> The Family of Time
>  by Ephraim Blue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue - Where We Do Not Dwell, We Wander
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The changeling queen paced back and forth constantly, nervous about anything that could be said. It had been some time since she became pregnant with the last of her hive's eggs, and she wanted only the best of news.

The sound of slow changeling hooves on the hard ground caused her to stop pacing and turn in the direction of the sound. She saw her grandmother walking down the halls, and she ran up to greet.

"Grandmother," she said. "Please... What news do you have?"

"Good... and bad..." she replied in a weak voice. "I should have... told you before..."

"What?" the queen pressed on. "Tell me what?"

The older changeling rested a hoof on her grandaughter's stomach, which was a little plump due to her recent pregnancy. "T- The eggs you carry in you... There are eight of them..."

"Eight?! I'm pregnant with eight eggs?!"

The elder changeling nodded slowly. "That is good... Our hive might live on..."

The younger changeling smiled before realizing what her grandmother said. "'Might'? What do you mean, 'might live on'?"

The grandmother, realizing what she just said, shrunk back a bit. "I'm sorry... But you're dying... and won't live to bear your eggs..."

The queen stepped away from her grandmother in shock. "B- But that doesn't make any sense! How can our hive have a chance to live on if I die before bearing my offspring?!"

"It can't..." the grandmother said flatly. "But... there is a way for you to live..."

The queen's ears perked up. "What is it? Can you tell me?"

The grandmother opened her mouth to speak, but coughed a large fit before getting her words out. "I'm sorry... I fear that my time is coming soon..."

"Grandmother, please tell me! How can I live for our hive to survive?!"

The elder changeling said nothing and instead turned around and motioned for her granddaughter to follow. She did, and they both walked further into the hive.





"Grandmother, where are we? I do not recall ever traveling this far into our hive," the younger changeling pondered aloud.

"We're in the catacombs..." the grandmother said. "You never came down here because you were never told they existed."

"But... Why?"

The elder changeling shook her head. "After I told your cousin, Chrysalis, she went mad... Trying to fulfill what I had told her..."

The queens' ears perked up. "What does Cousin Chryssi have to do with any of this?"

The grandmother shook her head. "Nothing... But she is the reason I did not tell you... For I feared the same would happen to you..."

"The same?"

"She went mad... ran off with over half our tribe... The rest of us were forced to live like the two of us do now... Sadly... they are all gone..."

The queen looked down. "So that's why cousin Chryssi was acting that way..." She looked back at her grandmother. "But what did you tell her that made her go mad?"

"What I told her... has been passed down through our changeling tribe since the day it was born... A prophecy..."

"A prophecy?"

The grandmother nodded. "A prophecy of eight... the eight you now carry in your womb..."

The queen stopped and placed a holey hoof to her stomach, rubbing it slightly. She ran back up her grandmother and continued walking with her in silence until she stopped.

"We're here..." she said, looking at a large wall with writings of the oldest changeling language on it. "This is the Prophecy of the Eight..."

The queen looked at the writing for a bit before shaking her head. "Grandmother, I cannot read it..."

The elder changeling laughed a bit, stopping right before another fit of coughing erupted. "I might not be the most talented of reading this old language... but I should be able to read what's here..."

The elder changeling lit up her horn to illuminate the words, glaring at them a bit before beginning to speak.


"Eight eggs lay in a patch of blue...
The scientist does what he has to do...

The mother yearns for her eight lost kids...
But sends seven away and they do as they bid..."


She stopped suddenly, looking harder at the words. "Grandmother?" the queen asked.

"I was certain there was more..." she said quietly. "Five of the eight lines in the prophecy are missing..."

"Well... What does that mean?"

The grandmother shook her head. "It means that it is missing... all that remains is the first two lines and the final one..."

"Well... what does the last line say?" The elder changeling lit up her horn once more and glared at the words on the wall.


"They will unite one day to fight...
To send the world into a dying light..."


"Dying light?" the queen asked. The grandmother nodded. "So... my children are going to destroy the world?"

"I cannot be certain... But I am certain that those eight mentioned in the prophecy are indeed the ones you carry..."

"But.. you said I was dying... If I die, don't they die as well?"

"That is correct..."

"So... If my children are going to be evil, should I just die and never let the prophecy be fulfilled?"

"If that is what you wish..." the grandmother replied. "But the prophecy from last I remember it also mentioned good in it..."

"Good?"

"Yes... If you die, then the prophecy, our tribe, and any future they or you will have die as well... It is your choice to make it happen..."

The queen looked down at the floor, lost in thought. She stayed that way for several minutes before lifting her head. "I've... I've decided. I'm going to live, and so will the prophecy. It mentions evil, but if what you tell me is true, it also mentions good. So today, I will count on the good to overcome what is evil."

The grandmother nodded. "Then go... Find this patch of blue... begin the Prophecy of the Eight... and live..."

The queen nodded, walking off to the entrance of the catacombs and leaving them altogether. The grandmother sat down, staring at the wall.

"You lied to her..." another voice spoke. "Why?"

The grandmother didn't turn to the voice, but smiled anyway. "Because she wasn't the one who needed to hear the rest... You were..." she stared at the wall as a pony stepped out of the shadows and sat next to her. She turned to them, smiling. "My great grandson..."
> Chapter 1 - Something Lurks in the Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Happy Birthday!" she said to the twins as she laid the cake down in front of them. "Happy Thirteenth Birthday you two!"

"Thanks mom!" Silver said, staring at the cake in awe. "You've really outdone yourself this time."

"Yeah," Hope agreed. "This cake looks like the best one yet!"

"I know. Now make a wish. Both of you. You only turn thirteen once."

Hope giggled. ""Mom, you tell us that every year."

"Well its true, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Silver said, prodding his sister in the side with his hoof. "Come on, make your wish and let's blow out the candles! I can't wait to taste mom's cake this year!"

"Alright, alright! I'm wishing, I'm wishing!" she said as she tightly closed her eyes for a few seconds. Once she opened them, she took in a deep breath and began blowing them out.

"Hey! I wasn't ready!" her brother said before beginning to blow out the thirteen candles as well.

Once the candles were out, their mother began cutting up the cake into sixths. "Alright now, each of you get two pieces. Don't eat them too quickly now, you hear?"

"Yes mom," they said in unison before receiving their cake. Silver, being a pegasus, dove right in and eating up the cake. Hope, a unicorn, took a small fork like her mother did in her magic and at the cake slowly.

They sat in silence while eating the cake. Silver had finished early and ran off into the park they sat at to play with the other kids.  Hope joined later while their mother sat at the picnic table and watched them.





The day went by much quicker then expected for the twins. Playing in the park all day while their mother watched them was nothing compared to when they returned home and received their presents. Hope got a brush that belonged to her mother while Silver got an old blue watch that their mother said belonged to their father.

"I... know that your father can't be here to give this to you personally," she had said. "But I'm sure that he would have wanted you to have this."

"Dad carried around a musty, old blue watch?" Silver asked back.

"Trust me. Your father loved that watch."

"More than you?" Hope had asked.

That had caused their mother to giggle. "I highly doubt that. He may have had that watch for a long time, even longer than he knew me, but he would have given the world for me. And I'm sure he'd do the same for you two."

Hope lied in her bed, thinking about that while her brother entered the room, still glancing at the old watch on his hoof. "This thing's broken," he accused. "Look, it doesn't even move!" 

"I'll take your work for it," Hope replied, pushing back her brother's hoof as he tried to shove it in her face.

"Do you think it worked when dad first got it?"

"It must have. Otherwise, why would he keep it?"

"Good point," he replied, lying down on his own bed as he continued glancing at the watch. "What do you think it did?"

"It's a watch. It tells time, like all the others."

"Yeah, but do you think this watch was different?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well mom's always been telling us about his adventures, right?" She nodded back. "Well, do you suppose it did something like shoot lasers from the little dot in the middle?"

Hope stifled a laugh. "I highly doubt that out dad had a watch with a laser firing mechanic on it."

"Yeah, but it could have one, right?"

"If it did, do you think it'll still work?"

His smile diminished quicker than the cake from earlier. "You are really unimaginative. You know that, right?"

"I am imaginative!"

"Really? What do you think the watch did?"

She thought about that for a second. "I don't know. If a watch were so special, why did mom allow it to get so beat up and old?"

He shrugged. "Maybe she didn't want to think about it much."

"Why did she keep it all these years anyway?"

"Well it was dad's watch. Maybe she kept as a reminder to dad."

"Maybe... Then why'd she give it to you if it was so important to her?"

"You ask too many questions," their mother spoke up, causing the both of them to jump and instantly look at her. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you two. Just wanted to come in and see how you were doing."

"We're fine," Silver replied. "Just imagining what dad's old watch did."

"It's a watch," she replied. "It tells time."

"See?" Hope asked mockingly, causing her brother to sneer at her.

"Well if you two are alright," their mother began, "then go to sleep. It's another big day tomorrow." She turned to leave the room.

"Wait," Hope said, causing her mother to turn back around toward them.

"Yes?"

"Can... Can we hear another story? About dad?"

Her mother smiled back. "Of course," she said, sitting down on Hope's bed. "Which one do you want to hear?"

The one story you haven't told us... she thought. "How did dad die?"

Her mother's smile diminished and she glanced around, looking at nothing in particular. She finally focused her gaze on Hope's brother. "Do you both want to hear this story?"

Silver nodded in response. "You've... always told us about how dad was brave and adventurous. But if he was all that, then I would like to know how he died."

Their mother sighed. "Alright. I suppose you two would have to know eventually." She got in a more comfortable position to sit. "Well, it was just a few days after you two were born. Your father was once a member of Princess Celestia's Royal Guard, but that was a long time ago. He was called back on an urgent matter regarding something top-secret. With after a long time of convincing to leave you two, he promised that he would be back in time for supper."

A small tear formed in their mother's eyes. "He never came home that day. I waited for him to fulfill his promise, like he always does. When a royal guard came the next day, he gave me the dreadful news."

She paused and levitated a small handkerchief to dry her tears. "He said that your father had been killed in action by a gang of bandits. They came out of nowhere, you see, and your father was unprepared. When the other guards finally managed to drive them away, your father was beyond saving at that point, even by the most potent healing magic. They did all that they could, the other guards that survived. They said he was a hero for all that he had done for us."

She wiped the final tears from her eyes as Hope and Silver sat in silence of the story they heard. "Now, I don't want you two to have nightmares because of this story, you hear? Try to get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

They both blinked. "Alright mom," Silver said.

"Goodnight," Hope finished.

Their mother smiled back at them. Without another word, she left the room and turned off the lights.

Hope curled up in her blankets, ignoring her brother's protests about the story and did her best fall asleep in the light of the moon.





A crash awoke Silver from his sleep. He blinked his dreary eyes open and looked around. The sound hadn't been in this room. His sister still seemed to be asleep and their mother slept in a different room. No more sounds came from the house, but he stayed awake, allowing his night vision to set in.

Once it did, he quietly stepped over to where his sister lay and began prodding her with a hoof. Sis... Sis... Wake up!

Her sister's eyes blinked open. "What...? What is it?"

"Shh! Keep your voice down!" he hissed back at her. "I heard something just now."

"So did I," Hope mumbled back.

"Really?"

"Yes. You. Now let me go back to sleep."

Silver grumbled. "No. I heard something else. It sounded like a crash."

"Probably just your imagination," she replied. "Now shut up and go back to sleep."

Silver grumbled to himself. "Fine! Go back to sleep if you want. I'm going to find out what that sound was."

"Mmm," his sister mumbled, resting her head back on the pillow and breathing slowly. Silver, however, walked slowly over to the door to their room and creaked it open. It was loud, but didn't seem to cause much attention.

He slowly walked out the door, glancing at everything that seemed to make a sound. The hallway seemed longer than normal now that he was being cautious. When he reached the end of it, it opened up into three other rooms, the living room, the kitchen, and another hallway that lead to the top floor.

Another soft sound came from the living room. A small creak of one floorboard. It always did that when somepony put too much weight on it.

Somepony was there... In the dark. His mother never wandered in the night, he's stayed up plenty of times to know that.

Before he could scream, a cloth that smelled weird came over his muzzle, and he began to feel drowsy.





It was the thump that awoke Hope. Sure, her brother had bothered her about a crash or something not too long ago, but that was just his imagination.

Right?

She lifted herself on to the floor and began to stretch. With a quick Illumination of her horn, she glanced over to her brother's bed. Empty.

That knucklehead, she thought. Really thinks that there was a crash. She stopped her thoughts. Then why did I hear something?

She walked over to the door and into the hallway, rubbing her eyes. "Silver, if you hearing some sort of crash was just an excuse for a midnight snack, I'm telling mom in the morning."

She continued looking down the hallway, hoping for an answer.

There was none.

"Silver, this isn't a game. If you stop this now, I won't have to tell mom about this too." Still no answer. "Silver?"

Slowly, she walked down the hallway. Her horn illuminated all around her, so she could see easily. It wasn't long before she found her brother lying unconscious on the floor.

"Silver!" she nearly screamed, running toward his unconscious body. Shaking him violently and continuously calling out his name.

"Well, well, isn't this a surprise. A unicorn and a pegasus. How interesting."

Hope blinked and turned in the direction of the voice. "W- Who's there?"

"Can't see me?" the voice said again from behind her. "Allow me to shed a bit of light next to yours."

A horn illuminated in the dark, glowing green. Hope saw a gray unicorn with a green mane that spiked orange at the end. His tail mimicked his mane and his cutie mark consisted of four orange bubbles.

But what brought her attention was his eyes. Dark and lifeless, almost. His iris was nothing but black, and he seemed full of anger and rage. "I do believe it is impolite to stare," he said, causing her to tilt her head away from his eyes. "Clever filly. Perhaps you could tell me where I can find somepony."

She cowered as he stepped toward her. "I am only going to ask this once. Where is your father?"
> Chapter 2 - Hope for Silver in a Moon with Light
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"M- My father?" Hope asked, scared and confused.

"Yes," the stallion said. "I believe I made that perfectly clear. Now do not make me ask again otherwise you may not live to see another day."

Hope cowered more beneath the stallion. "M- M- My d- dad is dead..." she said.

"LIAR!" the stallion shouted. "I know he's alive. He's too clever to die from a couple of bandits! Now either you tell me right now where he is, or I will make sure you and your brother never see the light of day, ever again!"

She cowered even more, too afraid to speak. Why was this stallion asking about her dad? She told him the truth. Why didn't he believe her? He told him exactly what her mother told her.

"Stop it right now! She doesn't know."

The stallion stopped and perked his ears up. He chuckled. "My, my, I never thought I would hear your voice this late at night, Mrs. Blade Runner." He slowly turned around to where Hope's mom stood, glaring at him. "I do believe it's past your bedtime." His eyes suddenly flashed with anger and his horn shone a crimson red color. "ALL your bedtimes!"

Hope closed her eyes in fear as another flash erupted from the stallion's horn, and everything around her faded into darkness.





A bright red flash erupted in the air and tore away the clouds from that spot. For all, it raised questions in the crowds.

"What is that?"

"I've never seen anything like it."

"Where's that coming from?"

"Is that a spell? Who could cause something like that?"

Everyone asked questions that none could answer. Foals cried from their cribs, and everyone in it's sight rose from their sleep to see the light.

Some say the moon turned red that day. They were right. All color in the sky vanished, replaced by the red that filled the void for miles to come. The moon turned red, and none looked at it the same.

The color soon faded, along with the light. Murmurs and rumors spread in the town abuzz. Some might know what that was. Some might not.

But as the rest of them soon went back to bed, one stallion in blackish-blue armor continued staring up at where it once sat. "Let it not be true," he said quietly. "Please, let it not be true."





A ringing filled her ears and a feint muffled sound could be heard. She tried to see, but opening his eyes was impossible.

What's going on? he thought. Why can't I open my eyes? Why can't I speak, why can't I hear? Has something happened to me? She stopped thinking for a time to ponder. I feel weird.. as if something's holding me here... Something around me... Is it preventing me from seeing? From speaking? If it has me trapped like this, why can I still think?

"For the longest time..."

W- What was that? That voice... why did it sound so familiar? Was it my voice? Did I say that? Do I sound like that? She stopped again. Or was that somepony else's voice? I guess it could be either one. What was the voice meaning by 'For the longest time'? That doesn't sound like anything to say. Is there more to it? Will it tell me who I am?

She paused again. Please! Come back! Voice--whatever your name is--please tell me more! Please! I need to know who I am, where I am, what I'm doing here. Please...

I can't remember...





Silver's eyes blinked open to nothing but an orange fur lingering above him. Took him several blinks to finally realize that it was his mother.

"M- Mom?" he asked. "Why are you on top of me?"

But she didn't respond with what he was expecting. She responded with a heavy sigh, followed by a load of breathing. A second sound next to him caught his attention. He turned to see his sister lying down next to him. Ugh... my head hurts... he thought. What happened? I was in bed... then I got up, right? Did that happen? I can't think straight...

He tried to sit up, but there was another pain in his back that prevented him from doing so. It hurt so much. Was it broken? He shifted from left to right, bending his back ever so slightly. Not broken if he could move it. That's what his mom told him.

"Well, some activity!" another voice spoke up from out of his sight. "I was getting a little tired of sitting here, beating at the ridiculous barrier. Honestly, I should have broken through it hours ago."

Silver craned his neck in the direction of the voice. A gray stallion with a green and orange mane sat with an abnormally large hammer--several of them, actually--lifted magically above his head. A small pinkish tint of his mother's magic almost prevented the orange of the stallion's mane from being completely visible, but the barrier was flickering.

"I'm surprised at your mother's strength, young colt. She's managed to prevent me from breaking in. You three would be dead, and I would be on the long goose-chase for your father."

My father? My father's dead... what does he want with him? He squinted his eyes at the stallion. I've seen him before... But who is he?

"Now that you're awake, why don't you have you mother tell you a story, eh? You like stories, especially hers, I can tell. Let's see, what should it be about..." He seemed to ponder for a moment. "I know! Blade, why don't you tell them the story about how you lied. Lied to them about their father being dead. Lied to them about him being the one that they always wanted to know. Lied to them about the entire world around them! Lied to them about-"

"SHUT UP!" Silver's mother shouted, breathing heavily. "You shut up this instant!" Her horn flickered and the barrier finally fell around them as she cried tears like there was no tomorrow.

"M- Mom...?" Hope said weakly, the worry clear for those around her to hear.

"Well it looks like you time is up now," the stallion said. "Say goodbye to the world you never knew, for it will no longer exist when Father gets through with it." He took the hammers in his magic and swung them down upon the three.

That was when they rebounded back at him.

"What's this?! The barrier broke! Why can't I hit you?!" He swung the hammers over and over, only to have them all bounce back before they could hit. "Impossible!"

Blade was crying, but smiling as well. "Blue..." she said as a tear fell to the ground, "you kept your promise..."

"Blue!? This is your doing isn't it?!" the stallion shouted. "You've hidden yourself well for thirteen years, but the moment I attack your family you decide to give yourself up finally?! What a coward you are! Face me!"

He continued turning around wildly until his eyes fell upon Silver, who cowered as soon as the stallion looked at him. He growled, "I see... You're still hiding... You didn't know when they would be attacked..." He smiled devilishly. "Oh well... At least now I have a way to find you, and when I do, Father will be proud to have you in his collection." He started walking toward the family that cowered on the floor.

"Stay away from us!" Blade shouted as she lit her horn again, firing a beam at the stallion. Instead of dodging, he took it straight on.

"A weak spell like that won't work against me," he said.

"Your wrong," Blade said as she stood up and glared at him. "It's worked already."

He laughed. "What're you tal-"

He vanished before anything else could be said.

The three of them sat there in silence, the two foals confused and their mother looking onward.

"It's not safe here anymore," she said. "Come on... We need to get to your uncle's place."

"M-M-Mom? W- What's going on?" Hope asked, clinging onto her twin. "Why did that stallion want our father? What did he mean by 'he was hiding'?"

Blade looked between the two of them, eyes filled with worry. "I'm sorry... I always wanted to tell you, but he asked me not to... He wanted us to be safe until he was sure the project was cancelled..."

"P-Project?" Silver asked. "Who told you to not tell us?"

"Your father," she answered, causing shock between the two of them. "I promise to tell you everything once we make it to your uncle's place."

"No..." Hope said. "Tell us now."
> Chapter 3 - Lies Bring Us Together
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Silver stared at his sister. "Hope, what are you doing?" he hissed into her ear. "You heard Mom, it's dangerous here!"

"I'm finding out the truth," she said.

"But we have to get someplace safe! What if that stallion comes back?"

"I don't care about that!" she shouted back at him, causing shock for both her brother and mother. "We've been lied to, Silver... Lied to our entire lives. She always told us that he was gone--that he died in an accident just several weeks after we were born! And now a stallion comes, attacks us in the middle of the night, demanding to know something we can't give him and is willing to kill us to get that information! And now..." a tear fell from her left eye, "there's a chance that he might actually be out there. A father we never knew except from stories to lay us to rest at night."

"Hope..." Blade began.

"No!" she shouted back. "tell us the truth. Now!" She paused to quiet her voice down. "I- Is our dad alive? Why is there a stallion like that after him? Why did he ask you to keep him a secret? W- Who was he Mom?!"

There were several moments of silence in which Hope refused to turn her angry face from her mother, who was crying herself. Silver just stared at the two of them, unsure what to think or what to do.

"I... I wanted to tell you two..." their mother cried. "So much... But your father... he said that if you two knew, you'd only be in more danger. I couldn't imagine ever seeing you two get hurt for your fathers' problems, so I kept him a secret..."

Hope's face seemed both relieved and on the verge of crying. She breathed heavily and her throat got caught up, preventing her from speaking until it went away. "So he's alive then..."

Their mother nodded slowly. "Yes... and he--"

"Why thank you kindly for that information," the stallion spoke again, emerging from behind a wall of the wreckage of their house. Silver couldn't stop shivering in fear when he came out while Hope and their mother whisked around in surprise at his voice. "Now if you would so kindly point me in the direction to where that coward hides, I might just allow this small family to live a little longer."

"How...?" Silver asked. "Y- You vanished!"

"A simple forced-teleportation spell will not be enough to keep me away. Now, where is he?"

"I don't know," Blade said. "And if I did, I would never tell the likes of you!"

The stallion chuckled. "I believe you." A spray of energy suddenly shot from his horn, knocking Blade in one direction while sending Hope and Silver in the other. "And now, I'll take back what's Father's." He started walking toward Silver, the look of a maniac in his eyes as his chuckles turned into laughs.

"Get away from them!" Blade shouted and tackled his side. "You monster!"

"Monster?" the stallion said. "Little ol' me?" He proceeded to thrust Blade off in a direction away from the twins, who were cowering in fear.

"Mom!" Hope cried, starting to rush over to where Blade was flung. She crouched down to her mom, who was breathing heavily in weariness.

"Get..." she panted, "away from here... Go... to... the Everfree..."

"Everfree?" Hope asked, a hint of worry in her voice. "T- That dangerous forest you told us never to go into?"

"G-go... t-to protect them... find... your father... Don't... let the prophecy fail..."

"Find... Dad?"

"I could use a little help over here!" Silver Streak shouted at them, cowering from the approaching stallion.

Hope never paid attention to her brother. Instead, she focused thoroughly on her mother. "Mom... is Dad in the Everfree Forest?"

She never got a response when Blade shot a beam of magic from her horn, flying past her and straight toward her brother, who vanished instantly when it hit him.

The stallion growled. "You'll regret doing that, Blade Runner!" he shouted. "Where did you send it?!"

She again didn't respond when her horn glowed once more and struck Hope, and in an instant, she vanished as well.





Silver was dazed when the spell hit him. The world around him swirled and twisted, causing his eyesight to become disoriented. And while the world around him stopped spinning, it still took his eyesight time to adjust.

When it finally did reside, a flash right next to him erupted, causing his sister to land on the ground where the light had flashed.

"Hope?" he said, rushing to his side.

"Silver...?" she asked, trying to pinpoint his location. "Why is the world spinning?"

"Don't worry, it'll pass."

She shook her head, and soon enough, she was looking fine. "Where are we?" she asked after getting a look around.

"I don't know..." Silver replied. "I think Mom might've teleported us somewhere. It doesn't look familiar..."

Hope continued to look around her. "I think this is Ponyville."

Silver tuned to her. "What makes you say that?"

"This building," she said, pointing to the building that they were behind, "looks like it's from Ponyville. Since it's the closest town in comparison to where we live and since teleportation uses too much magic for long distances, it's only reasonable that Mom sent us here."

Silver stared blankly at her. "Nerd," he said, earning himself a snicker.

Hope, however, was not amused and just rolled her eyes. "You just didn't think about it."

"And you just thought too much about it."

"Whatever. Just admit that I'm smarter than you."

"You have no clear proof of that."

"What about our last exam that Mom gave us? Is that not proof enough?"

"Just because you finished before me after 'claiming' to have checked it over three times does not make you smarter."

"I got a perfect on that test when you didn't even finish."

"The test was unfair! It had none of the material that Mom discussed."

"Then how did I get a perfect on it?"

"You cheated. Simple as that. You unicorns and your magic."

"You're just jealous that I can do this-" She proceeded to lift several leaves and wave them in her brother's face."-and you can't."

"Why would I want to have magic when I can just fly?" He demonstrated by flapping his wings repeatedly until he lifted off the ground, floating several feet in the air above his sister. "Can't beat that, huh?"

She rolled her eyes and set down the leaves. "Pegasai..."

Silver set his hooved back on the ground. "Unicorns..."

They both stood away from each other in fake-pouty silence for several minutes before Silver realized that Hope was walking away. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"To find Dad," she replied, refusing to turn around.

"Dad? What do you mean? We don't have a clue to where he is."

"The Everfree Forest."

"Huh?"

"That's where he is."

"What do you mean? How do you know that?"

"Mom told me--right before she teleported us here."

"But... shouldn't we go back to help her?"

Hope stayed silent and continued walking forward.

"Hope?" Silver started to walk toward his twin, both confused to why she wasn't answering and to her sudden attitude. She hadn't acted like this before. "Hope... Shouldn't we help Mom?"

As Silver continues to ask that question, Hope continued ignoring it. One thought was on her mind currently. Dad. She continued walking in a single direction--the direction of the Everfree Forest.
> Intermision - A Story of Time #1 - Two Paths
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The queen made her way to the entrance to the hive, panting heavily from trying to run in her current position. Once reaching the entrance, she was struck with awe and surprise to see that a stallion stood in the entrance, gazing at the place like it was the strangest place he'd ever visited.

He turned to the queen--and to her surprise, instead of fleeing like most ponies did, he smiled. "It's nice to meet you," he said.

The queen stared at him. "Who... Who are you?" she asked back. "Why are you here?"

The stallion sighed. "I'm just looking for the truth," he simply said. "When you find out your life has been mostly a lie, you travel to many places to find the truth."

"The truth?"

He nodded. "And I never thought I'd come here..."

"What do you mean?"

"This world--I never thought I could see such beauty in a world that would end up so ruined."

"What's that supposed to mean? This world has beauty."

"I know, but give it several years, you might never look at it the same."

"That... doesn't sound reassuring at all after the news I just heard."

"What news?"

"News that told of dark times... and good times."

"Sounds like confusing news."

"When you're told of a prophecy that tells your own children doing such horrible things, you think the worse. And any news like what you told me makes me worry even more."

"Ah..." the stallion said, looking a bit more depressed. "I see... I'm sorry to make you worry even more."

"But, you said that you were looking for the truth," she reminded him. "Exactly... what truth are you looking for?"

"Well, a truth about myself actually. I've learned something that has made me start to doubt why I'm here."

"But... Wouldn't that already be the truth you were looking for?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "That's a truth that made me doubt, while I'm looking for a truth that will reassure me."

"You're looking for another truth?"

He nodded. "Yeah... Two different truths; two different paths to take for each."

"Huh? What do you mean? Two paths?"

He nodded again. "One for each truth I find. By learning the first truth, I have come to doubt myself--doubt everything that I know and love. What I hope to accomplish by learning the second is to send me back on the path I should be taking."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I'm thinking that I shouldn't be here... Everything that I think I've done here is nothing more than a lie, and that someon- Somepony else should be in my place."

"You're... doubting your existence?"

"I am..."

"But why?"

"Because of the truth I learned."

"What truth?"

"One I probably should have learned a long time ago... It started out as a dream I once had. A single dream that said 'You've stolen it. I want it back'."

"Stolen?"

"That's what I mean. I think I shouldn't have been here... I think I stole something that I never meant to take."

"But... what did you take?"

The stallion looked at her with sad eyes, and with a rough sigh, his horn glowed for a second before a green flame erupted around him, revealing the form of a changeling.

With a new voice, she spoke to the queen again. "I stole a changeling's life."
> Chapter 4 - Breath of Everfree
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I never knew about love, and you showed me that.





The twins continued moving toward the forest. Silver kept trying to talk to his sister about turning back, but Hope never gave a response.

"Why are you ignoring me?" he pestered on. "Mom need our help!"

Hope growled. "I highly doubt that," she spat back.

"What do you mean? You saw the barrier that kept us safe. Mom had that up all night for us, didn't she? She's exhausted! How can you expect her to survive against that maniac?"

Hope suddenly turned back to her brother. "You don't get it, do you?"

Silver flinched. "G- Get what...?"
"Mom lied to us!"

"S- She did?"

"Yes! She said our father had died a few weeks after we were born! And now, that maniac is the only reason we know that he's still out there, and I bet that if he hadn't shown up, we'd still think Dad was dead!"

Silver's eyes darted from side to side. "I- I didn't think about that..."

"And that's probably not the only thing she lied to us about. If you think about it, what was our mom like before she met Dad? She never told us about her, only dad. Why? Is there something she was hiding from us? Something about her that she never wanted us to know?" Hope growled again. "I bet that whatever her secrets were, she doesn't want us there."

Hope turned and walked to the forest again. "So I'll find out the truth somewhere else. From Dad if I must."

Silver stood up and darted after her. "But we don't know where in the forest Dad could be. What if he was in some small hut that nopony knows about? How are we going to find him?"

Hope turned back to Silver again. "That's where you come in."

He froze in place. "Wh- What?"

"You're a pegasus, meaning you can fly above the tree line. If Dad was in a hut, or anywhere in the woods in general, there'd be some markings where some trees may or may not be cut down. Or, if there was a structure already built there, it might show up somewhere in the forest. If you fly up above the trees and find someplace where he might have settled down in there, we might just find him!"

Silver blinked before thinking about her words. "That seems like it could work..."

"And..." Hope continued, "if we don't happen to find any clearing or hut, we can always look for the Castle of the Two Sisters."

"The Castle of the what?"

"Two Pony Sisters. Didn't you pay attention when Mom was giving us that lesson about Early Equestrian History?"

"Nope."

Hope facehoofed. "The Castle of the Two Sisters, also known to some as 'Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters', was Celestia and Luna's old castle before Celestia was forced to banish her sister to the moon."

"Their old castle?"

Hope nodded. "There were several rumors to why she had to leave, but none knew the truth, so they remain that way. Over time, the castle has become extremely old, dusty and even began falling apart. It wasn't until recent years that six ponies came once again visited the place in order to free Luna from her banishment."

"Those six ponies are the 'Element Bearers', correct?" Silver asked.

Hope stared at him strangely. "I thought you weren't listening when Mom was giving us our lessons."

"Not for boring stuff like history."

Hope let out a small chuckle before continuing. "Yes, they are known as the 'Element bearers'. These six ponies occasionally went back to the castle, restoring it piece by piece and making it look better. However, as far as Mom told us, I don't know if they've been there anytime recent. The building may be looking worse than what we expect."

"But the building might still be there, right?"

"Right! And if we can't find what may seem like a place he'd be, we go there and hope to see our Dad there! And if he's not, we check the air around the castle and go from there."

Silver nodded. "Sound's like a plan to me! When do we get to the forest?"

Hope turned her head around again. "It's right over there," she said, pointing a hoof. Silver followed the direction and saw a dense forest in front of them. It was strange... before he didn't feel anything. But now that he looked at the forest, it all seemed... wrong... twisted and sick. It was no wonder that they were told not to go into the forest. That place just feels wrong when you look at it.

"That's the Everfree forest?"

Hope nodded. "It's the only forest that's the closest to Ponyville. It has to be it. It even... feels creepy."

"I feel that too..." Silver admitted.

The two of them both felt the urge to leave. Whatever was in that forest... it wasn't natural. Both of them could tell.

"M- Maybe we shouldn't do this..." Silver said, starting to turn around. "W- We can always go back home and help Mom..."

As soon as he said that though Hope let out a loud huff and grabbed his tail, pulling him towards the forest as she walked over to it. "We've come this far, Silver. I'm not going to stop now when Dad is so close!" She let go of his tail when they were at the edge of the forest. Now, you fly up and try to spot somewhere where Dad might be."

He groaned. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes," she said without hesitation. "Now fly up there."

He huffed. "Fine..." he said, standing to his hooves. "I'll do I, but on one condition."

Hope rolled her eyes. "Name it."

"If we don't find Dad, or even if or when we don't see a good place where he might be, we go back to help Mom immediately."

Hope sighed roughly. "Fine. We don't find a place where he might be--"

"And what I mean by that is if we do find a place, if we don't find another after that," Silver interrupted. "We'll look, maybe find a place and scope it out. If we do not find one the first time, or any time after that, we go back to Mom."

Hope sighed. "I know, I got that before you explained it. Will you just fly up there already?"

Silver blinked and growled a bit to himself. "Alright, alright.." he pouted, flapping his wings and beginning to soar just above the tree line. He looked around the forest top, and it wasn't hard to spot a big gray castle just poking out somewhere far along.

He stared at it for a good while, and he thought about telling Hope or not. Should he reveal this to her? His Mom did seem to want to get them away from the stallion... and it seemed like no surprise. He had reduced their entire house to rubble, after all. But it was still a danger for her to be doing that alone.. But what could they do? Maybe Hope was right and Mom couldn't be trusted at all... If that was the case, then all he'd have to say would be...

"I see a castle."
> Chapter 5 - Cursed Forest and Hearless Ponies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	And I am grateful to you for that. But I think this could be the last time I ever see of you...





"A-A castle?" Hope asked. "In the middle of the Everfree?"

"Y- Yeah..." Silver replied. A castle... a big, gray castle."

"That sounds like the castle of the Two Pony Sisters. How does it look?"

"It looks... new..."

"New?" she asked. "That's impossible... They haven't been there for a long time. How can it be new?"

"I- I don't know... but, that's what it looks like to me."

She pondered to herself. A new-looking castle in the middle of the most dangerous woods in Equestria? That was impossible.

She then recalled old times of when their mother would teleport them to a castle in the forest to visit their uncle. Whenever they visited their uncle, they were always told never to play in the forest, for it was cursed. They never explained why it was cursed... only that it was.

Now that she thought about it, it reminded her a lot of the Everfree. A cursed forest of untold danger that grew where the old Castle of the Two Sisters used to be. She'd never thought that her uncle lived in the Everfree... He always said he lived in the wood to stop those who would try to harm him, or those he needed to protect.

"I have not been the best person to rely on for anything," he used to tell them. "I was under false assumptions and lead astray from the path I was supposed to be on."

"What brought you back?" Hope and Silver asked.

He always smiled back at them. "Lets just say that while I haven't been the best relative, I wouldn't be called your uncle, or even visited, if it weren't for nothing. Your father, Blue, was always there for me, even though he didn't always want to be."

She opened her eyes and stared at the woods. The Castle of the Royal Sisters... Celestia and Luna lived in that castle once. Their uncle... is suddenly made sense. They had been there before. Their uncle lived there, at least, a long time ago... Why hadn't mom taken them their recently?

Mom... When she thought of her, she got a little angry again, thinking only ahead. "Come on Silver. We're headed to the castle."

He flew back down to her. "U-Um... r-right..."

And thus, they began their trek into the forest.





The way to the castle was surprisingly straightforward. The woods were scary, sure, but there were many ways around all these dangers. Hope had always been a powerful spell caster in regards to her magic, and she had practically mastered any spell that came her way. Using those magic powers, she was able to defend themselves from most of the dangers of the forest or the creatures within.

Silver Streak had no eye for magic at all. He tended to be one to hang back and analyze a situation, figure out the best way to go through or about it. Whenever his sister got tired, he flew her as quick as he could into a safe tree, where they could rest. Occasionally, he scouted ahead a little to help inform his sister of what was coming and how to go about it.

In the end, the only thing holding them back was how determined they were to reach their goal.

One's determination tends to be the most powerful thing to them, but it can also lead to downfall. What if what they were doing now didn't lead to their father? Their determination would have been for nothing. Their struggle to get to this castle, the energy they used, how much they want to get there... if their father was not there, then they would have to do it all again to get back out of the forest, and who would know what could be done after that?

They had this thought occasionally.





Blade Runner heaved heavily as she fell to the ground. This fight was nothing for her to win, and she knew that all along. From the moment she saw his face, she knew that nothing could be done to prevent her fall in this fight.

"Weak," the black-eyed stallion said. "Pathetic. You're nothing but tricks and predictable attacks in battle." He slowly went over to her. "Its hard to believe that you managed to slip them from my grasp."

Blade weakly looked back up at him, pure anger burning in her eyes. She hated how this stallion... this monster looked exactly like him.

"Tell me where you sent them, and I will let you live. They have something that belongs to my father, and he very much wants it back."

"Your father?" Blade coughed as she did her best to stand up. "You don't have a father, you don't deserve one either! You're nothing but a destroyer, and a pawn to this "father's" games! If you were anything like Blue, you'd know that and leave this all behind. Thirteen years and now you show up again. I'm more or less surprised you manage to stay alive with how uncaring and reckless you are!"

The stallion closed his eyes. "'If you were anything like Blue'," he smirked. "You of many ponies should know that I am _exactly_ like Blue! I am no different from your husband, and I never was. Its how we were born."

"He was not born like you!" she retaliated.

"He merely did not live to his potential." He suddenly appeared right in front of her and smacked her aside and to the ground once more. "He's pathetic. You're pathetic. Those who refuse to live to their potential will forever be pathetic. You lived like that once, didn't you? You're not too different from me, murderer. Now? You're just soft."

She chuckled weakly as she coughed up blood. "I suppose I did become soft. But I became soft for the one who made me feel calm, now and forever. Blue... a calm and sad color... a calm and sad stallion. He will never be like you, nor this 'father' of yours. You've become heartless in your own power."

The stallion didn't speak. He instead drew upon his power and summoned his weapon, a double-curved sword covered in dried blood, the curves forming sharp hooks on their ends. "Will those be your last words, little pathetic pony?"

"I'll see you in Tartarus," she spat blood in his face. He ignored it, wrapping the curved end of the sword around her neck.

A flash.

The stallion was left alone.

"Pathetic." He made his sword vanish. "I didn't stain her blood on my sword, coward. Relying on outside help," he huffed. "I suppose I should let father know I found it, but it got away."

Just as he was summoning his magic, he pondered on her words again. "If you were anything like Blue."

The thought made him chuckle.

"A calm and sad color... a calm and sad stallion."

He laughed, a dark desire filling his black eyes.

"You've become heartless in your own power."

He calmed down. "Oh, you amuse me, Blade Runner. You know very well I do have a heart, for I would not be alive then." He stared into the sky, looking with bloodlust. "But like my name, I let it run Black with my own power."





The Twin's journey through the woods only became darker and creepier. The sounds of the beasts in these woods were nothing like they'd experienced. It terrified them.

"We shouldn't have come here..." Silver said as he shivered. He was going from tree to tree like some squirrels in the park they used to play. He kept checking to make sure they were always going in the right direction.

His sister didn't know much of her fear, but she was clearly experiencing it too. "W-We just have to get to the castle... y-you said it was in a clearing surrounded by a g-gorge, correct?"

"Yeah.."

"T-Then it really would be like Uncle's... w-wouldn't it?"

Silver looked down at her. She never liked admitting it, but she was terrified of heights. It was when she was a lot younger and they were visiting at their Uncle's. The gorge surrounded the castle, and one day she got too close, slipped and nearly fell down. She was caught on a loose ledge and was stuck there for hours until everypony else realized she was gone and came to her rescue.

The fall she took could have been much worse, but it was lucky that she didn't fall the whole way down. She escaped with just a couple scars, but it traumatized her, and she never wanted to go near it again.

Now, she was moving right toward one.