> The Alternate After Party
>  by Blackdrag-rose
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> I: Reawakening
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rocket groaned, the light that was in his eyes was beginning to hurt and for a few seconds all he wanted was to roll over and fall back asleep. So that was what he did, he rolled over and ended up right on the soft waiting grass, familiar grass that he knew from his memory. Rocket snapped open his eyes and immediately recognized the bench that he had fallen off of, it was the same bench he had fallen off of when he had originally woken up in Canterlot Park.

He sat up and sighed, wondering how the heck he had returned to Canterlot's Park when the last thing he remembered was DIscord...talking to him. He recalled the Spirit of Chaos saying something about his world changing, but other than that he failed to remember exactly what was said to him. Rocket sighed again, he needed to get up and find his way back to the Hive. No doubt his wife was worried about his disappearance and had ordered the Changeling Royal Guard to find his location to ensure he was okay.

"Don't be so sure your 'wife' will be along to find you," came an eerie voice that Rocket recognized, just as Discord appeared in front of him with a bag of popcorn in his eagle claw, "I'm sure you recognize the location you have arrived in, but do you recognize the exact date you have arrived in? Take a careful look around your surroundings before you answer my question."

Rocket turned to look at the busy area and was surprised, where he expected pones to be walking about he saw them paused in mid step. Then he saw the things that would officially twist his world around; a light brown bald unicorn laid in the grass not too far away, a red coated pegasus with a green mane rested in a fountain, and a familiar sherbert coated mare with a pink mane laid on a bush. While none of them were dressed in the armor of the Princess they served he recognized his friends Tick Tock, Inner Wisdom, and Peachy Keen immediately.

"What have you done to my friends?" Rocket demanded, turning back to Discord, who was now sitting on his throne, "What have you done to us?"

"Oh I've done worse to you than I did to your friends," the Spirit replied, a wide grin appearing on his face or muzzle, "You should see exactly what I have done to you my insolent little friend."

Rocket trotted over to the fountain with a concerned look on his face, hanging his head above the water to see that his horn was missing. Not only that, but his body had shrunken to the size of a normal pony, except there was one difference between what he had been and what he was now. The first time he had woken up he had a horn, marking him as a unicorn, but now he had a pair of wings attached to his back. Dark blue wings similar to the wings that other pegsai happened to own.

"This is your new fate," Discord whispered into his ear, patting the poor stallion on the head, "You shall live the rest of your natural life as a pegasus. You shall never reclaim your monstrous powers or return to the future you have fought to create."

Rocket noticed that Discord, a being that nearly wore nothing on his being, was actually wearing a silver medallion around his neck. How it wasn't falling was beyond Rocket's knowledge, but the central stone seemed to pulse with some sort of magic.

"I will get you for this Discord," Rocket promised, bucking the Spirit hard in his chest, "I don't care if I don't have magic, I will find some way to make you pay for all of this."

Discord snapped his claws and turned to dust as time started up again, the ponies around the park moving as if nothing had happened. Rocket doubted that Princess Celestia even noticed the slight time stoppage that Discord had used. As ponies began moving Rocket quickly moved to his friend Wisdom and quickly pulled him out of the water, tossing him into the grass as he thought how he was going to awaken the others this time.

"I'm going to beat the brute who did this to me," Wisdom spat, coughing the rest of the water out of his system to notice the pegasus stallion, "Who the buck are you? Wait...buck? Not buck, BUCK. Why can't I curse?"

"Because your not on Earth anymore my friend," Rocket spoke up, remembering how Rainbow used to carry around clouds filled with water, "We're in Equestria. Or, more accurately, we are in Canterlot Park. Again."

"Answer my question," Wisdom nearly shouted the words at him, "Who are you?"

"I am your friend Rocket Sky," he replied, now realizing that Discord had stolen the memories of his friends, "I will tell you everything that I can later, but right now I have to wake up our friends."

Before his friend could respond again Rocket leapt into the air and climbed into the sky, not really caring if he was tilting to the side slightly. He grabbed the nearest cloud, of which there were few of in the sky to begin with, and returned to the park with it in his hooves. He dipped the end into the fountain and sucked up a little bit of the water, quickly positioning it above Peachy. He jumped on it slightly and drenched her in cold water, which was the same as it had been the first time he used the fountains water.

"Oh come on," Peachy complained, jumping off the bush and shaking herself as Rocket moved onto the sleeping stallion, "Who is that pegasus?"

"He's Rocket Sky," Wisdom replied, "I'm guessing that the sleeping pony is Yves."

"Holy buck that's cold," Tick exclaimed, shooting up quickly, "Whoever did that will pay dearly."

Rocket sighed and laid down on his cloud, allowing his mind to wander as he wondered what they were going to do next. He could just follow what had happened the first time and get them on the train for Ponyville, away from Celestia and whoever else was watching them. If that was his plan he needed to meet Vinyl and get the directions, but he knew them considering how often he had been here in his time. He just needed a pan to recover his power and he could return them to the timeline Discord had snatched them from.

"Let's get to the train station and get out of here guys," he said, climbing off his cloud and turned for the gate when he realized that he friends hadn't responded, "Guys?"

They were gone. Rocket knew that Wisdom was heading for the Canterlot Library to show off his Pinkie abilities, but he had a vague idea for the other two. Tick wanted a guitar and Peachy...he was unsure of. The first time they had awaken in Canterlot Park Peachy and Tick had remained calm and had followed him to the train station, but how he was unsure of how this would effect their history.

As he left the Park he walked by a tan coated mare that he nearly didn't recognize, but when he saw the cutie mark on her flank he immediately knew who it was. The mark in question was similar to Celestia's sun mark, but with six flames sprouting out from the twin colored central piece. The fiery colored mane and tail confirmed his suspicions; it had to be none other than Sunset Shimmer. Before he could even say anything a lighter tan colored pony, this one wearing markings on his face, walked right past him.

I need to stop seeing shadows everywhere, Rocket decided as he shook his head, and I am not going to follow Sunset Shimmer anywhere. Not one bit.

Of course he didn't listen to his own reasoning and turned around, following in the direction that he had seen Sunset Shimmer go down. He was going to get to the bottom of something, he just didn't know what.
> II: Train Ride
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It wasn't hard to follow Sunset Shimmer into an alleyway, but Rocket decided to keep his distance in case she turned around and noticed he was following her. Of course even if she did turn around she would likely notice the strange tan coated stallion with face markings instead of him. There was something wrong about the stallion, it wasn't in the way he moved or the way his head seemed to go up and down so much. He knew there was something about the that he couldn't place his hoof on.

Sunset stopped, her head looking around as if she was searching for something that was around her area in the alleyway. Rocket hid behind a trash container, an empty container with nothing in it, but as he looked at the stallion he found that he wasn't even bothering on hiding anywhere. Rocket still thought that he recognized the stallion, but with the markings and the way he moved he couldn't be absolutely sure.

"Yes, I know he's here in Canterlot somewhere," Sunset suddenly spoke up, speaking to something in the shadows before her, "I don't know why your obsessed with that stallion, but he should be here. You said a UNICORN stallion, not a pegasus. Faust almighty, everywhere I go I end up making deals with idiots and morons. If you wanted me to search for a pegasus, couldn't I have just gone to Ponyville and snatched a foal while they were playing?"

"Stop right there, Windigo," the stallion spoke up, drawing what looked like an iron spear tip as Sunset turned around to face him, "Your master make trade for crystal. That why he tell you seek flying pony. You shall know the pain of those you have scorned as I pierce your skull."

That was a little extreme. So Rocket, finding a shovel laying next to him, grabbed it with his teeth and swung it at the crazy stallion. To his surprise his attack actually hit the back of the stallion's head and knocked him out, leaving both Sunset and himself shocked.

"I guess some thanks are in order," Sunset said, walking over to the stallion as she eyed the fallen one, "so, um, thanks for saving me from a deranged stallion. Could have done it myself, but the thought is appreciated."

"Don't mention it," Rocket replied, having dropped the shovel after hitting the stallion, "What was all that about earlier?"

"Oh, that," Sunset sighed before looking him in the eyes, "Practicing for a play. I'm going to get into drama as soon as I can. The names Sunset Shimmer. And you are?"

"Rocket Sky," Rocket replied, not bothering to tell the mare he had already known her name, "I had better get going. My friends and I are heading to Ponyville and they're at the train station waiting for me. I'll see you around Sunset."

As Rocket walked away he wondered if that was the right thing, making nice to a villain that was likely plotting the fall of Princess Celestia. But Sunset had been befriended by Twilight and her friends at one time, so he didn't know why he was considering his own actions. Besides, that stallion was crazy and he had no doubt that Sunset would have been able to handle herself if he hadn't stepped in. He knew this was going to bite him in the flank sooner or later, that he was sure of.

"You know, he IS a pegasus," Sunset said, though while it seemed to be to herself it was actually to the shadows still, "I could like a straight answer this time. You want to know what he looks like? He's a dark blue coated pegasus with a light blue mane and tail. His cutie mark is a quill. Fine, I'll watch over him and his friends."

Rocket sighed as he waited at the train station, he was hearing news of a Pinkie Pie ability wielding stallion, a mare who seemed out of place in the world, and another stallion who had a thing for playing a guitar around those who were busy. Somehow his friends had acquired tickets, which wasn't terribly unexplainable considering Wisdom's abilities, and had seen fit to exclude him. Now he needed to figure out how he was going to gather five bits so he could buy a ticket to Ponyville, but considering he had nothing it wasn't surprising it would take some time.

He watched the ponies come and go, identifying those he recognized and trying to make heads and tails of those he had never seen before. His mind was racing as he tried to formulate a way to gain some bits, besides flying and exhausting himself when he didn't know how long he could maintain flight. The way he saw things he would be stuck in Canterlot until the next train arrived, which was in another hour unfortunately, and he seriously needed some bits before it arrived.

"I take it you require some help?"

Rocket turned around and was surprised to see that Sunset Shimmer was standing behind him, though she actually seemed concerned that he had missed the train. The former villain was kind hearted and it was actually nice to see a villain be that way. Not unlike Chrysalis and Sombra, they weren't very friendly, and Discord...he was a complete jerk.

"Yeah, I do," he said, turning to the mare, "I don't suppose you could help me?"

"Well, my audition can be postponed until later," Sunset smiled, chuckling as she nodded to the ticketmaster, "There's a second train that can be used for emergencies, as is a second train track that connects to the main one. We're a few minutes behind the other train, so we'll be fast and get with them before they reach town."

Rocket was beyond even considering turning the mare down, she was going to help a complete stranger all because he had missed a train. And she was going to get him on the other train before it reached Ponyville. He could leave the crazy stallion behind and get on with the punishment Discord had left him. Within minutes the second train was beginning to leave the station, allowing Rocket to smile as he sat in his chair.

~The alleyway~

The crazy stallion who had followed Sunset Shimmer groaned as he stood up, the spear shard tumbling into the ground as he opened his eyes. The thing that neither his prey or the foolish stallion had noticed was that he was a unicorn, a user of the arcane arts. He gripped the spear shard and recalled the stallion, the dark blue fool who had stopped his mission. The train would be the next destination for anypony.

~The Train~

There was a rumbling as something hit the top of the train, but there couldn't have been anything that could have done that. They were away from the mountain side and Canterlot was a good couple of minutes behind them. Unless they had another pegasus hitching a ride Rocket wondered what was happening. Apparently Sunset stared up at the ceiling and was wondering what was happening as well, but she intended to find out.

"It could be that stalker that was following you," Rocket commented, a slight frown appearing on Sunset's face before she remembered the stallion, "Yeah, the hunter or whatever he called himself."

"Show yourself Windigo," came the same voice as before, "Show yourself before train go kaboom."

"He's bluffing," Sunset chuckled, waiting for the crazy stallion to show himself, "There's no explosives in Canterlot, and even if there were I doubt Celestia would let them be stolen."

That was until the very last car of the train exploded in a fury of fire and wood. The stallion had somehow created an explosive and was tearing the train apart.

"We need to get off this train," Rocket said, which was easy for him since he was a pegasus, "before that crazy stallion blows it up."

"He'll blow it up anyway," Sunset remarked, increasing the trains speed as she noticed they were nearing the first train, "but I will drop this train off the edge before we reach the tracks. It won't kill the stallion, but I do hope it makes him regret following me around. And Rocket, if I miss my mark will you be sure to grab me?"

"I will try," Rocket said, standing by the door as the train approached the other one, "I haven't used my wings much lately, but I will not let a friend fall."

Sunset chuckled as the next train caught fire, the crazy stallion appearing from the flames with the spear shard in a magical grip. Both of them should have known that the stallion was a unicorn, it made some sense and yet they had missed the obvious fact.

"There you are, Windigo," the stallion said, fire racing into the last car, "You make bad trade with Chaos Spirit. Trade involving cursed silver artifacts. You shall pay."

"I don't think so loser," Sunset challenged, running through the opening and jumping onto the other train, "Come on Rocket, jump before the train derails."

"Foolish blue horse," the crazy stallion said, "You don't know what forces you are messing with."

"About that," Rocket grinned, spreading his wings as he stood up beside the door, "You ain't besting me today."

Before the stallion could respond Rocket threw himself out the door and caught the wind, his wings moving his body well away from the train. He landed right beside Sunset and spared himself one look at the train as it fell into a huge river, with the stallion still on board it. Rocket doubted that he'd be seeing the stallion again anytime soon. Besides, the two of them climbed into the train and took a seat near the back, avoiding any glances from the other ponies in the train.

"I hope Princess Celestia doesn't mind that the train won't be returning anytime soon," Sunset said, shaking her mane as she focused on the other passengers.

"We'll find out eventually," Rocket replied, remembering what was coming next, "but my excitement will be ending here soon. It's been an absolute pleasure Sunset Shimmer."

The next bit, the questioning that could come to his friends and himself. And this time Wisdom would spill the beans and reveal their secret to the Princess and her friends. Rocket sighed, things were actually worse than when they had awoken the first time.
> III: Requestioning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rocket made a move for the door of the train as it neared the station, his friends not too far behind him. He expected that the story about his strange name had been scrapped and Wisdom was running with something new, but he honestly didn't care at this point. The strange thing about all of it was that Sunset was following him, why he didn't know and he wondered what she had seen in him.

"Ah snap," Tick exclaimed, swinging his hoof around Rocket's neck, "Rocket's got himself a marefriend. We've been up for not even an hour and he snags himself a fine mare. I envy you my dear friend."

"Now hold on," Sunset started, not even liking where the conversation was going, "We've only just met and he's helped me out twice so far. It's that crazy stallion we keep seeing..."

Rocket sighed, his head was already hurting and he wished he had his horn back so he could use his magic to shut everypony up. Tick had the ability to annoy those around him with his questions and remarks, but this time he had gone too far by saying that he and Sunset were in love. In his own time Rocket had fallen for the Changeling Princess, the daughter of Chrysalis herself, but where the Queen was evil her daughter was pure of heart. He doubted he could fall in love with Sunset Shimmer, but he had fallen for an different mare once he could definitely do it again.

"Look lively," Rocket said, the door opening and he beckoned for Peachy, "Go ahead Peachy, the Elements are eagerly awaiting our arrival."

And so Peachy was the first to disembark from the train, followed by Tick and Wisdom. As Rocket expected Rainbow Dash was quick to approach Wisdom and inquire if he was the one he was named Rocket Sky, to which Wisdom replied that he wasn't. He knew from the initial reaction that if he was a unicorn Dash would fly away in a huff, but he also knew that she would be thrilled to have another pegasus to race against.

"You seem lost in thought," Sunset remarked, eying the stallion, "Is something the matter?"

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you," Rocket replied, taking a step forward as he left the train.

"So your the one named Rocket Sky?" the cyan mare asked, seeming interested in him all of a sudden, "I take it your skilled in flying?"

"Well, I am Rocket Sky," he replied, sighing as he wondered how he was going to explain his small skill, "and I guess you could say I have some skill in flying. I managed to catch the wind after jumping out of a moving train and landed on another moving one."

"Ah yeah, that's what I'm talking about." Rainbow Dash seemed genuinely impressed with his minor skills, "But you definitely need some training before you are at my level."

"Please Rainbow Dash, we can discuss these things later," Twilight said, not impressed that her friend was going a little crazy after meeting a new pegasus, let alone two of them. "We need to have some questions answered before anything can happen."

Dash groaned a bit, but as the group made their way towards Twilight's library Rocket could not help but wonder what Sunset was going to do now. It wasn't like she had anything to do now that the stalker stallion was dealt with. He felt a magical pinch on the back of his neck and sure enough Sunset Shimmer was following them.

"You didn't think our adventure was over did you?" the mare asked, falling in line with them, "You saved me from that stallion once and I returned the favor, but I am aware that we will not have seen the last of him for the time being. Come along now, we can't let him plague our minds."

Rocket chuckled, he knew that even if the stallion appeared again he would make sure that he steered clear of his path and ignored him entirely. He just hoped that the secret of he and his friends stayed buried and was best forgotten when the question finally arrived.

"Silly ponies," Pinkie excitedly said, "The writer has decided that this is our questioning chapter and we'll answer a ton of questions and such."

"Your giving me a headache Pinkie," Twilight said, the overactive mare quieting down, "I don't know who you are talking about, but we do have questions that need answering."

~Canterlot River~

After the train fell into the river between Ponyville and Canterlot there was a rippling effect on the river, bubbles appearing as a pony emerged from the water. The stallion shook his head as he reached the bank of the river, patting himself down to be sure he still had the spear shard, which wasn't where it was supposed to be. What was in it's place was a shard of a crystal, one light blue crystal with the cutie mark of his prey.

"That horse is very tricky," he said to himself, "Somehow made trade for shard. Traded her shard for my shard. Nature is definitely out of balance."

He replaced the shard and began to make his way to the nearest town, the one he suspected was Ponyville. He needed to replenish his supplies before he began tracking the Windigo again.

~Twilight's Library~

Twilight's headache was much worse then earlier, mostly due to the fact that her questions were mostly being answered by Rocket. From what she had gathered form the first three questions the group, excluding Sunset Shimmer, were from Trottingham and they had arrived in Canterlot by the effects of their party. The third had been whether or not they were a threat to the security of Equestria, to which all of them had answered they weren't. Now it was time for the final group question Twilight wanted to ask at the moment.

"Last group question," Twilight said, looking each of them in the eye, "How is it that you know so much about us without having met us even once?"

Rocket couldn't silence Wisdom this time, so he hung his head low and waited for the fatal blow that would forever change their world.

"The newspaper of course," Wisdom answered, completely surprising Rocket with his answer, "We have read the newspaper and heard all about the six of you."

Twilight, however, was quite pleased with the answer and moved on to the other matters, such as determining where each of the four were going to be staying. Tick would be staying with Vinyl and Octavia while they resided in Ponyville for the new week or two and would move to Canterlot with them until further notice. Wisdom would be staying with Pinkie, which meant they would be doing some stupid stuff over the new couple of days. Peachy...she would be staying with Applejack and her family for the remainder of her stay.

"However," Twilight continued, looking up at three ponies in particular, "there is but one sentencing that I have yet to issue and the belongs to you, Rocket. You will be staying with Rainbow Dash and you will learn what it means to be a weather pony like all the other pegasus in Ponyville. Maybe Sunset Shimmer will have some fun showing you her spells and showing you around the town when Rainbow isn't busy with you."

Rocket thought it was perfect to have his teacher be Rainbow Dash, but he was afraid that with was changing the future would be completely different. At least training under the Element of Loyalty would be different and would keep him away from any dangerous stunts. Or at least the ones that involved going to war against anypony that was a god in their own right and ability.
> IV: The Stranger Comes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rocket was no stranger to flying, as he had spent a good portion of his time mastering the techniques necessary for flight in his own time. Still, he had watched Rainbow show off the basics to flying and he quickly followed suit. It was nice, flying in the afternoon sky without having to worry about anything other than making sure you landed correctly. According to Rainbow she just happened to have an extra bed at her cloud house and Rocket actually thought it was weird; each of the Elements actually had a spare bed in their houses.

It was confusing to think of everything that had happened, everything that he and his friends had been through, was now never to happen. Discord had messed with the timeline and had altered him into a pegasus, but Rocket began to suspect that there was something else Discord was playing with.

First off there was Sunset Shimmer, she was oddly friendly towards a stallion she didn't know and yet she was being hunted by another pony. That stallion was the second piece, who the buck was he, why was he following Sunset around, and why was he referring to her as a Windigo? From what was happening it seemed like he would be able to easily adjust to life as a pegasus, but he knew that a peaceful life would not fix things.

So when Rainbow and Rocket returned to her house she quickly showed him where her guest room was located and wished him good night. Rocket sighed, the mare actually kept everything in the unused room organized and clean, something he hadn't expected from her. He quickly stretched his body and laid down on the bed, finding it weird that he actually liked the feel of the bed. Before he knew what hit him he laid his head on a cloud pillow and quickly fell asleep.

~Ponyville Streets~

The strange stallion from earlier that day walked right past the train station, only pausing for a minute to make sure that the train was the same from earlier. He knew that the tan mare had to be somewhere in the town, the question was where was she? He considered staking out the townsponies until he found the one he was looking for, but it was also sometimes easier to hunt while they weren't expecting you.

He resumed walking and he silently passed by the town hall, the one location that could hold any information of where his prey might be living. That was considering that she was even still in the town and had not yet returned to the safety of Canterlot. He heard a gasp and moved to the right as a huge grey stone hit where he had just been standing. Floating in the air was a grey pegasus with a yellow colored mane and with what looked like crossed eyes.

"Nature is definitely out of balance," he said, continuing on as the mare raced down to get the stone.

"I'm sorry mister, I didn't see you at all," the mare exclaimed, floating in front of the stallion, "Were you hurt?"

"Not hurt," he replied, "just surprised. Nature out of balance due to Windigo's meddling."

Okay then," the mare said, returning to the stone before facing the stallion again, "The name's Derpy Hooves. Maybe we'll meet again sometime."

"That I doubt," the stallion remarked, "Need to end Windigo and restore Nature's balance."

Before Derpy could respond the strange stallion vanished into thin air, as if she had been talking to a spirit the entire time and not a living pony. She picked up the stone and found nothing crushed underneath, which made her wonder who the stallion was anyway. She shrugged, muttered something about muffins, and returned the stone to the carrier it had fallen from. At least nopony had gotten hurt this time.

The stallion had expected to meet nopony when he had entered the town, yet he had met one mare who was clearly out of balance due to the Windigo's presence. How many more ponies were tainted by her being here?

His silent question was answered when he was talked to the ground by something, that something turning out to be a pink mare with a fluffy mane. Where the buck had she come from and why was she pulling out a crystal shard from her mane?

"Ooooh, another new pony for me to have a party with," the pink mare said, staring straight into his eyes, "Tell me; do you like streamers and balloons or are you the type of pony who prefers having the bare minimum for a party?"

"I have no time for your foolishness," the stallion replied, trying to push the mare off and was surprised when she appeared next to him, "What manner of sorcery is this?"

"Oh silly, trying to explain how I work is like trying to explain why fanfiction writers write what they write," the mare explained, already losing the stallion, "Like one story where I started killing ponies and turned them all into cupcakes."

"You are out of balance, like crossed eyed mare," the stallion said, swiping the shard from the annoying mare, "only more annoying. And stupid."

"You are no fun Tonto," the pink mare said, catching the stallion by speaking his name.

"How you know my name?" the stallion asked.

"Oh silly Tonto, I know everypony in Ponyville," the pink mare continued, "and that includes the newcomers Tick Tock, Peachy Keen, Inner Wisdom, Rocket Sky, and Sunset Shimmer."

"So, the Windigo is still here," Tonto said, mostly to himself, "Where Windigo reside?"

"You would have to either ask Twilight or the author," the pink one continued, pulling out what looked like a can and took a sip of what was inside, "I know Twilight would help you, but I'm not sure the author wants you finding her just yet."

"I know not of this 'author' that you speak of," Tonto replied, "I know only of the Great Mother. She tell me hunt Windigo and restore balance."

"Are you sure?" the pink one asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion, "I thought the author wanted to mess with your head and make you lose track of her."

"Now pink one, stop talking about this 'author'," Tonto said, holding the shard against her throat with his magic, "Great Mother tell me to hunt, so hunt I shall. Maybe we make trade, gold for food and board."

"I'm not in the market for gold, but I do know who is," the pink one answered, "and I'm not this 'pink one' as you call me. The names Pinkie Pie."

"Horse out of balance," Tonto replied, shaking his head, "Lead me to the one who would make trade and be on your way."

"Okie Dokie Lokie."

Later, after about an hour after meeting the mare who would trade for gold and trading a vast portion of his gold to her, Tonto began to regret choosing to follow the pink mare. He stared out a window after a good hour of trying on suits he had no intention of ever wearing, but since he wanted food and board he had to before the white mare kicked him out. The white mare, Rarity, had such an anger like he had never seen before.

"Made bad trade," he muttered, "but soon I find Windigo and put an end to her schemes."
> V: Work? Who said anything about work?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rocket yawned as he stretched his wings, morning had come to Ponyville and he was ready to get some valuable training in today.

"Your just like Applejack," came a remark from an already awakened Rainbow Dash, "You wake up just as early as she does, but I guess it must have rubbed off on me as well."

Wait...Rainbow Dash, the pony who had spent more time asleep then she did awake, woke up as early as Applejack did every single day. Rocket guessed that made sense, considering that the weather had to be right for the apples and all the other food to grow correctly.

"Come on dude, the girls will be waiting at Sugarcube Corner for breakfast," the mare continued, shrugging off the last bits of her sleep, "and then you and me will get to work with the weather team."

Rocket sighed; where he had been a unicorn in the past he hadn't had to get a job with as fast as everything had happened, but now that he was a pegasus he was being offered a job. So he was getting training from the fastest pegasus in Equestria and he was also getting a job. He didn't know if that was a good thing or if it was a bad thing.

"Come on dude, we don't want to be late."

Rocket shook off his own drowsiness and followed the mare out of her house, still surprised that the mare had been accommodating by letting him stay in her own house. Something told him that Discord had messed with this timeline more then he should have, but he was also feeling that he should just forget about everything. He suspected that he would be meeting Sunset yet again.

~Sugarcube Corner~

"Hiya guys," Pinkie shouted, welcoming the groups of ponies into the building, "Who's ready for breakfast?"

Fluttershy and Tick had been the first ones to arrive, arriving at the store at least a minute before Applejack and Peachy entered the building. Their meeting was set for eight, so with it being five to eight they already knew who was going to be late. Rarity, who hadn't been given a guest, arrived three minutes early with a stallion in tow, though he seemed more interested in the building then anything else. Twilight came in with their new friend Sunset not too long after Rarity arrived, just one whole minute before the meeting time.

"Dash is going to be late again," Pinkie said, noticing the seconds tick down as she stared at the nearby clock, "Not good, both she and Rocket will be late."

"Calm yourself sugarcube," Applejack would have tried to calm the mare down, but she knew that trying to calm down Pinkie was just asking for trouble, "I'm sure that the two of them will be here any second."

"Calm yourself Pinkie," Dash said, she and Rocket entering the building, "We're here and I'm starving."

"Oh Rainbow, only you would think of food at a time like this," Sunset chuckled, it was nice being around the Elements as if they were all friends. Only thing was that the stallion form earlier was across the store and had likely not noticed her at all.

As everypony got seated and shared stories with each other while they waited for whatever Pinkie had planned for their morning meal. Sunset, however, hightailed it over to where Rocket was standing, which happened to be him staring at what appeared to be chocolate strawberries.

"He's here," she whispered, pretending to be interested in a random item she looked at, "That crazy stallion from earlier is here."

"I noticed," Rocket replied, paying more attention to the item he was staring at, "I was hoping that he had left the town and would, more importantly, leave you alone." The stallion in question was currently sniffing something in the corner of the store. "But if that's whats he's going to be doing I bet he will have forgotten all about you in general."

"What trickery is this?" the stallion asked, staring at his reflection in the glass, "Evil glass has my soul. Begone evil Windigo spirits."

"Yeah, on second thought he is completely insane," Sunset replied, shaking her head as she ignored the stallion, "but at least he isn't chasing me right now. I'm already tired of him and his name calling."

"Curse you Windigo," the stallion continued, heading towards the door, "I will find you and restore the balance you have upset."

"Rarity, you always bring the weirdest stallions to our meetings," Rainbow chuckled, watching the stallion leave as Rocket and Sunset joined them.

Rocket sighed, pretending to listen to the ponies around him while he considered what was going to happen in the coming days. When the meal was over he knew he and Rainbow would join the weather team and deal with the clouds all around the town. He was truly interested in learning something new, something that wasn't related to the unicorn magic he had lost thanks to Discord.

"Come on dude," Rainbow said, snapping him back to reality and making him realize he had been absent minded for the last half hour, "We've got to meet the weather team at nine and we need to get you some goggles before then. We've got a building next to the mail store that serves as our meeting place. I'll just swing in, get you a pair of goggles, and we'll be on our way."

Rocket and Rainbow left Sugarcube Corner, only slightly taking to the air so they could pass over any traffic before landing in front of the building that housed the weather teams supplies and roster. Rainbow walked in and looked around, finding her own locker and grabbing her own goggles before finding the supply room, knocking over a box on accident. She easily found the box she was looking for, grabbing a second pair of goggles as she realized that she other box was full of wooden boards for when they needed repairs.

Rocket stood outside the building, watching the streets as he waited for Rainbow Dash to reappear and he saw something that made him reconsider the stallion from earlier. Walking up the street was the stallion, but he continued to stare at whoever he passed until he came face to face with Rocket.

"Ah, the foolish blue stallion from earlier." the stallion said, spinning his shard around, "You stop my mission once already, I will not allow it to happen again. You will feel my wrath."

"Hey Rocket, I found...the other...pair of...goggles?"

Rainbow walked out to find the strange stallion from earlier holding a crystal shard up against the throat of her new teammate, who was staring at the stallion. She had no idea what was happening, but she wasn't about to allow the stallion to hurt her teammate.

"Hey buddy, what the buck do you think your doing?" she shouted, already taking an offensive position as the stallion looked at her.

"Ah, the rainbow mare from earlier," Tonto spoke, "Do not interfere with my mission."

"Buck you mother bucker," Rainbow said, bucking the stallion in the mouth so hard that she likely shattered some of the poor stallion's teeth.

Rocket was surprised, he was expecting Applejack to have such a force behind her kick, yet Rainbow clearly had been practicing. He didn't feel sorry for the stallion; he had deserved it when he threatened him.

"You okay?" Rainbow asked, "That stallion is beyond crazy."

"Of course I'm fine. Shaken, but just fine," Rocket was still surprised Rainbow had that kind of power, "At least now he will think twice about messing with any of you guys."

"Heck yeah. Oh, nearly forgot," she said, tossing the other goggles to Rocket, "We've got some sky to cover."

Rocket held onto the goggles, slipping them on and making him feel more like his old self, the old him that wore sunglasses all the time. Somehow the goggles just felt right. He chuckled and followed Rainbow Dash into the sky, eager to see how the weather team truly dealt with the clouds and the weather. Maybe after all of this he would learn more about her interest in the Wonderbolts and the Daring Do books. Who knows, the two of them might have more in common then he and his wife Rose did.
> VI: Storm Call
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow and Rocket took to the skies, heading towards a seemingly large cloud that Rocket suspected was the meeting location for the different groups of the weather team. As they approached the top Rocket noticed at least a dozen, if not two dozen, pegasi waiting all over the place, their wings allowing them to feel a slight breeze with all the slight wind.

He noticed a couple of ponies he had been expecting to see, such as Cloud Kicker, Derpy Hooves, a mare named Dizzy Twister, Lightning Bolt, and another mare called Raindrops. Then there were four other ponies that Rocket hadn't been expecting to see so soon; the members of the Wonderbolts that everypony actually knew. Soarin stood on the cloud, his eyes appearing to scan the sky area as if he was planning where clouds were going. Rapidfire and Fleetfoot, the two most unknown Wonderbolts, flew over the city, somehow not attracting attention to themselves before returning to the cloud.

Then Rocket saw her, Spitfire in all her glory. The Captain of the Wonderbolts strolled down the line of pegasi, giving what seemed like instructions to each one. She, like the other three, was dressed up in their costume, though she was clearly trying to organize everypony. Rocket knew that everything would be fine if she was the one leading the group of pegasi, but he also wondered what she was doing here anyway.

"Spitfire?" Rainbow asked, trying to hold back any emotions that might ruin her own behavior, "What are you guys doing here in Ponyville?"

"Ah, Rainbow Dash," the Wonderbolt Captain said, turning her head back to see the two, "perfect timing I must say. We received a notice that there is going to be an unscheduled storm blowing over Ponyville sometime today, a storm that's supposed to ruin most of the town itself. We and the townsponies must coordinate together to contain the storm and neutralize it before it does any damage to anything or anypony."

"Where do you want me and my friend then?"

That was when Spitfire took a real good look at Rocket, her eyes scanning him and he guessed that she was somehow fitting him into her plans. Spitfire would have never heard of him, so he didn't expect to be anywhere too terribly important that could save the entire town. There was always the off chance that he might be somewhere in the skies, but seeing how this could be his first storm he doubted that he'd get much action.

"I want you cutting the clouds to shreds," Spitfire replied, moving her head to the higher sky as black clouds began to slowly form, "your friend, on the other hoof, is welcome to join you in erasing the clouds. If all goes well we should have this contained within the hour and everypony can get back to their jobs."

"Roger that," Rainbow said, already climbing to the location of where the black clouds were gathering, "Let's do this Rocket."

Rocket followed after her, wondering why she was still so eager to impress Spitfire when she had turned down being a Wonderbolt. He sighed slightly, he would never understand any of the ponies he came into contact with.

What appeared to be a single black cloud soon multiplied into several clouds, the pieces of the original cloud growing into whole clouds themselves. What seemed to be an ordinary and simple job was quickly turning into what seemed like a complete and total nightmare in the sky. Within five minutes the sky was blocked out by one huge black cloud, lightning rippling across the bottom as rain began to pour on the town.

This cannot be happening, Rainbow thought, watching lightning flash and thunder boom as the storm grew with every cloud crushed, What madness is this? What type of storm grows when the clouds are kicked into oblivion?

"Dashie, look out."

The voice returned Rainbow to reality in time to raise above a lightning bolt, barely dodging it as it hit the ground below her. The ground seemed to explode, the dirt flying and the rocks raining. Rainbow had to guess that the true storm had begun in the Everfree Forest and that it had developed the type of abilities that it was displaying...crap, she was thinking like Twilight would. Besides, the source of the voice turned out to be Pinkie of all ponies.

"Thanks Pinkie," she called, returning her attention to the skies as the cloud grew even larger, "Now, how to deal with this stupid cloud?"

Rocket kicked a cloud and used his front legs to tear a second in half, tossing the halves aside as he zeroed in on another cloud. He was unaware that the cloud was growing, much less the fact that he was surrounded by clouds that had a similar face edged into the fluffy structure. He spotted a single remaining cloud and tore it into shreds, pausing to look around and finding himself completely surrounded.

"Hehehe, look at you," the clouds said, the form of Discord taking shape as he faced Rocket, "The most feared King in all of existence, the dreaded King Rocket Sky of the Changeling Swarm, reduced to a mere pegasus that needs to clear the sky of a 'bad storm'. Reduced to a pony who needs to work so he can get by and afford the comforts that a normal pony usually works for."

"Buck off Discord," Rocket snapped, "You may have trapped me in this form, but I have sworn that I would get you for messing with my life. Why go after me after Chrysalis took a shot at me? Why not do it before she did so you could get whatever revenge you wanted?"

"I want to defeat you myself." Discord answered, snapping his claws as lightning blots appeared in them, "Now make a choice, the bolt in my left is destined for the inspiring Peachy Keen, but the right is destined for the young filly known as Scootaloo. Which of them will you fry by your own hooves? One of them will end up in the hospital, but the question is which one will it be?"

Rocket watched the bolts fly out of his claws and began to chase the right one, hoping that when he emerged from the clouds he would have enough time to tell somepony to get Peachy out of the way. If not then he might as well go away for making a friend be harmed when he could have prevented it.

"Rainbow Dash," he called, trying to gain on the bolt as he searched for the young filly, "Get Peachy out the way before she gets hit."

Rainbow, not knowing that the heck was going on anymore, noticed the mare walking on the street and dived, gaining speed so she could grab her quickly. Just as she snatched the startled Peachy and rolled to the side the ground where she had been standing exploded, making her think about something. The cloud had somehow targeted Peachy of all ponies, but where was that bolt that Rocket was chasing heading anyway? She looked at where the stallion was going and where the bolt was angled towards and quickly realized what was going to happen.

"Scootaloo!"

Just as the filly looked up at the sound of her hero's voice Rocket landed between her and the lightning bolt, throwing himself up in time to intercept the bolt. The lightning coursed through his body, tearing at his nerves, charring part of his back and wreaked havoc on his mind. When the pain was over and the lightning was gone Rocket stumbled and went down on one knee in front of Scootaloo, his eyes locking onto hers for a second before he fell onto the ground.

"NO!" Scootaloo screamed, rushing to her fallen rescuers side and hitting him as hard as she could to awaken him, "Come on, you can't die on me. Wake up already."

He's gone, Rainbow thought, having rushed to them and had felt the stallion's side, He saved Scootaloo and I will never get to thank him for it.

"I win," Discord cheered, having opened a peephole in the clouds so he could watch the stallion's decision for himself, "I have officially taken care of the only creature that Celestia had trouble dealing with. I am just that awesome."

"I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED THAT EASILY!"

Rainbow had been tended to Scootaloo when the stallion had shouted, suddenly standing as if his wounds meant nothing to him. Somehow he had survived the relentless barrage that the lightning had inflicted on him and now he was accepting what appeared to be a challenge by the storm itself. Something about him was off though, she could have sworn she had seen a horn on his head, but a second later he was just a pegasus again.The storm had taken more out of her then she had originally thought.

"You can't be serious," she said, trying to talk the deranged pegasus out of it, "You can't take on this storm by yourself. Even if you could I doubt that you could stop this storm."

"Does not matter," said a voice as the strange stallion from earlier reappeared, "Blue stallion make good trade. He know how to defeat the imbalance of the Windigo."

Before Rainbow could respond the other stallion burst into the sky, wind energy seeming to spread out from his wings and the rest of his body. He spun around in the center of the cloud, spinning in a perfect circle as he attempted to create a vortex of sorts. Seconds later the center had the beginnings of a tornado, one that was sucking in all the dark clouds into one nice spot.

Spitfire was surprised; never had she seen a stallion in so much pain that he was able to push through it all to finish the job that he had been assigned. Somehow the stallion was forcing the wind to obey his wishes and now he was controlling a storm that might as well be equal to the one he was trying to stop. She resolved to at least invite the stallion to train under the Wonderbolts; so even if he decided not to officially join them he would be able to handle his speed better.

Rocket groaned as he pulled himself out of the vortex and ascended towards the higher sky, his body was in pain and not even his abilities could keep it at bay. His plan was simple; he needed to gather the entire storm in one spot and then shatter it in an instant, casting the clouds to the four winds. The only thing that would allow him to break his own tornado would be the signature move of one Rainbow Dash; the Sonic Rainboom. If he pulled it off he would save the town and likely die in the process, but if he failed everypony else was doomed until Twilight fixed everything.

Sometimes it sucked being him.

After a minute Rocket turned around and began his rapid descent, allowing the air to bend as he targeted the center of his tornado. He had one shot at doing this, so if he failed there would be no chance of him saving the town or his friends.

"Is he doing what I think he's doing?" Twilight questioned, noticing the wind bending slightly.

"Yeah, the Sonic Rainboom," Rainbow replied, shaking her head, "That stallion may be a bonehead, but he's got guts to try something almost nopony can perfect."

Rocket disappeared into the tornado, the energy spiraling out of control as he connected with the center. The resulting explosion shook the skies as the entire storm tore itself apart, both the black clouds and the tornado disappearing within seconds. He smiled as he lowered himself to the ground, his body killing him as the pain coursed through his body and forced him to the knee again. He looked up in time to see Rainbow and Scootaloo appear, his smile even wider then before.

"Not a Sonic Rainboom, but it did the trick," he said weakly, laying on the soft ground, "I'm going to lay here and... relax... make the pain go away..."

He got no further; just as the last word left his mouth he was out cold. That meant leaving the townsponies to deal with his body in which ever way they deemed fit. Hopefully they decided on healing him, otherwise Discord will have won in the end anyway.
> VII: The Other
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The storm had passed and Ponyville was safe. All of it was thanks to the actions of a single pegasus that went by the name of Rocket Sky, a name that was now known throughout the small town. Ponies talked abut him in happiness, glad he had bested a storm of that magnitude, while most of the other pegasi talked about him in envy, wishing they had his ability to best the toughest of storms. The only ponies not talking about Rocket were Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer.

Rainbow had a lot on her mind, like what she had seen after he had been blasted by lightning and had gotten up like the electricity meant nothing to him. She had seen him looking like a fully grown alicorn, with a flowing mane, a long unicorn's horn, a set of large wings, and a body like Celestia's. Then in the next instant he was a pegasus again, as if he had never been an alicorn in the first place. She knew that most pegasi couldn't contain the magic of wind like he had done, but all that meant was that he was stronger than most pegasi in Equestria.

There was something wrong with that stallion and she was going to figure out what that something was.

~Ponyville Hospital~

Hospital Room 201, the first suite on the right wing of the second floor of Ponyville's general hospital and currently the room of one Rocket Sky. The poor stallion had charred hair, which was immediately shaved off to make way for the operation, and bleeding spots scattered across his entire body. His wings were tattered, the ruined feathers removed and the wings bandaged up by professionals, but they would be working again in a few days. That was if he recovered from the shock the lightning had done to his body.

The doctor had worked on him throughout the afternoon and into the beginning of nighttime, but despite all her work the stallion never once woke up. The lightning had done a number on his entire body, hitting every single major body system at the same time in less than a minute, which was the amount of time he was under attack. One minute's worth of damage and it was currently uncertain when the stallion was ever going to reawaken. So when the doctor was finished she closed the door and left her unconscious patient alone for the night, unaware of the creature lurking in the shadows.

"About time she left," Discord commented, stepping out of the shadows as he faced the stallion in the bed, "I was thinking I was going to have to do something about her if she didn't leave, but just as I decided I'd transport her somewhere she decided it was time to leave. I must say, I am surprised that you still survived that lightning bolt, especially when it was designed to bucking KILL you. And your going to have to speak to me at some point, otherwise I might just end up killing you while you sleep."

The air next to Rocket's bed shimmered and suddenly a second Rocket was sitting there, but this one was different then the one in the bed. His entire body was larger then the one in the bed, about the same size as Princess Celestia, and he had both an enlarged horn and large wings. He bore a golden flowing mane and tail, though he was also wearing a set of aquamarine colored royal armor and a crown that matched. This form was the previous Rocket Sky, the fifth alicorn of Equestria, the Prince of Balance, and the King of the Changeling Swarm.

"You called?" the shade asked, turning his head towards the Spirit of Chaos.

"Your darn right I called," Discord snapped, literally snapping his claws and sat in the chair he summoned, "I should have known that you would have survived that lightning bolt. I mean, your a freaking alicorn in one reality and a pegasus in another. I want to know how you can survive the toughest of attacks and still walk away as if it means nothing to you."

"Such a direct question from you Discord," the shade responded, giving a small chuckle before continuing, "but the to answer your question, as stupid as it is, is quite simple. After becoming an alicorn you tried to separate my powers into various forms; earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn. You know I cannot be a unicorn, otherwise I'd transform again eventually, and you'd never get to me if I was an earth pony. As a pegasus you could knock me out of the air at any time during a storm and make it seem like an accident.

But the thing you don't understand is that I can stand up to everything since the body of an alicorn cannot be broken beyond repair. See the damage that you've caused to this body? In a matter of days they will be fully healed and I will be flying out of here without a care in the world. You can't kill me Discord, I will keep coming back until you somehow break both my alicorn self and the one sitting in the bed."

"I will break you one day," Discord replied, the chair vanishing as he held up the medallion, "and if I fail to do it every other way in every book in existence then I will do the last thing possible. I will smash the medallion and kill everypony inside of it."

"Go ahead," the shade challenged, stepping up to the Spirit with a smug on his face, "Try it. Know that whatever you choose to do will be the least of your problems. I will be coming after you, one way or the other. Go ahead and quake in fear, knowing that my dreaded and feared attack will be inches away from your face when I recover my power."

Discord did shake just a little, he remembered the attack and wasn't looking forward to seeing it again. He growled and vanished with a puff of smoke, not wanting the Shade to actually attack him and let his presence be known to the town.

The Shade smiled, he scared the God of chaos off and now he could make sure he would get his powers back eventually. He leaned over the side of the bed and stared at himself, wondering how things were already going downhill in the few days he had been trapped.

"Listen to me you silly fool," the shade said, speaking directly to his sleeping form, "Find the Master of Shadows and fix this mess that Discord created. Head to the Crystal Empire and learn what is needed to save us."

That was all he needed to say, all the instruction he needed to reply to the sleeping pony in order to insure his reawakening. Find the Master of Shadows and learn what was necessary. The Shade smiled and faded away, returning to his plane of existence while he waited to be summoned again.
> VIII: A Second Chase
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It had been one week since the strange storm had appeared above Ponyville. One week since a certain stallion had withstood the pain of a lightning bolt and had destroyed the storm on his own, wielding a power no pony else had ever wielded before. That stallion had ended up in the hospital, his body charred and destroyed beyond belief, and the doctors had nearly given up on him by the third day. Then the impossible had happened, the stallion got up for the first time in three days and his wounds slowly began to heal.

The other four days were busy for him, as he regained the ability to walk, to fly, and to talk. During that time he was visited by his friends, who wanted to know how he was doing and what had driven him during the storm to withstand the pain. He was visited by the majority of the Mane Six, the only one missing being Rainbow Dash, and he was bombarded with questions. The only things he wondered were what had he missed and where was Rainbow Dash.

As it turned out he had missed Nightmare Night, which kind of blew since he had wanted to pull a prank on several ponies that night. Sunset Shimmer, he was told, had taken the train to the Crystal Kingdom, hoping that she could make things up between her and the royal couple. His friends had also gotten pets, which made sense considering that they had pets in the other timeline they had been from. The only weird thing was that nothing strange had happened on Nightmare Night, other than Princess Luna appearing to get, as she put it, her 'funk on'.

Apparently, Rocket discovered, everypony in all of Equestria knew of his mastery over the wind element and the power that came with it. He was given some respect by those he had never met before, in both this life and his other life, and it was actually annoying to a point. In his other life he had earned both the respect he currently had and the fear from his enemies, now he was earning so much respect that it nearly made him punch something. There was only one constant thing that he shared between both of his lives; some level of power.

Chrysalis, he realized, would be coming after him again once she realized that he was okay and was walking around the town at long last. She would have recognized his level of power was at least worth the effort of trying to capture him and turn him to her side. This time he would be prepared to meet his enemy and, hopefully, gain all the attention he needed to lure the Changeling Queen out.

~Later that day~

Nighttime had descended on the small town, which is what Rocket had been hoping for after he had been discharged from the hospital. Now he was sneaking through the night, keeping his eyes for any of the signs he had discovered while living with the Changelings for over a year. He knew that at some point a Changeling would talk to him form an alleyway and then the entire group would be on his tail. Ne might not have his magic this time, but he could out fly the majority of his enemies before they could capture him. That was considering he even got the chance to make an escape before he was surrounded.

There was always the off chance that his friend Wisdom would be keeping an eye on things, watching over his friends with the help of Pinkie Pie. They had originally organized everypony into some sort of war effort for when the Changeling had arrived to capture him the first time and he suspected that they were doing it again. There was one Changeling he wanted to see, the one Changeling that had saved him from his grim fate the first time around. That mare was Rose Petal, the daughter of Chrysalis and future Queen of the Changeling Hive. She was the one that could save him from any fate imaginable, any fate that he didn't deserve.

There was a sound of wood breaking behind him  and he spun around quickly, his eyes scanning the area as he looked for the Changeling he suspected was behind him somewhere. Sure enough there was a black armored pony shaped creature lurking in the shadows, trying to hide itself from his prey.

"I know your there," Rocket called, his eyes continuing to scan to give him the appearance of not knowing where his enemy was, "You and your 'friends' might as well show yourselves before I rat you out to Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends."

"He's bluffing," one Changeling whispered to another, "He doesn't know that we're here. He lacks magic, so we can take him without a problem."

One Changeling stood behind the two, her eyes focused on the stallion they were after. There was something familiar about the stallion, something that she couldn't place her hoof on despite how much she thought about it. The more she stared at him the more she thought she was seeing a different, more majestic stallion who could handle the assembled group.

Another Changeling burst out of the shadows and rushed the stallion, who spun around and landed a solid kick to the back of the head. The poor Changeling was knocked to the ground instantly, uttering some hisses that invited the remaining guards out into the open. Unfortunately Rocket was ready and he slammed a hoof into the face of an unfortunate guard, knocking him into his friends. A third guard got clipped by one of the stallion's wings, knocking him off his hooves with ease.

There's something familiar with his fighting style, the Changeling thought as she watched the stallion knock three more guards off their hooves and crash them into the ground, the way his body seems to move, the fact that he continues to point his head at others like he has magic. Some of these moves are ours, yet he knows them as if he had trained with us before. What is it that I'm forgetting?

Before she knew what had happened she realized that the fighting was somehow over, the stallion standing in a circle of defeated guards. Thirteen of the best guards in the Changeling Army, defeated by one stallion who seemed to know all their tricks and all their tactics. He seemed not to notice her presence, so she continued to stare at the stallion and tried to understand what had happened. Then, like magic, she saw something else.

The stallion had a longer body, more like the Royal Princesses and the Changeling Queen, with long wings and a long unicorn's horn. His mane and tail, long as long as Celestia's, was colored golden and his eyes were the purest silver color. He was dressed in royal jewelry, similar to the Solar Princesses except that it was aquamarine colored. Then the next instant the stallion was normal again, leading her to wonder if she had imagined him being an alicorn.

"Believe it or not Rose, but it's true," the stallion said, turning to the shadows to see her, "The truth is much more dangerous then you think."

"How do you know me?" the Changeling asked, surprised the stallion knew her despite being in the hospital for most of his stay in Ponyville.

"That is in the past," Rocket replied, turning towards the train station, "Your mother wants to create a monster to destroy her enemies, but you won't allow that. You will stand up for what is right. If everything goes as planned everything will be restored to their proper place."

Rose was surprised and shocked; she knew nothing and yet this stallion knew what was supposed to happen.

"I will be leaving the town shortly," Rocket continued, "I need to restore everything to their proper place. Keep your mother away from my friends and we'll call our score even."

"What score?" Rose asked, following the stallion to the station as he purchased a ticket to somewhere.

"You saved my life at one point," Rocket answered, stopping before the compartment before he continued, "You saved me from a fate worse than death. I will even our score at one point, but for now it rarely matters."

Rose watched the stallion board the train before it left the station, unsure of how to go about the situation she found herself in. She could report the disturbance to her Queen, that she was going to do, but what was she really going to report? How does one go about reporting that one stallion, who had no military training whatsoever, had beaten the best guards in the Changeling Army?

Rose sighed, all she knew was that she and her guards were in trouble once they returned to her house.
> IX: Discovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash had spent the last week traveling across Equestria, flying from Ponyville to Manehatten, in a quest to discover the truth about one stallion. The one stallion who had somehow befriended Sunset Shimmer and had taken down a storm despite the injuries he had sustained. He had somehow summoned the power of the wind itself and used it to combat the might of the ever growing storm, eventually destroying it in the process. Now he was known to everypony far and wide as a master of wind, yet that was the problem she had been trying to get past.

For the last week she had found nothing, not a single piece of paper, that detailed the pegasus' existence or revealed anything about his life. Manehatten, the city he claimed to be from, told her that he had never been there at all and that they wished they had been the birth place of such a hero. In fact they had no records of any of the four ponies that had appeared with Sunset Shimmer a week ago, which meant one thing. Rocket Sky and his friends were imposters.

So when she returned to Ponyville just before lunch she landed right in front of the tree that served as Twilight's house, making it the only time she had never crashed into the building. She threw her hoof up onto the door and gave it a rapid knock, keeping her eyes peeled for the strange stallion she had seen before the storm. Twilight opened the door and Rainbow threw herself inside, giving Twilight no time to question where she had been before she could even close the door.

"Where have you been Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked, closing the door as she noticed the saddlebags her friend wore, "We've been worried about you for the last week. You suddenly disappeared just as Rocket went into the hospital and missed him awaken a few days ago."

"Look, Twilight, I have something to tell you," Rainbow took a deep breath as she prepared herself.

"Really?" Twilight asked, curious as to what her friend had to tell her, "What is it?"

"The stallion that everypony has been going crazy over is an imposter." Rainbow admitted, tugging the bags off as shock appeared on Twilight's face, "Before you go off about me making this up to get some attention I want to tell you this; don't even dare say I would do such a thing. I flew all the way to Manehatten to research Rocket Sky and his friends for myself, and guess what I came up with. I came up with bucking nothing from every department in the entire city.

I figured that you wouldn't believe me, not without proof that I was telling the truth, so I asked the ponies who had helped me to write me a authentication letter. A letter that says that they searched their respective departments and found nothing on Rocket Sky, Peachy Keen, Tick Tock, and Inner Wisdom. The four of them are very convincing fakes, but that changed when I discovered their answers were nothing more then lies."

"This is terrible Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, looking over the letters quickly.

"I know right?" Rainbow asked, though there was almost a hint of joy in her voice that Twilight agreed with her, "To think that every one of us, the Elements of Harmony no less, had been deceived by a bunch of noponies so easily."

"That wasn't what I meant Rainbow Dash," Twilight groaned, nearly tearing a letter in half, "What I meant is that their history has either been erased or they're outcasts from a nation that they no longer have any faith in. They're ponies with no history and they are trying to create new memories until they need to move on. That's whats so terrible Rainbow Dash."

"I never thought about that Twilight," Rainbow weakly said, wondering how she could have missed something.

"And when did you start using such big words?" Twilight asked, looking up from the last letter, "I don't think I've ever heard you say authentication before."

"Its the Daring Do books," Rainbow explained, "I guess I learned something from them after all."

There was a knock at the door, so Twilight opened it to find Peachy Keen standing on the other side. She was huffing as if she had been running all over the town, as if she had been looking for somepony and couldn't find them.

"We've got a problem," Peachy said, taking a second to catch her breath, "Rocket is missing. I can't find him anywhere in the entire town."

"There's something else about him that I can't place my hoof on," Rainbow spoke up, remembering something else about the stallion, "We might have a problem with him. During the storm I saw him as an alicorn, a fully freaking grown alicorn that could have done something like he had done."

"So we have a missing 'alicorn'?" Twilight rubbed her head, this was starting to seriously annoy her, "Okay then, if we were a pegasus stallion with absolutely no record of his existence then where would we go? Where, in the vast majority of Equestria, would a single stallion go?"

"Crystal Empire," Tonto said, stepping through the doorway of the library, "Blue pony seek the Windigo. She go to Crystal Empire and that where blue pony went."

~Cave outside the Crystal Empire~

Rocket had known that somewhere deep in the tundra outside the Crystal Empire rested a cave where Sombra, the Black King and the Master of Shadows, rested while he tried to form a plan to conquer the Empire. That was where the eerie voice had told him to go, the pony he was told to seek out by somepony he knew was watching over him. Sure the train had taken him to the outskirts of the Empire, but he paid it no mind as he trekked through the snow. He just needed to find the eerie glow of the cave and he would have found the stallion without problem.

The one thing he was uncertain about was he willing to accept the fact he was likely going to have to embrace the darkness to get what he needed. Without his magic he was going to have to resort to using the darkest arts to restore his real power. Then he could turn back on Discord and teach the jerk a lesson that he was never going to forget. The problem was that he was afraid that the darkness might be stronger then he was expecting and it might consume him in the process.

"Hehehehe."

Rocket turned to his right and sure enough he found the cave he was looking for, complete with the eerie laughter that could have belonged to Sombra. He likely thought he had found himself an easy target that he could use to take over the Crystal Empire, which he wasn't going to allow. Rocket was going to teach the Black King a small lesson before he obtained the dark arts.

"I know your there Sombra," he called out, his eyes scanning the darkness as he searched for the stallion, "Come out come out wherever you are. You know I'm going to find you."

"Hehehe, I doubt that," came the stallion's voice, though he wasn't sure where he was yet, "I am all around you, yet I am not. I am but a shadow, a blemish of your mind, an eerie memory that you can't help but recall."

Rocket noticed something in the corner of his eye, but he paid it no mind as he advanced into the cave. If the Black King tried anything then he was ready for it, but considering everything that had already happened to him he doubted there was anything worse waiting for him.

"Got you," came a snarl as the darkness crashed Rocket into a wall and held him there.

Rocket watched the dark grey unicorn, complete with his black short spiked mane and tail, his silver armor attached to his legs and neck, his smooth horn, the fangs in his mouth, the cape that covered his flank, and the hideous crown that rested on his head. His eyes were the complete deal; red irises, green coloring, and the eerie purple mist that let others know he was a master of the dark arts. Rocket held no fear of the stallion; he was expecting the stallion to pour the darkness into his mind and attempt to corrupt his mind.

"Go ahead," Rocket smirked, taunting the fallen king, "Do your worst Sombra."

~Ponyville~

"Your telling me that our friend is secretly an alicorn?" Wisdom questioned, trying to make sense of the situation as they boarded the train, "There is no way in Tartarus that Rocket is an alicorn pretending to be a pegasus. Even if he was then it still doesn't explain why he felt the town without telling us where he was going."

"Stallion go to Crystal Empire," Tonto replied, "He seek the Master of Shadows. Nature will be out of balance."

"If he's seeking Sombra then we have to act fast," Twilight said, "Darkness is a disease, if it gets into his veins something bad is bound to happen. If Rocket truly is an alicorn and the darkness takes root in his body then we are all royally bucked. I'd hate to see what power he could have is something like that came to pass."
> X: Ride to Oblivion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The train ride was short, but when Wisdom stuck his head out the window he realized exactly why the ride was short; they had traveled right to Canterlot. Only this time instead of there being peaceful ponies walking around there were armed guards making sure the train was protected and that ponies boarded without delay.

"What's going on here?" Peachy asked, cowering behind Tick as they passed by the guards.

"I sent a picture of our friend to Princess Celestia while he was in the hospital," Twilight explained, nodding to the guards to allow the entire group to pass into the city, "At first she didn't recognize Rocket, just like all of us didn't know who he was at first, but then after a few minutes she began to recognize him. Apparently Discord has been messing with the fabric of reality and he decided to mess with Rocket for some reason that we haven't figured out yet."

"Wait a minute darling," Rarity said, "That would mean that Rainbow was telling the truth, as frightening as it sounds."

"Hey." Rainbow exclaimed, facing the fashion pony, "I would never make something, like seeing another alicorn, up just to get attention or something."

"Point is that Celestia knows that Rocket used to be an alicorn," Twilight continued, taking a turn that would lead them directly to the tower where the Elements of Harmony used to rest, "Just seeing his picture managed to break through his seals and brought back her memories, but its not a picnic anymore. When she read that Rocket was on his way to see Sombra she issued an order that the city be prepared for his arrival. Guards have been moving around all day apparently, escorting the townsponies out of here in case Rocket comes to attack Discord."

"So why are we heading into the building where the Elements of Harmony used to rest?" Applejack asked, tipping her hat up as she scanned the seemingly empty tower.

The vault door opened to reveal a special set of war armor, a purple robe that was identical to Starswirl the Bearded's robe and a special hat, one that allowed her to keep her Element close at all times, that was also filled with enchantments. Floating next to the robe was a wooden staff, one that seemed to be made from an ivory colored wood. Twilight chuckled to herself and pulled the robes over herself, not surprised to find that her friends were shocked by what was waiting for them.

"So that's what Princess Celestia's been hiding in here since we took the Elements with us?" Rainbow asked, confused as to why she would have hidden something like that in such a secured vault.

"Not quite," Twilight admitted, pulling the hat over her crown and adjusting it so the jewel was showing, "This is my war game armor, the one I wear when I have to meet with the other Princesses. I hid it here so I would have a safe place to prevent prying eyes from seeing it. Wouldn't do to have a princess walking around with a set of armor on. It might actually freak some ponies out and make them think I was doing something dangerous."

"A war game?" Peachy asked, curious as to that little bit.

"Unimportant right now," Twilight answered, grabbing the staff before closing the vault, "Right now we have to meet with Celestia and Luna and plan out our next move. If everything is going as Celestia told me then the entire Crystal Empire should be searching for Rocket this very minute. With any luck we will have beaten him to the punch before he could have found Sombra."

~Sombra's Cave~

"Hehehe. I like what I see."

Sitting in front of Sombra was the same stallion who had foolishly wandered into his cave, thinking he could best the Black King without magic. His blue coat was now a dull  grey color, his mane and tail turned slightly black, and his eyes were filled with the same darkness that coursed through Sombra's own body. The only thing different about the pegasus was the fact that he now had a horn on the top of his head, returning the use of magic to the used to be alicorn.

Sombra had shifted through the memories of the stallion while he had originally decided what he was going to do with his prey. He had seen a unicorn stallion who could command such terrible power that Queen Chrysalis envied enough to turn him against her own enemies. Once she was defeated she turned to Sombra for help, tricking him into using the last of the Demonshade on the powerful stallion. They had nearly succeeded in killing him, but his friends had saved him and just before he could punish the two fallen rulers Discord stepped in an caused all of this. Now the stallion was his to use as he wished.

"Awaken my minion," Sombra commanded, watching the stallion open his eyes, "Your going to help me invade the Crystal Empire and take it over. Simple task. Return my empire to me and I'll take care of your Changeling problem."

That was the plan and the stallion was more then willing to walk out of the cave and approach the barrier protecting the city. Not like he made much of a choice with all the corruption coursing through his veins. But Sombra followed in his shadow, watching the stallion's moves with ease.

A unicorn guard looked up from his post and took notice of another pony approaching the barrier, but there was something strange about the newcomer. He looked over at his partner and tapped his shoulder, pointing out the stallion that continued to approach their location.

"Looks like Sombra's attempting to breach the barrier again," the first guard remarked, his partner chuckling, "We get to see him burst into nothing for the hundredth time this week."

That was their idea of what was going to happen, until the stallion pressed his hoof against the barrier and the magic began to break apart before him. He passed through the barrier, which now had a hole created by what appeared to be dark magic, and he passed by the guards without uttering a single word. Before the guards could stop him he opened his wings and took off, heading directly towards the center of the empire.

"That wasn't Sombra," the second guard shouted, scrambling to his hooves before starting off in the direction the pegasus went, "Quickly, we have to warn the Princess before he arrives."

Cadence, already attuned to the barrier that protected her empire, was already painfully aware that there was a small breach in the western wall. So Sombra had finally created a hole so he could get to her, that was fine, but this time she and Shining were ready for him. The only down side was that they had yet to find the stallion who was supposed to have arrived in the empire a short time ago.

Right now she and Shining were standing at the balcony, staring at the small hole while they waited for their 'guest' to arrive. Shining was dressed in his captain armor, though Cadence was surprised that it still fit after so long of him not wearing it. She, however, wore a set of jouster gear, which wasn't the best armor, but it was better than everything else they had in stock.

"According to Twily this guy's supposed to be an ex-alicorn," Shining commented, trying to pass the time while they waited.

"How does one get demoted from alicorn status?" Cadence asked, the idea seemed ridiculous, "And how did Twilight and Celestia not realized who he used to be until now?"

"Its all Discord's fault apparently," Shining answered, shaking his head, "He twisted reality and forgot to account for Celestia remembering everything that has already happened. Discord has apparently been trying to kill this stallion since he had ascended to alicornhood and he's been failing since day one. The problem is that he's powerful, so Celestia is afraid that the union of him and darkness might be something that not even she can defeat."

"We've got company," Cadence shouted, watching the stallion land directly in front of the Crystal Heart, "Let's do this Shining."

Cadence flew down to where the heart floated, keeping an eye on the stallion who was staring at the heart, while her husband cast a slow fall spell and floated down to where they were. Cadence thought it was strange; if the stallion was under Sombra's control then he would have already moved the heart before they had arrived. If he was as powerful as Celestia claimed that he was then the two of them were definitely in trouble, but seeing how he wasn't making a move they decided to move around the stallion.

"Hehehe," came the eerie voice of Sombra as Rocket's shadow came alive before their eyes, "Shining Armor, Cadence, its sooo good to see you again. I hope you don't mind me destroying the heart and taking my empire back!"

"So not happening," Cadence said at the same time as Rocket, shocking the mare. Usually when somepony was taken over by Sombra they couldn't control themselves or they weren't right in their mind half the time. But this stallion was clearly in control of his own actions, which made Cadence wonder what he was doing then.

"Why do you think I came searching for you Sombra?" the stallion asked, his horn blazing as he pinned the shadow to the ground, "I came not to hoof over the Crystal Empire to you, but to learn the deep secrets of the dark arts that would allow me to exact my revenge on Discord. You may have given me back my horn, but my power still lays beyond my reach and I will not stop until I have returned everything to normal."

"Discord's in Canterlot this very moment," Shining said, drawing a lance as he kept the stallion in his sight, "so tell me this; how do you plan on getting to him before he moves somewhere else?"

"Easy," Rocket replied, the air around him and the three shimmering for a second, "Discord's planning on ending this soon enough."

~Canterlot~

"Oh, where is Discord this time?"

Celestia was annoyed beyond belief. The one time Discord was actually being threatened by somepony who could harm him he was nowhere to be seen. The draconequus had simply gone somewhere where Celestia and her group could not find him, which made protecting him that much more difficult.

"I don't know why we're even protecting the guy," Rainbow said, leaning against the wall as she waited for something interesting to happen, "He nearly ruined out lives a few years ago."

"He's changed Rainbow," Twilight replied, looking up from her book to stare at her friend, "Right now its hard for us to accept that, after everything Fluttershy went through, he would turn on a pony in an attempt to eliminate them. We'll be there to stop him in case....wait, did anypony else feel that?"

What Twilight was referring to was the spike in magic around Canterlot, namely centered in the park where Rocket and his friends had woken up. Chaos magic to be exact, so now the group had the location of Discord. They moved quickly, heading out into the empty streets of the city so they could surround the park in case something happened. When they arrived they found something strange; Discord standing in front of what looked like a veiled mist of some kind.

"Discord, what are you planning this time?" Celestia asked, eying the area carefully.

"I'm going to rid Equestria of the one monster that none of us can truly defeat," Discord shouted, four ponies appearing in the mist, "I'm going to kill the beast that bests the lot of us, the gods and goddess among ponies, and makes us look weak. He's going down before he regains anything."

The air shimmered as Shining Armor, Cadence, Sombra, and Rocket materialized in the park area, three of them wearing confused looks on their faces. Before Rocket could so much as move Discord summoned a spear and swung it at the stallion, carving a large diagonal cut into the stallion's body. Rocket crumpled to the ground, his head hung low as he waited for the draconequus to make his move.

"There, it is done." Discord said, the spear disappearing as he drew the medallion up to the stallion, "See? I told you that I would be the victor this time around. And I didn't have to crush this medallion into a thousand pieces to do it."

"Don't be too sure about that Discord."

Before Discord could move the medallion literally shattered into a thousand pieces, allowing the white spirits of those trapped inside to return to their bodies. When the spirits of Inner Wisdom, Peachy Keen, and Tick Tock returned so too did the armor they wore during the war games. To Twilight and the other Princesses came the terrible truth that Discord had been telling the truth about. And to Rocket came the incredible power he had grown to miss and the form of a fully grown alicorn was his again.

"Discord," Celestia shouted, realizing what was about to happen, "MOVE."

Rocket began to laugh as magic began to gather around him, laughter that began to follow the beat of a familiar song that he once listened to. Before anypony could stop him the magic surrounded him and ascended into the air, the only problem was that the magic was as black as night. Magic so dark that the once good alicorn was now becoming an alicorn of darkness that would turn against them all.

"Discord you fool," Luna cried, shaking her head as the sense of dread filled the air, "Do you realize what you have done? The darkness that we have been trying to defeat has risen again, only this time there could be no chance of us breaking through to him. The darkness will have made it neigh impossible for our combined forces to reach him. Wait, somethings emerging from the whirlpool."

While the entire group of assembled ponies, including Discord, had been expecting an alicorn of pure darkness to emerge from the dark spiral they were even more surprised by what they did see. Instead of an alicorn they witnessed a pony that was able to stand on his hindlegs, completely upright without the slightest bit of discomfort at all. Only it wasn't the body of a pony they were staring at, but it was the body of what looked like a lycan, a werepony. Claws sat at the end of all four of Rocket's limbs, allowing him to grip the ground more easily.

It got even worse as his once grand pegasus wings, which had been as large as Celestia's, were now a huge pair of bat wings. His eyes, his once blue eyes, were now crimson red, the same color as blood no less, and he even had a pair of small fangs growing out of his mouth. His mane and tail were now completely black, as if they were made out of complete darkness, while his body was now an ashy grey color. He still had his horn, which meant he was still capable of wielding magic, but his cutie mark was now the union of light and darkness.

The only strange thing was that he was now wearing iron gloves on all four of his limbs, a chest piece, and a helmet that filled the others with a sense of dread.

"Rocket," Peachy began, only to have the stallion she called friend turn to face her.

"No, I am no longer Rocket Sky," the stallion spoke, his voice older and filled with evil, "I am Eclipse. You, every single one of you, are all royally bucked."
> XI: The Finale
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Eclipse, the nightmare that the Royal Sisters had been trying to stop since the beginning of their dealings with Rocket, just stood in front of Discord. The strange creature just stood there, after making the remark that they were all screwed, and yet he was doing absolutely nothing. It was almost as if he was studying the ponies around him, watching their movements before making his own deadly move against them.

"So tell me something," Discord said, staring into the eyes of the stallion he hated with a passion, "How did you shatter the medallion, without using any form of magic whatsoever?"

"Its called dark magic for a reason," Eclipse stated, his head tilting to the side as he stared at Discord, "A simple spell designed to reflect any damage I take to whatever target I desire, within a reasonable distance of course. I could have easily taken the damage from the cut you gave me and transferred it over to you, but seeing how you were planning on killing me you would have also killed yourself. So I decided to direct the damage to the medallion, knowing that when it shattered I would regain my missing power and teach you a lesson."

"A lesson?" Discord challenged, magic at the ready, "Surely you know that you can never teach an immortal any new tricks? Its because we know every single trick in the freaking manual!"

"Then you should recognize this," Eclipse said, holding his left limb forward as the familiar orb gathered in front of one of his claws.

Discord flinched and jumped backwards, intending to escape the impending attack before it was fired, but even as he did Eclipse closed the distance on him. The beam tore through his right shoulder, cutting off his use of the limb completely, and knocked him even further back. Discord was thankful that the attack was fired upwards, away from the buildings, otherwise part of Canterlot would have been ruined.

"Your mine slave." Sombra shouted, drawing himself up before attempting to latch himself onto the stallion.

Before anypony could move Eclipse turned around and struck the fallen king in the direct center of his body, the only thing for concern was that there was magic blazing around the limb. The shadows that helped Sombra keep himself together shattered like they were pieces of glass, his armor ruptured, and several of his ribs broke upon impact. He hit the ground hard, coughing blood up as he fought the pain that now coursed through his broken body.

"I am not your 'slave' Sombra," Eclipse said in annoyance, magic held against the same limb that had struck the king before, "and I will never be one. I used you to get the secrets of darkness, yet your so stupid to realize that now that my power has returned I have no further use for you. You should count your blessings that I'm not turning you to dust, that I'm sparing your life. You never wronged me much in either time line, but Discord and Chrysalis are the two who are going to pay dearly for their meddling."

"Look Rocket, I know Discord..." Cadence started, immediately drawing the attention of Eclipse.

"How many times must I tell you ponies?" Eclipse angrily snapped, "I am not the weak Rocket Sky anymore. I am Eclipse, I am all of your worst nightmares."

"Okay then, Eclipse," Cadence tried again, hoping he didn't attack her while Shining inched around to get a shot at the stallion from behind, "I know Discord and Chrysalis wronged you more than Sombra did, but why use your power to exact revenge on each of them? Harming them will not reverse the damage they had caused you in the past."

Eclipse began to laugh, as if the idea of reversing the damage was as stupid as it sounded.

"Foolish Cadence," Eclipse shouted, "This isn't about 'reversing the damage', as you put it. This is about me getting back at them for targeting me and my friends in the beginning and nearly killing me the second time around. Then Discord here thinks that changing history would be enough to do me in over time, but it came back to bite his flank hard. Now I have the power to out fight you, Discord, Chrysalis, and the alicorn sisters altogether."

"Oh yeah?" Rainbow Dash challenged, she and her friends spreading out around the stallion so that they stood between him and everypony else, "Well how about the Elements of Harmony then?"

Before Eclipse could even make a move he was engulfed by the magic of the six Elements, the magic spreading around him before exploding in a fury of rainbow colors. Rainbow flames decorated the area in front of everypony, each of them watching for any sign of either Eclipse or Rocket. When they saw a figure appear in the smoke at first they began to rejoice, hoping that the Elements had kicked Eclipse in his flank before he could do any real damage. But when they smoke cleared they were shocked to find that Eclipse was still there...without so much as a single scratch on him.

"But how is it possible?" Twilight exclaimed, completely confused as to why the Elements failed, "The Elements of Harmony have the power to best the greatest of evils in all of Equestria's history. I don't see how its possible for them to have failed against you, one whose heart has been consumed by utter darkness."

"The Elements of Harmony have no power over me and they will never do," Eclipse laughed, amused by the fact they had actually used the Elements against him, "Let's face the facts; the Elements of Harmony are so overused that they likely don't have enough power to deal with somepony of my level. The idea that they could have turned me back into my weaker self might have been an entertaining one for all of you, but I'm not sorry to see that it has failed."

Celestia was now beginning to feel the sense of dread that everypony else had felt when Eclipse had first arrived, thought the only reason she felt it now was because their last line of defense had failed. If they couldn't best the stallion by the arcane arts and their own tactics than the Elements would have been the way to go, but seeing them fail was not a good sign. She had never known the artifacts to ever fail like this, seeing how she and Luna had turned Discord to stone and she had likewise banished her own sister with them. Twilight and her friends had used them to purify Luna, imprison Discord and rehabilitate him, and had saved another dimension with just one present.

"So, you all can feel it can't you?" Eclipse asked, returning his gaze to Discord, "The sense of impending dread for any who dare to get in my way. I will say this; Discord and Chrysalis have had this coming for a long time."

Shining waited until the stallion walked right passed his hiding place before jumping out, bringing his sword down right between the shoulder blades where the wings were. But before his weapon could connect with the skin Eclipse spun around and punched him right in the chest, the magic reacting upon contact. Shining flew right into a building and coughed up blood as it collapsed on top of him, breaking quite a few bones in the process.

"No," Cadence and Twilight shouted, seeing what happened and yet still not believing it either.

Discord got up and produced another spear, this time he held it in his left hand while he approached the stallion. Eclipse saw this and welcomed his prey with open claws, fully prepared to finally end the fight between him and Discord. What he didn't realize was that Chrysalis had caught up with him and held a sword in her magical grasp, fully prepared to run it through his heart and end everything. Discord saw his partner appear and swung the spear, waiting for it to connect with the stallion so it would blow up right in his face.

Eclipse caught the spear just a few inches before the spear tip, preventing the explosion from happening and causing his enemy to curse slightly. Chrysalis neared them and thrust the sword forward, watching in horror as it stopped just a few inches from the back of where the stallion's heart was. Eclipse turned around and smiled as he brought his right claw backwards, firing a small shot through Chrysalis' body that disabled her nervous system. As she crumpled Eclipse turned back to Discord and kicked him in the face, causing him to drop the spear and allowing Eclipse to make it explode in his side.

Luna was horrified; if Eclipse could topple both the ex-Changeling Queen and the Spirit of Disharmony then they were in serious trouble. She wondered what hope the Lunar Princess, the Solar Princess, the Princess of Love, and the Princess of Friendship had against him. The Elements of Harmony were also a bust, but she was thankful that Eclipse hadn't turned on the bearers after they used them on him.

"Eat this," Tick said, unstrapping his cannon and pointing it directing in Eclipse's face, "Bass Cannon!"

The blast wave tore the ground around Eclipse to shreds, literally causing chunks of stone and dirt to rain down on the ponies around him. Eclipse had his claws up in a form of defense, but seeing how he still sustained no damage he faced his friend will a look of anger in his eyes. Tick gulped and prepared the cannon for a second, even larger charge than the first one as the claws came near him, only to have them be stopped by a rope made of a black mass. Peachy grunted and held her ground, keeping the rope tight as she made sure it failed to reach her bald friend. Wisdom appeared and disappeared, swinging his staff at Eclipse between intervals in an attempt to distract, if not harm, his friend.

"You fools," Eclipse shouted, "I was planning on leaving you all alone, but now you leave me no choice."

Eclipse grabbed the rope with his other claw and pulled, dragging Peachy out of her hiding spot as Tick's cannon continued to charge. Before she could stop him Eclipse pulled her close to him and bit into her neck, drawing blood before allowing her to fall to the ground in pain. Tick, on the other hoof, suffered a direct attack to his face by the right claw, forming three deep marks diagonally across his left eye. Wisdom appeared at a critical moment, that was when Eclipse shattered his staff and crushed him into the ground hard enough to crack the area around him.

While this was happening Celestia charged up her horn with the fury of the sun itself, intending to blow a hole in the stallion where his right lung would be. If she did it perfectly the magic would not only harm the stallion, but it would give them the opening they needed to take him down. She only hoped that if they were able to successfully wound the stallion that they might be able to change him back into Rocket Sky.

"One cursed to be a werepony," Eclipse said, beckoning to Tick before moving to Peachy, "while the other is cursed to be a vampony, aging once every fifteen years. I will finish dealing with Discord and then I will raze Canterlot to the ground with none of you to stop me."

That was before Celestia appeared before him and unleashed the magic, allowing the power of the sun to tear through where his right lung was. The stallion faltered, taking a step forward as the mysterious stallion from before appeared with Sunset Shimmer next to him. He began to protest, but he was silenced by the silver shard biting into his left limb and the magic battling his own. And then, just as he though he had bested the stallion, his magic was overthrown by Sunset Shimmer, who preceded to course it through his veins and blow holes in his other limb.

"How is this possible?" Eclipse asked, the sudden amount of damage overwhelming.

"Because we all fight for good," the stallion answered, "Sunset is not Windigo. You, strange pony, are the Windigo. I sent to restore nature by the High Mother. We all shall restore what is broken."

"I don't give a single buck about you Eclipse," Sunset Shimmer said, staring the stallion in the eyes, "but I care about the stallion you used to be. I don't care that you're already married Rocket, but I'll be damned if I let somepony else be taken over by the darkness."

Eclipse readied his left claw, ignoring the pain that coursed through his body anyway, and began to swing when he realized that his limb was suddenly bound by glowing blue chains. He aimed his right claw at the mare standing not too far from where he was sitting, allowing the magic to build into his feared attack. Before it could fire another chain wrapped around the limb and yanked it into the air, discharging the attack into the sky.

"I will not allow you to fire that attack again," Luna proclaimed, watching the stallion struggle against the chains, "nor will I allow you to harm your friends. There must be something that can reach the inner you, the peaceful stallion who stopped Chrysalis the first time around."

"And I'll find it," said a voice as a second Changeling Queen appeared, "Stand aside friends, I'll drive out the beast like I did during Chrysalis' invasion."

"Rose Petal," Wisdom wheezed, coughing once before looking up at the mare, "Queen of the Changelings."

"There's one thing that will help us now," Rose continued, bringing her face closer to Eclipse's, "and that's the kiss from ones true love."

When she kissed Eclipse she expected to find the same feeling she had when kissing Rocket, but the sensation was no longer there. There was something else, an acceptance of what Rocket had become and the fact that she could feel the evil spilling out of him. The darkness that had taken root in his body was slowly dying of its own accord, which was something she hadn't been expecting to find.

"Your still in there aren't you?" Rose asked, breaking the hold and staring into her husband's eyes, "Deep inside your still Rocket Sky, the stallion who protected his friends first and married me soon after becoming an alicorn. I can feel the darkness leaving your body."

"I'm...I'm too powerful Rose," Eclipse barely said, but she caught the words easily, "I need to go into hiding, before I cause some serious harm that isn't reversible. Faust knows that I can never truly forgive myself for what has happened here today, but maybe one day she'll forgive me."

The darkness surged out of his body, darkening the sky as the parts of Canterlot that were broken slowly repaired themselves until they were brand new. The wounds that were afflicted on everypony began to heal right before their eyes, even the wounds they thought that wouldn't heal did so. It was almost as if time was reversing itself, erasing all the damage that Eclipse had caused for the hour he had been around. The only problem in Celestia's eyes was that the wounds they had inflicted on Eclipse were also healing, like when he had his horn broken and it repaired itself.

The darkness took one last look at the stallion it had been in and let out a shriek as it turned into a black gemstone, one that glowed with an intense inner flame. Eclipse still looked the same, but considering that his alicorn form hadn't changed much either it was nothing new. He still had the claws and large bat wings, but the darkness was gone from his eyes and he seemed much kinder now.

"Peachy and Tick will still be cursed," Eclipse said, looking towards the sky as he began to turn to mist, "but if they want to be rid of the curses then they'll have to come end me. As the legends go, if your cursed by somepony then the best way to end the curse is to finish off the one who cursed you. I will leave the Hive in your capable hooves Rose."

"Where will you go?" Rose asked, watching as her husband faded before her eyes.

"I don't know," he admitted, looking up to the assembled ponies, "I will be leaving Canterlot for a while. I don't know how long I will be gone, but I promise that I will return one day and when I do I will remove the curses that I placed on Peachy and Tick. I ask that everypony forgive me, but understand that I will not be in the eyes of the public much. If you don't hear from me it is because I have no wish to be found. Take care my friends, maybe we'll cross paths again one day."

That was when Rocket Sky, the stallion now known as Eclipse by those closest to him, turned into a bright blue mist and promptly vanished from the whole of Equestria. His power was well documented by the royal sisters, who spent the greater part of the next day making sure everything was indeed fixed in Canterlot. Those who had been wounded during the fight were checked out anyway, just in case the stallion had been lying about healing everypony.

After everything was said and done the Elements of Harmony returned to Ponyville, hoping that their lives would be normal for once. Cadence and Shining, along with a grumpy Sombra, returned to the Crystal Empire, where the royal couple returned to ruling and Sombra was sentenced to an eternity in jail with no magic at all. Chrysalis and Rose returned to the Hive, where the former queen was demoted to working for the betterment of the hive and the new queen continued on without her husband. Celestia and Luna watched over Canterlot as the days passed, while Discord decided to take a vacation and went to the beach for a weekend.

Yeah, life went on for Rocket's friends and soon almost everypony forgot that he even existed. Only Peachy, Wisdom, Tick, and Rose bothered to remember him. Life was going to get interesting for the three friends and the Changeling Queen one day, but that wouldn't be for a long time.