Minty Image

by mintgreenconspiracy

Optional Chapter 3-5: Skywishes' chapter

Party Favor frowned, another strike with a pickaxe to the wall, he had no idea what Starlight and her changeling 'friends' could possibly be mining for, and, at this point, it didn't really matter.

His oppressors whipped again, causing him to whinny in fear. It all made him wonder if Starlight was lying to him the whole time, that the paradise she was offering was anything but...

It made him almost want to say: 'to Tartarus with equality! I want my mark back!' But he had to remember, Starlight had given him a gi--

"GET BACK TO WORK!!!" The guard shouted, at the top of his lungs. "I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT WE DO WITH LOLLYGAGGERS!!!" The guard shouted, now whipping at the grey earth pony, with vigor.

That was it! He had had enough! He just wished, even for a little while, that he had his mark back, just to know what it felt like! That he could have his friends back!

He wished for his mark back, and he wished more than anything that...

**********

Changelings, and ponies alike shook their heads, some less dazed than others. The founder of equality lay on the ground, in a heap, her 'Staff of Equality' split cleanly in half (well it was only just a worthless piece of wood, after all), her horn smoking, and her body looking like she'd been on the bad end of an explosion.

The only pony still standing was a very shiny looking pink earth pony, who now glowed an odd lime color, a aura which covered every inch of her square body. Her mark, which remained firmly planted, now glowed a brighter neon white color, then ever, and at this point,looked like it might consume her whole body. It felt, to the earth pony, like her whole flank was being consumed by fire...

"What's going on!" She shrieked in terror, feeling like the very world was crumbling around her, as faint voices began to seep into her mind.

Belladonna was the first to get up, as a horrifying thought crept into her mind. "No!" She shouted, desperately, giving a terrified shriek, as if more concerned, with her thoughts, then what was happening around her. "THE VAULT!!!" She shouted, galloping out of the chamber at high speeds. "I HAVE TO SAVE THE FAULT!!!"

Inside the vault, changelings began to scramble as the seal that contained the tiny town's marks began to strain, and warp.

"Tell me they're still there!" Belladonna shrieked, arriving just in time to see cracks beginning to form on seal around the door. "No! No! No!" She shouted, repeating herself, as her glorious experiment beginning to come undone.

**********

Party Favor took another glance, was it possible?! No! It couldn't be!... Sure enough... A quick inspection verified his feelings... The equals sign was still there... So why did he?

He took another look, yeah, the equals sign was still there, but it wasn't the only thing there! Sitting on top, of the equals sign, was a phantom version of his cutie mark, a balloon animal, and confetti... Was it even possible? Had he gone mad?

He gave a shrug, even if he had, It was nice to see it again. Heck! He even be happy, at this point, if it were an illusion! He'd almost forgotten what the real looked like.

And you know what was even weirder? It felt like his real mark was calling out to him, wanting to return home...

Just like he wished...

**********

"Please stop!" Belladonna pleaded to the cracks which now littered the vault, growing and expanding like a virus through the magic wall. "NO! I COMMAND YOU TO STOP!" She shouted, futily pouring her magic into the seal. It was too little, too late, though, as the cracks quickly continued to grow, finally shattering the magic force that kept thousands of cutie marks contained, sending them flying every which way, back to their original hosts.

"NO!!!" Belladonna shouted, stomping the ground with her hooves, like a crazed mare. "Somepony will pay for this!" She promised the world itself. "And I won't rest until whomever was behind this is punished accordingly!" She shouted, fearing the loss of her source of witchweed potion.

**********

Skywishes stood there, her whole body feeling like it was being consumed in a fire, and it felt like the world, itself, was wrong! Like everything she knew, and loved, was phony. The voices that had started so soft, right after the explosion, were now slowly becoming louder, and louder, now becoming a continuous soft hum within her head.

She held her head with her front hooves. What was happening? It kept getting louder, and now she had the worst migraine. What was happening to her!? Star Catcher where --?

A soft voice shouted in her head, a voice she hadn't heard in months now, and one which, it felt, like she hadn't heard in years. "Run!" Star Catcher(?) Shouted, waking the earth pony from her stupor.

"Now is your chance! Be free!" The voice shouted, encouraging her to escape from the small basement, under the bakery, that they were holding the ritual in. "Flee into the wilderness!" The voice begged. "Help is on the way! Consider it done!"

"Star Catcher?" Skywishes asked, trying to ascertain the nature, and identity of the voice that had been calling out to her.

"I'm sorry, Skywishes, " the voice said, sounding discernibly different. "I can't help you now!" The voice said, sounding less regal, and more motherly. "But don't worry! Help is on the way!" The voice said, suddenly reminding her, of Mama Skywishes. "I promise!"

**********

Flash made the thousandth lap around Manehattan. Had Celestia been mistaken, when she said she knew where the lost pony might be? Was her deity vision clouded when she said that there was a secret village just to the metropolis' northwest.

He vigorously shook his head. How dare he even think about questioning one of Equestria's ruling deity princesses. Nevertheless, he could resist the questions that kep seeping into his mind. Questions like: what could have happened? And, worse still, was it possible that he was... ?

He barely resisted crumpling into a fetal position where he flew.. Celestia couldn't be wrong.. But that meant... Frightful images fluttered to his mind along with nightmares, that haunted his dreams, of the ghastly wraith of his moth-- No! He promised himself that night at that other Ponyville! He would never fail anypony ever again! So long as he had breath, he would never allow another pony to meet the same fate as his mother!

And he had sealed the deal, on his hooves, he wore the traditional spiked horseshoes of his tribe, and, on his wings he wore the unconventional weapons of Equestria, that his fallen colleague had left behind! He was decked out for war!

If he could not flatten his opponent under his horseshoes then he would seal their fate with the blades on his mighty wings... And if all else failed, his spear would not!

He would find Skywishes, and he would destroy whatever evil force that held her there, even if it were the visage of Dark Lord Tirek, himself!

He made a wish, wishing that Skywishes was still ok, and another that he would be able find her in time.

He felt a tingling, from somewhere, like something was reaching out for him...

Hopefully the wishes he made on the altar to Danny the Joybringer, as he passed through Cloudsdale, would be granted.

In the northwest, a blinding flash of light, and, what looked like lightning, filled the day sky. "What in the hay?" Flash asked himself. Had his wish been granted?... He steeled his nerve, and turned towards the light... There was only one way to find out.

Maybe Celestia wasn't so crazy when she said that she sensed something around Manehattan. Hopefully his second wish could still be granted.

**********

All she could do was run. She had to keep following Star Catcher's last instruction, and keep running. It was the only thing that was keeping her sane. Her symbol felt, at this point, like it would burn her rear clean off, any second now. And, the voices in her head kept getting louder, and louder. It felt like every wish that was made, every idle hope, every wish on a star, every futile well wish, and every fleeting desire kept streaming into her very soul, demanding her attention, demanding her action. And not just good wishes, but bad wishes, fair wishes, foul wishes, conflicting wishes...

She could sense every last one, she could hear everyone, she could feel everyone, she could even taste everyone.

... She had to keep running, if she ever stopped running, then she would go mad.

She shook her head, and pushed forward harder, wishes became ever stronger and more vivid...

A middle aged amber business pony with dark grey mane and tail cursed at one of his business rivals. "Business is one thing, but this is jus' personal!" He cursed to himself, shaking his head. "Some days I jus' wish they were gone!!" He thought, incredulously. How dare he act this way! And after he'd extended his hoof, in friendship, with an extremely generous offer!

A group of earth pony supremacists sat together just seething. "How dare those narwhals keep us down, did you hear what they thugs did to that foal?" They hissed, after all, when would the guard ever have justification to use force? Especially on their kind.. After all, they had been keeping the earth ponies down since forever! "I just wish they and the feather dusters were gone!" The loudest the the group remarked, assuaging his pent up frustrations in a barrel of cider. "I wish they'd get what's been coming to for what they've been doing since platina's day when earth ponies were treated no better than iron tools!"

Somewhere, a young foal looked up at the first stars in the sigh. "I wish daddy would return!" She cried, wishing on the brightest star she could see, her eyes full of tears. "I know mommy said he had gone to the fields, but I know he's out there!" She begged, the star. "Please! I wish daddy would come back!"

A lonely old stallion threw a coin into a well. "I'm growing old, well! Please let this be the year I find my mare!" He said, with a silent frown. "I'm so tired of being alone!"

A very young filly looked up into the sky, sending a prayer upwards, and looked back at the deplorable shriveled masses that she called her wings. "Please!" She begged, the skyword forces. "I wish I could fly! The I could find my family! And I could actually be like Rainbow Dash!"

And thousands upon thousands of others flowed through her mind, first in the present, then in the future.

A stallion looked through his accounts sadly, shaking his head. If the fourth quarter didn't improve then they would probably lose the family farm to those new Pegasus sky farms... They'd had the family farm since antiquity... Since before the city had even existed... He gave a sigh... He'd already lost his brother to those blasted feather dusters, as he opting to put on fake wings instead of continuing the family legacy. He shot a wish to the sky itself hoping, somewhere, maybe, out there, Molly, and Faust were listening. "Ah wish, even if fer a moment, this-here farm could be as even half as successful as it was fer grandma 'Bloom!" He wishes, rubbing, what felt like, his last two bits together.

Even voices from the past! "I wish this endless winter would end!" A shabby looking earth pony, who was dressed in sackcloth said, digging through the barren icy dirt. "We don't even have enough for ourselves, let alone our pegasus and unicorn overlords!" He moaned, gnashing his teeth over his empty belly. "I wish they'd stop being such stuck up jerks!" He whined.

Skywishes stopped, and help her ears, with her hooves, desperately crying for the voices to stop. "Please stop wishing!" She begged. "I can't take it all!"

An orange earth pony mare a blond mane and tail, whom she was sure didn't even existed here in this world shed a tear over her two foals, neither of whom existed in either of their worlds. "It tain't fair!" She cried out, the tears flowing down her cheeks. "Ah jus' wish ah could hold them in mah hooves, even just fer a moment!"

A pegasus that vaguely resembled her friend Rainbow Dash cried out for deliverance from a deranged pony that looked vaguely like her Pinkie, neither of whom existed in this world. "I just wish I could survive the night!" She cried out, in terror, as the Pinkie approached, an instrument of terror in her mouth...

"What's happening to me!?" Skywishes screamed, feeling like something wanted to spring violently out of her sides, like she had to escape into the sky, despite the fact that she didn't have the wings to do so.

"I weesh I could still remember what eet means ta live, what it was, I used to love, " her friend(?), Fiesta Flair said, or maybe didn't say... She couldn't say, for sure... "Ey weesh that Toola Roola would starts painting again, " she said, sad about someone who simply never was. So why did it feel like she was...

It felt like her head was on fire, like something wanted desperately to pop out, like she had to reach out with her mind towards the pony, but with what? She cried out in pain as she reared up, and pushed ahead, in terror, trying to ignore the continued wishes as the ghostly grey versions of her friends Storybelle, and Puzzlemint, who never existed haunted her mind. As well as a real real pegasus pony she never met, and never was, StarSong.

And the voices didn't stop there, ever growing, calling from everywhere!

"I want to be president!"

"No I do!"

"More government!"

"Less government!"

"More regulation! We'll make things safe and fair!"

"Get the government out of my life!"

The voices, they weren't even ponies anymore! And none of them could agree on anything!

And the voices became louder from there, no longer beckoning her, now demanding her...

"Please no more wishing!" She cried out, falling to her knees, and finally collapsing in a heap...

**********

A spark went through Celestia's head, one of her little ponies was in trouble, and though she knew which one... But she had a problem...

"And at seven, we have another meeting with general Averis about the Griffin's treaty with Unicornia, and -- " Celestia's advisor replied, going down the schedule.

She couldn't be there in pony, but...

"I apologize, Kibitz, " Celestia replied, holding her lower barrall. "I need a minute, " she replied, her voice growing soft.

"Oh?" Celestia's advisor asked, his face growing white, as he stared at the princess lower barrell, the color draining out of his coat...

"Yes, " Celestia grunted, looking like she would vomit. "I think it was something that happened in that alternate Sombra's -- "

Kibitz fainted, in a heap.

"And I hope I learned something from my sister, " Celestia said to herself, with a mischievous chuckle, as she turned back to her fainted advisor. "I'll feign ignorance when he gets back up, and he'll think it's old age..." She said, turning her attention elsewhere. She wouldn't have long...

"Let's hope this works, " she continued, her voice changing to more of a serene tone. "I can sense you are in trouble, Skywishes, I'll be there soon, even if not in person, consider it done!!!" She said, closing her eyes, her horn glowing vibrant colors.

**********

Even while unconscious, the voices continued to get louder, and louder, in her head, till Skywishes soon found herself in a semi-lucid sleep, suddenly wanting to grant everyone's wish, no matter how absurd, no matter how contradictory, she just wanted to grant them all... No... She HAD to grant them all, and it just tore her up inside that she just couldn't, no matter how much she wanted to.

Somewhere, there were sparks, and smoke.

"Hello?" Skywishes asked, searching around, through the darkness. She swore someone was talking to her... She had to be crazy!!!

"Who says?" A voice said, or should she say, her voice said? Except it wasn't her voice. So who's voice was it?

"What do you mean?" She asked, spinning around in circles, as she searched to find the source of the voice.

"Skywishes!" The voice cooed, reminding her of the way Papa Skywishes used to talk to Mama Skywishes, the morning after a long night of drinking hard cider... "I just want to help!" The voice cooed, the smoke growing in the background. "Let me help you, Skywishes!" The voice cooed, in her ear. "Let me be born!"

Skywishes looked around, growing ever more frantic. "Who said that?" She said, her eyes darting around... That wasn't right. "I mean! What did you mean!?" She said, shuddering, even here. "Ohhhh!! You know what I mean!"

"I do!" The voice replied, suavely. As a thick smoke started to descend. "Let me show you how, " the voice cooed, reminding her of whenever Papa Skywishes was about to go on one of his many business trips... Strange... This never happened before, right? "What are you afraid of Skywishes?" The voice asked, sounding sad. "I can help you! Together we can do it, Skywishes! We have the power!" The voice purred.

"What do you mean?" She replied curiously.

"Don't you feel it?" The voice asked calmly. "You really can grant really extra special wishes now!" The voice replied, confidently. "You can forget extra special wishes! Because, soon we'll have the power to grant everyone's wishes!" The voice said, seductively.

"Skywishes?" Another voice echoed, in her head, bring drowned out by the sounds of wishing voices. "Can you hear me?"

"But how?" She replied, to the first voice, curiously. "How can we grant their wishes if even the wishes, themselves, disagree with each other?"

"Of course!" It replied, nonchalantly. "We'll simply create worlds where each conflictory wish comes true!" It replied, making her almost want to believe.

Skywishes shook her head, that didn't sound right. "But wouldn't that mean that some people's wishes weren't coming true?"

"Nonsense!" The voice replied, sounding oddly confident. "We'll use our power to it's fullest extent, and --"

"I'm sorry, Skywishes, " replied a voice, that sounded a lot like Star Catcher's voice, if a fair amount more confident, drowning out the first voice. "But down that route lies sadness, " the voice said, its white hoof flattening the smoke and fire, a slight pained sound echoing through the darkness. And, just like that, with a wave of her front hoof, the wishing voices temporarily silenced.

"Who... are... you?" Skywishes asked, both in awe, and astonishment. The pony reminded her so much of Star Catcher, and yet so different. For one thing, she was like twice as tall, and equipped with something Star Catcher never did: a horn. Wait.. why did she know that was a horn?

"I'm sorry, Skywishes, " Star Catcher said, her voice booming out of the strange pony's mouth, looking away sadly. "You probably don't -- "

"Star Catcher?" The pink earth pony responded, her face turning purple, showing the abject horror that was in her heart. "What did you do?" She asked, the expression coming out. "How did it happen to you?" Still not right. "I mean... What happened... Ooohhh! You know what I mean?"

"I do, and we have important matters to discuss, " a ghostly version of Star Catcher said, standing next to Skywishes' other side. "But first, I wished to apologize, if I hadn't abandoned you, my friends, back at Butterfly Island, then this would have never happened..." She continued, reticently.

Skywishes, shed a tear, some frightening images beginning to come back to mind. These images... they all had to be a bad dream, right?

'But you weren't the only one I failed, ' the white horned pegasus thought outloud, turned away, a strange looking horn gleaming at the top of her head. 'Like I failed you, Luna, ' he thoughts said, a tear falling between her legs. 'If only I'd been stronger, if only I'd noticed sooner, maybe you would've been spared that fate.'

'And not just her, ' her thoughts betrayed her, as she continued in her series of regrets. 'Maybe if I'd been more loving, ' the bizarre horned pegasus continued. 'Maybe I wouldn't have lost you too, Starlight Twinkle, but I lost you too... to my own temper... Is that how I lost you too Luna? Where are you now, my ex-student?'

Before Skywishes had time to think, the horned pegasus stopped talking, turning rigid, like a statue, as the ghostly Star Catcher began to speak again. "I promised to grant your wish that we'd be together no matter what happened, " she said, with a frown. "Well, I guess, not me... and not you... But I still feel bound, " she said, turning away. "But how can I fulfill it now?..." She asked, taking a few paces away from her old friend.

It hurt her heart to see her friend acting this way. Star Catcher was more than just a friend to her, she was almost like a mother, like a second Mama Skywishes, and it hurt her to see her friend acting this way. However, she wasn't upset for very long even in this state of sleep, as an intense the pain began to seep into Skywishes' very marrow, as she felt both her heads and sides burning, like giant zits were popping out of them...

The white pegasus unicorn. 'Maybe I'm incapable of keeping my promises, ' she thought, out loud, the tears flowing some more. 'If only I'd been more understanding, maybe I wouldn't have driven you away, Sunset, ' she continued, taking a few more steps away. 'I hope that you are enjoying your new life through the mirror,' she replied, taking some steps away to Skywishes.

Skywishes was stunned, how was she hearing her friend's thoughts? And how was Star Catcher talking to her, in her dreams? Was it more really real for real pegasus magic?

Star Catcher, bent down to talk to her friend. "I failed you Skywishes, and then I changed my name and my face to cement it... can you forgive me, Skywishes?" Pegasus-unicorn Star Catcher said, bending down. "And I left you for lost..."

Star Catcher grew rigid as the other Star Catcher spoke...

'And I couldn't notice that my own niece and my students brother were off, ' the pegasus unicorn continued. 'If Chrysalis had been in a sound mind then she could have absconded with Twilight, and I would have been none the wiser, and Twilight would have been gone forever...'

'And then the monster almost cost Applejack her brother, and my niece her husband...' the pegasus-unicorn thought out loud, turning away again. "I'm sorry Skywishes, why did I think I could help you?" She asked, finally opening her mouth. "I'm a total failure..."

"But you're still my friend!" Skywishes replied... Not quite right... "I mean, I trust you!" She said, still not right... "I mean, you did the best you could.... Ooohhhh! You know what I mean!"

The ghostly Star Catcher frowned again. "No, Skywishes," she said, shaking her head. "Where was I for any of those thousands of years of Christmases you were forced to relive? Where was I during our home's final moments?" She asked the pegasus who only stammered. "All the times you were forced to relive our darkest moments... I'm sorry, Skywishes, I'm a failure..."

**********

"Bring me that traitor, Glimmer!!!" Belladonna howled, her face turning a vibrant shade of red. "I want her here! NOW!!!" She hissed, her eyes practically burrowing through the empty wall that used to be 'The Vault'.

"Yes, ma'am!" The drone guards, responded, as a unit, as the marched out of the cave, in perfect lockstep, followed, nearby, by the guards from the sentient Changeling warrior class, and, finally, more than a few of Belladonna's personal guard.

"You have until the count of twenty to bring her back!" The assassin hissed, sending her remaining guards flying with a errant whirlwind, that suddenly flew out of her open mouth.

And true to form, the legion of guards returned, their query bound, and an inhibitor crudely shoved onto her horn, and all in half the time allotted, by their mistress.

The unicorn started her 'mistress' in the eyes and, defiantly, opened her mouth. "I'm finished doing your dirty work!" She stated, calmly, looking her mistress straight in the eyes. "Do whatever you will, but I won't betray equality any longer!" She continued, making good and sure to get all every last of 'her final words', as she relegating herself to the inevitable.

The changeling reacted in a differently, then Starlight expected, bellowing in laughter, instead of exploding into one of her usual fits of rage. "Do you think I'm going to let you return to re-education after this?" She hissed, the tears rolling down her cheeks.

Starlight gulped, but her resolve remained firm. "Send me to the mines, I don't care!" She replied, defiantly. "I quit!"

"After you let both my slaves, and their marks escape?" She replied. waving her front left hoof.

Starlight would've shrugged, if she could.

"No!" The changeling shouted. "Now I'll have no choice, but to apprehend that mark myself!" She cried, motioning two of her guards to come forward with a necklace with the symbol of a single distant diamond like star, and two wisps of smoke travelling from the central body. "I'm through with you, Starlight!" She growled, motioning the guards closer.

"Wh...what are y...you going to do?" Starlight replied, suddenly afraid of arcane magics she could feel rising from the necklace. What would it do to her, if she wore it... Would she turn to stone? Would it cost her her so--?

"Your last hope, Starlight, " the changeling assassin replied, nonchalantly. "You'd better hope this works, or I'll feed you to the timber wolves!!!" She exclaimed, motioning to her guards, who quickly slipped the necklace around Starlight Glimmer's neck.

"Please! No!" Starlight cried out, desperately. "I'm too important to d-- "

"Heh!" The changeling scoffed, as the unicorn futilely struggled against the magic flowing into her. "So, in other words, my slave, you like everypony equal, so long as you are their superior!" She continued, finding further amusement, in the delicious irony. "We could've been such good friends, Starlight if you had been born a changeling instead of a nasty, dirty, inferior pony!" She shouted, as the guards, clasped the clasp, finishing the placement of the necklace.

The unicorn disappeared in a cloud of darkness, which streamed from the black light gleaming from her eyes..

"Heh, maybe I wasn't right after all, " the changeling lemented, as the fog started to recede. "Oh, well, plenty more ponies -- " she said, stopping when a figure slowly trotted out of the slowly receding darkness.

"Heh!" The changeling scoffed. "Maybe not!" She exclaimed, proudly. "Bring her back to the hive while I finish my business with Skywishes!" The changeling exclaimed, as she galloped out 'in search of her prey'.

**********

"I'm sorry, Skywishes, " the ghostly Star Catcher said, with a deep frown. "Apparently our meeting ended sooner than I had foreseen, " she exclaimed, as Sky wishes awoke, with a start to loud shrieks emanating from somewhere nearby.

"Where, are you wish granter?" Belladonna shouted, in a blind rage. "You can't hide from me forever!" She shouted, the bolts of lightning streaming from her eyes and into the sky.

Skywishes cowered under the rock she had fallen asleep under.

"If need be, I'll cover you in snow!" The changeling shouted as the magic she shot into the sky, slowly covered it in a covering of thick clouds. And a quick breath sent the thick storm clouds spreading in all directions.

"Please Star Catcher!" Skywishes began to wish. "Wherever you are, please help!" She shouted, sitting on her flank, her front legs straight, her eyes closed and her head in a praying position. "I wish -- "

Another quick blow into the clouds caused them to release a torrential blizzard fit only for the yak version of Tartarus.

"I wish the storm would stop!" She begged, Star Catcher.

And the storm stopped as suddenly as it started.

"Ahhh!" Belladonna purred, her tail swishing. "The mouse must be closest then I thought!" She said, feeling very satisfied. "And her wishing powers are even more impressive than I ever could have imagined!" She exclaimed, her eyes turning to slits. "And it's all closer to me now than it's ever been!" She shouted, shooting lighting, once again, towards the sky.

The feline changeling took a deep breath, and sent a whirlwind, which began to shape the landscape, pulverizing everything in it's path.

"I hope you're happy!" The changeling hissed. "I had to use half my witching potion to do this, " she growled. "So I plan to make you pay for every last molecule of it, in blood!" She announced, a blood thirsty expression on her crazed face.

Skywishes cried out again. "Please Star Catcher! Help!" She shrieked, rearing up, in terror. "I wish the whirlwind would stop!"

Untold thousands, and millions of butterflies descended, their vary wings flapping against the whirlwind, disrupting its flow, something normally only a pegasus could perform.

'That wishing power should be mine!' The changeling growled to herself, experiencing a mix of both utter frustration, and total ecstasy. 'Only I deserve to command such power!'

Sky Wishes cowered, continuously wishing, at this point, that Star Catcher would show back up. A secret fear began to creep into her mind, that her friend wouldn't be returning...

Meanwhile, the changeling gave a sadistic smile. "Come out, little mouse!" She purred, loudly. "If I don't find you, then I'll be forced to find your friends, and family, and punish every... last... one of them for this!" She purred, sadistically. "After all, I need somepony to restock my supply of witching weed."

Skywishes cowered in place, not sure what to do. She wanted to cower in place, but part of her wanted to face the bully, like Mama Skywishes always recommended. But what should she do? What if that meanie got back at her by hurting her friends? And where was Star Catcher, for that matter? "Please! Star Catcher help!!!" She shrieked again.

**********

Celestia woke from her dream walk in a start, her mane and tail covered in a thick layer of sweat. Apparently she didn't even come close to Luna's mastery of the dreamwalk, and even after impersonating her sister for over a thousand years while Luna sojourned on the moon. "Oh guards!" She exclaimed, calmly, calling for her guards attention, who quickly rushed in to join her in her chambers.

"Yes, princess!" The twin snow white pegasus guards, both looking very galant in their gleaming gold uniforms, stated, in unison.

"Could you please prepare my chariot?" She requested, calmly. This was so against protocol, it was ridiculous, but, at this point, her nerve was beginning to falter, as it became plain that Commander Sentry might not arrive in time, and she further feared that he wouldn't be stallion enough to handle the fiend from Equestria's past, that she was now beginning to sense. "I have another old friend to find, " she stated, not wanting to let her findings, on the monster's awakening slide.

The guards shook their heads, in unison. "I'm sorry, your majesty, but Kibitz has ordered us not to let you leave again today, and to remind you, that you should finish your duties instead."

Celestia hung her head sadly. He'd probably sick the maids on her again if he found out that she was trying to flee again, and there was no way in Tartarus that he'd let her even think about taking on Katrina -- one of the seven beings then single hoofedly ended the first great unified kingdom, at the end of The First Age.

She thought for a second, maybe she'd try a different tact. "But... But... But..." She begged desperately, hiding her sneaky smirk, behind a wall of tears. Every once in a great while, these kinds of tricks would cause one of her more loyal guards to crack...

But she never got to find out, as a third guard came streaming into the room, interrupting her attempt at sympathy, his helmet in his hoof, as he kneeled, on one knee.

"I'm sorry, your majesty, but I bring horrible tidings, " he replied, a look of dismay on his face. "Word finally arrived from one of our more remote villages.

Celestia turned her head, calmly, not letting her dismay be shown. "And what was that?" Celestia asked, sadly. Apparently bad news came in sets.

"They were apparently attacked a week ago by changelings, " he said, solemnly.

Celestia quirked an eyebrow. "How did it take so long, my little pony?"

"We're still investigating majesty, " the guard replied, with a frown.

"How many of our ponies did we lose?" Celestia asked, sadly. "And how many of our ponies did those monsters turn into monsters like them?"

"The good news, your majesty is that only one pony is missing, " he replied, calmly. "Apparently Commander Strong Armor of the EUC Equestrian Special Forces Unit saved all but one member of their village, a pink earth pony with a kite cutiemark."

"I see, " Celestia replied to herself, contemplatively. "That's good news," the princess replied, half in relief. "I have but one more question."

"What is that majesty?" The guard replied back, curiously.

"Are you sure it was Commander Strong Armor, my good stallion?" Celestia asked back, doing a dang good job of hiding her concern.

The stallion replied back, in confusion. "That's what the villagers said, your majesty, why do you ask?"

Celestia looked down. "Because the commander has been deceased for five years, having given his life for the safety of Equestria in a botched operation against Queen Chrysalis."

"Then who saved the village?" The guard replied back.

"I don't know..." Celestia replied, cryptically. "Crysalis... What are you up to?" She asked herself, under her breath. "And what does Skywishes have to do with it?"

She turned to her guard. "Could you write get me more dragon's fire, please?" She asked her guards. "And a scrying mirror as well, I need to get back in contact with a couple of ponies, including Commander Sentry."

"Understood, " all three guards said, in unison. "But what's the scrying mirror for?" They asked.

"Don't worry about that, gents, " she replied to the guards, with a smile, and a wave. "I need it to get two old friends back in contact..."

**********

"Star Catcher!" Skywishes cried out, cowering under a rock. Between the pains in her sides, the endless wishing voices screaming in her head, and the unceasing terror caused by the monster shooting lightning out of her eyes a few yards away, this felt like the worst day ever. "Please help!!!" She cried out, wishing with all her might that the majestic pegasus would finally show her face.

"Come out! Come out wherever you are, pony!" Belladonna roared, pulverizing sides of mountains, with her whirlwind breath, after just another sip of her witching potion. "I grow tired of playing!" She hissed. "And if you won't willingly surrender your mark!" She howled, her eyes growing into daggers. "I'll rip it off your flank myself, with my own two claws!" She cackled, looking down at her hooves, as she contemplated the horrors she planned to perform on the pony that humiliated her, mere hours ago.

"Skywishes! Over here!" Stated a serene voice, from the darkness behind Skywishes.

"Star Catcher?!" The pink earth pony exclaimed, loudly, overjoyed to see her old friend here. "Is that really you? Are you really here!"

"I am!" Star Catcher replied, calmly. "But -- "

The monster outside launched another onslaught onto the nearby hills and mountains.

The pegasus gave a dismayed look at the monsters destruction, and gave a dismayed expression. "Quickly, Skywishes!" The white pegasus continued, motioning deeper into the rocky alcove. "Over here!"

"Where have you been!? I've been so worried!" The pink earth pony exclaimed, the words jumbled in her head. "I mean I've been scared!" She paused, still not right. "Oooh! You know what I mean!" She said, reaching over for a friendly hug...

... only to pass through the white pegasus ...

"I'm sorry, my friend, " the pegasus said, with a frown. "But the magic the monster used to constitute me is fading, " she said, looking away. "I don't know how much longer I have..."

"What do you mean?" Skywishes responded, sadly -- she just found her friend, again, after so much time, she couldn't lose her again!

"I mean that I am Star Catcher, and yet I am not, " the pegasus responded. "When the monster that trapped you, and my other friends in our world, found out that the real Star Catcher, had escaped his grip, he decided it was a waste of time to follow her, " she said, turning her back. "So, instead, he made a phony, and now that our world's magic is leaking out, my form has begun to fail."

"What's wrong Star Catcher?" Skywishes responded, now crying slightly.

"Without the magic another pony loaned me, we would never have this chance to talk, " she said, as a lightning bolt came just short of the place they were hiding. "This is where I, unfortunately, have to say goodby..."

"No!" Skywishes shouted, angrily, her voice distorting. "I won't permit it!" She shouted, her head and shoulders feeling like they were ablaze. "I just need you to help me with this wish, like you always do!" She shrieked, as hot white flames began to shoot out from her forehead, and from just behind her withers.

The pegasus shook her head, sadly. "Is this the way you want me to see you this one last time?" She asked, calmly.

The tears rolled down Skywishes' face, as she turned to the pegasus. "But -- "

"Is this what you want me to see, when I say goodby the final time?" The pegasus asked, sadly.

Skywishes shook her head. "Well..." She replied, calming down. "No... But without you, and your butterflies, my wishes just won't be quite as special..."

"Let me tell you a secret, Skywishes, " the pegasus said, a smile growing on her face, as she darted her head around like she was about to reveal a deep secret. "My butterflies, and I help some, " she whispered in the pink pony's ear. "But you do most of the work, Skywishes!" She replied, with a smile. "You have a real gift."

"What do you mean?" Skywishes replied.

"Let me explain then," the pegasus replied, softly. "How many of those wishes, on the day, that I first met you, did I and my butterflies really grant?"

Skywishes thought for a moment. "Only a couple, right at the end."

"Exactly, " the pegasus replied, serenely.

"You mean I --? " Skywishes responded, being rudely interrupted by the loud roar of a giant changeling...

Or at least she looked almost like one...

The changeling's face now carried a cat's whiskers, and instead of hooves, she had claws now...

"There you are! " Katri... Belladonna roared, showing her fangs. "How dare you try to hide from me!" She roared, looking at the little crevice the pink earth pony had hide in, and shaking her head.

"Did you really think you could hide from me in such a sorry place?" She hissed, sounding less amused, and more furious. 'Though, it pains me, to admit, that I didn't see you sooner...' she thought to herself, realizing that she didn't see something so obvious when she was mere yards away, especially under the growth effects of her witching potion. 'This must be the effect of her talent!' She thought, her jovial mood returning, as the perfect excuse came to mind. 'I simply must have this power!' She thought, licking her claw hoof paw...

The tyrant took a good mouthful of air, in order to summon the whirlwind again, and began to blow.

Skywishes cowered, prepared for the worst...

And...

Nothing happened...

A ghostly figure of a pegasus-unicorn stood in the way, taking the brunt of the spell.

"Run, Skywishes!" The ghostly white pegasus-unicorn said, her ephemeral lightblue, green, blue, and purple mane and tail blowing in an invisible breeze. "I'll keep her distracted!" She announced, defiantly. 'I'm sorry, Skywishes, my fellow princess... but you can't handle her yet...'

"But... " Skywishes replied, not wanting to leave her friend. And what did she mean, fellow princess. Did she mean like Wysteria? But she never found a flower like Wysteria's...

"Celestia..." the unicorn-pegasus said, in Star Catcher's voice.

"But she's going to hurt our friends!" Skywishes announced, nervously. Did she just say 'our'?

Belladonna shook her head, sadly. "Oh Celestia... an avatar..." she lamented, feeling at least a little disrespected. "Such an pedestrian spell?" She said, feeling very disappointed. "You couldn't face me like a mare, " she announced, bemused at how weak the pony princesses had become. "Queen Majesty would have dropped everything to come out here and help 'her little ponies'!" She said, putting extra emphasis into 'little ponies', as she mocked the old queen who had barely bested her generations before, and at a very steep, and utterly final price...

"Oh don't worry!" Celestia said, her poker lessons paying off again. "Luna and I will have a chat with you later, so don't worry!" She bluffed, being probably too old and fat to handle the tyrant right now, at least without the help of the elements, or the bearers and their new rainbow powers.

"No!" Skywishes said, defiantly. "I won't let you hurt my friends, or anyone else, anymore!" She said, sitting cross legged on her plot, as she lowered her head in a praying position. "I wish... I wish... I wish I had the strength to stop her!" She announced, her mane beginning to blow on it's own, and her mark glowing so brightly that it's colors vanished into a vibrant white, which eventually covered the whole pony's body.

"Consider it done!" The translucent pegasus said, putting her hoof on Skywishes' head. "Consider this, my final wish granted, a special gift to you..." she said, with finality. "My closest friend, Skywishes!"

Belladonna took another deep breath, and prepared to fire off another hurricane, this time her strongest.

The illusionary Celestia nodded to the illusion, this would hurt in the morning, but Commander Sentry would be here soon...

"I'm tired of running! I'm tired of being afraid!" Skywishes shouted at the tirant, her voice changing. "I'm tired of everyone's wishes being crushed into dust..."

"Skywishes..." the white illusion, Said, disappearing into the light. "I can lend you my power!" She announced, as her light disappeared into the pink earth pony's body. "Please help our friends!"