Phase 1: Awakenings, Part 1

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The warmth of the sunlight woke her. She shifted slightly, with a gentle “mmm” as she rubbed her face against his... fur? That didn't seem quite right, and neither did the feel of her own skin. It was a little too warm and there didn't seem to be any sheets touching it.

At that point, her mind was sufficiently awake to realize that many other things were wrong as well – especially with her hands, they didn't seem to be there at all. Whatever she was lying on, it didn't seem to be her husband either.

Her eyes snapped open and she tried to stand up. She couldn't seem to quite manage to get upright, but being on all fours felt oddly right. She looked down at her arm and hand, or rather her lack of such. Where it should have been was a light gray leg ending in a hoof. Oh, and the house had been replaced by grass, apparently.

Her mind raced as she tried to process what was going on. She'd been somehow moved into a forested area and transformed into – she examined herself briefly, the long neck providing an excellent view of her back – a small horse or pony of some kind. All without waking herself or her husband.

Her husband! She regarded the lump she'd woken up pressed against just now. It was another pony, white-coated, but with – she did a double take at the sight of them – feathery wings sprouting from his back. It had almost the exact same hairstyle as her husband, a purple bowl cut. On its flank was a pair of vertical lines, one red and one green. The evidence indicated it was her husband, transformed similarly, but she had to know for sure.

“Croix! Wake up!” Her voice was a little deeper than her slight build suggested it should be, and wavered with barely concealed panic. She shoved his shoulder with her hoof, and when he didn't rise immediately, both hooves and her full weight.

“Ugh! I'm up, I'm... whoa.” At the sound of his voice, the anxiety drained from her face and she gave a small smile.

“Yeah, this is a new one isn't it.”

“Mir?” The stallion groggily stared up at her. He blinked twice.

“Yes, it's me. Alright, just to make sure, please describe how I look right now.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Uh, you seem to be a talking horse with a light grey coat, your hair’s still blackish, although you’ve got a tail with it too, and there’s some kind of black horn sticking out of your head. The horn looks different from most animal horns I've seen, more like a spearhead. There's some sort of star-with-a-musical-note mark on your hip.”

Mir pondered for a moment. She hadn't noticed the horn, but now that he pointed it out, she could feel it. It had senses, like any other limb. She just hadn't noticed it before. Somehow concentrating on it felt strange, but she couldn't spend time to think on this. Somebody had did this to them, and it was either some sort of evil plot or the mother of all pranks. Maybe both. “Do we have any enemies with a horse or pony fixation?”

He raised a foreleg to his chin. “Just Infel.”

They were sitting in a sunlit clearing in a forest, with only a few body lengths between them and the trees. Mir sat down on the grass, scanning the border of the clearing. “Hmmm, I can't think of any either. If we were rabbits, I'd blame Shurelia and we could go beat her up for this.”

Croix sat down with his back to her, scanning the other half. “I keep having this weird feeling on my back.”

“That's your wings, dear.” Mir failed to suppress a smirk.

“Wings?”

“Yes, you're a winged horse now.”

“Well, I guess I won't be needing a V-Board anymore.”

Satisfied nobody and nothing was standing in the shadows waiting to strike, Mir stood up again and looked around at the clearing floor. Now that she'd calmed down some, she saw a few objects scattered on the grass around them. Most of them were things that had been in their house. She also took the time to examine their surroundings for things other than enemies.Something about the trees seemed off to her, but otherwise they could have been in any forest anywhere on Ar Ciel, or rather any temperate forest. It was definitely a temperate forest.

“Dear, I think you should put this on.” Croix had found what appeared to be Mir's bodysuit, remodeled to fit her new form, and offered it to her. She turned towards him and her eyes widened. Why was she staring at him? He'd just picked up the suit with his... he looked to his side. He'd picked it up with his wing.

“Croix, how exactly are you doing that?” She tilted her head slightly and moved to his side to get a better view.

“I have no idea.”

She approached until her nose pressed against the wing, then backed up a small amount. “Don't move.” Her hooves began to prod along the edge of the wing. “It doesn't actually have a joint where it's bending... here. How is it doing that? Is it cartilaginous? It feels too solid to be a muscular hydrostat, so....”

He sighed and lowered his head slightly. She'd always had a thing about birds, first as metaphors and now she'd become interested in the flesh-and-blood kind. “Dear, please just put it on. And help me into my armor if you could. There could be dangerous animals here, or even monsters.”

“Right.” She wiggled into it without any difficulty, and managed to get it clasped shut with her mouth in a rather impressive display of dexterity for lips. “Now, I saw what I think is your armor over there, let's get it on you and then we can get moving.” She lifted up the armor, only to find him staring at her too. He seemed a bit more affected. His jaw had gone slack and his eyes had dilated to pinpricks. Then it hit her – all four of her hooves were on the ground and her mouth was empty, but she knew she'd picked up his armor.

It was floating off to her right, covered in a blood-red aura of some kind. Her eyes registered a glow of a similar shade coming from somewhere above their position... “Croix, is my horn glowing?”

He shook his head briefly and cleared his throat. “Yes, it's... glowing the same color as the armor is.”

She thought about moving the armor. It lifted up and dropped down in a rhythm a couple times. “Huh. This is... this is real magic.”

“You mean like song magic?”

“No! I mean, real magic. I didn't even think about singing anything but here it is just levitating next to me. It's incredible, like an expression of pure will.”

He sighed again. “Before you ask, no that's still not my taste.”

She chortled. “Darn. Now, let me get this on you.”

He gulped and stood stoic as the armor accelerated towards him in uncertain fits and starts.

The two walked through the woods, ever alert. After leaving the clearing, the canopy had largely blocked sunlight from reaching them, and it set them on edge. Ears pricked and rotated towards any sound, but so far they hadn't seen anything.

“So what do you think, Mir?”

“Well. I do know a few ways to change someone's form, although this is pretty good. It also wouldn't explain where we are now. I'd be more inclined to say we're in a virtual world like the Binary Field, except I'm, well, me, and I'd expect I'd notice if I was in the Binary Field. It is where I do most of my best work after all.”

“It's definitely not a cosmosphere, I can tell you that much. Those always had a dreamlike quality to them, and I can really feel my muscles getting tired here.”

“Croix, you're not actually getting tired, are you?”

“My legs are, a bit. I want to fly.”

“Well then, go ahead. Just don't get lost.”

Croix paused for a moment. “Dear, where are we going, anyway?”

“You remember that big speech I gave you when I told you what I really was with all the gory details, including the part about why I couldn't go certain places, right?”

“Yeah, it was when I accused you of sending my sister into danger.”

“Well, since I'm always worried about getting too far from the tower, it helps to be able to sense how far away it is. This particular sense is giving me results that don't make, well, sense. It feels like the tower should be right ahead. But it'd be impossible to miss!”

Croix pondered. Her homeland, the Tower of Ar Tonelico, was indeed hard to miss. It should soar above them to the top of the sky, but all he could see was blue and some scattered clouds. Nothing that should be able to hide such a mammoth structure.

She continued on without waiting for his response. “It feels like it's only 150 stons ahead and we're making good time so we'll see what's there when we get there. It's emitting a tower signal so it must be some kind of ground relay or a crashed satellite. In the meantime let's go over what we know.”

He took it up there. “Someone, unknown to us, broke into our home, turned us into... what did you say they were again?”

“A pegasus and a unicorn. They're old legendary creatures.”

“Right. They did this without waking us and then dumped us in the middle of a forest. Wherever it is, we can't see the Tower of Ar Tonelico from it so it can't be anywhere near your home.”

“It's our home now. They also were kind enough to provide us with equipment to fight in. Either whoever did this wants us to fight something for them or they want us to fight to the death in some kind of brutal arena.” She smirked a bit.

He winced a bit at her teasing (at least, he always hoped it was teasing). “If they wanted either of those I'd think they'd explain what they wanted of us before now.”

“Well, I'm quite alright with either. It'll be really nostalgic, being protected by you.” She trotted forward slightly and nuzzled him on the side.

“Uh, thanks. But let's keep our eyes open. There's something wrong with the forest.”

“I'll say.” She turned her head from side to side. “The birds have all stopped singing.”

They stood in silence for a few seconds. He couldn’t hear anything except some very faint wind. “Then you'd better start.”

Mir closed her eyes. Her lips began to move, and a faint singing sound was audible, seeming to come from everywhere around her. Her horn lit up, and a ball of black energy appeared above her. Croix began to flex his wings slowly. His lance seemed to be the same, even if he had to hang onto it via a hoof-strap. A steady thumping noise began to rise in volume, and the ground shook.

A tremendous reptilian head burst over the treetops, belching smoke. It was green and spikey, with horns coming off it and a long neck trailing behind it. Wings could be dimly seen through the trees further back. Mir opened her eyes and smirked. It wasn't that big, in the grand scheme of things she'd blown up.

The dragon let loose his mightiest roar. Pony guardsmen usually ran off in fear from him well before this point, but even those that did come face him never made it past the roar. But these ponies... they didn't move at all. They didn't even flinch. Intolerable. He'd have to make an example of them. The unicorn wasn't moving and wasn't really even paying attention to him, but the pegasus was closer. Laziness won out, and he grabbed at the latter.

To the dragon's confusion, rather than grab and squeeze the life out of the annoying pony, there was a “ching” sound and his claw closed slightly to the right of the pony, an odd vibration reverberating through it. He brought his claw back towards the target in a swipe, but it deflected up with a similar “ching” noise and a similar odd vibration. He blinked in confusion. That was about the time the pegasus stabbed him with its lance. The dragon's hide was too thick for it to reach anything truly vital, but it still was a stupid pony hurting a dragon! Before he could act on this feeling, the pegasus flapped its wings back once, pulling the lance out, then flapped forward again, piercing into the dragon again. Through the pain, one thing was readily apparent. The pony had struck with far more momentum than he should have had from that one flap.

As the pony pushed back and prepared to strike a third time, the dragon backed up as well, flapping his mighty wings once. Trees around them twisted, branches snapped, and leaves billowed out. The pony wasn't blown backwards by the force (and there was that “ching” again) but the effort had brought the dragon the distance he needed to get a clear look at the situation. The pegasus started to move forward, but then pulled back for some reason, probably he was wary of leaving the unicorn unguarded. The dragon concentrated on the ambient magic around him. He could feel distortions in it, and resolved them into an understanding of the situation.

The pegasus was somehow bending the magic coming off the unicorn around him. Exactly what he was doing with it he wasn't sure, but it seemed like it gave him a tremendous boost in striking power. It probably was also the source of the mysterious “ching” that coincided with every time he'd failed to affect the pegasus. The unicorn, however, was not the ultimate source of this magic. It was coming into her from a distant... thing... somewhere. He couldn't get a good read on where it was or even what direction it was in, which was surprising. What he could see however was that the thing on the other end providing the unicorn with magic was truly powerful, and that she was gradually drawing more and more power from it. No wonder the pegasus didn't follow him. Not only was the unicorn the source of his mysterious tricks, whatever was up meant that time was on their side. And that made him mad.

A torrent of fire poured forth. The trees closest to his mouth were vaporized. Beside him, the ambient heat had ignited trees and vines not directly touched by the incandescent gas. In front of him was an inferno. Blazing trees had fallen in great numbers, a legion of ashen logs pointing out from him, and... oh no. He couldn't believe it. The unicorn was still standing, undisturbed from her spot, not even sweating. Around her, the tinderbox of forest floor leaves remained cool and dry, however fire was beginning to spread in from the edges. The pegasus hovered slightly over and in front of his companion, with an oddly cocky half-smirk, half scowl on his face.

The dragon couldn't possibly believe it. If it had been Princess Celestia or there was a force field he might have understood, but nothing made sense. Mortal ponies burn fairly easily! It's a fact of nature. All dragons understood that. Something was terribly wrong here, and his pride was slowly becoming willing to acknowledge that in the traditional dragon “acknowledgement of a worthy foe” ceremony (flying as fast as you can in a straight line).

Unfortunately for him, time was up. The black ball over the head of the unicorn shot forward, splitting into five. He began to flap, but it would take too long to get off the ground. The blasts of darkness struck home.

Croix surveyed the battlefield as the dragon crashed to the ground. It seemed to be still alive, but in pretty bad shape. Probably a pretty good concussion and a bunch of painful bruises. Could dragons even get bruises? This one seemed different from the ones back home, but he didn't know much about them either. In any case, now that nobody was trying to kill him, there was a more pressing concern than the safety of their recent foe.

“Dear, I think you may have started a forest fire.”

Mir surveyed the area, and assumed a pout. “Don't blame me, it's a dragon. He breathed fire at us first.”

“Sorry, force of habit. But we should get moving. I think I saw a river nearby.”

Before Mir could protest, he dived down and scooped her up with his forelegs, then flew straight south over the river.

“Croix, I have never started a forest fire. I have knocked you over a few times, at most.”

“I know, but it’s one of the few things I can tease you about. Anyway, there's a building or something on a cliff down there, it's made of stone and across the river so we should be safe. I'll put us down there.” Mir sighed and closed her eyes. She wouldn’t admit it, but she liked being carried like this.

As they came down for a landing, Mir's eyes suddenly popped open.

“This way!” She leaped from her husband's grip onto a nearby balcony. After sticking the landing, she dashed through the moss-covered doorway deeper into the building, and Croix dived in to follow her.

Despite his longer legs, Croix had a great deal of trouble keeping up and almost got separated from her as he ran. Finally, many hallways, twists, and turns later, they stopped. Mir stood in a large room, circling a mirror. “It's coming from there.”

Croix looked at the object she was circling. It seemed to be a rectangular full-length mirror, about twice as high as he was now. The edges were covered in silver filigree, but nothing else was remarkable about it. It didn’t seem electronic at all, so he had to ask. “The mirror?”

“Yeah, my connection to the Tower is coming through here, no doubt about it.”

“You sure it's not in a room above or below this?”

“Yes!”

“Sorry.”

“I can pick up a few other connection points elsewhere, but this is definitely the one I've been using since I arrived.”

“I'm just glad it's here.”

“You and me both. But I don't see any mechanism at all, so there's nothing more we can do here, other than shut the door so nobody disturbs it.”

“Well, let’s get… WHOA!” Croix had idly moved up to examine his armor in the mirror for any damage from the dragon, but was shocked to see his old self reflected. His human self. “Uh Mir, take a close look.”

She ambled up to the mirror, and as soon as she got close, she could see it. To her reflection’s right stood the Croix she knew, clad in white armor and standing tall and upright. In front of her was the deceptively girlish and slight form she was normally in. Mir rolled her pony eyes and the human ones followed the movement. She stuck out her tongue and waggled it left and right, and the human reflection, well, mirrored the movements.

“This is strange.” She sat down to think on things. The cool stone of the floor wasn’t particularly comfortable, even with fur, but this was a lot to take in. “OK, even I have never, in all my life, seen something like this.”

Croix turned to her. “Coming from you that’s a bit scary.”

She pawed idly at the mirror for a moment. Then she tapped it once and listened to the sound. After letting the soft metallic echoes die off, she stood up at last. “OK yeah, I hate to admit it but I got nothing here.”

Croix moved back to her side. “Is there any sign of how it works? At all?”

Mir shook her head. “No, there’s nothing. I’ve seen all sorts of technologies, but I’ve got to say, this looks like it’s just pure magic.”

Croix scrunched up in thought. “You mean like the way the Teru distorted the paths that lead to their hiding spot so that no one could find it without their permission?”

Mir nodded curtly. “Yes. This seems to be a similar phenomenon. It’s possible this could lead back to our home, but without whatever or whoever it’s keyed to it’s useless to us.”

Croix sighed. His wings spread to the ground as his shoulders slumped. “Damn. Well, I guess just lock the door on our way out then.”

After they left, shut the door, and piled rocks in front of it, they began to wander through the building towards what they assumed would be the main hall. It had large banners and a roof that looked like it had been patched recently, but no other sign of life. They resolved to look for a road nearby, but as they began to wander down towards the entrance, Mir's ears suddenly sprung up.

“Croix! Can you feel that? Hear that?”

He cocked his head. “No...?”

“It sounds exactly like... YES! It is!” Mir dashed forward to the edge of the entrance area, leaped from the ledge, did a front flip in midair, and landed on a stairway leading down. “This way!”

“Showoff.” Croix sighed and flapped after her.

As they rushed down the stairs, they moved nearer and nearer the river until they entered a cavern that seemed to be cared into the side of the cliff. “It's in here... but...”

Mir stared ahead at the giant, tree-shaped crystal, but it felt all wrong. “No no no, this is some sort of mistake. It's got no proper outer shell and if anything happened to it kiss everything goodbye.”

Croix peered inside. “What's all this?”

Mir put her forehoof to her horn. “I guess this is a point in favor of the 'virtual world' theory. This thing is putting out waves very similar to a Heart of Gaea, but it doesn't have any kind of shell. If this is what I think it is, it makes even less sense.”

Croix raised an eyebrow. “I don't really feel like guessing games tonight. What do you think it is?”

“The heart of this entire world! Awfully careless to leave something like that lying around.”

“It's not just lying around.” That voice hadn't belonged to either of them. Croix jumped forward and turned around, putting his body between Mir and whoever had spoke.

“Easy there mister, nothing to worry about. I'm just one of the ponies that the Princesses sent to check up on things.”

Mir moved out from behind Croix to regard the new pony. He was orange with a blue mane and a pegasus like Croix, but he wore yellow armor that she didn't think would be of much use in a real fight and looked kind of stupid. “And you are?”

“I'm Lt. Flash Sentry. But you guys are the suspicious ones. Please give me your names.”

“I am Mir, and this is Croix Bartel.” Mir considered giving a fake name for herself, but she doubted a bunch of talking ponies would have heard of her, unless it was a simulation crafted by someone she knew. Time to learn something.

“Those names sound strange, are you foreigners?” He also thought the unicorn's horn looked odd, but it would be impolite to point that out. Still, the last unicorn he heard of with a strange horn was Sombra. Politeness won out for the moment.

“Yes. We come from a land called...” Should she give away their homeland's real name? Might as well, if they didn't recognize her name they likely wouldn't be able to recognize it. But why do they have relays? “...Sol Ciel.”

“Never heard of it.”

“It's... very far from here.”

“And how'd you come to be here?”

“I... flew. He carried me.”

Sentry looked at Croix. He seemed to doubt that one pegasus could carry another pony all that distance, but he wasn't going to press just yet. “Alright, but what are you doing here?”

“We got attacked by a dragon and ran this way.”

Flash startled, and leaned in. Time for business. “Was anyone else with you?”

“No. Also, I think the dragon may have started a forest fire, so you might want to get someone to deal with that, if you have anyone who can.” Forest fires that got out of control in Sol Ciel could be doused by powerful song magic, but if this guy was anything to go by the inhabitants of this area wouldn't have any such capability. She'd offer to do it, but weather song magic couldn't be done without specialized equipment actually on site.

Flash leaned back and slumped. “Drat! There goes my chance of seeing her. I've got to go round up a weather crew to get this taken care of. If you're looking for a town, the nearest one is Ponyville, just follow that path over there all the way until you reach it. Stay on it. You probably can't make it to town before night falls so go until you see a sign marked “Zecora” and knock on the tree house there. She should be able to take you in for the night.

Croix chimed in, “All right, that sounds great. Let's get going. I didn't get to wake up in a bed this morning and I want to do so next morning.”

As the two dashed off, Flash took out his flare gun. Celestia had stepped up the Everfree patrols ever since the incident with the tree recently, so he'd been hoping to get some leave to see Twilight. No such luck though.

A red flare burst over the old castle.

Finally! He’d been waiting for that stupid dragon to go fight something for what felt like ages. It was simply too powerful to defeat as he was now, loath as he was to admit it. He dashed towards the gem pile, and with his aura plucked ten perfectly black spheres from the ground. As they hovered closer to him, their surfaces rippled with deep purple. “Not me, little ones. Soon.”

To Mir's surprise, the phrase “tree house” had been taken literally. It seemed to be a hollow tree with a door on it and some windows in it. Many strange bottles hung from the branches and a mask hung over the door. It vaguely reminded her of the Teru tribe, but not quite. It was getting dark and while she trusted herself and Croix to handle anything in the forest, a good night's sleep would be much better than the alternative. She rapped once with her forehoof.

“Travelers, at this late hour? Please make your way into my bower.” Mir had heard of Zebras before, they were striped horse-like creatures that had been extinct until the Planet Regeneration recently. They couldn't normally talk, but then again neither could ponies as far as she knew. This one talked, rhymed, and wore a cloak.

“My dinner is over at this time, but there is still cilantro, rice, and lime.”

They ate a small meal (completely vegetarian, Mir noted) but didn't talk much. Walking all day wasn't that bad for her, but Croix was a human (well, normally) and he also had to wear heavy armor and carry her during the escape from the forest fire. “After the meal is over, we'd like to go to bed.”

The zebra led them to a second story of the tree house, where there was a bedroom.

“Do not worry your weary heads, for the two of you there are two beds.”

Mir groaned. “We're married. We'll take one.”

The Zebra pointed to the guest bed, and they climbed in. As Mir got in, her back felt a little stiff. That was odd, she almost never felt the effects of exercise like that; it must be the quadrupedal stance. She closed her eyes, felt Croix's wing wrap around her, and fell fast asleep.

Phase 1: Awakenings, Part 2 (Revised)

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Sunlight woke Mir again. She was in a bed and inside this time, but she was still a unicorn and she was still here, wherever here was. Croix woke up as well, and they rose and began to get ready to continue on. They'd slept in inns quite a lot over the years, since even in her homeland they were rarely given time to settle in. Too many things needed troubleshooting (sometimes literally).

The main difference today was they were (still) ponies, and housed in some sort of tree. She was pondering what she could possibly do about her current predicament when a delicious smell came from downstairs. Pancakes.

Croix dashed down the stairs. He'd eaten as much as he could hold at dinner last night, but he'd had no breakfast and no lunch that day. Mir ambled after him, eating wasn’t as important to her.

Pancakes were indeed the order of the day. The zebra Zecora had set a stack of them on the table, and had laid out a small selection of condiments. The normal syrup seemed present, as well as butter and honey, but some of them just looked odd. One of them was striped in the colors of the rainbow. Croix wasn't quite sure how they got it to do that, but he'd seen stranger things done before. As he watched, the Zebra reached into the bubbling cauldron with a ladle in her mouth and pulled out... more pancakes.

“Is that a synthesis technique?” Mir had descended the stairs, and still wore an expression of sleepy befuddlement. Croix smiled up at her. It was so rare for her to let down her guard, and she almost always looked adorable when she did.

“The secrets of the Zebra by many names are known, but they are exclusively our own.”

“Really? I did something similar myself once.”

“Your ability to do this was locked out when you were born, the magic simply is not available to a unicorn.”

Mir had approached the rim of the cauldron and looked in. She was wide awake now, and her posture had straightened and her eyes were locked on to the bubbling liquid in it. “Would you mind if I gave it a try?”

“The ingredients are there, but trying this you must beware.”

Mir's horn ignited, and her blood-red glow suffused the flour and eggs. She lowered them gingerly into the cauldron and stirred. A soft yellow glow appeared as she did, and when it died down she quickly yanked out a single, rather large pancake.

“This is quite a surprise, but it may still be an illusion that fools the eyes.” Zecora bent in for a closer look, but the pancake floated away from her.

“No, I'm going to check the taste first. I don't want you complaining about its taste, after all...”

Mir closed her eyes, then took a bite of the pancake and chewed. She had only chewed it briefly when there was suddenly a bright yellow glow from her cheek and her eyes popped wide open. She spat out the bite, but what came out was not a mass of wet carbohydrate – instead, a yellow flare spattered onto the ground. As it did, the floor burst into more of the brilliant yellow fire.

Zecora deftly grabbed a bottle hanging from the ceiling with her mouth, and knocked the stopper off with her hoof. Water, more water than could possibly be in such a small bottle, shot out onto the fire. Rather than being doused however, the fire was burning merrily under the water and seemed to be spreading along the floor under the force of the deluge.

“*COUGH* *ACK* No not water! It's probably something that doesn't burn normally. Let me see here.” Mir cleared her throat and begun to sing, her horn glowing as she did. “Was granme ga dest gigeadeth fayra.” Nobody except her could hear the lines after that, but there were a few of them. The mysterious brilliant yellow fire vanished and was replaced with a soggy floor. A paper-thin, extremely patchy layer of ice floated over the area where the fire had been most intense.

Mir ceased singing. She wiped some sweat from her brow and turned to face Zecora. “My apologies, I should have remembered what happened last time I used synthesis to cook before I tasted it.” Her face didn't show any contrition.

“We'll compensate you for the damages, of course.” Croix had reached into the coinpurse he carried with his wing.

“I have no need for gold, I merely wish an explanation to be told.” Zecora stood stock still, not taking her widened eyes off the fire. She understood unicorn magic, but neither of those things had been accomplished with its normal form. Unicorn magic could change things into other things, but her secret alchemy made permanent changes. She could see the difference. And the pancake-thing that was still floating in the unicorn's magic grip was a thing in itself, not merely a construct held together by magic. There had been something strange about the extinguishing spell she'd used too. The song she sung, and the way she did it mostly with her eyes closed.

Mir cleared her throat. “I learned synthesis in the land of Metafalss, but something similar called Grathmelding existed in my homeland. The results of synthesis depend on the feelings and preferences of the one making it as much as they depend on the recipe, so I kept ending up making things that were dangerous.”

“I am thankful for your telling us, but are you saying you yourself are dangerous?”

Mir looked down and pawed the ground with her hoof. She opened her mouth, but it had dried out. “Yes,” she squeaked out softly, “I suppose I am.” She grabbed the door with her magic and swung it open. “We should go.”

Croix stared down at the table, still laden with untouched food. “But...”

“I must agree with your stallion young mare, sending you on your way unfilled would be unfair.”

Mir turned around. “I'm sorry for the trouble...”

Zecora laughed. “As long as you no more cook, your recent indiscretions I will overlook. Sit down at the table, and then to serve you I will be able.”

Mir chuckled a little, and took a seat on a cushion at the table. Zecora picked up a spatula with her mouth, then flipped a small stack of pancakes onto the plate in front of Mir. She spit out the spatula, caught it sideways, and hung it back up on the wall.

“But there are some things that I feel are false, I have never heard of the land 'Metafalss'.”

Mir shrugged. “It's a small land, not notable for much besides the great tower there and its flying island. I'm from the country of Neo Elemia, which you may have heard of.”

“This information does not make me content, I've not seen that land on any continent.”

Mir looked up from her plate at Zecora. “You've travelled the world?”

“Many years have passed since I left my land, all the world I wished to understand.”

“Could you show us where you've been on a map?”

The zebra fetched an atlas, but to Mir's shock it was completely different. It didn't match the old world, or the newly remade one. A quick mental calculation with the latitude markers and the scale indicated the sizes might also be slightly different. The zebra was droning on in rhyme about the Minotaur lands and Croix was listening to her, but Mir was studying, hoping for anything familiar. The alphabet was different than any she'd seen before, but she seemed to be reading it fine. There just wasn't a single place name that was familiar at all. She started in the northeast and examined each square of the grid for familiar names, but she'd made it all the way across the map before Croix could finish whatever question he was asking about Minotaur dance contests or something.

She nudged her husband with her hoof. “Was i ga iqwayes her lof.” (1) It wasn't a song, but Hymmnos was a language too. A language she didn't think the zebra spoke. Croix nodded at her, and began to eat a little faster. They'd leave before the Zebra got any more suspicious.

The town of Ponyville stretched out before them. Mir could only stare. She'd never seen anything so colorful that was truly real. In front of her was a sea of colorful ponies wandering the streets. One building looked like a life-size gingerbread house, and another, levitating in the sky (that wasn’t unusual to her), was made of clouds. At least, if all of this was real. She still wasn't sure if this was a really, really good Binary Field program she'd been dropped into or somehow real. She still wasn't sure which one she'd prefer.

She considered what she'd do in the event each one was true. If it was a Binary Field, she had to get oriented, then bring her considerable skills into play and trash the whole simulation. Then she'd need to beat up whoever did it. Depending on who it was and why, “beating up” could have a considerable level of variation.

If it was real, though...

“Dear, we should head in. Find information and lodging. You're staring straight ahead and I'm starting to get worried.”

She shook her head, letting her mane fly. “Sorry. I'm just... overwhelmed.”

If it was real... would she want to go home?

They hadn't expected this when they entered town.

"…Cause I love to make you smile! Smile! Smile!" It looked like a parade. Several ponies were following along behind and singing with the most brilliantly pink pony either Mir or Croix could imagine. Not wanting to be caught up in it, they ducked back into a side street. As they did, Mir noticed an astonishing change coming over the ponies as the pink one reached them. They brightened up, began to march along with her, and started to sing.

She'd have thought it was rehearsed if it wasn't for the market. As she watched, the customers and a few of the merchants joined in, smoothly adding their voices to the song. The parade seemed to draw in every pony around except herself and Croix, as the merchants in the market had finally joined in. A few ponies had begun to dance in time with the music, and others carried the pink mare above the crowd.

"...come on and smiiiiile!" The song ended. The pink mare began trotting off determinedly, and the rest of the crowd resumed their interrupted activities as if a switch had been flipped.

"OK, I think that it's… safe?" Croix wasn't entirely sure of what to say after that. He'd seen performances gather spontaneously, but never quite like that. Maybe it's a song that everyone here knew already?

"Right. We need a place to stay and some idea what's going on. I'll find the latter if you can find the former."

“Good morning, welcome to the Golden Oaks Library, can I help you?” Twilight normally didn't get a lot of business at the library this time of day. The foals were all in school, and the adults of Ponyville either were busy with work or didn't seem to read much (they also didn't attend her History of Magic Ponygroup). As she opened the door, she was startled to find a pony she'd never seen before, a dim-colored unicorn mare with a sharp-looking horn and deep violet eyes like her own. For a brief moment, the stranger stared at Twilight's horn in a way that made her a little uncomfortable.

“Yes.” The new unicorn looked around at the books behind Twilight. “My husband and I come from a different country, and I'm afraid his literacy in Equestrian is rather poor. I'd like a book covering as wide a variety of subjects as possible at a moderate reading level so I can help him. Also, a book covering the basics of magic.”

Twilight put a hoof to her jaw and rolled her eyes in thought. “Oh, I know! We just got in the latest edition of the Illustrated Foal's Encyclopedia. It's only one volume but it has a little bit about just about everything of importance. It's still in its box, but...” her magic reached out and grabbed a book. “...here's a book on the basics of unicorn magic, although you might be a little old for it.”

As the purple... unicorn? (pegasus? pegicorn?) went to get the encyclopedia, Mir began to flip through the book on magic. Apparently “unicorn magic” was considered a wide field of study, and was regarded as a normal thing. Unicorns made up one third of the population of Equestria, and were considered more-or-less equal to everyone else. Yes, this place just might be paradise. But more immediately, she had some diagrams about how their magic worked. It seemed strangely... familiar. That triangular shape there, at the base of the horn. She'd seen a triangular loop just like that plenty of times. But this was impossible.

Croix had given some thought to trying to avoid looking out of place, but had decided it was futile. The armor that he wore was a rather specific design, and it didn't look like these guys had ever heard of the Grand Bell Knights. It was also too heavy and bulky when not worn for him to take it with him in a bag, and too valuable to simply leave somewhere. Mir's bodysuit could be folded up fairly easily, it was very flexible aside from the shoulder pads, but he didn't have that option. At least the lance could be moved onto his back to not look like he was here for a fight. It was still there though, and obviously pointy.

He sighed as he walked. The townspeople nevertheless were unhappy to see a stallion in armor, evidently fearing he was part of someone else's army. Someone Else's Army always had a bad reputation. One pony, with a rose on its hip, had even fainted at the sight of him.

He began to wonder if, when he found the inn, they would even be willing to deal with him. And then...

“Darling, wherever did you get that armor?” A white – unicorn, Mir had called them – had walked up to him, and was inspecting the armor. She kept her tone neutral about it, so he couldn't tell if she was as negative about it as everyone else. He figured honesty was the best policy, and besides, he’d been raised to be courteous to a lady.

“It's from the Grand Bell Knights of Metafalss ma’am.”

“I've never heard of such a place.” She gave a little huff, and then her expression shifted to unabashed joy. “It compliments you so well! It's also very protective. I've done a little work with such things in the past, and it's terribly difficult to get armor that provides protection to the legs and belly while preserving adequate mobility! But I'm more of a seamstress, so my input was largely limited to the dress uniform. Still, the color matches you fairly well. Is that hair dye?”

“No, I'm naturally this color.” He probably shouldn’t mention the transformation he’d undergone. The color at least was more or less normal.

“Anyway, you must give me the name of whoever made this. I'm certain the Princesses would love to hear that someone has made armor that fits a pegasus that well.”

“It's Cynthia. She lives all the way in Metafalss so it'll take a while to pass on that message.”

“Is that so far away?”

“It's about as far away as it gets.” He sighed. “By the way, I didn't catch your name. I'm Croix Bartel.” He held out his hoof for a shake.

“Oh I'm dreadfully sorry, how rude of me! My name is Rarity.” She fluttered her eyelashes at him. Was he her type? He'd better cut that off. He shook her hoof once with a slight firmness and then dropped his leg.

“My wife and I are looking for a place to stay here tonight, do you know a good inn?”

Rarity blanched slightly, then shook her head. The fact that he’d put “My wife” as his first two words of that sentence didn’t escape her. “I assure you my interest in you was entirely aesthetic. In any case, I'm sorry darling, but the local inn is almost always terrible. It's run by a pony with a penny-pinching mark and all, so he keeps pocketing disaster relief money instead of fixing leaks. I tell you what, as an apology for my rudeness earlier, I'll let you and your wife stay at the guest room in my house tonight.”

Croix paused for a moment. “Are you planning to take a look at the armor while I'm asleep?”

“Oh good heavens no, not without your permission.”

“Sorry. It seemed like for a while in my life everybody was trying to kill me, so there's a little paranoia working its way around my head.”

“Everypony was trying to kill you?”

“'Everypony'?”

“Well, I suppose it couldn't be literally everypony, but...”

“I have to admit, I've never heard that word before.”

Rarity stared at him blankly.

“I did mention I'm from far away, right?”

Twilight emerged from the basement with a brand new one-volume encyclopedia, still in its wrap. She tore it off and stuck on the library record sheet as she walked, humming to herself.

WHAM! Out of nowhere (to her), she collided with a pony standing stock still in her path. It was the strange unicorn again, staring at her horn, this time far more intently.

“You. Where were you made? How were you made!?”

Twilight's wings snapped open and she stumbled backwards, catching herself before she fell down the stairs. The strange unicorn was now leaning in towards her, eyes locked on the base of her horn, her mouth intensely locked into perfect stiffness.

“I uh, uh wow that's kind of personal, isn't it?”

“Answer the question. Where and how were you made?” The strange unicorn’s tone carried a certain intensity to it that implied she wouldn’t appreciate a non-answer.

“Well, my, uh, my mother and father met in a back room of the Canterlot Library, they loved each other very much, eleven months later I was born, here's your book now please leave.” Twilight thrust the book into the other mare's face, but she didn't so much as blink.

A blood red aura grabbed the book and moved it into the stranger’s saddle bags. “You're saying you're completely biological?”

“Um. Yes, yes I am I suppose.” Twilight wasn't sure where this conversation was going. She was so unsure she failed to even generate a possible alarming scenario. Her eyes flitted left and right looking for something in the room that might help her understand what was going on, but there was nothing else abnormal to see.

The other mare had advanced deeper into Twilight's personal space. “You're telling me you have a biological triangular nuclear loop, and that every unicorn has one, and that you make up one third of the nation's population?”

Twilight was starting to sweat, and had adopted a considerable lean away from the intruder. “I have no idea what a triangular nuclear loop is, but yes to the last part.”

“Huh.” The stranger's intensity failed. She sat down on her haunches and her eyes went wide, staring straight ahead.

“Uh, are you ok?” Twilight mentally reviewed the Mental Health Act (978) and the Mental Health Act (1001)(also known as the Smarty Pants Act). As a Princess (although she didn't like to think of herself that way) she could in fact order involuntary commitment for observation on her own authority. Not that she would do such a thing... normally. Although this was pretty weird.

“Yeah, I...” the mare paused, and looked away from Twilight again. “I got carried away by something.”

Twilight shrugged. She seemed to be ok now. “Alright, now may I see your library card?”

Mir sighed as she sat down on the park bench, watching the songbirds in the tree nearby. Half-tucked awkwardly into a pocket on her bodysuit was her library card. The problem with skin-tight bodysuits is that they never, ever have decent pockets. For the time being though, she'd gotten an invaluable source of information. She turned to the back of the encyclopedia and opened it, then smacked her face with her hoof. The books in Meta Falss had been written back-to-front because they wrote right-to-left. Here they wrote left-to-right like in her homeland. Had she really spent that much time reading Meta Falssean books? Oh well, no harm done. She'd read the entries in reverse order and pretend she’d meant to do that.

Besides, she was interested in the Zebra she met earlier. She'd also have to read that book on unicorn magic, but first some general knowledge. Her conversation with the librarian had made her realize that terms for things might be completely different here. How could a pony with an evident love of knowledge and a triangular nuclear loop not know what one was?

First entry from the back... “Zebrica”

By the time Croix met up with her at the park bench, she'd gotten to “Sombra.” That bastard reminded her of a bunch of people she'd known once. She smiled wickedly as she remembered them. That was one thing she wasn't sorry at all about.

“I found somepony that will put us up for the night.” Croix seemed a little disheveled.

“Somepony?”

“Yeah, instead of saying 'someone' or 'somebody' they say 'somepony' and I don't know why. They know 'somebody' but they don't use it except when talking about other species.”

“And how'd you learn this?”

“I ran into a lady that really liked the armor. I told her I already had someone but she said it was entirely aesthetic. She works in fashion, but she also seems to be a regular high society type. Reminded me of Cloche a little.”

“And is she the one putting us up for the night?”

“Yeah. She said she had a guest room.” Croix pointed with his hoof off towards the Carousel Boutique, and Mir followed his hoof with her gaze.

“Alright, let's go meet up with her, then go find some dinner. Also, I may have angered a Princess.”

Croix sighed. “Do I really want to know?”

She sighed. “I got freaked out about a thing they're too backwards here to understand. They don't know how good they have it.”

Croix was about to ask her to tone it down a little when he spotted Rarity walking towards him.

“Oh, there you are darling. Is this your wife?”

Croix turned toward her. “Yes, yes she is. Rarity, this is Mir. Mir, Rarity.”

Mir regarded the white unicorn and gave a curt nod, but didn't say anything.

“Well, it's nice to meet you as well. That's an... interesting thing you're wearing.” Rarity wasn't a particular fan of the bodysuit, and her distaste for it was evident despite her trying to hide it, mostly due to her leaning away from it.

“Oh, it's mostly a functional thing. I normally don't wear much.” Mir unhooked the suit and levitated it into her saddlebags. “Ah, I love being able to do that.”

Rarity turned towards Croix. “In any case, I was heading out for dinner tonight, and I thought I'd help you out by including you with me and my friend.”

Mir responded before Croix could. “You're inviting us to eat with one of your friends at a restaurant?”

“Yes.”

“We accept.” Croix nodded his assent and the matter was settled.

“Good, I know Twilight will be very interested in you.”

Mir and Croix exchanged looks as they fell in behind her.

Rarity sat down on the cushion next to the table, and beckoned her guests to sit on the two unoccupied cushions. Croix sat across from Rarity, leaving Mir to sit across from Twilight. As she sat down, the Princess gave her a quizzical glance, then turned to Rarity.

Twilight whispered to Rarity, “do you know these ponies?” She probably thought Mir couldn't hear her, but Mir could hear much better than most people expected. Just one of the perks of being, well, her.

Rarity whispered back, “they're from out of town, I'm sparing them a night at the inn.” She grimaced.

Twilight turned her gaze towards Mir slightly. “They seem a little weird to me. Or at least she does, she freaked out staring at me.”

Rarity huffed. “Well, you're an Alicorn, so you have to get used to the fact that it happens sometimes.” She turned to Croix, and announced more loudly “Sorry about that. I shall pay for your and your wife's dinners tonight to make up for...” she looked pointedly at Twilight, who looked defiantly back, “...our rudeness.”

“Nonsense,” Croix countered, “you haven't done anything rude. Besides, we've got a pretty good income, we'll pay our way.”

“Oh?” Twilight looked at him. “What do you do for a living, mister...?”

“Croix Bartel. My wife's name is Mir. I'm a bodyguard, and she's also a bodyguard and occasional writer.”

“Oh!” Not all the suspicion had vanished from Twilight's face, but enthusiasm was battling for territory. “What do you write about?”

Mir blushed slightly, and turned to look at Croix. He nodded slightly. “I... mostly write light novels. They're popular with many demographics, but mostly the 10-13 female and 25-35 male ones.”

Twilight nodded. “That seems to be oddly common. I'd recommend you just roll with your older male audience and not worry about them too much. In any case, where do you operate as bodyguards that requires such armor?” She pointed a hoof at Croix.

Mir fielded the question. “Our homeland used to have many people who did things because they could, rather than stopping to think if they should.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “People?”

Mir hung her head. “There were many different races represented among the fools of the past. In any case, the people of today live with the consequences of their foul experiments.”

Twilight's ears drooped slightly. “I'm sorry to hear that. We have a similar situation with the Everfree Forest, over that way...” she pointed with her hoof.

“I noticed it seemed odd when we passed through. We got attacked by wooden dogs or something, but it wasn't worth mentioning. Back home we fought a giant dragon made of wood.” Mir omitted the flesh-and-blood dragon they'd fought earlier.

“Timber wolves? My, how ghastly.” Rarity took a sip of her water. “But enough shop talk, we should order something, there's a server approaching us. I believe I shall have the water chestnut sandwich, and a side of tomato soup.”

Mir looked through the menu. No meat at all. “I'll have the bean soup, I suppose. Croix?”

“I'll have the bean soup as well.”

Twilight didn't bother with the menu. “I'll have a daisy sandwich and a side tomato soup as well.”

The server finished jotting down the orders and took off. Mir sighed. Maybe she'd be able to get through this day without anything terrible going wrong.

Croix and Rarity were chattering about armorsmithing or something as they walked back, so Mir decided she'd do a little reading while walking. She was going at a pretty good rate, there were a lot of “M”s but she'd busted through to the “L”s before they'd made it home. “Luna, Princess” was the next entry. She came to an abrupt halt.

Maybe it was just a coincidence, but the whole “trying to overthrow her sister and destroy the world, being imprisoned for centuries, trying again, then getting stopped by her sister's pet attack dog and friends” thing seemed uncomfortably familiar.

Both types of “virtual reality” she was familiar with operated a lot like dreams. Your mind (or the host’s mind if you were in someone else’s) would fill in gaps with the faces of people they knew, or with people they had a subconscious connection to.

If this was a cosmosphere, this would be the role she'd slot into, but it definitely wasn't that. She knew the soulspace like she knew the sound of her own voice. If it was a virtual world, it'd have to be some kind of binary field that was simultaneously more realistic than anything she'd ever come up with, and really, really weird.

“Dear? You stopped.” Croix's voice brought her back to reality (if this was reality). She lowered the book and blinked at him.

“Sorry, just saw something interesting.”

“Oh, don't worry about it. I'm friends with Twilight, I've seen her buried in a book walking around until she exited the town.” Rarity wrinkled her nose a bit. “At least she doesn't fly while reading. Anyway, Croix told me you don't like to wear clothing?”

Mir looked up to see her husband giving a small smirk from behind Rarity. Getting over his tendency to defer to women enough to get him to tease back had been tricky, but it was worth it most of the time. Sometimes she regretted it though. “I just never saw it as necessary. Everyone back home seems to think it's terribly important, so I gave in, but it's hard for me sometimes.”

Rarity looked puzzled by that. “Hard for you?”

Mir sighed. Croix had been on her about trying to deal with it. “I have claustrophobia. Being touched unbidden can freak me out, and tight clothing is a huge problem. I overcame it to wear my bodysuit, since it gives me help with magical stuff, but...” she looked down and trailed off.

“Oh, oh I'm sorry. But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the wonders of looking great! You've got the frame of a model – not the tall, princess-lite kind, but the more demure, Fluttershy kind!”

“Like hell I'm demure!” Mir's outburst didn't seem to make it through to Rarity at all.

“It's merely a matter of designing a sufficiently comfortable outfit.”

Mir grimaced. “She's not listening at all.”

Croix shrugged (using his wings as well). “Let's roll with it. She is putting us up for the night.”

Rarity opened the door to the boutique. “You two sit tight a bit, I'll go to my inspiration room and SWEETIE BELLE!”

As Mir watched, a unicorn filly ran through the door and hugged her sister. “There you are, Rarity! I've been looking for you.”

“Uh, dear Sweetie Belle, you do remember that tonight is the night I eat out with Twilight, correct?”

“Oh.” The little unicorn's smile dropped briefly. “But listen. My parents are going to send me to Canterlot to get tutored! I don’t want to spend all summer without my friends! Can you tutor me? Pleeeeeaaassse?” Mir could swear Sweetie Belle's eyes had grown larger making that face.

“Oh, I'm terribly sorry Sweetie. My job has been consuming all my time lately, and I promised this nice lady a sample outfit. So I'm afraid I won't be able to for awhile. Why not get Twilight to do it? She's been helping you up until now.”

“But..” Sweetie Belle pouted. “Mom insists on a ‘full time’ tutor.”

Rarity frowned briefly, then sighed and began to move towards the inspiration room. “Sweetie, I’m not a full time tutor either I’m afraid. I don’t even have any accreditation.”

“What’s an accreditation?”

“It…” Rarity paused in the open door. “It means that you’ve completed a test to prove you can do something. Tutoring, in this case. And I really am sorry.” Rarity turned away. The door to the room closed behind her.

Sweetie slunk off without saying anything.

“Elements of Harmony”

Mir was still getting an uncomfortable feeling of deja vu from the encyclopedia. A powerful emotion magic that purifies evil and chaos? It reminded her of a few things she'd messed around with in the past. One of which had been used on her. If her theory that this was some sort of simulation she’d been slotted into was correct, that was another point of commonality between her and Princess Luna, former wielder of 3/6 of the elements. Uncanny. However, this was not distracting enough from the impending disaster awaiting when Rarity would come out of the inspiration room and discover what “freaking out” meant for someone like Mir. She needed to move around, try to think about how to get out of this.

As she stood up, she heard a faint sound. Someone was singing.

She slunk into the hallway and peered into the next room. It was that little unicorn from earlier, Sweetie Belle.

“I don’t want to leave my friends behind...” The song sounded a little bombastic for such a small, sad pony, but it really seemed to be working. Mir closed her eyes and let the emotions flow through her. She could feel the strength of the bonds Sweetie shared with Applebloom and Scootaloo (whoever they were) and how they stood together against the trials of life. She could feel how Sweetie’s rivals tried to break them down, but they stood up again and again. She could feel the filly’s dread at spending time alone in a strange place.

It was a shame she didn't know that much about unicorn magic, even though she'd devoured the book about it in between sessions with the encyclopedia. It seemed that each unicorn would have difficulty using magic until they had a “breakthrough” one day. The book had given some examples of a breakthrough, but hadn't really given much guidance on how to achieve one. It was intended for a pony that could already use magic. If only she needed a song tutor instead... Mir's eyes widened. Maybe there was something she could do after all.

“I shall help with you with your magic!” Mir came in naturally after the close of the verse. She sang of her experience with magic in foreign lands, and of the power of magic mixed with song. They did a couple lines as a duet on how wonderful magic is, and then it ended.

“So you can really help me with my magic, miss...” Sweetie Belle paused, realizing she didn't know the name of her sister's visitor.

“Mir. And you'll need your parents' permission. They have a habit of getting scared of 'strangers' and such.”

“Yeah! But my sister likes you so you can't be a bad pony.” Sweetie Belle began to trot out of the room, almost bouncing “Will you be here tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I'll get permission and see you then!”

Mir smiled. She hadn’t expected to see anything like that. The ability convey feelings so vividly with song, and such wonderful musical talent. Song Magic was a fundamental property of the universe. The filly should in theory be able to learn it. All she needed to do was find a way to give her a song.

Unfortunately, these pleasant thoughts distracted her from figuring out a good way to get out of Rarity’s offer.

“I think I've got it, darling!”

Mir gulped. It was the last chance to talk her out of it. Rarity's mane looked slightly messier and she'd put on a pair of red glasses.

“Listen. Rarity.” She wasn't listening. Mir grabbed her foreleg with her magic. “This is a bad idea. I can't control myself when I'm in a freakout, and I'm a lot stronger than I look.”

Rarity's horn glowed. Mir felt a small “tap” on the end of her horn and her magic cut off. “I know you're worried, but it's nothing to be afraid of. It'll fit perfectly, you won't feel any anxiety.”

“Your funeral.” No getting out of it. Mir closed her eyes and began to take deep breaths.

“Alright, first for the dress. I went with a daring red and black look. You seem like a pony that likes to look dangerous, am I right dear?” Rarity’s magic lifted up a red and black dress that did, Mir had to admit, look kind of nice. It had a geometric design that got more and more complicated as it reached the edges, and Mir wondered if it Rarity had built it with some kind of fractal algorithm. It didn't seem like the kind of thing she'd do, but she'd seen some of the stuff tucked away in the back of Rarity's storage. That astronomical costume looked hideous, but the math that went into it seemed impressive.

“Yes.” Mir could feel the dress levitated over her, then zipped up.

“It's about as sheer as I can make a dress that goes over fur. Now, on top of it we have something special. A new formal saddle.”

Saddle. That's the thing that you sit on when you ride a horse. Or maybe a mule. Mule (2), like that rat bastard supervisor nicknamed her. No, stay calm, deep breaths.

Croix now was beginning to get worried. He approached Rarity. “I'm not sure she's comfortable doing this.”

Rarity seemed to be entirely focused on the saddle she was levitating. “Oh this is so daring.”

Croix gulped. “It's more daring than you think.” He shifted his stance forward, bracing himself. He could tackle Rarity to the ground and stop this by force, but so could Mir. Maybe the dressmaker was right and Mir wouldn’t have a reaction? He’d wait and see.

Rarity levitated the saddle onto Mir's back. She tightened the straps. Nothing seemed to have happened, but Mir's breathing had gotten far more rapid.

“Ok it looks nice, but you should probably take it off, she's hyperventilating…” Croix had helped Mir try to overcome her claustrophobia in the past. There was no way she could speak without breaking her concentration on not freaking out.

“OK, it looks good, it just needs the strap tightened just a bit more...” Rarity grabbed the end of the strap with her mouth and pulled. Croix’s lunge toward her suddenly ground to a halt. Too late.

Mir's hyperventilating stopped for a brief second. Then she rolled over wildly, flailing her hooves and thrashing her neck and tail about. “AAAAAAAGETITOFFAAAAAA!!!!”

Rarity was flung into the air, and then smacked by one of Mir's hooves. She flew limply through the air, slammed into the ceiling, and dropped to the floor. Croix didn't look, Mir was still screaming and his wife had to be his priority.

He sunk on to his belly and inched towards Mir. Most of her thrashing was directed at areas in front of, above, and behind her, so the sides were clear unless she turned. Her horn was pulsing with scarlet light, but she couldn't seem to get a coherent spell going. If she did, he'd probably be paste. It was do or die.

His muzzle brushed up against the side. The buckle for the saddle's strap was on her stomach, right between the flailing sets of hooves. He'd get smashed. “Mir, it's me, hold still so I can get it off you!” The flailing halted. Croix didn't hesitate, reaching in and biting down on the buckle. He threw his head back to pull it off.

Mir righted herself and opened her eyes. The strap wasn't bothering her anymore, but the dressmaker lay in a groaning heap off to her side. She shook her head and sighed. “I told you this would happen. Here, let me help you with that.”

Rarity looked up at the fourteen ponies filling her shop. Seven of them began to chant softly while sliding about the room, and then seven medicine bottles, each with an unclear creature of some kind on top, appeared over her. They all poured pink liquid on her as one, and her vision snapped back into clarity. “I am...” Rarity paused to consider her words. This situation had gotten entirely out of hand. “...sorry for any undue inconvenience I caused you.”

Croix and Mir looked at each other briefly, then Mir turned back to Rarity. “I'm sorry for this as well. I should have just refused the saddle rather than try to tough it out.” She looked over her shoulder at the dress she was still wearing; somehow it had come through her flailing and thrashing completely intact, not a stitch out of place. “I'll take it without the saddle, though.”

Rarity practically glowed as she leaped to her feet, all traces of hesitation or fear forgotten. “Think nothing of it, I'm merely glad to have helped you with your fashion problems. Although, it may be a bit forward of me to say this...” Rarity lowered her head and pawed at the ground with her forehoof. “...I think you may need to see a specialist about the claustrophobia.”

Mir shook her head. “It's been worked on already. I can tolerate pe... ponies touching me now, even if I wasn't expecting it. The saddle was just... too tight.”

Rarity looked down at the discarded saddle, then at Mir's dress. “I suppose it looks alright without the saddle. There's a bit more solid color on the center of your back than I'd have gone with if I knew you would skip it, but it’s still magnifique.”

Mir settled into bed; Croix's wing wrapped around her felt far warmer than the blanket. For her first day in an alien society, it'd gone fairly well. Tomorrow she'd see if she could help the mare's sister. Her back felt a bit itchy where the saddle had been, though.

(1) “We have to leave as soon as we can!”
(2) Mir’s name in the original Japanese version is “Mule.” I have to say I prefer the localized name.

Phase 1: Awakenings, Part 3

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Princess Luna spent a lot of time in Ponyville's dreams. Relatively speaking of course, in total it was only about an hour per night, but that's still far more time than any other city in Equestria got for itself.

It wouldn't be hard to guess why. Discord had proclaimed his intent to make Ponyville the Chaos Capitol of Equestria, but really it would be that even without him. Cerberus didn't wander over to Canterlot or Manehatten after all. No, he went to where the crazy things happened, the kind you had nightmares about.

She especially checked on Twilight and her friends each night, since they were important, not just in general but to her. Usually it didn’t take too long, though. Applejack and family: fine. Fluttershy: fine. Rainbow Dash: fine. Pinky Pie and the Cakes: fine. Twilight and Spike: fine. Rarity: fine, but with guests in her house?

Luna had never seen overnight guests in Rarity's place other than the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They were fast asleep, both in the same bed. A white pegasus stallion with purple hair and a cutie mark she couldn’t interpret (two lines of different colors), and a grey unicorn with black hair and a cutie mark covered by the wing wrapped around her.

She'd check on their dreams too, since she was in the area; Ponyville was ahead of schedule tonight. First she entered the dream of the stallion. He was dreaming about protecting his wife (the unicorn was definitely his wife, she was sure of that) from some sort of giant monster made of stuffed animals. They seemed to be winning pretty handily (he was slamming it around with a rocket-propelled lance) so she'd move on and check his wife.

As she prepared to enter the unicorn's dream, she noticed an odd distortion. Although the dreamer was clearly right there, the dream itself appeared to be... elsewhere. It was odd, but it was no obstacle. She'd enter from the dreamer's brain and ride to the destination. There was an odd feeling of resistance, but she soon found herself floating in a blue void of strange shapes she couldn't reach. The dreamer didn't seem to be present.

Luna's first instinct was to move around, but there didn't seem to be anywhere to move to. She could tell that the dreamer was somewhere here, but something was blocking her senses. She would have to cast a failsafe spell to dispel the interference.

Before she could begin the spell, a figure appeared. It was tall and slightly on the thin side, bipedal, and wore red and purple armor. It had red eyes, pale skin and white hair and reminded her of the “humans” Twilight Sparkle had encountered on the other side of the mirror.

It also was neither the dreamer, nor part of the dream.

The figure drew a sword and held it out, pointed at Luna. “Who are you, and how did you get here, intruder!”

Luna bristled. “I am no intruder! As Princess of the Night,” she stomped the 'ground' for emphasis, “it is my duty to enter the dreams of my subjects to assist them against Nightmares.”

The figure didn't display any recognition. “Mother is no subject of yours.” Frost began to form on the blade.

Luna had encountered foreign ponies before, and sometimes they had similar feelings about this. “Very well. I shall respect her wishes and leave. First though, tell me who you are to be in her head. Part of my duty is to prevent undue mental influences.”

The figure lowered the sword slightly, his eyes remaining fixed on Luna. “I am her mind guardian. She wishes me to be here.”

“Thank you.” Not wishing to provoke any confrontation, she withdrew from the dream immediately. She'd have to make a note to ask Rarity about her foreign visitors, to make sure things were above board.

After the previous night, the morning seemed positively mundane. Mir woke up, awakened Croix, and joined their host for breakfast. This morning's fare wasn't quite as appetizing (some sort of green smoothie) but was good enough. Mir noticed that she'd been eating less protein, but didn't feel the need for any more. Judging by the chart clumsily hidden behind the medicine cabinet, Rarity was on a diet, so it would be low in carbohydrates as well. Also, she’d have to check on what her mind guardian wanted, but he wasn’t flagging it urgent so it could wait.

Rarity was eying her curiously as she levitated Mir's glass to her. “Darling, whatever was that medicine you gave me last night?”

Uh-oh. Mir didn't want to give out information, but “what medicine did you give me” isn't a good question to answer with “no comment.” She decided to come clean. “That wasn't medicine. That was magic.”

“It looked like a medicine bottle pouring all over me.”

Great. “The visual effects aren't real. It's just a manifestation of my feelings about healing. Lots of people where I come from have similar magic, but with a different construct.”

“Oh?” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “That's not how I thought magic worked.”

“I'm pretty sure I didn't go to the same school you did.” Mir figured that line was good enough to smirk a little, but it didn't seem to affect Rarity.

“In any case, it's curious. I woke up today with no bruises and not even a scrape. Even the best healing spells just accelerate healing somewhat.”

Mir wasn’t particularly interested in giving away too much information, better to give a little and not let on that there’s more. “Where I come from, considerable effort was placed into Blue Magic research.” Mir mentally smacked herself. They’ve never heard that term here, so she’d accomplished literally the opposite of that.

“Blue magic?”

Mir composed herself for a brief moment to avoid physically smacking herself. “It's how spells are categorized back where I’m from. Blue magic is the category that healing spells, spells that protect you from hostile environments, and spells that enhance a person's abilities go into. There's also Green Magic, which affects the local environment directly.”

Rarity moved her hoof almost to contact with her chin. “Hmm. The color wheel usually uses blue, yellow and red, but I recall light uses blue, green, and red. Is there such a thing as Red Magic?”

Mir hated to lie. At least, directly. It reminded her of them. They just said whatever they wanted. But the pony had asked a direct question. “Yes. Red magic is... for defensive purposes.”

“Oh.” Rarity backed up a step and looked away slightly. “I understand. A lady must not talk of such things.” She gave Mir a wink. “I understand the need to have a means of defending one's self, and that it's not a subject for polite company,” she whispered.

Rarity walked to the sink and began cleaning her glass. Croix got himself seconds while Mir contemplated her situation. What did she really want here? She wanted the ponies to not fear her. That'd be nice. They seemed to posses the all the virtues she could hope for, and none of them had been ponies after all. She could live here happily... if it was real. Well, she’d wait for some means of truly determining if it was or not.

It didn’t take Sweetie Belle long to show up. With her were what were obviously her parents, a large white unicorn stallion and a purplish unicorn mare. Rarity lead them to her kitchen and departed to pick up a few things. Mir took a measured breath to suppress any nervousness she might or might not feel.

The mare gave Mir an appraising look. “Hello, miss… Mir was it? Sweetie tells us that you’re a foreign tutor staying here in Ponyville.”

“Yes.”

“So, what sort of credentials do you have?”

Mir smiled, the mare was direct and to the point and this was proceeding as she’d foreseen. “I’ve been a technical advisor on magic theory to the government of Meta Falss for two years, and in that time I taught one of the current diarchs a great deal about magic theory.”

The mare turned to her husband. “I’ve never heard of that country, have you?”

“Afraid I haven’t.”

Mir knew this would be tricky. “It’s quite far from here, on a sort of floating island. Since it’s suspended in the sky, they have to be aware of the magical lifting system’s status at all times.”

The mare looked at her, a little confused. “That’s… nice. Do you have any credentials?”

Mir knew this was coming. “Well, I wasn’t planning to come here in an official capacity, but I do have some of my published work with me.” Her aura lifted a large, thick book. She opened it to the title page and held it for the family to read.

“A Technical History of Ar Ciel… by Sasha… editing and Song Magic section by Mir.”

“It’s a university textbook. I get really sweet royalties for it. When I get back I’m going to take the notes I’ve made in this copy and start on the second edition.”

“So, what is song magic, anyway?”

Mir was really glad she’d taken some time to think this through, even if it had come at the expense of avoiding the saddle incident. “Song magic is an ancient form of magic practiced in my land. It converts the feelings of the singer into power, and is capable of many effects that normal unicorn magic cannot perform as efficiently, including large-scale materialization. I won’t charge for my instruction, as this is in part an experiment to see if unicorns from… this background can learn it well.”

“Well!” The father suddenly stood up. Mir wasn’t anticipating this. He frowned at her, almost glaring, and then turned to Sweetie. “We’ve got to accept then! Sweetie, you show her that you can learn anything she throws at you! This is for the pride of Equestria!”

“DEAR!” The mother seemed more surprised at his outburst than anyone else, as she stared at her husband. “It sounds dangerous! Don’t you know that turning feelings into power is how crazy magic artifacts work?”

Well, that was something Mir had planned for. “Please, do not worry. I swear on my life I will not allow my instruction to harm Sweetie Belle. I will teach her responsible use of any magic she learns from me as well.”

“I don’t know you, so I’m not sure I can trust your word on that.”

Mir gulped. This was the critical point. She’d have to think of something fas–

“However, I suppose I could trust a Pinkie Promise.”

That was a new one. “Pinkie… Promise?”

The mare nodded. “It’s… well, you’re not from around here, so you wouldn’t know, but in Ponyville we have an oath called the Pinkie Promise. If you break it, Pinkie’ll… I don’t know, but it’ll be bad.”

Mir nodded in turn. “Since I’m not going to break my promise in the first place, I don’t need the details. Is there a particular form?”

“Yes. First you Pinkie Promise, then say the oath. I’ll lead you.”

“Ok. I, Mir, Pinkie Promise to allow no harm to come to Sweetie Belle as the result of my instruction.”

“Now repeat after me, ‘Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.’”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Mir mimed the accompanying gestures as well.

“Well, now I don’t have to worry about you being some sort of huckster or foalnapper. I’ll let you teach her, but she’d better learn something.”

“Thank you.” Mir was glad to get that over with. “Sweetie, I shall begin your lessons tonight. Right now I must go to the library, and make sure I have proper Equestrian terms for all advanced terminology.”

“YAY! Thank you thank you thank you!” Sweetie Belle began to bounce around the room.

He couldn’t believe his fortune. There was a nice timberwolf lair near the edge of Ponyville, totally abandoned. It was also virtually impossible to see from the air, only accessible through cracks in a rock formation. He didn’t know what had happened to the timberwolves, but it wouldn’t matter at all. He’d have plenty of time to work on his new treasures here.

It wasn’t terribly unusual to find a pile of books surrounding a pony in the Golden Oaks Library. It was however very unusual for it to be a pony other than Twilight Sparkle. “Uh huh, so this substance in the helical amplifier MUST be Parameno, then that must be grathnode. It’s like a biological Carillion Organito! Fascinating…”

“You’re talking out loud again.”

Mir looked up at the Princess. “My apologies. This is all so very interesting.”

Twilight frowned. “What’s so interesting about a helical amplifier? All unicorns… have… them…” Normally it’d be the height of rudeness to pay too much attention to a unicorn’s horn, but now the stranger had called attention to it. The straight sides and the grooves in it seemed to rule out any possibility of a helical amplifier being inside it, and without a helical amplifier there was nothing to provide energy to the unicorn’s magic. “How are you doing unicorn magic without a helical amplifier?”

Mir chuckled. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you. The details are a state secret.”

Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “State secret? Of which state? I’m a princess you know.” A crown teleported onto Twilight’s head to emphasize the point. “You never did tell me where you were from when I filled out that library card, you just said you were a temporary resident of Ponyville.”

“I”m from the country of El Elemia, in the Sol Ciel region.”

Twilight paused. “I’ve never heard of either of those.”

“Perhaps we can exchange an embassy later. Right now I’ve got to finish this here.” The princess still seemed to dislike her, probably because she got a bit too forward earlier, and she’d need to smooth it over somehow. Reconciliation had never been her forte. She could offer to sing with her, but it wouldn’t have much meaning if she didn’t know her very well. She’d have to put it on the backburner. If this place was even real, which she still wasn’t 100% sure about. The best policy would be to treat it as real until she was sure it wasn’t. Even if the pony thing was still weird.

“So, what are you working on?” The princess seemed a little calmer.

“I’m working on a translation of a technical textbook from my country.” She levitated the Technical History a small amount. “The terms you use for things are different than we do, even if the rest of the language is similar enough.” That was another strange thing. The book she brought with her was still in the same language as far as she could tell, but ponies could read it just fine. Most likely it was the inverse of whatever process allowed her to read pony writing.

Twilight began to walk away. “Alright, I’ll leave you to your work.” She ascended the stairs to her room, walked up to her desk, then looked over her shoulder. “Spike, please bring me the big atlas.”

Croix didn’t really like not being needed. This town seemed safe enough and nobody here had it in for Mir, so she didn’t need him around. Nob… nopony needed bodyguarding, so he couldn’t hire out. Maybe he could push crates around a warehouse or something, but that wasn’t really his style at all. Rarity wouldn’t even let him help with the shopping. He still wore the armor though, since this town was so strange. One of the residents claimed monsters attacked it with more regularity than the train schedule, but he hadn’t seen any so far. With nothing else to do he’d been wandering the town, taking in the sights.

“Cheeeep cheep cheep cheep CHEEEEEP!”

Croix turned around. It almost sounded like… a bird chorus? It was coming from a hill in the town park, atop which was a tiny stage. A yellow pegasus was conducting a group of birds perched on a metal frame. Only a few ponies were standing in front of the stage, but as the song finished they enthusiastically stamped their front hooves. Figuring that was the equivalent of clapping, Croix did as well. The pegasus on the stage bowed (as did the birds, to his surprise), and then the curtain came down. The crowd began to disperse, except for a multicolored pegasus standing front and center. He knew Mir would love this, so he needed to get the details on the next performance, and this pegasus seemed like a dedicated fan.

“Excuse me, miss…”

“Dash. Rainbow Dash. The newest member of the Wonderbolts Reserve and – whoa that’s some nice armor, where’d you get that?” She began to lean in for a closer look.

“It’s nothing really special. Just a customized version of the armor they issue back in Meta Falss.”

“Yeah, but look at this wing protection. And the leg joints. The old pegasus warriors used to have suits sort of like that, but I don’t think they looked quite as good. Spitfire wants me to learn how to fly in a replica for ‘Heritage Flights’ and I’ve been putting it off. How about a race? I’ll put on my armor to make it fair, even if I’ll still win.” She nudged him with her elbow.

“Well, I’m not sure I should, I’m trying to learn more about this performance, my wife would have really loved it.”

“Oh, that’s Fluttershy, my oldest friend. She’s been bringing the bird choir out more lately since she’s gotten over her stage fright a bit, but she doesn’t tell anypony in advance. I only managed to show up because I have awesome vision and saw her from two miles up.” She tilted her head and grinned slyly. “Buuuuut I’ll introduce you if you fly an armored-up race with me.”

“What?”

“Racing is the best form of flying, other than stunts of course. And yeah I guess stunt racing. Anyway if I can race in that old thing I can do anything they ask me.” She flew into the air and smacked her hoof against her chest to emphasize her point, but then drooped a bit. “I don’t know if anypony else in this town even owns a set of armor. C’mon, help me out here.”

Croix considered his armor. It wasn’t particularly aerodynamic, being designed largely for protection on a formerly ground-bound body. “Fine,” he sighed, “I’ll have to do it, I suppose.”

“YES! Wait right here while I go get the outfit and set up the course markers.”

Twilight turned her head away from the reshelving to surreptitiously observe her mysterious guest. Spike had gone to retrieve the Atlas from Filthy Rich (he’d been researching trade routes, apparently) and for now she had to keep an eye on the suspect. No, don’t think of her as a suspect. A suspicious pony. That sounds more neutral.

The suspicious pony had piled her research material around herself to create a sort of open-top book fort. It blocked Twilight’s view of the book she had brought with her and the notes she was making – unless Twilight flew over her, of course, but that’d be noticed easily. Maybe she should use a scrying spell. She’d have to be very careful to use one that can’t be seen or sensed by other ponies, and she’d need a perfectly still pool of water or a silver mirror and…

“Excuse me.”

“Whaa!” The suspicious pony (she’d called herself “Mir” hadn’t she?) had walked up to Twilight while she’d been deep in thought.

“I didn’t mean to… startle you.” Mir seemed taken aback a bit. “There’s a term I run into occasionally that I’m having some trouble finding a definition for. The way they’re using it doesn’t seem to fit any of the dictionary terms.”

“Uh.” Twilight gulped. She was the librarian, after all, but she didn’t want to be close to the suspicious pony Mir. “What word is it?”

“‘Synchronity.’ It seems to be some sort of behavior, but they mostly talk about research dead ends with it.”

“Oooooh. Yeah, that’s a sort of technical slang term for the thing where a pony starts singing and the song is infectious. It’s got a lot of other names. Heartsinging, Catchy Tune, the Pegasai used to call it a Spontaneous March, but the name magical theorists use for it is Synchronity. Most dictionaries are published in Manehatten but magical researchers are usually unicorns, so they use two different terms for it.”

“Ah. I know well the intricacies of such research. Thank you for your assistance.”

Hmm. “Where did you do research?”

“The land of Meta Falss. That’s where my husband is from. It was a lot of fun. We had to complete a centuries-old megaproject, overthrow a tyrannical regime, defeat ancient evils, that sort of thing.”

The suspect stranger seemed pretty happy reminiscing about all this. “And… how long ago was this done?” She didn’t seem to notice Twilight’s raised eyebrow.

“Oh, it was ten years ago soon. We should meet up with the old crew. I should get some “sorry I ended up with the guy you had your eye on” gifts for a few of them.” The stranger was smirking and looking dreamily into the middle distance, but then snapped back to looking at Twilight. “What do you get for that sort of thing? You’re the princess of friendship, right? You should know.”

“I uh, um, oh dear I have to go check up on one of my friends. Please see yourself out when you’re done!”

Mir smirked as the Alicorn dashed off. This one was kind of fun to tease.

“Alright, let’s get this ready to go.” Rainbow had returned sooner than Croix had expected based on the “set up the course markers” bit. She wore a gleaming blue metal armor, covering her legs, belly, neck, and the leading edges of the wings. A helmet of the same color with a rainbow brush at the top adorned her head. “This is supposed to be a representative sample of the Second Griffon War’s armor. Much more aerodynamic than the stuff used earlier, but also flimsier.”

Croix nodded. “Sometimes avoiding a blow is more effective than absorbing it.”

“I’m just glad I memorized all the stuff I have to say about it. Did you know that the pegasai of that era trained in this armor so much they could do the triple overhead whirl in it? That’s gotta take some muscle.”

“Uh, no.”

“Anyway we’ve been talking too long. Here’s the deal.” She scraped a line into the ground, balling up some loose turf. “This is the starting line. I put up four cloud loops in the sky, on the outskirts of Ponyville. There’s one due North from here and then we turn left at each one. When we reach the North one once again we come back here. First to do all that and re-cross the line wins.”

Croix nodded. “Acceptable.”

Rainbow dropped into a runner’s stance at the line, and Croix mimicked the motion. “3… 2… 1… GO!”

Both Pegasi took off like rockets towards the first cloud, or at least it would seem to the casual observer. Each looked at the other and knew they were conserving strength. Even if either of them could fly the whole way in a sprint, they were now carrying a large portion of their own weight in armor. This would be a good race.

“Alright class, be sure to review the next chapter tonight. See you all tomorrow.” Cheerilee waved to the students as they rushed out of the schoolhouse.

Sweetie Belle and her friends immediately headed for the clubhouse as soon as they reached the road, only to encounter an obstacle.

“Well well blank flanks,” Diamond Tiara snidely announced, “time to try another stupid attempt, to get the cutie marks you’ll never earn?” Silver Spoon stood behind her and smirked.

“Hmph. We’ll show ya’ll.” Apple Bloom attempted to walk around the two, but Diamond moved to block her.

“Where are you going, blank flank, we’re not leaving until you’ve admitted you’ll never get your cutie marks.”

“Hey! You got no right to say that to anypony.” Scootaloo flared her wings and marched up to Diamond.

Apple Bloom just sighed. “Is this about your Father?”

Diamond Tiara shoved Scootaloo out of the way to look directly at Apple Bloom. “Even if you blank flanks somehow… tricked my father into punishing me for making fun of you, that’s no reason for him to owe you a favor!”

Apple Bloom stared back, narrowing her eyes. “Nopony tricked him. He just walked up behind you and saw what you were doing. And it’s called an apology, you should try it.”

“I’ve got nothing to apologize for!” Diamond took a step towards Apple Bloom, her head lowered.

“Hold it!” Scootaloo once again interposed between the two, flaring her wings.

“Hmph. You know, that would be way more impressive if your wings were of decent size.”

“Now now Diamond, it’s not nice to make fun of the crippled.” Silver Spoon had decided to join in.

“Rude little children.” Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon whirled around to face an adult catching them in the act. It wasn’t an adult they recognized, but still, that was enough for Silver Spoon to back off before the stranger could ask her her name.

Diamond Tiara stuck out her foreleg to arrest Silver Spoon’s flight and dragged her to the side of the road. She didn’t recognize the strange pony, putting her into the “almost certainly of lower social status” bucket, and she could tell from looking at the mare’s horn that it was deformed. She whispered to Silver, “Hmph, a cripple coming to the defense of the other cripple.”

Mir’s horn lit up with a blood-red crimson as she turned to face her, a dismissive scowl on her face. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon rapidly vacated the area, leaving behind a small cloud of dust.

Applebloom stepped up. “Thanks… miss?”

“Mir. I’ve been engaged by Sweetie there to tutor her in the magic of my homeland.” A sheaf of documents emerged from her saddlebag in the grip of her red aura. “Speaking of, I’ve finished translating a lesson for you. I’ll meet you outside Rarity’s after sundown.”

“Thanks!” Sweetie’s light green aura took over from Mir’s red. “I’ll be sure to see you there. But why at night?”

Mir smiled. “I feel that the night sky is an important part of the lesson.”

Croix wasn’t going to win this. It had been pretty even at the start but his endurance was slipping. He wasn’t built for endurance flying; hell, he didn’t normally have wings at all. His multicolored opponent was moving further ahead of him each turn, but he wasn’t losing as much in the straights. Still, he didn’t like losing. Maybe he’d just been in too many fights where losing meant getting tossed into the Sea of Death. He couldn’t win by simply pushing himself harder, but maybe there was a way.

Croix grabbed the lance from his back and examined the hidden catches, near where the grip had been replaced by a strap. He didn’t have fingers to operate them anymore but his hooves could be flexed slightly. He just hoped the strap and his foreleg could hold on. He strapped the lance on, then pressed the rightmost catch.

There was a whine from the turbopump, then a brief puff of smoke from the rear of the lance, followed by a tongue of flame from the concealed rocket engine. (1) The fiery trail passed over his right legs and side but the armor had been designed to deal with this, and whatever wonder ceramic was used was keeping him un-broiled. It was impossible to flap his wings with the airflow over him now, or even hold them open, but that was ok, he just had to angle properly and let thrust and lifting body effects take over. Gotta lean forward… wait no, I’ve got a horizontal body now, lean back. OK, angle looks good.

Rainbow Dash had a brief moment to look behind her before the other pony blasted by her on a column of fire, the slipstream sending her tumbling for a brief moment. Croix switched off the rocket and flared his wings, landing hard on the ground right over the line. “Hah!”

“Rrrrah!” Rainbow landed beside Croix, growling at him. “You lousy cheater! You used a rocket.”

“Uhh…” Croix stammered. He wasn’t really expecting it to go this way. “The rocket is a part of my lance, which is part of my uniform.”

“Hmph!” Rainbow didn’t seem at all mollified. “The International Federation of Flying Races specifically prohibits all rockets, propellers, or other mechanical or magical contrivances that produce thrust or lift, or reduce weight or mass.” There was a brief pause. “Yes, I memorized those rules.”

“I… don’t think that was an official race.”

“Still! I. Don’t. Like. Cheating!” She lept into the air and began hovering right over his face.

Croix gulped. He didn’t want a fight with a local in the middle of the park. “Uh, sorry ma’am?”

“Ugh! You cheat at racing, then you cringe when I call you on it?” She spat on his nose. “Not worth my time.” With that final outburst, she flew off in a huff.

Croix sat down, wiped his nose off, and sighed. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. He’d given his opponent a good display of what he could do, which is what she’d asked for in the first place. He’d need to find something else to do. It’s too bad, Mir would absolutely love…

“Um, excuse me.”

The soft voice was coming from behind the stage. He turned towards the source to see the yellow Pegasus from earlier looking at him from behind the corner of the stage platform.

She looked down and away, not willing to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry… Rainbow is just really competitive. She’ll calm down eventually. But… I heard you want to take your wife to one of my shows, and that’s very wonderful, but I don’t know when I’ll be ready to do another one. It’s just so exciting, and I can’t deal with too much excitement. I’ll let you know, mister…?”

“Croix. Right now we’re staying with Rarity.”

“Participate in a whut now?” Applejack examined the documents being levitated at her over her market cart.

“A scientific experiment. I’m working on a new spell and now that I’ve tested it successfully on organic matter I need a test subject.” Twilight seemed a little more nervous than usual, and her mane looked a bit messy at the edges. This wasn’t Applejack’s first run-in with this particular state. She’d have to at least humor her friend.

“Let’s see here. ‘Methods and Spellwork for the Detection of Changelings.’ That sounds mighty handy. ‘A unicorn spell to force a changeling into its normal form… Spell requires…” There was a brief pause as Applejack re-read something. “‘Ethics Committee overrode by royal decree?!?’” She glared at Twilight. “That don’t sound right!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “It’s called a ‘legal fiction’ Applejack, I don’t have time for this spell test to be reviewed by an ethics committee so I used a loophole to auto-reject it and then overrule it.”

“Anyway…” Applejack resumed reading the document, “what’s this all do?”

“It’s a method of dispelling all form-altering magic, of any kind. I used it to finally fix that orange-bird thing.”

“Well, that’s a mighty good use of your horn. That thing was just weird.”

“It’s not that bad if you think of it from an Abstract Object perspective, since it still possesses the necessary ‘bird-ness’ to…”

“Ah don’t really want ta know.” Applejack continued scanning the paperwork. “All right, I’ll put mah hoof on it.” Applejack flipped open a small box on the cart and dabbed the ink on her forehoof, then applied it to the space provided at the end of the document.

“OK Applejack. Now just hold still and stick out your hoof. First, state for the record if you are under the influence of any transformative or shapeshifting magic at this moment.”

“Not a bit.” Applejack stared at the hoof, then up at Twilight’s face.

“Great! Now, don’t move.” A reddish-purple beam shot from Twilight’s horn to Applejack’s hoof. Twilight stared at the hoof. Applejack stared at the hoof. Twilight retrieved a pocketwatch from her saddlebag. “OK let’s give this 5 minutes.”

“While we’re waiting Twi, what’s got you into such a hurry?” Applejack’s gaze continued to be locked on her hoof. It continued to not do anything.

“I think there might be a changeling in town. I don’t want to say who I think it is until I have absolute proof, and I don’t want you spreading rumors either.”

“Shoot, a changeling? We launched those critters all the way to the edge of the map.”

“Yes, but what if they came back? Or there were multiple hives? Or…”

“That’s enough Twi.” Silence reigned for the remainder of the five minutes as Twilight examined the hoof from all angles.

“OK we’re good here. Thank you Applejack. The energy of the spell has entirely expired and you seem entirely free of side effects. Also, it’s good to know you’re not a changeling.” Twilight chuckled a little.

“Yeah… but if there is a changeling here, shouldn’t you inform the Princess?”

“I have. Princess Twilight is well aware of this and is on the job. I need you to understand. This town is full of ponies that panic at the sight of a few too many rabbits. Princess Celestia is likely to… overreact. I hate to say it, but the way the press lambasted her for failing to beat Chrysalis in a one-on-one duel seems to have her a little more on edge. I don’t want her making a show of how she’s on top of a changeling menace that I’m not 100% sure even exists. I don’t want anypony saying anything until we either have absolute proof or are ready to go.”

‘Ah… alright I guess.”

“Thank you, Applejack. I’m confident that with help from all of my friends, I can handle this.”

The hill blocked the view of Ponyville and that Canterlot city on the side of the mountain, and the grass was surprisingly comfortable to lie on. Mir settled in to watch the sunset. As the edge of the sun touched the horizon she felt a wave of magic surge across the land. The power behind it was immense, and somehow familiar. It did seem to be another check mark for the “real” column. The planet’s rotation was being nudged slightly. A second wave followed a bit later, but wasn’t as familiar. The two waves puzzled her slightly until she remembered that Princess Luna had a sister. She’d have to read up on her later.

Of course, the stars were what she was waiting for. She hadn’t had an opportunity to gaze up at them and just look since she’d arrived wherever this was. Fortunately she was built a little better than a human, and it seemed this continued over to her current form. She could feel the spectrum of the first star that showed itself. She knew it. She’d calculated her horoscope by it once, because everyone is a dumb kid at some point; some just never stop. The important thing is that the stars she could see here were more or less the same ones she could see at home, even if not in quite the same arrangement, and that was a big check in the real column. She wasn’t exactly going to go and calculate the angles to determine where she was, it wouldn’t do her any good. She’d need to do something with that mirror, but she had no idea what. She had no idea who she could trust here.

Except Sweetie Belle. Maybe she just had a weak spot for children. No, that wasn’t it. It was singing. She’d roll over for anyone who could sing properly with her. Her husband sure knew that. She smiled; it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Birds used songs to know who to place their trust in, people could do it too. The songs showed her a Sweetie Belle that reminded her of how she had been, once.

“Huff… huff… I’m here!” Sweetie Bell skidded to a stop next to her. She’d been so deep in thought she hadn’t heard her approach.

“Ah, yes. Did you run all the way? You’re out of breath.”

“Yeah! This… song magic… thing seems really nifty… so… I wanted… to get here as soon as I could.”

Mir smiled. “Well, first things first. A brief history overview. Lie down here beside me and look up.” A stray thought crossed Mir’s mind as Sweetie lay down, that it was easier for her new form to look up at the sky on its stomach than on its back. “Alright, now tell me what you see up there.”

Sweetie Belle pursed her lip. This had to be a trick question, but she couldn’t tell what answer her mentor wanted. She went for the obvious: “The moon.”

Mir chuckled, and looked over to the moon rising above the horizon. “No, besides that.”

“Uh… stars?”

“Yes. Do you know what stars are?”

That gave Sweetie pause. “Uh, Miss Cheerilee says they’re balls of burning stuff that are way far away. The Old Believers say they were put up there by Majesty before Celestia was born. The Alicornists claim that Luna painted them on the crystal sphere that holds the world. But I don’t know. They’re just… points of light I guess.”

Mir smiled, just a little. “I guess Cheerilee is closest. Stars are like the sun, just further away. Incomprehensibly vast balls of hydrogen and helium, they convert them into heavier building blocks of life and release energy in the process. Now, for the second question. The universe is filled with an unimaginably huge number of stars and other things. Why is there something instead of nothing?”

That one puzzled Sweetie. She stayed silent and bit her lip. She stood up and paced a circle around Mir. “Because… if there wasn’t, we wouldn’t be here to ask the question!” Sweetie waved her forelimbs in resignation.

Mir smiled slightly again. “Well, that’s correct in a philosophical way. But the thing is, in my homeland we have a science called ‘Cosmology’ that answers the question. By doing a lot of math, and looking very closely at the night sky, they were able to figure out how the universe began and why there’s something instead of nothing.

“In the beginning, there was nothing except one little nucleus called the Exa Pico, smaller than anything you could imagine. It was the entire universe, there was nothing aside from it. But it wanted there to be something. So it sung, and waves appeared. These waves became all the matter and energy in the universe. You can still hear the song it sung in the night sky. Thus, because Song Magic was used to create the universe, it’s the most ancient form of magic in existence.”(2)

Sweetie Belle’s eyes were opened wider than Mir thought possible. “Whoa.” Then they shrank back to normal. “Wait, you’re kidding, right?”

Mir switched to a bigger smile. “No, no I’m not. Song Magic is capable of creating things. I helped make a floating continent out of song magic. It’s a real thing, not just some construct or illusion.”

Sweetie Belle interjected, “Like Cloudsdale?”

“I… don’t know what that is.”

“A city made out of cloud, where the pegasus ponies live and plan weather control for all Equestria.”

“Oh, no, not like that at all. It’s got solid ground, although you could dig through it and fall if you weren’t careful. It even came with its own plants and animals.”

“Song magic can… make animals?” The little unicorn seemed to shrink in on herself, and edged slightly away from Mir. Now she’d frightened the poor girl, and would have to fix it.

“Don’t worry, I won’t force you to deal with anything crazy like that. It’s just an example.”

Sweetie sat up straighter a little. “It’s… it’s just kind of scary.”

“Magic itself is scary. Power is scary. Princess Luna raises and lowers the Moon each night. If you concentrate, you can feel the power wash over the world. The scale is so immense that it seems impossible.”

Sweetie Belle pondered for a moment. “But nopony’s scared of the Princess raising the Sun or the Moon. The only thing we’d be scared of is her not raising it.”

“That’s because everyone trusts her to use her magic responsibly. This world has had a Princess controlling its skies for over a thousand years.” Mir stood up. “You, Sweetie Belle, will use your magic responsibly as well. Strive for responsibility that could remain unblemished for a millenium.”

Sweetie stood and saluted. “I Pinkie Promise to use my magic responsibly!” She placed her hoof on her chest, then over her eye.

Mir nodded. “Good. There’s a little something I’d like to share with you regarding all that.” She looked around and then stage-whispered, “Can you keep a secret?”

Sweetie Belle nodded quizzically.

“I’m not like other ponies. I was made with song magic for a special purpose.”

“But…” Sweetie looked down and rubbed her jaw, pouting in intense concentration. “... does that mean you’re not real?”

Mir smiled. “No, it just means I was born in a strange way. I used to be just a puddle of biofluid, a sort of metallic water-based mix, until they added a triangular nuclear loop to it and it sang song magic for me.”

“Wow.” Sweetie’s voice would be too quiet to hear for most ponies. “Is there a… word for ponies that were made like that? I can’t call you a golem.”

“Where I come from, we’re called Reyvateils; I specifically am a Neo-Pureblood Beta type. There aren’t really enough Reyvateils here to have to distinguish between types though.” Mir assumed a sly, conspiratorial grin. “Although just between you and me, that’s the best type.”

Sweetie shook her head to clear the confusion. “Anyway, what… what was the purpose?”

Mir’s expression darkened, the faintest hint of a scowl forming before she composed herself again. “It was… something that wasn’t a good idea. I’m very happy to have never done it, and now I live my life without worrying about what those ba… bad people wanted.”

“You were made by bad people?” Sweetie looked up at Mir with sad eyes.

Mi nodded solemnly. “Yes, but I had friends that helped free me from them.” She thought, but didn’t say, “and from myself as well.” “I am eternally grateful to them.”

“That’s great!” Sweetie’s cheerfulness resumed. ”Do your friends use Song Magic?”

“Some of them do, but not all of them can. I’m sure you, for example, have many non-unicorn friends. But we’ve gone far off topic. Do you remember those notes I gave you before you came here?”

“Yeah, it was all a bunch of words to memorize. I got through most of the first twenty pages, thank you for listing them by how important they were.”

“That was a Hymmnos language. It’s used to channel feelings into power. The feelings travel to a source of power and initialize a reaction. The stronger and purer the feelings, the faster the reaction will occur. The reaction is the actual effect you want. When you sing song magic, your audience isn’t a set of listeners but yourself and your source of power.”

Sweetie prodded her chin with her hoof. “So, that’s why there are so many words that are only for announcing how you feel about something.”

Mir nodded. “In a normal song, you don’t just come out and say ‘I am sad about this’ or any of that, but Hymmnos is about making absolutely sure of your feelings. By the way, when I said ‘a Hymmnos language’ earlier there are more than one, but I gave you the standard one. For you the choice isn’t as important since your audience is you and your horn, but you don’t want to try to pronounce words like ‘wUwUjIncA’ do you?”

“Woo wuh wUH jinkACK Ih bih mah tongh!”

“Hold still for a moment.” Mir sang softly and the medicine fairy she’d used for Rarity appeared again to pour pink liquid onto Sweetie.

“Whoa! My tongue feels fine now.” Sweetie pulled on it with her magic to move it into her field of vision, then let go. “I thought I tasted blood but it’s fine now.”

“That’s the power of song magic. Now, because song magic requires you to have control of your feelings, it’s pretty difficult to learn new magics. Feelings aren’t entirely under our control, so you have to be very careful. There are three primary methods of acquiring a new song. The first would be to transfer them to you via your song server, but you don’t have one.”

“I don’t even know what that is.”

“It’s part of me being, well, what I told you earlier. I’m afraid you can’t be attached to one. The second method would be for someone to go into your subconscious mind and help you gain deep understanding of your feelings about something. That’s usually a good way to get song magic, but your land doesn’t seem to have the necessary technical expertise to get there. The last method is…”

“Hang on. Dreams take place in the subconscious mind, right?”

“Uh, yes, they do.”

“We can totally get there! Princess Luna went into my dreams to help me deal with my issues with my sister.”

Mir’s head whipped around to Sweetie and her eyes widened. “Wait. You mean to tell me that a Princess personally went into your head to help you solve your emotional issues?”

“Uh, yeah. That’s part of her job. She seeks out ponies who have psy… psychological issues and helps them through their dreams.”

“Huh. Well, change of plans then. I was originally going to have you use method three: develop a spell suited to your current situation via provoking an overwhelming emotion. This however is much more reliable. Let’s go back home. Visiting someone’s subconscious is a big deal, so I need your mother to sign a permission slip.”

(1) The rocket-powered lance is from Croix’s ultimate attack in Ar Tonelico 2. You can see it here.
(2) The Ar Tonelico cosmology is kind of weird, since it’s sort of similar to the Big Bang but different in that there exists a “Will” in not only the big bang but each of the smaller-scale structures all the way down to planets. Exa Pico is sort of like God but lower-level Wills can deviate from its plan if they want to. So most of the time things work the way you’d expect, but then you get things like “the Will of the Planet dying causes gravity to end, flinging everyone into space.”

Phase 1: Awakenings, Part 4

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Princess Luna’s dream form descended once again onto Ponyville. As always, Twilight and her friends would get first priority. Applejack wasn’t asleep. Odd, but Luna couldn’t see her from the area around any of her sleeping family members. She’d make a note.

Fluttershy was dreaming about working with the Breezies. No need to show herself.

Rainbow Dash was dreaming about the Wonderbolts. No need to act.

Pinkie was dreaming about riding a giant Gummy into battle against marshmallow pirates. She considered leaving a small portion of her awareness to watch, but she never liked staying where she wasn’t needed and it wouldn’t do to divide her attention too much.

Twilight… Twilight’s dreams were shielded. Luna’s dream form carefully examined the space around Twilight’s sleeping form. A note on the bedside table read “I’ll handle this myself Luna.” What exactly “this” was she didn’t know, but it couldn’t be important if Twilight wasn’t letting Celestia know. Or maybe it was some kind of surprise celebration for her. That was something ponies did now, wasn’t it? Surprise festival? Surprise picnic? It started with a ‘p’ but beyond that she couldn’t remember it.

She’d check Spike while she was here - and he was dreaming about helping Rarity, again.

She moved on to the boutique. Rarity, upstairs, was dreaming about attending a concert. The male foreign pony, in the guest room, dreaming about decking a fat stallion with a beard and a ridiculous cowlick hair style. (1) You’d need to be a unicorn to get your hair to stay like that. It looked like a corkscrew. It wasn’t a nightmare, though, so she scanned about for anypony else.

Downstairs… Sweetie Belle and the female foreign pony on cushions in the main room? She sunk through the floor to investigate. The sleepers were just close enough together for her dream form to stay together as she moved it.

Sweetie lay on a small cushion between two rows of dresses, and a short distance away the female foreign pony lay on a slightly larger cushion. Each of them had a sheet of paper resting on their pillow with them. She read Sweetie’s first. “Go to Mir and read hers. -Mir” Huh, at least she had the name for her now.

She looked over at the paper by Mir. “I, the undersigned <indecipherable scrawl>, Sweetie Belle’s mother, hereby grant permission for Mir to request Princess Luna to transport her into my daughter’s mind. Signed, <fancy indecipherable scrawl>.” An additional section of the note read “You can come in this time, Luna. -Mir”

Luna wasn’t going to just jump in. Something had changed between last night and tonight, and she’d rather know what. Although the name was totally illegible, she knew where Sweetie normally lived. She could check her mother first.

Her dream projection vanished and appeared next to Sweetie Belle’s mother. The unicorn was tossing and turning and early in the stages of sleep. Clearly she’d been awakened recently; Luna could see that the writing had been unreadable because it’d been written by a pony just woken from sleep. She did a quick check of the mare’s dreams, but it didn’t seem related to the current situation – something about voting and an island. It seemed like she didn’t think there was any threat to her daughter, so things were probably okay. It wouldn’t hurt to be cautious, though.

The inside of Mir’s mind didn’t seem that different from last time: a blue void with strange shapes floating nearby, but always out of reach. The odd “human” was there too, his face impassively neutral, like a royal guard.

“Greetings, Luna. Mother has permitted you access to her mind.” That was rather direct and to the point. Neither of them bothered with her title at all. She’d asked many ponies to do that, but very few of them could keep it up. She’d probably be able to get Ponyville to call her just “Luna” in another Nightmare Night or two, but for now, not quite. Still, just discarding her title without any cue to do so was rather presumptuous. These foreigners were being a bit disrespectful.

“Thank you, mister… Mind Guardian?”

The humanoid scowled slightly. “My name is Ayatane Michitaka. Mind Guardian is my title.”

Luna nodded in acknowledgement. “Pray tell, what does such a role entail?”

“I should think it self-explanatory.” His face had returned to the previous impassiveness.

“I suppose to a certain extent, but why is such a thing necessary?” Luna had unconsciously began to wave her hoof as if she was lecturing. “Mental travel magic is unique, so I’m not sure who you defend your mother’s mind from.”

“Maybe it’s unique here.”

“Ah, there you are. If you didn’t show up we’d have had to disappoint Sweetie Belle.” The foreign pony, apparently called ‘Mir,’ interrupted the conversation, appearing as if she had always been there. Luna noticed faint echoes similar to her own technique for appearing in dreams fade into the dreamscape. Curiouser and curiouser.

“Greetings. Call me Luna.” Mir seemed already inclined to do so, but she’d follow the forms (or at least, the ones she liked).

“I am Mir. I’ve requested your presence because of your… abilities. Only you can help me… and Sweetie Belle.”

Luna stood more stiffly, and arched an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Mir chuckled softly. “I need your help to help Sweetie Belle. I’m sure you’re busy with royal whatever, but this place doesn’t have the… infrastructure I’d need to really help her.”

Luna’s eyes widened. She unstiffened, but instead of relaxing, leaned forward. “She’s not in danger is she?”

Mir blinked for a moment before chuckling again. “No, my apologies for implying that. I simply need to reach Sweetie’s subconscious, and plant a seed.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed, but Mir didn’t seem to react at all. “That sounds… rather odd. What purpose would this serve?”

Mir startled and grimaced as if she’d forgotten something. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised you’re suspicious. It’s not a very common practice here, is it? But in my country, it’s so common that shops exist in every major city to allow it.”

Luna leaned forward, flaring her wings slightly for intimidation and majesty. “And what exactly is done by all of this?”

Mir continued to hold her ground and resumed her impassive mein. Luna wondered if her sister had given lessons in looking implacable. “It’s used for a wide variety of purposes. Tonight, though, I wish to teach something that cannot be taught.”

“Cannot be taught?” Luna abandoned her upcoming “And which country is that?” question for the moment, but would keep it in mind.

“I’ve been teaching Sweetie how to use the magic from my homeland, called Song Magic. She’s got a very good grasp of the first part, singing, and shows promise with the second part, a Hymmnos language, but she’s missing the third part, the Hymmnos Extension. I can’t simply teach it to her, because it’s not simply her that learns it.”

“Which homeland is this? And who exactly does learn it?”

“My homeland is the land of Sol Ciel. I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of it, people from there don’t often come here.” Mir paused a moment, thinking something through. “And for the second question, her subconscious does, and her horn does. Or rather, the basal triangulum region of her nervous system. I’m pretty sure it’s not part of her conscious mind.”

Luna paused for a moment. “I… am not familiar with that term.”

“Hrgh.” Mir huffed and rolled her eyes. “It’s the bit that goes between the brain proper and the horn.”

Luna closed her eyes (although she remained equally aware of what was going on, thanks to dream senses). “Yes… I recall an anatomical study suggesting something like that. Medicine has advanced so far in my absence…” Her eyes opened again. “I will assist you, but with some reservations. Firstly, you must show me this seed and detail everything you intend to do with it, as well as allow me to examine it.”

“Deal.”

“I wasn’t finished. The second part is that I need you to tell me exactly why you are doing this. It doesn’t seem to be for money and you don’t seem entirely motivated by a love of teaching.”

Mir nodded. “If that’s all, it’s a deal. Which do you want first?”

“No, there’s one more thing that I’ll need. How many of these seeds are there?”

“There aren’t any yet, I have to make them.” Mir’s mouth wavered slightly with uncertainty.

“I require you to make four, and allow me to select one to give to Sweetie and three to take with me.”

That got a reaction out of Mir. “What!? Whatever for?” she almost shouted.

Luna spread her wings to their widest and attempted to loom over the smaller pony. “So that if you do hurt Sweetie, I can figure out how to save her.”

All that produced was an eye roll. “Fine. We have a deal. You can skip telling me what you’ll do to me if I hurt Sweetie Belle, I already Pinkie Promised not to.”

Luna nodded. “Indeed, breaking such a promise will lose you everyone’s trust.” (She scanned the dreamscape for a “Forever!” but it did not come.)

“I thought I saw something down there.” The night guard’s eyes locked on a low shrub at the edge of Ponyville. His batlike wings beat faster as he circled it.

“Dude, there’s nothing there.” His partner circled lazily over the row of bushes, membranous wings locked in position for gliding.

The first guard shot him a look. “Princess Luna herself told us to watch the area for ‘anything unusual.’”

“Yes, but the same row of bushes at the edge of town we’ve flown over six times tonight isn’t unusual.”

“Alright, fine. I guess there’s nothing down there. Let’s move on to the next leg.”

The spindly cloaked figure waited until the sound of wing beats was completely gone. Then he waited a little while longer. Finally he emerged from under a canopy where two bushes met. “Soon, little winged rats. First I need a unicorn.”

The town that appeared to make up most of Mir’s dream was certainly lively, but there was something odd about it. Everypony in it certainly looked like a pony, but they didn’t move like ponies. Seeing a pony stand bipedally and walk around was odd enough, but the way the hips distorted like that made no sense to Luna.

The tools they used had handles designed for hands rather than hooves or mouths, and some of them seemed to be imbedded in the hooves of their wielders. She quickly stopped looking at the ponies.

The scenery was much more interesting. Most of the buildings were between two and five stories and made of stone or brick. The style was significantly heavier than Canterlot’s, and used less glass than Manehatten’s. In places it resembled the “Gothic” architecture that had been popular 500 years into her… absence.

Luna tried to subtly alter the dream to make them stop standing in such a painful looking way, but the dream rebuffed her feelers of magic as though they were raindrops against a stone wall. That was strange. She tried poking a little harder, but it felt as if her magic was trying to dislodge a mountain. The dream was far too stable.

She turned her attention to the pony leading her along. Mir said nothing and pressed forward with a small urgency, but no running. The crowd seemed to never quite be in position to interfere with their passage, but to Luna, that was how she usually got around in crowds. She stuck her neck slightly to the side to examine Mir’s cutie mark. It was curious, but she’d have to file that away for a bit.

After walking an indeterminate distance they arrived at the base of a tall tower covered in odd lines. It hadn’t been visible until now, but Luna could tell that something was concealed there for the entire duration of their “trip” over to it.

“Ok,” Mir broke the silence, “It’s going to get a little tricky from here. If you want, you can stay here until I get back with the seeds.”

“Tricky?” Luna arched an eyebrow. Everything about how this mare’s mind was organized seemed so odd, but there hadn’t been any difficulty so far.

“Yes. I’m going to use a trick to enter my protected memory and copy something. I’m not supposed to be able to get there and definitely not supposed to be able to copy it, but I’ve figured out how and I’ll do it for Sweetie.” The mare stared at the point where the ground met the tower.

Luna took careful note of the last part of the sentence. “I don’t suppose you’d explain why you’re doing it specifically ‘for Sweetie?’”

“You said you wanted the seed first. I’m going down to get it and it’s going to be a bit tricky, like I just said. I can take you with if you wish, but there will be some danger.”

“What sort of danger?”

“Well, mostly from the high-frequency dynamic h-waves. We’ll be going below the maximum possible dive level for humans, but on the other hand I don’t know anything about how your diving-like techniques work, so I can’t be certain if what I know applies.” Mir didn’t take her eyes off the intersection point.

Luna noted that the strange mare had mentioned ‘humans’ but carefully did not raise her eyebrow or betray any other surprise. The rest of that had been nearly incomprehensible, however. “Explain again, please.”

Mir finally turned around to look at her, eyes rolling with frustration. “Ugh. Right. The, uh…” This was a problem for her. Ponies didn’t have a word for dynamic h-waves. “Feelings” would probably come closest, but that would ascribe intent to her deepest, purely reflex, purely automatic layer. “...psychic energies might erode at your… soul.”

“Pfeh.” Luna made a sweeping motion with her hoof, as if flinging away something. “I have armored my dream form against all manner of assault from the dark terrors that lurk between minds. If it becomes too much, I will immediately snap back to my corporeal form, which remains safe elsewhere. This is merely a subdivision of my true self.”

Mir nodded curtly. “Alright. Just stick close to me. Put a wing around me until we’re in, and don’t touch anything.” Luna’s wing hesitantly reached out to her, then wrapped tightly around her slight frame. Mir pressed her hoof against the intersection. She took a deep breath, and announced with a clear, even voice: “cosRealignRecheckBounds();”

Luna had just started to wonder how she’d pronounced the “();” part(2) when they were suddenly shoved forward, through what had seemed to be totally solid ground and tower. Now they were falling, an odd view of the backs and bottoms of the land’s building fading above.(3)

“OK, stay close Princess. We’ll be landing shortly.”

Luna could see very little around her except fields of strange symbols that sped by faster than she could make them out. Her dream senses told her she was in a vast torrent of emotions, thoughts, and feelings, but it was too jumbled together to make any sense of. The warning about danger had made sense, though: the river of energy would eventually eat through her defenses.

Then she came to a halt. No sudden thud, no artful deceleration. She just stopped, as had the mare she was following. Mir then drifted to the “ground,” a perfectly flat plane covered in some sort of geometric pattern or mathematical diagram. In the air floated dozens of reddish, pulsating, trapezohedral crystals, their kite-like facets flaring and going dark in a steady rhythm.

Mir started to walk forward. Without looking back, she warned Luna, “Don’t touch anything. I’m trusting you a lot to bring you here, since Ayatane can’t help me in this place. I’ll have to eject you myself if you try anything.”

Luna nodded, staring into the nearest crystal. With a start, she realized that its pulsing had a rhythm far too similar to a heartbeat. She shied away from it and back towards the mysterious Mir. “So, is this where you make the seeds?”

“It’s more that I’m copying it than I’m making it. Ah, here we go.” She stopped in front of one of the largest crystals, with about thirty smaller ones orbiting it. “Wee yea ra crannidale yora.”

“Wee yea ra crannidale yora.” The crystal responded in the same voice, but with a totally mechanical inflection, as well as a slight reverb. A glow appeared on the side of the crystal, then broke off to form a smaller, lighter red crystal that floated over to Mir. “OK, hold this while I do it three more times.”

Not knowing what else to do, Luna grabbed it with her magic. It felt light and warm, but somehow familiar. She’d handled something similar once, but she couldn’t place it. It didn’t feel like… those… or it, therefor it wasn’t immediately an object of suspicion. It was still quite strange. Behind her Mir was standing, staring at the crystal. She caught Luna looking at her. “I’m going to wait a bit before I make another copy for it to return to full stability. Don’t touch anything.”

Luna nodded and resumed examining the landscape. Odd lines in the air started above the crystals and then continued into the distance, where they seemed to meet other lines at an immense tower. It seemed absolutely enormous: even with her head tilted all the way back, she couldn’t see the top. This is a dream world, is it not?

She turned her attention to something else on the floor. Off to the side were a large pile of dark red fragments. Carefully, she walked between the crystals to examine them. She took a glance over at Mir, who had created another seed and was staring at the crystal some more. She seemed completely lost in her work.

Luna peered in closer to the shattered, broken fragments. They were clearly similar to the crystals that still existed, yet they were sitting shattered and idle. As she leaned even closer, thoughts began to flash into her mind.

“/* Emotionless Reyvateil System, Unit 0001

MIR_FEHU_EORIA_ARTONELICO

Primary Control Block, Emotion Dampening System…”

The thoughts stopped, apparently that was the end of that particular fragment. Luna examined the next.

“BEGIN EXEC_NULLSELF…”

Luna felt slightly sick. The overpowering stench of bad memories associated with that fragment had gotten to her. As she stumbled in nauseated disgust, she bumped into something. Mir.

“What the hell are you doing?” The slight mare’s anger made Luna back up. The voice was soft, but full of menace.

Luna knew she’d pried too far, violated the trust of her host. But she was still a Princess of Equestria, and this was her domain. “We apologize,” she gave a slight bow, “but you did not say not to look at anything, only not to touch it.”

Mir smirked. “I suppose I didn’t. Now please don’t examine that too closely. It’s all bad stuff I can’t quite really get rid of.”

Luna nodded. It had sounded vaguely sinister. “Do tell me one thing though, is your full name ‘Mir Fehu Eoria Artonelico?’”

Mir’s expression dropped when Luna got to the word “Fehu.” It transitioned into a full scowl at “Eoria.” “No, it’s not. My full name is Mir,” she replied, swinging her foreleg and rolling her eyes. “Sometimes ‘people’ not worth talking to address me as ‘Mir Bartel’ by appending my husband’s name to my own, but that’s usually some bureaucracy rather than a real person.”

Luna wasn’t willing to press the issue. Judging by the things written in the fragments, Mir’s old name was a reminder of a bad life. What was more important was what she was doing now. The four crystals were ready, and each seemed totally identical.

Mir turned to the crystals. “By the way, since you mentioned examining them, they’re designed to be materialized into reality as crystals as well. I don’t have the equipment to do it with me in Equestria, but you might be able to figure it out on your own. In any case, they’re ready.”

“Very well, I’ll move three of these to my own dreamscape and select one for Sweetie once I’ve had a chance to examine them.”

Mir nodded her assent. “Alright, we’ll head back to the top, and then you can examine them. cosDiverReset();” For a brief moment, all dream Luna’s senses cut out. Before she could begin to attempt to deal with it, sensation returned in a rather unfortunate manner. She was standing on a glowing circle of stone, in the upright position the ponies in town had used. She however, had hip bones. Hip bones which protested painfully at their mangling. She slammed forward and landed hard on her front hooves. Fortunately dream forms were rather resilient and so she did not crash to the floor, only stood groaning in pain for a moment.

Mir stood nearby grimacing. “Sorry. This thing just can’t seem to get used to…” She stopped speaking and looked rapidly left and right for a moment, as though she’d completely forgotten what to say next – or as if she knew she shouldn’t say what she’d been about to say.

Luna nodded. Things were beginning to make some sense. “This is the strangest dream world I have ever encountered. It is highly structured, highly rigid. It features a certain…” She looked at the crystals. “...mathematical order. Yet you exploit flaws in its construction.”

Mir nodded.

Luna peered closer into the crystal. “Also, at one point you let slip a very curious word. What do you know about ‘humans?’”

Luna didn’t expect the flicker of seething rage that passed briefly over Mir’s face. If her dream form needed to blink, she might have missed it, but the mask had cracked some more. “They are… not something I’m required to discuss with you.”

Now that was suspicious. Luna conjured a blue detective’s cap for her head, and was surprised the dream let her. “You are the one asking a favor of me. Still, if you will not answer that question, there are others.” She walked a quick half circle around Mir, eyes locked on her. That mind guardian didn’t seem to be present, it was still just the two of them. She stopped somewhat alongside Mir, but facing the opposite way. “Tell me, how did you earn your mark, I believe it’s commonly called a ‘cutie mark’ now?”

Mir stared at her for a moment, her eyes slowly widening, then backed away a few steps.

“You do in fact have to tell a Princess of Equestria who asks. It is written in the Basic Law of Equestria.”

Mir grimaced and looked off to the side. “I… don’t know. I don’t think I ever did earn it.”

Now that was certainly an odd statement. It didn’t make any sense, there was the mark, right there. It didn’t… feel like a lie to Luna either. It didn’t seem evasive, more like the mare herself was confused by it. “Let’s take a slightly different tack. What is your special talent? Once again, I can make you answer.”

Mir looked hurt. She glanced down angrily for a moment before locking eyes with Luna. “I thought you… were better than this. If you wish to accuse me of something, accuse me. Regardless of whether you can ask me something, ask yourself if it’s right to pry like that.”

Luna nodded. “Very well. I accuse you of illegal metamagic research. It is forbidden to research magic which affects the production or expression of magic except with the permission of a Princess of Equestria. I have reason to believe that this ‘seed’ you have handed me contains some sort of spell matrix that will affect the way Sweetie Belle would express magic.”

Mir’s ears folded flat against her head, but the rest of her expression was pure fury. “But… you helped me! That implies permission.”

Luna shook her head. “Stellar Wind v. Princess Celestia (753 reformed calendar) establishes precedent it does not.”

Mir continued to stare angrily, seeming at a loss for words.

Then Luna smiled, a surprisingly friendly one at that. “But you merely asked me to accuse you of something. I don’t have to. I’d much rather hold a civil conversation, since you seem to be a pony worth knowing about. I would like you to tell me more about yourself, though.”

“Hmmph.” Mir’s ears unflattened and her gaze softened slightly. “You’re still blackmailing me with the threat of arrest unless I tell you what you want, you’re just putting a pretty face on it.”

“I don’t actually want to arrest you, and I won’t unless you do something actually wrong. If metamagic is common in your country then perhaps I should rethink the current laws on it. All the existing examples I’ve seen were terrible, hateful things, but there have been relatively few of them.”

Mir nodded. “Every Reyvateil where I’m from is born with a Hymmnos Extract.”

Luna tilted her head slightly. “And what, pray tell, is a ‘Reyvateil’? Is that what they call unicorns in your land?”

Mir shuffled her hooves slightly and looked off to her left. “It’s what I am.”

Luna nodded. “I really would like to know about your land and yourself.”

“I like my privacy, thank you.”

“Wellllllllll…..” Luna arched an eyebrow in an exaggerated manner. “...would you mind if I guessed? I have a most fascinating theory.”

Mir smirked. “This I’ve got to hear.”

“Your mind is very mathematical, highly rigid and organized on a level beyond even Twilight Sparkle or my sister. However, this is in total contrast to your personality, which is more flippant and emotional. This dichotomy is highly unusual, I’ve never seen a dream world whose structure did not reflect its mind. Additionally, the syntax of the ‘commands’ you’ve shouted reminded me of certain research I’ve looked into at the Royal Electronic Laboratory. I can come to only one conclusion. You are a construct. Also, based on an earlier comment you made, the appearance of your ‘mind guardian,’ and the odd posture I’ve been seeing, I believe you were made by humans.”

“Wha wha whaaaaaat?!!?!” Mir’s flabbergasted sputter took on such intensity that she collapsed to a sitting position. “You can’t… possibly… damn. Where the hell did you hear of humans anyway?”

Luna hadn’t anticipated it having quite that effect. Apparently her guess had been entirely accurate. “Twilight Sparkle encountered them once, on the far side of a magical mirror. But tell me, how did humans create such a fine construct? I recall they cannot use magic, and even the greatest of unicorns has been defeated in the effort to create truly intelligent constructs.”

“Don’t talk about me like an object!” The force of the shout drove Luna back almost a full stride. Mir took a deep breath as the fury abated somewhat.

“My… apologies.” Luna’s ears were back and her eyes were wide. “I am sorry, I’m merely unsure how to deal with the idea of conversing with a sapient construct. The academics would never forgive me if I didn’t inquire into–”

“Hell no.” Mir’s look of mild annoyance seemed far more threatening somehow than the furious shout. Luna wondered if she was clamping down on her emotions.

Luna assumed a puzzled expression. “I did not even finish that sentence.”

“I refuse to be studied by a bunch of fools in lab coats.”

“I am not asking you to agree to that.”

“Good, because I can’t say how I’d react to being in a lab again.”

“If the circumstances of your creation were… traumatic…”

“Yes.”

“...then I will not ask you to discuss them. Instead…”

“I hate to interrupt, but do you think you could finish inspecting the seed? I can explain things while it settles in.”

Luna turned to the seed again. “It won’t… hurt Sweetie Belle will it?”

Mir shook her head. “No, it won’t. It’s one of the most validated programs ever made. I believe it will work perfectly once it’s attached.”

“And you said it allows her to use song magic? Does it do anything else?”

Mir put her hoof to her chin briefly. “It’s got hooks for attaching hymmnos words of various types, those words would be equivalent to spells I guess. It’s got the basic harmonics setup in case she has to use song magic while in danger, and it also contains some basic hymmnos words: the most basic of blue and red magics , as a sort of ‘starter set’ for the Reyvateil’s use until she’s able to develop new song magics.”

Luna racked her brain for the meaning of those terms. “Very well, even with explaining that they’re equivalent to spells, what does a hymmnos word being ‘blue’ or ‘red’ mean?”

“In my country, red magic is formally defined as magic that attacks the structure of a target, while blue magic generally heals or protects the target.”

That gave Luna a start. “Attacks the structure? A moment. Are you saying this will teach Sweetie Belle a spell used for harming ponies?”

“I don’t think ponies were ever the intended target, but I suppose you could say that. Like I said, though, a Reyvateil her age, depending on type, could have many dangerous spells, all of them more powerful than that. Judging by my research, so can unicorns, though. Sweetie’s got fairly powerful magic. She could…”

“...turn her parents into potted plants. I know well of such incidents. But few unicorn spells are designed specifically to inflict irreversible harm.”

“It doesn’t have to, the basic spell is quite flexible based on the intent of the user. I believe that Sweetie is mature enough to learn this and her mother has given her permission.”

Luna considered. Archery training could start for pegasi as early as age eight, but the parent’s permission was required. If it was obtained, however, there would be no barrier. Time to move on to the other possible problem. A phantasmal four-sided dice was summoned, then rolled. Luna pulled one of the crystals away from the others.

She gazed into the crystal. She didn’t think Mir was lying, but it wouldn’t hurt to check. The spellwork was incredibly dense. There was too much here to examine entirely, but she could trace the main branches. She could see a hook for the red magic, one for blue magic, a third one for a third category of magic, and a fourth one that sent waves of energy out in a field – probably the harmonics. The core would convert feelings into power, but didn’t seem particularly specific on what it would take. That seemed odd, most examples she knew required a specific feeling, or at least one of a few related ones. This seemed like it’d run equally well on friendship, hatred, and ennui. Still, while she couldn’t go into any deep analysis, she could confirm that her worst fear wouldn’t be realized – it had absolutely no facility for altering the behavior or feelings of whoever it was hooked into. “I accept that the seed is alright to give to her. I also grant my permission for you to conduct metamagic research, however it may be revoked at any time for any reason. A certificate allowing you to perform this metamagic will be mailed to you by royal courier this morning. You will be required to show it to Sweetie Belle’s mother. That is for the future, however. Right now, tell me why you’re doing this for her.”

Mir gulped, then sighed. She answered with her head held down. “Sweetie reminds me of myself when I was young. She’s at a fragile time in her life and she needs something: a purpose, a good purpose. I tried to create songs to spread friendship and joy over the world, but my… creators didn’t think that was what I should do and… it got bad. I want Sweetie to learn to share her feelings with others via song, and I think this will give her the confidence to do it. Song magic is an incredible experience, and using it puts you more in touch with your own emotions.”

Luna hadn’t expected that. “Is that… really the entire reason?”

Mir nodded. “Sweetie’s the way I was… before…” Luna couldn’t hear what Mir said next, it was too soft. She then resumed her normal speaking volume, but with her head down and a slight sharp edge to her voice. “I won’t let it happen to her. She’s got parents who love her, but I’m still not taking any risks.” She raised her head and locked gazes with Luna.

Luna nodded. Although no longer the bearer of honesty, she had always been better than her sister at seeing lies. Mir seemed perfectly sincere. “I am touched by the simplicity and sincerity of your belief. You have my assistance.”

(1) This guy. Imagine that hair as a pony’s mane. It’d look even more ridiculous.
2) I’m pretty sure you can pronounce “();” in Hymmnos, but I don’t think there’s an official song that includes it.
(3) If you’ve ever played a game and used the “noclip” cheat you’d see what Luna’s seeing.

Non-canon Interlude: Spica

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“Don’t worry, I’m not going to bite you.” The two nearly-identical yellow unicorns looked up at her as if they weren’t quite sure if she meant it. Flim and Flam certainly know I eat meat. I don’t mind them being a little nervous. She gave them a smile, although she shot for a less disarming effect than usual.

The woman was tall, at least by comparison with the two unicorns, and wore a blue-and-white business suit that emphasized her ample bust. Although she was in her thirties, her hair was as white as Celestia’s coat. She carried herself with an air of easy confidence, even in the sterile, mechanical environment of the security zone outside the portal. Each stallion, by contrast, seemed unnerved by the lack of natural light and by the weight of the “Possibility Axis Transform Blockers,” the odd electronic devices around their necks that prevented the portal from turning them to humans.

“Don’t mind the robots.” A red and white figure, resembling an armored woman with a plate mail skirt, stood behind at a respectful distance. Occasionally the whirr of a tiny motor was heard from it. “Now, let’s get down to business.” She took a seat behind the rather spartan table, and gestured to the cushions placed in front of it for them.

The word “business” instantly banished any fatigue or uncertainty the unicorns were feeling. “Yes of course ma’am! You won’t regret this!”

“We’re the best salesponies in all Equestria, and also some of its foremost experimenters. We know more about patent law than the Princess herself!”

Spica nodded and smiled. All this peace and prosperity had been a little dreary for her. It’s time to conquer a whole new world. In a strictly marketing sense of course. “I’m glad you came to me and not either of the megacorps.”

“Of course we came to you! We like what we see in you. Another young, hungry entrepreneur nonpareil! You’re like our long-lost sister!”

Spica gave a smile again, but rather more disarmingly this time. “Well, we entrepreneurs need to stick together. I understand you have a proposal contract for me to review?”

“Yes, of course! Right here!” She still hadn’t gotten used to their casual levitation of objects. Magic over there was so different from the sound science she was familiar with. She’d need a unicorn working for her. Also a pegasus. Maybe an earth pony, although she had no idea exactly what they did.

The contract seemed fairly straightforward at first glance. It would give each of them license to use the other’s products and patents in the other world. This is… simply too good. These terms are too favorable. The penalty clauses are harsher on them than me, but they wrote it. Something is up. She’d have to through it carefully. “I’d like to go over this a bit more.” I saw that. You were disappointed. A lesser businesswoman wouldn’t have seen that, but I’m more than you can handle.

What are you fellows up to? The first clue was the severability clause. “If any part of this Contract is found to be invalid, the remainder of the contract will continue in full force and effect as if the defective and invalid provision or clause or condition had been deleted.” Normally it would continue, “provided that the parties to this contract are entitled to negotiate a valid and enforceable provision in replacement of the invalid provision.” The omission changed things substantially. I wonder what this would look like after a court went over it. She’d already seen the “choice of law” and “choice of venue” sections and knew they were trying to get the home turf advantage.

“Give me a minute, gentlemen. Gentlestallions. Sorry, I’m not used to this.” She raised the screen of the terminal. OCR scanning wasn’t perfect, but humans had used it on documents since before the tower had been built, and she’d had her friend feed in all the law books she could get from Equestria in preparation for this meeting. A few queries on “penalty” and “licensing” revealed that while the penalty clause for them breaching an agreement was too harsh to be permitted under Equestrian law, the penalty for her breaching the agreement would be just barely legal. A further clause specified that they agreed not to seek damages against each other for several possible breaches of the contract except by the penalty clauses. This might survive judicial review, or might not. She couldn’t determine that with the limited tools available to her.

Fortunately, a solution presented itself. She could always just not sign the contract, but that would offend her sense of vengeance. Sure, she’d admit that compared to Mir, her sense of vengeance was lightweight, but that’s hardly fair.

“I’d like you to explain to me the purpose of this clause.” She pointed to the “penalty clause damages only” clause. Well, that got them sweating. They look so cute when they’re nervous. I wish I could have one as a pet.

“That’s, ah, a standard boilerplate. To relieve burden on the courts! Equestria has no-fee courts, so you have to have a system of social decorum about this sort of thing!”

To her astonishment, they then burst into song about not burdening their fair Princesses and their government with undue work when a businesspony could settle their debts themselves. Clearly they’d made it up on the spot, but it wasn’t too bad. They did break meter a couple times though.

“All right, that seems entirely reasonable. What about this clause?” She’d pointed to a clause specifying that all joint accounting must be done in the Equestrian Bit. They broke into a song extolling the virtue of the gold standard. This one was rehearsed, although she had no idea what context they’d have needed to use it in before.

“And this clause?”

“♫...represents a golden opportunity!♫”

Two hours later, the stallions still burst into song, although only occasionally. It seemed like now was the time to spring the trap. “OK, this should be the last thing I’m worried about.” The stallions’ ears perked up a bit. Yes, it’s almost over. “The use of the Equestrian court system seems rather surprising. Doesn’t an important friend of one of the Princesses have a feud with you all? Aren’t you afraid she’ll use this opportunity to torpedo things for you, as she has in the past?”

The effect was immediate. Both stallions looked at each other and gulped. “Now that you mention it ma’am, that’s an excellent point.”

“Indeed brother, we hadn’t thought of that. What do you propose?”

“The ruler of this tower owes me a favor. We could simply place jurisdiction here.”

“Agreed!”

“Indeed!”

She crossed out the clauses with her pen, then wrote in new ones substituting Platina law and courts. After looking it over, both brothers turned to her.

“We’re ready to sign!”

“Indeed brother of mine!”

Three signatures were placed on the contract. A quick photocopy, and a thorough inspection of the copy by the stallions, and the deal was official.

“That was a nice, painless negotiation.” Spica fairly beamed with joy. “Now you two go home and get ready for your marketing blitz.”

“Indeed! Good day to you. See you soon, depending on portal operation!”

Spica smiled. As soon as they’d withdrawn through the portal, she clicked on the microphone she was carrying. “OK, time to do Level 1 maintenance on the portal.”

“Why? It’s not due for another week,” a young woman’s voice responded over the speakers.

“Sasha, just trust me on this one.”

“So, what happened there? I thought for sure you wouldn’t sign with those obvious swindlers. Anyone that friendly has to be crazy or selling something.” Another young woman, this one with black hair done up in two buns rounded the corner, wearing a black airship pilot jumpsuit.

“Misha, that was just a parlor trick of negotiation. I merely exhausted them until I felt it was time, then I got them to give away the keystone of their entire plan. When they realize what I’ve done, they’ll either try to go through with the deal – I rather doubt that – or try to dodge everything and create new identities. What they don’t realize is that Platina law is based around the ideals of an isolated, nearly monastic community of holy warrior-guardians.

Misha rolled her eyes. “I grew up there, remember?”

“Yes, but they didn’t. Equestria doesn’t allow bounty hunting, but Platina allows bounty hunting across international borders.”

“Won’t the ponies raise a fuss about that?”

“I imagine so, but most of it will be directed at Shurelia and Commander Barsett for allowing such a thing. Shurelia knows better than to mess with my plans, so I imagine Celestia will have to, in the interest of international relations, overlook the fate of two con artists who should have thought about the contract more carefully.”

At this, Misha narrowed her eyes. “You’re going to send Mir after those two if they try to stiff you.”

“Don’t worry, marriage has softened her. She’ll only explode them a little. Let’s get lunch. I’ve had something called ‘Zap Apple Preserves’ imported, and I want to give you the first taste-test.”

Phase 1: Awakenings, Part 5

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Mir hadn’t really been sure what she’d expected inside Sweetie’s mind. She’d never been in a truly natural mind, only the highly structured ones of Reyvateils and robots. The fact that it seemed more or less identical to Ponyville at night was a bit of a surprise, and a letdown. She knew Sweetie had more imagination than that.

“How are you bearing dreamwalking?” Luna looked over at her, still holding the seed crystal within her magic. The princess was doing a good job of holding the link open. She’d make a great dive operator. Mir had been examining the magic closely, since going into minds on her own was one of her fondest dreams, and this was a heaven-sent opportunity. She’d do a little more to make this work.

“I’m quite all right.”

Luna looked around for a bit. “You’re… doing something with your presence? Hiding yourself?”

Mir nodded. “I’m reducing the strain on Sweetie’s mind. Having a lot of people in your mind at once is bad for younger or weaker Reyvateils, and I don’t have a lot of data on ponies, so I figured I’d use a light touch.”

Luna nodded appraisingly. “Wherever did you learn the skills of dreamwalking? Even Twilight Sparkle has not been successful in duplicating it.”

Mir shrugged. “I’m not sure you can really call what I do ‘dreamwalking’ as you do it. All I can say is that there’s a whole industry that does something similar, although we’re only able to do it for artificial minds. I’m sure if I introduced you to Sasha, she’d figure out how to do it for anyone in a day’s time.”

Luna paused for a moment. “Then what protects the dreams of your humans from outside influences? What watches over them for madness and despair?”

Mir shrugged. “Nothing, I guess. There’s not much outside influence floating around for them, but some people have tried to work on the second part. Anyway, I think I’ve isolated the spot we need to go to.”

She glared at the ground, and the dirt yielded to her scrutiny by shifting into purple smoke. After a few moments, it produced a hole in the ground, leading to what appeared as still more night sky.

Luna leaned in for a look. “You wish to go deeper? Very well.”

Mir nodded. “The basal triangulum should be pretty low, it’s mostly reflex actions. Princesses first.”

Luna dove in, then spread her wings and hovered below. “Follow quickly.”

Mir lept in. As she fell, shadowy smoke coalesced around her back into a pair of inky smoke wings. She spread them into a soaring position, then banked left into a spiral down. “Okay, it should be straight down a bit more.”

“Here we are.” Mir came to a halt on a large expanse of triangular prism blocks. Both above them on the ‘ceiling’ and below on the floor neat piles of blocks (all equilateral, Mir noted) seemed to stretch to the ‘horizon.’ After regarding the pattern of the blocks (all the edges aligned precisely as well), she waved her forehoof and announced, “You can just drop it off anywhere here.”

Luna nodded and set the crystal down. As she did, new blocks began to grow from the ground, forming a cubby for it. They both turned to watch, and the sides of the cubby slid while the crystal slowly levitated on its own, until it seemed to be hovering above an altar.

Mir’s face had gone slack with astonishment. “I must admit, I hadn’t expected that. It seems her subconscious is accepting this more easily than I thought.” Around her, the blocks began to change color from white to red.

Luna surveyed the reddening blocks, eyes slightly widened. “Is this a problem? I have never seen anything like this happen.”

Mir pondered for a moment. “I don’t think so.” As Luna turned to look at her, she noticed another change in the environment. “Oh, there we go. They seem to be turning back… mostly.” Indeed, many of the blocks were returning to their previous white color. Some, however, stayed red, and the wavefront of change was still sweeping outward in the distance. A smaller number were beginning to turn blue.

She pursed her upper lip. “I’ve never seen something like this before. If you want to shut it down now, I’ll understand.”

Luna thought for a moment (it would be fairly easy to grab the crystal to establish a symbolic hold, then exit), looking at the nearest red block, then back to the crystal. “No. I have a hypothesis as to the cause of this: Sweetie’s mind is assimilating knowledge she has gained in the past about this.”

“Huh.” Mir looked around. “That seems to be it, I taught her about red and blue song magic. It’s nice working with an expert instead of a pack of adventurers.”

Luna smiled at the compliment, but continued surveying the scene. “She must want this ’song magic’ strongly. I saw her desire to be helpful when I visited her dreams in the past, and her belief that her help was not needed.”

Mir nodded. “I didn’t think she wanted it quite that strongly, but that fits with these reactions. Her parents want her to find her place in the world, and I thought this might be it. It’d be a way to help which no other pony possessed.”

Luna turned back towards the crystal, hovering above its altar. A smaller red crystal had begun to grow from it, and another bluish one on the other side. “Are those the ‘basic’ spells you mentioned?”

Mir nodded. “Yeah. Sweetie’s subconscious feelings are merging into the spell matrix, to determine what sort of construct will manifest to mark the function.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Why does it need to do that?”

Mir shrugged her shoulders. “It’s part of Reyvateil design from before my time. I’d think it’s because our imaginations have trouble with abstract forces, so we imagine something doing the thing we need done.”

The princess nodded. “That makes sense, I suppose.”

“Supposedly the constructs – that’s the word we use for the visual bits – relate to how we feel about what we’re accomplishing.” Mir straightened up a bit and lifted her head. It reminded Luna slightly of Twilight Sparkle explaining some advance in magical theory. “Say you’re assailing an enemy with your magic. If you’re manifesting a gossipy woman who smashes the enemy with her immensely powerful voice and giant block letters, it might mean you feel that gossip is especially hurtful to you.”

Luna raised one eyebrow. “Is that something you’ve seen before?”

Mir shrugged. “No comment.”

“In any case…” Luna lay down on the dream-ground, folding her legs under herself, “...I wish to hear more about you. I’ve never been able to have a conversation with a construct – here I mean a solid creature constructed artificially with magic – before."

Mir scrunched up her face. “I think that the two different meanings of ‘construct’ we have are going to cause a problem. Why don’t you just call me a Reyvateil?”

Luna nodded. “So a Reyvateil is a type of thinking, feeling being, created using magic?”

“More or less. Humans can’t use magic, so they had to build us the hard way.”

“Twilight Sparkle said they could not. I’m quite surprised they found another way to make new kinds of life.”

“One thing I’ll say for humans: they don’t know when to quit. The resources put into the development of Reyvateils would stagger your imagination. Between the theory, the validation, the construction of the Tower and its support systems, and the operation of the systems, probably a million man-years were spent. Of course I wasn’t there for any of it, so I’d have to ask Shurelia for the exact numbers.

“They created Reyvateils because they knew magic existed, but couldn’t control it themselves. Since they knew that magic was mediated most efficiently by emotions, whatever they created had to be capable of feeling them. So they created us in their image, mostly.”

“Mostly?” Luna hadn’t seen Mir’s normal form, but Ayatane looked like she’d expect a human to look.

“There are slight differences between the male and female brain in humans, so they only validated it with female-type brains to save money. Thus, Reyvateils are female-only.” Mir glanced over to the crystal. “Ah, the songs are ready.”

Luna turned to the crystal hovering above its altar. It was now orbited by two smaller crystals, one red and one blue.

Mir turned back to Luna and stood up. “If you like, we can lea–” The ground suddenly interrupted them, as a red line shot out from the altar off into the distance. “Huh.” Mir stared down at the line. “I think we should check that out. Follow it?”

Luna nodded. “Indeed.”

Luna wasn’t really sure where this mental journey was going. It felt like it had been far too long already, and there was no end in sight. Just a valley in the midst of a plain of stacked blocks, arranged in neat rows. There wasn’t any feeling of wrongness, just a feeling that they’d gone further through the mind than you should be able to go in any one direction – if that even made sense.

Maybe it didn’t.

Mir was leading the way, walking ahead and slightly to the left of the princess. Luna’s mind wandered a bit to the mark she bore. It was rather odd. Mir was a construct built to imitate a human, neither of which naturally had cutie marks. It certainly seemed to be a cutie mark, since it was apparently part of her self-image to persist into the dream. It consisted of a dark purple starburst with a superimposed red musical note.

Well, she did want to know more about her. “Reyvateils don’t normally have cutie marks, do they?”

“No.” Mir didn’t look away from the line.

Luna peered closer at the mark. It was a bit impolite, but royalty had its privileges, and she wondered what a dark purple starburst meant. Back when she’d… left, the starburst was symbolic of friendship. Red or reddish purple indicated a transcendental understanding. Blue indicated a talent for calming. Other colors existed, but had less strong associations. On the other hand, it could also indicate a talent for magic. Red indicated speed at learning, and otherwise the mark was so rare that no common associations were known. What could a dark purple starburst mean? It didn’t seem to be dark magic; thanks to Sombra and the Nightmare, she’d know its foul taint instantly. The red musical note was odd too. The color combination might mean something, or… “Mir Fehu Eoria ArTonelico.”

Mir halted instantly. Luna stared down at her own lips, for the words had come unbidden to her, as she stared at the cutie mark.

“I told you not to mention that.” Mir stopped walking, but didn’t turn around.

“Uh…” Luna was sweating. She’d been caught snooping. “I was trying to figure out what your cutie mark meant when it popped into my head unbidden.” She straightened slightly. “It is the right of a princess to inspect the marks of her subjects, that she may know their special talents.”

Mir nodded slowly. “Well. I don’t know what it’s for, but never refer to me that way. I am not subordinate to my sister.”

Luna nodded. The details were memorized: she could puzzle over what part of that indicated subordination later. It might be good to get a small amount more information, if she could do so. “Very well. Could you tell me about your sister? Is she a Reyvateil like you?”

Mir turned and resumed walking. “My sister is a fool,” she stated flatly. No elaboration seemed to be in the offering.

Mir’s disdain for her sister troubled Luna, but it was better than arguing. Whatever drama had occurred between Mir and her sister wasn’t Luna’s to poke at unless it became relevant to what they were doing. Three Goddesses knew she wouldn’t want ponies discussing her past with her sister in front of her.

She resumed contemplating the mark. Perhaps… “If you do not mind my asking, why were you built?”

Mir stopped once again. Rather than become angry, she seemed to shrink and sag. “I was… built for a bad purpose.”

“Is that why you wished to avoid discussing the past?”

“Yes.” Mir resumed walking, staring straight ahead at where the path met the ‘horizon.’

“Do you continue to carry out your function?”

“I never did. It was too abominable.”

“Well, then you should feel pride. Standing up to one’s… creators like that for what is right is a laudable act.”

Luna barely saw the spin in time. Mir turned in place on her back hooves with surprising speed and shoved Luna back with both front hooves.

Luna managed to loosen up and roll with the impact as Mir rebounded from the shove and unsteadily wobbled back down onto four hooves. Instead of any followup, Mir lowered her head and closed her eyes. “STOP TALKING!” Tears flowed from her eyes as she steadied herself. “YOU KNOW NOTHING!”

Realizing it was an emotional outburst rather than a real attack, Luna steadied herself and observed. Mir didn’t move for a moment, then flopped down, threw a foreleg over her head, and cried.

Luna stood, then moved closer to Mir. She nuzzled her, which produced nothing more than a soft sob. That not provoking a reaction, she aligned herself next to the smaller pony and lay down, draping a wing over her. Mir still didn’t react.

“I offer my apology. I recognize I have intruded into something too personal.”

“You’re just ignorant.” There was an undertone of quiet, frustrated anger. Mir sniffed once and wriggled partially away from the wing, trying to stand straight again. “But how could you know, really? It didn’t end well, let’s leave it at that. Things are ok enough now though.”

Luna enveloped her a little more firmly, pulling the smaller pony back to her with her wing. “Maybe you need to talk about it with somepony.”

Mir gave a little sniff as the sobbing stopped. “I talked about it with my husband. Everything’s been aired.”

“It does not seem like everything is alright.”

Mir wriggled forward and stood up forcefully, popping out from under the wing, and turned her head to look Luna in the eye. “I said everything's been aired. Nothing can make everything alright again, but that’s the way it is.”

As Mir turned around and resumed following the red line, Luna heard her whisper under her breath, “Dammit. Something about her is bringing it up again.”

He’d almost finished. The ten orbs stood arrayed about him, and dim sparks of purple and green were visible in their depths. Each of them stood on a cushion, nine of them now black and the last still purple. He’d have to give her the purple one. No modifications. No mind magic. She’d notice. But the other nine would be enough.

For the first time in… Mir wasn’t quite sure how long, the landscape wasn’t the same. Up ahead there was a bend in the valley, and a rise blocking her view of what was beyond the bend. Maybe Luna knew. “Luna, how long have we been walking?”

“One hundred and three seconds.”

“Huh?” Mir came to a halt ahead of her. “It feels like we’ve been walking for hours.”

“Yes,” Luna looked off into the distance, “It does seem like that when one is in a dream. Time, however, is not constant here. I have learned to use this to help my mind focus on multiple tasks at the same time. As I do this, the main part of my mind and my body fly over the woods, patrolling the physical realm as I simultaneously patrol the spiritual one.”

“That… seems pretty impressive.” Mir was grinning slightly. “Is that a skill you picked up, or is it some special destined magic thing?”

Luna arched an eyebrow, contemplating Mir’s request. “It took me two centuries of practice to do this.”

“Rrrhhhhgggh.” Mir sighed through her teeth and continued walking. “I’m afraid I won’t quite have enough time. Let’s just see whatever Sweetie’s unconscious mind wants.” She raced ahead along the path.

Luna followed at a more sedate pace, which meant she saw Mir standing still and staring up before she saw what Mir was staring at. “The Tree of Harmony?”

In front of them floated a gigantic, empty picture frame. It was square, looked to be made of roots (or perhaps carved to resemble roots) and loomed over them. Behind it was the Tree of Harmony, looking exactly as it had when Luna had seen it after being freed from the plundervine. Her first thought was to how it could ‘be’ here. Sweetie hadn’t been to it as far as she knew, and the resemblance was too exact to be based on descriptions. She hadn’t allowed the press access to the Tree, and guard patrols covered its area. As she was pondering this, the red line suddenly shot out forward to the base of the tree.

“It’s communicating.” Mir stared down at the red line.

Luna couldn’t seem to sense anything other than the visual representations she was getting. “What do you mean?”

“There’s an exchange of information between Sweetie Belle’s unconscious and the tree. I can’t read it at all, but I’ve worked with data all my life. I know communication when I see it.”

Luna looked over the line again. “I merely see a red line.”

Mir looked back and forth along the line. “Sweetie’s autonomic nervous system reacted to the seed’s presence by preparing a spot for it, then sent a message to this ‘Tree of Harmony’… somehow.”

Luna shrugged with her wings. “I do not know why this is. It is possible she is connected to it as the sister of a Bearer of Harmony, but I doubt that greatly. I do not feel it cares about such relations, except as they might embody Harmony.”

“It may answer the question of why I’m here, though.” Mir gazed up at the picture frame. “But, if I was brought here to teach this to Sweetie, for whatever reason, that still leaves the question of ‘who brought us here’ open.”

“Surely you came through a magic mirror between worlds? We know at least one that still operates. Twilight Sparkle encountered ‘humans’ there, although she never said anything about ‘Reyvateils.’”

Mir shook her head. “We were brought here while unconscious, and awoke in a clearing in or near the Everfree forest. It seems some of our personal equipment made the trip with us, but not all of it. Although I guess the gun would be hard to use without fingers.” (1)

“Gun?”

“Huh, you don’t have those here? They’re a weapon that uses a small explosive charge to create a large amount of pressure, and force a projectile down a tube. They’re not too common right now, since you need high quality metal in the right shape, but in the past they were the primary weapon of the human soldiers.”

Luna nodded. It seemed like a more complicated version of the blowpipes used to propel darts. “I see I have finally got you to open up a little about your world.” She smiled down at Mir. “I really do wish to know more about you and your world. I understand there are some things you wish not to discuss, but it’s not often I get to encounter the representative of a new world.”

Mir nodded, seeming a little more withdrawn, and sighed resignedly. “Well, sit down here and I’ll tell you a little more about it. It’s called ‘Ar Ciel’ and in the ancient tongue – and in hymmnos – that means ‘sole sky.’ Now, I told you a long time ago humans figured out that magic existed. There was a small group of humans who could just barely do the tiniest magics with groups of singers. There was this lady called the ‘mother of sound science’ who discovered the power of certain materials to convert feelings into power via sound. She created the Orgel of Origins, which could create a feedback loop allowing you to generate as much power as you want.” Mir noted Luna’s expression harden at the words “feedback loop” and filed it away for future reference. “Even to this day, the Tower of Ar Tonelico uses it as its power source.”

3:50 AM. The alarm on Twilight’s bedside table rang.

“Get as much sleep as possible in order to optimize decision making. Check.” Twilight groggily levitated up the scroll, then checked off a box on the list. Her eyes were half open and all her being wished to go back to sleep, but she needed time to prepare.

“Reheat coffee.” She levitated a sealed bottle next to the bed, and her aura briefly spiked around it. With a pop of the cork, she opened it and sniffed deeply. Warm, coffee-smelling steam greeted her. “Check.”

“Drink all the coffee.” She pressed the bottle to her lips and began.

Luna had laid down beside Mir to listen. “The other nations of the world didn’t like the idea of the nation of El Elemia controlling the Tower of Ar Tonelico, believing its power could destroy any or all of them.”

A worried-looking Luna broke in, “Truly? A machine capable of such a thing?”

“It’s energy. Power. Once you have enough of it you can do all sorts of things. Harm or heal. Weal or woe. If you really ran it up to full power you could probably disintegrate the planet, or do anything else that requires that much energy.”

Luna nodded, stunned. “You have the power to disintegrate a planet?”

Mir smiled and shook her head. “Not personally. I could never safely channel that much power. I’d probably blow up or die well before then. Additionally, the tower was never completed and was damaged while under construction. I doubt it could deliver enough power in the first place.”

Luna nodded again. “Still, the fact that you used this as an example makes me wonder about the intentions of the builders. Did they plan such a foul deed?”

Mir lowered her eyes. She paused a moment before nodding. “Yes. They intended to create a means to destroy the world out of spite if they were in danger of being conquered. I’m told it was something that humans did at that time, and that they had come up with a great many ways to do so. Of course, they ended up being irrelevant. The fact that they can conceive of such terrible ideas, yet at the same time so many good ones, reminds me that they are truly a variable species. I suppose I must say my feelings towards them are… complicated.”

Luna closed her eyes and sat in deep thought. She thought of her past, of her sister. Of what happened between them. She opened her eyes again. “Yes. Variable… like ponies.”

Mir snorted. “I haven’t been tortured for years by ponies–” Luna’s ears shot up. “–so I’ll say they’ve got a leg up at the moment. Anyway, let’s resume storytime.”

“One of those rival countries recruited some guys to sabotage the tower. The resulting energy surges ended up damaging the Heart of the Land – our version of the Tree of Harmony. As a result, deadly gasses called the Sea of Death began to pour out. Within three decades, 90% of the world’s surface was covered by it, and life survived only on the highest mountains, the Towers, and the floating continent surrounding the first Tower.”

“Excuse me,” Luna broke in, “But did you say towers, plural?”

“Oh right.” Mir tried to smack herself on the cheek, but merely bumped herself with the cannon of her foreleg. She continued on as if she had meant to do that. “Yeah, they had built two other towers, but neither was intended for permanent use. One was built as a mere amplifier for the first tower, but the last one was actually built at the antipode of the first one, for the purpose of trying to fix the Heart. Funny story, the antipode was the territory of the guys who recruited the saboteurs in the first place. Anyway, eventually, after about 700 years, they were able to use the third tower to fix the world, thanks to me, my friends, and a little divine intervention. This is a very high level of overview but... I don’t really want to go into it.”

“Yes, I… see.” So far there didn’t seem to be any major inconsistencies in the story, so she’d consider it “possibly true” for now. That little hesitation at the end hadn’t escaped her, though. “So your world barely made it through this calamity, and now your peoples recover?”

“Right.”

The fact that Mir skipped over literally 700 years was quite instructive. Luna wanted to ask about the details of Mir’s past, but that would make her evasive. If their positions were reversed, Mir would be asking about her own thousand year gap. Something terrible had happened in that gap, although she couldn’t imagine what would be more terrible than covering the world in poison gas. Maybe it wasn’t worse, she thought. Maybe it was just more personal.

“All right.” Twilight still felt an urge to go back to bed, but the coffee had purged tiredness from her for now. She was awake and her vision was clear. This was the sacrifice of a Princess of Equestria. How many times had she seen Celestia work past midnight, only to be up before dawn again?

“Orders for the local guard details. Check.” She gave a nod to the sealed tube containing the scroll. None of the enchantments she had placed on it had been tampered with.

The line connecting the Tree of Harmony to Sweetie Belle’s mind dimmed out.

“Looks like the information exchange has stopped.” Mir poked at the place where the line had been with her hoof, trying to puzzle out what was going on, but touch wasn’t providing any new information.

Luna nodded. “Well, I think it is time we…”

“Hello.” Luna and Mir both turned around to face a third pony. Her voice had sounded almost exactly like Mir’s, but with slightly less edge. She also looked very similar, with the same face, body, and mark. The only differences were cosmetic: she wore a light-green blouse and had her hair in a tight bun. It reminded Luna of the “psychologists” Celestia had brought in to assess her “mental health” upon her return from the moon. The more pressing question, though, was–

“Who are you, intruder?” Luna bristled. A changeling wouldn’t wear clothing to distinguish itself from the original, and in any case weren’t known to dreamwalk.

Mir turned her head to examine the intruder. “She’s me. Just, not the conscious me.”

The intruder nodded. “Yes, that’s correct. Reyvateil minds are very ordered and structured, so things they have trouble dealing with create a sort of alternate personality within their subconscious mind that is linked to that concept or event. I know Mir mentioned ‘diving’ to you, one of the goals of that is to integrate the alternate personality into the mind of the Reyvateil, by allowing her to better deal with whatever she had trouble with.”

Luna followed Mir in tilting her head, albeit in a more quizzical fashion. “So… what ‘thing’ are you associated with?”

“I’m not like most personality fragments. I won’t beat around the bush or make you go on a journey or play a game. I represent the part of Mir that wants to talk about her problems dammit and therefore I speak about what I want clearly.” The copy was glaring slightly at her original, who had begun to look a little taken aback.

“I talk about my problems.” Mir stammered, scrambling to stabilize herself against this odd turn of events. “I talk about them with my husband…”

“Yes, I know you do. But you know he can’t possibly understand all of them. He can’t understand them because his experiences aren’t the same as yours. Now you’re here, trying to avoid talking to the one person,” she gestured to Luna, “who could possibly understand your feelings. Talk to her. Talk to her about your sister. About what you did.”

“Hold it hold it hold it.” Mir reared back and waved her hooves in front of her for emphasis. “She might not even be real! It seems consistent so far, but there’s still a small chance that this is a dastardly simulation created by Shurelia to mess with my head in revenge for the cake.”

“Your sister likes cake as well?” Luna wasn’t commonly at a loss for words. Not really thinking clearly about it, she tried to redirect the conversation back to something she could understand.

“Well, not entirely. My sister is real old, but doesn’t like to reveal her true age. So I got her a cake and put an accurate number of candles in it, one for each year. She saw it and burst into tears.” Twinges around the edges of Mir’s mouth indicated to Luna that she was trying to hold back laughter. “And then the fire suppression system activated from the candles and everyone had to flee the room Pffhahahaha ha ha! Oh ha ha ha it was ha great.” Mir’s resistance to laughing had given out, and she spent a moment with that. Luna exchanged an uneasy glance with the copy. “The cake tasted ok though, just a little Halon on it. More for us.”

“While I admit I am… sometimes tempted to prank my sister such, I doubt I would derive enjoyment from her tears.”

“That’s because you have a much better sister than we do. Tell her already.” The copy poked her ‘original.’ Mir’s laughter ceased and she glared over at the copy.

“Fine. I’ll talk. Just… stop interfering. I’m trying to help Sweetie Belle and I’m trying to avoid anything that might mess with that.”

Luna had chosen that moment to approach Mir, and now loomed over her. “Do you believe that telling me of your past would somehow harm Sweetie Belle? Or do you wish to conceal some reason I should not allow you to help her?”

“Well,” the copy approached Luna, “here’s a question for you. Do you believe that a crime the victim has truly forgiven the criminal for ‘counts’ as a crime? My apologies for being cryptic, but I need a ‘hook’ for you here. I do a admit a tiny bit of hypocrisy but time’s wasting, and I’d better be off.” The copy sprung forward onto Mir. Instead of colliding, the outstretched forehooves sunk into Mir’s body. The rest of the copy followed into her, and when the last bit of her tail had vanished, there was nothing but a series of ripples along Mir’s fir, as if the copy had jumped into a pond.

“Great.” Mir looked up at Luna. “No point in trying to get out of this now.”

Luna nodded.

Pinkie was having the three lights dream again.

Normally, nearly all of Pinkie Pie’s dreams were lucid, the better to enjoy herself in. Fun should be a 24/7 thing, after all. A very small number of them were not, however. She’d had one three lights dream the night before her cutie mark appeared, one before the day she met Twilight, and one further one before Twilight became an Alicorn.

As before, there were three balls of light: red, blue, and yellow. They talked to each other in mares’ voices, warm and motherly like Princess Celestia herself. Pinkie could never hear the entire conversation, but it was always about something important.

“...all my plans!” The red one seemed to be upset about something, almost in tears.

“...can still fix things....” The yellow one was trying to comfort it. Pinkie wanted to as well, but this wasn’t a dream she could control, no matter how hard she tried. She wasn’t even in it, really. It was like she was watching a movie.

“...adjustments of our own…” The blue voice was always the calmest, coolest. It was the least motherly of them, and Pinkie had never seen it show an intense emotion.

“...it’s out of our control now. All we can do is hope.” The yellow voice seemed to end the discussion.

“I don’t think just explaining is going to work.” Mir’s tail swished about angrily. She’d never had to deal with such a troublesome subconscious before, and it was annoying her. Sure, other Reyvateils do, but I should have better control of myself than that.

Luna regarded her pensively. “Then what do you intend to do?”

Mir looked up at the empty portrait frame. If my hunch is right… “Let’s go back to my mind. I’ll make a space and we can see the past.”

Luna looked around: at the Tree of Harmony, the picture frame, and the line they’d followed there, fading away into the ground. “Very well.”

“OK, here we go.” Mir sat down on the nearly featureless white plane. In the distance Luna could see the dim shape of a crooked tower but couldn’t see or hear anything else. “This part of my mind was wiped clean by those bastards, so I just use it for simulations. I can put whatever I want here.” She gave a snort. “Maybe I should thank them for all the work they put into it.” The bitterness and sarcasm in Mir’s voice made Luna inch away involuntarily, but after recovering she sat down next to the smaller pony.

Mir closed her eyes and begun to concentrate. The white plane began to fade out around them, until they were sitting on a white disk in a sea of emptiness.

“Alright. First, I’m going to show you that tower I mentioned. Here’s what it looked like while still under construction.” (2)

Luna’s eyes widened as she realized the scale of the massive edifice.

It seemed to be about 20 times the height of Mount Canter, or maybe more. Mental math indicated a forty thousand story structure. An immense floating island spread around it, and clouds drifted by. Luna’s jaw had flopped open without her realizing it.

Mir's magic gently closed Luna's mouth again. “It’s pretty big, isn’t it? It gets even taller than this. The higher sections are even skinnier, so it’s got about 90% of its total mass already though.”

“But… but… how does it stay up? I know something of architecture. No material could possibly retain that profile under the weight of such a structure.”

Mir grinned. “It can’t stand up under its own weight; it’s an active structure. The power of the Orgel of Origins pushes up to counter the weight.”

Luna considered this. “That seems most terrifying. Whatever would happen if you needed to perform maintenance on the Orgel?”

“We’ve never had to, but there are capacitors surrounding it storing power. We could probably offline it for a while without worrying. But we’re not here to talk about architecture.”

Luna nodded. “Your… other self mentioned a ‘crime’ that you should share with me.”

Mir nodded in turn. “I have to finish establishing the background first. Now, the purpose of that massive, ridiculously powerful construction was to enable humans to wield magic – more or less. It took them a lot of prep work to make their devices do what they wanted. Since modifying themselves to use it on command would be hard and dangerous, they created Reyvateils instead.” The image of the tower vanished, replaced by the images of three women.

Luna had never seen a human herself. She’d seen Twilight’s sketches of them, but it was never quite the same thing. The first one had white hair and seemed to Luna to be an adolescent, about the same age as Twilight’s coincidental friends in the other realm. The second seemed to be at more or less peak age, with long black hair done up in buns and somewhat more development of muscle structures. The third seemed more or less in between the ages of the two, with long blonde hair and a slightly softer appearance. Judging by the ceremonial-looking sword she wore on her belt, an aristocrat. Minotaurs of rank used to carry those.

“Reyvateils were originally created as advanced song magic constructs that mimicked human form and behavior.” The white and black haired women were surrounded by a blue aura. “They would be subservient and obedient to humanity. Every aspect of them was designed to be comfortable for humans. The fact that the mass production models–” The blue aura vanished, replaced by a red aura around the black-haired woman. “–have a maximum lifespan at all, is due entirely to the designers believing that humans would be more comfortable with the idea of generational change. Or maybe they were just jealous of the prototypes’ ability to survive long after they were dead.” The blue aura briefly flickered around the white-haired girl.

Luna looked back and forth between the two that had been highlighted so far. “I truly cannot see the distinguishing characteristic between the two kinds.”

Mir laughed, a gruff sharp sound. “The mass-production models, or ‘Beta’ types, look like healthy human women of various body types. At age 25 their appearance is permanently fixed. The prototype, or ‘Origin’ ones all look like teenage girls. There are only three of them, so if it matters you can memorize what each one looks like. But the third type, the so-called third-generation ones, can look like any human woman. They age like normal humans for the first part of their life, but after that…” Mir’s eyes wavered. She lowered her gaze to the ‘floor.’

Luna’s ears lowered, and her tail drooped. “A… congenital malady?”

“Not exactly.” Mir’s gaze lifted back to lock onto Luna’s eyes, her own alight with blazing hatred. “The only reason it’s possible is because of some asshole who wanted a massive, temporary boost to the Reyvateil population. When you think about it, a Reyvateil is a construct. They shouldn’t be able to have children at all. But he hacked it together so that they could. The quality of life of the resulting hybrid Reyvateils wasn’t expected to be a long-term concern.”

“That…” Luna’s eyes had been growing increasingly wider as the implications sunk in. “...that sounds like something Sombra would do.”

“I’ve only read about Sombra in the foal’s encyclopedia…”

“I have no idea what they’d put in the section where he ‘ruled’ the Crystal Empire. ‘Twas very bad, ask your elders about it when you are grown,’ in giant block font?”

Mir smiled slightly. “I suppose. One of our Origins still thinks highly of the guy I’m talking about, but that’s just the first, but by no means final, proof of her bad taste in men. She consistently denies he does any of the terrible things he did. But I should end this digression...”

“Anything down there?”

“Not a thing.” Another pair of bat-winged Night Guards swung over the Everfree-Ponyville boundary. They wheeled and banked in preparation for the next leg. For the moment, they were over Ponyville and had some time to chat.

“Anyway, I was saying earlier. You heard about what’s going on with the Day Guard?”

“Nah, I don’t care about anything they do unless it affects us.”

“You remember the Invasion, right?”

“How in Tartarus could I forget? Woke us up in the middle of the damn day, we formed ranks in front of Luna’s chambers while the seneschal tried to wake her. She’s our Lady and all, but she sleeps like the dead if she’s had anything at all to drink. And, don’t repeat this, she made the same joke about ‘did I miss anything’ to us and a second time to her sister.”

“That’s a little off-topic, but here’s the thing. The nobles have been on Shining Armor’s rump ever since then about ‘letting down the defenses.’ He’s the one who kicked the damn bugs out in the end, but some gratitude they gave him. Now he knows how we feel. But anyway, they’ve finally got him. Celestia ‘promoted’ him to ‘General of the Armies.’”

“What kind of Tambleon-forged rank is that? It’s not a Guard rank or an EUP rank.”

“It’s a new rank that theoretically puts him in charge of combined operations between the two.”

“That sounds like a load of horseapples. In an insurrection or disaster, the Guard takes charge of the EUP. If there’s a war with somebody else, the EUP takes charge of the Guard. It’s been spelled out since the last revision of the Constitution.”

“Yeah, he’s been ‘failed upward’ as they say. He’s still got the Crystal Guard though. But the thing that’s the big deal is that they’ve settled on his replacement as Commander of the Guard.”

“Oh, who is it?”

“Red Cell.”

“RED CELL!?!?!?!? That goddesses-damned meat eater? You put her in charge, there’ll be civilian blood on the Guards’ hooves before the moon’s out.” As they turned to face each other, they overlooked a cloaked figure walking down an alley.

“Hey, she’s not all that bad – for a Day Guard at least. She can’t help that her special talent is infiltration and defense-breaking. She’s putting what she does to use for the good of Equestria.”

“She’s great as the head of the Special Training and Testing Group. She does a great job thinking like a bad guy out to destroy Equestria. But she’s too over-aggressive. Shining lured her into a trap every single GUARDEX.”

“That’s probably just from how she trained as the leader of STT, only having to succeed once and all.”

Behind him the shadowy figure shook its head in disbelief at its own luck.

“Of course, the creation of such a Tower was an enormous undertaking that took previously unimaginable levels of treasure and effort. Rivals of the nation that constructed it attempted to destroy it, but…”

Mir turned back to the dream-Tower. It had become more complete, stretching so far up as to approach the stars themselves it seemed to Luna. Near the top-ish portion were a set of giant shiny discs, sitting as if impaled on the spire. As Luna watched, lightning begun to crackle around them, tiny jets of flame bursting from seams in the structure. Not tiny, Luna corrected herself. At this scale, those flame jets are the size of a city block.

More fire belched outwards from seams running down the Tower. Eventually it reached the bottom, and the city around its base was leveled, stripped clean away. The very earth itself heaved and rent around the tower. It swayed slightly, and at one point even shook sinusoidally, but did not topple. After a little while the disaster seemed to be over, but then the vents in the ground begun to spew forth black gasses. Luna watched as the view spread, showing the clouds of horror engulfing the entire landscape. She realized that this was the “Sea of Death” Mir spoke of that covered the world.

“How…” Luna couldn’t find a really adequate word. Everything seemed so small, but she should really finish that statement. “...how terrible.” It was almost beyond Luna’s imagination. Almost, but not quite. She’d seen a horror like this once, in her own nightmares. Eternal “Night” meant eternal stillness, one side of the planet baking in the sun, one side in constant darkness and cold, and everything in between shredded by tornado-force katabatic winds that would never end.

Mir continued, “Nobody expected that to happen, but with the way humans had damaged the environment earlier, the Heart of the Planet couldn’t take much more. The planet itself was dying, but they didn’t realize how bad it really was. They thought they could wait it out forever on Towers. Using the power of the First Tower, a Second was constructed, and a Third Tower was also built.

“This began the second age. The majority of humans lived on the floating continent surrounding the First Tower, as it was the only place ready for permanent habitation above the Sea of Death.” The Tower faded, to emphasize the floating mini-continent surrounding it.

“The second age sought to maintain human lifestyles by making maximum use of Reyvateils. We were put to work on anything our masters wanted, and they would not brook disobedience. Any Reyvateil who failed to obey was considered to be a defective piece of machinery, to be tossed out or ‘reconditioned.’”

Luna narrowed her eyes into a glare. “I am reminded of Sombra again, may he burn in the pit for all eternity.”

Mir smiled a narrow and dry smile. “I see you also have a demon of the past.”

Luna tilted her head to regard Mir. “We have not merely one, but a selection of such past wounds. Do not pick at them; you are the one explaining now.”

Mir turned to the floating landmass, which had transformed itself into a map. Icons with crossed swords begun to appear on it, at first near major cities but soon spreading all over. “Rebellion was inevitable. Reyvateils possessed full free will, and considerable magical power. Once the idea that they could be free entered their worldview, it spread like wildfire. It became a constantly simmering civil war.

“A group of human scientists sought to ‘solve’ this ‘problem’ by creating a Reyvateil that didn’t feel emotions for itself, and only could use the emotions programmed into songs for it by humans. Thus, it would never seek a better life for itself.”

Mir paused and took a deep breath. “It was called the Emotionless Reyvateil Program, and I was its first test unit. As a child I sought to please my ‘parents’ and strive to make humans happy. I admired their ingenuity, their diversity and the many other traits my carefully selected education had shown me in them. So…” Mir suddenly took a choking breath, suppressing the sob that she would never admit had been about to come out. “...I created a song to praise them, make them feel happy with themselves. But it was…” Her head tilted down towards the floor, and the words simply stopped.

Luna looked to her host and pondered her course of action. This was clearly some sort of psychological trauma, which as Princess of Dreams was her purview, and choosing the proper means of prompting the “patient” to speak further was important, though. But Mir was far too prickly: she would not admit to any weakness, which meant coaxing and gentle reassurances were out.

She silently approached Mir, taking care to pass briefly through her field of vision, and wrapped her wing around the small mare’s barrel. It required lowering the ‘floor’ for herself, but this time, the dreamscape allowed her to do so.

Mir pressed her face against Luna’s side, basking in the unconditional support it offered. “Thank you. This is… one of my most painful memories. It’s nice to have someone I can tell it to other than my husband. I… tried with a colleague back home, but she’s not good with anything emotional and it was nothing but awkwardness.” She savored the warmth for a bit, before announcing, “I’ll continue.” She vanished from Luna’s embrace and stood atop the map, clad in what seemed to be a hospital gown. Luna smiled. The armor going back up meant that she’d emotionally recharged enough to finish her story.

“My creating such a song on my own was clear evidence I had emotions of my own. I offered them praise, and they returned scorn and abuse. I was defective, a failure, a mistake. They would take me apart to ‘correct’ that ‘mistake’ and assure human dominance forever.”

A screen of some sort appeared in front of the map, showing a small humanoid restrained on a hospital bed with what appeared to be manacles. Based on the mane – no, hair – it seemed to Luna that it was Mir’s humanoid form. Humans in medical scrubs poked her with what appeared to be rods, which emitted an arc of electricity as they closed with her.

“So, what’s the program for today, Phil?” said the first human, the one prodding Mir’s neck. A shower of sparks punctuated his question.

“We’re gonna try to burn out its fear response,” replied the second human. “Get it used to the pain, then make it anticipate it. After it finally passes out, the data boys will come in and replicate the memories of that over and over. They’ll probably delete some parts of its education, but those can be replaced later. After this, it’ll no longer be able to form proper memory fields in its cosmosphere, and it shouldn’t be able to develop emotional attachments to stuff.”

“Sounds go–”

Mir’s hoof shattered the screen, cutting off the first human’s reply. She glared down at the frozen fragments of the scene,then took a deep breath through her teeth. Without saying a word, she jumped down and kicked the shards again, scattering them into nothingness. She took another deep breath through her nostrils before continuing.

“I was experimented on in such a manner for weeks, or perhaps months. It’s difficult to say how long, really. I was never provided clothing, because I shouldn’t have enough self-consciousness to be aware of the need for it!” Mir’s anger was slowly rising throughout the tirade, the Princess could see the it spread across her face. “That stack of butchers was incompetent as well as cruel. They had no idea how to accomplish what they wished, only vague guesses and endless patience for trying all their ideas out on their unfortunate test subject.” The snarl on Mir’s face was beginning to worry Luna. She was certain she knew what crime Mir spoke of.

“In the end they decided to reset me to zero and start over again. I had been broken enough to actually sing the Null_Self song to do it, and I was in the middle of it when he showed up. He was Ayatane Michitaka Kirinami, the original on which my Ayatane is based. He taught me of the power of Reyvateils to shape the world, of the power of song, and of my ability to rebuild the world. He gave me something to live for.” She paused for a moment, and brushed at the edge of her eye with a hoof. “But… he died trying to help me escape.

“I was able to live on, and had learned the ideas of escape. I fooled the humans into thinking nothing had changed, and eventually I was connected to a device called the ‘Silver Horn,’ a massive song magic facility literally wedged onto the side of the tower.” The tower reappeared again, and this time a device resembling a Fancy horn(3) rested slightly above the floating landmass, wrapped around the tower.

“Once I was connected, I had the power to fight back. With no one both able and willing to help me before my rebellion could be crushed, I had to defeat all my oppressors at once. The entire…” Mir paused and dipped her head for a moment here, but brought it back up and looked Luna square in the eye. “...the entire society that produced horrors for Reyvateils. The entire human race.”

Luna took a step back, aghast, as her tail drooped to the ground and her mouth opened. Behind Mir, the screen reformed to show a massive explosion rocking the tower, right below the level of the floating land. Immediately the land shook, cracks spreading along one side of it. Luna stood aghast, watching as massive cities, sprawling farmland, ancient forests, and untold millions of people tumbled into the dark clouds below.

Around the main screen, a dozen smaller ones appeared. Each showed one or more humans, from an oddly elevated perspective, and in shades of grey only.(4) Luna’s attention locked onto one that featured an older male and two younger humans – a father and his children, most likely. She watched as the background flashed white and the children ran to the man. He clutched them as the ground tilted beneath him. One of them slipped and slid from his grip. He leaned over and reached for the child, but it slid away from him out of view. The camera taking the recording was now swinging wildly, but the last thing Luna saw before the image faded out was the man and the child he was still clutching sliding away.

As she looked around, similar scenes were playing out. A woman was trying to pull someone from the rubble when the screen faded to grey. A man was hanging sideways from a tree as the screen faded to grey. She looked around as all the screens faded to grey, then switched to a single phrase in white on black: “Signal Lost.”

“That is my crime. The deed that can never be undone. The debt I saved the world to pay, but still feel as if it isn’t enough. The only other survivor from that era and region is my ‘sister’ Shurelia.” The white-haired young woman’s image returned. “She forgave me, told me that there was no need to punish me for crimes centuries past. She said that maybe I was right afterall, since if I hadn’t done that, then the series of events that saved the world would have never gone into motion. That the society itself was rotten and, while there might have been a less painful way to bring it down, who knows if it would have been found in time. She told me not to worry about the past. I–” she suppressed a sob, “–killed four hundred million people in one go and she says to forget it.”

Mir collapsed to the floor with her hooves over her eyes.

“Oh my goodness oh my goodness!” Fluttershy flew up and over the unconscious ziz. The giant, golden-tan, eagle-like bird would be almost twice as tall as Princess Celestia if both were standing, and it could probably open its bill wide enough to slurp up a normal pony like a road runner swallowing a lizard. She pressed the poultice against the wound on the side of its neck, then applied a wrap to hold it in place, going all the way around its giant head. “Thank you so much for bringing him to me. I’m sure all the little birds of the Everfree look up to him, and that he only attacked because he was stressed by all the night flying you fellows had been doing.”

The two bat-ponies in her parlor turned their heads towards her, a mare with sergeant’s stripes on her armor and a stallion with his wing in a sling. He released the magazine page in his mouth to say something, but his superior was faster. “Hmph. You may be an ex-bearer, but you’ve never had to deal with military discipline. Princess says patrol the woods, you patrol the woods. You should be grateful we know she wouldn’t want to upset you and brought it here after we won. I’m sure it wouldn’t show us the same courtesy.”

Fluttershy landed and gave her a stare. (No capital letter for it. Yet.) Then it passed. “I don’t have any anaesthetic safe for birds here. If you wouldn’t mind, could you get some for me? The only place I know of that would dispense it this late at night is in Canterlot...”

“Rrr. Fine.” The mare rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I can go back on patrol with my partner unable to fly. Buddy system and all that, nopody flies alone in the Everfree. Unless the Princess wants to, of course.” She stretched her wings, rolled the muscles in her back. “I’ll head up to Canterlot, I guess, I can make it back before dawn.” With that, she sarcastically saluted Fluttershy and stomped out.

“Don’t mind the sergeant.” The injured stallion paused to turn the page with his mouth. “She’s normally more pleasant than this. All these weird patrols and such have us on edge, and now I go and get myself hurt.”

“That’s not your fault.” Fluttershy leaned in a little, moving herself closer to him. “The ziz are powerful, almost as strong as Rocs but more…” her voice trailed off. “...carnivorous.”

“Eh, I just can’t stand being beat by something that can’t repartee properly. Oh, here we go, this looks interesting.” He pointed to the magazine article. “New Draconequs Skeleton Unearthed. This one’s another all-matcher, though. Two lion’s paws instead of two eagle claws. Pretty much perfect bilateral symmetry all over. You’re the one that’s friends with Discord, right? Why don’t you ask him why all the other ones have everything matching?”

Fluttershy stared at him aghast. “N… no no no! It’s horribly, terribly, unbelievably rude to ask someone about their dead relatives like that. If you keep wanting to talk about that, I’ll have to ask you to wait outside.”

“Okay okay.” The injured batpony’s good wing shrunk against his side, his ears folded down, and he lowered his head. “Sorry I asked.”

Fluttershy smiled softly. “It’s all right. Just... don’t do that in the future. ...if you don’t mind.”

Luna stood aghast. The sheer scale of the situation Mir described was unbelievable. There weren’t even four hundred million ponies in all the world. Luna imagined there might be more sapient beings than that, but she didn’t know. It was beyond any crime ever committed on her own world. It was, however, not beyond any crime attempted. Luna’s mind flashed with thoughts of the still world her madness had nearly created.

Her mind wandered past other images as well. She thought of the ancient campaigns against the griffons, and the constant smell of ash.

In modern times no griffon would even consider… To break the siege, she had... she didn’t want to remember it. Any of it.

Her memories moved forward. She looked down at the frightened faces of Ponyville. She stared in awe and shock at the rainbow of light as it came for her, and then there was a still, cool quiet. She saw the floor of the old castle, two white hooves in gold shoes. She looked up, and up, and up into the face of her sister. That awful moment that seemed to stretch on into infinity. Then Celestia smiled down at her.

She turned her attention back to the present. Mir had folded flat to the floor, having covered her eyes with her front hooves, and seemingly unresponsive. She couldn’t sense the presence of the “Mind Guardian” anywhere, but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to sense him if he was right behind her – mentally speaking.

Luna, thou canst do this. Thou knoweth what to do. She gave Mir’s foreleg a soft tap with her hoof.

Mir uncovered and opened her eyes, glaring up at Luna. It seemed to Luna to be more a glare of frustration than anger, which meant she was still on-script. “You do not plan to do anything like that in the future, do you?”

Mir’s expression switched to blank incredulity, then her eyes immediately narrowed and established mild anger. “No! Goddesses no!”

Luna smiled. “Good. Then I suppose forgiving you is the right course, and your sister is correct to take it. Forgiveness is an important virtue; punishment must serve a purpose. Any hypothetical punishment of you cannot possibly be to appease the desire for vengeance of the victims, as only one remains in the world of the living, and she is the one who chose to forgive you. It cannot be to prevent you from committing future crimes, because you have no intention of doing so. I rather doubt anyone mad enough to attempt a similar scheme would be dissuaded by any punishment meted out against you. It could only be for rehabilitative purposes, and if you helped to save your world, I am prepared to call that ‘finished.’”

Mir slowly stood up, blinking at Luna incredulously as she did so. “I… suppose.”

Luna half-circled around Mir and regarded her appraisingly. “Nay, I believe that the only living person who wishes to punish you for this is you. That is why part of your subconscious erupted to intrude upon us.”

Mir nodded, slowly and uncertainly, then brightened. “Still, I hope that my past won’t interfere with your permission for me to instruct Sweetie.”

“Well…” Luna tried to match the beatific smile Celestia used for her big pranks. “...only if you promise not to teach her to blow up a continent.”

“Heh.” Mir seemed to be back in good spirits again. Job well done, Luna. “I suppose I can skip that part of the curriculum.” She was smiling as well.

“Let’s talk about a slightly related subject: your husband. You said he knows all about this. How did he take it? He is a human, isn’t he?”

Mir nodded. “He never really seemed scared of that. Honestly, I think powerful, dangerous magic-using girls are his ‘type.’ He’s always been more worried about his friends and loved ones than anything else, so his primary concern was always my emotional well-being. Anyway, since if you measure by real time, I've just laid myself bare to someone I've only known for a few seconds, I’d like to ask you a question. What was it like for you?”

What was it like for you? Luna’s mind considered several possible values of “it.” After a moment, she lay down next to Mir. The smaller pony stared at her briefly, then lay down to the left of her her. Luna closed her eyes, hung her head, and begun. “It was so foolish of me. I believed my sister sought to rule alone, and was determined to grant myself the power to demolish her. I created, after many attempts, a metamagic charm that would allow my power to exceed hers. Such a thing required, as far as I knew, a constant input of a fixed set of emotions. After evaluation of my normal emotional state, I chose anger and jealousy.”

“Wait.” Mir’s eyes had narrowed in thought. “You created a feedback loop that was powered by anger and jealousy, and then enhanced them?”

Luna seemed to shrink. “We did not say our, rather, I did not say my decisions were good ones. I merely sought to defeat my sister before she defeated me. In the old days incidents where the highborn turning against their kin for power were commonplace. I had been steeped in such lore since foalhood: ‘twas a popular subject for plays. I felt I was being shut out of Court society, and that it was the prelude to Celestia’s triumph over me, but it was my own fault. My reclusion begat paranoia which begat more reclusion which begat madness and death.”

Mir tried to place her foreleg over Luna, but it wouldn’t go over: the length was not sufficient for the height. She stood up and managed to drape it over the Princess. “Everything is alright now, though. Between the two of us, I imagine I’ve made more terrible mistakes. The map I saw didn’t have any obvious sunken continents.”

Luna extended both her wings, knocking Mir off her, and stood. The smaller pony regained her footing and glared at her, but Luna was lost in dramatics. “Fie. I shall–” Luna had begun to sweep her forehoof for a dramatic gesture, but it froze part way. “Blast. I would wish to continue this discussion, but Sweetie Belle is waking up next to your body. Soon she will attempt to awaken you, if I guess right. I must take care of something more important than chatter and comparing wounds. You did say your sister rules over the Tower, correct?”

Mir gave a small nod. “I’m also in charge of security for it. Not that she has much choice in the matter.”

Luna stood as well, then pivoted to face Mir directly. “Very well. As the representative of your world in Equestria, I hereby acknowledge your presence as an ambassadorial mission. You shall be extended the rights and privileges thereof. I shall dispatch a courier with a proclamation explaining this that you may show to whoever questions you, as well as granting your license for metamagic. Farewell.” Luna’s form vanished.

“Mhmm.” Mir shook her head and sighed. She didn’t really think of herself as ambassador material. The suddenness of Luna’s exit annoyed her, but if Sweetie was awakening, it was understandable. She fired off a few events to pass the formalities of her cosmosphere by. Talking things out with Luna and getting the explanation had indeed helped her, and she’d re-assimilated the psychiatrist-looking part of herself. That was a dumb outfit though: she’d avoid using it unless Croix found out and asked for it.(5) She smiled thinly. Have to make compromises in marriage. Even if he does like some stupid outfits.

“Mir wake up wake up wake up!” Sweetie shoved her comatose teacher with both forehooves, rolling her tutor’s slumbering form off the pillow entirely.

“Mrghr.” Mir shook her head to clear the cobwebs of sleep, then looked at her student. “Yes, Sweetie?”

Sweetie Belle bounced in place, every motion exuding excitement. “The dream transfer thing you talked about worked and I know you and Princess Luna went into my mind and I feel so alive more than I ever have before and I can’t possibly go to sleep I want to do magic ohmygosh I bet this is how Rainbow Dash feels.”

Mir shook her head again and tried to process what the filly was saying. She could not possibly keep up with that until she’d been awake a little longer. “Please repeat that.”

Sweetie stopped bouncing and leaned forward. “I want to try out some magic! I can’t possibly go back to sleep, I’m too awake!”

Mir groaned softly, then wearily forced a thin smile. “Very well. Is there someplace nearby where a little sound won’t wake everyone?”

Sweetie raised her right forehoof to her chin and thought for a moment. “Oh! Oh! The park. It’s on the far side of town from the Everfree, so it’s perfectly safe, and it’s far enough away you could set off fireworks there and nopony would wake up.”

Mir smiled. “Yes, that sounds perfect.” She opened the door to the boutique with her magic and beckoned Sweetie to follow.

He couldn’t possibly believe his luck. All those flying rats had failed to spot him. He’d managed to avoid their patrols completely by moving to this side of town, and now perfect prey had shown itself. Two unicorns, a filly and a diminutive mare. Either one would be easy enough to drain the magic from. He’d follow from a distance and wait for the right time.

Non-canon Interlude: Gilda

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These tower things were just too damn tall. That was really all Gilda could think about as she collapsed onto the grass. The floating island of Metafallica wasn’t technically attached to a tower, but it orbited around one way in the air and that counted as far as the griffon was concerned.

She knew shouldn’t have to come this far to find a shrink. Her father could afford a top-flight one back home, on the planet she normally came from. No need for any more weirdness. But it’d likely be a pony. She was sick of them. The ones who catered to griffons were normally pegasi, which… she didn’t want to think about. At all.

Her wings still burned from the stress of flying in an upward spiral for hours, but she took to the air. No way was she walking. Down below, odd monkey-dog-something creatures frolicked near a stream. She wasn’t sure if they were fugly or cute, but whatever they were she probably wasn’t allowed to snack on one. Humans could be a lot like ponies that way.

As she approached the city in the center of the floating island, she could see strange metal bird-things coming toward her. These must have been the “airships” the travel brochure mentioned. She’d have no dealings with them, a griffon was meant to fly under her own wingpower. The airships, however, seemed to want something to do with her.

One of them pulled alongside. It was almost entirely white and shaped vaguely like a cross between a boomerang and a seagull, with a glass bubble at the front for the pilot to sit in. She could see the pilot make a ‘follow me’ gesture with his hand (or hers, the pilot’s suit made it impossible for Gilda to tell). The airship lazily turned towards the mountain district and began to climb.

Gilda followed as best she could. The other airships had moved on after this one had left formation with them, which made Gilda suspicious. Normally an escort flight would have at least two griffons. The airship’s speed also was a little inconsistent. It was struggling to fly slowly enough to allow Gilda to keep up with it.

After ten minutes of climbing, Gilda tried to turn back towards the center. The pilot rolled the airship around and over her, putting the bubble canopy right in her face. Her mysterious escort pointed towards the peak of the mountain, and once again made the ‘follow me’ gesture.

The peak wasn’t all that great, at least in Gilda’s estimation. Still, for an island like this it was ok. It had a little snow at the top and was steep, and with that slope it looked like it could make for some killer low-level gliding.

The bubble opened. The pilot unbuckled themself from the seat and stood up on it. Then they flashed Gilda a thumbs up (Minotaurs had a similar gesture, so she recognized it) and pointed down the slope.

“The heck do you want already, Mr ‘I need a machine to fly for me’?” Gilda was getting sick of this.

The pilot pressed a few buttons on the control console, and the airship rolled over, dropping them.

Gilda seriously considered not catching the pilot. This dweeb deserves it for being so dumb with all this. But to heck with it, I’m not a bad gal. I won’t leave him hanging – unlike somepony.

As Gilda moved forward to grab the pilot, they suddenly spread their arms, revealing odd membranes connecting from the arms to the sides of their body. An additional membrane had snapped into position between their legs. Correcting her dive, Gilda realized that this hairless monkey was gliding. Whatever kind of wing-suit that was, it was giving the pilot the ability to almost-sorta fly.

Gilda turned her head up to check on the airship. It had flown off on its own and seemed to have fallen in behind another of its kind.

The pilot glided down the slope at a fairly decent speed. Gilda had flown faster (heck, trying to keep up with that airship was exhausting), but she’d rarely done anything so fast, so close to the ground. Hitting a cloud was one thing, hitting a rock was something else!

Up ahead was a set of stone pillars directly in their path. Gilda could pull up over them, trading speed for altitude even in a glide, but the pilot had only that glider-suit and she doubted they could do that.

Instead, the pilot rolled left, dodging the first pillar, then right, dodging the pillar to the left.

Gilda followed the maneuver, although it was a bit scary. Holy crap, who is this guy.

Up ahead was another landscape obstacle, a loop of stone with a small hole in the center. The pilot made some minor course corrections and shot through.

Gilda knew as she approached that the hole was narrower than her maximum wingspan. Ohhhhhhh craaaaaaaaaaap. She made a quick flap up to give her some momentum and tucked her wings to her sides. She had just barely cleared it when she reopened them. Oh thank heavens thank you.

The land fell away in front of them as they crossed over the edge of a horseshoe-shaped cliff. To their left and right waterfalls plummeted. The pilot banked and dove between the streams of water to their right. Gilda considered following, but maneuvered around the streams of water to the left instead. She could see the pilot’s head turned to watch her. Hah! I’m not so bad at this!

They continued for a few more minutes until one last cliff loomed up ahead: the edge of the floating island itself.

Gilda expected the pilot to stop somehow, but they kept going towards the edge. Crud, I’m gonna have to catch this lamebrain after all that?

As the pilot sailed over the edge, they grabbed at an item on their back and began unfolding it in midair. Gilda watched, confused, as the pilot unfolded an odd lozenge-shaped board and stood on it.

A blast of blue light pulsed from the bottom rear of the board, and it suddenly shot up. Gilda watched the pilot’s knees flex to keep balance, as the board began to angle itself up.

Ok the board’s nearly vertical. How the heck are his shoes gripping that? Probably some bullshit magic.

The pilot came in for a landing in a clearing near the edge of the floating island.

As the adrenaline faded, Gilda’s thoughts caught up with her again. “Okay, that was pretty wicked, no lie, but you probably made me late for my appointment.”

“No, I don’t think so.” The pilot’s feminine voice surprised Gilda, she had thought that airships were a ‘guy’ thing for humans. She took off her helmet, letting loose a surprising amount of purple hair. “I’m Cocona. Nice to meet you.” She held out her hand.

Gilda looked at it. “What do you mean, you don’t think so?”

Cocona smiled. “Lady Luca contacted me about your case. She read over your situation and your profile, and felt that Dive Therapy wouldn’t necessarily be best for you.”

Gilda blinked, taken aback. “Then why’d she say to come here, then?”

Cocona’s smile became sly. “Think about it for a second. How do you feel?”

“Uh, pretty confused.”

“And before that?”

“You mean all that flying we just did? That was nuts. You’ve got no wings and you’ve got no fear of death either! It was the most radical thing I’ve done in forever.”

Cocona nodded, and extended her hand further towards Gilda. “Want to do some more crazy stuff?”

Gilda gave the best approximation of a smile she could, using her eyes and forehead rather than her beak. “Heck yeah.”

“Flying under your own power like that seems so cool. That’s why I had that suit made. I wanted to fly with my own body as much as possible. But I can’t really accelerate at all, which is why I still use the v-board mostly.”

“That’s the, uh, board thing? It’s like a little mini-airship?”

“Yeah! I know you’ve got the ability to fly on your own, but you look a little tired. Why don’t I show you how to use one? I’ve got a spare stashed here.”

Gilda’s eyes narrowed. “You seem like you’re really prepared for this.”

Cocona nodded. “Yeah, like I said, Lady Luca contacted me. She thought you were a decent enough person, you just needed some friends you don’t have any baggage with while you settle your feelings. So she asked me to give it a shot since I had the most in common with you.”

“So you’re being friends with me because you’re ordered to?”

“Nah. I read your file. You’ve matured a lot more than you know, and I figured it’d be cool to train with somebody from another planet.”

That brought back the confused stare. “Train?”

Cocona’s smile would make a shark feel inadequate. “Yeah, they’re doing some big ‘V-board All-Stars vs Wonderbolts’ cross-world exhibition thing.”

“Oh my goddess. We gotta kick their butts!”

Cocona’s smile returned to its normal, warm state. “C’mon. Let’s get going.”

Phase 1: Awakenings, Part 6

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The stars shimmered in the evening's sky, though they were less bright than they had been the previous evening; and while a pony might be able to guess this, Mir knew it to be true. There were changes in the atmospheric refraction, and they didn’t seem to be weather-related.

Luna’s supposed to be the “artist of the night sky.” It did seem more beautiful last time I checked. Is it because she’s busy?

Mir put it out of her mind.

First things first: She had to give Sweetie a lesson in song magic so she could go back to her husband and her bed.

The road to the park was tree-lined and passed over the river running through the town. Off in the distance, she could see a dam that presumably supplied the town with electricity.

After a few more minutes of walking, Mir and her student arrived at a grassy, flat area that sloped into a hill gradually, upon which a platform with a curtained shelter was erected, most likely a stage for performances, Mir guessed.

Mir considered using the stage for just a moment, but there was the possibility of collateral damage to the environment, however slight. Best not to practice near anything too flammable. She checked the dryness of the grass. Slightly damp, that’ll do.

“Alright, this seems like a good spot. You read the homework I assigned you, right?”

“Uh-huh!” Sweetie positively vibrated with energy, rocking forward a bit as she replied; her voice seemed a little louder too.

I wonder if this “cutie mark” thing taps into that connection I saw with this world’s Heart. It would seem like the Wills of the Planet would be the only entities that could assign you a destiny. Or maybe it’s not really a destiny. Even the ponies themselves seem a little confused on the issue.

“Now, you remember what Blue Magic is, right?”

“It’s… magic that makes stuff better?”

Mir smiled. There was hope for her studiousness after all. “Yes, that is correct. It provides some beneficial effect. Usually it manifests as a healing effect.”

Sweetie nodded, the energy that had possessed her making her shoulders tremble with excitement. “Uh-huh! I know unicorn magic can heal wounds, but it’s really high level.” Her face scrunched up. “I can’t possibly do that. Even Twilight had trouble with it before she became an Alicorn.”

Mir smiled. “Emotional wave conversion is far more efficient. It’s a scientific fact. That’s why I know you can do it. The core Luna and I installed…”

“Princess Luna.”

“...right. The core we installed contains a basic blue magic. I’d like you to demonstrate it for me.”

“Sure!” Sweetie paused. “But… what does it do?”

Mir smiled. “It’s a healing magic. But… I’ve learned over the years that you can use it to fix inorganic things as well, as long as you have some understanding of what they look like. Here.” Mir levitated a teacup from her saddle bag, wrapped in her red aura. “You should be familiar enough with this, I belive.”

“That’s… one of Rarity’s cups! It’s from her good china set.” Sweetie’s eyes widened with realization. “You… you can’t break it! Rarity will be so mad! I’ll never be allowed to have friends over again!”

“I’m sorry, but one peculiarity about song magic is that it’s harder to do if you aren’t feeling something. What you’re feeling isn’t necessarily important, so this is simply the most efficient way.” The cup drifted up above Mir’s head. Suddenly, Mir smacked the cup with her horn. If Sweetie had been less worried about what Rarity would think, she might have noticed that the aura gripping the cup dimmed and flickered but did not fail.

The cup wasn’t damaged as much as Sweetie had expected: the handle had been severed and there were a few fine shards where the point on the side of Mir’s horn had hit it. Still, this was a calamity. The young unicorn sat totally still for the first time since she had awoken, staring at the cup.

“I know it is possible for you to fix it. Simply picture it becoming whole. Search your feelings, and sing.” Mir tried her best reassuring smile, which still seemed a little sinister. Sweetie seemed to be panicking about this as much as much she had expected. “Here, I’ll get you started. Hum along.”

Mir began to hum the tune a friend used for blue magic. She tapped her forehoof with the tune, and Sweetie began to follow along. Then it happened.

“Wee ki ra….” Sweetie was singing. It was really happening!

The cup and its fragments hovered in a green aura. Sweetie’s song was soft, not intended for any mortal listener outside of Sweetie herself, and even Mir had to lean in to hear it. A set of bells affixed to a cord manifested. Mir supposed they were Sweetie’s construct, and bells certainly made sense. Many who sang blue magic associated it with musical instruments rather than more conventional healing tools. She recalled that ancient holiday celebrations used similar accoutrements, in particular the winter gift-giving one.

After what seemed like an eternity to Sweetie, but was actually a little over a minute, the song built to its crescendo and the handle and shards joined together. With a sudden flash of green energy, they fused to the cup.

Mir grabbed the cup from Sweetie’s magical aura with her own as the song died down. She levitated it to her eye, paying close attention to where the cup had been fractured. “Excellent work. Well done,” she said with a satisfied nod of her head.

“That was… that was… you shouldn’t have done that!”

Mir tried for a disarming smile again, but only got as far as “only a tiny bit sinister.” “I’m sorry if I betrayed your trust. But it was necessary for you to feel strongly to master this song.”(1)

Sweetie frowned at her mentor. “You didn’t have to do that.”

Mir shook her head. “Well, I had to do something. As I said, this works more easily if you feel strongly. Besides, I practiced repairing these cups beforehand. If you had, for some reason, failed I could have easily fixed it.”

Sweetie’s eyes bulged. “You broke Rarity’s good cups?!!?”

“They’re fine now. Good as new.”

“Still!” Sweetie wasn’t going to calm down just yet.

Mir smiled. “I got your sister's permission first, actually.”

Sweetie’s eyes remained wide with shock, though the panic had left them. “What? She let you?”

“Yes.” Mir nodded. “The other section of that book contained a few special types of cloth that are used in my homeland. The offer was quite simple.”

“But…” Sweetie smiled thinly. “You scared me!”

“As I said before, I had to make you feel something strongly, and some emotions are easier to come by than others. I did not lie to you, and I apologize for not informing you that there were no consequences attached to the test. I will never lie to you.” Mir leaned in with her head. She’d seen parent ponies do this, so she felt it was the pony equivalent of a hug.

Sweetie, to Mir’s relief, raised her head and they rubbed their necks together.

“Now, since you’ve done quite well, you deserve a treat. How about a story?”

“Well…” Sweetie backed up out of the neck-hug. Before she could answer, a rumble from her stomach interrupted.

“I thought that might happen. You’re providing your own amplification, so your body has to burn far more energy than a Reyvateil would. Here, have a little.” Mir levitated a chocolate bar over to her pupil.

“Really?” Sweeties eyes had become impossibly wide as she stared at the bar. “I can eat chocolate late at night?”

“Don’t think you’re getting away with it entirely. I’ll think of something else to make sure you’re tired enough for bed after this.”

Sweetie accepted the chocolate with her aura, with a barely perceptible wobble. She began to unwrap it.

“It seems that even your non-song magic has been getting a little smoother. The principles of exercise work for your magic as well as your muscles.” Mir lay down on the grass and patted Sweetie on the shoulder as she began to munch the chocolate bar wrapped in her green aura. “That’s not the treat, though. I shall share with you some of the history of healing song magic.”

"VRRRRRZZT!"

Twilight turned from her preparations for the next morning towards the sound. In the dead of night there shouldn't be any sounds in the library besides Spike's snoring. Her senses locked onto a pile of books spilling out of a shipping case: her most recent set of transfer requests from Celestia's library.

"VRRRRZZT!" One of the books flashed in time with the sound, an odd red-and-pink wobbly aura. That sounds like a malfunctioning spell. Twilight knocked the other books away with her forehoof. The consequences of touching her magic to a poorly-understood malfunctioning spell could be, well, anything really. Randomly assembled magic was almost always a profound negative and mostly-always an explosion.

The book had no title, but Celestia's cutie mark in the center of the cover. Twilight's horn glowed as she gingerly applied her knowledge of the emergency management classes at the School for Gifted Unicorns. First up: Tenderhorn's Glamour Understander. OK, it looks like Celestia's the caster. I can't mistake that resonance signature. There's dimensional magic used to get information from somewhere else, a conjuration magic that creates ink, and a linked audio and visual illusions to make the book more noticeable, as well as a telekinetic magic to make it vibrate.

OK, the root spell looks to be the dimensional magic. It's... really complicated. I know I've seen it somewhere, but I'm not sure where. There's some kind of problem with it, and that's affecting the illusion component. Fortunately it's not affecting the telekinetic component. That's good, I can lift it with my magic and it won't blow up. Always handy. She wrapped her aura around the book and flipped it open.

OHHHHH. It looks like it's set up to copy another book somewhere else, but was interrupted in the middle by something. The dimensional magic... it looks like it was cut and then reassembled. If someone was sending something while that happened, it'd cause mana blockage. I just have to fake a 'close' message here. The glow of Twilight's horn pulsed briefly, and the book's flashing and noise stopped.

Twilight looked at the actual content of the last entry, and her eyebrows shot up in alarm. It was a message from Sunset Shimmer to Celestia, asking her to contact Twilight. Unfortunately, it had ended right as Sunset was beginning to write down the reason she had chosen to make contact at that moment.

It was definitely worth looking into, but the Changelings potentially infiltrating Ponyville had to be dealt with before she could deal with this.

“The history of healing magic sounds interesting.” Sweetie had enjoyed the history lesson, at least somewhat. She liked knowing things. Really, though, she was just happy with the chocolate.

“A long time ago the originator of song magic, Sunset Togasaki, demonstrated song magic publically for the first time at the so-called ‘battle of the bands’ where she destroyed a criminal organization known as ‘the Sirens.’ Very little information about what actually happened at the battle of the bands survives to this day, but we know that Sunset brought what eventually became the core of the Orgel of Origins and used it to create song magic, causing an immense explosion. Shocked at the destruction she had caused, she sang of her regret and horror, and their wounds were healed.”

Sweetie stopped eating for a moment. “But… why was there an explosion?”

“I explained red magic to you, yes? It’s necessary sometimes to fight. The Sirens were bad people, and were using the battle of the bands to harm others. Sunset had to stop them, and from what we know, she was very desperate at that point.”

Sweetie nodded. “Like a hydra… or a dragon. But… why’d she hurt pon– people who weren’t the sirens?”

Mir smiled sadly at her pupil. “Force… is hard to use. It’s very easy to use too much when you’re afraid of what will happen if you use too little.” She leaned forward to stare intensely at her pupil. “Now that you are learning Song Magic, you must learn this lesson as well. Although I don’t plan to go into the details of using Red Magic, you already know it innately, so it will always be available to you. If you do ever sing Red Magic, you must treat it with the care and respect it deserves.”

Sweetie looked down. “I… don’t want to use it. At all.”

“I suppose that’s a reasonable hope. Most people live entirely peaceful lives, after all.”

“A pity you can’t.”

Mir was on her feet in an instant, turning her head towards the voice. Sweetie just looked over at it confusedly. The interloper seemed to be a pony in a heavy cloak, back seeming hunched with age and his frame thin, however, an arm ending in fingers was evidence to the fact that this stranger was no pony.

The cloak was flung away, revealing a creature Mir had never seen before. It had a baboon’s head, a bull’s horns, a human’s torso and arms, and clawed hands, but the barrel, legs, and tail of a pony. It looked emaciated and drained, but the glint in its eye promised menace. Mir knew it was far more dangerous than it appeared, but wasn’t quite sure what form the danger would take. “Sweetie! Get behind me!”

Sweetie backpedaled behind her mentor, peeking her head around Mir’s thin frame. “Is… this isn’t another test, is it? Please say it is.”

“No, I’m afraid not.” Mir couldn’t use song magic at this range. He’d smack her and disrupt the casting. Maybe I could try to cast through it? No, if he knows better he’ll put his hand in my mouth and that’s it.

“Oh, I assure you child, I am very real. My name is Lord Tirek, and, well, explaining anything to either you is really pointless." Tirek waved a hand. "In a few seconds your magic will be mine and you won't be in much a state to talk, I'm afraid.” Tirek stamped and opened his mouth. Mir braced herself for some sort of attack and had begun her shielding song magic, when it cut out. A ribbon of energy streamed from her horn into Tirek’s mouth.

Anomalous power drain. Unable to maintain song. Dammit! What the hell is that?

“You have so much magic in you, so wonderfuuuu….uhhhh. What IS THIS?” Tirek had already drained more magic than a unicorn should possess, but more continued to stream from the horn into him. The magic tasted wrong somehow. It wasn’t unicorn magic, it wasn’t pegasus magic, it wasn’t earth pony magic, and it probably wasn’t alicorn magic, although he’d never tasted that. It was raw, unrefined magic. He couldn’t quite handle it. It would be hard for his system to process, but it might be possible, given time. The more immediate problem was that his efforts to consume the magic from the unicorn babbling fearfully behind his first target weren’t working. He’d tested the limits of his powers, and knew he had trouble absorbing more than one type of magic at a time. Inconvenient, but rarely a problem. He doubted that a mere filly could stop him, but he would be vulnerable while processing the raw magic. Already he was starting to feel bloated. How much magic can that mare have?

diagnostic -rvst enter! Power drain prevents song magic. No other problems at this time. Power drain is growing in accordance with the song magic exponential curve. It will become dangerous in 7 minutes. Dammit.

“Don’t eat my magic! I just learned how to use it!” Sweetie had crumpled down behind Mir and was bawling fearfully.

“Sweetie! Listen to me! We can get through this, but I’ll need your help.”

“It’s a horrible, super-evil monster! We’re all doomed! Only the princesses can save us now.”

“Pity you won’t make it to see them.” Tirek took a step forward. “Obstacles must be smashed.”

“Nooo don’t smash me! I’m too young to be smashed.”

Mir took a deep breath. This is it. Dig deep. Fight like you did back then. “GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!” She charged.

She slammed into Tirek’s chest hooves first, bouncing off and landing ungracefully on her rump. Tirek skidded backwards and landed in a crouch. Dammit. I really miss hands right about now. I’ve bought some time, now for part two. “Sweetie, listen to me. You have the power within you to turn your emotions into energy. It works like many legendary artifacts. We, the two of us, can defeat Tirek. But I need your help.”

“HA! Amusing. You think a mewling brat can aide you against me? I’ll make her watch what happens to you.”

Sweetie stood shakily. I don’t want to be smashed. I don’t want Mir to get smashed, she’s awesome. I’ll fight!

She thought of defending her friends and family. She thought of forcing a bully to restore what he or she had stolen. She thought of heroes, of champions, of valor. She thought of the color red. Her mind filled with syllables in a blaze of insight. She begun to sing.

“Was granme ga…” (2)

Warning. Undefined unknown uncommanded power excursion.

The pale, white-haired young woman startled awake. Her body was experiencing a bizarre type of pain.

Not the body most people would see when they saw her, that of a slender teenage girl.(3) Her other body, the tower that stretched to the heavens and weighed four trillion tons. Unlike most (people that appeared to be) teenaged girls, she was never particularly sensitive about her weight.

Shurelia was linked to the tower and administered it. It was her. And it hurt.

“What’s the matter?” Her partner, Lyner, had woken up on the bed beside her, his spiky blonde hair spilling over his brown eyes. If this wasn’t such an emergency she’d think it was cute.

“Something is… pulling energy out of the tower. Like a vampire!”

Lyner bolted upright and threw on a shirt from the pile beside him. “What’s causing it? Where?”

Power drain is localized to emitter 01043, serving socket MIR_TEIWAZ_ARTONELICO. “It’s Mir.”

“What? I thought for sure she wouldn’t…”

“No. It’s not her. The drain was uncommanded. Mir’s MO was always to highjack authority and give commands. I’ve given her more than enough authority to do anything she could dream of.”

adminpanel -socketreport -i MIR_TEIWAZ_ARTONELICO enter. MIR_TEIWAZ_ARTONELICO is not sending any emotional energy. Her current emotional state is “was granme ga”.

towerstatus -emitter 01043 enter. Emitter 01043 is in danger of overloading. Thermal load balancing has been scheduled. After three thermal load balancings, a forced reset will be required.

“This is bad. Mir’s… fighting something I think. She’s protecting someone from something. If she can’t win in time to stop the power drain… I might have to force reset her connection to the tower. It’ll cause her to fall unconscious and might kill her. If she’s still fighting when it happens, she would die for sure.”

“Then..” Lyner paused. His lips pursed as his eyes drifted downward. He hated not being able to do anything more than he hated anything else. “...we’ll have to have faith in her. We saved her. She helped save the world. We owe her that much.”

Mir could feel the harmonics field cover the area around Sweetie. It was odd not being the one generating it, but it really did feel comforting to have. Too bad about everything else about the scenario. If only I had some hands to wrap around his scrawny neck. Wait a second. My Miros “costume” transformation gives me claws instead of hands.(4) What would it do to hooves?

“TRANSFORM!” A flash of light enveloped Mir, and when it faded her form had changed drastically. Red crystalline spikes jutted from her shoulders, as well as adorning her sides and flanks. Further spikes covered her tail instead of fur, ending in a crystalline barb. Most importantly for her, though, were the four sets of crystalline claws that had replaced her hooves. Ah, digits. So nice to have that back.

Sweetie gasped in fright. Sensing the song faltering, Mir turned around to smile at her. Despite her more frightening appearance, the gesture did seem to reassure Sweetie and she returned to the song. Mir noted that the construct for the song was currently a cord that seemed to hang up into the air. Odd, but song magic does what it wants sometimes.

That was when Tirek struck her, grabbing her neck with his hand. “Pitiful poniEAARRRRGGGH!!!!!!!!!” Mir bit down on Tirek’s forearm, her teeth also now sharp crystal shards. Blood filled her mouth. She released the arm and spat it into his face.

Tirek dropped her to try to clear the blood and saliva from his eyes. “I’ll kill you!” He took a kick at his currently-unseen adversary, but hit nothing but air. As he cleared his eyes, he could see the ribbon of magic connecting her horn to his mouth. Magic… Behind his current target, the filly was doing… something with hers. It seemed unusual, but he admittedly was unfamiliar with current magical trends. Regardless, he needed to stop it.

“Fool! Relying on a filly to save you.” Red magical energy began to build between his horns. “I’ll just obliterate her first.”

Mir’s thoughts raced as she realized what was about to happen. Crap crap crap ok how does Croix do it think fast ok now! As the bolt of energy was fired, she lept into its path.

Ching! The combination of Mir’s action and the harmonics field she was using had successfully broken up the attack’s waveform, but the deflection wasn’t perfect. Mir could feel some of the fur on her side had caught fire. But she’d successfully prevented it from hitting Sweetie and neither of them were dead. That counts as a success.

Sweetie could feel Mir’s protectiveness. She could feel her fear, her triumph, her determination. It mixed with her own emotions. I can see to the bottom of Mir’s heart. She’s fighting Tirek himself not just for herself, but for me. I have to do better for her!

The song coalesced into its true form. Mir could sense the feelings contained in the song feeding into the harmonics field.

There once was a unicorn mage and his apprentice, in the days when the three tribes lived apart. They walked together from town to town, him teaching lore to her, but always judging her harshly and treating her gruffly. She followed by his side and listened intently. They continued like this for years.
One day, as they were travelling down a road through the forest, a bandit king and his men surrounded them, too close for them to safely use their magic. "I know you, wizard."

Huh, she’s learned more than I thought. I can do this. Mir rushed forward. Tirek was readying another blast from his horns, but Mir’s leaping claw attack caught the left horn. The ball of magical energy exploded above Tirek’s head, staggering him. Did he get bigger between the last attack and this one?

Mir grabbed onto his left shoulder with her right forepaw, and dug in. She began to rake at his foreleg with her two back legs and bit at his face.

Tirek tried to punch at her head, but she rolled and let the punch land on her left shoulder spikes. It hurt her, but it seemed to hurt him more. She was Mir, she could deal with pain. It was the skill she had the most practice with.

“RRRGH! Wretch, you cannot last forever. Each moment I grow stronger.” It seemed accurate. Tirek was growing taller, even if he was also growing puffier. If that flab could convert to muscle, Mir would be in trouble. The ribbon of energy that connected Mir’s horn to Tirek’s mouth had gotten a little wider.

Tirek rolled over. The impact with the ground knocked Mir loose and he was on his feet while she was still on her back. At least the burning fur on her side had gone out. Being smooshed like that hadn’t broken whatever link connected her horn to his mouth. Rather than deal with her, he took off towards Sweetie.

No you don’t! Can I block from this angle? Only one way to find out. Mir scrambled to her feet and took off after him. As he approached Sweetie, Mir made contact with his tail. With her mouth.

Ping! The block was somehow good and Tirek spun around in place with Mir holding onto his tail with her teeth. Tirek stumbled dizzily while Mir let go once the spinning stopped and took a quick look at her charge. Still in the same spot. I guess in that trance state nobody can move much. I’ll just have to move him. Mir rushed at the still-disoriented Tirek and landed each front claw on each buttock. Her target cried out and stumbled forward.

Tirek’s tail grabbed her and smashed her into the ground. “FOOL! I am unbeatable. This power fills me!”

Mir scooted forward under Tirek and clawed at his belly. Tirek leaped aside, and Mir stood up, only to be slashed on the side of the head. She could feel Sweetie’s fear spike after the blow landed, but took a moment to turn around and smile at her to keep things on track. The actual damage of the blow was comparatively unimportant. Then she lept over Tirek’s head, aiming for his back.

"Then you know I'm not worth the trouble," the wizard replied.
"Yes, but that filly should do in your stead. Hoof her over!"
With that, the filly screamed "NOOOO!" and ducked under her master's tail.
The master thought about it for a moment, and answered. "You may not have her."
With this the bandit king became enraged. None dared defy him! He stepped forward, his subordinates forming a circle around the confrontation. "I will take that filly, if I must do so over your corpse! Be reasonable and give her over."
The master looked him in the eye and said "No."

Tirek had gotten bigger, large enough that Mir could stand on his back with all four paws. As he reached around for her she sunk her teeth and the claws of her left forepaw into the back of his neck, and the other three paws’ worth into his back. His hand couldn’t quite reach her, and she smacked it with her tail.

He changed the angle he was reaching for her, and she slid onto his side away from the arm, slashing deeply into it with her claws. To both her and Tirek’s surprise, a burst of energy from the wound knocked Mir off. The wound leaked a stream of magical blasts for a moment, then closed.

What the… How much energy has this guy absorbed?

The massive metal chamber near the Tower’s energy emitters could probably house most of Ponyville, assuming you didn’t mind it getting set on fire by the ambient heat. Metal blocks turned to reroute couplings for the giant heatpipes criss-crossing the room. Overburdened heat exchangers were disconnected to cool down, while unused ones were connected.

First thermal load balance completed. Next load balance in 195 seconds.

High above, Shurelia monitored the status of the Tower. The drain had reached immense proportions. No Reyvateil, not even Mir, could put forth the emotion necessary to amplify into that much energy, but it was being drained from the central reactor without any normal process. The Tower had originally been designed to support thousands of simultaneous Reyvateil songs, but whatever was going on would soon absorb energy even faster than the Orgel of Origins could safely generate. The auto-cutoff would close the emitter well before the drain would deplete the emergency reserve used for holding up the Tower, but it wasn’t exactly an ideal situation.

She wondered if this was what a human would feel while starving, or if it was closer to having your blood depleted. She also wished she had a rabbit to pet to take her mind off the crisis for a bit longer. She settled for grabbing Lyner’s arm and squeezing.

Tirek’s growth was once again losing the battle with his bloat. He’d come to resemble an overinflated balloon version of himself, and Mir knew why. It’s the different power rate breakpoints. He increases how fast he can drain, then how fast he can incorporate it lags.

The Centaur stood several times the height of the average pony. Rather than fire off a blast again, he simply stomped on Mir. She tried to perform a harmonic block but botched the timing and was pinned. Through the pain she could feel the feelings of Sweetie’s song still.

"Fool! Your stubbornness has cost you!" With that, the bandit king kicked him in the shin. There was a cracking sound, but the wizard stood immobile.
"No," he repeated.
The bandit king reared back and struck the wizard in the horn, cracking it. "Now your foolishness has cost you your livelihood. Move aside or it will cost you your life."

Mir couldn’t employ magic and couldn’t move any of her limbs. The only part of her not under the monster’s foot was her tail. Any second now he’d use the opportunity to blast Sweetie. She couldn’t allow it. Dammit. What can I possibly do. I can’t bite through his hoof, and the only thing I’ve got free is…

Mir’s tail lashed and whipped against the side of Tirek’s leg. The commands to the new limb were unfamiliar. She could picture what she wanted to do, but executing it was another matter.

The tail twisted and and turned, then jammed the barb into the back of Tirek’s knee. Reflex brought the leg up and made the centaur step back. Mir immediately rolled to her feet and dived under a furious but hasty sweep of Tirek’s arm. She rolled to her feet again and slashed at the passing arm with her forepaw, resulting in a surge of glowing fluid.

Massive pumps roared to maximum power. Molten liquid sodium moved forward, heated to white hot as it passed over the heat exchanger surrounding emitter 10143.

Back in the heatpipe room, the pipes were shifted back to the first set of exchangers. Each switch would happen faster, until there wasn’t enough time for them to cool off at all.

Throughout the Tower, cryogenic coolant was pumped towards the emitter bank to prepare last-resort cooling.

Second thermal load balance completed. Next load balance in 125 seconds.

Tirek seemed to have finished adapting to his new form. He was no longer flabby or puffy, instead possessing an impressive set of muscles. All the more impressive for the fact that some of them were now big enough for Mir to climb inside.

“Enough of this.” Tirek reared up and slammed both front hooves to the ground. Three lines of rock spikes extended out from the impact point, one extending forward and the other two extending in arcs from either side.

So he’s smarter than he looks. Mir could see Tirek was varying the timing of each… I have no idea what the term for that is. ...spikey thing to have them all hit Sweetie from different directions at the exact same time.

She could block one of them no problem, and maybe even two of them, but Sweetie was just a kid and had no protective clothing. Mir didn’t want to think about what even one hit would do to the poor tyke. Wait, the Cluster method. Mir vanished, riding the Harmonics back to their source. Appearing next to Sweetie Bell, she grabbed the filly’s tail with her mouth and pulled. Sweetie slid away as Mir backpedaled out of the impact point.

As the attacks hit each other, jagged shards of rock sprayed out from the impact zone. Mir turned to offer as much surface area to the shards as possible to cover Sweetie. Jagged rocks cut into her left side and took a chunk off her ear.

Tirek watched the results of his attack. What appeared to be blood dripped from the relatively bigger unicorn, but when it hit the ground it shimmered and vanished. “What are you?”

Mir smirked. “I am a Reyvateil.”

While Tirek seemed to be trying to remember if he knew what that was, Mir began to focus for a counterattack. Sweetie’s going to eventually run out of power. I can’t use my song magic, but you don’t need any magic of your own if you’re using another’s Harmonics. Heck even idiots like Lyner could do it. Mir could feel the Harmonics emanating from Sweetie. She tried to think of something to do with them, but her mind stuck on the trailing images Croix and Cocona would leave behind during some of their most ferocious attacks.

Well, he’d never expect that.

Mir rushed forward, charging towards Tirek. The giant centaur regarded her contemptuously, readying an arm to swat her down in the midst of her attack. As Mir was about to enter his strike range, she suddenly put on a burst of tremendous speed, leaving nine sets of trailing images, each showing her preparing to attack from a different angle.

Tirek hesitated for a moment, trying to discern which of the attacks was the real one, only to lose the opportunity entirely as nine sets of foreclaws connected with him. Energy blazed forth from wounds on his forelegs, barrel, and torso. As it faded, he could see the real Mir crouched in front of him, having ducked under the majority of the blasts. (5)

Mir immediately leaped back as Tirek blasted her position to a crisp. A stomp liquified the ground around her, requiring another leap just before the suction would have kicked in.

“I’ve figured you out, insect.” Tirek punctuated the proclamation with a hearty laugh. “You’re held together with magic somehow, and I’m not draining that yet.” He grinned wickedly. “I can’t wait to crack you open and get it all.” Tirek fired another gigantic red blast, not at Mir or Sweetie but at the ground.

High above Ponyville, and for that matter most of Canterlot, two charcoal-gray unicorn stallions stood on the palace’s southern watchtower.

“There’s some weird lights coming from down there. Should we get somebody?”

“Eh, it’s Ponyville.” The second unicorn lifted a pair of binoculars to his face. He could see flashes of light, but whatever was causing them was blocked from sight by a row of tall pine trees. “I’m sure that if it is anything, Princess Twilight will handle it.”

“Hah. She can’t let the guard have any credit for anything big. I’ll log it as ‘bright lights near Ponyville’ I guess.”

As the smoke cleared, Tirek saw Mir standing unsteadily on her hind legs in front of Sweetie, her forelegs crossed in front of her face. She dropped to the ground and rushed forward once more. “Are you so eager for pain, little Pony?”

Sweetie was afraid. She could tell Mir was afraid too. She could see, however, that Mir was fighting on despite the fear she somehow knew the older unicorn felt. Real courage is to continue despite being afraid.

"No." The bandit king dove forward, preparing to break the wizard's neck. When he made contact with the wizard, however, his intended victim jammed the cracked horn's jagged edge into his neck, killing him instead.
At the death of their leader, the bandit king's followers fled. The filly gazed up at her master's damaged horn. "Why did you risk yourself for me?"

Mir went flying back over Sweetie’s head, trailing her vanishing blood. She disappeared, and appeared once again next to Sweetie, fortunately upright and relatively still. Good going, Cluster method.

The massive heat pipe junction shifted once again, bringing back the second set of connections. The “fresh” set of heat pipes was still visibly glowing, albeit not as much as the just-used one. By the time this set reached its limits again, the first set would not have cooled off sufficiently to make the switch worth it.

Above, emergency dump valves around the white-hot emitter began to spray it with cryogenic inert gas. The super-cold liquid became vapor before it could even get close to the emitter and a swirling white maelstrom obscured it from sight. Tons of cryogenic gasses bought a few seconds.

Forced reset in 87 seconds.

Mir could hear the inner voice telling her how much time she had left. Another, instinct-mimicking inner voice told her she couldn’t take any more punishment. Tirek was bigger and faster and even a mostly-successful block couldn’t save her. Unlike her husband, she didn’t possess the practice necessary to have confidence in a perfectly-timed block.

Her left eye wouldn’t open anymore, her left ear had torn completely off, and there was a lot of pain coming from her front right leg. Attacking Tirek any further would be futile.

It was time.

“Sweetie Bell, finish the song.”

Forced reset in 34 seconds.

Mir charged Tirek one last time, hobbling as she did. She needed a few more seconds.

The master smiled down and said, "Because you said no."
The filly knew that despite her master's strictness, he loved her. She fashioned her gratitude into a ribbon, and wrapped it around the damaged part of the horn. In time, it healed and they were happy again.

Mir blocked the fist with her front right leg. Even with a moderately successful Harmonic Block, the impact snapped the leg at the radius bone.

It was good enough. The song was executing, and Tirek didn’t have time to do any further attacks. Mir lept backwards using only her rear legs, clumsily backflipping to allow herself to watch whatever happened. She just hoped it could deal with all the energy he’d accumulated without… Don’t think about it. We must appreciate what this world allows us to have. Mir made her peace with whatever would happen now. She’d done her best for Sweetie.

Forced reset in 7 seconds.

At the conclusion of the song, the cord hovering in the air above Sweetie wrenched as if pulled with tremendous force. Above Tirek’s head, a shining circle appeared. He had just enough time to lift his eyes to it before it shot upwards, leaving behind the form of a massive temple bell.

Then it landed on him. Or rather, around him. Mir wondered as she fell if that was it, but then she saw the clapper. The trunk of a massive redwood swung on great cables towards the bell. Mir covered her ears with her hooves.

G
O
N
G
!

Mir hit the ground, but couldn’t feel it. The sound had seemed to be the loudest thing she’d ever heard, blotting out all other sensation. She couldn’t imagine what it had been like for Tirek, inside the bell.

She noticed she couldn’t feel any drain anymore. A shiver came over her as the Tower’s system performed the much safer soft emitter shift. Now we just need to see if he explodes or not.

As she tried to right herself, she looked over at the bell. The top was glowing and swelling. An immense beam of red and violet light burst through it and shot into the sky. After a moment the bell faded from existence.

Mir couldn’t see Tirek, but she couldn’t be sure of his status. She sung a quick healing song for herself, then stood back up. I have my eyes, ears, legs, and magic again. If he wants to continue the fight he’s going to wish he’d died.

“There, see? Purple light. Princess twilight had it in the bag the whole time.”

“Whatever ‘it’ was.”

Tirek might have wanted to continue the fight, but his body couldn’t. He had returned to the size he’d been before, but had considerable folds of skin visible. Mir supposed it fit with losing weight too fast.

There were numerous gashes and rents in his skin, as the energy he’d gathered had apparently burst free from him. Blood oozed from the edges. His breathing was ragged and shallow. Mir could detect that his breaths were getting slightly farther apart. Good riddance.

At about that point she realized Sweetie Bell wasn’t singing or saying anything. Mir’s head spun about as she looked for her student. She saw a crumpled white form near where she had landed.

Oh no oh no oh no! Mir dashed over to the filly’s side. Sweetie was still breathing, and didn’t seem injured, but wasn’t standing up.

“Mir?” Sweetie’s eyes opened groggily and she looked approximately in the direction of her instructor. “Did we win?”

Of course. She was using her own energy for that. I’m surprised she had enough energy in her for an attack of that magnitude. And to dissipate the energy safely as well! Mir looked over at where her saddlebags lay in the grass and levitated over an especially sugary chocolate bar. Her aura unwrapped it, then began to warm it. After it had lost consistency and turned to a gooey mush, she levitated the blob into Sweetie’s mouth and rubbed it on her gums.

“Mmmfffh… Mir. Thank you. All while you were fighting Tirek I could tell what you were feeling. That you were risking your… life to protect me. Thank you.”

Mir smiled down at the filly and rubbed her head with her forehoof. “No, I should thank you. I had no power of my own to oppose him with, and was forced to borrow yours.” She dipped her head. For the first time in hundreds of years, Mir did something resembling a bow. “Please forgive me.”

Sweetie Bell batted away the hoof with her own. “You saved me! You protected me and got hurt doing it! Don't appologize! I should be thanking you!.”

Mir offered a slight smile, and levitated another chocolate bar over in response. Sweetie’s aura flickered briefly, and the chocolate bar wobbled to her mouth.

“I want to grow up to be like you.” The words hit Mir harder than any blow Tirek had landed. The deep tension of anxiety spread across her body.

“No, you don’t.” Mir’s voice had gone cold and she had involuntarily scowled at Sweetie.

Her protégé winced and gulped down the chocolate in her mouth. “I…” Sweetie’s saddened eyes moistened as she looked up at Mir. “...what did I say?”

Mir shook her head, banishing the scowl and trying to smile again. “It’s alright if you want to be brave. It’s all right if you want to be strong. But being like me… it’s not good for you. What made me the way I am is pain I hope you can never image. I want you to be safe and happy.”

At that point, Mir suddenly came to a realization. If Tirek dies, he was killed by Sweetie. I don’t want her to be a killer.

“What’s wrong?” Sweetie had noticed her teacher’s eyes open in horror and that she was starting to stand.

“I’d better check on mean ol’ Mr. Tirek. As bad as he is, I don’t want anything to happen.” Mir walked back over to the fallen centaur. Still alive, but barely. Mir began to chant, and a small girl bearing bandages appeared over his body. Dozens of them were slapped on haphazardly, but the real magic was taking effect.

OK. Lungs sound good. No more bleeding. Mir’s aura grabbed the curtain of the stage and tore off two strips. One she balled up and stuffed in Tirek’s mouth. The other she wrapped around to hold the ball in and his mouth closed. After checking that he could still breath, she turned back to see to Sweetie.

Then she heard wing beats. Mir stiffened and looked up, ready for another fight. Two grey ponies with bat-like wings and dark purple and blue armor came over the tree line. Maybe they’re with Luna? She said she’d send the paperwork for me. Or maybe they saw the fight.

“Ancient Alicorns above!” The first one swore. “That’s Tirek!”

Mir nodded. “I won’t charge you for this one.”

“Charge?” The second bat-like pony’s expression had suddenly switched from business to baffled. A couple of his face muscles cramped up from the sudden shift, making him look a little silly.

Mir smiled. “I’ve done this sort of thing before. I’m a consultant, specializing in dangerous magic.” That was stretching the truth a bit, but she did submit invoices to her “sister” Shurelia.

“Uh, gotta warn you. Bounty laws prohibit us from paying you if there’s no reward posted in advance.”

“Hmph.” Mir smiled smugly at the stallion. She wasn’t at all interested in more fighting, but why tell him that?

“In any case,” the first stallion interjected, “we have to get this guy back to Tartarus.” The pony turned his head and removed a thin black cloth from under his armor. Unfolding it several times, he set up a two meter by two meter square of inky blackness.

“Nightspider silk!” Sweetie whispered in awe. Her sister had told her all about the special fabrics used by night-ponies.

The second stallion had withdrawn a flare-gun and flares from his saddlebag. After carefully loading the gun with his mouth, he gripped it in his teeth and squeezed hard, firing a flare into the sky. It burst green, yellow, and blue. “Situation cleared” in the Royal Guard Flare Code.

The two night-ponies drug Tirek onto the square carefully, then each grabbed two corners and tied them together. A cord was wrapped around the middle to keep Tirek from sliding and off they went.

Neither night-pony gave any thought to completing their original errand of delivering some documents, their surprise at seeing Tirek defeated by a lone mare and their panic at having to deal with him had blighted their rational thought.

Mir returned to Sweetie’s side, noticing her student not merely standing but dancing for joy. “What’s this?”

“I! GOT! MY! CUTIE! MARK! OHMYGOODNESS!”

“That’s wonderful. Could you hold still for a moment so I could see it?” Sweetie came to a halt mid bounce, and Mir examined her hip. Sure enough, it was no longer blank. A red bell, green star, and blue musical note were arranged in an equilateral triangular formation. A song magic cutie mark. I knew it. “Congratulations. I’m afraid we must get you back home now, this is too much excitement for one night.”

“So she’s still alive, and things seem to be back to normal?” Lyner munched on an apple.

Shurelia paced the room. “It’s not that simple. Whatever it was Mir was fighting, I want to know more about it. I thought we’d finally run out of conspiracies and ancient mistakes, mostly by process of elimination.”

adminpanel spatial_locate MIR_TEIWAZ_ARTONELICO enter!
Unable to localize the target. Please check the sensor calibration.

“That’s weird. I can’t localize her.”

Lyner stopped eating. “Did she withdraw permission or something?”

“No, that’s not it. Here we go.” She approached the glass-topped table and the display on it flickered to life. In addition to the information on its surface, a holographic image of the tower and its surroundings hovered above it. “OK so you see the tower here, right?”

“Yeah.”

“These red dots here…” Several red dots appeared on the side of the tower. “...are the emitter clusters. These orange dots up here…” Several orange dots appeared above the top of the holographic tower. “...show repeater satellites. Each one knows the distance to the reyvateil using them. By drawing spheres around each one, we can find the place where they intersect and that’s where the reyvateil will be. For example, this is me.”

Each dot suddenly projected a sphere around it. As Lyner leaned in, he could see that each one intersected each other at one place - the top of the tower where they were.

“But for Mir…” The spheres winked out, replaced by new ones. Lyner could immediately see what was wrong. Some of them didn’t intersect at all. Their sizes and intersections seemed completely random.

“What could cause that?”

“Well, it could be caused by poor sensor calibration. But I just checked with myself and that was 100% accurate. To be honest I’m not sure what could be causing it, but whatever it is, if it’s attacking Mir it’s probably bad.”

“We’re going to call them, aren’t we?”

Shurelia gave a curt nod. “Call Metafallica and Sol Cluster. Summon the Origin Council.”

“Sweetie, what was that story I heard in your song?” Mir walked down the road to Ponyville, head held high and a half-eaten chocolate bar hovering next to her in her aura. Victory was sweeter than chocolate, but coming out of it with Sweetie unscathed was sweeter still.

Sweetie paused for a moment to think, rubbing her chin with her hoof. Mir stopped and turned her head to look back at her. “It… came to mind, really. It was an old, old story about Clover the Clever’s childhood. My mother told it to me last Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

Mir hadn’t read up to “Clover the Clever” in the encyclopedia, but since she’d been reading it in the wrong order she’d seen “Hearth’s Warming” and knew well enough who that was. As she predicted, it had a certain relevance to the events happening around it.

“There we go.” Mir’s magic silently opened the door to Sweetie’s home. It had only a very simple lock, so Sweetie didn’t even need to retrieve the key from its hiding place under the porch (which was far too obvious for Mir’s taste).

Sweetie Bell gently walked across the threshold, trying not to make any noise. “You go to sleep as soon as you can, ok?”

“Ok.”

Mir turned around and headed back towards the boutique. It wouldn’t be the least sleep she’d ever operated on, but it was always nice to get a good night’s sleep. She’d get whatever she could in the few hours left before dawn.

It was time. The foolish Princesses of Equestria would not stop him this time. Recent events had proved Celestia and Luna unwilling to fight any more. Clearly the weight of the years had broken them down, made them unwilling to fight. If they liked change so much, they should have made sure to grow rather than diminish! The younger, more vital Princesses could pose an obstacle, but they had a weakness. They were both enmeshed in a web of trust. If he could penetrate it even at one point, he would be able to take the whole thing apart. I will turn Celestia’s precious students against her. She will be slain by the very ponies she sent to the Crystal Empire to stop me.

He checked the wave balance on the will-working he’d put up around himself. This new knowledge. It has proved to be entirely reliable and mathematically sound. It protects me from the vision of the very gods themselves. They will have to rely on mortal eyes to find me. By then it will be too late.

Ahead, the edge of the Everfree loomed. The first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon.

End Phase 1: Awakenings
Begin Phase 2: Escalation

Author's Notes:

(1) This was originally very different and darker: rather than the cup, Mir would use her own body. I decided that it probably went outside the bounds of what I consider acceptable for this crossover. It was vaguely inspired by lyrics in Harmonius_Fusion, implying that Mir would metaphorically stain the white roses red with her own blood so that she could properly express her feelings.

(2) This set of emotional prefixes indicates that the singer strongly wants to protect someone, but wants to get it over with as quickly as possible.

(3)Honestly, given that Origin Reyvateils had to have each of their components handmade and cost hundreds of millions of dollars, it makes sense that they’re as small as possible. Presumably they’d be toddler-sized if the designers thought they could work.

(4)

(5) This is actually a reference to the penultimate technique from Rurouni Kenshin.

Phase 2: Escalation, Part 1

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Dawn was about to break over Ponyville. The first light had become visible on the horizon. Smoke had appeared from the Sugarcube Corner chimney as the first set of breakfast foods went into the oven. Four white, golden-armored pegasi tromped past it towards Carousel Boutique.

Two of them moved around the back of the building, while two of them walked to the front door. Taking positions on either side of the door, the right member of the door group knocked loudly. “Royal Guard! Open this door!”

A long time ago, Mir had been worried about the government busting down where she was hiding. It wasn’t always a concern, but being nabbed while you slept would be rather ignominious for one such as herself. It was a simple matter to mess with her subconscious a little, to make herself jolt awake whenever she heard one of a few phrases she felt would encapsulate the “authorities coming for me” experience. One of which, of course, was “Open this door!”

Mir sprung to her feet in seconds with only a tiny bit of wobbling as she remembered she was currently quadrupedal. A sneaky glance out from behind the curtains confirmed that there were armored goons outside. Is that that Twilight princess? Luna said she’d send me my credentials, but those don’t look like her people at all. Maybe those bat-ponies that showed up last night to take Tirek away were the guys who were supposed to deliver the paperwork. Stupid! Should have asked them, they did look like Luna’s kind of people.

“Croix! Get up. Just in case…”

“Good morning miss Rarity.” The leftmost guard was reading from a sheet of paper as the right one watched Rarity and the inside of the house. “Due to a credible allegation of Changeling influence, we are required to examine you for signs of Changeling mental influence, and to determine if you are a Changeling yourself. We…”

“Now see here!” Rarity glared at the reading stallion, head lowered and eyes narrowed. “There is absolutely no sign of any changelings in this establishment, or indeed in this town.”

“I’m sorry ma’am.” The rightmost guard broke in. “We’ve received a specific allegation that your foreign guests may be changelings. After official approval to investigate, we are required by law to check you over. This shouldn’t take long. We’ll be taking you to the town hall’s courthouse annex for your check. Your guests will be taken to Princess Twilight for specialized checks.”

“I knew it! That nosy bookworm is trying to pull something. Well we won’t show up unprepared.” Mir’s telekinetic aura locked the last catch of Croix’s armor into place. “We’re both ready to go if this turns bad. Let’s see what they want for now though.”

“Hmph. Well, if you insist. I will require you to provide me with a coffee however.”

“Ok,” said the rightmost guard, “I think there’s a coffee machine in the courthouse lobby.”

“All right, I’m going to remove my curlers now, so don’t be alarmed.”

“Of course ma’am.”

The curlers levitated to a nearby table.

“Do you wish me to call my guests down?”

“No ma’am. We’ll do it ourselves. Stomper, please escort miss Rarity to the courthouse.”

The leftmost pegasus nodded, then pointed towards the town hall with his wing.

“Yes, yes I’m going.” Rarity stepped forward past the two guards. Stomper fell in behind her.

As they walked off the remaining front door pony was joined by one of the other two. They began towards the stairwell leading up, but a creaking noise and clomping announced their quarry was coming down.

Both pegasi sprung backwards, keeping their eyes on the staircase. An armored hoof emerged into view as their eyes narrowed. Both of them tensed for action. The armored stallion emerging down the stairwell seemed to be a fellow pegasus, but his armor was much heavier than the traditional royal guard armor. A lance of some sort was strapped to his back. He regarded them calmly and stepped to the side of the staircase.

A second pony emerged, this one a unicorn with an odd-looking horn. She was much smaller than the pegasus and was wearing much lighter armor. It might not have even been armor at all, just some sort of spandex costume. Regardless it didn’t look like normal clothing.

After a brief internal deliberation the remaining front door pony spoke. “Greetings. Due to a credible allegation of changeling activity, we are required to take you in for questioning. Princess Twilight Sparkle has requested to personally preside over your questioning. Please disarm, and then come with us immediately.”

Mir glared smugly at the guardsponies. “What happens if we refuse?”

“As a resident of Equestria you are required to comply with its laws. While we realize that the Changeling Verification Act is unpopular with many citizens, it is the law of the land as implemented by Parliament and signed by th– Princess Celestia. If you do not comply we will be forced to arrest you.”

Mir pondered. The “Changeling Verification Act” sounded to her like many historical laws that used fear of one particular out-group to allow a government to break its own rules to harm individual citizens for the benefit of the government or certain members of it. She had no idea what a “Changeling” was.

“Where will we be meeting with the Princess?”

“In her command center at the library.”

That altered the calculus quite a bit. The library was small. Mir had full confidence she could win a fight with these guardsponies, and she felt that if necessary she and Croix together could handle four or five times as many. The whole is stronger than the sum of its parts, after all. In a space the size of the library the forces they could bring to bear on them would be limited. If Princess Twilight really did have hostile intentions towards her, the two of them could flatten the whole place in seconds. There was still one card to play, though.

“Are you aware that Princess Luna has recognized me as an ambassador from my nation?”

“And what nation is that?”

“Neo Elemia.”

The two guards looked at each other for a tiny moment, never quite letting the two suspects out of their peripheral vision. Then they turned back, scowling. “Never heard of it.”

“Do you have any documentation?” The second pony added.

Damn. “She said it would be sent to me. We conferred while she was dreamwalking.”

“Even if that’s true, while we can’t arrest you, Equestria’s treaty partners have recognized the need to conduct Changeling verification. Even ambassadors can be required to show their bonafides. Please come with us.”

“Very well.” I got them to drop the “disarmed” part. That should be enough if things go bad.

“You! The cheater!” As he entered the library, Croix’s vision was filled with blue and rainbow. “You’ve got some nerve…” A purplish aura covered Rainbow and yanked her back.

“My apologies.” Twilight didn’t sound sorry, and sat suppressing a scowl at the far end of the library.

The main space of the library had been transformed. The reading tables and cushions had been moved about to create a sort of pen in one corner of the room. Mir scanned it over, noting the inhabitants. At the far end on a pile of cushions sat Princess Twilight Sparkle, staring directly at her horn. Between the two of them, on the floor, stood two “plain” type ponies she didn’t recognize, one with pink coloring and one with yellow. The pink one seemed to be breathing heavily for some reason and the orange one looked nervous about the whole thing. The three guardsponies were surrounding Croix, as he was the one that was visibly armed. And of course that was the only thing that drew Twilight’s attention away from her.

“Why is that stallion armed?”

“Uh, ma’am…” The stallion sweated visibly, his head ducking slightly. “These ponies claim to be an ambassadorial mission from Neo Elemia.”

“That’s not a real country.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she stood upon her throne of random library cushions. It wobbled slightly, and she flared her wings and adjusted her balance for a moment.

“Hah! Got you now, cheater!” Rainbow flew over to crow in Croix’s face, but was once again dragged back in a purple aura.

“Rainbow, please let me handle this. Now then. Since we’ve established you’re not representing a real country, you are not entitled to the privileges of a diplomatic mission. Please hand over your weapon to the guards.”

“I have already given the details of this to Princess Luna. She has confirmed my ambassadorship.”

“Really?” Twilight grinned as she jumped off the cushion pile, swooping down in front of Mir. “Would you mind if I asked her this right now?”

“Go ahead.” Luna seemed on the up and up. If she confirms what I said, maybe this whole patch of idiocy will evaporate.

“Very well, Spike, I need you to – EYAH!” Twilight had turned around to find Pinkie Pie standing right behind her, staring forward with eyes locked with fear.

“Twilight, why are you talking to a hole in space?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I beg your pardon?”

Pinkie shakily waved a hoof towards Mir. “I can see there’s a thing there, but I can’t see it. I can see the air all around it and it reflects light and it’s got a horrible color palette. But. I. Can’t. See. It.”

“Hmmm?” Twilight turned around. Mir was regarding Pinkie as an odd, but annoying curiosity. Her slight scowl was almost certainly offense at the “horrible color palette” comment. Twilight could see why Pinkie would say that, Mir was harshly black and gray.

“It’s like it’s there but there’s nothing there but I can’t see it and…” Pinkie’s hoof reached out slowly towards Mir’s nose. “I… I… I…” The hoof inched closer. Mir regarded it with disdain, but didn’t move or even flinch.” The hoof wobbled closer. Closer. Contact.

“AAAAAA!!!!!! I touched a hole in space!” Pinkie recoiled and flopped onto her back, skidding across the floor and slamming into Twilight, causing them both to collide with the cushion pile, which collapsed and buried them.

Mir attempted to stifle her laughter, but couldn’t stifle the grin.

Twilight emerged from the pile with a cushion impaled on her horn. Mir lost it, falling on her rump laughing. “That.. ha… was amazing. Best comedy act I’ve seen.”

Twilight disintegrated the cushion in a shower of sparks (thankfully extinguished by the library’s anti-fire enchantments). She reached with her forehooves into the pile of cushions and dragged Pinkie to the surface. “Pinkie! Get ahold of yourself! What’s wrong?”

“I… can’t… can’t…” Pinkie’s eyes had lost focus and her fur was glistening with sweat.

Twilight turned to Mir, and shouted with the Royal Canterlot Voice, “What did you do to Pinkie?”

The tables slid slightly on the floor as Mir, Croix, Applejack, and the guardsponies weathered the storm. Rainbow was protected by the purple aura holding her to the wall.

“I have done nothing to that pony. I am worried, however, that she has suffered a brain aneurism. I could attempt to heal that if you wish.” While healing the brain itself was hard, the blood vessels within it weren’t too bad.

“NO! Don’t you use magic. Spike, change of plans. Take Pinkie to the doctor right now.”

A purple and green tiny humanoid figure emerged from one of the doors. “R-right, Twilight.” He walked up to Pinkie, and grabbed her left foreleg, hauling her to her feet. “Follow me please.”

Pinkie walked forward following Spike almost to the door of the library, when a strange convulsion seized her and she flipped upside down, did a split with her rear legs while pedalling her front ones, then flipped back upright. “Something weird is happening at Fluttershy’s place! We gotta check on her!” Pinkie’s voice was excited but wavering, as if she didn’t entirely understand what she was saying.

Twilight teleported next to Pinkie and shook her head sadly. “Pinkie, I hate to say this, but I think you’re unwell. Please, go to the Ponyville hospital and let them have a look at you.”

“Ah...alright.” Pinkie lowered her head and resumed following Spike, but as she turned back to look at Twilight, she caught sight of Croix and shivered. “Maybe something is wrong with me….” She walked out with her head bowed as the door closed.

Twilight held her forehoof over her face for a moment, then removed it and turned to face Mir again. “Right, I was going to contact Princess Luna so she could shoot down your little deception.”

“Ahm sorry, but afraid Ah got to interrupt you too. Can we talk fer a sec?”

“Fine.” Twilight was practically glaring at Applejack as she led her into the kitchen.

“What’s this all about, Twi? Ah get that you don’t like the Changelings much, but this all seems so unlike you. Did Discord start being bad again and make you mean? You and the whole Parliament?”

Twilight sighed and lowered her head, then raised it again to look Applejack in the eyes. It seemed warmer than the harsh glares she’d been exchanging with Mir, but still didn’t seem quite friendly to Applejack. “There’s more to this whole Changeling situation than we’ve been able to let on. The information I’m about to give you is classified at Triune Level. Don’t tell anyone else without my permission.”

Applejack gulped. “Ah… swear.” Normally she’d Pinkie Promise, but doing that now seemed poorly-timed.

Twilight took a deep breath with her foreleg across her chest, then extended it as she released it. She leaned in close and whispered conspiratorially, “It all started in the immediate aftermath of the attack on Canterlot. It looked like Changelings were being thrown from the city, but the spell wasn’t really accelerating them normally. It was actually carrying them with a constant speed. If the changeling hit a barrier that was more solid than they were, it stopped rather than kill the Changeling. That’s love for you I suppose.

“The point is that there were a fair amount of Changelings too indoors for Shining and Cadance to blast outside the city. They were held in place for the full duration of the spell – which turned out to be 5 hours, by the way – and were collected once it ended. Shining had the guards pile them into some old disused cells in the depths of the EUP barracks. They were secured with all possible measures, including locked-on magic inhibitors. And they all escaped.”

“What?!?” Applejack reared back with shock.

“Nopony knows what happened.” Twilight lowered her head. “No free pony, anyway. All the guards watching them at the time of the escape vanished, along with a few more between them and the exit. Every last one of them vanished one night while Shining was on honeymoon. No clues. No evidence. No leads. That’s what has the government spooked. That’s what killed his career. That’s how the nobles strong-hoofed Princess Celestia herself into passing the Changeling Verification Act." Twilight paused for a moment, eyes widening with an internal revelation. She lowered her head further. "I lied about Princess Celestia overreacting. I’m the one who’s overreacting.”

“...Darn.” It was a lot for Applejack to take in. “Just… try ta ease up a little, ok? You’re starting to act like an ornrier pony.” Applejack nudged Twilight's head with her forehoof, bringing them eye to eye again.

Twilight smiled. It was the first time Applejack had seen her smile since she’d tested the Changeling reveal spell on her. “I’ll try, Applejack. Her behavior is still very suspicious, I can’t trust her.”

Applejack smiled back. “That’s all Ahm askin. Fer you ta try.”

“OK, let’s go back in and do this properly.”

Phase 2: Escalation, Part 2 (Revised)

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“Let me at her!”

As Twilight and Applejack reentered the main room of the library, she saw the three guardsponies had positioned themselves between Rainbow Dash and Mir. One of the guards was continually repositioning in the air to block Rainbow’s flight, while the other two exchanged glares with Mir. Behind his wife, Croix stood with an air of resigned annoyance.

“What is going on in here?” Twilight stamped her hoof to punctuate the question.

“Begging your pardon, your majesty, but – OOF...” the flying guard body-checked Rainbow Dash as she tried to slip past him in his moment of distraction. “...when you exited the room, the spell you used to hold your friend still ended. We’ve been trying to keep things calm.”

“Rainbow! Please stop ruining my interrogation!” Rainbow turned to look at Twilight.

“You saw what happened with Pinkie! These weirdos have some kind of undetectable brainwashing beam. We've got to knock them out before they get us too.”

“Rainbow. There's no such thing as undetectable magic. Even Discord emits a thaumic signature when he does his tricks, even if it's not interpretable. Now please sit back down. I'm the one conducting this inter... interview."

Twilight ascended onto one of the tables as Rainbow withdrew glumly, muttering under her breath. “Now then, where were we. I believe I was going to send a message to Luna to ask her about your claimed status. Based on her normal schedule, she’ll be awake for at least two more hours. Plenty of time. Without Spike here, I’ll have to send the message myself, but I’ve learned to do so.”

A piece of paper and a quill hovered to her, wrapped in her magic aura. Dear Princess Luna. I have under suspicion a pony named “Mir” who claims she met you while you were dreamwalking and that you accepted her embassy on the behalf of her country. She further claims that the paperwork confirming this has not yet been delivered. Please confirm or deny her statements at the earliest possible convenience. Twilight Sparkle.

With the letter completed, Twilight made a brief check of its grammar and spelling. Finding both satisfactory, she carefully used her magic to emulate the magical flames Spike would use.

“All right. While I’m waiting for a reply back, I’ve got something else.”

There was an odd aura in the air over the Everfree Forest. Luna could taste it practically. It was all too familiar. No. It’s not going to happen again. I won’t let somepony, someone else endure that. Her wings burned as she pressed them to greater and greater speed. Her night-ponies could not see properly in the glare of the day, and had all gone or been sent back. Even her personal guards had been forced (at her command) to leave for darkness and slumber. It would all be up to her. All she had to do was get close enough for her horn to sense it, or to catch sight of whatever had been foolish enough to use it.

Thump!

Did I hit a bird? I didn’t see a bird. I’m sorry for hurting it, but time is of the essence and I cannot tarry. Behind her, Twilight’s missive floated slowly to the forest floor.

“What is that?” Mir tilted her head as she examined the two glass jars. Each of which had two glass layers, and an air gap (or possibly vacuum gap) between them, separated by what appeared to be rubber pads. They opened at the bottom, but each was currently pressed against a similarly-constructed base.

And yet inside seemed to be perfectly ordinary flower buds.

“That is the rare Lie-Lilly plant. It’s quite rare for them to have magically active bulbs, but Zecora was able to obtain two of them for me.” Twilight stalked around the small table they sat on. “These plants will only blossom when they hear a lie. A lie in this context is a statement that is in whole or part untruthful. Note that even unknowing untruths can be sensed in this manner.” Twilight levitated the jar off one of the plants. “Now, I’m going to ask you some questions, and–”

“This statement is false.” The bud wriggled, glowed, spasmed, and finally exploded, showering the room with off-white petals. Mir smirked bemusedly. “I’m sorry, but I just had to see what would happen.”

Twilight extended her hoof as she exhaled, then repeated the act. “Ok. I can understand some scientific curiosity. I have to admit I had that urge myself when I saw these for the first time. But this is a matter of national security. If you deliberately trigger the last one I’m going to consider it a confession and arrest both of you on the spot.”

Mir rolled her eyes. “Fine. I don’t like lying anyway.”

“OK, nobody but me and her talk!” Twilight levitated the second jar off. “First question, what is your real name?”

“Mir.” Twilight looked at the bulb. No reaction.

“What is your species?”

“Reyvateil.”

Twilight had never heard of that before. The unicorn had clearly told the truth, but maybe it was a word for “Changeling” in another language? “Let’s cut to the chase. Are you a Changeling?”

“I have no idea what that is.”

Twilight turned to the bud. It still hadn’t bloomed. She didn’t say no. But how could a Changeling not know what a Changeling is? Maybe there’s some kind of linguistic game I haven’t considered. Let’s try more questions.

“Do you owe allegiance to Queen Chrysalis?”

“No.”

“And how do you know the answer to that question, but not the one about being a Changeling? Hmm?”

Mir glared at her, jaw set and eyes dangerously narrow. “I know who I owe allegiance to. Everyone else, I don’t.”

“And who DO you owe allegiance to, hmm?”

“Shurelia. Spica. My husband. Not necessarily in that order.”

Hmm, let’s try a different approach. “Are you a shapeshifter?”

Mir opened her mouth, then paused. “Sort of. Not enough that I could turn into someone else.”

That’s getting somewhere. That’s still a true statement. Maybe she’s a different kind of Changeling, incapable of assuming a true disguise? That might be why she didn’t disguise that weird horn. “Why are you in Ponyville?”

“It was the town nearest to where we ended up. Some Pegasus sent us here.”

“What do you mean, ‘ended up’?”

Mir didn’t answer immediately again. I don’t want to tell this “Princess” how I ended up here. Somebody dragged me and Croix here and I still don’t know why. “I’d rather not answer that question.”

All the guardstallions sucked in their breath slightly. They knew Twilight had found a sore point.

“Were you deposited there by a wave of love energy that had knocked you out of your previous location?”

Hmm. She said it could detect statements that were untrue even if I didn’t know it. Let’s try it out. “No.” Ok, so I wasn’t… whatever she said. “Also, I was not brought here by you or anyone acting on your behalf.” Huh, good to know. Maybe I don’t have to treat the pretty pony princess as potentially hostile.

Twilight raised a quizzical eyebrow. “Do you… not know how you got here?”

Damn. A non-answer would be as good as admitting it. “There is a gap.”

“Hmm.” Twilight looked over at the clock. Usually Celestia would have replied by now. I haven’t sent too many messages to Luna, though. “Let’s take a small recess. I’ll grab a snack.”

Twilight left through the door Spike had entered from earlier. Mir turned around to look at Croix. He seemed a little nervous about the guardstallions standing between him and her, but he wasn’t panicing or anything. If she wanted to make a break for it, now was the best time. All these non-magic-using ponies could be smacked aside easily, two vs one the Princess, and then they could run. But where would they run? She had no idea how to get to the next city. It’d probably be best to see if she could negotiate her way out of this.

“Here we go. Cupcakes ala Pinkie.” Twilight returned levitating a tray of cupcakes. Each was decorated with red, purple, or brown icing. “Take one.”

Mir levitated a red cupcake up and nibbled on it. It had an odd bite and burn to it. “Mmm. It’s quite good, somewhat spicy.”

“Somewhat?” Twilight popped a red cupcake into her mouth. The instant she started to chew her eyes bulged. She swallowed quickly, then belched a small tongue of fire. The library’s extinguishing spells chilled the end of the flame out of existence, leaving a slight patch of cold air. “Dang it Pinkie, those hot sauce cupcakes are…” She paused, looked back at the lie-lily. It probably was actually funny, objectively speaking. On the other hand, Mir had called the cupcake “somewhat spicy” and hadn’t triggered it. Maybe it accounts for matters of opinion? Or possibly it could have multiple truth values: Mir’s sense of spiciness might be far from a pony’s, enabling both of them to make contradictory non-lie statements.

Croix took a red cupcake as well, and winced slightly as he bit into it, but continued eating. Sweat was visible at the edge of his mane. The guards and Rainbow took the purple or brown ones.

Glasses of milk in a red-purple aura levitated over to the ponies. Croix gingerly accepted his between two front hooves, sitting down to drink. “Thanks.”

After the glasses had been drained, the reddish-purple aura collected them once again. Twilight set them on the empty tray (Pinkie and Spike’s cupcakes having been eaten by Rainbow), then rapped her hoof on the desk. A quick look at the clock indicated that Luna really should have replied by now. Maybe I didn’t make it sound urgent enough? Celestia usually replies so promptly. It’s a simple yes or no question.

“Can you think of any reason that Luna might not respond to my inquiry in a timely fashion?”

Mir rolled her eyes. “Are you sure she got it?” She turned to the lie-lily. “Luna hasn’t read Twilight’s letter just now at all.” No response.

Luna hasn’t read it at all? Is she on some urgent errand? I’d like to think she’d tell me about it, if so. Time to change tack I suppose. “What does your country plan to do with its embassy?”

Mir scrunched up her muzzle for a moment, then relaxed. “I donno. We didn’t plan to have one. Remember, we’re not here because we wanted to. I’d probably want to trade magical research though. What you know about magic is very different than what we know about magic.”

Twilight’s eyes brightened. “What do you know about magic?”

Mir smirked. “I’ve got a couple of centuries of working with various forms of it.”

Centuries? A normal pony rarely makes it to one and a half. She’s definitely something odd. “Do you study conversion between emotional and magical energy?”

“I think I know more about it than anyone alive.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow as she looked to the still-dormant plant. “You sure you’re not a changeling?”

“You still haven’t told me what that is.”

“Let’s try something else. Do you have any hostile intent towards me?”

“Well, a little. I’ve been thinking about how to blast my way out of here if this becomes uncivil.” Mir’s smirk at this revelation dismayed Twilight, and her alarmed guards turned their backs on Croix to focus on Mir. “It doesn’t seem necessary though.”

Well. I certainly can’t fault her honesty. At this point the guards had realized they weren’t watching Croix, and one turned back around to face him. I’ve met ponies with worse attitudes. “How dangerous are you, anyway?”

“Hmm.” Mir pondered for a moment. It detects lies, but not necessarily wrong answers to the questions. Hypothetically speaking, my “most dangerous” song is Nullascension, but like hell I’d want to use it. “Well, hypothetically speaking, I could destroy this entire town in a single spell.” No reaction from the plant, excellent.

At this revelation, Applejack sucked in her breath and clenched her teeth, as did the guards. Rainbow shook slightly, keeping her nervousness in check.

“As I said before, I don’t have any intent to do anything violent here.” The guards didn’t seem to be mollified, but Twilight had turned to the plant and closed her eyes.

Well, I’m pretty dangerous if we spoke hypothetically. I’m not even sure what the most destruction I could cause with one spell would be. She does have to answer honestly, after all. I don’t know. I need some sort of tiebreaker. As she opened her eyes, her gaze fell on the book she’d disarmed the failing spell on last night. “Have you ever heard of somepony called Sunset Shimmer?”

Huh, is she asking about Sunset Shimmer Togasaki? “Yes.”

“Last night she tried to send me a message, but it got cut off by some kind of magical editing of the dimensional spells. Any idea what happened?”

“I have no idea how you’d expect to get a message from Sunset Shimmer at all. She’s been dead for a while.”

What. No… Twilight turned slowly, not wanting to see the lie-lily. But she had to know. Each degree of rotation was more hesitant than the last. She could feel tension spreading throughout her body. No reaction. Truth. Nooooo.

Twilight hadn’t gotten a chance to get to know Sunset, but she’d felt she’d wanted to. She left her in the care of her alternate-friends in Canterlot High not merely because she felt it her duty as the Bearer of the Element of Magic, but because she felt Sunset was much like herself. If she hadn’t needed to go to Ponyville that Summer Sun Celebration’s eve, what would her life had been like? She’d forsaken the ways of friendship and become a grumpier, meaner pony. She could have ended up just like Sunset.

And now Sunset wouldn’t have the opportunity to change. Wouldn’t have the chance to apologize to Celestia. Oh goddesses. Celestia still loved Sunset as a student, practically as a daughter. She’d be heartbroken. Was it her fault? Was it something she’d done? Sunset was still young. Wait, maybe not something I’d done…

Twilight turned back to Mir, glaring accusingly at her, wings flared. “Did you kill Sunset Shimmer?”

What the? “Hell no, it’d be impossible for me to have done it because time travel isn’t a thing.” Mir’s eyes jerked away from Twilight as a soft glow sprung into being to her side. The lie-lily had bloomed. “What? Where did I err? Everything I said was true!”

Twilight could no longer hear Mir over the beating of her own heart. Sunset’s future… Sunset’s redemption… Celestia’s happiness… they were all taken away by this lying murderer! This… Changeling! Twilight’s vision had acquired a red tinge as she turned back towards Mir. Her target was still glaring at the flower, oblivious to what was headed her way.

“MURDERER!” A blast of reddish-purple magic slammed into Mir, knocking her over a nearby table. With a loud thump, Twilight landed on the table, wings spread, horn charging another spell.

Hearth's Warming Interlude

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“Are you sure this is such a good idea?” Swiftwing the Pegasus mercenary glanced below the cloud, to the ground thousands of feet below, barely visible through the driving snow. Off to the West, jagged mountains claimed by the Unicorns rose nearly to eye level. His brown fur didn’t provide nearly the insulation it should, and his dark orange mane was tossed about.

“Hush.” The bearded gray unicorn, bedecked with bells on his hat, poked and prodded the cloud-arch in front of him. Beside him, enchanted crates stood in a heap on the foggy surface. He had confidence in his cloudwalking spell, even if his foolish assistant didn’t. If only Clover hadn’t accepted the job. There was an assistant with some potential. Starswirl would never forgive Princess Platinum for hiring Clover.

The world itself was dying. He could see it all around him. It would end in cold and howling wind until the planet itself cracked apart. Trying to fix it was futile. What force could possibly fix an entire planet, an entire civilization, in time? No, the only solution was evacuation. And he was readying to do just that. Each of his previous portals had never quite worked right. He couldn’t keep them open reliably, or they were tied to fragile objects, or both. This time it’d go right, this time he’d get it!

The problem was matter. Matter… messed with space and time somehow. He didn’t have enough time to create an instrument precise enough to measure exactly how, but he could see that in this vast effort. All he had to do was get high enough. Far enough away from the planet.

The portals were the ultimate culmination of his secret theories into not merely time and space, but other, further dimensions. He regretted writing down all that information on time. With luck nobody would bother with it. No, it was possibility that he was concerned with now. He could use the possibility axis to alter the very intrinsic condition of a being.

Building a bridge to another planet was easy. All he really needed was to combine his knowledge of time and space spells. The hard parts would be finding and living on that planet.

Finding the planet had come to him fairly quickly. Unicorn theorists knew that other stars might have worlds like their own. All he needed to do was gather up a field of lie-lilies and bisect the sky until he’d narrowed down a star which had a life-supporting planet. The failsafes of the teleportation spell had taken care of the rest. Even now, he had a crystal sphere containing a plant from that far-off world as proof it was possible.

The difficulty of living on the planet would be fairly obvious. There quite a number of plants ponies couldn’t eat, and places ponies shouldn’t go. So he had the portal’s axis twist around the possibility axis, thereby transforming anybody (that had a soul, anyway) who went through into what they would be like if born on that planet! It was brilliant. Sure, the odd, furless, hornless thing he’d turned into had been a bit of a shock, but everyone who went through would be alive. Trivial problems like that could be fixed later.

Right now, though, he just needed his portal to work properly. Even when tying it to a supporting magical structure, the best he could do was 3 days open out of every thirty moons. Unacceptable! With a little luck, higher up like this he could get a good connection. Then it was just a matter of enlisting whatever Pegasus ponies turned into to lower everyone to the ground.

With a final blast of magic, the cloud arch hummed to life. The air in the center of the arch rippled, glowed, and was gradually replaced by a sort of hole that seemed to stretch away from you no matter how you stood.

“All right. Time to earn your pay.” Starswirl grinned wickedly at the brown Pegasus stallion.

“No way I’m going in that… weird… Unicorn magic.” Swiftwing scrambled to back away, wings flailing. As he tried to get purchase in the air, a blue aura surrounded him.

“I do believe we had a contract, whelp.” A rope snaked out of one of the crates. “Now listen, all you need to do is go through, observe the conditions, and report back.” The rope wrapped itself snugly around his barrel and tied itself. “This enchanted rope will hold onto you if you can’t fly properly.”

“But… but…” The portal was scary. Swiftwing had never seen anything like it, and powerful magic was never a good thing in the stories.

“In you go!” Starswirl anchored the other end of the rope to a wisp of cloud, and then chucked the Pegasus through.

Swiftwing couldn’t tell which way was up and which way was down. All around him, blurs of fantastic color surrounded him. He could see odd shapes, odd sights. Vast towers, shining swords, some sort of horrible soda with meat in it. Then he blacked out.

He came to hanging from the rope. The second thing he noticed was that he couldn’t feel his wings. Then his eyes opened. He had transformed completely, into some kind of beast! In place of his forehooves, he had an odd, soft set of talons with blunt claws. In place of his hind hooves, odd lumpy projections. His joints didn’t seem quite right either. He was covered with some kind of brown clothing that matched the color his fur had been.

But the lack of wings was definitely the most important part, hanging from a rope coming out of thin air as he was. Looking up into the portal, he could just barely see that the air was distorted around it. It would likely be invisible from a distance, and terrifying as before up close. Now he just had to wait for Starswirl to reel him back in so he could explain that Pegasai transformed into something that can’t fly.

Impossible. Starswirl stared up at the immense column of pink light, radiating from the tallest peak in the Unicorn Range. They… did it. All around him he could feel warmth return to the world.

The hearts of ponies protect the heart of the land, that monster had said. This must mean that the rift between the races of ponies is ended. But how? Who?

Clover. Well, if my student did this, I can take credit for training her! Let’s go see about this. Starswirl teleported from the cloud to the foot of the mountain. In his astonishment, he’d completely forgotten about what he was doing.

And the warmth was beginning to dissipate the cloud.

Aaaaaany minute now. He’ll pull me back up. Then it’ll be OK. Swiftwing wasn’t liking this. He’d been holding back panic for a while now. He’d tried climbing the rope, but his control of the new grasping appendages wasn’t up to the task.

Then the rope began to move. Oh no no no no no…

Freefall kicked in. All his instincts wanted him to open his wings, but he no longer had them. He could do nothing but watch the ground spin below him as it rose up to meet him. Below, he could make out a forest of snow covered pines as it rushed towards him.

“I think he’s alive!” Swiftwing certainly hadn’t expected to hear that, or anything ever again. He opened his eyes, and could see some sort of shape looming over him. As focus returned, he noticed a creature similar to him, but smaller, with pale reddish skin and a white “mane” on its head. It seemed to have a feminine voice. “He is alive! He’s looking at me.”

That was when he noticed the blunt horns on her head, and the short tail behind her. “He… hello. I’m… Swiftwing.”

“It’s a human!” Behind her, he could see more, taller versions of the same creature.

“No… I’m not a human. I’m a Pegasus. I don’t even know what a human is.”

“But… you’re a human.” The girl peered at him more closely, then closed her eye sand held her hand towards him, palm-first. “He’s… telling the truth. He’s been transformed, somehow. He came from another world, like we did in the distant past.”

WHAT?!?

“Oh.” A larger, more masculine figure stepped forwards. “Greetings, Swiftwing the Pegasus. I am Bass Zak Togasaki of the Teru Tribe.

Swiftwing lived out his days with the Teru of the area, never able to return to his homeworld. After building up a more stable life, he didn’t really mind.

The cloud that supported the portal on the Equestrian side blew away, but Starswirl was right, and the portal remained open at full strength. Centuries later, the town of Ponyville was founded miles to the South of the point below it. Since it would be quite difficult to randomly hit a point in midair, no pony or animal ever encountered it again. Starswirl later used his knowledge of the possibility axis to attempt to turn himself into an Alicorn. It didn’t go well for him.

On the Ar Ciel side, the portal was never detected, even as a giant tower was constructed to the South of it.

Phase 2: Escalation, Part 3

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“MURDERING CHANGELING!” The second cry shook the room again as Twilight lowered her head pointed her charged horn straight at the prostrated Mir. “I’ll rip that disguise off you!” A beam of magic fired forth, bathing Mir in reddish-purple light.

Warning! D-Cellophane disruption. Unable to maintain form. The hell? Mir thrashed her limbs as she tried to break free of whatever horror had been unleashed on her. Rational thought was becoming increasingly difficult as panic spread through her. What’s going on… oh no. “S… stop! You’re… killing… me…”

She couldn’t move. Every ounce of energy she had was needed to hold her body together. And she was losing ground.

“Mir!” Croix tried to move forward, but the guardsponies in front of him flared their wings and held their ground. If he wanted to get into a three-versus-one shoving match, he’d get it. Rainbow moved next to them to make it four-versus-one. The orange pony stood to the side, glancing between Twilight and him.

Mir hadn’t felt fear like this in a long time. Not since she’d escaped her tormentors so long ago. Total helplessness, no way out, no nothing. She couldn’t call on her song magic in this state, and her pony magic seemed similarly locked out. “Are you… really trying to kill me?”

“Hmph.” Twilight was sweating under the strain of the spell. There was clearly a lot of shapeshifting magic to get rid of, but she’d get it eventually. “Nice try changeling, but you can’t get away from me now.”

It’s funny. I always figured if I did get killed, it’d be for something I’d actually done. “I… still… don’t… know… what… that… is.”

Croix looked to the orange pony. Their boss seemed pretty unreasonable, but she didn’t seem to like what was going on. “Are you really going to let her execute my wife like that?”

“Ah…” Applejack gulped. “Ah don’t think it’ll actually hurt her. She used it ta fix some bad shape-changin earlier.”

“It’s not that simple.” Croix raised his voice in hopes that Twilight would hear as well. “She’s a Beta Reyvateil, she’s held together with shape-changing magic. Without it, she turns into a puddle and dies.” Twilight’s ear flicked towards them, indicating she’d heard, but she didn’t react otherwise.

“That’s... “ Applejack looked between Croix and the spectacle at the other end of the room. “Twi? That make any sense to you?”

Critical Warning! Unable to maintain form. Bits of Mir’s body began to melt at the extremities. The tip of her horn melted and ran down her face, and the tip of her tail was staining the cushions. With her head pointed down to aim the horn straight at Mir, Twilight couldn’t see it.

“Hold it! Don’t give this monster’s words a second thought.” Rainbow swooped between Croix and Applejack. “You saw what happened to Pinkie, they did this. Somehow.”

“I didn’t detect a spell, but you may well be right. Maybe it’s like the Stare?” Twilight’s concentration was almost totally consumed by the spell, but she could still chat.

“He’s probably a Changeling too. Or worse, he’s a pony who works for Changelings for money or something. Like Professor McHay in Daring Do and the...”

“The hell are you talking about?” Croix was boiling over. Mir hadn’t said anything for a while, she was probably near the brink.

“I’m saying we need to smack you unconscious so you can’t try whatever undetectable horseapples you did to Pinkie.”

“I have no idea what the hell you think I did or she did, but that’s no reason to execute her over.”

“What, you’re afraid of what we’ll do once we see her true, changeling form?”

Croix couldn’t even see the orange pony behind the flapping, in-your-face blue Pegasus. The wall of guards blocked his view of Mir, and the nods of their heads indicated they were buying what the hectoring pony was selling. The Princess was still pumping more energy into Mir. It was now or never.

He couldn’t just fight all four or five of them bare-handed. Or hooved. While he had the lance with him, he couldn’t simply grab it and go as a pony. He had to strap it on, and he’d be vulnerable while he did so. He had no hope of beating four (or five) opponents unarmed. And the only other weapon he had was… that grenade.

The Ar Toluneco bomb they’d made together was definitely powerful enough to clear the entire room of enemies, no question. Mir said she’d survived a similar bomb, so if she wasn’t dead yet it wouldn’t kill her. Still, could he survive it? He hadn’t used one of those since he last fought Raki, and this was a far more enclosed area. Still, the thought of having Mir die in front of him due to inaction was intolerable. He’d do it.

“On your heads be it.” Croix feinted a charge forward. The guards and Rainbow Dash braced in position to receive it, but instead Croix leaped backwards, while simultaneously digging into his saddlebag with his mouth. The many ridges on the edge of the bomb immediately identified it, and he worked the arming device with his lips and tongue in the pony manner as he began to swing it with his neck and head. “Grenade out!”

The ponies hearing this had no word in their language for “grenade”(1) and instead heard Croix’s shout in Metafalssean. The thrown object wasn’t radiating any magic and wasn’t going to hit the Princess, so they didn’t react to it.

Two guards began to circle Croix as one of them charged. Croix brought an armored wing edge forward for a slam directly into the charging guard’s nose. As the stunned guard tottered, Croix dove under him and covered his head with the guard’s body in an attempt to save himself from the impending catastrophe.

The Ar Toluneco bomb descended more or less linearly from early research into making copies of the Orgel of Origins that powered the First Tower. Many attempts were made at making smaller, more portable power sources, but all of them ran into crucial limitations. The original Orgel of Origins was simply exactly the right size for symphonic power resonation. Any larger or smaller and it would introduce flaws in the process.

Although a considerable amount of power could be built up inside the songstone, once the instability started it would accumulate until the stone suddenly failed. Then all the symphonic power would instantaneously become dynamic d-waves. Or in layman’s terms, regular heat energy.

The sudden appearance of a massive amount of heat energy had a predictable effect. All the matter of the bomb was immediately turned into plasma, and normally the air around it would be heated as well, forming a shock wave.

Except.

Except this was Twilight Sparkle’s library, and a powerful anti-fire enchantments activated with immense speed.

Twilight had originally placed the enchantments to protect books from any potential “oopses” on Spike’s part. They detected a source of heat that would be dangerous to books, and dumped cold magic into it.

In other words, negative energy.

The shock wave wobbled and slowed as energy drained out of it. Energy began to be replaced by steam as a tiny, normally-undetectable flaws in the enchantments meant that instead of pure cold magic, some ice magic was included as well. This ice rapidly vaporized into steam.

The end result was a loud “BANG!” that knocked over ponies and blew out the windows of the library, and a wall of steam in the center of the room. The library’s dehumidifier enchantment, recognizing the steam as a danger to the books, kept the wall of steam confined.

“Rrrgh.” Restoring form. Mir stood shakily as her extremities began to resolidify. Her position in the pile of cushions had protected her somewhat from the blast, but the psycho Princess standing over her had been carried into the wall.

The billowing cloud of steam in the center of the room radiated a substantial amount of heat. Although a Beta Reyvateil was more durable than a human, she wasn’t sure if running through it to Croix would be a good idea just yet. Also, that would leave the Princess of Vengeance over there alone to prepare for round two.

The pony in question had begun to move again, peeling herself off the wall and turning to face Mir. “Changeling! You’re going down.”

Mir resisted rolling her eyes. This pony was really capable of hurting her, despite how foolish she seemed. Princess Luna would probably be disappointed if I slew this idiot. It’s impossible for me to have killed Sunset Shimmer Togasaki. Maybe we can negotiate somehow?

She looked at the cloud of steam separating her from Croix and the Princess from her allies. “I’ll admit that was a good try, but I’ll let you and your friends live if you quit now. Nobody has to get hurt.”

Twilight begun to charge up her horn. “Tell that to Sunset.” A bolt shot past Mir, who had rolled out of the way at the last second.

“I don’t care what that defective flower thinks, I didn’t kill her.”

“Lying!” A bolt fired, grazing against Mir’s cheek. “Monstrous!” Another bolt, which Mir narrowly ducked under. “Changeling!” This came not as a bolt, but as a beam. Its aim was dead center.

Croix honestly wasn’t expecting it to go so well for him. His ears had acclimated to bangs and blasts after so long working alongside (and being healed up by) Reyvateils, so he recovered before anyone else on his side of the room. When Mir started talking, he felt relief wash over him.

The stallion on top of him was still breathing but wasn’t moving. Croix flung him off and took a look around. In the center of the room a large, opaque cloud roiled. That Pegasus that had it in for him, Rainbow Dash, was trying to get through it. Mir’s on the other side of that! As Rainbow approached the barrier, she flinched suddenly and drew back. It must be too hot to pass through.

As he moved forward to ambush Rainbow, one of the Royal Guards nearby began to regain his feet. Croix lept into the air and executed a double flying kick to the head, knocking him out. Unfortunately, it caught the attention of Rainbow.

“You! You won’t hurt my friends ever again.” The two Pegasi began to hover in place, sizing the other up. Croix could hear the sounds of battle from the other side of the steam curtain, but he couldn’t help Mir now. The twitching of Rainbow’s ears (and a slight lean to her head towards the sounds) indicated that she had a similar desire to aid her friend. Croix’s peripheral vision told him that nobody else in the room was currently mobile. “Let’s do this, McHay.”

That was the only warning he got. Suddenly his vision was full of rainbow, and the armor on his left wing vibrated from a hit that threatened to knock him down.

He managed to arrest his fall by rolling onto his back just as Rainbow came around for another pass. His armored legs were longer than her unarmored ones, and he landed one hit on her chin and one to the Solar Plexus before being knocked to the ground on his back.

Mir couldn’t dodge, but she could counter. The beam from her horn slammed into the one from Twilight’s at a perfect angle. It just couldn’t push it back.

The meniscus of energy between the beams moved closer and closer to Mir. Damn power curve. C’mon. A few inches from her horn, the beam interface came to a halt as Mir began to draw more and more power from the Ar Tonelico. Good old logistic takeoff curve. Then the draw entered the really steeply sloped region of the curve and Mir’s beam was suddenly winning.

Twilight flexed her wings involuntarily as she began to teleport out of the way. She’s going up. Get a phase switchover ready.

The Princess vanished as Mir’s beam slammed into the wall where she’d been, bowing out the wall of the tree and letting light in through myriad cracks. Above Mir, a flash of light denoted Twilight’s reentry.

Got you. As Twilight’s horn powered down from the teleport and began to power up for another shot, Mir’s beam abruptly switched, instantaneously going from firing forward to firing straight up with no warning. Twilight screamed as her half-finished attack was aborted by the pain of the impact. Energy surged over her, carrying her upwards. Along with the roof.

Croix and Rainbow had both flipped up off the ground to standing positions, glaring angrily at one another.

Then the roof exploded. Red magic cracked against it for a moment, and a pony’s scream could be heard over the cracking as the upper story of the library tree, and all its branches, were crumpled and flung aside.

The steam, finding its prison open on the top, began to spread up and out, but wasn’t dissipating as fast as either Pegasus expected. Its super-heated nature was made more apparent as fire began to catch at the edge of the hole in the roof.

“Twilight!” Rainbow recognized that scream, and turned to try to check her friend’s condition. After she realized she couldn’t make out her friend, she realized she’d turned her back on her foe and whipped around.

Croix was still standing there. “Waiting for something, McHay?”

He took a deep breath. “I don’t actually want to fight you. I have no idea what’s going on, but I just want to get my wife out of here.”

“Your wife? Listen pal, that’s a Changeling, maybe a Changeling Queen. It’s nobody’s friend, it’s nobody’s lover, it’s nobody’s wife. If you really are a pony, you gotta fight it.”

“Mir isn’t a… whatever that is. She’s a Reyvateil. I’m not really sure what’s going on, but it’s not worth all this.”

“You tried to blow us up, and then your wife destroyed the library! Forget it, you’re going down.”

Rainbow was fast alright, but Croix had seen her move now. His vision filled with rainbow colored contrail again, but this time his wing had flexed to place the heavily armored leading edge directly in the path of Rainbow’s chin.

The hit to the chin stunned her, but momentum pulled her forward and tilted her neck into the armored wing.

As her neck caught, the momentum of her torso and legs flipped her over.

She’d clotheslined herself.

With an effort, Croix forced his aching wing down, slamming her into floor.

He repositioned with his feet, turning to meet any threat, but the mare was out cold.

Now I can see about attending to Mir… That was when the lasso wrapped around his right foreleg.

Flash sentry turned back to look at the Tree of Harmony. Ever since Twilight had dealt with the Plundervine, Celestia had ordered the grotto guarded by her Royal Guardsponies. While other Pegasi covered the approaches and Unicorns hid in wait, he himself paced up and down in front of the Tree itself.

It didn’t really make sense to him. Who would want to hurt the Tree of Harmony? The idea that someone could wish harm on it felt… wrong to him. He couldn’t picture anyone, even Queen Chrysalis, harming the Tree. It just wouldn’t come together in his mind.

At least he was close to Ponyville. Once he had some time, he’d go see if he could find some time with Princess Twilight. She’d given him the oddest looks, and he wanted to see if that was really the affection he thought it might be.

Mmm, Princess Twilight. I can’t wai–what’s that?

He could hear footsteps outside. For some reason, they sounded… crunchy. He pressed his hoof against the symbol on his armor that would sound a level 1 alert. In theory, the nearby Unicorn guardsmen would teleport in to reinforce him. Nothing happened.

OK that’s weird. Maybe they’re playing a prank on me.

Then the source of the footsteps came into view. It looked like nothing more than jagged shards of crystal, hovering to form the outline of a pony. On its “back” was an immense, billowing cape. As it approached Flash could do little more than stare at it. He’d never seen anything like it. He’d never heard of anything like it.

“Ah, hello.” The voice immediately snapped him out of it. He’d heard that, back when he’d been with Shining Armor as one of the guards for Princess Cadance when they first went to the Crystal Empire. Sombra’s voice.

“Sombra! How the Tartarus are you still alive?” It was suddenly apparent to Flash how much bigger the apparition was than him.

“Well, to be honest, that little smack I got with the Crystal Heart? I needed that. I’d been a little… sleepy. In and out, so to speak. I took a nap 5 years before that and I hadn’t quite woken up when the Crystal Empire showed up again. I may have miscalculated its time of return slightly. It’s quite difficult to get less than a .1% error on this sort of thing.”

“You’re… under arrest!” Flash wasn’t really sure what to do here. While he had no doubt that Sombra wouldn’t try to destroy the Tree of Harmony, this was all going wrong. Sweat began to collect on his fur as the apparition began to walk forwards.

“Oh, really? Is that any way… to… treat… your… King?” Flash’s hoof shot for the rune that would trigger a level 3 alert, informing the Princesses. It didn’t quite make it, held in place by a green, purple, and black aura. “No… you will bow before your King now.”

“Hold it right there! You know, death is nature’s way of saying you’re not wanted.” Discord was suddenly beside him, wearing some sort of police uniform and twirling a baton. “And you’re not wanted anywhere, Sombra.” Discord’s glare was far more intense than the mostly jovial Lord of Chaos normally projected. Even Sombra was forced to pause for a moment. But only a moment.

“Ah, Will of the Planet Discord. I was wondering when you’d show up. As the only Will with a physical vessel to go around ruining my plans, you were one of the first obstacles I prepared myself to face.”

“How do you even know what those are?” Discord’s intensity had vanished, replaced by confusion. This isn’t going along with the script.

“What do you think I was doing five years ago? I’ve been learning, preparing. The Crystal Empire was personal, but this is business. This is it. The last step. Now, I’ve found your weakness. The perfect hook to snare you with. You’ve compromised yourself.”

“Discord!”

No…

Discord turned to the source of the sound. He could tell, even without looking, what he would see. What he absolutely did not want to see. But he had to look.

Fluttershy stood there, black energy roiling off her. She was significantly taller than he remembered, and wore dark purple armor festooned with red fangs and trimmed with white fur. Her eyes were like terrible beacons into a Nightmare, roiling green and purple.

Her eyes…

Her stare…

Her Stare…

He couldn’t look away. He knew he had to, but he couldn’t muster the will to do it. It was getting harder and harder to remember why he needed to.

“It seems Discord will not be saving you after all.” Sombra marched forward, filling Flash’s vision. His aura lifted a purple orb from beneath his cloak, then pressed it against the paralyzed Pegasus.

The orb popped like a soap bubble, transforming into mist that rapidly enveloped the pony. Sombra began to march by as the sphere of darkness lifted the hapless pony into the air, crackling with energy. He would acknowledge the King’s rule soon.

This whole world will acknowledge my rule. Sombra pressed a “hoof” of jagged crystal shards against the Tree. Lines of purple, black, and green began to radiate from the point of contact.

Behind him, a taller, darker, and darker-armored Flash Sentry alighted on the ground.

My slaves this time are far better than they were in the past. They are more loyal, and they possess the power of an Alicorn. The Alicorn Amulet was a crude prototype for these transformations. I should thank Luna for these once I am done. I’ll make a stained glass window with the look on her face to commemorate it.

Flash Sentry here will help finalize the distraction. Twilight Sparkle… trusts him. Trust, friendship, love. All weaknesses. All things I can exploit.

Twilight hurt too much to be nauseous. Ponyville was spinning beneath her as she rode the wave of energy into the air. Her Earth Pony and Alicorn magic had kept her alive despite the tremendous energy she’d absorbed, but her fur was on fire at the edge of her sides.

She teleported a few feet to the left and conjured moisture to extinguish her burning fur. An experimental flap indicated her wings still worked, and she begun to stabilize her spin.

That was a surprise. It shouldn’t be possible for a unicorn to do that. You’d have to either turn your head to move the aim point, slew the beam with your magic, or start a new spell. Beam steering like that can’t be done with such speed.

Maybe it’s a thing only Changelings can do? I never saw one in Canterlot do it, but maybe only Queens can. Is that why Celestia never tried to teleport around Chrysalis’s attacks?

In any case, there’s one weakness it has. The attack still comes straight out of the horn, so if I put her body between me and her, she still has to move to fire.

Twilight fired off a small scanning spell. OK, she hasn’t moved much. She’s turned around to look at the steam. Twilight focused and took a deep breath. I can do this. I only get one shot, so I have to make it count. Orient… teleport.

She vanished, appearing behind Mir. As the Reyvateil-pony turned to face her foe, Twilight charged and fired a spell. Mir braced herself for the impact, but it wasn’t an attempt to blast her. The glow suffused her form in a fraction of a second. Mir shrank and folded in on herself, transformed into an orange.

“Come on.” Croix tottered on three legs as he turned to face his next threat. The orange Earth Pony seemed to be the only conscious foe on this side of the slowly-dissipating wall of steam.

Unfortunately he couldn’t fly after dislocating his wing clotheslining Rainbow, and the lasso could be used to force him to engage at close range. The orange pony adjusted the lasso in her mouth to allow herself to talk without releasing it.

“Hold it right there, varmit. We’re gonna hang onto ya while we sort all this mess out. Stick around and step away from Rainbow there.”

“Sort all this mess out, you say? Is that before or after you execute my wife?”

“We ain’t executing nopony!” Applejack had an eyebrow raised in confusion.

“No ‘pony’ you say?” Croix’s mirthless expression intensified as his eyes narrowed. “Well your boss was doing a good job of making it look like she was trying to kill my wife. She certainly had me fooled.”

“We’re not executing anybody. Honest. And even if we were, does that justify you trying to blow us all to bits?”

“Yes it does. And even if I believe you, I don’t for a minute trust your boss.”

“Twi may be…” Croix could sense a little hesitation. The rope slackened slightly, but didn’t let go enough for him to make a move yet. “... ah little antsy, but she’s a fine pony.”

“Who just tried to execute my wife.”

“Tha changeling revealer spell’s harmless.” Applejack tapped one of her forehooves to her chest. Still not enough, she’s getting most of her stability from the back legs. “I had it cast on myself, and Ah’m fine.”

“Maybe to ponies, but as I tried to get through to you, my wife is a Beta Reyvateil. It was going to disintegrate her.”

“Ah don’t deny that this whole thing is a heap of a mess, but we can sort this out. When Spike gets back, we’ll send a letter to Princess Celestia and she’ll sort it all out.”

Croix narrowed his eyes.“That this Princess’s boss?”

“Well, Celestia wouldn’t claim that, but yes. Twi would defer to her on almost anything.”

Croix looked at the rope. “I’ll pass. I’ve fought in more than my share of revolutions against corrupt governments, I don’t really want to place myself in the hands of an authority figure I know nothing about.”

Applejack blinked. “Hands?”

Croix stopped himself from rolling his eyes. “Hooves. Mouth. Whatever. The point is that me and my wife are both leaving under our own power.”

Applejack looked up, at the lack of roof. “Ah think it’s too late for that to be an option.”

“I suppose so.” While Applejack had looked away from him, Croix had taken a step forward as quietly as he could, making the rope go slack.

“What tha–” Applejack looked down to see him closer to her, and Croix lept forward. The farmer tried to backpedal, but Croix landed on all fours in front of her. She dropped the lasso.

“Ha! Got you.” Twilight advanced on the orange that had formerly been her adversary. While a Changeling could theoretically break out of the transformation by shapeshifting, they had no source of magic power as an orange.

Maintain form. Mir, however, had her connection to Ar Tonelico, and, just as important, a D-Cellophane constantly stabilizing her form.

As Twilight levitated the orange over to herself, the orange suddenly erupted back into being Mir. She maintained the orange’s velocity vector towards Twilight, and spread her forelegs forward for a tackle. “Rrraargh!”

Mir smacked into Twilight, punching her in the chin with her right hoof while hooking her left foreleg around the back of Twilight’s neck. She then headbutted the Alicorn, slamming her forehead and the base of her horn against Twilight’s jaw.

Twilight wasn’t stunned by either hit to the jaw, and her horn lit up with a teleportation spell. A piece of broken wood, covered in a red aura, smacked against her horn, disabusing that notion. Twilight smacked Mir’s horn with her forehoof, but rather than winking out, the red aura surrounding it and the wood merely faded and flickered.(2) Tha...that can’t happen! What is this thing?

Mir attempted to kick Twilight in the gut with her back legs, but instead collided with Twilight’s attempt to do the same thing to her. They continued to flail at each other as the force of their scuffle flung them onto a table, with Mir on top. The wood chunk gripped in Mir’s aura kept smacking Twilight in the horn.

Close combat with Applejack hadn’t really worked as well as Croix had wanted. Although it prevented her from using the lasso to control his movement, it lead to one inescapable problem: Applejack was stronger than he was. As his opponent pivoted for another buck with her hind legs, Croix adjusted his legs to take the impact of both her hooves.

Croix slid backwards with the force of the kick, paint flecks flying from the armor at the impact zone. Applejack hadn’t yet landed a hit on his unarmored head, but if she did it was all over.

He kicked out with a foreleg, trying to nail his opponent in her side as she turned to face him, but she rotated under the blow and it merely scraped along her side. The motion brought them side to side, and Applejack wrapped a foreleg around him.

Croix rolled over, throwing Applejack into a bookshelf. He’d reopened the range somewhat, and that could give him time to think. Without armor, one good blow could drop his opponent, but he’d need to find a way to land one without taking a punishing blow in return.

Her most dangerous form of attack requires her to turn her back to me. That’s the weakness. I’d have to close the range, though. He pawed the ground and snorted at his opponent, then rushed forward. Applejack dashed forward as well, then executed a leaping kick towards Croix’s path.

He barely managed to dodge the kick, rolling to his right and then stepping back and to the left to place himself in front of her again. I need her to spin all the way around. Wait for the perfect moment.

Applejack began to whirl for another buck, Croix leaped back and grabbed his lance with his mouth. He had no time to attach it properly, but plenty of time to toss it. The heavy metal weapon landed on Applejack’s back while she had her hind hooves in the air, causing her to topple to the ground.

Before she could get back up, Croix landed a flying kick to the back of her head.

In the center of the room, the steam finished dissipating.

Twilight kicked Mir in the stomach with her hindhooves, shoving the Reyvateil away. Unfortunately for her, Mir’s grip on the back of her neck held and she was pulled along with Mir off the table, crashing to the floor next to it.

The wooden chunk smacked Twilight in the horn again. She rolled away from Mir, finally releasing herself from the hold on her neck, and ending up behind her. Twilight tried to stand up.

Mir got to her feet first. As Twilight was still getting off the ground, Mir bucked her in the nose, flipping her onto her back and finally staggering her briefly.

“Briefly” was all Mir needed. She turned, jumped up, and slammed both forehooves into the side of the Princess’s head, driving it through the wooden floor. She backed off slightly, preparing a counterattack, but the Princess wasn’t moving.

She’s out cold. Still breathing though. A blood-red wedge of force flickered into existence next to Mir. Goddesses I’m sick of dealing with her. She’s powerful and completely nuts. Maybe I should finish her off. The wedge of force moved its pointiest end towards Twilight’s neck.

Mir closed her eyes. She couldn’t hear anyone else fighting, so she had a moment to think of what to do. I’ve always been fond of permanent solutions, but I’m not even sure what problem I’m solving here. Obviously I’d prevent Twilight from coming after me, but the book I read said Luna is a friend of hers. I can’t antagonize Luna needlessly, we seem to be getting along pretty well.

Also, it’d probably make Sweetie Belle upset if I slew one of her sister’s friends. Her horn winked out, banishing her magical wedge. Mir took a deep breath and opened her eyes. “You get to live. Don’t make me regret it.”

“Good. I’m proud of you.” Mir startled, but the sound of Croix’s voice was music to her ears.

“Croix! Glad to see you’re OK.”

“Glad to see you haven’t killed anybody.” Croix was wearing his most sarcastic grin.

“Ugh. I’m better than that now.” Mir couldn’t help but smile. Winning a battle with the help of your lover, was there anything better?

But then the glow faded. She’d still gotten in a fight with a Princess and her Royal Guards. A look up confirmed that the top floor of the library was entirely gone. That had to have attracted some attention. And she still had no idea what the hell was going on.

“We should leave. Quickly.” Mir sang a quick healing song, stabilizing the condition of the defeated ponies in the area. A second pulse of the song sent Croix’s wing back into alignment with an audible “Pop” and also restored the dents in his armor that Applejack had made.

Croix grabbed the saddlebags Mir had dropped during her altercation, and tossed them to her. Mir caught the bags with her magic, and swiftly strapped them back down.

He strapped the lance to his foreleg and took to the air. He had to presume that the town was now hostile, and that they could be attacked by any number of guardsponies.

Mir trotted up to him, and he extended a leg around her middle, then shot through the open top of the library.

From above, he could seen ponies surrounding the library from a safe distance, almost entirely on the ground. None of the Pegasi in the air were wearing armor, so he didn’t think they were guards.

He took off for the nearest patch of treeline.

Thirty minutes of flying later, he set Mir down at the edge of a clearing in the woods. The clearing was tiny, having little more than rocks and a pond a few pony-lengths across in it. Tracks in the mud at the edge of the pond indicated animals had been drinking from it, but none were here now.

Mir had been quiet the entire flight, which worried Croix. “Are you alright, dear?”

“No. It doesn’t make any sense what they said. The flower reacted as if I’d lied when I made a perfectly true statement. I’m honestly confused by the whole thing.” Maybe Twilight was making an elaborate coup against Luna, and this was some kind of excuse? No, that doesn’t seem right. Twilight may be violent and impulsive, but if she wanted more governmental power she wouldn’t live in a library. Well, have lived now. We did a number on that place.

She levitated the encyclopedia up and began to read through the entries she hadn’t gotten to yet. Huh, so that’s a changeling. I wish I hadn’t decided to read the dumb thing back to front, I might have known a little better. She flipped the page, coming face to face with “Portrait of Princess Celestia as a Young Alicorn” at the back of the entry on Celestia. And… Oh.

Celestia. Twilight. Sunset Shimmer. It’s all so clear now. Why couldn’t I have remembered this stuff earlier?

“Croix!” Mir turned, then threw the encyclopedia to the grass at her feet. “Look at this.”

“It’s… another princess. Pink, white, and gold.”

“And it’s proof that we’re in a Binary Field program.” Mir’s voice quavered. All that time with Sweetie Belle. All a lie.

“Huh?” Croix looked up to his wife. “What do you mean?”

“Rrr.” Mir glared at him, intensity set to minimum. “You remember when I told you about the history of Sol Ciel, right? And the Tower of Ar Tonelico’s construction?”

“Yeah. There was Sunset Shimmer, the Mother of Sound Science, Twilight Sparkle, her Assistant-in-Chief, and…” he paused for a moment. “...President Celestia Togasaki, Sunset’s patron, mentor, and sponsor.”

“Or in this case, Princess Celestia.” Mir stomped on the picture. “Remember that Binary Field program we invaded a year ago? The one with the vampires?”

“Yeah. It was some thing where high school girls who are secretly vampires compete to date a girl. Shurelia was playing it, and you loaded a bunch of subprograms from the Vampire Hunter Bloodsplosion game and we made her break down from panic.”

A predatory smile briefly surfaced on Mir’s face, before being pushed under again by her disappointment. “Yeah. Remember the names of those girls.”

“Oh, shoot. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity Belle, and Fluttershy.”

“And who have we met recently?”

“Dang. So there’s a Binary Field program where all Sunset Shimmer’s high school friends are vampires, and another one where they’re magical ponies?”(3)

“Yes.” Mir’s head drooped all the way down, glaring at the picture. “I didn’t make the connection until I saw Celestia. Ancient history like that isn’t exactly foremost in my mind. I suppose I should have made the connection when Twilight Sparkle started going on about Sunset Shimmer, but I was too flustered to do so.”

Mir reached out with her awareness to try to influence the Binary Field. She still couldn’t even perceive it around her, however. There was no question of this being real anymore in her mind, so that just meant Shurelia had done something to hide it from her. Shurelia…

“Also, I’m convinced that Shurelia is in here with us, laughing it up.”

“Well, she did say she’d get you back for the Vampire Hunter thing.”

“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure I know where she is. She’s always got to be the authority figure, the most important. Next, what colors is she?”

“Uh, white hair and suit, gold metal bits, pink skin?”

“Now, look at Princess Celestia.”

“White fur, gold metal bits, pink hair.”

“We’re going to go beat the tar out of her for putting us through this. Hmm, says she rules from ‘Canterlot Castle’ which is...” She looked up at a mountain to the northwest, and could see the golden tops of several towering spires. Mir grinned. “...there. Now, hang on tight. I want to try something. I’ll take advantage of the magical pony program all I can, it’s kind of fun.”

“Huh?” Croix knew better than to disobey a safety instruction from his wife. She was going to do something crazy.

“Self-teleportation!” Mir’s horn began to glow red. The glow expanded into a brilliant corona that spread over them. And they vanished.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay on this, January was kind of a mess.

(1) I figured that it was unlikely ponies would be willing to go through the various unreliable stages of grenade development if they had to throw them with their mouths. A Unicorn COULD throw one more safely than a human, but a martially-inclined Unicorn could use combat magic instead.

(2) Mir's operating on the Reyvateil Burst Gauge mechanic rather than the Unicorn interruption mechanics. The fact that a Reyvateil's magic works somewhat differently than a Unicorn's is going to come up a lot.

(3) This idea is vaguely based on the Shinsengumi, who have an absolute ton of variably-historically-accurate portrayals in Japanese fiction. Sunset Shimmer, as the Mother of Sound Science, is damn famous. Her early life was subject to considerable research towards the end of her life.

Phase 2: Escalation, Part 4

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Some ponies would be surprised that the hedge maze of the Canterlot Royal Palace wasn’t patrolled by guards, but there were several good reasons for this.

The first is that inside the hedge maze, you couldn’t see very far. A guard inside would be almost useless.

The second was that getting to the hedge maze would require you to either bypass all the security of the surrounding areas, or the teleportation diversion field around the castle.

Ordinarily, the teleportation diversion field would first teleport the caster if they weren’t teleporting themselves along. Second, it would reset the destination for the dungeon. Third, it would divert all weapons to the Royal Guard evidence locker established for this purpose, and any explosives to a gorge in the badlands. Finally, it would place inhibitor bands on any horns present.

Mir’s teleport was aimed more or less right over the hedge maze. The diversion field attempted to obey its dictates in order. The first step would be to bring the caster along for the ride. Unfortunately, pony magical theorists tended to assume only Unicorns (or Alicorns using their Unicorn magic) could teleport. Thus, “caster” was formally defined as “the amplifier (read: horn) and everything attached to it.”

The amplifier in this case was the Tower of Ar Tonelico, and “everything attached to it” was the entire planet of Ar Ciel. Fortunately, the spell was unable to budge that mass at all.

Unfortunately, trying had overloaded the spell, causing all of the decorative inlay that was secretly its anchor to explode in showers of sparks throughout the outside of the castle.

Even more unfortunately, it never got around to doing any of the remaining parts of the spell. Thus, Mir and Croix popped back into the material world right over the hedge maze with all of their weapons and absolutely no inhibitor bands.

Mir did a fast front flip to stabilize herself, then landed with her front hooves together, followed by her back hooves.

Croix flapped once to kill his momentum right before landing. “OK, now what?”

“Now we…” A sudden glow to her right startled Mir from her plotting. As the two turned to face it, the glow coalesced into a shining yellow orb.

“Greetings, Sunset Shimmer. I am so glad that you have returned. Please make your way to the throne room, I wish to speak with you.” The voice was female, and sounded vaguely motherly to Mir, and a tiny bit like Shurelia, but mostly in that it sounded to her like someone with a great deal of life experience. Then it hit her. That was President Togasaki’s voice! She’d heard it in recordings.

“Huh, the program thinks I’m Sunset Shimmer? Then how could she be dead? Or maybe she’s undead and this is the vampire thing again.” Mir’s face had twisted into a scowl as she tried to process the insanity going on around her. Shurelia was going to pay.

“As you were my student, I will make one of the secret passages available to you so that we can be reintroduced.”

Mir grinned. This could be a trap, but she felt ready for anything. “Follow the orb.”

Celestia let out a weary sigh as she levitated the immense grip of documents before her. From in front she’d be entirely blotted out by over fifty sheets of paper or scrolls held in her yellow aura. Day Court’s morning session wouldn’t begin for a little while, and she had decided to catch up on her responsibilities to the School for Gifted Unicorns. If she was honest with herself, she preferred administering an educational institution to ruling a nation. If she felt she wasn’t needed, she’d gladly make a figurehead of herself and run the School full-time.

Sometimes a Pegasus or Earth Pony would ask why she didn’t administer the schools for those gifted in their particular magics. The answer was always the same: because Earth Pony and Pegasus magic couldn’t get out of hand on its own to the degree that she’d need to step in personally. After Twilight Sparkle’s entrance exam, the explanation wasn’t needed as often. Still, there was always something odd. Unicorns seemed to attract far more trouble than the other pony kinds.

“Really? Attempted suicide?” Celestia parted the wall of paper to gaze down at the pony at the foot of the throne. Dean Wellwisher had been Dean of Students for the School for almost two decades now. The brown Unicorn possessed a gray mane and a cutie mark of a shooting star. Celestia recalled that his special talent was a spell that granted small wishes. Nothing more substantial than candy usually, but quite impressive in its complexity.

“Yes, your majesty. Starlight Glimmer had been behaving oddly for quite some time now. She’d refused to give any information on her project to her advisor for almost two weeks. We’d been about to confront her a week ago, ask her if she was taking her studies seriously, but she was gone.

“Three days ago she was found at the outpost North of the Everfree Forest wandering in a confused state. The guards put her on a train to Canterlot and one of them escorted her back to our custody. She seemed better, so the dorm’s RA let her go back to her room.

“She didn’t leave until this morning. The RA entered the room to find her passed out on her bed, and was unable to wake her. We rushed her to the School medical facility, where the doctor detected traces of Somniarch in her system. Her condition is stable, but we’re unable to get any response out of her.”

“Somniarch?” Celestia could vaguely remember that term.

“It’s a powerful sedative. Sometimes a patient must be placed into a coma due to brain injuries, and it’s generally used to start the process. We… don’t know how much she took, or where she got it. It’s theoretically possible she simply conjured it into herself.”

Celestia closed her eyes to think. Suicide was quite rare in Equestria, and had become even rarer since Luna’s return to dreamwalking. She opened her eyes again. “Do you know why she might have done any of this?”

“Well, not really. There was a letter, but it’s encrypted.”

“Encrypted?” Celestia’s eyebrow raised. That was an unusual attribute for a letter.

“It was enclosed in two envelopes. The outermost one was addressed to you, actually. Inside it was a second envelope marked only ‘for them.’ Within that was a letter covered with letters and numbers in a meaningless jumble, but it seems quite likely to be some sort of code.”

Celestia closed her eyes once again. I wish I had more time to devote to my students. I wish I could devolve some of my responsibilities to Twilight, but since that nasty business with the Changelings and her brother, her own insecurities have been consuming her. And now we have another promising young mare I’ve been unable to help, it seems. “I’ll take this letter, the codebreakers are idle until we can find any evidence of Changeling communication.”

“Really? Devoting Guard resources to help some mental case?”

Celestia turned her head to the right, looking directly at her new Captain of the Royal Guard with a glare that could slay dragons. The tall mare had a dark gray coat and a striking red mane and tail, with a cutie mark of a red arrow smashing through a blue shield. Unlike most unicorns she possessed no stripe in her mane or tail, and unlike most Royal Guards she disdained armor, wearing only an enchanted manticore-leather bandoleer for her darts.

Under her glare, Red Cell flinched almost imperceptibly, then took a breath to center herself. “I apologize, your majesty. I did not mean to denigrate one of the students of your… School. I merely wish to conserve resources to focus on the Changeling threat.”

Celestia softened her glare slightly. Before becoming a Royal Guard, Red Cell had served in the EUP’s North district, fighting monsters threatening Chicoltgo, Detrot, and other cities and towns. She’d thought of everything in the calculus of lives sacrificed and saved. Sometimes the hardened warrior beneath slipped out from under her new mask. “Remember that the Guard is a policing force. I see no harm in providing a task to resources which are otherwise idle. If we find something Changeling for them to work on, I shall de-prioritize my request.”

Red Cell gave a curt bow. “Your majesty’s will be done.”

Celestia levitated a form and a quill to herself, then began to write. “See to it that this is carried out promptly.” The completed form hovered over to Red Cell.

“Yes ma’am.” The yellow aura was exchanged for a red one, and after giving it a quick review, Red Cell folded it and passed it to a Unicorn guard, who took it and exited the throne room.

“Now, we…” Celestia’s words were interrupted as a guard rushed in.

“Your majesty! Something has taken out the teleportation wards for the castle!”

“WHAT!??!” Red Cell had rushed between the throne and the guard. “Give me a detailed report!” She turned to a nearby guard. “You! Go and sound the alarm!”

“Just now the matrix was shattered due to an overload. We’ve sent teams to search the grounds.”

Celestia alighted beside Red Cell. “How could this have happened? In order to overload the matrix, it would require the unauthorized teleport of thousands of ponies worth of mass. Surely an army that size can’t hide in the palace grounds?” What could even teleport that much mass in one go. Discord might be able to, but I doubt it. His abilities were focused on illusions and mental control. Tirek? No, I would be able to sense him if he was that powerful. The Smooze? Not much of a teleporter. There’s no way I couldn’t recognize a Nether Horror within the radius of the wards. What could…

At that moment, a glowing ball emerged from the stone side wall of the throne room. Red Cell turned to it and lit her horn with a snarl, but Celestia forestalled her with an outstretched hoof. “That is one of my notification spells. It tells me that the secret passage there is being used by somepony I invited.”

The ball chimed once. “Sunset Shimmer is here.”

Red Cell’s horn ceased to glow, but her grim expression remained. She pushed the upraised hoof out of her face and took a step forward. “Your majesty, with all due respect, this could be a Changeling plot.”

Celestia raised her right wing, completely blocking the orb from Red Cell’s sight. “I very much doubt that. Queen Chrysalis was unable to disguise the resonance signature of her horn, if I had paid more attention to the color of her aura we could have been spared the invasion. My spellwork, however, very precisely identifies all those I wish to allow into the castle’s secret passages. Now, my little ponies, let’s get ready to greet our guest.”

Red Cell groaned. When Celestia says “my little ponies” it means she isn’t going to take the arguments of her “lessers’” seriously.

Red Cell stood at attention at the foot of the throne, slightly off to the side. Celestia returned to her seat with a few flaps backwards, then adopted an expression of studious boredom.

There was a click, and a sliding sound as the wall opened where the orb had appeared.

Croix flapped into the room, hovering so that he wouldn’t have to try to walk on three legs with the lance strapped to his foreleg. The black and red unicorn at the base of the throne looked extremely alarmed and opened her mouth to say something, then closed it with a seething glare. Up above was a very large white “Alicorn” sitting on a throne. That sure does look like Shurelia’s style of avatar. Except for the size.

Mir followed him into the room at a trot, keeping up with his languid hover but moving with a fierce energy. If she weighed more, her hooves might have cracked the marble where they landed.

“You’re… not Sunset Shimmer.” Celestia’s expression had turned to abject confusion. How could this be? Did they somehow modify the spell?

“Shut up about Sunset Shimmer you old hag!” Mir punctuated her sentence with a stomp as she began to move towards the throne.

“Ca… can I help you, my little pony?” Celestia’s mind had blanked out, and she went with her default petitioner-handling voice.

“Of course, Shurelia.”

“Shur–” Celestia tried to place the name, but it sounded entirely unfamiliar. Why is she calling me that?

“Hold still!” Mir lept from the base of the throne to the top, sending a flying power-slap directly onto Celestia’s muzzle.

As everypony in the room stared, flecks of spittle flew from the surprised Princess’s mouth as her head wrenched sideways.

Mir landed at her feet, glaring up at the larger pony. “I’ve had it with you messing with me, Shurelia! You’re going to get it now!”

“Shurelia?” Celestia was still too confused to muster any counterattack or defense.

Oh. Oh no. If she’s not Shurelia… then… maybe the reason I can’t sense the Binary Field… is that this is real. This is all, somehow, real. And I just assaulted a second Princess. Mir's expression shifted from anger, to confusion, to an awkward attempt at guilelessness. “I suppose you wouldn’t believe me if I said that I was the ambassador from the Sol Ciel region of Ar Ciel, would you?”

Celestia glared down at her. Mir leaped backwards, doing a flip over Croix and landing behind him.

At that moment, the first of the additional guards that Red Cell had called for entered via the side passage behind her. “Assassins! Seize them!”

Mir began to sing.

Interlude: Sunset Shimmer 1

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Near the rear of Canterlot High stood the utilities building. It formed the base of a horseshoe-shape, with the sides formed by the dumpsters and the activity bus. The bus was usually parked in such a way as to obscure the wall-mounted camera, so it was a popular spot for the “bad” kids to sneak a smoke.

Sunset Shimmer didn’t smoke. She had come here to be away from everyone else.

It’s all over. The journal blew up in my face. It means that despite what Twilight said, Celestia really has cut ties with me. The portal won’t open for another 26 moons. By then the Dazzlings will have taken over the school. They’ll make my friends hate me again. I’ll lose everything. I’ll be really alone, again. I can’t take it again! I wish I could do something. I wish someone would have some good news. I wish my life wasn’t such a mess!

She leaned back against the wall of the utility building and slid to the ground, her face buried in her hands, the sound of the HVAC fans obscuring her sobs. The same fan sounds obscured the footsteps approaching her.

“Sunset Shimmer?”

She looked up into one of the last faces she wanted to see: Principal Celestia. Various expressions tried themselves on for fit on her face: anger, fear, sadness. Sunset settled for confusion as she stood up. Did the Dazzlings send her here? She’s under their control now. Maybe they’re going to lock me up somewhere? Tartarus, I’m not going to do anyone any good anyway. I might as well rip the bandaid off right now. Sunset stood up, fists balled, and glared directly at the taller woman. “What do you want?”

Celestia flinched back slightly, then smiled down at her student. “Ah, you must think I’m still mind controlled.”

“What.” Sunset stared into the principal’s eyes. Her mentor had taught her to see the signs of mind control there, and she’d seen them earlier when she asked that the Battle of the Bands be called off. Now there were the same friendly eyes she normally saw. The same eyes as Princess… No! Stop thinking about that! She sniffed a bit, and rubbed at the dampness around her eyes.

“Sunset, I have to tell you something. I’ve been aware of your true nature ever since the Fall Formal.”

Buhwhaa? Sunset’s face had shifted to a mixture of confused and annoyed. “I… I’m surprised you can believe I’m a magical being from another world.”

Celestia smiled, a big honest smile Sunset had seen her mentor use when revealing a grand jest. “Well, it’s hardly fair for me to not believe you, being a magical being from another world myself.”

What. What. What. “What?!?!?!?! You’re from Equestria? Are you some kind of mirror duplicate?”

The principal’s smile softened and she shook her head. “No. Are you familiar with the Teru Tribe?”

Sunset had to stop and think for a moment. History and geography are the only subjects I couldn’t coast on from what I already knew from Equestria. The Teru… “They’re a, uh, minority population that largely keep to themselves and revere nature or something. They have their own country called Justine across the sea. Some people say they have horns and tails.”

Celestia bent her knees and leaned in. “Please, place your hands on the top of my head.”

Sunset hesitantly reached up, and cupped the sides of Celestia’s head with her palms. She felt something poking her on each side, underneath all the hair. “You… really do have horns?”

Celestia reached out to gently brush away Sunset’s forearms, then stood again. “Yes, and also a small tail, although I’m not going to ask you to feel that.”

Sunset snickered. It almost reminded her of happier times, when she sat at the hooves of… No don’t think about that. She hates you now. You’ll just make yourself sad.

“As for the question of how I broke the mind control, it was quite simple: the same reason you and your friends are not under their control yet.”

“Right, magic protecting us. Then why were you mind controlled earlier?”

Celestia smiled sadly. “Because I’m not as strong as you all.” The smile brightened. “Not on my own, at least.” She reached out her left arm above her, holding out her upper arm horizontally. A red blur shot from the top of the activity bus, and landed on the outstretched arm.

“A dragon?” Sunset stared wide-eyed at the odd creature. It was small and slender, but obviously reptilian, and it had wings stretching from its back. Its colors reminded her of… “Philomena?”

Celestia beamed as the little dragon scampered up her arm onto her shoulder. “Yes. Ordinarily I’d ask how you knew, but I already know the answer.” With her other arm, she retrieved an object from the pocket of her jacket.

“My diary.” Sunset looked at it. The pages seemed sooty towards the center, but it looked otherwise intact. Huh, when it went off like that in the middle of writing to Celestia I thought she’d somehow blown it up.

“I’m sorry, I took the liberty of looking through it. When I heard the bang, I thought Snips and Snails were doing another ‘chemistry experiment’ and daring me to expel them. But what I read was very, very interesting."

Sunset shrugged. “It must seem even more unbelievable, that many of the people we know have counterparts on the other side of a magic mirror portal.”

Celestia shook her head. “I have my own theory on why such counterparts might exist, but if there’s a pony princess version of me, I feel safe to say that she still cares for you. You were once a great student, and a great person, and a little humility seems to have returned you to that position. I’m sure if she could see you now she would be happy to know you’ve made friends and were trying to improve yourself in ways you never thought of before. The book is merely malfunctioning.”

“Thank you.” Sunset’s smile was almost too wide for her face. For the first time in what felt like decades, she was smiling from the bottom of her heart. It didn’t last. “But… that’s all for nothing if the Dazzlings control the school.”

“The Dazzlings.” Celestia’s visage darkened. “I’d prefer to call them Sirens. Their voices will lead not merely our school, but possibly the world itself to doom.”

“The… world itself?” Sunset blanched as the cold sting of realization hit her. The Sol Ciel and Sol Cluster alliances have hated each other for centuries. The current peace is unstable and fragile, predicated on the theory that each side loves living more than it hates the other. If their magic creates negative emotions, it could… “Can’t you just call off the Battle of the Bands?”

Celestia looked down. “It’s not that simple. Vice-principal Luna is a Teru like myself, but from a different lineage.”

“Isn’t she your sister? I heard you call each other that a few times.”

The principal laughed sharply. “No, no. She’s my sorority sister. We’re just very close. But let me continue. Her lineage does not bond with familiars, so she does not have enough power to break the enchantment upon her. If I try to oppose them directly, they may harm her.”

“Of course they would.” Sunset glared at the ground. “So what do you expect me to do about it? I can’t use any magic myself, and I’m not sure my friends can do enough without Twilight, who we can’t contact.”

“My… counterpart had apparently spent quite a long time training you in the art of magic. The Teru have little information about their magic, other than a few things that were written long ago and kept secret. So secret, in fact, that we can no longer read them. I think, however, that you may be able to decode them. If there is some way to use what magic exists in this world to stop the Dazzlings, I believe you will find it. This is my fervent wish.”

Sunset smiled. Just like old times. “I’ll do it.”

Phase 2: Escalation, Part 5

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“You got a monster-defeating cutie mark? That’s so radical!” The other two Cutie Mark Crusaders had been awoken early before school by Sweetie, and they had gathered at their clubhouse to discuss the mark before the day’s classes. Scootaloo was very interested in the mark itself, while the more cerebral Apple Bloom had taken interest in the book Sweetie had learned from in her quest.

“A… Technical History of Ahr Ciel?” Appleboom flipped through the book. “Ah can barely read this at all. But… it’s interesting. These crystal diagrams remind me of Pinkie’s sister’s presentation on rock farming a bit. Ah’ll bet that ah could build this thing here.”

Sweetie Belle turned to see what her friend was pointing to. “Love… Seed? Sounds like the kind of book Rarity shoos me away from. It looks like a big ‘ol hunk of crystal and metal.”

Apple Bloom nodded. “But… it’s a seed. The Apple Family’s always been good with seeds and plants, even if they ain’t apples. Ah’ll bet you could make a smaller one, and grow it into a bigger one.” She grabbed a pencil with her mouth, flicked a sheet of paper off a stack with her hooves, and began to diagram out the process.

“But… but…” Sweetie Belle looked at the diagram. “Where will you get the crystal for it? And those metals? They look really expensive.”

“Filthy Rich promised to do a favor for me after that incident with his daughter.” The fact that Apple Bloom wasn’t referring to Diamond Tiara by name indicated that wound was still raw. Sweetie wouldn’t press it.

“If… you think he’ll help you, that’d be great. I got my cutie mark with a little help from this book, although mostly with Mir’s help.”

“Mir?” Scootaloo looked at her in confusion.

“She’s a pony from a long way away who’s staying with my sister. She’s strange, but she fought that monster for me, and she helped me get my cutie mark. She’s as good as family in my book.”

“That’s pretty cool alright. I wonder if she could help me get my cutie mark.”

Sweetie Belle tapped her chin in thought. “Maybe. She knew some pretty crazy martial arts moves.” Sweetie’s expression turned a little sheepish. “I, uh, only had my eyes open a little, but I saw her block bolts of magic with her bare forelegs.”

Scootaloo leaned into Sweetie’s face, a massive grin forming. “Wicked.”

“Huh, Ah think there’s somethin like that in the book.” All eyes turned to Applebloom. There was a diagram of two-legged figures, and they appeared to be blocking some kind of beam attacks.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I really, really wish I could read that.” Scootaloo glared down at the pages. The secrets were right there.

“Ah think it says you need a Reyva… Revytail…. Singer to provide something called ‘Harmonics’ that ya manipulate to somehow cancel out the enemy attacks. They use the word ‘waveform’ a lot.”

That was about the point where Mir’s duel with Twilight blew up the library, giving Ponyville it’s 29th school-closing emergency of the year.

In theory, Croix had faced worse odds. In practice, this was probably the stickiest situation he’d ever been in. Having a second blocking axis from a second Reyvateil-Vanguard pair really, really helped deal with crowds, and there were at least thirty ponies surrounding them.

“Surrounded” wasn’t really a word he wanted to deal with, it was pretty hard to deal with attacks from a full 180° arc, and with 360° coverage they could potentially overwhelm him like this. Reyvateils would usually start their song from a position where they could only be attacked from one side, or as far away from the enemy as they could manage, but this was a pretty bad scenario.

The guards that surrounded him were mostly pegasi, armed with blades in their wings and claws on their forehooves. He’d probably have to block multiple hits per pony, making things even more difficult. If they generated attacks faster than he could generate blocks, it’d be all over no matter how good his timing was.

“Envelop them!” The Pegasus with the fanciest crest shouted an order, and they took to the air, attempting to surround them in three dimensions.

Croix couldn’t do something about it, but Mir could. OK, I’ve distorted space before. Doesn’t take much… there we go! The ball of green energy hovering over her flared.

The room seemed to tilt wildly. Celestia’s wings snapped open in surprise, and Red Cell beside her intensified the harshness of her glare. When the pegasi shook their heads and recovered, they found themselves clumped up above and behind the throne, while Mir and Croix had repositioned near the exit from the throne room. (1)

Too bad we can’t go further. At least they can’t come at us from more than a 180° arc without opening that door behind me. Mir melted the locks inside the doors. Now once we get to them, we can bash them open and leg it. Unfortunately, it’s quite difficult to put oneself into an intense emotional state one just left, so the song she’d just used was closed off for a bit. Yeah, that one. A new song began; a humanoid form appeared over her, wrapped in the fetal position in a sphere of crackling purple lightning and dark energy.

Good choice, Mir! Croix glared at the pegasi at the other end of the room. “Come and get us!” He waved the forehoof with his lance in an attempt at the beckoning gesture.

The guards seemed to have caught his meaning. With a cry of “Charge!” from the leader, the pegasi hurled themselves towards Croix while the unicorns rushed forward, firing blasts of magic.

These guys have no idea what they’re getting into. The magical blasts were fast but not fast enough, easy to see coming and deflect. More importantly, the innate difference in the speed of the pegasi meant that they had formed a long string of attackers as they charged the length of the room.

Ching! Each in turn tried to slam into Croix, but bounced off like rubber and careened into the walls, windows, and each other, their confused expressions becoming fixed when the impact stunned them.

The leader managed to get in two forehoof claw attacks and one wingblade before Croix knocked him away, but all three were perfectly blocked.

The unicorns that had accompanied the pegasi had, unfortunately for them, also obeyed the order to charge. Three of them had been knocked out by deflected Pegasus projectiles, and the remaining two were easily dropped with the flat side of Croix’s lance.

Celestia knew the reputation of the Royal Guard had suffered in the aftermath of recent crises, but this was astonishing. Or perhaps some trick is at play here I’ve never seen before. There’s no spell I know of that lets one bounce opponents like that. The ‘ching!’ sound that each one made as it hit seems significant, however. She narrowed her eyes. Watch and observe, then strike.

Red Cell was rather more affected by the dismal results of the engagement, her face becoming red and puffy. “Those worthless sacks of crap! Thirty to two and they just fall over their own hooves? How could this be happening? How?”

Celestia placed one of her wings over her subordinate. “I believe there is some novel defense in play that is difficult to discern.”

The unicorn batted the wing off with a forehoof and a “don’t do that again” glare. Comfort was demeaning to her. “That weird spell the unicorn is doing looks like a shield, but it hasn’t triggered yet. There’s…” Red Cell strained her senses. “...some sort of field radiating from her. It’s… big. I’m not sure what it does though.”

“Perhaps I should attempt to dispel it.” Celestia turned to face the end of the room and lit her horn. The “failsafe” spell is universally the best general-purpose dispel. I can just barely dispel Discord’s magic with it in a small radius, and there are none stronger. Her horn glowed with a bright yellow light as she concentrated.

Croix turned to face the Princess, bracing himself to receive whatever spell she was preparing.

Celestia took a deep breath, then fired. The ray of brilliant yellow magic blazed forth.

The failsafe spell had gathered its name from its extreme reliability. Unless the caster of the target spell was vastly stronger than the caster of the failsafe spell, it would immediately be ended without any kind of destabilizing effects. Unfortunately for Celestia, “strength” in this case meant the maximum energy of the waves, which was set by the power of the Orgel of Origins. It would be impossible for Celestia to come close to the maximum energy of such a construct. Only a fully-healthy Will of the Planet or some similarly fearsome entity could do so.

Thus, the ray petered out against the Harmonic field. Croix gave it a raised eyebrow. Huh, the attack was too feeble to even land? Or was it an attack at all? I can’t sense it coming.

Any further analysis he would have wished to make was stopped cold by a tremendous racket approaching from one of the side corridors.

A cannon pulled by four ponies, two earth ponies up front, followed by two unicorns, came around the corner. Overhead flew two pegasi. These ponies didn’t wear the bright gold armor of the Royal Guard, but instead a green and brown, more practical-looking armor. The cannon itself was mounted on a metal frame that seemed to give it the ability to fire in any direction, including straight up. (2)

Red Cell grinned ear to ear as they came in. One of her first acts as Captain of the Royal Guard was to create an exchange program between the Royal Guard and the EUP. And now, nobody would question her wisdom in requesting an anti-dragon cannon team or two.

The unicorns unhitched themselves from the cannon with their magic, then did the same for the earth ponies while the pegasi hovered protectively over them, carefully watching Croix and Mir.

Celestia, sensing the intensification of the conflict, teleported out the incapacitated guards. She considered trying to teleport the two intruders apart, but decided not to. If they can block the failsafe spell, they can block a teleport.

The earth ponies grasped cranks in their mouths, and the gun barrel wobbled as they unlimbered it.

Oh hell no. As the earth ponies began to rotate the cannon’s barrel, Croix aimed his lance dead at them, then depressed the firing stud for the machine gun.

As the barrel spun up, an orange dome sprung up over the cannon and its six ponies. Bullets ricocheted up and off into the walls of the throne room. Celestia raised a golden shield over herself and Red Cell to block ricochets.

Dammit. Croix immediately released pressure on the firing stud, but the damage was done. He’d used up almost half the ammunition loaded into the lance, and while it had modified itself to allow him to fire in pony form, there was no way he could reload it in the middle of combat as a pony.

Then the gun fired. Croix was slightly distracted by his self-pity over the whole “trying to reload with hooves” thing, and only managed a partial block. Crump! Then the shell exploded right against him. All the stained glass windows on that half of the throne room blew out.

Red Cell’s grin grew impossibly wider as she stared at the smoke cloud obscuring the opposite side of the room. Then her expression turned to dismay as the smoke was parted by the flap of Croix’s hovering wings.

Dark energy formed a spherical shield around himself and a second one around Mir.

“Hey Croix, make sure you fully block those things.”

“Sorry, thanks for the save.” One perk of being Mir’s vanguard was that after a while the entire concept of hearing damage seemed to have given up.

Red Cell stomped her forehoof and turned to yell at the gun crew. “Fire again! Keep firing!”

A second shot sailed downrange, but this time Croix was ready for it. Ching!

The roar of the explosion had an odd sound to it, but odder was the way it seemed to swirl around the target (and the secondary target behind him), this time not even obscuring them for a moment.

Celestia narrowed her eyes and began to think. That reminds me of something.

“They’ve got some kind of defense! Load armor piercing!”

Another shot. Another “Ching!” Another failure to harm the assassins.

Red Cell perked up as she heard a noise from the opposite side of the hall. Her other anti-dragon cannon team was racing up the opposite passageway towards the throne room. Where one fails, will two prevail? Let’s hope so.

Oh hell, not another one of those. Ching! Croix blocked a fourth shot (this one aimed at Mir directly) and swung his lance-gun over while the first crew reloaded. I may not be able to hit them directly, but let’s see them stop this. Wait for the timing aaaaaand… Now! Croix fired the rest of his ammo, not at the ponies, but at the ceiling timbers in front of them. Slabs of stone crashed to the ground, directly on the cannon. The pony’s shield tried to stop them, but the weight was too much for the unicorns, and the cannon was smashed.

Mir swapped her song out for a different one, then fired. An immense humanoid figure appeared over her, kicking a skull at the still-intact cannon. Waves of heat blasted forth from it, cracking the shield and sending the ponies scurrying away. The humanoid figure then swooped in and cut the cannon to pieces.

“We’re leaving. Thank you for your time.” Croix made ready to grab Mir and exit the area. Surely they’ve gotten the message by now?

“Surrender or die!” Red Cell stepped from her vantage point and began to stalk down the hall towards the pair.

“I think you mean ‘halt in the name of the law’ there.” Red Cell ignored Celestia’s remark, fixed on her target.

She approached head down until she reached the halfway point of the room. At that point, she lifted her head slightly and ignited her horn. The leather bandoleer opened, and five obsidian-black darts levitated out. They began to orbit in a circle in front of her.

“You know what they say about wanting something done right.” The first of the darts shot forward, followed by another a moment later, then the remaining three simultaneously. The first two sped towards Croix, while the others closed in on Mir.

“I think she’s awake.” Twilight could hear an echo-y male voice. She blinked her eyes open, but all she could see were vague, brown blurs. What had happened? She tried to remember. There was a changeling, and…

“Changeling!” Twilight attempted to stand on all fours, but her back right leg wasn’t quite with the program and she began to tip over to the right. A yellow aura caught her.

She blinked her eyes a few times and turned towards the source of the magic. Although he was still a bit blurry, she could make out the yellow coat and gray mane of Doctor Myelin, neurologist at Ponyville’s hospital. She’d last seen him when an anvil landed on her head.

“Princess, please don’t move too fast. Alicorns can apparently recover from a great deal, but not instantly.” He took a step forward to look at the side of her head. “Whatever happened hit you pretty hard, but the effects should fade in a few hours. You got pretty lucky.” He paused a moment. “Or maybe it’s that Alicorn magic. There aren’t a lot of medical studies on them.”

“Well, we’re all ok and that’s the good news.” Twilight turned towards the sound of Rainbow’s voice. The pegasus had bandages on her neck and wing root, but was standing and looked confident enough. Behind her, Applejack sat on the floor with a head bandage.

“Ah’m sad it had to come to this.” Applejack looked at a spot somewhere below and to the left of Twilight. “If we could have talked about this calmly, I think we could avoid all… this.”

Twilight looked up at the sky above her, the broken edges of the tree framing her view. What had once been the upper story of the library, where she lived, was now completely gone. That… whatever it was’s blast had destroyed it. Destroyed it all.

The tree’s roots still lived, so it was possible earth pony magic might save it. The books on the lower floor had survived. But her personal collection, her dresses, her memorabilia, all her personal effects, they were all gone.

As was, she realized with a sinking feeling, the crystalline box the Tree of Harmony had given her.

“Did the doc miss something wrong with your head? Those crazies are nothing but danger.” Rainbow Dash had turned around to face Applejack, her words practically growling out with frustration. “They smacked me down, they smacked you down, they blew up Twilight’s house, they smacked Twilight down, and the unicorn one admitted to killing Sunset Shimmer. They’re bad, and it’s our duty as heroes to take them out.”

“If they’re so bad, why’re we still alive?” Rainbow blanched a moment at Applejack’s retort. They were totally at the mercy of the unknown duo, but their foes had left no injury that wasn’t recoverable.

“Ma...maybe it’s all part of a sinister plan?” Rainbow looked away, no longer meeting Applejack’s eyes. Applejack considered that a win, smiling softly.

“Ah’m thinkin this is some kind of misunderstanding. We’ll see if Rarity can meet with them again, get them calmed down enough.”

“Still.” Twilight looked back at Applejack, trying to corral her thoughts. “We should send a letter to The Princess.”

Twilight’s friends didn’t need to ask which one she meant. Celestia would always be “The Princess” to Twilight. “Uh, sugarcube, Spike’s still not back. He stayed with Pinkie at the hospital.”

“Maybe you should go there and let him know you’re ok. He heard something happened to you and he’s probably worried,” the doctor broke in.

“I’m surprised he stayed with Pinkie rather than come back to see me.”

“Well,” the doctor rubbed his hoof against the ground, “we’re holding Pinkie for observation. We have no idea what’s wrong with her. Her personality seems far more subdued than normal, and her energy level was below average, even for a normal pony.”

Twilight filed the information away for later. Right now her priority was dealing with the… let’s call them “attackers” ...that had done all this. “I’ll tell Celestia in person.” She nodded, and spread her wings.

“No!” Shouted the doctor. “You’re absolutely not cleared for flying yet!”

Twilight turned to him. “This is a national emergency. The hospital’s on the other end of Ponyville, and as the pegasus flies it’s not that much further to Canterlot. I assure you, as an Alicorn I recover far more rapidly than any other patient you’ve had.

“If you recall the battle of Coltsborough in 221, Princess Celestia sustained a far more serious head injury and resumed flying and spellcasting within a half hour. How long have I been out?”

“About… forty five minutes.”

“Then I’m good to go.” The doctor’s expression indicated that he wanted to make a retort, something along the lines of “that’s Princess Celestia, not you,” but Twilight was sick of ponies thinking of her as the least Princess. She was an Alicorn Princess, and she could handle things. Ok, I lost a fight here, but it’s not like Princess Celestia has never lost any fights. Certainly not that I’ve been present for at my brother’s wedding.

She spun around to face away from everypony. When she didn’t feel dizzy, she smiled. Let’s do this. She bent all four of her legs, lept up, and took a flap. And then she was off and away.

Croix intersected the path of all five darts with a seemingly-impossible backwards arcing swoop. A chorus of “ching” sounds filled the hall as the darts were flung back and into the wall or floor.

Mir had resumed into a new song, this one her healing song magic, in case Croix or her took any hits. Not quite as good as preventing them outright, but better than nothing. I can always swap it out for a red magic if I need it.

The darts hovered back over to Red Cell, who stood in the center of the hall. They began to orbit a point directly in front of her, the plane of the orbit facing her enemies, and the points likewise facing them.

Red Cell’s tail swished and flicked as she tried to size up her approach. It’s not like he’s using a shield or something. He just bumps into it with his armor and it makes a sound and bounces away. It doesn’t make any sense. But they started out by flinging the pegasi backwards somehow, and he did concentrate on trying to destroy the cannons. Whatever he’s got, it’s not invincible.

I just have to find out what the weakness is. Perhaps it requires careful timing?

The darts shot forward. As Croix tensed himself for their approach, he noticed that they weren’t advancing steadily, but were lurching, accelerating and decelerating. Trying to make things hard on me. Still, it doesn’t matter what path it takes or how fast it goes. It will only arrive at one moment.

Croix closed his eyes, concentrating all his attention onto the inner sense he had for the harmonic field. Now. He surged forward, knocking aside two darts with his lance, and three more with a wind blast from his wings. The familiar sound echoed, stacked on top of itself five times.

The hell. Red Cell glared at her darts as they returned to circling in front of her. Maybe I was varying all of them at the same time. Or maybe I need more power. Well, let’s go with plan A first. These are expensive.

The darts shot towards the roof of the chamber, than forwards. When they reached a position over Mir, they each shot towards the walls and then downward, trying to envelop the defense and come at her in a circle.

Block all this.

Croix couldn’t. He knocked down four of them, but one of them slammed into Mir’s ribcage.

“Hurgh!” Mir’s song hiccuped as she staggered from the piercing impact. The harmobody suit she wore absorbed most of the force, but it still pierced into her lung. Magic imbued into the dart surged outward, trying to find mitochondria to destroy, but came up empty against the artificial Reyvateil. Then the healing spell triggered. Tissue regenerated with such force that the dagger plopped out onto the floor next to her.

Red Cell stared with shock at the total failure of such a good hit to impede the assassins. The hell? That’s an enchanted obsidian dart. She’s wearing a fabric bodysuit. She should be dead.

Croix reacted to her surprise-induced inattention to stomp on the dart with an armored hoof, smashing it to bits. A second dart nearby was smashed with the tip of the lance before Red Cell realized what he was doing and levitated the remaining three darts back to herself.

Dammit! These cost a fortune! Red Cell considered as her three remaining darts returned to orbit in front of her.

Well, I guess it’s time to try power. She concentrated power into one of the remaining three darts. It began to radiate a black and red aura as she strained to fill the dart.

After a few moments, it was ready. Her enemies down the hall continued to regard her with watchful gaze, but she wasn’t worried. The glow of the dart gave her face a red cast, and made her eyes seem to flare red as she grinned maliciously. “Catch.”

The dart shot forward like a rocket. The broad portion of Croix’s spear moved in front of it at the last second. Ching. The dart bounced off, tumbling upwards into the ceiling. Croix darted backwards as marble debris from the floor above slammed into the spot where he was standing. A second slab fell towards Mir, who couldn’t move quickly while singing, but Croix could block that. A tap with the lance, a “Ching” sound, and the slab changed direction in mid air to smash through the shattered remains of a window and land outside.

Red Cell simply stared in horror. How can I be so weak?

“Red Cell, back away. That is an order. I shall handle this.”

Celestia marched down the hall like a furious swan. (3)

Twilight glided through the air towards Canterlot. It seemed close enough, but what she had forgotten was that it was almost as far away up as it was across. I need a few more minutes before I can try to finish gaining altitude.

Off to the right she saw a speck of orange. A turn of her head revealed a pegasus flying up from the Everfree Forest towards her. A pegasus wearing guard armor, no less. That’s Flash Sentry. I haven’t seen him since the night I came back through the mirror. Let’s see what he’s here for.

She banked towards him, keeping her wings in a gliding posture. After a couple minutes, Flash came past her, wheeled, and flew alongside. “Princess Twilight! You… you don’t look ok.”

It was certainly true she didn’t. Ash covered the fur the doctor hadn’t cleaned to get a better look at her, there were some bandages covering the scrapes she’d gotten when her head was slammed through the floorboards. Also, her flying was probably distinctly below par.

“Yeah. I…” Her head went down slightly. “...lost a fight.”

“Well…” Flash looked away from her. “...any fight you can fly away from can’t be all bad.”

“I… I don’t know what to do. Other than alert Princess Celestia, I guess. I really wanted to solve this on my own, prove I’m capable of doing things without her.”

“Doing things without her?” Flash’s eyes widened in surprise as he looked back at her.

“Yeah, it feels weird for me to say it. Ever since I’ve become a princess, I’ve been uncertain how I should relate to Celestia. Even beforehand, I accused her of being crazy when she wanted to reform Discord!”

“Well, that sounded crazy to everypony else. You’re just the pony who said it.”

“But… I never had the courage to say something like that before.”

“Well, it did sound crazy. Maybe she wants you to stand on your own, make your own decisions. Even fight your own battles when necessary.”

“But…” Twilight looked down at the ground below her. “...I couldn’t fight this battle on my own. Even with Applejack and Rainbow helping me, I got completely trashed in my own home. It got its top floor blown clear off. And I’m starting to think this might have been my fault for escalating it.”

“Pfft. Anybody who knocks you down in your own home has a lot to answer for. In any case, as far as being unable to fight your own battles, I think I can help you with that.”

“Oh?” Twilight’s head turned towards him, confusion visible all over it. “What does that mean?”

“I’ve got something for you. It’s a power amplifier made by Princess Luna.” With deft use of teeth and tongue, he reached into a bag on top of his armor and pulled out a sphere of pure dark purple. “It’s for you.”

Twilight slowed down, as did Flash, until they were hovering in place facing one another. “For me?”

Flash nodded. “I’ve been instructed to bring it to you right away. Highest priority. Dangerous things are going on, and Equestria will need you in tip-top shape for what’s to come. Since you haven’t figured out how to open the box yet…” Twilight’s face flickered with horror before she raised a mask of calm over it. She didn’t think Flash noticed it, but it was noticed. “Take it.” He held it out in his forehooves.

“How does it work?”

“It’s quite simple. Just press it against yourself. It’ll pop and the essence will merge into your magic. It’s a form of old metamagic that only Celestia and Luna still remember, but it won’t harm you in any way.”

“Metamagic.” Twilight had known of the school from her time as Celestia’s pupil, but it was not something with a large body of material for study. Even the magic-suppressing rings used to restrain criminal or mentally ill unicorns didn’t technically use it.

More important than a chance to experience a nearly forgotten field of magic, was the opportunity to stand on her own. I want this. I do want this. “Thank you.”

Princess Twilight’s reddish-purple aura wrapped around the sphere, taking it from Flash. The sensation of Princess Luna's magic washed over her, confirming his statement that it had been created by her. She pressed it to her nose. After a moment of contact, it popped, enveloping her in its energy.

Celestia and Croix stared each other down as she stalked closer. Despite hovering above the ground, Croix’s eye level was only barely above Celestia’s.

Am I really sure I want to do this? I know that the smoke cloud looked like that, but if I’m wrong I’m right in stabbing range.

Well, if I’m wrong but I do this right, I’ll be inside lance stabbing range. He’ll have to fight me using his natural strength. And probably lose, unless he has a trick up his sleeve I haven’t seen yet. Very well, I am definitely doing this. I cannot back out now.

“This is your last warning. Surrender immediately and you will be treated fairly.”

“I think I’d rather come back later.” Mir didn’t want to deal with this right now. If she was right, in another few hours Luna would be on duty and she could try to get her instead.

“Very well.” Princess Celestia bent her forelegs and bounded into the air, catching herself with a small flap right above Croix’s eye level.

OK, she’s coming at me. Just watch the timing, we beat her, we can leave. They’ve got nowhere else to escalate to.

Princess Celestia began to move closer slowly. Unlike the rush of the pegasi guards, the scurry of the cannon crews, or the determined march of Red Cell, her movement forward was oddly languid and relaxed.

Is this some kind of ploy?

Celestia moved closer to Croix. Time seemed to stretch out as each wingbeat seemed to be moving her less and less.

What’s going on here?

Celestia was almost within reach. Croix still hadn’t picked up on his instinctual signal to block.

Should I try to stab her? Nobody’s ever tried this before? Is she even attacking?

Celestia gained altitude, and flew over Croix with her legs spread to either side of him, then began to drift down.

She’s trying something! Wait for the moment, then block. But where is it?

Celestia’s body closed in on Croix. Closer. Closer. But moving more slowly each moment.

Run? Block? What? Crap!

Croix’s confusion lasted just long enough. With a gentleness that made it almost impossible to feel, Celestia brushed her barrel and legs against his back and sides.

It felt almost gentle and motherly, but the context made Croix panic. His enemy had enveloped him, and he’d never received any impulse to block!

He needed to–

Celestia had been greatly concerned by her singularity during the thousand years her sister was gone. She’d been worried that without a partner to fight alongside, her enemies could subdue her in battle or ambush. Thus, she’d taken some time to learn the secret fighting styles of her world’s peoples. Now, she employed the Couatl style from the deep rainforests South of Auhizotl’s domain.

Constriction.

Celestia could feel Croix’s heartbeat through her legs, and she was preparing a synchronized assault of her own.

With no space between Celestia and him, the attack came without warning. One moment Croix was thinking about escaping from his predicament, the next blackness.

“CROIX!!!!!!!” Mir could sense his heartbeat cease. She… she got him.

Mir didn’t have any illusions she could win this fight at the moment. Celestia still held Croix in her legs, and even if she ran, she couldn’t take him with her. The healing spells she knew wouldn’t help with a heart injury, only surgical intervention or a grathmeld device could. She wouldn’t be able to revive him…

...before...

...it was too late.

Damn her to hell! Mir could live on, but only by abandoning Croix. And what kind of life was that anyway? Without love, without someone who you could share your real self with?

The pony princess had taken that away, but in doing so she had given her the most powerful weapon she’d ever had.

Rage.

The healing song dispersed and was replaced by a shimmering, vibrating ball of energy. And Celestia realized she might have gone for the wrong target.

Tower Connection, also known as “Ar Tonelico” when you weren’t worried about confusing it with the tower it was named after, was different than virtually every other spell used by Reyvateils. Most of the time, the tower would send energy that would take a form dictated by the emotions of the user.

In this case, it was reversed. The emotions were sent to the tower, and it reacted according to the wishes of the user. Although it really only had one way to react, so you had to make sure it was suitable to the occasion.

A giant beam of deadly energy. Technically several beams that seemed to be one beam from a distance, but the difference was usually academic.

Mir felt that a giant beam of deadly energy was entirely appropriate.

“Mir! What the hell just happened!”

Moments ago Shurelia had been drinking tea with her friends. It was nice to do something calm with people you cared about before dealing with the next crazy crisis. And the only way there wouldn’t be a next crazy crisis was if they failed to deal with one and it killed them all.

Now the teacup Shurelia was holding was sitting on the lap of the brown-haired woman sitting opposite of her, and the tea itself was all over the front of her dress.

Lyner had quickly moved to Shurelia’s side and grabbed her, as she crouched into the fetal position.

“Mir! No! Mir!” Shurelia felt what the tower felt. And Mir had dumped her rage and grief into it.

Everything around them started shaking as the energy beam emitter a couple hundred feet below them powered up and began to fire.

“Mir’s… something… I think…” Shurelia straightened up, tears in her eyes.

“I think someone just killed Croix.”

>>>Warning. You are within the danger close radius of this action. Are you sure you wish to proceed?<<< YES!

Mir didn’t really care if she lived or died. She just wanted to make sure Celestia died too.

Celestia, for her part sensed the change in magic, and knew something was happening. Unfortunately, her positioning for her zero amplitude grab maneuver had left her back to the unicorn of the pair.

Dammit I don’t have any time to run around use the tail ok! Celestia’s tail lashed out, grabbing hold of MIr.

Waveguides established, selecting aiming mirror 04.

Mir was dragged off her hooves, limbs flailing, then smashed into the marble floor headfirst.

>>>FIRING<<<

Celestia could tell she hadn’t done enough damage to knock out her target. She lifted Mir and prepared to slam her into the floor on the other side.

Back on Ar Ciel, the beam shot out from the tower at a nearly horizontal angle towards a great mirror in orbit over the planet. The beam collected briefly on the mirror, then bounced back, almost but not quite aimed at the tower, but rather at a spot a mere hundred miles to the North of it.

Mir hit the ground again, and this time was unable to hold onto consciousness.

>>>Warning! Critical waveguide loss<<<

The waveguides held the beams more or less together. It didn’t take much energy to do so, but it did take some. As they crossed through the portal, they were knocked very slightly out of alignment.

Coming in at a horizontal angle as they were, seven of the eight sub-beams missed hitting any solid part of the planet whatsoever.

The last one struck Mount Canter. Back in the bad old days of the First Age, the energy weapon on Ar Tonelico had been designed to blast its way straight through the planet, then explode as it exited in the heart of the enemy’s civilization. This turned out to be a bad idea for a variety of reasons.

The sun’s brightness was briefly eclipsed as the beam made contact with the peak, vaporizing its way through. A few seconds after that, the annular confinement of the energy ended, resulting in a huge explosion that was thankfully too high in the air to hurt anyone directly.

Celestia, however, could feel the power she had just narrowly escaped. If that hit me… I would be dead. No question.

She set down the fallen pegasus, and rubbed the tips of her wings together. Unfortunately, they don’t really have non-lethal construction techniques, so here’s hoping you don’t have any brain damage from this. She spread her wings apart, and touched them to the sides of his barrel. There was a popping sound and the smell of ozone, but then his barrel heaved and he coughed. I think he’s going to make it. Time to get things back in order.

Celestia looked up again. In front of her, Red Cell and an entire battalion of Guards stood anxiously. “I am victorious, my little ponies. Have a medical team check them out, then place them in the dungeon under maximum restraints.

“Twilight! You’re back.” Rainbow Dash trotted up to her friend in the remains of the library. Around the area sat their friends, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie (although her hair was oddly straight), Fluttershy, and Spike.

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash. I’ve received important information. Equestria is in grave peril. I need each of you to take one of these.” Five purple spheres levitated out of her saddlebag, gripped in her aura.

“None for me, thank you. I don’t need a… whatever that is.”

“Very well Fluttershy, we’ll let you have one later if you need it.” Twilight’s smile was almost shark-like.

“What… are those anyway?” Applejack examined the one offered to her closely.

“They’re power amplifiers created by Luna. They amplify a pony’s innate magic, and I’ve been instructed to make sure each of you have one of those.”

Interlude: Sunset Shimmer 2

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Sunset had liked computers ever since she had come to this world. The symbolic manipulation of information was a core component in magic, and the disciplines had more in common than many would expect.

She ran her fingers over the expensive workstation Principal Celestia kept in her home office, and looked at the frown reflected in the black metal case. If she’d been able to afford a computer that could run a photo-manipulation program, she’d have succeeded in framing Twilight and gotten away with her theft of the Element of Magic.

But who knows what would have happened after that? Would it have made her happy?

Probably not. She’d have come through the portal with an army, but Celestia and those other two Princesses would likely be right there with an army of their own at their beck and call. Who would win, and what would be left of them?

She shook her head. No time for reminiscing now. She needed to make sure that the program worked perfectly. Principal Celestia had a rather suspicious amount of financial resources, but even the rise of cloud computing could only help so much. She’d done the math on the estimates.

The biggest cloud instance she could possibly purchase on short notice would take somewhere between fifteen and twenty-seven hours to run the calculations that would reveal the answers she sought.

The secrets of the universe itself.

She looked over at the roll of butcher paper she’d taped to the wall and used as a blackboard. Equations in human, pony, and ancient Teru were written all over it, lines connecting circles indicating common features.

Each society captured a part of the whole, each looking at the universe in a different way. Combined, they wove a net that ensnared the mysteries of the universe.

A chart on a whiteboard across the room showed the relationship between soul and matter, emotion and energy. She looked at it again, to make sure she’d written down everything precisely.

If I screw up once, it’s all over.

The Sirens would grown in power as they harvested more and more negative emotions. This in turn would allow them to create stronger and more widespread anger and hatred. And the world of politics was all too ripe for that. International relations between the Sol Ciel and the Sol Cluster alliances were at a low over relations with Justine, and nuclear disarmament had been removed from the table entirely. The Sirens could accidentally blow up the whole thing.

Her program had to be absolutely flawless. OK, this branch needs a set of test cases. Let’s see…

“Sunset, have you slept any?” Celestia had returned from her school. Getting Sunset out of class was easy for the school principal, even if it rankled her to have to do it.

Sunset looked over at the pile of caffeine pill wrappers, empty containers of instant coffee, and her jar of peppermint oil. “Of course not.”

Celestia sighed. “Are you sure you’re all right? Programming is a delicate art, lack of sleep can cause you to make mistakes.”

Sunset shook her head. “The schedule’s too tight. I’ll sleep once the code is done and the program is running in the cloud. Did you get the payment ready?”

The principal walked forward and put her hand on her student’s shoulder. “I have. Please, don’t hurt yourself doing this.”

Sunset put her opposite hand on Celestia’s. “I’ll be fine. I just need to finish working.”

Celestia removed her hand, then stood to admire Sunset’s work. Paper seemed to cover every surface of the office, covered in equations and notes. “You can read the ancient Teru writings?”

“A little. Mostly I was able to see common mathematical symbols, and that allowed me to guess at the meaning of things. Physics is physics no matter where you are, so when I saw an equation that was the same, it was easy.”

“So what exactly is your plan?”

“It’s simple. I’m going to tap into the forces that made the universe and crush the Sirens with raw power. I’m going to literally sing their evil powers out of existence.”

“Is… is that safe?”

Sunset shrugged. “Eh. It seems like it’ll be pretty safe for everyone except the Sirens. And maybe me.”

“Sunset!” Principal Celestia rounded on her. “Please don’t hurt yourself.”

“I’ll try not to.”

“I simply cannot tolerate a child under my care being endangered in such a way.”

Sunset turned around. “I have to do this. Nopo– nobody else can. The world has to be saved, or every child under your care…” Sunset glared into Celestia’s eyes. “...turns to radioactive ash.”

Celestia flinched back as if struck.

“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry!” Sunset stood up, despair on her face, reaching towards Celestia. “I didn’t mean to put it like that.”

Celestia looked down. “I… I… suppose.” She lifted her head, then smiled weakly and took Sunset’s hand. “Tell me that you want this to be ok.”

Sunset smiled and nodded. “I wish that this will turn out alright.”

Celestia smiled, then winked at Sunset. “Thank you, that makes me feel better. In any case, you mentioned singing?”

“Yeah, that was the really weird part. I realized that there was some kind of deep structure, underlying everything. And then it hit me. The girls pony up when they sing. Animals evolve song independently of each other all the time. Magic spells are always supposed to rhyme. The rules underlying everything are harmonic, in the musical sense. There’s a secret musical language that describes the universe. Singing in it will allow me to clearly direct all the forces I’m trying to use.”

Celestia leaned in to look at the screen. “So… this program will help you decode the language?”

Sunset nodded. “Yes.”

“Well,” Celestia smiled, “I’ll let you get back to uniting physics, magic, and music.”

As Sunset resumed her seat, she picked up a scrap of paper. “Oh, one area has had some direct progress. I’ve figured out the exact size of the songstone block I need.”

Celestia accepted the note from her. “Huh. That’s bigger than I thought, but my guy can come through. I’ll have it delivered to the shop tomorrow by 10AM and the lathe will be available to you by 11. Make sure you wear your hair up and don’t have any loose clothing or jewelry.”

“Right.”

Sunset turned back to the screen. Secrets beyond what she’d dreamed of when she left Equestria were within her grasp, but she couldn’t think about the consequences yet. Everything after we win can be dealt with then.

Phase 2: Escalation, Part 6

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Mir hadn’t expected to wake up. She’d been defeated in battle, and soundly at that.

As she stirred from her unwelcome rest, memories of what had happened flooded over her. Croix. “Croix!”

“Yes?”

She couldn’t hear him. As memory had returned, so had touch, and she was in a straight-jacket. Her claustrophobia immediately kicked in at full power.

The jacket held her legs under her body with a thick white skirt attached to the tight sleeve on each leg. Straps along the base of the skirt prevented raising the legs more than a tiny bit, while straps across the back held the garment on. It was like the over-tightened saddle at Rarity’s, but far worse. A basket muzzle had been placed over her snout to prevent any mouth-manipulation. But the magic suppressor was the worst.

Along her horn were situated a series of metal rings connected by cloth straps which formed a sort of spiral pattern up her horn. As the magic tried to form together to get the straightjacket off her, the rings in turn lit up and squelched the magic with a wave of painful feedback.

Croix, having been revived by Celestia, stood in the same cell with a similar garment restricting his movements, with the subtraction of a magic suppressor due to the lack of horn and the addition of a set of sleeves and straps that pinned his wings to his side. He’d been awake before she had, but he wasn’t going to let anyone see how much the wing-binding bothered him.

“Yaaaaaaaaaaahhhhrrrrggg!” Mir had managed to flip herself over and was thrashing to the maximum extent possible with the leg-restraining skirt (not much). Light continued to pulse around her horn and cut off as the suppressor kicked in.

“Stop! Cease this outburst at once!” A pegasus guard had wandered up from the entrance to the holding cells, drawn by the noise. He seemed to Croix to be a little confused as to what he should do, although he could clearly tell that it was something.

“She can’t.” The guard quirked an eyebrow at that. “She’s got a very extreme claustrophobia. Any tight clothing will bring on that reaction until it comes off.”

“I’m not authorized to remove restraints from prisoners.”

“Then get someone who is before she hurts herself!” Croix yelled.

“Rrraaaaaagghh!” Mir’s thrashing and flopping had brought her to the metal door of the cell. Her front left leg hit the bars with a resounding crack.

The guard winced in sympathy, while Croix turned to look at his wife. She continued to flail and pulse, heedless of pain as the limb was bent at an unnatural angle. “Mir! I’m right here! Stop!” He wasn’t sure he could stop her if he stepped in. The cage over his mouth prevented him from using his lips to undo the strap, and he doubted he was strong enough to physically hold her down. Additionally, he couldn’t do anything at all for the injured leg.

“Croix?” The surge of pain from the broken leg had momentarily jolted Mir back to lucidity. How can he be alive? I felt him die. “You’re alive, huh?” The thrashing had stopped momentarily, but Mir was still panting furiously.

“I think someone did CPR or something. I have a hell of a pain in my chest, but I’m alive.”

Well, that seems reasonable to me. Gotta stay calm, gotta figure a way out of this stupid jacket. Mir tried to focus on breathing as deliberately as possible. I broke my leg close to the shoulder, I wonder if I can…

Mir twisted her shoulders, and slid the broken leg up. A pair of straps that would normally catch it just barely allowed the new “joint” it had to free itself. With the elbow joint past the strap she carefully flexed it and got the whole leg free.

“Hey! Stop that at once!” The guard, now realizing what was happening, had begun to panic. He’d seen the report on what had happened in the throne room, and had no intention of trying to fight Mir and Croix at once, even if they were wearing restraints.

Mir of course wasn’t stopping. With one leg free the straps had lost a great deal of tension and she was already working on getting her unbroken foreleg free.

“Alarm!” The guardsman ran for the entrance to the wing of cells to call for more backup.

Croix smiled as he looked down at his wife as she kicked the muzzle off her face. “You can’t let me get any rest, can you?”

“I don’t know what’s going on anymore!” Applebloom hid in a bush near the edge of Ponyville. Her two friends hid with her, Sweetie holding the Technical History close to her.

Earlier today, something had happened at the Golden Oaks library that everypony blamed on Mir. Sweetie knew Mir wasn’t a bad pony (she’d helped get Sweetie her cutie mark), and her friends trusted her, but both she and they knew nopony else would believe them over Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Then the second something had happened. Details were scarce, but apparently dark magic had somehow gathered at the ruins of the library tree and blasted forth in an immense column. After that everypony hid, thus eliminating the gathering of further details. Since nothing seemed to have resulted from this, ponies appeared to be gradually resuming activities.

“Ow! Hey, what’s this?” Applebloom turned to see what her back hoof had touched. It was an odd, misshapen lump of some greyish-purplish material. On one side what looked like a distorted keyhole could be faintly seen. The object radiated heat.

Of course, what Applebloom didn’t know is that this was the mystery box that the Tree of Harmony had intended for Twilight and her friends to have opened, but things had gone badly off-course. Mir’s blast of magic had caught the box in her attempt to defeat Twilight, and it turned out to be unprotected against extreme heat.

What Applebloom did know is that it seemed to be the same kind of crystal as what she’d been reading about. “Huh. I betcha I could turn this into a little one of those metal seeds it was talkin about. All I need is some platinum. Let’s go see Mr Rich.”

“Down 120 centimeters.”

The airship moved so slowly that it was almost imperceptible. Only the constant electronic updates of its computer systems, and the signals it received from satellites, could tell anyone it was in the right place. Thrusters, cycling faster than a human could keep track of, would keep it in the right place. Originally, the ship had been meant to hover under a section of Tower infrastructure that was in need of repair. Now Lyner had resurrected this first-age barge and placed it at her disposal.

“I think we’re good on height. Ready to move in.” The brown-haired, brown-eyed woman glared across the exposed central deck of the airship at her quarry. To her left and right sat the forecastle and aftcastle of the airship, giving it a kind of bowl-shape in profile. “Move 15.9 meters port.”

As the airship moved gently to the left, a startling sight appeared. Crossing the line of her sight between her position and the forecastle, a bizarre ripple became visible. Once the ship had stopped, it was clearly visible as a spherical patch of space through which the sky could be seen where only the ship should be.

“OK hold the ship here. It’s time for our friend to earn his keep.”

A mechanical arm extended forward from the aftcastle, carrying a winged metal shape.

All around her, symbols appeared hovering in ghostly curtains. She began to scrutinize a section towards the center. “Looks good. We’ve got a slight antigravitational curve in the center to prevent pressure equalization between both sides of the portal, but it shouldn’t be an obstacle. Launch.”

The arm pressed the drone it was carrying up against the portal, and released. After a moment, it could briefly be seen igniting its engine and flying away on the far side.

A man in a white coat walked out to her. “Telemetry is good, Ms Sasha.”

“Thank you. We’ll have our data for Shurelia before the representatives can arrive.”

Mir didn’t really enjoy standoffs. She’d really rather blast her way out. These ponies had failed to kill either her or Croix while they were out, so she guessed she owed it to them not to slay her way out.

For now.

“It’s OK guys, they’re still wearing inhibitors.” The unicorn guardspony seemed to be reassuring himself as much as those under his command.

Inhibitor. The metal thing on Mir’s horn was what was blocking her ability to do magic. Whenever she tried, it sent a jolt of pain that disrupted the spell.

I am stronger than pain. She’d just have to try harder. Donning her most wicked grin, she looked the apparent leader of the guardsponies on the other side of the bars in the eyes and lit her horn.

The red aura flickered and flared as pain began to assault her. Compared to what I endured in the past, this is nothing. It will pass. I will remain. Each moment she continued, the pain increased in magnitude. The flickering and flaring did as well.

“S...ss...stop! You’ll break your horn!” The unicorn had begun to backpedal, his face distorted by horror. The idea that one would risk damage to their horn was virtually unthinkable to a unicorn.

Mir wasn’t a unicorn. The volume of light from her aura rose, as did the pain. A new sensation emerged: heat. The metal portion of the inhibitor was glowing as it was loaded far beyond its design capacity. Even an alicorn possessed the horn of a unicorn, and with it the associated biological functions. Most relevant to the inhibitor, a reflex action that would cut off magical power in the event that the horn was endangered by feedback.

Mir did not possess this reflex action. Pain would not force her to give up. More power. The metal was heated white hot, and beginning to smoke. Some of it had liquefied, dripping down her horn. Burns will heal.

Bang!

The magical matrix in the inhibitor gave out, sending bits of it all over the room.

The loud noise sent the guards dropping to the floor.

“Hmph.” Mir grinned smugly at the prone guardsponies as she began to unwrap her husband.

Croix’s wings immediately flapped once as the bindings came off them, and he sighed contentedly. The confinement of his wings had affected him more than he’d expected.

“Cease this at once!” The shout had been far louder than anything the guards had been capable of, pinning Croix’s ears back.

“Ha, as if anyone would. Are you interested in a rematch?” Mir grinned viciously at the great white pony striding into the room. “You humiliated me once Celestia. I won’t let it happen again.”

Celestia glared down at the duo. The cage bars held for the moment, so either side would have to either attack around them (which was probably impossible, due to the enchantments she’d had placed on them), or forfeit the initiative by destroying the bars. I always prefer talking to fighting, so let’s see where we can get with that. “What is it you want?”

“Well, let’s start with an apology for attacking us,” Croix broke in.

“I do believe your wife smacked me first.”

“No, this started this morning when your royal guard and your henchwo– henchmare tried to kill my wife.”

“Why do you have to be so reasonable? I was hoping to get my win record against pony princesses to 2-1.”

Wait a second. “You’ve fought a princess before me? And you defeated her? I demand an explanation.”

“Ugh, fine.” Mir rolled her eyes. “Early this morning, your royal guard goons grabbed us and the mare we were staying with, something about a ‘Changeling Verification Act’ that gave them the power to check us out without cause.”

Celestia ground her forehoof into the floor. Only Mir noticed.

“They dragged us before Princess Twilight Sparkle. She asked me some questions and seemed unhappy with my answers. I’ll admit they were evasive, but I don’t like giving out info to people who randomly black bag me. Then she asked me about Sunset Shimmer.”

“Sunset Shimmer?” Celestia’s eyes popped open, even her centuries of experience couldn’t quite keep the mask up.

“Yeah. I answered her questions truthfully, but the stupid lie-detecting flower claimed I was lying, then she went berserk and tried to kill me.”

“Mir, the lie-lilly cannot be deceived. If it claims you made an untrue statement, than you did.”

“Bullshit. It’s impossible for me to have killed Sunset Shimmer.”

Celestia’s eyes opened even further, then narrowed. “What do you mean… killed?”

“I mean Sunset Shimmer died hundreds of years before I was born.”

“Died?” Perhaps it’s someone else named Sunset Shimmer? The lie lilies can behave in interesting ways when its users believe two different things to be the same thing. “Tell me about Sunset Shimmer.”

“Sunset was the greatest wave science theorist ever, and also the first. She came up with what we call song magic at the age of 17, using it to save a high school from evil mind control magic. Or something. After that she went on to oversee the infrastructure development to provide our entire planet with song magic. For some reason there’s no record of her life before age 13 anywhere, not even a birth certificate. Like she just appeared out of thin air one day. Which might be possible in a couple different ways.”

Appeared out of thin air. Perhaps via a portal. But “centuries ago” doesn’t square with that. Unless the portal moves through time as well as distance. Time was always Starswirl’s specialty.

A glass container containing a nauseatingly familiar plant popped into existence outside the cage. “Oh hell no. Not those again.”

Celestia quirked an eyebrow at Mir. “Choose your words carefully, and don’t make your sentences too full of clauses, and you should obtain significant accuracy from them. Now, first question. Please answer yes once I ask.” The lid popped off, held in a sun-yellow aura. “Are the person or pony we both know as Sunset Shimmer one and the same?”

“Yes.”

No reaction. Celestia buried her sadness deep into her core. She’d loved Sunset, but she’d already accepted she was never getting her back when she didn’t return with Twilight as the portal closed. “Now answer this question honestly. Is it possible for you to have killed Sunset Shimmer?”

“No.”

“How long ago did Sunset die?”

“Three quarters of a millenium ago.”

The glass lid lowered, closing the flower from sound. “So, what happened after Twilight asked you about Sunset Shimmer?”

Mir wondered why Celestia wasn’t doing lie detection on that, but knew better than to ask. “She asked me if I killed Sunset Shimmer, and I said no. The flower bloomed and she attacked me, calling me a murderous changeling or something.”

“That seems inconsistent with the behavior of the flower here. What were your exact words?”

Mir closed her eyes, priming her recall. “Hell no, it’d be impossible for me to have done it because time travel isn’t a thing.”

Celestia blinked once. Twice. “Miss Mir, I hate to inform you, but time travel is a real thing. That last clause is false, causing the flower to reject the entire sentence.

Mir blinked as well. “So the whole thing was a big, dumb misunderstanding. Now I’m definitely glad I didn’t finish her off and wait a second.” Time travel is real. Mir’s eyes bulged in shock and focused at infinity directly ahead of herself. I can go back in time. Undo all that horror, that misery. I can…

“No!” Mir turned towards the shout, to see a second, dark blue alicorn stride into the room.

“Luna?” Celestia looked to her sister in confusion. She hadn’t been seen since the previous evening when she had raised the moon.

“Mir, I know what you are thinking, as you have shown what lies in the depths of your heart to me. Do not attempt to tamper with events that have already occurred. That way lies only even greater tragedy as the universe itself pushes back against the paradox: that you travel through time to prevent the reason you traveled through time.”

Mir blinked for a moment as she took that in. Easy come, easy go I guess. But more importantly… “Where were you when they were trying to verify I was actually an ambassador? We could have avoided a lot of ponies getting hurt if you’d answered promptly.”

“We… I received no such request.”

“Huh, I figured burning a message in a dragon’s flame was a terrible method of contacting someone.”

“Was anypony seriously injured?” Luna leaned in preditorially.

“I don’t think so.” Mir made a sweeping gesture with her forehoof. “We’ve had some experience battering people unconscious without permanently messing them up. It used to be his primary job.”

“I was hoping to stay out of this.” Croix used his wing to push down the hoof Mir was pointing at him.

“In any case, we shall attempt to arrange a suitable apology between yourself and Princess Twilight. That is, however, not why I have come to see my sister. I have spent the last day attempting to clean up my own mess. To destroy the last vestiges of my transformation into Nightmare Moon. Unfortunately, I have failed.

“The metamagical matrix I used to transform myself was not the only one of its kind.”

Celestia’s face became impossibly paler.

“It was one of eleven that I made as I perfected the art, and the remaining ones are I believe in the hands of a pony of ill intentions. I have briefly felt them several times in different places in the Everfree, but have been unable to locate them. I felt a burst of dark magic from nearby that tells me somepony has begun to activate them.”

“What?” Celestia blinked. “Why did you not inform me of this earlier?”

Luna flinched back as if struck. “We… I wished to clean up my own mess. I wished to avoid you dwelling on that sordid era.”

“Too bad. You’re going to regret it for the rest of your shortened lives.” The words seemed to come from two voices at once, one male and one female. All heads turned towards the entrance to the cell block. There stood a dark gray pegasus mare, flickering with shadow. Her once yellow eyes were now reddish-orange.

“Sombra!” One shout came from two throats as the alicorn sisters took up flanking positions ahead of and beside the intruder.

“Now now, foolish little fillies. This is merely an innocent mailmare. I’ve provided her with a crude copy of the blessing I’ve extended to those idiots you’ve stupidly entrusted the realm’s safety to. Even now they are under my control. Soon, they will be the end of you. But first, I’ll make you watch this tragedy. This poor single mother will, once I release direct control, attempt to kill the nearest pony she can find. If she can’t find anypony, she’ll kill herself. And dear Luna, you know quite well the added capabilities that the nightmare matrix provides. Without your precious Elements of Harmony, you can’t get it off her by any means. Good luck! Ahahahahahaah…” The laugh faded into nothingness, but the mare wasn’t done talking.

“Ten. Nine. Eight.” She counted down robotically.

Mir looked quizzically at the pegasus as the royal sisters exchanged panicked looks. “I can fix this. Open the cell door.”

The two looked back at her.

“Six. Five.”

“I can fix this, you two step back and give me five minutes. Croix! Time to take a beating for me.”

“Ah, the things I do for love.” Croix smirked as he walked up to the bars and spread his wings, kicking off the last of his restraints.

A lightning look passed between the two alicorns. Luna nodded once, and Celestia opened the cage.

“Two.”

Croix stepped up, inches from the shadowy pegasus.

“One.”

Mir began to sing.

“Zero.” The mailmare launched forward with a look of fury on her face, but wasn’t expecting Croix to begin the fight so close. A ‘ching’ sounded as the pony was hurtled backwards onto her rump.

“Let’s go! Bet you can’t touch me.” Croix smacked his rump with a wing and then hovered into the air.

His opponent surged into the air, then darted past him. She angled in for an attack on Mir, but found Croix suddenly in front of her, once again bouncing her with a ‘ching’ sound. Behind him, the odd figure in a shadowy ball appeared over Mir’s head.

Celestia and Luna watched as Croix deflected attack after attack from the unfortunate mare. While it was obvious she had no training or experience in a fight, her strength was formidable. If she landed a solid blow, whatever pony she hit might become a liquid. Despite this, Mir stood stock still, singing with her eyes closed, not flinching even when Croix deflected attacks barely a body’s length away from herself.

Celestia strained her awareness. She’s not just singing one song. She’s singing a second song at the same time, it’s just not audible physically. It’s mental, purely supporting the magic. How can anypony, anyone, concentrate on two songs at once? The level of mental discipline to do something like that would be unreal. I wonder if I could do that, if I’d practiced my entire life?

“Croix! She’s not as fragile as she looks. You can hit her a little if you think you have to.”

Oh come on! She’s singing a song, and singing a second song, and talking. All at the same time! That’s just showing off.

Four minutes and 20 seconds. The song was coming to its end, and the shadows that had clung to the mare were now streaming off her.

Luna could hardly believe her eyes. As the only pony, ever, to experience the Elements of Harmony from both the right and wrong end, and she had no doubt that the power Mir was drawing on was of the same essential nature.

The song ended, and the gray pegasus flopped to the ground. Mir opened her eyes and gazed down at her fallen foe. “I’d say, based on my experience with this, that she’s completely out of energy now. Can you get her a sweet or something?’

Celestia lay down in front of the mare, and levitated her head. She held her eyes open, and they seemed unfocused and misaligned. The pupillary light reflex still worked, though.

“I recognize that mare.” Luna could see her eye color clearly for the first time, and it added up. “I met her in ponyville. Her eyes are often misaligned normally. Her name is Derpy, I believe.”

“Why in the hell would anyone name their kid–” Croix interrupted his wife with a wing in the mouth. “Ackpth!”

“Dear, no.”

“Derpy seems to be capable of recovery on her own. We must deal with the situation.” Celestia turned to her sister. “First of all, do you believe that Mir’s ability to purge such corruption is part of some elaborate set-up?”

“Wha– Ackpth!” Croix once again prevented his wife from making things harder. She bit down, but he figured he owed a bit.

“I have seen inside Mir’s deepest heart via her dreams. While I shall not reveal what I saw and heard, suffice to say she is powerful and dangerous, but would never use such means, and can be trusted to handle this matter.”

“Hmm. I can work with powerful and dangerous.”

“No offense.” Luna muttered to herself under her breath. Mir made a note of that exchange for future reference.

“So what you want is for me to scrub off the heroes Sombra has corrupted and then kick his ass. I can do it, but it won’t be cheap.”

“Cheap?” Celestia turned to Mir, who had begun to grin like a shark.

“I’m a professional consultant. I can’t just give this away.”

Croix had assumed a similar grin. “We’ll give you a discount on this one. Let’s talk terms.”

Luna suddenly looked up and away from the conversation. “My room! There’s an intruder!”

Phase 2: Escalation Part 7

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The Origin Council left something to be desired in practice, and that thing was Origin Reyvateils.

Certainly, the theory was sound. The three most wise and ancient mortal beings on Ar Ciel gathered together to respond to things that affected the world. Pity two of them never ever showed up.

Frelia was easy to excuse. The poor dear was forever stuck being a bit childlike and naive, unless Mir could ever figure out how to flip the D-Cellophane’s write protect off for a bit.

Luca Trulyworth had served as her proxy for commanding the Tower, so it made sense for her to serve as a proxy at this meeting as well. She seemed pretty down-to-earth and practical. Her red-and-white robe befitted an ancient priestess, and she looked a tiny bit embarrassed to be wearing it. (1) Her short, dark purple hair was mostly hidden behind the gigantic hood, but her warm and pleasant smile was visible for all to see. Luca was here to make things right.

Tyria, her Shurelia would never forgive. She had an incredible mind, an incredible education. But what did she use them for? A life of quiet domesticity as a homemaker! And then there’s her taste in men. At least Lyner’s a nice idiot savant. Ugh. But that Tower has been through so much.

The former General Akane was easily the most severe figure in the room, standing straight and upright with formal military posture. She’d served as the Administrator of the Harvestasha server at the tail end of Tyria’s absence, and Tyria had made it clear that she wished Akane to continue that duty for the rest of her life, then pass it down to a successor Beta Reyvateil.

Despite all the events that had occurred recently, there was still a Tyria, and still a Harvestasha song server, even if there wasn’t really a third Tower. (2) Akane had forgone her old military uniform for a simple business suit. The Clustanian military didn’t really exist anymore, and the Sol Cluster military was rather vestigial. Instead she was appearing purely as a civil authority. In Shurelia’s opinion, the outfit didn’t suit her slight, slender frame and flat gray hair at all. Akane might look like a teenage girl who had dyed her hair gray, but her will of steel was evident. Whatever was best for her people, she would get.

Shurelia sat down at the round table in the center of the room. I always did like the President Togasaki Memorial Conference Room. I should thank Lyner for cleaning it out again. “Greetings. I understand you may have questions or concerns about the current situation. I ask that you hold them until I explain the situation.”

Luca seemed ok with that, judging by the nod, but to Shurelia’s surprise Akane scowled at her. Akane instantly resumed her stony expression, so perhaps it was an unintentional leak of her inner emotions. She wasn’t particularly used to expressing them, but she’d been trying to do so more often.

“A few days ago, Mir and her husband disappeared from their apartment in Platina. We discovered via security surveillance a mysterious individual may have conducted the abduction. She arrived from Sol Cluster in a private aircraft, I have a picture of her here.”

“It’s her.” Akane glared at the picture. It showed a woman with slightly purplish pink skin and a blue-ish purple head of hair with two greenish stripes. She had a very odd facial expression, possibly confusion or discomfort. The curl of the lip suggested she wasn’t liking it, whatever it was.

“Something to add, Akane?” Shurelia didn’t expect the normally taciturn ex-general to talk out of turn.

“I’d been planning to bring this up, but we had a sensitive facility intruded into by that same woman.”

“Oh?”

“It was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.” That meant a lot, coming from Akane. “An incredibly secure room in the heart of Archia’s HQ complex on the Tower of Origin, and she busts out of it. My people spent a lot of time trying to figure out how she got in there and why she didn’t get out the same way. She used song magic to incapacitate everyone she met from that room on until she boarded a private airship.”

“That explains where she got an airship, but absolutely nothing else.” Luca broke into the conversation. “Where’d she go after taking Mir?”

“I was getting to that. We didn’t have any cameras covering Mir’s residence, since she kept stealing them. Honestly, if I didn’t know Mir was still alive I’d say she got chucked over the edge, since that’s the only place you can go from there and not pass a camera.

“I think they did go over the edge.” All eyes turned back to Akane. “I have witnesses who describe the woman levitating herself from the HQ building to the airport, a vertical distance of almost one thousand five hundred meters and a horizontal distance of seven hundred meters.”

“Huh.” The brown haired woman from the airship, Sasha, piped up from a seat away from the central table. “I think I can explain how she got into that room. Is it time for my part of the presentation yet?”

“Yes, however first I must add I have reason to believe based on Tower usage logs that Mir fought something and lost after being abducted. Your presentation.” Shurelia pointed to a screen on one side of the room, which flickered to life.

“OK. So, here we have the space surrounding the Tower of Ar Tonelico. And here, let’s focus on this region here. And let’s look at the graviton sensors. Zoom in… here.”

“What is that?”

“Goddesses!” Aoto had convinced Akane that swearing in intense situations was how a military person expressed their feelings. At this point only he found it funny. “It’s a wormhole.”

“Yes. Now, if you look at this multi-view diagram to show the seven dimensions of it, you can clearly see the stabilizing elements here. This is artificial.”

“So you’re saying that the woman came through a wormhole.” Luca stared flatly at Sasha, seemingly disbelieving what was being said.

“It happened once before.” All eyes turned to Shurelia. “I’m pretty sure it’s not the same guys. We compared the signatures, and this wormhole’s endpoint is nowhere close.”

“OK,” Sasha advanced to the next diagram, “Now you see here the slice of the possibility and time axes, you can see how you end up at 0,0 at both ends, but you take a really weird path to get there? It’s for a reason. The twists cause everything passing through to change form to what they’d be if they were born on that world. Fortunately machines are the same everywhere. I have no idea what you’d turn into if you went over there. Before you ask, we don’t have an explanation for why whoever built the wormhole would do this.

“My best guess is that they wanted to avoid any sci-fi bad stuff, like being slaughtered by a common germ that they’ve never encountered before. It’s not a perfect transformation, so you’d retain your memories and certain other aspects. I’m guessing it’s because it acts on matter but not souls. We’re in the process of sending through a beacon to set up our own wormhole which will not transform anything going through. We’re going to put it into orbit so that bacteria and such can’t just drift through.

“But for the moment, I’ll lay out what we know about the civilization on the other side of the portal.”

The diagram was replaced by a picture of a lush, green land bound by desert to the South and ice to the North. The view shifted to night, and cities were visible along both the East and West coasts, as well as near the center.

“We estimate that the region around the primary wormhole has a population of between one and three hundred million. Additionally we’ve confirmed other cities on other continents.”

“Sarapathra’s tits!” Everyone sighed. Shurelia made a mental note to explain swearing properly to Akane, while Luca began to plot Aoto's prolonged demise.

“Akane’s exclamation aside, this does present a difficulty. Our population isn’t nearly to the level theirs is, and we’re uncertain of their intentions.” Shurelia motioned to the two delegates.

“Furthermore, now that we’re able to figure out what we’re looking for, we’ve confirmed a number of wormholes, one of which goes from this city near the edge of the ice to a point inside Archia’s domain.”

“Ah.” Akane’s eyes narrowed preditorially. “Is there any way to determine how recently the wormholes were opened?”

Sasha shook her head. “Not without historical graviton sweeps, and those have never been done looking at the planet before. Only up at the sky. Based on subtle vibration effects, we’ve determined that they were modified in an unknown manner shortly before the crossover of our unknown visitor.”

“So what you’re saying is that they could have staged these positions at any time, and have now acted as our planet recovers and our military is at its peak of unreadiness?”

Shurelia didn’t like where this was going. “Are you saying they’re a prelude to an invasion?”

Akane nodded grimly. “Yes. They’ve gone straight after our foremost security specialist, and they’ve taken her to do who knows what to her. Their population is estimated to be likely double our entire planet’s just in that one region, and they could easily have a powerful military ready to go when the green light is given.”

Everyone in the room was taken aback. Shurelia broke in, “Is this something you’d have done, back then?”

“Absolutely.” Akane locked eyes with the Origin, glaring at her. “I was a tool of malevolence, and did terrible things because I believed them to be right. What I did cannot be undone. But I will prevent anyone else from executing an attack upon this world.”

“So,” broke in Luca, “What must be done?”

“We need to be certain. If I’m right, well, we don’t have a lot of good options. I’d say our best bet is to strike first and hard. A blow so strong it cripples their nation, possibly even their world.”

“That’s barbaric!” Shurelia slapped the edge of the table. “Are you suggesting we blast howevermany innocent civilians to death with some First-Age weapon of mass destruction?”

Akane closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “We have a responsibility to our people. We can’t gamble with their future. But it shouldn’t be necessary to erase the whole thing. Rapacious conquerors tended to be highly centralized. The only casualties would be in the capital city.”

“I… kind of agree with Akane.” Luca stroked her chin nervously as Shurelia turned to her. “I… don’t exactly want to blow anyone up, but we can’t afford to take risks. All of our civilization is in a perilous stage, and anything messing with it could conquer us easily unless we’re willing to risk being put back into the same situation we left a decade ago.”

“Fine.” Shurelia sat down and slumped in resignation. “I insist on a scouting party to verify their intentions.”

“I can help with that a little.” All eyes turned to Sasha. “I sent an old First-Age translator through the wormhole on a drone, and it came back with the option to translate into something called ‘Equestrian’ language.”

“Excellent. I believe I know who I would recommend for the scouting party.”

“Really, Akane?” Shurelia was sure she wasn’t going to like this.

“Yes. Due to the danger, I’d like to take our remaining two most powerful non-Origin reyvateils.”

“I don’t think Cloche is available.”

“Luca, while I greatly admire Lady Cloche, I believe that her power is slightly inferior to both mine, and that of my friend Finnel.”

“Huh. That sounds almost reasonable. Anyone else?”

“Yes, Shurelia. In the interest of packing as much firepower into as small a group as possible, I request that you grant Finnel and I control of Raki. Additionally, I shall bring my Antibody companion, Kokuro.”

“Huh, that’s a lot of firepower for sure.” Luca blanched a bit. “Shurelia, you have the auth codes for transferring Raki’s control?”

“Yes. I’m recalling now that I’ve freely given Mir quite a lot of access to the Tower’s systems. If they somehow manage to break her will, they could win the war in that moment. If Akane’s right, we’re on a clock. I’ll make the necessary arrangements.”

Akane saluted. “I’ll go see to Finnel. She probably doesn’t want to fight any more, but this world needs her.”

“Meeting adjourned then. Who’s up for a snack?” Luca’s threat/offer immediately cleared the room as those present went to perform their duties elsewhere.

Mir had teleported quite a few times before. The static-to-dynamic-and-back-again conversion was quite well understood, allowing you to get places much more quickly. It was still disorienting to be teleported by someone else suddenly.

In front of them stood a great wooden door marked with embossed moons of various phases and gilded with silver along the edges. Celestia smashed it open with one front hoof.

The room inside was lit by a red-purple glow coming from a side room, and the Princesses dashed towards it, Croix and Mir following and keeping an eye out for flankers and ambushers.

Twilight stood in the center of a number of square tables, each topped with a rubbery black substance. Luna’s private laboratory. It had been cleaned out recently, but three tables were still in use. Two of the tables held smashed glass boxes. The third contained a currently-intact glass box with a bright red crystal floating within it.

That’s one of the bootstrap crystals I made for Luna. What’d she do with the others?

The junior Princess’s aura expanded over the intact box, but was then itself enveloped in a midnight blue aura. “Halt!”

“Ah, Luna!” Twilight turned towards the Night Princess with an odd, hungry look in her eye. “Celestia.” The hunger intensified as she looked towards the Eldest Princess. “I finally understand now. It feels great. All the fear, the anxiety, the uncertainty. It’s gone. I know what I’m meant to do.”

Luna gulped audibly. The lack of doubt seemed to point towards an infection by the Nightmare metamagic. A closer look confirmed that suspicion, as Twilight seemed to be visibly suppressing a tinge of dark magic around her horn, wings, and hooves.

“And what are you meant to do, my f… friend?” Celestia had almost called her her “faithful student” but caught herself in time.

“Succeed you.”

Everypony, including Mir and Croix, instantly assumed a fighting stance.

“No no no, not here. Not now. We’ll do this when the time is right.” Twilight vanished.

After a moment, to verify Twilight had really left the castle, Celestia turned to Mir with a disappointed expression on her face. “You had to short out the castle’s teleportation defense system.”

“To be honest, I had no idea I’d done so up until now.”

Celestia blinked. “Ho...how? You did it without realizing you’d done it?”

Mir smiled. “Overkill is my modus operandi, so I probably just used so much power it couldn’t handle it.”

“Alright, let’s just…”

“Your majesty! Princess Celestia!” An out of breath pegasus guard rushed into the room, bowed briefly, and slumped down. “There’s an emergency in Ponyville. And Princess Twilight doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it.”

“I am afraid Twilight is… not available at the moment. Tell me, what is going on?”

“There’s a… black rainbow of some kind. It’s shooting through the sky at incredible speed, shearing the tops of trees off and frightening the townsfolk with its loud booms.”

Black rainbow. Perhaps if Rainbow Dash has had the Nightmare take hold of her as well, her natural speed has been enhanced as her aura has darkened? “Very well,” broke in Princess Luna, “We shall handle this personally. Sister, consultants, if you would come with.”

“Con… sultants?” The guard looked past the Princesses to see the other two ponies in the room. “You’re the miscreants from the throne room!”

“I am well aware of this. They are working to pay off the damages inflicted.” Celestia swept out a wing to call for silence and declare the matter closed. “Come. The four of us shall make for Ponyville with all haste. Due to the immediacy of the threat, we will forgo the normal Guard compliment. The two of us can protect ourselves from anything that we should encounter.”

The guard pointedly did not say, “Does that include treacherous consultants?” He did however think it. And he would soon say it to others.

“Raven. Red Cell.” The tall unicorn Guard Captain and the petite unicorn Steward of the Castle stared across the conference table at Celestia. “I have called you here because I am forced to confront danger to our land face-to-face.”

As Red Cell opened her mouth Celestia raised a hoof for silence. “I shall take only a small group of selected individuals, including my sister and two others. We should be able to deal with things in under a week. During this time, I wish for the two of you to manage the affairs of the nation in my stead. Raven, you shall, in your capacity as Steward of the Castle, handle civil matters for me. Red Cell, you may handle any military matters that occur other than the one I am handling.”

Red Cell noted a slight hitch in Celestia’s voice during that last sentence. “What exactly are you handling?”

“An outbreak of Dark Magic that may have affected the Bearers of the Elements. I’ve found an alternate means of cleansing it, so I have every confidence this can be dealt with swiftly and confidentially.”

“Very good, ma’am.” Raven bowed curtly. Red Cell glared at her in annoyance, her unspoken question of “That’s all the information you need?” directed at Raven but intended for Celestia.

The Princess picked up on the message. “I intend to handle this with the utmost confidentiality. Respond to inquiries about my absence with the fact that I am seeing to ‘magical business’ elsewhere. Farewell, and keep my kingdom guided well.”

With that, Celestia left the room.

Raven turned to Red Cell, expecting the angry mare to launch into a tirade about how Celestia had failed to provide “stringent guidance” or somesuch. Instead, she sat on the cushion with her head bowed.

Red Cell’s eyes twitched beneath their eyelids as if she was dreaming, and a faint red magical aura flittered about her horn.

Minutes passed as Raven stared at her companion, not knowing what to make of this most un-Red-Cell behavior. Finally Red Cell opened her eyes again, and turned to Raven.

“The Princesses have left Canterlot.” With that, Red Cell inhaled deeply, then spat out a gigantic red glob of goop that pinned Raven to the wall. “Oh yes, it’s finally time. All these years of infiltrating the Guard have paid off. This day is going to be just perfect.”

End Phase 2: Escalation

Begin Phase 3: Consultancy

Phase 3: Consultancy Part 1

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Evening in Ponyville did not shimmer or shine. Instead, with the dust clouds blowing through, and the broken glass littering the streets, it appeared almost post-apocalyptic.

As she hung from her husband’s grasp, Mir reflected that she had rarely really had a chance to survey the scene of a disaster in such a state. Usually the ones she came across were either so final as to leave not even a trace, or so far in the past that green growth had overtaken the ruins. As the party closed in, she noted that other than the library, there seemed to be little sign of true structural damage.

“The citizens are all hiding inside.” Luna’s horn was lit with a soft blue glow that gradually faded out.

“A wise course of action.” Celestia scanned the horizon. The so-called “black rainbow” didn’t seem to be present.

“Looking for me?” A sudden sensation of presence made Celestia flinch. There was no sign of movement, only a trail of afterimages behind the mare, and a wedge of sky in a rainbow of darkened, muted colors.

Then the wind hit her, and Celestia, Luna, and Croix were forced back.

“Huh, little strong on that entrance, eh?” Rainbow Dash seemed larger, sharper. Her coat was darker in color and she wore a dark purple flightsuit. Luna recognized it as her Shadowbolt uniform, but more specifically as Rainbow Dash’s Nightmare Night costume.

“Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?” Luna didn’t have much hope of reasoning with someone in the grips of her twisted metamagic, but she felt a need to give it a try.

“It’s simple. I’ve finally figured out what I need to do to make the Wonderbolts respect me. No more of this ‘reserve member’ crap.” She grinned maliciously. “I just have to kill Princess Celestia and they’ll be forced to acknowledge my awesomeness.”

Celestia braced for an attack. Instead, Rainbow seemed to vanish toward the horizon.

Mir sighed from her position in Croix’s hooves. “I’m afraid that if she’s not in range of the song, it’s not going to work. We’re going to have to hold her still.”

“Very well.” Celestia flexed her neck and began to set herself to the task at hand. “You two, remain out of the line of fire. We’ll search for her–”

There was no warning. A beam of dark colors seemed to appear from the horizon and slam into Celestia. Anypony less than an alicorn would have been reduced to mush. As it was, Celestia was sent spinning through the air.

Luna turned to restrain the Pegasus with her magic, but there was nothing left for her to grab. A trail stretched towards the horizon, and Luna could no longer perceive her quarry. “Her speed…” She didn’t know how to finish the sentence, so she left it there.

Celestia coughed as she righted herself, a salty tang entering her mouth. Blood. How long has it since a foe made me bleed? Even Chrysalis’s attacks didn’t draw blood. It was… Nightmare Moon. Celestia looked away from her concerned sister and stared at the receding contrail. “Croix, set Mir down somewhere out of danger. We shall handle this. Somehow.”

Somehow? Croix raised an eyebrow at that. Still, unless Mir countermanded, the Princesses were in charge. His wife nodded and pointed a hoof at the roof of what seemed to be an apartment building, one of the tallest structures in the town.

Mir turned her head and yelled back to the Princesses, “Good luck with Alexander’s Dark Band(1) there!”

“Luna, what is going on with her mind?” Celestia re-angled her football-shaped force-shield against her guess as to where Rainbow Dash would next attack from.

The Night Princess sighed deeply, angling her own own shield. “I planted… instructions in the metamagic. I was worried that at the last moment I would lose my nerve, or you would somehow persuade me against it. So I added mental compulsions that would last until you were gone.”

A dim beam hit the angled side of the shield and bounced off. Celestia flinched as the feedback from the shield hit her horn, and flinched some more as the side of the shield impacted against her wingtip. A quick roll enabled her to stretch it out and resume hovering, albeit at a lower altitude and with a little less energy. “How is she doing this?”

“The metamagic will amplify her magic until she stops using it entirely or… she is used up.” Luna looked down guiltily. This is all my fault for failing to properly dispose of these in time.

“You don’t have to worry, just let me at her and this will all be over!” A black rainbow bounced off the side of Luna’s shield like a pinball and slammed flat into Celestia’s from an unexpected angle, shattering it entirely.

The shield held just long enough to allow Celestia to vanish, appearing in a somewhat disoriented state behind her sister.

Celestia huffed and shook her head. “We can’t win like this. Take it to the ground?”

Luna paused to consider this. “Our ponies are down there, unable to leave safely.”

“Of course.” Celestia looked around, searching for a solution.

“She’s going to get smashed.” Croix shook his head as Celestia narrowly bounced another attack run by the Nightmare-infused Rainbow Dash. “Each time the shield is just a bit weaker and she can’t take a hit like that with her body.”

“Hmmm.” Mir sat on a rooftop next to him, eyes closed and ears twitching. “Looks like our pegasus projectile is cruising at mach 7 but makes her attack run at an even greater speed. Turning radius is about 30km. A little under a minute between attacks.”

Croix no longer needed to ask her how she knew that. He merely considered the problem facing them. The alicorn sisters were unable to engage something moving that fast. Mir didn’t actually give a speed for the attack run, just that it’s “even greater” than mach 7. Rainbow must be moving even faster than Mir can perceive, and that’s no good.

“We’re going in.” Croix took to the air and extended a leg to his wife. She nodded and reared back, allowing him to grab her forelegs with his. With his greater size, he had no trouble lifting her as he took off.

Mir began to sing softly.

“OK. I’m going to try something.”

“Let’s do this.” Mir always liked it when Croix reminded her that she didn’t love him just for his body or personality.

“I love you too, Finnel.” The two purple-haired women broke their embrace. The former General Akane let go of a slightly shorter, similarly slender-proportioned woman whose pinkish-purple hair was arranged into two very long tails on either side. “Is the tourism plan still on track, then?”

“Yes, it is. The Sol Ciel people almost never get to see a Beta Reyvateil, so we’re mysterious and exotic. All we have to do is be friendly. How was your meeting? You look shook up.” Finnel gazed into her wife’s eyes, but Akane turned away rather than meet them.

“I am very sorry. The world is in danger again.”

“Again?!?” Finnel threw up her hands and threw back her head as she shouted, then slumped forward in disgust. “Why can’t it just stay saved for a little bit?” She straightened back up, then looked towards Akane’s head once again. “That’s not what you’re apologizing for, is it.”

“No.” Akane continued to face away from her, presenting only an impassive gray wall of perfectly straight hair. “I will need to fight again. And… I want you to help me.”

“What?!?!!?” Finnel grabbed Akane, spinning her around and staring directly into her eyes. Akane started to look away, then returned the stare. “How can you drag me back? I’ve been feeling, for the first time in my life, really better. Really ok. Really loved.”

“I am sorry.” Akane couldn’t let herself look away. “I have never asked anyone to do something I would be unwilling to do myself. Indeed, I frequently have tried to do things myself that I should perhaps have delegated. I do love you. But I know in my heart that no matter how much I love you, I must put the good of the planet first.”

Akane jerked forward as Finnel dragged her by the collar. The tiles of the floor scattered and cracked with the force of the pull as Akane's nose pressed against Finnel's. “Go on.” Her glare was murderous. Akane knew Finnel had long regarded her as her only true friend. If she believed that Akane had betrayed her…

“But despite all that, I cannot order you to do anything. I can only ask. Please Finnel, will you help me?” Akane stepped back to a comfortable distance as Finnel released her.

“I… don’t know. I don’t have the Wills of the Planet to lend me power anymore. I’m not sure I can.” Tears began to well in her eyes as she began to turn away.

Akane patted Finnel on the shoulder. The touch caused Finnel to turn back towards her wife. “I know you can do it, Finnel. Despite everything, you’re still a Clustanian Reyvateil, and your soulspace has been dived extensively. You have considerable power still. Even if you can no longer call upon Suzunomia, you retain access to powerful songs, and are still capable of executing a Flipsphere. You are the most powerful non-Origin Reyvateil we have.”

Finnel brushed away a tear. “Thank you. I’m not entirely sure I’m willing to help out, but I want to think about it some more. Is there going to be a declared state of emergency? Because otherwise, I still have to manage the tourism program, and I’ll need someone to cover for me.”

“Celestia, we’ve got a plan.” Mir glanced at the beleaguered princess. Celestia was bleeding visibly from the point of her left shoulder and her left ribs. Apparently Dash was concentrating attacks against that side. Her breathing seemed ragged. “I’m guessing things haven’t been working out for you so far?”

“Hmph. Yes, I… admit… to having some difficulty. I had begun to seriously contemplate saving myself in hopes of being able to start over again.”

“We probably don’t have time for something like that. Sombra is almost certainly using your friends as a sort of ablative shield for his real plan.”

“Very well. What is your plan?”

“I’m going to have Croix deflect her into an obstacle.”

“What!?!?” Celestia turned furiously towards Mir.

Mir shook her head. “It’s probably not going to hurt her. And we need to do this soon.” Mir’s face pulled back in alarm. “Time! Focus on the shield!”

A loud crackle followed by the sound of breaking glass blew over Mir and Croix as they dodged fragments of energy from the shield.

Luna caught her sister in her aura as the darkened rainbow contrail sped off into the distance.

“Sister! Speak to me!”

There was a raspy coughing, and then Celestia spoke. “I’m… still alive. I can still fly for now, let go of me.”

“Okay, there isn’t any more time. Let me ride on your back so that Croix can block attacks coming at you.”

Celestia briefly considered it. She didn’t have any other options, and the voice that always told her that time was on her side and she could try again tomorrow was silent. “Very well.”

Mir lept from Croix’s leg-grip onto Celestia’s back, then flattened herself against the larger mare’s back, draping her legs forward and backward of the wing joints.

Croix took up a position ahead of the two of them and took a deep breath, closing his eyes to concentrate intently.

Flap wings.

The speed of the attack is irrelevant. No matter how fast or slow it goes, it only arrives at one specific point in time. The only goal is to anticipate it.

Flap wings.

His mind drifted back to his training, almost twenty years ago. His master and his master’s partner had showed him the art of blocking for a Reyvateil.

Don’t rely on your sight. Rely on your inner eye. Croix had always been able to “see” the timing of the incoming attacks’ waveforms. It “looked” a lot like the mark on his side, the sensation of red and white lines.

Flap wings.

I can see it. Croix gave an extra flap to make sure the angle was right. He opened his eyes to give a quick once-over of his calculated trajectory. Quills and Sofas workshop? That building is visibly filled with feathers. Nopony visible inside through the skylights. OK. Should be able to stop her.

Flap wings.

I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, but you’re going 0-3 against me. Even you aren’t fast enough, and you don’t know that you need to mess with the timing.

In the distance, a blur was just barely visible streaking right toward him. But he wasn’t looking at it.

I’ve blocked light.

There was a “ching” sound and a blast of wind as Rainbow’s momentum suddenly interfered with itself.

Then there was an immense explosion from the workshop, throwing feathers high into the air.

“Akane! So glad to see you’re back!” If not for its giant ears and the fact that it was levitating, Kokuro could have been mistaken for a blue teddy bear with its large head, larger round ears, and small, cute body.

And also the fact that it spoke telepathically.

“It is good to see you too. However, I must ask a favor of you. This world is in danger.”

“Yeah, I heard stuff. I’m the only antibody left, but Ar Ru still sends out updates for me. Something about another world.”

“Really?” Akane’s eyebrow raised by an amount that would require an electron microscope to detect. “What has she said?”

“It’s mostly in terms of probability, and mostly from the perspective of the planet itself. There’s a really high chance of nothing happening and a really small chance of needing drastic action to prevent a horrible thing.”

“Horrible thing?” Akane’s eyebrow movement now could be noticed if you happened to be looking directly at it with your face almost touching hers.

“I… I don’t know the words to explain it. I’m sorry.”

“What drastic action, then?”

“I don’t know either. She actually didn’t say.”

“Well.” Akane brightened up, to the extent an experienced observer could detect during conversation. “We are preparing to make a reconnaissance mission to the other world to determine its level of danger to us. I wish you to accompany us and once again fight at my side.”

“Okay!” Kokuro flew up and looped around. “I’m always happy to be of use.”

Akane’s smile was actually about normal size. “Excellent. We need only one more member of our group.”

“Oops.” Mir shook her head.

“That building was a lot less resilient than it looked.” Croix sagged as he awaited any of the many possible forms bad news could take.

Below, the Quils and Sofas Workshop had been utterly demolished, along with the nail factory behind it and the glassworks behind that. Rainbow had apparently come to a stop in a scrapyard at the center of Ponyville’s tiny industrial area, judging by the crater and smoke.

Luna’s horn lit up. “We detect no recent loss of life in the area. Rainbow Dash must still be alive.”

“Honestly, that was rather reckless.” Celestia glared at Mir on her back.

“I’m sorry I saved your life?” Mir challenged Celestia to retort to that.

“I wasn’t quite on the ropes yet.”

“Ladies, if you would, we need to get over to Rainbow Dash.”

Mir nodded to acknowledge Croix and Celestia dipped down and began to glide towards the crater. Luna shot forward, surging with visible desperation to reach the pegasus before any further harm could occur.

Rainbow was laid out in the center of the crater, wings and limbs splayed, covered with dirt and soot. Luna performed another magical scan, and then lay down on top her. “She is unconscious, and I have her pinned. Perform the song.”

Celestia rolled just above the ground to drop Mir onto an outcropping. Mir landed on all four hooves at once and skidded to a stop.

“Right.” Mir repeated her performance of Exec_Harmonius_Fusion, and the darkness that clung to Rainbow began to stream off her. Celestia watched as Mir swayed, danced sedately, and sung with her eyes closed standing on the edge of the crater, and only stumbled a couple times.

At the song’s conclusion, the pegasus’s coat was once again its normal shade. “Ugh… Twilight. Maybe this is a bad idea… ugh.” She tried to stir beneath the weight of Luna’s barrel pressing her down, then began to flail.

“At ease, Rainbow Dash. We have saved you from a most foul torment.”

“Ugh… What happened? I remember Twilight offering us these weird things to make us powerful enough to fight the changelings, and then I was going to impress the Wonderbolts by… by…” Rainbow’s head, sticking out from beneath Luna’s side, suddenly whipped back and forth as her eyes widened. “Sweet Celestia! I tried to kill the princess! I mean I tried to kill Princess Celestia! Oh please tell me I didn’t actually…”

“It was not your fault. The orb contained a command that forced its user to attack her.” Mir poked her hoof against Luna’s side, encouraging her to let Dash up.

Rainbow’s eyes narrowed as she realized who had approached. “Wait, what is she doing here?”

Mir snorted. “I just saved your life by dispelling the enchantment you were under. And I’m not a changeling, and neither is Croix.”

“Yes, what she says is correct.” Celestia trotted into Dash’s view. “Luna, please let her up.”

“Ugh.” Luna rose to her hooves and stepped to the side. Rainbow trembled as she tried to rise, skidding a little, then pausing and panting. “Why am I so tired?”

Mir stepped closer, bringing her face almost touching with Dash’s. She gave the pony a quick once-over, then replied: “I’m sorry, I’m afraid the purging process was not perfect. I’m not the Elements of Harmony, after all.”

“Yes,” Luna added with her face downcast, “the Elements of Harmony would be our only other option to save you. Since they are not available, we are quite grateful Mir was able to provide her services to us.”

“But… she attacked us!”

“Rainbow Dash, who landed the first blow?” Mir smirked haughtily at her.

Rainbow gulped. “Uh, Twilight.”

“I didn’t kill Sunset Shimmer. The flower reacted to my saying that time travel wasn’t real, which was part of the same sentence.”

“Oh.” Rainbow Dash tried to recall. “Yeah, time travel is a thing that Twilight has done. I guess if she were here, and not brainwashed by some weird orb or something, we’d make a diary entry about getting off on the wrong foot.”

“No worries.” Mir’s smile was no longer smug or haughty. She was just glad things had worked out.

Croix offered his hoof. “Yeah. Once you’re feeling better, maybe I can show you a few moves. You’ve got great speed, but your control could use some work.”

Rainbow bumped it. “That sounds awesome. But right now, I need a nap.” Luna’s magic caught the pegasus as she slumped over.

“Well, one down, five to go?” Mir scanned the vicinity for an inn. She’d developed a sense for where they were located once she started travelling with people.

“Nay, it is one down, nine to go. And I doubt they will all be this easy.”

Croix smirked. “I’d think Rainbow would be offended that you called her easy. Celestia’s side would argue otherwise.”

Celestia looked towards the sky. “We can’t stop on my account. The others should still be in town. If they are wracked with madness, it shouldn’t be too hard to locate them.” She sighed. “Follow the screaming.”

“Sound is my thing. Quiet, please.” Mir’s ears twitched as they scanned and swiveled like radar dishes. “That way. It’s… Sweetie Belle!” Mir dived under Croix and head-butted him into the air, her horn scraping against the breastplate of his armor. “Move!!!!!”

She didn’t need to tell anypony twice.

Phase 3: Consultancy Part 2

View Online

Sweetie Bell carefully nosed her head out from under the porch, making sure to keep the bushes to her side between herself and the sun. The rainbow of darkness, whatever it was, had just passed overhead and it should be safe to move now.

Should.

Sweetie had taken note of the timing of the attacks of the rainbow of darkness; between each pass, there was about one minute of safety. She looked over at the porch across the street and two doors down – there should be just enough time.

She leapt out of the hiding spot, barreling forward and darting around a spread of broken glass that had been knocked from the windows of one of the houses. Jumping over the harness of an abandoned wagon, she scooted under the porch just as another tremendous boom rattled the planks.

Carousel Boutique, she had to get to Carousel Boutique. Whatever was going on, her sister was a Hero of Equestria with a capital "H" and Sweetie knew Rarity'd know what to do. She'd catch her breath and wait for the opening after this one.

One minute.

Boom!

Sweetie dashed through the side yard, leaping over the low shrubs and into the back yard of the house behind her previous hiding space. This house, however, did not have a porch, Sweetie discovered.

Looking around frantically, she spotted a doghouse, and hoped it was unoccupied as she dived in. Fortunately, it was.

Boom!

Across the street she could see the back door to the Boutique. Almost there Sweetie! Keep it together!

She waited for the boom.

She waited.

And waited.

And waited...

No boom?

Boom! The sound was distant, coming from over Ponyville's modest industrial district at the North of the town rather than over its center. Sweetie ventured a glance out the door of the doghouse, and, craning her neck, beheld the rainbow of darkness (unbeknownst to her, the possessed Rainbow Dash) attacking a distant white speck with a blue speck hovering near it.

Is that... Princesses Celestia and Luna? It kind of looks like them. I'm glad they're on the case, now to go find Rarity. I'm sure she'll know what to do. If she's not in then maybe Mir's back at the Boutique? I hope the bad things they were saying about her were just a misunderstanding, but everything's gone crazy today. Worse than it usually does.

Anxiously, Sweetie extended one leg out from the shadow of the doghouse, then her other front leg, and finally crawled all the way out. She looked up. The Rainbow of Darkness was battling the Princesses to the north exactly where she'd last seen them fighting.

Instead of rushing pell-mell towards the Boutique, Sweetie took a cautious pace, dividing her gaze between the battle and the nearly empty street.

"Authorization code Barsett Delta Niner Omega."

"Administrator Shurelia, you are acknowledged." The red and white shell of the android bore resemblance to a shorter version of an ancient priestess's robe, but was obviously solid metal.

"Confirm direct order authority."

"Negative. Tower Administrator possesses advisory authority only." The so-called "maid-droid" combat androids were among the most deadly combatants of the first age, with their durable armor and self-repair systems making them virtually invincible. This one, known as Raki, had been built almost eight centuries ago and was more or less in perfect condition, ready to activate its rocket wings and cut its targets to pieces with its gigantic energy sword at any moment – a fact leading a little urgency to the conduct of the room's other inhabitants.

In front of Raki, holding her attention, stood the small, white-haired woman known as Shurelia, but behind her were her two female engineering friends, Sasha and Krusche. "Maybe this command?" Krusche pointed to a line on one of the screens displaying a readout on the android.

"That's the factory reset command. I have no idea who she'd acknowledge as her primary user in that case."

"Ugh." Krusche banged her metallic left arm on the frame of the monitor. "I'm sick of this. Everything depends on people who don't exist anymore, or command passwords that are lost to history. What the hell would you do in the event of an emergency preventing you from contacting HQ..." Krusche stopped, blinked once. "Emergency mode! Shurelia's the highest high-up in the chain of command still standing. If we could somehow force Raki to contact her boss, it'll eventually fail down to Shurelia."

Sasha smacked one palm with her other hand balled up in a fist. "Right. But..." Her face fell. "Is there such an emergency mode?"

Krusche nodded. "Yep. Here it is, chain of command verification." She turned and rushed up to Shurelia. Raki glanced at her as she entered her field of vision, but made no other move and remained fixed on Shurelia. Krusche whispered into Shurelia's ear.

"Raki unit, there are casualties among the chain of command. Please verify your chain of command using the Residence Server of the Tower of Ar Tonelico," Shurelia commanded.

"Acknowledged, standing by. Tabulating the list of dead, presumed dead, and missing against the command chart. Processing. Highest ranking controller acknowledged as Administrator Shurelia. Direct Order Authority acknowledged. Awaiting orders."

Shurelia smiled. "Finally. Direct order: accept orders from General Akane. End order."

"Acknowledged. General Akane is now authorized to give Ordinary orders."

"Excellent. Direct order: protect General Akane and Specialist Finnel."

"Bodyguard protocol loaded. Subjects: General Akane, Specialist Finnel."

"Clarification of previous order: prioritize the protection of Specialist Finnel, General Akane can take care of herself mostly."

"Acknowledged."

"Psst, Shurelia." Sasha pressed a note into the palm of her hand.

"Oh, uh, right. Also, cancel demolition order for the Second Tower."

"Acknowledged."

Shurelia nodded, then walked past Raki to her engineers. "Good job everyone, really glad that's over with. Let's get everything ready to send them in."

"Rarity!" Sweetie could see her sister's hindquarters poking out of the shop's entrance. Beaming, she rushed forward. "I'm so glad you're here, it's even worse than usual and – oh dear." Sweetie's smile of relief darkened to a frown of concern as her sister turned around and emerged fully into the waning daylight.

Rarity seemed much taller now, her horn sharper, her fur grayer.

"Sweetie! So good to see you." Rarity's grin was diabolical and menacing. "I need you to do something for me." She loomed over her smaller sibling.

"Uh..." Sweetie cringed away. "Sure! OK! Sounds good!"

"Wonderful! Now die!"

Sweetie jolted into the air just as a blast from Rarity's horn scorched the dirt under her feet into slag. Touching down, she hot-hoof skittered backwards. "Wh-wh-why!"

"Because..." Rarity's voice seemed distorted, with an odd crackle underlying it. "Because we don't get along, we're too different. We'll never understand one another."

Sweetie's lip quavered. "Didn't... but... the Sisterhoof Social!"

"Oh." Rarity paused, eyes moving left and right. Her mouth hung open, but nothing was coming out except the crackling noise. "Oh right, I need to kill you because you always mess up."

"But..." Sweetie sniffled, "that whole thing with Luna and the Sapphire Shores outfit!"

"Oh, right. Ummm..." Once again Rarity paused with her mouth open and the odd, electronic crackle the only sound. "I'm killing you because the voice in my head keeps saying I have to."

"Oh come on!" Sweetie's annoyance quickly turned to fear as she realized Rarity was charging up another bolt. She ducked under the projectile, then rolled away from a second one.

Rarity growled in frustration. "Stop being so difficult you silly bag of fluff!" Rarity giggled madly, her eye twitching. "Fluff and blood!"

Rarity's horn lit, but rather than fire another bolt at Sweetie, she levitated a set of needles from somewhere inside the shop out through one of the broken windows. The aura around them flickered from purple and green as they arranged themselves into a V-formation pointed at Sweetie.

"Your fur would look so much better dyed red." Rarity's mad grin was almost as terrifying to Sweetie as the possibility of being killed by her sister, seeming to stretch all the way around her head.

"Hold it!" An orange blur collided with Rarity, causing the aura to cut out and the needles to fall to the ground.

"Uhfff! You little ruffian! You're dying too. I'd stuff a pillow with you if you had any proper wings." Rarity staggered for a moment before she caught her footing; between her and Sweetie stood a panting Scootaloo.

"Thank you." Sweetie felt more relaxed than she'd been since Mir saved her from Tirek – she knew the value of having a friend. "Scoots, give me a hoof for a little bit." Deep inside her mind, data aligned itself. The crystal planted by Mir split off a new bud.

Sweetie began to sing. She sang of how safe she felt when she was held in the forelegs of her loved ones. Her friends. Her family. Mir.

"Fine; I'll bleed you dry! Both of you!" The shop building itself was lit in a blue aura that rapidly changed to purple and green, and every needle in the shop flew out the windows, hanging in the air like an alien armada. As one, the hundreds of sharp bits of metal aligned themselves towards the two fillies. Scootaloo threw her forlegs over her face, but Sweetie just kept singing.

The needles surged forward, only to bounce against an invisible bubble surrounding Swetie and Scootaloo, clattering to the ground.

Sweetie opened her eyes to grin. "I'm not helpless anymore. I don't have to take things from bullies or monsters." She gave her sister an appraising look. "Or both."

Rarity took a step back. "What! You dare threaten me?"

Sweetie stared back. "I'd just like you to stop trying to kill me, if that's all right."

"Ooooh!" Rarity glared at her, stomping a hoof. "I'll stop all right! When you're dead!"

"What the Tartarus is wrong with you?" Scootaloo put her hooves down, realizing that she was not, in fact, impaled. She couldn't hear what Sweetie was singing, but it was somehow something she could feel. It felt nice. It was like she was connected to everything around her, her senses expanded.

"Drop dead!" Rarity tossed her head and flung a ball of magical energy from her head into the air. The ball of glowing energy arced and began to fall towards Sweetie.

Scootaloo didn't really know why, but she knew she had to get between the ball and Sweetie. She bent all four knees, and lept up and backwards.

The trajectory wasn't quite right.

Scootaloo's wings couldn't keep her in the air, but they could move her a bit.

Looking good.

The ball was getting closer.

Scootaloo batted it with a hoof.

Ching!

The ball went soaring into the air and detonated high over Ponyville. Sparks danced along the edge of Scootaloo's hoof, but dissipated harmlessly.

Oh wow I did it. Oh right landing.

Scootaloo buzzed her wings to straighten out, then landed with all four hooves simultaneously right in front of Sweetie. The singing filly didn't flinch, deep in concentration on the song. Power was building around her horn and streaming into a glowing orb over her head.

"I... khhh... how!" Rarity stamped her fore-hooves and snorted. "This is hardly fair to poor little me." She slyly glanced a space behind Sweetie "I suppose I'll have to..." Rarity vanished. "SURPRISE YOU!" Rarity appeared directly behind Sweetie, hooves raised in a decidedly rampant posture.

Before she could bring them down, a sudden impact slammed into her sternum, driving her backwards. Scootaloo glared up at her.

"No way!"

"Scootaloo. Thank you." Sweetie's eyes were closed, concentrating on her song. Not much longer. Then switch and strike.

Rarity backpedaled, eye staring wide. "I will destroy you! And then slay Princess Celestia! And then my designs will be eternal, the most daring fashionista ever!"

"You're not making any sense." Scootaloo shook her head at the mare. "Is this a dark magic thing? I heard about it at Twilight Time."

"I am trying to be dramatic here! This is supposed to be some kind of final showdown between me and my destined rival, my sister."

"Uh, we've never been rivals, Rarity." The energy hovering over Sweetie had taken on the form of a pegasus filly wrapped in ribbons, but suddenly vanished in a burst of feathers, to be replaced by a gigantic Opalescence. The feline construct pounced forward, smashing, smacking, and clawing the mare. Rarity and her attacker vanished briefly into a cloud of dust kicked up by the attack.

When it faded, Rarity lay sprawled in a small crater, covered in scrapes and cuts. Her coat was matted and marred, but Rarity seemed too exhausted to care. She remained darkened and enlarged, however.

Sweetie panted for a moment as she regarded her sister, glaring at her unmoving form.

Then the silence was broken by cheering and stomping. Sweetie turned to her side to see Mir standing across the street, next to the doghouse she'd briefly hid in.

"Great job girls." As Sweetie processed the scene, she noticed Croix straightening from his position at her side, relaxing from readiness to leap forward, presumably to save her or Scootaloo. Further behind him were, surprisingly, the two senior Princesses. Celestia looked absolutely awful, more beaten up than Rarity, but she was still standing, looking concerned at the scene before her. Princess Luna, on the other hand, looked smug about the whole thing and didn't have a scratch on her, just some mud.

"Well spoken. We knew full well your student was capable, valorous Mir." Luna gave her sister a slight nudge that sent the larger Alicorn tottering for a moment, until she was caught by Mir's blood-red aura.

"Thank you, Luna. I believe your sister shall forgive me for preventing her from joining in the fray." Mir patted Celestia's side gently.

In the meantime, Croix had approached Scootaloo. "Nice blocking kid. You seem to be a natural at it. And no wonder, look at that."

"Yesssssss!" Scootaloo pumped a fore-hoof. The adrenaline from saving Sweetie had worn off, and she was feeling shaky and spent, but her cutie mark was still worth getting excited over. She stared down at a pair of vertical lines embedded in a shield. She glanced over at Croix's similar mark. "I guess whatever decides on cutie marks doesn't want them to look exactly the same?"

While Scootaloo was distracted, Sweetie had approached the crater Rarity was laying in. Luna had grabbed the mare and held her still, while Mir had begun to sing to cleanse her.

"Why?" Sweetie shouted. "Why did you attack me! I'm your sister. Even if this was some kind of dark magic mind control, you should have fought it. You should have done better!"

"Sweetie!" Mir opened her eyes to glare at her, shouting even as she continued the song. "I don't know what you know about mind control, but having felt this insidious creation as I purged it–" Nopony noticed, but Luna flinched at those words. "–and I have studied all sorts of terrible things. Once something gets in, that's it. If the problems are actually coming from inside your head, no amount of willpower or love will save you. You need someone else to do it for you. That's the unfortunate truth. Now I know Rarity will feel terrible about all this once she's recovered. But you need to forgive her, because it's not her fault. Based on my study of pony magic, you guys just don't have any good defenses against mind control."

Sweetie bowed her head, chastised. "Yes, sensei."

"Sensei, really?"

"Sorry. I read a lot of the light novels Fluttershy likes."

Mir's song concluded. Rarity was smaller, and her color was back to normal, albeit considerably muddier, dustier, and a little bloodier. Luna released her, and the mare stirred once more.

"Sweetie?" Rarity's eyes shot open. "Oh ancient alicorns above, tell me I haven't hurt you Sweetie!"

Sweetie grinned. "Only emotionally."

"Oh. That's not too bad. Thank heavens!" Rarity launched forward into a hug, which was considerably less bone-crushing than Sweetie was expecting.

Mir shook her head. "Rarity, you're completely exhausted. Let's get you to a safe place. The town's inn has all its windows still intact and we've got Rainbow Dash there until she gets her strength back."

"But... my shop."

Celestia took this moment to jump in. "It needs new glass put in before you can really do anything with it. I'll have a word with the town's weather team to avoid any rain until everypony's windows are fixed up."

"Right. Thank you."

Mir turned her back on Rarity and Sweetie. "Luna, please escort Rarity to the inn. I hate to exclude you, but Croix, Celestia, and I are going to have to make a plan right now."

Luna nodded once, then gently lifted Rarity in her aura and flew away.

"Right. I'm sure all three of us suspect that Sombra doesn't actually intend for the Element Bearers and whoever he gave the other four orbs to to actually beat us. He's done this to deprive you of any Harmony powers they've got, but also to waste your time. I'd like to say that time isn't a luxury and we should power through this all without stopping, but not one of us is a perfect immortal machine. Some of us are closer than others, but we're going to be down a significant portion of our strength soon. Croix has been fighting all day and – dear, I know you're putting on a front – he's reached his limit. Celestia would be evenly distributed over the town's atmosphere if she wasn't a remarkably durable alicorn. Luna's fresh but I'm getting the feeling we're going to start running into even worse stuff. Trust me, they always lowball the threat you pose at the start and throw chumps at you."

"Rainbow Dash and Rarity are not 'chumps' thank you very much." Celestia defended.

"Rarity got beaten by two fillies. Admittedly one of them received a copy of my song magic core, but still."

"I see your point. You're saying that our future adversaries will be more suited to controlling their newfound power?"

"I'm convinced that Twilight is planning to fight us with at the very least a partner. She stole all but one of the other copies of my song magic core and..." Mir blinked for a moment. "OK. I know what we need to do."

Interlude: Discord (Dark)

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The Draconequi came before the podium. It had been set up in a blasted field not far from the former test center, with the dazzling light show of the breach spitting energy and magma into the air directly behind it.

In front of the podium rested thirty-eight folding chairs, one for each of the remaining nations. The bodyguards and assistants of the representatives stood far behind the chairs, talons or paws brushing against their weapons as they regarded each other distrustfully.

All around hovered the monstrous, blobby forms of the antibodies of Ar Epona. Immune cells bigger than a person, they existed to purge infections dangerous to the health of the planet. And that health was now critical.

On the ground below the antibodies sat the guardians, vicious plant-beasts that snapped and snarled at any Draconequus moving too far from the designated area. They resembled wolves, but the Draconequi had no animal name to make the pun “timber wolf” in their languages.

The host scowled down at everything. Like the guests, he looked like a Draconequus, but there was one major difference. Each of his wings, paws, and legs was mismatched, a genetic freak that had set him apart from everyone and made him unwelcome everywhere. Or at least, his body’s former inhabitant. As the final part of his grand arc of revenge, John Discord had erased himself to provide the room to trap a Will of Ar Epona in his body.

Pacafek was a most unhappy Will. The idiot mortals had nearly killed Ar Epona in one fell swoop, at the direction of a madman intent on the grandest murder-suicide he could imagine: destroying not just himself, his family, or his society, but the very world that allowed all of this. In the center of the crater sat the Heart of Ar Epona, wrenched from the core via horrifying technology that was now thankfully lost. Discord hadn’t really planned on what would happen after his scheme, as he had calculated that it would invariably be “nothing.”

It was, however, time for Pacafek to speak. It was a variation of what he’d always done, just more directly. He was the Will governing natural selection, so he had the sole responsibility for determining if a species was suitable to be part of the planet’s future.

He gave a speech explaining his position. It wasn’t dishonest, as such. It laid out what had happened, why, who was responsible, and why the planet had “allowed” it to happen. It bothered him that Discord’s will had been so strong that the planet could not steer his course away from this, but what had happened had happened.

Then he explained where they went from there. The antibodies and guardians would do the best they could to protect the Heart. If they succeeded, the planet would live. Otherwise, nothing mattered. Obviously they offered to help, but he could sense their desire to earn “favor” with the planet itself. He declined all offers. It wasn’t like they could really do anything, anyway. John Discord had been their foremost researcher in that field, and he’d gathered everyone who knew anything to his laboratory, formerly located at ground zero.

Pacafek explained the test next. Each of the nations would be given a box. In the box would be the power to control the antibodies that would now be swarming about the planet aimlessly in response to its distress. The test would be failed if “too many” of the boxes were opened.

Obviously they asked what would constitute “too many” boxes opened. His only reply was that they’d know immediately. He declared his part ended as the delegates suddenly found their chairs (and themselves in them) arranged in a circle facing inward.

They came to an agreement, of course. They would open no boxes. All of them could easily figure out what would happen if they failed a test from the Will of Selection. They were, of course, all planning to secretly open the boxes. He could see that as if it had already happened.

The boxes, of course, did actually contain the power to control antibodies. It wouldn’t bestow or grant it on anyone, or allow a selection of commands. All it would do is broadcast “eat these fools” over and over until the nation was consumed entirely. Not merely its inhabitants, but its artifacts.

After they were gone, Pacafek summoned a mirror to examine himself. Honestly, if he had to be trapped in a form, this one wasn’t bad looking. Aside from any remains that had fallen far from civilization and become fossilized, he’d be the only thing left to prove Draconequi had ever existed.

The planet would heal, though many scars would remain. He knew this. He had time to plan future projects. There was a distant offshoot of the Draconequi that looked promising, small quadrupeds with vestigial wings, a single, small, blunt horn, and minor endurance-boosting magic in their legs. The body didn’t produce enough magic to use all that at once, but maybe subspecies, controlled by sets of homeotic genes, could activate different magical organs. Of course, maybe they’d hate each other for being different like the Draconequi had. Well, still did. The delegates’ airships were just taking off. They weren’t extinct for another couple days.

He felt an odd sense of guilt in that. He’d purged entire branches of the tree of life when they no longer could thrive. He’d knocked off small sapient offshoot species when they proved uncompetitive with the larger line. But he’d never really done both at once. And it bothered him. He knew such emotions were unbecoming to a Will in his position, but he felt them anyway.

He still wanted to go ahead with the little ponies, or whatever he’d call them. Maybe they’d learn to get along before it was too late.

The mirror still hovered in front of him. “Discord,” he said looking at it. “That’s a good name. I’m keeping it. Much easier for mortals to pronounce.” He cocked one eye. “I need a hobby, something silly.”

Author's Notes:

Yeah, Wills of the Planet seem to be canonically ice cold. They threaten to let humans go extinct a lot, but obviously never carry it out.

In addition to being the origin of the modern Discord, this also explains why the pony planet has so many sentient species. Studies simulating competing hominid groups suggest that a "winner" will take all based on rate of innovation. This implies that a planet should have only one intelligent species on it after a long period of time.

Discord's true name, incidentally, means "The power of change through life, death, and reproduction."

The Epona in Ar Epona means "Where love triumphs over evil with the power to truly destroy it." Which makes sense: ponies seek to destroy evil rather than their enemies, and have a pretty good success rate.

Interlude: Sunset Shimmer 3

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Ozone crackled in the air as Sunset exited the station wagon. The hill overlooking the stage was perfect, but the girls were nowhere in sight.

Maybe the Sirens already got them. Trixie’s band was up on the stage, and Trixie seemed to be gloating over something. Oh great. She ran to check the store rooms under the stage for what she assumed would be incapacitated bandmates.

“Girls!” Sunset brightened as she found her friends not only alive and conscious, but not even restrained beyond a locked door. The jubilation rapidly turned to panic as she read the room. There was a sickening aura of anger magic in the air, but you didn’t need a sense for that to see the way they looked at each other. And at her.

Rainbow Dash broke the silence. “Hmph. So, how’s that big plan of yours working out? Maybe if you’d been here we wouldn’t have been locked up in here for so long.”

Sunset shrugged. “Or maybe I’d be trapped in here with you. Who can say? The important part is that we’re all ready. Just come with me, Celestia and I have everything we need.”

“Yeah, no. I realized that we really don’t have any assurances you’re actually on our side. Remember what you used to do.” The other four Rainbooms now stood beside Rainbow, matching her glare.

Sunset almost wilted. No, the world is counting on me. Celestia is counting on me! I won’t let her down again. “You don’t have any reason to believe in me. But you don’t need to. You believe in Twilight Sparkle. We’ve all seen her. She’s a magical pony princess, the embodiment of friendship. She’s…” Sunset’s breath hitched. “...She’s better than me in every way. And she told you to be my friend. Because that’s what she does. She convinces people to be their friend and they stop being bad. There are people back home in Equestria that were legendary evils for centuries and she made them stop being bad, made them her friends, and now they’re trusted and loved.

“She asked you to be my friends, and one component of that is trust. She asked you to trust me, and me to trust you. So you don’t have to believe me – just Twilight Sparkle, the Princess. Now let’s get out there and deal with this Siren crap so we can go home and I can finally get a good night’s sleep.”

“Well… that…” Rainbow’s eyes unfocused, then refocused. “Haha! Yeah that was an awesome speech. You watch that show too?”

“What show?”

“I’ll tell you later. C’mon everybody.”

The Rainbooms cheered as one as they rushed out.

This was the Sirens’ moment of triumph. The students, faculty, and parents in the audience were totally ensnared. They hovered above the stage, diaphanous fin-wings trailing behind.

“Nothing can stop us now!” ended their verse.

“Now.” Sunset threw the switch on the electronics connected to the crystalline device. Glowing lines began to move through it. Her friends claimed they could sing their parts without the sheets, and that it would look more “badass” that way, as Rainbow put it. She really hoped they were right. It seemed oddly easy to memorize for her, but she still was going to use her sheet music.

“Ah-ah…”

In everything, there exists a cosmic truth.
Why do things exist?
Why is there something instead of nothing?
It is because the universe was lonely, and sang for us.
Thus companionship is the highest of virtues.
And those who discard it are damned.

The crystal surged with a pressure only Sunset and the Sirens could feel. If she still was a unicorn, she’d have been flinching. Already it felt stronger than standing next to Celestia as she raised the sun on the Summer Sun Celebration.

Her friends were singing the chorus, so she could catch her breath for a moment and observe. They were glowing faintly, and outlines of the ears and wings they’d sprouted when they’d last used magic were visible in the glow.

Companionship is the core of existence.
Nothing, anywhere, can exist truly alone.
To deny this is folly.
Space divides matter and energy, but they exist together with space.
Without things to measure the distance between, space does not exist.

The Sirens were singing, but Sunset couldn’t hear them. Waves of energy pulsed off the crystal in time with the chorus, and the air was thick with ozone. Sunset took an involuntary step away from the crystal as she felt the energy rise. On the stage the sirens seemed to be looking to each other in panic even as they continued singing.

The Rainbooms standing with her had fully ponied up, ears, extra hair, and wings fully visible.

The chorus was ending soon, time for her next part.

Exa Pico which created all things, grant me understanding.
Grant me power.
I have received the understanding.
Now, I shall receive the power.
I shall transcend this mortal form, and become power.
I shall turn myself into a song, for the sake of the world.
I shall sing of a new beginning, and it shall echo across the universe.

Sunset was wondering if she’d overdid it just a little. She could no longer hear her own song, but could instead feel it. Without the understanding of Harmony Magic that Twilight possessed, she’d felt her only option was to overwhelm the dark magic with raw power.

Companionship is the core of existence.
Nothing, anywhere, can exist truly alone.
To deny this is folly.
Space divides matter and energy, but they exist together with space.
Without things to measure the distance between, space does not exist.

The Sirens had manifested transparent constructs of their true forms, and sent them forward to attack the Rainbooms. This last resort of the Sirens was failing utterly. The energy pressure flowing from the crystal was simply too strong for the constructs to approach.

Sunset smiled as the Sirens began to really panic, but her grin turned to open-mouthed horror as the center one pointed down, towards the crowd, then looked directly at her. The message was clear: while the crystal was repulsing the constructs, they could still attack the innocents.

Before she could consider if she even wanted to negotiate, the chorus triggered a large pulse from the crystal. The Sirens staggered back, then thrust their right arms down in unison, pointing towards the crowd.

Sunset snarled. It was time for her to change the plan slightly.

The basic truth of the universe is that you exist because it wants you to exist.
This is self-evident, as we are created from its love.
To reject that, to foster hatred and despair, is to commit the greatest of crimes.
Those who grow and feed hatred must not be.
Will not be.
Shall not be.

The crystal glowed with a fearsome, blinding light. Everything else was darkness, the crystal was light. The light collected in the center of the crystal, and then fired upwards. Things seemed to Sunset to be moving in slow motion as the Sirens’ constructs dived towards the crowd, which had just become aware of what was happening enough to panic. The front two rows seemed to have cleared out completely, and the third was halfway to doing so.

Then the beam came back down on the center of the stage.

Sunset was aware of a sound too loud to hear, and a light too bright to see. Then she fell unconscious.

Far behind her, Principal Celestia pressed the “Call” button on her cell phone.

The first thing Sunset was aware of when she regained consciousness was dust. There was dust everywhere, hanging in the air, making it difficult to see too far.

The second thing she became aware of was the crystal, still glowing, but no longer constrained by the circuitry and metal she’d used to harness it. Below it sat a bubbling, metallic puddle that told her all she needed to know about whether she should approach it for the moment.

The third thing was her friends, who were moaning and starting to stand up.

“Oh thank the Goddesses! You’re alive.” Sunset dived over and gathered them all into a group hug.

As if on cue, the dust began to part around them.

With the seats now revealed, it became clear that the audience seemed to have escaped major injury. They were bewildered and confused, and moving around dazedly, but all of them seemed to be moving at least.

The stage revealed that the Sirens weren’t as fortunate. The bluish and purplish ones were in what one could charitably call “a condition incompatible with life” if one wished to use official euphemisms. Not even a piece of the third was visible.

Sunset paled. Unless one counted biting flies, she’d never deliberately killed another animal. She may have attempted to kill Twilight at the climax of her mad rampage, but she definitely did not succeed.

And now she’d smashed three Sirens. She was a killer. She… no. She’d seen it. Glimpsed the power of a god, the foundations of the universe. Maybe she could pull off another miracle.

The girls were still looking towards her. They hadn’t seen the stage yet. “Every...one! We’re out of danger but I need you to sing with me one more time. Just follow my lead.”

Words came to her.

The wheel of reincarnation spins.
I grab hold of the rim
“They deserve a second chance as I received,” I say.
“I did not mean to take it from them.”

Sunset was vaguely aware of being lifted into the air. She didn’t notice her hair lengthen, or her ears change position and shape to pony-style.

She could feel it, see it. The flow of energy, of information. Of time. Everything made sense to her, and was known to her. The mandala-snowflake structure of the universe’s neighbors. The arrangement of gas in the early universe, carrying a tune never before known to mortals. She watched as galactic clusters split and merged as gravity and inflation fought a tug of war shepherded by unseen voices. It was incredible and beautiful, but she needed to focus more closely.

Sunset zoomed in, hard. The planet. Just the planet. She could see the cosmic order in it, the movement of continents and air and water and nutrients through the ecosystem. She could feel the fear deep in the planet’s core, that something bad would happen in the near future. She cleared her mind of it. The planet’s “near future” was a century away, it wasn’t her problem. She focused out everything until she could see the cycle of souls.

With this knowledge came power. If she could see everything, she could affect anything. Knowing how it worked was the first step to changing it, and she’d already seen the source of all power. Celestia would say friendship was the most powerful magic of all, but Sunset knew that it was more nuanced than that. The universe was lonely. It had exploded to make parts of itself different from the rest. So it could have friends. In that sense, the desire for friendship, as the motivator of existence, was most powerful. But an argument could be made for the engine of existence: the true, deep song magic she’d tapped to ignite the core sitting beside her.

She had power, now. Real power, not the glimmer she’d felt when she’d worn that crown a few months ago. In fact, she felt she had enough power. The idea that there could be such a thing was terrifying, that there was a power so great it could slake even her former lust for power. What could she really do with it?

She had to shake off such thoughts. There was only one thing to do with it: not be a killer. The Sirens’ souls were easy to locate, and if she could incarnate them immediately she could prevent them from losing their former identities. The carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and other elements that made up their bodies were gathered to make new ones, and the souls were tossed into them. It was simple, really. Sunset was just reassembling the shells that concealed them before and skipping the layer of magic.

The second verse was easier. A lot of the surrounding people had minor or moderate injuries. She could feel a lot of hearing loss in the people. It was a lot easier to fix than death, but the same principle applied. All she had to do was put things back to the way they should be and had been.

The song was ending. She could feel the power fading, but it wasn’t frightening. It was like a friend was going away for a little while, but would return soon.

The knowledge began to fade as well. There was something tugging at the edge of her awareness, but it faded out as well.

The pony ears and wings of her and her friends faded as well, and they all opened their eyes.
“Darling, what was that?”

“What the hell Sunset?”

“Holy cow that was great!”

“Oh… oh my.”

“What’n the heck?”

Sunset smiled, they’d pulled through admirably. “Thank you all.” She pulled all five of them into a group hug, which Pinkie immediately reinforced while the other four looked startled. “It’s over now. We’re good.”

She released the hug and gently pushed away Pinkie’s hand, staring out at the stage. Three women were slowly rising. The Sirens looked exactly the same as before, minus their necklaces, which lay shattered on the stage, and their clothes, which Sunset had neglected to reform.

Oops.

The Sirens furiously gathered downed curtains to wrap themselves as Sunset’s friends turned around to view the sight.

Nothing like a job well done.

Then she heard the sound. A faint “chop chop” noise that was rapidly growing louder. Helicopters zoomed overhead and began to circle the stage. They were barely visible, being painted all black against the night sky. Sunset didn’t know much about military technology, but she knew the police department didn’t have black helicopters.

Three of the helicopters lit their spotlights, centered on the Rainbooms. Fluttershy collapsed to the ground, hands over her head. Rainbow tried to comfort her, while the rest simply put their hands up to try to block the spotlights.

Ropes dropped from the helicopters, and figures in all-black military gear and helmets began to slide down them. “Horseapples,” muttered Rainbow as she moved her hands into the universal surrender position, “it’s the ATSF!”

Sunset and the rest joined her in putting her hands up as the men began to move towards the Rainbooms, guns pointing directly at them. Additional troops began to move towards the crowd and the stage, but the helicopters were kicking up so much dust it was difficult to see too far.

One final figure dropped down the rope nearest the Rainbooms, wearing not military apparel but instead a black, formal business suit. She was a woman with Maroon hair tucked into a bun with one curl on her left side, half rim glasses with built-in displays, and an extremely severe expression.

“Well well, what do we have here? Some crazy bunch blasting away at a crowded musical event? Although I know it’s far more than just that. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Abacus Cinch, Director of the National Defense Research Bureau. We’ve seen unusual energy readings from here before, but this was simply off the scale. And using them to blow up stuff? Well, that’s where my fine colleagues in the Anti-Terrorism Special Forces come in. Their job is to deal with whoever is trying to blow up stretches of our wonderful country, but my job is to figure out things. And since I felt there was a lot to figure out here, I was able to put this under my control in a matter of moments.”

She smiled a bit. “Oh, and my dear old friend Celestia called me in when she thought you couldn’t handle it,” she looked directly at Sunset, “Sunset Shimmer.”

“Clearly that was a mistake on my part. I should have finished the job of cutting lose all memories of you.” Celestia approached from behind Rainbooms, some of the soldiers looking at her but none of them raising their weapons to her.

“Yes, because I’m sure Sunset had a brilliant plan to evade the consequences of a gigantic explosion in a populated area. No, roomie, for once you’ve done the right thing. I’ll even forgive you for costing me that job at that posh private school.”

“Your behavior is what cost you that!”

Cinch grimaced. “And they never would have found out about it if you hadn’t told them.”

Celestia shook her head. “I’m surprised you were able to get a job that needs security clearance with that on your record.”

Cinch laughed. “Oh, those are far easier to get than you’d expect. Unless you’re a liar or a whistle blower type. But enough about ancient history. We’re old women of the world now, and it’s quite a dangerous one. I’ll offer your protege here a deal. No prosecution in exchange for handing over whatever you’re doing that can produce such powerful energy surges.”

“It’s really quite fascinating. Did you know it produced a burst of neutrinos so immense, every neutrino detector on the planet saw a supernova-sized spike?”

“Twilight!?!?!?” shouted all the Rainbooms at once. The girl emerging from behind Director Cinch was almost the spitting image of the Fall Formal Princess (and actual Princess) they knew. Differences were there too, however. The new Twilight seemed confused at their greeting. She wore thick-rimmed glasses, and a smaller version of Cinch’s business suit.

“Intern! Cease talking. This is important.” Cinch moved to step between Twilight and the Rainbooms. “Now then, the deal I mentioned. You, Sunset Shimmer, will you accept?”

“She doesn’t need to.” Celestia strode through the line of gunmen, pushing them aside. “About an hour ago the adoption went through and Sunset is now my child. So go on, let’s take her in front of the prosecutor. Just remember it’s an elected position with a lot of discretion.”

Cinch frowned in exasperation at Celestia. “Yes, I suppose your little tribal bloc has a surprising amount of local influence. But you can’t protect all of them, somebody’s got to take the fall for this blast. Did you know we had to ground a newschopper on our way here? You should thank me.”

She turned to Rainbooms. “I don’t need to prosecute Sunset. I can prosecute any of her friends.” There was a pause as data flew across the display in her glasses. “Ah, Rainbow Dash. Interested in getting a pilot’s license? Well, guess what they don’t give them to: convicted terrorists.”

Cinch swept out her arm across the group, ending up on Fluttershy, who flinched and tried to hide behind Dash. “How do you think she’d do in a supermax? It wouldn’t be hard to try any terrorist as an adult.” Another pause as she waited for the display to update. “Applejack, what would your parents say if they could see you in the defendant's seat?” Cinch’s posture was practically gloating as she gestured to each girl in turn. “Rarity, ready to become socially untouchable? Pinkie, let’s see how much fun you find solitary confinement!”

“Stop!” Sunset shouted. She hated this world and its miserable, petty hatreds. She wished she could blast all of it in the Elements of Harmony. Maybe I could. I’m the only one who actually knows how this works. “I’ll do it, but I want two extra conditions in addition to the ‘nobody gets prosecuted’ thing.”

“Hmm, trying to negotiate with me?” Cinch smirked at her.

Sunset smirked back. Cinch momentarily flinched, which Sunset didn’t miss. “Well, I kind of destroyed most of my notes before I got here in case it failed. But if you want me to build a big, bad friendship laser for your silly military-industrial complex, I’m going to need friends. So you’re going to let me finish out my schooling, until I can call myself Doctor Shimmer. And then, the second condition is I want her assigned to me.” Sunset pointed at Twilight, who was peeking out from behind Cinch.

“Really, this intern? I’m sure I could find someone smarter and more worthwhile.”

Sunset smiled. “No, I’m sure you can’t.”

Cinch shrugged. “Fine. I need someone keeping an eye on you anyway. Intern! You’re now going to school with those idiots.”

“But I already have my high scho–”

“Don’t care! I’ll whip some sort of paperwork up to make it work. You’re now in all her classes.” She turned to Celestia. “Any complaints?”

Celestia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, she smiled. “Not at all.” Sunset felt a burst of nostalgia when she realized the smile was genuine. This Celestia plays the game as well as the Princess. I’ll have to consult her directly on our next plays.

Cinch nodded. “Great. Now, if you’ll excuse me, a secret military aircraft has crashed here and we need all civilians out of the area. Holden! Call Fort Garry and tell them to box up some aircraft bits they’re not using. Scott! Get some kerosene and magnesium powder. Hudson, get the rest of the civilians out of here.”

“Oh.” Sunset broke in. “You should probably save time and hold the three naked women on the stage on some charge or another. I’ll explain later.”

Cinch grinned. “We’ll make one of us of you yet.”

“Celestia I hope not,” Sunset whispered.

“Intern, go with them.”

It didn't take long to be ushered through the checkpoints that had established themselves around the park. Sunset and her friends ducked as they passed a parked helicopter, then turned onto the street.

“So what the hell was all that?” Rainbow was the first to break the silence as the military forces faded into the background behind them. “You’re going to cooperate with them?”

“It’s the only logical choice.” Everyone stared at Twilight. “Simple game theory would tell you that Cinch had her over a barrel and she’d need to make some sort of compromise.”

“That doesn’t sound like a very fun game.”

Twilight turned to Pinkie. “You have such interesting company.”

Sunset laughed. “Don’t I know it. I have full confidence you’ll fit in soon enough.”

Celestia placed her hand on Sunset. “Do not worry. I’m certain we’ll get through this.”

Sunset stared off into the distance. She could almost see it. A giant antenna, powerful enough to broadcast a Harmony signal across this entire cursed world. “We don’t need to worry. I’m sure we’ll make the world harmonious.”

That’s a nice name for the Project. Harmonious. People are always giving these things weird spellings though. Maybe H-a-r-m-o-n-i-u-s.

Phase 3: Consultancy Part 3

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“Dear Princess Celestia, I feel you are something of a burden in combat.”

The princess in question glared at Mir across the hotel lounge. At her side, Luna raised her head from the couch quizzically. Rainbow Dash, laying on the opposite couch with the sleeping Rarity, perked her ears up and lifted her head to offer her opinion. “I hate to say it, but I think Mir might be right on that one.”

Celestia’s head whipped toward Rainbow, eyes seeming to burn with irritation. “Care to explain that comment?” Her voice was paradoxically frosty in equal and opposite measure to the burning annoyance in her eyes.

Rainbow leaned back, but gulped. “I’m just saying. Mir and Croix had to bail you out against me, but Rarity had the same amount of dark mojo powering her and she lost to fillies, one of who didn’t start the fight with a cutie mark.”

Mir snickered. “Yes, that’s an accurate assessment.”

Celestia’s head whipped back once more. “I seem to recall defeating you and your husband.”

“Ah yes, that.” Mir’s gaze was neither fiery nor frosty, instead thoughtful. Croix, sitting in the center of the room, found it far more worrisome than an emotional reaction. “I’m afraid you simply took advantage of my husband’s lack of desire to kill you. While you did find a way to attack in an unblockable manner, which is certainly praiseworthy, if he was serious about the fight he had ample opportunity to stab or shoot you in your abdomen. With the willingness to kill reversed you became a mere punching bag.”

Luna smirked and bopped her sister on the flank with a hoof. “We have always told you, your flexibility in battle is poor. You lack focus and will.”

“Oh, and don’t think I’m leaving you alone.” Mir shook her head at Luna. “I didn’t see you finding any way to take the pressure off her or handle Alexander’s Dark Band.”

“I thought we agreed not to call my evil alternate form that,” the indignant, scratchy voice of Rainbow Dash broke in. She folded her legs and huffed at Mir. “I liked how the townsponies called me the Rainbow of Darkness.”

“Fool!” Luna raised her volume, thankfully not to Royal Canterlot proportions. “Thou knowest not what thou speaketh of!”

“Yes yes ancient evil blah blah.” Mir shook her head. “If it’s not coming after us or at least threatening to I’m not going to waste time on it. But the issue here is that out of everypony in this room, Croix and I are the only ones who aren’t rusty or drained.”

“Rusty? Tis…” Luna paused mid-indignation to consider. “I suppose I may be somewhat out of practice. I’ve had three different heights in the past few subjective years. My time on the Moon cannot have helped either.”

“I’m sure Croix and I can knock you into shape. Rainbow, want to help?”

“Ugh.” Rainbow shook her head. “I’d love to, but I’m kinda feeling more drained than I ever have in my life. This is worse than when I hurt my wing and was in the hospital.”

“Well, you did get the crap knocked out of you.”

“Yeah. That means I’m 0 for 3.” Rainbow paused for a moment to glare at Croix before turning his attention back to Mir. “I’ll deal with that later. I’ll see how I feel after a good night’s sleep.”

“I shall remain in the hall outside.” Luna stood from the couch and stretched. “As Princess of the Night, I shall safeguard your sleep.”

“Haven’t you been awake for over twenty-four hours now?” Croix interjected.

“We – by which I mean my sister and myself – can go without sleep for periods of a few days.”

“Awfully convenient. I can do the same thing, but I think Croix would appreciate some company.” Mir smirked as she ran her tail across the tip of Croix’s snout. Celestia blushed fiercely as Luna chuckled.

Celestia sighed. “I hate to rest with eight or more of my dearest subjects potentially under the control of King Sombra, but I require time to rejuvenate myself. Applebloom has been directed to spend the night away from her family’s farm for the evening, and thus should remain safe from the command imperatives.”

Finnel looked down, even though she knew she shouldn’t. Akane grabbed her as she cringed away from the edge of the high-altitude airship and pulled her towards the center. “You will be all right. We can do this.”

“Thanks.” Finnel’s nervousness had her stomach doing flip-flops. A Clustanian Reyvateil was supposed to be as serene as the sky viewed from the top of the Third Tower, but said tower wasn’t really a thing anymore.

“It will be time soon.” Akane handed Finnel a small, flat case. “Your changing room is at the rear of the airship.”

Ten minutes later the two of them reconvened in the central deck. Each had traded in their normal outfit for a set of purple and gold metallic armor that Sasha had assured them would provide all the protection they needed for their new wormhole, preventing their bodies from being altered. It covered everything from the neck down and came with a helmet that looked like a crown (apparently it used force fields to fully enclose the head) and a short metal plate skirt.

Raki, as a machine, would be fine anywhere. Kokuro, the teddy-bear-like antibody, had presented a slightly larger challenge and had been provided with an insulated box to contain him; it wasn’t like he needed to breathe. Raki would carry the box and the two Reyvateils down from the wormhole until they landed.

“We’re really doing this.” Finnel looked down at the deck of the ship as Raki gripped her.

“Passengers secured.”

Finnel was really glad she went to the bathroom right beforehand.

“Begin.” With Akane’s command, the maid-droid roared forward into the wormhole on its energy wings.

Finnel could feel the swirling colors pulling gently at her exposed skin, but the armor seemed to provide perfect insulation and she wasn’t experiencing anything weird yet. A quick mental runthrough indicated she was still thinking clearly as far as she could tell. A glance over to the side indicated that Akane was still with her and seemed confident in the proceedings. Raki’s face remained stoic and unmoving, fixed forward. Finnel reached behind Raki’s back and patted the box containing Kokuro and heard a muffled, mental “Hey!” from within.

After what felt like forever but was less than a minute, the unusual quartet exited the wormhole and began to descend into the atmosphere. Below stretched a vast forest. Off to her left, Finnel could see a city built in terraces along the upper slopes of a mountain. Far to her right, she could see a great horseshoe-shaped bay with a port city at the midpoint of its coast, and the afternoon sun behind it. She turned to Akane. “Where to now?”

“I have received a briefing about the geography of this area. I felt that the large port city is most likely to be the capital. Most of the capital cities of the First Era nations were located at river conjunctions or where rivers meet the coast. We shall go there, although first we must land in that forest. Raki’s systems are not designed for continuous flight of such a long duration.”

They descended towards the Everfree Forest.

Guarding a hallway wasn’t very difficult. With the chaos in Ponyville (recently, but also generally) the inn was nearly deserted and no other guests were present. A cushion had been pushed to the middle of the floor and Luna lay on it with her head raised, scanning the windows. The sun was setting, but it could do so without major work on her part for a bit. Her horn lit slightly to nudge the night along but nothing near her normal power. From within the room she could feel Celestia match her despite her tiredness.

She wasn’t sure if Sombra would send more of their possessed friends at them or merely force them to chase them. Luna had tried to locate Twilight with her magic, but was unable to get anything more specific than “far away” and “North.” That could mean Manehatten, or it could mean the Crystal Empire. Twilight had taken two of the song magic cores, it seemed likely that in her uninhibited and maniacal state she might use one on herself to study the new magic. Or, possibly, use it against her and her sister.

After contemplating the possible implications for a long time, noise and movement drew her attention behind her. The door to Mir and Croix’s room opened and the former stepped out, clad in a sheer translucent nightgown.

Luna quirked an eyebrow. “I had assumed that you and your husband would be spending the entire night together.”

Mir shook her head. “He’d been hiding how tired he was from us. His head hit the pillow and it was instantly lights out. Can’t say I really blame him. He’s only hu–, err, pony. Does that saying work? Anyway the last time he rested was when he came back from the dead so I won’t complain.”

The princess stretched her wings, then stood up on her front legs and stretched like a cat, repeating the process for her hindlegs. “You seem fully awake.”

“Like I said, I don’t need as much sleep as a human. Or a pony.”

“Perhaps you wish to pass the time in conversation, then?” Luna shuffled herself on the cushion to make a spot for Mir.

“I suppose I do.” She lay down carefully next to the larger mare. She’d known intellectually that Luna was larger and taller than Croix, but with contact it became overwhelming. I wonder if this was what having a mother felt like. She’d simulated it a few times, but humans considered it such a universal experience they never bothered to actually recreate what makes it special. Luna probably didn’t have any unconditional love for her, but not being bothered by her crimes certainly could be twisted to fit.

“I believe it is customary to talk about colts when mares engage in the sleep-over.”

Well, that broke the motherly feeling. ‘Sisterly’ could still work, though. “Hah. So, what are you looking for in a stallion?”

“I…” Luna paused, her eyes widening. “I have not thought about it in some time. My preoccupation with my duties and the lack of respect I received for them occupied my adulthood before the Nightmare, and after it I have been preoccupied with recovery, duties again, and my efforts at repentance for my actions.”

“So you’re married to your job, then?”

“Hah! Is that how the humans would put it?”

“It’s an expression that was popular back in the First Era, where a specialized technical career was much more common.”

“I see. I suppose that having many people who lived like the Wizards of old would lead to the need for such a phrase. One moment.” Luna’s horn lit up.

Mir looked around to see what had happened, but nothing appeared to be different. Then the door at the end of the hall opened. Mir tensed momentarily before noticing Luna wasn’t reacting, and realized that Luna had somehow summoned one of the inn’s staff.

“A coffee for myself. And if she wishes it, my companion.”

“I suppose so.”

“All right.” The cream earth pony mare at the other end of the hallway nodded and turned her attention to Mir. “I know the Princess prefers it black, but how about you?”

Mir shrugged. “Black is fine. I don’t have any real preference.”

The mare departed, closing the door behind her. Luna looked down at her. “There is no need to make yourself look tough to me.”

“Hmmph.” Mir pouted and looked away from Luna. “I said I had no preference and I meant it. Black is simply easier for her to make than anything else.”

Luna nodded. “I suppose you aren’t much of a sweets fan. You seem more the type to enjoy savory food. Cheese, meat in your humanoid form?”

Mir shrugged “Eh, I’ll eat anything good. Although most of my favorite foods are protein so you’re probably right.”

“So, now that you have asked about me, I shall turn the eye of discussion upon you. What attracted you to Croix?”

“Well, availability was a nice start.”

Luna stared unamusedly at Mir.

“There’s a difference between being willing to forgive me for what I did and being willing to go to sleep next to someone who’d done… that.” Mir looked away, as Luna looked down parentally. “I’m fearsome. Even when I went to his homeland, I used fear and mystery as a shield to hide any weakness.”

“I have been in that place. Although I do not seek to cultivate fear, I will use it if it is present in my enemies.”

“Croix just doesn’t get scared when he should sometimes. It’s like the part of his brain that controls fear has a glitch and isn’t working at full strength. You know what, I’m okay with that. He’s not stupid or prideful, he’s just not willing to let fear control him.”

Luna smiled. “That is an admirable quality. Far too many ponies cannot control their fear.”

“Also,” Mir grinned, “I’m not going to deny he’s pretty hot.”

“Of course.” Luna narrowed her eyes slightly.

“He’s considerate. When I showed him the inside of my mind, he immediately saw the cracks in what I wanted to show him and figured out what I really wanted, needed.” Mir looked down. “I wanted someone who liked me without any preconceptions or pity. Just someone who liked me for me, as the saying goes.”

“I understand that feeling all too well.”

Mir shook her head. “But it’s better now. So now that we’ve both had a turn, how about your sister? What’s she looking for?”

Luna laughed, a gut busting riotous laughed that pinned Mir’s ears back as the Princess stamped her front hoof on the floor.

“Don’t wake everyone!” Mir seized Luna’s mouth in her aura and held it closed.

“Sorry!” the princess gurgled through closed lips. Mir dropped the hold and Luna shook her head to clear it. “We–I simply cannot avoid laughing at her frustration. My sister’s preference has always tended towards the taller stallions.”

“Oh.” Mir blinked as she realized the implications.

“Yes! Now at her height there is no stallion she can look in the eyes without leaning down! And she cannot find, anywhere, a pony that appeals to her in that way!”

“Oh wow.” Mir looked down. “I’d imagine after a thousand years it stops being funny.”

Luna considered, then looked ashamed. “Sister had become the tallest pony in the land only a few decades before our… conflict.”

Mir patted her on the shoulder. “It’s all right. Sometimes sisters get on each others’ nerves.”

“This is more walking than I signed up for!” Finnel panted as she leaned against a tree. Overhead, the sun was lowering towards the horizon. It seemed like it would set in just a few moments.

“Finnel, you’ve walked up and down the Tower with Aoto. You should be in much better shape than this. As a Clustanian Reyvateil, you shouldn’t even be able to get out of shape.”

“It is probable this exhaustion is psychological.” The tall maid-droid with them did not look at either of them as it spoke, its face expressionless.

“Whoa, I think she just developed sarcasm.” Kokuro hovered nearby, trying to appear innocuous and cute.

“Kokuro, shut up.” Finnel took a deep breath.

“Aww, you’re…” Kokuro suddenly jolted up in the air, and his skin flickered papery-brown as if he might transform into his true Antibody form. In the distance, the sun set. “Did you feel that?”

“No?” Akane had drawn her sword and assumed her combat stance, as had Raki. Both of them stared around, trying to discern any movement in the trees.

“Not like that. It’s not nearby.”

“Are you saying it’s safe?”

“Well, it’s not getting any less safe.”

Akane didn’t sheath her sword. “So what did you sense?”

Kokuro resumed his normal bluish color. “It was power. Like a Will of the Planet singing something. But I could tell it was a mortal of some kind, it wasn’t quite pure enough.”

Putting the sword away, Akane turned to her friend. “What did this song do?”

Kokuro shook his head. “I’m not sure. I think it just adjusted the rotation of the planet a little.”

Finnel blinked, then her eyes widened. “Adjust the planet’s rotation? Why? How?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know. I’m not an antibody of this planet. All I heard was that it made the planet spin a tiny bit faster, and that there were two parts with a singer each. They were pretty near each other though.”

“Fascinating.” Akane considered the implications. Two singers of such power in close proximity implied some sort of central facility for powerful song magic. It was possible that Mir would be there. On the other hand, holding a prisoner like Mir in a facility for critical infrastructure was an invitation for things to go bad, hard. In any case, such a facility would likely be isolated from any population centers.

She would hold on course, hoping that the large coastal city she was moving towards was the capital or could provide her with sufficient intelligence. Checking her telecell, the orbital map Sasha had built showed her position to be slightly south of a railway stop on the way to said coastal city. If they camped here for the night, they might be able to bluff their way onto the early train and get into the city. They’d have to eventually make contact with the locals, and trying it with fewer people around seemed prudent.

“It’s getting too dark to continue without artificial light. We’ll stop here and camp until just before dawn. Raki, Kokuro, monitor the situation while we sleep. Wake us if anything comes up.” With that, Akane drew a roll of cloth from her pack. Taking a deep breath, the slim woman blew into a concealed nozzle on the cloth, inflating it into a rough triangular prism. After a few more blows, she set the completed two-person tent down and drove a stake through each corner to anchor it.

Finnel removed a set of blankets from her pack, and placed them inside as Akane stretched herself in preparation for rest.

“...and that was the point where I realized I’d forgotten how to fight by myself.” Mir sighed and shook her head. “Croix made me do a basics refresher with the new cadets. If I hadn’t almost died I’d have smacked him for humiliating me like that.”

Luna sighed. “I suppose you understand my sister better than I expected. Still, one would think raw strength would be enough to overcome a rodent and flower.”

Mir pouted up at her. “Those things are more difficult than you’d think. Many of what we call ‘monsters’ are the remains of first-age bioweapons programs. They likely would be a substantial danger to the average pony.”

“Perhaps you are right. However…” Luna’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “Foreleg wrestle?”

“No thank you. I’m a lot stronger than I look, but so are you, and you’re a fair bit bigger than me.”

“Wake up!” Akane was on her feet in an instant, which was unfortunate since their tent wasn’t designed to accommodate that. Her kip-up had bounced her off the top of the tent back onto the blankets.

“What’s the situation?” Akane was still buckling her armor on over her nightgown as she scrambled outside. At least there was moonlight, making it possible to see what was going on.

“Large animals moving this way, 120 meters.” Raki had drawn the hilt of her plasma sword from its compartment, but it wasn’t lit yet.

“No, it’s not animals. It’s Antibodies. This planet’s Antibodies. We camped out in a sensitive area.”

“Great.” Akane finished buckling the last strap of the armor. Let us leave here as fast as we can.

“I’m up I’m up!” Finnel emerged from the tent as well, buckling her armor on as well.

“Finnel, we need to move now. I’m afraid we don’t have time to repack the tent.”

“But–”

“They are here.”

Dozens of brown creatures began to emerge from the undergrowth.

“It’s… wolves made of wood?” Finnel clutched her hands to herself as she looked around at the sea of enemies.

“Finnel. Hold it together and sing. We’re here for you.”

The woman nodded and began to chant sub-audibly, as a shimmering field overlaid itself around her.

Akane turned to Kokuro. “Are these sapient?”

Kokuro shook his head. “No, they seem to be only capable of following instructions. They’re here to devour any animal that threatens the… something. It’s not clear. They’re not attacking yet because they’re confused by us being from another world. Many of their senses can’t actually perceive us. They can see the air we displace though, so they’ll be able to attack us just fine once they get over it.”

“Finnel, use Aretia. We’re going to bust through.”

“Right!” An image of a girl with dark skin, white hair, and a comparatively large t-rex skull and feather headdress appeared over her head.

The first of the wolf-things began to edge forward. Finnel didn’t hesitate, launching her own song magic as a beam-shaped rain of swords into the densest concentration of monsters. Shredded vegetation flew out from the impact site, but the narrow beam could only hit so many, and the remainder were undeterred.

Raki ignited her plasma sword and began to spin it in wide arcs through charging timberwolves, cutting down swaths of them.

Kokuro, in the meantime, had transformed into his own antibody form, a vague fibrous-skinned outline of a human form. Although he did not possess the brutal energy attacks of his peers, he was still a powerful antibody, and training with Akane had made him even stronger. His slams and spins likewise sent the enemy flying.

Finnel stood in the center of their triangular formation, concentrating totally on the song. She could no longer purge or call upon a Will of the Planet directly, but they had left behind their song magics to aid her, and Aretia was an incredible piece of work. Flipsphere was still available to her in an extreme emergency, but that would take a long time to charge.

Akane swung her sword through the head of another enemy, splitting it in half. At least wood is softer than bone. The wolves made another rush at her, but she was able to knock all of them away. Wait, there’s one missing! She looked up. It launched itself off its comrades! They’re not smart on their own, but they’re following a battleplan!

The timberwolf soared over her and landed, rushing for Finnel. As it entered the central field around the singer, Finnel began to flinch, anticipating an attack she could neither avoid nor block.

Akane beat the monster to her wife, disappearing and reappearing between them. The force of the rematerialization flung the timberwolf back, but as it was still accelerating away Akane’s blade was able to bite into it. The force drug the timberwolf along the blade, cutting a huge gash along the length of the wolf as it was flung back into its fellows, lifeless.

With almost no time before the wolves would surge through the gap she’d made in their defensive triangle, Akane rushed back out. “Almost ready?”

“Sorry! I lost focus for a bit there!" Finnel panted. "One more minute!”

The wolves drew back, preparing for a coordinated rush from all sides. This cost them precious time in which they weren’t attacking.

“Now!” Akane commanded.

“Releasing!” Finnel thrust her hands into the air. The girl-construct hovering over her shouted, blasting a cone of sound forward, sending shredded chunks of timberwolves hurtling into the sky.

“Let’s go!” With Akane’s shout, Kokuro grabbed Finnel and dashed as Raki served as a rearguard with her gigantic sword and ability to slash while gliding backwards. The surviving timberwolves continued to chase.

“Just a little farther, we’re almost to the edge of the area they guard!” Kokuro telepathically shouted to Akane. Behind him, Raki skated backwards on her thrusters as the wolves formed a wall of wood chasing them.

“Right.” Akane redoubled her efforts, not sparing a glance back at what she knew was following.

Sure enough, they cleared the treeline and the wolves stopped behind them, a writhing mass of wooden bodies glaring at them from the night’s shadows.

“Well. That was… scary.” Finnel dismounted from the antibody and stood staring at the now-diminishing mass of timberwolves. “Why’d they attack us?”

Kokuro resumed his normal form. “They’re programmed to attack anything that’s not authorized to approach… something. An area in the forest that this planet wants protected.”

“As intriguing as this mystery is, I propose we keep moving. I can see the railroad tracks here.”

Mir pounded on the door as Celestia blearily shook herself awake. Cycle looks good, I can skip it this morning. I’ll be needing my energy today I think.

“Rise and shine everypony. We’ve got a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in. Yesterday two foals learned how to fight Metafalss style in about a minute each. I think two great Princesses of the heavens can learn in a morning. Then we’re going to get things done.”

The trip to the station didn’t take long, merely requiring them to walk alongside the tracks in the predawn hours. Most of their food had been left behind with their tent, along with their changes of clothing. Akane wondered what they’d encounter at the train stop.

They now had no money, even if by some massive coincidence the currency here was the same as on a different planet. They didn’t even really have things they could trade for currency.

As they entered, Akane was surprised at the citizens of the outpost. Intelligent quadrupeds weren’t a thing she’d been expecting. Fortunately the translator built into her helmet was working just fine on the signs. The inhabitants didn’t seem particularly threatening, just like the normal people that she’d seen in her world.

They seemed somewhat wary of them, neither approaching them nor seeming to rush off to report them. She’d settle for that easily.

We cannot avoid the ticket-taker. I might as well take this head-on. Akane stepped forward. The pony behind the counter had a rounded appearance that Akane thought might indicate a female gender, and a single horn on her head. “Greetings.”

“Well hello deary. Wherever have you come from? I’ve never seen your kind.” At least the translator was working. The voice sounded female as well.

“We are from quite a ways away. I am afraid we landed in the forest to the south and lost our supplies, including our money.”

“The Everfree? Oh good grief. I’m terribly sorry you crashed there. I’m assuming you need a ticket to a port to meet up with someone?”

“Something like that. We need to get to the coast.” Akane didn’t like to outright lie, but thankfully this pony seemed to supply her with a convincing alibi.

“It’s alright. Tickets to Baltimare from here aren’t too expensive. I’ll just write you in as a comped ticket. It happens sometimes, that Starlight mare came through here a while back.” Akane watched as a glow lit up on the pony’s horn, dragging a quill pen into the air and towards a ledger.

“Thank you, ma’am.”

Tickets in hand, their wait for the train was brief. The conductor didn’t seem to react to them beyond checking the tickets. They took their seats on an empty car at the back of the train.

Akane sighed as she settled into the too-small back of the bench in the train car. Things seem to be almost too easy.

That was when a loud crashing sound came from the car ahead of them. As they stood to attention, a pink pony slammed open the door into the car.

She had no horn, nor the wings they’d seen on a few in the town. Her hue seemed subtly darkened, and her mane and tail were spiky and streaked with black.

“More holes in space? I can’t take it! I’ve got to squish you closed!” The pony’s eyes were unfocused, looking past them as her eyelids twitched wildly.

“I knew it,” Akane sighed as she drew her katana.

Phase 3: Consultancy, Part 4

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“Stupid holes in space!” The dark pink pony took a threatening step forward, head bent low and nostrils flaring.

Finnel jumped to her feet and began to chant behind Akane, while Kokuro transformed and Raki moved behind them to form a second line of defense.

“Blink and you’ll miss it!” Pinkie suddenly vanished, with no sign of any movement or teleportation.

“Ahh!” Finnel cried out as a fantastic force struck her from behind, sending her slamming into Raki.

“Hmph. Still moving! Bad hole! Naughty hole! Let’s raise the rating here!” The pony was standing where Finnel had been, and searching her hair with a foreleg. As Finnel attempted to stand, she saw that the pony had somehow drawn a carving knife, which seemed adhered to her hoof. “Maybe if I bake you into a cupcake and eat you, you’ll become part of me and I can see you?”

Raki shoved Finnel to the ground as she advanced over her, igniting her plasma sword. “Target locked. Evaluation: critical threat.”

“A talking toaster? These sound waves aren’t making any sense! Well! I’ll smash you up!” The pony’s eyes were staring off to each side of her head.

Raki jabbed forward with the blade, extending its length to the door to the next car. Pinkie bent around it like a rubber corkscrew. “Warning! Unknown spatial ability detected.”

Akane had helped Finnel back to her feet, and was staring at Raki’s attempts to bring the plasma sword to the target. The pony’s evasion was seemingly impossible, like a liquid flowing around the sword. Why isn’t she attacking back? Is she too busy dodging? “Kokuro, guard Finnel if she teleports behind her again.”

“Got it, but be careful. It reminds me of Saki.”

“Saki!” Finnel’s eyes went wide at the mention of her Will of the Planet friend. “Is she a Will?”

“No. She’s more like a gamma-sublimator. She’s got her hands, err, hooves on a hotline to one or more Wills!”

“Can we fight something like that?”

“It’ll be a tough fight, but you captured Saki and Aoto plenty.” Beyond Raki, Pinkie was leaving afterimages as she was dodging a series of rapid strikes.

“Honestly, I doubt either of them really knew what they were working with.”

“The power of a Will isn’t absolute.” At that moment, the argument was cut off by a lurch. Akane looked behind her, seeing the train car ahead of them moving away. A quick look over Raki’s shoulder confirmed her analysis: the conductor, seeing the crazy fight going on, had decided to detach the last car to insure the safety of the other passengers.

“It’s time to get this party started!” The pink pony reached down behind herself, and pulled out a cannon that was somehow substantially larger than she was. “This one isn’t loaded with confetti!”

The cannon fired, blowing out all the windows of the carriage with its raport. A cloud of smoke obscured the team from Pinkie’s vantage point, but the wind rushing through the now-unobstructed windows revealed that Raki had caught the ball one-handed.

“That’s hardly fair.” Pinkie shook her head. “How are you so strong?!? What are you made of?”

“Lift collateral damage restriction!” Akane’s shout prompted immediate response from the maid-droid, as Raki suddenly disengaged the sword. Part of her metal skirt immediately popped up and folded into the sword hilt, transforming it into a beam rifle, which she swung toward the pony and fired at point blank.

Everything on that end of the train car went white. When the beam ended, nothing was left of that half of the train car but ash blowing behind them.

“Scanning for target.”

“Close one!” Akane whirled to see the pink pony standing at the front of the car, glaring at Kokuro. Her face was blackened and her mane was on fire, but she didn’t seem to care.

“Whatever you are, stand down.” Akane pointed her sword at the pony for emphasis. “We can do this all day, but I do not believe we have a quarrel with you.”

“Whatever I am? Whatever you are! You weird weirdy-pants blew up the library and you think I’ll let you get away with it? You’re going down! You’re SUPER going down!”

“Talking’s no good. There’s something weird going on with her.”

Akane glanced at Kokuro briefly, keeping the pony in her peripheral vision. “What do you mean?”

“There’s a weird mass of negative emotions attached to her.”

Pinkie took a deep breath. “Oh, you mean the weird nightmare metamagic that Luna made to practice for making the final Nightmare Moon transformation that’s only a bit less powerful than the final product that Twilight gave to us but she’s actually got one on herself and King Sombra’s put his own spin on it and now we’re all mind puppets?”

Total silence. “Raki, can you play that back more slowly?”

“Negative.”

“Could we trouble you to explain that again, but without trying to do it all in one breath?”

Pinkie’s pupils dilated and expanded independently of each other. “Nope! In fact why am I even talking to you it makes no sense but where’s the fun in making sense?”

“Wait… wait a second…” Kokuro suddenly began shaking in place. “She’s been charging up an attack this whole time!”

“Yepparoooni! Here it is!”

Akane felt space distort around her as she spiraled towards the mare.

Mir, Croix, the Princesses, Rainbow, and Rarity had gathered in the park where Mir and Sweetie had fought Tirek. Mir’s gaze evaluated each of them in turn. Croix seemed fresh and ready, as did Luna and surprisingly Celestia. Rarity and Rainbow still seemed sluggish, no doubt due to lingering effects of being purged of dark magic after being thrashed half to death.

“Right, you two.” She pointed at the Princesses. “I don’t have a lot of choice here. Twilight is a capable and intelligent foe, and with her theft of the song magic cores I can only assume she intends to use them to fulfil the directives the Nightmare transformation has given her. That means you,” she pointed specifically at Celestia, “are now ground zero for all kinds of city-flattening energy beams.”

She levitated the materialized song magic core. “We’re going to put this in your head to make you easier to defend. When you’re manifesting a song magic you’ll be able to draw upon the knowledge contained here to do so properly, including forming a harmonics field so whoever you’re with – I’m looking at Luna here, because there really aren’t any other options right now – can defend you properly.”

Celestia looked the hovering red crystal over. “Sweetie already has one, and Luna watched you install it, correct?”

“Yes, sister. It was a fascinating journey through the mind of our subject, and I believe I may understand the source of Cutie Mark magic.”

“Well, that would be quite a breakthrough. You’ll have to share it with Twilight once we get her back to her normal self.”

“That’s great and all, but we need to get down to business here.” Mir trotted up and tried feebly to push Celestia down. “Fall asleep for a bit so Luna and I can pop it in.”

“All right, all right.” Celestia stretched her neck and lay down on a nearby bench, her mane and tail drooping over it onto the grass. “I just got up, so it shouldn’t take too long to go back to sleep.”

Akane floated through ghostly images of the pink pony baking as a jaunty tune played. This was far more terrifying to her than it would be to others, since she knew exactly what was going on.

Flipsphere! Akane had been on the receiving end of these incredible powers granted by the combination of the Third Tower and the Wills of the Planet a few too many times. Although you could attempt to resist, being bombarded by whatever horrifying things the darkest depth of someone’s imagination could conjure made suddenly real was not an experience that most could survive. Many of Akane’s comrades had been irreversibly transformed into cake.

A similarly gruesome fate might await her now, as a succession of felt anthropomorphic cupcakes brandishing knives charged forward. Whatever was happening now operated on the twisted rules the pony’s mind produced, so Akane didn’t dare try to fight them or block their attacks. “Dodge!”

Akane grabbed the still-chanting Finnel and twisted away from the first cupcake. It exploded into a mass of red sticky liquid as it impacted an invisible wall behind them.

Raki and Kokuro were equally successful in dodging the first rank, and the gruesome red not-quite-blood began to outline a hemispherical enclosure. Akane knew without doubt that if she got any of it in her mouth, it would be intolerably sweet. It would also likely be her last sensation. She could sense the immense energy the pony was drawing from the planet, and it felt somehow corrupted.

A second wave of cupcakes advanced in dense formation, but failed to account for the fact that half their targets could fly, and the other half jump very well. The wall was now thick with syrupy redness and globs of it dripped down, restricting the room to stand – not that it affected the fliers.

The third and final cupcake wave screamed and began to bounce in place. Akane and her compatriots watched closely as the cakes bounced forward, timing their rolling or flying forward to avoid the giant pastries.

As the last of the cupcakes smashed themselves into the far wall, the only safe spot to stand was where the cupcakes had originally been standing. Akane tensed, knowing that the end of a flipshere was usually some gigantic single hit. It didn’t leave them waiting, as a gigantic felt butcher knife appeared directly over them, falling point down. Akane tossed Finnel to Raki and grabbed hold of Kokuro as the two of them hovered their passengers over the red goop to the other side of the room, narrowly avoiding the immense knife as it smashed through the room entirely.

The shards of the room spun away revealing the interior of the half-train car once again. The pink pony stood in shock. “You survived? That’s not possible! You are not possible! And I’m sorry I couldn’t work ‘scientifically’ in there, but I’m not a perfect reference machine here!” She staggered back and forth, eyes unfocused and glassy, her chest heaving as she panted arhythmically.

Finnel glared down at the pony. She’d maintained concentration on her song throughout all the womanhandling she’d undergone. “My turn.”

Although she no longer bore any Wills of the Planet within her soulspace, her link with them had left echoes and connections, and Finnel had retained her power of flipshere. Watercolor-painted mythological scenes floated about Pinkie as the pony screamed and flailed, confused as to where everything had gone. “Leave us alone!” Finnel shouted as the flipshere activated fully, showering the pony with falling stars.

As the flipshere concluded, the pink pony flopped to the deck of the shattered train car. “Stand down.” Akane’s command brought Raki’s beam saber to a halt inches from Pinkie’s neck. “Check if she is actually out cold. Give me a full scan.”

Raki deactivated her beam weapon and landed, passing her hand over the comatose pony. “Target appears to have exhausted its energy. Additional status readout: target appears to be permanently blind.”

“P-permanently?” Finnel clutched her hands in front of herself, horrified at maiming such a cute opponent.

“It’s nothing you did, Finnel.” Kokuro hovered over the pony. “I don’t think she’s ever been able to see. What she thinks is seeing, is actually asking the WIll of the Planet what’s going on. She can’t see us because we’re not part of this planet.”

Akane reached into her pocket for an autoinjector, then jabbed it into the pony. “That should both stabilize her and keep her out for a little while. We should probably leave before the explosion attracts attention.”

Raki flew up into the air, then flew down. “There appears to be a handcart 129 meters from our current position on a siding.”

“Excellent. Let us follow that train. You shall push us.”

Finnel put her finger to her chin. “Won’t they notice a rocket-propelled handcart?”

Akane shrugged. “I imagine they would. Interaction with their enforcement agency may make it easier to evaluate their intentions.”

“So we’re trying to get arrested?”

“I do not consider any attempts that might be made to do so a mission obstacle.”

“So is it normal that she has dreams about cake, dreams about self-loathing, and dreams about both?”

Luna watched the red crystal settle into the subconscious layer of Celestia’s mind, then turned her attention to the so-called Daybreaker smacking herself in the face with a cake over and over. “Please do not use your dreamwalking for harm.”

“Celestia’s avatar of repressed desires really shouldn’t have picked a fight with someone who knows soul-editing. Besides, that’s probably not a good thing to have around. Shouldn’t you disperse it or something?”

Luna glowered at Mir. “I dispense of dream figments, but this is a part of her mind that is more solid and deeper.”

“Fine, I’ll set it to revert after we leave. But you should really find a way to deal with that stuff permanently, otherwise she’ll go around setting things on fire.” Mir paused, then giggled. “Now that I say that out loud, maybe just invite me when the fun starts.”

“No.” Luna tossed her head. “I shall preserve my sister from this crisis. At least we have not seen any sign of her guilt over her failures with Sunset. I imagine that the knowledge Sunset has died without ever reconciling with her has been a great burden.”

Mir levitated upwards, until she could lean down to look Luna in the eye. “Sunset Shimmer, as creator of the art of Sound Science, wielded a power over destiny that no other human being could ever claim. I feel she lived the best life she possibly could. In fact, she has probably been consistently the human I admire most. Croix is a great husband, but Sunset’s creations literally changed the face of the planet, both for evil and good.”

Luna drew back. “I had no idea you idolized her so.”

“That might be pushing it. I mean, I know now she wasn’t originally a human, but she still died as one. If she’d been around for my evil phase, she’d have been target #1 out of pure necessity.

“The point is, Sunset lived life more fully than anyone, ever. Celestia couldn’t have done any better for her, so she shouldn’t beat herself up over it for an instant.”

Luna nickered. “Oh, and did you explain that to her?”

Mir’s face slackened as her mouth curved into an “o” shape. “Maybe I should mention that at some point.” She resumed her usual slightly glaring expression. “I guess I am just still sore about losing to that overstuffed sack of cake.”

“My sister and I were once formidable warriors.” Luna back over to Mir as the Reyvateil turned to repair the Daybreaker mental construct. “An age of inaction has dulled her somewhat, but never underestimate her. Or myself.”

“Right. But you can’t underestimate me. Or Croix.” Mir pressed her hoof to the corrupted Alicorn, and rings of red runes encircled her foreleg. “Restore… complete.”

Daybreaker suddenly shot backwards, then lunged at Mir with a powerful leap. A sword-wielding biped jumped into its path, its swing forcing Daybreaker to dive or be beheaded. Both of them then dissipated.

“Hmph.” Mir surveyed the scene. “Looks like it can’t take the heat as well as it says. Let’s get out of here before we meet her version of you. I’m sure there’s a ton of guilt over your fall rattling around in here.”

Luna shivered. “That would be uncomfortable to witness. Let us away.”

The handcart caught up with the train about an hour West of Baltimare. They obviously weren’t happy to see the wackos that had begun a laser sword fight in the last car, and a conductor had ushered everyone out of the new last car, then glared at them through the windows.

“Do we want to re-board the train?” Finnel looked up at the scowling pony.

“No.” Akane turned to Raki, who was pushing against the rear edge of the handcart with her rockets engaged. “Raki, can you support the weight of this cart and us in stable flight?”

“Affirmative.”

“Very well. Pick us up, fly us ahead of the train, then put us back down on the track and accelerate to maximum safe speed for this cart.”

Raki adjusted one hand to grip the rear frame of the handcart, then the other. The metal deformed slightly as she increased grip strength until her algorithms were confident of stability. Then the thrust angled downward.

The conductor shrank down as the handcart began to rise into the air, Raki’s thrusters kicking up a huge cloud of dust behind them. He glanced up from the floor as the handcart slowly rose over the end of the train car, casting him into shadow. His eyes snapped shut as the bright cones of the maid-droid’s thrusters came into view, and the car’s frame shook as the rockets came over.

All through the train the passengers cowered as the sound of the thrusters approached, which was quite fortunate for them - Raki had redirected her thrust outward away from the train, but it would still have been extremely dangerous if any of them had stuck their heads out the windows to look.

Akane and Finnel used the opportunity of increased height to look around. Most of what they saw was dense forest, although they could see a river nearby running more or less parallel to their course.

At last Raki had cleared the engine by a sufficient margin and the handcart descended to the tracks.

“This has gotten too crazy.” Brake Whistle, the chief conductor, glared forward, even though he couldn’t see the madcreatures and their handcart anymore. The big earth pony spat on the floor of the baggage car and glared at the other conductors. “We need to warn Baltimare this stuff is coming.”

“And how exactly do you expect to do that?” A junior conductor, a brown pegasus stallion named Air Brake, asked.

“You’re wearing the answer on your back. I need you to fly in and deliver a message.”

“I’m pretty sure I know what to say, boss, but who do you want me to take it to? The cops?”

Brake Whistle shook his head. “No, no. We’re going to need the big guns for this. There’s an EUP fort there, give the message to General Naysayer.”

Harmony Consultant

by jqnexx

Phase 1: Awakenings, Part 1

Phase 1: Awakenings, Part 2 (Revised)

Phase 1: Awakenings, Part 3

Phase 1: Awakenings, Part 4

Non-canon Interlude: Spica

Phase 1: Awakenings, Part 5

Non-canon Interlude: Gilda

Phase 1: Awakenings, Part 6

Phase 2: Escalation, Part 1

Phase 2: Escalation, Part 2 (Revised)

Hearth's Warming Interlude

Phase 2: Escalation, Part 3

Phase 2: Escalation, Part 4

Interlude: Sunset Shimmer 1

Phase 2: Escalation, Part 5

Interlude: Sunset Shimmer 2

Phase 2: Escalation, Part 6

Phase 2: Escalation Part 7

Phase 3: Consultancy Part 1

Phase 3: Consultancy Part 2

Interlude: Discord (Dark)

Interlude: Sunset Shimmer 3

Phase 3: Consultancy Part 3

Phase 3: Consultancy, Part 4