What If She Lived

by Al-1701

First published 4th of September, 2013

In one reality Megan killed, in another she wished she had.

An alternate version of the climax to the 7th chapter D G D Davidson's story A Mighty Demon Slayer Grooms Some Ponies.

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/71660/a-mighty-demon-slayer-grooms-some-ponies

Suppose it was not the pickaxe Megan grabbed. Suppose she grabbed the spade instead and only knocked Wind Whistler out. Suppose the altercation caused the pegasus gone mad to reassess her values and come to some dark conclusions. Was killing Wind Whistler truly the worse case scenario for Megan.

Published with permission from Davidson. Thank you.

The Right Tool for the Right Job?

Megan backed up as Wind Whistler approached her. Wind Whistler had her head down and her ears pinned back. Rage burned in her eyes.

Megan knew enough about horses to know the options Wind Whistler had to attack. She had her mouth, hooves, and just all around bulk to literally throw at her. She also had her wings which were more powerful than a swan's and could easily shatter Megan's arms and legs with a swipe.

Megan could not believe it had come to this. Wind Whistler's descent into what could only be described as insanity had led to her to turn against the human that had not only aided them, but became one of her closest friends.

Megan backed into the wall. She felt the slim, cold handle of something. She slowly closed her hand around it.

Wind Whistler lunged for her. Megan took the tool from its hooks and squeezed her eyes closed. She swung and the tool hit something with an almost cartoonish clang.

Megan opened one eye and looked at the spade in her hand. She opened her other eye as she turned to Wind Whistler sprawled out on the floor. Megan gasped and threw down the spade.

She ran to Wind Whistler and immediately put her ear to her nostril. Slow but steady breathing came in and out of them. She then listened to the chest where the heart was beating slowly and steadily. The bone where Megan had truck the side of her head was intact with no signs of breaks or fracturing from the outside. Megan pulled back Wind Whistler's eyelid to see her eyes roll up with it. She was out cold.

Megan saw her chance. She ran back into the house. She went to the closet and pulled out the old Winchester rifle and a single round. Wind Whistler was going to be madder than a hornet when she woke up. She had to finish the job now.

Megan loaded the gun and cocked the rifle as she ran back to the barn. Wind Whistler was still sprawled out on the floor and apparently unconscious. Megan held the rifle to her shoulder. She imagined the "X" between the eyes and ears. She slowly moved her hand towards the trigger. Wind Whistler was just like Blackie just that it was her mind that was beyond repair. If she was nothing but a horse, she was going to die like one.

"Megan!" Molly's voice shouted.

Megan took her hand away from the rifle in shock. She dropped it from her shoulders and turned to the barn door. Molly and Heart Throb stood in the doorway with shocked expressions.

"What are you doing here, Heart Throb?" Megan snapped.

Heart Throb darted her eyes from side to side. "I was just coming to see how you were doing." She motioned to Wind Whistler. "It doesn't look like things are going that well."

"Wind Whistler has completely lost it," Megan said. "She wanted the Rainbow of Light and to declare martial law. She attacked me."

"Then we should deal with her fairly," Heart Throb retorted. "She should stand trial, not be shot on sight without a chance to defend herself."

Megan heard grumbling to the side. She turned to Wind Whistler opening her eyes and rubbing her head.

Megan drew in a breath. Heart Throb galloped into the barn and put herself between them. Megan did not know if it was protect her or Wind Whistler, but Heart Throb faced Wind Whistler as she picked up her head.

Wind Whistler grimaced as she rubbed the side of her head. She adjusted her jaw. "You have one nasty swing, Megan," Wind Whistler said. "You could teach Slugger a thing or two."

Megan and Heart Throb stood there in silence. Their jaws both hung open. Megan expected Wind Whistler to scream about how she was being insubordinate and striking a superior officer.

Wind Whistler looked at the two. "That was a joke, you know, a story with a humorous climax. I was hoping to undo a portion of the tension of the situation."

Megan felt tears well up. It was like an old friend had returned. She leaned the rifle against the wall and ran around Heart Throb to practically tackle Wind Whistler.

"That's the Wind Whistler we know and love," Megan practically sobbed in joy.

Wind Whistler drew in a breath. "Could you please refrain for rigorous contact, I am in pain."

Megan let go of Wind Whistler and backed up on her knees. She got her legs out from under her and sat next to her.

"What happened to you?" Heart Throb asked as she came around Megan. "Megan said you attacked her."

"That is exactly what has happened," Wind Whistler said. "I attacked a good friend for a silly locket to become a silly dictator of a silly empire ruled by silly logic and silly reason. I, for lack of a better term, have been a silly pony these last few months." Wind Whistler dropped her head with a frown of remorse. A couple tears streamed from her eyes. "However, nothing humorous has come of it. I have said and done terrible things."

"All can be forgiven," Heart Throb said tenderly. "Can you fly?"

Wind Whistler tried to get to her feet. She wobbled and then toppled over. She shook her head. "I am still a little woozy from the blow."

"Then I'll get some of the others to bring you back," Heart Throb said.

"It might be best if Wind Whistler stays here for the night," Megan said.

"That would be best," Wind Whistler said. "I should have the wherewithal to fly by tomorrow morning. I also have many things to discuss with Megan first."

"Then I should be returning," Heart Throb said. "Is there anything you want me to tell the others?"

"Tell them I am fine," Wind Whistler said. "I am in fact more fine than I have been in a long while."

Heart Throb nodded with a smile and walked out of the barn. She spread her wings and flew off into the night.

Megan glared at Molly who was hiding behind the door frame. "You should be in bed!"

"I'm going, I'm going." Molly ran towards the house and seemed unusually unsteady as she practically fell onto the door before opening it and disappeared inside.

Megan turned back to Wind Whistler. "What do you want to discuss?"

"I want to first apologize for everything I have done since we started to organize," Wind Whistler said. "I have made a terrible error."

"That just makes you mortal like the rest of us," Megan said with a grin.

"My error has caused so much damage," Wind Whistler said. "I had misjudged the importance of logic and reason. While they are important to a prosperous society, they are only one part of the greater equation of harmony."

"Harmony?" Megan asked.

Wind Whistler nodded. "Think of a large orchestra. All those different instruments sound so different, but when they play together in harmony, they make such a rich and beautiful sound. The same is true with ponies. I basically wanted just the same instrument over and over, and that makes for a very bleak orchestra and world."

"That is true," Megan said.

"I have been mistaken about many things," Wind Whistler said. "I was mistaken to believe we were nothing but talking animals. We are much more, and we need to live up to that. I must completely redraw my plans for our society."

"In what way?"

"First of all, we need to remove the absolute power from authority figures. We have been deferring our judgment to authority figures since we were created. We were ruled by Majesty, and then we tried to make you our queen, and then we picked leaders from amongst ourselves. That is wrong. Why should only my voice be heard and not Heart Throb's or Surprises when their points can be just as valid.

"The best option is democracy. We can start with a direct democracy since there are so few of us now. As the population grows, we will need to create a congress to represent the populace. Having a head of state to look for guidance and leadership is important too, but they should not be an absolute dictator."

Let a giggle escape.

Wind Whistler scowled. "What is so funny?"

Megan got control of herself again. "It's just you were talking about dictatorship, martial law, and a philosopher queen not too long ago."

"To me it might as well have been a mental epoch ago," Wind Whistler said.

After a pause Wind Whistler spoke again in a very quiet tone. "Heart Throb will also get her way sooner than she thinks."

It was Megan's turn to scowl in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"If the trend of ponies having a filly and colt continue," Wind Whistler said, "mares and stallions and will be roughly equal in number in the next generation. That means ponies can be monogamous which is probably better for genetic diversity."

"It's interesting how you ponies have twins," Megan said, deciding not bring her hatred of the male gender into the conversation. "I've only heard of a few cases where a horse gives birth to twins and all three survive."

"We are not horses," Wind Whistler said. "We are equines, but we are our own species, perhaps even our own genus. I realize that now. We are new life."

Wind Whistler suddenly frowned very deeply. Megan glanced back at her rifle in case Wind Whistler was just leading her on.

"There are many things I now realize," Wind Whistler said in a low tone. "I especially now understand what Twilight was. How could I have been so blind?"

"What about Twilight?" Megan asked, returning her attention to Wind Whistler.

"Twilight was lying when she said we are incomplete," Wind Whistler said. "We are specialized. My specialty is intelligence and logical deduction. However, I can be just as spontaneous as Surprise, as gluttonous as Applejack, as motherly as Cupcake, as interested in horticulture as Posey, and as passionate as Heart Throb. I was in fact just like Heart Throb when Four-Speed and I made love, and I mean truly make love. I was swept up in the ecstasy of the moment and wished to have him all to myself. I was in love, Megan, true love. That was what scared me into my madness. I thought I was no longer myself and desperately grasping for anything to regain it. However, I was myself the whole time. I act as I act because I want to either for direct desire and indirect reward. I do not want to be spontaneous or gluttonous or motherly or interested in horticulture most of the time. However, that does not erase the fact I have those capacities if the desire or need arise and so does every other little pony."

"Why would Twilight lie about something like that?"

"Because of her specialty," Wind Whistler said in an even more dour tone. "Majesty made us from her own image. Twilight represents her subconscious. That means she represents Majesty's darkest thoughts and desires. Majesty was in fact a very vain and cruel pony. She loved us as her children, but she was absolutely brutal to her enemies. She did not simply kill them. She tortured and humiliated them as examples to any who would oppose her. There were even a couple times when she was the aggressor, but that did not stop her being cruel to the vanquished. One time, she turned a goblin pleading for his life to stone simply because he intended to hold a princess for ransom."

"That makes her sound almost evil," Megan said.

"Or at least sociopathic," Wind Whistler said. "I now realize Twilight represented her cruelty and vanity. If Majesty was in fact evil, Twilight is a skin of evil."

"You keep mixing past and present when talking about Twilight," Megan said. "Why?"

Wind Whistler sighed. "Twilight made a Faustian bargain with Mister Moon to make him let the stars shine on the night of Walpurgis. She agreed to be transformed into a literal skin of evil to be stretched over the innocent creatures that live on the moon because he was irritated with their existence. The bargain came due tonight. She is now spreading across the moon turning those creatures, whose only crime was living, into vile wraiths biding their time until they can attack Ponyland. And it was all because Twilight wanted to the stars to shine."

Megan placed her hands over her mouth to stifle a gasp.

"I should have seen this all sooner," Wind Whistler scolded herself. "Twilight was indeed cruel and vain. She would let us know she knew something and then kept it from us. She always toyed with us like a cat toying with mice. I also played right into her hooves."

"How?"

"She got me to play her game. I was not acting out of logic or reason all these months. I was acting out of my own capacity for cruelty and vanity. She had convinced me I was nothing but logic and reason, and I figured that was all that was important. She was doing it to everypony, making us believe we are just pieces. However, I was the prime target. I now realize we had always been at war."

Megan sat back. "Isn't that a little harsh."

"I now know what I really represent," Wind Whistler said. "Look at my symbol."

Megan looked at the symbol of three pink whistles and two blue whistles decorating Wind Whistler's flank. "They're whistles, so what?"

"Who frequently uses whistles?" Wind Whistler asked.

Megan stopped to think. "Referees use whistles in games, and police use to them a lot too."

"Exactly," Wind Whistler said. "I represent not just Majesty's intellect, but her desire to do the right thing as well. All the times I put myself in danger to help a friend, I did it because it was the right thing to do. Like the referees and policeman, my job is to enforce the rules fairly and protect those around me. Twilight had manipulated me into believing I should make the rules."

Wind Whistler lay her head down. "If Twilight represents Majesty's cruelty and vanity then I represent her compassion and rationality. We are kind like the tiny angel and devil human cartoons will have on a character's shoulders when they face dilemma. Twilight knew she was not long for this world, so she intended to, one way or another, smite my influence on the ponies before hers left. She needs a pony so consumed by jealousy they would call on her powers to return, and a world where compassion and rationality are dominant would have a hard time creating such a pony. She decided the best way was to get me to turn in my halo for horns."

Megan tried to picture Wind Whistler wearing white robes with a halo over her head and Twilight holding a pitchfork and red horns coming out of her mane. Oddly, the image made sense given their natures. Twilight did have a devilish quality to her the more Megan thought about it.

She then remembered all the times she saw Twilight with Ember. "Twilight was compassionate to Ember. She was practically her mother."

"As I said," Wind Whistler said, "we are more than our specialties. Twilight had just as much capacity for compassion and rationality as I do for being cruel and vain. Perhaps, if I had been thinking, I could have tried to appeal to her better nature before that fateful night. However, what is done is done. We cannot change the past. We can only learn from it to make a better future."

Megan stood up. "We need to tell the others all of this."

Wind Whistler stretched out on the floor. "We can tell them in the morning. I need to recover, and you need your rest for school tomorrow."

Megan walked to the door.

"Megan?" Wind Whistler asked.

Megan turned back to Wind Whistler. "Yes?"

Wind Whistler picked up her head. "I know this might sound silly coming from a full-grown mare, but could you sing me to sleep. My mind is troubled and a gentle song might calm it."

Megan walked back to Wind Whistler.

"And can we keep this a secret?" Wind Whistler asked.

Megan grinned. "Sure I even know just the song to sing."

Megan knelt down and began to sing.

My little pony, my little pony,

I comb and brush her hair.

My little pony, my little pony,

Tie a ribbon to show I care.

Megan ran hand gently through Wind Whistler's mane as she relaxed.

My little pony, my little pony,

I take her wherever I go.

My little pony, my little pony,

Oh…I love her so.

Megan extended the last word as Wind Whistler's eye slowly closed. Megan could hear the faint snoring coming from her.

Megan stood up and looked to the wall. Next to the bare hooks of the spade had been the pickaxes and its point pointed in the direction that it would have gone through Wind Whistler's skull if she had picked it up instead of the spade.

Megan replaced the spade and picked up her rifle. She opened it and took out the round. She closed the rifle and pulled the trigger so the hammer released harmlessly. She rested the muzzle of the rifle on her shoulder and walked towards the house.

Finally, things looked like they could back to normal, at least what passed for normal when it came to the ponies.

---

Megan had a troubled night's sleep as everything she and Wind Whistler had discussed swam through her head. Morning finally came and Megan quickly got dressed and headed out.

She stepped outside to see Wind Whistler standing outside the barn and looking up. Her face was badly bruised and swollen. Megan was still shocked and glad she had not broken Wind Whistler's jaw with the spade…or worse with the pickaxe. Wind Whistler scowled as she stared up.

Megan looked up. The skies were completely clear. There were no clouds and no rainbow either.

Megan ran to Wind Whistler. "Where's the rainbow?"

Wind Whistler turned to her. "Gone. I fear this is Twilight and Mister Moon's doing. They are the only ones with the capability since Mister Sun was down. They probably intended to strand us here all along so we could not tell the others."

Megan stopped. "I should have let Heart Throb get the others to bring you back."

Wind Whistler shook her head. "The rainbow probably disappeared as soon as Heart Throb was on the other side. There was nothing we could do."

"But-" Megan choked on the words that had to come out "-you're…"

"…trapped here. I know," Wind Whistler said solemnly. "There is also something I didn't tell you last night. I am pregnant."

Megan gasped. "Really?"

Wind Whistler nodded. "Next spring I will give birth."

Megan thought about the prospect of Wind Whistler being trapped in her world and with foal. No one could learn the truth. The government would come and take her to a lab to be experimented on, and that was the best case scenario. She would live in constant fear of the world around her and away from everyone she held dear. It would be a life of constant mental and emotional pain. However, Megan had been trained on how to take the pain away.

"What will you do?" Megan asked. "You're technically an alien here. If you're caught..." Megan trailed off as she did not want to think about it. "There's nothing here for you."

"There is hope," Wind Whistler said. "The rainbow bridge could be fixed later this afternoon for all we know, or Maybe you or I will never live to see it open again. However, as long as we hold out hope we will be reunited with the others, Twilight hasn't won."

"And your foal or foals?" Megan asked.

"I will bring them to term and teach them everything I can," Wind Whistler said. "I will especially teach them what we discussed last night."

Wind Whistler nuzzled Megan's side. "Everything will be okay, Megan. We must have faith things will work out when logic and reason fail us. I realize that now."

---

"What happened to her?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"She hid on our ranch through her pregnancy," Megan replied. "She had two foals the following spring. She named the filly Weathervane and the colt Turbine believing it was a name Four-Speed would have appreciated."

"Are they still here?" Twilight Sparkle asked. "I haven't seen them."

"Once the foals were strong enough to fly, hiding them became too problematic," Megan said. "The problem with ponies is their bodies develop faster than their minds."

"That's still the case today," Twilight Sparkle replied, remembering the issues the Cake's twins gave Pinkie Pie when she first foalsat for them.

"Wind Whistler found a small, uncharted island in Lake Huron," Megan said. "It has a cave for shelter and plenty of grass to eat. I gave her some gear to help her, and she can craft the weather. She is also one of the ponies that tended to grow a particularly thick winter coat, so she was well prepared for cold weather."

"Do you think they're still alive?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"Every once and a while I pick up a tabloid with a story about the winged horses of Lake Huron," Megan said with a grin. "Wind Whistler makes her presence known just enough so I know she's still out there."

Megan sighed and tears welled up in her eyes. "However, Twilight and Mister Moon won. Not only did they destroy the rainbow bridge, they're probably the ones who sped up time. Everyone we knew died of old age within a couple weeks our time. Now her home is completely gone, and she's probably sitting there waiting to see me signal her with the Rainbow of Light with her grown foals like the Swiss Family Robinson on their deserted island."

"The who?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

Megan rolled her eyes. "Nevermind. The point is there's no home for them on either side of the rainbow now. I condemned them to never having a place anywhere."

"It's not your fault," Twilight Sparkle said. "You said it yourself Twilight and Mister Moon cut Ponyland off from you and sped up time. It was probably the Nightmare Forces defeat that allowed time to return to normal and the rainbow to reconnect our worlds. There was nothing you could have done."

"I could have," Megan snapped. "I could have stopped Wind Whistler before it came to this. I could have stopped Twilight. I could have just ended their pain like I did for Blackie, like my father trained me to do. If I had grabbed the next tool over, I would have had the pickaxe and I would have sent it right through Wind Whistler's head. I wouldn't have known these terrible things about Twilight and Majesty or Wind Whistler's real hopes and dreams that will never come to pass. I would have just killed another monster and kept them from threatening the little ponies."

Megan fell to the ground and sobbed. "I wanted to kill her too, cut down my dear friend just like I did Tirac. Even when I discovered she was just out cold I was still ready to kill her. And I wanted to do it just because I wanted her gone. I didn't want her out of her misery. I wanted her out of mine. My friend who had put her own life in danger so many times to save mine, and all I could think about was killing her.

"I was glad to see her leave because I couldn't look at her without the imaginary "X" appearing between her ears and eyes like on that night. I couldn't even bring myself to groom her after a while, Molly usually did. It took all my strength to help her deliver her foals, and even then I couldn't look her in the eye. She said she had forgiven me so many times and even thanked me for clocking her on more than one occasion, but I just can't get that moment where I was ready to kill her out of my mind. Sometimes, in my nightmares, Molly and Heart Throb aren't there and I pull that trigger, or I do pick up the pickaxe instead. I bury her in the same grave where Blackie is buried. I then return to Ponyland with my head held high after my latest victory and absorb the praise for slaughtering a pregnant and confused pony. I was the one who became the monster yet still paraded around like a hero. That's Magog the Mighty, a girl who would shoot an unconscious pony and close friend in cold blood simply because it would have made her life easier."

Megan broke down sobbing. She fell to the ground and buried her head in her hands.

Twilight Sparkle frowned. "I think we're getting to the root of the problem. It's not us, not the ponies of the Valley of Dreams, not the fact five thousand years passed for us and only five you, and not even the fact Wind Whistler is trapped on this side."

Megan held up her hands with her wrists together. "Arrest me," she sobbed.

Twilight Sparkle scowled in confusion. "What?"

"I confess to the attempted murder of a pony, one Wind Whistler," Megan said. "I make no defense or justifications for my actions, and I ask for no reprieve in my sentence. Take me back to Equestria in chains and do with me what you will."

"But…"

"Do it!" Megan snapped. "Wind Whistler told me the day the rainbow disappeared she had been exiled as penance for her treatment of her fellow ponies. If she and her family have to pay for her wrongdoing, I must pay as well. I can't go on living knowing I was only God's grace away from doing such a terrible thing without being punished."

Twilight Sparkle heaved a sigh. "All right. As a princess of Equestria, I have been given certain powers. I have never used these powers before without permission from Mayor Mare or one of my fellow princesses. This will be my first official act on my as a princess."

Megan bowed her head.

"I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, make you a subject of my realm and beholden to my laws and decrees. Do you understand?"

Megan nodded, still looking down.

Twilight Sparkle placed her hoof on Megan's head. She trembled as she collected herself. "As your princess, I accept your confession of guilt and waiver of all rights to defense and reprieve meaning I may sentence you up to the full extent the law allows for your crime which would be imprisonment for the rest of your natural life."

Megan sat their silently.

"I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, pardon you. I absolve you of all punishment for your wrongdoing. I forgive you," Twilight Sparkle said tenderly. "And as your princess, I decree you must forgive yourself. You are not a monster. You were just a scared little girl who made a terrible decision. As Wind Whistler said, you can't change the past. You can only learn from it to build a better future."

Megan looked up to Twilight with bleary, tear-filled tears. She threw herself onto Twilight Sparkle and embraced her. Her tears ran down Twilight's chest as Megan sobbed.

"I also order you to send the Rainbow of Light to retrieve Wind Whistler and her family," Twilight Sparkle said.

"But there's nothing for them in Equestria," Megan said. "They're from an era long gone."

"If what you said is true, Wind Whistler is still ahead of her time," Twilight Sparkle said.

"And what about all of her friends and loved ones long being dead?" Megan asked.

"They deserve to know and figure out what to do with themselves," Twilight Sparkle said. "Ponies have been doing it for these past five thousand years. It's only fair they get the chance."

Megan sniffed. She held up the locket and opened it. A brilliant rainbow streamed from it and circled overhead.

Megan wiped her eyes. "Rainbow of Light, find Wind Whistler and her family and bring them back here. The rainbow bridge is back, and there some ponies that would like to meet them."

The Rainbow of Light took off to the northeast and disappeared over the horizon.

Twilight Sparkle wrapped her wings around Megan as she began sobbing again. "Let it all out," Twilight Sparkle said softly. "You've kept so much bottled up. Take it from a pony who has trouble handling stress, you're doing nopony any favors keeping it in, especially yourself."

Author's Notes:

The story about Majesty turning a goblin to stone while he was on his knees begging for mercy actually happened to the picture book Lucky and the Bewitched Basket.

A lot of this is speculation on my part. I do not claim any of it to be a part of Davidson's continuity unless he says so.

Majesty's Gift

Wind Whistler bit up some grass. The island fortunately had a wide variety of wild grasses to satisfy the taste buds. It was almost like back home except she was alone with her foals.

She wondered what it was like back in Dream Valley. How were the ponies faring building their new society. She longed to be with them.

Wind Whistler looked at herself in a puddle. A pony with matted mane and dulled colors looked back at her with tired eyes. She was twelve, but both her insides and outsides did not show it in different ways. Her insides seemed much younger than she figured and twelve year old pony would feel. Her wings were strong and her senses were sharp. However, after five years of hard living and no access to cosmetics, she looked much older.

“Mother! Mother!” Weathervane shouted from above her.

Wind Whistler looked up at her daughter. Her foals should have been full grown by now, but they looked more like the baby ponies that came from the mirrors. The white filly with a blue mane that reminded her of Cupcake landed in front of her.

“Mother, there’s a boat coming from the south,” Weathervane said. “It’s headed right for the island.”

Wind Whistler frowned. Her little flybys of boats to let Megan know they were still alive might have been too close for comfort. “Find your brother and hide in the cave.”

“What about you, Mother?” Weathervane asked.

“I’ll be fine,” Wind Whistler said with a smile. “I managed to evade Grogar and his horde. I think I can misdirect our unwelcomed guests.”

“Okay,” Weathervane said with a frown. She spread her small wings and flew away.

---

Wind Whistler hid in the bushes overlooking the sandy beach making up the south shore. She stayed low to the ground and watched the speedboat cut through the water straight for the island. As the boat got nearer, Wind Whistler could make out it had two passengers. The one at the driver’s side was a muscular male, and the other was a petite female.

The boat slowed and motored to a point where it could go no further. The man jumped out of the boat and into the water that came up to his waist. He walked around the boat and helped the woman into his arms. He then walked towards the shore.

Wind Whistler rolled her eyes. Great, it’s just some lovesick couple, she thought. If only Heart Throb was here to gush over them.

The man stepped onto the beach and set the woman down. “Are you sure they’re here?”

Wind Whistler tensed. These might not just be a looking for a romantic location.

“I’m sure of it,” the woman said. “This island is right in the middle of all the sightings.”

Wind Whistler swallowed. They were after them. She thought of her very gradually developing foals in the cave. She crouched even lower.

Her maternal instincts were overriding her logic as she went over options. She had two options: flee the island with her foals until these interlopers got bored and left or fight. Assuming they had no weapons, she could take two humans easily. Some well placed strikes of her hooves and wings, and they would not feel a thing. She could then just scuttle their boat with them in it.

“I’m not sure which one you are,” the woman called out. “Are you Paradise, North Star, Wind Whistler? Come on out, my little pony.”

Wind Whistler gasped. She knew that voice. That’s impossible, she thought.

Wind Whistler eyed the woman closer. She was incredibly pale, almost white in complexion. She might have been an albino, but her blue hair and purple eyes were definitely not albino traits. However, they were traits of her.

“Your queen demands your presence,” the woman barked.

Wind Whistler stood up. It was impossible, but she knew the voice and demeanor too well. She stepped out of cover and onto the beach.

“Queen Majesty?” Wind Whistler asked as she walked up to them.

“Wind Whistler,” the woman replied, “I see you recognize me even in this form.”

Wind Whistler scowled. “You’re supposed to be deceased.”

The human who looked like Majesty exhaled a forced chuckle and scratched her cheek nervously. “Yeah…about that. That wasn’t me who Tirac killed.”

“But I saw you—” Wind Whistler stopped in midsentence when she thought of that fateful day with Tirac murdered Majesty. Majesty’s body was torn asunder like paper. It was exactly like paper. There was no blood, no internal organs, she just tore apart. Wind Whistler scowled. “That was nothing but a double to make appear you had been killed.”

“Yup,” Majesty chirped.

Wind Whistler tightened her scowl and glared at Majesty. “You abandoned us! You left us at Tirac’s not so tender mercies”—she turned to the man—“so you could have fun with your bipedaled pleasure implement.”

The man scowled. “Did you just call me a two-legged sex toy?”

“You said it, not me,” Wind Whistler said. She turned back to Majesty. “How could you be so selfish? You created us and then threw us to the proverbial wolves.”

Majesty scowled the way she did when she looked down on her ponies. It was an expression Wind Whistler most often saw her give Applejack who was always making a nuisance of herself even if it was by accident most of the time.

Wind Whistler simply glared back at her. She had grown past Majesty. She had faced so many challenges since she supposed death. Her scorn meant nothing.

Majesty’s scowl formed into a grin. “I see your hard life hasn’t changed you one bit.”

“You’d be surprised,” Wind Whistler grumbled.

“Really?” Majesty asked. “You seem to value loyalty just as much as when I left.”

Wind Whistler stopped to think. Majesty was right like she was so many times. Through everything that happened, loyalty was at the center of it.

“Why are you living on this island in the middle of Lake Huron?” Majesty asked.

“Why are you a human”—Wind Whistler glanced to her companion—“and with him?”

“She should know,” the man said.

Majesty sighed. “Fine.”

She looked to Wind Whistler. “This is Megan’s father.”

Wind Whistler’s jaw dropped. “You’re the horrible louse who abandoned Megan and initiated her hatred of the entire male gender? Do you have any idea the Hell Megan puts Danny through because of your absence?”

“Well—” Megan’s father started to say.

“And you took him away from her,” Wind Whistler scolded Majesty. “How could you do that to a family? If you really needed a human companion that badly, there are literally millions of bachelors out there.”

“He and I go back much farther than Megan and her family,” Majesty said. “When I created my very first ponies, they brought a young man to our world. We fell in love, but something happened, and we realized it was not meant to be.”

“Don’t tell me you—” Wind Whistler started to say.

“Well…yeah,” Megan’s father said.

Wind Whistler smacked her hoof on her face. “That explains Heart Throb’s thing for bipeds.”

Majesty frowned. “Anyway, we realized he had to be with his kind.”

“I loved my wife, but Majesty always had my heart,” Megan’s father said. “So, when she found a way to be human, I had to be with her.”

“Well, I guess that will make Megan a little less bitter about your leaving her mother,” Wind Whistler said dully. “That’s assuming she isn’t disgusted with your true taste in partners.”

“So says the pony who would never take part in the pleasure,” Majesty said haughtily.

Wind Whistler scowled. “I will have you know I have mated and found the experience surprisingly pleasurable. My son and daughter are in fact here with me.”

“And you’re not in Ponyland why?” Majesty asked.

Wind Whistler stopped and heaved a sigh. “I’ve been exiled.” She rubbed her pastern on her leg. “I did a horrible thing, Queen Majesty, and I almost did an even more horrible thing.”

Majesty smirked. “Then you’re just like all the rest of us. Yet, you’ve learned from your mistake, haven’t you?”

Wind Whistler nodded. “Do you have a means for me and my foals to return home? I want to see our friends and family again. I want them to meet their father.”

Majesty frowned. “I’m afraid that will be complicated,” she said in that ominous tone she took down when there was danger. “For one thing, a great darkness has taken over Ponyland for a long time.”

Wind Whistler scowled. “Twilight Wish,” she hissed.

“Twilight Wish?” Majesty repeated as a question. “No, I’m talking about a more familiar darkness. Some of our most powerful enemies are back. I can feel their darkness especially since the rainbow bridge is back.”

“Then I can go home,” Wind Whistler said in a gasp. “I must return at once and help interdict them.”

“Before you go,” Majesty said, “I have a gift for you.”

She reached back and undid a necklace around her neck. She pulled it out of her dress and held it in front of Wind Whistler. The pendant was a clear orb the size of a small marble.

“What’s this?” Wind Whistler asked.

“Do you remember when Glory accidently teleported herself to that alternate world,” Majesty asked, “and the greedy wizard living there stole her horn?”

“I don’t know if you had created me yet,” Wind Whistler replied, “but I remember hearing the story.”

“I went to that world and learned the spell he used to remove her horn,” Majesty said. “Before I took human form, I removed my horn and turned it into this. All my magic is held in this orb. It was the only way to preserve it through the process I had to go through.”

“Why didn’t you leave it with us?” Wind Whistler asked.

“Think of all the things I was able to do,” Majesty said. “If the wrong pony called upon my powers, they could wreak unspeakable terror.”

Wind Whistler backed up a step. “I’m not sure I’m the pony to receive this. I was ruling the ponies with an iron hoof. I was a dictator, a thug. I turned outsiders on my own kind to solidify my tyranny. I’m the last pony you would want to possess that kind of power.”

Majesty took a step forward. “You were. However, you have repented, haven’t you?”

Wind Whistler thought. She was truly regretful for it all and never wished to be that pony again. “I guess I have.”

“Then you are ready to take this power.” Majesty touched the orb to Wind Whistler’s forehead.

Wind Whistler shrieked as pain shot through her entire body. Her legs buckled under her as her entire body felt like it was on fire. Her forehead felt like it was splitting open. She screamed until her voice cracked into a shrill cry. She writhed in the sand, trying to find a position that would lessen the pain. Then, all at once, the pain stopped.

Wind Whistler relaxed and took several breaths. She got her legs under her and slowly stood up. Her legs still shook as her body felt numb compared to the absolute agony that had just ripped through her. Her forehead also felt strange like something was embedded in it.

“Mother!” a young, female voice cried.

“Mother!” a young, male voice followed her.

Wind Whistler turned back. Weathervane and Turbine stood at the edge of the sand. “I thought I told you to remain in the cave,” she scolded.

The two stood there in silence, their eyes wide. Weathervane finally said, “Mother, you have a horn.”

“What do you mean I have a horn?” Wind Whistler looked as best she could to her forehead. She could just make out something protruding from it.

“Perhaps this will provide you a better look.” Majesty held her compact in front of Wind Whistler so she could see herself in the mirror.

Wind Whistler did have a unicorn’s fluted horn. There was also a substantial streak of white went in her mane, another trait of unicorns. She turned to see it better. Her mane and coat had been stored to immaculate condition like she had just been groomed. She turned back to the white ribbon tied around her tail. It had become faded, discolored, and tattered over the years, but it looked brand new and her tail was just as groomed as her mane.

She then thought her wings. She opened her them which were still at her sides.

“You now have my power,” Majesty said. “I would suggest you use it wisely, but I think you already know to do so.”

Wind Whistler heard a familiar sound. She twitched her ear. It was a sound she had been waiting four years for it. It was the twinkling of the Rainbow of Light. She looked up and the ribbon of color spiraled down.

Wind Whistler chuckled. “I am ever so glad to see you, Rainbow.”

The Rainbow circled around her like the playful cat looking for affection. “I know Ponyland is accessible to us again.” She then frowned. “And that it’s in danger.”

“I suggest you see to Megan first,” Majesty said. “I have a suspicion the darkness will track her down first.”

Wind Whistler looked back to her son and daughter watching with genuine concern in their eyes. She turned back to Majesty. “Can you be dependable for once in your life and watch over my son and daughter?”

“I suppose I owe that much,” Majesty said.

“You owe us so much more,” Wind Whistler said bitterly.

She turned her attention to the Rainbow circling her. “Take me back to Megan.”

The Rainbow spiraled away and flew to the southwest. Wind Whistler spread her wings and flew after it. It was going to be just like old times, right down to saving Megan and her fellow ponies from whatever threatened them.

* * * Chapter 8 goes as written until Grogar and Tirac reveal themselves * * *

Megan stared at the two old enemies, speechless that they were disguised as the two princesses. Of all the things to survive from her time in Ponyland, it had to be these two.

She unbuttoned her jacket and pulled out the locket containing the Rainbow of Light. She then remembered the Rainbow was gone retrieving Wind Whistler. However, she could bluff.

She held out the locket. “I know it’s been a while for you two, but I’m sure you remember this. I simply have to give one command and you’re dust.”

Grogar smirked. “Go ahead, my dear. Give us your worst.”

Megan drew in a breath. They called my bluff that easily? she thought. How could they have known I don’t have the rainbow?

The two walked towards her.

Twilight jumped into the middle of them. “I won’t let you hurt her. I also demand you tell us where the real princesses are right now.”

Grogar and Tirac burst into bellowing laughter. They stopped when a faint twinkling filled the air.

Megan heaved a sigh. “Better late than never.”

The Rainbow of Light streamed into the arena. A shower of sparkles materialized as a light blue pony with a pale pink mane. “Wind Whistler,” Megan gasped.

Wind Whistler turned back, showing the horn protruding from her forehead. Megan also realized there was a streak of white in her mane.

“Wait,” Twilight Sparkle said, “I thought you said she was a pegasus.”

“I am a Pegasus, or at least I was,” Wind Whistler said. “I just happened to come into some unicorn powers recently.”

“So,” Tirac said with a smirk, “the prodigal daughter returns.”

“And now that we have two alicorns and the Rainbow of Light,” Twilight Sparkler said angrily, “you better tell us where the real princesses are right now.”

The two smirked. “Right here before you,” Grogar said.

“What?” Twilight Sparkle gasped.

Grogar chuckled. “That’s right, princess. We weren’t impersonating your precious rulers. We were them all along.”

“But—but—” Twilight Sparkle choked.

“But you’re supposed to be dead, Tirac,” Megan said. She turned to Grogar. “You were banished to the Realm of Darkness.”

“You actually didn’t kill me,” Tirac said. “The Rainbow of Light sent me to the Realm of Darkness as well. We met each other and found a means to escape.”

“Then the real fun began.” Grogar said glanced to Tirac. “Should we tell them the tale?”

Tirac surveyed the crowd. “Since we seem to have a captive audience, why not?”

“We realized our powers were useless against Ponykind,” Grogar said. “So we decided to destroy them from the inside out.

“We started by finding two unicorn fillies. We made ourselves immaterial and entered their bodies. I possessed the elder sister, and Tirac possessed the younger.”

“Of course, it wasn’t a complete possession, though we could take full control when we wished,” Tirac continued their exposition. “We entrenched ourselves in deepest crevices of their minds, muttering sweet little lies and schemes to their subconscious. We gently molded their world view so as to keep their apparent benevolence while still executing our agenda. Think of them as the velvet gloves we wore over our iron fists.”

“We then needed to put them in a place of power in order to work our influence into your society,” Grogar said. “We used our powers to give them wings and immortality. We then took the Sun Stone from the flutter ponies to give them power over Mr. Sun and Mr. Moon. The ponies were quick to accept them as their rulers if not demigods, especially after defeating Discord with their new superweapon.”

“The Elements of Hamrony?” Twilight Sparkle gasped. “Are you saying you made them?”

Grogar chuckled. “That we did. We realized there was one power that trumped even the Rainbow of Light. That was the power of friendship, and we crafted the Elements to weaponize that power.”

“But, the Elements are a force for good,” Twilight Sparkle said.

“Are they?” Wind Whistler asked, looking back to Twilight Sparkle. “Evil can be harmonious just as easily as good can be chaotic. Friendship knows no good or evil.”

“As clever as ever,” Grogar said. “I should have figured you would be the one to survive this long.”

“Four years on Lake Huron was certainly rough,” Wind Whistler said, “but it was far from impossible.”

Tirac burst into laughter. “You don’t know? Five years might have passed on this side of the rainbow, but five millennia pasted on our side.”

Wind Whistler gasped. “What?”

“Do you think we could have done this all in five years?” Grogar asked. “We’re good, but not that good.”

“Twilight and Mr. Moon decided to hit fast forward on the timeflow,” Tirac said. “That way, by the time you found a way back, all your loved ones and your very society would be dust. You’d be truly alone.”

Wind Whistler slouched.

“I’m so sorry, Wind Whistler,” Megan said.

“I’m fine, Megan.” The tears streaming down Wind Whistler’s cheeks suggested otherwise. “I will mourn my friends and family in due time, but right now we must defeat these two throwbacks for the sake of the currently living.”

Megan looked to Tirac. “How did you know of Twilight exiling Wind Whistler?”

“It was a little hiccup in our plan,” Grogar said.

“Unfortunately my host was an emotionally weak pony,” Tirac said. “She left herself open for Twilight Wish to enter her as the Nightmare Forces. We had a little turf war until Grogar sealed us away in the Moon. He had to figure out how to remove Twilight and not me. Still, I got to know everything she knew including what happened between her and Wind Whistler.”

“Hmph. I thought I smelled Twilight Wish’s stench when I entered,” Wind Whistler said sharply.

“It took a thousand years, but I finally found six ponies who could unlock the full power of the Elements of Harmony,” Grogar said. “It killed two birds with one stone. I was able to end Luna’s stint as a duplex and find the last pieces for our revenge on Majesty.”

“Majesty’s dead,” Megan said.

“Actually, she’s not,” Wind Whistler said. “Where do you think I procured my new horn? Assuming we live through this, there is much to tell you.”

“Why not tell her right now?” Grogar asked. “Tell her how her father came to Ponyland and sired an abomination with Majesty. Tell her Daddy only settled for her mother and left with Majesty once she found a way to make herself human. Tell her she was being raised as a weapon to be used by the ponies.”

Megan dropped the Rainbow Locket. It hit the earthen ground, and the Rainbow of Light settled on the ground.

“You’re lying,” Megan whimpered.

“Am I, Wind Whistler?” Grogar asked.

Wind Whistler swallowed. “No.” Her lips quivered. “He’s telling the truth.”

Megan dropped to her knees.

“That abomination was me,” Triac said. “She abandoned me, and her creations spat upon me. I swore my revenge on all of them and their descendants.”

“So, you built Equestria?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“That’s the nicest revenge ever!” Pinkie Pie cheered.

Grogar smirked. “Was it?”

“What do you mean?” Rainbow Dash asked. “We’re awesome.”

“They built an empire,” Megan said. “They’ve come a long way.”

Grogar chuckled. “I will admit the ponies have expanded their sphere of influence, but they haven’t advanced much under our reign.

“You should see the ponies of Equestria. They’re weak, frightened, ignorant, and narrow-minded.” Grogar turned his gaze on Applejack. “We’ve convinced them they should see anything new as instantly bad and traditional values should be upheld at all costs.”

“The modern pony is a small creature, and I don’t just mean physically,” Tirac continued. “They go into a panic at the smallest thing that threatens their precious status quo. We’ve removed the ingenuity, curiosity, and fortitude ponies had in Wind Whistler’s time. They’re sheep.”

“They even look like sheep now that I can compare them to a real pony,” Grogar joked.

Along with being stockier and more muscular, Wind Whistler had a slightly longer and boxier muzzle than Twilight Sparkle and the others. Although she was not the spitting image of a true horse by any stretch of the imagination, she did look closer than ‘modern’ ponies.

“That is the potential evil of harmony,” Wind Whistler said. “It can get to a point where the individual loses power in the face of the whole. Are there any great ponies of your time?”

“Well—” Twilight Sparkle started to say.

“No,” Grogar answered for her, “at least none that are considered desirable for the society. The gifted are marginalized and labeled con artists when they try to make a living off their gifts. Again, we have to uphold those traditional values.” He directed the last sentence in a mocking tone at Applejack.

Wind Whistler turned to Applejack. “What did you do?”

“Well—Ah—Ah had to save mah farm,” Applejack said. “They were gonna put it out of business.”

“And you had a knee jerk reaction against any change to your methods, and cider production will be stuck in the Dark Ages for another generation because of it,” Grogar said. “I’m so proud of you.”

Wind Whistler turned to Grogar. “So you’ve retarded social and technological advancement, so what?”

“As we weakened the power of the individual we strengthened the power of friendship and its importance in the public psyche,” Grogar said. “Now, with the Elements of Harmony, we can turn it into the ultimate weapon and destroy everything Majesty built.”

“And you can join us, half-sister,” Tirac said to Megan. “Both of us were born to the same unloving father. We can enact our revenge on him and his whore. I know it burns in you.”

Twilight Sparkle dropped into a sit. She sobbed softly. “Everything I thought I knew was a lie.”

Megan tensed. Hot tears welled in her eyes. “I thought the ponies were doing so well without me. I thought they were finally growing up.”

“They were,” Grogar said. “They had a thriving democratic society that would have been the envy of your ancient Greece or Rome. However, releasing Discord to smash it all in the name or chaos, and then swooping in as the big heroes put an end to that. We also had to rewrite history a little like make up a new origin story for Equestria that vilified debate and upheld conformity, but now the ponies are exactly what we need.”

“Enough talk,” Tirac snapped. “Will you join us sister?”

Megan clenched her teeth. She picked the Rainbow Locket up off the Ground and held it in her fist. The Rainbow rose off the ground and circled around them. She got to her feet and glared at Tirac and Grogar. “I’ll never join you! I don’t care what the ponies have done to you or me. I’ve love them more than life itself, and I wouldn’t give up my time with them for anything in the world. I don’t know how you escaped your prison, but this time I’ll bury you so deep you’ll never find your way back!”

Tirac scowled. “If you won’t join us, sister, you’ll have to help us as target practice.

A crown like Twilight’s and five necklaces floated out of the box.

“But, the Elements will never serve evil,” Twilight Sparkle insisted.

“How soon you’ve forgotten,” Tirac said. “We built a little hidden feature into the Elements. Say we take the Elements away from the wellsprings of magic that formed them and into another world”—he held out his arms and looked around—“a world like this one maybe. The light magic of the Elements of Harmony are dimmed and they can be used by good or evil alike.”

“Now, Element Bearers,” Grogar growled, “time to fulfill your real destiny.”

“What do you—” Twilight Sparkle stopped in midsentence. Her pupils and irises disappeared and are eyes seemed to glow. She lifted off the ground and floated, her legs swinging limply, towards Tirac and Grogar. The other five joined her.

Wind Whistler spread her wings.

“Touch any of them, and they all die,” Grogar said coldly.

Wind Whistler folded her wings and glared forward.

The crown pushed the crown Twilight was wearing off to take its place. The necklaces secured around the others’ necks.

“Good bye, Megan Williams and Wind Whistler,” Grogar said mockingly. “I would say it’s been was a pleasure, but what’s the point of lying to the dead?”

Tirac and Grogar roared with laughter. The six ponies floated into formation between them. Black energy formed around their gems and connected them with beams.