//------------------------------//
// 1. Twilight Sparkle, Part One 
// Story: Playing God 
// by Julia 
//------------------------------//

Twilight woke to wind blowing violently. Falling out of the bed she was in onto the cold, rock floor below, she managed to not fall horn-first to cause herself an unimaginable amount of bloody pain and saving her vocal cords from what would have been a morning of blood curdling screaming. 




It had happened before, however. It happened just yesterday, when she saw the explosion that was given birth to in the sky a distance away. The cloudy sky over Ponyville was swept away by the violent, unrelenting turbulence from the north winds. It blew the many ponies walking outside away, and the light that had distracted them long enough for the rest of the force to destroy the outer edge of Ponyville which pointed to the direction of Cloudsdale. Twilight could remember it so clearly, and the memories haunted her like a thorn in her side. She had received a letter from Princess Celestia telling her to protect the entirety of the survivors of Ponyville, The Crystal Empire, and Cloudsdale, and to watch out for any outsiders who seemed suspicious. She could not react fast enough to brace Ponyville from the impact of the Silver Nuke which Effiela landed upon Cloudsdale, and she could not quell the chaos which was ensued on the village. Everypony sprinting around in confused masses of uncertainty and sorrow, worrisome of what could come to them next if they did not act fast enough.

Twilight stood, seemingly alone in the chaotic uproar of the Ponyville crowd, and tried to muster up the courage to display her authority, but she could not bring herself to control them. They kept running, crying, falling to their knees in sorrow, and endlessly spouting nonsense of the end of the world. The apocalypse was brewing upon their unprepared tails, and they were drowning in nothing but fear and ail. Twilight soon was pushed back and trampled by her ponies. Her own subjects used her as a coat in a mud puddle to get themselves to a blind safety. They had proven to her that running was pretty much all they were good for. Twilight could not stand for their turmoil and complaining, surely the end of Equestria was neigh, but if they only listened to her, then they could find out a way to survive through it all. If only they listened...

She hit her head against the ground, horn first, and she unknowingly blasted a laser in her fit of discomfort and rage. She rose up from her fall and kicked a rock far until it hit a stray building in the distance. Taking her stance, Twilight screamed, "Stop it! All of you!"

Twilight was panting in tiredness and pain from her sprained horn. She glared at the ponies around her, now in control of their attention. "If you all run about mindlessly and aimlessly, then we'll end up like the cities our enemy has destroyed already! If you keep doing what you're doing now, then we all will die! Is that what you want?! Think about the children, these poor, innocent foals, do you want their minds to be plagued with your hopeless screaming? Do you want to destroy any hope they have for survival before they even have any? Or do you want to be saved?!"

The ponies of Ponyville made their sorrowful eyes feast upon the sight of the ground, they merely began to wail and cry out to Twilight, begging for her to help them in any way she could. Twilight had no plan whatsoever, but she needed not to think, as Applejack had run through the crowd to Twilight's side to speak on her behalf. 

"We Apple Clan members have long had an escape route to an underground bunker to hold all of Equestria in a time like this, since our cities and landmarks are being destroyed," Applejack said to the crowd, looking to Twilight and winking with a smile, prompting Twilight to smile back. "Now, if we could all get there in a nice and orderly fashion, then we won't have to worry about anything."

Then Spike, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie all managed to join them in the center of the group, all smiling and happy. Twilight giggled in hope that this would be the step that led to peace. "Now, what are we all waiting for? Let's go!"

The ponies all stood together and began to make their way upon following Applejack and the rest of the Mane Six, now happy and full of hope, despite the obvious hopelessness all around them. Spike had managed to grab the box holding the Elements of Harmony before leaving the castle, just in case the Mane Six had to use them. However, nopony knew the secret behind their power and how often the Elements could be used. 

Surely, what Celestia had explained about them to Effiela Claire earlier was correct, that the more Harmony had to be distributed then the more the Elements themselves had to harmonized. Their cores were now so concentrated with orderly magic, that the could not stand to be in the same place any longer. Even one more usage of them, and the worst possible thing could happen to the users.

The alicorn changelings flew down in a dense formation down from the sky. The buzz of their wings and their grunts and groans of starvation's song emanating from them put great distress within the ponies' hearts. Twilight was about to give an order to them, but the overwhelming force pushing out of the alicorn changelings and onto the village of Ponyville was ungodliness incarnate. Twilight could do nothing but stare at the incoming attack, frozen in her fear, clueless on what to do. Rainbow Dash dropped down beside them, her eyes still fixed upon the enemy, she gritted her teeth in anger, holding back a scream of despair. Fluttershy's eyes slowly began to close, as the yellow pegasus' legs could barely support her weight, and she flopped over, unconscious to the events.

The aura of the thousands of alicorn changelings was dark, and depressingly deep, just like the ocean of Celestia's magical energy which Effiela had felt. This was not magic however, this was the despair, hatred, and negative feelings of the trapped souls within that were from the ponies devoured by the changeling skins. Now feeding off of the ponies' love and magic, they had to get rid of the waste, which were the negative feelings, and this resulted in the air which the ponies of Ponyville stood under now. This was truly darker than anything they had dealt with before, and they were ill-equipped for this situation. Until Twilight remembered that Spike had the Elements of Harmony in the box.

"Spike! Quick! Give me the Elements!" Twilight demanded, as Spike acted quickly and threw to her the box, out of which she took the Elements of Harmony and distributed them among the rest of the Mane Six... "Fluttershy! Please! Get up! This is no time to blackout! I know you're scared out of your mind, but for once, we all feel that way!"

Pinkie Pie took it upon herself to wake up Fluttershy, as even Pinkie seemed to only be partially affected by the dark aura emitting from the alicorn changelings floating above them. She shook Fluttershy like a rag doll, even slapping her once. "Flutters! Remember, we will smile in the face of danger! We can't give up in a time like this, especially when we're like the newly appointed protectors of Equestria!"

Pinkie's shouting immediately awoke Fluttershy, who still had bags of fear under her eyes. She could not bear to look up at the resting danger before them. She could not help but remember the terror which the changelings had inflicted upon Canterlot, and the helpless screams of the ponies who were attacked. This all flooded within her mind, and her psyche rejected the Element of Kindness, even as the other Elements were completely harmonized with her friends. She dropped down to bury her sight onto the ground. "I....I can't do this! They'll just come back again! If we couldn't beat them completely once, then what makes you think that we can do it again? I know it's been so long since then, but if... if it even took this long for them to come back, it doesn't matter what we do! They'll keep coming back like a virus!"

Twilight clenched her eyes shut, not wanting to yell at Fluttershy as she was already broken by the constant violence erupting within her life. This was not the time for calm words however, the cause was loud, so the response had to be loud. "FLUTTERSHY! This is no time to cower in fear! Please, you must rise so we can defeat the enemy!"

Fluttershy looked up to Twilight, then began crying in fear, almost rejecting the upbringing statement which the Princess had made. She then glanced to the alicorn changelings, and felt their auras of hell and their tormented souls' cries. The screams of the trapped souls within were crying out to her, almost as if they knew her Element of Kindness. 


"Help me! Please! Help me!"

"Nopony can save me now, there's no hope! All is lost!"

"I can't stop this pain... it hurts... please, make it end!"

"I see you all trying to kill us. You don't know how it feels to be like this! If you know what's good for you, you'd better spare us!"


Fluttershy began hyperventilating, she tried to run away, but Rainbow Dash stepped in front of her and kept her back. She did not even have to touch her to make her stop. Fluttershy tried to speak through her tears and her cracking voice, "Please, Rainbow Dash! Get out of my way, I've heard those voices in there! Those are actual ponies in there! We can't hurt them!" she pleaded, trying to push Rainbow Dash out of the way, but Rainbow would not budge.

"I can hear it too, Fluttershy, and I'm pretty sure everypony else does as well," Rainbow Dash said calmly, "but that's no reason to run away! If we sit back and let them run all over us, that's no better than fighting back! At least then, we'll be doing something to save ourselves! If we run away, they'll come back, but if we get rid of them here and now, they will never come back! But we need you, if we're gonna fight, we need all of the Elements here to have all of them work, and if one is out of whack, they're all out of whack!"

Twilight added, "Rainbow Dash is right, Fluttershy, if we aren't doing this together, then we can't do it at all!"

"Yeah Fluttershy," Rarity said, "Isn't it so much better for us to do this together than to do it alone?"

Fluttershy looked to her friends, at how they wanted to encourage her to battle against the enemies alongside with them, she specifically noticed Rainbow Dash, who she remembered fought for her in Cloudsdale when they were foals. Though she never got to notice the full race, and nearly died because of it, she still appreciated what it did for her. She got to see in that moment that Rainbow Dash really cared for her enough to risk her reputation to protect Fluttershy's, but now, it wasn't just Rainbow anymore. It was Pinkie, it was Twilight, it was Rarity, it was Applejack, and soon she saw it was even Spike and everypony else in Ponyville, all looking and depending on her to use her Element. She smiled through her troubles and joined her friends once again. Rainbow Dash sighed in relief.

The Mane Six came together with their Elements of Harmony, all in formation to attack and seal away the alicorn changelings, and the power of the Elements of Harmony circled around them in their rainbow colors, about to give them their rainbowfied transformations. The ground began to shake under them and the wind began to blow, and the ponies of Ponyville stared at the radiance of the power of the Elements of Harmony. Finally seeing it up so close and about to spring into action, they could do nothing but stare, now humbled from their powerlessness in the presence of such strength. The resonance and aura given off by the Mane Six in these forms was as graceful as a ballroom dancer, spinning like a pinwheel pushed by a soft breeze of wind. The aura made it easier to breathe, and it gave off a sense of happiness and safety among the ponies around it.

"Now, let's show these things what we're made of! Let's show them the might of Ponyville!" Twilight shouted, springing towards the alicorn changelings with the rest of the Mane Six, using the power of the Elements of Harmony. Twilight's mind was clear, without worries or concerns about anything else happening outside of what she and her friends were dealing with now. She could feel the peaceful mindsets of them, and could tell they could feel her's as well. It was a warm, fuzzy feeling that brought them together as one, and it grew stronger by the second. 

But, the Elements of Harmony gave one last wide burst of energy and scattered faster than light itself. Each one flying off in a different direction, so fast they disappeared from sight faster than anypony could notice they were gone. Some even questioned if they were there to begin with. The Mane Six were only inches away from their target, and the sudden loss of magical empowerment from the magical items stopped them in the space where they were, allowing for the alicorn changelings to swarm over them, driving them all into the ground and dragging them across it with their momentum. The Mane Six were trampled under the feet of the enemy as the enemy targeted the background ponies, scattering them. The other ponies tried frantically to escape, and some were killed and eaten, while others made a gallop for out straight toward the Apple Farm where the hideout was located. Twilight saw this and immediately stood back up, flying high into the air and darting down to ram a group of alicorn changelings, saving many foals from their jaws.

"I thought changelings only fed on love, not flesh!" Twilight cried, putting a protective barrier around the ponies under attack, but the alicorn changelings used their green magic in synchrony, easily breaking Twilight's shield. "Oh no!--"

"Don't worry!" Rainbow Dash yelled, as she carried Applejack to the scene and proceeded to kick all of the alicorn changelings away from the civilians. The civilians ran away, following the others who were headed towards the Apple Farm. 

"Fluttershy! Please, lead the way for the ponies of Ponyville! We can't lose anymore ponies!" Twilight ordered the yellow pegasus.

"What about all of the animals? We can't forget about them!" Fluttershy cried, pointing towards her house.

"We can't deal with that problem now, just focus on the task at hoof now! NOW!" 

Fluttershy wiped her tears away and flew with confidence, she ordered for any pony who was not being attacked, or who had escaped with the help of the other Mane Six to follow after her, the others who were saved would follow rest of the Mane Six once the alicorn changelings were defeated. Fluttershy looked back at her friends, who all fought fiercely to protect the ponies of Ponyville, even without the aid of the Elements of Harmony. 

Twilight could easily use magic powerful enough to pierce the skin of the alicorn changelings, Pinkie was not actually fighting, but on the defensive, mainly to keep the other ponies around her safe as that what she was worrying about, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were using brute force, and Rarity, taking up after Twilight, was using simple magic spells in her novice experience, but still could push away the enemy long enough for the civilian ponies to escape and for her friends to obliterate their enemies. 

Twilight caught notice of a large sphere of green magical energy flying at them from the left, mainly Pinkie and Rarity, along with ten background ponies, were in that immediate area and would be severely injured if they did not move quickly enough. With only a moment to spare, Twilight focused upon that space in her vision and covered it with her magic, using the teleportation spell to move them close to where she was. The spell did not take much energy out of her, but it took a massive amount of concentration. She then used her same spell to teleport a great amount of the alicorn changelings to the sky, where Rainbow Dash used a cloud to shoot them with many bolts of lightning. Upon the clearing of the smoke, she found all of her targets to be dead. 

"Well, that's not surprising," Rainbow Dash murmured, taking notice that Rarity and Pinkie were cornered by a group of the changelings. She bulleted down to save them, right at the same time Applejack and Twilight did. Showing the might of the pegasi, alicorn magic, and earth pony strength, the three ponies successfully rescued their friends and defended them as more of the changelings attacked.

"Looks like we can manage without the Elements of Harmony!" Applejack exclaimed, getting into a fighting stance. She saw that the ponies of Ponyville had successfully escaped from the chaos, and immediately hoped for the well being of her family and farm. "We gotta make this quick girls, I mean, who's to say them things ain't out there too?"

Rainbow Dash laughed in triumph, kicking the air. "Then we'll just send 'em all to the oblivion they came from, right?" 

"They certainly have no fashion taste, I mean, ugh, wearing skin? Sooooo not my style!" Rarity scoffed.

"Well then, with everypony together in one place, we can throw a party! Can't we?" Pinkie asked them all, hopping in place.

"C'mon girls, we need to get this done so we can accompany our friends, who's to say we won't have anymore refugees to look after?" Twilight told them, stepping forward, looking on to the rest of the changelings before them. "Also, we'll need to preserve a live sample from them, I must find out what caused this outbreak to happen again! Of course, with all of Equestria on our side, we'll find an answer! But as for now, we focus on reducing their numbers to one! And quickly!"

The rest of the Mane Six all accepted the task, and without further ado, they charged at the rest of the changelings. 




Fluttershy sighed, and heard the commotion in the village behind her and the others as they entered the hideout under the Apple Farm. Between two trees marked by carvings, set aside from the others around them, there was a large boulder, and under it was a steel door that led to an underground shelter with many halls and rooms stored with loads of food like bread, hay, fruit, and vegetables, all stored in a room invented to keep food edible for quite some time. The food was replaced every three months, if it was not used, as the room could only keep it fresh for that long. If the food was accessed from time to time, it would reset its lifespan, allowing it use for many more months. Nopony from the newest generation knew of it, but many older ponies (mainly pegasi) knew of it. 

The Apple Family had to explain how such a thing existed, and it was simply put that Celestia had made counter measures to protect the ponies of Ponyville long before the creation of the weapons of mass destruction in the other cities. This was mainly because Canterlot was on a mountain and Cloudsdale was floating in the air. The other cities and villages were either very far or very small, and Celestia knew something good would come out of Ponyville, so she tried as hard as she could to preserve it, and she knew the Apple Farm had just the right family to be in charge of it. 

Fluttershy could see the dedication of the family and smiled at the kindness which flowed so easily. The remainder of the village of Ponyville was together and in harmony. The magic of friendship not only flowed within the Mane Six, but in the entire population. But she knew all along that this was how it always was. 

She sat down on a bench built down in the bunker and lay down, blowing the dust from it before her. She could tell that many renovations were made on the hideout, as she saw that the walls were polished and neatly patched over any cracks, sealing all imperfections from immediate sight. The lights were bright, but not blinding, and the floor was white and black tiles, while the walls were a plain ivory white with murals depicting the history of the heroes of Equestria, Celestia and Luna, the Wonderbolts, the Royal guards, and most recently, the Mane Six and even Discord. The picture of Discord was not finished yet. 

"Discord...what are you doing right now? Do you know of what we're going through, or are you enjoying chaos again?" Fluttershy murmured to herself, growing ever so more tired as time began to pass. She yawned and just rested her eyes, hoping to slowly drift into sleep.




The others began to settle in after receiving their portions of food and being appointed rooms to stay in. And soon, the rest of the Mane Six had made it to the hideout, with refugees from the Crystal Empire and Cloudsdale. Twilight was the one who woke up Fluttershy, nudging her head with her own. 

"Fluttershy, you can wake up now," Twilight whispered, watching as Fluttershy woke up slowly, stretching and yawning. She looked over to her friends and all of the refugees from the attacked cities. "Are you feeling okay? Do you need anything to eat?"

Fluttershy shook her head with a smile. "No, you guys were out fighting off the enemy for our good, and I've just been sitting here, resting... I just can't eat before you girls do... You deserve it more than I do."

"That's ridiculous, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash laughed, picking her up and spinning around in the air with her. "We'll all eat together!"

"Yeah, we're all friends, ain't we?" Applejack added.

The six ponies all huddled up together, thanks to Twilight's levitation spell, for a hug, laughing loudly. Fluttershy blushed, and looked down to Cadance and Shining Armor, who smiled at them. She smiled back and giggled lightly, until they all came back down from the hug. 

"Well, I suppose we all have a place to sleep? And hopefully, there's enough food for all of us, right?" Cadance asked, on the behalf of the refugees. 

Of course there was, and soon, the dinner to celebrate the survivors' new home had taken place in the kitchen of the hideout, and the host was Applejack, who thanked the efforts of the Mane Six, Cadance and Shining Armor, and the Wonderbolts, who all fought to protect their ponies and be sure of their survival. They made toasts especially to Celestia and Luna, who were still fighting to defend Canterlot from Effiela Claire, who was identified by Cadance, Shining Armor, and the Wonderbolts, who all had fought her personally. This was after the pony refugees had all gone to sleep, and the hideout was shut up from the outside world completely. The doors and external shields were closed and deployed to protect the underground bunker from magic, pressure, nature, and even sound. It was completely hidden from the outside world.




But that night, Twilight joined together the efforts of Cadance and Shining Armor and the Wonderbolts, as well as her close friends, to form a group of officials to moniter the ponies until further notice, or from orders of Celestia and Luna. She wanted to call the group "The Sparklers", but immediately admitted that the name did not sound well. But their title did not matter, they only thanked the heavens that now the struggle was over, at least for now. Now they had a night to sleep peacefully, the first night of the battle for Equestria was over.

And that was when Twilight fell out of bed. 




No, it couldn't be true.

"You're kidding! That's impossible!" Twilight cried, falling to her knees in doubt and holding back an outbreak of tears kept prisoner by her tearducts.

The news hit her too fast for her to react or accept it, and it seemed as though a spy was acting to be a river flowing source of valuable information. 

"These have to be lies! Are you lying to me?!" Twilight shot up back on her hooves and poked the Canterlot pony on his chest with enough force to push him back some. The pony bowed in somewhat shame for what he had said, though it was true.

"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have been taken captive by Effiela Claire, I was there, I saw the entire thing," the pony said, looking back up to Twilight. "Under direct order of the Book of Secret United Unicorns, I am to serve the oldest princess available if Princess Celestia and/or Princess Luna are killed or captured. I take it that Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is here as well?"

"Book of Secret United Unicorns?" Twilight questioned the unicorn stallion before her. "I've never heard of such a thing..."

"Then don't mind it, you will not know of it unless directed of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza," the stallion said, "but I will tell you my name... I am Dr. Denarius. Julius J. Denarius. The Director of the United Unicorn Service. "

"Well, nice to... meet you?" Twilight sighed, looking to the distance where she could spot Effiela's new kingdom, made from parts of the others around her. "I can't believe it...  did she actually beat Celestia and Luna?"

Spike and Cadance were the first others to come outside of the hideout. "Twilight! Are you okay out here?" Cadance asked her, coming immediately by her side and noticing she was nearly in tears. "Whoa... what happened?"

Denarius stepped before the two princesses, and Spike, and bowed. "Hello, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, I am Dr. Julius J. Denarius, the Director of the United Unicorn Service. I am obligated, by the Book of the Secret United Unicorns, to now serve you as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are incapacitated."

Cadance and Spike both were surprised to hear that, just as much as Twilight had been. "What?" they replied quickly, as Denarius sighed in annoyance. 

"Is there water in your ears? Should I make an effort to dry them?" Denarius said in a slightly more serious tone. "If I must, then I shall. The enemy, the Witch Pegasus Effiela Claire, has defeated and imprisoned our Regal Princesses, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I, and any other surviving United Unicorn Service ponies, are required to serve under the most experienced and oldest Princess available. This Princess is you, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza."

"So, where are these others?" Cadance asked, trying to see if any other unicorns were with Denarius, but none were present. 

"Most of them are already here," Denarius answered. "I suppose I was the only one in Canterlot who was still spying upon the battle. But that's what I do, I can't get into the trouble, I just watch it."

"Already here? But we didn't let anymore ponies in after we closed up yesterday," Twilight replied. "How could they be here?"

Denarius chuckled, "They must have blended in with the refugees you let in, I suppose. They were mostly in the Crystal Empire and some even used the Cloud walking spell to hide in Cloudsdale. How they got down without being incinerated is out of question, because I don't really know." He used his horn to scry the area for any changelings that might have been lurking about. "We have to go into this hideout of yours, I sense a great multitude of the enemies coming from the south." The ponies went into hiding once again, taking heed of Denarius' words.




Twilight had gone to her special room where she had kept a living sample of the alicorn changelings which she and the Mane Six had fought, defeated, and captured. Cadance had followed, and due to Cadance being there, Denarius was also there. Three more unicorns had joined upon catching sight of Denarius, and these ponies were

Ember Serenity; a mare who had golden brown fur and a straight scarlet mane with sky blue eyes. She wore excessive jewelry of gold and emeralds around her neck. Her cutie mark was a white feather pen.

Berrytarte; a mare who had hot pink fur with dark freckles around her nose area and cheeks, and a dark, strawberry red mane in blunt bangs. Her tail was slightly unkempt and curly. She wore white bows with red polkadot patterns behind her head and at the base of her tail. Her cutie mark was five strawberries in a pentagram formation. 

Pumpkin Vine; a mare who had light orange fur and a dark black mane worn to the left, covering that side of her face, with streaks of orange in her mane and tail. She had dark orange eyes that reflected a playful attitude in her being. Her cutie mark was three jack-o-lanterns.

Upon introducing themselves to Twilight and Cadence, they observed closely the experimental procedures which Twilight performed on the alicorn changeling she had captured. She noticed that her feelings of love were being absorbed through her skin by just being too close, and prolonged exposure proved to make her slightly lightheaded. She measured the distance needed to avoid the effect, which was five meters exactly or more. 

Making a magical barrier around the changeling, she tried to see if she could deprive its ability using her own magic, and it worked beautifully. The unicorns and Cadance watched intensely at Twilight's monstrously focused experimenting, in utter amazement at how much effort she put in to this. Twilight was humming a tune which none of them had ever heard, and then they noticed she had her eyes closed. The tune was a soothing one, with a not to gloomy tone, but not uplifting other than the fact it soothed the nerves. 

Twilight got close to the changeling again, using a scalpel to make a small incision on its chest, noticing pony skin under it. She took a small sample of the changeling skin and put it in a sealed container, using magic to magnify the power of the seal. Putting the container in an analyzer upon a table, she further experimented on the alicorn changeling by now making an incision in the skin of the pony, taking notice that the cut in the changeling skin was glowing with green magic, and made a flap of skin pushed to the side as she took a look in the cut of her subject. Green crystalline veins replaced the veins of the pony, and all of its organs were entwined with red strings, especially around its major organs, as Twilight noticed after making a bigger incision to spectate the rest of the body. 

Twilight began to write in a journal, documenting everything which she had seen and experimented on during the duration of this session. Taking extensive notes on how the subject was breathing and obviously still alive, but yet it did not respond to pain, if it felt pain at all. The subject did not try to escape, and its wings and horn were perfectly rested, it breathed as if it were calm, and it made no sound or sudden movements. Escape was obviously not on its top priorities. 

Twilight opened her eyes after thinking in silence for a while, and said nothing to the others who were there with her. She guided them out of the room, not telling them why, and closed the door behind them, staying behind. She locked the door, and they noticed that she even turned off the lights. They decided to leave and go check up on the other ponies there. 

Twilight remained in the room for hours, using dark magic to amplify the DNA which she had harvested from the alicorn changeling, but after another hour, the body of the alicorn changeling began to decompose quickly. Its under body host turned to dust, and the outer skin untwined as if it were vines and burned away like wood to a flame. Only black, charred pieces remained of the subject, and Twilight noted this all down. 

She remained very calm and collected, expecting herself to do yet another experiment in the future. The DNA she took to analyze still was alive and well, and Twilight knew that the skin was just as much of a changeling to do harm as the entire body was. The body was only a body, but this skin was a parasite. It fed off of flesh to sustain its form, but love was used to give it life and vitality. Once deprived of life from the body it drank dry of resources, the skin would begin to die unless fed love. At least, this was what Twilight wrote down in her journal. She also wrote that maybe when they (the changelings) were together, they could survive for a longer time, as they could give energy of their decoured love to one another and feed off of one another's sources, and that would explain why they did not attack them immediately yesterday. 

After traveling for so long to reach them, they had to have used a great amount of energy, so they needed to recharge for the battle which awaited them in Ponyville. For this same reason, they also lost, and the one which was captured only survived as it did by feeding off of the love and feelings of those around it who had defeated it. She concluded this session by putting the DNA sample in a capsule hidden away in a ruby heart necklace. She used dark magic to cut the edges and melt them in a smooth covering, sealing the capsule completely within the gem. The kept the gem frozen in a freezer of liquid nitrogen, and would comeback to it later. The experimental procedures were over now, but they left her intrigued and literally starving for more. This scientific research was like reading books, which obviously the purple smart loved to do... or maybe the alicorn changelings were like books, and she was reading them? She could not be so sure the first day, and felt this overwhelming urge to study more. Now the changelings were as fascinating to her as dire this situation was.




"Rainbow! May I have a word with you?" Twilight asked the blue pegasus as she played catch with Scootaloo, in the hopes that Scootaloo would discover some awesome talent related to the matter, but it was a bust. 

Rainbow turned to Twilight and approached her. "What is it, Twi?" Rainbow really hoped it would be a request to do something amazing like create a storm to kill the changelings off in the area. And this thought immediately scared her... sure, fighting and killing the enemy was a must, and surely this was the only way to defeat them for now... but the thought of herself killing them, as they still held the souls and bodies of the dead ponies under their skin (on top of the fact that their voices were sounding prominently in anypony who opposed them's heads), kind of bothered her. She knew she should not be so eager to destroy them, relishing in their deaths in war, but she found that as this task was completely necessary, she could not resist the urge. She began to sweat and gulped once, flapping her wings to fan her face, as she suddenly felt rushes of heat running through her body. 

"You okay, Rainbow?" Twilight questioned her, and the pegasus nodded yes, to steer her away from the thought of not including her in whatever she had planned for them to do. "Well, if you want, I think we should go out and find more samples of the changelings, see how they act in groups, and see how much of use they truly are."

Rainbow smiled, she hugged Twilight and spun in the air with her. "Yes! Yes! I thought you'd never ask!" she exclaimed in joy. She let Twilight go, and Twilight managed to catch herself from falling in the air by flying. "It was getting boring here, under all these walls... When I woke up, I nearly flew into the ceiling thinking I'd go to the sky, but now I actually get to fly around in the sky again!" Then the question struck her. "Are we bringing anypony else?"

This question also strangely struck Twilight, who quickly shook her head and smiled rather nervously. "But we have to go without anypony else noticing. I'll tell Cadance, Shining Armor, and that stallion and his subordinates, since they saw me experimenting... I feel kinda ashamed not telling the others, but I'm sure they'll understand when we get back."

"Well, I mean," Rainbow began, "with your magic and my strength and speed, all we need is just us two, everypony else will just get in the way, really." It felt awfully wrong to think of her other friends that way. But it was kind of true, and besides, Pinkie was hosting parties to cheer up the emotionally shattered refugees and depressed foals who lost their friends and family, while Applejack and Rarity were handling food, drinks, and clothing and medical attention. Rarity had been taking classes in medical school, because she feared if anything like Tirek happened again, she could be a nurse in that situation. It was mostly her generosity acting.

"You're right, Rainbow," Twilight replied with a long sigh, thinking of her other friends, and also concluding that she and Rainbow were having the same thoughts as the other. With that in mind, the two ponies had gone to the main entrance of the hideout, where they met up with Cadance, Shining Armor, and Denarius, who was with Pumpkin Vine. 

"Where do you think you're going?" Cadance questioned Twilight, who kind of reeled back in surprise with Rainbow, who was flying above them. "You weren't planning on going out there, were you?" Cadance's tone frightened Twilight, who immediately began to sweat as she stood straight to face Cadance. The pink princess looked into Twilight's eyes and the purple princess immediately felt her sister-in-law's diamond-hard will crush her own. The glare was nothing short in likeness with the Stare. "What is your response, Twilight?!"

Twilight closed her eyes and spoke in a scared tone, "Yes, Cadance... but I was--"

Cadance interrupted her, "You what?!" 

"Yeah, Twiliy, it's not safe out there," Shining Armor said, walking up to Twilight and rubbing his head against her's to comfort her. "We should just stay in here until things get better... and what do you plan on doing out there?"

Rainbow, seeing Twilight overcome by her brother's and sister-in-law's authority, butted in, pushing Shining Armor away from Twilight and standing in front of her. "Twilight doesn't have to listen to you if she doesn't want to! She's a Princess just like Princess Cadance is! She can make her own decisions, eh!"

"But she isn't as experienced with this as I am, so in a logical thought, I am the leading Princess here," Cadance argued with Rainbow. "And you have no place to decide, you're not a Princess like Twilight and I. You listen to me, not the other way around." Cadance pushed Rainbow on her chest, making her take a couple paces back. "In a time like this, it is important that we stay together to make a plan and strategies to work our way around the enemy so we can overcome them. If you go out with no plan at all, you will be destroyed by them! Do you want that to happen?!"

Twilight was now ready to submit to Cadance's authority, as she felt weak. The only thing she was in this moment was the same thing she was before she was a princess. Just a mere subject to the queen. She stayed loyal to Celestia, but now she was an authorative figure just like the other alicorns! She felt the power they did, and she held the Element of Magic as well. She did not want to give that up, but she could not bring herself to oppose Cadance's decision. It made sense anyways, and she knew she was smart enough to understand and agree. 

But her pride as a princess still stood firm as stone, it was new and hotly burning like a star. She had to show some backbone as a princess, or else her ponies would lose respect in her, and if this conflict ever did happen to end, she would not be able to control the public if it decided to turn on her. She feared her authority was nothing and would be nothing if she did nothing to protect it. To her pride, it did not matter who or what was right, all that mattered was making herself seem big. Bigger than Cadance. She spent all these years working humbly under the Mare's hooves, and now it was time to have somepony under her hoove, and she made good progress having it start out as Rainbow Dash. 

"Twilight is a better candidate to lead us as Equestrians than you, Princess Cadance!" Rainbow shouted at the princess, who nearly shouted back, but kept her composure. "She has saved us time and time again from the baddest of the bad! She is the one who should be leading us! And she has just officially become a Princess with her own Kingdom, and I am her knight. That day we stepped hoof in her new castle, I was pledged to serve another Princess, and this Princess is Twilight! I won't stand for anypony else, and we work as one... We want to go out, so that's exactly what we're going to do!"

"You can't be serious, Twily?" Shining Armor questioned his sister. "Were you seriously still planning to go out, without a plan, with those things roaming around out there?!"

Twilight looked up, with a defiant expression painted on her face. "Yes, yes I was," she replied, walking through Shining Armor and Cadance to the stairs up leading to the door of the entrance of the hideout. Rainbow followed her loyally. "And I agree with your choice 100%, if I were to follow it. It seems like a good plan, but Rainbow Dash and I have enough horsepower alone without a strategy to help ourselves. Thanks, but no thanks. We're fine."

Cadance immediately ran to Twilight and grabbed her from behind, forcing her to stop. "You are not! I forbid you to go out there!"

Twilight pushed Cadance off of her and stared blankly at her. She smirked and looked away to Rainbow,  who did the same. "You can't tell me what to do anymore. I am a grown mare, a princess of a Kingdom! I stand alone now... I don't need any authority figures watching over my shoulder anymore!" Twilight yelled loudly. "I am sick and tired of taking orders, I make the orders now! Me!"

The entirety of the lobby was silent. And when Twilight saw she had broken her competition, she left with Rainbow, who did look back to see what the ponies would do. They did and said nothing, just like she had expected. They left and closed the door behind them. 




The two ponies flew high in the sky over the forest and orchards, trying to spot any of the alicorn changelings on the ground, when they noticed a massive cloud over the remains of Canterlot and the radiance of Effiela's castle shining right through it. The cloud was dark, and charged with lightning, which discharged upon the mountain. 

"That must be where Witch Pegasus Effiela Claire lives," Rainbow said to Twilight, gritting her teeth. "She puts a bad name on us pegasi..."

"She's caused all of this... and now she basically owns our world," Twilight replied, looking to the remains of Cloudsdale in the distance, as the clouds and rainbows had become clumps of colors separated in the sky, scattering all throughout sight. "She's destroyed the Crystal Empire, Cloudsdale, Canterlot, and now even Ponyville! Surely after using that much energy, she has to rest... And she even fought Celestia and Luna! She surely has to be resting now!"

"Hey, Twi," Rainbow said to Twilight, who looked back as they flew. "About, y'know, back there at the hideout... I'm sorry if I made you come to my defense like that... if you didn't want to go, we didn't have to."

"It's okay, Rainbow," Twilight replied with a reassuring smile, "I was thinking the same exact thing in my mind as you said it to them... if anything, I should be apologizing to you. I should have stood my ground before you said anything, and now Cadance will think you influenced me. I'm..., sorry if I seemed weak..."

"Well, I actually can say I thought it before you as well, maybe we just had to say it at the same time." Rainbow giggled at the thought. 

Twilight laughed as well. "Well, it's better either way... as long as the point gets across. We have our own Kingdom now, and we can make our own decisions. We don't need any other figures of authority over our shoulders."

It stayed silent for the next couple of minutes, and the two still did not see any alicorn changelings below. Rainbow broke the silence, "So, about the other cities... like Manehatten and Las Pegasus... are they under Effiela's control?" she asked.

"I suppose so," Twilight replied, "so maybe she sent all of her minions to those places to watch over them while she's in Canterlot. I heard from some ponies that she uses these Sonic Rainboom-like attacks that can decimate cities like it's nothing. If she used one on Cloudsdale, the Crystal Empire, and Canterlot, then fought Celestia and Luna, then she must be resting in Canterlot! With that in mind, she won't be able to fight for herself for a while. She only has those changelings to fight for her, for now at least. We should be fine on our own. The changelings are probably nowhere near here anyways."

"You're right. So, should we just scout for any threats and take 'em out? Setting up traps along the way?"

"No, if we set up traps around the hideout, that would give off the idea that there is a hideout around the area. If the land remains untouched, they'll just suggest we escaped to a different city or settlement. If we run into any, then we just kill them all, but maybe keep two this time, and escape while we can until more come. I'm pretty sure those things can communicate by telepathy or something, using the info I have already, and the fact they use the inner ponies' minds to attack ours."

It was silent for another time, and the two found a mountain to rest in. The mountain was similar to the one that the red dragon from the time it made smoke over Ponyville. It brought back memories, how everypony had tried to get the dragon to leave, and all had failed. But then Fluttershy finally got the courage to stare the dragon down and get him to leave. They talked for a time about it, how Rainbow did not approve of Fluttershy's cowardice, how Rarity tried to steal the dragon's riches, how they all were so scared to face him. They had eachother, and that mostly got them through that time.

While they laughed from the memories, they took a stroll through the mountain. They found an awesome passageway within it, but it looked fairly new. As if it were done yesterday. Many of the jewels had been extracted, but few remained in the walls, and the only things there were rocks covered in some black moss. There was nothing really special about it. The silence and emptiness bothered them, and they were just about to turn and leave out, but were greeted by a group of dozens of ravenous alicorn changelings. 

"What the?" Twilight cried, as Rainbow jumped in front of her and dashed forwards, holding Twilight's head with her back hooves. They sliced through the changelings, but they followed them, blasting lasers of magic at them as well. Twilight got out of Rainbow's hold and created a barrier around them, making it burst with spikes in all directions. The alicorn changelings did the same, and their magic overpowered Twilight's, for Twilight was still tired. At least she had that to blame. "Rainbow!" she cried, as Rainbow Dash grabbed Twilight and flew high into the sky.

"Are you ready for this?" Rainbow asked her, and she nodded, and Rainbow bulleted down to the group of changelings chasing after them. She hit the frontlines and continued to gain speed to complete a Sonic Rainboom. But upon getting to the ground, she found that even more Changelings were waiting for her there. "There's more?!"

Twilight stood on her own and concentrated as clear as she could; her horn began to glow with magic, and her eyes glowed white as well. "Alright, Rainbow! Are you ready?!" she exclaimed in zeal.

Rainbow laughed loudly, "Am I? I have been waiting for this all day!" She stood by Twilight, ready to fight the enemy alongside her. They did not cower, even as a group of nearly one hundred alicorn changelings surrounded them. Prepared to take them all out, the two friends shot forward and began to slaughter them all effortlessly at first, though some proved to be a challenge. 




Rainbow Dash came in through the front door of the hideout alone, and was immediately greeted by Fluttershy, who booped her nose with her hoof lightly and giggled. 

"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy began, looking around. "What were you doing out there? Princess Cadance told everypony to stay in..."

"Oh, well I wasn't here for that," Rainbow said, trying to walk past Fluttershy, who stepped in front of her and kept her back. The yellow pegasus smiled and made her regular squee sound.

"Were you out flying? Scouting for us?" Fluttershy asked happily.

"Yeah, making sure we weren't being watched by anypony outside of the hideout is all," Rainbow replied. "But, I'm gonna go rest, I've had a long day out there and stuff."

"Would you mind if I come with? Everypony else is so busy, but I have nothing to do," Fluttershy asked her, and Rainbow smiled and assented. 

Later that night, Rainbow had left out again, and this time, nopony managed to notice her. Well, the ones who noticed did not notice it was her, and those who had noticed were Cadance and Shining Armor. The two followed the pegasus, with Denarius, Pumpkin, Berrytarte, and Ember Serenity by their side. They saw her fly at a great speed in the south, and they followed her south.

"How can we follow her? She's way too fast!" Berrytarte cried, trying to keep up with the others, as she wasn't a very fast runner.

"Keep up with her? YOU can barely keep up with us!" Pumpkin laughed, blowing raspberries at Berrytarte, who growled in anger.

"Stop it with your bickering, you two!" Denarius shouted at the two subordinates of his. "You are always unfocused! Just focus on the task at hand!"

"Me and Shining Armor will continue ahead," Cadance told Denarius and his subordinates, "the ponies back at homebase will need somepony to lead them, and you are the ones who should do it."

"Are you sure about this choice, milady?" Denarius asked as he and his subordinates prepared to turn back. "Without you, we won't have a princess to lead us."

"But you and your team are the closest thing, and surely only me and Shining Armor can handle to be in the company of somepony like Rainbow Dash," Cadance said, as she and Shining Armor continued to run ahead, leaving Denarius and the others to turn back. She did not want Denarius and the others to come along for one simple reason: with nopony of any significant power to watch over the ponies at the hideout, then there will be chaos even among the people. The Mane Six were barely enough alone, and Denarius had spent enough time with princesses to know how to lead a great number of ponies with help, which the Mane Six would provide for him. Cadance did not really think she could handle leading the ponies knowing that her sister-in-law and one of her best friends were out in the open, for Effiela Claire to pick off like candies to devour. She could not let any more ponies die under her watch, she would not be able to live with herself, especially if any of those ponies happened to be part of the Mane Six.




Scootaloo hid under a bench, trying to keep herself from giggling too loud so she would not be found. Sweetie Belle fell beside her, pointing at her. "You better let me hide with you or else I'm gonna snitch!" she whispered demandingly. Scootaloo let the unicorn filly hide with her. Sweetie Belle noticed that Scootaloo's wings were flapping as hard as possible and worried that she would get them caught. "Scootaloo! Stop that, you're gonna get us caught!"

"Sorry, I'm just so excited, it's been a while since we've had this much fun together," Scootaloo said, flinching as she heard hooves landing above atop of the bench. "Uh-oh..."

"Ah know y'all's is under there!" Applebloom exclaimed, jumping down and looking under the bench, only to find nopony there. The two fillies hiding had already ran to find cover. "Mah favorite part is when Ah don't gotta look no more, and this game turns into tag!"

"Cut right! Cut right!" Scootaloo shouted at Sweetie Belle, who looked confused. 

"That's a wall!" Sweetie Belle cried out, but Scootaloo grabbed her and fell into the wall, which was a hidden door. "What the hay!"

The two found Silver Spoon hiding there, with a bruise on her cheek. She hid her face from the blinding lights, and further tried to reel back seeing a the Cutie Mark Crusaders  (minus Applebloom) were there with her. "How did you find our secret hide out, Silver Spoon?" Scootaloo questioned her, as she whimpered. She noticed that Silver Spoon was rather broken at the moment, so she approached her and placed her hoof upon her mane. Scootaloo then asked her gently, "What's wrong?"

Silver Spoon looked to her with tears streaming down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry... I...just...I can't!" she screamed, hiding her face. "Go away! I don't want to be bothered!" 

Sweetie Belle came over to the filly with Scootaloo. She shook her head and sat down next to Silver Spoon, petting her mane softly. Silver Spoon hit their hooves away from her and stood up, glaring angrily at them, but saw no fear in their eyes. She backed up into the wall and flopped down to cry again. "Why? Why are you doing this? I thought you guys would hate me! I thought you would hate me for what I've done... You two can't possibly be considering  helping somepony like me!"

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle smiled and walked up to Silver Spoon, hugging her tightly and laughing. The silver pony tried to escape, but found it was no use. "We don't hate you," Scootaloo said with a chuckle. "I don't think we could hate anypony at a time like this, actually!"

"Yeah," Sweetie Belle said, "you and Diamond Tiara can be mean to us all you want, but we won't ever treat you that way because that's not who we are. If a fellow filly is in distress, we'll still wanna know what's up!"

"Plus, you're all banged up and bruised, laying around in the dark and acting like a crybaby. That's not something we see you doing usually. We may be fillies, but that doesn't mean that we're stupid!"

Silver Spoon scoffed, looking over to the walls around and closing her eyes. "But... I can't really say anything..."

"'Thanks' would be appreciated," Sweetie Belle giggled, as Silver Spoon giggled as well, but quickly caught herself in the act. 

"Well... Diamond Tiara and I aren't friends anymore," Silver Spoon said, catching the attention of the two, who retracted from the hug and stared intensely at her in confusion. 

"We would think you could've told us that, at least," Scootaloo said, looking closely at the bruises on the silver filly. "Then... why are you all bruised up? Did you guys get into a fight?"

Silver Spoon sniffled. "Well, I wouldn't say that it was much of a fight... I told her that we shouldn't be mean anymore... because we have to all stick together if we wanna get anywhere now... I've heard about what's going on outside, about those things and about who's behind all of this. She told me that we can only trust ourselves, and I told her if that's true, then I couldn't be her friend anymore. She didn't like that, and she pushed me down and beat me... I was too confused to fight back, and I really didn't know who to run to... until you guys showed up and told me straight, that is."

"Wow," Sweetie Belle said as she looked downwards in unbelief. She looked back up with a defiant look in her eyes. "We have to find Applebloom and Diamond Tiara. Then we can set all of this straight."

Scootaloo gasped with surprise, she took Sweetie Belle to a corner and began to whisper to her, "We can just avoid her, and plus, I don't know what Diamond Tiara would do if she saw Silver Spoon again... Maybe we should let this die down a bit before we bring them together again!"

"Are you crazy? If we don't settle this now, then Silver Spoon will be stuck with those same feelings she has now! We won't be able to get them out of her if they stay there for too long..."

Scootaloo looked over to Silver Spoon, then back to Sweetie Belle. "Okay... we can go with your plan... but if it doesn't work, then don't look at me for help."

--_To Be Continued_--