//------------------------------// // 24-A Long Awaited Reunion // Story: A Changeling Queen Under the Griffon's Crown // by DungeonMiner //------------------------------// Chapter 24 The changeling tried to make himself as small as possible as he entered the throne room. He had heard of how Ironclaw had...well… The false usurper sat on the obsidian throne, the silence of the room broken only by the occasional laugh and unintelligible mutter. It was...slightly unsettling… “Y-your majesty? “What?” the griffon snapped. “Th-This One has news.” There was silence. “Well? Out with it!” “We have captured the Pendragon, your Highness.” Silence. “Your Highness?” “Could you repeat that?” the figure on the throne asked. “We’ve...we’ve caught him, your Majesty.” Silence. “Good,” Ironcalw said. “Bring him here.” The changeling nodded. “No! Don’t bring him here.” The changeling blinked, watching with wide eyes as the king devolved into muttering again. “...exactly what he wants…” The throne room went silent again. “Bring him close, but not here,” the fake griffon ordered. “Yes, your majesty.” “Yes…” Ironclaw mumbled, as he sat in the dark, the massive metal blinds shutting out the morning light. “Yes…” <<<|Ω|>>> “Stupid sword,” Alan thought bitterly as he and Julius were led by the small swarm of changelings and the traitor Ironclaw. “I should have just killed him.” Chains held their forelegs together, leaving just enough room to move as they were forced to march. Alan also had his horn stuck in solidified changeling goo, forming a makeshift magic suppression ring. Markus walked ahead of them, walking next to the leader of the swarm, talking to pass the time. “So how did you guys manage to get so many griffon supporters? Griffons have a natural aversion to the word traitor.” “We brainwashed a few key politicians before and gained a few willing guards,” the changeling replied in a deadpan. “The rest we use a more...convincing way to keep them in line.” Alan glared at the back of Markus’ head, wishing that his horn was free to give him one shot at the griffon. “I see,” Markus said. “So has the Pendragon come alone, or…” “His friends are elsewhere in the fortress.” “Do you have any plans to deal with them?” “We are working on it.” “I see,” Ironclaw said. Alan desperately wanted to drive a stake through both of them. The small swarm quickly moved up the stairs, heading for somewhere close to the throne room, when Ironclaw took a quick look to the left. “Forgive me, sir,” Ironclaw said, “but my endurance is not what it once was. Could we perhaps rest here?” he asked, pointing to the side room. “His Majesty is waiting,” the changeling answered, sounding almost annoyed. “I can wait on myself,” Markus said, waving him off. “Besides, if I am to appear before his illustriousness, I don’t want to be out of breath.” “This One thinks that you—” That’s about as far as the changeling got before Markus ducked inside the room. “Come on in,” Markus invited, “take a load off. You boys look like you’ve been worked to the bone.” The Changelings all glanced at each other and shared a look. They were familiar with the idea of relaxation, but changelings didn’t take to the idea too well. There was just something about not doing something that rubbed them the wrong way. Their orders, however, were putting them in a bit of a bind. They had been ordered to always keep a favorable ratio against non-changeling races, however a quick headcount revealed that they would not be able to split their forces favorably, and they were not going to let this griffon run around alone. The leader glared at Markus with narrowed eyes, but followed him, nonetheless. The small swarm and their prisoners filed into the room, the changelings now trying to appear thankful for the rest and few, precious minutes of unproductivity. The room they walked into was a small armory, an outpost, as Julius described them, for the numerous griffon patrols to restock on ammunition and weapons as they moved throughout the fortress. A few dozens crossbows, fully sized to hand sized, hung from the walls, next to spears, talon caps, and even a few swords. A few tables, most bare, had the tiniest scraps of food laying on them, which Markus devoured eagerly. He quickly composed himself as the others entered, wiping meat from his beak. “Alright, just give me a moment to gather my strength, and we will be on our way.” The changelings split, each moving to the sides of the room, and covering them. Alan and Julius sat. A long silence hung in the room, and Alan spent it’s entirety glaring at Markus. Markus, however, was looking around at the changelings. His eyes swept around the room, looking deeply at each changeling before moving to the next. His gaze fell on one changeling in particular. He seemed to have issues sitting still as they waited. That’s when he spoke next. “Thank you for the hospitality, and I’ll ask you forgive me. Three years is just a long time to stay still. As it is, two-and-a-half weeks is a long time to go without food. By rights, I should be dead by dehydration alone. If it weren’t for the fact that my cell leaks I wouldn’t be here now.” The changelings looked less than impressed. Markus gave them a weak smile before smacking his lips. “Speaking of water, is there any chance I could get a drink? I’d hate for my voice to go out while speaking to whoever is in charge.” The changelings all looked at each other. The twitchy one stood up first and left. “Thank you, good sir,” Markus said as the changeling left. “She is female,” one of them noted. “Thank you, good ma’am,” Markus corrected. Markus’ eyes went to the wall, and he stood, picking up a hand crossbow off the wall. He toyed with it for a moment, before picking a steel tipped bolt out of a nearby quiver and loading it. “Why did you load that crossbow?” the leader asked. “Who ever is in charge will probably want him dead,” Markus said, lazily pointing the hand-bow over at Alan. “If that is the case, I want the pleasure of ending his sorry life.” The changelings all shared a look and a malicious smile. “We shall see,” the leader said simply. Markus smirked. Alan growled. “Oh? Testy, are we?” Markus asked, setting the hand crossbow down on the table. “Upset that I betrayed you?” he asked. “I don’t know why, you should have seen it coming a mile away,” he said, stepping closer to the bound pony. Markus reached forward and grabbed Judgement’s hilt, pulling the sword free. “You should have taken this marvelous sword of yours and plunged it into my heart.” Judgement shimmered in the torchlight, and anger burned in Alan’s eyes. Markus smirked again, and gave Judgement a experimental swing, stepping back to the middle of the room. “It really is a beautiful sword,” he said, looking down on the white blade as he stood with his back turned to the Pendragon. “Just look at this craftsmanship,” he said, “you have to admire the temper,” he admitted, moving closer to the leader. “I just might have to test the edge.” The leader raised a would-be eyebrow. And that was all he could do before Judgement plunged into his neck. Markus moved quicker than the changelings were expecting, and leapt backward to the table and scooped up the hand-bow. He fired it, launching the bolt at a large helmet, and knocking it loose to fall onto another changeling. Markus leapt up again, aiming at two changelings that sat side by side, and plunged his claws into their necks. Three other changelings charged him, and Markus took to the air again, his thin wings providing just enough lift to get his frail body into the air. He came back down, slamming his body back down into the changelings, and quickly went for the throat. Alan blinked, watching the old, atrophied griffon leap around the room, making strikes with surgeon-like precision. By the time the changeling that had been slammed by the helmet recovered, only four beings were in the room. Alan, Julius, Markus, and him. Markus glared at him, and said only one thing. “Run.” The survivor did just that. Markus stood, staring out the door for a moment or so, before he collapsed onto the ground, panting. “That...that was almost too much…” he said. He gulped down air, even as he pulled himself up to his feet. He crawled over to the table, popping open a strongbox for a key. “Forgive my deception, my lieges, but I thought that perhaps we would suffer less resistance this way.” He shuffled over to the two would-be prisoners, unlocking Julius’ cuffs first before moving to Alan’s. The second the cuffs came off, Alan pushed his head forward, getting face-to-face with the griffon. “Don’t. Touch. My. Sword.” “Yes, of course,” Markus said, lowering his head in submission. “I’m sorry.” Alan snorted through his nose, before heading across the room to retrieve Judgement. “It is a very nice sword, though,” Markus said weakly. <<<|Ω|>>> After a short rest for Markus to recover, and to remove the makeshift magic inhibitor, the three were off once more, heading higher and higher up the keep. Markus took the lead, showing the way with Alan right behind him. The Pendragon, meanwhile, was trying his best to keep himself from grinding his teeth. He could feel the smug look Judgement would be giving him. The unsaid “I told you so,” was agonizing. “Well? Are you going to say anything?” Alan asked. “It’s not polite to brag,” came the response. The Pendragon almost growled. “I hate you, so much.” “Are you aware that speaking to voices that reside in your head is typically a sign of insanity?” “Only if they talk back,” Alan responded. There was silence for a moment. “That does not at all help your ca—” “I know!” Refocusing on the world around him, Alan checked the hallways again, two mana daggers and Judgement at the ready. Since leaving the armory, they had not come across any changeling force of any noteworthy size, and they easily dealt with the ones that were not noteworthy. So far, as much as Alan hated to admit it, Markus’ ploy had worked. It was yet another tick to Alan’s patience. It was penance, he was sure. What’s more, it onl— His train of thought was suddenly interrupted as the wall next to them slid open, revealing a white unicorn mare and a purple drake. They all stared at each other a moment. “Well,” Spike said, opening the conversation, “fancy meeting you her—” Rarity saw it before anyone else. Alan leapt forward, and, for the fashionista, the world seemed to slow for a second as her Ioun stone kicked in. Later, when asked to describe what happened, she said it was almost as if Alan had an after image in reverse. A...fore-image, if you will, reached for her, quickly followed by Alan’s own hoof. She watched, fascinated, as the image hooked a leg around her head and then yanked her backwards. She then gave a bit of a strangled cry, as this exact thing happened. She felt a knife press into her throat, and gasped before yelling. “Alan, what is the meaning of this?” “Spike,” Alan shouted, ignoring her, “how does Twilight like her coffee?” Spike, after recovering from the initial shock, leveled his best glare at Alan. “Exactly 4.93 milliliters of milk, and 3.92 grams of sugar, and if you don’t let go of her now, I will turn you into a barbeque.” Alan released her. “Sorry about that, Rarity, but we are dealing with changelings, here.” She harrumphed, and began to fix up her mane again. “Well, while I appreciate your caution, you did not need to be such a ruffian about it.” Alan sighed. “Look, considering that Ironclaw is not the real Ironclaw, I figured it was necessary.” “Ironclaw’s not the real Ironclaw?” Spike asked. “We have the ex-General with us,” Alan said, motioning to the griffon. Spike blinked. “Wow, I did not recognize you.” Markus gave a mirthless grin. “Well, I have lost a lot of weight…” “Alright, let’s hurry up and go,” Alan said. “The sooner we rendezvous with the others, the better.” He paused a moment. “Sorry again, Rarity.” "Oh, it’s alright, dear. Besides, it’s not like I haven’t made a mess of myself already.” Alan nodded, before suddenly stopping and looking at her again. “Are those…” he said, pointing at the stones hovering over her head. “Are those what I think they are?” She smiled smugly and trotted past him. “That depends on what you think they are, Darling.” As the two ponies and two griffons began to walk away from the darkness of the secret passage, Spike hesitated. He took a moment to look back, into the shadows. A pair of red eyes stared back at him. Spike did not fear them. “T-thanks...Dad…” he said. The eyes smiled back at him. “Go…” a wispy voice told him. Spike smiled. “Yes, sir.” Gaafnirlaas, Master of Shadows, watched him go. <<<|Ω|>>> The party of five now moved through the halls, slinking stealthily through the shadows. Spike’s goggles, which had somehow survived his massive growth spurt, was now hiding him as he crawled along the ceiling like a large, winged gecko. The others moved along the ground with Alan behind Markus, Rarity behind him, and Julius coming up the rear. “So,” Rarity whispered to Alan, “Are you sure we can trust him?” “Trust?” Alan answered back.”I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.” “But, weren’t you just saying he saved you?” “More like saved himself from being changeling food,” Alan grumbled before adding under his breath, “not that he’d be much for nutrition.” Markus raised a claw. Everyone froze. “What is it?” Alan asked. “I...I hear something.” No one said a word. “I don’t hear anything,” Alan whispered harshly. “I’ve lived with three years of total silence,” Markus said simply, “I know when I hear something.” “Yeah, well, I—” Julius shushed him. There… There was something… They went quiet, and all turned an ear to the sounds. Soon, the sound of hundreds of feet stomping forward in an inconsistent march. And then, Alan picked up a very familiar tune. “And we stand tall Sons of the snow We will not fall Under these blows For our hearts they are hardy Our spirits are strong And our voices are lifted into This Paradise song!” Blinking, Alan peaked his head around the corner. There, coming up hall, was a small army of griffons, led by six ponies. Alan blinked. And then, with a smile he stepped out in front of them. “Pinkamena Diane Pie, was this your idea?” he called. The sight of him froze the incoming pride of griffons, and a murmur began to ripple through them. “Nope!” Pinkie answered as she bounced forward. “The singing was, but the Griffon Prisoner Army of Doom was Applejack’s idea!” “Really?” Alan asked. “Cause ‘Pie’ is just written all over this.” “It’s true, sir,” Soarin said, “They had all this set up long before we showed up.” “Really? Huh,” Alan said. “Not bad, AJ. I’d give you a raise if I were still paying you.” “Still?” Applejack asked. “You ain’t never paid me!” “And that proves you aren’t a changeling,” Alan said simply. “Alright, come on out, guys.” Spike went visible and dropped from the ceiling, and was quickly followed by Rarity, and Julius. Markus ducked behind the new king. “Hey, guys!” Spike said with a smile. “Whoo!” Pinkie cried, jumping into the dragon’s arms, causing Spike to flail wildly as he tried to catch her. “Now we’re only four ponies away from a reunion tour!” Soarin and Big Mac both chuckled, while Applejack was hoping that no one would notice how she hadn’t asked a single question for any sort of confirmation at all. “So I assume you guys have a guide in there?” Alan asked. “Eeyup!” Big Mac answered. “We were just headin’ up to the throne room ourselves.” Alan nodded. “Good, you’re heading my way then,” he laughed, and then said, “Seriously, though, I’ll gladly take his directions over what we have now.” “An’ who’s that?” Applejack asked. To answer her, the small group parted, revealing the gaunt, disgraced general. The griffon army began to mumble again, the sight of Ironclaw alone was enough to send the now-freed captives into a confused frenzy. “Someone is playing us,” Alan explained. “They’ve got another changeling on the throne. Here’s our guy.” The other ponies blinked. “Well don’t that beat all?” Applejack asked. “So…” Silver began, setting Dustmaker down so that he could speak clearly, “what happened?” “Tell you what, we’ll explain on the way,” Alan said. “We have some catch up to do anyway.” <<<|Ω|>>> Markus marched in line with the other griffons. Or tried to. They were giving him a very, very wide berth. Almost unnecessarily so. Of course...he...well...It kinda was what he deserved, wasn’t it? He wasn’t trustworthy anymore. He had betrayed his family and country, and became a traitor and kinslayer. There was hardly anything worse. Literally. Both traitors and kinslayers were the worst things to be in griffon society, and Markus had doomed himself to both. He looked up ahead, to where the Pendragon was speaking with his friends. “So what happened to all your armor, Mac?” “It wasn’t helpin’ much,” the large red pony carrying a smaller pegasus on his back answered. The aged griffon’s eyes fell on Julius. His nephew. His family. The only family he had left. He sighed. Yes… He did deserve this. <<<|Ω|>>> Twilight Sparkle trotted forward, walking next to Rainbow Dash, while Shining and Thunderlane took the lead. So far, they had also met minimal resistance. Well, changeling resistance, anyway. What they had met with, was a ton of traps. “Get down!” Twilight yelled, as a volley of poisoned darts flew towards Rainbow. The pegasus hit the ground hard, barely missing the darts as they shot through her feathers. “Okay, that was close,” she mumbled. Thunderlane groaned. “How many more traps do we have to go through?” “If my experience as a Dungeon Delver is anything to go by,” Shining said, “we’ll have traps up until one of us is unconscious, and the rest of us are at 5 hp or lower.” Thunderlane looked up at him. “Nerd.” “At least they’re traps,” Shining continued, ignoring the pegasus, “Gaffer’s Kobolds were absolutely terrifying.” Twilight groaned. “Stop with the Kobolds, already! We get it, they left your tenth-level party a sobbing mass of mental scars! Look, just stop it with the Oubliettes and Ogres references alright? We don’t need to tempt the universe any further!” “What now?” Dash asked. “I keep expecting some sort of Boss at the end of this hallway…” “Nerd,” Thunderlane repeated. “Hey!” Shining said, butting in. “No one calls Twily a nerd…” “Thank you, Shining!” Twilight said with a smile. “...Except me and Alan.” “Thank you, Shining…” Twilight deadpanned. “Yeah, Thunders,” Rainbow Dash said, as she walked up next to the other pegasus. “What you need to do is call her an egghead. That’s a good one.” Twilight rolled her eyes. Suddenly, her horn rang to life and both pegasi were caught in her Magick field. “Hold up,” she said simply before a massive blade swung in front of the two. “Oh, come on!” Shining cried. “The Pendulum of Doom? That’s so cliche! I’ve seen teenagers come up with better dungeons!” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Daring Do has better dungeons,” Rainbow agreed. Thunderlane had his turn. “Focus, guys,” Twilight said, grabbing the swinging axe blade with her magic before continuing on. “We still have a lot of ground to cover, and we still need to find everpony el—” Click. The sound of a triggered pressure plate was covered by the sound of grinding stone as the ceiling above Twilight slid open. This sound was, in turn, drowned out by the cry of a pony falling from a hole in the floor above them. Twilight barely had time to look up and see a white pony-shaped figure fall before it crashed into her. Once the proverbial dust settled, the two ponies looked at each other. Twilight looked up to see a white stallion with black hair, brown eyes and golden hooves. Alan looked down to see a lavender mare with a purple mane and bright magenta highlights. They looked at each other. Blinked. And then immediately tried to shove knives into each other’s necks. The two ponies rolled and bounced along the hallway, traps springing as they rolled around. Shining and the others stared on, absolutely confused as the two ponies narrowly avoided death as they tried to kill each other. “What are the Silmarils?” Twilight asked. “Three gems of incredible importance! What was Starswirl’s favorite pasta?” A pair of heads poked through the hole in the roof, Soarin’s and Silver’s, to be exact. They took one look at the flurry of furry fury that was the married couple, and then promptly decided to ignore them. “Hey Shining, what up?” Sorain asked. Shining looked up at the Wonderbolt. “I...I have no idea…” “Then we’re all on the same page,” Soarin said. “What year was Tolkien born?” “The Pre-Classical Era was marked by what three things?” They tumbled again, barely dodging a massive saw that came spinning into the hallway, before coming to a stop. The traps stopped, and Twilight stood, poised over Alan, a fuschia mana-dagger at his throat. Alan looked up at her, a silver mana-dagger at her’s. He smirked. “You always did like being on top.” Twilight dove forward into a kiss, and the mana-daggers faded away. Shining sighed. “Sometimes she scares me…” A long moment passed. “Okay, okay!” Shining said. “Break it up you two! Enough!” Yet another long moment. “Look, Al. I understand there’s a lot to be said for shoving your tongue down your wife’s throat, but she is still my sister!” They finally broke the kiss and stood up and returned to the small herd of ponies. “Hey Shining, Thunderlane, Dash. How’s it going?” “Well, other than the fact that I nearly lost my lunch a second ago, I’m doing alright,” the pegasus mare answered. “You’ll be fine,” Twilight assured her. “Alright, Twi,” Alan said, “if you wouldn’t mind getting us up there, we could all meet up again.” She smiled. “One teleport, coming up.” With a flash of fuchsia magic, the five ponies disappeared, only to reappear on the other side of the hole. “‘Going up’ would have been better,” Alan said. “My one-liners are mine, thank you, very much,” she retorted, before suddenly noticing the large army behind them. “Wow, you guys have been busy…” “Sure as shootin’!” Applejack said, proudly. “Not bad, I’ve got to say.” “Thank ya, kindly,” Applejack finished with a tip of her hat. Then she saw Rarity. “A...are those…” she began, staring wide-eyed at the gems floating around her head. “I promise, dear, I’ll let you see them for as long as you want,” Rarity said, giving Twilight a hug. “Although, we should probably deal with the changelings first, dear.” “And Ironclaw,” Shining added. “Not so much, actually,” Alan said, before pointing out their prisoner. The four new ponies blinked. “Wait…” Twilight said, the wheels in her mind beginning to whirl. “Then that means that...there’s a changeling on the throne…” “That’s exactly what that means,” Alan confirmed. “If...if Ironclaw’s not Ironclaw, then...then the griffons aren’t actually on their side!” “Not entirely on their side,” Ironclaw interjected, trying to answer her while simultaneously trying to be as small as possible as every eye fell on him. “I was able to speak with one of the changelings, they said there were a few traitors.” There were a few mumbles from the pride about traitors. Markus tried to ignore them. “So...if the griffons aren’t actually against us, then we can probably expose the hive with Ironclaw, and neutralize the griffons!” “Hopefully,” Alan added with a hint of bitterness. “We’ll need to keep him,” Twilight said. Alan very much wanted to argue. “The question is now, what is the best way to use our forces?” “Um...actually, about that…” Applejack said. She suddenly had the floor. “Well, um...ya see, Ah kinda, sorta told them they could all go home once we met up.” The ponies stared at her. “Look, they weren’t that big of a group when Ah had said that. Ah didn’t figure on them being that big of a help.” “Um,” one of the griffons said, raising a claw to speak. “I don’t think a lot of us mind going with you.” “That’s a lot of innocents to walk through a war zone,” Julius muttered. “Oh...I hope no one gets hurt,” Fluttershy mumbled, having heard the king. Alan suddenly had a thought. “Hang on, I’ve got an idea. What if we have their help, but send them down the fortress to keep any reinforcements off our backs?” “Pardon?” Big Mac asked. “Look,” Alan explained. “We send them down, and they will keep picking up griffons like you said they have been, they are way more likely to find griffons on the way down, and they’ll keep changelings from coming up to help the queen! In the meantime, they will be heading outside to safety! It works!” “Any oppose?” Twilight asked. “Sounds good to me,” Rainbow said. “I have no qualms about this,” Julius said. No one said anything else. “Alright,” Alan said, “we send them on their way, and we head up to the Throne room.” “Alright, griffons! Listen up!” Applejack cried. “Here’s the plan!” <<<|Ω|>>> The group of fifteen, the original fourteen members of the strike force with Markus in tow, were climbing the stairs of the fortress. “The Party is back together,” Shining said. “Just one last boss fight,” Alan agreed. Twilight, meanwhile, was gnawing on her lip again. “Tell him now? Tell him later?” Shining snuck a rather expectant look back at her. “Okay, should probably tell him sooner rather than later. Now...the question is, near, or far future? And are we taking relativism into this? Compared to the grand scheme of things, the end of the era could be considered the near future… “Of course, I should probably tell him before the baby actually arrives…” Her lip was getting sore. She released the poor bit of flesh and took a deep breath. “Okay Twilight, mare up, and tell him. He deserves to know. “And to be incredibly furious at us…” She gulped, but moved forward, coming up next to her husband. “A-Alan, could I talk to you for a second.” “Sure, Twi, is something wrong?” “Um...no...It’s just...I...um...well…” She was suddenly interrupted by a terrifying, and altogether far-too-familiar screech. Skree! “Oh, thank Celestia!” Twilight muttered as she watched changelings flood the corridor behind them. “What?” Alan asked. “It’ll have to wait!” Twilight cried. “Battle formations!” Alan blinked. And quickly pulled Judgement. Applejack’s chain whipped forward, quickly followed by one of Spike’s fireballs. The whip was quick to disable one of the incoming swarmers, and the fireball was quick to decimate the one behind him. The changeling hardly had time to thank his lucky stars before Silver smashed his head in. Silver smiled, before he was suddenly tackled by five more changelings. Pinkie sliced at them with her scimitars, only to be tackled herself. “They’re trying to capture us!” Silver cried from under the dogpile. “Ah gotcha’ Silver!” Applejack called, before diving into the swarm. “Applejack!” Big Mac called, trying to push back the changelings. Fluttershy tried to desperately hang on as the two of them were slowly swallowed. Soarin dived after Pinkie, trying to cut his way in. Alan swung his sword with righteous fury, Judgement either slicing through soft changeling flesh, or bouncing off their armored exoskeletons. Another one of the monsters dove onto his back, before a set of fangs bit into his shoulder. The attacker was quickly silenced by Markus diving his claws into the creature's neck. “Weren’t the others supposed to stop this?” he asked. Alan did not answer. Shining and Julius were taken. Spike had a whole swarm devoted to himself, five or six changeling grabbing onto his muzzle to keep him from breathing fire. “Darn it! It’s always the Zerg Rush!” Alan cried, as mana-knives formed around him. “Alan!” The cry froze Alan’s heart. His head spun and he saw Twilight going under. He ran for her. As he did, another changeling, clinging to the ceiling smiled. Alan began to chop his way through the changelings, working his way towards his wife even as Rainbow and Thunderlane were dragged down into the sea of chitin. The changeling on the ceiling’s horn began to glow. Alan kept moving forward, and then, he saw them. Moths. Hundreds upon hundreds of moths. They were everywhere. Flashbacks of the massive monster from his dreams all those years ago came to the forefront of his mind. His muscles began to lock up. A wall of moths formed in front of him, standing between him and Twilight. He froze. A hundred moths tackled him, dragging him down. As he went down, frozen by a childhood fear, all he could do was curse his own muscles and hear nine last words. “These two are too dangerous. We leave them here.” And then the world went dark. <<<|Ω|>>> “Alan! Alan help me!” He could still hear her. He...he had to save her. He… He had to… “Twilight!” he cried, sitting up straight. His eyes took in the room instantly. White walls. Linoleum tiles. Shutter blinds. Fluorescent...lightbulbs… Heart...monitor… ...and...and a nurse... A...a human nurse. She stared at him, eyes wide, clutching a clipboard. “Y-you’re awake,” she said simply. Alan looked down. Hands and fingers… “Y-you’re finally awake!” the nurse said, a smile forming on her face. “I…” Alan began staring down at his hands. “I guess I am…” ------------------ And that’s a good place to end. “Miner! What did you do!?” It looks like this party can’t stay together long, can they? “What did you do?” Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a pony to restrain lest spoilers get out. “What did yo—hmffhdddinen?” See you all next time, guys! Bye!