CCC-Back Home Again

by Fresnor

First published 5th of January, 2015

500 years is a long time to be gone. How will Equestria react to the not only the return of an old friend, but a race that had been lost for millennia.

A lot has happened in 500 years as Flarenza is about to learn. Friends became enemies and enemies became friends and she gets caught in the middle of it all. How will she deal with not only that but another couple surprises thrown her way in a world that has changed so much. Or has it?

Tags subject to change as events unfold

Prologue

The brightest white is all existence was all that was visible for the longest time. Soon voices started to filter through the silence though I couldn’t quite catch their meaning. Soon one finally pierced through the veil surrounding me. “Princess, wake UP!” Suddenly I was met with full consciousness as I woke up cold and wet to find Butch, Cassidy, and rose peering down at me. I suddenly remembered what I was just doing moments before. “Did we make it?” The three look at each other before turning back to me with a shrug. “How should we know that? We have no idea where we are supposed to be”

I shake my head at myself for forgetting that, though with how much effort the spell took it wasn’t unusual to be out of sorts for a bit. While I was still feeling a bit drained, those few moments I was out were enough for me to be able to spark a small light so I could get a better view of the room. Looking around I noticed I fine layer of dust covering the room and the tables lining the various walls. Nearby was a pedestal that looked to be in good condition and tracing its form down to its base I see writing done in silver in front of it. Turning I see that the writing is a perfect copy of the design I had just been in that was instead made of salt.

Remembering the layout that I had not seen in so long I turn towards one end of the room as I stand and make my way towards it. Pushing on a cleverly camouflaged section of the wall I throw open the window there to reveal an early morning view similar to one I had found myself missing. “Ponyville. It truly has been to long since I have seen you and I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon again.” I mutter this bit quietly to myself then I turn back to my two guards and timberwolf companion.

Before speaking I take a moment to examine myself with my senses just as a precaution after such a long teleport. Everything seems to be in their proper place but I pause for a moment when I feel something off about the link I once felt with the Lord and Lady. While it was lost with all the other kitsune from what I overheard I found that this wasn’t quite true with me for some reason and instead it was turned inwards for some reason. Deciding to look into this later I start to address my companions who had been watching me.

“I’m glad that I finally got that teleportation spell to word correctly for once. I guess having a focus on both ends while casting it helps instead of just using one from the origin point.” This is met by three limbs hitting three faces as they all react to me essentially saying that I had never succeeded with the spell before. “Well the last time I tried casting the spell I was only a four-tail as well, so having six now should have been enough to account for most of the problems before.” The two diamond dogs look at each other for a moment before turning to me again as Cassidy speaks up. “Um, Princess, that actually should be seven now. It appeared during your speech before you began preparing your spell to take us here.”

I turn in surprise at this news to find that she was correct as I stare at the new limb I hadn’t noticed yet. It was probably a good thing that I cast such a powerful spell as it would give me time to get used to my new jump in strength without as many problems as before. “Well I guess the title of Princess actually fits now, though I still don’t feel like one. Now we have to get a few things ready before I can head out to see Princess Celestia. Butch and Cassidy, I’ll need you to head down to the basement and prepare the rooms off in the side passages. Claim one each for yourselves and do what you want with them, but the others will be for any other diamond dogs that happen to show up in the future. Rose, guard the front door but stay unseen by the locals until I say so. If any of you meet any of the locals under no circumstances shall you harm them without consulting with me first.”

They all nod as they all try to go off to do as I ask but fail to find out how to lower the exit causing me to roll my eyes. Hitting the switch near the stairway I cause it to lower for them while I just shake my head before looking around the room once more. “It’s too empty up here, I wonder what new things have been discovered that I can fill it with that I can study later.” I actually feel a smile on my face as I make my own way the stairs to the floor below. As I step off the last step I feel myself using my magic to hit something and I realize that I subconsciously reached out to hit the button sending the stairs back up again.

I can’t believe I did that. All these years away and I’m still doing things I didn’t bother thinking about even then. I just shake my head in amusement as I watch the stairs rise up into the ceiling once again. Turning away I head down the hall and stop before the door to the main bedroom and examine the slight shimmer over it. Good to see that the room is still sealed since I was last here and it doesn’t seem to have decayed either. As I pull down the enchantment over the room I remember to reach out to the hearth stone and activate it fully once again after noting that it barely has enough power to sustain itself from its basic charging function.

Opening the door I step into my old room and look around with a sense of nostalgia. Everything looks just as I remember it from the made bed to the empty bookshelves next to it. Considering the state of it all I can tell the spell worked correctly to preserve it all as even the painting that was done of me hasn’t even lost any of its color. “That’s going to need to be updated I guess though I guess it could be nice to see how much I’ve changed over the years. I wonder who the pony is that is doing royal paintings nowadays?”

Turning towards the walk in closet I head over and open it up before entering and taking in the sight I had left so long ago. From the wrapped up ball from Pinkie, to the preserved bottles of Zap apple cider from Applejack, and even to the feathers of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, I just sit and soak up the memories that come with each. “It has truly been too long since I’ve been home. I really can’t believe that I just left all this stuff behind when I left.” I stroke a paw along one of the feathers before bringing it to rest on a picture that contains not only myself; but all of the princesses, the five ponies closest to Twilight, Trixie, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

I consider the many objects in the room and decide to grab one of the bottles of the cider to add to my bags. I was about to leave the room when the last words of Pinkie Pie flit through my mind and I turn back just long enough to grab the wrapped ball she had given me. I wasn’t sure yet what to do with it, but she did say that I would know what to do with it and I rarely found her words to be wrong.

I decide that I might as well take a walk around Ponyville once while it was still early so I get out my hooded cloak to wear before leaving the room. I wasn’t sure what the ponies would do if they saw me without it, but if they react like I remember they would probably run around in a panic. Once it was secure I left the bedroom back into the hall before standing underneath another portrait of me that was on the wall at the top of the stairs.

Well Equestria, I hope you are ready for the changes caused by our return as things will never be the same again. “Hey!? Who are you and what are you doing in here!?” I turn in shock at the voice to find myself face to face in the darkened hall with a pair of cerise eyes underneath a rainbow mane.

Author's Notes:

Well here we go again with the final planned book of the series. Expect the unexpected but don't assume anything until it actually happens. Should be much more talking this time as things will be a bit different than the last book. Of course now so many little hints I left behind will start making sense I hope as many plans finally come to fruition. So please leave any comments, questions, typos and complaints below so I can respond to them. Also enjoy the very first little cliffhanger.

Revival

“Did you hear me? Who are you and what are you doing here!?” I was shocked by the image in front of me and I almost thought that I was seeing a ghost. After blinking a few times I realize that Rainbow Dash didn’t have cat-like eyes and, while she was blue, her fur wasn’t as dark a blue as what I was seeing. She also didn’t have wings in the shape of a bat that were spread out impressively behind the mare in front of me. I notice from her stance that she is trying to intimidate me, but I recognize the signs hinting that it is all an act and she is in fact scared.

She reminds me so much of Rainbow Dash that it’s no surprise that I thought it was her at first. Even her voice is almost the same, if a bit deeper due to her thestral nature. “Hey, are you going to say something or just keep staring all day? It’s getting a bit creepy. And what’s with that dark cloak, you trying to hide or something?” I realize that I had been staring and I let out a light chuckle as I notice her curiosity starting to overcome her caution.

“Sorry about that, you just reminded me of someone I used to know. As for your previous question I would think that I should be the one asking that as when I last checked I was the owner of this place.” This caused her to shrink back in fear once again as her eyes started darting around nervously. “What are you talking about? I’ve been here for years now and I have yet to see or even hear about you.”

One of my ears perks up at her choice of words as I look over her once again. She looked like she was just short of adulthood, maybe about fifteen or sixteen, yet I found myself looking down at her. Have I grown taller since I was last here or did the ponies just shrink? If her words were true though then that means she had been here, possibly on her own, as an even younger child. “Well I have been out of the country for a long time now and just returned today. Of course I didn’t expect to find a thestral here to greet me, and an orphaned one at that. It brings back some fond memories really.”

While she looks shocked at my words I think back to Scootaloo and Selene when I first invited them into my home, though my attention is drawn back to the mystery thestral sputtering. “Who said anything about me being an orphan? And how do I know you aren’t lying about owning this place, do you have any proof?” I just chuckle at her as I nod my head off to the side. “Well to answer the second question first, does the fact that we are standing under a portrait of me count? Otherwise I could always get the filly I helped take care of or one of my old friends to vouch for me. As for the first question you pretty much just told me with your reaction as well as the fact I haven’t seen signs of anyone else and you are too young to have been here as long as you say and not be one.”

Her mouth drops open at my reasoning, further proving that I was correct, before she looks up at the portrait which causes her to narrow her eyes. “Wait a minute, how can that be you, it looks nothing like a pony?” I raise an eyebrow, though she can’t see it, before I calmly ask. “Who ever said I was a pony?” I lower the hood of my cloak to reveal my vulpine features to her which causes her to start backing away from me. She doesn’t get far as she bumps into Rose who had snuck up behind her while we were talking. She looks up to find herself face-to-face with my timberwolf and promptly lets out a squeal when Rose licks her nose causing her to promptly faint.

“That might have been a bit much there Rose. Ponies tend to be a bit squeamish when confronted with predators, especially timberwolves. That reminds me to actually look into the magic that changed the ones that currently inhabit the Everfree when I have time.” I levitate the unconscious form up onto Rose’s back. “You might as well take her back to the room she was using and put her to bed. It’s most likely the one open door I see down the hall. Keep an eye on her until I get back since I should explore the rest of the manor to see if there is anything else hiding here.”

I sigh as I make my way downstairs to search the rest of my home for any other surprises. Luckily nothing else seems to be hiding out here as most of it is still relatively untouched. I find signs of the mystery pony’s presence in the kitchen when I find her stash of food, but beyond that everything is as it should be. Before I leave the kitchen I place the appropriate stones in both the oven and the pantry so that they could be used once again and make my way into the basement.

I meet my two guards as I reach the bottom of the stairs and pause to speak to them. “It appears that we have a little visitor upstairs that had been living here for a while. I have Rose keeping an eye on her until I can speak with her so don’t be surprised if you see her.” They look a bit surprised at this news but just nod as they start heading upstairs to familiarize themselves with the rest of the house. Cassidy pauses for a moment before turning to me. “Princess, there is one door that we couldn’t open at the end of the passageway.” I nod to her. “Yes, that’s part of why I’m down here. It’s my old lab where I kept some of my more dangerous experiments, mostly of the explosive variety.” Her eyes widen as she slowly backs her way up the stairs as she finds somewhere safer to be.

I have a feeling that they are going to be reacting like that a lot now that I’m not restricted in what magic I can use. There is so much that they still don’t know about me. I chuckle to myself as I move to the center of the basement and just immerse myself in the feeling of the magic given off by the hearth stone. I take a moment to pour a little bit of magic into it to give it enough power to start recharging itself properly before heading towards my underground lab.

The lab was sealed just as I remembered it, and after draining the barrier on it I entered it for a quick look. Like everything else it was just as I remembered leaving it and soon my attention was drawn to the storage area in the corner. I ponder for a moment before shrugging to myself as I open it to remove some of the fireworks and place them in my bags. “Never know when I’ll need these. Maybe I’ll use them to get Twilight’s attention by announcing my return to Ponyville with them.”

Turning back I leave the lab, placing a less power intensive lock on it, and make my way back upstairs. Arriving in what is now the room the mystery mare is occupying, and interestingly enough used to be Scootaloo, I find her awake once again but cowering in the corner of her bed in fear. The reason was obvious as Rose was also on the bed watching her closely, though I could tell she was trying to not be threatening about it. “Rose that’s enough; you’re scaring the poor filly.”

My words cause a reaction in her that I should have expected considering the similarities that I noticed. “Hey! I’m not scared of anything and I’m not a filly. I can take care of myself and I even have an important job to do!” I raise an eyebrow at her as I realize I poked at her pride a little with my comment. “Oh? And what job would that be then? Especially for someone lacking a cutie mark still?” I point out that last point as I notice that she is still a blank flank which is rather odd considering her age. Her nose flares a bit as she responds a tad angrily, forgetting about Rose completely now.

“I’ll have you know that I’m the top courier for what is left of the delivery services in Equestria. I can get some of the largest loads to anywhere that they are needed by myself and even the gryphon scouts can’t even catch me no matter how much I’m carrying. I don’t need a cutie mark telling me what to do when it’s more important to help out however I can.” My eyes widen as I feel a familiar wave of something flow off of her, but it’s quickly gone again as she crosses her forelegs and starts grumbling to herself. I know I have felt something like that before, but I can’t think of where for some reason. Still her words worry me and I don’t think I like where they are leading.

“What do you mean by what is left of the delivery services? And why would gryphon scouts be a problem?” She looks back at me with a raised eyebrow and a look of confusion. “Where have you been that you haven’t heard about the war that has been going on? It’s been going on for hundreds of years now between Equestria and the Gryphon Empire and whatever allies they could get ahold of.” I close my eyes as I realize that I had left one war with my kind and was about to drag them into another.

“Like I said, I’ve been gone a really long time. It looks like I may need to visit Twilight even sooner than I thought if this is what I’m coming home to.” I look up at her to see a look of shock on her face as I snarl out the next line. “At least this time I won’t be holding anything back if I can help it.” I thought the shock was due to my anger, but at her next question I realize I slipped a little. “Who are you to be calling the Princess by her first name only?”

This gets a small chuckle out of me as I remember Twilight’s old aversion to being called that. “Well I did say that I had some old friends that I could call on. She was one of the ones that I was talking about along with the other four princesses. In fact I helped raise Selene for a while before she finally moved to Canterlot. Though speaking of names, I never did get yours, mine is Flarenza.” I think I might have overloaded her a bit with this information as she freezes a bit. “Aurora Dreams; and you mean that I had been slumming in the home of a personal friend of not one but all five princesses?! I am so screwed.”

I burst out laughing at her tone of defeat which earns me a scathing glare from her. “Oh don’t worry about that, it’s actually amusing to find that another orphan managed to take up residence in the exact same room as before. I don’t really mind too much as long as you pick up after yourself, but you’ll have to get used to living with some different races while you’re here, though you seem to have gotten used to Rose a bit.” She looks a bit relieved at my words, though her curiosity returns as she looks at Rose and lifts a hoof to poke at her side.

“Thanks for reminding me about her, but what is she? I could have sworn that she was a timberwolf yet she looks nothing like the ones in the Everfree Forest.” I pause for a moment as I get an idea regarding the timberwolves to file away for later before answering. “That’s exactly what she is, though to be more specific she is what a timberwolf is supposed to look like, or at least the alphas. All of the ones in the Everfree were corrupted long ago though interestingly enough they will still follow the directions of the uncorrupted ones.”

Her hoof jerks back when I say that Rose really is one, though settles back and starts brushing along her side as I clarify. “How do you keep her from attacking others like the other timberwolves do?” I see Rose roll her eyes though I expect the two will get along eventually considering how similar they are. “She has no reason to attack them and I don’t control her. I think of her as a friend and it’s her loyalty to me which is why she listens to what I ask.”

I thought I saw a glimmer in Aurora’s eye when I say that though I think I imagined it. I look out the window to see that the sun has risen a good amount now and Aurora follows my look to see it as well. “Oh ponyfeathers I’m late, I’d stay to talk but I have to get to work!” With that she opens the window and dives out before Rose or I could stop her. I look at Rose before making on last comment. “The more I see of her the more I see of one of my old friends. I hope that doesn’t make things odder than they have to be.” I am answered by an amused chuff from the timberwolf as I vacate the room and head downstairs once again.

After letting my two guards know where I was going I pull up my hood once again and head outside with Rose following me, with her aversion enchantments active. I do a quick walk around the manor to take in the outside, yet everything is looking good except for one major issue. “The Everfree Sure grew a bit since I was last here; it’s almost up to the back of the manor now. It looks even worse off in the direction away from town. I’ll need to push it back a bit later on, especially if I want to see my garden again.”

I walk towards Ponyville and take in the site of it as my mind dwells on my memories. The town hasn’t actually grown much since I was last here and it might even be a bit smaller. I notice that the town has moved away from the thatched roof look and has gone more with fully wooden buildings with shingles. They do look a bit artistic as it looks like support beams are lining the outside of the buildings as well. I also notice that the town doesn’t seem as colorful as I remember and even feels a bit greyed out. Glancing up I feel that something is wrong and it takes a moment to realize that the weather looks off.

“Has the weather been left to itself? Have things really gotten to the point where they just let it run wild?” I watch as a line of clouds slowly moves in from the Everfree and soon a light drizzle starts to fall. As I enter the town I see a few ponies roaming around, yet the warmth that I remember doesn’t seem to be with them as they just pass by each other without any kind of greeting. Is this really the same Ponyville that I left all those years ago? Has the magic of this little town been lost over the centuries? I pause for a moment as I hear a tune float through the air before I begin to sing.

This town used to be filled with so many wonders
All that came here its spell they fell under
My mind trails back to the friends I once had in the town as well as the huge variety of personalities that lived in Ponyville together.
Yet what happened to this place while I was gone
Everyone just seems to have withdrawn
Looking around in the present I watch as ponies just pass by each other and sometimes even shouldering each other out of the way.

I just can’t bring myself to believe
That all this time I had been so naïve
I walk up to the fountain in the center of the marketplace and gaze on the stone figures of the Elements of Harmony with my curled up at their hooves.
That this place has gone so far downhill
That I can no longer recognize it as Ponyville
I raise my eyes to the sky as I let the rain fall onto my face and I spot a rainbow blur streak across the sky as I remember Aurora.

Yet there may still yet be something here
That can put to rest all of my fears
I think back to those things that I saw in Aurora as I was talking to her and I realize that I had felt some of the same things from Rainbow Dash as well.
The Loyalty that I have felt from one so young
Tells me that maybe there are still to be sung
I look around with a look of resolve on my face as the music in the background changes a bit to something with a stronger feel.

I just can’t bring myself to believe
That all this time I had been so naïve
I leap away from the fountain and pick up the pace as I move through town faster than I was initially.
That this place has gone so far downhill
That I can no longer recognize it as Ponyville
I slow down as I start to see colts and fillies moving through the town at a slow pace along with the adults.

Where there is one there are sure to be the rest
Honesty and Generosity may just be repressed
I stop near a filly that is looking sad as I form a ball made from a barrier with my magic and bounce it in front of her until she giggles and chases after it.
Maybe all that’s needed is a little shove
For Laughter and Kindness to rise above
I move to help a colt that tripped into the mud spraining an ankle where I clean the mud from him and heal the injury with a burst of magic.

I just won’t bring myself to believe
That all this time I had been so naïve
I watch as other colts and fillies start to get into things and join in the chase of the ball as laughter starts to fill the air.
That this place has gone so far downhill
There is still a hint of my home known as Ponyville
Moving through Ponyville I watch as the grey tinge to it slowly begins to fade away as moods begin to improve.

Maybe all that this place truly needs
Is a bit of watering of the seeds
Getting an idea I bring the firework out of my bags and start firing them all off into the air to the enjoyment of those around me.
So that friendship can once again bloom
The kind that once started with a Rainboom
With a final flourish I launch the last one up into the cloud cover and watch as it explodes in a rainbow circle of colors as it clears the sky around Ponyville of clouds.

It was right for me to still believe
And I really was not all that naïve
I fade back into the crowd as they stare in at the finale which clears away the rain in an explosion of color and sound.
This town may have gone a bit downhill
But I am glad I know this town as Ponyville
I smile as I settle down under a tree in a nearby park knowing that, while things may not be perfect, the town can still be what I remember it to be.

I pull out a book that I had decided to read through again, especially as I had a copy made especially for Twilight. Before I even got through a single page my head jerked up as I peered back along the way I came. “Since when did I start walking through the town singing?”

Author's Notes:

I was planning on going a bit further but I feel that this is a good point to split the chapter. It would probably have hit 10k+ otherwise. So there's the first OC and it's pretty obvious what some of her history is. Please leave and comments, complaints, or typos below as I really want to know.

I just hope that the pony that I invited next chapter will be able to show up in time.

A touch of familiarity

I spent a while reading my book as I hadn’t planned to see Twilight until sometime in the afternoon. I knew she would definitely be awake by that time if she still kept it up with her late nights that I remembered. I also wanted some time to skim through my book as I expected her to ask many questions about it after seeing it as well if I can’t distract her. Still it felt nice being back in Ponyville even if I was using aversion charms to stay unnoticed for now. Even after the bad first impressions it was nice to hear the sounds of the younglings playing, the chatter of the adults gossiping, the sound of someone falling into a nearby pond.

I pause at the sound coming from the pond, but after hearing someone else helping whoever it was I go back to my reading until someone calls out to me. “Excuse me ma’am, but may I be able to borrow a towel from you? My companion here misjudged her landing a bit and crashed into the lake.” I glance up to see a tan stallion with a brown mane near a soggy mass of a blond mane though I can’t quite see the rest of her from here. I shrug as levitate a couple towels out of my bag towards him before I go back to reading. “Sure, but how did you know that I had a towel on in my bags?”

I also wondered how he saw me but shrugged it off as I knew that there were flaws in the spell to keep attention off of me. “It was just a guess but I recognize the book you’re reading, wonderful book by the way, and I’ve found that it’s common for ponies to follow the advice they find in it for some reason. I would have used my own but I always manage to misplace them whenever I really need them.” I think on that and really can’t find a reason to argue with him as it makes some sense as I knew how useful towels could be.

I stop once more as he hands me the towels back again which I dry with my magic before putting them back into my bags. As they were leaving I catch a glimpse of the mare to see seven bubbles on her grey flank and I speak up while distracted. “Oh hey Derpy, say hi to Dinky for me when you see her.” I focus back on my reading again even after hearing the stallion saying “What?!” as I tune the world out again. I absently note that their hoof falls had stopped for a moment before they pick up again at a rapid pace. It isn’t until I’m halfway down the next page before I stop and look up in the direction they went.

“Wait a second; did I just say what I think I did? How in the..?” I catch a flash of blond going around a corner and I put my book away before giving chase. I catch sight of them turning another corner once I get to the first one as if they knew that I was following somehow. After a few more turns I see that they are finally pulling away until I finally lose sight of them. I look around and am surprised to find myself in front of a familiar gingerbread building as a strange grinding noise is going off somewhere in the background. I’m not sure if I should be surprised or not that this place is still standing, though I wonder if those two were who I thought they were.

Turning away from the building I find myself staring into some bright purple eyes that are uncomfortably close to my face. I seem to recall being in this situation once before so I bring a paw up to rub my eyes to make sure I’m not seeing things and when I lower it the figure is gone. “Maybe I should go take a nap. I’m starting to see things that aren’t there.” A familiar voice from above causes me to jump in shock. “Ooh, is there something hiding over there? Where is it, I can’t see it?”

I look up to find the owner of the eyes peering intently in the direction that I was facing and I have to pinch myself to make sure that I’m actually not dreaming. How in the world? She looks exactly like Pinkie Pie, well, if she was a white pegasus and had a bright yellow mane. But other than those little things I could swear I was looking at her. Even her voice is freakishly similar. Eventually she lands in front of me again looking a bit disappointed. “Aww, the must have run away. I really wanted to see whatever it is you were looking at.” She perks up once again though as she turns back towards me.

“Ooh I almost forgot about you you don’t look familiar which means you must be new here as I know everyone in Ponyville and if you are new here that must mean you don’t have any friends and I said to myself ‘Surprise Pie you should be friends with her so that she has some friends’ so I came over here to meet you and then you started staring at whatever you were looking at and do you know what this calls for?” It is only because I had gotten so used to Pinkie Pie doing the same thing that I understood what she said and I wasn’t surprised that she was part of the Pie family but my mouth was still on auto-pilot. “A party?”

I wince as I say this as Surprise just stares at me as if she didn’t know what to make of me. I was about to apologize when she suddenly gave a little hop in place before shouting. “That sounds like the perfect idea! I’ve never thrown a party before though.” She takes a thinking pose and it’s only now that I notice that she hasn’t earned her cutie mark yet. Oh dear, why do I get the feeling that I may have unleashed something the town isn’t ready for. I noticed something odd though as my gaze shifted further back and my mind went into a panic. “Twitchy Tail?”

Some reactions just never go away as they get so ingrained into your psyche, and the sight of a twitching tail on a being looking like Pinkie Pie is one of them. I soon saw what it was heralding as I spotted a piano being lifted up towards an upper story of a building and the rope on it was starting to come apart. Looking below it I saw a pair of fillies walking towards the area under it obliviously and my body just reacted. The fillies were just underneath it when the rope snapped causing the ponies hauling it to shout out but when the two looked up to see the piano falling the instead cowered in place, grabbing onto each other.

Everyone else in the area was shouting out in a panic as the piano fell but I had enough time to get under it myself and send up a burst of telekinetic energy slowing its fall until I held it completely in my magic. I let out a breath that I didn’t realize I was holding as I look down at the two fillies and waited for them to move away. When they just sat there shivering in fear I just had to say something. “Um, you two might want to move to somewhere safer now that I’ve caught this.” One of the two looks up at me slowly and gasps when they see me holding the piano up in my magic and she quickly pulls her friend out of the way.

I just shake my head and smile now that the two are safe and turn my attention up towards the workers who are still frozen in place. I look at them in disgust as they hadn’t moved an inch since the thing feel so I push the piano upwards myself and slide it in through the opening that they were lifting it towards. “Next time you might want to double check that your ropes are in a better condition before you lift something this heavy.” I start to walk away again when I am reminded by the reason I was able to get there in time as Surprise bounced in front of me.

“Wowie Zowie that was amazingstupendouslyawesome how you were like all *gasp* and then suddenly *zoom* before you caught that piano like it was nothing.” She pauses for a second as her ears start moving strangely and she turns towards my bags before she suddenly dove into one of them. “What the- What do you think you are doing?!” I was about to turn and drag her out of there before she suddenly popped out of the other one holding that ball that Pinkie Pie had given me.

“Ooh I haven’t seen one of these before but I think I know what it is do you know what it is because I do and do you know where I can find a cannon or show me what one looks like?” I feel a headache coming on as my mind tries to catch up with what is going on but I register enough to react. “You mean something like this?” I create an illusion of Pinkie Pie’s Party Cannon as it is the first one that comes to mind.

I watch as Surprise sticks her head inside the barrel of the illusionary cannon before pulling it out once again. “Yes this looks perfect thanks for this I’ll see you later, Flarie.” With that she grabs the cannon and takes off with both it and the wrapped ball leaving me there to stare after her in shock. What the? How did? Hoowubbagubba? I probably would have sat there longer if she didn’t appear from out of a nearby plant to hand me a card before speeding off again. Looking down at the card I see that it is an invitation to a party later today. “Nope, I can’t deal with this right now, at least not without a couple glasses of hard cider, especially since I don’t remember telling her my name for her to come up with that nickname.”

Shoving all thoughts of what just happened out of my mind I turn towards the side of town opposite of where my home is and start walking. I get some odd looks as I leave the area but I ignore them as I am in no state to deal with much else right now. Soon the town starts to thin out as I reach the edge of it and I begin to enter path to the nearby apple orchard. On seeing the sign over it proclaiming it to be ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ brings a smile to my lips. “It’s good to see that this place hasn’t changed that much since I was last here.”

I make my way down the path and soon find myself at the long-time home of the Apple Family to find that, other than having grown larger, it is relatively unchanged. I can hear the sounds of ponies working in the orchard gathering apples and I ponder where to go to find whoever is in charge. As I walk up to the house though I see a blonde-maned and white furred earth pony on the porch that looks to have seen me. She looked to be about the same age as Surprise and Aurora and I debated looking for someone else until she approached me.

“Good morning dearie. May I ask what brings you to my fine home here at Sweet Apple Acres?” I’m surprised at hearing such a fancy accent out of someone that is working on a farm. Taking a closer look a notice that she has a figure similar to what I would expect out of someone that bucked trees daily, but I could see the care she took of herself as her coat and hooves shone under the light. Her mane and tail are done up like I remember Applejack used to have hers and they carried the shine that came with good care as well. “Sorry for just showing up like this, but I just returned to town today and found myself in need of something to drink of a more hard variety. I remembered the reputation of Sweet Apple Acres so I decided to head to the source since I’m not sure yet where I would find any in town.”

She looks at me suspiciously for a second before speaking again. “And why, may I ask, is it that you need something like that so early in the day? Usually ponies only have drinks like that later in the evening.” I roll my eyes at the ‘ponies’ part before answering honestly. “I normally wouldn’t need something like that, but I just had a small run-in with a Surprise Pie and found myself needing it before dealing with what I saw.” I see her wince when I say the name before it turns to one of sympathy.

“Yes, I guess that would be a good enough reason for that. It takes a while to get used to her little idiosyncrasies. Well follow me and we’ll see if we can get you something to help with that, though don’t expect me to indulge you too often.” I chuckle as she gives me a little glare after saying that. “Oh don’t worry I just wasn’t ready for her this time. I’ll be ready next time and there’s no way she can get worse than an old friend of mine was.” She looks at me in pity after I say this. “Oh you poor dear, you have no idea some of the things she can get up to.”

I decide not to return a comment to that as we make our way into one of the nearby barns. “Anyways you are lucky that you came back when you did. We’re reaching the end of cider season now so everything will be nice and fresh. I’m just glad that someone did something about that beastly weather so that we could get in the harvest more easily.” I decide not to mention that fixing the weather was my doing as we head down into the cellar where they store the cider. When we reach the bottom a sound reaches my ears that sound remarkably like snoring which brings a scowl to her face.

“Excuse me a moment dear, there seems to be a discipline problem that I need to take care of.” The look in her eye makes me feel sorry for whoever is down here as she makes her way deeper into the cellar. Soon I hear a loud yelp and her voice echoes towards the entrance. “ALL RIGHT YA LAZY HORSEAPPLE I’VE WARNED YA ABOUT SLEEPING ON THE JOB BEFORE SO NOW YA GET TO BE ON FETILIZER DUTY UNTIL THE END OF NEXT SEASON!” I stare in shock as a purple coated stallion blazes by me up the stairs, but I was more surprised as the mare went from a proper fancy accent to one that I would have expected to hear around here. I tried to shake it off when I saw her coming back again looking a little bit abashed.

“I’m terribly sorry that you had to hear that dear, but the hired help doesn’t listen well if I speak like this. While I like working out in the orchards I like to think that when I’m not required to be doing that I can actually be a proper mare. It helps when dealing with some of our more stuffy clients.” I just give a small smile at this. “Oh don’t worry I think I know what you mean. One of my old friends that used to work here could have used your help with that I think. She didn’t care for anything fancy and I think it would have cost her a bit of business if it wasn’t for some of the friends she had helping out at times.”

She looks at me oddly for a second. “You used to know someone that worked here before? Who was it? I might be able to call them in for you if they are still here.” I just shake my head sadly. “I know for a fact that they aren’t here. It was so long ago that all that would be left of them is memories and their descendants. All I have left of them now are some pictures, one of her hair ties, and a few bottles of Zap Apple Cider.” I watch as a look of complete shock crosses her face as I say the last bit and she drops a bottle she had been carrying, which luckily doesn’t break.

“Z-z-zap Apple Cider?! How did you get your hooves on a bottle of that, let alone more than one?! We lost the secret of how to make any more years ago and the last few bottles are only owned by the Apple Family!” I feel saddened that they haven’t made any in a long time and made note to ask Twilight about that since I know she wrote down how to make it somewhere. “You’re also forgetting honorary family members as well in that. If it really has been that long then there are probably only four that still fit in that.” She glares at me in suspicion once again but doesn’t do anything beyond snarling out. “Oh yeah? And who might those four be?”

I sigh and hope that she doesn’t do anything rash. “Well there is me of course, along with Spike, a dragon, and both Princess Selene and Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Her jaw drops as I rattle off the names. “My mother told me that some of the Princesses were just like family, but we never tell anyone outside the family about it. I’ve also heard that there was one dragon that we could trust but I never knew the name. I can tell that you aren’t lying but just who are you?” I smile as I get her to believe me, though I suspect it’s mostly due to the Apple trait of being good lie detectors.

“Just call me Flarenza. If you want to know more then you’ll have to wait until later during the party after I speak with Princess Twilight.” I get an odd look at that. “Party? What party?” I just point to the hat that she is now wearing that I noticed Surprise slip onto her while she was distracted. She looks up and takes off the cowboy hat and reads the invitation that was in the hat band. “When did she manage to slip in here and put that on my head? Actually, let’s just forget about that though we are sharing this bottle you hear me?” She lifts up the bottle that she dropped and I just nod in agreement.

“Since you are a friend of the family I’ll let the first one go free, by the way my name is Barnack Beauty Apple but please call me B.B. I know how the name sound but my parents wanted to be ready for either a stallion or a colt so they chose a name that could have one part or the other removed but the hospital made a mistake.” I nod as I lift the glass she poured for me before raising it to her as the urge to make a toast comes to me. “I’ll be sure to remember that, as for this though, a toast to family and friends no matter who or where they are.” This is met with a grin and raised glass from her as we both drain them to help with dealing with memories of Surprise.

<><><><><><><>

I left the farm a while later and made my way back towards town, though the hard cider didn’t help as much as I liked. I was tempted to pull out the good stuff I had but I wanted to wait until after meeting with Twilight again. I did manage to distract myself though as I thought about the three ponies that I had met and wondered who I would meet if I ventured to some of my other old haunts. With that in mind I made a detour towards the Everfree Forest to see if a certain cottage was still there or not.

I was sad to see that the Everfree had also advanced a bit in this area as well, but the cottage was still visible and looked to be in good condition. The forest came all the way up to the back of it but it was clear to see that it was still outside of it, while the path into the forest extended to the new edge interestingly enough. I was crossing the bridge when I heard a voice call out from off to the side. “Hello there, what brings you to my humble abode?”

I turn to look along the forest edge leading towards my home to see a turquoise colored unicorn mare with a slate grey mane and tail. I saw her surrounded by a crowd of animals, which she was feeding, but there was something else that grabbed my attention about her. It had been so long since I had the feeling but I knew for a fact that she was a changeling. I would have done something except for one important difference from the ones I dealt with before and that is because she lacked that oily feeling that I got from the others.

I decided to find out more before doing anything as I signaled to Rose to be on guard but to wait for further orders. “Sorry to interrupt what you are doing. I’ve just moved back into town after being gone for a long time. I was just visiting a few of the places that my friends used to live but I didn’t realize that someone new moved in here.” She cocks her head to the side as if trying to remember something before answering. “Well I was just finishing up here, so why don’t you come inside for a bit and talk about it. I found this place abandoned and would love to hear about the previous owner.”

I nod to her as I watch her lean down to nuzzle at a nearby bunny before she leads me into her home. She offers to make some tea, which I accept, and I take a look around her living room as I extend my magical senses out. The room is set up much the same as I remembered but it is now filled with the personal effects of the new owner. What is strange though is that there is a lack of pictures, and from what I can sense she is living here alone. This is so strange, I know that she is a changeling yet I can’t sense anyone around that she could feed on. Not only that but being out here would be bad for her as anyone coming out here would make her a suspect if they just up and vanished, even with the Everfree right there. Also why does she feel so different from the other changelings that I had met?

When she returns with the tea and a pair of cups I decide on a simple course of action as she wouldn’t be much of a threat to me. “So can you tell me about who it was that lived here before? I had to fix up a few things but this place is just so fascinating with how it was designed.” I sigh and take a small sip of tea, after checking for anything in it and finding nothing more than a simple zebra blend, before setting it down and looking right at her. “We can get to that in a bit, but would you mind telling me what a changeling is doing out here all alone?”

My question brings an expected response as she accidentally inhales some of the tea she was sipping leading into a coughing fit before she can respond. “What do you mean by that? What makes you think that I’m a changeling?” I can see and hear the fear in both her eyes and voice as I let out another sigh. “Let’s not fool ourselves here. I’ve had plenty of experience at finding changelings so I know one when I see them.” She shrinks back in fear as her eyes start darting around looking for an escape. “But that’s impossible. Ponies don’t have any way to do that without removing our disguises.”

I can tell she is cracking a bit as she forgets to keep up the charade though I sigh at once again being called a pony. “You know it’s getting annoying that everyone keeps assuming that I’m a pony. Sure I’m about the same size but there are a few other races that are of the same size and I’d think the lack of sound when I walk would be a giveaway.” I push my hood back to show off my vulpine features to her which causes her pupils to shrink which I expected. What happened next was completely unexpected.

“No! Not the Fox Demon, the Eater of Changelings! You can’t be here!” She topples off the back of her seat as she flees backwards away from me in terror until she reaches a corner of the room where she curls up and starts shaking. “Please don’t eat me!” With that her disguise vanishes in a burst of cobalt flames as I sit there staring. “Now what in Tartarus is all this about?”

Author's Notes:

Two in one day? I haven't done that in a while though considering they were supposed to be part of the same chapter and I had to split it into yet another part? But yeah some of this is getting fun to write and I'm not even done yet. Expect even more mind twisting shenanigans next chapter as well. Please leave any comments, complaints, and typos below as I really want to know.

Name for this newest character is still up in the air if anyone has any ideas, though I have a couple I'm toying with.

A taste of things to come

I just stared at the female changeling that was cowering in the corner as I try to figure out what was going on. Here in front of me was a changeling, like I suspected, yet she was nothing like what I expected. Instead of the usual black and dark cerulean that I was expecting, her colors were instead the turquoise and grey colors that she was previously. She also was lacking the holes in her legs or wings as well and her horn was a delicate spire that jutted out in a spiraled shape. Her wings were also much different from a normal changeling as they came in pairs and looked similar to what is found on a dragonfly, including the iridescent glow. She didn’t even have chitin like the others either and instead has what looks like a hard shell but is covered with fine hairs like velvet almost. In fact comparing her to a changeling was like comparing a dragonfly to a common fly.

As I am examining her she stays cowering in the corner, which reminds me of the reason why she is there. “Now hold on a moment, what do you mean by changeling eater? I can understand the demon fox bit but I’ve never eaten a changeling, besides they probably taste terrible.” That was probably the wrong thing to say as she starts trying to burrow further into the corner. I start to move towards her, but stop when small animals start swarming out of the walls to stand between the two of us. I am surprised at first, especially when I don’t detect any sign of the usual changeling mind control that I would expect from this situation. I start to get an inkling of what may be going on but the first order of business is to try and calm her down.

I move back to the seat I was using before and pour two new cups of tea before taking a sip from one and floating the other towards the changeling. The animals watch me warily as I float it over them to her and just sit and wait. After a good while of waiting some of the animals move over to her and start nuzzling at her. After much prodding by them, through which I observed closely while not looking is if I was doing so, she finally looks up to see the tea cup and fearfully glances between it and me. Eventually she manages to gather up enough courage to lift the cup in her own manage and take a sip from it shakily.

I sit there sipping from my cup as she warily watches me, waiting for her to start things this time. I really have no idea how to deal with her as I had only fought the changelings in the past, yet even if I had other dealings with them I wasn’t sure if they would have helped here. The animals seem to be really taken with the changeling though, and from my time with Fluttershy in the past I know that their instincts often are a thing to trust. “W-why aren’t you trying to eat me?” I turn to look into her bright pink eyes, which look surprisingly pony-like, which causes her to flinch back yet again causing me to sigh.

“Where in the world did that story come from anyways? Sure I’ve fought changelings before but never have I eaten any. No part of them has even come close to entering my mouth and the thought of even attempting to eat one is sickening.” I’m not sure if she believes me or not, but the animals have at least calmed her enough that she has stopped shaking. She still looks wary though not quite as vulnerable while surrounded by her animal friends.

“It was an old story that my mother told me when I was younger. She told me about how not once, but twice a single fox stopped the changeling empire in their tracks. She also told me stories about how it was known to chase our kind everywhere they went from a haunted manor to one of our outposts in the Everfree.” Something about what she says is familiar to me and it’s not until I look into the yellowish eyes of one of the nearby squirrels that I realize why. “Of course something like that would come back to haunt me, I should have expected it given how emotion-based your kind is and fear is an emotion.”

She looks at me oddly as I slam a paw across my face at all this. I look back up at her to see her staring at me before I sigh and start to explain. “Look the first part is mostly true, though the ponies had a large part in it as well which I can explain later, but it was during the first event that I met the changeling that the second bit is about. I practically dragged him through all of Canterlot and it left him a bit disturbed. After that we just kept running into each other time and time again and I took a bit of enjoyment at scaring him. Never once did I actually do anything else to him directly as he always took off running whenever he found me, once after breaking into my home.”

“Though I’m wondering how exactly you would know all this as you look nothing like the changelings from back then and I’ve never even heard of any being any color other than black.” I try to keep her talking, as well as change to a more neutral topic, as it keeps her from panicking from what I could see. Unfortunately it didn’t work like I thought as it seems to sadden her for some reason. “There aren’t any others from what I can tell. My mother was like all the others yet it was because she took a pony as a mate that I am different she says.”

My eyebrows shoot up at this as I had never heard of anything like this happening before, though they wouldn’t have advertised the fact so it makes some sense. “He used to be a member of the guard yet he gave everything up for her and they hid away from everyone for years. I still take after my mother more in that I need emotions as well as regular food, but I’ve never had to steal it like the others as my father had plenty for us both, and then I found that I could earn it from animals. I live out here so that I can take care of them in exchange for being fed, while also helping with any animal problem the town might have.”

I consider this as I try to put together what I know about changelings with what she says yet she goes against everything I knew about them. I wonder if her history is what causes her to be different or if it’s her actions that does so. “You know you definitely aren’t what I expected when I first saw you. I came expecting to have to possibly fight something just to find a pony just like any other.” This actually earns a blush from her and has her hiding her head once again, though not in fear for once.

“T-t-thank you, but I really don’t think the others will feel the same way. I’m also not very comfortable with others knowing what I am right now.” I nod at this, though I notice something that is on the table that hadn’t been there before and I wince about what it means. “You might want to rethink some of that as there may be at least one that knows about you.” I levitate the party invitation from Surprise off the table and over towards her so she can read it. Her eyes widen and she whimpers in fear at being found out. “W-w-where did this come from? Please tell me that you brought it in or it was already there when you arrived.”

I sigh and shake my head as I try to reassure her. “Unfortunately not to both of those. Don’t worry though because if I read her right she will keep your secret as well as be one of the best friends you’d ever know; once you get around her popping up out of nowhere and doing the impossible at least. If it will make you feel better though, you can always hide out at my place if you have to on the other end of Ponyville by the Everfree.” She doesn’t look too reassured but still nods at me, seeming to have forgot her fear of me in favor of the fear of being found out.

“At the very least I can speak with princesses on your behalf so that at least they can protect you if something does happen.” Her eyes widen once again as she blurts out. “Just who are you that you know the princesses themselves and can get them to listen to you?” I can see that me surprising ponies constantly is going to be a trend until I settle in as I sigh before explaining.

“Well the last time I was in Ponyville was over five hundred years ago now and I had made friends with them while I was living here. It was mostly Twilight and Selene that I spent time with as they were in town the most at the time. In fact Selene had many problems being accepted at first considering how much she looked like Nightmare Moon. It’s just a good thing that she ended up looking like Luna more than her alter ego when she got older. Though I’m really surprised that the ponies I met haven’t recognized me yet considering there is a statue with me and the Elements of Harmony in the center of town.”

The changeling’s jaw drops as I explain a small bit about why I know them and I realize that I still don’t know her name. “You know we’ve been talking all this time and we still haven’t exchanged names yet. It’s getting a bit annoying thinking of you as ‘the changeling’ all the time and I bet you’d probably rather not be thinking ‘demon fox’ all the time either. My name is Flarenza.” She looks a bit unsure about this but still answers. “I’m Velour.”

I smile at her seeming to open up a tiny bit more as I look out her window to see that it’s getting to be around noon. “I didn’t notice that it was nearing lunch time. Would you like to join me or do you need some time to unwind alone after what’s been happening?” She looks outside as I say this. “Um, no thank you, I think I might need some time alone. I’ll think on everything that you’ve told me but I’m not sure if I’ll take you up on your offer or not yet.” I nod to her as I stand and make my way out back towards Ponyville.

I pull my hood back up before anyone can see me as I search through my bags with my magic for some bits. It takes a bit of digging before I find them and am not surprised to notice that I am running pretty low. Searching around to see if I missed anything I come across a key buried at the bottom and wonder if my account with the bank is still active or not. Searching through the town I am glad to find that it is in that same place as I remembered, and it even looks to be using the same protections as well. Huh, I see the changeling alarm I helped design is still there, though it might need to be updated if the more dangerous ones have changed since I know it won’t work for Velour.

It seems to be a rather slow day for the bank as I am immediately able to meet with one of the unicorn ponies running the place named Bean Counter going by that nameplate on the desk. “Yes, may I help you ma’am?” He sounds a bit bored as I pull the key, numbered forty-three, out and show it to him. “Yes, I need to access my personal vault to retrieve some bits for personal use.” He eyes it before using his magic to scan the key before his eyebrows shoot up. “Of course, ma’am. I’m surprised to see a number as low as this without having seen you around before though.”

I chuckle a bit as he leads me towards one of the stairways down towards the vault areas. “Well it’s an old family vault and we haven’t been in town for a long time now.” He looks a bit suspicious as I say that but doesn’t comment further. It takes a while to arrive as they had extended the vaults since I was last here and the magic used pushed mine much deeper than I remember. Soon we arrive at vault forty-three when he turns and sweeps his leg towards the locking mechanism. “Now if you’ll just insert the key and place your hoof on the plate for a magic scan to verify…”

He trails off as he says that and I can guess that he expects it not to work as I follow his directions. When the locks click open I have to suppress a laugh at the expression on his face which was nothing compared to what it looked like when the door opened. “Sweet Mother of Celestia.” I turn to see why he reacted like that just to stare at the mounds of bits that are piled inside of the vault until a large folder on the back of the door catches my eye. Levitating it out I look through it to find that it is a record of all the transactions that went through the vault on a yearly basis.

Paging through it I am a bit surprised at what I find. Huh, the Crystal Empire has been paying me all this time for the work I did for them with enchantments and their crystals? I might have to check with Cadance about that one even if it is a drop in the bucket. It seems like a couple of the businesses I helped start up are still running even now and paying me as well. Odd how a bunch of them just stop at that point a few centuries ago with one big lump payment. So adding all of it to what I made personally and the bank interest comes to... a really large amount. I let out a whistle as I look into the vault which contains a couple hundred million bits at this time.

On the plus side, I don’t have to work if I don’t want to, not that I have a choice with my responsibilities now. I can also help support my people for long enough that they can get things rolling for a new economy to emerge with Sionnach. I’m not sure how things will fare with this war going on, but if we can help end it faster it should open up a lot of grateful ponies to be able to help out. Tucking the folder back into its slot in the door I turn to the vault and casually pull out ten coins each of copper, silver, gold, and platinum metals before turning back to the bank pony. “I think that eleven thousand, one hundred ten bits should be enough for now if you can make the notation against my account please.”

He just nods numbly as I lead him back upstairs once again before leaving him back at his desk, still in shock. I can hear him muttering as I walk off though. “I didn’t know a pony in this town could have that much money other than the princess.” I chuckle as I leave the building and made my way to the closest food stall, which just happened to be full of apples. Paying for a few as mu lunch I was about to head towards the library when the sound of music caught my attention. With curiosity taking hold I followed the sound to a pair of ponies playing their instruments on a street corner.

The first was a black unicorn mare with a white mane and tail who was playing a flute using her magic to assist. The other was a white earth pony mare with a black mane and tail who was playing a violin. They looked to be twins by appearance, and even their cute marks reflected this as the each sported a treble clef that was mirrored with itself, the left being white and the right being black, or the outline of it if it was the color of their coat. They really knew their way around their instruments, which was surprising as they looked to be just short of adulthood, and played together perfectly so I decided to toss a pair of silver bits into their collection jar.

As they finished up and I was about to leave I heard them muttering to each other. “Do you think this will hold them for the week, Ebony?” “I don’t know, Ivory, but we’ll find somewhere else to play if it isn’t.” This catches my interest as I decide to follow them to see what is going on and to see who this ‘them’ is. Imagine my surprise when they lead me to the last place I expected to see, the CMC Memorial Orphanage. The two were approached by who I assume was the pony in charge of the place.

“Matron Care, here’s what we managed to come up with so far…” “…we hope it’s enough for you to get through the week.” I’m a bit surprised when one completes the other’s sentence, yet I ignore that as I admire what they are doing as the Matron answers. “It’ll be tight but I think it’ll be enough. I still can’t begin to thank you for helping out, especially after so many fillies and colts lost their parents in the war.” I wince at the last bit, vowing to do what I can to fix that issue, while I step forward to the three.

“If I knew that you two were doing this for the orphanage then I would’ve given you a bit more than a measly twenty bits.” The three jump a bit as I move close enough for them to more easily see me. “A performance like that, as well as the generosity of helping out those in need, deserves much more.” I levitate over five platinum coins to the Matron who looks down in confusion while the eyes of the two musicians widen.

“Why thank you miss, but you really didn’t have to follow them all this way just to give the orphanage another fifty bits. You could have waited until the next time they went out to help.” I just chuckle as the other two gasp out in shock. “Matron Care, those aren’t silver bits…” “…but platinum ones. That is actually…” “…five thousand bits that she just…” “…gave you! That can last for months!” My head bounces back and forth between the two as they seem to read each other’s mind and I get the feeling that they might be somehow. My attention is soon pulled away as I’m suddenly grabbed up in a tight hug from the matron of the orphanage.

“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! You have no idea how much this will mean to the poor children that are here. It’s so hard getting them everything they need and few ponies have much to spare nowadays. Wait until they hear that we don’t have to close the place down now.” With that she rushes off back into the building to give the good news, though I’m worried about the fact that there is even a threat of it closing. The two young mares are still staring at me in shock about what I just did, though I planned on even larger donations if the situation didn’t change.

“So Ebony and Ivory was it?” The two just nod. “I’ll probably see you two around since I’m moving back into town. Just let me know if the orphanage is having any troubles and I’ll do what I can to help, the name is Flarenza. If they are having problems I can see why Aurora left it like she did. I bet she’s donating money as well.” I mutter the last bit as I walk off so I doubt they heard me.

After that there are no more interruptions as I make my way to the library. I stop outside and take in the view of it, as well as Twilight’s small palace that is connected to the back of it by a hallway. The tree hasn’t changed a bit as I felt it with my magic to find the spells inhibiting its growth. I can’t tell if it was a pony or kitsune that put them there but after gaining some knowledge of how the tree homes were made I could easily enlarge it if I wanted to. I made note to let Twilight know this as I knew it would make the special distortion spells on the inside be more effective with more room to use.

The palace was really only that in name and was more of a giant mansion with a couple towers at the corners and jutting out of the center. If she hadn’t changed things then the center one held her room while the four others held rooms for each of the other four princesses when they visited. The entire thing was built out of wood, and an expensive wood at that, as she didn’t want a marble monstrosity cluttering up the view of Ponyville. It took some convincing but she managed to at least get the place to look like it belonged, though it annoyed many nobles at the time.

I noticed two guards on the door who were eyeing me, one of them a changeling of the old variety I quickly noticed. I decided not to do anything until I talked to Twilight about it, but seeing their presence there I was betting she was in there and not her palace. Ahh same old Twilight, always stuck inside a library for some reason or other. I noticed that it still seemed to be set as the public library as well so I made my way to the door. The guards kept a close eye on me, but made no move to stop me, but when one looked behind me his eyes widened in shock as he took a defensive stance.

“Ma’am, watch out! You have a timberwolf following after you!” I look at him in shock that he saw Rose, but on a closer look I noticed the enchantments on his helm that was made to see through illusions, though it wasn’t working on the changeling’s disguise I was guessing. Looking back at Rose I quickly signaled her to wait as well as gave a covert signal to keep an eye on the guard that was a changeling. “Oh you don’t have to worry about her my good sir; she is just a guard of mine. I can leave her out here if you want to keep an eye on her though.”

He looks at me in shock as his partner keeps watch on it but doesn’t object even though he looks a bit nervous. Seeing as there is an ‘Open’ sign in the window I walk into the library and take a deep breath to take in the scent of the old books. Okay, so Twilight isn’t the only one comfortable in a library. I practically turned into her those first years in New Sionnach. I glance around to see if I could spot her anywhere but I instead catch sight of another familiar figure behind the front desk.

“Welcome to Golden Oaks Library, may I help you find what you are looking for?” There is no mistaking that voice that I had lived with for so long, or her azure coat and two-toned pale cornflower blue mane and tail. Even her dark violet eyes are just as I remember them but the problem is that she shouldn’t be here and I can tell that she isn’t a changeling.

“TRIXIE?!”

Author's Notes:

Another chapter and I still haven't finished what I had planned originally for the first chapter. I am amazed how long this is getting now and I still have one more part to go. Of course I just had to end it on another cliffhanger. So please leave any typos, comments, or complaints below and I'll get to them when I can.

As for Velour's horn in changeling form, I'm picturing it as something like this https://5ocietyx.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/unicorn-horn.jpg instead of how the normal changeling horn is or Chrysalis' horn.

Behold Twilight

“Is there something wrong ma’am? And have we met before?” These questions snapped me out of my stupor as I knew something wasn’t right here, especially when I saw the look of worry and confusion in her eyes. There is no way that Trixie is still alive as I went to her funeral centuries ago and she also doesn’t carry herself the same. It’s like she didn’t expect anyone to recognize who she was which means one of two things and I know that she isn’t a changeling. I calm myself down as I carefully probe at her with my magical senses to determine if I was right this.

Well I can definitely say that she’s not Trixie as her magical signature is way off, though there is a hint of her there still. It sure looks like her though except it feels as if she is just wearing the form but it doesn’t fit correctly. Looking a bit deeper I see why as there truly is an illusion around whomever this pony is as I can sense space where nothing truly exists as she is shorter than the illusion. This really isn’t a bad attempt at an illusion though, if it wasn’t for the fact that I knew what to look for and the fact that she was someone that shouldn’t be here then I wouldn’t have looked twice. It’s actually pretty good, especially if they only had a photo of Trixie to go by as I doubt Twilight would have shown her exactly what she looked like. There’s another thing that would have tipped me off, now that I think of it. Trixie almost never took off that hat and cape of hers unless she was only going to be around friends.

She looks as if she is getting a bit nervous with me staring at her so I decide to break the silence. “You know that’s a pretty good illusion that you’ve put up there, but is there a reason that you need it?” A look of shock passes over her face when I say this before it changes to a look of frustration replaces it as she stomps a hoof in frustration. “Aww, now the princess will never teach me how to teleport, and I only had to fool three more ponies as well.” I watch as the illusion fades away revealing a young unicorn mare with a pinkish-lavender coat and mane of the same color that Trixie had. Hare mane was shaped so that it hung down evenly around hear head to her shoulders while the part in front was cut so that it just covered her eyes. I noticed that she also had her cutie mark which looked to be two triangles overlapping each other in a star shape, but with the top one being invisible with starbursts highlighting the corners.

I watch her pouting for a while taking a bit of amusement at her reaction though I’m not sure if I should be. “I’m sorry about ruining the test that the princess, I really didn’t expect for her to have a student. Of course if she specifically said that it was only ponies that were to be part of the test then technically you didn’t fail.” I am surprised as she lets out a small ‘eep’ sound as she ducks down behind the desk as if I had surprised her. She peeks out from behind the desk at me before ducking back down again and I wonder what is going on until she speaks from her hiding spot, though she is kind of hard to hear.

“W-w-what do you mean by that? If you don’t mind me asking that is…” Oh great, she has a shyness complex just as bad as Fluttershy’s. Strange how she was talking to me just fine when the illusion up, I wonder if that is a major factor with how she speaks. “Well at the very least I can talk to Princess Twilight about it when I see her, I doubt she would hold it against you for not succeeding against someone that is more experienced than you with illusions.” I decide to show off a bit as I conjure up some illusionary butterflies and fly them around the room and even landing one on her nose. She watches in awe as the multitude of colors swarms around the entire room before I have them start to shatter apart in bursts of color. “So pretty…”

I smile as she turns to look at me, but this time without her hiding behind the desk in fear. Suddenly I hear a loud banging sound from the basement area of the library and I realize just where Twilight is right now as I look at the young mare. “Let me guess, Princess Twilight is downstairs doing some kind of experiment or research. How long has she been down there this time?” She looks at me shyly but actually answers even though it’s not much better than a whisper still. “One week now. She was up here for a while but she went back down again talking about someone coming. The door is warded so nobody can bother her.”

I sigh as I shake my head at Twilight’s antics. Of course I should have expected her to go overboard after receiving that letter. I guess Spike must have sent it to her once he received it but he wasn’t here to do anything to stop her from overreacting. That or she just ignored that part of the letter that he probably sent her. I examine the door that leads down into her old lab area and smile as I notice something. Oh Twilight, what have I told you about making sure you update your protective spells so that someone doesn’t sneak in using old backdoors. That’s probably why Aurora was able to get into my home past the spells designed to divert ponies away from it barring a few exceptions.

“You know this might be a good time for a little impromptu lesson regarding, not only illusions, but about ward spells as well.” The mare looks at me in curiosity as I say this, but she doesn’t interrupt. “You see ward spells, like most shielding spells, are designed to stop only certain things from passing through them. You can also make it where they stop everyone from getting through except for those that you want to be able to pass through. So you can’t use the exact same spell all the time or else you might have something like this happen.” I open up the door leading down to the basement as if the spell wasn’t even there as I pull a handful of smoke bombs out of my pack before tossing them down the stairs and closing the door again.

She looks at me in shock as I let out a small chuckle before explaining. “Oh don’t worry; those are just some smoke bombs. I’m an old friend of the princess, which is why I could get through the ward and play a little joke.” I hear a yell of confusion from below as the smoke bombs go off. “Now while she is figuring out what is going on we can start the lesson on illusions before she gets up here.” I pull out a length of rope from my packs and divide it into eight foot-long segments. “You see you surprising me with that illusion was a good thing, as shock can throw off a being’s senses enough that you can get them to believe almost anything is real. Of course once I recovered I was able to find the few flaws in your illusion, one of which is the fact that you were smaller than the illusion and there was nothing taking up the extra space.”

I cover the ropes with an illusion of snakes before tossing them to the ground in front of the door while moving them with telekinesis. “You can easily use other objects to make up for that issue as the illusion of substance is often enough to stop beings from looking deeper. Of course there are a couple other things you missed which I will explain in a moment.” I pause in my lecture before backing into a corner as I hear hooffalls on the steps behind the door. The door opens to reveal the familiar figure of a purple alicorn, whose mane is looking a bit frazzled though it’s hard to tell with the smoke billowing out around her.

I grin as I start to conjure up an illusion around me, making sure to quadruply shield it from being dispelled, and I pull a dry towel from my bags to assist with it. I then make sure to make it where the form will be detected as real with a few barriers before I finally adjust my magical signature and voice so that they match the new form as I pay attention to Twilight once again. She stops in the middle of the mass of fake snakes and starts speaking between coughs to the unicorn without seeming to have noticed me.

“Triguna Lulamoon, when just happened up here? How did somepony get through-“ She pauses as one of the fake snakes brushes against a hoof causing her to look down before her eyes shrink to pinpricks. “S-s-s-SNAKES!” With her cry Twilight leapt high into the air and clung to the top of a nearby bookshelf in her panic. Triguna Lulamoon, which I’m guessing is the unicorn I was showing off to, is just watching in shock at what is happening while I try to hold back from breaking down laughing. Getting my first good look at Twilight I see that she has also grown in relation to things but actually doesn’t look much different from my point of view as I come up to just above her withers like I did before. I do wince when I notice that both her wings are wrapped in bandages and I wonder what happened to them before I start the next phase of my little prank. She also is wearing a fetching set of silver regalia that was inset with magenta gems.

“So, the great Twilight Sparkle is still so easily fooled by mere illusions. I honestly expected much more from you.” Twilight stops in her yelling when I start talking in my changed voice before she fires off a spell to strip the illusion away showing the ropes slithering around the floor in a light magenta aura. Twilight’s eye starts twitching as she takes in this scene before she levels a glare at me as she climbs down the bookcase. “All right, who are you and how did you manage to get past my not only my guards but also my protective wards?” Her horn starts glowing in a threatening manner as I let out a small laugh.

“Oh Twilight, has it really slipped your little mind the identity of your greatest rival? The only unicorn powerful enough to match you even after you picked up your little wings? Well worry not, for once again you can behold the amazing skills of the Great and Powerful Trrrrrixie!” With that I toss of my bags and cloak with a flourish to reveal me under the illusion of Trixie with her hat and cape as I balance on my hind legs and fire off a burst of illusionary fireworks into the area around me. I know that I am enjoying this too much, but I can’t really help it as I view not only Triguna’s jaw drop but Twilight’s as well.

Twilight is the first to recover from her shock, though it hasn’t really helped her mental stability much as her mane starts getting even further frazzled than before. “Wait, this is just another illusion isn’t it? There’s no way that Trixie can really still be alive after all this time, right?” She fires off a spell to dispel the illusion around me, but only strips away a layer of protection with no real effect on the illusion itself. “Wait, why didn’t that work? It worked before and as I said Trixie being here is just plain impossible.” She powers up her horn again and attempts to strip the illusion away one more time, this time removing two layers of protection, but ends up with the same scene as before.

I drop to all fours once again as I imitate Trixie’s haughty glare at Twilight. “Is that really the best you’ve got Twilight? Trixie must say that you have really let yourself go if Trixie can defeat you without even casting a single spell.” Twilight is definitely not looking very good as her mane is a complete mess and her twitching eye has gotten worse. “This is impossible. You are completely impossible. It is impossible that you are here and I am going to prove it.” With that she starts teleporting around the room as she starts grabbing books seemingly at random and I wonder if I may have gone a bit too far. Sighing I decide to end this charade as I turn towards the young Lulamoon who looks to be on the verge of her own panic attack.

“Let this be a lesson to remember in the future Ms. Lulamoon. Even the most powerful magic users can be thrown off by a well-crafted illusion. Twilight was so sure that this was an illusion that even after trying twice and failed that she lost her composure and is easy to defeat if that is your goal. Had she tried again she would have stripped away the last of the protections I had placed to prevent her from doing so and I would have had to reapply them or lose the illusion. Even then she might not have been able to as part of dispelling an illusion requires you to disbelieve that it is real.”

The room had gotten really silent as I explained this but I still continued on. “Your illusion earlier was missing anything to direct others attention away from it being an illusion something off was noticed. That and the lack of any protections over the illusion were the other flaws that I noticed in your casting though not many would have seen through what you were doing. Off the top of my head I could name six other being other than Twilight that would have seen through your illusion as they personally knew the mare in question so would easily notice that you lacked both her personality as well as her magical signature.” Looking around I notice that Triguna’s eyes were wide open at my explanation, while Twilight was once again glaring down at me from one of the upper levels of the library with narrowed eyes before she teleported in front of me.

She took a closer look at me as she seemed to switch from her panicked state over to one of deep suspicion. “Who are you really? I know everypony else that would remember Trixie and the only one that I don’t know the location of is Discord yet you aren’t acting like he would.” I raise an eyebrow at this information as I was a bit curious about why I hadn’t seen any sign of him yet. “Really? So you found a way to track me through a portal to another world, yet you never bothered to let me know or knew that the message you got recently was from me? I guess you don’t really want that book that I saved for you.” I didn’t really need to ask the last part, but I was curious about how Twilight to react.

I seemed to have hit a nerve somewhere as she just stared at me in shock with her horn no longer glowing. “But it can’t be, we thought she was dead all this time. Can it really be you?” I look at her as if she was crazy though I just drop the illusion in response revealing me with the towel I was wearing as a cape. Twilight looks at me in shock and I can see her eyes start to tear up before she rushes at me. “Flarenza! It is you!” She grabs me up in a hug as she starts crying into my fur while I bring my left paw around to pat her back.

We were only there for a couple minutes before we were interrupted by Twilight’s student. “Excuse me ma’am, but why are you wearing a crown? Are you a princess, too?” I had forgotten that I was wearing my regalia but was reminded about it when she mentioned it as well as when Twilight jerked back to look at my crown. “Wait a minute, why are you wearing that Flarenza? Celestia won’t like it if she sees you with something like that on.” I sigh as I wasn’t ready to explain this yet though she would pester me constantly until she knew the reason why.

“I’ll talk to you about that later Twilight, though I will tell you that there is a very good reason for me to have it which she might not like either. Of course there are a lot of things that we’ll need to talk about after what I’ve learned since I got here.” I gesture towards her bandaged wings with a paw which causes her to look back at them and sigh. “So you’ve already heard about the war then. We need all the help we can but unless you have an army just sitting around in hiding then I’m not sure what you could do.” I say nothing for now, but something does come to mind that needs to be settled now.

“We can talk about it tomorrow, but there is one thing I have to know about now. How are Equestria’s relations with the changelings right now?” She looks at me strangely before exchanging a look with her student. “I don’t know why you want to know that, but we haven’t seen them since you were last here.” I look a bit worried at this as I have no idea what happened with Chrysalis, but finding a changeling in such an important position as a royal guard may not be a good sign.

“So you know nothing about that changeling that is standing outside the door posing as one of your guards?” Twilight just stares at me for a moment before she realizes exactly what I just said. “What?! What do you mean by that!?” Realizing that this is news to her I let out a sharp whistle, signaling Rose to subdue the changeling. From the yelling that starts up outside I assume she was successful but the other guard is taking offense so I open the door. She quickly drags the changeling inside the library while the other guard is atop her back trying unsuccessfully to get her to release it.

“Twilight, if you would call off your guard we can figure out what this is all about.” I dig through my memories for the spell before casting it on the changeling, stripping it of its disguise. What was revealed was one of the changelings that I remembered which only now noticed my presence causing it to begin panicking. “No! The Demon Fox is here!? The hive must be warned!” It starts struggling even more and I can feel its presence pressing on the shield I erected to prevent it from communicating with any others.

Twilight looks between it and me in shock as I just sigh before pulling out an old ring from my bags and secure it on the changeling’s horn. “So what do you want to do about the changeling Twilight?” This snaps her out of it and I see her compose herself before turning towards the other guard who was watching in shock. “Sergeant, secure the changeling in my alternate lab until we get a chance to interrogate it then enact the changeling contingency plan and make sure the rest of the guard is clear.” The guard snaps to attention to do this while the changeling continues to scream its head off in fear of me.

Once the guard is gone Twilight turns towards me with a look of frustration on her face. “Okay, now do you mind telling me why there is a timberwolf in my library and why it seems to be listening to you?” I just chuckle before responding. “She’s one of my guards along with two others that are back at my manor getting things ready. I’ll explain it tomorrow along with everything else.” She just groans and brings a hoof up to rub at her temple. “I had forgotten how annoying things could get with you around, though I am glad to finally see you again.”

I look away from her for a moment and see the time on a nearby clock. “Yeah, speaking of that it might be getting a bit worse than you think as I may have accidentally introduced one of the most dangerous things that Ponyville has ever seen back into the town earlier today.” Twilight just looks at me as if I was crazy before she brings up her other hoof to her head. “And just what do you mean by that? I haven’t heard any screaming yet so how dangerous could it be?”

I look at Triguna who had gone back to hiding behind the front desk when Rose showed up before turning back. “Well how much do you know about the ponies that are in town right now? More specifically about a certain white pegasus that has a blonde curly mane?” I see Triguna’s eyes widen before she rests a hoof on her face while Twilight looks confused. “I think I remember hearing about who you are talking about, her name was Surprise I think, what about her?” I grin sheepishly as I’m still not sure how to explain it.

“Well you probably should have paid more attention to Ponyville as not only did I see her get a twitchy tail just before a piano almost fell on a couple fillies, but she somehow managed to grab an illusion of the party cannon before she ran off with it.” Twilight seems unsure about what I am talking about at first but her eyes widen as she begins to comprehend. “Please tell me that you aren’t saying what I think you are saying.” I shake my head as a loud ‘BOOM’ rolls across Ponyville, shaking the library from she shockwave.

“I’m afraid I am Twilight. Her full name is Surprise Pie and from what I can tell is exactly like her ancestor Pinkie.” I watch as Twilight runs out the door to see what just happened and I slowly follow her leaving Ms. Lulamoon behind looking confused.

Author's Notes:

Hehe, another chapter done though I probably missed a lot considering the time here now. Also yet another little split though I'm not sure how much this last one will be or if it'll just be part of the next chapter I had planned. Mostly a bit more interaction with the town and driving Twilight crazy some more. Please leave any comments, typos, and complaints below so I can consider them for viability.

Also what Triguna's cutie mark looks like but with starbursts instead of circles.

Reminiscing

Stepping outside I was amazed with the change that had come over Ponyville from what I can only assume was a result of the party cannon. Somehow Pinkie had managed to fit a Ferris wheel and a rollercoaster in that ball she gave me and I decided to not even question it. The buildings were also covered with streamers and balloons and I kind of felt bad to whoever was going to be tasked with cleaning everything up. I was more prepared for the insanity of what happened this time so I just decided to accept it like I did with Pinkie Pie, but I found that Twilight was not prepared as I found her staring up at some banners stretched out between two buildings. I stop next to her and look up at the banner before reading it out loud.

“Welcome Back Home to Ponyville Flarenza and Cheer Up Twilight Party.” I notice a cord hanging down off to the side and wonder what it is for when Twilight starts speaking. “This is impossible! How could Pinkie even know that you would be back and that there would be somepony that would know how to use her party cannon?! Not only that how is the food still fresh as if it was made not even hours ago?!” She flails a limb in the direction of some buffet tables which are still steaming hot like she mentioned. I just shake my head as I realize where things are going if someone doesn’t stop her from overreacting. Unfortunately the worst pony for the job suddenly appeared in front of Twilight.

“Ooh Princesses do you see what I did isn’t it amazing I haven’t seen anything so amazing since I made my first cake with my cousins the cakes. This is so amazing that I want to do it again and again and again and I found this neat book that shows me how to make even more parties for everything.” She pulls out a book from her mane titled Pinkie’s Party Planners Primer to Planning Perfect Parties Perfectly and showed it off to Twilight whose eye was starting to twitch erratically, just like Surprise’s tail. I double take at her tail before nudging Twilight’s side with a paw.

“Um Twilight? Twitchy Tail.” My words bring an instant reaction as she dives to the ground with her hooves on her head while I instead look up to see a flower pot falling towards her. I sigh as I stick a paw out and catch it before it lands on her head before I lean down to whisper to her. “Twilight, do you really want to make the same mistake you did with Pinkie just to end up with another concussion and no answers?” She shakes her head as she looks up at me holding flowerpot before she accepts my offered paw to help her to her feet with a sigh.

“You’re right. With everything else that is going on I really don’t have time to waste on trying figure this all out anyways.” I’m about to say something to reassure her but I notice surprise poking at my wooden leg before she comments on it. “Oh wow it really is made of wood but it looks so real how do you have a leg that looks real but is really a fakey fake wooden leg?” I wince when I see Twilight’s jaw drop open as she looks at my limb in shock.

“Flarenza! What in the world happened to your leg?!” I sigh as I knew I wasn’t going to get out of this one without an explanation to satisfy her. “Early on when I was in that other world I was looking for a certain tree so I could create a timberwolf.” I gesture to Rose who was running around with Surprise on her back to my amusement. “Of course I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have been and I was bit by a dangerous breed of snake that was immune to magic. There was no known cure from its venom which was turning my leg to stone so the only way to survive was to lose the leg.”

I look at my leg sadly as I flex my wooden paw. “That was probably the closest that I ever came to dying and I’ve faced down undead hydras and dragons. It taught me many things, the least of which was that magic is too often the worst choice of things to rely on as you never know when it will fail on you. Even with the bad some good came of it as I would never have learned how to create this leg if it didn’t happen and the knowledge came in handy later on which I guess was another lesson. Sometimes when bad things happen you may be down but there are many good things that you can learn because of the situation.”

Twilight looks at me sadly as I explain this and Surprise looks as if her mane is becoming deflated a little. “But that’s enough about something so depressing. This is supposed to be a party isn’t it?” This was the right thing to say as Surprise brightens up and starts to bounce around again. I start to turn towards Twilight when I catch a flash of purple on Surprise’s rear which causes me to smile. “Especially as there is another reason to celebrate today, isn’t there Surprise?” She looks confused for a moment until I gesture to her new cutie mark of a trio of purple balloons which even causes Twilight’s eyes to widen.

“My cutie mark! This is the best day ever and it’s all thanks to you! I have to go show this to everpony now!” With that she quickly latches onto me in a hug before dashing off to show the rest of Ponyville what happened. Using my magic I decide to pull on that cord I saw which revealed another part of the banner which said ‘and Congratulation on your Cutie Mark, Surprise.’ I look at Twilight who is once again rubbing at her head at the impossibilities. “I really should have paid more attention to what was going on in Ponyville. I’m almost afraid to ask, but have you noticed anyone else that is disturbingly like our old friends?” I gesture over to a nearby table that is empty, though not many are as the town seems to be enjoying the spread of food and games as if there won’t be another party anytime soon.

As we pass the tables of food I grab a few things and take a seat with Twilight joining me with a bit less food. I pass her a couple of the things I grabbed as I knew she had issues with eating when she got distracted and she was about to argue before she just sighed and gave in. I set out a pair of mugs and pull out the bottle that I had been saving which caught Twilight’s eyes as she recognized it. “Is that what I think it is?” I nod as I fill both mugs with zap apple cider and we watch as it settles into a rainbow of separate layers of color. “One of Applejack’s best seasons for it as well. I figured that this would be a good time to break open a bottle of it.”

I take a small sip of it, which Twilight soon follows suit with, and savor the burst of flavor that changes with each color of the liquid. “It seems that they lost the technique to make more of this some time ago at Sweet Apple Acres. I talked with B.B. at the farm, she’s the head mare though is about the same age as your student, and I told her that I’d see if you wrote down the steps somewhere.” Twilight thinks for a second before answering me between bites. “I think I have it somewhere in that book of Applejack’s recipes in my private library. I’ll be sure to send over a copy of the entire thing just in case, though why were you there in the first place?”

I gesture towards Surprise who can be seen running around town still. “Oh, right.” She shakes her head at the sight of another pony so much like Pinkie Pie that she could have been a twin. “You never did answer my question about if you noticed anypony else like Surprise.” I think back to the few ponies that I had met but none of them were as bad as Surprise though I did see elements of them.

“I think Surprise is the only one that is that close and that can easily explained by her being a Pie. B.B. on Sweet Apple Acres would probably be the closest as she looks and acts like a mix of AJ and Rarity. She has the ivory coat of Rarity with AJ’s golden hair, and has the mannerisms of either depending on if she is working or not. Other than her there may be a small resemblance to or exemplify and element of someone we knew back then but Surprise is unique. Though I swear I saw Derpy once, and thinking about it that one pony was definitely her Doctor friend she was often with.” It was a good thing Twilight wasn’t drinking anything at the time, as it was bad enough when she started choking on the hayburger she was eating.

Luckily we both new some techniques with our magic to help with that problem as she was soon gasping for breath after removing the offending object. “You mean you saw them here today? Great, now I have to find my checklist before something goes wrong. Why did Spike have to hide them all before he left, as well as the backups and backups of the backups?” I roll my eyes as she starts to work herself into a panic over what I saw to be nothing.

“Um Twilight? Why do you need checklists for when he shows up anyways? I’ve seen him a lot of times when I was last here and he was usually pretty helpful. Actually, a little too helpful at times now that I think about it.” Twilight just stares at me for a moment in shock before she brings a hoof up to her forehead. “Right, you haven’t been around to see what usually happens when he shows up after you left. There are too many incidents to explain them all but the main point is the when he shows up something big is usually about to happen which often ends in a lot of damage. We had to rebuild much of Trottingham once because of an invasion of some strange metallic creatures after he showed up. Plus he’s an annoying know-it-all.”

She mutters the last part which would be too low for a pony to hear but my hearing is much better. “He showed you up in something regarding science or magic once didn’t he?” She looks away from me as I say this before she just sighs. “I still think that I had something with magically transplanting ponies into metal bodies so they didn’t have to deal with old age would have worked. But he somehow even got Celestia and Luna on his side to get me to stop with the research. I mean it was only that one time that I accidentally flooded Canterlot when I missed something when I created those mop golems but they act like I was doing something worse.”

I bury my face in my paws as I hear this, though I want to hear more about the mop golem incident, as I can see where they were coming from. “Oh, Twilight. Just because it sounds like a good idea doesn’t mean it is one. You were skirting awfully close to the edge of mixing golemancy with necromancy, but on the darker side of necromancy. What you were trying to create was basically a lich using a golem body, and you remember what happened the last time we had to deal with a lich.” Twilight’s eyes widen as I explain it before she starts shuddering at the thought of the lich that tried to seduce her those many years ago.

“When you put it that way it makes a lot more sense. They only told me not to do it because it was a bad idea but never said why it was. It’s a good thing I never could figure out how to get the mind to interface correctly with the body, or replicate the magic of pegasi or unicorns to be used by them.” I sigh as she at least understands why now, though it probably won’t stop her from making a mistake in another way. “How is it that Derpy and this Doctor fellow are still alive after all this time anyways? They didn’t look like alicorns and I’ve never felt any kind of odd magic from them either.”

Twilight winces as I hit what must be another sore topic with them. “The Doctor seems to have some kind of a time machine, though he also claims to be thousands of years old as well. How it works or what the machine looks like is still a mystery to me though it violates every principal Starswirl made regarding time travel. I was once able to sit down and talk with him about it but he just kept making up silly words and wouldn’t tell me how it worked.” I figured that this was a good thing as Twilight probably wouldn’t think before doing things that could create a catastrophe of some kind. She was starting to look a bit down so I needed to find something to distract her with which I luckily had.

“Well before we are interrupted again, I brought you a present that I’m sure you will like, and you really need some of the advice it gives.” Twilight perks up a bit as I say this and starts to look giddy as I pull a book out of my bags which she quickly snatches away. When she looks at the cover though she gets an odd look on her face as she tries to comprehend what she is reading. “Really Flarenza? I remember you used to joke about this back then with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie but to actually go out and find a book like that?” She turns the book around towards me to reveal the words ‘Don’t Panic’ in bright bold letter emblazoned across the cover as I start laughing.

“You also forget how we used to say that you would always listen to anything that a book told you and you really could have used that advice often enough.” Twilight blushes as she grumbles in annoyance, but doesn’t try to argue about it. “Besides, it’s a really good book even if it is a work of fiction. It’s probably up there with Daring Do at the least, even though it is a bit strange at times. Whoever wrote it was also a genius as you can find little bits of advice in it that do come in handy at times. Besides, how often are you going to be able to read a book written in another world?”

Twilight rolls her eyes at me but still smiles at the gift. “I suppose you have a point, though I’m not sure if it counts if the writer’s race was originally from this world.” I decide not to disabuse her of this notion as I had no idea what world the book came from and if she heard about the library I was bringing she would constantly ask about it. Instead I lean back and just enjoy the time spent with Twilight as it really had been too long.

Glancing around I could see some of the ponies looking at me oddly, but I knew I would receive stares until they got used to me again. Twilight looks around as well when she sees me doing it before she sighs at what she sees. “Don’t worry Flarenza; I’m sure they’ll get used to you being here once again. They just are wary about seeing other races considering what has been happening with the war.” I hadn’t considered that last part which made me curious about who all is involved in it right now.

“While I did say that we would talk about it tomorrow, I think I might need to know who is involved before that.” Twilight looks sad when I say this and she finishes off her cider before speaking. “The real question is who isn’t involved in it right now. While some factions have dropped out of the war long ago on our side we still have the zebras and buffalo helping us where they can. Saddle Arabia has closed its borders and is dealing with its own problems and the Canine Countries have refused to join a side openly.” I’m not sure I like how short the list of allies is, but hearing that the diamond dogs are neutral is a good thing.

“Unfortunately this means we are outnumbered as the gryphons, minotaurs, some sort of feline federation, and quite likely the changelings are against us. Even worse is that they somehow found some centaur clans out there that are assisting them, as well as some renegade unicorns from the civil war that happened a hundred years before this war.” Hearing about a civil war is a bit of a shock, though thinking back to the nobles I met it wasn’t too surprising, but Twilight continues. “In fact many of the noble houses broke away from Equestria during that war and only the most loyal of the major houses and most of the minor ones are left. In fact only House Sparkle and Blueblood are the only major houses alive today in Canterlot.”

While I’m not surprised about the first house, the second one actually does as I remember both Prince Blueblood as well as his son being rather poor examples of nobility. “So not only are you outnumbered, but you also have traitors that know many of your secrets helping them. Not to mention the possibility of changelings feeding them information even if it is only a faction of them.” Twilight looks at me for clarification on my wording. “I know of at least one friendly changeling and I recommended that she speak with you sometime. I found out about how the changelings view me from her and she is nothing like the changelings you know. She could probably pass as a strange kind of pony if she wanted to because of how different she looks.”

Twilight looks unsure about my vouching for a changeling. “I’d like to speak with her as well, but until I see her I can’t really tell you what I can do about her. I’ve never even heard of there being more than one type of changeling before until you mentioned it.” I shake my head but can’t really expect much more. “Well as long as you keep an open mind with her at least. At the very least she won’t be discovered anytime soon by a guard or alarm as the spells used by them aren’t attuned for the type of changeling she is.” I look around to see that most of the ponies have stopped looking at me and Surprise is also out of sight now.

“Well since Pinkie was so nice to have this all ready for us, how about we enjoy it before we have to get down to business tomorrow?” I ask Twilight as I rise to my paws with a stretch. Twilight looks as if she is mentally arguing with herself before she just nods to me. “I guess it would be wrong of me to let this go to waste and she’d probably show up to scold me if I refuse, so sure.”

While it wasn’t the best of reasons it was still good enough for me as tomorrow was probably going to make me miss days like this.

Author's Notes:

Maybe a few too many little jokes and references this chapter, but I wanted to have some fun in at least one of them. Next chapter it's back to getting a bit more serious though. As usual please let me know of any typos, complaints, or comments below.

Sharing Information

It was odd being at a Pinkie Party without Pinkie Pie being around, but Surprise did do a pretty good job making up for it considering it was her first party she ever threw. Twilight was actually enjoying herself as much as she could, though I could see a hint of melancholy in her eyes when she thought I wasn’t paying attention. Still the day had to end eventually and after walking back to her palace we agreed to meet up the next morning at my home. Once I got home I checked on the progress of Butch and Cassidy before warning them of the impending visit before heading to bed myself.

The next morning I woke up feeling sick, but I chalked it up to my body not being use to the sugary food that I hadn’t had in centuries. I noticed the Rose was missing as I prepared for the day as well, though it wasn’t uncommon of her considering her personality. I just hoped that whatever she was doing she wasn’t causing any major problems for the ponies. Once I finished my morning preparations I made my way downstairs where I found breakfast waiting for me while I thought about what was needed for the day.

I decided to start with investigating my old garden to see if there is anything left of it before Twilight arrives. Moving around to the back of the manor I take a good look at the Everfree Forest to find that it is literally wall of trees like when I first found it. The only difference was that it had advanced so much as well as the fact that I had new tools to deal with it. Instead of cutting them down like I used to do I use my magic to bend the trees out of my way to create a path through. It didn’t take much effort as it was only the outer ring that formed a wall around the forest so I was able to pass unobstructed once I remove that.

I found my old garden fact enough, and was surprised to find it in a pretty decent condition still as the forest had grown around it instead of through it. Looking around I noticed that many of the trees and bushes I had planted had flourished in my absence. Snagging a cherry-apple from its tree as a snack I examined the area to identify this strange phenomenon. “Huh, I forgot about the gems I planted around this place to protect it from weeds and pests. I guess they counted the Everfree was one of those forcing it grow around it.” I poked at the ground above one of said gems for a moment before heading back to the manor, placing a protective spell on the new path as a precaution.

As I came around the manor I noticed a purple figure in the distance that looked to be heading this way. Waiting by the front door I soon saw that it was Twilight, but I didn’t expect the second figure of Rose following close behind her. “You look like you didn’t get much rest last night. Did something happen that I should know about?” I ask when Twilight is close enough for me to see her condition. She sighs as she gestures towards Rose and I look over to see Aurora asleep on her back.

“We were able to get some information out of that changeling last night which had to be sent to Luna and Cadence up at the front. It turns out our magical messages are no longer secure so she was sent to deliver it and get a status report from the front. It turns out that we had been getting false information about much of what was going on and things are even worse than we thought. I don’t think anypony but Aurora could have gotten there and back as fast as she did, and she even outflew her Wonderbolt escorts on the way back, taking out a dozen griffons with a sonic rainboom as she raced to get the message back.”

I look at Aurora in surprise when I notice she had earned her cutie mark sometime during the last day, a letter with a rainbow colored Wonderbolt emblem holding it shut. Twilight wasn’t done talking just yet though. “Things are really bad now, and I mean really bad. I don’t think anypony realizes how close we are to losing this war because of that. We thought we had decades before Canterlot would be threatened, but we may not even last a year. Luna and Cadence are even now preparing for one last ditch defense for the end of this coming winter in Manehatten. If they fail there then Cloudsdale and Canterlot are the only major cities that we have left.”

I can see Twilight shaking a bit in fear at all of this. “While the rest of my guards are trying to get any more information I came to let you know about this. Some reason Aurora knew your timberwolf there and asked her to take her home though I didn’t know she was living out here. I don’t even know why your timberwolf was in the library in the first place with all those Daring Do books even. Nothing makes sense anymore and I just don’t know what to do.”

Twilight breaks down crying in front of me and I motion for Rose to bring Aurora inside as I stay with her. I try to think about what I can do or say to cheer her up, but little comes to mind until I remember something that Discord was doing before I left. Searching through the field produced by the stone below the manor I found something that felt out of place at the edge of it opposite Ponyville. “Come on Twilight, there’s something that you need to see that has been waiting for too long now.”

It takes a moment, but I manage to coax her to her hooves and, with her leaning against me, walk her towards the abnormality. We walk in silence as I think about what she must be going through as I myself had just gone through it. I could feel the front that I had kept up the last day crack a bit as the pain started bubbling up once again but I was able to force it down for now for Twilight. Soon we enter reach what appear to be a doorway just sitting inside the edge of the Everfree which was the source of the disturbance.

Twilight looks at me oddly as I open the door revealing a garden full of trees and flowers with a path through it all. I can hear Twilight muttering ‘impossible’ as we go through the door as it closes behind us. “Welcome to the Friendship Memorial as created by Discord. After Fluttershy’s death hit him so hard he was lost and alone so I suggested that he create this place, not just for himself but for everyone that was touched by them.” We stop in front of a group of statues clustered close together in a hug of the five long dead Elements of Harmony.

I wasn’t sure what Discord did, but it actually felt like the five were really there and the statues even looked real as well. Glancing over I could see Twilight raise a hoof towards the statues before she moved forward and threw herself into the open space between them all. As she burst into tears again I noticed that the statues really looked as if they were hugging her back as well. I moved away towards a nearby tree to give her some time alone as I became lost in my own memories.

On a whim I started shaping the tree with my magic with no real goal in mind, just going by instinct. It wasn’t until I finished and looked it over that I realize that I had turned the tree into a wooden statue of my husband, Prince Okami. I sat and stared at the statue for a long time and I didn’t even notice the tears crawling down my face at first, but when I finally did it was far too late to hold back the floodgates.

Everything that had happened came flooding back to me in that moment as I collapsed to the ground in front of the statue. From the shadows nearly wiping out my kind, to the deaths of my husband and mother-in-law it was all too much. What made it even worse was that I had the tools to prevent it all from happening, but chose to follow their judgments despite my instincts telling me otherwise. To top it all off the burden for the survival of the remainder of the kingdom was all on me despite never wanting this type of power or responsibility.

I wasn’t sure how long I was there, I wasn’t even sure if time even had any meaning in this place, But sometime during my breakdown Twilight had joined me. She had one of her bandaged wings over my back even though I could tell that she was in pain from moving it. We didn’t say anything and just laid there in silence sharing our time of weakness with each other. Twilight must have been examining the statue as her first question was about it. “Who was he?”

I just sit and stare at the statue for a bit longer, making no move to wipe the tears away which had slowed considerably. Twilight started to shuffle a bit uncomfortably as if wondering if she should have said anything before I answered. “He was my husband, and probably the best thing to ever happen to me after I found the rest of my kind. It hasn’t even been a week since I lost him to the war we were involved in, a war that we lost.” Twilight gasps at this revelation but says nothing, either from shock or from not knowing what to say.

“To find that I was heading into another war zone after escaping from another one, and to find that this one may be ending in the same way, it’s just so hard to keep going. The only thing keeping me going now is the fact that there are many beings that are relying on me to keep them safe.” Twilight looks at me oddly for a moment before she interrupts. “But why you? Why aren’t any of the nobles or government leaders of that kingdom doing anything?”

I look up at the statue again, trying to draw some measure of strength from it before I continue. “That’s because there is no one else Twilight. My husband’s name was Okami, prince of New Sionnach and the son of the rulers Lord Inari and Lady Ogitsu. The kingdom was located in a dimension between dimensions and was powered by not only the magic but also the life force of the Lord and Lady. So if they somehow managed to survive they are still lost to us as they can never return to this world. And with most of the nobles lost that leaves me as the only one left to lead as princess of New Sionnach through my marriage with the prince.”

Twilight stayed silent, and when I glanced over I could see a look of shock on her face at the revelation. “What makes it worse is that I actually had the power to prevent it all from happening, yet because of ancient prejudices and being overly cautious I wasn’t allowed to do anything. I couldn’t even do anything except heal the injured that managed to make it back from the front lines of the war, while nobody was even trying to figure out what we were fighting. I can’t help thinking that if I had just pushed a little harder in getting them to listen, or even just ignored their orders completely and did my own thing then maybe I could have saved them.”

I am greeted by more silence until Twilight finally figures out a response though she sounds confused. “But if you are the only one left, then why are you here? Shouldn’t you be with them right now?” I sigh as I wasn’t sure how she would react to this next bit of news. “It’s because we are coming back to claim our old home land, what used to be the Kingdom of Sionnach and is now the Everfree Forest.” I look towards Twilight to see her jaw drop open in shock.

“You see not only did I find my kind when I left, but I actually found answers to so many questions. Ponies could never really control the Everfree because it was fighting them since it rejected them as its ruler. It was the reason why I was so comfortable when I was exploring it because it truly was my home even though I didn’t know it. I came ahead of the others so that things went smoothly here and that connections with our ancient allies could be opened yet again. I just hope Celestia listens to what I have to tell her though.” Twilight fidgets around a bit when I mention her fellow princess.

“Why wouldn’t she listen to you though? She seemed to have gotten over whatever it was that happened and accepted you before.” I can only shake my head at Twilight, though I’m glad to see she is at least asking instead of speaking as if Celestia could do no wrong like she used to. “Except that she never fully accepted me, Twilight, she just tolerated my presence. There was always something in the back of her eyes that made me feel as if she was constantly judging me. Yet I now know why as I found the answer to that as well. I was always confused as to why she was like that and yet Luna accepted me completely even though they both were alive during the split.”

I take a moment, thinking about all that I learned as well as the one thing that I didn’t want to use but felt as if I might be forced to. “And I don’t even need to do this as we are so few now that we could have just moved into the Everfree and nobody would have known. Not only that, but there was already an army loyal to us waiting for our return. It’s only because of my friendship with you all and an ancient pact that I am here for the sake of my subjects.”

Twilight looks a bit frightened for a moment at my declaration, but she also looks a bit curious. “Ancient pact? I never heard anything about that before, though until I met you I had never even known of your kind in the first place. But if you had been gone so long how can it be that there is an army already here?” I actually smirk a bit at I would have thought Twilight would have figured this part out by now.

“Twilight, you’ve seen Rose and a little of what she can do. She’s an alpha timberwolf and I’ve learned long ago that they can still control their corrupted cousins from the Everfree Forest. I have no idea how many of them there are, but imagine what would happen if even five thousand timberwolves were to join up and attack somewhere.” Twilight’s fear is visible when she pictures this but I’m not done yet.

“That’s not even the largest part of what was left behind when the kitsune nation ran. In new Sionnach there were a few million of us there, but now there is only two thousand confirmed. But the kitsune were not the only race that was part of Sionnach. Right now there are four thousand diamond dogs guarding the few that remain, as well as every single diamond dog clan that was left behind all those years ago.” Twilight jumps to her hooves in surprise at this as she had already told me how they were still neutral in this war.

“You mean the reason why they haven’t joined the war is because they are still waiting for your kind to return? Which is happening right now? This is important news, I have to tell the other princesses right away and-“ I raise a paw to her mouth to stop her right there. “Calm down Twilight, if you rush around screaming the information the enemy will be ready for it, especially with the changelings helping them. I’ll be telling them personally so that I can sweep out any changelings so that at the most they only know of me.” Twilight stares at me before nodding as she gets what I’m saying.

Now that my focus is shifting towards the war and what could possibly be the battle to decide everything I manage to bury my thoughts on the past once again. “Right now I think the most important thing we need to turn this war around is information. Catching the changelings out like this is the first step, but I need to know everything from armaments to what kind of magic both sides are using.” I pause as I look at Twilight’s bandaged wings. “And I think the first thing you need to tell me is what happened to get you so injured.”

Twilight looks back and twitches her wings a little as she frowns. “That’s part of the problem with the war. They somehow managed to acquire a lot of forbidden magic and our first hint of it was when they attacked us with some kind of name based magic.” My eyes widen and I wince since I know a bit of how that magic works and I’ve found little good with it. “Celestia was attacked first and she barely managed to warn me in time at the cost of herself being heavily injured. I was able to protect myself from most of the spell but because I didn’t know what kind of spell it was some still leaked through. Cadence was also targeted but the shield around the Crystal Empire stopped it as far as we can tell. For some reason both Selene and Luna were ignored by the attack and we haven’t seen the spells use since then.”

I think for a moment and a theory comes to mind. “I bet they were targeted as well but they failed to use the correct name. Normally you have to use the full name that the target is born with, but Luna isn’t the same as when she was born and nobody was there when Selene was born so her true name is unknown. Using naming magic is dangerous as well since if your target defends themselves, or the spell can’t find a target it causes a backlash.” Twilight’s eyes widen in understanding.

“So they were attacked, but since the enemy used the wrong name then the spell backfired. That’s why they never tried again, it’s because they can’t anymore. We’ve always wondered but we just don’t have books anywhere on much of the magic they’ve been using since they are destroyed when found.” Twilight sounds a bit annoyed at the books being destroyed and I agree as destroying information rarely helps as once it is found it is nearly impossible to bury it again. I wave a paw for Twilight to continue with the explanations on what both sides have.

“As for the other magic they have it’s quite an extensive list but the more worrying types are of the worst sort. They’ve been summoning up demons and undead as well as using blood magic to augment their army. But even worse than those though is the fact that they have managed to craft enchantments on nearly all their armor that stops all but the most powerful magic.” My ears perk up at the mention of enchantments as I had seen very few that I couldn’t pull apart.

“How do the enchantments work? I may have some ideas there if it’s something I recognize.” Twilight looks hopeful when I say this and she enthusiastically explains. “We’ve found a few types, but the most common seems to involve them carving runes into the armor itself while the worst ones are gem based like what you’ve made.” I frown in disgust at it being something so simple and potentially dangerous if you knew what you were doing.

“That’s it? I was actually hoping for something difficult for a moment. The easiest way to deal with them is to overload them all at once since they can’t be repaired easily, and if you put enough power behind it you can even injure the wearer from the feedback of the rune breaking. I’m surprised that you didn’t think about it yet since you’ve seen it happen before when you first found out about Selene’s true appearance.” Twilight’s jaw drops at this before she brings a hoof up to her face.

“I do remember that now, but you never really explained much about what happened beyond you blowing up your lab.” I chuckle at the memory though I do get an idea on using it as a weapon to even the odds a bit while Twilight continues. “Anyways I’m not sure how much you know about how far our technology has come, but we’ve long since abandoned the spears and arrows for firearms.” I nod in understanding as I’ve seen some used before through some of the portals, though I never did find out why we never used them.

“Right now our main problem is getting the powder and metal so that we can make the ammunition as we’ve lost so much ground. As of now the Crystal Empire is one of the few places that has access to any kind of mine with the materials we need.” I cock my head to the side as something sounds wrong with that. “Why aren’t you using magic to propel the bullets instead of a material that can easily be cut off?”

Twilight just shakes her head at me. “We haven’t figured out a good way to get it to work so that non-unicorns can wield them as well.” I snort as this isn’t that big of a problem and in fact relatively simple. “What happened to all that research in the Crystal Empire? All that you need to do is either split the enchantment between two crystals or gems so that it fires of a burst of telekinesis propelling the bullet out, or use a plug in the crystal or gem so that when it is moved in and out it breaks and completes the enchantment doing the same thing. With this you can significantly reduce the weight required as you only need a small number of gems to swap between as they recharge and the bullets themselves are shrunk down.”

Twilight is once again looking at me in shock before she starts rubbing her temples again. “I can’t believe I missed something so simple. We haven’t had any experts on enchantments in centuries and if we had your knowledge at the start of the war we might have been better off.” I look at Twilight and think back to how she always could see the big picture but often had trouble with the little things. “That always was one of your big flaws; you often would forget about the little things and focused on only what was in front of you. Kind of like with what happened with the Crystal Empire where you focused only on the faire but didn’t look into why the crystal heart was important. Rarity or Fluttershy were always the ones to notice the little things.”

We both look a bit sad when I mention those two as things just didn’t feel right without them. In an effort to cheer Twilight up I lay a paw on her shoulder. “Don’t worry Twilight; I’m not going to let what happened in New Sionnach happen here. Now that nobody is holding me back I’m going to use everything at my disposal to make sure Equestria doesn’t lose this war.” I manage to get a small smile and a nod out of her and I’m about to say something else when I notice the paths behind the statue of the five other Elements of Harmony.

“Hold on a second Twilight. You said that you hadn’t seen Discord since I left, yet when I left he was working on this place. Could it be that he may have left something here?” Twilight looks at me curiously before her eyes widen and she leaps to her hooves. “If you’re right then we could really turn things around as he could probably take on that army by himself if he had to. But where would he put something like that?”

I look at the paths and notice that they each line up with one of the stone ponies. Taking a guess I move towards the one behind Fluttershy, since she really was the one closest to him, as Twilight follows. At the end of the path we find another statue of Fluttershy and what appears to be a shrine to her as well as a statue of Discord curled around her statue. Looking around I could see the care that Discord put into this place as it was decorated in a way that Fluttershy herself would have decorated.

I hear a yell of frustration from Twilight and turn to find her holding a note the she appeared to have found on the Discord statue. Moving up next to her I take a look at the note to see what was written on it. “Dear Equestria. Out playing with space monkeys. Will return when chaos is needed again. Discord.”

Author's Notes:

Well there's a bit more of what's going on as well as some more little hints. Not much else to say so please leave any typos, comments, and complaints below.

Prelude to War

We left the Elements of Harmony memorial to find that very little time had passed since we went in there and I had to drag Twilight away from trying to study it. A simple promise to share what information I had on portals later was enough to get her to leave it alone as we made our way back towards my manor. As we are heading back I get a warning through the field around the manor that a dozen being have entered and are heading towards the place at a fast speed.

“Twilight? Are you expecting anyone to be looking for you anytime soon at my place?” Twilight looks at me in confusion before she shakes her head. “Unless there is an emergency nopony should be searching for me and they would send up a signal flare first.” I narrow my eyes as the being have landed in front of my home while three of the four inside the manor are moving towards the front door. “Then it appears that we may have a major problem as there are a dozen flyers outside of the manor right now.”

I don’t even bother to see how Twilight reacts before I take off running towards the manor using telekinesis to push off the ground for increased speed. I keep along the edge of the Everfree so that they don’t see me coming as I come up on the side of the building. I start to hear loud cracking sounds as I approach which confirms that the intruders are hostile. I put up a shield around me as I come around the side of the manor and see a squad of gryphons firing at the front door of my home.

Seeing the gryphons attacking my home and subjects my mind flashes back to the sights that I saw back in New Sionnach. “Never again.” With those words my head whips back to unravel my weapon from my tail as it grows to its normal size and begins to extend. With one last burst of speed I bring my head around in an overhead motion before slamming the length of the whip down on the back of the front two gryphons, shattering the bones of their back and ribs. With another quick flick of my head sideways I send my weapon careening sideways to plow through six more of the gryphons across their heads, crushing beaks and skulls as it passes through them.

By this time the other gryphons turn in my direction to see what just took out two thirds of their number in seconds, before changing their direction of fir towards me. I just glare at them as I retract my weapon towards me in a tight spiral as I charge up a spell through it. Catching sight of a blur I see Rose charge out of the building and tackle the nearest gryphon, tearing out its throat as I lunch my weapon forward sending it crashing into the breastplate of the center of the other three before releasing the spell sending multiple balls of flame from the whip into the sides of the remaining two gryphons. Their armor absorbs some of the impacts but is quickly overwhelmed by the barrage as the two burst into flames.

After making sure that there are no more hostiles in the area I cleanse my weapon of any blood with my magic before coiling it up around my tails again. I take in a deep breathe, almost choking on the smell from the firearms, before letting it out again as I turn back to look for Twilight. She was approaching quickly and I noticed a red flare rising into the sky behind her as I feel more contacts in my territory. Turning towards town I spot a large group of pegasi flying our direction, more than I would have thought if they were just Twilight’s guards.

“Flarenza! What in the world were you thinking charging in like that! You could have been killed! And what was that thing you were swinging around moments ago?!” I roll my eyes as Twilight starts shouting at me as she nears, though she may have a point as blocking those bullets drained me more than I expected. I look around first and note that my guards are fine, having been hiding behind a large shield that Cassidy uses, and Rose was prowling the area looking out for more danger.

Seeing that things are safe for now I turn back to Twilight. “I already told you that I was no longer going to hold back if I could help it, and I really needed to let off some steam. Those gryphons may have been good shots, but they were rather lousy at fighting since they didn’t even try to dodge. As for what I was using…” I use my magic this time to levitate my weapon out and place it on the ground in front of me for Twilight to examine. “After the incident with my leg it really drove in how often magic doesn’t help and too often can make things even worse. It may not be the most conventional weapon, but I’ve gotten rather proficient with my rosary whip over the centuries.”

Twilight examined it for a moment before she poked at it with a hoof which led to her eyes widening. She attempted to lift it with her magic, and I was a tad impressed that she could manage to lift it considering each of the beads weighed as much as a boulder. “Where did you get this from? I can sense at least a dozen different spells on it, yet it’s impossible how they are meshed together like this. A couple of them should even be canceling each other out, like the two affecting its weight, yet they don’t seem to be in conflict at all.”

Twilight starts muttering to herself as she pokes at the whip as the incoming pegasi came in to land. One of the pegasi stallions, wearing armor much different from the others that had it, noticed that Twilight was distracted so turned to me instead of interrupting her. “What in Celestia’s name happened here? We saw the princess’s signal and came as fast as we could, but from the looks of things we weren’t needed at all.”

I’m a bit surprised that he came to me, but I’m pretty sure some word has gotten around Twilight’s guard after the incidents yesterday. Looking around quickly I verified that none of the ponies that arrived were changelings before speaking. “Twilight and I were just returning from a short walk when I noticed the gryphons approaching my home. Since Twilight wasn’t expecting any company, and since nobody outside of Ponyville knows I’m back, I made a guess that they weren’t friendly. I went on ahead while Twilight followed and, upon seeing the gryphons attacking my guards, I began to neutralize the threat. The fight was over in seconds, though if any of them survive I highly doubt they are going to be any more trouble without some strong healers assisting them.”

He looks over at one of the nearby gryphons and shudders a bit as it weakly whimpers as its burns are being treated. “I’m glad you’re on our side then. I’d hate to see what it takes to actually give you a challenge if you beat them that fast. I hope you left at least one of them alive enough to tell us what they were after.” I am curious about that as well, but since my arrival is still so recent, and Twilight’s visit wasn’t broadcast then there could only be one thing left.

“I doubt they were able to find out that I’m here or of Twilight’s visit as they would have sent a more capable group. That means the only thing they could be here for is Aurora Dreams which is made more likely considering her recent accomplishments. She one of the few ways you have left to safely communicate with the warfront.” The stallion thinks for a moment then nods as he agrees with me. “That makes sense, it’s a good thing you were here to uncover that spy. Checks for changelings were supposed to be done regularly but for some reason they were stopped years ago with much of the information on them buried.”

I wasn’t too surprised by this as it would have been required if changelings were to ever infiltrate the guard again. I looked around and saw that the corpses had already been cleared away while the couple surviving gryphons were getting airlifted back towards Ponyville. I was about to say something to the guard when a cry of surprise from Twilight interrupted me. Looking over at her I notice that she had backed away from my weapon a good distance and had a hoof pointing at it.

“Flarenza! Why is this thing giving off an aura of having blood magic used on it?” I sigh as I remember what she said earlier about that kind of magic and how it was forbidden. “I should have known you would be able to identify much of what I used, but unless you’ve locked up all of your nurses and doctors then it obviously isn’t as bad as you’re thinking. In fact most branches of magic have good points to them if they are properly used.”

Twilight isn’t quite ready to back down just yet as she starts pacing. “Good points! How can there be good points for murdering others for a bit of power? I also have never seen a doctor do something like that in all my life! How can you call any kind of healing magic such a horrid thing like blood magic?” I roll my eyes at Twilight, though from her reaction she must have seen the worst side of this magic before.

“You do know that blood magic isn’t just about that right? Doctors use it often enough for controlling blood flows and identifying problems in relation to it. What you are sensing on my weapon is my own blood which I used to link it all together so that I could get the enchantments to mesh like they do. In fact if I didn’t use my own blood then I wouldn’t have been able to make my new leg because otherwise it wouldn’t be able to draw in what it needs to stay alive and would instead just be a fancy stick.” Twilight is looking a bit confused now as she tries to come up with a counter-argument.

“If that’s true then why do doctors never have the taint of blood magic on them? Your leg doesn’t seem to have any on it either from what I can tell.” I just chuckle at her causing her to look offended. “Twilight, how would you even be able to tell if a doctor was using blood magic on a patient with all the blood around? As for my leg it’s the same problem as my blood is flowing through it will, so cut deep enough and it would bleed. The only reason blood magic has that taint is because of either the presence of blood or the corruption caused by stealing the life-force of another. Really, you should know by now that I’m very picky about what magic I use so I don’t cause a major catastrophe; like flooding an entire city or causing a town to chase after a doll.”

Twilight actually blushes at my teasing, though I can tell she isn’t as angry as before, and tries to turn things around. “Well at least I’ve managed not to blow up my entire lab with myself in it.” I wince as the barb hits since I’ve done that a few too many times though we both start laughing at the silliness as Twilight continues. “Though I guess you are right about how some of the magic we use may be considered of a forbidden branch. At least they are still tight controls on who uses those spells and not many can actually do it anyways. Are there any other surprises I should know about ahead of time that might cause problems?”

I wind my weapon back around my tails again as I think for a moment. “Well that depends on what you count as problems. Do you mean something other than bringing back a race of beings that Celestia has a grudge against or being the leader in control of a fleet of infamous pirates?” I smile as Twilight opens her mouth to respond when she realizes exactly what I just said and raises a hoof to her forehead.

“Please tell me that was just a joke about the pirates. Every time I think I have an idea about what you’ve been up to all this time you keep throwing something else at me. Are you trying to drive me crazy?” I just can’t help but laugh as Twilight throws her hooves up in the air in frustration.

“I think that may be the last surprise for a while, but no I’m not joking about the pirate thing. While they were so far away that they never really dealt with ponies often, they did manage to create a bit of a stranglehold on the shipping lanes in a wide area. While each ship had a kitsune captain, the most that many saw was the crew of all diamond dogs. For many centuries they were able to put fear into the area, yet they rarely, if ever, had to kill because many ships would surrender on sight. Even if they didn’t surrender there were few deaths since they were just that good at what they were doing.” Twilight was about to say something but pegasus guard, who I forgot was there, spoke up just then.

“Wait, you don’t mean the Sea Dog Pirates do you? The rulers of the seas on the other side of the world? The ones that even Princess Celestia hasn’t been able to get much information on?” Twilight and I both stare at the stallion in shock before Twilight recovers. “Just how do you know about these pirates, Captain? If they are so far away why would stories about them be in Equestria?”

The captain, which I should have expected given the odd armor he wore, kept staring at me with a look between fear and awe which was a bit uncomfortable. “I grew up in a fishing village. Colts and fillies were always threatened with stories of the Sea Dogs coming to take them away if they were bad. It was only after I joined the guard that I found out that they were real, but to actually see one of the rumored leaders of them was something I never thought would happen.”

Turning to Twilight I just shrug as she shakes her head with a hoof at her temple. “Captain, go make sure the prisoners, what’s left of them, are secure. I’ll be back at the palace once I finish talking to my friend here.” The captain looks as if he is about to complain but after receiving a stern glare from Twilight he soon takes off back towards town. Once he is gone the purple princess turns towards me with a sigh.

“When do you think that you’ll be heading to Canterlot to meet with Celestia? It’s been a while since I’ve talked with her face-to-face so I might as well join you.” I think for a moment and decide to rearrange my plans a bit considering how much the situation has changed since I made them. “I was planning on waiting a week, but with this attack I’d better go tomorrow. That’ll give me enough time to whip up something to help protect Aurora in case something like this happens again. It won’t be much but it’ll be better than nothing.”

Twilight just smiles and shakes her head. “Knowing you it’ll be more than enough. I wish I could give her less dangerous deliveries but she’s really the only hope we have now of getting anything through to the front safely. Once you are ready just show up at my palace and I’ll have a carriage team fly us to Canterlot.” I nod as she begins her walk back towards Ponyville while I turn towards my guards.

“Come on you three, we have a lot of work to do before tomorrow. Cassidy, you’re going to be with me when we go to meet with Princess Celestia in Canterlot. Butch, I’m going to need to send you as a messenger to a nearby group of diamond dogs so we can start gathering an army for war. Rose, you’re going to start some forays into the Everfree to round up any timberwolves you can find. Once the fleet arrives I’ll have a specific location to send you to for what I believe are four other alphas that have been around since before the split.” They each nod and head off to make whatever preparations they need for the next day while I head up to the attic.

Once there I go through the small supply of gems that I still had looking for just the right one. Taking inspiration from what I had once done for the Cutie Mark Crusaders I decide to combine multiple gems into one new creation. Looking at the lightning bolt shaped gem I smile as I start to craft it into a silver bracer for Aurora. With a little extra effort I make the area around the gem look like the rest of her cutie mark.

After I finish enchanting the gem with as many protection spells as possible I leave it on the bedside table in her room as I make a few other preparations. I write up a written proclamation to the diamond dog tribes, and seal it with the royal seal of Sionnach that I had found after the evacuation. I also enchanted a gem to hold a visual message as well as further proof that a kitsune royal was the one sending the message.

With the important things completed I turned to the chores of lesser importance, that of preparing for the visit to Canterlot. Looking through what had already been unpacked by my guards I sigh as I realize that I’ll have to make things look good as this is going to be a royal visit from a new country to most of the population. While I would like to just go with my regalia for now, for proprieties sake I am forced to choose one of the royal robes I despise.

With nothing else coming to mind that I need to do I make my final preparations for sleep as I ponder what the next day will bring. “I just hope that Celestia doesn’t just dismiss me out of hand. If I play my cards right then maybe I can keep her off balance long enough for her to listen.” Curling up in my bed I try to get comfortable, but sleep is a long time coming as I stare at the empty space next to me.

Author's Notes:

I so suck with action scenes, but this probably will be enough for a gore rating especially with what might come later. Hope people have been keeping track of some of the foreshadowing stuff, because I sure haven't so anything could still happen. Now I've been looking into some of my planning and I've come up with three arcs that this story will be going into. The War arc which is going on now, an Otherworld arc, and potentially an arc with some form of big bad. If anyone has ideas of who or what they want to see then please leave them below along with any other comments, typos, and complaints.

Politics

I awoke feeling sick from the stress of trying to predict how Celestia was going to react to my presence and the news I was bringing. I took my time cleaning up and went all out with the shampoos and perfumes leaving my fur shining and smelling of roses. After donning regalia and the robe I had chosen I went over to the mirror to give myself a good onceover. While I didn’t mind the regalia as much as I used to, since it did bring out my flame colored eyes, the royal robe that was made for me was just too much. While it was thankfully soft, I didn’t really like the green color of it and the fur lining was a bit much.

Once I was sure I had everything I went to check on Aurora and found her to be still asleep, which was understandable considering the day she had. After checking with Butch and making sure he had the things I made for him, as well double-checking that his royal heraldry was being worn properly, I sent him off through old tunnel to the nearby diamond dog caves. As I left with Cassidy I threw up a few more protective spells around the manor just as a precaution.

“Now Cassidy I’m not quite sure what is going to happen so while in Canterlot I’m not going to be speaking Equestrian until I’m sure how Princess Celestia will react. You’ll be acting as my translator until that time.” She looks at me strangely for a moment before making a comment. “But Princess, didn’t you say that you were good friends with her? Shouldn’t she be willing to listen to what you have to say?”

I pause for a moment as I think back to the little things I noticed with Celestia, especially with our very first meeting. “I would really like to say that she would, but she has a major problem with Sionnach that I’m pretty sure I know the cause of. At the very least I’ll be able to verify that my theory is correct though I hope the plan I have will work. I just hope I don’t have to get the other four princesses to overrule her as that could make things even worse. Besides, if I don’t play politics like everyone else then there are bound to be problems in the future, and I hate politics.”

I pull my hood up and we are silent for the rest of our walk to meet with Twilight. We attract a large amount of attention as we enter Ponyville; me with my robe and Cassidy with her heraldic suit and oversized shield while carrying the flag of the kingdom. I wonder what the ponies thought of us as we moved through town, especially with the war going on now. Arriving at Twilight’s palace I inform the guards of our meeting with Twilight and one is sent in to find her. Twilight is soon out to greet us, but looks surprised by our appearance.

“You said that you wanted to go to Canterlot to speak with Celestia, but isn’t this a tad overboard to go talking with friends?” I just shake my head, which is mostly obscured by the hood. “You should know better than I how politics work between kingdoms, Twilight. If I wasn’t representing my people then I would gladly take a more casual route but since I am I have to play the game. I’d rather not have to do this, but when I am under official business then it’s expected of me to do so.”

Twilight raises a hoof to object before she instead plants it onto her muzzle. “Right, of course you have to do this. Even our closest allies go through with all of the motions when they are on official business. This is going to be annoying having to deal with isn’t it?” Twilight signals to her guards and has them bring around a large chariot for our trip to Canterlot.

We made small talk as we flew towards the city though things were a bit subdued considering the circumstances. As we approached the city I looked over what once was a shining city to find that it was now spotted with ruined buildings. Remembering mention of a civil war I guessed that this was part of the resulting damage it caused. We soon came in to a landing near the upper levels of the city a decent ways from the castle. While normally we would have landed next to the castle itself I was guessing that there were some new security measures in place as a precaution.

There weren’t any carriages there at the time so we were forced to walk the rest of the way to the castle. With our appearances we gained a lot of attention from the ponies in the city and some followed in curiosity. Nobody would have known what kingdom the flag represented as it was one that hadn’t been seen in millennia which only three beings from Equestria would still know. I heard a lot of muttering from the ponies around us, arguing about why we were here and who we were exactly.

The crowd was stopped at the gates to the castle by the guard as Twilight escorted us towards the throne room. There were no petitioners waiting but I was guessing that only important matters were handled by the throne during this time of crisis. Twilight was about to speak with the herald for us, when I halted her and whispered to Cassidy what I wanted the herald to announce us as. The great doors opened and he went through before rapping his staff of office on the ground, quieting the throne room.

“Announcing the Emissary of the Kingdom of Sionnach to meet with the Princesses of Equestria!” At his call the entire room was flooded with silence before conversations started breaking out in earnest. This was all ended moments later by one voice. “WHAT!?” My ears dropped down at the sound of Celestia’s rarely used Royal Canterlot Voice as I watched the doors get blown of their hinges from the force of it.

Once the herald was able to recover from being blasted back by her voice he turned to us to wave us through with a hoof. As we entered Twilight quickly moved around the room to Celestia’s side, but was silenced by a raised hoof when she tried to whisper something. The Princess of the Sun had her entire attention focused on me and my guard and if she could have she would have set us on fire just from the intensity of her glare. Selene was also there on Celestia’s other side in what would normally be Luna’s throne. It reminded me much of what had happened the first time that I had met with her but this time I was much better prepared.

“And just what is one of your kind doing here in my kingdom once again? Are you here to finish what you started all those thousands of years ago?” I roll my eyes from the concealment of my robes as I whisper to Cassidy in the tongue of Sionnach what I want said. “The crowned princess of Sionnach has come requesting a chance to renew old treaties with the ponies of Equestria in the hopes that old wounds can once again be mended.” She was about to say more but Celestia chose that moment to interrupt.

“Do you really think that I would allow your kind another chance to betray us once again? Do you really think that after all that you did can so easily be forgotten by one who was there?” The ponies in the room had been backing away from Celestia as her voice took on a menacing tone. This allowed me a clear view of the princess for the first time since we entered the room. I had heard that she had been injured, but I didn’t know the full extent of it until now. Not only were her wings bandaged like Twilight’s, but all but her front left leg was bandaged and even looked shorter than they should be. Along with that her horn was at least half the size it used to be and her barrel was heavily bandaged as well. She looked to be having head pains as well, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t caused by her physical injuries.

“Princess, all we wish is for peace between or kingdoms once again as in the old days. The oaths between us have not been forgotten even after all this time away from the world.” Celestia’s eyes narrow and I can almost feel the anger radiating off of her like heat, which may very well be happening as I see the ponies in the room still backing away. “Those oaths were broken by your rulers before we were forced to drive them from our lands. We shall never again be taken for fools again if we have anything to say about it.”

I can clearly see now that she is acting completely on her anger now with no thought even with Twilight and Selene trying to calm her. I lay a paw on Cassidy’s leg and nod as I step forward to speak for myself. “Then tell us, Your Royal Highness, what it was that we did to betray you, if you can remember it that is. Yet I have evidence that it was not us that caused the schism between us all those year ago.” Celestia is too angry to recognize my voice, but Selene obviously did as I see her head jerk up with her mouth wide open and I can see her eyes start tearing up. Celestia though is frantically trying to come up with an answer to my request though is having trouble doing so.

“It was… I mean it had to be because… Why can’t I remember?” She raises her good hoof to her head as the pain seems to be getting worse as she tries to remember. I look at her in pity as Discord’s ancient curse is having its way with her even after all this time. “You can’t remember because you were forced into doing it by one that would see the ancient alliance broken. The kingdom ran because of the ancient oaths that were made and I can prove that this is true.” I pause as I think back to the words that were burned into my mind so long ago that I believe I can now utter.

“le do thoil a dheonú mo chabhair”

As I utter the words of the ancient pact it felt as if all of Canterlot was trembling from the power they held. All the ponies in the room seem to have felt this power as they started to climb to their hooves after falling to the floor. None were as surprised as Celestia who just stared at me in shock and fear as she felt the compulsion those words brought into being. She spoke to me in the ancient language this time so only me and my guard could understand her next words. “Who are you? Only the Lord Inari and Lady Ogitsu should know those words and even then they should have no power.”

At this point Selene was openly crying leaving Twilight as the only princess available to properly react. “Guards! Court is cancelled until further notice! Clear the room of everypony, except for the emissaries, as well as yourselves!” There is a bit of confusion at this order coming from her, but when Celestia doesn’t object they proceed to do so. Once the room is cleared and the doors sealed with Twilight’s magic I reach up to lower my hood. My hood barely left my head before I was tackled to the ground by the Princess of Dreams.

“Flarenza it is you! We thought you were dead!” After catching my breath I wrap a couple tails around her as she cries into my shoulder, though I almost feel like doing so myself at seeing her. Looking around I can see that my guard has no idea how to react while Celestia is staring in shock with her jaw open while Twilight looks on with a small smile. Eventually Celestia recovers enough to find her voice once again.

“Flarenza?! But we thought you were dead?” I have to roll my eyes at that as it was starting to get annoying. “I really have to wonder why you would all think that I was dead without any way to verify it, especially after what I said in my last letter. Besides, isn’t there something more important that you should be asking?” Nothing is said for a moment until Celestia finally remembers what I had said moments ago.

“How were you able to say those words? Only the rulers of Sionnach can even speak those words because of the spell surrounding them and it should have been broken long ago.” I sigh as painful memories start to come to the front of my mind again. “That’s because I am the sole ruler of the kingdom now. Tell me Celestia, how long has it been since the war with them happened?” Celestia looks confused by my question but still answers.

“If I recall it has been almost thirty-five hundred years since the war happened.” She doesn’t sound as angry as before, but there is still something simmering underneath. “Celestia, it has been almost seven thousand years since everything happened.” She looks shocked by this information as she takes it in.

“How can that be? I would have known if that much time had passed.” I sigh before asking a question about that. “Why would you think that time would make sense during the years after the kitsune left the planet? Especially considering who would benefit the most by them leaving and took advantage of it the moment they were gone.” Celestia is silent for a moment before she brings her hoof up to her head.

“You’re talking about Discord aren’t you? Why am I not surprised that he had something to do with this and never admitted it?” She was about to say something when she realized the implications of that as well as something that I had said. “But that means… and we… It can’t be…” I watched as her mask she always wore finally shattered as tears started to appear in her eyes as she ran out of the throne room. We were all surprised by this action but Twilight soon recovered and took off after her. This left me with just my guard and Selene, who was still tightly gripping me, in the throne room.

“Uh Selene? You can let go of me now.” I can feel her shake her head as it is pressed into my shoulder. “Don’t want to. If I do you’ll leave us again.” I sigh as I bring a paw up around her, but once again forget that it’s the wooden on as she gasps at the feeling of it. “Your leg!? What happened to it?” I sigh as I once again go through explaining what happened and what came of it all. By the time I had finished Twilight was carrying Celestia, who looked to be in pain after running on her injured limbs, back into the room.

“I’m sorry that you had to see that, but after so long of blaming them for something that never really happened, I just couldn’t take the pain.” I can see that she is still hurting, but Twilight must have helped her a lot. I then remember something else that might be able to help her a bit through all this. “About the boon, there isn’t anything more appropriate use for it than for you to forgive yourself for being used. I also have a message from Lady Ogitsu just before she was lost to us. She wanted you and Luna to know that she forgave you for everything that happened.”

Celestia starts to tear up again, and this time Selene drags me over to her for a group hug that is soon joined by Twilight. Her tears this time are a bit different than her previous ones as this time they are more grateful. I look up and notice Cassidy is still standing there and a paw at her signaling for her to head out of the room since the barrier on it was broken. Once all four of us are alone things are quiet as old friendships are rekindled.

Eventually we had to break up and we get back to our previous conversation with Celestia asking the first question. “Just how are you the Princess of Sionnach? You said that your mother died when we first met.” I sigh as this question was bound to come up again. “It’s because I married the son of the rulers, which I didn’t know at the time, so when all three of them were lost to the war I was the only one left to lead.”

She looks at me questioningly as if expecting me to continue explaining. “In fact that’s why I’m here; I had to make sure relations between our two kingdoms were fixed if we were going to be neighbors again.” Only Twilight doesn’t look confused as she had already heard the plan from me. “You already know where the old kingdom used to be Celestia, and I plan to reclaim it once again since nobody else can control it.”

Celestia’s eyes widen as she remembers where everything began. “You don’t mean?” I nod to confirm her suspicions. “Yes, we are returning to the Everfree Forest once again to return it back to what it used to be. What few of us that are left at least.” I sigh as I wonder if there is a way to get the others that went to other worlds back to this one.

“There are only two thousand kitsune left now, so few can be spared to help you with the war, but I’m sure you remember the other subjects that are part of the kingdom.” I look at Celestia knowingly as she ponders my words for a minute. Her eyes widen and I nod to her as I continue. “I’ve already sent out my other guards to spread the message and prepare for war to assist you. I can think of no better way to repair relations between our kingdoms than to help drive off this threat on our return.”

Author's Notes:

Story continues so you know the drill.

Homecoming

We were able to get a few ideas going but until we found out exactly how many diamond dogs were available for the war. Until then the specifics would wait until we had an idea on numbers as well as what the enemy was looking like. As winter was about to start the enemy offensive would be on hold until spring so that they could bring their full might to bear on Manehatten, the current location of the Equestrian army with Luna and Cadence. It was a stroke of luck that we had the time to prepare for this last battle, and since the diamond dogs often traveled underground that meant winter was less of a challenge for them.

Until the word was spread and the army gathered then we couldn’t do anything but make tentative plans, though to make sure the enemy doesn’t find out too early nothing was being sent to the front beyond a message to expect reinforcements. As for negotiations for repairing the alliance they went well even if Celestia wasn’t sure about turning over the old castle for our use as we rebuilt. Twilight pointed out that anything important there had already been removed, and it was better to have something there to guard the tree of harmony than to have nothing there.

Since the other two princesses were injured, Selene volunteered to join me with examining the castle. The place was looking much better than it used to as at one point there were plans to restore the place for use as a historical museum. I guess with the loss of her friends as well as the war Twilight was forced to abandon that idea. I know that they had emptied a large portion of the castle for safekeeping until the place was ready. I wonder if they managed to clear out all the secret passages as well or if they may have missed something. I’ll have to check things over once I get my map back once again just to be safe.

As we enter what used to be the library I look around at the empty shelves before chuckling as I look towards Selene. “What’s so funny, Flarenza?” Selene looks back at me questioningly. I just shake my head with a grin before answering. “I’m just remembering the first interactions we had with each other in this very room. You stole my lunch that day and a few times afterwards until I caught sight of you and began bringing you food on purpose.”

Selene blushes at this as she flutters her ebony wings. It had been so long since I had seen her but she had grown well in my absence. She was slightly shorter than Twilight was, but just barely, and her dark blue mane was done up like her mother’s was when the two were split. Since she was created in her mother’s image by the Elements of Harmony she looked much like her but with the darker colors. Her cutie mark was different though, a crescent moon shaped dream catcher, which represented her dream-walking abilities.

“I still have the things you left for me back in Canterlot. I sometimes take them out when I’m alone while I think back to those simpler days.” I reach out a paw to pat at her leg as we move through the castle towards its depths. I’m not sure about how many the castle is able to house, but it should do for a few months until some of the trees are adapted for use as homes.

“What are the others of your kind like? Aunt Celly never really talks about the kitsune; and even mother avoids speaking of them since you left.” I raise an eyebrow at Celestia’s nickname but I’ve heard odder ones from Pinkie and now Surprise. “They really aren’t that much different from ponies if you can ignore the more omnivorous diet. We lost so many after the war, but I did what I could to preserve our future. While many of the nobles did what they could to save themselves and their property I organized the teachers, doctors, and specialists in various fields. Then there were the orphans.”

I sigh as I worry about how they are doing on the ships now. “I had done what I could for them, but I’m hoping that a future here where they can meet and befriend ponies will make it where they can be helped through their loss of family.” Selene moves over and drapes a wing over me as we continue through the castle. We soon find ourselves back at the front gate and I remember one last place to look at.

Looking around I spot the stairway that led down into the ravine and started down until we reached the cave at the bottom of it. I was about to enter but Selene raised a wing in the path to stop me. “Wait Flarenza, the Tree of Harmony has been sealed off since before the war started. Twilight thought that it was a good idea to protect the place since we have no idea what would happen if some random creature wandered in there.” I think about this and realize that I know little about the tree beyond what I was told by Twilight many years ago. In fact I don’t remember there being any information about it in the Sionnach library which was odd.

“I think I’m going to just take a peek at what she used and maybe add something of my own. It’s strange that I haven’t found anything about the tree and that worries me a bit since this used to be our home.” Selene looks uncertain but nods as we enter the cave. Once we reach the part where the tunnel widens into the cavern we find the shield protecting the Tree of Harmony. I can’t really tell much about the tree from this distance, yet the feeling of its magic gives me no hints.

I sigh as I’ll probably never have a chance to examine it closely but that’s probably for the best. Turning my attention to the barrier around the cavern I examine it closely to see what was done to protect it. I notice that there are five protective spells around the place, each with the magical signature of each princess, though there is something else that seems familiar about it. “Selene, something seems familiar about these spells other than each being cast by each princess. What did you do to this place?” Selene looks a bit uncertain but sighs.

“We didn’t want to completely block it so we made it where it could be passed by those that matched one of the elements. Twilight of course was the Magic barrier, I was Laughter, Auntie Celly Kindness, Cadence Loyalty, and mommy was Honesty. We tried to find somepony else for Generosity but it never worked right and we can’t do two at once.” I contemplate this as I examine the barriers and how they don’t seem to be meshing up correctly as the spell is incomplete.

I look at the barrier and think back on my life and I get an idea of what to do. Focusing on the times I’ve given aid to Selene without thinking of it, the times I threw myself into danger to help others, and my need to help others in any way I could, I start to try to copy the spells around the tree. My magic starts to take form and is strangely giving off a purple glow as it begins to merge with the others. When it looks as if it is about to be complete there is a white flash which temporarily blinds me and Selene.

“Ouch, did that happen the last five times you put up a barrier?” I ask Selene as I try to clear my eyes from the flash. I may not be able to see, but my hearing is good enough to hear movement from her. “No it didn’t, oh I really hope you didn’t break something or auntie is going to get mad.”

When we both recovered enough to see, we were rather surprised by the change that had come over the barrier. “Well, I probably should have expected something like this to happen considering what the spell was based around.” Before us now, instead of the light shimmer shat came from the previous barrier, was what could only be described as a rainbow of light blocking off the cavern. Probing at it lightly with my magic I found that I couldn’t even detect my magic on the barrier anymore and it appeared that the Tree of Harmony was powering it now.

“Well I’m not sure exactly what happened, but the only way something is getting through that is if they can overpower the tree completely or if it lets them in.” Tapping at the barrier a couple times just to check I shake my head as I turn towards Selene. She’s looking at the barrier as well but she just shook her head before turning away from it. “Well Twilight is going to want to look at it still. You know how she gets when anything dealing with magic comes up.” As we leave the cave I get one more idea on how to protect the tree.

<><><><><><><>

Twilight came to examine the barrier around the tree but wasn’t able to find out much more than I did. She agreed with my assessment about what happened though she wanted to look into things more later. Until then I started modifying the front of the cavern by turning it into the makings of a portal. I knew that the forest wasn’t going to be safe to travel through for some time so I was going to need a way to get my subjects here from the coast.

Over the next month I prepared for their arrival though I was able to get in contact with them after the first week as they came within range of my communication crystal, the one connected to it being with them. The Admiral didn’t like that we were headed into another war, but agreed that if we didn’t help now then we’d probably be drawn into one later. He mentioned having ideas of his own about potential help, but he was rather closed-mouth about them until he arrived.

Other than the daily communication I used my time creating things to help with the coming war. It was after the third week through that month that I not only got word back from Butch, but he had brought visitors. I had finished clearing a path to my garden that day when the ground in front of me burst open revealing a rather large diamond dog in thick armor. I looked at him curiously until I started hearing a banging sound behind him.

“Oh get out of my way you big oaf, I told you to stop standing in front of me all the time.” Peering around him I spotted the curios sight of a rather short and wizened female diamond dog that was banging on the larger one’s armor with a staff that was twice her size. She eventually spots me looking around her companion and she peers at me through her thick glasses. “Well what have we here? I guess that young whippersnapper was actually telling the truth. Greetings High One, I am Zirconia, the Lorekeeper of the Bloodstone Pack and the representative sent to determine the truth.”

She starts circling me while I stand there being amused by her antics. “Hmm, well you are exactly what we were told, but you aren’t the High Alphas of legend that’s for sure.” She pokes at my side with her stick causing me to jump and glare at her as she raises an eyebrow. “Granted things do seem to be looking up for the future, don’t they? Hahaha.” I just glare at her before I just roll my eyes at the antics of elders of the short lived races.

“Well I am thankful that you were able to show up, I just hope the representatives from the other packs show up soon.” I wave a paw towards the house and head back to show her in to have Cassidy get her room ready. “Oh they’re probably already here by now; we took the long way here to drop of some things at the packs that look to us. My granddaughter, the Pack Alpha, has grown up hearing of the legends of the High Ones and when she heard you were returning started preparing for war in case it was true.”

I glance at her as we enter my manor and I am surprised to hear the sound of voices coming up from the basement. I was about to head down to see what was going on when Butch came out of the kitchen looking for me. “There you are princess; all the major pack leaders sending a representative have arrived. Shall I prepare for the meeting or would you like to rest first?” I think for a moment before answering.

“Get things ready for it now. Have Cassidy prepare a meal and refreshments for them all during the meeting. Zirconia, if you’d follow me?” At her nod I lead her to the dining area and gesture to a seat for her use as I take my own at the head of the table. Soon enough the other leaders were shown in by Butch and each of them looked surprised at my appearance as if they didn’t expect me to be here.

Once they were seated, and Cassidy brought in their meals, I began to speak. “Thank you all for coming. There is much to speak about but I’ll start with what you have all been wondering for thousands of years. Lord Inari and Lady Ogitsu, those you call the High Alphas, had saved who they could those many years ago in the hopes of one day returning. Unfortunately they no longer can do that as we were drawn into a war which ended with our loss. Neither of them could make it out alive, and even their son lost his life in the last days of the war.”

There were many gasps of horror from the diamond dogs in the room when I say this and I can almost feel their spirits break. “The last thing I was told by the Lady Ogitsu was to bring the survivors somewhere safe and I knew it was time that we return home. Yet on arrival I found that our neighbors were in trouble and needed our help so I decided to call on all of you for help. You have always been loyal to the kitsune race, even after us being gone for so long you never forgot about us and waited for us to return. I just hope that things haven’t changed and that it is still true to this day.”

After I finish the assembled diamond dogs start yelling over each other as they try to get my attention but one voice cuts through the rest. “How do we know that this isn’t just a trick to get us to forsake the High Alphas for you?” I look around trying to find who spoke, but I can’t see who it was as they were all talking rather loudly. I sigh and look downcast as I fight back my emotions. “Because their son, Prince Okami, was my husband; making them my mother- and father-in-law. And losing them was one of the most painful things I’ve ever had to go through.”

I think they might have felt the emotion in my voice as I saw many pairs of ears drop down in shame. I’m not sure if they believe me but I have one thing left to say. “Even if you still don’t believe me the survivors of New Sionnach are going to be here in about a week. If you want to withhold making a decision until then to speak with the others then I’ll understand.” With that I leave them to discuss things amongst themselves and head to my room as I feel tears crawl down my face.

<><><><><><><>

The arrival of the Sionnach fleet had happened and I was waiting impatiently at the portal under the Everfree Castle. “How much longer until the portal on that end is ready, Admiral?” The small image of him floating above the gem in front of me shakes his head. “Oh calm down lassie, they are almost done over here. You should know that these things take time if you want it done right.” I sigh even though I know he is right.

It takes about another hour for the other end to be set up, but when they finish we finally begin the process of linking the two together. It’s made easier than it normally would be as I use the communication gem to easily trace the location as I channel my energy into this end of the portal and send it out seeking the other end. Once the link is complete I pour in more power to open the portal which flashes in a burst of flame-like light before showing the kitsune waiting on the other end of the portal.

I turn to now to the diamond dogs behind me as I step through the portal to meet my subjects at the cove the landed at, currently dubbed the Everfree Cove. Once through I stand before them in my full regalia as the diamond dog representatives follow through behind me, looking around in awe. I look around at the gathered thousands who had been looking to me to lead them home, and my gaze fondly settles on the orphans we had saved from New Sionnach.

“Kitsune and diamond dogs of Sionnach, it has been over six thousand years since we have walked in the land of our homeland but now we have finally returned. Yet even though we have returned we have lost so much in the journey to finally come back. We lost so many of our friends and loved ones to get here and yet there is one thing that we still must do before we can move on.” I pause for a moment as music begins to start playing in the background from somewhere. “Let us finally take the time to remember those that we have lost and mourn their loss.” With that I begin to sing and, though it was gradual, the rest started to join in as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8UeWzOfiqo

As the song came to a close I reached out with my magic to a few nearby trees and reformed them into the shapes of Lord Inari and Lady Ogitsu, as well as their son, Prince Okami. I can feel the tears flowing down my face, but right now I don’t really care as my subjects split up to mourn in their own ways. Some of them start to move through the portal and I look on over it all from where I am.

I hear someone walking over to me, but I just keep gazing out until he talks, identifying him as the Admiral. “I know it hurts lassie, but you’ve done a good job getting us this far. You’ve done so much for us, but you sacrifice so much of yourself to do it. At least this time I can do something for you that may help cheer you up a bit. Come on lassie, it’s time that you meet some of our old allies that we’ve kept in contact for a long time.”

I look over at him oddly before I scrub at my face with a paw before I get up and follow him to the ocean. Looking around I can see some of the kitsune and diamond dogs starting to put together some small buildings in the area as they begin a permanent settlement in the cove. I can still here some singing, yet it sounds lighter than the song we just went through and it was coming from the direction of the ocean.

As we neared some of the docks, which were built for temporary use until more permanent ones were put into place, I noticed some forms swimming around in the water. As we get closer I can catch a few of the words, yet they aren’t from any song I’ve heard before. “Shoo be doo! Shub shub be doo!” Getting closer I am surprised to see ponies in the water, but when one leaps out of the water I see not the usual hind legs, but a fish-like tail.

Author's Notes:

Shoo be doo! Bet that's a surprise for you. I planned to bring them up earlier but now seems like a good point. Of course you'll have to wait until next chapter to find out why they are there.

Gathering Storm

I was shocked at the fact that I was seeing ponies swimming around the cove, but the fact that they were seaponies was even more amazing. Sure I had read stories about them in Equestria, but there was no evidence that they were actually real. I turn to the Admiral to see him grinning at me as if he expected my reaction of surprise. “So are you going to explain what this is all about or am I going to have to guess why there are seaponies swimming around here?”

He starts laughing as I while I glare at him, though I can’t hold that face long so I just shake my head at him until he finally starts explaining. “They are the surprise that I told you about before lassie, and the reason why we were never caught by any of the kingdoms in the seas we raided. True the ponies chased us away from our homeland, but the seaponies were never affected by whatever changed the others and in fact helped us escape. Since then they escorted our ships around and played scout for us in exchange for many of the things we made. So, think that they will come in handy with this war you are dragging us into?”

I shake my head though I am smiling about all this since it is a better surprise than I expected. “Well it sure is a surprise, but I bet that the princesses will be even more surprised to see them show up out of nowhere. I’m assuming that there is a reason that they’ve stayed hidden from the world all this time?” I raise an eyebrow questioningly at him as he chuckles and towards the frolicking amphibious ponies.

He waves out at one of the brightly colored ponies, who starts swimming over towards us on seeing him. I observe as the mare swims towards us and take in her yellow coat and lavender mane. As she gets closer I notice that her eyes are the same color as her mane and I’m surprised to see a horn rising from her forehead. Strange, none of the tales I’ve read say anything about there being a unicorn variety among the seaponies.

Once she gets near us the Admiral turns back to me again. “Princess Flarenza, I would like you to meet Sea Star, group leader of our escorts on the way here from the islands. Sea Star, this is that lassie I’ve been telling you about that has finally brought us home.” I lift a paw to wave at her and am surprised when she surges out of the water onto the docks and looks me right in the eyes and speaks in a voice too adorable for the annoyance behind it.

“Well it’s about time we finally see one of you royals around. Do you know how long we’ve been waiting for you to get off your tails and leave that stupid portal so we could go home ourselves?” I open my mouth to reply but am brought up short when I realize that her posterior was no longer like that of a fish, but of a regular pony now. Well I guess that would be one reason why they were never seen if they were around Equestria, though I wonder if it’s just the unicorn types or if all of the seaponies can change like that.

I shake myself out of my musings enough to give her my full attention again. “I’m sorry that our disconnection from the world caused you such problems, but I never even knew you were real until just now. Granted I do agree with you in that it has been too long since we had been away from the world and should have gone home long ago.” She continued to glare at me for a while before she finally nods and leaps back into the ocean once again.

I turn towards the Admiral and raise an eyebrow at him over what just happened. He looks at me with a grin before patting me on the shoulder as he walks back towards the portal. “She must really like you to let you off with just a nod, lassie. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to her eventually. Now let’s go find the General so we can figure out what is going on with this war.”

<><><><><><><>

It turns out that the unicorn types were the only ones that could transform on land and with how rare they were there wasn’t much extra help from them for the war on land. Luckily Aurora had brought in some figures from the front recently which gave us an idea of what we were up against as well as what the Equestrians had on their side. The problem was the numbers weren’t looking good as they were outnumbered four to one and reinforcements would only bring it down to three to one.

I was glad that the representatives of the diamond dog clans were willing to help us with the war. It turns out that the memorial service was enough to convince many of them of my sincerity of what happened, and the unsure ones just didn’t want to be left out in case I was telling the truth. With their numbers it mad the odds a little better, but our side would still be outnumbered by nearly two to one during the battle so more extreme measures were going to be needed.

While most of the kitsune were dealing with making the castle and coastal town more comfortable during the winter months, I had a select few helping me create firearms for the ones crewing our ships during the attack. Using gems as the propelling mechanism for the weapons made it where we could more easily create ammo for them, and even made a few special rounds out of gems. Luckily their armor was up to par already as I had been working on that during our last war.

With all of that, as well as my own special toys I was making I had little time for anything else beyond the rare visit to Twilight for updates. My guards were busy training during this period as well, and Rose was out in the Everfree hunting down the timberwolves, especially those four guarding the stone now that I had the location from my map. I was able to squeeze in a bit of time every night to read up on the history of Equestria that I had missed while I was gone.

What I read really made me want to slam my head into my table as the princesses really had some issues after I left. I had already heard much of Twilight’s problems with her golem experiments but that was only the tip of the iceberg it seems. Since I was reading through her personal copy I got information that wasn’t in the normal books but I didn’t expect her, as well as Cadence, to have dabbled in necromancy. Luna stopped Twilight early, but Cadence’s isolation up in the Crystal Empire meant they were too late to stop her from raising an army of undead. From the notes in the margin I pieced together that they had lost it a century or two after the deaths of their friends and family and were looking for a way to bring them back.

The civil war was mostly the fault of Celestia as she had been ignoring the problems that had gone on between the pony tribes for so long and it only then came to a head. It was only through the efforts of Luna and Selene that they were able to keep the earth and pegasus tribes from breaking away as well as the few loyal unicorns. Even after it was all over the unicorns that were involved in the revolt were allowed to leave in peace which led to the problems with the current war.

There were many other minor incidents over the years as well, but nothing too noteworthy that would help me out. I had an idea that could help even the odds with the war but it would have to wait until I got to the front to try and implement it. Going over everything I had done to prepare as well as what we were up against I let out a sigh. “All that there is left to do now is wait and hope that everything will turn out for the best. I just hope that we can handle anything unexpected that gets thrown at us since they are using darker magics.”

<><><><><><><>

Spring was finally arriving meaning that the time for what could be the final battle was soon to arrive. A fleet of twenty-five ships had set sail already and were estimated to arrive around the time that I made it to Manehatten myself. Rose should also be there with whatever she had been able to gather from the Everfree and, while I couldn’t see how many timberwolves she found, I could feel a sense of gloating from her down the magical link between us. I was now waiting at the train station with Twilight for it to get pick me up for the trip to the warfront.

Twilight was mostly healed now, but she was still not done with the therapy needed for her to use her wings at full strength, so I was going alone since Selene was essentially protecting Celestia. “Too bad you couldn’t come with me Twilight. It would have been just like old times again when we were traveling all over the place. Of course if you still do things now like you did back then you’d probably go overboard with your magic creating another problem again.”

Twilight looks at me oddly for a moment before answering. “Hey, I’ve gotten better about using magic for everything, but what do you mean by causing another problem by going overboard?” I glance at her before motioning back towards the Everfree Forest with a paw. “Back when you fought with Tirek you both used a huge amount of magical energy which reshaped the landscape. What you didn’t know, and I found out while I was gone, is that using too much magic in an area can cause some unintended effects. Luckily in this case the Everfree and my home soaked up most of it and you saw the effects from that. If that didn’t happen then anything could have happened, even warping reality to something even Discord would admire.”

Twilight winces when I say this while I continue. “It really explains a lot about why Celestia rarely uses her magic and when she does she is careful about how much she uses. Luna is an exception when it came to the undead as the magic used to counter them negates each other, leaving little contamination of the area around it.”

I glance over at Twilight to see her writing this all down and I chuckle at how she never changes. Once she finished writing down the little I said she looks back up at me expectantly. “Once this is over you and me are going to have a long talk. You’ve found out so much that I’ve never heard about before and it’s just not fair. I’m supposed to be the one that knows everything about magic, not you.” Her pouting at me looks cute like it always did and I just pat her on the shoulder.

Looking up I see the train approaching and I decide to leave Twilight with something to annoy her until I get back. “How about this for an idea, Twilight? Once this is all over I’ll let you borrow a few books from the Sionnach library that we managed to save when we evacuated. I made sure that everything that wasn’t recreational or historical was saved first.” Twilight’s ears perked up at the mention of the library and she turned her head towards me in shock as the train pulled up.

“Wait, you have an entire library and you never said anything to me? You have to let me see it Flarenza, where are you hiding it?” I laugh at her reaction as I climb onto the train and find my seat. As the train starts to pull away Twilight is following my window along the outside shouting at me. “Flarenza! Tell me!”

I laugh to myself as I watch her fall behind as the train picks up speed and I wonder if I might have been a bit cruel to the kitsune back at the castle. While Twilight would be focused on the library instead of worrying now, I wouldn’t put it past her to trek all the way out there and start interrogating them for the location of the library. Of course it’s not like I really hid it when I used the perfectly good library room that was already there and came with a few, if faded, protection spells already.

Since it’s going to be a while until we get to Manehatten I decide to do a sweep of the train for changelings. As an extra precaution I throw on my cloak to keep my identity hidden in case there are any. From what we can tell we successfully kept my kingdoms involvement a secret from the other side so we had a huge advantage if it was true. As I moved through the train I went over the tentative plans we had already laid out.

It turned out that they did a rather good job of sweeping for changelings as there were none on board. Since there was nothing else to do I spent my time up near the front of the train with the commander of the pony reinforcements. While he was officially the leader of the reinforcements, I was tasked to make sure that the train made it through safely. In fact the commander was the only one that officially knew of the fact that if anything happened that I was in command.

It was a good thing that we were expecting trouble on the way as that was exactly what we got when we neared Manehatten. “So ma’am, what are your orders for dealing with that thing?” I examined the airship hanging under its balloon that was dead ahead and obviously blocking the path of the train. Blowing it out of the sky would be the easy way to deal with it, but that would be a sure way of warning the enemy that there was a major threat on board. “Tell whoever is running this train to pour on as much speed they possibly can without putting us all in danger. I’ll shield the train from attack while you have everyone else at the windows ready to keep any gryphons from boarding.”

The commander looks unsure but still nods and heads off to do as I asked. I climbed up to the top of the train and, after adhering myself to the top of the car, started projecting a spell to shield the train. After my experiences before with trying to block firearms I made sure to angle the shield this time so that it deflected the rounds instead of blocked them. I also made sure that it didn’t stop anything from going outwards from the train so that the ponies could fire out if they needed to.

Soon the airship disgorged its compliment of flyers as it turned to aim its cannons at the train. Extending my senses I wasn’t surprised to find that the ship had a large number of protective enchantments on it, but I actually was surprised when I found that this wasn’t true for everything on it. “Did they really not protect the most dangerous thing on that ship from magic? Could they really have been that stupid or egotistical?”

I check again and find that I wasn’t imagining things at all; they actually forgot to protect the ammunition for their cannons from spellcraft. “It’s like they want me to just destroy their ship so that it looks like an accident.” I grin as I reach into the bags I had brought with me and pull out a couple signal fireworks and rig them in a way so that the second will fire off just before the first blows. “Well if they want me to take it out that bad I guess I should oblige, and I won’t even have to use too much power either.”

As the airships opens fire on the train and I feel the cannon fire get deflected of my shield I form a small ball of fire encased in a small barrier which I attach to the second rocket. I take aim and let the first rocket fire as I subtly guided it with telekinesis to where I wanted it to go. The gryphons dodged out of the way as it flew, and didn’t look twice at it even when the second on fired off towards their airship. I smile as I felt the ball of flames land right in the middle of the stack of ammo and I release the shield around it with spectacular results.

Many of the gryphons turned in shock when a giant explosion erupted from the airship which spread to the balloon’s canopy, overloading the fire repelling enchantments. From there the ship was impossible save as it started falling towards the ground trailing flames and debris. While the gryphons were distracted by the loss of their ship the ponies were using that to pick of them off as we roared by in the train. Seeing as the worst of the threat was over, I climbed back down into the train once again to meet with the commander.

“Well that went better than I expected, you’ll be happy to know that they were dumb enough not to protect their ammunition from being sabotaged with magic if you can get anyone up on their airships.” The commander just shakes his head before saluting to me with actual respect in his eyes this time. With this obstacle out of the way I made my way back to my seat for a short nap before we arrived in Manehatten.

<><><><><><><>

Manehatten had really changed over the years since I had last been here, and not just because of the war. The city had obviously grown since then and it showed in the fact that some of the buildings had nearly doubled in size. Back then the highest a building got was maybe to thirty stories, but I counted nearly twice that on the tallest of them. If the weather hadn’t been let to run wild lately then I think some of the buildings would have been above the clouds.

While the rest of the reinforcements were being taken to their posts to defend the city, the commander and I were heading towards the tallest building at the center of the city. At the top we were told was the where Luna and Cadence were commanding the battle from. The building was heavily defended with guard checkpoints on every floor so it took us nearly three times what it should have to get to the roof.

As we reached the roof I saw a large tent that was probably Luna’s idea given her preference for more traditional styles at times. What caught my attention though was the fact that a changeling was standing guard which would explain much of why things were going badly. I sigh and throw up a shield preventing it from communicating with the rest of its kind as we were waved into the tent.

Inside we found Luna and Cadence speaking with their generals, one of them, a white unicorn with blonde mane, which looked familiar. I had been told that the Bluebloods were still around, and I was assuming that this was one of them. The entire tent looked up as we entered and the commander saluted the princesses. “Your Royal Highnesses, I’m the commander of the reinforcements from Canterlot to report in as well as escort, as your sister put it, a special surprise.”

They all look at us oddly before Luna looks towards me with a raised eyebrow as I step forward. “Before I say anything may I take care of the changeling outside that is posing as one of your guards?” I watch as Luna’s other eyebrow shoots up before a smile graces her lips, while Cadence looks a bit angry. “Of course you may.” At Luna’s words I turn towards the entrance and use my magic to drag the disguised changeling inside. He struggles when he realizes he is caught and even more after I dispel his disguise to the gasps of the generals.

“You know I’m getting a bit tired of finding you creatures doing things to hurt my friends. Maybe it’s about time that I live up to the name your kind has given me until you leave them alone.” With that I lower my hood revealing my form to the room which increases the panic of the changeling. To really sell the message I use my magic to amplify the creatures feeling of fear until it become blind terror and I let my magic leak from my eyes making them look as if they were aflame.

“So am I going to have to hunt down every one of your kind until there are none left or are you finally going to smarten up and leave?” The changeling is screaming in absolute terror as it tries to escape my grasp. I let it go and it streaks out of the tent and takes off flying away from the city, screaming the entire time. Looking around I notice more changelings fleeing the city, and I think I may even see a few leaving the enemy encampment in the distance as well.

Turning back to the others in the tent I find them staring at me in shock and confusion, though Luna has a smile on her face. “What, may I ask, was that all about? And who would you be?” I turn to the stallion that I was presuming to be of the Blueblood family who asked the question. “That would be about five hundred years of a changeling tale of terror being amplified enough that it flooded back along the link to the rest of its kind. I’ve learned long ago that not only do they feel and feed off of emotions, but used correctly they can be manipulated by them. As for your other question, I am the leader of the real reinforcements that are now waiting to launch a counterattack.”

The room went into an uproar at my comment, some in disbelief though most just wanting to know what I was talking about. I look over at the princesses with a grin as they just shake their heads at me until Luna clear her throat. “Excuse me generals, if you’d all excuse us we would like to speak with our friend privately. We’ll call you all in once we know the situation.” I’m surprised that she sounds so calm about this, but she always was more of a warrior than her sister so she was in her element at this time.

Once the tent had cleared Luna turned towards me with a smile as her calm appearance changed to one of gloating. “Ha-ha! I told my sister that you were still alive and that we would know that if something happened to you it would involve a lot of collateral damage and not you just disappearing.” She starts dancing around a little while Cadence and I just watch her, both of us shaking our head. While Luna is busy going on about her little victory, Cadence takes over for now.

“We’ll have to catch up on all that happened to you later, but what did you mean by you being the leader of the real reinforcements? Does it have something to do with why you are wearing a crown?” I had really gotten too used to wearing this thing as I had once again forgotten about it until someone else pointed it out. Of course Cadence’s question caught Luna’s attention as well as she stopped bouncing around to look at me.

“Yes the crown is part of the reason as Luna would know, if she remembers at least. While I was gone I married into the royal family of Sionnach, unintentionally mind you, and I’ve led as many as I could back to our home in the Everfree. Much of what happened will have to be explained later, but in the end I’ve essentially inherited and army.” I tried to avoid saying much about what happened, but Cadence must have sensed something as she swept me up in a hug. I was able to hold back the tears as the past months had allowed me some time to heal, but the pain was still there and I realize that she also would know of the pain of losing a husband. Of course Luna chose that moment to speak up again surprising me with what she said.

“So our old ally that we were tricked into driving away is finally coming home again. Tell me, what of Lord Inari and Lady Ogitsu? Are they still well?” I break away from Cadence to stare at Luna with my mouth open in shock. I recover and shake my head at her sadly which causes her expression to fall. “I see.”

I sighed and knew that at I had to at least tell her a bit about this. “I guess you found out about what actually happened back then. Somehow I’m not surprised since you never did treat me as badly as your sister, yet you always seemed sad around me.” I look over to see Luna nodding sadly as I sigh. “They created a small pocket world to keep their subjects safe, but they did it in a way that meant that they could never leave it. So when a war drove us out they were left behind. Lady Ogitsu did entrust a message with me to deliver to you and your sister. They forgive you for what happened.”

Luna gets a sad smile as I relay the message, while Cadence is looking at me oddly for some reason. I decide to ignore it for now, even when she gets one of those creepy grins that I remember her getting so long ago. “But for the important news we should probably step outside so that you can point out the important targets for me.” Luna’s eyebrow rises at this but she nods as we leave the tent. I lead them over to the side of the building that has a few of the harbor and the enemy fleet blockading it. I count near a hundred ships of metal out there and from what I’ve heard they are crewed by the non-griffon races for the most part.

I pull out one of the communication gems that I had and glance towards the mass of fog that was rolling in before turning towards the princesses. “I’ve heard that the enemy has a couple ships out there that are full of prisoners. Do you know which ones they are yet or has the enemy been able to keep that information a secret?” Luna looks towards the fog that I glanced at and did a double-take before squinting at it. While she was distracted Cadence responded to my query.

“Those two in the far back are where they are keeping our subjects. I can feel the fear and pain from the crystal ponies that they have there.” I raise an eyebrow as I hadn’t known that she had that kind of ability but it did make sense considering what she could do with love. I raise the gem up closer to my face and speak into it.

“Did you catch all of that, Admiral?” The crystal flashes three times in confirmation as I see Luna’s eyes widen and they glisten with tears. “Then you and our allies free them tonight before driving off that fleet. Show them why the Sea Dog Pirates are the rulers of the ocean.” Cadence’s eyes widen at this while Luna turns towards me.

“I know the magic being used in that fog. Is it true? Can they really be back again?” I smile slightly as I nod to her before she turns back towards the sea. “I can’t believe it, after all this time the seaponies were protecting the ones that we couldn’t.” Her eyes harden as she turns back to me and Cadence once more. “It has been so long since we were all broken apart, yet finally our kingdoms are together again and nothing has been able to stop us when we were one. What other surprises do you have for our enemy? Did you manage to bring the diamond dog packs over as well?”

I nod as I move over to the other side of the building too look over the army preparing to invade the city. “As well as a few other surprises to even the odds a bit. I just need to know where to direct them, preferably towards wherever the enemy spell casters are.” I squint as something catches my eye in the enemy army and my eyes widen. “Is that an Ursa Major I see? How in the world did they manage to get one of those under their control?”

The two princesses come up beside me to look over the enemy while Cadence points off to the side opposite it. “They took her child and are forcing her to fight for them. They have all their magic users in the area around it as a precaution, so getting close enough to free it has been impossible.” Her eyes widen as the implications of what I had brought with me come to her. “But if you have an army of diamond dogs that doesn’t matter since they can come up right under them through and defenses.”

I smile and pull out a second gem and relay the target information to Butch and Cassidy, who were leading packs in my stead. Turning back to the princesses I smile as they actually look hopeful about the coming battle. “So should we call your generals back and let them in on all of this so they can plan on how to take advantage of it? I’d also like to know where you want me to be to support in the attack. Nothing is going to keep me out of the fight this time.”

Luna was about to say something before Cadence interrupted her with a worried look on her face. “Should you really be out there fighting in your condition?” I look at her wondering what she is talking about and the confusion must have been apparent on my face. “You mean you didn’t know? Didn’t you realize that you aren’t just supporting yourself right now?” I have no idea what she is talking about but Luna seems to catch her meaning.

“Wait, are you saying the she’s pregnant?!” My mouth drops open when she says this as I do my best impression of a fish. The two princesses look at me worriedly before I finally come up with a response. “I’m WHAT!?”

Author's Notes:

I think I'll stop there for now. Next chapter may be a bit short on dialogue but there isn't much talking during a battle I guess. You may now commence with the freaking out over the foreshadowing and twist ending.

What is it good for

Author's Notes:

I tried to come up with some music for this chapter but nothing really worked. There's a couple that I like that might fit part of it but I almost need three distinct songs. Either way, enjoy.

I lie upon Cadence’s bed with a wet cloth over my eyes as said princess poured a cup of tea for the both of us. I was still in shock over what I had found out and I wasn’t sure if I was scared, angry, or what. I hear Cadence clearing her throat and I remove the cloth to look over at her. “So you really didn’t know, did you? May I ask what happened to the father?” I feel myself tense up a bit at her question, but I just sigh since I know that she’d be the best of my friends to tell since she knows how I feel to some extent.

“I already told you about how I married into the royal family. Well when I first met him he was known as Duke Okami, though in reality he was the prince of the kingdom and the son of the rulers. At first I thought he was like every other noble I’d met but over time I started to get to know what he was like behind his mask. He was rather intelligent and was rather nice when you got to know him, and it didn’t hurt that he was rather handsome.” I sigh as I think back to all the other little things that I liked about him that I would never see again.

“When I lost him in the war I almost gave up everything, and it was only because of Lady Ogitsu that I was able to continue. She convinced me to go on and do what I could for the survivors by leading them back to our old home. From there I’ve almost given up on doing anything for myself and threw myself into doing what I could for my subjects. Being able to speak with all of you again was just a benefit that came with helping them.” I sigh as I look down at my stomach which did look a little larger than I remembered it being.

“This though? The thought of all this actually scares me. Me, the one that has faced down demons, dragons, hordes of undead, and even armies of the unknown and it’s the thought of being a mother alone that scares me the most. Yet at the same time I’m actually looking forward to this.” I look up at Cadence as I feel a tear roll down the side of my face and I can feel more coming. “It’s like I finally have another chance to have a family again. After losing everyone else that I had ever loved to find that there is still something left of them for me to hold onto, it’s just…” I trail off as the emotions start to overwhelm me.

“It just makes me so angry that they had to die, that he had to leave me alone to take care of all this myself. This is even worse than last time as I not only can’t fight to protect those I care about from a war, but there is actually a good reason holding me back this time.” I was about to continue as my anger and frustration started to increase but it was cut off as Cadence grabbed me up in a hug with her wings. I feel the tension in my body start to drain away as she starts humming while stroking a wing along my back.

“You don’t have to go through all of this alone now that you’ve returned to Equestria. You know that all of us, me and the other princesses, will be there for you if you need it. Selene especially since she always did think of you as family.” She sighs and I look up to see her looking rather sad. “As for the rest of it I know what you are feeling but I can say you are dealing with it much better than I did. You at least threw yourself into helping others in your kingdom. When I lost my Shiny I didn’t take it nearly as well as that. I did some dreadful things and almost destroyed the Crystal Empire trying to get him back. If it wasn’t for the others stopping me and helping me recover then all of Equestria could have been lost.”

I can hear some of her pain over what happened through her voice and I can tell it still hurts her deeply. We just lie there for a while and I eventually start to feel a bit better after having confided in one of my friends finally. I can feel weariness start to settle in as the weight of what happened today starts to settle in. That combined with the humming from Cadence starts to work into my mind until I fall asleep.

<><><><><><><>

The next morning I was awoken from my slumber by ponies yelling outside of the room I was in. “I told you! I was sent with a message from Princess Twilight for her friend Flarenza. And don’t say you don’t know who that is as she was supposed to be here with the other troops from Canterlot. She was supposed to meet with the other princesses when she arrived.” I sigh as I recognize the voice as Aurora’s and from the sound of it she was here under Twilight’s orders.

Groaning I climb out of bed, noticing that it was Cadence’s, before I made my way to the door with the shouting ponies before opening it and seeing Aurora and a guard. “You can let her in, she’s looking for me and I can guess what it’s about.” The guard looks over at me for a moment before nodding and letting her pass. Aurora looks relieved to see me, but I can tell that she is also a bit pissed based on how her wings are fluffed out.

“It’s about time I find you, what in Equestria did you do to Princess Twilight before she left? She was acting all crazy and wouldn’t leave me alone until I agreed to bring you this letter.” She passes over a letter from Twilight and I open it up to see what this is about. I roll my eyes when all that is written on it are the words ‘Tell Me’ over and over again from the top to the bottom of the page. I sigh as I set the letter down and rub my head with a paw.

“Why do I feel that telling her about that before leaving was a bad idea? Things are about to get a bit dicey here so stay close to me until things settle down. We better go and talk to Cadence about this to see if she has any ideas about this.” Turning to the guard I find that the princesses are up on the roof again making their final preparations. Luckily word had already spread about me through the building so we were able to make our way up without any lengthy delays.

Once we reached the tent on the ceiling we were met with the sight of the generals leaving it with the princesses right behind them. They were surprised to see me and my companion thought they quickly recovered. “Ah, Flarenza. We weren’t quite expecting you to be awake yet. And why is Equestria’s fastest courier accompanying you?” I can see Aurora looking a bit proud over the praise, but I just roll my eyes at the two.

“I really hope you two weren’t planning on having me sleep through all of this. I may not be able to fight directly like I was planning, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help in other ways. At the very least I can help with your healers to save lives or even help direct my subjects from up here. As for why Aurora is here…” I pass over the letter from Twilight to Cadence who looks it over with some curiosity. After seeing who it was from she looks up at me for an explanation as to why Twilight is going crazy.

“Right as the train was leaving I tried to give her something other than the war to think about. So I mentioned the fact that I had managed to help save much of the library from New Sionnach before we fled. I wasn’t expecting her to react like this, and it’s not even hidden that well as we are using the old Everfree Castle library for those books.” I am amused to see Cadence slap a hoof across her muzzle as I explain all of this.

“Oh dear Celestia, tell me you didn’t. Do you know how long it has been since she’s been able to explore a library of books that she hasn’t read yet? Every publisher of books in Equestria knows to send her the first copy of everything as she’s been known to camp out in front of their buildings when she gets word of something new being released. So you saying that you have an entire library of books that span centuries but not telling her where it is is like dangling cake in front of Auntie and saying she can’t eat it.” I wince at the comparison as I had tried a prank like that once which didn’t end well and taught me to never tease Celestia with fake cakes.

“I would have thought that she would have got less crazy over the years. But I guess it’s nice to see that some things never change.” I sigh before coming back to the other topic that they were trying to avoid. “Now, how about the fact that you were just going to let me sleep through this battle? Why would you do a thing like that when not only am I a ruler of a friendly country, but also well versed in spells that could still be of use even without me being directly in the fight?”

The two look at each other before Luna steps forward. “I apologize for that, but I was still thinking of the more reckless you that I remember all those years ago. Back then you would have thrown yourself into harm’s way no matter what and I didn’t think about how much you may have changed since then.” I sigh as I think on that and realize that she is right in a way. I was a lot more reckless back then and it took losing my leg to start me on the path to being more cautious.

I lift my wooden leg up to look at it before I respond to her. “Well you aren’t wrong about that, and it even took losing this to make me a little less impulsive. Right now me being out there in the middle everything would be bad as I would be too focused on protecting my child than helping in the fight.” The two look at my leg questioningly but don’t say a thing knowing that now isn’t the time. “All I want to know now is when the attack will start so I can tell my subjects when to move in.”

The two princesses once again look at each other before sighing and giving in to the inevitable. “Fine, but it’s going to be your job to make sure she stays out of trouble.” Luna points at Aurora who looks a bit shocked at being assigned to do this. “We expect them to attack us within the hour and you can even now see them preparing to do so. Since you haven’t told us what your subjects can do…” She trails off for a moment as she realizes something. “Actually it’s a good thing you woke up when you did since we don’t know how to contact them without you.”

I once again bring a paw up to my face as they only now realize this fact. I bring out the gems I used to contact the two groups and bring them up to my face, activating them both. “Butch, Cassidy; be ready to send up the surprises in fifteen minutes and prepare to attack. Your main objective is to clear out the magic users and free that Ursa Minor. After that you are to pull out and hit them wherever they seem weak while assisting any ponies that seem to be in trouble.” I turn to the princesses as I’m not sure if they have any plans for the other side of the battle.

“Do you have anything prepared to deal with the fleet on the other side of the city?” The two princesses shake their heads before answering. “Unfortunately we don’t. We have cannons trained on the harbor entrance so they can’t rush in, but they’ve effectively bottled us up on that end.” I smile and look at the other gem.

“Did you hear that Admiral, everything is clear on your end so show them exactly why our ships have ruled the oceans for so long.” Rich laughter filters through the gem as the Admiral shouts a few orders before responding. “Aye, lassie, they won’t know what hit them. We already freed the prisoners on those ships and many of them are raring to dish out some payback as well. They won’t know what hit them.” I turn towards the two princesses and gesture towards the side of the building facing the harbor.

“So shall we watch the opening shots of the battle? I’m actually rather curious myself to see the Sea Dog Pirates in action and how they handle four to one odds.” They nod warily as they join me at the edge. They order a nearby guard to bring telescopes so we can get a better view though there isn’t much to see as fog is covering the entire area. Once the instruments were brought to us the fog was starting to clear enough to see, and the view was unbelievable.

The raid over night was obviously successful as the two prison ships were following the back of the fleet of Sionnach vessels. What was amazing though was that all the ships were riding atop a large wave towards the enemy fleet, which we could see only now was noticed the incoming threat. Some of the enemy fleet looked as if they were having trouble steering, no doubt due to seapony sabotage, so some of them ended up crashing into each other trying to get out of the way. More of the ships were slammed together as the wave crashed right into the center of the fleet creating a large area for the Sionnach ships to settle and begin their attack.

Pandemonium reigned for the next minutes as the assault turned into a complete slaughter as few of the enemy ships fought back. Many were too busy trying to regain control of their ships so they were easy pickings for the Sionnach cannons and were sunk without a chance to fight back. Those that were further away from the impact of the wave were either terrified by the ferocity of the assault or they noticed just what they were facing and took to fleeing the area. In the end two thirds of the attacking fleet was sinking with the rest being pursued by the Sionnach ships and seaponies.

I was rather impressed by what happened even if I was expecting a bit more resistance from the enemy. Turning to the princesses I see that they were both shocked by the outcome and were both speechless. Of course they were snapped out of it by the fourth member of our little group reacting to it. “That… was… AWESOME!” We all turn to look at Aurora who was nearly vibrating in place as she continued to watch the retreating fleets. I shake my head as I smile at her acting more her age than she usually did.

“If only the other battle could be as simple, but I would be lying to myself if I thought it would. If anything the surprises I have set should maybe even the odds a bit but there will still be a lot of death to come.” We head over to the other side of the building and peer over at the armies on the land side of the city. I count a few dozen airships flying at the back of the enemy formations and frown when I only see two cloud carriers on the Equestrian side. Large cannons were being drawn forward as well and I even spotted some spellwork being woven over on the enemy side. I frowned when I pinpointed the source of it which was far from either star-bear and I could feel my anger rise when I saw crooked forms start to form along the front of the enemy lines.

“Looks like they are getting ready for battle themselves now. Either they got word from the ships out there or they are getting impatient, but whatever that is looks to be either necromancy or something worse.” I look towards Luna and Cadence, the former nodding while the latter looks fearful, before continuing. “That’s going to make things much more difficult since I can’t go down there and, unless you’ve got a lot more trained to fight them, Luna is probably the only one with the knowledge to counter them.” I watch as Cadence starts fidgeting and I guess it’s probably because she doesn’t want to admit to what she did those few centuries ago.

My train of thought was interrupted as fireworks started to fly from various positions around the enemy lines and I trained my telescope on them. “Looks like the first volley of the diamond dog’s sneak attack. Let’s see if my theories pan out well enough.” The two princesses look as if they were about to ask me what I was talking about when the sky over the enemy army exploded with massive rainbows of light. I smile as I see a few gryphons tumble from the air, those closest to the center of the blasts, while the rest seem to be struggling. Some of the airships even look to be having issues as a couple of them begin to lose altitude.

“I knew it! They were using poorly made enchantments on their equipment to lighten the weight that their flyers had to carry. If those are shorting out then it’s a guarantee that their magic repelling ones are either gone or so heavily strained that it won’t take much more to break through them.” Luna’s ears perk up as she turns toward me with a grin on her face.

“You mean that our unicorns can finally fight back on even grounds once again? Huzzah! Cadence, you take over up here while I go spread the command to prepare to attack. We’ll drive these fiends from our border once and for all today.” I was about to interrupt her until she teleported away leaving us looking at where she was standing. I sigh as I watch the second and final swarm of fireworks fly into the air.

While the gryphons spread out to avoid them, the ground forces did nothing which hurt them in the end. I watched as the fireworks exploded, not into rainbows, but into a variety of objects that I had packed into gems using a variant of the bag of holding enchantment. The sky was soon filled with tens of thousands of arrows flying in all directions as well as a few boulders and even some liquid fire. Many gryphons fell screaming from the air as they failed to flee far enough and even the ground forces were taking heavy losses. The boulders were targeted towards the airships and they had no chance to evade as they smashed through their decks.

When the sky cleared I looked again to see many of the bodies start to rise again while wreathed in necromantic energies. I sighed as I had one last idea but I couldn’t cast it myself and I wasn’t sure if the only one left here would want to. On seeing the enemy encampment start to break out into more activity as the Equestrians began their charge and the diamond dogs began their attack I turned towards Cadence. “We’re going to need something to counteract whatever that necromancer of theirs is doing. Luna won’t be able to last forever, but I have one spell that could help but I can’t cast it.”

I pull a scroll out of my bags and pass it over to Cadence to look over as I look back over to the battle. The star-bears had vanished and on looking I saw them fleeing away from the fight together. The enemy forces are still milling around in confusion but I see many of them starting to form up again as order was being restored. In fact one flank that is near a wooded area looks to be preparing for a count-charge when they start falling apart again. A howling sound reaches my ears and I smile as I watch the woods come to life and crash over the enemy flank. “Great job Rose, bet they weren’t expecting an army of timberwolves to attack them as well.”

I frown as spots of blue appear to be mixed in with all the brown and, using a spell I learned from Twilight, I amplify the telescope to take a closer look. “And it looks like you exceeded my expectations as well.” I lower the telescope as I raise an eyebrow while wondering what the presence of lupus majors and minors could mean. I was about to bring the telescope up once again when I heard a shout from Cadence behind me.

“Are you CRAZY”! What makes you think that I would be willing to cast something like this?!” I sigh as I turn towards her to see her waving the scroll at me furiously. “It’s because you not only have experience with that kind of magic but are also linked to Equestria as well. If I cast that spell then I would get almost no effect from it. It’s probably the biggest weakness of the white side of necromancy in that you can’t force your target to do your bidding.”

Cadence looks at me oddly but doesn’t look any less angry. “I’ve read a little bit about what you did after I vanished from this world so I know you have experience with necromancy, but only the darker side of it. This spell is nothing like that in if you used it back then it would have done absolutely nothing.” Cadence frowns at me as I say this and seems to be calming down some.

“If it would have done nothing then why would it do something now? And what are you talking about with this white and dark necromancy?” I try to think of the best way of explaining this to her so she would understand. “All necromancy is, is magic that deals with the forces of life and death. The darker variety is pretty much all of the bad things you hear about necromancy and often involves forcing your will on your targets. The white variety, in comparison, usually involves countering those forces and even the healing of the body. What it never does, though, is forces the casters will on their targets, it’s all about asking them. While you provide the power for what you want to do it’s the target of the spell that makes all the decisions.”

I look out over the battle still raging on the area outside of the city. “This spell is one of the few that fall under the white path that is used to call upon the dead. If you use it now in the interest of defending Equestria then it should summon all the heroes of the past that wish it to once again help defend it from her enemies.” Cadence still looks unsure, but is no longer angry as she nods and opens the scroll once more.

I watched as she began to draw in energy for the spell. I wasn’t lying about any of it, but I didn’t mention that the spell also could drain the magic in an area dry as well. The rainboom fireworks should have saturated the area with enough residual magic though, so I wasn’t overly worried about it. As she came to the end of the casting I looked around for a sign of it working but I frown when nothing appears. I had never seen the spell in action before, but I would have thought something impressive would have happened.

Looking back towards Cadence I was about to say something until I noticed a golden glow forming in front of her. Cadence stiffened up from something and it was only when the glow started solidifying into a more solid-looking form that I realize why. Standing in front of Cadence whispering into her ear was none other than the form of her husband, Shining Armor. I stood there and watched as he turned away from Cadence and started walking in the direction of the battle, leaving her to fall to the ground with tears in her eyes.

I hear nothing from him the entire time and when he reaches the edge of the building he looks to the side and nods as another form appears holding a trumpet. As the figure brings the instrument to its mouth it blows out the tones for an Equestrian charge. The two figures then leap off the roof and glide towards the battle in the distance, but they are soon no longer alone as more figures join them. Pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies, and more soon were charging towards the battle to defend Equestria.

The all looked rather similar and I was about to turn away when I saw one streak away from the pack, followed at a slightly slower pace soon after, charging right at the enemy airships. I don’t know what drew my eyes to that first figure, but when I noticed the golden streak behind it start to turn more chromatic I knew. I watched as the figure crashed through three airships, creating a shockwave of color between each, before it turned around for another pass and was soon flying over us once again.

“Somehow I should have known you would show up. You never were one to let your friends down, were you Captain Rainbow Dash?” I threw a salute to the passing figure before I turned back to help Cadence up. After making sure she was well enough to continue watching over the battle I made my way down to help wherever I could in the city’s hospital.

Aftereffects

I would have liked to say that I had forgotten my way around a hospital but considering it had only been almost four months since I was last in one I hadn’t forgotten a thing. The only differences between then and now are that there are fewer limitations on what I could do or teach as well as the technology being much higher than before. Of course actually getting the doctors to allow me to help out was the biggest issue to get around.

“And I told you that we don’t have time to hold the hoof of every crackpot that comes in saying that they are a doctor. I mean if you at least had proof of your skill then maybe we could make an exception but right now we don’t have the time to watch over you.” I refrain from rolling my eyes as I glance back at Aurora to see how she’s holding doing before looking back at the doctor. I was at least glad that I finally got him to get around the fact that I wasn’t a pony, granted I probably might have had a slightly easier time if I tried to use my standing as a princess of a kingdom.

“Well that would be rather difficult to do as it would either be from somewhere you never would have heard of or centuries out of date even if I did have them. Everything I know is from actual experience in doing it as well as research into the field. But if you really want to see proof about what I can do then how about this?” I raise my wooden leg for the stallion to get a closer look at. “Not only did I survive losing my leg through my own abilities but I was able to create this one by adapting a variety of spells into something new. While I can tell your medical sciences have improved over the past many years, I have yet to see or even hear of anything on par with this.”

I look around at all the doctors and nurses rushing around as the field medics constantly bring in a stream of wounded. The doctor was looking over my leg with interest and was about to say something when I interrupted. “Look, you obviously need all the help that you can get and I’ve probably got more power than all of the doctors here combined. Just put me on the patients that are the most critically injured that are at the worst risk or are what you would label as hopeless. At the very least I can keep them alive long enough so that one of your doctors can get around to help them.”

He looks a bit uncertain as he looked between me, my leg, and the incoming wounded. Finally he sighs and waves over one of the nurses who had just finished with assisting a patient. “Nurse, make sure that she is directed to the worst patients and assist her in any way she needs it. Hopefully she can do what she says and keep the worst of the wounded alive until a real doctor can show up.” At her annoyed glare and nod to the doctor she waves me along towards the first patient.

For the coming hours I constantly ran around the hospital taking care of as many of the wounded as I could. Some were too far gone for me to do much about, but I was able to help most of them that I could reach in time. The nurse, while unsure about me at first, turned out to be a great help as I saved pony after pony as she went out of her way to help me and gave Aurora enough information to help as well. Things were going as smoothly as expected, considering a war was going on right outside, until about four hours in when a commotion start up in the entryway.

It started with screaming from the entryway, and I was just finishing up with my current patient when gunshots rang out from that direction. I waved to Aurora to stay down as I made my way to the disturbance to help. Peering around the final corner I spot three griffons in the entryway firing at anything that moves and there were already a few pony bodies already out there. “You’re right, this is just like shooting fish in a-“

I didn’t let them get any further than that as I slam them into the wall with my magic, breaking all their limbs in the process. Entering the room I advance on them as I crush their firearms into balls of scrap metal in my telekinesis before turning towards one of the cowering nurses. “Take these three to wherever you keep your wounded prisoners. As long as you keep them from moving too much they shouldn’t get any worse, though if they try anything I’ll remove their wings next. I could use the chance to practice with prosthetic wings.” The gryphons whimper as I say this, but they aren’t in a position to do much else.

There were no further interruptions as I made a quick call to Cassidy and she immediately sent some guards to watch over the place. The pony guards were found outside in critical condition along with a good number of gryphons so this was obviously a direct attack on the area and not a coincidence. If it wasn’t for the fact that this was a high traffic area I would have put up a shield around the entire building but I couldn’t do both that and help the injured.

Night had long since fallen by the time that injured stopped flooding in at an insane pace. It was only when I turned to the nurse for directions to my next patient just to come face to face with Luna that I realize just how long I had been working. Looking around I found that the worst injuries had already been treated and it looked as if the worst around currently were of only a moderate level. I notice that Aurora was barely keeping her eyes open, having kept up with me the entire time even getting me some amounts of food while I worked, so I turn back to the Night Princess. “So how are things going out there?”

Luna sighs as she waves her head for us to follow her, though Aurora is so tired that she doesn’t notice when I carry her in my magic as she is nodding off. “I never would have believed it possible until you arrived, but we managed to completely rout the enemy forces. In fact we have learned that the minotaur and gryphon leaders were present during the battle and were killed, along with many of their top leaders.” She sighs as she leads us back towards the building being used as their headquarters.

“They had thrown almost everything they had at us in an effort to end the war today and now that it’s failed we can finally push them out of Equestria. After that we will need to decide on if we shall push out into their lands or if other actions will be taken.” She glances back at us as we reach Cadence’s room and enter to find the other princess laid out on a couch. It looked as if she had been crying for a while and I watch as Luna joins her on the bed and puts a wing over her. “Now let’s talk about that spell you had Cadence use as the battle was starting. What did it do to her? She hasn’t said anything since I found her on the roof.”

I wince at how threatening her voice sounded as she says this and what’s worse is that I have little idea about what caused this. “I really have no idea what it did to her, and it shouldn’t have done anything as the spell doesn’t work like that. I’m sure you recognized some of the ghostly ponies that appeared during the battle?” Luna nods though she doesn’t look any less angry. “Well the first one to appear was her husband and he said something to her that I didn’t hear. Whatever he said started all this her, though I thought she recovered by the time I left her to help in the hospital.”

Luna’s eyes widen as I say this and she looks at Cadence with pity in her eyes. “I see.” I can see her tighten her wing over the pink princess and moves in closer to her. Her eyes lose all the anger she had and they are now filled with a sadness that I hadn’t seen in a while. “Our loved ones really do have the power to hurt as in ways that we’d never expect. That spell is really more terrible than I thought and I believe it should never be cast again.”

I think over her words and think about what would happen if I saw my own husband again and what he might say if I did see him. I look at Cadence and how she is reacting to this, but I can’t tell if she is truly sad or if she is overwhelmed by another emotion. “I think I might just agree with that, but we both know that there are times where the risk is worth it. The spell is something that won’t even work in most cases anyways and is really only possible in dire circumstances.”

Luna looks over at the other princess before sighing. “True, but I hope that it never is needed again since that would mean that our ponies are once again in danger.” I look out the window and think the same thing with my own subjects who had gone through too much the past many decades.

<><><><><><><>

The following months were a whirlwind of problems as Equestria tried to recover from the war, and my own subjects tried to get on with their lives once again. Without their leaders the minotaur and gryphon kingdoms began to fight amongst themselves as civil war broke out to determine who would lead them after their defeat outside of Manehatten. I hadn’t heard much about the other kingdoms involved in the war, but the few allies of Equestria were also recovering now that they could focus on their own problems again.

Of course much of that was in the future as I returned to Ponyville after all the wounded were helped and, my own problems were just beginning as the train began to pull into the Ponyville station. I didn’t notice anything at first but when I stepped off the train I was surprised to find that the town appeared to be deserted. I was starting to worry that something had happened here when I heard a sound from nearby. “Psst, you’d better hide if you don’t want her to catch you. The town has been on a Code Lavender alert for the past few days now and it doesn’t look to be ending any time soon.”

I look over and notice the pony running the ticket booth peeking out from under the grating that covers the window when it is not in use. I look back to Cadence with a raised eyebrow, who was only now leaving the train, to have her return my look with a sigh of exasperation. “This is why you have to be careful about letting Twilight know of the existence of a library she hasn’t been through. While she has gotten better about overreacting over every little thing, she still tends to go a bit overboard with things like this. At least it’s only a Code Lavender as she can still be calmed down by somepony other than Celestia.”

I look around at the empty town before turning towards her once again. “What exactly is a Code Lavender though? I don’t remember hearing anything about it before I left so it means little to me right now.” Cadence sighs again as she starts walking towards Twilight’s palace.

“We started using it shortly after you left to describe situations involving her going on a downward spiral of various kinds. Without her friends to keep her stable she tended to overreact to many things and you could tell when it starts by just watching her. The biggest sign of something starting is when her mane starts to randomly pop out all over the place.” I think back and remember that being something that happened before she decided to cast a Want-It-Need-It spell on her doll.

“I just hope that we’re in time to stop it from becoming a Code Purple or Violet.” We arrive at Twilight’s palace to find it empty of everyone, even the guards. I wonder why the guards would vanish as it should be their job to either prevent something from happening or at least cleaning up after it. Cadence brings a wing up to her face as we find no sign of Twilight at her home. “Of course we have to find her first before we can do anything.”

I think about where Twilight would probably be and only two places come to mind if she isn’t around the town. “Since she isn’t here, and we haven’t heard word of her being in town then I can only think of two other places she could be. Either she found the library which is poorly hidden in the old Everfree Castle Library or she’s searching my home for it. Actually she may have been distracted at my home by my own personal library especially as some of the books are magically encrypted.”

We make our way towards Ogitsu Manor and we see signs of Twilight’s passing in the form of crumpled up scrolls on the path to my home. Looking at one of them I roll my eyes as they seem to be various kinds of checklists on getting me to reveal where the books are. Cadence glances at one of them and shakes her head at what she reads. “Oh dear, she’s fallen back onto her old habit of making checklists of everything. I thought Spike had finally managed to break her of that habit before he left.”

Entering my home we soon find that Twilight is there from her shouting. “I’ve already read this one as well! And there is still nothing about where she hid the other library in any of these. Why couldn’t she have used the same spell to protect all of these things so that I didn’t have to take an hour removing the illusion on each one separately?” I look at the pink princess as she looks back at me and we just shake our heads at each other.

Following the sounds of frustration we find Twilight with her nose buried in another book in my study. Around her are piles of books that had been removed from their shelves and from the number of books still on the shelves I assumed that she was only half-way through them. Twilight was muttering to herself as she tried to break through the enchantment on the current book and I notice the small orange CMC emblem on the front of it. Looking at Cadence I just roll my eyes over towards Twilight before sneaking up on her, keeping the book between us and say one word. “Scootaloo.”

Twilight’s head jerked up at my voice but her attention was soon grabbed by the book once again as the enchantment on it was removed. “Oh, thanks Flarenza.” I look back at Cadence as she struggles to hold in a laugh at Twilight’s single-minded focus. Turning back to Twilight I settle down on the floor and start counting the time it takes for Twilight to realize what just happened. I was surprised when it took about fifteen minutes, and half the book, for Twilight to finally react. “Wait a minute, YOU!”

I was ready for her when she tried to pounce at me over the book as she crashed into the shield I had up in front of me. She recovered quickly and she looked at me with eyes filled with a bit of madness. “Where did you hide the books?! Where are they!?” I roll my eyes at Twilight as Cadence comes up behind her.

“Did you maybe try looking in the library I have access to Twilight? It’s not like there are many places that I could store them safely until something gets built.” Twilight’s mouth just opens her mouth but no sound comes out as her eyes shrink to pinpricks when Cadence puts a wing over her back. She looks up to see Cadence and looks between her and me until she finally collapses to the ground.

“I started doing it again didn’t I? But why didn’t you just tell me that you were storing it all in the castle library? And when did you show up Cadence?” Cadence just nuzzles Twilight as the purple mare starts to calm down from her little fit.

“Well I was on my way back to Canterlot to let Celestia know what is going on now that Manehatten is no longer under siege. Luna is organizing everything to take the rest of Equestria back. At the same time I decided to escort the pregnant princess back and make sure that she didn’t do anything too strenuous.” Cadence looks over at me to answer the other questions.

“Well I didn’t expect you to go overboard like this since you should be old enough to know better by now.” Twilight blushes as I say that and continue. “But it did work well enough for getting you to not focus on the war for a bit while I was gone. As for why I didn’t tell you where the library was, it’s partially because there is still a lot of work needing to be done to sort it out, especially with how dangerous some of the books are. I wanted to get the worst books separated out and put into a restricted section. Some of them are nearly as bad as some of the ones that I’ve had to destroy.”

I see a hopeful look on Twilight’s face and I just sigh as I realize what I just said as well as one of her hobbies she always had. “Since the secret is out, yes you can help organize the library when there is time. Of course you might have to convince the librarians to let you help out since they are VERY protective of the books. Actually I’m not sure if that would mean you’d get along with them or clash with them.”

Twilight didn’t hear the last part as she was already rushing out of the room at hearing that she could help with the library. I look at Cadence as she looks back at me and we just shake our heads as we leave the room. We were about to say something when we heard Twilight yelling from outside. “WAIT! WHAT PREGNANT PRINCESS!?”

Author's Notes:

Bleh, mind froze up for much of this chapter. I've got this urge to write but when I try the urge just vanishes too often. If I missed anything like typos or the like be sure to let me know.

Recovery

I leaned back on my couch as I finish another day working to rebuild relations between Sionnach and Equestria. I look down at my enlarged stomach and bring a paw down to rub it while I wonder how much longer I have left. After Twilight found out that I was pregnant there was nothing keeping her out of the Sionnach library to study up on it. I was now currently in my seventh month and from what Twilight found I had anywhere from one to five months left to go. She was annoyed at not being able to provide an exact timeframe, but there were many variables that were still unknown and no research was really done into the fact.

Keeping Twilight from going overboard on the research was relatively easy since distracting her with the books in the castle library worked well enough. In fact organizing everything in there took longer than expected as the librarians had to constantly chase her out when she got distracted by a title that interested her.

“I’m just glad that I was able to create a portal from here to the castle so I don’t have to walk so far. I wonder what ever happened to that cloud that I left here when I left to town centuries ago. I could really use it when my paws start hurting from walking all over the place.” I was starting to doze off for a short nap when I heard someone beating on my front door. I sighed and was about to get up to answer it when I noticed Oraiste leaving my study heading towards the door.

Right, I forgot that she was back here organizing my schedule for the next few days. At least I’ve been able to cut things down so that all my time isn’t taken up. I’m hoping that I can eventually turn everything over except for the biggest problems to the council. Really until we get our numbers up again I’m better off doing what I can to improve our image with the neighboring kingdoms. I heard the door open and some frantic words being exchanged before Oraiste came rushing back into the room. And I’m guessing this is the end of my rest period.

I watch as Oraiste comes back escorting one of the diamond dog guards from the Everfree Castle. He looks to have been running most of the way judging from the layer of sweat on him as well as his troubles at catching his breath. “Princess! *gasp* Dragon in the mountain! *wheeze* Heading this way!” I sigh as I get up and prepare to deal with this latest emergency when something occurs to me.

“Guard, do you happen to know what colors the dragon is?” The diamond dog had finally caught his breath by now and looked at me strangely.

“The report said purple and green, but why does it matter princess?” I just smile as I shake my head since I know exactly who it is and where the dragon is going.

“I think I know who that dragon is then. Head back and inform the guards and council that there is no problem and that no aggressive actions are to be taken against this dragon. We wouldn’t want to anger Princess Twilight by injuring one of the members of her family.” The two look at me like I’m crazy as I make my way out of the manor and head towards Twilight’s place.

I almost regret my decision to take off towards the castle so late in the day as my legs were sore by the time I arrived. Seeing Twilight hugging a dragon that was a good deal larger than her took my mind off the pain as I realize that my guess was correct. “Well, well. Look who has grown so much over the centuries and is flying around everywhere. How are you doing there, Spike?”

The dragon’s head swivels around to look at me and his jaw drops at the sight of me. I take a moment to see how he’s grown over the year and am a bit impressed. His wings are like a larger version of the kind that thestrals have and look to be able to spread far enough to encompass his entire body. His body had also elongated over the years and it looks as if he would be more comfortable walking on all fours now even though he could still stand upright like he used to. Looking between him and Twilight I almost laugh as Twilight could ride on his back like he used to do with her in the past. My observations were interrupted as my mission was filled with green as Spike grabbed me up in a hug.

“Flarenza! I just knew that you weren’t dead. Anyone that can take on an army of zombies would never just die without word of it making it back here.” I struggle against his tight grip and do what I can to protect my stomach from his squeezing. As I feel myself getting short of breath I look at Twilight who was laughing at my predicament though she soon moves to help me.

“All right Spike; put the pregnant princess down before you hurt her. You know you aren’t as small as you used to be you know.” Spike looks over at Twilight before he holds me away from him to get a better look at me.

“Whoa! How did this happen to you?” He sets me back down again as I look over at Twilight and we roll our eyes at each other.

“I’m pretty sure twilight already taught you how something like this would happen, or at the least given you a book on it by now.” Spike looks between the two of us as he tries to think of what I was talking about before a red tinge grew on his scale.

“Oh right. I wouldn’t have figured you to have found someone to do something like that with.” I glare at him as he says that and swat him across the snout with a tail. He jerks his head back as he digs himself even deeper. “What? You’re always off on your own and it’s not like you were one for romantic things.” Twilight flies up behind Spike and slaps him in the back of the head with a wing.

“Spike, just stop talking. Remember what happened last time you started saying things like that.” I raise an eyebrow at this as I don’t remember anything like that happening. It seems there were some more embarrassing stories out there that I hadn’t heard of yet. I sigh as I just shake my head at the dragon.

“How about we go somewhere to talk so that we can catch him up on what’s happened before he says something else that he’ll regret. Besides, I really need a place to sit down for a while before I collapse. This extra weight isn’t that easy on my paws you know.” The two look at each other before turning to me and nodding before leading the way into the library. I wonder how Spike is going to enter the tree library when he starts shrinking down while being surrounded by a magenta glow. I just shake my head as I follow them inside to catch Spike up on the news he had missed.

<><><><><><><>

“And this is probably the most awesome thing invented while you were gone. The Television!” I look over at Twilight who just rolls her eyes at Spike’s antics. After explaining everything to him he had taken it upon himself to show me around Twilight’s castle and let me know what I missed over the centuries. “It’s just too bad that the war has been the only thing shown on it in a long while. It used to show some great shows and music before that started.”

I didn’t have to pretend to be interested as some of the things were rather interesting in their own ways. After seeing some of the things that the ponies had created over the years I was rather confused over the mix of technology and magic that they used. The television from what I could tell was purely magic; a mixture of scrying and image sending spells using crystals, while much of the industry was using dirtier technologies. I could see that the damage from the previously mentioned civil war did more damage than I’d heard.

Currently the television was showing the state of the war with Luna leading a group into what looked to be somewhere near Appleloosa. Whatever they are using to record the images is a good distance away, but I believe I spot a few buffalo in the distance in some kind of prison camp and it doesn’t look good. I shiver as they get closer and things start getting blurred out but I can tell that things aren’t pretty out there.

“Please turn it off Spike.” I look over at Twilight when she says this and notice that she seems to be close to tears right now. Spike sees how the images are affecting her and quickly shuts it off. “I can’t stand seeing all the horrible things that they did to the country during the war. So many were lost that only wanted to live their lives in peace.”

Seeing that Twilight was being hurt by what she saw both Spike and I moved to comfort her. I knew some of what she was feeling, and only now did I realize that her overworking must have been so that she could occupy her mind so she didn’t have to think on it as well as to help how she could. Now that things were finally turning around she couldn’t use it as an excuse and with the presence of two of her closest friends she finally could let it all out.

I lose track of how long we sat there comforting the purple princess but by the time she had fallen asleep the sky had fallen dark. I help Spike put her to bed for the night and once we left her room I turned towards him. “Think you can give me a lift home? I’m not sure if I could make it on my own and I’m pretty sure you owe me at least one for all the years I helped carry you around.”

Spike pauses for a moment before he nods and lowers himself to the ground for me. “While I don’t do this for just anyone, I think I can make an exception for the pregnant lady.” I just roll my eyes as he tries to sound like a gentledrake as he says this. As soon as I climb onto his back and make myself comfortable we are soon off towards the manor on the outskirts of town.

I look up at the back of his head as he plods along towards my home and think about Twilight’s reaction. I wasn’t sure what to make of it as this was the first time I’d seen her break down like this, but I had only been back a few months now. Even then there was a lot of time where we were each busy with our own separate duties. I then remembered what happened when I showed her to the monuments built by Discord and sigh. “So how often does that happen with Twilight?”

Spike turns his head to look back at me before he shakes it and sighs. “It happens much more often than I would like. Twilight never really got used to seeing others dying around her while she lived on. She tried making friends after the loss of her first ones, but eventually she gave up trying to make more. From her letters to me it sounds like she has gotten better since you returned, but I don’t know what will happen when you or I eventually die as well.”

I wince when I hear that she had stopped making friends since it really didn’t fit her. Remembering her student I realized that there still was a bit of her yearning for some kind of companionship or else she wouldn’t have taken on a student like that. As for her other issue I do have something that may help her later. “I really don’t think she is going to have much of a choice about avoiding making friends for a little while. Do you happen to know any of the ponies currently living in Ponyville right now, more specifically a rather hyperactive pegasus that lives at Sugarcube Corner?”

Spike looks back at me for a moment before his eyes widen in realization as I nod to him. “Yeah, I don’t think Surprise is going to give her much of a choice about making some new friends. If she hears about how sad Twilight has been and how she doesn’t have many friends she’ll go out of her way to change all that. If I didn’t know how badly it would turn out I’d be one of the first to say that their needs to be some research done on the Pie family.”

Spike chuckles as I say this before shaking his head again. “Oh yeah, that would really be a bad idea. I still remember how badly it turned out for Twilight when she tried to study Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense. I still have the notes from then as one of the few examples of her failing at any kind of research. If Surprise is anything like Pinkie then she definitely will take Twilight’s mind off of things for a while, at least until she passes on as well.”

Before the mood can go downwards to far I continue to address his other issue about Twilight. “As for her losing us though, while I’m not really sure how long dragons can live but I’ve found out that my kind varies on how old they can grow. A kitsune that never gets their second tail often doesn’t reach a hundred, while a six tail can live for thousands of years.” I pause for a moment and let out a sigh as the weight of what I am about to say hits me. “Things change once one gains their seventh tail though. It’s so rare that it is akin to the alicorn ascension in that so few get that far and they are just as hard to injure. They are so rare that it is unknown how long they live since the few record cases have always reached nine tails.”

I can hear Spike sighing after I say this and can almost feel his mood swing upwards from the feeling of his strides. “That’s actually great news. Twilight needs someone that she can speak with that knows her extremely well. It’s just not the same with the other princesses as they weren’t there with her and her friends all the time. Selene might have been in Ponyville for a good part of it all, but she spent more time with you and the Cutie Mark Crusaders than with Twilight.”

Soon enough we arrived at the door to my home to find Oraiste waiting for me. She looked a bit nervous at seeing Spike approaching but she didn’t do anything rash when she noticed me on his back. “Thanks for the lift back Spike; it’ll be nice when I can get around on my own again without the extra weight throwing me off. Where are you staying while you are back in town anyways?”

Spike points off along the edge of the Everfree somewhere towards the other entrance into the forest. “There’s a mountain on the edge of the Everfree that used to belong to a red dragon until Fluttershy chased him off. Once I got my sweet wings I took it for my own and have used it ever since.” Remembering hearing about that incident myself I figure it would be a good place for him since it wasn’t in use and it is relatively close to town.

“Well that’s good to know. I’d better make sure the guards and my council knows about it so there isn’t a big panic. Granted even if they did it would be nothing like how the ponies do it. Diamond Dogs tend to bite instead of run away and I’d rather not have them cause a political incident before we have even settled in completely.” Spike helps me down from his back as I make my way indoors after bidding him goodnight. My assistant follows me inside while she writes something down on the scroll she carries around.

“So are there any other odd friends we should let the council know about before they show up and cause another panic?” I pause for a moment and think about anyone else that may still be alive and can only come up with one other.

“Well there is one that is kind of a friend though he does have his moments which make me question why. I’m not sure where he is now but if Discord does show up again just have a bunch of children have some fun with him before sending someone to me. I really don’t think he’ll show up here without bothering the pony princesses though.” Oraiste just glares at me as I laugh while heading to my room for the night.

<><><><><><><>

I’ve broken many bones over the years and have been injured in so many ways that only the other princesses would come close. Yet none of those prepared me for the pain that comes with childbirth. I lost track of what I was screaming throughout the hours I spent in the hospital room but I know that I was cursing out my husband through some of it. After all was said and done though I was finally able to look upon, not just one, but two of the most beautiful beings I had ever seen.

On my left was a female kit with fur that was as white as snow. Just from that I could tell she was special as the summer kitsune never had that color of fur and even the winter ones had an alternate color outside of the snowy periods. On my other side was her sister who was on the exact opposite side of the spectrum with a pelt of dark ebony like her father’s. I was so exhausted from my efforts that I wasn’t really sure what I was feeling right now as I looked over the last bits of my husband I had left.

“What are you going to name them?” I look up at Surprise who was remarkably calm considering how she usually is. I look around at all the ponies that had come to see me through this event as I think over the question. My gaze passes over Aurora, Twilight, and Selene before it settles on Luna and Celestia. Suddenly I get inspired while looking at the two and answer as the kitsune doctor and pony nurses finish cleaning the area up.

“Dawn,” I nod to the ivory form before turning to the ebony kit, “and Dusk.”

Author's Notes:

Well there's another chapter before my b-day ends as well as the official end of this arc. Next chapter will probably start the next arc which will involve some old friends of Twilight's. So see you then and please leave any typos and comments below.

Looking Glass

“Just a little bit more, Miss Lulamoon. You’re doing a great job, even better than Twilight was when she first tried to learn how to do this.” I urge Twilight’s student on while I also try to keep an eye on my two kits at the same time. With the winter months here there was much less for me to do, even after dumping a majority of duties onto the Sionnach Council, that I was able to spend some time teaching Triguna a few tricks. This was made easier with the presence of Surprise as she was keeping the two distracted along with her pet platypus, Ducky. I sorely wanted to ask her where she even found that creature, but knowing the Pie family I’d probably end up with a migraine if I did. Still, her help was a welcome distraction as I taught the unicorn the trick to hiding ones magical aura when casting.

“I-I’m trying, but it’s just so hard to do it.” She really is doing a great job at it as shown by there only being a couple flickers of energy around her horn. I was only able to make it look effortless myself as I had years of practice before I even found Ponyville. While it didn’t cost any extra energy to hide the aura, the exact opposite in fact, it took a lot more concentration and mental stamina to hide it due to the extra control required.

“You’re doing just fine; in fact once you master this most other spells should be a piece of cake. If they can’t see you actively using your magic than it makes your illusions that much more believable. Not only that but once it becomes second nature you can use the skills learned mastering it towards your other spells.” She doesn’t say anything but just nods as she tries even harder to follow through with the lesson.

While Twilight was good at what she did, her way of teaching was a bit too orderly for someone training in illusion magic. It isn’t like other fields that require you to learn one thing before learning the next as if it was all in a line. Instead it was more like a web in that you could learn one thing, which leads to another and another until it seems like you have mastered it just to learn something else that would be elementary to someone else. In fact many books on illusion magic were contradictory as there were many ways to go about casting spells of that type.

In fact that was really the one thing I had to teach her that Twilight didn’t and that there was no one correct way to deal with the illusion branch of magic. After a while I’d probably ask Selene or Luna to come along and teach her for a couple days since they also had some experience with illusions and could help her come up with her own way to do things. Either way Twilight did at least do a good job of teaching her the basics of what was needed to control her abilities.

I look around the library, where we were performing this lesson, and wonder what books have been added since I was last here. I could tell that it had been expanded a good amount over the centuries even though the tree hadn’t grown much, if at all. I’d have to make a note to talk with Twilight about growing the tree more as it was obviously of kitsune origin. Twilight may have been good with her enchantments, but a spacial expansion spell is still limited by the amount of space truly available.

In fact there was something odd about the library that I couldn’t quite place for some reason. It felt rather familiar but it hadn’t been bothering me on any of the previous days I was here for some reason. Even worse is that the strange feeling was steadily getting worse as I looked around the room trying to find the source of the feeling. My eyes were drawn to the large mirror that was on the other side of the room that my kits were playing with Surprise in front of. “Hey Triguna, do you know anything about that mirror over there?”

She catches her breath as she stops with her latest attempt to look over in the direction that I nodded in. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know much at all about it. I asked Princess Twilight about it once, but she only said that it was a gift from Princess Cadence and the book stored behind it went with it.” It didn’t tell me much, but for some reason an old memory was trying to come to the surface but I couldn’t quite grasp it. I was about to ask one of the two ponies to see if Twilight was free to talk about it but I was once again distracted when the mirror started to ripple.

My eyes widened when a black appendage started to come through the mirror into the library. My breath caught in my throat and my heartrate increased dramatically when I realized just exactly what the thing was. “No, not again, not here.” I jumped to a standing position and faced the creature that was threatening my children. “Surprise! Grab Dawn and Dusk and get away from the mirror!?

With that warning given I called up my magic and fired a beam of white energy at the creature, shredding it apart. When Surprise saw what I did, as well as more coming out of the mirror she grabbed the two with her tail and hid behind me. “Triguna, go and find Twilight and tell her we have an Elements level emergency in here. I’ll hold them back until she gets here and we find out what is going on.” Since I don’t know how many more are going to come through the mirror I throw up a shield around the front of it to contain the shadow creatures to a small area in front of it.

I channeled some positive energy into the shield so that when a creature touches it has the same effect as the directed spell. I then tried to calm myself down at seeing the creatures that nearly destroyed my kind while thinking up a plan. There was a strange buzzing sound in my ears as I waited for Twilight to arrive when another idea came to mind. I grab a scroll and quickly write a message on it requesting the presence of Selene or Luna immediately to help contain the problem before sending it off to Spike to relay to Celestia.

“Flarie, what are those things, they don’t seem very fun to be around?” I turn to look at Surprise to see my children trying to hide in her tail while shivering in fear.

“They aren’t Surprise. In fact I may need you to watch my kits for an extended period of time depending on what we need to do to stop them. I’m not going to let what happened to my kind happen to this world as well.” She seemed to be a bit relieved at this though she still watched the creatures warily.

There may have been more said but we were interrupted by a brilliant magenta flash as Twilight teleported into the room. “Flarenza! What’s the emergency?! What is it that needs the Elements of Harmony?!” I just point a paw behind her at the mirror and her jaw drops when she turns around to see the creatures. “Are those what I think they are? And why are they in front of the old mirror that leads to Canterlot High?”

At her words the memory of why the thing was bothering me came flooding back and I slapped a paw over my face. “Yes they are, and they came through that mirror for some reason. And what in the world is that buzzing that I keep hearing?” Twilight looks at me in shock before she looks towards Surprise who nods in confirmation.

“But that’s impossible, the portal hasn’t worked for centuries and even the journal hasn’t…” She trails off as her eyes widen as she skirts around the shield to the back of the mirror. When she came around the front again she was carrying a book in her magic as she flipped through it towards the back. “This isn’t good Flarenza, I’m not sure who has the other journal but it sounds like the need help.”

She passes the book over to me and I page through to the last entries in it. There are multiple calls for help and on the very last page is what looks like streaks of blood. I was about to say something else when another bright flash filled the room revealing both Luna and Selene who immediately turned towards me. “We came as soon as we got your message, what seems to be the problem?” I just point behind them like I did with Twilight to see the same reaction she had.

“I was hoping that this was just a fluke, but if they are coming through from another world then that means that not only this world but that one is in danger. And before you ask why the portal is only opening now…” I hold up the journal that Twilight passed over to me, “This thing is partially to blame.”

Twilight just looks between me and the book before she speaks up. “But how can that be to blame for the portal being sealed? There’s nothing about it that should cause it to do such a thing.” I just shake my head at Twilight as I knew differently.

“Actually the fact that it was linking the worlds together as well as it being used to force open a portal that caused it to seal. You see I’ve learned that there is a reason that there is a period of time where a portal stays open or closed. Each universe or dimension or whatever it is has a different frequency that it vibrates at. When the portal is kept open the two sides come into contention as they try to separate again. I’m not sure all the effects that can happen when they finally pull apart, but the most common one is that the connection snaps in a way that the two sides are thrown apart violently. At the very least the portal between the worlds needs time to heal as they try to come back into balance, though sometimes they’ll never be connected again. My kind learned those lessons the hard way over the many millennia they were gone.”

Twilight just stares in shock at this as she looks down at the journal that caused all of this. I remember how she used to talk about it and her friends on the other side of the mirror and wondered if those years of use caused any other problems. “What are we going to do about it then? Do you know how to shut the portal down?”

I look at Luna who asked this and see Selene nodding at her side. “If it was just this world then I probably could, but if those things are bleeding into another world then there is no guarantee that another portal from there can lead somewhere else on this planet. I’ll have to go since I know how to close the portal, and Twilight as well since she is familiar with that world. I asked you two to come as you can keep this side secure as whatever these things are they react as if they are undead.”

At hearing that the creatures may be a type of undead being Luna scowls as she jerks her head towards the portal. I nod as I make it where the shield can be clearly seen before opening a small hole in it which the creatures immediately try to take advantage of. Before any of them can get too far through it though, Luna sends a burst of energy through it which rips them apart before I seal the hole again. “I see, while there may be others that could do the same we are the best choice for something like this. The portal still isn’t common knowledge and we’d like to keep it that way.”

Twilight raises a hoof and I nod to her. “How long do we have to prepare? If these things are as dangerous as you say then we should take time to make a checklist of what we need.” I give her a deadpan stare before I shake my head at her.

“I’m sure you’ve probably got a few emergency travel kits ready in case something happens, grab one of those, as well as a good selection of gemstones, and get back here. I remember you saying that there was a time limit on the portal and if these things are coming through then the longer we wait the more beings are lost and turned into more of them.” She blushes a little before nodding and teleporting out and back seconds later with two pairs of saddlebags. After adjusting them to fit, we both stand on the other side of the shield and I turn towards Surprise.

“Be sure to take good care of them for me, and if you need anything send a message to Oraiste to come help.” I quickly head over to give Dawn and Dusk a quick lick before returning to Twilight’s side. “Well, here’s hoping that things aren’t too bad to stop these things over there.” With that I drop the shield and blast the creatures that are standing there before putting up another shield around me and leaping into the mirror.

I immediately can tell something is wrong as I feel a large amount of turbulence as I travel through the portal. Using my senses I get a feel of how the thing operates and spot the problem before I exit it on the other side. “How has this thing lasted as long as it has? The connection is barely stable enough to open as often as it should. I’m going to have to fix that after we get back before something else goes wrong with it.”

Surveying the area I don’t see any more shadows which is a relief which means the ones we saw were either a fluke or scouts. Looking down at myself I find myself unchanged which seems odd considering what I was told of the portal before but before I can ponder this further Twilight stumbles through. Looking over her I find her in the bipedal form that she described many centuries ago but she has two additions that she never mentioned before. She shakily stands on her two feet as she rubs the side of her head. “Ugh, I forgot how disorienting it was to go through that thing.”

Her hand brushes against the small horn sticking out of her hair and she fumbles a bit as she prods at it. “Wait, this isn’t supposed to be here, why do I have a horn now? And why do I have my wings as well without having to sing?” She starts spinning in place while trying to get a better look at her wings as she tries to figure out what is going on. I have an idea myself, but I need more information before I can go any further with it.

While Twilight was trying to figure out what was going on I spotted another bipedal being peering out of the nearby building. On seeing us she looked around the area before quickly making her way over to us. I had never seen her before, but her two-toned yellow and red hair and leather jacket rang alarm bells in my mind. My suspicions were confirmed when she got close enough to speak.

“Twilight? I thought I told you to stay with the others in the gym, so why are you out here with one of these… things?”

Author's Notes:

*whistles innocently and walks away from the typos*

Reunion

I considered the ramifications of the situation as I watched the biped that had arrived as she glared at me warily while Twilight just stared at her in shock. I remembered enough of Twilight’s stories to recognize this figure as Sunset Shimmer, but as Twilight said there shouldn’t be wings or horns on their forms like there were. Looking at all the clothes on her, as well as the snow on the ground, I assumed the form wasn’t meant for the colder weather and seeing as Twilight’s clothes looked like and she seemed to be in shock it meant that I would need to initiate the conversation. “Well I can definitely see that you were a student of Princess Celestia; she had a reaction pretty similar to that when she first saw me.”

Sunset’s jaw falls open when I speak, as if she didn’t expect the words that came out of my mouth, and she was about to reply when she was suddenly tackled to the ground by Twilight. I was kind of expecting a reaction like that from Twilight as soon as I recognized the figure. Sunset was obviously not prepared at all for what was going on as she was sputtering nonsense until she finally was able to say something sensible. “How can you know the princess? That’s not possible unless the portal has…” Her eyes widen as she looks up at the statue we were standing in front of then back to the princess around her waist. “Princess Twilight?”

When she looks back at me I nod to her since Twilight is too busy crying to answer. Looking around the area I notice that the area is mostly empty still barring a couple shadowy forms I spot walking down the street. I do a double take at the figures and realize that they aren’t just shadowy figures but actual shadows. I toss up a shield around the statue containing the portal before turning towards the biped-unicorn hybrid. “Do you think we can take this somewhere a bit safer or defensible? I’d like to find out what is going on around here before I have to face those things again.”

Sunset looks me oddly for a moment before she sees what I’m looking at and motions back towards the building. She manages to get Twilight standing again and gets her walking into the building while I keep an eye on the creatures who for some reason were ignoring us. I still kept a close eye on them until we were inside the building and barred it behind us.

Once we were inside the building I took a look around to see that it was the school that Twilight had described before. There wasn’t as much damage in here like I was expecting from an invasion and I was even more curious about what was going on. Twilight was recovering by the time Sunset led her over to a bench against the wall and sat her down. “How are you still alive and why didn’t you keep writing to me in the journal this whole time?”

Sunset looked offended for a moment before she responded. “What do you mean I stopped writing to you? You were the one that stopped communication with the book years ago. And why wouldn’t I be alive after only six and a half years?” It was Twilight’s turn to look a bit offended though her jaw dropped when she heard how long it had been. I decided to interrupt before they started yelling at each other even more though.

“Twilight, I did tell you that there would be some unknown consequences because of the connection between the worlds being forced open by that book of yours. While I wouldn’t have predicted it, the fact that that amount of time has passed here while over six centuries have passed on our end is something that is possible.” I watch as Sunset’s knees fail her as she slides to the ground at my proclamation. “There are worse things that could have happened so this was rather lucky.”

Twilight turns to look at me and she gets a look of confusion on her face. “How would that explain the fact that I have my wings and horn now, and for that matter how is it that you haven’t changed into a human as well when we came through the portal?” I was about to say something but I was interrupted by Sunset who spoke as if in a daze.

“The wings and horns started showing up a few months since we last wrote to each other. At first it was just the Canterlot area but it soon started spreading further even with the government trying to stop it. All attempts to contain it just led to those they sent growing them, or at the very least gaining a tail.” I hadn’t noticed it before but she was right about the tail thing as well. She shook her head before standing up and leveling a glare at me. “Anyways since you can actually talk maybe you can tell me why those things that look like you are attacking us?”

I decide to start with the last question first since that was probably the most volatile one at the moment. “Those things that you saw are most likely what was left of my subjects that were killed by them when they nearly wiped out our race. Why they are here is one of the main things we came to find out after they came through the portal and we found that message.” My voice shook a bit when I mentioned what they were and Sunset’s gaze softened a bit after that.

“As for Twilight’s questions; I believe that I am unchanged as that poorly made portal had a spell that changed you into a compatible form that is in this world or the other. Considering that my kind were traveling to other worlds with different portals for such a long time that means that there are probably a few still alive in this world.” I actually brightened up a bit at the possibility of finding some more survivors out there somewhere. “As for why the humans are gaining pony traits I’m pretty sure that is Sunset Shimmer’s fault, at least for getting it all started.”

I toss a glance over at her and she looks both confused and offended by me blaming her. Twilight also looks shocked at what I said and tries to defend her friend. “Why are you blaming her for that? There’s nothing that she could have done that would have caused this.”

I just raise an eyebrow at her before remembering a phrase that came up in her story. “What happens when you bring an Element of Harmony into an alternate world? Especially one that originally has no magic?” Sunset looks as if I had slapped her as I say this and she starts to look a bit guilty as I continue. “Of course the Element alone would have taken centuries to progress things to this level; it’s the fact that the power from it was unleashed twice in a short amount of time.”

Twilight looks thoughtful for a moment. “That would explain how why my friends here were able to transform whenever they played music. But wouldn’t the presence of the Sirens have caused the same thing to happen as well? Their necklaces were also pretty powerful sources of magic from what I could tell.”

I just shake my head. “While I may not know much about them, from how you described them it sounds like those were more of a storage tool than anything. With no magic around they would have barely been much stronger than your average unicorn foal. It took the presence of actual magic from Equestria to turn them into any kind of a threat.” Twilight nods as she understands what I am saying.

Sunset looks up at me as something comes to mind. “How much further do you think these changes will go since you seem to be the expert here? Twilight knew nothing about the effects of the Element and what I could find only mentioned it granting a large amount of power so how did you find out about all this?”

I look over at Twilight to see that even she was looking interested in how I knew all this. “I think there are some books in the Sionnach library that explain it all, if we managed to save them at least. Some of it I also learned by watching it happen on other worlds over the past few centuries. Often enough the changes to the inhabitants stop as soon as they find a way to use the newly gained magic in some way so I don’t foresee anything else happening.”

Sunset Shimmer actually looks a bit relieved about there being no further changes, while Twilight’s eyes widen for some reason. “Wait, if you’re here Sunset, then does that mean the others…” She trails off as she turns wide-eyed to the other girl and my own widen as well when I realize why she is asking. I don’t know how I feel about meeting what are supposed to be identical copies of my old friends, but I felt that things might be even worse on Twilight’s end.

From the look on Sunset Shimmer’s face she only now realized the implications of the time difference. She looked at Twilight sadly though I could see a bit of warmth behind it as well. “Yeah, they’re here Twilight. Though you may want to brace yourself for when you see them since a couple of them were hurt. And…” She pauses for a moment before she sighs and continues. “I just hope you are ready to meet yourself.”

Twilight looks confused at her words though I could see her excitement over seeing them again. Her words, paired with what she said when we arrived, threw up some flags and I was really curious about how this situation would turn out. Still we couldn’t stop Twilight from wanting to see them once she learned that they were here so Sunset led us through the building. As we were walking I could hear voices from somewhere nearby though it seemed as if Twilight didn’t hear them until we were almost on top of them. It didn’t sound like there were too many, but from what I could tell there were more than just the five I was expecting though I couldn’t identify any of them yet.

We came up to a set of double doors when Sunset paused and looked back at us before she just shook her head and pushed them open. A few heads turned towards us when the door opened, a couple of them looking familiar, but it was the site of a certain rainbow colored head turning that caught my attention. Remembering Sunset’s reaction to me I put up a shield just as a precaution which was a good thing as she flew across the room in an attempt to tackle me as soon as she saw me.

I just look down at figure that was laid out on the ground after crashing into the shield comically. I turn to look at Twilight and Sunset with a raised eyebrow. “Well you are definitely right about how similar they are to the ones we knew. She’s definitely Rainbow Dash since I can’t think of many others with that look that would act before thinking.” I was about to say more but Twilight suddenly vanished from view in a flash of pink which could only mean one thing especially with the shout of “Twilight, you came back!” added in.

I look down at the mass of pink curls that must be the Pinkie Pie of this universe. Of course her yell brought the attention of most of the room as well as quieting down any conversations. Rainbow Dash was the first one to speak up as she tried to clear her head from her crash. “What are you yelling about Pinkie, Twilight has been here for a while now? And Sunset, why did you bring one of those…” She trailed of as she looked over and saw the form that Pinkie had tackled to the ground before she whipped her head towards another point in the room.

I followed her gaze and spotted a second Twilight Sparkle, this one without wings, who was watching us with her mouth wide open. Behind her I spotted a few more familiar forms that were soon charging over to join the pile on my Twilight, who was now in tears as she gripped Pinkie. Soon enough there was a group hug going on between the six while the rest of the room watched on in confusion.

I watched as the other Twilight slowly walked over as she rubbed her eyes while looking confused. I wasn’t the only one watching as Sunset was also keeping an eye on her and it looked as if she was about to step in when Twilight let out a yell. “What in the world is going on here!? How can there be another me, this is just impossible!?” The small reunion was interrupted by this as Princess Twilight stared open mouthed at this world’s Twilight Sparkle.

Author's Notes:

Next Chapter: Twilight vs Twilight, who will come out on top?

Getting to know the new old crew

“This is impossible, you’re not possible, how can you be me?! First this… thing just pops up out of my forehead, then I get chased by impossibly living shadows all around town, and now the impossibility that is you and a talking fox creature just appear out of nowhere?!” I sit there and watch as this world’s Twilight paces back in forth in front of us and glance over at Twilight in amusement. She looks as shocked as the other Twilight at meeting herself, though she seems to be taking it a bit better thanks to her six hundred more years of experience.

Why would you think that this is all impossible? It’s obviously possible as it’s happening right now don’t you think?” She leans down towards me and asks in a quitter voice. ”Please tell me I wasn’t like this all those years ago?” I just raise an eyebrow at her in answer, causing her to bring a hand up to her face.

“No, just because it’s happening does not mean it’s possible and I’m going to prove it to you!” With that Twilight grabs Twilight be the hand and drags her over to a set of boards on the other side of the room. Once there she starts writing down various formulas on the board while explaining it all to Twilight. Soon enough Twilight started shaking her own head and began writing her own formulas on another nearby board.

I just shake my head as the two start really getting into trying to prove the other one wrong. I can’t say I’m surprised at this turn of events. It isn’t often that Twilight could do something like this as there were few on her level for intelligence as well as obsessiveness. I wonder how long it’ll take for the younger one to give up due to the century’s difference between them. Well I guess that’s one way to… to… oh my… that feels so…

I completely lost my train of thought when I felt someone scratching behind my ears. I rolled over onto my side and leaned into the feeling to try to increase the pressure a bit more. “Fluttershy! What are you doing? Don’t you know how dangerous that thing could be?” I probably would have said something snarky at Rainbow Dash, but I was too busy enjoying the feelings being granted by what I now knew as Fluttershy’s fingers. Luckily I didn’t have to do anything as one of the others stepped up.

“Now calm down Sugarcube, you saw it come in with Twilight and Sunset and they haven’t let us down yet. Besides, it’s rather obvious that she is very different from those monsters roaming the streets the last few months.” I crack my eyes open a bit to see Rainbow Dash turn away in a grump at AJ’s words. I actually feel the need to speak up now though as this is the third time I have been referred to as an ‘it’ or ‘thing.’

“You know, I would appreciate it if you’d stop referring to me as an ‘it’ or ‘thing.’ My name is Flarenza and I am a female kitsune. I’ve been friends with Twilight long enough to know who all of you are, and could you please go back to the scratching Fluttershy?” I whine the last part as Fluttershy had stopped when I began speaking, but continued once again at my insistence. The others were silent, except for Sunset who I heard some chuckling from, and I wondered if they only now noticed that I could talk even though I had done so before. I closed my eyes for a moment to enjoy the feeling just to open them again to be greeted with a pair of blue eyes to which I sigh. “Yes Pinkie Pie?”

I was actually wondering when this would happen, considering the track record of the one I knew. She further cemented that image when she opened her mouth to speak. “Wowie you really can talk. I always wondered what sound a fox makes but now I can just ask you so what does the fox say, huh huh huh?” I don’t even bother trying to figure out what she is going on about as Sunset pulls her away.

“Pinkie, there will be time for that later. There are more important things to worry about now that Twilight is finally here to help us. Of course now we have to somehow drag her away from herself so that we can find out what is going on and how to stop it.” I notice the others nodding to her and I sigh as I probably should stop them before they interrupt Twilight’s fun. I shake my head to ward off the hypnotic fingers and sigh.

“I have more knowledge about what those things are than Twilight since I’ve had to fight them once already. The only reason I asked her to come with me here was because she knew more about this world and I didn’t quite expect so little time to have passed since she was last here. As for a plan all I have right now is to find where those things are coming from and make sure no more can come through.” I soon have five pairs of eyes, six if the “eep” from Fluttershy meant anything, on me looking as if they were unsure of my words.

“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned that you’ve seen these things before. What are they and how did you stop them? For that matter who exactly are you? I remember your name in a couple of letters from Twilight, but I always thought you were just another pony she knew.” I look at Sunset Shimmer before turning to the others to see a look of hope from them. Unfortunately I can’t give them as much as I would like.

“We never did stop them; we could only run away from them. Of the millions that were a part of the kingdom, only a couple thousand were able to escape through the portal to the world where Equestria lies. Unfortunately the day of our escape claimed the lives of not only our rulers, but also their only son. It’s been over a year since then but I still miss my husband and step-mother.” The mood of the others immediately drops as I say this and I was about to continue until Rarity looks up with her eyes wide.

“Wait, are you saying that you actually married a prince of that kingdom? Wouldn’t that make you a…?” I just roll my eyes at the pale unicorn biped before I continue.

“I should have expected that you would be the one focused on the fact that I’m technically a princess because of my marriage.” I pause a moment as she lets out a little squeal of excitement. “But further explanations about that can wait. What I was about to say though was that I do have a way to destroy those things, but I need to find the portal to figure out how to close it.” I look over at the pair of Twilights to make sure that they are still occupied.

“Those shadow creatures seem to be some kind of undead creature that combines features of a couple other kinds. They are immune to physical damage while their attacks can infect their targets and eventually turn them into more of themselves. But like all undead they are vulnerable to magic, especially kinds of a more positive nature.” I was about to continue but they all got really silent for some reason and I noticed them all staring to something to my side. Looking up I saw that they were staring at Fluttershy who had shrunk down on herself and had a hand brought up to her face under her hair.

As she was seated I was able to reach her face with a tail to brush her hair out of the way to reveal three long scratches across her eye. Her eye was also missing from its socket causing me to wince. Switching to my magical senses I find that there are still traces of the shadow being in her wound, but interestingly enough they seemed to be inert for now. “Strange; I do detect traces of the creatures, yet it’s not reacting like I would have expected. In fact I have yet to see the creatures acting like they normally do.”

Just as a precaution I sweep the rest of the room for other traces in case there were other injuries and am surprised by what I find. I look over at the rainbow haired female with a raised eyebrow. “So how about your own injury, Rainbow Dash? How bad is it that you have yet to stop using your wings to keep your leg off the ground?”

Four and a half pairs of eyes dart over towards her as she looks a bit sheepish while Applejack spoke up. “Now dang it Rainbow, why didn’t you tell us those things got you as well? I knew something was off about you when you carried the Sonata gal in here.” That name sounded familiar for some reason and I was reminded why when Rainbow Dash spoke up.

“Well excuse me for having more important things to do at the time. It’s not like she had just watched her two pals Adagio and Aria get torn apart right in front of her after they threw her up to me. It’s not like anyone else was in a rush to get her off of me what with how bad she was crying. Besides I’ve had worse injuries while I was practicing with these babies.” She gestures to her wings and I roll my eyes, while also making a note to check on this Sonata later, before reaching out with my magic to drag the cyan flyer over to me.

“Right, you are all big and tough but right now let me get a good look at your wound so I can fix it.” They all look at me in surprise though she still rolls her leggings up enough to reveal a set of deep scratches from her foot to about halfway up her leg. I ignored them as AJ slapped her on the back of her head and started arguing and focused on the two injuries. Seeing as they were mostly flesh wound it didn’t take me long to clear out the wounds and seal the relatively well considering how little knowledge I have of their biology.

Sunset watched me with an odd look on her face and spoke up once I finished. “It may have been a while since I’ve been able to use my magic but that looks nothing like any healing spell I’ve ever heard of before. It doesn’t even feel like one either as you weren’t pouring any magic into the wounds which is how they usually work.”

I answer her in a distracted fashion as I am busy digging through my bags for something. “It’s a variant on a spell necromancers use for sculpting the flesh of zombies or flesh golems. I’ve actually done a lot of work researching many of the darker branches of magic and looked into ways they can be used for good purposes.” I glance over to see a look of horror on her face but I ignored it in favor of casting a critical eye over the large gem I pulled out.

“Oh don’t give me that look; all of my research has been gone over by all five princesses of Equestria. What they deem safe we distribute to the appropriate specialists to be used how they should be, with strict control of course. Some of the things I’ve found are pretty hard to duplicate without using some of the more maligned branches of magic. Also I’m sorry if this hurts Fluttershy but it’ll be just for a moment.” She lets out a small squeak as I lightly drag a blade of magic over one of her fingers to draw a little blood before sealing the wound up again.

The group just stares in shock at when I did and watch as I surround the gem with the blood and cast the appropriate spells. I’ve had plenty of practice with the spell so it only took me moments to complete it which was good as Sunset tried to stop me right as I finished. It was easy enough to fend off her weak spells as I brought the gem up to Fluttershy’s face and slipped it into her empty socket before she could react.

“What do you think you are doing? Get that thing out of her right now before I…” I just roll my eyes at Sunset’s flailing, but it was Fluttershy that stopped her.

“My eye, I can see out of it again.” Everyone turned to look at her in shock as she looked around in wonder with her new gem eye that was the same color as her real one.

Author's Notes:

Another short chapter though there are plans to pick up a bit more soon.

Preparations

While they were all gathered around Fluttershy I took a moment to try to get a feel of the magic in this world and replenish my own stores a bit. The magic really was a lot like it was in Equestria, but there were some subtle differences as well. I didn’t want to mess with the energy field too much though as it was still growing and adding too much of a new variety of magic wouldn’t be a good idea.

I really must have been distracting myself more than I thought since when I looked up again I was greeted with another familiar hairstyle. I wasn’t really that surprised to see her here since I had been told of her by Twilight, but I was surprised by the fact that she didn’t have any wings or horn like I would have expected. “I had heard that there was a strange creature in the school. It makes sense that it would involve the Twilight from beyond the portal showing up once again. Well if she’s here then I guess there is nothing to worry about except for trying to explain things to the government yet again.”

She walks off again before I can even respond leaving me wondering what just happened. Of course since this world’s Celestia is supposed to only be a principal then she probably doesn’t have the same experience as the one I knew. Of course that one also did enjoy shoveling responsibility over to someone else so there wasn’t much difference I guess.

Shaking my head I turn back to the nearby group who was starting to break up again now that the excitement over Fluttershy was wearing off. When I look at Sunset I remember an earlier question and I actually have an answer this time. “Hey Sunset, when you asked if there were going to be any other changes I’m actually pretty sure there might be some more. It looks like the magic field isn’t at full strength yet since there seems to be at least one that hasn’t changed yet, and I’m guessing there is a second as well.”

She looks a bit worried at my words. “Do you have any idea what the further changes might be? Please tell me that everyone here isn’t going to turn completely into a pony. I don’t think I could handle being responsible for ruining my friends lives like that.” I actually have to stifle a laugh at that as she truly is worried.

“Oh I’m pretty sure it’s not going to go that far. Full species changes are not something caused by this type of phenomenon since the original body template would reject it. It’s only because the magic was from Equestria, and the fact that the two worlds are so closely linked, that the changes are like this. From what I was told about the changes that happened after the first time I can guess at least two more things that could change in the future.” Sunset and the others look confused for a moment before Rarity brings one of her hands to the top of her head.

“You mean those cute ears from before might actually be permanent? Ooh I just have to find my old sketches I made for new earrings.” I see AJ rolling her eyes at her but she still has a smile on her face so I can guess they are used to Rarity’s antics. Rainbow Dash was actually listening, surprisingly, and asks the question I was waiting on.

“While the ears are kind of cool, what is this second change that you are expecting to happen, huh?” I am about to answer when I notice the design on her clothing and I quickly look at all the others I recognize to find the same thing with many of them, or at least something of those designs. I just point a paw at the cloud a with rainbow lightning bolt coming out of it on her clothing.

“Well for you that will most likely appear somewhere on your body, mostly likely around your rear if it’s like with the ponies. I’m only guessing that it hasn’t shown up since it is basically a visible symbol of their magic. I never studied much about them but Sunset or Twilight could tell you more.” I turned towards Sunset to explain but was interrupted a moment later.

“What is it you want me to tell them now?” I turn around to see the two Twilights walking back to the group from their little competition. It was obvious which Twilight won as the other one was busy muttering to herself as she tried to write something down in a book she had.

You know, this is starting to get a bit confusing having two Twilights here. It would probably be a good idea to keep the one distracted while the other one keeps the others occupied so I can talk with Sunset uninterrupted about everything that is going on. “So Twilight they were wondering about what exactly cutie marks are so why don’t you explain it to them,” I turn to look at the other Twilight and try to distract her, “and Twilight; just think of this all as an entirely undiscovered branch of science. Maybe you can write the first book on the subject that this world has ever seen?”

I see the eyes of both Twilights light up at this as they each run off to start on my suggestions while I drag Sunset further away. “That should keep them distracted for a while so we can finally talk. What in the world is going on here and how have those creatures not overrun everything yet?” She seems surprised that pulled her away but my question just causes her to sigh.

“Well I was hoping to have some time to catch up with Twilight, but I guess that can wait until we stop those things.” She grabs a drink from a nearby table and leads me to a corner seat where she makes herself comfortable. “We aren’t sure where they came from but they hit the city pretty hard when they first arrived. It could have been much worse though if the military didn’t step in and try to stop them initially.” I raise an eyebrow at that as I doubt much would have changed with them around anyways.

“You see the city was already under quarantine because of the magic changing everything even though whoever they sent also started to change. Principal Celestia has been dealing with all that but the soldiers already here evacuated the area the creatures were first spotted and brought them to the other end of Canterlot. We almost lost hope of stopping them until Rainbow Dash found the Sirens who were caught out near the edge of the forest surrounded by the creatures.”

“It was only then that we found out that we could use our music to create a barrier to hold the creatures back. It’s only been the last few weeks now that they started slipping through to roam the streets but for some reason they haven’t been hostile. Strangely enough the creatures have only been congregating around the outside of the barrier if they don’t make it in. It’s as if they are after something since they haven’t gone after any other cities yet.”

I consider this since I knew the creatures were drawn towards magic, but I wasn’t sure how they would react to the lack of any. “Some of that makes sense since they seem to be drawn towards large sources of magic which is also needed to destroy them. Also considering that harmonic magic, or whatever you want to label musical magic as, can be used in either a positive or negative manner it makes sense that it makes a good defense against the shadows. Where were the creatures first sighted anyways?”

Sunset tilts her head to the side as she thinks about my question. “If I remember correctly the first time they were seen was on the borders of the Everfree Nature Preserve and…” she pauses for a moment before she slaps a hand over her face, “and the portal is inside that place isn’t it? Even in this world the Everfree is always a source of chaos and insanity.”

I just shake my head as I actually agree with her somewhat as there is too much unexplored area of that place on the Equestrian side. I kind of wondered about the history of the forest on this side of the portal and added it to my list of questions for much later. “Well it’s good to know that it’s somewhere rather isolated. I’m not sure how much magic it’ll take to seal that portal but the less interruptions when we find it the better.”

She nods her head a couple times before she pauses. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘we’? We don’t have the magic to face those creatures directly and while I may have been good with magic it has been years since I’ve had any real practice and even then I know little about portal magic.”

I raise an eyebrow at her. “So you don’t think that unleashing the same magic that you all used to defeat the Dazzlings will help at all? Since that power was given by the Elements of Harmony it’s bound to do something useful.”

Sunset raises her hand with a finger pointed up to contest this but after a moment slams her head into the table. “Ugh, of course you would have to mention that. Do you really think that it’s that easy to activate that power? We’ve been trying to get it to work ever since those things appeared yet nothing has worked beyond the barrier.”

I once again curse myself for not taking the time to study the Elements of Harmony more closely since knowing more about how they work would have really been useful right now. That’s even assuming that the knowledge would transfer over to this world. Wait a moment; can they even do anything without Twilight? “Would it even be possible to call on that power without Twilight in the first place? I’ve never heard about them working without the entire group so even getting that barrier up is a miracle in itself.”

Sunset Shimmer just throws her arms up in the air in frustration. “Fine, if you can convince the others to go along with this then fine. Just take a bunch of people who have no idea how to even use magic out into danger and hope everything works out.”

I chuckle at her which causes her to glare at me. “Do you really think that they would even stay behind if I told them to? At least half of them would follow us even if Twilight and I told them to stay and would probably get themselves hurt. Especially Rainbow Dash considering her habit of acting before thinking. Besides, between the two of us we could easily hold those things back for weeks at a time if needed.”

She sighs in defeat at this. “You’re right about that. It’s just; I’ve been trying to keep out of the public eye the last few years since I really don’t belong in this world. If it wasn’t for Principle Celestia giving me a job here I would probably be either out on the street or relying on my friend for food and a place to live.”

This actually gives me something to think about for the future, though I hint of an idea does come to mind. I save that for later when I notice Twilight and her friends moving towards our place in the corner. “What are you two doing hidden all the way back here?”

I stand up and stretch before turning to the group. “We’re just making some plans about what to do about the shadows. We have an idea of the general area where the portal is, but I’d like to send something to scout the area out so we can find the exact location before heading out to seal it.”

Of course it was at that moment that Rainbow Dash decided to fly up into my face. “Who is this ‘we’ you are talking about, huh? I don’t remember agreeing to follow you anywhere.”

I flick her nose with a tail causing her to jerk back. “Wouldn’t the better question be would you actually stay behind if I told you to while Twilight and I went and fixed everything? I’m pretty sure whatever I say at least you, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie would follow while dragging the other three along behind you.”

Applejack slaps Rainbow Dash on the back as she lets out a chuckle. “Well she sure knows exactly how you would react. Of course I’d like to know how she knows so much about us all.”

I look over at Twilight who was looking a bit nervous for some reason. “What? Did you never tell them Twilight? Of course even if you didn’t I would think they could have at least guessed considering the fact that there were two of you here.”

I could tell from Twilight’s reaction that she never did tell them but Sunset it quick to pick up on what I was hinting at. “So she really did know the Equestrian versions of you five. No wonder she was able to make friends with you all so fast when she first showed up.” Her eyes widen then as something else hits her and looks over at me questioningly. At my nod she turns back to Twilight and looks at her with a look full of pity.

Of course Pinkie Pie chose this moment to put her own spin on things. “You mean that there was another me and nobody told me about it?! Can you imagine all the parties we could put together if there was another me around? I’d be able to do twice the amount of partying!” Everyone looks at her with wide eyes and no small amount of fear at the thought of two Pinkie Pies being in one place.

“Right… I guess that would have been a good reason not to tell them about it Twilight. It probably would be as bad as an idea as giving Pinkie a large sized whipped cream-topped chocolate triple espresso or asking her if it’s a cherry-changa, chimi-cherry, or chimi-cherry-changa.” I see Applejack wince at the last part which has me guessing that something like that actually happened on this world as well.

I probably shouldn’t have mentioned those things as I saw Pinkie’s eyes lighting up but Rarity headed off that problem. “Pinkie dear; why don’t you go over and try to cheer Sonata up some more? She looks rather lonely sitting over there behind the bleachers.” The others let out a sigh of relief when Pinkie gets a serious look on her face and dashes over to the ex-Siren.

“Flarenza, please don’t give her any more ideas. We have enough problems keeping her under control without you giving her even more ideas or reminding her of old ones.” Sunset look rather annoyed at me but I just chuckle while Twilight glares at me.

“If she knows what’s good for her she won’t try that here on this world as well. It’s bad enough that she gave Pinkie that drink in Equestria once already. It took months to clean up Canterlot after that and we even had to make a law so it didn’t happen again.” The group looks at me wide-eyed except for Rainbow Dash who actually looks impressed which Twilight notices. “And no Rainbow Dash, it’s not worth it as a prank because of how badly it backfires. Unless you like being dyed pink for a couple months like Flarenza was.”

I blush at that old memory while Rainbow Dash shudders at the thought of being completely pink for that long. I make an effort to redirect the conversation to somewhere a bit less embarrassing after that. “Anyways where would I be able to find a small variety of trees for a quick spell? I’d like to know exactly where the portal is before we take off instead of blindly hunting for it.”

I would have expected Applejack to speak up but Fluttershy did so instead. “Um, they should have something in the agriculture department right now. They often have potted trees and seedlings ready for spring planting if those would work.” I nod to her and gesture for her to lead the way. I’m not sure if I should be surprised or not that she isn’t cowering away from me but considering how I already helped her as well as my shape I went with not.

While she was leading me towards the area the trees were I noticed that it was starting to get dark outside now. This was highlighted by the fact that many of the lights in the school were shut off so I made a small light to lead the way, much to Fluttershy’s relief. After a few twists and turns we reach the door where they were keeping the trees.

Once inside I looked around and was a bit disappointed that most of them were too small to be used, and the ones that I could use wouldn’t do for a full sized timberwolf. I was considering looking elsewhere when I glanced at Fluttershy and came up with an idea. “Hey Fluttershy, do you happen to have any pets?”

She looks surprised at my question, but she just shakes her head. “I take care of a lot of animals at the shelter and animal clinic for the nature preserve, but I haven’t had a pet since my bunny died a couple years ago.” I smile as an idea comes to me and I brush a tail along her wings, knocking a few loose feathers out of them as well as causing her to shiver a bit.

Taking the feathers I examine a small weeping willow and find that it will work perfectly for what I want. Since I’m not trying for a full alpha level creature I won’t need as much preparation as usual so I just focus on the form and personality that I wish to imprint on it. Fluttershy watches with wide eyes as I mold the tree into the shape I am picturing and use the feathers as a binding point for the creature.

Fluttershy may not know exactly what I’m doing, but considering I’m picturing a form she should be intimately familiar with it doesn’t take long for her to let out a sharp gasp of surprise. “Is that… Angel Bunny?” My only response is a nod as I finish the spell and watch as a wooden creature shaped like the mentioned creature stands up and stares at the two of us.

Author's Notes:

Another chapter down and soon some of my plans shall be set in motion. Oh the plans I have for the future. Just try and predict them, I dare you. Also remember to leave any typos and comments below.

A little too easy

The next morning we were all gathered around a projector screen which showing everything that the wooden bunny was seeing thanks to a pair of connected scrying gems. There were some complaints that we didn’t get things started sooner, mostly from Rainbow Dash, but not only was it rather late when I finished creating it there was also the fact that prying it away from Fluttershy would have been impossible. Of course there were a couple others watching as well but as long as they didn’t get in the way I didn’t mind.

“How long is this going to take anyways? I’d rather be out there kicking butt than sitting back here just watching. And di you really have to make that thing look like Fluttershy old pet?” I look over at the hovering biped and give her a questioning look.

“Why wouldn’t I use him as a template? He always had Fluttershy’s best interests at heart as he did what he could to protect her and sometimes push her outside of her comfort zone. Sure he was sometimes a bit mean about it but he wasn’t that bad to be around.” Rainbow Dash just glares at me for a moment before shaking her head.

“You obviously have no idea what that little monster was like if you think that. Every time I went over to Fluttershy’s home that little demon would try to drive me away.” I raise an eyebrow at her and glance at the pink-haired woman to see if she heard any of this. I was guessing she either didn’t or was ignoring us but the former was most likely as Rainbow Dash was speaking quietly.

“Huh, I’ve never seen any sign of that myself, though even your pony counterpart was always complaining about him as well.” I can see her shuddering at the thought of there being two Angel bunnies but our conversation was interrupted by a gasp from one of the others.

“How can there be so many of those creatures just gathered out there? How many did those creatures kill for there to be this many of them?” We turn back to the screen at Rarity’s comment to see a wall of black just outside of the barrier surrounding the city. As Angel moved closer we could start to see individual figures in the mass but they still blurred together. While the others were looking a bit panicked I just observed them with a critical eye before nodding.

“It’s not as bad as I was expecting so it won’t be as hard to get to the portal as I thought it would be.” All the eyes in the area, except for Twilight, turned towards me in surprise about what I said. The two of us just kept watching the screen until Sunset finally spoke up.

“I’m sorry but what? Don’t you see how many of those things are gathered out there? I don’t care how much experience you have with those things but I doubt that you can take on an army.” I glance over at her before looking back at the screen and chuckle at her reaction.

“You really are underestimating not just me but Twilight as well. Now if time had passed at the same rate and we were only as old as you are then you might actually have a point. But we both have centuries of experience and growth that you don’t have the luxury of. It’s just a good thing I know the weakness to these things so I don’t have to use too much magic though.” A small look of fear passes over them all and most of them back away from me slightly. Only Fluttershy and one other don’t since the former actually seems to trust me and the latter is sturdier than the others.

“And just what would happen if you did release most of your magic to fight these things? If you are as strong as you say then wouldn’t you be able to clear these things out like they were nothing?” I sigh when Applejack asks that but it was Twilight that answers the question.

“I haven’t done any tests to see how much she has grown over the centuries but I estimate that she isn’t that much weaker than me. Even back then either of us could have destroyed a small city if we lost complete control of our magic. That’s not even getting into the residual magic that would remain after the event happened making it dangerous to be in the area for years afterwards. It’s only through luck that Ponyville was spared that when I fought Tirek since there was something nearby to absorb the excess energy.” It’s rather light for a lecture from Twilight but it did give them a hint of what we could do. Sunset looked to be the most surprised as she knew the amount of magic it would take to do these things, and from what I remember she was supposedly just as powerful back then as well.

“If you two are that strong then just how powerful are the other princesses?” Sunset Shimmer almost looks like she is going to break down as she asks this but Twilight doesn’t notice.

“I asked Princess Celestia about that once when I found out she was always holding back against Equestria’s enemies. She told me that if she ever was to seriously fight then there would be nothing left of Equestria and the surrounding countries would be uninhabitable for years.” Sunset Shimmer fell to her knees at this information and I knew how she felt as I went through the same thing once long ago. I step in to try and reassure the others that destruction isn’t all that the power is for.

“The lord and lady of my species were easily as strong as her at the height of their power and they’ve shown that a lot can be done with that much power. They created an entire world about as large as Equestria in another dimension that lasted for millennia until these things came. Using that power prevented them from being able to fight back but for anyone to grow as old as they did they learn to be extremely careful about how they use it.” Everyone is quiet at that point, which is a good thing as we are then able to hear a gasp from Fluttershy which brings our attention to see her watching the screen which draws our attention back to it.

It seems that while we were talking Angel had finally reached the portal that the creatures were using to invade this world. It looks much like the one that I had seen years ago but the land around it hadn’t been corrupted yet. I reach out to the gem on the other end of the portal and mentally mark the location down so that I can easily find it while I examine the screen.

“Good to see that it isn’t as bad as the last time I saw one of these. I have no idea what would happen if we stepped on the corrupted landscape that the last one of these was spreading. Of course that one had decades to grow so I guess it would make sense that this one hasn’t changed anything yet.” I get a few glances my way as well as a couple headshakes at my calm demeanor.

“Seriously? You are way too calm about seeing this thing especially since you’ve already faced these creatures once before. Shouldn’t you be at least a little worried about the fact that these things can destroy the entire world before invading Equestria?” I look over at Sunset Shimmer before glancing at the others to see their looks of curiosity before I sigh.

“One lesson I’ve learned over the years is that panicking during the middle of a crisis doesn’t help with anything. I usually just bottle it all up to release once everything has calmed down again as Twilight has seen plenty of times. Of course this time I managed to get some of that out of the way before we came here after I saw those things threaten my children right in front of me.” A few of them back up as I growl out the last part while Fluttershy moves closer to scratch my ears again. While it does calm my anger at remembering the incident it isn’t quite as debilitating as the first time she did it.

“All right then, no more messing with the mommy instincts. I’ve already made that mistake once before but never again.” Sunset Shimmer shudders at whatever she is remembering before shaking her head and continuing. “So what now then? How are we going to get all of us to that portal quickly and safely? And once we are there how do you plan on closing it?”

I took a moment to calm down again before considering all this. “Well for closing the portal I have a few ideas though I’m hoping some of the earlier ones pan out since the others are more dangerous. As for getting there I’m not exactly sure yet since we need a way to keep together so that Twilight and I can keep everyone safe. I hope one of you have an idea for that since I know little about what you have on this world.”

Twilight just shakes her head when I look over at her but when I glance around at the others I pause on seeing the thoughtful look on Applejack’s face. “If it’s just the eight of us then we could take my truck out there. If you can keep them away from us like you say then it should be able to drive us all right up to that thing.”

I look over at Twilight for explanations about what a truck is and she just shrugs at me. I turn back to Applejack and just nod to her. “If you think that’s the best way to get us all there safely. Like I said I don’t know much about this world so for things like this I’ll just rely on all of you.”

The truck that was mentioned wasn’t quite what I expected and I was surprised that nothing like it was on the Equestrian side yet. Of course since the trains hadn’t changed much over the centuries that I was gone and in fact much of the technology didn’t improve much beyond that which was needed to fight in the wars. Even with the benefits of something like this I could also see the drawbacks as well since I could see many complaints about the noise as well as the dangers of a hunk of metal moving at fast speeds.

I was seated in the front of the vehicle so that I could direct Applejack towards where we needed to go as we as to clear the path in front of us. Twilight and the others were in the back of the vehicle in the open-aired part and most of them were fine with it except for the princess. While she was keeping a shield up around the vehicle to catch anything that I missed she was also keeping a tight grip on the edges of the vehicle with a look of panic on her face. At least she wasn’t alone as Fluttershy was acting much the same though the others were more unaffected by the ride.

Getting through the wall of shadows was as simple as I expected, even more-so considering it was daytime, and any of the creatures that touched my shield were vaporized on impact. Anything that wasn’t made of shadows were deflected away by Twilight’s making the trip to the portal have little danger involved.

In fact trying to maneuver the truck through the trees was the most dangerous part of the journey. It was made even more difficult due to the fact that I could only give a direction of where we needed to go which led us to driving around in circles to find a path through the forest. After a few hours of travel, most of it because of us backtracking, we arrived at the portal.

While Twilight kept a shield up around the area I took my first close look at the portal and tried to figure out what was keeping it open exactly. Most of the others stayed on the far side of the shielded area as the shadows flowing out of the portal were really unnerving. “It’s strange. I’ve been near a lot of portals over the years and have looked into many worlds, yet none of them have made me feel as physically ill as this one does. Even that poorly made one between this world and Equestria was nowhere near this bad.”

Both Twilight and Sunset were next to me examining the portal as well and each had their own observations. “The amount of dark magic flowing out of it is just crazy. Not even Sombra or Nightmare Moon felt this bad. If this is what evil feels like then they are just newborn foals while this would be an alicorn of Celestia’s level.”

While Twilight was the magic expert it didn’t mean Sunset wasn’t any help as she was also once a student of Celestia. “I know what you mean, Twilight. What the Element of Harmony did to me was beyond painful but this is a whole other level evil. I don’t even want to know what this power would feel like flowing through my body. I’ve never felt anything like it before but there is something subtle beneath it all; it almost sounds like a bell.”

I look over at her and perk an ear up and find that she is right. It’s hard to hear it but there is definitely the sound of something ringing coming through the portal. “You’re right, there is something ringing. And is it just me or does the ringing coincide with each shadow that comes through the portal?” The two start listening closer for the ringing and they both nod to me after a few moments.

“I’m betting that the bell, or whatever it is, is also what is keeping the portal open as well. If all else fails I could probably overload the portal with magic, but I think that I have a better idea. If we can use your music and channel it into a spell we could not only negate the sound from the bell but also disrupt the frequency of that dimension so that it can’t open up here again.” I eye the portal critically as I consider something.

“You two should probably handle the magic and music though since it is more often than not instinctual. I haven’t done much studying of that type of magic so anything that I come up with would be guesswork and probably subpar.” Twilight and Sunset share a glance before turning back to me.

“Are you sure that this is a good idea? Didn’t I tell you about what happened the last time I was asked to come up with a spell using magic? And what would you even be doing while we are playing and singing?” I smile at Twilight before turning back to the portal.

“Of course it’s a good idea Twilight. I learned from you not to not to try and do something I’m not familiar with by myself when everything is at stake. Besides someone needs to keep the shadows away from you all while you play as well as be ready in case anything worse tries to comes through.” Sunset was quick to point out a small problem with my plan.

“How are we supposed to play if we don’t have our instruments with us anyways? You never gave us a chance to grab them before we came out here and it would be dark by the time we got back out here.” As soon as she finished speaking there was a bright flash of purple as the instruments suddenly appeared in front of us. We both turn towards twilight to see her stretching her arms and wings out as she turns back to us.

“What? You wanted your instruments so here they are. It’s been a while since I was able to stretch my skills like that so I couldn’t resist.” I chuckle as Sunset just shakes her head.

“I keep forgetting that it was possible to do that here now. Of course I would have maybe been able to get only one instrument before I was worn out. It’s still hard to believe that such a long time has passed since we last saw you Twilight.” I watch as the others start gathering their instruments and I decide to show off a bit myself.

“One of these days I’ll figure out how to teleport objects or even myself without them ending up in a tree. I still haven’t tried again since that one time and I still think it was a fluke. Of course it’s not like we needed the real instruments in the first place.” I use my magic to create an illusion of her guitar in Sunset’s hands to her surprise while Twilight just rolls her eyes at me.

“Haven’t you already shown off enough how good your illusions are? It’s bad enough that my student goes to you instead of me now when she has questions about them.” Sunset almost drops the instrument at that as she stares at the two of us.

“Wait, this is just an illusion? But that can’t be right as it feels and sounds just like the one I have.” I dispel the illusion and levitate her real guitar into her hands.

“Full explanations can wait, but to make it short everyone always underestimates illusions as the best ones are so real that it’s nearly impossible to tell they are fakes. I’ve even read about spells than can literally scare things to death without even touching them.” They both shudder at that as they head over to the others to get everything ready and discuss what they are going to do.

While they were preparing I decided to draw a rudimentary focusing circle around the inside of the shield as a precaution. It probably wasn’t going to be needed but anything to make what we were doing go more smoothly would be a boon. The others saw what I was doing, but only Twilight would really understand what I was doing though Sunset may suspect something.

They ran through a few test songs, which actually sounded pretty good, as they warmed up and got used to playing with Twilight again. Even though they were just practice runs I could still feel a decent amount of magic coming off of them, much more than I expected. I was about to consider the benefits of groups spell casting when I noticed shadows starting to return back towards the area of the portal and even the shadows leaking out of it seemed agitated.

“Well it looks like you’re doing something right. The creatures are starting to get a bit riled up by whatever you are doing and it’s just the trial runs.” I start doing a bit of target practice to keep the numbers of the creatures low by sending off needles of energy at any that I see. I experiment with the amount of energy that is required to destroy one of them as well as where I hit them.

Unlike most undead I found that blows to the head are the least effective way of dispatching them. Hitting them around the center of mass worked best, as it allowed the greatest dispersal of the shadow’s essence. Breaking them apart still seemed to be the best way to get rid of them as I had already known. Interestingly enough the positive energy I used on them wasn’t wasted on impact as the creatures seemed to be almost repelled by its very presence.

I was having a bit too much fun with what I was doing since I didn’t even realize that the others had started on their main attempt until I saw the shadows in the portal start to roil violently. Seeing as something was happening I strengthened the shield around us all and fired a blast of energy directly into the portal. I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea or not as, while it did drive the shadows back revealing the image of an ancient city, they came back even worse than before as the entire mass tried to break through.

Luckily things ended there as a burst of prismatic energy came flying from behind me and wrapped around the portal rapidly before it exploded away from it leaving an empty space where the portal once was. They energy then continued to expand rapidly in all directions and whenever it struck a shadow they vanished.

I turn back to the others to see them catching their breath and looking around at the results. While it would take a heavy duty scrying spell to confirm it, I was pretty sure that the wave of energy was widespread enough to wipe out the remnants of the creatures. This left only one thing left to do as I look directly into Pinkie Pie’s eyes. “Well now that we are done here that means it’s probably time for a party, right?”

I wasn’t sure which was more hilarious then, Pinkie Pie’s reaction or the glares I got from the rest of them.

Author's Notes:

Well that's the end of that... Or is it? Bweeheeheehee

Returning what belongs

I’m really not sure what to think with how this world’s Pinkie Pie Parties being so much like what I remember from the Equestrian version. In the end I just chalked it up to one more thing that links these two worlds together which is probably for the best. Of course there was still the issue of her bugging me to do the most inane things, especially after showing the others a little trick I could do. “Come on Flarie, do me please!”

I just sigh and roll my eyes before explaining to her yet again why I couldn’t do that. “Pinkie I’ve already told you that my shapeshifting doesn’t work like that. While I can change into a different species I have little control over how the form looks, it’ll always look like me in that shape.” Pinkie looked a little deflated about it but she was soon distracted by something causing her to bounce away.

I had forgotten how annoyingly persistent she could get at times, but I really can’t blame her much. I remember how long I spent just changing into different things when I first learned how to do so so many years ago. I look over at one of the nearby gymnasium mirrors and admired what I looked like as a human of this world. It was surprisingly much like the pony form I could take with the orange and brown hair, at least that color considering the season. I felt that my looks were rather average when compared to the others and I could see a more mature quality similar to the Celestia and Luna of this world. The big things to catch my eyes though, were the foxish ears poking up out of my hair as well as the seven tails waving behind me.

It was probably a good thing that I had first tried the transformation before we left the forest as the transformation was only for my body, so that meant that I was naked after I made the change. With the combination of the chill weather as well as the fact that clothes were pretty much mandatory in this world it was a rather embarrassing event for all involved. Things were soon rectified after switching places with Rainbow Dash as I used my magic to wrap myself up in illusionary clothes with advice from the other girls, but mostly from Rarity. What we finally decided on was what she called a kimono of a sapphire blue color with silver designs across all of it. Around my waist was a belt of silver with the clasp for it on my side in the shape of a fox head inside a wreath of seven tails.

I pull myself away from the mirror and turn back to the person I was talking to before Pinkie distracted me. I wasn’t sure how to deal with meeting Trixie Lulamoon again, even if she wasn’t the one I remembered, but I could see that she had the same potential as the one I knew. “Now where were we before we were interrupted by the pink prankster? Oh right, you were asking for tips on how to improve your magic show.”

I smirk as I watch Trixie’s mouth drop open before she recovers and pulls a haughty pose. “The Great and Powerful Trixie would never stoop so low as to ask for tips from an amateur magician. Trixie was challenging you to a dual to settle once and for all that Trixie is the most talented being in the entire world.”

After years of dealing with one Trixie I knew pretty well how to handle this version of her. “Trixie, I have seven centuries of experience which easily trumps the handful of years you’ve had with magic. Not only that but I lived with someone exactly like you for most of the first hundred so I know pretty well what you are capable of. That’s not to say you don’t have potential, you have plenty of that, but you would be better off dropping the stage presence when you are off the stage. Driving others away actually can make you worse at your magic since you can learn things from friends more easily than from enemies.”

She was about to say something but I get another idea and cut her off. “In fact you could actually learn a lot by helping the Twilight of this world study magic since you can use certain types better than her, especially illusions.” I create a small illusion of Trixie’s caravan back in Equestria as an example and hand it to her. “You can both help each other improve and learn how magic works here but if you ever can create something like this then I’ll give you something that will help you greatly with your shows.”

I leave Trixie behind as she pokes at the lifelike replica I had given her and wondered how long it would take her to make illusions that were nearly impossible to tell apart from the real thing. Equestria’s Trixie was actually at that point before she passed on but she didn’t really have another to push her to exceed that point. I did help her get to that point, but it was only years later that I found out how much further she could have gone and I was going to help this one get further if she was willing to accept the help.

I look around the room and spot Twilight talking with her friends and I think back to the versions of them that I knew. I find myself wanting to get over and join them but it just wouldn’t be fair to treat them like the ones I knew. Sunset Shimmer seemed to be a bit distracted for some reason even though she was still participating in the conversation. I made a note to talk to her before we left when I spotted another figure of interest that I was curious about.

Sonata Dusk was still off by herself in a corner behind the bleachers and she really didn’t look as if her mood had improved. I was curious about her as I had heard a bit about her but my knowledge of sirens was nearly non-existent. The little bit of her story that I had heard did strike a chord with me so I knew what she was going through. Making a decision I silently made my way across the room until I was right next to her before sitting down.

She was really out of it as it was only when I was fully seated did she react by flinching away before looking up at me with red rimmed eyes. Her eyes widened after a moment when she saw me, but the look of hopelessness soon returned as she buried her head in her arms again. I sit there waiting to see if she is going to say anything but after a while I realize she is too far gone so I consider what to say myself.

“It never does get any easier; losing a family member I mean.” Sonata doesn’t respond but I can tell she is listening as she slightly tilts her head. “Even after all these years it still hurts and it’s even worse when they are taken from you before their time. All you can do is push on and find some way to honor their memory and remember the times with them that were the happiest.”

I waited for her to respond in some way but it seemed like she was more out of it than I had thought. I was actually debating on moving elsewhere for now when she finally decided to speak up. “Who did you lose?” It was muffled but with my ears it wasn’t that hard to hear her. I only took a moment to gather my thoughts before I opened myself up to the pain again.

“It was my mother that I lost. She lost her life saving me from a town that was working for a necromancer but I was able to find my way to her again. Unfortunately she was gone by the time I found her; the monster had skinned her for some dark ritual which I found out when I reached his inner sanctum. I was alone for many years after that until I finally was able to find a place to call home.” I wiped a tear away as the pain of that even rose up once again.

I looked over at Sonata to see that she had raised her head to look over at me. Suddenly she lunged at me and grabbed me in a hug as her tears started to flow freely from her eyes. I brought my own arms up around her to return the hug and patted her on the back while making soothing sounds. I could tell that she was in need of this as her grip was impossible to break, not that I wanted to do so. I noticed Pinkie watching us and see her just nod to me with a sad look on her face before she turns back to her friends.

Eventually Sonata’s crying lessened to the point of her only releasing an occasional sniffle. I knew that if she was going to say something that now would be the time if she didn’t pull away first as I was soon proven correct about. “We had been together so long that we might as well have been sisters. Sure we may not have gotten along all the time but we always stuck together no matter what. I may not have been all that smart, but I knew that they always cared about me like I did them.”

She choked up a bit before she continued again. “I know that they never blamed me for what happened even though they said mean things to me. When those things attacked us I thought we were going to go out together like we always were. When they tossed me up to that pegasus before the swarmed us I didn’t know what to think as I would never have expected them to sacrifice themselves for me.”

She started to cry again at this point as the memories came rushing back yet again. “I wish we never listened to that stupid octopus all those years ago then we would never have been sent here. Without those stupid gems he gave us I wouldn’t have had to lose not only them but everything else I cared about. I just want to go home!” She completely loses it again as she breaks down crying into my shoulder.

I start comforting her again as I make a decision that might anger some of the other princesses but was going to stick by no matter what. “That’s something I can actually do something about. You never really belonged here and you have been punished enough over some bad choices. It’s about time that you return to Equestria and actually live your life how it should be lived.” At this point she is full on wailing as she is overwhelmed by everything that has happened as well as my promise.

I see that some of the room had finally noticed what had been going on in this corner, including Twilight’s little group. Pinkie was keeping them from coming over but I noticed that Twilight was smiling sadly before she nodded to me before getting the attention of the others. Seeing that the others are occupied I focus all my attention back to Sonata and try to keep her reassured. Eventually I hear snoring and I realize that it’s from her as she had fallen asleep in my arms.

I sigh as I notice where this is going as I use my magic help me lift her up and carry her in my arms towards Twilight. Joining her I see the others grinning at me for some reason and I just shake my head at them. “She’s really a mess right now and she probably won’t be getting any better here. I’m taking her back with us through the portal to where she belongs. It’s about time Equestria and Sionnach start solving their own problems instead of running from them, dumping them on others, or just delaying them until someone else can solve them.”

Most of them look confused but Twilight looks thoughtful, if a bit annoyed, before she nods to me. “While I would like to argue with you I do see your point. Ugh, if I was younger I’d probably still be defending Celestia over this but I’ve known her too long to just blindly do that now. At least she admitted to not knowing about any other problems she just locked away to deal with later.”

I raise an eyebrow at her as I’m impressed with her since it’s the first time I’ve seen her say anything against Celestia. She wasn’t quite finished speaking just yet though. “I think bringing Sonata back with us is a good idea, especially as she isn’t a threat anymore without that necklace. The little I remember of her was too carefree to be truly evil like some of the things we faced, just misguided.”

I’m glad that Twilight agreed with me on this decision as it made things much easier to not have to argue. I noticed that Sunset Shimmer was looking a bit down about something so I raise a questioning eyebrow at her. She sees this and looks as if she is about to say something but instead shakes her head and turns away. I’m starting to get an idea of what be bothering her and I decide to confront her before we leave.

As thoughts of the portal come to mind I realize that we might need to head out sooner than I thought. “Twilight, we really should check on the portal home. I didn’t think of it until now but we have no idea when it’s supposed to close. We can’t go by what used to work as it might not be fully stable yet.”

Twilight’s eyes widen drastically as I say this and she is soon running out to the statue. Everyone else is soon following her and I follow behind at a slower pace with Sonata. I was a bit worried about the portal myself, but I figured that between the two of us we could force it open if we had to. My worries were proven true as I got outside and found Twilight pounding away at the front of the statue frantically.

I sigh as I levitate Sonata out of my arms fully so I can shift back into my true form so I’m more comfortable when I examine the portal. “Frig, I was hoping that I was wrong about it but I guess things can’t always be simple. Can someone hold Sonata while I take a closer look at this thing?” Sunset holds her arms out so I set her down in them before Twilight rounds on me.

“How can you be so calm!? With this thing closed we are stuck here for at least thirty moons until it opens again. That’s two and a half years and we don’t even know how much time would have passed in Equestria by then.” I look over at Twilight and wonder what she is talking about as she gave me two different periods of time. I do a deep scan of the portal just to verify things before turning back to her again.

“Twilight, thirty moons is only a month. Not that I’m going to stay here even that long with my daughters waiting for me. I just need to figure out the best way to reopen the portal without causing any unforeseen problems.” Twilight looks at me as if I’m crazy before shaking her head.

“What do you mean by only a month? It’s never opened that fast before so why would it do so now?” I try to remember if she ever said who created the mirror but unfortunately nothing comes to mind. I decide to take a chance anyways of insulting someone she may respect.

“Well whoever made the mirror screwed something up so it was never fully stable. From what I can tell it supposed to open with the rising of every thirtieth moon. I knew something was wrong when I first stepped through the mirror as portals are supposed to feel something like teleporting, not whatever that thing did. From what I can tell it’s also supposed to only be open for twenty-four hours when it opens as well.” Twilight is a bit stunned at my analysis of the portal but can’t come up with anything to refute what I’ve said.

“This would be so much easier on the other side since then I could see exactly what they did to this thing. It’s hard enough to drag two worlds together without something else interfering with the process. Do you happen to know anything about that spell your Starswirl used to toss the sirens over to this world?” Twilight stops for a second before she shakes her head at me causing me to sigh and turn back to the statue again.

While I was looking over the statue again I feel the presence of someone being a little too close behind me, and I was about to snap at them a little before she speaks up. “Couldn’t you just make a bridge or path or maybe rope bridge between here and there? Then you could just walk across without having to deal with trying to pull the together.” I look up at Pinkie Pie as my mouth drops open at what she just said. The surprises don’t end there though when Sunset joins in on the conversation.

“Pinkie, do you know how hard something like that would be? It would be easier to just create an entirely new world than to create something like that.” I stare at the two for a moment before I start chuckling which soon breaks out into full blown laughter.

“Oh Pinkie, I sometimes forget how wise you are beneath that bubbly exterior. It’s just too bad that much of it is lost behind your randomness. Both of you are actually right in a way but who says the world that is created can’t also be a bridge? It’s not like it has to be a permanent world either, just something stable enough to get us across.” Pinkie preens a bit at the praise while Sunset and the others look between her and me in shock.

What I don’t say is that creating such a world would probably take most of my energy but as a precaution I decide to get some help. “Hey Twilight, mind helping me out with this? I’m pretty sure that I could do it alone, but I’d rather not risk running out of magic too early in case I underestimated what I need.”

Twilight opens her mouth to say something but closes it a moment later before she moves forwards to join me. It took Twilight a moment of concentration but she soon was releasing a flow of magic towards me which took me a moment to get a handle on. It took a bit of effort to gather the power for my use but it would have taken more if I was calling on my own. Once I had a firm grasp on the energies I directed the flow through the portal towards Equestria.

Trying to match up both sides of the portal was rather difficult to do but with a bit of finesse I was able to lightly ling both sides together so I could start the next step. I kept the entrance and exit relatively small, just enough to pass through, while the rest of it I made a bit larger. Seeing as the worlds were flowing apart I needed the extra space so that as they move apart the path will stretch while the diameter of the path will contract. I kept the boundary of this new ‘world path’ in a weave to more easily allow this to happen as well as keep the strength of it up with less effort.

Once I was sure that everything was secure and that we would have plenty of time to cross I finished binding everything together and opened the portal. I took a moment to look over the portal one last time and other than a constant drain of energy to keep the world alive it all looked to be in good condition. “Well I think everything is properly in place, but without going through it I can’t be completely sure. It’s probably best that you take Sonata through first while I keep it stable on this end just as a precaution, Twilight.”

Twilight perked up and began saying her goodbyes to the others starting with Sunset Shimmer. I kept an eye on the former unicorn as she stepped back from Twilight and I knew that something needed to be said before I left. Soon enough Twilight was carrying Sonata in her magic giving a final wave before stepping through.

The others looked saddened by Twilight leaving but I suspected that Sunset was sad for a different reason as I walked over towards her. “You look a bit more disappointed about us going than the others. Do you want to talk about why Sunset?” She jumps in surprise at when I start speaking and she looks down at my guiltily.

“There’s nothing wrong with me, why would you thing that something is wrong with me?” I roll my eyes before leveling a look at her and I’m not alone as I notice Rarity looking at her sadly as well.

“Darling, I know you don’t want others to think badly of you but I’ve seen how you’ve looked at the statue throughout the years that we’ve been friends. You want to go home, don’t you?” The others looked over at us when Rarity spoke up which looked to be making her a bit nervous. Eventually she just sighed before nodding her head before she was caught up in the middle of a group hug.

“Now Sugarcube you know you could have talked to us about anything. We’re your friends and you could have come to us about anything and being homesick is nothing to be ashamed of.” The others nod along with her while Pinkie throws in her own bit of rare wisdom.

“Besides, you could always come and visit us again and we could have a big welcome back party for you. It doesn’t have to be goodbye forever.” I can see tears in Pinkie’s eyes as she says this but she keeps a smile up the whole time. She isn’t the only one as the others are in the same state with Sunset being the worst until she looks towards me.

“Is it really okay? Can I really come home this time?” I nod to her before throwing something else in to ease her worries.

“It’s been over six centuries on that side since you had left. While most of the ponies that you would have known are gone I’m sure Princess Celestia would be overjoyed to see you again. She lost her sister for a thousand years and welcomed her back but this would be the greatest gift to her as she probably lost all hope of seeing you again.” Sunset Shimmer looked a bit unsure for a moment but she finally nodded before hugging her friends even harder.

“I can hold this thing open for a few hours so I’ll go on ahead while you finish up with what you need here. Just try not to take too long as it takes a good amount of energy to keep the path open and I’m not sure how long it’ll be until I can’t hold it without any problems.” She nods as she turns back to her friends while I look at the portal and prepare for my own journey. Before I can step through I feel something being pressed into my bags and looks to see Pinkie slipping a note into them.

Shaking my head I step through the portal and find myself on a bridge of solid flames connecting two lights in a sea of darkness. “Hmm, maybe I should have focused on what I wanted this place to look like while I was creating it. Twilight must have been unnerved by being forced to walk on something that looks as if it should be burning her.”

The trip through didn’t take that long as I set a brisk pace towards the other end. The brief period of being threatened with separation from my daughters was enough to motivate me to pass through quickly. I made note that it actually took less energy while I was in the miniature to sustain it than from the other end. I wasn’t sure if I needed the information but any new information could be useful in the future.

Passing through the other end into Equestria I find the three princesses waiting for me but I ignore them in favor of something more important. “Hey you two, Mommy’s home.” With a quick bound I snatched Dawn and Dusk up from next to Surprise and curl up with them with my tail surrounding them and my head. I nuzzle the two as they lick at my face before they bury themselves into my fur and lie down for a nap.

I look up to see the others looking at me strangely about something. “What? Can’t a mother say hello to her children after being threatened with not seeing them for years?” They just shake their heads at me before Luna speaks up.

“Well it’s good to see you back again. Twilight already told me about what happened over there but she had yet to tell me about this young mare that you brought back. She said that you would explain everything when you returned.” I look over at the mare she indicated to see what I was assuming to be Sonata Dusk.

Her mane and tail were of the same color and style as her hair was in the other world while her coat retained the bluish white color as well. Her cutie mark was a heart with a somewhat jagged musical note over it which made me guess that she had some musical skill even before becoming a siren. What I found interesting was that she looked like a unicorn with four hooves and a horn instead of a sea creature like what sirens were described as.

“Huh, she doesn’t look like I was expecting her to. But let’s just say that she’s an old problem Equestria had that was already solved and her punishment has more than been served. Only the princesses would even remember her crimes and she deserves a chance at a normal life after what happened to her over there.” Luna looks me in the eye for a moment before turning towards Twilight who also nods at her.

“Well if you think that is what is best for her then that is fine. I still expect a more thorough explanation later once everything is settled.” I nod to her as well when I remember that note that was given me and I pull it out of my bags to look it over. Seeing that it was addressed to Surprise I debated with myself for a moment before I gave in and passed it over to the pegasus.

She looked at it curiously before she opened and read it to herself. A moment later she looks at the portal and nods before she actually swallows the letter and moves to stand over Sonata. I look at the other princesses as they watch her and Twilight glances at me in confusion. “Flarenza, just what was in that letter you gave her?”

I just shrug before pointing a tail back to the portal. “No idea. Pinkie snuck it into my bags before I left and I’m wondering if it was a good idea to give it to her or not still. From how she’s acting I’m guessing that she asked Surprise to watch over Sonata which actually might be a good idea.” The others glance at the pegasus warily and I wonder how things will turn out when I feel something enter the world between the portals.

I turn my attention back to the portal once again and wait for them to arrive. Twilight notices that my attention is focused on it and walks over to it questioningly before sticking her hoof through it. When she finds that it is still open she looks back at me. “Flarenza, why is the portal still active? Shouldn’t you have let it close by now?”

I smile as I feel the being reach this end and step through and I nod towards it once again. What crosses through is nothing like I expected and the shock causes me to lose my grip on the portal causing it to close. The figure is stumbling a bit as she tries to get used to her hooves yet again and she looks up to see Twilight. “Twilight? Are you supposed to be that tall? And why are you looking at me like that?”

Sunset Shimmer looks around to see the other two princesses and stumbles a bit when she sees that they are also much larger than she expected. I can’t hold it back anymore as I break out laughing at her. When she looks over at me I point a paw towards the mirror behind her since I can’t speak right now.

She looks confused until she turns around to see her reflection in the mirror and her mouth drops open in shock. Whatever she was expecting I highly doubt it was seeing herself at a reduced age of what I estimated to be about five years old now. Suddenly her next surprise popped up out of nowhere as her wings sprung out from her sides due to her shock which snapped her out of it enough to respond. “What?! Oh come on!”

Author's Notes:

Well this looks like a good place for a year-long hiatus don't you all think? I'll be over there doing something else, maybe starting a new story or something. Just be sure to let me know of any rabid typos that I may have missed.

Gathered Royalty

There are many times when yelling out in frustration but you still have to be careful about your surroundings. You never know when someone could be sleeping nearby or something dangerous could hear you. In this case there happened to be a pair of dangerously cute kits that were sleeping nearby that weren’t happy to be woken up until they noticed the new playmate. “Flarenza! Quit your laughing and help get them off of me!”

I figured I’d give them a couple more minutes to wear themselves out as they wrestled with Sunset Shimmer and gave her friendly licks whenever they got near her face. I wasn’t the only one entertained with seeing an alicorn filly being bowled over by a pair of rambunctious kits that are half her size. Selene and Luna were quietly chuckling and Surprise was showing remarkable restraint by only rolling around near Sonata instead of joining in on the fun.

Twilight was still in shock at seeing Sunset Shimer as an alicorn but she looked to be recovering as she started shaking her head. “Flarenza? Can you please tell me why I am not only seeing Sunset Shimmer but also why she looks like an alicorn filly?” I look over at the panting filly in front of the mirror and ask myself the last question as well. I whistle at my daughters, getting their attention, and distract them with my waving tails which they rush over and start pouncing.

“Well the why of her being here is easy since I asked her if she wanted to return. As for why she looks like that I really don’t know. It may have been that something went wrong when I created the path through the portal that caused it. Or it could have something to do with the fact that she had been exposed to the power of the Elements of Harmony so many times without being linked to them. It might even have something to do with her being over six hundred years out of sync with Equestria. Whatever the case I’m pretty sure Celestia will be surprised to see her old student return.” While I was saying all this I was busy scrawling a note to the mentioned princess while not mentioning the exact reason why before sending it off to her using Spike as a relay.

“I really should learn how to send these directly to each of you sometime. While I’m sure Spike doesn’t mind me using him as a relay I’d rather not make it a habit.” I look back over at Sunset to see her rolling onto her stomach before she turns and glares back at her wings. I was wondering what was on her mind but didn’t want to press her too much. Luna wasn’t quite as restrained though.

“Is something wrong Sunset Shimmer? I remember some of the tales from my sister about you and how you were always wanting to be a princess. Is something about it not to your liking?” She glares at her wings a few moments longer before she finally sighs and turns back towards her.

“I had given up on that idea long ago when Twilight saved me from myself. The pain I felt after putting that crown on, it was nothing like I was expecting and I never wanted that power again, not to mention not feeling in control of myself. Now that I was finally allowed to come home just to find these on my back? I just don’t know what to think.” She looks down at her hooves as she twirls one around on the ground in front of her.

I actually felt a bit of pity for her as there were few kinds of power that would cause any kind of pain. Thinking back to what I’ve heard it seemed strange that an Element of Harmony would tap into demonic energy yet there wasn’t any other kind I could think of that would cause pain. I suppose that it could have been caused by energy being forced into her at a rate far above what she could handle. Also assuming that the human body she had wasn’t meant to handle magic at all then it could have really did a number on her and anything could have happened. I’ve never looked into how much emotions can affect the outcome of spells and magical effects but I do know that there is some change involved.

I watch as Luna and Selene try to get to know more about Sunset though I feel that she is trying to hold something back. I look back at my daughters to find that they had fallen asleep again so I levitate them up onto my back and cover them with a muffling spell so that they aren’t woken up again. I was actually surprised that Sonata hadn’t woken up from all the noise yet and I was a bit concerned about her condition if she was that tired.

Seeing as I was already going to take responsibility for her I made plans to lend her the use of one of the rooms in my manor until future plans could be made. I was unsure about what would be done with Sunset Shimmer now but I made plans for her as well in the off chance they were needed. My planning was interrupted when I caught the sound of something landing outside the library and from the random twitching of Surprise I wasn’t the only one.

Soon the front door opened revealing Celestia, as well as a good number of guards around the door. She wasted little time coming inside the library and she greeted me and the other princesses with a nod. When her eyes fell on Twilight she froze when she caught sight of Sunset Shimmer who had scrambled to hide behind her when the door opened. “Twilight? Who is that hiding behind you there? Is that why I was called… out…” She trailed off when Sunset looked out from behind Twilight and her eyes widened drastically. I was expecting an interesting reaction from this meeting, but seeing Celestia’s eyes roll up in her head as she falls to the ground wasn’t really on the list.

Before anyone could say anything another figure was charging into the library. “Auntie Celestia! What’s going on in there?!” The pink figure of Cadance was soon charging into the library but she froze when she saw all of us in there but her eyes focused on the alicorn filly in the room. Her hoof slowly lifted up in her direction. “Is that? Can it really be little Sunny?!”

I raised an eyebrow at the nickname while ‘Sunny’ looked back at the pink princess shyly. “Hello again, cousin Cadance. I’m back.” She let out a little squeezing sound as she smiled back at her. I wasn’t sure what happened next as one moment she was hiding behind Twilight and the next she was trapped in Cadance’s legs as she was hugging her and squealing in joy.

“Oh I can’t believe it, it is you! I never thought I would see you again, how are you still alive? And what happened to you, you’re so cute again?” I was actually able to retrain myself from laughing this time at Sunset’s predicament but the same couldn’t be said of Twilight as she starts to lose it a bit after all that happened. Luna and Selene were working on getting Celestia up again by waving something under her nose, which seemed to be working.

Celestia was looking woozy as she lifted her head and looked around in confusion. Cadance is between her and Sunset so she doesn’t catch sight of her yet as she surveys the room. Her gaze passes over the other pony princesses in the room and pauses on the sleeping form of Sonata before it finally settles on me. She was about to say something but Cadance decided at that moment to swing around brining Sunset and Celestia face-to-face.

This was the first time I’ve ever been in a situation where you could hear a pin drop, though it didn’t help that it was Surprise doing the dropping with a bowling pin. Everyone but the two sun alicorns looked over at her as she grinned sheepishly at us. Looking back over at the two I noticed Celestia tearing up which is a rather rare event. “It can’t be, Sunny?”

Sunset Shimmer’s only response was to nod as she was also crying and looked to be unable to speak. At that confirmation Sunset was quickly robbed from Cadance’s grasp and was firmly in Celestia’s as she gripped her and was openly crying over her. “Oh my little girl I never thought I’d see you again! Lulu, please tell me that this isn’t a dream.”

I moved over to set my daughter atop Sonata while the alicorns clustered together in their little reunion. Twilight looked as confused as ever while Cadance and Celestia were highly emotional along with Sunset Shimmer. Luna and Selene were nearby looking on with curiosity as if they weren’t sure what was going on either. I get the feeling that this all involves yet another one of Celestia’s secrets. Judging from their words and how they are acting I can probably guess and if I’m right then the situation seems a bit ironic.

I connected a few more dots before nodding. After asking Surprise to bring the three sleeping figures to my home and putting them to bed I turn back to the situation in the room. “Not to break up this little reunion but I think a few of us are a bit out of the loop with what is going on. I have my suspicions but would you mind filling the rest of us in on what we’re missing?” I get a couple glares from the gathered alicorns but there is a touch of gratitude for asking the question on the minds of a few of them.

Celestia seems to realize where she is now and composes herself, but she still refuses to release Sunset who is blushing a bit in her grip. “I guess you all do deserve some explanation for that little *ahem* display. It’s not as complicated as you might think it’s just that I adopted Sunset Shimmer after her parents lost their lives for Equestria.” All eyes were focused on the two at this announcement though one set of them wasn’t all that surprised.

With their relations being confirmed I sigh as everything falls into place. “So I’m guessing you never found it important to tell Twilight that she basically abandoned her cousin in a world she didn’t belong in not once, but twice?” Twilight and Sunset look at each other in shock as if this had never occurred to either of them until I mentioned it. I glance over at Selene before continuing. “I’m starting to wonder if Selene has gotten into anything crazy while I was gone since your whole family seems to have a habit of trying to kill each other or going crazy and trying to destroy the world.” Celestia herself was actually blushing at this as more attention was focused on her for this oversight before she clears her throat.

“I guess I did forget to mention that to her. But how is it that Sunset is not only still alive but an alicorn filly?” Seeing as this could take a while I levitated over a cushion and made myself comfortable before starting my explanation of all that happened with some help from Twilight. They were a bit concerned about us bringing the ex-siren back with us but they eventually agreed with my taking custody of her. The real problem came when we described what we found when we were examining the invasion portal.

“Something about what you saw through that portal is familiar somehow. I’ll have to have the Canterlot library scoured for anything that may pertain to it.” Celestia looks worried about what we found but without more information there wasn’t much that could be done.

“I’m more worried about the mirror right now. It is extremely unstable and it seems that there are kitsune in that world somewhere. Not only that, but if something really is wrong with it that can create more alicorns I want to get it fixed quickly.” They all look at me strangely before I say two words that cause them to cringe. “Pinkie Pie.”

Selene, who had been quiet since we had come through the portal, decided to put in her two bits while poking at Sunset with a wing. “So what’s going to happen to my new cousin now? While it won’t be as bad as the whole Nightmare Moon Returns fiasco that went on during my coronation but I doubt Equestria is expecting another princess.” I groan as I remember how difficult things were for those few years which weren’t helped much by the nobles running so many things.

“It may not be that bad considering what has happened recently. With the end of the war and a lost kingdom appearing they could use some good news in Canterlot.” I agree with Twilight’s reasoning but it feels as if she is leaving something out. Looking back over at Sunset I realize a rather small problem.

“You might have some problems convincing other ponies that she’s an adult considering how she looks like a filly now. She also has over six hundred years of history to catch up on not to mention any advances in magic and technology over that period. That’s not even including the usual hassles that come about with a big event like that.” I look between the five princesses as something else comes to mind. “Then there is also the fact that there are five of you who want to catch up with her but are rarely in the same place at the same time. Plus once I’ve stabilized the mirror she may want to visit her friends on the other side.”

The six princesses look at each other as I say this before they all focus on Celestia when she speaks up. “You have a point about where Sunset shall be staying for the foreseeable future. Twilight, shall we retire to the royal quarters here while we decide this? While I do want to spend some time with my little Sunny again I can’t deny that monopolizing her attention would be a bad thing.” I notice Sunset blushing once again at the nickname and wonder how long it’s been since she last heard that name.

Seeing as I have little stake in what is going on now I feel that leaving them to figure things out would be a good idea. “I should be heading back to make sure that Sonata is settled in and to let my assistant know what is going on so my council can be notified about most of what happened. I’ll gladly assist in whatever you need with Sunset but I’ll be spending most of the next month on the mirror. Of course my kits sure enjoyed meeting her and I’m sure they wouldn’t mind a companion more their size to help watch over them occasionally.”

Sunset looks over at me in horror at the suggestion but Celestia looks over and smiles. “That is an excellent idea, Flarenza. Not only can she make friends with the heirs to your kingdom but she can also learn how to deal with the more stubborn nobles or diplomats that she may meet in the future.” Sunset’s attention moves towards Celestia as she tries to come up with something to get her out of having to deal with them.

“Don’t worry Sunset; I’ll make sure you have a bit of help from Surprise whenever you are around. Sonata can probably assist as well since she’s going to need to learn about all the things that have changed just like you.” She calms down a bit once she finds out she won’t have to deal with them alone. As there is nothing else of importance that needs to be dealt with and the reunited family is eager to be alone I bid them all farewell and head home.

Going over everything that happened recently as I walk home I find myself agreeing with them and look forward to spending some uninterrupted time with my daughters as I hope the next crisis is a long time in coming.

Author's Notes:

And final chapter of that little arc. Next up should be a bit of a calmer arc with a little less crazy. Well, not including what the Pie family brings with them. Please leave any typos and comments below so I can fix things that I may have messed up on.

Day with Sunny

I lean back in my chair as I slide another pile of paperwork into the completed part of my desk. It’s still such a pain having to hold court and do all this paperwork, but at least I was able to transfer most of the daily work to the Council. Now I only have to check up on them to make sure they are doing as they should while giving everyone a chance to get my personal decisions on the one day I do show or leaving a petition with me for the day after. Even then it takes me so long to deal with everything that I’m glad that I have a few that I can rely on to watch my daughters for me.

It wasn’t always a perfect situation as I heard the clattering of hooves headed in my direction followed by the door slamming. Soon after I heard the lighter steps of paws running up but they passed the door to my study towards somewhere else in the manor. I look up to see Sunset Shimmer leaning against the door breathing hard from her little chase. “Dawn and Dusk giving you trouble again, Sunset? If you want I can ask Surprise or Sonata to come over and help you.”

The young alicorn jumps at the sound of my voice before she turns around to glare at me. “Those two are the reason why those two were chasing me in the first place. Right when I was finally getting them to calm down for a nap those two crazy ponies came in and riled them up again before feeding them ice cream. Then they decided that it was a good time to play pounce the princess again. I was tired of that game when they first started it over a year ago.”

I chuckle at how much she sounds like a filly now even though she is around thirty years old mentally. “Well if they are here watching them then I guess you could take a bit of a break. Once I finish these last couple stacks I was planning on a walk around Ponyville so if you want to help sort out the ones that are worth looking at it’ll speed things up a bit.”

Sunset doesn’t say anything but I can tell that she is a bit annoyed as she moves over to the stack I haven’t gotten to yet. I felt a little sorry for most of what she had to go through as her filly form made others treat her like one even though she was much older. As she read through the top sheet I noticed one of her eyes twitch before she threw her legs up with a groan. “This is not what I had in mind when I wanted to be a princess all those years ago. I don’t remember ever seeing mom doing paperwork for hours on end, not to mention having to follow a strict schedule all the time.”

She pulls another petition from the stack and glances at it before holding it up to me. “I mean look at these things. Some of them are just downright crazy that it makes my plan to take over Equestria with a bunch of teenagers seem like a stroke of genius. Listen to this, ‘Petition RLW 822: Request for Freelance Guard License for diamond dog and bunny companion.’ Why would they even ask for something like that let alone expect it to actually happen?”

I levitate that petition over to look it over myself before letting out a smile chuckle. “I might have to look a bit deeper into this one since it sounds interesting. If that bunny is anything like Angel was then I might actually approve this one.” Sunset just looked at me as if I had gone crazy when I say this causing me to just wave a paw at her. “Oh don’t act like Celestia hasn’t done something similar. In fact you wouldn’t believe some of the things she pulls just so she has an excuse to get out of holding court. Why else would she invite ponies like Pinkie Pie to some of the most boring events ever? You can’t hold court if the place is trashed from the night before.”

I watched as Sunset opened her mouth to try and deny these claims but she seemed to be robbed of speech for the moment. Instead of arguing she just sighs. “Unfortunately I can picture her doing just that. In fact didn’t she invite Twilight and her friends to the Grand Galloping Gala just so they could wreck the event?” She sets another petition to the side before looking at me strangely for a moment. “How is it that you aren’t stuck holding court every day anyways? You’ve only ever needed me to watch your daughters for two specific days of the week but none of the others.”

I smile as I think back to when they were trying to get me to hold court and perform other acts on a daily basis until I started phasing that out. “They tried to have me work like that at first but it just isn’t realistic to be holding court constantly. My council handles most of the lesser matters while anything they can’t decide on or involves matters of personal interest come to me. Most of this paperwork is me checking up on the council or issues that aren’t time sensitive. The previous rulers were much the same as almost everything went through the council first, except their council was purely nobles unlike mine which is more based around skillsets that are important.”

Sunset just shakes her head as she goes through the last few pages of the stack before setting them aside as I finish off the last few on my end. I glance up and see her poking at her wings with her nose. “Are you still having trouble with your wings?”

She looks back to me with a bit of a glare before she sighs and fluffs them out. “I still can’t believe that I have them and even after all this time and I still forget about them. It’s only been recently that I’ve been to stop getting tickled by them. I can barely even get off the ground with these things and being up too high still makes me nervous. Add in the fact that I barely have time to spend with mom and I’m starting to wonder why I even wanted to be a princess in the first place.”

I chuckle as I finish up with the last few approvals and send them off to where they need to go. “You’ll get the hang of it eventually. It took Twilight a while and she had one of the best flyers around to help her out. Since you weren’t born with the flying instinct it’ll take a while for you to learn it; hopefully before one of the princesses decide to start tossing you off a cloud until it kicks in.”

She looks horrified at the idea and I continue to get her mind off of the idea. “It’s rather ironic how our situations are though. You always wanted to be a princess with all the power but now that you have it you can barely stand it. While I never wanted the responsibility yet had it forced onto me and I found that it isn’t as bad as I thought. Granted if I had to do things like Celestia I would have ran off long ago and never looked back. Now I think we should take that break that I mentioned before my daughters find you again.”

We managed to escape the manor without either of the two noticing, though Butch and Rose joined us soon after we stepped outside. The timberwolf allowed Sunset to hop up on her back to make things easier on her shorter legs while she looked at the diamond dog curiously. “Hey Flarenza, how come I’ve never seen any of your kingdoms guards? I know you have some from what I heard about the end of the war but I’ve never seen any here or at the castle in the Everfree.”

I look over at Butch who looks back in amusement which causes me to chuckle. “That just means that they are doing their job just like I had planned. It’s not that they aren’t there; you just haven’t been seeing them since they aren’t what you expected.” I smile at the confusion on the young princess’ face before continuing. “Something I’ve noticed from being around the Canterlot castle is that the guards always attract attention while just about everything else gets ignored. In fact almost every kingdom I’ve seen has been like that. So what happens when the guards are something that is constantly ignored by nobles and diplomats alike?”

Sunset still looks a bit confused as she looks between me and Butch before she does a double-take back to him again. “Wait, you mean to tell me that all the servants I see running around your home and castle are actually guards?” She pauses for a moment before her expressions turns thoughtful. “That’s actually an intelligent idea. Servants of any kind are always ignored around Canterlot and nobody would ever expect one to stop them if they caused trouble. At the same time your guards wouldn’t have to worry about protecting the servants since they are the servants.”

I raise an eyebrow at her; impressed that she figured all of that out with only a couple hints. It was no wonder that she was one of Celestia’s students so long ago. “You know you would really give Twilight a run for her bits in the intelligence department. There isn’t much that she can’t do, but she is a tad lacking in the imagination department. But you? You’ve been able to find answers with just the minimum amount of information to come up with an answer to difficult problems.”

Sunset starts blushing at the praise causing the three of us to laugh lightly at her. She is silent for the rest of the walk towards Sweet Apple Acres which gives me time to think about where else to visit. I glance over at Sunset who looked to be recovering from her embarrassment. “So who all have you met around Ponyville in the last couple years? I’d hope that Twilight has introduced you to some of them whenever you stayed with her.”

She is quiet for a while before she finally sighs and replies. “You sound a little like my mom in how she is pushing me to make some friends. It’s hard to do that with this body as I look too young for those I can relate to to want to be around me, but I’m too mature for any that are around my age, not that there are many. Surprise and Sonata are about the only ones that don’t mind being around me. Well, I guess Ms. Beauty from the apple family isn’t too bad either, and those twin musicians are decent to talk to even if they are a bit strange.”

While I’m a bit saddened that she doesn’t get around much I do chuckle at how she describes the last two. “Those two are probably the least strange out of the ones that you named. They did throw me off at first but I eventually figured out the secret behind those two, or rather one that is two.” Sunset leans her head to the side and raises an eyebrow at me. “They have a rare condition where they are so closely linked in mind that they might as well be a single being. While they each might have their own interests and likes they are so close that telling them apart is nearly impossible. They’re actually pretty lucky to have such a loving family as a lesser family could have destroyed them by tearing them apart.”

I pause for a moment to examine one of the apple trees we pass by as we enter the Sweet Apple Acres property. “I’m surprised that you didn’t say anything about Twilight’s student since she is around her all the time now. I also think I know someone else that might be able to relate to you a bit. She doesn’t get around town much either and really could use a few more friends she can trust herself.” I was about to say something else but was interrupted by the sound of galloping and I turned to see B.B. heading towards us.

“Princess Flarenza, I’m so glad to see you. I was about to send one of my workers to request help from you to deal with some timberwolf problems. For some reason a pack of them have been hanging around the property and scaring the cows and the help.” She seems to be really worried as her voice keeps fluctuating between her two accents. I look back towards Rose, who sets Sunset down, and have her run off to find out what is going on with the pack.

“I’m not sure why they’re out here but they shouldn’t be here to harm anything. Many were lost in the war but the ones that survived are completely loyal and have been told not to harm any citizens of Equestria. It’s probably nothing to worry about, but since they were mutated by chaos magic it wouldn’t hurt to make sure.” We make some small-talk while we wait for the alpha timberwolf to return, though I do what I can to keep Sunset drawn into it. We didn’t have to wait long for Rose to return and after being briefed on the situation I started laughing.

“Well that’s something that I was never expecting to happen. It seems that this pack has bonded with the land around this area which is part of why they are involved with the zap apple trees. Since Sionnach is no longer at war with Equestria they have also decided that whoever is in charge of the land is also in charge of them. The Apple family is now the first ponies to ever be in charge of a timberwolf pack.” She looks a bit horrified at the thought while I burst out laughing while Sunset face hoofs at my actions.

B.B. tries to get me to do something more about it but I see some benefits with this arrangement. After a bit of convincing she agrees to at least make a trial of the situation. After checking on a couple other things and getting a couple shipments planned out we bid her farewell and head towards are next destination. As we head out Sunset looks over at me from her perch atop Rose. “So what’s the real reason why you didn’t want to do anything about those timberwolves? I know you haven’t said everything, I’ve been around mom enough to know when something is being hidden.”

I shake my head once again and let out a small laugh. “Well part of it is that they are thinking being and I’d rather not order them to do something against their nature. Besides, the timberwolves have always been important for Sweet Apple Acres and now it’s official. Without them there wouldn’t be any zap apples for the Apple family to take care of. At least now they won’t have to worry about being attacked by them and will even have them come to their defense if something happens. Timberwolves were always meant to be defenders of the kingdom and their allies.”

This earns yet another head shake from the little princess though no further argument. I turn towards the main entrance of the Everfree and start leading her towards the cottage there. “As I was saying earlier though there is someone I wanted you to meet. It’s interesting how she lives where Fluttershy used to and performs the same job as well. She isn’t nearly as shy but she does have some problems being around others and could use some more friends.”

She says nothing but from the position of her ears I can tell she is at least a bit interested. “She has a good number of animals around the place so she isn’t exactly alone, but they aren’t quite the same as someone that can talk back to you. It doesn’t help that she actively avoids being around others but…” I stop when I hear something from ahead of us and look up to see Velour being chased by not only my daughters but Surprise as well.

The problem with this picture though is not that she is being chased by the three, it happened often enough before, but the fact that she doesn’t have her disguise. Sunset is staring in shock at her as Velour’s wings buzz around as she flees from the trio. “Of course there is a more obvious reason why she doesn’t hang around others but she really is a kind soul.”

Author's Notes:

Took a while to get my thoughts together but things are continuing a bit more now. Next few chapters will be a bit more about expanding things for the future with a bit of fun thrown in.

Princess and the Changeling

I watch the tableau before me with a bit of annoyance since it meant there was going to be yet another mess to clean up. Looking over the four running around I notice a lack of panic from the three doing the chasing so I was guessing that this form was known by Surprise which wasn’t that big of a surprise. What was a surprise was the look on Sunset’s face which was one of wonder instead of panic or fear. I was distracted by a yell from the others and when I turned back I saw Velour running into her home and slamming the door while Surprise and my daughters ran around to the back. “Well that didn’t go anywhere near like I had planned when I brought you here to meet her.”

I look over to Sunset again to find that she wasn’t listening to me and was instead staring at where the changeling last was. I was about to poke her when she finally looked over at me. “Am I going crazy or did I just see a flutter pony?” I was about to respond but the word she used to describe the changeling was not one that I had heard before.

“What exactly is a flutter pony? I’ve read a lot of the books that Twilight had in her library yet have never come across that term before.” Sunset looks up at me while looking a bit embarrassed for some reason.

“It was back when mom first adopted me she used to tell me stories about things that were lost over her long life. One of them was about another race of ponies that used to live in what are now the Badlands called flutter ponies. She always seemed sad when she talked about them and all she would say about what happened to them is that there was some kind of magical disaster.” I actually am a bit interested to hear more about this from Celestia as it sounds like a hint on the origin of changelings.

Since I don’t have any answers yet there isn’t much I can do about it but I can actually use this. “Well it’s as good as anything to call her and much better than certain other things. In fact it will separate her from the others of her kind that are nowhere near as friendly as well.” Sunset looks at me in confusion but I ignore it as I nod towards the cottage I start walking towards it.

The door into the cabin was locked but it was simple enough to unlock it with a bit of magic. Rose and Butch waited outside and inside we found Velour on the ground panting with my daughters bouncing on top of her. There was no sign of Surprise but I know that she’d appear when it was convenient again. Dawn and Dusk both looked up at our entrance and on seeing us started bounding over. “Mommy!”

As they get near I snatch them both up with my tails and start tickling at them to keep them occupied for now. With them occupied, though Sunset still kept a wary eye on them, I look back towards the owner of the home to see her struggling to get upright again as tries to find somewhere to hide. “Sorry about that Velour, I was bringing her over to meet you since you both could use a few others to talk to occasionally. I didn’t expect that we’d find you looking like, as Sunset here put it, a flutter pony.”

Sunset looks at me in confusion again while Velour stops and looks over in confusion with a bit of fear. I just roll my eyes at the two and lift my daughters up in my tails before moving over to one of the couches and flop onto it before setting the two down. “You do know that the sooner you get used to being around others the sooner Surprise can throw her party and stop bugging you about it. Besides, with her knowing about you and still not avoiding you it’s one of the biggest things going for you. She may be a bit odd but her instincts are rarely wrong even if they aren’t as strong as the original Pinkie Sense I remember.”

Velour just moves over to one of the chairs in the room and collapses onto it before sighing. “While it is nice that there are ponies that can accept me for what I am, she still isn’t one of the princesses. After everything that has happened I really don’t think that they would accept a changeling.” Her hooves leap to her mouth after she realizes what she just said as I bring a paw over my eyes.

Sunset looks as confused as ever as she looks between the two of us. “Why would a changeling decide to transform into something that has been gone for centuries? They survive by staying hidden and not standing out which that shape obviously does.” I have to admit that she has a point with all of that but it still doesn’t refute the truth.

“Well since the idea to try and pass her off as something else failed that just leaves telling you everything. She really is a changeling but is nothing like the ones you’ve been reading about. Just from what I’ve observed she is what a changeling is supposed to look like if they don’t steal love like the others do. Something with the act of stealing it somehow corrupts everything about them and causes them to look like the monstrous kinds that have attacked Equestria. In fact she’s only been feeding from the animals she takes care of with maybe a bit from my daughters when they are playing with her.” I gesture towards all the animals that are hiding around the corners of the room and the rafters as they watch on warily.

Sunset looks at the creatures that she only now noticed cautiously before she swallows and tries to look non-threatening. “If you’ve known about her then how come she was never mentioned to me before? I would think that at least Twilight would have said something during the history lessons especially since she lives nearby.” I look over at Velour with a bit of annoyance since this could have been so much easier if she had listened.

“Twilight doesn’t know about her specifically just yet since all I’ve told her is there was a friendly changeling in town. I’ve been urging Velour here to speak with her for the last couple years but she has always been refusing for the reasons she mentioned without meaning to. That’s even with the fact that Twilight would completely forget about her being a changeling just because she has the chance to talk to one so would learn about her instead of reacting poorly like most ponies would.” Sunset sits there for a moment looking thoughtful.

“I can actually see her doing just that though she would probably go a bit overboard about it. Still I don’t think many ponies would think she was a changeling with how she looks, she’s actually too pretty for one.” Velour’s face looked like it was overheating after Sunset’s comment who was slightly flushed after she realized what she said.

“Um, thanks, I guess. But I’m not sure if the opinion of a filly, even if you are a princess, would do much to sway the thoughts of the others. Some of the things my mother told me that would happen to me if the found me make it too great of a risk.” This wasn’t the first time she mentioned her parents but she has never said anything specific about them beyond her mother being the changeling and her father a pony.

I was about to say something about that when I was interrupted by the front door flying open revealing Surprise and a familiar pink pony. “See I told you I could lead you to right to her. Now let’s go and get those cakes from Sugarcube Corner so I can show you my neato party cannon.”

The pink one nodded and rushed over to grab Sunset before the two ran back out the door with the young princess in tow. “Wait, where are you taking me?! Flarenza, help!”

I look at Velour who seems to be in shock about what happened though I’m not much better considering the pony I saw should be dead. This left only one explanation of who it could be which brought its own problems with it. “You might want to change back to your other shape since things might get a bit strange soon. You really should talk with Twilight though since she would never hurt anyone that comes in peace no matter what they look like. Even Celestia can see reason since she eventually accepted me even though she hated my kind.”

I leave her with those words as I lift my daughters onto my back and head after the three. Once outside I noticed a pair of guards panting their way up as if they had ran all the way from Twilight’s castle, which they probably did. “Did you see… where that crazy pink pony went?” The guard who had the rank of sergeant was finally able to gasp this out as he caught his breath.

I consider what to say to these two though I know that there really is nothing that they can do. I highly doubted that they even had the training for this situation since it was discontinued years before I left so long ago. Still there is one that may know what to do about all this. “You two aren’t going to catch her like this, especially with Surprise being there as well. I don’t think any of the guards have been able to stop Surprise even, and she is even more unpredictable. Just go and tell Princess Twilight that you have a Code Pink, she’ll know what that means.”

The two guards look worried when I describe her as worse than Surprise but look confused about the message I gave them. “A Code Pink ma’am? But there is no alert level like that in the training manuals. Why would the Princess know what that means?”

I just roll my eyes at them as they have no idea how crazy things are about to get. “You should already know about the mirror portal by now since it was moved to a better location. That pink pony just happens to be the Pinkie Pie from that world, and yes that is the name of the old Bearer of Laughter and if you’ve read the stories you know what that means. Code Pink was meant to be sent out in case both Pinkie Pies happened to meet so was discontinued centuries ago. Nobody thought to reinstate it after the portal reopened but Pinkie Pie and Surprise teaming up isn’t much better.”

The sergeant still stared at me in confusion but the private with him just glanced at me in horror before she took off running to find Twilight. I was amazed at the time she was making and wondered if she would be all right once her second wind burned out. “Well I guess at least one of you has studied a bit of the history involving Twilight’s friends. This one even managed to shut down Canterlot for days on multiple occasions in the past so imagine what would happen here in Ponyville.”

That was enough to send him off running himself while I just shake my head as he leaves. I wasn’t sure what I should do now since I had planned to spend more time with Sunset but I knew things were about to get crazy for a while. Since my daughters were now asleep it wouldn’t be a good idea to have them around those two and I was sure that Sonata would want to be at whatever party those two had planned. I was sure that things would get even crazier once she joined up with them so Twilight would probably need some help keeping things in control.

With that plan in mind I made my way home to drop the two off in their beds while I searched out Sonata and went to aid Twilight in whatever way I could.

Author's Notes:

Well a short chapter will have to do for now. Having a few problems getting my mind together on what I want done so getting longer ones will be tough. It doesn't help that ideas for a different story are roaming around my head but for information on that one, well, that is a secret.

Double Pie Party

The party was in full swing in Twilight’s castle when I arrived after making sure my daughters were safe at home. Sonata had already arrived ahead of me and I noticed her running around with the two Pie family members. I noticed Twilight’s guards running around the place though it looked as if they were working at cross purposes, most likely from a combination of Twilight’s orders and from the party ponies. I made a quick stop by the refreshments table since I hadn’t had anything to eat for a while before I started my search for Twilight.

I found her in the mirror room pacing in front of it looking a bit frazzled. She was muttering something that I couldn’t hear while occasionally reaching out to tap on the mirror itself. Since her hoof wasn’t passing through it I could only assume that it was closed again for the next month meaning we were stuck with Pinkie for that time unless I wanted to risk forcing it open and causing damage. “I’m surprised that you are wasting time here while those two are running about right now. Your guards are severely outmatched right now and are in a state of chaos trying to do too much at once.”

Twilight turns to look at me while she continues to pace. “What do you mean by wasting time? I’m trying to figure out how to get this thing to open again so that Pinkie Pie isn’t stuck here for the next month. Can you believe she actually planned it so that the portal would close after she got here? She said she wanted to see what it was like to be a pony for a while.”

It had been a while since I’d seen Twilight panic like this but this was an area that she was best kept from. “Twilight is this really necessary? You know that trying to get Pinkie to do something she doesn’t want to is nearly impossible so I doubt you’ll be able to get her to agree with being sent back early. Besides, it was already enough of a hassle getting this thing fixed so that it didn’t cause crazy things to happen when it opens like it should.”

Twilight stops her pacing and drops to the ground in front of the mirror while looking into it. “I know you put a lot of work into correcting the problems it was having, but I just can’t help but worry that something will go wrong and Pinkie will be trapped here or thrown out of time. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to her and it doesn’t help that she looks like our Pinkie either. When she looked human it was easy to keep the two separated but with her looking like that now?”

I could see a bit of where she was coming from as it was rather jarring to see Pinkie Pie again without it being the one I knew. Her concerns about problems with the portal were a bit less probable though as it had been stable for this long after I had worked on it so it was unlikely something would happen this time. I also doubt Pinkie would come through if something was going wrong what with her supernatural senses. “While the portal messing up again is a possibility, it would take something messing with the two worlds to have a drastic effect again; such as trying to force it open to send something through. Besides, shouldn’t you be worrying more about the fact that she is sacrificing a month of her time to come and visit two friends she hasn’t seen in a long while yet only one of them are with her right now?”

While the reassurance about the portal does little to calm her down, my mention of her wanting to visit a friend but them not spending time with her actually gets through. “I guess I didn’t really think of it like that. I was so worried about what could go wrong that I didn’t take the time to think about why she even came. It really is nice to see her again though it would have been nice to have had a bit of warning so I could have prepared for it. The town definitely is not ready for her and Surprise working together; they’re barely ready for even one of them. We should probably go and make sure they aren’t causing too much trouble.”

It was a bit of a relief to have gotten her calmed down again but as we stepped out into the room with the party I noticed her eye starting to twitch as Pinkie flew by while riding atop one of the pegasus guards. “It’s fine Twilight, it’s just Pinkie being Pinkie, you’ve dealt with her before and this is nothing different. It isn’t like there are two of them now when my guards have enough trouble with one.”

I roll my eyes as Twilight starts breaking down again and begins looking even worse as Surprise rides by on an earth pony. I notice that Sonata is watching the two with interest while throwing occasional glances at the nearby guards who were starting to back away while Sunset was nearby with a wing planted over her face. In an attempt to stall things from getting too out of control I come up with a quick plan of action. “Twilight, you had better go and catch Pinkie while I round up Surprise before we meet back at Sunset Shimmer. Your guards stand no chance calming those two down and I’d rather not wait until they really get going.”

I could see Twilight wavering a bit so I decide to give her some real incentive to get this done. “I guess we could wait until after they get into the coffee before trying to stop them. I’m pretty sure I saw somebody carrying a pot of it around earlier though I may be wrong and it was something much stronger than that.”

Her eyes widened in fear at the possibility of either of the two getting ahold of coffee or something even stronger. I was actually a bit worried myself even if I was the one to cause the incident that gave us knowledge of what would happen. “Good idea, I’ll go and get Pinkie Pie while you deal with the other one before the town is destroyed by either of them.”

I smirk as Twilight rushes off after Pinkie Pie while I make my way towards Surprise casually. I mentally went through a list of ideas on how to get and keep her attention. With how she’s acting just asking for her may barely be enough to get her to come along but I doubt it will work with how wound up she seems. I’d rather not try to use brute force with my magic to get her to follow but I might be able to succeed with a bit of bait.

I look over what is on the refreshments table and decide on one of the chewiest items available and tie a string around it. I then remove the head of a spear that is unattended in the corner and wrap the other and of the string to create a simple fishing pole. I was about to dangle it in front of Surprise when I noticed that someone had brought out a chocolate fondue fountain and smile as I dip the chewy treat into it before going on with the plan.

Needless to say the plan worked rather well as I made my way back to Sunset Shimmer with Surprise hanging from the pole, chewing on the treat on it. I made sure that Sunset was doing well after her little abduction before waiting on Twilight to return with her quarry. They returned much sooner than I expected, but I raised an eyebrow at the amount of whipped cream covering Twilight but she interrupted me before I could say anything. “Don’t ask, just don’t.”

I hadn’t planned on it, though it had been a long while since I had seen Twilight caught up in that kind of incident. Of course I also avoided saying anything as both Pinkie and Surprised somehow managed to clean her of in seconds with their tongues to which she just shuddered. I had long given up on figuring how they did that so instead made sure to never be in that situation which Twilight seemed to have not gotten the hang of yet.

I didn’t participate much in the resulting conversation much, as I didn’t know this Pinkie that well, but I did throw in my two bits occasionally since I knew the others. It was mostly a time for them to catch up with each other since they hadn’t talked together for a long time. Twilight was reserved at first, but it didn’t take long for them to draw her out of her shell again. It was nice seeing her open up to others more and Surprise and Pinkie even managed to draw a few others in as well.

Sunset also looked a bit happier at seeing Pinkie again though she seemed embarrassed whenever the pink mare brought up her current stature. Her friends on the other side knew of her predicament but this was the first time any of them had seen it since she still had her more adult stature in their world. She didn’t appreciate me letting that slip to Fluttershy in some of our correspondence as she was the liaison for any kitsune on that side that wanted to return to Equestria.

It turned out that there actually were a few of my kind on that world that had been banished or lost there long ago when the portal from New Sionnach shut down. There was a small encampment of them in one of the countries across the sea which was where the original portal from there was located. As this world was rather populated the town they had set up was only inhabited by kitsune so they could blend in with the locals. They were devastated to hear that the Lord and Lady were lost, but the chance to return home was too good for many to pass up.

The logistics of getting them as well as their belongings was a major pain, especially when the portal was only open for a twenty-four hour period once a month. Twilight’s organizational skills helped smooth the process some, but there was still a lot of time required as there were over two hundred of them over there, some even with kits of their owns. Finding them was a real blessing as it meant there are likely to be more on other worlds and the few we had that were specialized in portal magic were tasked to try and find them.

I was pulled from my thoughts of the last couple years by a voice I wasn’t expecting to hear and was at the edge of my hearing so the others wouldn’t have noticed. “See? I told you I had it right this time Derpy, you should know how hard it is to remember if it’s three spins then two cranks or three cranks and two spins.” I look across the room to see a familiar pair of earth pony and pegasus that really shouldn’t be around still. My catching sight of them doesn’t go unnoticed as the brown stallion looks up and stops as his eyes meet mine.

He looks worried as my eyes don’t leave his and he looks prepared to bolt before I nod at him. I then lightly jerk my head towards Twilight before rolling my eyes which causes him to relax and nod back. Seeing as there is no reason to cause a ruckus over spotting him I turn away and focus back on the group I am with, letting him and Derpy go back to what they were doing unobserved.

I tried to focus on the conversation with the others again but I noticed a pony standing nearby trying not to be noticed though she looked as if she wanted to interrupt. I hadn’t expected to see Velour again so soon, especially at a party in Twilight’s home. Her attention was focused solely on Twilight so she didn’t notice that I was watching her yet, though I wasn’t the only one to see her as a certain pink pony popped up in front of her.

“You look familiar but I’m sure I’ve never met you before so who are you huh huh huh?” In usual Pinkie style she completely ignored any concept of personal space as she got right up in Velour’s face, scaring her a bit with her sudden appearance. Of course this also got the attention of everyone else which caused her to flinch back even more.

“Well hello there, did you want to speak with us about something?” Velour looked as if she was about to bolt when Twilight started speaking, but she caught me looking reassuringly at her and calmed a bit.

She took a deep breath to calm herself before she attempted to speak, though her nervousness was still evident. “P-p-princess? I-i-i was wondering if I could speak with you about something rather personal and important according to Flarenza. I don’t really want to mention it around the other ponies though.” Seeing the worry on her face Twilight nodded and directed her to a nearby room, though she was looking a bit confused by the request.

I was glad to finally see that she was taking my advice, probably due to another princess already finding out on accident, but her timing could have been a bit better. After having finally gotten her to get out of her research mode and talking with her friends, she was probably about to go right back into it again. An idea came to mind shortly before we heard Twilight’s yell of “WHAT!” sounded out of the room. “Why don’t you three go and show Pinkie where Spike is currently living? I’m sure she’d like to see him as he is now instead of as a dog. There are a few chariots around back you can use to get there quickly and I know Surprise has experience with them.”

Pinkie was already bouncing out of the room when I mentioned Spike and the others soon followed, though Sunset glared at me for a moment before heading out herself. With them occupied for a while I turned my attention back to the door the other two went through. Entering the room I found that it was a small study and Twilight was bouncing around the few bookshelves in there while Velour was trembling in the center of the room in her natural form. I caught a bit of what Twilight was saying and I sighed.

“This is just so incredible! I never thought that changelings could look so different from each other since only the queen ever looked different. I mean this could completely change how we view changelings in the future. We need to- Why did is suddenly get so dark in here?” She tries looking around in confusion after I placed a bucket over her head to interrupt her little tirade. After a moment she realizes what happened and removes the object before turning to glare at me.

I don’t say anything as I look over at the changeling and she follows my gaze to see the terrified figure in the center of the room. Her ears go flat as she realizes that she was terrifying Velour in her attempt to learn more about her. I wonder for a moment at what she expected to find in her books anyways when there was so little on the race anyways. I settle down by the changeling and drape a couple tails over her to try and calm her down some. “Well it’s not the worst that I’ve seen her acting but this is pretty much on par with what I told you to expect from her. Notice that she doesn’t even care much about what you are just what she can learn. Now if she can just focus on actually talking to you instead of ignoring you…”

I trail off and look over at the princess who is blushing at us at having lost control yet again. It was actually a bit refreshing to see her starting to get back to her old self again though it would be nice if her maturity kicked in a bit more often at the same time. “I guess I did go a little overboard when she told me what she was. I was worried a bit at first but I didn’t expect her to look like, well, that. If she didn’t say anything I would have never expected that she was a changeling in the first place.”

I look down at Velour, who was looking at the princess in shock, as I shake my head at how unfounded her fears were. “That is something I’ve been curious about myself, especially after learning about some tales that Celestia knows about flutterponies that supposedly look similar to her. You may want to go and ask her about that later but maybe you should actually calmly ask Velour here a few questions.” Twilight looks as if she wants to bolt off and interrogate Celestia about those stories but on seeing the changeling’s eyes start to widen again she composes herself and sits down on a nearby chair.

“Right, I guess that would be a good idea before anything else wouldn’t it. She’s obviously not like the others considering how she looks and with you vouching for her.” I interrupt her for a moment to add to that information.

“Surprise also knew about her for a while, she’s been at her home often enough with my daughters and you know how reliable that family is when it comes to judging others.” She looks a bit put off about being one of the last ones to learn about the new changeling but she just sighs and continues.

“Right, well with that in mind, the first thing I have to ask about are your parents. I can’t help but wonder who they are since you look so different from all the other changelings I’ve seen before.” I had been wondering this myself but it never felt right to push her about it. She looks a bit nervous as she glances between us before she sighs and looks at her hooves.

“They wouldn’t like it if I told you too much about them but I’ll tell you what I can I guess. My father was a pony while my mother was a changeling, though she looked much like the others you’ve seen before. Mom didn’t know why I look like I do, but she guessed that because I never stole love from others my body didn’t develop in the same way. In fact as I was growing up her own body was changing since Daddy was there by his own choice and really did love her. I’m not sure how much more she has changed since I had been living on my own for a few years now, though they didn’t live that far away so I should have visited more.” That last bit was muttered almost too quietly for me to hear but my superior hearing was barely able to catch it.

Twilight didn’t hear it though and she just continued on as if it wasn’t said. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to but would you mind telling us their names? It would be nice to know just on the off-chance that something happens but I wouldn’t mind learning how a match between a pony and changeling happened. I’m sure Cadence would also love to know as well not only because of her own experiences with changelings but her dealings with all things love related.”

Velour opened her mouth to say something but she paused as if something occurred to her at that moment. “Um, I was going to say that I probably shouldn’t tell you their names but I really don’t know what they are. I only ever had to call them Mom and Dad so I never really needed to know what they were. The only thing I ever heard them use were nicknames that they had for each other, my Dad’s being Butters and my Mom’s was Chrissy.”

It takes a moment for the name to register but one thing immediately jumps to mind and my eyes jump up to Twilight’s who looks back in shock. I think she also reached the same possible conclusion that I did as it immediately brings to mind an old acquaintance of ours.

Author's Notes:

I know nothing... Really having issues getting chapters out now. It's not that I don't know where I'm going with it, it's just that my motivation is a bit shot. I've been caught up in playing Bloodborne so my time keeps getting eaten up. Of course it doesn't help that my mind has another story idea running through it which I may start writing up at the same time as this one. I'd mention more about it but all I can say... is that That, is a secret.

Queenly Meeting

The revelation of just who Velour’s mother potentially is, was something that neither of expected. It brought up a lot of questions and there weren’t many who could answer them for us. I had many reports of beings living in the boundaries of the Everfree Forest that I had yet to look into and it was the perfect place for someone to hide if they didn’t want to be found. While I was looking into these sightings it left Twilight to head to Canterlot to talk with Celestia about both flutterponies and what happened to Chrysalis when she was imprisoned.

I sent out others to verify the furthest and to report to me directly about what was there for further review later while I focused more on the closer areas. Velour had mentioned that her parents were close so I focused on the areas that could be reached easily with no more than a day of travel on hoof. Considering that she wasn’t hiding as a pegasus she would most likely stay on the ground and not use her real form to travel.

There weren’t many places that close I found, assuming that she was even in the Everfree, but it still was the most likely place for her to be. In total there were only five places that were likely to be where she could be living but one of them jumped out at me as I recognized it. “I hadn’t heard anything around town about there being anyone living in Zecora’s old place. It could just be a coincidence but with how Ponyville attracts trouble all the time I’d be willing to bet she’s there.”

I lean back as I try to figure out how best to approach this situation without it turning into a major incident. “We can’t just send anyone to check her out as she could easily hide who she is from them. That means it has to be someone that can see through her disguise and is strong enough to survive being attacked. But there just has to be a way to keep her calm enough so that she won’t attack and will actually listen.”

I sigh as I look up from the information and watch my daughters wrestle around with each other. I smile as I watch them play around with each other before looking back down at the map of the Everfree before I stop and look up again. The idea is crazy and I shouldn’t even be considering it but it is the only thing that could possibly keep Chrysalis off-guard enough to make it possible to speak with her. As I gather my daughters up for a bit of a walk I chuckle at the fact that it’s probably the only thing we have in common as well.

<><><><><><><>

I was still debating with myself on the wisdom of this idea as I walked through the Everfree with my kits bouncing along at my side. I had a couple guards following along at a distance just to be safe but they weren’t to interfere unless called for. I was swiftly running out of time though as the building was coming into view.

It surprisingly hadn’t changed much beyond the masks and other personal effects of Zecora being swapped with animal homes. I sigh as I wave the two closer and approach the door slowly while keeping a subtle protection spell active on them. I then take one final moment trying to tamp down on my protective instincts before knocking on the door.

There is a lot of scrambling sounds from inside the building as whoever is inside stumbles their way to the door. Soon a shutter is opened revealing a cyan colored eye for a moment before it closes again and clattering could be heard behind the door. “One moment, please.” I raise an eyebrow at the soft-spoken male voice that filtered through the door.

When the door opens I am shocked by the figure that appears in front of me. There is no other was to describe him other than a completely male version of Fluttershy, right down to the cutie mark even. I had never heard of anything like this before and just the sight of it caused my mind to shut down for a moment. “You sure are a big one. Can I help you with something? My daughter usually handles this stuff now but I- Hey wait, where are you two going?”

I shake my head as my daughters rush by him into the interior of the house. Before I can say anything there is screaming from inside of the building followed by some crashing sounds. The source is soon revealed as a familiar black figure rushes out to hide behind the stallion in front of me without noticing my presence. “Butters! Where did those monsters come from?! Get them away from me, please!” I have to restrain myself from laughing as I watch Chrysalis hiding behind a pegasus from what are little more than babies after all the things I had seen her do.

I take a moment to examine her from behind while I’m unobserved. I almost thought she was unchanged since I had last seen her yet there were some subtle differences. Her mane and tail actually seemed to be less limp than they were before and it looked like her chitin shell was softer as well. Her wings were a tad less torn up as well and even the holes in her legs appeared to have shrunk. If what I suspect is correct then there might really be something to how stolen love damages the changelings. If that’s true then the changes to her really are a good sign.

As entertaining as it is to watch my little ones terrorize someone that I had problems with in the past I was here to solve problems, not cause them. “As much fun as this is, I’d like to speak with you if you have the time and are finished hiding from children. Besides, we have a lot to catch up on since we’ve seen each other Queen Chrysalis. Oh, and Velour says she is planning to visit again within the next week.”

At the sound of my voice the changeling queen froze up completely and even the stallion was a bit shocked. Her head slowly turned towards me and I watched her eyes widen in fear at the sight of me. She tried backing away from me but her movement was impeded by the presence of the stallion behind her. At the same time she completely forgot about the other two she was hiding from until they began climbing all over her again causing her to freeze up.

I look at the stallion version of Fluttershy as he looks at me suspiciously before I shake my head. “How about we all find somewhere to sit and talk before someone decides to do something drastic. Besides, I’m only here to talk and no mother would do anything to put their own children into danger.”

Chrysalis freezes up yet again at my words but moments later her head darts between looking at me and my daughters. She starts to relax a little bit but I can still see that she is still just a bit tense and she eventually sighs. “Fine, we’ll sit and talk before you once again go and ruin my life like you have always done. But if you dare hurt my darling Velour I will do everything in my power to destroy all that you hold dear.”

I just roll my eyes at her threat but I still nod to her while my kits continue to chew on her tail. The stallion sees this and relieves her of one of them and sets my daughter in front of him on his couch as he pets at her. Chrysalis joins him on the other end while I take my place across from them in a large comfy chair. “If you don’t mind my asking, who are you and how do you know my wife? I’m Butterscotch.”

I look him over one more time before I tell him the tale of how I first met Chrysalis and everything that happened all those years ago. Chrysalis blushes a few times when he looks over at her for confirmation of a few points but she doesn’t interrupt at all. She does start petting at my daughter as she stops chewing on her tail and curls up in front of her which does hint at a change in her as I come to finish. “If she came in peace I’m sure things could have turned out much differently and I know I actually would have helped.”

Chrysalis freezes after I say this and she shoots me a glare. “Help me? Help me!? Why would you have helped me when you were living under the protection of that traitor princess?! She’s the reason why we are even like this in the first place!” She is breathing rather heavily after her rant though she looks over at her husband and looks down.

I’m actually curious about what happened between her and Celestia in the past but that could wait a little. “I was never under her protection so much as being a thorn in her side. When she first saw me she was threatening me with the Elements of Harmony until I turned her mind around. Eventually I learned that much of her behavior was influenced by Discord and he caused her to nearly destroy my kind.”

I look out the window into the forest that I technically rule over before turning back to the two. “Now those that she tried to destroy have returned and stand as equals with her after saving her kingdom. You could easily do the same if you tried, especially with your own daughter proving that you don’t need to be a threat.”

Chrysalis looks even angrier than before as she starts off on a rant. “Why would Celestia ever accept us back again? She was the one that destroyed our home?! If it wasn’t for her overloading the sunstone that protected our home we would never have become like this in the first place. The Badlands would still be a paradise instead of the disaster that it is now and what we were wouldn’t have been forgotten!”

It sounded like there was a story behind all of her anger but only half of it was here and I hope Twilight was getting the other half. This was something I couldn’t handle alone but there was something I could do to at least salve the issue. “Even if she won’t do anything I can still guarantee that as long as you live peacefully in the Everfree Forest that you won’t be harmed. I can say the same for any changeling that does the same as long as they aren’t stealing love.”

They both look at me, Chrysalis with disbelief and Butterscotch with curiosity, before the stallion speaks up. “Just who are you that you can guarantee that? If Celestia just allows you to be around then what could you do to stop her if she tried to take her away?”

I’m actually surprised at how isolated they must be to be not know anything recent especially with how close they are to Ponyville. Seeing as I wasn’t wearing it now I levitate my headwear from my packs and set it on my head before answering. “Being the princess of Sionnach, which encompasses the entire Everfree Forest, it’s actually rather easy to guarantee it. You really have been out of touch since this has been widely known for the last few years now.”

Chrysalis just stares at me before she brings one of her hooves up to her face. “Great, so now I have to resort to being protected by a child playing make-believe. Why couldn’t you just want to take my life from me like every other creature that has chased after me?”

I realize now that my offer might be damaging to her pride which could be a very bad thing. However when I notice the stallion lean over to nuzzle her, which she tentatively returns, I get an idea of how to respond. “Your life already belongs to someone else so it wouldn’t be right to be asking for it. Besides your daughter wouldn’t be happy if I hurt you and I enjoy talking to her.”

I actually see Chrysalis blushing as she looks over at her husband before she sighs and looks at me. “Fine, if you really think that you can do something for me then I’ll accept whatever you have to offer. Just don’t expect me to thank you for forcing me to give up my last shred of dignity.” She turns away from me pouting, but she still continues to run a hoof over my daughters back.

I just roll my eyes at her attitude as I can see how fake it is. “As a mother you already know that all dignity is lost when you truly care for children. Only a monster would intentionally make one sad by denying them a bit of fun even if it would embarrass them.” The changeling queen doesn’t look at me by I can see her mouth twitching upwards a little as she looks down at my daughters who had fallen asleep.

There is a bit more talking but soon the fear and excitement catch up to Chrysalis and she falls asleep next to them and I collect my children to leave. The yellow pegasus stallion escorts me to the door and stops me right before I leave with a question. “So what now? Am I going to have to take her and run again now that she’s been discovered again?”

I shake my head and reassure him. “All you have to do is to keep doing what you are doing. I am granting you both a provisional citizenship which can become a full one if you two wish it later.” I was about to turn away when one more thing came to mind. “You really have done so much to live up to your family line. I can definitely see much of Fluttershy in what you’ve done and she would have been proud to know that her legacy of kindness still lives.”

I watch as a look of shock passes over his face before I turn to leave the home behind. I had to admit that I didn’t know what to expect here but things had turned out much better than I thought they would. It also explained much of why Velour was like she was with a father like that.

After dropping my daughters off at home I made my way towards Twilight’s castle to see how things went on her end. I found her in her bedroom staring at a picture with a disturbed look on her face and her mane a bit frazzled. Sitting across from her I wait for her to say something as she looks like she needs a friend right now.

“I can’t believe that she killed them all. It may have been an accident but she did nothing to help them after it happened. She let an entire tribe of ponies die out for no reason at all.” I move closer to the purple alicorn and set a tail over her back while I wait for her to explain.

“The flutterponies used to live in what is now the Badlands. One day the gem they used to protect their home was losing its power and they asked Celestia to help them try and fix it. Something happened though and she ended up putting too much power into it and it exploded, flooding their home with so much magic that it transformed it from a paradise to the wasteland it is now.” She sighs in sadness and I notice a tear fall from her eye.

“Without the protection of the gem the flutterponies eventually starved as something in its energy energized the food the collected. Celestia was injured by the explosion and was taken back to Equestria but she barely did anything to save those few flutterponies that they could find. Now there aren’t any left so Velour can’t be one, she’s just a changeling.” I chuckle a little, which draws a sharp look from her, as what she said just confirms things for me.

“You’re actually wrong about that Twilight. The changelings actually are the flutterponies, what’s left of them at least. Velour is probably the only one that has gotten what she really needed to keep her true form after all these years. The shapeshifting powers are most likely a side-effect of the explosion if flutterponies didn’t naturally have them.” Twilight looks at me in shock as I explain everything that I had learned on my end.

When I finish she is muttering to herself for a moment. “Butterscotch, why does that name sound so familiar?” She digs through some stacks of papers on her nearby desk before she exclaims in triumph. “Ah ha! I knew I heard that name before. He used to be part of the Royal Guard until he helped a high ranking prisoner escape. I never knew that the prisoner was Chrysalis though. This really is something that should be dealt with.”

I only shake my head at Twilight as I already had plans going forward on this. “The best thing to do would be to do nothing except watch. Even if Celestia didn’t plan this out, which I wouldn’t put past her, this situation is exactly what needs to happen. In fact it’s not much different from with Discord all those years ago but instead it’s a stallion version of Fluttershy doing the reforming.”

I shudder a bit at the thought of him. “It’s still scary how much he looks like Fluttershy and I think I caught him trying to use the Stare on me a time or two. What’s odd though is that I don’t think Chrysalis has any connection to the changelings that have been spotted the last few years. If they aren’t hers then that means there as some other power at play behind them and keeping Chrysalis safe and happy could help us find out more.”

Twilight stops for a moment thinking through the idea before she tentatively nods. “I still think that we should tell the others about this though since I don’t like hiding anything from them.”

I nod in agreement as something else comes to mind. “I agree, though I’m still keeping the location to myself for now. I think that Cadance might have a solution to an important problem that the changelings/flutterponies are facing which is the lack of food. If the flutterponies food was energized by the sunstone, and the changelings eat love, then wouldn’t food grown under the influence of the Crystal Heart be exactly what they need?”

Twilight’s eyes widen at the implication of what this could mean, and immediately starts writing out the letters to the other five princesses. As I look out the window I start to wonder how much this information could change Equestria, and if it would be a good or bad change.

Author's Notes:

And another chapter done. Going to be rather erratic updates now with a second story in progress now but my mind couldn't hold all the ideas back. Still I was a tad lazy this chapter but how often does a R63 version of a character show up as a descendent?

Beach Party

I sigh as I lean back in my chair, having finished off the last couple reports I had for the day. It took a while longer than I thought but everything was ready for the ‘diplomatic meeting’ I had set up with Twilight and a few others. If anything, I had to admire some of the tricks Celestia used to get some time off and I was willing to abuse them to get Twilight away from her job while her friend was around.

I look over the list of those invited once more to make sure that everyone I wanted to come had sent notice that they were available. Out of all of them Twilight was really the one that had the most problems freeing up time as she had the most responsibilities. I was about to leave when I heard the front door slam open in a way that I hadn’t heard in a few months. Looking back at the list I realized that I forgot one name because I didn’t expect her to be back any time soon.

“Ma’am? It appears that the lady Aurora has returned from her training. She is heading up to her room now.” I nod to my servant and smile to myself at the timing of the thestrals return. I was curious of how well she would deal with the otherworldly visitor especially with Surprise alongside her.

I took a moment to clean up the area so as to give the mare some time to settle in some before I padded my way upstairs towards her room. Coming on Aurora’s room I find that the door is wide open and the mare is laid out on her bed looking exhausted. I let out a whistle at seeing some of her bruises before commenting. “Wow, what are they making you do out there that is causing all this?”

The thestral looks back towards me for a moment before she flops her head back down onto her pillow. “Oh, hey there princess. I just messed up a bit during training with the Wonderbolts so they let me off to recover for a week. I thought that I was a good flyer before, but while I am faster than almost all of them they still easily fly rings around me. My wings can’t quite handle some of their maneuvers yet and I overdid it a bit and landed in a tree badly.”

I wince at that as I knew the feeling of tree related accidents as well as remembering some of the crashes I’d seen over the years. “Well your timing couldn’t be better then as there is a picnic planned for tomorrow. I may have used some political wording to drag a certain purple princess away from her job since she needed that break so don’t think I’m going to let you back out of it.”

She was about to say something else but I kept on speaking. “Don’t worry about image or anything either. I’ve got a few other ponies from town to join in as well, and that includes Surprise. I’m not sure if it’s possible for there to be a serious event with her around just yet.”

The thestral lets out a sigh before her head burrows deeper into her pillows. “Fine, I’ll go. At least if Surprise is there then there will be something worth eating then. Just don’t expect me to be doing anything during it, I’m supposed to be resting and watching your little terrors is not very restful.”

I chuckle as I leave the room to set up the final preparations for the trip tomorrow. It was nice to have someone around that didn’t care about my rank as it was annoying to have to deal with others bowing and scraping all the time. It helped that I did a lot around town that wasn’t expected of royalty so they had started treating me less like one and more of one of their own.

Still there were many that still treated me as untouchable but the ones that didn’t were the best ones to have around. I just hoped that they would open up more with Twilight as she needed more ponies to drag her out of her castle. Right now was the best time to get her tied up in the lives of others again and Pinkie Pie from the other dimension was the perfect excuse to get things moving.

<><><><><><><>

The day of the picnic soon arrived and everyone that I had invited were gathered in my basement as I charged up the portal to our destination. While I was doing this Twilight, along with Sunset, was looking over the portal archway while taking notes, while I made a note to myself to take all her writing implements away after we go through, and the others were talking. Aurora, Ebony, Ivory, BB, Triguna, and Velour were all watching warily as Surprise, Pinkie, and Sonata were chattering at each other at a relatively rapid pace. My daughters were also having a ball as they played with the younger brothers of BB and Surprise, and a cousin of the twins.

Soon enough I had the portal opened to the terminus in the harbor town where my kingdom’s ships had landed on our return. While there were plans to start up a few more towns around the Everfree Forest, the harbor and the area around the castle were the only places that were well established now. A section of the beach on the harbor had been set aside as a memorial park in remembrance for what we had lost and that was where I lead everyone for our little outing.

Everyone had brought a little something to the picnic though the Apples and Pies had brought the most as they worked in food related areas. This meant that there was a pretty wide variety of baked goods and apple related treats for everyone to pick through. I had brought a few things from my garden for them to sample, though the real surprise I had delivered from elsewhere and I was saving it for Velour to get the first taste of.

Finding a good spot on the beach we set everything out and settled down in a couple connected circles centered on Twilight. Pinkie was in front of her with me and Velour to her sides with Surprise and Sunset next to Pinkie while the rest were scattered around the sides. After eating I sat and watched my kits play with the three foals that came with us before I turned my head towards Twilight.

“So, are you glad that I dragged you away from your little palace for this ‘diplomatic meeting’ between neighboring kingdoms?” Twilight rolls her eyes at my wording for a friendly picnic, before she sighs and smiles a little.

“It’s not like I would have been able to get much done anyways with Pinkie Pie here for the month. She probably would have done the same thing if you didn’t beat her to it you know.” I chuckle at her deadpan tone on the last bit as I dig through the bags that I used to carry food in. I pull out a good sized container that had one of my cooling gems imbedded in it and set it in front of Velour.

“Well if two of your friends are thinking that you stay locked up inside too much then they might be right. Also I need to thank Cadance for getting these out to me so fast. There seems to be a rather high demand for these and I’ve been curious about what everyone thinks of them.” Pulling off the cover I reveal the glittering blue forms of crystal berries from the Crystal Empire. I passed one to each of the ponies there, though my attention was completely on Velour as she was the reason I had brought them.

I had tried a few myself long ago and I still remember the fizzy feeling that came with the berry taste. After talking with her mother and learning about the food from Flutter Valley and seeing the parallel to the Crystal Empire I was hoping that the fizz I remembered was similar to what they had there.

Her reaction when the juice of the berry touched her tongue was far outside of my prediction as her eyes widened and she dove for the box of berries. Most of the others gasped at her, but not for her reaction, but for the fact that a wave of flame rolled over her as her disguise fell away. Thankfully most of them only looked confused about her for as she hovered over the box as changelings had mostly faded from memory again with only the one sighting during the war when I scared them off.

I look over at Twilight who just looks back with a raised eyebrow before I sigh and start explaining to those that didn’t know about her. “Well that wasn’t quite what I expected to happen, but I think it answers the question of if those berries were like the food from her kind’s homeland.” Velour looked up at me with a hoof halfway to her mouth, after having already eaten half the box of berries, before she looked back at herself to see her missing disguise. After seeing this she shrunk away from the others and hid behind me, though she didn’t loosen her grip on the box of berries.

“Well for those of you that didn’t know before, this is Velour’s true form as the daughter of Chrysalis, ex-queen of the changelings.” Everyone except for the younglings, the princesses, and the two Pies drew back a little bit before I continued. “More interestingly she also happens to be closer to what the changelings used to be as one of the lost tribe known as the Flutterponies.”

This brought about some confused looks from everyone except the two princesses as they had heard the story before. This really highlighted the fact that the tales had fallen into obscurity and the only ones to remember them were the few alicorns and other long-lived creatures. “So how are those berries anyways Velour? You haven’t said anything yet, but you do seem to be going through them quickly.”

By this point the box was nearly empty and the young shapeshifter had slowed in her gorging as her body reacted to its fullness. Looking up at me before glancing down again at the box she blushes before she is able to squeak out a response. “Um, they are really, really good. I’ve never had anything like them and even the animals don’t fill me up like this.”

Twilight’s eyes widen at this as she realizes what this meant and she turned to look at me. “You mean that changelings can actually eat these without needing to feed on ponies? How did you figure out that they could eat these and what even gave you the idea that it would work?”

I glance over at the others who started to tentatively converse with Velour again causing me to smile before turning back to the purple princess. “It was actually pretty obvious once we heard the story of what happened to Flutter Valley. There was no mention of the flutterponies leaving the valley for long periods and it was only after the stone protecting the place being destroyed that they started turning into changelings. While the sunstone may not have been like the crystal heart, the fact that they feed on love means that the crystal heart may give off a kind of magic similar to it. Actually I’m surprised that the place isn’t flooded with changelings with all that love magic in the air that the heart puts out.”

Twilight’s jaw drops open at this logic before she brings a hoof up to rub at her head. “It is rather obvious now that you mention it, isn’t it? But this is incredible! If we can somehow recreate it then we might be able to finally have peace with the changelings. But how to create something like the sunstone again and who would we even bring it to once it is finished? I mean it’s not like-“

Her small rant is cut off as I land a crystal berry on the tip of her horn, impaling it there which causes her to look up at it in surprise. “Think about it later Twilight. Now is the time to spend with your friends and I know you’ll just tune everything out if I don’t stop you. I thought that you broke that habit centuries ago before I left on my trip.”

Twilight blushes at this last statement but is blocked by a pink form before she can respond. “Yeah! Come on Twilight, whatever happened to how fun you were when we were back in Canterlot High? And I came out here just to help cheer you up.”

I watch as Twilight looks directly at Pinkie Pie and her gaze softens as it meets the pink pony’s puppy dog eyes. “You’re right Pinkie. There will be plenty of time for that later. Now is the time to have some fun and maybe I can forget what has happened over the last few decades for a bit.”

With that Twilight rises to all fours and starts trotting towards the ocean before taking to the air a bit and diving into the waves. Most of the others soon sprang up to join in on the swimming with the exception of the younglings, who had fallen asleep, and Sonata. The former-siren looked as if she wanted to join in though and I had suspicions as to why and I was just waiting for the last guest to arrive to confirm them.

I smile as I notice a lavender mane speeding through the water towards the ponies swimming around. None of them notice it until the yellow form pops up in the center of them all revealing the horned form of Sea Star. She started chatting with them, and Twilight looked really excited to see a sea pony up close, but my attention was mostly on Sonata who had frozen up in shock at the sight of her.

As the form turned towards us and climbed out of the water, becoming a quadruped in the process, Sonata shrank down upon herself with a look of fear on her face. She looked like a filly that was caught being naughty and she stayed like that as Sea Star walked up to her and stopped. The two stared at each other for a few moments before the sea pony finally spoke up. “I see that one of my wayward daughters finally decided to return home after all these years.”

Sonata Dusk somehow managed to shrink even further in on herself before she managed to squeak out a reply. “H-h-hi, Mom.” Nothing else was said for a while as the cringing pony was grabbed up in the front hooves of the elder one, causing her eyes to widen in surprise.

Author's Notes:

Bleh, really suck when your sense of motivation gets divided so much that you lose the urge to write. I still have plenty of ideas flowing around for this and my other stories but certain things keep me away from it. Still in a week or so I should be done with Witcher 3 and my focus will be back where it should be.

Of course the question is will the next chapter I write be for this, Trickster Priest, or Seven Lights.