“Whaddya mean I can't go?!” Applebloom cried indignantly, “It's my soul, Twilight, I wanna help!”
Twilight sighed and flicked a couple of switches on the mana siphoning crown. They were outside in the late evening air, with the moon shining down comfortingly from on high. It was a clear night, and the stars sparkled like gems studded in a midnight ceiling. Around her changelings and mortal ponies alike were coming and going, bringing Twilight more things for her journey or sometimes just staring at her before heading out to patrol the orchard.
The crown gave off a rumble, then started to vent a glowing cloud of unfocused magic, its crystals gradually darkening until they were once more outwardly unremarkable. Twilight sighed in relief, and carefully wrote down the venting procedure on an adhesive note, which she stuck helpfully to the bizarre machine.
“Applebloom, it's too dangerous, I don't have the time or resources to protect you there and you could lose more of your soul if you go in. Luminous,” the white filly's head perked up at the sound of her name from where she was standing guard behind Twilight, “will be staying with you, for her safety and to make sure you stay out of trouble.” Luminous looked unhappy for a moment, then schooled her expression and nodded, fixing Applebloom with her rather eerie stare. Twilight turned to the little filly, “Luminous, I know you want to come with, but the Hedge is a dangerous place, even more so for non-changelings. So I want you to promise me you'll keep an eye on Applebloom, alright?” Luminous nodded sharply and bowed with a crisp precision before studiously staring at Applebloom, who shifted uncomfortably.
“Ah still wanna come, what if those wolf things come for me again?” Applebloom asked worriedly, “Ah don't... Ah don't think ah could fight em off or nothin.”
Twilight smiled and nodded to Luminous, who looked rather small next to the older earth pony, “That's what Luminous is there for. She was trained by Princess Luna herself, and the two of you should be more than a match for anything that could come for you, so long as you both stay inside the house. Fluttershy will be there too, to make sure you don't get any worse or if either of you get hurt for some reason.” Twilight said firmly, levitating the mana siphon over to Applebloom, who caught it on her head, “Now, if you get another up-swelling of magic, just flick the two switches on the side and try to empty your mind.” Applebloom nodded glumly and started back towards the house. Luminous bowed to Twilight again and followed after, looking around diligently, ready for action, as if she expected the rocks to leap up and attack at any moment.
Twilight sighed and turned back to the task at hoof, organizing the force that was to accompany her into the Hedge itself. She hadn't really expected such a turnout when she'd asked Trixie to take a Hedgewalk to the Briar Patch and ask for help. Well over five hundred changelings had answered the call, all ready and willing to do whatever she asked with a most embarrassing amount of deference. Most of them were combing the Hedge or scouting for other dangers, but the Apple family home would probably be the safest place outside of Canterlot that night, with over fifty changelings standing guard invisibly or otherwise in and around the Apple home.
Trixie stepped up to Twilight with her saddlebags already packed and ready to go, then deposited a jingling bundle at the purple unicorn's hooves. Twilight pulled it open, curious, and gasped softly as she beheld the contents. It was her armor from the warehouse, but it had been re-forged so thoroughly it might as well have been entirely new armor.
The circlet was black meteoric iron, and fit so snugly it could have fit nopony else. The breastplate was carved from some smooth black material that bore Princess Luna's seal in what seemed to be solid silver. The chainmail and silk mesh had been re-woven with midnight-black silk and more meteoric iron. The whole thing fit Twilight so exactly it might've been made by a lover. Except it was made by Princess Luna. Definitely not a lover.
Twilight blushed as her thoughts knotted rather pleasantly on thoughts of Princess Luna, then sighed as her mind inevitably slid back to Rarity awkwardly breaking up with her in a hospital room. She rather dreaded reconciling with Rarity, but she felt guilty about not forgiving her sooner, since she wasn't really at fault. She still needed to have a serious talk with Scratch about enchanting ponies on her dance floor, but for right now she needed to focus on the task at hoof.
Twilight pulled on the armor, with Trixie's help, and stepped up to the group of five changelings waiting by the path to the Everfree Forest. One was a skeletal-looking earth pony as tall as Celestia with spines instead of a mane and eyes like pools of hell-fire, while the other was short and stocky with a coat and mane that seemed to be constantly soaked, sheeting water over his blue-maned body and yet he somehow never left puddles. One pegasus had blades for wings, and his body seemed to be stitched together from different ponies, while the other pegasus of the group looked like he was half-wolf, with paws instead of hooves and a mane that looked more at home on an old alpha wolf than a pony. The last, however, was hooded and cloaked, but Twilight caught a glimpse of pink fur in the shadows of the cloth. She wondered what change had been so horrific as to make the pony feel they needed to hide amongst their own kind, while a distant thought nudged the back of her mind gently.
The Hedge was far less terrifying this time for Twilight, though that was probably because she was following a guide rather than charging off on a blind mission. She had a plan, even if that plan was basically for her to go into the Hedge, get the bits of Applebloom's soul back, and be damned to any hobgoblin to try and stop her. It was thrilling having the other changelings along, though she would have preferred to have Vinyl, Octavia and Blackboard along. Vinyl and Octavia were apparently on their honeymoon, which, she was embarrassed to find out, they had delayed to help her with Nebula and the initial scouting. Blackboard, as per usual, was nowhere to be found now that she wanted to see him.
Twilight eyed her companions discreetly as the group walked, to find them all doing the same with her. They didn't seem to notice, but Twilight felt their eyes on her like hot lamps. She took a deep breath and walked forward to talk to Trixie, who was leading. “So,” she asked, making the blue unicorn jump, “Where's the first piece?”
“How did you... Uh...” Trixie stammered for a moment, then shook her head, “By a tree-thing up ahead.”
“Tree-thing?” Twilight asked curiously, noting the slight tension in Trixie's tone.
“It... Well it's kinda... You really have to see.”
It was indeed a tree, sitting on a hill in a clearing in the Hedge, with what sounded like crows croaking in its branches. It would have been utterly unremarkable had there not been piles and piles of bones around it and the shining spark of soul sitting at its base. Twilight made sure the crystal she'd prepared to transport Applebloom's soul was safely tucked in her saddlebag, which it was, and started off the path towards the tree.
The tall, thin earth pony, Trotter, held Twilight back gently with a hoof, “Dame Sparkle,” he said in a deep, crackling tone, “Allow me to go first, and make sure the way is safe.” Twilight frowned, then nodded after a moment of internal debate. Trotter walked towards the tree confidently, and he had almost reached the trunk when suddenly a great croaking cacophony rose from the tree as every single crow took flight and arrowed towards the luckless changeling. In horror, Twilight and the others noticed that every single bird was connected to the tree by a thin vine.
“Trotter!” the perpetually damp pony, known simply as Aqua, called out urgently, “Run!” As he called though, the wolfish pegasus Sharp Claw snarled and leapt into flight, followed by the other, metal winged pegasus, Gestalt, after a moment of creative cursing. Twilight started forward, but Trixie barred her path, raising three separate barriers to protect the violet unicorn, while simultaneously managing to keep her from helping. Her concern was moving, but Trotter wouldn't last much longer unless the two pegasi could pull off some kind of miracle.
The crows ripped at Trotter as he fought his way stubbornly to the trunk. He was bleeding from hundreds of tiny wounds, and yet had somehow managed to grab ahold of the shard of soul. Tentacles shot out from the tree itself, winding around the skeletal pony and hauling him down to the ground while the crows descended. Sharp Claw stopped the first wave with his body, interposing himself between the crows and the pony, then started returning the favor with tooth and claw. Gestalt joined the fight with his bladed wings, and soon bits of vegetation and creepy crow were flying everywhere.
It was like watching a spherical food-processor in action, Twilight thought distantly as she pushed the unicorns aside and watched unimpeded. It looked, for a moment, like the ponies would win out, but the horrible bird-tree-thing had one more trick to play. The birds flew back out of range of the combative pegasi, then screamed, and from their faces tentacles shot forth tipped with points of what looked like bone. In the instant before they impacted, Twilight shouldered Trixie aside and cast a telekinetic bubble around the three ponies, against which the tentacles smashed ineffectively.
Twilight felt the air around her grow hot, and she knew without looking that her mane had flared to full intensity. “TREE!” She called out to the thing on the hill in a stentorian, Royal Canterlot voice, much to her surprise, “RELEASE THE PONIES HERE AND RENDER UNTO THEM THAT WHICH THEY SEEK, AND WE SHALL LEAVE THEE IN PEACE!” The tree stopped its attacks for a moment and seemed to regard her with its alien gaze, as did the changelings around her. The tree as a whole screeched and every single crow that was left, and there were still quite a few, came streaking towards Twilight.
Twilight held until the last second, then every single crow and tentacle arching towards her stopped, limned in a violet glow. Twilight's eyes narrowed, and her voice echoed like lead doors slamming shut, “SO BE IT.” Twilight closed her eyes, focusing, and the tree-creature itself began to scream as she lifted it up, out of the ground. Trotter was still entangled, until Gestalt cut him loose belatedly and the pegasi dragged him back out of range while they all stared at their trapped opponent. The tree thrashed in Twilight's telekinetic grip, its monstrous roots and limbs flailing ineffectively as she held it suspended above the staring changelings below.
Twilight felt the maddened menace of the creature held in her telekinetic grasp. It was a writhing, twisting abomination of screaming birds, leaves and wood. It was dying now that she had uprooted it, she realized, and the howling and flailing was partially the vicious thing's death-throes. Twilight knew there was no reasoning with the thing, so she motioned for the changelings to get out of the way, then she incinerated it.
The fire was contained by the telekinetic bubble, but even Twilight was unprepared for the power of the golden fire that filled the sphere, though she maintained her composure. By the time the fire faded, Twilight became aware that the circlet about her head was warm. She released the ashes, which fell gently into the hole the creature had been rooted in. She felt sure she'd pay for that loss of control later, but she felt fine, energetic even. She wondered if this was her own power growing or if the Princess had done something to her armor.
Twilight became aware that the other changelings were staring at her. Twilight straightened, realizing she had to seem totally in control, “Next time, we all go in together, and we have a plan, alright? That was too close, and I don't want to lose anypony out here.” Twilight noticed her voice had some resonance left from her usage of the Royal Canterlot voice, and it made the assembled changelings shiver. The group nodded quietly, still watching Twilight with a sort of deep awe that made her slightly unsettled. “Trotter, can you bring me the soul shard please?” The wounded earth pony nodded with the bright, ethereal thing in his mouth, his fiery eyes wide and awed as he approached. Twilight brought forth the prepared crystal and touched it to the ethereal shard of soul-stuff, letting out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding when the crystal took in the piece of soul. She pulled the crystal back from Trotter, who had bowed and stepped back. Twilight held back tears as she held the bit of innocent soul in her telekinetic grasp, which shimmered with a red and gold radiance, much like Applebloom's eyes used to.