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// Twin Stars to Pierce the Heavens 
// Story: Fallen Sun 
// by shademaster24601 
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The inn-keeper couldn't help but feel the weight of insecurity upon her shoulders as she stirred up her package that morning. The days that followed the arrival of the two strangers from Canterlot had certainly proven strange. Which certainly said a lot when she considered what the previous arrangement had been.
It started as soon as the mysterious pair was asked to leave her inn. The ponies of Wallowmire gossiped and worried that their secret was going to be exposed and were terrified of the consequences. The goblins had always kept to themselves and, in their strange way, were actually quite helpful. Nothing ever fell into disrepair in Wallowmire. If a board came loose or a hole opened in a roof, It was repaired overnight. Granted, the raspy whispers and cackling that haunted the air while said repairs were made certainly created a few nightmares, but no pony had ever been hurt. However, the towns ponies always feared that their strange neighbors would become defensive or violent if outsiders ever came poking around. It took few hours for them to finally get the answers they wanted to their burning questions and they feared the worst, since an empty cart never returned from the most recent offering of fish. There were shouts of astonishment and cries for every pony to come and see, but the sheer size of it was impossible to ignore. A shot of magic, like an enormous flare, painted the sky with a blood red light. The ball hung in the air and a tail of dark smoke lead their eyes toward the direction of the cave. They gathered at a cautious distance from the mouth of the cave and trembled when the horde of goblins began to lurch out. Some ponies gasped, whimpered, or huddled together. The little ones were kept hushed, as their parents feared screams would provoke the green-skinned fiends. The inn-keeper and the heads fishmonger, as the closest thing their small town had to leadership, stayed at the front of the towns ponies. To their confusion, the mass of goblins split in two, stopping a bout five yards short of them and clearing a path through their numbers. Out from the cave and heading down the path they cleared, stepped a figure that the inn-keeper recognized immediately, but was stunned to see him as he was. It was an alicorn, wings unfurled, mane flowing in the wind, and wielding a staff of twisted black-iron. The goblins applauded him as he walked to the front of the pack, his silver-maned unicorn companion in tow. 
The inn-keeper remembered his smile, projecting a mix of pride and delight at the surprised eyes of the towns ponies. She also remembered that he completely silenced the horde and ponies alike with one strike of his staff against the ground. His voice was calm, but demanded authority, as he introduced himself as Uriah, the new Goblin King. He then proceeded to declare his war against Princess Celestia and the intent to claim the throne of Equestria as his. He then invited Wallowmire to be the capitol of his new kingdom, as the goblins were grateful that they had offered them friendship when the rest of Equestria shunned them. It was a bold offer and certainly one they inclined to accept, given how vastly outnumbered and outmatched they would be if they refused. 
There was just so much to take in that no pony noticed little Water Poppy limp her way up to the front of the town. In pushing her way past the grownups, she failed to see the ridge and fell again. Not so hard as last time, but she still slid along the gravel until she was between the two groups. There were startled gasps from the towns ponies, first because she had fallen, but because, when she did, one of brutes, as they had come to learn the big goblins were called, broke from the horde and started lumbering toward her. The already injured filly yelped and curled up in fear, covering her little eyes with her un-bandaged hoof. Her mother cried, some of the others wanted to stop him, even the unicorn following the King appeared to want to intervene until he stopped her. The sound of his foot-steps beat like a drum in their panicked hearts, but, to their frightened confusion, he stopped just in front of her. The brute looked at the frightened Water Poppy as one would expect a dog to look at a hurt or sick companion, clearly concerned, but not the slightest clue what to do. He reached for something on his hip, and held out his hand. Water Poppy still trembled, but her curiosity made her peek. The fear washed away from her and her eyes lit up with bewilderment, then settled into a relieved joy. A simple little rag doll rested in his massive palm. She accepted with uncontainable joy, hugged the brute's wrist, he placed her on his shoulder to walk her back to her family, and that was it. Ponies and Goblins crossed the divide and happily reintroduced themselves like neighbors who had lived next to each other for years, but only now decided to go around the fence.
Wallowmire  then went into what the inn-keeper could only describe as an over-haul. The ponies soon found the goblins all over the place, instead of just slinking around in the dark. The brutes set to work with whatever heavy lifting needed done, which meant the fish-shipment sizes could be easily doubled with even less strain getting them to pick-up locations. The fixers went to work modifying and improving all the inventions they already made, which included new wagons which could make the once treacherous terrains in and out of the mountains a breeze. The inn-keeper was particularly grateful for that. The grunts, being the busy-work addicts they were, put themselves in charge of whatever job they came across. They'd set off in teams of two, with twin speed boats of goblin-design, and drag nets across the basin. They managed to do a full days work in almost no time at all and the best part, of all of it, was that they never asked to be paid. All they wanted in return is the usual share of the fish and that the existence of themselves and their king be kept a secret until he said otherwise. Business as usual with a more formal understanding. Still, the inn-keeper couldn't help but be curious what this King Uriah was up to since he unified the tribes and proceeded to vanish down the tunnels once more, So she asked the goblins to escort her to him so she could make a delivery and maybe get some answers whiles was there.
She was surprised at how easy they agreed. "This way. Watch step." She was flanked on either side by a brute and a grunt. The grunt held her door as they went down a particularly steep incline. She was mindful to balance the two covered bowls on her back, jingling the two bottles in her saddle bag. The brute noted her cargo and prosthetic. "Need Help?"
"No, I'm doing just fine, thank you. I'm not exactly a spring chicken, but I can still make a simple enough delivery." She glanced back at her iron leg, a bit perturbed. "There's a bit of a squeak recently."
The grunt nodded. "Fixers'll probably want to take care of that. One of 'em comes up to you with an oil can, you'll know what it's for." They crossed the boneyard bridge and were approaching the throne room. "King'll be in his war room. Third opening on the left of the right corner behind the throne."
"Thanks." She gave her escorts an appreciative nod as they parted from her side. The room had such a grim design to it. Gothically shaped, but not at all refined. Like the stone of the caves had simply been carved into the form of architecture rather than anything been installed. The war room was certainly spacious, a large stone table on wheels in the center, covered in notes and documents, plain cloth pillows strewn about in lieu of seats, and in the back of the room a large map of Equestria covered most of the wall.
That's where she found him. Starring at the map, his staff gripped in his magic, and covered by two grunts and a fixer, was the Goblin King, Uriah. He had his wings outstretched as the goblins appeared to be taking his measurements. As they worked, he glanced over and saw the inn-keeper watching. "Oh, hello."
She cocked her head. "Am I interrupting?"
"No." He resisted the impulse to shake his head, as the fixer held a tape measure to his horn. "I've commissioned a suit of armor. They've never done a set for a pony before so they wanted to get the numbers right for full functionality."
The earth pony smirked. "Ah, for a second there, I thought I walked in on you getting your royal gala attire."
Uriah smiled. "Heh, no, I actually have a designer in mind for that, but that will wait for another day. Speaking of which," He took a moment to address the goblins. "Make sure you write these down once you have them. I'm a patient stallion, but I don't want to have this whole process repeated." 
"Of coarse, your excellency." The grunt pulled away and saluted. "All finished. Anything else, oh mighty Goblin King?"
"Thank you, that will be all." He gave them a dismissive wave of his wing before neatly folding them back to his sides. The goblins all bowed and swiftly left to begin their project. "Such dedicated workers. Set them to a task, they won't stop until it's done and when it is, unless you give them another, they find one."
She rolled her eyes. "See a need, fill a need to a fault." She turned and displayed her prosthetic. "Didn't even have to ask for this. I was hobbling home one night when three of them jumped me from out of nowhere. Between getting handled by strangers, the chattering, and the resting sinister giggle, I thought I was done for. Brute held me down, two fixers prodding my stump and flank, then there was the grunt rummaging through his part bag and sticking the cold iron on me," She paused to take in a quick breath. "And the next thing I knew, they were gone as quickly as they came and I'm walking on all fours again."
Uriah's face fell as he looked at the iron leg. "I apologize for their less than gentle approach. As you said, it's in their nature to fix what's broken when they find it."
"I'm not complaining." She reassured. "Heck, most of the town's that way now. It's not the prettiest, but everything works better than ever."
"I apologize if I'm being too personal...I'm sorry, I don't think I ever caught your name." He kept his tone soft and warm.
"Mud Skip" She kicked the ground with her prosthetic. "Ironic, don't you think?"
"How did it happen?" His eyes seemed pained with sympathy.
"Not much to tell," She closed her eyes. "I was coming home with supplies, there was a rockslide, messed my leg up pretty bad." She gave a disgruntled snort. "Wouldn't have been so bad, except...you remember you asked what the problem with Canterlot ponies was?" The alicorn nodded. "We're all earth ponies here. We have a doctor, but there's only so much he can do, you need a unicorn for the more complex stuff. We had to send for one, a specialist from Canterlot. Turns out his office doesn't get ground mail, and the return to sender said we had to find a way to send it too him directly by magic. Took a few days to find one, but we did. Took him longer to actually get here because, in his words, he couldn't just teleport to a place he never heard of, so our fault for living in the boondocks. By then, it was too late, I lost my leg, and he scolded us for waiting so long to contact him."
Uriah looked absolutely revolted. "Of all the arrogant..." He caught himself and cooled his rage back to remorse. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. A physician, like a ruler, should treat every pony who needs them like the most precious treasure in the world."
Mud Skip gave a chuckle. "And that road never got fixed. Apparently Celestia herself intervened when we called for the nearest road crew."
The Alicorn gritted his teeth at the mention of the name. "She didn't want them digging around the black mountain."
"Keeping them a secret to keep you a secret." The earth pony took a turn to give the King a concerned look. "The Goblins have been sharing your story. I'm...I'm sorry about your friend."
"I'm sure they tell it with a little more reverence, but it does take a load off. I was starting to feel like a broken record, having to recount it so much." He examined his staff. "Scrivvler was a dear friend and I'm going to miss him, like everyone that was taken from me, but in his last act, I have the first key to exacting my vengeance." He relaxed a bit, and placed the staff down against the table. "I'm sure you didn't come all this way just to hear me ramble about that."
Her eyes widened. "Oh, fish sticks, I almost forgot." She trotted over to the table and started unloading her cargo. "I hope it didn't get cold while we were talking. I brought you and your unicorn friend some more oatmeal. I made it special this time, with maple syrup and fresh raspberries. I also bottled some fresh squeezed orange juice for you."
"Yes!" Uriah exclaimed as he happily snatched a bottle. "I needed this. There's nothing to drink down here except the dirt-water from the spring the goblins drink from and those horrible energy drinks Trixie keeps giving me."
Mud Skip grimaced. "Ugh, those aren't good for you."
Uriah took a few swigs of his juice and nodded. "That's what I thought at the first one and by the second one, I was starting to see spiders. What in the world have you poor ponies been putting in your bodies?"
She let out a little laugh. She couldn't help but marvel at how quickly the stoic Goblin King melted into an excitable goof. "I'm glad I could help. Don't be a stranger if you need to grab a bite, or I could just make more deliveries."
He smiled. "I'd like that." He turned back to the map. "I should get back to this, though. Answer me one thing. If you had to name the biggest apple orchard in Equestria, what would it be?"
Mudskipp cocked her head. "Appleoosa. Why?"
"Just curious." He materialized a piece of red chalk and hovered it over the map. "And that is?" She pointed, he circled. "Wonderful. I believe Stalliongrad should still be...here and I think we're ready to start phase one."
The earth pony felt a little lump in her throat. "Phase one of what?"
"The downfall of Equestria." The casual way he said it, jotting out information on his map like it was nothing, sent a chill down her spine. He glanced over his shoulder to catch her reaction. "Temporary downfall, of course. Just enough to hurt Celestia and I can rebuild better once..."
"She's gone!" The cry rang out through the tunnels and into the room. A clammer of claws on stone announced the arrival of a distressed grunt as he scrambled into the war room. "Your majesty! Your Majesty!"
Uriah recognized the grunt as one of the spies he had set loose to monitor Equestria. They were to report back to him in shifts with intel on their respective assignments. So far, there had been nothing of interest, save for the fact Discord was proving difficult to keep track of. Uriah's main concern was that the chaos spirit might be on to him, but there was clearly something more dire going on. He used his magic to catch the grunt when he fell over himself, then straightened him up proper. "What's wrong?"
The grunt saluted. "News out of Canterlot, Goblin King. Celestia is gone."
The pale alicorn's eyes widened. "Gone?"
The goblin nodded. "I saw it. Some kind of vines just broke through the floor and snatched her up in the night. Pulled her right through the hole and sealed it up afterward, whatever it was. I had to wait to confer with the other scouts, but she's still nowhere to be found."
There was a twitch in Uriah's eyelid and he unconsciously dug at the ground with his hoof. Then a soft smile broke through his shock. "Heh..." The goblin king covered held his wing against his forehead as his grin widened. "Hehehehahaha! This...oh that's just rich!" He spun around and scooped up Mud Skip in a little dance. "Wonderful! Marvelous! I don't even need the plan." The jubilant alicorn set the confused earth pony down on a stray cushion. "Fate, in it's kindness, has chosen to grant mercy on me. For all my loss, all my suffering in solitude, the stars have taken petty on me and aligned to grant me my vengeance. All I need to do is walk in and claim my throne."
The grunt's expression fell as he rubbed the back of his head. "Um, sire? About that..."
Uriah's excitement left him ignorant of the remark. "Of course I'll have to plan out how to make my entrance, plus think of a good speech to sway any fears. They'll probably want answers from aunt Luna too, but..."
"She's gone too!" The sorrowful yelp silenced the room. You could hear a pin drop from a mile into the tunnels.
Uriah's wings flared out. "What?" Came the flat, cold reply.
The grunt tugged at his collar. "Listening to the guards...word is whatever took Celestia nabbed Luna too. All of Canterlot's in a panic because the sun and moon are in the sky at the same time."
The king's mane bristled, but he kept his voice calm. "Exactly what did the other spies report when you spoke to them?"
The goblin trembled. It would certainly be better if he was yelling. "Well...whatever it is must have something to do with the Everfree Forest. Our spies around Ponyville report all sorts of bedlam going on with those weird vines what took Celestia. Weeds are strangling the crops and even the weather is out of control."
Uriah had gone completely deadpan. "If you'd excused me for just a second." He calmly stepped over to the wall, turned, then bucked a foot-deep hole in it. He exhaled his aggravation, then took a deep breath to collect himself. "Okay. I guess I'm off then."
The goblin king marched between the two to collect his staff and headed for the door with a reluctant scowl. The grunt wrung his hands. "Sire?"
"Whatever's going on is powerful enough to take two alicorns out of the picture at once. I can't just let Twilight, Pinkie, and the rest deal with it without back up," He paused and hung his head. "and, as much as the idea of rescuing Celestia makes me violently ill, I have to save aunt Luna." He noted the terrified expression on the grunt's face. "Look, I'm not mad, I appreciate that you lead with the news you thought I'd like, but I would rather have bad news than to have my hopes raised before the crash. Just go gather a battalion, gather up cutting tools, and start digging till you get under the Everfree. You said there were vines, maybe find whatever it is at the roots and hack at it while I fight from the surface." He paused and tapped the end of his staff against the rim of the doorway. "Mud Skip, I know you didn't come here to take orders and I don't want you to feel like you have to, but could you please make sure Trixie eats that breakfast you brought her. Otherwise she's just gonna settle for granola bars and that concentrated nightmare swill."
Mud Skip couldn't help but laugh. "Heh, I think I can manage. Go save the world."
Uriah smirked and rolled his eyes. "Again." With that he started a gallop through the halls. He weaved, turned, and flew over the goblins in his way. Every now and then one of the brutes would catch him in a vault and toss him along to quicken his pace. Once he was clear through the exit, he spread his wings and took to the sky like a bat out of Tartarus. His horn ignited and he vanished a blink of red light as he breached the cloud layer.


The situation in Ponyville was escalating rapidly. Uriah looked on anxiously as black vines with blue thorns snaked their way through the streets, around homes, and surrounded ponies where they could. Given how quickly they were spreading, that could include anywhere within the next few hours. The skies were in no way safe either. Uriah found himself winding around what could only be described as the vines in cloud form. Each one seemed to be putting out it's own weather pattern, which made flying even remotely near them extremely difficult. Uriah could hear screaming and zeroed in on instinct.
There were two unicorns and an earth pony being constricted by the vines and held up in the air. The coils wrapped tighter and tighter, inching toward their heads. Uriah landed in front of them with a crash. He twirled the staff to build up energy in the hook, and with a swing for each pony, he cut them free. The vines seemed to scream like an enraged swarm of cicadas and thrashed about as the ponies dropped to the ground, before recoiling. One of the unicorns looked up in bewilderment and relief at their savior and his strange crook. "Thank you."
Uriah kept his eyes on the plants. "Don't thank me yet, you're not out of danger. These things don't seem to want to stay cut." The vines seemed to respond to his concern by sprouting two more from each of the ones he cut, and the severed bits began to take root. "Go, just run away from the Everfree as fast as you can, don't stop, don't change direction unless you're about to run into something." He gestured to the unicorns. "You two, watch out for the ones with the little puffs on them, they're giving off something that's hijacking unicorn magic." They nodded and proceeded to stampede out of there like the Headless Horse was upon them. Uriah raised a wing to shield his eyes from the ensuing dust cloud. Then he heard something peculiar. It was a sort of crunching, followed by amused laughter.
The alicorn king made his way toward the sound, taking note that the vines seemed to be actively avoiding that direction. The source of the laughter narrowed his eyes into a contemptuous glare. Sitting proudly atop a lawn-chair, hovering above the ground, was the lord of chaos himself, Discord. Uriah's first instinct was to grab him by the horns and shove his face into the cobblestones, but Pinkie had told him the draconequus had been reformed, so he stayed his temper. The mismatched serpent chuckled as he watched a pony try to get to her home above her store. She was carrying inventory and dropped a case of lotion, which she slipped on, which made her spill more lotion, and so on and so forth. Discord just happily munched his popcorn as the hapless pony struggled to keep steady and nearly reach the door, and he promptly busted a gut every time she fell back down the lotion-stairs. "Hahahahehe, you...pffff...you'd think it'd stop being funny, but it just keeps going." A bolt of red magic shot past the chaos lord, hit the stairs, and cleared the mess. The grateful store pony kissed the returned friction ,then hurried inside and locked the door. "Oh, and it was just getting good." Discord leaned his head backward to look behind him. "What do you alicorns have against fun?"
"There's a time and place for everything. Frankly, I think we could've made that a sporting event, but, given that armageddon's on, it should probably wait." Uriah kept his composure as Discord snapped and appeared before him, trying to look impressive. "Discord. I was wondering when we'd meet."
"Prince Uriah..." The draconequus gave a little bow. "Or should I say King Uriah?" He smirked, waiting for a reaction that didn't come. "Your mother was quite clear she didn't want me intervening with you, but your arrival was just so interesting, I just had to keep an eye on you." He popped out one of his eyes, stretched it into a spyglass, then held it up and pointed it right at the pale alicorn's face.
Uriah didn't flinch when the lens blinked. "You've been spying on me. Should I be concerned?"
Discord put the spy glass back in his socket and it retracted back to normal. "Perish the thought. As if I would spoil your story just as it's starting to get juicy." He scratched his chin. "I am, however, surprised you're here now. Shouldn't you be off plotting in a cave instead of coming to the rescue here?"
The alicorn surveyed their surroundings. "The thought occurred, but I need to know I wasn't completely consumed by hate and vengeance in my exile. Aunt Luna's in trouble and saving her needs to be more important to me than being rid of Celestia. Plus Pinkie, Twilight, and the girls need to see that, once everything's said and done, I'm still a pony they can depend on."
Discord gave him a dubious smirk. "You're planning on getting your cake and eating it too. Consider what Celestia means to every pony else. Luna's beloved sister, Twilight's surrogate mother, and renowned as the beacon of light and gooiest of the goodie-goodies by every pony in Equestria; do you really think they'll be chummy with you if you take her out?"
Uriah looked him in the eye with a cold stare. "You're trying to get in my head. Fair warning, that's a very dangerous place to be." 
The Lord on Chaos rolled his eyes and put up his hands defensively. "I'm just speaking from experience. When I made friends with Fluttershy, I thought it was a free pass to do whatever I wanted. She made it very clear to me that wasn't the case." He crossed his arms. "Although, they could give me a little leeway for all the effort I put into being on my best behavior."
"You were laughing at a pony in mortal peril because she fell down some lotion-stairs." Uriah pointed out.
Discord pointed an accusing talon. "We both agreed that was hilarious, but that's beside the point. You know, they actually accused me of doing this?"
"Did you do this?" Uriah said flatly.
"Like a knife, your little pony tongues be." Discord crossed his heart. "I can honestly say that I have not done a single thing to harm Equestria since I've been reformed."
The alicorn looked the chaos lord in the eyes. "See, I grew up around politicians, so this isn't the first time I've heard someone lie and tell the truth at the same time. However, I clearly don't have time to play word-maze with you. Where are Twilight and the girls."
It was the slightest things, the tiniest twitch in the draconequus's cornea, but Uriah knew he was on to something. "They've gone into the Everfree to take the elements of Harmony back to where they came from." He examined his claws. "You know, it's funny. For how powerful the magic of friendship is supposed to be, they certainly didn't act like it."
The pale alicorn puzzled. "How so?"
Discord pointed his thumb toward the forest. "I just had to send Twilight back in there. Since she was the only princess left, the others thought it would be for the best if she waited back here out of danger."
"That doesn't sound like Twilight." Uriah's eyes widened in genuine surprise. He hadn't known Twilight for long, but she certainly seemed like one who'd stick by her friends.
"That's what I told her." Discord echoed Uriah's disbelief. "She came to her sense quick enough. I imagine she's already reunited with them by now and this entertaining afternoon will wrap up soon enough." There was a sound of hoof beats approaching quickly from the direction of the Everfree and the two looked down the road. Discord was the first to respond to their shared surprise. "Or the girls could come back here without Twilight..."
The five Elements ran up and slid to a halt. Initially, their eyes were on Discord, but the seeing Uriah stunned the whole group. Pinkie was the first to speak. "Uriah?"
"Hi, Pinkie." He tried to smile, but couldn't shake the concern for what their presence implied.
Rainbow Dash glared at him. "What are you doing here?" She puffed out her chest and hovered to make herself look bigger when she got up close. "Are you behind this?"
"How cute." Uriah smirked and looked back to Discord. "She's all huffy because I turned her into a toddler the last time we met."
Discord gave a chuckle. "Oh, that's priceless. Tell me somepony remembered to take pictures."
Rainbow went red in the face. "I'm gonna clobber you!"
As much as the cyan pegasus struggled and swung at the air, helpless as an aura of red magic held her in place and slowly pushed her down till she was pinned flat against the ground. "Calm yourself, Rainbow. Now, would some pony please explain to me what's going on. Where's Twilight?"
They were all taken aback, but Rarity was the first to ask what they were all thinking. "You mean she's not here?"
Applejack stepped forward with a guilty look. "We found the Tree of Harmony Twilight was looking for, but we didn't know what to do once we were there. We came back to get her so we could do this together like she wanted to do in the first place."
"Way ahead of you," Discord interjected. "I just goaded her into the exact same idea. She went back in to find you."
Uriah covered his face with his wing and shook his head. "And you didn't intercept one another, so that means..."
Fluttershy gasped. "She's in there all alone?!"
Discord lifted a finger to correct. "Well, technically she took Spike with her, but...yeah."
Applejack stamped a hoof. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't brought up that stupid idea in the first place, we'd all have fixed this together by now." She threw her hat on the ground. "Concarn it! Why'd I have to go and act like Twilight was too important to do anything? I know darn well she doesn't see herself being above anypony."
Uriah rolled his eyes. "Please stop." He placed a hoof on Applejack's shoulder, much to her unease about the alicorn. "You were in a dangerous situation and your first instinct was to put your friend's safety ahead of your own." He gestured to address all of them. "No pony is going to fault any of you for that, but if you want to feel sorry for yourselves, it'll have to wait. Right now, Twilight needs help."
Fluttershy stepped forward timidly. "Should we go back in to look for her...sir?"
He patted her gently on the head. "You can just call me Uriah and no. We don't want any pony else getting lost. You five stay here and help the town however you can. I can track Twilight with my magic and the two of us should be able to put an end to this plant problem."
"Uriah..." Rainbow Dash cut in with an irritated groan.
"You can call me sir." He didn't even glance at her, but smirked anyway.
Rainbow fumed. "Sir...you're standing on my wing!" The alicorn took note and quickly stepped off. Rainbow got up, dusted off her chest, then massaged the offended appendage. "First of all, who do you think you are giving us orders like that? Second, why in the wide world of Equestria should we trust you to go help Twilight?"
Uriah glared and was about to object, but a crash cut him off and drew a look of shock from every pony but Discord, who was back to munching his popcorn. A pair of massive vines had pushed up through one of the nearby houses and lifted the entire second floor into the air. It teetered precariously as the vines continued to rise and the terrified pony inside peered out the window. Every thing seemed to slow down from there. The bit of the house dropped from the vines, the frightened pony jumped, and there was a loud boom as Rainbow broke the sound barrier to launch herself to intercept. The crash was louder than thunder and there was a cloud of dust and debris that spilled out of the impact. Uriah shielded most of the girls, save for AppleJack who just used her hat. When the dust cleared, Rainbow was carrying the frightened pony to safety. Uriah approached with a determined look. "That right there. That's why you need to be here. This is escalating out of control and even I can't be everywhere at once. You girls are the heroes, be the heroes."
Rainbow cross her forelegs and huffed. "Fine, I can handle that, but Twilight..."
"Twilight's going to be just fine." He started toward the forest, but turned once more to address them. "Look, I don't expect any of you to believe in me."
Pinkie leaned on Rarity and raised a hoof. "I believe in you." She beamed.
Uriah returned her smile with a nod. "Thank you, Pinkie." He reapplied a determined brow. "What I need you to do is believe in Twilight. In the short time I've known her, I could sense something amazing about her. Something powerful that even she might not realize yet. Trust in her so she can trust in herself." He flared out his wings and Discord started a slow applause. "We've got this." With one beat of his wings, he shot off the ground with a boom. He spun in the air and leveled out as he advanced into the Everfree.


Blobs. Blobs and shadows. That's all Twilight could see as she struggled to stand. Every time she got close to getting back other hooves, another burst of gas hit her and knocked her down again. The only thing she could make from the shapes around her was that the vines were getting closer. There was another shape, bigger than the others, that rose up to loom over her. It opened up, a haunting blue fan out of a black mass. Her mind took her to only one logical comparison. It was a fly-trap. The vines had finished toying with her and were going to take her. "I'm sorry...everypony." The trap drew closer and her vision started to go dark. Even her hearing was starting to go as the gas overwhelmed her. Twilight collapsed one last time and weaker gazed at oncoming oblivion. Then things went red and the approaching blue had been knocked back. There was some kind of commotion she couldn't make out "What...?"
There were three more jolts of red and a flash of green. The green lingered and waved about in two clouds. Two shapes came into view, one advancing on the plants an another came toward her. Twilight felt a familiar pair of clawed hands cupping her cheeks. "Twilight! Are you okay?"
She had already been tearing up from the gas, but the relief she felt made her want to cry more. "Spike!" She instinctively reached for the little dragon and hugged him tight to her chest. "I'm so glad you're okay." 
The small purple blob before her tilted it's head. "Oh, wow, your eyes don't look good. Here let me get my hankie." There was some movement and she felt a cloth rubbing her eyes. They still stung a bit, but her vision soon cleared to reveal the caring smile of the baby dragon. "Better?"
She nuzzled him affectionately. "Much." She pulled back and was stunned at the situation playing out around her. Two of the vines were engulfed in a green blaze. "Woah. Nice job, Spike!"
He rubbed the back of his head. "I had some help." He pointed a claw toward the other vines, which had been pushed back through the tree line. There was some slicing and two severed head-crabs came flying out. The still sputtered with gas, so Spike quickly set them ablaze like the others. 
The last vine reared back toward them like a snake in combat, with Uriah bolting around it. The vine struck at him with it's trap-like bloom, still spitting gas, but Uriah maneuvered too quickly. It overreached and he vaulted over it, allowing the pale alicorn an opening for a decisive strike with his hooked staff. He split the vine right down the middle, then used his magic to pull the two halves apart and bury them away from each other. "Go soil yourself!" He leaned against his staff. "That...that sounded better in my head. I was trying to think of plant insults and it...it did not work."
Spike shrugged. "I thought it was pretty cool."
Twilight smiled and ran to hug the older alicorn. "Uriah! Am I glad to see you."
He returned her embrace. "I'm glad I made it in time, little sister." Uriah let go and stood ready for more trouble. "So, you ready to save the world?"
The lavender princess's expression fell. "I'm not sure I can. I left my friends and I don't know where they are."
Uriah rested a wing on her shoulder. "They're back in Ponyville. They came back to get you."
Twilight's eyes widened. "Heh, great, so we had the same epiphany and just missed each other. The world is doomed because of rom-com shenanigans."
"Not just yet." He tapped at the ground with his staff. "Before I came here, I set up a plan to get to the root of the problem, quite literally."
She nodded. "What do you need me to do?"
He pointed at a cluster of vines that rose up from what he had cut down. "We're gonna burn this candle at both ends. I've got some friends of mine getting ready to attack the main root system. We should see the vines react when they do. When that happens, you and I are each going to let one of the vines take hold of us. They seem to feed on magic, so we're going to overload the whole network and burn them out."
Twilight raised a bewildered eyebrow. "Have you seen how big these things are and how far they've spread? The amount of magic it'll take to do what you're suggesting..."
"Will be difficult, but doable for the two most powerful alicorns in Equestria." He could tell she was about to protest, so he cupped a hoof under her chin to silence her. "Twilight, you can do this. Pinkie told me how  you got your cutie mark. Even before ascending, you managed to tap into some primal, reality warping, magic. With how far you've come since, there's no doubt that well of raw power has only expanded. You just need to let it out."
She took a deep breath, watching the vines for the moment of truth. "Any advice?"
He stood by her side and gestured to Spike. "Think of him, think of your friends, think of every pony you ever cared about, and then tell yourself that if you don't push it to the maximum extent, they'll come for them next." It was a grim visual, but accurate. "We, as alicorns, are burdened with tremendous responsibility. We're expected to do the impossible when the need arrises. Set the sun, raise the moon, banish a monster, but if we ever fail to break those bonds of impossibility, bad things happen. Even if they don't always appreciate it, ponies live in peace because they believe we can do it, just like your friends believe in you." He smiled as the warmth of thinking of her friends washed over Twilight's face. Then came the shrieking. The vines flawed wildly, their glowing blue thorns beginning to flicker. "I believe that's our window."
Uriah flew toward the tops of the vines and Twilight followed. He led the attack by grappling with one of the vines and letting it wrap around him. Twilight was hesitant, but followed, and winced as it coiled around her tight. "Ah. The thorns."
The older alicorn gritted his teeth. They dug into his side too. "Stay strong, little sister! Once you feel it start to feed on your magic, LET IT HAVE IT!" Uriah demonstrated with a furious roar. His horn sparked with a blood red aura and his eyes glowed to match. His magic pulsed through the vine and into the ground, causing all the invading foliage to start to radiate with his power.
Twilight could feel the heat through her vine, then a biting sensation as she felt her own energy start to slip. She winced hard and her horn sparked, but it wouldn't ignite. "I...I can't..."
"YES YOU CAN!" Uriah bellowed as his magic cracked like thunder and the vine around him started to smoke. "YOU NEED TO REACH DOWN DEEP AND LET EVERYTHING OUT!  AAAAAAAAAHHHH!" He screamed as his whole body tensed with pain. It left him feeling like he was on fire. "YOUR FEAR, YOUR RAGE, YOUR LOVE; YOU NEED TO LET ALL OF IT OUT!" He looked over and saw her struggle. Her horn sparked brighter, but was still falling short. "TWILIGHT, IF YOU DON'T DO THIS...NNNNNGGGGH...IF YOU DON'T DO THIS, YOUR FRIENDS ARE GOING TO BE OVERWHELMED! PONYVILLE WILL BE DESTROYED, THEN CANTERLOT, THEN EQUESTRIA, AND DISCORD'S JUST GOING TO LAUGH AT IT! NOTHING WILL BE LEFT! NOPONY WILL BE LEFT TO SAVE LUNA!"
Twilight's pupil's shrank. "Luna?" Her eyes began to light up with a blinding white glow. "LUNAAAAAAAAAA!" She screamed with everyone of desperation in her. Her horn lit up like a firework fountain and a pulse of magic energy came off her, just like her entrance exam all those years ago. A spiral of violet light shot through her vine, intertwining with Uriah's red aura. Both vines, in fact all the vines, began to radiate with the swirling magic. Twilight kept screaming out her fury. "IT HURTS!"
Uriah ground his teeth. "PUSH THROUGH IT! NO MATTER WHAT, KEEP GOING! IF IT TRIES TO STOP FEEDING, FORCE IT UNTIL IT THERE'S NOTHING LEFT BUT ASH!" The two alicorn's roared at the sky, their magic shining like two beacons of pure power. The vines lifted them high into the air, thrashing them about, but Twilight and Uriah were not deterred. The vines glowed brighter as the violet and red auras continued to spiral at a quickening pace. The vines began to swell and became malformed as the energy surged through them. When they reached their apex, high over the forest, against the sun and moon in the sky, the vines began to tremble violently. The light became brighter and brighter, until finally they could take no more. With the alicorn's giving one final exerted scream, a crack of lightening shot from both of their horns and straight into the sky, and the vines began to disintegrate. They lost their physical form, disappearing like fireflies into the sky. With no form to hold them, Twilight and Uriah fell from their flaking captors and began to plummet to the ground. Uriah tried to fly, but his wings were numb, but he saw Twilight had gone completely limp. "Twilight!" With whatever strength he had left, he pushed himself over to her and caught her mid fall. It was all he could do, to take the brunt of it.
The two hit the ground with an awful crash and a cloud of dust. Spike ran to them, shielding his eyes, until he got to them. "Oh no. Hey, hey are you two alright."
Twilight was the first to show signs of life. "Sp-Spike?" Her voice was weak and raspy, but she still managed a weak smile at the little dragon.
Uriah, flat on his back and still clutching Twilight around the waist, groaned. "What they never warn you about immortality is how much you'll actually live through."
Twilight mustered enough strength to roll off of him, but she stayed by his side. "Did we do it?"
"Twilight!" A set of seven voices cried out in unison. To her joy, the young princess saw to groups approaching. Her friends came from the left and the royal sisters on the right. They all gathered round, but Luna broke from the group to lift Twilight into a warm embrace, as gently as she could. "Are you alright?"
The lavender alicorn nuzzled into the crane of Luna's neck. "I'd think I'd like to just stay like this and not move for a while, but I'll be good." The night princess gave a laugh through her relieved tears, then kissed her love.
Uriah started to get up, but found a familiar hoof reaching for him. He looked up and his burning muscles tensed at the sight of Celestia. "Uriah...thank you."
He swatted her hoof away and replied with venom. "I didn't come for you" He ignored the shock of the solar princess and found his rage cooling at the sight of Twilight and his aunt in the middle of a passionate lip-lock. "Huh, well, that explains why she called out for you. How long has this been a thing?"
The two blushed and Twilight gave as best a reply as she could. "It was just after our little talk before you left the castle...I wasn't dreaming, Luna was worried."
"And I scared you two into becoming an item? Wow." He looked proud of himself. "Kind of makes me feel all warm and fuzzy...or that might just be the head-rush" He proceeded to face plant into the dirt. "Ow."
Luna suppressed a giggle at her nephews expense, but felt her heart skip when she looked back at Twilight face. "Twilight, my stars, you popped a blood vessel. Your sides are bleeding too, oh my beloved, I wouldn't have squeezed so hard." The night princess fussed over her like she was a delicate flower. "What happened?"
"She found her war cry, that's what happened." Uriah pushed himself up off the ground again. "Little sister set her soul loose and burned those pernicious plants into oblivion. I'm assuming that's why you five are here."
Applejack stepped forward. "We did like you said and kept every pony safe. Next thing you know, all the vines and everything that came with 'em just started glowing red and violet, and then poof."
Rarity nodded. "We saw that fearsome light show you two were putting off and rushed right over."
Luna brushed her cheek against Twilight's "I knew you could do it."
Twilight beamed. She couldn't feel her legs that great, but she felt the love. "I couldn't have done it alone."
"Yes, you could," Uriah corrected with a smirk. "I'm impressive, if I do say so myself, but you absolutely pushed us over the top on that one." He had a proud gleam in his eye as he watched her blush. "Don't feel like you need to share the spotlight. I am the bad guy, after all, there's no hugs coming my way."
A pink blur dropping in from an impossible angle immediately proved him wrong. Pinkie Pie had him wrapped in the biggest hug she could muster. "You did it! I knew you could do it!"
His eyes widened. "Gah, Pinkie, my bones!"
The pink earth pony softened her grip. "Whoops. Sorry, I'm just so proud of you."
Uriah gave her a puzzled look. His confusion triple as Rarity and flutter shy joined in on a gentle group hug. "Look, I appreciate the thought, but..."
Rarity placed a firm hoof on the top of his head. "Oh, hush, darling. What you did was incredibly big of you. You deserve to be congratulated too."
Fluttershy had her wings tenderly wrapped around him, like she was comforting an injured animal. "Even with all your hurt, you still ran to help everypony without a second thought."
Uriah looked to the ground. "Well, there was some thought. I easily could have just took over in the confusion, but...aunt Luna."
There was smile exchanged between the fallen alicorn and the night princess, and Pinkie continued. "But that just makes it even better. You could have just let the vines go crazy and take over yourself, but instead, you chose to be good. Just like I knew you would."
Rarity swooned a little. "Choosing to protect the innocent over the temptation of unopposed conquest. It's like something out of a story book, darling, like a true prince."
Uriah brushed himself off. "King, actually." The pale alicorn noted the confusion, especially from Celestia. "Yes, the status was recently bequeathed to me, along with this..." He had to pick up his staff by hoof, but once he had the handle, the stored magic from cutting the vines flowed into him. The alicorn king, fully restored, cracked the stiffness out of his neck.
Pinkie snapped out of her puzzlement with a big grin. "That's great! We can throw you a big coronation party like we did with Twilight. Come on back to Sugar Cube Corner and we can plan out..." The party pony was cut-off when Uriah wrapped her in a tight embrace.
The pale alicorn nuzzled into her mane, quietly marveling at the sweet smell of baked goods. "You know, if it wasn't for you, I would have let those vines demolish everything." He pulled back and smiled warmly. "Thank you for believing in me...so I could still believe in myself." With that last word, Uriah vanished in a flash of red.


The goblins recoiled at the sudden flash of light. Their goblin king, still weary, appeared before them. "King Uriah, did it work?" One of the grunts asked as he stepped to help his king stand.
Uriah felt himself recovering quick after the recharge from the staff, but he still limped. "You did marvelously, my goblins. Your attacks on the roots were exactly what we needed to weaken the menace."
A brute stepped forward and showed off some plant juice on his black iron claw blades. "Help ponies?"
The king nodded. "You saved a lot of lives today. I'm so proud of all of you. I know you all must want to go up and see your friends safe, but we must keep hidden for now." He used his staff to support himself as he led the march back to Goblin Town. "We will be at war soon. It'll be all the harder if it comes off as a betrayal as well."
The grunt noticed a twinge of pain in his king's red eyes. "Did you see her? The funny pinkie one you told us about."
Uriah grinned. "And that wonderful smile of hers. Which is why I had to leave; before she made me want to stay and spoil everything." His eyes glowed at the thought of his goal. "My enemy is back on the board, my sister's potential realized, and my oppositions opinion of me is shifting. The game is going to be very interesting. I'll need a day to recuperate fully, but if enough of you are ready, I'd like you to take a trip for me to...what was the name? Ah, yes...Appleloosa."