//------------------------------// // Chapter 16: Vampire // Story: Glim // by Smayds //------------------------------// Chapter 16: Vampire Thunderstrike ruffled his wings neatly and checked his combat armour - straight and spotless, of course, but he still made sure - as he walked between the four ornamentally-armoured unicorns flanking the main entrance to the throne room. The Palace staff all thought of it as the throne room, though its proper name was the Hall of the Royal Court. As one of Princess Twilight’s personal guards, he outranked nearly every other member of the Guard. All four unicorns saluted, and the one to his immediate left opened one of the two great double-doors slightly for him. He returned their salutes and stepped inside. The huge room was packed. Hundreds of ponies from all over Equestria were here this morning to air their various emergency petitions. Princess Celestia was sitting on her high throne at the far end of the Court Hall. She was alone, the thrones to either side of her empty. And though her expression seemed warm and welcoming, her voice calm and reassuring, he could tell she wasn’t calm at all. Princess Celestia was really, really pissed. So was Thunderstrike, of course. Yesterday, Princess Glim’s eighth birthday, was supposed to have been a happy national holiday, not the nightmare it had turned into. He’d helped to protect Her Little Highness after the Prince had brought her to safety. He was still furious. He’d heard her terrified screams as he circled in the air above her bed, weapons drawn and held at the ready. He unconsciously checked his left and right swords, just for reassurance. Yes, he thought as he trotted down the aisle in the middle of the court chamber, Princess Celestia was pissed. She was hiding it incredibly well, but she was angrier than he’d ever seen her. But he still had to deliver his message, and he knew that, no matter how angry, Celestia would never bite his head off. And at least he wasn’t the poor sod who’d been sent to get Luna. A very well-appointed pony at the Petitionary Podium was speaking heatedly, angrily. “Your Highness, I really must protest! My citizens are terrified! I don’t know how you could have allowed this to happen! I’ve been practically beseeched -” The pony kept up his tirade. Thunderstrike’s expression didn’t change, but he mentally smiled with satisfaction as he imagined slapping the pompous prat at the podium. Sure, fine, the sudden appearance yesterday of millions of terrifying monsters straight out of everypony’s nightmares was a horrible thing, but nothing gave anypony the right to speak to a Royal Pony Sister in that tone. Not that that would upset any of them, of course. The Princesses were just so damned noble. He’d heard ordinary ponies use far too much familiarity, even their given names, when they spoke to them on occasion. Of course the Princesses didn’t mind, but that kind of thing really, really rankled him. The three Royal Pony Sisters deserved a lot more respect than that. “Yes, We understand, Governor Grey. We know of the reports of the creatures yesterday, and of the nightmares from last night, and we understand that the citizens of Hoofington are worried and concerned,” Celestia was saying in a polite tone to the scowling stallion standing at the speakers’ podium. “We are worried and concerned too, as I’m sure you’ve heard me say fifty times this morning already. We are looking into the matter. More assurance than that, I cannot give.” The guard was quite surprised that the angry pony hadn’t burst into flames at the well-hidden venom in Celestia’s voice, but then, the members of the Protectorate Guard did know Princess Celestia a lot better than anypony else did. He didn’t even falter in his stride as he walked straight past the spluttering Governor - who shot him a sideways scowl that he ignored - and directly up the staircase to the high platform where the three tall thrones stood. Celestia looked at him, the almost-invisible flicker of anger vanishing from her eyes and being replaced at once with concern as she recognised him. He walked right up to where she sat on her white-and-gold cushion and craned his head forward. Muttering had broken out from the Hall at this interruption. Celestia leaned her own head toward the guard’s, cocking an ear. “Emergency summons to Princess Twilight’s study, Your Highness,” he murmured. “The Court,” Celestia murmured back. “I can’t just leave like this. Should I send for Luna? She’ll have only just gone to bed. And she may not be in the best shape to deal with the mood here at any rate.” “Princess Luna has also been summoned to Princess Twilight’s chambers, Your Highness. I have sent a message to the senior earth, pegasus and unicorn Royals, asking that they convene here and act on your behalf. They should arrive within minutes. The summons from Princess Twilight is most urgent, Your Highness. Princess Twilight coded the summons as ‘Life-and-death.’” Celestia straightened without another word. “Fillies and gentlecolts, this Court session is suspended momentarily. Prince Geimos, Princess Aspel and Prince Esterwing will be here shortly to act on Our behalf. Please excuse me, my Subjects.” She stood up and followed the guard back down the steps over the rising clamour from the assembled ponies. Luna couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned in her lavish bed, then gave it up as pointless and threw back the covers. It was nearly twenty-four hours since she’d returned from the moon. Her behaviour yesterday had been appalling, and she was furious at herself for allowing her wits to be overcome by her old fear. That fear had been dispelled more than nineteen centuries ago, dispelled by hate. She’d only been caught by surprise, and her Sisters and herself had spent most of last night talking it through. There was nothing for Luna to fear from The Lunacy. Whatever it tried, she would meet it, once again, with unstoppable hatred. Now that she had her head, she was quite herself. Except for the fact that she was in a very, very bad mood over her behaviour yesterday. There was a gentle tapping on her doors. “WHAT?” she thundered, then sighed and got a hold of herself. She rolled off her bed and stood up, then opened one of the doors with her magic. “I apologise, Lieutenant,” she said to the quaking pegasus who’d knocked. “I’m very sorry to say that I’m in an extraordinarily bad mood at the moment. Yesterday’s events, you understand.” The guard walked forward hesitatingly. “Your, Your Highness, Princess Twilight asks for your urgent presence. In her, um, in her study.” He looked pale. Well, she had nothing else to do for the moment. If she couldn’t sleep, she’d just spend the rest of the day pacing and getting madder and madder at herself. “Understood, Lieutenant. I apologise again. Thank you.” As the guard left and closed the doors, Luna drew back the midnight-blue curtains over her balcony doors, opened one of them, and took to the sky. She wondered if she should go and get Celestia, too, but she spotted her Big Sister just then, lifting off herself from one of the Palace balconies near the Court Hall. The eldest alicorn was flying straight for Twilight’s palace tower. Luna bent her course a little to intercept Celestia’s own. Celestia must have seen her, for she angled towards Luna in turn. “Little Sister sent for you too, then?” the midnight-blue Princess asked. “It almost caused a riot in Court. They’re afraid, Little Sister. They’re all afraid, and they’re expressing their fear through anger. They want reassurances, and I can’t give them any. I don’t know what to do.” “I don’t like this at all, Big Sister. I couldn’t sleep. I need to get out there and start looking for It. Little Sister and I will probably do that together. We both have the best chance of finding It.” Luna’s voice grew hard. “If we can find It, we can get rid of It.” They touched down on Twilight’s wide eastern balcony. The doors were almost pulled closed, and the curtains were half-drawn. The chamber within was dim. Celestia and Luna walked side-by-side through the opening between the two balcony doors. A greeting and a question was on Celestia’s lips as she saw Twilight and Starburst, both sitting down, both pale with shock, expressions of horror on their faces. They were gaping at a small pink unicorn standing in front of them, listening intently to what the stranger was saying. With sudden recognition, the two older Sisters stopped dead in their tracks. “Pinkie Pie,” they whispered together. Starburst looked over at the two alicorns. His expression was hollow, bleak. “Pinkie here was just telling us how...” His voice cracked. He coughed. “How in about five years’ time, Twilight and me both kill Glim,” he said flatly. The silence was total. Pinkie broke it. “Hey! Don’t let it get you down, silly! I said that's not gonna happen any more! Everything's great now! Well, no, not great. Really bad, I guess.” Her smile fell. “Pinkie,” Twilight said quietly. She finally managed to tear her eyes away from her long-dead friend and looked over at her Sisters. Celestia and Luna had sat down awkwardly, and it looked like they were both about to pass out. She looked back at the dead earth pony with the unicorn horn and the long, straight hair. “Maybe you should start your story from the beginning.” Pinkie did. After a couple of minutes, Celestia levitated a notebook and a pencil over from Twilight’s desk. “This needs to be written down,” she murmured, and started scribbling furiously. “So, I saw the rest of yesterday happen completely differently. Twilight and her daughter and husband had tons of fun together. The monsters didn’t show up during her flying lesson, but things got really bad afterwards though. You went somewhere, the three of you, for her thirteenth birthday. Like, in, uh, five years. When you got back it got really horrible.” Pinkie looked to her left and cocked an eyebrow, then she nodded. “The things I see, I don’t know what they mean. It’s so upsetting. But I saw this whole chain of events last night in my dreams, and I understand. It's all changed, it won’t happen now, but you need to understand. What kicked this whole cycle off was a dream I had about twenty years ago. I’d always been sad but this one made me feel just awful, because it started the whole mess that ends with Twilight committing suicide.” The Royals had never, ever been so stunned in their lives. “I... I kill myself?” Twilight whispered. “After... After Glim...?” Pinkie looked to her left again, as if asking permission from somepony, Twilight thought. Then she looked back. “Well, Starburst dies soon after Twilight Glimmer does, that was really horrible. Broken heart, I think. You looked horrible when it happened,” she said, looking at the wide-eyed stallion. Her head turned back to the left again and she wrinkled her eyebrows. “Traumatic aortic rupture? What the hay is that?” She paused. Everypony looked puzzled and a bit sick. “Well, okay,” she said dubiously as she looked back at Starburst. “I still say it was a broken heart.” “Uh, Pinkie Pie?” Twilight asked hesitatingly. “Who are you talking to? What do you keep looking at? There’s nopony there.” “Oh, it’s not a pony,” she said, and looked to her left again. “Oh,” she repeated, as if she suddenly understood something. “Silly me. I’m sorry, everypony. I didn’t know you couldn’t see it.” “See... what?” Luna asked. Celestia continued to scribble furious notes, but she stopped and looked up in stunned amazement when Pinkie answered. “The Element of Harmony. It’s right there.” She pointed at the empty air. All three alicorns stared at the place that Pinkie indicated. Their horns all started to glow at once. “What are you doing?” Starburst whispered to Twilight. “Scrying, Sweetie. You need to use an ethomantic spell.” Twilight screwed her eyes up in concentration. His horn, too, started to glow. For a few more seconds, they all stared very hard at apparently thin air. And then they all saw it at the same time. A very small, rapidly-spinning ball of light and magic, swirled with rainbow patterns that constantly broke and shifted. There were no other features visible, but they all felt it. Felt it looking at them. Felt it smiling at them. “Cingretto Sclacta,” Celestia breathed. “You’re whole again.” The ball of light pulsed. Pinkie spoke again. “It says that you probably can’t hear it. It says hi, Celestia, and yes, Cingretto Sclacta is now Molus Soclero. Whatever that means.” “Is, uh, huh?” Starburst said. “Eternal Harmony,” Celestria translated from the ancient language of Caballusian. “Broken Peace is now Eternal Harmony. The Element really is whole again.” They felt the Element speak again. “It says it’s been whole since Rarity died,” Pinkie said. “It’s yours, Twilight, and you’re apparently going to need it.” The hornglows faded away. “How?” Twilight said urgently. “Can I use it to find The Lunacy? It is back, then? It sent the Windigoes? What for? Why?” Pinkie looked to her left again. She listened for a couple of seconds. “Woah, woah, slow down. Okay, it says that it doesn’t know what happened. The piece that’s left might have escaped destruction when you killed It all those years ago, or It may be the splinter that was sealed inside Its servant. The Element doesn’t know, and it doesn’t know what to look for either.” She paused for a moment. “What about her?” Pinkie asked the air. “Oh.” Her forehead creased and she looked around. “Twilight, was your daughter out of sight yesterday? When the, um, the Windigoes came, I mean. The Element doesn’t think they were really Windigoes, by the way.” “Out of sight? When those things attacked I took her to her room and posted guards. A ton of guards. I don’t think she was out of sight all day,” Starburst said. “Lots of ponies were keeping an eye on her. They still are, in fact.” “No, uh, I mean, was she really out of sight? The Element can see that you’d be able to detect an infection if you cast the right spell. But I’m talking about the, uh, the alicorns.” Pinkie blinked a couple of times. “Mainly Twilight and Luna, I mean. They’ve both been under Its influence.” Luna’s mouth and eyes contracted. Her voice was very hard and tight as she spoke. “You mean that both Little Sister and myself would be best equipped to recognise The Lunacy, if it had invaded a living mind?” “Yeah.” Pinkie Pie nodded sadly, glancing from Luna to the purple Eternal Sister. “Yeah, I’m sorry, Twilight. It probably made its move yesterday when you were all in the park.” Princess Luna and Princess Twilight both looked straight into each other’s eyes, utter horror on each of their faces. Their expressions grew wide in realisation, then they both swore very loudly and vanished with twin flashes of silver moonlight and deep-purple sunset. Celestia started. “Where did they go?” She looked at Pinkie. “Where? Where?! Pinkie Pie, where did they go?!” she insisted. “What happened?” Pinkie was taken aback. “Uh, I don’t know. Things are happening that I’ve never seen before, uh, hang on.” She closed her eyes for a moment. Her horn flashed once, and she opened her startled eyes again. “They’ve, um, they’ve gone to see Twilight Glimmer.” Celestia and Starburst both vanished too. Pinkie blinked in surprise, then she looked over at The Element of Harmony. “Well, I guess I’ll just wait here then.” Celestia appeared right in front of Pinkie Pie with a flash of light that made the pink pony cringe. “Sorry, Pinkie. Come with me.” Celestia touched a hoof to her shoulder and they both disappeared with a crash of sunshine. Pinkie found herself in a large, round, purple-carpeted room. It looked very cozy. Twilight, Luna and Starburst were all standing around a puffy purple couch against the wall. A small purple winged unicorn was looking at her parents and aunt in surprise, a book of fairytales falling from her hooves. “Oh! She looks even prettier in person!” Pinkie said to Celestia. The eldest alicorn and the final Oracle were both hanging back, giving the others space. The doors cracked open and a unicorn guard stuck his head in at the noise. Satisfied there was no threat, he withdrew. They heard the doors lock after he closed them. “Momma, who’s she?” Glim was asking. “She looks like those pictures of your friend, but her hair’s all wrong, it’s all long and straight -” “Glim,” Luna said, softly but firmly, “look at me.” The little winged unicorn flinched. “Am I in trouble, Aunty Luna?” She looked slightly frightened. “Why do you look so scared?” Luna started. “Oh, sorry. Sorry, Glim. Your old aunt is worried, that’s all. Nothing serious,” she lied outrageously and casually. “I have something I need to do. Please look at me. Look straight into my eyes, please. I have to... I’m looking for something.” Glim did. She still looked a little frightened. “What’s the matter? What’s the matter, Aunty Luna? What’s the matter, Momma?” Her eyes drifted to her mother. “Please look straight at me, Glim dear,” Luna murmured. The filly’s eyes snapped forwards again. They were starting to water. “Just relax, Sweetheart,” Twilight said gently. Starburst, standing by her side, was nearly shaking with the stress. He’d worked out what had upset Twilight and Luna, and it was upsetting him too. Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder. “You relax too, Sweetie. Big Sister will find out.” “Momma,” Glim protested. Her tall blue-black aunt was holding her face gently, staring straight into her eyes. Their faces were barely three inches apart. “Momma, what’s the matter, what’s going on? Aunty Luna’s scaring me...” Luna exhaled. Her head dropped, and her whole body sagged. Then she swept the little filly into a hug. Glim squeaked in surprise. “I’m so sorry, Glim, Sweetheart. I thought... Your mother and I thought you might be... sick,” she said. “I had to make sure. You’re not. You’re fine.” “Hey!” Glim squeaked as Starburst and Twilight started hugging her too. “Really, guys, I’m fine,” she protested. “I don’t feel sick.” “Pinkie Pie,” Twilight called over from where she was nearly smothering the filly. “Would you like to meet my daughter? Glim, Sweetheart, there’s a very important pony I’d like you to meet...” Five minutes later, Glim was reading about Clover the Clever again and the rest of them were back in Twilight’s study. Luna and Twilight were both pacing. “We need to look for it,” Twilight said. “It’s not after Glim, thank goodness. I was wondering. Something that confused me. The Windigoes cut me off yesterday. There were thousands of them in the sky, and how many chased you and her?” she asked Starburst. He considered. “Maybe four or five, I think. Hey. That’s a good point. If they were trying to attack her, why so few?” “The Element has a theory,” Pinkie said. “It says it’s not sure but maybe The Lunacy was trying to keep you all occupied, so It could get Twilight Glimmer on her own.” She shrugged. “Why would it want to do that though?” “No idea,” Luna said. “Glim is mortal. There would be no point in the foul thing trying to infect her. If It did, we could see It, we could kill It. Little Sister, I can’t stay here. Not while I know that It’s out there somewhere. We need to go and look for It.” “Hey!” Starburst called. Twilight had nodded and then walked out onto the balcony with her Sister. He galloped after them. “Sweetie! Luna! Where are you going?” Twilight looked at him. He was brought up short. Her beautiful purple eyes had flickered bright blood-red for a moment. “We’re going to look for It. We can’t sit idle. We’re going to find It, and we’re going to kill It.” Without another word, both alicorns opened their large wings, crouched, and rocketed into the sky. He felt a hoof on his shoulder. Celestia. “Don’t worry, Starburst. They have to do this. I don’t think you can understand how much they both despise The Lunacy. If there’s a suggestion that part of It is still alive, they won’t rest until they hunt It down.” “But they might... What if...” he said. Then he realised what he was trying to object to. “Yeah. I guess they are both indestructible. It’s not like It could hurt them, is it?” “I doubt that whatever’s left of It could hurt anypony. Don’t worry.” Celestia turned around and went back inside, picking up her notebook and sitting down in front of Pinkie Pie again. “They may be some time, Pinkie. Would you like to finish your tale?” Pinkie nodded. “Sure! I hated this next part, the first time I saw it. So they’d just got back from this trip, right? Twilight and Starburst were going to teach Glim how to levitate, but this guard knocked on the door, this really important-looking guard. Somepony’d seen a dragon, and Twilight went along to ask it to leave...” “Together!” Luna shouted. “We shouldn’t split up! We should search together!” “Yes!” Twilight called back. They flew side-by-side in an expanding spiral centred on Ponytopia Palace, sweeping close to the pretty peaked rooftops of the enormous city that they’d built, around and around again, following the flowing circles of the hundred-mile-wide city for nearly an hour until they were absolutely sure that what they sought was certainly not here. Alright, Ponytopia was covered. On to the rest. Both Sisters banked to the south and streaked directly towards the ancient city on the side of the mountain to the south, the nearest populated place to Ponytopia. Both regal faces took on grim, half-savage expressions, both horns illuminated and flickering in unison. Within minutes, Twilight and Luna were flapping swiftly on a spiraling path through the towers and turrets of Old Canterlot. Twilight glared to their left while Luna took the right. They wove their twisting route among the ancient buildings, banking here and there, occasionally circling a plaza or square or park several times. Then they flew up the towering peak that perched above the ancient ex-capital, circled its snowy summit once, twice, three times. They streaked off to the northwest. They slowed to only a hundred miles per hour as they flew through Cloudsdale’s wispy tops and towers. Their hypersonic wakes would have easily damaged the fragile, ancient city of the pegasi. After several circuits, they oriented themselves to the east, aiming for the bustling metropolis on the horizon. Their wings started to screech as they accelerated, using powerful alicorn magic to demolish the laws of physics in their haste. The air exploded into roaring white flames all around them. “MANEHATTAN’S HUGE!” Twilight called magically to Luna - ordinary speech couldn’t possibly carry at this speed. “HOW ABOUT I TAKE THE WESTERN BOROUGHS AND YOU TAKE THE ONES TO THE NORTHEAST?” “NO!” Luna yelled back. “WE MUST STAY TOGETHER, LITTLE SISTER! WE MUST NOT SPLIT UP! OUR VIGILANCE WILL BE DOUBLED IF WE REMAIN TOGETHER!” “OKAY! AGREED! GOOD CALL, BIG SISTER! WHERE DO WE START?” Luna squinted, gritted her teeth, considered. “FROM THE SOUTHERN END!” she decided. “IT’S NEAREST, AND TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! WE SWEEP IN ON THIS COURSE AND THEN REVERSE! WE SHOULD WORK BACK AND FORTH UP THE CITY, MOVING NORTHWARD, AND THEN WE TAKE ANOTHER PASS AT NINETY DEGREES TO THE FIRST, WE FOLLOW AN EAST-TO-WEST ZIG-ZAG TO CLEAR THE CITY AGAIN!” Twilight nodded. Her horn flickered again and she focused on the southern suburbs of the huge city they were approaching at fifty times the speed of sound. The Lunacy wasn’t in Cloudsdale, It wasn’t in Old Canterlot. And It wasn’t in Ponytopia, the capital, the biggest city in Equestria, a massive sprawling place of eighty-five million ponies. So if It were anywhere, it was most likely that It would be in the next-largest city in the world. Manehattan had a population of thirteen million. A very good chance it would be hiding here. They slowed as they reached the city. Twilight and Luna streaked across the enormous metropolis at half a mile a second, horns blazing bright, seeking the monster that had evaded them so far. Twenty minutes later, they both rocketed side by side to the south, down the coast towards Baltimare. It took less than thirty seconds to cover the three hundred miles. They swept down the eastern side of the city, horns and eyes searching, searching. Banking sharply to the right, they began the search again, passing townhouses and condominiums and then long row-houses and finally tall apartments and skyscrapers. They banked left, turning as sharp as a billiard ball off a side-cushion, screamed south again, ducking in and around and amongst the towering buildings, not leaving any single place in the city uninspected for the monster they both hated. Their next stop was far away, and the fastest way of getting there was on a ballistic course. Twilight and Luna’s flight paths snapped directly upwards. Once they passed ten thousand feet, they really cut loose. There were no structures around to damage. They surged forwards on a current of magic, their wings beating invisibly-fast and screeching far louder than the howling, flaming wind around them again. Barely two minutes later, the Sisters re-entered the atmosphere nineteen hundred miles away from Baltimare. The air screamed into white-hot fire around them as they allowed the wind drag to slow them to a reasonable speed. Just on the outskirts of the desert city of Las Pegasus, they both banked sharply up and roared into the city, screaming along The Strop at a thousand miles per hour, their horns blazing bright as they looked everywhere. Breaking first to the left, then to the right, they completed this sweep and rocketed high into the sky again, heading north-east. They arced over at two hundred thousand feet, falling towards the far-northern town of Hoofington. Nopony could possibly call this place of two million ponies a city; it was even more laid-back and relaxed than Ponytopia itself. They crisscrossed the hundreds of thousands of cozy cottages five times before they were satisfied. Twilight and Luna turned to the south and screamed over Laketon, a thick forest, patchy prairie and then bare desert. They slowed as they approached Saddlestop, circled the town once, flashed away to the east, repeated their circles at Appleloosa, roared north again, ripped through Dodge Junction, screamed once again into the skies for their next target. They descended onto the tall city of Phillydelphia like a pair of flaming demons. Once again weaving through the skyscrapers and towers, they flew on screaming wings to the southern suburbs, twisted above them, headed south once more. They streaked across wide grasslands and circled the city of Galloway, sizing it up. They entered along a wide river, taking the north half of the city first before clearing the south. Then they headed off to the west again as fast as they could. Almost an hour later, they paused and took stock of the situation, hovering in the hot and roiling air above the Great Western Desert. “We’ve missed It,” Luna hissed venomously. “We sweep again.” Twilight nodded. “Yes, again. It’s here somewhere, Big Sister. We go to the far north and sweep east-to-west. We cover every inch of Equestria.” She paused. “No, we search the entire continent. We go right up to the border with the Deadlands.” Twilight Sparkle scowled. “We’ll find It. We’ll find It and we’ll kill It. Let’s go.” Luna nodded in agreement. The two Sisters rocketed into the sky, leaving twin trails of fire and magic behind them. Starburst embraced his wife. “Oh, thank Starshine. Wow, you’re really cold, Sweetie.” “We flew back above the stratosphere. Pulls the heat right out of you.” “I’ll take your word for it,” he chuckled, then turned serious. “How’d you and Luna get on?” The embrace broke and they both sat down in the corridor outside their daughter’s bedroom. “We didn’t find It, Sweetie. I’m sorry. We’ll look again tomorrow.” Starburst shook his head. “It’s almost tomorrow already. No, I don’t like this. I think we should wait.” Twilight blinked. “Wait? Are you serious? This is our daughter we’re talking about!” She glared at her husband. “Luna and myself are going to turn Equestria upside-down and inside-out until we find It, Sweetie. You can’t ask me to stop doing this.” A pained look crossed Starburst’s brow. “No. Listen, Sweetie. Listen!” he said, cutting off her protest. “You didn’t find anything today, right?” “Well... No. No, we didn’t find It today. But that doesn’t mean that It’s not -” “You didn’t find It today,” Starburst said loudly. “What makes you think you’ll ever find It? It doesn’t want to be found, Sweetie. Leave It be.” Twilight spluttered in shock. “Think about it. Really think about it, and don’t let your emotions get in the way of your intellect,” Starburst said sharply. “You’re smart, Sweetie. Think it through.” Twilight just spluttered again. “You won’t find It. It’s too clever. So just calm down, just chill, and wait until It shows Itself. We know It’s out there, wanting to destroy what we all have. Let It make Its move, and then you can kill It.” Twilight thought about this. Then, grudgingly: “Alright. Okay. You have a point, Sweetie.” Her mouth contracted for a moment. “But what if -” Starburst swore and glared at her. “You’re an alicorn, Sweetie! A bucking alicorn! The Master of Magic herself, and the sole Bearer of the Element of Harmony! You can do anything! What possible harm do you think this shattered smudge of evil magic can possibly do against you and your Sisters?!” “I still don’t like it.” Twilight hesitated a moment. “But, okay, you win. You win, Sweetie. We’ll keep an eye out but we won’t go looking for It.” “How about bed? It’s nearly midnight.” Twilight nodded. “Sounds good to me. What a day. Where’s Pinkie Pie?” “We gave her my old tower. Seems she’s been living in a cave for sixteen hundred years. Last I saw her, she was bouncing on the bed and squealing that she’d ‘never imagined so much luxury could exist’ or something like it,” he grinned. “Good. I really want to talk to her again. I hope she stays with us.” Twilight paused for a moment. “Let’s say goodnight, Sweetie.” She pushed open Glim’s bedroom doors and they both trotted softly over to the little filly’s comfortable bed. Twilight was surprised to see a tiny smile on her daughter’s peaceful sleeping face. Maybe she’s dreaming. I hope it’s a nice dream. Twilight bent close and kissed her daughter softly on the cheek. “Sleep well, Sweetheart,” she whispered. Starburst leaned in and kissed her too, then husband and wife went off to bed themselves. The guards outside her room, in the corridor, out on the balcony, standing on the tower's parapeted walkway below the gilded spire, were all straining their ears. They were all alert for the sound of any possible disturbance. Of course, some things don’t make sounds when they cause their disturbances. Twilight Glimmer was indeed dreaming, and it was a very nice dream. She and Momma and Daddy were flying, flying was so much fun, it was her birthday and this was the best present anypony’d ever given her... They swooped and looped and laughed together, high in the air above the park... The dream changed. It became a nightmare. Too many of those scary black things for her to count, she was falling, she was screaming, her wing hurt so bad, she’d never been so scared in her life... She whimpered softly in her sleep. Something tiny and invisible flitted out of Glim’s heart, danced up her spine. It would be quite safe hidden away in the filly’s strong, pure heart, It was sure. Nothing would find It there. Because nopony would think to look. Of course, It couldn’t exactly do anything there, either. But It could stay safely hidden. It settled Itself into her sleeping mind. She shuddered. It gently stroked the inside of her skull as It willed her to stay asleep and dream on. Despite her nightmares, the slightly-trembling face of Twilight Glimmer seemed to relax for a moment. Her lips were drawn upwards into a brief smile. If any of the three alicorns had been in this chamber at this moment, they would have recognised the smile. The Lunacy’s terrible world-ending smile. It still could not believe how lucky It had been, after screwing up so badly yesterday. After It had nearly thrown Its last chance away. It had spent all of Its remaining magical reserves to create the enormous illusion of the Windigo Storm yesterday, specifically to draw the alicorns away from Twilight Glimmer. And then It had succummed to Its weakness, Its lust for mayhem and chaos, when It should have left the instant her father had taken her away and all three of the harpies were occupied. It had waited like a fool, lurking invisibly in that park, watching the glorious mayhem in the skies above, revelling in the glory of this unexpected battle. And then that worthless Bitch of the Night had sensed It. The last thing It expected, and perhaps a fatal error. They were alerted, and they were on Its trail, though they hadn’t caught Its scent. It would have to be very, very careful from now on. It could not afford another mistake, no matter how small that mistake might be. Any mistake now would almost certainly be fatal. It was so weak, so fragile right now that any fool of a unicorn right out of Magic Kindergarten could banish It with almost no effort at all. If one of the alicorns found It, then It would die, instantly and permanently. It could not allow that to happen, and that was why It had chosen Its host with particular care. Twilight Glimmer’s father was the most powerful mortal unicorn that had ever lived. And her mother, oh my. Her mother was the most magically-powerful being to ever exist. The progeny of such a pairing would have magic like the world had never seen. Feeding on this vast source of magical potential, It would grow stronger and stronger again, until the only possibility of Its defeat could come from only one being. From Twilight Sparkle, the Master of Magic. And by that stage, Twilight Sparkle would have to be wielding the hateful Element to magnify her spell enough to bring about the result she desired. The Lunacy clung to Its only hope. It sucked on the expanding magic of Twilight Glimmer, and it grew stronger, moment by moment, degree by degree. This plan was fifteen centuries in the making. This was a perfect plan that would absolutely work. It had thought this plan through very carefully. It would be damned if It allowed Itself to fail for a sixth time. The final time. This really would be the final time. It would not fail here, because this was Its last chance. And despite the fact that It had never been weaker, never been more crippled, more feeble, more horribly maimed, It had never had a chance as good as this. Twilight Glimmer, as far as anypony knew, was just an ordinary pony. Certainly she was of a rare breed, both pegasus and unicorn together at once. Other than that, however, she wasn’t particularly special at all. She was just a perfectly normal pony. Her magic hadn’t developed yet, though. Eventually, her thaumaturgical potential would be immense, and then everypony would be astounded. But that was at least a decade away. For the moment, she was essentially a perfectly ordinary pony. She was a winged unicorn but she wasn’t an alicorn. She was mortal. Her magic would never match her mother’s. Twilight Glimmer was, It admitted, only second-best in terms of raw magical potency. But second-best had its advantages now. If The Lunacy could have mastered an alicorn again, the world would end this very minute. This very second. But such things were forever beyond Its capabilities now. Too much of Itself was dead and gone. Night and Nightfall were both forewarned and far too strong to ever fall again, and Day herself had always been utterly incorruptible - such a pity, as Celestia would have made the ultimate Night Mare. But that was impossible now, as it had always been impossible. The first Eternal Sister’s will was unbreakable, utterly insurmountable. Celestia could never be overpowered. But the will of a child, a mere child, a wide-eyed and innocent child... A powerful child, and more importantly, a mortal child. Any spell that could kill It would also kill Its host. Twilight Glimmer was no alicorn, and so her magic would never be as powerful as an alicorn’s. But it would, eventually, be powerful enough for Its purposes. And, much more importantly... As a mortal pony, she was not immune to any imaginable physical or magical assault. Once revealed, the spell that would rip It from the mind of this little filly would kill the filly in the process. When the time was right for It to reveal Itself, the only being that could possibly destroy It would be The Master of Magic, Twilight Sparkle herself. And then only if her own unimaginable powers were magnified a thousandfold by the reunited Element. Only Twilight Sparkle could wield The Element, The Ultimate Magic, the hateful other half of The Lunacy that foolishly wished only for peace and harmony. And therefore only Twilight Sparkle could ever kill It. And Twilight Sparkle would never be able to kill her own daughter. Glim’s sleeping face briefly twisted into that nightmarish smile again. Finally, finally, after so long, after so many thousands and thousands of years, after far too many ruined plans... At last, at long, long last, true chaos would descend. The world would burn. And it would burn very soon.