Thanks to the fabulous MisterMoniker, and Pon Katt! Thanks for making this readable! And many fond farewells to InfinityXanadu, who has been a support for me since the story was first published. Farewell.

It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man or woman stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, they send forth a tiny ripple of hope.
— Robert Francis Kennedy

It was as if the entirety of Canterlot was enveloped in an unearthly, sinister black fog that no breeze could clean. Somewhere, somepony screamed. Not only was it stagnant itself, but it seemed to freeze other things it came into contact with. The horrible haze swam in front of Twilight’s eyes. She felt incredibly tired, stiff, painful. It felt as if her memories of the recent past were being devoured.

Suddenly a horribly familiar face appeared there in the mist; dark grey, a grin slashing through his face like some dark crevasse in the grinding northern ice. The horn must have once been grey like the rest of him, but now the end glowed like hot metal; the horn was wicked and curved like a scimitar, and exuded malice even without casting a spell. The horrible eyes stared approvingly at her, his grin widening and he growled.

Excellent magic, Miss Twilight Sparkle. Why, you may even be a sorcerer of my power some day, the voice half-growled. Then, as soon as Sombra’s face had come came it disappeared, to be replaced by the frantic voice of her brother, calling her name...

”Twilight! Can you hear me? Twilight! Don’t leave me! Wake up!" The words were strangely distorted, as if she were hearing them from down a long, echoing tunnel, even though some other sense not normally noticed was telling her that her brother was so very close. Slowly at first, the fog began to swirl, then faster; finally, in a glow of pink light the last dregs of the clinging fog were banished into nothingness, and Twilight woke with a gasp. That should have been her first warning that the world was wrong, but even as she tried to grab at the fleeting memory, knowing that it must be important, it slipped through her grasp and vanished from her mind.

She was shaking all over; not entirely because of the chill but also the dark sensation of Black Magic use chilling her deeper than any wind could.

Shining Armor nuzzled her neck. “Thank Celestia, you’re ok. I was afraid that i’d lost- no, I don’t want to think about that. You’re safe, and that’s all that matters. Can you walk?”

Unsure herself, she experimentally tried placing weight on her hooves and found that, notwithstanding the first few staggering test steps, that she was fine. “I think so. Should we take this changeling,” she spat out the last word, “to be questioned?”

“We should. There’s something going on here behind the surface, and something tells me it’s going to be a long time until we see the end of it.”

The entire world was engulfed in flame.

Or so it seemed to Aldrich Alatar Cynric as he was dragged back to the waking world. He raised his head from the adamantine surface of the landing pod. He was groggy; the smoke stung his eyes and it felt like every bone in his body was broken. He was about to resign himself to the void and lay his head back on the ground, defeated, when the fetor of burning hair wafted through the brilliant crimson of the holocaust devouring everything around him.

My friends need me. Tapping into some unknown reserve of titanic might, he raised himself off the ground, and knocked open the thick metal door as if were insubstantial. It flew off of its hinges with a strange, coruscating blast of blue splendour rather than swing on its joints; it had evidently been deadlocked. He ran through the door as quickly as his legs would carry him, and found a limp body lying in front of the pod. Donna’s seat-belt had somehow broken, and the thick glass of the pod’s window had splintered into a billion shards of light. She was just beyond the hole where the aperture had been; it must have decelerated her to keep her from crashing into the tree beyond and breaking her neck without cutting her.

The tree beyond.

He was in a alien forest, and he was breathing alien air. He almost stopped and gasped for breath when he first realized this, imagining, perhaps, that the air that he had thought he was breathing was imaginary and that he was about to suffocate. And yet, here he was. The sheer impossibility of being able to breathe was staggering. Moreover, many scientists believed that when humans did find life it would likely be so different to them as to be unrecognizable. And yet, here, trees! And, after looking up into their lofty boughs, a birds nest whose eggs seemed to have been knocked out of the branches by the energy of the crash.

He picked Donna up, as easily as if she were a ragdoll, and hefted her away from the wreckage. Once they were clear of the smoke, his eyes smarting from the haze, he could see the two other ships, neither of which seemed quite as well-off as Donna and himself, who had sustained only minor injuries despite what should have been a landing at nearly the speed of sound.

He came next to Luka and Amelie’s pod; it seemed like Luka had thrown his arm in front of her to protect her, and she seemed to be perfectly well, although she might have broken bones. Luka had a cracked forehead; his blond hair was tattered and filthy with blood. However, their craft seemed to have been untouched by fire. He left them where they were; they were safe enough for the time being. He raked the small forest clearing they were in for sign of the third pod.

His heart sank. Most of the smoke in the little dell was coming from the third pod, the one that was occupied by Michael and Hleid. Aldrich guessed that Hleid had attempted to trigger the safety precautions for his and Luka’s pods before bothering with her own. Perhaps that had been what saved them, but he could still not offer any explanation for the strange blue light.

It perplexed him.

The crash of Hleid’s pod had uprooted trees in the area; one had fallen and blocked the access hatch. It was too heavy even for someone of Luka’s strength to lift, let alone the rather physically weak astronomer that he was. He was beginning to panic, for he was certain that they would both die within seconds if he did not intercede. He remembered the light. It was the only thing that could help him now, even loathe though he was to tamper with forces that he had no knowledge of. He concentrated as well as he could, trying to expel emotion and think with pure force of will, and exerted all of his willpower upon manifesting that anomalous blue aura.

He closed his eyes, and instead of the usual black nothingness it was as if all the splendor of the sun had been trapped behind his eyelids. He cried out in pain as his eyes burned, and he was sure that they were withering. The pain receded quickly but the light stayed, and he looked at the world as if through a veil of azure. He could see the log that blocked his path, attempting to bar the way to his friends who even now were burning. It was glowing more brightly than the rest of his field of vision, for it was the object of his focus. He made a fist in his right hand, and flung his arm away from his body, and the log followed the motion of his fist and soared through the trees. It landed with a crash somewhere out of his field of vision.

Either the door had already been unhinged, or if his strange newfound power had facilitated its movement he did not know, but there were no further obstacles. He grabbed Hleid and Michael and they felt almost insubstantial to him, and the burning pain in his eyes briefly spiked and the blue grew brighter. He walked out of the flame not feeling it, and as he stepped it felt as though he was standing on someone else’s feet. It was absolutely unreal.

He carried the two to the small stream; it was not frozen but icy cold. It seemed like honest water, even on another planet: Aldrich decided that he would have to look into the strange similarities between this world and Earth. For the first time he looked down on his two charges.

The red was in harsh contrast to the rest of his sight. Unlike all else that he could survey, the blood was not tinted blue but seemed more red than normal with the contrast. He trembled in fear for their fates. Was I too slow? Did I fail? Are my friends- no. I can’t even think that; my thoughts have gained too much power to allow that thought into my mind. “Wake up, Michael! Come on, Hleid, be strong for me! Don’t leave me!”

He grasped both, one in each arm. He began to weep, sitting there on the ground. All hope had departed him, for the blue light was gone and he was beyond the limit of exhaustion. He doubted he could move his legs. I should note that, he thought blearily, if I survive I have to remember that the magic doesn’t use free energy, it’s my life force I drain. But at that moment the prospect of survival was nonexistent. The six of them would perish, eventually: He, Hleid and Michael would die here and now, and time would be hard on Luka, for he was old. Then there would only be the two relatively weak women left in an unknown land with no defense. All humans would die here, and that would be finality. That would be the end. Game over.

He could not abide that possibility.

He drew upon some unknown strength at the sight of his friends; for now, they were alive, and he intended to make that permanent. He could feel the blood run through his fingers as Hleid and Michael’s blood returned to their body, and the burns healed and they suddenly felt many days old. He washed their bodies in the tributary stream until the last of the blood was cleansed, then he warmed them with the flames of his magic. Those two he placed in Luka and Amelie’s relatively undamaged pod, as it would offer more protection from the elements than the one he had ridden in with Donna. Then, the other three; Luka, Amelie and Donna he placed in his pod and leaned the door whose hinges he had broken against its portal. He scrawled a message for them on the ground in the dirt- for indeed it was dirt- that read:

You five, wait here. There might still be supplies in the pods still, they shouldn’t have been ruined. I’m going for help; I know there’s sentient life here after my incident with the telescope. Stay where you are. I have a lot to tell you.

Sincerely Yours,

Aldrich

He walked off into the forest, deciding to follow the dell downstream as a water-source and a way to find his path back, if need be. He padded off, and as he walked the trees grew more gnarled and time-ravaged, as if they no longer cared for grooming themselves. That night it rained, and his note was washed forever into oblivion.

And that night, in the heart of the forest, foul things awake.

It was a shame that these floors are going to be stained black by blood, Twilight Sparkle thought as she dragged the changeling over the slightly less than smooth surfaces of the floor of the Palace Barracks. Rather than the gleaming marble floor of the main hallways in the castle, where you would be hard pressed to find a visible seam in the rock, it was rough limestone that had been pitted by thousands of tramping hooves until it could cut anypony foolish enough to lie down on it.

Already there was a small slick where the changeling had received a gash, and the dragging over rough rock was opening it wider. It was just a flesh wound, so Twilight did not bother healing it. No permanent harm would be done.

The Barracks, despite their rough and rather uncomfortable floor was a nice part of the castle to be in, once you got used to the shocking difference between its plainness and the opulence elsewhere in the castle. The walls and floor were a pleasant, light dusty brown, and there were fires burning in hearths that littered the hallways, filling the whole complex with blue pine-smoke and adding to it a friendly atmosphere, like that of the local neighborhood tavern.

There were doors at regular intervals along the hall, concealing the the vast armories of the seldom-used weapons of the Guard, most rusted and ancient beyond belief, or dormitories with off-duty guards taking well-deserved rests. Occasionally Twilight would look back, and saw that her brother was biting his lips as if there was some query he was contemplating, alone, and not sure if he should consult his sister over it.

“Twily, would you mind if I asked you a question?”

“You just did.”

He sighed in exasperation, but she did not need to look back at him where he was holding the changeling’s back hooves to know that despite the situation, a smile was playing around his face at their old childhood jest.

“That wasn’t the question.”

“I know, BBBFF. What is it?”

“I think you know.”

She stopped, and the changelings forehooves banged into her as the forward momentum still carried in the inert body propelled it into her. She winced slightly, and sighed. She should have known he would ask, and now she had to find an answer.

“Why did I use the Black Spell?” She paused, searching herself for answers. And as she journeyed into the deeps of her conscience, she found a sleeping beast.

It roared.

“Because it’s a changeling! Every single one of them deserves what this one got, and worse! If I hadn’t fainted I would ha-” she stopped, and her head swam. She nearly fainted again, and her vision was obscured for a second by a flash of blinding green. She leaned against the nearest wall, watching her brother’s face. His brows were furrowed into a deep crevasse.

“Be careful, Twily. That stuff can consume you if you don’t make sure not to use it. You won’t even know it until too late.”

“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I just got so... angry, when I remembered that because of one of them you all nearly- well, left me.” She was not sure if that was true or not, but she wanted to say something, anything, to justify her anger, to make sure her brother was not disappointed in her for her outburst.

“Don’t worry about it,” Shining Armor said easily; he briefly released the still-unconscious changeling to hug her. “You go on and meet the Princess. I’m close enough to the Cells from here to handle it myself. Don’t tell Celestia about this, i’ll talk to her in person. I’ll send up additional guards as soon as I can wake them up, so it may be a while. G’night, Twily.”

“Thanks, Shining Armor. I’m here on a matter of some urgency, actually, so if you could do that alone easily i’d be grateful for you letting me go all the faster.”

“Go. I’ll be fine. And Twily?” He said, as she began to turn away. “Remember that no matter what path you go down after you leave here tonight, that I will always be proud of you.”

“I love you too, BBBFF. Good- goodbye, then I suppose,” she said, faltering, and as she walked away something warm and salty rolled down her face and dripped off the tip of her muzzle.

I hope I choose the path to better deserve his pride.

He was staggering through the dark forest alone. Aldrich had lit up a fallen branch with his ‘magic’, for that was what he was going to call it until he could categorize it into some branch of science unknown to humans. The brand was tall- probably almost his height- and used it to light up the shadows that were closing in under the grim canopy of trees. Their only advantage was that they kept the rain off for the most part. He was loathe to set the flame with the tiny amount of strength he had left, but the surrounding world was entirely invisible without any light. At least he was going downhill, so he didn’t have the added physical stress from climbing upwards.

Occasionally there would be a break overhead in the leaves, permitting single rays of silver moonlight to break through, but other than that the only things that told him he was making any progress at all was that the stream was widening. Just ahead of his current position a tributary joined it, widening the dell almost into a river.

He had been wary of predators before, but the forest was strangely empty of animals, unlike the trees full of birds near the crash site. Aldrich hoped that it meant only that the critters had run away from him, a strange creature to them, and not from some larger beast, silently stalking him as he made his way alongside the run, close enough to touch him...

He shook the eerie thoughts off of him and turned to pondering more important matters. Like food, and whether or not he should find a settlement of the sapient beings. He did not bother about wondering if the creatures were hostile; why bother? There was nothing he could do if they attacked him, and there was always the chance that they were friendly.

Who am I now? Am I the same person who left Earth with five others, the last of our kind? And if I am not, what then? That only raises more questions. Am I ascending or degenerating? How can I use this magic? What’s happening to me?

His use of magic intrigued him most, for while he feared that something terrible was happening to him before his eyes, he had also dreamed of magic since he was very young. Never had he imagined but in dreams that those hopes would ever be fulfilled, and certainly not in this manner. Certainly not in an environment where the price for his powers was the placing of five of the six friends he had ever had into danger.

He passed the joining of the streams and walked on, still deep in thought. As he walked on, the land began to flatten; the river became slower but wider still, and yet another tributary joined into it. He stopped and sat on the ground facing the water, cupped his hands and took a long draught from the watercourse, and sighed with relief as he relaxed against the ground. The flight suit would keep him warm enough during the night, and his friends would not thank him for dying from exhaustion...

He was warm and tired- exhausted, even- but some sixth sense warned him against sleep. But then, against his better judgement, he fell into a deep slumber where he sat.

Outside the grand double doors of her mentor’s bedchamber, flanked by two royal guards, Twilight Sparkle waited hesitantly to knock. She had never liked disturbing her teacher this late at night. As childish as it might seem, she also disliked wandering the Palace at night ever since Luna’s return because her handpicked Night-Watch that stalked the marble halls absolutely invisible to both friends and possible intruders. Celestia was always exhausted after using a phenomenal amount of magical energy to raise and lower the sun, though she would never show it to anypony else, and the process of the royal court tired her unduly. She hated most of the nobles, for they were almost all stuck-up snobs who had no idea how to handle their vast riches, let alone an empire.

But, as rude as she thought it must sound of her to think it, the matter at hand was more important than any single pony, even a goddess. She knocked, and winced as the sound resonated through what seemed to her must be the entire castle. She waited for a few seconds, until a quiet voice from inside said, “Come in.”

Twilight gently pushed on the doors, and they swung open silently and effortlessly. Celestia’s room was lit by six candles, strategically placed to set the entire room aglow with a dim, but warm, orange light. She pushed the doors closed with a back hoof, intent on her mentor’s face. If Twilight had not known better she would have said that the Princess had not slept at all. Her mane was just as it always was during waking hours, and stirred as if some nonexistent breeze flowed through it. There were no bags under her eyes, no weary invisible burden of exhaustion upon her back. The only thing that betrayed her fatigue was her voice.

“Welcome. What are you doing up so late, and so far from home?”

“I’d like to borrow something on display in the archives. For... an experiment, it could be called. Could you write up a seal of approval for me, to let the archivist know I have your permission?”

Celestia frowned. “Of course, I trust your judgement. But what is it that you are looking for?”

“A golden record.”

Vinyl Scratch grumbled in the cold of the night. Even with little breeze, it was freezing in the square. Not even her best trenchcoat- of which she had several- could keep the chill out. She had considered lighting a fire, but the police might think she was an arsonist again. Two policeponies, a huge grey colt and a red-haired mare who were particularly talented with nightsticks and beating the crap out of lawbreakers, and, most likely, anypony else who annoyed them. No, she did not want to cross them again.

She looked down at her watch. She’s almost an entire hour late. If she isn’t here in the next five minutes, i’m leaving. She probably has a private squad of ninjas, she’ll be able to find me.

Almost as if on queue, the sounding of the city-hall bell ringing in the hour was drowned out by an even louder CRACK! and an explosion of raw arcane energy that could have raised the dead. Through a small cloud of dust Twilight Sparkle stepped, striking a strangely heroic pose.

“DON’TKILLME-Oh, it’s you. Hello. I have a record player for you,” She motioned at the ground where the device sat, “Please don’t break it. What record are you trying to play, anyw-”

“Sorry,” Twilight interrupted. I’m really in a hurry. I might be late for the 1:08 Friendship Express to Ponyville. Thanks a million for your help, as soon as I’m done with my... experiment i’ll give it back to you as soon as possible. Farewell, Vinyl Scratch. Thanks for DJ-ing my brother’s wedding, by the way. Until we meet again!

“It was no problem...” Vinyl started, but trailed off as she realized the other unicorn, having levitated the record-player and beginning to gallop away, was not listening.

Aldrich was not a light sleeper. So when someone’s hot breath woke him from his rather pleasant dream of being alone in a golden-green meadow as the sun was setting made him more unhappy than normal at being woken. He cursed, quite loudly and creatively, and lashed outwards at the source of the smelly breath.

In retrospect, that was a terrible idea.

Author's Note

If you are as hardcore of a LotR fan as me, you should point out the reference I had in the chapter.
Simple knowledge of the book will NOT suffice; you must have read that, and Unfinished Tales, AND the Silmarillion, et cetera, to have a hope of getting it.
And even so, you may not.

Also, sorry for taking so long. School started to mess me up.