Prologue: The End of Harmony

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”I couldn’t live with myself if I knew that other ponies had died by my not giving everything, and that’s the honest truth.”

“Knowing that I died so that everypony else could live, so they’d still have a chance to laugh, is enough to make me happy.”

“All I have left to give is myself, but I offer it as gladly as any material possession that I had before.”

“I like living in this world, but everypony should get a chance to do the same, and that’s why I’d die to defend it.”

“There are some creatures who are beyond kindness, and Azazel is one of them. For that, he deserves nothing better.”

“Our friendship means a lot to me, but as long as I know we’re all going together, then I face it without fear. Because that’s what friends are for!”

Azazel had been a powerful threat, possibly as bad as Tirek. It was worse for the fact that Azazel had come from another dimension entirely, and one that wasn’t very close to Equestria. Tartarus wouldn’t hold him; the Elements of Harmony had to intervene directly to create a seal that could hold him down. In the end, it had turned out that even they weren’t strong enough, and the bearers had had to give their own power and their bodies to make the seal strong enough.

As Twilight said, she wouldn’t have minded being turned into energy for all eternity if it meant that she and her friends would go out together. The one feeling she hated was true loneliness. After Spike had left, she’d been feeling it a lot more strongly, and in a way, she wanted Azazel to kill her in some way so she wouldn’t have to live without her friends.

There was only one problem: the Elements had left her behind.

She’d been sitting alone in the field for the last three hours. Despite the sunshine that had come out after Azazel’s black clouds were gone, she couldn’t feel happy as she stared at the five spheres of granite that surrounded her. Each of them was entirely unremarkable, except for a carving in each: an apple, a balloon, a butterfly, a diamond and a lightning bolt. Her own crown was still crystalline, but the amethyst had dulled almost to black, reflecting Twilight’s mental state.

Questions ran through her mind like a waterfall, none of them staying long enough for her to focus on an answer. She returned to the Royal Palace in a trance, carrying the five stones and walking at an absolutely steady pace, taking no notice of anypony else around her. They were cheering for the defeat of the demon threatening them, but only a few noticed that there was only one pony to receive those cheers. Twilight didn’t hear any cheering at all, as she was looking only into herself.

As soon as the doors were closed, and she was alone, only one word came out of her mouth, the one word that summarised everything that had happened:

Why?

Why had Azazel crossed dimensions, or so he claimed, to conquer their world over any other? Why had Twilight been left behind by her friends, and by the Elements of Harmony that bound them together? Why couldn’t she have stopped them, or stopped him some other way that wouldn’t have forced them apart?

All these questions and more ran through Twilight’s head, but she only said one word, over and over. “Why, why, why, why, WHY?!” she screamed to the heavens, as though some deity above even Celestia could answer her. She fell to the ground after that, sobbing loudly.

When Celestia finally came into the room, Twilight had stood up, and she seemed angrier than Celestia had ever seen her. “Twilight,” she started, before she realised that she didn’t know what to say. Twilight was still young, and hadn’t lost friends before. Celestia, on the other hand, couldn’t remember how many ponies she’d known and then outlived, whether through old age, famine, plague or war.

Twilight wasn’t really in a mood to hear it anyway. “I’m not going to stand for this,” she said quietly. “I’m not going to stand for this!” she repeated, much more loudly, and as she did, her mane and tail burst into flames and her coat and eyes turned blood red. “There must be something they’re keeping back from me. And when I find it, I will get my friends back, no matter the cost!” With that, she disappeared in a flash of light, the fire almost burning Celestia’s coat.

When she could finally see again, her faithful student and the inert Elements were gone, replaced by a black charring on the floor. Twilight’s magical presence had grown to an incredible level, and Celestia could still feel her moving back and forth between her old tower and the royal archives. She teleported there herself to ensure that none of the books were burning. Twilight was appearing and disappearing too rapidly to notice her mentor’s presence, snatching books seemingly at random with her hooves and her magic before disappearing again.

Celestia knew the pattern well: Twilight was planning a binge research session, and nothing would interrupt her. Doubtless, she’d be setting up teleport wards around her tower and reinforcing the door to stop anypony else from getting in. As a Unicorn, she always eventually had to stop to get food or sleep, but an Alicorn could go for weeks without it. Considering the number of books she was collecting, it was entirely possible that she’d be spending years in her tower, trying to find the answers she sought.

But not even Celestia knew how a pony could be brought back from the dead. Even if the others weren’t truly dead, she knew nothing about the limbo they were in. She walked out of the archives, wondering how she could possibly help her faithful student to recover from the grief she was feeling.

Doubtless, Twilight would need time to recover, but that didn’t mean Celestia could only wait. For Twilight, she couldn’t simply wait, even if they were both immortal. She’d need to search for answers herself, of a kind that couldn’t be found in Equestria, or anywhere in their world.

With her gone, there would doubtless be uproars. Much of the population was still suspicious of Luna, and she wouldn’t be able to cope on her own. Besides, she never wanted to be separate from her sister again. Equestria would prevail, even in both their absences, but she didn’t know what kind of Equestria they’d be coming back to, or even if they could find a way back.

But her mind was made up, and she hadn’t lived for countless eons without learning to stick to her mind once she’d made it up. Luna would accept, eventually, and she had the energy to cast a longevity spell. Somepony would need to call her back when Twilight came down, and if that took hundreds of years, oaths could be misremembered or entirely forgotten. Having only one pony to remember it would serve her far better.

The preparations would be made, and the journey would be undertaken, however long it took. She would know where Azazel came from originally, and if that world could be made into an ally. She would see a new age of Equestria, in all likelihood, without having to wait through all of it, or even passively prevent its occurrence. Most of all, when Twilight came down, she would be there, either with an answer or condolences.

Nothing would stop Twilight from learning what she would, and nothing would stop Celestia from doing the same, in their entirely separate ways. But what kind of Equestria would she find, in the days after her return?

~~~~
The Days After
Act One: Starting Over
~~~~

My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am alone, both forced upon me by circumstance, and taken upon me by my own will.

Once, I had friends. It was only a small circle, but our friendship was stronger than anything. Spike was my oldest friend, and also the first to leave me. When he grew into an adolescent, he left to join a dragon migration, and I haven’t seen him since. Who knows what he looks like now, or where he’s gotten to... or if he even remembers me.

The others all disappeared at once, but it wasn’t by their will, and I never got to say goodbye. That’s why I’ve spent three hundred years, to the day, searching for a way to get them back. I’ve learned a lot of things in the meantime, and some of them were interesting, but none of them were what I was actually looking for.

I almost hate to be saying this, but...

The quill fell from Twilight’s grasp, and she sighed. She wasn’t ready to say she’d given up yet. Her friends would never forgive her for it. She pulled the not-quite dry ink off the page, forcing it back into the bottle with a precision most Unicorns would kill for. She’d just have to start her memoir some other way.

She looked out the window to the small town below. Unlike the rest of Equestria, Canterlot had stayed mostly the same size in the past three hundred years, and if anything had gotten smaller. Most of its permanent population was simply dedicated to keeping the museum they’d made out of the Royal Palace intact. Twilight had watched the groups go through with scrying spells sometimes, but she was never able to watch them for long before she’d break down crying and be unable to do anything else for the rest of the day. It still hurt her to see other ponies with their friends and family, laughing and enjoying a view of her world that was almost nothing like the truth.

There was one more book in her pile before she’d have to go down and get more. She hadn’t remembered seeing it in the archives before; it must have been a new one put in by the pony who’d just taken over as the head curator. With any luck, something written in the last few years could finally give her the answer she’d been seeking.

She opened the book, and three hours later hadn’t been able to put it down. The writing was nearly impossible to translate, but its workings on the concept of souls were amazing. It was an angle she hadn’t even considered before. The spirits of her friends could be called back and given physical bodies, if only she could find them. There were even a number of supplementary spells in the book, and although Twilight couldn’t quite work out the formulae, she supposed that it would help her to find those she was seeking.

Working quickly, she placed the Elements of Harmony in a circle on the ground, drawing with a piece of chalk. Soul magic apparently worked better with physical magic circles, and though it was unusual for Unicorn magic, she wouldn’t work against her only chance of seeing her friends again. She pushed all her magical power into the spell, hoping against hope that it would either bring her friends back, or bring her to them.

The Element stones all exploded at once, fragments whipping past Twilight and bouncing off her magically hardened skin. She was standing in the middle of the circle, eyes closed, until she thought she’d put enough power into it. When she opened her eyes, the circle was self-sustaining, and she couldn’t shut it down or get out of it. The fragments bounced around the room, tearing through nearly anything in their path, and she closed her eyes again, trying to get it to stop—

...When Twilight woke up, the upper room of the tower had been almost entirely destroyed. Only the windows and the hourglass were intact; everything else she saw as she rolled onto her front was in ribbons, from the books to the stone table. Slowly, she pushed herself up to all fours, only to find that it felt uncomfortable to stand. It felt like she was bending over too far, and she picked herself up onto her hind legs.

Though she couldn’t quite tell why that had felt so wrong, she had to fix the mess she’d created. She focused on her forehead to start a spell, only to suddenly realise that her horn was missing. Turning to the sides revealed that her wings were gone too, and her violet coat was gone, replaced by some kind of dress in the same colour.

The first thing Twilight did was tell herself not to panic. Then she panicked.

She fell to her knees and her forelegs, breathing heavily. Then she realised that perhaps ‘forelegs’ wasn’t the right word. Wondering what to call them instead, and what she’d turned into, brought her out of the panic attack, replacing it with curiosity. She looked at the pale pink epidermis that had replaced her coat, and suddenly remembered Rainbow Dash going on about one of those Daring Do novels that had creatures like that...

“...so it turns out that the lost city was still inhabited, by these creatures called humans. They have this pink skin, and they don’t have any Cutie Marks, so she can’t tell them apart at first. They stand about as tall as a minotaur but without the horns, and they have what they call hands, with fingers like a griffon’s talons. Not a lot of them really come up in the book, but they’re just as different as us ponies are. Then again, when you’re writing fiction, you write what you know, I guess.”

Twilight suppressed the memory before it got any more painful for her. She looked in the glass of the hourglass, trying to make out her reflection. The dress was the exact same purple as her coat had been once, and her mane was the same colour, though her tail, horn and wings were gone. Her dress hugged her body tightly, leaving some skin bare at her hips. Her shoulders were covered by a cloak with a night sky pattern, and the fastener was her starburst Cutie Mark, repeated several times on the dress, boots and gloves. The Mark itself had moved as well, to the inside of her right thigh, barely visible before the boots covered her skin again.

Her friends were still gone, and now so were the Elements. All that was left was the Element of Magic, which had turned into some kind of a staff, the amethyst starburst sitting on the end. Slowly, she reached out with her left... hand, experimentally grasping it with all five fingers.

Almost immediately, she felt an electric tingle run through her body, and all the energy she’d built up to cast a spell before was released through the amethyst. There was nothing left for it to destroy, but it was enough to cause even more chaos by throwing the debris and scraps of paper around in an invisible whirlwind, and Twilight instinctively ducked again.

Being a human was going to take a lot of work.
~
It was always at around this time of year, a few days after the autumn equinox, that Cloud Skipper liked returning to Canterlot. It was probably for the feeling of familiarity; even in three hundred years, it hadn’t changed much, except that it wasn’t the capital anymore. He couldn’t remember where they’d finally agreed the new capital was, but seeing that Canterlot had hardly changed in size or population since he’d lived there so long ago was comforting in a way.

The palace was now a museum, open a few months every year to tourists. The version of royal life they showed wasn’t all that accurate, and the story that the Day Guard was once a single pony was patently untrue, unless it had happened before his time. Still, it was a pretty good story, and he’d held onto it like many other stories he came across.

He always stayed longer than most of the tourists in the throne room, recalling the vow that Celestia had made him take. He knew that Midnight Blossom had made a similar vow to Luna, but he wasn’t there when it happened, and she’d never told him the exact nature of hers. But as always, he paused behind the group in the throne room, the memories bubbling to the surface as clear as glass.

”For the sake of my faithful student, I must leave Equestria, and I may not return for a long time. I may even forget the way back, so you must act as a beacon. If Twilight ever comes down from her tower, then use this to call me back. I may not respond right away, but I swear I will be there when my faithful student returns. You must swear to assist me in this.”

“But how long will you be gone? Months? Years? Centuries?”

“Do you recall your old captain, Shining Armor? A simple enchantment, and you will remain my vanguard until the sun itself burns out. Swear to me that you will do this for me, Cloud Skipper. Swear that you will help me find my way home, when the time is right.”

“...Ex solis invictus.”

He said the last words out loud, and a pair of ponies turned to face him. They were most likely husband and wife, considering they were completely different colours. He paid them little mind as he walked out, following the route he’d memorised as a Day Guard rather than the one suggested by the maps they gave out at the entrance. Those, too, were inaccurate; either half the castle was closed to those outside the curation staff, or had simply never been explored. Either way, it was a pity to see what the castle had come to.

A few times, he’d debated throwing away the beacon that Celestia had given him, wondering if she’d truly want to see what Equestria had turned into. The skies were full of white smoke, making true clouds harder to find. Technology had progressed, but so had the society, and he doubted that they would respond well to their rulers returning. But he had taken the vow, and Celestia was the one that had given him purpose in the first place, and these two facts combined steeled his willpower and kept the beacon in his possession.

As he left the palace, he heard a loud explosion outside, and saw a bright flash of purple light at the peak of one of the towers. Many bright points of white light came flying out of it, heading in every conceivable direction. He gawked at the sight for a while, until the entire light show ended. He wasn’t the only one in the streets who did the same, but none of the others knew its significance.

In three hundred years, Princess Twilight hadn’t come down from her tower, and had blocked it off with more protective spells than most Unicorns knew existed. Nopony ever went up there, no matter how hard they’d tried, and that included Skipper himself. But if Twilight was casting spells on that level again, then that meant she was still alive, and perhaps she had finally found something. Maybe it was nothing, but he didn’t want Celestia to not be around when she’d wanted to be.

In that instant, he felt he had to make a decision, and so he took the beacon out again. “Ex solis invictus,” he said as he twisted the golden orb sideways. A bright golden light flew off into the sky, disappearing from his sight before long. Though the spell had been cast, he held onto the orb, wondering if it could be useful for anything else.

He’d need to find his counterpart to get her beacon activated as well, but before he left, he flew up to Twilight’s tower. She’d never noticed him before, his white coat and light mane perfect camouflage against a sizeable cloud. Sometimes he felt bad peeking in on her, but this time, he felt entirely justified in it.

The glass had been distorted slightly, and he couldn’t see very much through it, but a purple blob was prominent in the centre of the room. She still hadn’t come out. There was still plenty of time to find Midnight Blossom, activate the second beacon, and bring his monarch home.

She’d arrive sometime in the days after, surely. Right?

Rainbows in the Dark

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Las Pegasus was often referred to as the city that never slept. There were just as many ponies roaming the streets by night as by day, and half the shops were still open, or only open after dark. The western part of the city, near the seaport, was where most of the immigrants and other races lived. In the shops there, you’d find griffons, zebras, even a couple of minotaurs running various shops, restaurants and places to sleep. And then there were the two humans.

It had been an entire year, and Rainbow Dash still felt strange referring to herself as a human. She felt like she should be a Pegasus, a feeling which Scootaloo shared, and certainly being a Pegasus would be a lot easier in a city almost entirely populated by ponies. Fate had dealt her a cruel hand, but there was still plenty she could do with it.

Most of the time, she worked at a dockside shop owned by a griffon. She liked griffons, and Thor liked her as well. Having hands made carrying the plates around the restaurant much easier, and her natural agility helped her to deal with the cramped tables and customers who thought it would be funny to try and trip her up while she was carrying two bowls of piping-hot soup. Nopony ever tried it twice.

Rainbow also found pretty quickly that her black belt in karate translated surprisingly easily to a form that normally stood on two legs. Though she was slightly taller than the average pony, she could still fight well enough to stop any mugging attempts. The rumour had clearly spread around the underworld, since she never got attacked anymore.

What she couldn’t explain was the strange bladed weapon she’d woken up with. It seemed weighted to be thrown, but whenever she did try to throw it, it flew straight back to her hand without fail. The blades were also sharp enough to cut nearly anything they touched, and she’d hardly practiced with it because of that. She didn’t want to actually break anything important, or kill anypony.

Still, she was willing to fight if she had to, and with the money getting tighter, she was getting pretty desperate to keep Scootaloo from knowing. She’d do anything for her surrogate little sister, and she’d heard about an opportunity while serving a few nights ago.

Apparently some mob boss wanted to test a few new recruits, and he was willing to pay ordinary ponies off the street to go a few rounds with them. Supposedly they were a pretty tough bunch, and not much would have to be paid since it was only those who won their bouts, but Rainbow was confident she could take on anything with four legs. She hadn’t told Thor or Scootaloo about it, but the former had been willing to accept her taking the night off. All he’d said was not to get in trouble, and there was no kind of trouble that could keep Rainbow ‘Danger’ Dash down.

A pair of Earth Ponies stood outside the door to the gym, both large and dark-coated. One had a scar running from his nose to his cheek, the other was slightly smaller and wore a slouch hat. Hat cleared his throat as she walked up. “Hey, I don’t know who you are,” he said with a strong Manehattan brogue, “but you’re in the wrong place. Beat it.”

“Really?” Rainbow replied. “I’ve heard that if a gal’s looking to get her fists dirty for a few bits, then this is the right place. Or aren’t you gonna let your guys get hazed by a human?”

Hat tried to say something, but he was stopped by his larger partner. They whispered for a bit, and Rainbow definitely caught the phrase ‘she knows’, but not much else. Eventually, they stepped aside, and Scar turned back to her. “You heard correctly,” he said. “You win, we pay. But a girl like you, there’s still time to back out, because you’re not gonna last one round.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it. I’ve come too far for anything else.” Scar nodded again and stepped aside, and Hat mumbled something about ‘right this way’. He led her through the darkened gym; it was different to see without any light. Finally, he took her down into the basement, where only a single light was lit, a gas lantern hanging from the ceiling.

A group of ponies were standing in a circle and cheering. All of them were larger Earth Ponies and Pegasi, without a single Unicorn in sight except the one in the middle. He seemed to be worried about the opponent he was fighting, as though he was regretting his decision. His face screamed ‘I needed the money’, but Rainbow figured that if he got any at all, it would all go to hospital bills.

The Earth Pony facing him down charged, and the Unicorn teleported suddenly, landing on top of his opponent. Before he was bucked off, he managed to stick his horn into the Earth Pony’s back, charging some kind of spell. When he was finally thrown off, he took a while to get back up, but his opponent was shaking badly. A charged magic bolt knocked the Earth Pony back through the crowd, and he disappeared into the darkness.

The Unicorn, for his part, took the bag of bits he was offered and immediately beat it, despite the jeers of the crowd. Maybe these were all the newbies she’d heard about, and if they were new enough or simply stupid that they couldn’t deal with a Unicorn half their size, she’d have no trouble cleaning them out.

Smirking, she tightened her left hand-wrap as she stepped under the light, into the middle of the ring of ponies. “Who’s first?” she asked, and they all laughed. “What, don’t think I can cut it? Well, bring it on, if you’re so sure.”

A Pegasus about her height stepped forward, and she turned to face him. He was pretty big as ponies and especially Pegasi went, but Rainbow just kept smirking. “They call me Khan,” he boomed. “I’m a direct male-line descendant of THE Khan. And you will know pain without end when you stand against any Khan.”

“Really?” Rainbow asked. “Well, guess what? I’m descended from Commander Hurricane.” It was true, but she didn’t expect him to believe it. “So the two great generals meet once again. I forget, how did it go last time?”

“Silence, KHAN!” Khan shouted as he charged forward, a single thrust of his wings closing the gap. Rainbow rolled under him, pushing her fist forward to punch his stomach. It probably hurt her hand more than him, but now she knew she’d need something a little more extreme to beat him. Khan landed and turned around again, snorting once before charging.

This time, Rainbow stepped forward into his charge, leaning backwards and grabbing him around the neck. She kept leaning and eventually rolled him onto his back, pinning his wings with her knees and punching his face. He bucked her off eventually, but she was faster back onto her feet, and she was ready with an axe kick as he stood up. He hadn’t expected her to be able to reach above his head, and the falling foot knocked him out for the count.

“Who’s next?” Rainbow asked, but there weren’t any takers. Everypony was simply staring at how quickly she’d taken down the massive Khan. They all mumbled to each other and looked away, and she sighed. “Well, if that’s all, I’ll take the money.”

“Not so fast,” a voice called from near the back, in the darkness. Everyone there froze, staring at the voice’s owner as he stepped into the light. “You want a fight? I can give you a fight you’ll never forget. All of you.”

The ponies making up the ring stepped aside to allow the newcomer entry. He was another Pegasus, only of average size, with a stark white coat, golden mane and ice-blue eyes. Rainbow locked eyes with the newcomer, and she didn’t like what she saw. Most criminal ponies were self-assured and overconfident, and it showed in their eyes. This one was different. He was more reserved, but it was clear that that didn’t make him any weaker for not talking strongly.

“So you’re that human who’s been making waves around here. Rainbow Dash, if I recall. My name’s Cloud Skipper. You might want to remember it, when you describe to the local police who gave you all those nasty bruises. Then again, considering that you picked them up in a place like this, it might be better not to say anything.”

“What bruises?” Rainbow asked, and for the first time that night, her smirk wavered. The way he’d delivered the threat matched his reserved demeanour. It was clear that he wasn’t just a barking dog. This one intended to bite. Still, that was what she’d signed up for.

“One step closer, and you’ll find out.” He raised himself into a karate stance, flapping his wings slightly to keep himself steady. Rainbow dropped into a similar pose, waving her fingers towards her. The gesture wasn’t one that a pony could make, but its meaning was clear: attack if you dare.

Without any warning, he struck, faster than Rainbow had thought a pony could move. He reached out with his right forehoof, striking her in the stomach, right where her Cutie Mark was. She tried to counter with a straight kick, but already he was out of range. His face hadn’t changed a bit, but she’d completely lost her smile. He raised his left forehoof in a gesture similar to Rainbow’s.

Snarling slightly, she raised her right foot forward in a roundhouse kick. He blocked her with one hoof and tried to spin her around, but she landed on her spare foot, shaking free. The movement knocked her off balance for just a moment, but it was long enough for Skipper to charge again, striking in the same place as before and knocking her to the ground. “Had enough yet?” he asked.

“Not on your life!” She pushed herself up on her hands, launching feet-first at her opponent. This caught him off-guard, and she felt his chest being pushed back. He stepped back a bit, returning to all fours for just a moment before he reared up again. The two of them entered a standoff, circling around one another as the crowd slowly stepped back.

Rainbow raised her right leg in another axe-kick, hoping that the momentary view of her crotch would slow Skipper down for a moment. Skipper wasn’t distracted at all; he wasn’t attracted to humans in the first place, and he wasn’t about to let her break his focus. He stepped back out of the kick’s arc, but Rainbow pressed the attack, raising her left foot as the right came down. He leaned back, slightly off-balance, but she didn’t press any further. That was a mistake; in the time it took her to return both feet to the ground, he was already steady and counterattacking.

Two quick jabs forced Rainbow to back off and catch her breath again, but Skipper didn’t let up. She brought her arms up to try and hold him off, but couldn’t last very long before taking a punch to the face, knocking her back again. Desperate for anything to push off his assault, she reached for her weapon, drawing it with an audible slash. He dodged out of the way, but that was enough for Rainbow to stand up and breathe.

Skipper just stared at her, breathing slowly. “So that’s how it is,” he said. He dropped to all fours and spread his wings out, clearly about to take off. Predicting the move, Rainbow threw the blade where she thought he’d be rising to, but he didn’t move at all. The crowd on that side flinched away, but Skipper stayed where he was. The blade kept spinning loudly in the dark, and Rainbow knew it was returning when the sound started getting louder.

Skipper heard it as well, launching himself into the air as the blade flew through a gap in the crowd. As soon as Rainbow caught it, he dived down, hindlegs first. She was off-balance from catching it, still a nerve-wracking ability, and he took full advantage to knock her on her back. Pinning her arms and legs with all of his, he quickly reared up and grabbed her ears with his forelegs, slamming her head down against the wooden floor in a knockout blow.

She groaned slightly as he picked her up across his back, but didn’t wake up. Her weapon seemed glued to her hand, so he gave up trying to remove it after a couple of attempts. “Since I beat her, I’d better take her prize money,” he said. “Unless all of you want a round.”

They gave him the money without a word.
~
When Rainbow Dash woke up, she wasn’t in her apartment where she’d expected to be. It was already mid-morning, and she started freaking out, wondering where she was and where Scootaloo was. She jumped out of bed, but immediately fell flat on her face. “You’re awake,” a voice said. “I didn’t think I’d hit you that hard. You might have a concussion.”

Rainbow looked around for the voice’s owner, and recognised the white Pegasus from the night before. “It was your own fault,” she replied. “Where are we?”

“I took you to an inn. Didn’t know where you live, but I couldn’t just leave you.”

“You beat me up,” Rainbow accused.

“Guilty as charged.”

“And then you decide you’re responsible for me?”

“You’re young. And you’re stupid. I realise the two aren’t necessarily related, but it’s a dangerous combination to have.” Rainbow tried to say something, but Skipper held up a hoof. “I knew about the meeting too. Saw you going in. Why would you willingly enter a fight club run by the mob?”

“I needed the money. There’s this girl I live with, and the money’s getting tighter, so I thought...”

“No, you didn’t think. In a city like this, there’s plenty of ways to scrape a bit or two up. But if you start fighting for money, then eventually you’ll start fights with ponies who don’t want to, or can’t fight back. And down that road lies only ruin, whether you realise it or not.” Rainbow opened her mouth again, but this time she had nothing to say. “I don’t know who you live with, but I’m sure they’d be disappointed in you if they knew that you were fighting, even if it was to help them.”

“Where do you get off lecturing me like I’m a foal?” Rainbow asked, more venomously than she’d intended to.

“I was a soldier once. A captain. Lecturing ponies who step out of line comes easily to me. Though, you’re not really a pony, are you?”

Rainbow had to think for a moment about the statement. She wasn’t a pony anymore; she was a human, though how she knew that, she had no idea. But she felt like she should be a pony, and spoke like they did. She explained what she knew to Skipper, and told him about Scootaloo, who had been transformed similarly. He simply listened, only speaking to correct her when her words came out slightly jumbled.

He was about to suggest going back together when Rainbow’s eyes suddenly glowed a bright purple for almost a minute. She sat completely still, not even breathing, and when he tried to touch her, he was thrown back by a wave of magic. The strength of the spell, and the hold it had over the human, reminded him of only a single being in all of Equestria.

Rainbow closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, they were her usual magenta colour. “I need to go,” she said. “There’s a castle on a mountain, and there’s something there that I have to find. Excuse me.”

“Wait,” Skipper said. “What about Scootaloo? You can’t just leave her behind.”

Rainbow wanted to ignore him, but a feeling welled up in her heart and overcame her. “You’re right,” she finally said. “I’ll get Scootaloo, tell her I’m going for a while...”

“If she doesn’t have a Cutie Mark yet, you’d better just take her with you. You’re not a bad fighter; I’m sure you can take care of her.”

“You really mean it?”

“You’re pretty skilled, but you haven’t been at it as long as I have. Get Scootaloo and go to Canterlot. I’ve got something else I need to do first, but I’ll meet you there.” He dropped the bag of bits he’d taken last night on the table, and poured a few out. “This should get you an overnight train ticket to Canterlot.”

As they walked out of the apartment together, Rainbow tilted her head, looking at his flank. “That doesn’t look like a fighting Cutie Mark,” she said.

“It’s not.”

“Then what is it?”

“I don’t remember. That’s how long I’ve been fighting. Anyway, haven’t you got somewhere to be?” With that, he took off, disappearing above the steam clouds in only a few seconds. Sighing at the nostalgia for flight, and that she couldn’t even float as a human, Rainbow walked off as well.

From a nearby alley, a pony with a maroon coat nodded to himself, vanishing into the shadows.

Blazing Frontier

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Despite three hundred years of advancement, Appleloosa was still considered a frontier town. The Buffalo officially owned almost all the land south of the town, and though the railway continued on, it wasn’t until it reached Saddle Arabia that it stopped again. Most trains didn’t actually go through that far, turning around at Appleloosa. Its population had the most Earth Ponies by percentage of any town or city in Equestria, and most of them had at least some relation to the ever-illustrious Apple family who founded the town in the first place.

What was interesting was the two girls who came into town from the desert, claiming they were both Apples despite being human. Applejack, the older, and Apple Bloom, the younger, were both somewhat delirious from the desert sun when they were found, claiming they were once ponies. It was assumed they were just rambling, but they stuck to the story even after they’d recovered.

The patriarch of the local branch, Golden Delicious, wanted to send them on, but no Apple would ever close their doors on a stranger, especially not if that stranger believed as they did in an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. Despite her bipedal build, Applejack could kick a tree as hard as anypony else on the ranch, and Apple Bloom was a great climber to prune the trees or get tougher apples down. Though it took a while to earn the trust of the rest of the town, they were treated as part of the family now.

Applejack was standing behind the barn at a target range she’d set up in her spare time. The two strange crossbows she’d woken up with took a lot of work to maintain and use accurately, and though the family didn’t really approve of the weapons, they allowed her to practice with them. Apple Bloom had tried to use the range with her two hand axes, but she wasn’t strong enough to get them as far as the targets yet.

Squinting slightly, she aimed with her right hand at the farthest target to the left, holding it steady with her left arm. The targets were each about forty yards away, six of them in an uneven line. Applejack just stared at the farthest on the left before firing. As she pulled her left arm down to grab another bolt, she switched her aim to the next target over, firing again as soon as she could. Down slightly to hit the third, and up again for the fourth, higher for the fifth and back to the middle for the sixth target. Without missing a beat, she switched her arms over and started back the other way with her left hand.

In all of about twenty seconds, she’d fired twelve bolts. Smiling to herself at the speed, she looked over the targets, but only five of the bolts had hit anything, and the only bullseye was her first shot. “How’d you do, sis?” Apple Bloom said, having come to investigate when she heard the bows firing.

“Not great,” Applejack replied. “Looks like Ah’m going too fast to aim properly.”

“Why d’you keep doing this? It’s not like there’s much you’re gonna need to shoot at around here.”

“Besides all them varmints tryin’ to break into our ranch? Coyotes, jackrabbits, all them, might as well help keep ‘em out if I can.” She walked up to the targets, collecting the arrows she could find. She’d need to make a few more later. When she’d reached her sister again, she thought of another reason. “Besides, Ah don’t know why I woke up with these, but I’m not gonna waste a gift like that. Don’t ya feel the same way?”

“Ah guess,” Apple Bloom replied, hefting her axes one after another. “Don’t know why you got a gift that you could use, but Ah didn’t, though.”

“All it takes is practice, y’know. Ya just gotta keep training.” Apple Bloom quickly pulled her right arm back and threw the axe in that hand at the largest target, the fourth from the left. It landed in the dirt not even halfway there. “And ya don’t gotta train at the hardest level. An arrow can go a lot further than an axe. Ah’ll set up some closer points for ya, maybe.”

Apple Bloom nodded quickly and ran to retrieve her axe, but stopped suddenly when she saw somepony approaching. Except it wasn’t really ‘somepony’. It was a buffalo.

He cleared his throat loudly, and the two humans turned to face him. “What can I do ya for?” Applejack asked, not feeling nearly as cheerful as she sounded. The Buffalo tribe were an enigma to her. She’d seen them on their annual stampede once, and nearly all of them had looked at her. She had no idea what they’d been thinking, and the few she’d talked to since were no more comprehensible.

“I am an envoy of Chief Stern Mountain,” the buffalo said. “He has requested the presence of you and your sister.” He didn’t say any more, and Applejack wondered if he was going to charge them if they said no. She didn’t want to have to use her crossbows on anyone like that.

Apple Bloom walked up to him fearlessly. “Sure, we’ll come. Right, sis?” She reached out with a hand to touch his face, but he stepped back.

Applejack wasn’t certain, but she couldn’t simply deny her sister after she’d stepped up so quickly. She wanted a moment to tell the others where she was going. The buffalo scout came with her, perhaps to ensure that she didn’t run off. “Hey, Goldie!” she called into the house. “This buffalo wants ta take me an’ Bloom to the Chief! I might not be back for dinner!”

“Buffalo, ya say?” Golden Delicious called back. “Well, not much ta be done ‘bout it. Better go with ‘em. I’ll get Fuji to keep the ranch in order ‘til you two are home safe!”

“Much obliged!”

“There, it is done. The Chief should not be kept waiting.” The buffalo shoved her from behind with his forehead, catching her by surprise. “Let’s go.”

“Alright, alright, keep yer hooves on, I’m goin’.”
~
Chief Stern Mountain was the biggest buffalo they’d ever seen, standing taller than Applejack herself at the arch of his back. He didn’t say anything when they came into the camp, and continued not to say anything until after they’d all eaten. The two humans hadn’t been able to eat much of the grass, but it was enough to be polite.

After the sun had set, the chief walked into his tent, and the scout from before beckoned them to follow. He spent a long time simply staring at them, and Applejack started sweating under the brown Stetson hat that Carson, a griffon, had bought as a joke and given her when he left. “I have heard much about you, Applejack,” he said at last. “It is said that one with your name once helped to make peace between the ponies of Appleloosa, and the Buffalo tribe. I do not wish for that peace to be broken by one with the same name.”

“Beggin’ yer pardon?” Applejack tilted her head slightly, moving an arm to keep her Stetson from falling off.

“Your presence here is... unnatural to us,” he replied. “We are uncomfortable with your presence, and we would much prefer you found someplace else to live. We have lived here far longer, after all, and it is our right as the owners of this land to...”

“That's a lie, and you know it,” she cut in. “You don’t got a right to anything. What happens on the Apple family farm is our affair, and...”

“Sis?” Apple Bloom’s quiet voice nonetheless silenced her sister. She pointed to the chief, who was snorting in anger, clearly about to charge. “Ya don’t need to go making these buffalo angry. We’re in enough trouble already.” She tugged on Applejack’s hand, trying to take her outside. “We need some time ta talk ta the family ‘bout it. Apples are all ‘bout family, so we can’t just up ‘n leave ‘em. Can ya at least give us that much?”

The chief simply stared for a while, unblinking, snorting twice, before finally his gaze relented. “Very well,” he said, turning away. “Inform your family, say your goodbyes and begone. I, Chief Stern Mountain, promise you at least safety until first light, when my scouts shall return you to the farm. Now begone from my presence.”

Applejack felt her sister tug on her jacket, and pushed open the flap of the tent. Suddenly, she felt a shove from her sister pushing her to the side, and the tent was ripped off its ropes by a charging buffalo. Apple Bloom herself was tossed aside, but only glanced off the attacker’s head. The chief took the charge head-on, being pushed back a ways before he managed to steady himself.

The camp was in an uproar, stampeding around. The safest place that Applejack could see, once she’d picked herself up, was next to the chief and the belligerent buffalo. His coat was a strange red colour, and he was shouting incoherently. While he was deadlocked with the chief, though, he couldn’t stampede into her or Apple Bloom.

All of a sudden, Stern Mountain was tossed back, and it looked like he would get trampled when an axe flew into the red buffalo’s side. Apple Bloom’s right arm was extended, her left still holding the other axe. The buffalo turned around, and in his eyes, Applejack saw nothing but madness. He snorted and charged them down, and Apple Bloom was frozen in place this time.

Rather than push her sister, Applejack stood her ground, aiming her right-hand crossbow, steadied by her left. One shot, and the charging buffalo was struck in the eye. He turned over and continued sliding, and Applejack dropped both bows and shoved Apple Bloom out of the way. Like her sister, she was struck a glancing blow, but she was mostly fine when she stood up.

The red buffalo pulled himself up, screaming with rage. Most of the other buffalo had stopped running around, but they could do nothing to attack. There was nothing that could stop him from charging except to charge him first, and that was what Applejack did, throwing herself around his neck like a rodeo pony would do with a bull.

Apple Bloom switched her second axe into her stronger right hand and was about to throw when she felt her overalls being bitten. Stern Mountain had stepped up behind her, putting her down out of his way before he charged. Applejack saw it before the buffalo she was riding did, and threw herself to the ground, grunting at the impact. The buffalo wasn’t so lucky, and the chief’s forehead shoved the arrow further into his eye. He fell to the ground again, and didn’t get up.

The blood couldn’t be seen against the buffalo’s red coat, but it was pooling on the ground when Applejack dusted herself off. Though the battle had gone over them, her two crossbows were still fine. When she pulled out the axe in his side, he didn’t move at all. “What happened?” she asked.

“I do not know,” the chief replied. “When a buffalo turns red, they have been taken by madness. Killing them is the only way to end their rampages. There are many ways by which it can overcome them, and I cannot say what overcame Long River, but this has only cemented my decision. You must not stay in Appleloosa. You must leave, as soon as possible.”

This time, Applejack didn’t protest. She’d been scared out of her mind by how the buffalo had attacked her. If she’d been a pony, and didn’t have fingers, she’d probably have been thrown off and trampled sooner during her rodeo manoeuvre. She rubbed the Cutie Mark on her thigh, feeling a bruise welling up there, and nodded slowly. “First light, then?”

“No. You shall be returned home tonight. This place is not safe for you anymore.” He turned and grunted to a smaller buffalo, who nodded in return. “Stalwart Breath will lead you back. Say your goodbyes, and sleep if you can.”

As they walked through the silent desert, Applejack wondered what was happening. The Buffalo had never had a problem with her presence before. Why were they suddenly asking her to leave, and why had the red buffalo attacked them? She didn’t know for sure.

The rest of the family were already asleep when they arrived, but Applejack didn’t get any sleep that night at all.
~
Morning came, and Golden Delicious was greatly disturbed by the turn of events. He wanted to say something to Stern Mountain to change his mind, but Applejack insisted that she wanted to leave as well. “Something changed that night,” she said, “and I think it’d be best for all of us if I found someplace else to be for a while.”

Everyone paused for a while, and then Fuji spoke up. “There’s always Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville. They’ve been there for centuries and they’re still going, but they could always use a spare hoof or two. Ponyville’s the first place the train stops after leaving Appleloosa. Train’s leaving in about an hour, so you’ve got plenty of time to pack.”

“Ah still hate to leave, a little...” Apple Bloom said, but she trailed off as she recalled last night. That was the first time she’d ever had to hurt anything else with her axes. She didn’t want to think about it, and staying in Appleloosa would only force her to keep thinking about it every time she saw the buffalo. She didn’t say any of this out loud. Applejack had been there, but nopony else needed to know about it.

The sisters packed in silence. There wasn’t much to take, besides their clothes and their weapons. There weren’t any photo albums or diaries to bring along for sentimental value, and Fuji had given Applejack enough bits to pay for whatever they needed until they got where they were going. Packing didn’t take long, and nor did walking into town. At the train station, though, as she was buying the tickets, Applejack was suddenly overcome, falling to her hands and knees.

“What’s wrong?” Apple Bloom asked. "Sleep catching up?" All she could see was Applejack moving her lips, but with no sound coming out, and her eyes had been swallowed by a purple light. She tried to touch her, but a wave of magic the same purple as her eyes threw her back, and a number of ponies turned to stare. When Applejack finally stood up, she told the pony in the ticket booth to change their reservation. “What’s that town on top of the mountain called?” she asked.

“Canterlot? Yeah, that goes straight on from Ponyville. You don’t even have to change trains, but there’s really not much up there. If you’re sure, though...” He trailed off as she placed the bits on the counter, and printed off their tickets without another word.

As they got on the train, Apple Bloom adjusted her yellow checked shirt and asked, “What was that about going to some mountain city?”

“Ah had... some kind of a vision, of a castle on a mountain. Ah don’t know why, but I feel like Ah have to go there. Ya don’t have to follow me if ya don’t wanna, but...”

“No, I’ll follow you anywhere, sis,” Apple Bloom said, placing her hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Ya don’t hafta worry ‘bout me.”

In a seat nearby, a pony with a cobalt blue coat nodded and returned to the newspaper he was reading.

Friends in Low Places

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As the new capital of Equestria, Manehattan was often considered the place to be by most ponies. The glass and steel towers covering almost the entire island had become a national icon, and ponies flocked there from every corner of the country. Beings from outside Equestria made a living there as well. Zebras, griffons, minotaurs and even a few Diamond Dogs made their living in the biggest melting pot in Equestria, in far closer harmony than Las Pegasus. Much of the elite of Equestria lived there or spent a lot of time there, and ‘The Big Apple’ was often considered to be the symbol of truly having made something of your life.

Though the upper crust of Manehattan was mostly Unicorns, there were plenty of other ponies, and a few from the other races. In particular, there were two humans who had a large presence in the city: a pair of sisters named Rarity and Sweetie Belle. The elder was a rarity in more ways than one, and had quickly made a name for herself. Though she’d come from nowhere, her knowledge of Equestrian high society was remarkable, and she was now the toast of the town. Sweetie Belle wasn’t so good in public, and hardly ever went out, to the point where her sister had to homeschool her.

Rarity loved public appearances, and nearly every day was out at some monument, art gallery, party or auction in whatever new clothing she’d made for herself. Having fingers made sewing much easier than hooves, and making her own clothes was as much of a novelty as being human. This gave her a high profile, and that was useful to her for a number of reasons.

Her own clothing lines brought in plenty of bits to spare, both for her own living expenses and for other things in her ‘spare time’. She was taking a walk through Green Witch Village, one of the earliest settlements on Manehattan Island. A letter had come for her during the night. She didn’t read most letters that came her way, but this one had come from Moreau, a griffon who worked in a café in the area.

As she sat down at an unoccupied table, several ponies, both waiters and patrons, looked her way. She had that effect in a crowd. Moreau was the first to reach her, taking her order with a gaiety that he always showed the world despite his situation. As always, her order was a Chamomile tea. “And if there’s anything else you want to add, then feel free to surprise me; I’ll pay for it all.”

He spent a while making it, but not because Rarity wanted perfection from him, or even a biscotti. When the tea came, there was a small card on the saucer next to it. It was written in the griffons’ runic language, and she spent some time working out its meaning as she drank her tea.

Блошиный сказал мне, что вы охотитесь. Кто подкупил Совет уничтожить деревню. Он проходит вечеринку в Бродвей сегодня. Его зовут "презренного металла".

“A little bird told me you’re on the hunt,” she said to herself under her breath. “Someone bribed the Council to destroy the village. ‘Filthy lucre’ is hosting a party in Broadway today.” ‘Filthy lucre’ was probably a direct translation of Filthy Luca, a businesspony that she’d seen a few times at functions. The Council had voted on destroying a village near Trottingham, though she didn’t know what it was for. The vote hadn't passed, but if bribery had been involved in trying to pass it, that was definitely something worth investigating.

As she finished her tea, she picked up the card, making sure it wouldn’t be found again. She left a large tip for Moreau. Waiters in Manehattan survived on tips, and Moreau knew that a lot of his rent came from her. In return for her generosity, Rarity was given access to a grapevine that most ponies didn’t know existed.

And she made good use of what she learned through it.
~
Filthy Luca’s party was being held in his penthouse apartment in Broadway. It didn’t take Rarity long to find it by asking around and by following the rich ponies in the area. She’d been to several parties of the style before, but usually she’d been invited. Gatecrashing was going to be a new experience for her, but she figured it wouldn’t be too difficult to pull off. She was in her element, after all.

The stallion in the elevator didn’t ask for an invitation. When she said she wanted to go to the tenth floor, he simply shrugged and took her up. He didn’t say anything, and she honestly preferred it that way, wanting to save her words for the partygoers. Even before the doors opened, she could hear the conversations above her, though she couldn’t make any specific one out. Even after stepping out, it was still just a whole lot of white noise, but that would likely change.

“Excuse me, madam, but do you have an invitation?” a butler asked. Rarity ignored him, walking straight through into the party. “You can’t come here without an invitation,” he insisted, following her.

“Oh, nonsense,” Rarity replied. “For a girl like me, there’s no such thing as an invitation. I’m invited to every party there is, for I am Rarity.” The words burned in her mouth slightly, but she needed to get into the party. “Now, bother me no more, or your superiors shall hear of it.”

“Grey Wind, is this mare...” a voice said, and then trailed off. “Why, Rarity! What an unexpected surprise to see you here!” The stallion with the pile of bits Cutie Mark smiled broadly, and Rarity had to suppress a shudder at the sight of Filthy Luca. He was old money of the worst sort, but up until that point, Rarity had thought him mostly harmless. She needed to learn if Moreau was telling her the truth, though, or if there was anything else about him she could find out.

“This stallion was simply stopping me from enjoying your wonderful party,” Rarity said, without missing a beat. “I know this is all very sudden, but do you mind if I partake as well?” She batted her eyelids at him, and he smiled again.

“Why, of course not! Come, come, there’s plenty of room here for a fine lady like you!” As Luca led Rarity into the main living room, Grey Wind wandered off, mumbling to himself about decency and things like that. It wasn’t long until he was completely muted by the conversation at the party proper, though, and Rarity turned her attention to that.

About fifteen other ponies, mainly Unicorns, were standing around and conversing while a jazz band played a jaunty song as background noise. Rarity picked up a glass of champagne from a nearby platter using some telekinesis. Being a Unicorn in a past life had its advantages, after all, and though Rarity didn’t know many spells, she’d honed what she did know to a fine point. “Oh, fine! Very fine,” Luca said. “I didn’t know you’d studied with a Unicorn.”

“Well, it’s difficult to explain,” Rarity said, “but yes, I have studied magic quite a bit.” She considered her next words carefully. Pointing out that he was an Earth Pony probably wouldn’t help, but she couldn’t easily talk about magic with anyone but a Unicorn. Her only option was to change the topic. “What about you?” She took a wild stab in the dark and asked, “How’s that hunting lodge going?”

“Badly,” he replied. “Trottingham is prime real estate. Don’t these ponies know that it deserves to belong to a better class of pony? I mean...” He rambled off on his own, and didn’t notice that she was already walking away. She’d heard enough.

A few minutes were spent talking with the other ponies at the party. There were a few she hadn’t met before, and she took a moment to memorise their names and their Cutie Marks just in case she had to track them down later. As the band ended their song and polite applause filled the air, she slipped out of the party, the band a great enough distraction to cover her.

She left a small beacon spell in the party. Most of the Unicorns there probably wouldn’t care, and there were none on Filthy Luca’s staff that she could see. Having it there would help her find the place again, when she came back that night. She wouldn’t have an invitation then either, but she didn’t care as much about that.

What Filthy Luca had said and done had condemned him in her eyes.

She thought about what else she’d seen in the penthouse on her way back home. There were a lot of open spaces in the main living room, and there were only a few doors leading off to various places. She’d need to do a bit of investigation when she returned, but it wouldn’t take very long. The only problem was a lack of alternate entrances, meaning she’d have to be very careful when she came up in the elevator.

“How was your day, sis?” Sweetie Belle immediately asked when she came in. “I did that project you asked me for. The princesses apparently used to rule all of Equestria, back in the Medi-evil period. But then they went away, and there was some big revolution, all the princes and stuff got cast out, and now we have the Council running everything and everything’s fine and...”

“Yes, Sweetie Belle, that’s lovely,” Rarity said. “It’s good to know that you’ve done at least some studying while I was out.” The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to teach some basic magic. Though she was thirteen, she still lacked any aptitude for it, and as much as Sweetie Belle wanted to give up, Rarity was determined that she would learn some magic in some form eventually.

Dinner was a simple affair, since Rarity refused to hire anypony to help her and her sister live their lives. She wanted to be self-sufficient as much as possible, despite enjoying the affection of others. After dinner, Rarity taught her sister self-defence for an hour or so. They never actually struck each other, even token blows; Sweetie Belle wasn’t quite ready for that yet. Rarity simply taught her the motions and the stance, and though her wrists were weighed down by the strange wristbands she’d woken up with, Sweetie Belle was far more capable at this than at magic.

“G’night, sis,” Sweetie finally said, at around eight o’clock. She was a heavy sleeper, and likely wouldn’t be awake for at least the next twelve hours. That was fine by Rarity; she needed some time to herself.

In her own bedroom, she changed into the set of clothes she’d woken up in: a white dress that went down to her ankles, but split at the sides at her hips; thigh-high white and purple boots; and a pair of gloves that covered her middle finger. She traced her Cutie Mark on her left arm as she put the glove on, leaving it bare just slightly. In addition to the clothes, she also picked up a folded fan and a curved dagger, placing the latter in the top of her left boot. Thusly prepared for the evening, she set out towards Broadway.

Manehattan at night was quite different to the day. Most respectable beings were off the streets by sundown, and they were taken over by a quite different breed. Gangs roamed the streets, patrolling their territory and occasionally mugging, thieving or killing. Rarity wasn’t too worried, however. She could easily defend herself if any problems came up.

A problem did come up, in the form of a group of three Earth Pony toughs who stopped her about halfway to her destination. “You picked the wrong night to go walkin’, lady,” the apparent leader said, straightening his leather vest. “Though, you are a fine lady, in some fine clothing...”

“Yes, quite,” Rarity said. “But I believe that tonight is a fine night for a walk, regardless of what a ruffian like you might think. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a prior appointment.”

“Oh, I’m sure they can wait,” the leader drawled. “At least until after you hand over your money.” Rarity shrugged and reached down towards her thigh, and smelling gold, the thug leaned in closer. Suddenly, she pulled out her dagger and left a cut across the middle of his face, switching it quickly into a backhand position.

“What the—Oh, you’re gonna pay for that, bitch!” He pulled a small knife out of a pocket in his vest, and Rarity just smiled. He lunged again, and she simply danced out of the way, unfolding her fan and cutting across his face again with the blades on the end. He spat on the ground, trying to recover himself. “When I get my hooves on you...”

“You’ll what?” a voice called out nearby. Moreau stepped out from behind a corner, flaring his wings. “The lady’s under my protection.”

“Yeah, you and what army?” the thug asked, turning to his friends. They’d already run away, scared of the crazy human with a dagger and a griffon buddy. Taking the hint, he ran away as well, and Rarity turned to Moreau.

“Я не нужна ваша помощь,” Rarity said slowly.

“Это то, что вы платите мне за, не так ли?” He laughed slightly before walking off. “Take care of yourself, Rarity. I’d hate to see you actually get cut one of these days.”

She wanted to say something about being able to handle herself, but she already had, so she left it at that, shaking her head and walking onwards to her destination.

The beacon was still in place, pointing out the tenth floor of the building to her. The night watchpony was asleep, and the pony on the elevator was just as apathetic to her presence, after a few bits were exchanged to ensure his silence. The elevator didn’t make a sound as it rose, and she closed her eyes, letting the feeling of motion invigorate her. She felt it stop and walked out into the landing.

There was nopony around anymore. Everypony in the penthouse was asleep. Opening one door slightly revealed that Grey Wind slept there, and he was currently sleeping soundly. Just to ensure that he wouldn’t interfere, Rarity raised her dagger to the door, focusing an ice spell through it to freeze it shut.

This done, she searched the remainder of the rooms, finding nothing until she came across a door that was actively locked. Clearly, this must have been where Filthy Luca slept. Her telekinesis had been honed to a point where she could pick the lock without much difficulty, and she slid the door open.

“Grey Wind, I don’t know how many times I've...” he started, only to suddenly stop and stare in surprise. Rarity was somewhat surprised as well, finding him on the toilet. He started to call out, but before he could, she moved forward and placed her dagger in his mouth in a single swift motion.

“I’m afraid Grey Wind hasn’t been invited to this party,” she said. “It’s just the two of us... and the ponies that you wanted to evict to build your hunting lodge.” He blubbered something that sounded confused. “You bribed some members of the Council to destroy a village near Trottingham, so that you could build a hunting lodge there. What did you say... Oh, yes, that it was prime real estate that deserved a better class of pony.

“I agree with you, it does deserve a better class. And the ponies that live there currently are far better than you’ll ever be. Your greed condemned you from the moment you thought that your money could change the entire country for your own benefit. Thusly, I accuse you. How do you plead?” He started crying and shaking his head, but couldn’t say much without cutting his mouth internally several times, and eventually he had to stop.

“Equestria is better off without ponies like you,” Rarity said, before she unfolded her fan and slashed his throat. He pooped into the bowl as he died, and she turned her nose up at the smell, wiping off her weapons on a nearby towel.

The deed done, she dispelled the beacon and returned to the elevator, humming a song she’d heard once. The title seemed ironically appropriate, as this millionaire was certainly taking a very long holiday. The news would probably be all over the papers tomorrow, as it always was, but she doubted anything but rumours would come of it. Nothing ever had before.
~
Morning came, and so did the news of murder in the night. Filthy Luca, entrepreneur and owner of at least five estates across Equestria, had been killed on the toilet in his penthouse apartment. The butler was unable to explain what had happened, and the only possible clue left behind was the water that had soaked into the carpet under his bedroom door.

“Ponies keep dying ‘round here, sis,” Sweetie Belle said, slightly worried. “I don’t feel safe sometimes, knowing there’s a killer out there...”

“Don’t worry, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity replied. “I’ll always be here to protect you.” She set down the two slices of wheat toast at her place, and another two for her sister. Suddenly, she keeled over, falling to her hands and knees.

“Sis? What’s the matter?” Sweetie Belle dropped down to where her sister had fallen, trying to help her up. All she saw was a purple light filling her eyes before she was thrown back by a wave of equally purple magic. The table was overturned and their breakfast was ruined, but Sweetie Belle didn’t care. Her sister was in trouble.

All of a sudden, the spell ended and Rarity stood up again. “Actually, there is a way we could leave Manehattan for a little while...” She turned to the overturned table. “Oh, goodness! What happened here? Sweetie Belle, did you...?”

“No, it wasn’t me! There was this purple magic that came out of you and tossed it over, and it was filling your eyes... I don’t know what’s happening anymore...” She fell to her own knees, sobbing quietly.

Rarity placed her arm around her sister. “Sweetie Belle, it’s alright. I just felt like I needed to go to Canterlot, the old capital. There’s something there that I want... no, that I need to see. It’ll do us both good to get out of here for a while, anyway. Wouldn’t you like that?”

Sweetie Belle sniffed and wiped her hand across her eyes. “Can we finish breakfast first?”

“Oh, of course,” Rarity laughed as she returned to the kitchen.

An hour later, after they’d finished packing, Rarity and Sweetie Belle stepped out into the streets. A lime-green mare watched them carry the suitcases towards the station, and made a mental note before returning to the street vendor she was busy haggling with.

All Those Who Wander

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Trottingham had always been a farming hub, much like Ponyville. The advancement of technology and increase in population had made it somewhat more difficult to maintain the size of the farms, but the Council had done some good work in maintaining the food production, and even increasing it with new advances. It was still only a relatively small community, but the ponies who called it home hardly ever thought of living anywhere else.

Due to being about halfway between Las Pegasus and Ponyville, the largest train hub in Equestria, many came through and stopped only for a few nights before moving on. The scenery held their attention for a few days, and the clean country air, at least relative to the larger cities, was said to be good for all forms of health. There was one drifter in particular, though, that had caught the attention of almost all of the town.

Pinkie Pie had been staying about a month in Trottingham. Her usual custom was to stay at a bed-and-breakfast for a while, taking commissions on parties from the inhabitants before moving on to another town. She never stayed in one place for long, but the town had caught her attention, and she had lost track of how long she’d spent there.

If pressed for a reason, she would say that it was the ponies there that interested her more than anything. Most big cities were full of ponies too busy with their daily lives to stop for even a moment, but the sedate pace of life in Trottingham suited her well. In a month, she’d managed to learn the names and occupations of nearly everypony there, and most of their birthdays.

It was because there was a birthday coming up that she was in a flurry of activity. Parties took a lot of work to throw, but Pinkie had a knack for it, evidenced by the Cutie Mark of three balloons on her left wrist. At the moment, she was borrowing the proprietor’s kitchen to bake a cake with enough room on the inside to hide in with some balloons and streamers. It was her favourite trick, and one that brought delight to foals everywhere.

The owner had complained at first, but some extra money had calmed him. That was part of why Pinkie was staying in Trottingham a while longer. Perhaps she would stay there permanently if she could find a good bakers’ to get employed at, but then she wouldn’t be able to throw parties for anypony that needed them anywhere in Equestria, and the thought of all those ponies being sad for not being able to have a Pinkie Pie party made her sad as well, and she nearly missed the oven timer ringing because she was lost so deep in her thoughts, but it quickly snapped her back to reality as she pulled the cake out of the oven.

It would be difficult to assemble and keep for a long time, so she decided to keep the parts separate until the actual party, which was tomorrow. It would be more work for her and her host, but she had enough bits left over to keep him happy. Besides, she had left part of the cake for him, and she knew that her cakes were good.

She had prepared the other supplies over the last few days, and now everything was ready. All that was left was to sleep for the night. The party would be at half past three o’clock, when the foal in question returned home from school, and she’d want to be in top condition for it. Thusly, she set her alarm for noon the next day. The host already knew her sleep cycle was erratic at best, so she didn’t need to pay extra for the disturbance.

When she slept, her dreams were filled with other humans like her. She’d always been something of an outcast, which was why she never stayed in one place for long. The adults always looked at her strangely, though foals loved her for everything she did for them. Dreaming of humans comforted her, though the things they did were entirely unlike her world. Humans in suits stood around tables, pointing sticks at strange drawings. Others worked on devices that showed pictures that morphed and changed, creating sound and light shows.

And then there was the boy who was scribbling something in a notebook, who he looked up and winked at her...

When Pinkie Pie woke up, it was already half past noon. She gasped, and her hair shot out in every direction. She’d need to get the lead out in order to make her party work. It was meant to be a surprise party, and she only had a few hours to get everything to her client’s house and in the right places. Almost immediately, she was dressed and moving, nearly bowling over the host while she was sliding down the banister of the stairs.

As she pulled a wagon with some supplies (balloons; streamers; confetti; a banner to proclaim the foal’s birthday) with her right hand, she idly played with a yo-yo in the other, doing tricks with the practiced ease of a master. Walking the dog into a breakaway, holding it in the air for an impossibly long time before monkey climbing the tree and back into her hand. The bright pink yo-yo was just another mystery in her life besides the dreams; she’d woken up with it, and something else that she didn’t take to parties.

The parents were all too happy to help her set up the surprise party, chatting idly as they worked. Assembling the cake had come last, in the living room of the family. Supposedly there were going to be about twelve foals there, including the one whose birthday it was. As Pinkie read the guest list out loud, the mother chuckled at one of the names being listed off. She didn’t know what to make of it, but the foals were nearly home and the lights had to be doused.

Pinkie crouched under the centre of the cake, the upper layers placed above her by the parents. She didn’t know how well they’d been assembled, since she hadn’t had a hand in it, but since she was going to be bursting through them anyway, it didn’t really matter. Several young voices filled the air around her; clearly, the foal’s friends were looking to be in on the surprise too. Suddenly there was hushing and quiet. The time was at hand.

Her instincts told her that it would be about thirty seconds before she should burst out of the cake, and her thoughts began to wander. The mother had been laughing to herself at the name of a certain pony, but she didn’t know which pony it was, maybe she wanted to play some kind of prank on him since she was sure it was a colt’s name, though you could never really be certain, and maybe that colt was particularly shy or timid and the prank would set him off and that really wasn’t a nice thing to do to a pony but suddenly she heard a voice ask “Hello?” from the doorway and she had to focus on the timing of popping out of the cake again.

“Mom? Dad? Where are you? This isn’t funny...” He wandered into the living room, and suddenly Pinkie heard the lights go on. She burst out of the cake, shouting “Surprise!” at the same time as everypony else there. They all cheered as the confetti bombs popped around them, and a few of the colt’s friends hugged him. “Oh, you guys,” he said. “That really wasn’t necessary...”

“What are you talking about?” a brown colt said in a slightly nasal voice, the propeller on his hat spinning slowly. “We wanted you to have the best birthday possible! Of course there had to be a surprise involved!”

“Really?”

“Well, that’s what Pinkie Pie says.”

“Yep!” Pinkie interjected, zipping over as soon as she heard her name. “Surprise parties are the best kind of parties, and Auntie Pinkie’s thrown more parties than you can count, so trust her!” Her yo-yo went down on its string and back into her hand, and she brightened up even further as she began to show off to the foals.

All of them laughed at her routine of walking the dog and putting it through tricks, only for it to suddenly break free of the leash and pull her off-balance. They oohed and aahed at the flying trapeze, watching her hands carefully to see if they could repeat the moves at home. Finally, a flick left it in the pocket of her slightly torn jeans, and much applause was had. “It doesn’t take fingers to do all of these, fillies and gentlecolts,” she said. “Just takes practice is all! Who knows, maybe it’ll even be your Cutie Marks if you keep at it long enough!”

“A Cutie Mark for a yo-yo?” the brown colt said again, his propeller hat spinning faster. “Sounds cool!” He laughed with several other Unmarked foals, and out of the corner of her eye, Pinkie saw the mother laughing to herself again, staring at his flank. Why would she be laughing like that? Something was definitely wrong, she thought, but then a filly tripped over and started crying. All thoughts of the mother’s strange behaviour gone, her own maternal instinct took over as she comforted the filly and led her into another room to get a bandage.

The cake was being cut by the time she returned, and the birthday colt was taking a slice almost as large as his head out of the pristine bottom layer. There was still plenty left for everyone present to have a slice, even Pinkie Pie herself. The cake was as good as could be expected, and there wasn’t even any confetti or marks on it. The mess the other layers had made would take some cleaning up, but Pinkie was perfectly willing to help with that too, and that wouldn’t be until after everypony else had gone home.

About an hour later, after the cake had been consumed and several other games were played, she counted off the foals in her head. She reached ten before she stopped. Where were the other two? One was the foal who lived there, so that made eleven. One foal was still unaccounted for, and a quick search of the house turned up nothing. “Hide and seek ended half an hour ago,” she called out. “Where are you?”

“What’s wrong, Pinkie?” the mother asked, barely audible through the broom she was holding between her teeth in the usual Earth Pony fashion.

“One of the foals is missing, and I’m worried that he might be lost somewhere around here, or...”

The mother dropped the broom and held up a hoof. “I’m sure it’s nothing so drastic,” she soothed the worried human. “Maybe he just went home early. Ponies do that sometimes, and maybe he’s a bit of an outcast...”

“Aw, but he seemed so happy being here. Why would anyone leave a Pinkie Pie party early? Did I really not make him that happy?”

“I’m sure it was none of your fault. I got exactly what I paid you for, and that’s all anypony could ask for. Oh, and here’s a little extra on the side.” She picked up a small bag of bits from the table and dropped them into Pinkie’s hand. “Feel free to go home early. I don’t need that much help cleaning up.”

“Hey, I made this mess,” Pinkie protested. “It’d be wrong of me to go so quickly!”

“I insist,” the mother replied, harshly. “Leave, Pinkie. You’ve done all you’ve been paid for.” Pinkie tilted her head slightly at the statement, but quickly returned to a smile and a nod before she walked off, playing with her yo-yo again.

Behind her, the mother dropped her broom, walking through the corridor beside the stairs. Her husband seemed surprised at her actions, asking after her and following, but she was already gone. A search of the rooms beyond the corner marked by the staircase revealed nothing, either. Sighing, he shrugged and returned to the living room, resigned to cleaning up the mess himself.
~
That night, she had another dream of the other humans. Their world seemed far more advanced than hers, a magic she was totally unfamiliar with powering their lives. The trains were sleeker and faster, running between cities at a velocity most Pegasi would be envious of. And the boy was there again, scribbling in his notebook. Pinkie sat down next to him and looked, and what she saw surprised her more than anything.

He was writing the details of the party that she’d thrown that afternoon, and he was up to the part where she’d been dismissed so bluntly. After that, rather than follow her home, he stayed at the house a while longer, showing that the mother had disappeared strangely too.

Pinkie didn’t know what to make of it, but then he closed the book, preventing further study. He turned to her and winked again, and she gasped like she’d missed a deadline—

The same gasp translated immediately into her conscious life, waking her up with a shock. It was about six in the morning, but before sunrise, and everypony was still asleep. Still, she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep again that night if her dreams were reacting so much to her. After deciding to go outside, she spent a moment staring at her tote bag. There was a weapon inside, and it pained her to even think about carrying it. Trottingham seemed so nice a town, and yet her instincts screamed at her to take the gauntlet with her. Eventually, she gave into them and placed it over her right hand, the three metal claws on the end extending a few inches past her knuckles.

Thusly equipped, she quietly locked the door of her room and tiptoed down the stairs, hearing the owner’s snoring through the thick wooden door of his own bedroom. It was a clear night, with hardly a cloud in the sky. The half-moon provided little illumination, but the streetlights made the lack of moonlight hardly noticeable. Idly, she played with her yo-yo as she walked, feeling the weight inside it and clutching her gauntlet harder.

As she bumped into another pony, she profusely apologised, only to get a faceful of the pony anyway. “You shouldn’t be here,” the stranger said. “What’s going to happen tonight shouldn’t concern anypony else.”

“Hey, I’m not a pony!” Pinkie protested.

“So you aren’t. But you shouldn’t be here. This is serious.”

“What’s the matter? I can handle myself, if there’s a bad pony around.” She flicked the yo-yo out again, and shuddered slightly at the thought of actually using it.

“There’s been a few kidnappings in the area. Nothing’s visible during the day, but maybe at night, I could find some proof.” Pinkie finally got her first good look at the pony, and despite the relative darkness made out the slit-like pupils and tufted ears.

“You’re a Night Pony? I didn’t even think those were real!”

“And I thought humans used to be the realm of Daring Do and not much else.” She shook her head quickly and added, “But if you can’t say anything that I don’t already know, then we’re done here.”

Pinkie paused at the statement, thinking back to the previous day. “I was at a party here yesterday,” she said. “There were about twelve foals there, but only eleven left. The birthday colt’s mother said that he’d left early, but I don’t remember him leaving at all...”

The Night Pony froze up and turned back to Pinkie. “Which house was it?” she asked, suddenly listening closely. “That’s probably our kidnapper.” Pinkie started running, trying to remember the route she’d taken that afternoon. It was only about a minute before she found it again and pointed it out. “Thanks. You can go now,” said the Night Pony.

Pinkie shook her head sombrely. “I’d better come with you,” she protested. “You’ll need another witness, and I might be able to help you look... or to catch the kidnapper, if it comes to that.” She tightened her grip on the clawed gauntlet again.

The Night Pony looked her over, then slowly nodded. “Just don’t get in my way.” She pushed the gate open and walked up to the door, fiddling with a lockpick in one hoof.

“What do I call you?” Pinkie asked, standing next to her.

“Midnight Blossom. And you’re Pinkie Pie, the wandering party planner. Didn’t know you usually went armed and dangerous, though.” The lock opened with a click, and the two went inside. “Do you know if there’s a basement or anything around here?” Midnight asked.

Pinkie walked into the living room, seeing there were still a few cake crumbs around. “I looked around the house before when I was planning the party,” she said, “but I don’t remember a basement anywhere. Maybe...” She trailed off, remembering what she’d seen in the book in the dream.

... walking through the corridor beside the stairs. Her husband seemed surprised at her actions, asking after her and following, but she was already gone...

Following a hunch, she started knocking on the side of the staircase, making two raps and then moving slightly forward. “Are you crazy?” Midnight hissed. “You’re going to wake the owners, and that’s not going to make us look good!” Pinkie held up a finger for silence, and her next knock sounded hollower than the others. “Wait a minute...” Midnight knocked quietly on the same spot, and heard the same sound. “That must be...”

Pinkie felt around the patch of the wall, and felt part of it push inward under her touch. Suddenly, her hand completely phased through, and Pinkie quickly pulled it back, but not before her Midnight had seen it. “How did you know that was there?” she asked, her disbelief clear even through the whisper.

“Call it a hunch,” Pinkie said. “I saw something like this in a dream... I know that sounds stupid.”

“Luna grants us all dreams for a reason,” Midnight intoned. “Do not be so quick to write them off.” She checked with her hooves for the borders of the illusion, then stepped through, quickly followed by the now-stooped human. “No Earth Pony could have made something like that,” Midnight said to herself, thinking out loud. “This was definitely planned, though I’m not sure how many actually know what’s going on here...”

A scream and a laugh came from below, overlapping one another. Midnight rushed down the stairs, and Pinkie followed as best she could in the low passageway. There was a brightly lit room at the bottom, where the brown colt from the party was tied to a table of some sort, his legs all held down with leather straps. “Call me mother again,” the mare standing over him said. “Cry out for your mother! Let me feel your love for her!”

Pinkie was wondering who the mare was, since it certainly wasn’t the mother from the party. Midnight immediately picked up on the word ‘love’. “Oh, for the love of...” she said quietly, before stepping out into the light. “Hey, cheese legs! I’ve got some news for you!”

Pinkie was confused by the statement. The mare wasn’t, hissing loudly. “So you figured me out, huh?” she asked, before being covered in green fire. What followed was unlike anything Pinkie had ever seen before. It was a black creature with solid teal eyes, dragonfly-like wings and a body full of strange holes. “Enjoy it while you can, because you’re not leaving here alive!” It dived at Midnight, who rolled quickly out of the way. The creature stared at her for a moment, before turning into a white Pegasus with a yellow mane. “Can you still hit me?” it asked, in a stallion’s voice.

“Damn you!” Midnight shouted, stepping back. Clearly, she was losing the will to fight, and the stallion just laughed. It stopped when it was hit in the back of the head, and it turned around to see Pinkie Pie’s yo-yo returning to her hand. Her hair had become completely straight, falling around her head unlike its usual pattern, and her smile had completely disappeared from her face.

“You shouldn’t laugh at ponies like that,” she said quietly. “You shouldn’t laugh at things that take joy out of the world. You’re a freak!” She threw out her yo-yo again, and the Pegasus just smirked and raised a hoof to stop it.

The yo-yo suddenly split open down the middle, revealing a wicked set of spinning blades, and the creature pulled back slightly too late to avoid it. Ichor began dripping down its hoof, and it snarled, charging at Pinkie again. The blades disappeared as she caught the yo-yo, and she pulled it down out of the way of her right hand to punch with the claws. She hit the thing in the chest, and more ichor came dribbling out of three new holes.

The disguise faltered, revealing the insect-like pony underneath before it returned to the white Pegasus again. “You’ll pay for that,” it said, before its head was suddenly jerked violently forward by a strike behind it.

“That’s for kidnapping a helpless foal,” Midnight snarled, flapping her bat-like wings to stay above her target. She punched it again and continued, “That’s for all the other foals you’ve kidnapped. And this is for pretending to be Skipper!” With the third, she fully dive-bombed, throwing out blows at an extremely rapid pace.

The creature snarled as it turned back into its true(?) form, slithering out from under Midnight and running for the stairs. Another bladed throw from Pinkie caught its back, but it wasn’t enough to stop it from getting away; all it did was create another hole for its ichor to drip out from. The trail stayed visible all the way up the stairs, and Pinkie crawled up after it, only to be stopped at the top by an Earth Pony stallion. “What are you doing in my house?” he asked. “Are you a thief?! I should never have hired... you...” He stopped as he saw the trail of ichor on the ground. “There was a changeling here?! What happened?!”

“Your wife was a changeling, sir,” Midnight said as she came up the stairs, carrying the unconscious brown foal on her back. “She kidnapped this foal here, probably at the birthday party. I’m sorry to tell you this, but your real wife is probably dead.”

The stallion just stared in shock, unable to understand what was happening, and Pinkie and Midnight pushed through the fake wall, leaving the house in pursuit of the ichor trail. It gave out after a while, and the two simply stopped, staring at each other. “What do we do now?” Pinkie asked, her hair still falling straight around her shoulders.

“We’d better take this colt back to his parents,” Midnight said. “D’you remember his name?” Pinkie shook her head sadly. “Well, I can at least take him back to my room. You’d better get some sleep while you can.”

“I think it’s a little late for that. And... I want to come with you. I need to see if he’s still alright. I... I don’t want things like this to happen to foals.”

“Me neither. But we don’t live in a perfect world anymore.” She looked up at the rising sun, and suddenly away again. “I’ve got to go,” she said. “I’m staying at 25 Bay Street, apartment number four. Meet me there.” She flew off, trying not to look at the sunrise, and Pinkie wandered slowly back to the bed and breakfast.

She picked up her tote bag and handed the key and the last night’s rent to the owner, who waved her off as she left. What she’d seen in Trottingham was something she badly wanted to get away from, but first she had to see if that colt was okay. She went to the address Midnight had given her, and was surprised to find her still awake inside.

“He’s okay,” Midnight said quietly. “Another hour or so, and I’ll be good to send him back to his parents again.” Pinkie stepped inside and saw the brown colt sitting on a chair, eyes half-open. He seemed confused more than anything, but it didn’t look like anything permanent had happened.

Pinkie let out a sigh of relief, and then keeled over in the hallway. “Pinkie, what’s wrong?” Midnight asked, reaching out a hoof to touch her. She was thrown back by a wave of purple magic that slammed the door shut, and by the time she’d picked herself up and opened the door again, Pinkie was standing straight. “I’ve figured out where to go next,” she said. “Canterlot... I’m going there.”

“You’re a nomad too?” Midnight asked. “It’s an interesting lifestyle. I hope you find what you’re looking for there.”

“Who said I was looking for anything?” Pinkie replied, a lot of the bounce back in her voice and the curls back in her hair. “I move around because I just like to live that way! It’s like some old poem said... ‘Not all those who wander are lost.’ Well, gotta go!” She ran off, her chest bouncing slightly with each step.

“All those who wander, huh,” Midnight said to herself before closing the door. She still had to make sure the colt was completely fine before she sent him off, and then she’d have a well-deserved sleep for the rest of the day.
~
That night, at the only Thestral bar in Trottingham, a Pegasus came in for the first time in the owner’s memory. He looked around slowly, as though he’d come into the wrong place by mistake, but then he walked up to a table. Everypony inside was staring at him, but he didn’t care. He was only concentrating on the mare sitting at the table he’d gone to. “Been a long time,” he said. “You’re a hard mare to track down, Midnight Blossom.”

“Skipper?!” Midnight asked, before diving over the table and curling him into a hug. He protested at the public display of affection, and after a few seconds she pulled away again. “Why are you here? Why did you come looking for me?”

“Twilight’s back,” he said, and the whole bar went silent. “Do you still have your beacon?”

“Of course,” Midnight replied. “But you can’t really think...”

“I don’t think, Midnight, I know. Outside. She’s in Canterlot. Activate your beacon, and we’ll get moving as soon as we can.” The two stepped out into the night, and gradually normal conversation resumed in the bar, as though the past minute hadn’t occurred.

Midnight took out a blue orb, twisted it halfway, and watched the blue light fly into the air. “I activated mine a year ago,” Skipper said. “Twilight had done something then, but she’s definitely coming out now. We’d better move, if we’re going to reach her in time.” The pair took off into the air, Skipper flying in Midnight’s slipstream so they’d both get there faster.

From the streets below, the brown Earth Pony whose home had been home to a birthday party and a changeling watched, nodded, and returned home.

Like a Butterfly

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Three hundred years hadn’t given Ponyville much room to expand outward. The Everfree Forest on one side and Whitetail Wood on the other left them in some trouble when the population grew too large to hold. Their solution was to build upwards. The rooftops became almost common property, with easy access from most buildings and many bridges between them. The upper layer practically became a second Ponyville, and there were some, mostly Pegasi, who refused to come to the lower without a good reason.

For those ponies with pets, one of the good reasons was the kindly veterinarian who lived on the outskirts of town. It wasn’t quite ‘outskirts’ anymore, but it was closer to the Everfree than anypony else was willing to build, besides the local Apple family for the yearly Zap Apple harvest. Then again, it wasn’t a pony living there.

A lot of ponies thought that Fluttershy was crazy, and the fact that she was a human didn’t help raise her public opinion. Still, she didn’t go into town often enough to know or care about her reputation, and those who had sought her services found her as reliable and as knowledgeable about their animals as any pony could be. It was as though she could understand them on some level above equine possibility, though whether it was a human thing was uncertain to the residents, as they only knew the one.

In addition to the pets of other ponies that she cared for, several animals seemed to live there, most of them birds or small critters. Upon them she lavished the same attention that a mother would a child, down to remembering their individual names. In particular, a black rabbit named Demon was her near-constant companion, a name given by its original owner who’d left it in her care and never returned to Ponyville.

The name seemed appropriate to most; the only one he let touch him was Fluttershy, but he didn’t always seem happy with her as well. He thought that her shrinking-violet tendencies were more annoying than anything, and that he didn’t have to keep protecting her whenever she went outside. This was something of a mystery to her, though, since she had more trouble understanding Demon than any of the other animals under her care, permanently or temporarily.

On most clear nights, though, she understood his signal of waving two sticks around. She didn’t like to do it, or even to think about it, but Demon would insist to the point of even biting her until she spent an hour or so outside, practicing with the strange weapon she’d woken up with.

Under the moon, she could see it clearly: the two lacquered wooden rods, each about a foot in length, held together by a metal chain. One was larger and heavier than the other, carrying an enamel sigil on the end that matched the Cutie Mark on her left thigh, slightly hidden by the canary-yellow dress she wore. A choker with the same mark was the only thing holding it in place, but it never seemed to stir, no matter how she moved with her weapon under the moonlight.

“Okay,” she said, more to herself than to anything that could have been listening. A few of the animals had taken to watching her dance, and even they gave her some stage fright, but the weapon scared her more than anything. She’d have to conquer that fear eventually, though, since no matter how she’d tried, she couldn’t seem to get rid of it. No matter where she lost it or who she tried to gift it to, it always found its way back to her. All she could do was dance with it, in a way that wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Slowly, as the ghost of a song from a faded memory began to play in her mind, she moved both rods into her right hand, and took a deep breath to ground herself. With a step forward, she swung the larger rod outward, using the chain to pull it back and catching it by pulling her left hand across her body. She snapped the chain out to its full length as she pulled her left hand back, swinging it above her as she released her right hand.

The smaller rod flew over her head and she caught it behind her on instinct, turning it away as she let go of the left to spin it around her body and bring the chain back in front. A high kick—a dancing step for certain, though its use in combat was clear as well—into a pirouette as she landed, letting the larger rod spin out at the chain’s full length in a full circle. As she caught it again, she released a hidden catch under the butterfly.

All at once, a metal blade flew out, the edge on the inside. Her movements became faster, moving the rods from hand to hand, around her body in every direction, the slashing audible though it didn’t cut through anything. It could have cut her hand, and it had a few times at first, but it seemed as though it was empathic in some way, as it moved without skipping a beat from hand to hand. She knew from experience the blade was at least sharp enough to cut through tree branches, but in her moonlit dances, not even the trees were hurt.

Another leaping kick, thrusting outward with the blunt ends of the rods together, then pulling back and letting the scythe spin around once more before she caught it on the back of the metal blade, snapping it shut. The song ended, and she bowed. Some of her animal friends made appreciative noises, and she said her platitudes in her usual, barely audible voice.

A sudden loud noise of glass breaking caught her attention, along with a shout that might have been “stop, thief”. All the animals quickly scattered, and Fluttershy turned to her cottage again. There were definitely two ponies inside; a slate-grey Unicorn with a blue and white mane, and a navy blue Earth Pony with a large knife. As Fluttershy opened the back door, the Earth Pony turned around and charged her, knocking her down before she could react.

He lifted her up to her knees and held the knife to her throat, snarling at the Unicorn, who stopped for a moment. She tried to grab the knife with her magic, but his grip was strong enough to draw blood from Fluttershy’s neck. “Ain’t gonna work, sister,” he said slowly. “Try anything, and the animals are gonna go hungry.”

The Unicorn stepped back slightly, eyes slanted down angrily. “You aren’t going to get away with this, you know,” she said sternly. “The Watch is smarter than you think, and we’re everywhere. You won’t make it as far as Trottingham before you’re arrested.”

“Izzat so?” the Earth Pony asked, laughing slightly. “Well, what if the news never gets away from here? ‘Cause you ain’t!” He charged, dropping Fluttershy roughly and slashing at the Unicorn’s horn. She had to shy away, and that gave him an opportunity to slash downward across her chest. Before he could reach her, though, Fluttershy had pulled herself up and pointed a finger, and all of a sudden a dozen creatures were tackling him. “Hey, get off, ya mongrels!” he shouted, but Demon took the opportunity of his open mouth to bite his tongue before he could get any more insults out. In response, he bit down on Demon’s tail, his head whipping around quickly and shaking the bunny.

As he thrashed around, Fluttershy threw out her scythe, but didn’t cut him; rather, she used it to pull the knife out of his grip. Thusly unarmed, the Unicorn was able to cast a few spells to subdue him, and the encounter was over. “Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked Demon, rubbing his tail. “That pony wasn’t very nice at all... Thanks for helping me get away from him.”

“I’m sorry to have disturbed you, miss,” the Unicorn said. “But I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to come to the Watch station as well. I’m somewhat concerned about that weapon of yours.” Fluttershy just nodded and tucked it into the bow tied around her back, helping to pick up the knocked-out Earth Pony. “We might also need you to identify this one. Nothing difficult, just say that he accosted you. That’s true enough, isn’t it?” Another nod, and they left. Demon insisted on coming along too, and the Unicorn wasn’t willing to protest.

They spent about an hour checking in the robber, with Fluttershy acting as a witness. They accepted her testimony, the cut on her neck being proof with a forensic spell, and then Fluttershy was placed under the spotlight herself. They didn’t ask her very many questions, but they did confiscate her weapon, and she was glad to see it gone for the moment. What she didn’t tell them was that she knew it’d find its way back to her somehow. It’d just make them more worried about her.

She spent much of the rest of the early morning, to everyone’s surprise, with the criminal in his holding cell. At one point, when he was getting angry, she stopped one of the Watch officers from going in and beating him. “It’d only make him angrier, and where would that get anyone?” she’d said. The Watch officer had calmed down a lot by then, and so had the prisoner, so he left off.

“Why did you do that?” the Unicorn asked, as she passed through the holding cells. “It wasn’t your business to interfere. And you saw what he did to you. He doesn’t deserve any better.”

“Everyone deserves better,” Fluttershy said, almost staring off into space. “Even if he did bad things, it won’t help to keep doing bad things to him. And maybe, if he remembers what it’s like to have someone willing to be kind to you, then he might remember how to be kind in return.”

“You’re pretty optimistic. What makes you feel that way?”

“...I don’t know. I just feel like there’s good in nearly everyone, no matter how bad they seem.”

“‘Nearly’ everyone? So who’s not in there?”

Fluttershy couldn’t answer immediately. It was as though she’d entirely blanked out, and the Unicorn, whose name she’d learned was Aster, decided not to press the issue. “Well, you should be free to go by now. We’ll keep you posted if the guy goes up for rehabilitation. Maybe you could do it. You seem like the type.” They both nodded slowly, and then Demon kicked Fluttershy in the side, pointing at a watch he’d pulled from nowhere.

“Oh, my, I need to feed my animals! I’m sorry, but I’ve really got to go!” She ran out of the station with Demon tucked under one arm. Flying through Upper Ponyville to all the various stores she needed to stop at to get her materials, she nearly tripped over a few ponies, quickly apologising in each case before moving on. Sometimes she was stared at, but she didn’t look back so she didn’t have to know whether or not that was the case. In each store, she didn’t stay longer than a few seconds to pick up what she needed, drop some bits on the counter and go again.

Just as she was returning to the cottage, she suddenly fell over, and all her supplies fell out of her arms, scattering over the ground. Demon was concerned, and jumped up to Fluttershy’s side, trying to lift her as best a rabbit could. He was suddenly thrown back by a wave of purple magic that blew all the scattered supplies around as well.

As the other animals ran out to see what had happened, they all ignored the food in favour of the human, who was just pulling herself up. “I... I’m sorry, but I won’t be around to look after you. I have to go to... I have to go away. And I don’t know how long I’ll be...” A sudden thought overcame her that the animals wouldn’t be able to handle themselves without her, and for a moment it overrode Twilight’s call. As she said it out loud, though, she heard a reassuring roar.

Michael the bear, supposedly a direct descendant of Harry the Great, put one massive paw around her shoulder, brought the other across all the assembled animals, and roared again. She knew what it meant almost immediately. We can take care of ourselves for a while. Go do what you have to. The others all chattered and cheered in agreement, and Fluttershy nodded. She went inside to collect some supplies as the animals breakfasted, and quickly returned. “Be good now!” she called behind her as she walked away, to another chorus of approximate cheers.

She spent ten minutes trying to communicate with the ticket booth. She was wondering what the city on the mountain was called, and the stallion couldn’t hear her half the time; then again, he was quite old, so she couldn’t blame him. Her bags were checked and she boarded the train just as the whistle blew and it pulled out of the station. All of a sudden, she became aware of an additional weight in the bag.

Discreetly pulling it open, she nearly fell out of her seat when Demon popped up. Behind him, she could see her weapon lying closed in the bag. “Did you steal that back from the Watch?” she asked, and he nodded proudly. “It’s not right to steal from others, Demon. I don’t know what you were thinking, but you need to stop it.” He hung his head slowly, but was smiling underneath it. Fluttershy noticed and pulled his head up, making eye contact. Her eyes narrowed, and their usual warmth almost entirely disappeared. Demon immediately stopped smiling, and then began shivering.

“Cute bunny rabbit there,” a stallion said as he placed his hoof on her thigh. Immediately, she turned away from Demon and to him, without toning down the stare she’d been giving the rabbit. It had a similar effect on the stallion, whose malicious thoughts jellified and slid out his ears, replaced only with raw terror.

Fluttershy caught herself and blinked twice, allowing her eyes to return to normal. “Oh, yes, he is,” she said. “But he’s a bit protective, so please don’t touch me there.” He nodded quickly and practically ran back to his own seat. Demon gave her a questioning look: What was that all about, Flutters? “I don’t know... I didn’t know I could do that to someone.”

You might want to remember it, though, he said with a few taps to his head. Could be useful if you don’t want to hurt someone, but you want them to leave you alone. The gestures he used for the second sentiment were far more complex, and Fluttershy missed them entirely, lost in her own thoughts. For a moment, she thought she’d seen all the way into his mind, and that was when she’d broken eye contact. “Why do I have this power... or these?” Her eyes drifted back to the rods in her bag, and she sighed deeply, trying to clear her mind.

A grey Pegasus mare watched the exchange and shook her head slowly.

(re)Union

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About a month ago, by the calendar used in the world that Celestia had travelled to, she felt one of the beacons being activated. Its pulse was only faint, so she assumed only one beacon had been activated. Maybe it was just a false alarm, but either way, she could afford to continue searching. That had been her thought process at the time, but little more had been uncovered before Luna reported feeling the beacon as well.

“The time has come, sister,” Celestia said. “Our student has returned to the light. We must go to find her, tonight if we can. No more delays.”

“But we’ve learned so little of Azazel,” Luna protested. “We can’t leave knowing almost no more than we came here with!”

“Twilight is far more important. We must be there for her. I don’t want to think about how long she’s been alone...” Celestia stared off into space for a moment before shaking her head and returning her gaze to her sister. “Even though we failed in our mission, we must still go back now. Twilight needs us.” To this, Luna had no protest. Her elder sister was right, after all.

They drew a magic circle on the ground, using their own magic to feel their way back through the void between worlds back to their own. The path was set; all that was needed was a spark. “We picked the wrong night, sister,” Luna said. “There’s no lightning tonight.”

“DID SOMEBODY SAY LIGHTNING?!” a voice boomed from the trees, and in a flash of lightning, a man was standing in the circle. Celestia wanted to tell him it was dangerous, but the spell had already been activated, and all three were thrown along the path. The two sisters hugged tightly to stop the disturbance from separating them, and they didn’t notice the interloper falling off. Suddenly, the void was gone, and in its place was Equestria again.

“Where’d that man go?” Celestia asked, her voice hard with suppressed rage. “He needs to be taught a lesson about...” She looked around, then reached out with her magic, but couldn’t feel him anywhere. She sighed and looked down again, surprised to see that she was still in a human form.

“It matters not,” Luna said. “How long has it been since the sun and the moon felt our touch? We must recall the ancient magic, as best we can in these new forms. Until we can truly be masters of our elements again, we should avoid contact anyway. I know not what the ponies would think...” This time, it was Celestia who had to concede to Luna’s logic. They sat down in the glade that once held the Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters together, closing their eyes and meditating, reaching out with their Alicorn magic to the celestial bodies that had gone ungoverned for three hundred years.

A new era had begun in their absence, and though the old one could never be recreated, it could at least give comfort to those who belonged to it.
~
Blurring the lines between fact and fiction was never a good idea at the best of times, and whatever spell had summoned a hero from children’s adventure novels to life as a creature many thought of as mythical if they knew it at all was hardly the best of times. So it was with some confusion and more than some panic that Daring Do awoke in a body that wasn’t quite hers, staring at the roof of a tent she’d never owned. Her adventures had gone to some strange places for certain, but nothing could possibly top this.

She knew what humans were, at least. The Lost City of Nagoya had taught her a lot, but it was probably for the best that it had stayed lost. Considering their first contact with almost every other race they knew, it would likely have gone badly for one or the other. At least she was used to staying out in the wilderness for a while at a time.

She checked the pockets on her shirt and the pouch on her belt for supplies, but didn’t find anything there. However, she didn’t wake up entirely empty-handed; a pair of whips had been left on the floor next to her, one leather and one a metal chain. It had been a while since she’d used one, and she took them outside, one in each hand, before cracking the leather one. It all came back to her in that one movement, and she felt like she could take on the world if she had to.

“Alright, Bon Bon, I’m getting up,” a voice groaned from one of the other tents. “It’s the weekend, I don’t have to go to school,” said the other. That was when Daring legitimately panicked, hiding the whips and trying to hide herself. How had two other ponies built a camp for three and not noticed her appearance in the middle of the night? It was nearly sunset, and those two were still definitely asleep. They didn’t come out of their tents for a while, and Daring thought she might have gotten away with it.

Her hopes vanished as another pair of humans stepped out. One, judging by her height and her face, couldn’t have been older than fourteen. Her lilac hair fell loosely around her head, and her pink dress, sleeveless and down to about her knees, stood out against the nearby forest. The rapier and buckler weren’t very inconspicuous either. The other was older, perhaps equal with Daring’s own age, and was wearing far less. Only her chest and her marehood (though that wasn’t quite right, was it?) were covered by the green fabric, with a third piece connecting behind her wrists. A pair of swords was slung over her back, along with a strange golden instrument.

The two humans blinked slightly, looking at one another slowly. They both screamed, but it wasn’t quite the same. The younger was screaming in terror; the older, more in excitement. “I’m a human!” said the older, laughing. “Oh man, if only Bon Bon could see this! I told her I was right!”

“What’s happened to me?” the younger whimpered underneath. “I can’t go around like this... Why did this happen to me of all ponies?”

“I wish I knew,” Daring said as she stepped out, and they both turned to look. “It seems that we’ve all been affected by some spell that’s turned us into humans. Don’t panic; it’s not that different. Besides, I’m sure since we can talk like any other pony, they’ll accept us pretty easily.” She didn’t feel the calm she was trying to display to the others, but someone had to lead them. “What are your names?”

“I’m Lyra,” the older said. “And don’t worry, I know all about humans. Though I thought they were all fictional, just a construct of Daring Do and the Lost City.” She looked at her companion for a while, noticing the Cutie Mark on the back of her right hand, and then gasped. “Unless you’re...”

“Daring Do, in the flesh,” Daring laughed as she bowed melodramatically. “Though perhaps not the flesh you’re expecting.” She turned to the younger girl, who was still sitting on her haunches and avoiding the others. “What about you? What’s your name?”

She brushed the crown of her hair a few times, searching for something that wasn’t there, before saying, “Nobody anymore. My reason for being is gone, so my name might as well be too.” She showed her Cutie Mark, on the front of her right shoulder, to the others: a tiara. She repeated the brushing motion, as if pointing out that that was her name.

“Well, ‘Nobody’, that kind of attitude didn’t get me into Nagoya,” Daring said as she picked the younger girl up. “C’mon, let’s make this camp a little more liveable. It’s getting dark, and we’ll probably need to spend the night here before we look for civilisation.”

As Daring collected some firewood from nearby, and Lyra and Nobody went back into their tents, a shadow watched them all, unseen through the forest of shadows. It laughed silently and slid off, heading to a far-off destination.
~
The rest of the train ride was uneventful, and Fluttershy actually fell asleep halfway to Canterlot. Demon woke her up in his usual rough idiom, and they got off the train. Where to now? he tried to ask as he hopped up to her shoulder. She didn’t say anything, instead walking to a nearby street café and sitting down at a table next to another human.

“Oh, my, I didn’t see you there,” the other human said, closing her fan. She took a closer look at Fluttershy, and her jaw slowly started to open. “Another human? I didn’t know there were any others in Equestria! Oh, this must be fate! What’s your name, darling?” Fluttershy was unable to get a response in, feeling rather crowded out. She mumbled something to the effect of “I don’t travel much” and “I’m Fluttershy”, but it went mostly unheeded. She was cowering in her chair from the unexpected attention, and it took almost a minute for the other human to notice. “Oh, where are my manners all of a sudden?” she asked, leaning back into her own chair. “My name is Rarity: socialite, designer and all-around fabulous.”

“Rarity, who’s that there?” a younger girl suddenly asked. The resemblance was immediate; though she was smaller, her body shape was a lot like Rarity’s, and her hair was quite similar too. “Oh, a human? That’s so cool!”

“Sweetie Belle, don’t jump at the young lady,” Rarity admonished her sister. “She’s not much of a social butterfly. I remember you were the same way once, and you still might be...”

“Oh, lay off, Rarity!” Sweetie shouted, before turning and gasping at another pair of humans down the road. “Over here!” she shouted. “Hey, over here!”

The smaller of the pair ran up and shouted in an Appleloosa drawl, “Well, Ah’ll be! More humans! We’re going to be best friends, Ah’m sure of it!”

“Apple Bloom, where’d ya run off to... Oh, howdy there! Nice to see so many friendly faces around. All these ponies lookin’ at us strangely... Mah name’s Applejack. Pleasure to meet y’all.”

Rarity stood up quickly and bowed to the newcomers. “Rarity, and the pleasure is all mine, I assure you. My sister here, Sweetie Belle, seems to be quite attached to yours.” It was true; Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had already run off together. They both suddenly dived out of the way of a fast-moving object which collided with the table and knocked it over, scaring Fluttershy into an even smaller curled-up ball in her seat.

“Whoops...” the newcomer said, pulling herself up and picking up the wheeled plank she’d ridden in on. “Still need to work on stopping this thing.”

“Ain’t nothing!” Apple Bloom shouted, running up and hugging the newcomer with Sweetie Belle. “It’s great to finally know some humans mah own age!” They all giggled together, introducing one another and their older sisters.

“Hey, Scootaloo, did you just break another café?” another human asked, before stopping and staring at the group.

“Yes, we’re all humans here,” Rarity said, “and I’m quite surprised to see you all. Who would you be, if I might ask?”

“I’m, uh... Rainbow Dash. Yeah,” was the reply. She picked up the purple-haired girl and made a strong eye contact. “Squirt, you can’t just go crazy like that. Who knows what you could’ve done, to yourself or to all these guys?”

“Sorry...” Scootaloo said slowly, hanging her head for a moment before returning to the others. Rainbow just sighed before picking up the table and sitting down.

“Surprise!” someone said as they burst out from under the table. “I’m Pinkie Pie, and it’s nice to finally see so many other humans together!” She gasped loudly. “Hey, do you know what this calls for?! A PARTY!” Her jolly mood suddenly switched to somewhat morose as she added, “Oh, but I don’t have any party supplies...”

“There’s no time for a party now,” came yet another voice from nearby. Everyone turned to face its owner, a girl about their age or slightly older, wearing a tight purple dress and holding a wand of sorts. “You all came here for a reason. Perhaps you remember?”

There was silence around the table before Rainbow said, “Well... there was this strange vision I had, and I felt this pull to come here...” The others all nodded and murmured agreement. “Was that you?”

“Indeed. You’re all here because I asked you. I needed you all back, my friends.” She walked up to the table with her arms out for a hug, but there was no response, and she stopped halfway when she realised that. “Guys? What’s wrong?”

More silence. Applejack was the first to say it. “Can’t say Ah remember ever knowin’ a gal like you. Far as Ah ever knew, me and mah sister there were the only humans in Equestria.”

The purple girl’s face dropped all of a sudden. “Really?”

“Me too,” Pinkie added. “I’d remember if I saw any humans. I can remember everypony I’ve ever spoken to, and humans would be even easier, but I have no memory of you, or any of you.” The others assented all at once, and Twilight’s jaw fell open. As she caught herself, her wand started glowing, and she cast a memory spell to try and bring them back—

There were no memories in any of their heads older than a year.

—and Twilight took a shocked step back. Rarity stood up from the table as well. “Well, I never!” she said haughtily. “Another mage, but without even the decency to not just cast spells on strangers! Shame on you, whoever you are! You’re no friend of mine! Come along, Sweetie Belle. I don’t intend to spend a minute longer on this pointless quest!” She took her sister’s hand and walked off, despite Sweetie’s loud protests.

“Almost hate to tell ya, sugarcube, but I’ve got better things to do. Got an appointment in Ponyville, and I don’t wanna miss it. Apple Bloom, time to go!” The two younger girls finished their conversation with a promise to get back together, and they walked off.

Twilight’s face fell even further, and again when Pinkie Pie added, “Well, can’t hang around here any longer! The parties for foals in need aren’t gonna throw themselves!” With a quick cartwheel, she was off down a side street.

Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash, who said, “I already have friends. But I don’t remember you. And that being the case, I’m surprised you tried to drag me away from them like that. If you ever do that again, I promise, you’ll get a few bruises for your trouble.” She started walking off, and after a moment, Scootaloo followed, sliding on her plank of wood.

Unable to cope with the fact that she’d gotten her friends back only to lose them again, Twilight fell to the ground sobbing for almost a minute. When she finally looked up, Fluttershy was still there. “And I suppose you’ve got something better to do, too?” she said venomously.

Fluttershy shook her head and knelt down with Twilight, wiping away her tears with a finger. “What could be more important than someone in need of some comfort? Even if I don’t know you, I know that you shouldn’t be alone. It’s not right for anyone to be alone like that.” Twilight just started crying again, and this time, Fluttershy held the other girl’s face to her shoulder, patting her on the back until Twilight had run out of tears.

“Thanks, Fluttershy,” Twilight said at last. “But I just don’t know what to do now... My friends are gone, possibly for good, and...”

“Maybe you could find some new friends.”

“Really?” Fluttershy nodded and placed a hand over her chest. “...Thanks. Should’ve known that you would never leave anyone behind.”

“You know me already?”

“I knew all of you, once. But so much has changed in three hundred years...” She waved a hand over her own body, then her old/new friend’s, and then to Canterlot outside. “I thought bringing you back would let us start over, but... now I just don’t know what to do.”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle?” a male voice asked nearby, and the two humans turned quickly. A white Pegasus was standing there, and he was looking at Twilight. He studied her for a while, and then fell into a low bow. “It’s good to see you’ve finally returned.”

“Are you...” Twilight started, then stopped and started over. “How do you remember me? I thought I was a myth.”

“Celestia entrusted me to remember you, and to help bring her back when you returned. She gave me the gift of ages, so I wouldn’t have to pass the oath on. Ex solis invictus.” He stood up fully and nodded to Fluttershy. “I haven’t had the pleasure yet. Cloud Skipper, once Captain of the Day Guard back when they still existed.” He nodded to her again, a substitute for the bow he’d given Twilight.

“You’re a princess?” Fluttershy asked. “I thought the Council ran everything...”

“It’s been years since there was a princess, yeah,” Twilight said. “I had a tantrum once, and I stayed in my tower for three hundred years. I’m not surprised that I’ve become a myth, but... Who are the Council?”

Skipper stepped up to answer that. “Celestia and Luna went looking for answers in faraway lands. With them gone, there was a major uproar, and eventually it had to be settled by a council of thirteen ponies. They run Equestria now. I’ve already called Celestia back with a beacon, but I’m starting to wonder if I really should have... This world they’re returning to is completely different to the one they left.”

“No, you did the right thing, Cloud Skipper,” Twilight said as she stood up fully. “I could definitely do with a familiar face right about now.”

“There’s a train going to the Crystal Empire leaving soon. There’s a few other familiar faces there, I’d wager.” Twilight tilted her head slightly. “Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. Your sister-in-law and my old boss. He had Celestia’s longevity spell too, and she’s an Alicorn. I reckon they’re both still alive, and they’d be pretty happy to see you again.”

“Right then. There’s no time to lose. We’d better get going right away!” She started walking off, then turned when she saw Fluttershy still standing in place. “Coming?” she asked, and Fluttershy snapped back to reality, nodding quickly and running up to Twilight’s side.

“It’s definitely her, Midnight,” Skipper called into the shadows. “You can come out now.” A second pony stepped into the light, her bat-like wings and slitted pupils clearly marking her as a Night Pony. “This is another of the old Guards. Midnight Blossom.”

“Sum umbra lunae,” Midnight said as she bowed to Twilight as well. “I was in the first wave of the Night Guard. Never rose to lead it, though. I just never wanted that much responsibility, y’know?” She laughed slightly as she stepped in line with the others.

“A bat pony?” Fluttershy asked, leaning down. “I didn’t know you existed!” She started rubbing Midnight all over, despite her protestations, and Skipper laughed slightly to himself.

“They’re called Thestrals, though Night Pony works fine too. ‘Bat pony’ is kind of rude, though,” Twilight said. “Anyway, Fluttershy, I don’t think you should be touching her that much. Do you like being touched that way?” Fluttershy stopped suddenly and shook her head, mumbling something about getting too carried away. The rabbit on her shoulder just shook his own head and turned back to facing forward.

“Now I know how you felt,” Midnight told Skipper somewhat ruefully. They both laughed together as they followed the two humans back to the train station.

The Crystal Empire train was leaving almost immediately, and they hurried to make it on board, sitting down in a booth together. “I’m sure we’ve all got some stories to tell,” Skipper said as the train pulled out. “It’s a long way to the Crystal Empire. We’ll have plenty of time to tell them all. And who knows? Maybe you might even remember something.” The last was directed at Fluttershy, who blushed hotly and looked away.

Back at the café, five ponies came together: maroon, cobalt, lime, brown and grey. Nothing was said; only a few nods were exchanged. A shadow seemed to fly into the courtyard, though its source was unclear, and they all bowed to it. “They remember nothing,” the maroon pony said. “They’ve split up, and only Kindness remains with Magic. They’re travelling north as we speak.” Something was communicated, though few ponies could sense it. “More of them? Well, they haven’t all split up entirely. Somepony can be sent to watch them too, I’m sure.” Then the shadow was gone. Their business concluded, the five ponies walked away as well.

Things were about to get more interesting in Equestria than they’d been in three hundred years.

Signs and Portents

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The cornerstone of harmony, left as the sole foundation after its collapse.

Loyalty, choosing her new friends over old.

Honesty, unable to hide the truth, even when it would be better.

Laughter, left with nothing to laugh about.

Generosity, willing to give everything but her time.

Kindness, following her heart over her mind.

The fighter, atoning for his blood-soaked past.

The guardian, seeking a purpose to guard.

The forgotten monarchs, unknowing of the world they return to.

The youngsters, revived by sisterhood and their hidden potential.

The Others, wondering what their purpose is in the new world.

A single spell, beyond the control of its caster, binding them all together.

Let the games begin.

The (Second-)Longest Night

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Equestrian overnight trains had their own cars with beds for groups, such as families, to sleep in. That made it easier for the group travelling to the Crystal Empire to retain their own privacy. It wasn’t often that anyone saw a Thestral around other ponies, and the two humans would only have made things worse. Though there wasn’t really anyone bad around on the train, Skipper didn’t want to take any chances. Still, the winter solstice meant everypony would be sleeping sooner.

Though all four were lying on their beds, Fluttershy above Twilight and Midnight above Skipper, none of them could sleep. For Midnight, it was only to be expected, but Skipper was a habitually light sleeper, and by the time it was twilight, he’d resigned himself to not getting any sleep with all the noise from the train. As for the humans, there was just something keeping them up, and even Twilight couldn’t magic it away.

Skipper had gone to the dining car to get coffee, which was about the only thing there that he could get self-service. If they were going to be up all night, he’d reasoned, they’d want to at least not look like it by the time they reached the Crystal Empire. He’d also said something about the ‘all-powerful, awe-inspiring magic of caffeine’, but nobody had paid that much attention.

He was gone for about ten minutes, leaving the girls on their own. In a matriarchal society like Equestria, though, that wasn’t much of an issue. Midnight was the first to break the silence a few seconds after Skipper had gone. “Hey, anyone got any good stories?” she asked. “Can’t live for centuries without hearing or being part of a good story. Right?”

“I was in a tower for all of that time,” Twilight said, “and Fluttershy wasn’t technically alive for most of that time. If you want to hear a story, you’re pretty much the only one with any stories. Why don’t you tell us one? What was it like in the Night Guard?”

Midnight shook her head. “Difficult to explain to the daylight folk. But there is something I could tell you. Once upon a time, there were two sisters, who ruled over the day and the night.”

“Celestia and Luna,” Twilight said. “I knew both of them once.”

“I know you did, but I don’t think Fluttershy knows them. They’re not exactly talked about that much.”

“The Royal Pony Sisters?” Fluttershy asked. “I always thought they were just a story told to the foals. I didn’t know they were real...”

“Real as they come. The elder ruled over the day, and raised the sun in the morning. When she lowered it to make way for the night, the younger would rise and take her place. So it went for a thousand years, or more...”

“Didn’t Luna turn evil and get banished to the moon for most of those thousand years?”

“Details, details. This isn’t a story about them, but it starts with them. Skipper and I... we were chosen specifically by the two sisters to carry out a mission over three hundred years. To help a fellow princess in need, they left this world to seek answers in another. But the Royal Guard were left to handle the social fallout of the two most powerful beings in Equestria being suddenly gone...”
~
The guards had managed to keep all the petitioners out of the throne room for about a week. Of course, it was Prince Blockhead that first broke through the line and broke the news. By the end of the day, Canterlot was burning like a repeat of Nightmare Moon’s return, and we knew it was only a matter of time before everywhere else became just like it.

Even though we knew it, there wasn’t much we could do. The riots continued whether we were there or not, and the Night Guard were never good at handling things from in front. The Day Guard often had to cover our shifts at night because the ponies wouldn’t listen to us. About the only thing that could be done was to create some other form of government.

It was a group of ponies in Canterlot that first decided to create a council of ponies to run things, like the zebras do in their country. The problem was that all the cities were spread out like crazy, and the Council took a very long time to bring together. While that was going on, everypony was fighting for who would actually be on the Council, and the riots continued. Eventually, we just had to give up on trying to stop them, because there was no way we could do it.

The fact that we didn’t do anything was why the Council, as their first decision, dissolved both the Day and the Night Guard. If we had tried, I figure they’d have thought we were ineffective and done it anyway. There was no reason to fight it, but some of us tried anyway. The Day Guard were mostly fine with it, but the Night Guard...

Most of the concern was over the fact that it gave us Thestrals some legitimacy. With that gone, we wouldn’t be able to get any major standing again. There was almost a riot in the barracks when the announcement finally came through. Captain Night Watch managed to hold it down, but I shudder to think about what could have happened if he hadn’t. Maybe we would have been wiped out entirely...

Anyway, it was Hearth’s Warming Eve and the final resolution of the Night Guard was to spend their last evening together. None of them would see each other again, and we were all meant to spend the night together, perhaps create a few memories. That didn’t really work out. They were splitting up into pairs and small groups before long, and eventually I left the party entirely. I had somepony of my own that I wanted to spend the longest night of the year with.

Apparently, Skipper felt the same way, because when I left there was a note from him, asking me to join him at the Lunar Observatory. When I got there, he was just staring at the sky through a window. “I didn’t know if you’d come,” he said. “I wanted to tell you something. This mission that we’ve been given...”

I put a hoof around his shoulder at that point. “The mission isn’t important right now. Twilight’s not coming down for a while, most likely, but we’ll know when she does. But we’ll probably know about it separately to each other. That’s why I wanted to see you tonight.” He just looked at me like he had no idea what I was talking about. “We can’t just stay together all the time. Ponies would know, and they’d ask questions about our immortality. With Celestia and Luna gone, we can’t prove that it came from them. We... the Thestrals already have a bad enough reputation, without ponies thinking we actually drink their blood.”

“You’ve never cared about what anypony else thought before, Midnight,” he said. “Why now?”

“Skipper, I might never see you again! I need this night with you! If I never see you...” I broke down crying at that point. I don’t remember if I was able to say anything else through it.

He put his wing around me, and he said, “I don’t want to say I’m sorry. We will see each other again. But there was somepony else that I wanted you to talk to. This way, we can be sure that someday, we’ll see each other again.” He waved into the darkness, and Shining Armor stepped out. I almost didn’t recognise him, he’d been gone in the Crystal Empire so long. “Take off your armour,” Skipper said, reaching back for his own.

I just looked at him strangely, and he sighed at that point. “Cadance and Shining Armor are the only two other ponies I know who’ll live long enough to remember what this armour is for. I have no doubt, either, that the Crystal Empire contains somepony capable of maintaining our gear. If we both go to the Crystal Empire when our rulers return, we’ll both be ready to take up the mantle of the Royal Guard once again. And if I get there first, I promise I’ll wait for you, so we can be together again.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I think I just cried again, and he helped me get my armour off. Shining definitely took it, as well as our weapons. I don’t know if he still has them, or if Skipper even remembered it. He came looking for me in Trottingham, after all, and he definitely didn’t have his armour or his spear then. But I haven’t forgotten.
~
“There’s a lot of things that happened in three hundred years, and I can’t remember all of them, but I know that we made a promise, and even if Skipper doesn’t remember it, I’ve remembered for him. He’s so serious all the time, but deep down, he’s no less equine than any of us.” Midnight suddenly stopped, remembering the two humans in the carriage. “Oh, not that you’re any less...”

“We were both ponies too, once,” Twilight laughed. “We get the idea.”

“Really? How does a pony turn into a human?”

“Some forgotten ancient magic and a misfired spell.”

Twilight was about to continue the story when Skipper slid the door open, carrying a tray with his wings spread out to support it. “Coffee, anyone?” he asked, setting it down on a table near the carriage’s window. He picked up a cup of his own, taking a large gulp and immediately spraying it out. “Kuso, that’s hot!” he gasped. “I didn’t think they’d still be...Kuso!”

Midnight laughed at the action. “And here I thought you didn’t have a sensitive side, Skipper,” she said. “There, you see, girls? He’s not a total stoic after all.” Skipper continued cursing loudly, though Fluttershy only understood the gist of it. It took him about a minute, when he realised he’d spilt his entire cup of coffee, to finally calm down.

Twilight was more surprised, and slightly in shock from the degree of cursing that had come from such a normally controlled pony. Fluttershy was more sympathetic, stepping down and trying to comfort him. She didn’t have anything in her bag, but she put her arm around him, avoiding his wings knowing they were sensitive, and stayed there until he finally pushed her away. She offered him another cup, but he waved it off. “I think the burn is going to keep me awake just fine,” he said, chuckling slightly and then coughing from the pain of moving his mouth around.

“You seem to have a lot of respect for coffee, Skipper,” Twilight pointed out. “In one sense, anyway. But you don’t respect it truly, or that never would have happened.” She laughed herself, and the two ponies eventually joined in. “Actually, I know a few stories from when both of us were ponies. You might not remember them, Fluttershy, but that’s okay. I still remember them for you...”

A wolf howled in the snow, and a loud thud! came from above. A second howl joined it from the same place. Fluttershy immediately squeaked and curled up into a ball. “Wolves?” Midnight asked. “How’d one get on top of the train?”

Twilight’s eyes went wide, and Skipper just seemed thoughtful. “That’s no wolf,” he said. “That’s one of Azazel’s Hounds.”

“Azazel? No way! He’s gone! You can’t be serious, Skipper!” Midnight shouted. Suddenly, a massive black claw tore through the roof of the carriage, ripping out a sheet of metal like it was paper. They all looked up and saw the large black dog, eyes glowing red and fangs bared, growling down at all of them.

Twilight was the first to move, calling her staff out of nowhere and launching a lightning bolt into its face, hard enough to burst its head open. Fluttershy cringed again as it touched her, but it quickly dissolved into nothingness. “We need to get the rest of them before they hurt anypony else on the train,” she said, her leadership skill coming through. “I’ll go up to the roof; I’ve got spells to keep me warm and I can hit them from a distance. Skipper, you and Midnight clear the other carriages, make sure nopony else is hurt.”

“Not an option, I’m afraid,” Skipper replied. “Without a weapon, I’d just get torn apart like that roof. They’re stupid enough to run straight into weapons, but they’ll tear through your hooves. If I even had a stick, that’d be enough, but like this I can’t help you.”

Twilight closed her eyes for a moment, then created a pair of spears out of magical light. “That should last you at least long enough,” she said. “I didn’t know what you were used to, but I figured for a Pegasus that should work, and a Thestral shouldn’t be too different. Just be careful out there.”

“What about me?” Fluttershy asked. “I can’t just sit here while you’re all fighting...”

“Support the others, then. I can handle myself.” With that, Twilight teleported away, and the second flash indicated she’d moved up to the roof. Skipper and Midnight filed out of the carriage, moving in opposite directions from the middle of the train. After a moment’s hesitation, Fluttershy grabbed her weapon (she wondered what it was called) and jumped up through the hole as well.

Another song began in her mind as she saw the pack of Hounds charging alongside the train. One jumped up to the train just in front of her, and let out a howl before turning back to her. On a reflex, she snapped out the blade and slashed upward with it, holding the other rod steady. Almost as though she was dancing, her hand flew up to catch it and return it to a steady position as the Hound dissolved, its head split clean open by the stroke.

Another jumped at her from the side, but was knocked aside by a blast from Twilight, and it fell down on the other side of the train. It spun around to its feet and quickly built up speed with the pack again, ready to make another jump. This time, though, she was ready for it, and as it jumped she leant backwards so it passed cleanly over her, giving Twilight another free shot to finish it off. Again, she cringed at being covered in its ‘blood’ before it disappeared fully.

“I told you to help the others!” Twilight shouted over the howling wind. “Aren’t you cold up here?! You’ll freeze!” For the first time, Fluttershy noticed her chattering teeth, and Twilight sighed angrily before casting a spell to keep her warm. It distracted her long enough that a Hound nearly charged her from behind, and Fluttershy’s shout was the only thing that got Twilight’s attention. She teleported out of the way just in time, and it met its end on the scythe blade. Twilight appeared behind her friend and grabbed her shoulder before teleporting again, bringing them both to the end of the train.

“All the other Hounds got inside, it looks like,” Twilight said. “We’d better get down there.” They dropped through a hole that had clearly been torn open. Nopony was in sight, but they could hear a howl from just the next carriage over. The door had been torn off its hinges, and the Hound was clearly visible. Twilight cast a magic bolt to get its attention, and it slowly turned around in the cramped space. A second bolt to the head finished it off, mercifully a distance from Fluttershy.

They couldn’t see any more Hounds, only Midnight. “That one was mine, Twilight!” she shouted before flying back towards the other end. Fluttershy ran after her, and Twilight just teleported back to the cabin. From there, she ran through the open door towards the engine.

She had to run through the dining car and then another before she found Skipper, staring down a howling Hound. He raised his spear to attack, but the magic in it ran out, and his eyes went wide as the Hound charged. When Twilight grabbed him with her magic, he immediately flinched on a reflex, but her grip stayed strong as she lifted him into the air, out of harm’s way at the last moment. She dropped him and teleported behind him, letting the Hound turn around slowly again as she charged a spell to take it down.

“That all of them?” Skipper asked, sighing when he saw Twilight’s nod. “I hope you’re right. The train’s got more holes in it than a colander. I’m surprised it’s still moving.” He pointed at the hole the last Hound had come through, and Twilight focused on it, pulling it closed. She spent the next ten minutes repairing the rest of the train, refusing to explain herself to Midnight and Fluttershy when she passed them. Only at the end, when she’d collapsed, exhausted from overusing her magic, did she offer any kind of explanation: “I can’t let anyone die on my account.” She’d passed out after that, and slept the rest of the way to the Crystal Empire. None of the others slept, keeping a vigil over Twilight.

“I guess even a magic talent runs out eventually,” Skipper mused, breaking the silence after about half an hour. “Maybe as a human, she can’t use it as efficiently yet. If that’s the case, then maybe these demons aren’t such a bad thing. She’ll get plenty of practice.”

“Is that your idea of a joke, Skipper?” Midnight asked. “Don’t give up your day job.”

“It’s not a joke. You saw the Hounds. I doubt we’re the only ones dealing with them. Equestria is in a lot of trouble, and all its records are three hundred years old. They don’t even have anything close to a standing army anymore, not since the Guards were dissolved. We’re the only ones who know anything about it. Maybe Twilight’s other friends have seen them, and they have weapons, but that still only makes...”

“Well, there’s me, Twilight, there were four others... plus the three kids,” Fluttershy offered.

“Plus you and me makes eleven,” Midnight added. “You’re right... Eleven of us still isn’t enough. Still, it’s better than three and a griffon.” Skipper smirked at the private joke. “And with Shining Armor and Cadance back, maybe we could raise that number...”

“I wouldn’t bet on it. They’ve still got a kingdom to run. But we can at least get our armour back.”

“You remember? I thought you’d forgotten. How long did you spend looking for me?”

“I thought Twilight might have been preparing. Don’t worry. I’d never forget a promise, even one that’s three hundred years old. That’s why Celestia chose me, as Luna chose you. Right?” He offered a smile. It wasn’t a very good one; clearly, he didn’t smile much, but it came across to Midnight, who smiled a lot more warmly in return.

“The Crystal Empire,” Fluttershy said, absently. “It sounds so lovely... A whole country made out of crystal. It must be pretty...”

“Never been there,” Skipper admitted. “They’re a little touchy with outsiders, or at least they were the last time I tried to visit.”

“We’re still a ways off. Midnight told us a story earlier, about the last time you met... Do you have any stories, Skipper?”

“...Most of my stories aren’t that nice. I’ve spent a lot of my life fighting, for one cause or another. But the night is long, and you’ve asked so nicely, so...”
~
Hang on, give me a minute, Midnight. I need to make sure that there’s nothing nasty I can’t take out. Okay, um... Damn it, that one’s definitely out. ...Okay, most of my own stories, you probably don’t want to hear. But stories are a hobby of mine. Not my Cutie Mark or anything... No, I can’t tell you how I got it. To be honest, I can’t remember. And you definitely don’t want to hear about how a pony can be made to forget their own Cutie Mark’s meaning.

...Sorry, I just keep thinking about that time. But I shouldn’t be. You don’t want to know about it. But now I can’t think of anything else...

“So much for the story,” Skipper said ruefully. “I just need some time to think, to run through it all. Can you two try and get some sleep?” He rolled over on his bunk and pulled the covers up, but his eyes stayed open, staring at the wall. Midnight and Fluttershy looked at one another, and then did much the same. None of them slept except Twilight.
~
It was sunrise by the time they arrived at the Crystal Empire. All of them had more than a few hairs out of place from the lack of sleep and the excitement of the night’s events. There hadn’t been any more attacks, but just about everypony who got off the train was in some degree of panic, and the guards at the station noticed.

Almost immediately, they placed the two humans under arrest. Twilight protested, but Fluttershy just took it meekly. Demon attacked one of the guards until she called him off, and that didn’t really help their case. Skipper and Midnight went with them, though they weren’t technically arrested.

Twilight wrote something on a piece of paper and asked it to be delivered to the princess. They were sceptical at first, but Demon made some threatening poses and the guards acquiesced, not wanting to deal with the killer rabbit again. While they were gone, Skipper only said “I told you so” before he fell silent, staring at the guards moving back and forth.

“Hey, Skipper, couldn’t you have taken them all?” Midnight asked.

“Maybe. Where would it get us? I don’t pick pointless fights, even if I can win them. How much did you forget about me in three hundred years?” She blushed and looked away, and he chuckled slightly. “Seriously, though, there wouldn’t be any point in fighting. It wouldn’t help our case at all. Demon hurt it enough already.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Fluttershy offered. “Demon’s usually not that bad. He just doesn’t like to see ponies treating me badly.” Demon shrugged and hopped up onto her shoulder, baring his teeth at the nearest guard again. The guard broke eye contact first, rubbing a bite mark on his shoulder. He looked up as another guard entered the room. Something was whispered, and the first guard’s eyes went wide.

After some more deliberation and a stern word from the second, the first unlocked the cell with the two humans. “I apologise for our treatment of you, Twilight Sparkle,” he said, bowing. “Had I known you were a close friend of Princess Cadance, this never would have happened.”

Skipper nudged Twilight, and she stammered, “Oh, of course. Anyone could have made that mistake. Since... y’know, three hundred years and a new body...” As she walked out of the holding cell, she was immediately tackled by a white-and-blue streak. “Hey! What are you...” she started, then relented when she realised who was hugging her.

“Twily! I thought you were actually dead!” Shining Armor cried out, laughing as he rolled with his sister. “You’re...”

“I’m alive, Shiny,” Twilight replied. “Not quite the same as I was, but I’m still alive.” They spent about another minute hugging before Shining finally stood up, clearing his throat. “Oh, these are...”

Shining shook his head, cutting Twilight off. “Explain on the way. Cadance wants to see you too, but she can’t leave the palace right now.”

After some catching up between Shining and the two guards, they set off for the palace. Twilight explained how her friends had reappeared as humans as well, but none of them remembered her, and only Fluttershy still wanted to be with her. Skipper added the detail of the Hounds attacking the train, though he couldn’t explain how or why they’d reappeared. Twilight fell silent at about that point, but refused to say anything until she’d spoken to Cadance.

Midnight was the first to remind Shining of the armour he’d been holding onto for them, and he directed them to another part of the castle. Twilight and Fluttershy went to join Cadance in the throne room. The Alicorn looked at them strangely, like she couldn’t quite work out what was happening. Then Twilight pointed at the piece of paper still in her hoof, and moving her hands and legs in an imitation of pony physiology:

Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake,
Clap your hooves and do a little shake.

Cadance broke down crying at the gesture, and the two humans ran up to make sure she was alright. “It’s just... It’s been so long. We thought you were gone...” She wiped the tears away with a hoof. “You’re... You’ve changed so much in all this time...”

“Three hundred years,” Twilight said. “And you haven’t changed a bit. To be honest, it’s nice to have something familiar. Equestria’s changed so much.”

“And you’ve changed with it as well.”

“Actually, that was mostly a year ago, when I was trying to revive my friends. We all turned into humans... and it turns out that I might have doomed Equestria again.”

Everyone turned and stared at her. “Twilight, you keep saying things like that,” Fluttershy said. “Can you at least give us some clue as to what you mean?”

“The six of us... you, me and the other four girls you saw earlier,” Fluttershy nodded at Twilight’s explanation, “once defeated a monster called Azazel. The five of you were sealed with him. I tried to get you all back, but that released Azazel as well. The Hounds you saw on the train? They’re monsters under his control, and they’re probably all over Equestria by now, along with Celestia knows what else. I was selfish, and I paid the price for it. My friends are all gone, and Azazel is back. With all of us separated, there’s nothing we can do...”

“Maybe not,” Shining said as he came in. “Your friends are back, and they’re still pretty much the same. They just don’t remember you.” Twilight nodded confirmation. “So it’s just like the first time you went to Ponyville. None of them knew you then, but you came together against a common threat and discovered a deep friendship for one another. You’re still the Element of Magic, Twily. I believe that you can still recover your friends.”

“But will there be an Equestria left to save with all those monsters around?” Skipper asked as he came into the throne room, wearing his full Day Guard armour. The gilded plate and chainmail were enchanted to be able to move while still protecting his body, and the spear’s shaft popped out as he reached for a switch, moving it into standing-post position. He didn’t wear a helmet, since it broke his peripheral vision.

Midnight filed in behind him, avoiding the sunlight streaming through the windows. Her armour was much lighter, mostly a breastplate and saddle. They were purple, with a light blue gem on the breast, and her front shoes had claws extended out from them. “There isn’t any kind of standing army anymore,” she said. “Without the Guards, there’s no weapons, no soldiers, nothing. They won’t be able to protect themselves.”

“The Guard aren’t entirely gone,” Shining said. “They made families, and they still carry on the traditions, even though they don’t have anyone to guard. I’ve kept some tabs on them from here. We could recruit a force large enough to protect a few towns, or train local militias. It’s possible, but I’d need to come with you.”

“Shiny...” Cadance said softly. “You’re going away again?”

“I’ll come back, I promise,” he said, and they kissed deeply. Skipper looked away uncomfortably until they’d separated again. “So, we have a plan now. Twilight, you need to find your friends again, and help them to come around. Even if they don’t remember who they were, that doesn’t change who they are. As for us, we’ll reform the Guard and help the rest of Equestria handle things.”

“Without the princesses to guard, are you sure they’ll come with us?” Midnight asked. “They might not still remember you, or know that you’re ageless now.”

“We called Celestia and Luna home,” Skipper reminded her. “When they come back from a mission, they always gave us a symbol: the solar eclipse at noon. It’s been years since that happened, but with any luck, they’ll still remember what it means.”

Almost on cue, all the light streaming into the room was shadowed. Two humans and four ponies looked out to see the eclipse, and the rest of Equestria marvelled at it, wondering what it meant. “See? There you go. Now all we have to do is find the rest of the Guards.”

“Looks like we’ve got two long journeys ahead of us,” Twilight mused. “We’ll be split up for most of them, but I still have my magic. We’ll be able to keep in contact, Shiny. I promise I’ll see you again, and with a few more friends in tow.”

“Me too,” Shining replied. “Even if Azazel is back, we’ll be able to stop him like last time.” Everyone present stretched a limb into the middle of a circle, and then raised them, shouting to mark their companionship. They had begun a new chapter, ready to take on anything that followed.

Good luck.

You’re going to need it.

Meanwhile, Back on the Ranch

View Online

Arriving in Ponyville in the dead of night had made things slightly difficult for Applejack. Though the others had all simply changed trains at the large station, she’d planned to stay in Ponyville, and had to talk to the local Apples. This involved waking them up, and an oddly familiar stallion named Sundowner had been less than enthused about it, even after he recognised her and Apple Bloom from the telegram they’d gotten from Appleloosa.

The sudden appearance of Pinkie Pie hadn’t helped matters. She’d said something about not wanting to be alone because all the others had their sisters to be staying with, and she was lonely so she’d gotten off the train and returned to Ponyville to be with Applejack. When exactly she’d gotten off the train was unclear, and even Pinkie couldn’t explain how it had happened after she’d calmed down. It had taken Sundowner clearing his throat several times, and a knock on the back of the head from Applejack, to accomplish that.

Eventually, he’d agreed to let them all sleep in the barn until something more permanent could be worked out. Despite her earlier energy, Pinkie had almost immediately fallen asleep, snoring loudly enough to keep the others awake. Apple Bloom eventually managed to get to sleep as well, but Applejack stayed up all night. Eventually, she stepped outside to practice with her crossbows. She wouldn’t have a range set up right then, but shooting apples would probably work fine.

Sundowner was out as well. “Pinkie’s snoring?” Applejack asked, laughing slightly. “Nah, that barn’s been built pretty well. Ah can barely even hear her.”

“True enough,” he replied. “It’s been standing for the last three hundred years, and it was always built that strong. That’s what a family’s love can do.” He looked away from the stars and turned to the human. “We still have the photo album. There’s a whole dynasty in there...”

“If’n ya don’t mind, could Ah have a look?”

“There wouldn’t be much to see, for an outsider. But Ah s’pose there’s no harm in it. Wait here.” He went back inside the house, and to keep herself busy, Applejack loaded an arrow to her right hand. Shooting the apples probably wouldn’t endear her to Sundowner, and they probably weren’t ripe in the first place, but she could make out an empty branch on one of the trees. She steadied her aim with her left hand, focusing on the branch...

“What’re ya up to?” Sundowner asked, having appeared from nowhere. Applejack started, her aim going off completely and striking an apple on the tree. The impact knocked it loose and down to the ground below. “Hm. Not a bad shot,” he said.

“Ah was aiming for that branch there,” she replied, “and then you startled me. ‘Tain’t a nice thing to do, or a safe one. Coulda turned an’ hit you.”

“Well, ya didn’t, an’ that’s what counts. Here’s the album.” He picked up a book off his back and handed it over. ‘The History of the Apple Family,’ it read on the cover. Applejack opened it up to a random page, and Sundowner directed her towards the photo from the original barn-raising. There were almost twenty ponies there, all of them somewhere on the spectrum between red and green in both their coats and their manes. The one that caught her attention the most was front and centre, with green eyes, an orange coat and a Stetson hat.

“Is that...?” she asked.

“Applejack. One of the finest Apples who ever lived. Died in the Great War, but she left a lot behind. Lots o’ Apples named Applejack for her.”

“But Ah’m Applejack. I mean, it even looks like the same hat...” She took off her own hat, but Sundowner just shook his head.

“It’s been three hundred years. And not everything has to be significant. Coincidences just happen, and there ain’t nothin’ to ‘em. C’mon, get some rest.”

“Coincidences, huh,” she replied slowly as she closed the book. Sundowner took it back into the house as she lay against an apple tree, pulling her Stetson over her eyes.

~~~~
The Days After
Act Two: Friends We Haven’t Met Yet
~~~~

Applejack slowly became aware of someone standing over her as she woke up. She yawned loudly, stretching her arms into the air and rubbing her back against the tree she’d fallen asleep on. “What can Ah do ya for?” she asked as she pulled her hat up.

The grey Unicorn looked her over, as if trying to make something of her. Then she cleared her throat. “I’m with Ponyville’s local Watch. I want to know if you’ve seen another human around.”

Applejack stood up. “Hold on, now, it’s not like we’re all related just ‘cause there ain’t many humans ‘round these parts. Ya can’t just ask me questions like that.”

The Unicorn was taken aback. “I’m sorry if it seems impertinent,” she said, looking away slightly. “But I’m still wondering if you’ve seen somepony... or someone, rather, with pink hair.”

“Check the barn. There’s someone called Pinkie Pie in there.”

“I already did, and she’s not who I’m looking for. I meant someone with straight hair, a lighter shade of pink. She lives here, and she left a couple of days ago. Hasn’t come back, and with all of you others coming here instead...”

“Like I said, we ain’t all related,” Applejack repeated. “...Though, Ah think Ah did see someone like that. She was up in Canterlot, but we didn’t talk all that much. Could still be there for all I know. Sorry Ah can’t help ya more.”

“Well, you helped me more than the two in the barn. Thanks.” As the pony walked away, Applejack wondered just what that was all about. ”Coincidences just happen,” Sundowner’s voice told her in her mind, and she smirked to herself. “Ah guess yer right about that.”

“Who are you talking to?” Pinkie asked, appearing out of nowhere behind the tree that Applejack had been sleeping against. “Was it that Unicorn from before? She asked me a bunch of questions, but she didn’t seem happy with my answers. What’s up with that, anyway? It’s not like we’re all in some kind of human club together. I mean, I’d never even heard of you or your sister before. She’s a really nice girl, by the way. You raise her yourself?”

“Uh... no?” Applejack replied. “Ah had help from the Appleloosa branch o’ the family. Though, before we met them, I’m not sure...”

“Really? When was that?”

“A year ago, give or take.”

“What a coincidence! It was only about a year ago that I threw my first party, though it was so good that you’d swear I had a knack for it before! Why can’t I remember anything like that? It’s so weird! Maybe we are related and we just don’t know it!”

“Coincidences happen,” Applejack repeated, forcing out her drawl even harder. “Sundowner told me that. There was another Applejack about three hundred years ago, apparently.”

“Maybe there was another Pinkie Pie back then too! And another one of Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle, just like at the café!”

“...Somehow, Ah seriously doubt that.”

“Really? Oh well. What are we gonna do today?”

After breakfast, the three humans headed into Ponyville proper. Applejack had wanted to paint up a target range, but Pinkie wouldn’t put up with being alone for the whole day. Sundowner promised he’d work something out while they were out, and that ended the argument.

As soon as they’d entered Ponyville proper, the first thing they noticed was the divided city. There were walkways between the upper city layers, but there was still sunlight down below. Pinkie literally bounced between the two layers on a whim, somehow, while walking through the streets. After the first few minutes, the Apple sisters decided not to pay it any mind, and that was about when Pinkie stopped.

She started playing with her yo-yo instead, idly flicking it around her hand as she walked. Apple Bloom kept watching it, enraptured to the point of bumping into a few ponies. Applejack eventually had to take to pushing her around to keep her out of trouble. Ponies were staring at them, and though they eventually turned away, their voices kept coming as well, wondering about the humans and their relation to the one they used to have, whether they were safe to have around, and suchlike things.

Applejack tried to ignore them, but it seemed like the rumours were following them around like a miasma. The only time it stopped was when Pinkie Pie ran into a sweet shop to buy three toffee apples. I figure our bits are as good as anyone’s, but it’s still kinda annoying...

A loud scream came from the street below, and Applejack shrugged it off as just someone overreacting when Apple Bloom tugged on her sleeve. “Look, sis!” she shouted, and Applejack turned to see a large black dog, saliva dripping from its jaws, charging down a passerby. As it tackled the pony and was about to rip out their throat, Applejack drew her crossbow and fired a snap shot, glancing off the beast’s shoulder.

It was enough to get the dog’s attention, but it turned to Applejack instead, snarling and jumping into the skyway to attack her. She tried to reload, but she knew as she reached for the arrow that she’d never make it in time. Apple Bloom suddenly stepped in front of her, bringing both her axes down on the dog’s head. It whimpered quietly, spraying black blood all over before it all dissipated into nothingness. As the two sisters pulled themselves together, everyone fell silent as howls started to erupt from all over Ponyville. There were more of the dogs... no, hounds out there, and they were angry from the death of their brother. “Get ready for a fight, girls,” Applejack said as she loaded both her bows. “This is just getting started.”

Pinkie flicked her yo-yo around a few times before reaching into her pocket and bringing her right hand back out with a clawed gauntlet around it. Thusly prepared, she jumped off the skyway and started running towards where she heard a scream coming from. As she turned around a corner out of sight, Applejack tried to run after her to stop her from splitting up, but she heard a growl from behind her and immediately spun around to see a hound on her own trail. Lining up the shot as it ran towards her, she fired just in time, shooting it through the eye and killing it.

As it disappeared like the other, a second hound jumped her through the smoke cloud, tackling her and biting at her throat. Somehow, she pushed it away, and it only grazed her, leaving a trickle of blood. It was mostly hidden by her neckerchief, but the hound smelled it and tried to bite again. Quickly, Applejack threw it off her to the side, shooting it at point-blank with her still-loaded bow. Looking around to make sure she wouldn’t get blindsided again, she reloaded both bows before running towards where she’d seen Pinkie Pie go.

A sudden blast of magic tossed a hound off the skyway in front of her, but it ignored her in favour of the slate-grey Unicorn from before. It leapt at her, but she was faster, charging a spell in her horn before goring the hound in the neck with a quick movement and releasing the spell directly into it. It died like the other three. “Hey!” Applejack called out. “Ah need a hand down here!”

The Unicorn jumped down to meet her, looking around for any other threats. “Explain on the way. There’s still more of them out there,” she said. “You’re Applejack, right? Your sister went this way. Not sure about the pink one, but I don’t think she’s in any trouble.”

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack shouted as soon as she heard of her sister being separated. “Where’d ya go?! We need to stick together!” The sound of another hound yelping and dissipating came from a nearby corner, where Pinkie was dispatching a hound with her gauntlet. “Pinkie! Where’d mah sister go?! D’you know?”

Pinkie stopped for a moment, turning her head sideways. “I think she went... wait, what’s that?” She pointed at a shadow on the wall that seemed larger than necessary. There was nothing casting it from the skyway, and the two humans and Unicorn turned to face it. Suddenly, the shadow jumped off the wall and attacked, filling out into a Grim Reaper-like figure that slashed its scythe at Pinkie’s throat. She leaned back to avoid it, losing a lock of hair from her fringe. The reaper cackled and returned to the shadows. The Unicorn cast a light spell, trying to strike at it, but it just cackled again and flew away.

A group of howls from nearby caught the group’s attention, and they ran for the source, Applejack vaulting off an overturned market stall to reach the skyway. A group of ponies came charging through, screaming in panic as two hounds gave chase. Applejack quickly dispatched one as Pinkie threw out her yo-yo at the other, the saw blades inside splitting out to cut through the hound like paper. As it returned, the reaper attacked again, but was knocked to the ground by Applejack, who saw it approaching Pinkie from behind and had jumped off the skyway to tackle it. It cackled and returned to the shadow before retreating under the Unicorn’s assault, and Applejack dusted herself off as she stood up after suddenly not being on top of anything but a shadow.

Another scream came from nearby, but this one sounded more familiar to Applejack, and she immediately charged in its direction. “C’mon, we can’t leave her alone!” the Unicorn shouted, pointing with a hoof before sprinting after Applejack. Pinkie followed, finding Applejack standing over her bleeding sister and dispatching another hound from point-blank. Immediately, she picked her sister up, looking at the bite wound in her right arm and taking off her neckerchief to bind it. A cackle came from behind, and Applejack immediately turned and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened. She hadn’t reloaded before helping her sister, and the scythe was headed straight for her neck. The Unicorn said something under her breath, along the lines of ‘not today’, and cast another light spell right at the core of the reaper. It screamed and pulled apart, the pieces flying into the sky with nowhere else to go under the harsh light. The scythe continued on its course, though, striking Applejack in the shoulder before it fell to the ground.

The injured human followed it, grabbing the wound with her other hand and dropping both bows. She grunted in pain as she tried to stand up without her arms for balance. “Sis!” Apple Bloom shouted, running up and trying to hold her steady.

The Unicorn cast a spell, then shook her head as it ended. “I think that was the last of them,” she reported before collapsing from the mana burn. Pinkie Pie ran to help her up, but she waved the human off. “I’m fine, I can still walk,” she said. “You’d better come back to the Watch office. There’ll be other injured ponies there, most likely, but we should at least be able to patch you up.”
~
Because it was only a few days after the winter solstice, it was already dark by the time that the humans left the Watch office. The Unicorn, who had revealed her name as Aster, had vouched for their role in the fracas, allowing them to leave that night. “You shouldn’t have too much trouble now,” she told them. “I mean, you kind of saved the town from a few unnecessary deaths.”

“Is that what it takes to get some respect around here?” Applejack asked.

Aster was unfazed by the direct question. “This is predominantly a pony town. Others aren’t taken too well here. But you’re established with the Apple family, so that’ll give you a starting point. What about you?” She turned to Pinkie Pie. “Have you got anything you can do here?”

Pinkie Pie took a deep breath, then started, “Well, usually I just roam around to different places and lodge with somepony who doesn’t ask for too much money, and I use their kitchen to bake cakes and such for parties which I throw for anypony who’ll pay me around the town, and I’m never hurting for a party because there’s always so many foals around and parents know that Pinkie Pie will never disappoint with her parties...”

Aster started to tune her voice out at that point, turning back to Applejack. “Well, in that case, you shouldn’t have too much trouble. Just don’t cause any.” The human nodded slowly.

“...and then I said, ‘Oatmeal? Are you crazy?!’ I mean, I love oatmeal raisin cookies myself, but oatmeal on its own...”

“I don’t use my equipment on ponies,” Applejack said. “And I can handle myself living close to the Everfree Forest. Maybe I’ll even stop another attack before it happens, if those... things came from in there.”

“...so I wound up recruiting thirty Neighponese and an airship for an elaborate prank...”

“I don’t know... There’s a lot of strange things in there, but I doubt it’d be anything like this.”

“...and by the end of it, I think we actually had gone back in time, but thankfully the bananas helped us all get back safely. Oh! Are we all going to be sleeping in the barn again tonight? With everything that happened today, I didn’t find anyone to lodge with...”

“I’m sure somepony would be willing to put you up if you were willing to pay. Or...” Aster trailed off, debating whether she should make an offer herself. Eventually, she nodded and said, “I’ve got a spare bed. I can put you up for a night. Consider it a thank-you for helping save lives today.”

“Hooray!” Pinkie shouted. “Well, I guess we’d better split up here, since I’m going with Aster. See you tomorrow, AJ!” She walked off with the Unicorn before Applejack could protest that even her own sister didn’t get to call her AJ. Sighing, she walked off back to the farm.

Sundowner nodded as she walked up. “Bloom’s already here. We only have one guest room, so I hope you don’t mind sleeping in the same bed.” He started to turn back towards the house.

“Hey, Sundowner.” He turned back over his shoulder. “Did you see anything coming from the forest today? There was a problem in town, and the Watch thinks it might have come from out there.” He shook his head and returned to the house, pointing out the guest bedroom. They didn’t come from the forest, and they just disappeared when we killed them... What were they?
~
Another pair of humans arrived on the train the next day. On some instinct or another, Pinkie dragged Applejack to see them arrive, and Aster followed them when she felt the magical presence given off by Twilight. “Gotta say, Ah’m surprised ta see you again,” Applejack said. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“I don’t expect you to accept, but...” She looked at the bandaged wound on her shoulder. “What gave that to you?”

“Some big black thing that disappeared when it died. Came with a buncha these dogs, too. Why d’you ask that?”

“I know what those things are. And unless I miss my guess, all of Equestria is in danger of being overrun by them.” Aster looked at her questioningly. “They’re monsters controlled by a being named Azazel. He seeks to conquer Equestria once again, and I need your help in stopping him.”

“Why me?” Applejack asked.

“Not just you. Remember at the café? I need the help of all six of you. But since you’re here, and so’s Pinkie Pie, that makes it four already. If you’re willing to help, that is.”

Applejack looked away. “Ah really don’t know, uh...”

“Call me Twilight.”

“Twilight, Ah just don’t know. If you’re right, and there’s more of those things out there, then Ah gotta protect mah family first and foremost. Besides, I don’t know if there’s even a plan yet besides just stopping the hounds. If we can’t stop them coming, only delay them, then six of us won’t be enough for that. Ah need to protect mah family. I hope ya’ understand.”

Twilight drooped slightly, but nodded. “I understand, Applejack. You do what you have to.” She turned to Pinkie Pie. “Are you established here too?” she asked.

“Nope!” Pinkie smiled widely.

“Are you willing to come with me?”

“As long as there’ll be parties!”

Twilight laughed at the exclamation. “I’m sure there’ll be time for a party.”

“Celebrate because you’re alive, Twilight,” a Pegasus said behind her. “That’s reason enough.”

Pinkie was immediately distracted by his ornate golden armour, but then parsed what he’d said and internally agreed. “I like you!” she chirped. “What’s your name?”

“Cloud Skipper. Don’t bother learning it; I’m not staying long. I’m looking for somepony named Aster Helix. Do you know where I can find her?”

“I’m Aster Helix,” Aster said. “What do you want from me? I’m just local Watch, not even with a rank...”

“I know why you joined the watch, Aster. Ex solis invictus.”

Aster didn’t respond right away, trying to figure out what he’d said. When the white Unicorn stepped out behind Skipper, she finally nodded. “Come with me,” she said, leading them away from the platform.

Twilight turned to Pinkie Pie. “So, Fluttershy’s going to stay here with her animals, and Applejack’s got family to protect... Looks like I’m no further along, but at least I know where to find them. Do you know where the others went, Pinkie?”

It was Pinkie’s turn to droop. “No, I’m not sure,” she said. “But don’t you have magic? Maybe you can find them again. Right?”

Twilight slapped her forehead. “Magic... Why didn’t I think of that? Thanks, Pinkie.”

“No problem! Where are we going?”

Twilight focused for a little while, then opened her eyes and pulled a bit out of her pocket. “Manehattan, or Las Pegasus. Call it.” She flipped the coin into the air, letting it fall without any magic.

“Actually,” Skipper said as he returned, “there were a few ponies I wanted to meet in Trottingham. There’s a group of Thestrals there, and they’re probably up for Lunar Guard. Las Pegasus is just past there, so if we’re all going together, we should look there first.” The coin fell to the ground without being called upon, and he picked it up. “It was heads, by the way.”

“Where are Shining and Aster?” Twilight asked.

“Still working some details out. I figure he’ll probably stay here. There was another family I wanted to look up in Trottingham, by the way, and they’ll know I’m Day Guard by my armour. If they don’t trust that, I can prove it to them.” He gave the coin back to Twilight. “Actually, if we’re going together, you might as well remember my name. What’s yours?”

“I’m Pinkie Pie, and I love making new friends! Even though I don’t see many of them again, but if you’re a nomad like me, then I’m sure we’ll see each other a lot, Cloudy!”

Pinkie rambled off into her own little world again while Skipper mumbled something about not wanting to be called ‘Cloudy’. Twilight laughed at the spectacle. That’s my Pinkie Pie, she thought. Even if you don’t remember me, I remember you, and you’re just as I’d hoped.

“The next train to Trottingham leaves in a few minutes,” Shining said as he walked back to the group. “I’d suggest you all get a move on. Where’s Midnight?” Skipper headed back into the train, saluting. "Right, he’s got that under control...”

“Shiny,” Twilight said, bending down slightly to his eye level. “Are you sure about this?”

“Somepony has to protect Equestria. It might as well be the Day Guard, even if it’s not the Guard I remember. They all remember their oaths.”

“And if they don’t?”

“Aster’s family still remembers theirs. With any luck, there’ll be enough. Celestia and Luna are here, too, so they’ll help us. The Guard were mostly ceremonial anyway, and we all knew it...”

Twilight nodded. “Alright. I’ll leave that to you.” They hugged for a few seconds as Skipper led Midnight off the train and towards the other platform. “See you around. Oh!” She suddenly stood up and turned to Applejack and Fluttershy, who were still hanging around. “I want you to have these.” She pulled a pair of crystals out of a magical holding space.

“What are these?” Applejack asked.

“Communication crystals. It’ll be easier for me to keep track of you with these, and if you need me, you can just call.”

“Oh, um... thanks,” Fluttershy said. “I’ll... just be going now.” The last part was nearly impossible to hear under the whistle of another train.

Twilight laughed again. So that makes four that I’ve found. But Rainbow Dash and Rarity seemed aggressive back in Canterlot... Will they want to come with me? Will I have time to convince them?

“Twilight, what’s keeping you?” Skipper called. “The train’s about to leave!” Twilight snapped out of her thoughts and ran to join him, towing Pinkie Pie along.