> My Two Most Faithful Students
>  by Flaeirye
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1 - My Two Most Faithful Students
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





“Are you ready, Spike?”

“No, Twilight. Can we just stop this?”

On a cold, moonless night in Ponyville, a pony and a dragon continued to argue inside the library. Twilight’s room was a cacophony of papers, books, quills and ink splotches, which had been created from the unicorn’s week-long research. Despite Spike’s efforts, he could not dampen her determination to try this one spell.

“Oh come on, Spike. You know that nothing’s going to go haywire, right?”

He gave his warden a look of concern. “But you say that every time something goes wrong!” 

Twilight could not resist a chuckle. He was probably right about that. “But this time, I triple checked the formula. And besides,” she said as she tapped the dragon’s skull. “You remember me doing this before. And nothing went wrong.”

“Except for maybe breaking inside the Star Swirl the Bearded wing and causing your past self to freak out for a week.”

The spell in discussion was a modified version of Star Swirl’s time spell. In theory, Twilight knew she couldn’t attempt this anymore, since she already cast it last time when she wanted to warn herself not to worry over nothing. But after a few alterations on the parameters, she removed the limit of how many times she could cast it. After a week of straining herself to break down the spell, it was the night she was going to try it out. When would she appear? That part she hadn’t really thought about.

“Spike, when do you think I should go? Maybe in the Pre-Equestrian era? Too risky. What about the time I became Princess Celestia’s personal student? That’ll just be asking for trouble…”

Spike hesitantly backed away to give the unicorn some space while thinking on when she would appear. His dragon sense constantly told him something would go wrong, but he knew that he could trust Twilight. Trying to shrug it away, Spike gave her a go signal.

Twilight smiled at him excitedly. “I got it, I’ll go back to the time when I met my friends! This will be great!” She patted his head reassuringly, not oblivious to her friend/brother/son’s worry. “Here’s the deal, Spike. If I’m gone for more than a day, you can give Princess Celestia a message. But if not, you must NOT tell her about this. Who knows what punishment she’ll give me for time traveling?” She gave him a cold stare, showing just how serious she was.

Spike sighed, knowing that this was it. No argument, not even Princess Celestia’s, would stop her. 

The lavender pony couldn’t bear the excitement any longer. “Here it goes,” she said as she planted her four hooves firmly to the ground, knowing the amount of energy she would be dealing with. The placid background became so still that a dropped pin would’ve sounded like a sonic rainboom in their ears.

The room suddenly glowed in a bright shade of magenta as wisps of magic and electricity surrounded Twilight. A low hum filled the dreaded silence, energy beginning to build up all over her body. Around her, papers and books danced in a symphony of chaos as she glowed brighter and brighter. Twilight’s horn began to glow as bright as the sun, grunting every time she gave the spell more magic. The wisps of magic merged with the unicorn’s body, silencing everything for a split second. Spike could do nothing more than to shade his eyes from the light. 

“Twi—” His shout was cut short by a blast of blinding purple magic shockwave that erupted from the unicorn, a noise which was heard by all of Ponyville.

---

Twilight groaned as the extremely annoying static noise in her ears wouldn’t stop. It was like somepony had crammed some Parasprites inside her skull, and they were multiplying every second. She was lying down on the ground, dirt now sticking at her once vibrant lilac coat. Her head felt like lead. She wanted to vomit, yet decided to hold her previous dinner from seeing the world. Her vision was blurred to the point that she could only see splotches of yellow and gray. The magical recoil from the last spell wasn’t this bad. Maybe I gave the spell too much magic? she reasoned to herself. As her body slowly started to recover, her mind began to spin its gears.

Okay, Twilight Sparkle, time to analyze the surroundings. The sun is just directly above me, which means that it’s somewhere around noon. Wait, is that smoke I’m smelling? Shaking her head, she cleared her muddled thoughts as she stood up. At first the unicorn thought she was still in a trance. It was true that too much magic makes you imagine things. But a too-realistic shriek from afar confirmed her fears that this was indeed very real.

She was standing outside a small village composed of several primitive huts she recognized from some of her history books. Though that fact was strange on its own, it was not what troubled Twilight’s mind. Instead of laughter and joy that were usually heard in Equestria, the air was filled with ghastly screams of ponies running away from the village for their dear lives. Most of them, she noticed, were earth ponies wearing sackcloth similar to those at the Hearth’s Warming play. Houses were burned, their smoke towering high above the heavens. Another cry in the distance removed Twilight from her stupor, deciding that the best action for now was to brave the dangers and save the poor village ponies from whatever had attacked them. Whatever it was, it must be something dangerous to cause this much destruction. As long as she didn’t attract too much attention, the timeline should be preserved from any more tampering she would be causing. Twilight set aside some spells in her mind, prepared for everything.

Well, almost everything.

She entered the town, ready to save it, when she ran into a small group of ponies. Seeing that this was the best place to start looking for answers, Twilight asked them the biggest question in her head. “Excuse me, what’s goi—”

A brown stallion as big as Big Macintosh quickly snapped his head to the direction of the voice and slightly backed away. Without saying a word, he went into a bucking stance and prepared to buck the life out of the purple pony. Twilight instinctively conjured a small barrier which shattered from the strength of the kick and sent her flying unto a stack of hay nearby. That move was so fast that she was not able to restrain him with magic. Twilight hastily stood up and faced the pony who attacked her for no reason at all.

“Go! I’ll take care of this one!” he commanded the rest of the group. As they ran without even looking back, his full attention quickly returned to Twilight. “Before you’re going for my family, you’re going through me.”

That sentence left Twilight dumbfounded. “What do you mean by that?” 

The earth pony backed away some more, his stance still ready to spring into action. “You ungrateful unicorns are raiding this town again! We'll see how you like dealing with this the earth pony way.” Both unicorn and earth pony stared at each other, the tension between them rising. Though confused, Twilight would not let her guard down. The brown stallion unexpectedly jumped towards Twilight, intending to use his weight to pin her down. It was a useless attempt however, as an aura of magenta surrounded him in time, freezing him midair. You’re not doing any surprise attacks to me this time.

“Why are you stereotyping unicorns? And who is raiding this town?” Twilight’s tone became much more serious. This must all be one sick joke. What is wrong with this time? Ponies constantly bickering about races. Hold on, isn’t that…

The earth pony spat at her. “Are you an idiot or something? You know winter is coming soon, and so here you are taking more than what we give. Typical for snobs like you.”

Twilight didn’t need to answer that, for she knew it would be pathetic. His skull was as thick as Applejack’s, maybe even thicker. If my observations are true… no, I can’t assume that I am indeed at that particular time. I flawlessly performed the spell without fail. This may be a region far from Equestria, for all I know. 

Her train of thought abruptly ended as a high filly-like scream pierced through the collective noise of terror. Thinking that she was done with this pony, she roughly landed him on the ground and shouted, “Go, follow your family! I’ll help whoever that was.” After a stone-cold stare from Twilight that would have scared a dragon, the earth pony ran away from her. Even he knew that this mage was not somepony to be trifled with. All he could do now was silently thank her for sparing his life, after all that he did.

She didn’t even spare him a look as she went straight for the source of the voice.

---

There! Twilight thought as she spotted a hut being surrounded by a group of unicorns wearing armor. She could detect harsh words being thrown and a faint cry inside. That gave her extra energy to sprint faster than her body could allow. I would’ve finished the Running of the Leaves in seconds at this speed, she silently commented to herself.

In the middle of the commotion were two small unicorn fillies. One was standing bravely, levitating a stick. Her white coat and pink mane were horribly stained with brown and red. Her magenta eyes were filled with anger and determination, ready to inflict pain on whoever went too close. The smaller filly cowered behind her, with a dark blue coat and light blue mane that were as frazzled as her sister. Clinging tightly to the older filly’s legs, she wished over and over again that somepony would just appear and take them away from here. The white-coated filly waved her stick in the air, challenging the unicorns. “You’re not hurting my sister, you monsters!” she cried out.

The group laughed at her vain efforts, like this was all some kind of a comedy act. The biggest unicorn stood among the crowd, his patience nearly breaking up. “If you will stop this foalish attempt, I won’t hurt you.” His grey coat and yellow trimmed mane were as pristine as he first arrived in this town, unlike the others who had a hard time battling the earth ponies that stood their ground. He had this frown at his face, ready to burst into anger anytime. That fact did not wipe out her courage for defending her younger sister.

“You won’t do that. You always hurt us. Die in Tartarus, you worthless jerk!”

She quickly regretted saying that as the grey unicorn charged his horn with yellow magic and pointed it at the two. When a yellow beam of magic blasted out from it, the filly closed her eyes and prepared herself to block the shot with her own body. Surprisingly, she felt nothing hitting her. She gradually opened her eyes, and stared at the unexpected scene with disbelief. 

The yellow beam evaporated upon collision with a purple bubble that had somehow surrounded both her and her sister. After a flash of blinding light, a purple pony stood between them and the unicorns, facing the group with anger. The crowd broke into murmurs, until the leader silenced them all.

“Get out of the way, rogue unicorn. Don’t you know who I am?” The unicorn dramatically placed a hoof in his chest. “I am High Knight Sir Aura Gleam, head of the Knights of Unicornia. Step aside or follow their demise.” He pointed at the two scared fillies. Twilight did not move an inch at his words. She had a steel resolve to defend the fillies. Their acts to torment these two were immoral, and she could not leave them alone here to suffer more of their stupidity. “No, they should not be treated this way. Leave these two in peace, or you’ll get a live demonstration of my magic.” Twilight knew this was an empty threat, however. She couldn’t take all of these unicorns on her own, they were just too many for her to handle. This called for her special signature magic spell, the one spell that had fooled Nightmare Moon in all her glory.

“Everypony, fire at will!” Aura barked without hesitation. Twilight grunted as she hurriedly forced as much magic as she can into her horn and swiftly teleported herself along with the two fillies. The lingering sparks of magic that remained left the group dumbfounded, still trying to comprehend what just happened. The High Knight angrily stomped his hooves at the ground and screamed at the top of his lungs. “All of you, scour the whole village, find those two brats and teach them a lesson!” He snorted, thinking again about the purple mage. Nopony would dare humiliate him in front of his troops. “And if you find that rogue unicorn, bring her to me alive!”

---

The trio appeared in a forest just outside the village. Twilight rubbed her head, soothing it from the pain caused by long ranged teleportation. She always hated to do it suddenly, and now she just pushed her limits to teleport as far as her magic can take them. These recoils just keep getting more and more annoying every time. 

After moments of contemplation, she looked at the fillies she just saved. The white one was still waving that stick of hers like a sword. The younger filly actually seemed happy at what just happened. She poked her older sister to grab her attention. “I think my wishing worked, sis. Somepony did appear and took us away from them.” She looked at Twilight and smiled with enthusiasm. “Did you hear my wish, miss unicorn?”

Twilight smiled back as she continued to analyze the events that just transpired. “I dunno, maybe? Anyway, where are we?”

The white filly refused to drop her guard. “I think we’re in the Trote forest, which is just at the outskirts of Trote.”

Then everything clicked inside Twilight’s mind. The stereotyping ponies and the unicorn raid, stuff she remembered on a certain play. Aura Gleam and Trote, names she read on a very old history book. All of those facts supported her theory on when did she truly appear.

I overshot the spell, and now I’m in the Pre-Equestrian period. What’s more, with the distance of my time travel, I should’ve been brought back to my own time by the time I arrived. Why am I still here?

“Um, miss unicorn, are you okay?” the blue filly asked with worry, although it failed to register in her jumbled thoughts. Don’t worry Twilight, you can fix this. Just check the spell… which I left at the future. Then recreate the spell! It’ll take time, but it is still possible. Just don’t mess up the timeline, and things will be fine.

“Miss unicorn?” the filly repeated. Twilight look at both of them, and realized her mistake. Saving these two fillies just messed up the timeline. Was it even worth it? Why don’t they have cutie marks at their age? They’re still fillies, of course.

“Miss?” Twilight shook her head, trying to straighten out her thoughts. These fillies need my help now.

“Sorry there, I just zoned out for a while. If I can ask, why were those unicorns pursuing you?”

The white filly snorted from that question. “We escaped from Unicornia, since we were treated like rags there,” she exclaimed with anger, saying the word ‘rags’ like it was something she loathed her whole life. “We decided to travel to the Earth Villages. Wherever we go—” she released her hold of the stick, her mind now consumed with emotions “—everypony always forces us to work! All those just because we have magic, and I…” Her eyes were now sheathed in tears, with all those painful memories resurfacing. She sniffed and tried to hold back from crying. “I couldn’t protect my sister from them! And now you’re going to drag us back to Unicornia, to those greedy jerks. Please… leave my sister. Take me instead!” She finally gave up resisting and cried her heart out to the ground, her sister trying her best to comfort her with a hug.

The sight tugged Twilight’s heart. So these two were unloved and abused by everypony they knew. That’s… horrible. She stepped nearer to the poor fillies and wrapped them both with a tight hug. When the older sibling looked at the unicorn’s face, she was greeted by a warm smile which calmed her heart. Inside her very core, she longed for that kind of smile to be given to her. And now all she wanted to do was to bask from its radiance.

“Don’t worry. I won’t force you to do anything,” Twilight said with love. Then a brilliant idea occurred to her. It was silly, in a sense, but maybe they can use it in the future. And this won’t do any major changes in history. “If you want, I can teach you what I know about magic, so that you can defend yourself when the time comes.”

The fillies gasped at Twilight’s idea. They both looked at her with mirth in their eyes. “Really?” Then the white filly’s ears dropped. “But we don’t have anything to pay you with.”

Twilight chuckled at that. “You don’t need to pay me. It’ll be enough for me to know that you’re both safe.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you…” they both repeated as they buried their muzzles into Twilight’s chest. Twilight hugged them closer, like a mother protecting her child from the dangers of the world. I need time to recreate a counter spell, so I can pass some time teaching them.

Releasing them both from the hug, she was happy that their faces now showed a big smile, excited at the prospect of somepony teaching them for free. It was very rare for a unicorn to teach without expecting payment. Back at Unicornia, nopony cared to teach them about simple levitation, since they did not have anything to give. Never in their dreams have they expected this. 

“Oh yeah, we forgot about the introductions. What are your names?” Twilight asked as she looked at them curiously.

The older filly chortled. “My name’s Celeste, and—” The younger filly quickly interrupted her sister. “I’m Selene!” Somehow, those names rang a bell in Twilight’s mind. Choosing to ignore it, she replied, “And I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

Celeste looked at Twilight with thrill. “So, Twilight, does this mean that we can go with you? We don’t really want to go back at the villages anyway.”

How do I support these two when I don’t have anything myself!? Oh well, I’ll think of a way. “Sure. I don’t have a home here too, so we can brave this world together, right?”

The filly sighed in content. Young Selene suddenly jumped for joy upon hearing that somepony would take care for them now. “Yes! Yes! Yes! This is like, the best day ever!” She burst with glee as she looked at Twilight with her innocent olive eyes. “Thank you, Twilight.” She gave her the only thing she could give: A big hug. Celeste joined her sister, thinking the same thoughts. “Thank you, Twilight,” she repeated.

“You’re welcome, girls.” Twilight internally laughed at her next words. Won’t Princess Celestia laugh at these events? If I ever see her again. “Anything for my two most faithful students.”
> Chapter 2 - Foster Mother
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





The three ponies were sitting beside a pond in a forest, all cleaned up after the fiasco at Trote. The bright full moon hung above their heads, their only shelter the stars that surrounded the night sky. A bonfire protected their bodies from the cold winds of the upcoming winter. With wild grass and pond water as their dinner, they talked about their plans.

“Okay, listen up everypony,” Twilight announced to the two fillies. “If what I’ve been hearing is true, winter is coming soon. We can’t stay in the forest, or we’ll freeze to death. We must find a place for us to crash. What’s the nearest village aside from Trote?” Selene was too consumed with the grass to notice Twilight’s question, so Celeste spoke for both of them.

“The nearest village here is the Southern Earth. It’s the biggest village next to Central Earth, so we can get all the things we need. It’ll be a three-day hike from this forest. Wait, how do we even get the things we need without anything to trade?”

Twilight thought about it for a second. “You’re right, we don’t have anything. We can’t just find precious objects around the ground.” Her mind clicked. “Actually, we can!” 

The older sibling looked at her with confusion. “What?”

Twilight gave her a big smile. “We can find gems on the way.”

“But that’ll take time! Winter would reach us by the time we can find one.”

The purple pony pointed at her horn. “That’s when magic comes in.” Rarity, you don’t know how much we are in debt to you. Contented with the amount of grass in her stomach, she called their attention.

“We’ll talk about that tomorrow. For tonight, we shall start our first lesson in magic: Control.” That was the first lesson Princess Celestia taught her, so why not to them both? They also needed the basics to try harder spells. The two fillies’ attention was now on her. Twilight levitated four pieces of stone from the ground and waved them in the air with fluid-like movements.

“Since you already know basic levitation, you need to know how to control it properly.”  

Selene’s face dropped at those words. “I don’t.”

This information prompted Twilight to change the lesson plan for her. “That’s alright,” she said reassuringly. After silently examining the stones, she gave Selene the smallest stone in the group, and Celeste the rest. “Selene, you concentrate levitating this stone. For you Celeste, levitate each of these three stones simultaneously.”

They both nodded and started on their assignments. Selene, for her part, was doing her best to concentrate all of her willpower at the small stone. Sadly, the sparks at her horn would quickly fade in seconds. Celeste could only maintain two at most. After the third stone, they all fell to the ground. Twilight decided that the younger pony needed help first.

“Hmm. Selene, why don’t you first try to imagine what you want the stone to do? Then allow your magic to make your will happen.”

After a few more attempts, the stone still refused to budge. Selene’s face then fell to a pout. “It can’t! Maybe it’s immune to magic.” 

Twilight patiently smiled at her. “Don’t think that it can’t. Think that you can.”

With those words echoing in her brain, Selene closed her eyes and shut everything out except for her and the troublesome stone. She released her very soul to it and felt some slight magic envelop both the small stone and her horn. She peeked to see if it worked, and indeed it did; the stone was now hovering above the ground, surrounded by a faint light blue magic. 

“I did it!” The ecstasy that surrounded her was so strong that she didn’t even notice the stone drop. “Did you see it, Twilight? Did you see it?” 

She felt even happier when Twilight’s eyes shone with pride. “That was great, Selene! Rarely anypony does it that quick. I’m so proud of you.”

Those words gave Selene the push to hug Twilight again. She returned the gesture and released it after what seemed like hours. “Okay now. Try to master levitating the stone. Can you do it?” The small unicorn’s eyes were filled with determination not unlike her sister. “Yes, Twilight!”

Twilight then turned next to the other unicorn. Anger was clearly written in her face. Every time the stones fell, she would rage on them like they were her enemies. Twilight came nearer and comforted the filly. “Are you alright?”

“These stupid stones won’t cooperate! They always fall apart when I pick up the third stone.” The anger was now turned into sadness for failing her work.

The purple unicorn levitated the stones and made them twirl around her charge. “For this, you need to clear your mind and think of them as one, not separated. Each of them must have a common goal. In your case, it’s simply to raise them up. If chaos takes hold…” She suddenly released her hold to the stones, making an audible thump as they hit the ground. “You’ll lose them.” Twilight encouragingly smiled at her. “You can do it.”

“So, all I need to think is the harmony between the stones?” Celeste asked. Twilight did nothing but nod at her. With that undying determination in her eyes, she let harmony reign in her heart. She found it much easier to command the stones now, as they were all currently floating in midair. She felt a connection to each of them, and used that harmony inside her to unite them to one goal. It was an odd experience for Celeste, but liked it nonetheless.

After a while, she got tired of moving the stones around and gently placed them back on the grassy ground. She had a satisfied smile in her face, and gave it to her wonderful teacher. “That was great! Thanks, Twilight.”

She smiled back and placed her hoof on the filly’s shoulder. “Both you and your sister are really talented, I can say. By this rate, it won’t take you long until you can cast all of the spells I know.”

This made Celeste beam like her sister. “Really?”

“Really.”

Their chat was interrupted by a yawn from the blue filly besides them, her small stone on top of her head. Twilight giggled at the cute sight presented to her, and settled to call it a day. “Okay everypony, that’s enough for today. We’ve got a big day ahead of us tomorrow.” 

Without much ceremony, they all lay near each other, just near enough the fire to give them sufficient heat. Using the leaves she found nearby that were big enough for the fillies, Twilight gently covered their fragile bodies to protect them from the cold. She then curled up like a ball to make her whole body fit the makeshift blanket. “Goodnight, girls,” she silently whispered to them. “Goodnight, Twilight,” they replied.

The unicorn's thoughts drifted to the memories of the ponies she valued most in her lives. Her friends, her family, her teacher... even if they were millenniums away, she could still feel their love resonating inside her heart. With two new ponies to add in her circle of friends, everypony back would be delighted to hear about them. Yes, in the end, what matters most is that evepony ends up smiling. I must've hung around Pinkie Pie too much these few days, she's been rubbing off on me.

With her muzzle curled up, she allowed herself to rest her mind. Don’t worry, friends. I’ll go back to the future. Even if it’ll take me a lifetime.

---

Twilight was awakened by a light tug on her mane. It was still dark around, with only the feeble light of burnt ashes remaining from the once blazing flames. As she turned her back, she realized that it was Selene tugging her mane. There were tears on her eyes and a frown on her face. “Twilight, can I sleep next to you tonight? I had a nightmare.”

Twilight drew the pony closer and engulfed her inside her hug. “Of course you can.” 

Selene hugged her tighter, like she would leave this very instant. “You know Twilight, you’re the only pony who showed me and my sister kindness.” She sniffed as her tears now flowed freely in Twilight’s fur. “Everypony, even our parents, treated us like we meant nothing. And now you appear out of nowhere and taught us all of these wonderful things. And you also said you’ll take care of us.” She looked at Twilight’s eyes with desperation. “Can you be our mother?”

Those words rocked Twilight’s very core. She never expected to mean this much to these two fillies. If I do this, I can really pose a threat to the timeline in the future. To Tartarus with the timeline; that’s future Twilight’s problem. For now, they have been devoid of motherly love their whole lives. These two wonderful fillies deserve a good mother. What right do I have to deny that? But can I even fill that role? No, Twilight, you've got to help them; you have no excuse!

“If you want to.”

With those words in her mind, Selene closed her eyes and let peaceful thoughts into her mind. She had a mother who loved her now. Twilight’s final words served as a sweet lullaby for her ears as she drifted off to sleep. The nightmares wouldn't be coming back anytime soon.

---

As consciousness began to grip Twilight, she overheard a conversation behind her. Deciding to listen for a while, she continued to shut her eyes.

“You asked her WHAT!?” Celeste’s voice was filled with shock.

“I asked her to be our mother, and she said ‘If you want to.’ And I want to!”

“Are you sure you weren’t just dreaming? Nopony just wants to become our mother overnight.”

“She said so. And she’ll be my mother, no matter what you say.”

Twilight decided to act, giving out a yawn to enhance the authenticity of her supposedly recent sleep. “Morning, girls. What do you want for breakfast today?” Looking around, she noticed a patch of mushrooms growing below a tree not far from them. Are those even safe? “Mushroom soup, anypony?”

Selene quickly dashed to her and hugged Twilight’s foreleg tightly. “Tell her, Twilight. Tell her that you agreed to become our mother.”

Twilight looked at the older sibling awkwardly. After a short pause, she gave her reply. “Yeah, I kind of did. I’m not forcing anything on you, of course.”

Celeste’s face became a mixture of emotions, varying from shock, confusion, and worry. This mare just saw us yesterday, and now she’s offering to be our mother? Is it even possible? Come to think of it, she’s the only pony who wanted to teach us magic. She is very kind too, unlike the other ponies we met. Does she even like us? Can it be true that she really wants to be our mother? After moments of thinking, her face was now filled with longing. Longing for a kind mother she never had. The filly smiled shyly, looking at the ground as she could not last at looking at those purple eyes which now seemed to be full of limitless love. The mumbles from her mouth were incomprehensible at first. But after putting a bit more energy on it, she could finally force the words out.

“I-I’d lo-love to be… yo-your da-daughter.” Her blush could not be hidden by her white coat. After finally mustering enough courage to look at her eyes, she could see that both Twilight and her sister were smiling. “Told you so,” Selene said teasingly. 

---

Twilight, what are you doing? A voice inside her head called out. Twilight knew this voice: It was that voice who always countered her thoughts. I’m adopting these fillies, of course. Why, what’s wrong with that?

The voice grew a bit angrier. What’s wrong with that? At this rate, you’ll be adopting Equestria before sundown! And besides, you’ll need to leave them at some point, right? Those words made her question her decision. Yeah, once I finish the time spell, I need to leave these two. Maybe I should tell them to question themselves, too.

Don’t! A new voice emerged, this time kinder than the previous one. They need you today; you said it yourself last night. Until they find a suitable home, it is your duty to be with them, being their foster mother and all. Twilight nodded at that idea. You’re right, I’ll find a place for them to live peacefully. Ha, all of this in one day.

---

“Twilight, the mushroom soup’s burning.” 

Celeste’s voice snapped Twilight Sparkle out of her reverie. Sniffing some stray smoke that came from the soup, she carefully levitated a blob of water from the pond and sprayed it at the fire. The soup was cooked at a large wooden makeshift bowl carved from a tree using nothing but magic. She filled three similar smaller bowls with a generous amount of soup. “Eat up, girls.”

The breakfast discussion contained nothing but Celeste and Selene’s life, which rather made them uncomfortable. Twilight decided to change the topic by telling them her adventures with her friends, specifically with that one dragon and Fluttershy. This perked up their attention rapidly. Although Twilight did not mention specific names for fear of timeline disruption, they were so hooked that they did not even realize that the soup was gone when she was at the edge of her story.

“After seeing her friends hurt by the dragon, the once shy pony was filled with willpower. She stared at the gigantic beast, and gave him a piece of her mind. It was effective, as the dragon left his cave and freed our little town from being covered in smoke for a century.”

“Whoa,” the two fillies said in unison. “So you mean that this friend of yours could stare at any animal and subdue them? How’s that even possible?” Celeste asked with awe.

“Well, I really don’t know how. But I can tell you, that dragon didn’t stand a chance.”

Selene was bouncing with excitement. “Can you tell us another story?”

Twilight chuckled at their lively display of enthusiasm. “As much as I wanted to, we really must get going right now if we want to reach Southern Earth in time.”

After washing the bowls they used, Twilight packed them on a clumsily-made saddlebag created from last night’s leaf blankets and some vines they found hanging around. It was enough to keep the wooden bowls and future gems they might encounter.

“Everypony ready?”

Both Celeste and Selene smiled in return.

“Ready!”
> Chapter 3 - Stars of Twilight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





To say that Aura Gleam’s day had been terrible was probably a very big understatement. His team had not only failed to get sufficient food from the now-deserted village, but also failed in capturing those two rascals who were towed away by a unicorn with the ability to teleport. Sadly, his problems did not end there. The Earth villages would also be hearing about their raids soon, and thus would be preparing their defenses before they could reach the nearest earth pony settlement.

He was pacing inside the biggest hut in Trote, which was once the town hall before they occupied the place. The hut did contain a large timber table, probably for meetings and the like, but that was it. There were no cushions to sit on, nor any gems to adorn the walls. And for some perverse reason he could not comprehend, Aura did not care. All the unicorns in his army had taken their refuge in the village, and would be bound to return to Unicornia in three days. Winter was terribly near. With nothing but a few vegetables that some earth ponies left behind, the unicorn king would be very displeased.

“Sir, a message from Unicornia,” a grey unicorn interrupted as he entered the grand hall. A scroll was securely placed his hooves, protecting it from any damage. “They must be asking about—”

Aura Gleam unceremoniously snatched the letter away from the messenger with his magic. “Status report,” he flatly asked while reading the contents of the letter. The capital was requesting them them to give a report on their mission, and expected for some good news. These things kept getting worse every second.

“We searched the whole village, but there seems to be no sign of any large food stash the earth ponies could have hidden. However, some of the crops are fit for harvesting, so we can use those instead.”

The High Knight simply nodded. After a long silence that permeated the room, the lesser unicorn decided that his superior wanted something more.

“We also were not able to find any traces of the fillies and their abductor, but we can assume that they are on their way to Southern Earth. It is the nearest village here, and the only place they can stay during the winter.”

If there was a time to pursue those two troublemakers, it was not anytime soon. “Very well. Tell the king whatever we have, but make sure to leave the good parts at the end.”

With a small bow, the unicorn went for the door to leave the High Knight’s presence.

“Oh, and give emphasis on the rogue unicorn,” Aura said before he was completely out of earshot. “Foalnapping my daughters is a pretty serious offence, is it not?”

---

Twilight, Celeste and Selene had been walking for hours straight since they left their little camping site. Halfway of the said walk, Selene gave up and accepted Twilight’s offer for a ride on her back. The road they were trudging progressively changed from the grassy forest floor of the woods to the soil of a land surrounded by rocks.

“Where is this?” Twilight asked the filly walking beside her, whose face was now filled with uneasiness. Even Selene, who was previously enjoying the ride, clutched Twilight’s neck so tightly that she needed to heavily gasp for air every time the filly would loosen her forelegs a bit.

“We,” Celeste said with a gulp, “are in the Gem Front.”

The bookworm tried to whack her brain at the serious déjà vu she felt upon hearing those words. Gem Front, Gem Front, now where have I read that before?

Every echo they created with their hoofsteps earned a wince from the three scared unicorns. Twilight didn't know what to be scared of; rocks that on first glance that seemed to loom over them like a thundercloud waiting to open up spewing rain, or the desolate lands that surround them as they marched endlessly into the barren waste. The wrongness in the air seemed to increase with each hoofstep, but that could just be small grains of dust that got kicked up by small gusts of wind. Somewhere deep inside of the purple unicorn, she was more scared for the fillies’ safety rather than her own.

“Um, can you give me a crash course about the Gem Front?” Twilight’s voice was barely a whisper, as though somepony else was actually listening to the conversation.

“It’s the home of the dreaded Gem Hounds,” Celeste replied with a similar tone.

So that’s where the déjà vu came from. Approximately 400 years ago, relative to Twilight’s own era, Diamond Dogs were called Gem Hounds by the locals of Equestria, due to their obsession to anything that sparkles. It was said that they migrated from a land called Gem Front when they heard about the abundance of gems at Equestria.

Of all the things she could forget, it was chapter 17 of Equestria’s Mysterious Creatures.

A loud howl in close proximity drove Twilight to hastily levitate the walking filly to her back. Before she could even take a step forward, she was unexpectedly surrounded by a dozen of Gem Hounds that came from the ground. These dogs looked similar to the ones that ponynapped Rarity and forced her to do manual labor, Twilight noted. The only difference was that they wore no accessories, and their putrid smell was much more detectable by a significant level.

“You ponies steal gems. Ponies will pay,” one said at them with an apparently hoarse voice.

“Yes, ponies pay,” the rest followed like zombies.

“Bu-but we didn’t steal any gems!” Twilight desperately countered. She could feel the girls fidgeting at her back, and she was certain that they can feel her too. Beads of sweat started to form around the unicorn’s forehead as she thought of a way to escape.

“Pony steal gems. Pony pay.”

Teleporting was useless. Without appearing just at the edge of Trote Forest plus Celeste’s freaky knowledge of the lands, they wouldn't have even known what direction they were supposed to walk. Another long range teleportation would risk their orientation, and walking around the forest until winter came was a very bad idea. Come on, Twilight. You’ve been through worse before. Make that brain of yours work!

There was a murderous intent in all of the dogs’ eyes. Four of them, unable to hold back any longer, lunged for the kill at breakneck speeds.

If there was a fact to be known in Equestria, it was that Twilight was not only a very powerful pony, but a clever one, too. If not, everypony should’ve been plummeted into eternal night while dancing in chocolate rain. If not, Ponyville should have been erased from the map by an Ursa Minor. But of all the times she had to be clever, now was the most appropriate of them.

Twilight quickly casted two spells with perfect precision: One was Rarity’s gem finding spell, and the other a simple levitation spell. The four dogs that foolishly attacked were flabbergasted when four fat rubies rapidly burst out from the ground and sent them flying back to their equally shocked companions. Even Celeste and Selene were surprised at the unexpected technique she had used. 

One dog recovered from the shock and saw a very rare opportunity at that attack. “Pony can find gems. Pony work for dogs. Pony find gems.”

The other dogs were also now aware of this fact and was rambling the same thing the previous dog had said.

“Here’s the plan. I distract the Gem Hounds, you collect the stray gems around and place them in my saddlebags. Okay?” Twilight half-heartedly said, her mind focusing on the two spells. This must be done with precision, or it wouldn't work at all.

The two nodded in unison. They were confused if they should be scared for their lives or scared for the dogs’ lives. Either way, they had an important job on their hooves, and were determined to carry it out. Selene was clearly thrilled to use her levitation to help.

Three dogs, who were slightly bulkier than the others, jumped in the air and tried to pin the unicorn down. It was then that three topazes swooshed up in the air and hurled the dogs back at a distance. Those who went dashing straight at her were tripped by stubs of quartz that silently appeared at their feet. Those who stayed at a distance were shot by amethysts that were thrown like pillows in a pillow fight. As their numbers began to dwindle, their courage began to fade. At her back, she could feel her saddlebag getting heavier, a good sign that her girls were really fit for the job.

At the corner of her eyes, she spotted a lone dog blowing a stick. Realizing what he was actually doing, Twilight hurriedly pulled the stick away from him and broke in into two pieces. Using another ruby, she placed the dog in an induced sleep.

Unfortunately, the deed was already done; the three felt the ground slightly shake as dozens more of Gem Hounds came rushing to the call. In the horizon formed forms of the dogs, all ready to tear apart pony flesh. Any second now, they would reach her and would be powerless against their numbers. A group of twelve dogs she could handle. Thirty was suicide. Fifty was overkill. She began to grow pale as the last sparks of hope died inside. As the tremors began to grow stronger, the color of the world began to fade. This was a very impossible fight, and even the two fillies knew that fact. Celeste was firmly hugging Selene, who was firmly hugging her neck. Was she really going to die here in the past?

She felt tears touch her freezing coat, which made her heart ache like mad. Not only had she failed to go back to her friends, but she had also failed to protect the kids she sworn to protect. I am the WORST mother ponykind has ever seen, one day as their mother and she gets them killed. Where were the Elements of Harmony when you need them? Where was Princess Celestia when you need her? Where was—

“Mommy, I’m scared.”

Those three little words, spoken by Selene’s innocent whisper that was filled with both anxiety and despair, were enough to shut every single doubt Twilight once had. Let those Elements of Harmony rot in a box, let Celestia be imprisoned in the sun, but there was one fact the universe needed to accept:

Nothing was going to hurt her daughters.

That spark of love that blossomed in Twilight’s very soul had somehow amplified her magic to the extent that she could feel every single gem in the vicinity, from diamonds as small as a tooth to quartzes as big a head. Using the newfound harmony in her heart, she connected every single gem to one goal.

The dogs were very close to the trespassers. They could already smell the ponies, and any second now, they would again kill the unfortunates who dared to cross their land. And maybe they would try pony flesh again. Many says that young fillies—

A gigantic earthquake made every single Gem Hound stop in their tracks. After a few seconds of recovering, some fell from the strength, but the others continued to walk despite their shaky legs, with thoughts too hideous for ponies to even think about. Nothing could now stop that primal instinct to protect their land from outsiders, not even—

Gems. Hundreds and hundreds of gems of different sizes suddenly erupted from the ground all around Twilight and her two charges, and constantly barraged every single dog who once had that thought that they could defeat the most powerful mage that has ever existed. This continued for a full ten seconds until the sky was completely filled with all the gems she pulled out. They all looked like stars on a summer sky, shining magnificently along with the sun itself. The light reflected by each gem saturated the whole land with the colors of the rainbow, dancing elegantly among the dogs and the fillies who reveled in its splendor.

Sadly for the dogs, those stars were of Twilight’s will, and every single one of them wanted to protect her daughters.

Celeste and Selene watched in awe as the stars transformed into a sea of colors as it rained down and chased away the Gem Hounds, who were hurriedly digging holes to hide from its terrifying power. The gems danced around like tunas in the sea, perfectly moving in harmony and grace. After that day, generations of Gem Hounds would be living underground for fear of the Stars of Twilight. 

After Twilight’s display of power, she fell to the ground and panted heavily. Now that the Gem Hounds were taken care of, nothing else would trouble them in passing the Gem Front. A great peace overcame Twilight with the knowledge that her two little fillies were safe. She felt like she was lying down on a field of stars as the ground was now covered with an assortment of gems.

Celeste was the first to speak up after minutes of silence. “How… was that possible? You literally controlled hundreds of gems! And…”

“Then all of them suddenly danced around those nasty dogs like they were butterflies…” Selene added.

“… And no unicorn has ever done such a feat before, even the great unicorn mages could only handle twenty.”

Then all of a sudden, both sisters felt very lucky that a unicorn as powerful as Twilight would even waste her time on two ponies who knew nothing about magic, and would say that they would learn every spell she knew when they couldn't even fathom how she could cast two spells at a time.

Twilight looked at them as though she can read their minds. Into their ears, she gently whispered upon their ears:

“You know, a mother would do many impossible things just to protect her precious little daughters. For you both, I would do anything, if it means that you both will have a smile on your faces.”

The emotions that they felt from her words were nothing compared to what Twilight did next: As light as a feather, she gave them the ultimate gesture of love, a tender kiss on each of their foreheads. The two girls cried at Twilight’s chest.

“We love you too, mom.”
> Chapter 4 - The Second Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Under the bright moonlight’s gaze, the two sisters debated about what Twilight should prepare for the evening meal. Although grass was a handy food at times, it was still rather bland for a pony’s taste. Twilight herself had to admit that she was getting sick of it. But after what seemed like hours of constant arguing, the unicorn doubted if it was the right decision to let the fillies choose the meal.

“I tell you, sis. We should have some mushroom stew,” Selene said, licking her lips as she wistfully looked at at the sky. The mere mention of the dish triggered some pleasant memories of a village hut in Trote; a time where they were confident enough to leave a bowl of steaming mushroom stew unguarded.

Celeste sighed in annoyance. “For the hundredth time, we just had mushrooms this morning.” Suddenly, a large grin split her muzzle. “I still think we should try salad, with extra tomatoes!”

“Eeew. Tomatoes taste funny, and not the good kind of funny. Mushrooms are better.”

“Tomatoes.”

“Mushrooms.”

“Tomatoes!”

“MUSHR—”

“Why don’t we compromise?” Twilight hastily interjected, not wanting to see where this argument could lead.

The two fillies blinked at her suggestion, doubt filling their eyes. Celeste was the first to speak up. “How?”

Twilight combed her mind for a good solution. “I can cook two dishes for dinner, if you want. That would take time, but it should be worth the trouble.”

Selene’s ears began to perk. “Can we really have two meals tonight?”

“Of course,” Twilight replied gleefully.

Holding back a squeal, the young filly looked at her sister conspiratorially. Leaning close enough to her ear, once Twilight was out of earshot, she whispered, “If you give me your share of mushroom soup, you can have my salad.”

Celeste gave her a similar look of interest. More tomatoes means more happiness. It was her sister’s loss, after all. “It’s a deal.”

They both silently giggled at their contract, earning Twilight’s attention. Choosing to ignore this adorable display, she called the fillies with a tap on the forest floor.

“Okay, girls. While I’m away, you can both play a game both of you can enjoy.”

Surprisingly, Celeste and Selene frowned at the idea. “Why don’t we practice magic instead?” the white unicorn asked.

This baffled Twilight a bit. She expected them to be ecstatic at the chance to play and have fun. Well, maybe they’re really dedicated to learning magic. With her brow furrowing in thought, she contrived another activity to take up their time as she foraged for food.

Using her magic, she carefully picked four gems from their hoard and waved them in the air. Three of them were diamonds with a purple hue, slightly varying in size. The last one was an emerald as big as a hoof. She gave the three violet diamonds to Celeste, and the lone emerald to Selene.

“I’d like you to practice what you learned yesterday with the gems,” she explained while preparing her saddlebag. “I’ll be away to get ingredients, so you take care of yourselves now.”

They both nodded in approval. Twilight noticed a hint of sadness in their face, so she hugged them as tight as she could. “Don’t worry. It’ll only take me a few minutes.” She didn’t know if it worked, but they were returning the gesture. After a few seconds, she released herself from the hugs and went off to her search.

“Take care, Twilight!” Selene called out as Twilight threaded through the thick trees of the forest.

Celeste, however, couldn’t say anything else. Her mind was occupied with a wish she knew Twilight could grant. A simple wish best left unsaid.

Please, Twilight. Please don’t leave us too.

---

When Twilight came back from her search, the sight of the two fillies struggling with their gems greeted her. Celeste’s purple diamonds were visibly wobbling in the air, the yellow aura that surrounded it fading at times. Selene’s emerald could only stay floating for seconds until it fell. For Twilight, these were major improvements from last night, when they couldn’t even make the stones do what they want.

“I’m back!” she announced, dumping vegetables and mushrooms from her saddlebag to a wooden bowl. Happiness quickly washed out their frustrations, leaving the gems behind to move to Twilight’s side.

“You’re back!” Celeste exclaimed with joy. After a small hug, the filly stared at the stack of vegetables. “Did you find any tomatoes?”

Twilight nodded in confirmation. “I found some along the way.”

Grouping the vegetables in an organized manner, she gave her wards an encouraging smile, mostly directed to herself rather than the fillies. “Now let’s do some cooking!”

---

With Celeste’s help, Twilight was able to prepare both the mushroom stew and salad faster than the mushroom soup she cooked in the morning. Selene wanted to add some mushrooms that she found growing on a tree, only to discover from Twilight that they were highly poisonous and could kill them easily. Since then, she busied herself with staring at the stars, connecting those little dots to form shapes.

“Dinner’s served!” Twilight called out to Selene, who immediately stopped her stargazing and went to the two. True to their word, they both swapped their share of mushroom stew and salad with each other, filling up their small tummies to the brim. It has been silent the whole time, for the two fillies couldn’t do anything but enjoy their meals.  

“That was great! It has been a long time since I ate that much,” said Celeste as she gave her now-empty bowl to Twilight. Selene contentedly wiped the stray piece of lettuce from her muzzle, still puzzled at the thought of just how she was able to finish her food. They both sat there unmoving, thanks to the extra weight, while Twilight used a basic cleaning spell on their bowls. Satisfied with her work, she prepared their beddings using similar leaves from last night.

“Come on, girls. Time to go to sleep.”

The words Twilight said made the fillies’ ears drop.

“But I don’t wanna sleep yet!” complained Selene.

“Yes, Twilight. It’s still early,” added Celeste.

Those two pleading sets of eyes, an irresistible technique well-practiced by foals everywhere, almost forced Twilight to flinch. What now? Two sleepless fillies is a recipe for disaster! What would Fluttershy do? “What about a bedtime story?”

That brought the life back in their eyes. “The one with your friends back where you came from?” the blue filly asked excitedly.

“I was thinking about the three little pigs, but that works fine too.”

Tucking them both on the leafy beds, she randomly searched her memories about the little adventures she had with her friends in Ponyville. Most of them may not be about the fate of Equestria’s future, but they were still precious nonetheless.

“This story is about how Pinkie, a friend of mine, showed me something that both science and magic are unable to explain.”

Their full attention was now on Twilight, without any clear signs of fatigue written on their faces. This was the first time somepony would tell them a bedtime story, and they wanted to treasure every second of it.

“It was a bright and beautiful day in the land of Equestria…”

---

“… After that, I learned that there are things in this world we just can’t explain, and that sometimes, it takes a friend to show you the way.”

The two fillies managed to stay awake the whole time, even when their eyelids seemed to grow heavier with each passing word. Stifling a yawn, Celeste tugged Twilight’s mane to grab her attention. “Did you discover what pinkie sense was, later on?”

“Sadly, I didn’t. But it is, as I said, impossible to explain Pinkie as a whole. I learned that the hard way.”

Selene let out a small laugh. She never failed to crack up in the parts where Twilight was hit by something falling from the sky every time Pinkie’s tail twitched.

“It’s just like magic,” she said in a whisper, closing her eyes. “We don’t understand it, but we just accept it.”

Twilight wanted to argue about that; she understood almost everything there is to know about the study of magic. “You don’t understand it? But it’s written in every kindergarten-level magic textbook around! How could you even—

You’re in a time before professional magic practitioners, Twilight. Everypony here treats magic as a grab-bag of arcane curses. 

“Yes, just like magic,” Twilight finally said, ending it with a heavy sigh.

In a few seconds, the silent air of the forest night was filled with the peaceful snores of the fillies. Left alone without any distractions, Twilight could not help but take her time thinking about just how much she had become attached to these unicorns she had just met yesterday. Leaving them behind in this world was becoming very close to something that she would not even dare to consider. Then what would happen if I finish the spell? What if I can’t find them a suitable place to live? Will I leave them? Pain gripped Twilight’s heart, unable to bear the thought of choosing between her life in Equestria and her life with her foster children. She thought she had resolved this fear already, but her doubts got the better of her. It’s not like I just waltz around this place, tell the world to love them, and then be happy back at the future. It just… doesn’t work that way.

Family will never be easy, but it’s something we must fight for.

She felt the words form inside her head, cool as a breeze in a summer night. Even so, her mind simply couldn’t sweep the harsh truths under a convenient rag. How do I fight for it when I could risk the world itself? What’s the use of fighting for something when I know it will not end well?

Silence filled the air again, and she sensed the maddening embrace of sadness. Looking at the sleeping fillies, she could see a small smile on their muzzles, probably dreaming something nice for a change. With that image, she felt the hollow voice again.

You know, a mother would do many impossible things just to protect her precious little daughters. For the two of you, I would do anything, just to see those happy smiles.

Her eyes widened at the realization, as the memory of those words echoed inside her. For reasons unknown, she defeated fifty Gem Hounds armed only with a threat and a dozen dozen gems. She remembered that spark of love, how it felt so right at that moment. Yes, I will risk my own future just to give them a place where they can live in love and kindness. I will fight for this because they are my family.

For the second time in their relationship, she felt that she was truly their true mother. Succumbing to the sweet call of sleep, she smiled at the last thought that hung in her mind.

Friendship is magic, yet family even more so.
> Chapter 5 - Welcome to Southern Earth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


        The playful sunbeams of the rising sun reached Twilight’s eyelids, making her groan in annoyance. “Put the sun back down, Princess,” she muttered out as she did her best to cover her eyes with her hooves. It was a useless effort, however, as she felt two ponies furiously tugging her mane.
        
        “Twilight! Twilight! Wake up!” exclaimed Selene, jumping with excitement.
        
        “Look what we did, Twilight! Look what we did!” Celeste said as she tugged even harder.
        
        Twilight looked at them with confusion, trying to find the sisters' source of enthusiasm. The smell of smoked grass hit her nostrils, forcing a pained wince.
        
        “What did you two do?” Looking around furtively, she half-expected to see the whole forest burning down to ashes. What instead caught her attention were three bowls laid on the grassy forest floor, filled with steaming-hot… grass soup. For some insane reason, the girls found water, boiled it and proceeded to cram grass all over. The dish’s weirdly enticing aroma aside, Twilight could not believe that somepony would ever create such a travesty.
        
        “We couldn’t find any mushrooms, so we used grass instead!” explained Celeste, placing a hoof on her chest. “It was my idea.”
        
        “I helped in finding a lake!” Selene quickly added.
        
        Twilight was about to complain about how grass soup didn’t seem like a good idea when she realized that these two just wanted to make her some breakfast in bed. Warmth quickly replaced disgust, and a smile began to creep on her face.
        
        “Thank you, both of you,” she said, stretching her forehooves and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. As much as she wanted to return to the land of dreams, there was work to be done.
        
        With a grunt from Celeste, the three bowls were successfully lifted closer to the group, all wrapped in a faint yellow glow. One of the advantages of sleeping outdoors was that you didn’t need to walk down stairs to eat. Maybe I should go camping more often?
        
        ---
        
        It. Was. Horrible.
        
        Despite its lovely aroma, Twilight could not help but plug a hoof in her mouth to resist barfing up. Luckily for her, Celeste and Selene didn’t notice anything, too busy enjoying that vile soup they created. Every sip of the offensive liquid was a punch to Twilight’s guts. Once the aftertaste would kick in, she dearly wished to be spared of this fate and just be given the baked bads Pinkie and a sleep-deprived Applejack made a long time ago. Celeste was supposed to be an excellent cook. Oh Celestia, what did I do to deserve this?
         
        “Isn’t this great?” Selene turned to Twilight. “Who knew grass could taste so good!”
        
        Twilight hastily removed her hoof from her mouth and gave the young filly the biggest smile she could conjure up to hide her displeasure, so big that it hurt her cheeks. “Who knew?”
         
        When Selene turned back to her soup, Twilight dropped the smile and quickly cast a teleportation spell, teleporting her soup as far away as possible. Looking back and forth at the two fillies, she sighed in relief as none of them noticed the flash of light from her horn. Setting the now-empty bowl down, she decided to start a conversation.
        
        “So, Celeste, based on what you said earlier, we should be reaching Southern Earth today, right?”
        
        Slurping the remaining soup on her own bowl, Celeste gave Twilight a thoughtful look. “I thought we’d arrive there tonight. Usually, Selene and I uses a detour to avoid Gem Front. But by the looks of this place, we’ll reach Southern Earth before lunch for sure!”
        
        After a short pause, Celeste hit her forehead with her hoof as an important thought struck her. “How could I forget? Twilight, we need cloaks.”
        
        Twilight considered that request as soon as she picked up on what Celeste was referring to. “Because we’re unicorns and we’re going to an earth pony village.”
        
        “That, and Southern Earth knows me and my sister.” 
        
        Twilight’s vivid imagination was already running ahead of Celeste. Unicorns in an Earth pony village bigger than Trote ­— perhaps double, if not triple — would be trouble, putting it mildly… You’ll be fine. Remember your major advantage.
        
        “Trust me, we won’t need cloaks,” she calmly replied, giving the young filly a confident smile.
        
        Their discussion was cut by a loud burp from Selene. “I bet you sister, Twilight have one of those fancy spells to make us invincible!”
        
        “It’s invisible,” Twilight corrected. “And no, invisibility would far too much magic. Instead, I have something better.”
        
        The fillies nodded in unison, and glanced back at their bowls. Even if they wanted more soup, it took them a long time to find some water.
        
        Twilight, noticing that look in Celeste and Selene’s eyes, levitated the bowls in the air and quickly placed them inside her makeshift saddlebag, cutting any idea of more soup.
        
        “That’s enough soup for today. For now…”
        
        Giving Celeste and Selene a smile, Twilight scrunched her face in concentration as wisps of lavender magic accumulated around the intrepid trio. 
        
        As time and eyes dilated, as the air shifted and visions swam, a blinding flash of light followed in the hoofsteps of a power flare unseen… Celeste and Selene, as inexperienced in the ways of power as they were, still felt its passage quite keenly and cried out in fear. As the spell drew towards its climax, Twilight’s control faltered, almost breaking the work of illusion with an explosion. Trixie made it look so easy...
        
        ---
        
        Eventually, Twilight dragged herself to her hooves to recover. Shaking her head to clear the botched spell’s aftereffects, she asked, “Is everypony alright?”
        
        Instead of the fillies she knew, she was greeted by a version of them she visualized on her mind. The older filly wore a bubblegum pink coat with a raspberry pink mane that flowed with the wind. The younger one had a dark green coat and a fluffy mint green mane.
        
        “What happened?” Asked Celeste, oblivious to the change. Realization dawned as she looked at her hooves — pink instead of her natural white.
        
        “I’m... I’m...”
        
        “Pink!” Selene blurted out, laughing while rolling on the ground. It was a funny color — which her sister hated — and now Celeste was pink all over.
        
        They both turned their heads to Twilight, and noticed what was different: her horn, or rather, her lack of a horn. Looking up to their foreheads, the fillies realized that it wasn’t only Twilight who lacked one.
        
        “Your horn! My horn! Ahhhh!”
        
        Twilight sighed at the sight of the two fillies desperately tapping their foreheads for the chance that it might still be there somewhere. “Girls, it’s just an illusion spell. Calm down, please!”
        
        That got Twilight’s desired effect and made them both freeze to their tracks. “Illusion spell?” asked the ever-curious Celeste.
        
        Twilight chuckled, stepping behind an imaginary lectern, “There are many schools of magic, one of which is the art of fooling the senses, illusion. Yes, you can’t feel your horns right now, but don’t worry, they’re still there. We don’t have the time to discuss the details right now, unfortunately. Now, as for your new names...”
        
        Celeste’s eyes grew wide as she jumped with excitement. “Oh! Oh! I’ll be Saddlelia!” She looked at her younger sister, who was still poking her skull. “And you can be Elamane!”
        
        “Pun names?” asked Twilight with resentment clear in her voice. Puns are the lowest form of jokes, and using them in names wasn’t really a good thing. She could excuse Equestria’s towns having pun names although you have a perfect opportunity to fix that, don’t you… but she definitely wasn’t going to allow her surrogate daughters to start off on the wrong hoof with their new disguises. “Actually, I have a better idea...”
        
        ---
         
        If Trote was about the size of Ponyville, then Southern Earth would be as big as Manehattan. As the second largest earth pony village, with one of the five largest food-producing farms, the whole town made it a point to enforce security. Immense stone walls as sturdy as mountains surrounded the entire area, ruining any chance the unicorns could have of raiding the town. Some parts of the walls had tall towers with crossbows, making any pegasi think twice before attacking from the skies. Southern Earth has always been considered as a bastion of relief for those earth ponies weary of the tribe wars.
        
        Two bulky ponies wearing leather armors stood in front of the gigantic wooden doors which served as the main entrance to the town. Their eyes never wavered, always alert to any movement. Both of them had many experiences of pegasi and unicorns trying to sneak inside past the walls, so nopony even dared to smuggle anything in or out of the village.
        
        The guards both simultaneously squinted as they spotted three figures approaching from the depths of the forest. By habit, they first checked their backs and foreheads. Seeing them both bare, the guards relaxed.
         
        When the group drew closer, the guards were finally able to see them much more clearly. They were composed of a mare and two fillies, who seemed ragged and tired from traveling. The mare had a vibrant lavender coat and navy blue mane with a strip of violet and pink. She wore a bulging saddlebag made of leaves and vines, its contents unknown to the guards. 
         
        “State your name, your home village and your business here,” a guard said in a no-nonsense gruff tone, even if his eyes grew a bit softer from the sight that greeted him.
        
        The disguised unicorn in question gave them a sly smile, and motioned a hoof to her chest.
        
        “Good afternoon, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and these two are my daughters.”
         
        “Celestia!” the pink filly blurted out.
         
        “And Luna!” the younger one followed.
         
        “We hail from the village of Trote. Our town was raided by unicorns, forcing us to come here. We seek nothing but refuge in Southern Earth.”
         
        “Oh, those snobbish unicorns are raiding again?” one guard asked conversationally. “They’ll hear from the Chancellor in due time.”
        
        After inhaling as much air as he could, the guard’s voice boomed throughout the place. “Open the gate!”
        
        Seconds passed, and the wooden gate gradually rose, rising up above without haste. As Twilight caught a glimpse of what was in store for them inside, her eyes grew big with wonder.
        
        Market stalls were scattered around the place, presenting everything from vegetables to textiles. It was five times as big as Ponyville market, and earth ponies of all ages flocked the stalls in hope of finding what they needed.  Offers were hurled, and things were traded in exchange for something better. The whole market was so packed that Twilight wasn’t sure if they could pass the sea of bodies.
         
        This would make Ponyville Market look as crowded as the library on a bright and sunny day.
         
        “Whoa,” was the only word that came from her mouth, eliciting chuckles from the guards and the fillies.
        
        “Not much used to big villages, aren’t you?” the guard said, motioning them to enter. “Just don’t make any trouble, and you’ll be fine.”
         
        Without another word, the three ponies stepped past the huge walls into the markets.
         
        “And one more thing!” the other guard shouted before the three were lost into the sea. Twilight looked back, curious to what the guard may say.
         
        “Welcome to Southern Earth.”
         
        ---
        
        “Why should I be pink?” complained Celeste, still disappointed by Twilight’s choice of color for her.
        
        After what seemed like an eternity of fighting through the market ponies, the group finally found an isolated alley nearby to rest and plan. There were towering stacks of barrels everywhere, and a boarded backdoor on the wall, unused for many years. Seeing this as a perfect spot to separate themselves from the chaos around, they took the opportunity to take the place and let lunch wait for a while.
        
        “I think it’s a beautiful color, sis,” Selene said sarcastically, snickering at her sister’s misfortune. Knowing her sister’s relationship with the color pink, this could probably win first place on her list of ‘Things to Bug Sister With.’
        
        “Har har, Luna.” replied Celeste. “My name is still better than yours.”
        
        Selene’s experienced mind took that sentence as an open fire from her sister. “Celestia just sounds as bad as Celeste. Luna sounds better.”
        
        “Well, yours sounds like a crazy moon pony. Mine’s for a princess.”
        
        “It’s MY name that’s for a princess, not yours.”
        
        “Mine.”
        
        “Mine.”
        
        “Mine!”
        
        “MI—“
        
        “Enough!” Twilight shouted, loud enough that she wouldn’t be surprised if the whole village heard her. She didn’t know if these two just fought for the sake of it, but it was getting quite annoying.  Aside from the usual market noise around them, silence reigned from the three, with only glances of annoyance between the two siblings. Moments passed until one of them gathered the courage to speak up.
        
        “We’re sorry, Twilight,” said Celeste with a distressed voice.
        
        “Yes, we’re sorry,” followed Selene.
        
        They both looked at Twilight with tears threatening to burst forth from their eyes, silently pleading for forgiveness. Twilight didn’t know if she had gone too far, yet held that thought for the time being.
        
        “I forgive you,” she replied, giving the fillies a small smile, and earning two in return. “Just... not in the middle of town, please.”
        
        The cheerful atmosphere that had once surrounded them promptly returned when what started as a small chuckle from Twilight descended into roars of laughter from them all, laughing for no apparent reason. It took them seconds, or maybe minutes— nopony really cared at all— until the laughter subsided. Seeing this as the perfect chance, Celeste tried to get Twilight’s attention.
        
        “Why give us those names? Our suggestions are better than Celestia and Luna.”
        
        Twilight gave her a flat look. “As far as I know, those names are clearly better than ‘Saddlelia’ and ‘Elamane.’ Seriously, who uses horse pun names?” Her expression suddenly changed into a sly smile. “And besides, ‘Celestia’ and ‘Luna’ are names of princesses.”
        
        The revelation caused Selene’s interest to spike, who at first didn’t care much about where the names came from. “Really? But won’t they get angry if we use them? I know Princess Gold gets angry whenever somepony tries to name their filly ‘Gold’.”
         
        “It’s alright. They probably wouldn’t mind either. My mom was named Twilight too, and she wasn’t angry.” And besides, it wasn't as if these two would ever meet the princesses... Because they are— No. That’s flatly impossible. Celestia and Luna came somewhere around Equestria’s foundation, so that thought was just plain silly.
        
        The toll of missing breakfast by teleporting it into oblivion finally took Twilight as her stomach grumbled. Trying to ease the pain on her stomach by rubbing it slightly, she turned towards the fillies. “So, lunch?”
        
        Celeste nodded. “Okay. That probably is a good idea.”
        
        ---
        
        Going through the crowds once again, Twilight carried the two fillies on her back for fear of separation. Celeste in particular heavily leaned on her ride’s neck, searching for a specific stall she had visited before. The food they offered there, as she remembered,  was a nice break from all the grass and forest food they had been eating for the past days.
        
        “What are we looking for again?” Twilight inquired, pushing through the ponies that blocked her path. Celeste wouldn’t tell her what she was looking for and only told her to roam around the plaza.
        
        “Just trust me, you’ll like the place when we get there,” Celeste replied without removing her gaze from stalls.
        
        “IF we get there. Who knows, maybe they already moved to the next town,” inserted Selene.
        
        “Really, sis? I don’t think they would even think of it.”
        
        Minutes of mindless walking later, Celeste suddenly jumped excitedly, disheveling Twilight’s mane, much to her annoyance.
        
        “There it is, at two o’clock!”
        
        Turning to that direction, she saw a small stall similar to the one Applejack would use to sell her apples. But instead of apples, it featured sweets like cookies, cupcakes and even a pie. This surprised Twilight who did not expect that ancient ponies already had the ability to bake.
        
        But what surprised her more were the two fillies who seemed to be arguing in front of the stall. One wore a cream-colored coat and a well-kept yellow mane. She had a similar stance like Rarity, and assumed an air of regality around her. The other filly was her complete antithesis, complete with a messy orange coat and ragged green mane.
        
        “Pay up, you scoundrel!” barked the orange filly, stomping her hoof on the ground.
        
        “Oh come on. For the last time, I did not steal any of that low-class sweets. Stop blaming me for everything,” the other filly retorted.
        
        Giving in to her curiosity, Twilight came closer to the arguing fillies and asked, “Excuse me, what’s going on?” 
        
        They both turned to her direction, surprised by the intrusion. The messy filly was first to recover from the shock. “Well, little miss Pudding here says she did not steal some sweets, even if she was the only one here,” she hissed, pointing an accusing hoof to the other filly.
        
        “Excuse her for her smartness, Cookie here thinks she has the right to accuse somepony without evidence,” she said to Twilight, still staring at her sworn enemy.
        
        Shifting her gaze from Pudding to Cookie, Twilight tried to compromise. Taking out a big ruby from her saddlebag, Twilight showed the sparkling gem to the orange filly. “If I give you this, will you forget the problem?”
        
        The fillies’ eyes grew as big as saucers. A gem like that could buy her family's’ business twice over, and here it was being offered to her freely. “Is... is that f- for real?”
        
        “Bu- but what about me?” interjected the beige filly, who was just as dazzled by this turn of events.
        
        “You can have one too,” Twilight replied, pulling out a emerald. Without warning, the filly hastily snatched the gem from her hoof, and secured it in her saddlebag. Looking around furtively, she then turned back to Twilight with a far more relaxed expression.
        
        “Well, well. You win this time, Cookie. But don’t expect me to go soft on you,” the filly said before retreating from the scene, fearing that the impossibly generous-seeming mare would take the gem back.
        
        “Is that for real?” repeated Cookie, still staring at the red gem on Twilight’s hoof.
        
        “Of course,” Twilight answered, giving the red gem to the filly. Cookie squealed in delight as she juggled the ruby with her hooves.
        
        “This is, like, the greatest day ever! Won’t mother and father be pleased with THIS! This’ll show The Sweets for sure.” 
        
        “The Sweets?”
        
        “You see Twilight,” said Celeste in a matter-of-factly tone. “The Sweets and the Cakes are the two biggest sweets distributor here in Southern Earth. Ever since their great grandfathers started the sweet-making business, they’ve been fighting for the position of best sweet-maker in all of Southern Earth!”
        
        “She’s right. That filly who just ran off? She’s Pudding, the Sweets’ one and only daughter,” added Cookie. “Their family may be rich and powerful, but that doesn’t have to mean that we can’t stand up with them in business.”
        
        Twilight nodded in understanding. “So, you’re Cookie, if I’m correct?”
        
        Cookie’s eyes widened in horror. “Oh my gosh, I completely forgot to introduce myself.” She quickly grabbed Twilight’s hoof and pumped it vigorously. “You’re right, I’m Cookie, from the Cakes. Nice to meet you!”
        
        “And I’m Twilight Sparkle. And these two at my back are Celestia and Luna,” Twilight replied, disentangling her hoof from Cookie’s.
        
        “Hello there, Cookie, it’s nice to meet you,” said the disguised pink filly, smiling nervously at Cookie. With a weird look and a nod, Cookie returned her attention at Twilight.
        
        “Nice to meet you too. Where are you staying? Haven’t seen you around here these parts before.”
        
        “We’re not from here,” answered Selene. “We’re from Trote!”
        
        “Ah, I have a cousin from there. Where do you stay here?” Before Twilight could even answer, Cookie face was suddenly filled with surprise and excitement. “Wait a minute, if you just came from Trote, it means that you don’t have a home here! Right?”
        
        Twilight awkwardly smiled at the filly, unsure to where she was going. “Of course. But don’t bother, we can—”
        
        “Nonononono, no No! That won’t do at all,” cutted Cookie. “You just gave our family a fighting chance to the Sweets, and it is our duty to give you a home.”
        
        “Are you sure? We don’t want to stir up any trouble, seeing that you’re busy and all,” Twilight said.
        
        “Even if you’re trouble, we wouldn’t turn you down,” the filly replied, now fixing her stand and deftly tossing it’s contents into a cart. ”In fact, I’ll bring you there right now for lunch!”
        
        Twilight sighed. There was nothing right now that could change this filly’s mind, and maybe it was for the better. This solved their major problems for now, sparing Twilight the tiring work of finding somewhere to stay.
        
        “In that case, thank you, Cookie. It would be an honor to stay at your house for the time being.”
        
        “Nah, don’t mention it. It’s just something a Cake does.”
        
        Twilight smiled at the heartfelt statement, even if Cookie’s attention was mostly on fixing up the stall. This would probably be the sta— Wait, what? A Cake? The timeline’s really buggered now... so you should make the most of it!
> Chapter 6 - Smart Cookie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Now… how do I handle this?

Twilight understood the implications of meddling with the timeline. She knew that making excessive changes to history would not only yield to irreversable results, but also bring the small possibility of being unable to return back to her own time. This was the only reason Twilight sought to return as fast as possible (Of course, not without leaving the fillies to a much more capable guardian) while not giving in to the sweet temptation of meeting with famous ponies in history to sate her own curiosity.

Or that was how it played out in her head until now. Meet Cookie Cake, or more known as the Smart Cookie. Anypony who has read a book or two about Equestrian History must've heard that name. She was Chancellor Puddinghead's most trusted advisor, leading the earth ponies to stand equally against the pegasi who could fly freely among the clouds and the unicorns with their magic.

That Smart Cookie, right before Twilight's very eyes. Well, there was also the possibility that this was a different pony. Looking at things from a different angle, having the name "Cookie" doesn't necessarily mean being THAT Smart Cookie. Yes, thinking about it, you don't just meet history-bending ponies by chance.

“So, you ponies are new here, right? Bet the travel from Trote was tough.” Cookie secured the stall and sweets on a cart. She gave the wooden wheels a knock to confirm that everything was in place. "And I would be happy to give you a tour around here."

Cookie's words brought Twilight back to reality. "Huh? Oh, not really. In fact, I think it was fun in its own way." As there wasn't much point in thinking too much about every single thing, she pushed the issue aside to deal with it on a later time.

Selene’s excitement became apparent as she happily hopped inside the cart in a beat. "Yay! This is fun! Onwards, brave steed!” the disguised filly with a deep green coat proclaimed, along with a hearty laugh.

“Sele—I mean… Luna! Get down the cart, you're just dead weight!” Celeste scolded her. But if it wasn't for Selene, she would've jumped on the cart too. Celeste took this chance to show her pride as an older sister, and behaved accordingly.

“But sis, I'm not heavy.” Selene answered, refusing to budge. “Unlike you, heavy as a hundred apples.” Selene stuck her tongue out to deal the final blow.

“I don't weight that much!” Irritation began to well inside the pink filly. “You're the one who weights like a hundred apples!” 

“Says you who eats like a horse.”

"No, you!"

Twilight sighed, wondering why it was always arguing when it came to these two. She gave them a stern glance, reminding them of their promise not to make such a scene in public. "Sorry," both of them apologized in unison, finally ending the feud. Selene still refused to get off from the cart, though.

“No problem, Twilight! A pony or two isn't a problem for me,” Cookie exclaimed, placing a hoof on her chest. “So hop on too, Celestia!”

Celeste's smile beamed at Cookie’s offer. The pink filly jumped besides her younger sister without any intention of hiding her excitement. "Thanks, Cookie!"

“No problem.” The awfully kind Cookie smiled in return. “What could possibly go wrong?”

Nothing much, just that us being unicorns could be revealed, Twilight thought with a wry smile. There were a lot of things to worry about, a lot of problems they were sure to face in the future, but just seeing the figures of Celeste and Selene merrily eating sweets on top of the wagon gave Twilight the resolve to face them all.

Merrily eating sweets?

"Celestia, Luna! Stop randomly eating everything edible!"





A couple of minutes passed, and they finally arrived at their destination: an unassuming two-storey building, one among the many other buildings lined up in a row. The only thing that separated it from the rest was a cupcake-shaped signboard that hung above its door. Oh, there was also this young filly — maybe even younger than Selene — standing besides the door. With a butter-colored coat and a frizzy coffee mane that has never seen a brush, she stood there while glancing from side to side, as if embodying the word "waiting". After catching the sight of Cookie pulling a cart, she dashed forth to greet her sister.

“Cookie. Pretty early?"

“Yep. Guess what, I made a killing today!” Cookie replied enthusiastically, accompanied with a grin. "For the first time in my whole career, I have sold every single thing in the stall! Applause!"

The young filly's eyes glistened in wonder, and watched her older sister with admiration. Applauses and confetti filled the air! Praises hurled from every corner! Fireworks burst forth! Rainbows painted the sky! Flowers bloomed! All these from the butter pony's eyes. 

“That isn't all.” The elated Cookie pulled out a red gem and raised it high in the sky. "Behold, our winter funds!"

“Great! Cookie is great!"

"Right? Don't hold back and praise me more!"

"Awesome! Cool! Super!"

And watching this weird exchange between siblings were Twilight, Celeste and Selene who couldn't find the right moment to intervene.

A couple of compliments later, Cookie finally remembered the presence of the discarded trio. "Sorry, got a little ahead of myself. So to start us off, this here is my adorable sister, Butter Cake." She gently ruffled her sister's frizzy coffee mane and pushed her to introduce herself.

"Butter! I like cookies!" Butter presented herself with a light hop and a blinding smile. This, of course, became a hit to Selene who already stood besides the unsuspecting filly before anypony else could notice.

"I'm Selen… a? Lena? No, Luna! Yep, I'm Luna! If asked, I like mushrooms the best."

"Lena? I'm Butter! Happy to meet you!" Without any warnings, Butter took Selene's hoof and vigorously shook it.

"No, not Lena, Luna."

"Lena!"

And it seems that Lena's small slip brought forth her nickname that shall be used by generations to come… or not.

Celeste, after enjoying the small show between the younger sisters, stepped down from the wagon and took her turn at introducing herself. Despite her best efforts at acting graceful, Celeste's clumsy actions made it somewhat comical. 

"I'm Celestia! Just so you know, tomatoes are extremely superior."

"Lesti! I'm Butter! Happy to meet you!" Celeste, of course, was given the same rough hoofshake course as Selene.

"Lesti?"

Before Celeste could complain about her absurd nickname, Twilight stepped in and gave her own introduction. "And I'm Twilight, the mother of these two."

Silence. In contrast to Celeste and Selene's lively greeting, Butter did nothing but stare at Twilight's eyes. Staring, as if looking past her eyes to read the very depths of her soul. There was once a saying, that the eyes are a window to the soul. At this very moment, Twilight understood what it really meant. Various troubling thoughts came into Twilight's mind. Was the disguise compromised? Maybe this little filly can read minds? She couldn't possibly know I came from the future. But what if—

"Favorite food?"

"Huh?"

"Food!"

Oh, it was that. Twilight sighed in relief, realizing that she was simply thinking too much. The stress of the travel must have caught up to her. She gave her head a shake to cast out her worries. 

"My favorite food? I'd choose sandwiches."

Although not as rough as the previous two, Twilight is still given the obligatory hoofshake. But after that intense stare down, she couldn't help but consider the food-obsessed filly as "eerie".

"Okay then! Now that we're all done with introductions, why don't we go in and make ourselves home?" Cookie concluded the matter for everyone with a smile. "I bet you ponies are dead tired. It's best if you spend the day resting."





"Today sure is tiring," Twilight voiced out, not without a weary sigh. She was currently seated on a wooden chair, taking her time to collect her thoughts. After entering the Cake's residence, the three exchanged short greetings with Mr. and Mrs. Cake(Not the ones she knew back at Ponyville), who without asking for any details agreed to shelter them for as long as they liked. "If our Cookie says you're welcome, then by all means, consider this your home as well," were the only words they left before heading back to attending the shop.

Twilight stole a glance at the bed where both Celeste and Selene huddled together, that smile plastered on their faces probably thanks to reaching a comfortable bed after all those hardships together. A chuckle escapes the lavander pony as she recalled how those two went straight to bed without raising a fuss for the first time. They must've been tired, so very tired.

How pitiful were these two young fillies, burdened with a cruel fate they never deserved? Hated by their own kind, they held no choice but to rely on a total stranger out of nowhere, even going as far as asking her to become their mother. Those two young fillies who—despite all the adversities they faced—could still give out a smile so pure. They were strong, much unlike Twilight who could only worry about every single thing.

A light knock on the wooden door broke Twilight's train of thought. "Come in," Twilight beckoned to whomever was on the other side of the door.

"Then, don't mind if I do." From the outside emerged the young orange filly named Cookie Cake, complete with a night cap on her head. After confirming that nopony loitered outside the room, she carefully shut the door as to not leak a single sound. 

The confused Twilight couldn't guess Cookie's intention for visiting them at a time this late. "Er, do you need something where I could be of assistance?"

A wry smile. What answered her was a wry smile, one that would make all her previous friendly smiles seem like an illusion. Compared to Butter's stare, this smile was creepy on a whole new level, devoid of any innocence a normal smile should have. A wry smile that oversaw everything.

"So, who are you ponies?"

Calm down, Twilight. Maybe her warm milk went down the wrong pipe? There's nothing wrong, and there's nothing to hide. Yes, none at all. "Wh—what do you mean by that?"

Cookie leaned on the wooden door, making herself comfortable. "You look like a smart pony, so what's up with all these obvious mistakes?"

Okay, the warm milk definitely went down the wrong pipe. "Wh—what mistakes?"

"There's a lot to talk about, but here is the biggest mistake you made." The filly pulled out the red ruby under her nightcap. "What the hay is this? As if any normal pony would generously give this huge of a gem just to stop a small filly fight. At first I believed that this gem had some strings attached, but seeing how you didn't even give it a second thought, things naturally fell in place."

"I didn't mean to…"

"You're pretty ignorant of the earth pony ways, aren't you? Gems aren't always the answer to everything, you know. That way of solving things, only a unicorn would resort to. But clearly I don't see the horns above your heads. Well, it doesn't really mean that there's nothing up there, right?"

At this point, Twilight understood just how careless she was when dealing with this strange world. Time and time again she was reminded that this wasn't Equestria, and she couldn't deal with everypony here the same as her own peaceful world. Trudging through this world carelessly, what was she even thinking? Was the whole situation so surreal that she stopped taking things seriously? If she starts making small blunders here, then what kind of cruel future was in store for them?

"I'll ask again: Who are you ponies?"
> Chapter 7 - Something a Cake does
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Heavy silence permeated the whole room, making for a  tense atmosphere between the two ponies locked in a stare-down. Twilight  didn't like this situation one bit. For some reason unknown to her,  their disguises were in danger of being compromised thanks to this  orange filly who wouldn't drop her stare dripping with suspicion. Of  course Twilight had the resolve to protect those two fillies peacefully  sleeping on the bed—even if she had to fight Southern Earth by  herself—but if possible, she wanted this to end without any magic beams.  Think, Twilight, think! Put those prized brain cells of yours to work!

“Hey, I’m still here, you know?” Cookie snapped her out of her thoughts. 

Twilight had no other choice but to answer the filly’s  question as fast as possible to avoid being compromised. It was time to  wing it.

She heaved a dramatic sigh. “Like I've said, we're from  Trote — and we ran away from there after the unicorn raid. They stole  all the food and burned every house. We took all that we could and—.”

“—My cousin! He lives there! Have you seen him? Please  tell me he's okay!" Twilight's words were cut short by Cookie shaking  her whole body.

Obviously, the disguised unicorn wouldn't know who Cookie's cousin was. In the first place, she didn't even know anypony there save for the two sisters (there was that ungrateful earth pony who  attacked her, but unfortunately, she was unable to ask for a name).

Cookie's eyes begged Twilight for an answer, and so an answer she  gave. “...I’ve seen several ponies make their escape.”

“Ugh, this is terrible.” Cookie was disgusted.  “Usually, they march to Trote every year, unfairly taking the food and greedily ordering even more next year. But burning all the houses? Just what were they thinking?”

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” Twilight said.

“No, it’s okay. I hope my cousin's alright.” After  collecting her wits, Cookie mind snapped back to the topic at hoof. “I still don’t see how you got this gem. You didn’t happen to steal it from those unicorns now, did you?”

"Of course not.” Twilight racked her prized mind for another excuse and finally came up with another explanation. “On our way  here, the three of us took a different route from the others. We passed  through the woods then stumbled across the Gem Front. We did pick up a  gem or two, not until those gem hounds almost made it impossible.”

Cookie doubted that the purple pony had survived that  place. She heard stories about the gem hounds, and none of them involved  ponies returning alive. “Just how on earth did you manage to escape  those dreaded gem hounds? They’re tough, fast, and they’re all  carnivores! No earth pony could ever run away from them! They even pop  up from the ground and grab you down to their dens!”

And here she was, Twilight, the pony defeated a whole pack of gem hounds. Where could she even begin explaining this?

“And you just gave away the gem that you’ve risked your life for a common argument that happens every day. Why?”

“Simply put, I’m a generous pony.” Twilight smiled, but  behind her cool facade was a nervous unicorn ready to teleport her and  the kids in a moment's notice.

“That’s, quite unusual for an earth pony.” The filly still couldn't believe.

Twilight couldn’t take any more of her suspicions. 

“Well, if that’s really the case, then I would like to  have my gem back.” She stretched her hoof out, making a gesture of  wanting the ruby back.

Cookie's skepticism was swept away after hearing that  demand. Maybe the purple pony got lucky on running away from the hounds?

No amount of suspicion was worth a ruby. “You know what? Forget it.  Thanks for the gem!” She dashed outside.

Finally. Twilight thought that the filly would never  drop her doubts. After she let out a sigh of relief, the day's events  came crashing down on her as she dropped down to her bed in fatigue. It  was time for some sleep. Closing her eyes, she heard a voice inside her  head.

That was a close call, Twilight.

--- A few hours ago ---
Gem Front. One of the few dangerous places inside earth  pony territory. A battalion of unicorns marched along the glistening  sunset as they arrived at their destination. Gems, jewels, and diamonds  were scattered all over the ground, evidence that a great battle has  taken place on this very land. The first squad held their position and  the others did the same. Emerging from behind was the great leader of  the knights, scanning the area with a sharp glare.

“Why did we stop, Captain?” asked the grey elite knight beside him.

“It’s that rogue unicorn,” Aura Gleam muttered as he scrutinized the scenery, dragging his trots along with his thoughts.

“The one who abducted your fillies?” asked the elite knight as he followed behind him.

Aura Gleam didn’t reply; instead, he coldly stared  towards a certain direction. The loyal knight knew the answer from his  resolute gaze. The captain faced his troops and gave out a new command:  “Let’s set up a forward base camp here. I want this place secured!  Everyone needs to be prepared for the upcoming battle soon!”

The unicorns hustled to their new objectives, piling up  wood and setting up tents. Some just magically did their task. The  first regiment went out to patrol the area as they were ordered while  the others looked for a spot to take a rest from their journey.

“What are you planning?” inquired the grey stallion.

Aura's glare grew even harsher. “We’re going to raid Southern Earth.”

“One of the fortified villages? It’ll be harder than the last one. And we don’t know their infrastructure too well.”

“Indeed. But we already have a unicorn inside there  now, don’t we?” Aura Gleam stared at his officer. “Now go. I want these  words sent back to Unicornia,” he commanded.

The elite knight regrouped back to his squad with a  salute and carried on with his tasks. Aura Gleam knew the purple unicorn  headed there since that was the nearest settlement from this location.  Plus, he sensed a great magical aura leading to the direction he was  facing. 

He levitated one of the scattered gems from the ground as a private came along trotting towards him. 

“Captain, the perimeter is secured. Scanners spotted a  few creatures retreating, but they were gone before we could even  proceed to engage,” he reported.

Must be those cowardly dogs, he thought. Aura Gleam  brought the emerald to the soldier. “Oh, and do collect all these gems,  private. We’re going to use it.”

--- Next Morning ---
The sun has once again unfailingly risen from the  horizon and Southern Earth's streets were filled with its bustling  citizens. Ponies came out from their houses to do groceries at the grand  bazaar. Stalls were set up on every side of the corner on the street.  It was a common sight to see customers argue loudly with the vendors.  And all those noises made Twilight groggily lift her eyelids. Heavy  eyebags could be seen below her eyes, a telltale sign of her lengthy  conversation with Cookie last night. Although Twilight wanted nothing  more than to doze off back to dreamland, it was a luxury she couldn't  afford today. There was that "plan" after all.

“What time is it?” Twilight groaned on the bed with a  blanket to cover her face from the bright light. Letting out a few  stretches to chase away the morning haze, she reluctantly swung herself  out of the bed. Twilight skimmed the room and noticed that Celeste and  Selene weren't anywhere in sight. They must've gone to the kitchen and  ransacked it for food. That thought prompted Twilight to leave the room  and remind those fillies to practice moderation. Before she could do so,  the door slammed open, revealing a butter-coated filly. It was Butter Cookie, her face painted with a never-fading smile.

She came in with a cheerful expression. “Good morning Twilight! I see you’re awake! And about to miss breakfast!” 

After shouting those short bursts of words, she rapidly  trotted back to wherever she came from. The way she followed her own  pace without faltering was similar to a certain pink pony back from  Twilight's own time, making her inadvertently smile. She donned her  tattered cloak and trotted near the window to overlook the busy streets  of Southern Earth, filled with ponies passing by with baskets as their  saddle bags. Twilight noted to herself to reread all those history books she had back in Golden Oaks library. 

Trotting downstairs, she noticed a grand table filled  with sweets and treats. She heard the indistinct chatter of the fillies  as she took her steps. Mr. and Mrs. Cake greeted her before they left  the house.

“Good morning, Twilight,” said Mr. Cake, carrying a  huge box tied up on his back. “Another pleasant day we’re havin’. We  hope you slept well last night.”

Resisting the temptation of mentioning Cookie's unwelcomed interrogation last night, she simply replied, “Yes, I have.”

“We’re glad to hear that from you. It's our first time  having guests staying with us. We’re sorry if there’s anything bothering you here.” Mrs. Cake secured the rope around the box to prevent from  falling.

“I’m fine, thank you for your hospitality.”

“We’re going to deliver these deserts to the refugees today. If there’s anything you need just ask Cookie, she's kinda smart  for her age. Maybe you can help out with the contest,” added Mrs. Cake.

As the couple left the bakery, Twilight was left puzzled about this new event and tilted her head in confusion. "A contest?"

“Oh! You didn’t know?" Cookie popped out behind  Twilight's back. "We always have a competition between the Sweets every  year near winter.”

“Near winter?”

“That’s right,” she replied with a beaming smile. “Oh, I know! I’ll introduce you to my plans.”

"But shouldn't you be worried instead?" Twilight inquired Cookie.

"Of what?" Cookie's ear perked.

"You know, the unicorns." She leaned closer to the  filly to avoid anyone else in the room from eavesdropping. "There may be  a slight chance that they'll raid this village."

Cookie gave a quick scan of the surroundings then  beckoned the purple pony to listen closely. "I’m completely aware of  that, but we shouldn't make a fuss about it."

"Wait, you didn't tell your parents about our conversation last night?"

"Well, just between you and me, they can be a little  too paranoid when hearing the words ‘unicorns’. And telling them that there might be an attack soon? Everyone in the village would be panicked. And besides, we've got the second strongest fortification  among the Earth Villages." Cookie’s normal voice resumed with a cough.  "But anyway, let's get started!"

Without warning, Cookie grabbed Twilight’s hoof and  zipped towards the dining room, joining the other three fillies on the  table. Selene saw her mother entered the group and felt glorified. “Yay!  Mommy's going to help us bake!” She threw her hooves up in the air, and  so did Butter.

“Alright, today we’re going to make a treat that will  surely carry us to victory. Something unique.” Cookie stood up on a  stool. “So, what kind of baked goods do you ponies suggest?” 

“I would say cake! Cake’s my favorite,” stated Celeste  as she ate the slice of cake on her plate. Her obsession with cake  remains unexplained.

“Cookie! A bigger one! With different taste.”

“Giant Mushroom! That will make you grow big,” Selene added as well.

There was a short silence in the dining room. The pink disguised unicorn whispered to her sister, “Mushrooms aren’t desserts.”

“Oh, make it a pie then!” she corrected.

All the fillies turned to the oldest one around them  for her suggestion. “I don’t have any ideas to propose, let alone how to  bake,” said Twilight.

“That’s okay, I can think of something where you might  be helpful.” The orange filly didn't know what Twilight’s cutie mark was  but she ignored it and laid out some of her special recipes on the  table. 

“Cookie, is it my turn to put up the sales on the stall today?” Butter jumped on the table in front of her sister.

“Of course, Butter. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for  those Sweets,” Cookie replied. “Who knows, those Sweets might be trying  to steal our sweets.” She laughed at her own witty joke.

“You can depend on me, big sis,” Butter said with a  hoof on her little chest. She zoomed right to the counter and grabbed  some boxes of sweets, transferring them to the wagon outside the bakery.

A thought came to Twilight after observing the younger sibling. 

“Maybe I could help out with the stall, since I’m not  that good at baking anyways,” Twilight proposed. She took this  opportunity to make proper use of her time. The Cakes had mentioned  something about refugees a while ago. They were probably talking about  those ponies from Trote.

“Butter can handle herself,” said Cookie. She turned to  look at her sister struggling to push a single box, immediately  changing her mind. “I guess Pudding might try to pull something off this  time. Okay then.”

“Oh! Can I join too?” asked the green filly.

Butter gasped with happiness, seeing that Selene wanted  to join the stall band— or at least, that’s what she was thinking. “You  will?! This will be fun!”

“I’m afraid I can’t let that happen, Luna. You should  stay here.” Twilight declined Selene’s appeal to join them. She had her  own reasons, though.

“Aww,” the fillies' excitement was doused.

“She’s right. We need all the help we can get to bake the best baked good of all Southern Earth,” Cookie stated.

"I guess baking can be fun as well,” said Selene.

“Cya’h later then, Lena,” Butter said as she waved goodbye. Twilight followed and placed the last box on the wagon.

Before the purple pony left, she faced her two fillies  and gave them a reminder. “Oh and while I’m away, I’m hoping you two  won’t cause any trouble. Okay?”

“Don’t worry Twilight. I’ll be more responsible,” Celeste asserted as she drew Selene closer to her.

Twilight pulled the wagon and gave the fillies a final  glance, hoping in her heart that they wouldn't cause any dilemma while  she was away. The two sisters kept waving their hoof until they couldn’t  see their mother anymore.

“Well then, let’s get started. Follow me.” The orange  filly went to the kitchen with a clay pot on her head. The two fillies  followed closely behind as they raced each other to the kitchen with  laughter.

---
“Do all bakers participates in this competition every  year?” The purple pony asked some questions while helping the  butter-coat filly set up the stand.

“Yes we are!” the filly responded. “There are also  other types of cooks in this place. It’s not just bakers, silly.” She  took the treats outside the box. “Actually, there are only two bakers  here in this place. And that’s us and the Sweets.”

“Why near winter?" Twilight inquired as she moved the empty crates behind the stand.

“I don’t know. The event planner wants everypony to stock up our foods before winter, so we can make it through few months. I guess that’s why she started this competition. It’s mostly for fun, I tell you.” She stated.

“I see.” Twilight wished she brought her paper and  quill with her. Never thought this small filly knew so many things about  their situation.

“Our parents lived in Central Earth before, but our families thought of expanding our trade. So they came here. It didn’t make the Sweets happy though. They even consulted the event planner to add a prize in every contest. Can you imagine? The winner shall be able to advertise their goods in every earth village. Our business will be booming!” Butter shouted excitedly, earning some odd looks from the  ponies around them.

Twilight knew who would win. Mr. Cake in her time told everything about their family history when she was studying everypony’s  family tree. “So how’d it go?” she asked.

“We lost. Every year”

Scratch that. Mr. Cake lied. “Lost? How come?”

“Well, if you keep your reputation up with every  resident in this village, then they might actually vote for you. I guess  the Sweets were just better.” She shrugged. “But that didn’t stop us. I have a feeling that the odds will sure turn things around. Not sure when.”

Why do I have the feeling that the odds involved unicorns attacking, Twilight thought to herself while staring at the unloaded crates. She was reminiscing about her bedtime stories for Spike  — meaning history lessons. The dragon was so bored that he forcefully went to sleep. It made Twilight smile remembering that moment. The disguised unicorn knew that the earth ponies didn’t lose any of the  earth villages. She felt confident that the earth ponies were prepared  for anything. Even if those unicorns came to raid this town.

But what if it wasn't? What if those history books were wrong? What would happen then? Doubt after doubt kept entering  Twilight’s mind. Every history teacher in Equestria knew that all major earth villages had successfully defended themselves from every siege.  Maybe she was here to make sure the timeline stayed that way. Yep, that could probably be it.

I could do a few checkups on the town’s defenses. It’s  not like I’m changing anything. The purple pony watched the great walls  looming far away. A single thrown pebble wouldn't be able to change the  current of a river.

“Earth to Twilight, hellooo.” Butter tried catching her attention by swaying a hoof in front of her.

“Oh, were you trying to say something?” Twilight focused back on her task, watching the empty crates.

“I’m just wondering if you’re going to stare at those boxes all day.”

“Sorry, my mind has been quite busy lately. Everything  set?” Twilight stepped beside Butter to inspect the treats that were  ready for sale. Why did they even need this stall when they already have  a shop?

“Sure is.” Butter hopped at a stool for a better view.  “Say, my sister said you’re from Trote. Do you know how this selling  stuff works?”

“Of course," the purple pony replied with a confident  smile. The sleepless nights studying history was showing its worth. "We  can trade goods from any commodities as long as its condition is of good  quality. Gems are also acceptable for bargaining, but I assume they’re  rare to find.”

“Right, gems are really hard to find out there. Having  one could almost buy an entire town.” The filly thought about the gem that Cookie showed yesterday. “I’m wondering what my sis is going to do  with that ruby. It’s pretty awesome if you think about it”

No surprise why Cookie was so suspicious last night. A  single gem could make anypony feel rich, but how about a saddle full of  it? Twilight didn't understand much about the earth villages’ economics, knowing that the unicorns can obtain gems so easily like picking plain rock on the ground. “Can I ask you something?”

“What do you want to know?”

“Actually, I was going to excuse myself for a little walk. You know, to try and get familiar with the place. If that’s okay with you,” she added.

“Sure! This place is pretty big. I wouldn’t mind if you wanted me to tag along.” 

Twilight declined Butter's offer. “It’s just a little walk, I’ll be fine on my own. Although, thanks for the offer.”

“If you say so,” said the filly. “Don’t get yourself lost.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Oh, and hurry back, we got baked goods to sell!”  Butter cheered at the departing pony. A new customer came along, passing  her sight. She took this opportunity to sell her wares. “You sir! You look like you haven’t tasted any tasty treats in your entire life. Would  you like to try some of the delightful desserts I have here to offer? I got some fine bread too this morning.”

Curious, he looked at the items, and then at the filly.  “The pony who left you here right now. Isn’t she supposed to do the selling?” asked the brown customer.

“Nope, you’re looking at the right filly here, buster,” Butter replied with pride.

“Aren’t you too small for this kind of thing?”

“Hey, I’m a big pony!” she blurted out.

The earth pony raised an eyebrow at this claim. “A’ight  then, I’ll take several bread, for two cucumbers.” He held the small-sized  vegetables from his saddle for a trade.

“Hmm, I could use some of those back home. Sure!”  Butter accepted the trade, thinking it would be perfect for her secret salad recipe.

The pony rolled his eyes and took the offer with him.  The total cost of it would normally be equal to five cucumbers. He  wondered if the filly knew that. Nonetheless, he didn’t bother telling  her this at all, thankful for the wonderful bonus.

---
Walking on top of the village stone wall, the purple  pony reached the corner of Southern Earth defenses. Ballistae and a dozen huge spears were placed at every angle she saw during her walk. Visiting this artifact at the Canterlot museum was quite fascinating.  Imagining what would happen if a pony got hit with it...

“Hey! You there!” a guard yelled as he approached, “this area is strictly prohibited from civilians!”

It gave Twilight a good jump. Good thing her illusion  spell was still active. “I’m sorry. I was just taking a breather,” she  said, calming herself internally. She gazed at the horizon, breathing  deeply to add to her excuse's legitimacy.

“Do that somewhere else. Refugees should stay at the  infirmary or to their respective momentary shelter. Not here.” He  pointed his hoof right at the center of the town.

Twilight’s ears perked. Refugees? They must have  arrived from Trote. “Pardon me, but can you show me where exactly the  infirmary is?” 

“I’m not allowed to leave my post. Go ask the residents if you’re lost,” the guard replied with a scowl.

“What’s going on here?” A lookout with a crossbow on her back approached the two with a cautious look.

“This pony got lost.”

“Oh really? Were you struck at the head from those unicorn's crazy magic?” the sentry asked the unicorn in disguise.

Twilight knew a thing or two about confusion spells;  one strike at the head would cause a pony to forget today’s event.  Speaking of concussions, she really needed to visit the infirmary  instead of talking to these two sentries. “I’ll just leave.”

Still, there was something she wanted to know about:  Cookie’s cousin. What did he even look like? She was probably just going  to ask one pony at a time. It wouldn’t be too hard asking somepony who you never met before. Especially when you’re stuck in the past where  nopony seemed to care about suspicious cloak-wearing ponies like her, right?

Trotting down the streets, Twilight faced a hard time finding the refugee zone. Every building in this place looked awfully similar to each other (although they came in different shapes and sizes, her point still stood). Everypony was busy minding their own business,  sharing gossips and whatever ancient earth ponies did, to help her with  her problems.

This was when she caught sight of a stallion walking in her direction with a couple of baskets crammed with vegetables—specifically, carrots— and utensils slung on his back. It was a good place to start as any, so she took her chances and approached  him.

“Excuse me, could you help me locate where the refugees took shelter?"

Surprisingly, contrary to his tired appearance, he gave  a reply that didn't push her away. “If you want to, I’m heading there  right now.”

“Oh thank goodness, that would save me a lot of time searching around.” Twilight felt relieved. She was already behind  schedule to meet up with Butter.

“No problem.” The stallion still looked as weary as could be, but it was better than nothing.

As they walked side by side, Twilight couldn't help but  notice their slow pace. “That’s a lot of carrots you’re bringing. You  need help with that?”

“Nah, I got it,” he replied with a sigh. “I’m just  tired of seeing those unicorns ransacking our home every year. But this time they took it too far. They have freaking magic, so why aren’t they using it to grow their own food instead of robbing ours? Thinking about it always makes me want to smack some sense into them.”

“Sorry to hear that.” Twilight gaze fell. He had a  point, there were some common easy-to-cast agriculture spells that  unicorns could do, but she doubted the word ‘common’ in this timeline meant easy. 

“So you’re from Trote?” Twilight asked, forcefully trying to shake away the gloomy atmosphere between them.

“Yep. What about you? Looking for somepony?” he asked.

“A friend of mine. I just wanted to know if he’s okay.”  Or not. She had no clue if he was even here. There was even a slight chance he would get to Cookie first before Twilight reached him.

The stallion chuckled. “Heh, I guess we both have somepony to look—  Watch out!” He swiftly grabbed the purple pony away  as they both stumbled on the ground. Soon after, a passing wagon ran past where Twilight just was.

“What the hay! Watch where you're going!” The pony threw up his hoof at them, then ran off on high speed. Coughing from the dust,  she slid down her hood as she dusted off the remaining filth.

“That pony will crash to Tartarus someday.” The stallion stood up and picked up his grocery scattered all over the ground.

Twilight has a slight feeling she knew this stallion.  She helped him out by picking up carrots with her mouth. This would have  been easier if she could just use telekinesis, but disguised unicorns  couldn't be choosers. 

“It was my fault, I should’ve seen that coming.”  Looking around the market, she couldn't see anypony care about what just happened. Definitely not like Canterlot.

“Don’t be. It was his-…You?!” The stallion glared at her.

“Me?”

“You!” He pointed out repeatedly.

“Twilight!” A filly jumped in.

“Cookie?” 

“Uncle Carrot!” Cookie ran toward the stallion and gave the warmest welcome hug a filly could give.

“Carrot?”

“It’s good to see you again.” He ruffled her mane, noticing his niece has grown since his last visit. “How long has it been?”

“You?” Twilight 's ears drooped down. The ungrateful pony she fought back in Trote was Cookie’s relative? Now her cover was  completely exposed!

“Twilight, I’m glad you already met my uncle,” she grinned then started to look around for her cousin. “Is Ginger with you?”

Uncle Carrot. The pony she didn’t expect to meet -- or more importantly, never wanted to see. He said nothing, only glaring  back at the disguised unicorn. Twilight couldn't take any more of this stare. First it was Butter, then Cookie, and now this pony. Is this  something a Cake does all the time when they met somepony new? She could  feel the burning turmoil rising on the stallion’s eyes. 

Aside from that, Twilight couldn’t help but think if Cookie seriously just left Celeste and Selene alone at her house. What was she doing here? But then again, she already ditched Butter -- though it wasn't her intention.

It would be simple to cast teleportation and grab her  two daughters out of here. But she couldn't. Nopony knew that she was a  unicorn-- yet. There had to be a way other than running. She could almost hear her head screaming for whatever possible solutions.

“Oh dear.”
> Chapter 8 - The Opportunity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



This couldn't get any worse.

It took Twilight all she had to keep herself from galloping out of Southern Earth with her fillies in tow. This three-odd group walked side by side, Cookie's cheerful steps a harsh contrast to the tension between the purple pony in disguise and Carrot. She kept her eyes on the ground. What is he thinking? Why isn't he alerting the guards? Maybe they're already waiting back at the Cakes? I should've have just asked Cookie were the infirmary was! No, in the first place, I should have fully disguised myself...

But the stallion kept his stern silence. He even kept his replies to his overactive niece short.

"So Twilight," Cookie said with a smile, "how'd you meet my uncle?"

We fought each other back at Trote. 

"We, well..." Think, Twilight, think even harder than last night! "We met back outside the market. Just now..."

She stole a glance at Carrot, but no apparent emotions surfaced on his stoic face. He merely scoffed at her words.

The silence, and Cookie's one-sided enthusiasm carried on until they reached the entrance of the refugee zone. But before they could enter, Carrot stopped Twilight in her steps with a hoof. "Cookie, why don't you head along first and meet your cousin Ginger?"

"Uncle Carrot?" The filly tilted her head.

"It's nothing. Me and this... pony, just have something to talk about alone."

"Roger that!" Cookie saluted and rushed inside, leaving the two ponies behind. And here we go.

"...You should be grateful that I helped you and your family escape that one time," Twilight said cautiously, making sure nobody around was close enough to hear it. "I wasn't one of those unicorn who raided your village."

"I can definitely see that," he scoffed, glaring at the space where her horn was supposed to be.

"And also, I'm not going to involve myself on the inevitable quarrel between the races. I just want to find a place for my two fillies."

It took him a moment to process those words, but Carrot didn't budge. "Bring them to your unicorn fantasy land, then."

"It's a lot more complicated than that. But please believe me, we really don't mean any harm."

"It takes a lot more than words to believe a unicorn." 

The ponies of this era are just too infuriating! Twilight's patience was running out. She had no idea what to do anymore. Well, it was admirable he hadn't ratted her out yet for some reason. Oh, she could use that. Nice thinking, Twilight.

"Then why aren't you alerting anypony of the 'unicorn presence' yet?"

The stallion frowned. "That's—"

"Uncle Carrot! Twilight!" Cookie called out, together with her cousin Ginger. They returned from the camp with smiles plastered on their faces. "Aunt Berry's calling for the both of you!"

"...We'll continue this."

Are we just going to leave it at that? 

Twilight heavily sighed. She couldn't quite understand what went on inside the stallion's head. She didn't like it, not one bit; this uncertainty was dangerous, especially for Celeste and Selene. Twilight wasn't going to let anything harm those two, not even an entire city.

"...Okay. Got it." Twilight didn't argue, for now. Once she had a good plan A, and maybe even better plan, B to Z, well— they just had to wait.


---
The Refugee Zone was a place of both loss and warmth. Ponies who had lost their villages from the unicorn raids poured into this land, their once comfortable huts replaced with makeshift tents of thin cloths. The cold of the coming winter crept on their coats, and their feeble campfires did nothing to drive it away.

Still, their eyes held the warmth of their families. They might have left their homes and their crops, but at least they had each other. Families and friends shared what little they had left, and many little fillies and colts ran around the place making friends with each other.

Along the way, Cookie's cousin Ginger kept stealing glances at Twilight, eyes filled with expectation. Every time Twilight met his eyes, he'd shy away and discuss something with Cookie in a hushed voice. Okay then...

The group finally found the Cake's relatives' tent settled near a campfire pit with a small cauldron upon it. 

“Sorry I took so long." The brown stallion gave her wife Berry, a light-red coated mare, the warmest hug he could ever give. "I found Cookie on my way back.”

"Who's that with you?" Her eyes shifted to the purple pony with them, making the most innocent smile.

"...Cookie's friend," Carrot replied, looking left to the cauldron so his wife wouldn't catch his eyes.

"So you're the pony our niece has been talking about! I'm Berry Cake," she said, giving Twilight's hood a hearty shake. "Welcome to our place. It's not much, but please make yourself comfortable."

She chuckled to herself and went back to the cauldron. Next to introduce himself was Ginger. 

"Oh great and powerful Twilight," he said with bravado, bowing his head as low as possible while raising both hooves up as if he was receiving some ancient tome. Twilight winced, hearing those words.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Cookie knocked her cousin out of the strange posture. "Silly, she won't give it to you like that."

Wait, give what? She better not be talking about the ruby.

"Is it true that you passed through the Gem Front?" Berry asked with awe as she served Twilight and the others a bowl of steaming soup. "You know, Cookie here has been telling us that you escaped from their dens."

Ginger's excitement rose up, while Carrot merely kept quiet.

"I got lucky, that's all," Twilight replied, pretending to be so taken about the soup. She regretted she told Cookie about that. A small, simple lie lead only to more lies. One day, she promised herself, I'll start telling the truth like Applejack. I didn't have to be the Element of Honesty to do that, right?

"Don't be so humble about it, dearie," Berry said as she patted her back. "Most ponies use a special kind of whistle to drive those hounds away."

"Are you talking about a dog whistle?"

"Like the one over there!" Ginger pointed a hood at the watchtower, rising high above the middle area. There was a long pipe that stuck out below the top platform of the structure. She noticed several towers just like it around Southern Earth, an ancient artifact she saw back at the Canterlot Museum.

"That's amazing," Twilight whispered, once again realizing the rare opportunity to observe this ancient world beyond history books and museum displays.

"Yes it is," Cookie added, "but it has never been used since gem hounds only stay at their underground homes. I don't know why the chancellor decided to build it anyways."

Chancellor, chancellor... Twilight called back her faint recollections of earth pony leaders of the ancient days. According to the book 'Earth Ponies Before Equestria, Volume One' she read, chancellors led each of the five great earth pony settlements. There was Chancellor Bittersweet of Central Earth, leader of all the chancellors. There was Chancellor Lake Frost of Northern Earth, Chancellor Sugarcoat of Eastern Earth and Chancellor Stone Coal of Western Earth. As for Southern Earth, they had…

“Chancellor Greyhooves! He’s here!” a refugee pony shouted out.

A charcoal-coated gray-maned stallion made his entrance in the camp, along with him where caravans filled with supplies for the refugees. He walked by ponies while asking each one of them how they were. The purple pony caught sight of him before the crowd pooled around the visiting chancellor. He brought a handful of food supplies, gathered from Southern Earth's winter reserves, for everypony who has been through the raids. Beside him was a rose-coated mare, probably his secretary.

The elite guards following the chancellor distributed the goods to the approaching refugees. Ponies came out of their tents to claim some of it, while the others only went to meet Greyhooves.

"I was just wondering, since all the refugees here are receiving food for free. Why would you go to market to buy anyways?" Twilight asked Carrot, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Those are for the ponies with absolutely nothing: no food, no money, no clothes," the stallion explained. "Our family were one of the lucky groups that were able to bring some of our things with us. Others couldn't even bring their families with them. Although the unicorns were never fair with us, this winter was just too much. Instead of being satisfied, their greed overtook them. Looking down on us, just because we don't have magic."

"That's..." Twilight collected her thoughts. She was feeling the full brunt of what couldn't be expressed in a mere Hearth's Warming Eve play. "I don't know. But I know that one day, earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi will be united in harmony. I just know it."

"That will never happen," Carrot said with a frown, "not in a thousand years."

Among the crowd lining up for the relief goods, a familiar filly joined in with a curious look on her face, only to be called out by Cookie. "Pudding!? What are you doing here? Those food are for the refugees only!"

Pudding looked around until she locked sights with her rival. "My, false accusations! I'm not here to take any of them, okay? These are low-grade stuff anyways, nothing we'd use on a Sweets recipe. But the off-chance that a rare ingredient from the winter reserves got mixed up, well..."

"What in the hay are you even talking about?" She looked at Pudding's strange ragged attire, trying to discerns whether she wore to look poor or sophisticated. "And what are you even wearing?"

"You mean this old thing?" The little filly showed off her clothing design. "I rummaged this from the trash, and thought about making it more appealing. Like it?"

Cookie slapped a hoof on her face.

"Hello there, miss." Pudding shifted her sights to Twilight, watching the strange conversation between the two. "I just wanted to say that the gem you gave me has inspired me to victory!"

"Y—You're quite welcome," Twilight replied, earning a glare from Cookie.

"Wait a bit," Ginger cut in, "you had an extra shiny but never gave it to me?"

Pudding gave a cute chuckle. "I see you're hanging out with them. Don't worry, you're still welcome if you plan on visiting our place."

"Keep dreaming, Pudding. Twilight here is staying with us and she's going to help us win for sure," Cookie said, sticking a tongue out to her rival.

Twilight had somehow got herself involved in another quarrel. But this time, she finally learned that giving gems away like stones on the ground only worsened the situation, and rarely helped them. Carrot, watching the whole thing, raised an eyebrow at Twilight; a unicorn (although disguised) got to stay at his brother's house.

"I doubt that." Pudding bid farewell to everyone with style, thinking that those few rare ingredients weren't worth the trouble of dealing with Cookie. "Until next time, smart Cookie."

Silence befell the Cake family after that weird departure.

"Wow, I also had a rivalry like that when I was a kid. I wonder where he is now." Berry turned her head to her husband with a smile.

"Yeah, you won over me every time on harvest day," he said with a rare chuckle.

"I swear I'm going to beat her in this competition. With your help, Twilight, I'm sure we can make this happen." Cookie grabbed the purple pony. "...You're not going to visit them, are you?"

"Of course not," Twilight replied. It was not a lie, for once. Twilight would have visited the Sweets for their help, if not for the fact that Carrot still held her weakness and was the greatest threat against her and her fillies.

"Mind if I talk to your friend for a bit?" The brown stallion asked Cookie, who nodded and went over to her cousin Ginger to discuss their battle plans against the Sweets. 

Speaking of which. It was time for Twilight to prove her mettle.

"I want you out by dawn tomorrow," Carrot cut straight to the point.

Neither of them made any eye contact. They both looked over the bustling crowds of earth pony refugees claiming relief goods from the chancellor. From the outside, they simply looked like two ponies discussing the sad state of affairs the world has found itself — but that couldn't be further away from the truth.

Twilight furrowed her eyebrows. That's not possible. Maybe I could survive the coming winter with my magic, but Celeste and Selene won't. Although she hasn't experienced a pre-equestrian winter personally, it was probably harsh enough to justify the unicorns raiding all these earth pony villages. If she wanted a safe place for both her and the two fillies to pass the winter, then Southern Earth was their safest bet.

And to do that, she had to convince Carrot somehow. "Well, you see—"

"That is," the brown stallion continued, "something I would say to any other disguised purple unicorn if I found one. If only to repay back a debt for her allowing our family to escape."

Wait, what?

"Um..."

He turned his sights towards his niece, happily explaining her plans to Ginger, many of which involved Twilight. "Cookie is, to simply put it, a smart cookie. She's the pride of my brother, and her intuition's the sharpest among all of us. And somehow, that Cookie accepted your friendship. I don't know what she sees in you, at least she believes it's genuine. My niece is smart enough not to be friends with ponies with bad intentions."

Many emotions swirled withing Twilight's heart: happiness, guilt, but most of all, thankfulness. In the end, friendship truly was magic. Her emotions bubbled out, and she could only choke out a few words. "I—... thank you."

"Don't misunderstand. I'm not trusting you, I'm trusting Cookie. That's all. I'll won't say anything for now, and I'll allow you to stay until winter dies down. But after that, you better leave this place, friend or not."

"Yes, of course!"

Finally, Twilight and her two fillies didn't have to worry about winter.


---
Twilight helped with packing all the family's luggage in their cart, doing her best not to instinctively use magic to carry stuff around. It was winter wrap up in Ponyville all over again. But thanks to her organization skills, it took them half the time and there were even some spaces left to spare.

"Wow, Twilight, that was amazing!" Cookie praised, eyes sparkling the whole time. "Victory is ours, for sure!"

Twilight blushed at the honest complement. In an attempt to change the topic, she asked, "So they're staying at your house?"

"That's right. I already told my aunt that we have enough room for everyone to stay. And most importantly, together, our chance of winning the contest is increased!" She raised a hoof up in confidence.

Going for the exit, they passed through the ponies mobbing the caravans and the noise of the guards shouting that everyone should get in line, when Twilight bumped into the secretary. She wore a hat like Applejack's, and had a cutie mark with a symbol of a feathered ink. The secretary took a moment to stare at the purple pony's tattered cloak.

"You know, caravan's that way," she said, pointing the way where to claim their rations.

"Actually, you got it wrong. Twilight here is staying with us, the Cakes," Cookie replied for her.

"Twilight, you say?" Curiosity filled the secretary's eyes, scrutinizing the purple pony's appearance. "That's an unusual name for an earth pony, don't you think?"

"Want to hear something more surprising?" Oh no, it was Cookie and her signature smirk! "Twilight here, you know, escaped from the Gem Front!"

A zipper spell would've shut this filly up, Twilight thought. Luckily, the mare didn't believe her story, judging by the looks on her face.

"Oh really? Never though some pony would get out alive from that place," she said. "Where are you from?"

Twilight hesitated for a moment, but in the end answered, "From Trote."

"You don't look like a farm pony."

"...Why, do ponies here get judged by their names and appearances?" Twilight asked almost defensively.

"Nah, just curious." She tipped her hat at her and smiled. "Name's Ruby Quill."

Was Twilight going to continue the conversation? Yes she was. "So you're the chancellor's secretary?"

"Secretary? Nah, more like his walking schedule, personal voice-of-reason, morning head-whacker, and — most importantly of all — friend. Well, sometimes I tend to catalog every information on things outside and inside the walls."

That sure sounds like the job of a secretary, Twilight thought with a wry smile.

"Also, I'm in charge of the upcoming winter stock event, which is tomorrow. You should come, everypony's welcome."

Cookie dramatically coughed. "You're looking at one of the participants right here, missy. The great Cookie Cake will surely get the family business on top! With the help of our secret weapon, too!"

"Well then, I hope you're having fun, being part of the event and all. If you've got further question, look me up at the town hall near the market." Ruby, noticing the time she spent talking with these ponies, said her farewells. "Now if you'll excuse me, I got to notify Greyhooves about some other important matters."

She departed without much further ado.

Twilight had now a new optional objective; aside from going back, she could also visit the town hall. It was time to leave this refugee zone. Looking up at the dusk sky above her, she calculated that she still had some time to explore this historical place a bit more. Although she was worried about both Celeste and Selene, they probably wouldn't mind waiting for her a bit more. A few more hours of exploring won't lead to something terrible, whispered her curiosity.

"...You know what, you head on to the house first. I actually have one more thing to do," Twilight said to Cookie.

"And where do you think you're going?" The filly obviously rejected.

"The town hall. Don't worry, it's at the center so I won't get lost that easily."

Cookie trotted near her. "Maybe I should come with you?"

"You think I'm going to the sweets?" Twilight guessed and, if Cookie's expression had to say anything, she was right. "I won't, trust me. I need you to watch Celestia and Luna for me— something tells me they might be ruining the cake decoration as we speak."

"Huh, you're right." Cookie pondered the situation with a hoof on her chin. "I better go check on them to see if they followed all the instructions on the list."

They all finally left her, Carrot only giving her a fleeting glance before following the rest of the family. Now Twilight had the freedom to check the town hall. She had to take the opportunity.
> Chapter 9 - A World Of Cacophony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



After a few minutes of trotting from the faint memories of the view upon the wall, she found the Town Hall. It definitely wasn't like the rest of the structures here in Southern Earth. The rectangular building was a longhouse, reaching about sixty feet wide and was about a quarter block taller at the center of the entrance. And at the top of the center was a huge bell hanging below the roof platform, similar to the one at Ponyville's clock tower.

There was a balcony on the second story, and ponies came and went out of the huge archway door of the first story. Twilight blended in with the crowd and stepped into the halls of history with heavy hoofsteps.

The main hallway split into three, leading left and right, and the middle led to a stairway with left and right partitions to the second floor, and a path beyond it. Walking beneath the arc, Twilight found herself in a grand banquet hall. Against the wall was a stage where official ponies took their seats, while bleachers for viewing everything down below filled up above. The wide open windows streamed the light of the setting sun and brought a certain gloom to the atmosphere.

...I should head back to Celeste and Selene. Twilight wanted to share her knowledge with them, and she would probably start tomorrow with appreciating ancient earth pony culture. Well, ancient to her, anyways.

Before turning back to the main hall, she caught a glance at the wide banner hanging from the balcony. Focusing on it, she realized just what kind of treasure she had found.

It was a map of pre-Equestria!

Twilight trotted over to it. The map had all the locations of the earth villages and towns. There was also Unicornia and Pegasopolis, but not much detail went into them. But, although it wasn't much help to her since it only showed all the earth pony villages, she could nevertheless refresh her memories with it. Pegasi only settled on high clouds, or at least that was what she learned from the history books.

Twilight studied the map fervently, taking a few minutes to soak in its contents, until she was satisfied. Trotting back to the main hall, she spotted two familiar figures coming toward her. 

"They never attack the northern tribes, don’t you think that’s a bit suspicious?"

"It kinda does, I already sent out a message to Chancellor Lake Frost to scout for any strange unicorn activities. In the meantime, you got an appointment with the surgeon tonight. That pony was blabbering about his newly-found cure— for the third time.”

"Tonight? Why can’t it be in the morning? Tell him to come tomorrow."

It was Ruby Quill and Chancellor Greyhooves. The mare, in a great show of skill, held a stack of papers as she shifted through them one by one. Well, a few pages slipped out in the process of doing so.

Twilight made herself as inconspicuous as possible, pulling her hood low as she passed by them. She was tired of lying all the time, and now she just had to bump heads with the Chancellor, of all ponies.

Just as she was about to heave a sigh of relief from passing by them—

"I don’t recall seeing you in this place." The Chancellor called out to her. Twilight stopped in her steps without a choice, pulling her hood away to stop seeming like a suspicious character.

Ruby leaned near her friend. "That's Twilight. A filly told me she came from Gem Front."

Mother of Celestia! She might as well scream that fact out loud to everyone with the Royal Canterlot Voice! If Twilight ever fixed her time spell, she would surely use it to go back to yesterday night and shut herself up with that conversation with Cookie.

"Really?" Greyhooves raised an eyebrow. "How'd you do it?"

And here we go. "...It's not true, just some foal's tale I tell ponies. I'm sorry for lying about it," said Twilight with a sheepish smile.

Ironically, those last words weren't a lie. She really was sorry about it and wanted to stop before everything was too late. But then, exposing her real form in front of the very pony who ruled the place, now that was something else. It was a worst case scenario that might ruin the timeline irreversibly. Lying could be forgiven as long as it was for the sake of Equestria's future, right?

"Aw shucks, and here I am, wanting to record the very first earth pony survivor who lived to tell the tale of Gem Front." Ruby dropped her stack of papers to the floor with frustration, earning an odd look from both Twilight and Greyhooves. "What? Those papers were already disorganized from the start."

Twilight caught a short glance, and read something that piqued her interest.

"What are those?" she asked, pointing to the paper about reports on crystals. 

"Oh, this?" Ruby picked up the report and showed it to Twilight. "Just some research I've been doing for years now. Did you know there are a few crystals out there that can nullify certain magic?"

Twilight indeed knew about rare crystals, from what she studied in Celestia's School of Gifted Unicorns. And if she recalled correctly, certain crystals had different potential power. Most were used to store magic, while others used it as magical artifacts.

...But an earth pony shouldn't normally know of these things. "Oh, I didn't know about that."

"My associates from Northern Earth had brought me some crystals to examine a few years back. I figured only one, but it was worth it," Ruby replied, picking up the papers she littered.

"And what did you find?"

Ruby paused, adding weight to her next words. "A great discovery."

She turned to the chancellor, who then gave her a nod. "I figured out a way to amplify one of the crystals, by using the invention I made to negate teleportation magic. The distance of effect is wide enough to cover the entirety of Southern Earth, I tell you. That’s why not even their greatest sorcerer can just magically breach through the walls."

"And you placed in that giant bell," interrupted Greyhooves with a sigh.

"Well, it's the perfect spot to place it."

...Twilight misjudged this mare. Although she looked like a simple farm pony, her mind was that of a full-fledged scientist. Although unicorns of this time couldn't master the teleportation spell that easily, she still took the time to install this defense feature, accounting for the worst case scenario. Ruby wasn't Southern Earth's secretary for nothing.

"I did request the other four great earth pony villages to use her invention as a protective measure. But we haven't heard from Northern Earth ever since," the stallion added, "We've lost communications with them a long time ago. Chancellor Bittersweet told the earth councils that winter there barely stops."

"Good thing I still have some other spare crystals to work on, which might be even more useful," Ruby said, taking a specific parchment from her stack of papers. "This one weakens a unicorn's magical abilities— but that’s just my theory. I'm not even sure it'll work, since I doubt I'd find a unicorn to cooperate.. or at least volunteer."

Twilight looked over the parchment, and understood that Ruby's theory was right. Unable to hold her passion, she instinctively added a few points of her own. "I'm sure it'll work. If you combine the power crystal to the one that has a nullifying effect with the exact adjusted frequency, I think you'll be able to do just that."

"...Well, I did think of that, but hadn't found the right calculations. But I get your point, maybe just a few more tweaks and attempts will work. How'd you know about this anyways?"

Twilight mentally slammed her head against the wall. She couldn't help it— when discussing magic, the words simply flowed out. She had to think of a way to shake off her suspicious. "Uh—"

A guard stormed in the entrance with a distressed look on his face, sparing Twilight another lie. The chancellor and the mare turned to him and straightened their posture, seeing the seriousness of the situation.

"Something’s the matter?" Greyhooves asked, giving the guard a chance to catch his breath.

"It's urgent, your leadership," he began, lowering his head. "Unicorns are waiting outside the gate!"

Silence befell the three ponies. 

"How many?" the chancellor asked.

"Hundreds."

Twilight felt the world shrinking in her mind. Ruby dropped her stack of papers and littered the floor once again.

 "They have completely gone too far!" Chancellor Greyhooves' mind rushed to think of a strategy. "Alert all the sentries and get the residents to safety. Have guards garrison the gate. Hold position until I get there!"

Receiving his orders, the guard gave a short bow and galloped away to the exit.

Ruby stomped her hoof in frustration. "How on earth did they get so many? Reports from the villagers say that there were only dozens of them ravaging on previous towns. It’s impossible for them to receive reinforcement this far south. They must have some kind of gateway near the border— or maybe those pegasi are probably helping them. Whatever it is, they have literally gone too far!”

The chancellor glanced at Twilight, who was deep in her thoughts. "You should go back to the refugee zone. Ruby, you come with me. We're going to talk to them and see what they're doing here."

“If what those refugees were saying is true, this isn't going to be like last year,” Ruby said, and turned to Twilight as well. “You're staying with the Cakes, right? It’s better to stay with somepony you know. I'm afraid these unicorns aren't going to bargain.”

Leaving their words, the two ponies dashed out of the Town Hall and into the chaos outside.

...Are they going after us? Twilight didn't know what the unicorns were thinking, but she knew she and her fillies were involved somewhat.

It's too late, Twilight. You might as well revive Discord at this point— you've made contact with a chancellor and caused a unicorn raid. If that isn't messing with the timeline, I don't know what is. You can't help it, the longer you stay in this time, the worse everything gets. The only way to atone is to fix the time spell, get out of here and hope the damage isn't irreversible.

Twilight shook those thoughts away. Not this again. Those fillies need me now, and I'll protect them until the end of this journey!

She made her choice. Twilight ran out of the town hall and into a world of cacophony. Earth pony combatants hustled to their tasks while the residents boarded up their homes. She looked up at the twilight sky with determination. According to her memories, windigos would reign if the battle between the unicorns and earth ponies escalated.

The timeline might get tangled, but Twilight's only hope was to save Celeste and Selene from the coming danger.
> Chapter 10 - One-Sided Battle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Standing right outside the giant Southern Earth gate was the head of the unicorn knights, Aura Gleam, with three other companions. One of them wore a light armor embedded with a few gems, while the other two wore a blue robe. Aura Gleam waited for the Southern Earth leader to make an appearance, but the only ones he saw were the guards standing at attention above the stone wall, spears ready and eyes wary for any surprise the unicorns might launch.

Instead, Aura Gleam spent time observing the soldiers, their leather equipment and the quality of their weapons. Despite the poor gear, he didn't underestimate these earth ponies. He knew they always had their own tricks waiting.

Soon, the chancellor arrived with his secretary as the guards cleared the way for them. He took a few moments observing the unicorn officials, then shifted his gaze to the sun setting behind the vast armies of unicorn soldiers waiting for the command to attack Southern Earth. Any other pony from other towns in this kind of situation would've given in and surrendered before the enemy's might, but not Chancellor Greyhooves. He was never afraid of losing, he never was.

“Greetings, you insignificant creatures!" shouted the mage official. "As you can see, winter is approaching soon and we're here to offer you a choice: either hand out all your food stock, or face the wrath of unicorn magic!”

"Seriously? You travelled all the way here just to say that?" Ruby scoffed. "Grow your own crops, you lazy maggots!"

The mage was about to hurl another insult or two when Aura Gleam raised a hoof to silence his comrade. "Pardon my companion, he never had the patience to wait for your timely arrival."

The unicorn stallion took a few steps forward and stared straight at the chancellor. "I am Aura Gleam, head of the High Knights of Unicornia— and the one who is responsible in invading your territory."

"Chancellor Greyhooves," the chancellor replied, keeping his introductions short. "What is it that you want? You already raided our farmlands and took our resources for the coming winter! Are those not enough? How long will this going to last before your gluttony ends?"

Aura Gleam brushed off his words. "We want nothing. We’re only here to make a simple request: I want you to turn in the unicorn that you're helping."

The earth pony guards stirred upon hearing the head knight's demand. The chancellor was puzzled about this unusual request but didn't let it show on his face. "...No unicorn has ever passed through these walls. And if you're done playing games, I suggest you to turn back and order your troops to go home."

"How disappointing. We believe that a rogue unicorn has taken refuge inside your village. All I’m asking is that I need your permission to let the few of us search your place without unnecessary violence." Aura Gleam insisted. He basked in the confusion it caused within the earth pony camps. Now that he was done playing nice, he added some short threat. "And if you don't cooperate, there will be— consequences."

“And you’re expecting me to believe that kind of request?” The chancellor chuckled a bit. “Go act as much as you want. But you’ll never ever enter my village.”

“Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear.”

"Oh yes you did.” Chancellor Greyhooves repeated once more. “And as I've told you, no unicorns have ever entered this place. You’ll find nothing here other than violence. But if it's a battle you seek, then it's a battle you shall receive!"

"...So be it. You brought this upon yourself." Aura Gleam declared. The stallion glanced at his robed companion and gave a nod.

He grinned with pleasure — finally, the moment he was waiting for has arrived. His horn glowed a bright blue, and shimmering sparkles from the ground encircled the four ponies. Then, a flash of light enveloped the party — their figures disappearing as soon as the lights faded.

That wasn't a good sign. Ruby was puzzled with their words. "What unicorn were they talking about?"

"I don't know," Greyhooves replied. He called a trusted guard, careful not to make his voice too loud. "You there. I want you to take your squad and search the entire place. Start with the refugee zone. Find that unicorn and bring him to me. And don't cause a ruckus."

"Aye sir!" the squad leader led his unit to follow him below the wall.

The lingering doubt never left Ruby's mind. "Do you really think the unicorn might actually be telling the truth?"

"I'm not sure." Facing the vast army of unicorns below the wall, he adopted the bravest face he could muster. "No, it doesn't matter. They'll still attack us either way. We just have to be prepared for every scenario."

The sun gradually sunk below the horizon, leaving a gradient sky that curtained everything. Everypony on Southern Earth's wall gazed in awe: a million colored sparkles flew towards the twilight sky. And as darkness enveloped the world, their pupils widened to the starriest night they have ever seen.

Ruby was confused. "What are those?"

The colored stars shone even brighter, almost like they were all falling straight at them. It was then Ruby realized those weren't stars — it was an artillery strike!

"Take cover!" shouted the chancellor.

It rained gemstones. Everypony ducked for cover. Some got hit in the head and those with shields used them for cover. They all waited for the multicolored storm that showered the entire Southern Earth to pass. Mysteriously, there was no strength behind the rain — it merely fell through the power of gravity alone.

The ponies at the refugee had no idea what was going on, hiding in their tents to avoid getting hit.

Pudding's pudding recipe was about to be done, only to be interrupted by a very noisy rain. It took her a few moments to understand what she was looking at. It's raining... money?

Celeste and Selene took a peek as well and once again saw those colorful stars, along with Cookie and her relatives.

Twilight almost reached the Cake's house but had to take cover from the gem rain. I don't like the look of this...

Then the rain stopped. Everypony could only gaze at the aftermath of the storm. The citizens took a careful step outside, wondering what the hay just happened. One of the more curious ponies snatched a gem off the ground. Then another, and another, until chaos spread throughout the entire Southern Earth, as the frantic residents looted every single gemstone they could find on the ground. Emerald, sapphires, topazes — many of these gems were almost worth more than their lives!

"Did they just... throw their gems at us?" Ruby watched the chaos unfold on the streets with a frown.

Something wasn't right, and Greyhooves knew it. Even his troops below the wall gathered gems with the other residents. He turned his gaze back at the horizon and tried to understand the whole situation.

"Why didn't they use rocks?" one of the guards asked.

The other sentry shrugged. "Maybe they just like flashy attacks?"

"Perhaps it's a distraction," suggested Ruby who joined in on their conversation.

The chancellor didn't believe the reason could be that simple. No, in the first place, this attack didn't make any sense. How did they even acquire all those gems, and would they waste it on a weak tactic instead of bringing back these riches to their territory?

Wait. The only place they could have gathered all these gems was...

"Oh no." There was only one horrible conclusion. Ruby and those guards were wrong. This wasn't about giving away gems, flashy attacks or mere distraction — this was much worse. "Everypony, get away from those gems right now!"

The guards, trained and disciplined, dropped their gems and stood at attention. The residents, however, weren't that good at following orders as they ignored the chancellor and kept on gathering the gems.

The chancellor commanded: "All combatants, hold your ground!"

The earth trembled below them. Many of the guards thought it was the unicorns' doing, but Greyhooves knew better. As the earthquake grew stronger, everypony kept their balance by planting their four hooves on the ground and ducking low.

Finally, the tremors stopped. But before anyone could sigh in relief—

"Gemmmmms," a terrible growl came from below the earth.

A bulky creature emerged from the ground, their razor-sharp claws reflecting the silver moonlight from above. Gem hounds!

Panic washed over the citizens. They galloped for their lives, dropping their loot as more and more hounds rose up from the solid ground. No amount of gems could replace their lives. The soldiers did their best to hold their ground, but their weapons were no match to the rabid dogs' claws and speed.

Greyhooves gritted his teeth. So they used the gems to bring the gem hounds in the city!

But all was not over. The unicorns were not the only ones who knew tactics. It was time to outsmart their move. "Station up those towers! Sound the whistle and drive those hounds away!"

The soldiers wasted no time and followed the chancellor's orders. He was glad he listened to Ruby's cautious nature and installed those whistles — but in the first place, they were meant for gem hounds outside the wall. The downside was that once they blew the whistles, the hounds would lose their senses and wouldn't return peacefully down the ground. The only way to drive them out of the city was to open the gate, which meant the unicorns would take that chance and charge in.

"Let's better hope your idea works, Ruby." He glanced at his long-time friend.

"It will, but..." She stared at her enemies below the wall.

"I’m sure you have more tricks hiding under that hat of yours."

An idea flashed in Ruby's mind. "Of course, the crystal!"

"You better hurry," Greyhooves said. "Once those unicorns enter the city, I want us to have a fair chance against them. I'll get the residents to safety."

Ruby Quill nodded. If she could just activate those other crystals, she might be able to weaken the unicorns' magical ability and give the earth ponies the much needed edge. He called out two guards to escort her back to the town hall.


--- 
Twilight picked up the pace. The bell of the town hall rang throughout Southern Earth, as the earth ponies fought with all they had against the gem hounds. A guard raised his wooden shield to block a hound's claw, only for it to shatter on impact. He was knocked back and blown away, flying above the purple pony's head.

Twilight stopped for a moment. She wanted to help the injured soldier, but a hound locked in on her without a moment to waste.

She stepped back. If only she could use her magic against these hounds!

The hound charged towards her — only for an earth pony guard to come crashing down on the dog with his weapon. Twilight drew a sharp breath. She was almost about to charge herself.

"You there! Back to your home!" the guard snapped at Twilight. The hound shook its head and regained its consciousness. The earth pony guard stood in a defensive stance. He hoped to defeat this creature. As Twilight retreated, she saw out of the corner of her eye as the hound defeated its opponent so easily with a single swipe of its paw.

She galloped as fast as she could. A shadow loomed over her — another hound blocked her path. Twilight dug her hooves into the ground and stopped. The hound growled at her with a maddened look in its eyes. Twilight backed away. Is it time? Should I drop the disguise? Should I—

A high-pitched whistle blew from the towers! It struck Twilight's ears, as well as the invading hounds who covered their ears with their paws and whimpered. The sharp noise that struck their ears brought them to a maddened frenzy — they lost their senses and scattered in random directions.

The maddened hound obstructing Twilight ran pass her as the sharp ringing siren tortured its ears. The stampede of the retreating creatures smashed the market stands and wooden structures outside. Twilight glanced up to the watchtowers and recalled Cookie's words. Turns out those towers were useful after all.


---
Greyhooves stood at the garrisoned gate, watching the plan unfold. It was time to move to the next phase. "Open the gates and drive those hounds out of our city!"

"But sir," the stallion guard holding the wooden lever hesitated, "the unicorns—"

"Let them come." Greyhooves gave them a stern look.

The stallion look at his fellow guards for objections, but they only shrugged. They could only hope the chancellor knew what he was doing. The stallion pulled the lever down, dropping the weights and lifting the gate in a slow crawl.

On the other side of the battlefield, Aura Gleam listened to the troubles the earth ponies had with the gem hounds. Standing on an elevated ground, his gaze remained serious while most of the soldiers on his side grinned with confidence as Southern Earth's gate lifted open.

"About time," scoffed the mage official. "Took them long enough."

"I'm enthralled," said the other robed pony. "They found a way to divert the hounds. It seems they're not as primitive as you've thought, Snow Cross."

The mage felt his pride being challenged. He just couldn't accept the fact that earth ponies were just as smart as him. His blue eyes blazed with ego. "Then we'll see if they can withstand my outstanding magic."

"Be quiet," the high knight silenced them. "Serene will lead the scanners. Snow Cross, I'm going to need your support once we enter."

"As you wish," the light-blue mage answered with a bow. He was disappointed. He'd rather lead a squad to battle than being somepony else's search dog.

"Be wary, Captain," warned the yellow mage. "I sense a formidable magical energy coming from the city center."

"Is it the unicorn?"

"Perhaps."

With their plan settled, Aura Gleam looked at his lieutenant. "Are they ready?"

"Yes sir," replied the elite unicorn.

"Good."

Front line troops fell into formation, the catapults they used to launch the gems pulled back. They took a moment, staring at the gate opening as the hounds ran away from the city to escape their torment.

When the mass of creatures thinned and opportunity showed itself, the unicorns prepared themselves.

"That's the cue." Aura Gleam sent out the signal.

"Charge!" shouted the elite unicorn.

 The battle began.

Thundering of hooves erupted. Masses of armored unicorns galloped towards the gate of Southern Earth. Sentries above the stone wall shot their crossbows at the charging invaders, crossing with magic bolts from the unicorns who fired at the garrisons. Moonlight shone brightly upon the devastating conflict as arrows and magics clashed.


---
Greyhooves commanded all the ground units to take their positions at the plaza, his platoons guarding the area close to the entrance. A barricade of wagons, sacks and anything else they could grab stood between them and the charging unicorns. Tension filled the waiting troops as tremors of the grand march could be felt from afar.

Unicorns stormed the area. They fought with the earth pony guards, only to be pounded by their powerful hind kicks. The unicorns' support squad used levitations to gain the upper hoof, flinging the guards into the walls of the houses. Frightened residents ran away as invaders breached their home. Guards retreated  into the alleys and streets and led the unicorns to the plaza.

Scaffolding pillars stood at both sides of the narrow road as platoons waited for the unicorns' approach. Despite their efforts of trapping them, the unicorns kept flanking the area. The chancellor was the steady rock against the changing tides as he kept the earth ponies organized. When one of the unicorn officials and the soldiers chased down the militia right where he wanted them, they would stop, forcing the wary robed unicorn and their troops to stop as well.

Above the unicorns was a wooden platform, hiding large stones above them. The earth ponies bucked the supporting pillars and caused the scaffolding to collapse, crushing the surprised unicorns in smoke and debris. Cheers erupted from the earth pony defenders for their first strategic success.

The chancellor planned to strengthen the defense of other areas since the plaza was dealt with. Knowing that some hounds remained in Southern Earth, Greyhooves hoped that Ruby would find a way to make them fight against the unicorns. Either that or her theories about anti-magic crystals worked. But before he could act on his plans—

The pile of rubble shook and slid away, revealing the unharmed unicorns inside a sturdy green force field.

"Nice try." Serene dispelled the barrier, then levitated some rocks with the other unicorns. "I believe you dropped these."

"Cursed magic," Greyhooves spat.


---
Outside the town hall, the battle of the two races was at a standstill. The unicorns slowly gained victory as they crept closer to the building, while other squads headed to other areas in search of the warehouse that held the stocks. Huge pillars of smoke rose into the night sky from the burning houses the unicorn mages pillaged. Despite their advantages, the earth ponies still showed their strength and resourcefulness in fighting back, believing there was still hope in winning this battle.

And that hope was a certain rose-coated mare rummaging through her desk and papers, looking for a specific tool. She had the crystal with her, but the tool needed to trigger it was lost. It has been months since she postponed her research on magic crystals, after all — who knew if her theories would work? If it was that purple pony's suggestions about amplifying the energy, it could probably work. She only needed a few hours to—

The door of her office burst into a million pieces! Magical blasts from beyond the door knocked the two guards with her unconscious. Four unicorns walked through the smoke of the magical attacks, the thud of their hoofsteps echoing in the eerie silence.

"She must be somewhere in this room," the blue mage said as he scrutinized the whole room. "I can feel it."

Ruby stood still in the middle, observing the unicorns that shamelessly barged inside the office. It was the pony who urged them to surrender a while ago. He lowered his head to scan the floor. What is he searching for? And that gray one, I believe he's the leader of the unicorn knights. Fighting the four of them would be a one-sided battle. If only she could find the device she needed, then it would be a lot easier to fight against these magic-reliant unicorns.

"Well, look who it is." The blue mage stood straight to glare the helpless mare. "It's the chancellor's dog."

"That makes two of us, huh?" Ruby shot back with a smirk.

Aura Gleam glanced at the mare's desk. Feeling the strong magical energy from it, he understood that the rogue unicorn was never here in the town hall all along. He sighed in disappointment. "Idiot, she's not here."

"B—but," Cross stammered. Sensing the glowing crystal, his eyes filled with anger from his wounded pride. "What did you do?"

Ruby was rightfully confused, looking at what took these unicorns' attention. It seemed like the crystal created some kind of magical disturbance. But what exactly? It definitely didn't nullify their magical powers since there did blast their way in— or did it? She had to take note of this hypothesis.

"Where are you hiding her, you feeble minded creature?" the mage asked.

"Feeble minded!?" Ruby reeled back in disgust. "You definitely have no respect at all."

"Enough. This is a waste of time," Aura commanded the group. "Search every house in this city. They can't be far."

They? Ruby thought they were only looking for one unicorn? But who cares. These ponies had the audacity to just barge into her office without scheduling a meeting, and now they were throwing insults at her? This was just not acceptable.

She tossed her hat at a wooden pole near the door, causing a chain reaction of furniture to block the exit. "...Y’all ain't going nowhere once you entered this room."

"Then this will be your doom!" Snow Cross snapped. He had been waiting for an excuse to lash out, and now the dumb earth pony was handing it to him on a silver platter. He charged magic on the tip of his horn, ready to fire—

"Continue your search," Aura Gleam ordered with a voice that rejected any objection. "I'll handle this."

"Yeah, run along now, little dog. Your master commands you," Ruby teased.

Once again, the mage has been denied a fight. There was nothing he wanted more than to show these ponies their place and shove their words down their throats. But he couldn't disobey the captains orders. There would be consequences.

"...As you wish." He bowed, hiding the boiling anger on his face, leaving Aura Gleam and his two soldiers to face the secretariat. This was an easy fight for them.

"I assume you know who I am," the High Knight said.

"Let me guess, the pony who raided all those undefended earth villages and broke the pact between our races." Ruby took the crystal from her desk and placed it in her pouch.

"Then you know you won't stand against me."

"Nah," Ruby said with a smile, "I'll take my chances."

The mare tapped her hoof twice on the floor, triggering a trapdoor in the floor and swallowed one of the knights. Unfortunately, the unicorn commander wasn't the one caught in it. Within a blink of an eye, she jumped behind her desk for cover against the rain of magical beams.

Finding a pause in their attack, Ruby bucked the desk right at the unicorns, smashing the unicorn soldier out of the room. She wiped the dust off her shoulders gaining a bit of confidence. If it's in this enclosed space, I can win!—

Weightlessness gripped her. Aura Gleam used his telekinesis to levitate her into the air. The crystals in her pouch glowed bright as the unicorn's magic wrapped around her.

And the next thing anyone knew, the magic dissipated and dropped the mare from mid-air to the ground. Aura Gleam was baffled. Looking at those crystals and feeling the energy emitting from it, he was reminded of something back at his hometown.

Ruby shook off her fall and stood up, watching her shimmering crystal that rolled away from her. "Huh, I can't believe that worked."

She took note of this new discovery. The crystal triggered once it made contact with a magical entity. If she could tinker with it for a bit more it could perhaps affect its surroundings as well.

"Your tricks are over." The high knight shot a powerful beam, but the mare dodged it quickly as she could as she tumbled towards the crystal. An explosion erupted from a yellow beam as it shot right pass her, creating a hole in the wall. She took back the crystal. She tossed it high in the air, and bucked it straight at the unicorn in a blinding speed! The gray stallion cast a shield spell, only for it to be dispelled upon impact.

It's my chance!

Ruby charged towards the stallion and prepared the strongest kicks she could muster. But to her surprise, the knight blocked her every attack with both hooves! Ruby jumped in the air to land a drop kick, only to freeze in mid-air. She was once again enveloped by magic. Aura Gleam slammed her as hard as he could against the floor and the ceiling.

The mare fell down showered by the ceiling's debris, fallen all over as her hat landed perfectly on her head. She could barely stand. She looked up at her opponent once more, and the last thing she saw was another yellow beam fired straight at her.
> Chapter 11 - Turn the Tide
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Twilight dashed to the Cakes house, slamming the door wide open. Relief immediately flushed her face the moment she found everyone, especially those two fillies. Everypony turned their heads to her sudden entrance.

“Mommy!” Selene along with Celeste rushed towards her and gave her a warm embrace. Cookie engrossed herself to the calamity outside the window, not missing even a single moment.

“Quick, close the door! Can't let those unicorns steal our sweets.” Mr. Cake sprinted to the doorway and slammed the door back shut. “My heavens, how’d you make your way here with those gem hounds and unicorns rampaging the streets?”

“I couldn't leave my fillies alone ” Twilight said, holding her fillies close. “I'm glad you two are safe.”

“We're okay,” Celeste replied. Selene's head was still buried in Twilight's coat and could only give out a muffled reply.

“Wow Twilight! I thought you got yourself lost when you went out for a walk.” Butter hopped off the hay couch and greeted Twilight. Even in a time of such conflict, the butter colored filly kept a positive smile.

“Alright, all we have to do is to stay calm and remain hidden. Eventually everything will be fine,” stated Mrs. Cake with a panicked look on her face.

“Haven’t you heard what they said? The unicorns are here because some criminal hid inside this city.” Mr. Cake stated to clear things out.

“Are they going to burn this town too, Pa?” asked Ginger. Her mother held him close.

“No, of course not. We can survive this just like before.” Carrot replied with mixed feelings.

“You can't be serious. Burn this town?!” repeated Mr. Cake. “That's outrageous! They better leave after they catch that loose criminal."

“I don’t think so. They will still return even when this is over.” Carrot shot a subtle glance at Twilight's direction.

“But, we don’t know where the missing unicorn is,” Mrs. Cake said. 

“What’s most important is why are they so desperate on finding the unicorn? Did that pony done something horribly wrong?” Berry joined the discussion.

While the Cakes were having a conversation about their fate, Celeste quietly poked Twilight and whispered, “A bunch of guards came in a while ago. They said they were searching for a rogue unicorn. What are we going to do?”

Twilight caught Celeste's doubt and fear in her eyes. She had to come up with a plan to escape. She could feel a certain thickness in the air, like a thick barrier that prevented teleportation, so she couldn't pull off the same stunt from back in Trote. It must have been that secretary's research placed on that bell.

“Are they going to catch us?” Selene gazed up at Twilight.

The pressure built up inside the purple pony. They wouldn't be able to hold their disguise for too long. This was a bad idea from the start. They shouldn't have come here in the first place. Was there even a way out of this? Whatever it was, there was only one thing certain: the timeline was ruined.

A simple lie brought on this horrible situation. Maybe she could keep up the disguise and wait everything out with her fillies -- dealing with Carrot was possible with a magic spell or two -- but would that really be the best choice?

Maybe it’s time to tell the truth. No more lies,  no more running. It was time to fight back. Although there was little chance to change the situation, it was still a step in the right direction. But first...

“I won't let that happen,” Twilight leveled down to Selene and ruffled her soft mane, “and I promise to keep both of you safe.”

Twilight stood up boldly, back to the Cakes still arguing about the unicorns' motivations.

“Everypony,” she said, but her voice was drowned out. Twilight took a deep breath, and shouted with volume worthy of the Royal Canterlot Voice:

“Everypony, listen to me!”

Silence immediately filled the room, everypony's eyes turned to Twilight. The unicorn paused, collected herself, keeping the two fillies in mind, and continued.

“I want to apologize for the danger I brought to you here,” Twilight said, planting her hooves strongly on the floor.

“Why ever would you apologize yourself, dear?” Berry asked.

“It’s because--” She focused her mind and a bright magenta light burst forth from her invisible horn. Celeste and Selene looked at each other, shedding their disguises to reveal their true appearance once again. Twilight continued, “It's us that they're searching for.”

The Cake couples let out a high-pitched scream while hugging each other.

Twilight wrapped their mouths with her magic. “Please, you have to understand. I'm not a threat to all of you. In fact, I’m here to help. Carrot, can you please tell them?”

Carrot kept quiet. There was no point in explaining further. Butter and Ginger were shocked, eyes spinning while figuring out what the hay was even going on. Berry shot an angry look to her husband, “You knew this all along? Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

“I--” Carrot lost his train of thought. He really wanted to blame Twilight for not leaving sooner, but since he allowed her to stay, he was partly at fault as well.

But a different glint -- the glint of opportunity -- shone in Cookie's eyes.

“Everypony, just calm down,” the filly jumped on the table, “can’t you all see this is a great opportunity? This pony right here is a unicorn, a unicorn! And good at magic too! We can fight back against those unicorns, like fighting fire with fire!”

She quickly zoomed towards Twilight and whispered in her ear, “By the way, I knew that you had a horn all along,” and bounced back to the table. “Listen, I have a plan--”

"Here's the plan," Mr. Cake interrupted as soon as he was able to speak, "We shall hand them over!"

Twilight and the two sisters froze in fear, but Cookie stood up for them, “Dad, listen. Turning them over won't make any difference.”

“What are you thinking about, oh Great and Smart Cookie?” Butter asked her like a proper disciple.

“I gave it some thought after we had a late night conversation about this ruby,” Cookie held out the gem. “And I thought, how could a simple earth pony with two fillies go through the gem front and come out not only alive, but filled to the brim with gems? There's only one answer: she vanquished them!”

Her excitement only grew exponentially. “And if she vanquished them, the memory -- the fear! -- must still be struck in their hearts.”

“What are you trying to say, dear?” asked Mrs. Cake, visibly confused.

“What I'm saying is,” she hopped beside the purple pony, “Twilight here can command those hounds to help us fight the intruders.”

“That makes zero sense at all!” Mr. Cake shouted back.

Would that work? Twilight tilted her head. Back in her time, Rarity did control the diamond dogs with her whining. But these gem hounds looked even more dumb.

Still, an idea was an idea, better than "just blast everypony with magic" and hope it would work out. Here was another bright idea: if she could just gain access to the watchtowers, she could, theoretically, use a spell to alter the sound frequency and communicate with the gem hounds. Applying a mind spell inside the hounds’ head through the whistling sound might just do the trick? How far was she going to bring this crazy idea? Was she still sane?

“Think you can do it?” Cookie asked with a challenging smile.

“Yes,” replied Twilight with confidence. “But I need to get to one of those towers.”

“I can lead you there,” Carrot stepped in. Everypony stared at him with confusion, so he defended himself. “I'm only doing this to make sure the plan will work. And also, just in case if she runs back to her own kind.”

“Twilight would never do that, mister!” Celeste blurted out.

“Yeah! Our mommy defeated those scary monsters with a hundred -- no, a thousand flying gemstones,” Selene added. Twilight couldn't help but smile at her two fillies who were being supportive.

“I want to come with you, Pa,” Ginger put his brave face on.

Carrot looked at his young colt. His son really has inherited his personality, “I'm proud of you, son. But I need you to stay here and protect your mom, a’ight?” With that said, he whispered at his wife, “Please look after him.”

“I will,” Berry replied and gave him a hug. “Be careful out there. We don’t want to lose you.”

The Cakes finally stopped panicking. If nothing else, they trusted their smart daughter more than anything else in this world. They approached the purple unicorn and asked, “Can we really trust you?”

Twilight smiled and assured the couple: “You have my word.”

“Alright, let's go kick some flanks!” Cookie shouted. Butter steeled herself and prepared for an adventure of a lifetime.

“Oh no you don’t.” Mr. Cake stopped them before they got out of hoof. “You two are staying here inside the house.”

“Come on! It’s my plan after all,” the orange filly whined but her parents wouldn’t change their mind.

Carrot waited for Twilight at the door, ready to go at a moment's notice. The purple pony took a small moment to hug her fillies then proceed to follow the brown stallion.

“We'll be back soon."

---

Galloping through the streets, Twilight could still see the chaos caused by the rampaging gem hounds running away from the sounding whistle. She needed to get to the tower before all the hounds were gone. Gazing far away, she could clearly see the town hall was on fire and noticed a corner of the second floor was blown away. It looks like the unicorns managed to infiltrate the center of the village. A stray unicorn noticed them and quickly obstructed their path.

“Stop right there!” the unicorn shouted. But both Twilight and Carrot ignored him and kept their pace. A magic beam cut through their path, making it clear that the next shot wouldn’t miss. Seeing as they weren't stopping, the unicorn fired once again -- only to be blocked by a purple magical barrier. But the scout kept strong, holding the beam to pierce through the shield. Carrot took this moment to decently execute his attack. He flanked the unicorn and quickly knocked him out..

Carrot stared at the purple pony as the barrier faded into thin air. He didn't need her to thank him, but he saw that she fired a beam right at him. The stallion dodged, then saw it hit a unicorn behind him who was about to do a surprise attack.

“You're welcome?” said Twilight.

“Did I say thank you?” Carrot replied stubbornly.

Finally close to the watchtowers, Twilight saw earth ponies on top of the platform blowing the mouthpiece. Outside the door were earth pony guards taking a stand against any hostiles they might encounter.

“Here, cover that thing on your head,” Carrot tossed a rag to the purple pony.

Twilight couldn't see why this was necessary when she could just put those guards to sleep. Nonetheless, she didn't argue with his idea. As she covered up, Carrot trotted towards the guards to do the talking. The earth ponies shifted their attention on them. “You two! You're not supposed to be out in the open. Stay in your homes.”

Both guards were abruptly shot by unicorn magic. Carrot flinched at the sudden attack. He looked at Twilight who was untying the burnt rag around her head.

“What did you do?” he asked in an angry tone.

“I put them to sleep. Don’t worry, they'll wake up in an hour.” She dropped the smoky rag. A certain realization came to Carrot: this unicorn had great abilities and was not to be easily messed with. It was the same feeling he got when she spared him back at Trote. She is definitely their only hope to turn the tide of battle.

Once inside the tower, Twilight scanned the cylinder room while Carrot dragged the unconscious earth ponies inside. A ladder rose up to the platform above. She climbed the ladder only to alert the remaining earth ponies to her presence. Twilight quickly shot them all to sleep before they had any chance to fight against her.

The view from the tower was great. She saw earth ponies and unicorns battling each other while the hounds brought even more chaos to the clash. Beams of different lights were seen blasting structures, setting buildings aflame. Little did she know that the roofs were two-layered and only the hay part of the roof burned while the bricks only remained slightly charred. It looked like the unicorns were having trouble burning the houses down. The refugee zone wasn't affected by the battle, at least not yet. She had to hurry. The conflicts was getting closer to the Cakes’ area.

“What a mess.” Carrot gazed upon the view. “Never thought I'll saw Southern Earth burning in front of my eyes.”

Twilight melancholically  stared at the village being raided. “I never wanted this to happen.” She couldn't believe the unicorn race would have ever done this. Are they really after the food stock of this village? Or her two daughters. Was there such an event in the history books?

“Well, better act quick. Even if I told you to leave, those horn heads will still lay siege to the city.” The stallion checked the whistle as he opened the hatch where the pipe was. “You sure you know how to control the gem hounds?”

“I can’t control them, but maybe I can convince them to help us. Although it might take some time.” This would be much easier if she could persuade other creatures like Fluttershy. She should have asked her for animal communication lessons when she had the time, but those snakes were just too terrifying. Twilight stood near the mouth piece, going over her spell. It was still a work in progress but it was enough to enchant the mechanism.

“If you try to pull off a unicorn trick, I swear I'll make you regret it,” he warned her.

Ignoring his threat, she looked far, towards the unguarded gate entrance. “I don’t think I'll be able to finish it in time. Somepony needs to close the gate to trap the gem hounds.”

He looked at the gate as well and thought of a good idea. “Let me handle it,” he said with confidence, acquiring a crossbow from the unconscious archer. He loaded it with an arrow, stretching out the sturdy string all the way from the locked trigger, and focused on his target. A wooden lever was sticking out a hundred meters away from where he was standing.

He let out a deep breath. This situation brought back his childhood memories.

Twilight noticed him sighed. “On second thought, leave it to me. The gate's too far away and there’s no way you could possibly do it. I can use my magic to close it--”

The trigger was pulled, sending the arrow flying straight. Twilight traced the projectile with her eyes as it approached the target. She couldn't keep up as it whistled pass her line of sight, and not long after, the gate of Southern Earth started to crawl down.

“Wha-how?” Twilight was surprised by the stallion's marksmanship. As far as she could recall from history books, earth ponies were featured as farmers with the strength to defend themselves from invaders. But that didn't include marksmanship. That was more of the skills of the pegasi. But this pony...

“Quit looking and do your mind-whistle thing,” he said, dropping the crossbow without another word.

Twilight shook away whatever theories that came into her head. “Right, sorry.”

---

"Celestia, huh? Got a nice ring to it. What's it like in Unicornia? Pa said they eat earth ponies back
there."

Ginger kept bothering Celeste and Selene with a barrage of questions, but who wouldn't? It was his first time to have an actual conversation with ponies that could use magic and he couldn't hold back that burning flame of curiosity — much to the annoyance of the older sister.

"It's Celeste," she scoffed, "and yes, they eat annoying earth ponies who keeps asking annoying
questions like you there."

"We do?" Selene asked with teary eyes.

"Of course not," she answered her sister who couldn't take a joke. "But Unicornia is the worst
place to live in. We're not going back to that place ever again."

"They punished us every time we fail our magic lessons," Selene added.

"You got gems with you, right?" Ginger immediately moved on to his next question without pause. It was a question born from the thought process Unicorn Place equals Filled with dazzling rocks. "Can I ask some? Pretty please?"

"No."

"Aww, I wish I had one like my cousin."

"You're in luck!" Selene felt sympathetic to the young colt's longing, "Our mom just happened to have a bag full of g—"

"Grass!" Selene's words got cut a Celeste's hoof plunged in her mouth. The older sister had to keep her younger sister in check her. "That's right, we used them to make grass soup."

"Grass soup?" Confusion was apparent on ginger's face.

"Grass soup?" Mrs. Cake, who was listening to their amusing talk, couldn't help but raise her voice. "My goodness, I… that is quite…"

"At least it's no worse than Butter's salad." Mr. Cake uneasily glanced at Butter and shivered.

"What's wrong with the salad?" Celeste asked, but nopony would answer her question. But looking at everyone's hesitant eyes, she understood that it was best not to ask further.

"Alright, chit-chat's over." Cookie emerged from the kitchen with a pot helmet on, like a soldier prepared for war. "Tonight we're going to fortify our base and wait for reinforcement to arrive. We've got to protect ourselves in case intruders barge in—"

The door blasted open. Everypony but Cookie screamed as a robbed light blue unicorn marched inside their humble house.

"…in case intruders barge in, never mind then."

The Cake couple, slow in reacting, screamed as well by the sudden intrusion of the unicorn, only to be enveloped in a mute bubble.

"There you brats are," Snow Cross howled at the two sisters hiding behind the earth ponies. "Tell me, where's the rogue unicorn who abducted you?"

"She didn't foalnap us." Celeste stepped in front of the frightened crowd, putting a strong hoof on the group to stop her shaking.

"That's right, you evil pony, and she's teaching us the magic of harmony to beat the likes of you!" Selene added, now behind her older sister.

Wasn't it the magic of friendship? But Celeste had other things to worry about than correcting her younger sister.

The mage snickered. "Ridiculous! I only sense a tiny bit of magic coming from you, fools. You're nothing but earth pony food compared to my great powers!"

Celeste focused hard. She shut her eyes and pushed every bit of magic in her body and poured it to the tip of her horn. A faint yellow aura shimmered around Snow Cross.

But it did nothing but bring a laugh out of him. "Trying to tickle me to death? Is that what you learned from the rogue?" With no effort at all, blue magic enveloped Celeste and lifted her off the ground. She tried her best to break free, but she couldn't break free from the powerful magic.

"I could show you how great the powerful magic you're against with, but I have clear orders not to harm you. Consider yourself lucky."

"You'll never get us, mommy's gonna come to our rescue and you're gonna be so sorry!" Selene got lifted up together with her sister against her will.

"We'll see about that." Snow Cross stared at them with a challenging look. These fillies were too much trouble for what they're worth and he'd like nothing more than throw them away and join the hunt for that rogue unicorn, but the captain's orders were infuriatingly absolute.

"Head's up!"

The unicorn turned his head — and a sack of flour slammed on his face, a puff of white cloud around him. The impact disoriented Snow Cross and made him weaken his telekinetic grip on the fillies and the mute bubble on the Cake couple. Cookie and Butter hoof bumped each other.

"Ginger, you're up!" Cookie signaled her cousin. Ginger dragged a sack with his teach and hopped in on a compact home-made catapult. He buckled himself and shouted, "fire!"

Butter released the lever and fired the little pony right towards Snow Cross, who was wiping the flour off his face.

"You—" Without a second to even cast his magic, a sack covered his entire face and brought everything dark.

"Intruder has been contained," Cookie visually confirmed, and proceeded to the next phase,

"Butter, let it slide."

"With pleasure, oh great Cookie!" Butter grabbed a crate of banana peels out of nowhere and littered it around the sacked unicorn.

"Aunt Berry," Cookie took her pot helmet and tossed it to her. "You do the honors."

The unicorn conveniently slipped on one of the peels, sliding down towards the two.

"Oh I've been wanting to do this for a long time." Berry bit the pot handle hard. With a good swing, she slammed the pot straight at the unicorn's face, flipping him backwards and landing on the couch.

"And for the final touch." Cookie pushed the catapult and slid it underneath the couch. She pulled the trigger, launching the entire couch outside the window.

After a brief silence, the whole Cake family cheered for their victory, along with the two unicorn fillies.

"Wow, that was amazing! You were like 'head's up!' and he was like 'wahhh?' and you're like 'Raaahhh!' and you… wow!" Selene burst with joy, trying to express her excitement with broken words.

"No need to thanks us, concerned citizen," Cookie said with a smile, awkwardly patting her horn.

"I can't believe our daughter's smart enough to do all that," Mr. Cake said to his wife, receiving only a nod from his wife. Shock filled their face, wondering how their filly was able to outsmart the unicorn.

Celeste stopped her celebration short. She felt something coming from outside. And suddenly, a blast of powerful magic struck the wall into oblivion, revealing a unicorn filled with pure unadulterated rage, levitating mid-air. His eyes burned, his mane and robe flowing with the wind.

"You dimwitted earth ponies DARE insult me!?" Snow fired a blue beam at Berry, dodging it in a hair's breath with a jump.

"I, Great Magus Snow Cross, will destroy each and every one of you!"

"Snow Cross? The name would've gone better to a calmer pony," Cookie said. The orange filly floated through levitation and was dragged closer to the hovering pony.

"No, please!" her parents begged, only to fall on deaf ears.

Cookie felt her whole body clutched tight. It was a sight that shook Celeste. She closed her eyes shut. She brought herself back to the lessons Twilight taught her. She cleared her thoughts, washed away the sounds around her. She had to do it, and it had to work.

And the next thing she realized, everything went dark. Three pebbles appeared in front of her, two rolling towards each other and formed one big boulder. She imagined that to be the robbed pony, while the smaller pebble became Cookie.

The boulder laughed at her, laughed at her failure. Laughed at her weakness for being unable to save the small pebble from being crushed.

Celeste grew mad, clouding her focus. The stones felt heavier that a mountain, and her spirit was crushed by the sheer weight of her task.

"What's wrong?" A voice came over her shoulder. It was a familiar voice, once she only knew recently, but a warmth that brought a calm to herself. Even in this imaginary world, Twilight comforted her.

She exhaled from her efforts as sadness took over. “I can’t do it. It’s too hard.”

Twilight then placed her hoof under Celeste’s chin. “Yes, you can. Don’t let chaos take hold.” She motivated the filly. “Remember. Harmony.”

That’s it! Celeste recalled what she was missing.

Her previous surrounding came back with the sounds. She saw Cookie was about to get crushed by the robed pony. She concentrated, but this time with no anger. Thinking only about happy memories, she let harmony reign in her heart. Yellow entities sparked at her horn followed by an aura.

“You should be glad for being the first one to taste my magic.” Cross grimly smiled.

“Ok, I surrender!” Cookie held her hooves up high as the magi lit up his horn to give the orange filly her demise.

All of a sudden, the two ponies were covered by the shimmering yellow light that was consuming Cross’s blue magic aura. The mage’s ability was disabled and this surprised him. “What is this?! What did you do?” Cross had lost his magic to levitate, but he remained in mid-air as Celeste has taken control of the levitation.

Cookie was released from the grasp of Celeste, leaving her to fall but Mr. Cake caught her quickly. The mage couldn’t believe it. This was impossible. How could this happen? How did she do all this? What’s with her face? Why is she smiling like that? There’s only one thing he did know-- he had lost.

“No! I won’t be defeated by some uneducated foals!” he shouted, still trying to retain some of his pride. “Well, you just did,” Cookie said simply.

“Noooooooooooooo!” The light-blue pony shot right to the roof as he flew up high into the night sky until he became one with the stars shining above.

Maybe next time, Celeste can send ponies to the moon.

“I have to say, that was really awesome,” Cookie praised the unicorn filly.

“Sister, you did it! You showed that evil pony who’s powerful!” Selene cheered with joy that her big sister has won against the magi.

“I know right?” Celeste turned to Selene with her big creepy smile that might rip off her cheeks. She couldn’t feel her face for some reason. Selene got flinched by her psychotic gesture. No wonder the vanquished magi was also bothered.

It wasn’t long after as a new unicorn stallion appeared from the blown away wall of the building. It made Celeste’s plastered smile fade. It was a good thing though, otherwise she would turn into a crazy looking filly.

“Hello, my two little fillies,” Aura Gleam smiled.

Gasped!

---

A scream.

The scream pierced Twilight's ears. It was an ever-familiar voice of two troubled fillies, one she came to be familiar with. She stopped for a moment, looking at the location where it came. It was coming from the Cakes. Something was wrong!

“What are you doing?” Carrot asked as he saw Twilight drop her progress on adjusting the long pipe.

"My daughters are in danger! I'm going back to rescue them!"

The stallion's eyes widened. If what she said was true then his relatives were in danger as well. But despite the news he heard from Twilight, he didn't hesitate to decide to continue the plan. He sensed that his family could handle it, at least enough until their work was done. Once the purple pony got it to work, the gem hounds could get the unicorn to distract themselves.

“No,” the stallion halted her. “We Cakes can protect ourselves. Just hurry up on what you're doing so we can get out of here.”

“But-” Twilight stammered, then stomped her hoof on the ground. “No! They need me now and I'm going to save them. You have no idea who they're up against.”

Carrot sighed from his newly gained weariness with the unicorn’s stubborn personality.

“Do you really think the Cakes can face the head knight of Unicornia? If my calculations are correct, the odds aren't that great,” Twilight added, then went to the ladder.

The stallion’s face darkened. His confidence about his family's safety had dropped real hard. Another unicorn who this powerful unicorn was afraid of? He hadn’t put much thought about it. Either way, he should really go back and check it himself.

“Wait,” he said to Twilight, who turned her head to him. “I'll go. You stay here and continue your spell thing.”

Twilight didn't want to judge but she felt he wouldn't stand a chance against the high knight. Carrot looked at the incomplete progress of the enchanted pipe. “Is it almost done?”

“Yes, just a few more adjustments. Once it whistles, the altered sound frequency should reflect among the other towers, causing a chain reaction.”

“Good, make that happen.” Carrot held the ladder, pulled the unicorn back to the whistle and went back to the ladder himself. With a final look, he said, “I’m trusting you to help us earth ponies fight against these unicorns. I'll take care of those daughters of yours.”

After that, he slid down as he held both sides of the ladder.

“Wait! I don’t think you can-” Twilight's words were cut short as the stallion had already left. She kept hitting her head, thinking about every little possibility that Carrot had on winning against the unicorn leader.

There wasn't any. But still, she couldn't leave this plan alone -- it was their only hope.

The only thing she could do to raise their chances of winning was quickly finish this nearly-complete invention.
> Chapter 12 - At The Unending Dark
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Carrot dashed, hooves burning and breath ragged, back to the house of the Cakes where his relatives and their two filly friends waited. A bad feeling clutched at his heart, an uncertain atmosphere that told him something was going on and every second wasted could have been that final second to save whoever might be in trouble.

Unicorn scouts popped out one by one to stop him, but Carrot's sharpened senses allowed him to avoid their shots. He zigzagged his way through anypony who stood in his way, not even stopping for a moment to knock any of them out.

Dread fell on his heart. From the distance, he spotted smoke rising into the sky high above. The scene of the Cake's house burned bright in the war-torn city, wooden beams falling apart and turned into crackling charcoals.

Twilight was right about the danger. A heavy lump stuck on his throat, but he forged forwards towards the searing flames only hoping for the best.

"Pa!" A familiar voice came from behind. A great relief washed over him, and tears welled up in his eyes. "You're ba—"

Carrot gave the little colt a bear hug. Ginger was safe, and that was all that mattered to him. He glanced at the back, and the Cake family, despite being worse for the wear, was all there safe and sound.

"What happened here? everypony alright?" Carrot asked everyone present, only to be met with hesitation.

"We're okay," Ginger spoke first, "But Celeste and Selene… well, they put up a fight, but she and her sister got captured."

"Cookie!" Butter cried as the sight of the burning house reflected on her teary eyes, "Our prized sure-win cake, it's gone!"

"There is no contest, Butter, it's also gone." Cookie held her head to suppress the incoming headache, when she noticed her uncle returned without the unicorn. "Where's Twilight?"

"She'll be here," Carrot replied. "Where'd they take your two friends?"

Cookie pointed into the distance, where he spotted a gray unicorn walking away with both Celeste and Selene held captive inside a floating magical bubble, tagged along by a yellow magi behind them. The magi ordered her units to regroup back together with the captain, as the plundering soldiers fell back with all the food in store.

It was finally over. After getting what they came for, it was time to break through the gate once more. The screams for help inside that bubble reached Carrot, making him flinch.

"Aren't we gonna do something?" Ginger begged his father, wanting to repay his friends for trying to save them earlier.

But Carrot didn't budge. "There's nothing. Nothing we can do at all."

"We got to! We just got to! She tried her best to fight the scary unicorn, after all! She helped us escape! She saved us, pa! We can't just leave them!"

Carrot stared at the figures of the receding unicorns far away. What good would rescuing them do anyways? They were unicorns after all, and the unicorns responsible for the war in this town and his home village, Trote. Rather than not being his concern, shouldn't he be glad that they were taken away? Any normal earth pony would think this away.

But something twitched in his heart, watching those two fillies far away.

What did it mean to be an earth pony? A unicorn?

Why, instead of those two fillies, did he see himself in that magical bubble? Rejected by those around him, because he was different.

Was he really going to reject the cries of two innocent ponies, all because they were unicorns?

"…Ginger, stay here," Carrot said to his kid. He stomped his hoof forward on the ground, a step closer to the escaping unicorns.

"Wait wait wait, you're not going to face those unicorns, are you!?" Mr. Cake screamed. It was an insane choice that didn't fit his normally levelheaded brother. "That's crazy! You're gonna get yourself in major trouble!"

Carrot turned his head back one last time. "I think our Old Bum would do the same thing for us, brother."

Mr. Cake understood that once Carrot became this way, there was no use stopping him. Berry wanted more than anything to stop him, but Carrot went on galloping without another word. All she could do was hold her tears back and wish for her love's safety.

---

Carrot charged towards the high knight in a mad dash. The robed magi, Serene, noticed his presence and quickly casted her spell. Carrot felt his weight being pulled up by a strong force of magic, but he could only grab a stray piece of nearby debris before freely floating in midair.

Aura Gleam stopped and noticed the commotion from behind, and to his surprise found some random earth pony. He'd expect that rogue unicorn to pop out, but some earth pony trying to rescue a unicorn was simply preposterous. And here he was purposefully walking slowly to bait that purple unicorn to show up, since he couldn't sense her presence due to that magic-distorting crystal.

Aura Gleam nodded at Serene and returned to walking, not wasting a single second to watch the pony's demise.

Carrot struggled hard against the unicorn's levitation, flailing around much to Serene's annoyance. Noticing she was about to cast another spell, Carrot snapped. He spun himself midair, gaining momentum while holding the debris tight, and shot it straight at the unicorn! Serene's shield was a bit too late as the projectile struck her head hard. She crumpled to the ground, releasing Carrot from the levitation and back to the hard reassuring ground.

"Come here and fight me!" he shouted at the captain. Aura Gleam looked back, and was surprised to find Serene knocked out. It was quite a rebellious act, and any other day he wouldn't allow this mad earth pony to live. But he felt generous today after the operation's huge success despite its many roadblocks.

"I'm going to give you a chance to run," said the high knight. "You must be proud being able to knock a high ranking unicorn down, right? You've blown off that anger of yours, and in deference to your skill, I'll give you a chance to live."

"Let 'em two go.'" Carrot stood firm.

Aura could not help but glance at his captives, and back at the crazy pony. "These two? What do these two have to do with you?"

"I don't know," the brown stallion replied. He paused—he really didn't know—but he kept on going. "I don't know. But one thing's for sure: you destroyed my home, you destroyed my brother's home, and your taking fillies that ain’t yours. I don't know why, but what I do know is that I won't have it!"

Aura raised an eyebrow. This pony had no clue at all, and it took him all he had to not burst out laughing. Was he serious in challenging him?

"It's not a fair fight, but I'll take what I have. We both know you're nothing without your fancy magic," Carrot taunted.

Aura Gleam dispelled the magical force field, letting his units take hold of the two fillies. He stepped forward, the soldiers stepping back while dragging along their unconscious comrade to give the two of them space. None of them even raised a voice to stop this commotion; they were all too aware of their captain's personality, after all.

"I have beaten over a hundred pathetic whelps like you in my time at the Academy," threatened the high knight, "don't think I'll even go easy on you."

Carrot was silent. Somehow, he felt he couldn't win this fight.

But then again, he already chose to save those fillies, despite this fight not really being his. Why was that purple unicorn taking so long? Shouldn't she be here by now? Realistically, all he could do was stall this scary-looking unicorn until that mare arrives. He felt cold sweat running down his forehead. Stare returned stare, none of the other willing to back down.

Carrot took an offensive stance. He charged, closing the distance in a blink, and shot an earth-shattering buck at the unicorn. Aura blocked the strike with two hooves, dragging his hooves through the ground from the kick's sheer strength. Carrot chained a flip kick but was dodged in a hair's breadth. Carrot kept dishing out punches and kicks unceasingly, but none of them could pass through Aura's sharpened battle sense. And before Carrot knew it, the unicorn caught his hoof. Aura pinned that hoof down and struck the unprepared earth pony with a strong hook, throwing him to the ground.

Carrot rubbed his burning jaw. He took all that he had to stand back up, taking his time in thinking of a way out. The unicorn snapped to action, charging at a blinding speed. Carrot reflexively dodged and flung some dirt straight at the unicorn's eyes. That moment of darkness was all Carrot needed to strike back at Aura with a strong buck!

Aura Gleam hit the ground hard. Everypony had their jaws wide open, from the bystanders who gathered to watch the commotion, and more especially the troops. Celeste and Selene cheered at this unexpected blow. Nopony has ever landed a blow on their captain before. Aura stood back up with a shake of his head, wiping the dirt away from his eyes.

Now that his enemy was using tricks, all bets were off.

He finally regaining his vision, only to be met by a charging attack from Carrot. Aura countered with a beam, dodged once again. The earth pony grabbed a wagon wheel lying down and threw it at the unicorn, only to be smashed into pieces by a strong punch.

But it was merely a distraction, as Carrot emerged from behind Aura Gleam and attacked with his strongest buck yet.

"—You fool."

Aura Gleam simply shifted his weight, avoiding the kick at a dangerous distance. In a single beat, he stepped back and blew the earth pony away with a buck that shook the entire place.

Carrot flew back, smashing into a wagon with a missing wheel.

With all his strength, he shakily crawled out of the wagon dragging his injured body on the ground, but Aura Gleam planted a rigid hoof on the earth pony's back and forced him down. He leaned near him and whispered, "Any last words?"

"Yeah, you cheated."

He pushed him harder to the ground. "We all have our own advantage. A pity, you don't even know how to use yours." Aura Gleam's horn shone with an eerie glow, burning heat gathering on the tip—

Howl.

The crying howl of the hounds interrupted the high knight. He looked back to his troops, who were also baffled by this sudden interruption. Nopony knew what was going on—nopony but Carrot. For him, it was a shining ray of hope in the middle of darkness. It was the twilight after an unending night.

"What's going on?" shouted Aura Gleam to his confused soldiers.

The unicorns scanned their surroundings, just as curious as their commander, when a rampaging gemhound lunged at a poor unsuspecting foot soldier. The rest of the troops quickly shot back to new sudden threat, when even more hounds flooded the area. Beams and claws clashed in a chaotic battlefield, and Aura Gleam was left stunned by this new development. These mad creatures were supposed to be their leverage!

"I-Impossible!"

"They got a new master now," Carrot said with a laugh.

Aura Gleam snapped, and slammed the earth pony into a broken wagon.

The two sister's screamed as the hounds passed right in front of them. The high knight turned his attention to the noise. He ran to the fillies but stopped -- his senses tingled. He felt a great magical energy, heading straight at him from above!

Scanning the roofs and buildings, he spotted a great purple beam striking from above. A snappy magical shield absorbed the initial impact, but the power of the beam proved far too strong and blasted him out from where he stood.

Shaking off the ashes and smoke, he found the figure of that rogue unicorn, landing on the ground with an aura of magenta, along with two well-behaved gem hounds by her side.

"Twilight!" "Mommy!"

Celeste and Selene rejoiced upon seeing Twilight coming to their rescue.

Aura Gleam was puzzled by what Selene' called her. He couldn't understand why the little pony called that rogue pony her "mommy". Nevertheless, he now had Twilight's full attention. He got up to his knees and gathered offensive spells in his mind. He didn't have a lot of spells, but he was the best at what he had.

 He felt a ping from his magic sense, warning him that facing this purple unicorn wasn't going to be easy.

"Leave them alone," Twilight warned him for the last time.

Aura Gleam ignored her. Instead, he wanted to see just how powerful this unicorn was. There was no way for a formidable magic user like him could lose to some stray unicorn. "You're not the one giving orders here."

The two gem hounds charged towards him. He ducked away from the first hound and dodged the second attack. The hounds proved to be agile, kicking back against the ground and charged at him again -- only to be met with Aura Gleam's magic of spreading flames that sent them running away.

Twilight wasted no time and fired another beam. Aura quickly raised a barrier but it shattered on impact.

He watched as the pieces of barrier magic flew past him -- no simple magic could do that. Each of her blast must contain energies far beyond normal. He conjured the remnants of the barrier and converted them into bright yellow sparks and circled them around him, and struck the ground with magic. The sparks seeped below the earth and transformed into a slithering slinking flame charging towards Twilight.

She was quick, and a force field surrounded her just before the flames could hit her. A great explosion erupted and shook the entire place. The two sisters watching far in the sidelines in fear and shock.

A short burst of wind cleared out the smoke, revealing Twilight unharmed. She tugged her horn upwards, like a fisherpony hunting for the greatest catch.

Aura Gleam made a stance and prepared for the worst.

One, two, and all the other gems that the unicorns initially threw shook and was grasped in a familiar magenta hue. Gems all around them, surrounding them, floated up to the sky and showered the land with a beautiful rain of colors. Everypony, even Aura Gleam, had mouths agape from this scenery.

It wouldn't last. Just like before, Twilight sent the gems back down in a barrage, concentrated on the high knight. Aura snapped awake and quickly dodged the hailstorm of colors, taking his time to charge up his magic. When his horn finally glowed its brightest. a great shockwave burst from him, knocking back every single gem in the sky. Jewels rained on these two duelist. Aura held his head in pain, suffering the recoil from that powerful spell.

Twilight wasn't finished. She channeled more magic into her horn -- but found herself unable to move. Aura's magic held her, slamming her to the ground -- which was stopped as Twilight snapped away his levitation and landed herself gently. Not another moment and Aura fired another beam at Twilight, only to be stopped yet again by her shield.

"Ahh!"

Twilight's attention turned to the noise -- the two sisters screamed as they were chased around by unicorn soldiers. Twilight leapt aside and fired tracking beams. These magical projections zigzagged around Aura Gleam and towards the soldiers. Her magic struck them and froze them in place.

It was too late when Aura noticed the ice shards that formed on his hooves that immobilized him as well. Twilight took this chance to run towards her fillies--

"Look out!" Celeste shouted.

Twilight looked back and found an incoming fireball her way. Without hesitation, she cast a force field that stood strong against the explosion.

Remnants of the flames spread out from the blast, setting the surrounding area aflame, some even splashed near Selene's hoof.

Twilight made sure they were both safe, and focused back on Aura Gleam who just broke free from his icy hooves.

"You're strong," the high knight complemented, "who taught you such powerful abilities?"

Twilight smiled. "Friendship."

That was stupid; what did friendship have to do with sorcery?

The high knight ignored her words and formed a stance, prepared to fire another spell, but it was too late; Twilight lifted him up with her levitation. He tried to break free, fighting back the great force of magic. With no way to counterattack, he was completely enveloped inside Twilight's magical bubble.

"Give it up, it's over," Twilight said.

Aura Gleam stood with anger. He looked around him, seeing his troops overwhelmed by the hounds. On the other side, earth pony combatants drove away the remains of his forces.

The battle was over.

Despite all this, he refused to surrender.

"Never will I give in to a scoundrel like you. Do you really think I would let you go just like that? No. This is a formidable crime. And rest assured, I'll deliver unto you the worst punishment you will ever know."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"That won't happen." Celeste stepped in beside her. "You are the worst father of all! You tortured us to learn and used us for your own benefit! We hope you disappear forever!"

“Oh please, I'm only doing this for the sake of our kind.”

“No! You're only doing this for yourself!” she snapped back.

The high knight fell quiet. Twilight's mind could not believe what it just heard. She couldn't possibly mean that Aura Gleam is the father of these two sisters? Her two students?

When all was said and done, Twilight's bubble faded away into thin air. Aura Gleam fell down to the dirt hard. Unicorns who kept firing beam at the gem hounds, found their leader down on the ground, gave up and released their weapons from levitation.

"We... won? We won!"

Sounds of earth pony cries erupted from every corner of Southern Earth. Earth Pony soldiers climbed on top of the rubble, archers positioned at the rooftops, and quickly the earth pony army surrounded the invaders. Aura Gleam caught sight of the secretariat, standing proud on the town hall tower.

Ruby leaned on the wall with a tired but satisfied sigh. Marks and bruises on her body showed evidence of her fight against the high knight earlier. Nopony knew how she survived. Beside the mare was her invention, a golden tripod that looked like a telescope clamped to the balcony. Embedded on it was a glowing crystal; the crystal that prevented teleportation. She took it away, and replaced it with a new crystal, the one that totally nullified unicorn magic. A wave of amplified energy covered the entire city. Her work finally done, she allowed her fatigue to take her over as she fell to the wooden floor.

Earth ponies surrounded the scattered unicorns, who suddenly found their magic rendered useless, including the area where the great battle between Twilight and Aura Gleam took place. Gem hounds suddenly stayed at ease, lost in thought as to where they were, although they still growled on anypony who came near them.

Twilight was shocked at this sudden loss of magic. She thought back on her conversation with the secretariat; it looked like her research has paid its worth. Aura watched his troops surrender one by one when a charcoal stallion emerged from the squad of earth pony guards.

The chancellor watched the high knight's downfall and the strangely familiar purple pony who stood guard. He faintly remembered that mare didn't have a horn before. So it was her, he surmised. He turned his attention towards the groveling unicorn on the grounds.

“Not so superior now without your magic,” said Greyhooves. “Look at you, all nothing, nothing but a helpless lump.”

Aura Gleam got up on his shaking knees. “You look brave walking under the protection of your precious stone. Bask in your glory for now. We'll come back, and when we do, there won't be any crystal to rely on.”

He secretly took out a shimmering blue jewel from his pocket armor, out of the view of everypony.

“No, you won't.” Greyhooves said. “Aura Gleam, you're the first commander who led your brethren to infiltrate an earth village. This is quite a mark in history you've made. And so history will take you too.”

He gave out a cold command to his soldiers: “Kill them.”

Twilight was shocked. Kill? What was this crazy pony talking about? "N-no, what are you--"

“This isn't over,” the high knight said, glancing over to Twilight.

Before anyone could react, Aura Gleam crushed the blue stone he held. Blue magic sparks broke out from its shell, flying around the air. A shining light wrapped all the captured and injured unicorn soldiers, and burst away from the city.

“Cursed magic,” said Greyhooves.

“Sir,” one of the guards reported as his units brought three unicorns who didn't teleport away: Twilight, Celeste and Selene. “What do you want us to do with them?”

The chancellor stared at the purple unicorn and the awfully familiar fillies. The two sisters hid behind Twilight, hoping that she could win against the earth ponies even without magic.

“Put those two fugitives in prison. Make sure this time, they won't escape.” Greyhooves turned to the purple unicorn with a harsh glare. “You on the other hoof, will die.”

His guards pointed their spears at Twilight.

“What?!” shouted the two sisters.

“Wait!”

An orange filly came running and slid into the scene. She slipped below the earth pony guards and stood before the purple unicorn, slamming a hoof on the ground. “I said wait!”

Guards broke into murmurs. What was this little filly doing, protecting a unicorn? Even the chancellor was baffled at this event “Get out of the way, citizen. Can't you see that she's a unicorn, who brought our enemies into our home?”

“I know, but is this really necessary? She saved us all by defeating that evil fancy unicorn who wrecked the entire town, AND also gave you reinforcements by controlling those gem hounds!” Cookie leaned to one of the guards and whispered, “It was my plan by the way.” She zoomed back to her previous position. “All I'm saying is, you don't need to do this.”

The chancellor couldn't understand. He stood still, processing whatever she just said.

“Cookie!” Mr. Cake shouted from behind the soldiers, "get back here this instant!”

“Sweetie, this is none of our concern. Please let the chancellor handle this situation,” Mrs. Cake added.

“But--”

“Gem hounds!” shouted one of the earth ponies.

The remaining gem hounds emerged behind the chancellor who immediately moved out of the way. The creatures approached the purple pony with threatening looks. The guards that encircled Twilight broke out of formation afraid.

“Dogs helped horn pony. Horn pony pays. Dogs wants gems,” the hound forced himself to pony words, raising his right claw.

“O-Of course,” Twilight nodded at his request. “Thank you for your assistance, Help yourselves with the gems.”

After that, all the gem hounds dispersed, grabbing all the gems that the unicorns threw as an initial attack. A resident earlier who hoarded a lot of gems refused to give them back to the hound, only to whimper as the creature growled at him and forced him to surrender his precious gems.

The orange filly looked at Twilight, curious.

“I can't control them, so I made a bargain instead,” Twilight answered with a sheepish smile.

“Eh, that's okay,” Cookie shrugged.

The chancellor finally spoke. “This doesn't change anything. Am I just going to pardon all this trouble you've caused? You're the exact reason why those cruel unicorns came to our place!”

“Not to object,” Butter objected, appearing beside the chancellor, “but these three unicorns are not like the others.”

“And why are you fillies protecting her?" Greyhooves scoffed. "This kind of matter is too complicated for you to understand. Especially you, little one.”

“Hey, I'm a big po--”

Mr. Cake scooped his filly and placed her on his back. “A thousand pardons, your chancellorship. I don't know why they're acting like this.”

“Because--”

Everypony turned their heads to the brown stallion who had finally recovered from his injuries. His young colt and his spouse supported him to stand up.

“My family believed in her,” he continued. “I know a thing about unicorns and their cruelty--I've seen my home razed to the ground by them. But if there's one thing I also know, it's that right there, unicorn she might be, is also a good pony.”

“Uh, brother. Best not to argue with the chancellor. Things would be more-”

“And how can you tell they won't come back?” Greyhooves interrupted with an angry tone.

“Then let them come. We fought against them together and won, and we can do it again. I allowed her to stay.” Everypony around was shocked by the stallion's statement. “And I'm sticking to what I said.”

Mr. Cake almost fainted. “What are you doing?! Don't you know who you're dealing with--”

“So you have chosen to stand up for them, instead of your fellow earth ponies?”

"No, I'm standing up for my family."

“...So be it.” Greyhooves heaved out a sigh, and stepped back. “Twilight, was it? You are free to leave this place. But from this day forth, you are forbidden to return here, forever.”

He looked back at Carrot “And since you like them so much, you're going to take their place instead. Guards, take him away.”

“What?!” the Cakes were surprised.

“But chancellor, he didn't mean--” Mr. Cake couldn't finish his complains as the guards pointed their spears at him.

“Somepony needs to take on the responsibility for this disaster. If your brother made his decision, then it's his decision!” the chancellor replied.

“Wait, this isn't right. You can't just do that!” Twilight shouted. “He told me to leave many times before but I was too stubborn. This was honestly my fault and I should be the one who will take the blame-- not him.”

“Twilight?” Celeste whispered.

The purple unicorn could not be stopped. “I didn't mean to bring you any trouble. Me and my fillies were only trying to find a place to stay for the winter. And the kindness you showed us, I'll always be grateful for it! But seeing what happened, all this fighting, made me think this was one of my many mistakes. And I apologize for it.”

She looked at Carrot, who glared at him. “But he has done nothing wrong! So please don't involve him in my mistakes.”

“Your words mean nothing! You're not an earth pony, nor do you belong here!” Greyhooves shut Twilight out. “Now get out of my sight. I have a whole village to restore.”

He turned and walked away.

Twilight lowered her head. Guilt burdened her back. She looked at her fillies, who were holding both of her hooves. Everypony around started to drift off to their houses as little flakes of snow began drifting down across the entire city.

This was a symbol of hatred coming from each of the residence as they sneered at the purple pony, leaving Twilight at the unending dark.

Winter had finally begun.
> Chapter 13 - Friendship In Rivalry
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Back at the Gem Front. Snow lazily drifted down from above, covering the tents and furnitures outside with a thin blanket of snow. Campfires that once crackled with flames were no more, nothing but ashes and the last traces of smoke. The camps were no better; everything was in shambles, as if ransacked by a raging storm.

A unicorn soldier overlooked the camp from a hill on its outskirts, when he noticed the troops march back -- but not in triumphant fanfare, but with the gloom of utter defeat. 

“Captain!” The unicorn galloped toward the battered battalion and met them halfway the camp. “What happened?”

Aura Gleam stayed silent. He took a moment to breath, and took in the weary and uneasy looks on his troops. 

“Any word from the king?” the captain asked.

“I'm afraid he wants us to withdraw,” he reported with regret.

“Then let's go. We're done here for now,” he replied without missing a bit. “Take care of the wounded and round up our remaining troops. We're going back to Unicornia and everything we've gathered so far.”

“Uh, about that...” The soldier froze on his hooves. He gulped, and gathered all of his courage to continue. “During your attack on Southern Earth, the gem hounds that we fended off became a lot more -- aggressive, than before. They took us by surprised and plundered most of our resources. Mostly gems.”

They got a new master now, the words of that earth pony played inside Aura Gleam's head. So that rogue unicorn has even executed a pre-emptive strike. That kind of power, she was a lot more dangerous than he expected. 

He could do nothing but concede. This was the first defeat the proud high knight has experienced.

“Let's not waste anymore time.”

The unicorn soldier was worried, mostly about the king. What would he think about them going home with empty hooves? He took a few moments to look around at the worn-out soldiers -- but something was amiss. He found an unconscious mage carried on a mat, but saw no other robed magus nearby.

“Where’s Snow Cross?"

One of the soldier who trotted by replied with deadpan expression,

“Gone.”



---



“I’m sorry to see you go, Twilight. I tried to talk my dad out of it but he just wouldn't listen,” the butter filly said with sadness in her voice.

“It’s alright Butter.” The purple mare glanced at the remains of the Cakes' house. The rest of family scavenged through the burnt pillars and scattered furnitures for for anything they could bring with them as they relocate to a new location. The sight was too much for Twilight. “I feel terribly sorry for everypony.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Cookie joined in, smirking. “If it weren't for uncle Carrot, you'd be the one facing execution.”

“Huh!?” Twilight exclaimed.

Cookie chuckled. “Hey relax, I was only messing with you.”

“That wasn’t funny at all!” Selene said, terrified.

“I just wanted to lighten up the mood a little-- well, that didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. And I don't think they're really going to harm him, be a fellow earth pony and that. But of course I’m worried about my uncle.” Her expression turned serious. “So what are you going to do now?”

Twilight shook her head and heaved a great sigh. “Probably find a place to stay during winter. And maybe this time, away from earth ponies to prevent another catastrophe.” 

Perhaps a place where no unicorn would know. Good thing she could still recall the map from the town hall.

“That would be best. I hope you'll have better luck than us.” Cookie commented.

“And why is that?”

“Well…” The orange filly didn't want to say. She just couldn't -- but it all came crashing down from a voice calling from the other side of the street.

“Hellooooo! Am I interrupting?” Pudding popped in between their conversation, all smiles.

“Oh great,” Cookie planted a hoof at her face with embarrassment.

“I see. So the Cakes are moving in the Sweets?” This unexpected development made Twilight wryly smile.

“That’s right!” Pudding stuck to Cookie with an exaggerated gesture. “Since our house got wrecked, my parents came up with a brilliant plan, about a new shop. What did they do? Oh, I'll tell you what they did. They decided to work with the Cakes, to make a shop more unique, more extravagant than any other!” 

She leaned her weight at Cookie, much to her annoyance. “And somehooow, Cookie’s parents agreed! And I can’t wait for my shop to reopen!”

“‘Our’ shop, not yours,” Cookie corrected.

“Eh, that depends.” She blew the ashes off her hoof.

“At least you're friends now?” Celeste said.

“Of course! All I wanted is to make poor Cookie feel comfortable.” Pudding squished Cookie’s cheek with pity, “Just look at this sad face. It makes me want to cry as well.”

“I’m not sad!” Cookie pushed Pudding away.

Well, at least there’s one part of timeline that hadn’t change. Twilight smiled as she looked over these two fillies. As Mr. Cake called out for Butter, the two broke up their fight and stood back up.

“Right, I almost forgot. Twilight, wait here.” After that, the orange filly ran back to her house.

“Hey, where’d you think your going?” Pudding raced along with Cookie.

“Twilight?” Ginger approached Twilight. The little colt kept glancing back at her angry mother, but kept on. “You're going to travel somewhere far away, right?”

“Honestly, I think it’s our only option to keep everypony safe.”

“Ma’h Pa wants to tell you this before you go.” He looked down, doing his best to remember the words.

Twilight's curiosity was peaked as she waited for him.

“Oh, right! If you going to find a safe place for your fillies, go to Flye. You might be able to find somepony to help you there.”

“Why does he insist on helping us?” Celeste asked.

“Yeah, shouldn't he be mad at us?” Selene followed.

“I don’t know. He just told me to say that to you.” Looking back once more, he felt his mother would snap if he spent more time talking with unicorns. “I gotta go now.” 

Ginger was about run back to his mother only to be distracted by his cousin.

“I’m back!” Cookie dashed back, with short breaths, along with an equally tired Pudding. “You forgot these.”

She presented a leaf-made saddlebag to the purple unicorn she grabbed from their house. Twilight opened and found the gems they collected from their trip at Gem front.

“I-.. These are-..” Twilight was shocked.

“Yeah, it’s a miracle that it didn’t get caught up in flames, considering it's made out of leaves. Don't forget your belongings, otherwise there won’t be some honest pony to return it to you.” Cookie said with pride, leaning on Pudding who was thinking if it was about her or not. Cookie wasn't done and took another rucksack out. “And as a bonus, I packed some bread and vegetables for your journey ahead,”

“That’s... very kind of you, Cookie. Thank you,” Twilight said, her heart filled with gratitude.

“No problem at all.” Cookie swayed her hoof humbly.

“Wait, you had a lot of extra shinies all this time?” Ginger rushed back to the group after noticing the gems inside Twilight's bag

Twilight wanted to give some to Ginger, partly out of thanks for the message, but she had to remind herself the dangers of giving gems away. She didn't know what to say. Cookie realized this and wrapped a hoof around her cousin's neck.

“Don’t worry, cousin. Once our shop is complete, We'll be making more income than we can even dream of.”

“Exactly,” Pudding nodded, and went to the next business at hand. “I think I should call it Sweet Cake, because that’s us, and we are that.”

“I don’t think everypony would be interested in that kind of name. We need something better, something that -- that attracts customers, here, in our corner of the street.” Cookie racked her brain for an idea.

“I was going to say my own idea, but I only said Sweet Cake because you might agree,” Pudding said with disappointment.

A flash came like lightning on Cookie's mind. “Sugarcube Corner. Let's go with that!”

“I like it,” commented Ginger.

“Eh, how's that any different from Sweet Cake?” Pudding complained, still wanting to push the Sweet Cake name.

“You just gotta believe me,” Cookie said with determination. "We're gonna sell, like sugarcubes! Yeah!"

Ginger was having fun with everyone when her mother couldn't take it any longer. “Ginger! Get back here right now!”

The colt’s ear drooped down and ran back obediently, but not without a final wave of goodbye to Twilight. Cookie and Pudding then turned their attention back at the purple mare.

The orange filly looked the at two sisters. “Well everypony, I guess this is goodbye. I’d say you two aren’t that bad at baking. It was an honor to have you as company.” 

Cookie bowed down with a smile while Pudding couldn't help but roll her eyes.

“It was fun! I wish we could meet again someday.” Selene said, forcing a smile against the forming tears on her eyes

“Hey, if you do ever come back, visit our shop. This time we won’t be surprised if a unicorn comes by.”

“...If only the pony in charge here would allow us. Perhaps.” Celeste said with a sad smile.

“Thank you for letting us stay, Cookie. Please tell everypony I'm really sorry. Especially Carrot.” Twilight apologized once more.

“Have no worries. I got it all under control.” The filly said with her characteristic confident smile.

Twilight giggled softly. “Farewell, Cookie. And Pudding.”

“Goodbye Twilight.” The two rivals said in unison and went back to the ruined house. Just in time, the Cakes were about to move onto their new spot. Twilight saw them packing up with their unscathed belongings crammed up on the wagon.

The purple mare stared at them for a bit. She couldn’t help but smiled about it. Friendship really can grow from rivalries.
> Chapter 14 - What Truly Matters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Behind the mountain range whipped by gentle winds, there was a city that endured the ages: Unicornia---a place founded and built on mountain stones and minerals that stood proud on top of the plateau. Buildings were rigidly constructed, smoke rose lazily from the chimneys and the stained glass that adorned many of their walls shone with subdued lights. At the inner part of the city, a library, a grand school, researcher hall, and many other academic foundations crammed together, as ponies trotted along the stoned pathway.

But the proudest of the buildings was a great castle that stood at the edge of the rocky cliff.

Silence. Heavy emptiness filled the dimly room. The fireplace and candles keeping him company kept the darkness at bay. Although the food satisfied him for now, the sound of silence still rang heavy on his ears.

A cold night wind blew through the room, stirring the flames of his candles and his mane. He opened his eyes, ready to close the window--but then again, it wasn’t like somepony would dare enter his house to interrupt his peaceful meal.

A knock on the door perked his ears.

He rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes, placing the wooden spoon down. ‘Who could possibly visit on such a late evening?’ he thought. After moving out from his seat, he heard a whoosh outside the window. He swore to himself if this was going to be one of those jokes he’d hunt them down for good.

The sounds of the door unlocking could be heard outside. The door swung open—but there was nothing aside the lanterns from the other houses illuminating the paved street. ‘So they were really asking for it.’ He scoffed and hoped for those no good rascals to prepare themselves. Before he could go in to finish his dinner, he caught a glimpse of a certain something on his doorstep.

A basket.

And peeking inside, two curled foals greeted him, sleeping comfortably as he lifted up the blanket. Now who in the right mind would leave their children alone in the dark?

He looked around the empty street to see any sign of the pony who left the foals here. There was nothing, just the sound of crickets chirping through the ambience. Watching them sleep once more, he placed the blanket back in place and slammed the door shut. It wasn’t his responsibility anyway.

The hours went by, and the once peaceful night had transformed into a torment of eternal screams. He couldn’t tell how long those awful crying coming from outside his door would last. His eyes grew grim as he tried to block the noise with his pillow. Seeing it was no use, he got out of his bed with a grunt.

Walking tiredly down the stairs, he slammed the door open. He saw the blanket wasn’t covering the foals anymore--it must’ve slipped off. He picked up the rag, placed it back on them then slammed the door shut once more. Nothing has changed. The foals kept crying, forcing him to bang his head on the stair balcony.

He smacked the door much harder this time and grabbed the basket like it was an awful gift. Firing up the fireplace with his horn, he placed the foals close to the warm light. Observing them for a moment, it seems like he's cooking two rotten potatoes. The foals stared back at him blankly. It wasn’t too long before they started crying again. They could not be serious.

Anger welled inside of him, causing the flames near the foals to burst. They cried even more. He plugged his ears from the searing pain. Whoever left these two abominations in front of his house did a great job harassing him. He walked around in a circle, thinking of a solution, any solution to get rid of them--but he couldn’t even focus.

His eyes grew harsh, his head hurt, and he felt his ears about to bleed. He pulled out a chair to sit down. Hanging his head, he glanced at the foals warming up by the fireplace. He slid the flower vase on his table aside, lifted the basket with levitation and placed it on the table. He couldn’t take it anymore. The pain was eating him alive from the inside. He then noticed a parchment under the basket. Unfolding the paper, a message was written:

Please look after us. -Celeste, Selene

He glared his eyes at the foal, sobbing and crying at the same time. Among all the bad jokes out there, this was the worst. He crumpled the paper and flung it on the fire. After that, he once again dropped his head on the table.

In the room of silence that he knew, screams of tiny terrors filled every corner of it.


---


Aura Gleam walked along the hallway inside the palace. After retreating from his first defeat, he had been summoned by the unicorn king, Silver Rod. His failure had not weakened his courage to report, but what made him uneasy was reporting the situation concerning the rogue unicorn. Opening the door to the throne room, he paused for a moment. As always, the unicorn king was wearing his fancy silk robe and was talking to one of his court adviser, Verdure.

As he approached, he glanced at the tall windows where tinted light fell and showered the entire room. Each stained glass was designed with murals showing depictions of the unicorns’ history.

“Ah, Aura Gleam, you’ve finally returned,” the king’s voice echoed heavily.

“My lord.” Aura Gleam bowed before him. Meanwhile, Verdure stood still, observing the high knight’s weariness. He whispered to the king.

Aura Gleam stood up, not caring much for their secrecy. He only cared about his time, which was being wasted every second. “Is there a reason why you summoned me?” he spoke up.

“Yes,” the king replied. “There is an important matter that I want you to discuss. But before we proceed, I want to hear from you about your recent battle.”

The high knight shifted his glance to the court adviser, still as ever. Behind that pale expression, he sense him being an annoying presence. But Aura Gleam pressed on. “The earth ponies were nothing but stubborn commoners. They refused our request, and we took their food supplies by force as you’ve commanded.”

“And?”

“And then we raided Southern Earth. They showed some resistance throughout the fight. We have been outsmarted and outnumbered, but we managed to retrieve what we had.”

“And do you know what it cost?”

He remained silent.

“My trust in you!” This king shouted. “I gave you a simple task: To take our share of food the earth ponies had to give, and only use force if they refuse! But you went on to different places, wreaking havoc on the southern earth pony territories. Although I have to say, I was impressed you managed to conquer several towns.”

“They were all being stubborn and left me no choice but to-”

“And yet you ignored my order of withdrawal. I only gave you about a hundred soldier to prevent them from retaliating, not to go out and annex the entire earth pony lands. We do NOT seek conflict on others without reasons, but you went on rampage in Southern Earth. Do you even know how long this winter is going to last?”

“Forgive me, my lord. I assure you, we were on the verge of victory. As for my failure at Southern Earth, they had some outside help.”

“Help from whom?” Verdure interjected, his curiosity piqued.

“A rogue unicorn.”

The king and his adviser went quiet.

“This individual, who went against us, is as powerful as our strongest sorcerers. She was able to control a horde of gem hounds and rendered my troops helpless.”

They couldn’t understand what the high knight was saying. “A unicorn? Controlling an army of gem hounds? How absurd. Even our own sorcerers can’t do that,” Verdure said with a scoff.

“Believe me, this unicorn is far beyond formidable. She could be a problem to our cause”

Verdure couldn’t help but laugh. “You can’t be serious. If there’s such a unicorn who is that powerful. She could have move the sun-”

“Snow Cross is gone.”

Verdure was lost by this sudden news. “What? But he’s one of the top graduates of the previous batch from the Ministry of Arcane Arts.”

“That’s not what I’d seen.” The high knight scoffed. “You could have sent Radiance instead.”

“How disappointing.” The king held his head low.

“We don’t just send away our best sorcerer and you know that. They have much more important things to attend to.” Verdure sighed then changed the subject. “You should be thankful that we’re on the edge of having a stable agricultural magic. Our scholars are giving us promising results on their progress--unlike you.”

“I’m only doing what needs to be done.”

“That’s enough,” the king said. “I could demote you right now, but I’ve decided to give one last chance to redeem your failure.”

With that said, Aura Gleam took a step back with his own thoughts. The high knight decided not to push the topic further about his defeat. It would just be pointless.

“Now, it’s time we discuss some serious issues. Since you failed to accommodate for our winter preparation. I have a new task for you. This should suit the quality of your skills,” The king proclaimed.

“I won’t fail you again, my lord.” Aura Gleam lowered his head. “I’ll ready my forces as soon you give me an order. And this time, we’ll bring you more supplies than you’ve ever wished for.”

The king gave a short chuckle. “That won’t be necessary.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have already assembled a group for your journey.” The king walked down from the throne. “There are far more important things other than pillaging earth pony settlements. Far greater than your rogue unicorn threat.” He went past him and stared at one of the glass stained windows of mighty unicorn. “Starswirl the bearded has sent us letters about the winter storm and his report troubles me as the days go by.”

The high knight had heard about this. “Is this about the windigos?”

“Correct. According to Starswirl, there were some sightings across the lands, and one has even hit our remote town just a few days ago. Luckily, he managed to repel them.”

“The great Starswirl always had the upper hoof when it comes to sorcery. I’m not surprised at all,” Verdure cut in.

“Indeed,” the king added, and turned to the high knight. “Aura Gleam, since Starswirl has his hooves full of responsibilities, he requested an aid to search and rescue a group of magi near the western earth border.”

Aura Gleam hadn’t expected this. This wasn’t what he wanted. “Is this some sort of joke? What kind of job is this?! I never signed up to become somepony’s escort!”

“You will be. The group went missing for weeks now and nopony knows why. One of them is important to Starswirl and you’re going to find out what happened to them,” the king said, ignoring the high knight’s objection.

“He’s going to gather talented sorcerers to perform a powerful spell and deal with the windigos,” Verdure added, clarifying his mission. “They must have been ambushed by those earth ponies. Your main priority is to rescue and escort them to Coruscant. That is all you need to do.”

“If he’s planning to gather some magic folks then let them handle the situation. He alone can fight against those ghostly beings.” Aura Gleam just had to go fight this. “I’m more useful in a fight against the earth ponies for our food supply and-”

“No!” The king cut off his complaints. “You’ve already given me enough trouble. Because of your ruthless act, I have to make the journey all the way to Central Earth just to put an end to this conflict! Your conflict! I gave you a task and you must follow it! Or else I’ll have you demoted right were you standing now.”

“The court advisers had decided to strip you of your rank if you refuse to follow orders again,” Verdure said.

The king calmed himself down. “For all we know, they might have been captured by those earth ponies--or worst.”

“Starswirl may be a powerful sorcerer, but he doesn’t have any interest in fighting against the other races,” Verdure said with a tinge of disappointment in his voice. “That’s his biggest flaw.”

“If they’re being held captive, then you have my permission to eradicate those ruffians. And let none survive. I don't want the earth ponies to know this action once I'm gone.” The king gave him the order. “Coruscant is your hometown, isn’t it? Then I assume you’ll have no problem escorting them safely. I trust you can accomplish this.”

“I understand,” Aura Gleam replied with a sober voice. “I’ll do as you command.”

“Good. Now go, get yourself prepared. Verdure here will notify the others, you’ll meet them at the gate tomorrow.” The king dismissed the high knight to his new task. Aura Gleam turned around and walked out of the throne room.

The door shut itself with a loud thud. Aura Gleam heaved a heavy sigh, trying to vent out some of his anger. He never trusted those sorcerers, not the court advisers, not even Starswirl. He needed to get those fillies back before things get worse.

“Well, that went smoother than I expected.” A voice came from the shadows. Serene stepped out from behind a pillar. 

“What are you doing here?” asked the high knight, even though he didn’t care.

“I came here to see Verdure. But seeing that he’s occupied, looks like I’ll just have to see you.” She smiled. “Are you alright?”

“No. Just leave me,” Aura Gleam walked away.

“I don’t want to think about business that isn’t mine, but I’ve never seen you cleanse every town and settlement on sight in the past. What changed?” Although she knew the reason behind it, she still asked just to start a conversation.

The high knight didn’t budge.

“You know, it’s not your fault that they left you. Being a father can be very difficult.

Aura Gleam paused. “You know nothing about it.”

“True. I may not,” Serene stepped close to him. “But I did have a very strict parent who forced me to become the very best.”

“Then you probably know why they ran away.”

“I don't blame you for that.”

The high knight knew where this conversation was going, and it was going to crash. “If you’re here to give some pity lecture, then you’re just wasting your time.”

He walked outside the castle without another word, all the way to the courtyard. Little did he know that the robed pony followed him at a distance with a very concerned look.

“Were you hurt when they left you?” She asked out of nowhere.

The high knight once again stood still, he turned to the unicorn, irritated. This mare and her words were getting annoying. “What’s your motive on me? This is none of your concern and you should keep your mouth shut.”

“Then let’s have a quiet talk,” she said with a kind smile. 

Aura Gleam’s temper was close to exploding. She was getting too pushy. Then another question came in. “Why did you decide to adopt those fillies?”

“I never did!” he snapped. “Some imbecile just left their children in front of my doorstep!”

“Then why did you raise them?”

The high knight’s anger sizzled down. “Because..”

Serene waited patiently for his answer. Unexpectedly, he turned around. “Because they were helpless.”

He moved away from the pathway and walked into the grass. “I never decided to take them with me. Yet their crying outside my door got me irritated. I searched the entire day to look for that wretched owner who left those fillies. But I couldn’t find a single lead. I’ve waited for somepony to come and get them… but nopony ever came.”

“That’s kind of you. Based on your, well, colorful personality, that’s probably the most touching decision you’ve ever made.” But Aura Gleam remained stoic.

“I also heard they caused a lot of trouble in the past.” She said with a smug smile. “I’m surprised you actually raised them. Unicorns here usually leave their own child or send them to the orphanage as an... eternal punishment for disobeying. But you, why haven’t you?”

“They’re different.”

A pause.

“The unicorns won’t be able to thrive in the future, you know that too. Have you seen our superior sorcerers barely moving the sun and moon? They’re burning out, slowly. Other than that, we got pegasi harassing our settlements for being a nuisance. And now we have windigos to deal with, along with earth ponies hoarding all the food they grow.”

“Those two,” Aura Gleam breathed deeply. “It might sound too far fetched but--I believe those two could be our hope to a better world. Where unicorns are above all other beings.”

“I see.” Serene easily comprehended his ideal. “What makes you think they could do it?”

The high knight tried to give a hint, even though that hint doesn’t make much connection. “I can’t point it out. But my sense says so otherwise.”

“You’re going after them, right?” She asked.

Aura Gleam went blanked for a bit then chuckled for the first time. “No. Perhaps I should let  that mare do the job.”

Serene realized he was mentioning the rogue unicorn. Aura Gleam looked back at the mare and her emerald eyes reflected the winter moonlight. This conversation was done. He left her with a dismissive wave. “You should get some rest.”


---


Morning had finally arrived, and the noise of the bustling residents from outside the window. The room was warmed by the harsh sunlight shining from the outside. A ray of sun struck at the passed out stallion. He had a heavy sleep, passed out on the table with his cheek plastered to the hardwood. That beam of light would not leave his eyelids, finally waking him up after the night of torment.

For a moment he thought it was just a nightmare--but then as he moved his eyes to the fireplace and the nightmare turned real. He saw the foals sleeping separately from each other. The white foal was found under the basket while the dark blue one was curled on the blanket. He held his head down in pain.

…There was no way he was going to be a foalsitter. He decided to roam around the neighborhood to find the pony who left them that night. It was his plan A. With no lead or clues, he moved on to his second plan, finding a suitable caretaker for them.

First off, he went to the local orphanage. It was his best bet—or at least he thought, but it turned out they had no place left for the two.  He even tried bartering the lady... only to be refused.

So instead he decided to visit houses one by one, asking them to take the foals away from him. And one by one, the offer was rejected with their door slammed shut. The task was harder than he expected. Everypony rejected his offers, just as he himself would. If it wasn’t for their horrible crying, somepony might have gladly accepted them already.

It was a failure.

Back at his home, the foals tumbled around at the table while he remained seated observing their every action. His hooves crossed his chin, thinking of the remaining options he had left. But most important of all, he tried to understand why somepony would do this to him. His eyelids grew heavy. The lack of sleep was suppressing his thoughts.

This led one of the foals to crawl towards the fruit tray. The clueless foal tried to bite off a grape, but she couldn’t chew it quite enough and swallowed it whole. She choked and coughed. She wailed as hard as she could, but her cries were cut off frequently. The stallion snapped out of his quick nap and quickly levitated her—using his magic to pull out the grape blocking her throat. But it wasn’t over yet. She kept crying out loud, leading the other foal to cry as well. 

What a bunch of helpless foals they were.

As he picked the white foal up close to his eye level, while reaching out for a rag, wild magic burst forth from her horn. 

After the storm of magic passed, silence came down. His room became a cacophony of papers, books, quills and ink splotches, spilling out from his bookshelves. Every corner of the room singed black.

That was a close call for him. Good thing he ducked for cover.

The other foal stared at him after her crying. His senses knew what was coming next, and quickly cast a barrier. The foal eyes shone with curiosity at that shiny barrier, reaching out towards it. Unexpectedly, she sneezed and caused another magic surge to fire at him.

He was flung straight through the kitchen, tearing a new hole through the living room and giving his mane a new haircut. Utensils and ingredients fell on him, making the foals giggle for a bit. Gazing at the aftermath of destruction, he realized just what he was dealing with. They both had great potential. He could teach them the ways--for the greater good.

Recovering from his recent headache and injury, he stood up in front of them. The foals reached their hooves at him this time. Staring for a bit, he was having a hard time finalizing his decision.

Eventually, he gently pulled them both closer to his chest. Mixed feelings swirled inside him. Somehow, somewhere deep inside, he felt this was the right thing to do for these foals. And that was what truly mattered.