Pinky Pie pulled a lottery ticket and looked at the name. She then began gathering the ingredients for some cupcake batter.
"Excuse me, are you Obsidian Crystal?"
Obsidian slowly nodded to the two grim looking guards standing in front of him.
"We have a warrant for your arrest."
"WHAT?!?"
His outburst nearly blew the helmet off one of them, and it had a strange tinny echo to it.
"That confirms it. It's him."
They proceeded to put chains on his hooves.
"Come on kid. Before you go to jail for treason, I'm sure your mother has some words for you..."
Twilight Sparkle looked over her notes. The cadavers had been useful, but finding useful information about how a pony's body worked would require a live subject.
As she headed down into the lab, she found her newest subject regaining consciousness on the operating table.
"Good to see you're awake. The process will provide much more information now."
"Sparkle? Twilight Sparkle? What are you doing here? Where am I?"
"This is my basement. Like it?"
The subject tried to move, only to find herself strapped down securely. Sweat dripped down her face. "What's going on? What are you doing?"
"Don't worry, this is just an experiment to see how the Elements of Harmony work."
"I don't even have an element!"
Twilight began preparing a variety of scalpels, syringes, and other instruments.
"I know that, but every experiment needs a baseline. You're just a control sample.
"Now please, hold still..."
Celestia looked out over the crowds of ponies, their chains and labored breathing making sweet music in her ears, with percussion provided by the cracks of whips.
"Yes, keep working, my little slaves. Bring glory to our empire. And be joyful. You must all be joyful. It is our way, and it is our law!"
The laborers chanted back, "it is our way, and it is our law!"
She smiled as a pegasus commander flew in.
"Our siege of the Crystal Empire is still holding, but they are putting up more resistance than we had initially thought. It will probably be a month before it falls, but we can outlast them by several times that if need be."
"Good. When it falls, we will not only lose a potential rival, but we will gain access to the territories beyond." She turned to the dungeon keeper. "How are the current element bearers?"
The dark unicorn nodded slowly, "alive, as commanded. Shall their execution be soon?"
"Not yet. They will be punished in due time for attempting to banish us. For now, they will return under guard to their hometown. I want them to watch it burn."
Three foals charged through the forest, not heeding what lay ahead, only what followed behind. None of them could see the creature, but they could all hear it. Somehow it was following them perfectly, staying just out of sight while constantly getting closer.
Whatever it was, it wanted them.
A ravine appeared ahead. Immediately, the two pegasi spread their wings. Something slimy shot out of the forest, however, and glued down the wings of one of them.
He and the unicorn jumped across while the other pegasus flew. The unicorn barely landed on the edge, but the darker pegasus, who had been expecting to be able to fly, only managed to jump far enough to grab the edge of the ravine.
As Feldspar landed, she saw the unicorn light up his horn, trying to pull the downed pegasus up to the edge. His weight was too much though, and he slipped further down.
Feldspar tried to run to the edge to help, but the air felt thick, like trying to move through water. She called out to him.
"Obsidian!"
The unicorn strained, but only managed to slide closer to the edge himself.
In a moment, they both slipped over the edge.
Feldspar didn't know how she knew the unicorn colt's name, but she called out anyway.
"Sandy!"
She made it to the edge just in time to see the river at the bottom consume them both.
Rainbow Dash stood over the failures.
"The machine works better when your wings and ribs are already broken..."
"THIS NIGHT WILL LAST FOREVER!!!!"
Rarity dragged another body into the Everfree forest. The town now has one less extortion problem. The mare had been quite rude anyway, although she did keep her hooves remarkably well cared for...
"You aren't welcome here!"
"Get out!"
"Go away!"
Kind Face only cried, as Aunt Masquerade tried to shield her.
"But why?"
Instead of answering, the unicorns picked up stones, tools, and whatever else was around, holding them aloft menacingly.
"Come on Kind," her aunt urged. "Things have changed here. I'll explain later, but for now, we have to go."
Applejack adjusted her goggles and picked up her crossbow. Before she could fire, the monster she was hunting spoke.
"Please leave. I do not wish to hurt you. Leave while you still can."
She took aim. "Say yer prayers, monster."
Luna opened her eyes and sighed.
"Not again..."
Fluttershy whimpered in her bed, curled up in a ball.
"Nothing happened. Nothing at all. It didn't. It's just a dream. It's just a dream..."
Kind Face opened her eyes and looked around the dark room. She sniffled a little, but she didn't cry.
Not for another minute or two, at least...
Pinkie Pie woke up in a cold sweat. Seeing a cupcake on the nightstand, she instinctively grabbed it and threw it out the window.
Slowly, her reason returned to her. Knowing she wouldn't go back to sleep, she got out of bed, and began cleaning up the shattered glass from the window.
Rainbow Dash bolted upright.
"SCOOTALOO!"
Sweetie Belle heard a strange noise. Following it, she found that it was coming from the bathroom. Beside the door was her sister's fainting couch, upside-down and propped against the wall as if it had been summoned, only to be discarded in haste before it could arrive.
Sweetie found her sister curled up on the floor crying.
Spike was awakened by a scream from downstairs. Running down, he found Twilight sitting at her desk, eyes wide and glassy.
"Fell asleep while studying again?"
She slowly looked in his direction and blinked a few times. Wordlessly and swiftly, she moved over to him and picked him up in a hug. A steady stream of her tears rolled down his back.
Apple Bloom was shaking her sister.
"Wake up! It's just a dream. It's just a dream!"
Applejack woke up with a start. "What happened?"
"You were screamin' about hurtin' Fluttershy! You kept callin' her a monster."
Applejack thought a moment. Then, she remembered...
"Thanks sis."
Obsidian rolled over.
"Well that was weird."
It was illogical, in retrospect. Being the child of the Daybreaker made even less sense than the things those two guys that his dad fired had claimed. Yet, at the time, it all seemed like it made perfect sense.
Dreams are weird.
Before he could try to go back to sleep, his door opened a crack.
"Obsidian? Can I come in?"
He rolled out of bed and stepped towards her.
"What's the matter? Bad dream or something?"
Feldspar slowly nodded.
"Same here."
Obsidian opened the window, and they flew to the roof together. He draped a wing around her as they both looked into the night sky.
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Celestia picked up her alarm clock and kissed it.