Song Zero: Prelude

/// SONG ZERO ///

PRELUDE

Hey everyone! My name’s Pandora. Thank you so much for taking the time to click into Songs of Sanity and Insanity. The story behind this fanfiction is a little bit special and a little bit different so I just want to touch on a few things before you click ahead and get into reading all of the neat horse words that I’ve written.

First things first: this first act is terrible. It was written during the time of two to four years ago, back when I was a simple Sophomore / Junior in high school, trying to get my writing juices flowing. I was a terrible writer. That being said, I don’t want you to have to read the first few chapters written during that time, which make up of the entirety of Song Zero, but I couldn’t exactly get rid of them as they do provide exposition and a general base to the entire story. That being said, I’m going to name each chapter in Song Zero right here, spoil all of them and give a brief synopsis of what happens (you really do not have to read them), and then provide a direct link to skip right to the beginning of the first act, “Song One: Prophesies and Fallacies.” If you don't want it to be spoiled for you and want to keep reading anyway, I'm so, so sorry, but just keep scrolling down until you see the little marker that shows the start of the Prologue chapter.

This introductory chapter simply gives the basis to our main character, Adrian Decimus. I was an edgy teen, I will admit, but I have grown sort of fond of the name over the years. Adrian has had a hard existence in Equestria since being forcibly pulled from Earth by reasons which he cannot remember. Unbeknownst to the readers or Adrian at the time of the first chapter, in the process of being pulled from Earth into Gaia (the world where Equestria is based), his body was infused with chaos magic, causing him to appear like a ghastly monster to anyone he comes across. In the beginning of this story (which starts a few years already into his curse), he travels to Ponyville, where a mob quickly forms. The Elements of Harmony, always slightly less affected by the curse surrounding Adrian, help to diffuse the situation. Princess Twilight allows Adrian to spend the night in the library, but because of the curse she only brings herself to offer him a bed of books to lay on.

Flashbacks shows the first few days of Adrian’s time in Equestria in which he visited the Crystal Empire and spoke with Princess Cadance about Equestria, Earth, and reveals the effects of his curse to her, to her dismay. While Adrian escapes, Princess Cadance is attacked by her own guard, leading the Princesses and Adrian to learn that the effects of his curse can be transmitted to other ponies if they remain in close physical proximity with Adrian for a long enough period of time, and with time these effects fade. After Adrian escapes the Crystal Empire, he travels back to Ponyville in search of Twilight Sparkle, a name given to him from Cadance. He meets Apple Bloom, who—while frightened by Adrian’s appearance—speaks with him and tells him where the library is.

In the same chapter (not a flashback), Rainbow Dash visits the library and points out how Adrian is looking remarkably better to her, much less monster-esque. Twilight is also surprised to see this, and—at Adrian’s request—teleports him back to his apartment in the Canterlot Castle.

In Twilight, Adrian has an audience with the crown, meeting with Princesses Celestia and Luna in their throne room at Canterlot Castle. On the way, he runs into an old friend named Golden Bow, accompanied with a short flashback scene of how they met (in the early days of Adrian’s curse, while he was under investigation and testing at Canterlot Castle, Golden was one of the guards assigned to him). Celestia and Luna request that Adrian visit the medical science wing once again for additional testing, where the scientists are visibly uncomfortable with his presence, but afterwards Adrian goes for training at the military training arena. Self taught in most magic and physical combat, he wins round after round against opponents before being called to face another round in a separate wing of the training complex. This opponent turns out to be Twilight. The reasoning behind her challenging Adrian is sketchy at best and downright awful at worst, so let’s skip over that with a simple “she wanted to kill him.”

Twilight and Adrian duke it out while Rainbow Dash and Applejack watch from an observation deck above the arena in Bending Reality. Their fight quickly becomes personal, if it didn’t already start that way, and they both lose control, allowing their magic to grow out of control, destroying part of the arena in the process and severely endangering Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who are rescued by a Wonderbolts division moments before death. During the battle, only three ponies are injured: Adrian, Princess Twilight, and a Wonderbolt named Rhino. Adrian saves Twilight at the last second, but most of the fight is forgotten upon waking up in the hospital.

Marked shows Adrian and Princess Twilight in recovery in the hospital. After saving Twilight and risking his own life in the process, Adrian receives his cutie mark, a silver triangle with a golden circle in the center. Princess Celestia tells Adrian that he has been stripped of his chaos magic by a special magic nullification ring created from traces of King Sombra’s Horn, and as long as the ring stays on, ponies will not see the mutated, false form he once projected to them, while still retaining full control over his magic. Adrian and Twilight have a heart to heart conversation, moderated by Princess Celestia, before Celestia leaves and Twilight makes a comment to Adrian about still having to run tests on him.

An extra section at the end of this chapter shows a dark council meeting in a secret location, where the remnants of King Sombra and what is left of his original disciples, where they outline the secret plan they had begun to hatch the second Adrian was being pulled from Earth. Sombra explains that Gaia has an ambient magical diffusal field surrounding its atmosphere, which had kept Earth and Equestria from being able to know of each other’s existence. That diffusal magic had been what was clinging to Adrian’s being and warping other pony’s perceptions of him. Sombra was able to hatch a plan: implant magical energy into Adrian’s being as he passed through the diffusal field, strip him of choice memories (those being his memories of being transported to Equestria), and allow the Equestrians to deal with him, thus having a mole close to the Equestrian crown. Equestria has unfortunately played directly into Sombra’s hooves, by using a nullification ring created from King Sombra’s horn, he is now closer to Adrian’s mind than anyone else.

In Revelation, the true nature of the prophecy surrounding Adrian and his cutie mark are revealed, calling him the Guardian of the Elements. Princess Celestia sends Twilight a box with two daggers within it, each one encrusted with six coloured gems, corresponding to each of the six elements. They walk outside Ponyville’s city limits to practice using the daggers. Twilight brings a catalog of the Royal Archives with her, looking up the daggers and where they came from. Finding the lot number, Adrian asks how often the catalogs are updated, as the dark magic artifacts are continuously tested but the knowledge about them contained within the catalog may be dated. Twilight agrees, and they decide to visit the Royal Archives themselves and see what they can learn about Adrian’s role in protecting the Elements of Harmony from dangers that none of them can fathom… yet.

Sombra is once again shown at the end, gearing up his disciples for a “move on Canterlot” in two days. A pony named Citrine and another pony have a quiet discussion outside the meeting chambers, where it becomes evident that they are running a resistance against Sombra from the inside, and plan on sabotaging his operation in Canterlot.

That’s about the entirety of Song Zero, the Prelude. I will try and fill in as many holes as possible in the first few chapters of Song One. For now, if you wish to read the awful writing that is Song Zero in its entirety: go ahead, I’m not going to stop you. But, if this summary was enough for you, go ahead and skip directly to the chapter called Song One: Prophesies and Fallacies, and enjoy reading Songs of Sanity and Insanity!

Thanks so much.

-Emmy (Pandora)

* [] * [] *

Prelude

For three years I have been living on the outskirts of Canterlot in the dense cover of the Everfree. It has been my home ever since I showed up in the castle’s throne room, covered in scrapes and magical burns in front of multiple members of the royal family. But none of them helped me up, nursed me back to health. No one even threw me in a hospital and left me there to rot.

No one ever would.

My home in the Everfree is basic, yet reliable. It is a three room wood-frame house, complete with a bedroom, bathroom, and living room which doubles as a kitchen and dining room. But no one ever visits.

No one ever would.

My garden outside is full of vegetables, such as carrots, beans, parsley, and broccoli. My food was delicious and I could grow a whole meal for myself because of my previous culinary experiences back on Earth. I went to the Canterlot Farmer’s Market with my wares and produce a few times when I first showed up here, but no one would buy my products.

No one ever would.

See a pattern? Everything I am, everything I HAVE, is tainted. By something that other ponies see in me that I cannot see in myself.

I am hated by every one of them. And I have done nothing to deserve this kind of hatred. When I’m on the street the best situation for me to be in is where everyone leaves me alone. Parts away like I’m fucking Moses and the Red Sea. But that’s the best that can happen.

The worst is much worse and has happened quite a few times. On these such occasions I am afraid to leave my house, not just for my own safety but for the people who don’t know what they’re doing. First time a mob rushed me three ponies almost got trampled to death. Guess who they blamed it on?

Fuckin’ me.

And when a mob rushes you, you better haul ass out of there. First it was blatant taunts, meant to make me run away. Then the insults. Then the rocks. And then finally the wall of death, carrying knives, pitchforks, anything they could get their hands on. And those ponies were relentless.

Even in my very few trips to Ponyville, the home of the Elements of Harmony, the mobs were there. In force. The Elements may have slowed their advances somewhat, but it did little to help. The only ponies who weren’t in the mob that day were the elements themselves, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy.

Fluttershy was shy. Hard to know, right? She was probably holed up in her cabin until I left. Rarity was probably at the Boutique, finishing up some last minute dresses or outfits for Filthy Rich or Photo Finish-and more importantly staying out of my way. Pinkie Pie was probably at Sugarcube Corner, wondering where all her customers went, but as soon as she looked out the window she would know. Adrian was in town. Hide yo kids. Hide yo wife. Hide yo husband.

The only people who were ever on my side were Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Twilight Sparkle. But even they could only help me so much. The elements of harmony protected their minds from the hatred that universally consumed all the other ponies when I came near, but they had to stay hidden while they helped me. Considering Twilight was a newly coronated princess and Rainbow and Applejack were holders of the elements, they would be hated just as much as me if they helped me in any way.

But you’re probably wondering why Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie didn’t help me like the others did. I didn’t know either, but my best guess was that the elements of Magic, Honesty and Loyalty were the fighters of the group, and they were less susceptible to the hate.

So Twilight was holed up in her library with a clear view of the street where the mob was gathering and where I stood, fear in my eyes, smack dab in the middle. She began muttering incantations to herself while a light purple aura surrounded her horn, violet light flashing off the golden spines of books and casting an orange tint around the room.

The commotion was building outside, some already throwing rocks. My magic was firing again and again to repel the rocks from my body, but I was weak. I never got practical magic lessons and was self taught in all my magical endeavors.

A particularly sharp stone glanced my flank, drawing blood and sending pain shooting through my system, clouding my mind. My magic faltered.

Just then I heard the crack of lightning and the boom of thunder from above my head. Several of the ponies in the mob turned their noses upwards to the sky, to see dark rain clouds gathering right above the mob. Lightning flashed again, lighting the surrounding houses and businesses with an electric blue glow. I smiled sadly, knowing that another element of harmony was helping draw the crowd away.

I turned my gaze back down to the crowd to see many of them fleeing back to their homes as the first drops of rain fell, shouting things like “it wasn’t supposed to rain until Thursday!” or “what in the world are those Pegasi doing up there?”

On the periphery of my vision I saw another rock come hurtling from the crowd at my face. I barely fired my magic and caught it in midair before another came from my exposed side, bruising my gray coat. I winced in pain and dropped my magical shield for a moment, only for ponies in the crowd to take advantage of my wounded state and launch another volley of objects my way.

I braced for impact, hunkering down to the ground and trying my hardest for my magic to fire before the cloud of rocks, sticks, and rotten apples met their mark.

But I didn’t have to, because at that moment a light purple aura enveloped my body and burst outwards, freezing the ordinary-objects-turned-weapons in midair. They slowly fell to the ground. I backed away from the mob as they stared, dumbfounded.

“I thought that monster’s aura was orange!”

“What is that horrible thing doing?”

“HEY EVERYPONY!”

That one I wasn’t expecting. The southern drawl was unmistakably Applejack’s, and she caused heads to turn away from me.

“WE GOT SOME MIGHTY FINE CIDER DOWN AT SWEET APPLE ACRES!” the orange pony yelled, gesturing with her hoof. “Come on everypony! First pony there gets the best pick! Ah’ll make sure of that!”

I knew what she was doing and wasted no time in what she wanted me to do. I bolted straight for the library door and threw it open, running in and closing it as quickly and quietly as possible behind me. Drawing the shades I could hear ponies agreeing with Applejack.

“She is right, all this mob business has gotten me pretty thirsty…”

“Bucker should never have come here.”

“He’s not here anymore!”

I peeked through the shades of the window saw ponies on the street staring at the circle of fallen weapons around where I used to stand.

“At least he’s gone and won’t be back soon, for our sake.”

I closed the shades and turned around to see a purple alicorn standing on the stairs, looking away from me deliberately. Twilight’s wings were folded against her body, and she stood there stiffly, almost waiting for me to say something. So I did.

“Thank you, Princess Twil-”

“If they find you here they will kill me,” she said, turning her head so her eyes were staring into mine. I lowered my head, my orange mane falling lower around my neck.

“I… I’ll wait in the attic. Until my magic is enough to teleport me to Ca… b… back.”

“That would be for the best,” the alicorn said, unlocking her eyes from mine.

I slowly trotted up the stairs, passing Twilight. She had tears in her eyes.

“I…” she began. I stopped and turned my head towards her. She turned around to face me, but upon seeing my eyes on her she immediately faced the wall again. “I’m sorry, Adrian. I… I know you never did… anything to deserve this treatment. B… but even I can’t resist hating you, even a little bit. I try as hard as I c-can, but…” A tear fell from her eye.

“I know,” I replied, truthfully. “And I don’t hold it against you. You have done more for me than any other pony I know. Thank you.”

I shakily held up my hoof and brushed away the tear from her cheek. I could feel her muscles tense as I did, but relax once my hoof was back on the ground.

I finished climbing the stairs and was tackling the ladder towards the attic when I heard her voice from downstairs again.

“I’ll send a letter to the Princesses tonight. I’ll see if they’ve come up with anything yet.”

I faltered, thinking of a response. But I couldn’t find any. My mind wandered, and I began to sweat. The last 80 times I had asked the Princesses the results had been negative. Plus the tests they did wasn't exactly pleasant. But Twilight sending a letter? This was definitely progress. Maybe all of this would come to pass on its own. For the first time in two and a half years I was hopeful. My vision started to blur. “... Adrian?”

“Ye… yeah, Twilight. That would be amazing. I can’t thank you enough.”

“It’s nothing.” I could feel the reluctance in her voice.

“I’ll… see you later.”

“Y-yeah… you will. Yeah. Good night.”

And with that I closed the trapdoor and was alone with my thoughts in the musky, dusty attic of a library. Twilight’s library.

My sort-of-a-little-bit friend. Better than nothing.

I cried myself to sleep.

Prelude 1 // Flashbacks

View Online

I awoke on a bed of books. My eyes were crusted. I was thirsty.

I pushed myself off the pile of literature and made my way over to the small window overlooking the town. The leaves of the large oak were threatening to cover the window completely, making the room quite dim. I threw open the window and brushed the leaves away with my magic, looking over Ponyville.

I can feel their feelings towards me. It comes in the mornings and in the evenings, right before I go to bed or right after I wake. I can tell whether I should stay inside or whether it’s safe enough to go out.

Yesterday I told myself I wouldn’t go outside, for I could feel their anger in my heart. A deep throbbing.

But the Princesses convinced me otherwise, since “Princess Twilight needs your assistance.” I knew they were bullshitting me, they just wanted me to go outside and get some fresh air. I couldn’t blame them. Being cooped up in a small house for two weeks straight can take a lot out of you.

I guess my personality from Earth carried over here, to Equestria. Back when I was a Sophomore I would stay inside all summer and play video games with my internet friends. And if you’ve ever stayed inside for long periods of time you would know what I’m talking about. You just are tired. All the time.

That’s actually how this all started. This whole “teleportation” thing. Being stuck here for three years. Not being old enough to know what was happening, much less where I was or how I got there. Magic is a crazy cool thing, but it can also be crazy dangerous.

Just like Cadance found out.

She told me the whole story a week after I arrived in Equestria. We were seated in her room in the Crystal Empire, the windows thrown open, door locked, and a breeze floating through the spacious area. Her husband, Shining Armor, was on guard duty. But luckily enough even he didn’t hate me as much as other people. Maybe it’s because he married the Princess of Love.

But he was cool. And Princess Cadance was definitely cool. She actually thought of me as a friend. Being the Princess of Love taught her to have respect for all living creatures, and therefore her level of tolerance and her peacefulness were higher than anyone else in the kingdom, even Celestia.

Cadance told me about the spell.

“It was supposed to be a new breed of teleportation spell,” she started, looking at the floor nervously, her magical aura enveloping a small spoon and using it to mindlessly stir her tea. “We had never been able to teleport large groups of ponies before without significant magical strain.” She paused, going over what she had just said. Meanwhile I was trying my hardest to levitate a book from her coffee table and bring it to me. Being new to magic I was having some trouble, and couldn’t get it to move more than a centimeter into the air before the strain was too much.

The book dropped to the table for the seventh time in a row. I grimaced.

Cadance lightly chuckled. I turned to face her, blushing at my magical ineptitude. “If you keep trying that you’ll have a massive headache.”

“Then how do you do it so easily?” I asked, leaning forward towards her.

“Practice. But, only a little bit a day until your magical reserves can strengthen and grow,” she added, noticing my look that said “what do you think I was doing?”

I leaned back again, placing my hoof behind my head.

“Oh, right,” Cadance set down her tea and continued. “With the spell I had prepared, we managed to successfully teleport a group of 10 ponies to the throne room.” The pink alicorn smiled, then sighed. “Celestia wanted to try it from further away, as the ponies we teleported were directly outside the castle.”

“So you’re saying that you did the spell from too far away, and you brought me here?” I butted in, confused. “All the way from Earth?”

Cadance sighed and looked out the window, overlooking the cityscape of the Crystal Empire. “We ponies don’t know how far away your world is from ours. It could be in a neighboring planet, right here in our own solar system. Only then would it be possible.”

“Then it’s impossible.”

The Princess of Love looked up at me, quizzically.

“How? It’s the only reasonable idea of how you got here.”

“At my world, we had a large space program. We sent up all kinds of crazy satellites and spaceships ‘up there,’ and a couple of them have even exited our own solar system. We only have eight planets. And none of them are capable of supporting organic life.”

I realized that I had stood up in the middle of talking and had been gesturing with my hoof. Cadance looked down again at her teacup in thought while I seated myself on the sofa.

After a few minutes of neither of us talking, I finally spoke.

“On a side note, why does everyone here seem to hate me?”

Cadance looked up at me quizzically for the thousandth time that day.

“What do you mean? In Equestria nopony really hates anypony.”

“Yeah, I think you’re wrong about that. When I stepped out in… uh… that capital city… all the ponies on the street stared at me, then started whispering to each other. But I look like any other pony, so how would they know I’m not from around here?”

Cadance was still looking at me funny. “What? They glare at me and everything?” Still no response from the alicorn. “I can show you. I bet you 10 bits that when I step out on that street, they will stare.”

“You’re on,” Cadance said, standing up on all fours.

The princess led me down the grand spiral staircase in the castle. The clopping of our hooves was resonated tenfold in the grand entryway. But I’ll admit it, I was scared.

For the past week, being outside had scared me. Not just because I was more of an indoors kind of guy as a human, but because of the looks they gave me. And the way they talked. And the way they turned up their noses in disgust and walked away. I knew something was up. Shining Armor even did it a little bit.

But on this day, I awoke with a painful sensation in my chest. I thought I was just a little sore from walking around all day, but this was different. It wasn’t physical, but emotional. And I hadn’t gone outside that day, so I didn’t know what to expect. Was I trying to warn myself? Trying to make me go back to my room and wait the day out? Do anything but go outside? I didn’t know. But I had a bet to win, a bet made with a princess. I was not going to let some heartache stand in my way.

Cadance’s magic threw open the grand castle doors and a rush of cool air greeted us, our manes flapping slightly in the strong breeze. We stepped outside.

And boy did the heads turn fast.

The Crystal Ponies glared. Snarled, kicked dust under their legs. But all I did was grin at the princess.

“What did I tell you, princess? They’re absolutely pissed for some reason.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Cadance said, shocked at the outcome. I turned to go back inside when I heard her voice calling back to me. “Wait inside, Adrian. I’ll ask around.” I nodded and closed the doors behind me. Without magic it was fairly difficult, but it seemed as though I had kept my muscle mass from Earth, too. And let me tell you, not going outside often does not mean I didn’t work out.

Forcing the doors closed took some effort, but I finally did it. I trotted back up the stairs towards the guest wing, where I would be making my stay. Normally the Royal Guards protecting the wing would be super chill with letting me waltz on in to my room, but I guess the odds weren't in my favor.

Should’a stayed in bed today.

“Halt,” one of the guards said. Their muscles tensed and their spears came together in front of me in an X shape. “You cannot pass into this wing.”

“Um,” I started, not knowing what to say. “I’ve lived in this wing for the past two days, why can’t I get to my room?” I moved forward again, expecting their spears to part, but their muscles only tensed more, as if they were expecting me to make some sort of violent motion.

“You are not like us, are you,” the guard who spoke first commented.

“No, not really, I just got here.” I was thoroughly confused now. They had let me in and out of my chambers over ten times now.

“Until you have proper clearance, you cannot pass.”

“Are you kidding me? You’ve let me though before? Why not now?” I stammered.

“Just let him through, Star Shield,” a feminine voice behind me demanded. “I need to speak with him in his chambers.”

Turning around just confirmed my assumptions. It was Cadance, but it looked as though she was unnerved.

“Very well, Princess. If you insist.” The guards removed the spears blocking my path and stood at the ready once again. I smiled.

“Thanks, guys!” I exclaimed. They glared at me, their brown eyes bearing down into my orange ones. I slowly stepped forward, testing what they would do. When all they did was glare, I picked up the pace and trotted down the corridor to the first room on the right, Cadance following in tow. The alicorn opened the door for me (a little harder than usual) and gestured for me to go first.

Once we were both inside, she shut the door, locked both the bolts, and fired some magic from her horn that filled the room, coating all the walls in a soft pink.

“What was that? And why didn’t they let me pass? And why do you look so terrible? No offense…”

“You cannot leave this castle, Adrian. Not until I say so.”

I was shocked. “What? Why?” I choked out, the words barely making it past my lips before the princess motioned for me to sit down beside the kitchen island.

“This may be hard for you, Adrian, but if you could just bear with me a-”

“I can’t go outside?! I can’t go outside! How is this okay? I need to go outside, I need fresh air, and I need to talk with peop-I mean ponies!” I sputtered, my words an incoherent stream of consciousness that was quickly losing sanity.

“Adrian!” Cadance's harsh voice brought me back to reality.

I sighed and looked into Cadance’s purple eyes. She was distraught, clearly.

“Look, Cadance, I can’t even use magic. I need to learn, which means going outside, and meeting people and learning things.”

“Adrian, you don’t need to learn how to use magic.”

“What do you mean? Of course I do! I’m a Unicorn!”

“No, Adrian.” Cadance’s eyes were sullen. She looked away from me, as if contemplating how to word her next sentence. But no matter way she could have worded it, the effect would still have been there.

“Adrian, you need to learn how to stop using magic.”

* [] * [] *

“They think you’re something you’re not, Adrian.” Cadance began, sadly. “Your magic is making them see… things. Things I cannot see.” She looked at my eyes, and saw that hers were full of fear.

I was speechless. A couple minutes ago I was fretting over how I wasn’t able to make a book lift off a coffee table, and now I was being told that I am always using magic. No, not just magic. Dark magic. That Cadance couldn’t sense. My eyes went to the window. Dark storm clouds were growing outside, and the coolness of the sudden change of weather was permeating the room. I shivered.

“Then how can I learn to stop it?” I inquired, my brain full of jumbled words and sentences. “You’re making them see things. Things I cannot see.”

“Hallucinations.”

“Making them angry.”

“They are afraid of their own safety. They think you are trying to kill them.”

“They will kill you, Adrian.”

I snapped back to reality. Cadance was silent. The window was closed. The room was cold.

I was dying inside. I had a problem that I couldn’t fix. And it was hurting the carefree, friendly ponies around me.

“Trying to kill them.”

“Hallucinations.”

“They will kill you.”

Back on Earth, I avoided conflict as much as possible. When my parents were mad at me I wouldn’t talk back, or argue, or make valid statements to make them see their errors or to leave me alone. I would ask how I could make it right. How I could fix things. When my girlfriend of three years decided to leave me for another guy she had known for a month, I didn’t ask why, or get angry. I asked how I could fix things. And when I couldn’t fix things, I broke.

I couldn’t fix anything here. And I was breaking.

Pretty soon I was lying on the floor, crying. Cadance was standing over me, attempting-and failing-to comfort me.

“Sh… Adrian, it will all be fine. We’ll work through this together.”

“I need to find out what’s wrong with me. What am I doing? Who can tell me?”

“There is one pony who lives in Ponyville. She is the Princess of Magic. She may be able to diagnose your condition.” I stopped crying and wiped the excess tears from my cheeks as I stood up.

“Where is she?”

“She is also an astronomer, she could find out where your home planet is in relation to Equ-”

“Where is she, Cadance.”

The alicorn stopped talking and looked down.

“The Ponyville Library. It’s inside a large oak tree. But please, go at night. I don’t know what these ponies could do to you.”

“I do,” I said over my shoulder as I stepped out of the kitchen and into the living room. Stopping at the coffee table I tried to raise a book off the table again. I failed.

“And that is…” Cadance started, trotting towards me. The look on her face told me she was waiting for me to finish my sentence.

“You already told me.”

“Trying to kill them.”

“Hallucinations.”

“They will kill you.”

Cadance sat down beside me on the couch and put her hoof around my shoulders. We sat there in silence for a while. Just enjoying the gathering storm clouds outside my window. The different shades of gray, the colors of the sunset as the sun dipped below the clouds in the distance, casting reds and oranges into my room. But then a shadow flew in front of the window. An opaque shadow.

A Crystal Pony.

She stopped and looked inside. Upon seeing me, her eyes widened and the next words that pegasus said were muffled by the glass but still very clear:

“THE MONSTER IS TRYING TO KILL THE PRINCESS!”

I looked at Cadance.

She looked at me.

“Screw waiting until sundown,” I said, standing up. “I need to go. Now.”

I grabbed a saddlebag from the hangar next to the door and threw it over my back. Cadance slipped some food from my refrigerator into it, and opened the door using her warm pink magic. I nodded to her, and she smiled.

“Be careful, Adrian.”

I turned my head back and smiled. Then I was out the door.

--*--_ [] _--*--

-=Third Person=-

Cadance stood near the window, gesturing “NO!” over and over again to the group of Pegasi throwing themselves onto the window in an attempt to crack it. At first only a few splinters of glass appeared. The Princess of Love watched in shock as the bruised group of Crystal Ponies made crack after crack, spider-webbing out from the center of their assault. The banging on the locked door didn’t exactly help either, considering Cadance’s locking spells went directly to her main source of magic, her horn. Which meant she had a splitting migraine.

She realised that either the guards on the other side of the door would break through, rendering her unconscious and labeling Adrian as the doer of such an act, or the window would break, possibly hurting her in the process, which would also be blamed on Adrian. But she had to buy him as much time as possible. Muttering an incantation under her breath, new pink auras sprouted from her horn and coated the walls in a warm pink glow. Then she took cover underneath the sofa just as the glass shattered.

The Pegasi smashed into the ground with enough force to make the ground shake and Cadance scream as her incantations broke, sending guards flying in through the door, spears at the ready. She had to act.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re here!” she blurted out, coming out from underneath the sofa and standing on her legs again. She fought back the pain in her forehead and managed to smile.

“What did it do to you, Princess?!” one of the guards asked, wide eyed. Cadance was confused. There was nothing wrong with her coat, her mane was more or less okay…

“Stay back!” the guards commanded, pointing their spears directly at the alicorn’s chest. She was afraid they would do something drastic. Cadance whirled around and faced the Pegasi, who had also begun to back away towards the window.

“What’s the problem, Star Shield?” the princess questioned, turning back to the guard in charge.

“I SAID STAY BACK!” Star Shield shouted, his eyes blazing with fear and fury. The guards gripped their spears tighter. Cadance started to move forward towards the guards in a welcoming manner.

“Please, Star, you can tel-”

However her statement was cut short from a blast of blue magic emanating from Star Shield’s horn. The blast caught the alicorn in the chest and she was thrown backwards across the room.

All Cadance could do was watch in horror as she hurtled out of the window on the 20th story and plunged towards the ground below. Her chest was burning and her horn was about to explode, but she summoned every last bit of magical energy she had and made one last spell.

“ArrrRRRGHHHH!”

A shout and a flash of pink light.

--*--_ [] _--*--

Star Shield looked down from the window to where the mangled, distorted Princess Cadance had fallen. He hoped he had made the right decision by forcing that monster out the window. The tentacles, the teeth, the blood, the suffering. He had no choice.

Star Shield sighed. He saw no body at the bottom of the courtyard, and the only evidence that any magic had been used at all was the grotesque flash of sickly green light that had teleported the princess away.

“The monster is not here,” Star Shield began. “But we have to find it before it can hurt anypony else. We cannot let what happened to Princess Cadance here happen to any other pony.” There were nods of agreement throughout the assembled group of guards.

Star Shield turned back around to face out the window and just managed to make out a fast-moving blur of orange weaving its way into the Everfree. “You see that, men? You three,” he said, pointing a hoof towards the Unicorns in the group, “can you teleport us over there to intercept it? I fear it is heading for Ponyville.” The Unicorns nodded in unison and began the spell. The guards huddled together as a blinding flash of white light engulfed them. Then the guards disappeared.

* [] * [] *

I shook away my memories and closed the window. Today felt good. I would be safe.

I stepped away from the window and looked over the attic where I had spent at least ten nights of my life. It was dark, dusty, and a little bit disorganised. I guessed that Twilight’s OCD hadn’t really touched this room since it was really only used for ripped and broken books, Spike’s little getaway spot, and my sleeping area when I was unable to leave Ponyville.

I pushed my pile of books to the side and sneezed as a large dust cloud came to meet my nose. Then I opened the hatch leading into the attic and threw down the ladder, making as much noise as possible. If I accidentally scared Twilight in any way, there would be painful repercussions. Plus, I had been intentionally avoiding the subject of what my magic would make the ponies see. And I didn’t want to take the chance that Twilight wouldn’t react negatively to a horrible looking monster jumping down from her attic.

“Morning, Twilight,” I shouted as I descended the ladder, making sure I pushed it back up to its proper place in the attic once my hooves were set on the floor.

“Hey, Adrian,” Twilight said brightly from downstairs. “Come down here, I have something I need to show you.”

“Sounds important,” I mused, beginning to make my way down the stairs. Another voice caught my attention. It was lower than the other girls, which could only mean one thing…

“Hey, Adri! What’s sha-oh my Celestia!” Rainbow Dash blurted from the bottom of the stairs. I froze.

“Is it bad?” I asked, scared. If I had felt great this morning but the ponies were surprised about something, that could only mean one thing. I looked horrid to them.

--*--_ [] _--*--

The first time a pony ran away was a week after I fled the Crystal Empire. I had made it to Ponyville, and under the cover of night I was able to slip into the Sweet Apple Acres apple grove and make a little home for the night in a random tree.

Once morning had come, I made my way into town. I didn’t feel nearly as bad as the day before, but I felt like something wasn’t… right. Three fillies were playing in the street with red capes, making drawings in the dirt with long sticks that a whitish one with purple hair was waving around with her magic. I knew that these weren’t exactly the people to ask for directions, but there was no one else on the street.

“Hello?” I coughed, hoping to slowly draw their attention so they wouldn’t scream.

An orange one looked at me and went wide-eyed. Then she was gone in an instant, pulling the whiter one with her. All that was left of the two fillies was a fleeting dust cloud. I sighed. The way they galloped away like that, it hurt me.

But then I noticed something else. The last filly hadn’t run. She was still standing in the middle of the street, cape over her shoulders. She cautiously trotted over to me, eyes meeting mine. I looked at her for a moment.

“Why don’t you run away like your friends?” I asked, hoping to play the SOB story card in order to get some sort of information out of her.

“Mah big sis’ told me to be strong in the face of danger, or something like that,” she cautioned, meeting my gaze with her big orange eyes.

“Danger?” I asked, confused. “What’s dangerous around here? The sky is blue, the grass is green, it seems alright to me.”

“You. You’re dangerous.”

I took a step back. But then I remembered what Cadance had said, and I lay down on the ground. She was right. They did think I was trying to kill them. Which meant that those two fillies would bring their parents. And then no more Adrian Decimus. Their hallucinations were getting the best of them. I needed to figure out why.

“How am I dangerous?” I began. “To Princess Cadance, Celestia, and Luna, I’m just an ordinary pony like you, or your friends. Look, my coat is gray, my mane is orange, I don’t have a cutie mark, what’s wrong with me?”

“Your coat is gray?” the filly asked. “To me it looks ripped. Worn down. You have tentacles comin’ out of yer legs. Yer mane is a mess, and it’s not orange. It’s green. And yer mouth is dripping with some red stuff. Yer teeth are long.”

I reeled back. Was that actually what she saw or was she just joking with me? “Why do you see yerself gray and orange when everypony else sees you as a horrible monster?”

“I don’t really know,” was my truthful reply. I sat down on my haunches and played with the dirt. “But I know that I’m not trying to do anything. Cadance said it was dark magic that I was unintentionally using. Some days it’s worse than others.”

“Worse how?” the yellow filly asked, sitting down next to me. She stared into my eyes with those big orange ones.

“Yesterday I was in the Crystal Empire,” I began. “But the guards and Pegasi drove me out. They thought I was trying to kill Cadance, when all we were doing was hanging out in my room. She doesn’t see me as a horrible monster, she and the other princesses see me as an actual pony. With a gray coat and orange mane. Same way I see myself. They drove me out.

“I ran. I don’t know what happened to Cadance, but I hope she and Shining Armor are alright. I got into some altercations along the way with some guards, but they were dealt with. When I got here it was midnight. There was no one else around, which was a good thing because I probably would have been driven out of Ponyville for looking like that. But now I don’t feel as bad as yesterday, which is probably why you're not running away, screaming to your parents.”

“Ah don’t have parents,” the yellow filly said. I looked at her.

“Well of course you do! Everyone has parents,” I started, trying to make sense out of the situation.

“Not me. I live with mah Grandma, big sis’ and brother. But that’s all.” The filly’s eyes were becoming droopy and sad, and I feared she was about to cry.

“What’s your name?” I asked her, causing her to look up.

“Apple Bloom. What’s yours?” The filly smiled.

“Adrian.”

“Adrian? That’s ah funny name.” Apple Bloom looked at the ground and smiled. “What does it mean?”

“I don’t think it means anything,” I answered truthfully. “I think that my parents just gave it to me because they thought it was cool. I don’t think it needs to mean anything, does it?”

“Sure it does!” Apple Bloom shot up from her seat on the ground. I cocked my head to the side in a questioning look. “Mah name is Apple Bloom, and Ah live on Sweet Apple Acres! My sis’s name is Applejack, and my brother’s name is Big Macintosh. And my grammy’s name is Granny Smith. We’re all named that because we are all apple farmers! Have been for generations.” The yellow filly turned around and gasped. “Wow, I guess you were right!”

“About what?” I asked, confused for a second time.

“Yer coat! And mane! It’s gray and orange! Still looks super scraggly and scratched, and your teeth are still really long, but it’s gray and orange!” A weight was lifted off my chest.

“Really?” I asked, looking at myself. “I look the same to me…”

“Not to me,” Apple Bloom said matter-of-factly. “Now, what did you come to Ponyville fer? Apples? Books? Sweets? Clothes?”

“I’m looking for a pony named…” I fished around in my saddlebag until I pulled out a folded piece of paper with a name written in horrible handwriting. “... Twilight Spar… Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle. Do you know where she is?”

“‘Course Ah do,” the filly replied. “Everypony knows everypony here. She’s the librarian. And one o’ the Elements. Same with mah sister!” I was impressed. This filly really knew her stuff. Or maybe everyone around here did. I really had no idea how many ponies this town held. “What do you want with Twilight?”

“Cadance told me she could help me find out what I’m doing to make all this dark magic appear,” I answered truthfully. “I need to figure this out before it gets out of hand.”

“She lives in the Ponyville Library, in the huge oak tree. Few blocks to the North and ya should get there in a jiffy!” I smiled at Apple Bloom, who smiled back.

“Thanks, Apple Bloom.” I started to leave, but then I turned around. “If your sister asks about me, can you just say that I mean no harm to anyone?”

“Sure thing!” Apple Bloom said, running in the opposite direction. “I gotta get home anywho, I got some homework ta work on. See you later, Adrian!”

No one bothered me on the way to library.

* [] * [] *

“No, you don’t look bad at all!” Rainbow Dash remarked, flying up to me and touching my coat. I cocked my head, confused. “Yo Twi, stop doing your egghead stuff and check out Adri!”

“It’s not ‘egghead’ stuff, Rainbow. It’s actual wo-WOAH!”

“What’s going on…” I asked quietly to no one in particular.

“You don’t look half as bad as yesterday!” Rainbow remarked. “Your coat is ripped and stuff, and your teeth are real freakishly long, but you’re not drooling blood from your mouth anymore and your tentacles are gone!”

“Damn, really? This is awesome!” I was elated. I smiled down at Twilight who smiled back. “Does this mean that all this is just running it’s course?”

“I don’t know yet,” Twilight answered, grabbing some papers off the desk with her purple aura. She flew them over to me and I grabbed them in my own orange aura, bringing them to my face. “Those are letters I sent to Luna and Celestia. Still haven’t got a reply yet.”

“Gotcha,” I muttered, reading the letters over. They were merely diagnostics on my current health and condition, as well as an attached chart of what I looked like on each day of the month. “Can you see a pattern in the days?”

“Nope. Totally random,” Rainbow explained over my shoulder. “‘Egghead’ over there and I have been studying these for an hour.” Twilight glared at Rainbow, then sighed and continued her work. “Nothing weird, except for the whole ‘scary as buck’ thing.”

“Right…” I said, disappointment evident in my voice.

“Hey, don’t feel so bad,” Twilight said. I turned my attention over to the purple alicorn who had begun pulling books off the shelves and levitating them over to the desk. “You don’t look half bad today.”

I nodded but the force of the diagnostic had already taken its toll. I descended the rest of the way down the stairs and sat down on the couch.

“Speaking of which, Twi, I got something to ask you about,” Rainbow started, flying over next to the princess and looking over her shoulder. Twilight turned her gaze to Rainbow, as if asking her to continue. “Some Pegasi in Cloudsdale were giving me some weird looks as I came over here this morning.”

“This is the first time you’ve spoken with me in person in a while,” I mused, laying back on the couch and gazing up at the ceiling. The rings in the massive tree made natural concentric circles on the roof. “Twilight does on a mostly daily basis, but she never really converses with any ponies on the street since she started helping me. Have you gone out recently, Twi?”

“No,” the purple alicorn answered. “I mainly just teleport to the throne room. There aren’t many ponies there, so I haven’t noticed anything changing.”

“Good. If you don’t want them to give you bad looks, keep away from me or any other pony for a week.” Rainbow looked at me, then yawned.

“Right, because if I hang with you then your magic rubs off on me. Got it,” the Pegasus said. “Alright. Cool. But I gotta dash, so see you tomorrow, Twi, and see you in a week, Adri!”

I waved and Twilight did too. Then the Pegasus was gone.

Turning back to Twilight I gave her the same message.

“Don’t try going outside for a while, Twi. You’re just asking to be mauled.”

“Got it,” Twilight responded, still working on her notes. “You’re heading back to Canterlot today, right?”

“Eyup,” I answered, standing up and stretching my legs. “I should be good to go outside, but I don’t really want to make the trip on foot. Plus I haven’t mastered that teleportation spell yet and I would probably send myself to Tartarus. Would you be cool teleporting me to my apartment there?”

“Absolutely. We’re making progress, motherbucker, this is progress!” Twilight came close to me, and I looked into her deep purple eyes. I smiled. She grinned. “Alright, hold on to your horn.”

“I know the drill,” I said, bracing myself. Twilight laughed.

“‘Course you do.” Twilight stepped back and her horn lit.

Next thing I know I’m in the middle of my apartment in Canterlot, in front of the mirror. For just a second I saw my long teeth, matted and cut coat, and long, sharp horn. Then it all flashed back to reality. My dull gray horn, my short teeth, my clean coat, and my blatant lack of Cutie Mark.

This day was going well.

Prelude 2 // Twilight

View Online

A castle is big. Like, scary big.

I made my way through the winding hallways and up grand staircases, through gardens, across ponds. Looking up through a skylight I could see that it was about midday, and Celestia’s sun was high in the sky. Shielding my eyes I kept trotting towards the two massive golden doors that led into the throne room, the place I was scheduled to meet the princesses. Guards aware of my condition smiled at me, apparently not seeing anything very out of the ordinary with me, just like Rainbow and Twilight. They happily opened the door for me.

“The princess is waiting for you,” one of them said as I walked up.

“Thanks, Golden Bow. How are you these days?”

“Very good, thank you.” He shifted his gaze towards the door. “Is your magic good enough to open them or should we?”

“Nah, I can do it. But thank you,” was my response. My orange aura grabbed the two massive doors and they swung inwards, casting golden glows over the walls.

My Celestia the throne room was massive.

The Princess of the Sun herself was seated at a golden throne in the front of the room, squarely centered with the golden doors I had just walked through. On her left and right there were two smaller thrones, one made out of blue topaz, and the other made out of amethyst. Princess Luna was seated in the throne made of topaz, while the amethyst throne was empty. I had seen Twilight herself seated there multiple times, so I didn’t have to guess who was missing from the company.

Celestia roze and trotted over to me. Luna smiled from her throne and stood, waving a hoof clad with gold and lapis lazuli in my direction.

“Adrian! How are you feeling?” Celestia asked. I bowed low to the ground and said took the time to practice my best mock-royal tone.

“Greetings, my princess,” I said slowly and deliberately. “How is thy majesty on this beautiful day?”

Luna chuckled from her throne.

“Thou hast stolen my tone! Thou shalt be punished!” Luna shouted in the “royal canterlot voice, immediately sitting back down and covering her mouth with her hands to cut down the laughing noises she was making. Celestia rolled her eyes.

“Have you much to report, Adrian?” she asked, looking down at me.

“Yeah, but not much. Twilight and Rainbow said I looked great today. They were working on figuring out patterns in the days I gave vivid hallucinations and days when they were cut back.” I stopped and looked at the floor. “I just want this to be over and live a normal life, Princess. Have you found out anything yet?”

“No, my little pony. I am sorry.” The princess put a hoof under my chin and lifted it up so that my gaze met hers. “But do not fret, for I have something you may enjoy!”

“Something I may enjoy…” I echoed in mock pondering.

“Oh, yes.” The Princess of the Night rose from her seat at the throne and trotted over to where her sister and I were talking. “Golden Bow?” she called to the guards outside.

Almost instantly the door was encased in a yellowish aura and the doors were thrown open. In trotted the very Unicorn I had been speaking with moments ago.

“Yes, your highness?” he asked, standing at attention.

“Please accompany Tia, Adrian and I to the testing chambers, please.”

“Yes, your highness. Right away.” Golden turned on his hoof and trotted towards the door. Celestia nudged my back with a hoof, my saddlebags jostling on my shoulders a tad.

“After you, Adrian,” she urged. I nodded and made my way to the door. Golden smiled. He could tell by the look on my face that I knew what we were going to the testing chambers for.

“Adrian, don’t worry about it. We aren’t doing those kinds of tests anymore. The princesses have all the data they need.” The golden doors were pushed open once again and I was on my way down to the testing chambers, flanked on either side by a celestial deity. Most ponies would have killed me for this kind of treatment.

Then again, most ponies probably would kill me anyway. Ba dum tiss.

--*--_ [] _--*--

No, the tests weren't bad in the past. “Uncomfortable” is probably a more precise word to describe the poking, prodding, neverending gaze of the scientists. But mainly they were just poking thin air around my body. The first time I went in I thought they were crazy. Celestia did, too, until a newly recovered Cadance, accompanying us on this particular trip, told her what she knew.

“Um, you know you’re not touching me, right?” I asked one of the scientists who pushed his goggles off his head with a spare hoof to answer me.

“Sure I am. Your tentacle thing. Right here,” he remarked, poking something to the left of my shoulder. “See?”

“Right…” I said, rolling my eyes and turning back to the triple-thick pane of glass that the three princesses were standing behind, watching the proceedings intently. The intercom started to boom with Cadance’s voice.

“Adrian, don’t worry about it. Your dark magic is making them see you as a monster.”

“Well I know that,” I said, turning back to the scientist who had begun jotting down some notes with a pen controlled by a brownish aura. He pushed his white mane back over his shoulder and inspected me once more, then continued to write, goggles hanging off his neck. I kicked one of my white hooves in boredom. “Besides, Apple Bloom told me what I looked like to her. Is that the same to everyon-I mean pony?”

“You spoke with Apple Bloom?” was Celestia’s suprised reply.

“Yeah. She’s really nice, too,” I remarked. “She talked with me about what I looked like and why those other two fillies ran away. Then when she understood I meant no harm she saw me as who I really was. Then she pointed me towards Twili… oh, hey Twilight!”

“Sorry I’m late, Princess… es…” Twilight choked out as she stored a few pieces of parchment in her saddlebag and turned towards the window, standing next to Celestia. “So how’s he doing?” Celestia was about to answer but I wanted to, instead.

“This is weirding me out, to be honest,” I burst out, facing Twilight. “You’re a princess too, how come Luna and Celestia can see me as a pony but you can’t?”

“Princess Luna and Celestia. And I don’t know.”

“Come on, Twilight, be civil,” was Cadance’s immediate reply. Twilight snorted and looked away. I rolled my eyes. This is exactly how she acted at the library too, after Applejack came in and told her what her sister had said. Before then she was all nails and teeth. And I mean ALL. I had looked down at my hoof, remembering the burns she had inflicted from her horn. I snickered.

The scientist turned back to me after finishing his notes.

“Alright, Mr. Decimus, we’ll have your results in a few days. Try not to go outside…”

I laughed.

“You think I’ll be doing much of that with this whole deal going on?” The scientist chuckled, too, then turned and left back into an office space. The room was gassed and I was let outside by a couple of attendants to where the princesses were standing. Only one of them wasn’t smiling.

“Princess Celestia?” a voice from behind me said. I turned around and was looking at a Unicorn with a golden coat and red hair in full royal guard armor. He wasn’t holding a weapon and was staring straight past me at the princesses.

“Yes, Golden Bow?” Celestia responded, stepping beside me and looking down upon her subject.

Golden swallowed. “Um, your chariot to Manehattan is here…”

“Oh! Thank you, Golden. I would never have remembered without you.” Celestia walked past the stallion and down the hallway. I smiled.

“Your name is Golden Bow?” I asked, grinning.

“Yeah. What’s yours?” he responded, seeming to lose a little composure. He was relaxing, but I didn’t understand why. Should he be flipping out? I hadn’t the slightest idea.

“Adrian Decimus,” I responded, stepping forwards and offering my hoof. He took it had we shook.

And he didn’t touch empty air.

--*--_ [] _--*--

Walking alongside Golden today was the same it had been for years. His careful confident trot beside my clumsy canter was probably what one would expect from a royal guard. He always held his spear high, and when he was on duty he was the most stoic, unflinching pony you would ever meet. But if you met him when he was off work, it was a whole different story.

“We still on for later tonight?” I asked him after I had bid Celestia and Luna adieu after some interesting testing. Mainly on my magical capabilities and what would happen with an onlooker when I wore magic restraining devices. Golden nodded.

“Oh yeah,” he confirmed. He shook his crimson mane out of his eyes and donned his helmet again, the magical powers contained inside the armor making it stick up into a mohawk. “Remember that place I told you about?”

“Yep. And now that I don’t look too bad, we can chill there without getting kicked out!” I chuckled, remembering a certain night a couple years back. Golden laughed and punched me in the shoulder.

“Still think you shouldn’t have started that whole thing with that mare…”

“Ha! What can I say? When I don’t look bad, I can enjoy myself… if you know what I mean…” I nudged him in the shoulder and winked. Golden gave an overly emphasised eye roll.

“Okay, but next time make sure it’s not the manager’s daughter.” He laughed again. This time I looked away. We were getting pretty close to my apartment. “Meet you outside at six?”

“Absolutely. See you there, GB!”

And with that, he walked away, waving his hoof behind his head. I grinned. Tonight was going to be fun.

--*--_ [] _--*--

“ARRRGHHH!”

The stallion swung and I ducked, his hoof missing my head by mere inches. I leaped out of the way as his magic caused a boulder to come out from underneath me, slamming down on my left and causing dust to billow up from the dirt floor. I panted. This was going on for far too long.

Galloping forward I spotted a broken wooden cart lying in pieces, the broken ends of the rope long since frayed. I bit down one one of them and counterbalanced my weight from left to right, throwing the cart in the general direction of the blue and black stallion. I heard it splinter on something hard, but no cry of pain.

Movement on my left. A hoof slammed into the side of my barrel, causing me to wince and sending me careening towards a stone wall. The dust was beginning to settle, and I could see the stallion coming at me head on. I stood up on my hind legs, front legs at the ready to strike. He leaped into the air with his front-right leg outstretched, and began to bring his right hoof down.

I raised my left leg in a block and swung my right leg forwards, ready to meet his assault head on. For a moment it looked as though the stallion would meet my hoof with a sickening crunch, but I wasn’t so lucky. He grinned and adjusted his trajectory, weaving underneath my hoof and slamming into me squarely in the chest. I gasped as the air in my lungs was brutally expelled and I was thrown backwards, tumbling to the ground. He was much faster than I thought.

“Had enough, Decimus?” the stallion sneered, slowly cantering up to me. I frowned.

“I hardly think so.”

Instantly I shot up, hoof outstretched, meeting my mark. It slammed into the side of his face, sending him stumbling backward, sputtering.

“What the…” he choked out, but he wasn’t lucky enough to finish his sentence. Instantly I was on him, pinning his back to the ground, his left front leg in my hands, elbow pressed against his shoulder blades. “... buck…?”

“I think I win…” I started. Obviously common courtesy was not a problem here, as the stallion interrupted me.

“As if! I could take you right now! Let’s finAAAUUGHH!”

“Whoops,” I said, stepping off the stallion, his broken leg falling to the ground. “I slipped.”

“Round Five over. Adrian wins,” the loudspeaker boomed.

“GG, mate,” I chuckled, trotting away into the changing area. I cracked my neck. Training was always fun, since I was clearly the strongest pony there. Doesn’t mean I’m the fastest, far from it. The Pegasi were obviously the lightest and most nimble, and they were a pain in the ass to fight. The earth ponies were very strong, but were the easiest as I was able to counteract their weight and use it against them, due to lots of training from Celestia. But the Unicorns were difficult, considering the magic they used. Plus I was the only self taught magical user, so some of the spells they used were far beyond my range.

“Adrian, Decimus. Please make your way to scrimmage arena 2. Adrian. Decimus. Please make your way to scrimmage arena 2.”

“Huh,” I said to myself. “I only had two fights scheduled for today.” Shrugging, I cantered over to the door of arena 2, grabbing my fighting tag and moving into the changing area. The clock on the wall notified me that I had two minutes to ready up before I had to be on the platform.

I was ready in one. I waited on the platform until it started to descend, casting shadows through the glass from the brightly lit arena. As my eyes adjusted to the change in lighting, I noticed that this arena was a clearing in the middle of a forest. There was a pond to the right, but not much else, and the forest looked too dense for a pony like me to fight well in. The doors lifted and I trotted out and up to the start platform. I still didn’t know who I would be facing so I had no idea how to prep. Pegasi fight? Unicorn fight? Earth pony fight? I prepped for Pegasi, since that took the most prep.

The doors came down and I saw my opponent. At first I thought I was correct in assuming it was a Pegasus. But then another thing caught my eye. This pony had a horn. A lavender horn…

“Hey, Adrian!” Twilight shouted from the other side of the arena. Only one word came to my mind.

Alicorn.

“Wha…” I started, looking over at the purple alicorn standing across from me. Twilight smirked and flicked her mane behind her face.

“What’s wrong, Adrian? Never fought a girl before?” she said, taunting me and lowering her head, smirk growing darker. Now that was just a downright lie, I had fought plenty of women in training, but this was altogether different. This was someone I knew well.

“I…” I started, unable to get the words out of your mouth. My voice trembled and I looked around into the glass booth hanging on the top of the stadium overlooking the arena. I could see Rainbow Dash and Applejack, but Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie weren't present. “... why?”

“Why?” Twilight asked, giggling. “Because I need training, and I want to see how well you’ve done. I haven’t been here in a while, actually,” the purple alicorn said casually, looking around and up at the booth. She raised a hoof and waved to Rainbow and Applejack, who promptly waved back at her. Then she turned her stare back at me, making my legs shake. My breathing rate increased. “So if you can beat me, I’ll know you’ve been trained well.”

“I… I train m-my own magic, T-Twilight…” I started but was cut off by the princess.

“That’s Princess Twilight, Adrian. We are not friends here. And I don’t give a buck about your magic. If your strength is even half of what my advisors tell me it is, you should be able to beat me fairly easily.” She turned her attention to the electronic screen at the top of the arena. Sunlight shone through the glass walls and casted shadows across Twilight’s face, making her appear devilish. I shuddered. “Now then, where were we? Oh, yes. I am ready.”

I think first I should explain how arena fighting works. Once a party states they are ready, their “condition” turns to green on the scoreboard. When both parties are ready, the round begins. First player/team to submit to the other team loses, and the winning team gets one point. Best of three. When players have “conditions” set on them by the other team, their representative light on the scoreboard changes color. There are five different conditions, “Standby,” which is blue, “Ready,” which is green, “Fighting,” which is yellow, “Unconscious,” which is purple, and - the one that almost never happens - “Deceased,” which is red.

The only rules in the arena are - no foul play, no black magic, and be vigilant. In a training battle the only extra rule is “no killing,” which is allowed in actual matches.

A green light appeared on the left side of the screen, representing Twilight’s “condition.” She looked back at me expectantly, waiting for me to make my decision.

“Twi… er… Princess Twilight, I don’t think this is a good idea. I mean… I’m at a disadvantage here, you have three magic states against my one.”

“Oh, that’s fine, Adrian,” she chuckled. Looking away and playing coy, she said one final sentence. “That is, if you’re sure I will win…”

Oh, she knew how to push my buttons.

“What did you say?” I said, anger flooding my system. I had - and never have - turned down a challenge in my life. Even if it was impossible. And this was looking pretty fucking impossible.

“Oh, if you won’t beat me, there’s no use in fighting, is there?”

I glared at her. I knew what she was doing, but couldn’t bring myself to walk out.

“Fine. I’m. Ready.” My light changed to green. The ten second countdown began. Twilight smiled and hunkered down into a ready position, wings stretching out to full length. I shifted my weight onto my front legs, bracing for the eventual strike. Then I waited. The woman’s voice came over the intercom once again.

“Match of Adrian Decimus versus Princess Twilight Sparkle begins in…”

“Three…”

“Two…”

“One…”

“Match start.”

We didn’t move.

* [] * [] *

Ever since my arrival in Ponyville, Twilight and I had been at odds with each other. Our attitudes were conflicting, my mind preferring organized clutter to her OCD approach on life. I prefered to take life as it came, she prefered to schedule when she ate, slept, drank, talked, and did anything else. Even breathed. She probably had a separate calendar for that.

Right after I bid adieu to Apple Bloom, I began my walk to the Ponyville Library where I was told I would meet the Princess of Magic, Twilight Sparkle. What I didn’t know was that the Princess of Magic would be a pain in the ass to deal with.

“What the fuck are you doing? Get off of me?” I shouted, shaking my arm where a manic eyed purple alicorn princess hung, teeth biting into my flesh. Eventually she loosened her grip enough so I could shift to my hind legs and throw my body on top of hers, crushing us both into the ground with a deep “ugh!” coming from me and a light “oof!” from her. Instantly she wriggled free from my pin on the ground and fired her magic bolts again, hitting me square in the chest and throwing me back into a wall of bookshelves behind me, making most of them fall off. Pages floated through the air.

I shook my head and looked up.

“Who told you to come into MY store, you bucking monster?!” she demanded, horn poised and ready to strike at any moment.

“Apple Bloom did! She t-WHAT THE FUCK!?” I started to speak before I was cut off by another magical bolt from Twilight’s horn. I immediately rolled out of the way and back onto my hooves, wincing at the burning sensation in my chest. Her purple bolt blew a hole in the side of the library, sending birds nesting in the leaves of the tree scattering, cawing loudly.

“That is a LIE!” she shouted, powering her horn again, sending another magical bolt straight for my head. I ducked just in time, cowering as it impacted a desk behind me, sending pages and ink across the room, coating parts of the floor a blackish color. “Apple Bloom would NEVER speak with something like you!”

“Bro, chill! Let me talk!” Of course, she didn’t give me that luxury, sending me scampering upstairs with a few poorly aimed bolts at my feet. Up here there was nowhere to run.

“Goddamn, first couple of weeks here and this bitch is trying to kill me,” I thought to myself, stepping backwards. “This normally takes a few months.” A purple horn appeared from on the staircase, firing a purple bolt that flew close to the floor. I jumped over it, feeling it singe the fetlocks on my hooves. There was a burnt streak on the floor where the blast flew. More splinters and pages filled the air.

“What is wrong with you?” I began again, interrupted by a mass of purple fur slamming me to the ground. The air in my lungs left me alone, and I wheezed for oxygen. A hoof pinned my neck to the floor, leaving my oxygen supply at 0% and draining. I gasped for air. The alicorn lifted her head up and angled her horn at my chest, ready to bring it down and end my short life any second. My eyes grew wide. Then I immediately closed them, awaiting my fate.

Her head descended.

“WAIT!”

The voice was familiar and close. I slowly opened my eyes to see Twilight’s horn a mere centimeter above my chest, where it had stopped. I pushed her off of me, gasping for air. As I composed myself, I glanced over at where the voice had come from. A panting Apple Bloom and what looked like a larger version of herself with a Stetson hat adorning her head stood at the top of the stairs. The larger one looked completely mortified at the scene unfolding before the two. I glanced over to where Twilight lay, gasping for air at her decreased magical state. I scrambled to my feet.

“Dude, what the shit was - *cough* - that?!”

Twilight rolled over and glared at me, nearly hissing. I gave my body a once-over. There was a massive burn on my chest and on my front right leg, and my front left leg had teeth marks and scratches on it. My back also had scratches and bruises, as well as my singed hair on the top of my head and on my burns. Twilight, however looked nearly fine, if you were overlooking her disheveled mane and the bruise on her back from when I threw her off my arm.

“Stay back or I’ll kill you for real!” she said, stepping backwards.

“What the fuck am I going to do?! I don’t even know how to use magic!” I shouted, making Apple Bloom wince and the bigger version of herself cover her ears with both hooves. Apple Bloom batted her hooves away, and turned to face Twilight.

“Twilight, he’s ah fine stallion! What did he ever do to you?” she pleaded, running to my side and giving Twilight a very well-rehearsed pair of “puppy dog eyes.” I was impressed. The
older Apple Bloom spoke.

“Apple Bloom! Get yer flank over here! That thing’s dangerous!” Her tone was commanding.

“No! Applejack, he’s fine! Honest! Ah talked with him earlier when Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ran off!”

The purple alicorn looked taken aback.

“You did speak to that thing?” She started, eyeing the small filly, but never taking her horn off my target.

“That thing is a stallion named Adrian Deci… something… and he is ah very nice stallion!” The orange filly was flustered at her friend and... I guess, sister…? I still didn’t know, but at this moment it seemed pretty obvious. She was adorable when she didn’t remember my name. I couldn’t help but smile.

“Apple Bloom, does that there cretin look like some sorta stallion to you?” Applejack started, eyeing me curiously.

“Well, he didn’t…” she started, looking at the ground. Practically immediately she looked back up at Applejack, fire in her eyes. “But once Ah started talking with ‘im, I saw that he was a fine stallion after all! Don’t just kill ‘im!”

Twilight and Applejack eyed the orange filly curiously for what felt like hours.

“It’s alright, Twi. She’s tellin’ the truth,” Applejack stated, touching the alicorn on the shoulder. Twilight held my gaze for another couple of seconds until she sighed and let down her horn. I let the air I had been holding in my lungs for seemingly hours out. It tasted stale. Unused.

--*--_ [] _--*--

So we stood there, just as we had in the Ponyville Library on that day, facing each other down. But there was no Apple Bloom to stop this. I swallowed hard. The match had already begun, but neither of us had moved.

“So,” Twilight said casually, “who’s going to swing first?”

I smiled, cockily. “Ladies first, Twi. It’s common courtesy.” Twilight glared at me, having not used her “Princess” prefix and having used an abridged version of her name. But her glare softened, leaving her smiling.

“Very well, Adrian. Let’s dance.”

And with that, a purple explosion came straight for me, wings extended and beating rapidly, horn flaring, jaws snapping. The impact of Twilight’s body into my own was enough to send me flying off the podium and skidding across the ground until my back smashed into a tree. I groaned, trying to get my hooves underneath me to stand up and face my attacker. However, I wasn’t so lucky, as the princess was back on me in an instant. I feebly raised my hand to block her assault, but with her Pegasus magic she was fast. Faster than anyo-anypony I had ever faced. She shifted her wings, flinging her body to the left and slamming two hooves into my side. I screamed.

Another hoof in my side.

My belly.

My back.

My face.

As the alicorn landed a swift hit on the right side of my head, blood sprayed from my mouth and stained the mossy ground. I wanted to collapse. But my will to not fail kept me going. I tensed my muscles, straining every single one in my body to full capacity. I saw the purple blur coming at me. The impact made my vision blur, but my larger size and strength made Twilight bounce off and land on the ground with a small “oof!” However, she recovered quickly and I could feel three, five, nine, thirteen hooves meet their mark in my barrel.

I shouted in pain, yet I brought my weight to my right side and swiped to the left with my two left hooves, sending the Princess of Magic skidding into a tree. She instantly shot up and gave me a death glare, charging her horn. I charged mine, too. My protective shield went up just has her purple bolt flew from her horn, dispersing across my shield and making the base of my horn feel like I just took a bullet there. I pushed the pain to the back of my mind. Irrelevant. Would be dealt with later.

I stood ready once again.

Twilight charged. I ducked. Too late.

Her hoof glanced the top of my head, sending shivers down my spine and freezing my body. Then with one swift buck with her two hind legs I was airborne, flying back towards the podiums. I landed with a dull thud on the sand near the pond. I tried to stand up, but something stopped me. A purple aura encased my body, making me begin convulsing as pain ran through my nervous system. I tried to scream but no sound came out.

The sound of hooves on sand made me gingerly open one eye enough to see Twilight standing over me, pinning me to the ground with her magic. She started to laugh.

“You know I could have done this from the very start, Adrian,” she started, sighing. “But alas, you had to take me on. Toying with you will be my highlight for a while, however.” She sank down on top of my belly, sending more pain through my mind. I tried to break the spell, but her hold was too powerful. Instead I could only focus on my one thought:

“It’s imaginary. It’s illusionary magic. Come on, dude. Fucking deal with it.”

She angled her horn towards my chest.

“Well then, Adrian. I guess this is the end. You’ve met with a terrible fate, haven’t you? And now there’s nopony, no Apple Bloom or Applejack to save you.”

At the mention of Applejack’s name I tried to glance up at the glass booth. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were frantically banging on the glass and shouting something that I couldn’t hear. I closed my eyes. Twilight laughed.

“Y… you… you can’t k-kill… me…” I managed to choke out. Each word was a chore, draining on my physical energy, making me wince every syllable.

“Can’t I? I’m a bucking princess, Adrian. I do whatever I want.”

And with that, her horn descended.

* [] * [] *

I woke up with a start. Sitting bolt upright in bed, I looked around.

“... holy shit.”

I was in my room. My room on Earth, with a bed comforter pulled up to my chin, all my clothes in piles around my room, my beloved gaming PC whirring away on the corner of my terrazzo desk. I looked down and held my hands to my face, wiggling my fingers.

I started to laugh.

It was a quiet laugh at first, but then grew into something much more powerful. Soon I was in straight up hysterics, holding my sides.

“I can’t believe I dreamt that I lived in a land full of ponies!”

Wiping a tear away from my eye, I got out of bed and walked over to my desk, sitting down in the swiveling desk chair. My eyes wandered over the papers and random files lying haphazardly on the desktop.

“Man, if Twilight was here she’d have a conniption.”

A pain shot through my forehead at the mention of her name, making my arms instinctively reach up and grab my temples, a feeble attempt at dulling the pain coursing through my head.

“Aggh… fuck…” I moaned, doubling over in the chair so that my chest was resting on my knees. But then as swiftly as it came, the pain subsided, leaving me curled over in a chair for no visible reason. I looked up and shook my head.

I got up and went to the window overlooking our garden, checking on what time of day it was. Looked to be about midday. I shrugged and grabbed a pair of basketball shorts off the floor and threw them over my boxers as I opened my bedroom door. Everything in the house was exactly how I remembered it. The two copies of Van Gogh were hanging in the hallway, and the faded white carpeting was speckled with brown, memories of spills and stains long past.

I quietly stepped into the hallway before remembering that it was midday. If there was ever any reason to be quiet, it was long gone.

“Mom?” I yelled. The house was quiet. Eerily quiet. I stood still for a couple seconds.

“... dad?” I shouted again, with more force. I shut my bedroom door behind me and took a couple steps towards my parent’s room. Maybe they were still asleep.

Reaching the door, I allowed my ear to rest against the white painted wood for a moment, listening to any sounds that might be emanating from within. Hearing nothing, I edged the door ajar, peering inside.

No one there. The bed was neatly made, and there was practically nothing on the floor. Sunlight shone through the windows and onto the bed, meaning that the curtains weren't drawn. I shrugged. Maybe they just went out for lunch? Understandable, during the summer they didn’t wake me up early unless there was another reason. And the only person who slept longer than me was… hm.

I shut the door and turned around, facing the stairs to the main level. My older brother slept in the basement, where our parents wouldn’t bother him, or so he said. I thought it was mainly because he kept bringing girls over and my parents got fed up from all the… “noise.”

And no, I’m not THAT naive.

My feet lightly padded down the creaky stairs and I found myself in the kitchen. No one here, either. Peering over the half-wall into the living room, I came to the same conclusion. That meant only the basement was left.

I turned the corner and flipped on the light switch. The basement lights fizzled on and I made my way down, feeling the air gradually become colder. My right foot touched the cold concrete slab at the bottom of the stairs and I instantly recoiled, feeling my heart race. I had no idea why I was getting so freaked out going down into a place I had been many times before. I decided to try my previous approach from the comfort of the stairs.

“Blaine? You here, man?”

Again, no answer.

“Goddammit.”

I headed back up the stairs, flipping the lights off and closing the door. That meant I was alone. I climbed the stairs back into my bedroom and found a clean shirt on the floor. I threw it over my torso and grabbed my phone, pocketing it. Then I walked back downstairs and out the door. Might as well go out on the town, you know?

Then it hit me. Complete silence. Something was wrong. There were no cars, no busy town sounds, nothing. Not even a breeze rustled the tree leaves outside my window. I perked my ears up for any sound, anything at all, but all I could hear was my own breathing and rustling of my clothes against my skin.

I slowly eased the door open, my ears finally meeting some inhuman sound - the squeak of the hinges. I couldn’t feel any cold or heat. Nothing.

“What the fuck…” I said to myself, peering outside at the empty street. Cars were parked here and there, but no one was in them. Blinds and shutters in windows were pulled down all the way so I couldn’t see inside. Something was definitely going on here.

Going back inside, I grabbed a key from the hook next to the door and slipped back outside, shutting the wooden door behind me. Then I threw on my flip-flops which were conveniently located on the porch and cautiously stepped out into the street. The complete and utter lack of auditory stimulation was damaging to my ears. I mean, have you ever been in an empty room and heard that high buzzing sound, that sound that empty rooms make? Imagine being in that same room but not even that. No sound at all. It was painfully quiet.

I was scared out of my mind.

* [] * [] *

After walking for what felt like hours to the downtown, mainstreet area of the town, I noticed that there was not a single person here, either. I tried to look into one of the shops but the shutters and blinds were closed, and the doors were locked.

“What the fuck is going on,” I thought out loud as I passed shop after shop with the same result. Suddenly, I came across the store I spent most of my time in. I shrugged, and - out of ideas - balled up my shirt in my hand and smashed the window. The shattering of glass echoed throughout the street, but then the painful silence returned once again. I climbed through the window and looked around. It was a game store, a local one, not a chain. It was exactly how I remembered it. Shelves of video games and manuals hung around the store, many of which on walls on the sides.

I picked up one of the game cases from the shelf, and looked at it closely. It was a Battlefield 3 box, one I had seen many times before. Only the fine print writing under the images on the back was blurry. I couldn’t read any of it. I picked up another box: Black Ops 2. Same deal. I couldn’t read anything other than the big text.

I rubbed by eyes and looked back at the case, but nothing changed. Blinking, I put the case back on the shelf. I looked around the walls and named the games I could see.

“Battlefield 3, Black Ops 2, GTA 4, Borderlands 2… wait, what the fuck?”

These were all games that I had.

My eyes widened and I rushed to one of the shelves, pulling off games left and right. The only games here were ones I already had or had played before. The games that I didn’t own or that I only played once or twice were much more blurred than the ones I played frequently.

I dropped the current game box I was holding - Super Smash Bros. Brawl - and backed away, out the window and into the street.

I turned around and saw a restaurant across the street. It was an Italian place I went to a lot with my family, Luigi’s Pizzeria and Spaghetti House. I smashed the window and climbed inside, grabbing a menu. The only thing listed was my favorite dish. Repeated all down the page. Nothing else.

I threw the menu across the room and grabbed my head as a pounding headache coursed through my system again.

“WHAT THE SHIT IS GOING ON!?” I wailed, falling over onto the ground still holding my head. I had to check more stores.

Once my headache had subsided I climbed out the window, taking care to not touch any of the broken glass. A few stores down was a furniture place, one that I had never gone into before. I took off running and jump-kicked the window, shattering it to bits on impact. This window was shattered so I couldn’t see inside, so I picked up a loose stone from the street and used it to pry open the shutters so I could see inside.

And I promptly fell backward as the whiteness greeted me.

There was nothing. Not air. Not space. Just… nothingness. All white, no imperfections, it was blindingly bright. I stood back up and peered back in, instantly recoiling yet again. I couldn’t look at it for too long.

And I had an epiphany.

I cursed myself for not realising it faster.

“Fucking illusion magic, Twi…”

I concentrated my energy in my forehead and pushed as hard as I could. Energy flowed out of my body, making my muscles jelly. My knees buckled and slammed into the pavement and I put a fist on the ground in front of my to steady myself as I worked the complex magic.

And everything exploded in a brilliant orange and purple explosion.

* [] * [] *

I opened my eyes to sight of a purple horn inches from my chest, surrounded by a magical aura. I instantly knew who it belonged to.

I reached out my hoof and grabbed the horn, sitting up at the same time. Twilight’s eyes widened as she looked into mine, undoubtedly filled with confusion. I stood on my back legs, lifting Twilight into the air who was still frozen in shock. Pretty soon I had her by her horn in the air, and she was totally limp.

“H-How did you figure it o-out so f...fast?” Twilight asked. My eyes narrowed and I inched my eyes closer to hers.

“Don’t pull that shit with me.”

And I hurled her, by her horn, into the ground ten feet away from me.

A cloud of sand and dust flew into the air where the alicorn landed. Twilight tried to flip onto her back, but I was on her instantly, forcing her legs to her sides. In my left front hoof I held her twitching wing, and my right front knee was pressed against the point where the wing met the back.

“Wha…” she started to speak. I didn’t let her finish.

My right knee pressed into the base of her wing as my left hoof twisted it backwards, breaking the bones in the middle with a sickening crack. She yelped in pain, but I silenced her with a quick blow from my right hoof directly into her windpipe. The force of the hit sent her rolling away from me. I stood back up onto my hind legs.

She rolled over onto her side, attempting to get her hooves under her. She was having some trouble standing up, without the use of her left wing.

“You need to work on your illusions, Twi.”

Finally on her feet, she turned to face me, grimacing when she flexed her wing.

“I’ll… I’ll… what did y-you do to m-my wing?!” she wailed, her eyes filling with rage.

I smiled and leaned forward slightly.

“Don’t try it.”

She did anyway.

Her hooves carried her body towards me at a very fast speed. Her right hoof was extended towards me, and I formulated my plan and carried it out.

Her right hoof - counter with my right hoof and push it to my left. Her left hoof came for my shoulder - countered with my left hoof and pushed it towards my right side, away from me. Her right hoof came at me again, but I counterbalanced my weight and used my left hoof to push it away and hold it in place as I brought up my right hoof and planted a forceful hit on the inside of her leg where it met her barrel.

Not giving her time to react, I elbowed her with my right hoof and hit her squarely in the chest with my left. She was dazed, so I sidestepped as her feeble punch came, grabbing her left hoof and using her own weight to hurl her around and face first into a tree.

I fell back onto all fours and cautiously took a step towards the princess of magic. She didn’t move. I started to get worried.

“Twi… you good?” I calmly asked, even though my voice was probably shaking with worry. I didn’t know how I did it. It just… happened. I lifted my hoof over her shoulder, not sure if I should touch her. She was volatile, that’s for sure. But in my worried state I wasn’t thinking rationally. I lightly touched her shoulder.

And I was blown backwards with the force of a cruise missile, slamming my back into the starting podiums. I slid down and brought a hoof to my back, checking for any damage. Only heavy bruising, I was fine. Twilight… well… that was debatable.

Her entire body was encased in some sort of slithering, deep purple aura that crawled around her skin, causing smoke to appear at the base of her wing. The aura was shedding a grotesque purple light on the surrounding foliage. She started to lift into the air without the use of her wings. I noticed that the purple aura was giving some sort of physical support to her body. Suddenly the aura all retreated back into her horn, which was now black striped. Her head fell forward.

And what was left of “Twilight” was a horrid, stretched grin. One of her eyes was glazed over and colored black instead of the normal purple color. Half her face was black and it looked as though it was literally, physically crawling. Her black eye was open all the way, whereas her purple eye was half closed.

And I nearly shit myself.

Her horn charged and one of the largest magical blasts flew from it, coming straight for me. I barely had time to roll out of the way before the deep purple blast obliterated the podium, sending chunks of stone masonry and steel flying in all directions. I turned to look at the forest behind the podium, only to find a perfect line where the trees had been charred, toppled over, or ripped apart particle by particle.

And when I turned back around I was face to face with “Twilight.”

“Hello Adrian,” it said in a sick voice. Not sick “cool” sick… “I’m going to kill you.”

“She” reached up with her right hoof and brought it into my stomach. And I was sent flying backwards once again, this time across the entire arena and coming to rest after slamming my side into the arena wall. I bounced off and landed on the beach, rolling over onto my feet nearly instantly. “She” was on me again, swinging this way and that way. I dodged and weaved to the best of my ability, feigning off attacks right and left.

After a particularly inaccurate swing on “Twilight’s” part, I rolled over her shoulders and pushed her from her right side, making “her” stumble backwards. But I guess physical, frontal attacks wasn’t all this thing could do. She brought her two front hooves down to the ground, causing a wave of sand to come my way, sweeping me off my feet. The wave loomed over me and I rolled out of the way just in time to see the wave slam back into the sand where I had just been.

I didn’t have time to catch my breath, when another wave of sand came out from the ground to my right, this one resembling a hand. I jumped out of the way but the sand managed to lock onto my right hoof, coating it in sand which began to spread up my body. I brought my back hooves up above my head and kicked the sand away, making what was on my hoof fall to the ground and the hand disappear back into the sand from which it came.

I managed to collect myself and stumble backwards away from the sand, into the forest. “Twilight’s” eyes watched my every move as though she was just waiting for me to swing. Only one thing was for sure.

This was not going to end well.

* [] * [] *

Fucking Alicorns, dude.

Actually, no. Fuck one PARTICULAR Alicorn. Hard. With a sword or something, I don’t care, something that causes the greatest amount of pain and discomfort.

Currently the Alicorn that blew apart a tree to my right while flying behind me, raining crazy, half-assed electrical magic shots down near my tail. Jesus, it’s like she was toying with me. Which really just pissed me off even more.

Her wings definitely gave her an advantage. No shit, really? While I’m grounded and basically running away with my tail between my legs, she’s up there having a wee of a time, loop-de-looping, making that dumbass maniacal laugh while sending another blast of dust and dirt from behind me, beside me, wherever she wants to. It’s like I’m literally fighting the biggest troll on the planet. A deadly troll. E.G. no one on the internet.

Fucking Alicorns. Yeah, back to that analogy.

“Adrian…” that goddamn voice was getting on my nerves. Couldn’t do shit about it, considering the fact that I was currently under heavy assault from a pony with infinite magical energy, two beating wings, and enough muscle to probably level a tree, much less buck one. Running along the same path on the beach for the tenth time, my body still curving slightly to the left as I ran full circle through the forest, beside the lake, over the rocks, and back into the forest, I was slowly running out of stamina. And energy. Those are two different things now.

Another bolt slammed down on my flank and I winced as a mass of glass, superheated by her magic, slammed into my side. My right foreleg missed a step and buckled, sending me sprawling onto the ground. I clenched my teeth to keep from screaming. One of my eyes looked back up towards the spectator booth where Applejack and Rainbow Dash were frantically motioning to me as if they were trying to tell me to get away from her, get away from the arena, find help, fight back.

“Well no shit she’s dangerous, Sherlock. Not to mention fucked in the head. Maybe you should do something?”

When all they did was stand there, I lost all hope for ponykind and common sense. Zero brain cells. Or maybe they were wanting to see how they ended. Honestly can’t blame them, even though it was one-sided.

Finally motionless on the ground, I let my breath catch back up with my rapidly beating heart. Despite being stalked by a batshit crazy Alicorn princess and inhaling massive amounts of sand, it was quite relaxing.

“Aaaaddriiiannn…”

Fuck.

“This has gone long enough, don’t you think?” I struggled to get up, however a strong force on my left side slammed me back on the ground, causing my head to spin. “Corrupted Twi” (I guess?) was standing over me, one hoof on the side of my barrel. I spat out some of the sand from my mouth and swallowed hard.

“Gee, what makes you think that?” I replied in the most condescending voice imaginable. To me. To anyone else it probably sounded weak as a cutesy wootsey bunny. A very pissed off cutesy wootsey bunny. Still, the asshole princess over me laughed that stupid, overused, cliché villain laugh, rolling her head backwards as her voice came deep from within the bellows of her throat.

“You know I do not like you much, Adrian.” A purple glow enveloped my body and I rose into the air. Twilight’s hoof came off my barrel and a wave of semi-relief came over me.

“I had no idea.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and stared back at me intensely, almost judging my soul. God that sounds creepy. But she was a magical Alicorn princess, so I guess it works…? Maybe? Maybe Alicorns do have the power to see into souls. I tried flooding my mind with screwed-up human fetish sex scenes. If she saw any of it she was unfazed.

“I’m a princess, Adrian. There is no one watching this fight. So what, pray tell, is stopping me from killing you right now, and ending this little two year charade you’ve had going?”

The purple glow around me strengthened considerably. I gulped and sucked in a breath.

“Uhh… I… plead… the fifth?”

Somehow I became airborne, sailing across the arena before crashing into the forest canopy, hitting at least twelve branches before slamming my heavy ass into the ground. I groaned again. “Dammit, Twi, that was a gem.” The royal canterlot voice shook the canopy above me, causing loose leaves to fall off the trees, landing on the mossy, damp ground.

“NOTHING!”

I casted a quick healing spell over my body, instantly feeling rejuvenated. I let out a breath of air that I didn’t realize that I had been holding in and slouched my shoulders. The beating of wings alerted me again to my doombringer, and I instantly rolled to the side as four hooves slammed into the ground where my body once was. Her head cocked to the side and whirled around, looking right at me, and her hooves kicked out from under her, exploding into action, flying directly at my face.

Good lord this mare never has any cool down period.

I threw out my hoof and somehow brought it down in a leftward arc, redirecting Twilight’s path to my left side. The sound of an impact to my left confirmed my hopes that she hit a tree. I totally DID NOT laugh. At all.

If I had a camera to take a photo of the Princess of Magic herself with half her body stuck through a tree trunk, I wouldn’t think twice about posting that all over the internet.

The laugh sure was taken right out of my mouth when a pair of hooves erupted into my right side, sending explosions of pain into my consciousness and flinging me into a clearing. I rolled at least four times before I stopped, flat on my back.

Confound my luck and my need to celebrate it before actually assessing the situation.

I let out a very manly whimper and rolled onto my hooves, shaking my head from the impact. Once my vision stopped swimming, my eyes followed the purple streak in the sky to the bullet coming down from the sky to me. Being the Alicorn she is, I find it hard to believe she would enjoy having wings this much to not use practically any offensive magic, magic that would have been much more effective than physical, high speed attacks. She doesn’t really have the best kind of fighting tactics, does she? Still doesn’t. Believe me, I know.

So yeah, it was luck again when my reflexes made my slow, sorry ass jump to the side in time for her goddamn princess body to make a veritable crater in the forest floor. And don’t tell me “oh, dude, Adrian, Twilight is only like 130 pounds! She can’t make a crater!”

Bro. This princess is like a ton or some shit. One heavy motherfucker.

Fucking. Alicorns. … dude. Damn that’s like the third time I’ve said that.

Me and my resourceful mind fired my magic off towards a large stick lying on the ground from the previous impact, wielding it close to my body in my orange aura like it was a sword. Wouldn’t be as painful as a sword, but it would have to do. For now. Until I could get a sword.

I really wanted a sword. Like, now.

The princess hurled herself at me again, and I swatted her out of the air again, this time with a large piece of wood. Reminded of my previous mistakes, I followed her trajectory through the forest until she came back around, where I knocked her back up into the air. The bottom of my horn stung a tad at the powerful hit, and I began to get the nagging feeling that my magic was severely drained. No matter! I will probably be dead soon anyway!

She landed behind me again and my stick came down, only to be knocked out of my magical grasp by a strong swing of her hoof. I reared on my hind legs instinctively, readying for hand-to-hand (hoof-to-hoof?) combat as another hoof came down on my side, probably cracking one or two ribs. I blocked the third strike with my left leg, pushing it away and counter striking with my right leg, knocking the princess back a couple steps. She coughed. I coughed. We coughed. Because anything you do is okay, as long as you do it as friends!

Friends who are fighting each other to the death non-inclusive.

I charged her while she was down, my hind legs working like my human self, pounding away on the moss and dirt. Twilight slid down and kicked out a hind leg in front of her, effectively tripping me and sending me sprawling into the clearing. I rolled over to see her jump into the air, right hoof raised to bring it down on my head, and raised my right leg to block. I pushed with my leg and sent her flying over me, doing a vertical 360 before landing on the ground. The inertia propelled me back to my feet and I stumbled backwards, hitting my back against another tree. Twilight was seething, and the black marks on her face crawled faster, distorting her image. She bared her teeth and lunged directly at me.

I made to move out of the way, but she was too fast. Her hooves slammed into my chest and pushed us both through the tree onto the other side, rolling and coming to a stop in a cloud of hits, kicks, and bites. When the dust settled, the princess was on top of me, pinning my legs to the ground. I grinded my teeth together and raised my head to bite her, but she brought her own head own, slamming into mine with enough force to cancel my movements and send my vision into chaos.

Her hind legs ground into mine, forcing them deeper into the dirt. I groaned with the pain, trying to summon enough magic to send her flying away, but only a small shower of sparks appeared around my horn. I struggled against her hold and, to my relief, the leg holding down my right foreleg came off, giving me some break from the pressure. I made to bring my leg up and smack her sideways, but that thought was instantly thrown out the metaphorical window by the leg that had been trapping mine being pushed against my windpipe, cutting off my air. I gasped through clenched teeth. Twilight smiled.

Black swam around my vision. Twilight’s form becoming blurrier, and blurrier, vanishing into nothingness.

The pain was unbearable…

the pain…

… the pain…

EXPLOSION!

My mind shorted out, my thoughts taken over by an invisible force. My eyes shot open, white glancing the edges, pushing my pain to the back of my mind, becoming extinct. My body channeled the magic inside to a height completely unknown to me before, and unleashed it all on the one creature that stood in my way to salvation.

The yellow and orange light pulsated off my body, sending a shockwave of energy in a 360 degree arc around my figure. Twilight’s eyes widened as my power charged, and she increased the pressure on my windpipe - a feeble attempt to stop the coming storm.

Then all at once, I unleashed my magical bonds.

The only sounds around me were the splintering of trees, the whipping of the wind, and the loudest noise I have ever heard in my entire life, both here and back on Earth. My eyes, unable to be shut, cut daggers into Twilight’s form, still clutched against my chest and pinning my legs to the ground. The constant, pulsating shockwaves of my magical release ripped apart the forest around me, causing splinters and entire trunks flying into nothingness. The glass roof of the arena cracked and shattered, sending glass shards down onto the field. My body moved on its own, concentrating the magical field into a singularity on my right hoof. The feeling of holding it was like holding power incarnate.

The sounds were gone. Twilight’s eyes still stared into mine, horrified.

I brought my hoof back, preparing to strike. The singularity refracted golden light around, bouncing off both our faces as we watched each other. And then my hoof threw itself forwards, striking Twilight straight in her muzzle.

And everything went black.

Prelude 3 // Bending Reality

View Online

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were thrown backwards by the force of the explosion in the arena below. The glass floor shattered and fell into oblivion, the two more-than-frightened mares clinging onto the aluminum mullion for their lives. Applejack managed to get her foreleg up onto the anchored area on the back of the booth and pulled herself up, instantly turning around and offering a hoof to her frantic friend. The cyan pegasus took it gratefully and used her own strength to help Applejack pull her up, rolling away from the void.

“Come on, sugarcube,” Applejack said, adjusting her Stetson and glaring at the scene below, “we have to get out of here.”

“But what about Twilight!” Rainbow sputtered and clambered to her hooves, slipping and sliding on pieces of broken glass until she regained her footing. “She could be hurt by him!” A second explosion detonated on the arena floor, sending a cloud of dust into the dark spectator booth and two mares falling over in opposite directions. The ground shook and the light fixtures fluttered in and out of consciousness, some falling off completely and smashing onto the floor, sparks flying.

Applejack grimaced and crawled towards the exit door, glass cutting her barrel. Rainbow tried to stand again only to fall over and smash her head into the wall, causing her to see stars.

“Come ON, sugar!” Applejack cried, halfway to the exit, not caring about the glass in her belly or the pain in her forelegs. “We have to go, NOW!”

To accentuate her point, a purple alicorn princess carreened through the floor and through the ceiling right in front of the two mares, leaving gaping holes in her wake. A second later she fell back through, only to be caught mid-air by a fast moving orange blur, catching her in its hooves and slamming her back through the opposite wall. Rainbow was thrown backwards in her dazed state and slid towards the section of floor that used to be glass, stopping unconscious at the edge. Blood dripped from a wound in her head and a long gash in her side began to swell.

The spectator booth tipped slightly, gravity taking hold. The metal creaked and shook, sending Applejack head-over-heels down the glass covered incline. Her hoof instinctively reached out and grasped at anything, coming to rest on an anchored desk on the side of the room. Rainbow slid ever more towards the abyss, the wound on her side bleeding profusely. Applejack’s heart fluttered in her chest as she quickly ran through her available options. She could let go and grab Rainbow and possibly get a hold on the silver mullion to stop their inevitable descent. She could let go, snatch Rainbow and fall together, and hopefully land in the lake, but that would leave them open to the out of control stallion beating the everliving shit out of their friend. Or she could run, tail between her legs, never looking back.

No. She was the most dependable of ponies. Her friends could always count on her in a pinch.

And with that final thought, the orange mare smiled softly and let go over her grip on the table, sliding quickly down the gradual slope. Her hoof reached out for her friend.

* [] * [] *

An explosion rocked Canterlot Castle.

The Princess of the Sun looked up from the papers in front of her and tried to pinpoint the source of the disturbance. Noting the fact that no royal guards had intruded on her studies of the clutter on her desk, she rose to her hooves and pushed the chair out from behind her, stepping around the desk and walking towards the grand gold and quartz doors at the end of the room. A golden glow enveloped them and she pulled them open with her arcane prowess, the soft creak of the hinges filling the room.

As soon as she stepped into the hallway a second explosion sounded in the distance, followed by the quaking of the floors. The princess put a hoof on the doorframe for balance and looked up, down the hallway. A messenger came galloping down the hall towards Celestia’s doors, quickening his pace when his eyes met hers.

“Your majesty!” he called, the loud clicks of his hooves on the ground matching the melodies of his voice perfectly.

“Can somepony please tell me what is going on?” Celestia asked, looking over the messenger’s shoulder and over towards the area where a large plume of smoke had appeared. Danger close for an artillery strike, and word would have gotten to her much faster in the form of an instant teleportation into a bomb shelter. No, this was homeland.

“The training facility. An unscheduled fight is going on.”

“Details?”

“Nothing as of yet, but we’ve got squads Delta and Omnicron heading there now.”

Celestia gave a grunt of impatience and brushed the messenger aside with her hoof, trotting past him down the corridor. She kept an eye on the smoke in the distance, noticing a small orange blur fly around the periphery, only to be lost again in the dense, dusty fog. She quickened her pace and her horn fired, teleporting her away from her quarters.

* [] * [] *

[Canterlot Newsroom Records]
[Date: Wednesday, April 29th, the Year of Reprise 5]
[Timestamp: 1:13-1:56 PM /Developing Story/]
[NEWSTITLE: Explosions Reported at Canterlot Royal Training Facility]

TRANSCRIPTION PROVIDED BY CANTERLOT TELEVISION ENTERTAINMENT

[DATA UNAVAILABLE DATA UNAVAI]--__-..s you can see, the smoke billowing from Arena 2 of the Canterlot Royal Training Facility, where an unscheduled competition between two unidentifiable ponies is taking place. No eyewitnesses are on the scene to report, however our flight crew was able to take this footage of the smoke, where you can clearly see, highlighted in that red circle, a fast-moving orange blur, probably a pegasi, as they are flying. No other sighting of another party as surfaced, however the probability of two ponies fighting and causing this is high, however an explosion this severe would have to be ca-

I’m going to cut you off there, Billboard, because we just got another report stating at a second explosion has occurred at the same location, meaning that this is probably not a freak occurrence and the outcome of a pretty interesting fight.

A second explosion?

That is correct. Many on the scene have also backed up the claims.

I hope nopony is hurt.

You and me both, Billboard. Now, we are going live on the scene where our field reporter is speaking with the fight coordinator at the Royal Training Facili--...__--[VAILABLE DATA UNAVAILABLE]

[TRANSCRIPTION DATA ERROR FATAL ERROR 1003]

[CLOSING]

* [] * [] *

“Delta Squad Leader, report?”

A crackling voice broke the sound of the rushing wind in Soarin’s ears, giving him time to look down at his waist from his target. The microphone was instantly hoisted from its hold on his flight uniform and was brought to his ear. He pressed the talk button on the side.

“Roger that, flight control, this is Delta Squad Leader, channel clearance Yankee Alpha Charlee Three Two, reporting in.”

“Copy that, S.L. You have eyes on the target location?”

“Got eyes but no hooves yet.”

“Pick up the pace, Delta. There could be some seriously injured ponies that need your team’s assistance.”

“Copy that, flight control. Soarin’ out.”

The resounding crackle of the microphone gave him confirmation that closing was a success. He tapped a couple buttons on the device to link it to Omnicron Squad’s channel in hopes that he could communicate his new tactic.

“Omnicron Squad, do you copy?”

No response.

“Omnicorn Squad, this is Squad Leader Soarin’, do you copy?”

When only the resounding sound of static greeted his ears, Soarin’ replaced the mic in the holster and adjusted his flight goggles lower on his muzzle. Licking his lips, he increased the beating of his wings and dropped down below the cloud barrier, meeting up with the rest of his flight squad on the way. He fell back into formation at the head of the “Flying V” and connected with his fellow squad members.

“Rush!”

“Yeah!?”

“I need you to break formation! Coms are down and I need to get a message out! Get to Omnicorn Squad and tell them to come in at a Southbound approach! We’ll handle Northbound and we’ll all meet up on the other side, got it!?”

“But captain-”

“That’s an order, Rush!” Soarin’ called back, not bothering to look behind him. Rush sighed and rose out of the formation, floating above the cloud barrier. His wing beat changed direction and he shot off, away from the smoking training facility and towards the other flying squad.

* [] * [] *

And so two mares were left dangling off a precarious ledge with only one hoof for an anchor. Applejack gripped the aluminum mullion, a determined look on her face. Her eyes were narrowed and a bead of sweat dripped down her muzzle, breaking adhesion and falling to the ground a hundred feet below. Her other foreleg held onto a comatose Rainbow Dash, the blow to her head taking out more than her balance. The gash on her side had stained her usually azure coat a shade of sickly red, and showed no signs of stopping.

The spectator booth groaned again, the supports straining under the added pressure of not having an extra two limbs to hold it up. It tilted forwards even more, sending small bits of broken glass over the heads of the two ponies and down onto the arena below. Applejack closed her eyes to shield them from the glass and tightened her grip on the cyan pegasus.

“Come on, sugar. Wake up.” She swung Rainbow slightly in a desperate attempt at rejuvenation, but none came. Her muscles released their tension and her head dropped forward. The sound of a massive impact behind her made her ears prick up in anticipation of hits that would never come. A shower of water droplets notified the mare that the two battling in the arena below had slammed into the lake.

She shook Rainbow again, harder. No result.

A tear fell dripped down her cheek.

A piece of falling glass clipped her foreleg, opening a new cut upon many. She didn’t even flinch.

The booth shuddered again under the load and dipped forwards another foot and a half. The two hanging occupants of the unintentional open-air space swung in the air.

A stray garbage can bounced down the incline, flying out of the gaping maw of the booth and smashing to bits on the wreckage below. Applejack’s grip loosened.

Another explosion rocked the arena, shaking the two mares to the bone. Applejack’s hoof slipped forward a nanometer. Her lips quivered and another tear ran down her cheek. She gripped Rainbow harder and stared into her closed eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she croaked.

And the sickening crunch of multiple tons of metal and glass losing grip on its hold filled their ears as they plummeted towards the arena floor below, an impossibly heavy chunk of material hot on their heels.

* [] * [] *

“Flight control, this is Delta, do you copy?” Soarin’ asked through the microphone at his waist. The plume of smoke and debris over the Royal Training Facility had begun to dissipate until a third explosion rocked the earth below and the resounding confirmation reverberated inside the Wonderbolt Commander’s skull.

“Read you loud and clear, Delta,” the crackling voice from the other side spoke. “Making headway?”

“Eyup. Nearly there. Hopefully Omnicron will already be assisting.”

“Negative, Delta. No contact from Omni. You get any?” Soarin’ remained silent, teeth clenched. Thoughts ran through his mind, firstly if Rush, the pegasus he sent on the recon mission, was alright. Secondly was worrying about Omni, and third was worrying about Spitfire.

“Uh… negative, control. Radio silence area?”

“Not likely. We’ll keep you posted. Control out.” And the crackling resumed again.

Soarin’ replaced the microphone into its holster and pushed the button on the side to cut out the white noise. For some reason, his goggles would never fit right on his face, and he pushed them up again so they were snug against the base of his muzzle.

“Alright, squad!” he shouted against the roaring of the wind. “Form up!” Immediately eight pegasi reformed the V shape flying behind their capitan.

“We’re two klicks out from A.O. We’ll go for a quick flyover first and check it out, and then either hightail it out of there until Omni gets their act together, or intervene. Got it!?”

Eight voices behind him shouted “Sir yes sir!”

“And let’s hope that Spitfire and her pompous MW can catch up!”

“Hoorah!”

But as Soarin’ began the flyover, something caught his eye. A small orange and blue blip against a static field of gray, holding onto some sort of mangled chunk of metal, swinging over a veritable minefield of shrapnel.

Ponies.

“Rhino! We have civs in the area!” Soarin’ adjusted his goggles again, cursing under his breath. He couldn’t leave those ponies there. That was a Wonderbolt stipulation, you do everything you have to do for the good of the people.

“Shit!” the experienced flyer behind him yelled back. “What’s the plan?!”

“Whiskey Charlie?! Get on my six, we’re flathatting it!”

“Well this’ll be interesting!”

* [] * [] *

Applejack let go of Rainbow. It was an accident. She wanted to hold her. It was almost as if she was taken right out of her hoof, swept away by the wind.

Falling took forever. Time slowed down to a near stop. Her subconscious took over, making her body flail in the air.

No, she wanted to be limp. She wanted to go quietly. She wanted to be peaceful.

All these thoughts were interrupted by a sudden blossoming pain in her right side, causing her to change trajectory in a split second, deciding instead to be thrown sideways, the constant pressure in her side pushing her faster. Her eyes decided to open to see the concrete wall of the arena coming towards her.

However, the pressure in her side changed to a lower area, hoisting her up and flinging her out of a broken window. The pressure remained constant and Applejack decided to look down at her side. The gray hooves of a pegasus in a trademark Wonderbolts uniform were pressed into her side, which stopped her from being crushed under the falling spectator booth.

“Don’t worry,” the pegasus said in a deep voice, accompanied by a quick chuckle. “I gotcha.” Applejack’s eyes widened and a happy grin broke out across her face.

“Oh, thank Celestia you got here in time!” she exclaimed, wrapping her front hooves around her rescuer and squeezing tightly. The stallion wheezed and his wings faltered slightly, causing a small jolt in elevation. Applejack noticed and loosened her grip, blushing slightly. “S-sorry…”

“It’s alright, I don’t blame ya,” came the quick reply. The orange mare turned her head to notice another flying team flying close to them, with a comatose Rainbow Dash being carried by a pegasus stallion she remembered from somewhere. She didn’t have time to reminisce on her memories for long, as an explosion in the distance reminded her where they were.

“You gotta help mah friends!” Applejack pleaded, turning her gaze back to the pegasus who held her in his arms.

“Your friends?”

“You didn’t see the fight?”

“Was kinda busy trying to save you and your friend’s flank.”

“But Twilight and-” Applejack was interrupted as the Wonderbolt turned back to her, wide eyed.

“Twilight? PRINCESS Twilight?”

“Well, yeah, who else?” The stallion lowered a hoof to his belt, causing Applejack to shift slightly, letting out a small squeak. He plucked a small radio from his waist and brought it to his ear.

“Commander Soarin’?”

“Read you loud and clear, Rhino. What’s the sitch?”

“Commander, with all due respect, you’re not Ki-”

“I know. What do you need?”

“We’ve got royalty down there.”

“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, I’m not getting paid enough for this…”

* [] * [] *

Twilight was, needless to say, in a lot of pain.

The blazing fast orange hooves connecting with her body and pushing her into the ground for what felt like the hundredth time came back again as she was picking herself back up, smashing into the ground beside her with an incredible force. Dirt and dust flew into the air, and another mushroom cloud joined the remnants of its brothers in the sky. The princess was thrown to the side and rolled slightly along the ground, coming back to her hooves. The black, crawling substance on her face had spread to her neck and upper back, festering and controlling. Dust settled back on the ground to reveal a motionless Adrian, breathing heavily. His eyes were open wide and were fully white, and his orange mane, normally unruly, was elongated and bristling with magical power, throwing it into an ethereal breeze, just as Celestia, Luna, or even Twilight’s mane was kept.

Adrian raised his hoof and an orange blade made of pure magic sprouted from the tip. He moved his hoof until it was flush with his side, the blade tip facing behind him. The princess of magic mirrored his moves, producing a smaller violet blade and moving it to her side. No words were spoken between the two, merely mutual interpretation of the heated energy in the arena.

Two explosions were heard as both Twilight’s and Adrian’s body rocketed forwards towards each other, leaving two rings of dust in their wake. Their hooves extended and pointed towards the other, and they swung.

The two alternating energy wavelengths bounced off each other, repelled by the negative attraction. Their bodies spun out of control and Twilight crashed into the ground again while Adrian took to the air, circling around and coming at the princess again. She raised her hoof and swung again, knocking Adrian back up into the air just as he had done before. She smirked and launched herself into the air after him, her senses more acute, her movements more accurate.

Adrian attempted to right himself before a lavender leg slammed into his side, knocking him back into the ground. The force from the impact sent him spiraling into what was left of the lake, skidding through the murky water and coming to a stop on the other side. Shaking his head, he stood back up to face his attacker, only to be knocked back into the arena wall, cracking it further and causing a small ledge to be created inside the thick masonry.

Twilight hovered across from the transformed unicorn, gazing at the magic swimming around his body. Her eyes were emotionless, blackened by the figures crawling on her skin. Adrian slowly pushed himself up into a standing position on the ledge, his hoof moving towards his right side. The same ball of energy as before started materializing on the tip of his hoof, being formed by a cascading flow of the aura that surrounded him. Twilight once again mimicked his action, forming a singularity in her hoof, formed by the black substance on her body. And then they waited.

* [] * [] *

Rhino hovered above the arena. Soarin’ had gone, flying back to Canterlot Castle with the two mares in tow. He had said something about getting them to the medical wing, but it had just been a rush of air through the gray pegasus’s ears.

He watched intently, not sure to intervene. With the amount of damage caused to the arena’s integrity already, and witnessing the action firsthand, his safety and the safety of both of the ponies down their would be in jeopardy.

He didn’t have much time to think on this topic, however, as the two ponies below suddenly charged at each other, a purple ring coming from around the princess’s hooves and an orange ring exploding outwards from the wall where the other pony had been. They gained speed, Twilight flapping her wings and outstretching her hoof in front of her, the other pony doing the same.

And they collided in the middle with a frighteningly large boom, a mixture of orange and purple energy enveloping their bodies, transferring the air around them into an aura of pure, white magic, floating suspended in the air. Rhino was blown backwards by the blast and could feel the energy emanating from the combined forces of the two below, but managed to right himself. Squinting, he peered back into the sphere, able to slightly make out the silhouettes of the two ponies, their hooves touching.

And the aura exploded outwards, the only thing Rhino saw before his vision went black.

* [] * [] *

I’m numb.

What happened?

I’m… falling.

Can’t… can’t think… straight…

Is that… Twilight?

What’s below her?

Spikes? Metal? That looks, painful.

Still falling.

Why isn’t anyone helping us?

And why is everything in shambles?

…

She’s going to die if she falls.

Urrghhh…. auwhwhhh….

Come on, horn… work, dammit.

A flash of light illuminated the arena walls. I wrapped my hooves around the princess’s body, feeling some of the bones shift with a gruesome crunch. I hugged her close.

I have to do this.

Prelude 4 // Marked

View Online

Buh-beep.

I yawned softly in my sleep, my muscles tensing up. That damn beeping had started up again, and it seemed like every time I became somewhat awake I would hear it. I tried to open my eye but nothing happened.

Buh-beep.

It sounded strangely like my alarm clock, and I tried to raise my right arm to bat it away, hopefully turning it off. My arm felt like it was being pinned down, and I couldn’t feel it very well anyway.

“Damn it, Art,” I thought to myself, scowling slightly. It seemed like my cat had climbed up onto my arm in the middle of night. “If you could get off my arm, that’d be great.” Nothing happened, of course. I decided speaking would be the best course of action. I took a deep breath.

“Mmmfffrrrahha gn ig ga jgo.”

Okay, maybe speaking wasn’t going to work so well. Different tactic. I tried to raise my left arm and felt it move. Alright, making some good progress. I rubbed my closed eyes slightly with my hand, which felt very cold and hard. Whatever, I’d deal with it later. I was able to open my eyes slightly and was greeted with a blast of white light. I instinctively covered my eyes with my arm, which felt much hairier than usual, and groaned. My arm was touching something around my mouth so I pulled it off. It felt like some sort of mask.

The machine beeped again and I frowned. I pulled myself up into a seated position, feeling cool air on my skin. I rubbed my eyes again, feeling some sort of crust fall off, and tried to open them again. The bright light met my optics again and I flinched, yet it wasn’t as bad as the initial shock. Gradually my eyes adjusted to my surroundings, seeing that I was in an all white room, seemingly a hospital. I glanced over to my left and saw a bedside table with multiple different medical supplies and examination tools on it.

The machine to my right beeped again and I turned my head quickly, noticing for the first time that it was a heart rate monitor. It beeped steadily, and I looked down at my chest to find the monitor’s pads. I was instead greeted with a mass of gray, which confused me until I remembered the whole “pony” thing.

Yes, even after three years it took some getting used to. Bite me.

I guess my heart acted up upon my surprise, making the machine next to me beep faster and multiple clopping noises sounded down the hallway. In a matter of seconds two nurses blew into the room, running to my side. I groaned as I recognised Nurse Redheart, one of the doctors who had shooed me away from the Ponyville hospital whenever I needed something looked at. My damn curse affected my personal health too, on association.

“Are you alright, sir?” she asked, worry evident in her features. I stared back in confusion, my mouth hanging open.

This was a mare who openly denied any medical service to me for the past three years, and now here she was, the same mare, flying into my room at the slightest change in my condition and wondering how I’m feeling. I bet you can understand how fucked the situation was in my mind.

“Um…” was all I could manage, my mouth still hanging open.

“Oh, right! Sorry, we haven’t introduced ourselves. My name is Nur-”

“Nurse Redheart, I know,” I interjected, trying to cross my forelegs but found my right one still was pinned to the bed. “What I don’t understand is why you’re tending to me. Care to inform?”

“You were hurt in a training fight, sir,” her assistant chimed in. “So you were brought here and we fixed you up, right as rain!” She beamed while Redheart rolled her eyes.

“What’s your name?” I asked her, smiling widely. This was one of the first times that any normal pony had shown me any compassion whatsoever, and I wasn’t about to let this little encounter slide without some sort of base friendship.

“Nurse in Training Rain Mist!” she squealed. Redheart facehoofed.

“She has to follow me around for a couple months until she can get her nurse certification,” she explained. I nodded, still smiling. “So, now that you’re awake we need to run a few quick tests. Is that okay?”

“Sure,” I responded. “What do you need to do?”

“We’ll need you to answer a couple questions and then do a physical.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“You’ve been in a coma for about a month now. What can you remember about what happened right before?” My mind went back to the area.

“I was fighting Twilight,” I started, looking off into space. “She was winning, and she pinned me to the ground, but I blacked out after that. When I came to I was falling, so I… I’m not sure… what I did.” Redheart nodded and scribbled a couple notes on a clipboard she had picked up from my bedside table.

“Mhmm. And what happened to bring on this fight?”

“It was a training facility, isn’t that a little obvious?”

“Too true. Next question, pretty basic, what is your name?”

“Adrian Decimus.”

“Age?”

“Twenty... five? I think?.”

“Mane color?”

Out of my peripheral vision I saw a lock of my orange mane hanging down. I frowned.

“Isn’t it a little obvious? Orange.”

“Sorry, they make me do it.” She chuckled slightly and flipped the top page of the clipboard over, scribbling something on the second page. Once she was done she turned it around and pointed it towards me. “This is a pretty simple test, all you have to do it keep reading the words on the page, no matter what. Sound good?”

“Sure. I am currently in Canterlot Medical Center wher… um… where I’ve… uh… I can’t read it…?” Somehow during my recitation the words had become blurry and I rubbed my eyes.

“One more time?” Redheart asked. I nodded, but wasn’t able to make it any farther along the page. “Alright, it seems as though you have a fairly severe concussion. That test is used to test for trauma and concussion, all I have to do is move the board gradually closer to you.” She chuckled again. “Works like a charm.”

I felt the back of my head with a hoof, parting my orange mane. Glancing to the side I found Rain Mist twisting some dials on the machines, changing the displays and collecting data.

“Adrian, I need to pull your covers down now, do you mind?”

“Go ahead.” Redheart gripped the covers with her hooves and pulled them down, exposing numerous amounts of bandages that I hadn’t even noticed before. I swore under my breath, noticing for the first time that my body felt numb. I glanced back at my right foreleg and saw a catheter feeding into it. It was strapped down to the bed via gauze.

“What’s wrong with my arm?” I asked quietly, more to myself than the nurses. They heard me anyway and stopped what they were doing to answer.

“It got shattered in multiple places. Four of your ribs are broken also, and your left leg was nearly completely severed. Fortunately we were able to get both it reattached and the metal imbedded in your back removed with magic.” Redheart began palpating random places on my body, making me either be greeted with a numb feeling, no pain, or extreme discomfort. She noted all of these on her clipboard.

“Wow. How did all of this happen?”

“I’ll let your friends explain it to you. They’re waiting outside. Should I bring them in?”

“My… friends?” I stammered, unable to grasp the concept after three years without them. My heart started racing again and Redheart took note of it with a faint sign of impatience. I quietly willed my heart back down to its normal rhythm.

“Yes… a Ms. Applejack and Ms. Dash?” My mouth formed a small “O” at the realisation of who she was talking about.

“Sure… send my friends in.” I emphasised “friends” just for emphasis, to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. This was all happening? I have a fight with Twilight and I make friends? Ponies stop seeing me as a monster? They start being… friends?

Nurse Redheart placed the clipboard on the top of my bedside table and trotted out of the room, dragging Rain Mist - who was currently waving goodbye - behind her. I sighed and slapped myself with my left hoof, causing a stinging pain to course through my nervous system. This was definitely not a dream.

Trotting sounds in the hallway. My ears perked up and I returned my attention to the door to see an orange earth pony and cyan pegasus enter the room, moving to the foot of my bed.

“A-Adrian…?” Rainbow blurted out upon seeing me, while Applejack’s mouth purley hung open in shock. I looked at them, confused, before realising what they were gawking at. They were seeing me for what I really was instead of some monster.

“Uh… yes… that would be me. I didn’t know this was a roll call,” I lightly joked, giggling slightly. My ribs hurt however and I winced, breaking the duo out of their stupor.

“But… but you’re not… not… wha…-” Rainbow was silenced when Applejack’s hoof planted itself over her mouth, accompanied by a stern look from the apple farmer. She turned her head to face me.

“Sorry hun, Princess Celestia told us you would be looking different. Rainbow,” a light jab from her hoof onto Rainbow’s barrel, “should have been listening. Right sugar?” The pegasus nodded and pushed Applejack’s hoof away, however her eyes remained wide.

“First question,” I asked, placing my left foreleg over my ribs, “why do I look different?” At that moment Princess Celestia herself trotted back into the room, a wide smile on her face. She turned to the rest of the company and nodded before moving her attention back to me.

“Hello, Adrian,” she spoke, her melodious voice causing my autonomous sensory meridian response to kick in full gear. I shuddered slightly as tingles ran down my spine. In my good mood I grinned.

“‘Hello, Princess," I responded. "Is everything alright?"

“Instead of telling you what we did to you, we may as well show you,” she offered, extending a hoof to the bed. A yellow tint clouded my vision and I felt myself being lifted off against my will, the catheter in my arm pulled out by the same yellow field. Celestia moved me over to the bathroom without letting me touch the ground, which I assumed was a good thing given my injuries. The full-length vanity mirror shown my reflection back to me.

My mane was a mess, to say the least. It seemed like my entire back was covered in bandages and gauze, whereas only a few strands wrapped around the underside of my barrel. My right foreleg was wrapped completely in bandages as well as my left hind leg, and a splint adorned the side. But what was most interesting was something on the base of my horn.

“What’s that?” I asked, not realising my question was way too vague, however Celestia didn’t seem to mind.

“That is a magical interference ring.”

“We’ve tried those before, though. What’s different about this one?”

“Everything. We moved away from trying to harness the magic of friendship, which was what Apple Bloom’s adolescent mind used to see you in your current form, as it was becoming much too difficult and we were moving into much darker territories than we wanted to.

“After my colleagues got fed up with the project they tried to scrap it, however I was able to convince them to leave the project team without destroying our research - they don’t like you very much. So, I continued to work on your condition until I found something interesting.” She paused to take another breath.

“Please elaborate,” I said more than asked.

“I decided to use what was left of King Sombra’s horn and run some tests on it. Since he was able to harness his illusionary powers and transform himself into a wall of smoke, I figured that it would be a good starting point. I removed some of his neurological magic adapters and fused them into a ring already containing a few areas of the elemental spectrum, what you see when the elements are fired as one. Without the elemental fragments you would have instead been “harnessed” by the dark energy in King Sombra’s horn, so to speak. But with the careful balance I was able to negate the illusionary magic coming from your horn while maintaining your other spellcasting abilities.”

I turned back to the mirror.

“So, in a word…”

“You’re fixed.”

The realization sunk in.

“I… I’m… f-fixed…?”

“Yes. Also, you have earned something. You can Twilight can talk about that more once she wakes. You may find some very interesting things about you, Adrian.”

A yellow aura pulled away some of the bandages from my flank, revealing an icon. A silver triangle with a golden circle in the center.

“Is that…” I dumbly asked, still in shock.

“A cutie mark? Yes. You, Adrian Decimus, have earned your cutie mark, and it means much more than you think it does.”

Trotting sounds from the hall once again.

“Princess Celestia!” Rain Mist blew through the doors, paperwork flying everywhere, followed by a very unhappy Nurse Redheart.

“Yes, my little pony?”

“Princess Twilight! She’s awake!”

* [] * [] *

I was lifted out of bed and placed into a wheelchair once the commotion in the room died down enough for Celestia to levitate me over to it. Then her magical grip moved to the handles and we moved down the hall, following the rest of Twilight’s friends and the two nurses.

When we got to her room, the rest of the group was already there, standing around the princess’s bed. I was rolled up by Celestia to the side and she pushed the brakes down, insuring I wasn’t about to go rolling off anywhere. I winced as I tentatively rubbed a hoof on my side, feeling the bandages and mangled flesh underneath. I knew the doctors had done the best they could, given the circumstances, but the pain was immense even with painkillers. I shrugged it off and paid attention to Twilight.

She was blinking, but it didn’t really seem like anything her friends were saying was registering before she finally coughed and made to sit up, instantly pushed down onto her back by Rainbow so she didn’t injure herself further. Applejack reached out her foreleg and pushed down one of the buttons on the side of Twilight’s hospital bed, moving her head up so she could see all of us. I saw her eyes roam around the group, yet stop on me. I raised an eyebrow–which made my head hurt–and returned her gaze.

The staring contest went on for a few moments before something finally snapped.

A tear squeezed out the side of the princess’s eye, rolling down her cheek and falling onto the white bedding beneath it. Then another followed. She let out a choking sob, and the torrent was unleashed. Through her blubbering I could make out two, loosely defined words;

“I’m sorry.”

* [] * [] *

After all her friends said hello and backed out of the room, I was left alone, staring at Twilight. She rubbed her eyes and looked at me, sniffing slightly. I sighed and grabbed the rims of my wheelchair and rolled over to her bedside, placing the brakes down again once I got there and laying my leg on her bedside table.

“Shit, you look awful,” I said, making small circles on the table. When neither of us spoke, I decided to ask the question that had been weighing down on my conscience ever since I had awoken. “... did I do that?” She shook her head and rolled it to the side, looking me in the eyes.

“I don’t… know.” Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy. I sighed again. Princess Celestia coughed from the corner.

“You both don’t remember because it wasn’t exactly you fighting.” We both looked at her, eyebrows raised.

“... what?”

“All inhabitants of this world have chaotic magic running through their body. It’s a way to balance out one’s emotions and feelings. However, in dire situations, one can tap into their own reserve and become something that they are not, with no recollection of what had happened.”

“But our situation wasn’t dire,” I interjected, gesturing to Twilight and back at myself, “... wasn’t it?”

“Of course it was,” Celestia glared at Twilight, who shrunk back into the bedding. “She obviously wanted to kill you. If she hadn’t… well… let’s just say I noticed a significant gift from both of you. Around your first days here.” She got up and paced around the room. “Upon your arrival, I did an impromptu magical scan on you, Adrian, because I wasn’t sure if you were friend or foe yet.

“I noticed a strong potential for harnessing one’s own chaos magic, and that was the main reason I sent you to the Crystal Empire, to protect you while having you keep your distance from my subjects.”

“‘Course it’s a Chekhov’s Gun,” I mumbled under my breath. “But what about Twilight? Why did she forget?”

“She has the same gift as you,” Celestia replied, standing in front of us once again. She sat back down and leaned back, popping muscles in the process. “Both of you are able to think on your hooves, and when you fail to do even that your body takes over your mental capacities, thereby leading you to lose control.”

I glanced over at Twilight again, who was having more or less the same reaction.

“Back to the matter at hand, what compelled you to attack me in the first place?” She fidgeted slightly, wincing as she became acquainted with her bandages and splints, the most prominent being around the wing that I broke during our fight in the arena.

“I… I don’t really know. Spur of the moment?”

“Could all of this,” I gestured at my bandages as well as hers, “be ‘spur of the moment?’” She pulled the covers up above her snout and looked downwards, appearing saddened.

“Something happened that morning,” she began, “in the library. After I teleported you to Canterlot, everything went downhill.”

* [] * [] *

“Alright, hold onto your horn,” I mused, preparing the spell. A lavender glow wrapped around my horn and my wings flexed instinctively.

“I know the drill,” the unicorn in front of me chuckled. Adrian shifted to the side, his ripped, gray coat shifting slightly as he moved. I shook it off and laughed.

“‘Course you do.” The spell fired and there was a blinding flash of light, and Adrian was gone. I sighed and took a step back, rubbing my temples. I glanced around the room and trotted back to my desk, ruffling some notes around and looking at one in particular. The neat, black ink of my own hoofwriting was jumping off the page, reminding me of my limited capabilities.

“Subject seems to pass his illusionary magic onto the ponies he comes into contact with, making them look strange to others.”

I leaned back and sat down in a chair, reclining back and looking up at the ceiling. My brain toyed around with my thoughts for a few moments, changing some words around and thinking of new theories to Adrian’s strange condition, as well as how he was brought to Equus in the first place, much less how he became a pony during his relocation.

However, my thoughts were interrupted by knocking at the door to the library. I grumbled something having to do with coffee and glanced over at the entrance.

“Come in…” I halfheartedly called. The door swung open and the Element of Generosity herself trotted in, her snout to the floor, a blue glow surrounding her horn. She levitated something in behind her.

“Hello, darling. Here are the books that I bro-”

Rarity froze. I raised an eyebrow.

“Uh… what?” was my only response. I started to get up and the white unicorn flinched.

Then, like had happened many times before, she ran away, screaming.

“Son of a…” I slapped a purple hoof against my face and ruffled my wings. The princesses and I had been making progress, lots of it. But Tartarus if it wasn’t getting on my nerves, the constant screams of the ponies that Adrian encountered, the fact that they wouldn’t listen to any sort of explanation for his condition, much less what happened when Applejack, Rainbow Dash, or even myself spent too much time around him.

But I remembered that the sooner we could get Adrian home, the sooner ponies would stop their strange behavior, and things could go back to normal in Equestria. Yet, as I had grown to expect from my five years living in Ponyville, it was never meant to be.

A butter yellow pegasus flew into the door and immediately started looking around for me.

“Twilight!” Fluttershy called, still not noticing me sitting in plain sight by the desk. “I saw Dash flying away and she looked awful! Do yo-EEEEEPP!”

And she was out the door. This was getting old.

My mind wasn’t thinking clearly.

“Screw waiting,” I grumbled. “This ends today.”

* [] * [] *

“And…” Twilight finished, rubbing a hoof along the side of her neck, “that’s pretty much what happened.” I looked down at the princess, her fur matted with tears, realizing that she truly was sorry for what had happened.

“Twilight,” another voice from the other side of the room announced. I stole a glance over and realized it came from Princess Celestia, who had stood up and was now staring mindlessly out of one of the windows. “I’m very disappointed in you.”

“I realize that,” the purple alicorn replied. I sighed and patted her hoof with mine, noticing a small smile plaster itself upon her face.

“But,” the Princess of the Sun said again, “I cannot be angry at you or your actions, mainly because of the circumstances that led to your acts. If Adrian had been able to relate to others like a normal pony, I would most certainly have stripped you of your title of princess.” I could feel Twilight’s skin grow colder at that mention and she shivered slightly. “But, I cannot. You acted the way that your instinct told you to and wanted above all else to protect our subjects. I commend you for risking yourself to do that.”

“Thank you, Princess,” Twilight replied. Her eyes were closed in shame.

“As for you, Adrian,” I looked up and into the Princess’s eyes. “Once you have recovered you are free to move about as a regular citizen of Equestria.” I grinned. “Now, I have an appointment with the Solar Court in a half an hour, and I need to prepare a couple stacks of notes. I imagine you two have much to discuss.”

And with a flash, the white alicorn was gone, the sound from her teleportation spell fading away as the echoes dissipated. I decided to break the silence.

“So...”

“Yeah.”

“What happens now?”

“I still have to run tests on you.”

“Dammit.”

* [] * [] *

Four black-clad hooves echoed throughout the massive hallway as they ran towards a large atrium at the end where many figures were huddled around one table. The figures turned their attention to the approaching pony and rolled their eyes exasperatedly.

“You’re late.”

The hooves slowed but did not stop, instead bringing the pony they belonged to up to the edge of the table. She placed his forelegs on the top for a brace and caught her breath before replying.

“I’m sorry, Master. What is the news?”

“Good, to say the least.” The figure the voice belonged to, a short, small orb of seemingly dark energy, sounded crass and deep, cutting through the silence of the hall like a knife. “Celestia has found the weakness and has filled it.”

“I thought you had said the weakness could not be discovered.”

“I also had stated that our empire would never fall. I don’t think my record is exactly crystal clear.”

“How does Celestia finding the weakness help us in literally any way?” Another pony spoke up, this one a unicorn. His yellow eyes flicked around the circle before coming to rest again on the ball of energy.

“The illusionary magic instilled on his body upon his arrival on this planet had been obtained from the ambient magical diffusal field surrounding the atmosphere. This magic has hidden the planet from all other forms of life on other worlds, intelligent or not. Due to the memory spell Veil had been oh-so-gracious to lend me, I was able to find out that yes, his culture was developed, even more so than current Equestrian culture.”

“What does the Field have to do with anything?”

“Well, for one, we now know that our theory is correct,” another pony replied, his voice sounding droll and dragged out.

“That alone is good news. Reading his memories and figuring out his fears and adversities, we decided to go with our Plan C. For any who don’t remember,” a beam of light shot out of the ball of energy and a piece of parchment materialised on the table. “Our plan was simple, upon his arrival implant magical energy into his being, remove some of his choice memories, and then deliver him to Equestria.

“But now, the implanted magical energy on his being has been tampered with, by Celestia no less, who has figured out the secret to the energy’s persistence and has decided to use special nullification rings around the subject’s horn to remove the visible effects. Citrine had asked how this could help us in any way. It’s very simple. Remember our first drafted plan, Plan A?”

A new picture materialised onto the table, this one with a large ‘X’ at the top right corner. “This one called for us to tap into his mind with magic and control him by one of us, thereby helping us in our endeavors. However, the one problem with this plan was that there was no way for any one of us, especially me, to be near enough to the subject at all times, as the spell requires a minimum distance between the user and the subject.”

“We are still too far away, and all the problems remain,” Citrine replied, glancing away from the drawing and to the ball of energy. “How does this change anything?”

For a moment, two green eyes materialised on the face of the ball of energy, purple tails of flame coming out of the corners.

“My horn is contained in the rings. I am now closer to his mind than anypony else could ever hope to be.”

Prelude 5 // Revelation

View Online

Healing magic: crazy cool.

In about a week I was up on my fe-ehrm… I mean… up on my hooves again, trotting around the hospital floor. My right front leg still wasn’t healthy enough to support its own weight, so I had to also drag around some sort of rolling cast whenever I wanted some exercise. But even that cast went away after another day or two, with help from regular doses of painkillers.

E’en so, I briskly trotted out of the hospital for the first time on a warm, bright Wednesday morning after signing some release forms and giving insurance information, something Celestia had oh-so-graciously lent me for the time being until I could find myself a stable job. Twilight had been out of the hospital for a few days before me, due to the fact that her own healing magics sped up the process. Since I never had any formal magic training lessons, I was reliant on the doctors to speed up my recovery, and when I reminded Twilight of my lack of magical ability she assured me that she would be a mentor, as well as giving me a place to stay until I-again-had enough money to buy my own house.

But now, walking out of the hospital and onto the streets of Ponyville, I had my first errand to run; head to the Golden Oaks Library and ask Twilight about my cutie mark. I had been interested in it ever since I saw that simple geometric pattern, and Celestia hadn’t given me any straight answers just like a generic Mary-Sue Princess, so I was willing to perform any sort of test Twilight needed just to learn more about my destiny.

It took a couple minutes for me to reach the library, part of me wanting to go slowly and savor the fact that none of the residents were chasing me with torches. A couple of the stall keepers in the market waved at me as I went by while most just seemed confused. One stall keeper, however, actually called my name.

“Heyo, Adrian! How are you doin’ today?” an orange pony called out from behind a stand of apples. I trotted over with a smile on my face.

“Pretty good, AJ. You?”

“Eh, sales could be better I guess,” she rolled her eyes. “You on your way to Twi’s?”

“Yep,” I nodded. “She wants to run tests on me-ugh-and I need to figure out what this means.” I gestured with my head to my cutie mark and Applejack nodded sagely.

“Ah, I see. Kind of like the opposite of crusadin’. You’re trying to find out what your cutie mark means.”

“I guess so,” I smiled. “How much are those apples today?”

“For a new friend? On the house.” My smile grew.

“Thanks AJ,” I said. My orange aura enveloped an apple and I raised it to my mouth, lightly biting down and breaking it in half.

“Don’t mention it, sugarcube. Anything to repay you for the way we treated you…” She was silenced by my hoof on her lips. I smiled lightly and spun the apple around in my magical aura.

“Applejack, don’t. It wasn’t either of our faults that my curse was present. I’m just glad you were able to help me all of those years, even while having to fight that dark magic.” I removed my hoof from her mouth and wrapped it around her neck, pulling her into a hug. “You’ve done more than enough for me over these years, and for that I have to thank you.” I pulled out of the embrace and smiled one more time before turning on my hoof and walking away towards the library.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Applejack’s blush deepen. She lightly pawed at the ground before turning around and shaking her head, ready to help her next customer.

* [] * [] *

I pushed open the door of the library and a small breeze followed me in to equalize the air pressure. I cleared my throat and let out a refreshing breath of air, glad to be out of the hot summer sun.

“Hello?”

No one answered me, which wasn’t very surprising. It was around breakfast time, and there was a chance that Twilight and Spike could be out. I never spent time with her unless she was analysing my curse, so I didn’t know her eating habits. Deciding to make the most out of my current situation - alone in a massive library with hundreds of books - I trotted over to a shelf and pulled out a book at random.

“Ah…” I gasped. Poetry. I never had the chance to read Equestrian poetry, so it was a whole new world to me. During my few years with the curse I had attempted to write my own poetry, influenced by the styles of both Frost and Dickenson, combining them to create something new and interesting, but not worth reading for the hundredth time like There is Another Sky.

I pulled over a chair in my orange aura and sat down, flipping through the pages at random. Eventually my eyes fell upon the inked pages, legibly scrawled out in a neat serif font similar to the ever-popular Book Antiqua back on Earth.

I lost myself in the works of Quick Quill and Featherlock, Silverhoof and Inkwell. The words flowed into my soul, relaxing as the calming words took effect. Halfway through a particularly moving poem by Featherlock something tapped my shoulder, causing me to break concentration. My gaze shifted from the off-white pages into the deep purple eyes of Twilight Sparkle.

“Uh… hello?” I said, giving her a half-smile. She smiled back and pulled away.

“Hey. Sorry for disturbing you, but I had called your name a couple times.” She gestured to the door which was currently being held open by none other than Twilight’s number one assistant, as Celestia had referred to him on multiple occasions. “I thought you would have heard the door. Spike, didn’t Rarity want you to come by later?” The little dragon’s eyes shot open and he muttered something about leaving before he bolted out of the door. I laughed slightly.

“No, I was reading.” Twilight leaned down to get a look at the book I had in my aura.

“The Quintessential Collection? Poetry?”

“Yeah,” I returned my gaze to the page. “Listen to this;

“Leaves fall around me as I trot,

The wind blowing silently through my mane.

The dust, through disturbed by my presence,

Still tosses and turns on the narrow lane.

“My voyage is neither hard nor easy,

But it is one I am willing to take.

For although many ponies do not make it

There is a choice I am willing to make.

“So come with me, one and all

Come see where we have to walk.

For although we can see numerous doors

We cannot enter ones that are locked.

“And at the end of this road

We must all be leaves of umber

For unless our lives we have not fulfilled

We will not reach our eternal slumber.”

“Wow,” Twilight breathed, taking a seat across from me. I put the book down on the table and stretched my aching limbs. “I never took you for one with a taste of poetry.”

“Back home I loved poetry, and I wrote it just as much. Poetry was actually one of the ways I remained sane.”

“Did you read the books in the Royal Library?”

“No,” I admitted, “it wasn’t safe enough for me to go out there very often, and when I did I was always accompanied by Celestia. Only research, no fun. I had to write my own in the safety of my own house.”

“You wrote your own poetry?” Twilight asked, stunned. I nodded.

“Yeah. I was influenced a lot through some of my favorite poets from back home.” Twilight immediately shot from her seat and galloped to a nearby drawer, pulling it open with her lavender aura and retrieving a pad of paper and a pencil from inside, shutting it behind her as she ran back to her seat. I chuckled, already knowing what she was going to ask. “Sure, I’ll recite one.” I cleared my throat but Twilight cut me off.

“First things first, who wrote it and what is it called?”

“Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken.”

“Allright, continue.”

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveller, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

“Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I-

I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

Twilight finished scribbling and looked up at me with awe.

“That… that was beautiful.” I laughed.

“Yeah, that’s one of the most famous poems from Earth. I know tons of those off the top of my head and I have them all transcribed at my house, but I think that’s for another time, no?”

“Oh, right.” Twilight set down her pad of paper and blushed, getting up from her seat again albeit slowly. She moved towards a bookshelf on the other side of the library, pulling down a hard-bound, thick brown book. Her lavender aura encased it and she moved back to the sitting area, placing the book in front of me but keeping it closed. Picking up the pad of paper, her gaze turned to my flanks where she studied my new cutie mark.

“Wow, don’t you think you should buy me a drink first?” I joked. She blushed and rolled her eyes, quickly making a rough sketch of my mark, the golden triangle inlaid with a silver circle. Opening the book and holding the crude sketch beside it, Twilight flipped from page to page in a section marked “elements,” comparing my mark to the diagramed and logged cutie marks of ponies long past, and prophesied ones for the future. After a few minutes of searching she found what she was looking for.

“Here we are… ‘The Guardian.’”

“Ooh, sounds interesting.” I shifted slightly so I could get a better look at the page. A clear, accurate representation of my cutie mark was presented back to me.

“The Guardian has been said to appear nearly 25 years after the birth of the final element. They will be the protector of the elements for as long as they live, and the elements will depend on the Guardian to keep them safe from all dangers, both physical and mental. The Guardian will have a high magical capability, but it will be nearly uncontrollable. Only after the rampant magic has been calmed the mark of the Guardian will appear.”

“Wait,” I interjected, scratching my neck. “I’m your bodyguard?”

“I guess,” Twilight said, nodding slowly. She turned the page to see a drawing of two daggers, encrusted with jewels of purple, cyan, and orange on one and white, yellow and pink on the other. “Hold on.

“It is necessary for the Guardian to wield the Elemental Daggers, for the powers of each element are contained inside the hilt. The powers can only be activated by the Guardian, however once the Guardian has appeared there are ways to activate the Elemental Daggers without the Guardian’s consent, however all known ways involve dark magic and are not suitable for everyday use. It is unknown how the different elemental abilities work, and only Ráhd knows what the colors of the jewels correspond to, however it has been hypothesised that the Elements match the colors found on the dagger. No correlation has been found, and this does not imply causation.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah. Oh, and Princess Celestia told me to give this to you.” A box levitated over to me in Twilight’s aura and I grabbed it with mine out of midair, our auras intermingling as the orange mixed with the purple for half a second. I could feel Twilight’s willpower against my own, pushing and molding itself against my waking consciousness. She gasped and pulled back, blushing.

“Something wrong?” I asked, worried.

“N-no… it’s just… that kind of thing isn’t… casual.”

“What do you… oh…” I blushed and looked away. “Sorry, I haven’t been well versed in Equestrian culture.”

“It’s… ah… okay. Heh, whatever. Open it!”

My magic grasped at the sides of the box, tearing off the tape and flipping open the cardboard. Inside was a package encased in what appeared to be bubble wrap, but acted much more fluidly. It was enchanted packing material. A letter was also placed on top of the package which I picked up and tore into, levitating out the scroll inside.

“Dear Adrian,” I read aloud, glancing over at Twilight who motioned for me to continue. “I am sending you this package because I trust you to watch over the contents.”

“That’s it?” Twilight asked, confused.

“I guess.” I opened the package and set it down on the table, moving apart the packing material covering the contents.

Inside were two gleaming, silver daggers encrusted with colored gems. The daggers themselves looked like two matching razorblades, their jagged edges tapering at the top and the bottom into more of a parallelogram shape than any conventional blade I’d ever seen before.

Perfect.

I looked at Twilight.

“Did you say something?” I asked.

“No… why?” I scratched my chin.

“Nevermind… thought I heard something. It’s nothing. So now what? Testing?”

“Oh! I love testing!”

“Oh… why did I suggest anything?”

* [] * [] *

The black dark energy mass moved about the crystal halls, its eyes hidden deep inside its own being. It was looking at an image through another pony’s mind, the certain pony it had brought to Equestria in the first place. The one who was going to bring it what it needed most, what it needed to be resurrected and whole again.

The daggers were in this pony's possession.

* [] * [] *

“Now, up against the tree.”

Needless to say, this didn’t seem like it was going to turn out to be a fun experience. Twilight paced in front of me, the two blades lying on the grass. The edges gleamed in the midday sun, casting light over the forest canopy.

We had left the library without running into many ponies on the way, but the ones who were out were more than happy to welcome the new Unicorn to town. Twilight had insisted on going all the way to the edge of the Everfree Forest.

“Why can’t you just teleport us?” I had asked, falling into stride behind her as we left the city limits. She sighed.

“My magic still hasn’t completely gotten back to me yet. Celestia also asked me to give you an accurate feeling of the city you’ve been living beside for years.” My mouth formed a small ‘o’ when I realized why she had been introducing me to each pony we passed.

“Oh… thank you.”

Twilight’s purple aura fell upon the lock of her saddlebags and she opened them, pulling out a notebook and quill. They floated onto the grass beside the blades as Twilight flipped the notebook open to a page without the marks of her careful scrawling.

“I know this may seem… strange to you. But trust me, prophecies are not something to be disregarded completely.”

“Do you have experience with them?”

“Something like that,” Twilight replied, scuffing a hoof into the long grass. “Once I ascended, Celestia took me into the restricted section of the Royal Archives. There were many books foretelling the birth of a fourth Alicorn Princess, and they all corresponded to the birthing of the living elements as well.”

A cool summer breeze blew through the trees around us, and I felt my mane brush across my neck.

“That still doesn’t explain why you need a bodyguard. I’ve seen you fight.” Twilight cringed, her eyes looking anywhere but at me. “I’m sorry,” I corrected myself quickly. “I didn’t mean it that wa—”

“No… it’s okay. But… the girls and I are Equestria’s trump card. Our word technically can overrule any government member other than the Princesses themselves.”

“I never knew that,” I replied.

“I can imagine there’s a bunch of the nuances of Equestrian politics you don’t know. I’d be glad to teach you a lot of what you need to know. It’s… the least I can do.”

I nodded in understanding. Twilight had been one of the most resistant ponies to the curse, but even she had her limits. I could empathise with her want to make up the last three years to me in some way. And, I must admit, I was quite lacking in terms of knowledge of social faux-pas, government, economic structure, or basically anything about Equestria other than basic history. I mentally punched myself, thinking of all the wasted opportunities I had to read up on it, instead going directly for the history and fiction sections at the library.

Once I shook my mental tangent out of my head and focused on Twilight, I could see her holding each dagger up to her face and making quick sketches on her notebook.

“This’ll just take a second…” she said, her nose scrunched. I smiled to myself. I honestly never noticed how cute she could be. “Done!” The blades floated over to me as her notebook and quill were placed down on the grass once again. Twilight’s magic dropped them in front of me and I snaked mine out just in time to catch them before they were embedded in the grass by gravity. As soon as my magic touched them the gems inserted into the blade gleamed white, shimmering slightly. Twilight’s magic was already at work scribbling down notes once again even as the glow faded on all but one of the gems.

“... what’s so special about the purple one?”

“According to what was hinted at in the book… that one corresponds to my element.”

I gave a few practice swings with the daggers, careful to not get them anywhere close to Twilight. The daggers, while still silver, left purple trails of light behind them when they were moved quickly. Although the trails of light were small, they were all but unnoticeable, reflecting off the smooth edges of the blades.

Looking back at Twilight, I noticed she had produced another book from her saddlebags, and I realized it was different than the one we had been poring over in the Library. A lavender bookmark protruded from the top of the tome and she quickly flipped to it with her magic, removing the bookmark.

“This is a catalog of the Royal Archives. As these are technically important to national security and all that, Princess Luna had them locked in the archives once she found them nearly twelve hundred years ago. Look,” she said, pointing at the page, “you can even see a photo record of her original notes.”

I laid the blades back on the grass and trotted beside Twilight, looking over her shoulder. Detailed drawings adorned the page with arrows pointing to specific parts of the sketches.

“It looks as though Luna spent a lot of time researching this artifact,” I said, lying down beside Twilight. She nodded, flipping the page to one almost completely filled with text.

“Here’s a record of extensive testing conducted by scientists at the Archives. Remember the black magic the previous book mentioned?” I nodded in confirmation. “The Archives has entire collections of books on how to replicate the same conditions with the same magical forces.”

“So…” I asked, hesitating for a moment, “the scientists know how to cast dark magic… with instructions directly from this book?”

“Yeah,” Twilight answered, still poring over the catalog in front of her. I could tell she was only half-listening, much more interested in what was actually on the page. “These books are kept under very tight security.”

“How do you have one?”

“Princess Celestia gave it to me after my ascension so that I could access the archives whenever I needed to.” Twilight flipped the book over to the cover while leaving the tip of her hoof between the pages, holding her place. She gestured to the cover. “This catalog was last updated last year. They magically copy the old pages and reprint them with newly discovered information. The new catalog won’t come out for another two years, sadly, but this is the most recent information we have on the items held in the archives.”

“And what if we need more recent information?” I asked, my eyes worriedly travelling to the daggers. “What if they do something we’re not expecting?”

Twilight caught my hint and looked skeptically at the blades lying in the grass.

“You think we should visit the archives?” I asked. “Just to be sure?” Twilight nodded slowly, placing a bookmark between the pages of the catalog and shutting it. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her aura surround the two blades and lift them back into the box they came from, shutting it tightly.

“You’re right, I can’t believe I didn’t think of that before…” Twilight trailed off, already turning around to head back to town, but stopping. “I might as well just teleport us back to the library now, right?” I nodded, smiling slightly.

“I think that would work,” I laughed, “yeah.” I walked up beside Twilight, who touched her hoof to my shoulder.

“Alright, here we go.”

With a blinding flash of light and a sudden bang, I found my hooves no longer standing on the soft grass of the Everfree boundary, rather the smooth, hard wooden boards of Twilight’s library. Stumbling around for a moment while I regained my balance, I rubbed my eyes with my right hoof, blinking to get the sting of the light out of my eyes.

“Damn, I’m never going to get used to that, am I?” I asked myself aloud. Twilight chuckled from somewhere beside me and I could hear the floorboards creak as she moved about.

“I’m going to have to teach you how to teleport now, aren’t I?” she laughed. I smiled.

Twilight and I had agreed that she wouldn’t teach me teleportation before the curse was lifted, mainly just because the shock of having something that looked like a monster appear right beside some unexpecting pony would be much too dangerous. I really only knew the basics of magic. I had mastered levitation and was able to keep more than ten small objects in the air at once and lift large, heavy objects—though of course not as many at once—, average illusion magic, and I’d been starting on abjuration the month before Twilight and I fought. Of course, I was still planning on learning more about abjuration—my fight with Twilight was more than enough reason to continue work on protective spells—but teleportation would be one of the most viable and useful schools of magic for me to work on in the future. Being able to teleport to faraway cities would be extremely helpful.

* [] * [] *

A schematic of two long, jagged pieces of silver metal floated in a cloud of black smoke above the long black marble countertop before condensing in on itself and dissipating ephemerally. Twelve crystal ponies sat around the uneven countertop, their faces hard to make out due to the general darkness of the atmosphere around them. The meeting hall was large, its vaulted ceiling home to a collage of bright lights, suspended in air like fireflies. They were the only light source in the entirety of the hall, casting dark shadows under the eyes of the ponies seated at the table. One of them scratched his chin nervously.

“Master… the target is in the good grades of four different Princesses now. Are you still suggesting we stay with our original plan?”

The cloud of smoke hanging over the room shot over to an empty space at the front of the table, materializing into two red and green eyes that glared across the room.

“Of course I am,” King Sombra spoke, glaring menacingly across the table at the pony sitting there. “Citrine, you were the one who drafted the plan. Are you suggesting we go against your ideas?”

“O-of course not, my lord,” Citrine spoke, shaking slightly. “I’m just saying… maybe we should rethink our strategy slightly?

“What do you suggest?” Sombra growled, narrowing his eyes and sweeping them across the table. Citrine gulped audibly and forced down his nervousness.

“At this m-moment in time, my lord… I’m not sure. I’ll need some extra time to work on it. At this point, however, I’d suggest continuing with our original plan until something changes. If anything, it will be small.”

King Sombra looked into Citrine’s eyes for a moment before flicking them away, materializing the schematics of the two pieces of jagged metal once again.

“The point still stands, he is a viable weapon for our cause…” Sombra drawled, redirecting the attention of the room back to himself. “With his abilities I have no doubt that we will succeed at this point.”

The temperature in the room dropped almost ten degrees once Sombra teleported away, leaving the ponies remaining in the room to shiver their way to the door and out into the crystal halls once again. Citrine walked faster than the rest, eager to get away from what had just happened, but before long he felt another pony sidle up to him, matching his pace.

“Citrine,” the pony started, “what happened back there?”

Citrine’s eyes shifted from the pony to the rest of the crowd, waiting until they had all passed by them before speaking again.

“I tripped up,” Citrine admitted, rubbing at his scalp with a hoof. “It won’t happen again.”

“Good to hear,” the pony replied, smiling and placing a hoof on Citrine’s shoulder. “We need to make sure Sombra has no inkling as to what either of us are doing behind the scenes.”

Citrine nodded in agreement. “I know,” he replied, brushing the other pony’s hoof off his shoulder, glaring. “I simply think we are in way over our heads on this.”

The other pony’s smile faltered for a moment before they turned away.

“Come on,” the pony spoke, gesturing with a white hoof. “We need to get back to planning for Sombra.”

“Planning?” Citrine said, laughing slightly despite the circumstances. “More like sabotaging.”

“You said it,” the pony replied, grinning. “We leave for Equestria in two days. Pack an extra bag. Once we warn the Princesses, Sombra will never know what hit him.”

Song One: Prophesies and Fallacies

View Online

/// SONG ONE ///

PROPHESIES AND FALLACIES

* [] * [] *

At exactly six thirty in the morning, while the aurora borealis still twinkled in the black northern night, a pair of hooves slipped through a doorway deep inside a forgotten castle miles east of the borders of the Crystal Empire, ravaged by the surrounding tundra and years of neglect. Snowflakes found their way inside through eddies of air, swimming about in the oppressive, dry cold. The ancient cornerstones of the once mighty Castle of Ice crumbled and withered away in the wind, creaking as they settled against one another.

Magic light, an orange aura cast from the horn of a cloaked unicorn as he hurried through the castle, caused a slipping and sliding of shadows across the floors and walls, both covered in hieroglyphic text that was cracking and discoloured from years upon years of limestone deposits and water damage. The echoes of the unicorn’s hoofsteps rattled down the corridor as he passed torn wall tapestries and ripped portraits, their colours fading or frostbitten off of the parchment and fabric they had once clung to proudly.

The unicorn rounded a corner, coming into the sight of two black clad pegasi standing guard at the end of a wider section of hallway in front of two massive steel doors. The frigid cold crept in through archer slits in the masonry walls while a solitary torch cast a soft orange glow around the hallway from above the two guards. He slowed his gait, flicking his head back and allowing his brown hood to fall away, revealing a short, messy amber mane above piercing brown eyes on a bed of tan coat. He adjusted the saddlebags under his cloak idly as the pegasi at the end of the hall crossed their spears, waiting for him to come closer.

“Name and identification,” the one on the right grunted. The unicorn took a shallow breath.

“Citrine,” he said curtly. “Advisement to the crown.”

“Bags on the table,” the pegasus replied.

“Can’t do that,” Citrine narrowed his eyes. “For the eyes of level threes only.”

The pegasus on the right narrowed his eyes for a moment before turning to his partner long enough to give her a curt nod as they retracted their spears from in front of him. Citrine moved closer to the doors, muttering a quick thank you to the guards as he passed, before reaching out with his magic and pushing open one of the steel doors as he walked inside.

Citrine saw the commotion inside the huge, vaulted room before he heard it. As the door closed behind him, the familiar rush of a magical field passing over him made his tan coat stand on end. The silencing spell, automatically activated and deactivated by the opening and closing of the doors, faded once again, pressing flat against the perimeter of the room. Ponies ran about delivering memos and papers to each other, having hurried conversations and debates over red and blue markings on giant, wall-mounted sheets of parchment, and scanning letter upon letter of routines and checklists. Citrine took a moment to take in the scene of disciples finalizing their plans, facts, and figures, before making his way over the papers covering almost the entire floor, passing operation commanders and labour grunts alike. The unicorn pressed himself against the right railing as he ascended the stairs wrapping around the perimeter of the atrium, quickly trotting to keep in step with the hurried ponies ascending with him, and trying to keep a barrier of space between himself and the ones almost tripping over their hooves running down the stairs. Citrine turned his head towards the centre of the atrium halfway from the second to third floor just in time to see two pegasi messengers collide, sending a flurry of papers fluttering slowly towards the ground and two newfound raised voices to add to the cacophony already present in the chamber. Citrine scowled and shook his head, quickly turning to the right at the third floor landing and trotting along a dimly lit yet much less crowded hallway, the echoes of the commotion in the atrium fading slowly away as he walked further and further down the narrow stone hall.

He muttered under his breath as he walked, counting the rooms as he passed them and stopping in front of the seventh door on the right, milling about as he watched a pony exit a door closer to the atrium and join the stampede within. He waited until he was out of sight before turning and giving three swift knocks on the cold steel with his hoof. The door unlatched and Citrine shouldered it open, peering down the hall once again before sliding inside and shutting it quickly behind him.

“You’re late,” a mare’s voice said from behind Citrine. He whirled around to face the small room, lit with torchlight and floating magical light constructs. The walls were covered in bookshelves, holding up tomes of various sizes and states of disrepair. Behind a small ornate wooden desk, covered by papers, books, and inkwells, a sky blue pegasus sat quietly, deep silver eyes skimming the pages of a paperbound informational. A black military cap sat atop her head, almost succeeding in hiding her graying mane.

“Easy for you to say,” Citrine glared, sliding off his cloak and saddlebags and hanging them on the only free hook by the door. “You think it’s easy running about, Nimbus? Delivering messages? Especially with documents like this?”

Nimbus cracked a slow smile as Citrine sat down in the wooden chair opposite her. He took a deep breath, eyes pointed down to the table to center himself.

“I’m so tired, Nimbus,” he mumbled. “I just want this to be over.”

“And soon it will be,” she spoke. Her voice, while scratchy and damaged from years upon years of barking orders to underlings, still held a remarkably calming tone to the young unicorn. She moved her right hoof upwards, removing her military cap and shaking her head to adjust her mane. “Is everything in order for your meeting with the Equestrian consulate?”

“Should be,” Citrine replied, giving the wooden table two swift taps with his hoof. An amber glow surrounded his saddlebags and the top flap opened, a small sheet of paper sliding upwards and across the room to the table. Citrine pressed it flat, closing his eyes and muttering an incantation as Nimbus leaned back, watching with a quiet but intense gaze. The paper, originally appearing as a quickly scrawled out collection of notes from one of Citrine’s meetings with one of King Sombra’s advisors who was not privy to the existence of any sort of resistance, slowly warped and changed shape, the ink pen markings sliding about the page until a completely different paper met Nimbus’s eyes. “This is my itinerary. I met with Halogen Dust last night but had to conceal the checklist. Best way to do that was to take notes on it right in front of him.”

Nimbus nodded, her eyes moving from point to point, making sure everything was in order. She slowly leaned forward, picking up the sheet of paper and holding it closer to her, away from Citrine’s gaze.

“Let’s go through it together,” she said, “and make sure you know this by heart.” Citrine sighed.

“Fine,” he said. Nimbus gestured for him to begin as she rose to her hooves. “Everything we decided on was packed and stowed away inside the caravan last night. Copies of evidence, memory spell transcriptions, everything that we thought was pertinent that the Equestrian crown should know, it’s there.”

“When are you meeting the caravan?” Nimbus asked, standing in front of a small glass window in the corner of the room. Starlight thrown from the heavens illuminated the arctic wasteland around the Castle of Ice. Even on a clear night like this, the faraway western lights of the Crystal Empire were obscured by a perpetual fog bank clinging to the chilled rocks of Pharaoh’s Pass, the safest—not to mention only—road leading from the lights of the Empire to the hidden castle.

“One hour,” Citrine replied. “I have the signature stone in my cloak pocket so they know it’s me before they can see me. From there we cross Pharaoh’s Pass, enter the Crystal Empire, and teleport into a safe bay in Canterlot.”

“And because of your teleportation signature coming from a matching Equestrian area, you’re not going to raise any red flags on your way in.”

“Exactly,” Citrine finished. “We’ll walk into the castle, request the scheduled audience under the fake name we used months ago, and tell the Princesses everything we know.”

“And then what?” Nimbus asked.

“From there,” Citrine breathed, “I guess it’s up to Equestria.”

“Let’s hope, for the good of all Gaia…” Nimbus paused as she gave the itinerary back to Citrine, choosing her words carefully. “Let’s hope they make the right choice.”

Citrine nodded, his eyes transfixed on the snow flurries outside the window. Wordlessly he rose to his hooves, pulling his cloak and saddlebags around him with his magic. Nimbus sidled up beside him, opening her arms and wrapping the unicorn inside of them.

“Good luck,” she breathed. Citrine sighed and nodded, eyes narrowing with determination.

“I’ll see you on the other side.”

As the steel door opened and shut, allowing in the sounds of hysteria from the atrium for just a moment as it closed behind Citrine, Nimbus stared into the numbing cold with nothing less than exhaustion evident in her features. Every single hope the internal resistance had against Sombra had just walked out the door, packed and ready for a harsh journey for the good of all living creatures of Gaia.

“It’s on your shoulders now, Citrine,” she mumbled, casting her eyes towards the blanket of darkness above the horizon. “Farewell.”

King Sombra—at least the energy that was left of him—rested, eyes closed, above the crumbling throne of the Castle of Ice, where he once sat so many moons ago before his historic push into the Crystal Empire. While the grand, vaulting roof had long since caved in, marking this wing of the castle yet another one unsuitable for royalty such as himself, there was something comforting about the familiar yet decrepit detailing along the walls, something calming about the way the stone pillars twisted around themselves, forming spirals imbued with calcification magic.

Three quick knocks on the grand double doors. Sombra’s eyes opened and he channeled his surveillance spells to peer beyond the chamber, seeing a dark grey unicorn wrapped in a deep red cloak.

“Enter,” he boomed, allowing the doors to open. The pony walked inside with tangible confidence, brushing aside the snow that had built up on the floor of the great hall. “Auster Flare. Report?”

“Yes, my lord,” Auster replied, his voice deep and cold. “We are finalizing our preparations and will be ready to begin our assault on Equestria imminently.”

“Good,” Sombra replied, his dark energy form bouncing in affirmation. “I want the first breach team ready in eight hours.”

“It shall be done,” Auster replied, bowing. “I will send for you when you are needed in the war room.” Sombra nodded, closing his eyes once again.

“You are dismissed,” he finished. Auster bowed once again and turned to leave, his deep red cloak swishing behind him as he walked. The doors opened for him and he passed through, unfazed by the numerous concealing spells that whispered along his figure as he disrupted their fields.

Unbeknownst to either of them, a cloaked unicorn hopped into a supply cart a mile south of the castle, sliding off his saddlebags and settling in for the five hour journey to the Crystal Empire. Under the cover of moonlight, the caravan slipped out of the limits of the castle, pushing ever onward into the night towards the bright shimmering glow on the horizon.