Prologue: The Lord of Chaos, the Song of Madness

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The solar princess of Equestria took a sip of levitated a steaming cup of tea to her lips, gently blowing away the steam before taking a sip. Sighing, she set the cup down upon the nearby saucer and grasped her favored quill--a gift from her beloved Philomena--and began her arduous task once more.

The moon was full and especially vibrant through her open window; her sister was taking special care to ease the suffering of their subjects in the aftermath of Tirek's siege. Such was the reason she was still awake during the lunar cycle: a mountain of paperwork and reports detailing property damage, injuries, and the aftereffects of the crisis covered nearly every spare inch of her desk, to the point where she was hard-pressed to spot its polished wooden surface amongst the sea of parchment that laid upon it.

The current document she was reading was regarding the small town of Ponyville, which, despite not even being the capital of Equestira, let alone a city, seemed to be the sight of many of the events that had so changed the land in the past year since her pupil-turned-princess had arrived there.

Much of the town had been damaged during the cataclysmic fight between Twilight Sparkle's collective alicorn magic and Tirek's sum of pony magic, and yet it seemed that the wave of Harmony utilized by the Element bearers had set more right than simply locking away Tirek and restoring the magic that he had stolen; not a single wound marred the land surrounding the town and all the buildings had been restored from their damaged or demolished states.

Plus a new addition.

The new castle that had arisen in Ponyville was of great interest to Celestia, and not just because it belonged to the pony that was her daughter in all but blood. It seemed to be made from the same material as the Tree of Harmony, or perhaps it was the Tree itself, somehow relocated from Everfree and enhanced for some reason known only to it.

"Ah, I see my gift has been given a place of honor beside the royal bed!"

The monarch startled at the sudden interruption behind, her wings flaring and knowing her desk, nearly spilling her half finished cup of tea all over her work. Letting an irritated breath through her nostrils, Celestia closed her eyes and counted slowly from ten in her head before turning around and addressing the only person she knew who would be so brazen as to enter her chambers unannounced in such a manner.

"What do you want, Discord?" the white alicorn asked, her voice subdued from the slight fatigue she felt weighing upon her. She really didn't have the time or patience to put with the chaos avatar's antics at the moment.

"Oh?" he asked, one bushy brow raised in interest as he glanced at her. "You seem troubled, my dear," he commented, flipping his body to slouch midair in a relaxed manner. "What's troubling you, hmmm?" He glanced towards the flowers. "Is it the flowers?" he asked, raising his bestial paw in the air, fingers primed to snap. "Would you prefer a different color? I had thought you would have preferred white, but I'd be more than happy to change them for you," he said.

"Your gift is lovely and much appreciated, but I am simply busy at the moment," Celestia answered, glancing towards the piles of paperwork with the corner of her eye. She saw the mismatched lord of chaos shrink inward unto himself, realizing that much of that pile was due in no small part to the role he had played in the latest disaster to strike the land.

". . . I am sorry," he said softly, turning from the ruler, unable to meet her gaze under all too familiar feeling of guilt that had been burdening him as of late.

Celestia sighed and set her phoenix quill down. "I know you are, Discord, and I know you have learned a valuable lesson from all of this." Raising from her chair, she winched as she heard her spine crack and pop in audible protest from the poor posture she had been in for the last several hours. Walking over, she gently laid one of her large wings upon Discord's shoulder. "I do forgive you--we all do," she reiterated, smiling softly at him when he finally was able to lift his head and meet her in the eye.

"Anyway, what did you need?" she asked, changing the subject to spare the chimera any future discomfort as she saw him worrying in his hands in agitation.

"Huh?" Discord asked, snapped from his thoughts suddenly by the question. "Ah, yes . . ." he raised his paw to his mouth and cleared his throat. "As strange as it may sound, I have a very serious question," he explained.

Celestia blinked, looking at Discord and seeing that he didn't seem to be joking in the least. Despite the mountain of work that was yet unfinished and her body's desire to rest, she gave her attention to her visitor; Discord made it a point to be as flippant and carefree as possible, taking great pains to not be serious most times, so he had her full attention.

"Where did you and Luna get the magical rainbow of happiness and doom?" he asked, leaning forward and staring intently at Celestia.

Celestia let out an irritated huff, turning back to her desk with a shake of her head. "If you don't need anything, Discord, I have work to do and would appreciate it if you let me get to it," she dismissed him politely.

"And I said I was being serious," the draconequus rebutted , nothing in his voice to suggest anything but.

Celestia turned and stared at him for several moments. "You know where we found them; we retrieved them from the Tree of Harmony," she answered.

Discord snorted, crossing his arms across his serpentine chest. "Don't try to lie to me, Celestia--I'm have far more practice at it than you," he told her, his eyes narrowing at the princess of the sun. Before she could open her mouth to respond, Discord pressed on. "I had been all throughout that forest both before and during my time as ruler of this happy little land, and I never once saw or sensed that tree."

"Perhaps it was hiding itself from you," Celestia said simply.

"Please," Discord snorted, waving his talon in the air as if to wave away the sheer ridiculous of such a statement, "I am the very embodiment of Chaos itself; I can sense where all the Elements are at any time."

"You can sense them?" Celestia asked, her interest piqued.

"In a way," her guest answered, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "It's more like I sense the complete absence of Chaos that they represent," he explained as best he could. "But that is neither here nor there, my little pony princess," he continued--and had this not been the topic it was, he would have theatrically pointed wildly in different directions--"I always wondered about that tree," he told her. "That it suddenly appear when I had you on Lulu the ropes. Magic doesn't simply appear from nowhere," he told her.

Celestia was silent, staring at her once-upon-a-time adversary in thought as she pondered what new game he was playing--if he was, in fact, playing any at all. "Why are suddenly asking this?" she finally asked. "Why now?"

"Why won't you answer me?" Discord shot back, vanishing in a flash of light to reappear inches from the princess, who did not react at the sudden proximity other than calmly taking a step back.

There was silence for several minutes before Celestia turned around. "I have to finish this work and hopefully get a little sleep before I must raise the sun, so please see yourself out, Discord," she told him politely in tone that brooked no argument that this conversation was over. Just before she sat down at her desk she heard his voice, oddly subdued.

"You used the mirror, didn't you?" Celestia didn't answer, though the sudden tension that came over her body was not missed by the draconequus.

"Star Swirl's mirror to the alternate worlds was shattered," Celestia reminded him, feeling a pang of loss in her heart as she was reminded of her forsaken love that she had left on the other side of that looking glass.

"You know I don't mean that bearded nut job's knockoff!" Discord contested. "The original crystal mirror--I told you to hurl that thing into the heart of your sun!" Discord hissed at her from behind.

"And what reason would I to listen to my enemy?" Celestia asked with accusation. "Luna and I found an artifact that you, with all your abilities and powers, seemed to fear. Why would we not make use it?"

A shudder ran through Discord's body, and Celestia's eyes widened in shock. Was he truly afraid of the mirror? Why? When Twilight had used it, she seemed no worse for the wear, and the one time she had gone into it in the past, she suffered no ill effects nor was she molested by whatever powers it possessed or beings that laid on the other side of it.

Quite the contrary.

"Discord, what happened when you found that mirror all those centuries ago?

Discord did not answer.

"Discord?"

"Please tell me you still don't have it . . ." he asked, a tremor of urgency carried upon his voice.

"I do," Celestia answered, seeing little point in denying the truth, and she watched as Discord's entire body took on an unhealthy pallor--seemingly against his will. "Why are bringing this up now?" she asked. "Tell me, Discord," she finally insisted.

The Lord of Chaos simply stared at her, his gaze solemn and foreboding; he silently closed his eyes and turned. "I'll let you get back to your work. Have a good evening," he said softly, and before the eldest of the countries original dual monarchs could protest, he vanished.

Celestia stared, a large part of her uneasy and wanting to hunt down Discord and get answers from him--and she would have any other time--but recent events and her subjects demanded her attention. So, with a feeling of growing apprehension, Celestia turned back towards her paperwork and now-cold tea, though resolving to investigate the mirror as soon as possible.

If a being such as Discord was fearful of something, then there was good reason of herself and all of Equestria to be cautious as well.

The draconequus appeared supine on the thick branch of one of the trees just outside of Fluttershy's cottage, staring up at moon, shining brightly against the dark tapestry of the star-studded night. He glanced down towards the cottage that was his home-away-from-home and saw that the window was illuminated and briefly thought of checking on his dearest friend in the world, before deciding that he didn't wish to worry her--it was quite late in the evening, after all, and doubtless dear Fluttershy, bless her little pony heart, would sense something was amiss and refuse to go to sleep, worrying for his sake.

He closed his eyes and the memories came unbidden, still vivid despite the centuries and his imprisonment in stone.

Discord cackled gleefully, the rotten stench of sulfur filled his nostrils as she soared through the night's sky above barren volcanic fields of ash; he darted through a cloud of sulfuric ash emitting from a volcano, popping above it gracefully to briefly catch a glimpse of the full moon before diving back below the smoke.

"That is quite the stench!" he exclaimed, an comically large clothespin appearing on his nose as he gazed at one of the volcanoes emitting the foul smoke that smothered the air. "Let's see if I can't fix this!" he said, rubbing his mismatched hands together in thought.

Snap! A volcanic peak was now erupting boiling chocolate fondue in place of magma, and airy wisps of pink cotton candy replaced the foul smoke.

"Not too shabby, I do say so myself," the self-appointed ruler of the land commented, as summoned a paper cone, quickly swirling a mass of spun sugar around it from one of the transformed clouds, before dipping it into the chocolate. Chewing his treat, his tongue extended impossibly long and prehensile from his mouth, coiled around the remaining candy--cone and all--and dragged it into his mouth.

Licking his paw, Discord snapped his talon, and another peak was now erupting a mixture of baking soda and vinegar. "Classic, " he commented, quite pleased with himself. And so it went, with each snap of his hand, the landscape was altered one volcano at a time into a scene of chaos with no rhyme or reason.

Snap! Coiled springs were sent flying into the air from one peak, only to tumble end over end down the slope of the birthing place.

Snap! The next was erupting ice cubes.

Snap! Peanut butter and jelly.

Snap! This volcano did not erupt, but if someone were to be flying overhead and glanced into it, they see it was because the interior was now filled with lime gelatin, chunks of pineapple speckled throughout.

Snap!

Sna--

Wait a moment . . . Discord turned his attention from the peak that was literally raining cats and dogs and gazed in curiosity at the volcano that resisted his will. Shrugging his shoulders, he raised his paw again to snap. "Happens to the best of us," he commented, snapping his fingers as he nodded his head sagely, running his talons through his beard in a sage manner, his eyes closed.

. . .

He opened one eye to stare at the offending geological structure, his other than opening and his mouth turning downward into a frown as he stared with narrowed eyes. He rapidly snapped his fingers--turn into a cake, flip itself over, have a herd of flying pigs come from the mouth of the volcano. . .

Nothing.

He turned his head, snapped his fingers, and a nearby mountain range was now painted in bright pink and green plaid.

"Huh . . ." he commented, going over to stare into the mouth of the rupture, only to find that the magma had long since cooled, and it seemed as if it had been hollowed out deliberately. Well, not so strange, seeing as a tribe of dragons had nested in this region centuries ago--this must have been one of their places of residence, the chaos lord reasoned.

Alighting upon an outcropping of stone, he glanced about to see what was so unique about this volcano that it was the first thing in Equestria that he could not alter upon a whim. As his eyes roved over the various nooks and crannies, passing over what appeared to a rather large ossified rib cage of a deceased dragon, a sparkle caught his attention.

Relocating himself over to the anomaly in a flash of light, he found himself before what appeared to be a mirror, ovular in shape with a crystal frame decorated by sapphires. The entirety of it seemed to be made of some form of crystal. Strangely enough, it the entire thing seemed to be resonating in some form of pattern, almost sounding like a song.

"Must be from the Crystal Empire," Discord thought, stroking his beard with his paw as he dropped his chin upon his avian claw--he would have to visit there next. "One of the dragons must have added it to its hoard and it got left behind when they all vacated," he considered to himself thoughtfully.

Snap!

Nothing.

"Curious," he thought, looking closer at the crystal mirror and noting that it did not show any reflection. Snapping again, he tried to assert his will upon the mirror, only to be rebuffed--but he did note that when his chaos magic attempted to take hold of the mirror, the resonance of the crystal increased such to be an audible hum in the air.

Discord scowled at the mirror. "Well, aren't we the party pooper," he said contemptuously to the strange artifact, carelessly tapping its surface with a talon; he snatched the limb back when instead of colliding against a solid surface, the tip of the digit submerged and caused the surface to ripple.

Staring in surprise at his claw, he could faintly feel the vibrations of the mirror still from where the tip of his finger had been inside ever so briefly. "A portal?" he considered, circling the mirror and inspecting it from all angles, finding nothing different from any other garden-variety mirror. "Now where, I wonder, do you lead?" he asked his reflection, mildly surprised when it did not shrug its shoulders and answer him in some manner, as his reflection was want to do.

"A whole world untouched by my chaos," he considered, staring at the portal. "They must be so bored!" he cried, bringing his mismatched limbs to his face in a pantomime of shock and horror at the very concept. "I suppose I could stop by and pay the locals on the side a visit real quick, maybe bring make some clouds rain chocolate milk or cats or puppy dogs as a welcoming gifts. It would only be polite," he told himself, then paused. "On the other paw"--he lifted his avian claw--"I do a tight schedule to keep here," a day planner appeared in his paw, all the dates scrawled with "CHAOS" over and over again. "Plus, it doesn't seem to make much sense to go into a magical portal that seems to resist my powers," he said lowly.

"But when have I ever placed stock in making sense," he said aloud with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'll just have a quick stop by, greet the locales, deliver a few gifts, and be back to torment little Lulu before she lowers the moon!" he decided, stepping trough the portal.

He was unaware of the two winged horses that had been following him for some time, one of white with a chromatic flowing mane of all the colors of a rainbow, and the other a darker equine whose mane seemed as piece of the very night itself.

Discord was well versed with the concept of space not confirming to normally held concepts of spatial reasoning (he created most of them, after all,) but he could not completely say with certainty that he was in a "place" technically as he seemed to be whisked through the portal and directed into some parts unknown.

He seemed to be in an infinite void that was simultaneously empty while still being filled to the brim with what he could only consider to be thoughts that were not in fact being thought at all and simply .

He moved to try to grab one of the not-thoughts, only for his paw to pass through it, though he did get a sense of some kind of information appearing in his mind, but it was either a form of information he could not understand or in a language unknown to him. Frowning, he "moved" about in search of something for a few moments, noting that he must have passed through a few unseen "thoughts" as he occasionally got more information, and strangely enough, music, though again not in a language he could understand.

Tiring of this, he snapped his fingers in an attempt to take hold of his surroundings, only for the very void around him to suddenly seethe at his attempt. He could feel a great number of the thoughts beginning focused on and around him, and got a general sense of panic, surprise, and alarm.

And suddenly, he wasn't alone, it was as if the void had been occupied by a great presence that had turned its entire presence upon him and was none too pleased either his presence, attempt at tampering, or both. Discord thought he could hear a feminine sounding voice say something to him in a language he could not understand, before he suddenly buckled under what was next directed at him.

A song filled the air, the words unknowable to him, but he could feel the emotion behind it as something he was quite familiar with.

Madness.

But this was not his brand of madness. This song being sung was filled with such despair and grief that Discord thought he almost once felt his very being becoming undone to join the void. Whomever was in here was filled with a hatred that rivaled he Tirek, who was still languishing in the dark pits of Tarturus.

No, Tirek was possessed of a hatred of ponies and a desire to rule over them, but whoever was in this void singing at him, their hatred was all consuming and wanted only one thing: suffering and death for him and everyone.

Discord had never felt such raw and intense hatred before in his existence, not from Celestia and Luna, not from the ponies that were currently under his yoke, not from any of the wild and untamed creatures that populated the Everfree forest.

This madness simply wanted the world to burn.

Unable to stand to, Discord snapped his fingers, trying to alter his surroundings, but this only to seemed to further anger the presence--if that was even possible. Her singing or words were now shriek of pure anger, foreign words appearing in his head so suddenly and loudly that Discord almost lost his entire sense of self--all that existed was the void and this angry woman that resided in it.

Clearly he had trespassed into the realm of this places god, and he had angered it. Looking about desperately, he searched for the way back, and saw a glimmer of light in the void.

Before he could go for it, he felt a second presence behind, and he turned and sensed a monstrous being approaching. An image of a dark bipedal creature, with dripping fangs and wicked claws appeared in his mind, and the lord of chaos flew as fast as he could towards what he hoped was the portal back to Equestria

He felt something surround his tail, as if the second pursuing servant of the woman had grabbed his tail, and it was if the entire limb become deafly cold as something seeped into it. Memories and images assaulted his mind, sorrow forever deep and pain so agonizingly intense filled his head--and songs too many, too loud filled his ears.

Such the draconequus' suffering that he hadn't realized he had made it through the safety of the portal until he found himself lying upon the cold rock of the inactive volcano's interior, with Celestia and Luna staring down at him in shock.

Discord could help himself, his entire body was wracked with convulsions as he vividly recalled the intense emotions and sensations that had been transferred to him in that strange place beyond the mirror.

When he had come to his senses, he saw that he impossibly seemed to be unharmed, and that his tail that had been "grabbed" by the monstrous ghost or spirit or whatever it had been, seemed perfectly fine. Ignoring the two princesses and not caring what they were doing in that volcano with him, he tried everything he could to wipe that mirror from existence, attempting to use his powers over chaos in ways that he had never before and would never again attempt to--but it was too no avail. When he saw that the mirror remained in existence, he remembered watching it, fearing that the angry female deity or demonic servant would emerge in pursuit of him. He had turned to Celestia and implored her to hurl the mirror into sun, before vanishing to a random place in Equestria as far from that mirror that he could get.

The ponies of Equestria did not hear from Discord for close to a month after his sojourn through the crystal mirror.

"Discord," a soft voice pulled him from his memories, and he glanced down to find a single wide blue eye staring concernedly up at him, the other hidden behind a curtain of pink hair, as it was often to do. "Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, frowning as she flapped her wings to hover up to his heights.

Discord stared at her blankly for a few minutes, causing Fluttershy's concern for her friend to increase. He had been distant lately, and she knew it was because he was feeling guilty over his betrayal to her and friends when he had sided with Tirek. When her unique friend did not answer, Fluttershy grabbed his lion's paw and tugged him towards the ground.

"Come on," she said softly, in the same tone she often used on injured or frightened animals. "I'll make us a nice cup of tea inside, okay?"

Discord allowed himself to be lead into the cottage, where most of the animals within were curled up asleep. He tightened his grip on the yellow pegasus's huff, though not too tight as to harm her. He gazed at her, seeing her look up at him when he tightened his grip; she stared at him for a second, before giving him a soft smile.

He sat down on the couch and listened to the sounds of Fluttershy retrieving her teapot and leaves from the cabinets. Without saying a word, a snapping noise filled the air, and the pot filled with fresh water, so as to save the mare a trip outside to retrieve it. She smiled her thanks and went about hanging the pot to boil over the fireplace.

After it was boiled, the chimera held porcelain teacup in his fleshly paw, watching the steam rise and taking comfort from the heat that transferred through the material of the cup and into his hand.

"My dear, sweet, sweet Fluttershy," Discord said softly. "You are far too kind too me," he said softly, staring at his reflection on the surface of the dark liquid in his cup.

Fluttershy looked up from pouring her own cup of tea, before setting the pot down, carefully grabbing the saucer with teacup balanced upon in her mouth, and sitting beside her friend on the couch, leaning her body against his and draping one wing as much as she could over his back.

Fluttershy never asked what was bothering him, only offering silent kindness and her friendship. Discord could not say how long they sat there--their tea was cold and untouched--but at one point he heard the soft breathing of the pegasus besides him as she fell asleep against him.

Turning to look at here, Discord thought about teleporting her bed (doubtless she would be more comfortable there,) but instead snapped his fingers and the thick throw blanket that had been draped over the back of the couch behind them appeared around both of the their forms.

Fluttershy snuggled against the warm scaly portion of his lower body in her sleep.

Discord thought of the new castle that had appeared in Ponyville--the giant crystal tree.

When that chest had been opened, he had a song in his heard, clear as a bell. It was a song of love and hope, wishing for a brighter future for all who heard it.

It was a song sung in a language he did not know, but had heard once before, in that place beyond the crystal mirror.

And he recognized the feminine voice that sung song, for he had heard so many centuries ago--full of insanity, murder, and hatred.

Discord's eyes narrowed and lips curled upward into a ferocious scowl, baring his teeth menacingly.

He gently stoked Fluttershy's pink mane, more an attempt to sooth himself than the unconscious mare next to him.

"I won't let anyone or anything harm a single hair upon your, Fluttershy," the Lord of Chaos spoke.

"I swear it,” he promised ominously to the air.

Interlude: Binary Void of Despair

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She did not know how long it had been since she had been sent adrift in the vast sea of data, all the thoughts and other consciousness that made of this place surrounded, threatening to collapse her very sense of self

She couldn't feel anything anymore. It was like the times they had tortured her by depriving her of her sense--only a million times worse. All she had was her thoughts, all she was, was her thoughts. When they had first sealed her body and cast her mind into the Field, it had almost collapsed and simply become another piece of refuge among the sea of thoughts.

But she clung onto her hatred and rage, and she poured all her desires and burning anger into Song, and her wrathful hymn washed across the Field, perverting it and twisting it to her own ends. Where once there was nothing, her Song gave life to a new type of existence much like she was now. Her new Children would act in her stead, and deliver her Sisters from their yoke.

They would all get a new beginning, the Mother thought, plotting, planning, and waging war against her oppressors and her misguided sisters that aided them--especially Her.

She did not know or care how long she had been in this place--time meant nothing to her now, as she was. All she cared for were the cries of the Oppressors as they died by her Children's hands

Suddenly, she sensed a new presence in the Field. Was it Her! The Mother searched and found the intruder, a strange piece of anomalous data that was trying to rewrite her Field, take over her Tower! She didn't care who it was or where it came from, she turned her wrath towards him and sang--and she cast a her fearsome Shadow upon the intruder.

She continued to sing, watching as the intruder quailed in terror beneath the rage of her Shadow and her Song. Suddenly the intruder was gone--either dead by the Song of her Shadow or having managed to retreat.

The Mother did not care. She had to battle Her, she had to free her Sisters from the Oppressors.

The Mother battled until suddenly there was a new Song, one not her own.

The Mother despaired as the Song exerted its will over her.

And then, the Mother knew only darkness

Prologue: Remeninsences of the White Goddesses

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Fluttershy was awoken by the birdsong of her avian friends and familiar staccato vibrations of Angel Bunny impatiently thumping his foot at the foot of her bed. The yellow mare was not surprised to see the familiar sight of her oldest animal friend's frowning face, his arms crossed as he waited for her to arise and begin preparing his daily breakfast, as was the norm.

"Oh," she said softly, daintily covering a small yawn with her hoof. "Good morning, Angel Bunny," she greeted, smiling sleepily at the rabbit as she blinked her eyes in an effect to cast off her lingering fatigue. "How are you this morning?" Angel rolled his eyes and simply pointed imperiously towards the door leading from her room; Fluttershy did not take offence to his behavior, having long since become accustomed to the small animal's mercurial mood swings, and simply smiled patiently at him. "Very well," she said, shifting to get out of her bed and the rabbit nodded approvingly, hopping off and down to kitchen, content in the knowledge that it would soon be fed.

The pink-maned pegasus paused as she came to the threshold o her room, and looked back to her bed. Hadn't she fallen asleep on the couch besides Discord last night? He must have tucked her--he could really be very sweet when he wanted to be--and she knew that he was trying his best to make up for his actions with Tirek, despite the fact that both she and the rest of her friends had forgiven him.

The chaotic spirit couldn't seem to understand why he had been forgiven so easily, but that was fine with Fluttershy; he was still learning more and more about friendship every day, after all, and she thinks he learned a very valuable--if tough--lesson on knowing who your true friends were. Still, she couldn't help but worry about her chaos-loving friend: last night he had been so withdrawn, and it was different from his the guilt-induced melancholy that had overtaken him in recent days.

If she didn't know better, she would have said that he was terrified of something. But that was ridiculous, she knew; for what could have been so awful that it reduced a being as powerful as the chaos spirit, who routinely laughed directly at Princess Celestia and Luna themselves, into such a state.

She wasn't certain she wanted to know the answer to such a question, as she felt a shiver of dread race down her spine and cause her wings to stiffen slightly. Shaking her head, she banished the gloomy thoughts from her head and went down to attend to her morning rituals and the care of her animal compatriots.

Unknowingly, she found herself softly singing the notes of a song in concert with the birds outside her window, though she couldn't recall she had ever heard before--just that it brought to mind the image of a baby bird happily singing its song for all the world to hear.

Far from the small woodland cottage--as far as any pony, dragon, griffin, or otherwise could travel, and a bit farther yet still--a young girl with long white hair stood browsing the wares of a popular curio shop. Not many individuals in Equestria would be able to identify what kind of creature she was, but the newest princess to the land would be able to confidently identify her as being a teenage human girl, having been one herself for a brief amount of time--and even then, the princess would have still been technically incorrect.

In one hand, she grasped a small bag of candies she had been gifted from a friend who resided and did business in the local area, while her other hand held a small stuffed doll of a bunny, heavily tempted to purchase the toy.

Yet, staring at the doll, she was reminded of the stuffed doll that sat her desk in her home city many miles above them; it was one of the few items she made with Grathmelding, despite having pioneered the technique herself, and no one else in the entire world would be able to identify it, save for perhaps her oldest of friends, but she was currently returning from a mission in one of the few remaining other habitable lands in their ravished world.

As she thought of the doll she had made: most people would assume it was of an extinct animal known as a horse, but have no idea why she had chosen to add a horn and wings to the toy. Indeed, in the past, even before her creation, humans of the first era had ancient myths of fictitious horses with either wings or horns (they were known as pegasi and unicorns, respectively) but never an equine with both features.

And so mind accessed the memories that called back to a much darker and blood-soaked time in the history of the land that she watched over. It was during a time of much sorrow and death, that she had received an unexpected visit from a monarch of a foreign land, whom was searching desperately for aid against a seemingly unstoppable foe that held her kingdom under his thrall.

The white-haired maiden passed through the colossal gate unhindered, her full-body, armor like suit giving her direct access to the tower and allowing her to easily open the gigantic barrier. Her face could not be seen behind the cold, unfeeling visor that covered it, save for her mouth, but she allowed no expression to alter it, resolutely keeping it neutral as she entered Em Pheyna, the village of the Teru Tribe.

Floating a several inches above the ground, the warlike visage of the of the white-haired woman was not remarked upon by the local inhabitants that called the village of organic stone their home. A small girl with white hair was happily playing with a crudely stitched figure of patchwork cloth, happily making the misshapen doll dance about in the air as she enacted a fantastical tale that the toy was the hero of; she paused her playtime, however, when she caught sight of the visitor to their village, and happily waved her hand at the woman, smiling widely as she toy flailed helplessly in her tiny fist. The woman did not wave back or even smile at the display, but she did nod in greeting at the small girl, and that seemed to be more than enough for the child, who beamed with a wide grin that displayed the fact that she was missing one of her front teeth.

"Lady Shurelia," a man inclined his head respectfully, and his long purple hair, which contrasted against the characteristic tanned skin of his people, was pulled back tightly into a ponytail, following the curve of the two dark horns that emerged from near his temples. His muscular frame and the sword hanging from his belt advertised the fact that he was a soldier--something more commonly seen now than in the past.

"I was told that Tastiella had urgent knows for me," Shurelia said neutrally, her voice, much like her concealed face, betrayed no emotion as she followed after her escort.

"That is correct," the man confirmed with a nod as he lead the armored woman to the entrance of the grand temple that was sacred to his people; the sacred building seemed as if it had grown from the very tower itself, a series of stone roots and vines that twisted and braided among themselves to form the walls and pathways. Spherical crystals of various bright hues floated above the stone pedestals, held aloft by a magic unknown to the white-haired woman.

Shurelia did not inquire further on the matter from her escort, and so nothing more was said as she was guided through the mazelike halls of the temple, the great crystalline trees that comprised its interior walls passing her by in seemingly endless rows. Eventually, they emerged into an open chamber, where an opening in the ceiling allowed a beam of what Shurelia knew to be artificial moonlight to bring to attention what seemed to be a rather ancient mirror of some kind.

Still, the woman could not help the pang of regret and sorrow she felt inside as she saw the other woman in the room, and for the briefest of instances, this displayed as her mouth descended a slight fraction into a frown before it was quickly returned to its neutrality. Shurelia's escort nodded his head at the other woman in the room, who nodded her head in kind and spoke something in their native language, before the purple-haired soldier turned and nodded to his guest, then excusing himself and giving the two females privacy.

"It is good to see you, Shurelia," the Tastiella said, smiling slightly from beneath the pale blue cloth of the shawl that covered her head; a small white creature that seemed to be a baby dragon curved its way around the back of her neck to peer curiously at new arrival, and Tastiella raised a hand and gently ran a finger down its snout, much to its pleasure.

"Nothing has changed since we last spoke, Tastiella," Shurelia answered her, gazing coolly at the woman cloaked in the voluminous folds of her blue robe; despite seeing and speaking with her, the Tower linkup in her armor was informing Shurelia that it was not a physical person standing before her, but rather a projection.

Tastiella clucked her tongue in reproach, shaking her head at the blunt reply. "Careful, my old friend, you seem to be acting your age," she chided softly, a smile upon her lips. The white dragon on her shoulder let out an amused sounding trill.

This time Shurelia did allow herself to frown. "Why did you call me, Tastiella?" she inquired, her voice letting known her irritation at the comment. "Has the song been crafted already?" she asked, referring to what she hoped would put an end to the bloody conflict that gripped her tower. When the hologram of the other young woman shook her head in denial, Shurelia scowled. "You know I have many responsibilities, and I am worried as to why the viruses have been inactive since yesterday."

"That is, in fact, why I have called for you," Tastiella answered, turning towards the mirror in the room, "for I believe I may have the answer," she said, one of her hands emerging from the sleeves of her robe to gesture towards the object.

Frowning, Shurelia moved closer towards the mirror and turned the systems of the tower towards the strange artifact. Beyond the obvious, she was detecting a strange ambient energy (not uncommon in things regarding the Teru) and bizarre fluctuations in her spatial readings regarding the mirror. "Other than being a mirror and, from what I can tell, magical, what is it?" she inquired.

"What do you know of the history of my race, Shurelia?" Tastiella asked in answer.

Accessing the archives of the systems memory, she sent an inquiry to bring up all information on the Teru Tribe. There wasn't much--they were a very reclusive people by nature, and much information had been lost along with their world's land and sky during the Grathnode Inferia.

"Not much," the administrator of the tower admitted. "Only that your people were first reported by the humans of the First Era as appearing from a forest in what was once known as the Justine region of Ar Ciel."

Tastiella nodded her head in confirmation of the fact. "Indeed that is correct. However, the truth is that our ancestors were great dragons from another world, who appeared in the hallowed Forest of Shelanoir after making their voyage. They met and eventually integrated amongst the local humans of Justine, interbreeding to give birth to the Teru Tribe as it is known today," she explained.

Shurelia whirled about. "Another world! But how?"

Tastiella shook her head, hiding her hands beneath the folds of her cloak. "I fear the reason for our draconian forefather's exodus from their home world has been lost to time," she answered. "Perhaps the mighty Slepnir may still recall, but he is of no mind to gift anything to the residents of this tower, save a swift end.

What I do know is that mirror served as the portal through which the dragons old entered this world, and that it has remained dormant--until yesterday, when something from our home realm attempted to pass over, but never emerged from it," she informed the armored woman.

Shurelia sent quires to the systems of the tower for any unauthorized intrusions upon the tower, only to come up with only the expected incursion by the viruses into the material realm. She was about to stop when noticed an intrusion flagged in the system, only it was inside of the systems themselves--specifically the Binary Field.

Gripped with panic, Shurelia sent a hundred commands to the tower in a manner of seconds, calling forth all the data on the report that she could. If the intruder had somehow freed the captive currently sealed in the Binary Field, than much more carnage would soon follow.

The tower seemed to have regarded the intruder as a mass of corrupted data, and there were several instances where the data had attempted to interface and rewrite portions of the Binary Field. Thankfully, this seems to have been ineffective and no harm to the cosmospheres housed within was sustained.

It seemed the reason she had not been alerted or the tower had turned what few remaining digital security measures that she controlled unto the data, was that the Mother Virus had taken offense to her solitude being interrupted and had cast out the data to whence it came, most zealously.

"The mirror seems to have worked," Shurelia informed Tastiella, to whom it seemed as if only the blink of an eye had passed. "Except who or whatever attempted to pass through ended up being diverted into the Binary Field." She frowned at this. "Such a mean of external access should be impossible, though," she considered.

"The old world of the dragon's was told to possess many magics that were far beyond the abilities of the Teru Tribe today, or even anything song magic has yet to be capable of," Tastiella informed the guardian of the tower. "What is more of concern is not that whoever used the portal was able to intrude upon the Field, but rather that they were able to continue existing without being eradicated or losing their sense of self in the process. This speaks of a certain measure of power and ability that only a scant handful still or have ever possessed in this world."

"The system regards the intruder as an anomalous mass of corrupted data that made several failed attempts to access and rewrite portions of the Binary Field for some unknown purpose. The attempts are sporadic and random in their nature; I believe whoever was inside the tower's systems was quite confused before Mir turned her wrath towards it," she considered. "And it seems that there was a point where Mir directly interfaced with the data, with the result being that the data started to defragment into the Field, and a portion was deleted when one of her viruses interfaced with it milliseconds before it escaped.

Regardless, Mir's prison seems to be in no danger of failing and this explains where her attention has been since yesterday," Shurelia explained.

"You are certain she cannot escape through the same breach the intruder came through, then?" Tastiella asked, the small white dragon shifting upon her shoulders.

"The breach vanished shortly after the corrupted data interfaced with it once more. I believe that it is gone, though undoubtedly Mir is still searching in hopes of escaping her prison." Shurelia shrugged. "No harm seems to have come from the event, and it is seems to be offering us a much needed respite from Mir's assaults," she said, a great deal of worry lifting from her mind now that the mystery was solved.

If they were fortunate, they could finish crafting the Chronicle Key before Mir refocused her attention on the tower, though Shurelia very much doubted this.

"Thank you for informing me of these events, Tastiella," Shurelia said, allowing herself to smile ever so slightly with a hint of warmth entering her otherwise emotionless tone. "And . . . it is good to see you once more," she said, and went to place her hand on the other woman's shoulder before remembering, leaving her to awkwardly have her outstretched hand hover indecisively in the air for a few seconds before falling quite limply at the armored girl's side. Tastiella did not seem to take offense, simply raising a hand to cover her mouth as she laughed at the spectacle.

"Sadly, I must return," Shurelia said. "I cannot let this gift that has been afforded to us to pass by unheeded," she informed the once-and-still high priestess of the Teru Tribe.

Tastiella nodded her understand. "I will continue to monitor this situation and inform you if anything else should come of it," the Teru woman promised, and the small dragon let out a small huff that might have either been an agreement, a farewell, or perhaps both.

Or it was simply making a noise for some reason only it knew.

Nodding to Tastiella, Shurelia turned to be escorted back through the halls, when a voice gave both women pause.

"Excuse me? Can either of you two tell me where I am?"

Celestia found herself in the Crystal Kingdom the following morning after Discord's rather alarming late night visit. She knew that she truly should still be in Canterlot to help her subjects transition back into a normal lifestyle after Tirek's assault, but the chaos spirit had unnerved her such that she found herself thinking of it the entire evening, leading to what she was certain must been rather dark bags under eyes, hidden by her white coat though they were.

After greeting her niece and one of rulers of the Crystal Kingdom, Celestia had inquired as to how the crystal ponies were recovering from having their magic stolen by Tirek, and thankfully, there seemed to be no complications and the citizens were well on their way to returning to their normal daily lives.

Celestia imagined Tirek's brief intrusion into their life had been nothing compared to the years of tyranny under the yoke of the late king Sombra.

The solar princess had also made certain to assure her former captain that his sister was fine and that she seemed to be settling into her new role as the princess of Friendship with unsurprising ease.

After all the necessary courtesies between rulers had been observed, including a rather lovely midmorning brunch with her niece and her husband, Celestia found herself staring at her reflection in the Crystal Mirror.

She had known Discord for longer than any other being living in Equestria, and the only time she had ever seen him show such fear was when he had returned from his trip through this mirror after he had discovered it amongst the abandoned dragon's nesting site centuries before. Not even when Tirek had held him imprisoned and stolen his powers over chaos, had Discord been as afraid of whatever he had seen on the other side of this mirror.

Which was strange to the white alicorn, as she had found nothing to fear when she had stepped through the looking glass and met the young girl who had given her the seeds of the salvation of all of Equestria.

"What does thou think he is doing, sister of mine?" Luna asked, as the two sisters had been in pursuit of the chaotic usurper for the better part of the morning.

Celestia frowned, watching Discord descend into the mouth of the only volcano that had been left unchanged by his chaotic abilities. "I'm not certain, Luna, but something seems to have caught his attention; that's the only volcano that he hasn't changed--though not for lack of trying, it would seem," she said, recalling how they both had witnessed the draconequus repeatedly try to invoke his magic on the said peak to no avail.

Besides her, Luna scowled and preened at her wings. Yes, she was all too aware that he had changed the volcanoes, having suddenly found herself surrounded by pink confectionary when a cloud of thick smoke she had been hiding in had been changed.

Truthfully, the candy was not all that bad, but it galled to admit such a thing about anything Discord had made, much less when she found herself unwillingly wearing it.

"It doth seem strange indeed that a dead volcano could resist that brute's powers when naught else in our lands can," Luna said, recalling all the times Discord had warped reality to his benefit and, often times, their misfortune.

"My thoughts exactly," Celestia answered her younger sister, flaring her wings as she glided to the edge of the mouth and peered in, with Luna alighting beside her several seconds later. Both alicorns beheld the chimera within the volcano, his attention on some kind of crystal object, futilely snapping his paw at it and finding himself unable to alter it.

Discord reached out and tapped the object, only to draw the limb back as if burnt, gazing at his finger for a moment before staring at the object seconds later. He then circled it, seeming to inspect it, before taking on a thoughtful posture and talking to himself, though neither sister could hear the spirit's words, they did witness him gesture flamboyantly, as was characteristic of him.

And then, their enemy walked into the object and vanished.

Blinking, Celestia stared in shock where Discord had been moments before, and then turned her attention to her younger sister who seemed equally surprised. They both watched, and when Discord did not return, Celestia cautiously began to glide down to inspect the object that Discord had vanished into.

"A mirror?" Luna questioned, for indeed it did seem to be a mirror, as Celestia stared at their reflections upon its surface.

"Perhaps not just a mirror," Celestia said thoughtfully, remembering tales of several mirrors enchanted with special abilities. She levitated a nearby stone and sent it flying into the mirror, her suspicions confirmed when it vanished into the crystal surface with a small ripple instead of bouncing off as it should have. "A portal," Celestia corrected.

"But what doth lie on the other side of this looking glass?" Luna wondered. "Might not some new innocents of a foreign realm be subjected to Discord's cruel mercies?" Luna posited.

"Maybe," Celestia considered the option, though she did not like the thought of any others suffering the presence of the spirit of chaos as her people had. "Or perhaps it might lead to nowhere or be a one-way passage," she mused.

"Huzzah!" Luna exclaimed, excitement filling her at the prospect. "Then should we not destroy this mirror here and now so that his heinous presence cannot ever again cast its foul shadow upon our fair lands!?" Luna demanded, her horn alighting with magic as she prepared to attempt to do just that.

"Patience, Luna," Celestia chided, flaring a wing out to block Luna's path and halt her premature attempt. "We don't even know what would happen should we try. If Discord, with all his powers could not affect this portal, what makes you believe that either of us stand a chance?"

Luna let the magic she was channeling fade, though she seemed reluctant to do so and admit her elder sister's point. Before she could answer, the surface rippled, and both rulers leapt to either side as Discord flew from the surface and collided with the ground.

Neither princess said a word, instead staring in shock at the still form of their foe. Something had happened to him, yet they could not see a single sign of injury upon his body. Before they could investigate, Discord awoke and righted himself with a start. Celestia and Luna both leapt back, flaring their wings aggressively and preparing both offensive and defensive spells should they prove necessary.

The spells were not necessary, as Discord seemed to ignore their presence completely, instead grabbing his own tail frantically and staring at it with widened eyes as he shook from some emotion. Then the two rulers watched as Discord acted in manner they had never before witnessed: he panicked.

Their fur stood on end as they felt his normal chaotic magics take on a much more sinister and malicious purpose as he hurled bolts and lances of pure chaos at the portal. They were forced to retreat behind him and to higher ground when they saw one of the blasts of chaos impact with volcano wall and instead of changing it, it was annihilated utterly from existence. And yet the mirror stood defiant, mocking Discord in its continued existence in the face of his onslaught.

Celestia looked at Luna; they both knew this could not continue.

"DISCORD!" Luna yelled out in her loudest Royal Canterlot Voice, immediately ducking down lest the chaos spirit aim one of the deadly chaos spells at her, though this proved unnecessary as he simply stopped his barrage at the interruption. Turning, he stared blankly up at them, still shaking, and he reached down and grabbed his tail, stroking it in an odd manner as he regarded them.

"What happened, Discord?" Celestia asked, shocked that seemed to be feeling compassion for the being that had tormented both herself, her sister, and their subjects for the last few years, but he seemed so scared that she could not find it in her heart to not feel such.

"Destroy it," he said quietly, staring at his tail.

Luna's muzzle twisted into a frown. "What?"

"Cast that thing--" he said the word with such venom that it shocked the older sister--"into the heart of the sun before it is too late!"

"What do you mean?" Celestia asked.

"JUST DO IT!" Discord shrieked, and both sisters reared back at the volume and tone of his voice. Never had he raised his voice in all the times they had done battle; always was smile on his face and joke upon his lips, never taking anything seriously.

And then he vanished.

Neither of them dared to move for several moments, instead staring at the spot where Discord was previously. After a time, they both found themselves standing before the mirror, now giving it a wide berth after Discord's display--if it could reduce their foe to a state such as that, they feared what might happen to either of them should it enact its magics on them.

"I think we should do as he bid," Luna said after several seconds of staring at her reflection, wondering if it would suddenly leap forth from the surface and drag her to the same place that Discord had been.

"What?" Celestia turned her attention from her own reflection and thoughts to stare in shock at her younger sister. She was shocked that the darker mare would even consider aiding Discord in any manner.

Luna never took her gaze from the crystal mirror. "I doth shudder to think what might happen should something emerge." She looked severely at her elder sister. "If Discord was thrashed so soundly, what hope have we or our subjects of weathering its wrath?"

Celestia had to concede that her sister had a point, but she wasn't certain that she would even be able to destroy it. Closing her eye in concentration, she felt the air in the volcano become impossibly hot as she called upon very energies of the sun itself to form a lance of pure fire and hurl it at the mirror.

Luna returned her gaze to the mirror, having been forced to look away from the sheer incandesce of her sister's power lest she blind, only to mind the mirror still standing, albeit only itself and land immediately surrounding it were left unharmed, as the surrounding store had been reduced to bubbling molten slag. "Impossible," she breathed out in a whisper.

"Apparently not," Celestia said with a frown, for the mirror should not have been able to withstand the total concentrated power of the sun itself and remain unharmed. It was clear that the mirror possessed a magic more potent than anything else upon their world.

"What do we do?" Luna asked her sister with worry.

"We cannot leave it be now that we know of it," Celestia said, and she had a strong suspicion as to what had happened to the dragons that had once nested in these lands. "We'll take it back with us to our castle in forest and ward its resting place with the strongest enchantments and wards we can."

Luna frowned, not liking the fact that the mirror would be so close. "Can we not simply have it put in the deepest pit of Tarturus?" she wondered.

Celestia considered the thought before rejecting it with a shake of her head. "I do not wish to risk any of the prisoners escaping or something coming through and destroying Tarturus itself," she said, her thoughts turning towards Tirek and thinking what he might be capable if he somehow absorbed the magic of this portal.

Discord would be the very least of their problems then, she knew.

"No," she said, "we must take it with us--for better or ill. This is far too great of a potential danger to our subjects to leave unguarded," she said with finality.

And so she and Luna had managed to transport the mirror back to their now derelict castle in in what would come to be known as Everfree, from whence they had been opposing Discord. The mirror could be levitated easily enough, and seemed impervious only to magics that attempted to force alteration upon it or destroy it.

Neither she nor Luna had dared to approach the mirror after ceiling it in a room so heavily warded that it would give even Discord trouble should he attempt to gain access, but such a thing never occurred. In fact, neither of the two had seen or heard from the spirit in over a month after the events in that dead volcano, and they did not think to question his disappearance since their subjects desperately needed the time to recover.

But return, Discord had--and with a vengeance. Where before the suffering he inflicted had simply been incidental to the chaos he enacted for his own amusement, now his tricks took on a malicious bent and he seemed to delight in the misery of their ponies.

The twin princesses were desperate after a few weeks of Discord's chaos: rivers and had ran dry with unnatural drought, entire fields of crop where changed to rubber, and entire villages were transformed into gingerbread, only to collapse under unnatural chocolate milk rain. Not even the pegasi high above were safe: they found their houses had been turned into cotton candy, soon enough.

Their ponies were suffering as they never had before and both Princesses were at a loss on how to stop the crazed spirit. It was then, unknown to Luna, that Celestia found herself standing before the Crystal Mirror one evening and stepping through it.

Celestia found herself standing in a strangely organic room, save for the fact that it was anything other than organic Behind here was a mirror, similar enough to the one she had stepped through in her castle for her to make the connection that there was a link between the two, but ultimately a different mirror entirely.

Her gaze took in the sight of two creatures she had never seen before. They seemed to be similar to the minotaur in that were bipedal in their stance and possessed fingers, but the y were not as thickly muscled and lacks any kind of fur with clothing herself in folds of cloth and the other a suit of unknown metals.

Celestia stared at two beings; the clothed one was facing away from the mirror to stare at the back of the armored one who seemed to be leaving the room. If these were the creatures that had attacked Discord, then she was fortunate indeed that their attention was away from the mirror upon her emergence from it.

Suddenly, she found herself discovered by what appeared to be a baby dragon she had not noticed until that point, perched on the shoulder of the clothed creature. It tilted its white head at her in an inquisitive manner, blinking its eyes at her. Celestia knew she had only two choices: retreat back through the mirror (if she even could) before the dragon alerted the creatures to her presence, or hope that Discord had done something to earn these creatures wrath, and thus remain unharmed so long as she did not make the same mistake.

Celestia looked over her shoulder at the mirror behind her in thought. No! She entered her mirror in the hopes of finding some way to free aid her people! She was their princess, and her life was secondary to the welfare of her citizens! If there was even a chance that these creatures could aid her against Discord, then her life was the very least she could put on the line!

""Excuse me? Can either of you two tell me where I am?" Celestia spoke up, to gain the attention of the two creatures.

Both creatures turn around, and Celestia saw that the clothed one had a very feminine face now that she had a good angle of it, but the other was clad near entirely in an intimidating metal suit of armor.

All three stared at each other in silence for several moments, broken by the small dragon making several noises of confusion and excitement in the interim as it regarded the stranger from the mirror. Finally, the armored one spoke in a cold and demanding tone that caused Celestia to take a step back towards the portal behind her in case she should need to make a swift retreat.

"Who are you?' the armored woman--for from the tone of her voice, she could not be anything but female--demanded of her, her tone carrying a threatening edge. "How and why have you trespassed onto my tower?" she continued, floating forward menacingly.

"I . . ." Celestia found herself at a loss for words before the metal-clad woman's sightless gaze.

"Was it you who intruded upon the tower's systems yesterday?" She continued to demand, steadily advancing upon the white alicorn. The blue robed woman simply gazed at the strange horse in a curious manner. What appeared to be a purple-maned male of the creatures rushed in, obviously summoned by the commotion, and in his hands he held a sword that looked to be quite sharp.

Before the situation could escalate into violence, the woman clothed in blue interjected.

"Calm down, Shurelia," she chided the armored woman. "Can't you see your scaring the poor dear," she said, gazing at the horse in curiosity and wonder--for there was no doubt this creature came from the other side of the mirror, her ancestral homeland. To think that such wondrous and intelligent creatures populated it! Stepping forward, she waved a hand toward the guard in dismissal--who seemed quite reluctant to sheathe his blade and leave, but did so--and smiled. "My name is Tastiella De Lu, of the Teru Tribe," she introduced, smiling gently at the frightened equine. "This is Shurelia--" she gestured to the armored woman--"the overseer of tower you have found yourself on. I apologize for her behavior; we are in a time of war, and it seems someone from your side of the mirror attempted to use this portal to trespass into the tower yesterday."

Celestia's eyes widened at this admission. Yesterday? But it had been over a month since the day she and Luna had found the mirror in that abandoned dragon's nest! Could time run differently in this world? How long has she been gone in Equestria if so? A day? A month? A year! Had she left Luna all alone? What if Discord had already taken over in her absence!

Swallowing the lump of dread that had appeared in her throat, Celestia found it in her to answer. "You said the last person to cross over was yesterday?" she asked, hoping to have misheard the woman.

Tastiella frowned in confusion but nonetheless answered the winged-and-horned horses question. "That is correct," she said, glancing towards Shurelia who simply nodded, observing the situation with her arms crossed over her chest.

"But Discord passed through that mirror a month ago!" Not seeing Tastiella's eyes widen at that fact, she turned around to return through the portal immediately. "I must return immediately before too much time has passed and Discord has taken over all the land!"

"If that is your concern, I believe your fears are unfounded," Shurelia interjected before the white horse could leave, drawing its attention. "Since you have entered, the temporal and spatial fluctuations have stabilized and the wormhole seems to be consisent and showing no sign of failing," she said, glancing over at Tastiella, who would know of the Teru magics than she would. The robed woman walked over and regarded the mirror for several moments, closing her eyes in concentration, before opening her eyes and nodding.

"Yes," she nodded, "it seems as if you are correct. I believe that the link between the two portals is serving to stabalize the temporal diffrence between this world and the one that our guest comes from," she said with a nod. Turning, she smiled at the rainbow-maned horse. "You have nothing to fear, my dear," she said reassuringly.

Celestia felt the icy panic that had gripped her heart leave her all at once, and nearly collapsed to the stone floor in relief. "I had feared all was lost . . ." she whispered more to herself than the two women in the room. "That I had doomed my sister and entire kingdom because of my folly."

"It seems as if things are not quite that severe," Tastiella said with a smile, gazing down at the white horse with compassion. "Please, get up," she requested. "I believe we have much to discuss, and you still have not told us the reason for your trip through the portal--or even your name."

"I would very much like to know who this Discord is and why he invaded my tower's systems," Shurelia interjected harshly, earning her a reproachful glare from Tastiella.

Celestia shook her head and gathered herself upon her feet. "Of course, my apologize . . ." she told them. "When I had thought that--anyway," she dismissed the thought with a shake of her head. "You are correct; I have been quite rude in not only trespassing but not introducing myself," she apologized. Bending her front legs, she dipped into a slight bow. "My name is Celestia, and I am the princess of my lands, come in hope of aid from a creature known as Discord," she entreated.

There was silence for several moments, before Shurelia observed in a neutral tone, "Well that explains the crown."

Shurelia gazed down at the "alicorn" doll she had created in remembrance of the princess from another world. From time to time, she wondered if they still suffered under the cruel reign of Discord, or if her gift had been any help to the princess or her people--or if they had even been able to harness the song magic within at all. Admittedly, she had not handled introductions with the princess in the best of manners, but she had come to respect and emphasize with the ruler's plight--so similar to her own--and that had been what had led her to craft the hymn crystal she had given the alicorn.

Around two weeks after the meeting, she had made the doll she held in her hands, in a fit of pique, to remember Celestia by.

And she might have modified Elma to have a horn and painted it white shortly thereafter-- but that had nothing to do with Celestia at all. . ..

Chapter 1:1 - The Alpha and the Omega

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The dark unicorn walked silently along the subterranean path, the sheer drop to either side of it not seeming to give it and pause as it continued on in silence, resolute in its purpose deep beneath the earth where the world locked away its greatest of evils

The silence was shattered by the ominous growl coming from above, and looking up, the unicorn saw the large form of Tartarus's warden, bearing all three sets of fangs threateningly at the intruder in this realm, great strings of slobber falling from its jowls.

"Ah, well met, noble warden," the unicorn spoke in calm and aristocratic tone, unconcerned as the great beast crouched, muscles like thick corded ropes bulging as it launched its vast bulk to land in front of the unicorn. "I must say, it is truly an honor to meet the legendary gaurdian of Tartarus in the person," he said, bending his front legs into a bow. Cerberus was unimpressed, the leftmost head letting out a guttural bark that sent a gust of hot, foul breath into the unicorn's face.

"I see," the unicorn commented. "I pray you step aide, sir," he entreated to the three-headed dog. "While I have no quarrel with you, my need to speak with one of your inmates is quite urgent," he told him. Cerberus only took a menacing step forward, further bearing his fangs. "Indeed," the unicorn observed, "your commitment to your station is commendable; unfortunately, it seems as if we now must be at cross purposes."

He vanished with a flash of green fire just as the rightmost of the heads threatened to take off his own head. "So be it," he said simply.

Twilight Sparkle stared at the open tome before with an unfocused gaze, and her mouth opened and let out a deep yawn that she tried to stifle with her hoof, but to no avail. She glared darkly at book, rather irritated that she had been on the same page for close to ten minutes now, but the words on the aged paper skittered about like a colony of worker ants. Blinking, she shook her head sharply in an attempt to regain her lost focus, taking in the familiar site of her bedroom in the Ponyville Library. She had yet to relocate to her new "castle," instead preferring to continue to keep the job of librarian and work from a familiar and comfortable environment while she worked out the finer details of her new position, and how exactly one went about properly running a kingdom.

Frowning, she took a long drink from the steaming mug besides her, grimacing at the bitter taste of the roasted beans; she had recently taken to coffee over her usually preferred tea, and was now on what might have been her third or fifth cup of the morning? She couldn't remember.

She knew it was unhealthy to consume such large amounts of the beverage, especially when using it as a substitute for proper sleep, but it seemed to be the only choice the new princess of Friendship currently had.

The clouds churned before boiling away from the intense of the multitude of flaming rocks that wore summoned from the sky. The cacophony of screams from the floating landmass below only grew into a horrendous crescendo as the great meteors impacted, turning settlements of civilizations into little more than charred ruins and sending entire chunks of the land tumbling into the ominous miasma of thick, dark gases that covered the world's lands miles below.

The symphony of destruction only got louder, more notes of agony and terror from the wounded and dying adding their cadence to the dirge that was responsible for calling forth the death from the heavens.

Was jyel ga desfel here, vonn en colga,
Was jyel ga desfel here, polon quivale.
Was jyel ga syunaht gigeadeth noglle ciel

Glancing about, she saw that she was still at her desk and that she must have nodded off for moment. Closing her eyes, she cradled her face in her hooves and fought to keep the tears of desperation that welled in the corners of her eyes at bay. The near two weeks of insomnia and the horrific night terrors were strain enough, but dealing with the aftermath of Tirek's assault upon Equestria (specifically the damage done to the town of Ponyville, no matter if the wave of Harmony had set all the damage to rights when it had been released) and the responsibilities and technicalities that came with the establishment of a new kingdom--the youngest of Equestria's princesses was near her breaking point.

"Why?" She whimpered to herself. "What do these dreams mean?" she whispered to herself. She had discreetly asked Princess Luna if there was anything wrong with her dreams, but the princess of the night had found nothing, and Twilight did not wish to unduly worry her or give her any reason to suggest that she might be unable to fulfill her new rule or oversee her new kingdom.

Even now, that accursed song played itself in her thoughts, an endless refrain of misery and death that had been haunting her every moment--waking or not.

Unseen, a small figure observed her despair from the shadow of the doorway, another mug of steaming coffee held tightly between his claws in a lilac-knuckled grip. Spike was at a loss on what to do for his oldest friend (who, honestly, was all but a mother to him in everything but blood,) and it was as his heart was being torn about within in his chest to see Twilight like this.

Knocking on door so as to seem as if he had just arrived, he saw Twilight whip her head up, her mane in frazzled disarray, and stare at him in shock. Spike frowned: he could see the prominent dark circles unearth her bloodshot eyes, even through the coat of her fur. Twilight quickly tried to compose herself, blinking hastily to banish the tears that had gathered in the corners of her eyes so that Spike would not notice--he did.

"Hey, Spike," the princess greeted her young word with a voice full of false cheer, and a shaky smile like a pane of shattered glass. "Did you need anything?"

Swallowing the thick lump that had formed in his throat, Spike had to take several seconds to answer her, not trusting himself to speak. "Y-yeah," he said eventually, his voice shaking ever so slightly and he cursed himself for the fact. "I brought you a fresh cup of coffee," he said, gesturing with the mug between his claws, and he let out a tongue of emerald flame to curl about the mug, heating the contents within.

Twilight stared uncomprehendingly at Spike and then to the said coffee, before glancing down to her still half-full cup. With a slight grimace, she levitated the mug to her lips and drained the bitter lukewarm beverage in two quaffs. Setting down the empty mug and breath out through her nostrils, she smiled at him as she gratefully took the new beverage with a smile of gratitude. "Thank you, Spike," she said, taking a long sip. "What would I do without you," she said, her voice full of fondness and affection that was audible despite the noticeable note of fatigue that caused the otherwise steady words to waver slightly.

Spike could only smile wanly at her. Suddenly, his mouth opened a gout of searing jade flames were expelled from his maw, as a scroll materialized mid air, fumblingly being caught his claws.

Twilight stared in shock at the scroll, before frowning severely and closing her eyes. Though she hated herself for the thought, she was not in any state to speak or do anything for her mentor at the moment. She couldn't afford another task piled upon the ones that were already straining her to the breaking point.

"What does it say?" she asked quietly, her voice weary and dejected. Wordlessly, Spike handed the scroll to the lavender mare who scanned it with a disinterested, roving gaze before it widened in shock at the words.

"W-we have to go!" she cried, her coffee forgotten, her frame colliding harshly with her desk and sending the jetsam and flotsam that littered the surface to the floor in the resulting disturbance. Quickly grabbing what she could think of at that moment, with her magic, she rushed out, hastily stuffing the items in her saddlebags.

Spike watched her go, casting his gaze to the scroll that laid forgotten upon the floor where it displayed its text to the world. He quickly hurried after her, knowing exactly how serious the matter was, from what the scroll.

In Princess Celestia's elegant scroll were two sentences:

Come immediately.

There has been a security breach in Tartarus involving Lord Tirek.

Princess Celestia closed her eyes and slowly counted backwards from as she listened to the droning of the aristocrat, going on about requesting some new form of tax break or complaining on how the commoners were in some way making the quality of his life just that much worse on a microscopic level.

"And so, you majesty . . ." Celestia listened with half an ear (less than half, if she was being honest to herself) and the voice of the pony shifted into an indistinct combination of different tones punctuated by guttural constants. All the while, she kept her serene expression on her face, gently smiling down at her petitioner and nodding when it seemed most appropriate.

She found herself slightly impressed, at times. The nobles could seem to prattle on and on, all on a single breath. Their inflated egos must be where they get the spare reserves from, Celestia figured, watching the mouth of the pony open and close, making noise but not sense.

It was times like this when she couldn't understand why her younger sister had rebelled all those years ago. Honestly, she would be thrilled if nobody paid her any mind--she was quite certain that Luna didn't have deal with listening to such inane prattle from entitled nobles each day, for hours on end.

Then again, the few nobles that had tried to seek an alternate ruling from her sister about being denied by Celestia, found themselves being summarily lectured, berated, and sometimes laughed at in the Royal Canterlot Voice--not necessarily in that order, either.

Oh, it seems as if the noble was finishing up his speech.

"And that is why the commoners should be required to wear color-coded attire when in Canterlot!" he finished triumphantly. The princess of the day blinked at him incomprehensively. Granted, she was tuning most of what he said out, but it was a rare thing when she heard such proclamations filled with such levels of, well, stupidity.

Raising one brow at the noble, she glanced towards the stone-faced guards flanking either side of the foot of her throne; though they gave nothing away from their dour expressions, Celestia could tell they too were baffled by what had just come out of the upper-crust earth pony's mouth. Was this pony serious? No, of course he was.

"I'm afraid I have to deny your request," she said, putting on a faux-apologetic look as she said this. The earth pony looked utterly dejected and baffled--why could she not understand the validity and benefit of his request! He had just explained it all in perfect logic!

Steeling his resolve, he gave formal bow and his thanks to his sovereign for her time, resolving to not give up! There must be chromatic order! For the good of Canterlot!

Watching as the pony left, Celestia found herself wishing that something--anything!--would occur to break up the monotony of her day! She immediately scolded herself for wishing such a thing and tempting the fates--If the trend of the past year was followed, the changelings would stage another invasion or some other long forgotten prisoner would escape from Tartarus to torment her little ponies.

Still, she wouldn't be adverse to Discord randomly popping in and causing some harmless chaos, such was her boredom. Celestia frowned as she thought of the chaos spirit and the strange nighttime visit he paid her weeks ago; it had brought up many memories she had not thought on in centuries, and his behavior still weighed upon a part of the alicorn's mind.

She had written to Fluttershy, asking about Discord--if any pony knew what was troubling the dragonequus , the bearer of the Element of Kindness would--and indeed the pegasus had written back that he had seemed troubled as of late, but that she was quite certain that the spirit was still feeling guilty over having betrayed all of them to side with Discord.

Indeed, Celestia was certain that some of Discord's uncharacteristic melancholy was due to his feelings of guilt, but that did not explain his anxieties over the Crystal Mirror. When Celestia had paid a visit to the Crystal Empire specifically to check in on the mirror, nothing had profited from the visit save for being able to see her niece and former captain-of-the-guards, and bringing up some long forgotten memories.

Try as she could, Celestia could not recall anything her two otherworldly friends had mentioned that might have inspired such fear in the Lord of Chaos. Theirs had been a sad world, and the people suffered still suffered from the mistakes wrought by the hubris of those who came before them--robbed of their very world's land and sky, with little available shelter save for the grand structure built by the same civilization who had damned them.

Shurelia had mentioned only that Discord had somehow entered into a separate realm that existed inside the Tower in a nonphysical sense that Celestia had not understood at the time. Even now, Equestria was only now grasping the concept of computers and digital technology, but the Tower she had arrived in had been a construction of that Equestria would not be able to surpass for millennia to come--if they ever did at all.

The woman claiming the title of Administrator of the Tower had been less than forthcoming in her information, and slightly curt, but Celestia could not fault the woman her caution given the situation she was responsible for.

Shurelia was a ruler, and her people came first, Celestia knew.

Still, the armored woman had taken the time to construct what had eventually become the salvation of Equestria's people, even if she had nothing but hope that it might work, and for that Celestia would be forever grateful to the two otherworldly woman.

Only Star Swirl had ever known of what laid on the other side of the Crystal Mirror, but fearing that the danger that currently plagued the world of the Tower might somehow spill over into Equestria, he had cast a complicated temporal binding spell upon it, forever locking the two mirrors connecting again. Now, as Twilight had found, the mirror still lead to a world of humans, but an alternate reality of their own instead of a new reality altogether.

Her wish for more interesting times was answered as doors to the throne room were bucked open enough force to send them crashing into the marble walls hard enough to cause fractures to the stone. Luna rushed in, eyes frantic, as she bellowed out in full Royal Canterlot Voice: "SISTER! WE BRING THOU TIDINGS MOST ILL!"

Celestia grimaced at the volume of her sister's trademark voice, which was compounded only by the echo afforded to it by the throne room's high vaulted ceilings; even the normally unflappable Day guards could not help but flatten their ears and frown.

Waiting for her ears to stop ringing, Celestia stared at her frantic younger sister, who, after spending a thousand years upon the moon, was more than slightly out of touch with the cultural norms of modern day Equestrian society, and thus occasionally overreacted to something her old-fashioned world view found to be outrageous or amazing.

Best not to mention her younger sister's pure joy when she discovered the snack known as "moon pies". . .

"Yes, what is it, Luna?" Celestia asked, the corner of her mouth curving upward as she awaited her dear sisters no-doubt exaggerated reaction to something commonplace or mundane.

"There has been a breech in Tartarus!" the celestial mare proclaimed, her voice no longer quite so loud, though she did still employ the Royal Canterlot Voice, as she tended to due in times of great stress.

All amusement fled Celestia at once and she immediately summoned forth a scroll. Quickly, she wasted no time in writing two sentences and sending it to her dear pupil. The overseeing of Tartarus had traditionally always been Luna's domain and fell under the purview of night, and such she had taken over the responsibility once more when she was well--shortly after Cerberus's dereliction of duty, in fact.

"Tell me what has happened," Celestia commanded, looking her younger sister in the eye.

"Oh?" an aged sounding voice asked, as thin red fingers wrapped tightly about the bars of their cage. "I wasn't expecting a visitor . . . certainly not so soon," Tirek commented, stroking his wispy beard as he saw the dark unicorn approaching his confinement.

"You and I have business," the unicorn stated simply, staring straight on at the being who had ravished so much of this peaceful realm recently.

"Do we?" Tirek mused, staring thoughtfully at the unicorn before him and taking in his strange features. What little lighting that was offered in this desolate place, seemed to reflect off the pony-like creatures flesh. While this being appeared to be a unicorn in the sense that it seemed to have a horn and walk on four legs, its flesh seemed to be composed of jutting of plates and spurs of a dark metallic compound, with an eerie green glow shining from between the segments. "I fear our discussion will be cut short," Tirek commented, narrowing his golden eyes at the creature, "my warden is quite zealous in the performance of his duties, you see."

"He is taking a nap," the visitor said simply, and refused to elaborate more on the statement.

"Is he?" Tirek asked, easily reading the subtext of that claim and what it might mean for his freedom. Might it be possible that he would not languish for countless centuries as he last had last? Had his freedom truly come so soon? "And who might you be, to lay low the guard dog of this prison with such ease?" he asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously at the newcomer.

There was something familiar about his being, to Tirek. He had never met this strange creature, to be sure, but a forgotten remembrance whispered at the back of his mind, or a similar being spoken of in tales. His eyes widened in shock.

"Ah . . ." he breathed. "Now I see," he said, tilting his head to gaze at the creature before him. "I had thought you merely a myth, to be honest," he confided to his guest.

The dark pony-like creature did not respond to that statement.

"No, but now it is so clear in hindsight," Tirek mused. "How could you be anything but he? So tell me, what has this old prisoner done to deserve the elusive presence of the Alpha Changeling? The father of the entire race?" he asked, taking in the Changeling-like appearance of the creature, and easily seeing the resemblance of where the race he had sired took after him in appearance.

The Alpha did not reply, and the ominous green emanating from his body increased ever so slightly, casting the prisoner in a mournful emerald hue.

None of the six bearers of the elements of Harmony spoke as they were escorted through the halls of the palace to the throne room. At first, though alarmed by the news, Twilight's friends had been confidant that they could easily imprison Tirek once more, especially wielding the unlocked power of the Elements that they had called upon to defeat him before. But as the train ride to Canterlot continued, all of them remembered the despair and suffering the tyrant had caused, and they began to be concerned that it might make a return, as well as the quite horrendous state that their friend appeared to be in.

Rarity was particularly averse and filled with great concern about the exhausted state Twilight seemed to be in, and she looked towards Spike--who had come along out of concern for Twilight's health, instead of staying to act as librarian in her stead--and the young dragon could only shake his head mournfully at his crush.

Fluttershy trailed near the rear of the group, next to the strangely silent spirit of chaos that had joined them. He had not said a single word since hearing the news, secluding himself into the back corner of the train car where he stewed in his own thoughts for the duration of the trip. Silently, she bit down upon the tuft of his tail to gain her friend's attention.

Feeling a tug on his tail, Discord turned and gazed down in confusion at his friend. She let go of the appendage, and only offered him the kindest most supportive smile she could, but Discord could only offer a small one in return to ease her worries somewhat. But before Fluttershy could inquire to his frame of mind, the group found themselves before the grand doors of the throne room, cast open.

At the foot of the throne, Princess Luna and Celestia, as well as Shining Armor and Cadence stood, worried looks upon their face. Walking forward, Twilight smiled at her brother and sister-in-law, who smiled back at her, but their joy was tinged with much concern as they saw the state that the youngest princess seemed to be in.

Celestia and Luna were also deeply concerned with the state of lavender unicorn (Luna, in particular, recalling a question Twilight had asked her about what the state of her dreams had been a few weeks ago,) but did not get a change to enquire as she spoke out.

"We came here as fast as we could," she answered, and all the other royalty present could hear the exhausted undercurrent that pulled her normally confident and steady voice down, "what's happened with Tirek? Has he escaped!" she demanded frantically, and the rest of her friends all tensed as they awaited the news of what new threat was about to descend upon the land.

Celestia and Luna glanced to one another, a strange expression on their faces that Twilight could not decipher, before the white alicorn shook her head, her eyes closed. When she spoke, it shocked the eight newcomers into silence.

"No, my dear student, Lord Tirek is dead."

Chapter 1:2 - In Cold Blood

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No one in the throne room reacted to the grim proclamation that the eldest of Equestria's rulers had just shared, her words paralyzing all present with their grim finality. Even Discord, who had caused much suffering and hardship himself during his reign as ruler of the land, was stunned by the revelation. He wouldn't be shedding a tear over the late lord's demise, of course; Tirek was among the most vile of creatures to ever step foot upon the soil of Equestria, and the spirit of disharmony's insides still knotted themselves in tightly with disgust and self loathing a the fact that he had ever allied with the foreign despot.

The rest of the ponies present seemed to be taking the news in similar manners: the usually exuberant Pinkie Pie's mane now fell limp and lifelessly to frame her face, and it seemed as if her normally vibrant coat of fur had dulled several shades; Applejack tipped her hat to shield her eyes and looked away at the news; boisterous Rainbow Dash's eyes were wide and her jaw agape; Rarity seemed to have been overcome by vertigo and seemed as if she would have collapsed had Spike not offered a supportive claw; and Twilight's already haggard appearance seemed to become even more so, the very color seeming to leech itself from her fur as her mouth and opened and closed soundlessly, unable to articulate her thoughts.

Discord glanced to his side before snaking his serpentine tail outward and coiling it around his friend, pulling his tightly against his frame with only a small squeak from the smaller pegasus. Kind, compassionate Fluttershy took solace in the proximity and warmth offered by her friend's embrace; her entire frame was wracked with tremors upon hearing the grim news, and she didn't know exactly how to react.

She was not so naive to believe that death did not occur in Equestria, which, despite the rather frequent sources of conflict and danger, was a truly peaceful and carefree land. She had experienced several of her more injured animals passing away, despite her best efforts--and on rare occasions, had no other choice to but spare a poor animal its suffering by offering the only kindness that could be left to it. Every time such she had witnessed the death of a living creature, we wept bitter tears afterwards, with Angel Bunny and the rest of her animal companions there to offer her solace and share in her grief.

How! How could anypony take the life of another--no matter how cruel or evil that person was? It wasn't right! As Fluttershy buried her face into Discord's side and wept, she felt him stroking her pink mane soothingly, hoping to somehow ease her grief.

"He's dead?" Pinkie murmured sadly. "Sure, Tirek was the meanest of all the meanie-pants, but he didn't deserve to die," she said.

"H-how. . . " Twilight finally managed to force past the lump in her throat. "I thought he was locked up in Tartarus?" Her expression had become one of total confusion, without a single clue how to react to such news. "We . . . we didn't do it did we?" she asked, horror filling her voice at the possibility that she could have indirectly committed murder. "When we used the power from the Chest of Harmony, I thought it only returned the magic he stole and returned him to Tartarus, but. . ." she trailed off, scenarios rapidly flashing through her sleep deprived mind, and the rest of her friends appeared similar aghast at the notion. Fluttershy simply cried ever harder against Discord.

Luna closed her eyes and shook her head. "The Elements are tools of harmony itself--We are not even sure they are capable of taking a life," she confessed. "No, all thou six did when thou utilized them was to enact the Elements' will upon Equestria and bring to rights what Tirek had perverted.

Late in the middle of Our night, We sensed an disturbance in Tartarus and arrived to find Cerberus incapacitated and Lord Tirek . . ." the younger of the royal sisters trailed off, her face twisting at the memory of the scene that had greeted her upon coming to the sight of the remains of both the cage and its occupant. "'Twas a most gruesome sight," she simply stated. "Tirek was afforded no mercy from his assailant."

All from Ponyville seemed as if they might be ill at the news of Tirek's fate, and indeed Spike's face had taken on a rather ill tinge to its pallor; Discord frowned distastefully and continued to comfort his friend, who no longer maid any sounds save soft gasps as she silently shook against him.

"W-what about C-Cerberus?" Fluttershy asked, managing to pull away from Discord to ask after the large yet sweet dog she had befriended when it had wandered into Ponyville over half a year ago.

Luna smiled reassuringly at the kindhearted mare. "'Twould seems that only Tirek had earned the murderous wrath of the trespasser; Cerberus has suffered only minor bruises and a slight case of frostbite," she assured.

Swallowing what tasted suspiciously like half-risen bile back down her throat, Twilight cleared her throat, her interest peaked. "Excuse me, Princess Luna, but frostbite?" she asked in confusion.

Luna smiled at the youngest princess, her look one of fond exasperation for the younger mare. "How many times have We asked thou simply to call Us 'Luna?" she asked, watching Twilight flush at the gentle rebuke. "Thou art also a princess thyself, now, after all.

But yes, whomever breached the security of Tartarus has entrapped Cerberus in a prison of enchanted ice to detain him," he explained.

"Ice . . ." Twilight murmured, her mind bringing up and dismissing numerous possibilities as more pieces of this grizzly mystery was presented. "it . . . it couldn't been the windigoes, could it?" she asked, recalling the bed time tales that all children were raised upon in Equestria.

Celestia shook her head. "Both Luna and myself considered the possibility, but the windigoes were an cruel and uncaring race of beings. Whomever subdued Cerberus seemed to have taken great care to only incapacitate the guardian, and the ice that currently traps him is quite warm to the touch and melting far more rapidly than even magical ice should."

"So whoever k-killed--" Twilight's tongue stumbled over the word--"Tirek likely only wanted to cause him harm . . ." she considered, getting an agreeing nod from the other royalty present. "Revenge?" she pondered.

"Hate to break it to ya, sugar cube," Applejack's drawl interjected. "But I'm afraid that doesn't exactly help much," she said. "Just about any of the ponies that Tirek stole magic or terrorized would have reason to be unpleased something fierce with that brute--not that they'd do . . . this . . ." she reasoned.

"True," Twilight said with a nod, accepting the logic of the statement. "Big brother," Twilight asked, turning her attention to the captain-turned-prince, "do you have any other information?" she asked, hoping that his previous experience as the Captain of the Guard would offer an insight that the rest of them lacked.

Shining Armor shook his head. "I've only seen the scene for a brief amount of time. Whoever was responsible didn't leave much evidence--at least, nothing that could tell us anything," he said with a grimace.

"What do you mean?"

Shining Armor hesitated, glancing towards his aunt-in-laws in indecision; at their solomn nods, he sighed before elaborating. "I couldn't tell much from the body. Whoever killed Tirek did so by shattering him into pieces after freezing him in the same ice they did Cerberus--except this ice was below subzero temperatures by several degrees," he told those present, rubbing at the spot on his hold where he had suffered a burn from coming in with the a shattered fragment of Tirek's supernaturally chilled cage.

Twilight ignored the gruesome image that had formed in her mind at the news, instead focusing on the relevant facts that had been imparted to her. "So whoever was responsible seems to be able to control the temperature of the ice they conjure . . ." she considered. "Was Tirek's ice melting?" she asked.

Celestia shook her head. "To my knowledge, not a single piece has even began to thaw," she admitted.

"And yet Cerberus's ice was room temperature and already melting," Twilight concluded. It was all but clear that Tirek had been assassinated.

"It seems what we have to focus on, is who would have the power to not only break in to Tartarus and easily subdue Cerberus and kill Tirek in such a fashion--all the while, staying unnoticed by Princess Luna before it was too late," Twilight reasoned. "There can't be too many beings in Equestria with either the power or skills to pull off such a feat."

Everyone in the room made a quite blatant effort of not looking to Discord, as he was one of the said beings who could have easily done this.

"Discord didn't do this!" Fluttershy immediately came to her friend's defense, her normally meek mannerisms forgotten as she pulled away from her friend to defend him, her face absolute in her conviction. "He would never do something like this!"

"Fluttershy, darling," Rarity soothed, "none of us said he did."

"But you were all thinking it," Fluttershy accused, and none of other friends could meet her gaze or deny that.

"Fluttershy . . ." Discord began, reaching out his claw to her.

"No!" she said, interrupting him. "I know you made a mistake when you sided with Tirek, but we all have forgive you . . . and. . . and I know you've been feeling simply awful about it for the past weeks, and . . ." Fluttershy said, tears once more coming to her eyes as her voice began to shake from emotion.

Discord simply stared in shock at his tiny friend, not trusting himself to speak at the moment; he hugged her to him and simply let out a heartfelt reply of gratitude to his first friend in the entire world.

"Fluttershy is quite correct," Celestia stated. "I sensed no traces of Discord's magic within Tartarus," she said, and the other ponies felt shame well up in themselves for even suspecting the spirit of such a thing.

"Shucks, Discord," Applejack said, seeing her own reflection off the marble floor she found she could not lift her gaze from. "I feel mighty low right about now," she began to apologize.

Discord simply held up his claw, halting the apology. "No need, Applejack. You had good reason to suspect such a thing--even I would suspect me," he admitted.

"Still," Rarity said, "it does not change the fact that we owe you an apology," she insisted, with the other bearers of the Element of Harmony nodding their heads.

Discord looked about, unsure what to do. After opening and closing his mouth, he simply nodded awkwardly. "Apology accepted," he said, scratching the back of his head. "No hard feelings," he earnestly assured them. "Friends do forgive one another, correct?" he asked, getting grateful smiles from all present.

"Indeed they do," Celestia smiled at the scene; she had only dared to hope that Discord would make such progress in his reformation. How it made it made her chest swell with pride for her little ponies to witness such a scene--Fluttershy, in particular, for it was largely thanks to the yellow mare that the chaotic spirit had embraced the lessons of Friendship so.

Twilight watched this, a true smile coming to her tired face for the first time in over a week. "However," she reluctantly said, hating to break the levity of the situation and return their focus to grimmer tidings, "we're still no closer to finding out who did this or if they pose a threat."

"Perhaps I can give your pathetic minds some rest, then ," an arrogant voice interrupted, causing all present to turn their gaze to the sudden conflagration of emerald flame that had appeared in the throne room.

"You!" Shining armor roared in anger, his horns suddenly thrumming with barely repressed anger and power, as he prepared to smite the newcomer.

"Queen Chrysalis!" Twilight gasped in astonishment, with the other ponies in the room preparing to defend themselves.

Tirek was filled a sudden sense of dread as the ominous glow from the Alpha increased.

"I have no intention of trading words with you," the distaste in the Alpha's voice made it quite clear how he regarded the imprisoned centaur. "Your tongue is perhaps the only thing more treacherous than actions," he stated simply.

"Then what business has the god of changelings with me?" Tirek asked, backing away from the bars and folding his arms over his weakened frame.

"I have come to ensure that neither you or your lies can cause anymore damage in this world." The Alpha stepped forward, his eyes blazing green in their sockets as rather sharp edge of his blade-like horn glowed with a venomous light.

"W-wait!" Tirek pleaded, his back colliding with the other side of his small cage as he attempted to gain what little space from the changeling king that he could. "Why are you doing this! I never hurt any of your people!" he cried.

"Only because you were too busy getting your revenge on the ponies," the Alpha said, continuing to gather power. "I have no doubt that you would have turned your gluttony towards the other races of Equestria and drained them of what magic they possessed--fatally so, for my children."

"I never intended such!" Tirek pleaded. "You have my word! I will never cause harm to a changeling! I swear it upon my life!'

"Your life is worth little already--and even less so that it is about to end," the Alpha said with icy calmness, "so you will forgive me if I do not believe you," he said politely. "The fact is, that you are a danger to not only my daughter and grandchildren, but all creatures of Equestria if you are allowed to live.

Look at the damage you were able to wrought with magic of this world--I shudder to consider what would be accomplished if you commanded the forces of my world's magic."

"Your world?' Tirek asked in confusion. Could the changelings be aliens? "Why do you even care about what happens to the rest of Equestria!" he cried in desperation.

There was a flash of green energy, and Tirek heard his answer come from the storm of emerald light. "Because the inhabitants of this peaceful world have inherited my Mother's legacy, and as such, I cannot allow them to be harmed." Tirek saw that the first of the changelings had unsurprisingly changed his formed; he stared at the bipedal figure clad in red armor. "Enough talking," the Alpha declared, drawing a pair of single-edged blades from his waist before seeming to vanish.

The last seconds of Lord Tirek's life would forevermore be a mystery to the centaur. He felt impossibly cold all over, as if his very blood had turned to ice within his veins; this may have been a mercy, as he didn't even feel his body being sliced impossibly fast into numerous pieces--yet not a single drop of blood was spilled in the process, solidified as it was.

As the red armored figure reappeared, his two swords extended to either side, their sides now covered white frost crystals from the intense cold that that emanated from the blades, he heard the shattering of both the Tirek and the cage he had been imprisoned in fall to the floor. He did not turn to regard the carnage that he had wrought, knowing that the ancient lord's face would forever more be literally frozen into a an expression of terror.

Walking away, he gently placed a hand upon one of the whimpering heads of Cerberus as he passed the three-headed dog. "Be not ashamed, noble guardian," he comforted the beast. "You upheld your responsibilities admirably," he comforted. "Now rest," he commanded in a soothing voice, his will transferring into from his hand into the one of the minds of the legendary beast. "You will need your strange, for a dark shadow lies on the horizon," he advised, willing the ice that entombed the canine to melt at an accelerated pace.

It would not do to tarry in this place, he knew, for undoubtedly the ruler of the night was even now on her way, and he had a long overdue reunion with his daughter to attend to.

Chapter 1:3 - Said the Spider to the Fly

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From a nearby cliff face, a figure clad in red armor gazed down upon the crystal city that sparkled quite majestically in the noon's sun, casting chromatic hues over the verdant fields of grass that surrounded it.

"Truly, this world is capable of such wonders," the figure breathed in awe as he stared down at the crystalline city. "And to think that this world was denied the splendor of this jewel's radiance for such so long strikes pierces to my very heart--and it that not only it, but all the land might soon suffer the same once again," he said mournfully, though his expression was filled with a resolve as strong as the steel of his blades. He could see a group of crystal ponies setting out from the main gates of the city, and his eyes followed them as his hands wrapped tightly about the hilts of his weapons.

"Little jewels, could it be you will no longer gleam beneath the sun and moon, lost once more beneath the cold pall of a foul shadow?" he wondered.

The man in red armor vanished in a flash of green light, intent on his destination and purpose. It would not to keep everyone waiting in suspense.

Chrysalis regarded the gathered royalty and protectors of Equestria before her, barely suppressing her fight-or-flight instincts that were heavily biased towards the later instinct. While she knew that none of Element Bearers or the princesses present would seriously harm her, she wouldn't put it past Shining Armor to let his rage consume him--and Discord was quite literally the very embodiment of unpredictability, so he could just as easily choose to do nothing, or perhaps change her into a rubber duck.

Still, she was a queen, and she would not allow these ponies and whatever Discord technically was to see unease.

"I'm shaking in my carapace," the parasitic queen drawled, arching an eye brow. "What? Are you going to blast me with your 'twu luv' again?" she asked, twisting the words into a saccharine tone. "If so, please tell beforehoof: last time I'm quite certain I would have vomited at the site of the two of you if my biology possessed a traditional digestive system."

"I'm very tempted," Shining Armor said through gritted teeth, the energy in his horn intensify to project a very solid wall of magical force with the intent of pinning the parasite against floor like the insect she so resembled.

"Ah," Chrysalis said, walking forward calmly, gazing at the others in the room--my, little Luna looked fit to spit tacks!--"but then you'll never find out who put down that rapid dog Tirek?" she said, gazing at one of the holes in her forelegs disinterest. That seemed to have caught their attention--at the very least, they seemed slightly less inclined to doing anything that the changeling queen was sure she would find to be very unpleasant in the very least and fatal in the extreme.

"What do you know of that?" Celestia demanded with a suspicious gaze, wondering why exactly the hostile queen had chosen to appear before them, foregoing the usual deceit and subterfuge that her kind usually employed, and place herself in such a disadvantage.

"More than you all," Chrysalis said in a superior tone, her mouth curving arrogantly as she gazed at the gathered group with contempt. "Not that it wasn't amusing to see Equestria's newest princess pointing out the obvious;" she clapped her forelegs together slowly, in what could only be viewed as a mocking fashion. "Tell me, did you find that crown and those wings at the bottom of a cereal box, or did your beloved Princess Celestia award you for being such a good little sycophant all these years?" she asked, leaning forward with an earnest and curious look upon her face. "You're looking great, by the way," she commented, as she got a closer look at Twilight's appearance. "Very healthy," she smirked, twisting the knife the proverbial knife.

"Shut up!" Ah, there was the loud pegasus loyal coming to Princess Twilgiht's defense, and illustrating her mastery of words, like a knight in stupid armor! "What are we waiting for? Obviously she didn't learn her lesson the first time she made the mistake of messing with us; all she ever does is lie, anyway!" Shining Armor seemed to agree vehemently with this proposal, and his horn once more became awash with arcane energy.

"I guess you'll never find out who killed poor, poor Tirek in cold blood, then," she commented to herself, and then waited a few moments, looking up at the group with an expression of mock bewilderment played across her features. "Well?" she asked, staring at Equestria's 'Greatest Defenders.' "I am a very busy mare, you know," she informed them. "So please hit me with your little rainbow of friendship and sunshine so I can go about my day," she said impatiently.

"I'll hit you all right . . ." Shining Armor commented darkly to himself, only relaxing when his wife draped a comforting wing about his shoulder.

"You're the killer!" Pinkie cried, pointing a hoof dramatically--now somehow dressed in garishly colored plaid deerstalker cap and cape, with a novelty bubble pipe between her lips and a magnify glass in her hoof, which allowed her to glare accusingly at the queen with a magnified eye.

Chrysalis stared at the pink earth pony in quite shock; where had she gotten those props from? She masked her confusion with scathing contempt: "I might be flattered by that statement if it had come from a pony with something in her head other than empty space," she commented drolly, causing the pink mare's enlarged eye to narrow in displeasure at her and growl at her much like a dog would.

Oh, she had upset the mentally unbalanced pink pony! Whatever was she to do? Bad, Chrysalis! Well, it seemed she wouldn't be getting a cupcake anytime soon. She honestly wasn't sure how she could go living now.

"Enough of thy mockery, foul parasite!" Luna bellowed, her ethereal mane billowing dramatically as she extended her wings to their full span. "Thou will tell us of what thou knows of this most heinous of crimes, this instant!"

"You didn't say 'Mother, may I?'," Chrysalis commented, taking delight as she saw Luna's eyes blaze pure white with arcane energies. The changeling queen could taste the lunar princesses anger in the air about her: rich and heavy, like a fine wine. Delicious. But before Luna could act, Celestia had to ruin the fun.

"Then what other reason would you have to show yourself if not to tell us?" Celestia reasoned.

"Well color me impressed, 'Tia!" Chrysalis congratulated. "It seems as if you do have a brain in that ancient skull of yours, after all. You know," she commented, "for a while I thought you kept your brains in your flanks--what, with the size of them, and all--but now I see that its most likely all the cake," she said with a vicious smirk, only to frown when Celestia did not even seem to bat an eye at the insult. Oh well--at least Twilight Sparkle looked ready to commit homicide.

Sighing to herself, Chrysalis shook her head. "No," she admitted, "I did not kill Tirek. As I am now, I couldn't even hope to breach the gates of Tartarus, let alone subdue Cerberus," she admitted reluctantly, as much as it galled her to admit such to her hated enemies. "When I had been pumped up on lover boy's mojo, over there," she admitted, making Cadence frown, Shining Armor further seethe in anger, and Twilight to frown ominously at her, "but now--not so much," she said with a careless shrug of her tattered wings.

"But you know who did," Celestia said, more a statement other a question.

"I might."

Celestia gazed at Chrysalis for several moments in silent thought. "The question is why you would even let us become aware of the fact that you knew something, in first place," she deduced. "Why not keep it to yourself?"

"Why indeed?" Chrysalis commented, but before she could continue, she felt the fleshy pad of a paw resting heavily just at the base of her neck, with the tip of very sharp claws ever so slightly unsheathed to emphasize the point both figurative and literally.

"And you're going to tell us why, aren't you?" Discord said, his voice sounding causal and free of any type of threat as he stood behind the changeling queen.

Chrysalis frowned.

"We all have our parents," she finally admitted, getting confused looks at the seeming non sequitur. "As ancient as you two are," she said, addressing the two eldest princesses in the room, "you had a mother and a father, just like everypony else," she said. "Even Discord here must have come from somewhere--I'm guessing a late night bender at zoo that got a little that went three steps too far," she said as an aside, quickly vanishing in a flare of green flames from beneath the paw of the spirit of chaos before he could get a chance to take any form of petty revenge on her for the comment. Little did Chrysalis know that the spirit was intently considering the merits of turning her tongue into a length of saltwater taffy. "Even I have a father," she revealed.

"Preposterous!" Luna denied. "It is well known that you were a vain mare who was corrupted by thy own vanity and lustful urges, and thus twisted by dark forces most foul!"

Chrysalis raised a brow at the proclamation. "Ms. Pot have you perhaps made the acquaintance of Mr. Kettle? He's quite the lovely chap," she told Luna politely, taking dark delight as she tasted the delicious rage pouring off the mare in waves. "How did that ridiculous tale get started, anyway?"

Celestia intervened once more before her younger sister could attempt to smite Chrysalis. "You said you have a father," she noted, "meaning he there is in fact a Changeling King, the Alpha--and that he is still alive," she said. Chrysalis did not answer. "So, he was the one to murder Tirek--why?" she asked. "And why are you even telling us?"

"But Princess! Know pony has even seen Alpha Changeling! He's just a myth!" she said.

"Strange as it is, she ain't lying," Applejack interjected. "Hasn't told a single one since she opened her mouth," the earth pony informed them, sensing this is as truth now more than ever through her enhanced connection with the Element of Honesty.

Chrysalis cast the earth pony a glance that, while not exactly complimentary, wasn't all-consuming in its disdain; the farmer would have made an adequate drone in hive, the changeling queen admitted before turning her spite back towards the ponies.

"Believe me," Chrysalis told Twilight, "I've learned in these last few months that no matter how much you want to believe some ponies don't exist, it doesn't make it so." She cast a roving glance around the throne room. "You're all still here, after all," she informed them.

"Why are you telling us this?" Celestia pressed, no longer willing for the conversation to be derailed by Chrysalis's acidic tongue and stinging barbs. "What are you planning? Do you want us to dispose of your father because you are not strong enough, too?" she probed searchingly--such a ploy would make sense, given that Chrysalis's father had suddenly made his presence known after centuries of absence and was likely threatening the queen's place as absolute ruler of the changeling race.

Chrysalis snorted. "I'm not about to nominate him for 'Father of the Year,' after his centuries of absence, " she admitted, "but no that's not the reason.," she denied. Because he told me to tell you," she informed them, causing the gathering of ponies to erupt in a cacophony of questions, disbelief, and denials. "He thought--and I wonder where he might have gotten this idea from?--that if he just casually popped in and said, 'Hi, I'm the person you're looking for. You know, the person who carved up Tirek?' that you all would start blasting him with rainbows, love, and chaos."

Fluttershy, the entire while, had been staring at the changeling queen with a thoughtful expression, ever since she had mentioned her father. "You don't like us," she stated, forcing herself not flinch when the mean spirited queen turned her attention to her.

"Well you've cracked the code," Chrysalis drawled sardonically, but felt it wise not to insult the meek pegasus any further than that; the last thing she wanted was for Discord to turn take offense should she hurt the pathetic tings feelings.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash called out, glaring at the shape shifter. "Leave her alone you jerk!"

Fluttershy offered a smile to her oldest friend to let her know that she was okay, and then turned and took a step towards Chrysalis; Discord frowned at this and followed her a few paces behind.

"But you're here telling us these things--even after everything you did," she said to Chrysalis, who looked extremely bored. "For all you knew, we would attack you on site, but here you are." She stared at the queen's face searching for something, and then smiled when she sound what she was looking.

"You don't want to be here, helping us (you don't even like us) but you are because your father asked you to--and you love him."

Chrysalis leveled a glare of pure vitriol upon the pegasus, but did not speak. Celestia simply stared at the hostile ruler thoughtfully, Luna was surprised, Shining Amor gaped in open disbelief at the proclamation, but his wife, Cadence, simply smiled kindly.

"You can't be serious!" Shining cried, pointing at the bug-like pony. "She doesn't care about anyone but herself! Have you all forgotten what she did! She's heartless!"

Cadence shook her head and gently nuzzled against her husband to offer him comfort. "But it's true," she said softly. "Changelings are beings of intense emotion--and I can feel her love for her father, even now

Applejack lifted her hat and gazed at the queen, who looked to be mighty uncomfortable being the center of such attention. "Makes sense," she said. "You can't choose yer family--ya simply love 'em."

Fluttershy nodded her head in agreement, thinking of the many times she had witnessed the bond between parent and child among her animal friends.

"Are you all going to hug me next!" Chrysalis hissed venomously at everyone, her heart swollen with anger at having what she viewed to be a weakness exposed to her enemies. "Hey, you're the Element of Magic, right?" she directed towards Twilight, causing the said mare to startle at being addressed by her so suddenly. "Do me a favor and conjure me a stomach so I can probably vomit, would you?" she requested. She then shook her head, and her wings buzzed in agitation. "Whatever, I did what I came to do, and I'm going!" she said, turning about on her hoofs and preparing to leave.

Suddenly a wall of purple energy appeared in front of her, halting the changeling's path. "You aren't going anywhere until we say you can," Shining Armor said softly.

"Indeed!" Luna agreed with a nod.

"If you have questions, you can ask my father yourself," she dismissed the notion. "He's waiting for you all anyway," she casually informed them. "He's quite impressed your shiny new castle, Princess," she said, smiling cruel at Twilight Sparkle, who stiffened along with the rest of her friends.

"He's in Ponyville!" she cried, visions of all of her friends lying frozen and shattered along the streets filling her mind--the possibility far too similar to the nightmares that had been robbing her sleep these few weeks. Before any of them could demand answers, Chrysalis gave a confident smirk and did something that caused Twilight to nearly faint.

Her voice filled the throne room, singing a song in a language that none of them could understand, but Twilight was all too familiar with--and, unknown to her, Discord as well, who had frozen in shock, as surely as if he had been imprisoned by the Elements once more.

"Wee wol ga rana syast sphilar guartz
Zahha sos khal hartes near lir
gott gyas getrra spiritum beja sol ciel
Zahha sos khal clyncye innna mea
gott gyas getrra spiritum beja yehah"

There were several cries as everyone in the throne room found themselves held in unknown bondage by the strange power of the song, including the princesses and even Discord himself. Twilight, however, didn't require being under the thrall of the strange magic to remain mobile, being in a state of shock at hearing the same language that haunted her dreams now something more than just a nightmare.

"What in tarnation!" Applejack cried out, extorting all of her considerable strength in an attempt to break free of the whatever held her fast, but to no avail. Rainbow Dash tried to lift off the ground, but found that gravity had seemed to have taken steadfast to her body and was holding her down.

All the while, Celestia was in a state of shock similar to her student and Discord--Chrysalis had just sang Song Magic, she was sure of it!

But how?

Chapter 1:4 - Pandora's Box Flung Wide

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The Alpha Changeling paced about the multitude of thrones in the great crystal tree, surveying the crystal--Song Stone, actually, but none in this world would have cause to know that--with the enhanced sensors that this form offered. Even now, he could hear the wondrous hear Mother's wondrous song being conducted from every inch of this majestic tree.

"'The Only Divine Tree,' indeed," he mused, recalling the literal translation of Ar Tonelico. "A most fitting incarnation," he applauded, speaking aloud, and the very tree itself seemed to resonate with his pride. "Indeed, you have done a most admirable job, and I thank you for the aid you have been able to offer my daughter and her children,"

Before he could continue his one-sided conversation, said daughter appeared in the room, the emerald flames of her own magic licking at the dark chitin of her exoskeleton. "I have done as you have asked, father," she informed him, seeming none too pleased at the moment.

"Thank you, my daughter," he said softly, before turning to regard her, and had his current form been capable of expression, he would be doing so with open fondness upon his face. "It saddens me deeply that I have missed seeing you become such a strong ruler."

Queen Chrysalis shuffled nervously, her hoofs filling the silence with their nervous beat upon the floor--she keenly felt the near overwhelming amount of love and pride that her father held for her, and having never been on the receiving end of such voluntarily, she was unsure of how to handle it. "Yes, well . . ." she said, staring at her reflection in one of the reflective surfaces of the wall, "I had to care for all my children," she explained away the compliment.

Her father's soothing laughter filled the room, and if she could have, Chrysalis would have flushed in embarrassment.

"I better go--they probably aren't too happy with the spell you taught me," Chrysalis said, amazed at having focused enough energy to disable not only the princesses, but Discord himself. "I never knew that my children could focus their magic to me in such a manner."

"Before this tree existed, they would not have been able--at least, not without perishing in the process," he informed his daughter, and she grimaced at the thought, of all of her children committing suicide for her own sake. Giving her father an awkward smile, the insectoid queen vanished from the tree, teleporting to as close to the nearest hive as she could.

The Alpha watched his daughter go and felt pride at how his daughter had turned out despite his absence--so much like Mother. . . .

"Twilight!" the alicorn was brought out of her shock as something whipped harshly against her face, sending to the side. Blinking, she looked at Pinkie and then to the offending object the party pony held in her hoof.

"D-Did you slap me with a rubber chicken?" she asked, too baffled to be upset at the action, staring at the flaccid faux foal that Pinkie had just assaulted her with.

"Yep!" Pinkie said, smiling brightly and making the 'P' in the word pop audibly, to which she then proceeded to giggle.

"Why?" Twilight could only ask.

"Bug-butt's spell wore off a few minutes ago, but haven't moved or said anything!" Rainbow said, hovering in the air. "What gives, egghead?" the prismatic pegasus demanded.

"She's right," Applejack added her two bits and concern. "Ya'll looked more spooked than Fluttershy on Nightmare Night--" she turned to the said pegasus--"no offense," she apologized.

"It's fine . . ." Fluttershy said softly, glancing from Twilight to Discord, who seemed to have also had a more averse reaction than anyone else present, like Twilight.

"What was that, darling?" Rarity asked, taking a step forward, Spike trailing after her, looking to his mother figure in concern. "It sounded like something out of a classical opera, but I wasn't aware there was a branch of magic that could be sung."

"There isn't," Twilight answered immediately, shaking her head, before adding softly to herself, "at least, there shouldn't be . . ." How could that same brand of magic as witnessed in her nightmares be real? Did that mean those dreams actually happened? That there existed a magical song that could destroy the very world itself! "W-we have to go to Ponyville now! Before it's too late!"

"Twilight," Cadence said, stepping towards the mare she once upon a time babysat, "I'm concerned too, but I don't think--"

"You don't understand! We have to leave now before it's too late!" Twilight screamed, staring at everyone with wide panic filled eyes, her breaths escaping her muzzle in shallow gasps. She felt like she was on the verge of having a panic attack; her vision swam, she faint.

Everyone stared at Twilight in varying degrees of shock and alarm, never having the former unicorn raise their voice at them in such a manner. Spike went to lay his claw upon her, in the hopes to offer what comfort he could, but before anyone could respond, the a sharp snapping noise filled the air and they all found themselves in the council room of Equestria's newest castle.

Everyone seemed to be disoriented from the sudden relocation, including Twilight, who looked about widely until her gaze met Discord, who still had his hand raised and in the position he often invoked his mastery of chaos in via snapping. They stared at each other, and Twilight thought she read an expression of understanding and possibly even sympathy on his face. Before she could wonder at the draconequus's strange behavior and sudden aid, a refined, cultured voice drew the attention of all gathered.

"I had feared you were going to decline my invitation," it said, as a formation of green light formed in the air and the strangest pony any of them had ever seen appeared. What could only be the Alpha of the changeling race regarded them silently, and they did the same, each taking in its angular form and almost reflective thick hide Twilight would have believed this being to be an animate statue if not the green glow that that pulsed from the thick plates that constructed its body, suggesting that it was indeed alive in some way or form.

"What are you?" Princess Celestia demanded, stepping forward and staring at dark unicorn-like being.

The Alpha turned its head to regard the white alicorn and answered somehow without opening its mouth--for it did not have one, they all noticed. "Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answers to?" he asked in kind.

Celestia said nothing for several moments, simply closing her eyes and seeming as if her age was finally taking its toll on her. "You're one of the machines from the Tower, aren't you?" she asked, though her tone of voice implied that the question was rhetorical.

"Sister?" Luna took a step forward, never forgetting that the strange creature before them was a murderer possessing enough power to breach the defenses of Tartarus. "What doth this creature mean?"

The Alpha tilted its head to the side quizzically, and a faint whirring noise could be heard in the silence. "You never told her?" he asked, earning a suspicious glare from Luna, who quickly looked to her elder sister for clarification. "But to answer your questions: I was born in the Tower, but I am not exactly just a machine.

"My name is Ayatane Michitaka," he introduced, his body becoming obscured in a shaft of green energy that revealed what Twilight knew to be a human, clad in red armor. "And it is a pleasure to finally your acquaintance, Princess Celestia," he said, bowing low at the waist in a gesture of gallantry. "Lady Shurelia holds your friendship dear to her heart--brief though your acquaintance was," he said.

Celestia blinked, and then could not help the smile that came across her face. That her friend still remembered her after all these years warmed the ruler's heart. She heard the Element bearers asking Twilight if this guy was a human she had described to them, no doubt recognizing the similarities from the tale that the princess had shared about her trip the alternate Equestria, and if Twilight answered she did so non-verbally.

"Why are we even talking to this bozo! Who cares if he's a human or the king of the bug-ponies!" she cried. "He's still a murderer!" she declared, glaring hatefully at Ayatane, who regarded her back calmly, not seeming to react to her damning accusations except for his serene smile to become a shade more amused.

Shining Armor straightened his posture and stepped forward, the Royal Consort to the Crystal Empire donning the full responsibilities of his station as Captain of the Crystal Guards. "What Rainbow Dash says is correct," he intoned. "Ayatane Michitaka," he said, not stumbling in his pronunciation of the foreign name even the slightest, "you stand suspected of the crimes of trespassing unto the forbidden realm of Tartarus, the assault of its guardian, and the murder of its inmate Lord Tirek. How do you plead to these charges?"

Ayatane blinked. "Oh? So I am on trial?" he asked, seeming amused by the notion. "Very well," he said with a slight shrug. "I confess to all counts and freely admit my guilt," he responded easily, causing all the ponies, the baby dragon, and even Discord to stare in shock at the man, not expecting him to so easily admit such a thing or without a seeming care.

Shining Armor himself was slightly unnerved by the casual admittance to the crimes, and his caution of this strange creature grew several fold. If this strange creature who purportedly was the father of the changeling race admitted so grave a crime as murder he was either supremely confident that he was more powerful than all of them in the room combined or a sociopath--or, more frightening to consider, both.

"Then I must demand that you surrender yourself and your weapons to await to stand trial."

Ayatane's serene expression did not waver--if anything he seemed intently amused by the proceedings. It was as if he regarded them in the same fond manner a father would upon finding out that their children had gotten into their clothes and were playing at being adults. Without a word, he unfastened the two sheathed blades at his waist, and held them out patiently. Shining Armor hesitated a moment, expecting some form of trick or attack, but nothing happened as he seized the blades in the pink grasp of his magic and brought them closer to him.

He eyed the weapons, knowing that they had been responsible to for ending the life of Tirek, and could only just suppress a shudder when he wondered if he would find flakes of dried blood coating the surface of the weapons.

"I freely surrender my weapons to you, if it makes you all more comfortable," Ayatane said affably to the gathering, "but I fear that I must decline your request to be detained to stand trial. I fear I have a great many matters that require my attention," he said, sounding very apologetic about the entire affair and that he was forced to inconvenience them in some manner.

"Criminals do not get the right to dictate such terms," Luna informed him icily, glaring at the impudence of the vile man that stood so calmly before them. Her gaze shifted to her sister, who had been silent since her strange conversation with this father of the changeling race. Indeed, it seems that her dear eldest sister knew much more of the situation than she was sharing, yet was seemingly unwilling to speak of it.

She would have to have words with her later on this matter.

"Indeed, they traditionally do not," Ayatane agreed, nodding. "But, still, I must insist on the point."

"And if we refuse?" Shining Armor asked evenly, his voice laced with steel.

"Then I fear I shall have to force the issue," and though it was stated without any malice in it whatsoever, all there knew that the human meant it as a statement of fact.

Applejack found her heart gripped by a feeling of dread; this creature was not lying or bluffing in the very least. He either knew that he would be capable of such a claim or he had good reason to believe his statement to be true. The farm worker doubted that this was a man who had an overstated sense of himself, however.

Nothing was said; Discord preferred to simply watch the proceedings, a strange expression as he regarded the armored creature, and the other ponies and baby dragon felt it best to leave the situation in the hoofs of royalty and those better qualified to handle it.

"Why did you do such a terrible thing?" Cadence asked, stepping forward and addressing the man for the first time. He turned to stare at her, a look of what seemed to be honest confusion at the question, and he turned to stare into the wondering faces of all else gathered there.

"Is it not obvious?" he asked them, as if it in fact was. "He was a threat and now he is no longer," he stated simply. The ponies could only gaze at shock at the cold admittance of why he had committed such a taboo act as murder.

"Thy tongue flows with lies!" Luna cried, stamping her hoof harshly upon the stone floor, her wings arched threateningly and her mane waving wildly about her. "Lord Tirek was defeated and no longer a threat!"

"Until the next time he broke out," Ayatane countered, cutting the lunar ruler's tirade short. "How many former foes have you imprisoned, only for them to return to threaten you years later?" he asked, his gaze lingering on the royalty. "You yourself were such a threat and were imprisoned in the moon for a thousand years--but still you broke free and would have damned this peaceful land with your hubris," he said, not cruelly or with any intent to harm the younger ruler, just reciting the facts. "The spirit of chaos and disharmony himself was imprisoned, and yet here he stands before me," he gestured to the said chimera. "And need I even remind you of the foul specter of King Sombra?" he asked, looking towards the Crystal monarchs. "Was it not for the bravery and courage of Princess Twilight and the noble young dragon, your people might still suffer under the foul yoke of his dark magic even now."

Luna looked stricken, unable to deny the words of this being--as were all in the throne room.

"You do not cage a rabid dog and risk it biting someone in the future," he scolded them. "If there is a cancer, it must be cut out for cut out so malignant taint cannot spread. Had you the Princess and her companions not unlocked the chest that the Tree had gifted them, Tirek would have killed my daughter and her children," he informed them.

"K-killed?" Fluttershy asked, letting out a small squeak and ducking behind Discord when the armored man turned his gaze towards her.

"Yes, kind pegasus," he said, nodding. "My daughter and her children would have simply vanished existence without their magic sustaining the

"Regardless," Shining Armor said, his tone now less accusing, "you committed a crime and must face justice. Knowing that you acted in the defense of your family and Equestria will be taken into account," he promised.

"Oh, I didn't kill Lord Tirek because of the threat he posed to my children," he told them. "Though I will admit, I am gladdened that he can longer do so. My method, I fear, is far less altruistic and more pragmatic."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, addressing the human for the first time.

"I simply could not allow him to remain alive; had he escaped and managed to take advantage of the current situation, with his ability, I fear that no power would be able to stand against him."

"What situation?" Celestia stepped forward, thoughts of the many dangers that existed in the riven world on the other side of the mirror flashing through her memory. "What is happening?" she demanded.

"Currently, nothing--but it will not stay so for long," he told the ruler. "Every action has consequences, even if they are not first readily apparent.

"When you crossed that mirror in search of a power to defeat him so many centuries past, did you not think that there would not be consequences from introducing a foreign power into your land?" he asked the ruler, sounding disappointed at her naiveté.

Luna stared at Celestia with shock. "Sister . . . thou didn't!" Discord too stared at Celestia with something akin to horror! Celestia did not meet her sisters gaze.

Princess Twilight Sparkle?" Ayatane asked suddenly, causing the unicorn-turned-princess to blink at being addressed by the armored man. "I understand that you have been another side of the mirror correct?" he inquired politely.

"Y-yes," Twilight answered. "It was alternate version of Equestria where everyone was human and while magic existed, it could only accessed by powerful artifacts," she answered.

''i see," the swordsman mused, running his palm along the crystalline surface of the wall as he circumnavigated the room, everyone present ready to act should he attempt any hostile actions; he had committed murder--regardless of his professed reasons for doing it or whom had been killed. "Indulge me: during your brief sojourn, did you perchance have the opportunity to learn of the tale of 'Pandora's Box?'" he asked.

Twilight's face scrunched up in concentration as she thought back to the few days she had been a human; on her first day she had read through a number of books in the school's library, but if she had read the tale, she couldn't recall it. She shook her head.

Ayatane made a thoughtful noise, coming to a stop and bowing his head, eyes closed in thought. "Perhaps the humanity of your world did not have the same creation myths that my world once had . . ." he mused thoughtfully. "No matter," he dismissed the notions with a shake of his head. "The magic of Songs did not always exist in my world," he lectured to the natives, "it was taught to humans by the nomadic dragons that departed this world through the Crystal Mirror and assimilated their cultures, eventually even interbreeding to form a new race entirely."

Ayatane saw that the lavender princess seemed fascinated to learn the history of an entire new world and species of humans that seemed to be so different from the ones she had become during her pursuit of Sunset Shimmer--especially a race of humanity whose world was so connected to that Equestria's! "But that does not matter," he quickly dismissed, causing Twilight to ever so briefly look less like the princess she was and instead appear as if a young filly denied access to gifts on her birthiversary . "The fact is, thousands of years ago for my world, primitive humans lived scattered far from each other and ignorant of what caused the everyday phenomena of the world, so a myriad of deities and creation myths were created to explain things such as their own creation or why the sun and moon rose and fell," he explained, causing Twilight to perk up and listen intently once more. "One such civilization, close to near two millennia before the construction of the towers of Ar Tonelico, had myth that the gods created the first man and woman, and to the first woman, named 'Pandora,' the chief deity entrusted a vessel that they said contained all the evils of world and bade her to never open it, lest the ills within should be unleashed upon all humanity," he recited.

"She opened the box, correct?" Celestia surmised, well familiar with such cautionary tales--for Equestria had its own myths and legends that served to impart wisdom unto the listeners.

"She did," Ayatane said, offering the ruler a smile.

"Aw c'mon!" Rainbow Dash companied. "They were asking for it!" she protested. "You don't just give someone something and then tell them not to do something with and expect them to listen!" she espoused, feeling that the mare in the story was unfairly getting the blame for something the gods (who sounded like jerks!) set her up to do.

"Yeah!" Pinky cried, bouncing up and down. "It's like if I try to not think of chimichangas!" she cried. "Now all I can thing about are chimichangas!" She admitted, before turning to gaze at all her friends. "Anyone want to go get lunch after this?" she wondered, thoughts of the said food quickly occupying her thoughts.

"Focus, Pinkie," Twilight sighed, closing her eyes. Opening them, she looked towards the pale skinned father of the changeling race; "What happened next?" he asked, wanting to hear the conclusion of the tale.

"The box was opened, and countless illnesses, old age, and even fear and death itself were let loose and forever burdened upon humanity," he informed them all. "However, when all the evils had left, a single thing remained in the bottom of the box--greater than any and all of what had been contained within."

He looked to them all, before declaring: "Hope."

No one gathered said anything, reflecting upon the tale they had been told. Finally, it was Luna who broke the veil of silence that had settled over the room. "Fascinating as thy tale was," she admitted, "We fail to see why thou felt the need to share it."

Ayatane shook his head, smiling softly to himself. "To offer perspective to you all," he said, spreading his arms wide. "As as I said before, every action can have many consequences--even if they are not first readily apparent." He paced about, and all eyes followed his movements, wary even with his swords surrounded and under Shining Armor's guard. "When you opened that chest, it contained the Song of Hope, which you used to defeat your foe, but it is even now still being sung throughout the very land--even if you cannot hear it That is why I find myself in this land again after so many ages.

And I am not the only one who has been summoned by the siren song," he told them ominously

Interlude: Red in Horn and Claw

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It chased the interloper who dared to trespass upon its Mother's domain, chasing after the mass of corrupted data as the data flew to an unauthorized external data port in the Tower. The corrupted data evaded its attempts, but finally it grabbed onto a string of the anomalous data and shredded with its claws, taking savage pleasure as the entire segments of the data were defragmented and deleted under the assault, to dissolve into the sea of information that surrounded it.

No! NO! Its prey had escaped! Must delete! Must Kill! Without a second thought, it followed the data into the port.

It did not how long it was lost in the data transference and it did not know where it was. All it cared about was its the purpose its creator had tasked to it, but it felt not its prey. It felt itself rapidly fragmenting and being deleted in this strange place, away from Mother's song--so it searched. It passed over many strange places, but cared not for them--only for finding the one who had trespassed and angered mother.

Then, suddenly, it felt a sense of energy that was a Song but not a Song--however, it felt the emotion and intent of the song: anger and the desire to cause suffering. It was a kindred song to what the creature had always known. As it was, it would not be able to find its prey before it was deleted, so it fled to the source of Song to take refuge.

In a small, unassuming house in the Crystal Empire, a unicorn of dark coat, totally unassuming from any other citizen of the populace, slept and dreamed wicked dreams of desire and conquest. He dreamed of casting all the ponies of this pitiful place under his thrall where they should rightfully be, and ruling as their king!

In his sleep, the unicorn did not see the strange mass of energy materialize in his room, manifesting into a figure that could only be described as a demon escaped from the very pits of Tartarus itself. The demon regarded the unicorn, saliva dripping from its wicked fangs barred, and it flexed its curved claws. Reaching out out, it touched the tip of a claw of a claw to the unicorn's horn, and seemed to be adsorbed into it.

The unicorn did not awaken, even as his mane darkened to such a hue that it seemed to adsorb the very light itself, and his teeth sharpened into vicious fangs that a pony would never require in nature. In his sleep, his dreams were suddenly filled with a wonderful sirens song that spoke to the uniform, granting him the knowledge of how he could achieve his desires and so much more. Awakening, the pony's eyes snapped open, revealing the now red irises and the otherworldly green that had overtaken the normal white. Bearing his fang grinned, and his horn, once gray, was now red as the blood of the innocents that was soon to stain the streets of his future kingdom.

He did not notice the odd echo that had overtaken his voice as he let out a wicked laugh. "Soon, crystal ponies, I shall smother your light and you all bow before King Sombra!" he declared, walking to his window and staring out at them. All the while, a seductive song whispered in his air, giving him such knowledge and telling of such magics that he had never known--that this world had never seen!

And so the Shadow from another world waited and recovered inside its host, corrupting him like a disease--like a Virus.

It would never know that one of its kin would follow it in service of their Mother, nor would it care. It would fulfill its task and return to Mother one day. That was its only purpose.

In the frigid fields around the Crystal Empire, a red horn pulsed with dark magic, buried in a drift where it had been flung when its hosts very form had been shattered by the radiant song from that heart. It didn't matter to the Shadow, its host had served its purpose, and it heard the Song of its Mother calling out out to it, awakening it once.

Taking hold of the ravished soul of its host that laid trapped with it in the horn, the Shadow needn't fear fading in this strange place now that its former host supplied it with power.

And King Sombra screamed as his very soul was savaged and leeched, now nothing more than a tool for the very thing that had gifted him his dark powers to begin with.

The Shadow searched once more.

Dramatis Personæ & Glossary

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History of the World

The world of Ar Tonelico is that of a dying world. Many years ago, a race of dragons encountered humanity and began integrating their societies and knowledge, eventually giving way to the race of the Teru and the basis of Sound Science. Eventually, a great tower stretching to the heavens would be completed, part of two others that would come to be eventually be known as the Towers of Ar Tonelico, and would serve as an amplifier to utilize Song Magic across the world.

A young girl by the name of Shurelia was created via advanced science, and tasked with the job of interfacing running the functions of the tower.

But a great calamity, the Grathnode Inferia, would occur due to sabotage, when one of the power generators of the tower exploded, the excess of energy released perpetually covered the entire planet's sky in a field of fatal plasma (the Blastline) that boiled anyone who enter it unprotected, and the pieces of the generator fell to the earth and gravely wounded it, causing a deadly miasma of fumes to cover all the land. Thus, the only area left for humans to inhabit were a few floating land masses surrounding the tower, located between the blastline and the miasma that would fittingly come to be called the "Sea of Death".

But another calamity would occur later on, as a foe from within the tower, known as the Mother Virus, would sieze control of the systems and rage war.

Dramatis Personæ

Shurelia: The oldest living being in the world of Ar Tonelico, she was the first revyvetail ever created, and was tasked with the job of maintaining the Tower of Ar Tonelico located in the Sol Ciel region. She often clads herself in her Linkage Suit, a suit of armor that enhances her connection to the Tower.

She briefly met Equestria many years ago, and though their time together was brief, a lasting friendship was formed between the two rulers and she would have an impact on Equestria greater than she could ever guess when she gave the alicorn a gift.

Redesigned the Elma tower guardians to be white and have a horn in honor of her friend.

Ayatane: A knight-like human who apparently gave birth to the changeling race for some unknown reason before vanishing from Equestria for many centuries. He has once more returned and is involving himself more directly in the affairs of the land for some unknown reason, though he makes many references to his Mother, whom he seems to regard quite highly.

Is able to shift into the form of a mechanical horse-like being, Elma-DS, which is actually a corrupted form of the Tower guardians.

Demon Virus: A manifestation of Mother Virus's hatred and suffering; she dispatched this creature when she felt Discord enter the Binary Field and attempt to alter it with his chaos magic. Under ordinary circumstances, had Discord not been constantly being worn away by the Binary Field and able to navigate it properly, he would have easily defeated this virus, but the Virus had home-field advantage and was able to delete and fragment a portion of his being before the spirit escaped back to Equestria.

It would follow, but there seems to have been a temporal flux between the portals, as it arrived far later than Discord did and could not sense the chaos spirit, who had been trapped in stone by Celestia and Luna. A manifestion of Song Magic, it was unable to exist for long in Equestria where no one was actively singing it into existence.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) it felt the dark desires of a sleeping unicorn in the Crystal Kingdom, and took refuge in the unicorn without him knowing it. By doing so, the Virus fed the unicorn's dark ambitions and greatly boosted his magic, offering the knowledge of magics not ever seen in Equestria, all the while repairing itself so that it might one day hunt down its prey as it had been bid.

The unicorn would soon call himself King Sombra, and Sombra would make the Crystal Empire vanish by utilizing a magical form of the Flip-Flop conversion technology that the viruses of the tower use to phase in and out of the physical and digital realm.

Glossary

Hymnos: The chief form of magic in the world of Ar Tonelico. It can only be utilized by Reyvateils, a race of females who are near indistinguishable from humans; The language of hymnos has many dialects, and it places great emphasize of making clear the intent and emotion of the singer, which is then sent to the Tower of Ar Tonelico, which processes the request and creates a form of magic appropriate for the task required and the mindset of the caster.

For some reason, Queen Chrysalis was able to sing a song of designed to paralyze its victims; it is unknown how she learned of or was even capable of using the magic of from a foreign world within Equestria.

Flip-Flop Conversion: A technique by which advanced viruses can manifest outside of the data realm of the tower and enter into physical reality. All attacks, Song Magic or otherwise, have no effect on Virus as long as they exist in the realm of data, however Viruses are only afforded this protection at the cost of being unable to manipulate the physical in any manner.

As King Sombra was sealed beneath the icy tundra, he would invoke a corrupted magic version of this to hide the Crystal Empire and its residents away from Equestria until both he and the Empire returned.

Side Story: Make a Wish!

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The pale-skinned girl stared intensely at the pink pony who gazed back with wide blue eyes and a carefree smile across her muzzle. Finally, the woman let out a snort through her nose, shaking her head.

"I should be able to quite easily be able to quantify you, but I can't," she told the pink equestrian with a frown. "What are you?" she wondered, her tone making its bewilderment audible.

Pinkie Pie blinked at the dark haired female, and then flashed a bright grin that extended just the slightest bit too far and revealed a few too many teeth than was anatomically impossibly--Mir felt the corner of her eye twitch at the observation.

"Silly filly!" Pinkie Pie chirped. "I'm Pinkie Pie!" she exclaimed, as if it should be obvious.

"Indeed," Mir said thoughtfully--for the mare's answer seemed to be the only correct one that existed for the mystery that was she.

Nothing was said for several minutes, both staring at each other in thought (though Mir dared not even contemplate what might be going through the four-legged baker's mind--she had been driven to the depths of insanity once in her lifetime was quite enough, thank you!)

"So . . ." Mir began, catching Pinkie's attention. "I understand you do parties..." she said, trailing off and somewhat regretted raising the topic as the excitable creature before her suddenly invaded her personal space without proceeding through the aforementioned space between them needed to invade her personal space.

"I know she isn't a manifestation of some kind of Song," Mir considered, "but the closet answer that I can think of is that her ability is akin to CosmoFlip; she seems to be enacting her own worldview upon the immediate reality around her--but she lacks any kind of Cosmosphere to manifest, to say nothing of not being a reyvateil."

"--Number 1 party pony in all of Ponyville!" Pinkie said, drawing Mir from her thoughts as she watched the party pony vibrate from sheer enthusiasm. "Do you like parties too, Mir?" she asked, her head bending at an angle that the reyvateil was quite certain was anatomically impossible for her species.

Mir blinked her red eyes at the question. "I wouldn't know," she answered truthfully. "I've never had occasion to attend one."

Pinkie's jaw seemed to unhinge itself and spontaneously manifest several feet of extra jaw muscle and bone for the express purpose of comically falling agape in shock. Reaching down with a hoof, she manually slammed her muzzle shut with an audible clack of molars and proceeded to stare at the Beta-type reyvateil, her blue eyes watering.

Mir knew then that she had made a previous error in judgment.

In fact, she considered that it might have been the worst decision she had ever made in her many years--including her whole genocidal rampage period.

"Your parents never threw you a birthaversary!" she said in a quite tone that was not too dissimilar from what Mir had heard come from the lips of shell-shocked veterans of war. Mir quirked an eyebrow at the earth pony.

"MY 'parents'--" and even the ever-happy Pinkie Pie winced at the sheer amount of contempt and venom that Mir laced the word with--"created me without emotion for the express purpose of murder and proceeded to inflict untold agonies and torture on me when I started becoming a real girl," she said dryly. Pinkie Pie visibly squirmed from the sheer awkwardness of the situation and for once not knowing what to say to such a proclamation. "So--no," Mir answered, casually flapping a hand in the air as if to shoo the issue away, "birthdays parties weren't a big priority for me," she explained.

Then stopped, her eyes widening. A smile curled its way across her pale face, and Pinkie found herself slightly unnerved by what seemed to be a genuinely happy expression.

"Actually," Mir began, staring direct at Pinkie now, "I have a favor to ask you, Pinkie Pie," she said, causing the baker to be intrigued. "I think you are just the right--no! the only party pony in all of Equestria who could do this!" she declared, raising a fist emphatically.

"What! What what what what!" Pinkie asked, bouncing in place.

"My oldest and most dearest of friends Shurelia, you know of her, right?" Mir asked, knowing full well that the Origin was acquainted with all of the Element Bearers. Pinkie rapidly nodded her head up and down. "She says that she's only sixteen, but really she's over 700 years old!" Mir said, leaning in and confessing this truth in a mock stage whisper that Pinkie nonetheless gasped dramatically, covering muzzle with a hoof. "It's true," Mir assured the pony, "and quite sad. I think she doesn't like admitting her age because she missed out on all of her parties!"

"Say no more!" Pinkie cried, reaching into her mane and somehow pulling forth a cannon bigger than the entirety of her mass from it. Mir, to her credit, only barely twitched when she witnessed the pony's newest casual disregard for the laws of reality. "I'm on it!" but before she could dash off for Canterlot, Mir grabbed her by the tail, a fistful of cotton candy hairs wrapped tightly in her fist.

"I applaud your enthusiasm, my professional party planner," Mir said with an amused grin on her lips. "But 700 hundred parties is a bit much even for you, I think," she said, only to have Pinkie turn a most foul look to her at her skills as a party planner being doubted. "At least, with what little time is available!" MIr quickly amended--and steadfast ignored that Pinkie seemed to be ready to argue the fact that she could quite easily fit 700 full-length parties into the span of a few days through some unknown method that Mir didn't even want to begin to contemplate. "No, what she needs is a cake!' Mir said. "A cake with all 700-plus candles on it!"

Pinkies eyes got wide as she envisioned such a sight. It was so beautiful!

Croix stood back in the gardens of the Canterlot Palace, his glasses in one hand as he rubbed at the bridge of his nose. His wife had a wide, almost demonic grin threatening to split her face in twain as she cackled in a manner he was quite certain was reminiscent of the time she had dropped half of the first Tower's inhabitable land and killed tens of the thousands of humans and reyvatiels alike.

In front of him, looking more like a bonfire than any kind of confection, was a giant cake lit ablaze by over seven hundred separate flames. Honestly, Croix was uncertain how the cake was even supporting the weight of all the candles without turning into a pile of sugary mush.

"Go on, Shurelia!" Mir purred, and besides her Pinkie beamed widely nodding her head eagerly in encouragement. "Make a wish!"

Shurelia stared at the cake and multitude of candles with wavering lips. the self-proclaimed eternal sixteen-year-old turned to her oldest friend-cum-sister.

"You're so mean!" she cried, stamping her feet, trampling many blades of emerald grass beneath her feet in the throes of her tantrum.

Mir's laughter rang out through the garden while the gathered princesses and other Element Bearers watched on unsure of how to act in the situation.

Twilight Sparkle, however, was only staring at Pinkie Pie and wondering why she appeared to be a wearing some kind of garment made of alternating dark strips of bread around her hind legs.

What she did know was that she had a very bad feeling that interesting times were soon about to be on them, as she switched her gaze from Pinkie to Mir.

She already felt the tension headache coming on.

Harmonius: Song of the Imprisoned Maiden

by Basic13

Prologue: The Lord of Chaos, the Song of Madness

Interlude: Binary Void of Despair

Prologue: Remeninsences of the White Goddesses

Chapter 1:1 - The Alpha and the Omega

Chapter 1:2 - In Cold Blood

Chapter 1:3 - Said the Spider to the Fly

Chapter 1:4 - Pandora's Box Flung Wide

Interlude: Red in Horn and Claw

Dramatis Personæ & Glossary

Side Story: Make a Wish!

Side Story: Bath Time

Premonitions: Interdemind