//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Hatred is Magic // by smirker //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle tossed and turned in her bed as she had a nightmare about the two people killing changelings invading and killing all of them in the Hive, the two were black silhouettes of unicorns armed with swords. The unicorn with the swords with dark green auras around its blades began slashing the changelings while the unicorn with the swords that had bright red-orange auras around its blades attacked King Thorax and Pharynx, they killed every changeling. The dream changed and they chased Ocellus around the School of Friendship, she ran into a dead end and the two proceeded to slash and kill her with their swords while she screamed. Twilight Sparkle woke up in cold sweat and panted heavily, "Twilight?" Spike asked as he came into her room, "I had a bad dream." Twilight Sparkle stated, "What kind of bad dream?" Spike inquired, "That those two ponies killing changelings invading the Hive and killing Thorax, Pharynx, and everyone else there, I then had a bad dream of them in the School of Friendship and chasing Ocellus, I woke up just before they were about to kill her, but my heart raced so fast, I was so scared." Twilight Sparkle explained, "Wow, I've been having bad dreams of Thorax getting killed, too, I'd miss him if that happened." Spike responded, "I'd miss him, too, I think he's great as a ruler, but to be honest, Spike, I'm still not comfortable having changelings as friends." Twilight Sparkle said, "Yeah, I don't blame you, after everything they did, it'd be hard for ponies to accept them as friends, I still get mad thinking about it sometimes, too." Spike responded, "Let's try to sleep, Spike, we have to start over with our investigation when the sun rises." Twilight Sparkle spoke, and they went back to bed. The next morning came and every foal headed to school, the Cutie Mark Crusaders stopped for a second and noticed Starburn leave his home on his own, Daylight Dimmer was absent again, they all went to school and Starburn stood in front of the class, "I have important news, everypony, today is Starburn's last day here in class with us, let us go ahead and let him have a good day at school today so he can have fond memories of this place in his short time of being here." Cheerilee explained, the foals' jaws dropped, "I know, I'm surprised, too, and it's only been a few days, but Starburn is moving already." Cheerilee stated, "Are you going to come back?" Diamond Tiara asked, "Probably not." Starburn replied, "Where are you going?" Truffle questioned, "Appleloosa." Starburn responded, "Can we write to you?" Snails asked, "Sorry, but no." Starburn answered, "Why not?" Snips inquired, "I don't know you guys well enough to trust you all, so I can't consider you guys friends." Starburn explained, the foals groaned, "Try to make some friends here today, Starburn, and Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle travel all over Equestria, so I'm sure you'll see those three again." Cheerilee spoke, "I'm sure I will, too." Starburn responded, "Well, go ahead and have a seat, Starburn, I have to start class." Cheerilee said, and he did. Class began while Starburn barely focused and looked out the window whenever Cheerilee wasn't looking, he continued working in class until the bell rung, "Okay, class, let's say goodbye to Starburn." Cheerilee said, and they did and everypony left the school. Everybody went outside and watched Starburn trot to his home, "Wait, Starburn." Sandbar called out as he and his five friends trotted to him, "You still haven't tried to make amends with Ocellus yet." Sandbar stated, "I don't feel I'm ready for that yet." Starburn replied, "Well, you can at least try to start." Ocellus spoke, "How?" Starburn asked, "Well, you can let Ocellus write to you since you're moving." Silverstream suggested, "Sorry, but I haven't known you long enough for me to be comfortable with that." Starburn responded, "You do know that we travel around Equestria, too, right? It's possible you'll see us again." Gallus stated, "Maybe, I travel a lot, too." Starburn replied, "Great, maybe we will meet each other again after all." Silverstream said, "Yona looking forward to seeing Starburn and Daylight Dimmer again." Yona added, "Same, I think you will like the Dragon Lands." Smolder stated, "I might go there with my uncle one day, I'll be going now, I have to get packing." Starburn responded, and he trotted home. Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, and Sunset Shimmer headed outside and watched the ponies in Ponyville, "Nope, I don't see any ponies acting suspicious right now." Sunset Shimmer stated, "Yeah, everything looks fine right now." Starlight Glimmer commented, "I'm still stumped on who our killer could be." Spike said, "We all are, no matter how we look at it, it doesn't make sense, we already got confirmation none of those unicorns with dark green magic is the culprit, and there's too many unicorns with bright red-orange magic, by the time we find the killer with the bright red-orange magic, the killer with the dark green magic could already be gone or kill all changelings." Twilight Sparkle explained, "Twilight's right, we learned yesterday evening more changelings were killed, those two are probably out killing more right now." Sunset Shimmer responded, "That's another thing, we don't know where they're at, and according to the reports, each changeling death reported is very far away from one another." Starlight Glimmer added, "Ugh! If only there was a pattern, I'd be able to solve this easily!" Twilight Sparkle fumed, "Why don't we ask the Pegasi to fly around and watch Equestria for anybody attacking and killing changelings?" Spike suggested, Twilight Sparkle looked up at the sky and saw Rainbow Dash, the Wonderbolts, and other Pegasi flying around and watching Equestria, "They're already doing that, Spike." Twilight Sparkle responded, "Hey, look." Starlight Glimmer spoke as she pointed her hoof, they looked and saw birds flying around and watching Equestria as well, "Fluttershy must've ordered them to keep an eye on Equestria." Twilight Sparkle said, "Well, looks like we got our next destination, let's see how she's doing." Sunset Shimmer suggested, and they headed to her home. Fluttershy was ordering her birds and other pets that could fly to fly all around Equestria and report to her if they see anybody acting suspicious or trying to attack changelings, "Check every nook and cranny across the country, the killer can be hiding anywhere, Equestria needs to be checked thoroughly, report to me if you find anything suspicious or dead or injured changelings." Fluttershy ordered, and her birds all flew in different directions. Fluttershy watched as her pet birds began soaring through the skies and watching for anything out of the ordinary, she flew up and began watching with her birds, she saw a rainbow trail flying around and realized Rainbow Dash was checking all of Equestria as fast as she could, "Nope. Nothing here. No. No. No." Rainbow Dash commented as she checked every area she could, she flew by Fluttershy and she exclaimed as she spun around, "Sorry, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash called out as she flew away, she recomposed herself and began looking around. The birds let out various calling sounds and Fluttershy flew to them, she looked and gasped with her front hoofs over her mouth, she saw two dead changelings with dark green slash marks on their throats in the woods to the east of Equestria, "Fluttershy." she heard her name get called by Twilight Sparkle and Spike and flew back. She arrived home and saw Twilight Sparkle and Spike along with Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer, she landed in front of them, "Did you find anything?" Twilight Sparkle asked, "Yes, to the east and in the woods, two more dead changelings." Fluttershy responded while almost breaking down in tears, "What color were the slash marks?" Sunset Shimmer inquired, "Dark green." Fluttershy answered, "So our usual culprit struck again." Twilight Sparkle commented, "My birds and Rainbow Dash are watching out for any pony that could be acting suspicious, the birds found those two changelings." Fluttershy spoke, "They weren't buried?" Starlight Glimmer asked, Fluttershy shook her head, "Weird, I wonder why they weren't." Sunset Shimmer stated, "It's possible someone or one of Fluttershy's pets was nearby and the culprit quickly fled before they could." Twilight Sparkle deduced, "Still, if our target is a unicorn, they could just teleport the bodies elsewhere." Spike stated, "True, but that's risky, teleporting them somewhere full of people would incriminate them, same if they appear, our killers are likely not taking that risk." Twilight Sparkle responded, "Yeah, there's also ponies getting suspicious if they keep appearing and disappearing and changelings are reported missing afterwards, if they disappear to somewhere and reappear back in town and then changelings are reported as missing afterwards, everypony will notice a pattern, and they will be found out quickly." Sunset Shimmer explained, "That's it, maybe we should watch for patterns in the ponies' daily lives, too." Spike suggested, "Everything seems mostly ordinary right now, and since our two culprits are covering their tracks, they probably don't have a pattern with their daily routines." Fluttershy responded, "I can confirm everything's normal right now, only pony missing is Daylight Dimmer, and his nephew always says he's out of town doing odd jobs for a living." Rainbow Dash said from above, "What kind of odd jobs?" Sunset Shimmer questioned, "Looks like almost anything, yard work, clearing paths in the wild so ponies can have a trail to towns, lumberjack, farming, you name it, looks like anything that requires manual labor." Rainbow Dash explained, "I mean, he is an earth pony and almost as muscular and in shape as Big Mac, so I can clearly see him lending a hoof to others in manual labor." Twilight Sparkle stated, "Aside from him leaving a lot during the days, he doesn't seem to do anything out of the ordinary, he's mostly just home doing exercises or play fighting with his nephew." Fluttershy spoke, "Yeah, and if he was doing something illegal, Twilight would've known about it almost instantly." Starlight Glimmer added, "Since we're still stumped, I think it's best to have Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash watch Equestria for now." Sunset Shimmer suggested, "Pinkie, too, if she's free." Spike added, "Make yourselves at home, my birds and other flying creatures will come back here and report to me if they find any dead changelings or if they see anypony suspicious looking." Fluttershy stated, and they stayed at her home while she and Rainbow Dash and the other Pegasi watched Equestria closely. Princess Celestia was standing on the balcony and watching the Pegasi flying around and watching Equestria, she ordered her Pegasi royal guards to join them and help the Wonderbolts and other Pegasi keep an eye on Equestria and went back into her castle. She walked back to her throne room and Princess Luna stood to her left, "What do you think about what's going on, Tia?" Princess Luna asked, "I'm a bit nervous to be honest, Luna, now that our own citizens have taken matters into their own hoofs to find the culprits, I can't help but feel things are going to get ugly soon." Princess Celestia replied, "So, has there been any deaths recently?" Princess Luna inquired, "Yes, a royal guard just reported to me that some of Fluttershy's birds found more changelings dead in the woods earlier this morning, I'm worried there might be more dead elsewhere in Equestria." Princess Celestia explained while Princess Luna had a shocked expression, "More? I most definitely hope not, some of the foals are already having nightmares that after all of the changelings are killed, the two are going to target them next." Princess Luna stated, "I know the ponies are still struggling to befriend changelings, but if we can get our kind to accept them, it would be a big benefit to both of us, our friendship would fuse well with their love, and it would mean no more changeling invasions." Princess Celestia spoke, "But you saw it with me, those who refused to accept Thorax's ways left and were planning to free Chrysalis and start a revolt, they were planning to overthrow him and invade us again afterwards." Princess Luna reminded, "I remember, Luna, I still can't believe that, even after Starlight Glimmer proved her to be keeping her subjects starved on purpose, some changelings still support her and follow her ways." Princess Celestia said, "Maybe they don't know any other way of living." Princess Luna responded, "Maybe not, but that's still not a reason to free Chrysalis from her prison and have her try to take over the Hive again." Princess Celestia said, "Well, whatever the reason, we should find our own way of dealing with them, their method is not the way." Princess Luna stated, "It really isn't, we're risking war with them, we've had enough fighting with them, it's time for us to achieve peace between our kinds." Princess Celestia responded, and the two stood on their thrones. Rainbow Dash flew around and looked for any more dead changelings, she did not find any, she went back to Ponyville and noticed Daylight Dimmer was still not back. She flew around Equestria as fast as she could and soon found him walking back to Ponyville. She flew past him and looked at where he was coming from, she looked and saw nothing out of the ordinary, she flew farther and still saw nothing out of the ordinary, she flew back to Ponyville and ordered the other Pegasi to come together, "Have any of you seen anybody acting suspicious?" Rainbow Dash asked, the Pegasi shook their heads, "What about dead changelings? Did you all find anymore?" Rainbow Dash inquired, they shook their heads again, "Really? Nopony found anything?" Rainbow Dash questioned, they shook their heads, Rainbow Dash groaned while clutching her head and pulling her own skin, "Rewatch, and keep watching the country for anything." Rainbow Dash ordered, and she and the other Pegasi began flying around Equestria again. Applejack was working on her farm with her Big Macintosh and watched the Pegasi fly around and check her home, "There ain't anyone here besides us and Granny." Applejack hollered, "Is that true?" a Pegasus stallion questioned, "Honestly." Applejack assured, "Eeyup." Big Macintosh added, "Can we check to make sure?" a Pegasus mare asked, "There ain't nothin' here we're hidin', everythin' we have in plain sight right now." Granny Smith responded, the Pegasi looked around and saw the farm looked normal, "We need to see inside your barn and house to be affirmative." another male Pegasus stated, "Go ahead and take a look, y'all ain't gonna find anythin'." Applejack replied, and they did. The Pegasi flew around Sweet Apple Acres and checked every part of the place, "Nope, it's clear, there's no one hiding here, let's move on to the next area." a Pegasus mare said, and they flew away. The Apple family continued working while Granny Smith walked to Applejack and Big Macintosh, "Them ponies sure are gettin' real serious about finding them changeling killers." Granny Smith stated, "Ah was real serious, too, Granny, they started actin' like this cause we hit a stump in our investigation." Applejack explained, "Give it time, Applejack, with Equestria actin' like this, Ah'm sure the culprits are going to be unveiled real soon." Granny Smith assured, "Ah sure hope so, because at this rate, me and the others have no idea where to look now." Applejack responded, "Why don't y'all two finish yer work on the farm for today and join 'em and findin' the killers, does that sound good to y'all two?" Granny Smith suggested, "Sounds good, Ah think they can use an extra hoof." Applejack answered, "Eeyup." Big Macintosh agreed, "Go on and finish then, Ah think they need all the help they can get." Granny Smith said, and they worked quickly until they were done and headed into Ponyville to help look for the killers. Rarity was standing outside Carousel Boutique with ponies looking the changeling killers demanding to search her home, "Darlings, one at a time, please." Rarity spoke, "We would like to search your home and make sure you're not hiding anyone." a unicorn mare explained, "Do you have any search warrants?" Rarity questioned, the unicorns and earth ponies looked at one another, "Unless you all have search warrants, I can't let any of you in." Rarity stated, the ponies began complaining and accusing her of hiding the culprits in her home, "*gasp* I most certainly am not." Rarity exclaimed, the ponies then demanded to let them check her home. A royal guard Pegasus mare flew down a few seconds afterwards, "Excuse me." the mare said, everypony looked at her and she showed Rarity a search warrant, "Is that a real one or forged?" Rarity questioned, "Real, signed by Princess Celestia herself." the mare answered, Rarity used her telekinesis to put her glasses on, she looked at the signature and saw it was Princess Celestia's writing, "Okay, you may check, but be careful not to knock down anything." Rarity warned, "Understood." the royal guard answered, and she flew into Carousel Boutique. Everypony gathered around the entrance and watched as the royal guard checked Rarity's home, she moved everything slowly and carefully and finished the first floor, she flew upstairs while the other ponies tried to enter Carousel Boutique, "No, no, no, she will answer when she finishes." Rarity said, and they waited. The royal guard came out a few minutes afterwards, "It's clear." the royal guard said, "Is that the truth?" an earth pony stallion questioned, "It is, I promise you all I'm not lying." the royal guard answered, "How do we know you're not in league with the killers?" a unicorn mare asked, "I've been investigating places all around Equestria, and if I found one, I wouldn't be here searching, I'd be putting them in jail in Canterlot." the royal guard responded, "You all are around my home, too, and it has windows, you all could see her clearly in every room if you looked through them." Rarity added, the ponies around her home became speechless, they then looked through her windows and saw every room clearly, "It's clear, sorry to bother you." a unicorn stallion said, and they all left. Rarity sighed with relief while the royal guard stood by her, "Thank you, dear, I was at my wit's end with them." Rarity said, "I only checked your home because they were all around your home, so I thought you could've at least known something." the royal guard answered, "Well, thank you regardless, I understand everypony is rifled up right now, but they still have to respect the law and boundaries, me and the others have tried, and if there was only some clue, we could get back to investigating." Rarity vented, "We're all kind of desperate right now, but since the citizens have decided to take it upon themselves to find the killers, Princess Celestia has given us royal guards search warrants to search every home and business." the royal guard replied, "I see, Twilight and I are watching for anypony acting suspicious, we haven't found anyone, yet." Rarity stated, "Of course not, since everypony's looking, the culprits are going to try act like regular ponies now, they're likely going to stop their killing spree for now until things die down." the royal guard explained, "They might at least slip up and give us a clue." Rarity suggested, "Maybe, I'll go check the other places now, good luck on your own investigation." the royal guard said, and she flew away while Rarity went back into Carousel Boutique and continued sewing. Pinkie Pie was letting ponies into Sugarcube Corner to investigate while Mr. and Mrs. Cake stood behind her and held Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake, everypony checked every cupboard and cabinet while Pinkie Pie told them what was in each one, "This place is clear." a Pegasus stallion stated, "Thanks for cooperating with us, Pinkie." a unicorn mare said, "You're welcome." Pinkie Pie replied, and the ponies left, "Phew, they're finally gone." Mr. Cake spoke, "Thank you as always, Pinkie, we would've been overwhelmed if not for you." Mrs. Cake commented, "Don't mention it, it was easy." Pinkie Pie responded, "Well, Pinkie, it looks like we're not going to have customers for a while, why don't you join the ponies and help them find the culprits?" Mrs. Cake suggested, "I would, but my Pinkie Sense isn't picking up anything, it's almost like the culprits are immune to it." Pinkie Pie responded, "Well, can you at least give it a try, Pinkie?" Mr. Cake asked, "Okie dokie loki." Pinkie Pie responded, and she dashed away with a pink trail behind herself and soon began appearing behind rocks and trees as she searched for the killers. Twilight Sparkle checked with the ponies and royal guards to look for the killers, "We're making no progress at this rate." Spike said, "We just started, Spike, we have to keep investigating, it's the only way now, we have no clues as of now, so let's check every home." Twilight Sparkle responded, and she continued. She went into Rose's, Vine's, and Tulip's home and found nothing, she exited and saw Rainbow Dash checking Anvil Striker's and Ornamental Jewelry's home while Pinkie Pie checked Strawberry's and Blueberry's homes, "This one's clear." Rainbow Dash said, "There's nothing funny in this one, either." Pinkie Pie responded, "What about that house, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked, "It's clear." Twilight Sparkle answered, "Alright, onto the next houses." Rainbow Dash stated, and they went to them. Rainbow Dash checked Haute Cuisine's and Monochrome's house while Pinkie Pie checked Bit Counter's and Banker's house and Twilight Sparkle checked Daylight Dimmer's and Starburn's house. They did not see anything out of the ordinary and the only thing that caught Twilight Sparkle's attention was a map of Equestria on the wall that Starburn and Daylight Dimmer used for their travels. They exited the houses and walked to one another, "Nothing suspicious in that house." Rainbow Dash said, "The one I checked was clear, too." Twilight Sparkle replied, "One I went into has nothing suspicious looking in it." Pinkie Pie reported, "Ugh! We're still running into dead ends!" Twilight Sparkle thundered, "I know, right, it's like wherever we check, there's no clue." Rainbow Dash vented, "My Pinkie Sense isn't picking up anything, either, no matter where I go, I can't sense who the culprit is." Pinkie Pie stated, "Your Pinkie Sense can actually do that?" Twilight Sparkle inquired, "Uh-huh." Pinkie Pie answered while nodding, "Well, let's keep looking, there has to be a clue somewhere." Twilight Sparkle suggested, and they continued checking Ponyville. The Cutie Mark Crusaders checked their tree house to make sure the culprits were not hiding there, there was no one inside, so they locked it and headed to the School of Friendship to help the students check the school, they checked the classrooms with the students and other foals from their schools helped them investigate the school. They finished after several minutes and met up with Sandbar and his friends, "The area we checked is clear." Sandbar reported, "So is where we checked." Sweetie Belle answered, "Um, guys, I don't think our culprits would hide in this school, there's too many people here for them to hide anywhere." Ocellus suggested, "We still had to make sure." Sandbar responded, "Yeah, they can be hiding anywhere." Scootaloo added, "This may be far-fetched, but what if our changeling killers are outside Equestria?" Smolder suggested, "I doubt it, only ponies can cast the kind of magic found on the dead changelings, if they were in our countries, they would've been found out easily." Gallus responded, "Maybe so, but what if they kill a changeling far away from where they're at?" Silverstream questioned, "Yona think they will still be found out easily after death is reported." Yona replied, "Yeah, the time of death is usually put in the newspaper, and if the ponies were gone at the time that's mentioned, the people will put two and two together quickly." Ocellus added, "But what if they turn out to be innocent?" Apple Bloom objected, the students became speechless, "Well... there's nothing that can be done about that." Ocellus stated, "Come on, let's go let Twilight know the school's cleared." Sandbar suggested, they nodded and ran. They arrived in Ponyville and Sandbar called out to Twilight, she faced them as they arrived and stopped running, "We just finished checking the school, it's clear." Sandbar reported, "I don't think the School of Friendship would be where our culprits would hide." Twilight Sparkle replied, "Well, we still checked just to make sure." Sandbar spoke, "Well, thanks." Twilight Sparkle said, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and six students smiled. Everybody finished checking Ponyville and everybody was clear, nothing suspicious was found in any home or business, the town calmed down and everybody got on with their days.