Psycho remained on his rock in a depressed state while the queen of changelings swirled around him with pity adorning her creepy, fanged face. Psycho was sitting on his rear and gradually kicking up muck from the swamp ‘waters’.
“Oh,” Chrysalis pouted. “Were you rejected by the one you love?”
“More like the one I thought would make a great friend…” The stallion raised a hoof, causing a changeling to be dragged away by a giant worm made of mud. “The Illogic is really fun, but I want to share that fun with others.”
Chrysalis looked at the scene with concern and raised an eyebrow. ”This one is dangerous,” she thought to herself. “I understand completely,” she responded.
Psycho jittered his head, staring at the miniature creatures swimming through the murky waters.
“I also had a friend...but…” The queen clenched her teeth. “Well, let’s just say that, because of my appearance,” Chrysalis gestured to herself. “I’ve never managed to reach Celestia for counseling. Everypony gets scared when they see me.” She sighed. ”Hopefully, he believes me.”
“Tia-Tia?” Psycho asked. “I recall feeling something happen to her recently.” The stallion tapped the rock in rhythm. “Something bad. Maybe I should go check on her. I’ve just been having so much fun with this new Equestria.” He looked at Chrysalis from the corner of his eye. “I wouldn’t want something bad to happen to her again. She’s supposed to be under my care, after all.”
”How DARE he look at me like that!” Chrysalis thought angrily. She wanted to strangle him. “What do you mean by “under your care’?” Chrysalis asked to appease her rage.
“I’m their foalsitter,” Psycho answered casually.
“Wh...But they’re--”
“A few years old? I know,” he reassured the queen.
Chrysalis quickly realized that the appearance of the stallion wasn’t just for show, and that he had no notion of time, if he understand reality at all. The mare also felt that the stallion was emanating a tremendous amount amount of love for the alicorn sisters. Because he was part of the Illogic, his love gave off a strange sensation, but Chrysalis could not identify it. With another smile, she approached the stallion.
“How about we go see them right now?” she suggested. “The guards don’t like us, so we won’t be able to see Celest--errr...Tia-Tia.” The queen garbled her words in her throat. “We need you to help us. Maybe...do something to Canterlot to distract the guards in the city?” she wondered. She tapped Psycho on his shoulders. “When everything is free, we’ll call you, alright?”
The stallion was still depressed by his scuffle earlier, but thought that a little prank-run could up his spirits. Standing up and revealing his faded colors, he gave the changeling mare a nod.
"Sure. I'll help any of my new friends out."
"Great! Just go wait over there for us.” Chrysalis pointed to a twisted tree trunk. “We'll be ready soon."
"Okay."
Psycho hopped off his rock and walked away, most of his good mood now shattered. Chrysalis exhaled in annoyance as her subjects came to her.
"This is a good plan, my queen,” one of the drones applauded. “Although he is extremely overprotective of the princesses.” The drone chuckled nervously and twiddled with its hooves. “I'm not sure it's a good idea to 'visit' them with him around."
"Don't worry.” Chrysalis waved a hoof dismissively. “Seeing how extravagant he is with his coat,, he'll be too caught up in his pranking of Canterlot to notice what we’re going to do to the princesses.” The queen snickered. “After all, 'Chief' knows more about Psycho than we do. Hmhmhm. That stupid organization of theirs; the ‘Couvente of Crépuscyule’ or whatever it’s called can't do anything when they, themselves, have been infiltrated.” The queen scratched her neck and frowned. “Although I would have preferred to learn more about this stallion. I don’t know much of what he is or what he can do.”
“So what do we do now?” a drone asked.
"Get ready for our ‘visit’." Chrysalis smiled.
"Who are you?! Where am I?!” Pandora screamed as she hugged the wall. Her eyes darted around nervously, trying to assess where she was. “What happened to the golem?! Where’s the Mage’s Tower?"
“It’s okay! You’re safe!” Twilight said calmly. She moved her hoof up and down. “You’re in Ponyville now. You’re with good ponies. It’s okay,” Twilight continued.
“N-no you aren’t! You’re all infected by that chaos magic!” Her horn lit up brightly. “Stay back! I’m an A-grade mage, and I’m not afraid to use my spells!”
Rainbow Dash tried to get the unicorn from the side in a sneak attack, but Pandora saw the pegasus from the corner of her and zapped her against the bookshelf. Another spell created several tendrils from the floor, wrapping around Rainbow and pinning her to the ground.
Rainbow Dash tried struggling out of her restraints, but found it impossible."Hey! What gives? Let me go!"
“No! As soon as I do that, you’ll attack me!” Pandora’s breathing was starting to become erratic. “I know you will. This tower has gone crazy”
“Tower?” Fluttershy tilted her head. “What is she talking about, Twilight.”
Fluttershy relaxed, calm tone of voice helped Pandora relax, but the unicorn was still confused and scared.
“Pandora,” Twilight started. “This isn’t the Mage’s Tower anymore. It’s been gone for over seven hundred and fifty years.” Twilight’s words seemed to hit Pandora hard. “The Mage’s Council was disbanded long after the incident was covered by the Council in Canterlot.” Twilight pointed to the mare. “You were reported as part of the losses after that incident.”
The brown unicorn stared at Twilight, a whole slew of emotions compounding upon her already broken psyche. “What...What do you mean?”
“Well…” Twilight chuckled sheepishly. “Apparently, my library stands above the basement of the Mage’s tower, and I even met the golem and found your book there.” Twilight brought the journal to her with her magic. “You were sealed in it.”
The journal was returned to its rightful owner, letting Pandora look at everything she had written and see the new cover. Its state, judging by the mold and poor quality of the paper, told the mare everything she needed to about the timelapse. She looked up and stared into the abyss, tears welling up and matting her coat as her memories flooded in.
“So...So everyone I knew is dead? My family? My friends? Even one of my creations had become a lost artifact?!” she squeaked.
The mare was given a gentle hug by Fluttershy before she could cry, but the hug let her empty out her sadness and frustrations.
“There you go,” Fluttershy cooed. “Let it all out.”
After a few minutes, Pandora settled down and released Rainbow Dash, the pegasus immediately stretching and flexing her wings.
“I can’t believe he trapped me in that book for seven and a half centuries,” Pandora said whilst wiping her eyes.
“Who?” Rarity asked.
Pandora shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t--”
“You mean The Psychopath?” Twilight asked bluntly.
Pandora stared at Twilight in complete shock. “How...How do you know of him?”
“He’s out there...somewhere.” Twilight waved her hooves. “I kinda freed him accidentally.” Twilight blushed and shrunk away.
Rarity interjected to prevent the situation from blowing out of hoof. “Although everything he did was to impress Twilight, and instead of being lenient in the truth,” She looked to TWilight. “While still telling him the complete truth,” She went back to Pandora. “She stabbed him several times in the heart. Although, I would appreciate it if one of you could undo what he did to my magnificent chevelure.”
“And mah face,” Applejack added.
Pandora observed them and snickered. “That should be easy enough, I think.”
The unicorn started to concentrate, making her horn glow a bright white. As Rarity and Applejack’s heads were surrounded by magic, Pandora muttered words in a language alien to even Twilight, undoing whatever it was that Psycho had performed. When the magic died down, both mares tappe their faces briefly then screamed in joy and hugged each other.
Spike recovered from the surprise and noticed an inconsistency. "Wait, when did you get here, Fluttershy?" he asked.
"Oh...um...Pinkie Pie and I just arrived when that mare started panicking."
"Yeah!” Pinkie bounced angrily in front of Spike, her navy uniform still on her. “How come you didn't notice me yet?" she puffed up her face and rushed it in front of Spike’s.
"WAH!" Spike screamed as he jumped away.
Pinkie noticed something brown moving in the corner of her eye and turned to face it with enthusiasm. "Who is that?" Pinkie asked joyfully.
Pandora was caught off guard by the rapidly changing behavior of the mare. “Uhhh...I am--”
"Pandora. A mage whose great passions were searching for lost relics and spells, as well as studying the existence of other worlds. Your nickname was also 'Pandora Box'," Twilight stated proudly.
Pandora frowned at her, causing Twilight to turn red with embarrassment. "How do you know all that?" the unicorn asked sternly.
"W-well..." Twilight slurred. She blushed a bit, lowered her head, and gave a nervous smile. "Well, you WERE one of the ponies I looked up to when I studied magic. I mean, Starswirl the Bearded is still my number one,” Twilight chuckled. “but I still look up to you when I study now, under Princess Celestia's tuition."
"Wait...you are the sun princess' student?” Pandora nodded to herself. “Impressive. It seems I have many things to learn about this...new world.” She scratched the back of her neck. “Although, do you want to learn about what happened to the tower or do you already know of it? I feel that, although the event is still fresh in my mind, ponies should learn about what happened."
Everyone leaned forward in curiosity. Pandora looked downwards and scoured her memory for an answer. "I'm not sure, but I think it was the Ivamora."
Twilight felt like her heart had just suddenly stopped, and her face became pale.
"Uhh, 'scuse me but, what's an 'Ivamora'? Sounds like some kind of Ivy ta me." Applejack said.
Twilight cleared her throat. "The Ivamora is an extremely powerful and dangerous creature in Equestria. Myths speak of it as actually eating whole dragons, while others say that it has been the source of the disappearance of many civilizations.” Twilight became confused confused. “The weirdest part is its life-cycle. When it 'dies', or is killed, it is reborn like a phoenix; only, this seed gives birth to the Ivamora Draygon. An insanely huge and powerful version of the Ivamora that seeks vengeance if it had been killed. This version is usually there to absorb excess amounts of sunlight to grow its proper body, which is also spewed out as a seed," Twilight stuttered as she remembered everything of this supposedly disappeared beast.
Pandora nodded. "Yes. However, it is actually quite pacifistic. It's only when you disturb its garden that it starts to become aggressive.” The mare gestured her hoof like she was swirling water around. “The only one that still exists lives deep within Everfree forest, near the abandoned castle ruins. It lives atop a mound of dirt and looks like green vines panning throughout a garden full of blue and yellow flowers," Pandora continued.
"And what's so special about it? I bet we can kick its butt easily!" Rainbow Dash boasted as she started to air-box.
"Oh no. We don't need to hurt it. It's not doing anything bad,” Fluttershy complained.
Pandora rubbed her neck. "For whatever reason, when the incident at the tower occurred, it appeared under its Ivamora Draygon form. I still don't understand it. What could have caused it to die and direct it towards us? We never hurt it.” There was a moment of silence while everypony thought about the cause. “Although, with today's possibilities, I'm sure I'll eventually figure out the reason."
"But...Didn’t Starswirl the Bearded defeat that horrid creature and destroy its seed?" Twilight asked.
She felt more confused and scared than ever. First Psycho goes free, and then all of these events started chaining together one after the other.
"Not true,” Pandora corrected. “The tales don't speak of O’Connor the Thoughtful?"
Twilight shook her head. "I've never heard of him, but I did see that his name was in your journal. Who was he?" she asked.
Pandora took a deep breath."One of the wisest ponies to have ever existed. He was at the head of Research and Discovery when the Mage's tower was first founded. He was actually my own idol. When Starswirl planned on destroying the seed, O’Connor intervened. He stated that he knew that, even though the Ivamora had attacked them and came back under the Draygon form, it was unwise to destroy it as it was the sole remainder of its species and was also a protector of the Everfree. If it was killed, the other monstrous creatures within its confines light leave and start to attack the surrounding towns and villages."
"So, basically, it's like a king?" Rainbow wondered. There was glee hidden in her tone of voice.
"No. It won't stop the monsters, but, it is near the middle of the forest. And for any monster to get anywhere else in the quickest time possible, and with the least chances of dying, they must usually pass through the middle.” Pandora shrugged. “Like I said before, it doesn't like it when its garden is trampled on." Pandora’s face changed to a more dour expression.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked. “Did you remember something else?”
Pandora paced around a small area in front of the wall. “Before the chaos magic leaked in the tower and the Ivamora Draygon attacked, O’Connor told me he had discovered bits and pieces of a forgotten pony…” She waved her flicked her hoof in the air several times in an attempt to remember the name. “Carnifex, I think. There were bits and pieces of his notes scattered about the forgotten chambers of Canterlot that we discovered.”
“I can’t say I’ve ever heard of ‘Carnifex’.” Twilight’s eyes lit up. “Do you know what was on those notes?”
“Well, I found--”
The conversation was interrupted by the entrance slamming shut.
"Do not mind Crimson. She is having a bad day," Cloud chuckled.
"Shut up,” Crimson grumbled loudly.
Everyone stared in shock at the mare. She was almost an exact replica of Pinkie Pie.
"H-hi Tempest," Fluttershy shied away.
"Hello Fluttershy," the stallion replied with a gleaming smile.
"YAY! Now we're the BEST of friends!" Pinkie yelled as she joyously hugged Crimson Gaze. “Best Mane Mares!” she joked.
Pandora stared at the two and scratched her head in confusion.
"Am I missing something here? Why do they look so alike? Twins?" She shrugged.
"Not at all." Rarity walked forward while scanning Crimson.
The only difference between the two pink ponies were the wings, cutie mark, and the eyes.
"Tell me, Crimson.” Rarity started. “Were you two attacked by that strange stallion after you gave chase?"
"YES..." the Pinkie Pie copy hissed.
“I can take care of that, if you want me to," Pandora offered.
“Sure. Go ahead,” Cloud accepted.
Pandora repeated the same spell she used on Rarity and Applejack, and the same effects and results came to be here as well. Crimson Gaze looked at her hooves and, for the first time, looked happy, although her crooked, toothy grin made her seem more disfigured than anything. Cloud tapped her gently on the shoulder with a smile and continued his way towards Pandora. The mare immediately squinted and brushed off the shoulder that he had touched.
"And who is this?" Cloud asked.
"I am Pandora, and you would be?”
“I am Tempest,” He pointed a hoof to the Red Crow. “and that is Crimson Gaze.”
“I see…” The mare became suspicious of the two ponies and visibly ‘scanned’ the Black Cloud.
“Is there a problem?” the stallion asked.
“Your physique and demeanor remind me of a certain class of pony prominent at the time which I hope isn’t the case now.”
Pandora glared at the stallion while Cloud gave the look back with a wide smile. Fluttershy misinterpreted this and dived right between the two.
"Okay. Th-that's enough,” she shouted as loud as her meek behavior would allow. She smiled at Pandora then looked at the stallion directly in his eyes “Tempest, why don't we talk outside?"
"Uh...sure." Tempest shrugged.
Rarity leaned over towards Twilight with a smirk on her face. "Oh, it looks like somepony was hit with the love arrow,” she teased.
Spike broke the ‘moment’ by making a very loud and prominent belch.
"EWWWWW! SPIKE! You could apologize," Rarity scolded.
"Sorry, but Celestia sent us a letter," he explained as he handed it out to Twilight.
Twilight unfolded it and became concerned, her reading accelerating with every word she passed by. "Okay everypony, group up. When I give the signal, we'll be teleported to the throne room of Canterlot Castle."
Canterlot Castle?! This was the perfect opportunity to search for things to pay back her employer. Or at least, this is what Crimson Gaze thought. Apparently, that 'Pandora' seemed to possibly know about their true identities, or at least their main line of ‘work’, so it would be considered wise to get rid of her without anypony bearing witness.
"I'm coming too," Pandora stated sternly. "I have things to talk to Celestia about. I was once asked to retrieve something for the royal library, and that book seemed extremely valuable to her.” She frowned. “I never found it, so I need to tell her. Hopefully, she remembers me."
"And we're coming too," Cloud shouted after getting out of Fluttershy's surprisingly powerful grip."You'll need all the help you can get."
Twilight sighed. “The princess didn’t ask for you, so you’ll have to wait here.” Twilight nodded and looked around to see that her friends were all around. "Okay then. Everypony, stand still. Ready Spike?" Twilight asked her assistant.
"Yup."
The parchment Spike was writing blew away like dust in his fiery breath. It only took a few seconds for Twilight and her friends to vanish soon afterwards and reappear not within the throne room, but in a large room higher in the castle from which a large balcony spanned. This room was similar to a spa just for royalty, although none of the pools or the utensils were being used nor had been recently, leaving everything clean and neatly packed away.
Celestia and Luna, meanwhile, were waiting on the balcony, looking onto the horizon of Canterlot and taking in the mixture of blues, whites, yellows, and greens.
The white alicorn heard hoofsteps and turned around, a smile on her face."There you are, Twilight. I--" Celestia was cut short as she saw Pandora.
"Something wrong sister?" Luna asked.
"Sister? Are you Princess Luna?” The mare’s eyes darted between Celestia and Luna. “I thought you were trapped within the moon,” Pandora said.
Luna shied away at this remark. "I...I prefer not to talk about that.” She sighed. “I suppose you will fear me too?"
"Well...if you’re here, then that means all is forgiven.” Pandora nodded several times. “I never had a personal vendetta towards you, so I have no reason to start carrying one now.”
"How...how is it possible that you are still alive?" Celestia muttered.
"IIIIIIIII...was in a book, but we can talk about this later. I believe there’s more important things abound, namely one Psycho on the loose?"
Celestia readjusted herself and cleared her throat, while Luna returned to the balcony, letting her sister do the ‘heavy lifting’.
"Well, seeing as there are now three of you that have come to aid the elements, I suppose now is the best time to divulge information that I--."
“Three? But we only brought Pandora,” Applejack noted. She turned around and frowned. “Of course. How’d y’all hitchhike?”
“By jumping in at the last second,” Cloud laughed. He pushed through the group of ponies and faced Celestia eye-to-eye. “I am honored to be in your presence, princesses,” he stated with a bow.
Celstia gave a smile in return. “Your guile won’t work on me,” she snickered. “But you can help us all the same.” The mare looked back to the others. “My guardsponies and spies have found various places where Psycho has been found lurking, so I need all of you to split into groups and get him.”
"Great! I love to hunt," Cloud spouted out with a hoof thump to his chest.
Celestia gave him a cold glare. "No. This isn't to kill him; it is only to capture him."
"Hunting doesn’t necessarily mean ‘killing, princess,” Cloud stated matter-of-factly.
The white alicorn rolled her eyes. "Either way, I--"
"Celestia..." Luna called her sister nervously while pointing outwards.
"What is it? You sound...tense," the white alicorn prodded.
"Look over there.” Luna looked to her sister. “I know it's very tiny, but use this telescope I brought in from my room."
Celestia bent over and squinted through the small contraption. "What is it Luna? I don't see...oh no."