All-American Girl

by Shinzakura


Chapter Eighteen: Chega de Saudade

DJ Martinez sat at a table in the Village Café, taking a sip from a French Press Roast that the teenaged alien had ordered just a few minutes earlier. She knew that all eyes were on the table currently, and that for a rare change, all eyes were on the table not because of her. No, the reason for that was the other alien across the table from her, sipping from a chamomile tea that she’d ordered, cup held in place via a soft magenta glow that even DJ was having a hard time coming to grips with.

Magic – she’s using magic, DJ mused silently. Magic actually exists, and it’s a part of her – a part of me, if she’s actually telling the truth.

The other alien, suddenly realizing they were the center of attention, set the cup down softly, then reached up and brushed a lock of graying purple hair out of her eyes. “So, Sandalwood….” Twilight Sparkle began.

“Look: for the last time, my name isn’t Sandalwood, it’s DJ,” the younger female said, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice. It had only been a few weeks since the existence of the rest of her species had been revealed via a very horrific First Contact that DJ was still trying to make sense of, and out of all those monsters, only Twilight had been kind enough to change the tone. Was it a case of Good Cop Bad Cop, or did Twilight genuinely care about her?

“I’m sorry,” the middle-aged mare replied, ignoring the itchiness of the clothing she was wearing – for her, clothes were a formal thing, and yet humans seemed to wear them all the time. “It’s just that’s who you were born as, and who I’ve always known you as. I’m still trying to get used to you as a teenager.”

”Yeah, supposedly you’re my aunt or something like that. I’m really hoping that you don’t think this is some sort of Goddamn Hallmark Channel Original Movie. I’m not going to weep tears over seeing a blood relative, especially since I still have nightmares over your Goddamn goon squad!”

“Sanda…I mean, DJ…you have to understand: I don’t know who ordered that attack on you and your humans—”

“My parents! My best friend! My boyfriend! Not ‘my humans’, as if they’re just some freakin’ pets!” the teenaged pony hissed.

“I’m sorry – I didn’t mean it that way; there’s obviously some linguistic differences between your variant of Equestriani and my native one. What I meant is that I don’t know who ordered the assault on your family; I’m still looking into it.”

“Look faster,” DJ snarled. “Do you understand how much I was humiliated? I was nearly raped in front of my family!” Instinctively DJ shut down, cuddling herself and shivering as the memories of the past few weeks came back to the forefront of her mind.

Twilight watched the younger pony, so at ease with her surroundings…or at least she had been until the events of last month had been brought back up. The unicorn mage pushed that thought away, focused past the sheer amount of attention on her – on her, not on Sandalwood, a sign that they were used to her being around – and focused on her wayward niece. It was clear that though the younger mare was an enigma to them, she was one that they’d long accepted amongst them, to the point that they didn’t blink twice when she’d revealed herself as using what Twilight assumed was a human name for identification rather than the one she’d been born with.

Which brought up another thought: the apparently-comfortable movement of Sandalwood’s body language indicated that she was at ease here. She wasn’t acting like a teenaged earth pony mare, but like a teenaged human mare, or whatever post-pubescent humans referred to their females as – Lyra’s research did contain quite a few errors, and was still largely on-the-fly. That was to be expected to an extent; she’d been raised here since her arrival and from what data the State Department had given her since, humans were the only sapient species on this Earth – there was no other species that could have taken Sandalwood in and produced the intelligent, normal mare that she was.

Well, normal for humans, I guess, Twilight thought. If she was like that back in Ponyville, she’d be as ostracized as Lyra often is.

It also made Twilight think of her younger brother, Spike. Spike, despite his draconic origin, had been raised amongst ponies. He thought of himself as a pony, to the point that when he’d finally met some dragons, they snubbed him for his pony mannerisms and body language. His first crush had been a pony – namely Rarity, Sandalwood’s mother. His first date had been with a pony; he’d gone out with Cotton Candy for a few dates, but nothing had ever come of it. He’d participated in the Colt Scouts, attended father-son events with their father, Night Light, and had shed tears of joy during Twilight’s knighting and bonding as a sister royal. Spike was, through and through, a stallion, a drake only in name and physiology.

And if that was the case…what was Sandalwood?

She’s happy here, Twilight realized. She can’t miss what she’s never known. And she’s never grown up knowing about other ponies, Hearths Warming, Cuteceañeras, any of that. Just as Spike frequently declined invitations to ceremonies and events in Draconia – the bacchanalias and such of Saturnalia, their most festive day, completely freaked him out – Sandalwood might find holidays like Hooves and Hearts day or the Day of Solar Celebration to be just weird by human standards. Because that’s how she grew up – like a human, not a pony.

I can’t just drag her back to Equestria if she’s truly happy here, Twilight mused to herself. She belongs here, not in Equestria. It wouldn’t be an easy decision to explain to the others and it would very much put her on the outs with her family, real and bonded. And they’d spent the last fifteen years in hell trying to find her. But there were other considerations to be made, other considerations that had never been taken into account. They had no way of knowing that Sandalwood would have found somepony – somehuman? – to love her and give her a life, and that life would take her as far away from ponydom as Spike’s own had taken him from dragonkind.

Twilight took a hasty sip from her chamomile tea again, feeling the dozens of humans looking at her…and not at Sandalwood. Because she’s one of them now, because I’m the stranger here.

“DJ, despite what you may think, I’m not here to take you away from your family. They clearly love you and from what I see, you love them just as much. To take you from all this—” the unicorn said, waving her forelegs around to symbolically encompass all of the human world, “—would be to commit an error as big as the one that took you from us in the first place.”

A guarded look of curiosity – and maybe hope? – came onto the humanized pony’s face. “So, what are you trying to tell me, Twilight?”

In for a cent, in for a bit, Twilight mused to herself as she said, “You’ll need somepony to argue your case for you – to ensure you can stay here with the humans you belong with.”

A dozing pepsis mare felt a tap on her shoulder. Looking around the room, it was still dark, save for the glowing clock on the wall that read 01:03. Twilight Sunburn felt a tap on her withers again and this time she got up, looking straight at the face of Screwball.

“Time to go,” the strange teen said. “Time to travel. Time to flee, time to fly.”

The pepsis filly yawned. “Time to go? I don’t understand?”

In response, Screwball placed her hands on the pepsis’ back. There was a searing sensation that Twilight felt for just a second, but only that, as wings suddenly sliced through her bandages, her wounds suddenly fading away. Queasiness suddenly moved aside for a warm strength, and suddenly the young mare felt as though she never had before in her life – stronger, enervated.

“You are strong now. Break your bonds. Shatter the illusion!” The strange teenaged human waved her arm in a grand manner and the fabric of space time suddenly tore open. Revealed on the other side was a beautiful city that didn’t look too different from this one; medieval in its structure yet interleaved on occasion by the odd modern building jutting out here and there from the skyline as it glistened in the afternoon sunlight. Canterlot – capital of the Principality of Equestria.

“Go,” Screwball hissed. “It’s time. She needs you.”

“Who needs me?” Twilight asked. “I’m afraid I don’t—” She never finished the sentence as she suddenly heard a screaming in her mind, a terror-stricken voice calling out for help. Blue eyes opened wide in sudden realization.

“Go,” Screwball said softly, her smile soft and genuine. “It is time.”

Twilight needed no further prompting. She got to her hooves, sloughing off the torn bandages and looking at the portal with determination. Flexing her newly-healed wings, Twilight Sunburn rocketed forth with new determination, rushing through the dimensional rift as fast as she dared. The moment she cleared it, the portal closed on itself with a satisfying pop! as the motes of light faded into nothingness.


“What did you do?” Screwball turned to see Faust standing there, the look in the alicorn queen’s eyes one of worry and anger. “She wasn’t ready!”

“It is time,” Screwball simply said, looking at the queen. At first, there was a look of fear in the being’s eyes, but suddenly it went away, supplanted by what, Faust didn’t know.

“And how do you know that?” Faust thundered at the teen. She was both irritated at Screwball’s little stunt, as well as worried about the pepsis’ fate. Twilight was already baptized in battle, but she had no control over her magic. Sure, her natural changeling ability, but that was different from the potential she had as a pony. And Faust hadn’t had time to help her learn that to protect herself…and now there was no time.

“Because that is not for you to know, Fallen Queen of Equus,” Screwball said in a tone that wasn’t hers…or Discord’s, or anything she’d ever heard in her life. “Everything is fated and you fell for your folly. Dare you err once more?” the thing in Screwball’s body intoned.

“But Twil—”

“—is no longer your concern, Avatar of Imagination,” the voice said, cutting her off sharply before adding in warmer tones, “Go home to your family. You will know the next step when it is time.” And with that, Screwball exploded once more, the cards falling towards the ground. Reaching out, Faust snatched one out of the air and looked at it, horrified to see that it was card VX, The Devil. The image of Satan, flanked by two demons, looked at her from the card, the image’s eyes burning with a particular intensity.

And then suddenly Faust realized the way she’d caught the card.

And then she smiled.


For the second time that day, DJ stood before the entrance of the Royal Infirmary. However, this visit was a little different from the earlier one. For starters, the number was different: her parents had opted to watch the boys back at Twilight’s place, Spike had some business to attend to at his office, and Cinnamon had offered to join Mike, DJ and Elusive at the hospital. DJ was glad to have the younger mare as company, if only so she could have a fellow female perspective on what was occurring.

But now, looking at the hospital in the late afternoon sun, she had to wonder if she was making the right decision. The initial plan was to go check out the new home that Twilight had given her and Mike then come to the Infirmary, but then Elusive pointed out that the hospital was actually closer, so it’d be easier to just reverse the route instead. DJ suspected that he wanted her to go first before she would chicken out of anything…and he was probably right, she admitted to herself. “I’m a little nervous about this,” DJ said for what had to have been the thousandth time as they stood before the doors.

“DJ…I understand this is going to be hard for you,” Cinnamon began.

“Hard, nothing – I just went through hell earlier today, Cinnamon,” the humanized pony drawled, “and already I’m here again. Elusive, I want you to know that I wouldn’t be doing this for anyone other than you, you know that?” A look of mild worry crossed the sienna-hued pony’s face and DJ flashed her a disarming grin. “Thanks, Cinnamon. It’s just that…I don’t know what he thinks of me.” She caught Elusive just about to say something and she shook her head at him. “Look, Elusive, I know what you’re going to say, but the truth is, you don’t really know, do you? You think you do, and I appreciate that, but at the end of the day…he never talked about me, I’m guessing.”

Elusive looked at the ground while pawing it a bit with his hoof, a nervous shuffle of a foot that DJ found no different than if she’d been shuffling her own feet. He finally looked up at her and admitted, “No, you’re right. He never spoke about you at all. But to be honest…nopony did. When mother decided you were out of our lives, it was pretty much the only way to continue. I can’t answer how Father felt about that, and you already know Minty and I felt about it. But Father hasn’t been very open about his feelings on the matter.

“But I want you to understand something, DJ: our father is a big-hearted stallion, as earnest and caring as any of our uncles. I realize you’re only really familiar with Uncle Spike, but the others care about you just as much – they were always there for Minty and I when we needed them. And Father’s that way as well. I’m going to go on my instinct when I say that he regrets what’s happened and wishes that things would be different. Because I know my father and I can’t see him not saying anything like that.”

Cinnamon moved to his side and nodded. “Uncle Silversteel is a great stallion, DJ. I can’t remember the number of times he’s been there for me when I needed advice or comfort. I think he’ll love you as you are – as you – and I can only hope you’ll love him as much as I do.”

DJ brushed the hair out of her eyes, then put her hands in her hoodie pocket, swaying back and forth. She looked at Mike, who looked down at her with an even glance. “I’m not going to say anything, hon,” he told her. “This is your move and your call, and ultimately you’re the one who has to make that choice.”

“I see….” she said, quietly. She shifted back and forth on her feet, swaying like a blade of grass in a gentle breeze, bending just enough to shift her balance, then reversing as she did so. Her mind, ego and soul had taken numerous hits today, and despite what she’d said earlier, she was still nervous about everything. The person she was railed against everything she was doing now, but at the same time, if she was going to be honest with herself, she had to see this through. She owed it to her sons, in the end.

Looking at everyone, she finally said, “Uh, think we can grab something to eat in the café first? I kinda skipped lunch and I’m jonesing for a bacon double cheeseburger right now.”

“I really doubt they have anything like that,” Mike pointed out.

“We can always check, right?” DJ said with a nervous smile as the four decided to make their way into the building.


The portal threw Twilight out of the other reality and into this one somewhat fast, and the pepsis mare had just enough time to get a feel for her surroundings before she quickly changed into a disguise. As the jade spellfire of changeling magic washed over her, she quickly looked in the reflection of a mirror to get the feel of her current identity: a pegasus mare, butter-yellow with lilac and plum mane and tail, accompanied by soft pink eyes. She smiled softly; the disguise made her look somewhat cute.

“Excuse me, nurse?” there was a voice behind her and Twilight turned around to see a white unicorn mare standing there, a trio of bouquets of flowers held in her magic field as she looked at Twilight. There was something regal about the mare that left an impression on the pepsis filly; the mare had curls of pink and lilac in her mane that framed her beautiful green eyes. “I seem to have gotten lost. I was looking for the Infirmary’s main building, but I got turned around while stopping off at the flower shop. Could you point the way?”

“Um…actually….” Think fast, Twilight, think fast! she admonished herself before saying, “I’m headed that way as well. First day on the job, so…uh, I’m a little lost myself.”

The other mare smiled. “I can understand that. I remember my first day at the Mage Academy, and I was so excited to be studying magic that I repeatedly got lost and had to be helped by the other students. It didn’t help that I was a bit on the clueless side back then,” the mare laughed.

“R-re-ally….” Twilight said, trying to tamp down the nervousness she felt. Of all the ponies she had to encounter and it was a Guild mage, one of the ponies sworn to take down and tear apart changelings – and probably pepsis like her as well. Gotta keep on my hooftips – I can’t let her stop me from what I have to do!

“You seem a little nervous,” the older mare said.

“First day on the job,” the nurse reminded the older mare.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll do fine,” the mage said as they rounded a corner, facing the main building of the Infirmary. “Well, there it is. Oh, and sorry, I’ve been so focused on my thoughts I hadn’t introduced myself.” The mare raised her right forehoof, offering it for the hoofbump. “My name’s Sweetie Belle. And you are?”

“I’m…um...” She looked around frantically; she couldn’t give her real name and unfortunately she’d never had any dealings with ponies before, so she had no idea how the standards were for pony nomenclature. Finally, her eyes drifted onto a nearby billboard and she took the words for all they were worth, hoping that they would sound even remotely like a pony name. “…Tender Care,” the pegasus said, completing the hoofbump. “Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Belle.”

The two walked through the hospital front door, coming instantly against the checkpoint where a group of soldiers stood. “Good afternoon, ladies,” the sergeant in charge of the station said. “Now, if you’ll please walk through the metal detector, we’ll be able to check you for the usual, and then Corporal Notability here will quickly run the changeling scan spell on you.”

“Changeling scan spell?” “Tender Care” asked. Twilight had no idea if the spell would work on her magic, or if they would detect her via her changeling heritage.

Fortunately, the sergeant misunderstood her hesitancy. “Yes, ma’am. Considering that we’ve got all government facilities at high alert right now due to the recent attack, MINDEF ordered the standard battery of tests. Frankly, considering that what happened in Fillydelphia is still fresh on everypony’s minds, I’d have done the same if I were that high up. Don’t want any of those bugs crawlin’ around here, do we?”

The pepsis in disguise bristled inwardly at the insult of bugs, but then had to remind herself, If today works out, I won’t be part of changeling society anymore – if I ever really was. Looking at the metal arch that ponies walked under on the way to the main part of the hospital foyer, all Twilight could do was to hope that her magic held up somehow.



“Nurse!” someone called from the other side. “Nurse! We need some assistance over here, stat!” She looked up to find a doctor waving towards her impatiently. “I need some help to get this stallion to surgery, pronto!”

Twilight immediately lifted off on her wings. At the moment, nopony knew her as anything other than a nurse, so to suddenly turn down the doctor would be a breach of protocol and something that would give her away in a heartbeat. It wasn’t anything she could afford to do, and besides, the pony looked as though he was in severe pain, and that radiated into Twilight’s own mind. She had to do something.

“Uh, nurse,” the sergeant said, “sorry, but you can’t do that. Gotta go through the scanners, first.” Turning to the doctor, he said, “Rules are rules, and I have to do what I have to do, Doc.”

“Well, maybe you can let her slide by this one time?” Sweetie Belle suddenly spoke up, producing her ID. “I’ll vouch for her.”

The sergeant looked at her ID and decided it wasn’t worth it trying to argue with someone as senior as the mage standing before him. “Yes, ma’am.” Turning to the nurse, he said, “Okay, you’re cleared, ma’am, Senior Mage Sweetie Belle has pre-authorized you.”

“Thanks,” Twilight said to Sweetie Belle as she headed towards the doctor.

“No problem; I hope we’ll meet again,” the unicorn mage said in reply as she got in line herself to walk through the security checkpoint herself. After having excused a nurse, Sweetie Belle was going to have to make up for it somehow; she wasn’t the kind of mare to break the rules just for personal gain.


The dead pony hit the floor with a lifeless thud that matched its current condition…which to a casual observer would be odd, as the same pony stood, alive and healthy, right next to the corpse. Of course, any casual observer wouldn’t be alive much longer, but that’s how things rolled, the “pony” thought to himself.

“Hey, Livewire? You down there?” a voice asked.

The creature who had just taken the form of Livewire closed his eyes for a second, as a glow emanated around his horn – the pony he’d just killed had been a unicorn stallion – as he placed it on the now-dead Livewire’s body. A second later, the creature opened his eyes and shouted out, “That you, Toolbox?”

“Yeah, stallion – got a report about some flickering lights on the seventh floor and the boss sent me down here to check it out. Guess she sent you as well?”

“Yeah,” the creature answered in Livewire’s voice. “You know how Squeaky Wheel is – if stuff ain’t running exactly to spec, she blows her top like she was a minotaur or something.”

“No kidding there. So, need any help or anything?”

“Naah, I got this. Go kick back or something – there was that one filly you were hitting on over in OBGYN, right. Whatsername…Gentle Touch?”

“Yeah, she’s a cutie. Well, if you’ve got everything under control, think I’ll go talk to her. Got tickets for the Brass Note Jazz Quintet’s concert tomorrow at the Royal Concert Hall and she gets all lovey-dovey about that sorta thing. Wish me luck, pal.”

“What luck? Stallion like you? You don’t need luck,” the voice laughed, and was rewarded later by the sound of retreating hoofsteps as Toolbox left the electrical room.

Nope, you won’t need luck at all, the creature said as it continued to plant the small explosive charges it brought for this occasion. But I think the town won’t be in much of a mood to celebrate after the news is released that the Elements of Harmony have been killed for once and for all. When his plans came to fruition, all would be torn asunder and death would change this place of life into a charnel house. There would be no one to question any other medical personnel going around to ensure that the patients were safe, the creature decided as it changed into a pegasus nurse with a gray body and deep red mane. This had been the form of the first nurse he’d killed to get into the hospital and to his knowledge no one had reported Lifedrop missing yet. He’d specifically targeted her because she was a supervisory nurse, and so it would be normal for her to go around the hospital to check on its various patients.

The assassin smiled. By this time tomorrow, Equestria’s defenses would be down and he would be back home with his brothers and sisters, ready to destroy this land in their mother’s name. Mere days from now Celestia would find herself crushed underneath Chrysalis’ hoof and he would watch as his mother destroyed the weak ponies and proved the strength of changelings.

Maybe then he could learn to live with the weak parts of himself – the accursed pony part of his heritage, even if it came of use at the moment.


The first thing that came to Sam’s mind as he stepped into the formal dining room was that, even in a different suit and tie, he felt very much out of place in the halls of the palace. It was opulent, beautiful, in a way he couldn’t describe. He remembered on one of his days off when he decided to check out the former Hawaiian Royal Palace, but in comparison to the pony castle, ‘Iolani Palace was a dump. He looked around, stunned by the marbles and golds, silvers and stained glass compositions, the grand building really leaving an impression in his mind.

Seeing the look on the human’s face, his escort chuckled. “We get that all the time,” the pony, a member of Celestia’s private staff, said. “But between you and me, I’m really not sure her majesty cares much for it. Sure, she understands that looks have to be kept up, but from what I’m told by my fillyfriend – she’s one of the housekeeping staff here – the Princess would be more than happy if they could just strip the residential part of the castle down to no more than what the average pony’s house looks like. Of course,” he added, tilting his head in a way that seemed to acknowledge the shifting of an idea, “this started a practical riot amongst the nobility, who were afraid that if she did it they’d have to follow suit. From what I understand, the only one who ever agreed with her on that is old Prince Campion, but then he passed away and his son Blueblood inherited Campion’s position.”

“I see,” Sam said, not having a clue of what the secretary had said beyond his first words. The pair walked on in silence for a few more, until they reached a room. “This is dining hall four,” the pony said simply. “We have six in the palace, and I believe at least three of them are in use right now, including this one.”

“Three?”

“Affairs of state sometimes require multiple events to occur at once,” the secretary replied, “so we’re quite lucky we have three ruling princesses and assorted ones in pretense who are more than happy to assist with certain issues. For example, Princess Luna and Princess Cadance are hosting delegates from the Flutter Nation in dining hall five. And Princess Mayrose is overseeing the meeting with the Royal Geographic League. She usually doesn’t bother in government duties but is always willing to assist when we ask an—” The stallion chuckled to himself, cutting his own words off. “I apologize, sir. I tend to ramble on and on. Please, her majesty is waiting for you.” The stallion reached over and opened the door, and with a quick nod of thanks, Sam walked into the dining hall.


He walked into the room and was suddenly announced in by a pagecolt standing at the door. The colt nodded to him in an awkward-yet-professional manner, and then scampered out to tell his friends all about the big human – Sam guessed the kid hadn’t seen many humans, despite their relatively increasing number in Canterlot. As the guards at the posted at the door closed it behind him, he found himself in a cavernous dining hall, the majority of it taken up by a massive table with a setting for at least forty or so beings. And at the end, as lovely as an image straight out of fantasy, was Celestia herself in her true form.

Sam did the only thing he could – he bowed formally, remembering the bit of protocol that Spike trained him on in the event he had to end up here in the palace. Damn good thing too, Sam thought to himself, otherwise I’d look like a complete idiot right now. Then again, I’d probably have to salute or something.

Crossing the room with a grace he wouldn’t have expected for a creature the size of a horse – then again, she is an alicorn, he remembered – she came up to him and smiled. “I’m glad you showed up,” she said with a soft smile. “I was beginning to worry that I’d have to have dinner by myself tonight.” He gave her a curious look and she grinned before adding, “Well, there seems to be a bit of a…complication.”

“Complication, your majesty?”

Celestia, Sam. I’d prefer if you just stuck with that.” He was about to open his mouth when she said, “Just because my ponies treat me with deference and respect doesn’t mean that friends need to. At the end of the day I’m still the same mare I was when I woke up this morning.”

“I would presume that’s the same mare that gets called ‘your majesty’ by everyone?” he said with a grin.

She favored him with a smile back. “Touche.” She gestured towards a seat. “Well, have a seat and we can begin.”

He shook his head. “I’m afraid not. My parents raised me to be a gentleman and I’d be amiss if I didn’t hold your seat for you while you sat. Besides, isn’t it protocol for the monarch to sit first and then on down the line?”

She gave him an even, but kind look. “Sam, I’m much larger than you, so wouldn’t that be a problem? Besides, it’s just the two of us, so I promise I wouldn’t be offended if we just sat down at the same time.”

“I can buy that,” he said, walking over to the nearest chair that looked useable by a bipedal species. Unfortunately, it was seventeen chairs away from where she sat. Slipping into his chair, he saw her do the same and shook his head at the weirdness of it all. “So you said we’re going to be the only ones here tonight?”

She nodded once, an elegant dip of her head. “Potato Chip’s a single father and his son just caught a case of hoofinitis. He should be okay, but Mage Chip sends his apologies for not being able to attend.”

“I…see.”

The two looked at each other from almost entirely different sides of a table close to seventy feet in length. The settings were done in a tasteful affair, the other seats done up for various other species, with various chairs leaning from the backless ones used by ponies to the hulking monsters of seats used by dragons or larger creatures. And all the places were set accordingly; in particular, Sam noticed, was the dragon-sized butter knife, which he could easily use as a surfboard if he wanted. He knew that Spike used spells to keep himself smaller than he needed to be, but if actual dragons leaned closer to that size, well….

The two stared at each other for a few minutes before Celestia said, “Well, have we had enough decorum yet?”

Sam had no idea what she meant by that, so he answered, “I…guess?”

She smiled, rising from her seat. “Good – let’s head back to my private dining area. Maybe if we’re lucky we can stop the chef from whatever he was planning to make for dinner and come up with something a little more our lines, okay?”

Sam chuckled slightly. “Her majesty doesn’t care much for braised hay bourguignon?”

“Not really, no. Between you and me? I could really go for pizza right now.”

Sam stood up, removing his coat and tie, then rolling up his sleeves. “Sounds great to me.”


“Good,” Twilight said, as she moved away from Rainbow. “She’s still under the spell, and from what I can tell none of what’s afflicting us has affected the foal so far. She’s safe.”

Applejack sighed in relief. “That’s great t’ hear, Twi. Ah was plum worried there fer a spell an’….” Applejack’s words slurred off as she suddenly staggered for a bit before sitting down, her forelegs going right to her head. “Ah’ll be fine,” she said to her sister before Twilight could say anything further.

“Applejack, go lie down,” Twilight said, turning her full attention back to the former farm pony.

“No dice, sugarcube. Somepony has t’ watchcha and make sure y’re doin’ okay yerself.”

“You don’t have to. I already promised I wouldn’t use that spell,” the lavender mage said, consciously leaving the name out as to not agitate things further, “and I’m a mare of my word.”

“Yeah, but Ah know a mare who’d keep t’ her word an’ end up doin’ worse. By complete accident, o’ course,” Applejack said with a soft chuckle.

“I can’t afford to,” Twilight said, nodding in agreement. “You were all right and I was in the wrong. I thought I was doing what was best for us, especially since I was the cause of the whole problem, an—”

The orange pony gave the unicorn a curious glance. “Whut d’ ya mean?”

“You know. You all thought I was trying to take away your husbands and loved ones. But I would never do that,” she said, insisting. “You’re family…I would never….”

“We know, Twi,” Applejack said in a quiet voice. “We all knew, we…we jist let Nightmare Moon get us riled up fer nothin’, and hurt you in the process. We weren’t thinkin’ clearly an’ it showed.” The earth pony forced herself back to her feet and approached Twilight, a look of contrition in her eyes. “An’ Ah didn’t believe you when y’ told me the truth. An’ that’s mah fault.” Applejack turned away, whispering, “Ah’m sorry, Twi. Fer whut Ah said back then.”

“No,” Twilight said. “It’s just as much my fault, Applejack. I struck Rainbow in anger and jeopardized her unborn foal. I put myself in a situation where I hurt you all, even unintentionally and then I tried to make up for it by deciding to sacrifice myself needlessly. You’re not the only one who made mistakes, Applejack. I certainly did.”

Applejack gave Twilight a wry smile. “Ah guess we’re jist a couple of old, foolish mares, ain’t we?”


“Without a doubt,” Sweetie said as she walked into the room, adding, “and you all continue to make me worry about you since.” The younger unicorn approached, and the moment she arrived, she teleported the bouquet of flowers she’d brought with her into Twilight’s area. “I brought you mares something.”

“Thanks, Sweetie!” Applejack chirped. “Y’ always know how t’ brighten a day.”

But instead of offering her thanks, Twilight looked at her with concern, and asked, “How are you holding up?”

Sweetie’s smile fell. “I…figured you’d hear about that somehow.”

Twilight gave the younger unicorn a comforting smile. “I’m always watching out for my former student,” she said softly.

The white unicorn was silent for the longest time. Her eyes darted from Applejack to Twilight, and then to the sleeping forms of Rarity and Rainbow Dash. This is my family, she told herself. I should be able to tell them anything – especially Twilight. And yet, she couldn’t get the words out of her mouth, unable to say what needed to be voiced. Finally, she sighed, and admitted, “No, I’m not okay. I feel as though my heart has been ripped out, even though he’d never intended to, and….” The look on Sweetie’s face was of a wound barely just recovered from, not enough to sting with the fresh pain of despair, but enough that the ache was still strong.

“Sweetie, I’m sure he didn’t—” Twilight began.

“Don’t you think I know that, Twilight?” Sweetie gasped. “It’s the only thing keeping me from hating him right now. It happened while we were separated, and I can’t hold that against him. And yet…I still love him, Twilight. I still want him and feel like I’ve made a terrible mistake in letting go.”

“Sweetie, I wish I could comfort you now,” Twilight answered, knowing that her protégé was in need. Part of her considered waking up Rarity to help – she deserved a part in what was going on as well. The older unicorn turned to look at Applejack, who seemed to understand what was exactly on Twilight’s mind. Wordlessly she nodded in agreement, thinking that if anypony who should be there to lend a hoof to Sweetie Belle, it should be her older sister…well, her older biological sister, at any rate.

Twilight had just charged her spell when the lights suddenly flickered and died…only to suddenly come back on as if nothing had happened. “Hrm, wonder what that was,” the lavender unicorn muttered to herself.

“Maybe I should go check that,” Sweetie offered.

“No, you’re not getting out of this that easily,” Twilight replied as she completed the spell to awaken Rarity. She was sure the three had plenty to talk about and something as small as a brief power fluctuation wasn’t going to stop that.


Twilight Sunburn looked around in the location where she was in the Infirmary. After having helped get the patient to ICU, she was then summoned to pediatric to assist with a bunch of appointments because one of the nurses, Vanilla Orchid, was currently missing. After she assisted there, she was then sent off to help with the Orthopedic area, and then from there the Alaeatric area to assist with resetting pegasi wing bones, and then to Administration to drop off paperwork. By the time she’d had a chance to take a breather, she’d been completely worn out and was no nearer her goal.

After taking the time to shift into the disguise of an REAF earth pony – the Infirmary was, after all, a military hospital – she continued looking around for some sign of where her mother was, or what would put her in danger. Faust hadn’t been clear on that either, and, in retrospect, Twilight had been all too eager to charge into battle to save her mother without really thinking of the potential ramifications of it all. Did she knew how her enemy was? Was there an enemy, or did something else threaten Twilight Sparkle? Twilight Sunburn couldn’t answer any of that an—

The lights suddenly flickered and she looked around, curious. She wasn’t an electrician, but she knew what an electrical failure was; she’d seen a couple during the period she’d been in Antwerp. Something told her that the electrical room was probably the first place to start looking, and that she’d find the answer to what she was looking for there. Maybe she could stop the assassin before he moved into position—

With that last thought, it was all that Twilight Sunburn could do to prevent herself from breaking into a full gallop as she rushed towards the hospital’s engineering spaces. She didn’t have much time to act, and if she didn’t act fast, something horrible – and irreversible – would happen, an event she was sure that she was going to regret for the rest of her life.


She wasn’t the only one thinking along those lines. After wolfing down a very tasteless double veggieburger with cheese and hay fries – DJ took one bite of the grayish-brown pressed-hay “fries” and tried not to gag – she’d written off dinner as a bad nightmare and tried to steel herself for what was going to happen next. She could deal with it, no sweat; after all, she was a grown woman and grown women didn’t worry about these sorts of things as they had a billion other issues to handle. And the humanized pony was definitely in that grown woman crowd.

But as she stood before the door to Room 471, a different thought pattern entered her mind. A pattern filled with two decades of worries and insecurity, twenty years of a hidden fear that the door to her life would slam shut on her and she’d find herself like a character written out of her own story, left to inhabit the skin of being Sandalwood for now and ever while her life as DJ moved on without her.

It had almost been that way almost twenty years ago, she said to herself. My life would have been over before I even had the chance to start it and everything I’ve worked for in live would have never existed. She shuddered slightly at the thought. I know what Sam and my parents said, but…I could have lost everything. She then turned to look at her husband, one of the cornerstones of her life. If Rarity had won…. She shuddered again, her tail involuntarily jagging back and forth.

Mike bent over and whispered into her ear, “Hey, hon – no Krautrocking allowed.”

She turned to look at him, her face a mask of love, anxiety a dozen other expressions. Finally, she sighed, then leaned into him. “Fine, no Krautrock,” she said, her voice carrying an undertone of vulnerability that he knew all too well.

“Krautrock?” both Elusive and Cinnamon asked as one.

“Long story,” DJ and Mike deadpanned back in unison. The two Equestrianis looked at the couple before Mike and DJ looked at each other and gave one another enigmatic, knowing grins.

“Why do I get the feeling I just missed out on something important?” Elusive said.

DJ waved it off. “Well, it’s one of those things that I can laugh about now, but back then it wasn’t as easy to face up to,” she admitted. “Remind me later and I’ll tell you about it – and play the song.” With that the immediate conversation ceased and the awkward silence started up again. After a few more interminable moments, DJ finally asked, “No one’s gonna laugh at me if I admit I’m a little nervous right now?”

“Considering this morning, I don’t blame you,” Mike replied, placing his hand on her shoulder.

“I promise no yelling this time.” Out of the corner of her eye she could see Elusive subtly wince at her words. He’d reacted in much the way she expected him to, and she could hardly blame him – he’d had a far different life growing up than she did, so Rarity was obviously a more significant figure in his life than she’d ever be in DJ’s. So for her to berate his mother – or theirs, since he’d probably insist – was still a sore spot for him. Fortunately, as they’d already discussed, Silversteel was the question mark in the whole equation of DJ’s past.

Without further ado, the humanized pony reached for the door knob with her hand. As she did, she recalled reading somewhere that even though their hooves were flexible enough to do so, up until fairly recently ponies used to turn door knobs with their mouths…or at least earth ponies did; pegasi and unicorns were a tad bit luckier in that department. The same article said that it left earth ponies 80% more likely to catch an infectious disease as a result, and it had only been through the introduction of bar-style door knobs, antimicrobial materials and other human objects that the numbers were made statistically insignificant, though the problem still existed in the more rural areas of Equestria.

She removed her hand from the doorknob, before turning it, looking at it, its shape reminding her that once again, it wasn’t really a hand, but a hoof; she wasn’t really human but instead one of those formerly-at-risk earth ponies. Only her fortunate life and upbringing had spared her all of those issues and placed her in a location where she’d grown up with little trouble, at least from the immunological standpoint. As it was, she was probably going to need some vaccines for being here, since she’d never been exposed to any AE maladies prior.

But that wasn’t the point, and she knew she was prevaricating even just by thinking about it. Summoning up a small well of courage, she reached for the door again, turned the knob, and then drew a deep breath. With that, she then opened the door and stepped into the room, casting fate’s die.


The room was spacious and could accommodate two ponies – in fact, it had done so just recently as Scootaloo had vacated the other bed a mere day or two before. The room filled with a deep orange glow as the sun began headed towards its set position, filling the room with a fiery light, adding growing shadows to the flowers and get well cards sitting on a small table by the window. But the majority of the burning radiance settled gently upon the pony lying in the bed, serenaded to by a series of life support machines.

As the light settled, DJ cast her eyes on the earth pony stallion that was her biological sire. Her memories of him were stern, severe, a mask of military professionalism in public and anger and hatred in those few private moments she’d seen. He’d cut a strong and sharp jib in that Romanesque armor back then, and it gave him a fierce, predatory look, one that was supposedly at odds with what others knew of him. That’s ultimately what she recalled from her last time here, a stallion of fire and brimstone whose first address to her was a demand back then to “explain herself” and when that didn’t occur, acted with violent intent towards her family. In the end, that’s what she remembered of him.

She didn’t see that individual now. The stallion lying in the bed looked frail and gaunt, as though everything about him had been melted away. He lay in the bed, breathing mask over his muzzle, almost completely still save for the rhythmic undulations of his respiration. At a casual glance, a person could confuse the comatose stallion with one just gently sleeping – DJ was suddenly reminded of an old children’s book that her father used to read to her as a bedtime story when she was a toddler. It was only when one took account of the myriad wires, tubes and apparatuses attached to him that the truth became apparent to her. This stallion was no aggressor, no scourge in any way, shape or form able to make demands of her; somewhere in the time that had passed since had taken him from that lofty perch down to a frail and fragile soul, a shadow of the pony he’d been when she’d last seen him.

Something welled inside the humanized pony and she turned away to lean into her husband’s embrace, unable to look anymore. Mike, wordlessly sensing her anguish, merely pulled her closer to him. Both Cinnamon and Elusive observed the brief change in the situation and the younger stallion looked to his cousin to briefly speak to his father while he addressed DJ.

“How are you feeling?” he asked her.

“I...don’t know,” she said, unable to turn away from Mike’s chest. Her voice sounded odd to him, Elusive noted. She wasn’t sad, nor did she sound angered or riled. If anything, she seemed empty, hollow.

Maybe “haunted” is the best word, he thought to himself. As Cinnamon finished what she had to say to her uncle and returned to the space by the door, Elusive looked at DJ once more, but this time said, “I’m going to speak to Father for a bit, let him know you’re here. I know this isn’t going to be easy for you, DJ, but you’re a strong woman and I know you can do this.” Not waiting for an answer from her, he went up to his father’s bed, sitting down besides the stricken stallion.

“Hello, Father,” he said, reaching out with his forelegs to take Silversteel’s left forehoof in his own, “I know you weren’t expecting me to be back so soon, but as you can see, I brought along some guests. I know that Cinnamon just spoke to you, but the next pony…she’s a little afraid. Give her the courage to speak to you just as you did me all those years, Father. Be there for her, because though she won’t admit it, I think she really needs you right now.” Turning slightly, he waved her over, bidding her to come.

DJ looked at Mike, and the two shared a slight look that communicated more than could be expressed with words. Breaking away from that glance, DJ then silently moved over, her footfalls a soft clatter against the tiles of the hospital room’s floor. Yet even as she made the steps, each one seemed to be harder and harder to make. Was it because she didn’t have the same situation as she’d faced this morning? Sure, Rarity had been a complete pain and deserved to be curbstomped, but Silversteel had made no such impact on her life. Yes, he’d done wrongs to her, of that she was sure – but Rarity had seemed to move on beyond it and was only interested in making amends to get her sisters off her back. Looking at Silversteel…she couldn’t see those same motives. She couldn’t see much of anything other than the broken, insensate earth pony lying on the bed, the ones whose genes she’d likely most inherited from.

This is my sire, the thought suddenly dawned upon her, the biological term not lost on her. This was the stallion from which she drew part of her genes, and if Twilight and the others had been truthful, most of her looks. Without him, she wouldn’t have drawn breath, met the man of her dreams, had two wonderful children and a life that was nothing short of blessed. But then again, had he had his way, she wouldn’t have had much of that beyond drawing breath.

It was so easy to hate Rarity for what she did. Unrepentant, uncaring, bigoted Rarity. But seeing Silversteel, as he was, frail and down and possibly kept alive only via machinery and magic – whatever he did, whatever he was…it was hard to hate. It was hard to keep that anger and animosity up.

And my parents never raised me to do so, she said to herself, the look in her eyes unreadable. Mom and Dad always said that as the ultimate minority on our world, I didn’t have the luxury of hating anyone, because no one had the right to hate me. And no matter what, I am my parents’ child.

She drew a breath, held it for one beat. Two. Three. Then exhaled and spoke.

“I forgive you.” The words tumbled out of her mouth, almost as if she’d had to force them out. Around her, though she couldn’t see the faces of her loved ones, they were all masks of surprise; they hadn’t expected that. Nevertheless, she continued, reaching out to grab his forehoof. “The last time I saw you, your eyes were full of hatred for me, or my parents, or the man who would become my husband…I don’t really know. Maybe it was just the situation you hated, or maybe you were angry with Twilight or Sweetie. But I remember that look of rage in your eyes, and that’s all I saw when you came to mind.

“I don’t…I can’t…see that anymore. Not in this shape that you’re in. All I can see is a stallion who raised a son – my brother – to be as fair and honest as he can be. Maybe you went wrong with Minty. Maybe I would’ve ended up the same way. I don’t know. All I can do is look at you in the state you’re in and just…forgive. Because my family would want me to. Because it’s the Christian thing to do. Maybe somewhere within me, maybe I even want it.”

She wiped tears from her eyes, wetness that she didn’t even know was there. “All I can say is that in the end, I forgive you, Silversteel. I don’t know you. I probably never will. But I can’t be the woman everyone expects me to be unless I’m true to myself. And I can’t live with the hatred.” Letting go of his hoof, she added, “I guess that’s all I really can say,” she said, turning to walk away.

It was then that she heard the faint whisper, so soft and subtle that had she been farther, or fully human, she would never have heard it.

“Don’t go.”


The assassin snapped the neck of the final soldier in the way. The corpse slipped to the floor, leaving the blue barrier undefended and with no one to stop him. Immediately, he cast a barrier in front of the original green one, cutting off entry into the alcove to the quarantine room; he knew it wouldn’t hold forever, especially with the kind of magic users that were here in Equestria, but it would hold long enough for him to do his deed.

He felt a titter of joy run up his spine. In the next few minutes he was going to kill the last barrier standing against the changeling domination of the world. His mother and his siblings would tear Canterlot brick by brick to pieces and it would be a joy to behold. The alicorns would probably try to put up a defense against them, but what power had they in comparison to the might that was the average pepsis? The changelings had been defeated last time because…well, they were merely changeling drones. But pepsis, the fusion of pony power and changeling superiority…that would be enough to turn the tide.

The assassin reached down to grab the rifle from one of the dead soldiers…then decided against it. He would kill Twilight Sparkle and the others in the most brutal and bloody way possible. To shoot them would be a mercy compared to what he had in store. After all, it had been his sister Blue Velvet that had suggested some…methods…to deal with the four mares. After all, they were mares, and he was a stallion….

Changing into his true form, he walked through the blue barrier, ready for mayhem on a scale that would be talked about for centuries…assuming ponykind lived long enough to ever record it in history.


Luna winced suddenly. Something felt…off. She couldn’t pinpoint it, but something felt wrong.

Pip caught that look immediately. “Something the matter?”

She shook her head. “Slight headache, nothing to worry about,” the alicorn replied. “But thank you for your concern, Pip.” He nodded and instead turned his attention back to Rosie, who had woken up a few minutes prior and was dancing around just like the filly she was, a bundle of energy and life. At the moment, she was trying to entertain Duskie, who looked as though he’d prefer just sleeping.

This was how life was supposed to be, Luna thought. Dear friends, enjoying each other’s company, forgetting all about titles and rank, able to just enjoy the magic of friendship without a care in the world. And yet at the end of this, Pip would go back to being an REA colonel, and the rest of them would resume their royal mantles.

I hate this, the blue alicorn thought to herself. This is the cage that keeps me from being with Robin. And that was all it would take: if either of them could escape their cages, they would return together. She wouldn’t care if she had a human husband, she knew he wouldn’t care if he was married to a non-human. They’d dealt with it, and if they could, so could the world – both worlds.

Maybe that’s just what’s wrong, the night princess finally decided, though she wasn’t completely sure. Maybe it’s just that I’m missing the love of my life right now just from seeing this. At least Cadance was able to have some closure, through her son. Will I ever have the same?


The room paused as if time stopped. The soft beeping of the medical machines was heard, as well as the sound of birds outside as they serenaded the setting sun. Both Elusive and DJ reacted as if they’d been shot, stunned into silence by what they weren’t sure they heard.

“…no right….” Silversteel spoke again, his voice raspy and louder. Both pony and humanized pony at the bedside looked at each other in surprise, while Cinnamon heard it this time and gasped, “Uncle Silver?”

“I think you’d better go get a doctor,” Mike advised the pegasus.

“You don’t have to tell me twice!” she agreed and immediately headed out the door, moving as fast as she dared to in a hospital. For his part, Mike tried to move out of view of the stallion; the least thing a comatose patient needed was to be awoken by the sight of the human that had been a part of the “issue” that had happened two decades prior. Finally, he decided the best place to be was in the chair by the other bed. As he moved, he and DJ shared a slight nod of agreement and love.

Meanwhile, eyes welling with tears of joy and surprise, Elusive moved closer to his father’s face. “Father? Are you…?” the young stallion asked, unable to finish his sentence as a miracle appeared before him.

“We…we had no right,” Silversteel said, his voice faint and reedy, addressing no one – or nopony – in particular, but instead had to pontificate a truth that had been buried for far too long. “We had…no right to hurt you. All we…all I wanted was my little filly back safe and sound. I…forgive an old fool of a stallion,” he murmured, almost as if in delirium.

“DJ?” Elusive looked at the woman standing next to him, wondering what her next action would be. She was confused, unsure. She said she forgave him, but did she really, or were those just words?

As if fate’s wheel chose that moment to turn, Silversteel, unbidden and with great difficulty, lifted a shaky, unsteady hoof towards DJ’s face. After what seemed to be a small eternity, silvery-gray keratin met tan fur, and with effort, gently stroked the tear-stained face. It was by normal accounts, just a minor token of affection, no different than nuzzling or any other display of tenderness that ponies did amongst their loved ones. But for the effort put in by a stallion rising from his coma, it was nothing less than a miracle.

DJ felt the warm hoof gently caressing her face, the action of a stallion reaching out to a loved one. She knew that gesture; her parents had done that with her many a time, as did Mike; she’d done the same with them and her sons. It was a universal gesture of love, of caring and affection…

…of a father desperately missing his oldest daughter, DJ realized as the words sank into her mind. God, what I fool I’ve been.

With a soft flutter, soft red eyes opened, unfocused and hazy. Turning his head with great effort, he whispered to Elusive, “Hey, son, good to see you, kiddo.”

“Father!” Elusive said, embracing Silversteel. It was embarrassing, foalish, but the unicorn didn’t care, tears streaming down his eyes. “You’re back!”

“Not if you keep squeezing me so hard, Luse!” the stallion gasped out. As Elusive loosened his grip, the gray earth pony grinned slightly and said, “C’mon, son, you should know better – if Nightmare Moon can’t take me outta commission, what’s a hug for your old stallion gonna do, eh?” he said, reaching over and mussing his son’s hair. “What’re you doing here, anyway? Thought you’d be with that gorgeous wife of yours – you got foals on the way.”

Elusive grinned. “They were born two days ago, Father.” Nodding his head in the direction of DJ, he added, “And Butter would have been in serious trouble if it hadn’t been for DJ here. I’m indebted very much to my sister, Father.”

Silversteel then focused his eyes in the direction that Elusive had pointed to. There, standing in her normal manner, dressed normally for her and looking at him with a curious glance was his estranged daughter, the one gone so long ago and raised amongst another species. Her mouth was drawn in a tight line, and her eyes looked as though they’d just been through a teary session. But even still, the overall look on her face was unreadable, and Silver prided himself on being able to read a pony’s body and facial language. It had helped him through many a year in the guard and was just as important now as an REA general.

And yet, I can’t read her, he thought to himself. She truly is human at the core, more than we ever thought, Rarity. He thought about his wife, wondering where she was – she wasn’t here; was she okay? Did she survive the attack? For that matter, what had been the aftermath of that battle? He hated to admit it, but at last glance, things weren’t looking good – and by the fact that he was here in the Infirmary, tied up to a ton of medical equipment, chances are he didn’t fare so well in that assault.

But those were questions and concerns for another time. Red eyes fixed onto purple eyes as he said, “I never thought I would see you again, Sandalwood.”

“Father, her name is D—” Elusive began, but to his surprise was silenced by DJ placing one of her hooves on his.

“I never thought I’d be here,” she admitted. “And my name is DJ. I know you know me by another name, knew me by another name, but that isn’t me.” Her voice was tight, restrained, yet firm. This wasn’t the voice of a pony suffering years of being exiled from her own kind, but that of a pony confident in who she was – a human confident in who she was. “But Elusive asked me to come, and I did.”

Silver opened his mouth to speak when the door to the room opened, and Cinnamon, immediately followed by a doctor and two nurses, rushed right in. “Okay, everyone,” the doctor said, “I’m going to have to end the visiting hours with the general here. He just came out of a coma, and I’m sure he—”

“—has something to say to the daughter he hasn’t seen in twenty years,” Silversteel said, drawing strength from within himself; within seconds, the frail pony at the bed was temporarily gone, replaced by the unassailable authority of the military stallion he was. “And I will have my time with her, is that understood, doctor?” he said to the flustered unicorn.

“But Gener—” the physician began.

“Do I make myself clear, Major?”

“I can override you medically, sir,” the doctor said, though his voice was shaky enough to indicate that he didn’t feel the power behind the bluff he was playing.

“Doctor? You might have the authority, but he’s a father that hasn’t seen his daughter in twenty years.” Everyone looked in Mike’s direction; it had been he who spoke. “You do know about the Lost Foal, right?”

The doctor looked at DJ and it suddenly clicked as a shock, embarrassment and realization suddenly declared war against each other for domination of his outward emotions. “Oh my Celestia…I had no idea. My apologies, ma’am,” he said to DJ, before turning back to Silversteel. “We’ll be back in thirty minutes, General, though don’t hesitate to call us if there’s an emergency.” With that, the trio departed.

“Was that a good idea?” Cinnamon asked Mike as she watched the medical team depart.

“We’ll find out; ball’s in their court,” he replied to his wife’s cousin.

With the main distraction gone, injured earth pony and humanized earth pony looked back at each other again. “As I was saying….” The room grew still again as Silversteel let himself relax, becoming the frail and injured pony once more. “I…was wrong. Your mother – that is, Rarity – and I…we were wrong. I’ve had a long time to think about this; years, to be honest.

“You were – are, I still assume – happy with your human family and not just ensorcelled or brainwashed or the like. I think I saw it back then, but…you have to understand….” he began, but before she could object, he shook his head. “No…you’re right: you don’t have to understand. We should have helped you to understand you had – have – a family here. We should have realized that you truly did love the one you had on the human world. We should have realized a lot of things.

“I…I don’t know if I have the right to call you my daughter. I have missed you, missed you so much…and yet all we gave you was pain. We Equestriani believe that friendship and love will always win the day, but in this case it didn’t, did it? Or rather, the friendship and love you have for the humans you count as your friends and family did.” The aged stallion seemed to shudder as if broken by his own admission; though no tears came from his eyes, it was likely tied more to his medical condition rather than any lack of sorrow. “We did wrong by you, and I hope someday that you can forgive us for that. I hope you won’t hold it against Elusive – he was so young back then; he had nothing to do with what happened.”

“I don’t,” she said, her voice harsher than she’d intended to speak. “He’s been nothing short of wonderful, and I’m proud to call him my brother.”

“I see.” The two were quiet for a few more seconds before Silversteel looked in Mike’s direction. “I remember you,” he said plainly. “You’ve stayed with her all these years?”

Mike nodded. “Yes. She’s the only woman I’ve ever loved, and we’ve had a happy life together – home, kids, that kind of thing.”

“Foals?” The look on Silver’s face was curious.

“Two boys,” DJ answered. “And before you ask, they’re our biological kids; we didn’t adopt. Twilight came through for us and I can’t thank her enough for that.”

“I owe her an apology as well, one long overdue. She tried to help and all I rewarded her with was enmity and anger. She’s forgiven me, I know that, but…it doesn’t make what happened right.” Silversteel leaned back into his bed, looking at the ceiling for what appeared to be an uncomfortably long time. In turn, DJ just looked straight at the stallion, a silent impasse that could be seen as a test of wills between the two, though such wasn’t the case.

Finally, he returned his gaze to her. “I don’t deserve it, but I want the chance to begin again, Sandalwood. I want to make it up to you, to be a family again – to have the chance we never had. All I ask is that you give me that chance.”

“I don’t know if I can,” she said softly, after a few minutes. “Can you accept that my Mom and Dad are that – my parents? That I love them as much as they love me? That I love my husband and children as much as they love me? That my brother – my human one – loves me just as much as I do him?” Though she hadn’t intended it, her voice rose higher, harder and angrier, a crescendo of pain and anguish, but to those who had been witness to the events of earlier in the morning, there was a marked difference. There was no abrasive challenge, no aggressive need to demand an all or nothing position.

Silversteel looked at her, saying nothing.

That wasn’t good enough for DJ. “Can you accept that I’m not, and never will be, Sandalwood?”

“I don’t know.” The words were plainspoken, heartfelt, the sound of a stallion realizing that X would never be Y. “All I know is that I have loved the little filly that I lost so long ago…and that you are my connection to her – you are her, whether you want to be or not.”

DJ just shook her head, then turned and walked away. Wordlessly, she went to the door, opened it, and left, slipping out as a thief making her getaway.

“Should I go ge—” Cinnamon began, but Mike shook his head and immediately followed his wife.

Cinnamon then turned to look at her uncle. He gave her a fond smile. “Heya, sunshine,” he said softly. “How are you doing?”

“Better,” she said with a weak smile. “But I’d be even better if you and DJ made up.”

Elusive looked at his cousin. “It…went a lot better than I expected, to be honest.”

Silversteel looked at his son. “It did?”

“Yes. From what I hear, she and Mother didn’t exa—” The unicorn’s explanation was suddenly cut off by the flickering of the lights and medical equipment as the power suddenly went out. The power, bolstered by backups, immediately came back on, as if nothing had been the matter. “What was that?” he wondered as the power resumed its normal condition.

“Probably nothing to worry about,” Silversteel commented. And as he saw the doctor and nurses return through the door, ready to do their duty, he looked about his son and his niece. “Elusive, tell your sister that no matter what, I have always loved her and that if there’s any room for us in her heart, we…I…want to start over.”

Elusive nodded; there were still plenty of things left to be unsaid, not the least of which was the condition of his mother and his aunts, the brutal fight DJ and Rarity had earlier in the morning, or the fact that Minty was on the other side of the hospital near dying – and her foal and husband already dead. There were a million things that he felt he needed to tell his father, to prepare the aging earth pony for what lay ahead. But he saw his father in turmoil and torment after having just faced the potential loss of his oldest foal a second time, and it was all Elusive could do to say, “I’ll do what I can, Father. DJ…she’s hurting right now, but she’s a kindhearted soul, and a woman to be admired.”

“A woman to be admired? Not mare?” Silver pondered, wondering about the human appellation. He chuckled to himself and said to nopony in particular, “I suppose so, after all this time.” Elusive was going to inquire as to what his father meant when the doctor looked straight at him, insistent that visiting hours were over and that it was time for the medical staff to do their work.

As he and Cinnamon stepped out of the room, the brown pegasus gave her cousin a wan smile. “I’m sure DJ will come around. I’m very sure of it.”

“I hope so. This morning, I was sure. This afternoon, I was convinced. Now?” He sighed and spoke the words that had once been the motto of the mare that had been at the beginning of it all: “I just don’t know what went wrong.”


Sitting in his office, idly munching from a bowl of raspberry beryl gems, Spike read over the necessary documents that he would need before he was to depart tomorrow. He was to assume the duty of temporary Ambassador to Equestria to the UN, taking over Apple Cobbler’s job. He also had the unenviable task of being the Crown’s official representative to help her husband – her widower – through the hell that stallion was probably going through right now.

Add to the fact that I’m going when we’re just on the verge of potential war with a human nation, we still have the changelings to deal with and all the turmoil in our family, and this is the worst possible time for all of this to happen, he mused. He popped a few more gems into his mouth while he read through the rest of the document before he’d heard the knock on the door.

“Uh, boss? You have a moment?” It was his secretary, Marginalia. “I’ve got your travel arrangements set. Set you up at the Waldorf-Astoria. Penthouse, just like you asked.”

The dragon didn’t look up from the paperwork, instead muttering, “Thanks, Margin. You know, it’s getting late – why don’t you go home to your family? I can lock up.”

“Well….” the unicorn said, a thoughtful look coming into her rose-hued eyes, “you look like you need somepony to talk to, and I don’t live too far away, so…if you need to get something off your barrel, Spike, I’m your mare.”

The dragon looked up from his reading, looking at the relatively young mare. She’d been hoof-picked from the secretarial pool because she wasn’t afraid of him being a dragon; plus, she had a simple honesty about her that Spike appreciated, as most ponies who didn’t know him tended to be intimidated by his size. There was also the fact that with her soft off-white coat, light blue mane and rose eyes, Twilight had commented that Margin looked like a sheaf of loose leaf paper, though Spike hadn’t hired her based on that reason.

The ponified dragon looked at her and asked, “Have you been following what’s been going on the human world? I mean, apart from what you’re seeing in the reports.”

She shook her head, the docktail of her mane swaying gently by the action, accented by the white bow she wore in it. “Sorry – I’m more of the bookish type. My husband says I’m always lost in a book in my free time and if I’m not careful, I’ll forget that he and our foals exist.”

“I doubt that; you’re not that bad,” he said with a chuckle. “But…what happened to Apple Cobbler…it made me wonder if we’re doing the right thing about trying to influence humanity to pick up our habits of peace and understanding. If anything, I think as we’ve picked up more of their technology and culture, we’re becoming more aggressive and less likely to look for the right solution – becoming more like them. I have to wonder, and no offense to AC in the least, Celestia Bless Her Soul, but…did she do any good in the end? Was she able to stop a war, or will we now have to watch our flanks for that issue?”

“I can’t say; most of the stuff we deal with is with Alter-Earth, not Human-Earth,” Margin pointed out. “So I have no real basis of comparison. But I do remember when she was here once and you two were talking in your office. She seemed proud to be out there, trying to make a difference, because it showed that ponydom was reaching towards humanity as equals. Too many ponies fear that after having been the most important race on our world, we’re becoming second fiddle to the United States, and third fiddle to humanity in general. But when you two were talking, I didn’t see that in her speech. What I saw was a mare proud to do her job, because Celestia depended on her to do it just as she does you.”

He nodded, letting her words sink in. “Sorry for the doubts, Margin. It’s just…I don’t know what I’m going to tell Antiquity. He’s hurting right now and for having been raised in the family I have and having grown up in a library, I just don’t have the words to tell him what he wants to hear.”

“Then tell him what he needs to hear,” the unicorn told her boss. “Tell him that she was doing what was right for Equestria and ponydom, and that she was a source of pride to the Crown. If nothing else, it’s the truth.”

“Thanks, Margin. Sounds like I needed to hear that just as much as Antiquity does.”

She flashed her boss a sunny smile. “Just keep that in mind when it comes time for my next raise,” she said with a grin.


Those in the room watched as the blue protective barrier started to warp and woof. “What’s going on?” Applejack asked, worried that if the second to last barrier was suddenly malfunctioning, there was a chance that the purple one – the last one keeping their curse from harming anypony else, including Sweetie Belle, who was just outside it – could go as well.

“That’s Luna’s protective barrier,” Twilight said, flatly. What was unspoken was that it wouldn’t be affected unless it was under direct attack – or that its creator was. Turning to her protégé, the lavender mage said, “I’m beginning to think that you need to go investigate that power flux after all. Might be nothing important, but….”

Protégé and mentor looked at each other. “That might not be a bad idea.” Unspoken between the two was Twilight’s worry that if Luna’s barrier was suddenly malfunctioning, then there was the chance that her barrier might go the same way, endangering Sweetie’s life.

“Be careful, Sweetie,” Twilight said, the look on her face sober. “Again, it might just be nothing important, but—”

“You take care too,” the younger unicorn said as she teleported out. Normally the barrier would have prevented it, but the spell had been tailored to whitelist a few particular ponies and the accomplished mage had been one of them.

Meanwhile, not watching as her former apprentice had disappeared, Twilight went over to the bed where Rarity was sleeping. “Help me get her up,” she asked Applejack.

“Sure thing, sugarcube,” the earth pony said as she moved to help Twilight lift Rarity off her bed. “What ‘bout Rainbow?”

The archmagus shook her head. “I might need Rarity’s help with magic, something Rainbow can’t assist on. Plus, I don’t want to endanger her unborn foal. And lastly,” she said, looking at the barrier as it started to pulse wildly, “if I can’t stop what’s about to happen, it won’t matter anyway.”

“What’s gonna happen?” Applejack asked as the blue barrier pulsed hard enough to cast off a spray of magic that shattered into tiny motes of light. The barrier would start cracking, and at any moment, it was clear that it was going to go down. Something was happening and Luna had to be aware.

As they moved her, Twilight’s earlier spell cancelled and Rarity came to. “Twilight?” she asked as she yawned. “Is there a reason for waking me up?” A second later there was a sharp crack as the spell began to lose coherency. “I suppose you’ll need my assistance then,” she said, righting herself as she watched the barrier splinter.


Luna felt the crack in her mind the moment it started. One of my barriers is failing. She knew that immediately; she’d created a number of them around the realm for different needs – and even a couple on Human-Earth – and as they were tied to her, she always knew when one of them was about to fail. Furthermore, this was one of the ones that had been warded, which mea—

One of her guards came up to her, a look of concern on her face. “My apologies, ladies and gentlestallion,” she said to the other dinner guests, before addressing the night alicorn directly. “Your highness, a moment of your time, if you please.”

“Certainly, guardspony,” she said to the mare, looking at the other with a slight glance of apology. “How may I be of assistance?”

“We just received a call from the observatory on Poll Mountain. The protective barrier is on the verge of failing, and while they’re evacuating the facility, the local Guild Office isn’t going to be able to support your barrier or stop the rockslide in time. The Guild is sending reinforcements in, but…well, I thought you’d be interested in being appraised of the situation, your highness.”

She nodded. “Thank you for your time, guardspony.” As the guard departed, Luna sighed. I knew I should have updated the spell on that barrier months ago. Poll Mountain was known for two things: being in a part of the realm where it was clear enough to see almost the whole expanse of space, and for being a very unstable mountain. When the Royal Astronomy Service requested her assistance in order to build an observatory on the highly-precarious summit, Luna had agreed on the condition that there be enough Guild mages on-hoof in order to prevent disaster; the town of Mountain Stream sat at the foot of the mountain and a sufficient landslide would be brutal. While the events of the last few weeks had pretty much tied up the Guild, the office in Mountain Stream should have had enough mages present to….

I’ll find out later, she said to herself as she rose from her seat. Looking at the others, she said, “There’s been an emergency near Poll Mountain and I have to head out to assist. I apologize that I must depart.”

“Need any help?” Cadance asked. As the weakest of the three alicorns, there wasn’t much she could do but the fact alone that she offered warmed Luna’s heart. The Avatar of Love was, if nothing else, selfless in her concern.

“No, I can take care of this solo,” the dusky alicorn commented, “and then I’m going to have a talk with Raspberry Blast as to why the Guild Office was understaffed. The facility is priority, and….”

Imago stood up from her own seat. “Then I think we should leave at once, Luna,” the flutterqueen said. When the night princess began to decline, Imago gave her fellow royal a sincere look. “This is an excellent opportunity for flutters to integrate themselves into Equestriani society and prove we’re not like changelings. Will you deny me that chance?”

“I guess I’m holding down the fort then,” Cadance said, smiling. “Don’t worry, you two can tell us all about your misadventures when you get back.”

“Besides,” Pip said, “I think Cadance and I can have a decent discussion about foal-rearing while you two are gone. Neither of us are used to being parents, so it should be an interesting conversation.”

Luna nodded, and with a quick glance to Imago, her horn flared with turquoise power, teleporting both outside, leaving the juniormost princess and the colonel to their conversation.


By the time Sweetie arrived at the electrical room, there was already a group of maintenance workers, as well as a couple of soldiers. “What’s going on?” she said to the sergeant on-scene.

“We found the body of a nurse up on the eighth floor,” the lieutenant in charge of security said in the crisp accent of a Trottingham native, “shortly just before the power fluctuation. That was when we came across the body of one of the engineers.”

“Have you started searching for potential threats?” she asked.

“Already done, ma’am,” he replied. “I’ve got some of my best ponies on the case. Though, with a mage of your rank, I’m not too proud to ask for assistance.”

“Consider it done, then,” she said, looking at the door to the electrical room and noting that the door had been ripped off its hinges, the frame carbon-scored. That wasn’t exactly a good sign, she thought to herself. “Anything I should be aware of?”

“We found a device that looks as though it might be a bomb. We haven’t moved it yet, but we’re calling in some EOD to remove it. If you’re going in, I’ll get an escort for you.”

“I’ll be fine, Lieutenant,” Sweetie answered. “I’m a grown mare – I can take care of myself,” she said with a disarming smile.

“I’m sure you can, ma’am,” he said in reply, “but I recognize who you are and if I let you get hurt, I may as well move to the southernmost continent on the planet…on Human-Earth, no less.”


Realizing that he was going to insist on a military escort for her for no other reason than protocol – she did equate to that of a NATO OF-6, she acquiesced to the escort, a young-but cute unicorn private who looked as though he’d just joined the REA and was nervous to be in the presence of a VIP. Assuring him that she wasn’t going to bite his head off, she headed off towards her goal.

Entering the room proper, she noted the telltale signs of electrical discharge, as well as the remaining “hoofprint” of a lightning magic spell. Strangely enough, from what she could tell, the magic seemed very much as though it was like a changeling’s, but at the same time, also like a pony. It was as if….

Wait…Imago’s foal is half-flutter, half-pony, the unicorn thought to herself, ignoring the personal anguish regarding that still-unsolved situation. She was going to have to do something about that eventually, but now wasn’t the time. If there’s one possible one in existence, then there’s the chance that…. The white mare rifled through her memories of Shining and all the times he’d hunted down the changelings with a vengeance that went beyond merely protecting Equestria. Chrysalis had already made it personal when she’d attack Canterlot and foalnapped Cadance, but…what if something else had happened, something that the long-deceased stallion had shared only with his wife and a few trusted others? It was one of the few things in Twilight’s life that she’d kept secret from Sweetie, a matter of family – blood family in this case, not just the greater family that they’d become.

“Do you sense that, ma’am?” the private at her side spoke. He wasn’t a Guildie like she was, but he was trained in military spells, including magic detection – there was no way he could miss anything of that sort. “It’s magic, but I can’t quite pin it down.”

“If it’s what I think it is,” Sweetie said in somber tones, “then we could be in rea—”

A quick flare of light cut her train of thought off immediately. The floor started to glow as lines of citrine power began to snake and snarl in intricate, knotted patterns, at a fast pace. Within seconds, four sigils had been created and what was coming into existence on the ground was clear.

The bomb’s nothing but a decoy! Sweetie suddenly realized. The spell was triggered by a pony of sufficient magic level – such as an EOD expert…or a high-ranking mage, she now knew – and that the result was going to be very painful.

Turning around immediately, she screamed to the senior officer, “Get this wing of the Infirmary evacuated immediately! We’ve got seconds at most!” Wheeling around to face the nearly-completed sigil, she didn’t bother to try to figure out the best way to counteract the growing magic. She merely just let loose with Shining Armor’s Final Barrier Spell, hoping she was strong enough to keep it in place once the spell we—

The world turned into a blinding, roaring blare of fuschine-rose and black, swallowing everything that Sweetie could see. And as she too was enveloped in the blast, her last thoughts were of her own mind betraying her…of her desire to remain with the stallion that had left her, the stallion she loved more than anything.


Gooey cheese splattered onto Celestia’s face, the pizza slice sliding off her royal muzzle to impact against the ground with a liquid slapping tone. Something had just shaken the palace like an earthquake, catching her completely off-guard. The sun princess ignored the heat of the food topping on her face as she banished it into nonexistence with a flicker of her horn. “What happened?”

“Felt like an earthquake.” Crashed on the ground, Sam had salvaged his slice of pizza, but at the expense of his Coke spilling all over his shirt. “I’ve been through enough of those to know what they feel like.”

“Are you okay?” In the background, a movie that she’d chosen, one of those weird slapstick comedies starring famous pony comedian Sharpwit and a human actor she wasn’t familiar with was suddenly ignored. She’d been on the verge of getting him to agree that a Crown-level police agency comprised of all of Equestria’s subjects and not just ponies would be the way to go, but that there would probably be some pushback from the Mage Guild Investigation Directorate, as well as the fact of a non-pony being in charge of the top law enforcement agency in the land. She was just about to push him again to accepting it when there was a knock on the door.

“Your majesty!” he called out. “There’s been an attack at the Infirmary!”

Celestia didn’t think twice. Wrapping Sam up in her magic, she immediately teleported to the hospital site. There was only one reason why the Infirmary would be attacked, and though heading there would be a danger to her, the risk to Equestria was that much greater. Twilight and the others were in terrible danger, and the ruler of Equestria would not sit idle while threats to her family rose to terrible greatness. She would end them with the power of the sun and then woe be to whomever was foalish enough to ill-cross the path of an Avatar.


It took a few minutes for the dust and detritus to settle down. Three ponies coughed in the dirt obscured darkness until a light-blue light, emanating from Rarity’s horn, illuminated the ruined chamber. The light then guttered as a searing pain tore through Rarity, her magic once again quelled by the curse lain upon them. But it gave Twilight enough time to cast a spell bringing up a spare globe of energy to serve as a light in the darkness-choked room.

“What-cough-happened?” Rarity just asked.

“Dunno, sugarcube,” Applejack drawled, never taking her eyes off the settling dust on the other side of the purple barrier, “but Ah reckon ‘taint nothin’ good.”

“Girls, keep an eye on Rainbow,” Twilight ordered. “I have a funny feeling that we’re about to meet the pony responsible for all of this.”


“A pony,” a familiar voice laughed. “As if I would consider myself such a weak individual.” The remaining smoke and dust cleared away, and standing before them was Shining Armor…if he’d been possessed by changelings. The coat of the stallion was a light gray, nearly the same hue as Rarity’s own coat. The mane and tail were smoky gray and slate blue, both inexplicably pocked with holes. The wings were also of the same slate gray, likewise pitted. The stallion’s horn was a misshapen, bulbous mass that looked more like a stalagmite growing out of his head than a true licorne. Lastly, his eyes were filled with unnatural hatred in their blood-red coloring, two orbs filled with nothing less than contempt and disgust for what he held before him.

And yet, all Twilight could see were the twisted features of her older brother, of the stallion that had married and loved Cadance, the dearest older brother that had taught Twilight her first spells, the beloved older brother that had always taken Spike to the park, the one that had always been there for them all. And now here was a grotesque parody sneering at them, the result of what Chrysalis had done to her brother – of that there was no doubt.

Twilight’s anger grew, despite herself. Something inside her told her that to allow herself to get angry would be to allow herself to succumb to the curse, but she couldn’t help herself. The changeling queen had abused Shiny, humiliated him and now come up with abominations to stain his good name. In no way would Twilight ever stand for that.

Meanwhile, the abomination before her laughed. “I see I’ve made my mark without even so much as lifting a hoof. The contest hasn’t even started yet and I have already won.”

“You’ve won nothing,” Twilight said in low, dangerous tones. “I don’t care what Chrysalis’ game is, but you won’t win.”

“Mother’s game is simple,” the stallion said, brushing a hoof on his coat as if the situation was of no concern. “We are at war, you and I, and there will be a winner and there will be a loser. All I have to do, Twilight Sparkle, is to break your barrier and tear you and your companions apart with my power. You, however, must keep those barriers up at all costs, lest your curse start to plague this damaged hospital. The advantage is mine, and I, Broken Armor, will win.”

“Ah don’ think so,” Applejack snarled. “An’ Ah don’ understand why yer fightin’ us, but Ah do know you won’t win.” Applejack moved next to her sister-in-bond, standing wither to wither with the lavender unicorn. “Just bring it on, bucko – we’re ready.”

“Indeed!” Rarity moved to support Twilight as well. Despite their disagreement over the years, they were sisters and they would always be so. “You do not realize what you are doing, Mr. Broken Armor. If you were wise, you would turn tail now and return to Chrysalis while you still have the chance!”

Broken Armor laughed. “Oh, this is rich! You, Twilight Sparkle, will make a fine rug in my domain when I am done with you – I’ll skin you alive!” he snarled. “As for your friends, I will break them and make you watch as I do so.”

“Last chance,” Twilight said calmly. A corner of her mane started to frizz up a bit, and out of the corner of her eye Rarity couldn’t help but notice. Her friend was infuriated, extremely so, and when Twilight lost control…well, Ponyville had yet to forget that last time.

Broken Armor grinned. “And to think that my father was of your blood! I’m glad that Mother killed him before he could ever infect me with the same drivel that leaks from your collective brains!” His horn began to bubble with a shaped charge, dozens of fuschine-rose hued spheres encircling it and popping, as if the immediate air around his twisted licorne was made of soda water. “It will be an honor to break you in two, Twilight Sparkle, and to dance on your grave!” With that, he bent his horn, and fired his spell.

The magenta blast tore forward, slamming into the purple barrier with enough force to make the magical wall vibrate like a bell. Twilight immediately countered, her own horn flickering with purple energy as she started to pump magic right into the spell to rejuvenate the damage done, while looking for ways to send spells out to attack Broken Armor while not letting the curse escape the confines of the quarantine room, a task much harder now that it was in ruins. He pushed more and more, and she countered, bringing more and more of the power to mind.

The two went at it for several minutes, the two beams colliding against the barrier at cross-purposes, Broken Armor’s negating blast while Twilight loosed hers as protector to counter the danger. But as those minutes slipped by the advantage became clear. Broken Armor had been specifically trained for this moment and he continued to lay on power, while Twilight, already weakened by the constant need to keep her sisters’ curses at bay, plus the powering of the barrier and continual research into how to nullify the spell, had taxed her already dangerously-depleted reserves. Finally, as both stopped their first volley, the state was clear: Broken Armor was somewhat winded but more than ready to continue with a second volley, while Twilight was panting heavily, drawing on everything to continue the fight.

“Twi, don’ do this,” Applejack whispered. “Don’ hurt yourself.”

Rarity looked at the former farmpony. “I don’t think he’s going to give us much of an option!”

But it was Twilight who drew within herself. Forcing herself back to a ready state, she snarled, “You won’t win!” as she brought up her aura to full. Violet power erupted around her as her eyes glazed over with the same energy. Drawing from within herself, she fired once more at the shield, the blast stronger and more vibrant as she poured more power into it.

“GOOD!” the pepsis taunted as he rose to the occasion, starting his second attack. “I’ll kill you that much faster!” The two assaulted the barrier again, but the noticeable difference was that Broken Armor’s advantage was clear this time. The corruption crept up more and more around Twilight’s body as her magic was focused away from healing herself, and as the second volley ended a few minutes later, Twilight crashed to the ground, her rearmost body looking as though it had been run through a crisper, scorched and blackened. She gasped heavily, unable to stand.

“Have…have to stop…have to stop you,” she gasped, trying to scramble to her feet. “Can’t lose.”

“Twi, no!” Applejack shouted, her eyes filled with worry. “Don’t!”

Rarity for her part, moved in front of Twilight, facing against Broken Armor. “While I might not have her power,” the former fashionista snarled, “I’ll be damned if I let you harm her!”

“I’ll take you first,” was the stallion’s response as he charged his horn for a third time. Twilight continued to force herself to her feet, ready and willing to sacrifice herself now, of that she was sure. She knew she wasn’t going to live through this next attack, but if she could save Applejack and Rarity, it would be worth it.

“Rarity, get out of the way,” Twilight said, her voice wavering.

“NO!” The white unicorn turned to face her counterpart. “I won’t let you die, Twilight! Somepony has to be there for Sweetie! For my husband and foals! For….” She trailed off, unable to find the right words to say before finally taking a breath and letting them spill out: “For Sandalwood.” Not waiting for an answer from Twilight, Rarity turned back to face their tormentor and seethed, “Do. Your. Worst!”

“Oh, I will, I will. Any dying words?”


The answer came from the sky in the form of a blast of orange energy, as bright as the sun. The fireball slammed into the already-cracked tiles, creating a small crater in between the damaged purple barrier and the triumphant Broken Armor. Then the fireball dissipated, and standing up from it, drawing herself up, was a pepsis mare, her face a mask of righteous rage.

“You want dying words?” the newly-arrived pepsis said to Broken Armor, who looked surprised at the appearance of the newcomer. “Then hear these: GET THE BUCK AWAY FROM MY MOTHER!”

And sense shattered into a million pieces as the new arrival rocketed forward, burning with the power of a comet, slamming into the larger stallion, beginning a new fight.