Chapter 1 - Arrival

Arrival

I looked down at the town of Ponyville; one of my oldest friends lived there. I slowly descended into the surprisingly populous streets. Ponies were walking every-which-way, saying passing greetings as they saw somepony that they knew. I, however, didn’t see my old friend.

“Hey, I’ve never seen you around here before!” a pink earth pony cried out, bouncing happily in front of me.

“Well, that’s because I’m new here. I was just looking-” I started, but the pink pony cut me off.

“If you’re new here, then that means you don’t know your way around, and if you don’t know your way around, then that means that you need a tour!” the pink pony shouted, grabbing me by one of my wings. “I’m Pinkie Pie!”

“I’m Sky Flare.” I said, raising an eyebrow at the pink pony’s upbeat attitude.

“Come on, I’m gonna give you a Pinkie Pie tour of Ponyville!” she said, pulling me along by the wing that she had hold of with her hoof.

“I don’t think I have any choice in the matter.” I muttered under my breath.
Pinkie took me on a tour all around the small town, pointing out specific locations that presumably, she enjoyed personally. Such as, Sugar Cube Corner, where she said she not only works at, but lives in, the Golden Oaks Library, which is where she claimed her friend Twilight Sparkle lived. She also took me to a place called the Carousel Boutique and Sweet Apple Acres. Pinkie showed me the town hall and the elementary school. Finally, she took me just where I wanted to go.

“And the last stop on the tour is this.” Pinkie pointed a hoof at a cloud home.

The cloud house was large and was decorated with rainbow water falls. It was currently deserted, but I could afford to wait.

“This is my friend Rainbow’s house!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Rainbow Dash?” I asked, tilting my head to the side inquisitively.

“You know her?” Pinkie bounced slightly.

“She’s the whole reason I came to Ponyville. I haven’t seen her since Flight School when I moved to Fillydelphia.” I explained to the overjoyed pony.

“Great, now we can have a ‘Reunion of Friends’ Party!” Pinkie shouted, leaping high into the air. “I’m going to go get everything ready, I’ll come and get you two when I’m done!” and with that the pink pony was gone, happily bouncing away in the impossible manner that she had been all day.
I let out a sigh of relief, being free from that crazy pony was a blessing that not even Princess Celestia could top. I pushed my hooves to my head and rubbed my temples, trying to ease off the headache that I had gotten from all of Pinkie’s shouting.

“Who are you?” asked a voice from the sky above.

I looked up and saw the rainbow colored mane that only two ponies I knew had, Rainbow Dash and her father. I slowly pulled my hooves down from my face, and prepared to say hi.

“Who do you think Dashie? It’s been a few years, but I didn’t think that you’d forget your best friend from Flight School.” I said smugly as I looked into her purple eyes.

“Sky?” Rainbow said back, the expression on her face was one that I couldn’t help but laugh at.

“No need to look so dumbfounded, I didn’t die or anything, I just had to move.” I laughed.

“I know, it’s just…” Rainbow paused, “I never thought that I would see you again.”

The cyan pegasus landed next to me. “Well, I got time off from my job and I figured, ‘why not check up on Dashie?’” I answered.

“I can see that you finally got your cutie mark.” Rainbow stated, taking in our meeting.

“And I see that you have yours too.” I replied. “Let me guess, the Sonic Rainboom?”

“How’d you know about that?” Rainbow asked, turning her head to me.

“I know some ponies that saw what you did at the Young Fliers Competition. I couldn’t go myself; work had me kind of busy at that time.” I started to evaluate.

“Well, that was the second time that I did it, the first time, I was trying to help Fluttershy. You remember her right?” Rainbow asked, but continued before I had a chance to say yes. “What’s with the sword for your cutie mark though, are you a warrior or something?”

“Something, I’m a member of the Pegasus Guard for the princesses. I got this cutie mark when I was accepted.” I answered. “And yes, of course I remember Fluttershy. You were always looking out for her, even though she’s older than you.”

“Bullies are bullies; nopony should have to deal with them on their own.” Rainbow answered.

“Yeah.” I nodded in agreement. “Oh, forgot to mention, somepony named Pinkie Pie is planning a party for us.”

“Awesome, I can introduce you to all of my friends here in town; you can even see Fluttershy again.” Rainbow said excitedly.

“Party time!” exclaimed the pink pony as she charged at Rainbow and me.

“Alright, let’s get going.” Rainbow nodded.

I followed the pair as we walked back into the main part of town. We stopped at the first place that Pinkie had shown me in the tour, Sugar Cube Corner. When we got in, I saw four mares, a filly, and a baby dragon.

“Hey everypony!” Pinkie shouted jumping through the doors to the bakery.

“Hey Pinkie.” said a clam voice. “You still haven’t told us who this friend of Rainbow’s is yet.”

“It’s me.” I said, stepping through the door behind Rainbow.

“Everypony, I’d like you to meet Sky Flare. She’s an old friend from Flight School, and Fluttershy, you might remember her.” Rainbow said, directing their attention to me.

“Oh, Sky Flare…” stuttered a yellow pegasus who bore a striking resemblance to Fluttershy. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Fluttershy, it’s been a long time, hasn’t it. I hope that after I moved, Dashie was able to keep those colts from bothering you.” I said, happily greeting the timid pony.

“Oh, without her, I wouldn’t have gotten my cutie mark.” Fluttershy said, somewhat more confident than she had greeted me.

“Howdy! I’m Applejack!” said an orange earth pony with three apples as her cutie mark as she extended her hoof for a hoof shake.

“Nice to meet you.” I said, accepting the offer.

The hoof shake was a rather violent one, the mare shook my hoof up and down with such enthusiasm, that I was caught off guard.

“Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” said a lavender unicorn who approached me as Applejack released my hoof from her grasp.

“Hello.” I sighed as I put my hoof back on the ground.

“I am Rarity.” said a second unicorn. This unicorn was white and had a well groomed dark violet mane.

“Hi.” I said, trying to keep up with all of the names.

I took a moment to look around. The dragon was a little preoccupied with getting himself a snack to say hello at the time and the filly was standing next to Rainbow talking to her. The filly was an orange pegasus with a purple mane and tail.

“Come on everypony, let’s play pin the tail on the pony and then we can have some cake!” Pinkie shouted grabbing the tail for the game off of a nearby table.

“I wanna go first!” shouted the dragon, his mouth full from a couple of cookies that he had just bit into.

“Spike, what have I told you about talking with your mouth full?” Twilight said, a motherly tone dominating her voice.

“But Twi, I had to call it!” the dragon replied, swallowing his cookies in one foul gulp.

“It’s a party Twilight, manners aren’t that important.” Pinkie laughed back at the lavender unicorn.

“Fine.” Twilight grunted back in a huff.

Pinkie tied the blindfold around the dragon’s eyes, blocking his sight. She spun him around three times and set him in the right direction to get the tail on the poster. Spike barely missed, placing the tail on the bend of the hind leg of the pony in the poster.

“Nice try.” Rainbow laughed as the baby dragon lifted up his blind fold.

“Who’s next?” Pinkie shouted.

“I’ll have a go.” said the orange filly that was standing by Rainbow’s side up until that point, but was now approaching Pinkie.

“Alright Scootaloo.” Pinkie said, finally revealing to me the filly’s name.

Scootaloo was spun around three times, just as was done to Spike, and was released. The filly stumbled her way toward the poster and smacked the tail onto it. Despite being blindfolded, she placed the tail spot on. There was a short set of applause, none more than Rainbow Dash, who seemed to be looking after the filly.

The party went on for a couple of hours before everypony decided they should call it a night. Rainbow and I went to Scootaloo’s house to drop off the sleeping filly who was riding on Rainbow’s back the whole way to her home. After that, we retired to Rainbow’s cloud home and she let me sleep in the spare room.

I arose with the sun the next morning. I quickly and quietly made my way downstairs to the kitchen of Rainbow’s home and began to work with her food. I was going to make her a nice breakfast, the way she made it sound; we had a full day ahead of us.

I heard the sound of hoofsteps working their way down the soft cloud stairs of Rainbow’s house. I flipped the pancakes one last time, allowing the finished product to smack down on a plate. One plate was already full and the other had just received its final piece.

“Hey Sky,” Rainbow yawned, rubbing her eyes with her forehooves, “what are you doin’?”

“Just making a breakfast. You know how I love to cook and you don’t get to do that very often in the guard. Usually there, every meal is already prepared for you, and let me tell you, t food there is not five stars, maybe one or to, but definitely not five.” I answered, going off track slightly with a rant about the awful food that the guards are served.

“Yeah, to be honest, I’m surprised that cooking didn’t turn out to be your cutie mark.” Rainbow replied, sitting down in front of a plateful of pancakes.

“Me too, I could have sworn that it would be, especially after all of those countless hours hat I spent learning everything about it.” I laughed back, taking my own place before the other plate.

“You always looked like such an egghead, never taking your nose out of those cookbooks. Even when you were flying, you had ways to read them, you built the strangest contraptions.” Rainbow continued.

“Wow, thanks. I always loved being called an egghead.” I said, making the sarcasm in my voice as blatant as I possibly could.

“Hey, I just call it like I see-” Rainbow was cut off mid cliché by a knocking at the door. “Who could that be this early in the morning?”

Rainbow glided gently over to the door and opened it. Two guards in night armor stood at the entrance. They were personal guards for Luna, and were only active during the night, meaning that they were sent by the moon princess overnight.

“We were told that we could locate Sky Flare here.” said the guard on the right.

“Yeah, I’m back here, one sec.” I groaned, swallowing the pancakes I had in my mouth.

“Ma’am, the princess wishes to see you in the throne room by noon.” the guard on the left stated.

“Sorry Dashie, looks like I’m gonna have to cut this short.” I apologized. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, but when duty calls, I kinda have to answer.”

“That’s fine. I understand, Twilight’s always getting called up by Princess Celestia.” Rainbow explained.

“Yeah, that’s understandable; she is Princess Celestia’s private student.” I replied.

“Captain, we’d best get going. Are you going to put on your armor?” the guard on the right asked, directing my attention to my saddlebags.

“No, it’s too bulky and it slows me down too much.” I complained as I had about the size of the armor so many times before. Shining Armor never seemed to get around to fixing it for the mares that were in the guard though.

“But it is protocol to-” the left guard butted in.

“Yes, I know that it is protocol, and you should know that it is ridiculous to expect a mare to wear this. It was designed for stallions, I’m surprised that it doesn’t slip off of me it’s so big!”

“I don’t think that there is any chance of either of you winning this argument.” Rainbow laughed at my shouting.

“Let’s just go please.” the stallion on the right suggested, acknowledging that Rainbow was right, and dropping his head.

“Alright.” I lifted my saddlebags and tightened them around me as I walked out the door. “See you soon Dashie.”

With that, the two guards and I took off into the morning sky. I couldn’t help but wonder what was so important that they needed me while I was on my vacation for. Whatever it was, I thought that there were ponies that outranked me who would be better for the job. Sure I was a Captain, but I only had five squads under my order and they were being led, during my absence, by their squad leaders.

Within an hour of flying, Canterlot came into view. I always enjoyed seeing Canterlot in the orange light of the morning sun; however the silver moonlight was right there with it. We flew into the landing area for guards inside of the castle gates where we met up with three unicorn guards.

“Captain Sky Flare, please come this way, the princesses will see you now.” said the unicorn in the center.

Both princesses were going to see me at the same time, not usually a good sign. Maybe I had done something wrong, or Discord was being, well, chaotic again. Whatever the problem, I wasn’t getting a good vibe for it, something was off.

“Okay.” I said, after a few moments of deliberation. It was one of those moments when I had a well thought out reply, but it just came out as “okay.”

I followed the three unicorns and two pegasus into t throne room, where they remained outside. I slowly entered the massive room and jumped slightly as the doors clicked shut behind me. The sound of the doors echoed through the nearly empty hall. The two princesses were standing at the opposite end, silently watching me as I approached them.

“You sent for me?” I asked, coming to a stop a few feet away from them.

“Yes. Sky Flare, my sister and I have seen that by nightfall tonight, a meteorite will be striking near the borders between Equestria and Saddle Arabia.” said the sun princess calmly.

“We have discussed it, and we think that you are best suited to investigate it upon its impact. You are the fastest flyer in the day guard as well as my night guard.” Luna added to her sister’s explanation.

“Alright, anything in particular that you want me to do when I get there?” I asked, looking up at the alicorns who towered over any normal pony.

“We would like for you to collect some samples. We will have our magic teams examine the samples that you bring us to further extend our knowledge about the meteor and its origins.” Celestia answered, remaining calm.

“Alright princesses, I’ll take on this task.” I nodded back.

“Thank you Sky Flare, we know how inconvenient it was for us to pull you away from your vacation.” Luna said appreciatively.

As soon as they were done speaking, I took the tools to collect samples from a table that was out in the hall. I could hear the princesses discussing something as I left, but I couldn’t make out any real details, only a couple of key words, like “legend” and “the end.”

I walked past the five guards who had escorted me here in silence. They didn’t try to stop me, only ask for information on what had happened while I was inside the throne room. I decided that it was best if I didn’t tell them anything, so I chose to ignore their questions. They didn’t follow me, so once I was out of earshot, I was free from the barrage of questions.

The flight to the borders of Saddle Arabia was a long and uncomfortable one. I was wearing the day guard helmet, which is the enchanted part of the armor that changes physical appearance, but it kept sliding down to cover my eyes. That was only part of the reason that the trip was proving to be irritating. There was also a strong gust of wind which was just enough to knock me off course and get sand in my helmet. I really don’t like being in deserts.
With the supplies that I’d taken with me from Canterlot, there was a map. The map told me exactly where I would need to be, and I made it there with only a few minutes to spare. If anypony else had told me where and when a meteor would be striking, I would have laughed it off as a joke, but the princesses were rarely wrong about anything, excluding the changeling ordeal at the royal wedding.

I landed on the ground and looked upward into the sky, which was in the phase of dusk. I pulled off my helmet and shook the sand out of it before putting it back on. I sighed slightly as I watched the desert sun set into the horizon. A black streak moved across the sun and plummeted toward the ground. The impact shook the ground with the violence of a strong earthquake; luckily, nopony was around at the time except for me.

“Well, that was just as climatic as I thought it would be.” I mumbled to myself as I approached the crater.

It was impossible to see through all of the dust, but I still crept to the edge anyway. That wasn’t my brightest idea ever. The ground was unstable and gave way underneath me. I didn’t have time to spread my wings and fly to prevent the fall; instead I could only use my forehooves to shield my head from the rocky pit that I was rolling down into.

My head was the first thing to hit the ground at the bottom of the crater. The smoke had risen off of the lowest part just enough so that I could see if I moved my head as low as I could. I slowly walked around the outer rim of the crater, collecting rock samples and samples of the sand. I slowly worked my way to the center and collected the samples at regular intervals from the center.

Soon, I was right upon the center, which was completely impossible. The center of the crater was elevated slightly above the lowest part, but that’s not the strangest part. Once the smoke began to clear, I could see a black and white mass, resting on top of the center. I couldn’t quite make out what it was for a few moments, but once I did, it hit me like a manticore. It was a filly.

“Hey there, are you alright?” I asked softly as I approached the filly.

Her coat was black and she had a short white mane and tail. Her eyes were white as well, so much so that even her pupils seemed to be glazed over. Her unicorn horn emerged through the soft white mane, and her pegasus wings were folded up on her sides, she was an alicorn.

The filly didn’t answer my question, she simply looked up at me with eyes full of fear, and who could blame her? She was lying down in the center of a crater, most likely not having any idea where she was, and she had a full grown mare standing in front of her. I slowly removed my helmet, which changed my physical appearance back to normal.

“Do you have a name?” I asked, staying as quiet as I could, and trying not to make any sudden movements.

The alicorn filly shook her head, and her eyes began tearing up.

“It’s okay, don’t worry. Do you want to come with me? I’m sure that I can help with some of your injuries.” I said, noticing the numerous scratches and scrapes that covered the filly’s body as I wiped her tears away with my wing.

The filly didn’t respond, it only shook in fear, eyes shut tightly.

“You can trust me, I won’t hurt you. I only want you to be safe.” the words were genuine; all I cared about at that point was helping her.

The filly opened her eyes and looked up at me. It felt as if her pleading eyes were looking straight into my soul, to catch me on a bluff, but it was the truth. I’m not sure how the filly knew, but when she was sure that she could trust me, she nodded her head a single time.

“Alright, can you climb onto my back?” I asked, due to a lack of unicorn magic, I had no way of getting her out other than to carry her.

The filly nodded once more. She slowly climbed to her feet, the way that a newborn foal would the first time it tried to stand up. Her legs wobbled under her tiny weight and she would have fallen, had I not caught her with my wing. Slowly, she slid down my wing and toward my back.

She curled u into a ball on my back, resting between the saddlebags. I put the helmet that I was wearing onto the filly’s head. The enchantment of the armor was actually cast on t helmet. It couldn’t change the build, but it would make her seem like a normal, white pegasus. It was the only way I had right now to hide her. I wasn’t sure where she had come from, and I wasn’t sure what would happen to her. I only knew one thing for certain, I needed to keep her hidden until I could find out more.

I slowly climbed out of the crater and looked back to the filly. Her eyes were closed, her breathing calm. There was no haste to anything about her. Not when I first met her, and not now. The filly had just as quickly fallen asleep as she had climbed onto my back. I slowed down slightly, not wanting to wake her.

“Goodnight.” I whispered quietly as I spread my wings.

I didn’t so much fly, as I let the wind carry me back toward Canterlot. The filly wasn’t the only one who was tired, but I was used to working all day and all night consecutively. I could handle it; also, I kind of had to, not for me, but for her.

Chapter 2 - Sister

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Sister

I flew straight to Canterlot; it took most of the night. The filly on my back didn’t stir, not once the whole trip. Sleeping soundly on my back, the world around her nonexistent. Celestia was just beginning to pull the sun into the sky, ending the short-lived, warm summer’s night, when I dropped off my saddlebags and a note at an unguarded post. I knew all of the rotations that the guards went through, allowing me to leave them without being noticed.

The note said something along the lines of,

“Dear princesses,

I am going to take a continued leave of absence out near my hometown of Fillydelphia with my family. I am sorry about having to tell you in this manner, but something very important, a private family matter has come up and I don’t have time to waste.

From,

Sky Flare”

I hated lying to them, even about unimportant things. The letter as a whole was a lie, and I would have preferred so much to be able to tell them the truth. I wasn’t like all of the ponies who sat there in fear of banishment at the slightest wrong doing, however. I knew that there was only one time that Princess Celestia had ever banished anypony, and I knew, whether she knew I did or not, that it hurt her much more than it had hurt her sister. During the time as a guard that I spent before Princess Luna’s return, I heard Celestia talking to the moon. She would wish it a goodnight. It had never made much sense to me, at least, not until Luna’s banishment had ended and Nightmare Moon had fallen.

I had great respect for both princesses, but that respect did not result in, or originate from, fear. They were both kind and I knew that, once I was sure of everything about this filly, that they would forgive my secrecy in the end. I wasn’t entirely sure why I didn’t want to bring the filly to them, it might have been fear that the scholars would want to learn about her, and not care as much for her safety as I did.

I began the short flight back to Ponyville, the opposite direction as Fillydelphia. If guards were sent after me to help escort me, they would never catch up. In fact, the more they tried, the farther away they would get. I hated doing that to them, they weren’t bad, and all they would try to do is help, but I needed to solve the mystery of this filly by myself. That’s the way it had been ever since my family moved out of Cloudsdale and into Fillydelphia. I was never able to make any friends that were anywhere near as close as Dashie was. I could always trust her to help me, no matter what.

Ponyville began to come into view; the small houses and hay thatched roofs were a welcomed sight. The first place that I went was Rainbow’s house, but she wasn’t in, and the filly’s sleep was growing restless, as if she were having a nightmare. I didn’t have any time to waste; I hastily began looking for a place that I could take a look at the filly, somewhere shaded and out of sight. A willow tree, almost as if to answer my call, swayed in the wind. It was slightly off of the beaten path and it was likely that nopony would bother us there. We could wait it out until Rainbow got home from clearing the skies, or hanging out with her friends, whatever it was that she was up to.

I set the filly down in the shade gently, as to not disturb her sleep. I looked down at her, slowly pulling off the helmet so that I could see her injuries. She shifted slightly in her sleep, only a slight twist of her neck, moving her head off of a patch of dirt and onto the soft grass. After that, she moved one of her hooves over top of her face.

“It’s alright.” I whispered softly, unsure if she could hear me or not.

I heard the sounds off hooves passing by outside, they all stayed at a distance though. I ignored most of them, but soon I heard one set coming closer, the rustling of the grass growing louder and louder with each step they took. Panicked, I hurriedly pushed the helmet back onto the Filly’s head. She didn’t so much as react when I did this, readjusting only after the disguise was active again.

“I thought I heard somepony over here, but I wasn’t expecting it to be you.” A voice laughed. It was familiar, but it wasn’t Rainbow. That left five mares, the only others that I had spoken to two days ago.

“Oh, umm…” I paused, trying to peer through the leaves of the weeping willow. “Hello.” I was still unable to see any part of the mare that I was speaking to.

“What are you doing all the way out here?” the voice asked as the lavender unicorn that it belonged to revealed herself through the branches.

“Twilight Sparkle, right?” I was almost sure that that was her name, but I just wanted to be sure. When she nodded I continued, “Just resting for a little while, I’m waiting for Rainbow to get back, she wasn’t home.”

“Oh, Rainbow is out right now.” Twilight stated echoing what I had said only seconds before, “Who is that with you?”

“Oh her… um she’s…” I paused, Oh Luna; I’m no good at lying if I can see the other pony’s face! I thought. “Well, she’s my sister.”

Twilight stood there staring at us, glancing between the filly and me. It felt like an eternity, despite the fact that it was only about half a minute. “Alright.” Twilight said, finally breaking the long silence.

“Do you know when Rainbow will be getting back?” I asked quickly, trying to end the conversation while still getting what I needed out of Twilight.

“I’m sorry but I don’t know when she’ll be back. Fluttershy needed her help with something, something about catching a certain fast animal that was causing some trouble.” Twilight explained, going into more detail than I cared about.

“Okay.” I sighed.

I noticed that her purple eyes had drifted back to the filly that I had earlier claimed to be my sister. She was analyzing her, taking notice of the numerous cuts and scrapes that I hadn’t covered. Her eyes shifted between those visible wounds and those that were bandaged. I swallowed hard, afraid that more questions would soon follow.

“What happened to her?” Twilight asked, proving my fears true.

“She fell down.” I wasn’t lying, she had fallen down. I just didn’t want to say how far.

“What’s her name?”

Celestia help me! “Her name is…” I hesitated, maybe too long.

“She isn’t your sister is she?” Twilight said sternly, glaring at me.

I grunted, stepping between the filly and Twilight. “No.”

“Why did you lie to me?” Twilight asked, her glare not letting up in the slightest.

“I haven’t known you long enough. I don’t know much about this filly, but I’m willing to protect her with my life. I promised her that nothing would hurt her, and I will not be made a liar.” I said firmly, glaring back into the unicorn’s purple eyes.

“Other than the lie that you just told me?” Twilight broke the eye contact.

“That and a few others that I will be using to protect her.” I answered, still glaring.

“You can trust me. I Pinkie Promise.” Twilight stated. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” as Twilight said this she went through motions that logically corresponded with the words that she recited. Upon the final line, she touched her hoof to her eye. “Ow.”

“What was that?” I asked, my glare turning to a gaze of confusion.

“It’s a Pinkie Pie Promise, and I really need to slow down the ‘cupcake in my eye’ part. I always poke my eye.” Twilight answered, the last part seemed to be more directed at herself than it did me.

“Okay, I’ll trust you, but we need to work somewhere private. I’ll fill you in when we are away from the other ponies.” I explained.

“Let’s head back to my library.” Twilight said, staying calm enough for both of us.

I lifted the filly off of the ground once again and began to follow Twilight back to the Golden Oaks Library. She led me through some of Ponyville’s back roads, the ones that Pinkie hadn’t shown me. Using those roads to get to the library kept us out of sight and prevented any other distractions from the filly’s care.

Once we were inside the library, Twilight took me up to her room and she had me set the filly on her bed. She galloped off to get a first aid kit from the bathroom. When she got back, I was removing the helmet from the filly’s head, which woke her up.

The filly looked around frantically. She was in an unfamiliar place, full of strange things, and had a unicorn mare staring down at her in astonishment.

“You didn’t tell me that she was an alicorn!” Twilight shouted.

“Shh, you’re scaring her.” I whispered. “I told you that I would fill you in. If you could just start treating her, I’ll tell you about the whole thing.”

Twilight nodded, listening intently to my story. She would ask questions at times if something confused her, and I would explain them as best as I could. By the time I was done telling the story, Twilight had finished working with the bandages.

“How are you felling?” I asked, leaning my head down next to the black coated filly.

The filly didn’t respond with words or a shake of the head. She simply looked up at me, the same pleading look in her eyes that she’d had before. She just wanted the bandages to come off.

“Hey, listen.” I whispered, lifting the filly’s chin with my wing. “I know that the bandages aren’t any fun, but you just need to keep in mind that they are only there to help you, and soon they can come off.”

“Yeah, there’s no point in being upset. You’re an alicorn, you’re bound to recover faster than normal ponies, I’m sure that we can take those bandages away in no time.” Twilight said lightly, joining me beside the filly.

“Hey, Twilight, can I ask you a favor?” I asked looking over at the unicorn. Celestia had claimed so many times that Twilight Sparkle is the most brilliantly talented unicorn that I have seen in ages. Ever since Starswirl the Bearded passed on, there has been nopony capable of matching his abilities, until Twilight.

“Sure.” Twilight smiled as she turned to face me. “Alright little one, don’t try to move too much, that will only make the cuts worse.” she said to the filly as she followed me out of the room.

“Alright, I know how good you’re supposed to be at magic. Is there any chance that you can do some enchantment like what is on the guard armor? I think that it would be best to keep a low profile, and an alicorn filly doesn’t really make for a low profile.” I explained, revealing my new plan.

“I can try; it might take a little while to find a spell though. I’ll have Spike helping me, so it shouldn’t take too long.” Twilight answered.

“Thanks.” I said quietly. “I’m going to stay with the filly, I’m sure that eventually I can get her to start talking. As I said before, she claimed she didn’t have a name, but I think that might have had something to do with her inability, or lack of willingness, to talk.”

“Alright, good luck.” Twilight nodded as she turned her attention to the tall bookshelves that surrounded us.

I quickly ascended the spiral staircase of the library, using my wings so that I wouldn’t make as much noise. I stepped into Twilight’s bedroom and looked at the bed. The filly had once again curled up into a ball and gone to sleep. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, all she really seemed to do was sleep.

“Come to think of it, she hasn’t eaten since I found her.” I though aloud. “Neither have I.” I added when my stomach let out a loud roar.

I looked down at myself, trying to silence the aching hunger that had suddenly taken over my thoughts. Attempting to put the thought of food behind me, I sat down beside the bed. As I did this, the filly instinctively slid closer to me, pushing her little nose up against my neck. I would have been lying if I said I wasn’t as tired as she was, but I had to stay up, for her.

I’m not sure how much time went by, most likely an hour though, if I had to guess, before Twilight stampeded up the stairs, carrying with her a large book and pink bracelet.

“Sky, I found a spell!” she gasped out. She had clearly either over exerted herself in the casting of the spell, or she had tired herself out by running up the stairs, probably the former. “I’m sorry it took so long. I found it a little bit ago, but I was trying to make a couple of variations to it.”

“Like what?” I asked, lifting my head slightly.

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted her to look like a unicorn or a pegasus. I tried to change it, but the spell wouldn’t work if I did it to hide the horn.” Twilight explained in one long breath.

“Alright, so she’ll look like a unicorn? That’s fine, I mean, either way she’d be less noticeable.” I shrugged, unsure what the problem was.

“Alright, I just wanted to make sure that you were okay with the results. All she has to do is put on this bracelet and it will change her appearance.” Twilight said, finally starting to regulate her breathing again.

“You do realize that hyperventilation isn’t good for you.” I joked, yawning shortly afterward.

“Yeah, well…” Twilight paused and let out a slight laugh, “just let me give her he bracelet and tell me what you think.”

Twilight slid the bracelet slightly past the filly’s front left hoof. The filly’s physical appearance underwent a dramatic change. With the helmet, her coat simply turned white and her horn became invisible, but with this there was more. Her coat turned to a blue, only a few shades darker than mine, and her mane gained a blue tint to it as well, making it just lighter than Rainbow’s coat. Her wings seemed to instantly fade from existence. The only parts of her that stayed the same were her mane style and her eyes.

The filly opened her eyes once again, as if awakened by the change. She looked at herself and jumped slightly. It was clear that she didn’t recognized herself and that scared her, even if she couldn’t tell us that is did. I placed my hoof slowly on her back, and when she felt it, she laid her head back down. She knew then, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the body was hers. I touched it, and she felt it.

“It’s alright. Twilight did this so that we can hide you for now. It will be easier to keep you safe this way, but promise me not to use your wings while you look like this.” it wasn’t like I’d ever seen her use her wings before, but she had only been awake for about twenty minutes total. Two days, and that was all of the time that she had spent awake, it was like she was catching up on a lifetime of sleepless nights.

The filly nodded before jumping back up. When she did, I heard the slightest grumbling noise come from her. She touched a hoof to her stomach, unsure of what the noise was, or what it meant. Twilight and I couldn’t help but laugh at her surprise, because to both of us, that sound was quite familiar.

“Looks like somepony is hungry, would you like something to eat?” Twilight said in a surprisingly mother-like voice.

The filly nodded, attempting to climb to her hooves.

“Spike! I need you to make three quick sandwiches, it doesn’t matter what kind!” Twilight shouted, the last part was delayed, as if she was anticipating that the question of ‘What kind?’ would be asked.

“On it!” I heard the dragon’s voice shout from the ground floor of the library, two levels below us.

Twilight rummaged through a saddlebag that she had sitting in the corner, it was clear that she had used it recently. There were stray leaves and branches on it, ones that from her clearly meticulous manner, she would have gotten rid of quickly. Soon, Twilight lifted a small package out of her bag. It was a little cupcake, which she then proceeded to move toward the filly.

“Is this okay with you?” she asked, looking over at me for permission to give the cupcake away.

“Sure.” I paused and adopted the tone to perfectly mimic the way my mother sounded to me as a filly. “But no more getting snacks before dinner.”

Twilight let out another laugh as she gave the cupcake to the still nameless filly.

Soon Spike brought up a plate of sandwiches, more than enough. Twilight had requested three, and he carried up six.

I would have never expected to become such good friends with Twilight in such a short time. I never made friends this quickly; it even took me and Rainbow a week to really start talking back at Flight School. I could only assume that we bonded so quickly because of the circumstances that we were under. Either way, I don’t think that there was another pony in all of Equestria that I would have trusted more than her for this task. I would have trusted Rainbow just as much, but she wouldn’t have been able to pull this off, not the disguise.

“By the way, just call me Twi, all of my friends do.” Twilight smiled at me.

“Alright Twi.” I paused for a moment, trying to think of how to say the thought that was stuck in my head. “You know, I don’t have a name for this filly yet. Do you have any suggestions, or maybe a way to find out if she already has one?”

“I don’t know. She hasn’t said a word yet has she?” Twi asked, seeking confirmation.

“No, not that I’ve heard.” I answered, dropping my head.

“Well, let’s just wait until she talks. If she already has one, she can tell us then. I know that when I was using my first aid magic, there was nothing inhibiting her ability to speak. I think that she will talk when she feels the time is right.” Twi’s answer was filled with so much confidence that I couldn’t very well argue with it.

“Alright let’s just leave it alone for now then.” I laughed. “Until we have a name for you, you’ll just be ‘the filly.’” I joked toward the filly who was to be named later, sitting between Twilight and myself.

“I don’t have a name.” the filly whispered back.

Chapter 3 - Star

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Star

“You can talk?” I gasped, nearly falling off of Twi’s bed.

The filly didn’t speak again, she only nodded.

“So you don’t have a name, huh?” Twilight said to the filly quietly.

“How about Star?” I asked, regaining my balance on the bed.

“Star, why Star?” Twilight asked over the filly.

“Her eyes. When I first saw her, those eyes caught and reflected some of the stars in the night sky. I’d been considering that as a name for a while now, but I wanted to see if she already had one first.” I explained.

I looked down at the small filly who had no name as she contemplated my choice. “I like it.” she nodded looking at both me and Twi.

“It’s settled, your name is Star, and you will be undercover as my sister.” I said, trying as hard as I could to make it sound like I was giving her some important spy mission, that the fate of Equestria rested in her hooves.

Twilight laughed at my overacting as I physically played the part of the persona that I had undertaken. I couldn’t help but let out a giggle as soon as I was done. For the first time, Star laughed with us.

“Hey, it’s only about noon.” Twi stated looking out the window. “Maybe you two can go out for a bit, take a look around. I still have a bit of work to do on something for the princesses, but I’ll meet up with you at Sugarcube Corner later. I’m thinking about four in the afternoon, give or take.”

“Alright, I’ll take Star out to see some of the things that Pinkie showed me.” I said, smiling back at Twi as I carried Star down the stairs on my back.

“I can walk.” Star yawned as we stepped out the door of the library.

“Alright, just let me know if you get tired.” I said, still unable to decipher if her sleepiness was a bad thing or if it was just natural.

Star walked beside me, sure I had to drop my pace down quite a bit for those tiny legs of hers, but it was worth it to make her happy. She happily embraced the sunlight after the first couple minutes of being blinded by it. Despite the way her eyes made her seem, her eyesight was amazing, she wasn’t blind that was for sure. Most ponies gave her a strange look, and then me for letting her walk on her own; they must have come to the blindness conclusion. On occasion Star would look up to me and ask “Why are they staring?” After hearing that, they would look away, realizing that she could see, how else could she have known that they were staring?

“They are as fascinated by your eyes as I am.” I would always answer.

After that we would keep walking, ignoring the majority of the awkward stares that were shot out way. At one point Star stopped outside of a store, staring into the windows, amazed at all of the fine clothing inside. I recognized the store to be the Carousel Boutique, which I remembered correctly was owned by Rainbow’s and Twi’s friend Rarity. Star gazed into the window for a few seconds longer before turning to look at me.

“Can we go in? Please.” Star squeaked out the please, almost as if it had been rehearsed.

“Sure, I don’t see why not.” I pushed the door open and heard the cheerful chime of the bell.

“Amethyst, I told you that it be ready in a few hou-” Rarity cut herself off upon seeing Star and me at the door. “Sky darling, is that you? Where have you been? You just up and vanished, and Rainbow Dash would not fill me in on any of the details.”

“Hello Rarity.” I replied, “This is my sister, Star. I had to go and… pick her up.” I finished after a short second of deliberation.

“Hello there Star.” Rarity said happily, taking a second to analyze Star’s features. “I have the perfect dress for you.”

With that, Rarity galloped into the back. One thought kept running through my mind, Oh Celestia, here it comes. When Rarity came back, she had measuring tape, fabrics, and a mannequin floating around her, held by her magic. On her nose, a pair of crescent shaped glasses with a fine red rim was perched.

Rarity quickly went to work, measuring Star using the tape. As she measured, she, at a distance, began trimming fabrics and sewing them together. As she did this, she hummed a little tune.

Once Rarity was content with her work, she showed me the final results on Star. To be honest, it looked better than what most of the Canterlot designers did. They were highly over rated, and once or twice I had even heard remarks from Princess Celestia that there was a better fashion designer in a small town. Now I knew who and where, Rarity in Ponyville.

Star’s dress was a combination of black and light blue. This mixed well with her coat’s color while she was disguised, the black giving it the appearance of formality. The light blue added a sense of childlike playfulness. This dress would look nice at any kind of formal event, and even some that were less formal thanks to the light blue.

“Darling, you look fabulous.” Rarity said, breaking her lady-like demeanor for a split second.

Star looked down at the dress that she was wearing, and then her attention turned to me. She had a smile beaming on her face.

“She seems to like it.” I laughed subtly.

“Well, how about you take it, as a gift.” Rarity suggested.

“Are you sure, you put so much effort into it?” I asked, looking up at Rarity. “I feel like I should do something for you.”

“Don’t worry about a thing, darling. It seems like your sister enjoys it.” Rarity answered.

Good, I thought, she believes that Star is my sister. “Alright, if you say so.”

“Good.” Rarity said sharply. “Now, I can bag it for you so that it doesn’t get dirty while you’re out.”

“That sounds good.” I answered. “How about you, Star?”

Star nodded her head sharply before returning to admire her dress. It would prove to be a challenge to get Star to get her nose out of the bag that Rarity put the dress in. She almost refused to look away from it as we walked down the roads of Ponyville. It was like she expected it to grow legs and run away. She wouldn’t vocally answer me while she was looking at the dress, only use the nods and shakes that she had before. I couldn’t blame her, she’d only spoken four times so far, and each time she only said a few words.

I looked over at the clock tower above Ponyville, and saw that we had spent nearly an hour at the boutique. We still had three hours until we were going to meet up with Twi at Sugarcube Corner. I ran through a mental list of all of the places that Pinkie had shown me, trying to think of one that Star would find enjoyable. I looked down at the filly, who was just starting to pull her nose out of the bag Rarity had given us. Then it hit me, the park, the perfect place for a filly her age to have fun.

“Hey Star, would you like to go to the park? Maybe you can play on the swing for a little bit.” I put a little emphasis on swing.

Star nodded, smiling up at me for a second before looking back down into the bag.

“Alright, and once we meet up with Twi, you can show her your new dress.” those words made Star jump slightly off of the ground happily.

Star and I wandered until we came across the park. It was there that I saw yet another familiar mare and a young filly. This filly looked to be slightly older than Star, and she wore a big red bow on her head. The mare was none other than Applejack.

I couldn’t help but think that the names of all of Rainbow’s friends sounded familiar, but I could quite put my hoof on why. Their names kept flying around my head like the pieces of a puzzle that I just couldn’t solve. It would come to me sooner or later, they always did before.

“Sky, is that you? How’re ya sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“Hey Applejack, I’m fine, how about you?” I asked back, for the sake of politeness.

“I’m great, me and Apple Bloom here were just enjoyin’ the sunshine.” Applejack answered.

The filly’s name was Apple Bloom, and it looked like she was Applejack’s younger sister. “That’s what Star and I were planning to do while we pass the time before meeting up with Twi.”

“So I’m gonna guess that this filly here is Star. Is she your sister, or are ya just foal sittin’ for somepony?” Applejack answered as her sister approached the three of us.

“She’s my sister.” I answered at the perfect speed to not draw suspicion.

“I didn’t know ya had a sister.” Applejack said reaching her hoof out to Star. “Nice ta meet ya Star.”

Star slowly put her hoof out to accept Applejack’s offer of a hoof shake. After a gently shake, Applejack pulled her hoof back.

“Hey, I’m Apple Bloom.” the young filly with Applejack said. “Looks like you don’t have a cutie mark yet, do you want to join the cutie mark crusaders?” The filly now bore a large smile.

I looked over to Applejack, and could only assume that my expression showed my confusion.

“The Crusaders are a group of three fillies who are trying to find ways to earn their cutie marks.” Applejack explained.

“I’ll consider it; I’m not sure how long we’ll be staying in Ponyville though.” I explained, once again, being completely truthful.

“Aww.” Apple Bloom said, letting out a disappointed sigh.

“Hey, don’t think of it like that though.” I said lifting Apple Bloom’s chin with my hoof. “You two can still play right now, we still have a bit of time to waste.”

Apple Bloom perked at the mention of this and Star looked to me for confirmation that she could go with Apple Bloom wherever that would be.

I gave a nod, “Just don’t run off too far, alright?”

With that, the two fillies nodded back and galloped off toward another two fillies. I recognized one of the two, Scootaloo, but the other was a white unicorn. I could only assume that the two that Star and Apple Bloom were meeting up with were the other Crusaders.

“So, Applejack, just how much trouble will they be getting into?” I asked, noticing the expression on her face as they left.

“A bit, nothin’ too bad though.” Applejack answered, partially trying to convince herself by her tone.

“Alright, so how have you been since I had to go?” I asked, setting up a pleasant conversation that would last until the fillies returned at about fifteen ‘til four.

“Well, it’s about time that we go and see Twi. Tell them that you’ll see them later.” I told Star as they came into view.

“I’ll see you later.” Star said to her friends, a little less shyly than she was before.

“I’ll be seeing you Applejack; it was nice to talk to you again.” I said waving to Applejack and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Star and I began the short walk to meet up with Twilight at Sugarcube Corner. The streets were clearing up slightly; most ponies were at home preparing meals of their own. Luckily for us, we were meeting at a bakery, which mean food. A couple sandwiches were enough to stave off the starvation for me, but couldn’t sate two days’ worth of not eating.

“Hey, how was your day you two?” Twilight asked as we walked into the bakery.

“Star made a few friends, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Is there anything that I should know about that group, from an unbiased viewpoint? Applejack said they don’t get in much trouble, but I just want a second opinion.” I said as I took a seat next to Twi and lifted Star up in between us.

“You can trust AJ; she doesn’t represent the Element of Honesty for nothing.” Twilight laughed.

“Oh Celestia. You’re telling me that you’re the ones who use the Elements of Harmony?” I asked in astonishment, finally realizing where I’d heard their names, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had mentioned them before.

“Yeah, I thought you knew. Didn’t Rainbow tell you?” Twi asked, caught off guard by my not-so-subtle reaction.

“Well, no actually. I hadn’t seen her in years until the day before yesterday.” I explained. “There’s a lot that we didn’t know about each other.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, let me tell you about it then.” Twilight began to explain the events of the Summer Sun Festival from two years ago from her own point of view. She told me about all of the tricks that they had overcome and how each of our friends showed the element that they represent. Any time that I had a question, she gladly answered it and made some allusion to a lesson on friendship that she had learned and told the princess about.

“You’re names sounded familiar but I couldn’t quite put my hoof on where I’d heard them. Now it all makes sense.” I answered.

“That’s really cool.” Star said, joining the conversation. She had been so enticed by Twilight’s story that she hadn’t even started on her food, and only started eating once Twilight had answered my last question.

“You sound a little more energetic than before, that’s good.” Twilight said with a smile.

“Hello there pony I don’t know!” Pinkie shouted popping out of nowhere.

“Where did you come from?” I asked, stumbling back as the pink earth pony spoke.

“The ceiling.” she answered, like it was an everyday thing.

“What were you doing up there?” I asked, not satisfied with her explanation.

“TWITCHY TAIL!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, lunging a good five feet away from me. Twilight jumped at the mention of the words, following Pinkie.

A foal fell from the ceiling. It was a young unicorn foal that had fallen asleep. Pinkie caught him just before he impacted on the floor.

“Ow, why’d you yell?” I asked, moving my hooves away from my ears. They had instinctively and unconsciously jumped to block out the scream.

“Sorry, Pinkie Sense. Pumpkin Cake was walking on the ceiling using his magic and I was following him using these.” Pinkie directed my attention to the suction cups that were strapped to her feet. “When my tail twitches, that means something is about to fall.”

“Huh?” I asked, completely lost.

“Don’t try to think about it. I had to learn to accept it, there is no logical reasoning behind it, but it’s always right.” Twilight explained.

“If you say so.” I responded.

“Twilight, Sky, who is this?” Pinkie asked setting the foal in a crib that was located in the corner of the room while pointing at Star.

“That’s Sky’s sister, Star.” Twilight stated.

“Yeah.” I nodded in confirmation.

“Time for another ‘Welcome to Ponyville Party!’” Pinkie shouted.

“Actually Pinkie, Star is a little bit on the shy side. I don’t think that a big party would be the best idea for her.” Twilight stated, coming up with an argument as quickly as possible.

“All the more reason to have a party. Nothing gets a shy filly to make friends like a party!” Pinkie smacked down Twilight’s attempt.

“It’s alright, but Pinkie, please, don’t invite too many ponies. Maybe just the ones who were there for mine and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Star seemed to get along with them.” I explained, setting rules for the party.

“Alright, I will have it ready in half an hour. Just stay here.” Pinkie hopped out the door happily.

“Do you think she can control herself on the invites?” I asked looking over to Twilight, who was moving back to her chair.

“Probably, the point of her parties is to make the pony hat she’s throwing it for is happy.” Twilight answered.

For half an hour, we sat in Sugarcube Corner, talking. Twi still couldn’t come up with any good explanation on Star’s origins, which was the topic that was dominating the conversation. We would ask Star specific questions, like “Do you remember a light before falling?” but she would just shake her head. She was incapable of remembering anything before I found her.

Soon we had to stop our brainstorming as the guests began to arrive. Rainbow was the first to fly in, and I do mean fly in. She nearly hit me as she launched through the doors. Scootaloo was following her closely. Applejack and Apple Bloom were next, coming in with Rarity and the unicorn filly that was with the Crusaders. Fluttershy arrived shortly after them, Pinkie Pie pushing her through the door.

We enjoyed ourselves and Star socialized with the fillies her age. I had to explain to Rainbow a more elaborate excuse for her not knowing Star than I had for anypony else. I’d tell her when Twilight said it would be fine, but she seemed to know more about how to do this kind of thing than I did. I’ve never been good at keeping secrets.

“So you’re telling me that you have a sister?” Rainbow said still astonished by it.

“Yeah Dashie, that’s what I’ve been saying. She was born after I left, a couple years, obviously.” I explained.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I didn’t have much of a chance, I wasn’t here for long. Plus I didn’t even know where you lived before I went through the Canterlot archives.”

“Too bad she can’t fly.” Rainbow laughed.

“Yeah, too bad.” I muttered, thinking about the wings that were hidden by the enchantment.

The rest of the evening was uneventful. Twilight offered to let me stay the night at the library; Rainbow didn’t put up any argument, so I accepted her offer. Twi and I needed some time to do research on anything that we could find. When we got to her library however, Spike had a scroll and a rock in his claws.

“Twi, you’re home! Princess Celestia sent these, I haven’t looked at the letter yet, but it came with this weird rock.” Spike said as we entered the door.

“A little quieter please Spike.” Twilight said, taking the scroll and rock into her magic.

“Star is sleeping. I’ll be back down after I put her to bed.” I explained, directing his attention to the filly that was sleeping on my back.

“Just put her on my bed, I have a feeling that this will be an all-nighter by the looks of this letter.” Twilight said as I walked slowly up the stairs.

I approached Twi’s bed and set the small filly down, pulling off the bracelet that made her disguise. I pulled a blanket over her and smiled at her peaceful sleep.

“So where should we get started?” I asked, reentering the first floor.

“Princess Celestia sent me this; she said that her scholars weren’t able to figure out where it came from. She said it was found in the crater outside of Saddle Arabia.” Twilight explained.

“Oh, that’s the rock that was in the center of the crater with Star.” I said taking a closer look at the black stone that seemed to capture the stars in the night sky. “It seemed like a good thing to pin the blame for the crater on until I could figure out what to do with Star.”

“Well, the princesses sure seem to think that it’s important. The letter says that it might be the Universe from the old Mare’s Tale. You know the one about the origin of the world right?” Twilight asked looking between me and Spike.

“I think that my parents read that one to me. The Universe created everything by taking parts of the emptiness that surrounded it, right?”

“She, the Universe was said to be a she. I think that it’s the same concept as with boats though, calling inanimate objects ‘she’, something I never did understand. But it seems that the Princess thinks that this might be a piece of the Universe. She wants me to see if I can find anything out and if her theory is right, she wants me to find a safe place for it.” Twilight explained, the letter hovering in a purple aura in front of her face.

“If she’s right about it being a piece of the Universe, who would be after it? Discord has been tamed, Chrysalis has fallen, and Sombra was obliterated; who’s left?” I asked, finding it hard to believe that there was anypony left who would be rising against the princesses’ rule.

“I don’t know, but she seems worried. Spike, would you mind looking for anything related to that story? I’m going to look for anything to help Sky; something on amnesia might do the trick.” Twilight said, pulling out what looked like a dozen books with her magic.

Twilight and I looked through the books and took note of anything that seemed like a logical way to restore at least some of Star’s memories. Twilight also mentioned a memory spell that she had learned and used on her friends a while back. We spent the majority of the night looking through the books. We only came to a stop as the moon was about to hit the horizon, ending the night.

“Well, Princess Luna would be happy to know that we were up to see her night, even if our attention was divided.” I yawned, closing another book.

“Sleeping through the day would be an interesting change.” Twilight laughed. “Too bad Spike won’t know what it feels like.” Spike had fallen to sleep a few hours before hoof, probably around midnight, if not one in the morning. Either way, in all of Ponyville, it was a safe bet that Twi and I were the only ones awake.

“Good morning.” I heard a quiet whisper behind me.

“Good morning, Star. You’re up early, but I wouldn’t imagine that you’d need to sleep all night considering your long naps during the day.” I laughed lightly, helping the filly down the last stair.

“I think that I have just the spell for this occasion.” Twilight smiled as her horn began to glow. A single beam of purple shot into the air and split off into two before falling back down. One beam hit Twilight and the other hit me.

“What was that?” I asked, feeling completely revitalized as if I had slept through the whole night.

“Basically, it stimulates the body and mind in the same way eight hours of sleep would. It’s hard to cast, so I’m not going to attempt to use it again for a while, that and it gives one mean headache.” Twilight laughed, her voice showing the renewed energy that she felt.

“Well, whether it can be used often or not, I need to get some of the unicorn guards back in Canterlot. If they can learn this kind of spell, exhaustion would not be much of a problem.” I laughed.

“Well, I’m sure that my brother can help teach them if he ever gets time out from the Crystal Empire.” Twi commented, as she walked into the kitchen. “Until then, we should eat though, we’ve had a long night and Star is just a filly.”

“Alright, that sounds like a plan. Do you want me to help?”

“Only if you want to.” Twi answered, but just as I was about to follow her into the kitchen, I heard something outside and Twilight opened a window.

Rainbow Dash flew through the open window, crashing into a bookshelf. Luckily for us, Twi had reinforced the bookshelf with her magic at the last second and slipped the enchanted bracelet over Star’s hoof. Rainbow lifted her head and looked around the room.

“Rainbow, the new Daring Doo book comes out tomorrow.” Twilight stated with a tone of impatience.

“It’s not about that!” Rainbow was gasping for breath. “The guards are here looking for Sky and this time it doesn’t seem like it’s to give her a mission. I told them that I didn’t know where you were though.”

“In the name of Celestia.” I groaned. “I haven’t even done anything illegal yet!”

“Keeping evidence in an open investigation.” Twilight suggested.

“They don’t know about her, it isn’t illegal if they don’t know about the evidence’s existence. They can’t charge anypony for having a video of a crime happening if the pony doesn’t know they have the recording. Same concept applies here, she was found outside the crater, technically, the spot where she was lying down was above the rest of the area.” I explained, trying to defend my actions.

“What are you two talking about?” Rainbow asked, intruding in my thoughts.

“Star isn’t really my sister. I found her, she had no memories and Twi and I have been trying to help restore what she has lost. Also, she’s kind of an alicorn.” I said the last part in almost a whisper.

“What?” Rainbow shouted out, making Star jump back behind me.

“Now Dashie, relax it isn’t as bad as it seems, I’m doing my job. I’m protecting the innocent, but to do that, I had to do something a little bit on the shady side.”

“Don’t Dashie me. I don’t even know what to think right now! Why would you keep this a secret?”

“Twilight said that the less ponies that know, the better it was. I could keep you from being involved in whatever punishment I got.”

Rainbow shook her head.

“Please don’t be mad.” Star said quietly as she approached Rainbow.

“Mad? I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed. I don’t care if I get in trouble for helping you.” Rainbow answered, turning back to face me.

“But I do, it was too late to keep Twi from getting involved. She had already seen through the first disguise by the time that she recruited herself to help me. I was actually going to go to you first, but you weren’t home.” I continued defending my actions.

“Well, now you’ve got more help than you did before.” Rainbow said as she calmed down.

“Thanks.” I said quietly. “Can you keep an eye out for the guard; I’m going to help Twi with some cooking.”

“Hey Twilight, why don’t you make an enchantment to disguise Sky too? She can handle the cooking on her own.” Rainbow suggested.

“That’s a good idea, considering there is apparently a nationwide marehunt for her.” Twilight responded, “Are you going to be able to handle the cooking on your own, Sky?

“When I was a filly, I was sure that my cutie mark would be something about cooking. Don’t worry, I can cook.” I laughed back before heading into the kitchen.

I pulled out all of the ingredients and mixed them together into the pancake batter. I poured it out into the pans and began cooking. The only sounds that I could hear were the sounds of papers rustling in the next room over and the sound of the batter sizzling as it solidified. Soon I heard a third noise join in with the other two, knocking at the door. The kitchen door flew open without warning and a necklace clipped around my neck. Twilight stepped aside when the Royal Guards walked in.

“Who is this?” asked the biggest of the three.

“She’s a friend, her name is Tough Palate.” Twilight sputtered out.

“Nice to meet you three stallions.” I said, putting on my ‘nothing is wrong’ face.

“Alright, this place is all clear. Remember if you see Sky Flare, contact us.” said the shortest of the guards.

“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you. We wouldn’t want to be harboring a fugitive pony or anything like that.” Twilight said, her nervousness showing.

“Come on you three, I’ll help you out the door. Twilight, would you mind putting the pancakes onto the plates for everypony?” I said calmly.

“Yeah.” Twilight jumped at the opportunity to not have to lie to the guards.

I walked with the guards until they were out the door. After they were gone I turned to look at my reflection in the window. I was a brown unicorn with a mahogany mane. My cutie mark had been changed from a sword to a silver platter with a lid covering it.

“Twilight, this disguise is amazing.” I said, reentering the room and claiming a plate.

“They’re long gone now; I think we’re good to lose the disguises.” Rainbow said, landing next to me.

“Yeah, Star, you can take yours off now too, if you want to that is.” I said, helping Star into the chair at the kitchen table.

“Okay.” Star pulled off the bracelet as I lifted off my necklace.

The black alicorn sat between Twilight and me, where she always did. Rainbow sat at the other end of the table and we began to fill her in, telling her about every development that we had made so far. About the Universe piece and what it might be capable of.

Chapter 4 - Second

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Second

Twilight was putting together a bag for me, anything that she could think of that I would need while on the run. She had a checklist for it, surprisingly enough. If there was one thing that I learned about that mare, she was ready for anything. She had me a map that would guide me far enough away that the guard wouldn’t look for me there, the perfect hiding place, a cave in the wastelands. She packed some food that wouldn’t go bad and some water for us.

“That should be everything that you two should need.” Twilight said, a solemn tone dominating her voice.

“Why can’t I go with you, you’ll need all of the help that you can get?” Rainbow complained.

“Simple, you’d be more necessary here. The princesses know that you’re my friend, and if you mysteriously go missing and turn up traveling with a strange mare who doesn’t exist, then they will piece it together.” I explained as I lifted Star onto my back so that she would have time to wake up before having to walk for an unknown amount of time.

“I understand, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t like it.” Rainbow growled.

“Too bad.” I laughed as I turned to the door, “I’ll see you girls later.”

With that I walked out the door, disguised as Tough Palate. Star was on my back, she too had the appearance of a normal unicorn, if a unicorn could be normal. I honestly believed that the only normal ponies were earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns both had magical properties. Either way, we slowly walked through the town, drawing almost no attention to ourselves. We did, however, have a close call when Pinkie Pie almost spotted us. Luckily she was distracted by her ‘twitchy tail’ which was forewarning her about a flower pot that was about to fall from a third floor window. Nopony got hurt; she pushed the stallion who was standing where it would have landed aside.

Star looked back as we passed out of the Ponyville, City Limits. “Sky, why are they looking for you? Did you do something bad?”

“Wow, that’s the most you’ve said at one time so far. But kind of, they think that either I’m hiding something or I’m running away in the line of duty. Both of those are bad, but I’m trying to protect you, so it’s worth it.” I answered, feeling the filly jump off of my back.

“I don’t want you to get in trouble.” she whined.

“Well, too bad. I’m already in trouble, so there’s no point in worrying about it. Come on Star, we’ve got quite a bit of ground to make today. I want to get to the wastelands by tomorrow afternoon.” I waved the filly to come up beside me.

Star didn’t move. “Why are you doing all of this for me?”

I sighed loudly, “Too bad this horn doesn’t work, or else I’d lift you up with magic. Since I can’t do that, I have one option; lift you up with my wings.”

I scooped the filly up off of the ground and let her slide back down my wing, landing right back where she started. Just because they weren’t visible, didn’t mean that they weren’t there. Star was as aware of that fact as I was, she attempted to lift herself off of my back using her wings, but she wasn’t strong enough, her attempts at magic resulted in exhaustion as well.

“Just go to sleep, don’t strain yourself. It won’t help anypony, you can’t outrun me.” I shook my head as I told her this.

Star didn’t answer me verbally; instead she nuzzled her face into my mane and went to sleep. She was smart; she knew that I was going to take care of her no matter what.

After that, nothing eventful happened during the remainder of the day. We had our meals, using the position of the sun as a clock, as well as the growling of our stomachs. By nightfall, we had come across a small burrow in a forest. It was at a set of elevated roots. The tree that they supported was at least three yards above the ground.

I set my saddlebags down, pulling out something soft for Star to lie down on. While I was looking, I found something that was almost certainly left for Star by Twilight. A story book. It was a bunch of classic stories, ranging from “The Mare in the Moon” to things like “Cherry Punch’s Big Day.” I figured that since Star was still conscious, I might as well read her one.

“Hey, Star, would you like for me to read you a story?” I asked, setting a circular pillow under the cover of the tree.

“A story, about what?” she asked, lying down slowly.

“It’s called ‘Cherry Punch’s Big Day’ and it’s about a filly named Cherry Punch finding her cutie mark. I figure a little something lighthearted would be a welcomed change.” I explained, lying down next to Star.

“Alright.” Star answered, moving a little closer to me.

“Once upon a time, there was a filly named Cherry Punch. Her entire family worked on a rock farm, and she had spent her whole life working with them since she was old enough to work. She never felt right when she was working though, nopony in her family ever smiled, and there were no exceptions. One day, Cherry Punch, during the early morning hours, went outside to see the sunrise. She always enjoyed watching the sun rise into the sky, and it was the one time that she could smile and be happy.” My voice trailed off as I noticed a faint snoring sound beside me. “And I guess we’ll pick up here next time.” I giggled slightly, resting my head on an empty spot of Star’s pillow.

I woke up somewhat early the next morning, the sounds of the birds chirping worked like an alarm. I lifted my head from the pillow and stepped outside to see what time it was. The sun was in a decent position in the sky, meaning that it was later in the morning than I would have liked for it to be. I lifted Star up carefully as to not wake her and packed up all of the things that I had gotten out. Without a second thought, I set out again. This time, I was in a slight bit more of a rush than I had been the day before, I slept in.

About mid-day I heard something, a subtle sound, not loud enough to wake Star from her sleep, but enough to draw my attention. I decided to play it cool and act like I hadn’t heard anything. Whoever was following me, I didn’t want them to know that I knew they were there. I took some elaborate loops to try and lose them, but to no avail. They stayed close by, not letting me out of their sight. Eventually, I had decided that it had gone on long enough and set Star down to the side gently.

“For Celestia’s sake, stop messing around. You couldn’t be any louder.” I groaned loud enough so that my stalker would hear. “You can’t sneak up on a unicorn of my caliber that easily.”

“I would agree, if I didn’t know better.” a firm voice answered. It sounded like a stallion.

“What do you mean?” I growled.

“Come on, who do you think you’re kidding with that pitiful disguise, Sky Flare?” the voice mocked.

“Who are you?” my temper was beginning to grow strained.

“Now that isn’t important right now. What is important is that I can help you, if you help me that is.” the voice laughed.

“How?” I took a step closer to Star.

“I just need a drop of blood, willingly given.”

“Why?”

“Well you are quite the inquisitive one aren’t you? Well, let’s just say, somepony is in need of help and the only spell that can save her is an ancient magic that requires blood, not from the caster.”

“How do I know that I can trust you?” I glared in every possible direction that the voice could be coming from.

“How about I get you to a safe place from those scary old guards and then you can give me your blood?” the stallion offered.

“Fine, but only if it meets my standards.” I grimaced.

“Oh trust me, it will. Follow me.” said an earth pony stallion that stepped from the shadows.

His mane was a slicked down sleek black and his tail was cut short. His coat was a light shade of brown. His eyes were green and he had a cutie mark of a knife.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Just call me Blade.” he smiled. I had a hard time believing that this was the pony I had just spoken to though, his voice was much softer, and the sinister tone was gone entirely. His eyes were kind and deep.

“Alright Blade, where are we going?” I asked, lifting Star back up off of the ground.

“Some place close by. Just trust me, and no harm will come to anypony.” Blade answered. Normally, that would sound like a threat, but in this case, it sounded more like a promise. He seemed like he cared, like he wanted to make sure that I wasn’t afraid.

“Fine, but how are you going to cast a spell to help whoever it is that you’re looking out for? It’s not like you’re a unicorn.” I continued my subtle interrogation.

“A magic more ancient than that of a unicorn, the same type that would come of a zebra’s work.” he explained.

“Would you mind telling me who it is that you want to help?” I asked.

“I’m sorry, but she requested before her fall, that her name not be said.” Blade answered.

I felt a shaking on my back, Star had woken up. “Star, what’s wrong? You’re shaking, is something the matter?”

“No.” she answered weakly.

“It’s fine, don’t worry little one.” Blade said, slowing down slightly. “That little unicorn is pretty scared of something; you might want to keep an eye out.”

He doesn’t know that she’s an alicorn. “Yeah, thanks for the advice.”

“Well, here we are. I told you that it was close by.” Blade said leading me into a cave.

“So this is supposed to be safe?” I asked, following Blade closely.

“Yes, to be honest, out here, there is no place safer. If you were to go any deeper, you would reach the changeling capital of Decay.” Blade answered.

“About that blood?” I asked, trying to get the topic off of changelings for fear of scaring Star.

“Oh, yes, well…” Blade started, “just a prick from this knife, just one drop of blood is all I need.” Blade said as he pulled out an old broken knife that resembled his cutie mark. The knife matched up perfectly, except the one on his cutie mark was in perfect condition.

“Alright, Star look away for just a second.” I said, letting Star down from my back.

“But…” Star stuttered.

“Star, please.” I said looking down at her.

Star said nothing, just closed her eyes and looked down.

“I’m ready.” I said, redirecting my attention to Blade.

“This will sting a bit, but it should stop hurting as quickly as it started.” Blade said in an affirming tone.

He took the knife in his mouth and pricked my leg, allowing only a single drop of blood to drain onto the knife. He quickly pulled it away and wrapped my cut with a bandage. To be honest, it didn’t hurt at all, and his worry was simply overreacting.

“I’m sorry. Are you alright?” he asked, setting the knife down to the side and leaning in toward my leg.

“I’m fine; it didn’t hurt at all, really. Star, it’s okay to look now.” I replied.

“Well, everything will be taken care of soon. We just have to wait for my allies to return with the last of the supplies.” Blade stated. “Is there anything that you require while we wait?”

“Well, I could use something that I can start a fire with so that I can heat up some of our food. If you want some, I have some to spare.” I answered.

“Sky…” Star said quietly, nuzzling my front right leg.

“What’s wrong honey?” I asked, catching myself off guard. Did I just call her honey?

“Um, something feels wrong.”

“Do you feel sick?”

“No, I don’t feel sick, but I have a sick feeling.” she answered, sounding like a riddle.

“You mean that something feels wrong and you sense it?” Blade joined in, trying to decipher her thoughts.

“Yes, near the big city in Equestria.” Star continued.

“Something is wrong in Canterlot?” I asked, growing worried for the well-being of the princesses.

“Lieutenant, I sense somepony approaching. Teleporting via magic and using a scrying spell to track Sky Flare.” said a unicorn who walked into the room.

“Is it a guard?” Blade jolted back.

“No sir, it’s a unicorn mare.” the stallion answered, standing in the shadows so that only a silhouette was visible.

“Can you describe her to me?” I asked.

“Lavender and her cutie mark is-” the stallion began.

“Nopony move!” shouted a familiar voice. “Sky, it’s okay, I found you.”

“Twi, these ponies helped me.” I said, defending my newly found allies.

“Do you know about what’s going on out there yet?” Twilight asked, slackening her guard.

“Star is sensing something is wrong at Canterlot, but that’s all that we know.” I answered.

“Go outside and look up at the sky.” Twilight said solemnly.

I wasn’t sure here she was going with that, but I didn’t argue. I walked past Twi and Blade, stepping out into the sunlight. The sun was in its usual morning position, and there didn’t seem to be anything out of place, aside from the moon still being visible in the far corner of the sky.

“It’s the evening, about thirty minutes until seven.” Twilight said quietly as she stepped by my side.

“What?” I shouted. “What about the princesses, did something happen?”

“They were defeated; something came in the night and fought Luna. Before Celestia knew what had happened, she had already brought the sun up slightly. He went after her and got her before she knew what hit her. Shining Armor was in Canterlot on business…” Twilight broke off into frantic tears.

“Who did it?” I asked, trying to stay calm, trying but failing as I could feel my legs beginning to give way.

“He spoke in every city and town in Equestria, telling us the story. He’s huge…” Twilight said before breaking off again.

“Who?” I asked again, feeling sick to my stomach.

“Me.” said a calm, deep voice.

I turned around and looked up. There was a stallion, an alicorn stallion, floating above the cave. He had to have been a whole head taller than Princess Celestia. His coat was black and his mane and tail were the darkest shade of purple imaginable. The mane and tail were raggedy, but had the same flow that the princesses did. His eyes were a piercing yellow, there was no visible pupil only a yellow glow. His cutie mark was a black hole.

“Who are you?” Blade asked firmly.

“I’d advise that you watch that tone of yours when speaking to your king. I am the Void.” the alicorn answered.

“The Void?” I asked trying to figure out where I’d heard that name before.

“Yes, and I was seeking your friend here. Your dear fallen princesses seemed to think that she had the Universe.” Void answered.

“Too bad I led you on a wild pony chase. It’s long gone now.” Twilight tried to laugh through her tears of remorse.

Void simply sighed and faded from existence. As he left, I could hear a faint sound nearby. Sobbing. A quiet sobbing, but somepony was upset and I was sure that I knew who. I broke into a full gallop and charged into the cave to find Star curled up into a ball crying.

“Star…” I started, but stopped myself before asking the pointless question. I knew exactly what was wrong, what I didn’t know though, was how to help her.

She looked up at me, her eyes finally having gained some color, they were bloodshot. Her lit was quivering weakly as she tried to put on a strong face. She was attempting to be strong, to not show fear. Star was scared out of her mind, but was willing to try and get past it.

“Don’t worry; I have a plan on how to stop him.” Blade smirked, reentering the cave by Twilight.

“And what’s that?” I asked, snapping my head to face him fully.

“The one who I’m trying to help may very well be the only one strong enough to stop him.” Blade answered.

“And who’s that?” Twilight asked.

“He won’t say, but I trust him.” I answered for Blade.

“Thank you for your confidence.” Blade said gratefully.

I nuzzled up to Star, trying to comfort her. I felt her tears roll down between our faces. “It’s alright; everything will be okay, honey.” I said it again, honey.

Twilight and Blade both went deeper into the cave to give me and Star our space; I had to calm her down. Something was distracting me though, a thought in the back of my mind. Void, where have I heard that before? I couldn’t quite put my hoof on where, but I knew that it was familiar. Then I remembered something that Princess Celestia had once told me, if something doesn’t make sense, consult a Mare’s Tale.

I pulled the book that Twilight had slid into my saddlebags, moving as little as possible. I began to flip through the pages, skimming over them quickly for the word “void.” Soon I found it, and it was exactly where I was expecting to find it, in the story of the Universe.

It said that the Universe had pulled some of the Void away, and turned the nothingness that it consisted of, into all the sun and the moon, into the ground we walk on, and every star in the sky. The Void was the Universe’s companion, but it never spoke to her so she felt that it was shunning her. To give herself more suitable company, she created everything that we have today. The Void didn’t lose its grip though; it sought to destroy everything that was made from it. The Universe died from overexertion, leaving stones that embodied its power throughout the world.

“The Void from the story, it’s the only thing that makes since.” I muttered to myself.

“What?” Star asked between sobs.

“Nothing, just go to sleep. I know what we have to do; I know the best way to stop Void.” I explained.

“I can’t sleep.” she whispered.

“I know that you’re scared, but you can trust me, everything will be fine.”

“But…” I covered her mouth and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

“But nothing, go to sleep.” I said softly.

Star stopped resisting and instead pushed her face closer to mine. She fell asleep quickly, covered by my wing, and in my embrace. I felt more attached to her than I did any other pony I’ve ever met, she was different.

Chapter 5 - Deception

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Deception

I heard movement around me that woke me from my sleep. Ponies were moving about, trying to prepare some sort of ceremony. There was a bowl of ground up materials near me and a circle drawn upon the floor of the cave. I pretended to stay asleep so that I could get a non-sugarcoated idea of what was really going on. I trusted Blade yes, but it was obvious that he was keeping something from me. I would just have to keep my eyes closed, and not react to anything that they say.

“Yes, right there.” Blade’s voice broke the silence.

“Sir, we are still missing the last ingredient.” said one of the ponies.

“No, I have it, that’s why I was out. I just happened to come by a pony who was willing to give blood for our cause.” Blade explained.

“So she is aware of what we’re doing?” the voice returned.

“No, I didn’t tell her who it was. There is no way in Equestria that I would have gotten her help then, no I followed the orders and kept her name out of the conversation.” Blade answered.

Who are they helping? Why would nopony in Equestria help them if they knew the identity? Those two thoughts kept flying around in my head.

“Should we lose the disguises?”

“No, not yet, not until our queen is restored.” Blade paused. “Sky, you can stop faking, I know that you’re awake. How much did you hear?”

“Enough to know that you’re keeping secrets.” I answered, only opening my eyes, not wanting to move for fear of disturbing Star’s sleep. The last thing I needed was her waking up in the middle of whatever this was.

“Don’t worry yourself; her majesty will come to our aid.” Blade stated, trying to reestablish trust.

“Who’s aid, yours or ours?” I glared, still not moving.

“Ours, and I include you in that my friend.” Blade answered.

“Then why are you keeping all of the secrets?”

“Because, if you knew who we were bringing back to life, you wouldn’t have helped us, and then, then we would have been unable to help you. We foresaw the signs of the coming storm, and so we got to work.” Blade answered.

“Lieutenant, she isn’t going to listen to reason. She already doubts us too much, if she sees her, then it will be all over, she’ll interfere.” said the voice from earlier, I could see that it belonged to a unicorn.

“I know what you’re planning, and I do not approve. You will not bind her.” Blade said firmly. “Sky I think that it is best if you, your friend, and your kid leave. I don’t know what else to do to protect you.”

“Too late, lieutenant, she’s seen too much.” growled one of the unicorns.

A sickly green aura launched from his horn and enveloped Star and me. I couldn’t move and the binding spell woke Star up. Twilight came rushing in at the sounds of the spell and was grabbed by another blast from the unicorn’s sickly green magic.

“Stand down!” Blade shouted, bucking the insubordinate unicorn across the face.

“No, he works for me, and he’ll only stand down when the queen has returned.” said the pegasus who was looming in the corner of the room. “Add the special ingredient.”

The unicorn climbed to his feet and tried to add a black, slimy substance to the bowl. Luckily he under-estimated Twilight Sparkle. Twi launched a bright blast of magic destroying the black sludge.

“You’ll pay for that.” the pegasus growled as a green fire ensnared him.

As the flare died down, it was clear what he really was, and what their intentions were. They were changelings trying to bring Chrysalis back.

“Thank you Twilight Sparkle, you have stopped the return of the evil monarch.” Blade said, a flame closing in around him too.

When he took his changeling form, he was different from the one who hid as a pegasus. Blade’s eyes were pink, and the magical aura that surrounded his horn was pink as well. He sent out a blast of magic, knocking the others back. Three of them got up and revealed themselves to have the same pink eyes as Blade.

“Alright team, free these ponies.” Blade calmly ordered the three changelings.

As they did, Blade dropped what looked like a changeling’s horn into the bowl and it began to glow.

“It’s too late to stop it now, don’t waste your energy.” Blade said looking back at us.

“You just freed Chrysalis, you’ve doomed Equestria!” Twilight was in a full out panic.

“Don’t be afraid, the Queen Chrysalis that you knew was corrupt, and the state that she will be restored in is the kind and loving queen that I know. She would have never done the atrocities that were committed at the wedding, not in her right mind.” Blade defended.

“Then why did she do it?” I asked, climbing to my hooves and guarding Star from their gaze.

“Poison, poison of the mind. She was changed by the very changeling who stands in that corner.” Blade answered as a blinding burst of pink shot up from the circle that surrounded the bowl.

“Hello Twilight Sparkle.” said a calm voice as a decayed hoof stepped through the beam.

“Chrysalis.” Twilight snarled.

“I hope that you accept my deepest and most sincere apologies. If there is one thing in my life that I regret, it was trying to harm your family.” Chrysalis said, climbing out of the beam completely.

I couldn’t look away from her. She had the same physical appearance except for her eyes, a bright pink. Her expression had no cruelty in it, no hatred. Twilight, however, was unable to see it, she was too focused on their shared past.

“Twilight, relax. She’s different, Blade was telling the truth. If you would just look into her eyes, you could see what I see; she is about as capable of hate as Star is.” I said, stepping in between the queen and the unicorn.

“Listen to your friend, I know that I haven’t fixed our natural appearance yet, but if you just give me a moment, I can show you what we really are.” Chrysalis stated.

“You mean that this isn’t even your real form?” I asked, confused because everything that I’d ever read about them had them displayed in this form.

“No, with the fall of Discord’s reign, he brought us down. He changed us into this, but now I have the power to undo his curse.” Chrysalis answered as a bright pink aura began circling around her horn.

The same spiraling pink surrounded every changeling in the room, blocking them from view. Soon the spirals began to fade and reveal the changelings that they held. The changelings were no longer decayed. Their bodies were solid, still void of any color except for black, but they didn’t have any holes. The manes and tails maintained their natural transparency, but were no longer the ghostly blue that they had been before. Chrysalis now had a pink mane and tail, Blade had a purple set, another had a grassy green set.

“This is our true form.” Chrysalis said calmly, still showing no emotion but the obvious remorse for the deeds that she had done before.

“I see it now, but it will still take a while to earn my full trust.” Twilight grimaced.

“I would not expect any more of you, dear Twilight. Let me explain to you the truth of how we used to live in the meantime. During Discord’s rule, we changelings live alongside the ponies of Equestria, and our hunger for love was not sated by deception. Instead, we simply lived hoof in hoof with other ponies, using our powers to change form only once we had earned our love honestly.” Chrysalis explained.

“I hope that you are willing to trust us now that you know the truth. Whether or not you or anypony accepts us, we will still fight to save your home.” Blade rejoined the conversation. “Isn’t that right my queen?”

“That is the truth. Now my dear Twilight, will you aid us, or will we have to go about this without any aid from your kind?” Chrysalis asked.

“You have my assistance.” I nodded my head.

“I can’t just stand by and let the Void consume the world, I’m helping.” Twilight said, not looking up to face any of the changelings.

“Thank you.” Chrysalis said quietly. “Now,” her tone raised slightly, “Pain, you and Shade will stand down. I expect that you two can escort yourselves to the dungeons.”

“Yes your majesty, we know the way.” one of the traitors growled.

“One… more… obstacle.” groaned a dark voice. “When will you all learn, this time, I will not hold back.”

“Void, we finally get to meet.” Chrysalis calmly muttered.

There was a dark laughter. “Well Chrysalis, I’ve been watching you from afar, and I must say, I am quite disappointed in your change of tune. However, I will be willing to overlook it if you would work for me.”

“I will not doom these ponies to any fate that you intend for them.” Chrysalis refuted.

“How dare you turn down my generous offer at piece? I guess that you really are the scum that the ponies think that you are. One word can describe all of your kind, worthless.” Void retaliated in a rage filled shout.

“Get out.” I said calmly, feeling Star shaking as she held my leg.

“Insolent pony, do you have a death wish?” Void sighed.

“Better question, do you? Do you even know what happens when somepony decides to fight against Equestria? Let me give you a hint, Nightmare Moon was banished for a thousand years before being ripped out of Princess Luna, Chrysalis was just brought back to life, King Sombra was completely obliterated, and Discord was turned to stone until he could see things our way, do you really think that you fight us? Are you really that stupid? Do you have a death wish?” I smirked, “Because I know just how to stop you, once and for all.”

“We’ll just see about that.” the Void laughed before sending a bolt of black lightning into me, throwing me across the cave.

I lied on the ground, pain shooting through my entire body. “Star, get out of there!” I shouted, as I tried to get back onto my hooves.

“Stubborn little pony. It’ll be more fun to kill you than I thought.” Void laughed.

“No!” Star shouted, standing up tall.

“Who are you to stand up to me?”

Star didn’t answer him; she just started to channel her magic into her horn and prepared a shot. The Void wasn’t going to stand for this though; he shot a second bolt of lightning at her. I heard her scream as a cloud of smoke formed around her. I ignored my own pain and launched into the air and flew straight at the alicorn. I didn’t care what happened to me, I just wanted to make him pay for what he had done, I’d never felt so much rage in my life. I felt myself impact against him, and I felt him give slightly, falling backwards.

“You overexerted yourself, stupid. The Princesses were harder on you than you thought, and that means that you’re vulnerable. I’ll kill you!” I screamed as I kept pushing against him.

“You may be right about the first part, but you can never defeat me, much less kill me. Stop being so foalish.” the Void said before fading into the darkness.

I slammed into the ground as he lost physicality. I climbed back to my hooves and nearly doubled over, now that the adrenaline rush had come and gone. I looked back to where the others were, but instead of seeing Star on the ground, it was Chrysalis, she had saved Star’s life.

I tried my best to walk over and join them, but was unable to get the whole way. My legs gave under the weight of my body. Everything seemed to move in a blur, making it impossible to see anything clearly. Twilight came to me and lifted my up with her magic and brought me the rest of the way, setting me down gently beside Star.

“Sky Flare, are you alright?” Chrysalis asked weakly.

“Am I alright? No, are you alright, you got hit by the stronger attack.” I replied.

“I shall be fine; the same applies to your filly.” Chrysalis gasped out.

“Thank you.” I wasn’t sure what else that I could say, she just saved Star’s life.

“Oh how sweet.” chuckled a familiar voice. “Let me help, it sure seems like you all need it. I won’t be able to help much, but I can at least give you your energy back.”

A strange light surrounded Chrysalis and branched off to me. The moment that I was taken into its embrace, my pain subsided and I was able to stand back up.

“There you go, that’s about all that I can manage. I’m going back to fight him again, even if it is hopeless.” the voice returned.

“Discord…” Twilight said quietly.

I didn’t see where he was, but I knew his voice. I looked around frantically trying to find him, and when I did, I wished that I hadn’t. Discord was beaten up badly, covered in cuts and scraped. I could only assume that he’d gotten injured in a fight against Void.

“Don’t look so grim, I’ve been worse.” he kept the fake smile. “After all, I’d rather be beaten to a bloody pulp than stone, at least this way, I can still feel.”

“Discord, please, don’t go back, you’ll get yourself killed.” Twilight pleaded.

“When has that ever stopped me before? Hiding is like making sense, unless it’s hide n’ seek, making sense and hiding are no fun.” Discord laughed before fading.

“He’s going to get himself killed.” Twilight said quietly, shaking.

“Sky Flare, you said something about knowing how to defeat the Void. What was it?” Blade asked, trying to pull the conversation away from Discord’s appearance.

“Yeah,” I said putting a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder to comfort her, “it’s just like the story. We need to find all of the Universe Stones, then we can use them on Chrysalis and maybe, just maybe we’ll have enough power.”

“I’ll send out some troops to locations that they are rumored to be.” Blade responded immediately. “Captain, go out and get all squads ready to move out. I want these stones found, now.”

“Thanks.” I nodded, lifting Star off of the ground. “And Star, I promise, the Void will be gone soon; you don’t need to be afraid of him.”

“I’ll look for locations for any known stones.” Twilight said pulling out a book.

“Why don’t you use our library? We have a large quantity of books and a multitude of scholars at our disposal. I’ll even call in those who work in Canterlot.” Chrysalis suggested.

“Alright Chrysalis, when do we leave to go to the library then?” Twilight asked, not caring about her own grudge against the changeling queen.

“Now.” Chrysalis said as a massive pink flash consumed us.

When I regained the ability to see, we were in a massive library, bookshelves climbing high on every wall. It had a somewhat dark mood due to the gothic architecture, but that was fitting, considering the changelings’ previous forms. There were changelings searching the shelves and others, which were still disguised as ponies, were coming in by the hoof full. Some of the ponies were prominent in their fields of study, and turned out to be changelings. I even saw one of the teachers from Celestia’s school, Ancient Scroll.

“Professor Scroll?” I asked approaching the greying pony.

“Sky Flare, I was not expecting to see you here. And yes, to answer the question that you are about to ask, I am a changeling.” Ancient Scroll replied quickly.

“But you have a family and a life as a pony?” I gasped out.

“And my family knows about me, they are fully aware of what I am. I even have a pony colleague that knows my secret.”

“As you can see Sky Flare, not all of the changelings were corrupted, not even when I was. I was able to keep the darkness from entering some of their hearts, letting them and their descendants live lives free from the burden of hatred.” Chrysalis explained.

“Yes, those of us who were saved by her highness were able to go into hiding amongst the ponies. We were able to feed in the way that we were meant to, through truth and not deception. It used to be that ponies and changelings lived alongside each other without hiding, and that is the way that I have been living with my wife.” Ancient elaborated.

“We don’t have time to discuss this, we can talk when the work is done and the Void is destroyed.” Blade intruded in the conversation.

With that, Ancient Scroll nodded and began working with the other changelings. Any time that they would make a discovery, they would mark a map of Equestria with a possible location. Once a spot was marked, a squad of three changeling soldiers was sent out to recover the stone. This went on for a few hours before the first squad to return arrived.

“Sir, bad news.” said the changeling in the center, who appeared to be in charge of the squad.

“What is it Stroke?” Blade asked quickly after seeing that the squad had returned.

“The sun and the moon have fallen below the horizon.” gasped out the changeling.

“Are you sure?” Chrysalis asked, worried.

“Yes your highness, I am sorry to say, but I saw them sink with my own eyes.” Stroke sighed.

“That means that Discord has fallen, there is nopony left that is strong enough to move the sun or the moon.” Chrysalis sighed at the sound of her own words.

“No, I refuse to believe that it is over. There is one thing left to try!” Twilight shouted in a fit of fury.

“Twilight Sparkle, it is far too dangerous for you to attempt to retrieve the Elements of Harmony or free your friends.” Chrysalis said solemnly, showing that she knew more about the situation than I did.

“What do you mean free her friends?” I gasped, “Did something happen to the others Twilight?”

“The Void took them, and he was chasing after me when I found you. I’m not sure where he took them, but they need my help.” Twilight answered quietly.

“You mean our.” I corrected.

“What?” Twilight asked, perking her head up.

“Our help, you’re not alone. I know about how you used to feel before Celestia let you stay in Ponyville, I know about it all. You didn’t want friends, you just wanted to be left alone, well, it’s a bit too late for that.” I explained.

“But, Sky…” Twilight paused, dropping her head again. “What about Star?”

“She’s going to have to some too. I can’t very well leave her here, and even if I could, she probably wouldn’t let me. Would you Star?”

Star shook her head, “No.”

“See, so what other choice do I have.” I smirked.

“Staying here, I don’t want you to put yourself at risk.”

I took a deep breath, trying to keep my temper. “Too bad, they’re my friends too now. I won’t just stand by and let you put yourself at risk alone either, we’re both going. I don’t care what you want; a true friend will do anything for their friends, and for me, that means putting my life on the line. You’re my friend, and I know, from all of my time with Dashie, friends can be stubborn, they might not know what’s right, and that’s why you can’t be alone. I know that you’re capable, but think about it like this, when have you fought alone, ever? You haven’t you’ve always had you’re friends beside you, backing you up.”

“Sky…”

“One more thing, they’re not just your friends, or my friends, you all aren’t just heroes. No, you’re Star’s friends too, and above all else, we’re a family. Not by blood, but by a bond that’s just as strong, we’re family by friendship. That is something that you should understand pretty well, after all, isn’t that what you’ve been studying since you moved to Ponyville?”

“Alright.” Twi replied, lifting her head again.

“Good, because I could have kept going, easily.” I laughed.

“Blade, I would like for you to join them, I’m sure that Stroke can handle taking charge in your absence.” Chrysalis stated firmly. That was an order, not a suggestion.

“Yes your majesty.” Blade nodded, taking the form of a pegasus.

Blade was now a soft brown with a darker brown mane. His eyes were a bright green, not the normal green for the way changelings used to look, no, a grassy green. His cutie mark was still the same as it had been when he was an earth pony.

“I trust that you know where they are being kept, Surge.” Blade said, leaving no room for a lack of an answer from the changeling standing beside of him.

“There is rumored to be a small cave system beneath Ponyville. It can be accessed by going beneath the center of the Town Hall.” the changeling answered.

“We’d best be off if we’re going to get to them in time.” Blade said, leading me, Twilight, and Star out the door of the library.

Instead of being in the wastelands, we were now in a city of changelings. They roamed the streets as casually as ponies did in Canterlot. They came in all shapes and sizes, showing physical diversity similar to that of ponies. They paid us no attention, possibly thinking that we were changelings in disguise, but more likely just not caring particularly about three ponies. We didn’t look like anything special.

I turned my gaze to the sky, which looked like it would on a night of a new moon. The only light that we had was coming from the stars that were scattered across the sky. It could have been worse, Luna could have put away her stars before she was beaten; at least we had some light. However, while my gaze was aimed upward, I noticed something; I noticed that one of the stars blinked from existence.

“Twilight, it looks like he’s taking out the stars.” I said, stopping and turning their attention to the skies above.

“You’re right, there’s a star missing from the little dipper.” Twilight gasped.

“Not good, if he can take out one, than he can wipe the sky clean. We have to stop him before then.”

“Why would he do that?” Star asked as she rode on my back.

“Simple he wants to take away our hope. He’s already pulled the sun and the moon from the sky, now he wants to finish the job.” Blade answered grimly.

“We’ll stop him though, we just have to hurry. Twilight, how good is that teleportation spell of yours?” I reaffirmed Star.

“I got Spike and myself out of a mess once, but he came back a little scorched. I haven’t really taken anypony with me since then.” Twilight answered.

“Get me to the least expected place in Ponyville that you can think of, I’ll be the test subject, okay Twi?”

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked back.

“I trust blade to watch Star until you can get them there with me.” I smiled.

“Do you really have that much faith in me?” Twilight seemed to be doubtful in her own abilities, something I had not seen from her yet.

“Twi, if anypony can do it, it’s you. I’m not putting myself at any risk because guess what? You won’t mess up; you’re too good for that.” I smirked. “Plus, if we want to save your friends, we need to get there sooner rather than later.”

“Alright.” Twilight nodded, “Stand close to me and give me your hoof.”

I did as I was told without hesitation. There was a bright flash of light purple and our surroundings changed again. Twi and I were standing in a small house in Ponyville. I wasn’t sure to whom the house belonged, but that didn’t matter, what mattered was that I got through without so much as a single singed hair on my mane.

“If anypony asks, you’re going to save Rainbow Dash.” Twilight said before popping out of the room.

I stood there quietly, not moving as I waited for Twilight to return. She popped back in a few seconds with Star and let her gallop over to me. Before I could say anything else, she was gone to go pick up Blade.

“Star?” a young filly’s voice yawned from behind us.

“Scootaloo?” Star asked spinning around.

“We’re going to save her, Scootaloo. We’re coming for Rainbow Dash.” I smiled at the orange pegasus.

“I wanna come.” Scootaloo replied without a second thought.

“It’s up to Twi; she’s in charge on this mission.” I told her.

“She can come.” Twilight said popping into the room, Blade by her side.

“Don’t you think that it would be a little bit too risky to bring another filly along with us?” Blade asked.

“Rainbow Dash could use a cheering squad; she seems to do better when she has one anyway.” Twilight laughed back, trying to maintain a positive mood.

Star and Scootaloo stood between me and Blade while Twi led us quietly through the deserted streets of Ponyville. We took back roads and secret paths that Twi had learned from Pinkie and quickly made our way to the Town Hall. We entered through the back, silently.

“Well, hello there.”

Chapter 6 - Harmony

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Harmony

“Void!” I shouted, stumbling backwards.

“Yes, now, I would ask why you were here if it wasn’t so painfully obvious.” Void replied sadistically.

“I told you that I would kill you.” I glared at him. “Twi, I want you and the others to go on ahead, I’ll at least hold him off.” I whispered, turning my head to Twilight.

Twilight nodded back, pulling Blade and the fillies away.

“No! I don’t want to leave you!” Star cried out.

“Too bad, I can’t let you get hurt.” I said, holding back a tear.

“How sweet, but futile. After I kill you, that filly that you are so anxious to protect is next.” Void laughed.

I charge at him, thoughtlessly, in a blind rage. You don’t EVER threaten her! It took all of my willpower not to scream a curse at him. As I drew closer, I spun around to buck him in the face, but he threw me away. I slammed into the wall behind me as the others left the room. After a second to recover, I climbed back to my hooves.

“You really do think that you can beat me?” Void said, in a surprised tone. “I thought that you were just trying to inspire hope in your doomed friends before I killed them.”

“I don’t think that you can die, but I know that you can be stopped. After all, how long did it take for you to make it back to Equestria after the Universe banished you from her domain?” I said weakly.

“It took millions of years. How do you know about that though?” Void asked in the tensest tone I’d heard him in yet.

“An old story. It says that she stopped you and your jealous temper tantrum.” I smirked.

“I am not very appreciative of your attitude.” Void replied.

“But judging by your reaction, it’s true. Isn’t that the way that it happened?”

“Close, but not exactly. I was unable to speak, but she was fully capable of communication. She got angry with me for ignoring her, and she took my own energy to make everything around you. One time, one time only, I resisted. Do you want to know what she did to me for that? She ripped me into pieces and scattered me across all of space! Oh, but not before I took a hold of her, she suffered the same fate, but unlike me, she couldn’t piece herself back together. She was too weak, her emotions made her weak, her love and compassion. It was my hate that allowed me to recreate myself, but I still wasn’t at full strength, so I waited.

“You foalish ponies were a great source of entertainment for me in my wait. I quite enjoyed watching Discord’s rule all those years ago, and then those alicorns turned him to stone. His influence still had a grip on the world, turning wreaking his evil across the world. And then he returned, and the foalish friend of yours stopped him, and later, she reformed him. He was my prize pupil of chaos, well, now I have come back to entertain myself, and the Universe isn’t here anymore.”

I stood silently, hoping that the story would continue; anything to delay his pursuit of the others. “So you’re antagonizing the Universe for abandoning you? Why were you so upset at it?”

“She betrayed me. I listened to her every day, her company was enough to make me content for an eternity, but clearly the feeling was not mutual. Take the changelings in their previous state for example; those who retained their morality only needed the company of a pony, just as I only needed her company. But with the like me, the changelings were met with only spite. The ponies are foalish in their inability to understand what looks different, just as the Universe was for hating what couldn’t speak.”

“Even in all of your hate, you still corrected me when I called her it, why?” I said, feeling that there might actually be some hope of reasoning with him.

“I- I…” he paused. “I’m through wasting time with you!”

With that, he shot out a black bolt of lightning, which I managed to narrowly dodge. It grazed my leg at the last second as he changed its trajectory. I spread my wings because even with such a small burn, I was completely unable to use that leg. Magic, I don’t like dark magic, it’s weird, and it doesn’t work like the normal stuff. One small injury in a completely non-vital area could result in instant death; luckily, he was only toying with me. I could survive a few more hits. But not too many, I still didn’t want to get hit.

I floated weakly in the air, my altitude constantly changing. The pain was too much of a distraction; I couldn’t focus enough to keep myself even. Void spread his long, black wings.

“Cower before me.” he said in a ghastly voice.

“How about, no.” I said back, not taking my eyes off of his.

If I could just predict where his next attack would come from, then I could avoid it. The problem was that I couldn’t read him, he was completely unpredictable.

“Alright, time’s up!” shouted a voice from behind me.

I spun around to see six mares; two unicorns, two pegasi, and two earth ponies. All but one of them had on a golden necklace, the unicorn who stood in the front most position wore a golden tiara. Each of their pieces of jewelry began to glow and a rainbow formed, connecting them together, and then linking to Twilight’s tiara. The rainbow was then redirected and shot straight out for Void. He quickly became ensnared by the rainbow, which proceeded to close in on him. Then, it faded away.

“That tickled.” came his dark voice. “Now, I will finish it.”

“Oh Celestia.” I said quietly under my breath.

“Run!” Blade shouted, putting up a shield of light between us and Void.

We did as Blade said and turned tail. We moved as quickly as our hooves or wings could take us. Soon we were clear of the Town Hall and were beginning the trip back to the changelings’ library. Twilight was making quick trips popping back and forth in a matter of seconds. I refused to go until I was sure that Blade was okay, and once he joined us, Twilight took him there and finally me.

We reappeared in a dark room; no changelings were there other than Blade who was still in his pegasus form. Twilight and I quickly began to brainstorm on ways to explain the situation with the changelings to the others.

“Alright, um, I’m going to explain to you where we are.” I took a breath, “Don’t freak out.” I place a pause between each word.

“Why, is there a reason to freak out?” Pinkie asked, in her usual cheerful tone.

“Alright, we are in a library. This library is…” I tried to think of how to say it.

“We’re working with the changelings.” Twilight said bluntly.

“What?” Rainbow cried out.

“Why the hay are we working with them?” Applejack asked in a slightly less of a scream.

“Because without them we can’t win. Chrysalis has been a big help since we brought her back.” I explained.

“Okie dokie lokie.” Pinkie said happily.

“Didn’t they try to ruin your brother’s wedding and take over Equestria?” Rarity asked, trying to get us to change our minds.

“Yeah, but they weren’t themselves. If you go out now, you’ll see what they really are.” Twilight answered, showing that she had accepted the changelings for who they were.

“I might even be kind enough to give you a tour of the facilities if Stroke can handle the management. He’s been after my job for a while now anyway.” Blade chuckled.

“I’d take him up on that offer. Plus, maybe this will convince you, Chrysalis risked her own life to save Star.” I said smiling down at the filly.

“That sounds nice. I think that we should give them a chance.” Fluttershy said quietly.

“What do you say Scootaloo, now that you’re here with us?” I asked, turning to the pegasus filly.

“If they saved Star then they can’t be bad. Bad ponies don’t save anypony; they only look out for themselves.” Scootaloo said.

“Alright, Blade would you mind giving them that tour?” I asked, leading the group out of the dark room and into the library’s main room.

“Sure.” he nodded back.

We walked out, moving toward Chrysalis as she was overseeing the progress made by the troops. Stroke was standing next to her, checking something off of a sheet of paper. Chrysalis looked up at us and gave Stroke a nudge, shifting his attention to us as well.

“We have returned your highness. I bring bad news; the Elements of Harmony have failed to even faze the Void.” Blade greeted, bringing up the bad news first. “However, as you can clearly see, we were able to save the ponies who can wield them.”

“One of the two goals met, that’s acceptable. Now, as for our part, during your absence, two more stones have been recovered and six more teams have been sent out.” Chrysalis explained, not shifting in tone or gaze.

“You look different.” Rainbow said bluntly.

“That is because this is our true form.” Chrysalis began. She explained to them what she had to me earlier that day. The story about what Discord did to them and how they were really meant to be. The way that they used to live and the way that they used to love.

“Well, the tour will be commencing shortly. I advise that if anypony wants popcorn, then they should get it now.” Blade said, showing that he had a sense of humor.

“Popcorn!” Pinkie exclaimed, jumping into the air.

“I was just trying to sound like a formal host, there is no popcorn.” Blade said sternly.

Pinkie let out a sigh, but immediately perked back up. “Oh well, maybe later then.”

With that, Blade led them out into the distance. They walked away and I could faintly hear Blade telling them what the changelings were doing in that area.

“We have made some notable progress in your absence.” Stroke said, drawing my attention back. “It seems that there are seven Universe Stones here. We have three, but one of the remaining ones was lost in time and myth. We have yet to locate it; some myths claim its last use was by the sun princess.”

“Princess Celestia used it? Maybe she still has it then.” Twilight suggested.

“Doubtful, it says that Starswirl the Bearded kept the broken fragments after it shattered.” Stroke explained.

“Well then they shards might be in the museum about him.” Twilight blurted.

“I have a list of all artifacts in the museum; it doesn’t say anything about the fragments.” Stroke said, smacking down her suggestion once again.

“Well, maybe six will be enough to pull it off.” I said, trying to keep everything in a positive mood.

“We’ll have to settle for it if we can’t find it by the week’s end.” Chrysalis joined in the conversation.

“Why then?” Star asked before I had a chance to.

“That is when he will wipe out the last of the stars, taking away the stones power.” Chrysalis said grimly.

“What?” I shouted. “They’ll lose their power if there aren’t any stars?!”

“Yes, the stars are a symbol of the Universe’s power, when they are gone, we will have nothing.” Chrysalis continued.

I looked over to Twilight who was frozen in shock. Star had moved closer to me, curling up against my leg, shaking violently. I took a deep breath; I had to stay strong for both of them.

“Sir, we’ve gotten the fourth stone!” shouted a changeling as he flew in.

“Corporal, what happened to the rest of your squad?” Stroke asked seeing that the new changeling was alone.

The changeling didn’t answer; instead he simply set the stone down at Chrysalis’s hooves.

“I see, take some time off.” Stroke’s tone shifted from uncertainty to remorse.

“With all due respect sir, no. I won’t let them have fallen in vain, I…”

“Listen, you can help when we make our assault.” I said, walking over to the changeling soldier. “Your friends wouldn’t want you to you to do something risky this quickly. Think about it, what they sacrificed to get you here, live for them. See to it that you get to the final battle; that you fight for them there.”

“Alright.” the changeling replied as he turned and walked away.

“How’d you know what to say?” Stroke asked as I returned to Twilight and Star.

“I have some experience. I’m high ranking in the royal guard for the princesses. I was on vacation when this started, but I’ve learned my lesson for this week. Never, ever, take a vacation; things always go to Tartarus when I’m gone.” I laughed lightly.

“Looks like you’re right pony. Things have gone bad pretty quickly; taking a vacation now probably wasn’t the best idea.” Stroke said back, trying to laugh.

“And that concludes the tour of the circular library.” Blade said emotionlessly, leading the ponies back to us from the opposite direction that he had left to.

“What’s wrong with Twi?” Rainbow asked flying to her side. Twi was still frozen in place.

“We got some bad news. If we can’t beat the Void by the end of the week, then we can never stop him.” I said weakly, hating the fact that I had to hear myself say that there would be a time when there was no hope.

“What, but that means we only have one day!” Rainbow shouted out, stumbling backward in shock.

“It’s alright sugarcube, we’ll do it.” Applejack said confidently.

“Yeah, and when we do, we can have a party!” Pinkie shouted.

“Hopefully the whole thing will have blown over by the Gala in two weeks.” Rarity said. She had clearly already made plans for that night.

“I dislike having to interrupt your inspiring conversation, but I have need for your assistance.” Chrysalis said, drawing all of our attention back to her. “There is one stone that we will not be able to retrieve without your help, the city that holds it is protected from everything except ponies. The Void is currently waiting them out, letting them think that he can’t get in, but we actually can’t and that is where the last stone that we know about is. The other one has been retrieved and is on its way back here now.”

“Where is the one that you want us to get?” I asked.

“The Chrystal Kingdom. If anypony can put up a spell to ward us off, it is Princess Cadence. Even without her husband, she has at least put a halt on the Void’s plans.” Chrysalis answered. “And Twilight, I have an elite squad that will be retrieving your brother and bringing him back to the kingdom, they should arrive at the same time as you.”

“Star, I’m sorry, but I don’t think you should come. It’s too cold outside of the kingdom for you. I don’t want you to get sick.” I said turning to the small filly who was clinging to my leg.

“Don’t worry Sky Flare; she will be under watchful eyes.” Blade smiled at me, nodding slightly.

“The same goes for you champ.” Rainbow said as she walked over to Scootaloo.

“Sky, I’m not letting you go without me.” Star sniffled.

“Do you really want me to have to worry about your safety the whole time? I would love it if you could come with, but it’s just too dangerous.” I said, putting on a fake smile.

“Fine.” Star huffed.

“Call in the teleportation team.” Blade commanded Stroke.

“Yes sir.” Stroke replied sending a beam of light into the air that curved off to the side.

Six changelings flew over to us and grouped around us. “Are you ready?” asked the one who seemed to be their leader.

“Yes.” Twilight said lifting her head.

A bright light surrounded us all and the next thing that I felt was snow halfway up my legs. We were standing in a desolate wasteland of snow. The sky had only half as many stars as it should have, we were running out of time.

“Come on; this way girls.” Twilight said, taking charge again.

We slowly trekked through the snow, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and I flew above the snow, and Twilight had cast a spell to let the others walk on it without sinking. The cloudless sky did two things for us, it gave us clear view of the dying sky and it meant that it wasn’t going to snow on us. The trip was uneventful, the first thing that had been in days, to put it simply, that was a welcomed change.

“Twilie!” shouted a stallion’s voice as the Chrystal Kingdom came into view.

“Shining Armor!” Twilight shouted happily, galloping ahead of us to greet her brother.

“It’s so good to know that you’re alright, Twilie. I was worried.” Shining sighed.

“They got you here in time, that’s good.” Twilight said, wiping a tear away from her eye.

“I don’t know who they were; they just dropped me off here and told me to wait for you. They healed me and saved me from the caverns below Canterlot.” Shining explained.

“No offence Captain, but could we move the family reunion inside the barrier? It’s kinda cold out here, and as fun as hypothermia sounds, no.” I laughed.

“Sky Flare, what are you doing here?” Shining asked upon seeing me.

“I’ll only tell you if we go inside. Hypothermia is not very fun.” I replied, flying past them and entering the kingdom.

“Tell me.” Shining asked as he passed through his wife’s shield.

“Well, Captain Prince Shining Armor, I got caught up in the middle of this. I’m going to help stop the Void, but we don’t have time to waste.” I explained, bathing in the warmth of the artificial light that was a byproduct of the shield.

“You’re going to need help.” Shining Armor said firmly.

“First off, would you prefer Captain Prince or Prince Captain; I’m a bigger fan of the first one. Secondly, we have an army at our disposal already, you worry about protecting yourself.” I said, jokingly for the first part, but adamantly for the second.

“What army?”

“The changelings.” Twilight answered.

“You can’t trust them! All they do is lie, they’re just using you!” Shining Armor shouted back.

“You took that better than I expected.” I muttered under my breath.

“We need to find a stone, it looks like this.” Twilight ignored her brother’s tantrum and pulled out a paper that had an illustration of a Universe Stone on it.

“How can you trust the changelings?” Shining asked, his fit, starting to die down.

“Because we know the truth about them, what not even Princess Celestia knows. I would trust one of them with my life from what I know about him. Also, you should be grateful to them; after all, they broke you out of Canterlot and bought you here.” I explained.

“I still don’t trust them, they’re up to something.” Shining muttered. “I have seen that rock before, there is a spell protecting it inside of the castle. Neither Cadence nor I have been able to get into it.”

“Leave it to me, BBBFF.” Twilight smirked.

Shining Armor led us into the castle and, after getting Princess Cadence, we went to a room in the back of the castle. Shining stopped us a few feet in front of the enchanted glass case that held the Universe Stone.

“Some of the crystal ponies say that this rock was used by King Sombra to terrorize them. It’s supposed to be full of dark magic, are you sure that you want to bring something this powerful to Chrysalis?”

“Just trust me, alright?” Twilight attempted to calm her brother’s fears.

“It’s either this or we let the whole world get destroyed by the Void, ‘cuz I doubt that he cares about keeping us alive.” Rainbow said bluntly.

A dark energy started flowing from Twilight. Her horn and eyes emanated with a dark aura. She sent out a blast of that dark magic to the case of the stone. The case began to crack until the fractures caused it to shatter.

“Got it.” Twilight pulled the stone toward us in her magic.

“Good, we need to get back; we only have the rest of the day to beat the Void.” I yawned, the exhaustion starting to kick in.

“What do you mean you only have the rest of the day? What’s going to happen?” Cadence asked, finally speaking.

“We only got until the last star goes out, after that, nothin’ can stop him.” Applejack explained grimly.

“We’ll do it, so don’t worry. If- if that’s alright with you, not worrying I mean.” Fluttershy added.

“Worry, of course I’m worried, not only are my sister and her friends fighting something that beat both Celestia and Luna, but they’re working with changelings.” Shining complained.

“Relax Captain.” I said firmly, trying again to ward off the need for sleep.

“We’ll be back as soon as possible. Once we beat him, you’ll see that you were worrying for nothing.” Twilight said confidently, not seeming to suffer the lack of sleep that was affecting the rest of us, except for Pinkie.

“I hope that you’re right.” Shining said quietly as Twilight left the room.

Twilight did her thing, teleporting back and forth to get all of us where we needed to be. I was first, then Rainbow; this was probably because of the fillies. When I reappeared in the library, Star galloped over to me.

“Sky!” Star shouted happily.

“Hey there. I hope that you were being good for Blade.” I said smiling down at her, pretending to be wide awake.

“You need to sleep.” Star said looking into my eyes.

“No I don’t, I’m fine.” I replied, trying not to let on that she was right.

“You’re really bad at faking stuff like this.” Star said nuzzling up to me.

“She’s right, but I figure that you plan to catch up on the lost sleep after we take out the Void, right?” Blade said as he approached us. “Luckily for you, we just got the last known stone and are calling all squads back.”

“Good,” I yawned again, knowing that hiding it was pointless, “I don’t know how much longer I can take this, not sleeping.”

Chapter 7 - Daybreak

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Daybreak

“Alright, teleportation squads prepare to send in the first wave!” Blade shouted, having resumed his position as leader about an hour earlier. “Star, Scootaloo, you two hang back. If anything happens while we’re out, the teleportation squads will send you someplace safe.”

“But nothing bad will happen, so don’t worry.” I said, shooting a look at Blade, who had accidently caused the fillies to go into a panic.

“Sorry to worry you, just a precautionary measure.” Blade stated.

“I want to go in with the first wave.” Chrysalis approached us.

“If she’s going, then send me in too.” I said, stepping next to the changeling queen.

“Then take all of us.” Twilight said, speaking for the rest of our friends.

“Very well, I shall join you on the second wave.” Blade nodded.

One group of changelings surrounded the eight of us, and their horns flashed. We were instantly transported to the inner walls of Canterlot Castle. I hadn’t been inside of Canterlot since that whole ordeal had started. I was dreading the walk that we were about to take, dreading seeing the destruction that had surely shaken the once great city.

“Let me take the lead. I know all of the secret passageways inside of the castle. I can lead us there in a way that won’t get us caught.” I said looking back to the six other ponies and the small army of changelings and their queen.

“Alright, go ahead.” Twilight responded, stepping aside.

“This way.” I nodded, leading the group into a small tunnel beneath one of the guard towers.

We walked through the long unkempt cave-like tunnel. Rarity consistently let out whines, letting us all know that she was keeping up. Clouds of dust and dirt were brushed up each time that one of us lifted our hooves, creating a blinding screen of dirt. Despite all of the trouble with dirt that we were facing, Rarity managed to keep from shouting, although, I did hear her let out some choice words about the ponies charged with cleaning the tunnel.

I turned off into a small staircase after leading them through the tunnel for nearly a quarter of an hour. We came up into a small room in the corner of the castle. It was an older room, used only certain guests, many of whom hadn’t come by in quite some time. I slowly pushed the door open and led the army through the unused halls of the palace. Any building of that colossal size has places that nopony goes, this castle was no different.

Soon we arrived at a small door, which I quickly peeked through. The door was a rear entrance to the throne room, hidden behind the throne. I signaled for the others to hold back while I went out to see if there was anypony in the room. I was met with intense surprise when I saw two ponies lying on the ground, lifeless.

“Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!” I shouted galloping over to their sides. “Please wake up, please! I swear I’ll never take another vacation again!” I couldn’t help but blame myself for their condition.

I spun around as I heard noises behind me. The others had stepped out from behind the throne after hearing my shouting. It was then that I noticed another figure in front of the throne. It was reaching outward, toward the princesses, trying to help them. Discord had been turned back to stone after leaving us that day that he saved us.

“Let me see what I can do.” said a changeling as he flew forward landing next to the princesses.

He began casting medical magic in an attempt to heal them. They weren’t dead yet, but death was only a short step away from where they were. Twilight ran to Celestia’s side as she broke into tears.

“Twilight Sparkle, I think that you should use the Elements of Harmony to free Discord. Perhaps their healing abilities will help to aid in the princesses’ recovery.” Chrysalis suggested as her gaze followed mine, landing of the stone figure.

“Alright.” Twilight whimpered, whipping away her tears and turning to Discord. “Come on girls, let’s try it.”

The Elements activated, launching a rainbow into the statue. The stone shell began to crack, letting a light seep out. When it broke there was nothing there, Discord was gone.

“Where’d he go?” Rainbow asked instantly.

“Well hello there Fluttershy, my friend.” Discord said, his voice coming from a stained glass window to my left.

“Discord what are you doing, trying to scare us all like that?” Fluttershy asked sternly.

“Hey, I was just having a bit of fun before the two sourpusses wake up.” Discord laughed as he pointed to the princesses who were starting to move.

“Princess Celestia, are you alright?” Twilight gasped galloping to Celestia’s side.

“Princess Luna?” I asked, slowly approaching Luna.

“We are fine.” Luna said answering for herself and her sister.

“Where is the Void?” Celestia asked weakly.

“Sun princess, you do not need to worry about the Void, I will take care of it.” Chrysalis said approaching the princess.

“Who are you?” Celestia asked, not recognizing Chrysalis’s new form.

“I see that you have fixed yourself, and the rest of your kind.” Discord said reappearing next to Chrysalis.

“Yes, no thanks to you. You could have at least undone the damage you did when you were forced into work for the ponies.” Chrysalis glared at him.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’d forgotten.” Discord chuckled back.

“Discord, would you mind filling me in?” Celestia demanded.

“Oh yes, how rude of me.” Discord said sarcastically. “Celestia, Chrysalis. Chrysalis Celestia. Now, Celestia, no jumping to conclusions about her this time, I had a little something to do with your last meeting. Back when Equestria was mine, I cursed them and made them into what attacked Canterlot that one time, but this here; this is what they really are. I wiped all knowledge of their past from the minds of everypony in the world. But I’m sure that you can explain the rest at a less dire moment, right Chrysalis?”

“Well, I don’t think that they’ll be able to manage that,” called a dark voice from the throne room’s main doorway, “after all, it’s hard to have a conversation when both parties are deceased.”

“Void.” I said calmly stepping forward, trying to give Chrysalis more time to use the stones.

“I know just how much you’ve been looking forward to that last star going out, so here, allow me the honor.” the Void launched a black light from his horn into the ceiling of the throne room. “No more stars.”

None of us spoke; none of us knew what to say. Did he really just take out the last stars; was the only reason that he was removing them slowly to give us false hope? I could only manage a stupefied stare at him.

“Lie.” said the calm voice of a stallion behind me.

“Worthless changeling, you ruined my fun.” Void replied playfully.

“You mean we still have time?” I looked back to see Blade.

“We always have time; now, let’s show this bucker what happens to those who brush past Equestria the wrong way. I’m personally thinking the same end result as Sombra, complete and utter obliteration.”

“I’m in agreement on this matter, Blade.” I smirked back at him.

“You just don’t get it, do you? No matter how many of you there are, no matter what weapons you have, no matter how hard you fight, your fate shall not be changed.” Void mocked.

“I believe that it is time that we put your theory to the test.” Chrysalis said, activating the stones.

The six stones began to gleam and shot out a beam that hit Chrysalis. She absorbed the power that they tried to give her, and even to a pegasus like me, her magical aura clearly grew. I could feel a clear change in the room when she took in that power.

“Ah, those useless rocks, that’s your plan?” Void held in a laugh. “There is only one who can use them properly; otherwise there is a good chance that you rip your own body apart.”

“That is a risk that I was well aware of, and am fully willing to take if it means that I have a chance to save the ponies of Equestria.” Chrysalis replied calmly.

Blade opened his mouth to raise an argument to his queen, but she shot him a glare and he shut it. She was risking her life to save us; it was obvious that she had changed for the better. I had faith that she could do it, because if she couldn’t then everything would end.

“I would appreciate it if you were to leave, just in case. All of you.” Chrysalis used her newly found powers to teleport all of us out of the throne room.

We were on a level section of one of the mountains that surrounded the city. We all stood in silence, watching for any sign of the battle that was sure to come. Without warning, a bright beam of light shot straight up into the air, followed closely by a black beam. They froze in the night sky, shooting out lights at each other. It was a spectacle to see, but it was impossible to tell which one of them held the advantage. I could faintly make out that they were both landing with at least some of their attacks. My curiousness was ended when a massive explosion brought the conflict to an end.

A dark cloud surrounded the white light, weakening it to the point that it began plummeting to the earth below. As the white light made impact with the ground, the last of the stars flickered out. We had lost.

“There aren’t any stars left! We can’t fight him anymore!” Twilight let out a cry of horror.

“No, there is one star left my faithful student. The sun itself is a star, and we still have a chance to fight back.” Celestia said lifting Twilight’s head with her hoof.

“Chrysalis was smart, she slid the stones into my saddlebag when she teleported us out. We have everything that we need.” I said, trying to keep the spirits high.

“I feel that a bit of your optimism needs to be shared with all of the world, Sky Flare. The sun shall rise this morning, and it shall be under our protection.” Luna nodded.

Celestia’s horn glowed gold, pulling the sun out of hiding and brightening the world with its warm light. The royal sisters stood next to each other, like a beacon of light and hope. It told the whole world that we were still alive, and that as long as we were, we would keep fighting to save them.

“That was your best attempt at stopping me? You are more pathetic than I had thought. What hope do you have now?” the Void said, appearing in front of us.

“You know, the world has this tendency. It seems to like being put on the brink of destruction, but do you want to know a secret? It hasn’t ended yet, and this threat is no different than any other that we’ve faced before. Sure, you think that you’re this big invincible, god-like being, but you were stopped before, so you can be stopped again. These six ponies that are with me, they haven’t been stopped yet, they have overcome every obstacle that has ever been set in their path. I would say that I’m sorry, but I’d be lying, you were doomed from the moment that you picked a fight with this world.” I stepped forward, speaking in a firm, unwavering tone.

“Wow, you are quite the speaker. I only see one problem with that speech, the fact that I am different than anything that you have faced.” the Void said confidently.

“Do you want to put your theory to the test?” I asked, glaring at the giant alicorn who stood before me.

“I can kill you with a single strike, are you sure that you’re willing to die right now?”

“If you could have, you would have. You haven’t fully recovered, that’s why you didn’t just outright kill us just now. That’s why the sun is still burning bright in the sky.” I hoped that this was true.

“Do you want to put your theory to the test?” the Void began mocking me.

“I’ll test it!” Blade shouted darting ahead of me, flying straight at the Void.

“Insolence!” the Void shouted back, smacking Blade with his hoof and sending the changeling flying in the opposite direction.

The Void faded away just as quickly as he appeared. I was right, he could take us all on, not right then; he needed time to rest. The bad thing is that we did too. We needed time to come up with a new plan.

“We should head to safety as well.” Celestia suggested.

After a short moment of sighs and groans, even some outright shouts of defiance, we turned back and teleported to the changeling’s library. One teleportation squad was sent with each of the two waves, allowing us to get back without any unnecessary fuss. The squads, once the last of us arrived at the base, teleported themselves individually.

“That was quick, where is Queen Chrysalis?” Stroke said as we entered the room.

“She tried fighting him. It’s impossible to know her condition. I’ll be sending out a squad to search for her as soon as I make one.” Blade explained, a depressing overtone to his voice.

“No…” Stroke was devastated by this news.

“I’m sorry.” Luna said as she walked over to the changeling.

The next thing I knew, I was nearly knocked off of my hooves. A certain filly had seen me come back and was a little on the happy side to see that I was uninjured. She had quickly grappled onto my leg with her hooves.

“You’re alright!” she shouted happily.

“Yeah.” I muttered.

“You should have seen her kiddo, your sis told the Void off.” Rainbow approached us.

“You did?” Star gasped, stumbling back.

“I wouldn’t go that far, I mean I-” I started but was cut off by Rainbow again.

“You bet she did, she even got him to run away!”

“Exaggeration, I simply pointed out the fact that he still hadn’t fully recovered. We needed time to come up with a new plan, and he was going to kill us if I didn’t do something.” I explained.

“You’re just being modest Sky.” Twilight joined in. “Yes Star, she really did save all of us, without her, we probably wouldn’t have made it out of there.”

“Wow…” Star was in awe.

This went on for little bit, the others bragging about what I did and me trying to make it sound more like how it felt. It felt more like an instinct than a well thought plan. I said what came to mind, as it came to mind, there was no thought put into it. Everypony else kept making it sound like this spectacular speech and incredible plan. If it wasn’t me that they were talking about, and I was in Star’s place, hearing the story, I would be just as amazed as she was. The problem is, it just felt like talking normally, it didn’t feel special, no matter what they said.

Eventually, Blade assembled the recovery team to find and bring back Chrysalis. Once they had left, Blade took us into a well lit room.

“You all can rest in here; I’ll have some food brought in for you soon.” Blade told us.

“What about the planning?” I asked as Blade started to close the door.

“What planning? It’s pretty simple from my point of view, power up one of your princesses and see if they have better luck than our queen.” Blade answered, his voice lacking irritation, but keeping a dark overtone.

With that he slammed the door, presumably to continue research on how to stop the Void. No matter what he said, I knew that he had something up his sleeve. As he promised, a group of changelings entered the room with trays of food for us. Once we had finished eating, we took some time to rest that uneasy rest before you charge head first into certain doom. It was laughable, how much hope we had in our hearts despite what our minds told us. One thing that I’ve learned in my life, trust your heart, it always feels like that little thing can predict the future.

I laid my head on a pillow that was in the room. Star curled up next to me, squeezing her head on the same pillow just below my head. Star managed to fall asleep, I however, wasn’t so lucky. I climbed back to my hooves, once I was sure that I wouldn’t disturb the filly, and left the room to meet back up with Blade. Everypony else in there had managed to fall asleep, even the princesses. It was pretty obvious that they all needed their rest, but no matter how tired I was, I couldn’t just stand by and let a threat like the Void go unmatched for a single minute.

“What are you doing, still up?” Blade asked as I glided over to him gently on my wings.

“Couldn’t sleep.” I yawned back, “And believe me, I tried.”

“I understand that…” Blade whispered back, pointing down to a group of changelings sleeping on the floor below us. “I couldn’t get to sleep either. I figure that there has to be something that we missed, something that is key to putting the Void in his place.”

“Same here, I think that there is something about that last stone, the one that broke…” I replied, but was cut off by Blade.

“My thoughts exactly, something this powerful doesn’t just break, or go missing for that matter. It had to have left a trail, something that can be used to find it. All we know is that its last known use was over a thousand years ago. Starswirl must have done something with them, hidden them somewhere…”

“Maybe Princess Celestia knows then, she actually knew Starswirl, or maybe Twilight can find out where it would be likely for him to hide them. Twi is an expert on anything Starswirl related.” I explained.

“Do you mind waking them; you might just be onto something.” Blade said as hope sparked in his eyes.

“On it.” I flew back into the room where the others slept.

I lightly tapped on Twi’s shoulder, awakening her from her uneasy sleep. I told her to wait for me in the main room with Blade. Once she was up, I moved on to Celestia. I did the same maneuver to wake her to wake her and send her to the main library.

“Alright, we have a theory about the last stone…” Blade started as Celestia and I walked into the room.

“Yeah, the texts that we have say that you were the last to use it, Princess Celestia. That once it broke, you gave it to Starswirl the Bearded for safe keeping. Do you know what he did with it?” I finished Blade’s sentence.

“Are you talking about the stone that you sent me from the crash site of the meteor? That was the first time I’d ever seen one.” Celestia answered.

“But it says that you used it…” I sighed, was this all a lost cause? Did Celestia ever actually have the stone?

“If it went to Starswirl and he knew about how powerful it was, then he most likely used a spell to hide it. Using the same spell should be able to bring it back.” Twilight suggested.

“Great Twi, now do you think that you can find out what spell he used?” I asked.

“I have all of his spells in his old journal, if he did anything like that, then we can find out.” Celestia answered noticing Twilight’s hesitation.

“Can you get that journal?” Blade asked, taking a step away from the bookshelf that he had been looking through.

“I always keep it on me, just in case we need his help.” Celestia answered.

“Great, Twi, you mind taking a look?” I asked.

“Anything to stop the Void.” Twilight nodded back.

Twilight began looking through the Starswirl’s journal, but almost instantly she was interrupted. Princess Celestia let out a cry of agony and collapsed to the floor. She tried to say something, but I couldn’t hear it, so I moved slightly closer.

“He got the sun…”

Chapter 8 - Conflict

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Conflict

“No…” I gasped, tripping backwards and landing on my back.

I was in shock, we were so close. We almost had a way to fight him, but now the stones had lost their powers.

Twilight let out a shriek and ran to inform the others. When she finally returned to the room, she was being followed by a group of terrified ponies. They all ran to the princess’s side, in hopes of being able to help her to her hooves. Star ran to me, shaking in fear.

“Does this mean that we can’t win?” Star cried weakly.

“No, because I have a secret. There is one star left.” I answered, putting on a fake smile.

“What?” Star gasped.

“Yeah, but don’t tell anypony. You are that star.” I explained.

“But…”

“No buts. We need this speck of hope. I’m going to give you the stones for safe keeping.” I spoke through tears.

I had little hope, but all of that hope was centered around one thing in particular. I needed to give Star hope. We needed to win this fight, even without any stars in the sky; we still had ours on the ground. She had fallen from the sky, with one of the Universe Stones, there had to be a reason. I knew that she was special, she just didn’t know it.

“There’s no point in waiting for him to wipe us all out of existence.” Blade stated walking over to me and Star. “What do you say we go and bring the fight to him, one last time? Worst case scenario we buy the world a few extra minutes.”

“I like that plan.” I smirked. I turned to the group of ponies that were surrounding the princess, “Blade has brought up a good point. He said that we should take the fight to the Void. He said, ‘worst case scenario we buy the world a few extra minutes.’ A lot can be done in a few minutes.”

They responded with silence, until Rainbow Dash spoke up. “I’m with you! I learned how to do a Sonic Rainboom in only a few seconds. Just think of what can be done in a few minutes, if it only takes a few seconds to rewrite the laws of physics.”

“I once wrote a spell in a few minutes.” Twilight added.

“I taught Apple Bloom how to make cupcakes in twenty four seconds.” Pinkie chirped.

“Let’s add one more thing ta that list…” Applejack joined in.

“Beat a god…” Rarity continued.

“In ten seconds flat!” Rainbow shouted.

“He’s just a big meanie!” Fluttershy shouted, in her usual whisper.

“It’s settled then, let’s teach him what can be done in a few minutes.” I smirked.

“Oh, I’m ready for my lesson.” laughed a dark voice above us.

“Okay.” I looked up at the Void, who seemed to be in quite the good mood.

Blade and I made the first move, charging up at him. Rainbow Dash quickly joined us, making it a three way attack. We all moved to hit him from different sides, but he smacked us away. Rainbow didn’t take this lightly though; no, she stopped her descent and quickly realigned herself to perform a Sonic Rainboom to hit the Void. He acted just as quickly though, making a shield of magical energy to protect himself and redirecting the cyan pegasus back to the ground.

Twilight and Rarity gathered their magic and made an attempt to bind the alicorn in place, but he broke free before the chains formed completely. Celestia and Luna sent out beams of magic straight at the villain, but he didn’t so much as react when they hit him.

He let out a small laugh, “Is that the best you ponies can manage? I shouldn’t even waste my time with you; I should just destroy this worthless world now.”

“But then what would you watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon, not us, that’s for sure.” I responded. “I think that we can prove to you our worth, especially when we finally beat you.”

I wasn’t about to waste any time coming up with a plan; the world needed us to fight for it. If there was anypony in the world that could beat this monster, than they were the ones by my side. They had all saved the world before, Blade and I were the only ones who hadn’t, but that wasn’t about to stop us. Blade was already charging up another magical attack and I was preparing a full on charge at the Void. Eventually one of our attacks would get through; eventually, the Void would tire out; eventually, we would win.

I took a deep breath in as I made impact with the Void’s shield, which sent me rebounding into the wall behind me. Blade’s attack was also reflected, but he managed to avoid the explosion. I was unable to move, one of my wings was broken and I couldn’t find the strength to climb back onto my hooves for another charge. The exhaustion and the pain were finally getting to me.

“What’s going on?” Twilight gasped from afar. “The Elements of Harmony are activating!”

I looked over to them, and she was right. The Elements were responding to something and were lighting up like fireflies. The rainbow connected them all to Twilight, who, unwillingly, sent a beam in Star’s direction. The beam, however, did not hit her, but instead hit the saddlebag that she was wearing. The Elements were reacting to the Universe Stones.

A bright light extended from the bags, engulfing Star entirely. At first, I was unable to make out what was emerging from the lower part of the orb of light, but I soon realized that it was a hoof. Not the Blue hoof of Star in her disguise, but the black hoof of her natural colors. It wasn’t the thick leg of a filly, no, but it wasn’t the leg of a normal mare, this was the leg of a full grown alicorn. She was growing to the full size in a matter of seconds, the bracelet that made her disguise had slid off from the shrinking of her hoof’s circumference.

“That is enough.” her voice said quietly. “You hurt my sister and her friends more than enough today.”

“And who are you to make such demands, only seconds ago, you were a filly. Those stones from that fool did not aid the fallen queen, and they shall not aid the foalish filly.” the Void mocked.

“And do you think that they changed me into this? Do you think that the stones that were comprised of pure universal power would change a unicorn into an alicorn to fight you? If you do, then you are sadly mistaken my friend, they only returned to me the power that was once mine.” Star explained.

“But that would mean that…” I gasped.

“I am the Universe from the story, yes. My memories and my powers were stored within the stones; all that I required was access to all seven of them.”

“But we only found six.” Twilight replied, looking up to the alicorn who stood just as tall, if not taller than Celestia.

Star no longer had a mane that consisted of hair, now it was the same flowing celestial form that Celestia and Luna had. It was still white and had black specks scattered in spiraling shapes. It was like looking at a negative of the night sky.

“The seventh Universe Stone was, itself, broken into six pieces. The Elements of Harmony gain their power from a magic more ancient than the universe that you all live in.” the Universe smiled warmly before turning her head to face the Void. “Now, my old friend, what do you say, can we take this battle elsewhere and leave these innocent ponies out of the conflict?”

“You can’t be!” the Void shouted, apparently oblivious to what had just been suggested. “I killed you, not even you can come back from the dead!”

“True, but a hibernation is not out of the question. I slept whilst lying in wait for you to make your move. I was hoping that you would listen to reason and come by my side, but from what I can see of you, that dream is highly unlikely.” the Universe explained.

“You are correct; I will never stand by your side, not after you betrayed me. I also will not waste my time with keeping our fight away from this pathetic world; I was planning to destroy it anyway. Collateral damage, this could very well save me the effort of destroying it after I kill you again.” the Void said confidently.

“I…” I started, “I believe in you Star!”

“And that hope is all that I need.” the Universe replied calmly, looking down at me.

The alicorn spread her wings, blocking the Void from sight before slowly lifting herself into the air with a single gentle flap. On either side of her rose a celestial body, to her left, the moon, and to her right, the sun. They both glowed with a brightness that I’d never seen before; they were stronger than ever. The Universe had revived the sun and was slowly bringing the other stars in the sky to life. The stars were showing brilliantly in the blue sky, the galaxies to which they belonged, plainly visible. The Universe had brought everything back and was making it all stronger.

“Are you ready?” she asked firmly.

The Void spread his wings quickly, unlike the majestic way that the Universe had done only seconds earlier. With a heavy flap, causing a sound as loud as thunder, he lifted himself from the ground below. He glared at the alicorn opposite of him with eyes filled with hate. That and jealousy were the only two emotions he had displayed so far, and he was not about to go around changing that.

“I’ve been waiting so long to put you in your place. Submit!”

The Void launched the first attack, enveloping himself in a black aura and charging at the Universe. The Universe retaliated by crafting herself a shield of magic to block the attack, allowing a recoil to spring through the Void’s massive body. The Void fell backwards in a spiral, managing to catch himself before he hit the ground and get himself upright.

“What do you say that we solve this the old way?” he suggested, flying back up to the level that the Universe was hovering at.

“I agree, there will be less collateral damage if we were to fight that way.” the Universe answered.

“I was suggesting it because I know that it will be the easiest way for me to kill you.” the Void smirked back.

They each began channeling their individual magical auras to their sides. A solid white blade began to take shape beside the Universe. On the other side, she was crafting the same shield that she used to stop the Void’s first attack again. The Void was making his own preparations however; he was forging a magical war axe or either side of himself. Magic armor began to form around the alicorns’ bodies. The Universe’s was white with a gold trim, while the Void’s was solid black.

“Are you ready to begin?” the Universe asked, maintaining a polite manner, even while facing somepony who had his mindset on killing her.

The Void didn’t answer this question vocally as he had the previous time, instead, he took it as an implication that she was ready and decided to make the first strike. I struck downward with one of the axes, but the Universe intercepted with her shield. While she was holding up his first attack, he took the opportunity to strike again, this time with his other weapon. The Universe made a quick counter, parrying his strike away with the sword. The Void used this moment as a chance to apply more pressure down on the shield, and it had obviously caught the Universe off guard, as she was giving way.

The Universe stumbled backwards, regaining her composition by using her wings. She performed a flip as she turned herself back upright. Immediately, she launched her own attack, a sharp and sudden stab at the Void’s chest. He smacked down her attack using both of his axes, leaving himself wide open for an attack by her shield. The shield slammed into his face, forcing him back and allowing the Universe to raise her blade and, once again, take a stab at his chest. He barely managed to smack it away with one of his hooves, resulting in a deep cut on his lower leg.

“You’ll pay for that!” he shouted angrily.

The Void made another attempt at hitting the Universe, but she simply moved to the side with a single, graceful flap of her wings. She was handling this fight pretty easily. The Universe crashed her shield against the Void’s face, causing him to plummet to the earth below. The ground shook as he fell into it.

“Please, I do not wish to hurt you. Stop this senseless violence.” the Universe pled.

“I will not stop, not when I have an ace up my sleeve.” the Void laughed back.

He took a hold of Twilight and me with his magic and held us between himself and the Universe. Now the two alicorns had entered a stalemate. On one hoof, the Universe wouldn’t attack for fear of hurting us; on the other hoof, the Void was too injured to continue getting beaten like he was. The weapons that the Universe held faded into nothing, leaving both of the alicorns weaponless, as the Void’s had fallen to the ground and faded when he grabbed us.

“Release them.” the Universe said firmly, leaving the threat part to the mind of its recipient.

“Submit.” as the Void said this he tightened his magical grip on the two of us.

The unicorn beside me let out a sharp yelp of pain; I managed to hold in my pain, aside from the expression that I knew that I had. I closed my eyes tightly, instinctively, as many ponies do when in pain or when anticipating it.

“Don’t worry about me, stop him.” I grunted as the grip tightened even more.

“I won’t risk hurting you.” the universe responded.

“I don’t care!” I shouted.

We were close enough to the alicorn who was holding us that I managed to buck him in the jaw without too much effort. Twilight let out a sigh of relief as his grip slackened on her and tightened on me. According to my plan, but I’d need to keep it up if I was going to get him to drop her completely. I bucked again, narrowly missing him, but still angering him enough to distract him from Twilight. He dropped her completely and she slammed into the ground on her side.

“Twi…” I groaned between breaths, “run.”

Twilight climbed back to her hooves and looked to the others before joining the group of ponies who were readying themselves to faceoff with the Void.

“I would be appreciative if you were to abandon that power that you have regained. If you do it quickly, I might just let the mare live.” the Void smiled darkly.

“Don’t you even consider it, Star!” I shouted as his grip slackened slightly. The moment that he was aware that I could speak however, he crushed me inside of his magic.

“Please, just let her go.” the Universe’s voice softened dramatically.

“Give up, and I will.”

“Don’t…” I coughed out.

“Alright.” the power began to flow from the Universe back into the stones and the Elements of Harmony.

The Void tightened his grip on me intensely, cutting off my air. I began to choke, unable to even let out a cry due to lack of oxygen. His word was worth what I thought it was; nothing. He had outright lied to Star, manipulating her with her emotions to win the fight.

“You said you’d let her go!” cried out the alicorn filly.

“I will, as soon as she is dead, she’s been getting on my nerves since I found her.” the Void laughed.

Everything began to fade; I was unable to make out the faces before me at this point. Even their speech was becoming a blur. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t breathe, but I could fight. I began to struggle while in the Void’s grasp, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to escape his grip because it was magic and not physical, but moving closer to him was an option. I squirmed toward him without him noticing, he was too distracted by staring down Star as the two of them spoke to notice me. I could faintly hear both of their voices and I could see the large black blur that was the Void.

Once within range, I began rapidly kicking him in the face, landing at least one solid hit in his eye. He yelled before throwing me into a wall, but the impact was nothing, at least I could breathe again. I began frantically gasping for air as the alicorn approached me. I was lightheaded and therefore was unable to make out most of what was going on, but it looked like Princess Celestia stepped in between the two of us.

“No, I didn’t think about it like that…” the Void said. I had regained my ability to comprehend language midway into the conversation.

“So does that make a difference in your decision?” Celestia asked calmly.

“No, it doesn’t, I’m still going to kill all of you, starting with her.” the Void stated with a disturbing calmness.

“I don’t have time in my day planner to die, do you mind rescheduling to next week?” I gasped as I climbed back to my hooves.

“Yes, I mind, now hold still and let me stomp your throat in.” the Void growled.

I tried to move out of the path of his hoof, but tripped and fell back into the dirt. I couldn’t even get my wings to unfold, no matter how much effort I put into it. I felt a sharp pain shoot through both of my hooves on my right side, where they had been slammed into the wall. I hadn’t noticed earlier due to all of my attention going to breathing, but the pain was beginning to become excruciating.

“Stop!” I heard Twilight shout from the distance.

The lavender unicorn had put a shield between the Void and me, saving my life. The shield began to crack, but right as it was about to break, a blue magical aura pulled my away. Rarity smiled at me and nodded, accepting my thanks, even if I couldn’t quite say it yet.

The six mares began to use the Elements of Harmony again, this time, on a severely weakened enemy. Last time they failed, but he hadn’t faced two consecutive battles, nor had he come so close to losing. The rainbow shot out, enveloping the black alicorn stallion, before fading away. As it faded, it revealed a black cloud that faded only seconds after the rainbow. It was finally over, the Void had fallen.

I climbed to my hooves, restored by the healing power of the Elements of Harmony. I looked around the area and saw that Blade was walking toward me. Following right behind him was a small filly, however something was different, something that I hadn’t noticed before, something that made me doubt that I wasn’t dreaming. Star had no wings anymore; she was a normal unicorn filly. There was no magical disguise changing her appearance, she had actually lost her wings.

“Are you alright?” Blade asked as he reached a hoof out to help me.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I answered him, and then I turned to face Star. “What happened to your wings?”

“When I gave up the power, the wings went with it. Didn’t you see?” Star asked, tilting her head to the side inquisitively.

“Not really, when you can’t breathe, it gets a little hard to see or hear anything properly.” I laughed back.

“Oh.” Star smiled. There was only a split second before she tackled me to the ground with a hug. “I’m glad that you’re alright Sky.”

Chapter 9 - Life

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Life

“So what did it feel like, being that powerful I mean?” Scootaloo asked as she released Rainbow from her grasp.

“I don’t really know…” Star replied quietly, “I know that it was me, but it felt like somepony else was in control of my body. I can’t really explain it.”

“Hey, how about we save this stuff for when we get someplace that’s a little less in the middle of nowhere?” I suggested, interrupting the fillies’ conversation.

“Alright.” they replied almost in unison.

“We shall return to Canterlot and work on restoring order and harmony to the land.” Celestia stated. “Sky Flare, would you and Star like to come along with us?”

“Thanks, but no princess, I’d like a chance to actually relax. That is, unless you need us there?” I answered.

“Only for a minute, we need to sort out some things about Star.” Celestia explained.

“Like what?” Star asked timidly.

“Nothing bad, don’t worry, it won’t take long.” Luna answered for her sister.

I agreed and told the others that I would visit them again, as soon as I got the chance, and if could, I’d take Star along too. We rode on one of the chariots that are pulled by the pegasus guards all the way to Canterlot. Once there we were taken to the throne room, where the princesses began to speak.

“Alright, Sky Flare, now that we’re all here, we can discuss something that I feel is closely related to the recent events.” Celestia stated.

I felt a lump in my throat, they are definitely mad about me keeping Star a secret from them both, I thought to myself. Star however, did not appear to share my grim outlook on the purpose of the meeting, seeing as how she sat beside me with a bright smile.

“How do you feel about Star?” Luna asked calmly.

“I love her.” I said without even thinking.

“How much?” Luna asked.

“More than anything.” Why wasn’t I thinking before these replies?

“How would you feel if you could adopt her as your own filly?” Celestia asked, catching me off guard.

“Happy.” I said quietly, unsure as to how to reply to that.

“I’ll need you to sign your names here then, and once that is done I have an assignment for you.” Celestia levitated a paper over to me with a quill resting on top of it.

I took the quill and signed the paper and let it lower for Star to sign it. Once that was done, the paper moved back to Celestia and Luna, where they signed it.

“It is done.” Luna smiled at the two of us.

“That easy, huh?” I laughed lightly.

“One last thing, that assignment I mentioned. It will involve both you and your daughter, are you ready to hear it?” Celestia asked.

My daughter, “Yes.”

“You two will be moving to Ponyville where you will allow for Star to learn magic from my student Twilight Sparkle. Your daughter has great potential, and I feel that being with Twilight in Ponyville is the best place to hone those skills.” Celestia explained.

“Alright.” I nodded, smiling brightly at the two princesses.

“I think that you should start on your trip back to Ponyville. I’ve taken the liberty of setting you two up with a place to live; I hope that you enjoy it.” Luna told us.

“I advise that you two get started on that trip home before it gets too dark.” Celestia smiled warmly.

“My night is there so that ponies can sleep in peace, and once again, that is possible. I feel that if anypony deserves to sleep soundly tonight, than it would be your daughter, especially after everything that she has done for Equestria.” Luna said as we walked out of the throne room doors.

The moment that we were out, Star turned to me and looked up. “What did they mean by adopt?” she asked innocently.

“It means that I’m not your sister anymore.” I smiled back.

“What?” she cried in shock.

“It means I’m your mother now.”

“What?” she cried in joy.

“Now come on, let’s go home, there’s school tomorrow.” I laughed as we walked out to where I could fly us home.

I lifted Star onto my back and spread my wings. Once we were in the air, it felt like a short trip back to Ponyville. It might have had something to do with us planning out what we would be doing for the next week. Finally having some time that we could spend together without me having to hide her wings and us not having to stop an evil alicorn would be relaxing.

We landed in Ponyville where a guard led us to a decent sized house not far from where Twilight lived. Star and I began to walk around the inside of the house, just seeing what it would be like for a place to start our new lives. She was no longer the all-powerful alicorn that she had just been; she was, at best, an average unicorn when it came to magic. Like most colts and fillies her age, she had trouble doing the simple levitation that actually was the extent of some adult unicorn’s powers. I was already making plans for my new job since there wasn’t really anything fitting to what I used to do in the small town. I planned to meet with the mayor in the morning and apply for a job as a weather pony like Rainbow Dash had.

Once we had finished looking around the new house, Star and I started out walking around the town. Pinkie did as she always did, popping in from practically nowhere, and started a happy conversation.

“Hi!” she shouted.

“Oh, hey Pinkie, how are you feeling?” I asked, thinking back to the fight that happened only hours earlier.

“Fine, what are you doing back in town so soon?” she asked maintaining her happy disposition.

“The princesses told us to stay here for a while.” I answered.

“What are you doing out so late?”

“We were just going to pick up some food from Sugarcube Corner, the house that they gave us didn’t have any food and Star here got hungry.” I laughed.

“Why don’t you go and see Twi and the others, they’re all hanging out in the library, I was just on my way to see what was up. I was in the middle of planning the ‘We Saved the World Party’ when I heard about what was going on.” Pinkie explained, hopping off toward the library.

“Alright, how’s a detour sound, Star?” I asked as I looked down to the filly. Her black coat was almost completely hiding her in the darkness; the only parts of her that were visible were her mane, tail, and eyes.

“Okay.” She smiled back at me.

“Let’s go.” I nodded, lifting the tired filly onto my back after she yawned.

We took the last few steps toward Sugarcube Corner and I bought a couple of pastries so that we wouldn’t starve before we turned to head back to Twilight’s house. The sun hit the horizon, ending the day that had been just as welcomed as the night that we were about to have. Nearly a week with no night and no day had taken its toll on many of the ponies of Equestria, but none more so than the ones that fought to get it back.

“Hey Sky, Star. What are you two doing in Ponyville?” Twilight asked cheerfully.

“Princess Celestia wanted us to stay here for a while, and Princess Luna got us a house to stay here in.” I answered.

“Wow, why?” Rainbow asked, showing surprise, but joy.

“It’s mostly for Star; they want Twilight to teach her some magic. They said that she has great potential, even though all of her old powers are gone.” I explained.

“So what’ll you be doin’ while you’re livin’ here?” Applejack asked.

“I was thinking about getting a job as a weather pony; seeing as there aren’t any Ponyville guards.” I revealed my plans.

“This is gonna be so awesome!” Rainbow shouted nearly tackling me.

“So the princesses thought that I would be able to teach Star magic?” Twilight was apparently still in awe about what Star was supposed to be doing.

“Whenever you can, she has actually already been signed up for morning classes with Miss Cheerilee.” I explained.

“Alright, I’ll do my best.” Twilight said confidently.

“That’s all anypony can ever do.” I smiled back.

“Well I think that’s great!” Applejack shouted happily.

“It’s starting to get late, and if I’m not home in time to get Sweetie Belle in bed, than nothing will get her to sleep in time for her class tomorrow.” Rarity stated, “I must be on my way, I shall see you all tomorrow.”

“Oh, speaking of school…” I started.

“Go.” Twilight laughed.

Applejack and I ended up leaving at the same time; Rarity was only a few paces ahead of us. Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Twilight were the only four left in the library at that point. Anypony who had to get a filly ready for school the next day was leaving. I took Star up to the bed that was obviously meant for her and laid her down on it.

“Now go to sleep, you have a full day ahead of you tomorrow, a new challenge. School.” I smiled gently as Star gave one finally yawn before she faded into a restful sleep.

I turned any flew up into my own bed as well, closing my eyes and welcoming the sweet embrace of sleep. The only sounds were Star’s light breathing and the sound of crickets chirping outside the window. The moon’s light was gentle and reassured me that everything was back to the way it should be.

In the morning, I woke Star up so that she could get her saddlebags ready. I packed her a daffodil sandwich for lunch and even walked her to the schoolhouse. Scootaloo was standing outside the doors when we got there. I walked up to her with Star by my side and I pulled them both aside before they could go in.

“I don’t want either of you to tell anypony about what happened between the Universe and the Void, alright?” I patted both fillies on their heads.

“Okay.” Scootaloo said with a salute.

“Star?” a raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.” she had put on the biggest and cheesiest smile that I’d ever seen.

“Okay, now get to class you two.” I pushed them back toward the door.

As I was walking away, I could hear the start of a conversation. “You have a really cool sister, who else would stand up to the Void like that?” Scootaloo laughed quietly, while they were still in earshot.

“She’s not my sister anymore, she’s my mom now.” Star explained.

I smiled and laughed quietly to myself. My next stop was the town hall, where hopefully, I would be told that I got that weather pony job. I marched triumphantly into the building and was greeted by Mayor Mare.

“Sky Flare, are you here about the job?” she asked.

“Yeah, so do I have since I’m kind of assigned here until further notice?” I asked back.

“Yes, I will have you working at the same time as that filly of yours in in school that way she isn’t left on her own.” the mayor explained.

“Great, so where do I go to get the specifics on what I’m doing?” I asked. When I applied for the job, they didn’t really give me any information.

“There is a board in the lobby, it will have your name and the day’s assignment.” answered the earth pony.

“Alright, thanks.” I replied gratefully.

With that, I walked around to find the board that the mayor had told me about and was soon scanning down the list for my name. It said that I had the clear the clouds over the border between Ponyville and the Everfree Forest. The job was as easy as it sounded, nothing at all like patrolling the walls of Canterlot, keeping an eye out for a threat. I finished in a matter of minutes and met up with Cheerilee at the school during Star’s recess. I wanted to see how she was doing.

“Oh, hello Sky Flare, how are you today?” Cheerilee asked.

“I’m great actually, I just wanted to see how Star is doing; after all, she’s had a long week before I started her here.” I explained.

“Oh, your sister is doing just fine.” Cheerilee said in her usual happy tone.

“She’s not my sister.” I smiled back.

“She is registered in as your sister by the mayor.” Cheerilee was less happy now and more confused.

“I adopted her; she wasn’t actually my sister to begin with though.” I continued smiling. “I guess the princesses weren’t able to tell Mayor Mare in time to update the information.”

“You adopted her?”

“Yup,” I nodded, “she didn’t have a family before me, so I took her in. That’s why I had her during that week that everything happened, I was watching over her so that she’d be safe.” I explained. It wasn’t a lie either, she didn’t have a family before, and I did take her in to watch over her.

“That was very thoughtful of you, but are you sure that you can handle a filly of your own?”

“I did pretty well last week and the princesses seem to have faith in me.”

“Well, that’s good. I have to go now; class is almost ready to start back.” Cheerilee turned to the fillies and colts that were playing in the schoolyard. “Alright class, time to head back inside!”

As the young ponies began to sigh and retreat back to the school building, I took off so that I could meet up with Rainbow somewhere. We had decided to meet at Sugarcube Corner that way we could get something to eat after a long day. Long in her opinion, for somepony so athletic, she’s incredibly lazy.

I walked in and saw Rainbow was already sitting at a table with Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Applejack, Twilight, and Fluttershy weren’t there yet, probably still busy with what they normally do during the day.

“Hey Dashie, Rarity, Pinkie.” I declared as I sat down with them at the table.

“Hi Sky!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“‘Sup Sky?” Rainbow nodded.

“Nothing much, just had to check up on Star before I came by.”

“And how is the filly doing?” Rarity asked.

“Cheerilee says that she’s doing well.”

“Speaking of school, they’ll be getting out in like, an hour. We can go with Applejack to pick them up when she gets here.” Rainbow suggested.

“Good idea.” I laughed.

“Howdy girls, what’re ya up ta?” Applejack said loudly as she burst in the doors.

“Plotting.” I answered.

“What about?”

“Picking up the fillies together, me, you, Dashie, and Rarity.” I explained.

“That sounds like a mighty fine idea.”

The rest of the time that we were there was relaxing. We ate some cake, but mostly, we talked and had a good time. Soon Twilight and Fluttershy were able to join us, apparently there was a problem with a timber wolf that was trying to stray too far from the forest and they were working together to send it back home.

“Well, it looks like it’s about time to go and get the young ‘uns. We’ll be back soon, don’t go nowhere.” Applejack joked.

“Alright.” Pinkie laughed back.

“If you hurry, there might even be some cake left.” Twilight said as she put a magic bubble around the cake keeping Pinkie from inhaling the last of it.

With that, we quickly began to move to pick the fillies up from school. The others were moving out in a mass, but ours were staying together and talking, walking at a slower pace than the others.

“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo shouted excitedly as she galloped to her hero.

“Hey kid.” Rainbow said, remaining cool and calm like usual.

“Star, how was your first day?” I asked as I approached the black unicorn filly.

“It was amazing! I learned so much!” she shouted excitedly.

I looked around as the others were talking with their younger sisters or idolizers in Rainbow and Scoot’s case. “That’s great.” I smiled warmly.

I heard a gasp from Rainbow Dash, “Sky adopted Star?” she shouted.

“Yup.” I said calmly. Scootaloo had told her; it wasn’t a big secret or anything.

“Why didn’t ya mention this earlier?” Applejack cried out.

“I was going to tell all of you at once with Star by my side. I was a bit too tired to even think about it last night though, sorry.”

“That’s really important, how could you forget to mention it last night?” Rarity replied.

“It had just happened and I was still getting used to the concept myself; the princesses just outright asked me if I wanted to adopt her when we got to the castle. After that they sent me here to stay. I saw Pinkie Pie after I had finished the looking at our new house.” I explained.

“Still…” Applejack started.

“I’m sorry; I can’t really do much more than say that.” I shrugged.

“It’s alright, but I sure wish that ya’d told us sooner.” Applejack continued.

“What are we waiting for; we need to tell the others!” Rainbow shouted from above as she held Scootaloo up and started flying back to the bakery.

I nodded, wary of how the others would react. I honestly had meant to say something the night before, but I wasn’t expecting to see them, and I was worn out. I would just have to explain myself again.

Once Sugarcube Corner was in sight, we noticed that Twilight and the others were already outside. They had to have some out a little while ago, wanting to meet up with us out there, as opposed to inside the bakery.

“Hey girls, there’s something that I want to say, I just wanted Star to be here when I did.” I said as I got close enough to them.

“What is it?” Pinkie jumped into the air.

“I kind of ended up… um, well… I adopted Star.” I smiled uneasily.

“What!?” Twilight shouted in astonishment.

“Hold on just one second!” Pinkie shouted as she pulled a glass of water out from nowhere and took a big drink, only to spit it out everywhere. “What!?”

“I was planning on telling you as soon as I could, but I wasn’t expecting to see you last night, and I didn’t think about it then.” I explained. “The princesses had caught me off guard that morning; they asked me if I wanted to adopt her.”

“Wow! Congratulations!” Twilight jumped in joy.

“I’m so happy for you two.” Fluttershy finally said, the initial shock having worn off.

“Adoption Party!” Pinkie jumped up and ran off, presumably to set up the party.

Star stood right next to my leg, her face as red as a red delicious, as Applejack would say. She was clearly happy, but didn’t know how to respond, this was her second party. Twilight laughed a little bit before walking over to us.

“Alright, this party will be a bit bigger than the last one, more likely than not.” Twilight laughed.

“Alright.” Star said quietly, her face still blushed.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fun. Just think about the new friends that you’ll make.” I smiled, nudging Star toward Twilight.

“Are you ready for today’s lesson, Star?” Twilight placed a hoof on Star’s head.

“What will it be over?” Star asked, perking her head up slightly.

“The most recent thing that Princess Celestia has started teaching me, friendship.” Twilight smiled.

THE END