The Conquering of Love

by Littlecolt

Corruption Ch 10 - Assimilation

Book Four: Corruption

Chapter Ten - Assimilation

Chrysalis lowered her head, closing her glowing, white eyes and taking a deep breath. Mulcibar… what am I supposed to make of this? Intensely sweet and overly powerful, it almost feels wrong to admit that yours is the finest treat I’ve had since we began. And yet, that means something has gone terribly wrong. You were supposed to be watching Luna!

The queen shot up to her feet and strutted down the steps of the throne platform, her eyes reopening, revealing their normal snake-like appearance. She trotted with a purpose off to the side, shoving a crimson curtain out of the way, revealing the doorway that led to the lower chambers of the Canterlot royalty. A scream echoed across the walls of the stairwell as she approached the entryway to the main hall. She saw Princess Cadence hanging against the wall, her body limp and weak from yet another surge of magic. Chrysalis inhaled deeply, the faint scent of love still hanging in the air.

Cadence opened her eyes as best she could to look up at the source of the hoofsteps. She spotted the queen, and her mind shot back to the encounter she’d had with her earlier.

“Help me...” Chrysalis whispered. “You have to stop her.”

Cadence opened her eyes and blinked once before glancing towards Chrysalis. Her face was pressed close, and her eyes were closed. “What?” Cadence asked. “I don’t understand... stop who?”

“She’s waking up again. I can’t stop her alone. Find a way. I don’t know any other way, so...” Chrysalis breathed into Cadence’s ear.

“So?” Cadence asked, then swallowed, still catching her breath.

Chrysalis’ eyes shot open and she pulled her face back. Her eyes were glazed over with a magical aura and tears were streaming down her cheeks.

“Kill me,” she said, and then fell to the ground.

Cadence thought to herself as the queen walked past, paying no notice to her at all. What could she have meant by all that? It doesn’t make any sense!

Chrysalis nearly reached the door at the end of the hall that led to the room where The Order were watching over Luna. “Wait!” Cadence shouted.

Chrysalis turned and looked at her. She said nothing, just stared blankly.

“Wait…” Cadence said more quietly. “What… did you mean earlier? Were you lying? Were you just toying with me? What do you want!?” She breathed heavily, even the simple act of speaking having become a strain.

Chrysalis walked over the Cadence and looked up at her. “Lying about what?” she asked with a grin. “About what Shining Armor and I did last night? No, that’s all true, do you want me to go into greater detail? I can, if you wish.” She licked her lips.

Cadence’s eyes went wide with rage. “Why would I want to hear about that? Stop playing games!”

Chrysalis laughed. “Well, I’d assumed you were the type to be saving yourself for marriage, and now you’ll never have the pleasure yourself, so I figured you’d at least want to hear how he performed.”

Cadence shook her head. “Leave me alone…” She fell limp from her chains once again.

“He’s quite the stud, really. I’ve had more than a few, but almost none can stack up,” the queen continued, her voice becoming deeper and breathier.

“Stop. Just go,” Cadence said, almost begging now.

“Mmmm! I get light-headed just thinking about it!” Chrysalis said, ignoring Cadence’s pleas. “He rutted me so hard. I never would have expected he’d take his new bride with such vigor. He should know to be gentle with virgins… good thing he wasn’t having one, so no real issue there.”

From the depths of Cadence’s spirit came new fire, her heart becoming engulfed in anger. “I’ll give you what you want, you bitch! I swear, I will kill you! I’ll kill you and toss your body into the pits of Tartarus!” She spat in Chrysalis’ face, hitting her right in the eye.

Chrysalis swung a hoof forward and smashed it into Cadence’s jaw, knocking her back against the wall. Her body fell back down and hung like a rag doll from her chains. Chrysalis bared her teeth and breathed through them angrily. “Now you’re just becoming delirious! I would’ve already killed you if I didn’t need you! Never forget that!”

Cadence hung in silence. Maybe I am delirious. Why would she have said she wanted me to kill her, anyway?

Chrysalis turned away from Cadence and approached the door to The Order’s chamber. Before opening the door, she turned her head toward Cadence one more time. “Oh yes, so, these rooms back here are for the princesses and their staff to retire to if they need a break during their duties. The room behind you, over there, even has a bed in it,” she said, grinning. “Maybe I’ll bring Shining down here later. I’m sure we could make good use of it.”

Cadence didn’t even have the strength to whisper, but inside her mind, she was screaming at the top of her lungs. Tears rolled down her cheek, met with the blood that was trickling from her lips, and dripped together to the floor below. The sound of the door to the other room opening and closing entered her ears. After a moment, her rage subsided slightly, and all that was left in her mind was a terrible thought.

Somepony, please… just kill me.

Chrysalis gently pushed the door to the Order’s room open, quietly stepped in, and then slammed the door behind her. Every member of the order, save Luzon, jumped and turned their heads at the sound. Luzon calmly opened one eye and glanced over at Chrysalis. “Need something?” he asked casually. Chrysalis chuckled and stepped lightly, practically gliding across the floor, over to the other side of the table and whimsically draped her forelegs around Mulcibar’s neck.

“It’s come to my attention that one of my loyal subjects back here could be sleeping on the job,” she said, her voice high and airy. She turned her head and looked at Linnai. “Seems there’s two of them.”

Luzon cleared his throat, now opening both eyes. “It wasn’t a decision that we--”

“Oh, I’m sure it wasn’t,” she said, cutting him off. She rubbed her cheek up against Mulcibar’s. His head bobbed slightly as it hung limply forward. She ran one of her hooves up to the top of his head and began to lovingly stroke his mane. “Oh, Mulcibar, what am I going to do with you? I never thought this could happen. Didn’t you know, I was counting on you!?” Her voice rose in volume and filled with annoyance toward the end of her sentence as she pushed forcefully against the back of Mulcibar’s head, slamming his face forward against the table.

Luzon shot up to his feet and leaned forward. The rest of the changelings in the room gasped, staring down at the blood that was now slowly oozing out of Mulcibar’s mouth. Watch it, you little brat! he thought, but gritted his teeth and held his tongue from saying it. “My queen, what has he done to deserve that? I will be sure to punish him fiercely when he returns!”

Chrysalis smiled at Luzon. “It may be too late for him, already. I’ve felt something… disturbing in the stream.” She gazed over at Linnai and frowned. “Linnai, are you with him? Are you just letting him do whatever he wants? My little cutthroat princess, I know that couldn’t be it. What’s holding you back?”

Luna’s cocoon pulsed outward with magic, seemingly aimed directly at Chrysalis. The Order closed their eyes and concentrated, converting the magic and sending it along to the stream. Chrysalis closed her eyes.

“That wasn’t like the ones before. Something is going on in there, in Princess Luna’s tiny little brain. I fear this may be connected to what I felt. Tell me, Luzon, why did you allow two of them to go in? And why them, specifically?”

“There was… another disturbance. Mulcibar and Linnai felt it as well. We didn’t want to bother you with it, so they volunteered to go on a recon mission.”

“Oh, I can already see how this went. Linnai was bored and decided to go in, and then little Mulci was worried about his sister getting carried away and asked to go as well. Tell me, how long ago was that?”

Luzon froze, his eyes starting to shake. Chrysalis began to slowly walk in his direction, her horn aglow with green magic. “Go on. Tell me. How long have they been in there on this recon mission?”

Luzon cleared his throat again. “Well, I’m not entirely sure. It couldn’t have been but--”

“But… what?”

Sweat was collecting on Luzon’s brow as Chrysalis pressed her face close to his, so close he could feel her hot breath against his snout. “Maybe an hour?”

“An hour,” Chrysalis repeated.

Luzon nodded his head nervously.

“Do you know how long an hour can be inside a dream world?”

Luzon nodded his head silently.

“So, tell me in your professional opinion, since you knew it could very well have been days for them by now, or even weeks, what made you think that anything longer than around fifteen minutes was an acceptable amount of time before you sent someone in after them?”

“Well, we couldn’t very well take three members off Princess Luna. Her magic pulses have been getting stronger, and we--”

“I don’t need your excuses, Luzon. Now tell me, do you think that at this point it’s safe to assume something has gone terribly wrong in there?”

“Of course something has gone wrong, but they haven’t woken up, so nothing has killed them. Standard procedure from our training sessions in an inescapable situation is to commit suicide in the dream and then concentrate on relaying information once you awaken, before the time correction hits your mind. Those two are particularly skilled, so there is nothing to worry about.”

“Exactly. You’ve certainly trained well and read up on it. I’m sure the practice sessions went just fine as you delved into each others’ minds. After an hour, though, we’ve clearly hit a very different situation. Something that would not fit into the standard training model. Can any of you tell me what sort of situation that would be?” she asked, turning around and staring right at Vitra, who shrunk back and gulped.

Is she trying to tell me something? What is that look for? Vitra thought, her mind jumping back to earlier when she and Chrysalis had spoken just after she’d woken up.

“Were you connected to the dreams a little while ago?” Chrysalis asked, her voice calm and conversational. “I could feel your energy flowing down.”

Vitra nodded her head. “Yes, your highness,” she said, slowly remembering who she was, as well as her station within the changeling ranks. “I had taken over the body of a pony named Applejack.”

Chrysalis smiled and nodded her head. “Oh, Applejack,” she said. “She’s one of my favorites. She is always so up-front and honest. I respect that.”

“I think I do, too,” Vitra said, looking up among the pods, trying to spot Applejack’s cocoon.

“Good, so you’ll be honest with me, then,” the queen said, leaning her head down towards the smaller changeling. “Tell me, Vitra, how was it that I could feel your energy? How could you possibly have produced love energy?”

Vitra blinked. “I didn’t. I couldn’t have,” she said, staring down at the floor. “It’s not even possible.”

“And yet, I felt you. I fed on you, child,” Chrysalis said with a grin. “Yours was so delicious, like a morsel hidden among a sea of blandness. Like a lone cherry sitting atop a pile of boring, plain oats.”

“I can’t… possibly explain it, your majesty,” Vitra said, her voice shaking.

“Ah, but I expect you to, eventually,” Chrysalis said, her burning white eyes locked onto Vitra. “But you must tell no one of what happened in that dream, nor of this conversation. Continue with the plan, and whenever you can, try to remember how you may have accomplished this freak feat. I expect great things, and I expect you to tell no one, particularly not Luzon or any others in The Order.”

Vitra sat up straight again, returning the queen’s gaze. Should I say something? Is this her telling me to act? I’m starting to remember… How was I able to recall so much after passing out? she thought, but then remembered one more thing from earlier.

“Oh, and Vitra,” Chrysalis said. “One more thing. When I say you are not to mention this to anyone, I mean you are to speak of it to no one. Do not even speak with me about it unless first asked, lest we be overheard. This is our little secret, okay?”

Vitra shook her head. No, she’s not asking me directly. I can’t say anything… not that I have much to say. Oh, I wish I could just remember everything that had happened in that dream, damn it!

“Well? Anyone?” Chrysalis asked, turning back to Luzon. “You have no thoughts on what might be keeping them?”

Luzon’s eyebrows lowered. “I refuse to consider the idea!”

“What idea is that? Say it!” Chrysalis commanded, and Luzon had no choice but to comply.

“That they’ve defected.”

Deep breaths came from several changelings in the room, and Chrysalis grinned and nodded her head. “Yes. I don’t want to believe it either, but if they aren’t dying, and they aren’t coming back, then they must be staying of their own free wills.”

Luzon gritted his teeth, unable to respond.

“Now, normally in a situation like this, we’d want to just wait for them to come back out. I wouldn’t want to do anything drastic before we have the facts. After all, the only option we really have out here is to kill them, and we just can’t do that,” Chrysalis said, pulling away from Luzon and walking back over to Mulcibar. “After all, killing them would run the risk of spoiling the whole crop, as I am sure you’re all aware.”

“It’s also completely out of the question!” Luzon shouted, slamming his hooves against the table. “I can’t believe you’re even considering it!”

“This is war, Luzon! There are bound to be casualties, or did you think there would be none just because there haven’t been any yet?” Chrysalis asked, glaring at the bearded changeling. “We still haven’t heard back from the Cloudsdale team, and that should be my only worry, but now this has happened!”

Luzon took a deep breath and sat back down. “We have options, but none of them are ideal. We can’t send anyone else in, so—“

“Oh, I think we can,” Chrysalis interrupted. “You will go in there, Luzon, and I will take your place here. I will give you ten minutes to get it sorted, at which point I will consider the other option I am sure you’re thinking of… and believe me, if we have to resort to that, you will be held completely accountable.”

Luzon frowned. “Ten minutes? Don’t insult me. I’ll have it handled in less than five.”

“That’s what I like to hear from you. That confidence is why you were put in charge. You’ve never failed me, so don’t start now,” Chrysalis responded, her expression softening to a sweet smile.

Before Luzon even had a chance to begin his spell, though, a sudden pulse of magic shot out from Luna’s cocoon. The blinding light caused all of the changelings in the room to shield their eyes. After it dissipated, Chrysalis opened her eyes and gazed toward the glowing green pod. She grinned and licked her lips.

“Well, hello there, princess. So glad you could join us.”

---

Love… is that what this is? That filly said I should fight for love. She said that she’d show me, but then she didn’t show me anything, Mulcibar thought, turning to look at Sweetie Belle, who was once again sleeping peacefully. The sight of her brought his mind back to the cave, after she’d healed him. He remembered her exhausted face and sluggishly moving body as she collapsed. He felt a sudden pain in his heart. She didn’t have to do that. Back then, it made all the sense in the world that she shouldn’t do that. I thought she was foolish. I thought Fluttershy was foolish, too. If kindness is a weakness, then Fluttershy is weak. But… is she, really?

He turned his gaze back to Fluttershy, who was standing a short distance from him with Twilight. The two of them were talking quietly, and a rosy color had shown itself through her yellow coat. She glanced his way and then quickly looked back to Twilight. He felt another twinge of pain in his heart. His mind floated back to the cave once again. He saw the blurry outline of Fluttershy’s face pressed up against his, and could practically feel her lips, soft and trembling, against his own. He felt as though he would melt. Back then, it felt just as wonderful, but within these memories there is now something else. My mind spins round and round… I feel as though I could float. Is this really love? This strange but appealing mixture of pain and pleasure? This indescribable desire… no, this need to be with her? He blinked and looked at her again, and felt his resolve steeling. What have they done to me? I came here as an enemy. I came here to dispose of them, send them back to their dreams, but now? Now, I can’t imagine leaving her side.

Images of Chrysalis and the others of the Order appeared in his mind. His eyes went wide, tears welling up at their edges. I can’t just betray them! What am I thinking? These ponies… They’ve poisoned me! Poisoned my mind! His stomach growled and he fell sideways against the ground. And what is this incessant stomach pain!?

Linnai tapped Mulcibar against the side of his head and gave him a curious look. “Hello? What’s going on in there?” she asked.

“Stomach hurts and I feel weak. That filly did something to me, I don’t even know what yet.” His stomach growled again.

Twilight and Fluttershy looked over towards the two changelings. Twilight tapped a hoof against Fluttershy’s shoulder and walked over to the two of them. “I can hear your stomach rumbling from all the way over there. You need to get some food in you.”

“Food?” Mulcibar and Linnai asked in unison, tilting their heads in confusion.

“Changelings don’t eat food, or hadn’t you noticed? We feed on love, though we do have to drink water as well,” Linnai said with a click of her tongue.

Twilight groaned. “Look, his stomach is growling, and that’s what happens when you need to eat something. Maybe it’s because we’re in this dream, maybe it’s from whatever is causing him to feel strange, but he needs to eat something. Maybe that’s why he feels sick in the first place!”

“Okay, well, I’m willing to try anything, but we’re in the middle of a field. Where would we get this food?” Mulcibar asked as he rubbed his hooves against his belly.

Twilight shrugged. “Well, it’s not much, but your physiology can’t be that different from ours,” she said as she used her magic to rip some grass from the ground. “Ancient ponies used to eat mostly grass. We can still eat it, though I admit it’s not the most flavorful thing in the world.” She levitated the clump of green vegetation in front of his mouth.

“Eww, don’t do it!” Linnai squawked. “We’ve been walking on that stuff!” It was too late, though. Mulcibar opened his mouth and closed his eyes as Twilight floated the grass into his mouth. Linnai pulled her head back in repulsion.

Mulcibar bit down upon the fibrous plants, chewing a few times. His eyes suddenly went wide and his nose scrunched up.

Twilight gave a nervous frown. “Yeah, I know, it’s not that good…”

Linnai pushed both of her front hooves against Twilight and shook her. “If he dies, I’ll kill you!” she shouted, still staring down at Mulcibar in horror.

Mulcibar chewed several more times before opening his mouth again. “This… is amazing!” he shouted, drool practically pouring out of his mouth. He swallowed down the grass and shoved his face against the ground, pulling more up out of the dirt.

Twilight and Linnai’s eyelids both fell halfway over their eyes and they stared blankly down at him as he was practically pigging out on grass. “Really…?” they said in unison. Linnai lightly punched Twilight against her shoulder.

“What was that for?” Twilight asked, annoyed as she rubbed her shoulder.

“That was for… I don’t know what! Anyway, hurry up down there!” Linnai shouted down at her brother. “I swear, what the heck is wrong with you?”

Twilight shrugged. “It’s just a theory, but you saw how he was acting earlier. I said it seemed like he was in love.”

“And we’ve already been over that, it’s impossible.”

“Suppose that it’s not impossible, though. Would that make him not feed on love anymore? Maybe he just feeds on… food, now?”

“Absurd,” Linnai said, and glared down at Mulcibar again. “I said hurry up!”

Mulcibar stood back up and dusted himself off as he swallowed down what must have been his eighth mouthful of grass. There was a patch of bare earth where he’d been laying. “I don’t know, but I do feel better now. That was amazing! Linnai, you have to try this stuff!” he said, levitating the grass in front of her face, his own face beaming with a giant smile. She took one whiff of it and stuck out her tongue.

“Blech, get that stuff away from me! I only eat food if I have to keep up appearances. Can that even be considered food, anyway?”

“Oh, come on! It’s amazing!” Mulcibar insisted, pushing the grass closer to Linnai’s face.

Twilight couldn’t help but giggle. She stopped herself though, and glanced back and forth between the two changeling siblings. When did I get so comfortable around them? They’re practically just like any other pair of siblings you might meet. With that thought, an image of Shining Armor, his eyes blank from the spell put on him by Chrysalis, appeared in her mind. No! I can’t let my guard down too much! They’re still changelings. But… I sure wish you were here, too, B.B.B.F.F..

Fluttershy stood apart from the others, now staring blankly toward the sky, thinking about the conversation that she and Twilight had a few minutes prior.

“Fluttershy, you have to tell me what happened. He didn’t do anything to you, did he?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, nothing happened.” Her blushing cheeks betrayed her, though, and Twilight pressed the question.

“Fluttershy, I respect that you don’t want to talk about it, but we can’t let them push us around. They’re trapped in here just as much as we are. When Linnai and I were alone, she tricked me by taking on Princess Celestia’s form.”

“It was nothing like that, Twilight. It wasn’t him. If anything, it was me…” Her voice became nearly inaudible. She caught herself and spoke up again. “He saved us, Sweetie Belle and I. I had a bad injury on my leg, and Sweetie Belle was attacked by those shadow things. He hurt himself while saving her from them. We’re just lucky that Sweetie Belle could still use that healing magic from before.”

Twilight nodded her head. “Wow, it sounds like you’ve been through a lot. How did he end up feeding on you, though?” she asked, then tapping her forehead with her hoof. “Sorry, you didn’t want to talk about it. Sorry.”

“We were all alone in that cave. Sweetie Belle was asleep. Mulcibar said that he’d used too much of his energy. He said he was going to die,” Fluttershy recounted.

Twilight sighed. “And you believed him?”

“He wasn’t lying. I could tell. I knew it. He told me that I should leave him and take Sweetie Belle with me. He said that if we died, it could cause a chain reaction in the cocoons that would kill everypony else.”

Twilight furrowed her brow. “That makes sense. He was putting his mission first, even if it meant sacrificing himself.” The two of them glanced over and Mulcibar and Linnai briefly.

“And then… he said…” Fluttershy hesitated, blushing more brightly. “He said he wanted me to kiss him.”

Twilight blushed, too, and her eyes went wide. “And…? Did you?”

Fluttershy nodded shyly, her bangs falling over her face. “I was caught up in the moment. I felt so sad for him. He may be an enemy, but he was going to die. It wasn’t out of pity or anything, though… I think I wanted to kiss him. Yes,” she said, shaking her head and forcing her hair back up. “I wanted to. I did. Twice, even. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before.”

“I guess that’s how he ended up feeding on you, then… I must admit, even my heart may have gotten a little carried away in that situation,” Twilight responded, still blushing slightly. “But, Fluttershy, this brings us to a bigger problem. Linnai doesn’t want to accept it, but I think somehow, whatever the Shard of Luna did to him has caused him to be able to feel love. He’s certainly been gazing at you sweetly ever since I arrived, not to mention the sudden hug, and the way he defended you from his sister.”

Fluttershy sighed, nervously looking over at the two changelings again. “What do I do?”

“Well… I don’t know. I’ve never really been in a situation where somepony was in love with me,” Twilight admitted. “Do you love him?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No. I don’t think so, anyway. I think, maybe…” she said, becoming a bit flustered as she scraped a front hoof against the ground. “I think I admire him, somehow. If he weren’t our enemy, if we’d met earlier, or differently, I think… I think I’d like to be his friend.” She smiled and nodded her head once.

“Fluttershy?” a voice pulled the yellow pegasus back to the present. “Hello?” It was Twilight, waving a hoof in front of her face.

Fluttershy shook her head and smiled. “Oh, yes, Twilight?”

“Sweetie Belle is awake, now. We should get ready to move out. We’re going to head toward that strange pillar of light. Sweetie Belle is back to her normal self, but she’s saying she can feel the magic from the pendant drawing us toward the light beam.”

Fluttershy smiled down at the filly. “I’m glad you’re okay.” Sweetie Belle smiled and nodded.

“Come on, then!” Linnai’s voice shouted from across the way.

The three of them turned and trotted towards the two changelings. Upon arriving, Fluttershy glanced at Mulcibar, who immediately tensed up and stood at attention like a soldier awaiting inspection. “Yes!” he said, sounding as if he didn’t have full control of his voice. “We should, uh… move out!”

“Mulcibar, there’s no reason to be so nervous around me,” Fluttershy said, giving the changeling a genuine and warm smile. “We’re friends, now. Okay?”

Mulcibar’s face lit up a brighter shade of red than Twilight would have thought possible for someone of his complexion to achieve. He nodded his head nervously, smiling so wide his teeth were fully bared. “Right! Friends!”

Linnai groaned and shot a glare at Fluttershy. She elbowed Mulcibar in the ribs, and the tension left his muscles as he resumed a normal stance. “Don’t get too cozy, brother!” she said, still glaring at Fluttershy, who seemed to take no notice of her at all. “We’re only allies until we deal with Nightmare Moon.”

Meanwhile, Twilight groaned internally, remembering what Fluttershy had told her about how she felt. I’ve never been in love before, but I still know what being ‘just friends’ means, she thought. I wonder how he’ll take it when he figures it out. She cringed slightly at the thought.

Mulcibar frowned and nodded his head. He turned away from the others and took a few steps. “I’ll lead the way, then. We go by air. Linnai, you’re carrying Twilight since you two have already had some practice. Fluttershy shall carry the foal.”

Twilight sighed as Linnai walked up behind her. “Great, here we go again.”

Linnai pressed her lips against the back of one of Twilight’s ears and whispered. “Looks like you get to ride me again, prudicorn.” She giggled and took to the sky behind Mulcibar, who had already taken flight towards the pillar. Twilight sighed and hung on for her life.

Mulcibar did his best as they flew to keep his eyes forward, but every once in a while, he would glance back at the others to make sure they were still there. Any time his eyes would cross Fluttershy, he would feel his wings giving out slightly. This is dangerous. I feel better after eating that grass, but there’s still something wrong with me. If this is what love feels like, maybe I’d be better off without it. As he thought that, he felt his heart beat harder, and immediately shook his head. I can’t stop, though. I just want to keep looking back at her, making sure she’s okay. I know she’s fine, they’re all fine, but I feel uneasy. Why?

He glanced back at Fluttershy again, this time up at Sweetie Belle, who was resting on Fluttershy’s back. If only that filly were still under her pendant’s spell, maybe she could give me some answers. He sighed, turned his head to the front again, and continued to fly.

The entire flight, there had been an uncomfortable silence between Linnai and Twilight. The latter glanced up at her carrier, whose eyes were locked straight ahead. Her face looked a bit strained, and Twilight wondered if she wasn’t helping enough with her levitation spell.

I should say something, Twilight thought.

“So, how you doing up there? Need a… break?” Twilight asked nervously.

“He’d better get his head straightened out by the time this is over,” Linnai responded, though not to the question she was asked.

“Your brother?” Twilight asked, glancing forward at Mulcibar. “Are you worried about him?”

Linnai scoffed. “Worried? Of course I’m not worried, not about him anyway.”

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” Twilight said. “It’s just, I know what it can be like to be worried about your brother.”

“And like I said, I’m not worried about him!” Linnai snapped, and then turned her head to the side. “And you shouldn’t be worried. Your brother is fine. The queen wouldn’t hurt him.”

“She already has, though. She impersonated Cadence, his true love. If he knows what’s happened and isn’t just brainwashed like he was before, I can’t even imagine how he must feel. That’s why I’m worried.”

Linnai stared ahead at her brother silently.

“Sorry, I know, you don’t get it, right? I don’t know why I’m even saying this all to you. It’s your queen who’s done all that to him.”

“I’d still be mad.”

Twilight blinked. “Now, there’s a surprise. Why would you be mad? I thought you didn’t really have relationships like that.”

“I don’t know why, but I think I would be. I think I am right now. Just look at my stupid brother. He used to be strong, cunning, fierce. He never let anything get under his skin, and now… Well, just look at him. It’s sickening.”

“He’s just confused. He’s never felt the things he’s feeling right now. I’m sure he’ll—“

“I told you, that’s utterly impossible!” Linnai snapped. “And don’t get any ideas about me, either. I just respected him, that’s all. All this love nonsense, or whatever it actually is, is just making him weak!”

“Well, I suppose I know that feeling, too. Seeing Shining Armor brainwashed really made me upset. Maybe you and I aren’t so different, after all.”

“Don’t make me sicker than I already am, prudicorn.”

The silence resumed and hung in the air again for a few minutes until it was broken, this time by Linnai.

“So when this love shard thing goes back into Luna, he’ll go back to how he was before, right?”

“I don’t know.”

“How do you not know? You’re supposed to be little miss magic.”

“Sorry, I just don’t know.”

Linnai groaned with annoyance. “I wonder if he’ll ever get back to normal.”

“Linnai, maybe you’ll get to like him the way he is.”

“I liked him the way he was before.”

“He’s still your brother. I’m sure he’ll still be the same… well, mostly, anyway.”

Linnai gritted her teeth. “Tch! This conversation is obviously not going anywhere. You were right, why are we even talking right now?”

Twilight closed her eyes and sighed. A flash of a memory suddenly popped into her mind.

“Linnai, you know, when I was a filly growing up in Canterlot, I thought I didn’t need to talk to anyone either, except for my parents, Celestia, and my brother. I didn’t want to rely on anyone, or share any of my worries or problems. But I found out that I was wrong. I found out that--”

“Oh please, what is this, now? Some sort of lecture on friendship? I thought we already went through this before. You really are like a broken record, aren’t you?”

Twilight frowned and stopped casting her levitation spell. Linnai sank in the air and flapped her wings to try and keep afloat. “Hey! What’s the deal!?”

“Will you listen to me for just one measly second!?” Twilight shouted. Fluttershy and Mulcibar both looked back at the two of them briefly, and Twilight sheepishly waved in response. “Just hear me out!” Twilight finished at a whisper.

Linnai rolled her eyes. “Fine, just make with the levitation again.” Twilight obliged and then continued talking.

“Look, I understand, I don’t know what it’s like to be a changeling, and I don’t know what sort of life you came from, but I know what it’s like to think you don’t need anypony in this life. That’s how I was! You said earlier that love makes you weak, but you’re wrong.”

Linnai raised an eyebrow and stared down at Twilight as she spoke.

“Before I left Canterlot and met my friends in Ponyville, I didn’t know anything about love other than loving my parents or loving my brother. I didn’t understand what friendship was, and I was certain I didn’t need it. I was wrong, though. I found these friends of mine, and through our friendship, we all became stronger than we were before, and together we’re a lot stronger than we were alone! You might not be able to feel love, and that’s fine, I understand that. If I can be perfectly honest, I feel no love for you at all right now, but somewhere, something deep inside me is telling me to try and get through to you. So even if it’s just banging my head against a brick wall, even if it’s like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, I want you to at least try and understand one thing: Love is not weakness. Love is strength!”

Linnai rolled her eyes. “Are you finished?”

Twilight sighed. “I… I guess I am.”

Silence once again filled the air as they flew northward.

“Thank you,” Linnai finally said with a groan.

“For what?” Twilight questioned.

“Nothing. Nevermind. I’ll remember what you said. As one strong mare to another.”

Twilight tilted her head.

“I’ve decided,” Linnai said with a grin. “I’m totally gonna ravage you one of these days, prudicorn. You’ll be screeching before I’m done.”

I guess that’s as close as she gets to anything like a genuine thanks,

“Not into mares? So you say it’s impossible?” Linnai smirked, her eyes staring down right at Twilight’s. “Sounds familiar.”

Twilight couldn’t help but laugh.

---

Scootaloo gently shook Apple Bloom, who was out cold and practically snoring. “Hey, AB! Wake up, already!” She glanced over at the others and shrugged.

Celestia nodded toward Scootaloo and smiled. “It’s okay, Scootaloo. She may be out for a little while. You were, too.”

Scootaloo turned her head down to look at the pendant hanging around her neck. She held back a grin as thought to herself. So we’re the bearers of parts of Luna’s soul, and they gave us powers. That is so awesome! We’re like Cutie Mark Crusaders… um… Guardians! She glanced back at her flank briefly, which was still bare. It would be pretty lame to get your cutie mark in a dream, though.

Luna gazed at her sister. “So, if we have to wait for the filly to come to, we have a moment for me to ask you something I’ve been thinking about ever since I returned,” she said. Celestia smiled and nodded her head in response as Luna continued. “While I was gone, the story of Nightmare Moon became a legend, did it not? There is even a book all about it. I’ve read this book, and I found it somehow familiar in more ways than one.”

“I can see where you’re going with this,” Celestia replied. “It is true, I wrote that book a thousand years ago. After Ismara’s failed coup, I realized that keeping things a secret was not right. Everypony had a right to know about what had happened. No matter how they might react, I knew I had to tell them the truth. It was a hard-learned lesson, and I could not have been prepared for how the citizens of Equestria were going to react.”

“How did they react? That is another thing I had been wondering,” Luna asked.

Celestia, seemingly a bit choked up upon recalling, took a moment to respond. “They were surprisingly understanding. It was almost as if the nation collectively cried out for me. The tragedy of the situation shot through their collective hearts. Everywhere I went, there was support for me, and so much love. Unfortunately, I was molded into a figure who stood for justice. No matter how I tried to explain things to them, their sympathy was solely for me, and they had nothing but contempt for you. It was not how I’d wanted things to turn out.”

Luna hung her head. “I may have been deserving of contempt, though. After all I did to them, they had every right.”

“Perhaps. I still worried, though. I worried that you would forever be remembered as a tyrant who tried to rule through fear, and not as the sister whom I grew up with and knew had good in her heart. The feelings of hate were overwhelming, though. After a week of it, I had become fatigued. One night, I fell into a deep sleep, and I had a vivid dream. In this dream, a voice spoke to me over a backdrop of memories from our fight. The voice said but one thing: On the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring nighttime eternal.”

Celestia stood up and paced slightly as she continued to explain. “Now, I had no idea what the Summer Sun Celebration even was. After waking from this dream, I wrote down the words and pondered them. What could it mean? Was it just my mind wandering, or was it a prophecy of some sort? I discarded the idea of it being prophetic until later that day when one of my advisors told me that a group of my supporters in the city were setting up a celebration with a parade in honor of my defeat of Nightmare Moon. At first, I was furious, but then I was told the chosen name: The Summer Sun Celebration. I quickly returned to my room and pored over that simple sentence again, realizing that it couldn’t be a coincidence. This was a sign, I was sure of it. I fell to the ground in tears of joy, just knowing that my sister would return in a thousand years and have another chance.”

“Yes, but the nighttime eternal part couldn’t have sounded very good,” Discord said. “Also, what is with this thousand year sentence? I smell favoritism.”

Celestia smirked at Discord. “Oh, come now, you got out for a little bit. We just had to put you back in for bad behavior.”

Discord grinned over at Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. “I’ll get out again, too. All it took was three little fillies arguing to set me free.”

Luna frowned. “Three fillies with pieces of my soul inside of them. I don’t think that kind of thing will happen again.”

“You always were the buzzkiller, Luna,” Discord pouted.

“Continuing, yes, the nighttime eternal part did disturb me, but there wasn’t anything I could do at the time. I would be dead and gone by the time Luna returned, so I had to make sure that the future generations of the land knew what was coming, and knew about the Elements of Harmony. Thus, I wrote my first two books, The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide, and The Mare in the Moon.”

“But you aren’t dead and gone. Why is that, exactly, hmm?” Discord asked.

“I made sure the books were published and sent to every library in the land,” Celestia continued, ignoring Discord’s question outright, which caused him to grin and chuckle. “The intent was to make sure that these books were so well known that the information in them would become something ubiquitous that everypony would know. However, ‘The Elements of Harmony’ only drew interest from magic scholars, and ‘The Mare in the Moon’, after centuries, became a legend. In fact, it didn’t take many generations for the citizens to forget whether or not Nightmare Moon even existed at all. In a way, I was okay with this outcome, so I left it to develop on its own.”

“What happened?” A small voice came from to the side.

“Apple Bloom! You’re awake!” Scootaloo shouted, jumping up and over to her friend and giving her a big hug. The two fillies suddenly stopped and turned their heads to the northeast, staring at the pillar of light in the distance.

The others stood up and gathered around the two Crusaders. “That pillar of light. You know what it is, don’t you?” Luna asked, already certain of the answer herself.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both nodded. “It’s a hole. A hole in your soul,” Scootaloo said. “The pendants are talking to us, telling us what to do. We have to go there and put them back where they belong. Only then will Nightmare Moon finally be put to rest. That’s what they said, anyway.”

“I feel that it is true. We do not have time to waste. Nightmare Moon may be on her way to us right now, or may even be lying in wait at one of those pillars. We have to hurry,” Luna said, spreading her wings. “Sister, will you carry Scootaloo again? I shall carry Apple Bloom.”

“Who’s going to carry me?” Discord asked, his lower lip sagging downward. The princesses gave him a quizzical look and he sighed. “Oh, fine, I suppose I’ll fly on my own.”

Pinkie patted Discord on his back. “Don’t feel bad, I would have carried you,” she said, flashing him a big smile.

Discord smiled back. “At least somepony around here is trying!”

The six of them disappeared from sight, sailing northeast toward the pillar of light, which was nestled near the Smoky Mountain. A mere couple of minutes after they left the city of Las Pegasus, Nightmare Moon blasted into the city, landing with a furious growl, dark magic coursing out of her body.

“WHERE ARE YOU, SISTER?” she shouted, her voice bouncing off the buildings in the halfway ruined city. She leapt to the top of a tall skyscraper and scanned the horizon until she came to the spot where the pillar of light sat in the sky. She could just barely make out the specks of her flying prey. “There you are. I should have known those light beams would be connected to all of this. Worry not, dear Luna, I won’t let any of them have you. You’re mine!”

She shot into the sky and sped toward the pillar of light.

Ahead of her, the others flew along, not knowing that they were being tailed.

Luna stared ahead toward the pillar, thinking to herself. I shall finally be free. Truly free. She smiled and turned to look at her sister. Thank you, Celestia. Thank you for believing in me. For going through so much for me. For living so long for me.

Discord’s question from earlier shot through her mind. But you aren’t dead and gone. Why is that, exactly, hmm?

“Sister,” Luna said quietly. Celestia turned her head and gave a questioning sound in response. “I am sorry to pry so much. There is just so much on my mind after seeing those visions of the past and hearing your story… I’m not certain if I should even…”

“Please, Luna, ask me anything. I promise to tell you the truth.”

“Why did you…? How did…?” Luna started a couple of times, choosing her words carefully. “How is it that you came to still be alive for my return?”

Celestia frowned slightly but nodded and spoke. “I knew that you would ask about this, somehow. Back then, I knew in my heart that you would come back, and you would be alone. It hurt every time I thought about it. Thus, I pursued an answer to that problem, and found one,” she said, then staring deeply into Luna’s eyes. “It is one of my deepest, darkest secrets. I hope to take it with me to my grave, for nopony should ever live as long as I have. However, you are my sister. If you really want to know, I will tell you.”

Luna gulped. She hadn’t considered what the implications of such a long life could be. Discord laughed and smirked over at Celestia. “I’m pretty sure I’ve already got it figured out. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me,” he said, his face then taking on a more serious look. He nodded his head reassuringly, and Celestia actually smiled at him.

“Sister… I’m sorry. I do not want to know. I am just glad that you could be there for me.”

“It made it all worth it.”

Pinkie swooped around, landing between the two sisters, her forelegs shaking slightly. “You two are making me want to give you both a big group hug! But I don’t know how well that would work while flying, so I am doing my best to resist.”

Luna laughed. “Thank you, Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie gritted her teeth and glanced at Luna. “It’s really, really hard!”

Everypony laughed. Then, from behind them, another laugh came. The four flyers spun around and looked back, spotting Nightmare Moon flying just behind them.

“You!” Luna shouted.

“Isn’t this sweet?” Nightmare Moon said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Sisterly bonding time. I can really feel the love in the air.”

Luna levitated Apple Bloom to Pinkie’s back and glanced back at them. “Keep going! I shall hold her off, here!”

“What!?” Pinkie shouted.

Apple Bloom turned around on Pinkie’s back. “Princess! You can’t!”

“I must! I must face her! Don’t worry. Neither of us have our Lucidity,” she said, narrowing her eyes at Nightmare Moon. “She’s mine, this time!”

Nightmare Moon laughed briefly, but was quickly interrupted.

“You won’t face her alone!” Celestia said, teleporting Scootaloo onto Discord’s back swinging in closer to Luna. “We face her together! Just like the lie I’d told a thousand years ago, but this time, it shall be no lie! We stand together, little sister!”

Pinkie and Discord set out toward the pillar of light again. Nightmare Moon swung down and past Luna and Celestia, attempting to give chase. Luna dove down at the dark mare, her horn aglow as she crashed into her. The two of them dove toward the ground, with Celestia trailing just behind them. Nightmare Moon turned in mid-air to face Luna just in time to see the flash from her horn. Magic blasted into Nightmare Moon’s face, pushing the two of them apart, and slamming Nightmare into the ground. Luna crashed into the ground a second later, and a cloud of dust filled the air.

Celestia landed and carefully approached the small crater they had created. A sudden blast of magic shot outward, clearing the dust and revealing two identical Princess Lunas. Celestia blinked and shook her head.

One Luna looked at the other and sighed. “Really? This is the plan you’re going with?”

“Don’t listen to her, sister! She’s trying to trick you!”

Celestia narrowed her eyes and stared ahead at the two of them. It’s true. I cannot tell them apart.

The two Lunas backed away from one another, neither of them stepping closer to Celestia.

There has to be a way. They’re the same pony, though. There has to be something I can use to tell them apart, Celestia thought. That’s it! Of course!

Celestia stepped toward the two of them and stomped her hoof against the ground. She looked back and forth between them. “I don’t know where you learned such a powerful illusion spell, Nightmare Moon, but it is quite impressive. Is this the secret behind your change of appearance?”

The Luna to Celestia’s right shook her head. “Sister, what are you talking about? You know what--” she started, and then her face went wide with realization. Green fire suddenly shot across her body and her coat darkened. Holes appeared upon her legs, and her mane became black. “You know it’s no illusion! It’s because we’re both changelings.”

The other Luna hissed at the changeling Luna. Celestia wasted no time. She conjured a forcefield around Nightmare Moon, channeling magic into it as fast as she could.

“Stay in there for a little while!” Celestia said with a grin.

Nightmare Moon glared at Luna, who was still in her changeling form. “So you told her, did you?” she asked. “I’m impressed, but this means nothing! You can’t contain me like this!”

The pillar of light in the distance suddenly flashed outward before shooting down to the ground and vanishing from sight. All three of them turned to look at the place in the sky where it had been.

“We don’t need to contain you for long,” Celestia said calmly. “This is already the beginning of the end for you.”

---

“So, what do we do now?” Pinkie asked as she stared down into the massive abyss. She, Discord, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo had come to the place where the pillar of yellow light met the ground. All around the towering magic beam was a circular crater, as if a piece of the earth had been cut out of the landscape and all that was left was darkness.

Apple Bloom hopped onto the ground and stared up at the light. “I don’t know,” she said, and tapped her hoof against her pendant. “Is there some sort of magic word? What do I do?”

“Maybe we have to actually fly over and into the light?” Scootaloo suggested.

Discord shrugged. “That seems to be the simplest solution. Let’s get closer, I’ll fly you over. Pinkie Pie, you keep an eye to the south. We need to make sure nothing amiss has happened with Nightmare Moon.”

Discord scooped up Apple Bloom and flew out over the chasm. As they approached the pillar of light, Apple Bloom’s pendant began to shine. At about the halfway point, the filly’s body was engulfed completely in light, and she began to float through the air. The pendant radiated with magic, arcing between it and the pillar, which began to lower from the clouds and shrink down to a single point, eventually forming a ball of energy. Discord kept his claw wrapped around one of Apple Bloom’s hind legs, making sure she didn’t float away or fall.

Apple Bloom’s eyes began to glow once again, and she looked down at Discord and smiled. “You have come to know patience over the last millennia, have you not, spirit of chaos?”

Discord raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. “Yes, I suppose I have. I can’t say I’ve enjoyed it much.”

Apple Bloom giggled. “I hope that it pays off for you, in the end. I can see inside of your swirling, chaotic soul. I know what your true nature is, even if you may not have it figured out yet.”

“My true nature?” Discord asked. “A little presumptuous, don’t you think?”

Apple Bloom nodded, her smile seeming to shine more brightly than the light behind them. “I hope you learn much on this journey. I must now depart. We shards will finally become one with Luna again.”

Discord glanced around nervously. “What of the filly?”

“Do not worry about her.”

“I wasn’t worried, not really, just curious.”

Apple Bloom laughed again. “Of course you weren’t. She will be fine. More than fine, actually. These three fillies have been touched by Luna’s soul. They are special. Keep her safe, spirit of chaos.”

Discord nodded his head in response. A bead of light shot up out of Apple Bloom’s forehead, and her body slowly floated down into Discord’s waiting arms.

“Keep her safe,” a voice that sounded like Princess Luna’s repeated. “Farewell.”

The bead of light flew into the large magical ball, which then shot down into the chasm below. The dark hole began to glow with white light, and when that light had dissipated, a lush, grassy field had taken its place. Discord smiled and flew back down to the others. During his descent, Apple Bloom opened her eyes and shook her head.

“Is it over? Were we right?” she asked, glancing at her chest, which still had her pendant lying atop it. “Oh no! The pendant is still there!”

“That’s yours now,” Discord said, his tone of voice calm and serious. “The Shard of Luna has gone back where it belongs.”

The two of them landed. Pinkie and Scootaloo looked up expectantly at Discord.

“It is done,” Discord said, and then pointed to the south, where a sudden eruption of purple magic had begun to shine. “We should head southward again and make sure our dear princesses are okay.”

---

Mulcibar turned his head and shouted back at the others. “We’ve arrived!”

“I can see that, you dolt!” Linnai shouted back. “You’d have to be blind as a bat to miss the giant, gaping crater.”

Twilight rolled her eyes as they landed at the gorge’s edge. She turned to Fluttershy and pointed a hoof out over the chasm. “So, I guess we need to fly Sweetie Belle toward the light. I admit, though, I’m a little nervous about what might happen.”

“I’ll be okay, Twilight. I can feel it, somehow,” Sweetie Belle said, rubbing a hoof against her pendant’s surface.

“Are you sure? Maybe we could just toss the pendant out there, and…” Fluttershy started, but Sweetie Belle shook her head. Fluttershy sighed and lowered her head. “Alright.” She flapped her wings, taking flight again, heading out toward the pillar.

“Be careful!” Mulcibar shouted out after her. Linnai groaned and sat down next to him.

“So, what’s so special about her, hmm?” she asked as they watched Fluttershy slowly approaching the beam of magic.

Mulcibar lowered his gaze and shook his head. “I don’t know. I wish I did. Every time I try to think about it, it just hurts. I keep imagining all these crazy scenarios where she hates me, or she is fighting with me, or she’s hurt… It’s scary, and I don’t understand why.”

Linnai sighed. “I just got lectured about how love makes you stronger. Seems like you’re having the opposite happen, so get ahold of yourself.”

“I know, I know,” Mulcibar said, looking back at Fluttershy. His eyes narrowed. “When the time comes, you know I’ll make the right decision. When have I ever failed you, sister?”

Linnai grinned. “Good. That’s more like the brother I know.”

Out over the chasm, Fluttershy hung in the air, and Sweetie Belle began to glow a bright pink. The filly floated off of her back and toward the pillar. She turned and faced Fluttershy, her eyes glowing white once again.

“So, what now?” Fluttershy asked, her voice shaking.

“I should ask you the same question,” Sweetie responded. She nodded her head in the direction of Mulcibar and Linnai. “I’ve given that one a gift, but once I return to Luna, that gift could vanish from him.”

“A gift?” Fluttershy asked, blushing slightly and averting her gaze. “You mean… how he’s acting like he loves me?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “It’s no act. He’s in a very dangerous position right now, his heart teetering between loyalty to his kind and his love for you. When love blossoms within us, even if we are not ready, even if we don’t know why or how it has blossomed, it changes us from within. He is changing, Fluttershy, and you may hold the key to how he changes.”

“But, I don’t know how I feel about him. I’ve barely just met him, how can I just—“

“You have time to think about these things, but I want to make sure you understand,” Sweetie Belle said with a smile. “Be there for him. Help him to finish what I have started within him. How you do this is up to the two of you.”

With those words, a bead of light shot out from Sweetie Belle’s forehead and floated toward the pillar of light. The foal floated gently back and down onto Fluttershy’s back. Looking back at Mulcibar again, Fluttershy sighed and then closed her eyes.

How will I know what to do?

Back at the chasm’s edge, Twilight pointed toward Fluttershy and smiled. “It looks like everything worked out just fine. Thank goodness.”

“Good, the sooner we can get out of here, the better,” Linnai said.

Mulcibar stared toward the light, his eyes shaking slightly, and a lump forming in his throat. A tiny voice spoke within his head as he watched the pillar slowing shrinking down from the sky.

I have to leave you, now, but I have to ask, have you found the answer to your question?

My… question?

You had asked me before if love was worth fighting for. Have you found your answer now that you have had a taste of what it is like to love?

I… I don’t know, Mulcibar thought, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. You’re leaving. Does this mean… does this mean I won’t feel like this anymore?

Is that what you desire? It should be easy for you to harden your heart and go back to the way you were, but do you want that?

Mulcibar looked at Fluttershy. She almost appeared to glow as the light from the pillar condensed into a ball behind her. He blinked and tears streaked down his cheeks. No. No, I don’t want that. I want to keep going. I want to see where this path leads. I don’t have the answer to that question, not yet, but I want to find it.

Good. Remember how you feel right now. Hold onto that feeling dearly and never let it go. There is a seed within you, now, and it must be cultivated in order to grow. With care, grow it shall. I promise you.

The ball of light shot into the crater and a grassy field appeared in its place. Mulcibar wiped the tears away from his face, glancing over at Linnai to see if she’d noticed them. The tiny voice in his head spoke once more before vanishing.

Watch out for her, too. She doesn’t yet understand, but if you care about her, you will protect her.

Protect her? From what?

There was no answer. The voice had vanished.

“How do you feel, Sweetie Belle?” Twilight asked.

“I’m just fine. Are you okay, Fluttershy?” the filly asked, tapping Fluttershy on the head. “You’re shaking a little.”

Fluttershy jolted her head back, as if she were being woken up. “Huh? Oh, I’m fine. Yeah, just fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” She glanced over at Mulcibar and held her breath to keep from sighing. I hope so, anyway…

“We should head toward the last pillar of light. I can see it over the horizon towards Canterlot. Hopefully the others will be headed there as well…” she said, and then a chill suddenly ran up her spine. She felt Linnai’s breath against the back of her neck.

“You know what that means,” Linnai said in a seductive tone.

Twilight sighed and felt the strength draining from her. “Yes, I know. Time for another flight.”

“All aboard,” Linnai chuckled, wrapping her forelegs around Twilight from behind.

---

“We don’t need to contain you for long,” Celestia said calmly. “This is already the beginning of the end for you.”

Luna and Nightmare Moon suddenly erupted in an aura of purple magic. Nightmare Moon fell to the ground and screamed, and Luna fall back, gripping her chest with her forelegs.

“It’s happening!” Luna shouted. “I can… feel it flowing into me!”

The barrier around Nightmare Moon shattered and magic began to zip back and forth between Luna and Nightmare Moon. Celestia stood over the two of them, keeping a careful watch over Nightmare Moon, her horn glowing and ready for anything.

After a few minutes, the others returned from the north just in time to see a secondary eruption of magic, this time a full spectrum of colors, similar to the magic attack that the Elements of Harmony could unleash. The rainbow magic shot into the sky and flew east towards Canterlot. Luna and Nightmare Moon both fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Nightmare Moon growled and weakly reached her hoof out towards Luna.

“I won’t… let you!” she said gruffly, her breath still quick and heavy.

Celestia cast another barrier spell around Nightmare Moon and turned to Luna. “Sister, can you fly? We need to get moving.”

“What about her?” Luna asked, looking down at Nightmare Moon.

“We don’t have time to waste. We must go while she is weakened. I will help you,” Celestia replied, wrapping a foreleg around Luna. She looked over at Pinkie and Discord. “You four go ahead of us! Fly as fast as you can to the next pillar. It looks like that magical outburst headed that direction as well. Go, quickly!”

Discord nodded and patted Pinkie on the shoulder. The two of them, foals in tow, took to the air as fast as they could toward Canterlot. Celestia and Luna slowly rose into the sky as well, flying after them as fast as they could while encumbered by Luna’s weakened state.

“Wait! Stop!” Nightmare Moon shouted, standing up and reaching out to them. Her hoof touched the barrier, which crackled and zapped her with magic. She fell back to the ground, gripping her hoof and shrieking. “You shall pay!”

Celestia and Luna flew eastward. As they went, Luna closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. She suddenly gasped and turned to look at Celestia. “Sister, I feel it returning. My Lucidity. This does not bode well, for she may be getting hers back as well,” she said, and then pulled away from Celestia, flying on her own. “I am fine, now. We must go faster. We have no choice. Once she notices her dream magic returning as well, though weak, it will still be dangerous.”

Celestia nodded. “Then let’s speed up!”

“Sister, you have to promise me something. If she catches up to us, you must continue without me. The only one who stands a chance against her now is me.”

Celestia gritted her teeth but nodded her head.

“Do not worry, sister. She will not kill me. To kill me is to kill herself, and she would never do that.”

“Alright. Let’s go!”

The two sisters flapped their wings in unison and headed toward Canterlot with ever-increasing speed. Within a few minutes, they had put a considerable amount of distance between themselves and Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon lay in the grass staring up at the sky. Is this the end for me? I can feel the power from that filly’s pendant swirling around. Her eyes went wide with realization and she ginned, bearing her dagger-like teeth. Yes! It is returning! This barrier is nothing!

She roared out toward the stars above, reality rippling around her, shattering Celestia’s barrier spell to pieces. The dark mare rose to her hooves and looked to the east where Celestia and Luna had flown. I hope you’re ready for me! You won’t escape my wrath again!

She blasted into the sky, leaving a crater where she had once stood.

Some distance ahead of her, Luna twisted her head back to where they’d come from. “We have to go faster, sister. She’s coming! She’s found her Lucidity! Hold on to me!” She grasped Celestia around her midsection and turned her head forward once more. “Fold your wings in and brace yourself.”

Celestia nodded and closed her wings, wrapping her forelegs around Luna. “Ready!”

With a flash of energy, Luna accelerated instantly to three times the speed they had been going. “She’s still coming! We can’t outrun her!”

“We’re almost there! Just hang on!” Celestia shouted.

A wave of rainbow energy flashed in the distance, and a second later, Luna was enveloped in magic. She tumbled through the air, trying to stay balanced, but the ground was fast approaching. Luna tossed Celestia skyward, and Celestia reacted by spreading her wings. Luna crashed into the ground, which bent beneath her like a piece of cloth.

Luna grunted, and the magic flying around her intensified. An arc of magic shot off to the west. Celestia traced the magic back, and her eyes locked onto another glowing figure several hundred yards away. She turned back to Luna. “She’s here, sister.”

Luna pushed herself to her hooves. “Then go!” she shouted. “Our Lucidity has only partially returned. Using it is a strain, I’m sure she’s feeling it as well. But you still need to get out of here. I can’t guarantee your safety!”

Celestia shut her eyes tightly and swallowed a lump in her throat. “But--”

“Go! Remember, sister. She won’t kill me!”

“We’ll come back for you!” Celestia shouted, and then took off, heading toward Canterlot, which was now practically towering above them.

Luna stepped toward Nightmare Moon and shouted across the landscape. “Come on, then! Let’s finish this once and for all!”

Nightmare Moon rose up and charged toward Luna, her hooves pounding against the ground. “You know as well as I that this conflict will never end! But if this is what you want, I’m glad to oblige!”

Luna took a leaping start and galloped ahead, straight toward Nightmare Moon. Move quickly, everyone! I will not be able to fight her for long!

“Do you feel it? The second piece was put in place. Only one remains. We don’t have to do this,” Luna said, staring down Nightmare Moon.

“Not if I stop them! Our Lucidity has risen, precious Luna. How far are you willing to go? Just how damaged are you willing to become for them?”

Luna snarled and her eyes glowed bright white. “As far as I must!” She scraped a hoof against the ground.

“Then prepare yourself! I’ll make it quick!” Nightmare Moon shouted, her eyes glowing and the fabric of the dream world rippling around her. She charged at Luna, kicking pieces of reality behind her as if they were clods of dirt.

Luna charged as well, the air pushing away from her in waves. The two mares clashed in an explosion of magic. Their screams echoed across the landscape, all the way to Canterlot.

---

After catching up with the others, Celestia looked back and saw the magical outbursts and reality-bending effects behind them. Looking forward again, she could see the pillar of light coming up out of the ground just below one of the sheer cliff faces of Canterlot Mountain. A courtyard sat along the edge of the cliff. As they all approached it, they could see several ponies standing on the stone tiled ground.

“Oh, lookie! It’s Twilight and Fluttershy! And they’ve got Sweetie Belle and those two changelings with them,” Pinkie hollered. “Helloooooo Twiliiiiiiight!”

They landed with several loud clopping sounds, and Celestia approached Twilight. Before she could say anything, Linnai grunted and began to talk.

“So, you finally made it. Was wondering what was taking so long,” she said.

Twilight shot Linnai an annoyed glare. “We actually just got here, ourselves,” she said, taking inventory of those who had just arrived. “Where is Princess Luna?”

Celestia shook her head. “Battling Nightmare Moon. We have to hurry, or—“

A sudden loud rumbling sound interrupted the princess. The ground below started to shake and pieces of rock from the higher mountain spire began to fall. The sky suddenly filled with dark clouds. Lightning shot out from them and thunder echoed across the landscape.

“What’s happening?” Fluttershy shrieked.

Discord narrowed his eyes. “Chaos is breaking loose. It’s everywhere. This is similar to what happened in the previous dreams. It must have to do with Luna and Nightmare Moon’s battle.”

A scream from Pinkie Pie punctuated Discord’s sentence. She fell to the ground in pain, dropping Scootaloo onto the ground as well. She gripped her chest and breathed heavily. “Something… Something is happening!” she managed, her eyes wide with fear. “She’s… coming! Hurry! You have to go finish it, now!” She reached a hoof out to Scootaloo, who had pulled herself back to her feet despite the ground’s violent shaking.

“Come on, Scootaloo! I’ll take you out there!” Discord yelled as he scooped the filly up and flew out over the chasm.

A split second later, in a flash of dark magic, Nightmare Moon materialized in front of the group of adventurers. Celestia’s face contorted with fury as she screamed at the dark mare.

“Where is Luna!? What have you done!?”

Nightmare Moon let out a maniacal laugh. “She fought fiercely and left me no choice! I had to destroy her!”

“No!” Twilight shouted.

“You lie!” Celestia screamed, her horn bursting with bright yellow and white energy. “She and you are the same! You can’t have killed her!”

“I thought so, too, but apparently not!” Nightmare Moon pointed to Pinkie Pie. The others all turned to look. Pinkie Pie had darkened to a gray color and was slowly dissolving into magic dust. She reached a hoof out to Celestia.

“I’m sorry… sister…” she said weakly just before bursting into a cloud of twinkling magic and dissolving into the sky above.

“Pinkie!” Fluttershy cried out, falling to the ground.

Linnai stared down at where Pinkie had been, her eyes wide and shaking, her teeth gritting. Why do I care? I even tried to kill that one before! What is this horrible feeling? she thought. She looked toward Mulcibar, who had a similar look of rage upon his face, but also had tears flowing down his cheeks. This… is for the best, right? This is the end for them. If we have to die, too, we’ve done our duty! So… why are you crying? Why do I feel like I might as well? What… have they done to us, brother?

“Discord! Go! Quickly!” Celestia shouted back at Discord, who had almost reached the pillar of light.

“I don’t think so!” Nightmare Moon screamed. She flapped her wings and shot through the sky, but was intercepted by Celestia. The two of them smashed together and fell to the ground. At the point of impact, Nightmare Moon pushed Celestia against the stone tile, smashing her into it and breaking it to pieces.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight shouted and ran toward the two alicorns. Everything became a blur. Everything seemed to move in slow-motion. She saw Nightmare Moon powering up her horn and aiming it at Scootaloo and Discord.

“No!” Twilight screamed. She leapt into the air, putting herself between Nightmare Moon and the others. A fraction of a second later, she felt two hooves forcefully push against her, shoving her through the air in another direction. She turned her head, looked down, and saw Linnai’s face grinning up at her.

And then it was gone.

Nightmare Moon let loose her magic beam, striking Linnai in the chest. A burst of magic and Lucidity exploded outward, blasting everyone back and creating a small crater in the ground. As Twilight lifted her head and shook the dirt off of it, she stared toward the place where the blast had happened. Lying in the crater was Linnai, or at least what was left of her. Twilight scrambled toward the blast zone, but not as quickly as Mulcibar, who reached her almost immediately.

“Linnai! What have you done!?” Mulcibar shouted down at his sister.

Linnai smiled and coughed. “Lay off… brother,” she said. She turned to look at Twilight, who had arrived. “I just couldn’t let her damage… such a sweet piece of…” she coughed, unable to finish her sentence.

Twilight shook her head. “Why would you have done that? Why? What do you care about any of us?”

Linnai gazed up at Mulcibar. “I don’t care about them… but he does… and he’s never been wrong… before…”

The moment was interrupted by the sound of another magic blast. Twilight sprung her head up and looked toward the sound. Nightmare Moon was firing at Discord and Scootaloo again, who were now at the pillar. Scootaloo was floating a bit in front of Discord.

“I don’t think so!” Discord shouted, waving his hands in the air and erecting a multi-layered shield. The beam of magic hit the barriers and shattered all but the last one. Discord laughed. “Hah! Much better this time, shield! All is forgiven!”

Before the shield could even form a fist to give Discord a fist bump, though, Nightmare Moon shot another blast out. Discord snapped his fingers and seven more shields appeared. In response, though, Nightmare Moon let out a shriek. The air rippled all around Discord, and the shields shattered before the blast reached them.

“Well, poo…” he said. The blast hit Scootaloo dead-on. When the explosion of magic dissipated, there was nothing left but a cloud of lightly shining magic.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom ran toward the chasm shouting. “Scootaloo!”

“Girls! Stay back!” Fluttershy said, running toward them as well.

“It doesn’t matter, now!” Nightmare Moon cackled. “Your only chance at stopping me has just burned to ashes! Your journey ends here!”

“You’re wrong,” a voice echoed through the air.

Celestia stared up into the cloudy sky. “Luna?”

“Look! Over there!” Mulcibar shouted, pointing toward the pillar where Discord was still hanging in the air. A single speck of white, glowing magic floated slowly into the pillar of light. The pillar vanished immediately, compressing into a ball of energy, radiating the colors of the rainbow, and then fired up into the sky. The clouds parted, and the shaking ground stopped.

Nightmare Moon exploded in white flames. “No! This cannot be!” she screamed as the white fire burned across her body and down onto the ground. The flames spread across the landscape like a wildfire, engulfing everything for a brief moment.

And then everything suddenly went black.

Nightmare Moon found herself standing in the middle of a dark sea of nothingness. Several twinkles of magic appeared around her in a circle. Those little twinkles morphed and grew, becoming the others, all standing in a circle around her. Twilight, Celestia, Fluttershy, Mulcibar, Discord, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom all stared toward the center of the circle at Nightmare Moon.

“What is this? Stay away! Stay away from me!” Nightmare Moon shouted. She blasted outward wildly with magic. The magic seemed to hit some sort of invisible barrier in front of the others, fizzling out just before impact. The dark mare fell to her haunches, her whole body trembling.

“You can’t fight us anymore,” Celestia said, taking a step towards Nightmare Moon. “Because you no longer want to. Because you are my dear sister, Luna, and you always have been and will be.”

“No! That’s not true! Don’t compare me to her! I hate you! I hate you all!”

Twilight began to walk towards Nightmare Moon, tears still falling from her eyes. “Do you remember Nightmare Night, Luna? Everypony was scared of you, but they all loved you, too. That hasn’t changed. We all love you. We all want you to come back to us.”

Nightmare Moon fell to the ground and covered her face with her front hooves. “How could anypony possibly love me after all that I’ve done? More likely they pity me! It’s just like Tenderhoof a thousand years ago! She was right! Nopony could ever love one so ugly inside and out!”

“We all have ugliness inside of us,” Fluttershy said, walking toward Nightmare Moon along with all the rest of the others.

“We’ve all done bad things – some worse than others – in the past,” Discord said, becoming a bit choked up, himself.

“But I think everyone deserves a second chance,” Mulcibar said. “Everyone should be able to start over.”

“Now you’re just getting sappy!” Linnai’s voice called out. She materialized next to her brother and elbowed him in the ribs.

“Oh, look who’s talking!” he responded.

“Anyway, you just have to snap out of it!” Pinkie’s voice shouted and she appeared with a flash right next to Nightmare Moon. She immediately squeezed her into a hug.

“Right! No matter what happened in the past, you can always work to make the future better!” Scootaloo’s voice said. She appeared out of thin air between Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. The two fillies squealed and hugged their pegasus pal.

“We’re all about looking to the future! And we want you to be there in it, princess!” Apple Bloom shouted joyfully.

“Yeah! Um… what they all said!” Sweetie Belle added.

Nightmare Moon began to emit a radiant, white aura. Her coat became lighter, her armor vanished, replaced by Luna’s regalia. She stood up, now transformed back into Princess Luna, and smiled at her sister who stood before her.

“Thank you, again, sister. Thanks to all of you,” she said. A beam of magic blasted up from her horn, shattering the darkness that was all around them. They suddenly found themselves standing in that courtyard in Canterlot once again, with everything restored, no sign that anything had happened. The moon and stars shone down brightly from the sky above. She smiled and closed her eyes. “Nightmare Moon is finally gone. More correctly, she has returned to where she belongs.”

“Where she belongs?” Twilight questioned.

Luna smiled over at the purple unicorn. “Yes, inside my heart. We all have darkness inside of us. Light cannot exist without darkness, and without light there would be no darkness. It’s all about striking that balance, and you all have finally helped to restore that within me. So again, thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much.”

Celestia nodded and turned to look at the two changelings. “Yes, and it appears we have two others among us who are fighting to find that balance,” she said, and then stepped toward Linnai, extending her hoof. “Whatever may have happened before, you put yourself in the line of fire to protect one of my dear friends. I owe you a debt of gratitude.”

Linnai scoffed and turned her nose away from Celestia. “Oh, please. Spare me, your highness. I did it because deaths in here can have catastrophic effects on the cocoon farm. None of you do us any good if you’re dead.”

Twilight frowned. “That’s not what it sounded like just before you faded away.”

“Oh yeah, that was pretty good, wasn’t it?” Linnai said with a grin, turning to Twilight. “Are you falling for me yet, prudicorn?”

Twilight lowered her eyebrows and sighed. “Hardly,” she said, and then turned her gaze downward. “But I am glad you’re okay. I don’t know why, but I am.”

Linnai laughed and snorted. “Pfft! See if I stick my neck out for you, again!”

“Enough. Everyone’s okay, that’s good,” Twilight said. “We need to figure out what we do next. I assume we need to find an exit.”

“True. Are you able to find us an exit, sister?” Celestia asked, turning her head toward Luna, but her attention being grabbed by Mulcibar and Fluttershy off to the side. Her ear twitched as she caught a few words of their conversation.

“Are you okay?” Mulcibar asked, helping Fluttershy up off the ground. She was still shaking from the stress. She pulled herself up and nodded her head.

“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you,” she said quietly.

“Thank goodness,” Mulcibar responded. Fluttershy seemed to pull away from him slightly, her cheeks becoming slightly pink.

Celestia raised an eyebrow at their behavior, but turned her attention to Luna.

“Yes, although it won’t be the same as what you’ve seen before. I will be able to open up portals to all of your friends’ dream worlds. We will be able to more rapidly travel and free their minds than you’ve been doing up until now. Remember, now that I am with you, we have more power at our disposal. I am capable of manipulating Lucidity within others’ minds.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up. “That’s amazing! The rest should be a snap!”

“Don’t be so sure, Twilight Sparkle. There is still more I must explain to you before we can—“

Luna was interrupted by a wave of rainbow colored magic swirling overhead and then shooting off to the south. An explosion of magic came from the area where the crater and Luna’s stronghold were at.

“What was that?” Celestia asked.

“I know not, but we should go investigate. It could be the changeling queen, or her order, meddling with my dream even further. Let us go as fast as we can!”

Linnai scooped up Twilight and cackled. “Here we go again, sparkle butt!”

“Just what I was waiting for,” Twilight responded flatly while casting her levitation spell.

As they were taking off, Celestia flashed her horn at Mulcibar, drawing his attention. She nodded him over and he flew up alongside her. The two of them glided silently for a moment before Celestia broke the silence.

“I am not certain where to start with this.”

Mulcibar glanced at her and could sense bewilderment in her eyes. He knew what she must be wondering about, or at least partly about, but he wasn’t sure if he had any good answers.

“I sense a change in you, the both of you. Yours feels much more profound, though. What happened after we were dispersed?”

Mulcibar sighed. “I honestly still don’t know what to make of it.”

Celestia smiled softly. “I could tell. I know a lost soul when I see one. I was not expecting to see it from a changeling, though. Just by looking into your eyes, I can feel your confusion and your swirling emotions.”

“Perhaps I’m the one who should be asking questions of you. Surely you’ve been… well, you know… before.”

“Been what, my little changeling?”

Mulcibar sighed again, his cheeks becoming slightly rosy. “In love, I guess.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Even though I was expecting it, it still surprises me to hear it. I’ll ask you, then, are you in love?”

Mulcibar closed his eyes tightly for a moment. “I don’t know. I mean, how can I really tell?”

“Hmmm. That’s a tough one. Even those who’ve been in love before still struggle with that question. Do you care about her? Want her to be safe? Do you want to stay by her side?”

Mulcibar nodded his head. “Yes, all of those things and more. Much more.”

“Then why doubt it?”

Mulcibar frowned and gazed into Celestia’s eyes again. “We’re from completely different worlds. We’re enemies that just happened to meet under such circumstances that I couldn’t just kill her. I would have, you know. I would have killed all of you.”

“Would you now?”

“I…” Mulcibar started, and then dropped his gaze to the ground, watching it sail past.

“There lies the problem. I’m sure it’s eating away at you. Your honor or your love, which do you choose? Your duty to your queen and your people surely must be important to you.”

“Of course, but--!” he started to reply, but Celestia placed a hoof against his lips.

“You are right in assuming I have been in love before. Many times, in fact, but it has been a long time, and my past is full of things that I regret. Those regrets are all a part of what makes me who I am. I must admit, I do not want you as an enemy, so I may be a bit biased. There is no reason for you to trust any advice I give you, so in the interest of being fair to you, I can only offer you this advice,” she said, and then took her hoof away from his lips. She stared into his eyes, the intensity of her gaze nearly mesmerizing him. “You will have to make a decision soon. The two roads that lie before you are not compatible. Stay with us and see where your future with Fluttershy leads you, or return to your people and battle against us. Whatever you choose, make certain that it is the choice you truly want.”

Mulcibar chuckled. “It’s funny… Just a day ago, I wouldn’t even have been conflicted. The choice would be simple. I would continue the conquest and still have Fluttershy because she would have no choice. Now, when I think like that, I get this sour feeling in the pit of my stomach.”

Celestia nodded her head. “Well, that’s normal, if it’s any consolation. You seem like an honorable and thoughtful young stallion, Mulcibar. Who could say? Perhaps if Fluttershy isn’t interested, I would be instead. You do have handsome features,” she said, and then swung to the side, brushing her lips against Mulcibar’s cheek. His face lit up bright red and Celestia giggled. She could practically see the steam rising from the crown of his head.

“I-I-I must… ahem… decline to—“ Mulcibar stammered, his eyes darting around, unsure where to focus.

Celestia laughed more loudly. “You really are the serious one! You must forgive my teasing. Seeing someone going through their first love always makes me long for my own first love again.” She sighed slightly, her eyes seeming to gloss over momentarily. “Well, enough of this talk. Remember what I told you, young stallion, and do not doubt your heart.”

Celestia swung back over to the main group, who were all staring at the two of them after Celestia’s outburst of laughter. Discord’s voice rang out in Celestia’s mind. You had a little too much fun with that.

Are you jealous? Celestia thought with a grin.

“Moi? Jealous? Come, now, Celestia, why would I be jealous?

Oh yes, it’s true, there’s really no need. How could he possibly stack up against one of your stature? Celestia thought, shooting Discord a glance, noticing his cheeks blushing slightly as well.

Flattery will get you nowhere, Celestia.

I really must thank you, though, Discord. I mean it. Without you, we may not have made it through all of this. Everypony played their part.

Mulcibar swung back over to his sister, though his eyes were glued to Fluttershy, who was flying just a bit ahead of them alongside Luna and Celestia. Twilight hung awkwardly from Linnai’s forelegs.

“You two seemed to be having fun. Giving up on the yellow one and going for royalty, now?” Linnai asked.

Twilight gasped and stared up at Mulcibar, who was still blushing slightly. “Really? I can’t even imagine it.”

“Nothing like that. She and I were just talking. Think of it as diplomatic relations.”

Linnai laughed. “Well, you certainly know enough about relations, anyway.”

Mulcibar quickly turned his head to look at his sister. Her smile suddenly vanished when she saw his stone-like expression. “Do you trust me?” he asked flatly.

“What sort of question is that?”

“Do you trust me? Am I still worthy of that trust?”

Linnai scoffed. “What’s gotten into you this time?”

“When we were shown our vision from the past, we saw the changeling incident in Canterlot. We saw Tenderhoof, but it was not the same as the stories we were told.”

“You said that before. I still don’t know why I should care. They could have been lying to you, brother.”

“No, I don’t think so. These changelings were a lot like us, Linnai. Like The Order. But they weren’t born changelings. Rather, they had a spell cast on them that turned them into changelings.”

“Okay, so what? We already knew we had common ancestry with ponies, that’s nothing new.”

“But it is. It’s not just that. Celestia never ordered the changelings to be killed, she wanted to banish them, and it was out of a desire to keep the peace. She wanted to cure them, turn them back into ponies.”

“Cure?” Linnai asked, her muzzle scrunching up. “You talk about being a changeling as if it were some disease. They’ve really gotten to you, haven’t they?”

“Please, Linnai, think about it seriously for just one moment. If what I saw from the past was true… if the changelings were made and not born, if Tenderhoof was murdered and not executed by Celestia’s order… if we were lied to from the beginning about these things, then what else might be lies as well?”

“What are you saying? Spit it out!”

“I don’t have a concrete answer yet, just a feeling. Linnai, what if we’re just being used? What if everything has been lie after lie, all leading up to this moment, this invasion?”

“Does it matter? The invasion is for our survival! Don’t get so mixed up inside.”

Mulcibar shook his head. “It’s true, it does make sense when you look at it like that, but it seems like the idea to invade Equestria just came out of nowhere ten months ago. Surely you recall how sudden it was.”

“It was just the last straw, brother.”

“What was? What even happened? You know it’s bothered me from the start, although I eventually came to accept it.”

“Ten months ago?” Twilight interjected. The two changelings stared down at her, having forgotten she was even there. The unicorn grinned sheepishly. “I don’t mean to butt in, but ten months ago was the Summer Sun Celebration. That was when Nightmare Moon returned. It’s the only significant event I know of from ten months ago.”

“I doubt that had anything to do with it. Just a coincidence,” Linnai said.

Mulcibar turned his head forward again. “So? Do you trust me?”

“We’ve arrived!” Luna shouted back at them before Linnai could answer.

“Holey moley!” Pinkie shouted down into the gaping chasm. Just on the other side of Luna’s stronghold to the south was a massive crater. The rainbow magic that had shot southward was hanging in the air above it. Dark energy swirled around within the abyss, pressing up against the rainbow magic, which seemed to resist and press it downward.

“What now, sister?” Celestia asked, landing next to Luna on the roof of the structure.

“I shall use my Lucidity to push this darkness out. It is really nothing of consequence. It seems my worries were for nothing.”

“But where did it come from?” Twilight asked, joining them along the roof’s edge.

“The magic above is what is left of the attack from the Elements of Harmony that you and your friends unleashed upon me ten months ago. The chasm, apart from this dark magic, is vacant. I can sense lingering magic from Nightmare Moon, as well.”

“So this was done by her?” Celestia asked.

Luna shook her head. “No. As you know, she and I are now one again, but it will take some time for her memories to merge with mine. All I can tell is that this chasm has been here all along, and she had been hiding it from me. To what end, I cannot say, but closing it is foal’s play now.”

With a blink of her eyes, Luna closed the chasm, replacing it with solid ground. The dark magic that had been swirling around shot upward and collided with the magic from the Elements. They reacted violently, emitting a shock of energy and letting out a bright flash and a loud ripping sound.

“That sound. I know that sound,” Twilight said, remembering back to other dream worlds where she’d heard it before.

“Indeed, it is a rip in the fabric of the dream. The two magics should cancel out one another. Nothing to worry about. I shall close the rip afterwards.”

When the magic light faded, a large rift was in its place. Everypony gasped and stepped backward. On the other side of the rift, the face of Queen Chrysalis stared down at them. Chrysalis smiled and waved a hoof in the air.

“Well, hello there, princess. So glad you could join us.”

“Chrysalis!” Twilight shouted.

“Oh, you’re there, too? Who else do we have in this intrepid little party? My, my, my, the spirit of chaos himself, Discord. To what do we owe the honor?”

Discord grinned. “You can’t cause this much chaos and expect me to not show up, surely.”

Chrysalis chuckled and patted Mulcibar’s unconscious head that was beside her. “I see my two bumbling subordinates are there, as well. Mulci! Linnai! I do hope you’ve been behaving yourselves for the princesses.”

“Enough small talk! Luna, close the rift!” Celestia shouted.

“So impatient!” Chrysalis squawked. “You may be severing our connection, but you can’t stop me from using your magic, night princess.”

“Connection? What connection?” Luna asked, her horn glowing, ready to close the rift.

“Oops, did I let that slip? Honestly, Luna, you must have felt it. Or were you too numb with hatred to even notice? The three missing pieces of your soul weren’t the only places where darkness was put inside of you. Yes, I do know all about that, but it’s honestly not important. The fourth dark place, which you just closed up, already served its purpose when you came back after a thousand years, just as Ismara had planned.”

Celestia glared up at Chrysalis. “How could you know about all of that? It happened a thousand years ago, and no records were kept other than the story of Nightmare Moon! Just how did the Order of Ismara survive a thousand years? I saw Ismara die!”

Chrysalis laughed heartily, nearly falling forward, patting her hoof against Mulcibar’s back. “Well, if you haven’t figured it all out by now, there’s just no hope for you. Not that there was any hope before.” She turned her eyes to Mulcibar and Linnai. “Mulci! Linnai! You’ve been gone for too long! I was starting to get worried you might never come back. Now end this and get back here!”

Linnai frowned and nodded her head. She lit up her horn with magic power. The others stepped away from her. Celestia, Luna, Pinkie, and Twilight all lit their horns up as well.

“So in the end, this is what happens anyway?” Twilight asked, staring intensely at Linnai.

“Guess so, prudicorn. Gotta send you all back. Queen’s orders.”

Mulcibar put a hoof against Linnai’s shoulder. She looked at him, but his gaze was locked right onto Celestia.

“This is the moment,” Celestia said, aiming her horn directly at him. “Make it a decision you can be proud of.”

“Do you trust me?” Mulcibar asked aloud.

Linnai swallowed hard and nodded her head, her eyes shaking with fear, her legs wobbling slightly.

Mulcibar looked up through the rift at his queen, the one who had led him into battle, the one who had trusted him to be a pillar upon which the Order of Ismara could rely on. He frowned and shook his head slightly. “Your majesty, I can no longer follow your orders.” Gasps from the rest of The Order were audible from the other side.

Despite having nodded her head, Linnai fell back to her haunches and raised her forelegs up to the portal. “Don’t listen to him, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about!” she shouted.

Mulcibar turned to her and whispered. “When have I ever led you astray or let you down?”

Linnai whispered back through her teeth, a nervous smile plastered on her face. “This really feels like it’s shaping up to be the first time.”

Linnai’s mind wandered back briefly to a time from her childhood. She and Mulcibar had been living on their own for nearly a week since their mother had left and not returned. Their home was a small single-room shack with thin walls and a hay roof. The rest of the changelings that they’d been with prior to this were many miles away. Mulcibar spent most of his days peeking out the window. Their strength was dwindling, though, and they had to find a food source soon.

“Brother, I’m hungry!” Linnai cried. She was still just a tiny foal, lying in the corner against one of the flimsy walls.

“I’ll go out and find some love energy in the village. I don’t think mother is coming back,” the colt said as green magic shot over his body and he turned into a small filly with pigtails and freckles. “Even just passive love energy from ponies thinking I’m cute will be enough, but then we have to leave. We have to go back to the sanctuary alone.”

“But mom said she would be back,” Linnai protested.

“That was days ago. She’s not coming back.”

Linnai let out a sigh and slumped down onto the floor. “Well, hurry up, then. I’m hungry.”

“Just keep quiet. I’ll be back.”

After not even half an hour, Mulcibar stormed into the house and slammed the door behind himself. He fell to the floor, breathing heavily.

“Well? Where’s the love?” Linnai asked.

“We have to get out of here,” Mulcibar replied, his breathing still labored from running.

“But I’m still hungry!”

“Mom’s dead!” Mulcibar shouted.

Linnai’s eyes went wide. “What did you say?”

“She’s dead! They hung her body at the front of the town as a warning! There’s a sign hanging from her neck, and there’s a mob forming in the town to hunt changelings! We have to run away!”

As he was saying this, the sound of a knock came from the front door. “Anypony in there?” an angry voice called out.

Mulcibar dove against Linnai, pulling her into a corner of the room. He spread his small wings and the circles upon them lit up blue. The two of them vanished from sight just as the door was kicked in.

“Stay quiet. Breathe through your mouth. Don’t move,” Mulcibar whispered, and then held his breath. From behind Mulcibar, Linnai could make out the face of a unicorn mare glancing around the room.

“Empty!” she shouted out the door.

“Torch it!” another voice yelled back.

The unicorn’s horn sparked, setting the hay roof on fire. She left the house and the group of ponies walked away, their voices becoming drowned out by the sound of the flames. “There must be more of them. Come on!”

Mulcibar wrapped his forelegs around Linnai and flapped his wings, flying up and out the back window. He made a beeline to some bushes nearby. The two of them hid amongst them for a moment.

Linnai looked up at her brother, the shock from the news of their mother’s death still fresh in her mind.

Back in the present, Linnai was once again staring into her brother’s eyes. We escaped back then, and ran into Luzon a day later. He went back to that village, destroyed any evidence of changelings having been there… even destroyed the entire town.

Luzon’s voice rang through her ears as she remembered. Terrible accidents happen all the time in mining villages. Very tragic.

He and The Order went that far for us. Can we really just… turn our backs on them? Linnai thought.

“Mulcibar!” Chrysalis shouted down at them. “I am willing to forgive that little slip! Linnai, talk some sense into your brother!”

Mulcibar turned back to the queen, and Linnai stood up, her face becoming cold and expressionless as she stared up at the rift as well.

Mulcibar may be right, though. There may be something strange about the queen, at least. Brother, I’m going to trust you once again. Don’t make me regret this, she thought, and then spoke. “Sorry, but once he’s made up his mind, there’s no talking him out of it.”

Chrysalis’ face contorted with anger, her teeth bared and her eyes wide and glowing. “You two traitors have just sentenced yourselves to death!” she screamed, and then turned her head toward Luzon. “Prepare the reset swarm!”

The magic in Linnai’s horn dissipated. Everypony else drew back their magic as well. Luna fired a blast of powerful magic up at the top of the portal and pulled it downward, zipping the rift closed. With a quick motion of her hoof, Luna opened a circular hole in the roof of the stronghold. A spiral staircase led down inside.

“We must press on, now, everypony. You two, what is the reset swarm?” Luna asked, looking to Mulcibar and Linnai.

“It’s a last resort for exactly the type of situation we have right now. Very soon, there will be no happy dreams left. A changeling swarm will invade every single dreamer’s mind. Every dream will become a war zone. Every dreamer will be awoken so they can then be put back to sleep. It’s a hard reset,” Mulcibar explained.

“She won’t just do it unilaterally, though,” Linnai added. “She is sure to target you six ponies first. She surely knows what you are trying to do by awakening the ones who can wield the Elements of Harmony.”

“Then we can’t waste any more time! We have to get to them first!” Twilight shouted.

Luna waved everypony down the spiral staircase. “It is fortunate that you met up with me, then,” she said as they all descended into the large central chamber. “From here, we can target any dream world we want. The changeling queen had better not underestimate my Lucidity!”

Luna waved her hoof, and several portals opened along the walls of the room. One was multi-colored and flashing brightly. One was pink and constantly changing shape. One was white and glowed with bright radiance. One was orange and had a very steady glow about it. “These four portals lead to your other friends, Twilight, Fluttershy. However, there are a few things we must discuss before you can set out any further on your quest.”

Everypony gathered around Luna and sat down.

“Alright, princess. We’re listening.”

THE END OF BOOK FOUR: CORRUPTION

TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK FIVE: CRASH DOWN

Author's Note:

Hey, you! Read this!

Before we get to the long author note, I have an overall story note on a decision I've made. You may have noticed that this story now has a "Sex" tag. After looking over the site FAQ, consulting with people in a group thread, as well as asking friends their take on it, I've decided that it is appropriate to add the tag. The story had already eluded to/hinted at sexual themes and humor, and the exchange between Chrysalis and Cadence in this chapter made me decide that I really should have had the story tagged for it from the get-go since I knew I was going to be writing changelings as sort of lusty creatures, especially Chrysalis.

The story is still rated T, and what you've seen already is all the heavier it will ever really get, with no explicit depictions/descriptions at all. My main fear and reason why I never tagged the story before was because I was afraid of two sorts of reactions. Firstly, afraid that by even having the tag, some readers would turn away from giving the story a chance due to what they may fear the content may be. (I think it's pretty mild, at least by my standards, so I'd hope most people reading a T rated story that's already tagged as "dark" wouldn't have a problem with it.) The second reaction, the opposite, is getting flak from people who see the sex tag and expect something more explicit when, as any of you who have read this far know, sex is not the focus of this story at all. It's just an aspect that exists within the story.

So, I hope you all understand why I've decided that it's only fair that I tag it as such. The "Sex" tag is a content warning, and since the story has sexual content, even if its not much, it still should be tagged accurately.

So, now that we're past that, on to the normal author's note.
-------------------------------
And so ends Book Four on a somewhat abrupt note.

Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon are finally whole and assimilated once more. Likewise, Mulcibar has decided to stand against Chrysalis, bringing his doubtful but trusting sister with him. Will the two of them be able to assimilate well into the pony side? And what of their bodies on the other side? Mulcibar is truly sticking his neck out now that his eyes are opening.

What, exactly, is the swarm reset? How will this affect the dreams being visited going forward? What is the information Luna is about to share? Answers to all that and more, next up, in a very "all over the place" Intermezzo 3 that will ease us into "Crash Down", a book that I hope will be exciting and really push the fic to new levels of, I dunno, awesomeness and coolness. :P

And in other news, in case you didn't see it, I put out a silly spinoff fic starring Linnai and Pinkie Pie, although it's only just one chapter so far. I don't expect it will be too terribly long, and it takes place in the Equestria Girls world after the events of Rainbow Rocks. As I stress in the fic itself, it should not be thought of as any sort of spoiler for TCoL. I just wanted to write a Rainbow Rocks fic with my own spin to it, and it seemed like writing a reformed Linnai would be fun, so I decided to make her the second character after Pinkie Pie. Just don't think too hard about it and enjoy reading it. I hope you will enjoy it, anyway. It's going to be silly. :P

Comments

[Omega Delta]

[FinalFan]

Nitpick:

I quickly returned to my room and poured over that simple sentence again, realizing that it couldn’t be a coincidence.

pored

Joke:

“Not into mares? So you say it’s impossible?” Linnai smirked, her eyes staring down right at Twilight’s. “Sounds familiar.”
Twilight couldn’t help but laugh.

(Twilight's thoughts) You have no idea what a raging lesbian I am.

[VNilla]

I really don't like Linnai and Mulci's chances, seeing as their bodies are lying in Chrysalis' hooves back in the real world. Torture, death... Sic semper proditores and all.

Fluttershy shall carry the foal.

I'm really surprised Linnai passed up this perfect opportunity to get a "You'd like that, wouldn't you" jab in at Mulcibar, especially while making prudicorn jokes at Twilight.

[Flexico]

This is easily the best Changeling fic out there. Just, wow.

And about the "sex" tag ... I dunno. I see your point about why it's needed, but I'm among the group that might have been turned away by it when I first found the story, and it would have been tragic for me to miss out on this. =P

[Littlecolt]

5131870
Pore - to examine closely. You taught me a word today! I think I had never seen it written out with this spelling, so it must be a common error, but it's true!

(Twilight's thoughts) You have no idea what a raging lesbian I am.

Only in Linnai's dreams.

5132081

Fluttershy shall carry the foal.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you"

i.imgur.com/YAGpXPd.png
Damn, I wish I had thought of that.

5132410

You're too kind.

[FluffyDoom]

At first I was like, Then I was like

You sir, write a story that even mlp haters would enjoy.

[Crimson Dawn]

OO now to see what is going on in Rainbow Dash's and Pinkie's dreams. Pinkie in particular will be interesting. I also wonder who else may start a relationship (or even be considered for one)?

[Zobeid]

The Luna to Celestia’s right shook her head. “Sister, what are you talking about? You know what--” she started, and then her face went wide with realization. Green fire suddenly shot across her body and her coat darkened. Holes appeared upon her legs, and her mane became black. “You know it’s no illusion! It’s because we’re both changelings.”

What happened here?

[Littlecolt]

5133297

Have ya been keeping up?

During the last flashback, we saw that Luna had become a changeling 1000 years ago, and didn't want anyone to find out. Celestia found out through the flashback and reassured Luna that it didn't matter to her because she was still her sister and she still cared about her.

So now, Nightmare Moon has changed to look like Luna, and Celestia played coy with her, acting like she didn't know about the fact that Luna was a changeling. Luna caught on to that and changed, saying that she was a changeling. That's something that Nightmare Moon didn't know that Celestia knew, but Luna knew she knew.

So basically, after one of them said "Hey, you know it's not illusion magic, it's my changeling ability," Celestia knew which one was Luna and which one was Nightmare Moon.

You understand now?

[Zobeid]

5133482

Um, okay. I think so. I still don't remember Luna being a changeling. That's kind of. . . boggling. This story has gotten waaaay convoluted.

[ConsciousHaze196]

A changeling swarm will invade every single dreamer’s mind.

='will replace most dream ponies'? Though, if there won't be dream ponies, who will remind them who they were, before changelings...
...if so, ok. Dream with changelings is still a dream, and dreamers' crowd was getting too powerful for any non-deity dream... Say, if they were to come in Dash's dream with Discord and changelings, what would she think of them... Legion of chaos

[Littlecolt]

5133512

An excerpt from Corruption Ch 9

The screen showed the spell book that had been taken from the changelings sitting upon a table, glowing with green energy. Luna placed a hoof over the book and the same green energy began to course over her body.

Outside the vision, Luna turned to look at Celestia and shook her head. “Don’t look. Please, don’t look,” she said, then turning towards Apple Bloom. “Make it stop! This instant!” She tried to pull away from Celestia’s embrace, pulling both of them along the ground toward the foal.

“What are you afraid of, princess?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Sister, please, close your eyes!” Luna screamed, trying to push her hooves against Celestia’s face. Celestia resisted, moving her head to the side and staring ahead toward the vision.

“Whatever happens, Luna, you are my beloved sister,” Celestia said calmly. “Whatever it is that has you so frightened, we face it together.”

The image of Luna on the screen darkened, her coat and mane becoming frayed and black. She raised her hoof from the book up in front of her face, peering through one of the holes that had formed upon it. “I will become the wicked mare of darkness and make the nightmare a reality. Those foals will all bow before me!”

Luna fell forward in her sister’s arms, sobbing. Celestia stared wide-eyed at the screen. To their right, Discord had placed his claw against his chin and was stroking his beard. Pinkie was back to munching popcorn, but had a look of terror upon her face.

“Luna… you…”

“Now you know!” Luna said as she cried. She lifted up her foreleg and a flash of green energy revealed its hole-riddled surface. “This… corruption! This curse! And I brought it on myself!” Her foreleg dropped back down as she continued to cry. Celestia pulled Luna closer, hugging more tightly than before. Luna gasped slightly, her heaving chest tensing up.

“And I suppose you think that somehow changes the way I feel about you?” Celestia asked.

“Look at the mess we’re in,” Luna said, wiping her eyes as best she could. “We’re trapped, invaded, and in a desperate situation all because of changelings… Changelings like me.”

“But they aren’t like you,” Celestia replied. “You are you, Luna. You’re my dear sister whom I love. We’ve both made mistakes in the past, but we carry on. Now that you are finally back, we carry on together. Whether or not you’ve fallen under that curse doesn’t matter to me. All that means is that we’ll have to pick the torch back up from a thousand years ago. We’ll have to find a way to reverse it. I know we will, as a team.”

[Littlecolt]

5133523

Oh, I don't want to spoil the fun. It will be fun, that's all I will say.

[Littlecolt]

5133512
Also, don't worry about thinking the story is convoluted, it really is! On purpose! One of my editors recently asked me if I was trying to beat Hard Reset 2 for most convoluted story. I'm not really, this is just the story my brain has come up with.

[Darkus Relling]

This is as intense as DBZ, without all the long episodes where only one thing happens!
((If Darkus were in the fic, he'd probably be the one who's everywhere and always gets interrupted when he knows something that would be in the future. LOL! I had to share this, it's too hilarious an idea! ))

[Littlecolt]

5133764
Write a crossover spinoff. Do it filly.

[Darkus Relling]

5133778 ((Does he LOOK like a filly? ))

[Uzume Tennouboshi]

So, the assimilation is complete. And it looks like the Cutie Mark Crusaders might still possess the power of Lucidity, since they still have the pendants.

Mulcibar decided to follow his heart instead of his orders. I think he chose wisely. And Linnai is choosing to trust her brother...then again, she did risk her life earlier to save Twilight.

And Luzon found the siblings literally a day after they were forced to flee that village? Calling it. He knew they were there, and orchestrated the events that killed their mother.

One thing that has me curious. Why was Celestia supposed to have died? I thought alicorns were supposed to be immortal.

And a reset swarm...every single dream will be a war zone.

Now they'll have to split up if they want to make it in time. And Luna needs to discuss something with the others first? Well, she knows the most about dreams.

Also, that part at the beginning, where Chrysalis was asking Cadence to kill her...what was up with that?

And I suspect Vitra will follow the same path as Mulcibar and Linnai, eventually. In fact, calling it. She's going to be in Applejack's dream world.

[Littlecolt]

5134876
What makes you think alicorns are immortal? (BTW I love this game ;P )

[Uzume Tennouboshi]

5134908 Well, that seems to be the case in canon. I assumed it would be the same here as well.

Also, I'm kind of curious about how Celestia is still alive, if she was supposed to die by the time Luna came back. What did she do?

[Littlecolt]

5134914

There is nothing in canon that specifically says they are immortal. (As long as we do NOT consider the book "Journal of the two sisters" as canon, which we shouldn't because it has a ton of bad conflicting info).

In fact I even say that everything in show canon points to them NOT being immortal.

What did she do in order to live for a thousand years? Sounds like some dark magic if I ever heard of any.

[VcSaJen]

5134936

There is nothing in canon that specifically says they are immortal. (As long as we do NOT consider the book "Journal of the two sisters" as canon, which we shouldn't because it has a ton of bad conflicting info).

Well, that's true.

In fact I even say that everything in show canon points to them NOT being immortal.

Sorry, but I have to disagree. Show never stated that.

[Littlecolt]

5138674
Oh, but this IS my favorite. :D

What we know about alicorns:
- Great magic power.
- We can assume the form is earned by way of a feat of some sort. We can assume this because twilight "ascended" and we have heard old Celestia and Luna referred to as unicorn sisters, so it's easily assumed they also ascended.
- We know one alicorn has been alive for a long time, Celestia. We do not know enough about how being sealed into the moon affects aging, so we can not assume Luna is long lived just from her sister being ancient. (Discord was similarly sealed away. We can't even assume he's immortal or long lived.)
- We know Cadence was once younger, and recently, due to flashbacks. We can therefore assume a similar rate of development if one ascends at a young age as she did. (Indeed, her ascension story is one of the only things in any of Berrow's books that agrees with show canon enough to be acceptable.)

What can we take from this? Alicorns are high magic beings that age, at least in developmental years, at the same rate as other ponies. There is every reason to assume that they age the same all of the time. It is therefore an anomaly, not the norm, that Celestia is over a thousand years old and make a lot of sense, to me at least, to assume something was done to extend her life.

I hope this has been a fun post to read. I typed it all on my phone. :)

[Littlecolt]

5132410
Perhaps a good lesson to be learned is that it's good to broaden one's horizons and step outside of one's comfort zone every once in a while.

Also, even among clop writers, there's usually a good description of the fic's contents. Something like "tagged Sex for sexual jokes and situations" on a Teen story would definitely lead me to believe that the story itself is probably not all about sex, just has some more adult-oriented humor or themes. I guess it's a two-way street though. I'm sure there's authors who don't describe what they tagged their story for. I think it's good courtesy, though.

[sakuralovelight]

i really like this story hope to read more soon

[thewookie1]

5138820
I get the sense that Celestia used something out of Discord's book in regards to her seeming immortality.

I really love these changeling siblings, Linnai in a sense is trapped as a filly, probably since her mother's death. While it affected both of them, I think the mother's death was almost crippling to Linnai hence her personality is meant to overcompensate for her many insecurities.

FluttershyxMulcibar Forever!!

I get the sense that Tenderhoof's case is in line with many of Cult of Ismara, just some embrace their hatred and others embrace their love.

Poor Chrysalis was likely possessed by an evil older than Celestia, that sucks.

[Embolican]

any further on you quest.

Don't mind me, just pointing out a typo.

[Littlecolt]

5160390
And apparently now you're caught up and waiting like everyone else. But no worries, next chapter is 80%, waiting on me to write two short segments, rephrase some things here and there, and then editors.

[Flutter_Bat]

So long... I have nothing left and am lost on an endless sea of prose...

[Littlecolt]

5162495
Intermezzo 3 next weekend, fo sho.

[Servant Phoenix]

Who could say? Perhaps if Fluttershy isn’t interested, I would be instead. You do have handsome features,” she said, and then swung to the side, brushing her lips against Mulcibar’s cheek.

Mulcibar is getting all the mares.

[Littlecolt]

5168904
>Secret plan: Set up TCoL sequel to be like a harem anime where all the mares fawn over Mulcibar. Linnai plots his destruction out of jealousy.

[Littlecolt]

5173403
Well, it is kinda spoiled all over the place now with character tags and comments and such

[Nightcolt]

I kind of hate the 'sex' tag. More specifically how low the threshold is. There should be an "Ero" tag for implied/inferred/non-descript sex.

[kotor511]

“Blech, get that stuff away from me! I only eat food if I have to keep up appearances. Can that even be considered food, anyway?”
“Oh, come on! It’s amazing!” Mulcibar insisted, pushing the grass closer to Linnai’s face.

He loves his grass...

Get it?

He is on to the weed!

[Nerfyy]

I really must thank you, though, Discord. I mean it. Without you, we may not have made it through all of this. Everypony played their part.

omg ive waited for this *.*
ive been reading this story since . . . 2 days now and it finally happend xD
i really hope this all will end good for Discord as well (maybe even in a romantic way hehe <3)
i still have a few chapters ahead of me but so far i really like it ^^

[Littlecolt]

6471320
I would never dream of shipping Celestia and Discord.........
i.imgur.com/1mQJ9eE.png

[Xerophane]

I don't look at the tags. I read the descriptions of the story and if it sounds interesting I read it.

[ferret]

Mulcibar frowned and nodded his head. He turned away from the others and took a few steps. “I’ll lead the way, then. We go by air. Linnai, you’re carrying Twilight since you two have already had some practice. Fluttershy shall carry the foal.”

“So, what now?” Fluttershy asked