Harmony Theory

by Sharaloth

Chapter 34: A Weighty Choice

The Reconstruction action is the mechanism by which the will of the Bearer of the Element of Magic is realized during a Harmony Event. In a Proxy Event this takes the form of a localized alteration of reality. That is, the standard limits to what magic is capable of are suspended, and the power generated during the Charging sequence is expended to create virtually any effect the Magic Bearer wishes. It should be noted that ‘localized’ in this case can refer to anything up to and including the local stellar cluster. Comparatively, this area of effect is miniscule.

… For a true Harmony Event, of course, the area of effect consists of all things that are, were or could possibly be. The Reassociation process has collapsed the totality of existence into the Elements, and it is then up to the Bearer of Magic to rebuild that existence to their liking.

It is up to me.

The sheer terrifying scale of the task boggles the mind. Yet I have done this multiple times. Since any memory of events internal to a Harmony Event is at the very least highly suspect, there is no way to know how I accomplished it. I can only surmise that merging with the Element of Magic somehow gave me the capability to return the universe to its original state. Or perhaps that is a vain hope, and every time we have used the Elements I have created a wholly different reality, bent by the prism of my limited consciousness, and we do not notice because I have chosen for us not to notice.

Regardless of which is true, the implications are sickening. I have, in that moment, the power to prevent every war, every plague, every injury or misdeed that has ever befallen anyone in the history of the universe. Yet I do not. Am I simply attempting to return to a world similar to the one I destroyed, with all its history and character intact? Did I allow those evils for some greater reason? Or worst yet, did I create these evils, because some part of me wanted them?

… I cannot sleep for contemplating these questions, and others like them. The power I held was nearly limitless, the responsibility equally so. Even under the best case scenario, when we have used the Elements before it has been akin to burning down my house then rebuilding it exactly as it was, save for a single page turned on a book I was reading. This is as gross a misuse of power as I have ever imagined, and I have been hailed as a hero many times over for it.

That ‘nearly’ in ‘nearly limitless’ is an important modifier, however. The ability of the Elements to change the universe is not complete. There is, in fact, one thing that the Elements of Harmony cannot alter: the Elements themselves.

Herein lies either our salvation, or our damnation. Which it might be will certainly lie in the final discovery I have made about the Magic of Harmony.

-From the seventh section of Harmony Theory by Twilight Sparkle

Chapter Thirty-Four: A Weighty Choice

Rainbow Dash fled through the jungle, and Charisma followed. The chase was only just begun, and already Dash could see she was losing. She weaved a burning rainbow trail through the trees at eye-watering speeds, but every sudden juke and fake-out she tried only let Charisma’s black and red etherealization scar more of that prismatic streak.

Dash worked her wings furiously as her magic twisted the air to her will, bending and compressing it to give her the lift she needed to throw herself at reckless speed through the living obstacle course. So great was the press of the air streaming around her wings that as the tip of one feather brushed against a gnarled trunk it scored a deep slash in the bark. An instant later that slash was joined by ten more as Charisma used the tree to springboard herself after Dash’s swerving form.

Dash banked sharply around a tree as large around as a house, circling around it in the hopes of coming up behind Charisma and catching her off guard. The enforcer had somehow anticipated that, however, and as Dash rounded the wide trunk she was met with a slashing claw that took a nick out of her ear and narrowly missed slicing open an eye. Dash’s wings folded with a thought, and she kicked out at the tree, throwing her in a new direction before her wings snapped open again and she took off on her new course. Charisma was left with only a few strands of prismatic mane and a tuft of blue fur, but she just laughed and leapt after Dash once more.

At full speed, Dash knew she would leave her opponent in the dust. She was the fastest pegasus alive, and she wasn’t going to give up that title just because some upstart had grown claws. Unfortunately, that speed just wasn’t possible beneath the shadowy umbrella of the jungle canopy. She could only barely avoid flying headfirst into trees or tangling vines as it was, any faster and she risked everything coming to a crashing halt.

The tight spaces should have been affecting Charisma even more, as it prevented her from using her new, larger wings. It was doing that, but the restriction didn’t seem to matter. She was having no trouble keeping up, bounding from trunk to trunk in lightning-quick leaps that made the air squeal with her passage. Worse, every attempt Dash made to put something in the way of those leaps failed. Anything less resilient than the massive jungle trees themselves she simply slashed through as they got in her way, vicious claws parting tough vine and heavy branch as if they were tissue paper.

With acceleration suicidal and clever maneuvering simply not enough, the only other option was going above the canopy, into the open sky. Dash knew she’d be forced to do that eventually, but she wanted to get as far from Star Fall and the others as possible first. There would be no telling how far or how fast their battle would take them once they had room to really let loose, and Dash wanted to minimize the chance that they’d come upon her friends again. She knew what Charisma would do to them, and she couldn’t let that happen.

Even then, going high above the trees wasn’t going to answer to the fundamental problem. The best Dash could do was outrun her opponent, and that wasn’t going to be enough. Escape was impossible.

Dash could feel the enforcer just behind her, an awareness that was visceral and terrifying in its absolute certainty. Along with that certainty was the knowledge that Charisma shared the same awareness, that there was no hiding from each other. She could fly to the ends of the earth, and Charisma would be just behind her.

That left fighting, but Charisma’s transformation had changed the rules of that particular game. She didn’t think it would go as well as the last time. Her mind raced as fast as her wings, searching for a solution that would keep her and everyone else alive.

She sped towards a pair of massive trees grown so close together there was barely any clearance between them. With a daring shout she folded her wings and squeezed her body into as narrow a shape as possible. The trunks scraped at her back and belly as she dove through, her wings unfolding the instant she was clear to throw her farther into the dark jungle.

Behind her, Charisma slammed into the trees and let out a laugh that was beautiful in its sheer, abandoned delight. Then the Element around her neck flared, and the trees leapt away from her. More, every tree within a mile was violently ejected from the earth, betrayed by the soil that had nurtured them to such great size.

Dash dodged through the sudden gauntlet of roots and raining dirt that surrounded her. There was a moment of poised stillness as the trees reached the apex of their short-lived flight, a breath before chaos. Then they all started toppling down to the earth that would never again allow any part of them to enter it.

Dash went into overdrive, her face locked in a strained rictus of effort as she twisted and turned. She flew through the collapsing rainforest with a speed and precision that made a run through the Ghastly Gorge look like a Sunday stroll in the park.

It wasn’t only falling trees she had to contend with, either. Every time she saw an opportunity to fly clear of the madness she was met with Charisma’s grinning face and flashing claws, forcing her to turn back to the increasingly tight maze of trees. She dove and darted, moving dangerously fast. A heartbeat away from disaster.

Then she was through, shooting up into the air and above the rumbling destruction. Adrenaline and exhilaration pounded through her veins like molten sunlight, making her entire body tingle. The narrow escape, the incredible danger of the chase, all of it combined with the sheer joy of pushing herself to her limits. There was a small, insistent voice in the back of her head that urged her to go faster, fly harder, to burst the bonds of the possible and show Charisma she was messing with a living legend.

She looked down to see Charisma standing on a falling tree, grinning up at her. For a moment, even in the light of the afternoon sun, the enforcer seemed to be drained of color. Pink, blue, red and purple all faded to a washed-out grey that was so familiar it made Dash’s heart leap into her throat. A blink later and Charisma was back to her brightly-colored glory.

“Alright, fine. Time to get serious,” Dash said, turning her eyes to the sky. Clearly heading through the jungle wasn’t a workable option anymore. She just had to hope she’d made it far enough.

“You can’t run forever, Hot Stuff,” Charisma said, and the words were as clear as if they were right next to each other. She could practically feel the enforcer’s breath on her ear. “You’re gonna have to stop and fight me sometime.”

“You want to make that happen?” Dash’s eyes locked on to a shape in the distance, and she smiled as an idea came to her. “Then catch me if you can.” With a flap of her wings she was soaring heavenward, and with a gleeful shout, Charisma followed.

***

Star Fall let out a shuddering groan as consciousness returned. Her body throbbed, her nose and eyes stung, every sense was coated with a dripping slather of pain that made it all but impossible to bring those sensations into any sort of coherence. From her ears, all she got was a persistent, high-pitched whine that drowned out even the sounds coming from her own throat. She spent a long moment in whimpering self-pity before she marshalled her will and pried her eyes open. The effort was staggering in how much it took out of her, and even then the world was a smudged blur of green, brown and black. She had to blink several times before it began to resolve into proper shapes.

She looked around, trying to find a flash of the telltale prismatic mane of Rainbow Dash. Even with her vision still fuzzy, though, she could tell that the ancient pegasus was nowhere to be found. Instead the black shape of a cloaked Changeling loomed above her.

She reacted with instinctual panic, trying to jerk away. The agony that answered her call to motion nearly plunged her back into unconsciousness before the accompanying adrenaline rush buoyed her up. The Changeling reacted, hunching over her and saying something that she couldn’t hear and didn’t have the mental capacity to lip-read yet. Realizing that struggling was useless, she gave up on running. Instead, closing her eyes and panting for breath from her momentary exertion, she began the task of forcing her thoughts to order.

She was alive, which was a definite positive, and something to hold on to as she went forward. She recalled the last few minutes before unconsciousness, which unfortunately included the beating Charisma had delivered. She let out another involuntary whimper at the image of her hoof being removed, then carefully and deliberately pushed those memories aside.

She reminded herself that the fact that she was remembering anything so clearly was good. It indicated she hadn’t received any head trauma this time. That clear thinking, combined with the fact that she was in terrible pain, was also good: it meant she wasn’t in shock. Not being in shock meant she hadn’t lost too much blood, which meant someone, possibly the Changeling, had done some basic treatment for her impromptu amputation.

The fact that Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen could indicate that she’d gone for help. Or it could indicate that something dangerous had arisen that required her to take care of. The best case scenario was that once Star Fall had been seen to Dash had left to help deal with Cash. Regardless of which option was true, Star Fall wasn’t going to lie here waiting. No matter how good an idea it was or how much she wanted to.

She opened her eyes again, surveying the destruction around the hollow. She catalogued everything she could see, putting a list together in her mind of all that she would need. Once she was satisfied she turned to the Changeling, spending a moment to recall his name. “Calumn,” she said, though the words still didn’t make it through the ringing in her ears. The Changeling gave her a fanged grin and said something. She ignored it, instead focusing on making her words as clear as she could. “On my right shoulder, there’s a long pouch. Open it and take out the paper inside.”

He asked a question she couldn’t be bothered to figure out, but did as she asked. There was a surprising amount of pain from him just opening the pouch and extracting the spell-sheet, enough to distract her from what she was doing for a moment. When she came back to herself he was holding the rolled up paper out to her and saying something. “Unroll it,” she said. “Lay it out flat just beneath my head.” He frowned, but again moved without hesitation to fulfill her request.

He had to move her head to get the sheet under it, but this didn’t hurt nearly as badly as his moving her leg had. She rested for a moment atop the paper, taking in the smell of the sheet and ink. It reminded her of easier times, when she had spent long hours with the Professor drawing on sheets just like this one. Learning how to shape magic with symbols and will. There was a twist in her chest at the thought of Twinkle Shine, but the blessing of her situation was that her issues with her mentor just did not rate on a scale of her priorities right then.

She gathered her power and drove it into the spell-sheet. “As above, so below,” she whispered, using the mantra to focus through the pain. “As within, so without.” Crimson light engulfed her, washing away her sight for a long minute. When she lifted her head again, her vision was clear and her ears flicked as the myriad sounds of the jungle became audible.

“Whoa. That’s really nifty,” Calumn said as she looked to him. “Are you doing ok now? I mean, you don’t look as pale. Well, you’re white, so you always look pale, but I mean...” He trailed off, his mouth working soundlessly for a moment before he gave her a small, awkward smile. “You look a bit better, is what I mean.”

“Healing spell,” she said, then reached down and grasped the paper in her teeth, flipping it over to her back so it was bathing her aching wings in soothing energy. “I came prepared.”

“How much, uh... how much will it heal?”

“Not much,” she said. “I’m going to need a splint for my leg. There’s some pieces of wood broken off in the fight that will do, and the vines look sturdy enough to serve. I need you to grab them for me while I fix up what I can.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked. “And, um, not to be a party-pooper or anything, but if you keep healing yourself like that you’re probably gonna lose any chance of getting your hoof put back.”

She looked down at the stump. The tourniquet had stanched the blood flow, but it wasn’t going to hold if she started moving around too much. She dragged the spell sheet over and started sealing the ragged end of her leg. “We’re a long way from a hospital,” she said, partly for him and mostly for herself. “Odds are the hoof’s gone no matter what, and leaving the wound open is just asking for infection. If Rainbow Dash were here, it’d be a different story. But, well…” She looked to Calumn. “What happened after I passed out? Where did she go?”

“Well, right after I showed up and helped Dash stop you from bleeding out, it got kinda weird.” He described Charisma’s transformation, talking as he gathered the wood and vines she directed him to. “She said something about a tie-breaker, and then Dash just took off into the trees. Charisma didn’t even look at us, she just went right after her.”

“Another time, this would all be incredibly fascinating,” Star Fall said with a sigh. “I’d be just giddy at the prospect of telling my mentor all about it.” She looked at the pile of wood he had brought, picking out the most sturdy looking lengths. “Too bad that’ll never happen now.”

“Aw, why not? I mean, assuming we all make it out alive.”

“Assuming we live?” Star Fall couldn’t help but chuckle darkly. “Then she’s still an evil Goddess and I’m still a Princess of a nation she’s been manipulating for centuries. I don’t think that we’re going to be having any friendly chats.”

“Well, you never know,” Calumn said, testing the vines he gathered to see if they’d hold. “Are you ready for this leg thing? ‘Cause, well, it’s gonna hurt. Like, a lot. A whole lot.”

“I’ve had broken legs before,” Star Fall assured him. “I know what to expect.”

“Really?” he asked, blinking in surprise.

“Secret Service training isn’t all fun and games,” she said. “When I did the Maul, I broke two legs and a wing. I was laid up for months afterwards. Astrid said… Astrid…”

“Where is the big bird, by the way? I thought she’d stick to you like peanut butter on the roof of a Diamond Dog’s mouth.”

Star Fall blinked away a tear. “She’s gone,” she said, hoping it wasn’t true. “It doesn’t matter. With Dash dealing with Charisma, our priority is Max Cash. Give me a stick to bite down on, then set the leg.”

“Are you–”

“Do it.”

He brushed off a fallen branch and offered it to her. She bit down on it, focusing on the gritty taste of damp earth. When Calumn jerked her leg straight she bit down so hard she had a momentary fear of cracking her teeth, but the branch held and muffled her screams. Fresh sweat slicked her coat and dripped from her mane into her eyes. She pawed at the earth with her uninjured foreleg, expending all of her will on not jerking and thrashing as the pain was demanding of her. After a subjective eternity the agony faded to a manageable dull ache and she spit the branch out.

“There we go,” he said. “Should be good for hobbling on.”

She looked down her body and saw her leg jutting out stiffly, wrapped in vine and braced with broken wood. It was clearly swollen, and an ugly discoloration was showing through her coat, but when she put a bit of experimental pressure on it she didn’t collapse. “You’re pretty good at this.”

“Well, I did a year of med school.”

“What?”

“Uh, Changeling thing, don’t worry about it,” he said with a lopsided smile.

She checked her stump, and found that it was sealed enough that she wasn’t going to bleed out from it. She slowly undid the tourniquet, letting blood back into the limb in a rush of prickling pins-and-needles and a phantom pain in her missing hoof that was thankfully drowned out by the plethora of other agonies her body was reporting.

“Alright, I’m ready,” she said. “Help me up, we have to move quickly.”

“Yeah, about that,” Calumn said, kneeling next to her so she could put her maimed leg over his shoulders. “I can tell from that ‘I’m gonna be a hero’ look you’ve got on your face that you want to go after the big bad evil guy, but I really don’t think that’s, like, a good idea.”

“Dash is going to lead Charisma far away from us or anyone that could be hurt by her,” Star Fall said. “That gives us a window of opportunity to go after him where she won’t interfere. We can’t waste it.”

“Yeah, I get that. But what are you even planning to do? Limp up to him and bleed on him until he gives up?”

“It doesn’t matter. The others will need us,” Star Fall replied, rising to her two good legs. The splinted leg was awkward, but she could still put enough weight on it to stabilize herself if needed. With Calumn’s help she should be able to keep up a decent pace. “Cash is a Magic Talent. A powerful one. Augmented by the Elements, who knows what he’s capable of. I may not be up to much hoof-to-hoof combat, but I have all my spellsheets prepared, and my will to stop him has never been stronger.”

“Okay, just… don’t kill yourself trying to kill him, alright?” Calumn said as they began limping out of the hollow.

“I’ll do what I have to,” Star Fall replied. Then she was struck by a bleak thought. “Of course, this might all be moot. If Dash can’t stop Charisma, we’re all dead anyway.”

Calumn smiled. “Yeah, there’s always a bright side.”

***

Hard Boiled, Traduce and Trail Blazer came out of the jungle into the fallen gardens, chased by the distant rumbling sounds of detonations and destruction. It was like hearing thunder on a clear day. Or, Hard Boiled mused, like being next door to a war zone. Either way, it boded nothing but ill for all of them.

Traduce immediately sighted on the temple at the center of the wide clearing, setting off for it at a brisk trot. HB had to kick into a short gallop to catch up with her and hold her back. She gave him a questioning look, her thoughts reaching out to him through their tentative symbiosis. He tilted his horn towards the jungle. “Someone’s coming.”

A moment later a familiar orange face poked through the vines and leaves. “Well, ain’t you all a sight for sore eyes!” Applejack pushed her way through, taking a moment to brush some dirt and twigs from her flanks with her hat before walking up to them. “I was worried you’d gotten hurt in that crash.”

“We made it out fine,” Traduce said, HB’s magic allowing him to follow the Solar conversation. “Have you seen Princess Fallen Star or her guardian?”

“Star and Astrid? No, can’t say that I have. Figured we’d all be headin’ for the place with Fluttershy’s statue, so that’s what I’ve been makin’ for.”

“A good choice,” Traduce said with a nod. “Rainbow Dash went off after them with Calumn. The Princess was in trouble… screaming.”

Applejack’s eyes darkened under a heavy frown. “I thought I heard somethin’. Hoped it was just some kinda jungle critter. I hope they’re okay.”

“Yeah, me too,” Blaze said. “But right now I’m kinda wondering whether we’re gonna be okay. Because we just split the party, guys. That’s, like, number one on the list of things not to do. And it’s not giving me a tingly confidence-like feeling that the party mage is in the other half, along with our two best fighters. No offense to the orange lady who can crush me with her eyebrow muscles, but I’ve seen Dash fight before, and, well, a Griffin’s a Griffin.”

Applejack’s frown eased up a bit. “None taken,” she replied. “But I’ve got a few tricks under my hat, don’t you worry.”

“I hate to admit it, but he’s got a good point,” Hard Boiled said, with Traduce providing a quick translation for Applejack. “We can’t wait until the others get here, if they ever will, but we can’t go in without a plan.” As if to underscore the urgency of their task, a blast of pink light exploded from the temple, sending ripples through the flowers of the clearing.

“Cash’s spellcasting is our largest concern,” Traduce said. “He has the capability to do practically anything, but he’ll still be limited. The best plan is to attack from multiple directions, and up close. The less time he has to get off a spell, the better. Detective Hard Boiled and I will come from the sides. Applejack, we’ll need you rushing him head-on. Blaze…” She trailed off as she contemplated the Storm Guide.

“Not really a fighty-type,” Blaze said with a sheepish grin. “I’ll do my best, but, uh, you might not want to count on me.”

“Try to stay out of the way, then,” Traduce continued. “And if you get the chance to distract him, take it.”

They trotted up to the temple, moving cautiously past the eroded statues and wild gardens. The noise coming from within was a babbling stream of low, one-sided conversation, interrupted occasionally by an angry shout that was invariably followed by a flash of pink light. HB kept an eye on Applejack, noting with some worry how each burst of pink light made her eyes glow and her step falter for a second. She was supposed to have physical strength on par with Rarity’s magical power, and they were going to need her at her best in there.

Traduce was first to the temple. She pressed herself against the wall right next to the doorway, gesturing the others to come close beside her. HB stepped up next to her and drew his gun, careful to keep the copper light of his magic from shining into the temple and giving them away. The others crowded in behind them, with Blaze the furthest away and glancing every few seconds back towards the jungle.

“Somethin’ ain’t right,” Applejack said, shivering as another blast of pink light erupted from within the temple. She frowned and stared at the wall as if she could see right through it. “I know there ain’t none of what’s been happenin’ that could be called ‘right’, but this feels worse. Feels like… well, I can’t put my hoof on it.” She gave her head a shake and looked to HB and Traduce. “One thing I can say is that I’d bet my best applecart what’s goin’ on in there ain’t part of Cash’s plans.”

“What’s he saying?” Blaze asked.

Traduce closed her eyes and listened, but she needn’t have bothered. HB’s magic was picking the otherwise indistinct words out just fine. “‘Come on now, I’m asking nice,’” HB said, relaying Cash’s words, though not the soft, cajoling tone they were said with. “‘It’s just for a little while. You don’t even have to stay with me. I’ll find you someone nice and quiet. Someone who’ll take good care of you and likes soft things and bunnies, and not even in the killing and eating sort of way.’” HB shuddered, there was something in Cash’s voice that made those words taste foul on his tongue as he repeated them.

Traduce peeked around the corner. “There’s no one else there with him. He’s talking to the statue.”

“Does it still have the necklace?” HB asked. Traduce nodded. “Then we still have time. Traduce, tell Applejack that we’ll need her to–” He cut off as Traduce put a hoof up to stop him. He stilled and realized that Cash’s voice had gone quiet.

There was a long moment of silence, and then a dark chuckle came from inside. “You’re a little early,” Cash called out to them. “But that’s just because we’re experiencing technical difficulties. Why don’t you all come in and take a seat, and we can try to get this show started.”

HB’s eyes narrowed and he cocked his gun. Traduce gave him a slow nod and looked to Applejack “We’re going to go in. You need to be front and center. There isn’t any cover inside, and he might have a gun, so be careful. You might be immune to bullets, but it’s not something I want to chance.” Applejack nodded in understanding. “Blaze, stay out of sight.”

“Roger that!” Blaze replied with a sloppy salute.

“Hello!” Cash called, drawing the word out. “Olly-olly-oxen-free! Come on, don’t be afraid! I just want to talk!”

“Go!” Traduce said, and pounced through the doorway.

HB followed, slower and far less nimble, but only a split-second behind. He dodged to the left of the doorway, knowing that Traduce had taken the right, levelling his gun down the length of the temple to aim at the unicorn at its far end. Cash was grinning, his teeth gleaming with blood and spit. His horn was limned with a magenta glow, but if he was holding something it wasn’t visible. Behind him, the Kindness statue was hidden behind a soft pink light.

“Why, if it isn’t the lovely couple!” Cash crowed. “I was hoping you’d show up. I need to ask about… Laughter…” He trailed off, his eyes going wide as Applejack strode into the temple. “First Rainbow Dash, then Rarity, now Applejack, in the flesh! Did any of you ever actually die?” He let out a delighted laugh. “No, don’t tell me. I want it to be a surprise!”

“Move away from the statue, Cash,” HB snarled out, slowly walking deeper into the temple. Out of his peripheral vision he saw Traduce following his lead. He couldn’t see what Applejack was doing, and he didn’t want to take his eyes off Cash even for an instant to check. He only hoped she stuck to the plan for fighting the dangerous unicorn, closing distance before the spells started flying.

“Come on, Lieutenant, don’t be like that,” Cash chided. “We were getting along so well last time, after all.”

HB shook his head. “I’m going to kill you, you sick bastard.”

Cash smirked. “So I’ve gone from arrest to kill! I guess that means I’m moving up in the world.” His eyes narrowed to a sly, almost intimate expression. “Say, how would you like to move up in the world?”

Hard Boiled frowned in momentary confusion. Cash couldn’t be trying to bribe him, it was absurd. “What?”

“Well, Charisma and I had a talk, and while a lot of hurtful things were said I think the real takeaway from the whole thing was that we can agree that godhood is on the table.”

“Godhood?” Traduce sounded as incredulous as HB felt. “You’re joking.”

Cash held up a hoof, giving them a wide-eyed innocent look. “Luna’s honest truth. It’s been done before. Tell them, Applejack. Tell them how Twilight Sparkle got her wings.” HB almost broke line of sight to Cash, but managed to stop his head turning. Applejack, for her part, didn’t understand enough Lunar to respond. Cash stared at her expectantly for a few quiet moments, allowing HB and Traduce to get a few crucial steps closer, before giving up on having her play into his game. “No? Not gonna say? Well, okay. It’s the truth people. The Elements of Harmony can make you a god. Not a figurative or metaphorical one, either. I’m talking legit mightier-than-thou smite-the-unbelievers deity. Put down the guns and I can sign you up for the new pantheon. What do you say to that?”

“Go to hell,” Hard Boiled said, then pulled the trigger.

Cash’s horn flared, and his magic caught the bullet inches from his face. He didn’t even flinch.

Cash rolled his eyes at the detective. “Well, I suppose that brings to a close the open and honest negotiation portion of the fight.” Traduce opened fire, and HB followed her lead, sending bullets at Cash as fast as he could pull the trigger. Even before he’d emptied his revolver, he knew it was no good. Cash’s magic caught every bullet shot at him as if they had been pebbles thrown by a child.

“Luna’s night!” Traduce breathed in awestruck fear. Hard Boiled silently echoed her. He knew Cash was powerful, had seen what he’d done fighting Melody, but this was a feat up there with what Rarity had displayed at Birchfield’s mansion. Still, he snapped open the cylinder of his revolver and reloaded, praying for an opportunity to get beyond Cash’s guard.

“You know, this would be a lot easier if Charisma hadn’t taken off,” Cash said, dropping the bullets to the ground in a jingling rain. “Loyalty is so hard to use right, but so damn effective when it works. Ah, well. I guess we’ll just have to work with what we’ve got. Maybe one of you will even have the answer to my little problem.” His lips pulled back in a manic, teeth-baring grin. “See this necklace behind me? You want it.” Suddenly HB’s discipline meant nothing. His eyes tracked to the statue’s neck, and he couldn’t have dragged them away if he wanted to… which he didn’t. “That’s right.” Cash’s chuckle echoed strangely, reverberating as if a half dozen distorted voices were laughing at once. HB would have taken note of the strangeness, but all his attention was on the necklace. His heart beat faster at the sight of it, his ears were tall and pointed right at it, his nostrils flaring as if he could take in its scent from eight paces away. “It’s an Element, the most important thing in the world. You want it. So go get it!”

HB lunged towards the necklace, only to be brought up short as a pair of green hooves wrapped around him and held him back. He snarled, twisting to see who had stopped him and found Blaze staring at him with wide-eyed fear. “Don’t do it, man,” Blaze said, his forelegs shaking as he strained to keep the detective still. Hard Boiled brought his gun up, putting the barrel squarely between Blaze’s eyes.

“Stop!” Applejack cried out. There was a strange feeling that washed over Hard Boiled, like he was suddenly disconnected from himself. His struggles slowed and his magic eased off the gun’s trigger as he looked to the earth pony. She was holding Traduce hard against the wall with one hoof and staring at Cash with an angry frown. “Remember why we came here! Y’all don’t care about the Elements, you care about stopping him!”

The moment the words were out, he realized they were the truth. He relaxed, and Blaze let him go. His legs trembled as he remembered the powerful need for the necklace that had overtaken him. In that moment, nothing else had mattered. He would have killed Blaze to get to it, would have killed Traduce as well if she got in his way. “Thank you,” he said to Applejack. She glanced at him and gave him a quick nod that said she understood the sentiment, even if she didn’t know the words. Applejack let Traduce off the wall with a similarly polite tip of her hat. The Changeling didn’t look quite as shaken as he felt, but he supposed she just hid it better.

Cash just watched the exchange with an expression of bemused interest. “Did you just… Wow.” He shook his head “I did not think you could do that.”

“No more tricks, Cash,” Traduce growled. “It’s over.”

Cash stomped a hoof. Not in anger, but as if in realization. “That’s what I forgot! You’d think if I was going to make the job offer I’d remember to mention the side-benefits!” He giggled, looking to HB. “Though, if you’re going to reject the ‘let’s become gods’ spiel, I guess it wouldn’t have made a difference. But hey, the offer’s still open. Maybe a demonstration will change your mind.” His horn flared, magenta light pulsing out from it in a physical wave of force. “Let’s find out.”

The magic slammed into Hard Boiled, throwing him back into Blaze and sending both stallions tumbling down the length of the temple. HB pushed away from Blaze and rolled, bleeding off as much of the momentum as he could, but he still slammed up hard against the wall beside the door. The breath was knocked out of him, and he was forced to spend precious seconds getting it back. He scrambled to his hooves as fast as he could, leaving Blaze hissing in pain on the floor.

Across the temple, Cash and Applejack were in a standoff. He stared at her, eyes incredibly wide in a look of manic concentration, his horn a beacon of roaring power. Her head was down as she weathered his assault, her hat practically flattened as wave after wave of coruscating magenta light slammed into the earth pony. The battering force broke as it hit her, sweeping along the lines of her body and blowing hair to scatter into sparkling sheets of wild magic behind her. It reminded HB of a meteor entering the atmosphere.

Cash laughed. A high, braying sound that set Hard Boiled’s teeth on edge. “All this could be yours for one low, low price!”

A flash of green caught HB’s attention, and he looked over to find Traduce in her true form, crooked horn limned with Changeling magic as she finished reloading her pistol. She looked back at him, and though no words could be heard through the screaming crackle of Cash’s magic, each knew what was in the other’s mind. HB checked to ensure his gun was fully loaded, then levitated it up to a ready position and gave Traduce a single nod.

As one, they darted forward. They looped wide around Applejack’s unyielding form and rushed at Cash from either side. Magic flared out from the unicorn, a burst of raw telekinesis that could not be evaded. HB took the hit, rolling with it and coming up running for Cash again. A grim satisfaction rose in him as he saw Applejack slowly moving forward against Cash’s bombarding magic. He didn’t need to hit the crimelord, all he needed was to distract him enough for the earth pony to get in one good hit.

As Applejack advanced, Cash retreated. Each step back was fought for, with Hard Boiled and Traduce harrying him from the sides, keeping him from focusing all his might on holding back the strongest pony in the world. Then Cash’s hindquarters came up against a bubble of pink light, and he could retreat no farther. Cash’s horn flared with renewed effort, the magenta glare so bright as to be blinding. Still, Applejack came on, pushing through the power in her path with a slow, inexorable pace.

Hard Boiled couldn’t tell what was happening anymore; the tempest of power was too much for his eyes. The detective flared his own magic, using his truth-finding spell to guide him as he rushed at Cash once again. This time no wave of telekinetic force knocked him back, no wall of power kept him at bay. Every ounce of Cash’s concentration was dedicated to preventing him from being crushed between an immovable object and an unstoppable force. The tidal forces around them were incredible, easily enough to rip a normal pony to shreds. HB slid to a stop right at the very edge of where he could safely exist, raising his gun toward a target he couldn’t see. Bullets would go off course in the maelstrom Cash had created, fired blindly it could just as easily hit Applejack or Traduce, but HB wasn’t afraid. His horn screamed with wretched agony as he forced more power into his truth magic than he ever had before. All of his power, all of his will focused on creating a momentary burst of knowledge, a flash of inspiration, a moment of pure understanding to answer just one question: where to aim.

The gun moved into position. Hard Boiled pulled the trigger. The noise of the shot was lost in the roar of power, but the silence that followed was almost deafening. Cash’s magic went dark, wisps of magenta flowing across the temple like a breaking wave, soon fading to nothing. Applejack’s head came up, blinking in surprise at the sudden loss of pressure. Cash looked down, staring at the smoking hole in his chest. “Huh,” Cash said, his tone one of dull surprise. “Would you look at that.”

Applejack slammed into Cash, throwing him to the ground and straddling him. He tried to struggle, but she handled his squirming with expert ease. The moment his horn showed a flicker of light she slapped it, making the unicorn wince and shutting down whatever spell he was about to try. ”None of that,” she admonished. “You’re caught fair and square, so simmer down and listen here. Your friend out there is causin’ a whole heap of trouble, so you’re gonna call her back and get her to surrender. Then you two are gonna face justice for what y’all have been doin’. Play nice, and I’ll guarantee you make it safe and sound to the proper authorities, and that you have a chance to speak in your own defence, for whatever good it’ll do.”

“And if I don’t?” Cash asked in Solar, sounding amused.

“Then I don’t.”

HB wanted to shout at Applejack. He wanted to warn her that Cash was playing her, that he was still sure he was in control. He wanted to, but he was paralyzed. He had looked into the hole his bullet had made, the shot that should have hit Cash’s heart and snuffed him out for good. Now he couldn’t look anywhere else. That small, dark wound that spat a few measly drops of half-congealed blood onto the tiles consumed all but the edges of his focus. He couldn’t look away because in the harsh truth of HB’s magic, it wasn’t just a hole. It was a window, and it looked out on something so vast and terrible that all his mind could do was scream at the sight of it.

“Well, when you put it that way, I’ll agree to your terms. On one condition.” HB could see Cash’s mad grin, but Applejack couldn’t.

Traduce noted HB’s strained posture, and he could feel a probing from her through their bond. The touch of her mind on his gave him the leverage he needed to break free of the terrible, impossible truth that froze his mind. Yet he was slow in coming back to himself. Far too slow.

“I ain’t doin’ anythin’ that might let you get free,” Applejack replied.

“Oh, no. Nothing like that,” Cash said with a friendly chuckle. “As you said, I’m caught fair and square. All I have is one tiny personal request for you. You don’t even have to move to do it.”

Applejack’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. HB wanted to shout at her that she wasn’t nearly suspicious enough. “Alright, what is it?”

From across the Temple, Blaze let out a strangled cry. “No! Don’t let him talk!”

“Lie to me.”

Applejack went rigid, her eyes shining for an instant with a brilliant white light. Then she toppled sideways off of Cash, her body shivering and jerking spasmodically.

“Hah! Off button!” Cash crowed, getting up and bringing his horn back to full burning life. Traduce opened fire, but her bullets were once again caught uselessly. Cash turned to look at her, smirking. “You, I don’t need.” A flare of magic and Traduce’s bullets were flung back at her. She cried out as she was hit in several places, spiderweb cracks and spurts of Changeling blood marring her glossy carapace. She dropped to the floor with a wet thud, and Cash laughed.

Hard Boiled roared, charging Cash on numb legs. Cash lashed out, not with magic, but with his hoof. It was a casual swat, contemptuous, but HB couldn’t begin to dodge it. It hit Hard Boiled’s horn, and the horn bent at a nearly ninety degree angle halfway down its length.

Cash sucked in a horrified breath, one hoof going protectively to his own horn. “Yeesh. Ouch. Uh, sorry about that, detective.”

Hard Boiled stared at the thing he had dreaded since he was a foal. He’d used too much magic, used it too freely. He hadn’t kept up his telekinesis, and this was the result. His horn had become soft. He only had a moment to understand this before all the pain in the world rushed up and tore any semblance of conscious thought away.

***

Rarity sat on a wide ledge around the roof of the RIA building and stared towards the south. Melody’s doll was propped in a similar pose beside her, a quiet reminder of the danger her friends faced. The bright sun shone down on her, making her wish for a parasol, but while the RIA had umbrellas for the rain they were all so garishly utilitarian she couldn’t bring herself to use one for shade. So she sat in the sun and let her thoughts wander.

For a long time she did nothing but watch the blue skies and the drifting clouds. Then she slowly reached up and removed her beret, touching at the healing scar underneath. It barely hurt anymore, soon it might be all but invisible.

“Drat it all,” she quietly fumed. “I should be there with you.”

The sighing of a gentle wind was all the response she got.

“I wish…” she began, but didn’t know how to finish. She wished for so much. She wished she had been more insistent she join her friends. She wished Spike were up here to talk with, but he’d been locked in a room with Director Straff and Agent Gamma since Dash and the others had left. She wished she could be designing dresses, or playing with her sister, or relaxing in a park, or even getting snubbed by the Canterlot elite, anything except sitting where she was now, thinking the things she was. She wished she were home.

Pink hooves appeared from below to grasp the ledge. “Hey, Rarity!” Pinkie said, popping her head up from beneath the ledge. “How’s it hangin’?” She grinned in the way she always did when she thought she had made a particularly clever pun.

Rarity, who had been expecting an intrusion of this sort for the last hour, smiled as well as she could. “Precariously, I imagine,” she replied. “Why don’t you come up here and join me?”

“Okay!” Pinkie squeaked, flipping herself over to sprawl with her back on the ledge, her poofy hair hanging off the edge and bouncing a little in the breeze. “You were looking super-thoughtful, but I didn’t know if you wanted somepony to talk to or not.”

Rarity looked back towards the south. “I don’t know if I’m fit for company, Pinkie dear, but I could use a good friend.”

“That’s what I am!” Pinkie declared, punching a hoof at the sky. “So tell auntie Pinkie what’s bothering you, and I’ll do my best to turn that frown upside-down!”

“Am I really frowning so much?” Rarity asked, putting a hoof to her forehead again, this time feeling for wrinkles.

“Not from where I’m lookin’, sister!” Pinkie said, grinning.

It took a moment for Rarity to understand the humor there, but when she got it she smiled. “You are a delight, Pinkie Pie. But I’d rather not dwell on my problems. Tell me, how are you finding this new world we’ve gotten ourselves stuck in?”

“Oh! Oh! I’ve been learning how to talk like a future-person!” Pinkie said, squirming with excitement. “Just ten minutes ago I learned ‘where the hell did she come from!’ and ‘Goddess what is wrong with her neck?’, which I think is another way of saying ‘hello’, and ‘the bathroom is over there’, though they were wrong about the bathroom. It’s okay, I found it anyway!”

“That… isn’t entirely accurate,” Rarity said, choosing, as always, to believe her friend was joking rather than taking her words at face value. “I’m sorry I haven’t been spending much time getting you acquainted with the, ah, times.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, Rarity. Everypony has been super-duper helpful, when they’re not running away shouting new words for me to learn. Did you know they’ve got six whole rooms filled with filing cabinets here? And that ponies get really touchy when I play hide-and-seek in them? I mean, those files were really dusty so obviously nopony was reading them, even though they had the big, fancy red stamps all over them, which is what I’d put on something I really want to read.”

“Big red stamps?”

“Yeah! Hey, maybe you can tell me what they mean, they spell out ‘T-O-P-S-E–”

“Okay, Pinkie,” Rarity interrupted, laughing. “I suppose I can understand the reaction of our gracious hosts. Perhaps it’s best if you stay away from the files with those stamps, just for their sake.”

“Well, if you think so,” Pinkie said. “What does the stamp mean?”

“Well, it’s…” Rarity spent a long moment judging how to answer that. “Suffice it to say reading those is something like reading somepony’s personal diary. Except that pony is a government.”

“Oh,” Pinkie’s eyes went wide. “Riiiight. Maybe you could tell them that I’m sorry? And that I couldn’t read anything anyway, so they don’t have to put me in their secret village prison for people who know too much?”

“I’m sure they understand, dear,” Rarity said, sighing. “And I’m sure you’re not in trouble for it. Just try to… well, do remember that we’re staying in a building full of spies, will you?”

“You got it,” Pinkie said, then relaxed back, her eyes going to the same horizon Rarity’s were drawn to.

They stayed like that for a long few minutes, and Rarity assumed her friend’s thoughts had gone to the same dark place as her own. There were precious few other explanations for seeing Pinkie Pie sit still for so long. “They’ll be alright,” she said, not convinced of it but willing to pretend it was true.

“I know,” Pinkie said, smiling. “Applejack is the most reliable pony in all of Equestria, and Dashie is the most awesome! They’ll take care of those evil jerks, and then they’ll come back and we’ll throw a big ‘welcome back Applejack and Rainbow Dash and those other ponies who I don’t know that well but I’m sure are super-duper anyway’ party! And all our friends will be there! Like Spike, and, um… The ones we’ve met here I guess, since everypony else is a little too dead to attend.” Her smile faded a bit. “Was she a friend?” she asked suddenly, gaze sliding to the doll at Rarity’s side. “The pony who owned that?”

“She could have been,” Rarity replied, still staring south.

“I’m sorry.”

“I am too.”

Pinkie tapped her forehooves together, her brow crinkling a bit as if she wanted to say something but didn’t know how. “When I go to sleep, I keep getting shaky leg, floppy hoof, twitchy eye. Which is Pinkie-Sense for ‘I’m about to have a bad dream’.”

“You can tell when you’re going to have nightmares?” Rarity asked, surprised in spite of herself. “That mustn’t be pleasant.”

“It’s really-really rare,” Pinkie said. “Except since I woke up here, it’s been every night. Usually I can remember my dreams, even if they’re super-not-nice and scary. So when I wake up I can think about being afraid of having all my friends abandon me because I threw a bad party, or being eaten by a giant monster cupcake I baked to life in defiance of the laws of gods and ponies, and it’s all so silly I can laugh at it. But these aren’t like that. I can’t remember these dreams, I don’t even feel bad when I wake up. I keep thinking and thinking and thinking about them, but…” She shrugged. “I don’t get much. Only, I think that doll is in them. And I think its owner is, too. She’s a pegasus, right?”

“Yes, she was. Have I… has someone told you–”

“And she was really, really, really angry.” Pinkie’s hair streamed in a sudden gust, tangled curls unravelling to be pulled almost ruler-straight by the wind. “She hated him.”

Rarity blinked, and Pinkie’s hair was back to normal, but her expression was still somber. “Pinkie… I… I’ve been having nightmares too. Dreams that I can’t remember on waking.”

“I think they’re important, Rarity.”

“I think so too, dear.”

“I also think the reason I can remember bits of them, is because I put on my Element,” Pinkie said. She sprang up, landing with each hoof half on the ledge, held in place by her own enthusiasm. “I think when we get all the Elements together, and figure out how to stop blowing up mansions with them, we’ll be able to remember the bad dreams. And then we can laugh at them together!”

“Yes,” Rarity said, though she had to suppress a shiver at the memory of Pinkie wreathed in the light of her Element. “That would be nice.”

“Oh, by the way, there’s something weird going on with the Element of Laughter, and since I’m not allowed anywhere near it, Spike sent me to find you so that you could take a look at it!”

Rarity blinked in surprise. “And you waited so long to tell me this… why?”

Pinkie waved her hoof dismissively. “We needed some ‘us’ time. Besides, I already know exactly what’s going on with the Element.”

“Do you? What could it be?”

“What else? It’s Dashie!” Pinkie said, bouncing into a backflip. “I bet she’s doing something super-stupendously awesome. Like getting her Element back from that mean meany-pants Max Cash!”

“I hope so, Pinkie,” Rarity said, casting a last look to the southern horizon before she got up and walked towards the stairwell door. “I hope so.”

***

Dash flew a wide corkscrew pattern as she ascended, spanning miles with each rotation. As she flew, she watched Charisma’s pursuit with a careful eye, getting a handle on how her opponent flew. Her survival, everyone’s survival, now depended on whether she could outmatch the enforcer in the air.

Charisma was incredibly strong. That fact was immediately obvious from the way the air thrummed with each beat of Charisma’s wings, whose larger size had clearly come with a commensurate boost to her pegasus magic. Even from a wide distance Dash could feel Charisma pulling at the air, creating clashing depressions and high pressure zones that affected the skies for miles all around.

That said, the way she used her power was violent and inefficient. Her wings clawed at the air, ripping it back to throw herself forward. Charisma also seemed to have no understanding of airflow, or using her magic to cut through headwind, or a dozen other ways to make flying easier. As a result she was expending several times the energy Dash was, and not moving any faster for her efforts. She was only able to keep up with Dash due to the immense strength she put behind each thrust.

It screamed inexperience, and not just compared to an athlete like Dash. She was making mistakes that were drilled out of most pegasi in their first month of flight school. She clearly had no idea how to fly at high speeds and altitudes, and was trying to compensate by just flying harder.

Under normal circumstances, Dash would have said it was no contest. Even if Charisma could match the speedster’s acceleration and maneuverability with those huge wings, exhaustion would cripple her long before Dash started to slow. However, the fact that Dash had already flown for hours hauling a carriage full of people and she wasn’t tired didn’t bode well for that plan.

It reminded her uncomfortably of her first encounter with Nightmare Umbra. Once again, she was up against an opponent who was an inferior flyer, but that somehow didn’t amount to the advantage it should be.

Still, satisfied she had the measure of her enemy, Dash turned her attention away from Charisma and began levelling off. Her eyes darted across the blue horizon, lighting for a moment on her target before something in her peripheral vision caught at her attention. She turned her head to focus on a distant, dark speck. It was many miles away and nearly lost against the afternoon sun, but keen pegasus eyes were able to make out the tiny, flailing shape of a Griffin.

“Astrid,” Dash breathed, frowning. Her friend was much higher than she would have normally flown, and clearly struggling, but Dash couldn’t tell why. Regardless, she couldn’t help right then. She pushed Astrid to the back of her mind, focusing again on what was ahead of her.

She felt Charisma come level with her, picking up speed now that she didn’t have to fight gravity. That didn’t worry Dash. In fact, she was counting on her opponent getting closer before she sprung her trap.

That trap loomed dead ahead, growing with every passing moment from a distant gray smear to a towering thunderhead. Dash could practically smell the potential of the cloud as she approached. It was full of furious energy, wild and untamed. In its natural course that fury would be spent in a torrential downpour and random blasts of lightning, just one of many storms that swept across the jungle every day. Dash, however, had other plans for it.

She hit the cloud with Charisma a hundred feet behind her. It was thicker than most of the other wispy clouds that she had dealt with since awakening in the future, but still not nearly up to weather team standards. She cut through it with barely a twitch.

Charisma, however, impacted the storm as if she were diving into a pool of sticky cotton candy. The thunderhead interacted with the cloudwalking magic she had never before possessed, and she slowed to a near stop. She snarled in frustration and slashed with her claws, but with no idea how to direct her magic she failed to disperse the vapor from her path. All she managed to do was make the storm swirl around her, wrapping her limbs in the semi-solid vapor and slowing her even more.

As the enforcer struggled, Dash was at work. She dove through the swirls and eddies of the storm, finding the points of greatest potential. She bent those points to her will, with a breath of pegasus magic, a touch of encouragement and, when necessary, a swift kick. It was crude, fast work, but it got the job done.

The first lightning bolt flashed at Charisma, and she let out a cry as the electricity jolted painfully through her. Once it had passed, she was left steaming and stung, but otherwise unhurt. With a growl she renewed her efforts to close on Dash, only to have a trio of new bolts strike her in rapid succession.

While Charisma was dealing with a suddenly hostile lightning storm, Dash went high into the cloud, reaching the top levels. She swept across the roof of the thunderhead, just shy of breaking its surface. Her wide-stretched wings gathered a glittering trail of large ice crystals in her wake, pulling them along behind her like a fluttering cape. Through the strange connection they shared she could feel Charisma recovering from the lightning attacks. More, she could tell that the mad enforcer was rapidly learning how to deal with the clouds encumbering her.

Dash came to a halt in the middle of the cloud. Her wings gathered the air and swept down, throwing a heavy downdraft at Charisma. The powerful gust knocked her spinning for a moment, though with a dancer’s poise she was able to right herself in moments without any loss of concentration. However, that downdraft was followed a moment later by the storm of hail Dash had gathered. Charisma’s cry of surprise and anger as she was pelted with chunks of ice the size of plums could be heard even over the thunder that cracked all around them.

Dash didn’t wait to see how well her attack was working. She knew it wouldn’t be enough to defeat Charisma, but it had only ever been meant to keep her opponent off-balance for the next bit. She took a deep breath, centering herself, and then began to fly in a tight circle. She had to close her eyes against the rain that slashed at her face, wishing she had brought goggles for once. She sped up, becoming a rainbow blur in the center of a storm, a blur that was dragging more and more of that storm along with every revolution.

When the clouds started thinning around Charisma, she still had her forelegs up to protect her eyes from the pelting ice, so she didn’t notice it at first. When she finally did see that the clouds were being dragged somewhere, she didn’t understand what was happening. That confusion didn’t last long, however, because it soon became clear that the entire storm was being swallowed by an enormous, color-streaked whirlwind. Charisma stared slack-jawed at the colossal tornado for just a moment, but it was a moment too long. By the time she realized she had to escape, it was too late. She flapped her wings frantically, but just as Dash had anticipated, her poor technique only made things worse. With a scream she was sucked into the vortex to be tossed and tumbled within like a rag doll.

Dash exited her tornado easily, giving it a kick to send it scuttling away across the jungle. It wasn’t a permanent solution, but it would keep Charisma occupied for long enough to see to her friend.

Dash broke the sound barrier as she zipped over to where she had seen Astrid, the miles between them vanishing in an eyeblink. What she saw when she got close made her frown in confusion. The Griffin guardian was flying upside down, flapping like crazy just to keep herself steady. It looked awkward, ungainly and even made Dash a little queasy to watch.

“What the heck’s going on, Astrid?” Dash asked, pulling up next to the Griffin.

“It’s like I’m upside down when I’m not,” Astrid said between panting breaths. “I can feel gravity pulling me down, but when I stop flapping I just keep falling up!” Her wings stopped their frantic work for a moment and she fell a dozen feet upwards. “See?”

“Damn,” Dash replied, eyes wide. She rushed up and grabbed her friend. With Astrid nearly twice her size, Dash found that she had to struggle. She was more than strong enough, but her wings had evolved to pull weight up, not push it down. Astrid took the help with a grateful sigh, letting her wings rest. “This is crazy. Did Charisma do this to you?”

Astrid rolled her eyes. “No, I decided to say ‘fuck gravity’ all on my own. Of course it was Charisma. Why didn’t anyone tell me she could do this?”

“Nobody knew?” Dash said with a shrug. “I’m really starting to believe all the Elements of Harmony hype, though, because she just threw a forest at me. I mean, like, picked up all the trees at once and dropped them on my head.”

“Now that’s some real Celestia-damned superpowers bullshit. What did you do back?”

“Stuck her in a tornado.”

“Fuckin’ A.” Astrid grinned, then her expression soured as she looked down towards the jungle. “Fall. Is she alright?” Dash hesitated, and Astrid’s eyes narrowed. “Tell me you saved her from that psycho bitch.”

“I saved her,” Dash said. “But… she’s hurt, Astrid. Bad. I had to leave her down there with Calumn.”

“The bug?” Astrid snarled. “Oh, just perfect. Leave the damned princess while injured and vulnerable with a creature known for emotional manipulation and mind control.”

“He’s not a bad guy,” Dash protested, then paused as she thought it through. “Though, he did, kinda, sorta, mind control me for a bit.”

Astrid gave her a flat, nonplussed look. “Right. Now, before he kinda, sorta, mind controls Fall, how about using that superpony strength and getting me the fuck down?”

“Sure. Going down!” Dash took a moment to get a better grip on Astrid, then with a powerful sweep of her wings she sent them both zooming towards the forest.

Dash felt the change coming well before anything happened. There was a surge of electric tingles through her body, like she’d decided to lick a lightning cloud, and her sense of Charisma suddenly leapt to new levels. It was as if the other mare were standing right at her shoulder, close enough to rub flanks. Then there was a flash of light from just beyond the horizon, bright enough to momentarily outshine the sun. Dash knew in that moment that her whirlwind was gone.

“Crap, crap, crap!” She spurred her wings faster, but there was an oncoming ripple in the air that made her hair stand on end. The jungle came closer with an incredible speed that was rendered into agonizing slowness by the way the shockwave from the detonated storm was rushing at them. With barely moments to spare and a few hundred feet left to go, Dash hurled Astrid into the relative safety of the trees, prompting a screech of surprise that was quickly lost in the apocalyptic roar as the blast overtook them.

It hit Dash like a brick wall, tossing her end over end. Her ears rang with the overwhelming sound of it, and her lungs couldn’t draw in breath as the pressure change felt like it was squeezing her guts out. She fought through the crushing sensations, her wings a blur as she battled the shockwave and sought her way through it. A moment later, she was through the blast and into calmer air. Counter currents tugged at her wings, but she stilled them with a breath. A look down confirmed that Astrid was alright. The trees had blunted the worst of the shockwave long before it had gotten to her.

Dash let out a sigh of relief, but the feeling was short lived. Out of the center of the destruction flew Charisma, rushing not towards Dash, but towards the north-western horizon. Dash was confused for a moment, watching the enforcer go, but then with a crawling horror she remembered the city she had seen on her way south. Charisma was going for civilians.

“No!” Dash yelled, a choking panic making her heart leap in her chest. She looked down to where Astrid was clinging to the top branches of a tree. “She’s going for the city!” she called down. “I have to get her away from there! Go find Star and the others! They’ll need you!” Astrid just gave a solemn nod in response, and a moment later Dash was burning a rainbow trail towards Hoofprint.

She tried to angle herself to intercept Charisma’s flight, but it had taken her too long to get moving. Even at top speed she wouldn’t make it in time. She watched the city come into view, spreading itself across the river mouth in an urban sprawl that housed more innocent lives than she could count. She saw Charisma’s black and red streak fly over most of it before arcing down to land in a maze of buildings close to the docks.

She slowed down as she approached the city, remembering that her own sonic boom could hurt the fragile citizens if she wasn’t careful. Charisma had landed in what looked like a long open marketplace. Thousands upon thousands of ponies packed the wide street, a river of life ignorant of the mistress of death that had fallen into their midst.

The enforcer was easy enough to spot. She’d come down in a square, where the crowds were thickest but also where there were open areas around performers and musicians making coin by entertaining the shoppers. Charisma was in the middle of one of these performance circles, a crowd of curious people of all sorts gathering close and pointing to the fading ethereal trail she had left upon her arrival. They saw her huge wings, saw the strange way her Glyph was shifting like a heat mirage, and how her incredibly long mane seemed to float on an unfelt wind. That didn’t scare them, they simply pointed their hooves and laughed in delight at the spectacle. They didn’t see her claws. They didn’t understand that this performance could be their last.

Charisma looked up, locked eyes with Dash, and dropped into a graceful bow. The crowd stomped and cheered, edging closer to see what she would do. Dash cried out a warning, diving to save them.

Charisma’s talons tore through the first pony’s neck with no resistance. It was done so quickly that by the time the smile fell from the stallion’s face as he realized something was wrong, three others were already dead. Charisma whirled through the crowd in a dance of flashing claws, loosing ribbons of blood that described elegant arcs, framing her actions but never touching her.

Dash flew in to tackle her, but she rolled over a pony’s back, putting him in Dash’s way. Dash pulled up short, getting a surprised look from the living obstruction. A look that only worsened a moment later as Charisma’s talons laid his throat open to the bone. Dash could only stare in horror as the pony collapsed. Charisma was already gone, slipping through a crowd that was only just beginning to realize what was happening.

Dash went after her again, staying above the teeming people. For all the advantage Dash’s speed gave her, she couldn’t match Charisma’s ability to move through the crowd like a ghost. She tried to head Charisma off, tried to prevent her from killing any more than she had. It was futile. There were too many ponies, too many targets. When Dash dropped down and shoved one mare away from Charisma’s claws, the enforcer just continued the arc and buried them in the ribs of a Zebra, vanishing before Dash could grab her. When Dash leapt over the heads of ponies and tried to stomp down on her elusive foe, Charisma had already slipped away with the flow of the crowd, leaving blood and terror in her wake.

By the time the screaming started in earnest, a dozen were dead or dying. Voices cried out, screaming things in Lunar that Dash couldn’t spare the time to puzzle out. Their cries were taken up by others, and in moments the whole square had erupted into panic. More fell in the ensuing chaos, some cut down by Charisma, others trampled as the people stampeded in their panicked efforts to escape the packed market.

Dash couldn’t let this go on. She shot up a dozen feet, tracking Charisma both with her eyes and the strange sense that linked them. “Hey!” she shouted. Her words were lost in the roar of the frightened crowd, but Charisma stopped all the same, turning to regard Dash with a cool, amused smile. “I thought you were after me, huh? Well, I’m right here!” She threw her forelegs wide, willing Charisma to take the bait. “Come and get me!”

“What, and go on another little chase across the scenery?” Charisma sneered. The crowd surged around her, but she was an unmoving rock in the gushing river of colorful fur. “I don’t think so. I don’t want you running, Hot Stuff, I want you fighting!”

“Then fight me!” Dash pleaded. “Leave these people out of it!”

Charisma gave a small shake of her head. “You know what? For the first time ever I can honestly say I don’t give two shits whether any of these Lunatics live or die. I’ve taken out two score of them so far, and I don’t feel a damned thing.” She looked to the ground, but Dash didn’t make the mistake of thinking that meant she’d let her guard down. “A childhood wish finally come true, I guess. I don’t care about any of them anymore.”

“Then why kill them?”

“For you!” Her head came up, and her eyes were shining with a ruby light. “You, Rainbow Dash, you are everything!” She brought a claw up to touch the Element that burned on her chest. Dash shuddered, a terrible desire sinking into the pit of her stomach. “We are bound together. I think we always have been. I know you feel it too. The more I draw from this, the closer I get to you. The more I know you. And I know you won’t face me if you can help it. You’re afraid. Afraid of me, and afraid of yourself. You’ll run forever to keep from confronting that fear.”

“I’m not afraid,” Dash said, but she didn’t need Applejack to tell her she was lying.

Charisma scoffed. “You’re terrified. But it’s okay. I know how to help you get beyond your fear.” She grinned, revealing her mouth full of sharp, killing teeth. “Because I’ve known since our first fight that you’re a hero. A hero who won’t let anyone die if she can stop it. Hell, you didn’t even kill me when you had the chance. I ‘wasn’t worth it’, remember? Well…” She reached out, catching a passing pony with her claws. Dash lurched forward, but there was nothing she could do. There was a snap as Charisma broke the pony’s neck, hurling the body into the crowd. The ponies who had seen what she’d done tried to back away, but they were forced closer by the press of crowd trying to get clear of where the body had landed. Charisma glared up at Dash, a triumphant grin on her face. “Am I worth it now?”

Dash felt cold. She felt sick. Her hooves shook with the need to do something, but her spirit recoiled at the knowledge of what that something would have to be. There had to be another option. There was always another way. Yet… “You’re not going to stop, will you?” she asked in a hoarse whisper.

“Not unless you stop me,” Charisma replied. “So come on, Hot Stuff, show me that heroic spirit!” Light flared from the Element of Loyalty, bursting out from Charisma for a dozen yards. Everywhere that light touched, people died. They didn’t bleed or struggle, they simply stopped where they were and fell to the ground, utterly gone.

A scream ripped from Dash’s throat. A roar of many layers and emotions, a cry of pain and fear that overcame the crowd, stretching through the marketplace and into the city beyond. Beyond the surface of pain and terror, the scream was filled with anger, the hot kind of rage that burned fast and furious and left nothing in its wake but white ashes. The light coming from the Element shattered under the force of that cry, falling to fragments that broke into drifting motes of ruby power.

There was a moment of stunned silence as the scream ended. Dash panted for breath high above, and Charisma stood in her circle of death below, contemplating the bodies around her with an almost bored detachment. “Please…” Dash said, tears dripping from her eyes. “Please, I’ll fight you. Just leave them out of it.”

Charisma gave her a cold look. “No. You need incentive to fight your best, and they’re it.”

“But–”

“You will fight me head on, with everything you have! Every chance I get, every time you try to lead me away or pull your punches, more will die. If I kill this whole city, I’ll just move on to the next one. And then the next one, and the next one!”

Dash let out a strangled cry of rage and anguish, and shot in a rainbow streak directly at Charisma. The enforcer laughed, and met Dash’s hooves with her own claws. The force of the impact sent them both rolling over the fallen bodies, kicking and slashing at each other. Their whole bodies were weapons, strikes coming from any angle, blocked by any free limb. Charisma’s claws slashed shallow cuts in Dash’s legs and side. Dash’s hooves battered Charisma’s wings and chest.

Dash snaked her forelegs around Charisma, hissing as she received a deep jab to her side in return. With a mighty heave of her wings she brought them both into the air. The flight wasn’t long, she only wanted to get the height to rocket back to earth as fast as she could, slamming Charisma into the ground hard enough to shatter the stones in the street. The enforcer sunk her talons into Dash’s flesh and rolled with the impact, dragging the other pegasus with her and speeding their roll before coming up to her hooves and turning it into a rapid spin.

Dash tried to pull away, but Charisma’s grip was too good. She kicked out, but Charisma flapped her wings and added speed to the whirl. Then with a gleeful shout she released Dash. The ancient pegasus rocketed away at nearly transonic speeds, far faster than the spin should have sent her. Before she had even gotten her bearings, she smashed into the side of one of the steel and glass skyscrapers that were so prevalent in the future. She crashed through three floors and out the other side of the building, tumbling through the air.

Dash shook off the hit and righted herself, coming to a halt. She was shocked to discover that she was practically uninjured by the throw. She looked through the hole she had made in the building, and knew that no matter how tough she was supposed to be, she should be feeling that a lot more than she was. In fact, about the only things that seemed to hurt at all were the cuts Charisma’s claws had given her.

“The Element,” she murmured, sure that it was responsible. For some reason, the Element of Loyalty was helping both sides in this fight. Something in that thought caught at her, some half-formed realization that was just beginning to coalesce.

She didn’t have time for it, though. Every moment she spent thinking was another moment Charisma could be killing innocents. So she grit her teeth and shot right back through the hole she’d made, straight for Charisma’s smirking face with a hoof leading.

And so they fought. The air bent and roared to Dash’s will, creating clouds from the moist coastal air so that she could hurl lashes of lightning and thunder at Charisma. The enforcer dodged and spun around the attacks with swift grace, countering with sudden, deadly charges that forced Dash to be constantly moving. Light flared from Loyalty’s teardrop gem as Charisma used its power seemingly at random, ripping up the streets, throwing cars into the sky or crushing houses in on themselves. Sometimes she used the effects as a distraction or an attack in themselves, but mostly she seemed to be doing it for fun.

Each of them got in their hits, and every hit that landed was like a detonation, throwing the combatants apart and shaking windows. They spun around each other, their battle roaming the skies across the city. Charisma was singed and bruised, tumbled in hurricane force winds and soaked in stinging bursts of rain that were quickly frozen into an icy sheen on her wings before melting away. Dash was bloody. Fast enough to dodge the worst of the strikes that hit her, she was still left bleeding from dozens of shallow wounds.

Dash blasted Charisma with another gust of wind, throwing her down to crash into the street below. Instead of following it up with a lightning blast or rushing in to pummel her, however, Dash paused a moment to catch her breath. She didn’t let her gaze wander far from her opponent, but she still took in the scene around them. The city was a disaster zone. Fires had broken out in several places, and Dash couldn’t tell if it was from Charisma using the Element or her own stray lightning bolts.

The screams of frightened and angry ponies reached her ears, and though the streets below were mostly empty, she knew a crowd of innocents was only a few blocks away. They could keep going back and forth like this for hours, and there would still be innocents only a few blocks away. So long as that was the case, she was forced to play Charisma’s game, and it was a game she was destined to lose.

“The Element,” she whispered to herself again, and this time the understanding that had been growing in her made itself known. “I have to get the Element away from her.” It was the only way this was going to end without anyone else dying. The idea terrified her, the very sight of the crimson teardrop gem sent gut-wrenching feelings of desire and fear warring through her. Every time she closed with Charisma she had been careful not to touch the necklace, too afraid of what would happen. Now she realized that it didn’t matter. She needed to get the Element away from Charisma. It was the only way.

With a scream of defiance, Dash dove. She made no attempt to feint or get clever with her attack. Cleverness would only give Charisma time to counter her. No, all she needed now was what she was best at: speed. She dove in, a rainbow comet coming down faster than sound. Charisma slipped to the side, bringing her claws up. They were a deterrent, forcing Dash to keep from hitting her head on. Normally, it would have worked, but this time Dash was beyond caring if she got hurt in the exchange. She slammed into Charisma with pulverizing force, and in return those claws speared into her body, tearing into her right shoulder, slashing through muscle and bone and splattering Dash’s blood to the ground.

White agony screamed through Dash’s nerves, blinding in its intensity. But pain was not something foreign to Rainbow Dash. In many ways, it was an old friend. The pain of constant training was the price demanded for her strength, her speed, and she had paid it gladly. Torn muscles and broken limbs were the stairs she climbed to glory. So when the icy anguish of talons shredding her leg to uselessness hit her mind, it only served to focus her on what she came to do.

She drew the other mare close, wrapping her wings around them both in a brutal embrace to keep Charisma from escaping. Claws raked at her belly and rear legs, tearing out strips of bloody flesh, but she ignored them. Then with her good leg she reached in and grasped the Element of Loyalty.

Rainbow Dash screamed, and Charisma screamed along with her.

A wave of ruby power ripped out from the two of them. Buildings tore from their foundations to tip and whirl around the two mares as if they had become a new center of gravity. Objects of every size joined them, shuddering and spinning in their unstable orbits. Some broke apart, falling into myriad pieces. Others crashed into each other, fusing together into new wholes. Bonds both great and small formed and dissolved and tightened and released in chaotic spasms, all in time to the rippling waves of horrifying, otherworldly power.

In the center of the maelstrom, poised somewhere between terror and ecstasy, Dash reached into the Element, and found Charisma waiting for her. The light of the Element was shining into their souls, binding them to it and to each other. They were so close now that Dash could look into the other mare’s thoughts. Charisma’s whole being was laid bare to her, and she knew that the reverse was also true.

Like this, she could see the gray veil that had fallen over Charisma, leaching her of color. She was so utterly alone. She had denied her bonds to the world, and with them all of the things that had given her identity, all that had made her uniquely her. What was left was a mere sketch of a mare, going through the motions of life without the desire to live. Even the weight of her Talent was mostly gone, though its constant, maddening pressure had molded her into a creature that couldn’t stop killing even when she no longer felt the need to. All she had left, the one bond she couldn’t sever, was with Dash herself.

So, in that desperate loneliness, it was to Dash that Charisma was clinging. Like a life preserver thrown to a drowning pony. And the harder she held to Dash, the closer the Element drew them. It was only a matter of time before they were crushed together, and Dash couldn’t fathom what would happen then.

Dash sought out the place in the Element that had broken Charisma’s bonds. She used the enforcer’s memories to guide her, though the way felt terribly familiar. She found it with ease, and as she touched the power there it responded with gleeful eagerness. As soon as she felt that rush of power, Dash knew with a cold, ironclad certainty that there was something wrong with the Element. That if she put it on –and something in her wanted to very, very badly– she would likely end up like Charisma. Broken and alone.

It only took a small effort of will, more akin to flexing a wing than manipulating an awesome cosmic power, for Rainbow Dash to restore to Charisma every bond she had broken. Then, fighting her own traitorous desires the entire way, she released the Element and threw herself away from the other mare.

The power that had flowed from them ceased instantly. Debris of every size and shape crashed to earth in a cataclysmic rain. Dash could only hope that no one had been foolish enough to be close to the two battling pegasi when the Element had gone off.

She hit the ground in a roll, coming up to her hooves and noting with some surprise that her injuries were gone. The Element had healed everything Charisma had done to her. A look over to the enforcer showed that it had done the same for her. Charisma sat in the center of devastation, staring up to the sky in shock.

Jump on her while she’s distracted, a strange, insistent voice seemed to say in Dash’s mind. It was accompanied with an image of her doing just that, a vision so clear that she could see her own snarling face reflected in Charisma’s imagined eyes. Use rear legs to lock her wings and wrap forelegs around her head. Twist sharply until her spine snaps. Dash shook her head, trying to shed the ugly thought. It had felt so natural, so right, that her legs had tensed in preparation for carrying the action out. Yet she knew that it had come from Charisma. She and Dash were still bound tightly together, their minds so close they were practically sharing thoughts. The idea of her taking on even a part of Charisma’s Talent sent a sick wave of fear rolling through Dash.

That realization struck the enforcer at the same time it had come to Dash, and their eyes found each other’s, both gazes full of terrible knowledge. “No,” Charisma said, the denial wrought with heavy despair. Then with a wail she launched herself skyward, crashing through the sound barrier and streaking a black and red trail into the fading afternoon.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Rainbow Dash followed.

***

To say the situation was grim would be a tragic understatement. Applejack was down, her limbs still shaking from the aftereffects of what looked like a massive seizure. Hard Boiled was curled up on the floor, either unconscious or wishing he was. Traduce was a mess, though still alive enough to whimper. He was the only one left, and since even in the best circumstances Trail Blazer was as useful in a fight as a plastic sandwich to a starving Zebra, it was fair to say he was absolutely screwed.

“Yick,” Max Cash said in Solar, looking down at HB. “I’m gonna have nightmares about that one… Or, I would, you know, if I slept anymore.” He paused. “To be clear, Blaze, to unicorns this is like having your–”

“I get it,” he squeaked out. “Yup. No need for superfluous description. I’ve seen the whole picture already, no need for the previews.”

Cash smirked. “Oh, but those are the best part.” He chuckled. “Take a seat, Blaze. I don’t have a present for you yet, but we’ll work that out in a bit. I promise.”

He didn’t sit, instead slowly walking closer. His eyes darting about his fallen comrades as he tried to think of some way he could help. A way that wouldn’t get him bounced repeatedly off the walls like a green pinball, that is. He spotted both guns lying by their fallen owners, but the distinct lack of death stemming from the small black hole in Cash’s chest made him think that the weapons wouldn’t be of much use. That was assuming he could even get to one and get a shot off before Cash picked him up and folded him like origami.

Cash ignored him, sing-songing a happy “Ap-ple-jack!” and kneeling down next to the mare who glared up at him with baleful green eyes, too weak to move a hoof. “I’m guessing Solar is your language of choice these days. Makes sense, I suppose, but I honestly would have pegged you more as a staunch Republican girl. The ‘hard work’ thing all the stories give you really plays well south of the Storm.” Cash suddenly looked up from the mare. “Back me up here, Blaze. We Nightlanders are all over that ‘fruits of your labors’ stuff.”

He replied with a blank look. “I thought labor was a mare thing, honestly. Like, with foals and stuff? I don’t remember fruit being part of it, except, uh, in the metaphorical sense. Or that one time in Leo City.”

Cash grinned, then turned his attention back to Applejack. “Anyway, believe it or not, I had Rainbow Dash in a similar situation not too long ago. She was trying this whole disguise thing at the time. Almost fooled me, what with her still being alive a hilarious impossibility. I saw through it, though, and oh the shivers! Then wouldn’t you know it? I completely forgot what I had to say! It’s something about meeting a famous pony like her. The star-power just dazzles, you know? I couldn’t tell if I wanted her to join me or give me an autograph!” He laughed, and telekinetically pulled out a leather-bound book from his saddlebags. He flipped it open to a bookmarked page and scanned the words within for a moment, nodding in satisfaction. “After that little debacle I made sure to read up. I have the whole section memorized, now, but it’s always good to check, just in case. Plus I am just blown away by seeing you here. Tell me, is Twilight going to make an appearance? I hope so, I’ve got something I’ve been dying to say to her.”

“Varmint,” came Applejack’s wheezing reply.

“Whoa, chills,” Cash said, his grin widening. “I can excuse any attitude when it comes with an accent like that.” He leaned in close, his voice dropping to nearly a whisper. “I’ve got something for you.” His saddlebag opened again, and a necklace floated out. A golden band with a central gem in the shape of an orange apple.

Applejack let out a sudden shriek of fear. “No!” she cried out, feebly twitching away from the Element.

“No? But it’s your Element. It’s been waiting for you for a thousand years.” Cash brought the necklace closer.

“No it ain’t!” Applejack was struggling to push herself away from Cash, but her eye was locked on the Element, and there was raw desire in that stare. “You done somethin’ to it!”

Cash let out a dark chuckle. “Oh, Applejack, I haven’t done a thing to it, though it’s done quite a bit to me. I’m afraid it’s still every inch the Element you bore.”

“No! No! You’re lyin’! You’re a lyin’, dirty varmint and I ain’t listenin’ to you no more!” Even as she said this she managed to get one hoof off the ground, but instead of pushing Cash away it reached out for the Element.

“Heh, more mixed signals.” Cash looked across the temple at the only other conscious male, giving a conspiratorial wink. “Mares, right?” He turned back to Applejack. “Sorry, but that’s the honest truth. Though…” His mouth twisted in a wicked smile. “If all the truth does is make your heart ache...” Applejack stiffened, her visible eye going wide and unfocused. “Sometimes a li–”

The entire temple rattled as a crack of thunder loud enough to leave their ears ringing struck it. Wind gusted through the skylight and doorway, whipping manes about and sending the pages of Cash’s book fluttering fiercely. A moment later, it had passed. Cash frowned towards the skylight. “Dammit, Charisma! Keep it down! Now I’ve got to s–!”

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by a beam of destructive crimson magic that lanced across the temple and drilled into Cash’s side. It burned through his clothes and seared the coat and flesh underneath, filling the temple with the sickening smell of cooking meat. The Element of Honesty clattered to the ground as he reared back, hissing in pain and lighting his horn to fend off the attacking magic. “Oh, for the love of Luna and all her stars! You couldn’t have waited one measly minute?” Another blast crashed into his hasty shield, sending him skidding across the floor.

“Blaze! Get her away from him!” Star Fall commanded. She stood framed in the temple doorway with one leg thrown over the pony at her side, Calumn’s cracked features barely visible underneath his hood. That leg ended in a dismaying, bloody stump. A trio of spellsheets, glowing crimson with spider-walking sigils, floated in front of her. Heeding her command, he wasted no time in dashing to Applejack and dragging her away from Cash. He also took the opportunity to kick the Element of Honesty across the room to the doorway, keeping it from Cash’s easy reach.

“Princess! Great to see you again!” Cash cheerfully called out, though he winced as he walked back to the center of the temple, the motion pulling at his burn. “Gosh, you look awful. Did you run into Charisma? I made her promise not to kill you, but, well, she gets a little carried away sometimes.”

Star Fall’s glare darkened. “You’re just as responsible for what she’s done.”

Cash shrugged. “Probably, but, hey, why don’t we–”

A bolt of crimson light surged from Star Fall’s spellsheets. Cash caught the magic with his own, but his eyes widened in surprise at the strength of the attack. Star Fall kept up the pressure, limping forward and glaring at her opponent. “Shut up,” she growled, then two more beams of combat magic lanced at Cash. His counter magic caught hers, and the temple was filled with warring strobes of crimson and magenta as the two Magic Talents battled back and forth.

“Blaze.” The name pulled his attention from the spell duel. He leaned down to Applejack. “Help me up,” she said, raising a wobbly hoof to him.

“You sure you can stand?”

She shook her head. “Gettin’ stronger, but still weak as a foal. Don’t matter. Gotta get between them. Star’s hurt, she ain’t up for this kinda fight.”

He obliged, dragging her to a standing position, which she managed to hold without collapsing. Even in that short time, he could see that Star Fall was beginning to lose. Her rays of crimson magic were becoming smaller and dimmer, while Cash’s counters were just as vibrant as ever.

Applejack lurched in between them, cutting off a riposte from Cash that could have bowled Star Fall over. She set her stance wide and her head low, glaring at Cash. “We’ve seen how this goes. You can’t stop me alone, you sure as shootin’ can’t stop me and her both at the same time. And you ain’t trickin’ me again. This time when I take you down, I’ll put your lights out.”

“What trick?” Cash replied, backing up a step. “I just asked you to give me one little lie. If that’s a trick, I’d hate to see how you react to people asking you the time of day.”

“Wasn’t plannin’ on bein’ gentle already,” Applejack growled. A knee gave a little wobble as she shifted her weight, but she didn’t fall. “But go ahead, keep on yammerin’, I’m just gonna take a few teeth more’n I have to.”

“Please,” Cash scoffed. “You’re in no shape to do any of that. But this little lull in the flashy proceedings is nice. Gives us time to get our heads on straight. To think about things. Like, for instance…” He looked past Applejack and raised his voice. “Princess! How would you like to not be a cripple? Hey? Yeah? I’m sure once the war starts up amputations will be all the rage, but for now it’s kind of a fashion faux-pas, don’t you think? Well, I’ve got a solution to the problem! No messing around with reconstructive surgery, no garish prosthetics, just your old hoof back, good as new! Plus, and hear me out here, you might become a god.”

There was a pause as Star Fall blinked at him. Then she snorted and shook her head. “AJ, move, I’m going to blast him again.”

“Whoa!” Cash cried out, holding a hoof out to forestall her. “That’s kind of a violent response to an offer of deification. I’ve got miracles for sale, here! At least think it through before you start shooting!”

“I’ve thought about it,” Star Fall replied. “You’re a liar and a madpony.”

Applejack took a slow step forward, and Cash switched his focus back to her. “You know, Applejack. I can just shut you down again.”

“Might be,” the ancient pony replied, then tipped her hat low over her eyes and laid her ears back, pawing at the tiles. “But I figure if you could, you’d have done it by now.”

“The Element is all the way over here,” the hooded pony at Star Fall’s side said, then to emphasize that he stepped firmly on the necklace. “I’m not sure, but I’m gonna put my money on them getting to you before you can get to it.”

“Well, damn,” Cash said, then let out a high-pitched giggle. The world seemed to lurch as that sound echoed around the room, overlapping itself like a chorus of voices all laughing together. “You’re right, Honesty’s too far away to reach in time.” He giggled again, this time the sound was normal, albeit unhinged. “But he’s not. Trail Blazer! Come on down!”

“What?” was the only word he got out before a magenta glow surrounded him and he was yanked from his place and dragged across the short distance to Cash, where he fell on his rump once the magic vanished. Cash’s foreleg was around his neck in a flash, stronger than any unicorn had a right to be. A long, thin shard of crystal poked against his throat, drawing a bead of blood on its tip.

“Blaze!” his three conscious companions cried out near simultaneously. “Cash, let him go!” Star Fall commanded, her tone one of absolute authority, as if disobedience was unthinkable. He could imagine any citizen of the Solar Kingdom jumping to attention at the sound of a voice like that, could see them scrambling to obey its every whim.

Cash, unfortunately, was a Republican. They tended to respond to such orders in a different way. He laughed. “Hot damn she’s feisty,” Cash said, then dropped his voice to a conspiratorial low, pitching his comments to his prisoner. “You know, I had her in my bed once.” Cash chuckled, flashing a leering wink. “True story.”

“Cash!” Star Fall called out again, her spellsheets flaring in warning.

Cash rolled his eyes at her. “No,” he said, pushing the point of the crystal in deeper. “I’m not just going to let him go. And unless you want to see how far I can get his blood to spray, I suggest not trying to make me.”

“If you’re going for distance, you’re holding him all wrong,” a new voice cut in.

“Astrid!” Star Fall cried out in gleeful relief as her guardian dropped in through the skylight above the temple’s garden. The Griffin was, for some reason, clutching a weather-worn shape that looked like one of the statues from outside. Then she dropped it and, bizarrely, fell up to land on the ceiling, where she stood as if it were the ground.

“Okay… what?” Cash asked the room.

“Sorry it took so long, Fall,” Astrid said, wincing as she took in her charge’s state. “Had to get some help from Dash.”

“How’s she doin’?” Applejack asked.

“Charisma’s attacking Hoofprint,” Astrid replied. “Dash went after her. Can’t tell you much more than that.”

“She’ll be fine,” Star Fall assured Applejack.

“Shit, Fall, you look terrible,” Astrid said.

“We’ll talk about it later,” Star Fall replied. “Right now, we’ve got him to take care of.”

“Yeah, you’ve got me to take care of,” Cash said, indignant. “And, by the way, hostage situation, remember?”

“Yeah, about that,” Astrid said, giving Cash a raptor’s grin. “I just met this guy yesterday, and we’re not exactly friends, so I’m not really going to care if I have to go through him to get to you.”

“You might not care,” Cash said, then tilted his horn at Applejack. “But she will.” Applejack set her lips in a grim line, but she didn’t argue. “Besides, the whole thing is moot. I’m not dying today.” He looked between them, meeting each of their gazes in turn. As he spoke his voice, at first calm and measured, became louder and more uneven, until he was spitting his words and snarling with every breath. “I mean it. I’m not. You might think you’ve got me cornered, or whatever, but I have come too far, gone too deep. At this point my victory is inevitable. It’s going to happen. Whether it happens with you guys at my side or not, well… well it doesn’t matter. Hell, even giving you the choice of joining me or not doesn’t matter. We’re all just playing out our roles. All just following our scripts like good little puppets. Dangling from our strings. Waiting to be cut out and put away or lifted up beyond the stage. This has been a long time coming. Since the beginning of the world. Maybe longer. Pieces have been put in place over the course of millennia, and the ones that put them there are not going to let you just sweep it all away because you’ve got some stupid notion of making a difference. No. I’m not going to die, and I’m not going to be captured! I’m getting Kindness and I’m walking out of here with my own set of Bearers! Sure, Fluttershy’s being stubborn, but that’s just another part of the fucking plan! I’ve just got to push harder!”

Cash let out a wild laugh and squeezed, cutting into airflow just enough to make it hard to draw breath. “So Charisma was a bust. So what? She wasn’t who I wanted for Loyalty anyway. But maybe I can still get some use out of the pink psycho! How about it, Blaze? I still have the Element of Greed, why don’t I convince your friends here that you’re the tastiest treat they’ve ever laid eyes on, huh?” The others recoiled, and Cash just laughed harder. “They’ll do it, too. They’ll want to. All I have to do is keep little miss hayseed from opening her mouth and it’s an all-you-can-eat Blaze buffet! Yeah! A little bit of cannibalism, a touch of bloody artistry, and I leave your mangled corpse out for my fluffy pink bodyguard to find when she’s had her fun with the good citizens of Hoofprint! Okay, so she’s a little Inverted right now, but that won’t last. She’ll come around, and when she sees what’s left of you she is going to break!”

He whipped his head around to stare at the source of the pink glow. “How’s that, huh? Cruel enough for you? Or do you want me to make her eat him herself?!”

In the cold silence that followed, Cash’s prisoner spoke. “Buddy,“ he choked out, sucking in a rough breath. Across the temple, the hooded pony’s ears perked up. “Now.” The face beneath the hood split into a wide fanged grin, and the cloak was thrown wide to reveal that on a chain around his neck he wore the broken remnants of a black crown upon which was affixed a small blue-green gemstone. A Mirror Crystal. The gem suddenly blazed with green fire, and Cash’s eyes went wide as he looked from the gem to the pony in his grasp, whose own eyes were lit with an answering flame that revealed the true Changeling. “Sleep.”

Cash sagged. Magic Talents could shake off Changeling magic, even when it was enhanced by a Mirror Crystal, but it still affected them for a split second. That second was all that Calumn needed. Trail Blazer’s form, constructed with painstaking care before they had left the RIA, burned away as he reached up to slide Cash’s horn through one of the holes in his leg. Then he curled forward, yanking his foreleg down to wrench Cash’s neck and flip him over Calumn’s shoulder in a perfectly executed takedown throw. The unicorn crashed hard to the floor, his breath leaving him in a rush, his head at Calumn’s feet. The stunned look on Cash’s face lasted only a moment before Calumn brought the leg still hooked on Cash’s horn up, while simultaneously slamming his other leg down. He drew on the Mirror Crystal hard, empowering his body to momentarily equal the might of a Strength Talent earth pony. Cash’s horn began to light up, but with Calumn’s sleep spell still making his thoughts slow, he couldn’t get a shield up in time. Calumn’s hoof landed hard, and between the opposing forces Calumn had created, Cash’s horn was shattered.

The scream Cash let out did not sound equine. A chorus of voices screamed with him, each hitting a different note of pain and anger. Ears were laid flat, but the sound seemed to sink into the skin, setting their bones buzzing with it. It lasted for far too long, well beyond the point where Cash’s lungs should have had no air left in them. Eventually, though, it did end. Cash was left staring in dazed shock at the Changeling, smoking pieces of his broken horn scattered about him. Calumn backed off, and Applejack was on him in an instant, holding him down and pressing his face into the floor. Calumn took the opportunity to reach into Cash’s saddlebag, pulling out the Element of Generosity and flinging it across the temple, out of Cash’s reach.

“It’s over,” Calumn told the defeated stallion as the necklace clattered to a stop. “Your magic is broken, the Elements are too far away, and there’s no way you’re overpowering Applejack. You’re done.”

“Nice work, bug boy,” Astrid said, her tone one of grudging respect. “I never twigged that you two had switched places. Now let’s kill him and get out of this dump.”

“We ain’t killin’ nobody,” Applejack snapped out, tilting her head up to glare at Astrid from under her hat.

“AJ, he’s gotta go.”

“Absolutely,” Star Fall said. Her body was shaking with the effort of remaining upright, but her eyes were hard with determination and her voice didn’t waver one bit. “Even leaving Cash alive long enough for this discussion is a terrible idea.” Her spellsheets sparked with renewed energy.

“Don’t you do it, Star!” Applejack said, rounding on the pegasus. “We ain’t killers!”

“Shit, did we forget to have ‘the talk’ with this one?” Astrid snarled. “We are killers, AJ. Star, me, the insects, we’ve all killed before, and for a lot less reason than this asshole’s given us. Hell, I know for a fact that Dash would agree with me here, this guy has to die.”

“Well, I don’t,” Applejack said, raising her chin in a stance of stubborn defiance. “And I ain’t gonna let you just murder someone in front of me!”

“Then leave,” Astrid snarled.

“No.” The word had left Calumn’s lips before he knew he was going to say it. All eyes went to him. He took in the emotions that were directed his way from each of those looks: Fear from Star Fall, mixed with pain and a bone-deep weariness. Fury from Astrid, but a fury that masked frustration and a sickening sense of helplessness. Hope from Applejack, an open and honest hope that came with the intensity of a spotlight. Curiosity from Blaze, along with friendship and trust. He latched onto that trust, held it close as he looked down at the prone Cash. “He deserves to die. For all that he’s done… he deserves it. But that doesn’t mean we have to kill him. That doesn’t mean we have the right to kill him. Not now, when he’s helpless at our hooves. For all we know… maybe there’s enough equinity in him to save. Maybe under his insanity there is still a soul in pain. A pony with a diseased mind who deserves nothing more than pity. I don’t know, but I won’t just end him because it’s convenient. I’ll take him back to the Republics, and he will stand trial. Then he’ll be put somewhere where he can be watched and cared for until the day comes that his mind is well and he can understand what it is he’s done, and what he’s coerced others into doing.”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Astrid said.

“Calumn,” Star Fall began, her tone reasonable but with a barely controlled undercurrent of panic. “That’s a mistake. You know how dangerous he is. It’s not his magic that made him that dangerous, it’s his mind. You might have good intentions, but he’ll take advantage of those intentions and use them to escape. Then he’ll kill you and who knows how many others.”

“Plus, it’s stupid,” Astrid said. “Even if he doesn’t use your retarded attempt at mercy to escape, the moment you get him back in Republics territory your own people will take him out in a field and put a couple rounds in the back of his head. He’s never seeing trial.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Applejack said. “I don’t know much about this time, but I know what’s right. Killin’ ponies for any reason, that ain’t right.”

“Princess, think of the knowledge he holds,” Calumn said. “He could tell us how to use the Elements to fight the Destroyer.”

“I’ll never trust any information that came from him,” Star Fall replied.

“Blaze?” Calumn looked to his friend, who shrugged.

“I’m staying out of this one, buddy. I trust you, but I’ve got a lot of anecdotal evidence for the ‘kill him now’ side.”

“I can’t believe this!” Astrid shrieked, smashing a clenched claw into the ceiling. “Why did we bring any of you along if you were just going to pull this bullshit?”

“Astrid, if it came down to him or us, I would have snapped his neck in a heartbeat,” Calumn said. “But it didn’t. We stopped him. That’s what we came here to do. Now… now we have the responsibility to make the moral choice. The right choice.”

“I never thought I’d hear that from a Changeling,” Star Fall said, shaking her head in weary exasperation.

Calumn allowed himself a small smile. “I’m not your average Changeling.”

“Do you really believe it?” Max Cash spoke up. Calumn slowly looked down at him, wary of tricks. “Do you really believe even someone like me can be… reformed? Can change?”

Calumn looked to Applejack first, then shrugged. “I don’t know,” he replied honestly. “There’s no way for you to ever make amends for what you’ve done, for the lives you’ve ruined. But I… I believe that anyone can change for the better, and that everyone deserves a chance to make that change happen. Even someone like you.”

Cash closed his eyes, taking a long, slow breath. “How…” His mouth stretched into a wicked grin. “Kind.”

That smile was all the warning they got before Cash moved. He twisted in Applejack’s grip. She was still weaker than she should have been, and he toppled her with a yelp. Cash lashed out with one leg and hit Calumn square on, sending him reeling backwards. Calumn stumbled over a small statue of a rabbit, falling through the bubble of pink light as if it were merely air. He flailed wildly, and caught himself on a pony-sized statue he hadn’t even noticed was there. He looked up into the beatific stone gaze of a beautiful pegasus mare, momentarily captivated. Then a tide of energy went through his body, like he’d just taken a big drink of pure-hearted unconditional love. He looked to the source of the wondrous sensation and found that in grasping the statue he had placed a hoof on a necklace around the statue’s neck, right on a pink gem in the shape of a butterfly. He pulled away, and with a soft sound of metal over stone, the necklace came away in his grasp, its soft pink glow pulsing outwards and filling him with a sense of profound peace.

Then Cash let out a wild laugh that shattered the momentary serenity. Calumn looked past the glowing necklace to see the madpony still splayed out on his back, staring at him with feverish eyes and a smile so wide it threatened to split his lips. Something in those eyes cut straight into Calumn, something utterly indescribable that went beyond magic or his natural emotional senses. In an instant the glow from the necklace vanished, and it tumbled from Calumn’s hoof to the ground. He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. He was locked in place by that gaze. He knew in that moment that Cash was going to kill him, and wouldn’t even have to lift a hoof or use one spark of magic to do it.

Then Astrid leapt from the ceiling with all the predatory grace her kind were famous for. Her claws slid deep into Cash’s chest, and she clenched them tight around his ribs. She fell upwards, carrying him with her, and began tearing into him. The Griffin was almost frantic in her efforts. She raked at him with her back paws, nails as sharp as razors tearing at his belly, cutting the straps of his saddlebags so they fell to the floor accompanied by a rain of torn flesh and blood clotted nearly black. With a final avian scream she slid her free claw into the wound she had opened in his belly, reaching up into his chest. He became very still, staring wide-eyed into her unforgiving gaze. “You’ve done a lot to deserve it,” she snarled. “But this one’s for Melody.” Then she tore out his heart and crushed it in front of him.

Cash stared in shock for a moment, then went limp in Astrid’s grasp. Below, Applejack scrambled out of the way of the falling gore before taking her hat off and putting it to her chest, swallowing hard but refusing to look away. With a flick of her wrist, Astrid threw the body to the ground. It hit with a dull thud. Calumn took a deep breath, and found that he was shaking. Anger, disbelief and horror warred within him, each also contending with a deep, quiet but insistent longing for the necklace that lay at his hooves. It called to him, and the implications of that call terrified him.

Astrid turned her baleful glare on Applejack and Calumn. “Anyone going to fucking object now?!” Astrid screamed at them.

Calumn had no answer. He just stood there, trembling and staring at the body until he felt a foreleg go over his shoulders. “Hey, buddy,” Blaze said, drawing his attention away from the corpse and his own internal struggle. “I don’t think he really wanted to be saved, you know?”

“I… yeah,” Calumn replied with a slow, shaky nod. Blaze was still wearing his face, but with an effort of will that helped clear his head, he reached through the Mirror Crystal and ended the illusion spell he’d cast on his friend. As he looked into Trail Blazer’s yellow eyes, seeing the steady friendship in their depths, he found the strength to draw himself up and still his fears. He turned his gaze to the Griffin on the ceiling. “Astrid… thank you. You saved my life.”

“Damn straight,” Astrid snorted.

“Ain’t right,” Applejack said, shaking her head. When she looked up at Astrid, though, there was no accusation in her eyes. Calumn could read her emotions like she was an open book, and it was clear she understood the necessity of what had happened, even if she refused to agree with it. When she looked back at Cash’s body, her eyes widened in a spike of confusion and shock. “What in the world?”

Calumn felt his whole body tighten in fear. In his mind he saw a vivid image of Cash rising to mock them all for presuming he needed a heart to live. “What is it?” Star Fall asked from where Blaze had left her sitting near the entrance.

“His cutie mark,” Applejack replied, her voice full of confusion. Calumn’s Old Equestrian was only good enough to pass as an academic if he needed to, but he thought she was talking about Cash’s Talent Glyph. Cash’s Glyph wasn’t a mystery, though, and it wasn’t exactly strange. True, it was an Abstract Glyph, just like most of the ponies in this room, and thus up for some interpretation, but otherwise fairly standard: a magenta and white starburst containing five smaller white stars.

“What’s wrong with it?” Star Fall asked.

“It’s just…” Applejack trailed off, shaking her head. “Sorry, just a little spooked, it’s probably nothin’.”

“Don’t do that,” Star Fall said. “Don’t assume anything. What did you see?”

“It ain’t nothin’ big,” Applejack began. “But, well, it’s just that it looks an awful lot like–”

“Applejack?” A new voice cut her off. Calumn turned to find himself looking into the most beautiful cyan eyes he had ever seen. The statue had become a mare, a yellow pegasus with a long pink mane. That mare was staring around herself with wide, terrified eyes. When those fell on the corpse of Max Cash she let out a squeak, pulling back and almost seeming to collapse in on herself in fright. “Applejack, what’s going on? Where am I? What happened to that poor pony?”

“Get her away from the Element!” Star Fall cried out, trying to rush forward, but tumbling to the ground as her legs finally gave in.

“Fluttershy, darlin’, you need to come over here, alright?” Applejack called to her friend.

“But…”

Applejack put one hoof on the body and shoved it so that it rolled across the floor until it smacked up against the wall, settling into a sprawled face-down pose. “Don’t mind that none, you hear? I’ll explain everythin’ to you, but we’ll do it outside, alright?”

“Al–alright,” she said, and stepped daintily around the stained floor. With a little coaxing from Applejack she was soon out of the temple.

“Are the others alive? I can’t tell from here,” Star Fall asked them.

Calumn took a deep breath, then focused on his emotional senses, tasting the feelings of everyone in the room. There was a lot of pain, but ultimately that was a good thing. “They are,” he replied, relived. “Hurt, but alive.”

“Blaze, I need you to bring them outside. We’ll need the light to treat their injuries.”

“Can do!” Blaze said, saluting and then skipping off to begin dragging Hard Boiled outside.

“Calumn, I need you to get Cash’s bags for me.”

Calumn paused a moment, looking down at the Element he had so briefly held. It still called to him, but somehow Fluttershy’s arrival had dulled that siren song, making it far more bearable.

“Calumn?”

“Right,” he said, shaking off the lingering feeling that he should put the necklace on. “What about the Elements?”

“We can’t put them in grabbing distance of their bearers,” Star Fall said. “Don’t take any chances.” She paused to catch her breath as Blaze came back in to carefully lift Traduce onto his back and walk her out. Calumn could sense the crushing weariness that was settling on the princess now that the danger had passed. Combined with the pain of her injuries, it was astounding that she was thinking clearly enough to give instructions at all. Once she’d marshalled her strength she spoke again. “Forget the bags. Leave everything. All I want is a book. Leatherbound. If you can read Old Equestrian it’s titled ‘Harmony Theory’.”

He remembered the book Cash had looked through just before Star Fall had arrived and saved Applejack from… something. “I know it,” he said. He took one last look at the Element, then put it out of his mind and got moving.

***

The Element of Laughter pulsed with a brilliant blue light. Each of those pulses sent out a palpable wave of magical force that rattled the windows of the observation room. They had put the Element in a vault at first, but as soon as it had started reacting they had moved it to one of the interrogation rooms in the building. It was the closest thing they had to a secure area where they could observe the artifact and not be in the same room as it. From what Rarity was seeing, the only security the setup provided was for their feelings. The power of the Element reached through the walls as easily as it did the air.

“Well that’s… unsettling,” she said, the light of her horn guttering like a candle in the wind. “Spike, dear, do you…?”

“I feel it,” he replied. His eyes were narrowed as he looked through the observation window. He appeared relaxed in his wheelchair, but his jaw muscles were taut with stress, and the tip of his tail kept slashing back and forth in little motions. “I’m amazed you didn’t until you got down here.”

“Every thaumometer brought into the vicinity has failed,” Director Straff said. He and Agent Gamma stood side by side next to Spike at the window. Their already-similar eyes set in identical looks of controlled calm. “Needles buried in the red. However, at just about ten meters from the Element all readings revert to normal. This is not equipment error, and our best minds have yet to come up with a reasonable explanation.”

Rarity gave him a blank, level look. It was Gamma who answered her silent question. “It’s generating an enormous amount of power, but that power is vanishing and we don’t know why.”

“Ah.” Rarity regarded the glowing pendant. It had a particular beauty like this, shining with an internal light, that it didn’t possess when it appeared as just a regular gem. It had looked the same around Pinkie’s neck, but the power it was releasing now wasn’t the unstoppable torrent that had poured forth to consume the Senator’s mansion. No, she could tell that this power had a purpose. “It must be going somewhere.”

“Indeed, but we’ve found nothing to indicate where it’s going or how it’s getting there,” Straff replied. “It isn’t creating any kind of spell pattern or transforming into other types of energy. It’s not grounding out or circulating or getting any weaker. It’s radiating for a certain distance, and then it simply… stops.”

“What about teleportation?”

“Teleportation?” Gamma repeated, quirking an eyebrow as she looked to Spike. “Is that possible?”

The Dragon nodded slowly, tapping his claws on the arms of his chair. “Maybe. I don’t think it’s teleporting, though. It might be hundreds of years since I last saw Twilight, but I still remember what teleportation spells feel like. But that doesn’t mean something similar isn’t going on. If it’s following an extradimensional conduit, for instance…” His eyes narrowed. “Rarity, where do you think it’s going?”

Rarity blinked in shock at the question. “Well, I have no earthly idea. Why would you ask me?”

“Because I think you might know,” he said. There was something in his eyes, some glimmer of emotion that made her take a half-step back from him. “Not consciously,” he added quickly at her reaction, flashing her a reassuring smile. “But I know for sure that Applejack and Rainbow Dash are still connected to their Elements, so it makes sense you are to yours. I held Generosity for a few years, I know some of the tricks you can do with it. One of those tricks might give us some information here.”

Rarity’s eyes went from him to the other two ponies in the room. They were both looking at her like she was some bacteria under a microscope, studying her intently. “Well, I… I’ll help in any way that I can, of course, but I don’t see how I can use my Element when it’s so far away.”

“The Elements are weird,” Spike said. “Sometimes distance doesn’t matter.”

Straff cleared his throat. “Master Spike, what exactly are you proposing to do?”

“Being an Element Bearer allows you to see things in different ways,” Spike replied. “It’s like a sixth sense. Twilight called it a ‘Passive Ability’ of the Elements. It’s something Bearers do automatically, without even noticing. If they concentrate on it, though, they can control it, see things they wouldn’t be able to otherwise.”

“And you think I can do this?” Rarity asked.

“I know you can,” he said with a confident nod.

“Will this be dangerous in any way?” Straff asked.

Spike shook his head. “No, it’s basically like unfocusing your eyes to see patterns in an otherwise random collection of shapes and colors. There’s no danger at all.” He paused, and his eyes shifted away from everyone as a thought occurred to him. “Well, there shouldn’t be any danger.”

Absolutely no one in the room was happy with that statement. “That is most definitely not reassuring,” Gamma dryly stated.

“There was this one time with Rainbow Dash,” Spike admitted, “but it was a one-off thing. As long as Rarity’s not physically holding her Element, it should be fine.”

“Since you so recently stated that ‘sometimes distance doesn’t matter’, this does not fill me with any degree of reassurance,” Gamma said. “However, our options in this matter are limited. Any information is better than our present ignorance.”

“Agreed,” Straff said. “Great lady, if you would please attempt what Master Spike is suggesting, the RIA would be grateful.”

“What… what do I have to do?” Rarity asked.

Spike took a deep breath and lay a comforting claw on her shoulder. “Look at it,” he said, tilting his head towards the window. Rarity obliged, staring into the pulsing blue glow of the Element of Laughter. “Don’t try to pick out details or think too hard about it, just let yourself look at it. Remember, you’re not trying to see the Element itself, you’re looking for the energy it’s creating. Think of it like finding inspiration for a new dress. Look past the surface and see the true essence beneath. Feel it.”

“I’ll try,” she said. She stared into the light, trying to see past it, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to stop focusing on the balloon-shaped gem. She could certainly feel the energy it was giving off, though. It would be a chore to ignore it. It was all around her, beating through the walls and wiggling its way into her cells. It flitted through space, everywhere at once. It was inside her. “Spike!” she cried out as she began to feel her heart beat in time to the glowing pulses of the Element.

“It’s okay,” Spike said, stroking her mane reassuringly. “You’re safe with me, alright? You’re safe.” Rarity’s panicked breaths slowed. “What are you seeing?”

“It’s… it’s in me, Spike,” she replied.

“The energy’s going into you?”

“No, it’s coming from me.” She squirmed in place. “It’s coming from me and it’s coming from you too, but not nearly as much. And there’s… Pinkie.”

“Pinkie Pie? She was supposed to keep away from this room,” Straff said, just a hint of annoyance and alarm in his voice.

“No, she’s far enough,” Rarity said. She could have pointed directly to her friend if she wanted to, and given an exact distance, too. “But… but she’s also right here. The magic… the energy from the Element is coming from her, just like it’s coming from me. We’re… giving it? No, that’s not right. It’s being taken from us.”

“How do you know this?” Gamma asked.

“I… I just do,” Rarity replied with a shake of her head. “Spike, how do I know these things?”

“That’s normal, don’t worry about it,” Spike said. “Rarity, try to look for where it’s going. If it’s being taken from you, then it’s being taken to somewhere. The power is flowing. Look for that flow, see where it's going.”

“I…” Her eyes went wide, and suddenly she could see the whole of it. She saw the flow, like a mighty blue river, pouring from the Element of Laughter. Smaller streams from herself and Spike wound around it, guiding it. Another power held it all together, and in a ruby flash of recognition she understood that it was Rainbow Dash. Or was it the Element of Loyalty? They were mixed up in her mind, it was hard to tease them apart. The steady presence of Applejack and Honesty kept the floodgates open, and over everything was the soft, pink glow that could only be Fluttershy’s Kindness, the grease that kept this machine from seizing.

“I can feel them, Spike,” she said, gasping in an awe-filled breath. “Our friends, I can see them, and… oh no.”

“What’s wrong?”

“They’re in danger! Dash is fighting some twisted thing that stole her power. Applejack… it’s like something’s wounded her dearly, but she doesn’t feel it. And Fluttershy… she’s here, Spike! She’s alive, but she’s so confused!”

“Are they where the power is going to?” Gamma asked.

Rarity shook her head. “No. No, they’re sources of it, like me.”

“Then, Lady Rarity, I suggest you keep looking for the destination,” Straff said.

She felt herself nod, but sensation was distant. She was consumed by the river of power, following it along its course. There was an Element missing, she knew. That Element should be the most important of all, without which this whole thing shouldn't be possible. Yet the river hadn’t formed without purpose. The flow of power had direction, intent. There was a will at work here, a mind. She rode the power, searching for that mind. She saw its end point, swirling in a vortex around something she could only think of as a dark egg. An egg whose shell was cracked. From within, in the place where the shell had begun breaking open, something terrible stared back at her, and spoke one word:

Rarity

She only had time for a single small, frightened gasp before her eyes rolled back and she fainted dead away.

***

Charisma rose above the towers of the city, above the tallest mountains, above the highest clouds, above everything bound to the world, to the place where all was still and silent. There she hung without effort above the curving earth, bathed in Celestia’s light. There she waited for Rainbow Dash, and the end to all things.

The cold had cut at Charisma’s wings as she ascended, the thin air making it feel like she was suffocating. No matter how much she breathed there was never enough air getting into her lungs. For a long moment she had thought it was just in her head, but then she realized that it was because she had gone so high, higher than she had ever imagined possible. Once she knew what the problem was, it wasn’t a problem anymore. A flash of ruby light from the Element of Loyalty, and suddenly all the air Charisma needed was bound to her, dragged along in a gusting stream that buoyed her wings and filled her lungs.

Dash was below her, somewhere, catching up. Perhaps being more cautious in her ascent, perhaps simply knowing she didn’t need to hurry. The Element was working for the other mare as much as it was for Charisma, neither of them needed to fear the vacuum. Neither could run from the other. Either way, she would be there soon.

Charisma remembered the screams and the blood in the city below. She remembered the feast of death she had gorged herself on, the carnage she had enacted. She should have been shivering with delight at the thought, but instead all she felt was sick. It was all wrong. She’d killed so many, so easily, and it had been… fun. The kind of fun she’d had when she’d indulged Blaze once and went bowling with him. She hadn’t cared for the game, though she’d been good at it, it had meant nothing more to her than a pleasant way to pass the time.

Killing wasn’t fun. No, each kill was a glorious thing. An experience in pleasure. A sinful delight that she couldn’t help but savor and crave again and again. She cared about each kill, they mattered to her. Each life taken was another face gone from her nightmares. Each death another part of the world made right.

“I thought, once,” she said, knowing that Rainbow Dash would hear every word. “That if it just didn’t feel so good, I wouldn’t do it so much. I told myself that I was addicted to the rush, and if that was gone I’d stop.”

The mare in her memory hadn’t cared. The lives hadn’t mattered. They were just fodder, there to draw Rainbow Dash in and force her to fight. It hadn’t been her. And yet, it was her. She’d used the Element to do that to herself. Then Rainbow Dash had changed her back. She didn’t know which was better.

“But it doesn’t matter how good it feels, does it? It’s what I do. It’s what I am. What I’ve always been.” She raised her claws up to her face, admiring the gleaming razor sharpness of them. They weren’t Griffin claws or Dragon claws, they were something wholly unique to her. As delicate as a scalpel, as brutal as a chainsaw. “What kind of filly gets a Talent for killing if she isn’t already…” She choked back something that might have been a sob or a laugh. “A monster.”

She looked to the black sky, stars shining like jewels against a dark curtain. Celestia’s sun, brighter than ever, shone with a pure white radiance. She turned to that light, the blinding intensity of it searing at her eyes. She didn’t care. The Element shielded her from the full brunt of it, just as it gave her the strength to be up here, beyond the breathing skin of the earth. When she glanced below, it seemed like half the world was laid out. A map with no names. She could see the Everstorm slicing across the continent, a blight on a world that otherwise seemed perfect. As perfect as the mare who followed her even to these impossible heights.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered. She hung in space, gazing down on the earth and waited for her perfect enemy to arrive.

When Rainbow Dash came even with her, they spent a long moment simply staring at one another. They could each feel the other mare’s thoughts as if they were her own. Neither of them needed to speak to be understood by the other, but the words still felt important.

“You don’t have to be a monster,” Dash said. “I know… I can tell you don’t like what you just did.”

“That’s just the problem,” Charisma replied, shaking her head. “I didn’t like it. But if I did it now, I would. I would love it. You gave that back to me. Do you understand? Oh, Hot Stuff, when you undid what I’d done to myself, you didn’t stop me from being crazy, you brought the crazy back.”

“I know.” Dash turned her head to the side, struggling with warring feelings of anger and her own need to be a hero. “But it doesn’t have to be that way.”

“It always has been, it always will be.”

Dash flashed across the distance separating them, one hoof going out and slapping Charisma across the face. She didn’t stop it, even though she could have. She just took the blow and looked back at the other pegasus with a calm, blank expression. They were so close their noses nearly touched, their eyes boring into each other’s. “You…” Dash began, then let out an angry snarl as the words stalled in her throat. She grit her teeth and started again. “I can help you,” she managed to growl out. “Give up. Come back down and take off the Element. We can… I don’t know, we can figure something out, okay? Some way to stop it. Stop the killing, the need for it.”

“Maybe that could have worked. A long time ago, when I was still a filly. Before the Secret Service, before the army. Before they took my Talent and trained me to use it… and showed me how much I loved using it.” Charisma allowed a sultry smile to soften her lips. “If I gave it up, I know I’d miss it.”

“Charisma, if you don’t, I have to stop you,” Dash said.

“I know,” Charisma replied, soaking in Dash’s palpable determination. “And I know you don’t want to. Because you know to stop me, you’ll have to kill me.” She laughed. “And I know that no matter how much you don’t want to kill me, you’ll have no problem killing Max Cash. I’d be insulted if I didn’t understand the impulse intimately.” Her claws snapped up and grasped Dash’s face between them. Dash’s eyes went wide with fear for a moment, then she relaxed as she realized Charisma had no intention of hurting her. “The difference between you and me, Hot Stuff, is that when you get the chance, I know you’ll take it.” She tried to laugh again, but it came out a wretched sob. “Just like I knew, somehow, from that first moment we fought, that it would come to this. You were my equal and opposite, in every way that counts. I still don’t know who’s going to win... Even with all this power, all my skill… I don’t know who’ll win.”

“We don’t have to find out.”

“Yes we do.” Charisma took a steadying breath. She released Dash and looked past the other pegasus to the world far, far below. “It’s time to end this.” Her Talent whispered into the back of her mind. It wasn’t demanding she kill Dash, though. No, it had something new to say: Fly it whispered. Fly faster than ever before. Break beyond what is possible, and pass through all barriers transformed. Touch the spectrum, and use that power to crack the world in two.

She shuddered at the thought. An end to nightmares, an end to life and death. A perfect undoing. The anticipation filled her with a thrill that made her insides clench. A word, plucked from Dash’s mind, seemed to sum up everything perfectly: “Rainboom.”

Dash stiffened as the word resonated between them, her own Talent setting off fireworks of desire. “A race,” Charisma said, and Dash’s wings fluttered in helpless excitement. “One last contest. Winner-take-all. I’m going to gather all the power I can from the Element and hit the entire world with it the moment I touch ground. The only way to stop me from doing that is to kill me before then. If you get cute and try to wrestle me or take the Element, I’ll fight you, and still unleash the power when I hit. I think you know that trying to knock me unconscious isn’t going to work either. It’s deathblows or nothing.” Dash’s lips pressed into a grim line as she realized the truth of what Charisma was saying. “So if you win, I die. If I win, everyone dies.” She smiled at Dash. “On your marks, Hot Stuff.”

“Charisma, no,” Dash said, desperate to avoid what she knew was inevitable. “I don’t want to have to kill you.”

Charisma laughed. The underlying boast was clear: Dash didn’t lose races. “Get set.”

“Come on, you don’t want to kill everybody!” Dash cried. “What about Blaze? Don’t you love him?”

Charisma paused at that. She recalled Blaze telling her that he loved her. It had been a distraction then, something to keep her from paying attention as she was set up for an attack. Yet Blaze was not good at faking sincerity, so it also held the ring of truth. So, impossible as it seemed, he loved her. But did she love him?

She tried to shrug off the question. She told herself it didn’t matter. Even if she did care about him, it didn’t change anything. It worked well enough to put it to the back of her mind, but not to force it away entirely.

She took a deep breath, clearing her mind and taking one last look at the astonishing vista only the two of them and the Goddesses were privy to. She closed her eyes and soaked in the sunlight, sending a silent prayer to Celestia to watch her one last time.

“Go.”

Dash lunged for her, but she was already moving, falling. The Element on her chest burst into magnificent light, and power surged through her limbs as she rocketed downward faster than ever before. She directed all her power into the dive, focusing the incredible energies of the Element into one final push. She passed the sound barrier with barely a flinch, and kept going. Air screamed around her, rent by her passage. She drank deep of Loyalty’s endless well, and it felt like fire scorching along her nerves. The burning strength seared muscle and ignited feathers. She could feel it consuming her, but she didn’t care. It wouldn’t stop her, only Dash could do that now.

And Dash was right behind her, accelerating just a hair faster than Charisma herself, slowly closing the distance between them. The air grew thick in front of Charisma and little bolts of electricity began to play around her. That barrier of air stretched around her, and for a moment she felt as if it would reject her, throwing her back. She reached into Dash’s mind and found what she had to do. She pressed one hoof forward into the barrier in front of her, throwing fear and the very idea of failure aside. Dash cried out behind her, the sound lost to their descent but clear through their Elemental bond. She put on a burst of renewed speed, almost overtaking Charisma, their poses identical.

Then the barrier broke, and Charisma passed through her own magic, exiting the other side as something new, something incredible, something awesome. Behind her an explosion of light thundered out from the place where she had overcome all limits. It shared the colors of her Element-enhanced body, a black and red infection that spread across the sky, obscuring the sun and making the land dark as night. It was a grim harbinger of her intentions for the world. Yet she knew that behind her bloody mark, Dash had left a rainbow of shimmering color at nearly the same moment.

She was going faster now. Faster than ever. A living bullet shooting towards the heart of the earth.

She aimed to strike the ground at the temple where she had left her employer. If everyone was going to die, she figured Max Cash should go first. It was only fair. The ground rushed closer at incredible speed, and yet seemed to arrive in languid slowness. She felt as if she could have contemplated every cloud, every tree, every blade of grass. Time had ceased for her, it only moved forward because she willed it. With her colors staining the skies like this, she felt as if she could do anything.

She looked down, picking out the figures scattered around the temple. Dash’s friends. They were looking up at her, terror stark in every face. Except for one. Her rose eyes met familiar lemon-yellow, and she saw nothing in them but acceptance. Trail Blazer stared up at her from the garden in front of the temple. He couldn’t have seen her as anything other than a red streak quickly growing larger, yet she could see in those eyes that he recognized her.

Then he smiled, and her question was answered.

In that moment her flight stalled, and Dash hit her. The strike came right between her wings, a direct hit with all the force Rainbow Dash could muster. Charisma knew that Dash was in the same state as her, capable of anything. What she had chosen to do was crush Charisma’s spine.

Her lower body went numb. Her wings went limp. She laughed. Top marks, Hot Stuff, she thought to the other mare. Well done.

Dash wrapped Charisma in a tight embrace as they fell the last distance to the ground, slowing them and shielding the broken mare from the impact, playing the hero even now. They hit the ground together, a pair of rainbow comets coming down at speeds nothing could survive. Because of Dash’s efforts, both of them did.

It wouldn’t be for long, though. Charisma couldn’t feel the injury anymore, but she knew that she’d been right: only a deathblow could stop her. The power was still in her, burning her out, but she didn’t release it. It was over, she would die soon. Dash had won.

Charisma lay in soft dirt. A shallow crater, her second of the day, rose up around her, but didn’t block the sight of her Rainboom rippling through the sky, or Blaze rushing up to them. Beside her, Dash was shedding quiet tears. “I’m sorry,” she whispered in agonized guilt.

“Dash! Charisma!” Blaze cried, leaping into the pit they had created and kneeling next to them. She looked into his eyes and saw how much he cared for her. She tried to say something, but there was no air in her lungs. He leaned in close to hear what she was saying.

Tear his throat out, her Talent demanded. She was too weak and distracted to resist and before she knew it her teeth were on his neck. She paused, a hairsbreadth away from ripping open an artery. She could practically taste the hot blood that would shower down on her, the thought accompanied by a wave of warm tingles that overcame even the numbness of her broken body. Dash tensed next to her, but could do nothing to stop her.

“It’s okay,” Blaze said softly. She could hear the smile in his voice. “If you have to, it’s okay.” Slowly, agonizingly, she unclenched her jaw and released him. He pulled back and regarded her with a puzzled frown. “Not that I’m not grateful for sparing my life or anything, but, um, why?”

She took a breath, amazed she still could. “Because I love you.” Blaze’s mouth dropped open in shock, then melted into a goofy grin. The power of the Element surged in her, and if she had been capable of it she would have writhed in the strangely ecstatic pain it gave her. She coughed, blood splattering from her mouth. That blood instantly began to boil and dissolve into motes of ruby light. “I wish it could have been different.”

“I wish I hadn’t eaten the whole cake at my tenth birthday party, on account of the food poisoning and angry party guests,” Blaze said, then he leaned down and kissed her. “But I still remember how sweet it was.”

“Blaze, get the Element off of her,” Dash said. “I can’t… I can’t touch it.”

He reached down, tugging at the necklace, but it wouldn’t come off. Charisma cried out as the power surged again. Her wings burst into flame, somehow not harming Dash at all but scorching Blaze. She was burning, blood boiling in her veins, mind afire with ruby light. She was bound so tightly to the power of the Element she was becoming that power. Blaze looked at her, not stopping his efforts, but she saw that the smile was gone from his face.

She couldn’t let that happen. “Keep smiling, Blaze,” she said, forcing a grin of her own through the sensation of the Element consuming her. “Whatever happens… wherever you go… just keep laughing and smiling. No matter what.” Then, with her last bit of will, she let the Element go. It came loose in Blaze’s grip, and he quickly stood and threw it into the temple.

The power didn’t stop its progress, but its fury had changed. Her body stopped burning, and with a sigh of release the transformation she had undergone reversed itself. She let out a short laugh as she gazed at her hooves, surprised at how much she had missed them. Then she coughed up another lungful of blood. Her head fell back, she no longer had the strength to hold it up. A moment later she was staring up into the faces of Rainbow Dash and Trail Blazer as they knelt at her side.

She laughed in her thoughts, her body no longer able to. They looked so different, but so similar at the same time. Dash’s features were twisted with guilt and sadness. She was triumphant, but couldn’t take pride in what she’d done. Blaze was taking her final request to heart, and smiling with all the joy and kindness he was uniquely capable of. Grinning with his pain, as he always had. They both cared so much.

It was as good an image as any to go out on, and far more than she had ever expected. Good luck, she thought to the both of them, knowing Dash could still hear her. You’re going to need it. Then she closed her eyes, and with one final laugh at how it had all ended she cast herself into the ruby power of the Element of Loyalty, and was gone.

***

Charisma’s body burst into brilliant red flames. Dash pulled Blaze away and he went, though reluctantly. The fire lasted only a few moments, and when it was done there was nothing left of the mare Dash had killed. She held on to Blaze for a long moment before he put a hoof on her and gently pushed her away. “I’m okay,” he told her. His eyes were wet but no tears fell as he smiled.

Dash nodded, wanting to say something but knowing it wasn’t needed. Instead, she turned to check on the rest of her companions. She was instantly brought up short by the eyes of a friend she had hoped never to see again.

Fluttershy stared at her, tears streaming down her face. “It’s okay,” Applejack said in Old Equestrian, standing next to her. “She was a bad mare. Real bad. I know it don’t look good, but just try to understand.”

“I don’t understand!” Fluttershy said. “I saw what she did! She… you… Dash, why?”

“She… I…” Dash stammered, unable to find any words that could explain her actions to the kindest, most sensitive pony she’d ever known.

“Fluttershy, look at me,” Applejack demanded in her sternest voice. It took a long moment, but Fluttershy complied. “It’s gonna take some time to explain what’s goin’ on, so for now I think we should leave Rainbow Dash alone. It was hard to watch what she did, yes, but think about how she must be feelin’, since she’s the one that done it!

“O-okay,” Fluttershy said, ducking her head and hiding her eyes behind her mane. “I didn’t think of that… but–”

“No buts now,” Applejack said, taking her by the hoof and leading her away. “Come with me now, and I’ll get you all caught up.”

“I… I’m sorry,” Dash said as she watched them walk away, and knew it would never be enough. She didn’t even know who she was saying it for; Fluttershy wouldn’t understand the words and no one else needed to hear them.

Blaze stepped up next to her and shook his head. “Don’t be. She deserved a lot worse, and she knew it.”

“That doesn’t make it better,” Dash said.

He laid a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “Yeah, it does. She wouldn’t have felt anything but happy if you’d died instead, and I think we both owe it to her to return the favor.”

“Blaze, I can’t,” Dash said, brushing his hoof off. “I just… I can’t, alright?”

“Alright,” he said. “You do you. But don’t let it eat you up, okay?”

“I’ll try.”

“Cool beans. By the way, that thing you girls did to the sky?” He pointed a hoof and Dash looked up at the still roiling effects of the double Rainboom. Charisma’s rippling red and black was just beginning to clear away, revealing a sky rapidly darkening to night and the fading colors of Dash’s own Rainboom. “Totally awesome.”

Dash allowed a small smile at that and trotted off to check on the others. She spotted Star Fall and Astrid a little distance away. The pegasus princess was lying curled up beside a statue of what was probably a bear, which Astrid had wedged herself beneath. She had a book open in front of her, but her eyes were closed and her sides rose and fell with the rhythmic breath of sleep. Astrid gave her a little wave, looking extremely pleased with herself.

A little way beyond them Calumn was tending to the still forms of the blue detective and the other Changeling. Neither of them looked as beat up as Star Fall, but at least she was clearly alive. She was about to go over when Applejack approached her, leaving Fluttershy beside one of the flower beds.

“Fluttershy’s gonna be fine,” she said, her tone as comforting as she could make it. “Once she know’s what’s been goin’ on, she’ll forgive you.”

“Yeah,” Dash replied, though her tone made it clear she didn’t believe it. “How did she get here, AJ? Who died?”

“Cash.”

Dash’s eyes widened in surprise. “Really? Just him?”

“Well, most everyone’s beat six ways from Sunday, but he tried somethin’ when he should've just given up, and Astrid pulled his heart out for it.”

“She didn’t eat it, did she?”

Applejack made a small retching sound. “No, why would you think she’d do somethin’ disgustin’ like that?”

“No reason,” Dash replied, remembering their escape from Cash’s dig site, so long ago. “Where is he? Inside?” She pointed a wing at the temple.

“Right where we left him,” Applejack said. When Dash started for the temple she called out in alarm. “Hold on there, Rainbow Dash! Where do you think you’re goin’?”

“I gotta see him, AJ,” Dash replied. “I gotta know he’s dead.”

“The Elements are in there, Dash,” Applejack said, shaking her head. “I saw Blaze chuck Loyalty in there too. We don’t want to be nowhere near them.”

“I’ll be careful,” Dash said. She meant it, too. If she saw a hint of ruby she was backtracking right out. Still, she needed to know Cash was dead. No matter what anyone else told her they saw, she knew Cash would not die easy. So being told wasn’t enough. She’d read enough Daring Do books to know that you always made sure you checked the body yourself.

She walked into the temple slowly, keeping an eye out for Loyalty so that she didn’t get too close. She could see the aftermath of the battle in scorch marks and wet patches. A splash of clearly non-pony blood on the wall showed where Traduce had gone down. A splatter of gore in front of a small garden, surrounded by cracked stone and the remnants of magical blasts, marked where Cash had made his stand. She spotted his body a moment later, slouched bonelessly against the wall as if he had sat down and fallen asleep. A ragged hole in his stomach made bile rise in Dash’s throat.

She walked closer, still not seeing Loyalty anywhere. She didn’t want to touch the dead pony, but in a way she knew she would have to. She remembered another time and another place when, swallowed by confusion and darkness, she had put her hooves to a similar wound on another stallion. In a way, this would be coming full circle. She hoped this would provide a measure of closure; that had been where her life had started going wrong, this would be the point when it got back on track.

She stopped a bare pace away from the body, her attention caught by something nestled in the corpse’s side, under his limp hoof. A glint of gold. Dash frowned, taking a look around the room and confirming where the other three Elements were. There was no way her Element could have ended up in that position just from Blaze throwing it. The only other explanation…

Dash jerked back, eyes going from the hidden Element to Cash’s eyes, which were open and trained on her. The moment her gaze met his, her limbs froze. She was locked in place, terror and panic pounding through her body and racing in her ears.

Cash grinned. “Betrayal,” he intoned.

***

”I’m betraying you”

***

Dash fell over, body shaking in painful seizure. She tried to call out, but her voice was lost to her, she tried to crawl to the door, but she couldn’t summon the coordination to do more than flop around. Fear clawed at her, screaming for her to do something, anything. But it was too late, she was caught.

When her shudders ended, she lay on the floor taking gasping breaths. She was too weak to move, too weak to even cry out, as the undead creature that was Max Cash slowly got up, revealing the Element of Loyalty, a ruby lightning bolt once more. Instantly, Dash’s attention was riveted to the necklace. Even the rising horror of Cash wasn’t enough to pull her eyes away.

Cash coughed, spitting out a mouthful of bile and blood. “Well,” he said, “here we are again.”

“No,” Dash managed to choke out. “You were gutted! You have to be dead!”

“Yeah, getting your heart ripped out hurts a lot more than you might imagine. If the poets are right, then it makes me kind of glad I’ve never been in a relationship.” He wagged a hoof as if in chastisement. “And before you say anything, no Lyssa doesn’t count. She was just using me for a promotion.” Dash didn’t even know where to begin to respond to that, so she stayed silent, struggling against the weakness that held her down. “Though,” Cash continued, stretching and twisting his torn body, “I gotta say I feel a whole lot better now. It doesn’t feel like I’ve lost a heart so much as… made some room.” He grinned and began to stalk towards Dash’s prone form, the Element of Loyalty held out in one hoof.

“Get… get away from me!”

“Oh, Rainbow Dash,” he said, chuckling. “We were here not too long ago, weren’t we? This would have all been so much easier if… well, mea culpa on that one. I wasn’t prepared and everything went to pot. Don’t worry! I’ve been doing my research. Now, listen closely. This is important.” He knelt down next to her, so close she should have been able to feel his breath on her ear, but his words made no wind. “A weighty choice is yours to make, the right selection or a big mistake. If the wrong choice you choose to pursue, then you will lose all that you value. You’re going to be wearing this Element. That’s not up for discussion. But when you put it on you can do it as yourself, that is, with your current self in the driver’s seat, or I can Invert you, and instead you can become the opposite of who you think you are. Friends to enemies, enemies to friends.”

“What? No…”

“Oh, yes. Now, you might be thinking: how bad can that be? You’re not Charisma, after all, viciousness and cruelty are unnatural to you. Well, think of it this way, what will happen when you, Rainbow Dash, suddenly decide to betray everything you believe in? I wonder, will anyone be safe?”

“You wouldn’t be,” Dash growled out, but she knew the threat was hollow.

Cash laughed. “Yesterday, I would have agreed with you. Today, I had my heart pulled out, so I’m feeling a touch invincible. I hold the reins, Rainbow Dash. I’ll be directing the ride. What I’m offering you is a chance to do some steering yourself. I’ll even throw this in: I won’t hurt your friends. None of them, not even the Griffin that killed me. I won’t make you or anyone else do it, either. I won’t stop you if you want to, of course, but I won’t ask for it. All you have to do is give your loyalty to me. Bind yourself and the other Element Bearers to me.” His grin was so wide it seemed to extend beyond the bounds of his face. “Or don’t, and who knows what might happen.” Dash shivered.

“Think fast.”

Comments

[Lex4art]

7460133
Nope )

[Meneth]

Separate his head and limbs from his body. Burn each part separately, then disintegrate the ashes. Keep vigil for a week or two, then maybe you can start to relax. God damn Max Cash.

[Cracked Egg]

God dammit, this is getting stupid.

Just DIE already, Cash!

[Crimson Dawn]

I like how Pinkie is so excited every time she talks about Rainbow Dash.

Max Cash just wow what did you do to yourself to be able to do all of that?

I can't wait to see where the story will go next and I hope Pinkie will be a big part of it.

[Jirodyne]

7474914 It is kinda stupid. How did Cash live? It doesn't make sense. In fact, a lot of the stuff doesn't make sense. For one, how can Cash even use the Elements at all? The Barriers, aka the Main 6, are the ONLY ones that can use them. It's stated they can CHOOSE to set a Proxy, but they never did with Cash.

Cash is NOT a proxy, he shouldn't even be able to use their powers. And if he was a Proxy, then they can deny him their powers.

But more so then that, HOW did he live? It was stated in the beginning here, only the element of MAGIC can actually rewrite existence. And Cash does NOT have that. And even if he did have that, how could he use that power if he's DEAD already.

[Sharaloth]

7475006 Those are all extremely good questions.

[Malandy]

7475006

Betting that it's somehow Discord related. (Rhyming challenge thing to Rainbow Dash, Fluttersky-link, Weird laugh...) Also, it seems that Cash has Twilight's cutie mark...

I expected him to be revived, when they didn't totally destroy Cash's body, and then the body and the elements were being stored together.

Hmm... When Rarity analyzes the power flow, the emerging thing from the egg that she sees, might be Discord or something, but I bet Cash, as a Magic substitute, is calling it in.

[Cracked Egg]

7475027

A Cracked Egg of All-Devouring Darkness, perhaps?

Wink wink nudge nudge.

[purple pegasus]

I love this story, and have dropped everything to read each chapter as it has been released ever since I started reading it. I have to say, though, with love... it's getting very frustrating as a reader how you're writing it in such a way as to never reveal anything concrete. What's going on? Who has what powers? Max has a seemingly unending playbook of new deus ex tricks that he can pull out of his bag, and it's getting hard to feel like anything happening in the chapters actually has any stakes attached.

I feel like we're progressing toward where the plot is going to go, and no matter how well the good guys do or what they sacrifice, the antagonists just shrug it off like it's all according to plan.

Like I said, I love the story... I just wish I felt like each chapter had something meaningful happen. Right now, I get more understanding out of the plot from the two-paragraph excerpt than I do out of the 28,000 words that follow. :( I mean... Charisma died and I'm just like... okay? How does that affect anything? Does it? Will it change anything at all for Max or his plans?

[Aziraphael]

7475078

I feel like we're progressing toward where the plot is going to go, and no matter how well the good guys do or what they sacrifice, the antagonists just shrug it off like it's all according to plan.

Well, yeah. Max has already said that nothing any of them do can change what will happen. Or so he believes, at any rate. And until the "good guys" figure out who's really pulling the strings, he's right. They're just so focused on stopping Cash that they haven't really spent the time they need to to find the Big Bad yet.

It's a slow build up, I'll admit, but everything that's happened so far has given us pieces of the truth. Just not enough to see the whole picture. But since a big part of this story is the mystery, the quest to figure out what happened, I'm ok with that. One of my favorite things about this story is trying to solve the mystery, or at least the next part of it, before the characters do.

[donelel]

Do my eyes deceive me? Is it a new chapter of Harmony Theory? It is!!! *explodes from excitement*

I'll start by saying this was one hell of a chapter. Packed with action, twists, turns, and everything else, it left me satisfied even after a six month hiatus. I have a lot to say about this chapter, so it's time to break it down.

when we have used the Elements before it has been akin to burning down my house then rebuilding it exactly as it was, save for a single page turned on a book I was reading.

In one of my previous comments, I used an example similar to this one when speculating about the reassociation process. It looked like I was mostly correct, but your examples shows it on a larger scale. Well, it appears the Elements are as devastating as ever. After reading through the past Harmony Theory excerpts in each chapter, I kind of had a feeling their powers would consist of high level reality manipulation on a multiversal scale. And now we know that with the reconstruction process. Now we've covered the charging sequence, reassociation, and reconstruction. Now all we need to see is renewal, and we'll have the full outline of a Harmony Event.

As for the characters... Wow, I think everyone is feeling the pain on this one. Star Fall's lost her hoof, Traduce was pelted with bullets, and HB's horn... augh, his horn. That scene made me cringe. I can't even begin to imagine the kind of pain he's in.

The fight between Dash and Charisma as a whole was awesome. It shows you just how powerful these Ponies really are. I also loved the whole race portion at the end. It was perfect way to end the final clash between Dash and Charisma. Two Rainbooms at once. I knew a Rainboom was coming, but I didn't expect this.

And then we come to Cash. Man, is he a persistent bastard. Even after getting his heart ripped out by Astrid (who is my new official hero as of this chapter ), he's still going. I wasn't to surprised. It seems that no matter how hard they try, they can never stop Cash. Now, at least, we have confirmation that this guy isn't just a criminal mastermind bent on psychotic quest to gather the Elements. He's something else entirely...

The gem suddenly blazed with green fire, and Cash’s eyes went wide as he looked from the gem to the pony in his grasp, whose own eyes were lit with an answering flame that revealed the true Changeling. “Sleep.”

Ah ha!!! I had a suspicion that Calumn and Blaze had changed bodies. I thought Calumn was acting a bit goofy at the end of the last chapter and in the beginning of this one, but I decided against saying anything about it.

And last but not least: Charisma. I don't really think of Harmony Theory as an emotional story, but this chapter made tear up a bit as I was reading it. Even though she was complete psychopath, Charisma was my favorite character. It really hurts to see her go, really does. Especially with the way her final moments were written. I know it must have been hard for you Sharaloth, but you gave Charisma the best ending you could.

Whew. I'm so glad to see Harmony Theory back again. It's been a long while, and this chapter reminded me why I love this story so much.

[CommandoDude]

Uhg. I think I'm starting to get tired of this series.

Max Cash is just...too much of a villain sue. Nothing he does ever seems to go wrong. Even when he fucks up, he still gets away with it. Now he's died and it turns out...nope he didn't. And now he's just going to win all over again.

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

7475027 it's like I said earlier. MAX IS DISCORD. And he wants the Elements to restore is power.

[Madd the Sane]

Also, having him shot in the heart and him not immediately keeling over should have been a giveaway that having his heart torn out wouldn't have done anything else.

Also, Twilight's cutie mark? Is he somehow an undead Twilight Sparkle? It would explain why he had that book, and it does sound like Twilight is frustrated with what the elements can do.
Or maybe he's an aspect of Twilight.

7475024 Questions I see you haven't answered

[EverfreeSparkle]

The chase was only just begun, and already Dash could see she was losing.

Minor error in the first paragraph. Instead, this sentence should read like so, "The chase had only just begun, and already Dash could see she was losing. "

[Malandy]

7475566 - So, Egg is Discord's Revival Chamber thing?

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

7475662 could be. Max could be Discord's persona with limited power in comparison to the real him. and remember something bad went down between Discord and the mane 6.

[EverfreeSparkle]

he deserves it. But that doesn’t mean we have to kill him. That doesn’t mean we have the right to kill him. Not now, when he’s helpless at our hooves. For all we know… maybe there’s enough equinity in him to save.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Astrid said.

I'm with Astrid. Da fuck? It would be immoral NOT to kill him.

Then Astrid leapt from the ceiling with all the predatory grace her kind were famous for. Her claws slid deep into Cash’s chest, and she clenched them tight around his ribs. She fell upwards, carrying him with her, and began tearing into him. The Griffin was almost frantic in her efforts. She raked at him with her back paws, nails as sharp as razors tearing at his belly, cutting the straps of his saddlebags so they fell to the floor accompanied by a rain of torn flesh and blood clotted nearly black. With a final avian scream she slid her free claw into the wound she had opened in his belly, reaching up into his chest. He became very still, staring wide-eyed into her unforgiving gaze. “You’ve done a lot to deserve it,” she snarled. “But this one’s for Melody.” Then she tore out his heart and crushed it in front of him.

Astrid turned her baleful glare on Applejack and Calumn. “Anyone going to fucking object now?!” Astrid screamed at them.

You go, girl!

“Ain’t right,” Applejack said, shaking her head.

You poor, naive mare. Letting him live would directly result in uncountable deaths.

It was as good an image as any to go out on, and far more than she had ever expected. Good luck, she thought to the both of them, knowing Dash could still hear her. You’re going to need it. Then she closed her eyes, and with one final laugh at how it had all ended she cast herself into the ruby power of the Element of Loyalty, and was gone.

I know you're trying to make us have sympathy for her -- I don't. Everyone is their brain, meaning that even if it isn't their fault they are who they are, they still are who they are. Sure, I feel so somewhat sorry for what happened to her, but I'm glad she's dead.

I don't think I can bear anything happening to Fluttershy, so let's hope that if Rainbow is inverted that Fluttershy will be fine...

[Gildomar]

As frustrating as it was to see Max get up after being shot, it was kind of narratively predictable. Even aside from the frequent commentary from Charisma about the Elements power eating away at Max and leaving only a thin shell, or even HB sensing something horrible looking at where he was shot, there are still too many unanswered questions revolving around him for him to be written off just yet. Like:

How exactly did he come across Harmony Theory?

What connection does he have (if any) with Umbra?

How is that related to Straff's and Gamma's history?

Was there something different about him before he started being consumed by the Elements?

What was he really trying to achieve in getting the Elements?

How does finding Harmony Theory lead a crimelord to starting this fanatical quest?

What's the meaning of Twilight's cutie mark (pardon me, Talent Glyph) showing up on his flank?

There's probably more, but you get the point. He won't die until more questions about him are answered.

[Lancerlot]

Rainbow Dash's personal diary, today's entry:
"When you go back into the spooky ruins to make sure the bad guy is really dead, bring friends."

[FloydienSlip]

You son of a bitch.

[cheesegal]

Omg! It's a new chapter of harmony theory! But if I read it right now I'll be up literally all night, but it's a new 30,000 word chapter of my favorite story... what do I do!?!? Well, it is 10pm and I'm waking up early tommorow morning so I guess I'll... read the entire thing tonight!

[mrk]

So... is the Egg that Rarity saw, the Destroyer, and Max Cash all together a series of fragments of still-living Twilight Sparkle?

[KMCA]

You know even with the Discord is Cash theory that is mostly confirmed here I feel a tad let down by his ending here.

Top marks on all of Charisma here. Once again my faith in your writing is confirmed. (Despite the concerns in the previous paragraph I still have faith in you)

She's long deserved the most horrible pony I want to redeem award and this chapter just confirms it.

Seriously, top marks.

As for things our heroes should do... assuming they make it out ok they should tell Umbra about Cash. No way AJ and Dash missed those hints Cash dropped... a shame really with how discrete he's been so far. It'd probably be enough to change her tune at least a little bit.

Then again Cash ain't out of the fire yet.

[Brawny Steed]

I can't believe I'm saying this but: PEOPLE DIE WHEN THEY ARE KILLED! PEOPLE DIE WHEN THEY ARE KILLED! THEY'RE NOT FUCKING SUPPOSED TO GET THE FUCK BACK UP AGAIN WHEN THEIR HEART'S BEEN TORN OUT!

WHERE'S MY DISINTEGRATE SPELL?!

[Crimson Dawn]

7474932

Ah the classic Dragon Ball Z problem. At the start the things we see are impressive but as the series went along it just gets silly. Vegeta near the start already can destroy the planet so why should I be impressed when Freiza says he can do it with his VASTLY greater power level? Same thing with explosions in general. Up into and possibly through the Freiza saga the explosions seem to go up nicely with the power levels but after that you can tell that they had issues trying to show off the greater power because they were actually the same size or smaller but the narrative says that they are many times more powerful now.

I don't think that is happening here as I don't think it is as continuous a problem like it is in DBZ but we shall see.

[Crimson Dawn]

Anybody else want Trail Blazer and Pinkie Pie to have an extended conversation. It is just begging for them to interact more and see if we can get any info if there is any connection or just a coincidence.

[Fox]

7475490 I rather enjoy him, personally. He's a nice departure from "normal" kind of villain, especially with how he's not a dumbass and capable of turning the tables in his favor; he's had time and resources to prepare, armed with what's pretty much a godhood handbook, and it'd honestly be disappointing if all it took was some grand tag-team showdown to take him out. His invulnerability both physical and metaphorical may be a tad cliché, but what exactly is realistic or reasonable in a magical world with artefacts of universally-apocalyptic power?

He needs to cause his own destruction, that's what I think.

[Lurks-no-More]

I'm so glad that Charisma, at least, is dead. But fuck Cash, man, fuck him with great and extreme prejudice.

Ultimately, I think that what some other readers have been saying is starting to happen to me. This has been an excellent story, a long and twisty one, where you've done a hell of a job making us care about not just the resurrected Mane Six, but also the modern-day OCs and the setting as a whole. But, and there's always that but... I think it's also working against you. Because I care about the story and the characters, and you're building things up, cranking the tension higher, having Cash go through with his monstrous plans... and it just goes on, and on, and on. There's no release. Charisma getting what she amply deserved was a good mini-climax, but even that had been too long in coming. And Cash going on the way he is takes away the relief from that, meaning that instead of a momentary feeling of triumph, this ends up as another tension-ratcheting cliffhanger.

As I said, this is a great story, with some of the best OCs I've seen, ones that I've cared about a lot more than most. But this is becoming a hard, wearying read, and if you don't stop with the setting-up soon, it is going to be too much to keep on following.

And with all that said, good job, Astrid! Not your fault that it didn't take, it was the right and proper thing to do, and you did it well.

[Swedishdude]

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WAIT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER WITH THIS CLIFFHANGER!!??

[Booster Spice]

Unfortunately, once youve played Elite:Classic you look at the whole of reality as a procedurally generated function with a given short seed value. Once you have the inverse function discovered and sorted out, then changing the whole of reality is a matter of recalculating the seed and restarting.

Fully generalised procedural also shows that, using quantum mechnics has no time, that given Everything Occurs all Together, that so called Absolute God, can do Absolutely Nothing, because they have Already Done So.

The story is an excelent example of ever increasing desperation of somone demanding the rule of absolute, with all teh death and destruction of the frustration such child like mentality givesbecause theyve realised this. Theyve screamed for all the candy there is, and theyve got it, only to realise they cant eat it. They have Everything and cant have it and its there, tormenting them.

Forever.

TL:DR Been there, Done That, Its a Trap.

Of course, it is highly likely Im biased. Im certified.

[whitemew]

So how do we call this? Cashombie? Zombie Cash? The return of the living cash? The Walking Cash?

[CommandoDude]

7476636

How many times has Max Cash gotten away with whatever because the characters LET him talk?

Think about how many times our characters have been told DON'T LET MAX CASH TALK when they have him at their mercy. The heroes have made the same mistake over and over again. They banter with him. He plays them like fools every time they fight him. I'm getting quite tired of it.

Now he finally dies and...everyone just leaves the elements just lying around? Why?

Part of the problem with Cash, the problem that makes him sueish, is that other characters take large drops to intelligence/common sense around him.

[Gildomar]

7476964 What?

[MostBrainWhyYes]

7476914 by forgetting the story exists til it updates

[Fox]

7477433 It's easy to say "don't let him talk", but how? Once he starts using his influence, it's not like they can just rush up and turn him off, once he's got his foot in the door. It's also not terribly reasonable for the anyone to just assume ripping his heart out didn't leave him about as dead as it gets, and Dash only checked because of genre-savviness.

Also, I'm pretty sure that Cash is being controlled by the elements at this point, rather than the other way around. They seem to have an agenda.

[Sir Mediocre]

7477472 Plug the capitalized phrases into Google and add "TV Tropes" to the end.

[CommandoDude]

7478867

Someone could at least...I dunno break his jaw or something.

[Gildomar]

7475811 I just realized that we'll probably get some answers to what's going on next chapter because when we last left Star, she had been reading Harmony Theory (okay, she fell asleep reading it, but whatever).

7478969 Yeah, that didn't help much.

[Bones_]

7478867 I agree, it reminds me of Hard Reset and its sequels.

[psychicscubadiver]

Gotta admit, zero sympathy for Charisma despite the story's best attempts. She was an absolute psycho, and deserved death several times over for her monstrous actions. And if one wants to argue that she couldn't help it, then she's no different from a rabid animal that needs to be put down. I hope we're done with her.

I figured Max would come back, but seriously? Within the same chapter? Immediately getting back one of the Elements? There is a limit to the number of Diabolus ex Machina moments the reader is willing to put up with. Between his command of the Elements, ability to disable any of the Mane 6 with a word and incredible magic power, he's a hair away from descending into full on Villain Sue.

This chapter was promising as we got a huge climatic showdown, where despite the odds against them, our heroes pulled it out. It gave a sense of progression, of accomplishment, to the story. To immediately pull the rug out from under all that didn't increase any tension or interest. It made me roll my eyes and say, 'great, we're back to this instead of moving forward'.

[HonorableInsanity]

Charisma....

I know not everyone agrees with me on this, (and that that is in itself a bit of an understatement,) but I actually really liked Charisma, and have been hoping she managed to get away from Cash and this whole mess the whole time, and even if I knew it wasn't actually going to happen, that doesn't make this outcome any less saddening.

Still, at least she won't have to worry about her talent anymore...

[Derpmind]

7475024

I'm not sure what kind of grand resolution you're building up for, but I keep thinking that it's not oing to fell like much of anything in the end. Every time Max Cash survives or escapes a defeat because of reasons-not-given, he becomes less interesting. He's a self important ego-trip, but guess what, the universe itself thinks he's the hot stuff too. Charisma just died after an epic battle and all I can really care about is that Max Cash just came back from the dead BECAUSE REASONS. Somehow the grand mystery of what those reasons are just doesn't matter so much anymore. If Umbra dies but Max Cash is still running around being a one-note smug jerk, I wouldn't be surprised. Hell, if this fic's plot is some kind of metafictional thing and Max Cash is supposed to be a literal villain sue, I wouldn't be surprised.

Really, I don't want to see some grand defeat of Max Cash play out. I want him to step on a banana peel, walk into a closed door, just something stupid and pathetic. Someone so full of himself doesn't deserve an epic finale, they deserve to have their ego deflated. HARD.

[Lord-Commander]

That was a very satisfying chapter.

And that mother fucking Cash. He has got to be Discord. That riddle of the end was like him signing his name.

Most of the Elements are recovered, but what of Magic? If I remember right, there's two statues of Twilight; Ponyville and Canterlot. But I can't remember if the Ponyville one held an Element. Star also saw Twilight as well. Maybe she is still alive, somehow.

Then there is Umbra. Why that Hot Mess doesn't go and just fuck Cash up is beyond me. So... she just let's the heroes collect the only items that could very well defeat her?

EDIT: I'm also curious how Luna didn't get her shit totally wrecked by th Elements in this verse. If they, well a single one could split the world into two, can be instant god mode level, how did Celestia not do more damage? Nevermind when Twilight and Co first used them.

[star1wars3]

So on rereading chapter 12 and 13 where Cash captures and interrogates Calumn and Fallen Star there's this part where he offers Calumn a cookie which was poisoned.

Calumn nodded, and Cash’s magic pulled out a small brown cookie. He floated it over to Calumn, who was about to bite into it before he noticed the horrible smell coming off of it. Like formaldehyde and vinegar. “Is this poisoned?”
Cash chuckled. “Yeah,” he said, then tossed the cookie into the wall, where it shattered.

Later on in chapter 13 Cash offers one to Fallen Star as well and then he eats one of them.

Cash pulled back and shrugged. “Suit yourself,” he said, and levitated a cookie out of the slim saddlebag he wore, taking a bite and chewing slowly as he regarded her. “Charisma, the guard told me there were two ponies you found. Where’s the other one?”

Small edit: He also gives one to Fallen Star in chapter 14 saying they would make her feel better.
Edit again as I keep reading: More cookie in chapter 16 only Charisma almost eats it because of Deceit. Cash also says he has nothing not poison to eat on him.
Now at the time I didn't put much thought into it, he just had regular ones or something I don't know, but now I get the feeling that wasn't the case. That he ate the poison cookie because it wouldn't kill him and he knows it.

[Bobby23]

Freaking amazing chapter and always worth the wait.

[Ultimate Warrior of Zera]

Charisma's final battle was very impressive. So it was her love for Blaze that finally defeated her. Was that final race a reference to the final battle against Zoom in the 2014 Flash series? Jesus Christ Cash is scary.

[ponyaddict]

7481858 ohhhhhhhh. Oh. Yeah, the standing back up is a lot less surprising when you notice this.

I am not on board with the "Cash is Discord" theory going around, though. Discord was spotted in the Deep Power dream after Star and Umbra's fight there. Presumably the ensconced trio of Princesses would have whupped his ass if he was uninvited.

Nightmare and the Elements have a special relationship. Nightmare (both Moon and Umbra) can destroy unattended Elements. (Moon breaks The Five, Umbra breaks Magic.) My money is on Nightmare being a product of some past use of the Elements, possibly while they were Inverted. Nightmare Umbra is Cadance having taken on the mantle of Nightmare for... reasons.

With Twilight still kicking, and presumably still the Bearer of Magic (as we've already seen from excerpts of Harmony Theory it's hard to stop being a Bearer), my chips are on Twilight playing the longest con as some sort of gambit to unmake the Elements. The Everstorm, Umbra, Cash, resurrection of her friends upon release of her spells... It's all beyond the scope of regular magic. Even for the Princesses (who have been removed from the world, the only prior example of which was...). The events in motion are the product of the use of the Elements of Harmony. Given that Twilight was the last Bearer of Magic (and presumably the current one, given we've seen the Elements acting like Magic is being Borne) and we know how she feels about the Elements from her writings in Harmony Theory, it's entirely likely she's come up with something to try and do away with the tyranny of the Elements for good.

Or, in the case that Twilight is Inverted at the moment, as the state of her thrall/avatar (Cash) suggests, all bets are off and shit is going to get mega fucked before it gets better.

[cheesegal]

I wish I could read the next chapter right now!

[Zenith Sparkle]

Looks very interesting. I shall read it later!