> A Lost Soul Returns: The King of Monsters
>  by Dark Star the Crazed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The capture of Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter, Honesty, and Kindness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As the citizens of Ponyville slept, they had dreams, dreams of wealth, love, fame, glory, and many other things. However as most of them peacefully slept, fifteen ponies did not, nine because of horrible nightmares, and six more who were hunting. As Luna's moon shone high in the sky a stone grey Pegasus flew towards the home of the element of loyalty.

Rainbow dash couldn't sleep, nor could Scootaloo who after ten years in an orphanage had been adopted as a little sister by Rainbow Dash. They couldn't even close their eye's lest she see the demons that haunted their dreams. Then there was a knock at the door. Due to Ponyville being a peaceful town Dash thought nothing of it and went over to the door and asked. "Who is it?" No response came. thinking it was just a pony who had pulled a prank she turned around to comfort her little sister and tell her she was going to be fine, that she had just had a bad dream and that she should go back to bed.

A response came from the door before she could. "H...He...Help me. I was attacked by timber wolves." the voice sounded like that of a stallion with a slightly sore throat. Dash turn around walked up and opened the door to reveal a frightful sight. There stood a Pegasus with dragon eyes, wings, fangs, and claws. That's not what was frightening thought with scared dash was his fur or rather the lack of it. The Pegasus that stood before her had stone skin an on his flank a cutie-mark was cut out of the stone, the image was of a gargoyle. "Hello loyalty." With that the pony smirked, reared a hoof back, and hit Rainbow in the face knocking her out due to his flesh being stone. After Dash fell to the floor he bent down to pick her up, then he noticed Scootaloo. He went faster than what should be possible for a normal pony in one second he was holding Scootaloo in his left foreleg and Dash in his right. He took to the air and flew towards the forest.

At the Carousel Boutique things were just as they were in Dash's house, neither Rarity nor her younger sister  Sweetie Belle could sleep. They had shared the same nightmare, a pony with dragons teeth and skin missing showing his muscle and bone, feasting on the corpses of dead ponies. There was a ring from the front door bell signaling Somepony had entered the boutique. Rarity went to the stairs and called down. "We are closed! If you wish to buy something you will have to wait until tomorrow we open at 8:00 A.M."

A male voice responded from below. "Oui! Oui! Je comprends Madame, mais je suis blessé." Rarity immediately walked down the stairs, with Sweetie Belle secretly following behind her, she knew what he had just said because she took a phrench class in high school. When she reached the bottom of the stairs saw a stallion about two apples taller than her. The only way she could tell it was a stallion was because of his voice his voice. The rest of his body was covered in blood stained, tattered cloth, he wore a Stetson like Applejack but his was pitch black with a hole from which a you could see where a horn broke off, and his face was covered by a mask of metal which only his eyes and nostrils could be seen through.

"My word! Sir are you alright?" she walked up to him and grabbed hos foreleg to try and get him to come into the lights, but he stood strong like a statue. Rarity soon realizing she was not strong enough to move him decided to ask him to come into the light. "Sir if I am to help you I must see how your injured could you please step into the light?"

Even behind his mask she could tell he was smirking. "Oui, I shall come out of the shadows. Generosity." He stepped into the light and Rarity immediately regretted asking him to, she saw now that what covered his body was not blood stained cloth, but blood stained fur with patches of it missing show muscle and bone. She also saw his cutie-mark. It was an image of a pony feasting on meat, when she saw this was the pony from her nightmare she was shocked, then she fell to the floor, out cold. the pony walked over and picked her up. He then walked toward the stairs where Sweetie Belle was hiding from him, he simply walked over, stuck out a hoof, and said "Come with me young one." She didn't know why but even after seeing what had just happened, she trusted him. She grabbed his hoof and a dark aura wallowed all three ponies up, within a moment, they were gone.

Pinkie Pie woke up from her dream to the sounds of crying coming from the twins room in Sugar Cube Corner. As always when this happened she walked to the room to see a frightening sight Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake were suspended in the air wrapped in strands of black string. When she got closer she realize that it was not string it was. "Hair?" The second she said that she heard a laugh that chilled her to the bone, and she heard somepony approaching. She turned around to see a mare her age. The mare had silver fur and a ebony mane, her eyes were those of a dragon, her cutie mark was a comb that was behind a skull. Then the mare spoke.

"Hello laughter. I am Yura of the demon hair. Now I don't want to get violent so I'm just going to say it now. You come with me and nopony gets hurt."

Pinkie raised an eyebrow. "What if I don't?" Yura frowned when she said that.

"Is that a 'no'?"

"I'm afraid it is." Yura looked sad for a second but soon that sadness turned to rage.

"Then I will take you to the kings resting place by force!" Suddenly Yura's mane shot out and started tying pinkie up.

"What's going o- mmmmmpppppppphhhphhhhphppppphhhhhh!" Soon the hair had wrapped her in a cocoon and Yura was carrying the cocoon to the Everfree forest.

Applebloom and Applejack were in the barn repairing the cart that the CMC had broken when they tried to get their cutie marks in as they put it 'Cart racing'. They had been working for about six hours, and it was time to go to bed.
Applejack yawned and said. "All right little sister time for bed we will finish this in the morning."

Applebloom yawned as well. "Ok Applejack goodnight!" She ran out of the barn, into the house, up the stairs, and into her room. To a Strange sight. There in the corner was what appeared to be a young colt her age. "How did you get in here? Who are you?"  She walked up to the young colt who was hiding in the shadows.

The colt spoke but did not leave the shadows. "My name is Bronco Buck. I'm here because we need the bearer of the element of honesty to free the king!" He then stepped out of the shadows, and what Applebloom saw made her wet herself. The young colt was wearing a headband like the one Applejack had described, the ones worn by the buffalo in the west. In his mouth he had a small hatchet, a tomahawk, if she remembered correctly. This however is not what frightened her. What frightened her was that the colt had an arrow, with the tip sticking out the front of his head, and there was blood trickling out of the wound.

Applejack heard a scream from Applebloom's room and ran to her sisters room to see what was wrong. when she entered she saw buck, with Applebloom on his back. "You put my little sister down!"

He looked up and smiled. "Sorry but we need you to come with us we are taking her incase you wont help us willingly. Also I want to play with her!" He looked behind her. "Isn't that right Black Hammer?"

There was a grunt from behind Applejack. "That's right! Your so immature. Why did the one I was paired with to get the element of honesty have to be you. The First Born Son. I mean you are the weakest out of us thirteen ghosts. Your rank is one because your the weakest, my rank is ten because I'm the fourth strongest! I am The Hammer!" Applejack turned around to see who was talking. What she saw scared her as much as dragons scared Fluttershy. Standing there was a earth pony the size of her brother, with a anvil and hammer as a cutie mark indicating he was a blacksmith. What scared her however was his body, all over him, railway spikes were through his body, and he was covered in blood, on his back was a bloody hammer. "Now then lets get down to business." The Hammer as he called himself, grabbed Applejack's hoof, and his face immediately met her hind hooves. He stood there still for a few seconds then his face twisted into one of anger.  "I was try to be nice and just take you with us without hurting you but you just, BUCKED ME IN THE FACE!!!" The room shook at his voice. He raised his hoof and let it meet Applejack's face. She stood there for a few seconds before collapsing.

The First Born Son as the other had called him looked at Applejack then to The Hammer. "Did you just-"

The Hammer cut him off. "She's alive! If I had killed her we wouldn't be able to free our king would we? Anyway our job is done." He picked Applejack up with his mouth and put her on his back. "Lets go."

"Ok." With that the two left Sweet Apple Acres with Applebloom and Applejack in tow.

A hard knock at the door spooked Fluttershy and woke from her sleep. A voice came from the door before she could even ask who it was. "Hello is anypony in there I found a injured dog in the forest and brought it here because I saw so many animals. Please help! I think it might die without medical treatment!" Fluttershy got up immediately, ran down the stairs to the door and opened it. To see a stallion with a wolf howling at the moon as a cutie mark, but there was no dog.

Fluttershy looked at him and at the ground confused. "Where's the injured dog? There is no dog here" The stallion smirked.

"Actually there is, and your looking at him, but I'm not injured."

Fluttershy blinked. "Are you ok? Did you hit your head? Because well... um... your not a dog your a pony" He just smirked again.

"Ha ha ha. Your half right kindness, I may look like a pony however, I am not just a pony I am also a dog, actually I am not a dog I am a wolf!" His body shook and he started to transform. His teeth became sharp, he grew claws, his snout and ears became those of a wolf. this paralyzed Fluttershy with fear and he walked up to her and spoke in a whisper. "Boo." Fluttershy fell over unconscious due to fear. The stallion reverted back and put Fluttershy on his back. "To easy." With that he walked into the forest.






The first one to tell me what show Yura of the demon hair is from will be followed by me.
The first one to tell me what movie The First Born Son and The Hammer are from will also get a follow.

> Demons Walk Among Equestria.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
3:05 A.M. outside Golden Oaks Library in Ponyville.


A pony wearing a black cloak and hood walked up to Golden Oaks Library and knocked on the door. It was answered by the one he was hoping for spike the baby dragon. "Hello are you spike?"

The dragon nodded. "Yes. What do you need."

"I have a message for Miss Sparkle." He then turned around to see the moon setting and the sun rising. With a swift motion he turned back around and looked at Spike. "Tell Princess Sparkle that if she wants to see her friends alive ever again." He then looked past Spike and saw her. Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight ran at him, before he could turn to run away, she was on top of him, her eyes filled with anger. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'SEE THEM ALIVE EVER AGAIN'!?"

"If you ever want to see them alive again, then you, your brother, and the other princesses will come to the old castle in the Everfree at noon today. This is an order from our king, Crimson Fang!" A gust of wind blew off his hood and revealed his face, scaring Twilight, or rather it was what was in his mouth that scared her. He had two, big, canine, teeth, covered in what looked like blood, in his mouth. She also saw he was a unicorn, but the next thing she knew Spike was screaming and she was sitting on the ground. She turned to see the pony holding Spike, just in time to see him teleport away. 

When she saw him teleport away she immediately readied to teleport herself to Canterlot to get the princesses when she heard a pony speak.

"Greetings Twilight Sparkle! How art you? Hast Crimson Fang done anything to harm you or your friends?"

Twilight turned around and saw Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Cadence, and Shining Armor standing there. Twilight saw that the princesses had a suit of armor she had never seen before. Celestia had the helmet and chest plate made of a black metal, Luna seemed to have the four leggings made of the same metal with her. Her brother and Cadence had something familiar with them. The mirror gateway to the human world. "Guys? Princesses how did you know something was wrong? Why is the gateway mirror here? Also who is Crimson Fang?" Princess Celestia looked away as if in fear or anguish at his name.

After a long tension Princess Celestia finally spoke. "Crimson Fang is a pony who looks like a monster. An alicorn like me, you, Luna, and Cadence. An alicorn we turned to stone five thousand years ago. The pony you saw before you was a vampony... And one of his followers." She took a breath and continued. "The reason we are here is because two of his other followers came to me and Cadence and told us to come and bring the mirror and his armor or else they would cause a panic among the citizens of Equestria and that they would harm the other element bearers."

Twilight butted in here "Why do they need the mirror, and what's so special about that armor?"

Luna answered her. "Their king must be facing the mirror when the blood of the elements touches him, that is the only way to free him. The armor is special is because it is made from the bones of demons, their hearts and evil souls are fused with the armor. Yet there is something you have in your library we must bring with us."

Twilight smiled. "You mean the elements right? So we can turn him to stone right after he has been freed?" 

Celestia frowned. "No my student we are not going to imprison him again for he did nothing the first time. We imprisoned him the first time because he was... Suicidal... However there is one more item we need to free him. We need his amulet. The Alicorn Amulet."

Twilight was skeptical but nodded and went inside to retrieve the amulet. Then she screamed. There in her kitchen trying to get in her fridge was what seemed to be a purple rabbit with fangs, pointed ears, claws, and a curved horn on each side of its head. Luna ran in and saw the creature and blasted it. "SISTER! WE THINK THAT T'WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO HURRY!!!" A cage formed around the creature just as Celestia walked in.

Her eyes went wide. "Luna... is that a-" She was cut of by Luna nodding in confirmation. Then she turned to Twilight. "Twilight my student we must hurry. The demons of Tartarus have broken free and have started to escape its gates." 

Twilight was terrified but then she remembered. "What about Cerberus? Isn't he guarding the gates?"

Celestia sadly shook her head. "Cerberus is old and we keep him there to keep ponies out of Tartarus, not to keep the demons in. It seems that the demons have finally found that out and broken through the gates. Unless we free Crimson fang we have no hope of defeating them."

Shining Armor coughed to get the princesses attention. "Excuse me but why do you need him? Cant you just Trap the demons in Tartarus like you did before?"

Cadence looked at him and answered for her aunt. "They could but it wouldn't be very useful sense they have escaped already there is only one course of action to stop them." Cadence gulped. "That way is to cleanse them of the sins they have as demons. Before you ask. No there is no spell to do so, the only way to cleanse them of their sins is to use a sword forged in the fires of Tartarus just like this armor. You have to use the sword and..." She gulped again. "Kill them."

Luna then called to the others and held up the amulet. "I have the amulet! we must go now! And we should bring the demon." She tapped the cage with her front hoof. "With us."

Celestia took a deep breath. "Everypony hold on tight, we leave now." Her horn began to glow and in a flash the four alicorns and the unicorn were gone.
> The King is Freed!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


 Everfree Forest: Inside The Castle Of The Royal Pony Sisters. 11:45 A.M.


When they opened their eyes Twilight, Cadence, Celestia, Luna, and Shining armor stood in front of the statue where the elements of harmony had been stored three years ago. There was a chill in the air as if a windigo was standing behind them. It was very quiet as if the world had stopped making sounds. Then a unfamiliar voice broke the silence. "I've been waiting for you to show up princesses." 

At the sound of the voice they all turned around and saw a nightmarish creature standing there. The ground around him was frozen and then letters appeared in front of Twilight, who was wearing the alicorn amulet. Then they started to arrange themselves into words. 


Spirit of Snow: Yuki no seishin


(note: Yuki no seishin means Spirit of snow in Japanese)


Behind the windigo was a japaneighs sword, a katana if Twilight remembered correctly. Then Twilight spoke, asking two questions. With a gulp she asked "Your a windigo right?"  The windigo nodded and with another gulp she asked.  "Is your name Yuki no seishin?"

Celestia's eyes went wide. "Twilight..." She said calmly. "Where did you hear that name? How do you know his name!?" her eyes darted back and forth between the windigo and her student.

"I...I don't know! I just saw some words form when I looked at him!" Twilight backed up and bumped into the statue where the elements had been and then the statue and amulet began to glow. Then in a flash of light the statue split into six pieces and slid away from the center of the room revealing an old stone staircase.

The windigo smiled at this and spoke so they all with the exclusion of Twilight could hear. "It seems our king has found his bride to be while still being trapped in stone." He then floated over to the sword, picked it up and floated towards Twilight. When he reached her he grabbed her and started down the staircase the others following close behind.

"Please put me down." The windigo stopped and gently set Twilight on the ground.

He then spoke. "As you wish my queen." After he had set her down twilight was confused as to why he called her his queen. So she asked Celestia.

Her mentor sighed. "Cadence. Please explain why Yuki called her his queen."

Cadence who was looking at the windigo at the end of the hallway spoke. "Twilight apparently your going to be fang's bride."

With that line Twilight said "Ok...." THUMP!!! and then passed out. When she woke up she saw many ponies both familiar and not. She saw some ponies whom she assumed were monsters, the princesses, her brother, and the other elements oh harmony. All of which were sitting at a table drinking tea. she looked to her left and saw a young colt playing with Spike and the Crusaders. "Wait they are friendly? Their sitting with the princesses and drinking tea? They are nice!?"

She heard a chuckle above her looked up and saw the pony who had kidnapped Spike. "I don't drink tea." He jumped down from the ledge he was on, turned around, opened his mouth, and showed her his fangs. "I drink blood." Once again the letters appeared and formed words.


Demon Hunter Brigade General, "The Bloody Shadow" Nosferatu.


He then sniffed her causing her to back away. He raised an eyebrow at her actions and then realized why she was frightened. "Relax I'm not going to bite you! I just wanted to find out your blood type." He looked at her neck and sniffed again. Then he held his nose as if he had smelled something very potent. "Yes I believe your.... O+ right?"

The fear left Twilights eyes and was soon replaced by curiosity. "Yeah I am. You can tell by just sniffing a pony?" Nosferatu nodded. Then four more ponies walked up and the letters and words appeared again.

The first was a pony who had bat like wings and claws his fur made it look like he was a statue. 

Demon Hunter Brigade General, "Stone Skin" Bronx.


He turned around and yelled at the elements and princesses. "OI! The princess woke up!" Then he turned back to Twilight "Nice to meet you. My name is Bronx. "Stone Skin" Bronx.

The second was an earth pony with a brown coat and a cutie mark of wolf prints and a crescent moon.

Demon Hunter Brigade General, "Lunar Warrior" Howling Moon.


"I'm "lunar warrior" Howling Moon."

The third was an earth pony as well but this one had a black hourglass against a full moon as a cutie mark.

 Blade Of Earth And Sand, "Sand Stallion" Chikyū Arenam.


"I'm "Sand Stallion" Chikyū Arenam." Some sand swirled around his legs and Twilight could see it taking the shape of spiked gloves.

The last one was a red stallion that had railroad spikes stuck in his body, his cutie mark was a black hammer and anvil.


Demon Hunter Brigade, Ghost Squadron, "The Hammer" Black Hammer.


"Hello I'm one of the thirteen ghosts, "The Hammer" Black Hammer. I am also the grandfather of Applejack."

The other elements, Spike, and the Crusaders came over and said hello, only to receive a angry response from Twilight. "Hello!? You were kidnapped and held here against your will by monsters and your just going to say 'hello'?! Aren't you scared girls!?" The anger quickly turned into worry. "I'm sorry. Are you all ok? Did they hurt you?"

Rarity put up a hoof. "Darling we are fine. They haven't harmed us at all. In fact despite their frightful appearances they are actually very pleasant. They are not brutes like you would suspect them to be. Plus somehow they have wine from before discords rule... do you want a glass to help you calm down?"

Twilight blinked. Rarity was defending the monsters? "Um no thank you."

A sudden rumble from the center of the room drew the attention of all the ponies and monsters. The source of the rumble was the statue of an alicorn. The statue was wearing the armor that The princesses had brought with them and the alicorn amulet. Crimson lines ran among the statue and an began to glow.

Twilight went wide eyed and shouted "WHATS HAPPENING!?" She was answered by Luna who had a smile on her face and fear in her eyes.

"He's waking up." Then the stone fell away revealing a black alicorn with a orange and white mane and tail. Twilight noticed his cutie mark, a pair of white fangs. The armor started to float and attached its self to the alicorn. The air was thick and no pony dared to speak. Then the silence was broken.


"I'M BACK!!!"

> King Fang, His Curse, Memories, And A Kiss.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Everfree catacombs 5:00 P.M.
 

The suit of armor on the alicorn quickly disappeared as if it had turned to dust. The air was thick, no pony dared to speak, then Fang walked towards Twilight, that's when she saw it. His eyes were as black as a starless night, and when she looked at them she could only feel one thing. Pain. A sudden flash of memories swept through her mind, all the pain she had ever felt,  physical, mental, and emotional swept over her body. The pain was so intense that she thought it would make a grown dragon pass out. Then as quick as it came it was gone. She opened her eyes with tears flowing down her cheeks, then saw what caused the pain to start Fang was touching his horn to hers. This made her blush until she looked into his eyes again, she saw  the pain in his blank eyes, not just his pain but hers as well, and the pain of thousands upon thousands of other ponies. When he pulled away, she just wanted to do anything that would mean 'thank you', so she kissed him on the lips. This made him blush, Cadence smiled and Shining armor kicked Fang in the face sending him flying into a wall. Twilight yelled at him "Big brother! Why did you do that!?".

Shining Armor looked at Twilight. "He was forcing himself on you!"

Twilight went wide eyed, her teeth began to grind, then her mane and tail caught on fire. "SHINING ARMOR I'M THE ONE THAT KISSED HIM!!!"

Shining Armor blinked in confusion. "What?"

Twilight was ready to hurt her brother. Not only because he interrupted her kiss, her first real kiss, but also because he just hurt an innocent pony. Luckily Luna stepped in and stopped their fight. "I'm very sorry but we have bigger problems." With that she pointed across the chamber to the monsters. All of whom you could see blood-lust and anger in their eyes.

Howling Moon spoke up. "You just attacked our king... you just attacked our king!!!"

Nosferatu lit up his horn. "Come on colts! This means war! What are we waiting for!?" With that all the monsters charged ready to kill Shining Armor.

"Wait!" Rang out a powerful voice the monsters all stopped in their tracks as their king walked up to Shining Armor. Fang looked down upon the unicorn and calmly asked. "Why did you attack me?"

Armor gulped. "I t-thought you were forcing yourself on my sister!"

Fang just laughed. "Is that so? You were worried about your little sister?" Armor just nodded. Fang turned to the monsters and said "Sta descendere." The monsters did as they were told. He then turned to Twilight and looked at her. This is when she saw his eyes again, they were no longer black but an icy blue. He then spoke to her. "Thank you my queen." With that he kissed her.

There was a flash and Twilight saw the world change, she was in a city, the buildings were brighter and were not crumbling. She heard a scream and looked towards the source seeing a little earth filly, she was being grabbed by city guards. A mare walked up obviously the fillies mother. "Please don't take Sunbeam away! One more month that's all I need! I can pay the rent in one more month." Her pleas fell on deaf ears, or rather the ears of evil. A guard wearing decorated, green armor withdrew a club and hit her.

"You know the law! If you don't pay rent on time, Ser Perso Cuore condemns your child to death! Then you and your husband! I like this no more than you do! I wish I didn't have to do this. I wish sompony would kill the pezzo di merda!"

A laugh rang from the rooftops. Twilight recognized the laugh. It was Fangs laugh! He thought this was funny. Then Fang landed in front of the guard. "Do you mean what you just said?" Fang was wearing a cloak hiding his wings. Through the cloak Twilight could see two daggers and nine swords.

The guard nodded "Si! It is time for that Figlio di una fottuta puttana to die!"

Fang smiled. "Drop the filly and take me to the execution." The guard nodded, and they walked off. Twilight wanted to know what was happening so she followed suit. Soon they were at some gallows on the gallows there were four ponies, a unicorn mare, a pegasus stallion, a earth mare, and a unicorn stallion who had a hollow, black, heart as his cutie mark. A crowd had gathered and were shouting 'death to those who would spread evil' then the unicorn stallion spoke.

"Citizens of Firenzhay! Today you see the deaths of three who even in the hour of confession refuse to repent for their evil ways!" The crowd cheered as he spoke this made Twilight sick. "I Ser Perso Cuore shall once more ask for the condemned to repent for their sins! I will start with..." He looked at the three with nooses around their neck and stopped at the unicorn mare. "My sister Cuore Spezzato, the harlot. Will you repent and save yourself?"

The crying mare spoke. "No i will not repent for an act i wished to do! I love Stone Wall and you don't like the idea of me having a foal with him! That is the real reason i hang!" The stallion slapped her and turned to the crowd.

"Not only is she a harlot, but a liar as well! Does she deserve to live?"

The crowd shouted in response. "NO! KILL LA PROSTITUTA" Then a armored stallion stepped from the crowd. "My fiance is innocent! You Perso Cuore are a pezzo di merda! You the one who deserves to die!" Two more stallions stepped from the crowd both being guards they nodded with agreement. "Attack!" Shouted the first guard and he drew his sword, then they fell arrows in their legs.

Then the stallion on the platform pointed. "See how the evil of one pony spreads to another!? The evil of the world must be rooted out and destroyed! This is the only way to salvation!"

"I have heard enough!" The crowd parted revealing Fang and some guards who dragged the injured ones away. He waved his hoof and the archers who had shot at the guards in the crowd fell from the rooftops. landing, and breaking their necks. Twilight looked up to see ponies in black armor who had obviously pushed them. She recognized two of them who jumped down from the roof, one was Nosferatu, the other was Bronx. "You say you kill for Le principesse, la giustizia, e la salvezza. I however know that you kill because it gives you power and because you serve the arch-demon Osuushi, The ox!" This statement made the crowd gasp and look at Perso

For a second Perso looked scared then he shouted "He is but another heretic! Do not believe his words! He wishes to spread evil among you! I serve no demon only justic-" He was cut off when Fang shouted.

"The mark of the minion is on your right foreleg! You willingly serve him! Had you served him out of fear or ignorance then maybe your soul could have been saved! However you serve him because you wanted power, control, and evil." These words turned the crowd against the unicorn and started crying for his blood. The unicorn ran. Only to be grabbed by another unicorn. This one bearing a cutie mark similar to that of Perso Cuore's. However where Perso's heart was hollow the other unicorn's was complete.

Perso spoke his eyes widened. "Father!" The response was a slap and the words no son or daughter ever wanted to hear.

"You are no son of mine!" Fang walked up drew one of his daggers and stabbed Perso in the throat.

The scene changed to a hazy, blue, mist. Only Twilight, Fang, and Perso were there. Fang laid Perso on the ground and spoke initiating a conversation between himself and the dying unicorn.

"Your work is done here."

Perso's eyes widened. "No... NO! IT IS NOT OVER, IT HAD ONLY JUST BEGUN!"

Fang growled. "Tell me, what's your part in all of this? Do you intend to defend yourself as the others who serve the arch-demons have and explain away your evil deeds?"

"The Arch-demons wanted the city. I wanted power. There was... an opportunity."

"An opportunity to murder innocents."

Perso laughed. "Not so innocent. Dissident voices cut deep as steel. They disrupt order. In this, I do agree with the Arch-demons and their brotherhood."

"You'd kill ponies simply for believing and acting differently than you."

Perso laughed yet again. "No of course not! I killed them because I could, because it was fun! Do you know what it feels like, to determine another stallion's fate? Did you see the way the ponies cheered? The way they feared me? I was like a God! You'd have done the same if you could. Such power!"

"Once perhaps. Then I learned what becomes of those who lift themselves above others."

"Tell me then what is it that happens?"

"Here, let me show you." With that the conversation ended as Fang cut Perso's throat and began to teleport away but before he did, he spoke one final time. "Though you do not deserve it you will leave this world knowing some kindness. Possa il alicorns etereo prendere sotto le loro ali e corna in modo che si può rinascere e di aiuto pony gentile. Requiescat in pace. Perso Cuore." With that Fang and Perso disappeared. There was another flash and twilight woke up in a bed under the old Everfree castle. Then she head a pony shout.

"Twilight woke up!!!" Pinkie...
> Twilight Becomes an Ambassador!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Canterlot 3 days later.


As Twilight entered the throne room she couldn't help but wonder why Celestia herself had called her to court. Yesterday she had visited Fang and he had reestablished his kingdom in the Everfree Forest. The Kingdom of Monsters Transylmaneia. That night she had a dream, or a nightmare, to be honest she wasn't completely sure. In her dream she and Fang were kissing, on a bed, with him on top of her. There was a crash and she was bleeding, the next thing she knew there was the head of a dead dragon lying next to her, Fang looked at Twilight with worry and tears in his eyes and simply said "I'm sorry that I have to do this. I didn't want you to suffer my curse my love, but if i don't then you will.... you will die." Then he bit her and her wounds started to heal, then her eyes opened. That is when the dream ended.  

"Twilight!" The voice of her mentor snapped her out of her trance. When she looked up she saw that Fang, Cadence, Shining Armor, Celestia and Luna were all sitting at a table that was used when the ambassadors from the Minotaur, Griffon, Dragon, Zebra, Diamond Dog, and  the more civilized parts of the Changeling kingdom gathered for a meeting in Canterlot.  

When she saw Fang her cheeks heated up just thinking about him she wanted to... 'No! Naughty thoughts go away! Naughty thoughts go away! ... Must be because I'm in heat, god thing alicorns are good at controlling their actions..'. She quickly went over and took the only available seat, which was next to Fang. Twilight couldn't help but notice the two swords next to Fang. One was a Prench Rapier with the Neighponese kanji for light on the the hilt. The other was a Saddle Arabian Scimitar with the Neighponese kanji for darkness on the hilt. "Twilight!"

Once again Twilight was snapped out of her trance by Celestia. "Huh?"

Luna and Cadence giggled at her actions. Then Celestia spoke. "Twilight did you hear what I just said at all?"

"Um... no. I'm sorry Princess I was-" Twilight looked at Fang who was looking right back at her with a smile on his face. She then turned back to Celestia. "I was distracted."

The edges of Celestia's mouth turned up into a smile. "It is alright Twilight i understand young love better than you think." Twilight's cheeks lit up as Luna and Cadence burst out laughing, even Shining Armor gave a chuckle. She barley noticed but Fang also had a slight blush. After Luna and Cadence calmed down and stopped laughing Celestia continued. "Anyway I am sure you are wondering why I called you here are you not?" Twilight just nodded her cheeks finally starting to loose their blush. "Well we need an ambassador to Transylmaneia." 

Twilight blinked. 'she couldn't want me to be the ambassador.... could she?'

Celestia continued. "As we are spread thin due to our negotiations with the dragon, griffon, changeling and all the other kingdoms, we simply can not be ambassadors to Transylmaneia ourselves. That is why the first government title I wish to bestow upon you, other than Princess, shall be ambassador to Transylmaneia. Do you accept this offer?"

Twilight blinked and then after deciding the princess was not joking her mind went into overdrive. 'Princess Celestia wants me to be a foreign ambassador to Transylmaneia! To... Fang's kingdom.' She felt her cheeks heat up and a smile tug at the corners of her mouth. With a sigh, she spoke. "Yes Princess I accept. This way I can learn to be more responsible. It will also allow me to learn about how the society of the monsters functions and I can probably help in keeping a war from breaking out between our kingdoms, though I doubt that would ever happen." The next thing she said was completely on accident. "Besides Fang is really cute!" Cadence started to laugh, then Luna and Celestia's eyes grew wide and Shining Armor...looked like he was ready to kill. Twilight's eyes went wide and she began to blush furiously. "I didn't mean to say that out loud!"

That is when they heard a soft chuckle form Fang. He turned and looked at Twilight, his cheeks redder than Big Mac's fur. "If it helps calm you at all... you are the most beautiful mare I have ever seen." He then kissed her lips, nearly causing her to pass out. 

Shining Armor's right eye twitched and he stood up. "You will hear no complaints from me about dating my little sister. However! If you break her heart... no, if you so much as make her cry once." There was a flash and Armor was on the table glaring at Fang. "Then I will hunt you down and personally SKIN YOU ALIVE!!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND!!!!!"

Fang just smiled and nodded. "I understand but, I truly meant what I said, and you will not scare me away."

Twilight, Cadence, Luna, and even Celestia were nervous about how fang responded and honestly were scared for Fang right now. What Armor did surprised them all. He smiled, "Good to hear my, possibly, future brother-in-law." He turned around and went back to his seat. "Is there any other business?" The others just shook their heads. "Well then Cadence lets go we were having dinner with my parents tonight remember." Cadence smiled and the two walked away, but before they did Cadence walked up to Twilight and whispered in her ear.

"I hope you marry him, your perfect for each other, I know he may be a little scary but he really is nice. I also hope you two have a foal so that I and Shiny could have a niece or nephew. Oh and by the way I'm due for a foal in three weeks." With that Cadence walked off, and Twilight fainted.

Fang looked at Twilight's unconscious body then looked at Celestia and Luna. "I'll take her home it is on my way after all. I bid you two a good day." With that his red aura surrounded Twilight, himself, and his guards and in a flash they were gone.

Celestia looked at Luna. "Well that was a.... interesting turn of events." She then looked at the clock on the wall. "Well it is time for lunch. Care to join me Lulu?" Luna said nothing and just nodded.
> The Dark District Tour.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Translymaneia. The center castle. One week later.


Twilight had been eagerly awaiting this day. Fang had promised her that he would give a tour of Translymaneia to her last week. As she walked down the refurnished cobblestone, that was made of obsidian, path she noticed the odd looks she was getting. Some looked at her confused, others seemed scared, a few seemed angrier than Celestia when the wedding was attacked, but most looked at her with, what seemed to be, pity. "Hello Princess Sparkle!" A voice came from behind her causing her to jump. When she turned around she saw a ghost floating on his back laughing like a jackal. "The look on your face!" In the next few seconds there was a loud crack and the ghost who had scared her was gone.

Fang was standing where the ghost used to be. "I'm very sorry for my soldiers behavior. He just can't resist the opportunity to scare somepony. Anyway you came for the tour I assume?" Twilight nodded. "Well shall we start our tour then?" Fang gave her a small smile.

Twilight quickly followed behind him and decided to ask about how the Translymaneia worked in terms of livability. "So um..... Say somepony wanted to come here on an asylum... How would they avoid getting... Attacked by monsters that eat ponies?"

Fang just smiled. "I have eleven districts in my kingdom. I live in the Central District." His horn glowed in his trademarked blood red aura and a map appeared. It was separated into eleven different pieces. Ten revolved around the center and were labeled fire, light, ice, wind, thunder, earth, water, wood, metal, and darkness. "These are the districts as labeled. Very few monsters would want to live in the light district so that is where the ponies who come here for asylum would live. We however are going to the dark district where the terrors of the world like to live." Then what looked like a werewolf, with feathers instead of fur, that was being chased by two guards ran into Fang and knocked him down.

The feathered werewolf in a panic grabbed Twilight. "Stay back or else!" He then whispered into Twilight's ear. "Knock them out and let me get away! I'm begging you please! I have a family. Nopony will hire a Schattenkralle! I have to steal food for my family."

Twilight couldn't talk. She couldn't let a pony that had a family get arrested, but she couldn't attack the guards either. She was between a rock and a hard place. Let him get away and start a war with Fang's kingdom, or let a family starve. Sure she could take the less risky path and let a family starve but later she would regret it when it turns out that one or two of the foals had died of starvation because she didn't help this Schattenkralle get away.  "Go." Her horn started to glow only to bes stopped when Fang spoke up. "Guards... What exactly are the charges?"

One of them stepped up the other one was unable to walk due to fear. "Theft my king!"

Fang looked at the Schattenkralle and sighed. "Schattenkralle... Your kind are good chefs right?" He received a nod from the aforementioned monster. "Guard what did he steal?"

"Five loves of bread, ten tomatoes, and three heads of lettuce." Fang just threw a bag of bits at him. "My king what are you doing?"

Fang looked at the guard. "Give that to the merchant he stole from." The guards nodded bowed and walked away. He then turned to the Schattenkralle. "Now as for you... I need a chef in the castle. How about this. If you serve me as head chef in my castles kitchen then I will expunge your criminal record in my kingdom. You will also not have to pay any taxes. Just between you me and Twilight over here I have a soft spot for criminals who commit crimes because it is the only way they can feed their families."

The pony just sat there for a second nodding dumbly before rushing over and kissing Fangs hooves. He just kept repeating "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthanyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthaankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"

Fangs horn glowed a bright red and the pony was pulled away from his hooves. "Yes, your happy, I get it." Fang smiled then he realized something. "Your family can also work at the palace as maids or cooks so that you can all stay in the servants quarters... That way you don't have to go such a long way after work to get home each day." He pulled out a small coin that had his crest emblazoned on it. Fangs surrounded by what looks like rain. "Give this to the head of the servant staff. She is a intelligent ghost in a hospital gown. She had burns on the side of her face. He name is Wither. She will give you and your family rooms and show you what each member of the family will need to do." He gave a small smile as the pony ran off to collect his family.

Twilight was just sitting there. "I know that Princess Celestia would have had him arrested. She would have let him go after she discovered why he was doing it but... Why did you just let him go with no questions asked?"

Fang smiled. "Schattenkralle never lie when it comes to thinks like family. Now then shall we continue?" Twilight just nodded and they continued on their way with Fang explaining the habits of real vamponies and werewolves. He pulled out a silver coin once and tossed it to a pony who was scratching at what looked like a coffin. "Ghouls are curious creatures. They are what inspired the idea of zombies. Neither dead nor alive. The only way to kill them is to damage their brain as it is the only organ that is keeping them alive. I find however that if you give them a silver coin when they are causing trouble they seem to calm down and leave... I still never figured out what they did with the coins... Note to self find out what happened to the coins you give ghouls." Twilight just wrote that down and sent it to Spike with the message to make a copy of it.

They soon came upon what looked like a funeral home and Fang walked inside with Twilight quickly following. "Fang I saw the sign. Whats a Fleisch-Forscher?" She didn't know what it meant but she knew a little Germane and knew that Fleish meant flesh.

Fang smiled. "Fleisch-Forscher are morticians an doctors by trade. Almost all ground breaking discoveries in the field of medical science are made by Fleisch-Forscher." They walked through a door into what looked like a doctors office. 

Suddenly there was another voice. "Welcome to the Grave Doctors Company. Do you have an appointment?" It was the doctors assistant who was sitting behind the desk. She looked up and saw Fang. "Your majesty! I'm so sorry for my lack of respect! I had not Idea it was you!" She then got on her knees and began to bow.

Fang just blinked. "You were one of Doctor Samedi's patients once were you not?" The mare nodded. "Let me guess you felt indebted to him because he cured you of a disease that was killing you?" She nodded again and Fang smiled. "Let me guess again... Polio?" A third nod. "Is Samedi with a patient right now?" The mare shook her head no. "Can you get him out here?"

"I am already out here." From behind came the voice of what sounded like a mix of the deep tone of Big Mac and the sophistication of Fancy Pants. "Did you need something my king? Is the young alicorn princess here sick?" Fang shook his head. "Then why have you come here?"

Fang and twilight turned around to see a unicorn that looked about as old as they did. "I simply came to an old friends place of business for a visit while giving the ambassador a tour." The unicorn nodded. "I also came to see if you were interested in the position of Royal Physician at my castle." The unicorn nodded. Then he looked at Twilight and the words appeared in front of her eyes. Doctor of Flesh and Disease. Samedi.

Samedi looked at Twilight. "Both the student of Celestia herself and my king together in one place. Either he is dating you or you are an ambassador. I am more inclined to choose the second option." He gave her a smile showing off what looked to be perfect white teeth, except for one that was golden. He noticed her looking at his golden tooth. "That is nothing to worry about a patient simply started to swing like wild when I tried to give him a pain killer so I could set one of his wings back in the right place. I was never able to get that tooth clean anyway." He then looked back towards fang. "Me and my assistant Silver Heart will be at the castle at sunrise tomorrow." He then looked at the mare sitting behind the desk. "Come Silver. We must pack we shall be staying at the castle from now on." The unicorn and earth pony left to pack their things for their job starting tomorrow. Twilight let out a loud yawn.

Fang looked at Twilight. "You should stay at my castle tonight. Luna will no doubt come into your dreams to ask you what you learned about my subjects and my kingdom today. Her sister will want to know. I simply refuse to let a pony who is tiered use magic or walk through the forest at night. It would be to dangerous." He then lifted Twilight onto his back and she grabbed him around the neck. "Well lets go." His horn glowed and they were in a black room with a window that looked towards Ponyville from the old castle.There were maroon pillows and a black bed in the center of the room. The curtains were satin and dyed violet. Fang laid Twilight under the covers. "Rest well Twilight. I will come get you in the morning." He then left the room and went down to his throne in which he had been sleeping for the past week. He was not using his bed tonight, because Twilight was using it.
> Twilight's Birthday Attack. The Lousy Snake, Sir Kneighf.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Translymaneia. The next day.


Twilight awoke to the sounds of whispers. While her eyes still blurry she sat up and rubbed them so she could see better. Her eyes were wide at what she saw. Her family, the princesses, and her friends were all standing there with a large cake that had 'Happy birthday Twilight.' written on it. She had, once again, forgotten her own birthday. After blinking a few times to make sure it was real she walked up to Celestia and bowed. "What are you doing here Princess Celestia? Don't you have to attend to the court today?" She heard the sound of Celestia's horn lighting up with magic and felt herself lifted up so that she was eye to eye with her mentor. "Princess?"

Celestia smiled. "Did you really think I would miss my best students birthday? As for what is being done about the court today... I took a day off."

Twilight just looked at her in surprise. "You can take a day off?" Celestia just nodded. "You took a day off... For my birthday?" Her eyes began to water as she hugged to teacher. "Thank you!"

Celestia nodded and set her down after nuzzling her. What happened next was Luna and Cadence walking up to her. Her brother began to follow them but stopped when eight words left his wife's mouth. "Twilight why were you sleeping in Fang's room?" Armor thinking the worst immediately ran up to Twilight.

"What did that creep do to you!?" He began to shake his sister before he turned away and went over to the door. "I will be right back! I just need to go kill Fang!" He opened the door and stepped out. Only to be thrown back in by Fang. He coincidentally landed right next to his wife. He then glared at Fang who just pointed up. Looking up Armor's fur turned red when he saw what Cadence was doing. She was shaking her flank at Armor's face. His face grew red at the action. Then his eye twitched and he looked back at the door, only to see that Fang was no longer there. 

There was a small chuckle and Fang appeared next to him. He looked down at the white unicorn. "I did not share the bed with her, I did not share the room with her. I let her have my bed and I slept in my throne. Now stop gaping at your wife's plot. You'll catch flies if you keep your mouth open like that." This made Cadence giggle while Armor decided to stand up and punch Fang in the face. Fang stood there for a second. "I understand your embarrassment and I do not blame you for punching me." Armor pulled his hoof away from Fang's face. He only received a smile from Fang.

Luna meanwhile was talking with Twilight. Congratulating her for being officially the age required to drink and to get married. "I hope you and your future husband live a long and happy life Twilight." She then gave her a mug of hard cider and started to drink one herself. One by one her friends started congratulating her and wishing her a happy birthday. Then she started to get her presents. 

From Celestia she got what looked like a cage under a tarp. Lifting the tarp she saw a small, purple phoenix, it seemed to not be much older than Spike's pet phoenix Peewee. "What is it? I've never read about this creature before."

Celestia smiled. "It is known as a Blitzvogel. It's Germane for lightning bird and it is a cousin to the phoenix. Instead of being reborn in fire when they die, they instead are reborn in a flash of sparks. Don't worry the sparks are not hot at all and can't hurt anything." Celestia smiled and let the bird out. "What are you going to name him?"

Twilight thought for a second. "Diogenes. Its pronounced Die-oh-gen-eeze. He was a philosopher."

Luna looked at Twilight. "My present to you will have to wait until tonight... It can't be seen during the day. I'm sorry."

Cadence looked at Twilight. "Me, Spike, and Armor got you this." She pulled out a necklace that was made of what looked like amethyst. It was shaped like Twilight's cutie mark. "It's made from a part of the crystal empires palace."

Aj gave Twilight a box that had a cowboy hat inside that resembled her own. Twilight's however was purple. "I don't have much money and I don't have any magic so this was the best I could get. I had Rarity sow your cutie mark onto it." She smiled at Twilight who put it on and mouthed 'Thank You' to Aj.

Fluttershy gave her a bag of bird seed and a small crown made of feathers. "Me and my bird friends made this. With Diogenes; feather in the center. See?" It was made of almost every feather she had ever seen.

Pinkie started to dig through her mane. "Gummy? Nope. Half eaten cupcake? Yummy!" She then proceeded to eat the cup cake before starting her search again. "Prank book? I have it memorized so you can have it along with... This!" She pulled out a large box of cupcakes. They were all shaped like Twilight's cutie mark. There were about 25 cupcakes. "I made the icing from crystal berries." She then handed her the book and box.

Rarity floated a bag over and pulled out five dresses. Each had her cutie mark stitched in. "I made these out of fire spider silk. They will keep you warm in the winter."

Dash pulled out a poster. "I got a wonderbolts poster signed by every member of the wonderbolts." Sure enough she had. "I hope you like it."

All eyes then turned to Fang. "I got her a present... It's not on my back. I forgot it in the library." His horn flashed and three seconds later he was in front of them again holding an old book. "Here you go Twilight." He then floated the book over to her.

The book was Thou Shall Not Pass! By Starswirl the Bearded. On the inside cover it was signed by Starswirl himself. It was a book of shield spells that Starswirl had designed and created himself. "I can't accept this! It's way to valuable! Some unicorns would kill to have this book... How did you even get this anyway?"

Fang just smiled. "Keep it. You never know when you might need a shield. As for how I got it... Starswirl was an old friend."

The other elements just looked at the book and sighed. "Another week we don't see Twilight..."

Twilight just hugged Fang. "Thank you!" She gave him a small kiss on the cheek, he started to blush and his wings shot out. Armor just snickered. Irony was hilarious. Twilight then looked at the cake and walked over. "This looks good... Who made it?"

Fang just smiled. "My head chef."

The was suddenly a loud laugh. "Freedom! I am free, as are my brothers and sisters Celestia!!!" Then a pony formed. He looked like a green version of Big Mac. He had no mane and his fur looked like scales. He had a snake like tail and a small statuette of a snake for a cutie mark. He had a goblet that was golden and decorated with jewels on his side. It looked like the holy grail that Twilight had read about. "Hello Celestia... I have a riddle for the young princess! You trapped me in Tartarus so I will take something dear to you!"

Celestia just tilted her head to the side. "Who are you?" 

The pony just sighed. "I am the archdemon represented by the snake. I am Sir Kneighf! Now I have a riddle for the your princess. If you answers right I will leave."

Twilight looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What's the riddle?"

The pony smirked at her. "Get this right and I will leave. Get it wrong and I take your soul. Here is the question... What is my real name?"

Twilight thought for a second. "Sir Kneighf is your real name. However it is only your real name because it is an anagram. Your real name is... King Fisher!" All the others looked at her and sighed. The archdemon however just let his jaw drop.

"How did you know my name!?" He started to kick the floor in anger.

Twilight looked at him. "You should have left the holy grail at home..." The pony then threw the grail at her. She just stopped it with a shield. "Thank you for the present."

The arch demon began to shake until his skin cracked and fell away revealing that he was actually a giant snake and not a pony. He then looked at Twilight and just screamed. "BUCK YOU!!!" He then disappeared.

They all looked at Twilight then where the snake pony had been standing. "That was more random then Pinkie!"

Luna's gift appeared that night. She had made a constellation of Twilight in the sky. 
> A Family of Monsters or a Monster of a Family?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Ponyville. Five days later. The Gilded Truffle.


Rarity was having lunch when she noticed how she was the only pony at the expensive restaurant. Not wanting to believe that she was to only pony in town who had a high enough class to eat here anymore she finished her meal quickly and payed, including her usual extra 30% tip for the waiter. As she was getting up to leave she just had to ask. "Is it just me or am I the only one here today?"

Garson the waiter sadly nodded his head. "Oui, madam. A new diner opened up down the street. Good food and it's much cheaper. We are going to have to close down if they keep taking out business."

Rarity just raised an eyebrow at him. "Stealing your business? Have you even gone to this new diner?" He nodded. "What is it like?"

He looks at her. "The proprietor is odd. She... Collects things that belong to serial killers and talks about them ponies seem to like hearing about why the killers did what they did though. From what I hear she was a member of the Manehatten, Behavioral Analysis Unit. Her husband is not far from becoming a sociopath if you ask me. He likes to dress up like a clown. He calls that persona... What was it? Funny Pants? Yes that was it he is a white unicorn with a blue mane like that famous one named Fancy Pants. Instead of a mustache however her has a goatee. They have four children named... Morte, Guerra, Carestia, and Peste. Two fillies and Two colts. One of each gender is like their parents. They have one colt and filly that are pegasi, and a colt and filly that are unicorns. The mother is named Fame (pronounced Fa-may) and the father is named Strano. Their names are all in Italian. (I researched this!) I do not know what their names mean."

Rarity had a hoof on her mouth. "Oh my! How many times did she give birth?" He mouthed the word 'one.' "Four foals in one session... She is tougher than Applejack. Wait did you say she was a member of a Behavioral Analysis Unit?" He nodded. "Why did she become a diner owner then? I mean that is a very good paying job after all. Celestia pays them herself. Out of her own pocket."

He looked at her. "She believes that her team caused a innocent pony to commit death by guard. If they are faced by a potentially dangerous pony then they have the right to kill. She met Strano in prison when she interviewed a killer who was using ponies in their recipes. He was the guard on that was on duty at the time. The killer somehow got hold of a butchers knife and tried to kill her. He ended up dead though..."

Rarity just looked at him wide eyed and walk off. She soon reached the diner and saw it was filled. In front of the store was a pony in a clown suit. "Hello... Would you be Strano by any chance?" 

The pony took his wig off and looked at her. "I have never seen you before and owe you nothing." He just sighed and sat down. Then a little colt walked by, a white unicorn but instead of blue he had a black mane. He had a book on his back. "Morte, there you are! I was so worried about you my son!" The ponies quickly embraced each other with a hug the father grabbing the book that the colt was reading. "Morte why are you obsessed with death and things that cause it?"

The little colt tilted his head. "It is more of an interest than obsession father. I am interested in death because I want to be a mortician when I grow up. Did you know that Princess Twilight Sparkle lives in this town?" His father just nodded. "I figured it out by chance. She is the local librarian by the way. Can I please have that book back now?" His father looked at the book then his son and smiled. As soon as he got the book back he looked at his father. He then turned to Rarity. "Hello. Who are you?"

Rarity just raised an eyebrow at him. "I am Rarity. I came to ask if your parents knew that they were driving my favorite restaurant out of business."

Strano just sighed. "We are doing it again? I suppose you want us to pack up and leave then?"

Rarity gasped. "No! Why would I want that?"

Morte was the one to answer. "Because it has happened with every town we have lived in. I'm sorry about your favorite restaurant but we simply can not pack up and move again." His face changed for a second his snout getting a little shorter, his perfect white teeth became yellowed fangs, and his silver eyes turning black. When he looked up and saw Rarity's face he started to back away.

Rarity was just staring with wide eyes. "What are you?"

Strano looked at her. "You can see our other form?" She just nodded. "You have met Fang. Come here at 9:00. Bring any ponies who you know that have also met Fang. We will talk tonight." Rarity did so that night.


Wendigo Diner. 9:00 P.M.


Rarity had gathered all the elements and told them to come to the diner that night, however she did not tell them what she seen. She knocked on the door of the diner and a orange pegasus mare with a black mane opened it. "You must be the ones that met Fang... Come on inside." As soon as they were all inside she closed the blinds and locked the door. "OK before we start the question and answer session I have to get my husband and children. Before I have to do that however I need to know... How many of you have children or younger siblings?" When she saw three of the elements raise their hooves she smiled and seemed to relax. "Thats good. Then I assume you know what it feels like when young ones hate you?" They all nodded and she smiled. As she walked away the elements sat down at a large table.

Dash was the first to speak up. "OK Rarity. Why are you so worried? These seem like nice ponies!" The others all nodded in agreement... Except for Twilight.

"Girls they might not be ponies at all." The other four looked at her confusion written on their faces. "There son, the one named Morte, came into the library and asked for a book on death of all things. He is only ten years old! I asked him why he was thinking about death. He did a complete 180 and said he though I might be different, that I might of understood sense I was a princess. Then he growled and his body changed a little bit. His muzzle became shorter, his eyes turned black, and his teeth became old yellowed fangs. He changed back in a second. He told me that he was sorry for his little outburst but he had gotten questions like that all his life. It was usually followed by his family being run out of town."

Rarity looked at Twilight. "You saw it to then? His change I mean." She just nodded and suddenly a little red filly was on the table. "Hello?"

She just glared at the ponies who were sitting down and flapped her tiny wings. Then her face changed the way Morte's had. "I wont let you take mama and papa away! If you even try I will hurt you!" She seemed like she was bluffing but with that change that she had gone through no pony was sure. When her face changed back she had visibly relaxed. "Do you understand me? Woah!" She was now being held upside down by a unicorn filly with a brown coat and blue mane. Her horn was alight and the strange thing about her was that she was very skinny. "Carestia! Put me down!"

The little filly did as she was told and placed her sister on the floor. "I am very sorry for my sisters behavior. She is a little... protective of our parents. Family means everything to us you see."

Fluttershy is looking at the filly. "You look like your starving... Don't you eat anything?"

A little green pegasus colt with a black mane walked up to them. He was wearing a surgical mask. "It is because she was born with an inability to gain body fat." He sighed. "No matter how much she eats she just... Keeps that form! Before you ask no I am not wearing this mask because I am sick, I am wearing it because I don't want to get sick." Then Morte and his parents walked in.

Strano walked up to the mares and shooed his children off the table. "First I would like to apologize for my children's behavior. Second I just need to say that we are not going to hurt you. No mater how much Guerra thinks we should." A table floated over along with six chairs. His family all took their seats and were watching the mane six carefully. If any of them went for a weapon they would know. "Now your questions if you would be so kind?"

Aj just looked at them. "I got a question. What in holy hay are you?"

Morte is the one who answered. "We are wendigo. Scientific name Vescatur Mannis. We are nothing like the windigos in the Hearths Warming Eve play. Our kind is know for... Eating ponies... However we are all vegetarians. It is possible for wendigos to learn to live in society without eating ponies."

Twilight looked at the family and then to Morte. "I have two. Do the princesses know what you are and Morte why are you so interested in death?"

The pegasus mare names Fame nodded. "Luna knows what we are. She came to investigate a murder in Manehatten. She stopped in our resturaunt for lunch and what she saw what we were she... She came back that night and asked us if we ate ponies. We do not."

Morte sighed. "As for why I am interested in death... Let me put it this way. I am interested in how the things that gives us life can also take it away. Take the nightshade flower for example. If you cook it then it is harmless. Eat a large enough amount of it raw and you will die within the hour. Fun fact. Did you know most ponies think that their manes keep growing after they die? That is not true, it is just a myth." 

Fluttershy raised a hoof. "U-um would you be responsible for some of my animals going missing in the last three days?"

Carestia looked at her. "Perish the thought. We do not eat meat from any creature... Wait a second, actually, are you the pony who lives at the edge of the Everfree Forest?" Fluttershy nodded. "Oh then I took an injured mouse that I found back here and had my brother help it. He wants to be a doctor or a veterinarian when he grows up."

Peste looked at Fluttershy then left and came back with a cage that had an albino rat in it. Its two back legs were broken and in small splints. "The patient here is just fine. He should give it a month or two before he tries to walk again though. Also it is a rat not a mouse Carestia."

Carestia just sighed. "Brother I don't care if it is a rat! It was hurt it needed help! As ponies we should give help to those who need it!"

Before anypony else could say something Rainbow was looking at Guerra. "Your a pretty tough little filly... Why did you assume that we came to take your mama and papa away?"

Guerra just blinked and looked at her. "The last town we were in was Vanhoover. When we didn't pay the guards there for protection they tried to arrest mama and papa. I punched them and the ran away. They came back the next night and burned down our diner... Its a force of habit, I just always assume that ponies are coming to take mama and papa away..."

Pinkie was the 5th to ask a question. "Do you like parties?" There was a chorus of yes from all the wendigos. Except Peste. "Why not mister Peste?"

Peste just blinked at her. "I do not like to be made fun of because of how my mind works. Me and my brother and sisters were all born with a disease of the mind, excluding Carestia. I was born with Aspergers Syndrome. Guerra was born with ADHD, I don't know what Carestia was born with but she can not gain weight, and Morte was born with OCD."

Rarity was the last to speak. "This may seem... Disturbing to you but Strano why do you like clowns, and Fame why do you collect things that were owned by serial killers?"

Strano looked at her. "I just like to make ponies smile. A day without laughter is a day wasted after all." This received a nod and a smile from Pinkie. The others were all disturbed about Fame's hobby.

To answer she pulled out a bag that had folders in it. Then Fame spoke. "I was part of the Manehatten B.A.U. I put many killers away back in Manehatten. Some of them were completely crazy and had to be institutionalized. You see this folder?" They all nodded. It had a picture of a ghost like pony with spider legs on it. "This is my profile of The Boogieman of Celestial Way. A serial killer who, despite being only eight years old, had three victims and his crimes were very organized. His victims were all children who went to his school." 

Twilight took the folder and read it out loud. "A profile created by the Manehatten BAU, states that the unsub (who was believed to be an adult at the start of the case) would be trusted, shy, physically fit, and small in size. The anger caused by the combination of his mother leaving him, because she had died, and his father never being around caused Home Run to develop an intense hatred of other children, who he felt were stealing all his father's attention away from him. Home Run killed out of rage, but was also methodical and organized. After claiming his first two victims Home Run became more brazen and violent, continuing to beat Sleep Song (His third victim) even after she had expired. His Modus Operandi was that Home Run would lure other children deep into the woods and bludgeon them to death with an aluminum baseball bat, taking their saddlebags (and, in one case, an article of clothing. A baseball cap.) as a trophy."

The other ponies just gawked. Dash was the only one who spoke up. "Why did he do that?"

Fame looked at her. "I asked him the same question his answer was. 'Because I wanted to'." She took the folder back and put it away. "Now I helped this country in ways that none of you have. I used to put ponies like him in mental institutions so they could get help. I know that we are scary because we are wendigos but you have nothing to fear from us." With that the ponies all smiled and nodded, they said their goodbyes to one another and went home. 

Unfortunately the killer who had been following the family who owned the diner saw that Fluttershy matched his profile for his victims. A pegasus mare with a pink mane. His sick grin widened and she followed her home. Her scream of terror was not heard. However he was doing what he always did, kidnap a pegasus mare with a pink mane, take her to an abandoned building, tourture her and break her mind until she was begging to die, then skin her and let her hang by the neck and drop their body, with a noose around its neck that was tied to the top of the building, off of the building. He was no ordinary pony. He was a serial killer copycat. He was The garrote phantom.
> The Garrote Phantom.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag and begin to slit throats. ~ H. L. Mencken.






Translymaneia. Castle morgue, two days later.


Fang watched as Samedi examined the dead pegasus mare on the table in front of him. She had a light blue coat and a pink mane. She had been hanging from the Vanhoover movie theater three days ago, but she had no enemies. It was unknown what had killed her so Celestia sent the body to Fang, he in return gave it to Samedi. The doctors of Equestria were usually only used to death caused by natural means. Samedi lit his horn up and took a scalpel which he used to make a incision on her chest. He looked at the mares neck and chest. Her lungs were still full of air so she had to have died quickly. Her throat was blocked of by a crushing motion that had closed her windpipe before she could breath out. "Name: Cotton Candy. Age: 41. Cause of Death: A blow to the neck that crushed it." Samedi then moved over to another table. The stiff on that slab was named Silver Horizon. Her coat was silver and mane was pink. She died in the same way her body was found three weeks ago in Manehatten. "Name: Silver Horizon. Age: 43. Cause of Death: A blow to the neck that crushed it." He looked at Fang. "My lord. I think we have a serial killer on our hooves." He sighed and then jumped in fear as Twilight and her friends stormed in with the family of wendigos that opened the diner.

Strano just said. "We keep telling you that you are wrong!"

Fame followed him. "We never hurt Fluttershy!" The children all nodded.

Twilight just glared at them. "Quiet! I know you took Fluttershy!"

He then sighed. "Twilight... I think Fluttershy was taken, yes. However I do not think that these ponies took her."

The family all just said. "Thank you!"

Twilight looked at him, then she saw the corpses. "Who are they?"

Samedi was the one to answer. "The other two victims of a serial killer. They targets mares when they is alone and breaks their neck. He then hangs them from a building with a garrote. I read the paper that the Vanhoover and Manehatten police are calling him The Garrote Phantom. He seems to just disappear without a trace after he kills."

Fame's sighed as she looked at the corpses. "The fact that he leaves the bodies out in the open means he is confident that he will not get caught. The type of victim makes it seem that a pegasus is the killer, however the what that the mares died indicates that the killer is an earth pony. As they are both pegasi mares who have pink manes could mean that he wants to send a message to somepony. Possibly a past marefriend who left him, it could also remind him of his mother. She could have left while he was young and all he remembers is a pink mane and wings. So he is targeting pegasi mares with pink manes. Another thing to notice is that the wings are broken and that he has placed them so that they are covering the mares chest, this is a sign of respect or of regret showing that while he took their life, he felt bad afterwords. He is most likely in his late teens to early twenties, is a loner or a homeless pony, and has abandonment issues that causes him to break their wings, this is symbolizing that they can't leave him. Also note that he is taking the mares primary feathers as trophies." She took a deep breath. "There are signs of struggle indicating that he is not discreet when he takes the mare, he also knows to clean their body after he kills them, possibly in sulfuric acid as to erase his DNA so he could not be tracked. While he regrets killing them he does not seem to have any problem harming them suggesting that his mother beat him. There that is my analysis of the victims and what their killer is probably like." She then sat down on her haunches and her family smiled.

The elements just said. "Were sorry! We were just worried about Fluttershy and wanted somepony to blame."

The family just looked at them, then Fame spoke again. "It's OK. However we need to fine this killer and send him to a institution so he can get help. As my profile suggests he likes privacy so that means that he would most likely be keeping Fluttershy in an abandoned building that nopony uses. It would be tall and a important part of Ponyville as the killer hangs his victims from landmarks. So what are some tall landmarks in Ponyville?"


Meanwhile in the Ponyville clock tower.


The pony who took Fluttershy was playing with the corpse of his mother. "You must be so upset mother. I'm sorry I ripped out your feathers! Here look! I! CAN! GIVE! THEM! BACK!" He then stated jabbing his dead mothers wing, with the feathers he took from his previous victims. "Not enough... Do not worry mother! I can get you more!" He then stood up and walked across the room. He looked in the cage that he had put Fluttershy in. "Hello little mare. Will you give your feathers to my mother?"

Fluttershy was in the corner of the cage crying. "Please stop! Let me go and I can get you help! Your mother is dead! Can't you see that she is looking down on you?"

The pony turned to his mothers corpse. "Mother is not dead... Mother is just waiting... Waiting for her feathers to grow back. Mister Kneighf will wake her up once she has her feathers back." He then turned towards Fluttershy. "I won't let mother wait any longer!" His body shook and his fur turned into scales and her grew fangs like a snake. His eyes became draconic and his tongue became forked. "Just give me feathers!!!" He opened the cage and walked towards Fluttershy. As she closed her eyes to brace for the feeling of having her feathers ripped out she heard a door break down. Her friends ran up the stairs just in time to see the snake pony grab some of her feathers and rip them out. They watched him as he walked over and started to jab the feathers into his mothers wing. "There. You have all your feathers back mother! Mister Kneighf can wake you up now..." He turned his head and saw the family of wendegos, Fang, and the other elements get Fluttershy out of her cage. He immediately assumed they were coming to take all the feathers he had taken away. He pulled his mothers corpse onto his back and ran up the stairs, to the roof. "I wont let you take my mother away!" He was now standing at the door.

Fame was just walking towards him. "You think we are here to hurt your mother? Why would we do that? It is not necessary. She is already dead. You see and hear her talk to you don't you? Calm down and come down here. Let us help you."

The pony looked at his mother who he thought was talking. In his vision the corpse was a living pony. "Don't let them take me Steel... I want to stay with you forever..."

The pony grabbed a barrel and threw it down the stairs. "Mother is not dead! She can't be dead! I just found her! She couldn't have left me again already!" He truly believed that his mother was alive and talking to him.

Then to everyone's surprise Fluttershy walked to the stairs. "Now mister Steel, please calm down... We just want to help you and your mother... Please just get her and follow me downstairs. We wont take anything from either of you." She looked up and watched him walk away.

Then he was back with his mothers corpse on his back. "OK... I am coming down now." He slowly made his way down and was promptly hit with a stun spell courtesy of Twilight and restrained by Fang. He then saw his mother corpse on the floor next to him, he couldn't move.

Her corpse started to move in his eyes. Only he saw her move because he was mentally ill. "You failed me son! I don't ever want to see you again!" 

As his mothers corpse was covered up with a white sheet he began to cry. "Mother! I'm sorry I failed you! Please don't leave me again mommy! I don't want to be alone anymore! I don't want to be alone anymore..."

Aj was just shaking her head as the stallion was taken away. "The freak thought his momma's body was alive?"

Dash was seething with anger. "I want to wring his scrawny neck! He hurt Fluttershy!"

Rarity was just crying about what had happened over the last two days.

Pinkie's mane had deflated. "That pony is not happy at all."

Twilight was grinding her teeth. "He hurt Fluttershy! Fluttershy! He doesn't need mental help! He needs to go to prison for the rest of his life!"

Then Fluttershy spoke up. "I'm not pressing charges." This received a collective 'WHAT!?!?!?!?!?' from all her friends. "He needs help... I saw it in his eyes right before he took my feathers. He doesn't know what he as done... He really thought he was helping his mother... Before you all came in here he mentioned that demon that came to Twilight's party... He said that the demon told him that he could 'wake his mother up' if he filled her wings with feathers again... He just wanted to help his mother..." 

Fang simply shook his head. "Fisher probably killed his mother with fright... He wanted to hurt one of Twilight's friends because she outsmarted him. I swear, that I will not lay on the bed of my death, until I kill Fisher!"

The family of wendegos just looked at Fluttershy and smiled. That is when Fame spoke "Thank you for overcoming your fear Fluttershy... We can get him help now... I think I am going to ask Celestia for my job back... I forgot how happy it made me to see a pony get help..." She then walked over to a coil of rope. "He won't be needing this anymore..." It had a noose at the end of the rope...


Meanwhile in the archdemon's hideout...


Fisher was slamming his hooves on a table. "BUCK! BUCK!! BUCK!!! BUCK!!!! BUCK!!!!! I can't believe I lost again! How did they break my spell!? I swear I will have revenge!!!" He smashed the crystal ball he was looking into. As he walked away Pinkie started to laugh in the shards off the ball. She was throwing a party welcoming the wendigos to Ponyville.





There's no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were. ~ President Dwight Eisenhower.

> Acidic Love.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


We are all brothers under the skin and I, for one, would be willing to skin humanity to prove it. ~ Ayn Rand.






Ponyville. Three days later.


Dash was flying over Ponyville towards the Everfree Forest. She was going to go and take a walk with Fluttershy. She touched town and sent a small could of dust flying. "Hey Shy!"

Fluttershy walked outside. "Oh is it time to go already? I'm sorry just give me a second. I need to feed mister Fuzzlekins."

Dash looked at her. "That's the weasel right?" She could never get what kind of animal she was talking about right but she was 75% + 20% that it was a weasel.

Fluttershy smiled. "Close... Hes a ferret." So close that time to. She came out five seconds later wearing her saddlebags. "Oh I um needed to pick up some apples on the way... That is if you’re ok with it..."

"It's no problem Shy." She waited for Fluttershy to get to her and they began their walk into town. That is after they stopped at Applejack's house and got some apples. Not paying attention to where they were going Fluttershy bumped into a pony and fell down causing the apples to roll out of her saddlebags. "Hey buddy watch where you’re walking!"

In front of them was an earth pony with a pure white coat and green mane that was shaped like Big Mac's. He was shorter than Big Mac only about the size of Caramel. He had draconic eyes and a small frown on his face. "Sorry I was lost in my thoughts... I am a bodyguard for hire and a very important pony needs protection..."

Fluttershy got up and said. "Oh no don't yell at him! It was my fault Rainbow..." She bent down to pick up one of the apples only to have it snatched away from her and deposited in her saddle bag by a white hoof. "Oh um t-thank you mister...?"

The stallion smiled. "My name is Acid. Full name Sulfuric Acid. I hope you don't mind but I need help finding a miss..." He looked at a small note that was nailed onto his hoof. "Fluttershy... Do you know where she lives?"

Dash was immediately on him. "Are you or have you ever been a demon or a minion to a demon?"

Fluttershy tried to speak up. "I-I'm Fluttershy..."

Not hearing that the pony simply answered Dash. "Do you have a problem with the fact I used to serve a demon?"

Dash started to kick the stallion in the gut. "I knew it your here to kill Shy!" She bucked as hard as she could and jostled the stallion causing some spit to leave his mouth as he fell backwards. "What? That’s all the fight you’re putting up? Aren't demons supposed to be tough?" The next thing she knew a small lock of the red of her hair was drifting down in front of her. "Why did some of my mane come out? Shy am I going bald!? No I can’t go bald! I'm not Rainbow Dash if I don't have a rainbow mane! Without a rainbow mane I'm just plain Dash!" Dash now realized that Rarity was always worried about her mane. Because a mane helps make the pony. It shouts what the pony’s personality is like.

Fluttershy started to hide in her mane. "Um Rainbow... That ponies spit made some of your mane melt..."

Acid then got up. "I am very sorry... I have already failed my mission... Princess Luna said not to hurt anypony unless they attacked Miss Fluttershy... I'm sure that Princess Sparkle can help you... I really need to find Fluttershy."

Fluttershy just raised a hoof to get his attention. "I-I'm Fluttershy... That's Rainbow Dash..." She pointed to her left only to see Rainbow sprinting down the road towards the library. She just pointed her hoof the pegasus that was running down the road. "All the way down there..." 

Acids eyes go wide and he mumbles. "Why does it always have to be the cute ones? Is my luck really that bad? I can't let emotions control me at any time.  It might be dangerous to the pony I am supposed to protect no matter if I mean it directly or in directly." He sighs and looks at Fluttershy. "It is nice to meet you Fluttershy. Here let me help you with those." He quickly walked over and took off her saddlebags before placing them on his self. He gave a small smile. "So where were you and your friend going?"

She blushed at the thought of a stallion carrying her bags for her. Just like in the romance novels she reads from time to time. "We were going to see my friend Rarity for a little while. I was going to talk with her and see if I could help her with her cat Opalescence. She’s had a small cold for about two days now. I was bringing her some medicine." She then continued on her walk, and to her surprise was soon joined by Acid. "Yes?"

Acid just looked at her. "Luna told me to protect you and that is what I am going to do... Besides I like animals... Except the dreaded mongoose. Those things are evil! A mongoose killed my family!" He wasn't being serious of course, he just saw the large rodents as his natural enemy. "Well actually the only problem I have with the mongoose is when one bites me... I kind of go berserk and break the first tree I see... I don't know why..."  Then he laughed. As soon as they reached Rarity's house Acid was hit in the face, with a bowling ball, that was thrown by Sweetie Belle, he fell on his haunches and started rubbing his snout. "Veni in!"

Sweetie Belle ran outside. "Oh my gosh mister! I'm really sorry! I slipped when I tried to pick it up and it went flying! Please don't be mad!" She was now looking up at him with wide eyes and a quivering lip.

Acid simply looked at Sweetie Belle. "Apology accepted. Only because I can tell when somepony tries to hurt me on purpose. You obviously did it on accident." He gave her a warm smile and a small pat on the back. "Just watch here your walking next time... Might hit a pony who isn't tough enough to take a bowling ball to the face."

Sweetie Belle just smiled up at him. She was honestly surprised that he hadn't yelled at her. "OK!" Her horn lit and she grabbed the bowling ball. After she had left they went inside.

Rarity came out of the kitchen and saw Fluttershy. "Well hello Fluttershy! How are you? Did you come to give Opal her medicine?"

Fluttershy just began counting with her hoof. "Hello Rarity. I'm doing just fine thanks for asking... Yes I did come to give Opal her medicine." She smiled which was followed by a cute squeak. Then there was a 'rawr' and Opal was attached to Acid's leg.

Acid just looked at the cat. "Just... Get it over with..." For the next five minutes she was scratching his leg. "Now that you’re done will you let Fluttershy give you your medicine?" The cat tilted her head and nodded. "Good." Fluttershy gave her medicine and she was surprisingly calm.

Fluttershy just looked at Acid when she was done. "Oh my I didn't know you were so good with animals..."

Rarity cut in. "Who would you happen to be anyway. I'm Rarity. It is not respectful to enter ones house if you don't tell them your name after all."

Acid sighed. "My name is Sulfuric Acid. I serve as a body guard to Miss Fluttershy here. I will continue serving as body guard to Miss Fluttershy until the day I die. Ironic that I am to protect her. I used to serve King Fisher, or as you may know him Sir Kneighf, after all."

Rarity raised an eyebrow. "You were serving that archdemon? Why are you helping us then?"

Fluttershy looked at him hoping the answer was something good.

Acid sighed once again. "I... Did things in the past that I'm not proud of... I figured that what better way to repent for my sins then to protect lives as I once took them. Yes I have injured ponies before, but out of necessity... After all when you look like a basilisk you are sure to gain a following of ponies who will try to kill you..."

"A basilisk? You look nothing like a snake!" Fluttershy was soon proved wrong. A crown grew out the sides of Acid’s head and his teeth became snake fangs. His fur became scales, but the most shocking thing of all was his tail. It had transformed into a rattle. He was not just any kind of snake. He was a king cobra. Fluttershy sat down. "O-o-oh my... Is it wrong that I think that is kind of c-cute?" This just got her a stare from both Rarity and Acid before she collapsed from surprise. It was barely noticeable but Rarity saw a little blush on Fluttershy's cheeks whenever she looked at Acid. Now the blush was very, very, dark red. There was no doubt in Rarity's mind. Fluttershy liked Acid in more ways than one.





For he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother. ~ William Shakespeare.

> A Trip To Stalliongrad. The Hearts and Hooves Day Special.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. ~ Edgar Allan Poe.






Translymaneia. Three days later.


Twilight walked down the streets of Fang's kingdom to his palace. He had sent her a message and asked her to accompany him on a trip to Stalliongrad. She instantly wrote back that she wanted to, but asked why he was going there. Fang did not respond with a direct answer. Instead he wrote back saying that his spies had gotten a hold of information that he wanted to check out and that if it was true, that the world would become a little more united and he would have somepony very special back. 

Then Twilight saw him. He was standing on a chariot. He was wearing a full suit made of what looked like manticore fur to her. It looked like he had dyed it beige. It was covering his wings completely.  He also seemed to have a smaller jacket with him, the other one was a shade of lavender a little bit darker than her own coat. When Fang saw Twilight he smiled. "Twilight! Over here!" Twilight smiled and galloped up to him. Then he gave her the other jacket he had. "You might want to put this on. It will keep you warm and hide your wings."

Twilight looked confused but put it on anyway. It was snug and cozy almost like a blanket and a cup of hot coco on a cold winter night. It also fit her perfectly. Then she climbed onto the carriage and the took off. The gargoyles pulling them being silent as... Well stone. "Thanks its really comfortable but... Why should I hide my wings? Is there a problem with them?" She was worried that her wings were messed up now. "And before I forget, why are you going there any way?"

Fang looked at her and frowned. "The reason you have to hide your wings is that there was a revolution there a thousand years ago and they killed the alicorns who ruled the city." Then he smiled. "The reason I'm going is because my spies report that they saw an alicorn in the city. They missed one. I got a description of said alicorn and... I need to help her!" Fang then let out a happy sigh. "I normally wouldn't just up and leave but the alicorn they saw is my little cousin Ana."

Twilight smiled and hugged Fang. "I'm so happy for you! Your family isn't dead!" Then she gave him a peck on the cheek. Only to have herself pushed down.

Fang grabbed the side of the carriage. He was on top of Twilight, barely a inch between where a couple would have their muzzles, Fang turned his head and looked at the gargoyles. "You two should be more careful! A bird almost hit Twilight."

The two just shouted back. "Sorry boss!"

The other then spoke. "Wont happen again!" They then dived down a little bit so that the birds were not at head level anymore. 

When Fang turned his head back he met Twilight's lips. Both ponies were blushing furiously. Although Twilight had moved her head forward an inch so that they would be kissing when Fang turned his head back she felt, good but embarrassed at the same time. She needed to know what Fangs lips felt like. They felt very good. They then sat up and looked away from each other like most couples do when they find out they like each other. Then, after about an hour of Fang trying to apologize for looking like he was coming on to her, it started to snow and Twilight began to shiver a little bit. Fang noticed this and his heart told him to hug her and help keep her warm. That's just what he did, with one leg he pulled her closer so that she was right up against him and he smiled. Then to his surprise Twilight returned the favor with both of her front legs. She hugged him tightly and was still shivering then the cold suddenly vanished. Fang had taken off his jacket a placed it around Twilight's shoulders. Then he hugged her. Twilight tried to pull away but he was to strong. "Fang... Please put your jacket back on... You'll get hypothermia if you don't, please I'll be fine. I don't want you to get sick because of m-" Fang just shushed her.

Fang gave a small smile. "If I get hypothermia then so be it. It will be worth it to keep you warm." Fang was just smiling at her. in the distance there was a city, and before that was a forest. 

The gargoyles landed in the forest and decided to take the rest of the trip on hoof. Fir trees covered with freshly fallen snow all around the two ponies. Twilight sighed, this felt like, no this was, bliss, secretly she was hoping that they never made it to the city. She wanted Fang to be reunited with his cousin of course but she just felt so happy now, she just didn't want it to end because she just felt right like this. Having a big, strong, stallion wrapping her in his forelegs and holding her, be it to protect her from evil ponies, feral monsters, demons, the cold, or just to hold her. She smiled and laid her head against his chest enjoying his warm embrace, as the gargoyles slowly trotted through the forest, they would not reach the city for another hour, they could go faster of course but they wanted the two ponies in the carriage to enjoy themselves. Twilight felt like a princess from a fairy tale with Fang as her prince. Twilight sighed happily and slowly opened her eyes. The trees around them shined in the sunlight as if they had just been painted with silver. "This is great Fang... Its so calm and peaceful... The trees are beautiful... Nothing can ruin this moment." She nuzzled up to him making it so that her cheek was being tickled by his fur.

Fang just smiled.  "Yes the trees do look nice Twilight, however they are not the most beautiful thing here..." Fang then to punctuate his point leaned in and nuzzled Twilight's cheek. Twilight felt her cheeks heat up as she looked at him.

"You mean m-me? I'm not beautiful... Rarity is beautiful... I'm just plain..." She looked down at the ground only to have her face lifted to look at Fang, his ice blue eyes giving off a happy, but sorrowful, feeling.

Fang gave her a quick nuzzle on the back of her neck. "Twilight... Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Just because you think a pony looks better than you doesn't mean that others think it. Now do you really think that ponies will love you because of the way you look or do think they will love you because of what you are like on the inside?"

Twilight looked at him and began to cry a little bit then she regained her composure. "Cadence always says that beauty is more than-" He quickly stopped her.

"More than skin deep I know, but I don't want to know what Cadence thinks, I want to know what you think." Fang gave her a light smile.

"Well..." Twilight thought for a second. "I guess that there are three kinds of beauty, natural beauty which is the trees and the flowers. Outer beauty which is the way you look... Inner beauty is what your like on the inside... It's the way you act and feel about things. I believe that the most important is... Inner beauty." She began to nuzzle into Fang's chest once again with a content sigh and Fang, once again, took it a step farther to make her feel happy and safe. He spread his wings and wrapped them around Twilight creating a shield from the cold that saw coming from in front of them. After thirty minutes the stopped in a small grove right before they could see the city and Fang took his jacket off Twilight, summoning a second layer for her to wear and helping her put it on, then putting his own jacket on. Then as the carriage approached the gate a griffon blocked their path into the city.

The griffon looked at Fang and Twilight. "Chto vam zdes' nado?"(What is your business here?) Twilight looked scared and confused.

Fang however knew what to say. "My zdes', chtoby nayti moyego dvoyurodnogo brata , my prosto khotim , chtoby vernut' yeye domoy." (We are here to find my cousin, we simply wish to bring her back home.) The griffon then nodded and opened the gates to the city. Fang gave him a nod as to say 'keep up the good work.' and led Twilight in. The gargoyles parked the carriage and  let themselves out of their harnesses. "You two go to an inn and get three rooms." He tossed them a large bag of bits and they were off. 


The next day.


Fang and Twilight left their room. They ate breakfast and went outside Twilight smiled and nuzzled up to Fang who returned the notion. They just stood there for a while nuzzling each other. Just watching them husbands and wives felt better about getting married.  After about twenty minutes they finally stopped. Fang smiled at her then he got serious. "Twilight follow me. We need to go into a bar... I don't want to but it is the only place that nopony is suspicious of one of my spies." He quickly led her down the streets and into the alleyways. They came out in what looked like a town square and Fang turned to the left and went into a bar. Twilight however went to the book store that was right next to the bar... Only she was soon dragged out by Fang who dragged her into the bar. Twilight was nervous because everypony was looking at them. "Ne protiv nas. Vernites' k vashey yede i pit'ye." (Don't mind us. Go back to your meal and drink.) The ponies in the bar all just stopped looking and went back to what they were doing.

Twilight looked at Fang. "What did you say?"

Fang smiled. "I told them to go back to their food and drink." He then went over to the bar with Twilight following close behind, she jumped up in surprise when a drunk pony fell to the ground behind her. She landed, with her legs spread out, on Fangs back. "Are you alright Twilight?" She nodded and got off his back. Fang then got to the bar tender. "I need to see Copycat."

The bartender sighed and walked out from behind the counter leading them to a small room in the back. He knocked on the door. "Copycat? You have visitors."

A female voice came from behind the door. "Come in." The door opened to reveal a changeling.

Twilight lit up her horn charging a spell, only to have Fang stop her. "Why are you protecting a changeling? You do know that they attacked Cadence and my brother's wedding right?"

Fang smiled. "Yes I am very aware of that Twilight, Copycat here is not our enemy however, she is from a different hive than Chrysalis."

The changeling bowed. "Hello my king, honored to meet you Princess Sparkle. I am sorry about this but I just had to take a bite, you know they say curiosity killed the cat, well its yet to kill this changeling!" She looked up and smiled. She had bright purple  eyes just like Twilight. "Sorry I just had to take a bite, I mean you two had so much love resonating off you that I would have gone insane if I hadn't tried to take some, sorry... The love radiating off of you two was delicious by the way." She licked her lips.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Thanks I guess...?"

The changeling smiled. "So what are you doing here?"

Fang sighed. "Copycat... Are you sure your names not Scatter Brain?" He gave a playful smile and Twilight giggled at his teasing of the changeling. Copycat just stuck her tongue out. "In all seriousness where did you see the alicorn and did you get a picture of her?" 

Copycat nodded and went and got a picture. It was of a grey alicorn filly with a blue and white mane that had blue eyes just like Rarity's. She had no cutie mark. "She is ten years old I think..."

Twilight looked at her. "How is that possible? The revolution was one thousand years ago!" She was quiet and heard Fang sniffling. "Fang? Are you OK? I-is that her?"

Fang just shook his head. "I'm sorry. I lost my composure for a second. Yes this is her Twilight. This is Anastasia Romarenov. Her nickname was snow princess." He turned to Copycat. "Thank you so much. How can I ever repay you?" 

Copycat knowing an opportunity to get out of here when she saw it just shook him. "Make me Royal Spymaster and give me asylum in Translymaneia!"

Fang smiled. "Done and done. A second chariot will be coming to get you within the hour." His horn flashed and he summoned a scroll. He signed it and gave it to Copycat. "Here you go." The changeling quickly hugged his legs. "Please let me go..." The changeling did so.

Copycat began to blush. "S-sorry... I am just so happy... Can I get you a drink Twilight? Fang?"

Fang shook his head. "Sorry. I don't touch alcohol, I get extremely violent when I drink."

Twilight shakes her head as well. "I don't like alcohol sorry..."

Copycat just smiled in response. "That's OK. More for me! I'm finally getting out of Stalliongrad! I saw here playing by the Romanov Palace... Shes been sleeping under the bridge..." 

Fang smiled and walked out with Twilight close behind. "Twilight if you want you can go buy some books... Here get whatever you want just be ready to run when I get back. If the guards see me with Ana then they are going to chase me."  Twilight nodded and ran off after he gave her a bag of bits. As soon as Fang left she was attacked by a pony wearing a dark red cloak. Out of fear she blasted him and sent him flying into a pile of manure. 

Twilight shook her hoof at him as he ran. "Crazy pony!!! ... Now to get those books." Her smile returned and she went into the book store and bought everything that she did not have a copy of.

Fang went to the palace and went under the bridge. Then he saw her, lying there, making snow angles. "Ana..."

Ana's eyes went wide at the voice. She turned and saw Fang. "I-I'll just go! Please don't take me to Rasputin! " As she backed up Fang took off his jacket and spread his wings, he then smiled as she calmed down. "C-cousin Fang? Is that really you?" Green lines began to run through her skin. She is a koschie. A pony renowned for being able to absorb and give life force just by touching somepony. "Y-you came back!" She glomped Fang. She then climbed onto his back and hugged him again. "I thought you were gone like mommy and daddy! Don't ever scare me like that again!"

Fang looked at her. "Ana... You're freezing! Here put this on..." He summoned a jacket and put it on her. Then he lifted her up and placed her on his back. She wrapped her legs around his neck as they walked away. Soon they got back to Twilight. "Hey Twilight! You ready to go?"

Twilight smiled. "Of course." She then noticed the filly on his back. "Oh, you must be Ana. Hello I'm Twilight."

Ana looked at her, tilted her head, and smiled. "Nice to meet you Miss Twilight. How do you know my cousin? Are you his fillyfriend?" This caused Twilight to blush. "Heh heh, just kidding! Cousin Fang told me all about you! Its really nice to meet Cadence's sister in law and the student of Princess Celestia." She jumped down and stuck out her hoof. "I am..." She looked around nervously. "I'm Anastasia Romarenov. There, we met each other, we need to go now!" She turned around an bolted towards Fang only to be knocked down and fall on her haunches. "Oh no!"

Standing there was the pony from before, the one that Twilight had sent flying. He quickly grabbed the little filly. His eyes flashed red and his fur turned white and his eyes turned a radioactive green. "Thank you, unicorns of Equestria. Now my dark purpose can be fulfilled, and the last of the Romarenov's will die!!!!!" He began to laugh maniacally. Only to scream in pain and drop the filly when a sword went through his leg.

"Twilight! Ana! Run! I'll hold them off!" Fang was standing there with katana floating in his magical grasp.  He pulled the katana out of the pony's leg and jumped back.

Twilight grabbed Ana and began to run off. Once she was far enough away she looked back. "Be safe Fang!" Suddenly the cloaked pony was sent flying into the statue next to Twilight. 

His breathing was slow as he looked over at Twilight and Ana. He stood up and began walking towards them. "No... I was so close... The filly must die! She carries the name Romarenov!" He pulled out a dagger and charged. Then he fell to the ground backwards. Ana was floating in the air with her right hind leg extended in a kick.

Ana opened her mouth. "You killed my mommy and daddy! I won't let you hurt Twilight or Fang!" She fell to the ground, ran over, and grabbed his head, Her eyes turned a radio active green and small green veins began to run from the ends of her hooves to her eyes. The pony screamed for five minutes straight before he died. Ana just stood over his corpse for a moment taking in what she had done. "I-I-I-I-I just killed him..." She looked down at the corpse and any sympathy she had was gone. She got down and started to punch the corpse. "I hope you rot with your masters in Tartarus Rasputin! You hurt mommy and daddy! You took everypony I had away from me! I may have killed you but it doesn't make me feel any better! Why don't I feel better!? I avenged mommy and daddy so why don't I feel any better!?" She just kept beating the dead pony with her hooves suddenly her speech changed into the native language of the area. "Mne tol'ko zhal', chto vy postradali bol'she! Ty glupyy , bespoleznyy, neschastnyy, izvinite za poni! YA khotel by vernut' vas , chtoby ya mog ubit' tebya snova! Kak ty mog spat' noch'yu, znaya, chto ty ubil nevinnykh poni!?" (I only wish that you had suffered longer! You stupid, useless, miserable, excuse for a pony! I wish I could bring you back so I could kill you again! How could you sleep at night knowing that you killed innocent ponies!?) Suddenly she felt a pair of hooves around her. Twilight had gotten down and was hugging her.

"Ana... Do you really think your mommy and daddy want you to beat a dead pony? While I'm sure they are happy you avenged them... I don't think they would approve of what you are doing now... Please calm down... Not only are you disappointing your parents... You're also scaring me... Please stop..." Twilight was hugging Ana tight. She felt no sorrow looking at the dead body. It was hard for her to admit but she had agreed with what Ana had said. She was shaking while hugging her. Soon she felt Ana hugging back.

"I'm sorry Twilight... I didn't mean to scare you, you're a nice pony! You're also right about mommy and daddy being disappointed... I knew they wanted me to stop but..." Ana was crying now. "I was just so angry and scared! Whats' going to happen to me Twilight? I-I didn't do anything wrong!" Suddenly she felt a patting on her back.

Twilight had for some reason let the days she had been foalsat by Cadence all come flooding back. "Hush now Ana, everything is going to be fine... The bad pony can't hurt you anymore... Come on lets go get Fang." She stood up along with Ana. Twilight... Right now she felt like a mother... Whats strange is she didn't mind it at all... In fact it felt really good.  She looked down at Ana and smiled resulting in Ana looking up, wiping her tears away and giving her a light smile back. 

They looked forward and Fang stepped out of the crowd with his sword bloody. The first thing he did was drop his sword and run over and hug Ana. "Thank the stars your alright... Don't worry little cousin I'm here now... You're going to come live with me in Transylmaneia..." Fang let go of his cousin stood up and looked at Twilight before nuzzling her on the neck. "Thank you Twilight, for keeping my cousin safe... If she had been hurt then I don't know what I would have done..." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, pulled away, and gave her a smile. Then he turned back to his bloody blade and began to wipe it off. "What a mess..." When he was done he sheathed it. He then turned to Rasputin's body, bent down, and took what looked like a key off of a string on Rasputin's neck before going to close the dead ponies eyes. He was stopped by Ana's cries.

Ana was holding a hoof up. "Wait! I-I want to do it... I showed so much disrespect after I killed him... I need to make up for that." Fang smiled at his cousin and mouthed 'Go on.' before pulling away from the corpse. "O-OK um..." She walked over to the corpse and bent down, reaching a hoof out. She decided she would give him his last rites in his native language. "YA ne znayu, chto vy , chto khorosho gospodina Rasputin. Khotya ya znayu, ty nenavidish' menya iz-za moyey familii, ya vsegda nadeyalsya, chto vse mozhet vernut'sya k tomu, kak oni ran'she byli, prezhde chem vy i papa possorilis'. YA nadeyus', chto vy mozhete spat' khorosho seychas Rasputin. YA prosto khochu znat', pochemu vy ubili moyu mamu i papu, no eto deystvitel'no ne imeyet znacheniya seychas. Oni byli mertvy tak dolgo, i eto vremya dlya menya, chtoby dvigat'sya dal'she. Pokoysya s mirom Rasputin." (I didn't know you that well mister Rasputin. Although I know you hate me because of my family name, I always hoped that things could go back to the way they used to be before you and daddy had a fight. I hope you can sleep well now Rasputin. I just want to know why you killed my mommy and daddy but it doesn't really matter now. They have been dead for so long and it's time for me to move on. Rest in peace Rasputin.) With that she closed the dead ponies eyes as he was engulfed by magic flames. As soon as his body was naught but ash, it was blown away by a non existent wind. Soon Rasputin's name was on a gravestone behind Fang's castle where his body had gone. Ana turned to Fang. "Can we go home now Cousin Fang?" Fang nodded and the three alicorns were off to the chariot. 

The gargoyles lifted off and began to fly way back through the snowstorm through which they and come. Fang sat next to Twilight nuzzling, her while keeping his wing around her to keep her warm. Twilight nuzzled him back but all the while looked at her lap, that she was protecting with her wings, and the little filly who had fallen asleep in it. She felt like a mother keeping her child safe and though she knew Ana wasn't her child, she secretly wished that one day that would be her own foal that she was protecting in her lap.

Twilight leaned her head on Fang's shoulder. "Fang? Do you think that I'd make a good mother?" Fang nodded, then he said something that surprised her when he looked down at the filly in her lap.

"You are already making a great mother for Ana. Not literally of course but if you were her mother, than you would be doing wonderfully right now." Twilight felt her heart soar and she kissed Fang's cheek.

"Thanks Fang..." There was a small kick to her chest and to Fang's leg. "Huh?" Looking down she saw Ana's tired, half open, eyes looking at her and Fang.

"Could you two save the talking for later or at least talk a little bit quieter? I'm really-" She let out a small yawn and closed her eyes. "Tired." Then a smile grew across her face as she drifted into the land of dreams once again.

"Ok Ana... I'll be quiet..." Twilight let out a blissful sigh and leaned against Fang who started to nuzzle her once again. She was wrong earlier. What was happening right now was bliss. Fang and Twilight nuzzled each other eventually falling asleep. The three alicorns then slept the rest of their way home.





Tis better to have loved and lost; Than never to have loved at all.~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

> Cheshire the Cat.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one. ~ Voltaire, Zadig






Transylmaneia. Sunrise the next morning.


Twilight opened her eyes and she looked at he pillow only to see black fur. Twilight was on Fang's bed with him, her legs wrapped around his chest, and her head resting on his shoulder. As soon as she saw where her head was she let out an 'eep'. Fang heard this and opened his eyes. He glanced to the side and his eyes went wide. "Twilight...? Did we...?" 

Twilight just shook her head rapidly. "I'm very protective of... My marehood. I wouldn't have let you do it unless we were married..."

Fang raised an eyebrow at her. "So you are going to keep your virginity until your married?" Twilight nodded and Fang smiled. "That's good. It means that you're saving yourself for your husband." They just stayed silent for a while before Twilight laid her head back on Fang's shoulder with a content sigh, then she looked up at him.

"Fang? Do you ever want to be a father?" This question caused Fang to recoil in surprise for a second. He had thought about it of course, but he had never really thought about it in depth. There was silence. Twilight saw the blank look on Fang's face. It was obvious that he had not thought about it. Then Fang nodded.

A small smile grew on Fang's face. "Yes Twilight I would like to be a father... I'm sure every stallion thinks about being a father. Why do you ask?"

Twilight looked down. "Well yesterday... When Ana was sleeping in my lap and I had my wings out and in front of her to keep her safe and warm... I-I-I um, I think that... I felt like... I felt like a mother..." She looked up and looked at Fang. "I-I want one of my own..."

Fang just smiled and nuzzled her. "Well you should wait until your married. After all you just said that you wont let anypony touch your marehood until you are." Fang slowly ran his muzzle down her neck, with his mouth open and fangs out, so that he was tickling her skin.

Twilight giggled and was about to tell Fang to stop, when suddenly his head jerked to a stop. His eyes were wide and then Twilight heard some chuckles from the doorway.

Twilight's eyes went wide and she looked to the right and saw Rarity standing in the doorway. "Um... This isn't what it looks like?"

Rarity looked at her. "Oh really? Then what is it?" Then Dash floated next to Rarity.

She just looked down at Rarity. "Hey Rares! Why'd you run off like that!?"

Rarity just pointed at the bed. "One of the guards said that those two went to bed together." Rainbow looked at the bed and a smirk grew on her face.

A chuckle escaped Dash's mouth. "So Twi... How was your first time?"

Twilight's exploded into a blush and she just looked at Fang. "Um... Help me Fang!"

Fang just sighed. "Rainbow... She wouldn't know what it feels like, because it didn't happen. What happened is that we went to Stalliongrad to retrieve my cousin. She was to tired to teleport or walk home so I let her sleep in here. She would not let go... She has a death grip when she sleeps, the harder I tried to get her to let go, the harder she hugged me."

Dash smirked. "Oh really then where is-" She was cut off when Ana teleported in the room. The little grey alicorn had a cat on her back. His fur had a stripe pattern and was black and purple, it's fur was combed and maintained, a little shorter than Opalescence's fur. 

"Cousin Fang look! I found a kitty! Can we keep him? Please?" She was looking up at Fang with a quivering lip and puppy dog eyes.

Fang just chuckled. "Hello Ana , of course we can keep him, he is mine after all..." He looked down at the cat. "Hello Cheshire, I was wondering where you went."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "How is your cat still alive? I thought you were sealed away for five thousand years."

The cat opened its mouth, but instead of letting out a 'meow' it spoke. "Do not think I am some common house cat! I am Cheshire, the Killer Cat! I am an archdemon!" The cat leaped at Fang only to be caught by Ana in a hug.

Ana had a big grin on her face as she pet the cat. "He can talk too!? Oh my gosh, best cat ever! Hi there Cheshire I'm Ana!"

The Archdemon turned cat tried to get out of her grip but it was no use, Ana had a grip that would rival an alligators. "You planed-" He let out a purr as Ana scratched his head. "Didn't you Fang?" His angry screams were silenced by his purrs of happiness of having his ears scratched.

Twilight looked a Fang with her jaw dropped. "That's an archdemon? I thought they would all look... I don't know! Evil and demonic! He's just cute! How is he an archdemon?"

Fang smiled. "He only received the title when his father died. He tried to be evil but he kept ending up helping ponies instead so he decided it would be best if he fought an alicorn to prove he was a true archdemon... I didn't have the heart to kill him, so I  turned him into a cat... It only worked half way as he can still speak like a pony can. He however is a cat at heart... Watch this." Fang's horn glowed and a small ball appeared.

Cheshire, who was now rubbing up against Ana's legs because she was so kind and soft, heard Fang say that and looked at the ball ,freezing himself in place. "You wouldn't dare..." Fang threw the ball and Cheshire chased it, rolling it around an swatting it after he caught it.

Twilight was confused. "Catnip. He only has the ability to talk like a pony, everything else is completely cat."  Twilight looked at the cat and then Fang.

"Does the princess know you have a archdemon as a pet?" Fang just nodded. "OK then..." Twilight just nuzzled Fang and sighed, laying her head on his shoulder once again.

Ana meanwhile had wandered over to Dash and Rarity. "Hi! I'm Anastasia, I'm Fang's little cousin! Who are you? Are you Princess Twilight's friends?"

Dash smiled. "Energetic little squirt isn't she Rarity? She looks like a grey, filly version, of Pinkie with wings and a horn." She was serious, they had the same style of mane but they were different colors. She was also bouncing like Pinkie did.

Rarity grimaced at the thought of a filly, alicorn, version of Pinkie running around town. "Yes she does look as energetic as Pinkie. However I'm sure that she and Pinkie are just as energetic as each other. So Lady Anastasia... What do you like to do?"

Ana stopped bouncing. She then sat down and scratched her head. "Um... Pray that my parents found peace I guess... I like to run around as well... Basically the only thing I don't like is Hearths Warming Eve."

Rarity looked a little down. "Oh well I'm sorry about your parents... I hope that they went peacefully." That struck a nerve.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you like Hearths Warming Eve?"

Ana looked down. "It's the day my parents were murdered. I forgave the killer but I'm still upset that my parents are gone..."

Rainbow began to growl. "Point me in the direction of the pony who killed your parents so I can rip their spine apart!" Ana led the two ponies to the graveyard behind the castle to Rasputin's grave. 

She made a small detour and went to a large tomb that was in the center of the graveyard and went in, she looked at a coffin and sniffled a 'Hi dad, hi mom' before leading the way to Rasputin's grave and pointing to it. "He's in there..."

Rarity covered her mouth. "Oh my... How did he die?"

Ana looked to her with a few tears in her eyes. "I took his life force."

Dash just continued to growl, but stopped and looked at Ana. "Well then... You did something I never could..." After that she flew away.





Only the forgotten are truly dead. ~ Tess Gerritsen.

> Have You Seen Me?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The old will die and the young will forget. ~ Ben-Gurion.






Ponyville. The next day.


Dash woke up after a night of crying. When she learned that Ana's parents were murdered yesterday it had brought back memories of her parents murder thirteen years ago. She had been away at flight camp and had gotten back three days later, only to find her parents dead, with their faces ripped off. Plastered all over their bedroom were wanted posters that had their pictures on them and the phrase 'Have you seen me?'. The posters were split in half. Her father on the right side of the room and her mother on the left.

The killer was never caught. The murders continued all over Equestria for three more years, then they just stopped.  There was a knock on the door and Dash walked over and opened the door to find Fluttershy. "Oh hi Shy... What do you want?"

Fluttershy looked at the ground and started to kick it. "You do remember what today is... Don't you Rainbow?" Rainbow frowned and nodded. "Is that why you were crying?" Dash nodded once again. "Do... Do you still have them? The ashes I mean..." Dash nodded once again and let Fluttershy in. They went over to her mantle and looked at the two urns on it. One was marked 'Rainbow Strike.' the other was marked 'Rainbow Shine.'. Fluttershy looked at her friend who had a sour look on her face. "Oh no... Please Rainbow don't do it again this year! Please the killer is long gone by now! They have been gone for ten years! You are not going to find them by sitting in your room walking back and forth thinking about who it could be!" Each year, on the anniversary of her parents death, Rainbow would just walk around her house all day trying to figure out who had killed her parents.

Rainbow sighed and shook her head. "No Shy I'm not... I am finally moving past that part of my life... Come on lets go get Twilight and the others." When Rainbow opened the door a piece of paper hit her n the face. "Hey!" She immediately took it off her face, looked a it and her eyes went wide. She dropped it and ran out the door Fluttershy saw what was on it, gasped, and followed Dash after closing her door. It was a picture of Dash's face with the words 'Have you seen me?' written beneath it.

Twilight was talking with Fang, he had actually come to her this time and had brought Ana and Cheshire with him. Suddenly her door broke down and a shivering Rainbow Dash flew in and hid behind the couch. Fluttershy stopped at the door and looked inside. "Fluttershy? Whats wrong with Dash? She looks like like she woke up in bed with a demon!" The cat glared at her. "Sorry." She gave the cat a sheepish smile and the cat smiled back. Fluttershy walked up to Twilight, Fang, and Ana and held out the poster.

Ana looked at it. "I saw her! Shes right behind the couch! Why do you ask miss?"

Dash crawled out from behind the couch a nervous look on her face. "They are after me! The 'Have You Seen Me?' Murder is after me!"

Twilight looked confused. "The who?" To their surprise none of the ponies who were gathered answered. The pony in the door way did.

"The 'Have You Seen Me?' Murderer was a serial killer who was never caught."  Fame stepped into the library. "It was also the pony who killed Dash's parents. Wasn't it Dash?" Fame walked over and sat down in front of Dash. "I'm sorry but you have to come with me."

Dash shook her head. "No you're trying to give me to the killer!" Fame was stunned as Dash punched her in the gut. "You might be the murderer yourself!" Then a deep laugh came from one of the bookcases, and then the image of a room appeared, soon a pony appeared on the image. The pony was a very dark grey, almost black, pegasus with a dark orange mane. He had magenta eyes like Dash but was wearing a mask that covered the rest of his face. The mask was made of cloth and was purple. The pony scratched the mask. 

Another laugh came from the image. "You have not seen me Rainbow Dash. I've seen you... You have such a pretty face." You couldn't see it, but a very kind smile was on the ponies face. "I want to go on a date with you Dash... However I'm not cruel like my father or sister so you can decline... I don't kill ponies but I feel like I had to wear this mask to hide my face so that you couldn't identify me. My father was the 'Have You Seen Me?' Murderer. You met my sister at the wonderbolt academy. I was there to, I was an intern, but I would always watch you. Your really cute... You do remember my sister don't you? You remember Lightning Dust right? I was always the brains while she was the brawn. I looked at my fathers notes and found out your parents were two of his victims. I say once again. You do not have to accept, but if you do I have a... Gift for you. Be aware that this is your only chance."

The image disappeared and there was the sound of a crystal shattering. Twilight walked over to the bookshelf and picked up some crystal shards. "A projection stone of course! That's how a non-unicorn was able to project his image at a place so far away."

Dash was grinding her teeth. "I'm going to kill him!" She dashed out of the house and took off. She was quickly followed by Twilight and Fang. Fluttershy stayed behind and just started talking with Ana.

"... So... That's a very pretty kitty you have there... I-I'm sorry I don't know who you are and you don't know me... I'm Fluttershy." Fluttershy gave her a light smile and Ana giggled.

She stuck out a hoof and Fluttershy shook it. "Hi Fluttershy, I'm Ana! I'm Fang's cousin. Also he's Fang's cat not mine."

Cheshire gave a roar trying to sound fearsome, but it only made him more adorable because it came out as a 'Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' He then leaped at Fluttershy. "I am not a cat! I am an archdemon!" He was then caught and hugged by Fluttershy. "No not again!"

"Oh my gosh he can talk!? He must be the smartest cat ever!" She and Ana just sat there and took turns hugging Cheshire. All the while Fame laughed at the archdemon's torment because, honestly, it was funny.

Soon Twilight and Fang found Dash. She broke down the door to a house and tackled a very familiar pegasus. "Where is he!?"

Dust shook her head and rolled over so she was on top of Dash. "Where's who Dash!?"

Dash growled and threw Lightning off her and stood up glaring at the pegasus. "Your brother!"

Twilight and Fang could not get a word in edge wise and it was working on Fang's nerves.

Lightning just glared at her as they began circling. "What do you want with Thunder?" She did not let her guard down but stopped glaring and raised an eyebrow.

Dash just continued to glare. "He said he wanted to go on a date with me... I don't buy it! I think he is trying to kill me! To continue his fathers work!"

Dust screeched to a halt. "Wait kill you? Why would my little bro do that? What do you mean continue dad's work? My dad was a actor! Thunder and me have no interest in acting!" That got Dash to stop.

Dash let her glare ease off. "You mean you don't know that your dad killed my parents?"

Dust just looked at Dash then walked past her. She went up the stairs and came rushing back down and into the street. "Thunder you get back here right now!" She took off followed by Dash, then Twilight, then Fang. They were chasing a pegasus who was flying through the clouds and using them to block his escape. He was not watching above him. Dash flew up and over him and tackled him to the ground. "Hey don't hurt my little bro! He didn't do anything!"

Thunder was crawling around on the ground. "My contact lens! Wheres my contact lens!?" He looked back at Dash who had said lens in her hoof. "Hey be careful with that! It helps me see!" Looking at his eyes closely it saw clear he was almost blind in one eye. Dash gave him his contact lens and he put it in. "I suppose you want to know where my father is?" He backed up... Right into Fang. ".......... Crud."

Fang just said. "Twilight if you would please?" Twilight's horn glowed and Thunder's wing were tied to his side by magic. "Thank you... Now Thunder... Please answer any question Dash had or... I can't promise your wings will remain in one piece."

"Fang! That's to harsh!" Twilight bopped Fang on the back of the head and looked at Thunder. "Sorry about that. Just answer Dash's questions and I won't have you hauled off to prison immediately."

Thunder grumbled. "Fine."

Lightning just sat there worried for her little brother. She said little although he was only three hours younger than her.

Dash looked at him. "Your father is not alive is he?" Thunder just shook his head. "Did you kill him?" Thunder smirked and nodded his head. "Why?" Thunder sighed.

"He was beating mom... Again. I couldn't stand it anymore. He was always beating us after he broke his wings. He was gonna kill mom and cut her face off. I had to stop him. I took a pillow and suffocated him and dumped his body in the trash where he belonged." Thunder was oddly calm saying that he had killed his own father. "It was murder yeah! Although you have to admit it was no crime." He smiled.

Dash smiled back at him. "Thanks... I'm brave but I don't think I could have killed anypony. Now why do you like me?"

Thunder blushed and took off his mask revealing the scar that ran down his right cheek. "Well um... Your cute, brave, my sister won't admit it but she is less awesome than you,"

"Hey! Who's side are you on?" Lightning glared at him.

"Shut up Lightning! Now where was I? Oh yeah! Your nice as far as I know, will stand up for what you believe in, told Spitfire off, I am happy you did that, she really  needed to be taken down a few notches." Then he stopped and scratched his mane. "That's all I can think of off the top of my head."

Dash blushed a little. "You think I'm cute? Thanks... Oh you wouldn't happen to have my parent's faces would you?" Thunder nodded. "Where?" He an past her and motioned for them to follow. Lightning just grumbled 'traitor' as he walked by. Soon they reached Lightning and Thunder's house and went inside. Thunder went upstairs followed by Dash and went into his room. He want under his bed and pulled out a box. He then tossed it to Dash.

"In there. He was going to turn them into masks. I killed him before it happened..." Dash opened the box and sure enough there were her parents faces. Dash smiled and put the lid back on the box, a few tears flowing down her face. Then she began to walk towards him. "Dash what are you-" He was cut off once their lips met. They just stood there for a moment before Dash felt a pressure on her lips. When she parted her lips and teeth so that his tongue could go in, she let her tongue slip into his mouth. As they continued to make out Thunder placed his hooves on Dashes back and began to rub the base of her wings. Rainbow gave a short, low, moan into the kiss, it felt good. Really good.

Dash opened up her eyes and pulled away. A small trail of saliva connecting their tongues. "So... Um how about that date?"

Thunder smiled. "S-sure! Wait no... It would ruin your image... I'm going to prison after all..."

"No your not." Rainbow and Thunder looked at the door to see Twilight sitting there with her head resting on Fang's shoulder.

Both of the pegasi looked at them and immediately said. "How long have you two been there?"

Fang just smirked. "Two minutes. Anyway, your not going to prison Thunder. After all I don't think any crime has been committed here. Has one Twilight?"

"Nope. After all the only proof of it is your confession and you could just be lying." Twilight gave a small smile and gave Rainbow a wink.

Fang just smiled. "See you have nothing to worry about."

Thunder smiled as he and Dash walked out of the room. "Thanks. I owe you two one." He then turned to Dash and smiled. "I know this great diner just a few blocks down. Your old buddy Gilda is a waitress there. Wanna go eat there?" He was giving her a mischievous smirk.

"Sure." Dash smiled as they left the house and went to the diner. Unfortunately Gilda had been sick that day, so they could not antagonize her.

Fang and Twilight teleported back to Ponyville to see Fluttershy and Ana asleep next to one another. With a sleeping Cheshire in both of their hooves.





love conquers all things; let us too surrender to Love. ~ Virgil, a Roman poet.

> A Rose By Any Other Name.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. ~ William Shakespeare.






Ponyville, train bound for Manehatten. The next day.


Twilight was running to the train station with Fang by her side. They had to hurry or they would miss the train. Twilight recalled what happened this morning as the two alicorns, who were wearing coats to hide their wings, jumped on the train just as it was taking off. That morning Roseluck had come to the library and asked to talk to Twilight. Twilight had seen that she didn't look well, but decided she was just tired. Then she dropped the bombshell.




As Roseluck sat in the library Twilight she suddenly burst into tears. "T-Twilight?"

Twilight looked at the, usually, happy go lucky flower pony and saw the pain written on her face. "Whats the matter Rose? You look like you just saw your mother die in your arms." Twilight walked over to Rose before placing a hoof on her shoulder. "Come on. You can tell me. I'll understand. I'm a princess after all." She gave Rose a kind smile.

Rose sniffled. "I-I'm with foal." Suddenly she felt two legs being wrapped around her neck.

"Congratulations! Why are you so sad? This is a happy occasion!"As Twilight hugged Rose her mind was racing. The question that kept stopping her was. "Who's the father? I'm sure he's thrilled!"

Rose just started to shake with tears freely flowing. "Its not good! I don't know how to reach the father. He lives in Manehatten! Twilight I-I'm not ready to be a mother! I can't raise a filly and a colt on my own and I cant give either of them up! I can't just abandon my own flesh and blood!" She laid her face in her front legs. "I need his help! Nopony can get to him though! He might be dangerous! He isn't a normal pony! He's part cat!"

Twilight smiled. "Well how about me and Fang go get him for you? I'm sure that Fang has seen ponies that are part cat before."

Roseluck looked at Twilight in shock. "You'd get your coltfriend, who is a monster king, to go and find the father of my foals... Just because I asked you to?" She immediately hugged Twilight as hard as she could without pressing her stomach against her. She was happy but she didn't want to hurt her unborn foals. "Thank you!"

Twilight blushed. "He's not my coltfriend! He is a friend who just happens to be a colt that's all!"

Roseluck just smiled and kissed Twilight on the nose. "Keep telling yourself Twilight."

Twilight just blushed then shook her head. "Do you know where he works? If he has a family who would know where he is?"

Rose sniffled. "He has an adoptive daughter. He started raising her when she was ten. He's about thirty now. She's about twenty. Her name is Coco... She is working at his theater at the moment. Shes how I met him."

Twilight smiled. Then she frowned a little bit. "Her full name wouldn't be Coco Pommel would it?" Rose just nodded and Twilight facehoofed. "I'll go get Fang, go see Coco, and tell her and her father. Just don't drink any alcohol and only eat healthy foods. You want your foals to be healthy when they are born don't you?" Roseluck smiled and nodded.




Suddenly Twilight was shaken from her thoughts, when Fang put her down in a seat. "Huh what?"

Fang just smiled. "Sorry I broke your train of thought. I just didn't want you to have to stand the whole ride to Manehatten." He sat down next to her and nuzzled her, he opened his mouth and slowly ran his fangs down the back of her neck letting the fangs tickle her skin. Then he worked his way back up her neck and nipped on her ear. Twilight let out a gasp and looked at Fang. Fang was confused at what he saw. Her eyes were pinpricks. "Twilight whats wrong?" Twilight just pointed to the seat across from them. Fang turned and saw a snickering Rarity and Applejack.

Rarity had her hoof over her muzzle and was giggling. "Twilight you naughty mare!" Then her eyes went wide. "I think I laughed so hard that I wet myself." A drop of water then fell on her head and she blasted the roof. "No the roof was leaking..." She then sighed as the small crack in the roof mended herself.

Aj just kept chuckling when a thought occurred to her. "Why are you two on the train? You on a date or something? Me and Rarity were going to see a play at the theater Coco works at now. Something about... A Streetcar Named Desire... I think."

Twilight sighed. "Rose is pregnant with the foals of Coco's adoptive father. His name is... Hat Trick, I think. He used to be a street magician who inherited his uncle's theater when he died. He's some kind of monster called a... What is he Fang?"

"Based on your description. He is a Klaustreich. A pony that is known for being cruel and beating their mates and children. However you said she did not look like she was injured so he might be taking an anti-psychotic." Fang sighed. "If it turns out that he has been beating this Coco mare... I will kill him!" His eyes flashed red and his mane turned into fire, before he shook his head and looked at the mares. "Um... Sorry. I take child abuse very seriously."

The rest of the train ride was slow and calm. Most of it Fang and Twilight spent nuzzling each other. Sometimes Fang would nip on Twilight's ear causing her to give out a small 'eep!'.

After a few hours the train stopped and the ponies got off and went to the theater. Cleaning up the stage was Coco. She took the back of her hoof and wiped the sweat off her forehead. She looked over before going back to her work. Then she stopped and looked over again. "Twilight, Rarity, Applejack! How are you?"

While Aj and Rarity looked at each other, Twilight gave her a smile. "Coco we need to talk to your father."

Coco was about to ask why, then Fang walked in and she tensed up. "W-who is he?" She pointed at Fang with a shaking hoof.

Twilight sighed. "Coco this is Fang. He is an alicorn just like me. Now we need to talk to your father because he is going to be a father to a newborn filly and colt." Twilight gave a smile and Coco gasped.

Fang just began to walk back stage to the managers office before he tripped. "Stupid rock!" He stomped on the rock that he tripped on and it turned to dust.

Coco began to walk with the mares and stallion. "Who did he get pregnant?"

Rarity is the one who answered. "He got our friend Roseluck pregnant."

Coco looked at Twilight. "Dad said he would marry a mare if he got her pregnant." Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Roseluck is basically going to become my mom. Well not biological but become my mother by law." Coco sighed. "I'll go get my dad." She walked into her fathers office. "Dad!" There was a mumbling. "I thought I asked you to stop drinking that wine! It's really hard to get it shipped in from the griffon empire."

Hat trick put down his wine glass. "Sorry about that Coco." He then walked over to his daughter. "It's how I deal with stress. You know that."

Coco smiled and she sighed. "I know... I just found out I'm going to be a big sister though so I'm a little stressed. You got Rose pregnant!" She squealed. "A filly and a colt! Can you believe it dad? I'm gonna be a big sister!"

Trick stepped back and knocked over the wine glass. "W-what did you say!?" Coco cringed at the shout. Then she saw that there was a small bottle of pills next to the wine.

"Dad... Did you forget your pills?" Trick kicked the desk that the pills were on and shouted once more.

"I can control my own mind! I don't care what my therapist says! I don't need them!" He kicked the desk again and Fang began  to kick the door.

"Dad..." She walked over and hugged her father. "I'm just worried about you... Now come on and take your medicine."

Fang thinking that the banging was Trick slamming Coco against the wall. With one last buck he broke down the door. It was silent as Trick took his medicine. After a while Trick smirked. "Hello king of monsters... I hope you intend to pay for my door."

Fang's eye twitched as he pulled out a bag of bits and hit the desk right next to the bottle of pills. "Stupid Klaustreich... Now I remember that Streich means prank or trick in Germane." He just grumbled and walked up to the desk and glared at the orange, unicorn pony, with a aqua blue mane and mismatched eyes. One green the other gold. He reached over and picked the pony up by the collar of his shirt. "If I find out that you are beating Coco, Roseluck, or your biological children... I will end you! Am I clear?"

The pony gulped. "C-Crystal!" Fang smiled and dropped the pony on his haunches.

Fang smiled. "Good." He then walked over and nuzzled Twilight. "Come on Twilight lets go home..." He took a step out the door and his stomach growled "..... Or we could go get something to eat, visit some museums, and then go home! I'll pay!" He turned and looked at Twilight who just nuzzled him.

"Fang you don't need to buy me things to get me to like you." Twilight rested her head on Fang's shoulder and walked outside with him. "Although I do want to visit the history museum. They found a sunken pirate ship and it's on display in the museum!"

Fang smiled and nuzzled Twilight once again. "I know what we are doing then... I guess Ana could wake herself up tomorrow after all." Twilight and Fang laughed and walked off towards the museum. After seeing the exhibit they went out to dinner. After that they got a hotel. They wanted to save money so they only got one room. Twilight went to sleep almost as soon as they were in the room. Fang however decided to explore the less civilized part of town. He had a blast knocking out rapists, and tying them up so he could give them to the police. After that he went back to the room and got on the bed with Twilight, nuzzled her, and fell asleep as she wrapped her forelegs around his chest.





No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one. ~ Elbert Hubbard

> A Dark Secret Revealed.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


All humanity is one undivided and indivisible family. I cannot detach myself from the wickedest soul. ~ Mahatma Gandhi





Fang woke up and saw Twilight was hugging him again. He sighed and teleported her off of him and then lifted her onto his back.  As his female friend rested he went out and bought her a coat with holes for her wings. He slowly slipped it onto her as she slept. Twilight yawned and hugged him tighter. Her eyes fluttered open and she floated down using her wings. A small smile grew on Fang's face. "Good morning sleeping beauty."

Twilight blushed, looked around, gasped, and ran up to the clerk. "When is the next train to Canterlot?" The clerk said that a Canterlot bound train was at the station right now and that it was leaving in fifteen minutes. "Thanks! Come on Fang lets go! Celestia told be to bring you to Canterlot today!" She ran past him and grabbed his hoof and began to drag him. Fang stopped her and she looked back. "Come on! We are supposed to be at a meeting in one hour! Celestia asked for us by name! We can't be late- Woah!" She was on Fang's back now as he ran. She had to hang on for her life. She was surprised how he was not stopping at all as he ran up the hotel stairs to the roof and jumped off. He whistled and suddenly his chariot was beneath them. Fang jumped in, the gargoyles nodded to each other, and took off. Twilight got down and looked at him with what she was trying to make look like a glare. It only resulted in her receiving a nuzzle and breaking out in laughter. "OK I'll admit that was a little bit of fun." She returned Fang's nuzzle the just stayed nuzzling one another for thirty minutes.

After only half an hour the gargoyles touched down in front of the castle and two alicorns got out and went inside to the throne room. Cadence was sitting there with Armor next to her. Twilight and Fang payed them no notice and just kept nuzzling each other. This got a rise of both Twilight's brother and sister in law. "Hello love birds!"  There was a flash of light and Discord appeared. "Hello Twilight! Hello Fang! .......... Wait a second............ Why is Fang here!? Hes gonna kill me!" Within a second there was a growl from Fang, who drew one of his three swords, his scimitar, and placed the blade to Discord's neck. "I'm reformed! I'm reformed! I AM REFORMED!!!"

Fang just growled. "Unlikely! You are a Draconeques! Your kind never chan-" Fang felt a small tugging at his tail and saw Twilight. She was shaking her head no. "Wait... He's telling the truth?" She began to nod her head yes. Fang turned back to Discord, sighed, and sheathed his blade. "Sorry... Discord. I must admit that I was hoping you were telling the truth... In always liked your chaos. I like chaos because I like harmony. Without chaos who are we to say what harmony is and vice versa." He then went back over to Twilight and began to nuzzle her once again only to be interrupted by a cough. Armor was just holding up a hoof.

"Why did you attack Discord? I mean sure he caused some problems recently, but ever sense he was reformed he has done nothing but help the ponies of Equestria!" For once it was an actual question and not an excuse to stop Fang from hitting on his little sister. He waited for a second to see if he had anything more to add. He did not.

Fang sighed. "My family is known for hunting demons. The only way to create a blade that can harm demons is to forge the blade itself in the fires of hell and to cool it..." He looked at Discord. "With the blood of a draconeques. We would only target the evil draconequai however... Discord is more of a mischief maker than an actual threat to Equestria." Discord was worried. "Relax Discord I'm not going to hurt you unless you become evil once again." Discord wiped the sweat off his brow.

Fang and Twilight just returned to nuzzling each other. Until Celestia came in. "Hello Twilight, Fang, Cadence, Shining Armor, Discord..." She blinked and looked around. "Wheres Luna?" As soon as the words left her moth Luna ran into the room almost knocking her sister over.

Luna panted. "I am here before I needed to be!"

Celestia sighed. "Luna... It was not supposed to start for another ten minutes. I wanted you to be here because I want everypony to hear what Twilight's latest exploits were... She went to Stalliongrad and I want to know why."

Fang responded to her for Twilight. "That was my fault... I asked her to accompany me..."

Twilight got in between Fang and Armor just as her brother was about to try and punch Fang. "Twiley move! He could have gotten you killed!" Each time Armor moved Twilight blocked him.

Twilight started to cry a little. "He didn't do anything wrong! If it wasn't for Fang then I would have never met Ana!"

Shining just blinked. "Who's Ana?"

Cadence's smile fell. "Ana is Fang's little cousin. She was possibly the youngest living alicorn in existence."

Fang smirked. "Cadence I have to make a correction with that statement... Ana is the youngest living alicorn in existence." Fang's horn began to glow and a door appeared. It opened and Ana walked out.

She looked around for a second. "This isn't the bathroom... Oh, hi Fang! Hi Twilight! Did you need something?" Fang nodded and Ana smiled. "Um... One second..." She ran back through the door. After a few minutes the sound of a toilet flushing was heard. Ana then walked out of the door and into the throne room. Then she ran over and hugged Fang and Twilight's legs.

Cadence was speechless along with Celestia and Luna. It was quiet for a long time. "A-Ana? Is that really you?" Cadence was now slowly trotting towards Fang, Twilight, and Ana. She slowly reached a hoof out and tapped Ana's head. She collapsed toward, and hugged Ana with all her might. "I-I-It is you! Oh Ana! I thought you were dead and gone! Don't ever scare me like that again!" 

Ana just stayed silent for a second. A few tears dropped from her eyes and she growled. "How dare you Cadence! Getting married without telling me! The nerve!" She then smiled. "There I got the anger out. Now I can say I'm happy for you!" Ana stood on her hind legs and wrapped her forelegs around Cadence's neck. "When am I going to get another filly that I can play with?"

Cadence smiled along with Twilight and Ana. "Any day now Ana... I'm pregnant and I'm due any day now..."

Ana smiled and hugged her tightly.

Fang smiled at his little cousins antics. Then a cough got his and Twilight's attention they turned and saw Celestia giving Fang a death glare. "Were you going to tell us that she was still alive Fang?" Twilight looked at Fang. Then she saw him shake his head no. "Why?"

Fang sighed. "I was planning on getting you all to come over on Saturday in four weeks. I was waiting until then because... Because I can think of no greater present than family. I was waiting until Ana's birthday... However I am glad Twilight mentioned her because if she hadn't and I had waited until her birthday... I don't know if she would have forgiven me for keeping you all a secret." He turned to Twilight and mouthed a thank you before leaning in and giving her a peck on the cheek.

Luna who was just looking at Ana and Cadence started to walk forward, then she was tripped by a cat. "Who's cat is this?"

Fang slowly raised a hoof and gave a sheepish grin. "I am not a cat! I am an archdemon!!!" Cheshire was now on his back legs with his front legs up in the air. Then he fell backwards. "I've fallen and I cant get up!"

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "I believe that they are not beyond redemption Celestia. Unlike you I do not just want to outright kill the demons. I want to save them from themselves. They were all ponies at one point after all."

Celestia smiled. "I understand. Now Twilight I want to know what you have learned about the citizens of Fangs kingdom and the kingdom itself."

Twilight smiled. "I already have." She pulled out her notes on every type of monster she has seen so far. About fifty scrolls. "One monster per scroll. I had them enchanted so I could keep writing and I would never run out of room. One of them is on Fang himself and one is about Fang's kingdom and the monsters that work in his castle."

Celestia looked out the window and let her horn glow as she lowered the sun and Luna raised the moon. She then looked at Fang and Twilight. "You two and Ana are welcome to stay here tonight. I'm sorry but we only have two rooms available at the moment."

Twilight smiled and laid her head on Fang's shoulder and smiled. "I will gladly share my room with Fang." Fang looked at Twilight, smiled, and nuzzled her with his fangs out tickling her skin.

Celestia smiled. "I do not see any reason that should not be allowed." Luna nodded in agreement.

Fang smiled and bowed. "Thank you Princess Celestia. It is my honor to be a humble guest in your grand castle." He then stood up and nuzzled Twilight and wrapped a wing around her. Twilight returned the favor and kissed him on the cheek before nuzzling him. The two reached the bedroom and got on the bed. Then they began to nuzzle each other again. Fang began to rub the sensitive mussels at the base of Twilight's wings causing her to let out a small, silent, moan. Her face grew red when she realized what she had just done. Fang did not hear it and just kept rubbing her back.

Celestia was in her room reading the reports by candlelight. She was very interested on her reports about the ghouls specifically. She would have to get some silver coins from the treasure and keep them with her at all times. Suddenly the temperature dropped and her candle blew out. "Who's there?"

A short laugh came from the shadows and a pony that looked like a zebra stepped out. Instead of white and black however it was black and orange. It had glowing red eyes. "Do you remember me Tia?" It slowly trotted towards Celestia. "You do remember our nights together... Don't you Tia? My love?"

Celestia smiled and walked over to the tall earth pony. "Of course I remember you. I remember everything about you. Mord Donner. The tiger of thunder. An archdemon and my forbidden lover." She looked into his eyes and then they kissed. They went over to the bed and laid down, with Mord on top of her. She cast a spell so that sound would not leave they room. Then moans of pleasure began to sound in Mord's ears as he and his lover showed their love for each other in the most physical way possible.





But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep. ~ Robert Frost.

> An Attack On the Nobility.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte.






 The same day, at midnight.


Fancy Pants and Flur De Lis had just returned from a party. Fancy opened the door for his wife, she nuzzled him and kissed him on the lips, and then she went inside. The first place she went was the kitchen. She walked over to the fridge and placed the pie and cake that she and her husband had taken from the party inside. She closed the door and saw a note. 'Don't turn around.'  Flur just rolled her eyes and turned around. A silent scream left her lips as she saw her husband with a lump on the back of his head over a ponies back. In front of that pony stood another. The one who stood in front of her was a pegasus... They all were... One was red, one was blue, and one was yellow. They all had grey manes as well as masks that made them look like crying clowns. Except the red one was wearing a wolf mask. His cutie mark was an easel with a turntable on it. The yellow one spoke. "You should have paid attention to the message lady..." He raised a hoof and punched her in the face knocking her out cold.

The blue pony who was sitting at the table stood up. "Good job boys... Now we just have to get one more 'great' pony and send the message but I wonder who it should be..." He looked at the newspaper on the table. "I know exactly who!" He walked outside and was followed by the other two who had Flur and Fancy on their back. Then the three pegasus ponies walked down the street. The same night Blueblood was taken from his bed. 


The next morning.


Fang awoke next to Twilight, he smiled when he saw the mare he loved there. Although he would never say it out loud he wanted to be with Twilight forever. However their duties called them away from each other occasionally. Today was not one of those days. Fang began to slowly nuzzle Twilight and gave her a quick peck on the cheek waking her up. "Fang... Please keep doing that..." Fang smiled and gave her another peck on the cheek, he slowly worked his way down her neck and once he reached her body he reversed direction and began to kiss again.

The door slammed open and Ana flew in. She was panting and trying to catch her breath. "Cadence, Celestia, and Luna told me to come and get you two... Some nobles were attacked!" She fell down and onto Fangs back. Fang looked at Twilight and laid Ana on the bed before they got up and dashed outside. They ran immediately over to Celestia who was just looking at the scene in front of her in shock.

There in front of the palace gates were three ponies bound, blindfolded, and gagged. Twilight gasped as she knew who they all were. "Flur Di Lis, Fancy Pants, Blueblood... I can see why some ponies would dislike Blueblood but that is to far... I don't understand Flur or Fancy though. They are just such nice ponies!" There was a crowd forming around the down the street. Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Cadence, and Fang went over to see what it was. "Oh my..."

There was a square where the statues of all for Equestrian princesses stood. In front of each one was a word that was spraypainted in the same color of the coat of the princess they were in front of. Blind was written for Celestia's statue. Ignorant was written in front of Luna's. Selfish was written in front of Cadence's statue. Foolish was written in front of Twilight's statue.  Behind them was a wall that had been painted with big, red, letters. It read. 'Down with nobility! End the tyranny! Our attacks are honest and base! Canterlot The Pack will keep you safe!'

Armor, Fancy Pants, Blueblood, and Flur walked up and saw it. Fancy Pants and Flur just looked at it and nodded to each other before walking up to Celestia. "Princess... We believe that we know who is responsible for this..." Fancy started.

Flur had a few tears in her eyes. "I believe that my brother is the one who initiated the attack. He is the one doing this I am sure of it. While it might sound strange coming from one of his victims... He's right."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "I was not aware that you had a brother Flur. Why do you think he's right?"

Flur sniffled. "That is because my parents gave him up at birth... He is only my half brother on my mother’s side but he is still my brother." She sighed. "My mother had an affair with a pegasus disk jockey about twenty years ago... My mother wanted to keep my brother, divorce my father, and marry the pegasus who was my brothers father. She never got the chance three days later the pegasus disappeared... Then he began hitting us... He told us we were trash and that we belonged in whorehouses..." She was visibly shaking now. "Throughout his life my brother has been trying to make a name for himself. He has the talent to surpass Peacaso with a paintbrush and Vinyl Scratch on a turn table."

Fang sighed. "Your brother’s name and stage name... What are they?"

Flur looked at Fang with fear in her eyes. "I won't tell you! You can't ask Fancy because he does not know!" Flur began to growl. "I-I won't let you stop my brother! All he has ever wanted to do is make art, in one way or another, and nobility has constantly kicked him in the stomach for it. He became addicted to pain killers once, because other nobles would have their goons beat him so badly, he had to take so many to deal with the abuse he was getting from the nobles... If I tell you... Do you promise not to hurt him?"

Fang just laughed at that. "Flur why would I hurt him? He is right after all."

Twilight, Cadence, Armor, and Luna all glared at him. "What!?"

Celestia held up a hoof. "Please my fellow Equestrian royals... Let Fang finish what he is trying to say. I am honestly not angry but curious as to why he thinks it."

Fang smiled. "Thank you Celestia. Now where was I? Oh yes ahem." Fang took a few deep breaths before continuing. "He is right. We of the nobility are the true aggressors and evil ones here. All his life he has just been trying to make art, but none of us know his name. Why? Because most nobles don't care about the common pony. We are blind because we have yet to see how the poor suffer, we are ignorant of the ponies who many nobles believe to be nothing but trash, we do not care about the homeless, the sick, the injured. Why? Because they truly are beneath us? No. Luna tell me. How many of the common ponies have you met sense your return? The elements do not count."

Luna thought for a second. "Two... A filly named Scootaloo. I helped her when she was having nightmares, and a colt named Pipsqueak. He helped me feel like I was not some freak on Nightmare Night... He thought of me as... A ariend." Luna's eyes went wide. "He didn't see me as a princess... Pipsqueak saw me as a friend."

Fang smiled. "How much do you know about your friend Luna?"

Luna shook her head. "Nothing besides his name."

Fang's smile grew wider. "Exactly. You are ignorant of any plight he might be facing. Now I'm not saying this is true but say... Pipsqueak was sick with a disease that was slowly eating away at him from the inside. One that causes him tremendous pain. Yet he does not let it show because even though it hurts, it hurts more to see your friends sad and not be able to do anything about it. He could be hiding his pain and acting all happy because he wants to see his friends happy."

Luna blinked and sat on her haunches. "I... I think I understand what Flur's brother meant when he called me ignorant now. I know nothing about the ponies I have talked to besides their names." 

Fang smiled and turned to Cadence. "Cadence although you are the princess of love you truly are selfish. You can spread the magic of love and want to selflessly, and while that is admirable..." Cadence smiled. "It is not truly selfless."

Cadence and Shining looked confused.

Fang just continued to speak. "Tell me Cadence when was the last time you set aside some of your personal savings not for yourself, but for a charity? If you set aside enough bits for one just one spa trip and give that to a charity it might not seem like much bit it is amazing what a few bits can do. They can go to orphanages that are in dire states of disrepair, or to farms and help them be able to give some of their crops to orphans so that they can eat, or my personal favorite, it can go to finding couples who would love and care for the orphans as if they were their own, simply because they deserve it. It's not their fault they were abandoned or their parents are dead. Is it?"

Cadence just sat down with a look of realization on her face. "I guess I have been kind of selfish... I don't need to the spa four times a month I can settle for just three... I think I understand now... I've been saving so many bits for myself that I've been keeping them from going to, much, more beneficial purposes."

Fang smiled at Cadence and turned to Twilight. She was wondering how Fang was going to justify calling her foolish. If she was not convinced, she was going to stop talking with him, socially, altogether and only talk to him about government business from now on. "Twilight you are foolish because you believe the other princesses to be perfect. You believe that Celestia is never wrong. She was wrong at your brother’s wedding wasn't she? She did not notice that the Cadence that was with her was a fake and even scolded you when you tried to point it out. Now isn't it foolish to believe your teacher is completely perfect when she so clearly isn't?"

Twilight sighed, walked over, and nuzzled him. "Yeah... I guess he's right... He could have just come to us and talked about his issues with us though! He didn't have to make such a display happen in public."

Fang nuzzled Twilight. "Twilight actually he did. If you were to listen to him you would say that get right on it. However if he had not caused such a big stir in public like this, you would have forgotten about it in three months wouldn't you?" Twilight kept nuzzling Fang but nodded.

Suddenly a mare screamed out from the crowd. "Oh my gosh it’s DJ W0LF!"

The red pegasus, stage name DJ-W0LF, who was wearing the wolf mask last night walked through the crowd and ran up to Fang before pushing him over. He was soon grabbed by two guards. "Why!? Why are you doing this!? You’re a noble! You’re supposed to be the enemy!"

Fang smiled. "Release him now." The guards immediately released the pony. Fang then pulled out a bag of bits. "Here. One million bits. You can have it if you promise never to do something like this again."

The red pegasus took off his mask and looked at the bits. He took the bag and tossed it up and down with a smile on his face. Then he threw the bits back to Fang. "You can take your cash, and shove it!"

Flur gasped. "Blood! He just defended you for all you did and you tell him to shove it? What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing is wrong with him Flur... If I were in his position I would have done the same. After all I did just try to buy his silence. I am glad he told me to shove it. He just proved that he is just the kind of pony we need to see more in this society." Fang smiled and gave him the bag back. "Take it and do whatever you want with it. That's a tip for proving me right."

"I could get a house and some new equipment with this... No!" The pegasus shook his head. He looked over to an ally and walked over to it. He opened up the pouch and took out a hundred bit coin and dropped it. "Hey come on... Don't be scared... Take it. I told you I was going to find a way to feed ya' didn't I kid?" A small white unicorn filly walked out and picked up the coin.

"But... But... Why? I'm just a blank flank street urchin... I thought you were joking when you said that... Nopony has cared about me sense mama and papa forgot to come back and get me... I can't take this! He just gave it to you!" The little filly had tears in her eyes as she held the coin back out to the pegasus. "I-I don't need it! I’ll just keep eating out of the garbage..."

Blood just sighed and took the coin. "Your right. He did give it to me. But I'm giving it to you." He immediately gave it back. "Unless you want to come and let me take care of you that is..." He gave a smile as she dropped the bit.

"You... You’re offering to be my new dad? Why? Wait I got it! You’re trying to use me to get a cute mare aren't you?"

Blood smiled once again. "No... I already have a marefriend." He flew up into the air."Yo! Lemon Tart!" A lemon yellow, unicorn, mare with a brown mane and green eyes walked up. She almost tripped and was caught by Blood as he flew down. "You OK babe?"

Lemon just blushed and pushed her glasses back up to the position they were supposed to be. "Never been better boss..."

Blood sighed. "How many time do I have to tell you that you don't have to call me boss in public? You don't have to call me boss at all!"

Lemon stood up and brushed herself off. "Sorry bos- Sorry Blood but I don't want to ruin your image..." She looked at the ground and started kicking it.

Fang decided now would be a good time to make his offer. "DJ W0LF? I would like to offer you five hundred thousand bits to host a concert. The only catch is that you have to give the profit to the Canterlot lower district orphanage. The foals there are in constant havoc every day. The building is on the verge of collapse."

Blood looked at Fang. "Give the orphanage the bits... I don't need it... I get by on the tips from my raves."

Fang smiled. "Yes but now you have two mouths to feed." He pointed to the little filly. "What's your name anyway?"

"S-Spectra..." The little filly looked up at Blood who just looked back at her. 

"I guess he's right Spec. That is if you want to be the daughter of me and my fiancé here." Bloods question was met with Spectra jumping on his leg and squeezing.

"Daddy!" She began to giggle and nuzzle his leg.

Blood turned to Fang. "I will take the job."

The crowd parted as Celestia stepped forward. "I am giving you a pardon... Don't do anything like this again OK?"

Blood looked at her. "I would tell you to take that suggestion and shove it but that would be uncalled for with my daughter here. So I will settle for this. I will keep doing what I did last night until the nobility gets a tax hike that will go towards the repair of homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and orphanages."

Celestia smiled. "Agreed."

Blood looked unsure. "I will be bringing a contract written in blood for you to sign tomorrow. If you forget I will do this again."

Celestia was taken back. Then she smiled once again. "Understood."

Twilight and Fang just started to nuzzle each other in celebration of this ending without an arrest or a pony dying. Then Blueblood walked up and some guards arrested Blood. "I am charging you with assault and kidnapping! I don't care if auntie gave you a pardon! You are going to prison for abducting me from my bed!" The guards and Blueblood led him away. Then the guards stopped. "What are you waiting for? Move!"

"Sir... This little filly won’t let us go past this point." A guard was looking down at Spectra who was in a fighting stance.

"Daddy did nothing wron-" Spectra was silenced when Blueblood walked up and kicked her out of the way. Then she started crying. "Mommy! Daddy! It hurts!" Blueblood had kicked one of her legs and, since she could not afford milk her bones were not very strong, broken it.





Without heroes, we are all plain people and don't know how far we can go. ~ Bernard Malamud.


> Give Up the Pack.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. ~ Nietzsche.





Twilight was in shock. Right after Flur's brother, Blood, had adopted a little unicorn filly named Spectra, off the streets, along with his fiance Lemon Tart. Blueblood had come and had him arrested. Armor, Celestia, Cadence, and Luna were sitting outside of a interrogation room. She herself and Fang were talking to Blood. "Alright mister Blood. I am going to try and keep this civilized. Will you tell us who the other two members of 'The Pack' are? You have been pardoned of your crimes courtesy of Celestia herself. All we need are their names and you can go free."

Blood looked at Twilight, then looked at Fang. Then he looked down to where he was cuffed to the table. "I-I cant tell you! I know their names but... If I tell you they might hurt Lemon and Spectra!" He looked back up. His eyes had turned red and dark, black, fur had sprouted out all over his muzzle. His ears had gotten longer and his teeth had become a carnivore's. He looked like wolf. Twilight backed up a little bit.

Fang just looked at him. "Well... What if I offered to have Lemon and Spectra brought here for protection? Would you tell us then?" Blood nodded and Fang sent some of his guards to go get Lemon and Spectra. "They should be here soon... Blood tell the truth. What is your full name? Did you name yourself?"

Blood's eyes widened. Then he sighed. "Yeah I named myself... My full name is Blood Bath. Why do you ask?"

Fag sighed. "If you translate Blood Bath into Germane you get the name Blut Bad. You named yourself after what you are. A Blutbad. A creature that shifts from its pony form when emotions run high."

Blood turned back to normal. He looked at the door and saw his fiance and daughter. "OK... I'll tell you who the other two are... They were like me. The children of a noble and non noble who were abandoned at birth. They are Blutbad as well." Twilight raised a hoof. "You can just ask I'm not a teacher."

Twilight giggled and nuzzled Fang. "Whats a Blutbad? Is it another word for werewolf?"

Fang looked at her. "A Blutbad is a werewolf in a way. It only shifts so that normal ponies can see its wolf form when its emotions run high."

Twilight blinked. "So... Its like a werewolf that only changes during something like a rage shift?"

Blood nodded. "Exactly. Ponies that have two forms but hide their beast side from society are called wessen. For instance Lemon over there is a Seelengut." He waved to his fiance and she changed her form into what looked like a sheep for a second. Then she turned back and smiled. "I know its odd. A wolf falling for a sheep... But I love her with all my heart."

Fang looked at Twilight and nuzzled her giving a small peck on her cheek. Twilight smiled and looked at Blood "What are their names?"

Blood looked scared but them he smiled. "One of them is named Dandelion. She's the yellow one and the lieutenant. The leader is the blue one. His name is Fowl."

Fang smiled and the cuffs keeping Blood bound to the table vanished. "Your free to go." Blood growled and ran at the door. 

The blue and yellow pegasi had broken in and taken Spectra and Lemon hostage at knife point. "... What do I have to do to make you two surrender peacefully? Maybe if I give you an asylum to my kingdom?"

Fowl smirked as his head changed into his wolf-pony hybrid form. "How about this you worthless noble! I will let them go if Blood kills both you and Princess Sparkle!"

The yellow pegasus mare, Dandelion, was holding Spectra. The strange thing was that she had tears in her eyes. Her eyes were bloodshot as if she had been crying her eyes out recently she pushed the blade farther to Spectra's neck. She shook her head and dropped Spectra who limped over to Blood with her broken leg. "Daddy! You need to help mommy!" She was hugging his legs crying.

Blood bent down picked her up and looked at Fang and Twilight. "Take care of my daughter for me." He looked back only to see Fowl beating the yellow pegasus.

"You stupid slut! I told you not to let her go!" He kicked her in the side and a sickening crack rang throughout the room.

"I-I-I'm sorry Fowl! Please don't beat me anymore! I'll do anything you want! Please! Please don't beat me anymore!" The yellow mare was crying now. "Please! I'm sorry! Please don't kill me! Don't end me like the others who disobeyed your orders! Please! I beg you! I will do anything to please you with both body and soul! Just please don't kill me!" He knocked her on her side and kicked her chest with all his might. She began to cough up blood. "Please!" A glob of blood hit Fowl's leg. "Please stop!" He kicked her in the chest once again.

"... You stupid. Fucking. Cum slut! I take you in off the streets and this is how you repay me!? By releasing one of our hostages and letting your disgusting blood touch me!? I'll kill you!" He threw Lemon away towards the wall and began kicking Dandelion in the chest even harder.

"Please master! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Blood was beginning to pool around Dandelion now. Fowl bent down and began to strangle her. "Master! Please! Stop! I'll let you use my body in any way you want! Please! I'll do anything! Just stop!" Blood looked at the ground and noticed something. Dandelion's knife was missing.

"You make demands of me!? I'll kill myself before I do something because you ask! But before I die I'm gonna-!" He was cut off by a knife being driven into his throat. Lemon was holding the knife with her magic. When Fowls body fell limp she immediately ran out of the room.

"We need a doctor who's good with on the spot surgery!" She saw screaming for the sake of Dandelion, she did not have a choice but to help him, and when she realized what she was doing then she let Spectra go. Soon some doctors were in the room and carried Dandelion out on a stretcher. No pony besides the doctors were allowed inside at the moment. Soon after she was taken out and to a hospital a doctor came out. 

Celestia went up to him. "I-Is he?" The doctor nodded and pointed behind him as a stretcher that had a white sheet with a pony shaped lump under it was brought out. "I see..." "Well we cant arrest Lemon sense it was 'self defense'. So You three can go. Lemon, Blood, you two should go and get Spectra check a checkup at the hospital. There is not telling what shes got after living in an ally for so long." The nodded and left. Then Blood stopped and walked over to Fang.

"It might take some time for me to do that concert. I should be ready in one month." His face grew bright when Fang smiled.

"Take as long as you need. I have set up a base fund for the orphanage. I wonder how many bits its earned sense my little speech?" Fang then walked over and began to nuzzle Twilight. "You are getting less squeamish you know. You don't have to be brave to make me like you. I like you just the way you are." He then nuzzled her before giving her a quick kiss on the lips.

Twilight shudders. "So I don't have to pretend that a murder doesn't bother me?" Fang nodded. "That's good. However that murder did not bother me.., If you ask me he deserved to die..."

Fang just looked at her. "So do you want to stay in Canterlot for a few days before returning to town?" Twilight just nodded. Then a nervous smile grew on her face.

"Do um.... Do you um... Do you want to meet my parents!?" She was looking down at the floor and started scuffing her hoof against it.

Fang smiled. "Yes. I would like that. Is my normal, lack of, attire good or should I dress up?" Twilight just giggled.

"If you wear a suit... I will wear a dress..." Fang smiled and his horn glowed. Over his body a suit formed. It was red with a white undershirt and silver lining on every edge of the coat. Twilight gasped. "You look amazing in that!"

Fang smiled. "Thank you. I had Rarity make me a suit in case I ever needed one. She is really good with clothing. She is better than the artisans from before I was trapped in stone." He then looked at Twilight. "However I'm sure its not as good as the dress your going to wear." Twilight blushed. "What day is it?"

Twilight smiled. "Tonight I sent a message to my parents saying I would visit them while I was in Canterlot. I also told them I was coming over for dinner and bringing a friend." Her horn glowed and a modified version of her gala dress appeared. It was the same design as the one she wore to the gala but with holes for her wings. "So do I look good?"

"As beautiful as always Twilight." Fang nuzzled her before giving her a kiss on the cheek. "So when is dinner?"

Twilight looks at a clock. "In thirty minutes.... If we go now we can get to my parents house with ten minutes to spare. Maybe have some small talk with them before dinner." She smiled and nuzzled Fang again. Then she rested her head on his shoulder. They then began to walk towards the door with one of Fangs wings around Twilight.

Cadence stopped them. "Tell Velvet and Nightlight I said hi OK Twilight? Oh and tell them that I am due any day now." Twilight nodded. She then let out a blissful sigh as Fang pulled her closer with his wing. Cadence smiled. "Have fun you two."

Fang smiled. "I am sure we will Cadence. After all it is not every day you get to meet your marefriend's parents." Fang turned to Twilight and nuzzled her some more on their way there. She told him where to turn and soon they were there.

Twilight smiled as they walked over to the door. She knocked on the door and the head of Twilight Velvet popped out. "Hi mom... I came for dinner and I brought my coltfriend!"

Velvet turned around. "Night! Twilight's here! She brought her coltfriend with her!" She turned to the couple in the doorway. "Come on inside I'll make some tea while we wait for Night to come down."

Fang and Twilight nuzzled each other before saying, at the exact same time. "Tea sounds lovely." With that Velvet let them in and they sat at the table. Tonight was going to be good.





Apache saying: "You can take many paths to get to the same place."

> Is He Good Enough For Her?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still. ~ Lao Tzu.





Fang and Twilight were sitting in the living room with Velvet and Nightlight. The tea, Jasmine from the smell of it, was sitting in front of Fang after he poured Twilight a cup he poured his own and slowly sipped on it. 'Yes, I was correct, it is Jasmine.' They sat quiet for a while. The silence was broken by Twilight's father.

"So when did you two start dating?" Twilight and Fang looked at each other. They had not gone on an official date with each other yet, but they still considered themselves coltfriend and fillyfriend. "Well?"

Fang sighed. "We have not gone on a 'date' per say. We simply like each other and hang out a lot. I guess you could count the ride on the way to Stalliongrad a date..." He smiled and nuzzled Twilight. He received an encouraging nuzzle from Twilight.

Velvet launched the next question immediately. "I think you two look cute together. Now you have met us. When are we, Nightlight, myself, and Twilight, going to meet your family?" Fang seized up for a second.

Twilight looked at her mother and sighed. "Um mom... most of Fang's family is... Dead..."

Velvet covered her hooves with her mouth. "Oh my... I am so sorry... I didn't know."

Fang just smiled and continued to nuzzled Twilight. "Well actually it is unknown how many members of my family are alive. Besides me Twilight has met one other member. The rest of my family's fate, at this point in time, is unknown. The other member she has met is little Ana." Fang's horn glowed and a picture of Ana holding a sleeping Cheshire appeared. He floated it over to Velvet and Night.

Velvet took one look at it and smiled. "She looks very cute. Is she your filly?"

Fang continued to nuzzle Twilight, slowly opening his mouth and running his fangs down her neck. He closed his mouth and looked at Twilight, then Night, then Velvet and chuckled. "No she is not mine... Well technically she is by law as I am her guardian at this moment in time. She is my cousin, her parents were murdered you see. I honestly thought she was dead to. My spymaster, Copycat, saw her in Stalliongrad and reported it to me. That was a few weeks ago. Ever since she has been living with me."

Night smiled. "Well it's nice to know you are good with foals in a way. She looks so happy." Then Night asked a very serious question. "Have you two had intercourse yet?" Fang and Twilight looked at each other and blushed before shaking their heads no. "Well that's good to know."

Velvet then asked another serious question. "Do you really like our daughter, or do you just like her because she's a princess?"

Fang chuckled. "I would usually take that as an insult but... I forgot to mention that I am a king." He let his wings unfold as he wrapped Twilight in one of them.

Night raised a suspicious eyebrow. "A king? King of what?"

Fang and Twilight looked at Night. Twilight gave a blissful sigh at the feeling of comfort of Fang holding her tightly with his wing. She slowly nuzzled herself farther in Fang's side. Fang then gave a grin, letting his fangs show. "I am the king of monsters."

Velvet looked at Fang. "We wont judge you because your different. Now if you were to say marry our daughter... What could you possibly give her that any other colt couldn't?"

Fang smiled. "Millions upon millions of bits, the most exotic pets she could ever want, the title of queen, more power than she could ever want..." He looked at Twilight and nuzzled her again. She gave a small smile as he said the final thing on his list. "And, what I believe to be most important, all the love that my heart could give." He then looked towards Velvet who smiled.

"Well I don't know about about my husband but you two really seem to love each other so... When and if you want to get married. Then you have my blessing!" Velvet smiled. "What about you honey? Will you give them your blessing?"

Night smiled. "If he is willing to marry Twilight simply out of love, and nothing else, he has my blessing."

Twilight and Fang smiled. "So we could marry each other right?" Fang nodded, bent over and gave her a little nibble on the ear.

Twilight gave Fang a playful punch to the shoulder. "Nuzzling and kissing only! ... For now." 

After dinner Twilight and Fang had returned to the castle. Just as they were about to enter a dragon attacked. He came down and landed in the street then turned to Twilight. With one swing of his spiked tail Twilight was dying. The barbs on his tail were full of venom so when they poked her she was injected with a toxin more deadly than that of a king cobra and a black widow combined. Before anypony knew what happened the dragon fell to the ground, and his head rolled away from the body. Fangs reaction to seeing Twilight hurt was instant. In his rage he had beheaded the dragon with one clean swing.

Fang stepped over to the body of a dying Twilight. He had tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry my love... I did not want for you to share my curse but... If I don't do this... You will die!" He then picked her head up and drove his fangs into her neck. As her wounds began to heal Fang carried her into the castle, to the bedroom, laid her on the bed, and laid down next to her with tears in his eyes. "I-I couldn't let her leave me... It was to save her life yes but... It was also to keep her with me." He hugged Twilight's sleeping form and nuzzled her. "I hope she understands in the morning..." Fang had just turned the mare he loved into a vampony... Without her consent, to save her life.





You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt.

> A Vampony's Sorrow.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary. Men alone are quite capable of every wickedness. ~ Joseph Conrad.





Twilight awoke to the sound of whispers. The sensation of one of Fang's kisses on her neck made her open her eyes halfway to see her friends, the princesses, and family. She looked to her left and saw Fang. He was just slowly running his fangs down her neck. Then Twilight kissed him on the lips. She didn't care who was watching she wanted, no needed, to kiss him. She let out a blissful sigh as he kissed back. As their tongues danced, trying to gain dominance over the other, she heard her teacher cough. This broke the two alicorns out of their trance.

Twilight blushed and looked at Celestia. "Sorry Princess I don't know what came over me..."

Celestia smiled. "Its ok Twilight... However we need to discuss a few things. First of all you almost died... Fang saved your life." Twilight responded to that by kissing Fang again. This time it was just a little peck and she started to nuzzle him. "But in the process he turned you into a vampony..."

Twilight's eyes went wide and she looked at Fang. "Is that true? Fang you said you don't turn anypony unless they want you to! Why did you turn me!? I didn't want to become a vampony! I-I-I hate you!!!" Despite 'hating him' she buried her face in his side. "I'ts not fair... It's not fair... It's so unfair!"

Fang slowly wrapped a wing around Twilight. "Twilight... If I had not turned you... You would have died... I turned you because I know that I couldn't bare to lose you." He started to nuzzle her slightly as she stopped crying and looked down at her. "I am sorry. I can not take the Sanguinem Benedictionem away from you. Think of it this way... Your the same but you just need to drink blood once a month. I'll let you feed off of me..." He gave her a small peck on the cheek.

Twilight blinked and gave him a small bite on the neck. She felt her fangs pierce his flesh and, slowly, she began to drink his blood. After a few minutes she pulled away. She looked at Fang her eyes wide. "It... It tastes good. How am I so used to this already?" She tilted her head to the side and noticed something. Fang was shedding tears. "Fang whats the matter? I didn't hurt you did I?" Fang just replied by giving Twilight a little nip on the neck. Not to feed but as a sign of encouragement. "Oh so those are tears of joy..." She leaned up and bit the earlobe of his right ear. That resulted in Fang breaking out in a blush and nuzzling her. Twilight giggled.

Dash just smiled and flew up to the two. She just had to ask. "So whats it taste like Twi? Apples, oranges, bananas?"

Twilight looked at Celestia. "Whats that round purple pinkish fruit that you like so much Princess?"

Celestia blinked. "Passion Fruit. Why?"

Twilight smiled. "Fang's blood tastes like passion fruit."

Fang smiled. "You taste like pomegranates Twilight." That earned him a little kiss on the cheek.

Twilight just slowly nuzzled herself into Fang's side. Then Ana jumped up on the bed and slowly climbed up Fang's side and curled up on his back. "You and Twilight are really cute together cousin Fang! You two are also really comfortable!" She nuzzled Twilight and gave her a little kiss on the back of the neck. "I heard that the bites feel very good because of some chemical in a vampony's saliva." She wrapped her hooves around Twilight's neck and squeezed. Soon there was a quiet snoring, Ana had fallen asleep, while hugging Twilight, again.

Pinkie was just sitting there. "Who's the little filly? Is she Fang's?"

Fang chuckled. "Pinkie this little filly is Anastasia, she is my cousin, she lives with me in Transymaneia."

Pinkie smiled. Then she teleported up to Fang so that their eyes were almost touching each others. "She is adorable! You have to let me foalsit whenever you and Twilight go on a date!" She was smiling. "Promise! No Pinkie Pie Promise that you will let me foalsit her!"

Twilight giggled. Fang just pulled his head away from Pinkie and gave a nervous chuckle. "OK Pinkie but don't teach her how to teleport like you do. She is so adorable, she might give me a heart attack if you do."

Pinkie smiled. "Okie doki loki! I Pinkie promise I wont teach her to break the fourth wall! Cross my heart and hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye." She crossed her heart with her hoof and stuck her hoof in her eye. She then smiled.

"OK Pinkie whenever me and Fang go out you can watch Ana... If we don't bring her with us. So Fang do you want to go on a trip anytime soon?" Fang nodded. "Where? Trottingham? Vanhoover? Appleoosa?" Fang shook his head no.

"San Franciscolt. I need to find the earth pony that is the guardian of a key. I also want to try some cooking from around there and get some recipes for my chef. He sees a recipe and he can make it better than the original cook. Unless its an apple family recipe as nopony can make a pie that is as good as theirs."  He sighed. "I must find the keys. If I'm able to find all fifty of the keys that were spread around the world I can fix Sombra. I bet Cadence was always wondering how to save him. He hid fifty keys around the world. Each key has a guardian. Rasputin was one of the guardians so there are forty nine more to go."

Cadence cried a little at the mention of Sombra. "You can't help my dad Fang. He's dead."

Fang smiled. "Cadence you and I know both know that he isn't dead. His armor protected him from the blast and he is simply asleep in the crystal heart waiting to be woken up." He quickly nuzzled Twilight. "Come on Twilight lets go!" He picked Twilight and Ana both up and walked out of the castle. Soon his carriage came and they got on. Their destination was San Franciscolt.





All is riddle, and the key to a riddle is another riddle. ~ Emerson.

> Molten Maniac.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you will see. ~ Winston Churchill.




As Fang, Ana, and Twilight were on their way to San Franciscolt Fang decided to debrief the other vampony about the her new abilities. "OK Twilight, as you know you are a vampony now. The thing is you also have new powers because of my blessing. You can now see in the dark without magic, have super strength and speed to the point that no normal pony can have, and are very flexible with extremely quick reaction times. Bird!" Fang and Twilight ducked, Ana however just caught the bird with her magic and was hugging it. Fang looked back and saw the scene. "I forgot that Ana loves animals almost as much as Fluttershy."

Ana was just sitting there with the bird, as it turned out, was a Glaceoiseau. An ice version of the phoenix. "Can I keep her cousin Fang? Please? I'll take really good care of her!" She nuzzled the bird and then gave Fang puppy dog eyes and a quivering lip. "Please?" She was also looking at Twilight. Twilight poked Fang and pointed at Ana.

Fang held out for a record amount of time. When it comes to Ana he usually says yes immediately. This time it took him a few minutes. "... Fine... But your taking care of the little bird. What are you going to name it anyway?"

"Yuki! It's Japaneighse for snow! You hear that Yuki? Were going to be best friends forever!" A small necklace appeared around Yuki when Ana's horn began to glow. It was a collar with a name tag that was shaped like a snowflake and had Yuki emblazoned on it. "I named you after myself somewhat. My nickname is The Snow Princess. So I named you Yuki which means snow." She nuzzled the bird again which let out a small squawk. It was very cute watching Ana play with her new pet. 

Twilight smiled and nuzzled into Fang's shoulder letting her new fangs shine brightly with her smile. Soon however she felt. Fang's fangs running along her neck, She let out a blissful sigh as one of his wings wrap around her. They just sat like that for a while nuzzling one another until Ana bounced up to them. "Cousin Fang! Twilight! Were here! Were here!"

Twilight looked over the side of the carriage and she saw what she dreaded, a prison in the bay. Alcatrotz. "We are not going to that prison are we?" She shuddered at the thought of being surrounded by some of Equestria's worst criminals.

"No we are going to the main part of the city." Fang leaned over and nuzzled Twilight. He smiled as she relaxed, wiggling into his side. He gave her a little kiss on the neck and she returned the favor. Soon they were just kissing once again. 

Ana smiled and poked the two elder alicorns. "Were here! Come on lets go!" Ana then walked out of the carriage that had been parked for the last four minutes. Yuki flew onto her back and looked around. "Hey look! There is a wonderbolt show in town! Can we go see it cousin Fang? Please?" She was her puppy dog eyes again. Fang just sighed and nodded. "Yay!" She ran up and hugged Fang's leg. 

Twilight walked up and nuzzled into his side. "I agree with Ana. We should go and see it. I think we should just relax today and look for the key tomorrow." Fang let a small smile grow on his face.

"Yes I suppose a break does sound good." He gave Twilight a little nuzzle and laughed as Ana climbed onto her back. "Where is the show taking place?" Twilight had come here with her parents once and knew that the wonderbolts always used the same stadium. She slowly nuzzled into Fangs side and pointed toward the stadium. "Oh... I knew that." Soon Fang, Twilight, and Ana were off. They reached the stadium and were led straight into the royals box. 

Twilight smiled and picked up a pamphlet. "The first event is a race. Says here its Soarin, Fleetfoot, and Spitfire..." She smiled as Ana ordered some hayfries and began to eat. She sat down next to Fang and nuzzled into his side. Fang smiled back and nuzzled her neck.

"And their off! Its Fleetfoot in the lead, quickly overcome by Soarin and Spitfire! It's neck and neck between the two as they go around the first bend! Wait whats this!? Spitfire is closing her wings! Shes must be trying to fake out Soarin into thinking shes tired!" Spitfire was not tired. She was afraid of what she had just seen. "And Soarin wins by a mile! That race was honestly Spitfire's until she slowed down! I wonder why she did that." Spitfire was now walking off the track with Fleetfoot and Soarin next to her, one on each side.

Twilight just smiled and snuggled farther into Fang's side. "See isn't this fun Fang? Ana is having a good time and I am to."

Fang just smiled. "Yes this is fun." He wrapped on wing around Twilight and pulled her closer. The other was holding Ana close to them. "I could get used to this." The rest of the show went off without a hitch. It was only after the show that the key appeared. They were walking out of the stadium when they saw Spitrtfire slip away from the rest of the wonderbolts. Letting their curiosity get the better of them they followed at a distance.

Spitfire walked into a ally and slowly approached a pegasus filly. The filly was bound and gagged. She was crying and shaking her head as Spitfire approached. "I'm glad your OK kid." Spitfire reached down and took the gag out of the fillies mouth. The gag was a sock.

"Sis behind you! Its a trap!" Spitfire turned around and was met with the sensation of her feathers being singed. The filly sighed. "Told you... Help!"

Spitfire growled. "What do you want from me Volcanalis!? I already have my kid sister back, so there is nothing you can do to keep me from going to the guard!"

The orange earth pony named Volcanalis just chuckled. "Oh there is one thing I can do... I can take your life!" His body shifted and began to resemble lava. He was about to belch lava onto Spitfire and the filly to kill them when he was met with a sword through the back. "So I guess the monster king has come to your rescue. Next time you wont be so lucky!" He melted away and into a sewer pipe before reforming and running away from the scene. Fang bent down and picked up the key he left behind. He then turned around and walked off as Spitfire and the little filly just stared.

Spitfire was comforting her sister as she looked at Fang. "Thanks dude!"

Fang smiled. "Don't thank me. Thank Princess Twilight. She suggested we follow you." He then walked off to Twilight and Ana with the key.

Twilight smiled. "See? We had fun and you got the key! Now lets go get those recipes!" She giggled as Fang nuzzled her before she herself nuzzled into his side. Fang slowly wrapped a wing around her and the other around Ana as they walked off. "... Fang I don't think we saw thee last of that Volcanalis pony. We should be prepared for a being made of lava attacking Ponyville in the future."

Fang nodded. "Yes he is most likely angry that he was not able to kill Spitfire and will attack me or somepony close to me as a way of getting revenge."

Ana just hopped onto Fang's back. She had somehow gotten a hold of a sandwich. "Can we go get something to eat now?" Fang and Twilight just laughed as they walked into the nearest diner.

Meanwhile, without them knowing, the archdemon Sir Kneighf was watching from one of the roof tops. He was eating a hay burger. "So the monster king is after Sombra's keys... He will have to fight me for mine sooner or later." He chuckled as he looked down at the key he held. It was black with a red tip. Just like Sombra and his horn. He let out a small chuckle before getting up and walking away.





When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks into you. ~ Nietzsche.

> Meeting Both of Her Matches.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. ~ Albert Einstein.





Twilight and Fang were sitting in the diner that the wendegos had opened in town, sharing a, vanilla milkshake and nuzzling each other. Fang had one of his wings wrapped tightly around Twilight, pulling her into his side. Suddenly Twilight asked what was possibly the darkest question Fang had ever heard from her. "Fang? Do you ever think that you will go to war with Equestria?"

Fang just blinked and looked at Twilight. "Only if Celestia declares war on my kingdom... I like you so I would probably give a Non occidere, but I would still squash Equestria. No offense but so many years of peace has made your military soft." Then Fang let out a chuckle. "I have an idea. Try to get your brother to observe the superior military of my country and see if your military becomes stronger." Twilight just blinked.

"Isn't your military stronger because all the soldiers are monsters?" Twilight raised an eyebrow at Fang who just shook his head.

"No. My military has been preparing, for me to give the order, to assault and conquer the griffon kingdom. I do not like their current king because his daughter has a broken mind. Her mind shattered due to years of abuse at his talons. You wouldn't think it to look at her but I talked to her and found out about her past. Poor young Gilda..." Fang sighed and took a drink of the milkshake.

Twilight blinked. 'Gilda? No it must be some other griffon named Gilda... Maybe it is the Gilda who used to be friends with Dash. The abuse would have caused her to be either a very angry or depressed individual.' Then she shrugged and took a bite of her sandwich. "We have been having problems with the griffons as of late. Their king has been a lot less friendly recently."

Fang just chuckled and looked out the window towards Canterlot. "I wonder... Twilight should I give the griffon king a chance to change his ways?"

Twilight wiped the crumbs off the side of her mouth and smiled at Fang. "Its always best to give somepony a second chance Fang." She gave him a little kiss on the nose and giggled as he nuzzled her.

"Yes I suppose that it is best to avoid war if possible. However I expect that the Equestrian military, if I was to declare war on the griffons, would stand aside and let my army do it's job?" Fang looked at Twilight who just nodded. "Good. I don't want to start a war with Equestria." He then leaned in and gave her a little kiss on the neck. Soon after they finished and paid. Fang led Twilight out of town and back to his palace where they just talked and nuzzled each other for a while before going into the palace library and walking through the aisles talking. Twilight would occasionally grab a book and ask if she could borrow it to which Fang would always respond the same way. Yes.




Ponyville however was intrigued by a message written on the side of town hall in spray paint. 'The world is beautiful. Let me show you.' It was written right above a image of Celestia and Luna circling each other in the sky. Their positions were reversed. Luna was in the half that depicted day while Celestia flew in the night. Pinkie was looking at the painting when she heard a sudden pop from a near by ally. She had sensed somepony new was in town but had not able to find them at all. It was like they were everywhere at once. She stuck her head around the corner and saw a pony that had a smile on his face spraying the wall. At first she wanted to run up to this new pony and hug him. Then what he was painting caught her attention. It was the face of a green stallion. One half had a halo over it while the other had a curved horn sticking out the other side. "Two minds in one body. We are the same, are we not bearer of laughter?" The green earth pony turned his head towards Pinkie.

Pinkie was in shock. "Who are you and how do you know about Pinkamena?" The earth pony just laughed and tossed the spray paint in his hoof into a black bag. He got up and put the bag around his neck before trotting farther into the ally. "Hey! Where are you going? I haven't thrown you a party yet!" The green pony stopped and turned his head. "Oh! I need to know your name for your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party! So what is it?"

The green pony just frowned. "A party? Nopony has ever thrown me a party... They usually just throw rocks at me..." Then the frown turned into a smile. "... My name is Jekyll." Then he just walked into the shadows and disappeared.

"Jekyll? Who names their colt Jekyll?" Pinkie just shook her head and ran out of the ally. "I hope he likes chocolate!" With that she was off. The mayor told her that a pony had just moved into a large house on the edge of town. It was three stories and it had a very large basement. Letting her curiosity get the best of her she went down and looked around. The walls were lined with blank canvases. She counted fifty before she went back upstairs and started to set up the party. She didn't have enough time to get everypony, she had to literally force, Twilight and Fang to attend so she only got her friends, and their coltfriends, to attend.

When Jekyll opened the door he was met with Pinkies, giant, blue, eyes. "Surprise!!!" The sound, and the surprise of seeing eyes that were the size of his head, caused him to freak. He threw down his bag pulled out a can and sprayed Pinkie with it. His action was met with the sound of laughter. "Why are you spraying the air?" Pinkie was now beside him. She was completely paint free.

Jekyll's eyes shot open and he looked at Pinkie. "I'm so so so sorry! I was just surprised. Most of the time when I get surprised, five seconds later I receive a hoof to the face so I took up using my paint as a defense system. Please don't hate me." He looked down and started to kick the carpet with is hoof.

He was met with a bone crushing hug in response. "I don't hate you! I don't hate anypony! Its physically impossible for me to hate anypony!" She let him go and Jekyll shook his head. "I hope you like chocolate!"

Jekyll watched her bounce away. Slowly a smile grew on his face. 'She is certainly something... Shes pretty cute to.' Jekyll closed the door and threw his bag and paint over into the corner before running up to Pinkie. "Yes... I do like chocolate."

Pinkie just smiled. Then she looked into the dark orange orbs that were his eyes. 'He has nice eyes. A nice smile too.' She felt a light touch on her neck and looked to see that Jekyll was giving her a small nuzzle. With a smile she returned the favor.





Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. ~ William Faulkner.

> Declaration of War.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Don't forget that I cannot see myself, that my role is limited to being the one who looks in the mirror. ~ Jacques Rigaut.





Twilight, Shining Armor, Cadence, Celestia, and Luna were sitting in a room that Fang had designed specifically for government meetings. This morning Fang had sent them all a message. He wrote that they all needed to attend a meeting at noon. Armor was weary of the room thinking that it was all a trap to kill them all. "I still say we should just go... All this could be is trouble." He was looking at the table. It had what looked like a large gate with thousands of creatures clawing their way out of it. It was obviously representing the demons of Tartarus breaking free from their prison.

Twilight looked out the window towards the courtyard. She saw them, the soldiers of Fang's army, they stood there, waiting, listening, watching... Monsters of all kinds ready to kill if he said 'kill' and conquer if he said 'conquer'. "I think we should hear him out big bro. Fang can be trusted. I've known him for what? Three months? He has yet to hurt me, and he even saved my life! Sure he turned me into a vampony but he still saved me."

Cadence nodded. "Shes right honey. Fang may seem to be a bad pony, but he only does things like this when he thinks that danger is about. He is usually right about it as well." Cadence sighed and mumbled. "I really hope that he isn't going to do something stupid."

Luna nodded in agreement. "I remember the last time Fang did this... He basically saved both me and Tia from a big mistake. He stopped us from crossing a patch of desert to get to an oasis and made us go around instead of straight. There was a giant sand worm lurking under the ground. It would have eaten us if we had gone straight towards the oasis."

Celestia remained quiet. A certain sentence just kept replaying in her head. Fang had written that 'An old one will awaken if the griffon king continues his reign. He will be bound to serve the one who freed him from his bonds.' She hoped he was wrong. The old ones were the fist thousand demons to exist, all demons are their children, their size ranged from as small as a rabbit to as large as a mountain range. They were very hard to kill and loved, absolutely loved, the taste of flesh. They had each been locked away by a different spell, most of which had been designed by Fang for that specific demon. She remembered the last old one that Fang had sealed away. Scossa, the Drum of Rage. That one had only been sealed away ten thousand years ago. While certainly not the most dangerous of the old ones, Scossa was, by far, the most violent.

The door to the room opened and Fang stepped in. He was wearing his armor, black, jagged on the edges, with red lines running along the edges. "Greetings fellow royals. I suppose you are wondering why I called you all here." He walked over, sat down, and took off his helmet. His usually happy face was replaced by one of pure fury. "As I said in my letter, the griffon king is trying to reawaken an old one."

There was a silence, the air was stale and cool, in that moment they could have heard a pin, made of snow, drop, on a mattress, ten towns over. "Which one is he going to awaken Fang?" The crowd all looked to Celestia. She had broken the silence with a fearful voice.

Fang grimaced. "The fool is going to awaken Frigidi, the Cold Blooded. He is one of the more civilized old ones. Frigidi can be saved. The griffon king however must die."

Luna felt her blood go cold when she heard that name, then a thought occurred to her. "... He is the bipedal alligator correct? One of the five hundred who refused to eat sentient creatures?" It was true that half of the old ones only ate things that did not speak. Fang simply nodded in response. "Maybe he can be reasoned with?"

Fang smiled. "Yes he probably can be reasoned with. I called you all here to tell you that if you see a bipedal alligator walking around your kingdom do not be afraid. I also called you here to ask for aid. The griffon army is powerful, yes, but the sight of four armies marching towards them would cause them to surrender in an instant." Fang looked at them. "Will you lend me aid in taking over the griffon kingdom in exchange for a share of their land?"

Celestia nodded. "I will order the day guard to march with your army."

Luna smiled. "The night guard shall march along with the day and darken the skies with their presence!"

Armor was still skeptical but nodded and looked at his wife. "... If Cadence is alright with it I will send part of the crystal guard to help your army."

Cadence just nodded. "If we get a share of the griffon lands then that will give our daughter a better life with less war." Cadence reached under herself and rubbed her stomach. She was due to give birth any day now. She felt a light kick and smiled. "Honey, shes kicking." Armor reached under and felt his wife's stomach and smiled at his daughter's kick.

Twilight looked at Cadence and Armor then smiled, she then looked at Celestia, Luna, and finally Fang. "I-I want to go with you Fang. I know you... You are going to lead the march aren't you. Can I please go? I want to see this 'old one'!"

The room was silent, Cadence's jaw dropped and she looked at Twilight. "Are you insane Twilight? Frigidi will eat you!"

Armor was just looking at Fang his glare saying 'I dare you to say yes! Say it so I can kick your flank out the right wall and smile as you re-enter the room through the left!'

Celestia looked at Cadence. "Did you not hear Luna? Frigidi is one of the more civilized of the old ones. He only eats things like hydra, manticore, lupus, and ursa." Then she turned to her sister. "Luna... You have not made a choice like this sense you returned so I am leaving my vote up to you."

Luna looked at Twilight. "I see no reason to not allow her to go... If Fang is with her she'll be safe. He has very good senses and would take an arrow or blade to the heart in order to protect her. She should also go and speak to Frigidi. She is by far the most intelligent of us and would probably write down everything about Frigidi, just so she has notes about him. It would be beneficial to know what he knows about the demons and he could possibly help us with the archdemons. As I represent both me and my sisters vote at this point in time... I say she should go with Fang. However, as a vote requires a majority to be decided, she can only go if Fang allows it." She smiled and looked at her sister. "That makes sense right sister?" Celestia was staring her jaw agape. She slowly nodded.

Twilight turned to Fang. "Well?"

Fang just sat there. He looked between Twilight and Armor before sighing. "Three conditions. One: You must wear armor. Two: You must stay by my side at all times. Three: When you meet Frigidi you must, and I repeat must, not scream. I remember he looks scary but is very wise and kind. However he will be angered if you judge him by the way he looks."

Twilight lit up her horn and smiled as her brother was blocked from hitting Fang in the face. "I agree to all terms."

Fang teleported Twilight over to the door and got up, placing his helmet back on his head. "We shall get you fitted for armor. It will be light, but it will still protect you." He turned to Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. "I wish you all well on your way home, you as well Captain Shining Armor, I shall await your armies at the first town inside the griffon kingdoms borders." He looked directly at Celestia. "Can Ana stay with you and Luna while we are gone?" Celestia nodded and then she smiled as Fang walked over to Twilight and wrapped a wing around her. "Do not worry Twilight, I will not lead an attack to kill the griffons. Only their king shall die if I can help it. Now do you want light armor that is better for protection or mobility?"

Twilight smiled and nuzzled Fang. "Protection. I find it would be a mistake to run away from battle if we should get into a skirmish. As much sense as it would make to run, it would be more dangerous as I would not be able to protect myself from what was behind me."

Fang smiled. "Dragon scale armor it is then." They left the room and went down to the castle armory where the blacksmith, Black Hammer, made a set of armor that fit Twilight and had holes for her wings.


Meanwhile at the palace of the griffon king.


King Adlerkopf III was in his room looking at the statue of Frigidi. He raised his talon and pulled the glowing gemstone necklace we was wearing off and held it to the statue. "I call upon your power! Awaken Frigidi!" The stone glowed and flew into the statue, soon the stone was replaced by dark green scales and the eyes of the statue turned red. "Yes... Now I have a way to take over Equestria! An invincible, immortal solider!"

The statue growled at the griffon. "I will not hurt the ponies!" He grabbed the griffon by the neck and squeezed. His, clawed, webbed, hand dug into the griffon's skin before he finally released him. "Do you understand little bird?" He leaned in and his jaws clamped down on the the air right in front of the griffon. Then he grabbed his own head and screamed. The gemstone that was the necklace implanted itself on his head. He blinked and looked at the griffon. "Master..."

Adlerkopf just smiled and laughed. "Yes I am your master... Now go to the dungeon and wait for me to call you." The bipedal alligator just nodded and slowly marched off.


Birds sing after a storm. Why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them? ~ Rose Kennedy.

> Blackroot Forest.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Evil is always unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed, and eats at our table. ~ W.H. Auden.





Twilight opened her eyes and let the morning sunlight dance across them. She remembered going with Fang to the basement and getting some armor, the armor in question was made of, the scales, of the dragon who had attacked her in Canterlot, then she followed him outside where he told his troops that war had come. Then she blacked out. She smiled when she saw Fang. He was carrying her. She blinked when she saw a pulse go through his neck. She licked her lips and let her fangs slip out, slowly she leaned her head towards his neck. She felt his fur in her mouth and bit down. She felt his blood seeping into her mouth once again and smiled before she began to drink. The taste of his, passion fruit flavored, blood filled her mouth once again. She swallowed, and did this three more times, before giving her bite mark a little lick and letting go of Fang's neck. She smiled and let out a small yawn. The sound of her yawn got Fang's attention and he turned his head to her. He smiled seeing that she woke up. "Good morning Twilight."

Twilight smiled in return. "Good morning Fang." Twilight got off his back and nuzzled into his side. He had stopped and taken his armor off in the middle of the night. She looked behind them and saw a valley that had a large campsite in it. Fang, Celestia, Cadence, and Luna's soldiers were all over it, sharpening their swords and sparing with each other. It was usually the night guard and Transylmaneian army who won.  She raised an eyebrow and looked ahead of them. Her mouth fell open at what she saw. The griffon capital of Arcusalae. The magnificent fortress of a city was carved into the side of the mountain that was only about five hundred miles ahead of them. In between them and the city was a small forest. "Fang... Are we standing outside of Blackroot Forest?"

Fang nodded. "We are. We are also going inside." Twilight gave out a small eep which caused Fang to look at her. He saw her hugging him and shaking. "... Is something wrong?"

Twilight just kept shaking for a while. "T-t-that f-f-forest is more dangerous than a filly, walking into a dragons cave, telling them that she was taking some of their hoard, and bringing it home with her! You can not be serious about going in there!"

Fang just keeps looking at her. "Twilight I am dead serious. I have been in this forest. It is nothing to worry about. There are just a few manticores, cockatrice, hydra, and lupus."

Twilight just glared in response. "There is also a seven headed dragon, with seven jaws on each of it's heads, that breaths fire!"

Fang just blinked. "You mean Sven? I made him, he is nothing to fear, all he eats is fish!"

Twilight looked at him with wide eyes. "Y-y-y-y-you created Sven, The Seven Headed?" Then she gave a small smile. "That makes me feel a little better... OK lets go in..." She stood up bravely and walked in with Fang. As soon as they were not visible from the entrance she immediately rammed herself up against Fang's side. "Your going to keep me safe right?"

Fang smiled and nuzzled her. "Of course I will." They walked for about thirty minutes before they came to a clearing. In the clearing were five ponies and a griffon. The griffon was surrounded.

The griffon was carrying a war hammer and trying to smash the ponies. "Stop moving you monsters!"

The ponies all stopped. "Monsters? Is that what you think we are?" They all stepped into the light where their faces could be seen. They were all rough, brown, and bark-like. Their eyes were a solid yellow like a timber wolf's.

The griffon looked at them. He just blinked. Then he growled and threw his war hammer at what looked to be the largest one. "Yes!"

Twilight was amazed at how the pony grabbed the hammer out of the air. The hammer just completely stopped and the pony placed it on his own back. "Look at yourself in a mirror, general, and see the darkness in your own soul! Speculum anaimae!" From the ground rose a mirror that was shaped like a door. It flashed and there was a scream. The creature that spoke grinned. "A scream tells us that you have committed more sins than good deeds! Comburet!" There was a flash of fire and the griffon buts into flames and everything, except his skin, feathers, talons, and beak, turned into ash and was sucked out through his mouth and into the mirror. The mirror then turned into a simple crystal ball.

Fang smiled and walked over to the creatures. "Hello Weidenponys. Can we pass? We have committed more good deeds than sins." The ponies just looked at the two and nodded. "Oh before I forget... Sven! Crisp them!" Fire shot down from the sky and the wooden ponies were burned to a crisp. Twilight looked up and saw Sven, The Seven Headed. "Thank you!" The seven headed, forty seven jawed, dragon nodded and his heads pulled out of sight. Fang then walked over and picked up the crystal ball on the ground. "573,951. They took the lives of many sinners..." He then threw the crystal ball into a small portal. "Now it is in my vault... Along with the other two I have found."

Twilight just blinked. "What were they?" She was frightend of course, however she was still more curious.

Fang grimaced. "Weidenponys. Basically timber wolves in the shape of ponies. They have a very crazed sense of justice. They take a sinners skin and hang it from a tree. Let us please stop speaking of them. We need to set up the camp. We attack tomorrow at dawn! The griffon king sent a general, that means that he is ready to kill." He and Twilight went and told the armies to set the camp back up in the forest. "Soldiers! We have a secret weapon!" Fang yelled to the sky and Sven stuck his heads out of the bushes. "I created him and, as he is naught but a golem, he is bound to my will!" The soldiers all cheered when they saw one of the, ten, fiercest, dragons that was known to pony kind, was on their side.

Twilight just walked over to Fang and looked up at him. "A-a-are you going to k-kill all their soldiers?" She had tears in her eyes at just the thought of a mass slaughter of griffons. She didn't want any innocents to die. She knew that the griffon king used a draft for his army. Once a male turned thirteen, they had to sever for ten years in the army, else they be charged with treason.

Fang just looked down at her and gave her a nuzzle. "Of course not Twilight, I am going to have Sven knock them out. He can breath a... I guess you could call it knock out gas, as well as fire. I am simply going to conjure a shield around the armies before he does and drop it after the gas is cleared. Then I am going to have out soldiers restrain the griffons wearing armor." He then gave her a peck on the cheek before nipping on her ear. "I-I'm going to need some help keeping the shield up..."

Twilight smiled and nuzzled his neck. "I'll help you keep the shield up... If you spend the night, in a tent, with me so I can be safe and warm." Fang just blushed and nodded in response.





Measure not the work until the day's out and the labor done. ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

> The Battle of Arcusale.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else. ~ Ernest Hemingway.


Twilight and Fang woke up in their tent. They were wrapped in each others forelegs. Twilight hugged Fang tighter and began to sniffle a little bit. "P-please... Don't go... I don't want you to get hurt." Twilight just kept sniffling until she felt hooves running down her back. Twilight pulled her teary eyes off of Fang's chest and looked up to see Fang, smiling at her.

"Twilight. Do not worry, I will be fine. All the soldiers, both with and against us, will be fine. We have Sven remember? He is just going to knock all their soldiers out. Then you and I are going to go into the palace and ask the griffon king to surrender peacefully. If he refuses I will kill him. I will probably kill him anyway though. He does work for a archdemon after all." Suddenly the soldiers were shouting things such as 'The enemy is attacking!', 'Surround her!', or 'Don't let her get away!' Fang and Twilight shot up and walked out of their tent to see what was going on.

Standing there, surrounded by soldiers, with a look of fear on her face and some over sized saddle bags on her back, was none other than Gilda. "Dudes please let me pass. I am not working for my father I swear!" The guards did not ease up. Gilda looked around for a way to escape. Then her eyes landed on Twilight. "You're one of the Equestrian princesses right? Please you have got to get these guys to let me go!" Twilight was about to order the soldiers to lead Gilda over to her, but Fang stopped her. She raised an eyebrow but then realized something. Fang was walking towards Gilda. Twilight followed suit.

Fang just looked at Gilda and took off his helmet revealing his face. "Twilight could not make them to stand down even if she wanted to. She can not order them around as it is not Equestrian or Crystal military." He gave a small smirk. "However I can. They are my soldiers after all. I will tell them to stand down." The soldiers started to ease up. "But before I do you have to tell us why your bag is moving." The soldiers all went back to their attack positions. Gilda's eyes went wide as she looked to her saddle bag. It was indeed moving.

Twilight blinked. "Do you have like a rabbit or something in there?" She was now eyeing the bag curiously. She sat down on her haunches and just kept looking at the two. Alternating between the bag and Gilda's face.

Gilda decided to try and lie to Twilight and Fang. "It's a chicken..." The top of the saddlebags opened and the head of a three year old griffon chick popped out.

The little griffon looked at Gilda. "Mom! I am not a chicken! I am an eagle! I told you that ten times alrea-" The little chick stopped talking when she saw Twilight and Fang. "Monsters!" She ducked back into the bag. "I'm not here!"

Twilight just giggled. "So... That's why you were so angry at the party Pinkie threw for you three years ago! You were pregnant!" Twilight stopped and went wide eyed. "Wait a second... If your a mother... Then where is the father?" Two griffons ran out of the bushes. Both were male, but one was a child. "I'm guessing that's your son and his father?" The older griffon took a swipe at Fang and caused some of his mane to fall off. The little one tried to tackle Twilight but missed her completely, because she sat down, and ended up getting a mouthful of dirt. Twilight just looked at the little griffon and smiled. "Hi there."

Gilda ran towards little griffon and picked him up. "Sharp are you ok?" The griffon spit the dirt out of his mouth and nodded. Twilight blinked in surprise. The little boy did not have a head that resembled a eagle. He had a head that resembled an owl. Twilight looked towards the father of the two young griffons and noticed he had the head of an owl as well. The father at this point in time was in a headlock that was created by Fang. "Scope!"

The griffon forgot about his fight with Fang momentarily and looked at Gilda. "Yes? Wait one second Gilda." He looked up at Fang. "You win... Will you let me go now?" As soon as he asked Fang nodded and released him. "Thank you." He got up and walked over to Gilda and his son. "Gilda... Where's Gale?"

The little chick in the bag popped her head out again and hugged her father. "Daddy! We're safe now mommy! Daddy can kill the mean old monsters!"

The male griffon, Scope, looked around. "Um... Gale? These are ponies not monsters." Fang was about to say he was half right when Twilight hit him on the back of the head.

The little griffon, Sharp, looked at his sister nodded then looked at his father. "Um... Half of these are ponies. The other half are... Weird." He looked at Fang. "Father look at the black alicorn. His mouth specifically. He is not a Threshal, yet he still has fangs... It appears that the princess does to." Fang and Twilight raised their eyebrows, looked at each and gasped. He was right their fangs were showing. The large griffon, Scope, looked and gave them a glare. Sharp began to flap his wings and flew over to Twilight's Face. He tapped her fangs with one of his talons. "They are real... What are you?"

Gilda began to back up and Gale just shuddered. "Monsters! See mom I told you! Monsters!"

Twilight and Fang looked at each other , then the griffons, then each other and laughed. After a minute Twilight walked over to Fang, and laid her head on his shoulder, before looking at the griffons. "Well, yes we are monsters, we are vamponies to be exact, but don't worry. Most of the stories about monsters are nothing but myth."

Fang smiled and nuzzled her neck. "Well you figured out our secret, now don't be afraid. Most monsters are kind and live among society and are some of the most helpful creatures you will ever meet." He smiled and looked at the griffons.  "Now tell us why you are fleeing from your home?"

Gilda sighed. "We don't have to say-" 

"Grandpa went crazy!" All eyes turned to Gale who was now sitting on her mothers back. "... I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that was I mom?" Gilda just sighed. Gale looked at Twilight and Fang. "I said nothing."

Twilight just giggled. "We know that the griffon king went crazy. That's why we're here. We are going to get him to surrender and make him give up his crown. At least I hope we can. I don't want to have to resort to the second option."

Gilda raised her eyebrow along with Gale, Scope, and Sharp. "Is the second option killing him? Because that's nothing short of what will stop him."

Twilight gulped. "So he has to die? I was hopping to avoid that... Fang looks like he has to die."

Fang gave her a small nuzzle. "I know... Believe me I know." He looked at Twilight and gave her a small smile. He then turned to the griffons. "Do you want an escort away from here and through the forest? I can spare some of my soldiers."

Gilda and the other three smiled. "If they can get us to Cloudsdale. That would be awesome." Scope nodded in agreement. "So whats going to happen to the kingdom when my dad dies? I don't want to rule..."

Twilight and Fang looked at each other. "Well... You can sign your the control over to one of us and we will split it three ways. One third to Fang's kingdom, one third to The Crystal Empire, and one third to Equestria. However you can't do that until you are the ruler. So you will have to wait until your father is dead." Gilda just nodded and Twilight smiled at her explanation.

"Ok. So just come and find me once my dad is dead. I never wanted to be in the government anyway." Gilda gave a smile. Then she raised her eyebrow when Twilight raised a hoof. "What? I'm not a teacher."

Twilight blushed a little. "Ok. Two things. First, if you tell Rainbow Dash about why you were being so rude at the party Pinkie threw for you I'm sure she will forgive you. Second I want to know why your son and... Is Scope your husband." Gilda nodded. "I want to know why your son and husband look like owls. I thought griffons were supposed to be a cross between a lion and a eagle."

Gilda just looked at her. "Do you really think she will forgive me if I tell her the truth?" Twilight smiled and nodded.

Scope looked at Twilight and waved a talon. "Common mistake. Griffons are gust a cross between a lion and a bird. Its only griffons with eagle heads that you have seen because they are usually part of the royal family. Not always but usually."

Twilight smiled. "I see... Hey Gilda?"

Gilda looked away from her daughter and towards Twilight. "Yeah?"

Twilight gave the ground a little kick. "Do you know where Frigidi is? He looks like a bipedal alligator." There was a crack and the thump of a tree hitting the forest floor. Twilight looked behind them to see Frigidi and Gilda's father. "This is not good is it Fang?"

The griffon king smiled and pointed towards the armies. "Frigidi attack!"

Fang just smiled. "Sven! Keep Frigidi busy! Soldiers with me! We storm the griffon capital now!" Sven's heads came out of the bushes and started to fight with Frigidi. Frigidi was not an old one who was known for his strength, but for is intelligence. No matter how fierce Frigidi was in a fight he had only ever fought one at a time, now he was fighting a seven headed dragon. The griffon king was stunned. He had thought this battle would be simple with Frigidi on his side, yet he had to retreat. Quickly he turned and ran through the forest looking back, only once, to see Frigidi trapped by Sven's heads. 

The armies gathered and formed a line. The march then began with Fang and Twilight leading the way. Soon they exited the forest and saw the path to Arcusalae. Griffons lined the pathway with swords, battle axes, war hammers, spears, and clubs. Fang looked at his soldiers. "This is a no kill battle! Do you understand? You shall not take a life unless you have no other choice!" The soldiers all nodded and Fang drew one of his swords. His katana. He raised it into the air. "For glory, and the gods!" The soldiers all cheered and they charged. Fang grabbed Twilight and took to the air. He flew over the battle field and watched as griffons and ponies both fell. When a pony fell three more came to his aid before the griffon could strike him down. When a griffon fell the pony simply went on after making sure they were still breathing.

Twilight watched the battle with wide eyes. They had miscalculated the size of the griffons army. it was three times the size they had thought. Then the griffons started to drop their weapons and fight each other knocking each other out. "Fang why are they fighting each other?" There was a flash of green and half of the griffons became black bug like creatures. "Changelings... Fang! You had the changelings that you employ as spies sneak into the griffon army didn't you?" Two griffons flew up next to the alicorns. Both had swords. One of them dropped their sword and punched the other in the face before letting it fall into a bale of hay on the cliff side. The griffon smiled at Twilight and turned into the purple eyed changeling she had met in Stalliongrad.

Copycat smiled and gave the alicorns a small salute before diving backwards to see if the griffon she took down was dead. She dived into the pile of hay and heard snoring. She smiled and returned to the battle.

Fang lowered his head and dived, with Twilight in his grasp, to the courtyard of the griffon kings castle. Fang set her down and she nuzzled him. Seeing the courtyard was empty they walked to the great doors of the castle. Fang opened one and Twilight opened the other. They were greeted by a suit of armor that was covered in sharp curved spikes all over the armor itself. Suddenly the inside of the helmet grew, glowing, red eyes. The suit of griffon armor reach a talon to its sides and pulled out two swords. It lowered it's shoulder and charged at the two alicorns. Twilight gave a small shriek as Fang pushed her to the ground. Twilight looked up to see Fang, covered in his own blood.

Fang gave a grunt as the suit of armor backed up, pulling its spikes out of his skin. Fang looked over at Twilight. "Did it get you Twilight, or did I protect you?" Twilight's eyes were wide. She was looking at Fang's coat. He had taken off his own armor so that he wouldn't hurt her when he pushed her out of the way. Twilight shook her head no to answer the question. It had missed her completely and had only hit Fang. There was a small laugh and Twilight looked up to see the griffon king.

"Do you like my black knight? I created him. He is nothing but armor given life. A mindless, soulless, golem." He stepped up beside the suit of armor. "It's heart is nothing but a blood stone." The suit of armor charged at Fang once again, this time using its swords. Fang used his katana to block every swing the suit took. The downside however was that he could not get a hit in while blocking.

The griffon king laughed and looked at Twilight. He slowly began to walk towards her. "Your kinda cute for a pony... Maybe I'll keep you as a prize once I win." The next thing Twilight saw before the griffon king grabbed her was Fang bashine into the griffon king's side sending him to the ground tumbling. Fang just stood there.

"I will say this only once... Leave. Twilight. Alone." The next thing any of them knew Fang was on the ground with the black knights spikes in his side and chest.

"Fang!" Twilight's eyes filled with tears at the sight of her coltfriend on the ground bleeding. She had caused him to get hurt by that thing twice. She gritted her teeth as she saw the suit of armor pull its spikes out of Fang's side. Her eyes began to glow and she blasted the suit of armor. Soon its body began to seize up. The joints in the armor turning brown and spreading. Soon the suit crumbled. The griffon king's eyes went wide and he ran over to the no longer moving black knight.

"What did you do to my black knight!?" He heard a growl and turned. His blood turned to ice when he saw her. Twilight had gotten taller, her fangs sharper, and her eyes were completely black.

She went over to the griffon king. "Something that is not even half as bad as what I'm going to do to you." Her horn lit up and all she heard was a scream. Twilight blinked and opened her eyes. She was back to her normal self. The griffon king however was dead. His right talon was covered in blood and there was a hole in his chest. Impaled on his talon, was his own heart. Twilight had made him rip his own heart out. Even knowing what she had done, she didn't care. She looked at Fang and began to cry. He was dying. He was dying because he wanted to protect her. She walked over to him and saw that he had a smile on his face. He reached up and placed a hoof on her cheek.

"Don't cry Twilight... It's not your fault... I wanted to save you... I let my guard down... It was my mistake..." Fang was having a hard time breathing at this point. "At least now you can see that not even an alicorn is immortal... We all die eventually... We can die from blood-loss, injury, sickness, and poison... It's a shame that we can't spend... A little more time together..." He gave a small chuckle. "I just wish that I had met you earlier... You are, honestly, the only pony who has ever made me, truly, smile..." Fang gave her a small nuzzle, a quick peck on the lips, and closed his eyes, a  content smile plastered on his face. He was fine with dying at the moment. Because he had made sure that he kept Twilight safe.

Twilight began to shake him. Her eyes were overflowing with tears at this point. "Fang... Please don't die... Don't die because of me... Don't die because I'm weak... I'll get stronger..." When she saw that Fang had yet to open his eyes she laid her head down on Fang's chest and began to cry even harder. "Please... Don't leave me... You promised that you wouldn't die... Please... You promised!" She picked her head up to see if it was just an act. Fang hadn't even moved a centimeter. Twilight began to cry like a hungry newborn foal as she pressed her face back into Fang's chest and before hugging the black alicorn's lifeless body. "I'll take care of Ana for you... You don't have to worry about her... I'll get stronger and keep her safe for you... I promise... I won't let you down... I hope you'll be watching over us from, wherever it is that ponies go when they die... I just wish there was something I cold do to save you..." The sound of crystal repeatedly hitting the stone ground beneath her caused her ears to perk up. She raised her head and looked to the side to see a vial of blood.

"Phoenix blood can bring even the ones about to die back and as strong as ever..." Twilight looked behind her and saw a bipedal, green, alligator wearing what looked like a buffalo chieftain's headdress. It also had some glasses on, it was wearing them on its forehead. On its waist was a belt that had pouches and loops that held what looked like crystal vials filled with liquids of different colors. "That should be just enough to save his life. He is not yet dead but I can see his chain, rusted and about to break. I usually wouldn't save a life, I try to refrain from either taking or giving such things, but... Your words have... Moved me." The alligator smiled. "Have him drink it and he will be as good as new." It's slited, navy blue, eyes had a joyous look in them.

Twilight did not even bother questioning him. If she wanted to save Fang she would have to trust him. She grabbed the bottle and uncorked it with her teeth. It smelled terrible, like it had aged for thousands of years. She slowly lifted Fang's head and opened his mouth. She placed the bottle to his lips and tilted it upwards. She watched as the blood slowly disappeared. She didn't let her magic falter until she was sure she had given him every single drop. She let the vial fall to the ground and shatter. She looked at his chest and gasped. Slowly his blood was flowing backwards, into his body, and his wounds were closing. After a few minutes all his wounds were sealed. Twilight kept looking at his face hoping to see his eyes open. "I-i-i-i-it didn't work..." She slowly hugged Fang and began to cry once again.

Fang's eyes shot open at the sound of Twilight crying. Twilight who had her eyes closed was surprised to feel his hooves wrapped around her. "Twilight... Did you heal me?"

Twilight blinked and pointed behind her. "No. He did." She heard a small laugh from the alligator. 

"I have no idea what your talking about little princess pony. Why would I help you?" The alligator had a small grin on his face. He slowly turned his attention to Fang. "Hello old friend."

"Hello Frigidi." Fang smiled and looked at Twilight giving her a small nuzzle. "Thank you for saving me." He gave her a kiss on the lips which she eagerly returned. They just sat there for a while and let their tongues dance. When they broke their kiss they slowly pulled away for each other. There was a trail of saliva connecting their tongues. Then Twilight gave him a hug.

"Don't ever scare me like again! I thought I was going to lose you!" She leaned in and laid her chin on his shoulder. "I don't want to lose you..." Fang smiled and gave her a nuzzle.

"Don't worry Twilight. I will be more careful from now on." Fang wiped her tears away. "Now stop crying. There is no reason for tears to stain such a beautiful face." Twilight blushed a little bit at his words and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"If you two are done... I believe you have a victory to announce." Frigidi smiled at the two alicorns as they walked away.

Twilight and Fang stood on the wall of the castle gate. Twilight smiled as Ponies and griffons began to help each other up. Fang raised his voice. "The griffon king is dead and the kingdom is ours!!!" The cheering came from both griffons and ponies alike. Twilight slowly laid her head on Fang's shoulder and let out a sigh. It had been a long day. She gave a small yawn and Fang picked her up and his horn glowed as he sent a message to his kingdom. Three hours later four gargoyles and two chariots came by. The soldiers of all three of their armies had already began their walk back to Equestria, The Crystal Empire, and Transylmaneia. Fang went into one carriage and brought the peacefully sleeping Twilight with him. He sat her up and hugged her with his forelegs, after wrapping his wings around her, and the carriage took off. It as soon followed by the second which carried a smiling Frigidi. Their destination was Canterlot.

While his wounds had been healed. Neither Fang or Twilight had left the palace without injuries. Not of the body, but of the mind.


The healthy man does not torture others. Generally, it is the tortured who turn into torturers. ~ Carl Jung.

> Castle of Demons.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


A belief is not merely an idea the mind possesses; it is an idea that possesses the mind. ~ Robert Oxton Bolt.





Twilight awakened with a start. In her dreams she had just seen herself when she had forced the griffon king to rip out his own heart. She looked evil, like Nightmare Moon except with her coat and mane instead of Luna's, a chill went down her spine. Then she felt something sharp poking the back of her neck. Her skin broke and she let out a silent shriek. She was confused when the bite started to feel good. Finally she realized what it was when she felt a small sucking sensation on the back of her neck. Fang was drinking her blood again. Twilight let out a content sigh and smiled letting Fang drink his fill of her blood. She had fed off of him before so she decided that she return the fever at least once.

Twilight let out a small whine when Fang released her neck. She didn't know why but out of the three times Fang had fed off of her, compared to the five she had fed off of him, it had felt good. "I, really, wish you would feed longer Fang... It feels, really, good." She got a chuckle and a small nip at the fur on her neck.

There was a small nibble on her ear. "I take only what I need as I do not wish to drink you dry." His muzzle disappeared for Twilight's ear and she was confused. She couldn't feel his breathing. She let out a small squee when she felt a lick on her cheek. "You really shouldn't be surprised if I show a sign of affection Twilight." Twilight just blushed. Then both of the alicorns heard a deep voice. It sounded like it was laughing. They looked to the right and saw the carriage carrying Frigidi.

"So that's your relation. Your lovers aren't you?" Frigidi was sitting there with a small bottle of water, a mortar and pestle, and what looked like flowers. Purple flowers that had a black stem, light mint green leaves, and another purple flower but it was a solid purple and shaped like a bell. He ground them up and scooped the dust of the flowers into a bottle, he then added enough water so that it reached the neck of the bottle and placed what looked like a Bunsen burner down. He held the bottle over the flame and watched as it was brought to a boil. He smiled and pulled it away from the flame when the liquid turned a dark pink, only a little lighter than pinkies mane, and placed a cork in the bottle.

Twilight blushed while Fang smiled and shook his head. "It hasn't gone that far yet." Twilight smiled and nodded in agreement with Fang.

Frigidi smirked. "Ah I see... So when do you intend to get married so you can. You did say 'yet' which means that you have not done the deed at this point in time but you intend to do so." Fang growled and was about to shoot an insult back at Frigidi when he realized the old one was right. He had meant that. The ride was silent for a while before Frigidi spoke again. "How are Luna and Celestia doing? Are either one of them sick?" Twilight and Fang both shook their head. "What about Sombra's child? Whats her name again? Cadance?"

Fang gave a small chuckle. "So close this time. Yes Cadence is... Well she has morning sickness she's pregnant you see." He saw a small smile on Frigidi's face. "I really hope you’re not going to try and help her give birth are you?"

Frigidi shook his head. "No... I was going to give her a potion that will make it so that she is not in so much pain that she would prefer death. My problem is that I do not seem to have any Enyemaka leaf left. I have the other ingredients I need. I could try to use Goldblatt but, as she is allergic to said item, it would probably kill her. So I will need some Enyemaka to make the potion."
Twilight blinked. "Enyemaka? Isn't that poisonous?" She didn't care if she had wanted to study the old one earlier is he tried to hurt any of her family, natural or extended, she would blast him into orbit.

Fang and Frigidi both said. "The leaf itself is not. The juices inside the leaf are, but if you place it over boiling water and hold it there for ten seconds the juice will evaporate." The two blinked at each other. "I thought I was the only one who knew that." They were just silent once again. Finally Twilight broke the silence.

"You two can argue later we're here!" The other alicorn and the old one looked over the sides of the carriage and saw that they were indeed over Canterlot Castle. "I can't wait to see Cadence or my brother! Do you think she gave birth yet Fang?"
Fang just smiled and shrugged. "It is possible. I want to see if Ana has half of the servants wrapped around her hoof. Knowing her it is possible."

Frigidi however just stood up. "I smell a bat!" He jumped off the carriage he was in and fell towards the roof. Twilight and Fang jumped out of the carriage they were in and dived after him. They watched as he crashed through the roof of the throne room. They flew in and saw Frigidi strangling a night guard. "Nice power you got there Blutschläger! Able to disguise yourself as a noctis and fool you victims into thinking you’re not going to eat them!" They watched as the night guard turned into what looked like a vampire bat with a miniature version of a minotaur's hands and horns. Then he threw it to the ground and stomped on it. They all watched as the demon beast turned into dust. He then turned at looked at Celestia, Luna, Shining Armor and Cadence. Twilight and Fang fixed the roof before joining the other royals. "Hello Celestia, Luna, Cadence... I do not know your name, but even so, hello white unicorn."

Luna just stood up. "What did you do to my guard!?"

Frigidi blinked. "I do not blame you for not knowing what he was. He was a bat demon from Tartarus so I destroyed him. His kind tend to eat ponies." He then turned to Cadence. "Have you given birth yet?" Cadence shook her head no. Frigidi smiled and looked at Celestia. "Hello Princess Celestia. Would you happen to know where I could find some Enyemaka?"

Celestia tilted her head to the side and blinked. "I have some Enyemaka growing in my garden..." There was a gust of wind as Frigidi opened a window and dived out into the garden. 

Twenty five seconds later he climbed in the window. He took off his belt and put down a Bunsen burner and lit it, he then placed a small bowl of water over it and then placed a leaf over the water when it began to boil. There was a dripping sound and he put his equipment away before grinding up the leaf along with several flowers and mixing them with some bottled water which he made boil until it was a blood red. He put a cork in it and walked over to Cadence. "If you drink this once your contractions start it will make the pain of child birth almost disappear." He held out the bottle which she took shakily. She looked at the other princesses, minus Twilight, and her husband. All of which shook their heads. 

Fang nodded and smiled. "He and his concoctions are odd but I have seen what they can do. They work. Usually. The only one I did not see work was he tried to make a mint leaf taste like a piece of meat. According to him that ended up exploding."

Twilight just nuzzled up to Fang. "He helped save Fang's life..."

Frigidi put his hands up. "I did not. You simply found one of the healing potions that I had dropped."

The great doors opened and Ana ran in. "Monster in the garden!" She stopped when she saw Frigidi. "Never mind. Monster in the throne room!" Fang chuckled, walked over, and picked Ana up. "Cousin Fang? Why are you not fighting the monster?"

Fang just smiled. "Hello Ana. I'm not fighting him because he is good. He won’t hurt you." He walked over to Frigidi with Ana on his back. "Say hello."

Ana wanted to fly off but she trusted Fang. She looked up at the biped and squeaked when she saw his smile. His jagged teeth were sparkling in the sunlight. "H-hello? I'm Ana."

"That wasn't so hard was it Ana?" Frigidi bent down and patted Ana on the head. He reached into one of his pouches and pulled out a small black flower. He set the flower behind Ana's ear and smiled. "There. A present of good will. I don't eat ponies. I eat fish." He blinked and pulled out what looked like a leaf. He threw it in his mouth and chewed on it before spitting it out and placing it on Ana's leg. He then pulled out what looked to be bandages and wrapped it so the leaf would not be removed easily after he tied it tight. "You should be more careful Ana. You got cut. Don't worry that leaf will, make it burn a little but, keep it from getting infected."

Ana smiled. "Thanks." Fang and Frigidi then walked over to Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Shining Armor, and Cadence.

Fang then growled. "I request a Chasse Aux Démons be performed at this castle at once. I request that nopony leave this castle until it is free of demons."

Celestia sighed. "Seeing as how a demon was in the throne room and we did not know it... We should hold the castle in lock down until we hold a demon hunt shouldn't we?" Fang just nodded. "Request accepted. What do you propose we do?"

Fang smiled. "I believe that we alicorns should erect a shield around the castle so that the demons can not escape. If should be possible make it strong enough to stand for twenty four hours. I suppose we should split up into teams of two consisting of four in each team. The teams would be me, Luna, Twilight, and Ana, and You, Cadence, Shining Armor, and Frigidi would be the other team. Me and Frigidi would be in two different teams because that means that each team would have at least one pony, and demon, who can detect demons. I can detect demons because I have spent my life hunting them, Frigidi can smell other demons. Sound good?" All those gathered nodded, except Shining Armor. "Sorry Armor but you don't have a choice." Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Twilight, and Fang's horns all glowed and a shield was erected around the castle. "Starting now. You trust nopony other than those you see in this room." With that the seven ponies, and one demon, all got into their groups. The hunt was on.





The question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or the others crazy? ~ Albert Einstein.

> The Hunt for Demons.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


With foxes, we must play the fox. ~ Doctor Thomas Fuller.






Team A. Fang, Twilight, Ana, & Luna.


As Luna walked through the halls of her, and her sister's, castle she was just watching Twilight and Fang nuzzling each other. They seemed to be in their own little world. Luna let a small sigh had the urge to suddenly stop. She looked to the left and saw a doorway. A small, brown and blue, ball of light was floating by the handle. She reached for the light when she saw it fly through the keyhole. "Fang... Are there any demons that appear in the form of a tiny ball of light?" Fang, Twilight, and Ana all turned to see Luna open the door and get hit in the face with a pie. There was a tiny laugh that the alicorns barely picked up. 

Fang's reaction was immediate. He grabbed a vase and turned it over. He slowly motioned for Luna to swing a hoof at it and chase it his way. Luna swung her leg at the little ball and she actually hit the ball causing it to fly to the side and to the ground. The light died down and revealed what looked like a butterfly with no antennas. It was brown with blue wings. It floated up and looked Luna in the eye. "That hurt! Are you trying to kill me!?"

Luna blinked. The creature had big green eyes. It had an angry look on its face. "It can talk?" She lifted a hoof up so that it could just stand.

Fang, Ana, and Twilight walked over and looked at it. "Now what is a mist fairy like you doing in this castle?"

Twilight gasped. "This is a fairy? Oh it's evil isn't it? Doesn't it pull ponies hair for fun?"

The fairy growled. "That is a pixie!" Twilight mouthed a sorry. "As for your question... It was to keep myself from being eaten... A troll and a hobgoblin came into the swamp that was our home and we all had to run or else they would eat us. Me and my sister are here, in the castle, hiding but I think the troll and hobgoblin followed us." The fairy went wide eyed. "Hide!" He flew into a room and the four alicorns followed him. The fairy closed the door so it looked like it was never opened. Twilight peaked out the keyhole and saw a terrifying creature. It was twice as tall as a pony, carried a club in one hand, its torso was made, completely, of a reddish brown fur. The rest of its body was like a dragons, in the fact it was scaly, had hands, and feet, with green skin. It walked in front of a door and looked around before shrugging.

It turned to its side and watched as another creature walked down the hallway, "You find them yet?"

The second creature, it looked just like the first but was completely pink, was wearing purple boots and carrying an ax with one hand. "No... We should find them soon. I'm hungry enough to eat a pony. Even though they taste terrible." It was punched in the stomach by the first creature. "Why did you punch me!?"

The troll smirked. "Because you're to fat to eat a pony! If you do you will explode!" The hobgoblin was about to slash the troll with his ax when Fang went over and knocked down the door. The troll and hobgoblin looked his way and grinned.

The hobgoblin ran at Fang and raised its ax. "Food!" It brought its arm down and Fang unsheathed his sword and with one fluid motion was now standing behind the hobgoblin. The hobgoblin turned around and looked at Fang. "Huh?"

Fang smiled. "You must be punished for your attempts to kill and eat innocent, sentient, creatures demon!" Blue lines appeared and covered the hobgoblin's entire body. "Soul slash!" He sheathed his sword and the lines erupted with light. The hobgoblin yelled in pain as it's body began to incinerate like burning paper and disappear. After a few seconds all that was left was his boots and a white, smoke like, substance was rising from them. Fang turned and smiled at Twilight who smiled back. Then Fang was slammed into the wall by the troll's spiked club. A little blood flew from Fang's body and Twilight saw him begin to bleed.

Her eye twitched and her eyes glowed a dark purple. Her horn lit up and her magic surrounded the troll. "Mind..." She opened her wings in anger. The troll dropped its club and grabbed its head and began to shake. "Crush!" The troll yelled as cracks began to spread over his body. Then his body shattered like glass and disappeared leaving only his club on the ground. Twilight's eyes turned back to normal and she blinked. "Did I just use a forbidden spell?" Luna nodded. "... This does not count as breaking the law, as it was a demon I used it on... Right?" Luna nodded again. "Good. Fang are you OK?" Fang climbed out of the wall and nodded. His horn was glowing and his wounds were healing. He turned to the wall and his horn glowed once more before the wall repaired itself.

Fang walked over to Twilight and gave her a nuzzle before wrapping a wing around her. "Your getting better with the spells I've been teaching you for protection... I did not teach you the mind crush so how did you know it?"

Twilight blushed. "I um... I got bored and found it in a book... Along with... The 'Want It Need It' spell."

Fang and Luna both looked at each other. "Did she?" Luna nodded to say yes. "I don't want to know." The three elder alicorns turned around at the sound of a giggle and chuckled. Ana had somehow gotten one of the hobgoblin's boots stuck on her rump.

"Look at me I'm a big mean hobgoblin!" She stood up on her hind legs and raised her forelegs. "Roar!!!" She lost her balance and fell backwards. This ended up with half of her body getting stuck in the boot. "Um... Help?" The other three alicorns, plus two mist fairies, helped her out of the boot and went on their way. Not long after they left a, small, shadow like creature ran up and dragged the boots and club away.


Team B. Frigidi, Celestia, Cadence, and Shining Armor.
 

Celestia and Cadence were walking behind Frigidi and Armor respectively. "Cadence are you sure you don't want to lay down? Your child might get hurt by a demon."

Cadence smiled and looked up at her aunt. "I'm fine, if we see a demon... Shiny will protect me right?" Her husband nodded and then looked at Frigidi with narrowed eyes. "Now Shiny, hes on our side." Celestia nodded in agreement.

Frigidi looked at the alicorns and unicorn. "Your fellow royal, Twilight, is very cute for a pony. That is what Fang thinks at least. I do not bother with things like love for I see no point in its existence. No offense is meant Cadence." Cadence blinked.

"I can't really take offense if you didn't say anything that was offensive." Cadence stopped and looked to her right. Standing there was her mother, a crystal pegasus that Sombra had fallen in love with. "Mom? No I must be seeing things because I'm pregnant. You died long ago. Right?" She took a step towards the pony and was shocked when Frigidi ran up and grabbed the air in front of the pegasus. He made a quick jerking motion and then the sound of a bone breaking. A bone like horn appeared in is hand. Suddenly the lovely crystal pegasus changed into an ugly bipedal creature. It was purple wearing a blood red shirt, and shorts. had long dirty brown hair blocking its face so that only its glowing red eyes could be seen. Both its hands and feet were webbed and had only four digits on each of its hands, and three on each of its feet. On it's forehead was the start of a horn but it was snapped off almost completely. 

Frigidi took the horn he had broken off and slammed its sharp point down through the creatures back and it let out a scream before its chest exploded. Suddenly it was replaced by the mare from before. "Stupid Amanojaku! They eat a spirit and take the form they had when they were alive. Then they impersonate them and try to eat every living member of the spirits family. Are you OK miss?"

The ghost just nodded and kept looking at Cadence. "Cadence is that really you? Is that really my little filly all grown up?" The ghost floated over to Cadence. It looked at her flanks and gasped. "It is you!" It Silver Heart immediately hugged her daughter. "That thing told me he would help me find you after I died. I was lost and so cold..." She shivered. "Then I found this cave and went in to keep warm. I found a small little puzzle box in there and a voice was asking for somepony to help. That they would grant their greatest wish if they were let out of their prison. My greatest wish was to see you again... I guess he kept his promise... Even if he did eat me." Silver was relieved when she felt her daughter hugging her.

"Mom... I thought you were gone for good! Why did that thing come here anyway?" Cadence hugged her mother tightly. A few tears fell from her eyes. Two thousand years. It had been two thousand years sense the had seen each other.

"It said something about being a part of the plan..." Her mother looked down at Cadence's stomach. "You've gotten pudgy you know that Cadence?"

Cadence blushed. "Mom... I'm pregnant."

Silver blinked. "Who is the father and are you married?"

Cadence pointed at Armor. "Yes we are married, for a full year now."

Silver turned and looked at Shining. "Are you going to be a coward and leave as soon as my grand child or grand children are born?"

Armor shook his head. "N-no mam."

Silver smiled. "Good, now..." She turned back to Cadence. "How many? Filly or colt?"

Cadence smiled. "One little filly due any day now."

Silver let out a squeak and her eyes went wide. "Well... Now I'm sort of happy that demon ate me. I get to see her once she is born right?" Cadence nodded. Unbeknownst to the three of them, Silver, Cadence, and Armor, Celestia and Frigidi had gone on ahead and a small shadow like creature had taken the Amanojaku's horn that Frigidi had dropped.

Frigidi turned to Celestia. "You should really tell Fang about your lover."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "I have no idea what you are talking about Frigidi." 'How does he know about Mord?'

Frigidi smiled. "You are very good at lying Celestia. That is why Luna used to represent honesty. However..." He pointed to his own nose. "My nose knows when there is a demon near me. You reek of your lover! Wait a second... You two did it last night didn't you?"

Celestia blushed. "I um... Maybe? You can tell that just by smelling me?"

Frigidi smirked. "No. I know that because I took a wild guess and you fell into my trap... Look out!" Celestia ducked and Frigidi threw a potion at moving suits of armor. The suits of armor gave out a few shrieks before freezing in place. It rusted beyond recognition and two glowing orange eyes appeared on each of the breastplates. "Arahabaki, demons from minotaur culture. They posses suits of armor and try to fight any who pass it in the night to see if they believe the creature is a good warrior." 

Celestia looked at Frigidi. "OK so ignoring the demons that just attacked us... I basically just confirmed for you, your suspicion that I had sex with an archdemon?" Frigidi nodded. "You also think it would be best if I were to just tell Fang about Mord?" He nodded once again. "Do you think he would let Mord live?" Frigidi smiled and nodded once again. "OK... I'll try and tell him next time we see him... Frigidi?"

Frigidi looked over to the pony. "Yes?"

"I think there is a demon jumping this way." She pointed her hoof down a hall way as a, brown skinned, head with one eye, one leg, five toes that ended as curved claws, pointed ears, fangs that looked like razors, and two arms that ended with hands that had five fingers and claws each. "What is it? Is it dangerous?"

"A Fachen. Not that dangerous to me but to ponies? Yes." he ran over to the demon and grabbed both its arms. He quickly force it to pull out is own eye. Soon after which it dropped dead. "It is not dangerous now."

"Why do you keep ripping pieces, of the demon you kill, off before they die?" Celestia had to know why he was so gruesome. She just had to have an answer as to why he was so violent when killing demons but so kind and calm otherwise.

Frigidi just shrugged. "That Celestia... Is a question even I don't know the answer to."

Celestia sighed and the two continued on their way. Little did they know that the remaining pieces of the demons that had died, so far, were being taken to the gardens. The little shadow creature crawled from a vent next to the floor and grabbed the Fachen's eye. It gave a small squeak and held up the eye before crawling back into the vent. 





When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 

> A Battle and A Confession.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Unfortunately, a super abundance of dreams is paid for by a growing potential for nightmares. ~ Sir Peter Ustinov.






Inside the castle.


Celestia, Shining Armor, Cadence, and Frigidi were staring, out a window, at the gardens. What looked like five metric tons of bones were flying around the gardens in a circle. "Frigidi... Do any demons look like five hundred thousand bones?"

Frigidi gulped. "Not that I know of." His eyes went wide at the sight of a small, shadow like, creature running out of a door with Twilight, Fang, Ana, and Luna on its forked tail. "It's a Scavenger!!!"


In the gardens.


Ana and Luna were looking the sky and watching the bones fly around the gardens while Fang and Twilight chased the little demon that had been using Luna as a pack mule. She had not even noticed that it was sitting on her back carrying body parts. Ana walked forward to the entrance of the main section of the gardens. Suddenly thorny vines shot out from the bushes and sealed the way inside off. Thorn vines began to grow at a rapid speed and the two alicorns had to run back inside to keep from being impaled by the giant thorns. The vines covered the doors as soon as Luna and Ana were inside. "Come Ana... We need to get to a place with a good view... I have a bad feeling about this..." Ana nodded as she and Luna ran off to the hallway that their family, and friends, were in.

Twilight watched with curiosity as Fang and the demon circled each other.

"Just let me kill you! I promise that it wont hurt!... Much..." Fang leaped at the demon who simply jumped over Fang.

"How about we settle this a different way!" The Scavenger jumped onto the top of a fountain. "Am I correct when I guess you still know how a Soul Showdown works?"

Fang's eyes widened. "You intend to start one don't you?"

The Scavenger opened  his mouth and gave a large, toothless, grin. "Soul Showdown!!!" A ball of energy shot form the demon's mouth. It flew upwards until it was eclipsing the moon, it then flew towards the ground and hit right in front of Fang. A shock wave spread throughout the garden and the thorny vines began to cover the ground. Twilight was almost impaled by one of them. She took to the air and watched in amazement as parts of the garden began to get ripped from the ground and began to float in the air. A large chunk of the ground, where both Fang and the demon were standing, shot up, it then grew to the size of Canterlot Stadium. She looked up and saw the moon going from its normal, grayish white, color to a deep dark red. A malicious, grinning, face appeared on the now, blood, red moon.

The others, who were watching, gave a slight scream when the ground started to shake and the castle walls began to crumble. The floor beneath them, minus Cadence, the ground beneath her just gave a little shake and floated towards the battlefield that the demon and Fang were on, fell away and began to float towards the battlefield. Twilight landed next to her mentor. "Princess Celestia whats going on!?"

Celestia just shuddered. "A Soul Showdown. It is a sort of game to the players. The rules will be whatever the one who initiated the showdown says. For example whatever the demon says the rules are, they are the rules." Celestia sighed. "Frigidi? Do you know what kind of match they are going to have?"

Frigidi smiled then gulped. "Probably a battle. We can not interfere. Fang will immediately loose if we do." Frigidi then sighed. "We will just have to hope that Fang wins. The battle starts... Now!" Two flags appeared. The one on the right, where Fang was, was black and depicted a set of, white, fangs spread open, as if to take a bite out of something. "That would be Fang's flag. It depicts what represents his soul." The other flag was a dark purple it had, what looked like, a large snake that had had white orbs, souls, floating around it. Two glowing red eyes appeared, then a snake head formed behind the eyes, the snake's jaw was wide open. "He serves Sir Kneighf's team?" Frigidi chuckled. "We have nothing to fear. Kneighf is the weakest of the archdemons. Lets just watch." The ponies, and Frigidi, all turned their gaze to the battlefield. Then their jaws dropped when they saw what the demon's trump card was. He had absorbed the bones that were flying in the sky and had become an armored, two story tall version of himself. His tail had changed so that it resembled a skeletal snake. The horn from the Amnojaku, the Troll's club, the Hobgoblin's boots, the Fachen's eye, and the Arahabaki's armor had all become a part of him and had grown to accommodate his size.


On the battlefield.


Fang glared up at the once small demon. "Whats this a trick? I'm not impressed! You bad and now your tall! This makes it all the more worth while as I get to see a giant fall!" He took a deep breath and drew his blades. His rapier, scimitar, and katana glowed with white, black, and light blue lights respectively. Fang was ready for battle. "Shall we begin?" The demon nodded and Fang jumped into the air, he spread his wings and landed on the first cloud he saw. He began to leap from cloud to cloud as the demon swung the club, trying to crush him. Fang was then grabbed by the demon's free hand. 

The demon looked down at Fang and gave a dark laugh. "Stupid pony! I am ten stories tall and just as strong!" He bent down so that they were face to face, well mouth to face anyway. "That means I'm gonna win!"

"Size is not going to do you much good demon! If anything it is a weakness!" Fang closed his eyes and let his horn charge with pure magical energy. The demon pulled away and raised his club bringing it down at a medium speed.  His horn began to glow brighter and brighter. Just as the demon was about to crush him with the club he released the magic that was built up in his horn. There was an explosion of light and the demon went flying with Fang following him. Fang twisted his body and pined up his swords, then he began to spin. A three small wisps of light formed around him as he dived.  He was about three hundred feet from the demo. "Triple..." Two hundred. "Blade..." One hundred. "Drill!!!" Fang shot forward and went straight through the demon. He emerged from the demon's back and had with him a small, pulsing, orb that was impaled on one of his swords. He quickly flew over towards the ponies, and demon, who were watching the showdown. "Twilight?"

Twilight blinked and looked up at him. "What? Did you win?"

Fang shook his head. "Not yet. This is the demons heart." He pointed to orb that was impaled on his rapier. "Would you think less of me if I ate it? It is not meat so don't be disgusted by the though of me eating it."

Twilight looked down at Fang with a nervous smile. "Why would you want to eat it?"

Fang shrugged. "I always wondered what they tasted like. Simple as that."

Twilight thought for a second. Finally she sighed. "Fine but... You have to tell me what it tastes like ok?" Her smile became sincere and she just shuttered a little when he took a bite of it. She had seen a ten year old filly murder in cold blood and not be affected by the screams of her victim. Seeing Fang eat a 'heart' just made her feel a little strange. Suddenly a flash of white light blocked everypony's vision and the whole castle was back to normal. They looked out the window to see the giant bone monster explode and the bones all shoot towards Canterlot Cemetery. Twilight heard a small crunch and looked over to see Fang. She smiled, walked over, and sat down next to him. "So what did it taste like?"

Fang smiled at her. "Find out yourself."

Twilight opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow. "Wha-!?" Suddenly half of the demons heart was in her mouth. It tasted like a blueberry. Then Twilight did something she had never though she would do. She ate it. She chewed on it so that it would be easier to swallow and smiled as she swallowed it. Her smile only grew when she felt her stomach feel a little warmer. "It tasted like a giant blueberry." She then glared at Fang. "That was a mean trick Fang!" Suddenly her mind turned to the strange feeling in her stomach. "... Does your stomach feel warm or is it just me?"

Fang gave a small chuckle. "No my stomach is warm to, and I'm sorry for tricking you, but now we know that it probably tastes different for everypony. It tasted like a blackberry for me." He looked outside and saw the moon was just beginning to rise. "It looks like we spent a full day hunting demons... Do you want to spend the night here or do you want me to get a carriage to take you home?"

Twilight smiled and gave him a small nuzzle. "We can spend the night here. Together if you want, in the same bed. No funny business though." Twilight looked up at Fang and smiled when he wrapped a wing around her.

Fang smiled. "I wouldn't even think about it. You have your wishes and I will honor them to the best of my ability." He gave her a small kiss on the cheek and the two alicorns stood and went over to the others said a 'good night' and went into a room that Celestia had told them was empty. Ana was in the room across the hall. Shining and Cadence were in the room next door. Armor tried to open the door to see what the two alicorns were doing but Twilight had locked it to annoy him. She found it fun to annoy him every once in a while.

Twilight giggled when her brother gave a frustrated sigh and went back to Cadence who was standing at their door giggling. She smiled and walked over to the bed and hopped on next to Fang and laid down. "Twilight I have decided something."

Twilight smiled and looked at Fang. "What would that be?"

Fang gave a small smirk, kissed her, and then nibbled on her ear. "That you are worth much more than you think. You are more valuable then all the gold and jewels in the world. It is not because of your title. If you lost your wings, and the title of princess, I would still care about you as much as I do right now."  He waited for Twilight to look at him. When she did he gave her a little kiss on the lips and looked her in the eyes. "I decided that I love you."

Twilight blinked and blushed. "You... You l-love me?" Fang smiled and nodded. "I-I... I l-love you to Fang." Fang wrapped a wing around her and nuzzled her, before she pushed him over and pressed her lips onto his. Their tongues danced with each other trying to gain dominance for about three minutes before the kiss broke. A small warm strand of saliva connected their tongues. "Fang... I really do love you... A lot."

Twilight gave a small smiled when Fang kissed her on the nose and wrapped his wings around her before they began to kiss again. They continued this process for about an hour before their exhaustion finally caught up with them and they passed out. Twilight slipped her hooves around Fang before she fell asleep. A large smile was plastered on the faces of both the ponies as they slept. 


Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together. ~ Eugene Ionesco.

> Sunset's Salvation.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


What is food to one, is to others bitter poison. ~ Lucretius.





Sunset Shimmer, she was wearing a hooded cloak so nopony would recognize her, slipped through the sewers beneath Canterlot until she found her secret entrance to the Canterlot throne room. She looked at the wall in front of her and smiled. She found this place when she was still under her guidance. She had painted an image of Celestia on the sewer wall so she could find her secret entrance if she ever returned. As she was looking at it a sad smile slowly formed on her lips. "As the sun is a great ball of fire, open now for my mission is dire." The bricks rumbled for a second before floating outwards and to the side revealing a ladder. Sunset quickly climbed the ladder and opened the hatch that was in the far right hoof corner of the throne room. She sealed the way she came in and went behind Celestia's throne. She was just quick enough as the second she went behind the throne the doors opened.

Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor, Ana, Twilight, and Fang all entered the throne room. Celestia turned around and sat down on the ground. Her horn glowed and the doors closed. "Before any of you leave I-I have something I need to tell you all." The alicorns, and unicorn, raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to continue. "I have a... Lover... The problem is that if I say his name... You all might hate me." There was a small chuckle from all the ponies gathered. That made Celestia feel more confident. "Do you promise none of you will think less of me when I tell you his name?" They all nodded and Celestia shivered. "His name is Mord Donner, and he... He is an archdemon." The room was silent. Cadence did nothing but smile, Shining Armor's eyes were wide, Ana was confused, Luna just kept opening her mouth trying to say something but no words would come out. Twilight walked over and hugged Celestia.

"I wont judge you Princess. You have every right to love somepony no matter who or what they are! Isn't that right Fang?" Twilight turned with a smile on her face and looked at Fang. Her smile instantly disappeared when she saw Fang's face. His eyes were glowing red, and his mane looked like an astral version of hellfire. His teeth had become sharper than those of a manticore, hydra, and dragon combined. "F-Fang? W-whats wrong?" Twilight was scared just by looking at him in this form. He didn't look like the Fang she knew and loved. He looked like an incarnation of pure evil.

Fang took a step forward. He looked angry but was actually very calm. "Celestia... Tell me... What you just said... Is it true?" Celestia nodded. For a few minutes there was silence. Everypony wondered and feared what he would do. He let out a sigh and looked at Celestia. "You are lucky that I am more accepting today than I was five thousand years ago." He smiled and changed back to normal before walking over to Twilight. "Sorry if I scared you my love." He gave her a little nip on the ear which resulted in him getting nuzzle form Twilight. Fang looked up and saw part of Sunset's tail. He smiled and gave Twilight a little nip on the neck before motioning for her to follow. The two took to the air and flew over to the throne where they saw Sunset sitting there twirling a knife with her magic. Twilight charged a spell to fire at Sunset thinking that she was going to attack Celestia when she sat down. Then Fang stopped her.

"Fang she is going to kill Celestia once she sits down!" They were speaking in hushed tones.

Fang just mouthed 'watch'. He pointed down to Sunset and the two watched as the knife stopped floating and fell to the ground. The other ponies in the room began to gallop up to the throne. Celestia's blood began to run cold when she heard Sunset. She was not afraid because of who it was, she was scared of what she was saying.

Twilight and Fang landed on the ground while all the others walked around behind the throne. Sunset was just sitting there. Nopony dared move. Sunset began to give short chuckles as she twirled the knife in her magic. Then Twilight realized something. She wasn't laughing, she was sobbing. Tears were falling from her eyes. Sunset was so caught up in her sadness that she didn't even know that seven ponies, six of which were living gods, were watching her. Then she began to hum what sounded like a lullaby. Celestia's blood began to run cold when she heard Sunset. She was afraid of what Sunset was about to do. Finally Sunset began to hum it aloud.


"Go to sleep and close your eyes,
and dream of broken butterflies.
That tore their wing against a thorn,
you know the pain that they are born.
Silver metal shines so bright,
scarlet blood feels so right.
So tonight when you start to cry,
whisper The Cutters Lullaby;
Hush-a-bye foal your almost dead,
you don't have a pulse and your pillow is red.
Your family hates you and your friends let you bleed,
sleep tight with a knife because that's all you need.
Hush-a-bye foal broken and scared,
nopony told you life would be so hard.
It's time to end the pain that you hid so well,
and down will go foal, straight back to hell."


In one swift motion she broth the knife down onto her legs and ran the blade across them hard. Blood began to seep from her legs and the blade floated up to her throat. "Now they will finally shut up. I had to kill myself to get them to shut up but at least I'm going to die in the place I was happiest." Celestia took a step forward and reached out towards Sunset but pulled her hoof away to see if she was really going to go through with it. "I'm such an idiot. I just wanted mom to love me again. I should have just told her I was sorry. My immortal sun goddess of a mother hates me, her sister hates me, her niece and her husband hate me, and her niece's sister in law... She defiantly hates me the most, I tried to kill her after all. It's time for me to finally rest, to sleep the dreamless, never ending, sleep." She pressed the blade harder against her throat and drug it to the left. A small line of blood formed and she fell over. "I'm sorry mommy... I didn't want to hurt anypony... I just wanted you to love me again." She was now laying in a pool of her own blood and tears. Nopony did anything, they should been saving her but they weren't. 

Finally Celestia snapped out of her trance and fired a spell at the dying Sunset. Her wounds began to heal and Celestia gave a slow trot over to her and sat down. She levitated Sunsets head onto her lap and began to run her hooves through Shimmer's mane. "Shh, shh, shh. Mother is here. Everything is going to be fine now." 

Twilight just blinked. "I-I'm confused. Sunset said her immortal sun goddess of a mother and you just said mother is here. Does that mean that your? Is Sunset your?" Celestia nodded. "I-I'm so sorry I hurt her back in the human world. If I had known..." Twilight looked down and Sunset looked up. Twilight gasped and backed up, away from the pony who's head was in Celestia's lap. Sunset's eyes were not their normal blue tint. They were a solid glowing yellow. "Princess that's not your daughter!"

Celestia opened her eyes and looked down at her beloved daughter. "No Twilight... This is my daughter... Its just her eyes are glowing... Wait... Why are your eyes glowing!?" Sunset chuckled, her voice was deep like a males now.

Then Sunset began to float and laugh. "As soon as she cut her throat her body became mine! I have been in her body since she was born! You didn't think that she would leave you just because she was angry did you? No she left because of me! Because she was afraid I would make her hurt the ones she loved!" Her horn glowed and the doors and windows were all sealed by magic. Suddenly a knife hit her in the stomach. She fell to the ground but was caught by Twilight.

Fang had thrown the knife so that the blunt end hit her and she only had the wind was knocked out of her. He closed his eyes, faced her, and sighed. He opened his eyes and looked at Twilight. "Twilight restrain her with your magic!"

Twilight looked at Fang then Sunset. "Why should I restrain her? What are you going to do!?"

Fang just pushed both Celestia and Luna out of the way. "She is possessed! If she stays possessed for to long the demon will eat her soul and we wont be able to save her! Restrain her so she cant get away! I will be right back!" Twilight sighed and summoned some magical restraints as Fang bolted out the door. A few moments later he ran back in and sealed the doors behind him. This time however he had a small clear orb and a bag of rice. He ran over and threw the entire bag of rice on Sunset who screamed and opened her mouth. 

A large, grayish, column of smoke came out of her mouth and swirled around in the air before taking the shape of a manta ray. It was grey with black spots on the top and gills on its belly. It had glowing yellow eyes, a mouth full of jagged, razor sharp, teeth, and a forked tail. Upon its head was a small silver crown. It began to fly around the room like it was swimming through water. 

Fang took the small clear orb and rolled it into the center of the room. "Ana! Go over to the orb! There is a small button on the side, when I say 'open' press the button and hold it!" He turned to the others. "I need all of you to help me position the demon over the orb ok!?" Fang's horn glowed and a magical lasso appeared. He threw it around the demon and it tightened, Shining Armor, Twilight, Celestia, and Luna all did the same spell and the demon could no longer move of its own free will. "Help me get it over the orb!" The alicorns walked so that the lassos they made pulled the demon until it was struggling over the orb. "Ana! Open the orb!" Ana pressed the button and a small hole appeared on the top of the orb. "Release your spells!" The alicorns all released it and watched as a tornado emerged from the orb and formed a hand. The hand grabbed the demon and receded into the orb. Soon there was no demon in the room, the tornado had taken the demon with it into the orb. Fang smiled, walked over, and shook the orb. "Success! Now we can trap demons instead of killing them!" He picked it up and put it in a pair of saddlebags that he summoned. He looked at all the others and smiled. They all smiled back at him.

"Ow... My aching head..." They all looked towards the origin of the sound and saw Sunset sitting up. She blinked. Her eyes were back to normal. She looked and saw all the alicorns, and unicorn. "Oh no... I-I-I wont go to prison!!!" She charged a huge spell and fired it directly at Twilight. Twilight braced for the impact but it never came. She opened her eyes and saw Fang, holding Sunset's spell. He threw it upwards and it exploded into harmless sparks, like far off fireworks. They all turned to Sunset only to see her trying to open the secret exit. "I lost my freedom once! I won't loose it again! It's all I have left!" They all began to walk closer and Sunset panicked. Her eyes grew wide and she looked around for another way to escape. The only other way out she saw... Was her knife. Her horn glowed and the knife flew over to her. She sat down and took it in one of her hooves before placing it to her neck. "S-stay back or I slash my throat!" All the ponies stopped at the threat, except Celestia.

Sunset began to panic and tried calming down by closing her eyes and repeating the poem she had said before.


"Go to sleep and close your eyes,
and dream of broken butterflies.
That tore their wing against a thorn,
you know the pain that they are born.
Silver metal shines so bright,
scarlet blood feels so right.
So tonight when you start to cry,
whisper The Cutters Lullaby;
Hush-a-bye foal your almost dead,
you don't have a pulse and your pillow is red.
Your family hates you and your friends let you bleed,
sleep tight with a knife because that's all you need.
Hush-a-bye foal broken and scared,
nopony told you life would be so hard.
It's time to end the pain that you hid so well,
and down will go foal, straight back to hell."


When she opened her eyes Celestia was sitting in front of her. "M-mom..."

Celestia frowned. "I don't hate you Sunset. I could never hate my daughter, my own flesh and blood." Sunset began to shake, dropped the knife, ran over, and hugged her mother. She began to cry furiously. Celestia smiled and ran her hooves through her daughters mane. "It's OK. Your not going to go to prison. I'm sorry I made you so mad. I nearly lost my mind when you went through the mirror. I thought I would never see you again."

Sunset just continued to cry into her mothers chest. "I'm so sorry that I was such a foal when I didn't get what I wanted! I'm sorry I ran away! I'll never do it again I promise! I missed you! I love you mommy! I was so scared that you hated me and I wanted to come back! I really did but I was just so afraid!" Celestia gave her a daughter a kiss on the forehead and told the others to announce that court was closed today. That they were all going to have a family outing. Fang volunteered his kingdom to be the area they had the outing. The others all liked the idea, except for Sunset and Armor. Sunset because she had never heard of Transylmaneia and Armor because he did not like Fang.

They soon all got on carriages and were off to Fang's kingdom. Fang then remembered. "One thing before we get there! If you see a colt wearing the suit of one of Santa Hooves' elves and he tries to give you a present... Lay him the buck out! His presents take your greatest wish and reverses it! Also do not disrespect any Kasipepo, they look like cheetah/pony hybrids." They all nodded and smiled. Even Shining gave a little smile.





Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves. ~ Confucius.

> A Reunion and A Foal.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Who so sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. ~ Genesis 9:6





Sunset was no longer crying and was now smiling. The four chariots, Luna was with Ana, Sunset was with her mother, Cadence was with Shining Armor, and Twilight and Fang were together, made their descent towards Fang's palace. As soon as they landed everypony stepped out of their respective carriage and smiled at each other. "You all are welcome to stay here as long as you like." All the alicorns, and two unicorns, smiled. They all followed Fang and Twilight into the castle and were immediately attacked. Sunset let out a yelp and fell on her back. She began to shake and opened her eyes to see Cheshire. 

Sunset just blinked. "Why the heck did a cat attack me?" Cheshire leaned in and sniffed her face. "Um... Hello?"

"Hi I'm Cheshire. I am happy to make your acquaintance daughter of Mord." Sunset blinked. Then Cheshire got off her and she stood up.

She immediately looked at Celestia. "Mom... Who's Mord?" Celestia frowned and nuzzled her daughter.

"Mord is your father Sunset. You never met him because he was always hiding due to the fact he is a archdemon." Then she smiled. "However now that he does not have to fear Fang he can... Get out of the shadows that are right beside Fang." All the ponies, except Fang, looked to the shadows she was speaking of and gasped. Mord stepped out of the shadows.

"I still don't how you can tell where I am without looking Tia." He sighed and looked at Fang. "Let me live and I will help you. I know where the other archdemons are." Fang smiled. "Good now..." He turned and walked over to Sunset. "So we finally meet. Hello my lovely daughter. It has been ten years sense I saw you... Celestia... Shouldn't she have her wings by now?" He looked to his lover.

Celestia smiled. "Soon she will. Natural born alicorns do not receive their wings until they are twenty one years old. Sunset here is only twenty... Or is it nineteen. I haven't seen her in so long that I forgot." She gave a sheepish smile.

Sunset looked up and her mother and father. "I am twenty and three quarters old... Math and Destruction magic were always my strong suit. Fire specifically." She looked to her father's side. "You look like a tiger... Cool tail by the way." Mord had a tiger's tail and had paws where a pony would have hooves. Otherwise he was a black and orange zebra striped pony. Mord gave a small smile.

"Thank you." Mord then looked down at Cheshire and let out a sigh. "Oh how the mighty have fallen." Cheshire jumped up and scratched his muzzle, drawing some blood, in response. "I take it back." Cheshire smiled and just began to walk off only to be tackled by Ana.

"No Cheshire! Bad kitty! Apologize right now!" She turned around and held up Cheshire so he couldn't run. "Say your sorry, or I will turn you into a snow cat!"

Cheshire's eyes widened and he looked at Ana who had a glare. "I am, very, sorry I scratched you!" Ana smiled and let Cheshire down before going back over to Fang. Cheshire ran past her and down the hallway. Then she, Armor, Cadence, Fang, and Twilight walked away so that the mother, father and daughter could catch up without being disturbed. Fang and Twilight were nuzzling each other and giving each other small kisses on the cheek. Shining had his eyes closed and was grumbling to himself, Ana had gone and ran off to her room to play with her pet Glaceoiseau, Yuki. 

Cadence was smiling when all of a sudden she heard a noise that chilled her to the bone. "Tick tick." She had been hearing a ticking sound all week and she thought she had seen a pair of eyes starring at her through the window of the room she was sleeping in. She began to shake and look around trying to find the source of the ticking. Her father, Sombra, had once told her, legends about a demon, the Aswang, that attacked pregnant mares and tried to eat their unborn foal the day before the foal would have been born. "Tick tick." Cadence let out a silent sigh. The thing was going away. Suddenly she heard a very quite 'tick' above her and looked up. She let out a scream.

It was an Aswang. It had grey leathery skin, black soulless eyes, limbs that ended with clawed hands and feet, bat like ears, razor sharp teeth, and a long, pointed, black tongue. It jumped off the ceiling at Cadence who braced for its attack only to hear a gust of wind and a short shriek. She looked up and saw a demon trap sucking the Aswang into it. It tried to pull itself out but was soon trapped in the little crystal orb. The orb fell but was then pulled towards Fang and Twilight. Fang smiled and put the orb in his saddlebags. "I say both 'go away' and 'thank you' to this Aswang. Go away because it was about to try and eat your foal. Thank you because it's attack means your daughter will arrive tomorrow." Twilight smiled and nuzzled her coltfriend before walking over and giving Cadence a hug.

"Your daughter is coming tomorrow, guess its nice to know so you can be prepared." Cadence's face suddenly contorted in pain. "Whats wrong?" Fang looked at a wall and gasped.

"Twilight I think her filly is coming... Now! It's 12:01 AM!" Cadence pulled out the potion that Frigidi had made her and drank it. Suddenly she felt no pain at all. They quickly took her to the palace infirmary and the doctors went straight to work. After an hour a little alicorn filly that looked exactly like her mother, except her coat was darker, was in Cadence's forelegs. Twilight looked at the scene and smiled before wondering how long it would be until she was the one who had a little filly or colt in her forelegs. She then looked at Fang who was smiling. "What are you going to name her?"

Shining and Cadence looked at each other and said at the same time. "Skyla." All of the royals were in the room and were telling them how cute their daughter was. Mord and Cheshire were there as well.

Cheshire sighed. "Do you think she is cute?" Mord nodded. "So it isn't abnormal for foals to be cute?" Mord shook his head. "Goo-" Ana then tackled Cheshire and began to pet him causing him to purr. Cadence fell asleep with her new daughter in her forelegs and the others all left to get some rest. Sunset got her own room. In the middle of the night she awakened and walked out to get some water. She then met Nosferatu, who was on guard at the time, and the two talked as he escorted her to the kitchen and back to her room. Sunset blushed whenever he said that he liked her mane. That night she slept with a smile.





What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal. ~ Albert Paine.

> North Star the Astronomer.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The old faiths light their candles all about, but burly truth comes by and puts them out. ~ Lizette Reese.





Ana, Celestia, Mord, Twilight, and Fang all awoke to the sound of a scream. It had come from the room Sunset had slept in last night. The four alicorns and demon ran into the room and saw Sunset lying on the bed with her hooves over her ears. Celestia ran over to her daughter and nuzzled her. "Sunset everything is fine now I'm here you don't have to be afraid. Now tell me whats wrong."

Sunset uncovered her ears and looked up at her mother. "A-a group of eight, four ponies and four demons. They're going to massacre the other elements of harmony!" Her ears twitched and there was a small twinkle in her eye. "Wait... two of them just changed their- Nope the others talked them back into it. Gah he keeps changing his mind! " She then grabbed her head and began to scream again.

Twilight looked at Sunset with worry. "Sunset are you going to be OK?" She kept shaking but gave a slight nod. "Princess with your permission I would like to go and save my friends." Celestia just smiled and nodded. Twilight smiled and ran off with Fang following her. As soon as they were outside they took to the sky and flew to Ponyville. They then saw them. Four ponies, two unicorns an earth pony and a pegasus. The unicorns were black and blue, the earth pony was white and the pegasus was red. Each had a beige jacket on, each jacket had an image on it. From left to right the images emblazoned on the back of the jackets were a white tiger that had two tails, a black tortoise that had a black snake as a tail, a azure, serpentine, dragon that had a green frill around its head and a set of deer antlers, and a vermilion rooster who's tail feathers were every color of the rainbow. In front of them stood the other element bearers. Fang and Twilight quickly swooped down and landed next to their friends. They saw that all of the ponies were completely normal other than the jackets. There was no sign of demonic possession.

The blue unicorn stallion smiled. "Finally! I thought you were never gonna show up! Now we can kill all the elements and the king of monsters at the same time."

Fang just blinked. "Sunset said there were demons... Where are the demons!?" All of the jacket wearing ponies smiled, except the black one who's face remained neutral. The blue unicorn, who was wearing a top hat, took his hat off and levitated a card in front of his face. It depicted the same dragon that was on his jacket. The black unicorn reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a card that depicted the black tortoise that was on his jacket. The white earth pony, he was wearing boots, pulled a card that depicted the white tiger on his back out of his front right boot. The red pegasus opened his wings to reveal he had a card that depicted the rooster on his back hidden in his feathers. They each took their card in their hooves and raised it high into the sky.

"Arise! Seiryu Of The East!" The blue unicorn's card glowed a bright white and flew up onto the ground. Slowly it turned into a statue. The stone cracked and fell away revealing the blue and green dragon that had been depicted on the card. It looked like it was big enough to curl around the library three times.

The red pegasus smirked. "Our turn! Come on out Suzaku!" He tossed the card into the air and it lit itself aflame before transforming into the vermilion rooster with a rainbow tail that it had depicted. It was the size of a house.

The white earth pony threw down his card and stomped on it. "Byakko! Get your lazy butt up now!" The card became surrounded by a whirlwind and a white tiger with two tails jumped out of it.

They all looked at the black unicorn who was just sitting now. He was looking directly at Applejack. He had a strange look in his eye. A mix of anger and sorrow. He began to shake and threw the card at the ground. A small whirlpool formed. "No! I refuse to let you hurt innocent mares! Genbu, make sure they don't harm the elements!" A black tortoise rose from the whirlpool. It had two heads. Then one of the heads grew long and lanky. It was a chimera made of a snake and a tortoise. Both heads had glowing red eyes. To the surprise of the ponies gathered the tortoise and snake nodded and shot a stream of water at the red rooster who let out a squawk and fell to the ground. Fang quickly took out one of his orbs and activated it trapping the rooster demon inside.

The red pegasus's mouth dropped open. "Suzaku! I-I'll find a way to get you out!" Fang simply released the demonic rooster. "W-what? I thought you hated demons! Why did you let mine out!?"

Fang smiled. "Because you can control it. Now I give you one of two options. One use your control over this demon for the good of Equestria like that black stallion who protected the elements. Two refuse, loose your demon forever, and go to prison." A knife flew past the head of the red pegasus cutting some of his mane off. "I wont miss if you try to harm Twilight or her friends directly."

The red pegasus gulped and looked at the other two ponies who were still uncertain on who's side they were on. "What do we do?"

The white earth pony smiled and looked his demon who nodded. "I think we should take the first option." Then they saw Fang activate his orb once again and watched as the dragon demon was sucked in. 

The blue unicorn gave a growl and ran at Twilight. He was so fast that almost nopony saw the knife in his mouth. A split second before he struck Twilight with the blade Fang's lag blocked it and all the ponies watched as some of Fang's blood sprayed over Twilight's face. There was a small growl from Twilight who ripped the knife out of his teeth and bent the blade into an L shape with her magic. "You have three seconds to get out of our sight you piece of filth!" The blue stallion just laughed.

"Or what princ-!?" He was cut off when he received a hoof to the face. He blinked as Fang pulled his hoof away. He felt a small gap in his teeth and gulped down the tooth Fang had just knocked out.

Fang smiled at the stallion. "Leave or I will knock out the rest of your teeth, one at a time, and feed them to you." All the mares gathered blinked and thought for a second. Sadly they could see Fang doing that to the pony even if he wasn't angry. The blue unicorn gulped and ran away before he lost anymore teeth. The four remaining stallions, Fang, Western Wind, the one who commanded the tiger, Southern Hospitality, the one who commanded the rooster, and North Star, the one who had the chimera, all laughed. 

North star walked over to Applejack and smiled. "Just know it was you who caused me to refuse to harm you or your friends." He turned to walk away and Applejack saw his cutie mark. A constellation in the shape of an apple, the tip of the stem on the constellation as the north star.

Applejack pulled out her lasso and threw it around his neck before he could get away. "Now hold on a minute! Why is your cutie mark a constellation shaped like and apple?"

North sighed. "It is a constellation because I am an astronomer, one who studies the stars and the patterns Luna weaves with them. I just try to make new constellation in my mind when I look at the night sky. Not literally of course. It is shaped like an apple because... I honestly don't know I think the first time I 'made' a constellation it looked like an apple." He gave a shrug and continued to walk away when Applejack gave a small tug on the lasso making it tighten around his neck slightly. "Yes?"

Applejack had a slight blush on your cheeks. "I-If y'all don't have a place to stay... We got a spare bedroom at the farm. That is if you help around the farm." North gave a small smile.

"That sounds nice." He levitated the lasso of his neck and looked at his demon who nodded with both its heads and turned back into a card. The card then flew into his jacket pocket. "What would I have to do?" The unicorn and the earth pony walked away from the group. "Planting, cooking, dishes, feeding and cleaning the animals?"

"Well ya could just do apple bucking instead." Aj gave a smile. Then she frowned at the confused look on his face. "It's what my family calls harvesting time. We call it that because we buck the apple trees with our hind legs to knock the apples down." 

North Star smiled at this explanation. "Now that makes sense."

Applejack looked at his jacket. "Ah just have to ask... How do you control that turtle?"

North smiled. "Did you have an imaginary friend when you were a filly Applejack?"

Applejack nodded. "Yeah when I lived in Manehatten I used to always imagine a small little thing that looked like one of Santa Hooves elves cleaning my room. Weird huh?"

"That was possibly a Brownie. A demon that only the young, extremely old and in touch with their inner child can see... You still see him don't you?" She nodded. "Anyway I grew up on the streets and that's where I met Genbu. In a small cardboard box beside the apartment building where a Mister and Misses Orange resided. They would occasionally give me some food when they saw me."

Aj's eyes went wide. "Now I remember where I've saw ya! Mr and Mrs Orange are my aunt and uncle. You were the colt who was always such a mess despite living in the upper part of Manehatten weren't you? I always thought you were just a wild child!"

North gave her a pearly white smile. "I was. That's why ponies kept sending me back to the orphanage until I ran away. Genbu helped me find a place to keep warm and I gave him a little bit of the food your aunt and uncle occaisonally gave me. We have been friends ever since."

Aj smiled at him then looked ahead. "Well here we are! Sweet Apple Acres." She watched as North walked over to an apple and plucked it off a tree before trying to smash it. "Hey we gotta sell those!" His horn glowed and the apple lifted up and turned forty five degrees. There was a worm hole. "Oh... OK you can smash it." He promptly did so and half of it flew into the air and landed on his muzzle. The two ponies shared a laugh before going to the farm house and Aj explained that North would be staying with them for a while. Luckily Granny Smith was asleep.





It is not his enemy or foe that lures him to evil ways. ~ Siddharta Buddha.

> A Schoolyard Crush.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us. ~ Norman Maclean.





Sweetie Belle sat down in her seat ready for class. She took out her books and looked at the blackboard and saw a large message written on it. They were getting a new student today. Cheerilee walked in and smiled. "Hello class!"

The class all smiled and responded with a large hello to their teacher. Sweetie having a slightly squeaky and higher pitched voice was probably the loudest.

Cheerilee smiled at the students. "As you all can see we are getting a new student today. His name is Gavroche. He and his father just moved here from Prance. He speaks perfect Equestrian, due to the fact he was born in Equestria, and moved to Prance three years ago. I'll let him tell you more about himself." She turned to the door where even those in the front row could only see the tip of a horn. "Come on, they wont bite." Slowly an orange unicorn colt, with a green mane and lavender eyes walked in. He was wearing what looked to be glasses that had rims painted to look like they were made of silver. He had a flawless smile, everypony's eyes fell on his cutie mark. A open book and quill, there saw a small image of a unicorn on the left page and some squiggly lines to indicate writing on the right page. "Well Gavroche how about you tell us a little about yourself?"

He took a deep breath. "There is nothing much to tell really. I was born in Equestria and lived here until I was six. I moved to prance with my mother and father three years ago. Me and my father moved back to Equestria a few weeks ago to the town I was born in. That would be Ponyville. I will respond to Gav as well as Gavroche. Any questions?" Sweetie Belle's hoof shot up immediately. "Yes?"

"What does your cutie mark mean?" It was a logical question in her mind.

He looked back at his flank and smiled. "It means I can... I guess you could say create and alter spells to serve the purpose I need them to. Next?" Scootaloo's hoof rose up. "Orange pegasus what is your question?"

Scootaloo lowered her hoof and gave a small glare at the colt. "Why didn't your mother come back to Equestria with you and your dad?"

"If possible I would like to refrain from answering questions about my mother. She and father had a fight and got divorced. Father won full custody of me in court. Simple as that. I never liked my mother much anyway." Gav smiled at Scootaloo who just nodded. "Any other questions?" There was a quiet mumble from the other students and they all shook their head. "OK. Where do I sit miss Cheerilee?"

Cheerilee smiled down at the young colt. "There are two spots open. Take whichever you want." The colt nodded and made his way to the first open seat. It was next to Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie Belle gave a small smile and stuck a hoof out. "I'm Sweetie Belle. I hope we can be friends."  He took her hoof and shook it. Then she saw it. A large scar running down the inside of his leg. "Ouch. How did that happen?" He slowly retracted his hoof and smiled.

"Oh that? Its nothing. I fell out of a tree and a branch cut me deeply. The other one however, the one on the side of my head, was a spell gone wrong." He pointed to the side of his head and showed her a scar in the shape of a crescent moon running along his hairline. "Overcharged a spell and hit my head on a rock after I was thrown back."

After a few hours of math and history Cheerilie let the class out to the play ground to play and relax. Scootaloo and Applebloom joined Sweetie Belle and Gav in in a small group talk. Soon they were approached by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

Diamond let out an evil chuckle before looking at the group. "I guess it makes sense that a motherless freak would hang out with the blank flanks. After all they are all freaks as well. Scootaloo the orphan, oh sorry former orphan who's sister is a speed demon who barley spends time with her, Applebloom the farmer with a speech impediment, and Sweetie Belle the squeaky toy."

Gav coughed and looked at Diamond. "Well at least they don't have to put others down to feel better about themselves. Is it your mother or father who didn't want you? It is probably your mother. She thinks your birth ruined her life doesn't she? Calls you trash, worthless-" He was silenced by a pink hoof meeting his lip. When Diamond pulled her hoof away some of his blood began to drip onto the ground. Despite the fact that it hurt, Gav's smile widened. "I hit the nail on the head didn't I?" Cheerilee ran out along with Silver Spoon, who had ran inside and got her when Diamond punched Gav. He tried to tell her it was fine and he had started it but Cheerilee wouldn't listen and told Diamond that she would be talking to her parents about this. After she led the filly inside Silver sighed and walked away.

Sweetie Belle just looked at Gav who pulled out a band aid and placed it on his lip. "How did you do that?"

Gav just smiled. "I simply knew a pony who acted like her once and that is why he acted that way. His father thought that he was worthless and would constantly beat him. I don't think her mother beats her though." He sighed and looked at Sweetie Belle. They both blushed because when he turned his head to look at her their muzzles touched. Gav quickly turned his head away and began to mumble something. Sweetie Belle was frozen and couldn't even glare at her friends when they began to laugh. She liked him. She just met him today and she already liked him. 

A few hours later the school bell rang and the Cutie Mark Crusaders walked away from the school. They heard a small humming from in front of them and looked up to see Gav trotting down the road. He was looking down at a book. Something in Sweetie Belle's mind clicked and she suddenly realized where she had heard Gav's name before when she saw the title 'Great Plays Throughout History'. Gavroche was the name of a child in Les Mareables. A musical about a pony who ran from the law of Prance.

Sweetie Belle waved goodbye to her friends as she and Gav turned down the street that led to Rarity's house. She paid no mind to the fact and just kept walking.

Suddenly, Gav stopped and turned into a house, opening the door with his magic before entering. Sweetie Belle blinked. That house looked familiar. She turned to her left and gasped before blushing. The colt she had a crush on was her next door neighbor. She quickly slipped inside and went up to her room. She closed the door behind her and went over to her bed, flopping down on it before sighing. It had been a long day. She got up and went to the bathroom. As she came out something caught her eye. 

Gav was sitting on his bed, which she could see through her window, as it looked straight towards his room's window and was looking at a very skinny, pale, creature with two, curved, red, horns on it's forehead and two large, red, bat like wings, it also had a forked tail. It was wearing a pair of black boots and a black dress as well. She hid herself from sight as Gav stood and opened the window that she could see his room through. Sweetie heard a very feminine giggle come from the creature. "Does little Gav have a schoolyard crush on this Sweetie Belle?"

There was a thud of a book hitting a wall and Sweetie heard the creature give a small 'eep!' All was silent for a while before she heard Gav answer. "... Maybe."

Sweetie could almost hear the creature smirk. "Well you little Zauberbiest did you tell her?"

"No I did not. I-I wanted to tell her she was cute but I couldn't!" Sweetie Belle risked looking out the window and saw Gav in a mirror. Suddenly his skin became cracked, and brown, and it looked like his jaw had become dislocated. Then as soon as the sight appeared it was gone leaving the colt she had a crush on in the mirror. "Besides what chance do I have? I mean I'm a freak! I look more demonic than you when I'm angry, and you're a demon!"

The demon grinned at the little colt. "Ah-ah-ah! You agreed that you would not call me demon and call me what my subspecies is. I am an Alp."

Sweetie Belle heard a sigh. "Sorry Lilie... Alps are related to succubi right?" There was a short pause. "Any advice on how to get her to like me?"

The Alp looked at him and smiled. "Get her chocolate or some flowers. That seems to be what every other pony gives to the pony they like."

"I want it to be special..." There was a sigh and the Alp started rattling things off.

"Art show?" There was the sound of a head hitting a wall. "Why not?"

"Do you really think they would let a twelve and thirteen year old into an art show?" The Alp thought for a second before slapping herself with an open palm. "That's what I thought."

"Home made cookies?" Another bang.

"I can cook, but I cant bake to save my life." The Alp sighed. He was right. She had seen him try to bake some cookies once and the oven exploded.

"Movie tickets? A dictionary?" There was no bang this time. "Really your going to get her a dictionary?"

"No... I'm going to get her some movie tickets!... Why would I give her a dictionary?" There was a small chuckle from the demon.

"Because its more romantic than half of the romance novels that exist!" There was silence for a while.

"... That is sadly true. Now it's time for you to go to sleep I'll wake you up when I need your advice." There was a small whine from the Alp.

"Do I have to?" Sweetie Belle giggled at the Alp's childish reaction. "... Fine." There was a sharp humming  sound for a second then it was gone.

Sweetie Belle looked up at her clock and her eyes went wide. She was late for a crusaders meeting. She was supposed to tell Rarity that she was going over to Applebloom's house but had gotten caught up listening to Gav and Lilie. She ran out the door and to the crusader's clubhouse.





In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. ~ Abraham Lincoln.

> Sunset's Soldier, A Birthday Surprise.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society must take the place of the victim and on his behalf demand atonement or grant forgiveness. ~ W.H Auden.





Sunset Shimmer opened her eyes and gasped. She was at Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns. She stood up from the bench she was on and began to walk through the hallways of the school wondering how and why she was here. She walked into what she remembered as the courtyard and looked up only to see thousands of skulls with glowing red eyes. They were looking down at her and laughing at her. She closed her eyes and let out a scream. When she opened her eyes the skulls were gone. She turned around and galloped out of the courtyard. She ran for a few minutes before she realized that no matter how hard or fast she ran the exit of the school never got closer. "What is going on here!?" She blinked and suddenly everything was normal, except for two things, one of which was that there were no students in the school, the other being that there was a dark hallway she did not remember on her left. 

She gulped, took a deep breath, backed up, and turned to walk away. That is when she heard a small voice calling out from the hallway. "Please help me! I'm stuck! Nopony else can hear me for some reason!" Sunset stopped. She wanted to get away from this place, but... That voice sounded like it was in pain. She had to help whoever it was. She turned and walked into the hallway.


In the waking world.


Celestia and Mord stood at the left of their daughters bed while Luna, who was on the right, worked her magic to see into the sleeping yet to arise alicorn's dreams. She smiled when she found the dream in the unconscious ponies mind and projected an image of what was happening to the couple, one of which was scared and confused, the other was curious. Celestia was breathing heavily. Sunset had just up and passed out twelve hours ago and was in, if the doctors were to be believed, a coma.

"Help me..." Mord's eyes went wide and a small smile appeared on his face. Celestia noticed this immediately.

"Mord? Why are you smiling? Your daughter is in a coma! This is no time to be smiling!" Celestia was angered by her lovers lack of worry for their child. She was surprised when she heard him chuckle.

"Au contraire my love. She is not in a coma... She is in another world. She is in the demon world, she is in the world of my kind. The place her body and mind reside is in this bed, her soul however is in my worlds version of your school." He smiled and gave his lover a small nuzzle on the neck before looking at the image that Luna was projecting once more. "She is a medium. That is why she can hear demons that even I can't. She is going to help an old one. He brought her into the demon world, why I can not say for I do not know but he is a good old one. I believe that he wants to help her." He sighed and nuzzled her again. "My love... She is going to need to do this on her own. All we can do to help is wish her luck." He then sat down.

Celestia sighed and sat down with Mord and he began to nuzzle her as a way of saying that everything was going to be OK. A tear fell from Celestia's eye and Mord blinked. That was the first time he had seen a tear come from Celestia. Celestia looked at the image and saw a giant statue of herself that was old and decayed. It had fallen off its pedestal and to the ground. They could barely see it but under the statue was a large, crystalline, butterfly wing. "Please... Be safe my little Sunset."


In the demon world.


Sunsets horn lit up and her magic surrounded the fallen statue. Slowly the statue began to lift up and move over the pedestal that it was formerly perched on. She set it so that it was facing forwards and the stone began to set. Slowly as if time was being reversed itself the statue started to look as if it was new. A small chuckle was heard and she turned to the left and saw the old one stand.

It was bipedal, a light blue in color, crystalline, had large butterfly like wings, no eyes, the head of a minotaur, except he had  bat ears no horns, and no nose, it had a large gold orb in its forehead. The creature also had arms, hands legs and feet like a teenage dragon. It had a red loincloth on where a minotaur's private areas would be and in one of its hands had a scroll. It held up and unrolled the scroll. "Sunset Shimmer?" Sunset gulped and nodded. "Mother- Princess Celestia of Equestria, Father- Mord Donner, Archdemon who is represented by the tiger?" She nodded once again. "Reason for summoning- Oh this is interesting, you wish to be able to help Equestria so you can make your mother proud?" She nodded eagerly. "Then you would fight in the name of your mother and country?" She nodded very quickly. The creature put the scroll away and reached up, pulled the orb from his head, and looked at her. "Place your hoof on the orb."

Sunset was nervous but nodded and placed her hoof on the orb. It glowed and an image appeared in it. A black pony who had a white mane and tail, white fur around his mouth and eyes, and a gray horn on it's forehead that curved upward slightly ans looked like a blade. From the body structure it was a male. "Who is that?" She felt strange seeing this pony. When she was still in the human world she constantly had dreams about being home with her mother. Every dream became a nightmare, with demons running after her, every time she was about to be eaten there was a whinny and the demons all began to fall and turn to dust. When the dust cleared the pony in the orb was standing there, horn covered in blood. The dream then ended with it smiling, not a cruel smile but one of kindness. The blood would disappear and he would walk over and nuzzle her before vanishing along with the dream.

"That is your partner." The orb glowed again and the pony disappeared. A small beam of light shot from the orb and at the base of Celestia's statue. It took the shape of a normal sized, yet slightly muscular, unicorn and the glow faded to reveal the unicorn from the image. It blinked and looked at the old one before turning to Sunset and bowing. Its body glowed a light yellow like Sunset's coat and it's form changed into a card. The card flew into the hand of the creature who in return held it out to Sunset. "Buredo will help you in times of need. You simply need to wish him to be by your side and he will be there. This is the form he will arrive to the waking world in, he will return to his normal form as soon as you summon him." Sunset took it and saw the image of the pony standing on it's hind legs and smiling at her. The creature began to float away and Sunset smiled.

"What's your name?" She looked at the creature curiously and it turned back.

"I am Sarosha of Justice." With that everything faded to black and Sunset awoke.


The waking world.


Sunset sat up in her bed and immediately felt hooves wrapped around her. She also felt some new bones. She looked back and gasped. Her wings had appeared as she slept. She looked at her mother who was hugging her and crying. "Mom... What is today?"

"March eleventh 9:02 P.M. It's your birthday Sunset. You are twenty one as of five minutes ago." Celestia felt a pair of hooves wrap around her and looked to see Sunset crying into her chest. "Don't cry Sunset."

"I-I don't deserve these wings! I'm nothing but a monster! So why do I get to be an alicorn!?" Sunset was crying hard and could barley see anything. "There have to be tons of other ponies who are more worthy of being an alicorn than me!" She blinked away the tears and saw her mother looking behind her. Her head turned to face the same way as her mother and saw her aunt Luna. Beside her was the unicorn from her dreams. In his mouth was her birth, and favorite kind of, flower. A daffodil. He leaned in and placed it so that it was tucked behind her ear and smiled.

"Happy birthday Sunset." The unicorn gave her a small nuzzle on the cheek. A small blush grew on Sunsets cheeks and she looked at the unicorn. His horn looked normal like any unicorns horn would. Sunset smiled as he wrapped his forelegs around her and she sighed. She could get used to this. 

"Who exactly are you?" All eyes turned to Celestia who was eyeing the strange unicorn. The unicorn just kept smiling.

"My name is Buredo. Sarosha granted me a wish. I wished that I would able to wish Sunset a happy birthday outside of my mind. Where she could see and hear me. He made it so that I am basically bound to her until one of us dies. I am to protect her even when I am on my death bed. You can't get rid of me. Nopony or demon can. I will protect Sunset with my life." He nuzzled Sunset's neck and hit a ticklish spot which caused her to giggle. He opened his bright, amber, eyes and smiled at her.

Celestia smiled at the unicorn. "I hope that you are serious." She looked at Mord, who was smiling and nodding at the unicorn, and gave him a small nuzzle. That is when a loud growl was heard throughout the room. All eyes turned to Sunset who was blushing like mad. "Let's get you some birthday cake." Sunset smiled and nodded. With that they all stood and left the room.

That night was the first night sense she ran away from home for the first time that she did not have a nightmare.





I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. ~ Mahatma Gandhi.

> An Unscheduled Snow Day.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


There are some that only employ words for the purpose of disguising their thoughts. ~ Voltaire.





Twilight awoke to the sounds of laughter. She tried to stand up and go over to the window to see what was going on when she realized something. She was not alone. Her head turned to the left and she saw Fang. He had his wing wrapped around her and was nuzzling her. "Fang? How did you get into my room?"

Fang blinked and looked at her. "Oh. Your awake... I don't know why I'm in your room... Me and Ana come over to visit you and Spike then... I'm drawing a blank here. Do you remember anything?" He continued to nuzzle her and began taking nips at her neck randomly which made her blush. She thought back to the night before. Fang and Ana had come over for the fist time in a week, and Ana had been playing with Spike, while she and Fang talked, there was a scream, they walked out of the kitchen, saw Spike and Ana fall to the floor... Then nothing. "Anything?"

Twilight shook her head. "Nothing. I remember seeing Spike and Ana collapse then black. Just black. Did we both black out or something? If we did, then how did we get into my room?" Fang shrugged and nuzzled her again. "Why is it so-" A sudden banging sound broke her train of thought.

"Hey Twilight! Are you home!? We need to talk!" Twilight sighed as she and Fang stood up. She felt Fang pull him closer to his body, she looked up at him and he smiled down to her. He was trying to keep her warm. She smiled and nuzzled into his shoulder before they went down stairs. A sight caught her eye and she smiled. Ana and Spike were sleeping on the couch and hugging each other for warmth. It melted her heart. She levitated a blanket over the sleeping filly and baby dragon before she turned back to the door and opened it. The only thing she saw was white, because as soon as she opened the door something hit her in the face. Blinking she brushed the cold white material from her muzzle and gasped at what she saw. Her friends were all standing there in winter coats and hats. Behind them, as far as Twilight could see, was snow that was at least four feet deep. Dash flew up to the purple and black alicorns and raised an eyebrow. "Did you two have anything to do with this?"

Fang and Twilight shook their heads rapidly and allowed their friends to enter the building and Twilight offered to make some hot chocolate, to which all their friends agreed. The ponies all began to talk about what could have caused the sudden snowstorm that had buried Ponyville in just one night. Rainbow proposed it was wild weather from the Everfree which Fang denied being possible as he had all the wild clouds rounded up and put into place above three of his kingdoms districts. Rarity and Applejack proposed that it was a mistake from the Cloudsdale weather factory which Dash said was impossible because no city was due for a snowstorm last night.

Pinkie was just quiet and drank her hot chocolate. Fluttershy's proposal was the only one that could have made any sense. She proposed that an ice dragon had caused a snowstorm over Ponyville. In the end the ponies all agreed on that theory. They all turned at the sound of a yawn and then another. Spike and Ana sat up and realized they were hugging each other. A blush grew on both of the being's faces and they let go of each other and looked in opposite directions. Spike was the first to notice that all of the elements were in the room. "Whats going on? Why is everypony here so early?"

They all just blinked and said 'snowstorm'.  They all soon realized  their mistake when they were knocked down by Ana. "Snow? I love snow! I haven't seen any snow since I started living with cousin Fang!" She walked over to the door and opened it. They all watched as she was buried by a pile of snow that fell from the top of Twilight's tree. Ana gave out a happy squeak and ran over to Fang, knocking him down just after he sat back up. "Fang can I go play in the snow? Please please please please please?" Fang sat up and saw Ana giving him puppy dog eyes again. He tried to resist but gave in and nodded after thirty seconds. "Yay!" Ana's horn glowed and a jacket appeared around her. It was orange and covered her wings completely. Within three seconds she was out the door and into a snow bank.

After ten minutes Pinkie finally broke her silence. "Who wants to go play with Ana?" She, Aj, Rainbow, Spike, Twilight, and Fang all raised their hooves, and claw in Spike's case, Pinkie's smile grew wider. "Lets go!" She was out the door faster than Ana was, she had moved so fast that a Pinkie shaped dust cloud was left behind. There was a loud gasp and all of the ponies, plus one dragon, ran outside. Their jaw's dropped and they could barely speak. Ana had managed to build a snow fort the size of a house. They all had to dive out of the way to avoid a cannon ball sized snowball. Looking back up they heard five voices laughing. Ana, Applebloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Gavroche were all standing behind a cannon made of ice. "Girls, Spike, and Fang... This calls for war!" Pinkie pulled out eight green helmets and slapped them down on each of her friends heads.

Fluttershy looked at Pinkie. "Oh, um that sounds violent. Could I just sit this out? I mean if, um, that's OK with you." Rarity nodded in agreement.

"I don't want to get dirty." She just got a look from all of the ponies, including the five children in the fort, their eyebrows were raised and they just kept staring at her. "What?"

Ana fell back laughing. "If snow can make you dirty then I'm the dirtiest pony alive!" The other three fillies nodded and giggled while the colt just pulled out a notebook and started reading it. Ana and the other fillies finally got a hold of themselves and started to load the ice cannon with another snowball. "Bombs awa-" Ana was silenced when she felt a snowball completely blocked her mouth. Fang was standing next to Twilight and Pinkie. Pinkie had gotten her party canon out and was loading a snowball into it. Twilight was making snowballs and giving them to Fang who in turn was throwing them at the children. Sweetie Bell giggled when  Applebloom had her bow knocked out causing her mane to fall down.

Applebloom looked at Sweetie Belle. "What's so funny?"

Sweetie smiled at her friend. "You really look better with your mane down Bloom." Applebloom sighed then laughed when a snowball got impaled on Sweetie Belle's horn. Sweetie shook it off and her teeth began to chatter. "Um... Ana should we retreat?" Ana shook her head and let her horn glow once more. Four more cannons rolled over and they loaded them. They all pulled the small string on the back causing them to fire at the eight below them.

Fang and Twilight ducked behind a small fort that they had made while the others threw snowballs at the fillies and colt. "Twilight, I have an idea on how to win."

Twilight raised her head over the barrier and brought it right back down to avoid a snowball. "How? We can't win unless we cheat! I mean they have five cannons, we have one. Do the math Fa-" She was cut off when Fang gave her a small peck on the lips. She began to blush and heard Rainbow laugh. She looked up and saw Rainbow right before she was turned into a snowpony by a snowball. Fang smiled, gave her a nibble on the ear and whispered his plan. Twilight smiled and lit up her horn as Fang jumped up and began to distract the children. After a minute Fang stopped and pointed up. The children all looked up and gasped. Twilight had been collecting snow over their heads for a full minute and could buried in six feet of snow. Twilight raised her head and walked over to Fang, who wrapped a wing around her and gave her a small kiss. "Well I think we win!"

Ana looked at the other two alicorns and smiled. "Jack! Bury them!" A small shaking sound was heard above them and the two alicorns were buried in snow. Twilight yelped and let her magic falter causing the snow to bury the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Gav, and Ana. A small laugh was heard as the two grown alicorn's heads popped out of the snow and they saw a small, bright white, pegasus, colt with brown eyes smiling down at them. He jumped up and ran along the branch that he was on and jumped onto the snowbank that the  CMC, Gav, and Ana were under. He started digging and soon he was inside the snowbank. After five seconds he came back out with Ana on his back. Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Gav climbed out behind them. "Hi Fang! Meet Jack Frost! He's the one who made all the snow!" She gave the colt a kiss on the cheek and he blushed.

Fang smiled. "So it was Jack Frost who caused the snowstorm?" The colt nodded and Fang turned around and started banging his head against the library. "I. Forgot. You. Even. Existed!" The colt blinked and a frown grew on his face.

Twilight raised her eyebrows and stood up shaking the snow off her back. Fang then walked over to Twilight and nuzzled her before wrapping a wing around her. Twilight smiled and gave Fang a small kiss on the lips before turning to the children who were now on the ground. She blinked and focused on Jack. "How were you able to cover an entire town in snow?" Jack smiled and opened his wings, causing a small blizzard to fly at Twilight and Fang. Twilight blinked and looked at the tips of his wings. His feathers were all made with ice. Twilight looked directly into his eyes. She thought she saw a snowstorm behind them. "What are you? Some kind of spirit?"

Jack stood up and nodded. "I'm a famous spirit of cold and frost! You didn't think that pegasi were always able to make snow did you? I taught them how to make snow! I didn't teach them how to make snow flakes, that was the doing of a young miss Snowdrop, but I taught them how to make snow!"

Twilight blinked. "How were you able to do that? Your only what? Ten? Twelve?"

Jack smiled. "I'm as old as the first snowfall." Twilight's jaw dropped.

Twilight shook her head. There are some things in the wold best left unexplained. Pinkie was one and how Jack looked so young was another. "Does Princess Celestia know your here?" Jack just nodded in response. Soon a golden chariot carrying both Luna and Celestia landed in front of them. "Princess!" All the ponies gathered bowed, except for Jack. "Are you crazy!? Bow!"

Celestia looked down at Jack and smiled. "Hello Jack. How are you? Get bored of making statues of ice in the frozen wastes?"

Jack sighed. "It gets boring after a hundred years Celestia!" Suddenly a mischievous smirk grew on Jacks face. "Hey Celestia I need to tell you something." Celestia raised her eyebrow. "Could you bend down so your face is a little closer? Please?"

"I am not letting you freeze my head in a block of ice Jack... Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." Celestia smiled at the little groan the colt gave.

"Your no fun!" Jack sat down and was surprised when Ana wrapped her wings around him.

"Now Jack that wasn't very nice. Say your sorry." Jack looked at Ana who just smiled at him and gave him a quick nuzzle on the nose. He blushed and turned to Celestia.

"S-sorry." Celestia smiled at the little colt.

"Does little Jack Frost have a crush on a filly?" Jack stood up and opened his wings to fly up to Celestia's face when she suddenly bent down so that they were at eye level.  "You want to say something Jack?"

Jack glared and forced his forehead just under Celestia's horn. "Breath a word of this to your niece and I will freeze your tail to your flanks! I don't need the goddess of love to interfere in my life." Twilight was in shock until he had said that. She didn't think that they would treat each other as equals.

Just as Twilight was about to tell him to take his threat back she heard Celestia chuckle and watched as her teacher pulled out a scroll, wrote something, and sent it away in a flash of light. Luna gasped. "Sister did you just?" Celestia nodded and Jack's eye twitched. "Jack... Please go easy on her?"

Jack opened his wings and was about to make good on his threat when two hooves wrapped around him. The hooves belonged to Ana who was shaking her head. "Jack I know Cadence, she isn't that bad. She will probably be to busy to even pay attention to the message. She is both a princess and a mother after all. Please don't freeze Celestia's tail to her flanks. Please? For me?"

Jack blinked and blushed even harder. "But she- Gah!!! Fine! Only because you asked." He closed his wings and Ana smiled before nuzzling Jack. 

Twilight and Fang smiled at the sight before nuzzling each other. Their stomachs growled and Fang looked at Twilight who nodded to him and he to her. Twilight and Fang smiled before sinking their fangs into the others neck. Their friends just smiled at the action while Celestia, Luna and Jack just blinked. Everypony knew what was going on, including Jack, some of his friends were vamponies after all. They were dead but they were still vamponies, Jack just smiled and nuzzled Ana who kindly returned the motion. All in all it had been a good day.





We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves. ~ François de la Rochefoucauld

> Killer Of A Different Kind.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


It's not so important who starts the game, but who finishes it. ~ John Wooden.





Twilight awoke to the sound of knocking. She looked up from the book she had fallen asleep reading and walked over to the door. She opened it to reveal Applejack. "Hey Aj whats up?"

Aj had a grim look on her face. "You remember Trixie? You know the blue unicorn that kicked you out of town 'bout three years ago?" Twilight just nodded. "You won't believe this but... She just walked into town. With two guards, one of which is your big brother, in hoof cuffs. I ran up to see what was going on and... They're going to keep her in the jail here tonight but..." Aj took off her hat and looked at the castle on the mountain. "They're taking her to Canterlot to put her down tomorrow morning sugarcube." Twilight gasped and put a hoof to her mouth.

"What? Why? What did she do?" Her mind was racing at the possibilities. Trixie was mean and could be down right nasty sometimes sure but she cold tell that she wasn't a criminal. The only crime that she knew that Trixie had committed was destruction of property, and even then it wasn't her who had done it directly. "Well? Why are they going to execute her?"

Aj gulped. "Again you won't believe this but... She killed three ponies. She just kept mumbling to herself that she was innocent. Then she just started screaming about how she was being framed and your brother... He did something I can't forgive. Even if Trixie was a murderer, which I don't believe she is... Twi, I heard her ribs break when your big brother bucked her in the side and sent her flying into the side of the town well." Twilight blinked and looked Aj in the eyes. They were normal, she was telling the truth.

"Where are they right now?" Twilight wasn't sure why, but she kind of liked Trixie. Be it because she liked the thought of having a rival or considered her a friend in the recesses of her mind she did not know. What she did know was that Trixie was no murderer.

"At the jailhouse. Your brother said he was going to stand guard so that she didn't escape. Don't see how she even would though. They had one of those magic, canceling, horn, ring, things on her after all." Aj looked at the empty market. Everypony had gone home as soon as Armor had attacked Trixie when she couldn't fight back. "I-I need to get back to the farm." Applejack put her hat back on and trotted away slowly. 

Twilight immediately left her library and ran all the way to the jail. She stepped inside and was greeted by the pegasus guard that she had met the counterpart of in the human world, Flash Sentry. Looking over she saw the way to the cells where Trixie was being kept. The door opened and her brother stepped out. His eyes immediately settled on Twilight. "Twilight? What are you doing here?"

"I- I need to see the mare that your taking to have executed tomorrow morning." Shining raised his eyebrow and was about to tell her 'no'. Twilight sensed this and frowned. "That is an order." Armor stopped in his tracks. Even if she was his sister she was still a princess. He sighed and motioned for her to follow which she quickly did.

The hallway was dank and dark like those in horror movies. The light bulb above them flickered on and off. One either side of them was a cell and there was three more. Two right next to the ones they were between and one on the end that had an azure unicorn mare in it. Trixie was sitting in the cell rocking back and forth on the ground with her face hidden by her mane. "Sit up straight prisoner! You have a princess here who, even though I don't like it, wants to talk to you!"

Trixie sat up, moved her mane out of her face, and looked at the ground. She couldn't look Twilight in the eyes. She couldn't let the princess who she had once considered her rival see her like this. She stood up and bowed. She coughed and her eyes went wide. There was blood, she had coughed up a tiny puddle of blood. She shook her head and pressed her face against the floor. "Hello Princess Sparkle."

Twilight frowned at her actions. "Stop bowing... Now." Trixie sat up and fell on her haunches when she felt a blast of maic hit her. Twilight looked at Trixie who frowned. "Trixie they said you killed three ponies... I don't want to believe that. I may not know much about you but I know your not a murderer... Trixie did you kill them? Any of them?"

Trixie began crying a little bit and rapidly shook her head. "No! I didn't! I swear! The only evidence they have is that some of my DNA was on one the victims! I know who killed them and why my DNA was there but... I can't tell you who..."

Twilight raised her eyebrow and looked Trixie deep in the eyes. "Trixie if you tell us who it was then you can get out of here."

Shining stood stunned. He had been unable to get her to talk at all. What Twilight just said struck him with sorrow. "Sis... She will still go to prison for obstructing justice."

Twilight smiled. "Not if I give her a pardon." The room was silent. They didn't even know if she was telling the truth, yet Twilight had still just offered her a literal 'get out of jail free card'. 

Trixie, to everypony's surprise, shook her head. "No... I would take that deal if it was anypony else but... I just can't let the guard take him away... I promised mother that I would protect him and I... I never break my promises."

Twilight sighed. "Trixie... If you tell us who it was and give a good enough reason then I'll... I'll give both you and whoever the killer is a pardon."

Armor blinked. "Princess you can't be serious. That has to be some cruel joke... Right?" He and Trixie both looked at Twilight. Seriousness in his eyes and hope in hers. Twilight closed her eyes and her horn began to glow. The world seemed to slow. They did not know, but right now she had just asked Fang for advice.

On the other side of the psychic connection Ana was wondering why her cousin was just standing in the center of the hallway with his horn aglow. He blinked and looked at Ana before smiling. "Sorry I just spaced out for a second." With that he continued to help Ana look for her new friend Jack who she had allowed to stay with them so he could avoid Cadence.

Twilight nodded to the image of Fang that she saw in her mind and opened her eyes. She took a deep breath and looked at her brother and Trixie. She then smiled. "I'll give them both a pardon, not a full one, the killer will have to apologize for the murders and they will both have to spend five years under house arrest, but only if she has a good reason for hiding the truth." Twilight smiled at Trixie. "Because I consider you a friend and I don't want to see you die while I could do something about it."

Trixie's eyes began to tear up. "O-OK... I'll tell you..." She looked up at the ceiling. "Forgive me for this mother..." She looked at Twilight. "C-can I have a moment before I tell you?" Twilight nodded and they all sat for a moment. Trixie stood up, walked over to a corner, and began to mumble to herself.

Twilight looked at her brother. "How did they die?"

Armor looked at Twilight and his jaw finally closed. "I can't believe your doing this..." He sighed and looked at Trixie and frowned before looking back to his sister. "They were all beaten to death very viciously. One of them had their head repeatably slammed into a wall and the others were beaten with a metal pipe. Strange thing is that I am kind of happy that those three are gone. Nopony deserves to go that way but I'm glad their gone." He took a deep breath and sighed. "They were basically a gang who was infamous in Vanhoover for raping unicorn, pegasus and earth pony mares alike. Well only one raped the mares. One of them filmed it and one of them kept the mare from fighting by holding their child or little brother or sister hostage with a knife." A small smile grew on his face. "I honestly wanted to kill them a few times myself. Some of my friends sisters live in Vanhoover. One of them was raped at one point and I had to keep old Steel Shield from rushing out of the room and flying to Vanhoover to kill them." They all turned when they heard the door open.

Flash Sentry was standing there with a nervous look on his face. "Um captain... You won't believe this but there is a ten year old colt out here who is saying that... He keeps saying that if we don't let his sister go then 'he's going to hurt us like he did the bullies'. Does that mean anything to either of you?" He looked downwards and caught sight of said colt running under his legs. He tried to dive and catch him but he missed completely.

"Leave my sister alone!" The colt looked just like Trixie, albeit smaller and with gold eyes instead of purple ones. He jumped into Armor and to the surprise of everypony, but Trixie, he went flying into a cell's bars sideways. "Don't worry sis I'll save you! Did they hurt you!? Do I need to hurt them like I did the bullies!?"

Twilight, Flash and Armor all stared at the colt in shock. He was stronger than any colt his age should be. "Trixie am I correct in assuming that this is the one who... Hurt those ponies?" Trixie nodded.

"The reasons you can't take him is because he is disabled. He has two disabilities. He was born with pain asymbolia, the in ability to feel pain so he doesn't know if he is hurt, be it just a scrape of a bash to the head. He was also born with his brain incomplete. He is missing the part of the control center which limits strength. He could lift Ponyville and flip it upside down if you made him angry enough. Isn't that right Hex?" The little colt just ran up and hugged his sisters leg through the bars.

Twilight gave a little smile at the scene. "Captain. Release the prisoner. I'm giving them a pardon." To everypony's surprise the door just swing open and the horn inhibitor on Trixie's horn broke. Looking from the door Twilight noticed a small glow on the colts horn and a small cloud of steam coming off of the inhibitor. She smiled as they all left the cell block and as the two azure unicorns hugged each other before falling asleep on the benches in the lobby.

She went outside and trotted home under the stars. When she reached her door she looked towards the Everfree and silently thanked Fang for the advice he had given her.

She had followed her heart and did what she thought was right just as Fang had told her to.





The ultimate choice for a man, in as much as he is given to transcend himself, is to create or destroy, to love or to hate. ~ Erich Fromm

> Noble Names And Deserved Fates. 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


If men could only know each other, they would neither idolize nor hate. ~ Elbert Hubbard.





Twilight and Fang sat next to each other on the train bound for Canterlot, which they were going to because Celestia had called an urgent meeting for a reason she did not reveal in her letter and asked Twilight to bring Fang with her. Fang was currently running his fangs down the back of her neck. Twilight gave a shudder and looked Fang in the eyes before her attention turned to his neck. She leaned in, sank her own fangs into his neck, and began to drink. They heard some hoof steps fall just before the train ride began. After a few minutes Twilight finally broke the bite and looked at Fang who just smiled at her. 

She licked her fangs clean of blood before turning her head to the sound sobbing. Looking to her left she saw a crying Trixie, who had come into her library yesterday asking, well actually she was begging, for magic lessons. She had been more than happy to pay and had been shocked when Twilight refused to charge her. Trixie had a bundle of, black, roses sitting next to her. On the other side of the roses was the sleeping form of her brother Hex. "Trixie what's wrong?"

Trixie's head shot up and turned to face Twilight. She looked down to the roses. "Hello princ- Hello Twilight." Twilight smiled at the fact she had gotten Trixie to finally stop calling her princess. She had called her princess all day yesterday and Twilight finally snapped telling her that she wont let her friends call her princess. Trixie looked back up at Twilight and Fang. "Nothing is wrong... Who's your friend? I bet he is the source of a much more interesting conversation, wouldn't you agree?" Her eyes were shifting left and right.

Twilight smiled. "Well... Yes, my coltfriend is interesting. However I want to know why you were crying. I'm not just going to let my friend cry and not try to do something about it. Now tell me whats wrong."

Fang looked at Trixie. "Any friend of Twilight's is a friend of mine. My name is Crimson Fang. However my friends and subjects just call me Fang." Trixie raised an eyebrow and looked at Fang.

She just looked at him for a few seconds before turning to Twilight. "What is he talking about? Subjects? Is he a prince? I-I mean no offense but... I've never heard of him."

"King of Monsters." All eyes turned to Hex who had woken up about a minute ago. "What? I just addressed him by his title. Unlike you big sister I read the newspaper." Hex rolled his eyes and looked towards Twilight. "To answer to question Princess Sparkle. My sister is crying because we are going to put roses at mothers grave and meet with father. Our stupid, evil, noble of a father." He fell off the seat and onto his back before Trixie could catch him. "I hope our father chokes on a beehive."

Twilight and Fang both blinked and looked at Trixie who just sighed. "Our full names are Trixie and Hex Lulamoon."

Twilight's eyes went wide. "You mean you're the runaway children of Lord Lulamoon!? Why are you traveling to country as stage magicians!? You're rich for Celestia's sake!"

Trixie looked down. "We run because father is cruel. He began to beat Hex when he was five and when I was ten he..." Her words caught in her throat and she let her eyes drift to her flanks. Twilight gasped and Fang began to grind his teeth against each other.

Twilight looked at Fang. "Fang... Did she say that her father raped her when she was ten?"

Fang took a deep breath and looked at Twilight. "Twilight you have the power to order the guards to arrest ponies correct?" Twilight nodded. "Have him arrested as soon as we get to the castle. It is either you have him arrested or I find out where he lives and use his skull as a cup." Twilight looked at Trixie and smiled.

"He won't hurt your father Trixie. He is just kidding. However I am going to have you father arrested so he wont be able to hurt you anymore Trixie." Twilight was surprised by the hug she received from Trixie. After about a minute Trixie finally let go.

"I'm so sorry for all the mean things I did to you and your friends." Twilight just smiled at Trixie's apology. 

"Trixie I already forgave you. My friends however, you will have to get them to accept your apologies by working for it." Trixie walked over to the seat that she and Hex had been sharing and sat back down.

"I know. Well I guess that is one problem down. Now I just have the problem of getting over my mothers death like Hex did." She looked to her little brother who had pulled out a mystery novel and was reading.

Twilight looked at Hex. "Why don't you cry when you go and put roses on your mothers grave?"

"Because of my Pain Asymbolia I lack the ability to feel pain, be it physical or emotional, so I do not feel empathy for others or myself as empathy stems from pain. My father thought me a freak because I would not cry when he hit me." He turned the page and looked back down at the book. "Foolish detective. The butler is innocent."

Fang wrapped his wing around Twilight and smiled. He slowly ran his muzzle down Twilight's neck before a sudden feeling shot down her spine. He was biting her again. Twilight smiled and looked at Trixie who was just blinking at Fang's action. "Doesn't that hurt Twilight?"

Twilight shook her head. "No I've gotten used to it. He turned me into a vampony you know." She let her fangs grow out and Trixie gasped. "Don't worry. I only feed off of Fang." Fang let go of her neck and smiled showing his fangs, that were coated in blood, before licking them clean.

"Trixie... How did your mother pass?" All eyes turned to Fang. "I'm just curious."

"S-she got sick and the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong... I know what happened though. Father poisoned her." A few tears fell to the floor. "The poison was meant for me."

"Abuse, rape, and murder. He is not going to get out of prison." Twilight growled and looked out the window to see the train pull into the train station. They all got up and off the train. Twilight and Fang said their goodbyes to Trixie and Hex, who went in the opposite direction, and went to the castle. They were greeted by Celestia herself and they followed her to the throne room where all of the Canterlot nobility was currently gathered, including Sunset, who was hiding her wings. Sunset smiled at Twilight who smiled back as she took her seat, with Fang sitting next to her. 

Celestia looked out at the thirty or so ponies who were gathered in the room. "Before we start this urgent meeting... Is there any business that needs to be brought to light?" Twilight's hoof shot up. "Yes Twilight?"

"Is Lord Lulamoon here today?" A unicorn stood up and the other princesses all looked to his azure coat and brown mane. "Your daughter is in Canterlot today. Did you know that she was crying because of what you did to her once?"

The stallions coat grew pale for a second before he shook his head. "As to why she is crying. I have no idea what you are talking about, I don't know what I did to her, I'm sorry to say." He then leaned in so that his head could be seen. "However yes my daughter, Trixie, comes here every year, on this date, and places black roses on her mothers grave. They were my wife's favorite flower." He gave a small cough into his hoof. "I must ask Princess. Why do you care about Trixie?"

"I care about both Trixie and Hex. Hex is the name of her little brother correct?" The unicorn nodded. "I care about both of them because they are my friends and... Well... If they are to be believed then you not only killed your wife, but you also beat your son, and molested, no, raped, your daughter. Oh you also tried to poison Trixie, that's how you killed your wife you mixed up the plates." Celestia gasped and the blue unicorn began to stutter.

"W-What p-proof do you h-have of t-this? Do you h-honestly b-believe her?" Twilight smiled and looked at Fang who lit up his horn. An image of Trixie when she was ten and her father mounting her appeared. Before he did rape her however the image changed to him slipping some rat poison into a salad while a chef wasn't looking, it changed to his wife's funeral where Trixie was crying her eyes out. He on the other hoof just kept glaring at Trixie and Hex. The image then shifted to him viciously beating Hex with a cane. As soon as the images appeared they disappeared. "W-what was that?"

Fang grimaced. "Those were Trixie and Hex's memories." The blue unicorn backed up before trying to run out of the room. Fang quickly took to the air and tackled him just as he reached the door. "Only guilty ponies run with such speed."

Celestia stood up. "Guards!" The guards ran into the room and looked at Celestia before saluting. "Take Lord Lulamoon into custody." The guards nodded and slipped a horn inhibitor on the lords head before leading him away. After a few minutes of hushed whispers to each other the nobles looked at Celestia. "Any other business?" The room was quiet and no hooves were raised. "Now then we need to get down to business." She looked down at the ground. "I asked Fang to come to this meeting even though he is not an Equestrian noble because he might have ideas to what might have done this." Celestia looked up to the rest of the nobles. "Last night... Lady Lulamoon's body was taken from her grave and this morning, a mangled and chewed up skeleton was found next to it."





Remember that all through history there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they seemed invincible. But in the end they always fall. Always. ~ Mahatma Gandhi.

> Hunger Of The Dead.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate. ~ Socrates.





Twilight and Fang entered the cemetery that had once held the body of Charm Lulamoon, Trixie and Hex's mother. Twilight looked around and shuddered. Ever sense she was born something about cemeteries had bothered her. Maybe it was the fact that there were so many dead ponies beneath her hooves or perhaps that cemeteries were places that had a very thin line between the worlds of the living and the dead. She saw Trixie and Hex sitting in front of some guards crying, well Trixie was crying anyway. In the corner of the graveyard was another blue unicorn. He was a darker shade of blue, almost as dark as Luna, had a white mane, and silver eyes. His cutie mark was a glowing, light blue, ball of flame. He wore a black jacket, with a silver cloak over it, and had a white scarf tied so that one end danced whenever the wind blew.

Fang had stopped and looked at the dark blue unicorn for a while before shaking his head and looking forward once again. "That can't be him... Could it?" He looked back only to see that the pony was gone. "I must be imagining things." Finally the couple reached Trixie and Hex. 

Trixie looked up at Twilight and Fang. "D-do either of you know what happened to our mothers body? Our mother was so nice... Why would somepony do something like this?"

Fang growled. "Trixie that is what we are here to find out." He looked at the grave and saw a corpse. It's meat was almost completely torn off, only a few strips of meat and the eyes remained, and the bones were snapped and chewed up as if something was trying to get at the marrow inside. Fang's blood went cold, and the title of a book flashed before his vision. 'A Banquet For Hungry Ghosts.' "Everypony in Canterlot is in danger. Do we know who this poor pony was?"

"His name was Jet Set sir. He was a member of Canterlot's elite society. His wife Upper Crust will be distraught. Everypony liked him." The guard handed him a picture of Jet before he was killed. His coat was a spring greenish gray, eyes were a moderate azure, and mane was dark grey. His eyes flicked from the picture to the corpse. Same eyes, same mane, and what was left of the coat was the same shade as the picture. There was no doubt about who it was.

Twilight's jaw dropped. She remembered him from the time she had her birthday party in Canterlot. He and his wife immediately hatted her and her friends just because they lived in Ponyville. "He was a jerk, in my opinion, but even then he didn't deserve to die!"

Fang looked at everypony who was gathered in the area. "All of you are to go to the castle and tell Celestia that all of Canterlot is on lock down. No exceptions." He turned to Twilight. "Twilight if you stay outside then you will have to stay with me. You will have to do what I say, when I say it. Do you understand?" Twilight nodded and turned to Trixie to tell her that they should listen to Fang when she noticed that Trixie was gone.

"Trixie? Where did she go?" There was a small tug on her leg and she looked down to see Hex pointing to an alleyway across from the cemetery. Trixie was just standing there, staring into the darkness. Twilight, Fang, and Hex ran over to Trixie and their eyes widened. Sitting there in the ally was a, green, unicorn mare with a silver mane and golden eyes. Her cutie mark was an old brown book with a wand on the cover. In front of the mare was a guard, or at least what used to be a guard. It was hard to tell as the mare was taking large bites from their skin. There was a low moaning sound and Twilight gasped. The guard was still alive.

The mare leaned in and bit the guards neck, ripping through his skin and tearing the muscles to shreds with her sharp lion like teeth, coating her face with blood and silencing the poor guard forever. She mare took a few more bites from the guards corpse before pulling away. The armor that he had been wearing was shattered and chewed to pieces. "So hungry..." The mare returned to biting at the guard and tearing his armor away. Trixie took a step forward and the mare froze. She looked up and towards Trixie seeing all the ponies standing there.

"M-mother? What are you doing? How are you walking around!? Your dead! You died three years ago!" The mare smiled and showed her blood covered fangs that still had pieces of meat stuck in between them. Trixie almost barfed at the sight. Slowly the fangs became the teeth of a normal pony and the blood lust in Charm's eyes vanished and was replaced by sorrow.

"Trixie... Come here and give mother a hug." The mare spread her forelegs open wide and Trixie began to cry before running over and hugging her mother. Fang was in shock. The hungry ghost that was Trixie's mother was being kind. "Shh shh mother's here. No need to cry my little magician. Everything is going to be all right now." Almost to fast for anypony to catch the blood lust  returned to Charm's eyes and her teeth became sharp again. She quickly went to bite Trixie and rip through her neck like she had done with the guard when a sword pierced her side causing her to fall back. The sword however was not Fang's.

"You will not harm Trixie." The voice came from above and a cloaked unicorn jumped down. It was the same unicorn who was in the corner of the graveyard earlier. Strapped to his left foreleg was a hexagonal shield that held the image of two crescent moons facing each other. The moons were connected by two, diagonal, red chains that formed an X shape and in the center of the X was a padlock. The unicorn's horn glowed and the sword was ripped out of the possessed corpse of Trixie's mother, who let out a howl of pain when it was removed, and he charged at the flesh eating mare.

Trixie was in shock now. A pony who she didn't even know was saving her from her mother's flesh eating corpse. The pony started to glow with a black aura and shadows began to gather in front of him. Soon the shadows formed a small black orb that he tapped and it shot into Charm's head. "Shadow shot!" Charm was sent flying into the stone wall behind her. After a few seconds her mouth opened and out drifted what looked like a black cat like creature with, large, red lips, glowing yellow eyes, razor sharp fangs, and claws that looked more like knifes. It was thin and lean as if it had not eaten in a hundred years. It was drooling and it turned its attention to the dead guard that its previous host had not finished devouring.

The creature set into self down on all fours and leaped onto the corpse and began to devour it, bones and all. Its stomach got bigger and bigger as it ate and the bigger its stomach got the stronger it's muscles seemed to become. One it was finished it turned its attention back to the cloaked unicorn and Trixie, who the dark blue unicorn was trying to help get away from the demonic cat. Its eyes settled on Trixie and it stood up on two legs before charging at her and grabbing her, after knocking the darker unicorn out of the way. Just as it was about to feast on the living mare, who was screaming, the blue stallion stood up and a large dark spear appeared in his hoof. He threw it and impaled the demon's stomach which made it release what looked like a blue steam cloud.

"So that's your weakness! Your stomach is your weak point!" Suddenly a large cloud of shadows gathered over head and took the form of thousands of black arrows. "Shadow barrage!!!" The arrows all flew directly at the demon and each found their mark. With each strike the demon got smaller and smaller until it was back to its original form.  Panicking the demon ran from the stallion and, unfortunately for it, right into one of Fang's demon traps. The small crystal ball began to bounce as the demon tried to escape it's new prison, with no success. Fang opened a small portal and threw the orb inside. He then turned to the unicorn.

"So it is you. Good to see you. Old friend." The unicorn grabbed his sword and placed it behind his shield vertically. The shield attached itself to the dragon shaped hilt, before turning into a black orb, falling to the ground, and became the ponies shadow.

"It is nice to see you to Fang." The blue unicorn looked to Trixie. "Are you OK?" Trixie just nodded. The unicorn got a goofy grin on his face and turned to Fang. "Nice to see you dude." He raised a hoof and threw a punch at Fang's chest. Fang did the same. Neither even flinched. "Still as strong as ever."

Fang smiled at the unicorn. "I can say the same for you." Twilight looked back and forth between the two and let out a groan.

"What's going on here? Who is he? What is he? Is he a pony?" Twilight glared at the unicorn. "Well I want some answers!"

The unicorn blinked. "Calm down princess!" He leaned over to Fang. "Is your marefriend here always crazy like this?"

Fang leaned over to the unicorn. "Only when she is very confused. Also..." Fang punched the unicorn in the side. "Don't call Twilight crazy or else!"

The blue unicorn nodded and looked at Twilight. "I am Tamashii 'Soul' Souto. I am a shade of the guardian rank. Nice to meet you Princess Sparkle." He looked a Fang. "Or else what!?" He slammed his forehead right against Fang's and began to push forward trying to overpower him.

"Soul... Insult Twilight again and I will floss my teeth with your spine!" Fang pushed back and pushed forward so that they were evenly matched.

Twilight and Trixie just watched the two argue. Each time Soul shot an insult Fang shot one right back. "Trixie... Is it just me or did we find a unicorn version of Fang."

"No. There are two of your coltfriend now Twilight." The two stallions looked at the two mares. 

"I am nothing like Fang!" 

"I am nothing like Soul!" The two looked at each other and were quiet for a second before they burst out laughing. Finally they calmed down. "OK Soul. Truce for now?"

Soul smiled. "Truce." He walked over to Trixie. "Nice to finally meet you face to face Trixie. I've been watching and protecting you since I saw your show in Las Pegasus. Not from ponies of course, I have been fighting much more dangerous creatures."

Trixie gulped. "Do you mean... Demons?" Soul nodded and there was a small groan.

"It feels like I got hit by a train." All the ponies turned to the wall and watched as Charm's corpse began to glow and return to the way it looked before she had died. When the glow died down the mare looked like she had been when she was possessed except her teeth were normal and when she opened her eyes they were not filled with blood lust. She fell to the ground and looked up. "T-Trixie? Hex? Is that really you? What, what happened? Why can't remember anything?" Charm was immediately plowed over by Hex who, to everypony's surprise, was crying.

"Mommy! Your back! You died but now your back!" Hex was hugging his mother and crying to her shoulder now.

"I... Died? Don't be silly Hex! If I had died I wouldn't be talking right now! Now stop crying. Your a brave little colt aren't you?" Hex pulled his face away from his mothers shoulder and she wiped his tears away. The guard that the demon had eaten reappeared and looked around as if nothing had happened before shrugging and walking away.

Trixie pushed Soul out of the way and walked over to Hex and her mother. "Mother... How do we know you are really our mother and not just a trick created by a demon!?"

"The demon that was possessing your mothers body... You owe it a thank you Trixie..." Twilight, Hex, Trixie, and Soul all looked at Fang and gasped. "Hear me out!" Trixie's mouth shut along with Twilight and Soul's. "Thank you. Now it is obvious your mother is alive. However she died three years ago. The only thing that could have brought her back was necromancy. However I can not sense any marks of necromancy on her at all. This means that the demon was probably absorbing life force to get stronger." Fang took a deep breath before continuing. "As a result, when it was defeated and captured the excess life force it had collected went into the closest body it could find. That body was your mother Trixie. I don't think that the demon intended for this to happen but it is what happened." Fang sat down and they all blinked and nodded. It made sense. Twilight trotted over, laid her head on Fang's shoulder, and smiled. Fang stood and wrapped a wing around her before they trotted off.

A few minutes of talking later Charm finally got Trixie, who had told her that she and Hex were living right outside of Ponyville, to realize that it was really her and not a demon. She then offered Trixie, Hex, and Soul to spend the night at her house. they graciously accepted. That night just after Trixie and Hex had fallen asleep Charm walked up to Soul. "Could... Could you protect my son and daughter while they live in Ponyville? I'll pay you anything." She pulled out a bag of bits which Soul just pushed away.

"I'll do it for free." With a light smile on her face, Charm went to bed and soon Soul fell asleep while watching Trixie and Hex, who were hugging each other to keep warm. Right before he drifted off he placed a blanket over the two azure unicorns and smiled as they stopped shaking. He closed his eyes and Trixie opened hers. She didn't know why but looking at Soul made her blush. She soon fell back asleep and dreamed of her mother, Hex, and herself when they were younger. Happy times. Now that Charm was back there would surely be more.

A rooster with a comb of fire landed on a windowsill and watched Trixie. Across Canterlot, at the castle, a small serpentine dragon with eyes that were as black as a starless night watched Twilight and Fang as they slept. Each was an arch demon in their beast form.

Far above the clouds, the sky, and the stars a group of alicorns gathered. A white stallion with green eyes and a sun yellow mane that flowed in a nonexistent wind, and had electric sparks jumping off of it, looked out at the others. His eyes finally settled on a dark grey alicorn with bat wings, gold eyes, and a fiery blue mane that blew in a nonexistent as well. "Hades. Why did you return that mares life?"

The bat winged alicorn looked at him. "Death is my jurisdiction brother! I can end life and return it whenever I want!"

The white alicorn looked at his brother. "I never said that you couldn't. I simply asked why."

The grey alicorn smirked and turned around. "Because, Zeus, I wanted to." With that the alicorns left each other. A new adventure was just about to start Fang, Twilight, and their friends.





The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living. ~ Cicero.

> A Dragon's Evolution.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Our life is made by the death of others. ~ Leonardo da Vinci.





It had been one week since the 'Lulamoon Incident' as the press had dubbed it. Trixie and Hex had returned to Ponyville and were now generally accepted in town. Trixie's mother had given her children enough money to get a four bedroom house, with the condition that they let Soul live with them. They had very eagerly accepted. Soul had tried to decline saying he would just stay in a local in but both Charm and Trixie insisted that he stay with them. Hex had started school three days ago and had made a few friends. The one he had been spending the most time with was, surprisingly, Scootaloo.

Twilight and Spike entered Fang's castle along with Rarity, who was bound with a ball and chain. They quickly made their way to the throne room where Fang usually was during the day. The doors to the room opened and Twilight saw Fang laying on his throne. He was talking to his castles head doctor, Samedi, when he noticed them come in. The grim looks on their faces told him that this was not a visit for government or to simply talk. Fang stood up and walked over to Twilight. He saw that she had been crying. "Twilight... What's wrong? Why is Rarity bound with chains?" Twilight hugged him and buried her face in her shoulder before beginning to cry so hard that she could not speak properly. Fang's attention turned to the purple dragon. "Spike... Do you know whats wrong with her?"

The little dragon looked up. He had tears in his eyes and couldn't stand still. "Yesterday we went to Rarity's house and she was sick. Really sick. She couldn't stand up straight, she kept barfing, she had a fever of almost two hundred, and then she began to cough up blood. We took her to the doctor but they said nothing was wrong with her besides the fever and that her throat was bleeding a little on the inside. They told her to get some rest so she went home and fell asleep. We came to check on her today and she was... She was like this. I mean the way she is acting, not the chains. We had to chain her up to keep her from attacking anypony." He pointed to Rarity. Her eyes were bloodshot, she was foaming at the mouth, and her coat, and mane, was messed up and falling out.

Fang's eyes locked on a small bite on the inside of her leg. It looked like the bite of a vampony but was much, much smaller. It was the size of a spider bite. Something in Fang's mind clicked. "Twilight... Stop crying..." Twilight pulled fer face away from Fang's shoulder and sniffled before looking up at him. "OK Twilight... Have you ever seen a spider in Rarity's house?" Twilight thought for a second before nodding. It had been large and was hiding in Rarity's sheets when she came over to visit last year. It had almost bitten her. She squashed it. Fluttershy had looked at the dead bug but couldn't identify it. "Now this is very important. Did it have a black hourglass shape on its thorax? Like a black widow, except green instead of red."

Twilight's eyes went wide. "Yeah it did... What does that spider have to do with this?" Fang let out a sigh and motioned for Samedi to come over.

"Yes my king?" Fang pointed at Rarity's leg. Samedi smiled at the spider bite. "Ah she was bitten by one of those old things? Amateurs play. I will get started immediately... When did she start showing symptoms Princess Sparkle?"

Twilight blinked. "Yesterday... Why?"

Samedi let out a sigh of relief. "Because if she had started showing symptoms the day before yesterday then... The prognosis would have been death." His horn glowed and a needle appeared by his side. He quickly jabbed it into Rarity's neck and they all stood there for a few seconds before Rarity fell to the ground. Twilight and Spike looked at Rarity then turned to Samedi and growled. "Relax it was a sedative. I need to get her to the infirmary." He turned to the left. "Guard if you would be so kind?" A red stallion with a purple mane walked over. Twilight cringed at the sight of his face. Half of it was torn away leaving only bone an some muscle. The guard picked her up and placed her on his back before trotting off with Samedi.

Fang got a serious look on his face. "Twilight we need to go to Rarity's house now. She was bitten by a Rabidus Aranearum or 'Rabid Spider' a arachnid I thought I killed off a long time ago. This kind of spider has large nests. Where there is one there are thousands." Twilight nodded and Fang then looked down to the baby dragon. "Spike... Having you with us will make it much easier. The spiders are seemingly allergic to dragons so you should be able to repel them. You can also help us reach the nest as you can dig into the ground. We don't have to worry about Ponyville because these spiders pick a house and never stray more than five feet from it."

Spike looked up at Fang. "If it's to keep Rarity safe... I'll do anything!" Fang smiled and his horn flashed before they teleported to Rarity's house. They began to search for the spiders nest when Spike saw one crawling into a vent. He quickly followed it and screamed as the old rusted metal of the vent gave out beneath his weight. He fell down for what seemed like an eternity. Finally he landed on what felt like silk. He tried to move his arms and legs but found they were stuck to whatever it was he had landed on.

Twilight stuck her head into the vent just after Spike had fallen down into what seemed to be a cave. "Spike! Are you OK!?"

Spike looked up and could see a tiny bit of light coming from a small hole. It was the hole he had fallen through. "Yeah I'm fine Twilight! Don't worry! I landed on something soft! Nothings broken but... I'm stuck... Don't worry I'll be out as soon as I see if this is the spiders nest!" Looking around he saw webs. Thousands and thousands of webs. Spike heard a small scream and looked up to see a filly sized Twilight falling down into the cave followed by a colt sized Fang. They both fell into the web he saw stuck in and became stuck themselves.

The sound of chattering got them all to look up and see a giant spider that was twice the size of a pony. It slowly crawled its way over to the web that the three were stuck in and opened its mouth. It was going to eat Twilight. Spike's eye twitched and he roared, ripping his arms and legs free before jumping into the spiders mouth. The spider closed its mouth and swallowed. Twilight and Fang stared in shock as the spider began to shudder run like crazy, it continued shuddering and running into walls before giving a shriek and falling onto its back.

Twilight watched as large, purple, clawed hands ripped through the dead spider's thorax and gaped as a larger version of Spike climbed out. He was the size of a teenager now and had wings. The base and frame were purple like his scales while the leather of them was light green. His spines had become sharp and curved with the points facing down and going down his spine. The change in Spike's size, spines, and growth of wings came with another surprise. Spike held in his claw a small ball of electricity. He was using magic. Spike's tail cut through the webs holding Fang and Twilight letting them fall to the ground. "Get out of the cave guys. I'm going to make sure none of these spiders survive."

Twilight blinked at Spike. "S-Spike is that really you?" The bipedal dragon nodded and Twilight smiled. "You grew up!" Twilight saw Spike look at Fang and motion with his head. The next thing she knew, Fang had all four of his legs wrapped around her and was flying up through the hole that they had all fallen through. Twilight heard electricity crackle and looked down the hole to see that all of the webs had been lit aflame. Then all of a sudden the cave collapsed and Fang sealed off the hole. Twilight looked at him with wide eyes. "Fang! Spike is still down there!" There was a loud clang of metal against stone and Twilight turned to see Spike climbing out of a manhole. She and Fang both ran out before Twilight hugged him. "Spike your a teenager now!"

Spike just blinked. "I know I'm a teenager now! I'm eighteen!"

Fang was just staring at Spike. "Mipedian."

Twilight and Spike looked at Fang. "What?" Spike was just blinking as if trying to figure out what he said.

"Twilight... Spike is not just a dragon. He is a Mipedian. They are the only kind of dragon that can breed with a pony and have foals. They are also able to change their shape and DNA into that of a pony. They are  known as 'Mage Dragons' due to the fact that they can use magic. Spike I have a task for you." Spike just looked at Fang with a raised eyebrow. "Imagine yourself turning into a pony." Spike did as he said and his bones started to shift. There was flash of light and when everypony looked, standing in Spike's place was a purple pegasus pony with a green mane that looked like Spike's spines. What gave away that it was Spike was the draconic eyes.

"S-Spike! Your! Your a pony!" Twilight horn glowed and a mirror appeared. Spike just looked into it for a few minutes before running a hoof through his green mane and smiling.

"I look good! Hey Twi? You think Rarity will go on a date me now?" Spike looked directly at his surrogate sister.

Twilight and Fang looked at each other as if reading the others mind through their eyes. They both turned to Spike and smiled. "There is a chance that she might date you now." They looked at each other again and blushed. Spike just looked between the two before giving a smug smirk.

"You two were made for each other, you know that?" Twilight and Fang just blushed even harder before they all teleported back to Fang's castle. They went into the infirmary to see Rarity sitting up and drinking tea.

Rarity put her cup down and smiled. "Twilight, Fang, how are you? Mr. Samedi told me about what had happened and I feel terrible for having to make you two and little Spiky-Wikey have to deal with those spiders... Were is Spike anyway? Isn't he with you?" Twilight smiled and stepped to the side letting Spike walk up. "I-is that S-Spike?"

The dragon turned pony nodded. "H-hey Rarity... I was wondering if you would like to go out on a date sometime?"

Rarity smiled at Spike and stood up. She walked over to him and gave him a small peck on the cheek. "For a handsome stallion such as yourself... I would love to."

Spike felt his heart skip a beat. "So um... When do you want to go out?"

Rarity smiled. "How about tomorrow night?"

"Sounds great." The two walked out of the infirmary and walked back to Ponyville, talking the whole way.

Back at the castle Twilight let out a yawn and asked Fang if she could stay the night with him. He answered yes and the two went to bed. Fang began to nuzzle Twilight who let out a content sigh and slowly drifted off. Following her actions soon after there was only one thought on Fang's mind as he began to slumber. 'I wonder how he will react when he finds out he can't eat gemstones in his pony form?'





If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. ~ Thomas Paine

> Of Love & Loyalties.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


There can be no good without evil. ~ An old Russian proverb.





Sunset was eating lunch in the gardens with her mother and father when she heard the sound of sobbing. She turned her head towards the maze when the sound was coming from and stood up. "Sunset? What's wrong?" Sunset did not hear her mother and entered the maze. Slowly she worked her way through until she reached the center where she saw a little colt crying, the strange thing was that he had a monkey's tail. 

"Hey kid! What's wrong?" The colt stopped sobbing, turned, and faced Sunset revealing an evil grin. He stood up on his hind legs and began to transform. His teeth elongated into fangs, his muscles bulged out and he grew hands and feet. His heads shape changed to that of a gorilla. It wasn't a pony, it was a demon. It grabbed Sunset before she could scream or run and lifted her off the ground. 

Celestia and Mord turned the corner to the center and saw the ape demon holding Sunset. "If you wish to see your daughter ever again then you will shed the blood of the monster king!" The ground rose up and covered the demon and Sunset. The mare began to scream but was silenced as her mouth was covered by dirt. They then began to sink into the ground.

Mord and Celestia charged but they were not fast enough. The demon and Sunset were gone. "Mord... Who just took our daughter?"

The arch demon looked at his lover. "That was The Thieving Monkey, Vul Dief. He is an archdemon just like me. Celestia... Do you want to see Sunset ever again?"

Celestia gave Mord a sharp glare. "What kind of question is that!? Of course I want to see our daughter again Mord!"

"Then we will have to kill Fang." Celestia blinked and saw something in Mord's eyes. Tears. In the five hundred years they had been lovers Celestia had only seen him cry once before. The day Sunset was born.

Celestia's glare softened. "If it is the only way to see my little Sunset again...." She closed her eyes and sighed. They shot open revealing a small fire behind them. "Then I shall have his head on a pike!" Her anger and despair were so great that the clouds over Canterlot began to pour rain and strike the ground with lightning. The lovers went inside to prepare. In three months time there would be bloodshed.




Three months later.





Twilight was in shock at what she had just heard. She had been called to Canterlot along with Cadence and Shining Armor by Celestia and Luna. She had entered the castle under the suspicion that they were all just going to talk about the ongoing events in Equestria and how to keep all their treaties in play. She was wrong. She blinked and looked at her mentor. "Princess Celestia... Could you please repeat that?"

Celestia looked down at the table and sighed. "I said we must prepare for war against Fang." She looked up and turned to the ponies who she had called to this meeting to see their reactions. Luna was angrily grinding her teeth, Cadence was holding a hoof over her mouth, Twilight had tears forming in her eyes, and Shining Armor was switching back and forth between grinning and being confused.

Twilight stood up and slammed her hooves down on the table. "Why!? Fang has done nothing to harm Equestria since he returned! In fact he has done nothing but help Equestria in my opinion! Why do we have to go to war with him!?"

"Twilight is right sister!" All eyes turned to Luna. "Is it not Fang who is fighting and sealing the demons who escaped from Tartarus? I see no reason to fight him! He wishes for peace between our countries!" Cadence nodded in agreement with Twilight and Luna.

Celestia growled. "We must go to war sister! I can not tell you why, but we must!" The room was silent for a moment. "There is no other way! I wish there was, but there isn't! Fang must die, for the greater good!"

The sound of a chair falling over and breaking against the marble floor caught the attention of everypony in the room. Twilight was standing up with her wings flared out. Her eyes were freely flowing with tears. "Y-you want to go to war, and kill Fang, but won't even tell us why!? You can't even have the decency to tell me why you want to kill the stallion I love!?" She began to back up until she reached the door. "The Celestia I know would never do something like that! The Celestia I love not only as a princess and mentor, but like a second mother would find a way to settle her issues with somepony peacefully! But with the way your acting, it is obvious that you are not the Celestia I know and love!" She opened the door and turned around to leave.

"Twilight Sparkle! If you leave this room then you will be considered a traitor to the Equestrian crown!" The room was silent. Then they heard the sound of sobbing. All eyes turned to Twilight, who had turned her head so that she could look at the other royals. Celestia blanched. "T-T-Twilight... I-I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean it! I was just so angry that I-" She was silenced when Twilight raised a hoof.

"Save. Your. Breath." The entire room gasped at Twilights words. "You're wrong Celestia... You meant it, and you know what?..." Twilight stepped out of the room and turned to walk down the hall giving Celestia one more look. "I guess I'm a traitor then... But in my opinion... Being a traitor is better then living under the rule of a tyrant worse than Nightmare Moon!" Twilight galloped down the hallway with her brother, Cadence, and Luna, calling and chasing after her.

Shining caught up and ran up along side his sister, followed by Cadence and Luna. "Twilight get a hold of yourself, turn around, and apologize right now!"

"No!" Cadence ran up next to Twilight and gave her a sad look. 

"Twilight I know that Celestia went to far calling you a traitor but you need to understand, she is doing what she thinks is best for Equestria!" Twilight just kept running and kept her head forward.

"No! I don't understand and I don't want to understand!" Luna ran up and Cadence slowed down, switching places with the moon princess.

"Twilight please!  Don't do this! I know she is acting like my dark side but she must have a reason! Please just calm down!" Twilight growled at Luna.

"I SAID NO!" The front doors of the castle slammed open, Luna, Cadence, and Armor had to stop so that they did not get hit by them. Twilight took to the air and soared. She just soared. Through the skies over Canterlot, down to Ponyville, past Rarity's house, Rainbow's house, the library, Sugar Cube Corner,  Sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy's cottage, and into the forest. She flew through the trees, dodging them until she reached Fang's castle. She braced herself as she crashed through the window to the throne room and landed on her side. She hit the ground and bounced before hitting it again and landing right in front of Fang. She then cried out in pain.

"Twilight! Are you alright!?" Fang bent down and began to pull the shards of broken glass from her body, summoning bandages and wrapping them as he did so, before trying to lift her up, causing her to yelp in pain. Gently running his hooves along her he gasped. She had broken her wing in seven places when she landed. "Don't worry Twilight I know a spell that can speed up the healing process."

"Fang Celestia is- Ahhhhhhh!!!" Fang grabbed Twilights wing and straightened it before summoning a splint around it and casting a spell, making it so that her wing would heal in half the time it would naturally. "T-thanks... Fang! Celestia is going to declare war on you!" The room was silent. Fang lifted Twilight up and took her to his room. He set her down on the bed and called for Ana, who appeared in a flash of light and snow.

"Yes Fang? What do you- OhmygoshTwilight! What happened to you!? Are you OK!?" Ana ran up to Twilight and climbed onto the bed, slowly as to not hurt Twilight, and looked at her with a worried expression. Her eyes looked on Twilight's. "You've been crying... What's wrong Twilight?"

"Ana I want you to watch Twilight and get her anything she needs OK?" Ana nodded. "I need to... Awaken my generals."

"Cousin Fang? Are you going off to war again?" Fang nodded. "With who?"

"He's going to war against Equestria Ana. Celestia declared war today... But I can tell that Fang will win... To be honest... Compared to his soldiers... Our military is hopeless..." Just before Fang left the room Twilight remembered something. "Fang? Can I stay here for a while? I've been branded a traitor to Equestria..."

Fang just gave her a small smile. "You can stay here as long as you want Twilight. If I may ask... Why are you a traitor?"

"Because I came to warn you, and I came to warn you, because I want to be by your side... Because... Because I love you..." Fang walked back over to the bed and smiled down at Twilight before kissing her.

"I love you to Twilight." The door burst open and everypony turned to see Shining Armor as he threw a guard to the side and stepped into the room.

"Twilight! Princess Celestia said that if you come back now you won't be a traitor, but if you stay here you will. Come on lets go!" Shining glared at Fang who glared back at him.

"I don't want to." Shining went wide eyed and looked at Twilight. "Sorry big bro... But I want to stay here with Fang."

"Twilight... I won't let any member of my family be branded a traitor. If you won't come willingly I will drag you back to Canterlot." He took a step forward but was met by Fang's hoof.

"No means no Armor." Fang removed his hoof from Armor's face and gave him a strong head-butt. Shining stood there for a second before falling over. Fang turned to Twilight. "It's your brother Twilight so it's your call. Do I send him back to Equestria with a warning or do I lock him in the dungeon? I promise he won't be mistreated in the dungeon. You will be able to visit him if you want."

Twilight paled at her options. On one hoof she would be giving Fang an upper hoof in the war to come, on the other hoof she would be locking her brother in a prison cell. Finally she made her decision. "Lock him up... It's for both your safety and his." Fang nodded and two guards came in before carrying Armor off. Twilight got up and walked over to Fang. "You said you were going to... 'Awaken' your generals... I won't ask what you meant but... Can I come with you?"

Fang smiled and nodded. There was a small tugging at the two alicorns legs and they both looked down to see Ana. "Yes Ana?"

"Can I go and play with Jack?" Fang nodded. "YAY!!!" Ana ran out the door followed by Fang and Twilight. Ana went to the left while the couple went to the right. The two continued down the hallway until they reached an intersection, they could go either left or right. Fang just stepped forward and gave a stomp onto the ground causing a hidden door to open.

The two entered the hidden passage and took a few steps before the door closed behind them. Twilight gave a small eep before flames began to ignite and a small trail of fire lit torches that led down a spiral staircase. The two walked down the stair case for what seemed like hours until they reached a door. Fang opened it and they both entered. Twilight looked around the room. Ten statues, each depicting a wild animal. One stood out to Twilight as it depicted not an animal, but a teenage dragon. It had a crown of curved horns, and was standing next to a pile of, what looked to be, bones.

Looking at the other statues Twilight saw a wolf, a jaguar, a bat, a bear, a lizard, a crab, a scorpion, a eagle, and a frog. Each was the size of a pony. "Fang... Are these your generals?" Fang nodded and pulled out ten amulets. The simple stones glowed and flew towards the statues. When each reached a statue they entered where the heart of the animal would be. Slowly the statues gained color and began to move.

"Twilight! These are my generals, in their animal forms." He pointed to each. "Lóng The Dragon, Qīngwā The Frog, Lǎoyīng The Eagle, Xiē The Scorpion, Pángxiè The Crab, Xīyì The Lizard, Chéngdān The Bear, Biānfú The Bat, Měizhōu hǔ The Jaguar, and Láng The Wolf." They all nodded as they heard their name. "Generals prepare yourselves! For tomorrow a new era dawns on Equestria!" The generals all growled and took the forms of ponies. They then quickly received their orders from Fang and left. 

Twilight gave Fang a worried look. "Nopony is going to get hurt right?"

"Of course not my love. I will do everything in my power to make sure that no blood is truly shed in this war." Twilight smiled and hugged Fang who hugged her back.

"C-can we just stay like this for a while?" Fang nodded and they began to dance before kissing each other in the torchlight.





Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. ~ Leo Tolstoy.


> March Of The Beasts, Battle For Ponyville.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity, nothing exceeds the criticisms made of the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed. ~ Herman Melville 





Twilight and Fang awoke and went down stairs to the throne room. The sound of shouting and metal hitting stone caught their attention as the element bearers and their coltfriends entered. Each had a look of anger on their face. They all took note that Trixie was there with Soul as well. "Girls what are you doing here?" Twilight focused on her friends necks. They were each wearing their element.

"We're here to save you Twi!" Rainbow Dash took a few steps forward before stopping dead in her tracks when she saw Twilight's wing.

"Dash... You don't understand... I don't need to be rescued because I don't want to be rescued." Dash shook her head and looked at Fang.

"He must have hypnotized you into thinking that! I mean look at yourself! He broke your wing!" Dash darted toward the two alicorns with the but was blocked by a sharp gust of wind that cut off some of her mane. Once again she stopped dead in her tracks. "Who the buck did that!?" A cough was heard from one of the windows.

Looking up they all spotted a arbor brown pegasus with a starch white mane and tail. Twilight and Fang recognized it as the pony form of Fang's general. Lǎoyīng, The Eagle. He was reading a book. He flew up and landed in front of Dash, facing her, all the while not even looking up from his book. "Can you feel it? The winds of war are..." He slammed the book shut revealing his golden eyes. "Blowing!" The wind swept up creating a small tornado around the hooves of the pegasi.

Dash just snorted as she was lifted off the ground. "Who are you supposed to be? Shakesmare?" The general just sighed. "Whatever! Get out of my way!" Dash's element lit up and a red beam shot from it, hitting the general. A large cloud of red smoke appeared after the blast and all was silent. Dash grinned. "Twilight! I'm coming to get you!" She took a step forward and was immediately blown back by a strong blast of wind.

"Requiem of The Fallen Soldier!" The winds whipped up cutting through the smoke and blasting it away. Dash soon found her self with a small cut on her cheek. She looked up from the ground and saw the pegasus she had blasted. He now had blades attached to his wings. "An ancient proverb says: Foolish is the soldier, who knows not the face of their enemy. For all of their weapons will prove useless under the weight of their ignorance." He stood firm as a tornado rose from the ground and lifted him as if it were a platform. "I am Lǎoyīng, The Eagle Of Wind!" The winds whipped up around Rainbow lifting her up and causing her element to fly off of her neck. "None shall harm my king while I still draw breath!" 

The element flew over to Lǎoyīng who grabbed it out of the air and tossed it behind him. "Hey give my element back!" Dash got up and charged at Lǎoyīng but was thrown back by the wild winds surrounding him. 

The general glared down at Rainbow Dash. "Be grateful that it is only your element that I have taken. I could have killed you with the first blow."

Dash raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? If you could have killed me then why didn't you? It would have saved you time!" The stallion just smirked.

"Because my king ordered me to not take any lives in this war. Now behold!"  The winds began to whip around the other elements, their coltfriends, and Trixie and Soul. The front doors to the castle opened. The general crossed his wings in front of him so they resembled an X. "Technique of The Seven Winds! Blow Away!" Soul grabbed Trixie and jumped out of the way so that they wouldn't be hit. The general quickly made his wings spread out to full length and a strong gust of wind kicked up literally blowing away the other elements and their coltfriends. The doors slammed shut.

The elements landed on the ground outside the forest unharmed. The landed right in front of Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. Celestia looked at the ten ponies. "I assume that the elements didn't work?" They all looked at each other nervously.

Rainbow looked at Celestia. She had been the one to fail so she had to tell Celestia. "We didn't get the chance to use them princess... I was going to blast Fang then this weird pony who called himself Lǎoyīng appeared and took my elem-" Celestia raised a hoof.

"D-did you say... Lǎoyīng?" Rainbow nodded. "Then he is ready for war... He has awakened his generals." Celestia turned behind her and looked at the two thousand or so soldiers. Celestia knew that this was not going to be a battle. It was going to be a one sided blood bath. Still she had to fight to save her daughter. "Soldiers hear me! Today you stand at the gates of Tartarus! As your princess I order you to kill Crimson Fang when he leaves this forest! Those who fear for their lives leave now! Your desertion will not be held against you!" With that all the soldiers looked at each other, she watched as about a fourth of them threw off their helmets and armor before leaving. The others all saluted and drew their swords, spears, and bows.

"Celestia..." Celestia looked back to see Fang and Twilight step out of the shadows. "This is your first, and only, warning. Tell me now what the problem is and I will save you the humiliation of defeat. My army far surpasses yours after all."

Celestia grimaced and motioned for the elements and their coltfriends to get behind the soldiers. Only Rarity, Spike, Fluttershy, Acid, Pinkie, and Jekyll listened. The others stood firm. "Get behind the soldiers! That is an order." The elements of loyalty and honesty nodded before meeting up with their friends. Celestia turned her attention to Fang and Twilight. "Twilight if you come back now you won't be branded a traitor."

"I'm sorry Princess Celestia but..." Twilight looked between her mentor and lover five times before walking over to Fang, laying her head on his shoulder, and smiling. "I don't want to leave Fang's side... He makes me feel safe."

Celestia stared at her student for a few minutes. "I can see that you truly feel that way and are not under Fangs' control. That means that you are a traitor to Equestria and must, sadly, be brought to justice..." Her horn lit up and a large orb of light and flame flew at Twilight. Fang was quick to react and jumped in front of it. He took the full blast and fell to the ground with singed fur and smoke was rising from his body.

"Fang!" Twilight ran over to help him up but was stopped dead in her tracks when she heard Fang laughing. "Fang?" Her lover stood up and smiled at her.

"Impossible! I used all of my strength with that spell! How did you survive!?" Fang shot forward and got in Celestia's face.

Fang gave a slight laugh. "Celestia... You were never truly strong... Luna is the strong one. You couldn't even defeat a changeling queen." He jumped back before Celestia could blast him. He turned to the forest. "My generals! It is time!" The ten generals left the shadows and slowly went towards the Equestrian army. Fang went up to Twilight. "You give the order... Will they cause bloodshed?"

Twilight blinked. Fang was giving her the option of causing a one sided massacre or not. Twilight smiled and turned towards the generals who had all gotten into fighting stances. "Do not kill! Only restrain! Try and get the elements, Cadence, and Luna as prisoners!"

"Yes m'lady!" The generals all charged forward and Twilight smiled at Fang. Fang smiled back in turn and watched as Celestia cowered at the sight of just ten ponies charging her.

"Soldiers! Meet their charge!" The battle cry was loud and vicious as the one thousand five hundred soldiers charged against their ten enemies.

Lǎoyīng smiled as he was surrounded by fifty pegasi. They pointed the tips of their spears all pointed at him and charged. "Technique of The Seven Winds! Gale Storm!" The winds whipped up and blew the pegasi away. There were shouts from the other generals as they blew away the Equestrian army. While nopony was watching Lóng had snuck behind the troops and taken Luna, Cadence, the elements, and their coltfriends hostage. 

Celestia went wide eyed when she saw that the elements and the other alicorns had been captured. "Retreat!" The soldiers did not need to be told twice as Celestia used a mass teleportation spell to get away from the battle. Cadence, Luna, and the elements were all left behind.

Fang looked at all his generals. "Ponyville is ours! We shall return to the castle with the captives for the time being."

"Yes sire!" They all disappeared and the town was amazed as a dark shield appeared around the town. It was officially the land of monsters now.





Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles. ~ Charles Chaplin

> Sorrow, Forgivness and a Question.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, my enemies for their good intellects. ~ Oscar Wilde 





Rainbow opened her eyes to see that she and Thunder were in a prison cell. "Thunder... Where are we?" The stallion turned around and smiled seeing that his fillyfriend had woken up. He ran over and hugged her.

"You two are in Fang's castle. More specifically the dungeon." Dash looked through the bars to see her former friend, Twilight Sparkle. "Dash I-"

"I have nothing to say to you traitor!" Twilight shied away at Rainbow's shout, but she quickly regained her confidence when she remembered that it was Celestia that had betrayed Fang and, by extent, her. "I can't believe you would betray Celestia like this! That you would betray your friends like this!" Dash got up and walked toward the bars when she noticed something.  Twilight had a knife. "So you came here to kill me?"

"No!" Twilight dropped the knife and slid it through the little slot on the ground where the guards gave the prisoners food. "I came to see if you were ever really my friend..." Twilight pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the cell. "Go ahead and stab me! Go for the heart and try to kill me! You, the others, and Celestia herself all did something that hurt me worse than any stab, bite, sting, or punch! I'm a strong mare! I can take it!" Twilight was crying now. Her eyes were like faucets turned on to full blast.

Dash walked up to the knife and picked it up. She walked over to Twilight and raised her hoof before bringing the knife down. 

Time seemed to slow down for Rainbow. The only thing she could think about was what Twilight had just said. She, her friends, and the princess had all hurt Twilight. She had no clue what she was talking about. Just as the blade reached Twilight's body it dawned on her and she dropped the knife. Twilight opened her eyes to the feeling of hooves wrapping around her. "The wedding... I'm sorry Twilight... I never said sorry... I didn't know that it meant that much to you..."

Twilight looked up and smiled. "It's ok Dash... As long as you've apologized." Twilight picked up the knife and turned around. "Come on let's go meet up with Fang and the others." She walked off with Thunder and Dash close behind. "Oh by the way... We're going to meet them at an execution... Just thought you should know."

Dash's eyes went wide. "Twi... Who is Fang killing? Cadence? Luna? Your brother? Who!?" She couldn't believe Twilight was so nonchalant about an execution, about watching a pony die. "Why are you not freaking out!? You're going to watch a pony die!"

"The stallion is barely a pony anymore Dash... He killed forty ponies... At least that's the ponies we know about... Just thought you should know." Twilight opened the door and they all stepped out. Twilight led them down the hallway and out of the castle to a town square. There was a gallows set up in the center and ponies were all gathered around cheering as a bound pony was brought up on stage and a noose was placed around his neck.

Dash and Thunder immediately spotted the other elements, Trixie, and Soul. They ran over to their friends and started talking. Twilight joined them and was warmly welcomed by her friends as they had all forgiven her, she had gotten to Rainbow last. She then noticed Fang was not in the crowd. She and her friends left the execution and began to look for him. 





"Twilight, darling! I saw him!" Twilight turned around to see Rarity and Spike running up to her.

Twilight got stars in her eyes. "Great! Where is he?"

"... Down the street with another mare..." Twilight's smile dropped.

"W-what? I-is he cheating on me? Oh no, he's cheating on me isn't he?" Twilight sat down and began to cry. "I-I thought that he loved me!" Spike snorted and ran off to find Fang. He ran down the street and went to where he and Rarity saw Fang and the mare.

"How much?" Spike's ears perked up and tilted to the side. That was Fang. He loved that he could turn into a pony since he was a Mipedian.

"Five thousand for the gemstones, five hundred for the chain and band. Five thousand five hundred all together." Spike poked his head around the corner and saw Fang take a small box from the mare. In return he gave her a large brown leather bag.

"That's seven thousand five hundred. Keep the extra." Spike pulled his head back just in time for Fang to miss him. Fang walked towards the alley that Spike was hiding in and the Mipedian ambushed him. Spike grabbed him from behind and dragged him into the alley. He quickly punched Fang in the face and growled.

Fang looked up at the angry Mipedian. "How dare you cheat on Twilight! I'll kill you!" Spike began to strangle the alicorn but was sent flying into a wall by a gust of wind.

The wind began to spiral into a small tornado and Lǎoyīng appeared. "Are you alright my lord? I shall take the Mipedian into custody for assaulting royalty! I will make sure he suffers greatly for his crimes!" Fang just laughed and shook his head before helping Spike up.

Lǎoyīng disappeared with the wind and Fang smiled at Spike. "Spike I'm not cheating on Twilight... I'm going to show you something... Can you keep a secret?"

"That depends on what it is..." Spike smiled and Fang sighed before pulling out the small box that the mare had given him.

"I'm going to ask her to-" Fang felt a hoof collide with the back of his head. Turning around he saw Twilight and the tears in her eyes. "T-Twilight!"

"How could you Fang!? I trusted you! I loved you and I thought you loved me! Obviously I was wrong! So tell me who is the mare you really love!? Huh!? Yeah I know! Rarity told me!" Fang sighed. 

"Twilight!" Twilight just kept ranting. "Twilight!!!" When she just kept ranting Fang sighed and grabbed the back of her head before pressing their lips together. Twilight was taken by surprise and allowed Fang's tongue to slip into her mouth. Their tongues fought for dominance with Twilight's finally giving out. When their kiss broke a trail of saliva connected their mouths. "Twilight... Can I ask you something?"

Twilight just stared into Fang's eyes and her anger seemed to melt away. "S-sure Fang. G-go ahead."

Fang smiled and got down on one knee. "Twilight... I have been thinking about this very hard and have finally made a decision. Twilight, I love you with all my heart, and I must ask you something. Twilight, would you make me the happiest stallion in the world? Would you be my wife and queen?" Fang pulled out the box the mare had given him and Twilight gasped when he opened it. It was not just a ring. It was a ring and a necklace. The ring was a elaborate golden band that had star insignias on it and there were three large diamonds embedded in it. The chain of the necklace was golden and the gemstone was in the shape of a heart and was a hot pink in color.

Twilight just stood there for a second. For Fang the second felt like an eternity. Twilight smiled and shook her head. "No Fang."

Fang was crushed. "B-but I thought you loved me as much as I loved you..." Fang got up and took to the air but was pulled back down by Twilight's magic.

"You didn't let me finish! Fang, I won't be your wife and queen." Twilight's smile grew wider. "I will be your wife, queen, and the mother of your foals." Twilight had barely any time to react before Fang was kissing her again. His horn was glowing and the ring slipped around her horn while he broke the kiss allowing the necklace to slip around her head. Spike, who had watched the whole scene, took to the air and flew around the city looking for his friends and telling them to go to Fang's palace before going there himself.

He busted into the dungeon to find Cadence and Shining Armor. He finally did and turned to the couple before falling over. "Fang, Twilight, ring, yes." With that he passed out.





Let your heart feel for the affliction and distress of everyone. ~ Gorge Washington.

> A Family's Blessing and a Demonic Discovery.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Nothing is easier than denouncing the evildoer. Nothing more difficult than understanding him. ~ Dostoevsky.





Twilight entered the dungeons with the keys to Shining Armor and Cadence's cell. She had asked if she could let them out and Fang had smiled and nodded saying that they would be his family as well soon enough. She turned the corner and smiled when she saw the sleeping forms of her brother and sister in law. "Hey you guys! Wake up! I have some really exciting news!" Cadence's eyes shot open and she smiled.

"Hi Twilight! How are you-" Her eyes went wide. "Twilight... Is that what I think it is?" Twilight smiled and opened the door. "Twilight did Fang... Did he?" Cadence walked forward and tapped the ring around Twilight's horn. Realizing it was real she squealed and hugged her sister in law. "I'm so happy for you!" Cadence let go of Twilight and turned to her husband who was still sleeping. "Watch this Twilight..." Cadence walked over to Shining, turned around, and raised her tail.

Shining yawned and pulled his head up out of the pillow causing him to see Cadence's most private parts. His dreary eyes shot wide open. "I'm up! I'm up! If it means we can have fun tonight I'm up!" Armor sprang from the bed and smiled... Until he saw Twilight. "Um..." His cheeks turned red and he got back on the bed before hiding his face in the pillow.

"That is how you wake you husband up if you want to be mean. If you want to be nice then you do this." Cadence walked over to armor and gave him a nuzzle and kiss causing him to raise his head so he could return the gesture. "Honey... Twilight has something you need to see..." Shining looked at his sister and saw the necklace.

"Nice necklace... Why is it so important? I mean it was probably a gift from Fang so... I guess that's why you find it important right?" Shining smiled at his assumption.

"No. Try again big brother, while the necklace was from Fang, he also gave me something else." Shining's eyes shot open.

"Look up honey." Shining's eyes drifted upwards to Twilight's face, then mane, then the base of her horn. His eyes widened when he saw it. The ring.

"No! I will not allow you to get married to Fang! He is an enemy of Equestria!" Twilight realized her mistake and closed the door before her brother could run out. "Twilight take that ring off right now!"

Twilight glared at her brother. "No! I love Fang! He proposed, asked me if I would be his wife and queen, I said no. He took it the wrong way, and was going to leave, before I explained that I didn't want to only be his wife and queen, I want to be his wife, queen, and mother to his foals!"

Cadence quickly ran over to her husband and threw her legs around him. "Honey calm down!" Something clicked in Cadence's mind. "Foal... Oh no! Where's Skyla!? I haven't seen her since we got captured in Ponyville."

"Don't worry... Do you want to see her?" The two nodded and Twilight smiled. She opened the door and let them out. "And big brother..." Shining looked to his little sister. "I'm marrying Fang... I'm sorry if that bothers you but I love him, and I won't let anypony or anything scare me off." 

Shining sighed but nodded. "I can't say I'm excited about the idea of you marrying Fang but... Right now I only care about seeing my daughter." Twilight smiled and led the two to Fang's room. Shining, to his surprise, saw Ana and Fang. The three walked in and smiled when they saw Skyla. She was sleeping on Fang's bed with a teddy bear wrapped in her hooves. "When did she fall asleep?"

"Ten minutes ago... So Armor... What do you think about me marrying Twilight?" Fang looked directly into his soon to be brother in law's eyes.

"I can deal with it but... There are two conditions OK?" Fang nodded. "Never hurt her. Physically, mentally, or emotionally." Fang just glared at Armor.

"I would kill myself before I would let that happen." Shining smiled and nodded to Fang.

"Second... You have to get my parents permission to marry her." Fang got a nervous look on his face. "What? What's with that look? Are you scared of my parents?"

"Don't be mad but I... Sent one of my generals to Canterlot to... Invite your parents to come here." There was a knock on the door.

"My King! The parents of Twilight Sparkle are waiting for you in the throne room!" Fang looked to his left and saw Twilight, Cadence, Armor, and even Skyla all glaring at him. Skyla just looked adorable. Fang gave a nervous laugh and scooted to the right some.

"Well I couldn't go to Canterlot to get them myself... I would have but my generals are harder to notice than me. I would have been spotted the second I entered Canterlot." Cadence and Twilight's eyes softened when they realized what he meant. Shining just kept glaring.

"One scratch and I kill you." Fang just nodded in response to the threat. The four alicorns and the unicorn turned and left the room before going to the throne room. They spotted Velvet and Nightlight. They were looking down and talking to Ana and Cheshire.

Twilight smiled and ran over to her parents. "Mom! Dad! How are you?" The two unicorns smiled at their daughter.

"We're fine honey... Just... Shocked that we are here. One second I was asking your father to get the door, next we were sitting here with a wolf... Oh I get it! This is a dream right? Why else would we be here?" Velvet smiled until she felt her husband give her a small shove. 

"Velvet... If this were a dream then you wouldn't have felt that. Twilight... Why are we here?" There was a giggle and a chuckle from below. Looking down they saw Ana and Cheshire.

"Because Fang told Láng to go and retrieve you from Canterlot." The two unicorns blinked. Not because what they just heard had surprised them, while it had it was not the reason, it was who had said it that surprised them. "Wait... Um... I mean... Meow?"

"Cheshire! You said you wouldn't scare them! Bad kitty!" Ana leaned over so that she was in the archdemon turned cat's face and frowned. "No desert for you tonight!"

"Oh come on Ana!" Ana stuck her snout in the air and began to walk off with Cheshire following close behind her.

"....Did that cat just talk?" Twilight gave a sheepish smile to her father. "Never mind... I don't want to know. Anyway why are we here?"

Twilight chuckled and turned to her mother. "Mom... What was the happiest day in your life?"

"Well... The days you and your brother were born of course. Why? Wait... Are you pregnant!?" Twilight blanched at her mothers accusation.

"No! No I'm not... OK... What was the second happiest day of your life?" Velvet tilted her head.

"The day your father proposed... Why?" Twilight smiled and raised a hoof to her mane. She brushed it away to reveal the ring Fang had given her. "Oh my... He proposed?" Twilight smiled and nodded. "I'm so happy for you!" Fang walked over to the three and looked down.

"Miss Velvet. Mister Nightlight. I am sorry for proposing to Twilight without getting your blessings, but I simply could not wait any longer." He heard a small laugh from Velvet, whom Twilight had just told that Fang was willing to wait until they were married, before having sex with her, and looked at Nightlight. The two caught each others eyes.

The two stallions just stood their for a while gazing into the others eyes. It seemed as if they were trying to read each others thoughts. Finally the connection broke and Nightlight smiled at Fang. "Take good care of my daughter ok?" Fang smiled at the stallion and nodded.

Velvet smiled at Twilight and led her away. "Twilight... Do you really love this stallion?" Twilight blinked and nodded. "He is willing to wait until your married... Twilight, don't let him go. They don't make ponies like him anymore. You have mine and your father's permission to marry him." Twilight smiled and hugged her mother before walking over to Fang and her father.

"Velvet, Nightlight, you two can stay in my kingdom as long as you want, as guests and members of the royal family." Nightlight and Velvet both smiled at their future son in law.

"We have been thinking about taking a vacation recently... OK we'll stay for a while... So when is the wedding?" Fang and Twilight smiled at the two unicorns and began to talk.




Meanwhile in Canterlot. Luna had snuck Trixie and Soul into the castle using Soul's shadow powers. Right now they stood over a sleeping Celestia. Luna's horn glowed and the world melted away for Trixie and Soul. They now stood in the dream world. A light flashed beside them and Luna appeared. "This is my sisters dream... Or should I say nightmare?" Luna shook her head. "It does not matter. We must find out what troubles my sister."

The three began to walk through the dreamscape before coming upon Celestia and Sunset Shimmer. They were in the Canterlot gardens eating lunch when all of a sudden vines shot out from the hedges and the grass wrapped around Sunset. It took the form of a demonic monkey. The demon smiled at Celestia and they watched in horror as Sunset's struggles ceased. The demon let her fall and it turned out that she was naught but a wooden puppet. The monkey's forehead glowed and a cage containing the real Sunset appeared. "Mother! Help me!"

The monkey glared at Sunset. "Quiet or else you won't get anything to eat when you wake up!" Sunset's cries were immediately silenced. "As for you Celestia... As we agreed I would return your daughter if you declared war on Fang so she will be returned to the place she was taken when the clock strikes noon tomorrow. If you try to declare peace I will take her again and this time... I won't return her." Celestia grimaced and nodded. The monkey looked to the sky and jumped away as a black bipedal creature with red lines running through its body dived at him. "A shade? You are a guardian class are you not? Interesting, you smell of the monster king... Tell him that Vul Deif has returned." Vul pounded his chest and became a bunch of leaves, grass, and vines before sinking into the ground as if it were a dark abyss. Sunset and the cage disappeared along with the demon.

Trixie was staring at her coltfriend, or rather what he was now. "So Soul... That's your real form?"

The shade looked at the show mare and turned into his pony form. "Maybe...?"

"Well I think you look fine either way... I don't really care what you look like..." The shade walked over to Trixie and  smiled before kissing her.

"Thanks. That means a lot to me." Trixie smiled at Soul. "Hey Luna... We should get back to Fang right?" The alicorn of the night nodded and the three disappeared leaving a confused Celestia behind.





Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed. ~ G.K. Chesterton.

> Cloudsdale Captured.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


What else is the whole life of mortals but a sort of comedy, in which the various actors, disguised by various costumes and masks, walk on and plays each one his part, until the manager waves them off the stage. ~ Erasmus.





"Rainbow..." Dash groaned, turned over and buried her face and ears further into the pillow that she had been using last night. She had come to Cloudsdale to visit her coltfriend Thunder and his sister Lightning. "Rainbow..." She flicked her tail at the sound of the noise and smiled when she hit something. "... Are you sure you want me to do that? Your not even awake yet..." Her tail shot down and she heard a sigh. "I give up! Sis you try and wake her up!"

"Easy.... Ahem... Hey Dash! Spitfire said you can join The Wonderbolts!" Dash shot up from the bed and turned to see her coltfriend Thunder and his sister. "See I told you! Saying 'Wonderbolts' wakes her up!" Thunder just shrugged.

Dash just glared at the female pegasus. "That was a mean trick Lightning! I thought you had stopped doing stuff like that!"

"I stopped doing things that could get another pony physically hurt. I still pull pranks as long as they cant hurt anypony physically." Dash sighed and was about to go back to bed. "Hey listen! The reason why we were waking you up really does have to do with The Wonderbolts!"

Dash looked up from the pillow. "Thunder what is she talking about?" She heard electricity crackle and the sound of a T.V. turning on.

"We now take you live to our anchormare, Silver Horizons at The Wonderbolt Academy where the militaristic daredevils are facing off against unknown assailants. Silver what do you see?" Dash turned and faced the screen as it changed from a stallion to a grey mare with a microphone in her hooves.

"Well Madden you won't believe this, but it is only one assailant and he is fighting the three most prominent members of The Wonderbolts. We received reports from Spitfire herself moments ago describing the stallion who she, Soarin, and Fleetfoot are fighting as a 'deadly freak of nature'. She said and I quote, 'He seems to have military training to a degree where he can take two of us on at the same time.' We have been forced to get to a safe distance and-" A scream cut them off. The camera turned away from the mare and focused on a falling Fleetfoot. She was falling back first and her left wing was bent in in angle that should not have been possible. Dash went wide eyed and flew out of the window that was next to Thunder's bed.

She was soon followed by Thunder and Lightning. The three took a direct course for the academy and found the training grounds in ruins. "Help! I think I broke my leg!" Dash, Thunder, and Lighting turned to the source of the sound and saw Fleetfoot hiding behind a corner. "I can't walk, or fly!" The three pegasi ran over and saw that she had a broken leg and a broken wing.

Dash and Thunder looked between each other. "Fleet... Who did this?" They turned to Lightning, who was lifting the mare onto her back.

"The pegasus who Spitfire and Soarin are fighting... Turns out he is an ancestor of mine... My family has always been in the military... He's part of the Transylmaneian army..." The three blinked. "Did you know that my family originated in Neighpon?" The twins shook their heads no but Dash gave a slight nod. "My family tree goes as far back as a warlord known as Kyūkōka Bakugeki no Washi. His name means 'Dive Bombing Eagle' in Equestrian."

"Fleet... How do you know that this pegasus is your ancestor?" Fleetfoot gave a small smile to Lightning.

"My family crest is branded on his forehead... It was a common practice among Japaneighse warriors thousands of years ago. It showed which family you were a part of. I got a small tattoo of my family crest... It's under my right wing." She raised her working wing to reveal a small symbol that made Dash's eyes go wide. ワシ. She had seen that symbol before. It was on the forehead Fang's general, Lǎoyīng.

"Lightning, Thunder you two get Fleetfoot out of here! I need to go get Soarin and Spitfire to surrender!" Dash took off and Thunder looked at his sister.

Lightning Dust sighed. "Go... I got Fleet..." Thunder smiled at his sister and took off after Dash. "I wonder why she want's them to surrender... Why isn't she helping them?" Fleet gave a little giggle.

"Because Soarin and Spitfire won't be able to win." Lighting turned to Fleet and raised an eyebrow. "Have you even heard of The Warriors of The Seven Winds?" Lightning nodded. Her mother had told her a legend about pegasi who could control the winds with their wings and turn it into a deadly weapon. "It's a true story based off of my family. The eldest child of each generation is able to control the winds. Stallions are able to use it to cause great destruction. Mares however are just able to use it for healing. Watch." The symbol under Fleetfoot's right wing glowed a light green and the winds began to circle around her broken wing. Soon it was if it had just been broken in one place instead of six.

"Wow." Lightning shook her head before leading Fleetfoot to a safe place and went with her and the doctors when they took her to the hospital.




Rainbow and Thunder quickly found Soarin. The front half of his body was stuck inside a cloud while the back half was bucking wildly trying to get free. After a few chuckles they grabbed him and pulled him out. The first thing they noticed is that his Wonderbolt badge was ripped off along with part of his suit. Soarin sputtered to life and looked at the couple. "Hey guys! Did you come to help?"

"Soarin, listen, you need to surrender! Like right now! I have fought this guy! You can't beat him! Get outta here and get someplace safe. Me and Thunder are going to go get Spitfire before she-" Dash was cut off when the light gold mare was thrown on top of Soarin. She was also missing her badge. Her lip was bloody and she was missing a tooth. She tried to get up but screamed in pain as soon as her right fore hoof hit the ground.

She just glared in the direction she had come from. "OK! You win! Happy? You win, I give up, I surrender, if I was a unicorn I would summon a white flag!" Spitfire sighed and crawled off of Soarin despite the pain her leg was in. That is when she saw Rainbow and looked down in disgrace. "Hey Dash... Heh I guess you think I'm lame now, don't ya?"

Rainbow laughed and Spitfire looked up. "No... I completely understand why you are surrendering. The guy is extremely tough. He was barely affected when I hit him with the element of loyalty." Spitfire went wide eyed when she heard that.

"The elements are meant to restore peace aren't they?" Rainbow nodded. "Then why didn't it... I don't know... Make him all 'sunshine and butterflies'? He is more angry then a dragon that was just bucked in the jaw." The blood drained from Dash's face. She had seen how angry that would make a dragon. She had done that to a dragon and thought that she was going to get eaten. Spitfire turned her head and watched as one of her team mates, Rapidfire, stumbled towards her. 

"Spitfire! I quit!" The pegasi all blinked and looked at him with slack jaws. He took off his goggles, badge, and suit before throwing them down. 

"Um... Rapid... Why are you quitting?" The stallion sighed.

"Because I have enough cash to live the rest of my life comfortably and raise a family of thirteen! I'm not as young as I used to be and I don't want to break my wings trying to pull off a stunt... Again. It took me this long because I didn't want to quit for seemingly no reason. I have a reason now so... I quit!" The stallion snorted and took off.

Spitfire just blinked before scowling at the stallion as he flew away. "I'm not sending you a final paycheck!" She looked at the suit and sighed. Now she needed to find a replacement. After a few seconds Spitfire looked at Dash. "Hey Dash... Wanna fill Rapid's spot on the team?"

Dash blinked and closed her jaw. She then closed her eyes and put a hoof on her chin. "Let me thi- Yes!"

"Congratulations, your a Wonderbolt now." Seeing that Rainbow couldn't stand still and was beginning to shake made her smile. "You can do a fan girl squeal... We all do when we first join." Dash took a deep breath and let out the loudest squeal she could.

A loud crack was heard over Dash's squeal and caught the attention of all the pegasi who were talking. Looking upwards they watched as the sky slowly turned an inky black. A cough was heard and they all turned to see Fang's general Lǎoyīng. "As of this moment., Cloudsdale is now part of Transylmaneia. The weather factory is not allowed to supply Canterlot with rain. It will be considered criminal activity, which means I will have to come back and do this..." He motioned to the destroyed landscape that surrounded them. "Again. Is that clear?"

Spitfire gulped. "Crystal." The wind controlling stallion walked over and patted Spitfire on the head before turning to Dash.

"After hearing from Queen Twilight about what you have done...  I am glad you made the team." He smiled and gave her a wink before taking off.

Dash, Thunder, Spitfire, and Soarin all watched as he flew away. "Wait a second... Did he plan to get me onto the Wonderbolts!?" All eyes turned to Dash. "Well... Thanks I guess?" The pegasi all burst out laughing. Thunder was the first to recover. He walked over to Dash and smiled before kissing her. Dash smiled and eagerly returned it. It had been a good day for her.





An earthly kingdom cannot exist without inequality of persons. Some must be free, some serfs, some rulers, some subjects. ~ Martin Luther.

> Appleloosian Showdown, A Father's Face.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


A simple child, that lightly draws its breath, and feels its life in every limb, what should it know of death? ~ Wordsworth.


Twilight and Fang were on a train bound for Appleoosa with Applejack and North Star. The two alicorns were going to Appleoosa to try and convince the town to become part of Transylmaneia without a fight. Applejack had offed to help since her cousin Braeburn was highly respected in the community and might be able to help win the town over. She had also mentioned that two of the citizens of the friendly community had gotten into a fight in The Saltlick Tavern and ended up killing the barkeep, when a bottle broke and he fell on it. The train came to a stop and they got off, Braeburn was there to meet his cousin. "Howdy Applejack! Howdy Twilight!" He shook the mare's hooves and then moved on to the stallions. "Howdy! What's your name?" He stuck his hoof out to North who shook it and said his name. He then moved onto Fang. "Howdy. I'm Braeburn! You're the colt Twilight's marrying?" Fang just stood there and nodded dumbly. "Well congratulations! You got yourself a cute little filly, I'll tell you what! Anyway welcome to Aaaaappleooosa!"

"Braeburn! Sheriff Silver Star needs your help! It happened again!" The five ponies looked down the street and saw a crowd gathering in front of an alleyway.

"Another murder? Who was it this time?" The pony, who looked to be a seventeen year old colt, looked at Braeburn with sorrow on his face.

"It was two actually, Scarlet Silk... Just like Topaz her uh..." The colt's cheeks grew a bright red. "Private parts were... Sewn shut..." The colt shook his head and looked at Braeburn. "The other was Lasso. His um... his private parts were... Removed just like Lone Star's." Braeburn growled and stomped his hooves.

"That does it! I'm gonna find out who has been doing this and make sure that they pay! They've gone too far this time! They were only teenagers! I can understand Lone Star and Topaz, they were the drunks who caused old Rum to die, but Lasso and Scarlet were innocent!" He bolted down the street followed by the colt, the elements, and Fang.

North Star began to follow them as well when something caught his eye. A, large, brown stallion was dragging a red mare into a building. He followed them to the doorway and turned to enter when he noticed they were gone. "Hey is anypony in here?" As soon as he stepped through the doors of the building he heard his name being called by Applejack. He turned around to leave when he saw the mare again. She was sitting in one of the booths. North walked over to her and just looked at her for a few seconds. She turned and looked at him showing him the front of her neck. It was cut wide open and blood was pouring out of it. He yelped and backed up stumbling over a chair and out the door. He landed on something soft when he expected to hit the ground.

"Get off of me!" North went wide eyed and jumped up. Looking down he could see Applejack with a glare on her face. "What do you think you’re doing running off like that!? Especially when there's a murderer on the loose!" Applejack blinked when she saw his face. "North... Sugarcube? What's the matter? You look mighty pale. Are y'all feeling all right?" North just pointed behind her. Turning around Applejack saw that the ponies who had been carrying the body of Scarlet Silk had dropped her while they were taking her to the hospital morgue. Applejack frowned and looked back at North. "North... I know that you’re not used to seeing dead ponies... Neither am I to be honest but..."

"She... She can't be dead! I just saw her but... Then I saw her dead... How is that possible!?" North turned around and saw the red mare standing at the door. She stared at him with a sorrowful expression in her eyes.

"Help me..." Two boney legs came out of the shadows, wrapped around the mare's neck, and dragged her into the darkness while she screamed. Applejack stepped in front of North and waved her hoof in front of his face.

"North... Sugarcube, c'mon I'm taking you to a doctor. You’re sick." North shook his head.

"Aj... Did you not just see a pair of bony legs drag a mare into the shadows of that building?" Applejack blinked and looked at the building before scratching her head.

"No... I didn't..." Applejack walked over to the doors of the building and pushed them open. "North... Nopony is in here. Are you sure you’re alright?" Applejack looked back at North with a worried look on her face. Suddenly two boney legs shot from the shadows and dragged her in. "Hey get off of me! North! Help!" North's reaction was instant. He ran through the doors of the building but stopped dead in his tacks when he saw that it was full of ponies. In the corner was a pony with a banjo. As soon as he caught sight of North he began to play. The tune was upbeat and cheerful. It was as if they had not even see Applejack being taken. He walked over to the bar and sat down.

"What can I get 'cha?" North blinked as he saw a stallion materialize out of nowhere. He was a pale white color with a dark black mane. His cutie mark was a silver mug. "Well... Don't just sit there dumbly staring into thin air! What do ya want to drink?"

North was about to scoff and get up when he thought of something. He had learned in Manehatten. Barkeepers were a good source of information. "Whiskey." The bartender set a glass in front of him and North was about to get some bits to pay when the bartender raised his hoof.

"No need for you to pay. After all, your money is no good here." North was suspicious and confused but even so returned his bits to his bag. What had he meant that his money was no good here? He was in Appleoosa, which was part of Equestria, and both Transylmaneia and Equestria used bits as currency.

"So mister..." The stallion was wearing no nametag so he couldn't tell what his name was. "Are there any local legends that involve a pair of boney legs dragging a mare into the shadows?"

"Nothing like that that I'm aware of, sorry. There is the rumor of old Running Tree though. You see being the strongest member of his tribe he was to be wed to the chief's daughter. He died on his way to the wedding and in his anger he started attacking ponies and buffalo who are in love... Least that's how the legend goes." The stallion took the glass and cleaned it before vanishing along with all the other ponies in the bar, excluding North. North got up and saw what looked like a buffalo walking down the stairs into the basement. North looked at the bar once more and saw a note.

He picked it up and read what was on it. He blinked and read it again. "To put a vengeful spirit to rest, salt and burn it's corpse, then repeat the ancient chant? What the hay?" He looked away from the note and saw a salt shaker. "OK... This is weird but... If it has any chance of helping me save Aj then I'll play along." He put the note down and grabbed the salt shaker. He then stood up and walked over to where he had seen the buffalo.  He saw what could only be described as a trail of glowing hoof prints. He followed them down into the basement where he saw a door.

"Hey! Is anypony out there? North? Is that you Sugarcube?" North smiled and ran towards the door. Right before he reached it he turned around and let loose a buck with all the strength he could muster. He heard a crack, turned around, and watched as the door split in two. It fell over to reveal Aj. North ran in and hugged her. Aj blushed and returned the hug.

"Sorry I took so long." North pulled away and smiled at Aj, who kissed him in return.

"No problem Sugarcube. I'm just glad we can get out of here now. That freaky buffalo locked me in here and said that I was going to be the next 'sacrifice'." Applejack smiled at North and walked towards the door. She stooped when a mist formed and the buffalo spirit that had taken her stepped out of it. He was large and brown. His headdress was made of two blood red feathers and a band that was as blue as the sky.

"Excellent. The other half of the sacrifice has come to me. I did not have to collect him." The buffalo pulled out a long dagger and walked towards Applejack. "The mares blood flows first, then the stallions. Then I have to gather their blood and drink it. I am glad that the old pony disturbed my bones. He is the one who awakened me." He raised the dagger, and was about to bring it down into Applejacks flesh, when North ran up and kicked him into the wall. The boards shook and fell away to reveal a large skeleton that looked hundreds of years old.

North smiled at the bones. "So that's where they were!" He ran over, opened the salt shaker and threw the contents onto the bones. Suddenly, to the surprise of all of those who were watching, his eyes began to glow and he began a chant that had been locked away in his mind. "Spiritus hoc os requiescas nunc. Unus assumetur, et calor flammæ onus ponere. Mortuus attulit dolorem, remittuntur tibi. Pax vobis." ("Spirit of these bones, you may rest now. Lay down your burden and embrace the warmth of the flames. In death, you brought pain, but you are forgiven. Peace be upon you.") His horn lit ablaze and the fire jumped onto the bones. As they began to char and blacken his eyes returned to normal and he blinked. He turned around and saw Aj just staring at him. The buffalo however was running around and sparkling.

"No! No! I'm not ready to go yet!" His body began to fade away just as his bones turned to ash. He growled at the two ponies and just as his neck disappeared he let out a scream. "I curse your first born foal ponies!" With that his head vanished and the skeleton fully turned to ash.

Applejack blinked and turned to North. "How did you know that old chant?" North just shrugged.

"I don't know... Come on let's get out of here." Applejack nodded and the two left the building. Looking up into the sky they saw that it had turned dark but it was still daylight. Appleoosa had become part of Fang's kingdom without a fight.

"Applejack! North! Where are you!?" Twilight and Fang turned onto the street that they were on and ran over to their friends. Fang saw worry on North's face and glanced into his mind.

"North... I know what you did... Tell me all about what happened." The stallion glared at Fang for entering his mind without permission but realized that he should probably talk to him anyway. If it involved anything supernatural Fang was the one to talk to. Once they had finished they all went to Braeburn's for dinner, he had invited them all after the bodies had been relocated to the local hospital. Little known to the ponies inside of the farmhouse a pale figure stood in the orchard.

The pale bartender with the black suit stared at the farm house from atop a hill. He could just barely see the face of North Star laughing with his friends and marefriend. His suit elongated into a cloak that covered his whole body and two, pure, bone, wings sprouted from his sides. Slowly a thin leathery substance formed in between the wing's like a Threshal's. His eyes sunk into his face and his fur vanished. All of his organs turned to ash, as did his muscles. Displayed on his flank was a dark black scythe with four balls of fire surrounding it. One was red and had both a horn and wings, one was blue and had only a horn, one was yellow and had wings, and the fourth was green and had nothing. "So... My son's powers have finally awakened... It seems that he shall live a long and happy life..." 

The sound of a coyote calling drew the skeletal alicorns attention. A crow flew up to him and squawked before pointing it the direction of the howl with one of its wings. The alicorn nodded and his horn lit up with a pale glow. A scythe made of bones sprung up and he slung it over his shoulder before walking away. Before he left he sent a small message to North who had just walked out of the farm house with his friends.

North Star blinked when a scroll hit his head. He picked it up with his magic and unraveled it. He read through it twice before he spoke it aloud. "To my son North. I could not be more proud of you for helping the soul of Running Tree finally cross over. I know that I was not there for you during your younger years but you would not have believed me when I told you who I was. Now that you have finally discovered your true powers I shall reveal to you my name. I am The Grim Reaper. Signed your loving father..." North's voice caught in his throat but he simply had to finish reading the letter aloud. "D-Death... I'm the son of Death?" North's ears laid back with sorrow but perked up when he felt two hooves wrap around his neck.

"Doesn't matter to me who your daddy is! You're still the North I know and love!" North smiled at his marefriend and kissed her.

"Thanks Aj... I needed that." Aj just smiled at him as he wrapped a leg around her and the four ponies walked off.

Fang looked at the unicorn and smiled. He turned to his fiancé and gave a sheepish smile "Twilight, I feel bad for asking but... Remind me to purchase a gallon of lamb's blood, a crow feather, a black cat's bone, and a king cobra's scale once we get back to my kingdom. Ok?"

Twilight blinked at Fang and raised an eyebrow. "Ok... Why?"

"I plan on letting North meet his father. To do that I will need to summon and bind Death himself. I will need those items to summon him. I already have the heart of a dragon, the eyes of a cockatrice, the claws of a manticore, and the fangs from a chimera's tail, which are needed for the binding ritual." Twilight opened her mouth to say something but closed her mouth. It was Fang and the answer to how he had the body parts of multiple dangerous creatures was probably going to be 'I killed it'.

"Ok. I'll remind you." Fang smiled at Twilight who smiled back as they got on the train.


It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was. ~ Anne Sexton.

> The Forgotten Filly.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Fantasy, abandoned by reason, produces impossible monsters. ~ Francisco Goya.


Luna and Twilight were in the Ponyville library. They were talking about the dreams they had last night. Twilight had a strange dream and she thought Discord had messed with her brain, she couldn't remember the whole thing, but she remembered seeing a demonic version of Cheshire juggling a bunch of pineapples. The lighter mare looked at Luna, who was looking around nervously, and smiled at her. "So Luna. What kind of dream did you have yesterday?"

Luna looked down and sighed. "I had a nightmare... That involved Nightmare, or at least her voice. I was in a large room with only one door. It had an image of Nightmare Moon on it but no matter how much I wanted to ignore it... I couldn't." Luna's hooves began to shake. "I went up to the door and opened it. That's when I heard Nightmare. She asked if I remembered her, I responded that I did and she..." Luna took a deep breath and stopped shaking. "She asked me what I had named her when she was born. I told her I didn't know what she was talking about and that's when I woke up." 

A knock at the door caused the ponies to jump. "Package for Princess Luna!" Luna walked over to the door and opened it. She looked down and saw a box that came up to her knees. Luna looked around trying to see where the mailmare had gone. She saw nopony. She brought the box in and opened it in front of the other alicorn. She shoved her head in and after a minute pulled her head out, along with a doll.

"A doll?" Twilight blinked and looked at it closer. It was the size of a filly and it looked like Luna. Only instead of blue, it was black and had no cutie mark. "A Nightmare Moon doll!? Who would be cruel enough to send something like this!?" Luna didn't hear her, she was locked in a staring contest with the inanimate doll. Suddenly its mane began to flow and the blue button eyes became real.

The stitched in mouth spread apart revealing a tongue and the inside of a living pony's mouth. There was a soft giggle that both Twilight and Luna recognized, it was halfway between Luna and Nightmare Moon's voice, only it was a much higher pitch. The blood of the two alicorns turned cold as they looked at the doll. "Hello Mo-" Luna screamed and threw the doll, which had turned into a living filly version of her dark side, across the room. "Ouch! That hurt!" 

Twilight stood up and ran to the door. "Don't worry Luna! I'll go get my friends so we can get rid of her!" With that she opened the door and ran outside before disappearing in a flash of light.

Luna growled and trotted over to Nightmare and picked her up with her magic. She was shocked to see that the filly version of her dark side's eyes were filled with tears. "P-please let me go... I-I didn't m-mean to get you locked in the m-moon... I-I didn't k-know that the s-spell would m-make you go c-crazy... I was just lo-lonely be-because daddy died... I just w-w-w-w-wahhhhhhhhhh!!!" The filly began to cry even harder than before.

Luna just kept looking at the filly in shock. She seemed familiar. Of course she looked like Nightmare Moon but that was not what seemed familiar. It was her voice. She sounded exactly the same as the voice of a filly that she had heard crying before. A filly from a thousand years ago. The larger alicorn wrapped her legs around the little filly and began to run a hoof down her back. "Shh. Shh. Don't cry, everything is going to be Ok." The crying became quieter but was still very loud.

Luna, to even her surprise, did not want the filly to be sad. She lowered her head and began to nuzzle the filly's neck. She felt the filly press an ear against her chest and heard a little yawn. Giving the filly a quick look, before continuing to nuzzle her neck, she saw that her eyes were closed and her breathing was shallow. She was asleep. Luna smiled and slowly laid the filly down, before laying down herself, and wrapped one of her wings over the filly. "Sweet dreams little one." Luna blinked and saw something play out in front of her. One of her memories. She was in a hospital, screaming as she gave birth, the doctors handed her daughter and a black threshal walked up to her and kissed her.

"What should we name her Luna?" Luna smiled at the stallion before looking down to her newborn daughter. She looked at her daughters bright blue eyes and the filly let out a giggle when her mother's mane tickled her nose. The foal let out a yawn, closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

"Sweet dreams my little filly..." Luna turned to the threshal and smiled. "Sweet dreams... How about Sweet Dream?"

"Well you are the princess of the night and I am a member of the night guard. I think that name would be pretty good for her. For our little filly." The threshal placed one of his hooves on one of hers and smiled at her before fading away. Luna blinked and saw that her flashback had ended. Looking down at the filly she smiled and her eyes began to tear up. 

"I... I remember you... My little filly... How could I ever forget you?" As Luna wiped her tears away the door slammed open and the element bearers ran inside with the elements already around their necks. Luna went wide eyed and looked underneath her wing. Dream was gone. She heard a whimper and turned to see her daughter backing up into a corner. She was shaking in fear of the elements, who were surrounding her. Luna watched as the elements began to glow.

Dream kept shaking and curled into a ball in the corner. Her eyes began to tear up and she started to sob. "Mommy! Please save me!" The elements glowed harder and released the rainbow colored shock wave that they always did. The elements smiled because they were going to stop Nightmare Moon once and for all. They were all in shock when a second figure appeared in a flash of light, taking on the full force of the beam and being thrown back against the wall. The second figure was Luna. "Mommy!" The elements turned and saw Dream running towards Luna but they stepped in between her and her mother.

"She must have been controlling Luna! Alright girls! Let’s try again!" The other mares nodded to Twilight and the elements began to glow again. Just as they were about to release a second blast Twilight felt her tiara get yanked off her head, and turned to see Luna holding it with her magic. "Princess Luna? You must still be under Nightmare's control... Don't worry we'll stop her!" Twilight grabbed the tiara back with her own magic and placed it back on her head. She turned around and saw that Dream was trying to get past Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and failing miserably.

The entire group froze as Luna stood up and walked past them. She walked over to the little filly and looked down at her. Then, to the surprise of everypony in the room, she smiled, bent down, and hugged her. "Are you ok Dream? It's ok... Mother is here." She slowly ran a hoof down the filly's back and smiled even harder as her daughter returned the hug.

"D-dream? Y-you called me Dream? Y-you remember me! Mommy you remember me!" The elements sat down on their haunches and let their jaws drop. Dream looked at them and gave a nervous chuckle. "Mommy... Maybe we should explain... Um... Everything..."

Luna looked at the elements and smiled. "Yes I suppose we should... However... Maybe we should get the other royals here first... It is better to explain to them all at once than to have to explain to them twice." The door slowly opened and Fang ran in followed by Shining Armor, Cadence, who was carrying Skyla, came in.

"Is everything ok here? We heard screaming... A lot of screaming..." He looked at Luna and saw the little filly hiding under her wing. He smiled at her and waved a hoof. "Hello... What's your name?" The filly gave a small 'eep' and stepped back so that she was almost completely to hidden by her mother's wings. "... Was It something I said?" Fang was not sure why the filly was scared until he remembered that he was explaining how a vampony's fangs were used to suck blood for nutrients. He quickly retracted his fangs and looked at the little filly who was trying to hide. "Sorry."

"It's ok my little one. This is Fang. He's Twilight's fiancé. He won't hurt you and neither will Twilight or her friends. You are my daughter after all." Twilight and her friends all looked at each other, then smiled and nodded. Twilight stood up and walked over to Fang and looked at him before his horn lit up in its blood red aura. The same aura surrounded both Luna and Dreams heads.

"She is telling the truth. I just used a DNA spell. It checked their molecular structure and well... Half of the filly's DNA matches Luna's so she is her daughter." Fang smiled and mouthed a congratulations to Luna.

Cadence walked up to Luna and smiled at her. She then bent down and looked at the filly hiding in Luna's wings. "Hello little one. I'm Cadence. That over there is my husband Shining Armor, he's Twilight's brother, and this." Cadence's horn lit up and levitated Skyla to the floor. "Is our daughter Skyla." The little hot pink filly sat down and smiled at the dark colored filly. Dream smiled and trotted out from under the protection of her mother’s wing. "What's your name?"

"S-Sweet Dream." The little filly looked up to her mother who just smiled down at her and nodded. Dream stuck her hoof out. "It's nice to meet you Ms. Cadence." Cadence smiled, stuck her hoof out and shook the little filly's hoof.

Luna just smiled as her daughter went around to everypony and shook their hooves. Dream then walked over to Luna and looked up at her. She waved her hoof toward her own face, a signal that she needed to tell her something. Luna bent down so that she was face to face with her daughter. "What is it Dream?"

The filly quickly lunged at her and wrapped her forelegs around her mother's neck. "I love you Mommy!" All of the ponies that were gathered looked at the mother and daughter with smiles on their faces. Luna smiled and hugged her daughter back.

"I love you to Dream." Luna looked at her daughter and she heard a small growl. "Looks like somepony is hungry." Dream just blushed and nodded. "Come on, lets get you something to eat." Luna turned to Twilight. "Um do you mind if we go and raid your fridge?"

Twilight smiled and shook her head. "Not at all... Oh but whatever you do, don't eat the pickles. I need those for an experiment." Luna raised an eyebrow at the purple alicorn. "It's to see if mold will grow on something that is submerged in Liquid Mercury... So don't eat it." Luna sighed and nodded before walking into the kitchen quickly followed by Dream. Twilight looked as the two darker alicorns talked and ate. She turned her head and saw her brother and Cadence playing with their daughter. She then turned to Fang and laid her head on his shoulder. "I can't wait until we have a foal of our own..."

Fang smiled. "Neither can I Twilight. Neither can I." Twilight gave him a quick peck on the lips and smiled as he wrapped a wing around her. The two alicorns then trotted off toward the Everfree Forest, but more importantly toward Fang's castle.





Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. ~ William Shakespeare.

> Come Out And Play.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Superman is, after all, an alien life form. He is simply the acceptable face of invading realities. ~ Clive Barker.





Twilight and Fang were walking with Rainbow Dash. She was going to go pick Scootaloo up from school and take her back to their cloud home before she gave her a flying lesson. Fang and Twilight were there because Cheerilee had asked them to come. She had told them that for three weeks that the usually very kind fillies and colts, like Twist and Pipsqueak, had been becoming very angry to the point of becoming violent. She wanted to know if there was some sort of demon that was causing the children in her school to become mean and hateful. "Twist is such a sweet little filly... I just can't believe she would attack Featherweight like that. She bit a mouthful of feathers out of his wing..."

"I know! There has got to be a demon of some kind living in the school or near it at least right Fang?" Dash turned to the black alicorn who shook his head. "What?"

"What are you three talking about?" Dash and Twilight jumped up into the air out of surprise. "Sorry if we scared you... We were just going to get Hex after class." Rainbow and Twilight looked around trying to find the source of the voice, which was Trixie's, but couldn't see her. "Can't you see me? I'm right next to you for goodness sakes!" They heard a chuckle and Fang sighed before quickly thrusting his hoof out to the side. A loud smack was heard in the vicinity and Trixie slowly faded into existence next to the two mares.

Twilight and Rainbow blinked. "I didn't know you could turn invisible." Twilight smiled at her student and nodded. 

Trixie blinked. "Um... Twilight... I can't turn invisible..." A cloud of dust blew past the mares and they turned to see Fang and Soul having a sword fight. The mares watched as the blades clashed and sparks flew. Each time they connected both stallions were sent back five feet. Trixie ran in front of her colt friend and Twilight ran in front of her fiancé. The two stallions stopped dead in their tracks. The two stallions gave a nervous chuckle and said sorry to each other and the mares for getting carried away.

Dash flew up to the stallions as they all continued to the school. "I don't get you two. One second you’re fighting, the next your all pal pal like nothing happened. What gives!? I get that your friends but still!" The two stallions blinked at the prismatic mare and smiled at each other.

"Well Dash I guess that you could say that me and Fang have a relationship similar to you and Applejack. We are constantly competing with each other to find out who is better. For example I have better with power when it comes to a sword but Fang is better with technique. That is why I use a sword and a shield while he uses three swords." Fang nodded at Soul. His explanation was spot on.

"I guess that makes sense." Soul and Fang grabbed her tail and yanked her out of the sky. "Hey what gives!?" Soul and Fang pointed behind her and she turned to see Cheerilee, Twilight and Trixie trying to break up a fight between Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara. It was a one sided fight with Diamond attacking the orange pegasus. All the other fillies and colts were in a circle around them. The pegasus dashed off and grabbed Scootaloo off the ground before she got hurt.

Silver Spoon ran out of the crowd and tackled Diamond to the ground. "What the heck is wrong with you Diamond!? First you call Gavroche a motherless freak and punch him in the face, then you tripped Rumble so he fell on his face, and attacked Scootaloo because she stopped you from setting Dinky's mane on fire! What is wrong!? Please you need to tell me! I, my parents, and your father are worried about you! We know you’re mad that your mother abused you and never got arrested for it. They haven't found her but they're still looking!" The sound of plastic snapping and glass cracking filled the air as Silver Spoon was thrown onto her back.

Diamond walked over to her friend. "What's the matter Silver? Too much of a pansy to fight back? Hey let me tell you a little secret. As long as the guards don't look for her in Ponyville then they will never find her. You know why?" Silver shook her head in fear as her former friend spit in her face. "Because I buried her in my back yard. That's right I killed her, and you know what?" A sick grin appeared on the periwinkle filly's face as she started to walk closer towards the little purple unicorn filly named Dinky. "It felt really, really, good! Especially the blood!" Diamond leaned in so that she was almost touching her muzzle. "Oh and guess what? I didn't stop once she was dead! I cut her up, and I didn't stop with her! Where do you think the animals who went missing from Fluttershy's house went!?"  All the ponies gathered gasped. Diamond gave a loud cackle, she then began to scream in pain and grabbed her head. Her fur and mane fell out, her skin became a pale green with a leathery texture her eyes became yellow and bloodshot. She looked at Dinky with murder in her eyes, ran up, and grabbed her leg. She was then blown all the way back to Fang, Soul, Trixie, Twilight, and Rainbow. Dinky had just let her natural instincts kick in and she had blasted her back.

"You're the thing that's been at my window for the last three nights!" The little light purple filly ran off to fast for anypony to stop her. Fang and Soul looked at each other and nodded.

"Miss Cheerilee... We're dealing with a Grundle... You should take the poor little filly wearing the tiara home and tell her father to... Make her last day on this earth comfortable..." Cheerilee, Rainbow, Trixie, Twilight, and the entire student body put their hooves to their mouths. "There is no way to save her without killing an innocent filly or colt... Even then... She would still have the urge to kill..."

"And she would act on it. Her soul has been absorbed by pure evil and darkness... It is better for her in the long run if she dies today... It's tragic but even still... Fang can make it so that it will be quick and painless... Its for the best Cheerilee..." Soul looked at Cheerilee and saw she had a few tears in her eyes but nodded. She went over and picked the little filly up before walking away to Diamond's house.

Fang looked at Twilight who had tears in her eyes. "Fang... A-are you sure there is no other way?" He gave a sad shake of the head and Twilight ran over, hugged him, and broke down into his shoulder. It was horrible when a filly died.

Soul looked at Trixie, who was with a shaking Hex, and gave her a sad look. "He's right Trixie... Hex... Do you know the unicorn filly who ran off?"

"That's Dinky... She lives across the street from us Soul..." Soul blinked at the two azure unicorns.

"Would you mind if Fang and Twilight came over tonight?" The two unicorns shook their heads. "Yo Fang! You mind coming over to our house tonight? Apparently the Grundle's next victim lives across the street from us!" 

Fang looked at his childhood friend. "I'll be there... Twilight you can come if you want to... Just be aware that I will be very violent when I catch the Grundle... In other words I'm going to kill it." Twilight pulled away and mouthed that she would come with him. Fang looked back to Soul. "Soul just as we always did, when we hunted Grundles, I get to kill it."

Soul smiled at him. "Dude, I know already! You hate Grundles. All Grundles need to be exterminated like vermin. Just... Try not to decapitate this one... Ok? I don't know if the ponies of this town would be able to see your good side if you cut the head off one of their own."

Twilight looked at Fang. "It was one time! It wasn't my fault! She jumped onto that window knowing I would get blamed for it! She wanted to make me the evil one!" Twilight gave a slight sigh at her fiancé's reaction before the four ponies and the shade walked towards Trixie's house.


That night.


Fang and Soul were at the kitchen window looking across the street to the house of Ditzy and Dinky Doo. Twilight and Trixie were sitting with Hex trying to get him to calm down. He was scared of what he had seen today. Fang suddenly ran out the door, quickly followed by Soul. Twilight and Trixie followed them and found Fang stabbing a Grundle mare that was wearing a nurses hat, but where it should have been white it was black, while Soul was holding it. "Die! Die! Die!" The shade threw her onto the ground and as she gasped for breath and her blood seeped from her skin her body began to change. Soon her real form was revealed. It was Nurse Coldheart. She had recently been fired from the hospital because she was stealing pain killers.

"The deed is done..." Fang held up a Grundle ear. "So they know what she really was." With that he threw the ear onto the corpse and walked away. Twilight mouthed a sorry to Soul and Trixie before walking off with him. They went to Diamond Tiara's house and found her father unconscious with a frying pan next to him. Tiara was missing.

On the road outside of town leading towards Manehatten a filly cloaked in a black trenchcoat and fedora looked down the hill at the town. The Grundle that was formerly Diamond Tiara turned away and trotted off. "Come out and play Babs. Come out and play..."





The noir hero is a knight in blood-caked armor. He's dirty and he does his best to deny the fact that he's a hero the whole time. ~ Frank Miller.

> The War's End.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


I know indeed what evil I intend to do, but stronger than all my afterthoughts is my fury, fury that brings upon mortals the greatest evils. ~ Euripides.





Fang and Twilight looked at all the ponies gathered. Cadence, Shining Armor, Luna, The Elements, their coltfriends, Trixie, and Soul. "I'm sure you’re wondering why we decided to bring you all here." There was a unanimous nod. "Well... Both Fang and I believe that it is time for this war to end. So we are going to lay siege to Canterlot in one week."

"Nopony will be harmed. My guards have received the order of only capture and detain. I myself have personally made sure that the more... Violent guards cannot follow us... In other words I sent them to go and kill a dragon." Spike raised a hoof. "Spike this dragon has to die. It eats griffons, ponies and everything in between." The dragon lowered his hoof. "Now. I have a plan but it will involve all of us." Fang pulled out a scroll and threw it onto the table everypony was sitting at. It unrolled and covered the whole table. The scroll was blank until an image of Vul Dief faded into existence on it. "According to Soul, Trixie, and Luna this is the arch demon that kidnapped Sunset and told Celestia she could only get her back if she went to war. The Thieving Monkey, Vul Dief." The image changed to the same creature but with his right arm replaced with vines and his left looked like a tree trunk. "He has power over plants and is able to change his body into them as he pleases."

Twilight broke into the explanation at this point. "He acts like a child but is very intelligent and deceptive. He is the kind of being that would shake your hoof and stab you in the back at the same time. He is not a strong demon by any means but he is very acrobatic. Fang believes that Vul can be reformed. That is why we brought you all here. We want you all to help us stop both Vul and this war. You don't have to help but we would really appreciate it." The ponies all looked at one another and nodded.

Luna looked at Fang. "What do we have to do?" Fang smiled at the ponies and began to explain his plan.

"Soul you can detect demon auras because you are a Shade. You will seek out Vul and help me fight him." Soul got a serious look on his face and nodded. "Luna, you Cadence and Shining protect Celestia and Sunset from Vul when he tries to fight back." The three royals nodded. "Thunder, Acid, North, Spike, Jekyll, Trixie, Protect the elements at any cost. They are the most important piece of the plan because they are able to seal Vul's powers. I will have my guards train you to fight if you want." The six ponies mentioned nodded. "If all goes well then one week from today this pointless war will be over."


One week later.


Celestia, Sunset, and Mord were looking out the windows of the throne room. They watched as the Equestrian guards began to fall to the Transylmaneian army. There was a loud bang outside the throne room door. "I have a bird... His name is Ronnie." Celestia looked to the door with a raised eyebrow. That was one of her personal guards.

"...Well tell Ronnie you got knocked the buck out." That was Fang's voice. The door slammed open to revel Fang, the Element's, their coltfriends, Trixie, Soul, Luna, Shining Armor, and Cadence.

Celestia blinked at them and her eyes focused on Twilight. "Twilight... I'm sorry but... My daughter is the most important thing in the world to me… I had to get her back no matter what the cost… I don’t consider you a traitor…" Twilight just smiled.

"Apology accepted but... You should have just told us that Sunset had been kidnapped. We would have helped you find her immediately." Soul walked up to Fang and whispered into his ear before pointing at a potted plant in the corner. They both slowly drew their swords and walked towards it. Luna, Cadence, and Armor walked over to Celestia and Sunset and blocked the way between them and the plant. The elements faced it and their coltfriends and Trixie got ready to fight.

Fang raised his sword and prepared to strike the plant. He swung and the plant fell over. He had missed completely. "How did you know where I was!?"

Soul struck the pot and it shattered before the plant took the form of Vul. The demonic monkey looked at Soul before slapping his forehead. "I forgot that Shades can see demonic auras! Oh well!" His right arm turned into a tree trunk and he tried to slam it into Souls side but was blocked by the shade's shield. A sword went through the demons chest and was quickly pulled out. Soul tackled the demons legs while he was distracted and Fang grabbed his arms. "Get your hooves off of me!" Vul's eyes went wide as he saw that he was now facing the Elements of Harmony. "Oh buck..." The monkey began to struggle and shake.

Soul tightened his grip on the monkey's legs "Now! Blast him now! Before he throws us off and gets away!" Twilight looked at Fang with nervous eyes.

"You'll get hit too! I-I can’t blast the two of you!" Fang gave her a small smile.

"Twilight... We'll be fine. But I can't say the same for this world if Vul gets away!" Twilight looked at her fiancé and the look on her face turned from one of fear into one of trust and anger.

"If you get frozen in stone again… I will kill you!" Fang just let out a chuckle and Twilight sighed. "Alright girls let’s do this!" The elements nodded and focused their energy into the elements that they wore around their necks began to glow. This time however Twilight's crown did not glow. The other elements began to fire small beams of light into Twilight's crown. The archdemon that Soul and Fang were holding began to freak out and started to throw himself around trying to get the two stallions off of him. 

Twilight opened her eyes and a rainbow colored beam shot from the jewel on her crown it headed straight at the archdemon. "No! No no no no no! No!!! I don't want to be weak again!!! I don't want to be the freak that everypony picks on again!!! NO!!!!!" The beam struck him, where his heart would be, and he began to glow green. Slowly the demon's body turned into leaves starting with the head. Soon the entire demon had become naught but leaves and fell to the ground. Except there was a strange thump.

"Fang! Soul! Are you ok?" Twilight ran over to her fiancé and hugged him. She smiled when he hugged back. Twilight looked up and quickly received a kiss from him. Soul walked over to Trixie and smiled, he quickly received a kiss from the azure mare which he quickly returned.

There was a groan and the leaves began to shift getting the attention of everypony in the room. Suddenly the head of a young, red, earth pony, colt, with a grey mane, and green eyes popped out of the leaves. He stood up and revealed a monkey's tail. He looked down at himself. "No... No! I won't be the freak of nature that everypony wants to pick on again!" He looked at them all. He finally stopped looking when he saw Celestia. He got up and ran at her, only to be stopped when Luna stepped on his tail. "Kill me!"

Celestia blinked and looked at the little colt. "Why? You’re just a little colt. You’re harmless now. I don't need to kill you." Sunset smiled at her mother and nodded.

"But I kidnapped your daughter! I made your student hate you! I made your sister betray you! Don't you want me to die for that!?" The little colt went wide eyed when Celestia shook her head. "I won't stay like this! I won't live as the freak with the monkey's tail again!" He turned around and bit Luna's leg causing her to release his tail. "I can't live like this again!" He quickly turned and ran. Not towards the door. Towards the window. Sunset looked at the little colt and chased after him. She knew what he was about to do. Vul jumped into the window and bounced off. He got up and charged again, this time he broke through it. All of the ponies stared as he fell three stories down to the ground. A loud thump was heard revealing that he had hit the earth.

Sunset flew out the window and down to the ground where Vul landed. She looked at him and saw him twitch. He had survived. Sunset picked him up and flew back into the throne room. "He's alive! W-we need to save him! I don't care what he did to me! He’s just a colt!"

"Why?" The voice was that of the colt in Sunset's legs. "Why do you want to save me? Just drop me out of the window so I'll die... Please... I'm begging you..." Tears began to fall from his eyes. "I just want to die... I don't want to be a freak anymore..."

"I'm not going to let you kill yourself. It won't solve anything." Sunset walked out of the room and towards the castle clinic. She had the doctors put splints and casts on his legs because he had broken all of them but one. They put him in a wheel chair and Sunset began to take him back to the throne room. "You know Vul, I tried to kill myself once because I thought my mother hated me. But I was wrong. She loves me enough to start a war. I want to help you get over your depression like my mom did with me." She reentered the throne room with Vul in the chair and saw that everypony was talking to each other. "What is going on?"

"We are trying out what to do with Vul. He is by all definitions just a colt. As such he is too young for prison but we can't put him in an orphanage due to the fact that he is still dangerous. Even if he is a powerless colt now." The ponies all nodded in agreement with Celestia, except Sunset.

"Then let him stay here in the castle with us." Celestia blinked and looked at her daughter in shock. "I'll take care of him. I-I want to help him. He isn't evil, he's just depressed and angry. Just like I was when I tried to kill myself. I want to help him get better like you did with me mom."

"Sunset... Are you sure about this?" Sunset smiled and nodded. Celestia looked at Vul. "What about you? Are you alright with this?"

"... It's the best option I have at the moment... I mean I can barely move my neck and three of my legs are broken. It's not like I can go anywhere even if I tried." The demon turned colt sighed at his luck.

"Very well. Sunset I am here by placing Vul in your custody. You will be responsible for taking care of him as if you were his... Mother." Celestia twitched. That had been very hard to say.

Sunset smiled at her mother then down at the little colt. "I understand mother. I'll do my best." The colt blinked and looked up at her. Then to his surprise she gave him a small kiss on the forehead which caused him to blush. She then looked up and smiled at everypony. "So what's new with everypony?"

"Well... I and my daughter reunited a week ago..." Celestia blinked at her sister. She then ran up, grabbed her by the shoulders and began to shake her.

"What!? You have a daughter!? Why did you never tell me!?" Luna looked at the ground.

"Because I thought you would be ashamed that Dream wasn't the child of a noble..." Celestia just sighed. She then looked towards Twilight and Fang as they were kissing.

Sunset walked over to Twilight and Fang. "So Twilight what's new with you?" Twilight smiled at Fang and looked back to Sunset and Celestia.

"We're getting married!" Celestia froze in her tracks.

"WHAT!?" Celestia looked at Twilight and Fang causing them to cringe. "I mean congratulations. I'm sorry for my outburst there. It's just a little surprising... I mean you have only known each other for about a year. Fang please follow me for a second." Fang got up and walked over to Celestia. She teleported them to the gardens and knocked him down. "If you break her heart I will kill you! Do you understand Fang? She is like a second daughter to me. Do I make myself clear Fang?"

Fang smiled. "Crystal..." Celestia smiled and teleported them both back to the throne room. Sunset and Twilight were talking. "I'm happy for you Twilight."

"Your parents took the fact that we are engaged better... I wonder how she will take it when you get pregnant..." Twilight blushed at Fangs words before she placed a hoof on her stomach  and began smiling at the idea of a filly or colt of their own.

"Well... We'll have to wait for the wedding night before we even try Fang." Fang smiled at her.

"I know... I'm just wondering about the future. Now negotiations about the territory that I gained in the war... I will-" Celestia raised a hoof and cut him off.

"You can keep it... If you do it means that I will have less work to do and have more time to spend with my family... Besides you won it fair and square so it rightly belongs to Transylmaneia. After all..." Celestia smiled. "You did win the war." Sunset, Armor, Cadence, Luna, Sunset, and Mord all nodded in agreement.

"Yeah... I guess we did..." Fang smiled and wrapped a wing around Twilight before kissing her. "Well love. I guess our kingdom just grew." Twilight smiled and kissed him back. Everypony smiled at the couple and went to their own respective colt friends.

"So Luna... When am I going to meet this niece of mine?" Celestia looked at Luna and smiled.

"Tomorrow... When we come back to the castle. Oh by the way... She looks like Nightmare Moon but she is not. She is my daughter and her name is Dream. Ok?" Celestia nodded. "Now... How about we all have lunch?" There was a massive growl from everypony's stomachs and they all nodded. Luna just giggled in response. The war was over and everything was back to normal. 





For we pay a price for everything we get or take in this world, and, although ambitions are well worth having, they are not to be cheaply won. ~ Lucille Maud Montgomery. 


> Hunger For Joy.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Within the core of each of us is the child we once were. This child constitutes the foundation of what we have become, who we are, and what we will be. ~ Neuroscientist Dr. R. Joseph.





Twilight and Fang awoke in Fang's bed at the break of day. They smiled at each other and kissed. "Good morning Love." Fang ran his hoof along her side down to her flanks and smiled at the little blush that Twilight had on her face.

"Good morning to you to stud." Twilight smiled and made her eyes half lidded causing Fang to blush. It had been a week since the war had ended and Ponyville, Cloudsdale, and Appleoosa had taken well to becoming part of Transylmaneia permanently. Some ponies actually preferred it to being part of Equestria. They couldn't explain why they liked it better. They all said that it just felt right.

They both heard their stomachs growl and smiled at each other letting their fangs come out. Quickly they latched onto each other’s necks. The sweet tastes of passion fruit and pomegranates filled their mouths. They released each other’s necks and kissed again, wiping the blood from each other’s fangs. They smiled and walked out of the room, down to the castle's great hall when Pinkie's coltfriend ran in and up to them before beginning to talk a mile a minute. "Guys! ThereissomethingwrongwithPinkie! IaskedhertocomeovertoomyhousesoIcould-" Fang shoved a hoof into Jekyll's mouth while Twilight rubbed her ears.

"Twilight... Did you understand a word he just said?"  Twilight shook her head. "Jekyll I am going to take my hoof out of your mouth. Talk slowly so we can understand you ok? Nod if you understand." The green earth pony quickly nodded. Fang retracted his hoof and Jekyll took a deep breath and started over.

"You guys know how Pinkie's birthday is in a week? Well I wanted to give her something that comes from the heart so I asked her to come over to my house so I could paint a portrait of her. We were on our way when I noticed that she had disappeared. Then she came stumbling out of an ally and she looked terrible! Like all her joy had been taken away! She is in the hospital right now..." The green stallion looked up at them and he had fear in his eyes. "She's on suicide watch..." Twilight and Fang looked at each other, lit their horns up, and teleported outside the Ponyville hospital. "Wait for me!" Fang and Twilight turned to see Jekyll dashing down the road. He overshot and crashed into a wall. "I'm ok!" He got up and ran into the hospital followed by Twilight and Fang. The two ponies followed Jekyll to the room where Pinkie was being kept. All of their friends were there.

Fang looked at his childhood friend. "Soul... Could you help me? I want to check something on Pinkie. I just need you to hold her still." Soul nodded and they entered the room. "Oh before I forget... Again... Would you like to be my best stallion at the wedding?"

Soul blinked and turned to Fang. "Dude it would be an honor... Only if you be best stallion at my wedding... Yes I am going to get married.... Eventually..." Fang smiled and nodded. "Good now... What do I have to do?"

"Hold Pinkie down so she is on her stomach. I need to check the back of her neck." Soul nodded and focused on the shadows causing them to form tentacles, grab Pinkie's legs, and force her down onto the floor. Fang walked over to the shadow bound mare and brushed away the part of her mane that covered the back of her neck. "Yeah... That's what I thought happened to her... Soul look here." The blue unicorn shade walked over to his friend and looked at the back of Pinkies neck. It looked like a Lamprey Eel had bit her and pierced the skin.

They looked at each other and nodded before walking out of the room. Soul looked at the mares and their coltfriends. "Have any of you seen a clown in town recently?" The ponies all shook their heads. The sound of struggling was heard and the group turned to see The Crusaders struggling with Hex and Gavroche. The colts were holding the fillies down while a nurse injected them with a relaxant. "Hey Hex! What's going on?"

Hex Looked at Soul and his sister. "The girls were trying to drown themselves in the lake." The fourteen ponies walked over to the colts. Dash, Thunder, Rarity, Spike, Aj, and North followed the doctors who were carrying the crusaders away. Before they did however Fang checked the back of their necks. They had the same mark as Pinkie.

Fang looked at the two colts. "What happened? Tell me exactly what happened while you were all near the lake." Gav and Hex looked at each other.

"We were playing tag with the crusaders when this earth pony clown walked up and asked if we wanted to see a magic trick. The girls stopped and said yes and we went to go get some ice cream for everypony. When we got back the girls were trying to drown themselves and the clown was gone." Gav nodded at Hex because he had explained what had happened correctly.

"Ok everypony it is clear to me what we are dealing with here. It is a Devorabit Felicitas. Their name means 'devour happiness'. They are also known as Laughter Vamponies. As their name suggests they feed off of happiness. It is unknown what their true form is, but they always take the form of something that they associate with happiness and laughter. Clowns." He turned to Soul. "Come on. We have a demon to kill." The shade nodded and the two began to walk off when Jekyll blocked their path.

"I'm coming with you. He hurt Pinkie... He hurt the mare I have a crush on... I want to make him pay." Soul and Fang stared at him and nodded. The three of them walked off and towards the park and lake where the crusaders had seen the clown.

"Jekyll. I know that you are a very talented artist. Would you mind painting a portrait of the Devorabit Felicitas' true form? I have been meaning to catalog the different types of monsters and demons that roam this world. I will pay handsomely." Jekyll thought for a second before nodding.

"Pennywise the Dancing Clown at Ten O Clock." Fang and Jekyll turned to where Soul was facing and saw the clown talking to Ditzy's daughter Dinky. It had two tufts of a red mane sticking out the side of its head in the shape of two balls. It wore a blue and black suit with red balls where buttons would be and had a braided tail. Other than that he looked like a normal pony. The clown clapped his hooves and a pie fell on his head causing the little unicorn to break out laughing hysterically. They saw the clown lick his lips and open his mouth. A long red tongue with the mouth of a Lamprey Eel at the end emerged and wrapped around the laughing filly. The tongue was about to latch on when the clown was tackled by Jekyll.

"Fix Pinkie and The Crusaders right now!" The green pony began to punch the clown in the face. The clown growled and threw him off. The clown gave a loud roar and ran off quickly followed by the stallions that hunted it. It lead them into the clock tower and ran to the top. Jekyll followed it while Soul and Fang stayed behind. He had told them that if the clown was going to die that he wanted to be the one to kill it. The stallion reached the top of the clock tower and couldn't find the clown. "Where are you coward!? Show yourself!" The sound of hoof steps made him turn around just in time to see the clown tackle him. Jekyll felt the clowns hooves wrap around his neck. He couldn't breathe. He looked to the left and saw a can of black spray paint. He grabbed it and popped it open before spraying the clown’s eyes. The clown screamed and let him go, it touched it face and Jekyll saw that its face was melting slightly. "This is acid you scum!" He sprayed it again and kept spraying as the clown stepped backwards. After five steps it reached the edge, lost its balance and fell. The clown was dead on impact. A group of small lights emerged from its body as it turned to dust.

The orbs flew towards the hospital and Jekyll followed them. Soul and Fang followed as well. They followed the orbs until they reached their friends and one of the orbs flew into Pinkies room and entered her body. Her deflated mane perked up and became poofy again. "Where am I? Why am I in this hospital gown? I'm not sick! I'm too happy to be sick!" As she began to bounce Jekyll ran into the room and glomped her. Pinkie blinked and it took her a few seconds to register what had just happened. "Hey Jeky!"

"Pinkie! Your back!" Pinkie blinked at Jekyll and giggled.

"Yay I'm back! Where did I go?" Jekyll blinked, blushed, and let go of her. "What's the matter Jeky?"

"Nothing! Let's just get you out of here and to my house so I can paint a portrait of you." Jekyll looked away to hide his blush only for it to increase when he felt his marefriend's legs wrap around his neck.

"You don't have to be embarrassed of your feelings Jeky. I know you love me and I love you to. You should never hide your feelings. It will only end up hurting you. Ok?" Pinkie smiled as Jekyll nuzzled her neck.

"Yeah I guess you’re right. Anyway let’s get going I want to get started as soon as possible. I want to be finished with it before your birthday." Pinkie smiled and hopped up before bouncing out of the room and out of the hospital. The nurse saw she was back to normal and discharged her.

Twilight and Fang went to the library and began to talk about wedding plans while everypony else went home. Soul went back to Trixie's house and went upstairs to the room he lived in when he noticed something. The window was open and a piece of paper was attached to the wall with a kunai. He walked over and took it off the wall. On it was what he could only describe as a poem.


When the moon and sun cross paths,
And thirteen become none,
All are reformed,
By the chosen ones.

The seal has been weakened,
So few can slip through,
To shroud the world in darkness,
Like our king wanted to do.

After one becomes two,
And two becomes three,
The seal shall be broken,
And your father will be free.

So run little Soul,
Run and hide,
Or he will make sure,
That you will all die.


Soul blinked. "The buck is that supposed to mean?" He shrugged and tossed it onto the floor before going to bed for the night. Outside, on the roof of Ditzy's house a bipedal creature with bony hands and glowing yellow eyes looked towards the window of Soul’s room. Its body was swathed with black cloth bandages that covered its entire body and face excluding the eyes and hands. A stray cloud fired a bolt of lightning and the creature disappeared in the flash of light. 

The sound of a maniacal laugh rang throughout the sleepy little town and disturbed the silence. That night Soul had a nightmare a black, skeletal, dragon with six legs. It sat upon a giant throne staring down upon Soul. It opened its jaw and breathed out a dark black flame that engulfed the shade. Soul woke up the next morning screaming.





There is no formula for success, except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings. ~ Arthur Rubinstein.


> A New Ally. The Doctor.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


A sad soul can kill you quicker – far quicker – than a germ. ~ John Steinbeck.





Twilight was in Rarity's boutique being fitted for her wedding dress. It was a traditional white gown and veil, but the gown itself was lined with small diamonds so that whenever light shone on them they would give of light sparkles. Also embroidered into the dress were six pointed stars that were made with violet thread. The collar of the dress had sapphires, rubies, and emeralds stitched to it as if they were a necklace.

She looked at herself in a mirror and gave a gasp, some tears even came to her eyes. Rarity blanched at the sound. "What is it? What's wrong? Too many diamonds? I put to many diamonds on it didn't I? Don't worry Twilight I'll start over right away!  You're a princess and one of my best friends. If I'm designing and making your gown then it has to be perfect!" Rarity let her horn light up and was beginning to take the dress off of her friend when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. Opening her eyes she saw Twilight smiling at her.

"Rarity... There is nothing wrong... I gasped because... It's perfect, flawless, and beautiful... I love it, and I'm sure Fang will too." Rarity smiled at her friends words of approval and wiped the sweat from her brow. "Let's get this thing off of me. I don't want to risk Fang seeing me in it before the wedding." After they had taken the dress off they heard a shout from outside. Curious, the two mares ran outside and growled at what they saw. Suri Polomare was standing there shaking in her skin and clothes. Across from her was Coco Pommel who was glaring at Suri. 

"What are you doing here!? Trying to steal Rarity's designs for Princess Twilight's wedding dress? You're going to steal it and sell the dress to Twilight aren't you!?" Suri was shaking out of fear. She ran past Coco and bowed down in front of Twilight and Rarity.

"I am very sorry that I stole your designs at the competition! Please forgive me!” She looked up with hopeful eyes and blanched. Slowly her eyes began to go wide. She stood up and began to shake violently. "No... No... You said I wouldn't die if I apologized!" They watched as the mare tried to walk away backwards, tripped on a loose cobblestone, and fell on her haunches. She began to wave her front legs in front of her as if trying to keep something away from her.

"What's going on here?" Twilight and Rarity jumped at the sound of Fang's voice. Turning around they saw the monster king and future groom of Twilight. He had a muffin held in his magic. He looked down at the mares who were glaring at him. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you I was just wondering what was going on."

"We don't know. That mare who is freaking out over there is Suri Polomare. She stole Rarity's designs for a contest in Manehatten a year ago. We heard Coco shouting about how she was here to steal the designs of my…" Twilight caught herself. She didn’t want Fang to sneak into the boutique and find the dress. "The dress I was modeling for Rarity. Then she ran up, bowed, said she was sorry and began to freak out. Fang? Fang? Are you listening?" Fang was not. He was staring at Suri. 

Looking closely at the mare, who had stopped screaming and struggling, Twilight could see that there was a shadow on the ground that did not belong to Suri, or any other pony. She heard the sound of air being cut and saw what looked like the head of a giant mantis covered in blood. She then realized how the blood had appeared on its head all of a sudden, Suri's head had been cut off and her neck was spraying the red liquid. Slowly the blood began to pour down its body revealing it to actually be a giant mantis. It turned around and walked towards Coco.

It raised one of its jagged scythe like arms and brought it down at Coco's head. Coco closed her eyes and braced for the impact but opened them when she only felt a tap. It was just placing the tip of its arm on her forehead. "Your grievance has been avenged." Its tone was deep and calm, saddened, yet joyful, and not frightening at all. It turned and jumped away, using its blade like arms to scale houses and disappeared before Fang or Twilight could follow. 

While everypony was staring at Suri's beheaded corpse Fang and Twilight noticed that Ditzy and a brown stallion known as Time Turner were slowly trying to sneak away. "Just as I thought Ditzy. It is the same being that appeared in Equestria during The War of Chaos and Darkness ten thousand years ago and began to slaughter ponies, shades, and demons alike. Not to mention almost killing me, you, and Dinky. Quickly we must get to the- Is that black alicorn growling at me?" 

Fang snorted and ran at Ditzy and the brown stallion with Twilight following close behind trying to stop him. The stallion went wide eyed and looked at the grey pegasus. "We should run, now! Allons-y!" The two ponies quickly galloped away and down an alley quickly followed by Twilight and Fang. The two alicorns stopped when they saw the two ponies run into a blue box. Fang just growled, lowered his head and charged.





Inside the box Ditzy and Time Turner were pressing buttons and pulling levers when they heard a filly scream. They turned and saw Dinky shaking as the black alicorn that had chased them stood over her. "Fang! Calm down!" They turned to see Twilight enter through the large hole Fang had made in the wall with his body. She went over to him and gave a disapproving look. "You're scaring them Fang." The anger seemed to melt away from Fang as he took a deep breath.

"Sorry... I didn't mean to scare you... It's just... Him!" He pointed towards Time Turner who blanched. Fang began to trot towards the stallion. "You, I have seen you seven times in my life... Each time was in a different millenium. So explain to me how you have lived for over seven thousand years! You're an earth pony!" Fang glared at Time Turner as the brown stallion took a step back.

"Oi! I'm a lot older than seven thousand mind you! I'm older than Celestia, you, and probably older than this world!" Fang blinked a few times.

"Who are you anyway?" 'Time Turner' looked at Twilight and gave her a sheepish smile. "I get the feeling that 'Time Turner' isn't your real name. Heck I'm not even sure you’re a pony! I mean look at this stuff!!! I mean no offense Derpy, but I don’t think you could have made something like this… You’re very clumsy.” The brown stallion and grey mare sighed.

"No offense taken Princess Twilight... And it's Ditzy Doo, not Derpy Hooves. That was a name that bullies at flight camp called me because of my eyes." Ditzy suddenly gasped and bowed. "Your majesty I am so sorry for my lack of respect! Please forgive me!" Dinky ran over to her mother and bowed the same way. 'Time Turner' just sighed and bowed along with them.

"Please rise. I don't like it when ponies bow to me. I see everypony as equals... Well almost everypony..." Twilight smiled and walked over to Fang before laying her head against his shoulder. Fang smiled and nuzzled his fiancé's cheek before giving her a small nip on the ear causing her to blush. "Now... I know Ditzy and Dinky they are some of my best friends. But I don't know anything about you 'Time Turner'... If that is really your name... You’re obviously not a pony since Fang saw you seven thousand years ago... So what are you?"

After they had risen from their bowing positions 'Time Turner' looked at Ditzy and Dinky. "Honey... You should tell her the truth... She is a princess and is going to be a queen soon..."

Dinky hopped up and bounced over to 'Time Turner'. "Mommy's right Daddy! We can trust Princess Twilight... Not sure about the stallion though... I don't even know his name..." Dinky sat on her haunches and turned so she could look at Fang and smiled. "What's your name?"

Fang just stood there and blinked, that is when he saw she was shaking slightly. He then crouched down so that he was at eyelevel with the little purple filly. She immediately stopped shaking proving it was out of fear that she was doing so in the first place. Fang smiled at the filly and showed her his fangs. Surprisingly she didn't scream, try to run away, or start shaking. "Hello little one, my name is Fang. I am Twilight's fiancé and soon to be husband..." Fang blinked. "By the way how are you doing? I know that the monster at your window disappeared."

"How did you know that?" Twilight walked up to Fang and Dinky and lowered herself just as Fang. She gave the filly a smile and then looked at Fang.

"Because Fang killed the pony that the monster actually was. According to what he told me Nurse Coldheart was a Grundle. A creature that asks good little fillies and colts to 'come out and play' but if they do then the good little filly or colt turns bad." Twilight sighed. "He also told me why your classmate Diamond turned into one. See if a filly is bad or violent enough before they reach the age of eighteen then they will transform into a Grundle."

"Coldheart? You mean the mean nurse that would always poke me with needles even if I didn't need one?" Twilight nodded. "She wasn't a pony?" She shook her head and Dinky shot one of her hooves up into the air. "I knew it! I knew she was evil!" Twilight giggled and Fang chuckled before standing up.

Twilight then looked at 'Time Turner'. "Now... Who are you?"

"I am The Doctor. I am a time lord and this." He motioned with his leg around the entire room. "Is The T.A.R.D.I.S." He looked at the strange looks he was getting from everypony, including his wife and daughter and sighed. "Time and Relative Dimensions in Space..." He just kept getting the same strange looks. He then turned around and slammed his face against the wall hitting a button in the process. "It's a time machine, spaceship, computer hybrid!"

A female voice rang throughout the T.A.R.D.I.S. "Data retrieved. Showing data now." A screen lowered from the ceiling and the form of the giant mantis appeared. "Name: Kamakiri. Species: Hantā Konchū. Current location: Unknown. No other data available." The screen raised back to the roof and The Doctor turned to the alicorns. Suddenly his eyes went wide.

"Heads up!" Twilight and Fang ducked to the sound of air being cut. Looking up again they saw that the mantis from before. This time however it was visible and was a deep dark black in color. It raised one of its arms and brought it down towards Twilight, who was pushed out of the way by Fang. The blade of the arm cut off the tip of his tail. "Oi! Black alicorn! Do you think you can knock the thing down?" Fang raised an eyebrow at The Doctor.

"Yes... Yes I can..." He then turned to the giant mantis. "Listen up you bug! This is going to be a two hit fight." He ran at the creature and jumped before punching its head. "I hit you!" He jumped back and landed next to Twilight before looking away from the creature. The four remaining ponies watched as the mantis just stood there. "You hit the ground..." Sure enough the mantis obeyed and fell over.

The Doctor turned to Fang and raised an eyebrow. "If you want to be cool then wear a bowtie." He then pulled out a silver stick with what looked like an emerald attached to the end. He pointed the stick at the mantis, the tip began to glow, a whirring noise was heard, and the five ponies watched as the mantis disintegrated.

"What did you just do?" The Doctor turned to Fang and smiled.

"I asked the universe to make it disappear. How you ask?" He held up the stick. "Sonic Screwdriver... Now if you'll excuse us... We need to go back to 472 B.S.R. to find thousands of missing ponies... Thank you for your help with the bug... I owe you one." He then pushed the two alicorns out of the T.A.R.D.I.S., closed the door, another whirring noise was heard, and the box disappeared.

"Fang... What just happened?" Fang looked at his bride and shrugged.

"I have no idea... And I quite frankly do not want to know. Let's just chalk it up to... Unexplainable and you will go insane trying to figure it out." Twilight just sighed and nodded in agreement. "Shall we?" Twilight smiled as Fang wrapped a wing around her and they walked off towards the Everfree.





We cross our bridges when we come to them, and burn them behind us with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke and a presumption that once our eyes watered. ~ Tom Stoppard.


> The First Day of The Rest of Your Lives.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


There are no secrets better kept than the secrets that everybody guesses. ~ George Bernard Shaw.






Three months later. The day of the wedding.


Twilight was in her dress. The diamonds shining like little stars and the emeralds, rubies, and sapphires around her neck seemed to be a pattern in the form a heart. Below the triad of colors was the necklace Fang had given her where the hot pink heart shaped gem completed the heart. Although Rarity had told her that it didn't go with the other gemstones around her neck Twilight insisted on wearing it. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. Soon her joyful smile twisted and became a frown. 

She began to shake and looked at all of her friends. Including Sunset, Trixie, and the princesses. "I-I don't know if I can go through with this girls... W-What if he doesn't really love me? Princesses what if he is just using me to get closer to you so he can kill you? What if... What if he just plans to use me to have an heir and kill me once he has one?" Twilight sat down on her haunches and began to cry. "What if he... What if he gets tired of me and throws me away like I'm some piece of trash!?"

Cadence looked at her sister in law and walked over to her before putting a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "Twilight... Don't worry... I know that Fang loves you. I can see it whenever he looks at you... His eyes light up like stars... Same goes for when you look at him. Twilight... He loves you with all his heart and soul, and then some... He won't leave you..." Seeing that she wasn't convinced, Cadence sighed. 

"Twilight... Follow me..." Cadence walked over to the corner behind a changing shade and cast a silence spell on the two of them so nopony else could hear them. "Twilight... You can stop the wedding at any time... And if you do nopony will hold it against you... Not even Fang... But there is something I need to ask..." The princess of love looked her sister in law in the eyes. "He loves you, of that I'm sure, but do you love him?"

Twilight blinked at Cadence. Her look of sorrow turned into anger. "Of course I love him! I just... I'm scared... I don't know why but I am... It's just that I know that he's good enough for me, in fact he's perfect for me, but..." Twilight's face became one of sorrow again and she looked down and began to cry again. "W-what if I'm not good enough for him?"

Cadence smiled at her. "You don't have to worry about any of that Twilight." Twilight just kept looking down and crying. Cadence sighed and lifted the purple mare's head up with her hoof. "Twilight listen to me... This is your big day... Fang is a good pony and you don't want to lose him. He will still love you even if you stop the wedding but tell me... Did he not save your life? Did he not sacrifice himself and almost die back in Arcusalae to keep the griffon king from forcing himself on you?" Twilight nodded. "Now I don't know about you but... I don't think a pony would do that for anypony else unless they loved them... And if you aren't good enough for him... Then why would he have asked you to marry him? I mean he already has everything a pony could want... Except of course a pony that he can reveal his feelings to."

Twilight looked at Cadence and wiped her tears away. "D-do you really think I'm good enough?" Cadence just nodded. "O-ok... I'm ready... I can't believe I was having second thoughts!" Twilight's eyes had a fire ignite behind them. "If I'm too scared to get married then how can I call myself a princess?" Twilight smiled at her sister in law. "I mean I would have to make much harder decisions in government... Right?" Cadence nodded her head. "I love Fang... And I won't run from the first day of the rest of my life!" Twilight went back over to her friends and smiled at them. "Ok girls... Let's get me ready to be wed."


Canterlot castle grand hall.


Fang was sitting down on his haunches with a nervous look on his face. "Dude what is wrong with you? I've never seen you so... Scared before... You're getting cold hooves aren't you?" Fang glared at Soul then smirked and laughed remembering that he had given the shade a black eye last night. There is one thing you never do to the King of Monsters... You never get him drunk...

"Of course not... I'm just worried about what Twilight is going to look like in her dress... I don't want to have my..." He looked to his sides and flapped his wing causing Soul to sigh.

"Damn it dude! That's what your worried about!? You are getting married for Celestia's sake!" Soul just sighed. "I know that you're worried about something dude... Look we have always been there for each other so you know that you can trust me... What has you so scared?"

"I'm not good enough for her... She is a graceful princess, I'm a blunt warrior. She is a hero who has saved the world from eternal chaos and night, I'm known for killing demons. She is a beautiful mare, I'm a freakish monster. She is perfect for me... But... I'm not the stallion she needs..." Fang closed his eyes. "I should just call off the wedding."

"Yeah sure... Do that... Coward..." Fang's eyes shot open.

"What did you just call me!?" Fang's horn glowed and one of his swords appeared.

"I called you a coward... You're afraid the mare that you're destined for dude... Everypony can see that you two were meant for each other... Yet you are so insecure about yourself that you think that being with the mare you love is a mistake... You're scared... Scared that you won't be able to protect her... Dude... Don't be afraid to show your feelings... You can't hide them forever..." Fang just blinked at Soul before his katana turned into ice, shattered, and disappeared.

"I guess you're right..." Fang smiled and stood up. "If Twilight doesn't call off the wedding then neither will I! I won't run from the first day of the rest of my life!"

Soul smiled at him. "Knew that would get you fired up... Now don't be scared and don't try to hide your feelings ok? According to Trixie, Twilight is a nice mare that you don't want to lose... So be strong and show no fear!" He slapped Fang on the back and got a glare from Fang. "Sorry... Won't do it again... Just don't blacken my other eye..." He shuddered at the night before. Then he laughed. "Though you have to admit... It was pretty funny when you started talking to a chair." Fang chuckled and nodded.


Unknown location.


As the ponies talked and got ready for the wedding, ten figures sat upon thirteen thrones, three of which were empty. A dragon, a pig, a rat, a rabbit, a snake, an ox, a dog, a sheep, a rooster, and a large pony, a horse. The rat looked over at the dragon "A meaningless ritual with a meaningless purpose... Ginryō... Tell me again why we can't just attack and kill the monster king and his bride?"

The dragon looked at the rat. "Shǔ... Let them have this day... You are not to eliminate them... You are to eliminate the shade... Lepus will eliminate them..." The rat sighed and nodded. The dragon looked at the rabbit who nodded as well. "Good... Now I think all of you should go... Now!" The dragon raised one of its arms and the other nine archdemons disappeared. The dragon then turned to the pool of black water in the center of where the thrones were. "I hope you know what you are doing... Master..."


In Canterlot Castle.


Fang was looking straight at the doors that Twilight would be walking through any second. Celestia appeared behind Fang and smiled at him. "Fang... Take good care of Twilight ok?" Fang just gazed at Celestia and nodded. He then heard the door open and turned to see his bride. The Crusaders, Dream, and Ana were the flower fillies. Following close behind them was Twilight... He was amazed at how she sparkled when the light hit her dress and smiled. As she took her place across from him she smiled and her eyes lit up like stars. 

Celestia took a deep breath. "We are gathered here today to witness the joining of Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria and King Crimson Fang of Transylmaneia in love and marriage... If there is a reason that these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace." Shining Armor looked at Fang. He paled when almost everypony, including his parent's, the bride, the groom, his wife, and even his eleven month old daughter glared at him. He shook his hooves to show that they had it wrong and that he wasn't going to say anything. Thankfully for him he was telling the truth. 

"Crimson Fang, do you take Twilight Sparkle to be your lawfully wedded wife?  Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and forsaking all others, to be faithful only to her, for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do."

"And do you, Twilight Sparkle, take Crimson Fang to be your lawfully wedded husband?  Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health and forsaking all others, be faithful only to him so long as you both shall live?"

"I do."

"Then by the power invested in me by the kingdom of Equestria. I now pronounce you stallion and wife. You may kiss the bride." With that they kissed and as the rings slipped onto their horns, they could swear, in that moment, they were the only two beings in existence. 

The party after the wedding went as smooth as the ceremony and everypony watched the couple as they danced. When it came time for the two to leave Twilight tossed the bouquet. Rarity tried to catch it, only for it to soar over her head, bounce off Pinkie's mane and to the surprise of everypony in the crowd, get impaled on Trixie's horn. Trixie reached up and took the item off her horn only to drop it in shock once she realized it meant. She would be the next to be married. She gazed over to Soul and blushed while he gazed back with the same blush on his face.

Twilight giggled and pulled her head back into the carriage. "So who caught it?" Twilight looked at her husband and smiled.

"Trixie caught it." The carriage was silent for a moment before Twilight scooted closer to her husband. "So... Where are we going for the honeymoon?" Fang smiled at his newly wed wife.

"Ever hear of Prance? I here it is nice this time of year." Twilight scooted closer to her husband and smiled. Then a thought occurred to her.

"Fang... I just can't wait until we get to a bed." Fang looked at her with curious eyes. He watched as she laid down on her back and moved her tail to the side. "Please... I can't wait anymore..." Suddenly the carriage stopped. She sat up as the door opened and looked outside to see a large airship. The HMS Alba. "Well maybe I could wait for a few more minutes... I hear the Alba has the comfiest beds of any sea crossing airship..."

"As do I... That is why I bought two tickets... Shall we my queen?" Twilight looked to her side as Fang stepped out of the carriage and his horn glowed. She watched as the bag she packed flew out of the back of the carriage as well as a black suitcase. Twilight smiled as her husband wrapped a wing around her.

Twilight kissed him and smiled. "Yes my king... We shall." Fang smiled as they boarded the ship and it left its dock. While they thought it would have been fun to stay above deck all night they knew there was one more thing they had to do. To do so they went to the royal cabin. They had to consummate the marriage. And as they saying goes... Nothing moans louder than a newlywed couple on their wedding night.





If we knew each other's secrets, what comforts we should find. ~ John Churton Collins

> Flying Down To Prance.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Condemned murderer Perry Smith said of his victims, the Clutter family, "I didn't have anything against them, and they never did anything wrong to me, the way other people have all my life. Maybe they're just the ones who have to pay for it." 





Twilight and Fang stepped out of their room and kissed each other. "Twilight... Last night was amazing... I didn't even know that a pony could bend that may ways... I don't mean to insult you my love but... I didn't think that you would like it that much..."

Twilight blinked and kissed her husband. "Are you kidding? How could I not? I mean you’re a bucking giant!" Twilight and Fang just stood there for a second. A blush so dark a red that it would have made Applejack's prized giant apple jealous slowly formed on their faces. "Did... Did I just say that out loud?" Fang just kept his blush on his face. "We are to never speak of this unless we are alone..."

"Agreed." The two smiled at each other and kissed once again. They then walked down the hall and turned a corner, only for Twilight to get knocked over by one of the ship's butlers. Fang helped Twilight up and immediately went to slam the pony into the wall when he noticed something. He was bleeding quite badly.

"Oh my goodness what happened to you!?" Twilight ran up to the butler and saw he had a deep hole in the center of his chest. She quickly cast a spell that slowly fixed the damage and sealed his wounds. "There all better... Now what happened to you?"

He quickly bowed and hung his head. "Prince- Queen Twilight! I am so sorry for assaulting you a moment ago! The captain told me to come and get your husband or... Or else we might never make it to Prance! The ship is being attacked by a strange black dragon and a strange minotaur like creature! They are just circling for now but... The dragon... It ate a Mr. Fancy Pants and a Mrs. Fleur De Lee!"

"What are Fancy and Fleur doing on the ship?" The butler looked up at Fang and Twilight.

"They are, were, going to visit Miss Fleur's mother in Prance." Twilight and Fang looked at each other, nodded, and ran off. As soon as they were out of ear range the butler laughed.

"The king and queen... Have just run to their demise!" The butler started to lose all the color of his fur and mane. Soon he was completely grey. He gave a eerie chuckle before turning into a solid black sphere and melting away, into the shadows.





As Twilight and Fang stepped out onto the deck they saw a pure black dragon with glowing red eyes. It stood on two legs, had a long serpentine tail, two large, thin wings that looked as sharp as blades on its sides. "A Wing-blade!" A bipedal figure stepped out from behind the wyvern like creature. It had a hat similar to the one Trixie used to wear and was wearing a cloak covered with purple lightning bolts. Its entire body and all the clothes it wore were black except the lightning bolts on its cloak and the glowing red eyes that could barely be seen because of the hat. "Wizard!"

Twilight looked at Fang. "Fang... Is it just me or do they look like Soul when he is in his true form?"

"That's because they are shades like Soul... Only these ones are evil. You can see it in the eyes of a shade. Soul's eyes glow blue. These ones have red eyes." Fang's horn glowed and he summoned one of his swords. Twilight looked at the katana and realized it was different from the one he normally used. The one he normally used had a white ribbon on the handle. This one had a purple one that was the same shade as her fur. "Twilight... Listen to me carefully. I can sense that Fancy and Fleur are still alive. I need you to deal with the wizard... Don't worry you have stronger magic than him so you should be able to take him down easily." Twilight nodded. She knew she could do this. She had fought plenty of demons before, what was one more? 

"One more thing." Twilight looked back to Fang only to feel him press his lips to hers and allow his tongue to slip through her teeth. After a minute he pulled away and looked her straight in the eyes. "I love you... And I will never allow anypony or anything harm you." Twilight smiled and watched as Fang unsheathed his sword. Her eyes went wide at what she saw engraved on the sword. トワイライトの道. Soul had been teaching her to read Neighponese and she recognized that phrase. It read Way of Twilight.

"Y-you named one of your swords after me?" Fang blushed and nodded. "Thanks... Why?"

"It's corny..." He saw the pleading look on Twilight's face and sighed. "So I can have you with me, even when you are not there." He blushed even harder at the kiss Twilight planted on his cheek.

She smiled at him and then glared at the wyvern and wizard that were sitting down blinking at the two alicorns. "Ok... Let's go get 'em!" Twilight watched as Fang darted in and tackled the wyvern off the side of the ship. She turned her attention to the wizard who was now holding a book in his left hand and a staff in his right.

"I shall avenge my king..." His book opened and the pages began to turn by themselves. He looked down at the book and his staff began to glow with an eerie purple light. "Lightning Cast. Spark Storm!" Twilight blinked when nothing happened. She looked all around and them up, just in time to cast a shield that bounced five lightning bolts off of it and towards the wizard who turned and tried to run. She watched as the lightning bolts struck him and he fell to the ground. She walked over to the ponies that the two shades had taken hostage and freed them before walking over to the shade. Seeing it was in extreme pain she decided to have mercy on it. However she knew it could not be left to live. Suddenly the shade turned over and looked at Twilight. It reached one of its bony hands towards the pony. "Please... It hurts..."

Twilight gave the creature a sad smile. She lit her horn up for a second and her eyes glowed purple. "Mind Crush." She saw the creatures mind and soul shatter like glass. Looking down she saw that it was disappearing, cloaks and all, in wisps of shadows.

"I return to the darkness from which I was born." With that it disappeared completely leaving no sign that it was ever there, except for the part of the deck that had been scorched by the lightning. She turned and walked over towards the side of the ship, when all of a sudden Fang appeared to be flying towards it.

"Twilight!" Fang grabbed her and set her down on the center of the ship. Everypony watched as there was a roar and something rocked the ship before seeing the wyvern like shade crash onto the deck, upside down. Twilight raised an eyebrow at Fang who just smiled. "Wing-blades are fast, the problem? They can't turn." Fang unsheathed his katana once again and walked over to the beast as it struggled to get up. 

"Way of Twilight..." She watched as the sword began to glow with a bright purple light. "Star-crossed..." Fang was suddenly on the other side of the creature. But he hadn't teleported. He had moved so fast that nopony could have registered it with their normal vision. "Slash!" Twilight heard the sound of Fang sheathing his katana before he jumped backwards and landed right beside her. All was silent for a moment until the shade's upper and lower halves were separated. Fleur and Fancy Pants rolled out of the stomach and turned to see the two alicorns. The entire pony body watched in amazement as the shade started to evaporate just as the wizard had.

"I return to the darkness from which I was born... You truly are worthy adversaries... King and Queen of Monsters..." With that the shade exploded into wisps of shadow just as the wizard had. Twilight and Fang smiled at each other before kissing to the cheers of everypony on the ship. 





Later that night at dinner Fancy Pants stood up and raised his glass. "I propose a toast! To the, newlywed, saviors of The Alba and its passengers. Princ- Queen Twilight Sparkle and King Crimson Fang! May they live a long and prosperous life!" A resounding 'cheers' rang throughout the dining hall and the couple smiled, stood up, and bowed before kissing once again. They returned to their cabin after dinner. 





There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins. ~ Ecclesiastes 7:20.

> CLOP! Fang and Twilight Have a Fetish.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
WARNING CLOP AND BDSM AHEAD!!!



Twilight quickly entered her, and Fang's, cabin and locked Fang out before she slipped over to the curtains, and untied the silk ribbons that kept them open. She then laid down on her back and used them to bind her legs and wings to her body so that she could not move, and was still comfortable. All the while making sure that she would be giving Fang complete access to her face and marehood. Cheshire had let it slip that Fang had a small fetish for tying mares up and... Disciplining them. When she unlocked the door and Fang stepped in she saw his eyes light up like stars. She looked underneath him and could see he already had a full erection.

Twilight brought her eyelids down half way and looked at Fang. "Well? What are you waiting for? Master." Fang closed the door, walked over to the bed, watched as Twilight moved her tail out of the way. He then placed his hooves next to her flanks. He gave the one on the left a slight slap and heard a moan. This provoked him to ask his wife was a masochist. Twilight responded that she was and moaned as Fang hit her flank again a little harder than before. 

Fang looked at his wife with hopeful eyes. "Y-you don't mind being tied up?" She shook her head and smiled at him.

"Not at all... Just as long as you don't tie me up every time we have sex. Besides... I've always wondered what BDSM was like..." Fang leaned in and kissed her, she eagerly allowed his tongue to slip into her mouth and explore. She gave another small moan she felt Fang's member slip up and down along her marehood in a teasing fashion. When Fang broke the kiss Twilight looked up and saw that Fang's normally kind smile had been replaced with a sadistic grin.

"Well then my little toy... Shall we get started? Oh by the way... If you are not gaged then the safe word is 'blood'. If you are gagged then open your left wing, wait three seconds, and then open your right. If I see you do that or hear you say blood then I will stop ok?" She nodded as he released the silk around her wings. She saw his horn glow and watched with excitement as a piece of one of the spare sheets floated over, wrapped around her neck and was used to form a gag before Fang slipped it into her mouth, tying it tightly as to make sure that it would not come out. She moaned into her new gag as she felt a quick strike directly on her right cutie mark. She opened her eyes to see Fang with a confused look on his face. As soon as he saw her eyes he regained his sadistic grin. "That is what I was forgetting. Now to take care of your eyes..." Twilight heard the hiss of silk running along silk and saw the ribbon that had been binding her wings slip up over her marehood, along her belly, across her chest, and around her neck before eliminating her sight. She felt the two ends get tied together behind her head until the knot was pressing up against the back of her head. She heard a latch open and felt a ring slip around her horn. A horn inhibitor. Fang had just taken away her ability to use magic, her last way to fight back. Then, nothing. No touch, no breath, no sound at all. It was if Fang had left the room.

Suddenly she felt a hoof touch her cheek. It wasn't a strike, more of a soft comforting touch. "Twilight... I am going to touch every part of your body ok? I want you to open your left wing if you don't want me to hit you there and your right if you are fine with me hitting you there... Understand? I know I'm a sexual sadist and that you are a masochist but even still... You're my wife and I love you... I don't want to hurt you if you don't want me to. Remember left is no, right is yes, ok?" Twilight gave a soft nod.

'The feeling of being helpless, completely unable to fight back, to be at the full mercy of the stallion I love... It feels amazing... I love it... No! Please! Don't take your hooves away from me!' Panic spread throughout her body as she thought that Fang had left her alone. Then the rational side of her mind took over. 'Ok Twilight calm down... He wouldn't leave you alone... Fang will touch you any second... Just be calm.' She waited quietly, wondering where she would feel her husband's touch. A quick press against her left cutie mark, she was fine with it so she opened her right wing. A loving touch to the base of her tail, another right. Her right cutie mark, right again. She quickly felt a hard hit to the same three places in rapid succession. The sudden strikes caused her to give out a yelp, followed by a loud, muffled, moan as the warmth of the hits spread across her body. 

Her heart pounded against her chest as she waited for her husband and master's next touch. She felt a touch at the tip of her horn and her left wing shot open. Her left and right cheeks both received a left wing opening. She opened her right wing when she felt Fang touch her chest and immediately received, not a hit, but the feeling of something sharp being dragged down her body. As her nerves ignited in glorious pain she gave a loud, long, moan before she began to panic. Fang was cutting her open with a knife, or at least that is what she thought. Suddenly she felt a soft hoof touch her cheek. "Relax my love. It is not cutting you with a knife. I am only dragging the tip of my horn down your chest." Twilight immediately calmed down at the sound of her lover's voice. "I haven't cut you. I haven't drawn blood. Remember that you can stop this at any time." Twilight nodded and calmed down allowing the pain to continue to ignite her nerves as the sharp tip of Fang's horn dragged along her skin. She let out a small whimper when she no longer felt his touch. She began to panic when, after a minute, she had yet to receive a loving touch from her master. Suddenly she felt a touch to both of her teats, her right wing immediately shot open and she wondered how Fang would cause the two nubs to feel pain. She quickly figured it out when she felt them being bitten. 

She felt her imminent sexual release about to happen when the biting stopped. 'No! One second more! Please! Just one more second! I'm begging you!' She gave a loud whimper as her release was denied to her and she felt the pleasure that she already had start to dissipate. She then felt one of her master's hooves once again, this time on her pussy. She began to shamelessly grind herself on his hoof until he pulled it away and slapped her flank. Twilight remembered and shot her right wing out. She then felt her body get lifted up off the bed and placed back so that she was on her belly. She felt Fang press his dick into her and moaned as he began to thrust. After a few minutes she felt her muscles spasm and contract around his large member. She was finally granted her sexual release. A few minutes later she felt her muscles tense again and her insides contracted once again, this time however. The one who was given release was Fang. As she felt his seed spray inside of her she gave a loud moan and collapsed. She felt Fang pull out and she felt herself get turned over onto her back. She felt the ribbons around her legs loosen allowing her to allow them away from her torso. She then felt her gag being removed before receiving a forceful kiss from Fang. As he broke the kiss and pulled away she felt the horn inhibitor be taken off. Lastly her blindfold was slowly removed allowing her to see her lover's face.

"Fang... That felt... Amazing..." Twilight smiled and hugged her husband.

"Twilight... You are amazing..." He gave her a small kissed then looked at her chest. "Oh no... My horn left a scar..." He suddenly felt Twilight bite his neck and began to suck on it. Not for blood, for air. Fang smiled and did the same to her. When they both pulled away they looked at the fairly sized love bites.

"Now everypony will know that you belong to me..." The two blinked at each other and laughed.

"Fang... Maybe we should take a shower... Oh by the way... I don't care if your horn left a scar, it will go away eventually..." She received a kiss from Fang and smiled as they both went and shared the shower to clean them of their sweat and any dirt that had gotten stuck in their fur that day.
> Train Trouble.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities. ~ Christian Nestell Bovee.






Morning after the wedding.


A black unicorn stallion with sunglasses, and bright white bandages wrapped around his head, was sitting on a train bound for Ponyville. He looked at his trench coat and smiled as the memories of how he had come to be on this train in the first place. "Who would think I owed this trip to a rat?" This was, after all, the first time he had been able to leave Canterlot in four years. He looked down at his notebook. 

The equation 1 + √5 / 2 = 1.618033988749894848204586834... was written on it. The symbol of his purpose in life. The golden ratio. A symbol of perfection. As he looked out the window he remembered why he had never been out of Canterlot in four years. Because he was a resident of The Canterlot Mental Institution for the Criminally Insane. "Hey mister! Do you mind if I sit here?" The stallions head shot up and he turned to see a little blue unicorn colt with a messy silver mane and golden eyes. He looked at his flanks and saw no cutie mark.

"Only if you tell me your name little one." The little colt smiled and climbed up and sat down next to him. He then looked at him and stuck a hoof out. The stallion hesitantly stuck a hoof out and shook the colts hoof.

"My name is Hex Lulamoon. It is nice to meet you mister... Who are you?" The stallion froze. After a few seconds he decided it would be best if he told the colt his real name. Nopony should have been able remember him, and what he had done, after all he had been in the asylum for four years.

"Hello Hex. My name is Square Root. I am... Was... A math teacher at Canterlot University." Hex's eyes went wide.

"Really? Did you ever have a mare named Trixie in your class? She's my big sister she went to that school for a short amount of time about five years ago... But she dropped out because father found out where we were staying and we had to leave." Square Root blinked and nodded.

"Yes I remember young Trixie Lulamoon... Such a kind, young, filly. But sadly she was always so egotistical, trying to outdo both her classmates and teachers in every subject... She always had a B+ but I knew she could do better... Sadly she dropped out before I could teach her..." The stallion let out a sad sigh.

"Do you mind answering another question?" Square Root shook his head. "Why are you wearing those bandages?" The unicorn looked at the little colt and gave him a sad smile.

"I... I had an accident eight years ago... It was Hearths Warning Eve and the tree and carpet caught on fire after an ember drifted out of the fireplace and ignited the house... I-I was the only one who made it out... The only one who survived and I survived just barely... My seven year old daughter and my pregnant wife both died in the fire... I spent the next two years wishing that I had died with them... So that we could have been together again... The reason that I wear these bandages... Is not to hide my face, even though it has become horribly disfigured, but to ensure that I never forget... I never forget that they died... Because I couldn't save them..." They heard the sound of the door opening and turned to see both Trixie and Soul enter the train car. Along with The Crusaders, element bearers and their coltfriends. Trixie and Soul took the seats across from Root and Hex.

"Hey Hex!" Hex looked at his sister's coltfriend and body guard. He noticed that Soul was focusing his attention on Root's face.  "Mind introducing us to your 'friend'?" Hex looked between the two and smiled.

"Sure. This is Square Root. Square Root this is-" He was abruptly cut off by Root.

"Trixie Lulamoon and Tamashii 'Soul' Souto... I know their names... They were mentioned in Canterlot Daily on its coverage of the Lulamoon incident... Happy to hear about your mother by the way..." Trixie went wide eyed and grabbed Hex away from Root with her magic.

"Stay away from my little brother you monster! I know what you do to little fillies and colts!" Soul blinked and put a hoof on Trixie's shoulder.

"Trixie... What's wrong?" Trixie growled at the black unicorn sitting across the way, who was now earning looks from everypony on the train, then to everypony's surprise. He began to laugh.

"I had hoped nopony would remember me... Now everypony in this train car has to die..." He opened his coat and pulled out a remote detonator. "I was only supposed to kill Soul..."

Trixie turned to Soul. "His name is Square Root... He is better known for the name that got him institutionalized... The Golden Ratio Killer... He is also known by the title Celestia herself gave him when he was captured. The Face of Pure Evil. He claimed sixty six victims in just three years... All of them were fillies and colts in the age range of eight to thirteen... Nopony could ever figure out why he killed fillies and colts that old... And Hex is only twelve..."

"I used The Fabriconi Sequence to determine the age of my victims. 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13. My wife and I had been married for eight years. If you add five to eight you get thirteen... That is how I chose my victims. Perfect little fillies and colts..." Root watched as Rainbow opened a window before flying out of it and back to the castle, the train trip was, luckily, not due to start until 12:00 P.M. And it was only 11:45 A.M. Root took off his coat to reveal several pipe bombs. "I know where she is going... She is going to get the guards... They won't make it in time... I'm sorry everypony... But you all have to die along with Soul..."

"Dude! Why are you doing this!?" Everypony turned and looked at Soul... "Why do you want to kill me? Is it because I'm a shade? If so you're totally racist!" The black unicorn blinked and looked at Soul.

"I don't care what you are... I just know that he said that I would be righting the wrongs that I have done by keeping the shades sealed away... By killing you... He also said that Fang and Twilight would not return from Prance... Whatever that means..." The unicorn went to push the button on the detonator when he felt two hooves grab him from behind. Looking behind him he saw that Soul had used his powers to summon shadow ponies to restrain the unicorn.

"What do you mean he said 'by keeping the shades sealed away?' Who is 'he'!?  What are you talking about!?" They heard the door slam open and turned to see Shining Armor, Cadence, Luna, and Celestia themselves standing there.

"... Looks like I've been caught..." Root broke the window that was next to him and threw the detonator out. He then raised his hooves. "I surrender... Take me away... I don't care where, I don't care if you give me the death penalty... I don't care Celestia... I have given up on life and hope..." They watched as Shining Armor walked over and placed hoof cuffs on Root before removing the bombs on his body. As he was being led away he stopped and looked directly at Soul. "He said that if you were to continue to help Fang then the dark king would rise once more and shroud the world in eternal darkness... I wonder if that means anything to you..." He was then led away by Armor and was taken back to the asylum.

Celestia walked over to Soul and smiled at him. "I want to thank both you and Rainbow Dash for helping us apprehend the escaped criminal... We don't know how he escaped... All we know is that the back wall of his cell had been cut into pieces by what we think was a sword... Once again thank you..." With that she, Cadence, and Luna left...

The entire ride home Soul wondered to himself what the stallion had meant when he said that his planned actions were to kill Soul as a way to 'keep the shades sealed away.' When he went into his room that night he found another note. Like the one from a few months before.


Your blade is to dull,
To cut through the darkness,
To protect Trixie and friends,
A new blade you must harness.

A blade shrouded in the most corrupted darkness,
But made from the purest of lights,
Is the only thing that can help you,
In your grandest of fights.

And while you may think it dangerous,
To hold a blade with the brightest intensity,
It is, in truth, the only thing,
That can help change your destiny,

It blade is withheld,
By The Deceitful Rat,
In this endeavor your greatest allies,
Will be Trixie and The Killer Cat.


Soul blinked at the paper and let it fall to the floor. "Ok? I'll play along... I'll go see Cheshire... Tomorrow." He then went over to his bed and flopped down on it before passing out. Outside his window, over on the roof of the hooves family house, stood a tall black figure with glowing yellow eyes. It looked like the wizard that had attacked Twilight and Fang on the air ship. Only instead of yellow lightning bolts, its cloak was decorated with red flames. It raised its hand and snapped its fingers before disappearing into the night.





A woman must not depend on the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself. ~ Susan B. Anthony.

> Mirror Mirror.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The irrationality of a thing is not an argument against its existence, rather, a condition of it. ~ Nietzsche.





Soul woke up, got out of bed, and went downstairs where he found his fillyfriend Trixie and her little brother Hex. He noticed that on the far wall was a large, golden, oval, mirror that had a figurehead at the top that looked like a goblin. It had two pointy ears and a grinning teeth full of fangs. He thought it was strange looking but figured that it might have been a gift from Charm, Trixie and Hex's mother. Though the weak demonic aura coming from it wasn't helping calm his mind. "Hey Trixie!" Trixie turned her head away from her breakfast and gave Soul a curious look. "Do you know where that weird mirror came from?"

Trixie gave a small smile and nodded. "My mother sent it to me... It's an old family heirloom. Supposedly if a pony looks into it when they are alone then they will see their soul mate...  If they are older than fifteen that is... I have not had the chance to test it yet..."

"What if they are not older than fifteen?" Trixie shrugged.

"They all say that any young filly or colt who looks into the mirror when they are alone disappears... Just a myth though... Nopony knows how or why that part of the myth came to be..." She looked up at the clock and then to her little brother. "Hex. Come on, it's time to go to school." The little unicorn looked at the clock, sighed, and nodded before getting up and putting his saddlebags on. "Do you want me to walk you to school?" The little unicorn smiled and shook his head before opening the door and walking out. "... Ok then..." Trixie looked down with a sad smile on her face. Soul picked up on it immediately.

"Hey Trix... What's wrong? I've never seen you so, pardon the pun, blue." Trixie looked up at Soul and sighed.

"I'm bored... I've got nothing to do..." Soul smiled and kissed Trixie.

"Well... I was going to Fang's castle to see if Cheshire could help me... I've been getting these really weird notes... First one was about 'the seal weakening' and 'my father being freed'. Second one, which I got last night, was about needing a new sword and that 'The Deceitful Rat' had it. You could tag along if you want..." Trixie smiled at the shade and stood up.

"That sounds nice... Are we going to be back before Hex gets home from school?" Soul just shrugged. "Doesn't matter anyway... He can cook... Better than I can in fact..."

"Come on Trix, I'm sure that's not true." Trixie just gave Soul a deadpan look.

"Soul... I burn water... Water... I'm serious... I put a pot of water on the stove and it catches on fire... That is why I always use the microwave..." Soul just blinked and got a look of confusion on his face. Water puts fires out. Trixie giggled at her coltfriends face. "I'm kidding... I'm just not a good cook." The look turned into a smile as Trixie and Soul walked out the door. The moment after they did a strange green aura surrounded the mirror that had been emitting the slight demonic aura.

The glow stopped and the image of a little brown colt formed in the mirror before he vanished.

When Trixie and Soul made it to Fang's castle Trixie looked at her coltfriend. "Is it just me, or is this place bigger than Celestia's castle?"

"It's bigger... Any other questions before we go in? I'm not saying I don't like to talk to you it's just that I don't want to stop looking for Cheshire... The dude messes with my senses... He is like a leprechaun... I see his aura one second, I look away, and he is completely gone." Trixie thought for a second.

"Just one... Who is Cheshire?" Soul blinked before remembering that Trixie had never met the demonic cat.

"You won't believe me but... He is Fang's pet cat." Trixie raised an eyebrow at Soul. "I swear that he can talk! I swear on... The grave of Starswirl the Bearded that he can talk!" Trixie rolled her eyes and opened the doors.

"I will believe it when I see it." She turned her head towards the door and jumped back in far at what she saw. A white stallion wearing a black leather jacket. What scared her is that the right half of his head was missing the skin, it was torn off showing his muscles and parts of his skull. "What the buck is wrong with your head!?"

The stallion blinked. "I retained the image of what my body looked like after I died... I was a very violent and competitive pony who always thought I was the best...  That's why Fang chose me to represent the fifth sign of The Black Zodiac..."

"The Black Zodiac?" Trixie looked at the stallion and then Soul. "What's The Black Zodiac?"

"A group of thirteen ghosts that can be used to open The Eye of Tartarus... A way to ultimate power... Fang isn't going to use them to open it... He employs most of them as guards... In fact he is trying to prevent it from happening... See if they are allowed to roam free then the eye will never open, if forced to gather in the same place then the eye will open and grant whoever forced them into the same area unfathomable power... So... I forgot what the signs were... Who are you?" The stallion blinked and looked at Soul.

"My name is Clay... I'm The Torn Prince... Anyway... Come on in Soul..." Soul smiled and walked in and Trixie tried to follow. Only to be blocked by Clay. "No entry for you..."

"What!? Why not!? Wait... Is it because I insulted your face? I'm sorry I was just spooked... I didn't mean it..." The stallion just kept blocking her path.

"Nope... King Fang told me to guard the doors and not let anypony I didn't recognize in... I have never seen you before... But thanks for apologizing..." The ghost felt a slap to the back of his head and turned to see Soul holding something. "Is that a hayburger?" Soul nodded and Clay looked back and forth between the burger and Trixie. "Come on in..." Clay moved out of the way and caught the hayburger when Soul tossed it to him. Trixie just stood there blinking. "Hurry up before I change my mind..." Trixie yelped as she was lifted inside by Soul's magic. She heard the door close and looked at Clay who had finished the burger. "Why are you two here anyway? The king and queen are in Prance... They will be gone for..." He paused for a second. "One month and four weeks... Wonder if she'll be pregnant by the time they get back..."

"Clay... Have you seen Cheshire?" Clay stopped talking and looked at Soul.

"The king's cat? Yeah he's in the library... He usually is... Just ask Gamble, he's the librarian, where he is and he will take you to him." Soul and Trixie nodded before walking off.


Five hours later.


Hex opened the door to his house and stepped in, quickly followed by Scootaloo, he smiled at his fillyfriend before her face contorted to one of discomfort. He saw her legs shaking and pointed up the stairs. "First door on your right."

"Thanks! I really shouldn't have had that second milkshake..." Scootaloo dashed off to the bathroom and Hex gave a soft sigh before smiling. He went into the kitchen and looked at the fridge. He saw a note, took it off, and read it.

"Went to Fang's castle with Soul to look for somepony named Cheshire and ask for help. Don't know when I will be back, you can bring your friends over, no funny stuff and make sure that you clean up any mess you make. ~ Trixie." Hex just smirked and placed the note on the table. He got a glass of milk and was about to go sit down when something caught his eye. The mirror was glowing. He walked over to it and looked at his reflection. Soon his reflection was replaced by an image of Scootaloo. The young colt blushed when he remembered the legend about the mirror. Suddenly the image shifted again and this time took the form of a smiling brown colt. Hex was confused and just kept staring at the mirror.

"I want to play... Come on... Touch the mirror and I'll take both you and Scootaloo away... Far away from the adults..." Hex shook his head and saw the colts face contort in anger. "But I want to play!" He watched as the colts ears became curved and pointy, his hooves grew sharp claws, his eyes turned into glowing red dots that were surrounded by an abyss of darkness, and his mouth became filled with sharp, curved, teeth. He watched as the colt started to come out of the mirror and panicked. Frozen in place he felt the clawed hooves of the creature wrap around him. Scootaloo came down the stairs and saw what was happening. She ran over and bucked the creature in the face causing it to let go of Hex.

"Hex we need to get out of here!" Hex nodded and the two young ponies ran towards the door. Only to see it disappear.

"You can't leave! I want to play! Come on! We can be the best of friends! Just like all the others!" Hex and Scootaloo looked to see that the creature had turned back into a normal colt and was now bouncing up and down in front of them. "Come on! I didn't mean to scare you! I just didn't want you to leave! I just wanted to play!"

Scootaloo blinked at the colt. He looked normal, acted normal, sounded normal, but she knew that he was a strange demonic creature. "Others? What others?" Scootaloo and the brown colt looked at Hex. The brown colt smiled and ran back over to the mirror.

"The others! Like Sunshine! I met her when the Lulamoon family lived in Bittan." The mirror showed an image of a light yellow earth pony filly with a golden mane. She was wearing a frilly black dress kind of like Silver Spoon occasionally wears. "Her parents were ignoring her and she wanted to have somepony to play with. So she came to play with me! Oh and then there is Cherry!" The image switched to a little red earth filly with a brown mane. "She got lost and hurt and I helped her! She decided to stay and play with me after that!"

"My family hasn't lived in Bittan for two hundred years... How are they still alive?" The colt stopped bouncing.

"They're not... Well their bodies aren't but their ghosts stay and play with me!" The colt smiled. "So come on! Let's go play!" Scootaloo and Hex looked at each other and shook their heads. "W-why not?"

"Our families would be sad if we disappeared... Sorry... But listen there are a ton of ghost fillies and colts in the Everfree Forest... Well in the city inside of it anyway... How long have you been in there?" The colt shrugged.

"I think... Five hundred years maybe? Why?" Scootaloo and Hex smiled at the little colt.

"Well... What if you stopped... Haunting the mirror? I'm sure you cold make friends without having to use it..." The colt looked down and thought for a second.

"Ok... I'll try! Hey guys! We're leaving the mirror!" The two living ponies watched as about fifty fillies and colts emerged from the mirror. "Come on! I know where there are a ton of ponies like us! Follow me!" They all nodded and lifted off the ground before flying out the house through the walls. The door opened and Trixie and Soul walked in.

"Um... Why were tons of ghost fillies and colts flying out of the house? Hex... Scootaloo... Did either of you find and open the book of the dead or something?" The two ponies shook their heads.

"They... Were living in the mirror!" Trixie just looked at Hex.

"I don't want to know... I have met a ghost pony named Clay that had the skin on the right half of his face missing, so Fang chose to represent The Torn Prince in The Black Zodiac. As well as a ghost pony named Gamble that had his hind legs removed after he lost a bet with a mobster in Manehatten, who Fang chose to represent The Torso in The Black Zodiac... Apparently there are eleven others..." Trixie sighed then she gave a small smile. "Oh by the way... Hex would you be ok with being alone here for a few days? Me and Soul have to go to Manehatten." The colt nodded.

"I'll be fine! I am able to take care of myself!" Trixie smiled and turned to Soul.

"I'll go get packed... Hex remember to brush your teeth every night ok?" The little blue unicorn nodded and went upstairs with his sister. Scootaloo said goodbye and left. She had to get home before Rainbow Dash began to worry.

Soul just stayed down in the living room before looking at the mirror. "Mirror mirror on the wall, is Trixie meant for me at all?" He snickered at the little rhyme he said before turning away from the mirror. That is why he didn't notice when the mirror's image shifted. Instead of his dark blue coat and will-o-wisp cutie mark, it had become a light azure with a wand surrounded by what seemed to be a sparkling mist.





Nothing is so common as the wish to be remarkable. ~ William Shakespeare.

> Manehatten Marauders.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. ~ Anatole France.





"Soul I don't understand why we couldn't just wait for Fang and Twilight to get back before we did this... They could have helped!" Soul sighed and looked at Trixie.

"We have to do this... Because I want to protect you... The notes both said that you might get hurt so I am doing what the notes have told me to do so I can prevent anything from hurting you... What they told me to do was take the sword of an archdemon... Shǔ, the Deceitful Rat. I will do anything to protect you... I will sacrifice myself to protect you!" Trixie smiled at Soul and hugged him.

"I know, and I'm grateful for that... But going up against the entirety of The Manehatten Marauders? The gang that has caused Manehatten to become the city with the highest count of gang related disappearances? You're insane if you think that the two of us can find a gang that has yet to have any member, except the fillies and colts who steal things for them, caught!" She heard a chuckle and looked at her coltfriend.

"Don't worry about that Trixie I have a plan." Trixie raised an eyebrow.

"And your plan is...?" She was curious as to what her coltfriends plan was. She knew that he was smart but he hadn't always had the best ideas... Like getting Fang drunk the night before the wedding, he had been very stupid and gotten his best friend drunk, when he knew what would happen.

"Not my best idea but... Walk around Manehatten until we find a member of The Marauders, beat them up, and have them take us to their headquarters!" Trixie just gave Soul a deadpan stare. "I said it wasn't my best idea!" Trixie giggled at Soul and walked out the door. As soon as she stepped out she fell down.

"Hey get off of me!" Trixie's eyes went wide and she hopped up to see a little burnt orange filly with a mane that was red and light pink. She had freckles and green eyes. She also noticed that she had a large bruise on her flank and a bandage wrapped around two of her legs. The bandages were caked with blood. Lastly she was wearing saddlebags.

"Oh my... What happened to you?" The filly looked confused before she looked down and noticed that her bandages were showing. 

"That's none of your business! Now get out of my way! I don't want Shǔ to get mad... He might hit me like mom and dad used too..." She saw the little filly smirk as she walked in between her legs. "They got what was coming to them... Nopony even suspects that it was foul play." Soul suddenly ran out of the room and lifted the filly off the ground by grabbing her tail with his magic. "Hey what gives!? You a pedophile or something!?" Soul blinked and dropped the filly as his face was covered with a blush. "Didn't have to drop me..." The filly stood up and tried to walk off again when she realized that she wasn't wearing her bags anymore. "My bags!" The filly turned around and saw Soul floating her bags in the air.

"Lock picks, a hammer, gloves, a mask, colored contacts..." He opened the other flap and whistled at what he saw. "Wow... Rings, necklaces, and tons of gemstones. You're a really good thief aren't you?" Soul looked up from the bag just in time to receive a punch to the face. "It's not nice to hit others..." He felt something get yanked from his magical grip and saw that the filly had stolen her bags back. "Hey wait a second! I want to ask you about Shǔ!" Soul darted after the little filly with Trixie following close behind. They followed her outside and down an alley only to find that she had disappeared. "Where did she go?" He began to scan he ally with his amber eyes. It was a dead end. There was nowhere to run. Trixie put a hoof to her chin and crouched down.  "Trix... What are you doing?"

"To catch a filly one must think like a filly... They wouldn't look up towards the eyelevel of adults to find somewhere to hide... They would look for somewhere low to hide... This cobblestone has a pattern on it..." Trixie pushed her hoof onto the cobblestone and yelped when she fell through the trap door it opened. Soul heard a splash and went over to where Trixie had been. He heard what sounded like a struggle and stomped his hoof down causing the trap door to open. He fell down and landed in a pool of water. He looked up and saw Trixie sitting on the filly's back. The former showmare smirked at her coltfriend. "Funny... You kill demons but you can't catch a filly."

Soul smirked back. "I didn't have a little brother to practice on."

Trixie just sat there for a second before clicking her tongue. "Touché... Now... Are you going to tell us why you were stealing all of that stuff?" She stood up and looked down at the filly before lifting her saddlebags off of her. "What's your name anyway?"

"Babs Seed! Now give me my stuff back before I get cousin Aj to rough you up!" Trixie and Soul blinked.

"Aj? As in Applejack? As in Applejack bearer of the element of honesty?" Babs nodded. "Kid you're going to have to rethink that plan... We're your cousin’s friends..." Babs blanched and began to shake. "Calm down we won't hurt you... Now tell us why you are stealing this stuff... Is it because you're homeless?"

"I'm not homeless! I live down here with Shǔ and the others... Uh oh... I wasn't supposed to tell anypony that..." Soul looked at Babs.

"Did Shǔ kill your parents?" Babs nodded. "Aren't you angry with him?" Babs broke out laughing.

"Are you kidding? Shǔ saved me! He saved all of us! He takes abused, or orphaned, fillies and colts from their homes, or off the streets, feeds them, keeps them warm, and safe... At least he does until he finds a good family who wants to adopt us... And I stole all of that stuff because somepony paid me to... He told me that the pony I was stealing from was a prince who needed to be taken down a notch... I really hate royalty... Stupid Celestia and Luna locked Shǔ away in Tartarus just because he was a demon." Babs looked at the stallion then down the tunnel. "Oh crud is it noon!? I need to get back before he gets worried!"

"Babs... We need you to take us to Shǔ." The filly didn't bother answering and ran down the tunnel with the two unicorns following close behind. Soon they came to a large room where there were about twenty other fillies and colts. They were all sleeping. Despite the fact that they were in a sewer it was extremely clean. They saw what looked like a chair and saw Babs run over to it, say something, and nod. They then saw a white albino rat jump from the chair and walk over to the two unicorns with Babs by his side.

The rat looked up at Soul. "Hello Soul... I am Shǔ... Babs has told me that you were looking for me... I have already reformed myself of my evil ways as you can see..." He motioned toward the sleeping filly's and colts. "Sure, I lie and steal things, but is to keep them safe and find them good families... Now why are you here? Wait... Do you want the Kagenohikari?" Soul blinked at the rat who just sighed in response. "My sword... I would have killed you as soon as you came to Manehatten but... Well it wouldn't be very good for these ponies if I died... So I want to make a deal with you... Take Babs back to Ponyville with you and clear my heart of all evil with my blade. It will not seal my powers simply destroy my wants to do evil with them. In return you can have my sword. I have no use or it anymore." He reached his head to the side and pulled out what looked like a needle. Soon a white aura surrounded the needle and he threw it at Soul. The needle began to float in front of the shade.

"What's going on?" The needle grew into a sword that resembled Soul's original, except this one had a white glow around it. The black dragon shaped hilt turned white and a second set of wings formed on it. Etched on the blade was the Neighponese kanji 影の光 light in the shadows. "Cool... Now... Do I just touch you with it to get rid of the evil in your soul?" The rat nodded. Soul tapped the rat on the head and saw that his soul turned from a dirty white to a pure one. "That's it?" The rat nodded and turned to Babs.

"Go with them little one... They live in Ponyville. Go and stay with your cousins... They can take care of you better than I can..." The rat then turned and scurried off.

Babs looked at the two unicorns. "Um... Do you mind taking me back to Ponyville with you? I can probably sell the prince's jewelry to get the bits to repay you..."

"No need... I have more than enough bits to get all three of us a ticket to Ponyville... Plus between you and me... I'm pretty sure that is Blueblood's jewelry..." Trixie smiled at Soul who nodded and the three ponies walked away. After they had a portal opened and a serpentine dragon slithered out.

"Shǔ... You let them go... Why?" The rat looked at the dragon.

"Ginryō... I let them go because I did not need to fight them... I have found my calling in this world... The young ones need me..." The dragon just looked at the rat.

"As your brother... I will respect your choices..." The dragon smiled at the rat.

"Thank you..." The dragon slithered back into the portal before it closed. He then looked and followed the trial of Soul's aura with his eyes. "Be safe young shade..."






What though the radiance that was once so bright, be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower; We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind. ~ William Wordsworth
 
> The Night's Champion.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The man visited by ecstasies and visions, who takes dreams for realities, is an enthusiast. The man who supports his madness with murder is a fanatic. ~ Voltaire.





Soul, Trixie, Hex, the Element's, their coltfriends and the Crusaders, including Babs Seed, were on a train bound for a small town called Sleepy Hoof. They had all gotten a train ticket in the mail as well as an invitation to something called 'The Festival of Fear.' Apparently it celebrated creatures of legend such as the Headless Horse and that you could see said horse running through the town at midnight. "Rainbow Dash... Isn't this a bad idea? I mean if the Headless Horse is real then if it sees us we're going to lose our heads!" Rainbow Dash and Thunder looked at Scootaloo.

The prismatic mare ran a hoof down the frightened fillies back. "Don't worry little sis... Everything will be fine. After all the headless horse is just a story."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that Rainbow." Rainbow looked to the source of the voice and was surprised to see Fluttershy. "My uncle lives in Sleepy Hoof... Actually he is the mayor... He said that he saw the headless horse... I trust my uncle... He is more honest than Applejack."

"More honest than the element of honesty? Is that even possible?" Applejack shrugged. "Anyway... I didn't know that your uncle was a mayor... Then again I didn't even know that you had an uncle." Rainbow heard a chuckle from beside her and turned to see Thunder making a funny face for Scootaloo, who was on her back laughing.

Soul meanwhile was hoping that there was a demon running amuck in the small town of Sleepy Hoof. It had been a week and he had yet to use his new sword. Sure he had dueled with some of the swordscolts in Fang's army but he had yet to get into a real fight, one where he could die. He felt something touch his shoulder and looked to see Trixie laying her head on his shoulder. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was shallow. Seeing the sleeping mare made the shade smile. After a few hours he noticed that the trees were starting to die. "The heck? Why is everything dead?"

"Sleepy Hoof is known for two things... One is the fact that it always feels like it is fall because the trees never grow any leaves. That is why it is called the Town of Eternal Fall." Soul turned to look at Fluttershy. "The other thing is that it is known for being the sight of a major the turning point in the Nightmare War." Seeing the look of confusion of Soul's face, Fluttershy explained.

"Nightmare Moon's head general, and rumored lover, was a threshal stallion named Night Striker. He was known in the Solar Army as the Headscolt due to how he was known for rushing into battle and cutting off the heads of his enemies. Sleepy Hoof is near the place where he died. According to legend when the battle turned and the solar army gained the upper hoof, Night Striker retreated into the woods. He was followed and captured after a young filly that he ran into broke a stick alerting the solar soldiers to his presence.

He was defeated and knocked to the ground, before they cut his head off, with his own sword, they asked if he had any regrets. His last words were 'Luna, my love. I'm sorry that I've failed you and our daughter...'. They cut his head off and then, to the surprise of everypony in their garrison, gave him a proper burial..."

"Fluttershy..." The entire group turned towards Rarity. "Maybe that legend is more than a legend... After all Dream is Luna's biological daughter... Maybe this Night Striker really did exist and maybe... Maybe he's Dream's father... It is just an idea... But it makes sense..." Spike nodded as well as almost everypony on the train. After a few more hours the train finally stopped and everypony got off. Standing there to greet them was a large, golden, pegasus stallion with a grey mane and hypnotic red eyes. He smiled at them and walked over to Fluttershy.

"My little niece... Oh how you've grown... The last time I saw you, you could just barely reach the top of my leg... I am glad you could make it, along with all of your friends..." He turned to the rest of the group. "Welcome to Sleepy Hoof. I am the mayor, and Fluttershy's uncle, Barricade Breaker. I hope that you all enjoy the festival... And that you see old Striker running through town at midnight... Oh and you might want to purchase a scarf... It can get very chilly around here when the sun goes down..." The stallion walked off with Fluttershy, and Acid, following close behind.

Soul was looking around the town from the train platform as everypony else went to go enjoy themselves. He was shocked at what he saw. "Soul? What's wrong? You've been staring at the town like that for ten minutes. I know the festival looks impressive for such a small town but it isn't like it's The Summer Sun Celebration or The Winter Moon Festival..." Soul turned towards his marefriend and let out a sigh.

"It's not that... I'm just surprised at how many spirits are here... Just from the platform I can count thirty five..." Trixie looked out towards the crowd and blinked. "You won't be able to see them... They don't have a physical form... They seem to be frightened of something, like something is coming to kill them... They know they're dead but even still it is like they are afraid of dying... As to why I can see them and you can't... My special talent is the ability to see and speak to invisible ghosts..." Soul sighed and walked out towards the crowd with Trixie and Hex following close behind.

"Hey you!" Soul stopped dead in his tracks and looked around. "I knew it! You can hear me! Look down!" Soul did as he was asked and saw the ghost of a little brown colt that had his head cut off. "You want to know a secret?" The stallion blinked and nodded. "Princess Luna and a little black alicorn filly, who I guess is her daughter or something, went into The Western Wood."

Trixie blinked and looked to where Soul was staring. Suddenly a light blue mist, that nopony else seemed to notice, swept over the area and the little colt faded into view. The surprise of seeing a headless colt knocked her onto her flanks and she just kept staring at the colt. "What happened to you?" The eyes on the colt's severed head widened and he turned said head to look at Trixie.

"You can see me?" Trixie, who was shaking in fear, nodded. "Strange... Maybe some of the shade's aura has attached itself to you... It is uncommon, but it can happen... Anyway what happened to me? You mean how I died?" Trixie nodded. "The horse cut my head off... I shouldn't have been playing in The Western Wood..." The colt faded away and vanished. Soul looked directly at Trixie.

"How did you see him?" Trixie just looked at her coltfriend and gave a shrug.

"This light blue mist, a little lighter than my coat, swept over the area and all of a sudden I could see him... Didn't you see the mist?" The shade shook his head and turned towards one of the ponies who was dressed in a costume, obviously one of the townsfolk that was helping with the festival.

The stallions face got a look of fear in his eyes. "The Western Wood? You don't want to go in there young one, nopony does... It is a cursed place... But if you really want to go... Is it so you can see The Horse's resting place?" Soul nodded and the stallion sighed. "There is a cave a few miles out of town... An old mare lives there... She is the only pony who knows where his resting place is..." Soul turned towards Trixie and gave her a goofy grin.

"You and Hex want to go and check out the horses resting place with me?" Trixie thought for a second and nodded her head. Hex shook his head.

"I'm going to go hang out with the crusaders... I'll make sure that they don't get into any trouble." He ran off before Trixie could protest. The blue mare sighed and stood up.

"Let's go!" Trixie smiled and ran after her coltfriend. A few minutes later they had gotten a few miles outside of town when they noticed a cave. "That must be where the old mare lives..." The shade and the unicorn walked towards the cave and heard a humming sound. After they entered they saw a mare that was solid but slightly transparent. She was a ghost like the ones Trixie had met in Fang's castle. Soul smiled and walked over towards the mare. "Hello? Are you the mare who knows where The Headless Horse's grave is?"

"Follow the blood soaked trail to where the sun dies, there you will find the tree of the dead, climb it and you shall find the horse's resting place..." Trixie watched from the cave entrance as the mare's eyes flew out of her head and towards Soul who backed up in surprise.

"Thanks!" The stallion ran out of the cave and grabbed Trixie on the way. "Ok... Blood soaked trail... I wonder what she means..." Soul began to look around when he noticed something. There were small red droplets on the ground. He walked over and placed a hoof on the red liquid before lifting it to his nose. "This is blood... Strange... I thought that nopony came into The Western Wood..." He looked down the road and saw that there were more droplets, so many that they were almost forming a line. "Follow the blood soaked trail to where the sun dies..." Soul looked up and saw that Trixie was already walking down the road. He quickly ran up to catch her.

Trixie was looking around at the trees and smiling. "Despite the eerie look this place is quite peaceful..." Trixie blinked and her eyes focused on a stump that was on the side of the road. A mare in a wedding gown was sitting there. Trixie ran up to her and noticed that she was missing her head. She turned to Soul and saw that he was talking to a stallion in a tuxedo. Slowly the two spirits faded away. "That was strange... Why are there so many headless ghosts in this town? The colt said something about playing in The Western Wood and the horse cutting his head off... Soul maybe we should turn back." Trixie turned to face Soul but noticed something. There was a light blue tail sticking out from behind a tree. "Who's there!?"

"Uh oh! Spotted!" The two ponies watched as a black alicorn filly ran out from behind the tree and down the road.

"Trixie wasn't that Luna's daughter?" Trixie nodded and the two ponies ran after her. They followed her hoof prints until they heard the sound of panting and an angry voice.

"Dream! Where did you go!? I was so worried about you!" It was Luna.

"Sorry mommy I got bored and started to play with a squirrel when I noticed two blue ponies coming this way. I hid behind a tree but the mare saw me. I got scared and came back." Soul and Trixie rounded the rocks that were creating a blind spot. They saw Luna and Dream sitting there. The mother holding her daughter in a loving embrace. Luna looked up and smiled at the two unicorns.

"Hello Trixie, hello Soul... Let me guess... You are here to see Striker's resting place? Oh I'm sorry, the resting place of the headless horse?" Trixie and Soul walked up to Luna and their eyes went wide at what they saw. A large, gnarled, tree with branches that seemed to be grabbing onto the trees around it and three hollows in it that looked like eyes and a mouth. The roots were secreting a blood red sap that formed a small pool on the ground. Right in front of the tree was a sword that had a hilt that was shaped like an alicorn on it. Thin thorny vines ran up it and surrounded the neck of the alicorn on the hilt.

"Yes we are but... Why are you here Princess Luna? And why is Dream here as well... Are you here for the festival?" The black and blue alicorns sighed and shook their heads.

"We both believe that the festival tis a mockery of Striker... We are not here to celebrate... We are here to mourn..." Luna's eyes drifted back towards the tree as her horn glowed and the moon rose in place of the sun. A red rose appeared in her magic and floated over to the sword. The two unicorns were surprised to see the withered thorn vines turn green and wrap around the rose's stem. It did the same with the marigold that Dream placed next to it.

"Hi daddy... I'm sorry I haven't visited in a long time... I wanted to but I couldn't find my way here..." The black filly didn't seem to notice that one of the vines grew outwards and patted her head. Luna and Dream just sat there letting tears fall from their eyes...

"Luna... Maybe the festival isn't a mockery of Dream's father..." The two alicorns looked at Trixie. "Think about it... This town has this festival with him as the main reason... Without him it would never have even existed... This festival keeps the legend of the headless horse, of Striker, alive... I don't think it is to mock him... I think it is to honor him and the fact that this town wouldn't be as successful as it is now if he had never existed..." Trixie closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "Maybe... Maybe the festival is a way to celebrate his memory?" Luna scoffed.

"Oh yes! Because ponies want to celebrate the pony known as the Headscolt! The vile pony who fought in the name of Nightmare Moon against their precious Princess Celestia! Face it... It is just a way to make fun at him and remind everypony who the 'villains' of the war were..." Luna looked at the tree. "Most of the myth isn't even true... The only part that is true is the fact that he would always be the first into battle for my name, and the last to leave... That and the fact that they cut his head off with his own sword... Most ponies don't even know that he really existed anymore... Most ponies think that he is just a legend... Just like I was..." A few tears fell from Luna's eyes until she felt something. Soul was floating a hoofkerchief in front of her.

The shade smiled at Luna. "Luna... If you want ponies to remember him, then tell the ponies at the festival that he really did exist... That he wasn't just some evil legend that was created to scare them." The shade gave a small smile at the tree. "Tell them that he was a flesh and blood threshal... One that had a lover and a daughter."

"Wife..." The two unicorns turned to the source of the voice. It was Dream. "Mommy and daddy were married..." The little filly was laying in front of the stallion's grave.

"We got married three years before he died... Six weeks later we found out that I was pregnant... And nine months after that, Dream was born... She was only three when he was taken from us..." Luna felt her eyes well up and placed the hoofkerchief to her eyes to wipe the tears away. They heard the sound of wood being moved and turned to see some roots at the base of the tree moving apart to reveal the heads of ponies. Dream screamed and ran behind her mother. A few seconds later they heard a whiney and saw the body of a black, headless, stallion leap out of the hole in the roots. The body reared up and began to kick its front legs before two bat like wings flared out of its sides and it lowered its forelegs back onto the ground. It ran towards the ponies and stopped before picking a pumpkin up off the ground and placing it on his neck. He turned around revealing that it was a jack o lantern with glowing red eyes. It ran at the ponies again before running past them and ripping the sword out of the ground. The stallion threw the sword up into the air where it spun around before falling back towards earth, where he caught it with the jack o lanterns mouth, before running down the trail towards the town.

"That was daddy! That was daddy!" The three grown ponies looked at Dream who had a look of joy on her face. "That was daddy! I know it was! That was how daddy always grabbed his sword! Daddy's back, daddy's back!" There was a scream and Luna's horn glowed. There was a flash and the ponies were back in the town. They looked down the street and saw the horse running down a mare wearing an orange jumpsuit. They watched as he ran up to the mare and they saw him catch up to her, seconds later she fell to the ground and her head rolled away from her body.

"This is some show isn't it Soul?" The ponies turned around to see Rainbow floating beside them. "Princess Luna?" The prismatic mare fell to the ground and bowed. "What are you doing here?"

"Rainbow Dash... This isn't a show... That is the real headless horse!" They heard a giggle and looked down towards Dream.

"Yep! That's my daddy!" Dash looked up at Dream and her eyes went wide. 

"The headless horse is real? Wait did you just say that he is your father?" Dream smiled and nodded. "Umm Princess Luna... I don't mean any disrespect but..."

"He was alive when Dream was born... I do many things Rainbow Dash... But practicing necromancy and necrophilia are not on that list..."

"Mommy? What's neck-ro-filly-a?" Luna went wide eyed and gave her daughter as sheepish smile.

"I'll tell you when you're older..." Dream sighed and Luna turned to Soul only to see that he was no longer there. "Trixie? Where is Soul?" The azure mare pointed down to the street where Luna saw her husband's pumpkin headed corpse fighting the shade. Luna began to shake with anger and screamed. "ENOUGH!!!" Both of the beings below halted mid charge and looked up at Luna. The horse was the first to recover and ran past Soul towards the head of the decapitated mare. With one quick thrust of the blade he impaled the mare's head and threw it a long distance into The Western Woods. Had anypony been at the grave they would have seen the head fly into the hole in the roots where Striker had risen from. A loud roar was heard from down the road and Striker dashed off towards it. Luna calmed down and noticed that Striker was running off. "Where is he going? Follow that pumpkin!"

Soul just stood there for a moment before nodding and chasing after the headless pony. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw what had led the horse away. It was gigantic. It had a smaller rounded head that had a pony skull mounted on it so that the eye sockets were exactly right to show its glowing, red, eyes. From the sides of its head sprouted to giant versions of minotaur horns, it had arms and legs that were as big around as tree trunks, and fingers and toes as big as stumps. Lastly its body seemed to be alive, not just in the sense that the creature was alive but in the sense that its body was moving, wriggling as if it was made of thousands of black snakes. A word flashed before Soul's eyes and a sudden sense of dread shrouded him. "Shade... Behemoth class..."

The gigantic shade began to walk towards the smaller, unicorn shaped, shade. "Me crush for king!" It brought one of its arms down towards the smaller shade who held up his sword in reaction. When the large limb hit the blade the sound of air being cut could be heard and a loud thump followed. Soul opened his eyes to see the behemoth holding its arm, or at least what was left of it. "Me arm! Me make pay for that!" It raised its other arm and was about to bring it down when one of its horns fell off. "What happen to me horn!?" It looked down to see where its horn had fallen and regretted it immediately as the sharp tip of said horn was driven into its eye. "Me eye!" Soul looked in curiosity as the headless horse used the creature’s chest as a spring board to launch himself away and towards the smaller shade.

Soul just looked at the horse with curious eyes. "Does this mean that we are working together for now?" The horse gave a whiney and nodded its head. "Ok... But after this we finish our fight..." The horse nodded. "Alright! Do you think that you will be able to knock it onto its stomach?" The horse turned and looked at the large shade for a moment and nodded before bashing the flat edge of its sword on a rock that it was holding up like a shield. "Draw its attention with my shield?" The horse nodded and then ran forward a bit before turning around and tripping itself. "I get it! You want me to make it angry so we can hit the legs and knock it down! Sounds like a plan!" The horse nodded and ran over to a bunch of sticks, he grabbed a large one and stuck the end in the jack o lantern's mouth. When he pulled it out it had been lit a flame. "Nice trick..." The horse shrugged before it began waving the stick in the air as if trying to get the giant's attention.

Soul looked at the gigantic shade and began to bash his sword and shield together. "Your mother was a pixie!" The gigantic shade stopped its attempts to pull the horn out of its eye and glared at the smaller shade with its one working eye. "And your grandmother was a newt! Your father was a pigeon, and your grandfather was a... Your grandfather was a..." The shade looked around trying to find something else that would insult the giant. His eyes rested on an ant hill and the unicorn smirked. "Your grandfather was an ant!" The large shade let out a deafening roar and ran at the two ponies with a surprising speed. "I really hope this works." The two ran towards the giant and slammed their swords into its legs with such force that they heard them cut through the tree trunk thick limbs. They heard an extremely loud thud and turned to see the behemoth on its stomach. "Time to finish this!" Soul turned and jumped on top of the giant’s leg and ran up its back before stopping at the dead center and leaping into the air. "Technique of the Light..." The shade began to fall back towards the earth and held his blade out in front of him so that the tip was facing the giant. "Cleansing of Darkness!!!" The shade felt his sword impale the creature and heard the crack of a bone breaking. Sol had just shattered the creature’s spine. He backed up and pulled his sword out of the giant’s body and watched as the creature slowly disappeared in wisps of darkness.

"Me go back to where me come from..." The creature exploded and the skull that was on its head rolled down the hill, only to be stopped once the headless horse placed a hoof on it. Soul watched as the headless stallion removed the pumpkin from his head and placed the skull on its stump of a neck. Slowly black tendrils grew from the horse's neck and wrapped around the skull. Soon the tendrils were covering the entire skull. He watched as Trixie, Luna, and Dream walked up. The horse turned around and faced the princess of the night before the tendrils stopped moving. Slowly the tendrils turned into skin and fur grew over it. Then the stallion let out a sigh and his eyelids shot open revealing kind, silver, eyes. All was silent for a second before the sound of small, rapid, hoof steps filled the air.

"Daddy!" The ponies all watched as the tiny black alicorn ran up to the stallion and hugged his front legs and began to sob into his fur. The stallion smiled, sat down on his haunches, spread his bat like wings out, and wrapped them around her, slowly running one down her back. "D-daddy! A-are you back? A-are you alive again?"

"S-Striker...? I-is that really you?" The stallion looked up and smiled at Luna as she walked up to him. The princess of the night raised a hoof and tapped the stallion's cheek to see if he was real. Once she was sure he was, she reeled her hoof back before giving him a hard slap on the cheek. Soul and Trixie saw his cheek turn an angry red color in response to the hit. "That is for disobeying me when I told you not to go and fight in the battle!" The stallion turned his head back to the princess of the night and rubbed his cheek before receiving a kiss on the lips. "And that is for coming back..."

"It's good to be back Luna..." The stallion smiled and nuzzled the blue alicorn. "Strange... I don't feel my heart beating like usual..."

"That would be because you're dead... Sort of... You came back to life but... Only half way... You're alive but... You're missing half your soul..." The, former, headless horse looked at Soul and raised an eyebrow. "I can only see light in it... No darkness surrounds it, and no blood stains it... It's as if your soul has performed a separation ritual on itself."

"Um... I'm not a unicorn... I don't understand magic... All I know is that it has to do with the horn..." Soul gave a small chuckle.

"Unicorn magic, soul magic, and black magic are three different things entirely... You see... Soul magic is basically an off shoot of necromancy, it has nothing to do with resurrecting the body of a dead pony, and instead it creates a new body in the perfect image of what a spirits original body was like... I makes it so that while the pony is still dead, it makes it so that the spirit can do anything a living pony can, including have foals, the only 'bad' thing is that they are not truly alive... An upside to that is that the pony cannot die to sickness or old age." Soul closed his eyes and smiled at the threshal. "So that means that you two could have another..." Trixie looked at the two ponies and giggled when both of their faces turned a shade of dark pink and they looked at each other.

There was silence for a few moments until Striker broke it. "The thought of it..."

"Sounds very nice." The shade's eyes shot open. He had not been expecting that reaction from the two. He looked between the two and saw that they had bedroom eyes.

"Does that mean I'm going to get a little sister or brother!?" Dream popped her head out from under the shield that her father's wings were creating. The little filly had a look of hope in her eyes. Luna and Striker smiled down at their daughter.

"It is possible little one..." There was a bright flash of light and suddenly Princess Celestia was standing behind Luna. Within a second the tip of a blade was pressed against her throat. Celestia just blinked in response.

"I will not allow you to harm Luna. I failed her once, I won't fail her again." Striker was ready to push his blade through Celestia's throat when he felt a hoof on his shoulder.

"Striker... The war is over, me and my sister have settled our differences... Please put the sword down..." Striker looked behind him and let his ears fall back when he saw the frown on Luna's face.

The stallion turned his head back towards Celestia and frowned as he withdrew his sword. "I am sorry for my actions..." He looked at Luna and saw she had a frown on her face. "I am sorry for my actions Princess Celestia..." Luna's frown turned into a smiled and she gave the stallion a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm glad that you want to protect me... But my sister is not an enemy anymore." The stallion sighed and nuzzled his wife's neck.

"Night Striker... I must thank you." The stallion raised an eyebrow at the white mare. "You have saved me from doing a lot of paper work by killing that mare from earlier tonight... She was being taken to Canterlot to be executed at the end of the week, somehow she got ahold of one of the guards swords and... It was a blood bath... If she had continued to roam free... I get scared just thinking about it"

"I knew that something was wrong about that mare... She was the pony who committed The Vanhoover Massacre wasn't she?" Celestia nodded at Trixie. "Fifty killed with a single bomb... Ten of them were only fillies..."

Striker looked between Trixie and Celestia then towards Luna. "Ok... So where exactly are we and... How old is Dream? She has grown... Not my fault for not knowing... I was stuck in the form of the headless horse for... Nine hundred and ninety eight years..."

"I'm ten!" Striker looked down at his daughter and smiled.

"Well... Looks like I have a lot of birthdays to make up for don't I?" Dream smiled and giggled. Striker unfolded one of his wings from around Luna and smiled. "Come over here little one."  Dream ran up and dived into her father's lap, smiling as he wrapped his wing around her. "Looks like our little family is back together... Isn't it love?" Luna smiled and kissed Striker again. A few hours later the four ponies left and Soul and Trixie just stayed sitting there.

"Soul... You've been sitting like that for hours... Is something wrong?" Trixie got no response and waved a hoof in front of his face. She still got no response, so she slapped him as hard as she could, still achieving nothing. Trixie sighed and kissed the shade. After she got no response she started to get frustrated. "Say something already!" Trixie just watched as Soul kept moving his mouth, like he was trying to say something but no words were coming out. Suddenly Trixie got a mischievous smirk on her face. She got up, walked in front of the shade, turned around so that he was facing her rump, and raised her tail. The reaction was instant.

"Is that an invitation?" Trixie giggled and lowered her tail. 

"Maybe it was but..." Trixie walked over and gave Soul a nip on the ear and gave a quiet purr. "We'll have to wait until we get home to see." Soul looked at his fillyfriend and saw that her eyes were half lidded. She smiled and opened her eyes the full way. "Honestly though, that was my last attempt to wake you up. You were just sitting there, not moving, for three hours!"

"Was I spacing out?" The azure mare nodded. Soul sat there for a few seconds before remembering why he froze. He then slammed his face into the paved stone road beneath them. "Please tell me I didn't give Luna the idea to have another foal! If I did then it's going to be my fault when the entirety of Canterlot and Ponyville go deaf from her screaming!"

"I would tell you that you didn't... But then I would be lying... And I'm trying to stop lying... If I am honest then I will be safer... As long as I don't turn into 'The Great and Powerful Trixie' again then I will, probably, not have to deal with an Ursa Minor trying to eat me... Again... I'm nothing special, I'm not great or powerful, I'm Trixie. Just plain Trixie." Trixie closed her eyes and gave a small frown at her admittance. The frown soon became a smile when she felt Soul hug her.

"Hey... Don't talk like that... 'The Great and Powerful Trixie' is how I met you... So she isn't really powerful, but there are things that are great about her... She is a beautiful mare with a heart of gold, she is an amazing older sister to her little brother, the best fillyfriend I could ask for, and finally she is a great story teller... Wait a second... I just got an idea! I just hope it is one that works... How about when we get back to Ponyville you tell ponies what happened here tonight... Just no lying and making yourself the pony who took down a behemoth all by yourself." Trixie looked up and saw Soul's smiling face. She quickly pressed her lips to his and slipped her tongue into his mouth and vice versa. When they broke the kiss a small trail of saliva connected their mouths. 

"Gross..." Soul and Trixie looked to the side and saw Hex and Scootaloo sitting there.

"H-how long have you been watching us?" Scootaloo gave a giggle.

"We just got here... And so did everypony else by the looks of it..." Trixie and Soul looked around to see all of their friends smiling at them. The next morning everypony got on the train and left. Trixie just spent the whole ride back with her head laying on Soul's shoulder. If there had been any doubt in her mind about loving the shade before, then it was gone now. She truly loved him and all she could hope for, was that he loved her just as much. Soul however had much darker thoughts on his mind. He had not seen another shade for two thousand years. He wondered why one would come out of hiding all of a sudden. He began to doubt his actions about killing the behemoth, about killing his own kind. A glance to the side reminded him why he had killed the creature. To protect the mare that he loved with all of his heart.





Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. ~ Ernest Hemingway.

> Home Sweet Home Pt 1.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


We all die. The goal isn't to live forever. The goal is to create something that will. ~ Chuck Palahniuk.





Two months, one week, thirteen hours, twenty seven minutes, and five seconds. It had been that long since Twilight had seen Equestrian land. She smiled as the Alba pulled into dock and smiled even harder when she felt Fang's hoof touch her shoulder. While she had loved being in Prance, she felt a little homesick. She looked to the side and saw that Fang was carrying their bags. "It's good to be home. Isn't it Twilight?" 

The purple mare smiled and looked down. She saw them lower the ship's ramp and watched as ponies started to return to solid ground. "Well my queen, I suppose we should hurry. We don't want to be stuck on the ship now do we?" Twilight smiled at her husband and nodded. After the two alicorns departed from the ship they had one destination in Canterlot that they needed to visit before returning to Ponyville. The castle. Twilight wanted to visit her brother, sister in law, and mentor before going home.

The two arrived at the castle and smiled as they entered. "I can't wait to tell them..." Twilight smiled and held a hoof to her stomach. Three days ago she and Fang had found out that she was eight weeks pregnant. She let out a happy sigh, looked at her husband, and kissed him before a sudden sadness drifted over her. "Fang... Do you think I'll be a good mother?" Fang stopped dead in his tracks and looked at his wife.

"No. I don't..." Twilight's eyes began to water. If Fang thought she wouldn't be a good mother then maybe she should have an abortion. She closed her eyes and began to cry at the thought of was basically murdering their unborn foal when she felt a hoof under her chin. Looking up she saw the calm face of her husband. The stallion's blank face slowly turned upwards into a joyful smile. "Twilight... I hadn't finished yet... I don't think that you will be a good mother. I know that you will be a good mother." Twilight blinked and felt Fang wipe her tears away. "I didn't mean to upset you... I'm sorry..." The stallion kissed his wife and wrapped his wings around her.

"A-are you sure? I mean I know that we both want one but... What if we aren't ready?" They heard a small chuckle and looked up. They saw the little colt, and former archdemon, known as Vul Deif. "W-what's so funny?"

"Oh... Mister Shining Armor is going to be pis-" The colt looked up and around for a second before looking down and giving Fang an evil grin. "He is going to be pissed off about this!" A sudden of light blue light blinded the ponies and when they opened their eyes they saw a furious looking Sunset Shimmer. The yellow alicorn glared down at the little earth pony colt.

"What have I said about cursing? I'm warning you. One more time and I wash your mouth out with soap. Now go to your room!" The colt stuck his tongue out at her.

"You can't make me do anything! You're not my mom!" Sunset smirked.

"I knew you would pull that, and that is why I adopted you last night. So now you have to do what I say because I am, by law, your mother." The colt's eyes widened.

"Wait... That wasn't a dream?"  Sunset smiled at her 'son' and shook her head. The colt sighed and two vines ran down his legs, stretching down the hall and around a corner. "I'm sorry for my foul language... Mom..." The colt stood up and jumped onto the vines before sliding away.

Sunset smiled then looked down at Fang and Twilight. "So... What is Armor going to be so angry about?"

"Twilight is pregnant... After about one, maybe two days of being married to me..." Sunset raised an eyebrow at the two darker colored alicorns.

"Twilight... Is he serious?" The purple alicorn looked down, smiled, placed a hoof on her stomach, and nodded. Sunset floated down and hugged the purple mare. "I'm so happy for you! Is that why you're here? You wanted to tell the others?" Twilight and Fang both smiled and nodded.

"You wanted to tell us about what?" Twilight jumped in surprise only to be caught by Fang when gravity came into play. The yellow alicorn giggled earning a glare from the two darker alicorns. Twilight turned around to see Celestia, Cadence, and her brother. Cadence looked between the two and grinned. "Oh... I think I know..."

"Know what?" Armor was looking in between his wife and Twilight. "Please tell me that they are getting a divorce!"

"I believe Twilight wants to tell us something more important than that Shining Armor." Celestia smiled and looked at her student. "So... Twilight what has you so excited. I suspect me and Cadence both know but... I think you want to tell us yourself."

Twilight smiled and placed a hoof on her stomach. "I'm pregnant."

Shining Armor's eyes widened. "Fang... If you try to leave my sister because she is pregnant... I will hunt you down and tear you into pieces so small that it will take ten millennia for ponies to find each piece! Understand!?"

"You have nothing to worry about big brother!" Shining looked at his sister with curiosity. "Both me and Fang wanted a foal... He already said that he would not leave me if I got pregnant... In fact... We were both looking forward to it..." It took barely a second for Cadence to hug Twilight.

"I'm so happy for you!" Celestia however was staring at Fang.

"If you leave Twilight... I will put you in a cage, with ravenous wolverines and send you to the sun. I won't give you a second warning." Fang just blinked at Celestia.

"I love Twilight with all my heart and soul... I will stay by her side until the day I die Celestia..." Fang looked over at his wife and smiled. "After all, I did promise I would remain faithful to her as long as we both shall live."

"Do you love her enough to stop using black magic?" All the ponies gathered started looking around for the source of the voice. A small vortex of smoke began to swirl in the corridor. When the smoke dissipated the royals saw a rabbit that was twice the size of a normal one. "Well do you monster king?"

Fang glared at the small rabbit. "Lepus... The Cruel Rabbit."

"Fang? What's he talking about? D-do you use black magic?" Fang turned to Twilight and gave a slow, sad, nod. Twilight stood there for a second in shock before she smiled. "Fang... I trust you... You're my husband and I'm sure that you have a good reason."

"Hmm... Much more loyal to you then I thought..." The rabbit let out a chuckle as his hind legs turned into smoke and he floated over to Twilight. "Such a pretty mare, nice and young." The rabbit touched Twilight's chin only to be slapped away. "Oh and feisty too!" The rabbit gave Fang an evil grin. "Bet you like that in bed don't you?" The rabbit disappeared in a puff of smoke and reformed in front of Fang. "While this has been oh so fun I am afraid I must depart from this place. As much as I would love to claim all of your lives at the moment... It would not feel right to hurt an unborn foal... So I will return to you... In one years’ time... Oh and Fang?" The black alicorn looked at the rabbit demon. "Ten minutes... That is how long I give you in our battle before you perish." With that he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Fang just stood there looking at where the rabbit had been. Somehow his claim struck fear into the dark alicorn's heart.

"Don't let him get to you Fang. You are the strongest of all the alicorns that are alive at this moment in time. I know that you, along with help from Soul, can defeat him. Besides... You have somepony you need to protect... Or should I say some ponies?" Fang looked at Celestia and gave her a calm look.

"I know... And I will make sure that he is not right in his accusation... If necessary... I will gather the eleven other signs of The black Zodiac... Starting with The First Born Son... I will probably not need to but... If I do... I will not hesitate... I will keep Twilight and my foal safe." Celestia raised a hoof to her mouth.

"You plan to open the eye?" Fang nodded.

Twilight looked between the two elder alicorns. She then looked to her sister in law, who was shaking. "The eye? What are they talking about Cadence?"

"The Eye of Tartarus." Twilight jumped when Luna appeared beside her. "A ritual designed by demons, and fueled by the dead..." Twilight turned to the midnight princess and raised an eyebrow. "Follow me and I will explain." Luna trotted off towards the library with Twilight, Cadence, and Armor close behind her. Twilight followed her as she walked through the shelves to the restricted section. An area that only the princesses were allowed to enter. Shining Armor had to stay behind and stand guard. Twilight and Cadence kept following until they reached a small black desk with a book on it. On the cover was a golden circle that was split into thirteen parts, each one depicting a different symbol.

"Princess Luna... What is that book?" She watched as Luna pulled out a knife from one of the desk drawers. "Princess what are you doing?" Luna stayed silent as she drug the blade across her wrist and drew blood. She let some fall on each of the thirteen symbols and as soon as they had she wrapped her cut in the bandages that were kept next to the book. The circle on the cover began to rotate before the book suddenly flew open. "What kind of book is that?"

"This Twilight, is The Black Zodiac. It depicts the thirteen spirits that represent the signs needed to open The Eye of Tartarus and gives the requirements of who can be accepted as the sign. It also depicts all the ponies and spirits who have ever opened the eye." Luna turned the page and Twilight saw the image of a familiar unicorn. Sombra. "His mind was too weak to handle the secrets and powers that the eye bestows upon the pony who opens it." She turned the page again and Twilight saw an image of a young unicorn colt with a hole through his head. "The first sign. The First Born Son. This sign is represented by the spirit of a young colt, who was the first born of both of his parents. This one's name was Buckshot. He died when Sombra drove a spear through his head."

"That is just sick! Even for an evil tyrant who enslaved his whole empire!" Luna and cadence both nodded, she turned the page for a second time. The new page depicted a stallion who had his hind legs, and waist, cut off.

"The second sign. The Torso. This sign is represented by the spirit of a pony that has had his hind legs removed, be it by choice of by force. Fang already has a pony to represent this sign. Gamble. He lost a bet with a mobster and had his hind legs and waist cut off. To eliminate any chance that he would go to the guard they slit his throat and dumped his body in the ocean. Strangely even though he was killed in Manehatten, his spirit was haunting a casino in Las Pegasus." Twilight and Cadence both nodded and tried to keep their lunch down as Luna turned the page once more. As she opened her mouth to speak she was cut off by Cadence.

"The Bound Mare is the third sign of the zodiac. It is represented by the spirit of a mare who died while being tied up in one way or another. These are the only requirements for this sign to be activated." Twilight looked at Cadence and raised an eyebrow. "I like ghost stories... At the time I didn't know that this book was about a ritual... Luna shouldn't have left it open... Or brought it out of the restricted section."

Luna sighed and turned the page. "The fourth sign is-"

"The Withered Lover..." The three alicorns looked around. None of them had said that. Slowly a mare emerged from the wall. She was wearing a hospital gown and she seemed to be burned and withered. "Is somepony going to open the eye? I desperately want to cross over... My daughter and I died in a fire eight years ago... Sadly my husband went mad because of our deaths and began killing young fillies and colts..." Luna looked at the mare and gave her a smile.

"I'm sure you would make an excellent choice for the Withered Lover... Fang will probably help you cross over." The mare nodded and disappeared. "Did I just help Fang get another sign for the zodiac?" Luna looked at Cadence who nodded. "I wasn't thinking properly..." Luna sighed and turned the page once more. This one depicted an angry looking stallion with most of the skin and muscle ripped from the right side of his body. "the Torn Prince. It is represented  by a stallion who had most of the skin on the right side of his body torn off. Fang chose a teenaged stallion named Clay to represent this sign. He died when ponies from a rival school tied him to a carriage and pulled him around until he died." Twilight's horn glowed and she took the book away from Luna before she could continue.

"The sixth sign is the Angry Princess. This sign is represented by the spirit of a beautiful young mare who died after she committed suicide." The flipped the page. "The seventh sign is the Pilgrimess. It is represented by the spirit of a mare who died after they embarked on a long journey. Wow these are some very specific terms for who will work and who won't." Twilight floated the book back over to Luna, who turned to the next page.

"This sign is actually a pair of spirits. The eighth and ninth signs are The Great Child and The Dire Mother respectively. The Great Child is the spirit of a very large and overweight child and The Dire Mother, is the spirit of a mare who is very small in stature, and the mother of The Great Child."

Cadence looked at the book and turned the page. "The next is the Hammer. It is the spirit of a muscular, heavy-set blacksmith that wields a large hammer." She turned it again. "After that is the Jackal. Probably the strangest of all of the signs. It is the spirit of a disheveled looking stallion who wears a cage on his head." The page turned again. "The Juggernaut. The spirit of a tall, ugly, and incredibly strong stallion. The last one, and my personal favorite, is..." She turned it to the final page. "The Broken Heart. The spirit of a pony who dies because of an act of pure love."

Twilight just stood there for a second remembering how insane Sombra had been when he was still alive. She knew that if Fang opened the eye there was a chance that he would end up just like the former crystal king. "Ok! This ritual is way too dangerous! I won't lose my husband because of some stupid ritual!" Twilight stood up and ran outside of the library, back towards the main doors of the castle where Fang was waiting for her. The mare ran up to him and hugged him

"Twilight... What's wrong?" The mare pressed her face into the stallion's shoulder and began to cry.

"Promise me you won't open the eye! Promise me! I don't want you to go insane like Sombra did! I don't want to lose you!" Fang looked at his wife and hugged her before wrapping his wings around her.

"I promise that I won't open the eye Twilight... If doing so would upset you this much then I shall never open it." The two just stayed there for a moment while Twilight calmed down. "Now... I think we have been away from home for long enough... Don't you?" Twilight let out a small yes and Fang smiled. "I will send for a chariot." Fang's horn glowed for a second and Twilight smiled.

"Fang... Promise you'll never do anything that will make you leave me... I don't want our foal to grow up without a father..." Fang gave his wife a slight nuzzle on the cheek and smiled.

"Twilight as they say... Till death do us part..." Twilight felt Fang wipe her tears away and kiss her. A single thought was on her mind at the moment, besides not wanting Fang to open the eye and worrying that something would cause him to leave her, they were going home.


The past is our definition. We may strive with good reason to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it. But we will escape it only by adding something better to it. ~ Wendell Berry. 

> Home Sweet Home Pt 2.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


To follow by faith alone is to follow blindly. ~ Benjamin Franklin.






Later that day.


Soul, Trixie, the elements, and their coltfriends were walking back from the lake after going swimming, when they saw a chariot coming towards Ponyville. Knowing that Twilight and Fang were supposed to be home a week ago they all smiled knowing that the King and Queen of Monsters had returned. They quickly ran towards the town where they saw the chariot land and watched as the two alicorns stepped out. The mares all ran over to Twilight, while the stallions ran over and dragged Fang away. Fang was immediately hit on the head by all the stallions, except Soul, who were glaring at him. "What did I do?"

"Dude... Did you and Twilight lose track of time? You were supposed to be home a week ago!" Fang looked at Soul and gave him a nervous chuckle.

"We decided that we should stay a little longer. Actually Twilight wanted to stay longer. She got home sick so we came back..." Fang's eyes drifted to the shade's side and saw his new sword and its sheath. "New sword?" The shade nodded and Fang looked at all the other stallions. "I'll answer any questions you have... But first... Did you hit me because we made your fillyfriends worry?" There was a unanimous nod from all the stallions. "Thought so... Questions?"

The stallions all nodded their heads. "PREGNANT!?" The stallions all turned to face the mares who were looking in between Fang and Twilight with looks of joy on their faces. They were all joyful because their friend was going to be a mother, Pinkie especially because a foal, meant a foal shower. 

A sudden cough got Fang's attention and he turned to see Acid giving him a wide grin. "Oh the pitter patter of little hooves, a mother and father quite a happy sight. Along with their joyful little foal, on a cold Hearths Warming Night. A happy little scene, not at all dire. As the family sits, in front of a roaring fire."  Fang gave the large earth pony a deadpan stare and got a little smile from him in return. "I am a fan of poetry... I have thousands more swirling around in my head." 

There was silence for a short time between the stallions before the shade broke out laughing, falling on his back and rolling around on the ground. "Dude! I know that you work fast but I didn't expect you to work that fast! Were you trying to set a speed record or something? Hahahahahaha!" As he rolled around on the ground laughing to the point he became hysterical everypony stopped paying attention. A sudden look of pain shot over the shade's face and he grabbed his side. "I think I broke my spleen from laughing to hard! Nope I just rolled on top of a rock." 

"How far along is she?" Fang looked at Jekyll who had a depressed look on his face. "I just want to know when I can expect magic so strong that it might blow up my house."

"She has been pregnant for eight and a half weeks... And don't worry... I think that I can control my foal's magic... Well I think that I can with help from Twilight... Any other questions?" Soul slowly raised a hoof. "Yes?"

"I did the math... You've only been married for nine weeks... Why were you trying for a foal so soon?" Fang smiled.

"Simple... What better time is there than the present?" Soul opened his mouth to respond only to have Fang shove a hoof into it. "The answer is no time." Fang took his hoof out of the shade's mouth and the shade smiled at him.

"Sometimes you don't make any sense... Then again that's one of your good traits." The shade laughed and slapped the vampony on the back. His eyes drifted towards the mares. "So... Filly or colt?"

"If I knew that I would not have referred to my unborn child as my foal, I would refer to them as my filly or my colt... Honestly though... I don't care... I will love my foal no matter what gender they are... I will always love Twilight and the foal, or foals we have together... No exceptions..." Soul smiled at the vampony and then looked towards the mares. His eyes landed on Trixie for a few seconds before he shook his head.

"Well I have got to admit... I can't wait till the little tyke is born... I'll basically be his uncle, after all me and you are like brothers in everything but blood." Fang smiled at Soul and nodded.

"So... Where did you get the sword?" Soul blinked and looked at Fang.

"The Deceitful Rat..." Fang frowned and looked down at the ground.

"Speaking of the archdemons... Twilight and I ran into the rabbit in Canterlot. Ten minutes... He said he gave me ten minutes before I perished in battle against him... The worst part is... That he might be right..." Soul looked at Fang and shook his head.

"Dude... I know you... You wouldn't let anything like that happen. Especially now that you are both a husband and father!" Fang just kept looking down. Celestia had basically said the same thing, yet he wasn't convinced. Soul gave out a sigh. "If you're so scared you're going to lose... Then open the eye..." Fang's eyes went wide.

"No! I will not open the eye! If I do then I might lose Twilight! The idea frightens her!" Soul backs away.

"Sorry! Sorry! I didn't know. Wife incoming!" Fang turned his head back towards the mares just in time for Twilight to slap him.

"I thought I asked you not to open the eye... Do I really matter so little to you that it only took two hours for you to decide to do it anyway!?"

"I am very sorry Twilight it is my fault..." Twilight turned to Soul and raised an eyebrow. "I suggested that if he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to beat Lepus with his current strength... Then he should open the eye... I did not know what you thought about it at the time. Again I am very sorry. Just don't be mad at Fang. He said he would not." Twilight looked back at Fang with a sad look on her face, only to see Fang smile which made her smile in turn.





An hour later Twilight and Fang were back at the later's castle, in their bedroom. "So... What is the eye anyway? I know that it has something to do with a ritual designed by demons and fueled by the dead but... I don't know what the eye itself is."

Fang sighed. "Do you want to see the eye itself? Unopened I mean..." Twilight thought for a second before nodding. Fang smiled and lead the mare out of the room, and to the library. Twilight watched as he pulled on a book, as if trying to take it off the shelf, and heard a click. Looking around she saw the floor opening and a staircase with glowing symbols on it. The symbols were those of the black zodiac. She followed the stallion down the stairs until they came to a large chamber. In the center of the chamber was a large mechanism. Just like the one on the book in Canterlot, only much larger. "This Twilight is the eye... At least it would be if I collected the spirits that would represent the black zodiac... Do want to know something strange Twilight?" The purple mare nodded and Fang gave a light chuckle. "If I died trying to protect you... Then I would be a perfect candidate for one of the signs..."

"Which one?" Fang looked at Twilight and gave a sad smile before shaking his head. "If... You tell me... I might let you collect the signs... But I definitely won't let you open the eye."

Fang looked at the mare and raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't want me to open the eye."

"I don't... But... I never said anything about collecting the signs..." Twilight smiled and walked over to her husband, who kissed her on the lips and smiled.

"The thirteenth sign... The Broken Heart... The spirit of a pony who dies because of an act of pure love... I would gladly die to protect you Twilight..." The mare nuzzled the stallion’s neck.

"That's so sweet..." Suddenly a thought shot through Twilight's head. Sweet. Ana was always sweet and kind. "Ana... Fang... A day before the wedding I was talking with Princess Celestia and she let it slip that... That you weren't really Ana's cousin, and she only called you that because the two of you are good friends... In fact you aren't related to her in any way..." The mare pulled away and smiled at the stallion. Fang gave a sigh.

"It's true... She only calls be cousin because we are very good friends...“ Twilight gave a little giggle.

"Well... I was thinking... Maybe we could get some practice at being parents..." Fang looked at the mare with curious eyes. It was fast and Twilight almost missed it but she saw a hint of both joy and hope in his eyes.

"Twilight... Are you suggesting that we..."

"Adopt Ana? Yes... Yes I am..." The mare gave another small smile. "I think it would make everypony happy..."

"Twilight... That sounds like a wonderful idea but... What made you think of the idea in the first place?" Twilight giggled.

"Because you didn't act like Ana's cousin. You acted like you were her father... And... The ride back home after I first met her... When I was holding her in my wings, trying to keep her safe and warm... I felt like a mother protecting her foal... In fact for about a week after I was wondering if I had been her mother in a past life..." Twilight gave a small sad sigh as the two walked out of the chamber and the entrance closed behind them. "She is only eleven... She should have parents..."

Fang smiled at his wife. "Well... We have the authority so... Let's adopt her..." A small tuft of a blue and white mane popped out from behind a bookshelf. Twilight and Fang smiled at the little alicorn filly, who had a book on her back, and Cheshire, who was riding on her head.

"Adopt who? Oh and Cadence sent me a letter telling me that Twilight was pregnant!" The small little filly began to bounce around. "You're a mommy and daddy, I'm going to be an auntie!" Fang and Twilight gave a short laugh.

"Ana... We need to talk..." Ana stopped bouncing and looked at Fang before curling into a small ball and trying to hide her face. Cheshire in the meanwhile had been sent flying when she started bouncing. "What are you doing?"

"Am I in trouble? I'm sorry for whatever I did... I didn't mean to do it..." Fang gave a small chuckle.

"Ana... We're not mad at you... We want to ask you something..." Ana looked at Twilight and uncurled from her attempt at trying to be a ball. "Ana... We want to adopt you so... Do you want to be our daughter?"

Ana just sat there for a second. Twilight and Fang looked at her with small smiles. Slowly the little filly's eyes filled with tears. "A-adopt m-me? Y-you w-want to a-adopt m-me? Y-y-you w-want to be m-my p-parents?" The two larger alicorns nodded and in seconds, Fang was tackled to the ground by the little filly, who was now crying very strongly. "D-daddy!" Ana stood up and ran over to Twilight, hugging her side, being careful not to hurt the foal inside of her. "M-mommy!" Twilight smiled and wrapped her wings around the little filly. Giving her a small nuzzle on the cheek.

"Is that a yes?" The little filly pulled her face off of Twilight's side and sniffled before nodding. Twilight's smile grew and she hugged the little filly. "If that's the case then you can call me mom, or mommy, if you want."

"I-I love you mommy! I love you daddy!" Fang smiled and walked over towards Twilight and Ana.

"We love you to Ana... We love you to..." Twilight gave a small smile when she looked at Fang's face and noticed something. He was crying... Not tears of sorrow. Tears of joy. Later that day Fang wrote up the papers and signed them. As did Twilight and Ana. All three of them approved the adoption. They all spent that night together, in the same bed. Ana asked that if she could sleep with them that night so that when she woke up she would know it wasn't a dream. The two adults nodded and Ana climbed into bed between them, yawned, said goodnight and that she loved them, received a kiss on the head from her new parents, and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, she awoke to find both Twilight and Fang hugging and smiling at her. It was real. She had new parents.





Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. ~ Ayn Rand.


> Pickled 'Pork'.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


If you drink much from a bottle marked 'poison' it is certain to disagree with you sooner or later. ~ Lewis Carroll.





Twilight and Fang were walking down the streets of Transylmaneia's Earth District, the one in which monsters such as goblins, trolls, orcs, and werewolves lived, with their newly adopted daughter, Ana. The three were just walking, they had no destination in mind, they just wanted to spend some time together. That's when Twilight saw a werewolf, in his beast form, the spell cast over the kingdom allowed all of the monsters to show their true forms if they wished to do so, pulling small, golden brown, strips of something out of a green jar filled with juice and eating them, before just spitting it right back out. "W-what is he eating?"

Fang looked at his wife and daughter before looking at the werewolf. "I'll go ask..." Fang smiled at his wife and looked back at the werewolf, only to see him walking towards them. "Or I'll ask him when he gets here..."

The werewolf stopped bowed, and looked at Fang. "My king... I know that you have occasionally eaten pork..." Twilight and Ana both gasped and looked at Fang who had a sheepish smile on his face. "This... This pickled pork... I... I need you to taste it... I... I don't think its pork!" Fang sighed and pulled one of the pieces of meat from the jar and popped it into his mouth, much to his wife and daughter's disgust. His eyes went wide and he spit the flesh out.

"That is definitely not pork!" Fang summoned a glass of water and a bar of soap before washing his mouth out. "Where did you get this...?” The werewolf looked up at the monster king with a look of fear on his face. The king had a look of anger in his eyes that could only be described as pure rage.

"Metzger sold it to me... He is a... I don't know what his now that I think about it... Anyway he immigrated here from Germaney... He used to sell jackets, pork, and belts to the ponies, griffons, and minotaurs that lived in Boarlin... He is very nice, he always gives some of his profits to the community and to charities. He also allows a homeless pony to stay with him each night... His kindness has earned him the nickname 'Papa Metzger' because he acts like more of a father than a friend." Fang growled and looked at Twilight.

"Twilight... We're going home." Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"Why? Is that pork so bad that it ruined your mood?" Fang shook his head.

"I-I'll explain when we get home ok? I just want to make sure that you and Ana are safe..." Twilight looked at her husband for a few seconds before smiling and nodding. The two looked down at their daughter to get her opinion, only to see she was gone.

"Ana! Ana!" Twilight began to look around in every direction trying to find the filly. "Ana where are you!?" Fang began looking as well only to stop when she saw the werewolf trying to sneak away.

"Where do you think you're going?" The werewolf jumped and ran away with Fang following close behind. The werewolf tried to lose him by running down an ally, only to find that it was a dead end. The werewolf turned around to see Fang and Twilight, with murder in their eyes. "Why would you run? Unless you know where Ana went." The stallion took a step towards the werewolf who gulped in response.

"H-hey! W-we can w-work this out! I'll tell you w-where she is and you let me go!" He gave a short shriek when Twilight teleported in front of him.

"Or, you tell us where Ana is and I don't rip your spine out through your throat!" The werewolf fell on his haunches and backed up until he was against the wall. He closed his eyes and held his front hooves out in front of him.

"I'm sorry! He didn't tell me what we were going to do until it was too late for me to back out! Metzger doesn't sell pickled pork! He sells pickled flesh! Pickled pony flesh! He makes the jackets and belts from pony skin! I'm sorry! I didn't want to die!" He opened his eyes and saw Twilight holding a hoof to her mouth with Fang standing right next to her, a fire burning behind his eyes. "Please don't kill me! I don't care what you do to me, as long as you don't kill me! You can gouge out my eyes with a melon baller! You can cut out my tongue! You can cut off my-" He was cut off when Fang slammed him into the wall.

"Three seconds... You have three seconds to tell me where he took her... If you tell me in under three seconds then you will only be charged as an accomplice in the kidnapping a member of the royal family... Begin... 1..."

"His shop! His shop! He took her to his shop!" The werewolf felt his face connect with the ground and looked up to see two guards standing over him.

"Take him to prison. The charge is that he assisted a pony in the kidnapping of my daughter. Lucky for him, kidnapping, no matter how important the pony is to me, and no matter how much I want it to be at the moment, is not punishable by death." The guards nodded and picked up the werewolf before placing some hoofcuffs on him and walking away with him in tow.

Twilight and Fang ran down the street until they found a bunch of monsters, kinds that were known for being carnivores, which were holding jars like the one the werewolf had. "Nopony eat the pork in those jars!" The entirety of the large group of monsters turned and looked at the queen with curious eyes. "It's not pork! It's pony skin!" Every single one of the jars fell to the ground and the monsters began trying to make themselves throw up.

"Where is Metzger's shop?" Everypony pointed down the street towards a normal sized building and Fang and Twilight dashed for it. Fang lowered his head and bashed the door down. He then ran into a back room that was used for storage only to find that it was empty. "I-I don't understand... Where is she!?" While Fang was looking around franticly trying to find the little filly Twilight heard a muffled scream. Even though it was muffled she recognized it. It was Ana. The pregnant mare's horn glowed and began to rip up the floorboards. Until she heard a growl.

There was a loud thud when a trapdoor opened and hit against the floor before a large earth pony stallion climbed the stairs that it led to. In his hoof was a large, rusty, bloodstained, cleaver. "Why won't anypony let me fix the problems in this world?! I just want to get rid of the homeless problem!" The stallion turned towards Twilight revealing he had the face of a pig, not a wild one, the kind Applejack had on her farm. He ran at Twilight and tried to strike her with the cleaver, only to be blasted to the side and onto a table that had a knife rack above it. The resulting shake from the impact caused the knives to fall free and impale the stallion.

Twilight's eyes landed on the cleaver that the stallion had been holding. The blood on it was fresh. Twilight's knees buckled and sat down. "F-Fang?" Her husband ran over to her and sat down as well before hugging her. She was crying so badly there was a constant stream of water hitting the floor. "I-I don't think I can go down there... The b-blood on his cleaver was f-fresh... He killed her... He killed Ana... He killed our little filly... He killed our daughter!" Twilight began bawling like hungry foal. Her tears suddenly ceased when her ears picked up a soft sound. A whimper. It was Ana's whimper. Twilight stood up and ran over to the trap door and down the stairs with Fang following close behind. The stairs leg to a large, cold, room. There were large hooks on the ceiling that, skinless, pony corpses were hung on, over on the far wall were pony skins, hung up like they were paintings. In the corner were ponykins that had coats made of pony fur on them. That is when she saw it. A large pit full of bones, next to a table that had the corpse of a pony that was missing its legs and head on it. Twilight turned and threw up on the ground.

"MMMMRRRPPPHHH!!!!!" Twilight turned towards the sound and saw a bunch of cages. Three of which had a pony in them. A stallion, mare, and Ana. Twilight and Fang ran over to the cages and caused the locks to shatter, and the ropes and gags that bound the ponies to fray and snap. Ana stood up, pushed the door to her cage open, and ran into her mother's loving embrace, quickly squeezing the purple mare's chest. "Mommy! Daddy!" Ana began to cry her tiny, sapphire blue, eyes out. "Mommy! I was so scared! I wandered away to look at the toys in a store window and he grabbed me! He brought me here and made me watch as he cut off a pony's skin and... And... And... Waaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!"

Twilight wrapped her wings around her daughter and began to run a hoof down her back. "Shh. Shh. Don't cry sweetie, everything's alright, mommy's here and the bad pony can't hurt you anymore..." After a few minutes the filly started to quiet down a bit and Twilight looked down at her and smiled. "Better?" The tiny grey alicorn sniffled and nodded. "Let's get you home so we can make sure you aren't hurt anywhere... And after that we'll get you some ice cream, ok?" A small smile formed on the fillies face. Her eyes had become bloodshot and she had rings of wet fur around them. The smile disappeared and she began to look around.

"Where's daddy?" Twilight went wide eyed and looked around. She saw her husband standing over at the table that was near the bone pit. He was just standing there with a book floating in front of him. Twilight told Ana to stay still and she went over to her husband.

"Fang what are you- Oh dear Celestia!" Twilight turned around and puked again. On the table were three suits. The suits were made of cutie marks. They were in a box that was covered with wrapping paper. On the paper was a gift tag and next to the tag was a letter.

To: Metzger Swine, From: Gemetzel Swine. 

Happy birthday brother. I will be coming to visit soon. The guards here are onto me. That is why I sent you the suits, all three, I was going to send only two but it would have been too risky for me to keep one. I will see you soon. To a new life and happy life away from the scum that is the homeless! 

Twilight looked at her husband with a grim look on her face. "Fang we need to get Ana, and ourselves, out of here." Fang nodded, gripped the book he was reading in his teeth, wrapped his wing around his wife, walked over to Ana, who was shaking and crying once again, wrapped his other wing around her, and teleported them all back to his castle. As well as the stallion and mare who were in the cages.

Fang stood up and walked over to two guards. "I want you to gather a group of at least ten and seize the property of Metzger Swine in the Earth District. If anypony gives you trouble show them this." He summoned a small silver coin that had fangs carved into it. The symbol of the royal Transylmaneian family. The guards nodded. He then turned to the two confused ponies who were now bowing to him, Twilight, and Ana. "You two, here." He summoned a fair sized bag and tossed it to them. It landed with a jingling sound. "Find an inn and get yourselves cleaned up, and some food." The two looked at each other and then to the bag, nodded, and walked out of the castle. "Twilight, Ana... I have an idea... How about we go and visit Jack?" Ana's sadness seemed to disappear at the mention of the frost spirits' name.

"Can we!? I haven't seen him since the wedding! Do you know where he is?" Fang nodded.

"I made him governor for the ice district..." Fang smiled at his daughter who ran up, bounced into the air, and hugged his face. Fang just stood there until Ana decided it would be a good time to get off. She bounced over to the door and stopped for a second before turning around and bouncing away towards the stairs that led to the bedrooms. "Why didn't she just teleport her coat here?" Fang's horn glowed and the coats that they had used during their trip to Stalliongrad appeared. Hers seemed to have been slightly altered so that it would fit her when she started showing that she was pregnant. Fang helped her get it on and put his own on before Ana ran down the stairs and to the doors.

"Come on! Let's go see Jack!" The two older alicorns smiled at their daughter and nodded as they went off to see the spirit of frost.





One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others. ~ Lewis Carroll.

> Bigger News.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another. ~ Charles Dickens.






Three months later.


Twilight, Fang, Ana, Trixie, and Soul were sitting on the beach of Transylmaneia's Water District. This was the district where creatures like Sirens, Nuckelavee and Bunyips tend to make their homes, as they love water. The sun was shining and was warming the five ponies. Soul and Fang were sparring and trying to get stronger so that, when their year to prepare was up, they would be able to beat Lepus.

Ana was sitting by the shore watching the waves in amazement. Since she had lived in a frozen city most of her life, she had never seen an ocean before, she was amazed with how the waves curled and slammed down into the shore. Twilight and Trixie were talking about the foal that the purple mare was having, they were sitting on a blanket that they had brought with them so that they wouldn't have to sit on the hot sand.

Twilight looked down and placed a hoof on her belly. It had begun to swell and she was already very large. It didn't help that her pregnancy cravings were things like pie and cake. Strange flavors of pie and cake, one of which was apparently pork, which, to her dismay, she liked the taste of. Twilight looked back up at Trixie and smiled. "I hope it's a filly... Not that I wouldn't love a colt if I had one, but I don't think that I would know how to care for a colt... Trixie? How energetic was Hex when he was a foal?" Trixie went wide eyed and began to wave her hooves in front of her face.

"Pray to all the gods who have ever existed that your foal is not as energetic as Hex! As a foal he was as energetic as Pinkie Pie! Times twenty two!" Twilight blanched and shuddered. Ana walked over and sat down with the two mares. The little filly smiled at and hugged her mother. Then her eyes went wide.

“Mommy! You're bleeding! Your butt is bleeding!" Twilight's eyes went wide and she craned her neck to see for herself. Ana was almost right. She wasn't bleeding form her but, she was bleeding from the part of her body she had only allowed Fang to touch.

"Fang! I-I think something is wrong with our foal!" It took less than ten seconds for Fang to get beside his wife. "W-we need to get to a doctor!" Fang nodded and his horn glowed its trademark crimson red. The next thing anypony knew they were all in Ponyville General.

Nurse Red Heart looked up from her desk and lowered her head in respect. "Prin- Queen Twilight! King Fang! How can we help you?"

"I think something is wrong with our foal! I just started bleeding all of a sudden!" Nurse Red Heart’s eyes went wide.

"We need a doctor over here now! Something might be wrong with the king and queen's foal!" She turned to the three alicorns and two unicorns. "Follow me. Can you walk?" Twilight nodded. Suddenly she was lifted off the ground by, Fang's magic. "Now don't be afraid Twilight, this might not be a miscarriage." She turned to walk away when she saw Ana trying to follow Fang. "Sorry little one, only direct family members allowed."

"She can come in. She's our daughter." Nurse Red Heart looked at Fang, who nodded in conformation of what Twilight had said, and led the three of them into a room. A few minutes later she came back in with a doctor and a sonogram machine.

"This is going to be a little cold." The doctor picked up a small bottle and squeezed it pouring a gel onto Twilight's chest and rubbing it into her fur. He then took a sonogram and looked at the screen of the machine. "Ah ha! Just as Nurse Red Heart suspected! King Fang, Queen Twilight... A mares private parts bleeding is a very common sign of..." He turned the screen so that it was facing the three alicorns. "Multiple fetuses." On the screen was an image of two little alicorn foals inside of Twilight's womb. "You're having twins. Congratulations."

Twilight calmed down and looked at Fang. She smiled and hugged her husband. "Twins... We're having twins!" Fang hugged her back and kissed her. When he pulled away Twilight gave a happy squeak. "I can't wait to tell everypony! Ana!" The little grey alicorn filly hopped up onto the bed that Twilight was on and carefully worked her way onto the pillow Twilight's head was laying on so she could look her mother in the eye. "Did you hear that? Twins! You're going to get two younger siblings, maybe two fillies like you, or two colts like Jack, or maybe one of each! Isn't that exciting?"

A large grin grew on Ana's face. "I know, and I can't wait! How much longer do I have to wait? I wanna see my new brothers or sisters, or brother and sister!" Twilight gave a little giggle.

"Sorry Ana. You have to wait for another six months... You’re a strong little filly, I know you can wait that long.“ Ana smiled and hugged her mother's face before jumping off the bed and fluttering down to the ground. "So... Are there any tests you need to run?" The doctor shook his head. "So we can leave?" He nodded. Twilight smiled and got up, with a little help from Fang.

"Oh but you might want to avoid travel. Just until the foals arrive of course." Twilight, Fang, and Ana nodded before walking out of the room and into the lobby where they saw all of their friends. Trixie and Soul immediately ran up to the three alicorns.

Trixie looked at the face of her teacher and friend. "You look happy... It isn't a miscarriage I assume?" Twilight smiled and shook her head. "Then what caused you to start bleeding all of a sudden?" Twilight leaned in and whispered something into Trixie's ear. "Really? Oh I'm so happy for you!" Trixie wrapped her forelegs around Twilight's neck and Twilight wrapped her own around the blue mare.

Soul looked at his marefriend and Fang's wife before turning to black alicorn. "What is she so happy for her about?" Fang smiled and was about to tell him when he noticed that everypony else had gathered behind the shade.

Fang backed up a little bit. He did not like it when a large group was standing over him. It reminded him of the time he picked a fight with a fairy queen. He shuddered at the memory. He did not want to end up in the hospital for two full months twice in is life. "The reason Trixie is so happy for Twilight... And the reason I hope you will be happy for us is because... A mare bleeding from her private parts is a sign of... Multiple fetuses..."

Half of the mares and stallions blinked. "Feta-who?"

"It means multiple foals..." Rarity and Fluttershy looked between each other and giggled.

Soul smiled and slapped the black alicorn on the back. "Congrats dude! So how many tykes are there?"

"Twins." All of the mares smiled and ran over to Twilight and gave her a hug, while the cutie mark crusaders ran over and gave Ana a hug, they counted her among their friends. The stallions however just all smiled at Fang and gave a nod. Little known to any of them. A small cloud of smoke in one of the vents listened with a dark purpose in mind. Get the monster king to open the eye.





It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor. ~ Charles Dickens.

> Crystal Crisis.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


A fool's paradise is a wise man's hell. ~ Thomas Fuller.






One week later.


Fang and Soul were on a train bound for the Crystal Empire. At the moment they were talking about their plan to help Fang collect the signs of the Black Zodiac. “We are after the First Born Son, right?” Fang nodded. “Ok... Question... Why are we going to the Crystal Empire? Wouldn't it be easier to check and see if any colts had died in Ponyville?”

“With how Sombra treated the ponies he ruled over? I think there will be more than a few spirits who would meet the needs of the first sign.” Soul just looked at him. He was right but at the moment he was scared for his friend’s safety. He knew that the black alicorn had practiced black magic for centuries, in fact Fang was probably one of the only things that stood between the living world, and old ones who had been trapped thousands of years ago. Many of the seals that held those dangerous demons in place were of Fang's own design.

“But is it really safe for you to go to the Crystal Empire? I mean the crystal ponies can smell black magic from miles away... So don't be shocked if we get off the train and there is an angry mob with torches and pitchforks.”  They heard a cough from beside them and turned to see an orange mare with cornflower blue eyes and a light golden mane. She was wearing a mulberry suit and a light magenta polo neck.

“Excuse me? Would you by any chance happen to be King Crimson Fang?” Soul stood up and glared at the mare.

“That information depends on who is asking.” The mare stumbled back and landed on the seat across from them.

“E-excuse me!?” Fang chuckled.

“Soul I hardly doubt that she is an assassin or working for Lepus... She doesn't seem like a pony who would be able to handle taking a life.” Soul gave Fang and the mare a sheepish smile and sat back down. “Now... Yes I would happen to be Crimson Fang, and you are?”

The mare stood back up and kept the grumpy demeanor that she had before Soul had scared her. “I am Mrs. Harshwhinny and I am the inspector for the Equestria Games.”

“Is this about you coming to inspect my kingdom to see if it is 'worthy' of hosting the games?" The mare was taken by surprise but nodded in response. “Do not warn me when you are coming to inspect my kingdom.”

“I'm sorry what?” Fang sighed.

“Don't tell me when you are coming to inspect my kingdom. It is a very big mistake on your part.” Mrs. Harshwhinny looked confused. She had never been told that she made a mistake by informing the city or kingdom she was visiting, that she was going to inspect it to see if it was worthy to hold the Equestria Games. “Cadence told me about what happened three years ago. They thought somepony else was you and you were basically treated like just another pony, am I correct?” The mare nodded. "Don't tell us when you are coming. That way you will get to see a city's true colors. If you tell them beforehoof then they will put on a show. A fake. A façade.”

The mare sat down in the seat across from them. “I've never been told something like that before, let alone be given good reasoning behind it... Ok... I won't inform you when to expect me... But I have to ask... Why are you on this train? Shouldn't you be attending to your pregnant wife?”

Fang sighed. “Yes I should... But I have something very important to do... For not only my sake, my wife's sake, or my country's sake. But possibly the sake of the entire world. I just hope I'll be able to do it in time.”

“Oh. Well. I wish you the best of luck in all of your endeavors. I cannot wait to see how many medals your country will win.” With that the mare stood up and walked off as the train pulled into the station. The shade and the vampony stood up and exited the train.

Half of the crystal ponies who saw Fang started to growl and glare at him, while the other half of them ran away, because he reeked of black magic just like Sombra had. That all changed when Cadence and Armor walked up to the two ponies. The crystal ponies started to calm down. If their rulers thought that the black alicorn could be trusted, then maybe they should give him a chance.

“Hello Fang. Hello Soul. I assume you are here for the spirit I found who can represent the First Born Son?” Fang and Soul both nodded. Cadence smiled and turned around. “Well if you follow me to the castle then I will show you where he hangs out on a map.” Fang and Soul nodded and followed the crystal royals. “We'll be glad when he is gone. He has been trying to start a revolution to overthrow us. We don't even know why though. We haven't acted anything like Sombra.” 

As they were walking down the street towards the crystal palace when the sudden sound of drumming caught their attention. Looking up they saw a lot of fillies and colts with drums around their necks. A sudden humming from one of the colts, a blue, crystal unicorn, caught their attention.


"Do you hear the ponies sing?
Singing with feelings from way back when?
It is the music of the ponies,
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart,
Echoes the beating of the drums,
There is a life about to start,
When tomorrow comes!”


Cadence, Armor, and Soul began to look around confused as to why the colt had just started singing. “Huh? What's going on here?” Some of the mares and stallions in the crowds stood up and glared at the group of four.

“The first phase of a rebellion... Of a revolution...” Armor and Cadence's eyes went wide when they heard Fang and went to run off when a few guards ran up to the mares, stallions, even the little ones, and tried to stop them. Then a few more ponies stood up while most remained in a bowing position and began to look at the bowing ponies.


"Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Beyond the tyrant's shield,
Is there a world you long to see?”


A small blue crystal unicorn colt, the same one who started this whole fiasco, ran out in front of the crowd, stopped in front of the group of four, and began to wave a large purple flag with a snow flake on it. The flag of the Crystal Empire. "Then join in the fight that will give you the right to be free!”

As more ponies began to stand a guard looked at the royals. “I-I'll go get help!” With that he ran off towards the castle. More and more ponies began to stand and more fillies and colts with flags ran out of the crowd. Cadence and Armor began to back up away from the group of angry young ponies. Soul and Fang stayed still.


"Do you hear the ponies sing?
Singing with feelings from way back when?
It is the music of the ponies,
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart,
Echoes the beating of the drums!
There is a life about to start,
When tomorrow comes!”


More and more ponies began to rise, started to stomp their hooves on the ground, and began to growl at Cadence and Armor. It was obvious that the colt who had started singing brought out their anger at the royalty. They didn't see the current rulers as kind. They saw them as two more Sombra's that had yet to enslave them. And they weren't going to risk it and let them live long enough to do so. Some of the guards stopped trying to arrest the ponies and began to point their spears and swords at the royals and the shade.


"Will you give all you can give,
So that our banner may advance?
Some will fall and some will live.
Will you stand up and take your chance?
The blood of the tyrants will flow,
When you take up a battle stance!”


The crowd began to close in on the four and Fang sighed to himself. 'Do I have to do everything myself?'


"Do you hear the ponies sing?
Singing with feelings from way back when?
It is the music of the ponies,
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart,
Echoes the beating of the drums!
There is a life about to start,
When tomorrow comes!”


Fang growled and a sudden boom of thunder was heard. Everypony looked up and saw black clouds swirling above them. Then a bolt of black lightning hit Fang and caused a large cloud of black smoke to form. When said smoke cleared all the crystal ponies backed up and began to run away. Cadence and Armor gasped and fell on their flanks. Standing there, where Fang had been, was a dark grey unicorn, with a black mane, and brilliant scarlet eyes. Sombra. The pony gave an evil laugh and looked at the remaining crystal ponies who were shaking now. “Did you really think that you would be rid of me so easily? My crystal slaves? This stallion made the mistake of crossing into the spirit world. I hitched a ride back in his body. He is still in here somewhere, but his body? It belongs to me now. The pink princess and her husband are not evil and are not your enemy… I am!” The evil unicorn's horn began to glow and all the crystal ponies screamed before running away. All was silent for a few minutes. 

Then the stallion let out a loud laugh. “And that is how the dog saved the rats from the cats.” The dark gray unicorn sprouted black wings and his fur turned black. His eyes turned a shade of cerulean, and his black mane became a mix of orange and white. It was Fang. He turned around and smiled at Armor and Cadence who were shaking in fear. “It was an illusion... I am not Sombra...”

Cadence growled at the black alicorn. “Fang that wasn't an illusion! That was shape shifting magic! How were you able to do that!? Are you part changeling or something!?” Fang shook his head. “...Did you drink so much changeling blood that you absorbed their ability to shape shift?”

Fang quickly looked to the left and then to the right. “Maybe...?” Cadence just sighed and face hoofed. “Where did Soul go?”

“Ah ha! I got you now!” The three royals turned their heads toward the sound of the shade's voice and saw Soul walking backwards out of an ally with his teeth gripping a pony's tail.

“Let go of my tail!” They watched as Soul backed up until he reached them. The pony he had been dragging was the colt that had incited the riot. He gently threw the colt onto his back and slid him into the center of the circle of ponies. He began to shake in fear at the sight of Shining Armor's eyes. They had murder in them. “Um... I'm sorry, please don't hurt me?”

"I should have you executed for treason you little-" The white unicorn was stopped when he felt a hoof on his shoulder. Looking back he saw his wife with a disappointed look on his face.

"Honey you're scaring him... Besides, you can't kill a ghost." Shining's eyes went wide.

"Wait is he the... Ghost that can represent the... Whatever?" Cadence nodded and got down so that she was eyelevel with the little colt.

"Please... Can you tell us why you were trying to start a rebellion?" The colt snorted like a pig and placed a hoof over his mouth. "I won't tell." The colt sighed and sat up before looking at the ground.

"Because I wanted to protect my friends... I lost my parents, they managed to escape but I got caught... I don't want anypony else to lose their family like I did... While you may have destroyed Sombra..." The colt turned and looked at Fang. "Cool trick by the way." Fang blinked in surprise as the colt turned back towards Cadence. “While you did kill Sombra that is all you have done... You haven't done anything to help the poor or less fortunate..." Cadence raised an eyebrow.

"We've done other things." The colt growled at the crystal princess.

"Do you even know that there are famine and plague in the poor district as we speak!? No of course you don't! And do you know why you don't know!?" Cadence shook her head. "Because all royals are the same! You! You! You don't have us in shackles but you are still the same as Sombra!" The colt stood up and ran off. The royals and the shade quickly followed behind. Soon they entered what could only be described as a slum. 


"At the end of the day you're another day older,
And that's all you can say or the life of the poor.
It's a struggle, it's a war,
And there's nothing that anypony's giving.
One more day, standing about, what is it for?
One day less to be living."


They looked around and all of the crystal ponies started to bow to them, then the husband and wife in the group saw something that they would never forget. A chariot was being pulled past them towards a graveyard. The ponies pulling the chariots were wearing masks that hid their mouths. Cadence stopped them and looked in the cart. It had ten corpses in it. Seven fillies, and three colts. "How long have they?"

"Three hours... Every one of them has been dead for three hours. The fever got to them." Cadence turned around and saw the blue colt from before. "Now do you understand why you are no better than Sombra? No? Then let me show you some more!" Nopony besides the group of four seemed to be able to see or hear the colt. Then the little one ran off.

"Why doesn't anypony else notice him? They noticed him when he was starting that rebellion..." Fang and Soul both looked at Cadence and sighed.

"Ghosts can make themselves visible and invisible to anypony they choose. Except for ponies like Soul, whos special talent is the ability to see all earthbound spirits." Soul nodded and Cadence let out an 'oh'. They continued to follow the colt and soon they started to see fillies and colts looking through garbage cans.


"At the end of the day you're another day colder,
And the fur on your back doesn't keep out the chill.
And the righteous hurry past,
They don't hear the little ones crying...
And the plague is coming on fast ready to kill.
One day nearer to dying!"


"The ones you saw before were sick." Cadence and Armor looked up and saw the little colt sitting on a gutter and glaring at them. "These ones are starving. So why would they be digging through the trash for food and not going to buy it from a shop? Simple. It's because they don't have the bits to do so!" The colt ran off again, back to the main street. This time the poor ponies did not bow. Instead they started to glare at the group.

"I think that this colt has a spectral ability that makes him able to bring out the anger and sorrow in a pony's soul." Soul nodded in agreement with his childhood friend. "It seems that his powers cause them to manifest their anger and sorrow in the form of songs."


"At the end of the day there's another day dawning,
And the sun in the morning is waiting to rise.
And like how waves crash on the sand,
Like there's a storm that'll break any second...
There's a hunger in the land,
There's a reckoning yet to be reckoned...
And there's gonna be hell to pay,
At the end of the day!"


Cadence looked around her in shock. "I didn't even know that stuff like this was happening in our empire... Oh... I'm a terrible ruler..." Shining walked up to his wife and shook his head.

"No you're not Cadence, there was no way we could have known. Nopony told us about this!" Cadence shook her head.

"No... We could have realized... We never even thought to go anywhere near the slums to see if they were happy... Maybe that colt is right to start a rebellion... We haven't done anything to help these ponies with what is going on... We were too distracted by things like the Equestria Games..." Cadence looked around her once more then to the ground. "I... We need to find that colt!" Cadence's head shot up and there was a fire in her eyes. "We have to let him know that we'll set things right!" The crystal princess looked around and saw the colt smirking at them. She was about to go and tell him that she would fix this, but he ran off before she could.

The group followed him away from the slums and to what looked like a factory. "Isn't this where they make the souvenirs of the Crystal Empire?" Cadence nodded. "Why would he bring us here?" Cadence went over to the doors of the factory, along with the others, and entered the massive building. They went farther into the factory and looked down from the walkway they were standing on. They saw a stallion walking around while other ponies, all of which were mares, made the souvenirs that ponies bought to remember their trip to the empire.

The stallion looked around and smiled at the mares. He saw one fall over and drop one the snow globe she was making, walked over and slapped her. "At the end of the day you get nothing for nothing..." He walked over to a mare who had sat down to take a break for a few seconds and slapped her on the back of her head. "Sitting flat on your bum doesn't buy any bread." The mare nodded, stood up, and got back to work.

One mare looked up from her work and quickly shot back down when she saw the stallion coming. "We have young ones back in town."

Another mare nodded. "And our young ones have to be fed."

One mare, barely a teenager, gave a sigh and looked up. She saw the princess and smiled. "We're lucky to be in a job."

"And in a bed..." The stallion that was walking around placed his hoof on the young mare's flank. She gave a gasp and swatted his hoof away.

With a large sigh the mares took a breath and went back to work. "We're counting our blessings."

One of the mares giggled. "Have you see how the forecolt is fuming today? With his terrible breath and his wandering hooves?"

Another mare nodded and looked at the young mare that the stallion had touched. "It’s because little Citrine won't give him his way." The mare frowned and looked back down at her work. "Can anypony stop this?"

"The princess could!" Cadence looked to the side and saw the colt sitting on one of the conveyer belts that brought the parts to make the souvenirs down to the mares. As the conveyor belt moved him, the mares that he passed sang.

"And the boss, he never knows, that the forecolt is always on the lookout for heat."

"If Citrine doesn't look out, then watch how she goes."

"She'll be pregnant, and out on the street!"

A loud whistle rang throughout the factory and the mares stopped working. They began to walk towards the doors that led outside. As each mare left they got a small bag.


"At the end of the day it's another day over,
With enough in your pocket to last for a week,
Pay the landlord, pay the shop.
Keep working as long as you're able.
Keep working till you drop,
Or it's back to just crumbs on the table.
You've got to pay your way...
At the end of the day..."


"Do you understand yet?" Cadence looked down to her side and the ghost colt was standing there glaring up at her. "The poor are starving, sick, used, and abused. All while you two sit in your castle and have tea and eat cake..." The colt turned away and trotted off. "While you may be a royal. You are by no means a princess Cadenza." Cadence teleported in front of the colt who just blinked and looked up at her. "Maybe now that you know how your subjects suffer, you'll do something about it..." With that he went to leave when Cadence grabbed him. "What do you want now?"

"I'm sorry." The colt looked at Cadence, however instead of anger, he had curiosity in his eyes. The crystal princess had tears in her eyes and hugged the colt. "I'm sorry. Sorry that you lost your parents, sorry that so many ponies have been dying of starvation and sickness while we've stood idly by, sorry for the mares that are used, injured, and abused in this factory. I didn't know that any of this was going on. But I can tell you one thing that I do know." The colt looked at Cadence in wonder. He had never believed that the royalty had feelings besides greed and anger. "I can promise you, this won't last much longer. Even if I go broke and have to shave off and sell my mane for money so that I can fix it. It won't last much longer." Suddenly Cadence felt two hooves wrap around her. She smiled when she saw that the colt was returning the hug she was giving him. "What's your name young one?"

"My name? My name is lost in the sands of time... What the ponies of the empire call me however... They call me Poco Ribelle... It's Bitalian for Little Rebel." The colt looked up at Cadence when he heard her giggle.

"Well Poco. How about we make a deal? If you go with Fang and Soul, the black alicorn and the blue unicorn, back to Fang's kingdom, then me and my husband will do our best to fix this." The colt looked up at Cadence for a second before looking at the other three who were approaching them.

"D-do you promise?" Cadence nodded and the colt thought for a second. "O-ok... I'll go... But if I find out you haven't been doing anything to help the poor..." The colt smiled at the princess. "I will come back and haunt you until you do! Deal?"

Cadence smiled. "Deal." 

The next day Fang and Soul awoke on the train, due to Poco jumping on their backs, as it pulled into the Ponyville station. When they got off they were met with the sight of an angry Twilight and Trixie. Half of the buildings they saw had large holes in them. "What happened here?"

"It took you long enough to get back! In short after you left the entire town, as well as Canterlot was covered in thick black vines with blue thorns. I wasn't able to do anything about it because the princesses told me that the thing needed to stop it was called the Tree of Harmony, and that getting to where it was is very dangerous. They didn't want me to take a chance and get myself and our foals hurt. So Trixie went with the girls, almost got eaten by a cragadile, and found out that the tree needed the elements to ward off the black vines. So she teleported back to me, told me she needed the element from my crown, I gave it to her, she teleported back to the others, which almost killed her because she used almost all of her magical power, and they fixed everything." Twilight took a deep breath, glared at Fang and began to poke him with her horn. "And now I want to know why there was a box, under the tree that you planted and that you probably know where the six keys that fit in the locks are!"

Fang blinked and growled at Twilight. "First of all, yes I did plant the Tree of Harmony... I don't remember why... Second of all, I have no idea what box and keys you are talking about. Third of all, I had to help stop a rebellion in the Crystal Empire, had to make myself look like Sombra to save my brother in law and his wife from an angry mob, had to deal with heart songs, and collected one of the most stubborn ghosts I have ever met so he could be one of the signs of the Black Zodiac! I didn't exactly have a good day either!"

"Ha! Not such a perfect relationship now that she is five months pregnant is it Fang?" Trixie walked over to Soul, kissed him, and then slapped the back of his head. "Ok I'll stop teasing him."

Twilight began to cry and hugged her husband. "I'm sorry I yelled at you! I was just so lonely and scared and that's why I was angry at you! I didn't know if you were coming back and I was worried about you!" Fang smiled and nuzzled his wife's neck. 

"I'm sorry too Twilight. I shouldn't have gone off and left you alone." Soul felt a tug at his scarf and looked down to see Poco staring at the two alicorns.

"Are they always this... Lovey dovey?" Both Soul and Trixie nodded. "I don't suppose I could just go back to the empire now?" Soul shook his head. "What have I gotten myself into?"

Soul grinded down at the ghost colt. "The ride of your afterlife!"


Somewhere in space and time.


The doctor looked down at a screen and began to read the universes timeline. "Strange... Twilight and her friends were not supposed to meet Coco Pommel until a few months after they found the tree and Rainbow Dash wasn't supposed to become a wonder bolt for five years after they found the tree... Something or somepony is cutting apart the timeline and reordering it so that it doesn't happen the way it should."


Location unknown.


Ginryō, the Sorcerer Dragon, was floating in what seemed to be a void with a pair of silver scissors in one hand, a spool of golden thread and a needle in the other, and was cutting up a long piece of fabric that looked like a star chart. "Tirek will not escape Tartarus alone..." He stitched some back together. "Discord will not get sick." He stitched more back together. "Finally... The remaining keys shall be found while the king and shade are away to find the remaining signs." He fished stitching the cloth together and smiled at his work. "All of us archdemons have a part to play in the grand design." He flew down the fabric until he found the piece he was looking for. It depicted all thirteen arch demons, Soul, and Fang, standing around the Tree of Harmony. Each one of them had a small mist leaving their body, and the tree had a large seal around it. Next to that image was a large, black, four armed, bipedal dragon, screaming in anger as he and what looked like a city were shrouded in darkness. The dragon’s eyes flew to the images of Fang and Soul on the fabric. "You did the right thing by sealing him and his kingdom away."





Things are not always what they seem. The first appearance deceives many. The intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden. ~ Roman poet, Phraedrus.


> Ill Omen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts. ~ Charles Dickens.






Two weeks later.


"Fang. Remind me again why we are going to Vanhoover?" Fang smiled at Soul and opened his mouth to respond when he was cut off by the third member of their party.

"For Celestia's sake you are just saying that to annoy me aren't you Soul!?" Soul turned around and smirked at Jekyll. The green earth pony sighed and ran a hoof down his face. "Calm down... Pinkie won't like you anymore if you strangle one of her friends to death..." The stallion took a deep breath and looked at Soul once more. 

"You two are going to Vanhoover because, according to the research that Fang did, it is the city with the largest amount of female suicides, and mares whose bodies were found bound with rope, in Equestria. I am going to Vanhoover because I am visiting my sister Penny, it's her birthday tomorrow and Pinkie said she would be there but... She had to watch the cake twins while their parents were away today. Now if you'll excuse me I need to start this drawing over because I ruined it during my outburst." He glared at the shade. "Thank you very much..."

Soul looked at Fang and sighed. "You owe me one for this Fang. It is Saturday. I could be home with Trixie right now. Actually you owe me two! Two weeks ago Cadence had the crystal ponies recharge the heart so that they could expel 'Sombra' from your body! I went blind for a few hours because of that light! Plus it really bucking hurt!"

"Yes I know that I owe you two favors. Just remember the rule. If it involves singing then I will not do it. Once again I thank you for turning into your shade form to play the part of Sombra's spirit as they 'expelled' him from my body." Fang smiled and there was silence for a few minutes.

"Hey guys? Can I ask for a favor?" Both Soul and Fang nodded. "My... My sister's mansion is haunted... Really haunted, like over fifty different spirits haunt the house... It's been haunted since the day she inherited it, and even longer before that... But recently the spirits in her house have been getting restless, some of them have even been violent. Could I trouble you to help get rid of the violent ones? I'll owe you one each..." Fang and Soul lowered their heads.

"Did he say mansion?" Fang nodded. "Ok... Well should we? I mean it couldn't hurt right?"

"I think that we should. After all he is our friend, and a friend in need is a friend indeed." Soul looked at Fang. He knew that there was some ulterior motive in the alicorn's mind. "I have no ulterior motive Soul. If we happen to come across ghosts that would be able to represent signs of the Black Zodiac then that is just a bonus." Soul just blinked and nodded.

The two old friends stuck their heads into the air and looked back at Jekyll. "Yes... We will help... As for the payment..." The two lowered their heads again and raised them a few seconds later. "Paint me a portrait of Twilight, and paint Soul a portrait of Trixie." Jekyll smiled at the two. They had chosen to let him repay them by doing something he was good at. Painting.

"Done and done... Fang do you want me to paint Twilight's portrait before or after she gives birth?" Fang thought for a second before shrugging. "After it is then." The three stallions kept talking to each other for the rest of the trip. When the train finally pulled into the station a large grin grew on Jekyll's face. After they got off the green earth pony led the shade and alicorn down the streets of the semi large town until they reached a large mansion. All the trees around it seemed to be dead, the entire outside of the house was a bunch of different shades of black and grey. "Welcome to my ancestral, and foalhood, home..." The group of three walked through the gates in the fence that surrounded the mansion and went up to the large house where Jekyll rang the doorbell.

A few seconds later the door opened revealing a beautiful, young, smiling mare. She had a brilliant white coat, red eyes, and a blue mane. She was also wearing a traditional Prench maid outfit. What stood out the most about her to the two horned ponies was her neck. She had a rope around it. One that was tied in a noose. Fang and Soul could both feel it. She was dead. She had died when she hung herself.

The mare suddenly hugged the green earth pony. "Monsieur Jekyll! Oh how long has it been since you last visited? Welcome home!" The green stallion hugged the mare back before they pulled apart. The mare's eyes drifted towards the other two stallions. "Are these your friends Monsieur Jekyll?" Jekyll nodded and the mare smiled and moved out the way. "Come in, come in, welcome to Dreadful Manor." As they entered the house a shudder ran down Soul's spine. He looked at Fang and saw that he could see the alicorn's breath. "Lady Penny is in the sitting room." Fang and Soul looked around and could see about fifty ghosts, all wearing clothing from different countries and time periods. All of them were cleaning and doing household chores.

Fang looked around for a few seconds and then he frowned and let out sigh. "This place is cleaner than my castle... How is that even possible? I have one hundred and forty eight maids..." Soon the three stallions reached a room with an earth pony mare in it. She had an orange coat, green eyes, and a blue mane. She was sitting on a couch and reading a book. She glanced up from her book and saw the stallions before looking back down. After three seconds her head darted up from the book. She smiled, put it down, jumped up, ran over, and hugged Jekyll.

"Little bro! I thought you weren't getting here until tomorrow! Did you forget that my birthday was tomorrow and think it was today?" Jekyll smiled, hugged the mare back, and pulled away.

"Hey big sis. I didn't forget that your birthday is tomorrow. I came here because I managed to talk two of my friends into helping out with your violent ghost problem." A large smile formed on the mare's face and she looked at Soul and Fang.

"Can you really help?" Soul and Fang chuckled.

"Definitely. You have got a shade on your side." Soul changed into his shade form. He looked like a suit of armor that a minotaur without horns would wear and had glowing blue eyes. He then changed back into his pony form and smiled at the mare.

"As well as a living god." The mare looked at Fang and raised an eyebrow. Her eyes went wide when the black alicorn spread his wings. A few black feathers fell out and landed on the ground. The mare immediately went to bow, but was stopped by Fang's magic. "Please don't bow... I do not believe that a member of my friend's family should have to bow to me. I see almost all ponies as equals. The only ones I see as above others are my wife, my daughter, and Soul here. Soul simply because he and I have been friends since foalhood, and he is basically my brother in all but blood."

"Um... I don't mean to be rude but I've never heard of a stallion ascending into godhood... Ever..." Fang sighed and looked at Soul who just nodded. Fang wanted to know if he should tell the truth.

"That's because I am older than Celestia, and I was born as an alicorn... I'm not the first alicorn by any means, but I am older than Celestia..." The mare blinked and her jaw fell open.

"No wonder I've never heard of a stallion ascending..." Fang and Soul chuckled.

"Yes well... If we are going to help you with the violent ghost we are going to have to know what it looks like." Penny looked down at the ground and began to count with her hoof.

"Well... I've never seen it myself... Only Corda and Lavoir talk to me about it..." Fang and Soul blinked.

"Lavoir is the ghost maid who opened the door for us and... Corda is the ghost of the mare who was tied up and strangled to death by her husband... Right?" Penny nodded and looked up.

"Corda! Tristeza! Could you come here for a moment!" The spirit of a yellow mare with ropes tied around all four of her hooves floated through the wall while the ghostly maid from before floated up to the four ponies gathered in the room. 

Fang looked at Soul. "We came here looking for spirits that could represent the Bound Mare and the Angry Princess... Here they are... Coincidence?"

Soul shook his head. "I think not." 

Penny looked at the two ghostly mares. "The ghost that keeps trying to hurt me... What does it look like?" The two ghostly mares looked at each other and then back towards Penny.

The one with ropes on her legs sighed. "It's kind of hard to describe... It doesn't look like a pony... But it keeps flying into things and turning them black.... Like that time it threw a knife at you, it didn't throw it... It possessed it..."

The ghostly frowned and shrugged. "The best way I can describe it is... It looks like a black cloud of smoke with glowing red eyes." Soul's ears perked up.

"I'm sorry. Did you say it was a... Black cloud of smoke with glowing red eyes that possesses things?" The two ghostly mares nodded. Soul and Fang looked at each other and nodded. "It's not a ghost... It's a shade like me... Except this one is of a different tribe. This one is a specter, and it is obviously evil... These kind are known for turning ponies against each other by taking over their bodies... They are usually most active at night so... We'll have to wait until the sun sets." Penny coughed and pointed towards a window. The moon was rising. "Correction. We can start looking now..."

Fang coughed. "We would like to ask a favor of these two ghostly mares first." The mares looked at the black alicorn and raised their eyebrows. "I am gathering spirits to represent the signs of the Black Zodiac. I still need nine... Two of which can be represented by the two ghosts in front of us. The Bound Mare, Corda, and the Angry Princess, Tristeza. The favor we ask is that these two return to my castle with us once we help rid you of the evil shade that has been trying to kill you."

The three mares huddled together and whispered something for a few minutes. "Ok... If you help get rid of the shade so that Lady Penny will be safe... We'll go back to your castle with you."

Fang smiled. "Wonderful. Now let's get this hunt started so that you can have a peaceful birthday party tomorrow."

"Did somepony say 'party'?" Fang and Soul yelped, leaped into the air, and ended up with their horns stuck in the ceiling. "Oops! Sorry guys! Hey Jeky!" The two horned stallions groaned. Jekyll only allowed one pony to call him that. "Hi there! You must be Jeky's sister! I'm his fillyfriend, Pinkie Pie!" Fang and Soul both growled and punched the ceiling causing some of the plaster to crack and fall off stetting them free. Soul and Fang repaired the ceiling and looked back towards Jekyll and Penny and saw Pinkie standing there. She had a rubber chicken on her back.

A quick rainbow colored glow ran across said rubber chicken. "I didn't know that rubber chickens could do that." Fang and Soul looked at each other. They had done it again. They had said the exact same thing at the exact same time. "Great minds think alike I suppose... We should just shut up now."

"Hello Pinkie... Were you the one who got my brother to finally open up? To leave the shadows and stand in the light? To be his real self?" Pinkie just stood there and blinked. "Did you get him to smile?" Pinkie smiled and rapidly nodded her head. The orange mare smiled at the pink one. "I knew that somepony good had come into his life after he settled down in Ponyville... I knew it when I saw him today... He was smiling... Jekyll had never smiled before in his entire life..."

Pinkie gasped and looked at Jekyll. "What!? Why not!? Nothing good happens to you if you're a mean old grumpy pants!" Pinkie ran over and hugged Jekyll. "Why didn't you ever smile?"

The green earth pony sighed. "Because I... I never had any friends... After I turned ten... I was afraid to leave this house... Father and mother took us to an art gallery for my tenth birthday... That is the day I knew that I wanted to be an artist... I spent five years, locked away in my room, coming out only to eat or get more painting supplies..."

"And that is how Hyde came to be..." Pinkie, Soul, and Fang looked at Penny and raised an eyebrow.

"Hyde... Is my version of Pinkamena... I spent so much time alone, trying to get my cutie mark... But I wanted to have contact with somepony living other than my sister... So I thought up Hyde... I haven't spoken to my other half in years though... He was too dangerous to let outside of my mind... Penny made me so angry once that I told Hyde to deal with her... He tried to kill her... That day I knew that I needed to forget about Hyde and make some real friends... I spent five years traveling across Equestria, one year after my journey started I got my cutie mark..."

His friends and fillyfriend blinked. They thought back, and realized that they had never seen his cutie mark. Jekyll turned and showed them his flank, decorated with a simple, blank, canvas. "My special talent... It is two in one... The first is the fact that I am a talented artist, the other is the ability to start over, to be forgotten..."

"That... That is a really sad talent..." Fang nodded in agreement with Soul. "It's useful... But it's really sad..."

Penny blinked and looked at the pink mare. "Hey Pinkie... How did you get into my house?"

"The door was sitting wide open." Penny looked at the ghostly maid who shook her head.

"I closed the door." Pinkie pointed down the hall.

"Well it's open right now!" The door slammed shut, but it wasn't the work of a ghost. There was a flash of lighting and a boom of thunder.

Jekyll frowned and looked at Pinkie. "Pinkie... I need to tell you something..."

"Go ahead Jeky. I'm all ears! Well actually I only have two ears but-"

"I never loved you..." Pinkie stopped talking and looked at Jekyll with confusion and a few tears in her eyes. "You were but a means to an end... Befriend the element of laughter, get close to the princess, now a queen, and kill her... And my name isn't Jekyll... My name..." The stallion raised a hoof and tried to hit Pinkie. "Is Hyde!!!" Fang grabbed the green stallions hoof and his eyes went wide.

"Jekyll... What happened to you? Your body... It's cold... Like a corpse... Like you're dead..." Soul looked in the mirror that sat in the corner of the room. His eyes went wide and he looked at Jekyll. The green earth pony had orange eyes, but in the mirror, they were red.

"Get out of his body coward!" Soul took up his shade form and summoned his sword and shield. He raised his blade, the Kagenohikari, and brought it down, striking the ground, or more specifically, Jekyll's shadow. The green earth pony let out a loud growl and opened his mouth. A thick black cloud spilled out and floated in the middle of the group of seven. Two glowing red orbs formed in the cloud and it looked at Soul.

"Traitor to Nexus, Traitor to Your Family, Traitor to Your Kind... You shall not betray him, betray us, again! Once the seal breaks you shall perish... Along with the rest of the world... But that will only be if I do not kill you now!" The black cloud flew at the shade but was immediately clamped between two sets of teeth. "Ouch!!!"

"Ring Gekyll rack!" Pinkie Pie began to shake her head causing the shade in her mouth to get dizzy, before throwing it, causing it to collide with a wall and turning it into a pancake. "Fix my coltfriend right now! You big old meanie pants!" Pinkie ran over and began stomping on the flattened specter. "Bring Jekyll back!"

"I was controlling his body... He is the same Jekyll who loves you..." The flattened shade turned back into a cloud of black smoke and floated over to Fang and Soul. "Monster king... You have to open the eye... It is the only way that you and..." The small cloud glared at Soul. "Tamashii... Will have a chance of winning your future battles... The seal is weakening, as you can see. And in the end, our king and land will be set free." Soul raised his blade and swung it multiple times. When he was finished the smaller shade looked like a bunch of ribbons. "I return to the darkness from which I was born..." The ribbons vanished in wisps of shadow.

"W-what happened?" The entire crowd turned towards Jekyll. He stood up and rubbed his head before looking at the rest of the ponies in the group. His eyes landed on Pinkie. He saw the tears in her eyes, ran over, and hugged her. "Pinkie what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"You said you didn't love me..." Pinkie hugged the green earth pony back. "Please tell me that's not true."

"Of course it's not true! I love you with all the love my heart can give! The only pony who comes close to you is Penny, and that's only because she is a member of my family!" He looked down and kissed the pink mare. "I will love you until the day I die... And I'll still love you, even after that." Pinkie sniffled and looked up at the green earth pony, smiled, and kissed him.

Penny looked at Soul and Fang. "So is it gone? The evil shade I mean?" Both stallions nodded. "Thanks... Well... You two are welcome to stay for my birthday party tomorrow if you like."

Fang frowned. "As nice as the offer is I am afraid I will have to turn you down. I need to get back home and attend to my wife... She is seven months pregnant as of today."

"I gotta get home to my fillyfriend... She and the town we live in are constantly attacked by demons..." Penny just smiled.

"That's ok. Corda, Tristeza, go with them. It was our deal..." The two ghostly mares nodded. After the childhood friends said good bye they got on the first train back to town. 





When they got home Trixie and Twilight were waiting for them. This time they were much happier than before. Trixie and Soul quickly left while Corda and Tristeza went to Fang and Twilight's castle. The two alicorns however, went to Twilight's library.

"Fang! I went to the doctor today and he was able to figure out what gender the foals were!" Fang smiled.

"Well don't keep me waiting. What are we going to have?" Twilight smiled and kissed her husband.

"Pinkie has planned a foal shower in a week. So don't go anywhere ok?" Fang smiled and nodded. "We are having both. A filly and a colt." Twilight hugged her husband and received a little nuzzle on the neck.

"That is wonderful news Twilight!" Twilight smiled and kissed her husband. 

"I know!" Twilight suddenly frowned and looked at the ground. "Fang... We need to talk about Cheshire... I heard him talking to somepony named Ginryō and he said that... Chesire said that he made the Plunderseeds, the things that caused the giant vines to appear, grow... Cheshire sounded really ashamed that he did it but I'm more worried about what the pony he was talking too said." Twilight looked up and gave Fang a worried look. 

"He said that all of the arch demons have a part to play... Kneighf's part was to get me to start coming to you for help, Mord's part was to get Princess Celestia pregnant and create a great ally for us, Vul's part was to cause something that would make me say yes to your proposal, Shǔ's, the arch demon that Soul met in Manehatten, part was to give Soul the Kagenohikari, and Cheshire's part was to make the Pluderseeds grow and start the process for the return of the Three."

"Ginryō is the name of an archdemon. He is their leader. He takes the form of a silver, serpentine, dragon. He has the ability to... Reorder space and time, he cannot change it, but he can make things happen before they were supposed to." Twilight sniffled.

"I'm just worried... Do you know who the three that he was talking about are?" Fang gave a sad shake of his head.

"No I don't..." 'But I have an idea.' His mind drifted off to a time eight thousand years ago. He, Soul, Celestia and Luna stood over three beings, a goat, a jinn and centaur. The three beings were bound with chains and swore their revenge on the four. The black alicorn glanced at his wife and began to nuzzle her.

'I will not allow myself to be defeated, I will protect Twilight and my foals... I will defeat Lepus and any others who try to bring us harm!'





There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. ~ Ernest Hemingway.

> The Foal Shower.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Plenty sits still; hunger is a wanderer. ~ Zulu proverb.






One week later.


Fang and Twilight were in Sugar Cube Corner along with their friends, the elements' coltfriends, Twilight's parents, and the princesses. It was their foal shower. A strange thing had happened during the week that led up to the foal shower. Fang had not left the vicinity of the forest or town, yet he had managed to find a ghost who could represent the seventh sign of the Black Zodiac. He had chosen Zecora to represent the Pilgrimess.

It came as a shock to the monster queen when the zebra had entered the castle and requested to represent the seventh sign. Twilight had not even known that the mare was dead. That was when the zebra mare removed the rings from around her neck. There was a giant lump on the side of her throat. She had died due to cancer a hundred years ago. Twilight shook her head and banished the thoughts from her mind.

Pinkie Pie came out of the kitchen with a large cake. Fang smiled and looked at the crowd. "Ok everypony. There is a secret to this cake. Let's see who can figure it out first... Pinkie and Jekyll... You are not allowed to guess because you made the cake. Therefore you already know what the secret is." Everypony looked confused. Even Celestia and Luna. They had no idea how a cake could hold a secret. After the couple cut the cake and floated a piece over to everypony all was quiet for a few seconds. 

"I got it!" Sunset's head shot up and she clapped her hooves together. "You're having a filly and a colt!" Everypony, besides Pinkie, Jekyll, Fang, and Twilight, gave her a confused look. "The cake itself has a mix of pink and blue filling. Common tradition states that a colt be wrapped in a blue blanket after birth and a filly be wrapped in pink." Everypony looked at Twilight and Fang to see if she was right. The two alicorns nodded and everypony gave a cheer.

Fang and Twilight kissed before the black alicorn sighed and looked out the window. His eyes went wide at what he saw. "F-father!?" Everypony's attention turned towards the window and blinked. There was nothing there.

Soul looked at his childhood friend and raised an eyebrow. "Fang... Are you ok dude? You just shouted father all of a sudden... Your father had been dead for fifteen thousand years... Are you going insane, or are you just seeing things?" Fang rapidly shook his head.

"I swear! My father was right outside the window! Well, at least a creature that looked like him was!" The swinging doors of the bakery shot open. The winds began to pick up and roar.

"What the hay? There weren't any fierce winds scheduled for today!" Rainbow shot up but was brought back to the ground by Soul.

"This isn't the work of a pony Rainbow... This is the work of a spirit." Soul glared at the doorway and the ponies in the room heard hoofsteps sound throughout the room. The lights began to flicker and Soul turned his gaze towards Fang. "Show yourself to us spirit!" The lights stopped working and the room turned dark. Seconds later a crack of thunder was heard, followed by a flash of lightning. The lights turned back on and everypony looked around the room. There was nothing there.

"Don't let me bother you. I was just coming to see what gender my grandfoals would be." Everypony looked towards the stairs. A grey mist in the form of a pony floated above the stairs. It then floated over to Fang and Twilight. "Hello my little one... I suppose this purple mare is my daughter in law yes?" Fang just nodded dumbly. 

"Excuse me... Are you the spirit of Fang's father?" The whole room looked at Twilight and then the mist.

"Yes... I am..."

"Would you mind looking like a pony? I want to see the form of the pony who created my husband." The mist floated over to the largest open space in the room and stopped. Slowly the color of the cloud turned a dark grey, a black mane and tail grew from the mist, a pair of large bat wings sprouted, and two glowing, cat like eyes appeared. The cutie mark that formed on his flank was quite gruesome. It depicted a heart being ripped apart by the bare hooves of a pony. Everypony stared at the threshal stallion. His entire body was covered in large scars that were obviously battle scars. One such scar ran down his face and across his eye, which was completely grey because the wound had caused him to go blind in that eye. His right wing was torn to shreds and he was missing an ear. The threshal turned and looked at the large group.

"My name is Sangue, my son's name is Crimson Fang, Figlio di Sangue... A son that I have not seen in fifteen thousand years." He then turned, looked at Twilight, and sat down. "And I am the grandfather of your foals, and your father in law." The threshal gave a goofy smile.

"How come you chose this night to introduce yourself to our daughter? After she and your son were married and after he got her pregnant." Twilight's father and mother walked over to the threshal stallion.

The dead stallion blinked. "I had crossed over knowing that my son was safe... The reason I waited until today is because today is the day that I was brought back from the spirit world by a... You would not believe me if I told you."

"Try it. We have seen very weird things since Fang returned from his five thousand year imprisonment." The stallion blinked at the two unicorns.

"I was brought back into this existence by a rabbit made out of smoke... I don't know why... All he said was that my son was married, going to be a father in four months, and that Fang would need my help in six months... So I went where the rabbit told me to go... A building that looked like a gingerbread house in a town called Ponyville..." 

Nightlight looked over his shoulder and pointed at Vul, who had come to the party with his, adoptive, mother, Sunset Shimmer. Right now the little, monkey tailed colt was drinking a juice box. "He used to be a demonic monkey twice my size... A rabbit made of smoke isn’t all that shocking… So try again." Nightlight looked back at the threshal stallion only to see that he had been talking the entire time.

"Weird thing is, when I asked him why he brought me back and told me about what was going to happen... All he said was 'We all have our part to play, and you will play the part of the Juggernaut.' Does that mean anything to any of you?" Everypony except for Cadence, Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Fang, and Soul shook their heads.

"Twelve..." Everypony turned to face the black alicorn stallion. "You are the twelfth sign... You are meant to play the part of the Juggernaut in the ritual to open the Eye of Tartarus... A way to unfathomable power..."

The threshal stallion's eyes went wide. "Now that sounds interesting... Well not as interesting as the fact that I am going to be a grandfather and that I already am a father in law but even still..."

"Father... Please stop talking..." The stallion glared at his son.

"Honor thy father and respect your elders. Now." The deceased stallion trotted over to Twilight and smiled. "I don't know much about you at the moment young one, but what I do know is that you will be an excellent mother."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Thanks but... How would you know?"

"Because you smile the same way that Scarlet did the whole time she was pregnant." Twilight blinked. "Scarlet was my wife and Fang's mother... She smiled like that the entire time she was pregnant, except for when she didn't, and everything turned out fine. I mean look at Fang he's..." The stallion paused in the middle of his sentence. After a few minutes the stallion gave a sheepish smile. "Ok maybe my son isn't the best example I could think up off the top of my head, but if he can land a nice young mare like you then there must be something good about him. Then again he did grow up from the age of twelve without a father, so there's the fact that he had to be a stallion from a very young age..." The threshal blinked and smiled again. "Anyway is there anything I need to know about you so that I do not offend you? I do not wish to see my daughter in law cry or be angry when I could have easily prevented it by saying something else and-" The stallion was shut up when a piece of cake flew into his mouth. The stallion quickly chewed up the cake and swallowed it. "Wow... That tasted great... And excuse me for not wanting to upset your wife by saying something that might offend her!" The stallion turned back into a mist and floated through the floor boards to the basement. He quickly floated back up, shouted something about an 'eight legged demon' and flew out the door.

Everypony turned and looked at Fang. He was just sitting there with his face pressed against the table. "It was like having a Pinkie Pie talking on each of my sides... I did that because I didn't want to go insane... Twilight? Remind me to buy some ear plugs..."

"Fang was it really necessary to throw your father out of our foal shower like that?" Fang sighed.

"I didn't throw him out... He'll get bored and come back in three, two, one."

"Hey everypony look what I found!" The threshal ghost flew back in holding what looked to be a purple and pink snake in his hooves. "Weird isn't it?" Everypony, except Fang, dove under the table. "What? It's not that strange is it?"

"Father... That is a Tatzlwurm larva. Turn around and go put it back where you found it... Or else I will not allow you to see your grandfoals. Ever." The stallion looked between the worm and his son before flying out the door. He came back a few minutes later and saw that everypony had gotten back up. 

"Eh heh... Sorry... As you can probably well I'm easily excitable and will tend to talk a pony's ears off..." Everypony nodded in agreement with the stallion. "I am so very for interrupting the party I just wanted to know what gender my grandfoals were going to be. Now that I see the cake is both blue and pink, which means one of each, I will go." The ghost went to fly out the door but had his tail grabbed by the magic of the alicorns who sat at the end of the table. "Huh?"

"You are Fang's father. You are welcome to stay." Fang nodded in agreement with his wife.

"Really?" Twilight and Fang nodded. "Are you sure?" They both nodded again. "Well... If you insist... But I am not going sit at that table... No offense it is a really nice table... But the last time I sat at a table it turned to dust... Then again I did have Dragon's Breath Cough..." The stallion shook his head. "Anyway...“ He looked at Twilight. "What is your name young mare? After all you are my daughter in law so I cannot keep referring to you as 'mare'... Unless that is your name." Twilight giggled.

"Fang... You have quite the... Interesting father..." Fang just sighed and nodded his head. "Anyway Mr. Sangue. As you already know I am your son's wife, his queen, and the mother of his foals." Twilight smiled and placed a hoof on her stomach. "I am Queen Twilight Sparkle of Transylmaneia, formerly Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria."

"A princess eh? Never thought he would go for one of those... Was it an arranged marriage?" Twilight and Fang both shook their heads. "Good, you married out of love, not out of money... Though I bet the trade between the two kingdoms didn't hurt did it?" Fang groaned and placed his head on the table. "Now don't be like that... Ok I'll change the subject. Have you thought up any names for the little ones?" Fang's head shot up and he smiled.

Twilight smiled and placed a hoof on her stomach. "We were thinking that our daughter's name should be Harmony Dawn... Because if it weren't for the Elements of Harmony, then I would never have met my friends, never have become a princess, and never would have met Fang... As for the colt..."

"Dusk Shadow... Because if it were not for Soul, I would have given up on life a long time ago. He was my only anchor to this world for over ten thousand years, my metaphorical light in the darkness... As such I feel that my son should be given a name to honor him, slightly at least." Soul just blinked at Fang.

"Dude... That's deep... Are you drunk? I've never heard you be so... Deep, unless your blood alcohol level is five times over the legal limit..." Fang glared at the shade.

"It is called being philosophical, and I am philosophical all the time thank you very much! When I am drunk I pick fights and talk to chairs!" Everypony blinked. "The second part of my statement about when I am drunk does not leave this room... Understand?" Everypony quickly nodded knowing that the black alicorn would not let them leave until they agreed. "Good."

The sudden sound of laughter caught the pony’s attention. "Fine names, fine names for a filly and colt. Fine reasoning too!" Fang's eyes went wide.

"That sounds like..." A large cloud of smoke formed and a rabbit appeared. "Lepus..." The rabbit turned and gave the black alicorn a cruel smile.

"Six months until you die Monster King... I hope you will be a good father for the two months you will have remaining after the little ones are born..." Fang picked up a knife and threw it at the rabbit, only for it to go straight through him. "You can't cut smoke!" The knife flew back and impaled Fang in the chest. The black alicorn didn't even flinch. "But you can cut flesh!" The rabbit disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Twilight pulled the knife from her husband's chest and cast a healing spell on him.

"Fang are you alright?" The black alicorn smiled at the mare, nuzzled her neck, and gave her a small nip on the ear.

"The only thing that was injured was my pride." Twilight smiled and nuzzled herself into Fang's side. She smile widened when she felt him wrap a wing around her.

"Hey Fang?" The black alicorn looked at his wife. "If your father is a threshal... How come you have feathery wings?" Fang chuckled.

"I don't. The feathery ones are just an illusion. I do not wish for my subjects to respect me out of fear, but rather what I have done for them. The leathery wings of a bat or dragon are commonly associated with evil or fear. As such I hide the true form of my wings so as not to strike fear into the hearts of my subjects." Twilight thought for a second before nodding in acceptance.

"I guess that makes sense. If I saw the shadow of a dragon, even a teenage one, on the ground below me I would probably be scared as well... Speaking of fear... I don't think I've ever seen you afraid of anything..." There was a laugh from the ghost in the corner.

"That is because when he was younger, my son used to wrestle Chimera and hunt Chupacabra for fun!" Fluttershy gasped and glared at Fang who just whistled a merry tune in response. "I remember this one time when he forced an Ursa Major back into its cave..." Trixie gasped and looked at Fang who face hoofed.

"One. I didn't force it back into its cave, I coerced it back into its cave. Two it was an Ursa Minor that had lost its mother and was sad... I do not like to see young ones of any species sad..." Trixie and Twilight both glared at Fang's father.

"Oh yeah... I get confused sometimes... I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed... But there was that time you made a suit of armor from a Scorpio's shell." Fluttershy gasped and looked at Fang.

"How could you!?" Fang gave a growl in response.

"It tried to devour an entire village, almost killed me, twice, and that Scorpio just happens to be the reason that Firefly is dead!" Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

"Firefly? As in General Firefly? As in founder of the Wonderbolts General Firefly?" Fang nodded. "Just how old are you?"

"He is older than me Rainbow Dash." Rainbow looked at Celestia and let her jaw drop.

"What? But... How!? Twilight! Did you know he was older than the princess when you married him!?" Twilight giggled and nodded. 

"He told me on our third date. I was shocked at first but I still loved him." The mare turned and gave her husband a kiss on the cheek. Fang saw the look on Rainbow's face and chuckled.

"I was in my fifties before Celestia and Luna were born... So I'm at least fifty years older than Celestia... Firefly was a friend of mine... In fact she taught me how to fly." Rainbow was in Fang's face in seconds.

"You have to teach me some of her moves!" Fang blinked.

"She only taught me the basics..." Dash frowned and flew back to her seat. "Wait! I remember one technique she used! She was able to... I guess you could say, light her wings on fire, that's how she got the name Firefly." Dash looked at Fang and raised an eyebrow. "If you don't believe me then I will show you." Everypony nodded thinking it was a nice idea. Fang walked into the street and looked at everypony before turning to Dash. "Do exactly as I do." Dash nodded and watched as Fang ran down the street and took off before turning around, going low to the ground, and scraping the tips of his feathers on the ground, the resulting friction resulted in the black alicorn's wings being lit aflame. He soared through the sky and landed next to Twilight, smiled, blew on his wings, and folded them up. They surprisingly were not burned at all. "Cool thing about that trick is that it doesn't damage the wings." He smiled and looked at Dash. "Now you try. Just run the tips of your feathers across the ground and you will have fire."

"Got it!" Rainbow turned around and ran off exactly like Fang had. Once she turned around she flew close to the ground and bent her wings the way Fang had. She was amazed that a sudden heat surrounded her, and turned to see that her wings were alight with rainbow colored flames. She smiled, turned, and flew into the air. She flew at top speed and wrote her name with the flames, as if she was using a sparkler. After a few minutes she flew back to the ground, landed, blew on her wings, and folded them up. "That. Was. Awesome! But... Now I'm really tired. Can't wait to show this to the other Wonderbolts though... Hey I never did invite all of you to see one of our shows did I?" Everypony shook their heads no. "Well you are all invited to the next show. It's in Canterlot."

"The technique takes a lot out of you." Fang heard a yawn and turned to see Twilight with her head on his shoulder. "Tired?" The purple mare nodded and the black alicorn turned towards the crowd. "I am sorry but we must depart for the night. We had a wonderful time at the party." Fang looked around and saw that somepony was missing. A certain grey alicorn filly. Fang slowly walked over towards Sugar Cube Corner and popped his head inside. He smiled when he saw Ana, covered with crumbs of cookies and cake, sleeping on the table next to the bowl of punch. "Ana... It's time to go home..." The little filly opened her eyes and yawned before closing them and going back to sleep. Fang chuckled and floated the little filly over with his magic. Once she was on his back he felt the little filly wrap her forelegs around his neck. The black and purple alicorns turned and walked away.

"Is she yours?" Fang looked at his father and nodded. "She is simply adorable." Fang smiled at his father. "Blood or adoption?"

"Adoption... She and I were very close, so close that she started calling me Cousin Fang. According to Twilight I never acted like her cousin. I acted like her father..." Fang smiled and his father smiled back.

"You truly love her as if she was your own don't you?" Fang nodded. "Twilight... Do you love her? I mean truly love her? Did you marry her because you loved her, or because it would benefit your kingdom?" Fang stopped in his tracks and Twilight looked up at Fang to see how her husband was going to respond.

"Let me put it this way father..." Fang looked down at the purple mare and nuzzled her neck. "Before I met Twilight... I wasn't even sure if I could feel love." Twilight giggled and let out another yawn.

"That is good to know... Now... Tell me about this Eye of Tartarus." The two stallions spent the night talking while Twilight and Ana slept.





Beyond the East the sunrise, beyond the West the sea, and the East and West, wander the thirst that will not let me be. ~ Gerald Gould. 


> Opening the Eye.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn. ~ Benjamin Franklin.






Three months later.


Twilight, Trixie, the elements, their coltfriends, the princesses, Ana, and Soul were standing outside of the entrance to the chamber that held the Eye of Tartarus. Over the past three months Fang and Soul had collected the remaining five signs of the Black Zodiac, the Great Child, the Dire Mother, the Hammer, the Jackal, and the Broken Heart. Sadly all of the ponies knew the mare who now represented the Broken Heart. It was Granny Smith. A fire had broken out in the farmhouse and Granny Smith ran back in to save Applebloom before Applejack could. The farmhouse collapsed and when the smoke cleared away they found Granny Smith's body, huddled over Applebloom in an effort to keep her safe. She had died because of an act of pure love for the little filly.

"I just can't believe she's gone... She died a week after I saved her from jumping off a high dive... Strange isn’t it? I save her from dying because of water, and she ends up dying because of fire... I don't know why she wants to be a part of this ritual though..." Applejack sighed.

"Maybe she sees it as her duty..." Applejack turned and looked at Trixie with a raised eyebrow. "Fang is doing this, a dark ritual that could possibly drive him insane, not for himself, but to protect the ponies that he cares about. Maybe she sees this as the final way she can protect you." Applejack sighed and glanced at the mare.

"You know what?" Trixie gulped and shook her head. "You should have been one of those motivational speakers. You strangely made sense there." The orange mare nodded at the azure unicorn and gave a small smile.

"I just want to know what this ritual will do to my husband." Twilight sat down and pressed a hoof to her stomach. "I trust him but... I'm still worried what it will do to him."

"There is no way to tell what the ritual will do until it is over." Twilight looked at Soul and sighed. "The best we can do is wish him luck..."

"Soul... Is there any chance he might d-die?" Soul sadly nodded. "I don't want to lose him... I want my foals to grow up with a father..." Twilight stood up and walked towards the chamber's entrance, only for it to slam shut once she got close. Twilight stumbled back, but was caught by Trixie and Soul. "W-what? Why did it slam shut like that?"

"Because the ritual just started. Now there is nothing we can do but wait."


Inside the chamber.


Fang stood silently as the thirteen spirits took their places on the symbol that corresponded to them in the black zodiac. As soon as each spirit was positioned atop of their symbol, the large golden ring that said symbols were engraved on began to rotate, along with the smaller golden rings that worked their way into the center. Fang slowly moved into the center of the rings and stood there. As the rings began to pick up speed he sighed and closed his eye. "Sed. Tredecim, ut religionis animos colligant, deos quaeso fac inferi!" The rings began to slow down and a small red orb formed above the black alicorn. Slowly the plate that Fang was standing on began to turn counter clockwise.

The rings stopped and Fang was facing Poco. "Primogenitus virtutem petam!"

The ghostly colt nodded. "Unde petitum, ita erit!" The orb above Fang's head grew slightly larger and the rings began to turn again, when they stopped this time Fang was facing the Torso.

"Rogo autem de abdominis!" The torso repeated the same thing that Poco had said and the process continued. Each spirit responded the same way. By reciting the spell in the old language. They all said 'As it is requested, so it shall be!' and as Fang saw each spirit he asked them for their power. With each spirit that responded as Poco had the orb above Fang grew larger.

"Finis autem potentiae respondet Mare!" The Bound Mare.

"Unde petitum, ita erit!" 

"Exsiccatum rogo amator virtutis!" The Withered Lover.

"Unde petitum, ita erit!" 

"Rogo laceratione potestate principis!" The Torn Prince.

"Unde petitum, ita erit!" 

"Iratus principem potestatis respondet!" The Angry Princess.

"Unde petitum, ita erit!" 

"Respondet potentia Pilgrimess!" The Pilgrimess.

"Unde petitum, ita erit!" 

"Magna vis rogo Puer!" The Great Child.

"Unde petitum, ita erit!" 

"Summam virtutem petam Mater!" The Dire Mother.

"Unde petitum, ita erit!" 

"Respondet potentia malleum!" The Hammer.

"Unde petitum, ita erit!" 

"Respondet potentia Draconis!" The Jackal.

"Unde petitum, ita erit!" 

"Respondet potentia Juggernaut!" The Juggernaut.

"Unde petitum, ita erit!" 

"Virtus cor peto!" The Broken Heart.

"Unde petitum, ita erit!"

Once Fang had requested the power of all thirteen spirits he opened his eyes and looked at the orb. "Terminis omnibus presentibus, ut convenit, nunc poscere daemonum vires di eorum domum! Servire utar tutela et potestas morer! Ut tellus Hylam sarta finis dierum! Et ne in aeternum nocte! Et stare in Apocalypsi, etiam antequam incipiat!" The earth began to shake and the red orb, which was now ten times the size of Fang, slowly descended. It touched the tip of his horn and all went black.


Outside the chamber.


"W-what's going on!?" Twilight took to the air in an effort to keep herself from falling over.

"GGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Twilight's eyes went wide when she heard her husband's scream.

'Oh no! He's not going to make it!' Suddenly the earth stopped shaking and the entrance to the chamber opened. Nine orbs of light floated out of the chamber, through the walls of the castle, and floated up into the sky before disappearing. Nine of the spirits used in the ritual had been set free and were able to cross over. Twilight landed and ran towards the entrance to the chamber. "Fang! Fang! Can you hear me!?" The group heard some hoofsteps and watched as Poco, Granny Smith, and Sangue climbed the stairs that led out of the chamber.

"It is done." Slowly Fang climbed the stairs. Twilight gasped when she saw her husband's eyes. They were glowing. In fact his whole body was glowing. "I opened the eye..." He looked at Twilight and Ana. "Never let me do it again." Fang stopped glowing and fell over.

"Fang!" Twilight ran over to her husband and rolled him over before placing an ear to his chest. She sighed n relief when she heard his heart beating. "Oh thank goodness. He's alive..." Twilight stood up and walked over to the stallion's head, laid down, and began to nuzzle his cheek. "Honey... It's time to wake up..."

Fang shifted so that his lips were touching his wife's. Twilight giggled and kissed him. A few seconds later his eyes opened. All was silent for a minute. "Twilight... Please mover your head so I can sit up." Twilight did so and Fang slowly sat up. "Ok... Did I open the eye?" Everypony nodded. "Is there anything different about me?" Everypony shook their heads. "Everypony stand back. I want to try something." Everypony backed away and Fang's horn lit up. The aura from his horn spread over his body and he became slimmer and slightly taller. "Did it work?" Everypony gasped. His voice was a higher pitch. Fang had become a mare. "Am I a mare now?" Everypony nodded. "Good... I need to try a few more things." His horn glowed again and he turned back into a stallion. Then to the surprise of everypony he turned into a colt. "Ok. It gave me a lot of extra arcane energy... I was never able to cast gender or age spells before... Now to see if it affected my strength." Fang turned back into a stallion and stood up. His horn glowed and he teleported the group into a courtyard that was used by the guards for training.

"I suppose you want to spar?" Fang shook his head. "Want me to block your attack and see how far back it sends me?" The black alicorn nodded. "Hoof or sword?"

"Hoof." Soul nodded and Fang charged at the shade. When he reached his childhood friend he raised a hoof and struck the unicorn in the chest. The unicorn slid back a few feet. "Well... It certainly made me stronger in both physical and arcane aspects, but it didn't make me faster." He looked down at his hooves. "I think that I'm strong enough now."

"Alright dude!" Soul ran over and slapped the alicorn on the back. "Now we just have to wait three months.  After that... We break Lepus into tiny pieces and feed him to a chimera in the Fire Geyser Swamp."

Fang nodded. "Agreed!" In the back of his mind however, a dark message kept playing. Over and over. A large being stood before him. One made of fire and light. It kept changing form.

"Seven trials you and your friends must pass. So you can right, the wrongs of the past." Fang shook his head, walked over to his wife and kissed her before he realized something. One month. It was only one month until their two little bundles of joy arrived in this world.

'With this power I will protect those I hold dear to my heart. As well as the innocent ponies who roam this earth.'





Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. ~ Ernest Hemingway.

> Twin Blessings.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Who speaks to the instincts speaks to the deepest in mankind, and finds the readiest response. ~ Amos Bronson Alcott.






One month later.


Fang was in the library of his castle along with Soul. Right now the two friends were trying to find records of the seven trials that the creature that had appeared to Fang in his mind had mentioned. "No. No. No. No. No!" Fang slammed his hooves onto the table he and Soul were sitting at and pushed the books he had in front of him to the floor. Fang looked down and sighed. "What are the damned trials that the creature mentioned!?" Fang stood up and walked away from the table with Soul following close behind.

"Dude maybe you should take a break. After all the little ones are due any day now aren't they? I mean do you really want to be in this library when your wife goes into labor?" Fang sighed and looked at the ground again.

"No but..." Soul coughed cutting the vampony off.

"Then leave. Go on. The door won't bite. Watch, I'll show you." Soul ran over to the door and went to open it, only for it to be opened from the other side by Trixie and Ana. The little filly ran up to Fang and grabbed his leg.

"Mommy! Foals! Now!" Fang looked down and blinked at his adopted daughter before looking up at the blue unicorn mare in the doorway.

"Trixie... Is she saying what I think she's saying?" The blue mare nodded and ran away from the door with the others following close behind. The group soon arrived at the king and queen's bedroom. "Soul, could you go get the doctors? I would come with you but... I need to be with Twilight." Soul smiled and lit up his horn before vanishing. Fang entered the room and walked over to Twilight, who was laying on the bed, and placed a hoof on his wife's shoulder. "Don't worry Twilight, everything is going to be fine. Soul went to get the doctors and they will be here any second."

The purple mare began to cry. "Fang, it hurts! It hurts so badly! I am going to bucking kill you for this you plothole!" Twilight's chest began to rise and fall at a rapid pace. "W-what if something goes wrong and one of them gets hurt? W-what if one of them is a stillborn? W-what if they're both stillborn? W-what if I die in foalbirth?" Twilight's chest began to rise and fall at an even faster pace. "Fang it's not hurting as much as before! What's wrong? Is something wrong with the foals?" The sudden feeling of a hoof being placed on one of her own caused the purple alicorn mare to look at her husband. She immediately noticed that his horn was glowing and that his face was contorted in pain. "Fang?"

"It's alright Twilight. Nothing is going to be wrong with our foals, I am sure of it." Twilight's eyes widened when she saw her husband's eyes. They were filled with pure agony. It took a few seconds for Twilight to realize what he was doing. He was taking some of the pain away from her.

"Fang you don't need to do that... Drop the spell." Fang looked at Twilight and shook his head. "Now! Celestia said that the pain may be excruciating but in the end its worth it and a mare should be proud of being able to handle it. I want to be able to say that I took all the pain and that I could handle it. So please. Drop the spell." Fang looked at his wife with stunned eyes. She truly wanted to go through all of the pain of foalbirth on her own. Fang sighed and dropped the spell. Twilight responded immediately with a scream of pain.

Soul opened the door and rushed in along with some doctors. "I got the doctors!" The shade was surprised when a surgical garb and mask were slipped over his form. Fang also had a doctor’s surgery garb placed on him. After all the equipment was set up a doctor walked up to Twilight's crotch and bent down.

"Ok. Queen Twilight, we need you to remain calm and push. I already see the head of one of the foals." Twilight nodded and pushed. She began to pant very hard as the foal came farther and farther out of her nether regions. She began to shake in worry, fear, and pain before she felt Fang place a gloved hoof on her cheek and felt him pet her mane.

"Shh. Don't worry. I'm sure you're doing great my queen." He looked down at the doctor for conformation and received a nod. Fang smiled and looked back at his wife. "Just stay calm and remember, once this is over you and I will have two lovely little foals of our own. Two little bundles of joy that we can love and cherish with all of our heart and soul."

"Ok Twilight, your almost there. One more push and the first foal will be born." Twilight nodded at the doctor and pushed with all of her might. Her efforts were met with the sound of a foal wailing. "Congratulations, you are the parents of a beautiful, healthy, alicorn filly." The doctor cut the umbilical cord and handed the foal to a nurse, who wrapped it in a pink blanket. The doctor turned back towards Twilight and smiled. "Now for the colt. Ok. Push!" Twilight nodded and pushed with all of her strength.

Soul walked over to the nurse that was holding the newborn filly and smiled. He looked at the monster king and grinned. "Fang... Your daughter is adorable!" His eyes drifted towards the doctor and he saw the head of the colt coming out. "Looks like Dusk is on his way."

"Ok Twilight. Push!" Twilight pushed with every ounce of strength she had left. She collapsed, but was rewarded by the sound of a colt crying. "You are also the parents of a healthy alicorn colt. Congratulations." A blue blanket floated over to the doctor and he wrapped the foal in it. "Do you want to hold them?" Twilight and Fang both nodded and the doctor and nurse that were holding the foals walked over. They handed the colt to his father, and the filly to her mother. The colt, Dusk, had a bright white coat, a black mane with streaks of silver running through it, and kind, lavender eyes like his mother. The filly, Dawn, had a dark purple coat like her mother, an orange mane with streaks of blue running through it, and soft, cerulean eyes like her father.

Soul looked at the happy little family as the doctors left. "Can I go get the others?" The parents that were holding their newborn foals nodded and Soul walked over to the door. He was shocked to see all of the elements and their coltfriends standing there. "How did you all know that she was giving birth?" The mares and stallions all pointed at Trixie, who just smiled and nodded in conformation. "Come on in. But be quiet." Everypony nodded and slowly walked in, except Ana, she ran in and over to the bed. She opened her wings and flew up to her mother.

"Hey there Ana... Do you want to see your new little sister?" The filly eagerly nodded and Twilight slowly turned the filly she was cradling in her forelegs so that Ana could see her. Dawn looked at her older sister and smiled.

"A-goo!" Ana let out a small squeak and gave her new little sister a soft kiss on the forehead under her horn, which earned a giggle from the foal. Twilight turned the foal back to her and smiled as the mares in the group slowly trotted up one by one.

"She's beautiful isn't she girls?" All the mares eagerly nodded and Twilight turned to Fang. "C-can I hold our son?" Fang smiled at his wife.

"If you would allow me to hold our daughter." Twilight smiled and hesitantly handed Fang their daughter as he gave her their son. Fang smiled down at the little filly that he held in his forelegs. "Hello little one. I'm your daddy, can you say daddy?"

"Gapy!" Fang, and the rest of the stallions chuckled at the foal's attempt to copy what her father had said.

"I think that is close enough for now." The door opened and a guard stepped inside. Fang, showing an unusual amount of anger, glared at said guard. "You better have a good reason for interrupting my time with my friends, wife, and newborn foals."

The stallion got down on three knees and bowed. "A thousand pardons my king. I am simply here to inform you that a large crowd has gathered outside of the castle gates." Fang's eyes widened.

"Is something the matter? Have I done something wrong and they've started a revolt in response?" Everypony was quiet and looked at the guard.

"No your majesty. One of my fellow guards let it slip that the queen had gone into labor. I believe that the entire kingdom wants to know if it is true and the foals have arrived in this world safely. It seems that they have been eagerly awaiting this day." Fang stood and handed Twilight their daughter. 

"Can you walk my queen? I must go and disperse the crowds." Twilight looked down and moved one of her legs.

"I think so but..." She looked at the foals that had fallen asleep in her legs. "What about them?" Trixie coughed and Twilight glared at the mare for coughing on her children. However Trixie was looking away from the purple alicorn. Trixie jumped out of the way, sat on her haunches, and threw her forelegs to the side. Sitting behind where she had been standing was a purple foal's carriage.

"Ta-da! I learned a summoning spell just in case you needed something and I was nearby. I thought that something like this might happen the day the little ones were born." Trixie smiled at Twilight. "Did I do good teacher?" Twilight giggled and nodded at her student.

"I wasn't even anywhere near teaching you a spell like that. I'm really happy that you have started studying on your own time." Trixie shrugged in response.

"I got bored when you didn't need any help and Soul was away from town... So I thought I should learn something that would help you when you needed it." Soul walked over and gave Trixie a kiss on the cheek.

"That's my mare! Well not that I own you or anything... You know the context I was using to refer to you right?" The blue mare nodded in response. She had known what he meant when he said it. 

Fang took the foals from his wife and tucked them into the carriage, pulling a small blanket up to their necks and covering their chests so they would not get cold. He noticed the small pillows that were built into the carriage. "Sleep tight little ones." Twilight, with help from her friends, stood up and walked over to the carriage, quickly followed by Ana. She placed her hooves on the handle that she could use to push it and smiled at Fang as the three alicorns walked towards the door. The soldier stood and saluted. Fang smiled and placed a hoof on the armored pony's shoulder. "Send a messenger to Princess Celestia in Canterlot and Princess Cadence in the Crystal Empire."

The soldier smiled. "It has already been done your majesty. We sent the swiftest ponies in the guard force stationed in the capital." Fang nodded and walked out the door, followed by Twilight, Ana, and all of their friends.


In Canterlot Castle.


Celestia was having lunch with her sister, her niece, Dream, her daughter, her daughter's adopted son, and her lover. The sudden sound of metal shaking caught her attention and she looked towards the door. "Assassin! The Monster King sent an assassin!" Celestia blinked as the doors to the dining room slammed open and she saw a stallion in Transylmaneian armor get tackled to the ground by five guards. After a few minutes of struggling the foreign soldier sighed and looked up. He smiled when he saw Princess Celestia.

"Message for the Equestrian royals from King Crimson Fang and Queen Twilight Sparkle." Celestia raised an eyebrow.

"This message was so important that you burst into the castle making the guards think you were an assassin?" Celestia's eyes drifted to the pony's sides when the guards stood up and released him. He was an earth pony. "The train is not running today... It's under repair... D-did you run here?" The earth pony nodded. "This message must be very important than." The soldier bowed.

"It is of the utmost urgency that you travel to Transylmaneia immediately." The stallion looked up at the Equestrian royals. "I am here to announce the birth of Princess Harmony Dawn and Prince Dusk Shadow." The tea cup in Celestia's telekinetic grip fell to the ground and shattered.

Celestia looked at the guards and pointed at the two earth ponies and unicorn in the group. "You three, take this pony to the barracks and get him a warm meal. I believe he deserves a reward for traveling to Canterlot by hoof to tell me about the birth of my student’s foals." She looked at the two pegasi as the three earth bound guards led the soldier towards the barracks. "You two. Go have three carriages made ready for the departure of me and my family." The pegasi saluted and flew off.

"Mother? Should we send a message to Princess Cadence?" Celestia looked at her daughter and smiled.

"Knowing Fang? He has already sent a messenger to the Crystal Empire." Celestia was right.


The Crystal Empire.


Cadence and Shining Armor were walking down the streets of the Crystal Empire with their nearly two year old daughter Skyla. "It's a nice day isn't it honey?" Shining Armor nodded. The sudden sight of a crowd gathering caught his attention and the three walked over to where the crowd was gathering. Standing on the other side of the shield was a unicorn in Transylmaneian armor. He was repeatedly banging his head against the shield.

The pony hit his head against the shield one last time before falling to the ground. "For the king's sake let me in! My tail is getting frozen to my flanks out here! Please! I have an urgent message for the prince and princess!" Cadence sighed and teleported the unicorn inside of the shield.

"What is the message you have for us?" The soldier looked up.

"The queen went into labor and will have given birth by the time you arrive... Can I pass out now?" Cadence blinked and nodded absent mindedly. "Thank you your majesty." With that the soldier passed out. 

"Guards!" Two guards ran up and saluted. "Get this soldier to the castle and into a bed. I refuse to let him sleep on the ground." The guards nodded, picked up the unconscious soldier, and took him to the castle. Cadence looked at her husband and nodded before her horn lit up and she, Armor, and Skyla disappeared in a burst of light.


Back in Transylmaneia.


Fang, Twilight, and Ana walked through the glass doors that led out to their castle's third story balcony. Twilight went wide eyed when she saw the crowd that had gathered. The guard had not been exaggerating when he had said that the entire kingdom wanted to know. Fang cleared his throat causing all of the citizens of the Transylmaneian kingdom to go silent. He opened his mouth to speak when a flash of light covered the area. When they could finally see again they spotted the crystal royals. He was silent for a few minutes, then he smiled to see three chariots flying towards their castle. Once they landed the Equestrian royals got out and stood next to the crystal royals. 

Fang gazed out over the large crowd and took a deep breath. "At this moment, whilst I stand here with my wife and daughter, I will confirm the rumor that has led to you gathering in front of the gates of our castle. My wife has given birth to both a beautiful son and daughter. It is at this moment that I confirm that two new ponies walk this earth. Princess Harmony Dawn and Prince Dusk Shadow of Transylmaneia!" Twilight smiled as Fang's horn glowed and their foals floated to them, Twilight held Dusk while Fang held Dawn. The entire crowd broke out into a large cheer as the foreign royals made their way into the castle. Twilight and Fang smiled and kissed before placing the foals back into their carriage and walking back inside, along with Ana, so that they could meet the other royals.

"I don't think that there were that many ponies at my coronation, and the last seven Summer Sun Celebrations combined!" Fang smiled.

"That is because they have been awaiting the birth of my foals for over fifteen thousand years. It is not every day that your king becomes a father, is it?" After they entered their room and got to their bed Twilight smiled at Fang and looked down at their foals when she heard the sound of crying. The source of the sound was both Dawn and Dusk. Twilight's horn glowed and their foals were lifted out of the carriage while the blankets that covered them became unraveled.

"Is somepony hungry? Oh I bet you are, I bet you are!" Twilight set the two foals on the ground and laid on her side with her back against the bed. "Come on now, don't be shy little ones." Ana watched with curiosity as the two foals crawled over to their mother and latched onto her teats. Twilight smiled as her foals began suckling, and she slowly let her free wing drift down and brush the small tufts of mane that her children had on their heads. "There we go. Drink up you two. That way you can grow up to be big and strong just like your father."

"Is that how I fed off of my birth mother after I was born?" Fang looked down at his adoptive daughter and nodded. There was a knocking at bedroom door, so Ana walked over and opened the door. Standing there were the king and queen's fellow royals. Cadence was the first pony inside of the room.

"Where are my little niece and nephew? Where are Skyla's cousins? Come on. I want to see them." Twilight giggled and looked down at the two foals that were currently covered by her wing.

They pulled off and smiled at their mother. "All full?" Both of the foals smiled and sat down. Twilight lifted Dawn up, placed her over her shoulder, and patted her back until she heard a tiny burp. Twilight's eyes went wide and she levitated her daughter in front of her. "Oh my goodness... That sounded too cute to be real."

Cadence walked over to Twilight and laid down next to her. "Twilight... D-do you think I could hold..." Cadence's eyes drifted down toward the foal's lower half and then back up to her face before smiling. "Do you think I could hold Dawn?" Twilight looked between her daughter and Cadence a few times before hesitantly floating the filly over to the pink alicorn. She picked her son up and patted his back until he burped and set him back down. She glanced at Cadence and saw her daughter being nuzzled by the pink mare before looking down with an ashamed look on her face. She knew she could trust Cadence, yet she didn't trust her at all. "Now Twilight, don't be ashamed of not wanting to let me hold your daughter. It's natural for a mother to be cautious about others that are around their foal."

"That's right Twilight." Celestia walked over, along with Sunset, and laid down in front of her student. "When Sunset was just a foal I wouldn't allow anypony besides Mord to touch her."

"I wish I had been as calm as you sister..." Luna walked over and sat down with the other mares. Dream quickly pranced up behind her mother, climbed onto her back, up her neck, and took a seat on her head. "I actually put two ponies, one of which was Night Striker, in a coma when I found out that they had touched Dream while I hadn't been looking." She looked down. "I didn't use magic to do it either..."

"Demonic pile of cotton candy!" Everypony looked at the door and saw Pinkie Pie standing there with a large smile on her face. "Wait... It's the element of laughter... Never mind!"

"All of you need to go to a window that can let you see the restaurants and inns near the castle... Right now!" Pinkie ran into the room and grabbed the stallions, placed them on her back and ran out the door.

Sunset blinked at where the pink mare had just been. "Did she just lift four fully grown stallions without breaking a sweat?" The other alicorns nodded. "You know what? I'm not even going to ask how. If she is anything like the Pinkie Pie from the human world than I don't want to know." She then stood up and walked over to the door. "Well I don't know about you but I'm curious as to what has her more excited than normal." She left the room, quickly followed by the others, including Twilight who had conjured up a foal carrier and was now carrying a sleeping Dawn and Dusk. They followed the sound of rapid speech until they found Pinkie and the stallions. The males were all staring out the window with their jaws agape.

The mares walked over and gasped at what they saw. The entirety of the street that led to the castle looked like a fair ground. "I knew my subjects were excited but... Pinkie... Did you help them set this up?"

Pinkie nodded before placing a hoof to her chin. "Well... I had some help from the girls, their coltfriends, and Cheese Sandwich." Fang raised an eyebrow.

"Cheese who? Is he another party pony?" Pinkie nodded rapidly. "I know that you are a very good party pony, but even with your skills and the help of thirteen other ponies you could not have set this up in one hour."

"They already had a head start on it... They were waiting for this day and already had all the decorations, and the Ferris wheel... According to them they were waiting for a very long time. Well! I'm gonna go see how everypony is enjoying the party. Bye!" Pinkie Pie stood up and ran off so fast it left a pony shaped cloud of dust where she had been. Fang fell over and began to twitch.

Twilight looked down at her husband and sighed. "Did Pinkie just break your brain?" Fang just nodded.

"How did they get all the decorations up!? There's a Ferris wheel out there! This just not logical! It's physically impossible! Not improbable, impossible!" Twilight walked over, lifted Fang up with her magic, and sat down next to him. "Twilight... Is this one of those things that we should place in the 'impossible to explain, and you will catch on fire if you try to' category?" Twilight just nodded and Fang turned towards the window again. "Very well then." The other royals left to enjoy the festival. Fang and Twilight however went back to their room and played with their foals. That night, was the first night in nine months that Fang did not think about the upcoming battle with the rabbit.





I think the truly natural things are dreams, which nature can't touch with decay. ~ Bob Dylan.

> The Trial of Envy.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


I was never really insane except upon occasions when my heart was touched. ~ Edgar Allen Poe.






One week later.


Twilight was laying on the floor of the bedroom that she shared with her husband. At the moment she was on her side and watching as Fang and Ana played peekaboo with Dawn and Dusk. The week old foals seemed to be genuinely confused when the two older ponies' faces disappeared. Dusk stood up and began to walk towards her. Following with her eyes she smiled as walked up to her belly, or more specifically, one of the teats on her belly. The white colt turned his head and looked at his mother and smiled before clamping his toothless mouth down and starting to suckle on the sensitive nub. "There you go little one, drink up. But drink slowly ok? We don't want you to get a tummy ache do we?" Twilight bent her neck so she could nuzzle her son's cheek. "No we don't. We want you to be a happy little colt don't we? Yes we do, yes we do."

Fang walked over, sat down next to his wife, and smiled at the little foal as he ate. His eyes slowly drifted towards his daughters and saw that Ana was scowling at Dawn. Ana glanced over at the two elder alicorns and her scowl quickly turned into a smile. "Ana... Why were you scowling at your little sister?" Even from two feet away Fang could see the sweat form on the grey filly's brow.

"I don't know what you’re talking about daddy!" Ana mentally kicked herself. She knew that she had answered that too fast. Fang along with Twilight and Dusk, got up and walked over to the two fillies. As soon as they sat down Ana stood up and ran over to the door. Twilight blinked, stood up and walked towards the little filly.

"Ana... You never act like this... Sweetie, please tell us what's wrong... We only want to help you..." Ana growled at the mare and opened the door. Suddenly Twilight felt extremely cold. She looked at the little filly and could sense a feeling of extreme dread.

"What's wrong? What's wrong!?" Ana backed out the door and glared at the two foals. "I'll tell you what's wrong with me! Those two are what's wrong with me!" The ground around the grey alicorn filly began to freeze. She pointed at the week old foals and growled. "They took you away from me! You don't love me anymore because of them!"

Twilight put a hoof to her mouth and shook her head. "Ana... That's not true..."

"Yes it is! Because of them you stopped talking to me! You stopped loving me! You don't want me anymore! And it's all because of them! Because of them you didn't even notice that I broke my wing!" Twilight gasped and her eyes shot to the grey filly's side. Sure enough her right wing was wrapped in a bandage and broken in three places. "Because of them you don't care about me anymore!" The entire room slowly began to freeze.

"Ana I'm so sorry! I didn-"

"No you're not!" The entire room froze solid when the filly screamed. "Or maybe you are sorry..." The little filly looked up at purple mare and Twilight shook when she saw the filly's eyes. They were completely frozen. They had become ice. "Yeah... You're sorry! You're sorry that you adopted me in the first place! You're sorry that you brought me back from Stalliongrad with you!" Fang stood up and walked over to his wife and adopted daughter.

"Ana... Please calm down... You don't understand... Foals need more attention than grown fillies and colts..." Ana growled and let her horn glow. The next thing Fang knew there was a blood covered icicle in his chest. "Ana... You just attacked me..."

The filly's eyes turned back to normal and she looked at Fang. She had tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry that I ever even thought that you two wouldn't abandon me! Everypony abandons me in the end! Everypony! I'm sorry that I ever thought of you two as-" 

"Ana!" The filly turned and looked at Twilight. "Please don't say it... I love you as much as I love Dawn and Dusk. I'm sorry... I didn't mean to make you feel like we didn't want you... I didn't mean to ignore you... I was just so caught up with taking care of them that I-"

"I'm sorry that I ever thought of you as my parents!" Twilight's eyes filled with tears. Her daughter had just said that she didn't consider her as a mother anymore. "Five years! I was alone for five years! Fang stopped visiting me and I was all alone for five full years! Now I'm alone again thanks to those two! Because of them I jumped down the stairs and broke my wing so you would stop ignoring me! Even that didn't work!" The entire castle started to become covered in ice. "I hate you! I hate all of you and I never loved you! Because you never loved me!"

"Awa!" The two larger alicorns looked towards the source of the sound. It was Dusk and Dawn. The little white colt was sliding across the floor that Ana's anger had frozen, while his sister followed behind him because she had his tail in her mouth. Twilight and Fang watched in amazement as the young foals slid over to Ana. 

"What do you two want!? Come to laugh at me because you know they never loved me!?" The two foals shook their heads and hugged the grey filly. Ana blinked and the icicle in Fang's chest melted and the wound it had made closed. "What- What are you doing? We are enemies! You aren't supposed to be hugging me!"

"Ana... We're sorry..." The grey filly looked up at Fang with tears in her eyes. "We didn't know that you felt like we had abandoned you. If we had then I would have taken a break from the foals and played with you. You didn't have to break your wing to try and get our attention. You would have had it if you had just asked..."

Ana sniffled before bursting into tears. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean any off it! I don't hate you! I love you mommy! I love you daddy! I was just so lonely and he said that you had forgotten about me because of Dawn and Dusk!" Ana sniffled and stuck her eyes in her hooves. A few minutes later she stopped crying and looked up from her hooves to her adoptive parents. "I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to hurt anypony... I'll just go home now..." Ana stood up and walked out the door. She didn't make it three steps before she felt herself being lifted off the ground. She looked to see why she was floating and was suddenly being held by two wings. She looked up and received a kiss on the tip of her nose from her mother.

"Home? What are you talking about you silly filly? This is your home.“ Ana looked down as Fang walked up and sat beside his wife. "We are your parents." Twilight opened her wings to reveal the two foals who smiled and hugged Ana. "They are your younger siblings." Twilight levitated Ana out of her lap and placed her on the ground so that she was looking at the entirety of her family. "And we will always love you. Never forget that again ok? Now come over here and give mommy a hug." Ana just sat down and began to tear up again. "Please Ana... I'm sorry..." The little grey filly stood up, ran over, and hugged her mother with all of her might. She shoved her face into Twilight's chest and broke down into a fit of sobs.

"I'm so sorry! I'll never say anything like that ever again! Please don't hate me!" Twilight giggled and nuzzled her daughter’s cheek.

"Ana... I could never hate you... I'm sorry that I was so preoccupied with Dawn and Dusk. I just thought that foals needed more attention than grown up fillies and colts. I'll never make that mistake again. It's obvious that while I may need to watch Dawn and Dusk more than you, I need to spend just as much time with all of you." Fang sighed.

"I'm sorry too Ana. While you may not be related to us by flesh and blood, you are still our daughter. I'm sorry that I was so caught up in smothering the foals with attention that I wasn't spending any time with you. I just hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me." Ana ran over and hugged her father. "Ana... No matter how much I want to play with you right now, I need to do something very important. It's something that you can help with." Ana looked up, sniffled, and nodded. "You said that he said that we didn't love you anymore because of your little brother and sister. Who is he? Is he a butler? A guard?" Ana shook her head.

"He's the thing that lives under my bed..." Fang blinked, stood up, and ran out the door. Ana looked at Twilight and the purple mare smiled.

"Don't worry Ana... I'm sure he'll be back soon. Until then I'll play with you..." She looked towards her belly and saw Dawn latch onto one of her teats and start suckling on the sensitive nub. "Just as soon as Dawn finishes eating of course." Ana looked at Twilight and a small smile grew on her face.

"D-do you think I could help feed her?" Twilight thought for a second before the little filly at her belly stopped suckling. A small smile grew on her face.

"Do you think you can burp her?" Ana nodded and trotted over to the female foal. "Pick her up, place her over your shoulder, and pat her back." Ana smiled at the female foal, placed her on her shoulder and gently patted the foal on the back three times. Ana's reaction to the foal’s tiny burp was instantaneous.

"That... Was the cutest thing I have ever heard!"





Fang entered his daughter’s room. It was a simple room, especially for the princess of a kingdom with over three million subjects, twice the amount of Equestria. Her bed, a canopy styled one that lay in the center of the room, was a light blue in color with pillows, sheets, and blankets decorated with white snowflakes. The ends of the sheets, which reached the floor, were decorated to look like the icicles that would hang from the edge of a roof. Fang walked over to the bed and smiled at it. "This is where my daughter sleeps... I've never seen these sheets though..." The black alicorn's eyes drifted skyward and he smiled at what he saw. A childish drawing of a large pink heart with him, his wife, their two foals, and their eldest daughter in the center of it. Written under the image was a simple sentence. 'The best family I could ever ask for.' 

"Now to find out who told my daughter I didn't love her anymore." Fang bent down and looked under the bed. The only thing he saw however was a stuffed Blue Whale. "The thing that told my daughter that I didn't love her... Is a toy whale?" Fang reached under the bed and pulled out the toy whale. He was surprised to see a glowing green gem on the underside of said toy. "What is this?" Suddenly the eyes of the toy whale began to glow green. Fang dropped the item in surprise. He was even more surprised when the toy stood up on the fins at the end of the whale’s tail.

"Although sins in number are many, only seven are deadly. I am the first to deliver punishment to those who have wronged the gods. I am Leviathan, the Trial of Envy." The door to the room opened and Twilight walked in along with Ana and the foals, which were in a carrier strapped to her chest.

"Fang what's taking so long?" Twilight's eyes went wide when she saw the toy whale. It was growing. Soon it was five times the size of her husband, the fins on its side turned into arms that ended in sharp, clawed, webbed hands, the neck bent so that it could look down at the ponies, and the fins on the end of its tail turned into legs that ended with sharp, clawed, webbed feet.

The large demon looked at Ana. "The punishment for the envious is to have their eyes sewn shut with wire, because they have gained sinful pleasure from seeing others brought low." Fang stood up and tried to slash the demon's face with his sword, only to find that the creature's skin was too thick. The creature raised a hand and slapped the black alicorn away.

"I'm fine with that..." Twilight gasped and looked at her daughter. "I shouldn't have been jealous in the first place. While I was a little jealous of my little brother and sister, it was your words convinced me that mommy and daddy didn't care about me anymore because of Dawn and Dusk. I was weak and shouldn't have given into the temptations of those who whisper sweet nothings into my ears. So... Do what you have to do. I deserve it." Ana looked down and a few tears fell from her eyes. "Just leave my family alone."

The creature walked over to Ana and picked her up. "Your mother does nothing to stop me. Do you still think she cares about you? Do you not hate the ones who have taken their attention away from you?" Ana slowly shook her head. Slowly the creatures deadpan face turned into a soft, kind, smile. "You pass... However there are six sins to go." Slowly the giant creature shrank, until it was just a toy again. "Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Wrath, and Pride. Sins of the forefathers, sins you can't hide." The toy disappeared as Fang walked over to his wife and children.

"Fang... What just happened?" Fang looked at his wife and sighed.

"If I knew than I would tell you. All I know is that after I opened the eye a large creature appeared to me and said 'Seven trials you and your friends must pass. So that you may right the wrongs of the past.' I guess that this was one of the trials... The Trial of Envy... And the one being tested wasn't us, but Ana." Fang crouched down and hugged his eldest child. "You showed no hesitation in sacrificing yourself for your family... I'm very proud of you..."

Ana hugged her father back with a smile on her face. "Thanks daddy... I really didn't mean to hurt you earlier... I was just so angry that you weren't paying attention to me that I... I snapped. Like a twig."

"That's ok Ana. It didn't hurt me much at all." Fang smiled, gave his daughter a kiss on the forehead, and stood up. "Now then... As for your punishment for being so jealous..." 

Ana's ears flattened and she whimpered. Only one thought was racing through her mind at the moment. 'Please don't spank me.'

"The only suitable punishment that I can think of is..." Fang sat down and looked his daughter in the eyes. "What game do you want to play?" The black alicorn's mouth turned upwards into a smile and so did Ana's and Twilight's.

"If you two don't mind than I want to join in too..." Ana and Fang both looked at the purple mare, smiled and nodded. "Great! Now honey, what game do you want to play?"

Ana thought for a second before looking at her parents. "Do either of you know how to play Go Fish?" Both of the elders laughed and nodded.

Little did they know that three tree of harmony had gotten a new addition to the gemstones that it held. Safely tucked into one of the roots was a glowing, green, gem.





If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. ~ Gorge Washington.

> Magician's Past, Magician's Present.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture. ~ Thomas Paine.






One week later.


Fang and Twilight were visiting Trixie and Soul. At the moment the mares were in the kitchen playing with Dusk while the stallions were playing with Dawn in the living room. "I still can't believe that you let me nurse the foals in your house."

The blue mare just shrugged. "It doesn't bother me. I used to watch my mother nurse Hex and I understand that it is a very emotional bonding time between mother and foal. I don't want your foals to grow up and be distant from you... Plus I think that it’s pretty cute... I don't know why but I've always seen suckling foals as one of the most adorable things in existence." Trixie's eyes drifted to the side and she smiled. "Speaking of adorable, look at your husband's head." Twilight turned her head towards her husband and giggled.

Fang was sitting there cross eyed, because he was trying to look at Dawn, who had perched herself on top of his head and was biting his horn. Soul was just smiling at the sight. "Dude... I think your daughter is hungry." Fang smiled and looked up at his horn.

"Is he right Dawn? Are you hungry?" As if to answer the foal's stomach growled and she gave out a small whimper. "I'll take that as a yes." Fang and Soul stood up and walked over to Twilight and Trixie. The black alicorn sat down next to his wife and gently levitated his daughter to the floor. The little filly giggled and ran over to her mother. Halfway there however, she tripped and began to cry. Twilight was first to respond and levitated her daughter over.

"Shh. Shh. Everything's ok Dawn, let me see." Twilight looked at her daughter and noticed that she had scraped one of her legs on the tile floor. "Aww sweetie... Don't worry mommy will make you feel better." She leaned in and kissed it before summoning a band aid and antiseptic. "This might sting..." She sprayed the antiseptic on the filly's wound and placed the band aid on it. "There we go. Now then you're hungry aren't you? I bet you are. I bet you are." She nuzzled her daughter on the nose and gently levitated her to the ground in front of her stomach. The foal sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes before she saw one of Twilight's teats. The filly slowly scooted closer, opened her toothless mouth, and closed it around the sensitive nub. The pressure from this action caused some milk to squirt into her mouth and the filly began to eagerly suckle. "There we go, drink up, that way you will be a happy, healthy, filly when you grow up."

Trixie smiled and giggled at the sight. "As I said before. Most. Adorable. Thing. Ever." The blue mare felt something tug at her tail and looked down to see Dusk. The colt had a piece of her tail in his mouth. She took note that he also had a bit of both Soul and Fang's tails in his mouth. "Yes? What is it Dusk?" The colt let go of her tail and trotted into the living room. He sat down and pointed to a shelf that was too high for him to reach. Trixie, Fang, Soul, and Twilight's eyes immediately locked onto what lay on the shelf. Two pieces of cloth. "You want to see my old hat and cape?" The tiny colt shook his head and pointed at a picture that rested next to the articles of cloth. It showed Trixie standing on her hind legs with some of her firework magic in the distance, however she wasn't a fully grown mare, she was a fourteen year old. "Sorry Dusk... I don't perform anymore." Trixie's eyes began to water. She remembered that picture. It was her first, and saddest, performance. She had performed at the birthday party of a ten year old filly named Radiant Garden. The blue mare let her thoughts drifted back to ten years before.





"Watch and be amazed as the Great and Powerful Trixie turns this simple glass of water..." The young showmare removed her cape and placed it over the small glass that held the water. She had asked to borrow one of the glasses and one of the chairs from the stallion and mare that had hired her simply so that the fillies and colts at their daughter's birthday party know that it was not an enchantment she had placed on one of her props. "Into a rabbit!" She yanked the cape off of the chair, and the foals saw nothing. They frowned as Trixie looked down at the chair. "That's strange... It usually works..." The foals started laughing and Trixie looked at the crowd. "What's so funny? It didn't work." The foals pointed at her hat and she looked upward. "Oh! There you are!" Standing on her head was a white rabbit wearing a red suit with a pocket watch in one of the pockets. In its paw was a pink tulip. The rabbit handed the blue unicorn the flower and ran under her hat. Trixie smiled. Her trick had worked. She then looked towards a little red unicorn filly that had a green mane. She slowly slipped the flower behind the little filly's ear and smiled. "Trixie's present to the birthday filly." The little filly smiled back and laughed before clapping her hooves together, quickly followed by everypony else. "Sadly Trixie cannot stay any longer."

A collective 'awww' rang throughout the crowd. The little filly that she had given the flower to pouted and looked up at her. "Do you really have to go Miss Trixie?" Trixie frowned and nodded.

"Yes Trixie, sadly, does. Trixie wishes she could stay longer but Trixie must leave so that she can drive an Ursa Major back into the Everfree Forest for Princess Celestia." Another collective aww rang throughout the crowd.

The filly, Radiant, looked down at the ground and nodded. "I understand. It's not nice to keep the princess waiting." Trixie nodded and put her cape back on before turning to leave the park that the filly's party was being held in. "Miss Trixie!" Trixie stopped and turned her head so she could see the filly again. She looked down seeing that the little filly had run up to her and hugged her leg. The little filly was grinning up at the showmare, her eyes filled with a joy that could only be expected from  a young foal on their birthday. "I wanna be just like you when I grow up Trixie! I wanna be great and powerful, and do things like stop Ursa and Lupus for the princess just like you." Trixie smiled at the little filly and crouched down.

"Well... It's not an easy thing to do, but I'm sure if you try and train hard enough than you will be able to help both Equestria and the princess just like Trixie. In fact..." Trixie's horn glowed and she levitated her hat onto the filly's head. "Maybe this will help you get started..."

"Y-your giving me your hat?" Trixie smiled and nodded. The little filly's smile grew wider and she hugged the blue mare's neck. "Thank you! I'll never let you think that giving something like this to me was a mistake! I will make manticores cringe in fear of my presence and I will do it while wearing this hat and thinking of you! I will treasure the present I got from the greatest magician ever until I die!" Trixie chuckled and ruffled the filly's mane.

"Thank you. I'm sure that I won't regret giving it to you. Happy birthday Radiant... Now Trixie cannot dally any longer. Every second she waits that Ursa could hurt somepony!" The blue mare hopped up and ran off. She looked back and smiled at the little filly who had a wide smile on her face.

"Bye bye miss Trixie!" Trixie smiled and ran off. She didn't have to go back for her pay because she had been paid in advance.

The next morning she bought a newspaper and dropped it in shock when she saw the headline. 'Local Filly, Radiant Garden, Dies After the Best Day of Her Life.' She picked it up and opened the front page. 

A local filly named Radiant Garden passed away last night. She had turned ten years old that afternoon. Her last birthday party included a traveling magician who uses the persona of the Great and Powerful Trixie. Radiant had always been a sickly little filly. Last night she was claimed by Necrotizing Fasciitis. A disease that causes the internal organs to fail. Said her father, "I want to thank Trixie, the magician at my daughter’s birthday, for making my daughter smile and giving her hope. She had been in immense pain for the last few months. My daughter said that she felt better just because she had seen Trixie and wanted to be just like her when she grew up." Surly this mare deserves a seat among the princess's saints, she only charged them one bit for a performance, and gave their daughter the presents of happiness, hope, and a fifty bit hat that young Radiant said she would treasure forever. 

Trixie threw the newspaper into a puddle and ran off with tears on her eyes. After a few hours she stopped crying and decided something. She decided what she was meant to do with her life. She was supposed to make ponies happy and give them hope.





"Trix! Hey Trix! Are you ok?" Trixie shook her head and looked towards the source of the sound and saw her coltfriend. "You've been staring like that for ten minutes. Wait a second... Are you crying?" Trixie nodded and wiped her tears away with a hoof. "What's the matter Trix?"

"Oh, nothing. I just remembered why I became a performer in the first place. Other than to support myself of course. See there was this filly named Radiant Garden. I preformed at her tenth birthday party in Canterlot Park and as I was leaving she ran up and said... She said that she wanted to be like me when she grew up... She... Never got the chance..." Trixie walked over and lifted her hat off of the shelf. She picked up a newspaper clipping and walked over to her coltfriend and friends. She gave it to Twilight when she held out a hoof.

As Twilight read the small article she began to tear up. "She... She was the daughter one of my brother's friends... I felt so guilty that I overslept and missed her party that I went to give her the toy I had gotten her... I was crushed when I found out she was gone..." After a few minutes Twilight stopped crying and looked at Trixie. "You always were a good pony deep down weren't you? Why did you start acting so high and mighty?"

Trixie sighed. "I let my pride get the best me... See it was six years ago, the year you moved to Ponyville... I had been walking down the road when I heard screaming... Now being the good pony that I was at the time I ran over to the source of the sound. I was scared of what I saw and had frequent nightmares about it for the next three months. I was on my way to Las Pegasus for my first time so Soul had never seen me before. Anyway I saw a group of Diamond Dogs chasing a colt who had a chain around his hoof. I knocked them out by hitting them with a large firework spell and asked the colt if he was ok. He said that he was but they still had his parents and big brother. So I went and saved them as well. Afterwards..." Trixie raised her head and Twilight could see shame in her eyes. "I felt amazing... I was a hero to them... They thought I was better than them and I liked it... So... I started acting like a jerk... Dared ponies to challenge me just so I could show them up, so I could be better than them."

"Well that doesn't matter." Trixie turned her head and raised an eyebrow at Soul. "You aren't like that anymore. You have learned to be humble and are a better pony because it. We all make mistakes, but the important thing to do is learn from them."

"I know... But it still doesn't make me feel any better about the past..." Trixie heard a small whimper and felt a tug at her tail. She turned around and saw both Dawn and Dusk giving her puppy dog eyes. "Please... Stop looking at me like that..." The two foals just kept staring at her. "Please... I'm begging you... Stop... You two will give me a heart attack!" The two foals just kept staring and began to pout. "What do you want? I'll do anything! Just stop looking at me like that! I feel guilty enough already!" The two foals smiled and pointed at the shelf that held the unicorn’s hat and cape. "You two really want to see a magic trick don't you?" They both nodded. "Fine..." Trixie levitated her hat and cape over. She placed the hat on her head and looked at her cape. "A simple switcheroo should do just fine." Trixie looked around and thought. Her eyes settled on Fang. 

"Alright little ones... Watch and be amazed as the Great and Powerful Trixie turns your father..." Trixie quickly threw the cape on Fang before he could question what was going on. "Into a rabbit!" She ripped the cape off of the form of the black alicorn beneath it. Except there was nothing there. "It didn't work..." Dawn and Dusk began to laugh and pointed at Trixie's head. "Oh there it is!" A rabbit wearing a red suit with a golden pocket watch jumped off her head. The two foals clapped their hooves together. A few seconds later they were looking at Trixie with fearful eyes. "Do you want your daddy to come back?" They both nodded. "Now watch as this rabbit... Turns into a stallion!" She swung her cape in front of the rabbit and the next thing anypony knew the rabbit was replaced with Fang. "Ta da!" The foals both giggled and clapped before hugging their father.

"Trixie... That was amazing! I'm an alicorn and I can't do that!" Trixie turned around and was suddenly being shaken by Twilight. "You need to tell me how to do that!" Trixie giggled.

"I am sorry but that is a spell of my own design that I will only tell to my foal, or foals, when I have one." Twilight stopped shaking her and pouted. "Sorry Twilight, you are not a filly or a foal. You will not be able to guilt trip me." Twilight sighed.

"Hey Fang? Where did you go?" Fang opened his mouth to answer but stopped and thought for a second.

"I was in the human world. In someplace called Canterlot High. And everypony else was there as well. Trixie was there and Soul was there and you were there and our friends were there, even our children were there..." Twilight giggled.

"So what did you look like? Were you as handsome there as you are here? What about the kids? Are they as adorable there as they are here?" Fang smiled.

"I will confirm that the children were as adorable there as they are here... Me however... Yeah I was pretty handsome." Twilight giggled and kissed her husband. "Now I just need to know how I got there..."

"Trixie designed a spell that sends things to the human world and replaces them with a jacket wearing rabbit that carries a pocket watch." Fang looked at Trixie and raised an eyebrow.

"What? I like Lewis Carrot." Trixie turned around and sat down. "Don't judge me..."

"I judge a pony by the things they say and do in their life... Not by the books they read and the plays they like..." Fang smiled when Trixie fell on her back. It was not the action that he found amusing, but what, or rather who, had caused it. Dusk was now sitting on Trixie's chest and chewing on some of her mane. "I think my son likes you." Fang thought for a second before quickly conversing with Twilight. Soul saw the purple mare nod and as the two alicorns turned around.

"Trixie, Soul... How would you like to be our children's godparents?" Trixie blinked and slowly sat up. After she did so she picked Dusk up and held him in her forelegs as if he were a teddy bear.

"M-me? I mean I understand why you're asking Soul. He has been your husband's friend since foalhood. But... Me?" Trixie turned around and looked Twilight in the eyes. "Wouldn't you rather their godmother be... Anypony else?" Twilight giggled.

"No. While there may be others who would suit the job just fine, you and Soul are my only friends that Dusk seems to like... Well he likes all of them, but he doesn't seem to want to play with them... In fact I think he is scared of Pinkie Pie." Soul chuckled.

"He takes after Fang in that regard." The vampony glared at the shade.

"I am not scared of her... She just confuses me... A lot... Ok maybe I am a tiny bit scared of her... Earth ponies should not be able to teleport like she does... I have to check the toilet before I go to the bathroom because of that hyper active golem made of cotton candy..." Fang shuddered.

"She looks like she is made of cotton candy, but she isn't." Fang sighed.

"I know that... She still looks like a golem made of cotton candy... Although it's obvious she isn't, you have to stitch a cutie mark onto a golems flank if you want to hide what they really are from the world. She has one that was obtained naturally." Twilight giggled and looked down at the foals when she heard them yawn.

"Aww... Is it nap time already?" Fang and Twilight nodded at the two blue unicorns. "Well... It was nice seeing you two today... Come and visit again soon!" Twilight and Fang smiled as they walked out the door. "Oh and by the way, about being your foals godparents?" Trixie looked at Soul, who just nodded. "We would be honored."

"Great! Now all we need to do is get the paperwork filled out." After Trixie had closed the door Twilight looked up at the sky. "Wait a second... It's nighttime? We spent all day at their house?" Fang nodded. "Then we need to get home quickly. Ana will be really worried about us!" Fang chuckled.

"Don't you remember? She's having a sleepover at Applejack's." Twilight blinked and blushed.

"I completely forgot about that... Well anyway, let's get home. I'm tired too." Fang's horn glowed for a second before the four alicorns disappeared in a flash of light.

Little did they know, a strange creature was watching the blue mare named Trixie. The creature looked like a human that wore a white toga and had six wings emerging from its back. From the right sprouted three black and red, draconic wings, and from the left, three pure white pegasus wings. "Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Pride. Sins of the forefathers, sins you can't hide."





A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest. ~ C.S. Lewis.

> When the Evil Rise.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


What was silent in the father speaks in the son, and often I've found in the son the unveiled secret of the father. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche.






Two weeks later, at the Crystal Empire.


The train pulled into the station and gave a whistle. The elements, Soul, Trixie, Fang, Twilight, their children, and Spike got off and walked down the road towards the crystal palace. The purple mare frowned and looked down. "Twilight? What's the matter?"

"Yeah mommy, what's wrong?" Twilight looked at her husband and eldest daughter and sighed.

"I've just been feeling a little unsure about things lately. It doesn't seem like my new role as a queen, in fact my role when I was still just a princess, equates to all that much." Soul frowned.

"Oh come on Twilight, Fang told me that you've been helping him decide what laws to pass and which to reject." Twilight sighed. 

"Yes, I helped him decide which laws to pass, but I didn't do it myself. It seems like all I've done since I earned my wings has been, smiling and waving. Well aside from marrying Fang and giving birth to his foals anyway... Foals... I guess I have done one thing that was beneficial..." She looked at her chest and smiled at her month old foals that were sleeping in the carrier she was wearing. "I did bring two beautiful foals into this world... But then again, I haven't done anything to help with government. I'm not important…" Her smiled turned into a frown.

Trixie looked at Twilight and thought for a second before smiling. "Twilight you're important, and you have done one thing for the government!" Twilight looked at the mare and raised an eyebrow. "You got my father thrown in prison for the crimes he committed and, in the process, removed a corrupt official from the Equestrian house of nobles." Twilight smiled at the blue mare.

"Yeah. I guess you're right... And so was Applejack on the day Fang opened the eye, you would have made a great motivational speaker." Trixie giggled.

"Thank you very much... So what are you supposed to do when the dignitaries arrive?" Twilight shrugged.

"I'm not going to be attending the meeting and our children won't either. Only Fang is attending the meeting..." Twilight looked at Fang and smiled. "Be sure to tell me what the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia discuss at the meeting."

"I will. Also you have nothing to worry about... You will get some responsibilities in the Transylmaneian government. All you need to do is wait my queen." They reached the castle and entered. Twilight's job was to unravel the banner once the dignitaries arrived. 





A few hours later the meeting ended and the duke and duchess left the room in which the meeting was held. The duke looked at Twilight and she noticed he had a black eye and a bloody nose. "Your highness. Your husband is a psychopath." He looked to the side and saw a sleeping Ana, with Dawn and Dusk hugging and sleeping on either side of her. "I will forgive him however... Because your children... Are adorable..."

Twilight smiled and bowed. "Thank you very much." The duke and duchess nodded before walking off. Celestia, Luna, Cadence and Fang walked through the same doors that the duke and duchess had. Twilight looked up and smiled at her husband before frowning. "Fang... The duke thought that you were a psychopath... What did you do?"

Fang snorted. "That... Duke is not a dignitary. He is simply a greedy son of a whorse. He deserved that black eye and bloody nose. He deserved more... But somepony..." Fang glared in Luna's direction. "Wouldn't let me rain divine punishment upon him." Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Luna sighed. "I wouldn't let Fang kill him..." Twilight gasped and looked at Fang who was just growling in anger at what the duke had said. "Before you ask what happened... He demanded that Fang give all of his land to my sister so it would become part of Equestria... Fang refused, so the duke called him... A spoiled little brat that is unworthy of wearing a crown... I did stop Fang from killing him... However I agree with his actions in an effort to put the duke in his place... I told the duke that if any one of the alicorns in the room was not worthy of wearing a crown... I told him that it would be me, not Fang."

"Oh..."  Princess Luna saw Twilight frown and she herself frowned.

"Is something wrong Twilight?" The purple mare nodded.

"I guess I just don't really understand why I had to be here... One of the royal guards could have unfurled the banner." Celestia sighed and walked up to Twilight. 

"Having the main rulers of the three strongest nations in the world lets the dignitaries know that their visit is considered important." Celestia looked at Fang. "I agree with you however. He was disrespectful and deserved to be... Taken down a few notches." Fang smiled and nodded.

"Celestia is right. Besides..." Cadence walked over and wrapped a leg around Twilight's shoulder. "It gives me a chance to see my favorite sister in law."

Twilight smiled. "And I'm happy to see you. All of you." Cadence sensed she wasn't saying everything she wanted to.

"But...?" Twilight looked down and sighed. 

"But I... Well it's just that Princess Luna raises and is the goddess of the moon, Princess Celestia raises and is the goddess of the sun, you protect the Crystal Empire and are the goddess of love, Fang keeps monsters calm so that they won't hurt innocent ponies and is the god of..." She began to twirl her hoof and Fang sighed

"I am the god of fear..." Twilight raised an eyebrow. "I'm scary when I want to be..." Fang's horn glowed and his mane began to flow, seeming to become white and orang flame. The feathers fell from his wings and revealed their true, leathery, form. He closed his eyes, with eyelids that came from the left and right instead of the top and bottom, and opened them, revealing scarlet, cat like, eyes. Twilight gave a small eep at the sight. Fang smiled and changed back into his normal form.

Twilight shook her head and looked down. "And Fang is the god of fear... But... I don't know what I'm the goddess of and... All I seem to do is... Smile and wave..."

Twilight turned around and walked out onto a balcony, she sat down and placed one of her forelegs on the rail and suddenly music started to play. "It isn't that I'm ungrateful, for all the things that I've earned. For all the journeys I have taken, all the lessons that I have learned." Twilight looked behind her, towards her fellow alicorns. "But I wonder where I'm going now, what my role is meant to be... I don't know how to travel, to a future that I can't see..."

Twilight stood and walked over to the others.  She opened her wings and looked at her crown. "I have these wings, I wear this crown. I'm a queen, this is true, but it's still unclear to me, just what I am meant to do." She looked at Cadence. "I wanna have a purpose." She then looked to Luna. "Wanna do all that I can." She looked at Celestia and frowned. "I wanna make a contribution." Her eyes fell to her husband. "I want to be a part of the plan..." She turned around, lowered her head and walked back to the balcony.

Celestia walked up behind Twilight and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Your destiny's uncertain, and that's sometimes hard to take. But it will become much clearer, with every new choice you make."

Luna walked up beside Twilight and smiled. "Patience is never easy, I understand wanting more. I know how hard it is to wait, to spread out your wings and soar!" Luna flapped her wings and began to hover.

Cadence walked up behind Twilight. "But you stand here for a reason, you're gifted and you are strong. That crown is upon your head because, you belong."

"I know that life's not always easy..." Twilight's head turned and she saw Fang. Her husband stood and started walking towards her. "I understand that the journey's long, but if you think that you are useless, then you couldn't be more wrong." Twilight watched as the princesses walked up to her husband and smiled at the purple mare.

"Know that your time is coming soon! As the sun rises, so does the moon. As love and fear find their place in every heart, you are a goddess; you'll play your part."

Luna smiled at Twilight. "We understand you wanting more, a chance to shine, a chance to soar!" The four alicorns took to the air and began floating in a circle above Twilight. Cadence smiled down at her sister in law.

"Soon will come the day it turns around."

The four alicorns landed on the balcony and smiled at Twilight. "Know that your time is coming soon! As the sun rises, so does the moon. As love and fear find their place in every heart, you are a goddess; you'll play your part." Fang walked up to Twilight and wrapped a wing around her.

"I know that the uncertain can be frightening, believe me, it's something I can see. But the reason that you stand here, is because this is where you're meant to be… You may want to be brave, or you may want to run and hide. But no matter what choice you make. Know that your friends and family are by your side..." Fang smiled at his wife and teleported back to the princesses.

"Know that your time is coming soon! As the sun rises, so does the moon. As love and fear find their place in every heart, you are a goddess; you'll play your part." Everypony walked over to Twilight and smiled. 

Fang sat down next to his wife and wrapped a wing around her. "You are a goddess, and you'll play your part..." He smiled and kissed Twilight. "I'm sure that whatever you do will lead to the best destiny that you can have."

"Mommy? Daddy?" Twilight and Fang looked into the hallway to see Ana. "I think Dawn and Dusk are hungry." Twilight and Fang went wide eyed and they ran inside. Dawn and Dusk were sitting on the ground where they and Ana had been sleeping, holding their stomachs. Ana walked up to Dawn and Dusk. "See? I told you two I'd go get them..." The little filly let out a yawn. "Mommy, daddy? Are we staying here tonight?" Fang and Twilight looked at Cadence, who nodded, and turned back to their daughter before they nodded themselves.

"I'll take Ana to one of the bedrooms... You can nurse Dawn and Dusk here if you want Twilight. Just make sure you clean up any milk that ends up on the floor." Cadence walked by and took Ana's hoof. "Come on Ana, let's get you into a bath before you go to bed."

"Ok..." Ana usually hated taking baths, but she was to tired to argue at the moment. Twilight turned back to the foals and laid down on her side.

The two foals slowly trotted over before clamping their toothless mouths on one of Twilight's teats each and starting to suckle very eagerly. "There we go little ones, eat up, that way you can grow up happy and healthy..." Fang, Celestia, and Luna smiled at Twilight and her foals. They all knew that she was going to be a great mother for the little ones when they got older.


The same night, in Tartarus.


Lepus flew up to Cerberus and turned into a cloud of smoke. He wasn't going to kill Cerberus, he was just going to choke him until he was unconscious. Once that was done, he flew towards the three cages in the central pillar. "Hello Tirek." The centaur in the first cage growled and opened his mouth. He began to suck some of the rabbit demon's magic away, only to find that it choked him. "Nice try." The rabbit looked at the next cage. "How do you do Grogar?" The creature in the cage, a grey ram, snorted and his horns began to glow, he swung his head forward to release a blast of magic only to have it fizzle out. "Sorry that you're too weak to do anything." He turned his attention to the third cage.

"What do you want Lepus? You don't come anywhere near Tartarus unless you want to make a deal!" Lepus smiled at the human shaped cloud creature with a wispy tail, a jinn, in the third cage.

"Oh, you know me so well Arabus. Anyway, yes I want to make a deal. I can get you the things you want the most... Freedom..." The ram and centaur's ears perked up. "And revenge on the ones who imprisoned you here."

The centaur raised an eyebrow at the rabbit. "And we should trust you because?"

"You shouldn't. But you don't really have a choice if you wish to escape and get your revenge, now do you?" Lepus smiled as the three beings looked between each other. They all turned towards the rabbit and grinned.

"What do we have to do?" Lepus laughed.

"Anything you want! There is one condition however..." Lepus flew up to each cage and smiled. "You. Must. Work. Together! Deal?" The three creatures nodded and Lepus chuckled. "Splendid! Enjoy your freedom... And your revenge..." The rabbit touched each of the cages, which turned them into smoke, and gave each, former, prisoner a black, hooded, cloak. "Now don't go and be strangers!" With that the rabbit vanished in a cloud of smoke. The next thing the former prisoners knew, they were in Manehatten.

Tirek looked at the other two beings and sighed. "I've gotten close to you two after being imprisoned with you for so long, so I swear on my life that I won't steal your magic."

Grogar nodded. "Or I your youth."

"Nor shall I steal your shadows." Arabus smiled at the two quadrupeds.

"Ok. Now... Work together until we are strong enough to work alone, then go our separate ways?" The other two nodded. "Good." Tirek turned and saw a unicorn pony with a tub of oranges walking towards them. "I just found our first victim..." The unicorn looked away in fear when he heard the sound of a can rolling. He smiled when he saw what it was and turned back, only to come face to face with Tirek, Arabus, and Grogar.

He let out a short gasp before shaking his head. "Very sorry." He gave a chuckle. "You three came out of nowhere." 

Tirek gave an evil grin under his hood. "'Are they friends or are they foes?', the pony wonders..." The pony looked around, he became very frightened when Grogar and Arabus moved behind him, trapping him where he stood. "I can assure you... I am no friend.  I am Lord Tirek, and I will take what should have been mine long ago." He opened his mouth and began to absorb the unicorn's magic.

"As will I." Arabus opened his mouth and the pony's shadow flew into his mouth.

"And your youth shall help restore my magical powers." Grogar's horns glowed and a green mist left the unicorn's mouth. After they had finished the unicorn fell to the ground. Tirek, Arabus, and Grogar had taken his magic, shadow, and youth, respectively. His cutie mark vanished and his eyes widened with fear as the three creatures glowed. They had just gotten larger, younger, and stronger.

That night, Fang, Soul, and Celestia woke up screaming.





There is no refuge from memory and remorse in this world. The spirits of our foolish deeds haunt us, with or without repentance. ~ Gilbert Parker


> Tales, Heat, and Treachery.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
Let us consider that we are all insane. It will explain us to each other. It will unriddle many riddles. ~ Mark Twain.






Canterlot. The next day.


Twilight and Fang were getting off of the carriage that had brought them, Ana, the foals, Cadence, Armor, and Skyla, to Canterlot. As soon as Fang stepped out of the carriage he heard a very fast gallop and barely had time to react. "Fang! We have a really big problem!!!" Fang threw his leg out to the side and stopped Soul from plowing through him and the other royals. "Arabus broke out of Tartarus!" Fang raised an eyebrow.

"Arabus? Don't you mean Grogar?" Soul shook his head.

"I believe that you two mean that Tirek was the one who has escaped Tartarus." Everypony turned to see Celestia and Luna. 

"Sister... It was not Tirek who escaped, nor was it Grogar or Arabus... It was all three of them." Twilight coughed.

"Excuse me... But... Who are Tirek, Arabus, and Grogar?" Celestia, Luna, Fang, and Soul looked at each other and sighed. 

"Follow us..." The four ancient beings turned and walked towards the castle library. After a few minutes of searching through the shelves or a few minutes Fang smiled and ran over to a table. The others all gathered around the black alicorn.

"This book is a list of creatures that have been imprisoned in Tartarus over the years." He opened the book and began to flip through the pages. He finally stopped on a page that depicted a dark grey ram with piercing, solid red eyes. The thing that stood out the most to Twilight was the fact that the ram wore a red harness covered with golden bells around its neck. Normally that wouldn't bother her. What bothered her was that she had seen that harness before. It was in Trixie's house.

"Fang... Which one is that and what are those bells around his neck?" Fang blinked.

"This is Grogar. He was a ram necromancer that stole youth from ponies so he could use his dark magic to raise an army of the dead. The bells around his neck are known as the Bells of Suffering. They are what helps him focus his magic into different spells. Without them he can only create minor explosive projectiles. However the bells have been lost for many millennia." Twilight gulped.

'Is it possible that Grogar knows where the bells are? Well even if he doesn't I'm going to hide them just to make sure.' Twilight shook her head and smiled. "Ok. Who's the next... Thing that we need to know about?"

Fang turned a few more pages, one of which seemed to depict the Jabberwock, before stopping on a page that depicted a creature with the lower half of a horse, a large pony, and the upper half of a minotaur. Twilight had read about these creatures in Fang's library. It was a centaur. "This is Lord Tirek. He was imprisoned in Tartarus for the crime of stealing magic. But that's not the only thing he stole." Fang turned the page and the next depicted what looked to be a full grown unicorn without a cutie mark. "When a unicorn pony's magic is taken from them, so is their cutie mark. The same goes for if flight was taken from a pegasus or strength from an earth pony."

Twilight gulped and looked at her flanks. She couldn't imagine life without a cutie mark. "They got them back right?" Fang nodded and Twilight gave a relieved sigh. "Ok... We have seen Tirek and Grogar. All that leaves is..." Fang turned a few more pages and Twilight caught sight of another creature she thought strange. It had the head of a pony, the horns and body of a goat, bat wings, a three pronged tail, and it stood on two legs. Fang finally stopped on a page that depicted what looked a human, with a wispy tail instead of legs, that was made out grey storm clouds. It had large thick arms and yellow eyes with pure black pupils.

Soul slammed his hoof on the table. "This one is the worst of them all! He feeds and gets stronger by eating shadows! He killed many of my kind but I was not able to kill him in return! Believe me I tried. Since I couldn't kill him, I asked Fang to help me imprison him in Tartarus... Now that he is free... All creatures of darkness are in mortal danger."

Luna looked at the two alicorns and shade. "These three must be stopped. If allowed to roam free they could spell the end of Equestria as we know it."

Cadence smiled and looked at Twilight, Fang, and Soul. "And I think I know just the ponies who can stop them."

Twilight smiled. "Yes I will make sure that-"

"No Twilight." Twilight turned and looked at her former mentor with curious eyes. "I am afraid that I must call in another for this mission. I must call upon Discord." Everypony gasped but the shade and the black alicorn.

Fang growled and slammed his hooves onto the table. "Discord!? Have you finally gone insane Celestia!? Ana and Dream are more capable of stopping them than he is! Besides! What makes you think he won't betray us and help them get stronger!?"

"Fang is right Celestia! At least you know that you can trust me, Fang, and Twilight to do this job! Discord is chaos personified! He will do what makes no sense or what will give him a chance to make chaos no matter what! Even if he doesn't betray us, who is to say that he will help us!? He might just let them run free and cause chaos for him!" Celestia sighed.

"Discord has been reformed. While you two make some good points, I have faith that he will try and help us in order to protect his new friends." Fang and Soul looked at each other, growled, looked away from Celestia, whispered something to each other, and turned back.

"Celestia... If you truly believe that Discord has changed... We shall trust him... But know this. If he does betray us and help them. It is on your own conscious and you will have to be held responsible just as he will." Celestia nodded. "Twilight, Ana, I think it best that we return home for now. Soul you are coming back to Ponyville with us."

Soul nodded in agreement. "If Discord betrays us... I fear for what shall befall pony kind." Soul, Fang, Twilight, and Ana left the library, and castle, and got into a large chariot that could fit all four of them.





"Hey Fang?" The black alicorn looked at his wife and smiled. "I know that you planted the Tree of Harmony but... Where did the elements themselves come from?" Fang raised an eyebrow.

"You are going to have to be more specific. Which set of elements do you mean? Harmony or Sin?" Now it was Twilight's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"There's another set of elements?" Fang nodded. "Ok. I guess tell me about... Both."

"Ok... Where to start... Ok... I forgot about this for some reason but my memories about these things seems to be coming back in bits and pieces... Ok so, thousands of years ago Soul and I created the tree to seal away a kingdom known as the Nexus. I won't be surprised if you've never heard about it. Anyway to do this we had to use two elements. Elements that were the opposite of each other and were able to maintain the balance of the world. Fittingly enough, they were known as the Elements of Balance." Twilight coughed.

"I'm sorry? There is a third set of elements?" Fang and Soul nodded.

"Yes there is Twilight... But for the life of me I can't remember where the Elements of Balance went... Can you Fang?" The black alicorn shook his head. "Anyway there were only two elements of Balance. Good and Evil. I was the one to use Good when we created the tree, while Fang was the one to use Evil. As a result of this the tree bore fourteen fruits. Well... They were crystals, but you get the point. Seven were born of the Element of Evil. They became known as the Elements of Sin. Another seven were born of the Element of Good. They became known as the Elements of Harmony. Two sides of the same coin. For without, evil, there can be no good."

"Wait wait wait wait wait!" Soul and Fang looked at Twilight. "What's the seventh Element of Harmony?" Fang and Soul opened their mouths to respond, but no sound came out.

"I... Don't remember..." Fang scratched his head and looked at Soul who shook his in response. "Sorry... Anyway now you know how the elements were created... Anything else you want to know?"

Twilight thought for a second before shaking her head. She looked forward and smiled. "Were here!" The royal guards landed and let the ponies in their chariot get off before turning around and heading back to Canterlot. The sound of extremely rapid hoofsteps filled the air and everypony turned to look. Unfortunately for Soul he looked just in time for Trixie to slap him hard enough that she sent him to the ground. The next thing he knew Trixie was on top of him and they were face to face.

"Where did you go!? I was really scared when I woke up this morning and you were gone! I thought that you had left me for somepony else! Did you? Did you!?" Soul blinked and smiled at Trixie before kissing her.

"Nope. Only way I would leave you is if I died. And that is not going to happen anytime soon!" Soul just laid there for a few seconds. "Trixie... You’re breathing very heavily...  Heavier than a pony normal would, even after they ran a marathon..." Soul just kept lying there waiting for Trixie to get off of him. A nip to his ear caused his eyes to go wide with realization. "Oh buck... You're in heat aren't you?" Trixie's eyes shifted from left to right.

"Maybe... So what if I am? I'm on the pill, so there's nothing to worry about..." Trixie grinned. "So how about you and me go and have some... Fun..." Trixie nipped his ear again and she saw Soul blush.

"Um... Ok but... I'm not an exhibitionist?" Trixie blinked, stood up, and realized her mistake. Soul jumped up and started running down the road. "Hey! That's not fair! Get back here!" Trixie started chasing after and was gaining ground.

Fang just stood there. "Should I go and help him?" Twilight thought for a second and shook her head.

"I don't want to risk Trixie forcing herself on you. While I'm pretty sure she wouldn't normally do it, a mare will try to mate with any stallion they can get there hooves on while in heat." Fang sighed.

"Sorry Soul! This is one thing I can't help you with!"  Fang was surprised to see Soul turn the corner of a building and run past him.

"It's ok! I understand! You want to help, but you also want to be faithful to your wife!" Seconds later Trixie turned the corner of the same building and looked around. She spotted Fang and Twilight and ran up to them.

"Where did he go?" Fang pointed to the left while Twilight pointed to the right. 

"Actually Soul ran that way." Ana pointed down the road that Soul had gone and smiled. She had no idea what it meant to 'be in heat', like how Soul had asked Trixie if she was.

"Thank you Ana!" Trixie ran between them and down the road that Soul had run down.

"Well... I tried to help..." Fang sighed and bent down. "Ana, from now on if a mare that is acting like Trixie is now, asks you where a stallion went, you lie. Ok? I know that you agree with Applejack and think lying is bad, but sometimes it is best to be dishonest. I have learned that the hard way."

Ana frowned and nodded. "Ok... If a mare acting like Trixie was today asks me where a stallion went, I'll lie... I won't like it, but I'll lie. Why do I have to lie?" Fang chuckled.

"You know about the birds and the bees correct? You birth mother taught you about... How foals are born?" Ana nodded. "Well you see if a mare is in heat, it makes it more likely for her to get pregnant. Trixie said she was on the pill, which is what is called birth control. It makes it less likely for a mare to get pregnant. But it doesn't always work. So by telling Trixie where Soul went she might catch him and... You know..." Ana blushed and nodded. "I don't know for sure, but Soul might not want to be a father yet. So remember, never tell mares in heat where a stallion went."

"Ok... Does mommy go into heat to?" Twilight nodded and smiled.

"I don't think I'm going to be actively chasing stallions down for at least ten years though." Twilight smiled and looked at her chest, and the two foals that were laying in the carrier that was attached to her. "After all, I have you, Dawn, and Dusk to look out for."

"What about daddy? Don't you have to look out for him?" Twilight giggled and Fang chuckled.

"I think that I can take care of myself Ana..." Ana smiled and hugged her father. "Now come on. Let's go home." Fang lifted Ana onto his back and the filly wrapped her forelegs around his neck. By the time the family got to their castle, Ana was asleep.

Meanwhile, Soul was hiding from Trixie in the town's bell tower. "Thank the gods that I can move through shadows..."


That night in Manehatten.


Arabus, Grogar, and Tirek were walking through the dark alleyways of the large city when they spotted a grey unicorn with a light blue glow around his horn. The three slowly moved up behind him and go to steal his magic, only for him to swing his head back to them and reveal that he was Discord. "Enjoying your vacation from Tartarus I presume?" The three creatures stopped dead in their tracks.

Tirek placed a hand over his eyes as if he was about to salute. Then he brought I down and shrugged. "Discord. You're free?"

"As a bird." To emphasize his point Discord turned himself into a bird that resembled a toucan. Tirek, Grogar and Arabus gave him a slight bow.

Grogar smiled at the god of chaos. "We commend you on your escape." Discord turned back into his normal form and glared at them.

"I'm afraid the feeling isn't mutual." He snapped his fingers and caused shackles to appear around their arms and legs. Tirek and Grogar growled and tried to blast him with magic, only for him to split his head in half and cause them to miss completely.

Arabus growled at the Draconequus. "We should have known that someone like you would want to have Equestria all to yourself!"

Discord laughed. "Oh, I'm not doing this for me. I'm doing it for my friends." He leaned in so that he was closer to the three Tartarus escapees. "Just between us, it's mostly for Fluttershy." He smiled which caused him to give a little squee.

All three of them looked between each other before looking back at Discord with disgust on their faces. "Fluttershy? Are you telling us your friends with ponies?" The venom in the centaur's voice could poison a black widow. A giant cake appeared and Discord jumped out of it, covering the three with icing.

"Surprise!"

Tirek growled. "We are surprised that someone of your intellect does not see that this 'friendship' is just a new form of imprisonment. Clearly you've had to abandon your true nature to stay in their good graces."

Discord had a halo over his head and was playing a harp. When he heard Tirek say that he threw the harp away. "I have done nothing of the sort!" Discord looked up and shooed the halo way from his head.

Tirek scoffed. "Oh, please, I've seen this before. But he was always weak minded. You are Discord, you are legend, you cannot fall into the same trap that claimed my brother! Help us to grow strong, and be rewarded with something far greater than friendship. Freedom. I believe I speak for all three of us when I say that once we've stripped these ponies of their magic, youth, and shadows, nothing would give us greater pleasure than to see their world turned upside down. Who better to do so than the master of chaos himself? Join us, Discord, and reclaim your greatness. Unless, of course, 'pony errand boy' is the role you've always wanted to play in this world." Arabus and Grogar nodded in agreement.

Discord thought for a second before turning and looking behind him. He saw a picture of him and Fluttershy and placed his talons to his chin.


Canterlot, the next morning.


Celestia, Luna, and Cadence were sitting on the throne. They had asked Fang, Twilight, and Soul to come to Canterlot as soon as they could. "Celestia, what's wrong? Is it Tirek? Grogar? Arabus?"

Celestia sighed. "I am afraid that Fang and Soul were right Twilight. I placed too much trust in Discord and the effect that friendship would have upon him. He has betrayed the ponies of Equestria and joined forces with Arabus, Grogar, and Tirek."

Twilight gasped. "How could he? I thought that our friendship meant something to him! I thought he had changed!"

Celestia looked away. "Tirek, Grogar and Arabus have grown strong enough by stealing the magic, youth, and shadows from unicorns that they can now do the same to pegasi and earth ponies as well. Tirek has started stealing flight and strength from pegasi and earth ponies. By stealing their youth Grogar has become able to use his elemental and necromantic magic again. And by stealing the shadows of all three tribes Arabus has regained his power to change his shape as well as becoming able to move extremely fast and becoming extremely strong." Celestia frowned. "Without their youth, shadows, or flight pegasi will not be able to control the weather and there will be no rain in Equestria. And without their strength, youth, and shadows earth ponies will not be able to tend the land."

Princess Luna stepped forward. "Ponies will no longer control their world. That power will belong solely to Tirek, Grogar, and Arabus."

Princess Celestia frowned. "There is no doubt that they will be coming after us next, after the Alicorns. With Discord by their side, we will not be able to stop them from taking what they desire."

Princess Luna frowned. "If they have our powers in their possession, their power will know no bounds, and all hope will be lost."

Celestia sighed. "But there is one solution. It is only by making this sacrifice that Equestria and the lands beyond it might be saved. We must rid ourselves of our magic, youth, and shadows before they have the chance to steal them from us."

Twilight frowned and then nodded. "I understand. I am more than willing to do my part and give up those fibers of my being."

"You can't Twilight." Twilight glared at Fang.

"He is right Twilight. Youth, shadows, and magic cannot just evaporate into thin air somepony must keep it safe." Cadence smiled at her sister in law.

"Those ponies are you, Fang, and Soul, Twilight." Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"I don't understand. Why us?" Celestia sighed.

"We do not believe that they know you and Soul exist in Equestria as of yet and we know that Fang will be able to keep our youth safe. Do you understand what you need to do?" Twilight stood still for a second before nodding. "First we will transfer our youth to Fang." Their horns glowed and a green mist slowly left their mouths and went into Fang's. Slowly their faces became old and wrinkled. "Next we will give our shadows to Soul..." Their shadows ran from underneath them and flew into Souls body. "And now Twilight, we will give you our magic." The princesses horns glowed and the fire a spell into the air. It formed a large ball of light that was pulled into Twilight's horn and there was a bright white flash and once everypony could see again Twilight gasped. The princesses, had no cutie marks. "Go you three, return to Ponyville, you cannot be here when they arrive." Before Twilight could argue the three were gone in a flash of crimson light. Fang had teleported them away.





Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. 


> Fall of the Three Terrors.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words. ~ Elbert Hubbard.





Twilight and Soul opened their eyes to see that they were standing in front of Golden Oaks Library. “You two must not tell anypony as to what happened in Canterlot. If you do then it might cause wide spread panic and hysteria. Do you understand?” Twilight and Soul nodded. “Good now we must hide.” Both of the ponies nodded and they walked toward the Everfree Forest. “Oh and Twilight?”

“Yes Fang?”

“You might want to raise the sun.” Twilight gasped and looked at the sky before letting her horn glow.


Canterlot an hour later.


Shining Armor walked out of a tower and looked to the night sky. He saw the moon lower in a very awkward manner before seeing the sun rise in a manner just as strange. He was so preoccupied watching the sun rise that he didn't see the guards behind him float off to the side. He felt his helmet disappear and looked around, only to see Discord with said helmet on his head. “Shining Armor, why, whatever are you doing here?”

The white unicorn growled and jumped away from the spirit of chaos. “Back off, traitor!”

“The only one Discord betrayed was himself.” Tirek, and Grogar walked out of the tower in front of him while Arabus floated up behind them. He watched as they stole the youth, shadow, and magic of a unicorn guard that Tirek had in hand. “Abandoning his true nature to make friends with weak-minded equines who offer him nothing!” Shining Armor raised an eyebrow.

“You may be a centaur and a... Living cloud..."  

"I'm a Jinn..." Mumbled the being known as Arabus.

Armor rolled his eyes. "Whatever, anyway if you hate equines so much then why are you working with a ram?” Grogar growled.

“I am not equine! I am a member of the Capra gene family!” Shining Armor suddenly shot a bolt of magic at the ram, only to have Tirek catch it, crush in in his hand until it looked like a ball, pop it in his mouth, chew it up, and laugh before picking him up and stealing the rest of his magic while the others stole his youth and shadow.

Tirek dropped him and the white unicorn looked at Discord. “How... Could you... Do this?” Shining Armor fell to the ground and Discord blinked before frowning. He considered for a second if what he was doing would actually benefit him in any way. Sure he would be able to cause chaos, but he would also be hated by the ponies again.

Tirek walked up and placed a hand on Discord's shoulder. “Why don't you go and have a little fun? We won't stand in your way.” The three escapes from Tartarus walked by him and he turned towards Canterlot before laughing.





The doors to the throne room flew open as the three creatures that had re-corrupted Discord stepped inside. The princesses looked up at them and growled as they walked towards them. Tirek opened his mouth and inhaled, as did Arabus and Grogar, only to find that they absorbed nothing. “What have you done?!” They inhaled again, harder this time, but got the same result. “Where is your magic!? Your youth!? Your shadows!?” At that moment Sunset and Dream walked in before going wide eyed. Tirek turned around and inhaled draining some of the magic from the young alicorns. “You three may not have any. But they do!” Arabus and Grogar turned around and inhaled as well, draining them of what they wanted. Arabus picked the two up and floated them next to their respective mothers.


Fang's Castle.


Soul's eyes widened as he realized something. “Guys! We have a major problem in Canterlot!” Fang and Twilight turned around and raised an eyebrow. “We got what they want from Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, but that's only three alicorns! There are five in Canterlot! We forgot Dream and Sunset!” Fang and Twilight gasped and looked at each other with fear in their eyes. “Wait a second... Where are your kids!?” Fang and Twilight gasped again. They had forgotten the children in the library. The two alicorns turned around and galloped out of the castle doors with Soul following close behind.


Canterlot.


“Getting rid of your magic, shadows, and youth so that we could not take them from you? That was your plan?" Tirek, was sitting on the throne while Grogar and Arabus sat on either side of him. He smirked and summoned three orange orbs. Each representing the regular pony tribes. “How does it feel, knowing that soon, every pegasus, unicorn and earth pony will bow to the will of me, Grogar, and Arabus, and that there is nothing you can do to stop it?”

Celestia sighed. “You three shall not prevail Tirek.” The three demons growled as a portal opened behind the alicorns. Tirek lifted them up with his magic.

“You five... Give our regards to Cerberus.” He then threw them thorough the portal before closing it.

“You meant the will of Tirek, Grogar, Arabus, and Discord didn't you?” The three turned and saw Discord messing with a stained glass window.

They smiled and walked over to the Draconequus. “Of course. Here, I want you to have something.” Tirek ripped the necklace he wore from around his neck and tied it around Discords. “This was given to me by someone very close to me. I give it to you as a sign of our gratitude and loyalty.” Grogar and Arabus nodded in agreement.

Discord looked down and grabbed the necklace and held it up to his face. “Oh, my! I do love a good accessory. I suppose that's Rarity's influence.”

Tirek looked at the stained glass window in front of him. It depicted the four of them having a picnic with Tirek holding a giant sandwich and Discord sitting on his back with a sword with one of the tips of said sandwich falling on Grogar's head. Tirek laughed at the scene. “Amusing. But we have no time for such things. With the princesses out of the way, we can now-”

“IS THIS MEANT TO BE HUMOROUS!?” Tirek turned to see Grogar pointing at a window. Tirek walked over and growled when he saw it. It depicted Fang and Twilight with Dusk sitting on his mother's back and Dawn sitting on her father's, and Ana standing in between them.

Discord waved them off. “Oh, no, I haven't touched that one yet.” Arabus floated over and growled at the image.

“I recognize the black one but there are four more besides him and the ones we caught in the castle? And you did not tell us this!?” Discord sighed.

“I just needed some assurance that you three truly considered this a team effort between us. And now I have it.” He smiled and held up the necklace.

Tirek walked over and grabbed Discord's neck. “Then where can we find these alicorns? Where are their castles?”

Discord laughed. “Castles? Oh no, no no no no, no! The two big ones, Fang and Twilight, are married and the smaller ones are their children! They all live together! It's just one castle, in the Everfree Forest, on the outskirts of Ponyville! Castles?” He broke out laughing again. “And... I know a way to prevent the two grown ones from fighting back. Their friends live in Ponyville. So how about we take them and then offer them in a trade if they are too strong to beat.”

Arabus chuckled. “Capital idea Discord! Capital I say!” Tirek, Grogar, and Arabus began to walk, and float, away, while they did this the centaur in the group caused the glass to melt, then before they knew it, they were in Ponyville thanks to Discord's magic. However they all looked like unicorn ponies so as not to arouse, too much, suspicion.

They turned and saw a group of five mares and five stallions talking with each other. “Alright, y'all. I think we've warned everypony to stay inside like Fang, Twilight, and Soul asked us to.” Arabus groaned at the orange mare's country accent. He hated country accents.

“I'm sure Discord will catch those three escapees from Tartarus like he told me he would and that this will all be over soon.” Grogar groaned. She sounded so kind. Too kind. He wanted to break the wings of the yellow pegasus who had just said that.

The blue pegasus with a rainbow mane flew up and growled. “I bet he takes his sweet time.”

“Or maybe these things just take time.” Every single one of them turned to see Discord. The yellow pegasus smiled, dashed over and hugged him.

“You're back! Did you bring the cucumber sandwiches for the picnic?” Discord smiled and snapped his fingers causing a platter full of sandwiches to appear.

“I did.” Then he slowly dropped them. “I imagine they'll be your last decent meal for quite some time.” He snapped his fingers and caused a cage to appear around the ten ponies, who all began shouting at him. “Ta-da! Here you go boys!” Tirek, Grogar, and Arabus changed back into their normal forms and moved over to the cage.

Tirek smiled. “You've gathered up all of them?” Discord nodded.

“All except for their children, Soul, and Trixie, but I'm pretty sure that Soul has their shadows and that he is staying as far away from Trixie as possible.” Discord let his hand drift near the cage and Spike bit him. “Ouch!”

Fluttershy began crying. “Why are you doing this? I thought we were friends!” Discord chuckled.

“Oh, we were. But they offered me so much more than just tea parties. Surely you saw this coming.” Fluttershy shook her head and buried her face in Applejack's chest.

“I didn't. I really didn't.” The three escapes inhaled and absorbed their youth, magic, and shadows.

“Do you really think that they'll do anything for them?” Discord nodded.

“If they have magic, shadows, and youth to give then it will be yours. Soon there won't be a pegasus, earth pony or unicorn who will be able to stand up against the four of us.” He heard wild laughter from the other three and opened his eyes.

“Four of us? Who said anything about four of us?” Discord pointed at the three.

“You did.” Arabus laughed.

“You've helped us grow strong, you've provided the means by which we can obtain the magic, shadows, and youth of alicorns, and now you are no longer of any use to us.” Tirek grabbed Discord and lifted him up. The three opened their mouths and took what they wanted from him before turning and going to leave.

Discord grabbed and held up the necklace. “But you said this was a sign of your gratitude and loyalty. A gift from someone close to you.”

Tirek sneered while the other two laughed. “My brother who betrayed me and got me trapped in Tartarus in the first place. It is as worthless us as he is.” The three continued to walk away before Arabus stopped in front of the library and Grogar looked down the road. “What’s wrong with you two?”

“I sense strong magic.” Arabus floated towards the library.

“And I hear my Bells of Suffering ringing.” The ram ran off down the road.

Tirek snorted and trotted off. “Surely you saw this comin.” Discord looked back at the ponies.

“I didn't. I truly didn't.”





Inside the library Ana gasped and looked for a place to hide. She saw a small cabinet and grabbed her little brother and sister before running over and hiding them in it. She turned around to the sound of the door opening and closed the cabinet, hoping that whoever it was had not seen her. Arabus floated into the kitchen and smiled. “Looks like I get to snack on the shadow of an alicorn filly.” He opened his mouth and absorbed her shadow, causing her to become too weak to fight back. “I suppose we could use you as a bargaining chip as well.” With that he left the library with Ana in hand. He hadn't even seen the two foals that had poked their heads out of the cabinet to see what was going on.





Trixie was sitting at her dining room table and looking at the floor. She had driven Soul off because she had basically tried to rape him all day yesterday. She knew that he would be back after tomorrow was over, but it still didn't get rid of the shame. She turned her head and jingled on of the bells on a red collar that had been passed down through the Lula moon family for fifteen eons. For some reason the sound of these bells always helped her feel better. There was a knock on the door and Trixie looked out of the kitchen. She saw Hex open the door and scream before getting dragged out by a cloven hoof. Trixie got up and slowly went over to check and see if it was a joke. Her little brother liked to play scary pranks from time to time. Suddenly a ram ran in and looked at her. “Where are my bells!?”

Trixie blinked. “Bells?” She shook her head and fired a spell at the ram. “Where's my little brother!?”

Grogar hopped over the spell. “Oh he's outside. He's a little worse for wear, but I didn't kill him or anything. Now I ask again. Where are my...” His eyes drifted to the side and he spotted the bells on the table. He ran up, pushed Trixie out of the way and put the collar around his neck. He looked at Trixie and shot a lightning bolt at her with his horns. She ducked and it mostly missed, it did singe the end of her tail however. She looked up, only to see Grogar's eyes and his open mouth. She looked down at her hoof and saw it was starting to wrinkle, but then it stopped and turned back to its normal youthful appearance. “You smell like you're in heat... Maybe I'll use you to have children...” Trixie growled and bit the ram's leg for even thinking that. She wasn't some kind of broodmare. “...Or we could just trade you to the shade so he will let Arabus eat him... Or maybe both.” The ram sighed. “It doesn't matter...” He picked the mare up and teleported away, bringing Hex with them as well.


Ten minutes later.


The two alicorns and the unicorn arrived at the library and ran inside. “Ana? Dawn? Dusk?” Fang and Soul looked around for the foals. Twilight was about to search too, but then she heard crying and ran into the kitchen. She looked at the source of the crying, opened the cabinet, and pulled out her two foals. “Shh... Shh... It's ok...” She looked in the cabinet to see if Ana was in there and noticed she wasn't. She looked at the two foals. “I don't suppose you two know where your sister is, do you?”

“Awa gown! Mwewie towk hwr!” Twilight blinked and looked at Dawn.

“Mwen Cwowd towk hwr!” Twilight looked at Dusk.

“Ana's gone, a mean cloud took her?” The two foals nodded rapidly. Twilight gasped and ran out of the kitchen. “Arabus took Ana!” She heard Soul growl and watched as he punched a hole in the wall.

“That bastard! I could at least understand why he ate shades, he needs to eat shadows to keep his strength, but going after an innocent filly who can barely use magic? One that only has enough arcane energy to shape snow and levitate things? That's way too far! I'm going to kill him this time for sure!”

“Twilight Sparkle! Crimson Fang! Tamashii Souto!” The three walked over to the door and saw Tirek standing in the middle of the town square. “You have something that we want!” Arabus floated up to the centaur and shook his head. “Still haven't been able to find them?”

“They haven't, but I have.” The three ponies yelped and turned around. Sitting there with an unconscious Trixie and Hex next to him, was Grogar.

Soul growled. “You motherbucker! I'll say this once. Let. Them. Go.” The ram just sneered.

“Do you really thing you can overpower me? I have taken the youth of thousands of ponies, three alicorns, and a Draconequus.” Fang raised an eyebrow and the two black magic users began to circle each other.

“I thought you and Discord were working together.” Grogar sneered again.

“Us? Working with someone that was friends with a pony? Never! He was a means to an end! He helped us to grow strong once more, and once he had, he was as useless as his precious friendship with you weak minded, simple, creatures.” Fang scoffed in response.

“Weak minded? You are the weak minded one Grogar. At least ponies know the difference between right and wrong! Now stand still, and let me send you back to Tartarus!” Fang lit up his horn but heard a laugh from behind him. Turning around they saw that Arabus was now floating in the doorway.

“Now now Monster King, you wouldn't want to lose your daughter, now would you?” He snapped his fingers and a cage made of storm clouds appeared. Inside was Ana, missing her magic, shadow, and youth. Twilight's horn glowed and their foals disappeared in a flash of light. When he sensed how strong her magic was Arabus turned around. “Oh Tirek! I think I found where the princesses hid their magic, youth, and shadows!” The sound of thunderous galloping caught their attention and they were suddenly pulled out of the library by Tirek's magic.

“You three will give us what we want!” He opened his mouth and went to absorb their magic, before getting hit in the head with a brick. He growled and looked around. “Who threw that!?”

“Boring. This is so boring, this is so boring. Get to the fight!” Looking around they saw that sitting on one of the branches of the library, was Lepus. He was sitting in a reclining chair made of smoke and eating popcorn. “Wow... Discord really does know how to live an easy life... Well he does when he still has his magic at least.” The rabbit threw some popcorn into his mouth, saw that Tirek, Twilight, Soul and Fang were all charging up a spell to blast him with and yawned. When they fired the spell he simply raised a paw and batted it away like it was a fly. “Now Tirek. You and I know that while you may be strong, I still have enough power to send you packing back to Tartarus...” Tirek gulped, Twilight went wide eyed. She knew that Lepus had been dangerous before, but now she was worried about Fang. If he could scare a demon like Tirek, then just imagine what he could do to a pony. She knew that her husband was a god, but he was still a pony. “Now then, I didn't bust you three out just so you could bore me... So hide your captives and fight them!”


Soul growled at the demon for releasing creatures that could cause all of Equestria to wither up and die, when he suddenly heard the sound of bells. He turned just in time for Grogar to ram him, knock him to the ground, and open his mouth. Soul watched as a green mist ran from his own mouth and into the ram's. He tried to fight back and knock the ram off but found that he couldn't. ‘What's going on!? Why can't I- He's taking my youth!’ He felt the last bit of his youth drain away, then the ram was suddenly knocked off of him and to the side. Fang was now standing next to the shade and helping him up.

“Are you ok?” The shade nodded and turned towards where the ram had landed when they heard laughing.

“The youth of three alicorns and a shade prince... I feel so powerful!!!” Grogar stood up and continued to laugh. Slowly small spikes began to grow out of his horns and he became one and a half times his size. He opened his eyes, and even from ten feet away, Fang can see his eyes had changed. They looked like his own when he was in his god form, red with cat like pupils. His small goatee started to flow in a nonexistent wind as well. It took Fang and Soul a moment to realize what was going on.

“Soul... Twilight... We need to beat these three into the ground right-” Tirek growled and slapped Fang away.

“Grogar! You take the black one! Arabus! You take the shade! The mare is mine!” The ram ran off towards Fang, while Tirek picked Twilight up and threw her into the distance, more specifically, into the side of a mountain.

“Looks like it's just you and me Arabus!” Soul turned around and growled at the cloud demon. Arabus just laughed.

“Now, now. Let us be civil shade prince.” Soul raised an eyebrow at the demon.

“Prince? What are you talking about?” The demon laughed.

“Oh I suppose that you don't remember how I devoured your mother and that the sight of her death caused your father to go insane... Anyway... Let us work this out like the civil beings we are, I'll make a trade with you.” Arabus snapped his fingers and a cloud cage containing Trixie and Hex appeared. Trixie began to stir and sat up. “It's a simple trade, your shadows for the blue unicorns.” 

“Soul! Don't do it! I know that you can beat him!” Arabus laughed and looked at the blue mare.

“Oh sure he can! Or at least he could...” Arabus turned back and looked at Soul. “If he was a god! But he isn't, he is nothing but a worthless, little, shadow golem who couldn't stop me from eating his precious mother, and making his father go insane!” Arabus chuckled and looked at Trixie again. “And we all know that if he doesn't accept, you'll just become a broodmare for Grogar.”

‘Broodmare for Grogar. Broodmare for Grogar! Broodmare for Grogar!?’ Soul's eye twitched. That phrase had caused something in his mind to snap. Soul pulled out his sword and charged at the demon after letting loose a roar that a deaf pony could hear. “FIRST I'M GOING TO CUT YOU INTO TINY PIECES, PUT THE PIECES IN AN AIRTIGHT BOX AND THROW THAT BOX INTO A VALCOANO! THEN I'M GOING TO RIP THAT RAM'S SPINE OUT THROUGH HIS TEETH!” In his rage Soul didn't notice that a bolt of lightning was coming at him from the side. He jumped and was about to impale Arabus' head, only to be blasted away by the said bolt of lightning.

“Thank you Grogar. Did the black one throw you over here?” The ram nodded. “Now I am going to wait until he gets here before I eat the shade.” The cloud demon floated over and picked Soul up. The shade growled at the demon and tried to fight back, only to find that his grip was too strong. “Do you want to know a secret young prince?” A malicious smile appeared on Arabus' face. “When I ate your mother, I didn't just eat her.”

Soul looked at him in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“You young shade, were going to be a big brother.” Soul's eyes went wide and he let loose a loud, draconic, roar.

“YOU FUCKING BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU!” Fang flew over a hill in the distance and saw the scene. He immediately dashed towards Arabus with the intent of getting him to release his friend. Only to be blocked by walls made of bone.

Arabus turned around and gave an evil laugh. “Say goodbye to your friends young shade! You no longer belong in this world!” The demon opened his mouth and inhaled. Fang, Trixie, and Hex could just sit there and watch as the shade was devoured along with the shadows of the princesses. Once Soul was gone Arabus laughed and grew until he was the size of the library. For Fang and the Lulamoon siblings time slowed down, as the sapphire that was set in the hilt of Soul's blade, and the cloak the shade wore, fell to the ground. They were all that was left of their friend. Fang shook with rage before glaring at the two demons who had just taken his brother in all but blood. Drawing his own blade he channeled a spell through it, releasing a flash of light that blinded the demons. When their sight cleared Trixie, Hex, Fang and all that was left of Soul were gone. 

Fang teleported the three of them away. When Trixie opened her eyes she gasped at where they were. The Tree of Harmony. “You two stay here... What I am about to do to those two is not going to be pretty. I am about to doing something that nopony should ever witness.” Fang charged up a teleportation spell and left the two Lulamoons there. Or so he thought. Trixie had grabbed onto the end of his tail just as he teleported, taking her with him. Fang looked behind himself and frowned. “Trixie! I thought I told you to stay at the Tree of Harmony.”

“You did, but I want to help you! Soul wasn't just your best friend! He was my coltfriend, and I want to help avenge him!” Fang looked at the blue mare for a second.

“Do you really want to avenge him? Or are you asking just so that you can say that you helped defeat Tirek, Arabus, and Grogar?” Trixie growled at Fang for insinuating that she only wanted to do this because ponies might recognize her as a hero, so she bit his leg. When she did, Fang smiled. “That answers my question. Stand still.” Fang's horn glowed and he shot a beam at Trixie's horn. A few seconds later the beam stopped and Fang began to pant. “There... I gave you half of my magical energy, but I want it back after we are done with this... Understand?” The blue unicorn mare nodded





Arabus laughed and began to form balls of lightning to form in his hands. “So many shadows! I feel like a god!!!” He opened his eyes and saw that Grogar was having a hard time standing up. “What's wrong Grogar? Scared of my size?” The ram pointed behind him and Arabus turned around. There he saw Trixie and Fang. They were different however. Fang was covered in what looked to be black and white flames while Trixie was covered in flames that were a deep, dark, blue.

“YOU ATE MY BEST FRIEND... AND HAVE UNLEASHED THE FULL WRATH OF A GOD UPON YOURSELF!!!” The clouds overhead began to swirl until they completely blocked out the sun. Leaving nothing but darkness. “MAY THE BLOOD OF THE DAMNED RAIN DOWN UPON YOU!!!” A crack of thunder and a flash of lightning was soon followed by the pitter patter of rain. Trixie felt a raindrop on her and looked down at it. She gasped at what she saw. It wasn't water that had landed on her muzzle, it was blood. Fang had literally commanded the clouds to rain blood, without the use of magic. He had done it with just his voice. “MAY THE SCREAMS OF THE INNOCENT ECHO IN YOUR EARS!!!” Trixie watched as the ground began to crack open and flames shot out of the crevices. Soon spirits began to rise from the flaming fissures and filled the air with unholy sounds of pain and torment. Fang appeared in front of Arabus in a flash of flame and the demon fell to the ground shaking with fear. “MAY YOU ROT IN TARTARUS AS LONG AS YOU LIVE AND BREATH!!! FOR YOU DO NOT DESERVE YOUR FREEDOM!!!!!” He charged up a massive spell and fired it at Arabus, when the dust cleared Arabus was still there, but he was considerably smaller, and shadows were flying out of his body.

“MY SHADOWS!!!” Arabus tried to inhale them all again and got hit by another massive spell, and another, and another, soon there was a massive crater on the hill that Arabus used to be laying on.  Fang landed and slowly walked over to the demon. "W-wait! Please! Don’t kill me!”

"Oh I'm not going to kill you... I'm going to send you back to Tartarus. Right now!" Fang's horn glowed and he shot a spell straight into Arabus' chest. The next thing the demon knew, he was being pulled back into Tartarus, or more specifically, he was being ripped back into Tartarus from the inside out.


In Tartarus.


Sunset, Luna, Dream, Cadence, and Celestia were sitting in Tartarus, chained to the ground by magical shackles. The yellow alicorn looked at her family and sighed. "Well... I guess none of us have anything else to do but talk... So... I'll as the first question. What are your full names? Mine is Princess Sunset Shimmer and I am the Goddess of Flames." Everypony gave the yellow alicorn a deadpan stare. "What? Is there something wrong with wanting to know the full names of the ponies in my family?" They all looked between each other and smiled.

Cadence was the first one to speak up. "You know me as Cadence, but my full name is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. As you know I protect the Crystal Empire, and I am the Goddess of love."

"My names Sweet Dream! I haven't gotten the title of princess, or a cutie mark, or found out what I'm the goddess of yet, but I'm working on it! I am sure that my special talent lies somewhere in my mommy's hoofsteps. Hopefully my talent will fit my name. Just think of seeing a statue of me in the royal gardens with a golden plaque that says 'Princess Sweet Dream, the Princess of Dreams'." Everypony blinked and looked at the eleven year old filly. "What? A filly can dream can't she?" The others giggled.

"My name is Princess Celestia Ilios Sunflare. I am the Goddess of the Sun and the Day, and I protect Equestria." Everypony smiled at Celestia before they looked at Luna. They all noticed she was looking at the ground. "Luna? What's wrong?" The moon goddess looked up and smiled.

"Oh nothing. It's just that our shadows are back which means Arabus is back in Tartarus." The alicorns all looked down, sure enough, they had shadows. "Um... Was it my turn to answer Sunset's question?" They alicorns all nodded. "My name is Princess Luna Selini Starlight. I am the Goddess of the Moon and the Night, and I protect Equestria along with my sister."

"Thank you. Cadence since you answered first, you get to ask us a question next, then Dream, then mom, then Luna. That sound fair?" Everypony nodded.


Back in Ponyville.


Grogar was bucking his head towards Fang and Trixie. The reason he was bucking his head was because that was how he casted projectile spells. "Why won't you two give up!? You won't be able to stop me!" Fang and Trixie just kept coming towards him. He began to shake in fear as the two ponies kept getting closer. He was not going to end up like Arabus. He was not going back to Tartarus. Just as the two ponies got to him, he smiled. "You fell for my trap fools!" Skeletal hooves shot up from the ground and wrapped around Fang's legs. This caused the black alicorn to trip, leaving him wide open. Grogar licked his lips, opened his mouth, and inhaled, causing the youth of four alicorns to enter his body. "So much youth... So much power!!!" Grogar's fur began to stick out in small points, as if he was turning into a porcupine. The tips of his horns began to elongate, giving them the appearance of two spears, while the small spikes on his horns got longer, sharper, and curved upwards.

Fang looked upwards. "Dang it... I let my guard down..." He tried to get up, only to find that he was too weak to do so. He looked at Grogar and growled as the skeletal hooves began to drag him into the ground.

Grogar smirked and laughed. "I didn't think it would be so easy to beat an alicorn! You should have known better! I have my bells, with them around my neck only one thing can stop me, and I think you forgot what it was!" He felt a small tickle on his skin and looked at Trixie. "You know what? I think I'll take advantage of you right here... I know you’re in heat, so there is a possibility that you might bear my children." Grogar slowly trotted over to Trixie, but was surprised when she suddenly punched him, it actually sent he backwards a few feet.

"I am not a broodmare!" Trixie's horn lit up and she fired a spell at Grogar while he was still recovering from the shock. While the spell didn't affect him in any way, it caused the bells around his neck to jingle. Something in Trixie's mind connected. 'Bells... Sound... Auntie Lohitia always said 'When you can't get anypony's attention, talk louder so that you will be heard.' If I drown out the sound of his bells, then maybe he'll lose his power!' Trixie looked around and smiled when she saw the town's bell tower. She turned around and ran towards it, with Grogar following close behind.

"No! No no no no! I won't let you ring that bell! I don't know how a broodmare knows my weakness, but I won't let you ring that bell!" Trixie growled and jumped into the air, landing after Grogar had run past where she had been standing.

'I don't know how I did that, but I don't really care at the moment!' "For the last time... I AM NOT A BUCKING BROODMARE!!!" The blue unicorn mare ran up to the ram and, showing a super pony amount of strength, picked him up by his tail, began to spin around in a circle, lifting Grogar into the air while she did so, and then released him. This caused him to become a living projectile. She watched as the ram flew through the air screaming, before coming into contact, face first, with her target. The town bell. When the ram struck it the bell began to toll. "THAT'S FOR HELPING ARABUS EAT SOUL, AND CALLING ME A BROODMARE!" Trixie spit on the ground and turned around to see Fang walking over the hill.

"Where's Grogar?"

"Bell tower."

"Did he make you angry?"

"Yes."

"Did he call you a broodmare?"

"Yes."

"Did you pick him up?"

"Yes."

"With your teeth?"

"Yes."

"Spin around in circles so fast that he was lifted off the ground?"

"Yes."

"Let him go?"

"Yes."

"Sent him flying through the air?"

"Yes."

"Did he scream like a frightened little filly?"

"Yes."

"Aim for the town bell?"

"Yes."

"He hit it?"

"Yes."

"Do you think he is in immense pain right now?"

"I don't know."

"Did you show him any mercy?"

"Nope."

"Do you want to throw him back into Tartarus?"

"It would be an honor to do so."

"Then let's go! We don't want him to get his strength back before we can send him back!" Trixie nodded and followed Fang to the bell tower, up the stairs on the inside to the top, saw Grogar sitting in a pile of black slime, and smiled.

"I'm not done with him. Can you give me a second?" Fang nodded and watched as Trixie walked over to the ram. His eyes went wide and he turned away from the scene. A few minutes and a large explosion from the direction of the Ponyville library later Trixie walked back over to Fang and smiled. The vampony looked at her and had a hard time restraining himself from pushing her down and licking her entire body. She was covered with blood. "Done!" Fang looked past her and almost threw up at what he saw. The blue mare has somehow ripped off Grogar's horns and shoved them into a body part that he knew hurt a lot when a stallion is struck there. The ram also had two black eyes and thousands of cuts and scrapes on his body. Fang looked at Trixie with wide eyes.

"Remind me to stay on your good side... And to never call you a broodmare." Trixie just brushed the comment off and shrugged.

"I didn't do all that much." Fang gave the blue mare a deadpan stare. He seemed calm but in his mind he was screaming.

'Didn't do all that much? You castrated him with one of his own horns! If that's not doing much in your opinion then I don't want to know what you consider to be all that much.' Fang sighed and shot a spell into the air causing a portal that led to Tartarus to form. "Ok. Send him through." Trixie got an evil smirk on her face, picked Grogar up, twisted the horn she had stabbed into his genitals, causing him to scream in pain, and threw him through the portal. As soon as it closed she smiled at Fang.

"Nopony hurts my coltfriend, and nopony calls me a broodmare." Fang just sighed.

"Can I have my magic back now?" Trixie nodded and Fang touched the tip of his horn to hers. The mare blushed but noticed that a small stream of red magic was flowing off of her horn. One it had stopped Fang stopped touching his horn to hers and smiled. "That's two down, one to go. Let's go and help Twilight." Trixie nodded and the two of them ran off towards the area where Tirek had thrown Twilight.


In Tartarus.


Celestia looked at her family and tapped her chin. "My question is... How did Twilight and Fang getting married benefit the world the most in your opinion? For me, it's because we were finally able to convince the monsters to trade with us, Fang had been trying to help in that regard, but he said most monster merchants wanted a 'sign of faith between the kingdoms.' Fang thought that they meant they wanted us to trade with them without expecting anything in return."

Luna smiled. "I think that the world has benefited the most because their marriage has possibly brought everlasting peace between Transylmaneia, Equestria, and the Crystal Empire."

Cadence thought for a second. "I guess the world has benefitted the most because of the protection we have been promised from invading nations."

Dream smiled. "It's good they got married because now I have two more playmates!" Luna smiled and nuzzled her daughter.

Sunset looked down. "The best thing about them getting married... Is that it shows that no matter how different two ponies might be, true love conquers all." She looked back up and smiled before gasping. "Mom! You're young!" Celestia raised an eyebrow. "I mean you’re not old and wrinkled anymore! None of us are!" The alicorns all looked down at their hooves and smiled. Then they looked to their flanks to see if they had their cutie marks back. But they didn't.

"Arabus and Grogar are trapped again, but Tirek is still free."


Ponyville.


Trixie and Fang walked over a hill and saw Twilight and Tirek staring each other down in a large crater. "It appears we are at an impasse. How about a trade, Twilight?" Tirek snapped his fingers and twelve bubbles appeared. Each one containing one of their friends, as well as their daughter and Discord. "Their release for all the Alicorn magic that you posses." The ponies in the bubbles began to shout things at Twilight.

"Don't do it Twilight!"

"We aren't worth it!"

"Oh, but you are, Fluttershy." Everypony turned and looked at Discord. "You're the pony that taught me that friendship is magic. I had magic and friendship, and now I don't have either."

"Enough!" Tirek stomped one of his cloven hooves. "I want an answer, and I want it now!" There was a long pause as Twilight looked at the bubbles that held her friends and daughter.

"I will give you my magic, in exchange for my friends and my daughter." Tirek grinned.

"As you wish." Tirek snapped his fingers and eleven of the Twelve bubbles popped. Fluttershy and Ana looked around before looking up and giving a small, sad frown at Discord.

"All of my friends." Tirek was taken aback and pointed at Discord.

"After the way he has betrayed you, you still call him a 'friend'?" Twilight growled at the centaur.

"Release him!" Tirek sighed and snapped his fingers.

"If that's what you want." Discord's bubble popped and he fell to the ground.

"Thank you, Twilight." He turned and looked at Fluttershy and Ana. "I'm sorry." The two nodded.

"Your turn." Tirek opened his mouth and began to absorb Twilight's magic before quickly throwing his hand out and catching Fang, who had started to fly at his head, and began to absorb his magic too. The two screamed in pain as their magic was stolen and after he had finished Tirek dropped Fang, who fell to the ground like a rag doll. Tirek roared as he grew to the size of both Celestia and Fang's castle combined. "Yes!" With that he trotted off towards the Everfree Forest.

"Twilight, Fang, what were you thinking!?"

"Tirek, Grogar and Arabus tricked me into believing that they could offer me something more valuable than friendship. But there is nothing worth more. I see that now. They lied when they said that this medallion was given as a sign of gratitude and loyalty. But when I say that it is a sign of our true friendship, I am telling the truth." Discord placed the amulet around Twilight's neck. Fang caught a small rainbow glow off of the medallion and grabbed his head in pain.

'Rainbow of Light.' Fang shook his head as flashes flew through his head. He saw a crystal box with six keyholes, then a spool of rainbow colored thread, a golden pin, a rubber chicken, a flower, a bit and the medallion Twilight was wearing. Once the visions stopped he looked at the ponies gathered in front of him. "I think I know where the keys to the box you said was under the tree are."

"Where?" Fang frowned.

"I'll rephrase that. I know what they are. A spool of rainbow colored thread, a golden pin shaped like a lightning bolt, a rubber chicken, a flower, a bit and the medallion Twilight is wearing. Do you know where they are?" 

"Each one of has one of those in our houses. They're the keys?" Fang nodded. "Then we'll never be able to open the box. The Wonderbolts pin is in my house and none of us can fly or use magic." Trixie grinned.

"Trixie can! Tirek forgot to take Trixie's magic." Trixie paused and slapped herself. "No! Bad Trixie, you don't talk in third pony anymore." Everypony looked at Trixie with confused looks and she stared at them. After a few seconds of awkward silence Trixie sighed. "I'll be right back!" Her horn glowed and she disappeared. There was a very loud scream from the direction of Rainbow's house.

Fang looked at Twilight. "Does Trixie know a cloud walking spell?" Twilight shrugged and nearly jumped out of her skin when Trixie appeared on her back. The blue mare now had a bag with her.

"The ground isn't supposed to be soft... Or supposed to move up and down so quickly or violently for that matter." Trixie looked down, saw Twilight's fur, and jumped off her back. "I am so sorry about that! I miscalculated the distance between here and Fluttershy's cottage... Anyway..." Trixie began to pull items out of the bag. "Spool of rainbow thread, Wonderbolts badge, Boneless the Rubber Chicken that Pinkie Pie got from Cheese Sandwich, a flower that Fluttershy got from a Breezie, and, hopefully, the bit that Applejack got from Silver Shill... What's so important about these things?" Fang shrugged.

"I saw them in a vision. Now let's get to the Tree of Harmony!" Fang turned around and dashed off, followed by the elements of Harmony, their coltfriends, Ana, and Trixie.





When the group reached the tree they noticed that there were already two ponies there. One was a light blue unicorn colt, Hex, while the other was a sight for sore eyes. "Soul!" The dark blue unicorn shade turned around and was tackled to the ground by Trixie. Fang walked up next to the blue unicorns and smiled.

Soul just blinked when he realized his fillyfriend was on top of him. "Trixie, please get off of me..." The blue mare rapidly shook her head and hugged him. "But you're in heat, I know you don't want to have a foal yet. Last week you told me you were going to try and wait a few more years." Trixie blushed and slowly climbed off of Soul. "Thank you." The shade sat up and looked around. "Why are we at the Tree of Harmony?" Soul looked down and noticed that Trixie had a shadow. "I'm guessing one of you sent Arabus back to Tartarus." Fang nodded.

"OH COME ON!" The group of four turned, looked at, and walked over to the source of the sound, Twilight and her friends.

"What's the matter Twilight?" Twilight just pointed at the open box and Fang saw a smaller box inside of it. "The box inside of a box trick?" Twilight nodded and Fang pulled out the box. It looked the same, only there were just two keyholes on it, one on the top, and one on the bottom. One of the keyholes was decorated with images of dragon wings that were carved into the crystal, while the other had pegasus wings. 'Balance!' Fang dropped the box and grabbed his head. Two images flashed through his head. His amulet, the alicorn amulet, and Soul's sword. The gems in them, the ruby in the amulet and the sapphire on the hilt of Soul's sword, were glowing. Fang let go of his head. "The Elements of Balance. Soul! Get the sapphire that's in the hilt of your sword!" Soul raised an eyebrow but did as he was asked. Fang looked down at his amulet and ripped the ruby out of it.

Soul walked over and looked at Fang. "Why are you ripping your amulet-" Fang slowly placed the ruby from his amulet on the smaller of the two boxes and it glowed. Slowly the ruby began to change shape, turning into a red, crystal key, the teeth of which looked like the fangs that were Fang's cutie mark. "I'm guessing that you want me to do the same?" Fang nodded. Soul placed the sapphire on the chest and watched as it changed shape just as Fang's element, Evil, had, his however became a blue, crystal, key with teeth that looked like his will-o-wisp cutie mark. "Wait a second... That sapphire was the element I used when we created the tree... That sapphire was the Element of Good." Fang and Soul watched as the keys floated into the keyholes. The blue, Good, into the pegasus wings and red, Evil, into the dragon wings.

The keys turned automatically and the box shattered, revealing a glowing ball of light. Suddenly the ball shot into the Element of Magic, that was on the tree, small trails of light branched from the element of magic to the other elements, including Good and Evil, which had somehow appeared at the top and base of the tree respectively. A beam of light shot from each of the elements onto their respective bearer, then the eight ponies got sucked into the box. A blast of rainbow light shot from the box and revealed eight orbs of light, each one in the color of one of the ponies that had been sucked into the box. The bubbles all burst revealing the ponies trapped within, however they looked different. All of their manes were flowing in a nonexistent wind. The ones that caught Trixie and Ana's attention however were Fang and Soul.

One of Fang's wings, his right, had reverted to its normal, leathery, form but was full of holes that almost looked like the faces of screaming ponies. His mane was flowing and had streaks of red in between the normal white and orange of it, in his mane were small images of what looked to be black bats, and his tail had become forked, like a snake's tongue. His fangs had become elongated and much sharper, as if it was like they were able to tear through solid steel. His eyes were a dark, blood red in color and he had draconic pupils. 

Soul however was a different story. His eyes were now a glowing blue in color, while is normally white mane was now silver like Trixie's and had glowing blue balls of flame in it. The most noticeable thing however, was his back, two glowing wings had appeared, the left looked like that of a pegasus while the other was draconic. 

The eight ponies suddenly shot into the sky, surrounded by a large ball of light. They looked down at the ground and saw Tirek as he walked towards them. He growled and shot a large beam of magic at them, but the ponies were unaffected. The centaur was taken aback and growled at the eight ponies. "How is this possible?! You have no magic!"

Twilight smiled at the centaur. "You're wrong, Tirek! You may have taken our Alicorn magic, but we carry within us the most powerful magic of all!" Six beams of light, each one a color of the coat of one of the Element Bearers, shot out of the ball of light and bound Tirek, Fang and Soul however, flew out of the ball of light and in front of Tirek's face. Their horns glowed and they released two large beams of magic, a pure white one from Soul, and a pure black one from Fang. Tirek screamed and began to revert into his weakest form before disappearing completely. He had been returned to Tartarus.





The ball of light returned to the box, before said box flew into the air, over Ponyville and planted in the ground. The eight ponies landed and watched as a large crystal tree, that held a lavender castle with a crystal star in the shape of Twilight's cutie mark on the top, rose from the ground. The eight ponies stood shocked as they began to revert to their normal forms, including Soul, who had his wings vanish. Rarity guffawed at the sight. "Sweet Celestia! Are you all seeing what I'm seeing?"

Soul looked at Fang and his jaw was hanging open. "I'm seeing it..."

"But I'm not believing it!" Fang ran towards the tree and rammed his head into it. He stood there for a second before falling over and grabbing his head. "That really hurt!" Soul ran over to Fang and helped the black alicorn up. Fang stared at Soul for a few seconds. "Soul... I just realized... You were an alicorn a few minutes ago." Soul sighed.

"Don't remind me. I had wings and I looked awesome. Now I don't have wings and look... Less awesome... But I'm still pretty awesome!" Soul smiled and looked up. "Really... Cool castle by the way..."

Twilight walked up to her husband and the godfather of their children, a look of shock still present on her face. "Yes it's cool but... Whose is it?"

"I believe it is yours Queen Twilight." The ponies all turned around and saw Celestia, Sunset, Luna, Dream, and Cadence standing there. The mares and their coltfriends began walking through the halls of the castle while Fang and Soul sat outside.

"I feel like I'm forgetting some-” Fang slapped his forehead. "Dawn and Dusk.... And Trixie, Hex, and Ana..." Fang and Soul looked at each other. "I go get my month old foals and you get my other daughter, your fillyfriend, and her brother?" Soul nodded and sank into his shadow. Fang disappeared and reappeared a few minutes later with Dawn and Dusk chewing on his mane. Soul rose from the shadows with Ana, Trixie, and Hex. "Ok. Now let's go catch up with the others."

As Fang Soul, Ana, Trixie, and Hex walked through the corridors of the castle, marveling at the architecture they head Celestia speak. "You've been wondering what you are meant to do as a goddess. Do you know now Twilight?"

Fang and the others turned the corner and saw Twilight and the others. "As a goddess, I believe I have the power to spread the magic of friendship across the world. That is the role I am meant to have in this world! The role I choose to have! But I didn't defeat Tirek, Grogar, and Arabus on my own. It took all of us to unlock the chest, and the chest that lay within it!" Twilight waved the others over and smiled as they ran up. 

"Then it is unlikely you are meant to take on this task alone." A door opened and everypony gasped in awe. In the room was six thrones, each depicting one of the element's cutie marks. Strangely, it seemed as if pieces of a seventh throne, a foundation if you will, had formed as well. "You are now Twilight Sparkle, the goddess of friendship. But what is the goddess of friendship without her friends?" Everypony smiled at Twilight and hugged her. Then the purple mare's horn glowed and she dragged Discord over, to which the Draconequus hugged all the ponies that were gathered.

"Wait a minute, where's my throne!?" Fluttershy flew up to Discord.

"I don't think you're quite there yet." Discord chuckled.

"Yes, well, I suppose not." Fang and Soul looked at each other and then looked at Discord.

"Couldn't you just make your own throne by snapping your fingers?" Discord shook his head.

"It's not the same." The ponies just laughed and the sound of curious whispers caught their attention. Twilight smiled as they all saw the citizens of Ponyville walking up to the castle.

Fang didn't even notice as the mares started singing. The fact that Lepus had been sitting in the branches of the library, that he had been waiting for Tirek, Arabus and Grogar to fight the group spoke volumes to him. Lepus had done that with the intent of killing them all... He had not fought them himself... Lepus... Was scared.






Be the one who nurtures and builds. Be the one who has an understanding and a forgiving heart, one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them. ~ Marvin J. Ashton.

> Bloodlines and the Past.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The minute people fall in love, they become liars. ~ Harlan Ellison.






The next day.


"I can't believe it... I just can't believe it..." Twilight stepped onto the ruins of what was once the Golden Oaks Library with tears in her eyes. "All those memories... All those books... Gone before I could even say Celestia..." Twilight sat down and began to sob. "It's just not fair Fang... I know I live with you, Ana and the foals now, but still..." Twilight looked around at the smoldering wood and burned books. "This place was dear to me... It was almost like it was a part of me..."

Fang walked up to Twilight, sat down in front of her, and wrapped his wings around her before giving her a small nuzzle on the cheek. "Everything is going to be fine Twilight." Twilight looked up at Fang with tears in her eyes. "Even if the photos of you and your friends were destroyed, it doesn't matter. Because you don't need them to have memories, all you need in order to remember the good times you've had with them, is right here." The black alicorn poked Twilight in the chest, more specifically her heart, and smiled at the mare before nuzzling her once again. "Besides. You don't have to go through this loss alone. You have your friends, me, Ana, Dawn, and Dusk to help you."

"I know... But it's still hard to believe..." Twilight looked at the ground and caught a glint of light reflect off of something under the floorboards. "What's that?" Twilight was about to pull the boards up with her magic when she heard crying, followed by a strong odor. "Fang... Could you pull up these floorboards for me? I think I saw something..." 

Fang nodded and began to tear up the floorboards while Twilight went over to Soul, Trixie, and Ana, who were trying to catch Dawn and Dusk so that they could change them. She saw Trixie sit down and watched as Dusk walked over to her. The blue mare's horn glowed and some black curtains and a table appeared. The curtains quickly rose up and blocked everypony's view of the mare and the month old foal.

"Ok, take the dirty one off... Wipe him clean, powder, rash lotion, put him in a clean one, and done!" The curtains and table disappeared revealing Trixie, who was holding a smiling Dusk that was in a clean diaper. The foal reached his forelegs out towards Twilight and Trixie smiled before standing up, walking over, and giving him to the purple mare. "There you go little one."

The two horned ponies heard a groan. "I still don't understand how a mare that's not a mother can be so good with foals!" Trixie and Twilight giggled and looked in the direction of Rainbow Dash.

"One word Rainbow, I just need to say one word to explain how I'm so good with foals." Trixie pointed to the left towards where the crusaders were playing. "Hex."

The blue colt stopped dead in his tracks and looked at Trixie. "You need something big sister?" Trixie shook her head, causing the colt to shrug and continue playing with the other four crusaders.

"Mother and father used to attend a lot of dinner parties and leave me home alone with Hex. Mother wanted to stay but was forced to go with father because she was afraid he would hit us if she didn't. As such I had to learn how to care for a young colt. Get the picture?" Dash sighed and nodded.

"Hey Trixie... I don't think I know how old you are..." Trixie smiled.

"Twenty three, same age as you Twilight... Well I'm a month older to be honest."  Trixie gave a small chuckle.

Applejack walked up to the blue unicorn and smiled, before suddenly frowning. "Hey Trixie, Twilight said that your family is one of the houses of the nobility, just like hers is. Is that true?" Trixie blinked and nodded. "Then how come you don't act like... Well, like Blueblood?"

Trixie just shrugged. "I don't act like a noble because I don't want to be placed in the same group as Blueblood... Or somepony else that I hate so much that I will sing praises to the Grim Reaper upon the day of his death..." Trixie cast a glare a Canterlot before looking back at Applejack and smiling. "The strangest thing about me in the opinion of the other nobles is the fact that I, a noble from the Lulamoon Clan, am friends with Twilight here." Twilight looked at Trixie with a raised eyebrow. "Not because I'm a noble who normally tries to avoid politics, and therefore other nobles, but because she is a member of the Sparkle Clan."

"What's wrong with my family's clan?" Trixie giggled.

"Absolutely nothing in my opinion. It's just that the Sparkle and Lulamoon families have been enemies for a hundred years." Twilight gasped. "What you didn't know?" Twilight shook her head. "Do you want to know why?" The purple alicorn nodded. "Well apparently our great grandfathers fell in love with the same mare. After three years of each trying to win her affections, after she made it obvious she wasn't interested, she ended up killing herself because she wanted them to leave her alone. They blamed each other for her death and so began the Sparkle/Lulamoon Feud."

"Well that's actually really sad. I bet we could have been friends a lot sooner if that had never happened." Twilight smiled and looked down at her son. "Am I right Dusk? Couldn't I have been Trixie's friend a lot sooner if that had never happened?" The colt just smiled and gurgled in response, unable to form proper words yet. Twilight blinked and looked at the colt for a second. "Wait a second... Where are your sisters?"

"I've got you now!" Twilight looked to the side and saw Ana holding Dawn a few inches away, with a clothes pin on her nose, and a triumphant smile on her face. "Mommy... I caught her..." Twilight smiled as Ana walked over to her, holding the struggling foal with her magic.

"Good job Ana!" Twilight looked at Trixie. "Could you hold Dusk for a second?" The blue mare nodded and smiled as the small colt that Twilight had handed her hugged her. "I knew that he liked you." Twilight smiled before she summoned curtains and a changing table. A few minutes later the curtains and table vanished and revealed Twilight who was holding a freshly diapered Dawn. The ponies heard a growl and looked down at Dawn and Dusk. "Are you two hungry?" 

The two foals whimpered and Twilight laid down on her side, exposing her teats. Being the one that Twilight had been holding at the time, Dawn was the first of the two foals to start suckling. Trixie smiled and levitated Dusk over to his mother and watched as he began to suckle as well. Twilight covered the two foals with her wings and smiled before letting out a blissful sigh. "There we go you two, eat up, that way you can be happy and healthy when you grow up." Twilight lowered her head and nuzzled her foals.

Trixie smiled, because from where she was sitting she could see the foals feeding. "I am never going to change my mind. A suckling foal is the most adorable thing in the world."

"No way!!!" Everypony turned and looked at the ruins of the library. There they saw Fang and Soul looking at an old brown book. "Is that my godfather's journal!?"

Fang stood up, walked over towards the group with the book and sat down before looking at Soul. "Well... It says journal on the front of it, on the inside cover is the name Starswirl the Bearded, and Starswirl was your godfather... So I'd have to say... Yes! But it doesn't look like he wanted anypony to read it... Just looking at the runes that are inscribed on the cover I can see he used about twenty different spells. None of which were flame retardant, sadly." Fang's horn glowed and he began to undo the seals. "This is going to take a few minutes." Soul nodded and looked up, only to see a wide eyed Trixie in front of him.

"Are you still in heat? Because I will run if you are..." Trixie shook her head, picked Twilight and her foals up with a single spell and gently sat them down next to her. Soul saw that Twilight's eyes were wide as well. "What? What did I do that's so shocking!?"

"The godfather of my children... Had Starswirl the Bearded for a godfather... Fang... If what you just said about Soul's godfather being Starswirl the Bearded was a lie... I will divorce you and win complete custody of Ana and the foals before you can say 'What just happened?'. Do you understand me!? Tell me right now, or so help me you will wish we had never met!" Fang blinked and looked up at his wife.

"What reason would I have to lie about something like that? The correct answer is, I don't. I'm not lying." The black alicorn returned to trying to break the seals. "Ten down... Ten to go..." A few minutes and almost a thousand questions from the mares later, Soul looked over to Fang and saw that he was flipping through the pages of the journal. "Well this is a disappointment... Most of the pages are nothing but ash... But there are a few passages that caught my eye..." Fang began to flip backwards through the pages. "Like this one... Starswirl writes of my father, mother, and a being named Void in this passage."

"I quickly saw that this went from a war, to a contest of who could create the most races. But in the final battle, a third party came. A threshal stallion from a distant land had started to develop what later became known as vampirism, becoming the first vampony. He was named Sangue Ripper, and had a wife named Scarlet Sky." Fang took a breath and continued reading. 

"Then to our surprise, new kinds monsters, werewolves, ghosts, goblins, and many more, started to reveal themselves to the world. This was not the end of the arrival of new species in the land however. Soon after the monsters came, demons began to appear. Some of the demon tribes started to become our allies in this time and as a result, the Shade species as a whole developed the ability to see demonic auras. After three years of war, we thought that the battle had ended because Discord had absorbed some of Void's insanity. We were wrong." Soul raised an eyebrow and took the journal.

Soul looked down at the severely burned page, seeing only a few sentences he could read. "All Hell broke loose in the form of massive earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and hurricanes. These wild forces of nature sadly forced Sangue's young son, Crimson Fang, to take control after death of his father, who had been caught in a rockslide that killed him instantly. Fang soon became known as the King of Monsters." Twilight looked between the two and teleported the journal over to herself. 

"Let's see here..." Twilight looked down at the page and smiled. "Discord vanished soon after Sangue’s death, and Void seemed to be sane once more. The Shades started to develop genders by this point, just as ponies had, and Void soon married a wyvern shade named Crescent Eclipse. Three years later the couple had a son that they named Tamashii Souto, later nicknamed Soul, who became Fang's foalhood friend as, despite the king's age of thirty four, he was still in the body of a colt. We attributed this to the fact that he was a natural born vampony, and as such he would age slowly and never grow old. This theory was soon proved wrong as the two began to grow at the same time. As if Fang had been waiting for Soul to be born..." 

Twilight looked up at the two stallions who just shrugged in response. "Despite having at least three decades apart in ages the two quickly became the best of friends, nay, brothers in all but blood according to Fang's mother, Scarlet Sky. Then tragedy struck both as both Crescent and Scarlet started to fall ill." Twilight looked up at the two.

Trixie glanced over at the book and frowned. "Listen to this..." Trixie gulped. "Void started to lose his sanity once again, and young Tamashii saw his kind change from the kind beings they were into evil, feral, yet very intelligent, beasts in every sense of the word." Trixie's eyes continued to scan the page. "The two mothers died soon after. Crescent disintegrated into particles made of shadow as a result of the magic that was keeping her in this existence being taken from her, and Scarlet, well her case was... Odd..." As the blue mare turned the page to see what was written on the back of it, her eyes widened. "No way... No way! There is no way in Equestria, no, buck that, in the entire universe that this is true!"

"What? What is it?" Twilight, Fang, and Soul tried to get a look at the book but Trixie's hoof was making it impossible for them to read it. Twilight sighed and teleported the book over to herself once more. She read the page and gasped, dropping it halfway through. "What is it Twilight?! What's wrong?!"

Twilight looked at her husband in shock. "I-I can't say it! I don't want to risk you leaving me because of what it says!" Fang blinked.

"Twilight, I love you with all my heart and soul, I promise that no matter what this book says, I will not leave you, ok?" Twilight gulped and nodded. "Good. Now I want you to tell me, what has you so scared that I'll leave you?" 

Twilight looked at the book, then to Canterlot, then to her husband. "It says that Celestia and Luna... Are your...They're..." Twilight gulped. "It says... It says they're... It says they're your little sisters..." Fang and Soul looked at each other and burst out laughing. "I'm serious! It says that they're your little sisters!"

Twilight turned around and saw her friends rolling on the ground laughing. The only ones who weren't were Rarity and Fluttershy. "Yeah! An' Ah'm the Queen of Prance!" Twilight glared at Applejack.

There was a sudden flash of light and Luna was suddenly standing in front of the group. "Twilight, Fang, Soul... You three need to come to Canterlot with me." Luna didn't wait for them to respond. Her horn flared and she teleported away, taking Fang, Soul, Twilight, Dawn and Dusk, who were still suckling, and the journal with her.





The three ponies opened their eyes and noticed they were in the Canterlot throne room. Twilight looked down at the suckling foals and smiled as they let go before picking them up and burping them. She was so preoccupied with the foals that she didn't notice that there were two shades in the room other than Soul. "There! I brought them! Now let my daughter go!" Twilight looked up and went wide eyed at what she saw.

A large wyvern like shade, similar to the one that attacked her and Fang on the ship to Prance, Fang had called it a Wing-blade if she remembered correctly. The other was a female, bipedal, shade that wore a hat similar to the one that Trixie used to as well as a full body cloak, except it seemed to be thick, like armor, and was a dark purple in color, under her left arm was a large tome while she held a staff in her right, Fang had told her Casters like this came in to varieties, Wizards, males, and Witches, females.

"Finally! I thought you were going to take forever to get Soul and your big brother here!" The witch looked at the Wing-blade and smiled. "Edge, let the filly go."

The wyvern growled at the witch. "I'm not a dog Muse!" He looked down and lifted up one of his clawed feet, allowing Dream to run over to Luna.

"That was very foolish of you." The ponies all turned and saw Celestia walking through the throne room doors. "By releasing Dream you have given up your only way to keep yourselves from being destroyed."

The witch, who was apparently named Muse, chuckled. "Oh, I don't think your big brother would like it if you killed two of his friends..." Luna growled at the two and charged up her horn.

"WHO DOTH THOU SPEAK OF SHADOW DEMON!?!?!?" The Lunar Mare let loose a bolt of magic at the two shades, who just laughed.

"Batter up!" The Wing-blade swung his tail and hit the bolt of energy, merely knocking it away. Celestia growled and charged up a spell, only to have the same result.

Muse chuckled. "Lulu, Tia, calm down!" Luna and Celestia froze in place, nopony had called them that in thousands of years. "Do you two honestly not remember your older brothers? Well you only had one older brother but you still called the other 'big brother'." Luna growled and charged up another spell. "Just let us explain!"

"Very well... Explain to us who our, 'big brothers' are." Edge chuckled.

"Look at the two stallions that are sitting halfway between us and yourself." Celestia raised an eyebrow and looked at the ponies he was indicating. Fang and Soul. "There are your big brothers..."

"You honestly expect us to believe a lie such as that?" Muse chuckled.

"No. We expect you to believe the truth..." The witch's hand glowed and the journal that had been brought to Canterlot along with Twilight, Fang, Soul, and the foals, floated over to her. She opened it and began to flip through the pages. "Did one of you throw this in a fire?" The female shade shook her head. "Doesn't matter." She kept flipping through the pages. "Here it is!" The shade cleared her throat. 

"The sudden dispersion of Scarlet's magic had created two odd ponies that had the traits of all three tribes, unicorn, earth ponies, and pegasi. I knew that Scarlet was a unicorn, and that her husband was a threshal, another kind of pegasus, so I knew Fang was a being that was at least similar to these two. But the creation of these two fillies was the last straw for Void. The white filly formed from the light half of Scarlet's magic and the blue one from her darker half had become the targets of Void's rage, as his view was that their creation was what had killed his wife. Not Fang's mother, but his own wife.

"Fang, horrified of this turn of events, decided to protect his new sisters to the best of his ability. Tamashii decided the help the young king in this endeavor, becoming like a second brother to the two fillies. Our group of eight, myself, my wife, Fang, Soul, his friends, and the fillies, survived the Shade King's wrath and escaped. The Monster King and Shade Prince named these two fillies later that day. Fang decided that the white one would be named Celestia Ilios Sunflare, as she was born of light magic, and let Soul name the blue filly. The Shade Prince chose Luna Selini Starlight to be the darker fillies' name." The shade closed the book. "So says the journal of Starswirl the Bearded. The entry is dated the day after our group escaped Void's wrath."

Celestia and Luna looked at the shades in shock before looking at Fang and Soul. "It's true princess..." The two alicorns looked at Twilight. "The journal is Starswirl the Bearded's and it does name Fang and Soul as your big brothers."

"But if that's true then... Let's see here... I'm Cadence's aunt, and Fang is my big brother... Twilight! You married your uncle-in-law!" Twilight frowned and Fang looked at his wife.

"Twilight. I don't care about my relation to you before we were married. We didn't know at the time... It doesn't count as incest in my opinion, because we are not related by blood. Besides... I read the Equestrian laws. It states that you are allowed to marry your in laws. Transylmaneian law states the same. So we committed no crime and no act of incest. So if you would allow me to remain with you as your husband... We can raise our children as a normal family." Fang took one of Twilight's hooves in one of his own and placed a hoof on top of hers. A few seconds later he gave a small grin. "Well, maybe normal isn't the right word to describe our family..."

Twilight giggled and looked at Dawn and Dusk, she wanted her children to have a good life, one like she had. She smiled and looked at Fang. "I'll never leave you." She kissed her husband and looked back at Dawn and Dusk. She noticed they were looking up and she looked up as well. The Witch and Wing-blade were standing in front of the group of five. They watched as the Wing-blade lowered his head until he was eyelevel with the two foals. The witch crouched down and placed the journal in front of Twilight. She then reached a hand out towards Dusk. The purple mare growled and her horn began to glow. "Touch my foals and you will lose your head!"

"Relax Princess-"

"I'm a Queen, thank you very much!" The witch blinked.

"Queen? Did you marry Fang?" Twilight blinked and nodded.

"Good for you buddy." Twilight, Fang, and Soul turned and looked at the Wing-blade. "Also... Muse you owe me ten... Bits? Is that what Equestrian currency is called?" They all nodded. "You owe me ten bits Muse! I told you Fang would get married first!" 

"Yeah yeah, whatever. I'll pay you as soon as I can..." The witch looked at Twilight. "I'm just going to ruffle his mane up a little bit." The witch placed her hand on the colt's head and rubbed his mane, causing it to look like bed head. "See that's all I was going to do."

"Your foals are adorable..." Twilight, Fang and Soul's heads all turned towards the dragon. She saw Dawn grab a hold of his mouth and giggle.

"Mw cawh dwagon!" Edge chuckled.

"She is certainly a brave little filly isn't she?" The filly let go and the wyvern patted her head.

"Just who are you two? The names Edge and Muse... They sound familiar... So does the name Void... But I can't place them." The two shades looked towards the pony/shade hybrid.

"You know how the journal mentioned your friends?" The unicorn nodded. "We are said friends... Void is the name of the shade king, your father." Soul blinked.

"So... What? I'm royalty among the shades or something?" The two shades looked between each other then back to Soul.

"You really don't remember anything do you?" Soul shook his head. "Oh well, it will come back to you as the seal weakens..."

"Or you could just tell us now."

"And risk causing a paradox? No, I think we'll just let your memories come back naturally." The shades smiled. "You won't have to wait long though, the seal has been weakening... That's how we got out..."

"You two don't have many memories either, do you? You don't remember anything besides your names and the fact that you're Mr. Soul's friends." Everyone began to look around for the source of the voice. "On Muse's head." Everyone looked at the top of the witch's head and saw that Dream had, somehow, managed to work her way under the shade's hat.

"How did you get up there without me noticing? I didn't even feel you... You're lighter than air..." The witch looked down from her head. "She's right though, we can't remember anything else..."

Fang coughed. "We can speak more of this tomorrow, at my castle. But it is getting late and our other daughter is going to be worried. I will slip you two out of Canterlot under the veil of night. I believe that my subjects will be more accepting of your kind."

Muse smirked. "Sounds like a good plan to me... But I'm going to go over the journal for a few days... See if I can figure out what some of the... Ciphers in the back half of the book mean... Seems that the fire only got halfway through it..."

Twilight looked to the side and saw that Luna was raising the moon. "Alright. Fang will come back and get you in... Three hours... Most ponies should be asleep by then..." Twilight heard a yawn, looked down and smiled as she saw Dawn and Dusk snuggling up against her, trying to keep warm and comfortable with their mother's fur. "I think that it's Dawn and Dusk's bedtime." Everypony who witnessed the sight let out a small 'Dawww' at the foals' actions... That is everypony except for Fang. He was busy looking at Celestia and Luna.

Celestia looked at Fang and smiled. "I don't think Starswirl would have written a lie about something as big as this... Big brother..." Celestia looked at Fang for a second. "You three should get home. I'm sure that Ana and your friends are worried about you." The three nodded and disappeared in a flash of bright red light.

"Mommy? Mommy? Are you ok mommy?" Celestia looked to the sound of the voice and saw Dream sitting in front of her mother. The little filly began to poke the blue mare's stomach with her horn, but got no result.

"Luna? Are you ok?"

"My brain is trying to process what I was just told, sister... But it isn't doing a very good job..." Luna fell on her side and just lay there for a few minutes before standing up and walking out of the throne room. "I'm going to sleep... Maybe I'll understand better in the morning..." With that, she left the room.





Cleanliness becomes more important when Godliness is unlikely. ~ P.J. O'Rourke.

> The Trial of Pride.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth. ~ Oscar Wilde.






Three days later.


Trixie opened her eyes and sighed as she saw a wall of white. She remembered drinking some whiskey last night, she had always been a lightweight when it came to alcohol, she wasn't even sure why she drank the vile liquor in the first place, she had probably seen something that she wanted to un-see. She then realized something, the sun hadn't touched her eyes. Not bothering in questioning this, she got up and went downstairs. She walked into the kitchen, made a cup of coffee, and slowly drank it while waiting for Soul and Hex to wake up. After ten minutes she got bored and went outside for a walk, the first thing she noticed was that the streets were empty. "Where is everypony?" She looked up and saw that the sun was in the center of the sky. "It's the middle of the... Pinkie is probably throwing a party and nopony told me." Trixie shrugged and turned to go back inside, but a sudden whistling sound caught her attention. Fireworks.

"Presenting... The Great and Powerful Trixie!" Trixie's ears perked up and she growled, even if she didn't perform anymore, she didn't want anypony stealing her stage name. She slammed the door and turned around before running off towards the source of the sound, the town square. When she reached the town fountain she gasped at what she saw. Her wagon, the one that the Ursa Minor had destroyed the first time she came to Ponyville. And she was standing on the stage. Standing in front of the wagon was a large crowd, including Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Twilight, except Twilight wasn't an alicorn... She was just a unicorn.

"Oh I get it... This is a lucid dream about one of my memories! Wait... It was before I changed for the better. Ok, it's a lucid nightmare."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that Trixie." The blue mare yelped and jumped into the air. She landed in a pony's forelegs, she turned to thank the pony who caught her, only to realize that it wasn't a pony. It resembled what Twilight had described a human as. Except for one major difference. It had wings. Three solid black draconic that sprouted from the left, and three pure white pegasus wings sprouted from the right. It also had mismatched eyes. One silver and one gold. "Or should I call you Charm?"

Trixie blinked as the creature set her down. "My name is Trixie. Charm is my mother." The creature shook his head.

"No. You are not Trixie Lulamoon..." He turned her around and pointed to the other her, the one on the stage. "That is Trixie Lulamoon. She is you and you are her, she is great and powerful, but you? You are nothing like her... You are nothing but a younger version of your mother, a scared little filly who wants to have 'friends'. Well let me tell you something Trixie... You know your friends? They aren't your friends. In fact, the only friend you have in town is your little brother. And the only beings you can trust in this world is yourself." Trixie raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean? They talk to and hang out with me, and help me when I need them to, and they try to cheer me up when I'm upset. That's what friends do for each other, so of course they're my friends!" The creature frowned.

"Yes. They are your friends... They are friends with the worthless ball of fur that you have become. They hate the real you. That means they aren't your real friends... You shouldn't have to change yourself to make friends. If they don't like the real you, then they don't like you at all. Do you really want to stay like this? Do you want to live the rest of your life using this false personality that gets you fake friends?" A sudden bright light surrounded Trixie's body. "Looks like it's time for you to wake up. Think about what I have said." Before Trixie could ask what he meant by 'wake up' a bright flash of light blinded her.





Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. What was that? It sounded familiar... Trixie opened her eyes and looked towards the source of the sound. 'A heart monitor? Am I in the hospital?'

"Twilight, Fang, Hex! She's waking up!" Trixie tried to sit up but was gently laid back down. "Don't move Trix, you're still recovering from the fall."

"What fall? What happened and why am I in the hospital?"

The shade sighed. "Well... You fell down the stairs, hit your head, and slipped into a coma for two days... When I couldn't wake you up I brought you here."

"And he hasn't left your side once." Trixie looked at Soul and smiled before giving him a kiss. "Speaking of which... Soul, you should really go to the bathroom before your bladder explodes." Soul blinked and sunk into the shadows. Trixie heard a toilet flush and watched as Soul walked out of the bathroom. Fang smiled at Soul. "As much as I want to stay and chat, I must return to my castle. I am holding a meeting between my district governors to discuss ongoing problems in the kingdom..." Soul raised an eyebrow at Fang. "Things like homelessness, crime, lack of jobs, things of that nature." Fang turned and looked at Twilight. "Do you wish to accompany me my- Look out!" Fang suddenly jumped into the air and tackled Twilight to the ground, just in time for the window to shatter and a large writhing black tentacle to shoot in and grab Hex before pulling him out the window. 

Soul turned and looked out the window. "I-is that... A shade?" If it was, than it was a kind he had certainly never seen before. It was large, about half the size of a house. It had eight spiderlike legs on a lion like body, the head of a chicken, eight squid like tentacles sprouting from its back, and had the tail of a fox, that had a hand on the end just like Ahuizotl. Soul then realized something, it was just one shade. Not a hybrid, shades that are made of many others, it was one single shade. The smaller shade watched as the beast opened its beak and threw Hex into its mouth. Trixie saw Soul's eyes flash red with anger for a second before he jumped out the window. "You don't mess with my fillyfriend's little brother!" Fang and Twilight galloped over to the window, saw the beast and flew out.

"You know they aren't going to be able to save your little brother..." Trixie shot her head to the side and growled when she saw the creature that was in her dream. He was just sitting there tossing a ball up and down. "Now don't look at me like that. I'm not able to create living creatures..."

"Just... Who and what are you?" The demon smirked.

"My name is Lucifer. I am the demon that represents the Trial of Pride. Anyway, as I said before, they won't be able to save Hex, you however, can." The demon snapped his fingers and Trixie suddenly felt better, like nothing had even happened to her. She watched as the room began to change until it looked just like her living room, in fact it was her living room. "Put these on." Trixie turned around and suddenly had her old hat slammed onto her head and her cape wrapped around her neck. She pulled the hat off of her head and glared at the demon. "Only you can defeat the shade that has devoured your brother. How you ask? You're a smart mare, you'll figure it out." The demon snapped his fingers once more and Trixie was suddenly looking at the shade that had devoured her brother. She saw the elements of harmony, Fang, and Soul, trying to escape the grasp of its tentacles. She also noticed where she was. She was in front of the schoolhouse.

"So young, so tender, so... Fresh, I love the taste of the young..." She watched as the shadow beast's tail went into the school and he pulled it back out after a few seconds. She noticed he had about ten different fillies and colts, including the Crusaders, in his hand. The beast opened his mouth and dropped the foals, licking his lips after he had swallowed all of them. Trixie growled and shot a firework spell at the foal devouring beast, the action only ended up annoying the beast. It turned around and winced, as if in pain, when it saw Trixie. "So many negative emotions... Such pain, fear, rage, and sorrow should have killed you long ago blue one."

Soul stopped struggling when he saw Trixie. "Trix! What are you doing here!? You should be hiding! Run before this thing decides you would be a good snack!"

Trixie looked at Soul and nodded, but before she could run something that the demon had said in her dream flashed through her head. 'She is you and you are her, she is great and powerful, but you? You are nothing like her... You are nothing but a younger version of your mother, a scared little filly who wants to have 'friends'. Well let me tell you something Trixie... You know your friends? They aren't your friends. In fact, the only friend you have in town is your little brother.' Trixie growled and stomped her hoof.

"No Soul... Trixie won't run! Trixie is tired of having to pretend to be somepony she is not so that ponies will like her! The Trixie that is your fillyfriend and the one you live with isn't the real Trixie! The real Trixie is standing right here!" The blue mare lowered her head and looked at the large shade. "The blue unicorn colt that you ate in the hospital was my little brother, doing that was a big mistake... Do you know who you have angered by devouring innocent fillies and colts?"

The shade chuckled. "If I had to guess, I made a little blue unicorn mare angry. That mare also happens to be overconfident in her abilities, proven by the fact that she thinks she can scare a being that is five times her size, at least ten thousand years older than her, and can defeat two earth ponies, two pegasi, a unicorn, a shade, and two alicorns... Or should I say two living gods? And this blue unicorn is apparently named Trixie."

"That's the Great and Powerful Trixie to you beast! However, Trixie is in a forgiving mood, so regurgitate the fillies and colts you have eaten and Trixie might, might let you leave this town alive!" The shade smirked.

"And if I refuse?"

"If you refuse Trixie will turn you into dust!" The shade just snorted.

"I have a better idea." The beast's tail swung from the side and sent Trixie flying into the side of the schoolhouse, leaving a pony shaped hole in the wall. "I kill you, eat your corpse, eat your friends, and then eat every single pony in this miserable plane of existence."

"That was a big mistake." The shade turned, only to have Trixie impale one of his eyes with her horn. "Now Trixie is going to make you wish you had never existed!" Trixie's horn glowed and a silver sword appeared. This sword was something she used to use in her acts. The trick, called the Blade Box, involved her stepping into a box and getting a random pony in the crowd to shove swords through the sides while she used an intangibility spell to keep herself from getting impaled. The blue unicorn jumped onto the shade's back and began to swing the sword, cutting off his tentacles one by one before jumping off and looking at the beast.

Soul and the others stood there with their mouths agape. Trixie seemed to be stronger than usual, almost if putting on the hat and cape made her a good fighter, if it did then it also made her a good acrobat, if the flips she was doing while avoiding getting impaled by the shade's sharp, spider like legs. "I... I don't believe this!" Everypony turned and looked at Twilight, who was shaking and turning red in the face. "She's acting the same way she did before she changed! She is making a show out of this!"

Rainbow flew up and growled at the sight. "She's... She's smiling like she knows what's going to happen! I bet she cast a spell to make this thing leave her imagination! That's probably why she is the only one of us who has been able to hurt it!"

Soul growled and stomped a hoof before looking at the group of ponies behind him. "Trixie wouldn't do something like that! And if she's your friend then you she be able to see that!" The mares all frowned and started to look down, realizing that Soul was right, Trixie was their friend, and they knew that she had changed and become a better pony than she was the first time she had come to Ponyville. Soul heard a growl and turned around, just in time to see the shade jump on Trixie. The group was about to run in and try to help her, until they heard laughter.

"You lose beast!" He watched as the large shade began to shake and stand up, slowly revealing that Trixie had impaled his stomach with her horn. The blue mare stood up and gave a large grin. "Now... Be gone from this existence!" The shade began to scream as a white glow spread from the small hole in his stomach, quickly engulfing his body. A few seconds later the shade exploded in a flash of light. Soul watched as the fillies and colts that the shade had eaten slowly stood up from the ashen remains of the beast. He had seen this happen to shades before. She had sent a ball of pure light into its body, causing it to burn from the inside out. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has saved the day once again!" Trixie turned around and looked at the group with a large smile on her face, only to see the mares in the group scowling at her. The blue mare's smile turned into a frown and she sat down. "I guess that he was right... You all really do hate the real Trixie."

Twilight blinked and stepped forward, her scowl becoming a frown. "What are you talking about? We don't hate you. We just don't like it when you show off." Twilight walked over and placed a hoof on Trixie's shoulder, only to have it violently swatted away by the blue mare.

"Don't lie to me Sparkle! I know you and your friends hate me! You always did, the only pony that was ever really my friend was Hex, and that's just because he is my little brother. I am tired of hearing false kind words and having false friendships! If you were really my friend than my large ego wouldn't bother you! I don't understand it! Rainbow Dash has a bigger ego than I do and you really are her friend. Well let me tell you something... I am not putting up with being hated just because I'm me for one more day! You all make me sick! Tricking a pony into thinking you were their friends, only for the pony to realize that they hated the real her!" The other elements began to walk up to Twilight with frowns on their faces.

"Trixie... We weren't trying to trick you, we really are your friends. Why would you think otherwise? Who was right when he said that we hated you?" Trixie growled and lit up her horn. "What are you-" Twilight and the other elements were sent flying back towards Fang and Soul. Their fur was singed and they were covered in cuts and scrapes.

"Stop lying to me!" The blue mare stood up and her horn glowed once more. A swirling blue portal appeared behind her and she ran in. Just before she entered it however, she looked back and gave a sad frown at the mares who were now glaring at her. Rainbow and Applejack began to charge at the mare, but slowed down when they saw that she was crying. "Even if it wasn't real... You all are the best friends that a mare could ever ask for. You don't have to worry about tricking me anymore, after this day... None of you will see my face, or hear the name Trixie ever again. You will only hear about me one more time... When they write in the newspaper that they... That they found my body hanging by the neck from the branch of an oak tree... I'm sorry..." With that the blue mare stepped through the portal and it closed, just in time for Twilight to tackle the air where she had just been standing and fall to the ground, receiving a mouth full of dirt.

Twilight slowly sat up and began to break down into quiet sobs, realizing that she and the other elements had just driven off one of their friends. What disturbed her the most however was what Trixie had said just before she went through the portal. She just admitted that she planned to commit suicide. "W-why Trixie? W-what made you think we hate you?"

"It was not a what, but a who Miss Sparkle." Everypony looked up and saw Lucifer floating in the air. "To think that you would all try and give her a false sense of acceptance, for shame. And her pride has made it so that she wants to die for believing that you were her friends. When I said that I honestly didn't think she would believe such an obvious lie." The demon laughed and floated down. "Looks like she has decided that she should die, now nopony can wield the Elements of Humility and Pride!"

"What are the Elements of Humility and Pride?"

"They were the first elements to be created by the Tree." The mares turned and looked at Fang. "All the Elements of Sin stem from Pride, while all the Elements of Harmony stem from Humility." The black alicorn growled at the demon. "Are you saying that Trixie represents them both?"

"Yes, or at least she would have. Unfortunately a dead pony can't represent anything at all." The demon raised an arm and grabbed Soul's sword as the unicorn shade jumped at him. He then threw him down next to Twilight. "You have to admit, you never did like the Great and Powerful Trixie... However... I'm feeling nice today, so I'll give the two of you a chance to save her." The demon smirked. "Would you stop her if you could?" Soul and Twilight nodded. "Then I will send you to the Dead Mare's Wood!" The demon snapped his fingers and the two ponies disappeared.

When the opened their eyes they saw they were standing at the entrance to a large forest. Just looking at it made Soul shudder inside, normally he was only scared of things that took him completely by surprise, and that was bad for him, because Pinkie Pie lived in Ponyville. "Twilight... Why is it called Dead Mare's Wood?"

The sudden sound of hoofsteps filled the air. Soul and Twilight turned towards the sound and saw a band of walking skeletons. As the bony ponies passed the two, they noticed that the one in the back was carrying a pure black cloak.

"They must be Jisatsu Korekutā... Forest spirits that are doomed to collect the souls of ponies who commit suicide in their forest, and they will do this until the end of time... We need to follow them, they are our best chance of finding Trixie..." Soul nodded and the two ponies took off after the skeletons.

"Hey Twilight, why is the one in the back carrying a black cloak?"

"It's what Jisatsu Korekutā do. They have to place a black cloak on the dead pony’s body before they are buried, if they don’t then they will simply cease to exist. At least that’s what Fang told me." The two continued to follow the skeletons until they got to a clearing, then the bony ponies simply disappeared.

"Remember friends as you pass by..." Twilight and Soul turned to the left and saw a large tree, with a large creature that looked like the rotting corpse of a pony. "As you are now, so once was I..." The creature began to throw dust into the air. The quiet sound of crying caught Soul's ears and he looked up. that's when he noticed the nooses, at least twenty five, and saw Trixie standing on one of the branches with a noose around her neck. "Remember in life, that you must die." The creature faded out of existence and the rope around the blue mare's neck began to tighten. They watched as the blue mare raised her hoof and tried to step off the branch, then she brought her hoof back.

"Trixie! Don't do this!" The blue mare looked behind her and frowned.

"Why did you follow me?" The blue mare shook her head. "Actually, this is perfect... I never could feel confident unless I had a crowd watching me... Or if I was infuriated." The blue mare when to jump again, only to be grabbed by Soul's magic.

"Trixie! Please don't!" The blue mare sighed and went to jump once more. "Luna dammit Trixie! Don't do this! I love you!" The blue mare froze in place.

"W-what did you just say?" Trixie couldn't believe what she had just heard, the only ponies that had ever told her that they loved her were Hex and her mother, and that was just because they were her family.

"I said that I love you, and I don't want you to die!" Trixie looked at the ground and saw both Soul and Twilight crying. "Please... Don't jump..."

"Trixie please take the noose off and come down! If not for us, then do it for Hex and your mother! Please! Lucifer was lying! We really are your friends!" Trixie looked at the ground and removed the noose before jumping off of the branch. Twilight smiled and walked up to Trixie along with Soul. "Great, now we can go home and-"

"I'm not going back to Ponyville Twilight..." The two immortals looked at her in confusion. "I mean... How could I? I attacked a queen and five national heroes... In front of a school... Even if I went back... I wouldn't be welcome... So... I'm going back to my old life..." Trixie stood up, summoned her hat and cape, turned and smiled at the two darker colored ponies, and went to walk off into the woods. Suddenly they were all back in Ponyville. "What? Why am I in Ponyville?"

"Big sis!" Trixie turned her head and suddenly found a colt attached to her face. "You're back!" Trixie blinked and levitated Hex off of her face. "You're a hero sis!" The blue mare blinked.

"What? How am I a hero?" The fillies and colts that were in front of the school started to run up to her and give her flowers. "Ok... This is a dream... It has to be... Time to wake up..." Trixie walked over to the school and slammed her head against the wall, she turned around and saw that the flowers the foals had given her were still there. "Ok... What in Equestria is going on here?"

"Well... I um... Kinda let it slip that you were the one who destroyed that monster..." Trixie looked up and saw Rainbow Dash giving a sheepish grin. "I may have a really big ego... But I won't take credit for something that my friend did." Trixie blinked.

"Did you just call me your friend?" The cyan pegasus nodded. 

"I told you we were your friends Trixie..." The blue mare turned and saw the bearers of the elements, along with Fang and Soul. "Also... You are not just a hero to these fillies and colts... Just like me and my friends you are a hero to all of Equestria and Transylmaneia."

The blue unicorn stared at Twilight in confusion. "How am I?"

"We wouldn't have been able to beat Tirek without your help... Besides, you made sure that Grogar would never have children..." Trixie looked at her friends and smiled, knowing that she was among friends and that she herself was counted as a hero. Until she heard a voice in her head.

'That's right, feel your pride, embrace it... Doesn't it feel good? Don't you want more? Don't you want to be more of a hero than you already are? Embrace your pride and you will be...' Trixie growled and began to shake her head.

'Shut up Lucifer! You won't trick me with your lies ever again! Now get out of my head! I am not a hero just because I helped them! I'm not a hero at all! I'm just a pony who did what she thought what she thought was right!' Trixie blinked and looked around. She noticed that the world had become a dark purple void, with only her and her friends inside.

"Alright Trixie... You passed your trial..." Trixie looked up and growled at the demon. "You have overcome your pride and accepted the fact that you have friends. You did this when two of them pulled you from the brink of death. Just as Fang and Twilight helped Ana overcome her envy of her younger siblings, Twilight and Soul have proved to you that you do not need your pride to interfere with your life. As such... I now bestow upon you your elements..." Lucifer pulled the golden brooch off his toga and it levitated onto Trixie's cloak, replacing the diamond clasp and changing shape, becoming a golden star. A glowing yellow gem, the same shade as the stars on her cape and hat, formed in the inlet of the star. The ponies around her noticed that the star only had five points, unlike Twilight's, which had six. Trixie watched as a golden gem appeared before her eyes and slowly floated into her hoof, taking the shape of a wand. A golden beam shot out of the wand and out of the void.

Trixie just sat there for a second, staring at the wand and broach. "Did you just say... My elements?" Lucifer nodded. "Then... What are their names?"

"The clasp is Humility, the wand is Pride..." Trixie looked at Soul and smiled, she was like the friends that were gathered at the moment, she was the bearer of an element, not just one, but two. "Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Wrath, and Pride. Sins of the forefathers, sins you can't hide." With that the demon and the void disappeared.

Trixie and the others looked around, noticing that they were in front of the Tree of Harmony. "I believe that you are meant to add Humility to the tree..." Trixie nodded and levitated the glowing gold star towards the tree and watched as it suddenly shot onto the tree, right below Twilight's element. The ponies watched as the leaves of the tree began to glow before becoming every color of the rainbow. "Amazing..."

"It is getting more of its power back..." The ground began to shake and caused everypony to fall over. After ten minutes there was a bright flash and all of the ponies gathered were blinded, when they could finally see again they noticed that both they and the tree were back in town. The tree was now standing where the Golden Oaks Library formerly had.

The ponies heard the sound of crystal breaking and ran towards the source of the sound, Twilight's castle. The ponies all watched as the castle began to take the shape of Fang's castle, it turned black and became stone, it was Fang's castle. The lavender part of Twilight's castle rose into the air on a crystal platform behind Fang's newly relocated castle, then a crystal staircase came from the back of Fang's castle and connected to the platform. "My wish came true!" Twilight and Fang blinked and looked at the front doors of the castle. They saw Ana gawking at it. "Yay! Mommy and Daddy can still spend time together when they are ruling now! I can't wait to tell them!" Ana began hopping around before she noticed her parents. The little grey filly ran over and hugged her mother and father.

While Fang was staring at the castle Twilight looked down at her adoptive daughter. "Ana... What did you wish for?"

"I wished that you and Daddy wouldn't have to be so far apart, because you would be so busy ruling from two castles... Is that bad? D-did I make a mistake?" Twilight smiled and shook her head. 

"No! What you did is... Really nice... Fang and I were wondering how we would have spent time together as a family now that we each had a castle..." Twilight looked at the castle and smiled. "Well... The problem solved thanks to your wish Ana... Hey Ana, how are Dawn and Dusk doing?"

"I fed them at noon, changed them, and put them down in their crib for a nap just like you asked me to Mommy."

"CRIMSON FANG!!!" Twilight grabbed her head and looked towards Canterlot. That... That had been both Celestia and Luna using the Royal Canterlot Voice at the same time.

A bright flash of white and blue light appeared in front of the group. Standing there was a furious looking Celestia and Luna. The white alicorn glared at her older brother. "Brother... Care to tell me why the Everfree Forest and your kingdom have surrounded Ponyville?" The black alicorn blinked, flew into the sky, and looked around. Sure enough, the forest and the districts of his kingdom were now circled around Ponyville. The black alicorn watched as some of the land turned into sand and a large stretch of water appeared, a channel that led to an ocean.

"Well big brother? We want an answer!" Fang looked below him and saw Celestia and Luna glaring up at him. The black alicorn floated down, blinked a few times and pointed at Ana.

"She did it." Ana smiled and nodded. Celestia and Luna looked in between Ana, Fang, and Twilight, they noticed that Fang was keeping eye contact with them. He only did that when he was being extremely serious.

A sudden scream from the direction of the town caught the attention of the ponies. They saw a familiar light green unicorn running at them. "Werewolf!!!" The mare jumped and hid behind Celestia and Luna. "Werewolf! He's gonna eat us all!"

"Calm down Lyra!" The green unicorn looked to the side and saw Twilight standing there. "He is not going to hurt you, most monsters are extremely nice. Did he just walk into town?"

"No! Caramel just... Turned into one!" Fang went wide eyed and looked at the sky.

"The glamor... It's gone... Nothing is hiding their true forms now... Humility must have canceled it out..." Celestia raised an eyebrow.

"You mean that the bearer of humility was chosen?" Fang nodded. "Well... Who is it?"

"Um... It's me, Princess Celestia..." The white alicorn turned and looked at Trixie. "As well as Pride..."

"Both Harmony and Sin? There must be something very special about you Trixie..." Fang coughed.

"I suppose it would be best if we explained that the citizens of Ponyville have nothing to fear from my subjects." Celestia, Luna, and Twilight nodded in agreement before the group trotted off toward the town so they could keep the citizens calm.






The basis of shame is not some personal mistake of ours, but that this humiliation is seen by everyone. ~ Milan Kundera.

> A Talent and a Scavenger Hunt.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Between the idea and the reality, between the motion and the act, falls the shadow. ~ T.S. Eliot.






The next day.


Soul got out of bed and went outside to get the mail, he noticed that Trixie was still in bed so he stayed silent. He got the mail, the mail included a box that a colt could fit in, and brought it back in, he began to shuffle through it and something caught his eye. A wax seal on a letter that looked like the emblem of the royal shade family. He opened it and looked at the words written on it. "Did you and Trixie like my pet? No? Well how about this one?" Soul raised an eyebrow and the box that had been with the mail burst open. It knocked Soul away and he heard a scream. Looking towards the source he saw a shade like creature. It had a snake’s body, with the head of a rabbit, the arms of a dragon, and the legs of a diamond dog. It was standing in front of Trixie and Hex.

"Finally, now I get to taste the blood of a pony again..." The creature tried to grab the blue mare, only to be knocked away by Soul. "My master told me I should be careful when I tried to kill them..." Soul summoned his sword and pointed it at the beast. He moved his head towards the door, an indication for the two blue unicorns to get out of the house, only one listened, and it was, surprisingly, Trixie.

"Soul! Don't kill it! We need to know who its master is! I think I know a way to stop it, give me a minute." Soul nodded and watched as the little blue colt ran back up the stairs and into his room. A minute later he ran back down the stairs, wearing a necklace with a teardrop shaped ruby with small gold vines wrapped around it, a Jasper Stone if Soul remembered his time in Coltland right, along with a flute. "Do you think that you can protect me? I think I know a spell that can bind it." Soul nodded and got in front of the little colt. Hex took a deep breath and looked at the strange shade like beast. "By darkest night, I play the song; To hold the beast, in moments long. I call upon the Jasper's light; To bind the beast, with Setterwind might." The red stone began to glow and Hex began to play a small tune on the flute and chains suddenly shot up from the floor and began to wrap around the chimeric creature. The little colt opened his eyes and smiled when he saw the creature could not move. "It worked!"

Soul looked at the little colt with shock and amazement in his eyes. "H-how? How? How did you know how to do that!?" Hex just kept smiling.

"My grandfather, Vloek Setterwind, taught me..." Soul raised an eyebrow. "He was my mother's father. My mother's maiden name was Setterwind, I'm pretty sure Fang has some books that mention that half of my family's name... That incantation, this stone, and this flute have been passed down through the Setterwind Family for generations. From grandfather to grandson. Though, I think that I'm the first to use it in ten thousand years..."

The shade looked at the colt and smiled. "You know... I think your pretty good with that flute, I heard you playing it in the yard last night." Hex blushed, he had always hidden and made sure that his sister had never heard him, he liked to play it, and he was good, but he felt like it was a filly's hobby. He was so caught up in being embarrassed that he didn't even notice the white flash on his flanks. "Hey Hex... Look at your tail." Hex raised an eyebrow and looked towards his hindquarters and gasped.

"I got my cutie mark!" The little blue unicorn smiled at the mark. A glowing golden flute over a silver padlock.


Cutie Mark Crusaders' Clubhouse.


Scootaloo's ears shot up and she looked towards the town. "Scoots? What's the matter?"

"I think our only male member just lost his membership..." Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Babs Seed all raised an eyebrow at the orange pegasus. "I think Hex just got his cutie mark..." The door to the clubhouse broke in two and Hex rolled in.

"I got my cutie mark!!!" The colt kept rolling until he hit a wall, managing to get his horn stuck in it. "I got my cutie mark!!!" Hex pulled his horn out of the wall and smiled at his friends, only to see Scootaloo sitting in the corner with a depressed look on her face. "Scootaloo? What's wrong? I can tell you're upset just by looking at you, but... It's not jealousy..."

"Nothing's wrong..." She just earned a frown from the blue colt. "Ok... I'm scared that since you have your cutie mark you won’t want to hang out with us, with me, anymore." Hex just laughed.

"That's ridiculous! Of course I'm still going to hang out with you! You're my friends and I'll never abandon you..." Hex got a small blush on his face. "We'll actually... You're more than just a friend to me Scootaloo..." Scootaloo smiled, and quickly received a kiss on the lips, to which she blushed and punched the colt's foreleg.


Back at Trixie's house.


Soul, and about five other ponies, were staring at the frame that once held the door to Trixie's house. Hex had run through it, so he could get over to the clubhouse as quick as he could. "That... That colt cannot be a pony..." Trixie ran up and looked through the hole where the door used to be.

"What happened? Where's Hex?"

"Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse... Your little brother just got his cutie mark..." Trixie gasped and disappeared in a flash of light. Soul blinked and shook his head. He looked at the shade like being that was chained to the floor and walked out the door. "I need to go and get some help... If this thing has a 'master' then there are more where he came from..." The shade sank into his own shadow.





He came back an hour later with Fang and the coltfriends of the other element bearers. Soul opened the door and went in, followed by the others. Acid, Fluttershy's coltfriend, did not go over to try and get the beast talking. He went into the kitchen, he looked at the letter Soul had opened that morning and saw strange symbols. "Parseltongue..." The Aceto Serpentium sat down and began to read.





The others were having a hard time getting the beast to speak. Jekyll was getting frustrated and looked into a mirror, he saw his other half, Hyde, in it. "Maybe... Hey Soul, does Trixie have a basement?" The shade nodded and Jekyll smirked. "Help me take him there... I'll get him talking." Soul raised an eyebrow but nodded and helped Jekyll take the thing into the basement. The green pony shooed the shade out of the basement. A few minutes later he came up the stairs, covered in black blood. "He said his master's name was Nigrum Lulamoon... Now... We need a shovel, as well as a place that nopony will find a body..." Thunder blinked and walked down the stairs, before shooting straight back out.

"Dude... What did you do to him? His head is gone for crying out loud!" Everypony went wide eyed and looked at Jekyll.

"Me? I didn't do anything, the fact that he is missing his head... That was Hyde..." Jekyll let out an evil laugh. He saw the others looking at him with worry in their eyes. "Sorry... I just feel like I have to do that whenever I say his name..." The stallions shook their heads. Sometimes Jekyll was as random as Pinkie Pie.

Soul closed his eyes and put a hoof on his chin. "Nigrum... Trixie mentioned that she had a cousin named Nigrum... He was disowned by his family when he wasn't accepted into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, apparently he used black magic for his entrance exam... Then he... Disappeared... No note, nopony saw him, he was just gone... They all thought he was dead... But then three years later every member of the family got a letter from him... Saying that he would 'have his revenge'... I guess this is his revenge..."

"Well... Now we know who sent the shades that have been attacking Trixie and Hex... But we don't know where he is..." Fang sighed. "Without a location we can't find him..."

"He's in the Crystal Empire..." Everypony turned and looked at Acid. "He wrote something in Parseltongue on his letter... The city where the stone shines in the light... Can you think of any other city made of shiny stone?" They all shook their heads and Acid smirked.

Everypony looked at Soul. "Road trip?"

"Road trip."





After an hour of waiting, and hiding the body of the creature that Jekyll's dark side had killed, the stallions got on a train bound for the Crystal Empire. After a few minutes Soul turned to Fang. "Hey dude, does the name Setterwind mean anything to you?"

"Setterwind?" Soul nodded and the black alicorn smiled. "I haven't heard that name since I asked Hurricane to watch over that box..."

Soul raised an eyebrow. "What box?"

"The one that contains Badge, a very nasty old one... He looks like a human with the head of a raccoon... Hurricane Setterwind was actually the one to bind him with a magic flute..." Fang turned and raised an eyebrow at the shade. "Why do you ask about that name?"

"Oh, no reason." Soul looked out the window and watched as the landscape rolled by. The rest of the ride was silent. And none of them knew that a certain cat had worked his way onto their train carriage.



 

Three hours later the train stopped and the stallions got off the train and heard screams. The ran towards the source of the sound and saw Shining Armor and Cadence trying to fight off a creature with the head of a boar, the body of a wolf, the legs of a tiger, and the wings of an eagle. The boar charged at Armor, hitting him and throwing him into the side of a building. The beast looked at Cadence and charges at her, only to be blocked by Rainbow's coltfriend, Thunder. The stallion grabbed the boar and threw it into the air.

"You don't hit mares... Especially ones that are mothers!" The beast spread its wings and began to charge at the pegasus from the air. Just as it was about to strike him, Thunder shot into the air. This caused the beast to not hit anything and as a result, crash into the ground. The pegasus shot down, grabbed one of the beast's wings, and ripped it off, he did the same to the other one. He then grabbed the beast and flew up into the air, to the point where he couldn't be seen by anypony. There was a whistling sound and the group watched as the shade like creature fell out of the sky. When it hit the ground it looked at the group and began to turn into dust.

"It's funny how a city, made of steel and iron grey. Can loathe the trees that bring them the air that they need every day." With that it exploded and Soul saw something strange, a spirit rose from the remains of the creature and smiled at him before fading away.

"Does anypony have any idea what that thing meant by that?" There was a cough and everypony looked at North.

"Manehatten, we need to go to Manehatten. That phrase, it's the slogan of an environmental group that is based in Manehatten... The city recently proposed that they tear up Central Park and build a shopping mall... I'm guessing that this Nigrum Lulamoon guy is a member of the group." Fang sighed.

"He's toying with us... But the question is, why..." Everypony in the group shrugged and ran off towards the train station. Leaving a confused Cadence and Shining Armor staring at where the best used to be.

"What the buck just happened!?"





After four more hours on the train the group of seven arrived in Manehatten. They quickly ran to the place where they expected the pony they were hunting would be waiting, Central Park. There they saw ponies with signs saying thing like 'Murderers!' or 'Save the trees!'. They saw the Manehatten police force holding them away from the park as ponies with axes walk up to the trees.

"Killing things that can't fight back?" The group looked in the direction of the voice and saw a grey unicorn stallion walk up to what looked like the police chief. "I tried to warn you... But you just wouldn't arrest the corrupt CEO, even with the evidence of how he has been avoiding income tax... Well, nopony crosses Nigrum Lulamoon..."

Soul's eyes flashed red and he began to move through the crowd. "Hey you! Lulamoon!" Soul saw the pony motion with a hoof and a dagger flew through the air, striking a tree and turning it into a bipedal shade like beast that began attacking the ponies that had axes. Soul turned and looked at the beast, only to see his friends were already heading that way, so he gave chase to the Lulamoon. He followed the pony until they came to a dead end in an alleyway. "You're trapped Lulamoon. Now get over here so I can take you to the police. You have tried to harm Trixie and Hex twice already... I won't let you try again..."

"Trapped? Ha, you would think so, wouldn't you Tamashii..." Soul raised an eyebrow, how did this pony know his name, and worse yet, why did he sense a shade nearby? "Well... I suppose you're wondering why you sense a shade aren't you? Well here's the answer..." The unicorn turned around and Soul gasped. He had glowing red eyes. "I'm not Nigrum, I'm his Nightmare... My name, is Nero... You and Fang didn't seal all of us away Tamashii... You missed quite a few Specters... And now? Most of us have bonded with a pony and become Nightmares... You want Nigrum? Well... You'll have to wait to get him..." Soul ran at the shade, but was to slow. The shade sank into the ground and disappeared. Soul just stood there for a second before realizing something. He had just failed to prevent something that could possibly hurt Trixie. With a loud sigh and a angry heart he left the ally and began to go and gather his friends.

Little did he know that a grey unicorn was watching him from a hotel across the street. "So that is the exiled prince of the shades? Hmmm.... Nero... Prepare the amulets... We are going on a hunt for souls tonight..." The unicorn looked down at the old journals on his desk. One descried the process of how to make shades, and the other described how to take the souls of living ponies. He turned and looked at the shade that was behind him. "We are one step closer to getting our revenge on my cousin..." He turned and threw a dart at the wall, striking a picture of Trixie. "You should have never told the judges that I used black magic... With the research notes of the shade king and the research notes of our ancestor... I have created the perfect golems... And now... You will know what the loss of the pony you love feels like..." The grey unicorn looked at a framed picture on his desk. It depicted him and a white earth pony mare dancing. "I will bring you back Snow..."





Between the desire and the spasm, between the potency and the existence, between the essence and the descent, falls the shadow. This is the way the world ends. ~ T.S. Eliot.

> The Ghosts of Lulamoon Manor and a Pet.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Conscience is no more than the dead speaking to us. ~ Jim Carroll.






Two days later.


"Thanks for doing this Soul." The shade turned and smiled at Trixie, the two had gotten a letter in the mail from Trixie's mother this morning. It went into detail about strange happenings that had been going on in Trixie's ancestral home, Lulamoon Manor. Things such as the lights turning on and off, temperature dropping, doors slamming, whispers, and strange ponies appearing and disappearing in the blink of an eye. Classic signs of a haunting. Soul and Trixie walked up to the door and Soul watched as Trixie reached into a rain spout, pulling out a key. The blue mare walked over and unlocked the door. "Well, let's go and see if we can help my mother by putting this spirit to rest..." Soul nodded and the two entered the house. They then went to the parlor, where Trixie's mother, Charm, was waiting.

The green unicorn mare smiled at the sight of her daughter and her coltfriend. She ran over and gave her daughter a hug. "Oh it's been so long since I've seen you. Almost a year now... We have so much catching up to do... But that can wait until later, oh but I need to know how you and Hex are doing..."

"We're doing fine mother, Hex especially. He has taken an interest in fillies... In fact he has a fillyfriend, a little orange pegasus named Scootaloo. And... My little brother got his cutie mark." Charm stopped in her tracks and ran over to Trixie, to which the blue mare cringed. "Hug Soul! He's the one who helped Hex realize he was talented on the flute!" Charm ran past her daughter and gave Soul a bone crushing hug. After a few seconds she let go.

"Thank you for helping my son find out what his talent is... Anyway I suppose you want to know what the spirits that I have seen look like so you can help them cross over." Both Soul and Trixie nodded. "Well one of them is just a colt, an earth pony with a yellow white coat and light grey mane. He only appears to me outside and he whispers something before disappearing. The second is... I think he's the ghost of a guard... He always looks at me, says something about 'The foals need to be found.' and then just disappears... The last... He is somepony that I know very well, my father Volek Setterwind... All he does is say that 'Hex must take up my place as the guardian of Badge.' before he disappears... All three of them only appear at night..."

"Three ghosts?" Charm nodded and Soul looked at Trixie. "Looks like we have a lot to do Trix..." The blue mare smiled and nodded. "Well we better get to work... Ok Trixie, who should we go after first?"

"I think we should try and help my grandfather first, he was a good pony, and he deserves to enter the afterlife... Looks like we are going to be here for at least a day, good thing Hex is having a sleepover at Applejack's..." Soul nodded and Charm pointed up the stairs, indicating that is where she would see glimpses of her father's spirit.

"Well you two should go and have fun before night falls, I know you came to Canterlot to help me with the ghosts, but still, it would be a shame if you wasted the day here... Go out and have fun." Charm walked over and gently pushed them out the door. "Ta-ta!" She closed the door and the two blue unicorns shrugged before walking off.

"Finally! I was dying in there!" A small trap door opened and a dark green unicorn mare stepped out of the hole. She had a cutie mark that resembled Charm's only instead of a star tipped wand over a book, the tip of the wand on her flank looked like a bolt of lightning. "So, Tamashii really is your daughter's coltfriend... Well... You really do have quite the interesting family."

"Remember Curse, you yourself said that as my Nightmare, you are basically my half sister. So I don't have an interesting family, we have an interesting family." The light green smirked at her darker colored counterpart.





Trixie and Soul came back as the sun began to set. They had basically spent the day walking around Canterlot. Soul had also learned something new about his fillyfriend, she had a sweet tooth that was almost as big as Celestia's. "I still can't believe you were able to eat ten donuts without taking a break."

"Hey, it's not my fault they taste so good. Blame Joe." Soul sighed.

"I'm not blaming anypony, I just-" Soul turned his head and saw a colt inside of the manor fence, waving Trixie and Soul over. "Trixie... Is it just me or do you see a colt trying to get our attention?"

"No I see him..." The two walked towards the colt and began to hear him whisper. "Hey, are you ok?"

"I'm cold..." Trixie and Soul breathed out and noticed that they could see their breath, then they saw the landscape begin to change, in a few seconds it looked like they were in Canterlot while it was the middle of the winter. "I'm cold..." The dead earth pony colt vanished and reappeared beside the manor, he began to wave them over.

"I think he wants us to follow him..." Before Soul could agree Trixie ran over to the colt, only for him to vanish again. The blue mare looked around before running out of Soul's sight, the shade chased after her and he soon caught up. He saw Trixie trying to get into what looked like an old toolshed.

"Trixie... Why are you trying to get into that toolshed?" Trixie pointed to the left and Soul saw the ghostly colt pointing at the shed. "Ok, Trixie, move I'll get it open." Trixie nodded and moved out of the way. She then looked at the colt.

"I know you're cold, but how can we help?" The colt smiled.

"Get my jacket and my body... Lord Lulamoon locked me in there after I stole his key..." Trixie looked at the colt for a few more seconds before realizing something, she had seen him before, on a missing pony poster five years ago.

"Ok, I got it open!" Trixie turned and saw Soul with a grim look on his face. "For the love of the shadows! T-Trixie d-don't come over here! Run and get the guards, I think that your father's sentence is going to be moved up from life in prison to death row." Trixie walked over and looked inside, what she saw made her throw up. The preserved body of a filly nailed onto a wall. "Go get the guards, I'll get his jacket." Trixie shook her head.

"I'll get the jacket, you're faster because you can move through shadows, so you go get the guards." Soul was about to protest, until he saw something in Trixie's eyes. Determination, she was determined to get the ghost's jacket. With a sigh Soul sank into his shadow and went to the castle to get some guards. Trixie entered the small shed and quickly found a puffy red jacket, which she gave to the colt's ghost and watched as he put it on. He pulled something out of the jacket pocket, a rusted key that looked as old as the manor was.

"Trixie, I'm back." Soul walked in and saw Trixie picking up the key. He then saw a spirit, not the colt, but the spirit of a guard. The earth pony guard walked over and hugged the colt's spirit. He heard the colt whisper what sounded like 'Daddy' before looking at Trixie and Soul.

"Thank you... I can see the light... It's so beautiful... I can feel the warm summer sun, even from here... I think it's finally time for me to go now..." The colt stood up, walked past the two unicorns, turned and looked back at them. "Thank you once again, and if you ever need my help, you need only ask..." He smiled before nodding his head and slowly fading away. Trixie blinked and looked at Soul.

"Soul, where did the colt's ghost go?" Soul just smiled at his fillyfriend.

"He completed his unfinished business. That means he no longer had anything keeping him in this world. Trixie, his spirit was just set free. He crossed over into the afterlife." Trixie smiled, knowing that she had just helped the spirit of a colt move on, and Soul sighed. "Now, as for you..." Soul turned and looked at the guard. "What do you need to do before you can cross over?"

"This was the case that could have gotten me promoted to an officer. I don't care about the promotion anymore, I just want the world to know the truth about what happened to those fillies and colts." The guard walked over to a tool rack, looked at a screwdriver and disappeared.

Trixie and Soul heard the sound of two pieces of metal hitting each other and turned around. Standing there they saw Shining Armor, Celestia, Luna, and about a dozen guards. "Unbelievable... He really was a sick pony..." Shining Armor walked in and looked at the filly's body. "He... He needs to be put to death Princesses..."

"Um... I think there might be more..." Soul and Armor turned and looked at Trixie. They saw she was holding a semi large book. "This... This book is full of names, dates, and... I think the third category is how hard they cried for their mother..." Trixie gave the book to Shining Armor, who began reading it. He noticed that all the names were those of fillies and colts that had gone missing over the last ten years. He counted fifty three.

Trixie looked at the screw driver and saw some small, barely noticeable, gears next to it. She walked over to the tool rack and pulled on the screwdriver, which was actually a lever, revealing a secret passage. Soul saw the passage open and looked at Trixie. "So that's why the ghost looked at that screwdriver..." Soul, Trixie, and Luna, went down the path, while Celestia and Shining Armor helped the guards divert attention from the manor. The group of blue ponies continued to follow the path. They soon entered a large, ice filled, cave. It was full of bodies that belonged to missing fillies and colts. Luna looked at the sight and gasped in shock. Soul noted that among the bodies was a set of armor.

Trixie saw a large amount of boxes next to an operating table in the corner. She walked over and began to read the things written on them. "Pavulon, suxamethonium chloride, morphine, these are all pain killers and muscle relaxants... By Celestia... He was using these on the foals..." Trixie looked at the bodies and saw most of them had bruises on them. "He beat them to the brink of death, just so he could be an Angel of Mercy..."

"That's right." Soul and Trixie turned and saw the guard's spirit. "And now I may finally rest, knowing that he will pay for his crimes..." The guard gave the two of them a salute and slowly faded away.

"I do not know how the two of you knew about this, but I thank you, all of the families that these fillies and colts went missing from know that they are dead... But at least now they will be able to give them a proper burial..." Luna frowned and looked at the bodies while Trixie and Soul left.

"Well, we only have to help your grandfather cross over now..." Soul looked at Trixie and saw that she was shaking and she had tears in her eyes. "Trix? What's the matter?"

"My father killed all of those fillies and colts... And I had no idea that he was doing it... If I did I would have told the guards..." Soul walked over and hugged the azure unicorn. The blue mare hugged him back and began to cry into his shoulder.

"It's not your fault Trixie. Your father was a sick pony, and he won't be able to hurt anypony ever again. Now, you know that you left Canterlot nine years ago, so there was no possible way you could have known..."

"I know... But it doesn't make me feel any better about it..." Trixie sighed. "Anyway, let's go and help my grandfather cross over..." Soul smiled and nodded.


Three hours later.


Soul and Trixie were walking through the halls of the manor, that's when they bumped into Charm. The green mare looked at her daughter and saw the key that the azure unicorn had gotten from the colt's ghost. "Trixie, where did you get the key to the old boiler? It’s been lost for five years."

"The colt's ghost had it, by the way we only have to help grandfather cross over now. Where do you usually see-" Trixie felt Soul tap her shoulder and looked in the direction he was pointing, there she saw a yellow unicorn stallion. "Never mind..." The blue mare watched as he floated through a doorway and the two blue ponies followed. Soon they were in the basement of the manor and saw the ghost floating in front of the old boiler.

"Why did you bring us here Volek?" The ghost looked at Soul.

"Trixie's father locked the box that contains Badge in this boiler, I can not cross over until I am assured that Hex will get it." Trixie smiled, walked over, and unlocked the boiler. She opened it and pulled out a moderate sized, ornate, box. It depicted what looked like raccoons on the sides and carved into the top of the box was the name Badge. "Will you two take this to Hex? As the first male child of a second generation of the Setterwind family, it is his duty to guard the box..."

"Don't worry grandfather, I'll make sure that Hex gets it." The ghost smiled and faded away. Trixie looked at Soul and smiled. "We're done..." Soul smiled back.

"Should we stay the night here and head home in the morning?" Trixie smiled and nodded.





Trixie and Soul arrived home the next day and found Hex inside the house, playing with a fox. "Hey big sis! This fox followed me home, can we keep her? Please? I promise to take care of her!"

"I don't know..."

"Oh come on Trix, look I'll help Hex take care of her. Besides, it might be nice to have a pet, I mean all of the others have one..." Trixie thought for a second before sighing.

"Fine... But the two of you have to take care of her..." Hex and Soul smiled and gave each other a brohoof. The blue mare rolled her eyes. "Ok you two, we need to give her a name... How about Foxy?" Soul shook his head.

"Looks more like a Listet to me..."

"How about Le Petit Rouge?" Soul and Trixie turned their attention to Hex. "It's Prench for 'the little red one.'. It makes since, Rouge sounds female and she is a fox, which has red fur." Soul and Trixie looked at each other, smiled and nodded. Suddenly Trixie went wide eyed and pulled the box that she and Soul had found in the boiler out of her saddlebags.

"Hex, grandfather Volek told me that you need to guard this box, because as the first male child of a third generation of the Setterwind family, it is your duty and birthright to keep the demon that is bound inside this box, well, inside of this box." Trixie gave the box to Hex and watched as the colt set it down and gave them a salute.

"I'll do my best!" Hex ran off with Rouge and the box, he put the box in his room and the three blue unicorns then went to the Ponyville Pet Center, to get a collar and pet bed for Rouge.

That night Rouge was laying in her bed, then she smiled and looked out the window. "I finally found my master, now I'm a true familiar..." The fox looked at her tail and gave it a swish, causing a ball of green fire to appear. She smiled before laying her head down and drifting off to sleep. Little did she know, Hex had seen the entire thing, he saw that the fox was a familiar, a demon bound to serve their master until the day their master died. The only question was, which of the three unicorns in the house was her master?





The mind can calculate, but the spirit yearns, and the heart knows what the heart knows. ~ Stephen King.

> Mare's Night Out.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


No mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips. Betrayal oozes out of him at every pore. ~ Sigmund Freud.






The next day.


Trixie was walking through a meadow, she did not know how she got there, but she was there. She smiled at the large assortment of flowers, all of which were her favorite kinds. There were orchids, jonquils, red roses, and thousands of others. In the center of the meadow was a large, healthy, Witchhazel tree. Trixie walked up to it and laid down. Then she heard what sounded like voices. "Remember friends as you pass by... As you are now, so once was I... Remember in life, that you must die..." Trixie suddenly felt something wrap around her neck and hoist her up into the air, she looked down and saw a noose. She looked around and noticed that all the flowers had become gravestones. She felt the noose tighten, and then she fell towards the ground.





Trixie's eyes shot open and she shot up. She looked around and realized she was on her living room couch. The blue mare looked out the window and saw that the sun was starting to set. "I really need to get my mind off of my trial..." A knock on the front door caught her attention. Trixie got up and walked over and opened the door, there they saw the other Elements of Harmony. "Oh, hey girls... Why are you here?"

Twilight smiled. "We're having a mare's night out and came to ask if you wanted to join us." The others all nodded and Trixie smiled.

"Sure, that sounds nice. It might help me get my mind off of the trial where I got my elements... Give me a second to make myself... Decent..." Trixie closed the door, went to the bathroom, brushed her mane and teeth and washed her face. She then went downstairs and out the door. "So what were you girls planning to do?"

"We were just going to walk around the town... Well I guess that it's a city now, maybe try and help some of the ponies accept that monsters are real and that Ponyville is now a city." Twilight noticed that Trixie had a small notebook and a quill with her. "What's that?"

The blue mare smiled and floated it over to her. "Read it and find out." Twilight raised an eyebrow and opened the small book.

"Twilight Sparkle, Crimson Fang, Rainbow Dash, Thunder Dust, Pinkie Pie, Jekyll Dreadful, Rarity, Spike, Applejack, North Star, Fluttershy, Sulfuric Acid, Tamashii 'Soul' Souto, Apple Bloom, Babs Seed, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo." Twilight looked up from the book and at Trixie. "Ok... Why do you have a list of names that include us, our significant others, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders?"

The blue mare sighed. "Look at the inside of the front cover..."

Twilight looked back at the inside cover of the book and smiled. "The Friends I've Made So Far... You keep a notebook about the friends you make..." Trixie nodded and took the notebook back.

"And I intend to make a lot more, maybe I'll even make one tonight..." Trixie smiled and with that the mares were off. About an hour later the group spotted a familiar pink and blue mane. Bon-Bon was hiding in some bushes, watching a pony, a pegasus mare, that was sitting across the street, talking with none other than Big McIntosh. The mare's saw the mare lean in and bite his neck, she was obviously a vampony. They then turned their attention back to the mare hiding in the bushes, who had yet to realize that she was being watched.

"I can't believe that Twilight would marry that, freak, Crimson Fang... Sure he's a king, but he's a king of savage beasts that exist only to scare, kill, and eat normal ponies... These, things are dangerous... If I had my way, then these, things would be hunted to extinction! In fact, I'm going to rally some of the ponies in town and lynch some of these things!" Twilight coughed and Bon-Bon shot out of the bushes and into the air. She looked behind her and saw Twilight, and the others with a look of disapproval on their faces. "Oh... Um... How much of that did you hear?"

"Everything from 'That, freak, Crimson Fang' to 'lynch some of these things.'. Bon-Bon, why do you hate Fang's, correction, mine and Fang's subjects so much?" Bon-Bon scoffed.

"Have you never seen a monster movie!? These things are going to kill us all!"

"Bon-Bon, give them a chance, they aren't like the things you see in monster movies, they are made like that in movies for a reason, and that reason is to scare you." Bon-Bon shook her head.

"You have been corrupted by your incarnation of pure evil of a husband!" There was a laugh above them and all of the mares looked up and spotted a pony with leathery brown skin, pointed ears, more pointed than a normal pony's, and what looked to be a forked tail, it was a goblin.

"Hmmm... You think we're monsters?" Bon-Bon growled at the creature and nodded. "Well... I have to disagree, if anypony here is a monster, it would be you Little Miss monsters are bad and should be hunted to extinction." Bon-Bon raised an eyebrow.

"How am I a monster? I make candy for a living-"

"And so do I." The goblin turned and let the ponies see his cutie mark, a red lollipop with a smiley face on it. He then looked at Twilight and Bon-Bon. "So Queen Twilight, can you explain why Bon-Bon is the monster here and not me?" Twilight blinked and shook her head. She knew the answer of course, but she wanted one of her friends to answer, just to see if they could. "Well, can any of you explain it?"

"Bon-Bon is the monster here, because she has decided that all monsters are evil and should be purged from existence, without even speaking to and trying to get to know one." Everypony looked at Trixie and the goblin on the roof smiled and jumped down.

"That's correct my friend, now, how about we go and remedy this mistake?" The goblin looked at Bon-Bon and smiled. "Shall we?" Bon-Bon was about to tell the goblin to go and sit on a manticore's stinger, then she heard laughing and looked around. She was shocked to see that normal ponies, most of which were her friends, talking and laughing with the monsters, some of the monsters were even giving the ponies they were talking to carved wooden pendants that resembled wild animals. Seeing how others got along with the monsters made Bon-Bon realize that she might have judged them too quickly and that they weren't as evil as their appearances suggested. The mare sighed looked back at Twilight. 

"I'm sorry for insulting your husband, could you ever find it in your heart to forgive me...?" Twilight smiled and nodded. Bon-Bon then looked at the goblin, only to receive the feeling of string wrapping around her neck, the goblin pulled away from the mare, smiled, and pointed at her neck. Bon-Bon looked down and saw what could only be described as a totem, it was carved to look like a crow. "What's this?"

"That is your Spiritus Bestiæ. The crow represents change... Now, let's see if we can be friends, shall we Bon-Bon? Maybe we can even exchange a few recipes..." The mare smiled, nodded, and walked off with the goblin.

"Well... That's certainly a happy scene... We actually got Bon-Bon to give the monsters a chance..." The other mares all nodded to Trixie and they walked off once again.


Two hours later.


The mares were walking through the Ponyville market, which had grown substantially since Ponyville and the Everfree Forest had combined. There were all sorts of stalls, selling not only things like produce, but things like amulets, daggers, and patches of manticore fur and cockatrice scales. All sorts of oddities. Then Twilight noticed something, there was a pony sitting in an alleyway, beckoning them over. The seven mares shrugged and walked over to him. "Hello... Do any of my wears catch your interest?" The mares all looked at the blanket in front of them and shook their heads, except Rarity.

The white mare picked up a black box. "What's this?" The cloaked pony smiled.

"Ah, you have a keen eye white one, that is what is known as a Midas Box. A mystical object that is rumored to turn anything you put inside it into gold overnight." Rarity's eyes lit up like stars.

"Does that mean I could use actual gold in the dresses I make?" The pony nodded. "How much?" Rarity pulled out a bag of bits, but it got put away buy the pony sitting in front of her.

"I don't deal in bits, I wish to make... A trade... You can have that... If I can have the necklace you're wearing."  The mares all looked at Rarity and saw that she was wearing the necklace that she had made with the fire ruby that she got from Spike on his birthday. "It would make a nice addition to my collection." The pony opened their coat and revealed that he was wearing about twenty different necklaces. "So, shall we trade?"

Rarity looked at the box and shook her head. "I can't, I got the gemstone on this necklace from somepony very important to me."

"Very well then, I will take something that is of no value to you." Rarity raised an eyebrow.

"Like what?" The pony chuckled.

"Does it really matter? If it is of no value to you than you won't miss it, will you?" Rarity thought for a second before shaking her head.

"No I suppose not..." Rarity smiled and looked at Twilight. "Do you think you could?" Twilight smiled and nodded, but a voice rang out through the night before she could finalize the trade.

"Queen Twilight! Do not finalize that trade!" The mares turned around and saw three guards with their swords drawn. "That stallion is a wanted con-artist, while he trades artifacts that work, the cost is to high!"

Rarity raised her head and looked at the guards. "What do you mean? The cost doesn't seem high at all to me. He said he would trade me this box for something that was of no value to me."

The guards, walked up and placed hoof cuffs on the cloaked pony. The hooded pony laughed. "Tell me Lady Rarity, have you ever thought about how much you value your soul?" Rarity blinked and dropped the box in shock, which resulted in it cracking in half and releasing a cloud of gray smoke that had two draconic arms and a glowing green eye in the center of it. One of the guards pulled out a blue, crystal ball and mumbled something. The mares watched as the cloud of smoke tried to escape, only to start getting pulled into the orb. The creature began to panic. Twilight remembered seeing these orbs before. Fang had used one to trap the demon that had been possessing Sunset.

"No! I won't go back alone!" As the demon began to get pulled in, it grabbed the cloak wearing pony, ripping the cloak off, revealing an extremely twisted creature. His eyes were red and goat like, he had two wings attached to each of his hooves, and his mouth was full of razor sharp teeth. The pony began to thrash as both he and the demon were pulled into the orb.

The guards walked up to the blanket that held the pony, that had actually been a half demon, wares, rolled it up, looked at the mares, and nodded before teleporting away. The mares just stood there for a second, trying to wrap their minds around the fact that Rarity had almost traded her soul away for a box that would have turned things into gold. She hadn't even done it because the gold would be valuable, she had done it because it would have given her dresses a flair. "Oh, I knew it was too good to be true."

"Mmm... Perhaps not Miss Rarity... Just don't let your greed take hold of you..." The box suddenly started to mend itself with a golden glow. A small orb of golden light floated in front of the mares before vanishing.

"... Do any of you know what that was?" Everypony shook their heads and Rarity sighed. "Well... There's no telling what this box might do now... So I suppose we should give it to Fang or Celestia so they can lock it away in the vault of one of their castles." The others nodded and Twilight teleported it away, to her and Fang's bedroom. With that the mares smiled and continued the night.


Two more hours later.


Trixie and Twilight had separated from the others, it was getting late and they had decided that it would be best to get home, then they heard something that chilled Trixie to the bone. The source of the sound was a dark alleyway. "Trixie Lulamoon is somewhere in this town! Find her! Check her home, the park, the market, even the castle if you want to! Just find her and bring her to me alive! I want to make her suffer before I tear out her heart! We already have the other elements, now we just need her and the queen!" The blue mare shivered.

"No... It can't be... It just can't be!" Trixie ran into the ally, quickly followed by Twilight, there they saw three beasts that resembled the shade like entities that had attacked and tried to kill Trixie and Hex. The other elements were tied up in a corner and there were tow ponies standing over them, one black, the other was slate grey. "Nigrum! Let my friends go!" The two ponies turned and looked at the two mares that had come into the alleyway

"Hmm... It seems like our pets won't have to search for them after all, will they Nero?" The black pony shook his head and the grey pony smiled. "Cousin Trixie... You know I can't let any of them go... They have all sealed their fate..." The grey pony glared at Trixie. "So now, all of them are going to die..."

"Why!? Why are you doing this to me!? I have enough trouble in my life without you interfering with it!" The grey pony looked down.

"To whosoever should find this note, I am sorry for the sin I am about to commit. I know that with this act, I take not only my own life, but the life of my unborn filly. It makes me ashamed to say how weak I am, knowing that without my true love I can not bare the burden know as life for another day. Signed, Snowbell." The pony looked at Trixie. "That is why I am doing this. By revealing to the judges that I was going to use black magic in my entrance exam, you not only got me banned from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, you also got my father to make it so that the mare I loved, who was secretly my fiancé, think I hated her. Because of you, she thought I hated her, because of you she took her own life and the life of my unborn daughter. You ruined my life! And now I'm going to ruin yours!" The grey pony pulled out a dagger and brought it down towards Rarity.

"Holly." The grey pony froze in place and looked at Trixie.

"W-what did y-you just s-say?"

"Holly... You and Snowbell were going to name your daughter Holly, after your fiancé's great grandmother." Nigrum dropped the knife and continued to stare a Trixie.

"How? H-how could you p-possibly k-know that? Snow and I were keeping our relationship a secret because we knew our fathers wouldn't approve! Nopony even knew that we were together! How do you know what we were going to name our daughter!?" Trixie frowned.

"I... I can see and talk to the dead... She's with us right now... She told me what you two had planned to name your daughter..." Nigrum growled and shook his head.

"No! You're lying! You can't talk to the dead! This is just you trying to mess with my brain! Trying to distract me while Twilight saves your other friends!" While it had not been her intention, Trixie had distracted both Nigrum and Nero long enough for Twilight to save the others.

"Glacier... If it was a colt then you two would have named him Glacier..." Nigrum sat down and grabbed his head with his hooves. "If your fathers tried to separate the two of you then you were going to leave Canterlot and live in Vanhoover... You met completely by accident, as if it was fate, in the market when you bumped into her after you bought a book on how to make golems, she had just bought a dozen bluebonnets, her mother's favorite flower, for her mother's birthday. You helped her up and the two of you fell in love the moment your eyes met. Your first date was at a movie theater where you saw a romance story known as 'Over the Sea and Back Again'. A story about a stallion who leaves a mare to travel the world and comes back three months later because he could not bear being away from her for another month."

"Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up!!! Stop it! Stop bringing back my memories! I don't want to remember her! I want to be with her once again! The day they found her body I swore that I would sell my soul to Hades if he brought her back! He came to me and offered a counter proposal, if I bring him the soul of one of the members of my family he will bring both Holly and Snow back, and it would be like she never died..." Nigrum began to talk to himself, he was obviously having a mental breakdown. The elements began to walking towards the two ponies.

"There's a stallion going 'round taking names, he decides who to free and who to blame. And everypony will be treated all the same..." The mares stopped and looked at the black pony, Nero. "I believe that Nigrum and I should depart... Take my words as a warning. The longer you resist the inevitable, the more ponies will suffer..." Nero placed a hoof on Nigrum and the two sank into the ground, along with the three shade like beings.

All was quiet for a few seconds before Trixie spoke up. "I'm so sorry... Being friends with me has put you in danger again... I suppose this is where our friendship ends..." Trixie lowered her head and began to walk off, only to be stopped by the six.

"Trixie, we're still friends. This isn't the first time we have had to deal with a psychotic pony... Besides, you've earned the right to cull us your friends. Nothing is going to be able to end our friendship." Twilight gave a small smile which Trixie returned.

"Yeah! We're going to be friends..." Pinkie Pie was suddenly standing between Trixie and Twilight. "FOREVER!!!" The group of mares giggled at the pink one's antics.

"Pinkie... You are so random..." The mares walked off and headed home. That night was the first time in weeks that Trixie did not have a nightmare about her trial.


In Fang and Twilight's Castle.


A group of four, three shades and an alicorn, were sitting over the journal of Starswirl the Bearded, trying to break the ciphers in the book. "I give up... It's your turn Fang..." Fang sat down as Soul got up.

"Gsv Mrtsgnziv Ivevozgrlm Hkvoo... Hgzmw rm uilmg lu z nriili zmw hzb 'R drhs gl hvv nb hszwld.'..." Fang sat there for a second before a smile lit up his face. "I got it, he used an Atbash Cipher here... Let’s see... With Atbash A is Z, B is Y and so on..." After about a minute Fang had finished. "I am ninety nine percent sure it reads 'The Nightmare Revelation Spell. Stand in front of a mirror and say 'I wish to see my shadow.'... Let's try it-" Fang and Soul yawned. "Tomorrow... I want to tuck my daughter in before I go to sleep." Muse and Edge nodded as the two ponies left. Soul went home to Trixie while Fang went to tuck Ana in.

Muse looked at Edge. "You know, I think I remember something... I'm pretty sure that I had a brother..."





Little did any of the group know, a shade in dark grey robes that were decorated with black flames was standing on the outskirts of Canterlot. "Once he awakens, King Nox will be pleased that I have taken the lives of Scarlet's final act of spite."





In Canterlot a splitting pain shot through Luna's head. 'Luna... I know that you are probably still angry with me, but you need to listen, a dark force is coming and you and your family are in danger!'

The blue alicorn growled at the voice in her head. "Shut up Nightmare..."

'I told you before, my name is Tsukiyomi.' Luna sighed and went back to sleep.





Delay is the deadliest form of denial. ~ British historian C. Northcote Parkinson.

> The Nightmare Connection.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues of human society are created, strengthened and maintained. ~ Winston Churchill.





The elements of harmony, their coltfriends, and husband in Twilight's case, and the shades known as Edge and Muse were sitting in Fang's castle library. At the moment the ponies were taking turns looking in a mirror and repeating the phrase 'I wish to see my shadow.’ Every time somepony said that the image in the mirror twisted into a different pony, one that nopony had seen before. "My turn! My turn!" Pinkie Pie bounced in front of the mirror. "I wish to see my shadow!"

The image in the mirror became a darker shade of pink and the mane of the pink pony in the mirror deflated. Then a sick, twisted grin appeared to the face of the pony in the mirror. All of those who had gathered in the room saw the blood drain from Pinkie Pie’s face. "P-P-Pinkamena..." Pinkie grabbed her head and began to shake. Jekyll ran over and hugged Pinkie, trying to calm his fillyfriend down. He glanced at the mirror and could see himself hugging Pinkamena, only it wasn't him, it was Hyde.

Fang made the mirror disappear and looked at his friends. "Maybe it would be best if we took a break for now..." The others all nodded in agreement and left the castle library.


Meanwhile in Canterlot.


Celestia was sitting in her bedroom going over requests and propositions made by the nobility. Half of which suggested that she and Luna used Twilight's knowledge to conquer Transylmaneia and execute her big brother. Apparently half of the greedy ponies in the nobility thought that was why Twilight had married Fang. She sighed and looked away from the documents. "Honestly, why does the nobility think Fang is evil? Besides, don't they remember that I already went to war with him once and lost? And do they honestly not know what love is?" 

She stood up and went over to her bed, where she had a warm kettle of tea sitting on the marble nightstand. She poured herself a cup and sit down. She glanced toward her closet and looked at the dresses she had obtained and used over the years. They were all sorts of colors, from red to purple and gold to silver... "Wait a second... I don't have a silver dress..." She stood up and walked over to her closet, deep into the back of it, as that is where the silver dress was.

The door slammed closed behind her and a she heard a chuckle. "I didn't think it would be this easy..." Celestia turned her head back towards the silver dress and tried to let out a scream, but was quickly silenced by a shadowy hand. The last thing Celestia saw before she passed out, was a pair of glowing, yellow, eyes.





A sudden pain shot through Luna's head as she walked through the corridors of Canterlot Castle. 'Listen to me Luna! Something has just happened to Celestia!' 

Luna scoffed. "How would you know when something bad has happened to my sister? In fact, why would you even care if something happened to her?"

'Because as far as I'm concerned she's my sister too! Anyway, you need to get some help, there's a shade in the castle, and as far as I can tell he is very, very, angry!' Luna sighed. She didn't know why, but she felt as if her alter ego was telling the truth.

"Then what do you suggest I do? Who should I get to help me 'save' Celestia?"

'Duck!'

The blue mare raised an eyebrow. "I should get a duck to help me save my sister?"

'No, I mean DUCK!!!' Luna suddenly felt something hot collide with the back of her head. She was sent sprawling across the floor. Luna could hear the voice in her head facehoof. 'I said duck, you didn't duck.'

"Hmm... This was easier than capturing your sister..." The wizard shade walked over and picked Luna up with a single hand. "Well then, let's get you ready for the ritual, shall we?" Luna looked into the two glowing yellow eyes of the shade and gulped.


Back in Ponyville.


Soul, Edge, and Muse suddenly turned and looked at Canterlot. "Um guys? I think there's a shade in Canterlot..."

Fang walked up to Soul and gazed at Canterlot. "Well... There's a chance it might be evil, so we should go and check it out..." Fang glanced back at the elements and their coltfriends. "I suppose you all want to come along?" Every single one of the ponies nodded. "Ok Soul, I'm just going to guess, is it in the castle?" Soul nodded. Fang's horn glowed and the group of sixteen disappeared.





The group blinked as they appeared in Celestia's throne room, only to see Celestia and Luna bound to the walls with chains and a shade sitting on Celestia's throne. "Hmmm... Took you long enough to get here... There are more of you than I expected, but that is of no matter, you will all die just the same." Twilight noticed that the wizard was holding a staff on his right hand, said staff was visibly and violently pulling magic from both Celestia and Luna. "You even brought my traitorous little sister with you." The group was silent and looked at Muse.

"What do you want?" The shade looked at Luna and laughed.

"It's not what I want, it's what King Nox wants. He want's revenge, and I know a certain pony that can help me destroy all of you..." A sick, twisted grin appeared on the shade's face. "Isn't that right Luna? Or Should I call you Nightmare Mo-" The shade was cut off as a tiny black hoof met the side of his head.

"Leave my mommy alone!" Dream landed on the ground in front of the throne and shot a small blast of magic at the shade. The wizard simply raised a hand and swatted the ball of energy away, towards Luna, who screamed in pain when it hit her. The shade looked at Dream and smirked.

"Do you think I'm afraid to hurt fillies and colts? I'm not." The staff in the shade's hand began to glow and he pointed it at the ceiling. "Tempestatem ignis vitae!"  Dark clouds of flame began to swirl overhead and started to shoot at the group of ponies. A sharp pain shot through Luna's head.

'No!' Luna looked confused as to why Nightmare seemed so upset about the shade trying to destroy Twilight and her friends. Luna went wide eyed as she saw three giant snakes made of black flames appear and surround the ponies.

'I can't watch, it's going to be like when Striker died all over again!' Luna closed her eyes and waited for the screams of ponies being burned alive, but they never came. She slowly opened her eyes and gasped. The snakes were trying to get to her friends and family, but a dark blue shield was preventing them from doing so. However that wasn't what surprised her, what surprised her was who was casting the shield. Standing there, in a rage that seemed to cause dark black flames to rise from her body, was Nightmare Moon.

"What are you doing Nightmare!? You're supposed to be on my side! By helping them you're betraying your father!" The armor wearing alicorn growled at the shade.

"Do you think I care about that!? Luna is basically my sister and Soul is my brother! I'm not the monster that history makes me out to be! I'm not some insane demon that would kill my own flesh and blood! And my name isn't Nightmare Moon!" The black alicorn closed her eyes. "My name..." Her eyes shot open and the fire snakes were extinguished. "Is Tsukiyomi!!!" The shield fell and she blasted the shade into a window sending him flying over the walls of Canterlot. The chains binding Luna and Celestia to the ground disappeared as their magic was released from the wizard's staff.

"N-Nightmare Moon! I thought that my friends and I destroyed you!" The midnight black alicorn turned and looked at Twilight, who was shaking with fury, and to the surprise of everypony in the room, excluding Fang, who didn't know who she was since he had been imprisoned in stone for five thousand years, she giggled. Twilight and the other ponies in the group blinked at the dark mare. "D-did... Did you just... Giggle...?"

"Um..." Twilight turned and looked at Fang. "Who is she, why did you and your friends try to destroy her, and... Why did she call Soul her brother?" Twilight blinked at her husband and everything was silent. "Ok let me rephrase my question..." Fang cleared his throat and, in a tone louder than even Celestia when she used the royal Canterlot voice, rephrased his question. "WOULD SOMEPONY PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IN THE WIDE WORLD OF TERRUS IS GOING ON HERE!?!?!?"

After the ringing in the ears of the ponies had ended, the others noticed that Muse was circling the black mare, constantly touching her mane, tail, wings and horn, and poking her body. "Umm... Can I help you with something?" Muse stopped and cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry, it's just that your body is fascinating to me... You are probably the first nightmare shade in existence to take the form of an alicorn, and I can barely sense any shade magic on you... You're almost one hundred percent equine..." Everyone turned and looked at Fang when they heard him growl.

"If somepony doesn't tell me what's going on then I will shout again, and this time your ears will bleed!" He then pointed at Nightmare Moon. "And I will send you to the ninth level of Tartarus for confusing me!" Nightmare gulped and looked at Celestia and Luna, who had walked over and sat down with the rest of the group.

"Before all of you decide that I'm evil, remember that I just saved most of your lives... Also... Let me explain my origin, my true origin..." Nightmare followed her request with a laugh that showed she was a little bit worried at the moment, and perhaps a bit shy. Luna blinked, she had never thought that her darker self could be shy. 

After getting some confused and distrusting looks from the group, as well as the four eldest beings in said group, Fang, Edge, Soul, and Muse, saying she deserved a chance because she had saved them all, Nightmare began her story.

"My true origin is a complicated one... You all know about how Soul's farther, King Nox Void went insane right?" She received a nod in response. "Well the day that Soul and Fang sealed the shades away in Tenebris, I was just I specter shade at the time. King Nox Void sent me to process Fang and have him kill Soul, but I messed up and entered Luna instead. As a natural plane walker, a being that can travel between the spectral and physical world at will, she was able to subconsciously overwrite my own will and I became trapped within her mind and body. And I have been there since she and Celestia were three years old." The sound of fire crackling caught the attention of the ponies and they turned to see that the wizard shade had returned, and he was furious.

"No one makes a fool of me! I am Oracle! I can see the future and I see that in the future you will all burn alive!" Muse sighed and stood up. "Especially you little sister!" The wizard pointed at the witch.

Muse sighed and looked at the others. "All of you, scream as loud as you can, don't ask why, just do it." The ponies just shrugged and did as the female shade said, only they didn't hear themselves scream, when they opened their eyes they saw that Muse was holding a glowing orb, slowly it shrunk to the size of a marble. She rolled it across the ground toward her big brother, who was standing in front of a window, and smirked. "Bye-bye!" 

Before the wizard could mock her spell the marble exploded and he was sent flying into the distance with a loud boom. Sort of like how Shining Armor and Cadence had sent Chrysalis flying at their wedding. Muse turned and saw the shocked faces on the group of ponies, as well as the wing-blade shade known as Edge, who was constantly opening his jaw and closing it, as if he was trying to say something but no words would come out. The witch chuckled and twirled her hand. "Please Nightmare, continue your story..."

"Ok, so where was I? Oh yeah, how I became a nightmare shade. Over the eons my form changed becoming a, well I guess you could call me a 'replica', of Luna herself, but altered, as if she had been born a shade. I know that she was close to Soul because she was the one, besides Fang, he interacted with the most. Overtime I found my thoughts being influenced by Luna's own, and I eventually evolved into a nightmare shade. By then I had figured out what had happened to me over the years. I found that like Queen Crescent, Soul's mother, I had become half pony, half shade. I guess you can say that I basically became Celestia and Luna's triplet sister the day I evolved into a nightmare." The dark mare took a deep breath before continuing.

"When her husband, Night Striker, was killed for the first time, I was shocked when I discovered that Luna's subconscious had put me in control of her body, but her rage and jealousy had clouded my mind, giving birth to the evil being that tried to cast down the sun and bring eternal night. When the Elements of Harmony brought back Luna's own conscious, I was imprisoned within her mind once more, and I have seen what you all have been through these past few years through Luna's eyes. Until earlier today when all of you were being attacked by Oracle, the shade who claims to be Muse's brother, and Luna was bound to the floor... I felt like I couldn't let Luna go through that grief again, it was like when her husband was killed for the first time, but on a much large scale. 

"Suddenly I felt a burst of strength and was able to escape her body. After I did so, I blocked the fire snakes with a barrier. I then sent Oracle into the distance freeing both Celestia and Luna in the process. At this point in time I found that I began to think of Luna, Dream, Celestia, and Fang as family as well. And you won't believe this but I'm blood related to Soul. I was created by Void seconds before he sent me to possess Fang. So at the moment, Soul is blood related to Fang, Celestia and Luna. I guess you can say I'm 'reformed' now, but to tell the truth I was never really evil. I was just driven into insanity by Luna's rage and jealousy the first time I got free. Oh, and Celestia, no hard feelings for the whole 'eternal night' thing, I hope..." Nightmare finished with a sheepish smile as she looked at the shocked Goddess of the Sun.

"Well this is a surprise... She's... She's not lying one bit... Not at all..." Applejack just sat there, trying to understand what she had just been told. "She's telling the truth..."

Twilight looked to her side and saw Fang sitting there blinking. "I will accept this explanation and I will not send you Tartarus unless I am given a good reason." Fang saw Twilight giving him a angry glare. "Well... Ok... I'll give her three constrains, if she does anything to try and cause a rebellion and or tries to usurp any throne, I will send her to Tartarus before she can say 'what just happened.'... The second constraint is that she has to live as a normal pony, which means she can only have wings or a horn, not both. Finally, she will have to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, if she is insane I will send her to Tartarus. Is everypony ok with these terms?" Fang gazed at Twilight who, after a minute, smiled and nodded. He gazed at everypony else in the room and saw their smiling faces, including Nightmare's.

Suddenly Spike thought of something. "You’re going to need a new name... You’re not exactly Nightmare Moon anymore..." 

"For the love of harmony and the shadows... I will say this one more time... Tsukiyomi... My name is Tsukiyomi. It has been my name since I evolved into a nightmare and it will always be my name... If you can't remember my full name then just call me Tsuki." The alicorn shade sighed.

"Ok what is up with the shades and Neighponese names?" Rainbow looked at the shade with a raised eyebrow. 

"Just like Firefly. She asked me the same thing when she helped me send Arabus to Tartarus the first time. Actually... Now that I think about it, you remind me about her a lot with your personality Rainbow..." Soul smiled as he observed his friends behavior

Something about that comment sparked something in Edge's memory. He went wide eyed as he found a memory about a hobby, it was just a fragment of his memory. But he now remembered that he was a genealogist! He researched family trees. Muse caught the look on his face and watched as he zoomed out of the window that she and Tsukiyomi had sent Oracle through, twice, and back to Fang's or more specifically, his castle library, which held a few copies on genealogy books, and soon he was working.

"I don't know about you, but I think that Edge just remembered something from his past." Muse just blinked in confusion as she talked, she knew that wing-blades were fast, but Edge almost moved as fast as Rainbow at that point. 

Tsukiyomi blinked and smiled. "Speaking of Firefly... I remember that Starswirl received some letters from you Soul. Apparently you found the Crystal Mirror, the one that Sunset and Twilight went through. That was when Firefly and her friends moved to Equestria, after Arabus and Grogar went into the mirror to cause trouble and the six of them followed you back here after you managed to chase them back into this world. If I remember right... Two of those mares shared the names of Queen Twilight and Applejack here..."

"Well I am named after a mare named Twilight Sparkle, she was the founder of my family's clan after all..." Answered Twilight, who had checked her family records after Trixie had revealed the feud between their families.

"Same here partners. My ancestor was the one who started the apple farms in Equestria... But to think that Soul had a hoof in bringing our clans to Equestria... Why, that means he is an extremely old family friend..." Applejack had thought that Soul's name had sounded familiar the day they met. 

"Soul? Are you alright?" Trixie waved a hoof in front of Soul's face, only to get a thousand yard stare in return. She tapped Soul's horn and he tipped onto his side, stiff as a board, and vibrated a bit with a cartoonish sound effect before his body was still. Trixie quickly tried to bring him out of his shocked state. 

Pinkie whistled. "Talk about mind blown..."

"Ok, I think that's enough revelations for one day. I'm heading to bed for first time since I was placed in Luna's body, as my own body feels tired. Must have been the thousand years on the moon. Luna slept through it, but I was wide awake the entire time. Luna going to sleep in our fused state kept the body rested, which was why I didn't fall asleep when I got back to Equestria. See you all in about six months! I need to catch up on some of that lost sleep!" Tsuki tried to sink into her shadow. 

"Hold on!" Fang grabbed her with his magical aura and lifted her off the floor so she couldn't sink into her shadow. "Three things! First, unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony?"

"Um... Unicorn?" Tsuki felt her wings slowly retract into her back, making her into a normal unicorn pony. "Ok... What's the second thing?"

"Where are you going to stay?"

Tsuki opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by Trixie. "She can stay in the guest room at my house!" Fang and Twilight looked at Trixie with raised eyebrows. "I have a reason! She is a nightmare shade. If my cousin decides to send Nero after me directly then maybe she can talk some sense into him, nightmare to nightmare." Twilight and Fang thought for a second before nodding in approval.

"Ok... Third?"

"Your cutie mark, we need a back story for it..." Tsuki looked at her flank and saw a familiar image, a full moon, complete with the shadow of the Mare in the Moon. She thought for a second before smiling.

"I'm a Selenologist, I study the moon's cycles and the effects it has on the planet." Fang and Twilight smiled and nodded. Fang let her drop the floor before she sank into her shadow.

Everypony then looked at Soul. "I wonder how he's going to take the fact that she is living with you now..." There was a unanimous statement of 'confused as hell.' And with that, the group of sixteen returned home.

Luna just sat in her room for the rest of the afternoon, eye twitching as her brain tried to process what had happened.


In the Badlands.


Oracle stood from the crater his impact with the ground had made. "Curse you ponies! I will have my vengeance!!!"

"So you hate the ponies as well?" The shade turned around as a saw a strange bug like creature with emerald green eyes. "Perhaps we can work together to get our revenge on the ponies of Equestria... My name is Chrysalis... What is yours shadow creature?"

Oracle was about to blast the strange beast with a ball of fire, until he saw something behind her, it looked like a legion of more creatures like her, albeit smaller than her, but still. A twisted grin appeared on the wizard's face. "My name... Is Oracle..."





The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other. ~ Mario Puzo.


> Ana's Corronation and the Second Prison Break.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn. ~ Albert Einstein.






One week later.


Twilight, Fang, and their friends were overseeing and helping with some festival preparations. Twilight had Dawn and Dusk with her, in a foal carrier that was strapped to her chest, every time one of the citizens saw the foals they gave a small 'd'awww'. "Hey Twilight!" The purple mare turned and saw Rainbow, her coltfriend Thunder Dust, and her coltfriend's sister, Lightning Dust. "What's going on? What's with all the decorations?" Twilight sighed.

"If you had been listening when I told you yesterday than you would know that Ana's coronation is tomorrow." Twilight turned and saw that Lightning Dust was looking directly at her chest. "Umm... Why are you staring at my foals?"

"They... They are just too adorable to be real..." Twilight looked down and saw what she meant, at the moment Dawn was sucking on her right forehoof. Dusk yawned and his eyes fluttered open. He looked around and his eyes finally settled on Lightning. He smiled and waved at the pegasus with a foalish giggle. Lightning just waved back. "Hi..."

Rainbow walked up to Twilight and saluted. "What should we do?"

"Could you help Tsuki, Pinkie and Jekyll with the decorations in the castle?" Rainbow, Lightning and Thunder nodded and flew off towards the castle.





Tsuki was helping Pinkie and Jekyll put up banners when Rainbow, Thunder and a pony she did not know flew into the room. "Um... Did I do something that made it so Twilight and Fang need five ponies to be with me at all times? It was almost unbearable with just Pinkie and Jekyll..."

Rainbow smiled and shook her head. "Nah, Twilight just wanted us to help you three with the decorations inside the castle... Besides, I think Twilight is going easy on you because you and Ana seem to get along pretty well." Tsukiyomi blinked.

"That's nice but... Um... Who is she?" Tsuki pointed at Lightning and the turquoise mare smiled.

"Name's Lightning Dust, Thunder is my little bro... Who are you?"

"I'm Tsukiyomi, Tsuki for short." Lightning blinked.

"Wait... Tsukiyomi... As in the mare who ripped off a stallion's horn and shoved it straight up his-" The mare was cut off when Rainbow shoved a hoof in her mouth. Ana had just walked into the room, she had a cookie in her mouth. The young princess walked up to the ponies that were gathered, and gave a salute before walking off towards her room, where Rarity would be making some adjustments to the dress she was going to wear at her coronation. As soon as she was gone the cyan mare took her hoof out of Lightning's mouth. "Let me guess, they don't like ponies to curse in front of their daughter, right?" Everypony in the room nodded in conformation. Lightning then flew up to Tsuki. "So why did you... Well, you know..."

"The miserable pile of fur that I am sure Fang is ashamed to call one of his subjects tried to force himself on me after hitting me with a paralysis spell... He won't be doing that to another mare anytime soon..." Lightning gulped at her nonchalant tone, she knew one thing about this mare for sure now. She knew that she didn't want to make her angry...





Fang was walking down the street with Twilight and their foals. The two passed by Soul, Trixie, and their pet fox, as well as their familiar, Rouge. Near them was Cheshire, who was making some sleeping flowers bloom. Twilight had asked what Cheshire's power as an archdemon was, apparently it was the ability to cause things, such as pumpkins, apples, fish, much to the demonic cat's enjoyment, and many other things, to grow in size, or in the case of plants, grow into maturity, apparently the only things he couldn't make grow were sentient beings. "Soul, Trixie, how are the firework preparations coming along?"

The two blue unicorns turned and smiled at the alicorns. "They are almost ready, and when they explode they are going to be in the shape of snowflakes like you requested." Fang nodded at his friends and walked off as they returned to their work. 

"Ok Twilight, Soul and Trixie are doing fine, so who's next on the list?" Twilight looked down at a clipboard that she had in hoof.

"Fireworks, check. Next stop is Sweet Apple Acres to see how Applejack, North, Spike, and the Crusaders are doing with the banquet preparations." Fang sighed. As the two walked off, arriving at Sweet Apple Acres after about twelve minutes.

"Please remind me, why did I let those four fillies, and Hex help with the apple based dishes that we are going to be serving to the nobles and dignitaries at dinner tomorrow?" Twilight giggled as she rubbed Dusk's head. The little colt was currently looking around, amazed by how many shiny red, green, and yellow things were growing on the things his parents constantly referred to as trees.

"Because they asked nicely and you don't have the heart to say no when a filly is giving you a pouty lip and puppy dog eyes." Fang sighed knowing that what his wife said was true. He just couldn't say no to a filly when they were giving him a pouty lip and puppy dog eyes. Fang suddenly bumped into Twilight and opened his eyes. His jaw went slack when he saw the sheer amount of apple based dishes that had been prepared since this morning. He could see so many pies, tarts, and many other treats, that they could feed the entirety of Ponyville and Canterlot combined for a week.

Fang just stood there for a few minutes, staring at the amount of treats. "How is that even possible?" Fang looked down and saw the paw prints of a certain cat on the ground. "Well... That explains it, Cheshire was here. I think that thanks to their work, and Cheshire's ability to make things grow in size, we are going to have more than enough apple based treats... We will use a third, the rest is going to the poor and homeless... Does that sound good?" Twilight nodded as they walked up to the farmhouse and entered. Fang was immediately confronted by Apple Bloom, who had a serious look on her face. "What? Did I do something to offend you? I apologize if I did..."

"Taste." Fang and Twilight raised an eyebrow each and opened their mouths to ask what she meant, but soon found that their mouths were filled with a slice of apple pie. Fang and Twilight closed their mouths, chewed and swallowed. A large grin soon spread over their faces.

The purple mare looked down at Apple Bloom, and the rest of the crusaders, who had come out of the kitchen to be there when they heard the response of the two alicorns. "Best apple pie I've ever had."

"Second best apple pie I've ever had." Twilight, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Babs, and Hex frowned at Fang's response. "Please don't take offense, it is the best apple pie I've eaten since I was freed from my stone imprisonment. However I ate an apple pie made by Applejack, not Applebloom's big sister, the original Applejack, the one that the Apple Family is descended from. Soul will agree with me that she made the best apple pies in history." The crusaders had stopped paying attention after he had said that they were the best apple pies he had eaten since he was freed. Sadly, none of the fillies had received their cutie mark.


Meanwhile, in the castle.


Ana was standing on a platform in front of a mirror while Rarity got her measurements. "So Ana, are you excited for tomorrow?" The little filly shook her head. "What? Why ever not?"

"I have to stand in front of an entire kingdom while I'm crowned and officially recognized as a Transylmaneian royal. And then I'm going to have dinner with about forty nobles. If I don't do good then I'll be despised by the nobles, I'm going to disappoint mommy and daddy, which will ruin their relationship, they'll get divorced, and send me to an orphanage!" Ana began to sob. "I don't want to be alone again!"

Rarity crouched down and hugged the weeping filly. "Don't cry Ana, I can assure you that none of those terrible things will happen. And do you know why?"

Ana shook her head. "W-why?"

"Because Fang and Twilight love you like you are their own flesh and blood, they love you too much to ever send you to a place like an orphanage. As far as they are concerned you aren't adopted, because you are their child just as much as Dawn and Dusk are. In fact the only reason they didn't take them with you was because I wanted some input from you on what you would like your dress to look like." Rarity smiled at the little filly, who smiled back in turn.

"I just want it to look pretty..." Rarity smiled.

"Pretty? I think that I can do that."

The rest of the day went smoothly and the preparations were finished with time to spare. Ana's dress was silver with light cerulean snowflake patterns stitched in and a sapphire, snowflake shaped clasp on the front of the dress. Tomorrow, Ana officially became Transylmaneian royalty.


The next day.


Ana came in from the balcony after she was crowned, the crown was a simple silver in color shaped like Celestia and Luna's crowns, with a dark blue sapphire in the center of it. However now it was time for what she had been dreading. Dinner with the nobility. She quickly made her way to the front doors of the castle where her parents were waiting to greet the nobles as they arrived.

A guard opened the doors and looked out. "Announcing the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia." The duke and duchess entered and bowed to the three alicorns, to which only Ana bowed back. They then went to walk past, only for Fang to stop the duke. He whispered something into his ear and Twilight saw the blood drain from the duke's face before he walked away.

Twilight teleported Fang and herself away from Ana and looked at her husband. "What did you say to him?" Fang gave a small smirk.

"I just told him that if he thought that he had any power here, he was wrong, and that our subjects do not appreciate being told what to do. They are fine with somepony asking them to do something, but telling them to do something if you have no power here? No. That is basically a death sentence." Twilight nodded in understanding.

"Announcing the arrival of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna of Equestria." Twilight and Fang turned and saw the white and blue alicorns enter. They bowed their heads to Ana, a action that she copied, bowing her head to her aunts.

"Hello Ana. Or is it your highness now?" Celestia spoke those words with a small smirk on her face.

"Just Ana is fine Aunt Celestia." Ana turned and looked at Luna. "Hello Aunt Luna... Why isn't cousin Dream here?" Luna frowned.

"She wanted to come, so did Sunset, but they caught an extremely bad strain of the flu and are bed ridden..." Ana frowned, but nodded.

"I understand, they wanted to come but they needed to rest. It is for the best." Celestia and Luna nodded and passed the little filly.

Fang sighed. "Look at her. She is trying so hard to be a grown up at the moment... And it is because she doesn't want to disappoint us..."

Twilight nodded. "I'm proud of her for that, but she should know by now, she would need to do something extremely bad to disappoint us..." The two teleported next to their daughter and nuzzled her.

The guard at the front door groaned in misery. "Announcing the arrival of... Prince Blueblood of Equestria..." The pompous unicorn walked in.

"Be joyful that you were the one allowed to speak my name mongrel!" He walked past the werewolf guard with his head held high. Two other guards looked at the werewolf.

"Hold. Me. Back." The two guards ran over and grabbed the werewolf before he did something he would regret. Blueblood walked up to Ana and looked down. He didn't bow his head, he just looked down.

"I do not appreciate you treating my subjects like that Blueblood." The unicorn scoffed.

"That's Prince Blueblood to you, you freakish filly." Ana frowned at the unicorn's comment, but she didn't let it get to her. Fang however grabbed Blueblood and teleported away. "Unhoof me you ruffian!"

The black alicorn just growled at him. "Insult my daughter, one of the guards, or one of the castle servants again and I will have you imprisoned for harassment." Blueblood smirked.

"Go ahead and charge me, they wouldn't dare convict me. I am a prince." Fang smirked. The fanged smile of the vampony caused Blueblood to gulp.

"Oh really? You think they wouldn't convict you because you are Celestia's, and by extent, my nephew?" The unicorn nodded. "Let me tell you something Blueblood, you may have power in Equestria, but here? You are nothing but a pony with a title in front of his name."

The unicorn smirked once again. "Even so, Auntie Celestia would just get me tried in Canterlot instea-"

"No she couldn't, while my little sisters have power here, it doesn't changed the fact that, at the moment, Transylmaneia doesn't recognize extradition treaties." Blueblood raised an eyebrow. "In other words... You wouldn't be transferred to Canterlot for a trial. You would be tried here, and then there is that fact that you are extremely disliked by my subjects. So you would probably be convicted." Fang leaned in extremely close to Blueblood's face. "I'm sure that the murderers and rapists in any one of the prisons here in Transylmaneia would just love you... To death... Do you understand me?" Blueblood nodded in fear. "Good... Now have a nice dinner." Fang patted Blueblood on the cheek before he teleported him to the dining room and teleported himself back to his wife and daughter.

"Announcing the arrival of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Consort Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire." The pink alicorn and white unicorn walked in and bowed to the three alicorns. This process continued for about thirty more minutes, then the feast began and to Ana's relief, it went off without a hitch. Unknown to Fang, Twilight, and their circle of friends, the archdemon know as Lepus was lurking in Tartarus once more.


That night in Tartarus.


Lepus flew up to Cerberus and choked him with his smoky body until he passed out. The rabbit then flew up to three familiar creatures. "You lost... You... Lost... YOU FUCKING LOST TO THOSE PONIES!!!" Tirek, Arabus, and Grogar cringed at the rabbit's anger. "I should destroy all of you! That way you wouldn't be able to disappoint me again! However... I think that I'll set you free so you can try again... But first... We need a... New recruit..." The cages of the three creatures disappeared and they were dragged deeper into Tartarus, they went from the first level, their level, to the second. Soon they came upon a statue that resembled Discord, only much, much, sinister looking. "Break him out of his stone prison."

The centaur looked at the rabbit and the other two escaped prisoners. "How? We don't have any strength lef-" He was cut off when a ball of orange energy was thrown into his mouth. The centaur began to grow, becoming his revitalized form once more, but not at full strength. The same thing happened when Lepus gave Grogar a green ball of energy and Arabus a black one. "... Never mind." The three revitalized creatures charged up the strongest magical blast they could, and the stone started to crack and fall away, eventually revealing a creature with the body of a snake, the front legs of an eagle, the hind legs of a rhino, the head of a pony, the wings of a dragon, the eyes of a goat, the tongue of a frog, the tail of a wolf, and the whiskers of a catfish.

The creature stood there for a second before speaking, its voice was deep and gravelly, as if it spoke by grinding stone against stone. "So long I have been imprisoned within this prison of stone and darkness... Now I will have my revenge on the ones who imprisoned me..." The beast's eyes glowed green for a second before turning back to normal.

Lepus flew in between the creature and the three two time escapees. "Tirek, Arabus, Grogar, meet Jibber. Jibber, meet Tirek Arabus and Grogar. I know you all want your revenge and you shall have it... Now... Go and take your power back once more!" The four creatures disappeared and Lepus smirked. "Survive my minions this time Fang... You won't be able to beat Jibber..."

Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Soul, and Fang all woke up screaming that night.





In youth we learn; in age we understand. ~ Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach.

> The Ram's Reformation and the Rage of a Jabberwocky.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


He who does not punish evil, commands it to be done. ~ Leonardo Da Vinci.






Two days later.


Cadence and Shining Armor got up and left the crystal castle. They saw that the entirety of the Crystal Empire was on fire, and every single crystal pony was lying in the middle of the street, dead with looks of horror on their faces. The couple noticed that their daughter, Skyla, was staring at the pile of dead bodies. They walked up to her and she turned around, showing that she had no eyes and her throat was cut. They screamed and the image of the ruined Crystal Empire disappeared.





The two woke up in a large, dark, room beneath their castle. "They're finally awake." The two turned and saw Arabus float out of the shadows.

"And this time we get the power of an alicorn from the start." Tirek walked out of the shadows.

"That will make it much easier to get revenge this time..." Grogar stepped out of the shadows, the three opened their mouths and took the things that they desired before the two ponies fell to the ground. The three creatures began to slowly return to their strengthened forms. There was a chuckle and a bipedal figure, Jibber, stepped out of the shadows.

Armor growled at the creature. "Discord! I knew you would betray us again! Once a traitor always a trait-" Armor was cut off when the creature ran up and kicked him in the stomach.

"Do not mention my insolent, cowardly, weakling of a son in front of me ever again!" The creature looked at Cadence when she coughed. 

"H-how were you able to take my magic... You were still weak..." The three two time escapees laughed and pointed to Jibber. 

"You dreamed a little dream, and you gave a loud scream, and your souls are now mine it seems." The Jabberwocky grabbed their horns and the two ponies slowly lost their color, becoming grey as if they had been 'Discorded' as a result, then, they slowly turned to stone. The creature then looked at the other escapees. "Now... Where do we go next?"

"Canterlot! We can take the power of four alicorns there!" Arabus floated over and slapped Tirek on the back of his head.

"No! We go to Ponyville! There are five alicorns and a shade prince there!" Grogar sighed, walked in between the two, jumped up, and hit them both on their heads.

"Idiots! Those are the last places we should go! Did you already forget what happened to us the last time we tried to attack that many alicorns at once?" The two glared at Grogar and were about to hit him, but Jibber snapped his fingers and they were frozen in place.

"He has a point... Now that we have taken all of the energy from the Crystal Empire, they will be preparing for us..." The group of four disappeared in a flash of light. Cadence and Shining Armor were returned to their bed as the four beings appeared in front of the crystal heart. Jibber walked up to it and touched it with a claw. Slowly all of the life of the Crystal Empire began to disappear. The crystals lost their shine and color, becoming grey and the plants all wilted. Then the crystal heart turned grey and stopped spinning. "Ahhh... Such energy... An entire kingdom with absolutely no joy... It's perfect..." Jibber looked at the others. "Now... We need to make a visit to a certain son of mine..." With that the beings disappeared again.


Canterlot, three hours later.


Celestia, Sunset, Luna and Dream were sitting in the grand hall of their castle having lunch, when all of a sudden a royal guard was thrown through the doors. Celestia looked toward the door and her blood ran cold at what she saw. Standing in the doorway were the beings known as Tirek, Grogar, and Arabus. "It wasn't... A nightmare Luna... They escaped again..."

"They aren't the only ones who escaped..." The table they were sitting at began to change shape, taking the form of the Jabberwocky. Jibber stood up and grabbed the two eldest alicorns by the neck.

"Dream! Sunset! Run, get out of here and warn Twilight and Fang!" The Jabberwocky wrapped his tail around Dream before she could get away, leaving only Sunset with the ability to escape. The yellow alicorn turned and ran towards a window, jumping out and flying towards Ponyville, or more specifically, Fang and Twilight's castle.

Arabus was about to chase after her, but was stopped by Jibber. "Let her run... We will have more energy than them even if they are aware, with my help, we will be able to defeat them." The cloud creature nodded and floated over to the three captured alicorns as Tirek and Jibber took their magic and energy. After Arabus took their shadows he noticed that they hadn't become wrinkled. "Grogar? Why haven't you taken their youth?"

The ram was just standing in front of the window that Sunset had jumped out of so she could escape. "Should we really be doing this? I mean... What's in it for us? I mean sure we would be the strongest creatures in the world but still..." The ram shook his head. "I'm over thinking this... Why am I even questioning what we're doing...? It doesn't matter..." Grogar walked over and took the youth of the three alicorns. He then looked towards the window once more. 'Mother... What I'm doing, is it... Wrong?' He glanced at the three alicorns and watched as Jibber stole their souls, turning them to stone.


Fang and Twilight's castle.


The Elements of Harmony, as well as Soul, Tsukiyomi, and Fang, were gathered around a table where the wing-blade shade named Edge was sitting. On the table he had a large book, a lot of quills, and many empty inkwells. "Ok... After about a week of research, I have finally determined that the elements of harmony, excluding Trixie, I'll get to your ancestor last, are decedents of the six ponies who came to Equestria through the crystal mirror with Soul." 

He looked at the mane six and smiled. "Rainbow is the descendant of a pegasus mare named Firefly. Fluttershy is the descendant of an earth pony mare named Poesy. Pinkie is the descendant of a pegasus mare named Surprise. Rarity is the descendant of a unicorn mare named Glory. Applejack is the descendant of an earth pony mare with the same name. And Twilight is the descendant of a unicorn mare who shares her full name." He then looked at the azure unicorn, who was nervously shuffling her hooves. "Trixie is the descendant of a stallion who called himself Spirit the Wanderer, and Spirit was the cousin of Starswirl the Bearded." The room went silent and all the ponies looked at Trixie.

The blue mare stopped shuffling. "Um... I was not expecting that... I honestly thought I was going to be the descendant of a serial killer or something..." The mares just continued to stare at her. "W-why are you just staring at me like that? It's starting to scare me..."

"You are descended from the cousin of Starswirl the Bearded and you’re not freaking out... Why?" Trixie blinked and looked at Twilight. 

"I don't know! I'm just... Not as excited about it as you... He was my idol sure, but I don't really have anything to brag about seeing how many generations it has been since he died... It's not even a direct relation..." There was a crash and everyone in the room turned to see what had caused it. The source of the sound was Sunset Shimmer.

"Sunset! Are you ok!?" Twilight ran over to the yellow alicorn and gasped at what she saw, her wings had been broken by the impact with the ground. "Sunset, what's wrong? What happened?"

"They got out again... And Discord is helping them again..." Twilight growled and her horn began to glow. Sunset was teleported to the castle infirmary and was replaced with Discord, who had become different shades of grey.

"DISCORD!!! I KNEW THAT YOU-" Twilight stopped shouting when Fang placed a hoof on her shoulder and pointed at the Draconequus, as the others walked up Twilight noticed that his color wasn't the only thing that had changed. The normally cheerful Discord had been replaced with a shivering, sniffling version of himself that was rocking back and forth while sucking his thumb.

"I'm sorry Daddy, please don't hit me..." Twilight walked up and touched Discord and a vision flashed through her head. Tirek, Arabus and Grogar were standing over him, with another Draconequus beside them. The grey Draconequus began to cry a bit. 

"What happened to him?" The doors of the library burst open and three of the four escapees walked in.

"I decided that my son no longer deserved his powers..." Jibber appeared on the table and looked down at the scrolls and books that were laying on it. "What's this?" He picked one up and began to read over it. "Ohh... Those six are the descendants of the ones who helped Fang and Soul lock me, and by extent, you, away... How about we let them meet their ancestors?" Arabus chuckled.

"That sounds like a capital idea Jibber." 

Grogar went wide eyed and looked at the other escapees. "Are you sure we should do that? If Lepus doesn't need us to destroy them then we won't be able to get out of Tartarus in the first place!" The Jabberwocky paid no mind to the ram's words and flew over to the ponies, quickly wrapping himself around them before snapping his fingers and disappearing with the ponies and the other prisoners in a flash of light.


7362 years ago.


The original Applejack, Poesy, Surprise, Glory, Firefly, and the original Twilight Sparkle were sitting in the living room of their home, Paradise Estate, which was named after their original home, when a sudden crash on the second floor caught their attention. The group got up and Surprise ran up the stairs before the others could question what was going on. "PONY PILE!!!" The others all ran up the stairs and into the room where they heard Surprise laughing. There they saw ten ponies, excluding Surprise, lying in a pile. After a few minutes the ponies began to get off each other, one by one, until there were only two left.

Tsukiyomi, Poesy and Fluttershy all blushed at what they saw. "Oh... My..." Fang and Twilight were unconscious and laying in a... Compromising position. Twilight was on Fang's chest and had her head on his nether regions, while Fang had his muzzle pointed towards her more private areas.

"L-l-leave them like that... I wanna see how they react when they wake up." Both Rainbow Dash and Firefly where trying to hold in their laughter. Fang and Twilight began to stir and opened their eyes. They both blushed when they saw where their heads were. Fang and Twilight's horns glowed and they teleported off of one another. They then walked over to one another, sat down, and wrapped their wings around one another.

Fang smirked. "If you all wanted a show..."

"You should have just asked..." Twilight finished Fang's sentence and the two alicorns gave each other bedroom eyes. They leaned in for a kiss and heard three thumps. Looking around they saw that Fluttershy, Poesy, and Tsukiyomi had passed out. Twilight and Fang looked at the ponies who were still standing. "Too much?" The remaining ponies all nodded as the three passed out ponies began to wake up.

"Ok... Fang, why did you and Soul come here with eight mares? Are they part of your herd or something?" Fang and Soul looked at each other before bursting out into laughter. "What's so funny?" After a few seconds they calmed down.

"Neither of us have a herd, I'm married to... Well I think we should get introductions out of the way first." Fang walked up to the original Twilight Sparkle with his wife by his side. "Sparkle, meet my wife and the mother of my foals, Twilight. I am referring to you as Sparkle because you both have the same name, and it will be easier for us all if you respond to Sparkle and my wife responds to Twilight. Does that sound logical?" Twilight nodded and Sparkle giggled.

"I knew you had a thing for me when I caught you spying on me in the shower!" Twilight gasped and hit her husband on the back of the head.

"It was one time! And you left the bathroom door open! It was not my fault that I saw you! Besides..." Fang gave a smirk. "I didn't hear you complaining..." Sparkle blushed and her friends began to giggle.

"Fang, it doesn't help your case that I'm her descendent..." Fang froze in place and his head slowly turned towards Twilight.

"Twilight, have I ever told you that you can be downright cruel sometimes?" Twilight shook her head. "Well you can..." Fang's head snapped back to the ancestors of the mane six. "Anyway, yes, Twilight is the descendant of Sparkle here. Did I marry her because of that? No. I married her because I love her. Anyway, let me and Soul introduce the rest of you to your descendants." Fang and Soul's horns glowed and the rest of the mane six were placed in front of their ancestors. 

AJ's ancestor, Applejack, was her spitting image, but she had five apples as a cutie mark instead of three. "Applejack, meet AJ." The two apple ponies looked at each other and shook hooves. Fluttershy's ancestor, Poesy, was the spitting image of the shy pegasus, but she had no wings and her cutie mark was tulips instead of butterflies. "Fluttershy, meet Poesy." The two ponies just hid in their manes. Pinkie Pie's ancestor looked like her, except she was a white pegasus with a blond mane. Her cutie mark was three purple balloons. "Pinkie, this is Surprise." The two just stared at one another for a second before nodding. Rarity's ancestor, Glory, was a white unicorn mare that had a purple mane with a blue streak going through it. Her cutie mark was a purple and silver shooting star. "Rarity, meet Glory." The two unicorns started to talk to each other and complimented the others manes. Rainbow's ancestor looked like her, but she was pink with a blue mane. Her cutie mark was three blue lightning bolts. "Rainbow, meet Firefly." The two daredevils began to tell each other about their adventures.

Suddenly there was a rumble and the wall fell away, revealing the face of Tirek. "Hello ponies..." The group of ponies growled at him and the centaur laughed, until he saw Fang teleport them away. "Cowards!"


Three hours later.


"W-what's T-Tirek d-doing h-here?" A twig snapped behind the group of sixteen and their heads turned around, slowly they saw Grogar step out of the shadows. "W-what's G-Grogar d-doing here?" Twilight and Fang growled and began to charge a magical blast that would turn Grogar into dust.

"I... I'm... I'm sorry..." The entire group froze in place, shocked at what they had just heard. Grogar had just apologized. "What I've been doing is wrong and I apologize for causing all of you so much trouble..." Fang and Twilight slowly, and hesitantly dropped their spell. "I... I want to help you beat them... I was helping them but... I just can't stand it anymore... I didn't want to kill anypony I was just... Enraged and I wanted something to take my anger out on... What I've been doing is wrong, and I see that now..." The ram looked up at the group and they all saw he had changed, his eyes were no longer a solid red in color. They were a light shade of rose, like Rainbow's eyes. They also saw that he had a few tears in his eyes. "I want to make it up to you... And I will do anything in my power to help you stop them."

The group huddled together, making it so that Grogar couldn't hear a word they were saying. After a minute they separated and Fang looked at the ram. "We'll give you a chance, but only one. And before we do, why the sudden change of heart?"

"Because... I witnessed the darkest power of a Jabberwocky... The power to manipulate the mind... What Jibber did to Twilight's brother and sister-in-law was just... Unforgivable..." Grogar stared back towards the area where Paradise Estate was. "He made them see their daughter dead... With no eyes... No soul..." Grogar tried to stand up, but yelped in pain and immediately collapsed. It was then that the group noticed that Grogar had a broken leg.

"What happened to your leg?" Grogar turned and looked at Trixie.

"My ability to have children wasn't the only thing you destroyed... You broke my leg in seven places when you threw me at the bell..." The ram gave a chuckle. "You're the one who made me realize that no matter how much youth I steal, there will always be a pony who will be able to stop me..." Grogar sat down and looked at the others. "The others should be congregating at Paradise Estate at the moment. And I have a plan on how to beat them..."


One hour later.


Tirek and Arabus were sitting, waiting for Jibber and Grogar to return. "Should we go and look for them?" Arabus shook his head and pointed over a hill, Tirek turned and saw that all of the ponies were running towards them, and Grogar was chasing them from behind. "Get them!" Tirek stood up and charged at the ponies, only to end up falling on his face when thousands of skeletons grabbed his hind legs. When he lifted his head he saw that every single unicorn and alicorn had gathered around him.  "Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to end well for me?" He tried to get up, but found himself restrained by a horde of bony hooves. "Grogar! What is the meaning of this!?"

"The ponies are right! What we've been doing is wrong! And I plan to help them stop you!" Tirek opened his mouth to try and steal the ponies' magic, but soon found his mouth stuffed with bones. He was slowly lifted into the air and slammed back down, face first. Then it happened again and again and again. He felt one final collision, and then everything went black. The group of magic users looked towards the house and saw that the cloud demon known as Arabus had just fallen to the pegasi and earth ponies.





Arabus was trying to fight the eight ponies that had surrounded him, four pegasi, and four earth ponies. It didn't help that the pink earth pony seemed to be breaking every law of physics and reality. "That's it!" The cloud demon raised his hands and lightning shot from his fingertips towards the three, normal, earth ponies.

"SURPRISE!!!" The cloud demon was startled by the sudden shout, causing him to miss the earth ponies. He turned his head and saw that the white pegasus pony named Surprise was holding a chocolate cake in front of him. She forced his mouth open and shoved it down his throat, causing the demon to choke.

He was able to spit it up, but he soon found that he had a lasso attached to each of his hands, he looked down and saw both Applejacks with a rope in their mouths. "Rope? That's the best you stupid, country, ponies can do?" He then felt something tap his shoulder and swatted it, hitting Pinkie Pie and sending her to the ground.

Fluttershy stopped moving and flew up to his face. "Now listen here mister! I don't know how your parents raised you, but hitting others is wrong! Nopony should harm another living being if it can be helped! Now apologize to Pinkie Pie this instant! Or I'll have to give you the stare!!!"

The cloud demon just blinked in response. "What in the darkest pits of Tartarus is the stare? Do you really believe that you, a mere pegasus pony, can frighten me? That is the most ridiculous thing I've eve-" He was silenced when Fluttershy's eyes shot open and she began to stare at him. His body froze up and she began to hover away, soon he felt himself being wrapped in a tornado that the other three pegasi had made, the ropes around his arms and began to bind him. After a minute he fell to the ground, wrapped up like a Hearth's Warming gift. Fluttershy walked up to him and continued to stare at him. "Ok! Ok! I'm sorry! Just stop staring at me!" Fluttershy smiled and walked away, then Pinkie and Surprise both walked up to him and smashed a cake in his face. After they had walked away he licked some of the frosting off and smiled. "Cream cheese, yum.”





The group met up and smiled, knowing that they had stopped two of the demons. Then a thought occurred to the ponies from the future they were missing the Jabberwocky. A chuckle from behind them caught their attention, they turned around and saw that said beast had grown to three times the size of Tirek and was now holding the centaur and cloud demon. "Thank you for doing this, now I can grow even stronger!" Slowly a pure black aura ran from the mouths of both Tirek and Arabus, and entered the mouth of the Jabberwocky. He dropped the two demons and their bodies began to turn into stone. "And now... I'm going to eat your souls..." The creature then turned his head towards the ponies, only to see that they were gone. "Come back little ponies, I was only playing... Why do all of you have to be such babies?" The Jabberwocky shrunk until he was the size of a pony before walking towards the large mansion known as Paradise Estate.





Firefly was peeking out of the basement of Paradise Estate as the Jabberwocky searched the upper floors for them. She flew down the stairs towards the other ponies. "Okay, why is Jibber here?" The ponies all shook their heads, that's when they noticed that Grogar was missing.

"JIBBER!!!" The group heard his voice outside and Fang teleported them out of the basement and into a large field where they saw Jibber and Grogar staring each other down. "You will fall by my cloven hooves! The ponies may never forgive me, but I will stop you from causing any more pain! If I do that then maybe they will forgive me! And if they forgive me... Then maybe my mother will too..." The ram looked up and growled at the Jabberwocky. His horns began to glow and a large ball of pure elemental energy formed above his head. It contained nine of the ten forms of elemental magic. Fire, ice, wind, lightning, earth, water, wood, metal, and darkness. The only one that was missing was light.

Fang and Soul looked at each other wide eyed. "Is he doing what I think he's doing?" Fang nodded and the two turned to the mane six. "Twilight, you and your friends need to go help Grogar. He is calling upon nature itself to seal Jibber away. But he doesn't have enough power to use light magic, and that is something only you will be able to help him with. You will know what to do."

Soul turned and looked at the ancestors of the mane six. "You six come with me and Fang, Trixie and Tsuki, you come too. We are going to make sure that Jibber is never going to be able to escape from Tartarus ever again." The eight mares nodded at the two stallions and charged at Jibber, quickly surrounding the Jabberwocky, the ancestors of the mane six knew what they were supposed to do.


Fang and Soul's group.


Trixie and Tsuki looked around, wondering what they were supposed to do, that is when they noticed that each of the ponies around them were floating in midair and glowing, with a different colored aura each. Fang's was red like fire, Soul's was black like the darkness, Sparkle's was light yellow, which ponies associated with light magic, Glory's was grey like steel, Applejack's was brown like the dirt, Poesy's was green like the grass, Surprise's was silver, which ponies associated with wind magic, Firefly's was purple, which ponies associated with lightning magic. Each one had a chain shoot from their hearts and wrap around Jibber, and each chain was made from a different material, a different type of elemental magic. 

Trixie and Tsuki noticed this and realized that they were supposed to use the remaining two elements and fully bind the Jabberwocky. Trixie knew which element of nature she should represent, ice, the school that illusion was mostly taught in. She began to float in the air and she was soon surrounded with a white aura. A chain made of ice shot from her heart as Tsuki began to float in the air, surrounded by a watery blue aura. A chain made of water shot out of the black mare's chest and wrapped around Jibber, binding him completely. 


Twilight's group.


The mane six ran up to Grogar and looked at each other. "What're we supposed to do? How should we know what we should do?" The mares all turned to AJ and shook their heads. Suddenly they saw a bright light and looked to see that the others were now floating in the air, each one surrounded by an aura different color. Chains shot from their bodies, and each chain seemed to be made of a different material, each one was a different form of elemental magic.

In each of their minds they heard a small voice. 'Call upon the Elements of Harmony, even though they are not with you physically, they are with you in your soul...' The group of mares looked at each other and noticed that their hearts were glowing white.

"We are supposed to provide the light magic..." Twilight turned and shot a beam of pure light at the large ball of energy that was floating above Grogar's head, a white aura surrounded her and she began to float, her eyes had turned completely white. Slowly the other five turned and began to float themselves, a beam of pure yellow light shot from all of their hearts and struck the ball of elemental energy above Grogar's head. The ball of energy grew to three times the size it had been before and shot towards the giant Jabberwock.

Jibber saw the large orb of elemental energy flying toward him and let loose a scream of rage as his body was slowly turned into a black and purple stone, obsidian. A loud panting caught the attention of both groups, the source was Grogar. "It is done..." The ram collapsed as the other ten ponies ran over.

Seeing that he wasn't moving, Fang walked up to the ram and placed a hoof on his neck. A small frown appeared on his face, he had no pulse. "Grogar... Is no longer in the world of the living."

Soul looked at the body and watched as a spectral mist formed next to it, soon it took the form of Grogar. The ram's ghost looked at his body and then glanced at the small hole in the circle of ponies that were giving sad smiles at the sight of the body. "You see it don't you?" Grogar turned and looked at Soul. "The light, you see it right?"

The spirit nodded. "I do and... It's beautiful, I... I can see my mother there, waiting for me but... I can't go... I don't deserve to cross over..."

Trixie sighed. "Actually you do..." The spirit turned and looked at the blue mare. "If you didn't, then you wouldn't be able to see the light..."

Grogar looked at the light again and a small smile formed on his face after a minute. "I suppose you're right..." He turned and looked at the other ponies before turning back to Trixie and Soul. "Tell them that I'm sorry for all the harm I've ever done to them..." The ram turned and walked through the hole in the crowd of ponies before fading away. As fast as lightning Soul and Trixie watched as Grogar's spirit reappeared and was forced back into his body. The ram's head shot up and he began to cough.

Soul just blinked at the sight. "Well... That's never happened before..." Soul walked over to the ram and looked at him. "What happened? Trixie and I saw you cross over." The ram shrugged.

"I went into the light, two glowing foals said I wasn't supposed to die yet, and now I'm back in my body... The light smelled like chocolate..." With that the ram passed out.

"Well... That was anticlimactic..." A strange noise was heard and a blue box appeared next to the group of ponies. The door opened and Doctor Whooves stepped out. 

"The ten of you and the ram need to come with me, and no it is not up for discussion. You do not belong in this time period." He pointed at the mane six, Fang, Soul, Trixie and Tsuki. The ponies opened their mouths to protest, but were suddenly pulled into the T.A.R.D.I.S. The box disappeared and left the ancestors of the mane six standing there, and only Surprise could speak, so she said what she knew was on everyone's minds.

"Well… That just happened..." Later that day the ancestors of the mane six moved the newly created statues of Tirek, Arabus, and Jibber back to Tartarus and everything went back to normal. 





The only problem they had now was deciding what they should do with Grogar. Fang suggested that since they were giving Tsuki a chance, it only seemed fair that they gave him a chance as well, with much reluctance Twilight, Cadence, Celestia and Luna agreed, and he was given the same terms for his freedom that were given to Tsuki, except as he was not a pony, Fang decided it would be intelligent to take him on as a student, just as Twilight had taken Trixie on as a student. 

Twilight had tried to protest, saying nothing good could come of it, but Fang reasoned that Discord had changed for the better, and that it would be an interesting way to learn about goat magic and goats in general, as ponies knew almost nothing about the goats. Twilight stopped protesting as soon as she had heard him say the word ‘learn.’ The ram was going to be taking up residence in one of the spare rooms of Fang and Twilight's castle. Fang already knew a way to keep Grogar under control if he did anything that could be considered evil. That way? Tell Trixie that he called her a broodmare.





There is no heresy or philosophy so abhorrent to the church as a human being. ~ James Joyce.

> Memories of an Old Colt and the Repaired Journal Entry.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Fate is not satisfied with inflicting one calamity. ~ Publilius Syrus.






Two days later.


It was a calm day in Ponyville and Soul was relaxing back at his and Trixie's place. He was laying down as he thought back to the sudden revelations he and Fang had learned with Twilight. Thanks to Tsukiyomi, they were aware that his own father, and most of his species, wanted him dead. Muse had found that not only Starswirl had written in the journal, but everyone in the group had written in it. The entry they read when they found the journal was located in the final page of the first half, and after that were the sections belonging to each member of the group. 

Soul's entries were in the last section, but Muse had found that the seal on the shades had made the entries unreadable, and they would remain that way until it weakened enough. Apparently the sections were tied to memories. Until they retrieved a certain memory they wouldn't be able to read the entries. Even Twilight, the most magically inclined of the group, had no clue what tied the journal to the seal. Fang was still busy getting his new student, Grogar, settled in. The ram was surprised to find he was welcomed among pony society, even after he had helped Tirek and Arabus. At the moment the only section readable was Spell Weaver's section. 

The group was shocked to find that Starswirl was married, well that was the case for the mane six and the princesses anyway. The group wondered why it was that with every major threat, a new mystery popped up. First the box holding the Rainbow of Light now the journal. Soul was trying to figure out how to use a repair spell he found in Spell Weaver's section so he could fix the entirety of the entry that had revealed that Soul was an exiled prince. 

Trixie was next to him, still getting used to the fact she was dating a royal, an exiled royal, but a royal none the less. Soul was snapped out of his thoughts when Trixie turned to him. "Oh, Soul I just remembered, how did you come back after Arabus, uh you know... Ate you…"

"Well I only heard this from Hex, as he was there at the time, but I think it would be best to show you. We are going to need Hex to allow me to project that specific memory. We might need to get the others as well, so we can see if we can find out where Muse and Edge appeared at that time, I found it odd those two escaped the seal during that incident..." Soul said with a smile as he finished his spell. In all his years traveling he had learned to really multitask, so he was still talking while he was using his spell.





Once the others, the elements and their coltfriends, were gathered Soul went to find Hex. He found the colt at Sweet Apple Acres, in the Crusader's clubhouse where he was trying to think up plans to help the others get their cutie marks. "Hex come on, we're heading to Fang's place. We are going to try and find out how I came back after Arabus ate me." Hex turned and looked at Soul before nodding. 

"Okay, I'll be right there..." With that the group went to Fang and Twilight's castle. Soul looked around at all the changes that had been made to both Transylmaneia and Ponyville. Because of the Tree of Harmony granting Ana's wish that her mother and Father would still be able to spend time together when ruling. The residents of Ponyville and Transylmaneia had gotten used to the sudden changes quite well, and one of the side effects was that the sudden merge had canceled out the glamor hiding the true forms of the monsters of Fang's kingdom. It was a bit moot when the mayor revealed that Ponyville, and some other sections of Equestria, had been taken by Transylmaneia, and that Celestia herself had agreed to let Fang keep the lands. After about thirty minutes they finally got to the castle where Twilight, Fang, Muse, Edge and the rest of Twilight and Fang's family were waiting, including Twilight's parents and brother and the princesses.

"Okay I'm sure that you’re all wondering how I came back after what Arabus did to me. After Grogar stole my youth so Arabus could eat me." Soul looked at everyone gathered in the room. After everyone nodded Soul smiled at Hex. "Well... I'm still not sure what happened exactly, and Hex was the only witness... So I'm going to use a memory projection spell, that way we can all see what happened, through his eyes, with his permission of course..." Soul glanced at the blue unicorn colt.

"Sure, if you can find out what happened, then maybe I can finally get my mind around what I saw that day... And be able to figure out if I need to check myself into a mental institution or not..." Hex kept his normally apathetic look, but Soul noticed a light interest in his eyes and the shade mentally smirked.

'Well, looks like he does have feelings, he is just unable to express them, maybe I should have him meet Pinkie's sister Maud. The two are similar in that respect, actually, maybe that's why Pinkie and Trixie are spending Thursdays together, telling stories about their apathetic siblings as they share have in common.' Soul turned back to the group.

"Okay, the spell that I'm going to use will take a lot of energy from me, so once we are done I'm going to be out of my mind for about two hours. You better make sure that I don't do anything embarrassing while in that state. Last time I did this, I ended up getting banned from the dragon territory for accidentally dethroning the dragon king at the time, and apparently my uncle on my dad's side. He forgave me eventually but, well you get the idea, so you guy's better restrain me if I start acting loopy!" Trixie smirked as she knew a way to restrain her coltfriend, her mind drifted to a more mature line of thought. Soul stiffened and glared at Trixie.

"Mind out of the gutter Trix, I didn't want to feel that line of thought." Soul's sudden negativity towards Trixie made the group confused.

Cadence giggled. "Oh, I see now!" As they turned to look at the Goddess of Love she explained.

"Soul is Trixie’s literal soul mate, no pun intended, at this point of their relationship they can get traits from each other, while also getting the ability to feel and tell what the other is thinking. That is why Trixie gained Soul's ability to see earthbound spirits nopony else can see. She can use Soul's special talent a bit at a weaker level. And Soul might get her aptitude for illusions." Cadence finished with a smile.

"That explains why Soul blushed, he was picking up the thoughts Trixie was having." Soul's eye began to twitch as he turned his head towards Fang, who had a teasing grin on his face.

"I don't ask what you do with Twilight, you don't ask me what I do with Trixie. Bedroom confidentiality!!!" Fang was about to respond that he didn't ask what Soul and Trixie did in the bedroom, but he was cut off when Applejack shoved her hoof into his mouth.

"Hold on partners! We're getting off track, the memory please." Applejack's words got the others back on track.

"Right, here goes!" Soul took a deep breath. He concentrated his magic and it created a link to Hex's own horn as the spell went to work. "Hex, concentrate on that memory and let the spell do its job, okay?"

Hex nodded and sent energy into his horn, the spell created a screen that reminded Twilight of what she had seen just before she ascended and became an alicorn.

The screen had static at first, but it soon cleared to show the colt's memory of when Soul was eaten. After Fang teleported the group away during the smokescreen Trixie ran to Soul's cloak and sobbed for a moment before she got up and looked to Fang. Hex wasn't paying attention as his sister left with Fang, still looking himself over, as he saw the effects that getting your youth stolen had on fillies and colts. He had found himself the size of a fully grown adult and winced, seeing he was aged to the point where he was physically as old as the late Granny Smith. He saw a glow from out of the corner of his eye and turned to see the Tree of Harmony and the elements on it. 

There was a light yellow glow as a seventh Element of Harmony, only transparent, formed just below the element of magic, and to his surprise, it was in the shape of his sister's cutie mark. Around the seven appeared the remaining elements of sin. They each lit up, one by one, and sent out a beam of light in each of their colors, and they spun around before entering the sapphire they all now knew was the Element of Good. It floated up and two black orbs were released before they formed Muse and Edge, but they were unconscious. Hex watched with a raised eyebrow as the two shades were placed in the shadow of the box before the aged colt felt a large surge of magic, possibly from his sister, as he saw shadows flying overhead, and saw his own had returned. 

He watched as the spirit of a half pony, half dragon being manifested over Soul's cloak. She was as black as night a starless night, with a silver mane, and a mostly equine shaped body. Instead of fur she had scales, and her wings were draconic in nature. Her purple eyes held a sadness that Hex couldn't place. Her cutie mark was a Crescent moon with a black version outlined in red, forming a circle. She looked at a mass of shadows that was now floating over the cloak.

"My son, I am so sorry for what you have just experienced, and I wanted you not to end up like this. My son, Tamashii Souto no Nexus, I am so proud of you for what you have endured all these millennia. Your time has not come yet so please come back to those that care for you and that you care for." The spirit just stared at the mass of shadows about the cloak.

It was then that the group watching the memory realized that the spirit was Queen Crescent, Soul's mother. The spirit of the Shade Queen went to the memory Hex.

"Little one be sure to watch over both my son and your sister, they will face many more trials before they can defeat my husband. I want you to make sure that they can handle the danger they will face in the future. And I want you to help them in any way they can. To do that I will give you a gift that hasn't been seen in Equestria since the life time of your ancestor, Spirit, an ability that my son will eventually get. You shall be the first spirit guardian in millennia. The abilities you gain from this will allow you to channel spirits and, if your connection to them is strong enough, temporally fuse with them. When my son gets this ability, please help each other to master it, as it is important in the coming war with my husband's kingdom. After all, I can't have the descendent of Starswirl’s cousin Spirit not help those who need it in the coming hard times." Queen Crescent smiled at the colt before a purple eyed witch shade and Starswirl, both of which were transparent, as they were only spirits, appeared.

"Crescent, our time in this plane is up, I sent Muse and Edge to the boarder of Canterlot, I just hope they will be able to find my journal..." Starswirl's ghost looked at the shade queen.

"If your last entry is damaged, I placed a repair spell in one of my sections. Just in case, dear." Spell Weaver hugged her husband.

"I knew you would be able to have a backup my dear." Starswirl laughed before the three turned to the Element of Good. "Ah, so that's what happened... Soul had this thing for so long that his soul made a copy of it inside the element itself, not bad for my godson." Starswirl turned to his wife.

"I will just release it so he can reform, it is a testament that he wielded it so well he was completely en-tuned to it." Spell Weaver, tapped the element, releasing a will-o-wisp before Crescent pushed it into the mass of shadows, then the three ghosts vanished. The mass turned into particles that converged, reforming Soul in pony form as the wind kicked his cloak back onto his body. The remaining shadows went back to the element, reforming his old sword, the one he wielded before the Kagenohikari reappeared and sheathed itself on his back. 

With that the screen and the spell ended, and Soul collapsed, dizzy, and definitely loopy. Applejack quickly used her lasso to restrain Soul as everyone blinked at what they saw.

"Wait, Starswirl's entry said that Queen Crescent was a wyvern shade, not a pony/dragon shade..." Twilight blinked in confusion. 

"More like a Kirin shade, remember that Crescent has a pony father and a shade mother." Fang pulled the journal from Soul's saddlebags. He blinked, seeing that the entry Starswirl wrote was repaired.

He quickly read it and blinked as he read the last line. "Dark Chaos War? Guess we're going to need to find The Doctor again, maybe he can shed some light on it, along with Ditzy" Fang held a confused look. He handed it to Luna to read, and she read the entry out loud.

"The shades were created before the time of Discord by a dark dragon who was the king of a nation that had never been known to the world before. His name was Nox Void and he had knowledge of magic so dark it was almost a violation of reality. His kingdom was called Nexus. The first shades, known as Shifts, were created to act as the soldiers of the kingdom. Over time however the sunlight started to kill them off. Void was worried for the shades as they were what made up his kingdom's population.

It did not help that his nation was located in what would later become known as The Southern Badlands. With the fact the shades were made of the physical darkness, which is why the sunlight proved deadly to them, the dragon, to find a way to keep his subjects alive, delved even further and deeper into his black magic. But as the saying goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

With the more knowledge he gained of dark magic he started to lose more and more of his sanity until he was completely insane. But he had done it. He had altered the remaining shades to imitate living creatures, turning them from constructs into the life forms known as Homunculus.

Eventually his insanity and the unwavering loyalty of his creations had finally created a massive threat to the balance of the world, of light and darkness. The world's magic had responded in the form of discord who at the time saw that with Nox Void around wouldn't be able to spread his image on the world. And thus began what was known as The War of Darkness and Chaos. The war itself took seven millenniums, and with black magic corrupting Void more and more each day he had changed into a shade himself.

I personally witnessed the final battle when pony kind started to become sentient. By this point void had created his own versions of Discord's creations in the form of shades. The counterparts of the Timberwolves were the Hell Hounds. They were the exact opposite of the wooden constructs as the hounds were made of the darkest of fires. To counter them Discord himself had asked me if I and some of my kind wanted to learn magic. This was the start of the Unicorn race. That was when I decided to call myself Starswirl.

Void countered us with humanoid shades called Mages and discord countered by creating the soon to be known Pegasi, and Griffon races. Void again countered with his own flying force which he called Wyverns. Discord yet again countered with Hydras and Void countered with shape-shifting beings called Mimics that eventually evolved into what was soon to be called Nightmares. They were basically the pony versions of shades.

Soon the Hell Hounds started to mutate gaining three heads and thus were renamed Cerberus named after Discord's own pet dog that had three heads. Soon the Shifts started to wear armor, wield a sword and a shield, and soon came to be known as Guardians. Then came their assassins known as the Shinobi. Discord countered this with the Cockatrices and Chimeras which spurred Void into fusing some of the Shades into hybrids and his own version of Chimeras.

I quickly saw that this went from a war to a contest of who could create the most races. But in the final battle a third party came. An earth pony had started to develop what was later known as vampirism becoming the first vampony. He was named Sangue and was nicknamed Ripper due to his brutal technique in battle where he would use his immense strength to rip his opponent's apart limb from limb. Then new monsters and demons began to appear. Some of the demon tribes started to become our allies in this time and as a result the Shade species as a whole developed the ability to see demonic auras and the battle ended when Discord absorbed some of Void's insanity.

The chaos caused by this caused massive earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and hurricanes. This sadly forced Sangue's young son Crimson Fang to take control in the death of his father after an earthquake caused an avalanche to fall on him, killing him instantly. Fang soon became known as The King of Monsters and was later nicknamed the King of Fear, due to his habit of scaring criminals, who were deemed to be too dangerous to allow to continue living by his kingdoms courts, to death.

The young king then spent the remainder of the war trying to figure out a way to seal away both Void and Nexus as a whole. Discord vanished soon after Sangue's death, and Void seemed to be sane again. The Shades started to develop genders by this point and Void soon married a shade wyvern named Crescent Eclipse. They soon had a son named Tamashii Souto, later nicknamed Soul, who became Fang's childhood friend as, despite the king's age of forty two, he was still in the body of a colt. Apparently due to the fact he was a natural born vampony he would age slowly and never grow old. Both started to grow at the same time. Despite having at least three decades apart in ages the two quickly became the best of friend’s nay brothers in all but blood according to Fang's mother, Scarlet Sky. Then tragedy struck both as both Crescent and Scarlet started to fall ill.

I later learned that Discord had reappeared and had started to absorb natural magic, replacing it with his chaotic magic and as a result began warping reality. Void started to become insane once again and young Tamashii saw his kind go from the kind beings they were into evil, feral, yet very intelligent, beasts in every sense of the word. His mother had revealed to me, in secret, that she was the daughter of a pony and Guardian Shade. And thus was slightly immune to the insanity.

Sadly Discord had absorbed too much magic from the Shade queen and Fang's mother. They died soon after, as the natural magic in their bodies was tied to their life force. Crescent disintegrated into particles as a result of the magic that was keeping her in this existence was taken and Scarlet, well her case was different.

Her magic had created two odd ponies that had the traits of all three tribes, unicorn, earth ponies, and pegasi. I knew that Scarlet was a unicorn, and that her husband was a threshal so I knew Fang was at least similar beings such as these two. But this was the last straw for Void. The white filly formed from the light half of Eclipse's magic and the blue one from her darker half were targeted by Void as his view was that their creation was what had killed his own wife.

Fang was horrified at this and decided to protect his new sisters to the best of his ability. By this point Tamashii had become a full guardian shade and was helping his friend defend his family. I decided to help out as well because I still was young enough to help out. Fang had set out with an odd crystal seed he found in his castle's vault, which contained various magical artifacts, and planted the seed before gathering the six arch demons that Discord had made his generals and called up seven more. One was unable to create a body of his own and so possessed a young kitten that had been walking in the area. He told Fang that his name was Cheshire and was soon taken in as Fang's own pet cat.

With Tamashii by his side Fang called up all the magic that he and his friend could. And with this massive amount of power he placed a seal upon Void and the Kingdom of Nexus using the power of the arch demons as the locks. The seal took its toll on the shades by forcing Nexus to become part of Tenebris, which was a parallel dimension of our own, Lux. While Tenebris was aware of us before Nexus had become a part of it they were never able to interact. I know of this land for I was told of its existence by a fourth, grey, alicorn with a mane of blue flame who called himself Hades, The Creator of Demons.

The seal secretly had a fourteenth lock. Parts of Soul and Fang's souls. Due to this Fang lost his memory of the war and what he did while his arch demons scattered to keep the seal in place, except Cheshire, of course, who liked his position as a king's pet cat. I heard that Void had cast out Tamashii from Nexus for his betrayal to the shades. I knew that Tamashii would not survive long in direct sunlight and was relieved when he received a shadow cloak as a gift from Fang.

The last time I talked to the young exile he told me he was going to travel the world and train for the day that The Kingdom of Nexus and his father reappeared. I handed him a few years supply of Eclipse Capsules, small crystals that were made of solid light and dark magic. I made these in honor of Eclipse, whom I had created them for, to extend her resistance to sunlight, they would allow her to stay in contact with the sun for two more hours than a normal shade could. I told him that they were his life blood should he ever lose the shadow cloak that Fang had given him. Then to my astonishment the young knight transformed into a stallion like the Nightmares only he looked like a normal unicorn pony.

He had explained that it was his grandfather's pony DNA that granted him this power. And that was the last I saw of him. In a letter I received during my time training Celestia and Luna, the two fillies created from Scarlet's magic he had lost his own memory from a delayed effect of the seal. From what I gathered my theory is that he can regain those memories when the seal is weakened enough for shades to cross over to our world.

Fang had forgotten he even had two sisters and I raised them as my own. It wasn't until near a thousand years on my death bed did I discover what had become of the seed Fang planted. It had become a crystal tree called the Tree of Harmony. When the day of my death began to approach I told Celestia and Luna where to find the Tree of Harmony and when they left to confront Discord I wrote this last entry in my private journal that I have hidden in my old home, Golden Oaks Library.

I charmed this journal of my life to only reappear when the Mare of Dawn and Dusk and the King of Monsters are wed and return to the threshold of my old home. I leave the two ponies, the shade prince, and all of their friends with this warning.

The time has come for wrongs to be righted and for a new era to begin. When the seal is broken the shadow dragon shall arise and begin to cover the world in darkness. Find my old friend Time Turner, he will explain and help you on your journey. ~ Starswirl the Bearded. Age 2400." Luna finished and looked at the group, who were sitting there wide eyed.

"Eclipse? Oh, must have been Crescent's last name, that explains a bit..." Discord looked down, feeling guilty as he started to remember that day. Fang saw this and sighed.

"I forgive you Discord it was the insanity that you took from Nox that caused this. But right now we might want to snap Soul out of it..." Fang motioned to Soul who was sitting still and quickly turning his head, looking in different directions like he had an attention span of three milliseconds. Trixie cleared her throat and walked up to Soul before she straight out kissed him, when she pulled back she turned and walked to Twilight, she smirked and conjured a counter.

"Three, two, and one..." Trixie glanced back as the timer hit zero, Soul shook his head and blinked before looking at his restraints.

"Thank you Applejack, and Trix you are one minx, I can tell you that as a fact. Now... What did I miss?" Luna showed him the full entry.

"Oh... Wow." Was all Soul could manage to say.

"So we were not sealed in Nexus, but in the Element of Good?" Muse looked at the place that once held the element on Soul's Nexium blade.

Soul just shrugged. "It looks like it..." After about an hour the group dispersed and everyone headed home. Soul and Hex were confused as to what the abilities they had were, Crescent had not explained how to do it in detail...

That night the box that rested in Hex's room, the one engraved with the name Badge began to shake and glow. The seal placed on that old one had weakened enough for him to get out, with the help of a pony.

Pinkie and Jekyll decided they would spend the night together at the latter's house. Once they got there and fell asleep, two clouds of black smoke with glowing red eyes appeared and attacked them.





Men heap together the mistakes of their lives and create a monster they call destiny. ~ John Hobbes

> When the Smoke Clears...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


We all live in a house on fire. No fire department to call, no way out. ~ Tennessee Williams.






Two days later.


Fang and Twilight awoke to the sound of growling. The two alicorns looked at the end of the bed and couldn't help but smile at what they saw. Two foals, Dawn and Dusk, wearing woolen pajamas. The two stood up and got off the bed. Twilight laid down on her side and levitated her two foals over. "Come on you two, it's breakfast time." Fang walked around the bed and sat down, smiling as he watched his biological son and daughter trot up to their mother's teats and clamp down before the quickly began to suckle. "Whoa, easy, you two. If you drink too fast you'll get a tummy ache..." The two foals gave a happy whimper and suckled a little bit slower. Twilight wrapped a wing around the two foals while they suckled and Fang heard his wife's stomach growl.

"Speaking of breakfast... What would you like?" Twilight thought for a second before waving Fang over. The black alicorn smiled, knowing what she wanted, and walked over to her before sitting down and lowering his head, kissing her before she sank her fangs into his neck. Fang smiled and heard his own stomach growl, he began to slowly take small nips at his wife's neck before sinking his fangs into her and starting to drink. Twilight and Fang both gave a happy sigh as the tastes of Passion Fruit and Pomegranates, respectively, flooded their mouths. After three minutes they released each other's necks and kissed, wiping the blood from their fangs as they did so. 

Ten minutes later Dawn and Dusk stopped suckling. Twilight levitated her daughter over and burped her while Fang burped their son. After they had done so, the two foals yawned and snuggled into their mother and father's fur. Then a sudden thought occurred to Twilight.

"Fang... How did Dawn and Dusk get out of their crib?" The two alicorns looked down and smiled, realizing that, since they were two months old, Dawn and Dusk could fly and use magic. The small white colt yawned, closed his eyes and began to suck on his right forehoof. "It's been two months... But I'm still not used to how cute our foals are..." The two watched as Dawn crawled over to her brother, wrapped her hooves around him, pulled him closer and drifted off to sleep. The white colt stopped sucking on his hoof and wrapped his forelegs around his sister before drifting back off to sleep.	

"Hmmm... Yes, very cute. It's too bad that they will only have two months' worth of memories of their father." Fang and Twilight looked above them and growled when they saw a familiar demon.

"Lepus!" The rabbit laughed and covered the two alicorns with a shroud of smoke and the three beings vanished, leaving Dawn and Dusk alone, sleeping on the floor. Lepus reappeared in the room and levitated the two foals into their crib before vanishing again.


Soul and Trixie's house.


Trixie, Soul and Tsuki awoke to the sound of Hex's screams. The three unicorns jumped out of bed and ran to the colt's room and opened the door. They saw Hex throwing things at his bed, sitting on the bed was Lepus. Soul smirked when he saw the rabbit. "Hey, look, it's Peter Cottontail." 

The rabbit's eye began to twitch. "Say it again! I dare you!" The shade smirked. 

"Hey look, it's Peter Cottontail!" 

Lepus growled, floated over to Soul, and slapped the unicorn so hard that his head hit a wall. "Hello to you to shade prince." The rabbit's ears turned into smoke and wrapped around the four ponies in the room.





Trixie woke up on a soft, white material. She was on a cloud. The blue mare groaned and looked at her back, which was in excruciating pain. Her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open when she saw what was causing the pain she felt. On her back were two, large, brilliant azure wings. "What in the name of Equis...?" She looked at her forehead and noticed she still had her horn. A sudden look of realization spread upon her face. "Am I... Am I an alicorn?"

"Not yet, but you could be!" Trixie turned around and saw a familiar demonic rabbit. "Now before you do anything, think about this, you love Soul don't you?" The azure mare nodded. "Well, here's the thing, he is immortal, and he is going to outlive you. You will eventually wither up and die, unless of course, you become a goddess, or at least an immortal. And I have the power to do that, all archdemons have the power to make one being immortal, except our leader, he has the make three creatures immortal. And right here, I have a contract, stating that I will turn you into an alicorn if you help me." A contract appeared and floated over to her.

Trixie looked down at the piece of parchment and began to read it out loud. "In exchange for eternal life and the chance to be with the stallion I love until the end of time. I, Trixie Lulamoon, swear to bring the lives of Crimson Fang and Twilight Sparkle to an end, with witnesses present. And, should I fail in this endeavor, my soul shall become the property of Lepus, the Cruel Rabbit." She looked up at the rabbit with a scowl on her face. "You can't be serious."

The rabbit smirked. "Oh no? Well then, I guess you'll just have to let Soul spiral into a deep depression, that he will probably never be able to snap out of, after you die. It is obvious that the two alicorns, one of which made a fool of you twice, deserve to live eternal, happy lives while you rot in the ground. Unless..." The rabbit turned around and looked at Trixie with a raised eyebrow. "Tell me, does love conquer all?" A quill floated over to the blue mare. "The choice is yours, tear the contract up and I will surrender and give up my powers, or sign and help me destroy Fang and Twilight so you and Soul can be together forever..." The rabbit smiled. "I'm sure you will make the right choice." Slowly, Trixie took the quill in her hoof.

"Forgive me Twilight, but I don't ever want to leave him." The blue mare went to sign, but felt something cut her, the quill was using her blood as ink. The blue mare gulped and signed her name on the parchment. She couldn't go back on her decision now, she had signed with her blood, she had made a blood oath.

"Excellent!" The contract rolled up and disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Now, let's get you ready to take their lives, shall we?"





Soul growled as he cut a demon made of smoke in half with his sword. "How many of these bloody things are there!?" The shade had been running through the halls of this building for thirty minutes, and there seemed to be more halls no matter which way he went. He threw his sword backwards at the sound of something approaching.

"Did you really have to try and impale my skull because I didn't announce my presence?" Soul blanched and turned around, standing there, with his sword in his telekinetic grasp, was Fang. If Fang didn't have such good reflexes he would have a blade eight inches wide in the middle of his head. "But I don't really care about that. Have you seen Twilight by any chance?" A section of wall turned and revealed a secret passage, which Twilight stepped out of.

"Fang, Soul? Where are we? And why are you here Soul, did Lepus get you too?" Soul nodded.

"He got me, Tsuki, Hex and Trixie. As for where we are..." He looked at the grey stone walls around them, all of them had etchings in them. "Judging by the architecture, we are somewhere in Prance, or at least an area where Prench immigrants tend to settle, maybe a building that was made in Prance but was brought to Equestria and rebuilt brick by brick."

"You can tell that just by looking at the walls?" Soul looked at Twilight and chuckled.

"Well there is also the fact that the spirit of a stallion wearing a black beret, blue and white striped shirt, and a red ascot, is letting loose a triad of indignation in Prench, while he is standing right behind you." Fang and Twilight gave him a deadpan look. "I wish I was being stereotypical, I really do, but I'm not." Suddenly, a scream rang throughout the halls of the large, maze like building. "That sounded like-" Soul was cut off when something landed on his back, knocking him down. "Hex..." Sure enough, the young unicorn colt was currently laying on Soul's back.

Fang sighed. "Now we're only missing Trixie and Tsuki..."

"Get back here!" The group of four turned and saw Lepus shoot past them and down the hallway, quickly followed by an enraged Tsukiyomi. The group growled and followed the rabbit.





'I'm sorry Twilight, sorry Fang, I don't want to kill you, but if I don't then... I'll eventually... I don't want to leave Soul... I'm so sorry...'

Trixie watched as Lepus, in the form of a cloud of smoke, slipped under the door to the ball room where she was going to end the lives of Twilight and Fang. "Remember, you kill them and you will live forever, maybe even marry Soul and be the mother of his child, or children." A blush grew on the blue mare's face. Those thoughts had crossed her mind more than once. "So... While we wait.... Have you thought of any names for the foal yet? Wait, have you even told Soul about the foal?" The blue mare looked at the rabbit and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about? What foal?" The rabbit tilted his head to the side.

"You don't even know that you're pregnant? With how big your belly is I thought it would be obvious... I mean, I can hear the little one's heartbeat from over here..." Trixie went wide eyed and looked at her stomach, now that she thought about it, she did feel like she was getting heavier. Lepus suddenly burst into laughter. "Ha! You fell for it!!! You thought I was serious, your stomach is bigger, true, but maybe it's just the fact that you keep sneaking another piece of pie in the middle of the night!" The mare growled and was about to throw a fireball at the rabbit, but her attention turned to the door when she heard it creak open.

"Lepus, that was just cruel..." Trixie gulped as she saw the group of five enter the room. Soul halted in place when he saw Trixie. The shade just stared at the wings on the, former, unicorn. "Hex... Am I going insane, or does your big sister have wings?"

"... My big sister is an alicorn... She didn't go through a trial of ascension, did she?" The colt's gaze turned to his sister. "Did you?"

Trixie shook her head. "If you didn't ascend, then how did you get wings?" Twilight and Fang walked past the three unicorns in the group and up to Trixie. Twilight walked up to Trixie and her eyes hardened, turning into a glare. "Trixie, as your mentor I demand that you answer me. How did you get wings?"

"I'm sorry, please forgive me!" The blue mare's horn ignited and a flash of light covered the entire area, when Soul was able to see again he gaped at what he saw, Fang and Twilight were on the ground, and their heads were missing, they were dead. "There are you happy!? I killed my mentor and her husband, now you hold up your end of the deal!" The blue mare turned around and glared at the rabbit who just yawned and nodded. He clapped his paws together and the wings on Trixie's back began to glow. Soon Trixie could actually feel them, she could move them, they were real. "Give up your powers, that was the other part of our deal."

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your tail in a twist Little Miss Traitor." The rabbit hit her on the tip of her horn and a cloud of smoke appeared, which was quickly pulled into the blue mare's horn. The rabbit's body began to change shape, soon giving him the shape of a fully grown unicorn stallion, with rabbit ears. "I now declare you Trixie Lulamoon, Goddess of Treachery." The rabbit began to laugh manically, knowing that he had hurt the mare so much the only thing she would want to do now was die, only to be cut off by a cough.

"You know, for someone who prides himself on his persuasive ability, you aren't really that intelligent..." Lepus went wide eyed when he heard that voice. He turned around and did a double take at what he saw, standing over Fang and Twilight's bodies, were none other than the two alicorns he had seen Trixie kill. "You didn't even notice that our 'bodies' were illusions... You didn't question the fact that although we were missing our heads, there was no blood on the ground."

"What, but, how!? You're dead! You have to be! I wouldn't have been able to give her immortality otherwise!" Hex ran up, jumped on the rabbit pony's back, and pulled the contract out of the demon's mane. He tossed the contract to Twilight and jumped off the rabbit's back.

Twilight looked at the rabbit pony and smirked. "You did know that Soul and Trixie are soul mates, didn't you?" The rabbit blinked.

"Wait, so the shade has her aptitude at illusions, and he can read her mind... Ok, that explains the life like bodies and how you knew about my plan, but still, she didn't kill you, that means I shouldn't have been able to give her immortality... So how is it possible that I did just that...?" Twilight giggled.

"Maybe you should have read the contract before you had Trixie sign it. It states, and I quote,'I, Trixie Lulamoon, swear to bring the lives of Crimson Fang and Twilight Sparkle to an end, with witnesses present.'." The rabbit nodded, confused as to what she meant. "You didn't state that she had to kill creatures made of flesh and blood, and you didn't state that she had to kill the real Twilight Sparkle and Crimson Fang."

The rabbit pony sat on his haunches and let his jaw go slack before bursting out into laughter. After a few minutes he settled down.  "A loophole... I lost because of a loophole... Ok... You win... The Cruel Rabbit, rank eight of the thirteen archdemons... Defeated by a loophole... That's just stupid... Ok, well..." He stood up and smiled before waving at Twilight and Fang. "Bye!" The demon turned around and made a break for it, only to be stopped by a wall of black fur. Said fur belonged to a furious Tsukiyomi. "Um... This just isn't my day is it?" The black mare got a large, malicious, smile on her face. The rabbit began to sweat and tried to back up. "Someone save me! Please I'll do anything!"

"Tsuki, don't kill him, even he is not beyond redemption... Besides, I think Grogar needs an assistant..." Fang smirked to himself, knowing that the rabbit was going to regret everything he had done to himself, Soul, Trixie, Twilight and their circle of friends.

The entire group, excluding Twilight, who was smiling in understanding, just stared at the black alicorn. "How is making him Grogar's assistant a punishment?" 

Fang smiled and cast a spell to show them one of his own memories.


Flashback.


Fang and Twilight were walking through the corridors of the castle toward the room where Grogar preformed his, extremely strange, experiments. The black alicorn pulled out a letter that he had received from his student via dragon fire. "Ok... So he says that he created a new species using mouse fur, dragon wing membrane and the soul of a fire pixie. Either he has gone completely insane or he has learned how to defy the laws of reality..."

"Fang... Where would Grogar even get the soul of a fire pixie?" Fang just blinked and turned to his wife.

"I wish I could give you an answer, but even I don't know where he got it..." Fang stopped and opened the door to Grogar's lab and bedroom. Something immediately latched onto his nose. The alicorn went cross eyed as he tried to stare at the offending being. His jaw fell open when he saw a tiny albino mouse with dragon wings sitting on the end of his nose, nibbling on a piece of cheese. 

"No! Bad Crux! Get off of my mentor's nose!" The mouse finished the small piece of cheese it was nibbling on and flew over to Grogar, quickly landing on the top of his head.

Fang glanced at Twilight, who was now looking through Grogar's notes, trying to figure out how what she had just witnessed was possible. The black alicorn then turned his attention back to the ram. "Grogar... Explain..."

A large grin appeared on the ram's face. "Dragon mice! I can make dragon mice!"


End flashback.


The entire group was slack jawed. The group looked at Lepus, expecting him to have wet himself because Grogar held malice towards the rabbit. They were surprised to see a large grin on his face. "I'll do it! Just don't kill me!" Fang nodded and Twilight walked up to Trixie.

"Trixie...I'm not mad at you, but...  You're going to be punished for doing what you did today. You could have just asked me or Fang for help. Both of us could have made you immortal." The blue mare raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever the punishment is, I can take it, but how could you have made me immortal?" Twilight gave the mare a deadpan stare and opened her mouth, pointing to her fangs. "Oh... Right... Vamponies can't die of anything other than extreme damage to the body..." The mare sighed. "Ok... What are you going to do to me?"

"Fang, use the spell that you used on Tsuki." The black alicorn nodded and fired a blast of energy at Trixie, the mare felt her wings retract, entering her back and disappearing, turning her back into a unicorn. "You're still immortal, but you won't be able to have wings until you earn them. Now, there is another part to this punishment... A ten thousand word essay about all the ways this could have ended with one, or more, of us dead."

Trixie sighed. "Yes teacher..."

"Alright now that that's settled, let's go home... Oh, and Trixie?" The blue mare turned and felt Soul kiss her. When he pulled away he smiled at the mare. "That's for caring about our relationship so much you would be willing to kill for it to be able to last..." The blue mare blushed and the group disappeared in a flash of red light.


Lair of the archdemons.


A panel that depicted the thirteen beasts that the archdemons represented began to glow. The glow soon stopped and the tile depicting the rabbit began to glow red, showing that Lepus had been defeated. Ginryō, the Sorcerer Dragon, turned to a small pedestal with a crystal ball on top of it. "Jewel of Connaissance, Lepus has been defeated, reveal to me who shall take his place in our mission." The ball glowed with a silver light before the image of a rooster made of flame appeared on the ceiling above the dragon. "Galo... Interesting..." The dragon snapped his fingers and a scroll appeared, he wrote a small message and set the scroll aflame, it turned into a magical mist and left through the hole in the center of the room's ceiling. "I wonder how Galo will try to destroy them..."





I have loved to the point of madness; that which is called madness, that which to me, is the only sensible way to love. ~ Françoise Sagan 


> The 'Cross My Heart' Motive.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


To lose a child is to lose a piece of yourself. ~ Doctor Berton Grebin.






Lamp Light Memorial Hospital, Manehatten. One week later.


In room 174 of the hundred year old hospital, a pegasus mare and unicorn stallion were staring each other down while an unconscious unicorn colt was lying in the hospital bed, hooked to a heart monitor. "What do you mean you won't pay for my son's operation!?"

"I mean what I said. I won't pay for your son's operation, I have a responsibility to the shareholders and I can't let my personal feelings get in the way of that..." The stallion glanced at the colt, before letting out a sad sigh. "You have worked for me for thirty five years, and I want to help you, and if it was anything else I would help you... But even if they were able to find a heart small enough to fit in his chest, and one that is the same blood type, the surgery would just cost too much..." The stallion turned around and walked to the door. "The best I can do is offer you some advice... You should spend as much time with him as you can, I don't think he has long..." With that the stallion left and the mare fell on her haunches.

A cough caught her attention. The mare turned and saw the colt was waking up. "Mommy... It hurts..." The mare stood up and walked over to the colt.

"Don't worry Cracker, it will be all better soon, mommy isn't going to rest until she gets you a new heart..." The colt smiled and hugged the mare's neck.

"I love you mommy..." The short beeps started to run together and the colt's grip lightened, he was flat lining.

A nurse was walking by and pulled the mare out of the room. "We need a crash cart here, Stat!" Doctors began to rush into the room and started trying to revive the colt, after ten minutes they pulled the sheet up and over the colt's face. The mare fell to the ground and began to cry.

"I'm... I'm sorry for your loss... We can give you ten minutes before we take him away." The doctors and nurses left the room and closed the door, a few minutes later the door opened once again. The mare looked up from her dead son and saw a reddish-brown pegasus stallion, with a red mane styled like a rooster's comb, standing over the bed. The stallion was wearing sunglasses with a dark red tint. The mare could feel a dark, yet calming, aura coming from him.

"W-who are y-you? W-why are y-you h-here?" The stallion just kept staring at the corpse.

"I can revive him, I can even get him a heart for you, and you won't have to give me a single bit in return." The mare just kept staring at him. "If you swear on your soul that you will at least attempt to do what I ask of you, I will bring him back." The mare stood up and looked at the stallion.

"Can... Can you really bring my little Firecracker back?" The stallion nodded. "Then... I'll do anything you want..." The stallion pulled the covers off the colt's head and placed a hoof on the colt's head. A few seconds later the heart monitor began to show that the colt's heart had started beating once again. The colt then began to quietly to snore. "Are you some kind of miracle worker?"

The stallion gave a happy hum. "I... I guess you could say that... Now then... I want you to kill a certain pony..." The stallion pulled a photo of a dark blue unicorn stallion with a white mane. "By coming to Equestria, and Transylmaneia, as he currently lives in Ponyville, he has put the entire world in danger."

"Whoever he is... If he really has put the world in danger... Then..." The mare looked at the stallion and nodded. "As soon as my son has his new heart, I will end this stallion's life..."

A large grin spread across the stallion's face. "Good. Hmm... I'll tell you what, if you succeed in killing him, I'll ruin the company of the stallion who refused to pay for your son's treatment." The mare nodded and the stallion left, as soon as he was out of the hospital He ran into an alleyway and there was a flash of orange light. A filly walking by was surprised to see a rooster with a comb of fire fly out of the alley.





As Galo, the archdemon represented by the rooster, flew over the city of Manehatten he couldn't help but notice a warm feeling in his chest. 'What is this feeling? It has been there since I said I would get that mare's son a new heart... Could it be... That I want to help her, just to help her, and expect nothing in return... This feeling, it feels good... Maybe... Maybe I can do things like this, just to do them...'


Ponyville, two weeks later.


"You know what I just realized?" Soul turned and looked at his bedridden fillyfriend. Trixie had eaten a strange flower that she had bought from a street vendor in the city's Wood, also known as the Forest, District. As a result of eating the toxic flower she had gotten an illness similar to the flu, but on an extreme scale, as such the blue mare had been confined to her house for three days. Luckily, it wasn't a contagious disease, so she could have visitors. The mare gave a light chuckle. "We haven't gone on a normal date yet."

"Well, as soon as you're over this flu, let's go out for dinner, maybe catch a movie..." Soul smiled at the mare, until he heard a knock at the front door. "One moment." Soul sank into his shadow and Trixie stared at the spot where he had just been standing. She had been dating him for about two years now and she still wasn't used to seeing him do that. Her bedroom door opened and Trixie looked over, smiling when she saw her mentor walk in, along with her children.

"Hello Twilight." Trixie looked from the purple mare to the two sleeping foals in the carrier strapped to her chest. She then glanced down and smiled at Ana, who was standing next to her mother. "Hello Ana."

"Hello miss Trixie..." The grey alicorn filly waved at her godmother, her horn began to glow and as she opened her saddle bags, levitating a small container onto the nightstand next to the blue mare's bed. "I, um, made you some chocolate chip cookies. I hope you feel better soon..."

The blue mare smiled and picked up one of the cookies. She took a bit and her eyes went wide, after she swallowed she looked at the grey filly's flank. "These... Are possibly the best cookies I have ever tasted." Ana smiled and have the mare a small hug. Trixie finished the cookie before looking at Twilight. "So, how have you been doing? Oh and before I forget, how far along do you think Grogar is in his studies?"

"Apprentice rank, spell 25 of book three." The blue mare went wide eyed.

"He's only five spells from his test for the Adept Rank? I'm only on spell 3 of book one of the Adept Rank, I need to step up my game." Twilight shook her head.

"Trixie, you know it's not a contest... Right?" Twilight's words went unheard by the blue mare, she was already planning her studies for the next week.





Meanwhile Soul and Fang were talking in the house's kitchen. "Dude, does Lepus have any idea which archdemon is coming after us next?" Fang shook his head. There was a knock at the door, Soul stood up, walked over and opened the door. Standing there was an orange pegasus mare with a blue mane. "Hello, can I help you?"

"A-are you Tamashii Souto?" The shade nodded and felt something enter his chest, looking down he could see that the pegasus mare had driven a butcher's knife through his skin. "I... I'm so sorry, but... He said he would get my son a new heart if I did this... And he kept his promise..." The mare pulled the knife out of his chest and tried to back away, only to be stopped by Fang, who had teleported outside after he saw the mare stab Soul.

"Drop your weapon." The mare gulped and left the knife fall to the ground. "Get on your stomach and put your forehooves on your head." The mare did as the alicorn said. Fang looked at Soul and blasted him with a ball of energy, healing his wound. "Go get a guard, I'll watch her, she won't get away."

"I'm not pressing charges... I just want to know why she did it." Fang raised an eyebrow. "Come inside, I'll get the other Elements of Harmony, I think they should all be here for this... I think she interacted with an archdemon, I can sense a very powerful demonic aura on her." Fang sighed.

"Very well then, get Grogar and Lepus as well... I have a feeling that the rabbit will be able to identify the aura." Soul nodded and sank into his shadow, shocking the mare. Fang sighed and led the mare inside, to Trixie's room, he thought she deserved to know why the mare had deserved to know why she had stabbed her coltfriend.


One hour later.


"Ok, what's your name?" The orange pegasus sighed and looked at the group of ponies who had gathered. She was especially nervous because of Grogar, she had seen him steal a stallion's youth the first time he got free.

"My name is Oceana Sand." Soul nodded.

"Ok, now you said something about how he said he would get your son a new heart if you killed me, who is he?" The mare sighed.

"He didn't tell me his name, he just offered to get my son a new heart, as long as I at least attempted to take Mr. Souto's life." Twilight coughed and got the mare's attention.

"Ok, first of all how old is your son, and why did he need a heart? And secondly, you would rather get help from a shady pony who wanted you to kill someone else, rather than get your son a new heart legally?" The mare sighed.

"It's not as simple as that. My boss, Guidebook, wouldn't pay for my son's operation, even though our insurance with the company covered it... He said he couldn't do it because 'it would cost too much' and 'he had a responsibility to the shareholders'. But the fact that he wouldn't pay for the operation isn't the worst part..." Fluttershy walked over and wrapped a wing around the mare, who seemed like she was about to burst into tears.

"Um... if it's not too hard could you tell us what the worst part is? I mean, if that's ok with you..." The mare sniffled and nodded.

"The worst part is that a few minutes after he left, Firecracker passed away in my forelegs... The worst part... Is that Guide... He let our son die..." The mares, excluding Trixie, gave a collective gasp, not knowing how a father could just let their child die while he had the ability to do something about it. Something in Fang's mind snapped and he looked at Oceana.

"Don't worry, I believe that my little sisters will be able to do something about it..." Fang pulled out a piece of parchment and blasted it with a spell Twilight had never seen before. After he had done so, he sent the letter away. "He will pay for what he has done to you... And probably numerous others... Now... Please tell us, the pony that got your son a new heart, what did he look like?"





An hour later the mare left and went home to Manehatten, Soul hadn't pressed charges and told her to go and be with her son. Fang and Soul looked at Lepus, the rabbit sighed, knowing that the group wanted him to tell them which archdemon was after them now. "It sounds like the one who is taking my place is Galo, the Wrathful Rooster. He keeps his comb in pony form, but he puts an illusion on it so it looks like a pony's mane... Do you all remember how I said I was rank 8 of the archdemons?" The entire group nodded. 

"It's going to be harder for you all from here on... Galo... Is rank 6... He is a pyrokinetic, he can start fires with his mind, and if he gets in a direct fight with you, let's just say that... If you play with fire, you're gonna get burned..." Lepus looked out the window and saw a rooster on the roof of the house across the street. The bird quickly burst into flames and disappeared.


That night in Manehatten.


Galo watched as Oceana tucked her son, Firecracker into bed, and couldn't help but smile, knowing that he had helped a pony whilst trying to destroy the shade prince. He then looked at the ground, or more specifically, a manhole cover. 'This warm feeling... Perhaps this is what Shǔ feels as he watches over the orphans he protects... The longer I spend in this realm... The more is see the kindness of the ponies of this day and age... The stronger this feeling gets, but... What is this feeling?' 





Without a family, man, alone in the world, trembles with the cold. ~ André Maurois.

> A New Class of Shade.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


We can easily forgive a child who's afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. ~ Plato.






Canterlot, one week later.


A security guard was walking through Canterlot's train depot, where all the trains left from to get on the tracks and travel to different towns and back, when he saw something move in between the boxcars. He walked over and shone his flashlight into the shadows, revealing a raccoon. The guard let out a sigh and smiled. "Just a 'coon... I need to stop reading those horror comics..." The guard turned around and let out a scream before the sounds of flesh being torn and bones snapping filled the night. The guard fell to the ground, well, at least the back half of him did. 

"You should have left us alone! Why can't you stupid ponies just leave us alone!?" The creature that had killed the guard looked at the ground and saw there was a pool of blood forming as the blood dripped from the corpse. "Maybe I can make you all stay away..." The creature placed the end of its lion-like tail in the pony's blood and drew a symbol on the boxcar behind the body. 

After it had finished drawing the symbol, the creature that had ripped the poor pony apart walked off into the night. Little did it know, a filly had seen the entire thing. The filly crawled out of her hiding place beneath one of the boxcars and went to run home, only to be stopped by the creature she had just seen leave. 

"Do you live here little one?" The filly shook her head. "Then go home... And never return..."


The next morning.


Twilight, Fang, Soul, Trixie, Grogar, Lepus, and Tsukiyomi approached the entrance to the train depot and saw Celestia and Luna standing there waiting for them. "I'm glad you could all come and investigate this for us... We figure Fang and Soul, possibly Lepus and Grogar as well, might have an idea as to what did this..." The sisters turned around led the group into the train depot, to where the filly had seen the attack. As soon as they got to the scene, Soul and Tsuki could sense two demons were nearby.

"Demons... Two of them... They are both pureblooded..." Trixie and Twilight looked at the two shade ponies. 

"Is there a difference between the demons we've seen so far and pureblooded demons?" Lepus snorted.

"Yeah, you're looking at a halfblooded demon whenever you look at me... In fact 8 of us archdemons are halfblooded. Purebloods can't take the form of a pony like half-bloods can because they have no pony D.N.A.... Well actually... A few can, like my father, he was a pureblood and he could take the form of a pony..."

"And half the time they kill without remorse... They kill because they think it’s fun..." Twilight looked at her husband and saw a pulse go through his neck. She leaned in to bite him, but stopped when she saw the half eaten body of the security guard.

"Oh my..." The group approached slowly, except for Grogar, he ran up to the boxcar and started examining the symbol that the creature had drawn with the guard's blood.

"By the names of all the gods that have ever been in this plain of existence! I think we're dealing with a shade!" The group ran over and looked at the symbol, letting their jaws go slack. It was the same symbol as the one on Soul's shield. 

"Celestia... How did the filly describe the thing that killed the security guard again?" The white alicorn blinked and looked at Luna.

The dark blue alicorn sighed. "She said, and I quote, 'It stood on its hind legs like a minotaur and had the tail and head of a lion. Oh, and it was completely black except it had green eyes.' Does that fit the description of any kind of shade you know about?"

Soul shook his head. "No, it's probably a Nise no kage." Celestia and Luna looked at Soul with their eyebrows raised.

"What in the wide world of Equis is a Nise no kage?" Soul just blinked in response.

"Fang didn't tell you?" Soul turned and looked at his childhood friend and frowned. "You didn't tell them?" Fang gave him a sheepish smile.

"I can only offer this up as rebuttal... I had other things on my mind... Like stopping Lepus, teaching Grogar, spending time with my wife, daughter and foals. And then there's the fact that I am a king and have a kingdom to run... I had a lot on my mind. I am so very sorry that I forgot..." Hearing how sincere the black alicorn's voice was, Soul smiled and nodded in understanding.

"That's understandable, I guess." Soul turned back to Celestia and Luna. "Nise no kage, or False Shadows, is the name we have given to the shade like creatures that are being created by Trixie's cousin, Nigrum, and his nightmare, Nero. They are creating them for the sole purpose of killing Trixie."

Celestia blinked. "Nigrum? Nigrum Lulamoon? As in the Nigrum Lulamoon who I personally forbid to set a single hoof in my school after the judges told me he was going to attempt to use black magic during his entrance exam, and was disowned by the Lulamoon family shortly afterwards?" Soul nodded. "Why would he want to kill Trixie, what did she do to him that was worse than what I did?"

"I was the one who informed the judges that he was going to use black magic. After his father and mother disowned him his father found his journal and discovered he and a mare from another noble family, the Florescant Clan, named Snowbell were in love and planned to elope, he went to her house and told her that Nigrum didn't love her anymore and she... She killed herself and their unborn filly." Trixie looked down and sighed. 

"By revealing that to the judges, and by extent, you, Princess Celestia, I caused a stallion to make a mare commit suicide and got Nigrum banned from your school, which in turn made his mother and father to disown him... In short... He want's to kill me, because I killed him, not physically, but socially... Nigrum Lulamoon is dead... He's just Nigrum now... If I had just kept my mouth shut none of that would have ever happened, and there would be two more ponies alive today." Trixie's eyes began to fill with tears.

"I see... Well... He certainly has a reason to be angry with you, but it's not a reason to kill you... There was no way you could have known what would happen. I'll tell the guards to be on the lookout for him..." Trixie nodded and Celestia sighed before turning back to Soul. "So we're not dealing with a shade, right?" Soul opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by Tsukiyomi.

"Wait a second!" The entire group turned and looked at her. "Perhaps it is a shade that is suffering from some sort of mutation. If it was a Nise no kage we wouldn't have been able to detect them, as they are not demons, they are nothing but intelligent golems." Soul blinked.

"A mutation...?" Soul sat down, closed his eyes and put a hoof to his chin. "Well, I guess it's possible... All bipedal shades are evolutions of the Shifts, and evolution is basically just a fancy word for a mutation affecting a group, and said mutation being passed down to their young, and their young's young. And now that you mention it Tsuki... The traces of aura around the body do resemble the aura of a shade, to some extent..."

A roar rang throughout the train depot and the group turned and looked at the source of the sound. It was a solid black, bipedal creature, sort of like Soul when he was in his shade form, only without a face, excluding the glowing yellow eye in the middle of its forehead, armor and a weapon. Around its neck was a mane of black fur, like a lion's, but with hair gathering at eight points, making it look like the head was in the middle of an eight pointed star. A black, lion-like tail flicked out from behind the creature's back. "Why won't you ponies just leave us alone!?" The enraged creature ran at them with such speed that Fang and Soul didn't have time to draw their swords. The best shot past them and they turned to see that it had grabbed Twilight and Trixie.

"Put them down!" The creature growled at them and tightened its grip around the mare's throats. By blocking the flow of oxygen to their brain it was able to disable their ability to use magic. Soul was about to try and fight it, but was stopped by Fang. He looked at the vampony and suddenly heard the alicorn's thoughts.

'Soul, fighting this shade won't do us any good, put your sword away and let me handle this...' Soul slowly nodded and made his sword, the Kagenohikari, disappear. Fang smiled and looked at the shade that was holding Trixie and Twilight. "Ok sir, please calm down... You want to be left alone correct?" The shade continued to growl at him. "If you let them go, I promise you, no one will ever bother you ever again..."

"Promise?" Fang nodded and the shade looked at the two mares it was holding before dropping them. The two mares ran to their significant other and Fang smirked. The next thing the group saw was Fang's horn lighting up, and one of his swords impale the shade through the chest.

"I said that no one would bother you ever again, and you won't bother anyone ever again..." The blade quickly shot skyward, slicing the shade's head in half. "No one harms my family and lives..." The shade began to disappear in wisps of shadow, falling backwards and vanishing completely just before its head hit the ground. The group watched as a silver gemstone that had come out of the shade's chest fell to the ground. It was about half the size of Fang's hoof. "Soul... Do you have any idea what this is?" 

The shade shook his head. He had never seen something like that come out of a shade after it had died, well at least not before today anyway. There was a gasp and the next thing the group knew, Grogar had knocked Fang down and taken the jewel from him. The ram was sitting down, holding the gem in his forehooves and staring at it with wonder in his eyes.

"It's been... However many years I was locked in Tartarus since I've seen one of these..." The group looked at the ram and waited for him to explain. "This is that shade's soul... He must have absorbed so much energy from something that it turned his soul into a crystal... Do any of you know how powerful this thing is?" The entire group shook their heads. "Well... I guess that makes sense. I'm the one who is best at soul magic in the group after all."

"Grogar... You said it's powerful... Would you please explain what you mean?" The ram blinked and nodded before going silent for a few seconds, trying to think up what he could compare it to...

"Ok, how much coal does a train need to get from Ponyville to Canterlot?" Twilight blinked and smiled, knowing the answer.

"One ton, why?" The ram blinked.

"Really? I thought it would have taken at least two..." The ram shook his head. "Anyway... This single crystal, could power a train for three full months..." The group let their jaws drop open. "Just think, if we had more of them... Think about the machines we could make... The things we could discover! Heck, I bet if we had enough of them, we could build a ship able to take ponies to the moon!" Luna and Tsuki both frowned and Grogar saw it. 

"Ok, maybe we should avoid putting ponies on the moon, sorry I was so excited that I um... Forgot about what happened to you two a thousand years ago... But with enough we could probably get to another planet besides Equis, maybe even another dimension! Maybe we could open a permanent portal to the human world!" Fang, Soul and Twilight went wide eyed. "The possibilities are endless! Think of the things I could create with this!" Fang slapped Grogar on the back of the head and snatched the jewel away. The ram began to rub the back of his head and glared at his mentor. "What was that for!? Think of what I would be able to do with that!"

"I am! That's why I'm going to take this and hide it in a place only I know about. I might, might, let you have it to experiment with, after you stop doing insane things! Like creating Crux!" Celestia and Luna blinked.

"Who's Crux?" Grogar grinned and his horns lit up, a bolt of lightning shot from the clear sky and struck where he stood, blinding the group. When they could see again, Grogar was gone. "What just happened?"

"Grogar teleported. I don't know why a bolt of lightning strikes where he is when he teleports, and quite frankly I don't want to know. I have learned not to question how transmuting pony magic into ram magic affects him..." A boom of thunder sounded and Grogar appeared out of nowhere, there wasn't even a flash of magic. Grogar smiled when Crux ran up his back and sat on his head.

Luna went slack jawed. "That thing... Is adorable!!!" The Lunar Princess let out a small 'squee'. "Where did you find that?"

"What is it anyway?" Grogar grinned at Celestia and decided to explain it to her the same way he had explained it to Fang.

"I didn't find him Luna. I made him... As for what he is... Dragon mice. I can make dragon mice!" Celestia just stared at the ram for a few seconds before looking at her big brother.

"Fang... Are you still sure that taking Grogar in as a student was a good idea? I am starting to have serious doubts about his mental health..." Fang just shrugged. "Big brother, he made dragon mice. Dragon mice." Before Fang could respond, a roar rang throughout the air and the group turned to see what had let loose such a sound of rage.

Standing on top of one of the box cars was a creature that looked exactly like the one Fang had killed, only it was twice the size of the one they had seen before. "YOU HURT MY BROTHER!!!" It jumped to the ground and began to charge at the group. The entire group began to throw balls of pure magical energy at the creature, but all it seemed to do was slow it down a bit. It was at this moment that Fang realized something.

'This is that shade's soul... He must have absorbed so much energy from something that it turned his soul into a crystal...' As Grogar's words played in his head he began to realize what had happened to the two strange shades that they had encountered today. He quickly teleported the group out of the shade's path and onto a box car.

"Don't use magic on him! It will only make him stronger!" The group looked at Fang for an explanation. "Grogar said something earlier and I just realized that he had given us the answer to the question, 'What happened to these Shades?'. They absorbed so much energy from a Barrow Wight that they have become part Barrow Wight. As such I believe that they might have gained part of the appearance, behavior and abilities of a Barrow Wight." Celestia and Luna looked at each other before looking at their big brother.

"What's a Barrow Wight?" Fang blinked and sighed, knowing exactly why they had never encountered one before. His little sister suffered from severe claustrophobia.

"The best way I can describe it is a small, bipedal, goblin-like creature with the face of a rat, and the mane and tail of a lion. They are subterranean demons that never attack ponies out right, but will destroy things in places where many ponies gather in broad daylight, like a park or a market. However, they will only do this when their home is disturbed. There, now that I've explained we have to go and destroy this shade, the size of it probably means that he absorbed more energy than the other one, perhaps he absorbed two entire Barrow Wights... That means he is probably going to be twice as hard to kill." They all heard a loud roar and turned to see that the shade had found them again. Fang looked at Soul. "I'll distract him, you end this." Soul nodded and sank into his shadow. Fang jumped off the boxcar and teleported the rest of the group out of the train yard.





Soul watched as Fang made the scene where he had killed the smaller shade play over and over again in front of the large shade's eyes. Soul summoned his blade and slowly crept towards the large shade as it began to shake with fury. It began to jump up and down and Soul timed his jump and the swing of his sword so that he would split the shade in two, diagonally.  The shade began to disappear in wisps of shadow, soon disappearing as a gem dropped from its body, just like the other shade they had killed. The two friends looked at each other and nodded before they began walking to the exit of the train depot. “Fang, we’re going to need a name for this new class of shades…”

“Why don’t we just call them what they are, Mutations.” Soul thought for a second before nodding in agreement. That name would fit this new class perfectly.


Later that night.


Four forms, a pegasus, a gryphon, an earth pony and a creature that seemed to be made of parts of ponies and a minotaur, stood upon a hill overlooking the city known as Ponyville. “Perhaps we can make a life here… Even still, we should trust no one, should we?” The pegasus looked at her companions and saw them all shaking their heads. “Well then… We shall finish our trek at dawn…”


Crime butchers innocence to secure a prize, and innocence struggles with all its might against the attempts of crime. ~ Maximillian Robespierre.

> A Necromancer and Educational Equality.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


In the city, crime is taken as emblematic of class and race. In the suburbs, though, it's intimate and psychological, resistant to generalization, a mystery of the individual soul. ~ Barbara Ehrenreich.





Grogar awoke with a start and ran out of his room. As he ran down the corridors of the castle he passed the Shades known as Edge and Muse. The witch saw the ram's eyes and grimaced. They held a determination that she had only seen a few times over her life, when Soul was protecting the ones he cared about and when Fang was trying to protect his family. As the ram sped down the hall Muse turned to Edge and gave a sigh. "Grogar, a ram who is so close to the brink of insanity that he created dragon mice, is determined to do something... There's only one thing I can say at this point in time... Be afraid, be very, very afraid..."





Grogar continued running through the corridors of the castle, seeing his mentor and his wife. The black alicorn saw Grogar charging at them and raised an eyebrow. "Grogar, what are you doing?"

"I sensed necromantic magic, no time to explain further! I know that the Elements of Loyalty and Honesty are going to pick a fight with the source of the energy. How do I know  this you ask? I have no idea, but I know that it's going to happen!" With that the ram sped off and Fang looked at Twilight.

"Did he say necromantic magic?" Twilight blinked and nodded. Before she could ask why it mattered, the queen found herself and her husband, outside. They both saw Grogar holding both Applejack and Rainbow Dash in his white, lightning-like magic aura.

"What in the world do you think you're doing Grogar!? That thing and the pony with it could be dangerous!" Twilight and Fang glanced to the right of the group and saw two forms, a pony wearing a black, hooded cloak, making it impossible to tell what kind of pony it was, but from the body structure, Twilight could tell it was a mare. She was also carrying a wooden staff that was topped with a black crystal that reminded Twilight of the crystals Sombra had used to trap her when she tried to retrieve the Crystal Heart.

The other figure also wore a black cloak, but it was far more intimidating than the pony it was standing next to. Maybe it was the fact that the figure was the size of Princess Celestia, it could have been the fact that Twilight could see that the lower half of its left foreleg was made completely of metal, although it was probably the fact that the figure's right foreleg wasn't a leg at all. The right foreleg of the creature was a minotaur's arm. Only one thing was running through the mare's head at that moment in time. 'What in the world is that?'

Twilight heard her husband give a small chuckle and turned to see what he was laughing at. She couldn't hold in her laughter. Grogar had pulled something that Trixie might have done the first time she came to Ponyville if she had been given the opportunity. He had tied up Rainbow Dash and Applejack in a way so they weren't able to move. He had accomplished this by tying their manes and tails together, effectively making it impossible to move, lest they wanted to feel a painful tugging at their scalps. "Grogar!!! Untie us right now!!!"

"Not until you two calm down and promise not to attack them..." The ram walked over to the cloaked mare, leaving Rainbow and Applejack stuck together, and bowed his head. "I am so very sorry for my friends' actions, and I hope that you will not judge the many by the actions of the few... They probably just felt the aura of black magic around you and expected the worst..." The ram looked up so that he was eye level with the mare and smiled. "Once again I am quite sorry, may we please start over? I am Grogar, it is nice to make your acquaintance Miss...?"

The mare took a step back, acting as if Grogar had struck her, but in truth, she was shocked by the kindness in Grogar's words. A few moments of silence passed before the mare spoke. "Obsidia, my name is Obsidia... I hope you don't mind me asking, but... What are you? Are you a member of some lost pony tribe?" The mare saw the ram's eye twitch.

"Give me a second..." The ram quickly ran into an alleyway and cast a silencing spell, a few moments later he walked out of the alley and back over to the mare. "I am quite sorry for that, I have an issue with being called an equine, it is not that I don't like equines, well not any more at least. I am not a pony, I am a ram, a member of the Capra gene family, also known as the goat family..." The mare nodded in understanding. 

The ram quickly leaned in so that his mouth was next to the mare's ear. "If I were you, I'd remove the cloak and hood, and have your other two friends step out of the shadows, doing what you are doing now only makes others feel danger around you, even if you mean them no harm." The ram pulled his face away from the mare's ear and smiled.

The mare's eyes went wide under her hood and she hissed at the ram. "I don't trust you, but you make a good point, so I guess that I should at least give it a try..." The mare slowly removed her hood, revealing that she had a black mane and coat, and as a result, she revealed that she was not a unicorn. This revelation confused Twilight, she had never heard of a non-unicorn, or alicorn, using magic before. "Reeves, Butch, get over here..." Slowly, two more figures stepped out of the shadows. One was shaped like a pony and Twilight could see that the other had talons for forelegs and had the hind legs of a lion, it was a griffon. 

"Obsidia, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, we've always been turned away, usually being run out of town, because others don't understand us..." They removed their hoods, the griffon was revealed to have some decayed flesh, he was a ghoul.

"Butch, you know that we shouldn't question her, if Obsidia thinks it's a good idea, then we should trust her..." The mare who had spoken had a drab white coat and a dark gray mane.

"I don't trust him, and I want all of you to be ready to run once they get out their torches and pitchforks... And if we aren't able to escape-"  The black mare cut herself off when she saw fear in the eyes of her companions that had removed their hoods. "Reeves, Butch, what's wrong?"

The griffon ghoul gulped. "There are two alicorns standing right behind you..." 

'Two alicorns...? This might just be the worst luck we've had in years.' The black mare gulped and turned around. She saw the alicorns who she recognized from the newspapers as Twilight Sparkle and, her husband, Crimson Fang. The mare quickly bent into a bow, followed by her companions. "Y-your majesties..."

"If you are willing to do so, please stand and follow us... You will not be harmed, nor shall you be imprisoned... We simply wish for you to tell us your story..." The mare looked up in confusion.

"What? That's it? You just want us to tell you our story?" The two alicorns looked at each other and thought for a second.

"Well... I guess that a better way to put it is that we want to help you..." Fang looked the black mare in the eyes. "It's just that... I can see that you have suffered for most of your life just because you are different, because you can use non-inherent magic even though you are not a unicorn... Your suffering is written in your eyes and is shown in your actions. After all you have endured, I know it will be hard to do what I am about to ask of you, but please, try to trust us."

Twilight walked up the mare and smiled. "If you tell us your story, then maybe we can help ease your suffering... We just want to help you in any way we can, especially if it will help you make some friends, and trust me we can help you make friends." The purple mare smiled even harder. "I am the Goddess of Friendship after all."

The black mare looked at her companions and they nodded to her. It was their best option at the moment. Obsidia turned and looked at the two alicorns. "Alright, I guess it couldn't hurt to tell you our story..." Her thoughts however were very different. 'Yes it could, and it probably will... Whenever someone learns about my powers, we get run out of town...'

Fang smiled. "Then follow us..." The black alicorn turned to Grogar. "Go get the other elements and their coltfriends, oh and untie Rainbow and Applejack's manes..."

Grogar sighed and untied Rainbow and Applejack's manes with his magic. "Dash go get Thunder, since he lives in Cloudsdale. Applejack go get Fluttershy, Acid and North Star. I'll go get Trixie, Soul, Tsukiyomi, Pinkie, Jekyll, Rarity and Spike..." The ram didn't wait for the pair's response and took off down the road towards Jekyll's house. Fang and Twilight smiled at each other and led the mare and her companions to their castle.


One hour later.


Obsidia and her companions, Reeves, the pony that was with her, Butch, the griffon ghoul and Galvan, the large pony with a minotaur's arm. The others at the table included the elements and their coltfriends, and as was Twilight's case, husband, as well as Grogar and Tsuki. 

The obsidian black mare, revealed to be a pegasus after she had removed her cloak. Her cutie mark was an inverted purple pentagram. The black pegasus mare was currently looking at a cup of tea that was sitting in front of her, she knew it wasn't poisoned, she had seen some of the other ponies in the group drinking it, and all the tea had come from the same kettle, but even still, it was best not to take chances.

Fang looked at the obsidian mare and saw her glancing around the room, or more specifically, the guards that were posted in the room. Fang frowned and turned to one of the guards. "You and the others are not needed at the moment, you may leave." The armored stallion saluted and trotted off, quickly followed by the rest of the guards. The black alicorn turned back to his guests. 

"Is there anything else I can do to make you more comfortable, to assure you that we mean you no harm?" The mare shook her head. "In that case, would you care to share your story with us? If there are parts you want to leave out, you can leave them out, and remember, this your choice, you can walk out those doors right now and none of us will pursue you."

The black mare sat there for a second before sighing and looking at Fang. "There's not all that much to tell, really. I was born in a small village, Coltgrave, near Trottingham, and had a fairly normal, if highly superstitious, outlook on life. I was run out of the village when I was only 7 years old because I could, to an extent, speak to the dead, and because I could also bring small creatures, like rats and mice back to life just by touching them. These facts convinced the townsfolk that I was some sort of demon that wore a pony's skin." The mare took a breath and glanced at the faces of the others sitting at table. To her surprise, she saw no fear and no anger, but rather, she saw sorrow. They were feeling remorse for what she had been through...

The black mare shook her head and returned to telling her tale. "Anyway, I met Reeves a few days later when I entered a graveyard near my village in hopes of getting advice from the spirits there. I met Butch when I was ten, and I created Galvan when I was 13 years old, to protect me from threats that I would encounter on the road, y'know, bandits, wild animals, things like that. After all we've been through together, I believe that these three are more of a family to me than my biological father ever was..."

The group was silent for a moment as they her story sink in. "Twilight, Grogar may I speak with you for a minute?" The purple alicorn and the ram turned to Fang and nodded before the group vanished in a flash of crimson light. A few minutes later the three reappeared and looked at Obsidia. "Ma'am, would you and your companions mind joining me, my wife and my student in Canterlot at a meeting with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, as well as Princess Cadence and Prince Consort Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire?"

Obsidia didn't know why, but she felt as if she should answer the black alicorn with a positive response, she looked to her companions to see what she should do and saw they were offering no objections. She turned back to Fang and nodded her head. "I guess so... As long as you don't try to tell them I'm a threat and should be sent to the moon..." Fang chuckled, knowing that it was out of his sister's power to do what Obsidia feared, and nodded before the group of seven disappeared in a flash of crimson light.


The throne room of Canterlot Castle.


Shining Armor was trotting back and forth through the throne room while Celestia, Luna and Cadence watched him with some minor amusement. He looked up at a clock on the wall and growled. "They're thirty minutes late, Twilight is never late for anything! Fang must have done something to her! If there's so much as one hair in her mane out of place I'll-!" The stallion was cut off when a flash of crimson light filled the room. When they could see again, they noticed Fang, Twilight and Grogar, along with four unfamiliar beings.

Celestia looked at the three undead beings before looking at Fang, sensing the magic radiating off of Obsidia. "We will discuss these four when our meeting about Grogar's parole is finished." Fang nodded as he, Twilight and Grogar sat down. The black alicorn motioned for Obsidia and her companions to sit down. "Now then, let's start this meeting, shall we?"


One hour later.


Cadence looked at Grogar and smiled. "Well, I see no reason to continue treating you as a criminal, Grogar. You've served your sentence and, in my opinion, could become a great member of society." The other alicorns all nodded, though Shining Armor still didn't trust the ram.

Grogar smiled as a thought shot through his head. 'Wow... You ponies, other than Shining Armor, are too trusting... Why hasn't another country taken over Equestria yet?' His eyes drifted to the side and he saw Celestia's cutie mark. 'Oh, right, they have an alicorn who can move the sun... And if she can move the sun, she can probably drop it on someone as well... I'm glad I'm on their good side now.'

Luna turned and looked at Fang. "We shall approve your request big brother, Grogar's status in Equestria will be changed from parolee to time served." Fang nodded to his youngest sister before he turned to Celestia.

"I believe you would like to know about our guests?" Celestia nodded. Fang smiled and turned to the black pegasus. "Well, Obsidia, I believe it is time to tell them your story." The black pegasus sighed and turned to the four royals on the other side of the table before telling her story for the second time that day.





Once she had finished telling her story, she looked at the faces of the four royals. All four of them were giving her sad looks. Celestia cleared her throat and looked at Obsidia. "I'm sorry, I truly am. I never knew that my little ponies could be so cruel to someone just because they were, are, different, especially to a filly that was so young. Although, I do not see what Fang and Twilight expect us to do about it, the ponies who ran out of your town technically committed no crime."

"We don't expect you to do anything Princess Celestia, however we are hoping that you will make it so that non-unicorn magic users become more accepted by the public." The white alicorn turned to Twilight.

"And how, Twilight, do you propose I do that?" Twilight's horn lit up and the room filled with light. When everyone could see again they noticed that they were in the part of the castle that made up Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. The Equestrian royals looked around, noticing where they were before they turned to Twilight. "You want me to do something for non-unicorn magic users that involves my school..." Celestia trailed off as she realized what Twilight and Fang wanted her to do. Celestia glanced around and smiled before turning back to Twilight and Fang, and chuckling. "You want me to open my school up to pegasi and earth ponies as well, don't you?" Fang and Twilight nodded, then shook their heads.

"Actually, we asked Grogar for his opinion as well. He believes that you should open the school to all sapient races." The Equestrian royals turned and looked at the ram.

Grogar simply smiled at Celestia. "All sapient races have the ability to use magic, yet you only allow one species..." Grogar trailed off as he saw Obsidia's wings. After a few seconds he looked back to Celestia and continued. "Correction, you allow one subspecies, to attend your school. The whole reason your school exists is to advance studies in magic and technology, correct?" Celestia nodded. "Then imagine if you had the minds of more than just unicorns working on advancing civilization. Start off small by allowing pegasi and earth ponies to attend your school, a few years go by and allow the zebras, griffons and minotaurs to attend. And in a few decades you'll have helped not only Equestria, but Zebrica, Minos and Griffonia as well. Then, after a few more years, you can start offering scholarships to citizens in the kingdoms to the east." 

The ram smiled and closed his eyes. Seconds later he opened one eye and looked at Cadence. "There are still kingdoms to the east, right?" The Goddess of Love nodded. "Does Tambelon still stand?" Cadence nodded once again a faint smile appeared on the ram's face.

Twilight, as well as Obsidia and her companions, blinked. "Princess Celestia, what's Tambelon?" Celestia turned and looked at the four who had never traveled to the eastern kingdoms, quickly explaining that Tambelon was one of the two kingdoms that were mostly occupied by goats, the other being Caprus, as well as Grogar's homeland.

Celestia turned and looked at Fang. "Brother, I will grant the requests you have made, however you will need to return to Canterlot in three weeks time, as the requester must be present when I grant their request. Oh, and you will need to bring Miss Obsidia with you as well." Fang nodded and the group that had come from Ponyville disappeared in a flash of crimson light.

Right before that however, Obsidia went wide eyed as a thought crossed her mind. 'Wait, what!? Three weeks in the same town!?' She didn't get the chance to voice her concerns.

After they were gone, Celestia turned to Luna, Cadence and Shining Armor. "I'm going to have to rename my school... How does 'Celestia's School for Gifted Magicians' sound to you?"


Canterlot Castle, three weeks later.


"You want to do what!? Have you gone insane Auntie!?" Obsidia, Fang, Twilight and Grogar covered their ears when they heard Blueblood's scream. "It's bad enough that you to let common unicorns into your school, but now you want to let those savages known as pegasi and those brutes called earth ponies into your school as well! For... Well, for your sake, those two tribes are barely ponies to begin with! What possible justification could you have for this action!?" A few members of the court of nobles began to speak up in agreement with the prince.

Fang felt a surge of anger shoot through his skull before he looked at the snobbish prince. "Prince Blueblood..." The blonde prince turned and looked at the Monster King, fury blazing in his eyes. "It would serve you well if you-"

"Be silent half breed! You have no right to speak in this court of nobles, especially since you're a disgusting bat pony!" The room went silent and Luna adopted a look of rage, her husband was a bat pony, and by calling bat ponies disgusting, he had also called her disgusting. Blueblood either didn't notice, or didn't care. 

"What!? I am simply saying what needs to be said! That freak has been nothing but trouble for Equestria since he appeared! He married Princess Sparkle and what good has come of it? Nothing, that's what! I should have been the one to marry Sparkle, not some foreign piece of filth who has cast a false, shameful light on the nobility! He has made the ponies of Equestria think that we nobles are not needed in the government, and that they deserve the right to vote for the ponies who would get to make up the court! I mean, have you ever heard something so stupid in your thousands of years of life, auntie?" The unicorn turned back toward the white princess.

After the prince stopped talking, Celestia took a deep breath. "Blueblood... My nephew... Would you please shut up so I  can actually answer your questions, as well as the questions of any other nobles? Oh, and your tribalism is not appreciated." Luna nodded to her sister, who turned back to Blueblood. "I will answer your questions in order, dear nephew. First off, no, I have not gone insane. Secondly, there are many good things that have come from the marriage of Crimson Fang and Twilight Sparkle, better trade, better diplomacy between Equestria and the minotaur lands, and the fact that I now have two adorable nieces and an adorable nephew, not you Blueblood, you're not even close." 

The white unicorn closed his eyes and smirked, believing that to be a complement. "And finally, yes I have heard of government where the citizens elect officials to represent them so that have a say in how their government is run, it's called a republic, and most of the time, it's a good system of government."

Celestia paused before smirking at Blueblood. "Oh and my justification behind allowing pegasi and earth ponies into my school as well? Deny it all you want, just as I had until Twilight, my brother and his student brought this idea to me, but as much as we ponies preach to others about love and tolerance, we are racist!" The court could feel the venom in Celestia's words. "And most of my family, in fact, all but you Blueblood, intend to change that. If you have a problem with letting pegasi and earth ponies have  educations equal to those of unicorns, then I believe you don't deserve to be called a noble!" Blueblood's jaw dropped and he was about to protest, saying that Fang had corrupted both of their minds, but Luna cut him off. 

"I like a suggestion that was made by Grogar. In a few years Celestia and I are going to allow zebras, griffons, and minotaurs into the school as well and a few more years later, we're going to give scholarships to promising mages from the eastern kingdoms." Blueblood's eyes rolled back into his head and he fell over, going unconscious due to shock. Luna smirked and looked around the room. "Does anyone else have issues with letting pegasi and earth ponies into my sister's school?" The room was silent. "That's what I thought." Luna turned and nodded to Celestia.

"Starting January 1st, earth ponies and pegasi will be able to attend my newly renamed school, Celestia's School for Gifted Magicians." Celestia smiled and walked over to Obsidia. "Obsidia, I need to speak with you." The black mare gulped and nodded before Celestia teleported them away.


Ten minutes later.


Obsidia reappeared in the throne room and walked over to Fang, Twilight and Grogar. "Um... I don't mean to impose but... Could I stay at your castle for a while?"

Fang blinked and nodded before sending a message to the black pegasus telepathically. 'My sister thinks you will be able to get Grogar to open up more, since you, like him, are a necromancer, doesn't she?' The black mare nodded. Fang smiled and looked at Twilight. "What do you think Twilight?"

Twilight closed her eyes and thought for a second before smiling and nodding. She opened her eyes and looked at Obsidia. "You can stay, as long as you try to make friends." Obsidia sighed and nodded. "Well then let's go back to Ponyville...." Twilight smirked. 'We don't want to miss Pinkie's party, now do we?' With that thought the group vanished in a flash of crimson light.





The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid, and deeds left undone. ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe.

> Of Changelings, Children and Grundles.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Some of the best lessons are learned from past mistakes. The error of the past is the wisdom of the future. ~ Dale Turner.



Crystal Empire, one week later.


Twilight smiled as she watched her daughter, Ana, her nieces, Dream and Skyla, and her nephew, Vul Deif, run down the halls of the Crystal Empire's palace. The Transylmaneian queen had just laid her foals down for a nap when a scream rang throughout the castle. Cadence... Why is it that whenever the royal family gathers, something bad happens? After making sure Dawn and Dusk were still asleep, she still couldn't get over how cute they were when they hugged each other in their sleep, she ran out of the room toward the source of the scream, Cadence and Shining Armor's room.

When she arrived she saw the Equestrian and Crystal royal families surrounding her husband, or more accurately, the changeling her husband was protecting from Shining Armor. "Fang! Move or I'll blast the changeling and you!"

"Shining calm down! I know that Chrysalis nearly ruined your wedding, but that's no reason to attack every changeling you see!" The white unicorn blinked and looked at his sister, shocked that she was protecting a changeling. "What's going on? Why are you here, and undisguised at that?"

"I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me! We came north with our queen in order to start a new hive! We had just passed the Empire when this..... Thing with pale green, leathery skin wearing a black hat and coat attacked us! It grabbed one of the nymphs and ran towards the empire! Please, we aren't anything like those of Hive Chrysalis!"

Shining Armor snorted in disbelief. "Likely story!"

"... Did the creature have glowing yellow eyes?" The ponies, excluding Twilight, went silent and looked at Fang with a raised brow, confused as to why the creatures eye color mattered. Fang lowered his head and looked the changeling in the eyes. "Answer me!" The changeling merely gave a frightened nod. The black alicorn's eyes shot to his wife. "There's a grundle on the loose!"

Twilight went wide eyed. "I left Dawn and Dusk alone!" The lavender mare was gone before anyone could blink.

Fang looked at the rest of his family in panic. "Everyone, find your children, now!" The entirety of the royal family separated to go looked for their children, except Celestia, who sat down, never taking her eyes off the changeling.

"So... Will we be meeting this Queen of yours, Mister...? I apologize, I didn't catch your name..."

"Oh, um... Ledtat, my name is Ledtat, and..." The changeling went silent for a second, and Celestia began looking him up and down, unlike the changelings that had invaded Canterlot, his chitin was sky blue and he had green eyes, with pupils, unlike the mindless drones Chrysalis had used. The changeling suddenly snorted, breaking her out of her thoughts. "Queen Plexi agrees to meet you and the other royals on two conditions. The first being that her subjects, the nymph and I, are returned unharmed. The second is that we meet on neutral ground, Transylmaneia, in three months."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "How is the kingdom ruled by my big brother and former student neutral ground? And why three months?"

"It will take three months to make our new hive stable, it doesn't matter if Cadenza and Armor don't want us here, the tundra around the Crystal Empire belongs to no one, so we can settle anywhere as long as it is at least twenty five miles away from the Empire... And Transylmaneia is neutral ground because they, unlike you, Shining Armor and Princess Cadenza, have decided not to preform a Great Purge." Celestia frowned at that statement.

"We had to do what was best for Equestria... Besides, we haven't killed any of the changelings we've found..." The changeling gave a snort.

"No Celestia, you haven't, at least not on purpose..." Celestia's heart stopped beating for a second as she looked the changeling in the eyes. She couldn't help but let her worry show.

"What do you mean by that?"


Twilight and Fang's guest room.


A black cloaked pony with clawed hooves looked at the two sleeping foals and gave a dark chuckle before reaching for them. Before it could reach them however, Twilight appeared in a flash of light, startling the grundle. "Get away from my foals!" Before the grundle had a chance to react Twilight had tackled it and sent it to the floor, unfortunately she knocked off it's cloak, causing it to cover her eyes long enough for the grundle to escape. Once she got the cloak off her face she felt it getting tugged at from below. Looking down she saw a very small changeling, only about Dawn's size.

After checking on her foals and seeing that not only were they unharmed, but still sleeping as well, Twilight pulled the tiny changeling out from under the foals' crib. "Hey there, are you ok little one?" The tiny changeling nodded, before squeaking in fear as the grundle approached Twilight from behind and reclaimed it's cloak before running out of the room. 

Twilight sat there for a second before closing the door, locking it and casting fifteen different wards. As soon as she was finished she a tiny yawn from inside the crib. Looking at the crib she saw her twin foals, who were wearing woolen pajamas had woken up, soon she heard their stomach's growling, levitated them out of the crib and lay down on her side before putting them down in front of her teats and covering them with a wing, blocking the changeling nymph's view of them. Her foals almost immediately started suckling, causing her to give a happy sigh and nuzzle them. 'I should probably tell the others that I found the nymph...' 

The lavender mare glanced up and saw that nymph had somehow, in the span of 30 seconds, obtained a miniature Crystal Heart and was chewing on it, possibly thinking that it radiated love like the real thing. She had to admit, it was cute.


West Wing of the Palace.


"If that thing even breaths on any of those foals, let alone my daughter, I will slowly pull out its teeth and make it swallow them. Then I'm going to get a potato peeler and take its skin before covering its body in salt and lemon juice. The grundle will scream in pain, there will be blood and it shall be glorious!" Luna watched in concern as her eldest brother talked to himself, his last sentence making her think that he may be on the edge of a psychopathic break.

"Fang, I know you're worried about the children, especially Ana, but you need to calm down. We'll-" Luna suddenly found herself under the harsh glare of her eldest brother. As soon as she noticed the glare she felt the area get much hotter, and she was pretty sure that she saw the crystal underneath her brother's hooves was starting to melt.

"Calm down? Calm Down!? No Luna, I will not calm down! I hate grundles more than anything else in any plane of existence and I will hunt them to extinction! You don't know what they really do! They don't just corrupt children, they damn their souls! I can't, I won't, let another child be harmed by a grundle due to my hesitation! I watched helplessly as the Puppeteer stole the souls of thirty seven children before turning them into grundles! And I'll be damned if I ever let it happen again! I nearly killed myself because I couldn't help those children!"

A deep laugh sounded from opposite end of the hall that the two dark colored alicorns had entered from. The two alicorns looked down the hall and saw the grundle, walking toward them. "Well, well, well, would you look at that! The King of Monsters remembers Puppet! Puppet feels so honored! Puppet wonders if-" The grundle didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before he was bowled over by an enraged black alicorn.

"You damned the souls of thirty seven children! And you probably damned more after that! Why!? Why would you do something like that!?" The grundle just smiled in response.

"Puppet didn't damn them, Puppet saved them, the world is cold and cruel. That's why Puppet took their souls... He took them to his realm, where they get to play forever and ever... You know Puppet did the right thing, that's why you didn't stop Puppet..." Fang let loose a roar of rage and reared up before bringing his front hooves down on the grundle's head, only to hear splintering wood. Fang hadn't killed anyone, he had destroyed a magical puppet.

Fortunately, Cadence, Shining Armor and Sunset had already found the children in the palace's garden, on the far side of the East Wing, and led them back to Fang and Twilight's room. Fang and Luna also returned to the room. Afterward, much to Shining Armor's annoyance, the ponies returned the nymph to the older changeling and let them leave. By that time the children had already fallen asleep.


Grand hall, one hour later.


After a quick explanation about grundles and why Fang hated them so much, Luna started to feel as if the grundles were not from Equestria. "So, big brother, you and Twilight explained what they are, but where did they come from?"

After a few moments of silence Fang answered. "The Element's ancestors were not the only beings that followed Soul and I back through the mirror... A grundle did as well... In fact, I think that over time all magical creatures from that world eventually came here... The reason that there was no magic when Twilight and Sunset were there is because most of the magic in the mirror world has, for lack of a better word, died. Are there any questions?" None of the ponies responded. After a few more hours the ponies all went to bed, getting their rest for their trips back home and their business tomorrow.


Meanwhile in Baltimare.


A grundle walks down the deserted streets of the city towards the docks, followed by an army of dirty malnourished and injured fillies and colts. As soon as they reached the docks a portal opened and the small army of ponies walked in and the portal vanished. Tomorrow the news would state that all the orphaned children of Baltimare had disappeared.


In order to learn the important lessons in life, one must each day surmount a fear. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson.