help me with this one. Specially built to be controlled by unicorns, you can even fly it by yerself, no crew needed!” Pearl told Twilight with pride in his voice. “Eighty miles she does in a clock, and can hold five tons before complaining. The hull is split into a lower deck, a kitchen and a captain’s room, which is a fine bedroom with a king-sized bed for those rowdy nights.”

While a wave of laughter poured from the guests, the captain turned to Blink and held a hoof to his mouth, lowering his voice. “You’ve got two 38-punders in the lower deck as well, plus two of them fancy turrets mounted at the sides, plenty of ammo to boot. Ya know, for yer safety.”

“That’s- I really don’t know what to say. It’s amazing; heck, it’s more than amazing! Thank you so much, Pearl.”

“Dun’ wanna hear nonthin about it! You two just promise you’ll enjoy it. Now whatcha gonna name her?”

Blink and Twilight stared at each other, in a total loss of words or ideas.

“I could give ya a hint,” the white earth stallion said with a smirk, “I think Twilight’s Pea-”

“Not gonna happen!” Blink swiftly cut him off.

“Harmony,” Twilight murmured as she stared with a smile at the cutie marks of her five best friends engraved on the front of the basket, next to hers, Blink’s and a head of a fire-breathing dragon. “HMS Harmony. What do you think? And it doesn’t need to be only mine and Blink’s,” she said, turning towards the rest of her friends. “It can be ours.”

“Harmony it is, then,” Blink concluded.

“Well, what are ya two waitin’ fer?” Pearl asked, pointing a hoof at the zeppelin.

The newlywed couple then noticed the bottle of champagne hanging by a rope tied to the airship’s front anchor. Twilight levitated the bottle away from the ship, and Blink chimed in with his weakened magic. A few seconds later they let go of the bottle in unison, and it came smashed against the zeppelin’s basket, drawing a wave of cheers from all the ponies.

An idea sparked into Blink’s head and he turned towards Twilight. “So uhh, what do you say? I looked into it, and tradition dictates that the wedding couple usually leaves just before the party ends. It’s getting pretty late, as far as I can tell.”

“But the library is right here, we might as well stay for the rest of the party.”

“I meant we could leave for our honeymoon, like, right now,” Blink eagerly said.

“But we haven’t decided where-”

“It doesn’t matter, Twi’. We can go anywhere. Right. Now.”

And then she got it. Darting her eyes from Blink to the zeppelin, her mind filled with all the possibilities. With a firm nod, it was decided.

The groom turned to the white captain and gave him a big hug. “Thanks again, Pearl; this is perfect. Is it fueled up?”

“Enough to go around the entire Equestria. Plus she can run on magic easily! There’s plenty of supplies and food in there as well.”

“Perfect. Spike, you got the library for yourself. Don’t burn it down while we’re gone.”

“Sweet. For how long?” the dragon asked, pleasantly surprised.

“I’d say about a month,” Twilight answered that one, nuzzling Blink lovingly.

“Ohh. Well then, have fun!”

“Come here you two,” Rarity stepped in, grabbing the couple in a hug. The rest of their friends did the same, while the other guests congratulated them once again from a not-so-personal distance.

Twilight and Blink boarded the zeppelin, while all the ponies from their wedding stomped their hooves and waved them goodbye. The two made their way to the quarterdeck, all the while admiring the zeppelin’s lustrous shine.

“Can you handle the navigation, Twi’? My magic’s not to be trusted yet, don’t want to crash this thing right away.”

Twilight approached the helm, noticing a simple wooden command panel behind it. “Sure, I think I can fly this. Seems pretty straightforward.” With a flick of her magic, the ship came to life. The engines started and the zeppelin began ascending right away. “I’ve never done this before,” the mare said excitedly, spinning the helm.

Slowly, the airship turned away from Ponyville. Pinkie kept the big spotlights on them as the crowd underneath them waved and cheered. The engines began working at maximum speed, and even if they were picking up speed fast, the circular shape of the propellers kept the entire ship surprisingly silent. Blink and Twilight turned back and walked to the handrails right behind the helm. They waved at their friends and family, while the lake and the sizeable party next to it became smaller and smaller.

When the meadow was out of sight, the two unicorns found themselves alone in a sea of calm. The entire ship and the main ropes holding it onto the balloon creaked every now and then as it settled, with only the warm summer night breeze whispering in the two lovers’ ears.

A sudden burst of explosions and multi-colored sparks filled the sky above Ponyville, as a heavy barrage of fireworks was fired from their party. Blink held a hoof over Twilight’s shoulder as they enjoyed the breath-taking view. Streaks of flames erupted in every direction one by one, easily recognized as Spike’s work. A large figure shot into the sky above the library, gaining considerable altitude before starting to leave trails of fire from its mouth as it charged up one last shot.

“Ohh boy, he’s gonna do it,” Blink said with a grin.

A bright ball of fire left Spike’s mouth, continuing to ascend as the dragon dived back down. Moments later, the projectile exploded, filling the air with dancing flames that slowly rained down over the entire town. They all sizzled out before even getting close to the ground.

“That was amazing,” Twilight murmured.

As the firework display died down, the two were able to make out the star-painted sky above, while the moon provided them with plenty of light. The capital was visible in the distance behind them, resting quietly over its mountain. Twilight returned to the helm and began adjusting the engines’ speed. She then opened a compartment underneath the dashboard, finding what she was looking for.

“So, where do you want to go first? Baltimare is three hundred miles north-west, I’ve read it’s beautiful during summer.”

Blink held her in his hooves from behind, gazing on the map that was unraveled on the helm. “Sure. I’ve never actually visited any city other than Canterlot and the ones I went through on my journey to the Griffin Kingdoms.”

Twilight craned her neck behind and gave him a soft kiss. “Perfect.” She then turned the helm slowly, keeping an eye on several navigational instruments on the dashboard. With the adjustments done, she further adjusted the engine power before turning in Blink’s hooves, her back now resting on the wheel.

“Isn’t that a bit slow?” he asked, rather confused.

“It’s slow enough to get us there tomorrow at noon.” Something in her eye sparked.

Blink saw that flicker, and a smirk grew on his face. “Oh, okay. I believe you would like to rest now. Pretty busy day-”

A burst of purple magic engulfed him, and the next thing he knew, Blink found himself in a spacious room, presumably still onboard the zeppelin. Behind him, there was a large set of windows forming a wide wall that faced the distant town of Ponyville. In front of them, a huge, king-sized bed laid assorted with fine sheets and comfy pillows.

He didn’t manage to say anything else, nor to observe the rest of the captain’s cabin. An eager pair of lips had met his own and immediately began struggling in a sensual battle of dominance.

“I’ve been waiting so long for this night,” Twilight managed after an intense make-out sessions, her face flustered like never before.

They were already standing on the edge of the bed, but their passionate acts ceased for a moment. Blink stared at her with a loving, yet confused look. “You have? Then why did you want to save ourselves for after our wedding?”

“I don’t know. I thought it would make it more . . . real, more honest. Afterwards, when I realised how much I loved you, I just went with it, wanting to see if you felt the same for me.”

“You could have told me,” he said.

“I should have not made us promise,” she told him back.

“Twilight Sparkle, I love you more than anything in this world, or any worlds for that matter. Yes, we probably should have done it when we both felt it was right, but right now . . . I don’t think it matters anymore. You’re my wife, and there’s nothing that can make me feel bad or regretful.”

They leaned their heads against each other’s, the bases of their horns gently touching. Twilight stroked his face with a hoof, her gaze lost into his. “I love you too. Now let’s stop talking, I don’t think I can wait much longer.”

Their lips met again in another intense embrace, silencing any possible retort from the stallion. Their wedding clothes were quickly tossed away as the two made themselves comfortable underneath the bed sheets, the passionate night of their wedding only beginning.

HMS Harmony kept its steady course, with no rough winds to stray it away from its destination. The gently twinkling stars above and the bright-shining moon finished the beautiful painting of the zeppelin flying through a sea of warm air and calm.

*** *** ***

1 year later

Twilight groaned, stretching her hooves as the early morning shimmers tore through the blinds. She felt something tight around her barrel and immediately recognized Blink’s hooves holding her snugly. They began shuffling, and the stallion yawned as he too awoken from their good night sleep.

Twilight turned on the bed to face him, their horns gently scraping each other accidentally. Blink winced slightly, and his eyes fluttered open. “Careful with that . . .” he muttered groggily. “Still sensitive.”

“I don’t remember you complaining last night,” she said with a half-dazed smile.

“Last night it felt good, but now I got two things that sore.”

A loud knock on the library’s back door filled the room. Blink sighed, slowly getting out of the bed. He trotted downstairs and opened the door to a rather cranky-looking dragon.

“Well hey there, Spike. Let me guess, you’re not here for a cup of sugar, are you?”

The dragon snorted black smoke out his nostrils, his arms crossed in annoyance. Blink waved the smog away with a hoof. “Fine, we’re finishing it today.”

“Morning, Spike!” came Twilight’s voice from inside. “Want to join us for breakfast?”

“Morning, Twi’. Sure, why not?” he said, stepping inside through the door that was increasingly narrow for him.

The three of them sat at the table in the living room. The dragon simply stood on the floor, as the chairs had become too small for him about a couple of years ago. Fresh daisy sandwiches and warmed-up hay fries filled their plates. Spike’s one was actually a platter, and had several gems added in to complement the normal food.

Blink took a bite out of a sandwich, munching at it hungrily. “Hey, remember-”

“-the first time we ate at this table? Yes, you basically bring it up every few months,” Spike cut him off with a devilish smile.

“I think it’s nice. It’s amazing remembering the times when you could actually sit properly at this table, Spike.”

“And that was what, four, five years ago? Have to say, Spike, you grew quite a bit since then.”

“Thanks guys, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have to help me today. My smoke is really acting up and I almost burned down your old house by the lake twice this week.”

“We’ll finish it today, and then you can move out of that house. Spike, we haven’t forgotten about your gesture, but I asked you of you were sure about it.”

The dragon waved his claws at the mare. “No way was I gonna live in the same house with you two horny creatures. You needed your space, and I needed mine.”

“That’s uhh- oddly mature of you, Spike. You sure you’re not filling ill today? Might be from that smoke you filled your small house with these last few weeks,” Blink said, while chewing on his sandwich.

Twilight turned to him. “Blink . . .”

“Bite me,” the dragon responded to the stallion.

“Spike!” the mare scolded him, then rolled her eyes at the two’s exchange.

Blink wrapped up his breakfast, snagging the last sandwich on his place with his magic and getting up from the table. “Come on, Spike; your earth house won’t finish itself.”

The dragon’s eyes lit up and he got up from the table as well. Twilight joined them, as the three went outside through the library’s back door.

*** *** ***

The group of ponies happily chatted with each other, enjoying the snacks and drinks laid out on a couple of tables brought in from the library. Spike overlooked the entire scene, taking in the grandeur of his new home. The main room was large, more than twenty feet in height and spanned on a wide surface that it alone could have held the Golden Oaks library in it.

The ceiling was brightly lit, and made out of dark, thermally treated rock. A huge skylight window spread out on one side of the ceiling dome, illuminating the room nicely. Apart from a large table and a few equally large shelves, plus a huge, comfortable hay bed, there wasn’t much else inside the freshly inaugurated burrow. But there was room to grow.

“Well, it’s finally done. You like it?” Blink asked him, breaking the dragon’s train of thoughts.

“Yeah, but I didn’t expect it to end up so big.”

“Well, Twilight said you will grow even more so hopefully you’ll still fit this place in ten years.”

“Still, I’ll miss the library.”

Twilight approached them, overhearing their conversation. “Ohh, come on Spike. You’ve been living on your own for almost a year; plus, you’re now even closer to us. We dug this burrow in the hill our library is on.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen the tree’s roots when we set the walls of the kitchen. Still, it feels weird to have an actual place of my own.” His eyes fell on the small basket on a table near the refreshments. “Did you actually have to bring that?” Spike asked, still somewhat embarrassed.

“You mean Spiky-Wikey’s little basket bed from when you were a baby dragon? But it’s so cute,” Blink teased him, making a face. A wing swiftly smashed him over the head, almost sending the unicorn to the ground.

“That one you deserved,” Twilight arbitrated with a chuckle.

“And here I thought you were my loving, caring, and protective wife.”

“Uhm, hey everyone,” a rather meekly voice interrupted their shenanigans.

All three of them turned to Fluttershy, who had Big Mac next to her. “Uhh, so you’re all coming this weekend, right?”

“Of course we are, Fluttershy! I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“I’ve heard rumors that Pinkie and AJ are planning a proper bash for the occasion,” Blink told the large red stallion.

“Eeyup.”

“Planning on making it bigger and louder than ours, eh?”

“Eeyup.”

“But not too loud,” Fluttershy said meekly, raising a hoof.

“Nonetheless, we’re happy the two of you are getting married,” Twilight said with a warm smile.

“I don’t think I’ve seen Applejack happier. Which is so strange, it’s actually cool,” Blink added with a laugh.

“She’s just happy for me and Shy’, ah’ guess,” Big Mac explained.

“Well, happy house warming again, Spike,” Fluttershy wished the dragon, raising on her hind legs for a hug.

He grabbed her, holding the pegasus to his chest, her hooves more than a foot away from the ground. “Thanks Fluttershy.”

Meanwhile, a particularly energetic pony flew laps around the house’s ceiling, forming a small, harmless tornado out of the smoke Spike had been expectorating.

“Dash, could you not race around in my new house?”

“But this thing’s huge! It’s even bigger than my cloud mansion!” The pegasus landed in front of them, proudly watching the tornado of smoke dissipating and leaving through an air vent at the top of the dome-shaped ceiling. “What’s with the smoke? You sick or something?”

Spike coughed again in his fist, more trails of dark fumes rising from the corners of his mouth. “No, it’s just my fire chambers. They’re maturing again, I guess. Great thing you designed that vent thingy in the house’s plan, Twi’.”

The unicorn simply grinned in response. Pearl approached the group, giving a hearty salute to everyone. “Blink, ya ready?”

“Uhh, Spike, is it okay if I leave a bit early? I got that thing in Canterlot I need to go to.”

“Sure. And thanks for helping me build this. It means a lot for me.”

“Not a problem. See ya later.” He gave Spike a light punch with his hoof and Twilight a gentle kiss. “Come on, Pearl; we’re taking Harmony.”

The two stallions left through a large, cave-shaped entrance, which was the main way inside the house. When they got out, the two were facing the small lake and wooden house both of them used to live in. Blink put on a pair of shades as they headed towards the lake.

HMS Harmony was parked right along the water, anchored tightly in place. Blink and Pearl got onboard, and using his magic, the unicorn lifted the anchor up in place, while at the same time starting the engines and getting some altitude.

“Yer magic seems better,” Pearl noticed, standing at the front of the quarter deck, near the helm and control panel.

“Yeah, Twilight’s been helping me with my magic rehabilitation. I’m already combat fit by army standards, so that’s good. So, how does it feel to not be the one sailing?” Blink asked from behind the helm.

“Strangely relaxing. Ya sure you don’t want to join the Royal Zepp Force? You seem like a lad born fer’ it.”

“Nah, I’m fine with flying zepps just for recreational purposes.”

The ship settled at its maximum cruise speed on its path towards Canterlot, the wind blowing in Blink’s man. “So, do you think they’re gonna make the decision today?”

“I think they already made it. They be calling all higher ups in the armies; can’t mean anything else, I gather.”

“Still, let’s just hope they approved Shining’s proposal.”

“Aye, lad. Let’s hope they did.”

*** *** ***

The library door swung open late into the night, and Blink stepped inside, tired from an eventful day at the Royal Castle. He trotted upstairs, not wanting anything more than to join his wife in bed for a good night’s rest.

He gently opened the door to their bedroom, tip-hoofing inside. To his surprise however, his dearest half was meddling with some scrolls and books over her study desk. “Blink, you’re home!” she said, rushing to the stallion and giving him a hug and kiss.

“I thought you were already asleep.”

“I know, but my studies . . .”

“You really want that title, don’t you?”

“Being named an Archmage doesn’t only come with the title, Blink. It’s the most prestigious position a unicorn can dream of, and it grants access to all the academic outlets in Equestria.”

“Uhh, fancy title that is, then,” he mocked her with a grin.

Her characteristic deadpan look did little to him anymore. He lifted his saddle bag off of his back and threw it in a corner of the room. With careful attention however, he removed a shard-shaped pendant from his neck, resting it on his own, albeit smaller desk.

“Why do you like wearing that thing all the time?” Twilight asked again, probably for the tenth time since he got it.

“It was an amazing thank-you gift from that scientist unicorn uhh . . . Quantum something. You know, one of the Avatar special units in the war.”

“Still, it seems weird to me that you made it into a necklace,” Twilight argued.

“It’s completely harmless. The Grenium 241 inside is encased in pure, transparent amber. Zero radiation emission.”

“Depleted Grenium 241, you mean. If it wasn’t the halved reactive, you would have been dead by now.”

“Still, it’s what was left from firing those beams of energy at Struthill. I think it’s cool.”

Twilight simply shook her head, getting herself into bed. Blink joined her soon, wrapping his hooves tightly around her. “I thought you were still sore from last night,” she murmured, turning to face him with a clever smirk.

Blink mustered only a weak smile. “It’s not that. I just love you.”

Her face dropped as she realised something was wrong. “What happened today? You said it was a military council and they needed you.”

The unfiltered moonlight coming through the window caught in her beautiful mane, and Blink couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He wished that moment would never end, just the two of them standing close to each other, their hearts beating as one. However, he had to tell her.

“Your brother’s proposal to attack the main Changeling Hive was approved.”

Silence filled the air. After a few moments, Twilight was the first to break it. “Are you . . . going to war?”

“After Cadence killed Queen Chrysalis, another Class One changeling took the reins. She’s too unexperienced, too violent, and unpredictable. She can’t even keep all her troops under control, not to mention she refuses any diplomatic contact. We have to do this, otherwise the Crystal Empire will be swarmed soon.”

“But why do they need you? You served well in the battle and your magic isn’t even the same anymore.”

“I have about month to get ready. But I’ll be fine. The entire old crew’s going. Pearl will lead the Zepp Forces as air fleet admiral, Shining Armor will lead all the ground troops, and Spitfire will co-ordinate the pegasus air forces. Dash and Spike are going to be there as well.”

“How many ponies?”

“All our forces, including reserves. Over two hundred thousand; but it’s just as an assurance. We’ll have a contingent of dragons there as well. They’re sending quite of lot of their own, given that we fought to maintain a pact that protected their lands. It’s gonna be fine, Twi, I promise. We’re hoping to win this with no more than a few hundred losses.”

“All right, but I’m coming. I won’t let you go and fight who-knows-where while I wait at home.”

The stallion sighed. “Fine. Let’s get some sleep now. I think tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.”

With one last good-night kiss, the two comfortably settled in their usual sleep position, namely Twilight on her half with her hooves tucked close to her barrel, while Blink sprawled his members every possible direction, eventually invading his wife’s half shortly after falling asleep.

Well into the night, a hoot was heard outside. Owlowiscious rested on one of the library’s branches, turning her head every now and then as she scouted for the usual mice that made up her midnight snack. Raven however was sleeping calmly on Blink’s desk in their bedroom, her head tucked snugly underneath her wing. Outside, a thin trail of smoke emanated from Spike’s home dug deep into the hill the library sat on.

The night had no reason to be anything else but quiet, yet Twilight turned and shuffled in her sheets. Her dreams were clouded by the news she heard before going to bed, and her magic began to manifest as it normally did when she had bad dreams. It was mostly her horn glowing or a lone spark or two jutting out from its tip, while her energy field went wild around her. Her breath and heart rate picked up and her magic senses involuntarily detected a foreign presence nearby.

A series of low thumps got louder and louder in her head. She suddenly awoke, standing up in the bed, sweat drops falling down her face. “Blink, there’s someone here,” she said in a hushed tone, eyes darting around for whatever she had felt.

The stallion next to her shifted, slowly awakening. “Hmmm . . . it’s probably Spike raiding our fridge again. We probably didn’t pack his with supplies today. You can go to sleep, Twi’.”

“It’s not Spike. The presence I felt is . . . it’s someone I’ve never met before.”

Blink’s eyes snapped open. His horn erupted with magic, and the whole room filled with blue light. A second later, the entire bedroom was packed with shadow clones, while Blink was up on the bed, his eyes looking for the intruder as well.

“Go, find out who it is!” he ordered his clones and the dozen or so stallions burst through the door, searching the whole library.

“Twi, sweep the surroundings for me. Tell me where it is.”

Twilight’s eyes shifted in several glows, as she looked around in various specters of light, heat, life and magic. “I can’t see it. It’s not here anymore.”

Subconsciously, Blink’s shadow clones relayed to him that the entire library was clear, as well as the area around it. He sighed, getting himself back under the sheets. “It was just a bad dream Twi’.” A series of puffs were heard outside, as his clones dissipated. Raven watched the two with half interest, half annoyance, having been suddenly awoken from her sleep.

The two ponies fell asleep, with Blink holding Twilight close to him. His grasp comforted the troubled mare as they both travelled back into the realm of dreams.

*** *** ***

The library was silent. Twilight was at her desk, eyes lost into nothingness. The white set of armor that once belonged to Celestia rested on a mannequin nearby. It was repaired and improved by the best blacksmiths in Canterlot in preparation for the upcoming battle.

Next to it, Blink’s Hydra leather suit mark 2 rested on another mannequin. Suffice to say, Rarity had developed a technique to sew the armor together without having to burn the wearer.

The atmosphere inside the bedroom was gloomy and stale however. Owlowiscious stood next to Twilight, comforting her in the time she needed it most. The loud sound of engines came from outside. She gazed upon the balcony window, and saw a large zeppelin land in the back yard. Soon enough, hoofsteps ran up to the bedroom door.

“Hey! Guess what? Pearl finished Celestia’s Pearl right in time. That crazy bastard actually sculpted Celestia on the front of the basket. Anyway, the army is now within a hundred miles from the hive. We leave on board Pearl’s zeppelin tomorrow, and we should be there by the end of the week, right in time for the assault.”

Twilight said nothing. She turned to face the stallion, her expression bordering on outright panic. Blink immediately felt that something was wrong.

“Twi’? Is everything okay?”

“Do you remember that night when I felt something strange nearby? And we thought it was just a dream?”

He rushed to her in a heartbeat. “Did it come back? What was it?”

Her mouth opened and closed, unable to speak. “It never left, Blink,” she said after a while. “I don’t know how to tell you this . . .”

“Twilight, whatever it is-”

“I’m going to have foals.”

He froze in place. After what felt like an eternity, the mare spoke again. “Blink? Can you please say something? I- I don’t know what to do.” She was on the brink of tears.

“Are you sure?” he asked, more out of reflex.

She nodded. “I can sense their heartbeats.”

“Their?” His whole body began to shake. “Have you . . . I won’t hate you if you did, but-”

“No, Blink! I would never! They- they’re ours. They’re your foals.”

“But what about my- what about my condition? How can this even be possible?”

“I don’t know, I have no idea at all. I took some tests today to make sure. I- I’m five months in.”

Blink slumped down on the floor next to her. “You’re not going.”

“What?”

“You’re not coming tomorrow with me.”

“But you, and even Dash and Spike-”

The stallion stomped a hoof against the wooden floor. “No!” It was the first time he had shouted at her.

Her eyes instantly filled with tears. The next second, he grabbed her into a hug. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry; I shouldn’t have yelled. But I can’t let you go, Twi’. You’re carrying- you-re . . . you-re carrying my foals. Our foals. I can’t possibly let you do that.”

“Do you want to keep them?” she managed between sobs.

Blink stared into her eyes, gently moving a strand of her mane from over her face. “That’s not even a question, Twi’. Of course I do. Us having kids is . . . it’s- unexplainable.”

“But you’re still leaving tomorrow?”

“I have to. But I promise I will be all right. I swear, Twilight, it won’t be like in Canterlot or Struthill. I will come back to you and our foals. Come on, you need rest; you seem exhausted like hell.”

Blink then took her to their bed and tucked her in, staying at her side and talking for a few more minutes. She fell asleep in his hooves, tired from a day of self-casted magic tests and high emotions. He stayed awake, lamenting on the news he just received. His body shivered every few moments. The shock of what he was told was still powerful. Eventually, he too fell asleep, with Twilight in his hooves.

The next day came all too soon and none of them were ready to say goodbye to each other. Their friends eventually found out about the news and the couple was smothered by their congratulations, while Blink packed his last things and put on his black armor.

“I will be okay, Twi’; please don’t cry,” he told her before they left the library.

“I still can’t believe we’re going to be parents,” she said. Her hormone imbalance was not helping at all either.

“I know. It’s very weird, but a good weird. A very good weird, okay?” he tried to re-assure her, having no idea what else to say.

“We never even planned for it. Ever since you told me we couldn’t conceive because of your powers, I thought it would never happen.”

“I know this whole thing was unexpected, I can barely believe yesterday was real as well. But we will go through this together, okay? We’re going to be a family, and at the same time, we’re still going to do what we had planned, okay? You’re going to become an Archmage, and I will . . . do whatever I want to do, because I still don’t know what I want to do with my life.”

They both laughed at that. Twilight cleared her runny nose and straightened out her mane. “You’re right, it’s going to be fine. With the right planning, we’ll be able to do all of those things.”

“Yeah, planning sounds good,” Blink said with a chuckle. “Come on, I have to go now. They’re probably waiting for me.”

Outside, the sunlight cast a wide shadow of Pear’s zeppelin onto the library’s back yard. The new ship now had two machine gun turrets, one in the front and one near the back, and both were heavily armored. The whole basket was built like a fortress and the four large engines had protective shields cast around them.

All their friends were there. Pearl, Silver Wisp, Spike, and Rainbow Dash had packed their things as well and were saying their goodbyes to the rest. Pearl and his cousin, Kazooie, were hugging, and Silver Wisp and Nurse Redheart shared a last, long kiss.

“Please don’t do anything stupid or risky. I want you back unharmed. I want all of you back unharmed,” Twilight said to Blink and her friends.

“Relax egghead, those dumb changelings have nothing over us!” Dash said, her voice filled with certainty and bravery.

“Don’t worry Twi’, I’ll be fine as well. Last time I checked, my scales are magic-proof,” Spike said, giving the mare a hug.

His specially crafted armor felt cold against the mare’s fur coat. She held onto him as much as she could. Fluttershy was crying in Rainbow’s hooves, while the mare tried to comfort her as best as she could.

“We’ll be back in a couple of weeks at most. You won’t even know we’re gone. Rarity, thanks for this again,” Blink added.

She closed in on him for a quick hug. “Nothing to mention, dear. Just take care out there.” She held onto him for a few more seconds. “Remember darling, you’re going to be a father. Stay safe,” she said in a lower voice.

“I will, Rarity. Your armor will do most of the job anyway.”

Everyone that was leaving got on board the new Celestia’s Pearl. Blink gave Twilight another hug and a kiss before boarding the zeppelin. “We’ll all write to you and send the letters through Spike!”

They waved their goodbyes from the basket’s doors and hatches as the zeppelin took off. The ponies on the ground waved back, all of them hoping that it wouldn’t be the last time they saw their friends or family.

*** *** ***

Six months later

With a thud, Blink dropped a stack of papers into a box on the desk.

“Come on, you lucky scoundrel, it can’t be that bad, can it?” Pearl asked with a wide grin, balancing the chair he was resting in onto its two back legs.

“National Defense Lead Researcher? That’s a shit job, and a shit title.”

“The armies are contracting. Even with yer’ experience in two wars, they be’ doing no good in promoting you.”

“I could have been promoted to General,” he continued his venting, “There’s no reason why I should get a desk and lab job while you get your own fleet, and Dash gets to be Captain of the Wonderbolts.”

“Aye, but remember my fleet’s not what it was when we charged at the bloody changeling hive. We’re down to five zepps. We lost two there, and thirteen be given to public transport when we came back.”

Blink threw in the last things from his desk into the box. “It still sucks. Twilight’s instated as the new Archmage of Equestria in two months, while I move my lousy job at home to take care of the foals.”

“Yer’ a family man now, Blink. Soon Twilight will have your foals and your job won’t matter as much when you got those screaming little things on your head all day.”

Blink sighed. “Look, it’s not that I don’t want to take care of them, it’s just that I don’t feel like I’m getting the recognition I deserve.”

Pearl remained silent for a moment, as the sound of nothingness filled the room. “Is it bad for me to want that? To want more?” Blink asked after a while. His voice was quiet and reserved.

“You are who you are, lad. But you’ll have a family to take care of. They are your proudest accomplishment, not some medals or rank on yer’ chest.”

“You’re right . . . I’m such an idiot.”

“Your life’s not over lad, you’ll still-”

“Ahh.” Blink winced, taking a step back. “That feels like I’m getting a-” He winced again. His horn spat a wave of sparks, and a scroll materialized in front of him, dropping limply on the now-empty desk.

He opened it and read the hastily-written message. His eyes widened and he immediately turned to Pearl. “Get your ass onboard Harmony right now, we need to get to Ponyville.”

An hour later onboard his zeppelin, Blink was still pouring as much magic as he could into the engines, the town now in sight.

“Ease up lad, you’ll break them if they go any faster,” Pearl shouted from across the deck.

The unicorn however was only focused on getting back as fast as possible. The arrow in the speed dial was stuck against the dial’s ceiling, as the airship’s basket pulled strongly at the balloon.

“There it is!” Blink announced. “I’ll teleport the rest of the distance, the building is in sight. You just park her somewhere safe and come after me, okay?”

“You bloody fool! There be two darn miles to that-”

“See ya later!” the unicorn shouted, galloping towards the front of the zeppelin. His horn glowing strong, he jumped off-board towards Ponyville, erupting in a blast of magic two seconds later.

He promptly arrived at his destination, crashing into a hard surface with a loud thud. Opening his eyes and clearing his head of pain, he found out the floor was brightly white. The strong light inside also made him wince, as he had lost the shades when he teleported.

“Blink, you’re here!” Spike’s familiar voice was heard, and soon a strong claw raised him off the ground.

“Is everything okay?” Blink asked, noticing all their friends behind Spike. The ground trembled slightly underneath his hooves.

“Yes, you’re right in time,” came Celestia’s voice from nearby.

He turned his head and saw the two monarchs bearing reassuring smiles. “I don’t even ugh . . . where is she?” he asked, focusing on what was truly important.

“Down the hallway, third door on the left. She’s fine,” Spike answered, pointing him the right way. The entire room shook again, and the lights flickered briefly.

“Is that-”

“Just hurry!” the collective voices of the Element Bearers urged him.

He burst through the double door he’d been pointed at and galloped down the brightly lit hallway, squinting his eyes from the light. His blood raced, his legs began to turn to jelly, and his heart shrunk, lodging into his throat. He went into the third room on the left just as the whole building shook again.

A stallion blocked his view. “Sir, you can’t be here-”

“I’ll pulverize you out of this existence if you don’t get the fuck out of my way,” Blink threatened, dark wisps of magic already swarming around him. The pony ate his words, letting him inside without a hesitation.

Another wave of magic made the room shake, all the pieces of furniture and equipment jutting on the floor violently. The dark energy he had summoned dissipated in an instant, leaving him dumbstruck. His whole magic had just been nullified.

It mattered not, for her voice then reached his ears. “Blink!” He followed it to a bed surrounded by a couple of doctors and nurses.

“Twi’, I’m here,” he said, kneeling next to the bed and grabbing her hoof.

“We’re about to deliver. Nurse, give me more light in here, I can’t use any of my scan spells,” a doctor said from nearby.

“You- you’re late,” she managed between quick breaths.

“I’m so sorry, I was in Canterlot when I got Spike’s letter. Are you okay?”

She muffled a scream, her face contorted in absolute pain. ”Do I look okay, Blink?!” Her hoof almost crushed his as she held onto him for dear life.

“I don’t know what to do, Twilight. How can I help you?”

“Just- just hold me . . .”

“Aaaand they’re out!” the doctor announced all of a sudden, accompanied by a set of cries.

“What?” both parents asked in unison.

A wave of relief soon settled over the mare, as the pain began to subside. Blink continued to hold her hoof, showering her with kisses and whatever words he thought might relax her.

“Congratulations you two. You’re now the parents of two healthy foals,” the gray-coated doctor said, bringing the two fresh bundles of life wrapped in blankets to their mother. “Mrs. Sparkle, I’m going to remove them from their towels and put them against your belly. They need their mother’s body warmth in their first few hours of life, all right?”

She just nodded, unable to form coherent sentences at that point. The doctor took the foals out of their blankets and gently placed them on the bed near Twilight. Both her and Blink sat there speechless, staring at the two newborn foals.

“They’re-”

“Ugly,” Blink concluded with a bit more sincerity in his voice that he would have wanted.

“How could you say that? They’re our foals! Plus, the books mentioned they would look . . . not so pretty in their first few days,” Twilight said with strain and fatigue in her voice.

“Is that a- uhh, doc? They’re not unicorns. Why?” the stallion addressed the lab-coated pony filling up a medical sheet nearby.

“Well, one’s an earth filly, the other one a pegasus colt. It’s mostly genetics, they can inherit their racial genes from either the mother’s or father’s family tree, sometimes even both. I can schedule a gene test on both of you if you want to know precisely.”

“It’s all right for now, thank you,” Twilight said, returning her attention to her foals.

The two little beings had their eyes closed, as they shakingly moved towards their mother’s body. Both were furless and had long, skinny legs. One in particular had two appendages sticking out of its back, much like a newborn bird.

“That one looks like a chicken,” Blink remarked with a light chuckle.

Twilight’s eyes became an endless pit of fury at that remark, and Blink immediately felt in danger for his life. “I’m kidding, Twilight. I’m sorry.”

The two foals pawed at their mother’s belly with their little hooves, and Twilight curled up protectively around them.

“Can I touch them?” Blink hesitantly asked.

“Yes, but please don’t move them too much.”

The stallion slowly approached the two little creatures, not daring to touch them with anything but the tip of his nose. The small, featherless and furless pegasus blindly turned around and rested himself on his father’s warm nose, holding onto it with his tiny front hooves. Blink’s eyes watered up instantly, and it took great constraint for him to maintain his composure.

“The books said they should be hungry by now, why aren’t they- oww! Okay, she found it . . .”

The earth filly was eagerly suckling from her mother, and Blink gently guided the small pegasus next to his sister. Soon enough, he too was feeding himself alongside his sibling.

“I take that back. They’re the cutest things I’ve seen in my life,” Blink murmured, gently nuzzling Twilight.

“Yes they are. Have you thought about names yet? We always postponed it . . .”

“Hmm, this might be difficult. I’m bad with Equestrian names.”

“Well, they will be taking part of names anyway, so what would you like to call our daughter?”

“I- I don’t know Twi’, I really don’t.”

“How about Bell?” Twilight proposed. She turned to the filly feeding underneath her belly and softly licked her across the head. “Her ears are so floppy.”

“Bell? As in Twilight Bell?”

“Yes, unless you want her to take your name.”

The two foals kept feeding themselves, completely indifferent to the discussion in which their names were being decided.

“We’re not naming our daughter Midnight Bell. It’s pretty creepy,” Blink said.

“Twilight Bell it is. What about our colt?”

He pondered for a moment, his mind drawing a complete blank. It then came to him. It came like a wave of sadness filled with memories of a dear friend. Not only the sole, sad memory, but also all the happy moments and times they had together.

“Can- can we name him Chaser?” he asked with heavy heart.

“Midnight Chaser,” she murmured with a hint of sadness in her voice as well. “Of course we can. He’d be so happy to know that . . .”

“I bet he is.” The stallion then stifled a tear and cleared his throat and nose. “Well then. Welcome to this world, Twilight Bell and Midnight Chaser.”

“Mrs. Sparkle, there are a few visitors that would like to see you. They are the ones that have been in the waiting room. The foals should be all right as long as they are not touched by anyone else. Should I let them in now?”

“Sure,” Twilight responded to the doctor and the door to the saloon opened.

A wave of ponies, all five of Twilight’s best friends, rushed to her bed. Spike ducked his head and went through the door as well, taking his place at Blink’s side.

“Congratulations, dude; you’re a father now. I would have never guessed back when Twilight found you and put you in our library’s spare bedroom that night that this would happen.”

“Thanks. That makes two of us.”

“They’re the cutest foals I’ve seen in my life!” Fluttershy gently said, trying to get a better view of the two of them. “I’m so happy for you Twilight.”

“Well, if you and Mac start trying now, I bet you’ll have your foals play together in a few years,” Pinkie said with a wide smile, causing the pegasus to instantly turn red.

“For Celestia’s sake, Flutters’, you’re married to that stallion. We all know you did it anyway.” Rainbow’s remark only made the yellow pegasus turn ever more red.

“They’re simply beautiful, darling. You are so lucky,” Rarity said. “Reminds me of the first time I saw Sweetie Belle.”

“I kinda contributed a bit as well, you know?” Blink said from behind the circle of mares, yet none heard him as they continued their talk around Twilight. “Ehh, whatever.” He turned towards Spike. “You know what this means, right?”

The dragon’s face brightened up in a heartbeat. “Drinks are on you tonight?”

“Uhh, I think you might have a problem. But no. You’re an uncle now, Spike! Or a brother, depending on what you consider Twilight to be. I’d go with uncle. Yeah, my kids are going to love the stories about Spike, their alcoholic dragon uncle,” he said with a self-satisfied smirk.

“Hey, fermented fruit is a-”

“I know, ancient dragon tradition, helps your digestive systems and whatnot. But to me, you’re all a bunch of drunken lizards,” he teased, earning a wing over his head.

“Well, that’s it, ladies. And Spike,” Blink decided, massaging the back of his head as he came in between the mares. “Visit time’s over, you’ll see the two little balls of fur more when they’re actually going to have fur. Twilight’s just been through Tartarus and she needs her rest.”

“Come on, Blink, they’re our friends,” the mother tried to argue, yet couldn’t refrain from letting out a yawn at the mention of the word rest.

“Still, I would really like it if our friends didn’t all stare at your teats, okay?”

“Yeah, I have to agree with him on this one,” Spike chimed into the conversation. “We‘ll be seeing them at the library. Come on now.”

The whole gang left, Spike being the last one to close the door behind them. The gray doctor approached the two again, bearing a wide smile. “Quite the friends you have there, you two. Not to mention both the Princesses in our waiting room today. Mrs. Sparkle, regarding your parents and close family, I was told by Princess Celestia that your parents are coming shortly, and your brother and his wife uhh- royalty as well, will arrive here sometime this evening from the Crystal Empire.”

“Great, more ponies to look at my wife’s tea-”

“Blink . . .”

The doctor tried to hide a chuckle, but then remembered one last question he had to ask. “What about you, Mister Midnight? Any family coming to visit from your side?”

“No, I don’t think so,” he said with a hint of sadness.

“Okay then, I’ll leave you two alone. Mrs. Sparkle, please have some rest before any more visits, all right?”

“Okay. Thank you, doctor.”

After the stallion left, Twilight returned her attention to their foals, who had apparently finished feeding and were now sound asleep, tucked against their mother’s underside.

“Blink, I’m so nervous,” she said in a low voice, as to not wake them up.

“Why? You’re doing great! All those books you’ve read about taking care of foals. Relax, you got this.”

“Even so, I can’t help it. Look at them, they’re so small and fragile. And I’m . . . I feel like I’m too young to be a mother.”

The stallion grabber her hoof, while gently pressing his head against hers. “Twi’, I’m here. No matter what happens, I’ll always be here. We’re going to go through this together, okay?”

With a nod and a deep breath of relief, the mare laid her head over her hooves, watching the two foals as they slept peacefully. Blink rested himself next to her, joining in on the foal watch.

*** *** ***

A distant sound woke Blink up. His eyes were bloodshot, and his nerves were tethering at the edge. He swallowed hard. The bed underneath him wouldn’t give up without a fight. A sharper cry however said otherwise. He felt Twilight shuffle next to him, so he held her with a hoof.

“I’ll do it. You need to rest, tomorrow’s your Archmage inauguration.”

“Are you sure?”

He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. “Yes, I’m sure. Now go back to sleep.”

The stallion got out of bed and dragged his hooves to the room next to theirs, the same room where he lived during his first days in Equestria. The bed had been replaced with a large cradle that was currently occupied by two screaming foals.

“Facing the daemons of Tartarus seems more of a docile fate than you two,” he muttered, leaning over the crib and grabbing the two hungry infants.

Despite his understandable grumpiness, he always enjoyed holding his foals, feeding and cleaning them. It greatly contrasted his personality and nature, yet he loved them more than anything else. Partly because his own blood flowed through their veins, but mostly because they defied all he knew about what he was.

Blink floated a couple of bottles of milk to him, and began feeding them as he gently swayed the foals in his front hooves. How could these two bundles of life originate from him? He had been told, and it was even proved that he would never be able to give the gift of life to anything in that world.

Yet it happened. Twilight bore his foals for eleven months, and they were now two normal ponies, coming from parents that represented the most contrasting notions in the world. That was why he loved them so much. He knew that only his love for Twilight and her love for him were the things that made their existence possible. That same existence defied nature’s oldest guardians, Life and Death themselves.

With the bottles of milk now empty, Blink gently patted them on the back with his hoof. The two foals however decided something was still not right for them, so Bell began crying again, which made Chaser cry as well.

“Ohh, come on you two. What’s wrong? You’ve drank so much milk your tummies are bulging . . . fat little rats, that’s what you are,” he jokingly said, swaying them left and right. “You know I’m bad at lullabies, don’t make me do this.”

The foals however cared little for their father’s lack of musical talent. They continued crying, despite being fed and swung to their hearts’ content.

“Okay, I’ll sing you something.” He racked his mind to remember any soothing melody he could sing for them, but only one song from his previous life came up. “Damn it, here goes.” He cleared his throat and began singing softly:

“The stars lean down to kiss you,

And I lie awake and miss you;

Pour me a heavy dose of atmosphere.

'Cause I'll doze off safe and soundly,

But I'll miss your hooves around me;

I'd send a postcard to you, dear,

'Cause I wish you were here.”

The two stopped their crying, as they watched their father intently. Blink smiled, glad to have made them happy.

“I'll watch the night turn light blue,

But it's not the same without you;

Because it takes two to whisper quietly.

The silence isn't so bad,

'Till I look at my hooves and feel sad,”

'Cause the space between my hoof

Is right where yours fits perfectly.”

By some sort of miracle, the foals were now calmly sleeping in his hooves. Blink stopped singing, eyes wide that it actually worked. He then gently placed them back in their crib, drawing a warm blanket over them. The stallion sighed, standing there and just looking at them as they slept.

“That was beautiful,” Twilight’s soft whisper came from behind him. She approached the crib and leaned against Blink. He gave her a kiss, welcoming her embrace.

“Thanks. Damn, they’re so beautiful when they’re asleep.”

“I know. But something tells me you love them just the same when they are crying.”

He simply smiled back, holding her tightly in his hooves. Outside, the night went on, as peace and tranquility nourished over Ponyville. The Golden Oaks Library, now the Sparkle private residency, had never been a better place to be for the two ponies and their young foals.

End of Chapter 30

Author's Note

NOT the last chapter, like previously announced! I had to split it because it was getting too long so stick around for one last chapter and a special epilogue!

Again, I'd like to remind you all of the prize competition I am running for the readers of this story!

http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/172200/announcing-prize-contest-stairway-to-equestria-update-misc

Chapter 31: Happily Ever After

This chapter contains a scene with background music at the end. Watch out for the words linking to a YouTube video.

Chapter 31

Happily Ever After

The sun bared down upon the small town of Ponyville as the wind gently calmed the effects of the pronounced summer heat. Under a large tree near the Everfree forest, two ponies rested in each other’s embrace. One was a beige mare with a light purple mane; the other, a red pegasus colt with a brightly yellow mane and tail, wild fetlocks at the end of his hooves. The two stood happily in the tree’s shadow, not daring to face the scorching summer sun.

“Are you coming to tonight’s dance-off?” the mare asked, lovingly poking the stallion with her nose.

“Ah wouldn’t miss it for anything,” he quietly retorted, wrapping a wing around the mare.

They joined into a soft kiss, a kiss that soon turned into an intimate make-out session under the tall tree. The colt wrapped his hooves around her, gently letting them travel across her body. She gave a soft giggle, breaking the kiss.

“It tickles. But you don’t have to stop,” she added in a whisper, resuming the kiss.

As they continued, the colt’s ears perked up at an eerie sound. He opened his eyes from the blissful pleasure state he was in. His heart nearly stopped in his chest. He broke from the kiss, immediately drawing his hooves back from the mare.

“I uhh, think I should go.”

She tilted her head in confusion.

“I’ll see you tonight. Hopefully,” he added. A growl from behind the mare made him pick up his pace. He worked his rather rigid wings and soon took off into the sky.

The mare turned back at the source of her coltfriend’s distress and immediately groaned in annoyance. She then began trotting back home, leaving the tree’s comfortable shadow. Behind her remained the reason for which the stallion bailed so fast: a dark-coated pony, or to be more precise, what was left of a pony.

The creature had a dislodged, hanging jaw, with maggots and other insects roaming freely through the numerous putrefying holes in his face and body. It stared at the trotting mare, a remnant of a chuckle leaving his crushed throat before falling apart into pieces that eventually turned to dust.

Just a couple of minutes later, the mare had entered a large tree house, slamming the door behind her. “Why do you always have to be like this?” she shouted as she entered the living room.

“I thought we had this conversation already,” a voice called back from behind an open newspaper at the main table.

“You have no right to mess with my personal life! Mom, tell him!” she said, turning to a unicorn mare that was coming downstairs, oblivious to the reasons why the house was now filled with an angry teenage voice.

“I believe I have all the right in the world when a horny colt starts exploring a mare’s body, and that mare’s body belongs to my daughter of all ponies,” the stallion behind the newspaper stated, dropping the reading material. “From what I’ve heard, there’s a dance tonight. I assume you want to go to said dance, so I advise you to keep your next reply as short and polite as possible.”

The young mare opened her mouth to protest, her cheeks filling with red after finding out her dad knew all about what had happened underneath the tree. However, she said nothing and chose to trot upstairs to her room.

“I thought so,” the stallion muttered, picking back up the newspaper.

“What did you do this time, Blink?” the mare that came downstairs asked, joining him at the table.

He dropped his newspaper again. The stallion hadn’t changed too much over the years, his features remaining the same as in his younger years, save for a healing scar here and there. The same could be said about the pony next to him, Twilight Sparkle, who bared an all-knowing smile. Her purple mane and its highlights remained as lively as ever, and her eyes still kept their hunger for knowledge, albeit with an added aura of kindness and understanding.

“Caught them making out near the Everfree . . . again.”

“Blink, we talked about this,” Twilight said.

“That’s what I just told her as well. She can’t be doing that kind of stuff yet. She’s too young.”

“She’s almost an adult.”

“He was groping her. Like- Like dough,” Blink said with a disgusted expression.

Twilight laughed, leaning over his chair and embracing him with her hooves. “I remember you doing the same every time you had leave from your guard duty before we got married. I don’t think you were giving my dad a lot of thought in those moments, were you?”

Blink sighed. “I know, but we were older. And we saved ourselves for the wedding, remember?”

“Not the most popular of decisions,” Twilight retorted with a roll of her eyes. Before her husband could say anything about that, she continued, “But it’s Hayseed we’re talking about. We know him very well, Blink; he’s like family. A sweet, gentle, and carrying pony, just like his parents.”

“Yeah, I would really like to have a word with Fluttershy and see how she reacts when I tell her that her son was groping our daughter like in a freakin’ massage parlor.”

“Most likely she would hide under her mane while turning redder than Big Mac,” she said, prompting a laugh from both of them. “But his dad . . .” Their laughs stopped, remembering very well how sad Bell had been when her coltfriend hadn’t been allowed out of the house for an entire week after Blink had talked with Big Mac about the two of them a year before.

“Yeah, that was pretty harsh, even for Mac,” Blink said.

“That’s because he respects you. And he respects our daughter as well.”

“I bet Bell hates the living guts out of me by now,” the stallion said, rather depressed.

“It’s all right. I’m going to have a talk with her today. It wouldn’t be a bad thing if you paid Big Mac a visit and discuss it with him as well.”

Blink raised an eyebrow, his suspicions lifting the hair on his back. “Discuss what now?”

“Come on, Blink, they’re young. It’s Bell’s first heat cycle and-”

“I do NOT want to know!” Blink cut her off.

It was happening. The one thing he didn’t want to acknowledge or talk about with regards to his daughter. “No. No . . . nope. No. I am not- What? No.”

“Blink . . .”

“I said no. She’s not even an adult, Twilight! What am I even- Are you insane? You want me to talk to Big Mac and ask him to tell Hayseed to use prote- No. Not happening! I will suck the very life out of that colt if he comes close to Bell with a high blood pressure in his lower body.”

“You are not reasonable, Blink,” Twilight complained. “Sooner or later they will do it. I’d rather know that they are . . . well, safe.”

“They won’t do anything if I’ll kill him first,” he countered with a sly grin. “And then I’ll keep his soul trapped in the Antechamber for several millennia, just for good measure.”

His wife’s deadpan look was all the reply he got.

“Twi’ . . . please. If you have that talk with her, it’s like we’re approving this.”

The mare simply grabbed her stallion in a hug. “I know. But she’s mature enough, Blink. I know you love her more than anything, but in a few more weeks she’s going to be an adult by Equestrian laws. We have to let her make her choices, no matter how much we love her. I don’t want Bell to feel constrained or that she has strict parents.”

Blink sighed deeply from the confinement of his wife’s embrace. “You’re right. I’ll- I’ll visit the Apple farm today. I can’t even believe I’m going to talk with Big Red about this . . .”

“Thank you. By the way, I assume you made the poor colt flee again. What did you do?”

The stallion fell quiet. “I uhh . . . a shadow clone, yeah.”

Twilight frowned, then her eyes widened as she figured out what her husband hid from her. “You didn’t . . .”

He was in trouble. Big trouble. “Okay, I raised the dead. Just one. And then he turned back to ashes. Just to scare Hayseed off.”

Twilight instantly let go of him, assuming the scolding stance the stallion was all too familiar with. “Blink, I thought we talked about that. You know how I feel when you use your magic like that.”

“Twilight, come on. He was some guy that died a few centuries ago and was buried there. You know that I can feel them when I want to. They are everywhere, Twi’; generations upon generations of remains litter these lands. It’s impossible not to-”

“No, Blink! You know the sanctity of a pony’s corpse! You know better than to do that to them. We are not what you said we were back then! I thought we agreed on that.”

A painful memory crashed into Blink’s mind, just at the mention of that ‘back then’.

Eight years ago . . .

Blink rested on the large, king-sized bed. Every now and then, he would grab a grape with his magic from a fruit platter nearby. Next to him, his discarded black armor rested in a pile, stained with fresh blood. His eyes travelled across the large, stone bedchambers and over to the trophies and symbols of power that belonged to the gryphon culture.

The room’s double doors swung open. Twilight stepped through, still wearing her impressive white armor. Her face fell completely when she saw her husband. “Blink, what . . . what are you doing?”

“Resting? Victories are tiresome, Twi’.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Blink, what happened today…? How could you?”

The blue stallion stood up. “How could I what? We were sent here to do this. And now it’s done. The Gryphon Empire is no longer a threat to us.”

“We were sent to prevent the attack! Not this! How can you rest on his bed?”

He frowned at those words and got out of the bed. The last thing he was expecting was his wife to be against him. “Because of him, we were attacked almost a decade ago by three different races. He ruined the night I proposed to you. He almost destroyed the entire capital and almost killed your mentor. He. Killed. Chaser!”

“You killed Star Chaser!” Twilight shouted, her eyes now in tears. “Your darkness killed him. I remember when you told me your Nightmare lured the changeling into that house that fell on him. Now you get back at Arnost by killing Gilda in front of him? His own niece? Then take his life like that? And now- now your Nightmare’s back . . .”

He took a few steps towards her. “No it isn’t! It’s still chained deep inside, like it always has been.”

“Then that’s even worse,” she said with heavy breath.

“Twilight, please. Listen to me. You know very well this could happen when Celestia and Luna asked us to come here.”

“No, I never expected this . . .”

“You are the smartest pony I know, Twilight. You discovered the Magic Singularity, for Luna’s sake! And that’s because you’ve mastered it first. I was second, and before us, only Starswirl the Bearded was said to have achieved it. Not even the Princesses are as powerful as us now.”

“Where are you going with this, Blink?”

“Twilight, our magic is capable of self-replication; the only limit is our intelligence and imagination. We came here alone, facing two hundred thousand gryphons. And still, it was the shortest battle in history. You have to accept it, Twilight: we’re-”

“No, Blink. Don’t say it.”

“But it is what we are! We are Gods.”

The mare winced at that, tears filling her eyes. The silence that settled was strange and painful. “We are not like that, Blink. We should have used our powers for good. Not for this. Never for this. What- What would our kids think of us?”

“They’re too young to understand what we are. We . . .” He took a deep breath. His chest felt tight, and his mind was a storm of thoughts. Did he just say what he thought he said? Did he just do what he heard he did from his wife? It felt like his Nightmare was pulling the strings again.

Yet he felt no dark presence. Only him. Always him. The need for recognition and the thirst of power. He had brought down the fighting force of an entire nation almost entirely by himself. He was drunk on power. He always wanted more. “Is it bad for me to want more?” he murmured the same words he had asked Pearl months after the successful incursion against the Changeling Hive.

“I don’t like what you’ve become, Blink. I’m- I’m going home.” Twilight surrounded herself with waves of magic, her eyes turning white as she drew enough power to teleport herself across the continents.

“Twilight! No! Please don’t go!” His words fell on deaf ears. The stallion shielded his eyes from the powerful light. Moments later, and after a blast of powerful magic, he was alone in the royal chambers of the king he had just slain.

Blink fell to the floor crying, unable to comprehend the consequences of his actions and words.

The stallion gulped. Those powerful memories were burned into his mind forever. It was the moment he and Twilight were the furthest apart they had ever been in their relationship. Despite being on top of the world, it was the lowest point he had ever reached in his life.

Luckily for him, the two Watchers of that planet appeared before him after Twilight had left Arnost’s chambers. For the first time in her life, Twilight didn’t know what to do. She had teleported to the Royal Castle and told the Princesses of what her husband had said and done.

The conversation that followed between Celestia, Luna, and Blink helped the stallion greatly. No one knew what words were said between the three ponies, but after a short time spent away from Ponyville, Blink returned to his family. Both he and Twilight apologized for leaving each other in the times they needed each other the most. They had always been open about their feelings, concerns, and aspirations ever since.

Now, eight years later, he still remembered those dark moments of his life like they were yesterday. The promise to never go down that path was stronger than ever.

“You’re right, Twi’. We’re not Gods, and we shouldn’t act like we are. I’m sorry.”

The mare gave him a kiss, then sat on his lap, holding her hooves around his neck. “I know it’s hard for you to not be able to express your talents openly like I do. But even I have to refrain from using my powers every now and then.”

“So no more raising of the dead?”

“No, please. Unless you have a very good reason for it.”

“Okay, but only because you asked.”

“Eww, not in public!”

The two ponies turned to the new voice: their son, Chaser, who had just left his room, the chamber that once belonged to Spike. The young pegasus rushed towards the table and grabbed a piece of toast, all while faking disgust and avoiding looking at his parents.

The colt borrowed quite a lot of physical features from his father: he had a blue coat, albeit brighter, and a similar body built. His mane, however, was of silver color, with purple highlights streaming down towards the tips but the style was identical to his father’s. His cutie mark showed his talent and interest for weather controlling: a storming cloud with several stars above it.

“Well look who decided to wake up. At almost 1 PM,” Twilight pointed out, getting off Blink with the faintest of blushes.

“Yeah, well Scootaloo’s been busting my chops all day yesterday, so I needed some rest.”

“Come on, she can’t be worse than Rainbow Dash,” Blink said with a grin.

The colt shuddered at the mention of that name. “You’re right. No one’s worse than Rainbow.”

“Blink, Chaser! That’s not a very nice thing to say about her. She’s one of my best friends.”

“She is pretty harsh, Twi’,” Blink argued, siding with his son as always.

“She can be strict. But only because she wanted the best out of you.”

“So that’s why he gave up on that featherbrain Hayseed?” Chaser asked. “Because he doesn’t have anything good to give?”

“Wow, son, you really hate that guy for dating your sister, huh? Who would have guessed?” Blink asked mischievously, turning towards Twilight as if surprised.

She silenced his little play with a deep frown, then turned to her son. “Chaser, please don’t talk like that about Apple Hayseed. He’s a kind colt, kinder than you have been to him anyway.”

“Whatever, mom,” Chaser responded with a roll of his eyes. “I’m off to training, see ya guys later!”

“Take care!”

As the front door closed, Twilight used her magic to smack Blink across the head, almost knocking him out of his chair.

“Hey! What was that for?”

“Stop fueling this hate between those two. They might actually become family in the future.”

Blink grabbed his head with his hooves. “Again, something I do not want to think about.”

“Is there anything you do want to think about, Blink?”

The stallion’s ears perked and his face brightened. “Well, we’re having lunch now, right?”

Twilight’s mouth hung open. She snapped out of it, reminding herself that there was no point in trying to understand her husband, and that she had abandoned that endeavor long ago. “I’ll set up the food. We’re eating at Spike’s, so-”

A burst of blue magic left her words hanging. Blink had already teleported out.

*** *** ***

Blink munched happily at his food, standing at the very table he’d been sitting most of the times for over two decades. Twilight was next to him, and at the other side was their host, Spike. All three of them were in the middle of the dragon’s home.

The green-and-purple dragon had grown quite a lot over the past years and was now at least five times taller than a four-hooves-standing pony. His features had also changed, making him look very different from what he used to be like when he was younger. His neck had stayed short, but the fins on his back and head were more pronounced than ever.

His legs and arms had strengthened considerably, and now he mostly walked on all fours. His head was slightly elongated, and his jaw widened quite a bit, giving him that menacing characteristic each adult dragon had. Twilight told him from her books that he would stay like that for at least a few decades, as his second growth spurt had come to an end.

He chewed on a few diamonds while gulping down a hand-full of apples from a nearby barrel. Meanwhile, his eyes never left Blink and his happy demeanor.

“Is he always going to do this?” Spike asked Twilight.

“Hey! I like this table.”

“You really do,” Spike agreed, referring to the table they were all sitting at, the table Blink had teleported from the library along with the food for that lunch. His large eyes fell on the wooden piece of furniture, and he slowly ran the tip of one of his claws over it.

“Remember when we ate at this table for the first time?” Blink inevitably asked.

It had become a tradition that re-occurred every few months when the three of them would have a meal together: Blink would ask the same question, while Spike rolled his eyes and Twilight agreed with her husband, usually making a remark that sent the entire conversation on a small trip on memory lane.

This time however, Twilight chuckled as she normally would, yet the dragon said nothing, a tear drawing from his eyes.

“Oh, damn it. Come on, Spike. I know you hate it when I ask that, but really?”

“It’s not that. Because I actually remember . . .”

They all gathered around the table. He and Twilight each took a seat, and the new stallion quickly climbed onto his, trying to avoid getting help for that basic task.

“Well, I hope you guys enjoy my newest creation!” he said with pride in his voice. “Vegetable soup with fresh croutons, seasoned daisies and a touch of rose petals.”

“Wow, Spike, you've sure outdone yourself this time,” Twilight congratulated him, studying the pleasantly smelling dish.

Spike stared at his hand. It was now large enough to crush that whole table he once comfortably sat at. “I miss being small . . .”

“Change is not always bad. Dude, you’re the strongest resident in Ponyville. And the largest.”

Twilight elbowed him under the table, then turned to her dearest assistant. “Spike, is something wrong? Are you and Ruby-”

“No, no, no. We’re fine. In fact, I’m leaving for a few weeks to the Dragon Shires. Her clan invited me again.”

“So what’s with all the melancholy, then?” Blink asked.

“It’s just . . . me and Luna had one of our talks again last night.”

Blink rolled his eyes. “Ohh, boy. Another of Luna’s dark lectures? You immortals slash near-immortals are so fun to be around sometimes, I swear,” he said, grabbing another mouthful of food.

Spike cleared his voice and wiped away the tear in his eye with a claw. “You’re right. It’s stupid. She always gets to me like this,” he added with a rather forced chuckle.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Twilight asked, concerned as always.

“No. You guys are the last ponies I want to talk to about the sorrows of immortality. Well, near-immortality.”

Blink acknowledged the correction with a nod of the head while continuing to enjoy the lunch along with Twilight. Spike resumed eating as well, sneaking quick glances to his friends every now and then. Luna’s words still echoed through his mind.

“Cherish every moment you spend with them, Spike, for their life would be but a blink in your time.”

*** *** ***

The following day brought even more sunshine over the calm town of Ponyville. Its residents did as much as they could to stay out of the heat, and the weather team pegasi even flew for miles across to bring some rain clouds.

Near the small lake, a mile behind the former library, the wooden house had changed drastically ever since Twilight and Blink had received it and the land around as a wedding gift from Kazooie. It now had a solid stone base and thick, metal walls, with a wooden façade to keep the old appearances. It was no longer a livable house, as it became Blink’s initial work place as a National Defense researcher.

Following his very early and rather controversial retirement after the battle at the Griffin Kingdom eight years before, the structure had become his personal hobby shed. There, with Twilight’s occasional help, he developed technologies and personal projects outside Equestria’s normal scientific capabilities, combining magic with the limited technical knowledge he retained from over twenty years ago, in an attempt to bring back a bit of old into his new life.

A huge, ten-foot metal antenna dish rested on one side of the house, pointed at a seemingly random location in the sky. The main entrance to the one-room shed was open, a couple of voices resonating from inside.

Blink was leaned over a large working bench, fiddling over a small device with a couple of tools using his magic. A metal box with a speaker rested nearby, from where the voices originated. A cable connected it with a large panel next to a wall, from which several thick cables were hooked up to the metal dish outside.

“And what a memory that is, George,” came from the box’s speakers, as Blink continued to work over the bench.

“Yeah, that’s one to remember, Brian. Well, before our next song, we have to remind everyone that this week, the guys over at MTV are celebrating their first year since going live!”

“That’s right, who would have thought music videos would catch on so fast? They might even get ahead of stations soon.”

“Take it from my crazy DJ colleague here, folk: music videos becoming more popular than radio! Well, I guess it’s time for that song I promised you guys: The Number One Song in Heaven, by Sparks. My favorite song from ‘79, I’d say.”

The mentioned song began playing in the background, its tune drawing Blink’s attention.

“George, it’s been three years; you should get with the times!”

“Oh, shush you!”

The upbeat song began playing at full volume as the DJs stopped talking. A smile crept on Blink’s face as he began bobbing his head and tail to the rhythm of the song.

“This is the number one song in heaven . . .

Why are you hearing it now, you ask;

Maybe you're closer to here than you imagine,

Maybe you're closer to here than you care to be.”

Blink mouthed the lyrics along with the radio, almost forgetting everything about what he was working on. His pet, Raven, rested nearby on a pile of equipment, giving the stallion an odd look as he began swaying his flank to the rhythm of the song.

If you should die before you wake,

If you should die while crossing the street,

The song that you'll hear, I guarantee,

It's number one, all over heaven;

The number one song all over heaven!

Blink’s moment was cut short when a knock came from the shed’s entrance, followed by a voice clearing itself. He turned around immediately, somewhat embarrassed by being caught giving in to the music he enjoyed. He turned down the radio with his magic, giving Twilight a smirk.

“What was that?” she asked, coming in.

Blink smiled. “Darling, those were the 80’s. Well, very late 70’s but it doesn’t matter.”

“I know what year those are coming from, but that song was . . . odd.”

“Oh, don’t you remember it?” he asked, returning to his work over a small device. “It was quite popular three years ago. You know, right about when we finished this,” he added, pointing at the large panel the radio box was connected to.

“Your world was so weird,” Twilight concluded with a laugh.

Blink raised his eyes to his wife. “Hey, you should hear what we had in 2011 when I . . . you know, died the first time. I don’t even want to imagine what they have now. We’ll probably never even find out.”

Twilight pondered for a moment. “Well, by our calculations, it’s currently 2032 by your old calendar. We’re picking up radio signals from 1982 because your planet is about fifty light years away and that’s how much it takes for radio waves to travel that distance. You will start catching up with what happened after you came here in about thirty years. Give or take.”

“Give or take, indeed. I’m just glad you helped me with this. It actually means a lot to me to re-live my old history through radio, as weird as it sounds.”

“Let’s just keep the volume down, okay? You remember what happened last year . . .”

Blink’s mind immediately went back to when Pinkie Pie had visited him at his shed a year before. She had overheard a song playing on the radio at that time and saw Blink dance to it in a very unusual, un-Equestrian manner.

Through some unexplainable circumstances, a rendition of that same song had become Equestria’s number one hit song later that year. It also started what was one of the most dangerous dance trend in history, given how bad ponies were at maintaining their balance on hind legs.

“Come on, are the Princesses still throwing the blame on me for The Twist craze?”

“Ponies are not meant to twist!” Twilight said, trying as much as possible to not burst into laughing. “It’s serious. Bell sprained a hoof while dancing to that song, you remember too well.”

“You healed that in a night, Twi’.”

“Still, mixing your culture with ours is not the best of ideas.”

“Are you sure, Twilight?” Blink asked mischievously. “Because I managed to record this little gem the other day. It’s from . . . about a year after The Twist.”

The stallion grabbed what looked like a magnetic cassette, inserting it into the radio box and flicking a button. The song on the cassette began playing, and Blink immediately went into the rhythm of the dance on his hind hooves.

“Nooo!” Twilight yelped as the stallion grabbed her into the dance, the song playing at maximum volume.

“Come on let's twist again,

Like we did last summer!”

Yeaaah, let's twist again,

Like we did last year!”

Blink, displaying his hard-acquired, yet impressive dancing skills, spun his wife on her hooves, forcibly making her dance to the hit song.

“Heeee, and round and round and up and down we gooooo again!

Oh, baby, make me know you love me sooooo-”

“Blink!” Twilight’s yell came from an unusually larger distance. The stallion was just about to give his partner a kiss after a successfully executed pirouette, eyes closed as he lost himself in the rhythm once again. Opening his eyes, a large quantity of pink was all that filled his vision.

“Easy there, silly Blinky. I thought you two weren't into that.”

“Pinkie?” Blink asked, his eyes widened in surprise. He was holding Pinkie Pie in his hooves, while Twilight was a foot away, her hoof slapped cross her face as she shook her head.

“What’s this song?” the pink mare asked with a wide smile, “Sounds awfully a lot like-”

Blink immediately stopped the player with his magic, letting go of Pinkie Pie. The pony didn’t fall, however, and returned all her hooves on the ground from her suspended position.

“It sounds like nothing, Pinkie Pie. Okay? It’s absolutely nothing,” Blink rushed to explain, yet Pinkie kept her smirk.

“Okie, dokie, lokie! Well then, sorry for interrupting your private party here. I overheard it and thought it was something I wasn’t invited to, and then I wondered why wouldn’t I be invited to a party thrown by my best friends? But as it turns out, you two were dancing to that amazing new song coming from Blink’s magic radio, and then I just had to know what-”

“Pinkie!”

“Oh, sorry! I’m off!”

“Pinkie! You didn’t hear anything here today!” Twilight shouted after the mare as she bounced away with physics-defying speed.

“We’re fucked,” Blink muttered, slumping down on a chair nearby.

“Let’s just hope it won’t catch on like the first one did. I mean, doesn’t it sound the almost the same?”

Blink chuckled at Twilight’s remark. “It was the number one hit the year it was launched, like the first one was the year before.”

“Oh, horse apples . . . what is it even called?”

“Let’s Twist Again.”

“Wow, figures.”

“It’s pretty catchy though, Twi’. You have to at least admit that.”

“It doesn’t matter, there’ll be tens of thousands of cases of sprained hooves and lower shoulder pain across Equestria. And the concerts,” Twilight remembered with dread.

Blink smirked. “Uhh, the concerts . . . guaranteed training grounds for the ambulance crews.”

Twilight shook her head. “At least Pokey sang the first one. That stallion has the most talented voice I’ve heard.”

“Yeah, and of course he will sing the new one too, he’s her husband. Damn famous for that song too,” Blink muttered. “Anyway! What’s done is done! Time for me to get back to work,” he said, turning back to the small device he was tinkering.

“Are you still working on that-”

A small burst of magic interrupted Twilight. A letter materialized in front of her, and she immediately recognized the chipped diamond sigil.

“Blink, we got a letter from-”

“Done!” the stallion shouted in triumph, grabbing the small piece he was working on and rushing outside, though not before floating a pair of shades on his eyes first.

Twilight rolled her eyes, following the stallion out. He went around the shed under the willow tree by the lake, where something was covered with a large tarp. “Sorry, Twi’, I’m listening!” Blink said, turning to his partner.

“It’s from Rarity and Pearl. They say they miss Ponyville and all of us, and that they will be back in the following days from their trip!” Twilight said with excitement. “Can’t wait to let the other girls know!”

“Huh, it’s been a while. I kinda miss that white bastard as well. Pearl, I mean,” he added with a laugh.

“I can’t wait for them to tell us their stories. Imagine: a whole year sailing- uhh flying around the world,” Twilight said, picturing what would it be for her and Blink to do the same.

“Twi’, we did that too; ish . . .”

“Yeah, but we used our powers to teleport across the lands thousands of miles at a time. Those two sailed on the Pearly Diamond all that distance, visited all the continents and amazing places this planet has to offer.”

“Details, darling. But if you want to travel slow and cool, I can always make you one of these,” the stallion said, pulling the tarp over the covered object under the willow.

Revealed from underneath the cover was Blink’s most complicated, time-consuming project he had endeavored on along with Twilight. It had taken over six years to complete, and during that time, the stallion researched mechanical and transport systems extensively, visited several engineers and blacksmiths across Equestria, and placed numerous custom orders for metal casted parts and bits.

Using his magic, he placed the small panel he had been working on all day into a socket in the fuel tank, right underneath the speedometer.

“It’s done,” he proudly said. “The first cruiser bike in this world, now with the added radio.” He executed a hoof pump, barely containing his excitement. “It can pick up local stations and even the stations that we pick up from my old world via the satellite dish.”

“Wow, that’s actually pretty impressive,” Twilight stated, being genuinely happy for her husband. “What are you doing for signal reception of your stations? We only get the signal using the dish, but you don’t broadcast it back into the air here.”

“Uhh, I’ve re-routed the radio waves and transmitted them via the military radio towers Equestria has. I called an old favor and had the signal put on a locked frequency. That way, only I’ll be able to listen to it. That is, of course, only when my old home is on the sky and not behind the planet.”

The stallion got onto the black cruiser, resting his hooves on the bike’s handles that were built specifically to allow acceleration and brake control using hooves. The vehicle looked a lot like what his old world had in terms of choppers, albeit it was somewhat larger to accommodate the weight difference between species. The seat was placed slightly lower as well, so that a pony could ride it more comfortably given the limb-to-body ratios of an equine. The fuel tank had his cutie mark painted over in purple, but the engine was emblazoned with Twilight’s, as she was the one to mostly work on it.

“Four hundred ponypower, eight hundred in hybrid mode. Zero to sixty in less than three seconds, reaches one-sixty on conventional fuel, and a hell-of-a-lot on magic if I kick in the hybrid.”

“Please don’t do that ever again,” Twilight said as she circled the finished vehicle. “When you tested that mode down the northern path last week, some poor pony must have seen it because I’ve heard crazy stories about blue lightning whizzing down the road at night,” she remembered with a chuckle.

“Will keep that in mind.” He paused for a moment, then flashed a big, goofy smile. “Nope, I lied. Hah!”

“You’re un-curable. Please don’t allow Chaser on it too soon though, I don’t want him to get killed.”

“Now that I’ll keep in mind!”

His horn glowed, and a set of keys floated into the ignition. Upon turning them, the entire thing came to life as its twin-V engine roared loudly. The stallion’s eyes closed, enjoyed the sound that was unheard of in that world. Even though it wasn’t the first time he’d heard it in the past years while working on it, every engine start came as an auditory reward for all the work he put into replicating a technology he knew little of in the first place.

“Are you taking it out for a ride?” Twilight yelled at him, trying to cover the loud engine.

The stallion turned the bike off and took the keys out. “Nope. Not the right gear, and definitely not the right time.”

Twilight smiled and gave the stallion a quick, gentle kiss. She then glanced at the bike, resting herself against the fuel tank, right next to Blink. “This is a horribly inefficient yet absolutely fascinating transport device. You did a great job, Blink.”

“We did a great job. Like we always do when we set our minds to it.”

Twilight smirked, while innocently letting a hoof slide from the bike’s fuel tank to one of Blink’s hind hooves. “Yes, we’re very good at doing things together,” she said mischievously.

The stallion’s ears perked up while his blood started circulating faster. “Oh, you don’t say . . .”

Almost reading each other’s minds, Blink instantly turned into a cloud of dark smoke, while Twilight transcended into a white mist, both teleporting out of that place and right back to their bedroom.

*** *** ***

The atmosphere at the dinner table that evening was somewhat awkward, to say the very least. Twilight was rather cheerful and relaxed from her earlier activities with her husband. Blink, by contrast, was emotionless as a stone, Bell was in pain, and Chaser could not care less.

“Mom, come on. You could heal it in a second.”

“Your father has been very clear on this, and unfortunately for you, I’m siding with him this time,” Twilight said, taking another spoonful of soup. “You’ll have to wait for it to heal by itself.”

Bell turned to her dad, employing the saddest puppy eyes she could muster. “Dad? Please, I promise I won’t do it again.”

Blink however remained as motionless as before. “No,” he said flatly, also taking another spoonful of soup.

“But it hurts!” the young mare complained, gesturing towards her bandaged hoof resting on a second chair next to her.

“You don’t know pain,” he darkly muttered in retort.

Meanwhile, Chaser extended a wing behind him and flicked a small switch on a radio. The sudden noise made Blink jump in place. It was a familiar tune, however sung by a different voice, not to mention it was on an Equestrian station.

“Come on let's twist again,

Like we did last summer!

Yeaaah, let's twist again,

Like we did last-”

The radio was turned off by a blue aura. Midnight Blink was on the verge. “No radio at the table!”

“Since when?”

“Since now,” the stallion declared. “How in all hells did Pokey get to record that damn song so fast? I’ll murder Pinkie Pie,” he said to no one in particular.

Chaser turned to his mother. “Yo, mom, why does dad wanna kill aunt Pink?”

“Blink, we do get half of the proceedings from sales, like we did on his first hit,” Twilight said matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, while we all pretend that he came up with it on his own because we can’t talk about the source of the original song outside our family.” He turned to his daughter. “Not to mention, you hurt yourself dancing to it. Again.”

Twilight chuckled as a short period of silence settled at the family dinner. Blink eventually huffed, a smile forming on his lips as he shook his head to himself. The radio was turned on by the same magic that had turned it off earlier, albeit at a lower volume.

“Do you remember when

Things were really hummin',

Yeaaaah, let's twist again,

Twistin' time is here!”

“It’s a damn good song tho’,” Blink muttered smiling, and the whole family burst laughing.

*** *** ***

Night fell over Ponyville, and while Chaser and Bell were already asleep, Twilight and Blink were still awake in their large bedroom. Both were sitting at their own desks, trying to steal some time for their personal projects and hobbies after a long day. The chamber also doubled as a study, as Twilight’s original bedroom was extended, making use of the extra space they had when their home was no longer a public library.

“Twi’, where did you put that feasibility study you gave me yesterday?” Blink asked from across the room.

“Left it on your-”

“-desk, got it!” the stallion said, picking up the file and browsing through it. The last page was marked by a large declined stamp.

“Come on, Twi’, how could you reject this one as well? I mean, you asked me if I could come up with ideas and prototypes to send to the science committee in Canterlot. How can I do that if you keep rejecting them?”

“A portable weapon capable of firing pieces of metal fifty millimeters in length over great distances is not really the kind of stuff we need, Blink,” Twilight recited from her desk.

“But I already built the 50 Cal’ prototype,” Blink complained, very much like a spoiled foal.

Twilight sighed. “Of course you did. But no, those plans will not leave this house or your workshop.”

“What about the rest?”

“Well, the one before that was about a heavy metal chariot motorized with a large engine and equipped with a high caliber cannon. Thank Celestia you didn’t prototype that too. Blink, we really don’t need more weapons; you’ve reverse-engineered enough from your old world to keep this one safe. And that self-propelled projectile with enriched Greenium payload that triggers a chain reaction on impact sounds just crazy! Who would build such a device that can cause so much damage?”

“They’re called nuclear bombs. And yeah, not the best of ideas, but I never wanted to submit it anyway. It was just a proof of concept.”

“Your old world must be such a terrifying place if you say one of your nations had tens of thousands of those,” Twilight said.

In the meantime, Blink had gotten over to her desk, dropping off her study and the rest of the 50 Cal’ project in a trash can, before setting its contents in magical flames that burned all the documents. “Yeah, it was messed up like that. I know,” he declared with a sigh. His eyes wandered over Twilight’s research, recognizing words and phrases like “tissue regeneration” and “genetic anti-oxidant magic effects”.

“Twilight, is that project Phoenix you’re working on?”

The mare immediately packed up the files, putting them away under a stack of papers and letters. After a moment of silence, she turned to Blink, who was standing right next to her desk.

As she was about to say something, the stallion began to speak. “You’ve been working on that for over a decade now, Twi’. You know as much as I do that finishing it would be like me finishing the nuclear bomb one. Celestia and Luna would never allow it.”

“But I’m close to finding a breakthrough, Blink. It’s purely academic, and you know it!”

“A very wise and smart mare once told me that I am not a God, and I should never try to be one. It goes both ways, Twi’.”

Twilight’s gaze lingered for a moment, before admitting defeat. “You’re right. I’ll- I don’t know. I’ll stop working on it, I guess.”

Blink sensed Twilight’s sadness and the huge disappointment in her voice. “I know how much it means for you. But you already have great legacy as one of Equestria’s most talented and powerful Archmages. Plus, how would we decide who gets that spell cast on them, and who would it be? Us two? Our children? Our closest friends? Where would we draw the line?”

The mare remained silent, contemplating at the biggest moral debate of her life. Was immortality something that she could experiment with like that? Was she a hypocrite for thinking that her talent was no worse than Blink’s? Wasn’t ending a life at a whim just as bad as bringing immortality to another?

A spark of magic however caught their attention. Twilight’s horn glowed, and a letter puffed in out of thin air, bearing the official Royal red ribbon. The mare skimmed through it before passing it on to Blink.

“Hmm, another breach in Tartarus’ lower chambers?” Blink mumbled, having finished reading the letter.

“Yes, Princess Celestia wants me to go check it out tomorrow.”

“Most likely Medusa got pissy again. I swear, that place needs some serious maintenance.”

“Well, I think I’ll call it a night. It’s pretty late, and apparently I have a very busy day tomorrow.”

“Fancy Archmage mare saving the day again? Well, besides the time I went and took care of it last time,” Blink said as the two of them got into bed.

“Not fair! That time I had a very bad cold,” she pouted, giving him a kiss.

He simply laughed. “Twilight Sparkle, Archmage of Equestria, Lifebringer of the world, put to bed by the common cold.”

She playfully smacked him against the head with a hoof, making herself comfortable amidst the sheets. “Good night.”

“Good night, Twi’.”

The lights went out, leaving the two to join Luna’s realm together.

*** *** ***

“Horse apples! Where did I put that report?” Twilight fumbled through her scrolls and papers on her desk the very next day.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to cover Tartarus for you today? You seem quite busy with that magic university class,” Blink asked from his desk as he stretched his hooves.

Twilight stopped her searching, darting her eyes to a clock. “I don’t have time . . .” she murmured. “Yes, could you do that for me, please? I don’t have time to do everything I had planned today.”

Blink smirked. Finally, some adventure breaking the recent settling monotony. “I guess I’ll take the bike. You know, to test it and whatnot.”

“Sure. Give me a minute and I’ll be by the lake. Go and get ready in the meantime.”

Teleporting to his workshop, he placed a hoof on the main door, his magic flowing through it and unlocking the secure building. He went straight to another secure metal door inside, unlocking it with his magic as well. The doors slid open, revealing an impressive cache of weapons and equipment. Most of them were prototypes that never left the shed, but some bared a bit of sentimental value for the stallion.

His eyes trailed on several mannequins inside the lock room. The first one had the torn, battered, and cut hydra leather armor he had worn at Struthill and Canterlot all those years before. It even still had his blood on it. The next ones were all subsequent generations of that very same armor, each of them thinner, lighter, and stronger than the last one.

A container was placed at the end of the mannequin row. It held the latest model, and it was the first armor set he hadn’t worked with Rarity on. Twilight had helped him with it greatly, and he was itching to test it out in live combat. He pressed a button on the container, making it open up. Cold trails of coolant liquid rose from it. As the fog cleared out a bit, the armor piece was revealed. Blink grabbed what was a snake-like piece of metal in his magic and went outside, though not before picking up a black jacket from a coat hanger and a slicker pair of shades from a shelf.

Twilight was waiting for him outside. “You sure you don’t want me to do it?” she asked, sorting through her saddle bag.

“You have that course you need to present. I don’t think I would make the best of teachers, so I can take care of Tartarus for you,” Blink said as he made his way to his cruiser.

“Wow, dad, that’s awesome,” a voice came from the willow tree. “What is it?”

“Thanks, Chaser. It’s a motorcycle. One-pony transport vehicle. It’s inspired from my old world I talked to you about.”

The pegasus glided down from the tree, landing next to it. “Sweet. Can I ride it?”

“You’ll have to get your mother’s approval on that first, but it’s fine by me.”

Twilight frowned. “Stop making me look like the evil parent here.”

“Well, you’re certainly the soft one,” Blink said, nodding at someone behind Twilight. Bell was walking happily towards them, oblivious to the little fight going on between her parents.

“She told me she had learned her lesson, so I fully healed her leg. Isn’t that right, Bell?” Twilight asked, turning towards her daughter.

“Uhh, sure mom. By the way, can I go on a camping trip tomorrow?”

“Let me guess, a lot of ponies are going, and among them is Hayseed,” Blink said as he placed the snake-like metal piece in the bike’s storage saddle.

“Yeah, how did you k-”

“Which is code for: you want to go on a camping trip for a couple of days only with Hayseed,” he continued. “Yeah, how ‘bout no?”

Bell’s mouth hung open in complete and utter disappointment. Blink, however, met Twi’s gaze, a look so powerful it swiftly changed his decision. “I mean, if your mom agrees to it, then sure,” he said, mostly through clenched teeth.

Belle jumped at her father, crushing him with a hug. “Thank you, dad!”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“You going anywhere?” she asked.

“Yeah, Tartarus’ been acting up again.”

“Oh, okay. Be safe, dad,” Bell said, giving him a peck on his cheek and another hug. Blink held her daughter in his embrace longer than usual.

“I love you, Bell, never forget that. You’ll always be my little girl,” he said to her softly.

After they parted, Blink immediately remembered he was missing something. “One sec, I’ll be back.” He teleported out and then back in after a couple of seconds. His lucky, depleted Greenium necklace was around his neck. His best pair of shades were on and he was also wearing his black leather jacket he picked up from inside the workshop.

“See ya later tonight guys. Hopefully I’ll be back by dinner,” Blink said, mounting his cruiser. The sound of the powerful engine filled the quiet meadow as he turned the keys in the ignition. He gave Twilight a quick kiss while taxiing out from under the willow tree.

She nuzzled him as she walked alongside the bike. “Stay safe there. Remember, stabilize the situation and make sure the prison is sealed.”

Chaser hovered above them, still taken aback by the motorcycle. “Mom, can I please ride that when dad’s back? He said it’s okay if you’re o-”

“Absolutely not, Chaser.”

“Tough luck, kiddo,” Blink laughed, revving the engine and releasing the clutch.

The bike quickly gained speed, climbing the small hill back towards Ponyville with ease. He looked into one of the mirrors, smiling at his family waving him goodbye. Blink then went on a dirt path that led towards a proper town road, and turned left on the first exit, passing over a small bridge that lead to the northern pathway out of town. The ponies roaming the town all turned their heads at the strange, loud vehicle, but calmed down as they recognized the driver. They’ve gotten used to the stallion, as he became as famous as the Element Bearers themselves after the battles of Struthill and Canterlot year ago.

“That’s so awesome!” Blink heard his son’s voice while speeding out of Ponyville, leaving a wide dust trail behind. He turned his head and saw the young pegasus flying next to him, his wings beating faster and faster to keep up with the cruiser.

Blink grinned, extending a hoof that his son immediately bumped. “I’ll convince your mother to let me give you a lesson when I come back!” he shouted to him. The speed dial went past a hundred miles per hour, and Chaser began to trail behind his father, despite his intense training as a weather pony.

The unicorn happily noticed his son smiling in his rear view mirror, before turning upwards and going back home. The bike kept gaining speed, as Blink shifted through the gears with his left hind hoof. Using his magic, he conjured a protective, invisible shield over his face to protect him from the vicious draft that came with the speed.

*** *** ***

Back home, Twilight closed her husband’s equipment room, which he had carelessly left open. Just as she was about to close the main entrance to the shed, her ears picked up a strange, static sound.

She approached the radio that was broadcasting radio stations from tens of light-years away, and turned the volume up. The static just became louder. Curious, Twilight went outside and noticed the automatic antenna dish was pointing as low as it could, parallel to the ground.

“Huh, you’re still trying to pick up the signal; is it not on the sky anymore?”

She went back inside and opened up a star map. Making some complex calculations on the spot, she chuckled to herself. “Of course; the dish is trying to point to his planet, but it’s not even on the sky for the rest of the day.”

She closed the radio and left the shed, locking it with her magic. The metal doors closed, followed by a series of locking sounds.

“Well, I hope he won’t mind not having any of his radio on the road,” she said to herself, preparing to teleport all the way to Canterlot where she had a lecture to present in a few minutes.

*** *** ***

He took a deep breath, enjoying the view of passing by scenery. The wind blew into his mane, fur and jacket, and he couldn’t feel any better about it. The sensation of freedom was incomparable to anything else, and the raw power at his hooftip was making everything seem even more surreal.

Blink’s entire world narrowed down to the present and the sensations he was experiencing. The speed, the rush, his blood pumping faster as he rode the powerful bike through Equestria’s picturesque lands. The northern dirt road was straight as an arrow and clear of any rocks or debris, so he left his acceleration hoof slide, making the cruiser’s engine roar.

He didn’t look back, nor did he check his rear view mirrors. There was nothing that could overpass him. There were no cars or other motorcycles. His was the world. He pressed a button on the small radio in the fuel tank. An upbeat song was playing, and he realised it was one of those modern songs composed by that DJ Pon3 mare. Definitely not something to accompany him on his high-speed ride. He flicked a small switch and set the radio to pick up the locked military frequency that carried the signal his dish back home was receiving from outer space.

“Whaaa? Don’t tell me the damn planet is out of sight?” he muttered, as only a loud static sound came out.

The bike’s dash lights flickered for a moment. A cold breeze that no summer day could produce began beating against the unaware rider. It lasted but a while. The static sound from the radio morphed and shifted slowly, until a barely audible song was heard from the bike’s built-in speakers.

“Well look at that. This thing actually works; guess good ol’ Earth is still on the sky,” he said, turning up the volume.

“On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been.

Seein' things that I may never see again

And I can't wait to get on the road again . . .”

“Neaaah.” He changed the sub frequency, hoping another Earth station had a better track.

“Someone told me long ago

There's a calm before the storm,

I know! It's been comin' for some time.”

He recognized the song, but changed the station nonetheless. “What’s with the dull tracks today?” he muttered. As the station changed, a long-forgotten tune began playing. “Oh, sweet Celestia, yes!”

The drums began playing, accompanying the lone electric guitar notes.

“Living easy, living free

Season ticket on a one-way ride

Asking nothing, leave me be

Taking everything in my stride.”

“Finally! I never managed to pick up this song before. The rock stations were all on cheap ass high frequencies,” Blink said to himself as he turned up the volume on one of his old favorites.

“Don't need reason, don't need rhyme

Ain't nothing I would rather do.

Going down, party time

My friends are gonna be there too.”

He turned his hoof on the accelerating handle, and the bike broke the 160 mph barrier. It was nearing the maximum speed, but Blink wanted more. His horn glowed, establishing a magic link with the engine, thus switching it into hybrid mode. With the rock song blasting, Blink began pouring pure magic into the engine. The exhaust pipes reddened as the revs instantly went past the safe limits.

When he heard the click that told him the engine had switched over to the ultra-small carbide gears designed for high speeds, the revs suddenly dropped, and the bike was purring again as if slowly cruising. The difference was that the engine now consumed magic directly from the unicorn, and the speedometer was stuck at its ceiling, past the 200 mph mark.

“I'm on the highway to hell

On the highway to hell

Highway to hell!

I'm on the highway to hell!”

“Sweet Luna, this is amazing!” he shouted. At that speed, the wind was biting past his fur and into the skin, so he extended the magical shield from his face, moving it so that it protected everything behind the handle bar section. He continued to switch up through the hybrid gears, the acceleration handle turned to the max the whole time.

Noticing a glow behind him, he peeked into the rear view mirrors and saw the exhaust pipes blowing bright blue flames from the engine. He grinned, and focused even more on fueling the engine.

“No stop signs, speed limit

Nobody's gonna slow me down

Like a wheel, gonna spin it

Nobody's gonna mess me round”

Magic crackled and snapped around the bike, powerful waves of energy forming around it. Everything was moving so fast for the stallion as he switched into the last gear, but the dirt road was over a hundred miles long, so he still had a while to go.

Blink didn’t know what speed he was going, but he knew it was fast. The magic link from his horn to the engine was oversaturating, spilling threads of blue magic all around and leaving a visible trail behind the speeding bike. It was only the second time he had used the bike that way, and fuel economy was not an issue for him. After all, he had a virtually limitless magic supply.

The energy residue had built up so much around him that a huge potential difference between the bike and the air around it was created. Blink, however, knew how sturdy the vehicle was, and continued to pour even more magic into the engine.

A sudden discharge cracked through the air, causing a bright burst of light. Luckily for him, his shades filtered the excess light, leaving his sensible eyes protected. As soon as he looked around him, however, Blink’s grin only grew wider. Bright rods of blue magic sped through the air around the cruiser. The noise was almost deafening. Pure energy was being released into the atmosphere around him like a continuous lightning made out of his magic. Somehow, however, the song still ringed into his ears as the unicorn tore through the land on his bike like a lightning strike.

“Hey Satan, paid my dues

Playing in a rocking band

Hey Momma, look at me

I'm on my way to the promised land.”

A red light started flashing on the bike’s dashboard, and Blink immediately recognized the imminent collision warning sign. The system had detected something a mile away, but at that speed, Blink only had a few seconds to react as the image of the object in question quickly approached. His horn spilled even more magic as he cast the needed spell.

*** *** ***

The earth stallion readjusted the stick holding two buckets at its ends onto his back. He gave his young son a quick glance. The brown colt was also carrying a bag of dried hay as he and his father trotted along the long dirt road back home.

The father’s ears perked up at a strange sound from further down the road. A bright blue point of light was approaching them with monstrous speed. He rushed to protect his son, but the unknown object was so fast he wouldn’t even make the step between him and the colt in time.

The roaring vehicle burst into electrifying magic just a mere ten feet away from hitting them. The magic rods circled around and above the two ponies before materializing back behind them. Dust and magic residue flew past the earth pony and his son, and the two simply stared wide-eyed at the motorcycle continuing its menacing trip north, surrounded by thunder and magic. It soon turned to a dot of light in the distance that left a huge trail of dust and blue sparks.

The stallion held the colt to his chest, while staring dumbstruck up the road.

“I’ve told you yer mother was wrong. It wasn’t the cider; the blue thunder God is real!”

*** *** ***

With the sun already beginning to descend, the cruiser slowed down as it approached an outpost near the stretched mountain chains in the upper center of Equestria. Blink scanned the area around, making sure it was safe.

The bike stopped, and the unicorn set his hoof down on the ground. He dismounted the cruiser, setting it onto its stand. His hooves felt wobbly for a few moments as he got used to being stationary again.

“Wow,” he muttered. “That. Was. Amazing.”

“Stop right there!”

Blink turned to a guard coming out of the stone outpost. Once close enough to see him clearly, the guard saluted Blink him without hesitating. “Sorry, Mister Midnight, I didn’t recognize you!”

“Am I really getting that old? Anyway, I heard you’re having some trouble here,” he said with a serene smile while heading towards the back of his cruiser.

The guard stared at the alien vehicle for a few fleeting moments before remembering what he needed to say. “Uhh yes, Sir. We got reports of disturbances in the lower levels a couple of days ago. Seemed to be level four. Nothing on the other levels. We also got a magic breach alarm going off in the Artefact Archives this morning. All guards stationed there have been pulled out yesterday.”

“Okay then, let’s get this over with, shall we? Wife doesn’t like it when I miss dinners,” Blink stated thoughtfully as he pulled the long, metal armor piece from the cruiser’s saddle. He then made his way past the outpost, into a wide valley that ended in a huge set of metal doors.

“Sir, if I may ask, we were told Archmage Twilight Sparkle would come . . .”

Blink stared at the valley edges above, feeling a bit eerie about being there. It was one of the few places that made him feel that way, and for good reason.

“She’s busy. I offered to help. Order any guards left inside to evacuate until I get a containment. Set up a wide perimeter and everything, okay?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“One more thing,” Blink remembered, stopping in place. He took his black riding jacket off, throwing it at the guard. “Hold this for me, please.”

Catching the jacket, the guard simply nodded and retreated back to the outpost. While walking towards the prison’s entrance, Blink threw the snake-like piece of metal in the air with his magic. It landed on his back and he infused it with a bit of his magic. The long metal cartilage began moving as it stretched along Blink’s backbone. From one of its end positioned on the back of his head, a few metal strands extended through his mane and over his forehead, encircling the base of his horn.

Blink focused as several tendrils of magic formed around him. His horn’s blue glow activated the armor, sending energy through it. The stallion shuddered as he felt the metal that covered his backbone essentially fusing with his mind. For a brief moment, a blue highlight travelled across his body, revealing an invisible layer of magic that was essentially a second skin originating from the metal piece.

“Synchronization complete,” he murmured, and continued walking.

In front of the gates of Tartarus, a huge creature stood tall. It was black and had three heads, each more menacing than the other. The six eyes were focused on the approaching stallion.

Blink stopped in front of the beast that towered him, maintaining eye contact with it all the while. He bent his front hooves, kneeling in front of the ancient guard while keeping his head hung low. After a couple of moments, the beast responded with a similar gesture, its three heads lowering in front of Blink’s.

The stallion got up and continued walking past the Cerberus. “Thank you,” Blink said, now using his magic on the large metal doors. They slowly began opening, dust rising in their wake.

“Thread carefully, bringer of death,” one of the Cerberus’s dog heads said. “A dark presence festers inside,” another added. “A recent prisoner brought here almost two decades ago,” the third one informed him.

Blink stood there for a while gazing inside the dreaded dungeon. “Very well. I’ll have a word with him. Be right back.”

He entered the prison, and the doors closed behind him soon enough. The darkness was punctured only by the occasional torches here and there. Blink took off his shades, while a few blue spheres began circling around him, providing the stallion with some extra light.

He walked into the mountain, the stone edges of the wide corridor tremoring with darkness and dark whispers. The sound of hooves hitting the cold stone began fading in. Soon, a large group of ponies came cantering into view, several torches floating around them. They all stopped around Blink, forming two lines against the corridor’s walls. The guards were wearing heavy magical golden armors, engraved with various seals and symbols. Their spears and bows all glowed in the dark.

“Sir. I’ve just got the order from outside. Are you sure you want to go in alone?” Their commander stepped up, saluting him.

“Yes. Get your stallions out and wait for me to get back. Level four?”

“Sir, yes, Sir! The Artefact Archives are just a stop before on the elevator, on level 3. Also, we’re missing a few guards. If you could—”

“Got it. I’ll keep an eyes out for your colleagues,” Blink simply said, heading down the dark corridor.

The prison guards marched out, and soon Blink was alone again in the cold darkness. The wisps of magic revolving around him shed light on the path, and soon he reached a metal cage. He got inside and pulled a lever, making the elevator suddenly jolt as it started its descent into Tartarus.

Minutes later, Blink was only passing the first underground level. Angry yells resonated from the corridors there. It was the place where the worst criminals on that planet were kept. The frenzy of level 1 soon faded away as the elevator reached the second level. There, a stench filled Blink’s nostrils, making him wince in disgust. Growls and hisses echoed across the elevator shaft. The most dangerous beasts across the lands had found their eternal fate in those cells.

The elevator stopped at level 3. Blink got out, summoning extra orbs to light his path. He walked across the level’s main hub. Signs of a battle were everywhere around the elevator platform: broken chairs, smashed supply crates and various other scattered objects, urns and scrolls across the dark brick floor.

The stallion walked into a corridor leading to the Artefact Archives. The room soon came up, its heavy doors resting in pieces. Two bodies wearing guard’s armor were scattered near the entrance, their blood dried up on the floor.

“Sons of bitches,” Blink muttered, walking inside what was a wide, tall chamber.

Round, stone doors with symbols written onto them were on the sides of the hall room. Blink continued walking, ready to face whatever had broken into that place. Right near the end of the chamber, two large stone safe doors were missing from their respective cells. He walked inside one of them, and as expected, whatever was held onto the small pedestal inside was missing in both cells.

Blink stepped out of the second one, and his eyes immediately locked onto a shape standing in the middle of the Archives hall. There, a scruffy-looking unicorn returned a devilish smile. His coat was dark red, and he wore a sort of pendant around his neck.

“How stupid were they to send you alone?” he spoke, breaking into a mad laugh.

“And who the hell are you? A level 1 prisoner? What’s that pretty little thing around your neck?” Blink asked, looking at the alicorn-shaped piece resting on the unicorn’s chest.

The prisoner’s grin widened. “This?” Red waves of magic began forming around him, as the necklace glowed a dark hue. “It’s the Alicorn Amulet. It bestows great powers to the wearer, making him as powerful as an alicorn!” His magic flared as the amulet glowed brighter. The unicorn was getting ready to unleash it against Blink, who simply stood there watching him with a bored expression. “I will break out of this place and kill every one of those pathetic ponies that got me in here! I’ll show them all! I’ll even be able to get rid of the Princesses and take their place on Equestria’s throne. Nothing can stop me now, you pathetic-”

“I ain’t got time for this shit,” Blink cut him off, his horn glowing briefly, then quickly dimming back.

The red stallion froze in place, the amulet around his neck and the magic he summoned dimming off in an instant. He stared emptily in front of him as Blink walked to his side.

“That swooshing sound you just heard in your head; it was me cutting the connections between your frontal lobes and the rest of your brain.”

His magic engulfed the necklace at the stallion’s neck, floating it off. “Sit here and relax. Think of happy thoughts,” Blink said with a smile, gently resting the lobotomized unicorn on the ground before making his way out of the Archives.

As he walked, Blink studied the Alicorn Amulet briefly before crushing it with his magic and throwing the remains away. “Now to find the second missing forbidden artefact.”

He went back into the elevator and pulled the lever. The cabin began descending again, heading for Tartarus’s largest and deepest level. As he went lower and lower underground, the air got colder and colder, while voices and odd sounds echoed against the tunnel walls.

“Status check,” Blink muttered under his breath.

“All systems online. Armor Integrity 100%.” The small voice came from the snake-like piece of armor on Blink’s back.

The elevator came to an abrupt stop, having reached the dreaded level 4. Blink got off and looked around the reception area. There were no signs of fighting or of anyone or anything escaping. In front of the unicorn, however, a heavy metal door stood shattered on the ground. It looked like the entrance to the Tartarus’s lowest level had been blasted away by something very powerful.

The stallion walked past the fallen doors that were specially made to keep the most dangerous beings of that world locked in. Out of his body shot dark trails of smoke that materialized in numerous shadow clones.

“Go scout the area,” the original said, and the clones immediately did as told.

The dark tunnel lined with barely-lit torches eventually lead into a large cave filled with numerous fires. Blink’s shadow clones cantered around every tunnel and part of the enormous cave system in search of anything that could have caused the reported disturbance.

“Well, at least this place hasn’t lost its charm,” the unicorn said as a pillar of flames erupted mere feet away from him.

“Ssssuuch a handsssome ssstallion come to visssit . . .”

Blink turned to the familiar voice, his deadpan look not shifting despite the horrific creature in front of him. The monster’s lower part was like the one of a snake, and its top half had an almost human-like appearance. Hundreds of small, long snakes formed its dangling hair, her eyes empty and gray.

“Medusa. What have you been up to again?”

The creature crawled around the unicorn, her wicked smile not showing any signs of fading. “I wondered when you would arrive back to ssssseee me.” Without warning, she leapt at the stallion, letting out a piercing scream.

Blink simply stared at the creature as her eyes filled with magic. Everything around the stallion slowly turned gray, even the prison’s stone floor. Some torches next to him went out, while the wooden handle turned to stone under Medusa’s deadly gaze.

“Armor integrity 99%.”

The stallion darted his head around, before turning to Medusa and raising an eyebrow. “Are you done yet? You know very well you can’t petrify me, Meds’.”

The snakes that formed her hair jumped at the unicorn, their venom-coated fangs wide open. They instantly turned to black dust as they entered Blink’s personal space. He sighed. Metal rods erupted from the cave’s floor, wrapping around the screaming Medusa’s limbs and body.

“Where’s the last artefact?” Blink asked calmly, sitting down on the ground in front of the thrashing daemon. “Someone stole something from upstairs. One of the thieves was a prisoner from level 1. The other one I suspect was from here. So who is it, and what was stolen?”

Medusa stopped struggling and laughed maniacally. The endless prison cave erupted with various screams and howls. Blink worked his jaw, annoyance getting to him. “Fine, be that way.” He got up and turned around. “Let’s see what’s going-”

A powerful, large, and very hard object bashed the stallion against his side, sending him flying across the cave. Blink hit a stalactite hard then fell back down. Only after coming to senses did he realise that he had lost all control or awareness of his clones.

“What the f-”

Before he could finish his question, the large war hammer that had sent him off now crushed his head into the stone, splitting the cave floor open. Powerful ripples of magic emanated from the impacted areas on his body, as the armor actively countered and prevented any impact damage from reaching his body.

Blink raised his gaze and saw a huge centaur with red eyes bearing down the hammer at him again. It hit his back, flattening his body against the floor from the sheer force of the impact.

“Would you stop doing that please?” he asked, stopping the creature’s fourth swing mid-air with his magic. He got up and assessed the damage. His coat, skin, and bones were all okay, and he felt absolutely no pain. Blink smiled. The armor had worked.

“Status check?”

“Armor integrity 98%.”

“Hmm, acceptable. Now who the hell are you and where’s the last stolen artefact?”

The centaur was frozen under the effect of Blink’s magic, but refused to say anything.

“So this is how it’s going to be around here today?” Blink muttered, grabbing hold of the massive hammer and swinging it back at its owner with absolutely no remorse or flinch.

The sounds of crushed bones filled the cave as the centaur’s body was flung in the air, hitting the cave’s roof then collapsing down.

“Wait, is this the artefact?” Blink wondered as he studied the odd weapon in his telekinetic grasp. Right before his eyes, however, the hammer suddenly evaporated in a dark mist.

“Ohh, it was just a magic-summoned weapon. Forgot you’re a daemon of some sorts.”

The howls and other grim noises grew louder. Pillars of flames lit up the hellish scenery, and Blink noticed numerous dark shadows creeping around him. They all seemed to be heading towards the elevator, and that’s when the unicorn remembered the entrance designed to keep whatever was there inside was actually resting on the floor in pieces.

“Damn it! This is not good. Hey daemons! Get your asses back here! You don’t want me to come after you!”

Blink froze. His senses went wild, as if something very bad was about to happen. He felt a presence so dreaded that it gave him chills down his spine. What was worse was that he recognized the presence, but didn’t remember when he had felt it last. It must have been a long time ago.

A dog-like creature three times his size jumped him, opening its huge maw and clamping its razor-sharp teeth against Blink’s neck. The skin-like invisible shield glowed at the contact points, Blink’s eyes widened as he was caught by surprise. He used his powers to unhinge the attacker’s mouth from around his neck, throwing the beast off him.

The unicorn smirked as he recognized the daemon. “Sammy, you haven’t changed one bit, have you?” he asked with a wicked grin. The eerie presence, however, came from something else and the stallion still tried to figure out its exact source behind his mask of smugness.

The creature growled at the blue pony, its four eyes focused on him, ready to strike again. Its head snapped back at something in the darkness, before running off like a scared dog.

“I’ve dreamt for this day for quite a while,” an odd voice echoed around the tall cave. “It’s the day of revenge.”

Out of the shadows stepped something Blink never expected he would see again. Its gruesome body composed out of various species was barely visible in the dim, hellish lighting, but his bare, single fang was unforgettable.

“Discord . . . what the hell are you doing here?” Blink muttered, staring him in his slit eyes.

“You thought your dark protector would keep me out of the realm I belong forever? You’re mistaken, Blink. Not even Death can keep the spirit of chaos out of this world!”

“So you’re the prisoner the Cerberus was talking about. After I teleported us into the Antechamber twenty years ago, I thought that would be the last of you. So be it, this ends now,” Blink said, his horn lighting up.

Discord dashed at the stallion. Blink got up on his hind legs, focusing magic around his right hoof while propping his hooves into the ground. The spirit of chaos hit him full-on, but didn’t knock the stallion over. He held his left hoof against Discord’s neck. A blade of magic extended from Blink’s right hoof, now imbedded deep into the attacker’s body.

He, however, smirked. “You don’t remember that day you tricked me, do you? I remember,” Discord hissed, before exploding into smoke.

Blink’s eyes widened. He felt a hand grip his neck from behind. A powerful jab into his back came afterwards. The dreaded sensation he was having was now more intense than ever.

“Armor integrity 42%. Magic power link disabled. Energy leak detected.”

“What!?” he yelled, panic taking over. There wasn’t supposed to be anything in that world powerful enough to bring his magic armor down that fast.

The lion paw around his neck wrapped tighter. Other limbs wrapped around his, holding him in place. Discord’s talons were clasping his chin tightly from behind.

As he channeled magic to counter the assailant on his back, another attack came without hesitation. A fleeting memory came back to him, as the little voice coming from the armor piece on his back delivered the latest report.

“Armor integrity 2%. Combat suit failure imminent.”

“The Anti-Mage,” Blink murmured, recalling the source of that sensation.

The last attack came before he could do anything. He drew a breath, his head feeling light. Looking down, the tip of a dreaded weapon stuck out from his chest. Dark trails across the silver blade sucked the blue aura from around the unicorn.

“Main shield compromised. Blood loss detected. Automatic medic systems engaged.”

Blink felt his punctured lung re-inflating, while an anesthetic was injected directly into his spinal cord. His magic however was still being syphoned by the blade at an alarming rate. He focused, tapping at the very essence of his powers. His virtually limitless reserves of energy however could not quench the Anti-Mage’s thirst. The more magic he struggled to produce, the more the blade would steal from him.

“See? You can teach old dogs new tricks,” Discord said behind him, still holding the stallion tight in his grip. “You did the same trick on me back in Ponyville, but I want to believe mine is more . . . impressive.”

“You son of a-“

The unicorn gritted his teeth. The pain, though dulled by the first aid drugs, was still something he couldn’t ignore. His movement was restricted, and his magic was being sucked away by the very blade that was stuck in his chest. He tried to think of something to do, but every time he did so, he lost even more grip on his magic control.

The only thing he could do was generate even more, just to keep it from being completely devoured. He knew that he couldn’t keep doing that forever, but whatever his next action would be, Blink had to plan it carefully, as he wouldn’t get another chance.

The daemons of Tartarus continued to howl and shriek as they massed near the exit. Medusa had freed herself, and was now making her way out towards the elevator, followed by other vicious creatures of legend. Even her desire to eliminate Blink was not as strong as the prospect of being freed into the world again.

“Internal bleeding detected. Major laceration detected.”

“We’re going to get back what is ours. No longer will we be kept here like common animals,” Discord whispered into his ears, over the armor’s voice. “I will rule over Equestria again.”

In the corner of his vision he could see the most dangerous beings in that world leaving the place meant to keep them there. The unicorn had to make a choice: he could eliminate Discord with a powerful strike and take care of his wounds, or deal with both Discord and the escaping daemons.

Blink’s decision was made in an instant. Magic erupted from the tip of his horn as he prepared to cast a spell he’d never cast before.

Waves of energy surrounded the two combatants. Blink pulled out the lucky necklace from his neck, letting it float in the gathered pool of magic in front of him. He only had one shot at this. A bright light formed around the necklace, as he focused as much power as he could in the area in front of him. The pedant was smashed by the pressure, exposing the depleted Greenium.

Discord twisted the blade, making Blink arch his back in pure, unfiltered pain. “Why, why won’t you die, Midnight Blink? Why do you keep fighting? You can’t defeat me, and most certainly you can’t defeat my new weapon.”

Blink struggled to keep the darkness at the edge of his sight from spreading further. He knew that if he closed his eyes, he would never open them again. The bright blue sphere of magic in front of him was now bigger than him. Inside of it, the Greenium was subjected to immense pressure and heat, as the unicorn fought hard to keep magic pouring into it.

“What- what is that?” Discord’s question came, his eyes now focused on the maniacal display in front of them.

“I thought you might like it. It’s chaos.”

Blink closed his eyes, casting a protective shield spell across his body and sending one last jolt of magic at the bright sphere of light, causing powerful ripples across it. A small circular blast directed at the depleted Greenium caused the entropy of particles around it to begin a massive chain-reaction. In a tenth of a microsecond, neutrons blasted off in every direction as the nucleuses of the depleted Greenium split, releasing a massive wave of energy.

The explosion caused the earth to shake for miles around. Tartarus’s level 4 was vaporized in an instant. The massive energy release erupted upwards through the dense rock layers, obliterating everything above it. The whole mountain underneath Tartarus exploded, a visible shock wave sweeping the lands around it.

He drew a breath, his ears ringing from the blast. Blink had managed to teleport outside with his last magic. He dragged a hoof across the dirt, his vision blurry. He reached for his neck, feeling Discord’s claw still wrapped around it. Releasing himself from the grip, the lion paw dropped on the ground. The rest of his owner was no more than a cloud of particles at that point.

Blink reached to his lower chest. Blood was gushing out, but at least the Anti-Mage was no longer stuck in him. “Em- emergency first aid,” he muttered a command.

His suit however remained silent. Its energy –Blink’s own magic– was no longer there to power it. The unicorn felt dried out. He had no more left in him.

“Aww damn it,” he said between cracked lips, resting his back on a tree trunk nearby.

He hold his hoof to his chest, trying to minimize the bleeding. The sight in front of him however drew a faint smile across his lips. A small, blue mushroom cloud originated from where Tartarus once was, the magic and radioactive residue rising into the air. Rocks and debris rained back down across a huge area.

Everything had happened so fast, he couldn’t even believe it. He turned his head around, his heart leaping at the sight of his bike, which had fallen to the side from the initial blast wave. A strand of blood began dripping from his mouth. The stallion fell to the ground, moving his limbs around in an attempt to crawl to his cruiser.

The vehicle had an emergency beacon linked directly to his home. If he could reach it, Twilight would hear it and know something had gone wrong. She was the one that insisted to install it on his bike.

He huffed, a few drops of blood falling into the dirt. The ground underneath him however was welcoming, and his body was filled with pain. He pushed a hind hoof across the ground, moving himself another inch. The cruiser was so close now.

Extending a hoof, he grabbed hold of the hind wheel. Blink then pulled himself closer, letting out a muffled cry of pain. Reaching across the fuel tank, his hoof pressed into a small button underneath it.

The stallion’s entire world then went dark.

*** *** ***

The gentle touch of a snowflake woke him up. The sky was clouded, but there was enough light outside to normally make his sensitive eyes sore. He felt no pain or discomfort however.

Blink found himself sitting on a bench. He looked around, feeling like in an alien world. Slowly, he began recognizing buildings, objects, and parked cars. But there were no people there.

“Hello, Midnight Blink.”

The stallion turned his head. Next to him on the bench, a dark silhouette rested, His face hooded by his dark clothes.

“Where am I?” Blink simply asked, returning to studying his surroundings. There was a tram rail in front of them, and it felt like they were waiting for something to come.

“You’ve been here before,” Death spoke after a moment of eerie silence.

“My old neighborhood,” the stallion muttered, remembering all of a sudden. “This is where I used to wait for a city tram to get to high school.”

“Do you remember why you’re here?” the dark figure asked.

Blink opened his mouth, his mind trying to remember why and how he had gotten there. “I need to be somewhere. Not here, I- I don’t know.”

“You’re moving on, young one. Like you should have when we first met.”

The snow began falling gently across the serene city landscape. The stallion stared at Him, unable to comprehend what he meant by that.

“I’m- no. No, this can’t be.” Images flashed through his mind. A powerful explosion, a blue cloud filling the skyline. Blood. Pain. Hope. A fleeting thought, that he could not remember. Darkness.

A tram approached from the distance, coming to a screeching halt in front of the two of them.

“Bullshit; I’m not dead. Twilight’s coming,” Blink said with an angry frown, but He was no longer next to him.

“Come. I have something to show you,” Death’s voice now came from the front of the tram. One of the train’s metal doors swung open.

Blink got up and hesitantly boarded the tram. He took a seat then turned his head at Death, who was operating the controls. The door closed and the wagon jolted forward.

The sun was setting. Green fields stretched endlessly. The tram stopped at the base of a hill, a row of mountains visible in the distance. Death got off, and Blink followed Him out.

“Where are we?” the unicorn asked, looking around. The tram was sitting over bare grass, having no tracks underneath or behind it. Something about the hill they had stopped next to seemed familiar, but Blink couldn’t put his hoof on it.

“As odd as it may seem now, you will have to face the reality. You are dying, Midnight Blink. But most importantly, you are forgetting something.”

The stallion shook his head, letting out a light chuckle. “Any moment now, Twilight will come and fix me up. I saved Equestria from the darkest monsters of that world. This is not how I die.”

Death remained silent, continuing to stare at the blue-coated unicorn. He then turned around and walked away.

“Hey! Where the hell are you going?”

“Come and see for yourself,” the dark figure called after him from a distance.

The stallion cantered to Him, stopping at his side. His eyes fell on a pony laying on the ground in front of them. He looked the same as Blink, but his hooves were bound to the ground, like they have been for the last two decades. He wasn’t moving at all.

“I remember. He’s my Nightmare,” Blink muttered, kicking the bound stallion with a hoof. The limp body didn’t react at all. “He’s dead? Wh- how? Why?”

“When a creature dies, its worst traits, memories and characteristics fade away first,” Death calmly spoke.

In front of them, the Nightmare’s body shriveled up; its skin thinned out, eventually eroding away along with the muscles. The exposed bones crumbled to pieces, and then ashes.

“This doesn’t mean anything,” Blink said with slight dread in his voice.

A distant bird call made him snap his head upwards. Raven landed on Death’s shoulders, her head tilted at her Blink.

“Raven? What are- you . . . you know her!”

“I do. She is my oldest friend,” Death added, raising a dark finger to scratch the animal’s neck. “I’ve sent her to watch over you a long time ago.”

“Fine job she did at that!” Blink spat, now furious on his former pet.

“I said watch over, not protect. Any major actions and decisions were always yours to take.”

“I am NOT dead!” he angrily yelled.

“That is one thing you have no say in, young one. You have been living on borrowed time for too long.”

Blink’s horn erupted with magic. “Can a dead pony do this?” he shouted. The earth underneath Death crumbled, and a huge, dark hand shot out, wrapping itself around the ancestral being.

With a swift motion, Death dissipated the spell. In his grasp, a long scythe now rested, it’s blade as dark as the void underneath His hood. “Who do you think you are battling now, Midnight Blink?”

The stallion stood up on his hind legs as he focused even more. His cutie mark now burned with dark magic, yet he didn’t care for that. “You made me what I am! You think I will just roll over and die? Leave everyone I know behind? No!” he screamed at the one in front of him. “I’m a Deathbearer! I’m the one who lurks in the blind spot of death!”

The ground trembled and shortly after, fire trails scarred it, forming a wide circle around Death. The entire surface sunk underneath the huge pressure, as large rocks surfaced from the cursed area. They joined together, forming a huge bipedal monster. The stone golem immediately swung one of his arms at the dark figure. The impact with the ground raised dust all around, but Death hardly flinched. He simply phased through Blink’s minion, walking towards him. Swinging his scythe, the golem crumbled down to pieces, its dark essence being absorbed by the long bladed weapon as its wielder approached the stallion.

“The power you possess is but a fraction of what I have. You simply cannot comprehend how weak you are in comparison. It’s time to face the reality, young one.”

Blink let out a guttural scream, his magic bursting from all around him. The air was thick with energy, essentially unbreathable by anyone other than him at that point. Thousands upon thousands of shadow clones materialized on the hills and plains near where they were. All of them bared their caster’s anger as they were ready to blindly fight Death himself.

But He was having none of it. Death tapped his scythe against the ground, and all the clones instantly dissipated into thin air. Losing all will to resist, Blink dropped to the ground, resting his forehead on his front hooves. He felt more tired than he had ever been.

“I’m not dead,” he muttered. “It was a simple mission. I’ve done it before. I can’t be dead. I triggered the beacon on my bike; help’s coming.”

Death approached him, wrapping a cold hand around his hoof and helping him up. “There’s something you forgot,” Death repeated. “You’ll remember by the end of our journey. Now come with me; there are still things I need to show you.”

Blink stared at him emotionless, before walking towards the tram next to them, taking a seat inside. Death boarded as well, closed the doors then started the tram. Raven sat next to Him, above the controls, looking down the path.

Blink could now clearly hear seagulls. The tram’s passenger doors opened again. The unicorn stepped out, witnessing another sunset, one that was however closer to ending. The sound of sea and crashing waves tingled his ears. He looked around, noticing they were now standing at the edge of a cliff above an ocean.

“I know this place,” he said. “You showed it to me a long time ago.”

“Your first resting place,” Death added, facing the sunset. “Your human remains were scattered in the wind right here by your parents.”

“Twilight saved me then; when I died on Earth but was still alive in Equestria. She reached out for me here, into the Antechamber, and dragged me out.”

“Do amuse me, young one, and please tell me which of your lives you cherished the most,” Death asked, ignoring what Blink had been saying.

Both Him and Blink stared at the sight in front of them. The stallion huffed, throwing Him an angry glare. “Well, I guess I won’t be here for long anyway, so might as well. My second life was by far the most rewarding, I thought you knew it.”

“And why is that?”

“It just is. My best friends, my fondest memories, everything I know and love is in Equestria.”

“So you are proud of what you have achieved so far in Equestria?”

“I guess the journey is more important than the destination, but yes, I am happy of my life. Look, why are we even having this discussion? You know very well that I’m going back.” His eyelids were heavy, his hooves felt weakened. He dismissively waved a hoof at Death, shaking his head. “You’re wasting your time.”

“You are right,” Dearth admitted. “You will go back, but there is still something you are forgetting.”

“What is it?”

The dark figure remained silent. The waves crashed at the rocky base bellow, sending foamy water into the air.

“Follow me.”

“So you’re not going to tell me what it is that I’m forgetting and why is it so important?”

Death remained silent, boarding the tram and waiting for him to do the same. Blink followed Him. The doors closed and the tram jolted forward again.

“Why was Discord in Tartarus?” Blink broke the silence as they continued their odd travel across the endless Antechamber realms.

“The spirit of Chaos belonged to that world. When you came to my realm with him just to drive him away from your town, did you actually think I would keep him here? Souls must never linger too much in this place. It’s just passage, nothing more.”

“So all these places you are showing me?”

“All reality. To put it in a way you would understand, we are just viewing it through a window.”

The tram stopped. Blink couldn’t see anything out the windows, as eternal darkness reigned out there. “Where are we?”

“We are where you want to be. Yet you still can’t remember it, can you?”

Blink groaned. “Remember what?”

“The last thought that you have. The reason that you will not move backwards, but forwards, this time. You know it. The pieces are there, you just need to put them back together.”

“I- I have no idea what you’re talking about. Last thing I did was blow up Tartarus. All those daemons are dead. I managed to teleport out right before the blast. Then I crawled to my bike and trigger the emergency beacon on it. There’s nothing else!”

Darkness encased everything before he could get an answer from Death. Steadily, Blink came to his senses. He felt pain. A lot of pain. He opened his eyes. The outer world was fuzzy and in a total blur. He moved his hooves, feeling metal to the touch. Focusing to gather some magic, he felt absolutely nothing inside of him. Things came into focus soon and he recognized Death’s silhouette standing nearby, watching him morbidly.

“I told you I’d be back,” Blink managed between dried lips.

“I believe there’s an empty scroll and a writing feather in that pack,” Death said, pointing a finger at the cruiser’s saddlebag.

“Why would I need paper and quill?” Blink laughed, now gazing at the dissipating blue smoke coming from the mountain nearby, while resting his back against the tipped bike’s seat. “Will you now tell me what I was forgetting?”

Death remained silent. The ancestral being simply stared quietly at Blink’s vehicle. The stallion’s smile faded away. He turned around, looking at the same spot Death was. The emergency beacon’s small bulb wasn’t blinking as it should have.

“What the . . .”

Blink pressed the small button again. Nothing. He reached out for the ignition and turned the keys in. The silence that followed tore through his soul.

“No. This can’t be,” he said breathlessly.

He turned the keys again and again, followed every time by the same lack of response from the cruiser.

“Do you remember now, Midnight Blink? The consequences of your actions?”

Blink stared at the blue smoke that was still rising from the remains of the prison. It then came back to him in a flash: the powerful explosion; the electromagnetic pulse that followed the nuclear detonation; the fact that the bike’s beacon was powered through a circuit.

No one knew of him or that he was dying.

“I’m . . . dead,” he said, air escaping his lungs in a sudden sob.

Blink’s eyes closed, his chest slowly bouncing as he cried. “Please no. Don’t let it be like this,” he said, turning to Death.

“It’s interesting seeing you like this, Deathbearer,” the dark figure calmly said. “For all the times you came knocking at my realm’s door, you were always content or determined. Now there’s a great sadness in your soul.”

“I had nothing to lose then!” The unicorn coughed, more blood painting the dirt bellow and part of his blue coat. “Twilight, Bell, Chaser, all my friends. I can’t leave now. Not like this.”

“There’s no one coming, save for the night. I do not say this often, but I am sorry. I did you a great favor by letting you live now for a little while. I believe you should use that time to say goodbye.”

Death moved to the back of his bike, slowly opening the saddlebag and retrieving the piece of paper and quill he mentioned earlier, handing them to Blink.

“No, not like this. I’ll trade my powers, my magic, just please make that beacon work,” Blink pleaded. The ultimate end was near for the stallion, and he never prepared for something like this.

Death shook His head. “There’s not a lot time left for you on this realm. Write your letter, Midnight Blink. There are many souls not fortunate to have this chance.”

The unicorn stared at the piece of paper resting nearby, tears streaming down his face. A couple of drops fell on the paper, staining it. His shaking hoof grabbed the scroll and the quill.

He began writing, using his teeth to hold the feather. He was barely functioning, both physically and emotionally. The quill shook in his teeth, and the words were slow to write down. Death, as always, patiently waited nearby.

The quill snapped mid-way. “No!” he cried, spitting it out.

Blink tried to use the broken feather but it didn’t work anymore. He heard the sound of beating wings and Raven came into his view. The bird landed on one of his front hooves. She picked at her wing, taking out one of her own feathers. She held it in her tiny foot, her head tilted to the side. A dark tear fell from her eyes and onto the feather’s tip. She left the quill there, returning to her spot on Death’s scythe.

“Thanks . . . Raven.”

Blink grabbed the makeshift quill and continued writing. He couldn’t believe those were the last words his family and friends will see from him. Every now and then, he would sneak a glance down the dusty road, hoping from all his heart someone would come. He twitched at every falling leaf, thinking Twilight had miraculously found out about him and teleported there.

Yet he was alone; and he was tired. Blink sensed that his body had gone way past its limits. The only thing keeping him alive was Death’s generosity, and he felt that to his very bones.

“How will I send her this?” he asked after finishing the letter.

“I am sure she will get it. Are you ready?”

Blink sighed. He closed his eyes with one last foolish hope than when he would open them, he would wake up in his bed, next to the love of his life. Yet Death was everything he could see when he opened them again.

“I’m not ready,” he muttered weakly.

“Nobody ever is.”

*** *** ***

Twilight woke up from sleep, stretching her hooves as the morning sun brought light through the bedroom’s window. She felt something was wrong however. The empty space next to her alarmed the unicorn mare. She instantly regretted falling asleep the previous night when she came in late from Canterlot.

Even though it took her more than a day to secure Tartarus the previous times trouble struck that place, the lack of letters from her husband made her feel nervous. She went downstairs. Bell and Chaser were still asleep by the looks of it, so she decided to check out on Blink. Besides, it would take only a moment to teleport to Tartarus. Before she could go into the basement downstairs to retrieve her white armor set, a couple of knocks came from the door.

Twilight trotted to the entrance of their house and opened it. She stared in confusion at the ponies standing in front of her door. She met Celestia’s eyes, then Luna’s. The younger alicorn was standing at her sister’s side while behind them a couple of army dressed stallions solemnly held their gazes straight ahead. One held a large sheaf of flowers, the other a small pillowcase with several military distinctions on top of it.

The unicorn’s heart stopped.

Celestia’s saddened eyes spoke more than any words could have. “Twilight, I’m so sorry . . .”

“No!” Twilight raised a hoof, trying to cover her grimacing face as tears filled her eyes. “Where is he?”

“There was nothing that could be done, Twilight. Luna and I personally went straight to him when we found out. It was too late.”

Twilight’s trembling eyes darted between the two alicorns, unable to find her words. “I- I can bring him back, where is he? Where’s Blink?”

“Blink has fallen in battle, dearest Twilight,” Luna said with great sadness in her voice. “The entire world is to be grateful for his action yesterday. He saved us from a terrible fate.”

Celestia retrieved a scroll of paper, floating it towards Twilight. The paper was worn and had several red stains on it. “These are his final words. I’m sorry, my dear Twilight. I always dreaded the moment of bearing this news to you might come. I never expected it would be so soon.”

Twilight collapsed to the ground, her scream echoing through the house. Celestia immediately sat next to her, draping a protective wing around her beloved student.

The heart-breaking moment was not just another scar on the Princesses’ millennial memory. It reminded them of their grief for when Luna had passed away as a Deathbearer the previous Cycle, leaving her sister alone in that world. The pain in their hearts truly echoed with Twilight’s.

*** *** ***

The void seemed without an end. Even so, Blink kept walking. An infinite grassy plane stretched underneath his hooves and a star-filled sky reigned above.

“How long have we been walking?” he asked his hooded companion that walked by his side.

“You have to find the gate.”

“Fuck the gate,” Blink muttered. He stopped, staring at the seemingly infinite horizon. “Is this place even real?”

“This one is not. We are in the Antechamber’s darkest depths. So deep that here, the world is what you want it to be. Fret not however, the light will eventually reveal itself for you.”

“Blink?”

The unicorn’s heart skipped a beat at hearing that voice. He turned his head around, trying to find out where it came from. “Twilight?”

A white glowing trail traversed the sky above, stopping ahead of them. It approached the ground, and Blink could slowly recognized the shape of a unicorn. She came galloping towards him, her body materializing more and more. Blink rushed towards her, both jumping in each other’s embrace.

He held her tight while she cried on his shoulder. The mare was partially translucent, a white glow encasing her entire body. He began crying again, showering her with kisses while holding her in his hooves. “Twilight! You’re so stupid,” he managed between sobs. “Why did you do this? Why?”

“I couldn’t leave you, Blink! Oh, Celestia, I couldn’t leave you,” she said between tears.

“You creatures are the most perseverant,” Death interrupted them. “What are you doing here, Lifebringer? You should know that this place is only for the dead or dying souls.”

Twilight however kept her eyes on the one she loved most. “Blink, they told me you died. Please, please tell me you’re coming back. I can help you-”

“No Twi’,” Blink said with a crushed heart. “I can’t. I- I really died. I did something stupid, Twi’. I’m so sorry, but I can’t come back anymore.”

“I will take her if she gets stuck here,” Death warned the two ponies.

“A minute, please!” Blink pleaded. He then noticed her white glow was dimming. “I love you so much, Twilight.”

“Blink, please don’t say that, I can still try and pull you back!”

“Twilight, you don’t have a lot of time! The living can’t stay here at all.”

She tried to suppress her sobs, her entire body shaking. “I should have been the one taking care of Tartarus! It’s all my fault! What am I going to do without you, Blink? What will our children do?”

“Twilight, listen. It’s not your fault! I love you so much; more than anything in the entire world. I was such an idiot. I can’t possibly say how sorry I am for leaving you. Please, tell Bell and Chaser that I love them so much. They’re grown up and smart, they’ll be all right with you. And I don’t care if Bell loves whoever she loves; as long as she is happy, I am. And Chaser will be the best weather captain in Equestria, he doesn’t need to join the royal Air Force just because I wanted him to.”

The white tendrils of magic surrounding Twilight receded more and more. Her powers couldn’t hold her spirit there for much longer. “Time is running out,” Death’s ominous voice came from nearby.

“Okay! And our friends, Twi’; tell Spike I’ll miss his goofy smile. And Pearl, tell him I’ll miss his stupid ass as well. And the other: Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Big Mac, Pinkie, Dash . . . I’ll miss all of them.”

Blink scrunched his teeth and eyes, trying to keep his voice clear. “I hope you’ll forgive me, Twi’; I behaved like a stupid brave colt. I thought I was untouchable. Such a fucking idiot!”

“I’m sure it wasn’t your fault, Blink. I love you so much; I- I can’t believe you’re going. How can I let go when you’re here in my hooves? How?” Her face was marked by tears and her eyes were puffy and red. She held a shaking hoof against Blink’s cheek, their heads resting against each-other as their horns touched. Her white glow pulsed, but the wisps of magic around her kept getting dimmer and dimmer with each pulse.

“You have to, Twi’. It’s my fault I messed up and ended up dead. But I will always be close to you, here in your heart,” he said, placing a trembling hoof on her chest. “I’ll never stop loving you, no matter where I’m going, I promise!”

Twilight’s aura was now dangerously dim. The two kissed deeply for the very last time. Their last moments together had passed like a flash of light.

“I’ll love you forever, Twilight Sparkle. Hug Chaser and Bell for me please, and tell them I’m the proudest father in the world.”

“I will, Blink. I love you so much!”

A swirl of cold, dark magic surrounded Twilight. “I’m doing this for your own good, Lifebringer,” Death said while banishing the mare back to the realm of the living.

“No, not yet!” she cried out, desperately holding the stallion in her embrace. He held her back as if to never let go.

And then he felt nothing. Blink opened his eyes, and the love of his life, the mother of his dear children, was not there anymore. He screamed from the top of his lungs. The lack of touch against his hooves was tearing him apart. Eventually his voice ran out and he slumped down on the grass, completely spent.

He wrapped his front hooves around himself. The loneliness devoured him from inside.

*** *** ***

Days passed for the lost soul in the endless Antechamber. He didn’t know how many. He couldn’t. There was no day or night cycle. There was no thirst, no hunger, and no tiredness. Blink had stopped crying a few days after Twilight’s visit, but nothing else changed ever since.

There was only him. And Death, the constant reminder of his ultimate fate.

“So the world is just living through Cycles. And you’re saying Celestia and Luna had a . . . previous life?” Blink asked, trying to understand what he and Death have been talking for a while now.

“That was the previous Cycle I mentioned. And as you probably know, they were like you and Twilight Sparkle. Luna was the first to pass away. It was the same story as yours: she was in her prime, but reckless.”

Blink stopped in his tracks. He felt a deep pang in his heart at the mention of his love’s name. He sat down, staring above. It was still the same clear sky, filled with a sea of twinkling stars. “How’s my family?” he asked. “I know you can look at them, so please tell me.”

A moment of silence passed before Death spoke. “They are heartbroken. Everyone that knew you is.”

Blink sighed painfully.

“Did you expect differently? Despite your flaws and your constant desire for recognition, you were, in fact, a remarkable creature during your lifetime.”

“Did anyone tell you how condescending you sound?”

“Yes. Several million souls have since you asked me that question,” Death earnestly replied.

Blink raised an eyebrow.

“Explaining my mere existence would crumble the pillars of your conscience. Regardless, what I said stands as fact. You’ve risen to all the challenges that were posed to you, and you always had the well-being of others in mind. Even if you happily basked in the recognition and fame that came with your victories, your intentions were, in the end, good.”

The unicorn tilted his head at that, somewhat surprised to hear those words from the dark being. “Well that’s a nice retrospective on my life, I guess. Just tell me one last thing. How was this even possible? How is Equestria real in the first place? It doesn’t make sense at all. It actually never did, but I stopped questioning it long ago.”

“I won’t tell you that,” Death responded. “I will show you.”

The scenery around them blurred out. Moments later, Blink found himself outside a home on a residential street during nighttime. Death was staring through a window inside the house they were near.

“Where are we?” Blink asked, joining him.

Inside, an earth pony mare was sitting near the bed, caressing her pegasus daughter. Blink’s eyes however fell on the bright, odd-looking light bulb hanging in the ceiling. He then looked around outside, noticing the street lights were also more modern than anything he had seen around in Equestria.

“This isn’t Canterlot,” he said.

“Yes it is, young one. The better question would be, when is this?”

“Mommy, can you please read me the stair story again?” the pegasus filly quietly asked inside.

Still confused, Blink turned his attention at the two. Her mother bared a wide smile while she grabbed a large book from a shelf nearby. “Sure, Firefly. But it’s called Stairway to Equestria, dear. And I’ll read you just the beginning, then you have to get some sleep. Tomorrow you have the doctor’s appointment.”

The filly seemed disappointed but nodded in approval. Her mother opened the book at the first page, shuffling comfortably closer to her daughter.

“Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land . . .”

The image faded away in front of the stallion as they were back in the depths of the Antechamber.

“What was that? That book-”

“It bares the same title as the one you started writing years ago, recording your adventures?”

“Yes, but the beginning . . . I- I remember it from my first world. It was exactly like in the show.”

Before Death could say anything else, He was already showing him another place. They were now in a brightly lit hospital hallway.

“That book did contain everything you wrote about your adventures, and more. There were also tales of your friends before you arrived, and tales told by others about yourself.”

“So that first scene with the pegasus and her mom was the future. And you mean to say my book was published after I died?”

“It was anonymously released by one of that world’s Watchers, Celestia. It related from history, and some ponies actually found it enjoyable to read. That young soul back there saw it in a library and very much liked the picture on the cover. It became her favorite story as well after her mother read it to her.”

A nurse walked out of a room nearby, and Blink looked at her, completely intrigued. She was a human. Somehow, the stallion knew that what he needed to see was in that room. He walked inside, witnessing a heartwarming moment: a man held his wife as she rested on the bed. In their hands, a newly born baby reached out for her parents with a tiny hand.

“She’s beautiful,” her father said.

“Yes she is,” her mother added, gently grabbing her small hand. “Lauren, you’re the best gift life could bring us.”

The entire scene faded away. They were back in the Antechamber.

“While most of the times that would be right, it wasn’t my brother who gave them that gift,” Death said. “You see young one, that little creature you just saw was actually the pegasus filly from Equestria we saw before.”

Blink bared the most quizzical look of his life on his face.

Noticing his confusion, Death continued His explanation: “She was sick, and I had to take her a few days after what I showed you in Canterlot. Unfortunately, the light wouldn’t take her, very much like it didn’t take you the first time. She had a different destiny, so I took her to your world, in the year you mark on calendars as 1974.”

Although his head began to hurt as he tried to connect all the dots, Blink realised what he was being told. “That baby there . . . she grew up to be the creator of that show I watched in my first life? How did she know about Equestria, Twilight, the Princesses, and all our friends?”

“She remembered from her previous life, when her mother used to read the book you contributed to,” Death concluded.

Blink sat down, completely stunned. “This can’t be. Why didn’t the light take her? Why didn’t it take me? Why did it create this whole connection between two different worlds like this?”

“Because not even I can predict what might happen. Souls can always be denied passage out of this place. It is my job to guide them; and it is my duty to lead them to other places in the universe so they can fully live their lives as they should have in the first place. I did it with you, with Firefly, Bellona, and many, many other souls out there in the universe. The fact that you found out about the ponies you were about to meet further down your life is just a coincidence.”

Blink still tried to wrap his head around the whole thing, yet something in his train of thought didn’t fit in. “But . . . if that pegasus filly is in the future, then how did you already send her in the past of my world?”

“Did you forget who I am? Unlike all other creatures, my brother and I are what you would call four-dimensional beings. Time is just a path we can freely take.”

“So you knew about my death? What about my family’s fate? Or Equestria’s? Do you know everything that’s going to happen?”

Death raised a hand, summoning silence. “Time, much like other paths, can sometimes be hard to distinguish or thread on. There are dark spots on that road that even I can’t tell what’s happening. The universe is full of entropy, Midnight Blink, and I cannot go where time hasn’t decided itself on what it is that it wants to be.”

Blink sighed, staring at the unnerving stars above. “I see. Well, thanks for at least solving the greatest mystery of my life.”

A bell toll rang somewhere far, far away, muffled by the distance between realms.

Blink turned to Death. “Is that-”

“Yes. Do you want to watch? It will be your last opportunity to see them.”

The stallion nodded with trembling eyes.

*** *** ***

Twilight’s stood on the couch, absently staring at the entrance door. The silence was pierced only by the radio playing from an Equestrian station. Words from the show currently being broadcasted would reach her, but her mind was astray, deep into thought and memories.

“Before we switch to our next song segment, we’re reminding everypony of the big news today and the pony behind it. In Ponyville, the funeral of former General and Defense Researcher, Midnight Blink, is taking place this evening. Born and raised outside Equestria, unicorn Midnight Blink died at the age of 42 years, following the tragic events at Tartarus last week. He leaves behind his wife, Twilight Sparkle, and two children, a pegasus colt and an earth pony mare, both just under the age of maturity.”

“High-ranking officials in the Royal Command, citing the Princesses themselves, declared yesterday that the ancient prison on the territory of northern Equestria was grounds for a devastating explosion that Midnight Blink himself triggered in order to eliminate the dangerous prison population that was escaping following an incident in the lower levels. Over seven hundred prisoners including ponies, gryphons, minotaurs, zebras, wild animals, and various other evil creatures and spirits have reportedly been killed in the never-before-seen blast. Due to Midnight Blink’s order to evacuate the prison of any personnel, no guards lost their lives in the incident.”

“Midnight Blink was a controversial pony, nothing being known about his early years, family, or even kingdom of origin. First records of him place the blue-coated unicorn in Ponyville twenty years ago, where he fought the spirit of Chaos alongside the Elements of Harmony and won. He was close to said group of six mares and Spike, dragon of Ponyville, but two years later he was known to have worked as a night guard in Canterlot’s Royal Castle, right after a controversial ruling made by Princess Celestia where he was forced to travel to the Griffin Kingdom and pay for his crimes against an official gryphon ambassador. Following the changeling attack during the last edition of the long-canceled Grand Galloping Gala, he was instated as Captain of the Royal Guard and fought in the historical battles of Struthill and Canterlot alongside Spike and the Elements, as well as tens of thousands of ponies, zebras, and buffalo.”

“The stallion was severely injured but only months later he married unicorn Twilight Sparkle, former student and protégé of Princess Celestia, long time Element of Magic and current Archmage of Equestria. A year later, Midnight Blink participated in the extermination of the main Changeling Hive and returned home to his foal-carrying wife from the immensely successful campaign as General of Unicorn forces. He was named National Defense researcher and helped in the development of technologies meant to warn and protect cities and citizens alike of external threat.”

“Eight years later, he took part in one of the most controversial battles in Equestrian history. Official information to this day is that Arnost, king of the Gryphon Kingdom, had planned a second invasion against our lands, and had amassed a large number of gryphon soldiers during the years following his defeat at Canterlot. Reports gathered from the Gryphon continent suggested that Midnight Blink and Twilight Sparkle were sent there alone in a special operation to stop the invasion in its tracks. Although there are many versions of what happened in the first and only day of battle, at the end of it, sources confirmed the death of over one hundred thousand gryphon soldiers and the entire royal family, including King Arnost.”

“Following those events, Midnight Blink resigned from both his position as Defense Researcher and General of the Unicorns, and is rumored to have enjoyed a very early retirement ever since. Friends describe him as a caring, yet daring unicorn, but also a very dedicated family stallion. His magic capabilities and appetite for destruction have been the subject of many discussions and analysis, as his powers seemed to come in great contrast to his life partner’s. Regardless, Equestria has lost a great pony last week and today many will join him on his last walk. This following song is dedicated to him. We thank you, Midnight Blink, for your great service to this kingdom . . .”

The song began playing in the radio right as Twilight got up from the couch.

She made her way to a shelf on a wooden wall next to the dining table. Framed pictures of her, her friends, children and Blink scattered it. She grabbed one with her hoof. Her magic was still weakened after suffering a burnout trying to spend a few last moments with Blink in the realm beyond the living.

In the picture, she and Blink were smiling happily, a distant memory that was at least a decade old. A very young Bell rested on her father’s head, and a buzzing Chaser struggled to hover above them. From behind the family, Spike gave the camera a wide smile, his body forming most of the picture’s background.

A tear fell on the floorboard. She placed the memory back. It hurt her so much to see him in her dreams, in her mind, yet alone pictures. He was gone, and she couldn’t blame him. They had promised each other twenty years ago that they would be together until Death brought them apart. She tried opposing the natural laws of the universe, but not even her near infinite powers were enough to save her beloved blue stallion.

A faint knock was heard from the door. It was time.

She went and opened the door. Pearl was standing in front of it in full military ceremonial uniform. Behind him, in the small front garden of the three house, her best friends were all gathered. Chaser, Bell, and Hayseed sat down near the road nearby, Spike towering over them as he held the three ponies close to him. Bell was resting her head against Hayseed’s chest, her tears having left his fur matted.

Everyone’s expressions were filled with sadness and sorrow. Rarity approached Twilight and hugged her.

“Come on, dear. It’s time.”

“I’m going ahead, Twilight. Big Mac, Dash, and I have to be there a bit earlier,” Pearl spoke. Twilight nodded faintly.

As she walked outside of her house, each of her friends either hugged her or showed their support in a way. When she reached Spike, Chaser and Bell both hugged their mother. With her kids in her embrace, Twilight raised her gaze at Spike. The sadness in his eyes spoke greatly, but he was still strong inside. He needed to be. All of them began slowly trekking to the other side of the town, where the ceremonies would begin.

Despite the sunny weather, the town was empty, looking as if an unspeakable catastrophe had hit it. Blink was next to them, making impossible efforts to restrain himself from sobbing. He walked next to Twilight, his eyes never leaving her and their children that were at her side.

“They can’t see me, can they?” he asked, his voice strained by emotion.

“You know the answer to that question, young one.”

They continued walking on the outskirts of Ponyville until they reached Applejack’s farm. Blink gazed upon the Apple orchards, unable to believe his eyes. The entire front orchard was filled with ponies. A large, red dragon stood out from the crowd, and he recognized her as Ruby.

Twilight stopped, stifling a sob at the sight.

“It’s all right, Twilight, it’s all right,” Fluttershy gently spoke, holding the unicorn close as the group of friends stopped for a moment.

Eventually they made their way through to AJ’s farm’s front yard where only their closest friends and relatives awaited. Celestia and Luna towered above all, save for the red dragoness. The king and queen of the Crystal Kingdom, Shining and Cadence, were also there, as well as its prince, young Emerald. Twilight’s parents were the first to hug their grieving daughter. The two old ponies shed their own tears. Shining Armor joined them in the family hug, kissing Twilight on the forehead as he held his sister close. He too was wearing his former military uniform.

“I never thought I would live the day where we would bury our grandfoals’ father,” Velvet said as she held Twilight tight. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart; he was a great stallion.”

Twilight didn’t know what to say. She never took in consideration this might ever happen. She simply stepped towards waiting Cadence, who hugged her as well.

“You have my deepest condolences, Twilight. The love that you two shared was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I was heartbroken when I found out.”

“Thank you, Cadence,” Twilight murmured, a fresh stream of tears matting the fur on her cheeks.

The entire family continued hugging and reassuring each other, but the time soon came to start the ceremony.

“We present our condolences again, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna spoke as Twilight approached the coffin near which the Princesses stood. “He was a remarkable pony and a very dear student of mine. I am sorry he suffered this fate.”

Twilight nodded, then turned to Celestia. She leaned forward, deeply nuzzling her former protégé. “I am so sorry for what has happened. I should have stopped sending you two to take care of that cursed place long ago.”

“No, Princess. It was . . . It was our duty.”

Celestia’s lips began forming some words, but soon began trembling. A tear fell from her eyes. “I am so sorry, Twilight. I was always so hostile towards him in the past. I deeply regret all the pain I’ve caused you two, especially him. I know you and he never actually forgave me for my actions, but I hope you will at some point. I’ve taken some very bad decisions in recent decades, and I for one will never forgive myself for them.”

The town’s bells began tolling. Spike rested a claw on her shoulder. “Come on, Twi’. They’re going to start.”

Surrounded by her friends, family, and children, the unicorn began walking towards the coffin. Behind them, Spike and Ruby separated them from the rest of the ponies gathered to pay their tribute.

Shining Armor gave her a reassuring nod. His horn glowed, and the coffin was raised in the air. Two black, wooden beams went underneath the casket as the four ponies positioned themselves underneath. According to tradition, military personnel were to transport a former soldier’s casket during the burial ceremony. Blink, however, was lucky to have his friends carry him on his last road.

Shining lowered the dark walnut casket on the four ponies’ backs, sliding the beams in the special mounted saddles they were wearing with their military uniforms. In front were Pearl and Dash, and in the back Shining, and Big Mac. They slowly walked out of the farm’s front yard and into the orchards, as they made their way across the town.

On both sides of the road were gathered numerous ponies, and even other species. A few zebra delegates solemnly presented their respects as the funeral cortege advanced under the bells’ tolls. Next to them, regular Ponyville citizens gathered in silence, their eyes following the casket.

Twilight walked behind the coffin, her sadness weighing deep on her heart. Her son held a wing around her, while Bell would occasionally nuzzle her mother. Their tears freely fell on the dry dirt below, only to be followed by others from the ponies behind them.

The sound of hoof stomps became louder and louder. Ponies on the side were paying their last respects, beating their front legs against the ground before joining the back of the cortege after passing them.

As the bells tolled, the stomps only became louder. After a few minutes, all the town’s folk were behind the coffin in a mile-long column, but there were still ponies on the sides of the road that traversed the town. They have all gathered from around Equestria, mostly from Canterlot. They were the soldiers that had fought in previous battles alongside Blink; some of them were there only because of Blink’s actions in those conflicts, and they couldn’t miss the opportunity to pay their last respects. A few had their military uniforms on, while others wore the proof of their bravery in a more direct manner, in the form of a prosthetic hoof, stumped wing, or eye patch.

Eventually the column reached the former public library, turning on a narrow dirt road leading down the hill. The small lake near the forest came into view and they soon passed Spike’s home. The coffin stopped advancing near the lake, where a freshly-dug grave patiently waited for its new resident.

The white headstone glowed a blue shade in the dawning sun. It bared Blink’s unusual cutie mark, next to an embedded photograph of him surrounded by his family and friends from a Christmas party. In it, the stallion was draping a hoof over Twilight, with Bell and Chaser sitting in front of them, as their friends huddled around to fit in the frame. His smile was formed out of pure happiness and content. Etched beneath it lied his name with a few words written underneath:

What is better? To be born good, or to overcome your evil side through great effort and sacrifice?

The ponies forming the funeral cortege poured down the hill, steadily filling it. The coffin was placed above the grave, and Luna began speaking a few words in remembrance of the stallion. Twilight had no ears for that, as she continued to stare with sorrow at the coffin in which Blink rested. She knew he wasn’t there anymore, just a former shell of the pony she loved so dearly.

The blue stallion was staring at his own grave while sitting right next to his wife. He was invisible to the living, but felt everyone’s sadness nonetheless. Death was nearby, silently waiting as the ceremony unfolded in front of their eyes. Some of his friends came in front of the coffin, addressing the ponies gathered there and saying a few words about the unicorn they knew. All were kind word of reassurance for the family and friends, mentions of Blink’s achievements or deeds to the kingdom, moments they shared.

After all the eulogies were delivered, the coffin was lowered in its grave. Blink’s family and friends went past it one by one, throwing flowers over the wooden casket. The gathered crowd began to slowly dissipate as the sun set on that mournful day. A few hours after the ceremony had ended, only a few ponies and two dragons remained, all gathered in front of the grave.

Neither of them wanted to believe Blink was in there, but the settling reality began taking its toll on them. Spike looked behind. The sun was just about to set. Twilight noticed he was barely keeping his head up.

“Spike, you and Ruby should go and get some sleep. You’ve been up for two days, and she flew here last night to get to the funeral. You both need the rest.”

“Are you sure, Twi’?”

The mare nodded. Ruby took a gentle bow in front of her. “I present you again with our species’ condolences for your loss, Twilight of Ponyville.”

“Thank you, Ruby.”

The two dragons headed out to the nearby burrow where Spike lived, leaving Twilight with her other friends and two children.

“I think we’re better ought to go as well, Twilight. It’s been a long couple of days,” AJ said, resting a hoof on her shoulder.

“I bet Bell and Chaser are tired as well. We’ll head out to the tree house with them if that’s fine, dear,” Velvet spoke, hugging her daughter.

“You’re right. Bell, Chaser, you should get some rest. Make sure you prepare the guest rooms for your grandparents.”

The two young ponies nodded and regretfully left their father’s grave, walking alongside Velvet and Night Light.

“I better be going as well, Twily. Cadence and Emerald are waiting at the train station. I’m so sorry we couldn’t stay longer but we left our kingdom the moment we heard about it, and we need to take care of urgent matters. I promise that I’ll visit again this week.”

Shining and Twilight hugged again. “I’m so sorry, Twily. He was a great guy. If there is anything, and I mean anything that you need, Cadence and I are a letter away. I love you.”

“Thanks, big brother. I love you too.”

As her children, parents, and brother left, only the other Element Bearers remained. The light of candles danced on the tombstone in front of them as the red twilight behind them turned to night.

“I know this is hard for you, Twilight, and you may be super sad but . . . we’re all here for you,” Pinkie said. “We’ll always be here for you, okay?”

The pink mare hugged Twilight. The unicorn began crying again. The other mares approached them and joined in a big hug, pouring their souls into the gesture. Surrounded by her best friends, the pain of losing her life partner was duller, yet cut just as deep.

Eventually the girls left as well, promising to return the following day. Only Twilight remained, sitting in front of Blink’s grave.

“I’m so sorry, Twi’,” Blink muttered. He was sitting next to her on the cold ground, her touch just an inch away. A spark next to the lake’s water caught his attention.

“It is time,” Death spoke.

“Can’t I just stay with her a little more?” Blink pleaded.

“You will feel the pull soon. You should go now.”

The spark he noticed before had turned into a large gate of light. Blink got up. He felt its calling.

“I love you, Twilight Sparkle. I always will,” he said to the mare sitting on the ground next to his grave. “Take care of our children and friends.”

The purple twilight in the sky’s horizon was now completely gone, replaced by a vast sea of stars. Blink walked towards the light. His soul was finally finding its rest.

“What happens now?” he asked, stopping right in front of the light.

“Your journey here ends. That is all you need to know.”

Blink stared at Him, then looked back at Twilight one last time. Turning his head towards the gate, he closed his eyes and took the last step.

It was the last step on the Stairway.

*** *** ***

Many years later

The grass danced in the gentle summer breeze. Twilight closed the book, floating it and her glasses on the small table nearby. She took a deep breath, enjoying the peaceful view from her backyard. She felt tired.

A deep sound of flapping wings became louder and louder. The breeze picked up for a slight moment, followed by a couple of deep thuds. She turned towards the source and saw Spike having just landed nearby.

“Well look who it is,” Twilight said, getting up and heading towards the dragon.

Spike leaned forward, wrapping his large hand around the unicorn, gently pressing himself against her. Twilight held his head in her hooves, barely able to fully wrap her limbs around it anymore.

“How was your trip? Ohh, the tutoring, what did he teach you this time?” Twilight asked as Spike let her down gently.

“Figures that would be the first thing you’d ask,” the dragon said with a roll of his eyes and a smile on his face. He sat down next to Twilight, folding his arms in front of him. “Well, the Old One taught me, Ruby, and a few other young drakes more about the ancient history of our kind, way, way before Celestia’s arrival over twenty thousand years ago. It’s pretty fascinating, to be fair.”

“Young drake you say? Looking pretty sharp for a seventy year old, Spike,” Twilight quipped. “And since when did you find studying fascinating?”

“Ah, we have a smart-flank over here, don’t we? Thinks only she has the right to study in here?”

“I’m just glad you’re finding something interesting. Any luck on finding out what exact species you are? We always assumed you were just a simple dragon, I’m still stupefied that we, as ponies, know so little about your kind.”

“Well, the Old One wouldn’t say. He wants me to find out myself. So far, I kinda know I’m a magic-class dragon, and that’s about it. By the way, have I showed you my latest trick?”

“No, Spike, and I don’t thin-”

Spike took a quick breath and simply blew a stream of green flames upon the unicorn next to him. Twilight yelped at first as the flames doused her, but soon realised they weren’t harming her at all.

“Spike! I thought I told you not to play with fire near the tree house, even with what seems to be fake fire!” she jokingly scolded the large dragon as her and the grass around her burned a bright green.

“I’m sorry, Twi’. Couldn’t help it. What’cha think?”

“Although impressive . . .” Her horn glowed for a bit, and a small spark triggered a larger purple fire across Spike’s skin.

The dragon laughed heartily as the flames tingled him. “Number 876, was it? I sincerely lost count decades ago. Seems your magic is strong as ever, though.”

Twilight smiled as both flames around them dissipated. A hint of sadness marked her features. “You know very well that my magic is still potent just because of who I am. Otherwise, I’m still an old pony at the end of the day, Spike.”

The dragon reached her face with a claw, moving away a rogue silvery-purple strand from the unicorn’s mane. “You’re not just an old pony, Twi’. You’re my best friend ever.”

“And you’re my number one assistant and best friend as well. Although it’s been a while since you rearranged the books alphabetically in the tree house.”

Spike smiled. “So, how’s Bell and Chaser? Busy as always, I assume.”

“They actually visited today. Chaser’s thinking about retiring and moving back here from Cloudsdale.”

“He really did take this whole laziness thing from his father after all.”

Twilight gently punched Spike’s hand with her hoof. “He’s been Master Weather Scheduler for over twenty years, he deserves it.”

“Fair enough . . . and Bell?”

“Well, she and Hayseed brought the kids, and you know how much I love Sunlit Dawn and Big Apple.” Spike nodded understandingly as Twilight continued. “Big Apple is ready to take over the family business under Applebloom’s son’s tutelage, and Sunlit Dawn is moving to Canterlot to study advanced magic.”

“Wow, guess all those years of tutoring with the most powerful unicorn in the world paid off, didn’t it?”

Just as Twilight was about to give him an answer, a bird flew by, turning around and landing on one of Spike’s head fins.

“I swear, Twilight, one of these days,” Spike groaned.

“Who?”

Spike flailed a claw over his head to scare it off, but the owl didn’t budge. “What’s wrong with this bird? Have you ever found out why she doesn’t even seem to age at all? Also, what’s with the weird feathers recently?”

Twilight giggled, enjoying, as always, the interaction between her pet and Spike. Owlowiscious had changed little over the past decades, but her plumage had been slowly turning white in the past few months, with several brown feathers left across her wings and back.

“Oh Spike, never change. Regarding the feathers, I have a theory, but I’ll have to wait and see for now.”

Spike decided against asking more questions about the pesky bird that was long overdue her normal life expectancy. He got up, shaking the owl off.

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to be the mature one here and leave,” he said, dramatically raising his nose in the air.

“So soon? You barely came back from your trip.”

Spike’s face settled to a warm smile. “I know, Twi’. It’s just a quick visit to Canterlot. Celestia has been wanting to talk to me about something for a while now.”

He leaned over and gently touched the mare with his massive head. Twilight gave him a gentle kiss over his large snout, holding him a little longer than usual.

“I love you, Spike.”

“I love you too, Twi’.”

The dragon took a few steps away from the three house before flapping his huge wings twice, lifting himself up in the air. Spike and Twilight waved at each other, as the dragon picked up speed, heading towards the capital. Soon, he was merely a dot in the sky.

Owlowiscious landed next to Twilight, then began shaking, beating her wings a couple of times. The last brown feathers from her old plumage fell down, leaving behind a perfectly white owl. She stared at Twilight intently. The mare simply smiled back.

“So I did get it right after all. Give me a couple of minutes, Owlowiscious.”

The unicorn got up and went inside the tree house. There, she climbed to her bedroom, which had become more of a study than anything else. Whiteboards full of formulas and numbers filled most of the room, and her desk was a total mess. She grabbed a piece of paper from it and rolled it up like a scroll. It had been a few decades since scrolls were made obsolete, so she had to make do with what she had at hoof.

She looked at a whiteboard one last time, at the bottom of which that day’s date was written as a result of one of the most ambiguous equations she had ever solved. Twilight then returned downstairs, leaving the pre-written letter on the table. She sighed, her eyes dull and filling with tears. The mare brushed a hoof across her face, before leaving her home through the back door.

The white owl was waiting. She gently flew to her owner, landing on the unicorn’s shoulder and hooting towards the distance.

“I see,” Twilight mused, and started slowly walking down the hill.

The sound of nature and life was everything she could hear as the two made their way towards the place the owl had pointed her to. The green, luscious blades of grass swung calmly in the summer’s wind. The birds sang their beautiful chirp, while the sun basked everything in its warmth.

Twilight passed the entrance to Spike’s home, the small lake by the forest now in sight. Tears were forming at her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall. She knew she was strong.

She stopped near the edge of the lake, briefly looking into the mirror-like surface. Her mane had lost a bit of color over the years, with silver strands accompanying the once-bright purple highlights. Her face was somewhat free of wrinkles or other signs of aging, mostly due to the fact that she was a Lifebringer, a symbol of everlasting life and purity. Even with such powers however, 84 was a number of years ponies rarely reached, even with the best life conditions and luck on their side.

She turned towards the tombstone next to her. Her husband had passed away 42 years ago, and during those years, Blink’s headstone had been sadly joined by others. She recognized on those stones the names and cutie marks of the best friends she had ever had. Three red apples, a few beautiful pink butterflies, a big green apple, a multi-colored lightning bolt, three colorful balloons, a safety pin, three magnificent blue diamonds, a ship’s helm.

The last one was Blink’s. The odd symbol always reminded Twilight of his qualities, never of his dark powers. It reminded her what a good life partner he was, how he fathered her two children and how amazing was the time spent along his side.

She was the last one. Her title of Lifebringer had granted her more time to spend in that world than a normal pony should have. Despite her loneliness, she cherished every moment, looking after the generation following her own.

“A sad thing, life sometimes is,” a voice came from nearby.

A pure-white figure was next to her, staring at the resting places of Twilight’s best friends. The mare tilted her head at the odd being.

“I know you were probably expecting my brother. However, I insisted I would be the one leading you,” Life continued.

Twilight genuinely smiled, seeing Owlowiscious resting on His shoulder. “So, I was right.”

“I must say, I am impressed. Not many are those that can precisely calculate the day they depart this world. Given your nature and way of being, it was expected.”

“I knew something was odd when Owlowiscious’ feathers started turning white last year. Then I made the connections.”

“I gather you have left everything in order?” Life asked.

“Correct. But I’ll still miss them. My children, my grandfoals . . .”

“And yet you never finished the biggest project of your life. Phoenix, was it called? You could have lived centuries longer - you had the knowledge to do so, and you had the power as well.”

“A wise pony once told me never to act like a God, because I’m not one.” She let out a chuckle, remembering the decades-old exchange between her and Blink. “Also, I couldn’t wait any longer,” she continued, her head turning back at the row of tombstones. “I miss him. I miss all of them.”

“I see.”

“Is- Is it going to hurt? I . . . I calculated heart failure as the cause. Theoretically, there will be pain and discomfort as-”

“You tell me. Did it hurt?” Life asked in the middle of her question.

She looked at him with a puzzled expression. In return, He simply pointed at Blink’s grave. A purple unicorn mare with her head resting over her hooves was sitting on top of the well-kept grave. The gentle summer breeze caught in her mane, but she wasn’t moving.

Twilight’s eyes filled with tears as she looked at her own, lifeless body. “That’s it? I- I’m dead?”

“You helped this world so much with your knowledge and desire to do good. The least I could do for you was a painless passing.”

“So, what now?” Twilight asked, barely able to contain her tears.

“Now, the journey ends.”

A gate of pure light formed by the lake’s shore, several feet away from them. Life said nothing more as Twilight darted her eyes between the gate and Him. She smiled, turning around and trotting towards the light as if she were young again. She stopped just a moment before entering it. Twilight looked up the hill towards Ponyville, giving her library one last glance. Murmuring a goodbye, she turned towards the gate of light, already feeling its calling.

She closed her eyes and took the last step.

End of Chapter 31

Author's Note

Epilogue will be posted in a couple of days. This is NOT the end of the story!

Epilogue: Letters to Equestria

A large part of this this chapter has background music. Watch out for the blue words linking to a YouTube video (or play the embedded video directly when you see it)

Epilogue

Letters to Equestria

The stallion grunted as he jutted in his seat. The safety harness was indeed tight and secure. He raised a hoof towards the upper part of his suit, pressing on a small button. “Control, cabin procedures over. Ready for mission start.”

“Roger that, cabin crew. Verifying launch checklist,” a feminine voice came from his ear piece.

“Cabin crew? Is that what I am to you, Twilight?” the stallion asked with a smirk as the rest of the crew members inside the small cabin chuckled.

“Bright Nebula, this is an official communications channel; the whole control room is listening in as well as the Pri-”

“Well, good thing I didn’t start babbling about last night then,” Nebula muttered innocently, drawing a long pause in the radio channel and suppressed laughter from the other crew members.

“You’re lucky you’re leaving this planet, but you will get back eventually,” Twilight’s rather menacing voice was heard again through the ear pieces.

“How’s that checklist going, Control?” the stallion asked, trying to contain his laugh for his own sake.

“Approved. Starting launch procedures,” a flat reply came.

The cabin shook as several of the ship’s engines ignited. Nebula shifted through several digital HUD projections with his magic, checking the system’s status and various other measurements and sensors.

“All looking good here. Countdown to main ignition when you please, Miss Twilight.”

“Main engines start in 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1-”

The cabin shook and trembled violently as the solid fuel jets kicked in. The four ponies inside were pressed against their seats, subjected to huge G-forces.

“And liftoff!” came Twilight’s voice in the intercom, almost drowned by a wave of hoof stomps and cheers in the background.

“Beginning ship rotation to minimize external hull drag,” a crew pony announced from behind the pilot’s seat after a few seconds of flight.

“Be ready to trigger the atmosphere-breaching teleporter,” the voice in the headpiece announced.

Nebula used his magic to un-lid a box-shaped area on his flight panel. “Twi’, I hope this works. Hold on tight, guys; I’m starting the Sparkle Drive right . . . now!”

He pressed his hoof into the red button, and an even deeper sound than the one of the engines propelling them at Mach 1 speeds was heard. The interior of the cabin was invaded by sparks of magic and after a few moments, the entire ship exploded in a storm of magic bursts.

*** *** ***

From a great distance, Celestia and Luna watched the sky with attention from a large balcony at the Royal Castle in Canterlot.

The spaceship they were following exploded in a cloud of magic, and both Princesses’ hearts were relieved when they noticed the trails left by its engines forming again somewhere far above the planet’s atmosphere.

On a small screen floating nearby, Celestia could see a video feed of both the spaceship’s cabin and the Control Center on the ground. The alicorn smiled at the sight of a celebrating, bouncing mare that had dedicated her entire life to reaching out towards the stars.

“Does she not remind you of someone?” Luna asked, peering at the video feed over her sister’s shoulder.

“She does indeed. She looks so much like her as well,” Celestia said with a sigh.

“Well, she is a Sparkle. Thou can see a bit of her in all its family’s members.”

“You are right, sister. Still, it’s amazing to see what her descendants have achieved three generations down the line.” She turned off the floating screen, which folded back into a small device the size of a coin. Celestia then put it back into the golden royal jewelry hanging around her neck. “The world has changed greatly, Luna,” she said while heading back inside.

“Indeed it has, dearest sister.” The younger alicorn then turned her attention up in the sky after noticing a large shadow traveling across the balcony. “Celestia, we have a guest.”

The white alicorn came back outside on the large balcony, right on time to spot the approaching guest. Her face lit up as she recognized their old friend.

A dragon the size of a house faced them mid-air, his strong wing beats creating powerful currents that made the Princesses’ manes flutter wildly. He landed on the balcony, his hind legs touching the surface before being joined by the other two. He lowered his head, bowing in front of the two alicorns.

Celestia sighed, approaching the dragon’s head. “Spike, how many times I told you not to do that,” she said, nuzzling the side of his lower jaw.

“Old habits die hard, I guess,” Spike said with a mile-wide grin.

“How art thou?” Luna asked, gently hugging the dragon as well.

“Same old, same old.”

“Have you watched the spaceship launch?” Celestia asked him rather excitedly.

“I did. In fact, I flew around the rocket’s path and saw it up close. Amazing work from Twilight as usual.” His face then dropped a little. “It’s like seeing her again when finishing one of her inventions or projects. Having the same name helps quite a bit as well.”

“But thou art seeing the first Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, touching the dragon’s snout with a hoof. “She lives through them. They both do. Thou should know best, you’ve watched over their descendants for almost a couple of centuries now.”

“You’re right, Luna.”

“Forgive my sister, Spike; she does this all the time. And somehow, I’m the softer ruler of us two,” Celestia quipped.

“Technically, you’re honorific Princesses now,” Spike corrected them. “The council and parliament rule Eque-”

“Silence thyself!” Luna boomed in her commanding voice. The dragon instantly went quiet, his fins and stature dropping in front of a creature that seemed so small compared to him.

The young alicorn burst into laughter, and even Celestia couldn’t stop herself from chuckling. “See? We still rule,” Luna said, poking her tongue out.

“Your humor always catches me off-guard, Luna,” Spike said, managing a weak smile.

“So, how are things in Ponyville?” Celestia asked.

“Busy and stressful, as always. Wife and kids are- Ughh, my mate and hatchlings are okay as well,” he corrected himself.

The Princesses each raised an eyebrow.

“The Old One prefers that I use the appropriate terms when I go and visit their lands. I’m just trying to get used to them,” he explained.

“I see. Beg your forgiveness however, I must leave to attend another tiresome meeting with our head of parliament,” Luna excused herself. “It has been nice conversing with you again, Spike.”

“Same, Luna. Enjoy your meeting!” he added with a grin.

While the Princess of the Night left with a roll of her eyes, Spike turned to Celestia. “I must go as well. The . . . hatchlings must have caused quite a stir by now since Ruby is still gone to her old territory.”

“Don’t let me hold you then. You look like quite the busy father,” Celestia said with a warm smile.

“There is one thing, however,” Spike added right before turning to leave. He leaned his head forward and spat a small stream of flames. From the green fire materialized a large pile of scrolls. “Remember that book we wrote together a couple of decades back?” the dragon asked.

“Stairway to Equestria?”

“Yes, that one. We never got to add an epilogue to it because we didn’t know what to write in it. After all these years, I think I came up with an idea.”

“Are those what I think they are?” Celestia asked, her eyes widened at the sight of the old, yet still familiar red royal seals on them.

“Yes. All of the letters Twilight Sparkle and Midnight Blink ever sent or received. Even mine are somewhere in that pile.”

“That’s . . . a great idea, Spike! Thank you so much. I can’t believe you kept them all this time. I remember you asking me a century ago about the ones Twilight sent to me,” Celestia said, sorting through the numerous letters with great care.

“How could I throw them away? Please take care of them, Princess.”

“No doubt that I will. Rest assured, Spike of Ponyville, for the letters are safe with me.”

“Why do you call me like that?”

“Why do you address me as ‘Princess’?” she asked with a smirk.

Spike rolled his eyes while turning his massive body on the balcony. “I will see you later, Celestia. Good day!”

“Good day, Spike.”

The dragon walked over the edge of the balcony, extending his large wings and jumping off the edge into a freefall. Taking flight a moment later, his large shape was seen heading towards the city of Ponyville. Celestia grabbed all the letters with her magic and went inside the castle.

Reaching her private study, she cleared a desk and placed all the letters on it. Although eager to read through them, she took a deep breath first. The Princess knew that re-living those small pieces of memory wouldn’t be too kind on her heart, but she carried on nevertheless.

Celestia unraveled the first letter, and her eyes immediately filled with tears as they went over her old student’s writing.

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Dear Princess Celestia,

I've learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing your blessings. But when there's not enough blessings to go around, having more than your friends can make you feel pretty awful.

So, though I appreciate the invitation, I will be returning both tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Inside that letter were six old, golden tickets, with a small note next to them:

My faithful student Twilight,

Why didn't you just say so in the first place?

Celestia placed them on the side and grabbed the next letter while floating a tissue and wiping away the tears in her eyes.

Dear Princess Celestia,

When you first sent me to Ponyville, I didn't know anything about friendship. I met somepony tonight who was having the same problem - your sister, Princess Luna! She taught me that one of the best things you can do with friendship is to give it to others, and help them find it themselves!

And I'm happy to report that all of Ponyville has learned that even though somepony seems a little intimidating, even scary, when you offer them your friendship, you'll discover a whole new pony underneath. And even if my Star Swirl the Bearded costume didn't go over, this still turned out to be the best Nightmare Night ever!

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

After reading several others letters, Celestia noticed the ones on top were newer. As she continued reading them, Twilight had undergone a life-changing journey, learning more and more about friendship while taking part in wondrous adventures with her friends. Eventually, she reached one that mentioned a familiar pony, yet no name was given at that point.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I apologize for this early-morning letter. Last night, however, a distressed filly whose family lives further down the library came to my door in the middle of the night and asked for help. When I got to her farm, her father, Kazooie, told me that he had found a pony lying unconscious in the field.

He then took me to his barn where he moved the pony. He is a deep blue unicorn colt with a very strange cutie mark. He wasn’t well at all, and had quite a high fever, so I decided to take him back to the library. There, I put him in an unused room and gave him some fever medicine.

I feel that I should have done more than that, and I don’t really know what to do from this point on. Should I take him to the hospital today when he wakes up, or continue to take care of him here? He seems perfectly okay, but I’m just not sure.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

My dearest student Twilight,

I have full confidence that you can take great care of another injured pony. The only advice I can give you is to follow your reasoning. If you believe he needs more help, I am sure you will reach out. Trust your instincts, my faithful student.

Princess Celestia

Dear Princess Celestia,

Thank you for your encouragement. I’m happy to report that he is feeling great now, almost two days after finding him. He doesn’t remember where he came from and who exactly he is, but I at least know his name: Midnight Blink.

I have started investigating the meaning of his off cutie mark, since his magic has been giving me a very odd feeling when it manifested. Regardless of that, he’s asked me about tutoring him in magic. I have no idea how good of a teacher I would make, but I’m really excited about passing my knowledge of magic to somepony else.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Dear Twilight,

I am glad to hear he is all right. As you probably found out, I visited Ponyville today and met him personally alongside my sister. You were probably gone, and we couldn’t stay for long, but he made a good impression on both of us.

Again, I am confident in you, Twilight. Not only you are a good learner, but I am sure you will make a great teacher. Please do keep in mind, however, that he will need to become independent from your help in the near future. You can’t keep the poor colt in your house forever.

Also, as he’s to become your student, I expect a strictly professional teacher-pupil relationship between the two of you for now. Despite the appearances, we do not know a lot about him, and sometimes it is best to leave room for caution.

Princess Celestia

The Princess’s heart sunk as she read those lines. She remembered the off-putting sensation she had towards Blink in those years, and it hurt even more to see it expressed in words. As she shifted through letters which described the events that happened afterwards, she reached one she had never seen before:

Dear Twilight,

As you know by now, I have left Ponyville. I met with Blink on the train I took right after my talk with Rarity. I don’t want to go into details, but I really feel like I should be away for a while.

I decided to go to the Gryphon Kingdom with Blink. I know you cannot send letters back, so I don’t expect a response, but I will continue sending them to you.

Best wishes,

Spike and Blink

PS: Please don’t be mad on her. It’s not her fault.

Dear Twilight,

It’s been a while since I wrote to you. We are fine, currently camped out in the Zebra Lands. I hope everything is okay back home and you haven’t gone on a journey to get to us or anything. I am sorry again for leaving without telling anyone, but I just needed to be away from that place.

Anyway, Blink hurt his leg today but it’s nothing serious. I helped him take care of it. We’ll be reaching dragon territories soon, and then it’s a few days trip over the ocean from Port Issac. I don’t want you to worry too much, Twilight. I will make sure nothing bad happens to him. He’s also writing you a letter as I’m writing this, and I’ll send both of them together.

Your number one assistant,

Spike

PS: Almost forgot about it, but that nincompoop bought a gun! An actual revolver from a traveling merchant, and he thinks it’s 'cool'. I honestly don't know what you see in him.

Hey Twilight,

I bought a gun today! You have no idea how cool this thing is.

Yeah, I’m not very good at writing letters, but I’m learning and Spike’s helping me out with some tips. I don’t really know what to say other than I already miss you, and I want you to know that I’m absolutely fine. I’ll be back to you in no time.

Spike’s fine too. He’s still a bit down about what happened between him and Rarity, but I am sure he’ll get over it eventually. I didn’t want him to come with me on this stupid journey but he insisted, and to be fair, I am kinda glad he came. It’s pretty tough travelling all this distance. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to do it alone.

Anyway, that’s all from me. It’s getting dark, and we’re pretty tired from today. Good night, Twilight.

Patiently yours,

Midnight Blink

Twilight,

We’re on our way back. Currently camping in the forests between the Zebra Lands and dragon territories. Blink’s ‘trial’ took place in the Griffin capital, and he was sentenced to fight a manticore in an arena for their own amusement. I wish I could rip their wings off for what they did.

He was great though and managed to defeat it. He got injured, but a local pony doctor here told us he will be fine after he gets some help back home. We made a few new friends on our way here, and it’s much better traveling now. We’ll be home in a week. I miss you guys. Blink can’t write you right now, but he wants to let you know he misses you too.

Spike and Blink

My dearest student Twilight,

I’m writing this letter with the deepest regret, but I wanted to let you know nevertheless: I will be abdicating my throne very soon and will be leaving Equestria for an indefinite period of time shortly after.

My recent failures have showed that I can no longer rule this kingdom, when I cannot even stay impartial towards my subjects. From the terrible decision to send Blink away to the Griffin Kingdom to the findings of my old subjects’ wandering souls in the Everfree forest, trapped there because of the way they died to protect me over a thousand years ago.

I cannot tell you how deeply sorry I am for what I did to you and Blink. You have been my student for years now, and I’ve let that cloud my better judgment when I needed it most. I will be away for some time – I cannot possibly say how long – and my sister will take my place as High Ruler of Equestria.

If I never get another chance to talk to you, I want you to know that you’ve been a great student and you’ve learned so much about the magic of friendship, more so that I did in centuries.

I wish you the best, my dear Twilight,

Princess Celestia

Dear Twilight,

Training is going great; tiring as hell, but great. I’m not even a year into it and my superior officer decided to send me to do night guard shift at the Castle. They’re sending Chaser with me as well, so at least I’ll have someone to talk to all night long. Best thing is: I sleep during most of the day so I don’t even have to worry about the sun so much!

My personal lessons with Luna are also going pretty well. There’s a lot I’ve been learning about harnessing my magic better and faster. As expected, she’s not the patient teacher you were to me, but then again, she is running a kingdom at the same time.

How are things in Ponyville? I’ll be getting my next leave in a week, so I’ll come and visit then. Love and miss you so much.

Yours truly,

Blink

Dearest Twilight Sparkle,

I am to inform you that my sister, Celestia, hath returned home. Please come to Canterlot at your earliest convenience.

Princess Luna

To: Royal Guard units 1 to 18, day and night shifts

Subject: Changes in hierarchy taking effect immediately

Following the attack last night on the Grand Galloping Gala, I no longer occupy the position of Captain of the Royal Guard. That has been taken over by Midnight Blink effective immediately. All guards are to be combat ready at all times.

I know it may seem odd to start following the orders of a stallion you know little of, especially in times like these, but I have been re-assigned as General of the Armies, a position in which I can be more of serve to the kingdom. Rest assured, I trust Midnight Blink will fulfill his duties accordingly.

Shining Armor

General of the Equestrian Armies

Dear Chaser,

I have arranged your re-assignment from pegasus air forces to Royal Guard unit number 5. You hath also been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.

I am sorry if this is something you do not wish, but I would feel much better coordinating this war while knowing that you are safe along my side.

With great love,

Luna

To: Royal Guard units 1 to 18, day and night shifts

Subject: Changes in hierarchy taking effect immediately

Following a conversation with Captain Midnight Blink, I am to announce all guard units that I, Lieutenant Star Chaser, am now the provisory Captain of The Royal Guard, as Midnight Blink was sent out on the front lines at Struthill. Prepare for combat and protection of the Princesses.

Star Chaser

To: Princess Luna

This report comes in response to the request you have placed at the communication services team, following our initial casualty report for Struthill and Canterlot. I was notified by ponies from the emergency operations in Canterlot regarding the whereabouts of Captain of the Royal Guard, Star Chaser.

I am sorry to inform you that Star Chaser’s body was identified this morning among the remains of a demolished house on 4th Cavalry Street. It has been picked up by a blue unicorn accompanied by a dragon and a white earth stallion. They are most likely en-route to the nearest emergency point, a military tent located at the crossroad between Cavalry and Haybarrel streets.

Signed,

Loud Call,

Communications Officer of the Royal Guard

Dear Princess Luna and Celestia,

You are cordially invited to the wedding ceremony of Midnight Blink and Twilight Sparkle. The reception and official ceremony will take place two days before the next full moon, near the Golden Oaks library by the small lake.

Your subjects,

Blink and Twilight

PS: Sorry for the confetti explosion! Pinkie somehow manages to get them into the letters after we send them . . .

Dear Spike, Fluttershy, Rarity, AJ, Dash, Pinkie,

Baltimare and Fillydephia were amazing! We’re now ‘sailing’ towards the coast near the Southern Planes for a few days of sun and water by the famous Golden Beaches.

I hope everything is fine back in Ponyville. I already miss all of you girls (you too, Spike), but these have been the most amazing couple of weeks of our lives! I still can’t believe Blink and I are married; the last two weeks have been like a dream.

HMS Harmony is a great zeppelin; please thank Pearl again from our behalf for the amazing gift. See you all in two weeks!

Twilight and Blink

PS: Blink here. Pearl, those bow-side cannons are a blast!

Dear Midnight Blink,

My plan is being put to vote in Canterlot. I know tomorrow is Spike’s home-warming party, but please try to get to the capital in the second half of the day. If everything goes well, we leave for the Changeling Hive in a month.

Respectfully,

Shining Armor,

King of the Crystal Empire

Dear Twilight Sparkle and Midnight Blink,

I know it’s been a long time since Equestria needed your help, but I find myself forced to yet again ask for it.

I’m sure Midnight Blink has heard in recent reports that King Arnost is planning another invasion, almost nine years after the first one, and eight years after the eradication of the changeling threat.

My sister and I strongly believe that you two can, at this point, intervene and stop such an attack from even being launched. Twilight, ever since your reach, and therefore proof of the Magic Singularity manifesting in a unicorn, I knew for certain that you could handle such a mission effortlessly.

Blink, we think that your powers might also be needed, and we would advise the two of you to accept this mission together. Please travel to Canterlot at your earliest convenience, so we can further explain the details of this task. Your acceptance of this mission is not mandatory, but as Archmage of Equestria and General in reserve of the Equestrian Army, your presence to this meeting is.

Respectfully,

Princess Luna

Princess Celestia

To: Royal Army High Commandment

From: General Midnight Blink

Following me and my wife’s mission in the Gryphon Kingdom last week and the events that took place there, I hereby immediately resign from my position as General, as well as from my title of Defense Researcher.

This decision is not to be subjected to military council review or approval.

Signed,

Midnight Blink

To: Royal Army High Commandment Discipline Board

Forwarded message: Unauthorized Resignation from General Midnight Blink

In the wake of the attached letter received from Midnight Blink, I would like to convene the discipline council to discuss his decision. Also I would like him to be present at said meeting as defendant, for breaking article 4, paragraph 10 regarding relief from active duty.

Signed,

Hard Buck, Lieutenant General in the Equestrian Army

To: Lieutenant General Hard Buck

Subject: re: Unauthorized Resignation from General Midnight Blink

Buck, are you insane? Did you not read the reports we got from the Gryphon Kingdom about what Blink did in just one day? For your own good, I’m telling you to stand down from this. The Princesses themselves seem to be approving of his decision. I am not risking my career to step on their hooves, or worse, Blink’s hooves.

Signed,

General Golden Lance

Urgent letter to Royal Guard Commandment, Canterlot

The guards have reported even more strange activities on levels 3 and 4. We have ceased all patrols at those levels in fear that the security of the prison may have been compromised. Please send out help to aid in the containment of a possible high-security area breach.

Signed,

Bright Torch,

Officer in command of Tartarus Prison Watch.

Dear Twilight,

I have received a new report regarding a possible breach in Tartarus. I know you are rather busy this week with your teaching classes at the University of Magic in Canterlot, but could you find some time to tend to that issue? I am sure it wouldn’t take more than a couple of hours for you to sort it out as you did several times in the past.

Also, we have not talked in quite a while, so I was wondering if you would like to get together at some point and catch-up on things.

Your proud former mentor,

Celestia.

To: Royal Castle, Canterlot

Your Royal Highnesses,

Our emergency team arriving at Tartarus have found the area around the prison to be in a total disaster state. A large, blue-hued cloud still rises from what once was the Tartarus prison. We have found a total of one hundred and seventy five prison guards alive and uninjured, with a dozen or so presenting slight burns or symptoms of temporary blindness supposedly caused by what is reported to be a ‘powerful explosion’.

Early reports from the field show that the entire inner subterranean structure of the secure prison has been completely obliterated out from the depths of the mountain. Absolutely all prisoners inside as well as the artefacts stored there are most likely destroyed. Remains of the ancient guardian of the prison, Cerberus, have also been found.

I regret to inform you that the body of a unicorn stallion was found near a prison outpost, next to an unknown vehicle on two wheels. The pony was initially identified as Midnight Blink, former General in the Equestrian Army. His body has been sent to Canterlot’s main hospital but we hadn’t notified the family yet. A letter was found in his hoof, which I have attached to this message.

Signed,

Hoof Holder, Emergency Intervention Captain

Dear Twilight,

I don’t know what to say. I fucked up bad. Death is sitting at my side and telling me I only have moments to live. I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe I’m never going to see you or the kids.

I love you so much, Twilight, and I love you too, Chaser and Bell. You are the best things that have happened in my life. I’m sorry for being such a fool and for dying here, away from you.

Twilight, take care of our kids, even though they are almost grown-up. I will always love you, Twi. No matter where I go. No matter what happens to me. Stay strong, Chaser; you carry the name of a great fighter and friend of mine. Bell, make sure you follow your heart, that’s all that matters.

I feel tired now. Tell all our friends I’ll miss them. I’m sorry. I love you so much. So much

Celestia dropped the blood-stained, two hundred year old letter on the desk. Her tears streamed down her face without hinder now, joining the old, dried out-tears on the paper. She quickly wiped her face with a hoof, not wanting to ruin Blink’s last message to his family.

“Sister?”

Celestia was startled by the voice, quickly turning to Luna, who was standing in her study’s door.

“What hath happened, dear sister?” she asked, rushing to the white alicorn.

“Nothing, Luna. It’s just . . . some very old letters.”

Despite the fact that so much time had passed since Luna saw those red-sealed letters, she immediately realised who they were written by or addressed to.

“Those are their letters . . .”

Celestia stifled her nose, wiping away at her tear-filled eyes. “Yes. It’s like it all happened yesterday. Their entire lives . . . were just a passing moment in mine.”

Luna joined her, wrapping a protective wing around the saddened alicorn. “I left so many things behind, Lulu,” Celestia continued, “My old students, dear friends, loyal servants, lovers. I suppose in the end, life becomes an act of letting go. Yet what hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye.” New tears began to stain her white, matter fur. “I’m afraid they will be forgotten, Lulu. It scares me so much . . .”

“My dear sister, don’t be saddened,” Luna said reassuringly. “A long time ago, I read somewhere that there are three deaths in this world. The first one is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, sometime in the future, when thine name is spoken for the last time.”

Luna smiled at her sister. “They will never die, Celly. For we will forever keep their memories in our minds and hearts. And we will always talk about them: Twilight Sparkle, Midnight Blink, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Shining Armor, Star Chaser . . . They, their friends, their heirs . . . they will always live on.”

Celestia sighed in her sister’s embrace. “I wonder if . . . I wonder if we’ll ever get to see them again,” the alicorn pondered, her eyes staring at nothingness.

“I for one am certain we shall. I would go as far as to say that Twilight and Blink will make great Watchers one day, in a future Cycle.”

“Maybe you’re right, sister,” Celestia said, slowly getting up from her desk, making her way to a wall nearby. There, she stared at a framed letter she had been keeping for a long time. “Maybe you are right . . .”

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am sure you know that I am a very old pony. Despite the fact that almost eight decades have passed since we first met, you haven’t changed a bit. But ultimately, I have.

Even with the powers of a Lifebringer, I still feel sore in the morning when I get up from bed. What hurts most, however, is waking up without him next to me. It’s been forty two years since Blink’s passing, and not one day goes by without thinking about him.

I miss him, Celestia. I miss my friends as well; and my parents, and my brother. I never told you this, but I managed to finish project ‘Phoenix’ a while back. I have a lab rat that has lived ten times more than he should have, without even looking a day older.

He’s now happily munching on the research papers and the spell scrolls that were used to make him near-immortal. Blink was right; this is not a fate a normal pony should have. A pony shouldn’t have to bury his foals, his grandfoals, her best friend dragon. I’ve already outlived all my pony friends. I don’t want to go through more than that.

I’m also happy to report that I’ve managed to successfully and accurately predict a pony’s natural passing. As you’ve guessed, I’m the first and last test subject of this experiment. Owlowiscious is somehow linked to Life, that strange being I’ve only met once in the past. I know that He’s the one that gave me all these powers when I had my magic surge, back when I was a filly trying to get in your magic school. And now, my pet owl is telling me that I have to go. Isn’t that strange?

I’ve learned so much in my life, Princess. I’ve learned everything I could about friendship; the numerous reports I’ve written you stand proof of that. You’ve been a great mentor to me, and I want you to know that I don’t bear any grudge for your past actions. I know that you did everything just to keep me safe.

The magic of friendship and love is truly an amazing thing. It keeps friends united and loved ones close, no matter where they might be. Yet the time has come for me to move on. You will find the Elements of Harmony at my home. I am sure that they will find themselves great new Bearers.

Spike, you are at the start of a long and beautiful life. I know you will cry for me, like you did for my husband and all our friends in time. But please don’t cry for too long, Spike; you have so much ahead of you. The world is yours. I love you so much and you will always be my best friend and number one assistant.

Your faithful friend,

Twilight Sparkle

*** *** ***

The light was all gone. Her senses slowly returned to her. She pried open an eye. A dim light hung from a hook near a door. Her hoof twitched. The gentle touch of hay underneath tingled her coat.

Twilight opened both her eyes. Luscious strands of purple hung in front of them. She raised a hoof, brushing her mane away. The mare then craned her neck upwards.

What happened? Where was she? Was it all a dream?

As she got up, she noticed her muscles and bones didn’t hurt anymore. Looking down, the unicorn saw she had been laying on a patch of hay. She looked around. The memory of that place struck her head-on. It was the same barn where she had met Blink for the first time.

Twilight slowly stepped towards the barn doors. The small candle’s fire danced in its case next to them. Night veiled the sky outside. She was at Kazooie’s farm, close to home. But why? And how?

She wandered outside, her mind slightly dizzy. Next to the barn, a house had a few lights on. Voices were heard from inside. Twilight stared at the home, thinking about knocking at the door. Somehow, however, she felt that wouldn’t be the place for her to go.

She continued putting one hoof in front of the other as she headed towards her home. The library soon came into sight. The whole town was quiet, yet she felt its ponies were still in their homes.

She opened the small gate of her front yard, serenely staring at everything around her. She still couldn’t believe her eyes. It was even harder for her to do so when she noticed a stallion wearing a shining set of armor and a crown standing next to the treehouse’s door.

“Twilight? Is that really you?” he asked, a smile forming on his white face.

The mare approached him, her eyes wide. “Shining? Wh-What are you doing here?”

“It is you, Twily,” he said, hugging his little sister briefly. “It’s okay, Twilight. I’m glad you’re finally here.”

“What do you mean? Is this-”

“I don’t know, but it seems so.”

Voices resonated from inside. The lights were on. She darted her eyes from the door to her brother. “Why are you standing here?”

Shining Armor sighed. “I’m waiting for her. I can’t go in yet, but don’t worry. It just takes her a bit more time to get here.”

Twilight immediately realised what he meant. She tried to hold her tears. “Even after you died, she never stopped loving you. I missed you so much, big brother.”

“I know, Twily,” he said with a warm smile. A muffled wave of laughter came from inside. “Come on, little sis. Everyone’s been waiting for you.” She continued to stare at him with trembling eyes. “I’ll join you soon. Go.”

Twilight nodded, wiping away her tears. She took in a deep breath, her heart quivering in anticipation of what was beyond that door. She pushed it open.

They were all there. Talking, laughing, enjoying themselves, all around a couple of tables put together end to end. They all looked young again, and their eyes were filled with life and joy. Twilight’s breath caught up as her eyes laid on him. He was standing at the head of his favorite table, laughing next to his old friend Chaser.

Their eyes met and his smile widened. Twilight moved her hooves across the wooden floor in small steps, unable to believe what she was seeing. Fluttershy got up from her seat and wrapped her hooves around her. Tears resided in her eyes as well, but she confidently nodded as a few welcoming words left her lips.

Applejack got up and hugged her as well, and so did the rest of her best friends. Their life partners were there as well, all bearing reassuring smiles on their young, happy faces. After Rarity and Pearl’s hug, Twilight had reached the end of the table. She kept staring at him, unable to bring voice to her thoughts.

Blink wrapped his hooves around her, and she returned the gesture without hesitation. She tried to speak, but nothing came out, only sobs.

“It’s all right, Twi’. We missed you,” he whispered in her ear as they hugged. “And here I thought you were always the punctual one. You kept us waiting for a while there,” he said with a light chuckle.

“Is it really you?” Twilight finally managed. “Is all of this real?”

Blink laughed. “Yeah, it is me. I’m so sorry for leaving you so early. I know it was horrible for you all this time. But now we’re here, together again.” He kissed her and she kissed him back. “Have a seat, Twi’,” Blink said as their lips parted. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do before morning comes.”

Twilight sat next to him at the head of the table. “This is . . . This is unbelievable.”

“I know, sugarcube. It took me a while to get used to it too,” AJ said from across the table.

“Darling, we’ve missed you so much. Are you okay?” Rarity asked.

“I . . . think so.” Her eyes kept returning to Blink, as if they were to see him for the last time.

“Is your brother all right outside?” Fluttershy asked from next to Big Mac, who quietly stood at her side.

“He seemed fine, yes. Told me he’s waiting on . . . on Cadence.”

“Well, we have plenty of room left. I made sure we have enough chairs for everyone!” Pinkie chimed in. “Even for Spike when he eventually gets here!”

“Well, it’s nice to see you again, egghead!” Rainbow Dash added, raising a mug of cider towards her.

“What happens now, Blink?” Twilight asked, turning to her husband. It was the most curious she had ever been in her life. She couldn’t wrap her mind around the concept of their reunion, but having him there next to her made it all feel strangely okay.

“To be honest, Twi’. I don’t know. But I do know that the next day will bring something amazing. I’m just happy to see you again. I love you.”

“I love you too,” she said, cradling herself in his embrace.

Everything was fine in the world now. She didn’t care anymore about the logic behind it, nor the explanation of where they were. Next to Blink and her best friends, everything felt normal. Everything felt all right.

The night went on as the close friends recalled their life adventures, laughing, joking, and talking about it all. Their souls found happiness and warmth in each other’s presence.

In the distance, the early shimmers of a late dawn marked the night’s end, and the beginning of a new day.

The End

Author's Note

It's been a great journey. However, all good things must come to an end. I hope you all enjoyed the ride. I know I did.

Stairway to Equestria
First chapter published on January 2012
Finished on 31st August 2014

FAQ, Facts and Last Words

Stairway to Equestria

FAQ, Facts and Last Words

(also prize winners!)

This ‘chapter’, as expected, contains a background song as well.

No. I do not regret starting this amazing adventure. Writing this story has taken a big part of my free time over the past years, but no, I don’t regret it one bit. It was an amazing opportunity to experience the great sensation of expressing an idea, a concept based on another concept: writing a fan fiction. A story. A novel. A book . . .

Regardless of what you want to call this, it has been one of my greatest achievements to date.

The last chapter and the epilogue have been the hardest to write. I was basically saying goodbye to the characters we all grew to love so much. It would be the last time I would make Blink do something with the power of written word. Yet all things must come to an end at some point.

I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did in the end. Yes, it may have made us angry at some points, the grammar mistakes might have annoyed us a bit, and for me it might have been a pain in the flank sometimes to make sure you guys get regular chapter updates. But it happened, and that’s what matters most.

So, without further ado, here are the winners for the prize contest I’ve organized. Grats, guys/gals!

Review category:

Not Worthy for his review here (pending final version):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bsqdxkxj_jXpDmg5rhH4g81zqu62mxMrlH2MtJe26HM/edit

Art category:

Exelzior for this piece:

I’ll contact you soon enough for details on sending the gift. Runner up on the art category, Not-A-Hat, will receive a digital second-place prize for his submission:

(Backup link: https://i.sli.mg/7uzMPp.jpg )

Home is where your heart is . . .

This is not over though! Here are the answers to your biggest burning questions you might have had for this story! In addition to this, feel free to ask me absolutely anything about Stairway To Equestria. Everything goes!

FAQ . . .

Q: "I still don't get some things from the story!"

A: Near the end of this chapter there is a full explanation of all things.

. . . & Facts:

The story didn't have a title during the time I wrote the prologue and Chapter 1. As I was writing Chapter 1's ending, it all came to me while listening to Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven. I stuck to it and even now I think that it’s the best title I could have given to this story.

Chaser was actually inspired from a dream I had during the early chapters but I changed his name from Dim Light to Star Chaser. In that dream, Luna was visiting a tall, white memorial stone, and the exact words she spoke between her tears are still fresh in my mind: "You were my Dim Light . . ." Don't ask me how I deduced that his name was Dim Light, I just felt it so.

Blink's title of "Deathbearer" was initially "Deathifier". It goes without saying that it was changed in an update.

The story was initially planned to have 10 chapters at most and be a tragic satire of the monogamous HIE fics. Boy, did I fail at that . . .

I came up with the name Midnight Blink pretty much at the same time as Blink himself did while writing chapter 2.

Blink calls Twilight by her nickname (Twi) for the first time in chapter 14, in his house, before leaving for the Griffin Lands.

The three background songs used (linked) in the story represent the celebration of Life (proposal scene), the celebration of Death (funeral scene) and everything beyond them (epilogue).

The romantic story between Silver Wisp and nurse Redheart sparked right as I was writing chapter 22 and I must say, it was something that I had no control over, very much like Luna and Chaser. I intended the earth stallion to fall in love with Pinkie Pie in one of his visits to Sugarcube Corner, however, while filling up the first flashback scene with ponies in my mind, the off-duty nurse somehow made her way into the story, grabbing Silver Wisp's attention in a heartbeat.

Fun fact: Chaser’s sister was originally Octavia.

The most complicated characters to write were by far Death, Life and Pinkie Pie.

The funeral song was initially planned to be 'The Sound of Silence' by Simon & Garfunkel. It was changed to 'Funeral' by Band of Horses because the first one was too short.

The death of the unnamed soldier that was hiding behind his shield at the corner of a street in the siege of Canterlot was inspired by the tragic events in Ukraine. One of the over 100 protesters that died on the morning of February 20th was hiding behind a stolen riot shield before being shot in the head by pro-russian government troops.

The songs Blink was getting on his radios (both shed and motorcycle one) were coming from American radio stations from the 1982’s. The songs, in order of appearance, are: Spark - Number One Song in Heaven; Willie Nelson - On the Road Again; Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen the Rain; AC/DC - Highway to Hell.

The story was automatically rejected by the EQD staff just because it is a BIE fic. It didn't even have the chance to get to the pre-readers.

"What’s up with Celestia banishing Blink in Part Two of the story? That was the worst part of the entire fic; it made no sense!" *angry reader noises*

Well, to understand Celestia’s decision, we have to acknowledge the fact that there were two motives behind said decision.

One motive, the one actually presented by her, was that Blink attacked a high official of the Gryphon Kingdom, a nation Equestria had not the best of ties with. Her decision was supposedly made with the wellbeing of the entire Equestrian nation in mind, as she did not want any further disagreements between their nations. It was actually what Celestia made herself believe initially.

However, there is the second motive. The real one. The one buried deep in her subconscious that day when she handed in the sentence: she cared for Twilight. She remembered very well what happened with her sister, Luna, when she was a Deathbearer in their previous Cycle. She knew the dangers of being close to such a pony, and had to suffer losing her sister early in her previous life.

Celestia’s decision to banish Blink was taken in a desperate attempt to sever the ties between the two before they become true bonds. Celestia was knowingly sacrificing Blink so that Twilight would not get to experience the pain and suffering she experience in the previous Cycle.

Her plan however failed. Blink returned, and Celestia realised she couldn’t get between them anymore. That was a major factor contributing to her decision to abdicate for a period of time: she had put her personal interests ahead of the kingdoms’, and most importantly, ahead of true justice.

In the end however, she was right, as Blink shared the same fate Luna had. Twilight got to spend half of her life missing the stallion she loved so much, and their kids and friends suffered as well.

Does all that pain justify her actions? Maybe, maybe not. It was a mistake of hers and a serious character flaw that I believe added to the story’s idea that every life, even an immortal one, is a journey, and every journey changes you, for good or for worse.

"So, even after that ending, I still don't get it! Who's who and what did they do?"

This story is confusing sometimes and it also took me two years to complete. Forgetting foreshadowing elements I wrote half a year apart makes readers not pick up on certain things.

Here is a list of terms, important characters and their major role and contributions to the story:

Celestia, Luna (Celly and Lulu) and the Cycles:

A Cycle is the lifespan of the entire universe. There have been many Cycles, and the current one is 13 billion years of age at the time the story is told. Celestia and Luna are the re-incarnation of Celly and Lulu, two alicorns that lived as a Lifebringer and Deathbearer in a previous Cycle.

We catch a glimpse of that world when Celestia shows Twilight what being a Deathbearer did to her sister in the previous Cycle. In that memory, Celly was a Lifebringer and Lulu was a Deathbearer. From the point where they discover each-other's abilities, Celly starts to worry for her sister, which culminates with the memory of Lulu slaying all those other alicorns/ponies that murdered their parents.

In the current cycle, Celestia and Luna have gained the title of Watchers, and were given a world to watch over as deities. The date in Equestria is xxxx AC (After Celestia), which marks the point in time when Celestia took physical form and started leading the creatures of that planet that looked similar to her and her sister (the ponies). Luna joins her soon afterwards.

The two Watchers hold the Elements of Harmony, tools bestowed upon them by Life and Death, and take the name of that world's most prized virtues (Kindness, Generosity, Honesty, Laughter, Loyalty, and Magic). Their purpose is to re-establish harmony in the world they watch over (things such as a Watcher going rogue and breaking the rule of not killing any live creatures, or when a powerful spirit wreaks chaos in their world (Discord)). That's the reason why the Elements can't be used in the war in Part 3, because wars, despite their violent nature, are just a manifestation of that world's attempt of establishing harmony and balance. Luna and Celestia cannot directly intervene in the world order, yet they can act as guides for the ponies.

Luna, even as a Watcher, still has the darkness inside of her that is specific to Deathbearers, and in a moment of fury she loses control and her Nightmare surfaces. She is banished to the moon for 1000 years by Celestia after a battle that traps the souls of numerous ponies (including Bellona the Wise), due to the nature of the magic used in the fight.

Equestria and Earth

The two worlds Blink lived in during his life coexist in the same physical world. Our solar system is several light years away from the one that contains Equestria (around 40, given the delay it takes for the radio signals to reach Equestria).

In chapter 11 we see Luna using a powerful spell in the observer room, taking her and Spike on a trip through the galaxy, ending up near a star called Sol. There, Luna shows Spike the planet Terra (Earth), where Blink came from originally. She doesn’t tell Spike about it being Blink’s birth world yet, just that at some point he will realise why that planet is important, which he does, later on.

Bellona the Wise:

Bellona was a human, a spy of the Roman Empire (notice the use of Latin in her writings). She died and ended up in Equestria, much like Midnight Blink. There, she eventually became captain of the royal guard under the tutelage of Starswirl. She was killed by Nightmare Moon in the battle before NMM's 1000 year banishment.

Being slain with the dark magic of a Watcher turned rogue, her and the other guard's souls remained trapped on Equestria, until the Mane 6 discovered them. Luna found out about them from Twilight and visited the ruins in the Everfree, where she granted the trapped souls leave from that physical world, letting them know that they have done a great service to Equestria and their acts of bravery would not be forgotten.

Midnight Blink and Bellona:

Blink finds out about Bellona the Wise from studying advanced spells. He investigates and finds out some of her notes written in Latin. He finds out she mentions Rome in one of them, so he suspects that Bellona was also a human sent to Equestria.

Bellona helps Blink during his fight with Discord, giving him a slight 'push' by healing his wounds. He sees her as a translucent ghost, the Everfree Forest distant in the background. Blink never gets to see her again until he returns from the Griffin Kingdom. He has a talk with her and finds out about how she got there.

Midnight Blink:

In the story, the main protagonist starts off a human that has an unfortunate encounter on the streets of London. Here is where it gets tricky: he doesn't die that night in the human world, but slips into a deep coma. Death notices the 'light' doesn't accept him so he send him in Equestria. There, the story begins for Midnight Blink and we only get to see Alex near the end of Part One where Blink faints by the lake, waiting on Twilight for their first date. He awakes back in the human world, but finds out he's about to die soon, his awakening brain activity triggering a severe underlying condition. He dies surrounded by his parents, having had the chance to say his proper goodbyes.

He then meets up with Death in the Antechamber (a place between the real world and the afterlife), but meanwhile in Ponyville's hospital, Twilight uses her Lifebringer powers to pull Blink back to Equestria. She succeeds and from that point on, Blink is physically present in Equestria and Equestria alone.

Midnight Blink is a Deathbearer and in Part Two he discovers an inner daemon that turns out to be his darker side, his Nightmare. That darker side is present in all Deathbearers (including Luna) and it’s their burden to control for as long as they live.

Raven and Owlowiscious:

The owl and the raven are Life and Death's companions, powerful spirits that were once their pets in previous cycles. Life and Death send them to watch over Blink and Twilight and help them across the story in different ways. Owloysius was sent to Twilight years before Raven was sent to Blink.

Life and Death:

The highest beings revealed in the story, Life and Death are thought to be brothers, having the power to transcend dimensions and time as they govern the undergoing Cycle. Death handles the passing of all creatures into the afterlife, while Life oversees their arrival into the world. They refer to each other as brothers and it is presumed that they were Watchers in a previous Cycle.

The Afterlife (Ponyville):

All good characters that eventually die go through the Light, ending up in the Afterlife (or Ever as it’s sometimes referred to). For this story and most of its characters, that place is a nighttime Ponyville. Chaser is the first one to get there, and among the last one is Twilight.

She awakens on a bed of hay in Kazooie’s barn (the same place she met Midnight Blink for the first time), but doesn’t go in the farmer’s house where she sees an open light, because she feels that it isn’t her place to go to.

Instead she goes to the old Library, where she meets her brother standing guard in his military and regal outfit. He tells her that ‘they’ are waiting for her inside, but he can’t go in yet because he is still waiting for someone. Twilight then realizes where she actually is and tells Shining that Cadence always loved him, even long after his early death. She goes in the Library where she finds everyone gathered around a couple of tables, laughing, hugging and telling stories from their lives.

Lauren Faust:

Originally a unicorn filly by the name of Firefly, she lived in Equestria after the events that took place in Stairway to Equestria. She became ill with an unforgiving disease and died surrounded by her devastated parents. Death denies her passage to the afterlife, instead sending her to Earth, where she gets a fresh new beginning.

At the age of 36, the talented story teller gets the opportunity to (re)create a TV show and bases the characters on a story she subconsciously remembered from her previous life, when her mother would read to her from a book drafted by Midnight Blink and released long after his death. This is how Alex (Blink) got to know and love the ponies he would eventually meet after his human life comes to a sudden end.

Stairway to Equestria: The book inside the story

The beginning of Part 3 shows Midnight Blink writing down the epilogue of the story and the point of view changes to 3rd person. That is because parts 1 and 2 are Blink's draft of the book he starts writing at the beginning of part 3. After his death, Celestia and Spike use letters and Blink's memories to finish the book. She passes it down along generations as a story, a story which is eventually read to a unicorn filly by the name of Firefly, who will end up to be Lauren Faust in the human world.

Symbolism

There is a lot of foreshadowing and symbolic gestures and events that can be found throughout the story. I recommend readers to go back and read the story again, as it had been almost two and a half years in the making.

A couple of examples of symbolism in Stairway to Equestria:

Luna’s crown hanging heavy on her head in the times when she ruled alone, before the incident described in “The Green Gala”.

The radio signals from Earth are blocked by the planet right after he leaves for Tartarus, yet the radio on the bike still picks up songs foretelling his demise.

What happens after “The End”?

I believe the answer to that question lies in each of your hearts. I have dictated my characters’ entire lives even well after their passing, so I wanted to set them free into the imagination of the people that truly enjoyed this story.

Initially (and I can’t stress enough how this is only my personal take on it), I planned to have one last paragraph depicting Twilight and Blink emerging from a cave as the dawn of a new day broke over a beautiful new planet some billion years into the next Cycle. They would then swear to watch over that world to the new Life and Death, a pair of alicorn siblings Twilight and Blink knew all too well from the previous Cycle.

Credits:

I would like to thank all the people that have helped me in any way. Be that an answer to a simple question or the countless hours put in by my editors, tips on how to be a better writer or spotted mistakes in the chapters. I am forever thankful for all the help, advice and the amazing support you've shown to a complete stranger like myself. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Editors (2012-2014)

CosmicAfro
GreenMii
JBL
Sparklight
I Brained My Damage
Shira

Pre-readers: (2012-2013)

super monkey
PonyPonyX
Jed

Stairway to Equestria: The Book

This is not a story chapter.

From the epilogue:

“There is one thing, however,” Spike added right before turning to leave. He leaned his head forward and spat a small stream of flames. From the green fire materialized a large pile of scrolls. “Remember that book we wrote together a couple of decades back?” the dragon asked.

“Stairway to Equestria?” asked Celestia.

“Yes, that one [...]"

It's been a while since this story has finished. One important update I forgot to make is about a small 'tribute' I've made for the story, in order to better remember the work I've put into it as well as my editors.

A small, limited print of the novel has been made. Copies have been distributed around the world to my main editors, as well as the winners of the contest I hosted while publishing the last chapters. I wanted to have something to hold as proof of this amazing journey that has been Stairway to Equestria, as well as to reward in way the dedication my dear editors have shown by putting hours into editing the story.

Now that I have a dream job in the industry I love so much, it will be difficult to write another story. It's hard for me to imagine another world that is not the one in Stairway to Equestria, and I think that all I had to give in terms of writing creativity was put into this story. I'm sorry if this disappoints some of you, but there are far more talented authors out there anyway, with better stories and imagined worlds and characters.

So thanks again for reading the story, thanks for all the help, all the comments, all the messages. All of you made this possible . . .

I still have several copies of the book that I am willing to give away for free! You will, however, have to pay for the shipping costs. Please contact me if you are interested!

All copies now gone! Thank you everyone for the interest. It's exciting to have my story physically reach out to so many places around the globe: USA, UK, Sweden, Romania, Israel, Australia, Chile, Trinidad and Tobago, and Portugal. You are the best readers an author could have!

Alternative: if ~~you can't afford the shipping costs~~ you didn't catch a copy, I can send you a complete digital version of the book for free, including the print-ready PDF, the full cover as well as original doc manuscripts and fan art collection! Get it HERE!

Drop me a PM and I'll hook you up with another link if the one above doesn't work.

Prologue: An Empty Shell

Introduction

Closure

I am at peace . . .

It’s that feeling deep inside my heart that tells me that I can finally rest. Lie down, and just rest. Is it wrong to want that so much?

A long time ago, there was something missing inside of me. I now know that has changed.

I am at peace . . .

Things aren’t how I imagined them to be but still, I am happy. Life has a funny way of revealing its meanings: it puts a blindfold on your eyes, spins you around and then lets you decide where to go. It never takes it off, though.

For some, it’s easier just to keep that blindfold on and crawl until their life is over. They then look back and are happy about what they see: a mere image of their ordinary existence, an idea projected on the back of the blindfold they always had on. They don’t care about what lies beyond, they are happy.

My blindfold was taken off, but not by me. An infinite amount of possibilities have been revealed, blinding me with their intricacy. I was scared. Deep inside, I wanted that blindfold back. But the light was magnificent, the colors, aweing.

And that’s when I saw it. I didn’t know what it was back then, but I knew I wanted to reach it, to climb it, to ascent, all the higher.

I am at peace . . .

I think I’m there right now. What I’m about to do is just another step on that stairway, a new beginning with new possibilities. But I know that I am ready, I'm not scared anymore.

I want to tell you all how I found that stairway. How my first steps on it were with my shaky legs. How I tumbled down a couple of times or when I stopped and looked behind, silent, at what was and never to be.

I want to tell you how I found the Stairway to Equestria.

But first, you probably need to know how I lost my blindfold.

Part I
The First Step

Prologue

An Empty Shell

A loud banging from the hallway woke me up.

“Those Germans,” I whispered to myself, “why don’t they sleep like normal people?”

I sat up in my bed, slowly remembering last night. It was an all-nighter spent in front of the computer; another night wasted playing online games with other no-lifers out there.

“I should stop doing that,” I said, groggily.

I grabbed my phone and checked the time: It was 3 PM. My German flatmates were not crazy after all, it was I who was the awkward one in the bunch.

Becoming an international student in the UK was probably the best thing that had ever happened to me. I was starting my second term at a games programming course and since I arrived in the UK, I felt that my life was somewhat better. I discovered an awesome military-like sport, made friends of all kinds and also found out about a cartoon show that I never imagined would play such a big role in my life.

There was more yelling and other noisy sounds echoing in the hallway. They were not hounding at my door, for a change; being the only Romanian between four Germans kept me in my room most of the time. I would usually just ignore them and they would pass by, talking with each other in German at all times, only throwing an occasional ‘hey’ when they saw me.

My eyes were wandering across the small dorm, from my lion poster to another one that had a scene from an action video game. A full set of military gear was thrown into a corner of the room,an AK-47 airsoft replica resting on a small shelf near the window. The computer’s desktop background was shuffling every few minutes, most of the pictures being fan art from that particular show that depicted colorful ponies on their adventures in the magical lands of Equestria. I still found weird the combination of things I loved and I chuckled lightly at my own silliness. It was probably just a phase; a weird one, but a phase nonetheless.

I suddenly remembered I had planned a trip to London with a bunch of friends for the next day. They wanted me to get out of my room, so a couple of days spent in the mighty capital of England seemed like a good excuse and I knew they were in for the fun as well. We had already booked a couple of cheap hotel rooms and train tickets online, eager to have a blast at the end of a busy week.

The rest of the day went on like any normal Saturday: it was completely wasted, playing games or browsing different sites, while trying to think about finding a new part time job. I went to bed at a more decent hour that time (around 1 AM), my thoughts drifting off to their usual pattern of finding the meaning of life or thinking about the future. I never found out much about those two subjects, but at least they made me fall asleep fast.

*** *** ***

The next day I woke up early in the morning. I was packing some spare clothes in my backpack when my eyes fell on an airsoft pistol that lay on the desk.

“It could come in handy on the streets during the night,” I thought, being paranoid about those sorts of things.

Admittedly, it was more for intimidating rather than wounding potential aggressors, since those weapons, although looking 100% realistic, couldn't even puncture the flesh with their small plastic BBs. I decided it wasn’t worth it since I would have to spend several hours at a police station providing details and paperwork for it in case I got searched by an officer for God-knows-what reasons.

I met up with the rest of my friends in front of the university courtyard and we took a cab to the train station. I was quiet during the journey, thinking about class assignments while the rest of the gang was having fun playing cards and planning where we were going to spend the next couple of nights. We arrived in London after not even two hours and quickly headed to our hotel, which was close to the train station. After we got there, I took the first single room in the hallway, threw my backpack on the floor and climbed into the bed, already feeling tired for some reason. A good explanation might have been that all those sleepless nights finally got to me.

A loud knock on the door broke the silence in my room.

“Alex, come on, we’re going in a couple of minutes!” Tom, a fellow classmate, yelled through the door.

Awakening from my nap with about as much grace as a bear waking up from hibernation, I rebutted, “Yeah dude, calm down, I’m coming!”

I took a glance at the clock near the bed and noticed that four hours had passed and it was already getting dark outside. Tom and the rest of my friends wanted to hit up a couple of pubs before trying out some clubs in the center of London. I wasn’t much of a drinker, or a clubber for that matter, but I always managed to get some fun times out of our trips.

I changed my shirt, grabbed some cash and left the room, a busy night awaiting us.

*** *** ***

We left the club, most of the group experiencing the effects of drinking a little bit too much. We’d been partying for hours, going through pubs and clubs across a busy street in London. I can't remember its name, but I'll be damned if it wasn't just packed with places to party.

“Next one, gents!” Helen almost shouted at the rest of us.

“I think I’m good for the night, guys,” I muttered tiredly.

I only drank a beer but all the dancing and the crazy atmosphere wore me out pretty fast. “Think I’ll just go back to the hotel. You can keep partying without me,” I said to them.

“Dude, you’re weak,” Tom replied, pointing a finger at me from the hand wrapped around a cute girl he'd been warming up to the whole night. “Well, it’s your loss anyway… come on mates, the night’s still going!”

I bid them my goodbyes and made my way towards the hotel. It was close to where we had partied, just a couple of blocks away. My eyelids were heavy from a strange weariness and the only thing on my mind was the thought of a hot shower and the hotel bed waiting for me.

As I walked through a narrow alleyway, a sudden noise came from my left. A figure popped out from a dark spot, trying to grab my neck. The mist of comfy thoughts dissipated as my heart stopped and realized what was happening. His arm was clinging on my neck as he whispered, “Money or you’re it.” Surprisingly, I reacted by doing what I thought would be best: grabbing his arm tightly, I shoved my back into him, trying to get him to roll over me. I partially succeeded, making him fall over to my side, his arm still grabbing my shirt. I was panting hard from the shock of the attack, but I felt fury building up inside me quite fast. As he was trying to quickly get off the ground, I violently bashed him with my knee, getting on top of him. I could not risk leaving him able to harm me so I started punching him in a blind attempt to knock him out. That was a big mistake: as I was hitting him, I felt a sudden sharp tingling in my back and another hand grabbed me by the neck, pulling me away from my attacker. I was choking and the tingling sensation slowly morphed into pain.

There were two of them, and I'd just been stabbed in the back. The feeling in my back was getting worse by the second so I shoved myself into the second attacker, knocking him against the wall. The adrenaline rush gave me strength up until then but it was all running out, pain blocking my thoughts. I lost my reflexes and didn’t react in time when the first guy got up behind me. My right ear felt like it exploded as he bashed my head with a solid object. “That’s it,” was the first thought that passed through my hurting head. With my last bit of energy, I attempted to pick myself up but all I could muster was a simple head turn towards the attackers. I collapsed to my knees as one of the muggers shoved his boot into my face. I couldn’t feel my upper body anymore and I quickly lost vision, my body collapsing on the cold pavement.

Suddenly, there was darkness.

I tried thinking about something but I could only feel emptiness filling up my mind. The dark void was everything that I could see, smell, feel or think.

A sharp, loud noise made me open my eyes. I couldn’t see anything. The scream-like disturbance faded away and then I started hearing distant murmurs. They were overlapping and it felt like thousands of people were whispering into my ears at once. An arctic chill swept through my body to the accompaniment of those voices. Was I dying? Was this what it felt like? I could barely remember why I was there in the first place. I just felt that something bad made me end up there.

A flash of light hit my eyes, piercing my irises with its power. Thousands of colors materialized in my mind and immediately started to shift and morph. I started recognizing scenes, as if they were from an old movie long forgotten. Most of them seemed familiar; they were changing so fast but somehow I could recognize each of them and remember:

A small plush toy, simple drawings, a motherly figure, old places, a school class, familiar faces, snow falling, rainy days . . . suddenly the images stopped flashing. I felt myself pulled into the blackness that stood in front of me.

I was near an artificial lake back in a place I once called home. There I was, sitting on its edge, holding something warm in my lap. She turned her face towards mine as I felt a deep pain in my heart, recognizing the moment. “I love you . . .” she whispered. Before I could say anything, the whole scene vanished into darkness.

Another flash, this time ending up in front of a crowded panel. My eyes were automatically searching for my name. I found it, and next to it was something that made my heart jump with joy.

Darkness . . .

A loud voice announcing airport names came with the next scene. I hugged my parents, tears in their eyes, and then a couple of friends that were there for me. I waved at them, seeing their faces for one last time.

I then saw myself traveling through strange lands in a coach train. I was feeling happy and excited. Moments later, a door stood before me. Opening it, I dragged my luggage inside. I laid down in the bed and closed my eyes.

Memories kept flashing in my head, re-living each of them: a night out in the club, lectures at the university, gaming nights, new friends, images of colorful horses; that's when a warm feeling triggered in my heart. The trail of memories stopped at those, as I remembered the strange creatures I loved so much. But, why did those of all things seem to be so important ?

Emptiness left me no time to think. I was not cold anymore and I could only see a light shining in front of me. It felt warm, enticing me to walk towards it.

I could still hear voices in my head.

“Is this… that kind of light?” I asked no one in particular as I was slowly walking.

One of the voices whispering to me stood out from the rest: “Yes,” it replied, knowing exactly what I was talking about.

“No, but I can’t . . . I don’t want to, not now.”

“It is your time, young one,” the ominous voice told me.

“This shouldn't even be real. I'm an atheist,” I slowly said, after a pause.

“We know. But it’s not like that, you shall see.”

Outside of the darkness looming around me I heard the steady beeping of hospital monitors, and the whispering noises stopped, just for a moment.

“Fifteen minutes . . . failure . . . heart . . . charge to three hundred...” strange voices echoed in my ears.

My vision blurred as my body suddenly jolted with life. The light in front of me faded for a while, but started shining bright after a few moments. Another jolt, this time stronger, made the light dim even more. Cold was embracing me again. I stopped walking, my feet now stuck on the pitch-black ground that was everywhere around me. I wanted to turn away from the fading light, but my muscles would not listen.

“You can’t go back now,” the voice warned, knowing my intentions.

“I won’t go there, either,” I quickly responded, looking at the tremoring light.

“You are nothing more than an empty shell back there,” the mysterious voice resumed the icy voice rocking my own core, ”your soul has partially left the body but it seems it won’t let go . . . yet.”

“I don’t want to let go,“ I said, as tears started to flow down my face.

"Strange . . . you should not be able to wish for such things here," the voice said after a pause. "Tell me, young one, where would you want to go then?”

“Home . . .” I barely cooed.

“Home is where your heart is . . . where is your heart right now?”

I froze, not being able to come up with an answer. The harsh reality came crashing as I realized that I didn’t actually know what I liked so much about the cold world that I left behind. A thought quickly passed through my mind alongside a hint of hope. The reason for which that particular thought crossed my mind first is unknown to me even to this day.

“I see . . .” the voice calmly said. “So be it, then; but remember, you are still trapped, and you are still mine.”

A cold hand gripped my own, my eyes closing from the colossal pain that marked my soul forever.

"As Death, I mark you mine . . ."

Those last words made me freeze in shock, all senses triggering at once. An explosion of energy plunged me forward into the dark and I felt as if every bit of me detach from my body, one by one.

For a split second, I was nothing; then, I somehow collapsed on soft ground.

End of Prologue

Author's Note

CosmicAfro made this amazingly funny inaccurate reading of this chapter. Watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv6fx4u3y6U

Chapter 3: Visit from the Gods

Chapter 3

Visit from the Gods

I was strolling across the small square near the library, carrying a saddlebag of supplies from town. My muscles no longer hurt anymore, which seemed strange. It also got dark quite fast so I picked up the pace and soon the library came into sight. After a few moments I clumsily opened the door with a hoof.

I entered the tree house and noticed it was fairly cold inside.

This is strange . . .

The lights were also out, with the exception of a small lamp that cast a dim light in the main room.

“Maybe Twilight and Spike already went to sleep,” I said to myself, not giving it too much thought.

I took the saddlebag off and put it on a table, where Twilight could find it the next day. I then headed to the small guest room, making my way up the stairway. When I reached the top, the temperature fell even more, chills beginning to run down my spine.

I was getting a little bit scared of that feeling, but then something even stranger happened: I started hearing voices whispering, slowly filling the library. By the time I reached my room, my legs had already began shaking. I was scared.

“Twilight, Spike?” I asked, uneasy.

There were no replies, just more whispering. They seemed so familiar, like a distant memory I couldn't remember for some reason. I slowly walked into the dark room, one of my hooves searching for the light switch. As soon as the lights were on, the door slammed shut, making me jump in terror.

Suddenly I realized the room’s walls were covered in big, dark markings. It was the same symbol, written everywhere. It was my cutie mark. The whispering grew stronger, as I started kicking at the door with my forelegs.

“Help! Twilight! Please, someone, anyone!” I yelled.

All of a sudden I stopped, hearing movement behind me. I turned around and the lights dimmed in the presence of another being. My heart stopped when a wave of cold air hit me in the face, paralyzing me.

“What do you want from me?” I asked whoever was in the room with me, a heavy tremor in my voice.

The lights suddenly switched off and the whispering stopped. The air around me was freezing cold and my heartbeats were getting faster and faster.

Then there were sounds of footsteps quickly approaching me.

“Nooo!” I yelled, bracing myself.

I was panting hard, my heart feeling like it was about to burst right out of my chest. I realized everything was another bad dream, and calmed down a bit. Sweat drops were running down my back and my mouth felt dry as ash.

It was still night outside and the moon was casting a pale light through the window. I leaned over to the small table near the bed, my hooves searching for the glass of water I knew was there. I grabbed it carefully and drank it all up in one go, feeling much better afterwards.

I then started thinking about what happened to me in the last two days. Why did I agree to go to London in the first place? Stupid Tom and his stupid ideas; they got me killed, or that’s what I thought. It could all still be just a dream, a very strange one involving a world I never could imagine living in. It had to be one, there was no other valid explanation. But what if it wasn’t? What if I actually died back in that dark alley and ended up in Equestria for some unknown reason?

The conversation with Death came back to me, the memories making the hair in my fur stand up. What if that thing was right and I was trapped between life and death? What if I was placed in that world as a second chance? A second chance at what, for that matter? One thing was sure: after years of being a convinced atheist, I started believing for the first time. I believed that something more powerful than me was out there, and that something put me in a dream world for a reason. I just had to find out what that reason was.

Those strange dreams had to mean something and my cutie mark’s mystery also had to be solved sooner or later. I couldn’t live forever in Twilight’s house. The harsh truth was that I had to start fending for myself in a world that all my previous knowledge probably meant nothing. I had to get a job, a house and all that. I had to start living. What was I going to do? I had nothing.

I slowly fell into a nervous sleep, all the thoughts about my future weaving more concerns in mind.

*** *** ***

Twilight let out a sigh, closing the book in front of her.

“It’s no use. I can’t find anything even similar to that symbol,” she said to herself.

It was still early in the morning and she was alone in the main room, several of books on the ground surrounding her.

My cutie mark was clear in her head and she had continuously searched for any clues that could tell her what my special talent was. Dictionary of your Mark, Cutie Mark References and Secrets of your Talent were just a few of the titles Twilight had been reading in the past couple of days. Even books like The rarest of Cutie Marks and their Meanings, Unicorn Mysteries or Secrets of Dark Magic didn’t hold any useful information on the symbol that was beginning to drive Twilight mad.

However she was still determined to find out what my cutie mark meant and also to find the one unicorn that attacked me that fateful night.

“Mornin’, Twi,” Spike mumbled, entering the room. He was dragging his feet, his eyes barely open.

“Good morning, Spike,” Twilight absently responded, still focused on a book about ancient magic.

“You should really get out more. Haven’t you read all those books already?” the dragon asked, without expecting any different answer to the question he’d been asking Twilight for years.

“This isn’t for me, I am trying to find out what Blink’s cutie mark means,” the mare said, turning another page from Secrets of Dark Magic.

Spike snapped out of his sleepy mood, a grin forming on his face.

“Ahh, so you’re just helping your special friend you saved two nights ago?” he asked with a silly taunting voice.

Twilight cocked an eyebrow at him but immediately resumed her search.

“He is not my special friend, Spike. He’s a pony that’s been through a lot and I just want to help him. We have to find out who did this to him and I also need to get him to remember more about his life. Imagine being in an unfamiliar place, not knowing who you are or what happened to you.”

“Yea, yea, I get it. Worst. Thing. Ever,” he said, imitating a certain pony.

Twilight frowned at his assistant’s lack of sensitivity, but then smiled, a rebuke coming up in her mind.

“Well, I remember a certain dragon that I had to live at Fluttershy’s for a couple of days because he couldn’t stay alone in the library without me,” Twilight said, giggling.

“Hey, this place is pretty scary at night, especially with Owlowiscious’s creepy head turn,” The young dragon retorted, slightly angered at her for reminding him of that. “Plus, I’m older now and can sleep alone just fine, thank you very much!”

Spike crossed his hands, puffing smoke out of his nostrils. Twilight could only chuckle at the dragon’s defensive reaction, feeling that she had won the argument.

“Anyway, you should go and wake up Blink. Then you'll have to help him with his exercises.”

“Do I really have to?” Spike moaned.

Twilight gave him another grave look that made him accept his fate, and he made his way to the guest room.

*** *** ***

A knock at the door suddenly woke me up. I looked around and noticed the sun was shining through the window, filling the small room with blinding light.

“Window blinds . . .” I mumbled, ungraciously rubbing my eyes. I flinched a bit from the pain as my hoof pressed a little too hard into them, still unused to not having hands anymore.

The door opened and Spike walked in with a slightly annoyed look on his face.

“Hey dude, come on. Big day ahead for you, need to get those shaky legs in shape.”

“Morning to you too, Spike,” I responded, smiling at the dragon. “I had a wonderful sleep and I am feeling much better, thank you for your concern. How about you?” I asked him, with a fake but playful tone.

The dragon rolled his eyes, unamused.

“Yeah, we should work on your humor as well or you’ll end up having only Twilight laughing at your jokes,” he said sharply, but then started to smile devilish. “Or is that what you actually want, big guy?”

A blush started to form on my face but I quickly shook it off.

“Good one,” I retorted, rising my head while glaring at the small dragon.

I flopped out of the bed and started walking slowly towards the door, lazily dragging my limbs over the wooden floor, following Spike.

“You okay there, Blink?” he asked as we started going down the stairs.

“Yeap. I’m getting better at this, I think.”

My legs weren’t shaking anymore but I still had to tread carefully, as eye-to-hoof coordination was still tricky. I then felt a strange but familiar pressure in the lower part of my body.

“Uhm, Spike, could you please tell me where the bathroom is?” I asked uneasy, feeling the pressure building up.

“Sure. It’s right there, first door on the left. I’ll just wait for you in the kitchen.”

I entered the bathroom, which was right near the base of the staircases where he had pointed out.

After several awkward minutes, I left the bathroom, heading towards the kitchen.

“That was definitely . . . weird,” I thought, trying to get my mind used to the new experience.

I slowly moved across the main room, hearing voices coming from the kitchen. The door was propped opened, and inside Spike was sitting at the table, chewing on what seemed to be blue diamonds.

“Hey there, sleepy head,” Twilight greeted me, while levitating some flowers from a cabinet. “How was your sleep? Are you feeling any better?” she asked full of energy.

Spike started chuckling, remembering my earlier remark and almost choked on a diamond. I frowned at him and Twilight rolled her eyes, not knowing why the dragon reacted the way he did.

“I’m sorry Blink, but all I have for breakfast are some daisies and grass.” Twilight said with regret in her voice. “I'll have to go in town and get some groceries. Meanwhile you can start exercising and Spike will help you, as instructed.”

I sat on a free chair and Twilight brought a plate with the mentioned daisies and grass on the side.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, sorry it's so basic,” the lavender pony said half-heartedly, heading out of the kitchen. “I’ll be back in an hour or two. I have to drop by Rarity's and give her a book she asked for a while ago. Spike, you follow the schedule we made this morning, and Blink, you listen to Spike.”

“Sure, Twi. Don't forget to say ‘hi’ to Rarity for me,” the dragon said, his eyes starting to glow at the mention of that specific name.

Twilight put her saddlebag on and left the library, leaving me and Spike alone.

“Who’s Rarity?” I asked grinning, revenge being at hand. “I saw that look on your face, is she a special dragon or something?”

Spike looked back at me, frowning in annoyance at my rather personal inquiry.

“No, she’s actually a pony. The most beautiful and gracious one in Ponyville, and the most talented dressmaker I know!”

His reptile pupils elongated more than usual and he narrowed his eyes at me.

“And don’t you get any ideas, buddy,” Spike hissed at me.

“Calm down, dude, I’m not interested in dating at the moment. I have more important things on my mind right now,” I said with a laugh.

The dragon’s face expression returned to normal, and he resumed eating his breakfast.

“Strange, yet cute,” I thought, holding a smile.

Spike was eating his blue gems and I was chewing on some grass when my eyes fell on the last of the precious stones in his bowl. I forgot those were actual, super-sized real diamonds. The light that shined inside the kitchen was reflected by them, casting blue squares on the walls. The dragon noticed my curious look, shifting a bit in his chair.

“What, haven’t you seen diamonds before?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Actually no, I haven’t. Wow, they are so . . . beautiful,” I said, genuinely amazed.

Spike’s look turned into a concerned one. His face then lit up and he got off his chair, heading to a small cabinet. After searching in it for a while and finding what he was looking for, he returned to his seat. The dragon then put a small object on the table and pushed it towards me with his claw.

“Here then, you can have this.”

It was a medium size blue diamond, similar to the ones Spike was eating, but even more lustrous and had a finer cut.

“I don’t know what to say Spike,” I mumbled, grabbing the diamond with my hoof, amazed by its beauty. ”Thanks a lot, it’s awesome.”

Back in my world, I could live like a king with the money I would get from that stone. I held the diamond delicately as my eyes studied its edges; it felt so weird holding an object considered so valuable by my old standards, yet just a food product for a dragon in this world.

“You really can’t remember anything before that night, can you?” Spike asked, still bearing that concerned look.

“Sorry, but I really can’t. I know what, for example, diamonds are supposed to be, but I don’t remember seeing one for myself.”

I felt a small pressure in my chest; the trail of lies was getting bigger. I was always the good guy back in my world, honest and hard-working, but I had a somewhat sick pleasure in deceiving people around me. Not for my own gain, but rather just for the fun of it. I couldn’t explain why I liked that, even in the cases in which my lies had absolutely no effect on me or the involved party.

After some reading into physiological behaviour, I found out it was a rare thing only some people do: my subconscious felt the need of protecting myself, as a being. By lying to others, even if changing subtle and irrelevant details, my mind felt I was protected, knowing that other people don’t know the actual truth. It gave me a rather fake feeling of having the edge on everyone around me.

It grew into a habit back home but here, it was a pretty big lie, a lie I felt I was going to regret at some point.

“Hey, are you still here?” Spike asked, waving his hand in front of my face.

“Yeah, sorry; was thinking about something.”

“Geesh, Twilight does that exact same thing every now and then . . . especially since you showed up,” the dragon said, smirking at me.

“How . . . nice. How about that training plan I've heard her talk about? Shouldn't we get started on that?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“Aww sure, exercise time!” he quickly remembered, getting off his seat and heading into the main room. “Come on, hurry up. You got a lot of things to do today!”

Perfect . . .

I got up and followed the dragon, curious of what the exercises would actually consist of.

“Well, since you can walk now pretty much without any assistance, there is only one obvious thing you can do to improve your leg muscles.”

Spike then took a saddlebag that was lying on the floor near the entrance of the library, and dropped it on my back. I was surprised by its weight and I would have collapsed to the ground if I hadn’t tensed my muscles in time. I could barely keep myself on all fours and pain soon sipped into my legs.

“Come on, stop being such a wuss, I’ve just stuffed it with some books,” Spike mentioned, chuckling at the sight of me barely keeping my balance.

“Ohh my . . . the fu-- hell is in this?” I asked, my eyes tearing up a bit from the crushing feeling.

“Well, just a few of them . . . Twilight’s favourite ones.”

“Pffhhhaaa!” I managed to yelp, barely keeping my balance. I could only imagine the huge manuals or novels that were in there, knowing how much Twilight loved books.

“What's ‘hell’, by the way?” Spike inquired, curious.

“Uhm . . . it’s just something I use to say when I am mad. Anyway, what now?”

“Well, you go outside in the backyard, and just walk around for a couple of hours. Twilight said you could also use the fresh air. Now follow me,” the dragon instructed.

I followed my new personal trainer, a bit slowly due to the added weight of the book-filled saddlebag on my back. I was getting the hang of it though, and soon enough I was outside, in the library’s backyard.

This wasn’t at all how I imagined it to be. Even if the library had neighboring houses, there were no fences between them. The three house and the other homes around seemed to be resting on a tiny headland, and looking down the small slope I could notice a forest. Further away to its left stretched fields of grains and some more houses. That had to be Kazooie’s farm, since it was quite close to Twilight’s home.

Spike went out in the yard and laid down on a denser patch of grass, letting out a lazy yawn.

“Well come on, you won’t get any better if you just stand there,” the dragon said, making himself comfortable under the warming sun.

“Weren't you supposed to help me?” I asked, irritated by his drowsiness.

“Well yeah, I am supervising your recovery dude, and I'm here if you need anything.”

“You’re a funny one. I like that,” I retorted, managing a smile.

Spike returned a shrug, waved his hand in the air a bit in a sign of approval and then rested his head on the ground, enjoying the weather.

I looked away towards the far end of the yard. The smile soon faded away from my face as I started slowly walking in a large circle, thinking about how to make my exercise less boring. It felt a bit stupid to walk around like that and after a few minutes my legs were already tired.

“Come on Alex- uhh Blink, you can do it, you barely started!” I said to myself, grinding my teeth.

After a couple of minutes, the pain was getting harder and harder to ignore so I decided to take a break. I went to Spike, who was still resting on the ground, and crashed next to him, relaxing my legs.

“Tired already?” he asked, opening his eyes lazily.

“Yeah, I can barely feel my hooves but at least I can walk now without falling every two steps.”

Spiked laughed, recalling the first time I went down the stairs with him by my side.

“That sure was hilarious. You were like a young foal. But you’ll get better, don’t worry.”

A flap of wings caught my attention, and I felt my right ear automatically twitch towards the source of the sound, making it clearer. A brown owl flew pass me and Spike, landing on a small garden table. It turned its head all the way towards us and shortly after, the rest of its body, in a weird motion.

“I hate him when he does that . . .” the dragon said, with a creeped-out expression. “Anyway, this is Owloysius, Twilight’s pet,” the dragon continued, emphasizing the last word.

Whoo

“Owloysius, this is Blink. He’s staying here for a while until he gets back on his hooves.”

Whoo, the owl let out, tilting his head.

“Blink. I just told you, numbskull.”

Spike was slowly getting annoyed by the owl’s call.

“Well, he seems to be a nice fella',” I said, amused by the whole situation.

“Pfff, he’s quite the . . . charmer,” the dragon hissed. “Anyway, back to exercising, big guy. Twilight will be all over my tail if she finds out I’ve let you slack.”

“Okay, master Spike!”

The dragon returned to his lazy slumber and I got up, resuming my exercise routine.

I didn't even make half a circle when I heard those familiar flapping sounds again, and Owloysius landed on my saddlebag, adding to the weight.

“You must be kidding me,” I moaned, turning my head to the bird.

Whoo

The bird tilted his head at a perfect 90 degrees angle, which made me laugh again.

“Another funny one,” I thought, still smiling, and then carried on.

After about an hour of walking around the backyard and resting every now and then, Spike got up, stretched in a deep yawn and waved at me to come back.

I was near the far end of the yard then, Owloysius still on my back, keeping me company.

“Well that would be enough physical exercises for today,” Spike said, walking into the library.

I followed him back, feeling tired, but somehow better than before. The fresh air must have really helped.

“Now, Twilight also instructed me to give you these,” the dragon said, pointing at a stack of books on a table. He took the saddlebag from my back, emptied it on the floor and started packing the books he mentioned.

“Do I have to . . . read them?”

“Yep, Twilight told me you should try to read through these to get up to speed with magic and stuff. She doesn’t know what kind of memory loss you have yet so these are about Equestria places, history and all that boring stuff. She said they may actually help you remember where you come from, but that’s just Twilight trying to solve everything with a book.”

It did prove to be a good opportunity to get used to the new world I was in so I wouldn't look like a complete fool when I got out there. Concerns about my future started coming back at me but I shook them off, trying to focus on what I really had to do: get my body working as it should. And that included finding out my cutie mark's meaning and starting to use magic. I was, after all, a unicorn, so I had to have at least some magical abilities. I was at the same time afraid of what talent my mark could represent so I was a bit hesitant on doing magic.

“Well, these are all of them,” Spike said, mounting the saddlebag on my back. “I suggest you take them to your room and start reading or else Twi will have your tail as well,” he said, more or less joking.

“Okay then, thanks! Also, thank you for the supervision and all that, you’re a natural!” I added, laughing.

“No problem dude, you’re a cool guy after all,” the dragon said as he gave me a strong pat on the shoulder, making me tilt and almost fall, “but still weak as a filly,” he added, smirking. “Anyway, I’m in for a long bath so try and not get into too much trouble.”

He then left the room, leaving me alone. I went up the stairs, opened the door to my room with my head and went in, dragging my hoofs across the floor. I felt so tired and could have easily fallen asleep if I dared to get in the bed. I shook the saddlebag off my back and opened it with my mouth. Inside were a handful of books, one of them having the title Sights Around Equestria and a drawing of a dusty road leading towards a great city on the side of a mountain on the cover. It had to be Canterlot! Curiosity made me grab the book from the floor, take it with me on the bed and start reading it, turning the pages one by one with my muzzle. It was a clumsy way to do it but it was all I had at the moment.

“Thirsty . . .” I mumbled, licking my lips after about an hour of reading.

I got up and made my way into the kitchen downstairs. There was nobody in sight and Spike was probably still having his bath, judging by the sound of running water from the bathroom. Outside was getting dark and I started wondering where Twilight was, since she had to be back by then.

“Probably in some weird adventure with the rest of the gang,” I thought, while entering the kitchen. I then realized I hadn't met any other pony except Kazooie’s family and Twilight. I actually wondered what the rest of her friends were really like. Grabbing an empty glass, I started pouring some apple juice I found in the fridge. It seemed strange that ponies had all that technology and I started to wonder what else they had that was . . . modern. While I was thinking about the possibilities, I heard some strange noises from the main room.

Hmm, that has to be Spike finishing his epic bath; or Twilight finally returned.

I went out of the kitchen with my glass of juice hanging from my mouth as I walked slowly, not to spill it. Suddenly my eyes fell on what was in the middle of the room. My mouth opened in shock and the glass fell to the ground, spilling the juice all over the floor.

In front of me stood a large, white pony with big wings, a long horn and multi-toned colored mane. She was wearing a golden crown with a purple gem encrusted into it and a similar looking breast plate. The pony was looking at me with a mixture of anger and curiosity.

“Oh shit I’m fucked,” was the only thought that passed through my mind.

I quickly reacted, knowing exactly who was standing in front of me.

“Princess Celestia . . .” I said, kneeling with my front hooves. I kept the pose for several seconds, trying to figure out what were the reasons for that unexpected visit. I got back up, my legs shaking a bit from the tired muscles.

“Is he the ‘impending darkness that will fall upon all Equestria’ ?” Celestia asked with her head to the side, smiling.

She seemed more relaxed now, after she saw that I was . . . normal? But who was she talking to?

“Yes sister, he must be the one . . . can’t you feel it too?” a more serious voice came from behind her.

I immediately recognized Princess Luna. I didn’t notice her before because she was standing in a dark spot in the library, but then she was stepped in the light, taking her place near Celestia. Luna’s eyes were still focused on me and I bowed down again, this time to her.

“You are overreacting again, Luna. I can definitely tell that he does not carry any kind of force or magic the likes of which you have described to me last night.”

She then turned her head towards me, with a warm smile still on her bright face.

“Please excuse us for this unusual intrusion,” Celestia started, “you must be Blink, is that right?”

“Yes Princess,” I said, my head facing the ground.

Keep it calm and submissive, she’s the one that has the power to move a star every day before breakfast.

“Twilight has told me about the event that took place two days ago in one of her letters. I am sorry to hear about what happened and wish you a fast recovery,” the Princess stated in her soft but authoritative voice.

“Thank you, Princess.”

“In any case, my sister tends to overreact every now and then especially when it comes to strange magic.”

“I do not! I tell you, that unicorn over there is definitely the source of that magic I felt the other night,” Luna protested, but then calmed down as Celestia gave her a harsh, knowingly look.

“He might be but from what I was informed, he can’t remember anything preceding that night. He’s also very weak and can’t be of any harm to anypony. From what Twilight told me, I figured he’s quite a nice stallion,” Celestia added and I started blushing from the unexpected compliment.

“I wonder if she can tell that I’m lying . . . she is a God in among these places after all. Luna definitely feels something about me, why would Celestia deny it?” I thought.

“Well, there are royal matters I have to attend to at this time, Midnight Blink," the Princess said, “When you and Twilight find out more about what happened that night, please let me know through a letter. And if there is anything I can do to help, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Of course, Princess.”

Luna puffed, retreating into the dark corner of the room and disappearing without a trace.

“Again, please forgive my sister, she can be quite a handful, especially since her return. But she cares a lot for her subjects. Regardless, I shall go now as well, I expect you to behave like a real gentlecolt while under Twilight’s care,” she said, smiling a bit strangely. Was that a smirk?

She then headed towards the library’s entrance, opening the door with her magic. Before leaving, she gave me one last look while I was kneeling again. Her eyes fell on my cutie mark and for a while, a hint of concern leaked through her official poise. Before I could notice it, she was already in the air, flying towards Canterlot.

I stood in the door, watching her becoming a small dot in the sky, as she flew further and further away.

“Well that was . . . something,” I said, then closed the door.

Luna must have felt my presence and alerted Celestia about it. She knew something was different about me, but how come her older sister didn’t feel it as well? Or if she did, why was she hiding it?

I was still having a hard time recovering after the unexpected visit from the two supreme rulers of Equestria. It was so surreal and I would have never imagined seeing both princesses so soon. I couldn’t wait to tell Twilight about it once she returned.

I climbed up the stairs and returned to my room. I felt so tired and I wanted to take a nap and get some of my thoughts in order. While thinking about how powerful and imposing the real Princess Celestia looked, I brushed pass the small table near my bed. The empty glass of water from which I drank the night before started wobbling, and after some tensed moments, fell over to the ground.

What happened next was amazing and terrifying at the same time. I reached for the glass with my head but it was too far away. Instead, my horn started glowing an eerie blue and the glass suddenly stopped, a few inches above the ground, surrounded by the same glow that engulfed my horn. I could feel a strange warmth in the top of my head and even weirder was that I . . . felt the glass, like I was touching it with my own hooves.

That was the first time my magic manifested. It happened so quickly, it was practically spontaneously and above all, it felt good.

Suddenly though, the warmth faded away and I started feeling cold. The air in my lungs felt like it was freezing and chills ran down my spine. I could only watch the glass, shocked by that strange feeling. Slowly, a tendril of black smoke formed near my horn, and started floating towards the glass. More soon followed, as I started hearing strange, distant whisperings.

“Not this again,” I thought, trying to stop the whole thing.

I felt my backside invaded by pain, right where my cutie mark was supposed to be. My vision blurred as the dark tendrils of smoke engulfed the glass, and started spreading around the room.

“No . . . stop!” I yelled with my last strength.

The shadowy smoke dissipated and the noises suddenly stopped. My legs started shaking, and then gave way from under me. I blacked out and fell to the floor, hitting my head against it.

End of Chapter 3

Part III, Chapter 21: A Bright Future

Part III

The Last Steps

Chapter 21

A Bright Future

. . .

I am at peace . . .

I think I’m there right now. What I’m about to do is just another step on that stairway, a new beginning with new possibilities. But I know that I am ready, I'm not scared anymore.

The feather racked harshly across the notebook’s page, its sharp scratches breaking the early morning’s tranquility. The quiet night guard gritted his teeth at every clumsy step in the feather’s dance, his focus dispelled after a long shift.

. . .

I want to tell you all how I found that stairway. How my first steps on it were with my shaky legs. How I tumbled down a couple of times or when I stopped and looked behind, silent, at what was and never to be.

I want to tell you how I found the Stairway to Equestria.

But first, you probably need to know how I lost my blindfold.

The guard reviewed his piece with pride sparkling in his slit, dragon-like eyes. He levitated the notebook back in his satchel and picked up the spear that was resting against the stone wall of one of the royal castle’s towers he was on.

A shadow landed behind the seemingly unaware stallion, his wing beats unheard and his landing silent as that of a feline. He then swung his weapon at the night guard but a sudden burst of blue magic was rapidly followed by a dark, shadowy tentacle that wrapped around the wooden end of the spear that was about to hit the guard.

“Darn you!” spoke the intruder, the shimmering early rays of the sun revealing him as another night guard.

“Nice try, but I told you you’ll never catch me off-guard ever again,” said the first guard nonchalantly as he made his way to the tower’s stairway. His comrade picked his spear up and followed him, folding his bat wings against his body as he entered the narrow staircase.

They reached a lower level and stepped out of the tower, walking along an external wall facing the vast forests outside of Canterlot. The unicorn guard took his head piece off, shaking his helmet-hair.

“So, how was your watch? Anything mildly interesting?” asked the pegasus behind him.

His friend turned around, a bored expression residing in his draconic eyes. “It’s the night watch, Chase’; nothing ever happens.”

His almost black fur started glowing softly, slowly morphing its color back into the midnight blue that it normally was. The guard’s eyes also glowed briefly, and after a flash, the irises changed their shape back to normal.

He suddenly stopped, and started sniffing the air tentatively. “Chaser, that smell again. Do you feel it? It smells like . . . some sort of perfume?”

The brown pegasus that also just removed his helmet flinched, his eyes darting around nervously. “Uhh- we’ve been through this, Blink; I think it’s just some side effect of our appearance spell fading out.”

“Hmm, might be.” He took a sniff at his upper leg, but instantly jerked his head away. “But I never smell like that. Come on, let’s hurry back to the barracks; I need a shower.”

The two left the castle’s premises, giving a slight nod to the golden armored guards arriving to take their place. They joined in on a column of other night guards, all of them slowly making their way out into the city of Canterlot.

“So what was that you were writing back at the castle? Don’t tell me it was for that book of yours you wanna start?”

Blink shot him a deathly glare. “Chase’, why did you join the army, and afterwards, the night guard?”

“Because I felt like it?” came the pegasus’s quick answer.

“Exactly! There’s your answer. Just as you felt that being a guard was the next step up from a game keeper, and the logical choice to make, the same goes for me. We both joined the army what, over a year ago?”

“I guess so, yeah.”

“Well, if you haven’t noticed, some things have changed in that time, despite the monotony of our lives in the army. You’re basically the best archer among the guards, and I- well, you saw some of my training sessions. What I want to say is that sometimes it’s important to write down the adventures in your life. Like the time I fought with Discord or when I beat up that gryphon and had to answer to their damn court for it because that stupid Cele-”

“Blink! For Luna’s sake, she’s the Princess!” Chaser interjected, frowning at the way the unicorn addressed the former ruler of Equestria.

“She was the Princess! I almost died because of that journey. If it wasn’t for Luna, I would have been exiled who-knows where. Don’t think I forgot that, Chase’. A simple ‘sorry’ doesn't magically fix things,” Blink said harshly, stopping at the entrance of the castle’s premises, his nerves on the edge all of a sudden. “Forget it, I shouldn't talk about it anyway.”

“You probably should. Are you okay?” Chaser asked, concern lingering in his eyes.

“I’m fine. I just-” he paused for a bit before continuing in a steadier voice, “I never had the opportunity to talk to her about all this. And now nobody knows where she is. I just wanted to know why . . .”

Blink resumed walking, his head filled with unpleasant memories. Chaser said nothing more as they continued their tired walk. After a while the barracks came in sight, right next to a secluded section of the capital’s great wall, where its line met the solid mountain the city was built upon.

The sun began rising as the morning settled in, its rays creeping over the wall’s end. Blink’s horn glowed and two small magical sun shields formed in front of his eyes, protecting them from the early light.

“I really want a pair of those magical shades of yers,” the pegasus muttered, glancing at the unicorn’s makeshift eye protection.

“You need one of these first,” Blink responded, nodding at his horn.

“I’m fine with my wings, mate.” Chaser then extended his now normal wings, basking them in the warm sun.

“Pff . . . I’ll get that damn spell working one day,” Blink muttered under his breath.

“Hah! Do I have to remind ya? Broken chest, shattered leg, horn burn-”

“You don’t have to remind me! And all that happened in the course of several trials, mind you.”

“Several suicide attempts ah would call them. Yer very lucky to still be in one piece with all that experimenting on top of your special training and everything. The spells you’re trying out, all those talks you’re having with our weapon smith. What are you trying to do?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Blink’s rebuke turned to a shout as he realised what the time was. He made his way into the barracks, breaking into a gallop.

Chaser followed him at his own pace and after a few moments, right when he was about to enter the dorms, his unicorn friend rushed back past him and into the showers, his armor taken off.

“In a hurry?”

“Train to Ponyville leaves in five!” Blink’s voice echoed from the shower rooms, the sound of hot running water filling the silence of the empty barracks.

As the other night guards started arriving as well, Blink had finished his shower and went straight to his bunk bed. He started searching through his backpacks, and moments later he retrieved a pair of sunglasses and some bits.

“So, how are your big plans coming along?” a voice came from above.

Blink stared up to Chaser, who was lazily laying onto his top bunk bed, almost asleep. The unicorn opened his mouth to say something but froze before any words could escape his lips. The endless chain of debate triggered in his mind again as he was reminded of a pressuring issue he’s been having lately but quickly shook it off.

“I’ll be gone for a day or two,” Blink simply said, trying his best to ignore the question. The strain in his voice however betrayed him. Chaser simply smirked, turning around is his bed.

With an explosion of smoke, the unicorn disappeared from the barracks, leaving behind a trail of magic that gently faded away.

Another burst of dark blue smoke made a few ponies jump in place in Canterlot’s train station as Blink appeared on the platform. His heart rate was a little high, but it had nothing to do with the teleportation, but rather with Chaser’s earlier question. He took a deep breath and looked around, trying to find the train that was about to leave towards Ponyville. Finding it, he boarded and took a seat in an emptier part of a carriage. The two hour journey would give him enough time to think things through.

*** *** ***

Luna sighed, her frustration reaching a new peak for that day. She floated a stack of official documents to the side of the desk, having finished reviewing and signing them. The alicorn craned her beck back, staring at the late morning’s sun outside. Her last break was several hours ago but she was already tired. Paperwork and bureaucracy in general were not to her liking, however there was little choice she had in that matter.

She adjusted the new crown on top of her head slightly with her hoof, still not used to it even after almost a year.

As she went through the letters on her desk, one in particular caught her attention. She unfolded it and her eyes dropped immediately on the addressing at top of the page:

Dear Princess Celestia,

. . .

It was a letter from an old mare that mentioned her son, an earth stallion, was just about to get married. Her only wish was to have the Princess’s blessings upon one of the most important parts in her son’s life.

Luna could tell from the name of the remote village the letter was sent from that those were fairly old-schooled ponies, living a simple yet pure life at the outskirts of the kingdom. It didn’t surprise her that they had not found out about her sister’s abdication, given how secluded their village seemed to be from the rest of the world.

As she recalled the hectic weeks that followed her public announcement, her eyes fell on the desk in front of her, memories of her sister behind it springing up in her mind.

“Why hast thou called for me?”

Celestia raised her eyes from the stack of neatly arranged scrolls from the desk, all letters that bore her personal seal.

“We need to speak.” Her face was emotionless and betrayed no thoughts, the large quill in front of her moving fast over a fresh scroll, drafting up another message.

“Yes?” Luna said drily, their talk about the spirits in the Everfree Forest still fresh in her mind.

“I am leaving, Luna. And I need you to take my place while I’m gone.”

Her younger sister simply stared at her, trying to find an appropriate follow-up to that announcement. Her mind drew a blank. “Leaving? What kind of diplomatic-”

“It is not a diplomatic journey. I’m leaving Equestria and I need you to step up and claim the throne, just like you always wanted,” Celestia interrupted her, a weak, fake grin plastered on her tired face.

Luna’s eyes widened at her sister’s expression, not able to process what she had just heard. “This . . . this is unheard of, sister. You’ve been a princess since- w-why are you doing this?” she struggled to find her words and instate order in her thoughts.

“I’ve lost sight of what it means to be a leader, dear sister. I can’t continue doing this anymore. It’s not fair to me, it’s not fair to you and most importantly, it’s not fair to our subjects. I’ll remain for a few weeks and make sure the transition is as smooth as possible.”

“And then? Where are thou going to leave to?” Luna asked, still not believing what was going on.

“I don’t know,” Celestia said, her expression blank.

“Don’t know? Thou can’t just abandon me again!” she frantically yelled, surprised at her own outburst. “You talk of fairness, yet we’ve been by each other’s side almost all our lives!”

“Then you understand why I need to do this,” Celestia replied, flatly. “And I am not abandoning you . . . I require some time to gather my own thoughts.”

Luna stared at her sister, her mouth opening and closing a few times as she tried to find a reason why she needed her sister to stay. ”I . . . cannot change your mind, can I?”

Her sister dropped the barely present smile and shook her head no.

“Will you keep in contact, at the very least?” Luna managed to say, holding back a wave of sadness.

“Of course. But I cannot promise you a when.”

Every last ounce of resistance evaporated away from her body as a brewing storm of emotions rolled through her mind. It was understandable, but no less difficult to accept that this was the inevitable outcome that fate has been building up to for some time.

"As you wish then," she simply said, and left the room, her eyes forming up tears for the first time in years.

She couldn’t deny her sister’s decision. After all, their role as Watchers never included ruling over one of their world’s nations. It was the decision they made over three and a half millennia ago, a decision that saved the fate of a very recently founded kingdom, Equestria.

Her eyes kept shedding tears as she took refuge in her bedchamber, the fear of responsibility and concern for her sister fighting a grand battle in her head and heart.

A single teardrop fell on the hoof resting on the large desk. She quickly brushed the moisture from her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to focus on the relatively more important matters in front of her. Luna could only hope that wherever her sister had gone, she was able to find whatever she was looking for.

The Princess raised a hoof to gently scratch behind her mane. The new crown was sitting uncomfortable.

*** *** ***

The midnight blue unicorn jumped out of the train, rushing past the ponies on the platform. His fast walk carried him to Ponyville’s town center, his eyes darting around for a particular place he needed to visit first.

For a single moment, a silhouette crossed the path of the sun’s light. Looking upwards, a large smile formed on Blink’s face. The sound of approaching wing beats got louder and louder as his friend was closing in from above. Blink took a few steps to the side, making room for the landing.

Dust raised slightly as the purple dragon landed near the unicorn, his wings beating faster towards the end as to stabilize his final approach.

“Bout’ time you mastered that landing, Spike.”

The dragon rushed towards him and grabbed the unicorn by his neck, giving him a rough, yet playful welcoming hug, almost lifting him off his hooves.

“Yeah, if you could stop breaking my neck, that would be great,” Blink barely managed.

“How’s guard duty been for you, big guy?” the dragon asked as he let go of the unicorn.

“Same old, same old. It sure isn’t as exciting as they make it seem.”

Blink continued his walk through the town’s center and Spike followed closely.

“How about you? Still taking flying lessons from Ruby?” he asked, spotting a slight blush on the dragon’s face with the corner of his eye at the mention of that name.

“Well, she’s a better teacher than Rainbow Dash,” Spike said, deviating from the subject. “I mean, she did wonders with Scootaloo but when it comes to dragons . . .”

Blink stopped in front of a flower shop, his face dropping at the sight of so many specimens to choose from. He was never good at telling flowers apart.

“Get the yellow and pink ones, she likes those a lot this time of the summer,” Spike whispered to him, noticing his friend’s impasse.

“Ahh, yes; thanks Spike.”

“No problem.”

The unicorn paid for a nice bouquet of those flowers whose name he couldn’t even pronounce and started making his way to the library. Various ponies on the streets saluted the two of them as they passed by, and they nodded their heads back at the welcoming folk.

“How do they still remember me?” Blink asked, staring after a young mare that had just beamed him a smile.

“It’s only been a year and a half or so since you saved this town from Discord. Also, that mare just moved into Ponyville, so that smile was just because-” Spike paused his sentence, giving his unicorn friend a once-over. He noticed he had indeed become more fit over the past year, and his short, army-style mane made him stand out from the usual crown of stallions in Ponyville.

“Because?” Blink inquired, curious.

“Because I’ll still shower you with fire if you break Twi’s heart,” Spike finished with a smile, showing more teeth than usually.

Blink shot him a curious glare, oblivious as always of the context. Fortunately for him, they had arrived to the library.

“I’ll be back in a few; leave you two lovebirds in peace,” Spike said as he rolled his eyes dramatically. He extended his wings, making Blink duck to avoid being hit. In just a few short moments he was already up in the sky, circling the large library tree a couple of times before heading out towards the distant mountains.

Blink watched him flying away, still amazed to this day on the way his friend defied gravity in a most beautiful display of power and agility.

And a very stressful mentoring from poor Ruby, he said to himself with a chuckle.

*** *** ***

Twilight stared at one of the numerous books laid out on the desk in front of her, having a rather difficult time focusing on the teachings they contained. That lack of focus was to be expected from the young mare, as she knew very well that on that Saturday morning, a very special someone would get leave from his royal duties.

Two gentle knocks on the wooden door made her heart jump in place. She got up as quickly as she could, her horn enveloping herself in a bright sphere. The next moment she appeared in front of the door, which was already being opened by her magic. She didn’t hesitate a moment as she jumped at the neck of the stallion in front of the door, gentle pink sparks flying by her mane, residue from the teleportation spell.

The firm yet caring forelegs of a young, midnight blue Canterlot guard wrapped around her neck as well and the two souls sat there under the warm sun, silently enjoying each other’s embrace. An even more silent kiss followed as they lost themselves in the touch of their lips, reunited at last after long weeks of waiting.

“Hey Twi,” he said.

“Hi Blink,” she said.

“Caaaw!”

“For fuck’s sake!” Blink spat out towards the library’s interior.

“Who?”

“Which one of you ugly featherbrains said that?” he continued, marching into the house.

Twilight simply laughed, following the stallion into the house, levitating the flowers that fell on the ground during their hug.

“You could have kicked her out, you know?” Blink turned to Twilight as she joined him, an owl and a raven sitting on a coat hanger in front of them.

“Don’t be so melodramatic, I actually enjoy Raven’s company. And Owlowiscious does too; sometimes it makes me feel that they’ve been good friends for a long time, I don’t know why,” Twilight said, looking at the two birds.

“Damn traitor,” Blink said to his pet raven, and walked away. He levitated a small bag out of his satchel and placed it on the table near Raven, opening it slightly.

The black bird jumped on the table’s edge and peered her head inside. Twilight stared at the bag herself for a moment, before a smile touched her expression. She joined Blink on the couch, burying her face in his neck as he wrapped a hoof around her. He floated his glasses off of his face, taking a moment to adjust to the fairly well-illuminated room.

“I know you care for her,” Twilight said from the comfort of his embrace.

“What makes you say that? She’d rather live with you than with me. One day I’ll make good quills to write my book out of her,” he said jokingly.

“Well for one, you did get her a bag of exotic seeds from who knows where. And two, you know very well Canterlot’s not her thing, that’s why I decided to take care of her for you. I bet she misses you as much as you miss her.”

“Oh damn it!” he suddenly jolted, scaring the unicorn mare. “The flowers!”

“Calm down, Blink; I got them when I came in,” Twilight said, levitating the bouquet to herself, rotating it. “They’re beautiful,” she added, taking a sniff before biting a petal off.

Blink contained a chuckle, the symbolism flowers held in that world still amusing him greatly. Twilight caught that and shot him an angry, yet playful glare.

“I’m sorry, I still can’t help myself,” he excused himself.

Twilight’s frown faded away as she remembered what Blink had mentioned moments before. “A book? Is that the book you mentioned to me about everything you’ve been through since you came here? Did you start it already? Do you need an editor?”

Blink stared at the mare in front of him as she bombarded him with numerous questions related to the field she was very well accustomed to.

What have I done? I should have kept my mouth shut . . .

"Here's what I've done so far," Blink said, levitating the notebook to her. "Nothing fancy, just an introduction for the prologue."

Twilight grabbed it with her magic, quickly devouring the one-page introduction with her trained eyes. “What are you about to do?” she asked, finishing the paragraphs.

Blink gave her a quizzical look.

“You said here: What I’m about to do is just another step on that stairway . . . What are you going to do?”

The stallion’s eyes widened at that. “I- nothing it’s just . . . don’t really remember, I wrote it this morning after a long shift, probably too tired to remember anyway,” he blabbered, gesturing with his hooves through the air.

Twilight simply rolled her eyes before deciding to grab the stallion next to her and pull him into a kiss, a kiss in which he soon melted alongside her. His hooves found themselves behind her back, pulling her gently on top of him on the long couch. Their hearts, which were now just inches away from each other, pounded in a maddening rhythm as their owners’ lips melted together in passionate dance that became more intense by the second.

They eventually pulled their heads apart, mostly because they needed to take a fresh breath of air. Blink stared into Twilight’s eyes, and she stared back, a connection that spoke more words that they could have ever said themselves. Desire sparkled in their eyes, as they both longed for each other’s closest intimacy, yet a promise they made stood between them, as strong as ever.

Twilight lowered her head into his neck, nuzzling him gently. It was moments like those that she wished they hadn’t made that promise, yet she knew as well as he did that the wait was all for the best.

“Whoa there, you guys could have gone upstairs, I bet your bed is way more comfortable, Twilight.”

The mare raised her head and saw Spike standing in the kitchen’s door, having entered the library through the back entrance. A wide grin plastered his face and his hands were mischievously crossed together as he rested against the door’s frame.

“One day you won’t fit even through that door,” Blink said, matching his grin.

“But not today. What’s for breakfast?” the dragon inquired, glancing curiously back into the kitchen.

Twilight fumbled from atop of Blink, getting down from the sofa and walking into the kitchen past Spike, trying her best to hide a deep blush. “I’ll warm us up some stew,” she said, disappearing into the kitchen.

Spike gestured sickness with a claw, and Blink only shook his head from atop the couch. He stretched himself, letting out a mighty yawn. “Thought you like stew, Spike,” he said tiredly as he adjusted himself on the sofa.

“I like my stew. This week it was Twi’s turn to cook, you know?” He made his way to the dining table, plumping down on the floor at the end of it. The chairs were already too small for him to use.

Moments later two steaming bowls floated out of the kitchen, followed by a third, larger one. Blink got off the couch and lazily dragged his hooves to the table, sitting down on a chair near Spike. Twilight came into the room as well, the food already set up. She took a seat and the three of them began eating in silence.

Spike raised his head and a claw, a stray thought catching up with him. “You guys remember the first time we ate here?” he asked, smiling at both Twilight and Blink.

“It was the day after Twilight brought me here from Kazooie’s,” said Blink reminiscently. “Things really changed since then, didn’t they?”

“They sure did.”

The table jolted suddenly, causing the bowls to dangle around, threatening to spill their content. “Sorry!” muttered Spike sheepishly, holding on to his large bowl.

“Spike . . .” Twilight said in a rather concerned tone.

“It’s okay, Twi-”

“It’s not okay, Spike.”

“Yes it is. I just need to . . . be more careful with my new size, that’s all.”

Blink was switching his attention from Twilight to Spike and back, slowly picking up on the hidden meaning of their conversation. “Uhh, what’s-”

“I don’t want to move out!” Spike blurted out, sending the entire room into silence.

“I know you don’t. It’s just that the library is . . . you’re growing Spike, and soon you won’t fit through the door anymore. Don’t you want to have your own place to live in, just like you wanted to have your own room?” Twilight asked, her voice strained by the subject at hand.

“I- I lived all my life with you. I don’t even know where I would go,” Spike said, his eyes filled with sadness.

Twilight got up from her chair and went to the dragon, wrapping her hooves around him. Her hooves stopped touching each other behind him in their embraces a long time ago. “You can go wherever you want, Spike. You will still be my number one assistant.”

Blink sat up from his chair as well, a little light bulb switching on in his head. He walked to a small window nearby and idly watched the forest in the distance, catching a glimpse of his old house by the lake. “Wow, I never realised how big this library’s backyard really is,” he simply said, turning his eyes to the two old friends still hugging each other.

Twilight’s eyes widened and she joined Blink near the window. “It- it actually is.”

“What do you say, Spike?” Blink asked, turning back towards the dragon. “Some terraforming here and there, depending on what kind of place you want, and you should have your very own home, right next to the library.”

“It sounds like a great idea, I could lay out the planning for you!” Twilight exclaimed, excited as always by the prospect of a new project. “We could dig in and make an underground cave or use rock from the mountains nearby to build an actual house if you want, Spike.”

The dragon’s face lit up, a little bit of Twilight’s excitement rubbing off to him as well. “I guess that would be cool. A house in the ground would be pretty neat, I guess. Do you guys think we could do it?”

Twilight pondered a moment, darting her eyes outside. “Do you mean, like a ground burrow house?”

Spike nodded.

“We could do that,” came Blink’s approval as he considered the best location. “We could build it right near the lake house, into the hill that this library sits on. It will be facing the lake, and be close enough to the library but far enough to be considered private.”

“Use the excavated soil to build the outer dome and reinforce the walls with hardened granite . . .” Twilight went on, already planning the outline of Spike’s new home.

“And I want to do it myself,” said Spike all of a sudden, the other two pair of eyes in the room turning towards him. “I mean, you could help me with the planning Twi, but I feel like I should build this myself, I can’t explain the feeling.”

Twilight’s face broke into a proud smile as she hugged the dragon she practically raised over the years. “Ohh Spike, you’re actually growing up. I knew your nesting instincts would come to surface one day, I never thought it would be so soon.”

Spike was surprised at first about her knowing that much about him but then he remembered who he was talking about in the first place. The dragon returned the hug warmly. “Thanks, Twilight; for everything.”

*** *** ***

Twilight came down from her room, her eyes falling on the stallion snoring away the evening on her couch. He had fallen asleep following the breakfast meal, exhausted after a night shift at the castle and a tedious journey from Canterlot just so they could spend a day together.

She went to him and gently nuzzled her coltfriend awake. As he joined in from his short trip into the realm of dreams, Twilight caught sight of his cutie mark. It was one of the very few things she didn’t like about him: his destiny. Even though she managed to get to know him well over the last year, she still secretly disapproved of what his cutie mark’s calling represented.

She let out a sigh. It was hard for her not to notice Blink’s interest in destructive magic. Sometimes, images of Nightmare Moon gave her dreams unrest, those images morphing and turning into terrifying visions of the stallion she cared so much for. On those nights she would walk around her room, trying to dispel those representations from her mind. Sometimes she would read one of Celestia’s numerous letters to her from the time she still reported her findings on the magic of friendship; sometimes she would just stare at the sky outside, searching for an answer in the stars . . .

Even If she wasn’t saying it, Twilight missed Celestia greatly, despite the decisions made by her. On one hoof she felt anger and disappointment for her mentor but on the other, she realized that those decisions, influenced as they were, were made with her in mind, which made the unicorn feel somewhat responsible for what had happened to Blink.

“Evening . . .” Blink greeted her with half-lidded eyes, the tug of slumber still pulling at him.

Twilight snapped from her thoughts, her face lighting up at the colt in front of her. “Sun’s going down soon and I need to check in on something in town. Want to come with me?”

“Sure; where we going?” Blink asked, dragging himself off the couch, stretching his hooves with a yawn.

“You’ll see when we get there, come on,” Twilight rushed him, making her way out the door.

They went on a slow walk through Ponyville, simply enjoying each other’s presence under the falling sun. The gentle summer breeze pulled at their manes every now and then, bringing them closer to each other in their instinctual search for warmth and comfort.

As they entered a rather crowded street near the town hall, Blink gave Twilight a rather loud peck on the check. She reacted the same way she did as always when those displays of public affection were directed to her: her cheeks caught fire and her eyes darted after the reactions of passer-by.

“Aww, you’re cute when you’re embarrassed in public,” Blink teased patronizingly. Making Twilight uncomfortable was, after all, one of his little guilty pleasures.

Her face turned a deep frown and she continued her walk, keeping a few steps ahead of the blue stallion. Blink’s grin never waived a moment as they left the bounds of Ponyville, approaching a floating cloud house.

“Uhh, what are we actually doing here?”

“Rainbow Dash asked me in a letter to keep watch over Tank until she’s back,” Twilight said, leading Blink in a small forested area nearby.

“Oh, she’s still in the Academy?”

“Well, she has to finish the mandatory military training before she can actually join the Wonderbolts, but she’ll be back soon enough from Cloudsdale’s barracks.”

Twilight approached a small shed, went inside, and then returned, floating a barrel behind her. Blinked shot her a confused look but carried on following her into the small forest. They came onto a large clearing, a shallow pond taking the center stage of the small refuge. The whole set-up was clearly arranged by ponykind, rocks placed neatly around the end of a pond to create an elevated pool. Fresh water came from somewhere within the ground, filling up the pool then cascading outside into the pond, the water eventually draining into a small forest river. Large plants and short, green palm trees scattered the area, the whole clearing looking more like a piece of land brought from another corner of the world.

Blink’s mouth hanged at the mesmerizing sight, but he recoiled back when he noticed a large stone moving.

“Twilight?” he asked cautiously.

The mare just smiled back at him. Opening up the barrel, she scooped out a few cabbages, some carrots and a ballot of freshly cut grass. The large rock, over two feet in diameter rushed to the unicorn with impressive agility for an unanimated object, but then Blink realised that the rock was in fact, a giant tortoise.

“How the hell? Is this- is this Tank?” he asked, approaching the creature as it was munching happily on the cabbages, managing to fit a whole one in its mouth at a time.

“Uhh yea, you’ve never seen him before, haven’t you?”

Blink searched though his mind, failing to recall a time when he would have met Rainbow’s pet tortoise. “I don’t think so. Why is he so . . . big?”

Twilight levitated a couple more cabbages out of the barrel, Tank already preoccupied with the grass ballot in front of him. “Well, a few years back, Rainbow Dash decided to choose a pet for herself. She organized this elaborate competition to pick the coolest animal from Fluttershy’s garden and chose Tank over here after he helped her when she had an accident in the Ghastly Gorge.”

Blink approached the pet tortoise, who slowly craned his neck after him, a content smile hanging from his wrinkled face. “So why is he so large?” Blink asked again, gently tapping the thick shell with his hoof. Tank turned in place in a flash, and started rubbing the top of his head against Blink’s chest, making the stallion step back from the force of his affectionate gesture.

“Well, when Rainbow took him he was actually very small, like a normal turtle. But then he started growing bigger and bigger and when I did a search for his species in the library, we found out that he is a Galapegas tortoise. A very young one for that matter. He got this big in just three years or so and he still hasn’t reached full maturity.”

“I’ll be damned . . .” Blink muttered, petting the tortoise over his head with a hoof. Twilight joined in and snuggled Tank, who gladly returned the gesture.

“Take care Tank, and don’t worry; Rainbow is going to be back soon,” Twilight said before making her way back to Ponyville. Blink followed in her hoofsteps, throwing occasional glances back at the giant tortoise.

“Don’t get too worried about him,” Twilight said, noticing the stallion’s slight unrest, “Rainbow Dash visits us at least twice a week, depending on how far Cloudsdale is at a given day.”

“That’s good. What about the others? I only know that Rarity still spends some of her week days in Canterlot presenting her designs; I’ve met her a few times near the city center.”

“Ohh yes, she’s always busy when she’s at Carousel Boutique but we still manage to have a girl’s night every now and then.”

Their return journey was coming to an end, the library already around the corner. Blink cleared his voice, putting up an innocent face. “Well, see you tomorrow, I’ll try and see if there’s a spare bed in my old house somewhere . . .”

Twilight simply rolled her eyes, unable to hold her smile. Her purple aura enveloped the stallion, pulling him onto the correct path towards the library’s entrance.

“Alright, alright, I’ll take the guest room,” he said in defeat, still holding the innocence façade.

“And by the way, Pearl’s building his own home by his cousin’s farm, so he won’t be living in the lake house for long,” Twilight said while entering the library.

“But I still want that place back when he moves out,” Blink whined, putting up a fake pout.

A thump made them turn their head to the library’s main room. Spike was picking up a book he had dropped using his tail, his arms already full of reading material. “Hey there, lovebirds!” he grinned at Twilight and Blink.

“Nesting Grounds, Architecting your Dream House, A Dragon’s Cave?” Twilight voiced, picking up some of the titles of the books Spike was carrying.

“Reading material; you know, for my future house?” he responded, throwing a sheepish smile while making his way to his room. “Good night, guys!”

The door to his room slammed shut. “Well, at least he’s reading,” Twilight said with a smudge of accomplishment in her voice.

Not to fall short of his scaly friend, Blink cleared his throat loud enough to catch Twilight’s attention. As soon as she turned her head towards the stallion, he disappeared in thin air, a silent trail of dark smoke in the form of his body immediately dissipating into the air. A hoof tapped Twilight’s shoulder, startling her. However, a rapidly fading trail was everything she managed to catch with the corner of her eye.

“Psst, Twilight!”

The mare snapped her head in the other direction. As expected, there was nothing there. “How are you doing that?” she asked, turning around in place until her eyes found the blue stallion relaxing on the couch as if nothing had happened.

“Do you-“ he vanished away “-like it?” he asked, reappearing just inches away from Twilight’s face.

The mare shot him a look of wonder, a rare sight for someone that was supposed to be proficient in even the most advanced of magic spells. “Are you teleporting? It’s so fast, and without shielding!” her glossy eyes betrayed curiosity. Blink simply grinned, enjoying the moment.

“Well, it’s kind of a new spell I made. It bypasses the whole quantum shielding, so the teleportation is- practically- instant,” he said, demonstrating the concept by teleporting in three different locations while seamlessly carrying out the conversation.

“But you know what happens if you don’t shield yourself before teleporting!” Twilight said, clearly unhappy.

“Relax, I’m not crossing any dimensions. This is direct, quantum teleportation in its truest meaning,” he explained.

Twilight pondered for a moment. “That means that you have to see where you are going.” Blink approved with a quick nod. “That’s all fine however why would you need that extra second at the huge cost of range?”

The stallion opened his mouth, trying to come up with the best words to describe a rather delicate issue they had between them ever since Twilight began teaching him magic.

“It’s for- you know-”

“Combat . . .” Twilight murmured, her face dropping slightly.

“Come on, don’t be like this. You know very well what I do every day. Worst case I had on patrol in Canterlot was a bunch of drunks at a bar that needed to be taught a lesson.”

Twilight let out a sigh. “It’s not about what you’re training for, it’s about you enjoying it so much. I told you about the memories Celestia has shown me-”

“Again with Celestia?” Blink rolled his eyes, his voice containing small traces of anger at the mention of the former sun ruler.

“You know very well that she was my mentor, I don’t want to argue about this again.”

Blink’s ears flopped down and he reached for the mare, wrapping his hooves around her neck. “I know, I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to be worried about me, that’s all.”

Twilight accepted the hug, returning it softly. “I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

“It won’t. I promise.”

With that, the two slowly made their way up the stairs, keeping close to each other. The stairs however were too narrow for both ponies, especially since one of them was a rather sturdy night guard. Blink’s tail caught a small flower pot hanging on the outside of the stairs, making it fall and smash against the main room’s floor.

“I got that,” Twilight said, enveloping herself in a sphere of light and vanishing after a second, reappearing by the fallen pot. Blink was by her side the next moment, his lips curled into a pout. “Well, that happened. Sorry . . .”

“It’s okay. In fact, I never got to tell you what I’ve been studying lately,” she said with a smirk, her horn glowing as the broken pieces started floating in the air in front of her. They spun and moved around, snapping against each other in midair, soft purple glows sealing the broken pieces seamlessly. They eventually formed the original pot, which was stuffed with the dirt and what remained of the small bonsai tree.

“Still, sorry about the actual plant.”

Twilight threw him a ‘just shut up and watch’ look, then her horn glowed ever stronger. Out of the rooted half of the bonsai sprung fresh branches that curled and grew to their former size in mere seconds. With the whole thing good as new, Twilight beamed a proud smile and hanged the plant back where it fell from, making sure it wasn’t loose anymore.

“Impressive; is that by any chance your-”

“Yes. I feel it in a different way from my usual magic. I’ve done it with bigger things as well: an actual tree, even small animals. One of Fluttershy’s animals was sick one day, and I wanted to know if I can . . .”

“Twilight . . .”

“That deer would have died if I hadn’t done it. Fluttershy doesn’t even know,” she added with a sad smile.

“You never told me that,” Blink simply said, taking everything in. “It’s beautiful though; your talent. Definitely better than mine.” He lifted her chin up with a hoof, their looks melted together into one. “You shouldn’t be afraid of who you are, Twilight. The same thing goes for me, unfortunately. Let’s just hope that I will never have to use my gift.”

Blink pressed his lips against hers, their eyes closed as they lost themselves in the moment.

*** *** ***

Luna stared at the papers laid out in front of her on the large desk, a mare waiting nearby at full attention.

“Are thou certain of these reports?” Luna asked.

“Yes Princess. The military activity throughout the kingdoms is consistent with the information we have from our espionage reports. The gryphon representatives never returned from the Changeling main hive. It is presumed that they are dead,” the mare steadied her glasses, keeping her straight posture in front of Equestria’s ruler.

“So if what you are conveying me is true, that means that the gryphons are about to wage war against the changelings. The most imperative question in this case would be ‘why’?”

“I don’t think that matters to us, your highness. Should I convey the council to discuss our stance on this conflict?”

“There will be no need for that, Golden Quill. Equestria shall remain neutral for the time being,” Luna stated firmly.

“As you wish, your highness,” the slender cream colored mare said, taking a deep bow. She then made her way out of Celestia’s former office, leaving the current Princess alone.

Luna kept her eyes on the reports handed to her, trying to read between the lines. The Changeling Empire was always in bad standings with most of the world’s nations, as their attempts to invade and colonize everyone only brought more hate towards them.

The Princess got up from her desk and walked to a large world map on a table near the windows. Her eyes followed the distance between the small griffin continent and the icy, isolated peninsula far up north. In the past, attempts to fight the insect-like creatures at their door steps were utterly futile. The cold environment and lack of resources made the Changeling hives very easy to defend, so in time, the nations learned to simply deal with the Changelings by passively defending against their attacks.

Luna returned to her paperwork, her mind joggling past memories of the wars she had witnessed alongside her sister. Outside, the moon was starting to descend.

She straightened the crown on her head, as it had started to feel heavy on one side.

*** *** ***

The next day, Blink found himself awoken by the sharp rays of the morning sun filtering through the window drapes. He yawned deeply, stretching his body under the sheets. His hind leg bumped into something soft. He quickly remembered in whose bed he was sleeping.

Next to him, Twilight was still sleeping peacefully, long strands from her mane spread across the top end of the bed sheets. Blink let out a sigh, recalling the night before. He remembered passionate kisses and the warm presence of his marefriend, but that was all there was to remember.

“Curse that stupid promise,” he muttered, getting out of bed.

He went into the kitchen, where Spike greeted him lively. “Hey there, big guy. Got this for you when I woke up today,” the dragon said, handing him a letter.

Blink unraveled it and began reading the piece of paper. “Well this is nice,” he said after a few moments. “Got invited to the Grand Galloping Gala this year; and not as a guard.”

“Ohh yeah, we get invites every year. This is my . . . fifth?” Spike pondered, scratching his chin with a claw. “Yeap, first one I was too young to go. Still, it’s nice that Luna thought of you too.”

Blink nodded his head. “Well I’m kinda her personal student, especially since I joined the army and then the guards. Anyway, what should I even wear?”

Spike shrugged. “Nothing?”

“Hah! I like the way you think. I hate formal wear, save for my armor.”

The dragon’s eyes widened all of a sudden and he opened his mouth. He spat green flames across the table, two more letters materializing when the fire subsided. He grabbed the first one and opened it. Seven tickets fell into his palm.

“And these are the ones for me and the girls,” he said, putting them aside and grabbing the next letter. “And this one is from Cadence,” he continued with a more joyful tone. “She and Shining are coming too, and they’re bringing Emerald with them.”

“How’s the small one, by the way?” Blink asked.

Spike shrugged again. “He’s okay for a foal. I mean, they don’t do much, I don’t see why everyone sees them as the most amazing thing in the world. He’s probably going to stay with Twilight’s parents anyway, he’s way too young for ceremonies like the Gala.”

“To each their own, Spike. Anyway, I still have this day to waste, what do you say we go outside and you show me what you got planned for your house,” Blink offered, immediately triggering a wide smile across the dragon’s face.

“Sure thing!”

*** *** ***

The sun had risen at its highest point in the sky, basking the surroundings in scorching heat. The horizon line swayed and blurred from the rising heat, the sand around soaking up all the energy from the merciless star.

A tall, white pony was the only living thing around for miles, lines formed by her dragged hooves marking the exact place she had come from. Celestia advanced another step, pulling the rest of her body along. Her large wings scrapped the surface of the hot sand, drawing her path through the merciless desert. The white, dry hooves were bare and her golden markings had fallen off hundreds of miles ago.

Celestia’s mind had turned and twisted many times before becoming a greater barren than the one she was crossing. The alicorn let herself drop to the ground, and rested her head against the hot sand. There was nothing in sight for miles, only her, the sand and the scorching sun above.

“Celestia . . .”

The voice was strangely compassionate and warm. It was an ageless voice Celestia recognized in a heartbeat. She raised her head slowly, staring at the pure white stallion that bore no cutie mark.

The white pony turned his head around, studying the barren scenery. He then looked straight into the alicorn’s eyes. “Why are we here, Celestia?”

End of Chapter 21

Author's Note

Part III of Stairway to Equestria will be a bit different, but change is not always a bad thing. Follow in the adventures of Midnight Blink and his friends as he finds out what is truly most important in life (and death). We’re going to delve deep into the lives of each character as they face their destiny, new challenges as well as the ghosts of their past. No stones will be left unturned as we discover the truth about what it actually means to be a Lifebringer and a Deathbearer, in a world where Watchers rise and fall while Life and Death govern above all.

These are The Last Steps of the Stairway to Equestria . . .

Also, ongoing competition reminder: http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/172200/announcing-prize-contest-stairway-to-equestria-update-misc