Prologue (Revised)

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Canterlot University was the premiere educational institute in Equestria; none were better than it. On the eastern side of campus lay two colleges: Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, a prestigious magical institute, and the School of Languages. On the third floor of the latter’s building, a professor by the name of Wax Poetic was lecturing on The Origins of the Gender of Glyphs in Traditional Unicornian.

Said lecture could be boiled down to one concept. Since the traditional language of the unicorns from before the Great Unification was written with the same glyphs as used to transcribe spells, traditionally feminine spell acquired feminine glyphs, and the equivalent for the masculine, dark, light, and neutral spells.

If you looked out the window of Wax Poetic’s lecture hall, you would see Professor Hex’s lecture hall in Celestia’s School. Coincidentally, he was lecturing on spin-theory, the very reason why Unicorn magic had genders in the first place. Simply put, the direction a unicorn’s magic spins in their core strongly influences the effect of the spell. Up-spin magic, the form 98% of the male population possessed, would be difficult to use to fuel a spell designed for down-spin, the form an equal percentage of mares possessed. And, although other “directions” of spin were known, they were so rare that there was little to no documentation on them.

Which is why the events that would happen in a few seconds and exactly one floor up from Professor Hex’s hall would have come to define his career as a spin-theorist, had he known what to look for and had followed through. Why?

Twilight Sparkle was performing her entrance examination.

“Well, Ms. Sparkle, we’re waiting…” the examiner stated, doing her best to look apathetic. Strictly speaking, Twilight Sparkle had already earned her place in this school on merit of her written tests alone, they were that good. But the examiner had to follow the rest of protocol regardless, and it was hard. The genius filly in front of her would be a pleasure to teach - she was sure of it – and the thought made her want to smile. Yet protocol for the impossible portion of the test dictated she act only with apathy in order to test the filly’s ability to handle failure.

As Twilight Sparkle jumped around the unfertilized dragon egg, trying in vain to hatch it, the examiner made notes. And, as Twilight humbly admitted defeat, the examiner noted a perfect 100% on her score card.

Light flashed outside the window, followed by a tremendous boom which shook the room. A floor below, Professor Hex was interrupted from a tangent on the effects of magic spin on uncontrolled magical release by the sonic rainboom, and then the crushing sensation he knew to be a unicorn nearby suffering from the very thing he was discussing.

He levitated his papers, and then stepped to the left/right. Or more accurately, he simultaneously stepped to both the left and the right due to the interaction of his own magic to the flux field generated by the unicorn filly above. Disoriented by the sudden sensation of existing in two otherwise mutually exclusive timelines, the two Hexes stumbled further in their respective directions and then cut their magical flow.

Senses suddenly restored to normal, the left Hex dismissed his class and headed to the left door of the lecture hall, now unaware that his doppelganger had done the same while moving towards the right exit.

As they say, the single flap of a butterfly’s wings can create future storms.

Twilight Sparkle was, in some ways, more and less lucky than the divergent Hexes. The fluctuations in the field caused by the middle aged professor’s movement imparted a unique spin on Twilight Sparkle’s rapidly depleting magical core, stabilizing some of the effects that her surge had on the local timeline, permanently affixing those effect to her. But, since Hex had moved in different directions, it had imparted two different spins, in-spin and out-spin, frequently associated with a form of dark and light magic respectively.

In the out-spin timeline, Twilight’s surging magic struck every pony in the room, hatched the dragon using a portion of her own essence as fuel to grow the dragon's half soul, transformed her parents into potted plants, healed the aches and pains of the judges, and grew the hatchling out of the building, which caught the eyes of Princess Celestia in the process. The cutie mark that appeared on her flank depicted a blue crystal tree with a starburst engraving upon it.

In the in-spin timeline, Sparkle - what she would eventually shorten her name to - struck every pony in the room with her surging magic, created a pseudo-dracolich out of the egg by fusing a portion of her own essence with the dragon's unfinished soul, stole the souls of her parents, rotted the flesh off the judges, and sent off a burst of semi-necromatic energy that had every unicorn and alicorn in Canterlot puking their guts out for the next hour. The cutie mark that appeared on her flank depicted a black crystal skull holding a starburst in its fanged jaw.

When the out-spinning Twilight was calmed down by Celestia, it calmed her counterpart as well. Seconds later, one went into shock at being accepted as Celestia’s personal student. The other went into a deeper shock, seeing the death she had wrought and hearing her parent’s screams echoing within her skull even as their bodies cooled. The in-spinner collapsed to the ground, only observed by the filly she could have been, and despaired.

Twilight, the budding healer and inventor, would look back at her silent doppelganger, seemingly invisible to her family, and wonder briefly before thoughts of celebration and ice cream pushed such musings aside.

Sparkle, the budding necromancer and mercenary, would be found by the staff of the school and taken to hospital, where she would spend three days in a trauma-induced coma. She would awaken curled up with the pseudo-dragon and her brother sleeping restlessly in a nearby chair. That would be the last truly peaceful day she had for a long while.

And as the two mares parted, the two timelines would peel apart and render each mare isolated from her doppelganger. The timelines would temporarily merge again when they eventually discovered their hidden connection in the days and weeks to come.

Déjà Vu

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Sparkle couldn't stand the concept of fate. She hated those ponies who spoke of it, as if it were this overarching, controlling force that decided what happened in life. She refused to believe in it, not when it meant that she was fated to kill her parents, or that she was fated to have – accidentally – caused her brother to lose that promotion, or... any of the misfortunes that befell her after that fateful day. Not when her sister...

Best for her not to think of such things.

The sound of a door opening snapped her attention away from her thoughts. Thorn – as he was too different from his counterpart to share a name – strode in. Unlike Spike, who was a distinct entity from Twilight, much like child and mother, Thorn was a parasite. Technically speaking, he was a necromantic construct, like a zombie, but he grew, aged, and while he'd never been truly alive in the first place, he had had full cognitive abilities. The drake depended on Sparkle's magic to live, and not without consequence.

Sparkle's magic was dark by default even without the emotions most unicorns needed to power it. Thorn, born of and raised on the corrupt energies, had the physical traits to go with it. Sharper claws, a larger, more angular frame, and glowing eyes with pupils that looked like moving black flames instead of slits. Even his mind varied from his double's, though the differences could easily be attributed to the significantly varied growth environment.

"Hey, Sparkle," his voice, raspy yet crisp, punctuated the otherwise quiet environment of Sparkle's apartment study, "we're going to be late for our date with Twilight and Spike if you don't get a move on."

Her eyes glanced up at the clock. "Gyah!" she shouted. Before the next tick of its second hand, the mare was on her hooves, shoving research notes aside, carefully packing up the pony bones she had been studying, and calling down the assorted specters that roamed her home all at once. "I can't believe I forgot the time!"

While bending down to pick up the assorted bits and bobs that had fallen in Sparkle's haste, Thorn commented, "Really, we'll be there in time; we always are. It's not like the garden district is that far away from us."

Sparkle agreed with a slight nod of the head, enough to cause a strand of her disheveled mane to dangle before her left eye. With a puff, she removed the offending strands from her sight. Grabbing a pair of saddlebags, one side stuffed with copious amounts of notes, and the other stuffed with equal amounts of blank paper, plus enough ink and quills to fill it all, Sparkle quickly exited and locked up the spartan apartment.

Without their parents, the income that had kept them in their home had evaporated. And the salary of a relatively low ranking, inexperienced guard, when compared to the expense of Canterlot living, saw them living in the industrial section, a cable car, assisted teleport, or half-hour hike below Canterlot proper. And without that income, getting into a decent school would have been hard enough. You know, of course, if her reputation wasn't still in the trash from that fiasco over ten years ago.

As bad as her situation may have seen, Sparkle's saving grace was, oddly enough, herself. Her other self, Twilight. The protégé of the Sun Princess had offered to let Sparkle copy her very detailed notes and tutor Sparkle, in exchange for Sparkle giving Twilight any of her discoveries and personal research notes.

That's how it was originally, at least.

Exiting from the teleportation station - solo ranged jumps still messed with her - Sparkle and Thorn headed to Doughnut Joe's. The moment her nose caught a whiff of sugary treats, her horn lit up...sort of. Rather, the aura her horn produced sucked the light away, leaving a bubbling, inky blackness. Time moved to the left.

In the same place, at a parallel, equal time, another mare lit her horn, which shone with a brilliant white light. Time moved to the right.

Within the resulting bubble of superimposed space-time, the two sisters embraced, horns still alight. To those outside the bubble, it appeared as if a single mare was embracing nothing, and to those inside, the non-native mare appeared as a distortion in the air in the shape of a pony. But to Twilight and Sparkle, as well as Spike and Thorn, they saw one another in the flesh.

Walking into the bakery, the two sat at their usual seats, flanked by their draconic companions. "It's so good to see you again," Twilight declared to her double, smiling brightly as she spoke. “It seems like only yesterday that we were here."

Less enthusiastically, Sparkle replied, "Not so much for me; this last week was hell."

"Oh?" Twilight leaned in, intrigued. Meanwhile, the two unicorns began pulling out their notes and paper, using their magic to transcribe them automatically while they talked. Such notes were mostly theory and discussions of the inner workings of their respective magics. Such notes were quite interesting, but of little practical value at this level simply because of their inability to use the other's magic type, unless they reverse engineered the spells. That had proved to be a practically impossible task for the mares.

"Well..." Sparkle started, but didn't finish.

Picking up where she was going, Thorn spoke, "The chop-shop murderer. We figured out who the bastard is."

"Language, Thorn," Sparkle chided, which earned her a mutter 'not sorry' in reply. "Anyway, yes."

"Who?" Spike asked. "Some kind of weird psycho doctor ninja pony? A deceptively sweet old mare? A super villain?"

"With a name like ambassador Redclaw, I don't think it could get any more obvious," Thorn replied.

"What?" Twilight responded. "Are you-"

She was cut off by the arrival of the yellow stallion that ran the shop, both versions of him. "Hello again, Twilight/Sparkle, Spike/Thorn." They said in a unison that would have been creepy had the two mares and drakes not been used to it already. "Communing with the light/darkness again, I see. The usual?"

All four nodded. As soon as Joe had trotted away with their order, Sparkle whispered, "Yes, I have irrefutable, but court inadmissible proof... I can't lay a finger on the rooster."

Getting the picture, Twilight nodded. "But I can. Where do I look?"

"Embassy sub-basement. The staff is either in on it, or paid not to notice. The usual excuse should get you in, or at least enough sway to launch an investigation. He doesn't have a victim now in my time, and since the dates are consistent, then there shouldn't be one right now for you either." Sparkle closed her eyes and massaged her temple. "For the love of Celestia, I need evidence to take this guy down the right way. Otherwise..."

"I know."

"Good."

"Unfortunately though, we might have bigger, more urgent problems," Twilight somberly stated. "What do you know about Nightmare Moon?"

"I don't see how an old mare's tale is more urgent than a serial killer, but I'll bite. Very little, why?" the dark mage asked her light counterpart.

"Because her prophesied return happens this Summer Sun Celebration. And the only weapon against her, aside from overwhelming force from Princess Celestia and the Royal Guard combined, is the collective power of the Elements of Harmony," explained Twilight. "Which, might I add, are missing."

"Shit."

Unable to resist, even in the serious mood, Thorn quipped, "Language, Sparkle."

"I'm not sorry." She dismissively waived her hoof. "Besides, even if we could find some lost super weapon, I'm not even sure I could use them." Sparkle gestured to herself. "I'm not the most harmonious of ponies."

"Do you know something?" Twilight inquired.

Sparkle racked her brain for a moment, while Joe chose that moment to deliver their doughnuts. Between bites of necessary sugar, Sparkle replied, "Err... They're in parts, and each need at least two users total. Um... Each needs a virtuous user who matches the element. I think one of them is comedy or humor, and another is generosity... That's about all I know. It's been a while since I saw the reference."

"Well if you need a second pair of claws-"

"-we're here to help," the drakes chorused.

"Thanks, you two," the mares chorused back.

"In all seriousness though, I'm going to ask the Princess about this as soon as we're done here. I'll have Spike flame you with my next move." Twilight scooped up the finished notes, set the bits she owed on the table, and stood. "I don't know what will happen next. We should do our best to be prepared."

Mirroring her counterpart's actions, Sparkle stood as well. "Be careful, sis."

"You too."

Sparkle's horn aura vanished, along with most of the evidence that Twilight and Spike had ever existed. The replicated notes, Sparkle's next lesson in advanced magical theory, was swiftly pocketed. "Come along, Thorn."

"So what's going on?" Thorn asked between attempts at reading the letter he'd belched up a moment prior – a letter that, despite its ephemeral, translucent appearance, was weighing heavily on Sparkle's mind. As his creator's frown deepened, his worry grew. "Sparks, seriously..."

"I don't get it. Instead of heeding her warnings, Twilight's Princess Celestia sent her to Ponyville, of all places. And to oversee decorations for the Celebration, of all things." The frown on her face distorted subtly as she thought. "What am I missing?"

It was Thorn who had the realization first. "Not Ponyville, the Everfree Forest. Remember the last day of our training trip?"

"Of course!" Sparkle shouted, drawing a few glances from the other ponies on the sidewalk. "The Castle of the Two Sisters! If the Elements were hidden rather than lost, that would be the place!"

Quickly, Sparkle drew out a piece of paper and jotted down two notes, then split the paper in half. "Thorn, this to Shiny and this to Twilight, ok?"

Taking the two letter in claw, he ignited one, then the other with his flame. "Right, now what?" Thorn asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer.

A letter appeared in front of Shining Armor's face. Unfolding it, he read the hasty and terse script.

B.B.B.F.F.,
Going to Ponyville. Really important - lives at stake. Will be back after next sunrise.
Love you!
L.S.B.F.F.

He crumpled the paper in his magic and tossed it in the trash. At least she was warning him this time before running off to do who knows what.

The other lavender unicorn received a similarly long letter, invisible to all others by virtue of being alien to this time. It stated the speculations of Sparkle and Thorn.

As the Royal chariot carrying Twilight flew her towards her destination, it also flew her to the beginning of her destiny. And despite her vocal opinion to the contrary, Sparkle was following her along the adjacent path, literally and metaphorically, to hers as well.

Seeing Double

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By a stroke of coincidence, or chrono-spatial bleed through if you were of the Twilight-Sparkle Collective, both iterations of the royal chariot touched down at the same moment, despite carrying different passengers. By the same force, both sets of passengers had the same instructions from their respective teachers. And by no coincidence whatsoever, the latter member of the TSC was exiting an express train in time to see the chariot touch down.

Sparkle had no interest in the blue mare that stood in her sister's place; instead, she and Thorn pulled up the hoods of their cloaks and trotted swiftly to the edge of the Everfree Forest. Or, they would have, if they hadn't been waylaid half way there by something.

Or rather, somepony. "SPARKLE! THORN!" a voice called out, too late to give adequate warning to avoid the incoming hyperactive, pink missile.

Impact.

From her position atop the downed Sparkle, the bubblegum pink mare said, "You left without saying goodbye!"

She racked her brain for her assaulter's name. Breaking eye contact, Sparkle asked, "...Pinkie Pie, right?"

The thusly names Pinkie Pie nodded. "Yeepperoni! That's me. I'm really glad you remember. I know we only met once, but I really want to be friends with you!"

"Friends wouldn't pin friends to the ground. Please let me up."

Pinkie blushed in embarrassment. "Whoops sorry about that. Here." She held out a hoof after hopping to the side to help Sparkle up. When the unicorn had risen to her feet, Pinkie asked, "So Sparky, Thorny, why are you in Ponyville now? Not that I'm implying that you shouldn't be here, but I'm curious."

Sparkle raised an eyebrow, while Thorn answered for her. "We're looking for some powerful artifacts to save the world from Nightmare Moon!" Sparkle nodded in agreement.

"Can I help?" the earth pony asked.

The unicorn shook her head. Still without resuming eye contact, she replied, "No. Not now, at least. Just do what you can to keep ponies calm and happy in case something goes wrong. Though hopefully nothing will. I'll let you know if there's more, if you're still willing to help."

Pinkie saluted. "Okie dokie lokie! Calm and happy, I can do. Oh!" In a motion too quick to follow, Pinkie pulled out a piece of paper from her mane and shoved it into Sparkle's hooves. "You two are invited to a surprise party for the new pony that arrived today. It's tonight at the library. Come if you can make it."

"We'll try, but no promises."

"Ok! I've got to go find the new pony anyway." With that, they parted ways. Sparkle and Thorn turned towards the forest, and Pinkie towards the town.

Twilight Sparkle, the unsplit filly, was very smart, as were the two mares she became. Often stressed by her mentor's tests, Twilight was a very practical mare who thought in terms of facts, theory, and data. She had lived a relatively sheltered life, until the Princess realized that her status as a natural white mage made her an excellent protector of harmony. Coupled with her "ability" to find trouble and be in the right place to fix it, she gained a reputation as sort of a minor hero.

Conversely, Sparkle was a very practical mare. She had to be. Sparkle was, courtesy of her talent and curiosity, drawn to the shadier side of Equestrian life. Most of the goings on there were downright ordinary compared to some of the horrors she'd witnessed. And though she could help her sister solve the problems Twilight encountered peacefully on the other side, Sparkle often had to take matters into her own hooves for her versions of the problem, and often not bloodlessly.

Thus, when the hour was late, the sun was setting over the dark Everfree, and predators were on the move – not all native to the forest – it was a manticore that, unfortunately for it, made the first wrong movement.

Sparkle reacted. The words, unnatural to pony kind, rolled far too easily off her tongue. It said much on Sparkle's life that she could command those words, when Twilight shuddered at the mere thought. And when she spoke, the gathering dark magic made the words, barely more than a whisper, reverberate the bones of all who heard them. "Thorn, kill."

"With pleasure." The drake, originally equal in height to Sparkle, began to stretch and grow, fueled by her magic. Bone grew faster than muscle, leaving the dragon, now half the size of the manticore before him, with a skeletal appearance, further accented by growing and sharpening spines, claws, and fangs. His eyes, disturbing to ponies before, ignited with horrific flame, casting an eerie green light across the forest floor.

The manticore was seriously rethinking its choice of "easy meal." By the time it realized its mistake (a very quick realization, mind you), the dragon before it had expanded to its size and was still growing. It didn't ponder why that was. In fact, it didn't ponder anything at all at that point. A life-draining, hoof-length claw to the brain tends to be rather distracting, you know.

Now, the standard belief among unicorn scholars is that naturally dark unicorns, those whose core inherently possesses the in-spin of dark magic, are "magically incorruptible," yet inherently evil. The truth of the matter was: it's complicated. While immune to the psychic side-effects of casting dark magic, such ponies – like all ponies – derive pleasure from casting talent magic. Add in the fact that dark magic is used almost exclusively for personal pleasure or the pain of others – and most ponies know that – the combined effects of classical conditioning and social pressure tended to succeed where the twisted magic failed.

Thus, to Sparkle's subconscious mind, riding on a dragon that fed her stolen life-force as a method of clearing a path through a dark forest seemed like a decent idea. The forest itself would complain if it could, but only after a trail of death stopped being carved into it.

The downside was that Sparkle singlehandedly killed several acres of forest, flora and fauna alike. The upside was that she and Thorn made great time, and got dinner in the process.

"SURPRISE!" The crowd gathered in the library cheered, stunning the newly entered unicorn in the process.

Beatrix Lulamoon, ever the showmare and the personnel protégé of Princess Celestia, composed herself before most ponies could blink. "Well, isn't this pleasant." She smiled, perhaps a bit wider than her mood would indicate, but was otherwise genuine.

"Isn't it?" Pinkie asked as she trotted up to Trixie. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, and I threw it just for you; this is your Welcome to Ponyville party!"

"Thank you. But, as much as Trixie would love to celebrate herself, Trixie must do research."

"Only an egghead would turn down a party for dusty old books," a new voice chimed in. The owner of said voice landed next to Trixie.

Trixie raised an eyebrow at the rainbow-maned mare, the one who had soaked her earlier that day. "Trixie is no egghead, and while she may be a bit of a showmare at times, Trixie is quite pragmatic when there is trouble brewing," she retorted.

A worried look crossed Pinkie Pie's face. To the ponies who knew her, especially Rainbow Dash, this was especially troubling. "Does this have anything to do with Nightmare Moon?"

Trixie's thoughts ground to a halt. "You know about Nightmare Moon?"

"Yep, my new friends said they were looking for some artifacts to help stop her or something. She told me to keep ponies happy and calm if something went wrong, another reason to throw this party," Pinkie answered.

"Nightmare Moon? I thought she was just a story to scare foals on Nightmare Night," Dash commented.

"She isn't," Trixie somberly replied. Looking Dash right in the eye, she summarized what she knew of the situation. When she was finished, Trixie turned to Pinkie and asked, "Those friends of yours, do you know where they are?"

"Nope." Pinkie shrugged. "Sparkle and Thorn left before I met you and went *gasssssp* and ran off."

For the second time in nearly as many minutes, Trixie's thoughts came to a screeching halt. "Sparkle and Thorn, as in the Sparkle and Thorn? Purple unicorn, Purple dragon with soulless eyes? Creepy looking? Uncomfortable vibe from their very presence? That Sparkle and Thorn?"

"Uh, yes?"

Trixie pulled off her signature pointed hat and rubbed a hoof through her mane. "Buck... Buck buck buckity buck. There's no time." And with that, Trixie galloped towards the bookshelves, carelessly shoving party going ponies aside as she did so, and began magically pulling down books in a frantic search for something only she knew.

"Err... You think she's alright?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I don't know. We should probably help her."

"Right."

Deep in the Everfree forest, a search of a different library was starting. Sparkle, dismounting from the shrinking Thorn, strode into the Castle of the Two Sisters. Her horn erupted with corrosive magic, and a dark black fog, which more resembled ink in water than smoke in air, spewed forth from every pore and every orifice of Sparkle's body. Almost as fast as it appeared, it condensed into dozens, then hundreds of vaguely pony-shaped figures.

Specters. They were the closest things to ghosts, poltergeists, and demons there was without actually being any of those things. They had abilities comparable to those things, but were limited to the caster's strength and animated by the caster's will. Specters had numerous uses for necromancers, including: spying, communication, possessing ponies weaker than the caster, animating corpses, animating inorganic matter, and serving as semi-intangible vessels for disembodied souls.

"You know what to do." Sparkle's words sent the specters racing through the halls, walls, floor, and ceiling, eager to follow their mistress's will. In a second, none of the specters remained before her. "Now, to find those Elements."

Thorn looked around for a second before pointing a claw at a structure in the middle of the room. "Could those be the Elements?" the drake inquired.

Sparkle turned, looked, and promptly face-hooved at the very obviously placed objects. "Yes. They're full of light magic, I can feel it from here." Her horn darkened and levitated the orbs down from their pedestal. She set the five objects down with a gentle click of stone touching stone. "Hmm... Weren't there more?"

"I can't remember," Thorn commented, shrugging his shoulders. "We still don't know if we can use them, or even how."

"You're right. Specters! Report."

Soft giggling voices echoed around them, without any visible sources. "We found books!"

"Many books!"

"Secret books!"

"Cursed books!"

"Book of Blood–"

"–and book of Bones!"

"Four and five! Four and five!"

Sparkle blinked. "Volumes four and five of Dread Necroptica? Blood and Bones? They're here?!"

"Yes! And more!" the specters cooed. "Come and see! Come and see!"

Known to dark magicians around the world, the Dread Necroptica was considered the single most comprehensive and dangerous dark spell book series in existence. Rumor had it that an information demon - a being literally made of thought and information - existed within and between the pages of the seven volumes, and was fed by the knowledge gained from its chosen hosts. Further, the rumors said that the books called out to its chosen host, leading him or her to it over the course of their lives.

Sparkle possessed the first three volumes: Soul, Mind, and Flesh. With the addition of Blood and Bones, she would have nearly the entire set, even if she was as of yet unable or unwilling to perform the spells within.

Thorn too possessed an interest in the series. Being unable to perform most of the magic, but far more willing to than his equine mother, he excitedly charged after Sparkle and her specters towards the books.

The mare's silhouette on the moon vanished. The sun failed to rise.

“The Everfree Forest? You're not actually going in there, are you, Darling?" Rarity inquired of Trixie.

Applejack said, "That place ain't natural. Plants grow–"

"–animals care for themselves–" Fluttershy added.

"–and the clouds move–" said Dash.

"–all on their own!" the three chorused as one.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie is not scared of some forest," she replied, though even she wasn't convinced of her words, "and she definitely doesn't need your help."

"Ah think ah speak for all of us when ah say that ya got our help whether ya want it or not." AJ smiled sincerely at the blue unicorn.

"AJ's right. We'd never leave a friend hanging," said Rainbow Dash.

"Mmmhmm," the others agreed.

Together, the sextet set out into the dark woods.

“Trixie wishes she could have done that before," the unicorn commented, the last traces of laughter fading from her lips. "It would have made lessons with Sparkle so much easier. That, by comparison, was nothing."

"Hey, you kinda freaked out when you heard her name earlier. What's up with that?" wondered Dash.

"She is a convicted dark mage," Trixie replied. The declaration elicited confusion from four of them and a shriek from the last.

"That's barbaric! How could someone like her be allowed free?" Rarity cried.

"Mind filln’ us earth ponies in, Rares?"

"Dark magic twists the user's mind. It doesn't matter if you use it for good, use it enough and you will go bad. Very bad. Any willing use of black magic by a unicorn on another living thing is a felony." Rarity shuddered in disgust. "Why, then, is she free?"

"She isn't," Trixie answered. "Well, not completely. She's a natural born, meaning her magic is dark, period. Sparkle can't change her very nature, and so gets a pass. It helps that she's mostly incorruptible because she's a natural. But, one of the conditions she has to follow if she wants to stay out of prison is that one week every three months, she has to help train the Royal Guard – or Princess Celestia's students, like Trixie – in Defense Against the Dark Arts, for minimum wage."

"And how did that go?" Rarity asked.

"Painfully," Trixie stated, made nervous by the memories. "There's bad blood between us."

"That doesn't-"

"AHHHH!"

The shrill scream of Fluttershy, who had been silently walking at the back corner of the group, made everypony jump. Spinning around, the members of the group turned, ready for a fight, only to see her hurrying towards a large lump on the ground. It only took a second for them to realize that it was the corpse of a manticore, and a second more for their noses to catch the stench of rot.

The cause of death was obvious, if mysterious in nature. "What kind ah beastie kills and leaves the body tah rot?" Applejack asked, only partially rhetorically.

"It's worse," Fluttershy whispered, tears of sorrow streaking down her face. "Its blood is still fresh. What could kind of monster could rot a fresh corpse in hours?"

Unlike the rest of the group, Beatrix Lulamoon was not looking at the body of the fallen manticore, but the now visible trail of rot leading away. "Thorn did this."

"Thorn? But he's a tiny little guy. And a baby dragon. Roar, fire, blargh! That kind of thing," Pinkie said, doing her best imitation of baby dragon noises.

"He's also dead, and, from the looks of things," Trixie pointed to the rotten path, "hungry for life."

Applejack took one look at the rotten trees and underbrush and then promptly fainted. When she awoke, the voice of Dash sounded from below her. "Welcome back, sleepy head."

Dismounting from Dash's back, she was about to speak when her hooves touched the ground. She hollered instead. "What the hay! The ground's dead!"
"I knowwww..." Pinkie wailed in agreement. "It feels soooo wroooong!"

"Come on then," Trixie implored. "The faster we get to the castle, the sooner we can get out of here."

The study habits of Twilight Sparkle had only grown better after she'd been split into two ponies. And, like her light counterpart, Sparkle often found herself oblivious to the rest of the world. Thus, the whoosh of suddenly displaced air and the subsequent staccato of metal-encased hooves on stone failed to arouse her.

The spoken words that did break her concentration were, "That book, 'tis mine own creation."

Sparkle jumped and spun round, magic charging at the base of her horn so as to be ready without appearing as such, only to come face to face with the sinister visage of Nightmare Moon.

"Please, I had no intention of startling thee," the dark mare placated, contrary to all of Sparkle's expectations.

"Oh, umm, 's ok..." Sparkle mumbled, her brain still two steps behind reality. "Sooo... Your book?"

"Indeed. I would often write in my nightly solitude, before I rebelled against my sister."

"Nightmare Moon," Sparkle realized, "you're the lost princess?" The unicorn took a step back and lowered her head respectfully. Silently though, she utilized the magical connection she had with her creations – less telepathy and more like empathy – to still and quiet them, so as to not give them away.

Oblivious to Sparkle subtle machinations, Nightmare Moon replied, "Indeed again. Tell me, what fate has befallen my palace, and why art thou here when the signs of disuse span so long a time?"

Sparkle thought, and then answered, "Self-preservation."

"I'm sorry?"

"Self-preservation," Sparkle reiterated, "to both, I mean. The Everfree was declared too inhospitable to pony habitation and I'm here looking to improve my magic, to extend and improve my career." The 'which depends on my being alive' went wisely unspoken.

The alicorn raised an eyebrow. "I fail to see how a treatise on dark magic would extend a career."

"Know your enemy, know yourself," Sparkle replied, although the utterance barely qualified as a whisper upon escaping her lips. Her eyes, which had yet to look directly upon the Nightmare's own, darted to the side, catching a glimpse of the pillars behind which Thorn hid.

"Child," Nightmare Moon's prehensile mane scooped up Sparkle's chin, lifting it up until as the alicorn bent down, until Sparkle had no choice but to look the dark mare in the eye. "Are thou... afraid of me? Tch, thine eyes tell no lies; thou fear me. Why? Does the Night truly terrify you so much?"

"...yes," Sparkle eventually answered, deciding honesty was the best move. "You have an imposing figure, and your reputation does you no favors, but I don't fear the night."

"Then why?"

"I fear the cold. The sun is warm, the moon is cold, and an eternity of either would kill us all."

"Tch," Nightmare Moon went again. "The moon is not nearly as cold as you seem to think." She sighed, disappointed. "The first real conversation in a thousand years is this..."

Before more words could be spoken, the sounds of faint, disembodied laughing echoed through the room, barely on the edge of perception. Sparkle closed her book and stood from where she had been seated. At nearly the same time, perhaps a second later, the mistress of the night looked towards the front of the castle. "We are not as alone as we had thought."

Reiteration

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A few minutes before, and roughly two hundred meters southeast, Sir Quick was patrolling the wall of the castle. Sir Quick had also been dead for nearly nine hundred years, and he knew it. He knew what he was as well, a mischievous specter that had found his corpse, settled in, harmonized with the magic embedded within his skull, recreated his mind, and animated his remains. He also knew there was a threat to his home and its ponies, and most importantly, to his mistress. A mistress that wanted secrecy and subtly when facing this particular enemy.

He looked down. A rainbow maned mare was flying across the gorge, carrying the rope of the bridge. Unseen by her in the fog, three mares were forming from an unfamiliar magic. Though if he were to hazard a guess, they were the enemy. The enemy was singular, the allies were all living ponies. The distinction was clear, and so was the course of action.

Th-th-thunk.

Three sounds were almost one, they were so close together. Three half-formed bodies collapsed, slowly bleeding the stardust they had been born from. The noise, quiet as it was, resounded quite loudly in the otherwise noise-muffling mist, unintentionally succeeding in drawing the living mare's attention.

She gasped at what she saw, and the assassin-turned-knight-turned-undead-skeleton had to stifle a groan of annoyance. Three knives, sticking out of the skulls of three almost-ponies, formerly on Sir Quick's belt, glinted in the moonlight. The sight was enough to drive the only pony with a heartbeat into a frenzy of action.

Sir Quick the Skeletal made a hasty, silent retreat. The ally was alive and unharmed, but he might not be able to say the same for the secrecy of his mistress's forces. His next decision, better than the first, was to go rally the rest of the dead. Just in case.

The space where his gut should have been ached with guilt. He prayed to the Sun Princess that the real Sir Quick would forgive him for the use of his bones.

"I'm telling you, they just came out of nowhere!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, waving her hooves for dramatic effect. "Thump and three dead pegasi lying there. And then they turned into that stuff Nightmare Moon's mane is made from."

"Are you sure?" Rarity asked, more for her own sake than of any questioning of Rainbow Dash's story.

Dash didn't take it that way. "Of course I know what I saw! I'm not crazy!"

"We believe you, Darling. I just... Never mind. It's not important." Rarity composed herself, and looking towards the rest of the group, said, "I believe it might be a bit more dangerous than I anticipated."

"Go home if you're scared, Rarity," Rainbow Dash said condescendingly. "I'm seeing this through to the end."

"Admirable," the white unicorn replied. "Foolish, but admirable. Very well, I shall continue on with you. Everypony else?"

Though everypony decided to continue, it was quickly decided that some magical protection was desirable. Trixie offered to cast a protective spell, with Rarity quickly offering some of her magic to give it that extra, reassuring oomph.

Spells cast, the group hurriedly crossed the bridge and the grassy distance between the gorge and the castle. They reached the interior of the structure mercifully without incident, and let out a collective sigh of relief.

Applejack spoke first, breaking the uneasy silence. "Ah wouldn't drop mah guard just yet. We don' know what's still... ahead..."

The sound of rolling stone gave her pause. From a side alcove, a flicker of purple and gray vanished out of sight, and five round orbs of stone rolled into view. Trixie was the first to recognize them for what they were, "The Elements!"

They were hardly airborne in Trixie's magic before a swirl of nebulous mist condensed into the frightening figure of the alicorn of eternal night, a phrase that takes much longer to say than to actually occur.

Not having a better plan, and desperately needing to buy some time, Trixie charged at Nightmare, who charged back. Just as they were about to collide, Trixie and the floating elements vanished in a pale pink flash of light, only to reappear on the opposite side of her opponent and keep running.

Turning round, the two combatants made brief eye contact, broken when Nightmare charged again, instinctively intent on spearing Trixie with her lance-like horn. Trixie, remembering the line in the book about the spark, charged an electric spell. Nightmare, seeing the building lightning, changed tactics mid stride and disintegrated into mist, scooped up the baby blue mare and spirited her away.

Sparkle, formerly watching from the shadows alongside Thorn, was on the move. Her double, at this very moment, was moving in tandem with Trixie to the room in the tower top. Sparkle and Thorn sank into their shadows and raced up the wall of the tower, materializing behind a fallen statue, hidden from sight.

Words were exchanged between the two combatants, though Sparkle ignored them in favor of figuring her options. The dead drew close, on the heels of the five approaching living ponies. As much as she hated desecrating the dead, they were already up and moving, much to her annoyance, and as such served as a viable distraction for their escape should it be necessary.

If worst came to worst, Sparkle could always learn if she could kill an alicorn... or seriously maim. Opponents wishing they were dead worked well in her line of work.

As the living climbed the stairs, Sparkle felt a thump in her core. It was a sensation she had never before personally experienced, but her double had. They were tied at the soul, the source of magic, and what happened to one had equal but not necessarily identical effects on the other.

Something intrinsic was changing in Twilight's soul, and it was bringing Sparkle along for the ride. The effect drew the two timelines closer together without them intentionally creating a magical charge gradient. The sensation felt positive, invigorating, subtly reinforcing her essence and Thorn's by extension. She let it happen. No, she charged her horn, drew the timelines together and helped it along. She fed back into it, boosting the original which boosted her further.

Like two batteries with a variable resistor between them, the stronger Sparkle's influx grew, the closer the timelines grew and the less resistance the magic found, exacerbating the cycle. It grew so strong, she couldn't tell that time had overlapped to the point that the synergetic effects were augmenting the Elements, or that the trans-temporal visual fidelity had increased to the point that both times were clearly visible to all the occupants of the room.

Nobody thought any of that. The only one with a coherent thought was Thorn, who simply thought, 'Double rainbow, all the way!'

It was spectacular.

When the dust settled, the occupants of the room were shocked to find two of themselves, except for Trixie. She was shocked to see someone she thought to be Sparkle standing next to her.

"Hey Twi, can ya explain what in tarnation is goin' on here?" one of the Applejacks asked.

Twilight, taking stock of the situation, called out, "Sparkle! I know you're in here. Show your flank and help me explain things."

"Hold your monkeys, I'm coming," an identical voice called from the back of the room. The lavender mare that emerged was cloaked in gray, visibly more emaciated than her counterpart, and sporting a dark purple mist emerging from the corners of her eyes, a stark contrast to the golden, glowing flecks dotting Twilight's eyes. "Hi. For those that don't know, I'm Sparkle, that's Twilight," she pointed a hoof at her sister, "and after accidentally breaking time when we were eight, we split into two ponies with two very different special talents and lives."

"Right," Twilight agreed. "We're standing-”

She was interrupted by the sudden arrival of the sun and its stewards. Plural. And both of them calling out their students' names at the same time. They materialized right next to one another, and then jumped, neither expecting their doppelganger. "What?" was asked in unison. "How?"

"Time bubble," Twilight/Sparkle chorused. "Two times at once; different histories, same ponies."

"That's creepy," said the Dashes.

"I know what you mean," said the Applejacks.

"Rarity, your tail. My tail! Ohh!"

Trixie looked perplexed. "How come Trixie doesn't have a double?"

Sparkle answered without Twilight by some unspoken signal. "You do, but she's not in this room. Or she's dead; can't be sure of that. You took my place as Princess Celestia's student; that's why you're here now. I simply followed Twilight."

"About that," spoke one of the Celestias, who had gone to comfort their Lunas and were now walking back, flanked on either side by the much diminished princesses. "Sparkle, you and Thorn left Canterlot without my express permission. The grace period has ended, and you will report back to Canterlot immediately or face charges of parole violation. And do return the dead to their graves, or that will be more charges."

"Hey! I object to that! I notified a ranked guard with a written notification of my emergency departure, and all bodies here are of greater than five hundred years of age and resurrected via psychic reconstitution, which I am licensed to do! Furthermore, the Everfree Forest is zoned 'unfit for equine habitation.' All free or licensed magic is can be legally performed here so long as nopony is injured - article twelve, section three, subsection one, 'on the use of controlled magics.'" Sparkle smirked, though inside she was really hoping that Celestia would buy her bluff. "I'm clear and you know it."

One Celestia closed her eyes, the other recognizing the expression as resigned acceptance. The latter was horrified though, realizing that she had been, in a way, outdone by a necromancer. More so about the necromancer part than anything else. If she wanted to, Celestia knew she could get any charges to stick, though she figured the Celestia with the dark Twilight... Sparkle, wasn't going to do so.

Meanwhile, a soft, dual whisper - "I'm so confused..." - came from the Fluttershys.

"How did this happen?" Twilight asked.

"Resonance. I'll explain later." One dark burst later, and the doubles were gone, moved a second to the left. "Thorn, grab my saddle bags from the library," and as many books as you can fit. "I'll meet you out front after I re-kill the zombies. Kill anyone who tries to take those bags from you, or take a hostage if it's one of the princesses. I'll be back in a minute." She vanished into the floor.

The skinny dragon blinked. "What?" he asked, as if what just happened was perfectly normal. "You heard her..." He then proceeded to jump out the window and scale the tower wall. It was so sudden and so quick that most had no time to even process his departure.

"She seemed so nice before..." Luna muttered. It went unheard.

"I know we're not the best of friends, but your optimism was appreciated, Pinkie," Sparkle said. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." She smiled, pulling Sparkle into an unexpected hug as she did so. Pinkie, unlike the rest of her friends, was the only one within a half dozen pony lengths of Sparkle on the train platform and the only pony not awkwardly staring at her.

"I guess this is goodbye then." Sparkle smiled faintly and looked Pinkie in the eye, her own hidden behind a mind-bending illusion to make them seem normal. "I probably won't be allowed back here for quite some time, what with the Princess's personal student here and all. Write me?"

"Sure thing, Sparky!"

"I'll look forwards to it. Thorn." She looked over to her son of sorts. His eyes were affixed on the white unicorn before him, and the pupils of his eyes, which normally looked like black flames, had taken on the shape of flaming hearts. Rarity on the other hoof looked quite uncomfortable under his lusty gaze. "Thorn!" Sparkle called out.

"She's beautiful..."

Magic enveloped his tail and dragged him backwards, but failed to break his concentration. "Come on, Thorn, we're going to miss the train if you keep staring. I'm sure Ms. Rarity doesn't like being eyed like a piece of meat."

That caught his attention. "What? No. I wasn't... She... I... What?" The door shut before him, and only then did he realize that he was now on the train. A train that lurched forward not a second later. He quickly stepped forward and stuck his head out the window. "Rarity! Goodbye, Rarity! I'll write you!"

"He has a crush on me. Oh sweet Celestia, he has a crush on me. I feel so filthy." Rarity's eye twitched.

"I think it's kind of sweet," Fluttershy commented, drawing an incredulous stare from the unicorn.

"Fluttershy, he's a killer, a monster. Look what he did to that manticore."

Rainbow Dash, who had silently sided with the butter yellow pegasus, said, "My friend Gilda has killed. Everygriffin has to kill a wild animal when they grow up, and I know ponies and griffins can fall in love. Where do you think hippogriffs come from?"

"I... but... Hmph. This is completely different." With that, she stomped off in a huff.

"...When did Rarity become such a prude?"

“Lay off her, RD,” Applejack said. “Ah wouldn’t want that thing chasin’ mah tail either.”

Waiting for them at the Lower Canterlot Station was none other than Shining Armor... along with a half dozen other unicorn guards. "Twilight Sparkle, you are an idiot," he informed her.

"It's just Sparkle," she mumbled as she and Thorn walked over to him.

"I will call you whatever I bucking please when you piss me off this much. Seriously Sparkle, you could have gotten jail time for this; you know you're not allowed to leave Canterlot. And worse, you could have been hurt! Please, L.S.B.F.F., don't make me worry like that." As he finished, he sprang forwards and hugged her. "Thanks for keeping her safe, Thornecrovitar."

The young pseudo-undead puffed out his chest in pride. "I am proud to do my duty, Uncle Shiny."

Shining Armor smirked. "Now, young lady, the Princess expects you in day court A.S.A.P. for debriefing."

"Buck."

"Sparkle, language."

"Buck you, Thorn."

Devil of a Time

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Most ponies wanted to see inside Canterlot Castle, to see its majestic beauty. Of those who had been inside, most ponies would say that it lived up to its reputation, and then some. Most ponies also saw it as the symbol of the Equestrian way, the palace of the harmonious and virtuous.

Sparkle saw the same things as everypony else, but it wasn't the same feeling. It was her warden’s house, and that sucked all the fun and beauty out of it. The castle was gaudy, excessive, and wasteful in her eyes, as were those who lived and worked in it.

Except the guards; they could be quite fun. She knew exactly which buttons to push to make them... entertain her. At her command, magic welled up from her core and flooded her skin. In unicorns, this was the equivalent of the pegasus mating dance or the earth pony tail wag; it was a way of advertising the potency of their inner magics. Generally, it attracted those with with the inverse core spin - up-to-down, male-to-female - and killed the libido of the same. But if a pony had in-spin like Sparkle, their magic pulled on others’ magic fields, which translated to ‘let me eat you’ instead of ‘let me rut you silly.’

Sparkle giggled when she saw one of the two guards she was observing step back and tense up. The other just looked confused. She made a mental note of what the latter’s soul looked like to her eyes. To the former, she said, “Looks like somepony remembers me.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the guard, the one on the left, replied.

Sparkle stood from the bench where those waiting for the Princess’s court could sit. She trotted over. “Tell me,” she leaned in close enough to feel the breath of the more nervous guard on her cheek, “what was the first lesson I taught you?”

He stepped back. She stepped forwards. He took two steps back. She stepped forward once more. He stepped back and drew his spear, aiming it at her throat. “Don’t touch me.”

Sparkle stepped back. “Close enough.” She spun around and trotted back to her seat. “You guards are so fun to mess with after I’ve gotten a chance to play with you.” She spun around again, looking at the guards in front of the royal courtroom door. “I don’t have friends. A brother, a sister, and a son, yes, but not friends. I never get the chance, you see. Ponies don’t like me; I’m sure you two can guess why. I thought I would be happy with just my books, but I guess I’m the kind of pony that wants what she can’t have.” She trotted up close to the guards again. “And I’m bored. That’s why I like playing with my dolls.” She giggled, doing her best to make it sound perfectly innocent. “But sometimes, I break them. Did I break you?”

The door opened. “Twilight Sparkle for debriefing, 2:30 pm appointment,” called the court herald. “You may enter.”

The mare walked out and the door closed. Noticing that there was nopony near enough to hear, and that nopony was looking their way, the newer guard whispered to the other, “what the buck was that?!”

“May Celestia have mercy on your soul,” the senior guard replied, “for she won’t.”

“Sir, you’re freaking me out.”

The senior guard spoke nothing else, and silently died a little bit on the inside.

“I’m very disappointed in you, my little pony. You know why you must stay in Canterlot,” Celestia scolded.

“Yeah, preservation of the peace, monitoring my whereabouts, existing law and precedent, blah, blah, blah. Can we just skip to the end of this song and dance already? I’m sure that you’re just dying to know who that other mare was, not that I feel like telling” Sparkle quipped, annoyed.

“You will watch your tone with me, Sparkle. I will not tolerate disrespect, especially since this is your future we are deciding.” the Princess said. While the tone was as level and calm as ever, her voice demanded attention and respect, so much so that it was practically physically impossible not to comply.

Sparkle bowed her head. “I understand. I apologize, Your Highness. I let my mouth speak my mind against my better judgement.”

“That you did. Now,” Celestia said, “there is the matter of those laws you cited at me. While it bothers me that you appeared to have memorized the law simply to see what you could get away with, you are correct. Technically.” She shook her head in disappointment. “Your entire case depended on a zoning stipulation and a license, which, as I recall, I issued to a young filly on the good faith that she would not abuse it. Has my faith in you been misplaced?”

Sparkle didn’t answer the question, not right away at least. “I assure you that I will not abuse your trust.”

“See to it that you do not. As for the matter of you leaving Canterlot without my permission, I have no choice to issue you a 500 bit fine, though I will give you two months to pay it instead of the usual one. I am aware of the conditions in which you live, and I am not above small mercies.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Sparkle accepted, genuinely thankful of the extra time; it meant fewer days of eating nothing but instant noodles to let Shiny get the few Canterlot-priced veggies. However, punishment was still punishment, and the thought left a bitter taste in the annoyed unicorn’s mouth.

Her tone significantly lighter now, the Princess said, “Now that that’s out of the way, let me tell you something. When I heard that you of all ponies ran off to Ponyville, yesterday of all days, my heart missed a beat.”

“Princess?”

“Long ago, most ponies shunned the night, and Luna with it. When Nightmare Moon first appeared within Luna, she amassed a small group of similarly-shunned ponies, ponies very much like you. They made no overt moves for nearly a year, and Nightmare Moon spent that time masquerading as if she were still Luna at heart. And when they finally attacked... forgive me. That tale is a bit grim.

“When I heard that you had left, I very nearly panicked, thinking that she had somehow been recruiting dangerous individuals from her prison. I’m sure you can imagine my relief when you turned out to still be on my side.”

Sparkle nodded in understanding. “I’m sure. Princess Celestia, I know you don’t really trust me,” - Celestia’s flinch was too small for Sparkle to notice - “but I really do have the best intentions at heart. As long as I live in Equestria, I’ll do my best to protect the harmony of its ponies.” The subtle implication went unmissed by Celestia.

“We heard she was in here,” a new, young, and loud voice sounded from outside the courtroom. The twin doors slammed open, revealing the slightly enlarged form of Princess Luna, whose stature now compared to that of a young teenager rather than a small filly. “AH! THERE THOU ART! WE ARE PRINCESS LUNA, GUARDIAN OF THE NIGHT! WE WISH TO MAKE THINE ACQUAINTANCE, FAIR MAIDEN!”

As soon as she finished rubbing her ringing ears, Sparkle muttered, “That’s new.” Louder now, she spoke, “Greetings, Princess Luna. I am Sparkle, bearer of no honorable titles. I am very empathetic to you, and would love to make your acquaintance.”

“WE NEED NO SYMPATHY FROM YOU! I AM NOT SOME POOR, PITIFUL PONY WHO-”

“Empathy, not Sympathy,” Sparkle couldn’t resist correcting. She had a good guess at what was coming next.

“DO NOT INTERRUPT US! AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY EMPATHY?” Luna asked, her expression more confused than her angry-sounding, overly-loud tone would suggest.

Sparkle bowed her head, more to hide the smirk than to show any respect to the Equestrian leadership, for which she held very little. As soon as she had wiped the emotion away, she said, “Just that I have a poor reputation, a horribly under-appreciated talent that has many benefits that can’t be used unless ponies learn to see the light in it, and a dash of jealousy towards your sister’s student who took something I could and should have had, Your Majesty. Do you understand the feeling?”

Sparkle stood up straight and nodded once. “Well, I suppose I’ve overstayed my welcome; I really should be heading home now.” Turning to leave without waiting for Celestia to dismiss her, Sparkle trotted off. “You’re welcome to come and visit me at my humble home, Princess Luna. I’d love to discuss your book over tea. Just ask any guard where Ms. Sparkle lives. I’m sure they’ll point you in the right direction, and then run in the other.”

The door to the courtroom burst open just before the mare attempted to open it herself. In stormed the griffin ambassador, Redclaw. “I am tired of waiting, Princess Celestia. I must speak to you now on urgent matters.” So engrossed in his words was he that the bird rammed right into Sparkle without seeing her, knocking her over.

It was Sparkle who recovered first, and who, much unlike her double, hatched a plan on her hooves. “Oh dear. I am so sorry, sir. I should have been looking where I was going.”

“Hmph. It is no problem, pony,” the ambassador replied.

Sparkle blinked. “You have a little something on your beak, right there.” She gestured generally towards his face. “Here, I’ll get it.”

The dark aura bubbled around her horn and grasped the beak of the griffin rooster in front of her. The guards had their spears drawn in a flash, but her horn aura faded almost as fast. “There.” She blinked owlishly at the readied guards. “What? It was just a special cleaning spell I made. Pony blood is so hard to clean some times. Well, see you later!”

“Sparkle, a moment, then you may leave,” Princess Celestia stated.

“Yes, Princess?”

“I know and see more than you seem to believe I do about you. And while your concern is touching, you are walking on thin ice.” Celestia nodded, dismissing Sparkle.

Before any could react, she flattened into her shadow on the floor and sped out of the room. Silence reigned for a few awkward seconds. “Sparkle was not injured, was she.” It was a statement, not a question, whispered from Luna to her sister.

“Luna, be a dear and fetch me that special thing from my room, would you? I need to have a chat with Redclaw here.”

“Tia?”

Similarly lowering her voice to a barely audible whisper, Celestia spoke, “One does not doubt the words of a necromancer on matters of death, dear Lulu. Especially not one of Ms. Sparkle’s caliber. I’d trust her far more than I’d ever show on this, despite her dangerous nature.”

“I see.” The two sisters ceased their private conversation and returned their attention to Redclaw. “PARDON US, KIND GRIFFIN. I BID THEE FAREWELL.”

“Come,” Celestia said to the ambassador. “Let us walk and talk.”

Sparkle had calmed the restless spirits of the slain herself; she knew what he had done. Redclaw would die a shameful, horrible death for his crimes, regardless of what justice the Equestrian system would bring. This she would ensure.

When she taught her mandated defense class at CSGU, her first lesson was to never let the dark touch you. For in the moment she had him in her magical grasp, one of her specters had slid from her shadow to his, unnoticed by all. Through it, she could see his mind and his senses, and she could strike vengeance.

She hummed a merry tune as she trotted home. Would it be suicide? An accident? Murder by a fellow griffin? Would she assassinate his character first, or simply expose his crimes? The fallen souls cried for vengeance, and she would deliver.

Sparkle was a reaper of souls, a bringer of death.

She couldn’t be light like her sister.

She couldn’t be kind.

She couldn’t be fair.

She couldn’t be just.

But she would damn well save these ponies even if it killed her. Because she was part of Twilight Sparkle, and she was a good filly.

She hoped.

The trial was open-and-shut. The evidence had doomed him right from the start. The Griffin Empire had not helped him, for fear of starting a needless war between the two nations. He had been left at the mercy of the Equestrian Justice system.

Redclaw stepped into the cell that he knew intellectually would be his prison for the rest of his life. Sitting down on the only bed in the cell, which took up a majority of the floor space, he looked down on his talons. In his mind, the once proud instruments of death remained untrimmed and dripping with pony blood, as they should have been. His wings weren’t clipped, his mind said, and he wasn’t shackled to the wall.

Redclaw whistled, the hedonistic old bird already looking for something to entertain himself with. He kept whistling even as the staccato of horse shoes on tile joined in.

“Why does the caged bird sing?” a voice from outside asked. Redclaw didn’t respond. “Why... does the... caged bird sing?”

There was something strange about the rhythm of the voice. Its tone was odd too, now that Redclaw thought about it.

“Why. Does. The. Caged. Bird. Sing?” This time Redclaw turned. He was against the back wall of his cell a heartbeat later, for the guard before him had no eyes and sockets that freely dripped blood.