Chapter 1 - Everyone Starts Somewhere

Thirty-Thirty's backside had gone numb.

For most creatures that was a normal side effect of sitting in one place for too long, but it was somewhat exceptional for this particular stallion. Given that the majority of his hindquarters - and the whole of the legs attached to them, along with his shoulders and forelegs - were made of metal, it took a lot to bring on the peculiar tingling sensation. Thirty shifted his weight slowly to try and get some feeling back, hoping that the faint whirring and creaking of his armoured artificial limbs would go unnoticed.

The white-maned grey stallion often found it difficult to go unnoticed. Six feet tall at the shoulder and fitted with heavy cybernetic limbs, his body was not a subtle presence in any environment, and even among the multiple alien races inhabiting New Texas his equine form was unique. Not just on New Texas, either; to the best of his and anyone else's knowledge, he was the last of his kind still living. The artificially engineered - in both the mechanical and biological sense - race of Equestroids were a dying breed. The secret and unethical experimentation in intelligence enhancement and cybernetics that had birthed the race of sentient equine cyborgs had only been partially successful, and Thirty-Thirty had, as his name suggested, been the last produced before the illegal deep space lab had been shut down. The others had long since passed on, leaving him the sole occupant of their once-great sacred hall on New Texas. Alone and forgotten by all but a few, he had stood sentinel over the artefacts of his departed people.

Until he'd met BraveStarr, of course. One of Thirty-Thirty's ears flicked as a ghost of remembered pain flashed across his jaw. That had been one heck of a fight.

His heavily armoured legs were the only outward sign Thirty was no ordinary Terrestrial horse and, along with the red riding saddle strapped around his barrel, were his only externally visible artificial parts. There was more to the stallion than met the eye however - as many outlaws on the desert planet he called home had learned to their cost. At the moment though, he was bemoaning the unequal efficiency of his dual circulatory system. The mechanical one keeping his fuel mix moving was fine of course, it had been meticulously designed and built for that specific purpose - the lack of blood reaching his hindquarters, on the other hand, was yet again demonstrating that the people responsible for his creation were still not all that good at meddling with biological systems.

I'm thirsty, I'm bored, an' now my darn butt's gone to sleep. Why do I gotta sit through this anyhow? he groused internally, risking opening one brown eye to peek at the others sat around the small fire. This is normally Shaman's deal. Thirty-Thirty's grey-furred muzzle crinkled as he grimaced in annoyance.

Shadows jumped and danced across the walls of the small rock chamber at the top of Star Peak, cast by the three figures seated in a tight triangle around the fire at its center. The place was sparsely furnished, with only a simple cot and a few pieces of wooden mystical regalia scattered about. A finely-wrought long wooden staff, its surface covered in carved runes, stood leaning against the cot. The empty air and long drop where one of the cave walls should have been would probably have been unsettling to many, but Shaman preferred the sight of the open sky. He had spent many nights like this one staring skywards, awaiting his reunion with his pupil and adoptive son BraveStarr.

The two humans sat across the fire from Thirty-Thirty's hulking equine form were almost a study in the effects of ageing. Marshal BraveStarr was at his physical peak, toned muscles clearly visible beneath his tanned skin, while the man's mentor and adoptive father Shaman showed clear signs of his advancing years.

Shaman was the very picture of an ancient tribal elder, dressed in a simple green and brown belted robe and worn, comfortable moccasins. The light from the fire highlighted the lines and wrinkles marking his weathered face, and the draught created by its heat tugged at a few long white hairs that had broken free of his red and blue patterned headband. The old man sat silently, as he had for the past several hours, with his eyes closed and hands neatly folded in his lap.

Thirty's friend and partner BraveStarr appeared similarly calm and comfortable. The Galactic Marshal's uniform yellow jumpsuit was tinted a burning orange by the low firelight, and the silver star pinned to his blue armoured chestplate sparkled in the dimly-lit chamber. BraveStarr had removed his white Stetson and placed it on the ground beside him, leaving his neat black ponytail exposed.

Together, BraveStarr and Thirty-Thirty were the law on New Texas. With the help of Deputy Fuzz - one of the native Prairie People - and Judge JB, they kept both Fort Kerium and the outlying mining settlements safe from the outlaws and claim jumpers that plagued the desert planet - and the deeper threat that lurked behind the worst of them.

Usually involves a little less sittin' around an' a little more stompin' than this, though.

Thirty-Thirty wasn't sure exactly how meditating and talking to spirits was supposed to help against whatever scheme Tex Hex and his outlaw gang were mixed up in this time, but Shaman wanted to do it - which in turn meant BraveStarr had agreed to it and, of course, one unfortunate techno-horse had been dragged along for the ride. Literally, in the case of the journey to Shaman's home at Star Peak. Not for the first time, the idle fantasy of BraveStarr carrying him around on *his* back for a change crossed the stallion's mind. The human was certainly strong enough to do it when he called on the powers of his spirit animals.

Just 'cos I got a built-in saddle. I get no respect.

Just as Thirty-Thirty reached the limit of his patience, Shaman's measured, careful tones broke the silence. "It is done."

Thirty shook out his thick white mane and sighed emphatically. "Good, I'm pretty sure my legs're about to seize up."

"C'mon big pardner," BraveStarr chuckled, retrieving his hat, "sittin' quiet for a little while ain't gonna hurt ya."

"I know this may not be your idea of a good time, Thirty-Thirty," Shaman said, a small grin tugging at the corner of his mouth, "but the spirits of the Celestial realm need to be informed of Stampede's intrusion. The power he could steal were he to gain entry there would prove disastrous for our world." The old man's smile faded. "However, I am worried by the spirits' response. It appears that they have already noticed Stampede's attempts to enter their realm, but were unaware of who was behind them. Their concern at learning of Stampede's involvement was... troubling. They seemed to fear that those they dispatched to investigate the problem would be exposed to unnecessary danger, and begged my aid in this world."

Thirty-Thirty's mood immediately brightened, and he turned an eager eye to his partner. "Marshal?"

BraveStarr nodded as he rose to his feet. "I suppose we'd better go make a house call on our good friend Tex."

"Oh, I hope he's expectin' company," Thirty-Thirty said, clambering to his hooves. He stretched out each of his legs in turn, then flicked his tail and turned to trot towards the passageway winding down the interior of the rock spire. "We've been sittin' around here for too dang long, I'm overdue some quality stompin' time."

"Now hold up just a second Thirty-Thirty," BraveStarr said, raising a white-gloved hand, "we don't even know where we're headed. Not to mention it's the middle 'o the night."

The stallion halted, turning back from the exit. "Oh. Right."

Shaman walked to his cot and retrieved his staff before speaking again. "My magic will see you safely home to rest. Your search should begin in the morning, in the exhausted Kerium mines to the north of town." Clasping the staff in both hands, the ageing mystic gently rapped its base against the floor. A pale yellow glow enveloped the staff, before spreading to Shaman's two guests.

"Be careful, BraveStarr," Shaman said as a glow intensified. "Stampede is investing a great effort into this plan, and he will be reluctant to see it brought to nothing."

"Don't worry Shaman. We'll be careful," BraveStarr said confidently.

"Go in peace, my son," Shaman replied, raising a hand in farewell as the Marshal and his equine companion faded from view.

As the pair rematerialised in the Fort Kerium Marshal Post, Thirty-Thirty shifted from hoof to metal hoof awkwardly. "Ugh, hate it when he does that. Always makes my darn palms itch."

The Marshal Post almost looked like it had been torn straight from the Old West of Earth, save for a few technological touches. The metal reinforcement to the walls and door, and the large communications and scanning console - operated by Deputy Fuzz during the day - somehow managed to blend in with the more traditional wooden desk and wall-mounted noticeboard. Both were covered in paper; dozens of wanted posters and notices pinned atop one another covered the noticeboard, and - somewhat unusually - the desk was also almost overflowing with paperwork. The currently unoccupied cells along two walls of the large main room were also a little more secure and comfortably furnished than one might expect in a small town jail, but sentient rights had advanced a few hundred years since that one lawless frontier had given way to so many more out among the stars. An open archway in one corner led to the living area, which contained three small bedrooms. One each for the Marshal and his partner, and a guest room for anyone that didn't warrant a cell.

"How's that work?" BraveStarr asked, confused. "You don't even have palms when you're not in Fighting Mode."

"Why d'ya suppose it bugs me so much?" Thirty replied, staring at the sole of an upturned forehoof. He gave a resigned snort, and placed the heavy metal appendage back on the wooden floor with a solid thunk. "I'm gonna hit the hay before I hit the hay, if y'know what I mean. Ya want anything?"

"No thanks big pard, I'm not hungry." BraveStarr dropped into the large high-backed chair behind his desk and leaned back against the wall, resting his boots on a small square of exposed tabletop and pulling his Stetson down over his eyes.

"Y'ain't gonna sleep like that again when there's a perfectly good bed right next door are ya?"

"Eeyup," BraveStarr mumbled through his hat, "chair's comfy."

Thirty-Thirty rolled his eyes and headed for his own room, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. He tried to soften the heavy impacts of his hooves on the floor as much as possible in case Fuzz was also sleeping in the station that night.

Why do I even bother tryin' to house-train him...

**Equestria**

On a world very far away from - and yet also strangely close to - New Texas, the sun was making its way down towards the western horizon. In a patch of dry scrubland oddly reminiscent of the desert planet, two colourful equine figures were having an animated discussion while rooting around amongst the rocks.

"Look," Rainbow Dash complained, "I'm just saying that if somepony jumps out and yells 'Welcome to A-a-ppleloosa!' again I'm zappin' them in the flank."

Applejack recoiled in surprise, stopping her examination of the nearby terrain. "What?!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Rainbow Dash flipped over a knee-high rock with a grunt, briefly casting an eye over the ground beneath. "It just starts to get annoying after you've heard it like four million times."

"Cousin Braeburn said it once when we got off'a the train, RD," Applejack said matter-of-factly.

Rainbow Dash waved a cyan hoof dismissively. "Well it feels like a lot more. And it's annoying."

"No it ain't," Applejack protested, "'s just a friendly greetin'." Her muzzle scrunched up for a moment, and she added "You're annoyin'."

"Your face is annoying," Dash replied, before sticking out her tongue playfully.

A third voice interrupted the pair's increasingly foalish banter. "GIRLS! Can we please not do this right now? Or, well, ever?" The third voice continued in a mutter pitched just loud enough to be overheard as it drew closer, "I swear it's like magic kindergarten all over again sometimes..."

Rainbow Dash and Applejack glanced at each other solemnly, then grinned and chorused "Well excuse us, Princess!" as a purple-furred head emerged from behind a nearby rock.

Twilight Sparkle groaned before smacking herself in the face with a hoof.

**Twilight Sparkle**

Twilight Sparkle was, with the most sarcastic of internal sighs, a magical pony Princess. This was exactly as horrible a fate as it sounded, a fact her friends were quite glad to remind her of whenever they felt like annoying her. Sure, she had gained a pair of wings to go with her horn, but all the stupid things did was itch and get caught on stuff. And crashing was an all-too-frequent unpleasant side effect of learning to fly. Other than that, the only 'benefits' seemed to be an unending stream of paperwork and everypony suddenly acting weird around her.

Well, weirder than usual. Twilight had already firmly established that all the ponies in Ponyville were crazy anyway. She even had a flipchart with the data arranged into easily-digestible graphs, but still nopony ever sat through the whole thing. Ironically, that lack of interest in a fascinating sociological study was yet more evidence they were all nuts - as the last four pages of the presentation detailed.

They'd come to this stupid, hot desert because there was a small but noticeable amount of dark magic seeping into the world from somewhere... outside. Twilight, as one of a vanishingly small number of ponies both trained and trusted in the careful employment of dark magic, had been sent out on this rather aggravating little adventure with her five friends to find and deal with the magical leak once and for all. The fuchsia starburst mark at the top of her thighs represented a prodigious talent for magic, after all. She was definitely the right pony for the job; and wherever the Element of Magic and recently-crowned Princess of Friendship went, so went her best friends - the bearers of the other five Elements of Harmony.

After spending most of the day channelling small bursts of dark magic through her horn, while her friends patrolled around the area searching for the feedback resonance that would betray the location of whatever magical anomaly was causing the problem, Twilight was both tired and annoyed. She had a raging hornache and there was an annoying sort of ringing buzzing noise hovering just on the edge of her hearing.

Twilight didn't even notice she'd drifted off, lost in thought, until her reverie was broken by a hoof poking her in the muzzle, accompanied by a loud cry of "HONK!"

Either the ponies in front of her had spontaneously multiplied, some of her friends had learned to teleport, or she'd been standing there preoccupied for significantly longer than-

"Watcha thinkin' about? Ooh, ooh, don't tell me. Is iiiit... Bananas? Trees? The philosophical nature of truth? Oh, I know, oranges! No? The colour orange? Oooooh come on, am I getting any warmer here? I'm running out of- OH! Is it rocks? Only there's a lot of them around here so I guess you might be-"

Twilight applied the only method observed to effectively shut Pinkie Pie up, and stuck a hoof in the peppy pink party pony's mouth. Pinkie Pie's blue eyes briefly crossed as she glanced at the offending limb, before she did her best to arrange her face into a frustrated pout. Most ponies would have found that hard to do with a hoof shoved in their muzzle, but Pinkie managed to get her point across regardless. Twilight tentatively pulled her hoof free with a quiet 'pop', grinning sheepishly. Along with the eternally effervescent. endlessly energetic Pinkie Pie, two more familiar ponies had joined Applejack and Rainbow Dash while Twilight had been distracted.

Rarity was eyeing Twilight's spit-soaked hoof with obvious disgust. The well-groomed fashionista had not enjoyed the group's previous visit to the lands surrounding Appleloosa, and she wasn't in the best of moods. Fluttershy, on the other hoof, looked more concerned than anything - in as much as it was possible to tell from the one aqua eye peering around her mane. As Twilight processed the presence of all of her friends, Fluttershy ruffled her wings nervously and spoke up.

"Um, is everything okay Twilight? If you don't, you know..." the timid yellow pegasus trailed off, scuffing a hoof on the ground.

"Huh? Yes, yes, I'm fine," Twilight replied hurriedly. "Just thinking about stuff. And... things."

"Okay. Sorry."

Glancing at Fluttershy briefly, Rarity cut in. In a tone of entirely innocent enquiry, she asked "Stuff?"

"Yes," Twilight nodded.

"And things?" Rarity continued brightly, in a truly professionally feigned tone of sincere interest.

Twilight nodded again rapidly, not noticing the way her left eye was starting to twitch. "Uh-huh."

"Twilight dear," Rarity commented flatly, raising an eyebrow, "you're going to have to do a little better than that."

"I can't- it's-" Twilight broke off, stomping a hoof angrily. "Ugh! It's very complicated. There are scientific reasons!" What was wrong with these ponies, couldn't they see that what she was doing was important?

"And I'm sure they're very good ones," Rarity conceded, nodding graciously, "but something is obviously weighing on your mind. Which leaves us with no choice, I'm afraid. Pinkie?"

Twilight paused in confusion as her friends dove for cover. Her brain caught up just in time for her to tense up - as absolutely nothing happened.

"Just a second!" Pinkie's voice emerged from behind a cluster of rocks to Twilight's right, followed by frantic muttering and several rather strange noises. "I'm not- argh, come on..."

"Pinks, this was sorta time-critical y'know?" Twilight turned back to her left as Rainbow Dash called out from her own hiding spot.

A loud metallic clang preceded Pinkie Pie's response, making Twilight flinch. "I know!" the pink pony yelled. There was a faint 'plunk' and her voice became slightly muffled. "But this is an unconventional load! It's a party cannon, not a-"

Pinkie Pie was cut off by an ear-flattening bang, and Twilight's steadily mounting confusion was compounded by the impact of a ballistic blanket.

Chapter 2 - Twilight Falls

View Online

**Twilight Sparkle**

Once the group had extricated her from beneath the red and black plaid blanket - and pulled Pinkie free of the rock she'd ended up half embedded in - Twilight recognised the explosively delivered picnic for what it was. One of the baskets had a dent in it shaped very much like Pinkie Pie's head, but the contents seemed largely unaffected. Everypony had a chance to calm down and recharge as the group of friends ate and drank together.

"Ya feelin' a little better now, Twi?" said Applejack.

Twilight flushed and ducked her head briefly. "Yes. Sorry I was being all grouchy. Using all this dark magic is really messing with my head, but if we don't find the leak soon then it'll start affecting everypony in the area." She paused to glance at each of her friends, a small smile returning to her face. "I don't think I'd be able to do this if you girls hadn't come along, so... thank you."

"Yeah, we're pretty awesome that way," Rainbow Dash mumbled around a mouthful of apple fritter. She had produced a pair of sunglasses from somewhere, and was lying on her back with her wings spread out on the blanket.

"I wish there was more we could do to help with the actual investigating part beyond grubbing around aimlessly in the dirt. It doesn't really help that we don't know for certain what we're looking for," Rarity commented. "Not that I'm not eager to help of course, but it's a little frustrating. One would imagine that dark magic leaking into the world would be more, well, obvious."

Rainbow Dash nudged her shades up with a hoof and turned an eye towards Twilight. "Yeah, shouldn't there be like, a huge evil glowy thing we can just smash up or something?"

Twilight was about to launch into an explanation of the fascinating subtleties of magical field theory when Pinkie Pie cut in. "Bad guys can be really sneaky sometimes. That's one of the ways you can tell they're mean, besides the cackling. And the moustache-twirling."

Twilight's attempt to smash the memory of Pinkie's alternative explanation to bits before the stupid infected her brain were likewise interrupted, this time by Fluttershy. "Are you sure there's nothing more we can do to help, Twilight?"

Twilight sighed heavily. "No, I'm the only one who can use dark magic. The leak will react when I get close to it while channelling, and I know it's around here somewhere. We just have to keep our eyes open and sweep over the area until we find it."

Why do I always have to do everything anyway? What's the point of dragging these useless foals around if they can't even-

Twilight's brain came to a screeching halt. She felt her stomach twist as a chill ran down her spine.

"Y'okay Twilight?" Applejack said, her voice sounding oddly muffled.

Something's not right with... with something. Come on, think. I'm smart and strong enough to fix anything, not like the rest of these idiots. And I've got all of my best friends with me, and with that bunch of mewling sycophants and hangers-on following me about I can do anything.

No, that's not it at all. This isn't...

It was suddenly hard for Twilight to even think. It felt as if somepony had pulled her brain out, mashed it, and shoved it back in again. The annoying faint buzz that had been hovering at the edge of her hearing for the last hour rose to a droning roar. Then the world seemed to race away from her eyes, disappearing down a dark tunnel as Twilight tried to make sense of what was happening. Blind, deaf and confused, she instinctively reached for the comforting glow of her magic. There was a brief horrifying mental lurch, a feeling of falling and imbalance similar to missing a step on a staircase, and nothing happened.

This isn't right, what's going on? This isn't physically possible! This is not happening!

Oh, it's happening. And what use are you without it, little pony?

What do I do? What the hay am I supposed to do now? Twilight desperately reached out again and again, but that same feeling was all that awaited her - like probing the hole left by a lost tooth. A sudden void where something familiar once sat.

The Element of Magic, with no magic! No, no, I- we can still fix this. Calm and rational, we don't need another Smarty Pants incident. Back to the library, do some research. Send a letter to Celestia. My friends-

What use will they have for you now, powerless as you are? They associate with you because you are useful, and follow your lead because you are powerful. Without magic, you are neither.

-never have to know, if I can just find something left that will work. Just until I can figure out what this is.

Twilight's flailing mind skipped and rolled off the void where her magic should have been. Suddenly she bumped into something else. Another kind of magic. Oily and dark, and powerful. Dangerous.

That's it.

Perfectly formed. Useful. She'd played with it a couple of times, but Twilight knew she'd barely scratched the surface of what it could do. Always dipping a hoof in the edge, then running back to the familiarity of the safe, boring magic she normally used.

A little uncertainty crept in at the edges of the part of Twilight's mind that wasn't gibbering in panic. This doesn't feel right. Something is really wrong with me!

Of course something is wrong, you idiot. You're the Element of Magic, and you're not using your magic. What's wrong with you, just lose yourself in it and everything will be fine again.

Twilight caught something on the edge of her hearing, almost buried by the buzzing roar. Who... is somepony there? What is happening to me?! Help!

Look at it. Is it not beautiful? You are the magic, and it is you. Don't fight it.

She balanced on a knife edge. Behind her lay... something. Names. Hers, others, she didn't know. They might have been important, once. But in front of her was something truly wonderful. She didn't know what was holding her back. Some sort of connection, five thin tethers, to whatever was behind-

Embrace it.

She threw herself forward as the dark, pulsating mass reached out to engulf her. The five small points of pressure on her back strained, and one of them blazed red hot as it began to tear free.

Then, somepony popped her in the horn.

Twilight's world snapped back into focus for an instant, before exploding into a kaleidoscope of excruciating agony as she fell to the ground with her hooves feebly pawing at her abused appendage. She thought she might have been screaming, and she had almost certainly thrown up, but it was difficult to tell through the pain.

After what felt like several hours curled up around her horn, bits of the outside world started to filter back into Twilight's perception. She didn't feel up to opening her eyes just yet, but from the sounds of it there were several ponies nearby, and they were talking about something. Her, presumably. Twilight tried to focus on the conversation, and eventually tuned in to what sounded like a very stressed Rainbow Dash.

"Are you sure she's gonna be okay, like, really? I had to do something, but that scream-" Rainbow's voice choked off, then resumed in a more subdued tone. "Sweet Celestia, Twi, I am so sorry."

"Being hit in the horn while channelling is a very unpleasant experience, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said, her voice a little strained in empathy for Twilight's pain, "but I think I can say with some confidence that Twilight is significantly better off like this for a few minutes than she would have been had... whatever it was finished."

"You're really, totally sure?" Rainbow's voice was pleading, almost desperate. "Aww ponyfeathers, she's gonna hate me. I mean, look at her! I did that to her, and on purpose too!"

The pain in Twilight's head spiked a little as Pinkie Pie chimed in with her slightly too loud voice. "Don't be such a silly filly Dashie. She's gonna be a little grouchy for a while, sure, but you totally just saved her from going all meanie-pants on us!"

Twilight tried to ask a question, but raising her head proved to be too much too soon for the hot metal spike that had apparently replaced her horn. All that actually came out of her mouth was a strained "Ow." A pair of hooves gently forced her head back down, accompanied by Fluttershy's voice. "Twilight, don't move just yet. You need to rest for a while, okay?"

"Ohmygosh, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash's voice approached to the sound of rapid hoofsteps. "Twilight, I am so, so sorry-"

"Rainbow!" Fluttershy interrupted in a restrained yet firm tone. "Not now, and not so loud. She'll still be very sensitive."

Twilight decided to take a chance and cracked one eye open. She had to clench her teeth against the pain, and drew in a sharp involuntary breath, but managed to refrain from closing her eye again. She seemed to be lying on her belly, chin propped up on something soft, with Rarity and Fluttershy standing over her. Fluttershy was positioned between Twilight and a visibly distressed Rainbow Dash, who was just beginning to be moved away by Applejack.

"C'mon RD. Give 'em some space, Twi'll be just fine. Ain't nothin' to do now but give her time." Applejack said gently, one hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. Dash dropped her head, expression tormented, and allowed herself to be led away.

Twilight glanced up at Rarity, her attention drawn by the pale blue glow surrounding the unicorn's horn. Suddenly she remembered the terrible emptiness where her magic should have been, and without pausing to consider the consequences she reached for it again.

Rarity's eyes widened in horror, and she just had time to blurt out "Twilight, don't-" before the dull throbbing pain in Twilight's horn blazed back into life and speared down into her skull. Twilight screwed her eyes shut again and bit back a scream, then held still for a few moments while the pain receded. Once it had died down to a bearable level, Twilight relaxed a little and cracked a weak smile.

Right back where it's supposed to be.

The sounds of Fluttershy and Rarity fussing over her latest episode faded into the background as Twilight tried to piece the last few minutes back together in her mind. Worse than the mounting anxiety over some of the things she had been thinking was the memory of how she had felt while thinking them - like absolutely nothing was wrong. Only right at the end had she even felt like anything was amiss, and by then it was too late. She'd come perilously close to the edge. No, not even that. She'd gone all the way over it. The dark magic she had been using all day had been slowly influencing her, and she hadn't even noticed.

Twilight felt her stomach twist again as the memory played out before her mind's eye. What in the world was I thinking? A wave of revulsion and self-loathing rolled over her.

Rarity's voice drifted back into Twilight's perception, addressing Fluttershy in hushed tones. "...need an inhibitor ring. The amount she uses magic normally, I can't say for certain if she'll be able to avoid doing it purely on instinct every time she comes round. I'd suggest sending Rainbow Dash to fetch one, but I don't know if we'll be able to convince her to leave-"

"N-not necessary." Twilight ground out through clenched teeth. Her voice sounded strange to her own ears, and there was a tight scratchy sensation in her throat as she spoke. "I'll be fine. That one was... sort of intentional. Had to check something." Twilight forced her right eye open again to look up a plainly unconvinced Rarity.

"Twilight dear, you know better than I do that you can't afford to do that again. You could really hurt yourself. It'll be much easier to-"

"No!" Twilight flinched as her forceful exclamation shot another bolt of pain through her head, and moderated her tone. "Sorry. I just... I really don't want to be cut off from my magic right now. Even if I can't use it, I need to know it's there. Please? I'm feeling a lot better now."

Rarity huffed out a breath and glanced aside. "Well, I'm not going to force you darling. I just think it would be the best choice, that's all."

"I agree with Rarity," Fluttershy added hesitantly, "b-but if you don't want to then that's fine too."

Twilight felt a little swell of happiness at her friend's concern, and then briefly basked in the simple joy of feeling that rather than anger or frustration at their difference of opinion. Only now with the dark magic's influence gone did she notice all of the effects it ha been having on her.

"Thanks girls, but I'll be okay. I think I need to have a talk with Rainbow Dash, though," Twilight said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice, "Is she-"

There was a strangled noise from Twilight's left. Just catching herself in time, Twilight refrained from turning her head and instead opened her left eye. Rainbow Dash was standing a short distance away, her face twisted into a mask of guilt and apprehension. Dash opened her mouth to speak, then ducked her head with a whimper and stared at her hooves as Twilight's eye briefly met hers.

"Rainbow..."

"I-I'm sorry Twilight. I shouldn't have... I-" The normally ebullient pegasus broke off with a sniffle. "I'll just go," she finished, voice cracking.

"Thank you."

Rainbow Dash flinched, then pulled her head back in confusion. "Huh?"

"I'm not going to lie about how much that hurt," Twilight went on as Rainbow cringed again, "but you just saved my life. Everypony did, but you especially. So thank you, and never do that again."

"Y-you don't..." Rainbow met Twilight's gaze again, hope growing in her eyes.

"I'm going to regret saying this," Twilight said, "but you should listen to Pinkie. This time. She's right about what almost happened."

Pinkie Pie appeared from somewhere behind Rainbow Dash, her head cocked to one side. "'Course I was, silly. When am I ever wrong?" Pinkie's eyes briefly turned skywards and she raised a hoof to her chin. "Oh, except for that one time with the oatmeal. And when I thought everypony hated me. And waaaait a second. Scratch that, I'm wrong a ton. Not about that though!" she said, lowering her raised forehoof before bouncing into the air happily. By the time she landed, her smile had given way to a confused pout. "Umm, just so we're all on the same page here, what was I right about again?"

Twilight closed her eyes again, so she didn't have to see the looks on their faces when she confessed. "That the dark magic I've been using has been steadily altering my behaviour over the course of the day, and that it would have succeeded in turning me completely if you all hadn't stepped in," she began.

That I've betrayed the trust Princess Celestia placed in me when she taught me to use this magic, and I was only a second away from being the next King Sombra or Nightmare Moon. That I failed you all.

"I don't-" Twilight's voice faltered as she tried to force the words out, "I don't think I can do this any more. I'm sorry girls, but I... I've failed."

Applejack's voice cut into Twilight's melancholy, surprising her with its mildly annoyed tone. "All right, I was gonna let this play out, but you just ain't talkin' sense no more."

Twilight opened her eyes in confusion to see all of her friends standing around her, Applejack in the center eyeing her with faint disapproval.

"So ya messed up. We all do that, and you've been there for all o' us before now. You think any of us is a failure 'cos we needed a helpin' hoof from a friend'r two? I've already learned that one the hard way; looks like it's your turn. Ya don't fail when ya mess somethin' up, Twi. Ya fail when ya give up. When ya stop tryin'. When ya don't get yerself the help ya need." Applejack looked to the ponies stood on either side of her. "And you're forgettin' we're all in this together, sugarcube. I ain't no quitter, and I know you ain't neither. We're gonna be right here with ya the whole way. Right?"

"Certainly."

"Everypony needs a little help sometimes."

"Absolutely-dootely!"

"I'm not leaving anypony hanging. And since when does Twilight Sparkle ever fail?"

Twilight's eyes flicked between her friends, still disbelieving. How could they still be standing there like nothing was wrong? She couldn't do this any more, she was done. Spent. There wasn't a backup plan or another way to search for the rift, if she couldn't do it then that was it. Task failed, everypony pack up and head for home. She'd ruined everything, let them all down. They wouldn't be able to rely on her again, not after this. She was a horrible pony. It must have shown on her face, because Applejack spoke up again.

"Darn it Twi, you're overthinkin' this ain't ya? It doesn't matter if you messed somethin' up. We're your friends, girl! We're still behind ya, and we're gonna fix this. Might not seem possible to you right now, but we're the ones givin' the help this time. Leave it to us, we'll find a way."

They still believed in her. Twilight didn't understand it, but she wasn't going to question it either. Not when it made her feel so much better, like each of her friends had built a little fire inside her to push back the encroaching darkness. Maybe they would find a way through this after all.

"Thanks girls. I really needed that." Twilight said quietly. Carefully, so as not to cause Twilight any more pain, the group closed in for a hug.

"Hey, Twilight, you want one of these?" Pinkie Pie asked quietly from the center of the huddle, worming a hoof free to offer a small throat sweet.

Restrained by the surrounding ponies, Twilight made an affirmative sound and stuck her tongue out. She knew what was coming next, and as much as it was going to make her cringe it also felt... normal. Comforting.

"Thanks Pinkie," she said, as she closed her mouth again and the soothing feeling spread down her throat.

Pinkie Pie nodded, a huge grin on her face. "No problem. I noticed you were a little hoarse."

**???**

Night fell on the surface as the six friends set up camp and got some much-needed rest - directly on top of the very rift they were searching for. Just below their hooves lay an extensive cave network, already saturated with dark magic. Resonating with the aftereffects of the huge amount of power Twilight Sparkle had almost unleashed, the small tear hanging in the still subterranean air began to shift.

The space around the breach pulsed and stretched like rubber as something pushed against it from the outside. In a few short hours, the small puncture widened into a pitch black hole more than large enough to swallow a pony whole. The undulating distortions expanding through the air around the rift passed through the rock of the cave walls as easily as they did through the air, but the rigid stone was much less capable of withstanding being warped along spatial dimensions through which it was never intended to move. Small cracks became fissures, and fissures became whole new tunnels as the ground split and shifted beneath the sleeping ponies.

A short distance away, in a direction that didn't have a name - through the gap between worlds - a nefarious scheme had suffered a setback.

Although the portal had been widened, it had not grown large enough. The failure to successfully create an agent on the far side of the portal would dramatically increase the difficulty of any further expansion of the rift. The plan could still go ahead, but the delay was... aggravating. It also increased the probability that a certain individual and his do-gooding lackeys would catch wind of the plan and create problems of their own on this side of the gateway. Defenses would need to be prepared.

Chapter 3 - Sinkholes and Revelations

View Online

**Rainbow Dash**

Rainbow Dash was the first to wake up. She had been in the middle of a weird dream, in which she had been strangely unable to fly straight - as if her balance was continually being disrupted, keeping her from staying on the level. Then things had gone south from there, and she'd had one of her infrequent but disturbing claustrophobia nightmares again before jolting awake with a start.

Unfortunately for Rainbow, things didn't get any better when she awoke. Completely tangled in layers of cloth, she found herself unable to see anything beyond the fabric tightly pulled across her face. Already drenched in sweat from a combination of the nightmare she'd been having and the stifling heat of the enveloping folds restraining her, Rainbow Dash came perilously close to losing her cool.

"F-Fluttershy?" Rainbow cursed internally at the crack in her voice, and tried to keep her breathing in check. "Flutters, I need some help here."

Rainbow Dash heard a muffled squeak from somewhere above her head, shortly followed by Fluttershy's sleep-addled voice. "Rainbow? What time is it? Oh... oh my. Um, where are you?"

"Right here!" Rainbow struggled briefly against the material surrounding her. "I can't move." In a quieter voice, she asked, "Is anypony else out there?"

"No, it's just me."

Rainbow screwed her eyes shut and focused on keeping her breathing steady. "O-okay. I'm... I'm kinda freaking out here. Could you hurry up and get me out?"

"Just stay calm Rainbow Dash, I'll get this untangled in no time." Small sounds of exertion and movement came from above. Dash could feel the cloth closing in all around her. It was getting hard to breathe in the heat and humidity of the tangled sleeping bag. She knew hyperventilating was bad, but she just couldn't make herself slow down.

What is taking so long?

Just as Rainbow Dash was about to surrender to panic, the piece of material tangled around her head was pulled away and Fluttershy's hooves wrapped around her neck in a brief comforting hug. "There you are!" Fluttershy said, pulling back to put her head just in front of Rainbow's and holding her gaze. "Okay, come on now, breathe with me." Rainbow concentrated on her friend's face and struggled to slow her rapid breathing to match the other pegasus. After a few moments, Fluttershy went back to digging around the rest of the mass of tangled material and Rainbow Dash got her first look at what had happened to the inside of their tent.

The place was a wreck. The entire thing was tipped over at an angle, and everything had slid down to the bottom - the corner Rainbow Dash had been sleeping in. Both of the ponies' sleeping bags and blankets were wrapped up around and on top of her, and presumably Fluttershy had been on top of the whole thing as well until a minute ago. "What in the hay happened to the tent?!" Rainbow asked as the constricting fabric loosened and her forelegs popped free. With a push and a little wriggling Rainbow managed to free herself entirely, and let out a heavy breath. "Whoo, thanks Fluttershy. I'm gonna take a look outside, try and figure out what's going on."

"You're welcome. I hope everypony else is okay..." Fluttershy said as Rainbow completed a brief scan of the rearranged tent to find the zipper.

"'et's 'o fin' ou'!" Rainbow mumbled around the zipper as she pulled it up with her teeth. It was still dark out, but nevertheless her heart soared at the sight of the sky and open air outside. Claustrophobia was so not cool. She spat the little metal zip fastener out and jumped through the opening. "Come on! Whoa."

"Oh dear."

Rainbow Dash hovered just outside the opening of their yellow-striped blue Wonderbolts brand tent, Fluttershy's head poking out behind her. The formerly flat, rock-strewn area in which they had set up camp was now host to a brand new sinkhole, and their tent had fallen halfway into the opening. The other two tents - one plain, practical triangular affair containing Pinkie and Applejack, and the other a rather ostentatious white-and-gold pavilion tent hosting Rarity and Twilight - were completely untouched.

The two pegasi's naturally sharp vision and the bright moonlight made finding their way around a simple affair, and Rainbow headed straight for the earth ponies' tent. "Hey! Hey, AJ!" Rainbow hissed, tapping a hoof on the outside of the dark green material. "You awake?"

A weary groan preceded Applejack's response from inside the tent. "Go 'way, 'm asleep."

"Oh ha ha. Something weird's going on out here, could you maybe come take a look?"

Confused sleepy mumbling interspersed with half-hearted cursing made its way towards the front of the tent. A half-awake Applejack shouldered her way out through the flap, absent her hat. "'s the middle o' the darn night Dash-" As soon as her forehooves touched the ground outside the tent, Applejack's eyes flew open. The earth pony's head snapped down to her hooves, and she picked one up to examine it as if she'd trodden in something. "What the... now that just ain't right."

"You're telling me," Rainbow said, stepping aside and pointing at her own tent, "The ground tried to eat our tent."

Applejack glanced over the area around the collapsed tent. Her green eyes narrowed, and she looked aside briefly to spit on the ground. "I think we've found our problem," she said slowly. "Go wake Twi and Rarity up, I'll try and break it to Pinkie gentle. She ain't gonna like this."

Rainbow Dash paused, confused. "Why not?"

"Y'all can't feel that? In the ground?"

Fluttershy looked at the floor, then shook her head.

"Uhh, hello? Pegasus, remember?" Rainbow Dash supplied, waggling the tips of her wings briefly.

"She was born a rock farmer, Dash. Something, or somepony, has done somethin'... I can't even put words to it. Ya gotta be an earth pony to get it I guess. Felt it as soon as I stepped out onto it." Applejack glanced down again, and stepped back so all four of her hooves were inside her tent. She stopped shifting uncomfortably, but the look of distaste didn't leave her face. "Ugh, I can even tell from in here now. Anyhow, the rock here's been messed up somethin' fierce. I know we don't really see that side of 'er, but she's still a part o' the Pie family. It's makin' me feel weird just standin' on it, I don't know how Pinkie'll take it."

Rainbow Dash hopped into the air and started hovering. The ground didn't feel any different to her, but she'd stick to flying if AJ said there was something freaky going on with it. "Well, good luck with uh... whatever that's gonna involve," she said, turning to glide across the camp, "I'll go get Rarity started, it'll take her forever to get ready anyhow."

"I'll stay here and help Applejack with Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy said, directing a concerned gaze at the plain green tent. "I hope she doesn't get all depressed, it's so sad when she's not herself."

Dash probably would have gone with 'extremely creepy and weird', but she wasn't going to say that out loud. Hopefully nopony would need to argue with Pinkie via a small pile of rocks and a bag of flour this time. Rainbow found the whole random thing sort of endearing most of the time, but when Pinkie Pie wasn't in a good mood it quickly went from funny-random to just-plain-strange-random.

Reaching her destination, Rainbow Dash flared her wings and halted just off the ground. As she plopped down onto her hooves outside Rarity's enormous frou-frou tent, Rainbow's thoughts turned to Twilight. She hoped Twi was at least feeling a little better, especially as it was probably mostly her fault. She still felt bad about hitting Twilight, but at the time she couldn't think of anything else to do. All the sickly green and black glowing had been sort of a giveaway that something was going really wrong, and the panic in Twilight's eyes before they'd gone solid black - which had been super creepy - had sealed the deal. Twilight had been terrified, and Rainbow had been itching to do something, anything, rather than just sit and watch.

They had all been standing around Twilight, calling out to her, asking her what they could do. The whispered cry for help just before Rainbow saw Twilight's horn start sparking off arcs of violet-edged black lightning had been the last straw. She knew unicorn horns were sensitive when they were doing magic, and she'd been told that hitting them there would disrupt their concentration, and figured that it would still work even if Twilight wasn't entirely a unicorn any more.

Once she'd decided to act, Rainbow had done it fast. Twilight was in trouble, and she had a solution, so the faster it was done the better, right? Especially with Twilight being an alicorn now and all, Rainbow Dash had figured she'd be pretty tough - plus, Twilight had been really good at magic anyway. So, Dash had decided, she'd have to hit her pretty hard to break her concentration. Apparently, however, 'breaking their concentration' meant 'causing them agonising pain' - and being an alicorn didn't seem to help. Rainbow's heart had leapt briefly when her strike had stopped whatever the hay had been happening to Twilight, and then almost shattered in her chest when her friend had started screaming.

That moment when she realised she had intentionally hurt one of her friends, badly enough to leave them a sobbing wreck on the floor, would probably stick in Rainbow's memory for the rest of her life.

She'd expected to be yelled at. That Twilight would never want to see her again. Rainbow Dash would never stop being Twilight Sparkle's friend, but Rainbow had thought it would forever be a one-sided thing after what she'd done. It would have hurt, but she could have dealt with it. Probably. It was worth having Twilight hate her if that was what it took to keep her safe. But Twilight had thanked her, said she'd done the right thing. Rainbow didn't think she deserved it, but somehow, Twilight was still her friend.

I have the best friends ever.

The pegasus rubbed a hoof across her eyes and sniffed. "Stupid dust. Getting in my eye and stuff," she mumbled to herself. Rainbow took a second to stretch out her wings - not to stop crying, which she totally wasn't doing - and bumped a hoof against the tent's exterior.

"Twi? Rarity? You awake in there?"

**Fluttershy**

Fluttershy watched with nervous curiosity as Applejack coaxed Pinkie Pie out of their tent. Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad. Pinkie was normally so optimistic about everything, but Fluttershy couldn't help but be just a teensy little bit worried.

Pinkie, never one to do things by halves, went from poking her head out of the tent flap straight to a standing jump onto the ground outside, landing on all four hooves. The pink earth pony let out a scandalised gasp, and started rapidly prancing in place as if trying to remain standing without touching the floor.

"Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew! Icky!" Pinkie stage-whispered with her eyes tightly shut. After a little more prancing and some more repetitions of 'Ew' she jumped into the air, actually pausing for a moment with all four limbs off the ground, and took a deep breath before opening her eyes and dropping back onto the rocky surface. "Blech," she said, sticking out her tongue, "it's all sticky and icky, like the time I spilled caramel on the floor, only it's crawling up my legs and there's something else under-" Pinkie Pie looked straight down at the ground between her forehooves, as if she could see straight through the rock - and as far as Fluttershy could tell, she wasn't happy with what she saw.

"I know it's bad, Pinkie," Applejack said quietly, "Rainbow's wakin' the rest of the girls up now. Pretty sure this is what we were lookin' for. Hopefully Twilight will feel up to fixin' it once we get down there."

Pinkie Pie's lip started to wobble. Fluttershy took a step closer, ducking her head to try and catch the pink pony's downcast eyes. "Are you okay Pinkie Pie?"

Pinkie's normally joyous voice was subdued and sorrowful. "Who... who would do something like this?"

Fluttershy moved up beside her friend and laid a wing across her shoulders. "Don't worry, we're going to fix everything."

"Yeah, that's why we came all this way in the first place!" Applejack added.

"Okay!" Pinkie replied, immediately back to her usual bubbly self. Fluttershy eyed Applejack warily, trying to get some sort of cue from the other earth pony. Pinkie had cheered up awfully fast.

Applejack looked a little nervous. "Uh, Pinkie, are ya..."

"Oh I'm fine, silly," Pinkie said, waving a hoof dismissively. "I mean, if I was Maud we'd probably have a problem. Well, actually two problems, because I'd have turned into Maud. Would that mean she would have turned into me too? 'Cos that would be super fun, I mean as long as it was temporary. And would we actually get to be each other, or would we just swap places?" Pinkie shrugged. "Eh, doesn't matter I guess. Hey, thanks for the hug Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy suddenly found herself on the receiving end of a crushing, but mercifully brief, return embrace from her pink friend. "I'm just-" she gasped in a breath as Pinkie released her "-just glad you're okay."

Then, Pinkie Pie caught sight of Rainbow and Fluttershy's tent. "Holy guacamole, your tent! Wait, where's Rainbow Dash? Is she okay?!" Glancing around frantically, Pinkie spotted Rainbow over by the third tent. "Oh, there she is," she said, before rearing up to wave her hooves and bellow, "HEY RAINBOW DASH!"

Rainbow flinched and span round, then returned the wave a little uncertainly before turning back to the large tent. Fluttershy and Applejack cringed back, flattening their ears against Pinkie's shouting. "Well," Applejack commented, "there goes wakin' 'em up gentle I guess. Hey, Fluttershy, did ya bring any of that herbal tea stuff Twilight likes? I s'pose it's a bit of a mess in yer tent, but she'd prob'ly appreciate it right about now."

"Ooh, that's a great idea!" Pinkie said, sticking her head back into her tent. "Now where did I leave those breakfast muffins..." she continued, disappearing back inside entirely.

Fluttershy glanced back towards the capsized tent, biting her lower lip nervously. "I did bring some, but I don't know if I'll be able to find it too quickly in all the mess. Could you maybe help me look, if you're not doing anything else?"

"Sure," Applejack said, "just let me grab this." She quickly ducked into the tent after Pinkie, before re-emerging with her hat gripped in her mouth. Then, with a practised flick, she tossed it up into the air and onto her head. "Much better. Don't hardly feel decent without it," She confided, tapping the hat down firmly over her mane and smiling. "Let's get 'er done."

**Stampede**

The entity known as Stampede was not fond of his plans being disturbed.

"TEX!" Stampede vented his anger in an enraged bellow, the cry echoing around the rocky chamber in which he resided.

The towering saurian apparition was quite literally smoking in rage. Although his magical manifestation resembled his former purely physical body, complete with the mechanical exoskeleton he had been wearing at the moment of his ascension, Stampede's not-quite-material form had somewhat unconventional means of expressing his emotional state. Measuring around thirty feet from head to tail, his green-scaled form was superficially similar to popular depictions of the large predatory dinosaurs of Earth's prehistory. His lower half was, however, far less substantial than his upper body. It was almost permanently wreathed in greenish-black smoke, and not quite solid enough to actually support his weight. As he had partially transcended the material however, this did not prove much of an obstacle to Stampede. He simply levitated or teleported himself anywhere he needed to go.

The upper section of the Broncosaur's skull had been replaced by a heavy metal cap, complete with menacing forward-pointed horns. The headpiece was connected to a flimsy-looking exoskeleton stretching along his spine and forelimbs, all the way to his clawed digits. In life the machine had helped him move his disease-ravaged body; now it served as a reminder of the indignity he had suffered - and conquered. A long, scaled snout ended in a maw that continually dripped with yellow-green ectoplasm, an outward sign of the power he had attained along with the glowing pits that had replaced his eyes. Large flat teeth bore witness to his species' status as herbivores - not that this fact had prevented Stampede in particular from putting their powerful crushing force to work on other creatures while he was still alive.

Now he was the only legacy of the Broncosaurs, having unwittingly sacrificed the rest of his race - and all but two of another people - in the process of his ascension. The price had been unexpected, but not unwelcome to the narcissistic Stampede. He had sacrificed nothing but a part of his attachment to the physical, and gained unfathomable power as a consequence. The fact that thousands of others had died in the process was of little importance to him.

The only annoyance was that the power had not quite been enough. Hounded to the desert backwater of New Texas by one of the other survivors of his transcendence, Stampede had found himself checked and confined to a largely unpopulated world by Shaman's power. However, the greed of two men had both given Stampede his first servant and spread the word of the planet's rich Kerium deposits to the wider galaxy - sparking a Kerium Rush that brought both prospectors and outlaws alike to New Texas. Converting the worst of the new arrivals into his servants had achieved only limited success, especially since the arrival of the interfering Shaman's protege BraveStarr, but Stampede's latest plan was sure to work - if it wasn't for setbacks like the one he had just suffered.

A cloud of purple smoke rushed into the cavern and halted before the central crater from which Stampede's upper body emerged. After a moment, the cloud condensed into a humanoid form, cowering a little before the obviously enraged Broncosaur.

Tex Hex was a withered shell of the man he had once been. Killed by his own greed in the midst of an act of treachery, he had been resurrected and twisted by Stampede's dark magic into the sorcerous scourge of the New Texas frontier. The most wanted outlaw on the planet, Tex led the Carrion Bunch in enforcing Stampede's will on New Texas. Purple skin stretched tight across his bones, giving him an unsettling skeletal appearance. The black pupils of his otherwise entirely scarlet eyes danced nervously around the walls and floor as Tex searched for some way to deflect his master's wrath, wringing his black Stetson in his crabbed, clawed hands. Clothed in a dark green shirt and crossed black bandoliers, and dark pants beneath pale leather riding chaps, Tex was usually the very picture of a frontier outlaw - when he wasn't cringing in terror of Stampede, that is.

"Y-yes boss?" Tex stammered.

"Take your gang of bumbling incompetents to our newest portal site. Quietly." Stampede growled softly, lowering his head to stare directly at Tex. "The spirits of the Celestial realm will doubtless inform that accursed Shaman of their plight, and I will not have him or his lackeys meddling in my affairs. Not when I am so close."

"But I thought ya said they'd never find out what was goin' on?" Tex blurted thoughtlessly, before cowering again.

Choosing to ignore Tex's impertinence, Stampede replied "Somehow the youngest princess managed to escape my influence. Months of searching and preparation wasted. But it does not matter, I have come too far to be stopped now. I shall simply need to adopt a... less subtle approach. One way or another, she will help me - and the rift will be made stable enough for me to cross. The abundant magic of the Celestial realm will make me unstoppable, and I will at last be free of this infernal prison! Now go," Stampede declared, raising himself back to his full height, "and do not fail me, Tex. I grow tired of your incessant bungling."

Tex bristled. "If it weren't for that blasted Marshal BraveStarr-"

"BraveStarr, BraveStarr, BraveStarr," Stampede repeated derisively, "That's always your pathetic excuse. One mortal man and his ridiculous robot horse! The powers I gave you are more than a match for him. Maybe I should find a more suitable-"

"No, no, that... won't be necessary," Tex said hurriedly, holding his palms out in a pacifying gesture. "I'll take care of BraveStarr myself."

"See that you do. Now get out of my sight before I change my mind."

Chapter 4 - Convergence

View Online

**Rainbow Dash**

The ponies' progress through the chaotic tunnels beneath their camp site was slow. Between dead ends, collapsed passages, gaps that were too narrow to squeeze through, and Pinkie Pie being distracted by the occasional shiny thing, it was difficult to judge exactly how far they had travelled. Between the earth ponies and Rarity they at least had some idea of which direction to go - towards the weirdness - but with Twilight still feeling the effects of the previous evening, any precise direction-finding was out of the group's reach. Unless they needed to go gem hunting or put on a fashion show, a pair of lights was going to be all the two magic-wielding ponies could manage.

The brown rock walls of the tunnels were dry and dusty, the uneven floors strewn with fresh-fallen rubble and grit. The occasional trickles of sandy material falling from the ceiling were a constant reminder of the continued shifting of the ground around them, and Rainbow Dash was trying extremely hard not to think about that - and to ignore the occasional deep grinding rumbles that could be felt through the ground.

Rainbow was not enjoying herself. The tunnels were too dark and small, and they kept having to double back on themselves after running into some obstacle or other they couldn't bypass. It was almost enclosed enough to make her nervous, if she wasn't so awesome. There was barely enough room to hover in the rough passageways, but Dash was doing her best to avoid touching the ground. All four legs hung limp beneath her as she dragged herself through the dust-choked air, giving voice to her boredom.

"Are we there yet?"

"Yep!" Pinkie Pie replied from the front of the group.

Rainbow's mood immediately brightened, and she almost bumped her head on the ceiling as she perked up. "Wait, really?"

"No," Applejack cut in, "now stop askin'."

"So that's not it then?" Pinkie Pie asked, pointing off down a narrow side passage with a hoof and squinting. "It kinda looks like the place to me."

Twilight stuck her head round the corner to see, and immediately recoiled with one hoof held to her head. "Ouch... yeah, that's definitely it."

"Finally," Rainbow exhaled emphatically, "let's get rid of it already."

"I believe I'm with Rainbow Dash on this one, girls," Rarity added. "It's awfully dusty in here, and it doesn't really feel safe."

"Okay, we're going to have to squeeze through here single file," Twilight said. "Applejack, would you mind going first? You'd probably be best to help pull anypony who gets stuck."

"And I'm the biggest," Applejack added with a lopsided grin. Twilight glanced about nervously, stammering that she didn't mean it like that, but Applejack just kept talking over her. "I know ya don't mean nothin' by it, and it's true anyhow, so don't you go apologisin'. It's a sensible plan. I can prob'ly force my way through, and lend a hoof to all y'all once I'm out."

Rainbow Dash eyed the thin passage nervously. If she was being totally honest with herself, she was not liking the idea of squeezing into a space only a fraction wider than her head. She'd probably have to hold her wings straight up over her back to avoid pulling half her feathers out on the walls, too. As the others clustered around the fissure to watch Applejack's progress, Rainbow asked "Is, uh, is that the only way in?"

She had been shooting for disinterested, but Rainbow Dash was pretty sure that had come out sounding way less confident than she intended.

Applejack's voice floated back out of the mouth of the passage, slightly muffled. "What were ya expectin', a door? Come on, it's not-" Applejack broke off. "Aww, ponyfeathers."

"Are you quite alright in there Applejack?" Rarity asked, concerned.

"Darn it. I think I might be stuck." Shuffling sounds and muffled protests from the passage were followed by a satisfied grunt.

"Never mind, false alarm." Applejack's voice sounded louder, and Rainbow realised she must have reached the other side and turned round to speak into the gap. "The swirly thing don't look like it's doin' anythin' untoward, so I guess it's okay to come on through."

That had sounded like a really short trip to Rainbow's ears - definitely less than a minute. She could totally do that. Hay, if AJ could do it then Rainbow 'Danger' Dash definitely could. Dash took a steadying breath and landed, trotting up to the others huddled around the passage. This was going to be a piece of cake.

Rarity tilted her head towards Rainbow Dash, saying "I suppose you'll be wanting to get through next, then?"

Suddenly Rainbow changed her mind, pausing mid-step with one foreleg hanging in the air. "Uhh... you know I normally would, but..." Dash frantically racked her brain for a reason, any reason, not to have to go next.

"Oh!" Twilight cut in, "I get it!"

Rainbow tensed. No way. She's smart, but no way has Twilight figured it out. I've hidden it way too well for that.

"If Rainbow Dash goes last, then we'll always have her on one side and Applejack on the other if anypony gets stuck. That's a great plan Rainbow!"

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash replied hurriedly, "that." She tried to ignore the look Fluttershy was giving her - understanding, but with a hint of reproof. Rainbow knew she should just tell everypony, they were her friends after all. She just never seemed to find the right time.

"Oh, I hadn't considered that," Rarity said, "that's very forward-thinking of you, Rainbow Dash."

A few short minutes later, after a few brief struggles and complaints about dirt, Rarity, Twilight, Pinkie and the group's saddlebags had made it through the fissure. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were left alone on the outside of the passage.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay to go in there?" Fluttershy asked quietly. Rainbow Dash searched her aqua eyes, but found only honest concern in her friend's gaze.

"Go on," Dash said, shooing Fluttershy towards the gap with a forehoof, "I'll be right behind you."

As soon as Fluttershy moved into the narrow fissure out of the main corridor, Rainbow Dash felt anxiety start to build in her chest. Now she was alone in the tunnel, she felt a little closed in even without going into the smaller passageway. Spurred on by the small spike of fear, Rainbow closed her eyes and tried to think happy thoughts as she chased her friend's pink tail into the split in the rock.

As soon as Rainbow Dash entered the fissure, everything went wrong. She had forgotten to lift her wings as she rushed into the narrow gap, and the added width of the feathered appendages at her sides caused the pegasus to get stuck almost immediately. A brief moment of flailing wild panic left Rainbow back where she started, in the corridor outside.

By herself. In the dark.

Rainbow sat on her haunches, staring at the faint glow coming from Rarity and Twilight's horns on the other side of the fissure. It danced and wobbled as Fluttershy pushed her way through, and Dash tried to marshal her ragged breathing. At least she hadn't squealed or anything, if she tried again quickly nopony had to know.

Okay, okay, I can do this. Rainbow banged a hoof against the side of her head. "Wings up this time, dummy," she admonished herself.

Slowly, Rainbow Dash eased her body back into the narrow opening. Her heart rate shot up as she reached the place where she had got stuck the first time, but with her wings up over her back she just got a sharp poke in her left side from a small outcropping. The glow up ahead brightened suddenly as Fluttershy exited the far end of the tunnel, and a moment later her head reappeared looking back towards Rainbow.

Rainbow heard Rarity's voice from the chamber up ahead. "Fluttershy? Is everything alright?"

"Could you bring the light over here please? If you don't mind, it's just that I don't think Rainbow Dash can see very well in there." Fluttershy replied.

"Oh!" Rarity exclaimed, raising her voice to address Rainbow down the passageway, "I am terribly sorry Rainbow Dash, I was rather distracted by this, ahem... whatever-it-is in here."

The sight of her two friends at the far end of the fissure along with the light put the brakes on Rainbow's rising anxiety. Fluttershy, you are a genius, Rainbow thought as she focused on the light ahead and tried to block out the mental and physical pressure of the walls on either side of her, I am gonna have to do something really awesome to make this up to you later. The distance closed one hoof at a time, and suddenly Rainbow Dash found herself emerging into the chamber at the end of the tunnel. Thankfully everypony else was too busy staring at the chamber's contents to notice her flushed face and rapid breathing, and Rainbow got her first look at what they had been searching for.

There was a large round hole, maybe two or three times the height of a pony, hanging in the air in the centre of the cavern. It was difficult to gauge the size because it was a perfectly flat black, and Rainbow's eyes seemed to slide off the thing if she tried to look straight at it. As she moved up to stand with her friends, her route took her slightly around the side of the object. The shift in perspective seemed to suggest the thing was flat, like a mirror hung on an invisible wall.

Rainbow decided to investigate, and walked further around the chamber as the others discussed what to do next. The object did indeed seem to be a flat disc - so flat, in fact, that there was a spot exactly off to the side of it where it couldn't be seen at all.

"Hey, come look at this!" Rainbow Dash said, interrupting the boring conversation her friends were probably having. "This thing is super thin. If you stand in just the right spot here you can't even see it!"

Twilight bolted across to her excitedly. "Really?! Oh, wow! It really is a cross-dimensional rift!"

"A cross-dyed what now?" Rainbow asked as the others gathered around.

"It's a three-dimensional tunnel," Twilight began, eyes dancing with excitement, "but it looks two-dimensional from our perspective because it's been translated so that one of its lengths is pointing through a dimension we can't perceive. The other end of the cylinder could be... well, almost anywhere, actually. Even in another universe entirely."

"Okay," Rainbow Dash said, expression confused, "if I nod and pretend I understood that, will you skip ahead to the bit where you tell us how to break it?"

"I think I'm with Rainbow on this one, Twi," said Applejack. "If it's leakin' dark magic into Equestria then it don't much matter what it is, we just gotta stop it."

"But there could be a whole other universe on the far side! Aren't you curious at all?" Twilight protested. Then she paused, and looked around the group. "Wait a minute, where's... PINKIE, NO!"

Rainbow followed Twilight's gaze to the base of the rift. While they had been arguing, Pinkie Pie had apparently just walked up to the thing and shoved her head into it. Her face reappeared with a pop at Twilight's panicked yell, looking slightly peeved.

"Would you mind keeping it down please?" Pinkie said, "I'm trying to listen."

"Listen to what?" Rarity asked.

"The ponies on the other side, duh."

Twilight went from standing with the group to beside Pinkie so fast Rainbow would have assumed she'd teleported, if her magic wasn't still mostly out of commission. "There's somepony there?! What are they saying?"

"I don't know, I can't hear anything with everypony talking all the time," Pinkie complained.

As Rainbow and her friends gathered around the portal - stopping short of sticking their heads in it at Twilight's urging, despite Pinkie Pie's insistence that it was fine in there - a jagged, violent ripple pulsed out from the centre of the disc along its surface. When it reached the edge, however, it didn't stop. The distortion on the surface of the disc became a warped circle of air, continuing to expand towards the floor, walls and ceiling of the chamber.

As soon as the ripple left the surface of the rift, an echoing boom assaulted the ponies' ears. They all flinched back from the black surface hanging in the air before them, and then the ripple reached the cavern walls. The whole place shook violently, and an ominous rumbling sound came from the passage behind the group. A sheet of rock dust fell from the ceiling, leaving all six ponies blinking and coughing.

Twilight staggered back from the rift, sputtering "I-It's collapsing!"

The sharp edges of the disc began to fray and diffuse into the surrounding air, the formerly sharp black outline becoming a ragged green-tinged cloud.

"In Equestrian, please?" Applejack said between coughs.

Twilight turned to face the group, eyes wide with fear.

"RUN!"

**Thirty-Thirty**

Sometimes, Thirty-Thirty and BraveStarr didn't see eye to eye on the use of violence. The Marshal was always going on about it being a last resort, and sometimes accused Thirty of being too trigger-happy with his Sara-Jane. But even the peace-loving Marshal knew that once the fighting started, you gave it everything you'd got to make sure it was the other guy left lying in the dirt instead of you. BraveStarr might not approve of words like "concussion" and "property damage", but Thirty-Thirty disliked "escape", "resisting arrest" and "horse" just as much.

Right now, at least in Thirty-Thirty's estimation, a fight was about where they were at. Whatever the backstabbing outlaw Tex Hex was up to in the caves north of Fort Kerium, Thirty and his human partner had only just been able to get inside before they were spotted. A quiet bit of investigation had rapidly devolved into a running gun battle with the outlaw gang, as the duo pressed on deeper inside to put an end to whatever scheme the madman had devised. Dashing inside in the initial confusion, BraveStarr and Thirty-Thirty had managed to slip past the majority of Tex's crew. It wouldn't matter that they were surrounded once Tex's plan was dealt with, the Marshal had reasoned; the outlaws would flee as soon as things started to go badly for them.

Thirty-Thirty' mechanical legs strained as he threw himself from a galloping charge into a sideways roll - out of a patch of air that was suddenly bisected by a coruscating lightning bolt. There was only one member of the Carrion Bunch that used a lightning cannon, and Thirty knew he was going to have to fight fire with fire to take Thunder Stick down. The sadistic robot's arm cannon made him a dangerous foe to close with. As the grey-coated stallion came to a halt lying on his back behind a small pile of rubble, he heard his partner's voice from across the small cave.

"You okay big pard?"

"I'm fine, Marshal," Thirty snorted angrily. Being shot at always made him mad. "I'll take this one, keep movin'."

The Equestroid focused on his forelimbs and pushed. With a metallic whine they snapped out, joints reconfiguring as the limbs transformed. Electricity arced across the stallion's body as his scarlet saddle and bridle stowed away, leaving only a few strips of material across his chest and neck to serve as an equipment harness. Shoulders and elbows rotated outward, and the hooves at the end of his forelimbs folded inwards to be replaced by five-fingered metal hands.

Thirty-Thirty immediately put his more flexible reformed shoulder joints to work, and reached behind his back to grip the stock of the sacred gun harnessed to his torso. Sitting up he pulled the weapon free, spinning the huge energy rifle around his right hand before bringing the barrel down onto his left palm with a weighty smack.

"All right Thunder Stick," Thirty yelled across the cavern, "Pre-pare to get STOMPED!" The stallion pumped his weapon's lever action with a berserker grin as his hip joints shifted to allow for bipedal movement.

Throwing his weight sideways again, Thirty rolled from his seated position back into the open - this time lying prone, rifle to his transformed shoulder, rather than upright in a quadrupedal run. Tossing his head to keep his thick white mane out of his face, the stallion sighted in on a flash of silver amongst the rocky debris ahead. Then, Thunder Stick's head dropped back out of sight behind a boulder.

"Oh, ya can't hide from Sara-Jane that easy," Thirty muttered, dropping his aim a fraction and closing his ears as he pulled the trigger.

Energy weapons were normally quiet devices, at least compared to the deafening explosions produced by more traditional projectile weapons. Sara-Jane, however, was something of an exception, producing a distinctive hybrid of the high-pitched whine of a Neutra-laser and the concussive boom of a large-bore shotgun. The sound echoed around the chamber as the biggest hand-held positronic cannon on New Texas bucked violently against Thirty-Thirty's shoulder, producing a bright red energy bolt that shattered the large boulder into powder.

The powdered rock cleared to reveal a dazed, and now very dusty, humanoid robot lying unmoving on the tunnel floor. Thunder Stick's skeletal metallic body and mustard yellow duster coat were left battered and ragged, and there was no trace of the similarly-coloured hat he habitually wore.

Climbing to his hind hooves, Thirty-Thirty stalked across the room towards the downed outlaw. He kept his rifle raised, but was fairly certain Thunder Stick wouldn't be getting up any time soon. Placing one hoof on the robot's shoulder, with a little more force than was probably necessary, Thirty reached down with his left hand. Gripping the thick power cables connecting Thunder Stick's namesake gun arm to the robot's torso, the stallion braced himself and pulled. With a small shower of sparks, the cables tore free of their mountings - it would take a trip to a machine shop before the outlaw would be bothering anyone again.

"Do yerself a favour'n stay down," Thirty growled. "I'll be back fer you later." The stunned robot probably didn't register the words, but saying them made Thirty feel better.

The sounds of more fighting up ahead drew Thirty's attention. It sounded like the Marshal was really getting into it with somebody. Thirty briefly considered swapping back to all fours to run. Not only did it feel more natural, but it was also faster and less awkward than walking upright on two equine hind legs - even if they were cybernetically augmented. The fight sounded pretty close though, and he'd probably need Sara-Jane ready. Plus it wasn't a proper ruckus until he'd punched somebody, and he needed hands for that.

Thirty edged towards the next bend in the tunnel, back pressed against the wall, and peeked his long muzzle around the corner. The tunnel opened out into a much larger cavern, throughout which was scattered a large amount of machinery. Boxy consoles were placed around the outside of the circular chamber at seemingly random intervals, connected together by pipes and cabling. There was a distinct smell of ozone coming from the chamber, causing Thirty-Thirty's muzzle to wrinkle in distaste.

In the centre floated some sort of flat black disc, a little larger than Thirty stood tall - upright as he was now, at least. On the far side of the object, before a much larger console set into the cave wall, BraveStarr was apparently just finishing his latest scuffle with Tex. The Marshal and the black-coated outlaw were locked together, struggling to land a telling blow.

Tex's sunken face twisted into a grimace as he strained against his opponent. "You ain't winnin' this time, BraveStarr!"

As Thirty rolled around the corner and made his way into the room, the Marshal broke Tex's grip on his right arm. With a cry of "Strength of the Bear!" BraveStarr threw a punch that launched the leader of the outlaw crew through the air.

Tex slammed into the large bank of buttons and levers fixed into the wall and burst into a cloud of purple smoke. Thirty cursed internally - this was always how fights with the gang ended. Whenever they started losing, Tex would call on his magical abilities to spirit himself to safety. At least it looked like the impact had hurt; the machinery Tex had hit was ruined. As Thirty moved up to BraveStarr's side, stowing his weapon behind his back again, the abused console let out a huge shower of sparks and most of the lights on its surface died.

Rather than rushing out of the room and retreating to the Hexagon, as it usually did, the purple fog began to churn and writhe - forming a large cloud with something shifting inside it. Suddenly the head and upper body of a huge scaled predator erupted from the fog. A crude metal exoskeleton was strapped around its forelimbs, and connected to a horned metal headpiece that appeared to be fixed into its skull.

"You meddling INSECT!" the apparition bellowed, glowing ectoplasm dripping from its maw. "What have you done?!"

"Put a stop to your latest plan, Stampede," BraveStarr replied with a satisfied smile. "This world is your prison, and there'll be no jailbreaks on my watch."

Stampede snarled, jaws snapping on empty air. "Maybe not this time, Marshal," Stampede growled, spitting out the official title like a curse, "but even if the rift is now doomed to collapse before it is prepared to admit me, it can still be of use... IN RIDDING ME OF YOU!"

The apparition's open jaws unleashed a blazing torrent of energy, aimed straight at BraveStarr's chest. Thirty-Thirty's metal hind hooves cracked the rock beneath him as the stallion's augmented legs threw him sideways, knocking his partner aside.

An instant later the beam struck Thirty in the head and shoulder, sending him flying backward - directly into the collapsing rift.

Chapter 5 - Fantasy Made Reality

View Online

**Twilight Sparkle**

Twilight Sparkle was, for the second time in the last few hours, absolutely terrified. There wasn't time to explain to her friends what exactly a portal like the one in the cave was capable of if it was violently severed from the other side beyond "run very, very fast," but Twilight herself was very much aware of all of the mathematically possible universe-rending cataclysmic things that could happen at any moment.

As a result, it actually felt strangely anticlimactic when, after just a few seconds, the portal vomited forth a giant lightning-wreathed figure and then simply fizzled away into nothing. The new arrival was ejected from the rift with enough force to leave a spiderweb network of cracks and a hefty scorch mark on the wall it hit, and after taking a moment to rein in her friends' flight Twilight moved to investigate.

"What is that? It's positively enormous!" Rarity exclaimed.

Pinkie Pie's eyes almost jumped out of her head. "Wowzers, is that a horse?"

"I'm not sure," Twilight replied uncertainly, tilting her head to one side. "It definitely looks like one, but it's even bigger than any of the portrayals I've seen or read about. Disregarding the size discrepancy-"

"Horses are real?!" Rainbow Dash almost squealed in excitement. "Twi, you told me they weren't real!"

"They aren't. At least, not in our world," Twilight said. "The Headless Horse is about as realistic as they get."

"Oh come on, they were in Daring Do and everything!"

"And just as Daring and I explained to you,"-after you refused to take my word for it and I had to drag her away from her work, again, Twilight added internally-"not everything she puts in those books is real."

"Well is that real enough for you?" Rainbow said, taking to the air to point both forehooves at the fallen creature. "Look at the size of it, it's gotta be at least twice as awesome as the ones Daring took on!"

"I don't know what this is exactly, but it's not some creature out of ancient myth. Horses are a fictional hippomorphic personification of the baser, more animalistic parts of pony nature - a bit bigger, a bit stronger, a bit more primitive and brutal."

Typically, Rainbow Dash missed the point entirely. "What do hippos have to do with anything?"

Twilight sighed in resigned exasperation and tried to remember to use smaller words. "Hippomorphic means pony-shaped."

"Then why didn't you just say pony-shaped? It's not even like that other word is shorter or anything. Plus I understand what pony-shaped means."

"That's not the poi-" Twilight stopped and rubbed at her temple with a hoof. "Forget it."

"So this is a horse. They're real?" Dash persisted.

It certainly seemed like a giant horse to Twilight, even if she was reluctant to slap a mythological label - and all the baggage that came with it - on the alien creature. The thing was huge, the top of its barrel reaching up to her chin even as it lay on its side. Up on its hooves it would be downright intimidating. Probably tall enough to stand over any of the ponies around it without their backs touching its belly. It had a light grey coat, and a long thick white mane and tail. The more wedge-shaped head and pronounced muzzle typically portrayed in images of the beasts of legend was clearly visible, and large flat teeth could be seen in its open mouth. It appeared to be unconscious, lying on its side with its back towards them and its tongue lolling out onto the floor. There was a large red saddle strapped to the horse's back - Twilight guessed it might be cold wherever it was it had come from, but there was something that felt wrong about the design. She decided to tag that onto the bottom of the long list of strange things and move on to a closer inspection.

"Well it superficially resembles a horse, and we don't exactly have another name for it. I suppose you can call it a horse if you like," Twilight said absently. "Just don't assume it's actually going to be anything like the legends."

Rainbow Dash pumped a hoof in celebration. "I've met a real live horse. Ha! Awesome!"

"D-Do you think it's okay?" Fluttershy asked from behind Applejack. "It hit the wall really hard..."

"Eh, it's still breathing. I've hit walls way harder than that," Rainbow Dash proclaimed proudly, striking what Twilight assumed was meant to be a heroic pose, "and I'm fine."

"That ain't somethin' to be proud of, RD," Applejack noted.

"It's not a pegasus, and it's much bigger and heavier than you are Rainbow," Fluttershy explained. "That makes these kinds of injuries much more dangerous - without magical protection, creatures bigger than insects can really hurt themselves with a crash like that!"

"It's mostly a question of inherent magical ability and surface area to volume ratios-" Twilight began, pausing as she began to circle around to the front of the creature to get a look at its legs and belly. Articulated metal plates covered the horse's limbs, from intricate banded segments over the tops of its hooves all the way to large flat pieces over its shoulders and hindquarters. Twilight was also struck by how thoroughly strapped down the saddle was. Rather than a simple belt running across the belly, there were multiple thick straps secured with what looked like heavy metal links.

"Wow. I think this guy might be a guard or something."

"Guy? It's male?" Pinkie asked, dropping the pencil she had been holding in her mouth. She was apparently taking notes on something, as a small pad lay on the floor in front of her. Twilight was reasonably certain that, knowing Pinkie, her writings only related to what was actually noteworthy about the situation in the most tangential of fashions.

"Yes, he's a stallion," Twilight went on, "There's plate armour on his legs, and a badge pinned to some sort of equipment rig on his chest. Can't read it from this far away, but it's not too different from a sheriff's star." Twilight edged a little closer, approaching the prone giant's head.

Now Twilight was puzzled by something else. If he's an earth pony - earth horse, or whatever they call them - then how does he get that saddle on and off? There's no way he could reach half the buckles with his mouth, and any clasp designed to hold armour on in combat wouldn't be easily opened by hoof.

Of course he could be helped in and out of it by somepony else, but that seemed more than a little impractical to Twilight. Wondering if perhaps she had missed a horn beneath the thick shock of white mane atop the giant's head, Twilight decided to risk moving a little closer for another look.

She didn't see any evidence of a horn, or anything similar, but it looked as if the horse was wearing some kind of thin metal headdress. It was a gold-coloured wire affair, with a swept-back vertical arm sticking up from a half-circle band mostly hidden beneath the thick mane.

Well, Twilight thought, at least if it has armour and jewellery on it's probably intelligent. Maybe I can ask him about it when he wakes up.

"Do be careful Twilight," Rarity urged, "That brute did emerge from a portal that was leaking dark magic after all."

"He's wearing what looks like a metal headdress too," Twilight continued, not really listening as she tried to take in every detail. "Doesn't look ornamental, but it wouldn't do much good as armour either. Maybe that..." Twilight trailed off as she moved even closer, and spotted something else the ground that had been hidden by the creature's forelegs. There was an expanding pool of red staining the ground, spreading from beneath the giant's shoulder.

"...That is a lot of blood."

Fluttershy gasped and bolted out from behind Applejack to stand beside Twilight. She took one look at the blood on the rocky floor, and immediately ran to fetch her saddlebags from beside the narrow entryway.

"Roll him onto his back, quickly!" Fluttershy said at a volume that, for her at least, was practically shouting. "Twilight, Rarity, can you figure out how to get the armour off his leg so I can get a better look at it?"

"I can't do that and keep this light on as well," Rarity said, "we can't help him at all in the dark."

Twilight gritted her teeth as Pinkie, Applejack and Rainbow Dash helped Fluttershy roll the heavy creature onto its back, exposing the ragged wound just behind the metal plate covering its right shoulder. Multi-casting was going to hurt, but she had to start using magic again soon or she was going to go nuts.

"I'll see what I can do," she said, gingerly reaching out with her magic. She tried to ignore the occasional stab of pain from her horn as she kept her own light going at the same time. The moment she grabbed onto one of the pieces of metal covering the giant's abused shoulder, however, the situation became more complicated.

"Fluttershy? It's not armour," Twilight said slowly. "That's his leg."

"W-What?" Fluttershy stopped pulling supplies out of her bags, her nervous stammering back in full force as she, and the other members of the group, gave voice to their confusion.

Twilight quickly checked the other three to make sure before she spoke, explaining slowly as she pieced the ideas together in her own head. "None of it is armour, those are his actual legs. The metal isn't strapped to him, it's a part of him. He certainly considers it a part of his body, the external plates are repelling magic in the same way anypony else's skin does. We'd need an x-ray, or a doctor and some proper medical magic to get a look inside."

This is crazy, Twilight thought, the only reason somepony would need something like this done...

"He must have been in some sort of horrible accident some time in the past, and-" Twilight swallowed nervously "-lost his legs. I think they're prosthetics. Artificial legs," she clarified, before anypony asked what 'prosthetic' meant.

What in the world could inflict those kinds of injuries on a creature this size? And how does somepony with four prosthetic legs even manage to walk?

Twilight glanced around at her friends, and it seemed like they were all asking themselves the same question. Only Fluttershy was otherwise occupied, having returned to busily applying what medical supplies she had to the best of her ability.

Rainbow Dash broke the silence first. "Maybe he was, like, trying to escape or something. You know, through the portal-y thing. I mean, how bad's the place he came from gotta be to do that to somepony?"

"There ain't much point fussin' about that now. We'll have to wait 'till he wakes up an' ask 'im," Applejack commented. "But first, we gotta deal with the fresh scrapes he picked up on the way here."

"If we even can ask him, darling," Rarity cautioned, "I'm hardly familiar with other worlds and universes, but I doubt they speak Equestrian there."

Pinkie Pie let out a loud gasp, then exclaimed "Oh my gosh! I totally hadn't thought of that! I'm gonna have to get really creative with the banners now..."

"Pinkie Pie, whatever are you talking about?" Rarity asked, looking askance at the earth pony. Pinkie was still seated behind a notepad, but had dropped her pencil again.

"Well the first ever 'Welcome to the universe' party was going to be tough enough as it is, but I hadn't even thought that he might not speak our language! Maybe I can do something with pictures. Wait! Hold on to your hooves..."

Applejack pulled her hat down over her eyes with a hoof, mumbling something Twilight didn't quite catch under her breath.

"I am just about to be BRILLIANT!" Pinkie finished triumphantly.

"And what amazin' idea has Chancellor Puddin'head come up with this time?" Applejack asked sceptically.

"We can do the entire party..." Pinkie Pie began slowly, as if explaining a complex scheme, "Stay with me girls, this is great. We can do the whole thing," she paused for dramatic effect before finishing in the hushed tones of a pony making a grand revelation, "in charades."

"I know, I know, I even surprised myself at first!" Pinkie continued as her friends' brains stalled attempting to process what had just been said. Only Fluttershy kept moving, still distracted as she bandaged up the horse's injury.

"Wha... how would that- it's completely impractical, you wouldn't even..." Twilight stammered before collapsing onto her haunches and rapidly shaking her head to clear it. "What? Ow!" Twilight folded her hooves over her still-sensitive head, immediately regretting shaking it so hard.

"As interesting as that is, I believe we have a more pressing issue at hoof," said Rarity, pointing to the narrow passageway they had squeezed through to enter the cave. "How are we going to get him out of here?"

**Thirty-Thirty**

Thirty-Thirty had regained consciousness. He could tell by how much it hurt.

It felt like someone had set his right shoulder on fire, and for some reason he could taste dirt. He hadn't been hit that hard since BraveStarr had smashed him through a wall then sucker-punched him unconscious during their first meeting.

The name triggered something in his brain, and the memory of what had just happened leapt to the front of his mind. Still groggy, Thirty tried to roll to his hooves before being rudely reminded that his shoulder was hurt. The stallion returned to lying on his back with a pained whinny, before opening his eyes.

"Marshal? Are you..." Thirty trailed off as the cave around him came into focus. It didn't look much like the one he'd been in a moment ago - there was no sign of the machinery that had been scattered everywhere, and the whole place seemed to be smaller. A glimpse of a familiar shade of yellow drew Thirty's attention, and then the thing that definitely wasn't his partner's uniform drove most of the coherent thoughts from his head.

There was a tiny filly stood just a couple of feet from him.

That wasn't possible, he'd only ever seen equines younger than himself in pictures. She was so small and fragile-looking. She couldn't be more than a couple of years old, which meant parents, a family... maybe even a whole other tribe. Thirty-Thirty stared at the impossible filly in stunned incomprehension, unable to really process what he was seeing.

After a few moments, other things started to clamour for Thirty's attention. Not only was this tiny equine yellow with a pink mane and tail, she had an oddly short muzzle and huge eyes. Her legs were larger than he would have expected for a filly as well. Rather than being thin, unsteady things, they looked to be fully developed - maybe even a little chubby, looked at on the same miniaturised scale as the rest of her.

She also had, of all things, a pair of feathered wings at her sides. Who would do something like that to a child? Mods like that were completely impractical - you'd never be able to actually fly with them, and adding extra limbs to a nervous system just didn't work in practice. Not that they even looked artificial, almost as if they were a natural part of her body. Pegasus was a popular legend of course, who wouldn't want to be able to fly, but-

The filly let out a pitiful little squeak and shrank back, hiding part of her face behind the long strands of her pastel pink mane. Thirty-Thirty was used to people being intimidated by his size and unusual appearance, but he still felt a little guilty about scaring a child. A new wave of pain shot through his shoulder as he tried to reach out to the smaller equine, and Thirty let out another pained sound before glancing down at himself. His body had apparently shifted back when he got hit, as he had the usual four hooves and no hands again. There were cloth bandages wrapped over and around his chest, holding a thick pad tightly to his right side just behind his shoulder - and there was a pretty large patch of his coat matted down with sticky drying blood around it. It only piled more absurdities on an already strange situation, but it seemed like the little filly had patched him up somehow.

Thirty's suspicions were confirmed when he returned his gaze to the filly. She had moved closer again, and now held a small tape dispenser in her mouth. A pair of miniature saddlebags lay open on the ground behind her, and Thirty could see what looked like medical supplies inside - all of which seemed to be as small as the filly was. There were even some tiny wrappers lying around on the ground that had probably held bandages. With the difference in their sizes, she'd likely emptied the whole kit just to get him fixed up. At least the little aid kit had actual supplies in it, and not toy versions. The thought would have counted, sure, but good intentions didn't do much for blood loss.

Tentatively, the small yellow equine moved up to Thirty's injured shoulder and placed the dispenser on the ground. She glanced at him nervously, and pointed a hoof at the bandages before mumbling something that the stallion simultaneously did and didn't understand. The words didn't mean anything to him, but there was something about the message that got across anyway. Thirty moving around had loosened the bandages, and ~Fluttershy~ was going to fix it. He just had to hold still for a second.

What kinda name is '~Fluttershy~', anyway?

It was only then that the question of how exactly he suddenly knew what the small equine's name was - in a language he wasn't sure he could even pronounce, let alone understand - popped into Thirty's head. Then ~Fluttershy~ yanked on the bandages around his shoulder with her teeth.

By the time the pain settled down again, ~Fluttershy~ had the tape dispenser back in her mouth and was using it to re-secure the bandages held together by her hooves. Thirty stared in amazement at the filly's yellow feathered wings, now spread wide for balance as she left all her weight on her hind hooves to work. They really did look completely natural, although the stallion couldn't see how they could serve any purpose beyond that for which they were currently being used. Even gliding with them would probably be dangerous - birds that weighed only a few pounds needed wings that size to stay airborne, there was no way they could keep something equine in the air. Even if she was tiny, ~Fluttershy~ had to weigh far more than a bird. Her weight against his shoulder had seemed about right for something her size, at least until she'd settled her weight back onto her rear hooves.

Thirty's small companion also seemed to have some sort of printed design at the top of her thigh. Three butterflies; with blue bodies, and wings the same pale pink shade as her mane and tail. He wasn't sure what that might signify - his own thigh was bare metal at that point, and as far as he knew there wasn't anything particularly special about it.

Probably just a personal thing, he thought. Maybe she really likes butterflies.

The yellow filly dropped back to all fours and folded her wings to her sides, before looking up at him quizzically. Thirty thought she looked adorable, head tilted to one side with the little tape dispenser hanging out of her mouth, then realised she probably wanted to know if he was okay now she was done.

"Thanks, missy," Thirty said quietly, "Looks like ya took good care o'me while I was out."

~Fluttershy~'s ears twitched as he spoke, confusion briefly passing over her features. Then she shrank back behind her mane, a shy smile on her muzzle.

The moment was interrupted by a high-pitched voice, again speaking in a language Thirty couldn't understand. This time he didn't get any clue as to what might have been said, although he thought he caught his small friend's name in there somewhere. Thirty realised he'd focused almost entirely on ~Fluttershy~ after seeing her, so amazed was he that she even existed at all. Apparently she wasn't alone.

If the four other small brightly-coloured equines standing off to the other side of him hadn't been enough to completely wreck Thirty-Thirty's tentative grasp on events, the fifth one flying above his head definitely did it. The stallion's exhausted brain threw up its metaphorical arms in disgust, and he slipped back into unconsciousness.

**Fluttershy**

Fluttershy squeaked in surprise and, to her embarrassment, dropped the tape dispenser. Leaving it where it fell, she dashed back to her patient's side as he fainted. After a few panicked moments where she was terrified she'd done something wrong, Fluttershy relaxed a little.

"I think he's still pretty tired out," she said, raising her voice to an uncomfortably loud level to make sure everypony could hear. "He lost quite a bit of blood, and from how surprised he seemed to be to see me I don't think he was quite ready for all of you as well."

"Whaddaya mean, 'ready fer us'?" Applejack asked, "We ain't the ones that look funny."

"Well, we kind of are," Twilight explained, "at least to him. From his perspective we're the ones that aren't normal. He just woke up injured in a room full of aliens, I'd say he took it pretty well."

That made a little swell of happiness rise in Flutteshy's chest. He really had seemed nice, even if he was big and scary. Sort of like Mister Bear, really, although if he'd been injured in a room full of ponies it might have gone a little differently. This stallion was just hurt and confused, all he'd needed was a bit of care and kindness.

"Now that I look at it," Rarity said thoughtfully, "that saddle he's wearing is awfully strange."

"It's just a saddle," Rainbow Dash interrupted, "what's weird about that? Twi's got one, and I'm pretty sure there's about a million in your shop."

Fluttershy had to agree with Rainbow Dash, but then again pegasi didn't have much cause to wear saddles. Or ability to, unless they were designed with wings in mind. Cold didn't bother them much, and most clothing was pretty impractical in flight. Even though she didn't fly much, Fluttershy still avoided clothing for the most part - it tended to draw attention, and she'd gotten more than enough of that for one lifetime after Rarity had kick-started her short-lived modelling career.

"Yes, and that's exactly it. Even those are quite a challenge to don and remove without magic, and this one seems to be much more functional than fashionable. See how firmly it's strapped on?" Rarity said, indicating the large gold-coloured objects at the crossing points of the various straps that held the garment firmly in place on the giant's back. "Probably to keep it secure during whatever work this gentlecolt does. I don't see a horn anywhere, and presumably those artificial legs aren't as dexterous as, well, actual ones. Even if they were I doubt he'd be able to put this on himself, or take it off. In fact," she continued, a blue glow encompassing her horn, "I'm not sure if..."

A corresponding blue glow surrounded one of the metallic attachment points for the saddle's straps, then fizzled out. Rarity let out a short gasp, raising a hoof to her mouth. "Oh my. I... I don't think it's actually possible to take it off at all."

Fluttershy wasn't sure what made Rarity more upset - the prospect that somepony had forced the saddle onto the stallion, or the thought of only having one piece of clothing that couldn't be changed.

Twilight moved up to stand next to Rarity. "You mean it's the same as his legs?" She asked. "That doesn't make any sense, why would anypony permanently attach a piece of clothing like that?"

"So what're we gonna do now?" Pinkie Pie interrupted cheerfully. "We saved the day by stopping the dark magic getting into Equestria, and we made a new friend, so... party?"

"All he did was crash into a wall and bleed everywhere. I don't think he exactly qualifies as a friend just yet," Rainbow Dash commented, dropping back to the ground and walking over. "Still, we should probably get him out of here and into a hospital or something while we figure out what the hay is going on. Heh, I knew horses were real. This is gonna be so cool."

"And I'm going to have a doozy of a letter to write to Princess Celestia to explain all of this," Twilight said.

Fluttershy spoke up tentatively, "I know Rarity already mentioned it but, um, everypony seems to have forgotten again, so... how are we going to get him out through that passageway?"

"That would indeed be quite the feat, as it appears to have collapsed entirely during the events of the last few minutes," a shadowed area behind a scattering of smaller boulders declared, as a pair of turquoise eyes appeared within. Fluttershy started and took several steps back. She recognised that voice.

"'Tis fortunate that your newfound companion's... unique dreams caught Our attention," the midnight-blue alicorn continued as she stepped into the light, "else it may have been some time before anypony thought to come looking for you all."

Fluttershy didn't want to criticise anypony, but if she was going to then she'd probably tell Princess Luna to be a lot less scary. Life was frightening enough without ponies deliberately hiding in the dark and talking far too loud. The princess did seem to be working on the volume thing though. Hopefully she wouldn't want any more lessons, Fluttershy had had quite enough crushing hugs from excitable immortals for one lifetime.

"Princess Luna!" Twilight exclaimed, cantering over to her royal compatriot as her fellows bowed, "Can you get us out of here?"

"Conveying you all back to Canterlot with me is, alas, beyond me," Luna replied, glancing down briefly. "However I can certainly bring you and your companions to your encampment above before I return to inform my sister of what has transpired here. I will dispatch some of Our-" Luna caught herself and stomped a forehoof on the ground in frustration before continuing, "some of my guards to render assistance in transporting our visitor to a more hospitable location once I have done so. Is this acceptable?"

Applejack tipped her hat back with a hoof before addressing the Lunar diarch. "That'd be appreciated for sure, Princess."

"We'll take good care of him until then," Twilight added.

Fluttershy had wanted to add something, but was far too nervous of Luna to say anything - so she was grateful that Twilight had spoken her mind for her. She did decide to risk a small nod at the comment though. Hopefully that wouldn't draw too much attention.

"Very well then," Luna said, smiling, "gather round and we shall be on our way."

Fluttershy rushed to gather up all the rubbish she had left scattered around while unwrapping bandages and other supplies, dropping it all back in her saddlebags. It wouldn't do to leave all of it lying around where some critter might find it, medical waste wasn't exactly the best thing for them to eat or play with - even if it was only a few wrappers. As she cleared up, a suspicious thought briefly crossed her mind. Princess Luna's appearance seemed awfully convenient, almost as if she'd been watching them or known about what was going to happen in advance.

Dismissing it as a happy coincidence - after all, everypony was due some good luck after the day they'd had - Fluttershy joined the circle around the unconscious newcomer. She closed her eyes and tried really, really hard not to be scared as the shadows in the cavern rose to swallow them all.

Chapter 6 - An Equestroid in Equestria

View Online

**Twilight Sparkle**

Twilight realised something strange was going on as soon as the enveloping shadows did not immediately recede from her vision. After a moment's consultation of her magical senses, she realised that the flow of time had stopped entirely - at least, for everypony else within the spell at any rate.

That meant Luna wanted a private conversation; and given what had happened to her just a few hours before, Twilight was pretty sure she knew what it was going to be about. She had slept since then, however short and fitful it might have been. Almost certainly dreamed about what had happened, if Luna or Celestia hadn't sensed it in some other way.

Now that it came to it, the anxiety she had been trying to ignore abated. The time for hiding was over. She wouldn't have to work up the courage to confess, and look her mentor in the eye at moment Princess Celestia's trust in her shattered. They already knew, and her punishment had arrived.

The tone of the veiling shadows altered slightly as a few pinpricks of light appeared in the distance. As more of them appeared, Twilight realised she could see stars in all directions, above and below. Her hooves were just barely visible under her in the faint light - standing on nothing.

Luna's form appeared out of the darkness between stars in front of her, stepping forward with an expression of surprise just visible in the starlight.

"Twilight, you're not..." Luna visibly sagged, before wrapping up the younger alicorn in a bonecrushing hug. "Oh, thank goodness," the Lunar diarch exhaled emphatically as she loosened her grip, "Tia will be so relieved. We would have come together, but she could not stand the thought of facing the beast while it was wearing your face. Hopefully this glorious piece of good fortune will help allay her guilt, as well."

"I'm not sure I understand," Twilight said carefully, "what exactly is going on?"

"You must have noticed the assault that was made upon you earlier this night?" Luna asked, standing back and looking a little confused herself. "Had my sister realised that there was a malicious entity of that calibre behind the rift she would never have sent you here. You should not have been exposed to anything like that kind of power at your age. Celestia was beside herself when we realised what it had... well, evidently tried and failed to do to you, but we were not aware of that happy circumstance at the time. I was intending to use this opportunity to take the foul thing unawares and free you, before anypony was the wiser. How in the world did you escape him?"

Twilight was so confused that everything fell out of her mouth before she could think. "I don't think there was any sort of creature behind what happened. I'd been tapping into little bits of dark magic all day, just like I practised, but by the evening it was starting to get to me. I was thinking and wanting things that were just... wrong. I should have been more careful, paid attention to the signs like I was told, but-" Twilight paused, tears welling in her eyes, and forced herself to finish what she had started. "Everypony tried to calm me down and then I lost control. Again," she said quietly, "but this time I wasn't just going to turn a few ponies into potted plants and supercharge a dragon egg, I was going to do something terrible. Then Rainbow Dash smacked me in the horn and stopped me. If she hadn't done that, I'd have-"

"Twilight Sparkle," Luna declared firmly, "you are not to blame for what transpired, regardless of what you may think. Trust that I speak from experience when I tell you that you did not fall. You were pushed." Luna's tone softened as she continued, "There was an adversary at work here against which none of you could hope to contend alone, and yet you and your friends have emerged victorious once again. The method used hardly matters if you are all safe. Do not blame yourself for this, you simply lacked the experience with dark magic necessary to detect and repel the thoughts he was forcing into your mind." Luna bowed her head. "I am sorry. Celestia and I have both failed you in exposing you to a risk like this."

"But how can you know it wasn't me?" Twilight asked, despondent. I remember thinking those things, and feeling good doing it.

For a brief instant, the starlight dimmed and Luna's shadowed form grew. Her turquoise irises flashed with an inner light, turning a colder shade of teal as their pupils contracted to vertical slits. Then, as soon as it had come, the shade was gone.

"Trust me," Luna said, embracing the younger alicorn once more, "I know."

**Rainbow Dash**

She wasn't too sure about the whole jumping-through-shadows thing - it was cool, but also a little on the creepy side - but Rainbow Dash was definitely down with not being in a cave any more. Doubly so because she hadn't had to go back through that stupid tiny passageway. Although, now she thought about it, that prospect didn't seem to bother her as much as it had a few minutes ago. Maybe there was something to that whole mood-influencing thing Twi had been going on about.

"Fresh air!" she whooped, launching herself into the sky for a quick loop or two. It was now mid-morning on the surface, and there were a few loose clouds hanging around. Some lazy weatherpony in Appleloosa had probably just shoved them out into the desert instead of breaking them up properly.

Silver lining though, she thought, free pillows for Rainbow Dash!

There weren't any decent trees around in the rocky wilderness, so a low-flying cloud would have to do for the time being. Somepony had said something about waiting for some guards or whatever, and then Rainbow had stopped listening, but if they had to wait for something then it sounded like it was naptime.

Rainbow plopped down gratefully onto the closest cloud, gripping her prize loosely with her spread legs as she used her wings to push it back towards the group on the ground.

Dark magic thingy fixed up, not in a stupid cave, sort of met a real live horse, found a loose cloud to nap on... yep. Everything's coming up Dash!

As Rainbow drifted back into earshot of her friends, she caught the tail end of Twilight still talking to Princes Luna about something.

"Before you go, if you don't mind my asking," Twilight was saying, "I know that it's a private thing, but did you learn anything about our visitor from his dreams? Should we be worried about him? I mean, he didn't seem dangerous when Fluttershy was bandaging him up but..." Twilight looked towards the creature's prone form. "He is pretty large, and after what you said about the thing on the other side of the portal I-" She paused, turning back to Luna. "You don't seem too concerned about leaving him with us."

Princess Luna's brow furrowed, her star-studded ethereal mane drawing in a little closer to her body. "You are correct that a pony's dreams are a very personal and private thing, Twilight Sparkle," she replied, voice free of rebuke, "but I understand your concern. Although our mysterious companion's mind is unfamiliar to me, I did manage to glimpse a few things. I cannot in good conscience repeat what I have learned by those means, but I do not think he would begrudge me telling you that he is both opposed to that entity and thoroughly committed to his friends."

"Oh. Oh, good!" Twilight said, happily. "So he's not dangerous then?"

"I did not say that, Twilight Sparkle," Princess Luna warned. "He upholds the law in a harsh world, and is most assuredly dangerous. There may also be some..." Luna paused, as if looking for the right word, before a slightly mischievous grin tweaked one corner of her mouth, "'fun' in store for you and him both when he wakes. But he is an honourable stallion. If you give him no cause for it then there will be no conflict, although I believe he phrases the sentiment somewhat differently."

"So," Applejack said thoughtfully, "Don't start none, won't be none? Sounds fine t'me."

Rainbow Dash suddenly saw the family resemblance between Princess Luna and her sister as the small grin on the alicorn's face bloomed into a full 'I know something you don't know' smirk.

"If there is nothing else, then I should really be heading back to Canterlot," Luna said, putting the conversation back on track. "It might be best if our guest awakens here in slightly more familiar surroundings before being exposed to any more new and strange things. I assume you are all eager to learn more about him, but he will likely desire to be returned home in short order. Our curiosity can wait until he recovers, and should not take precedence over our efforts to send him home again. My sister and I shall begin the necessary investigations posthaste."

"Oh pickles, that's gonna make sorting the party out even harder," Pinkie complained, before stifling a giggle. "Heehee, pickles."

"Thank you Luna," Twilight cut in, trying to ignore Pinkie, "that sounds great. Thanks again for getting us out of that cave. And, you know... the other thing."

"Think nothing of it Twilight Sparkle, I am relieved that talking was the only thing for which I was required. If you feel the need to speak more of what happened, then I will be more than happy to listen."

Still belly down on her cloud just above the group, head hanging over the edge, Rainbow Dash added her own thanks to to round that followed. It was hard to tell but she thought Princess Luna might have been blushing a little when she made her final farewell. Rainbow noted that Luna seemed to have gotten over the worst of the thee-ing and thou-ing stuff too, although she thought that had been sort of cool in its own way.

I still owe her one pranking for last Nightmare Night though.

"Well, I for one am glad that's over," Rarity declared once Luna was on her way. "Hopefully we won't have to wait too long, all this dust is positively ruining my coiffure. And speaking of ruined," she went on, looking around the campsite, "we should probably do something about this mess." A dust-streaked curl of her purple mane flopped in front of her face, and Rainbow Dash was pretty sure Rarity turned just a little bit whiter. "Once I've done something about that," the unicorn said shakily, staring slightly cross-eyed at her dishevelled mane.

The camp didn't look all that bad to Rainbow Dash. Sure, her tent was in a hole, but that wouldn't take long to fix. Plus, she wasn't going to need the tent until it got dark again anyway, and it was the middle of the morning.

"Sounds like a plan t'me," Applejack agreed, as Rarity fled wailing into her tent. "Sun's up, and we got a job to do. Might as well get to it."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. This was exactly why she avoided Sweet Apple Acres in the mornings. Sure, the trees were comfortable - right up until somepony bucked you out of them for being 'lazy', Still, sounded like it was camp tidying time. As much as the timing was annoying, Rainbow wasn't going to sit about while her friends did all the work. Even if the cloud was super comfy. With one last longing glance at her perch, Rainbow headed down to her capsized tent.

Applejack had already kicked free the pegs and grabbed the nearest end of the blue-and-yellow tent to begin dragging it out of the hole when Dash arrived. The sight of the undermined end of the tent - still full of the tangle of blankets and other stuff that had fallen into it - snagging and catching on the ground gave Rainbow an idea.

"Hey, AJ, hold up a sec." Swooping to the far end of the tent, Rainbow grabbed the peak and lifted. Wings straining, she managed to get the collapsed portion of the tent on a level with the rest of it. "Ugh," Rainbow grunted in complaint, "is somepony still in here? This thing is heavy. 'Kay, try now."

Without the weighted section dragging up the slope out of the sinkhole, moving the tent proved a simple task for the pair. "Thanks for the spot RD," Applejack said, spitting out the corner of the tent she'd been tugging on, "Ya need a hoof sortin' out the insides?"

Rainbow waved a hoof dismissively. "Nah, I'm good. Where's Fluttershy gone? Half the stuff in there is hers, we should probably sort it out together."

Looking back towards the rest of the encampment, it seemed the others had been occupied with building a makeshift shelter for their extra-large extra body. A couple of piles of rocks served as supports for the picnic blanket. With two corners held down to the ground by a couple more stones, and two tucked into the tops of the rock piles, the blanket formed a simple but effective little shelter that was just about big enough for the huge stallion to lie down in. Rainbow assumed that he had proved too heavy for the others to manage, as the impromptu shelter had been built around him where he lay.

Pinkie Pie had produced a strawberry cupcake from only Celestia knew where, and left it on a small flat rock near the horse's head. It looked almost comically small next to him, but Rainbow guessed he'd appreciate it anyway. She definitely liked waking up to cupcakes when she'd had a bad day, even if it was a mystery how Pinkie got them into her cloud house in the middle of the night without waking her up[1].

[1] The cupcake-sized holes in her walls had almost always closed up by the time she awoke, and Dash could sleep through much worse than the sound of distant cannon fire. The real trick, as far as Pinkie was concerned, was making sure the cupcakes only penetrated the one wall - several ponies in the countryside outside Ponyville had been unexpectedly assaulted with cake in the middle of the night before she'd figured that one out. Sub-calibre CPCBC (Cloud-Piercing Confectionery, Baking Cased) munitions were a surprisingly underdeveloped facet of bakery, but Pinkie never let things like that get in the way of cheering her friends up.

Fluttershy was fussing over the stallion's bandaged shoulder, so Rainbow landed nearby to wait while she did her thing. Pinkie seemed to have disappeared, and Twilight was sat off by herself. The alicorn looked to be doing some kind of magic exercises - levitating small rocks for a few seconds before dropping them again. Dash decided not to bother her friend, thinking she'd done enough interfering with Twilight and her magic stuff for a while. Applejack sauntering up from behind her to enquire about their guest pulled Rainbow out of her brief moment of introspection.

"So how's the big guy doin'?"

"I think he's okay," Fluttershy replied uncertainly, "I wish I understood what was going on with his legs though. I don't even know where to start with checking if there's anything wrong with them. I tried moving them around a little, but they're really heavy - and I don't want to risk hurting him when I don't know what I'm doing."

Rainbow stepped a little closer to the oversized stallion, examining the large metal plates covering his thigh. "Do you think they work? I mean, if they're just metal legs, then how does he even stand up or walk around? Wouldn't all these joints just fold up? And speaking of weird stuff," Rainbow went on, glancing at the top of the stallion's hind leg, "where's his cutie mark?"

"Maybe giant horses don't get cutie marks," Applejack offered. "Seein' as how the alternative is he's a young colt, and the adults are even bigger, I'm gonna hope it's that. He's plenty big enough as it is."

"He's extremely unlikely to be a foal," Twilight interjected, walking up to join the group. "The artificial parts wouldn't grow along with him, so there's no way anypony would attach anything that permanently to somepony that was still growing. Plus Princess Luna referred to him as a stallion and not a colt, unless that was what she was being all mysterious about. If I had more of my books with me I could probably find a medical spell that would let me take a look at the insides of his legs, but as it is I guess we'll just have to hope for the best. Besides, I'm not sure if we'd be able to fix anything ourselves if we did know they were damaged somehow. Even if they're just solid metal with hinged joints we'd probably need a forge and an armourer to do anything useful, and I guess they're more complicated than that. Wouldn't be much use if they just folded up under him when he stood up."

"He did try to reach out to me at one point when he woke up," Fluttershy said. "He stopped pretty quickly because of his shoulder, but it certainly looked like he can move them around somehow."

Applejack turned to Twilight, asking "So they ain't magic then? I just sorta assumed they'd be some kinda enchanted thing. Stuff that complicated usually is."

Twilight started to answer in the negative, then paused. "Wait a second... I didn't pick anything up when I tried grabbing them, but that might actually be because the metal on the outside is some kind of magical nullifier!" Twilight gently bonked herself on the head with a hoof. "Of course! That makes so much more sense. Applejack, you're a genius!"

Rainbow Dash glanced at Fluttershy and Applejack, and recognised the same lack of understanding she was feeling. Well, if nopony else is going to say it...

"How exactly?" Rainbow asked, resigned to the lengthy and boring explanation - which she probably wouldn't understand either - that would inevitably follow.

Twilight's self-satisfied grin at figuring out a potential solution to a difficult problem widened into a full smile as she launched into an explanation. "Look at where the metal parts stop - none of them are connected, each of the limbs is separate from the others. Four strongly enchanted objects that close together would be leaking magic all over the place and causing all sorts of undesirable resonance effects. You'd have to shield and contain each one to make sure they would all keep working, leaving a small opening at the top of each leg to connect it to his body!"

Twilight almost skipped towards the sleeping giant, her horn lighting as she began examining his metallic legs in as much detail as she could from the outside. "Oh, this is simply amazing! It's almost inconceivable that somepony could build a set of enchantments this complex, but when you see it and stop to think about it it's so... so obvious," Twilight trailed off weakly. "And so totally wrong," she went on after a moment in a disappointed tone, sitting down on the rocky ground. "It's not that at all, there's no magical leakage anywhere. I should be able to pick up the enchantments from some angle, wherever it connects to his body, but... nothing."

Then, Twilight's pout turned into a fresh smile. "Well, that hypothesis is a bust, but that means the truth has got to be that much more fascinating!" she said happily, rubbing her forehooves together. "You just wait till I get you back to my lab, mister. Then it's time for science!"

Rainbow Dash couldn't help it. "Yeah, 'cos that went so well when you tried it on Pinkie Pie."

"And ya might wanna think about maybe askin' the feller first," Applejack added.

Twilight cringed a little, a nervous giggle escaping her mouth. "I'm doing the intense thing again aren't I?"

"Maybe a teensy bit," Fluttershy said quietly.

Then a thought occurred to Rainbow Dash. "Hey, actually, AJ might be on to something with the asking him thing. Can you do some sort of translation thing so we can talk to him, Twi? I mean, the poor guy's gonna have to meet Pinkie Pie when he wakes up again, and that's confusing enough even when you understand the words."

Twilight looked uncertain. "Well, I'm not really sure. Translation spells are notoriously difficult, and that's when we're talking to somepony from the same world. It's bound to be even worse dealing with a completely alien language. Plus we have no way of knowing how he might react to it - it's mental magic that skirts the edge of a very murky area as it is, because it has to dip into the minds of all the parties involved in the conversation." Twilight shifted uncomfortably. "The spell has to take the mental concepts behind what one pony is saying, then find the words that mean the same thing in the other pony's language by taking a peek inside both their heads. Plus it has to really root around in there if you want a halfway decent translation, to get things like context and cultural references, and that'll only be made worse for a completely alien culture. There are plenty of individuals, ponies and otherwise, that aren't comfortable with that sort of thing."

"And if'n he figures out what you're doin', and he takes offence to y'all bein' in his head..." Applejack piped up.

Rainbow noticed Fluttershy shift on her hooves, then open her mouth as if she wanted to say something, before reconsidering.

"Exactly," Twilight agreed, "We could ruin everything before we even start. And even if he did consent to it somehow, I'm not sure if I... hold on."

Twilight closed her eyes and bowed her head, a soft pink glow encompassing her horn. Slowly the glow intensified, and then small sparks began to jump from the tip of Twilight's horn as she braced her legs against the ground. Then, just at the point where Rainbow would normally made some sort of spark/Sparkle related joke, the glow vanished altogether with a faint snap. The alicorn groaned and rubbed at the base of her horn with a hoof. Another small barbed shard of guilt settled itself into Rainbow's chest.

"Nope, still hurts," Twilight said. "We might be able to do something with writing though, that uses the mental impression left behind by the writer and some complex cryptographic analysis to parse the text into several likely-"

Rainbow Dash guessed that everypony looked as confused as she felt, because Twilight paused before saying "It works differently, and it might be easier," with a hint of disappointment. "It'll be one-way too," she added, "unless he can somehow do magic without a horn, he's not going to be able to translate anything we write back. The spell will be relying on just my own language skills to make the messages readable, so I won't be able to translate messages into whatever language he speaks."

"So we might be able to talk to 'im by writin' messages?" Applejack asked.

When Twilight answered in the affirmative the farmpony wandered off, declaring that she'd had an idea.

**Applejack**

Applejack liked practical problems. They had practical solutions, and those she could do. Twilight was probably busy concentrating on the magical side of the problem, so she wouldn't realise that the group actually had nothing to write on until it was too late. Seeing as that was something Applejack could fix - or get fixed, at any rate - it seemed like a good job to start on.

Pinkie and Rarity had been strangely absent for the last few minutes, and Applejack was going to need Pinkie to help sort some rocks out. Rarity was probably in her tent trying to get some of the dust and dirt from the cave out of her hair, but that wasn't going to be any help in locating Pinkie Pie. Just as she was about to call out to Pinkie, Applejack stopped. Whenever she did this, Pinkie Pie was always stood right behind her, just close enough to scare the daylights out of her with her inevitably cheery reply.

After turning round - not once, but twice - to check nopony was behind her, Applejack gave up and took a deep breath.

"Hey Applejack, what'cha doin'?"

"ARGH!" Applejack yelled in surprise, "Consarnit Pinkie Pie, don't sneak up on me like that."

Pinkie Pie just stood and grinned at her. Well, as close as she ever gets to standin' anyhow, Applejack thought. The pink pony was bobbing up and down slightly, like she was trying to bounce but not quite managing to get off the ground.

"Look, Twi thinks she can do some translatin' stuff fer our big friend over there, but it's only gonna work on writin' for now. And probably only one-way, too, so we'll be able to figure out stuff he writes fer us but not th'other way 'round. But that means we're gonna need somethin' to write on. Think ya can help out?"

"Really?! That would be awesome! We could find out what kind of cupcakes he likes. I gave him a strawberry one, because those are my favourites, but they might not be his favourite so I'd really like to be able to find out what flavour he wants so I can start figuring out what kinds to bake for his surprise welcome party and then I've got to co-ordinate the colours of the decorations with the confectionery and figure out who I'm supposed to be inviting and whether or not I can send invitations back to where he came from and why are you looking at me like that?"

Land sakes, does the girl even need to breathe?

"Yer babblin' again."

"Oh. Oops." Pinkie grinned. "What were we talking about? Oh, right. Writing." Pinkie Pie sat down and shoved both forehooves into her chaotic pink mane, rummaging around for a few seconds before producing a ring-bound notepad and a small stubby pencil. She offered the items to a surprised Applejack with a bright, "Here you go!"

"Well I guess that'll work too," Applejack commented. "I was thinkin' ya could help me find some chalk and a piece o' slate lyin' around here, what with you bein' a rock farmer an'all, but this'll prob'ly be better anyhow."

"Oh," Pinkie Pie said, pausing thoughtfully, "do you need chalk? We can probably find some slate out here but chalk's sedimentary. There isn't any for miles and miles. I might have a piece somewhere if-"

"No, no, it's fine," Applejack interrupted, "this stuff is perfect. I jus' thought you'd be the one t'ask when I got the chalkboard idea. Didn't even remember that pad and pencil 'till just now."

"You never know when you'll want to jot something down! I have the greatest ideas at the strangest times, so I have to write them down before I forget."

"Are ya sure you wanna give this up then? What if ya think o' somethin' amazin' while we're usin' it?"

"Oh I've got spares," Pinkie said, yanking a fresh pad from the depths of her hair to demonstrate.

Sarcasm is just a seven-letter word t'you, ain't it. "Well alright then, if you're sure."

Applejack picked up the pad and pencil, then headed back towards the hastily-constructed shelter with Pinkie Pie pronking along behind her.

"'Ere ya 'o," She mumbled around the pad as she dropped it next to the cupcake by the horse's head, "That do ya for writin' on, Twi?"

Twilight looked confused for a moment, before she evidently connected the dots in her head. "Oh! Thanks Applejack," She said, levitating the pad over and flipping through it, "I hadn't even considered the actual writing part yet, and a pad full of, um..."

The pad span around in the air, turning some incomprehensible collections of tightly-written symbols towards Applejack. "Are these ballistic trajectory calculations?" Twilight asked, obviously confused and slightly concerned.

Applejack was pretty sure she couldn't spell 'ballistic trajectory', never mind calculate one. "Don't look at me sugarcube, it's Pinkie's notebook."

If Twilight's wide-eyed expression of mounting horror was anything to go by, that answer just made things worse.

"Hey, the party cannon doesn't aim itself you know!" Pinkie responded, slightly indignant. "I can't just go firing the thing off willy-nilly. Well I can, but the last time I did that they took my license away for two whole months. Apparently dropping surprise parties into other countries 'could be construed as an act of war' or something," she said, inserting the scare quotes with her hooves. "If you ask me, the Saddle Arabian royal family are just a bunch of party poopers."

"You know what," Twilight said, "I think I'm just going to ignore that whole train of thought and hope it goes away. Thanks for the pad and pencil, Pinkie Pie."

"No problem!" Pinkie offered happily.

Chapter 7 - First Impressions

View Online

**Thirty-Thirty**

There were certainly far worse things to wake up to than the morning breeze in your mane, carrying the faint hints of gritty desert sand and sweetened strawberries. After simply lying dozing on his side for a while, Thirty-Thirty noticed a strange tightness across his right shoulder. Deciding he'd probably better get up anyway, the grey stallion rolled his shoulder gently and felt a dull pain wash down his side. Somebody must have hit him pretty hard if it still hurt the morning after.

Better swing by Doc Clayton's place later and have him check that out.

It wasn't until he cracked a prodigious yawn and opened his eyes that Thirty came fully awake. Recent events popped into his head in an increasingly bizarre parade of images as he focused on the tiny pink cupcake - complete with a powder blue paper case, and apparently the source of the strawberry smell - sat on a flat rock just in front of his nose. There was also a small notebook next to the cake, with half the pages ripped out and a stubby little pencil resting on the exposed page. Someone had drawn a simple cartoon of a smiling face on it.

The face had a stubby muzzle and little triangular ears.

Thirty shut his eyes again, not sure how he should be feeling. He had maybe one idea where he was, and could only make vague guesses as to what might have happened - but that didn't explain why there were a bunch of slightly oddly-proportioned fillies around.

If this is the spirit world Shaman communicates with, what the heck's with all this? Shouldn't things be more, I dunno, ghosty and spiritual?

He was pretty sure he wasn't dead, what with the shoulder injury and all. Whatever awaited him at the end of his life, he really hoped it wasn't a cave full of tiny multicoloured fillies. Not that he was in a cave any more, he'd had a brief glimpse of sunlight in a rocky desert before he shut his eyes again.

Been out for... three hours, six minutes and a couple seconds. So it's what, comin' up to the middle of the day, if the day and night stuff matches up. Why's it so cool out here?

With any luck this wasn't some sort of bizarre dream either. Thirty didn't think dreaming this sort of thing said much positive regarding his mental stability. He'd just have to assume he wasn't bug-nuts crazy and seeing things, and try to roll with it for now.

So... small, cute, big eyes, weird colours. And she had wings. Wings! He tried and failed to calm his racing thoughts. If I'm dead, and they're some sorta messed-up equine version a' cherubs, I'm gonna do my best to die again so's I can go someplace saner.

Thirty-Thirty tried to clamp down on the whole 'am-I-dead' thing again, but his thoughts kept drifting back to the moment just before whatever this was happened.

Stampede certainly seemed to think he'd get rid of BraveStarr by throwing him through the portal, but this place don't look dangerous. The locals are friendly enough.

One of them had bandaged his shoulder, and they hadn't even tied him up, which struck Thirty as awfully trusting. Granted they probably didn't have anything strong enough to hold him, but even so his waking up unbound and unguarded said a lot about them. Either they were supremely confident that he couldn't do them any harm, or they were trusting to the point of being dangerously naive. ~Fluttershy~ must have some sort of magical ability to be able to communicate with him the way she had, but that didn't exactly sound like it would be much good in a fight. It was more like the sort of thing that the Prairie Folk or Shaman might have employed.

Then a third possibility occurred to the him - this was some kind of test. Leave him free to tempt him into misbehaving, draw out any hostile intentions he might be hiding. There'd be guards nearby, ready to jump him as soon as he did anything suspicious. That would probably be the smart approach, and Thirty-Thirty didn't get where he was today - metaphorically speaking at least - by underestimating people.

I guess honesty's the best policy in any case. I don't exactly have anythin' to hide, and a little trust can go long way between strangers.

Then again, who would use a bunch of children as bait for a trap like that? If Thirty was some kind of horrible monster, even the fastest guardians couldn't guarantee he wouldn't hurt or even kill one of the fillies before they stopped him. Unless they weren't children at all, just... small. His ears caught the occasional movement or high-pitched voice in the area around him, but it didn't sound like any of the small equines were close by.

Heck, I might as well just call 'em ponies. They're like horses, only smaller. Ain't like they'd understand it anyhow, even if they would be inclined to take offense.

Thirty-Thirty snorted and gave up. He wasn't going to get anywhere lying here with his brain running in circles, and the answers he was worrying about weren't going to be found in his own head in any case.

Time for a proper look around.

The sudden cessation of the background noise in the camp at his loud snort probably should have served as a warning, but Thirty was still preoccupied with all the strange ideas bouncing around inside his head as he opened his eyes again.

One of the ponies was sat right in front of his muzzle, just on the other side of the flat stone holding the cupcake and notepad. Even that small distance seemed to be too large for the filly, as she was leaning in almost uncomfortably close. Her pink-furred head was turned completely sideways to line up her large blue eyes with his own, leaving her mane - only marginally less eye-searing pink than her coat - hanging down to one side. The unruly mess of curled hair was tough to describe, but the first word that popped into the stallion's head was 'fluffy'. It wasn't quite right, but it would have to do for now. Even as voluminous as it was, the pony's mane only seemed to be growing from a relatively thin line down her backbone - Thirty's own had much more widespread roots, covering most of the back of his neck as well as his head. His was also thicker and longer, if not as puffy and upright. He couldn't help but wonder how long it took the pink filly to get her mane to stand up like that, it always took him ages to get his mane right.

The personal space invasion was a little surprising, but that paled into insignificance next to the enormous grin plastered across the pink pony's face. Thirty-Thirty had just enough time to wonder if her head was about to split in half before the smile disappeared as the filly started spewing out high-pitched speech at a truly prodigious rate.

So yer what, a spirit of bein' a motormouth?

After a few very confusing seconds of non-stop babbling accompanied by some very enthusiastic gesticulating, the hyperactive pony finally seemed to notice the increasingly agitated shouting coming from behind her. She turned to address her fellows with what could only be an innocent 'What?', giving a rather overwhelmed stallion a few moments to think.

Thirty counted five more of the small colourful fillies standing around what looked to be a temporary camp. The terrain didn't look too alien at least - a rocky desert not much different to the land around Fort Kerium. The biggest difference was the suns - or rather, sun. There only seemed to be one small yellow-white sun in the sky, rather than the blue, red and orange trio he was used to. He knew planets with three suns weren't exactly normal, but Thirty-Thirty still found it odd that planets with only the one star didn't freeze.

Alright, alright, keep a hold a' yerself. You've done portals to weird places before.

Three tents had been set up around the probably hastily-constructed shelter in which he lay. It looked as if the ponies had stacked up rocks to turn a thin blanket into some shade for him, and settled in to wait while he recovered. Or maybe they'd already been camped here - it was tough to be certain, but there were no signs suggesting the camp was particularly old.

How'd they manage to move me anyhow? Sure, there's six of 'em, but they're tiny!

The other occupants of the camp were just as brightly coloured as the pink one, but slightly more varied in their hues. The yellow and pink one who had patched him up, ~Fluttershy~, was accompanied by a second winged filly who was perhaps the most colourful of the bunch; Thirty couldn't help but wonder if she'd been caught in an explosion in a hair dye factory. Her mane and tail were each split into coloured strips, a miniature rainbow running down her neck and trailing behind her, on top of a coat the colour of a clear morning sky. Similar to ~Fluttershy~ the rainbow one also had an image imprinted at the top of her thigh, although she had a cloud throwing out what looked like a stylised red, yellow and blue lightning bolt rather than butterflies.

The next pair added fresh mysteries onto the pile. Not only did neither of them have wings - which also called attention to the fact that the pink one hadn't either, Thirty hadn't even processed that during her initial assault - but one of them had a short stubby horn the same colour as her bright white coat sticking out of her forehead.

An honest-to-goodness unicorn, he thought. Now all I need is one with eight legs and I got a full set.

An obviously carefully maintained rich purple mane fell from the unicorn's head and neck in long curls, accompanied by a similarly well-groomed tail. Her orange-furred companion might also have had a horn atop her head, but it didn't seem likely - it probably would have gotten in the way of the large brown hat she was wearing, although there was a chance one lay hidden under the headgear. The hatted pony's long, straight blonde mane and tail were both tied at the ends with red bands, and a pair of green eyes regarded Thirty with caution from beneath the brim of her hat. At least one pattern was emerging from the chaos however. This pair had tattoos as well; a trio of clear cut gems and three red apples respectively, all in the same place as their winged fellows.

The last member of the group threw a little extra confusion into the wings and horn game, as she seemed to have both. Her colouration drew from the violet end of the spectrum, with a straightened and precisely trimmed dark blue mane and tail on top of a coat on the purple side of lavender. A pair of thin streaks ran through the filly's dark mane and tail, one a slightly lighter shade of blue-purple, and the other a vibrant fuchsia. A collection of pointed symbols adorned her side, several small white starbursts surrounding a large red central one. Violet irises which had moments before been alight with intelligent curiosity were now focused on Thirty's pink personal space invader as the ponies conversed.

The pink one shortly turned back to face Thirty-Thirty, ending his brief glimpse of the group's sixth and final identifying mark - a trio of balloons, two blue and one yellow. Her ears splayed out and shoulders slightly hunched, she looked suitably sheepish about the confusing effects of her verbal onslaught. A much more normal-sized smile lit up her face as she reached down to the rock separating her from Thirty-Thirty with a foreleg, nudging the small cupcake towards his muzzle.

"Well I guess I am a mite hungry," the stallion said quietly, more to himself than those around him. Then his belly gave a dissatisfied rumble, drawing the attention of everyone. Thirty-Thirty glanced down at himself before offering an embarrassed grin to his audience.

"Okay, maybe more'n a little," he admitted, stretching his neck out to scoop up the tiny cake. It might not have been big, but it was certainly tasty. Noticing the ponies were watching with curiosity, some hiding it much better than others, Thirty did his best to look happy and appreciative. That seemed to set the pink pony off again, but she managed to calm herself down after a few seconds of energetic bouncing around the rest of the group. In the meantime, however, the purple one stole her place next to the now-empty cake case and the notepad. The star-marked pony looked between Thirty and the notepad, biting her lip absently. She seemed to want to communicate something, but didn't know where to start.

Lying on his uninjured side and constantly bending his head around was starting to take its toll on Thirty-Thirty's neck. Without thinking the stallion pulled his legs in and under himself, rolling up onto his belly. Not only did his abused shoulder make its presence felt again, but the sudden movement also startled the ponies around him - just rolling himself upright was still enough to make him a little taller than they were standing up.

Several of the group let out alarmed cries of one sort or another, and the purple one scrambled backwards a few steps. The stallion wasn't sure whether to be impressed or amused by the rainbow-maned filly - she had her wings spread wide, probably to make herself look bigger, and was pawing at the ground as if she meant to start a fight.

What're you gonna do, tiny? Y'only come up just past my knees.

Regardless of whether or not he felt threatened by them, they were obviously threatened by him.Thirty-Thirty immediately froze in place, and waited for them all to calm down.

If they're this skittish around me, it's prob'ly best to give 'em the full picture sooner rather than later so's they can get used to it.

Very slowly, repeatedly turning his gaze from his own movements to the ponies around him to check for any more negative reactions, Thirty pulled his forelegs out from under himself so he could stand. Turning his front half out of the blanket shelter so he didn't demolish it as he got up, he cautiously sat up on his haunches. The six ponies had bunched together a short distance away, watching him anxiously, but at least they weren't backing off any more. The purple one was staring at his legs like they were the most interesting thing in the entire galaxy, while the others seemed to be more generally worried about how big he was compared to them.

Still moving slowly and deliberately, Thirty-Thirty stepped forward to avoid demolishing the blanket shelter with his backside as he stood to his full four-legged height. Then a few extremely awkward silent seconds followed, during which the six ponies met his curious gaze with their own. Well, five of them did - the purple filly was still staring at his legs, for some reason.

"Well, this sure is awkward," the stallion said to himself. At the same time, the orange filly with the hat said something to the others.

"Gotta start somewhere, and the beginnin's as good a place as any I guess," Thirty said, deciding to at least address his comments to the group of ponies even if they couldn't understand him. Body language seemed to be working so far so, trying to ignore the twinge in his shoulder, he stuck a hoof out towards the group with a smile.

"Howdy. I'm Thirty-Thirty, pleased to meet ya."

**Applejack**

"Well, this sure is awkward," Applejack muttered under her breath as the six friends stood staring up at the intimidating giant. It was almost as if somepony had decided they needed a Princess-sized version of her brother, and then made the result even bigger and built half of it out of metal. Her eye level just barely came up to the bottom of the stallion's chest.

The stallion started speaking at the same time she did, but Applejack couldn't make any sense of what he was saying. His offering a hoof with a smile definitely seemed promising, even if the metal-clad leg it was attached to was closer to the size of her barrel than one of her own legs. When nopony on their side made a move, Applejack nudged Twilight with a shoulder. She seemed to be lost staring at the offered limb.

"He's sayin' hi, Twilight. Should prob'ly be you that goes first fer official stuff."

"Oh, right," Twilight replied, before jerking her head back as if she'd only just realised how big the horse actually was. "Oh wow. He's... quite large. Generously proportioned. Huge, even."

Applejack didn't even have to look round to guess who the muffled giggling was coming from. "Git yer mind outta the darn gutter, RD," she muttered as Twilight started to tentatively move forward.

The young alicorn came to a halt in front of the horse, and reached up towards his outsize metal limb. Applejack realised when they made contact that Twilight's hoof could have fit completely inside the stallion's shoe, if they lined their legs up along the centre rather than touching at the top. Dismissing why he even wore shoes on metal legs as a question for another day, Applejack watched the pair slowly shake hooves.

"Hi. I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle," Twilight said, a little nervousness still showing in her voice. "On behalf of the royal court, and the ponies who inhabit these lands... welcome to Equestria."

"Now that's done with," Rarity said to the group around her, "I suppose we had better go introduce ourselves. No sense in being stand-offish."

"I knew I should have brought the Welcome Wagon," Pinkie Pie complained as the five ponies moved to join Twilight.

Chapter 8 - Breaking Down Barriers

View Online

**Thirty-Thirty**

The purple one with the wings and horn is the leader then, if that little display is anything to go on. So what does that make the others with one or neither? Maybe the horn's like eye or coat colour, or a gender thing, but an extra pair of limbs ain't exactly in that category.

As the small fillies moved closer and began to examine him, Thirty realised he didn't actually have any reason to assume they were all fillies - maybe they just looked like fillies to him, and the horns were the difference between them. But that still didn't explain how some of them had two more limbs than the rest. Lacking wings could be some kind of disability, but it didn't look like the ones without wings were treated any differently. They didn't have any signs of traumatic injuries, or any vestigial or half-formed wings either.

The three winged ones seemed to differ vastly in their use of their extra limbs as well. Although they had all stayed on the ground during the awkward greeting - presumably to stay in a group with the others - the rainbow one took off almost immediately after they had all calmed down, and hadn't touched the ground since as far as Thirty had noticed. The other two didn't seem to fly at all, and the purple pony seemed to be just as interested in his legs as Thirty was in the way the rainbow one was drifting and hovering around his head. Their wings were far too small for them to be able to fly, and yet that didn't seem to stop them. The rainbow pony had seemed pretty boisterous when she had approached him a moment earlier - she had bumped his hoof with hers, hard, rather than shaking it the way the others were doing. Either she was good at hiding how much it had hurt to punch titanium alloy, or she was tougher than she looked.

Thirty got another quick glimpse of whatever magic it was that ~Fluttershy~ used when it was the yellow filly's turn to greet him. While the meaning behind the gestures of all the members of the small herd was obviously some kind of greeting, what ~Fluttershy~ said felt different. He hadn't just guessed her meaning from the context like with the others, somehow he knew, for certain, that she was trying to make him feel welcome. And a whole bundle of other things as well - a little bit of fear, an earnest hope that everyone could get along, worry about his shoulder, and the expected heap of curiosity.

He'd certainly encountered his share of magic on New Texas - both friendly and hostile - but seeing it used as casually and naturally as this effect seemed to be was definitely a new one. The stallion had travelled to his own past, run on smoke, been struck by hurled lightning and seen BraveStarr throw punches that levelled buildings all with the aid of magic - but those things had been flashy, temporary effects. Only Shaman's magic really came close to something this subtle, but for all its lack of obvious power the tiny pony's ability to communicate basic meaning across a language barrier was amazingly useful. Thirty wasn't sure if the filly even realised that she was doing it - the group didn't seem to be making any effort to use her to try and communicate.

Having been at least partially introduced to the six fillies, Thirty-Thirty decided he needed to come up with some temporary names for the five he didn't know. He had intended to stick with the marks the ponies bore, but there was no way the pink one was ending up named Balloon instead of Pinky. Star, Diamond and Apple would all work, but he was still undecided about the rainbow one. Bolt or Lightning weren't as awful as Balloon, but like Pinky she had a really distinctive colour scheme.

Rainbow could work I s'pose, but Bolt's shorter. Rainbolt? Ugh, heck no. Guess size wins if I'm just nicknamin' 'em.

It was only when Star's horn started glowing that Thirty began to put some pieces together. The notepad and pencil from his shelter floated over to hang in the air next to the pony, encased in the same pinkish glow that covered her horn. The stallion carefully extended a hoof and poked the floating notepad, causing it to wobble a little in the air, and looked from it to the pony that was apparently holding it there. She spoke a few words to the others while apparently studying his reaction to what she was doing, and a short conversation started up.

That explains how they get things done without hands. At least for the ones with horns anyway, don't exactly seem fair on the ones without. Two of 'em have wings I guess, but Apple and Pinky don't have either.

None of them were acting like this levitating notepad was in the slightest bit strange, Thirty realised. Presumably that meant magic was much more common among these ponies, similar to the Prairie People of New Texas - almost all of the little furballs had some magical ability, but only a few could manage something like this. He eyed the tentatively-named Bolt suspiciously, wondering if her flying ability had anything to do with magic. Thirty was fairly sure hovering was beyond most birds, never mind something the size of these ponies, but that apparently didn't stop Bolt from doing that or any number of other impossible things.

The ponies seemed to realise that he was examining the differences between them, and after a brief discussion separated into three groups by body type. There was a little more discussion, seemingly centred around Star and where she should be standing, before she removed herself from the groupings in front of the stallion entirely and went to stand off on one side. The other five stood in a line in front of Thirty-Thirty; Diamond alone at one end, then a small gap before the two winged ponies in the middle, followed by a second gap before the line ended with the hornless, wingless pair of Apple and Pinky at the other end.

Star reintroduced herself to the scene as the animated conversation between the six continued. Rather than joining any of the three groups she stood in front of them, a small stick encased in a pink glow following along through the air next to her.

"Looks like every day is a school day," Thirty commented quietly, sitting down on his haunches to watch whatever it was the ponies were trying to do.

Star seemed to be acting as the closest thing the ponies could get to a lecturer through the language barrier, serving to direct attention to particular things with the stick she held. Where she fit in to the arrangement herself was a mystery to him; there didn't seem to be any reason not to create a fourth group for ponies with both wings and a horn, but they hadn't done it. The white unicorn was pointed out with the stick first, at which point her horn also started glowing - pale blue rather than pink, Thirty noted, although he didn't know if that held any significance. Several small stones from the ground around Diamond sprouted blue glows of their own and popped up into the air for a short time, before dropping back to the ground as the glow faded.

The two horned ponies exchanged a few words, Diamond seeming a little put out or frustrated by something. Then, after a moment her horn started to glow again. This time, the glow didn't spread to anything nearby - instead it simply got brighter, although it was tough to guess how much light it was producing in the daylight. It wasn't uncomfortably bright to look at, but it probably would have been useful in the dark.

"So... it's not just moving stuff around?" the stallion mused, "You can do lights as well?"

The ponies' ears twitched as he spoke, but other than that they seemed to ignore him as his new teacher moved on to the pair of winged ponies in the center. Bolt said something loud and cheery, and immediately shot off into the sky. To Thirty's amazement the flying pony returned pushing a small puff of cloud through the air in front of her hooves, as if it was a floating cotton ball. After placing the cloud just off the ground next to ~Fluttershy~, she even stood on top of it as she spoke to her timid companion.

"Now that's weird," Thirty said, as ~Fluttershy~ was coaxed into stepping up onto the cloud alongside her friend. After the stick had been pointed to their wings and then their hooves on the cloud beneath them, the two ponies hopped off their impossible perch onto the ground. Then, the rainbow one kicked the cloud sideways towards the normal-looking ponies on the far end of the line. Apple examined the small cloud as it slid to a stop in front of her, as if considering what to do with it. Before she could come to a decision however, Pinky leapt into the air above the cloud with a squeal. Rather than landing on it like her winged companions, she fell right through and smashed headfirst into the ground beneath. The seemingly ill-advised move left her neatly bisecting the small cloud, hindquarters sticking up through it while her head rested on the floor.

Apparently Bolt didn't approve of having a hole punched through her small cloud. Dashing across to the pink pony, she yanked the cloud higher up into the air with an annoyed comment before landing on top of it and pushing the wispy white stuff around with her hooves until the hole was filled in. At a comment from Star, the winged filly protested and gripped the small cloud protectively in her hooves.

When Star repeated her demand, accompanied by a hoof stomp and what sounded very much like a "don't make me come up there", Bolt acquiesced with poor grace. Grumbling under her breath, she carried the cloud over to Thirty-Thirty. Standing up on top of the cloud, using it to get her rose-coloured eyes on a level with his, she stared at him and delivered a stern warning of some kind.

"Okay, I'll be careful with yer cloud," the stallion said, grinning at the small pony, "I promise."

Thirty-Thirty raised a hoof to poke at the cloud supporting Bolt. It was, as he expected, cold and damp - and definitely not solid. There was something nagging at the back of Thirty's brain about the cloud not being right somehow, even disregarding the whole standing-on-water-vapour thing, but clouds weren't exactly common on New Texas and he'd never seen one close up before. And to be fair, even the cloud walking bit wasn't entirely alien to the stallion - it had required Shaman's magical assistance, but he had galloped through the air held up by only the smoke from a campfire himself.

It was looking more and more like these small creatures had an inherent magical ability similar to the Prairie Folk, but it was much more deeply woven into them - only the two ponies with horns seemed to have any active spellcasting-type ability like the Prairie Folk wizards, leaving the other ponies' abilities as more of a passive effect. It wasn't even consistent between the winged ponies either. ~Fluttershy~ was somehow capable of communicating meaning despite the language barrier, but that wasn't true of the other two - despite how much they talked compared to their yellow companion. Bolt could obviously fly, which the other two didn't seem to do, and he had no idea what - if anything - Star could do. She had been excluded from the group with the other winged ponies, so there had to be some sort of difference. Standing on clouds at least looked like a shared trait, especially as Star had explicitly pointed it out.

It was only shared by the winged ones though - which brought Thirty's attention to the normal-looking ponies at the end of the line. He pulled his hoof back out of the cloud, absently wiping the condensed moisture off on his chest, and Bolt immediately took off with her prized possession. After hauling it back to the line above ~Fluttershy~, she briefly plumped up her perch before flopping down onto it with a happy sigh. In the meantime, Star had moved down the line to stand next to the last two ponies - Pinky and Apple. Pinky was casually bouncing in place again, as if she didn't realise she was even doing it. Thirty briefly pondered if her boundless energy was some sort of magical ability too, before deciding it was just the hyperactivity typical of children.

Apple had a short conversation with Star, both of them seeming a little uncertain. They cast their eyes around as if looking for something briefly, but didn't seem to find whatever it was they wanted. Star began to grow visibly worried, babbling and gesticulating wildly until Apple placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. ~Fluttershy~ said something to the agitated pony, and Thirty-Thirty noticed that he could hardly understand any of it this time - just something about the notepad. Star suddenly turned sheepish and began searching the ground around her, presumably for the notepad that had been discarded next to where Thirty sat when the impromptu demonstration began.

Thirty-Thirty fumbled a little at the pad with his forehooves before managing to pick it up. He offered it towards the group, balanced on an upturned hoof, but to his surprise the ponies turned him down. The stubby pencil that went with the pad floated over, suspended in a pink glow, as Star pointed a hoof towards the pad, and then his chest.

"Ya want me to have it?" Thirty asked, confused. "What for? I guess I could try drawin' some stuff, but I ain't much of an artist. 'Specially with these, and I'm pretty sure y'ain't gonna like me shiftin' none," he said, glancing down at his hooves. "Y'all're jumpy enough as it is."

Another worry sprung unbidden into his head - he hadn't voluntarily shifted back when he was thrown through the portal. He just woke up back out of Fighting Mode. For all he knew something in him was broken. He felt a rising anxious desire to try shifting, just to make sure he still could.

The ponies all listened as he spoke, ears attentively pointed in his direction, but as expected just glanced at each other in obvious confusion. As Thirty returned the pad to the ground in front of him, along with the pencil now dropped on top of it, he heard ~Fluttershy~ hesitantly say something to the group. Whatever translation effect had been working earlier seemed to be broken now, and he didn't get anything about what the timid filly had said this time. Whatever it was, however, it seemed to be a surprise to the rest of the group. All of them responded with obvious shock, aimed not just at ~Fluttershy~ but apparently Thirty himself as well.

When the initial round of exclamations had died down, Star said something to ~Fluttershy~ while pointing a hoof towards Thirty-Thirty. ~Fluttershy~ fixed her eyes on the ground, and mumbled something that, based on the reaction it got, was as unintelligible to the other ponies as it was to him. Then ~Fluttershy~ cowered a little more and repeated herself only slightly louder, accompanied by a nod. Bolt said something and then burst out laughing, almost rolling off her cloud, as Star covered her face with a hoof and Apple pulled her hat down over her eyes. Suddenly Pinky was all over ~Fluttershy~, throwing a truly impressive barrage of high-pitched speech at the poor filly.

Diamond and Apple shared a look and seemed to come to some sort of agreement. Diamond moved to speak quietly with ~Fluttershy~ as Apple grabbed her pink compatriot's voluminous tail in her mouth and dragged her away. Pinky didn't seem to notice, and continued in her babbling tirade that now seemed to be directed at the world in general rather than ~Fluttershy~ in particular.

"Alright, just what in the heck is goin' on?" Thirty-Thirty asked of the chaos erupting in front of him. Some of his frustration must have carried over into his volume and tone, because the ponies all stopped what they were doing and turned wide-eyed gazes on him. Then Thirty realised that he'd stood up without thinking about it, and was looming over the group in what probably seemed like a threatening manner.

Oops.

"Uhh... pardon me. Didn't mean to scare ya," the stallion offered, making an effort to keep his voice quiet and non-threatening as he sat back down slowly.

While her fellow ponies glanced at each other nervously, seemingly unsure of what to do, ~Fluttershy~ strolled up in front of him in a manner completely at odds with her friends' reticence. The cowering filly of a moment ago seemed to have been replaced by a confident pony that knew exactly what she was doing. The small winged pony smiled up at him, and asked if he could understand her.

"Well, yeah, kinda," Thirty-Thirty replied, taken aback by the sudden display of confidence. "I'm not gettin' the words but I just seem to know what ya mean anyhow. An' it's only real clear when you're talkin' to me, instead o' someone else."

Chapter 9 - A Transformative Experience

View Online

**Fluttershy**

Fluttershy was almost excited enough to forget her anxiety entirely. It had been embarrassing when everypony had figured out she could talk to their oversized visitor, and hadn't mentioned it. As she had feared, Twilight's wonderful presentation had immediately been ruined. Pinkie had started asking lots of questions, and things had gotten too loud and a little overwhelming.

Then her large friend had gotten frustrated with the group's bickering, which Fluttershy was going to have to apologise to him for, but he had said he was sorry about frightening everypony so everything was okay. She didn't have to worry about interrupting Twilight or anything now either. He might be a little on the large side, but he wasn't a pony or a dragon so there wasn't really any need to be scared of him. New kinds of creatures were always so exciting, you never knew what sorts of things you might learn about them.

"Hello again sir," Fluttershy said brightly as she approached, "you can understand me, can't you?"

The pegasus' heart jumped in her chest when the grey stallion said yes. She could just tell they were going to be best friends.

Okay, okay, calm down. We don't need to do the Grand Galloping Gala again, Fluttershy thought to herself, shuddering.

"Ask him what his favourite cupcake flavour is! The world HAS to know!" Pinkie Pie yelled desperately, before being shushed by the rest of the group.

"Maybe you could explain the writing thing to him?" Twilight suggested. "Or maybe even a proper translation spell, but I think that might have to wait until I'm feeling better." Twilight gently rubbed at the base of her horn with a hoof, wincing slightly. "Or when we get him to Luna and Celestia, whichever happens first."

That sounded like a much more sensible idea to Fluttershy than talking about cake flavours. She even flew a little on the way to the notepad in her excitement, drawing another surprised comment from the large stallion. Scooping up the pencil in her mouth, Fluttershy held the pad in her forehooves and landed in front of her new friend. Making an effort to write large, clear letters, she quickly spelled out 'Hello, my name is Fluttershy' on the paper. Then she laid the pad and paper down on the ground and pushed it towards the horse. Unfortunately, he seemed to be confused by the whole thing.

"Could you write something down like me?" Fluttershy asked, "My friend Twilight thinks she might be able to translate things if you write them down for her."

The stallion shook out his thick white mane before uncertainly sizing up the pencil and pad in front of him, also glancing down at his legs as if he wasn't sure what exactly he was supposed to do. After grumbling to himself a little, he tried several times to grab the stubby pencil in his mouth. He didn't manage to get a good grip on it, probably because it was too small for him. Fluttershy realised he didn't seem to be too good at holding onto the pad with his hooves either.

"Um, Twilight," she said tentatively, "I think we might need to find something a little bigger-"

The stallion interrupted Fluttershy to ask a question of his own - whether or not she could understand him the same way he could her.

Fluttershy nodded. "Um, yes. Sort of. It's my special talent," she said, pointing a hoof at her cutie mark. He looked at the three butterflies on her flank with obvious curiosity, but still seemed confused by something she had said. After a moment he began to speak again, but this time Fluttershy had a little trouble understanding exactly what he wanted. Her ability to communicate with other creatures only got a general idea across, and some of the things he was saying didn't make a whole lot of sense to her.

And it only normally works with animals, she thought to herself. I mean, not that I'm complaining or anything, but why can I communicate with him like this at all?

He wanted to do something that would make it easier for him to write, but wanted to warn everypony about it beforehoof for some reason. He seemed to be worried about scaring them all, but if he was thoughtful enough to warn everypony first then Fluttershy was sure his heart was in the right place.

"Well come along then Fluttershy, what does this fine gentlecolt want?" Rarity asked as the stallion fell silent again.

"I'm not completely sure," Fluttershy said, half-turning back towards her friends. "He wants to do something so that he can write more easily, but he thinks it's going to frighten us. He asked me to warn everypony about it before he does anything."

Twilight drew in a sharp breath. "Do you think he's going to use magic?" she asked, bouncing a little on her forehooves in excitement. "Magic from another universe! This is going to be fascinating!"

"Whatever it is, I bet it's not as scary as all that," Rainbow Dash called absently from her cloud. "Still," she grunted, rolling onto her belly and scooting the cloud a little closer, "I suppose we should at least watch."

"We tried to tell him a little bit about us, and he didn't complain or nothin'. I think we owe him at least the same, even if he thinks we're not gonna like it," Applejack said, moving to stand closer to her friends. "If it's a part a' who he is, and we're lookin' to be friends, then we're gonna have to get used to it. I reckon he'll be thinkin' some stuff we do is weird too, like Twilight said earlier. Right Twi?"

"Oh, almost definitely. He seemed pretty surprised by quite a lot of what we've shown him so far, and we don't know anything about what his world is normally like. The mirror world that Sunset Shimmer ran off to was certainly a crazy place," Twilight said, a grin tugging at one side of her mouth, "and that was a mirror universe, almost identical to this one. A proper cross-dimensional portal could go somewhere much, much stranger."

"So," Rainbow asked from her floating perch, "we gotta do anything special for this, Fluttershy? Or do we just, like, brace for weird and see what happens?"

Fluttershy's reply was delayed by Pinkie Pie, as the pink pony vibrated slowly across the floor in a series of twitches and spasms. It was just about possible to make out "Whatever it is, it's gonna be a big surprise!" through the stuttering brought about by her jerky movements.

Applejack slapped a hoof down on Pinkie's tail before she Pinkie-Sensed herself too far from the rest of the group. "Alright Fluttershy, I guess ya can tell the big feller to go right ahead."

Fluttershy turned back to the horse and gave him a silent nod. She felt her ears twitching, hunting after the source of a faint whirring mechanical sound as the stallion rose up to his full height. Then he gently motioned with a hoof and told her to move back with the others. Fluttershy realised he was nervous about something - but it wasn't fear of any reaction from her and her friends. It was more... personal, somehow. Fluttershy tried to give the horse a reassuring smile, and stepped back a short way to stand with the others. They were all watching with interest, especially Twilight - her horn was glowing faintly, magical senses as alert as every other.

The stallion closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, as the ponies looked on with silent anticipation. Then, without warning, he reared up with a bellowing cry to paw at the air with his forelegs. The startled ponies watched, and then started to cry out in alarm as bright arcs of lightning jumped across and between his metal limbs. Instead of falling back to the ground after a few moments, the stallion's front half kept on going up - only stopping as he looked about ready to tip over backwards. His neck rotated forwards to line up with his now-upright back, keeping his head over the top of his chest; a chest which seemed to be getting broader as his forelegs rotated outward, the stallion's pose reminding Fluttershy more and more of Mister Bear rearing up when he got really angry. Mister Bear wasn't quite this big though - the stallion's height had been quite intimidating when he was stood on four hooves, and now he positively towered over the group of frightened ponies in front of him.

As the lightning discharges running across his body died down, Fluttershy realised that the saddle the grey stallion had been wearing was nowhere to be seen. Only a few red straps remained crossing his chest and belly, with a gold badge hanging from the one circling his neck. Also, the bandages behind - or below, now, she corrected - his shoulder had fallen off, the tape securing them torn loose. The horse - or whatever he had turned into - seemed to settle into his new upright stance for a moment, before grasping at his right side and collapsing to one knee, long face contorted in pain.

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!

The fresh blood that flowed out over the stallion's forehooves was so distracting that it took Fluttershy a second to realise they weren't even hooves any more. His forelimbs now ended in five-fingered metal paws, similar to a minotaur's - in fact, with his grey colouration the stallion now resembled nothing so much as an oversized equine version of Iron Will. Normal-looking hind legs and tail, but an upright two-legged stance and repositioned forelimbs ending in hands rather than hooves.

The questions and anxiety could wait though; he was injured, and needed help. Fluttershy hadn't gone more than a few steps, however, before the usefulness of the stallion's altered forelimbs became apparent - he reached down to the fallen bandages and, pressing the bloody pad to his side, looped the strips of cloth around his own chest before dexterously twisting the ends together. With a vicious snarl he yanked the joined ends into a tight knot, then fell forward as one of his hind legs gave way.

Fluttershy only just managed to hold herself back from attempting to catch him - even if he might hurt himself falling, she would only succeed in being crushed beneath him if she got herself in the way. To Fluttershy's relief the stallion got his left arm out in time, then settled into what was almost a normal seated position for a pony - hind legs folded beneath him and arms holding up his front half. Then he leaned backwards, taking his arms off the ground and sitting with his back upright.

As Fluttershy tentatively approached, Rainbow Dash spoke up from behind her. "I'm not the only one who totally did not see that coming, right?"

"I ain't sure what I was expectin', but yeah I think I'm surprised," Applejack replied quietly.

"Hi Surprised! I'm Pinkie Pie."

"Not now, sugarcube."

"Aww."

"Was that, like, what was meant to happen?" Rainbow Dash seemed to be under the impression Fluttershy understood more about what had just happened than she did, because the question was directed at her. "I'm not exactly up on my, uh... whatever the hay that was, but it didn't look like a whole heap of fun."

Fluttershy took a few more steps forward. "Are you okay?" she asked, doing her best to inspect the hastily-retied bandages.

The stallion's upright posture - even sat down as he was - forced her to take off to be able to reach his injury, making everything a little bit harder for her. A look of surprise crossed his face briefly as she did so, just like the last time she had flown in front of him. Maybe they didn't have pegasi where he came from.

As she got a closer look at him, she realised the saddle on his back had been replaced by some sort of large metal stick, carried in a red holster. The metal loop grip at the top and the obvious weight of the object suggested it was some sort of weapon, lending more evidence to Twilight's theory - and Princess Luna's confirmation - that he was a guard of some kind. Weapons always made Fluttershy nervous, but she was reassured to see this one didn't seem to have any sharp edges.

He replied that he was fine as she hovered next to his shoulder and checked over the dressing. Fluttershy would have guessed that was a lie even if she couldn't sense how much pain he was in.

"You need to rest. No more doing... whatever that was, okay? You have to let it heal."

The stallion agreed reluctantly, then paused. After a moment he thanked Fluttershy and her friends for taking care of him.

"Is he going to be alright, Fluttershy?" Rarity asked. "That looked rather painful."

"If he rests a bit he'll be fine," Fluttershy replied, gently dropping back to the ground. "He wants to say thank you to everypony for taking care of him, too."

"Oh, that..." Rarity trailed off, staring at the scene beside her. "Pinkie Pie, what in the name of Celestia are you doing?"

Fluttershy glanced around as Pinkie stopped vigorously cranking Twilight's tail. "Trying to restart Twilight," she said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world to be treating another pony like a recalcitrant piece of machinery. The alicorn was staring slack-jawed at the transformed stallion, apparently oblivious to Pinkie's actions.

Applejack walked over and poked Twilight in the ribs speculatively, and suddenly she jerked back into life.

"Nope. I'm done!" she said, with rather excessive amounts of forced cheer. "I'm going to go to bed now, where I intend to sleep until the world starts making sense again."

"Twilight, darling, whatever is the matter?" Rarity asked, concerned. "I know that was a little startling, but I would have thought that a magical display-"

"That wasn't magic!" Twilight half-shouted, left eye twitching along with the accompanying ear. "I was waiting for the tiniest twitch of magic during the whole precess, and there was absolutely none whatsoever involved in what just happened. Which makes no sense. That," she protested, pointing a shaking hoof at the transformed stallion, "makes no sense. It's not possible!"

"Okay Twi, simmer down," Applejack said slowly, "stay calm-"

"I am calm!" Twilight yelled. "I could not be more calmerer! I am displaying an appropriate level of calm for something this scientifically unpossible!"

Pinkie Pie's face fell. "Uh-oh, there goes the grammar. That's not good."

"Uh, Rarity?" Rainbow asked warily as Twilight's increasingly grammatically-challenged rant continued, "You got your freak-out bench with you?"

"I beg your pardon?" Rarity replied, affronted.

"The big red couch you're always faintin' on." Applejack clarified.

"I am not-"

"Do you got it or don't ya?"

Rarity glanced aside with an embarrassed grin, before nodding. "It's in the tent," she confirmed quietly. "I'll get it."

**Thirty-Thirty**

Thirty-Thirty sat with his arms folded, waiting for the ponies to calm down.

Well, I guess one freakout is a better than several, he thought, gingerly rolling his right shoulder to see how far it could go before the pain in his side got too intense.

The ponies had produced, of all things, a pony-sized plush red fainting couch from the large white pavilion tent in the encampment. The couch, in combination with a large book and what looked like a cup of tea, had been used to get the hysterical Star packed into the aforementioned tent to sort herself out.

Dropping his hands into his lap, Thirty-Thirty looked down at his limbs. He flexed the fingers of his left hand one by one, slowly closing it into a fist, before doing the same with his right.

At least that still works.

He had briefly been worried that his injuries had included damage to his arm, or even that his transformation systems might have been somehow broken by his trip through the gateway, but everything seemed to be working well enough for the time being. Still, he resolved to open his arm up and check everything out as soon as he got the chance. He might not be an expert like Iron Arm, but he had been taking care of his own limbs since he was just a Robo-colt.

Only once he was done slowly balling his fists did he realise ~Fluttershy~ was still standing next to him. While the others had been dealing with Star's histrionics she had apparently stayed to make sure he was alright. When she realised she was being watched, the small pony turned her attention from his hands to his face and asked if everything had happened the way it was supposed to.

"Yup," Thirty-Thirty nodded, "that's pretty much how it's meant to go. Sorry I, uh, scared your friend there."

~Fluttershy~ explained that Star hadn't been scared, before asking him not to judge her too harshly because she'd had a bad day. After a moment she mentioned something about his transformation not making sense to Star, or the rest of them, because it wasn't magic.

"No, it ain't magic. I can't do anythin' like that, I'm just a regular old Techno-horse. Equestroid if ya wanna get fancy," Thirty said, glancing back and fishing around with his left arm to retrieve the fallen notepad and its tiny pencil. He set the pad down on his thigh, resting the pencil along the top, so that ~Fluttershy~ could see it too. "Not that that's gonna mean a whole lot to you, I suppose." Thirty gently rapped a closed fist against his other thigh, eliciting a faint metallic clatter. "My mechanical bits'n'pieces are pretty complicated, but they ain't magical."

He examined the front page of the notepad, taking in the large, carefully-drawn symbols ~Fluttershy~ had written on it. He thought her writing was pretty neat, considering she had done it with her mouth. At least Thirty assumed it was writing - the symbols didn't look like any sort of picture he could make out, and ~Fluttershy~ had asked him to write something on the pad so Star could do... something with it. He wasn't entirely clear on what.

~Fluttershy~ glanced down at the paper and then back up at him, and asked again if he'd write something.

Awkwardly pinching the tiny pencil between a thumb and forefinger, Thirty-Thirty eyed the notepad sceptically. "I'm not sure what I'm meant t'be writin' here. What's yours say?"

~Fluttershy~ said something, while tracing a yellow hoof across the symbols on the paper. When she was reading the words off the page rather than talking to him, Thirty realised he didn't seem to get any magical help with divining her meaning. However, he did hear something in what she said that sounded like her name.

"That's your name?"

The small pony looked contemplative for a moment, before giving a reply that was a mix of 'yes' and 'no' - although she was shaking her head as she said it. With a quick questioning glance, ~Fluttershy~ reared up to put her forehooves on his leg. Leaning over, she took the pencil out of his hand and wrote a shorter string of symbols on the paper underneath the first.

"~Fluttershy~," she said, pointing to her second bit of writing, then to herself. Hesitantly, as if worried she was being too forward, she dropped the pencil back into his hand and pointed a hoof at his chest.

So if that bit's her name, what's the- hold on. Thirty-Thirty tossed his head to get a stray bit of mane out of his face. I'm over-complicatin' this.

Trying to keep a steady hold on the undersized pencil, he carefully wrote his name on the paper before speaking it aloud. Then he just about died when ~Fluttershy~ tried to repeat it. From the confused expression on her face - one eye half closed, ears slightly down - to the way she slowly chewed her mouth around the unfamiliar sounds in her high-pitched voice, the whole thing struck him as both absurd and cute.

Oh my stars that's adorable, he thought, failing to suppress a chuckle. ~Fluttershy~ cringed a little and apologised for mangling his name.

"Hey, you're doin' better at mine than I am at any 'o yours," Thirty said, smiling at the embarrassed pegasus. A shy grin replaced the worried expression on her face as she responded with encouragement. "I've just been nicknamin' you all. Well, except for you. I might not be able to say it, but I know what your name is at least."

At that comment, ~Fluttershy~ was apparently struck by an idea. She flipped to the next page of the pad, and Thirty-Thirty passed her the pencil. The stallion sat and watched as she carefully drew six small symbols, each accompanied by a short string of what he was beginning to recognise as letters. He figured out what ~Fluttershy~ was doing when she drew a trio of butterflies, followed by a familiar bit of writing that did indeed prove to be her name when he compared it to the previous page.

That's her name and her mark, so... those are the others' names? I guess it's a nice thought, but I can't read the writin' to learn 'em any more'n I can understand 'em spoken.

He did notice that some of the ponies had more than one name - three of them only had one, while Bolt, Star and Pinky apparently had two - but other than that, the written names weren't especially helpful. ~Fluttershy~ sounded them out for him, which drew the other ponies' attention as she read their names out loud.

The four ponies that weren't cooling off in a tent gathered around the seated stallion and his companion to examine the pad and ask questions of ~Fluttershy~. There was a brief moment of confusion when Pinky grabbed the paper and wrote another, longer name underneath the one ~Fluttershy~ had given her - this one consisting of three words. ~Fluttershy~ explained after some frantic babbling from the pink mare that this longer one was Pinky's actual name, but the shorter one was what she usually went by.

After the little notebook had been passed around the group, the ponies had a short conversation while glancing at the sun in the sky. Apparently coming to some sort of decision, Bolt and Apple headed for the tents while Pinky and Diamond took the blanket-shelter apart.

Thirty-Thirty asked ~Fluttershy~ what the others were doing, and his stomach growled again as she gave a simple reply - food. Pinky and Diamond laid the reclaimed blanket out on the ground just in front of him and sat themselves down to wait.

"I guess it has been a while since I ate anythin'," he commented absently, as Apple led an exhausted-looking Star out of the tent she had been recuperating in. The purple pony kept sneaking glances at his arms, but came to sit with the others as Bolt zipped back and forth between the three tents and the blanket. The collection of packs and baskets on the blanket slowly grew, and after a short while ~Fluttershy~ started to offer him various little bits and pieces of food from the containers.

At first both ~Fluttershy~ and Thirty-Thirty were unsure which of the pony foods would be appropriate for the stallion, but the solution turned out to be a simple one. Even if it was all a bit smaller than he was used too, it quickly became apparent that ponies ate all of the same things he did - and even had quite a few new and inventive ideas about how to use hay in things that Thirty had never encountered before. A combination of taste testing and explanations from ~Fluttershy~ quickly led to Thirty-Thirty sampling at least a little of everything the group had brought with them.

Even spirits gotta eat, apparently. At least I ain't gonna starve.

They didn't have any sweetwater to drink, but he hadn't seen any of the familiar pod-bearing plants growing in the area despite the favourable climate. That brought Thirty's attention to something else - he hadn't actually seen any traces of crops or civilisation at all. That wasn't unusual for the deserts of New Texas, so that presumably held true here. It did raise the question of where exactly these ponies lived, and where all this food was produced. Hopefully there would be a breakthrough on the communication front soon, he was building up quite a lot of questions.

Thirty-Thirty even got another display of casual magic use when Star briefly lit her horn to heat up a batch of apple fritters, and the results turned out to be delicious - even if he had gotten a mouthful of apple-flavoured lava when he didn't let the first one cool down long enough. He also got a bit more of a glimpse into how they dealt with the whole no-hands thing; based on the way the four hornless ponies ate and moved plates and containers around, they didn't seem to be too concerned with just sticking their muzzles into things.

I guess ya don't worry 'bout gettin' your mouth all over things if ya ain't got the option of hands. Heh, bet the dentists in this place make a bundle.

The smell of warmed apples floated across the rocky badlands as, for the first time in almost a day, the desert camp was filled with the sounds of happy conversation. Thirty-Thirty couldn't understand a word of it, and the little ponies were still skittish when he moved too fast, but their smiles and shared food spoke loudly enough.

**?**

"We have been presented with a perfect opportunity. Their misguided fellowship is isolated and vulnerable, we should take them now."

"The time for secrecy is past, but this is far beyond-"

"Once they are in Canterlot under the wings of the Twin Tyrants, they might be forever out of our reach. You know we only need her for a matter of hours. Even if we can only take one of the others, the rest of their false Elements will be rendered powerless. They cannot - must not - stand in the way of the true Harmony."

"They would be of much greater value working with us than they would be were they simply... removed from our path. And we cannot risk harming Princess Sparkle in any case. We only need to-"

"There's no time for stealing around in shadows. We have the power, the advantage - and the opportunity to use it. If we use it now. I say we move. Are you with us, or apart from us?"

"With you, of course. Always."

"This perverse mockery ends, now. Tonight, we tear away the lies that shackle our fellow ponies. True Harmony will be brought into Equestria."

Chapter 10 - The Lightning Strikes

View Online

**Thirty-Thirty**

Thirty-Thirty's good mood did not last much beyond the end of the meal. Now that the initial shock of his arrival had worn off, a series of ugly questions began to rear their heads. What had happened to BraveStarr; where had the portal sent him; and, most importantly, could he go back? He had been through portals to other worlds and even other times before, but this one was different. Stampede had seemed to think throwing BraveStarr through the portal would dispose of him for good.

I'm still alive, so it can't have been meant to kill him - which leaves me with one other choice, he thought hopelessly, there ain't a way back outta here.

There had been similar conditions on other portals Thirty-Thirty and his partner had encountered before - as long as the gateway remained open, travel was still possible, but once it closed it was gone for good. He didn't recall seeing the portal in the cave when he awoke for the first time, but he wasn't exactly confident of his ability to remember every detail from that event - and he couldn't even be sure that he actually arrived there either. He could have been moved while he was passed out, like he was the second time, although according to his internal clock he'd only been unconscious for a couple of minutes after he was hit the first time.

Although, he thought, perking up a little, if this is the Celestial realm Shaman was so worried about, then he should be able to contact me. He does his spirit-talkin' stuff with somethin' here all the time. And if Stampede's found a way to make more of his portal things then I might be able to get through one o'them in the other direction.

The thought of jumping back through one of Stampede's own portals brought a grim smile to Thirty-Thirty's face.

I could give him a good stompin' on the way by, as a way of sayin' thank you for throwin' me in here. Maybe introduce him to Sara-Jane. Either way, BraveStarr ain't gonna leave me here. My partner's never let me down before, and he's not gonna start now.

Not that he had any particular objections to the world he now found himself in - on the contrary, it seemed like a pleasant enough place. The natives brought up a conflicting storm of emotions - bittersweet memories of his own kind, a tantalising glimpse of a familiarity and belonging that he had never felt on New Texas. He certainly wouldn't say no to coming back here for a visit, especially as the years wore on. But he had other friends, and another home - back on the other side of whatever divide he'd crossed.

~Fluttershy~ seemed to pick up on his fluctuating mood, and asked what was bothering him. The other ponies were sitting or lying around in the slowly fading light, talking quietly after finishing their food, but ~Fluttershy~ had stayed next to him rather than joining her fellows.

Well, they're all talkin' at least. Pinky ain't exactly bein' quiet.

Thirty let out a soft sigh. "I'm worryin' about stuff I got no control over, an' stuff I can't know. Whether my partner's okay. If I can go home. That sort of thing."

His spirits picked up when ~Fluttershy~ told him that her people's rulers would be able to work out how to send him home - and that there was already a carriage on the way to take the group to the capital.

"You'd do all that, for me?"

~Fluttershy~ paused, an odd expression on her face, as if she was having trouble understanding the question.

After a moment, Thirty-Thirty continued "How do they know about all this anyhow?"

The small pony gave quite a lengthy answer to that question, although it was a struggle to puzzle out the meaning of it all.

As far as he could make out in amongst some completely unintelligible stuff about the moon and sun, the group of ponies had somehow gotten a message to their leaders at the same time as he'd been taken out of the cave he arrived in. Some sort of carriage was supposed to pick them all up after sunset that night, so the ponies had tried to make him comfortable and settled in to wait.

"Well shucks," Thirty said, cheeks colouring as he absently rubbed a hand through his mane, "sounds like y'all are goin' to a lot of trouble to help me out, after I just sorta dropped on top of you an' all. I'm mighty grateful for that."

~Fluttershy~ tried to dismiss the group's actions as nothing special as Thirty-Thirty leaned back, lying flat on the ground with his arms folded behind his head. Just as it struck him how odd the pose would probably look to the ponies - after all, he definitely couldn't get his legs behind his head without his forelimbs transformed - he caught sight of Bolt out of the corner of his eye. Not only was she already lying down with her forelegs behind her head, she also had her hind legs crossed.

How the heck does she do that? Wait, wait, hold on - why is that the bit that weirds me out? She's bright blue and has workin' wings in the middle of her back for cryin' out loud.

Apparently concerned by his lying down, ~Fluttershy~ asked Thirty-Thirty if he was feeling okay.

"I'm fine. Side hurts a little, but it's nothin' that won't fix itself in time," he replied, looking up into the clear desert sky. "Still feelin' a mite wore out, though. If we're gonna be waitin' 'til nightfall I reckon I'll just doze here for a bit - if'n you don't mind, that is."

~Fluttershy~ agreed that resting his injury was probably the best choice, and assured him he'd be left alone until their transport arrived. Thirty-Thirty nodded a silent thank-you as he closed his eyes.

**Rarity**

"Darling, are you quite sure this is appropriate?" Rarity whispered to Twilight as the pair approached their sleeping guest. The sun was just touching the horizon, and the others were packing up their respective tents.

"We're just going to look," Twilight replied, "what's the harm in that? It's not like we're going to wake him up or anything."

"Yes, but... sneaking up on him while he's asleep feels a little, I don't know..."

"Oh come on, you want to get a better look at what he's wearing, right?"

Rarity suppressed an involuntary shudder at the memory of the saddle the stallion had been wearing when he arrived. Although it had been distressing to find that it was a fixed part of him rather than an accessory, that feeling had been reduced somewhat when his transformation had removed it - apparently it wasn't as permanent as it had first appeared. The transformation had also ignited a fierce curiosity in her, a desire to find out everything she could about what seemed to be shapeshifting attire that didn't even require any magic to use.

This feels maybe a teensy bit voyeuristic, but how can I turn down an opportunity to examine something like this? I'm sure the nice gentlecolt would say yes if I asked, and if Fluttershy doesn't want us to wake him up...

"Oh all right," Rarity whispered huffily, glancing around to check the others were still pre-occupied. "Let's get this over with."

The pair crept up to the sleeping giant, hooves silent on the rock-strewn sand. He still lay on his back, forelimbs supporting his head and hind hooves crossed, resting peacefully. Once they'd gotten as close as they dared, Twilight gave a muted snort of annoyance.

"How am I meant to get a look at his hands when he's sleeping on them?" she complained in hushed tones. "And why does he have to have such a huge mane, it's covering everything!"

Spotting something half-concealed under the stallion's body, harnessed to his back, Rarity leaned in for a closer look. "What in Equestria do you suppose that is?" she muttered, directing Twilight's attention to the object. The alicorn's head tilted to one side as she narrowed her eyes at it.

"I guess it's whatever passes for a weapon where he comes from. Luna mentioned he was some kind of lawpony, and he's got it stowed on his back sort of like a guard's halberd."

Rarity decided to provisionally dismissed the thing as unimportant, and left Twilight to examine it. If it turned out to be some kind of accessory item, she could come back to it later - but she wasn't particularly interested in weapons, even ornamental ones. Military dress uniforms and the accoutrements that went with them were a little out of her area of expertise, although she had always wanted to try her hoof at making something in that vein.

One so rarely gets the opportunity to cover a stallion in gold braid without it appearing utterly ridiculous.

Turning her attention to the red straps that seemed to be all that remained of their visitor's saddle, Rarity tried to classify what she was seeing.

One narrow band around his muzzle formed a typical hackamore - although the reins that would normally be attached to the bitless bridle seemed to be absent. Presumably the stallion did occasional duty pulling carriages or other such labour, but not frequently enough to leave the reins on at all times. The purpose of the other straps eluded her, however. Two loops, one around his throat and one at the far end of his barrel by his hips, were joined by two straight sections running along the sides of his belly. Other than serving as an overly-elaborate attachment point for the star-shaped badge at his neckline, there didn't seem to be any practical use to the crimson straps.

A brief thrill ran through Rarity as she took in the strange garment. It's certainly unconventional by Equestrian standards, but I suppose that would inevitably be the case with non-Equestrian clothing. Maybe I could try something similar, the exotic element would certainly appeal to a few ponies. She tapped a hoof against her jaw thoughtfully, absorbed in a brief flurry of design ideas. A little bit of the alien and unfamiliar always lends excitement and mystery to a garment after all. The experimental pieces I made based on those charming hoops Zecora wears at least received a favourable critical response, even if nopony actually bought any of them.

Rarity's thoughts were interrupted by an agitated Rainbow Dash swooping over.

"Rare, Twi, there you are." Rainbow air-braked to a hovering halt, and eyed the guilty-looking pair suspiciously. "What're you..." she shook her head dismissively. "Never mind. Something freaky's going on with the weather, and I don't like it. The guards are meant to be here with the carriage any minute, and I'm gettin' a feeling this might not be a coincidence, y'know?"

Twilight moved back towards the tents, away from the sleeping stallion before responding. Rarity followed along, as Rainbow Dash flitted around above them in agitation.

"Rainbow, what could possibly be going on?" Twilight asked. "Nopony even knows we're out here, or what's happened, besides the princesses and the guards that are on the way here. I'm not going to contradict you on the weather being... 'freaky', but I'm pretty sure it's just a coincidence."

"What possible motive could anypony have for any sort of malicious action?" Rarity asked Rainbow Dash.

"Look, I dunno," Rainbow replied, obviously annoyed and worried. "It just feels wrong, okay? There's something in the air that just isn't right. Humidity hit rock bottom a couple minutes ago, and now the pressure's dropping like somepony..." she trailed off, staring at the horizon.

Rarity and Twilight followed Rainbow's gaze to an ugly patch of blackened cloud billowing over the horizon, growing steadily larger. As they watched, light flickered within the cloud and, a few moments later, a low rumble of distant thunder echoed across the desert.

"What the hay are they doing?" Rainbow shouted, "Are they bucking insane?!"

"They?" Twilight asked, a worried expression crossing her face.

Rainbow pointed a hoof at the cloud as she looked down at the pair below her. "You can't build a storm that big all by yourself, not that fast. And the speed it's growing, it's gonna be totally uncontrollable! The amount of lightning that thing's gonna put out... somepony could get hurt. Like, badly." She ground her teeth angrily. "Actually, anypony building a storm like that is probably trying to hurt somepony. The guards might be in trouble."

"Not to, um, cause any undue concern," Rarity said nervously, "but isn't it heading this way?"

**Nightshade**

The loud clattering sounds of metal-shod hooves impacting rock, interspersed with the occasional snap of leathery wings as she bounded and dove from cover to cover, were completely drowned out by the torrential downpour that drenched the fleeing mare's coat and mane. Struggling to hold down her confusion and fear, she focused all of her attention on not breaking a leg in the deep gloom beneath the clouds.

It was just a carriage run. Just a stupid early evening carriage run.

Lungs burning and muscles straining, hooves skidding on the rain-slick rock, the Night Guard narrowed her catlike eyes and pushed on as memories threatened to overwhelm her.

A clear sky, burning orange as the sun set, suddenly consumed by the storm's fury.

A familiar voice yelling "AMBUSH!" just a massive lightning bolt turned the large sky carriage the squad was dragging into so much molten slag behind them.

Tornado winds and driving rain forcing them down as all four of them struggled out of their harnesses.

It had been easy then. Training had kicked in. Ambush. Counter-charge, break out, escape the kill zone. Retreat and regroup.

Starchaser hadn't made it out of the zone, but you expected to lose somepony when you got hit like that. What had thrown the others had been the ease of their initial escape. It didn't make any sense - there should have been a whole squad or more entrenched that they'd have to punch through to break free, but there had been nothing after the first shadowed attacker had blitzed in and taken Starchaser out. Confused as to the source of the storm, but seeing only one hostile, the squad had quickly regrouped and gone back in to help.

Should have just run when we had the chance.

The mare bit back a pained cry as a rock turned under her forehoof, stumbling and slamming her side into a small outcrop. Loping awkwardly on three legs, she desperately tried to keep up her pace. A few aborted attempts to put weight on her injured limb and resume galloping caused her to draw up short with a curse, sitting down and tearing a small pack off the inside of her injured leg with the other forehoof.

Empty void I hate this stuff.

Fighting down her disgust, Nightshade opened her mouth and plunged her fangs through the packet's thick outer coating. Gulping down the contents as fast as she could, she tried not to let her mind linger on the taste. The wonderful... energising... delicious, fresh, hot-

"Luna preserve us. Moon, light the way through the darkness."

There was another pack on her other leg. All she had to do was take it.

With an effort of will that made her whispering prayer tremble even more, she forced herself to stay still. She closed her eyes and tried to force the thought out of her head.

"Keep us on the path, that we may never wake to a living nightmare."

Even as she regained some semblance of control, a rush of hot, eager adrenaline shot through her and the pain in her leg faded. Nightshade tossed the expended packet into the sheeting rain. No use worrying about being tracked later. Either she'd get away, or that monstrosity would run her down right now. Revitalised, and spurred on by the thought of pursuit, she leapt up and ran on.

Whatever it had looked like, Nightshade was certain that their attacker was no pegasus. No pegasus could tear through a guard squad like that. Not to mention the glowing red jewel he'd been wearing was instantly recognisable to any guard, and the Alicorn Amulet had no effect on pegasi.

Echo had ordered her to run, told her he'd buy time. The creature was too fast, too strong. He'd bought all of five seconds.

It wasn't much, but it had been enough.

Fighting down every instinct telling her, screaming at her, to help the comrades she was leaving behind, Nightshade had disappeared into the shadows and run for her life. She barely needed a special talent for it to stay hidden in the rain-streaked darkness beneath the huge storm, but nevertheless she was doing everything she could to remain unnoticed without reducing her speed.

She had to reach the Princess before that thing did.

Chapter 11 - Roaring Thunder

View Online

**Thirty-Thirty**

Thirty-Thirty stood gazing at the oncoming storm in wonder as the ponies dashed around their almost-packed camp. He'd never seen a proper thunderstorm in person before - the climate on New Texas wasn't exactly right for large-scale rainfall. The smell of ozone and fresh rain filled the air, and the temperature began to drop as the clouds moved closer. One by one the recently-risen stars were being blotted out by the churning mass, and a great grey wall of rain slowly advanced across the darkening desert.

He'd woken just a few moments earlier, when the storm's appearance had apparently panicked his hosts. They had begun scampering about their little camp as he had stood and watched the storm, the rising wind beginning to pull at his mane and tail. Star had started a small fire in the middle of the camp to ward off the darkness, but it was guttering and sparking at the storm's approach. Thirty-Thirty assumed it was magical in nature - he was fairly certain a normal fire would have gone out completely in the harsh wind. Also, fires weren't normally purple.

They sure are anxious about gettin' a little wet. We're supposed to be gettin' picked up soon anyhow.

Just as he was considering trying to get an explanation out of ~Fluttershy~, another small equine dashed out of the darkness around the camp. Its bright amber eyes focused on him, then widened in shock. With a panicked cry it fell back on its haunches, scrambling to reverse course and get away from him.

An' just what exactly are you?

This one was quite different from the six locals he'd met so far. It was still basically equine in shape and possessed wings like two of the others, and unless Thirty-Thirty was being misled by his instincts this was yet another female. There the similarities ended, however. The newcomer's wings were leathery rather than feathered, and the pupils of its eyes were slitted like a cat's. A dark grey coat and deep purple mane were just visible beneath a set of what looked like heavy plate armour, also coloured a dark shade of purple. When her mouth opened to shout, Thirty was surprised to catch sight of a pair of sharp fangs in amongst the otherwise normal flat teeth.

Summoned by the new arrival's shout of alarm, the other six ponies came running. As soon as the bat-winged pony saw the group she tensed and ceased in her efforts to flee. Thirty-Thirty saw determination replace fear on her face as she quickly placed herself between him and the other ponies, pawing at the ground and holding her wings spread aggressively.

"Normally I'd oblige ya," he said to the strange new pony, "but it ain't exactly my style to beat up on li'l girls."

Surprise flickered across the bat-winged pony's face as he spoke, but only for a moment. Her attention was only truly captured when the other ponies spoke up from behind her. At first it was just one of her tufted ears that turned, but after a few short, sharp exchanges of words the armoured pony took a few steps back and turned her whole self around. After some more hurried conversation she visibly slumped, some of the tension leaving her body, before straightening up - still glancing nervously in his direction intermittently - and gave Star what Thirty-Thirty couldn't help but think of as an adorable little hoof-salute.

So this is one of the guards? Just how many kinds o' these little ponies are there?

That put paid to his already-failing theory that the ponies he'd met so far were small because they were children - the guard would obviously be an adult, and she wasn't any larger than the others. Not to mention that she was saluting and apparently reporting to Star, which meant the purple pony outranked the guard somehow.

Then the fact the armoured pony was alone, and without the promised transport, pushed his brain on to the next link in the chain.

Where's the rest of 'em?

The little bit of doubt in his chest grew to full-blown nervous discomfort as the guard gave what he assumed to be a report to the group, interspersed with occasional hoof-pointing in his direction. Now he had more time to examine the small armoured pony, she was in poor condition. The armour covering her body was scuffed and battered, the edges of her wings looked a little ragged and torn, and - based on the broken straps dangling at her neckline - she'd lost the helmet that went with her plate suit. Even worse was the expression on her face and the halting tone of her voice as she spoke. Based on the horrified and disbelieving reactions of the other ponies, something had gone terribly wrong.

**Twilight Sparkle**

"A-and then he told me to run and..." The exhausted guard broke off, head dropping as she tried to control her rapid breathing. "For all I know they're all-" she whispered, more to herself than the ponies around her, "I might have left them all to die."

Twilight looked from the battered and bruised Night Guard in front of her to her friends. She could see the same horror and denial filling her own mind reflected in all of their faces. When she turned back to the guard, who had introduced herself as Nightshade, she had apparently collected herself a little. Raising her head she spoke again.

"Princess, we've got to get you and the other Elements out of here, now. It's not safe."

"If what you're telling us about this attacker is true, there isn't anywhere we can go," Twilight replied. "We don't have much hope of outrunning a pegasus on the ground, even before we take into account the things you've described."

Drawing a lightning bolt out of clouds is one thing, but not even Rainbow could follow that up by just pulling bolts out of thin air to throw in a fight. And no matter how hard she tried, I'm pretty sure she couldn't conjure up a storm this size - or buck an armoured guard through a tree either.

"There's gotta be more than one," Rainbow Dash chimed in, pointing up at the storm, "no way can one pegasus do all this."

"You'd better hope you're wrong," Nightshade replied grimly, "because if there's more than one of those things we're all dead. We're all probably dead anyway."

Any response to that comment was drowned out by a thunderous roar from the direction of the oncoming storm. The sounds of the tempest merged into a twisted mockery of speech, rivalling the Royal Canterlot Voice in volume, as something bellowed a challenge into the night. It took Twilight a moment to realise there were words in amongst the sound and fury.

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE!"

Twilight felt her ears pin back as the bottom dropped out of her stomach. Fighting down her fear, she turned to face the sound and planted her hooves. Concentrating, she created a ball of light at the tip of her horn and fired it into the sky, angled towards the clouds. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her friends lining up behind her, along with the guard Nightshade. The huge stallion was nowhere to be seen, but she was a little too preoccupied to look around for him now.

The light from Twilight's spell danced across the rolling and churning clouds as it ascended, its glow occasionally supplemented by flashes of lightning from within the thunderhead. As it reached the peak of its ascent and halted, a figure emerged from the cloud bank high above. At this distance it was difficult to make out details, but it looked to Twilight's eyes like an ordinary tan-coloured pegasus. There was a small object hung around its neck, glowing bright red in the darkness.

Applejack squinted up at the distant figure. "Are they wearin'-"

Nightshade completed her friend's sentence. "The Alicorn Amulet, making it a category four magical hazard. Although that doesn't explain its extraordinary abilities, because it's a pegasus. Or at least it looks like one."

Twilight glanced back at the guard behind her, confused. "Yes, the amulet only works for unicorns. I mean theoretically you could use a big enough piece of arcanite to make an equivalent focus for pegasi or earth ponies, but there's only the one Alicorn Amulet - and there hasn't been any arcanite found on Equestria in centuries."

"Looks like somepony found some more," Rarity said, before muttering "and wasted it making a frightfully garish piece of junk, too."

"It's not just a matter of ponies not looking for it," Twilight explained, "Princess Celestia spent several decades scouring the world with magic and gathering up every last trace of the stuff after the first incident with the Alicorn Amulet. There simply isn't any left. There are only seven arcanite artefacts in all of existence; the Alicorn Amulet and the Elements of Harmony. What little of the stuff is left over is basically powder, and there's not enough of it to make another crystal of any size - let alone another major artefact like-"

Further discussion was cut short as the voice of the storm spoke again, this time at a slightly more bearable volume. It sounded almost jovial and friendly - or at least as close as it was possible to get to that when speaking at volumes usually reserved for forces of nature and angry royalty.

"There you are. Oh, and I see you found the guard I misplaced. Well done getting away from me by the way. I'll have to find out how you did that sometime. Now, Princess. I know you wouldn't want any harm to come to your little friends, and I expect the guard has told you at least something of what I'm capable of."

Nightshade flinched but held her ground, glaring venomously at the distant pegasus. The storm had halted behind him, leaving the wall of thrashing rain standing stationary just a short distance ahead of the group.

The voice of the storm lost its jovial tone, a low rolling rumble of thunder accompanying its words. "Unless you want to watch me break them, you will surrender yourself to us."

Twilight heard Rainbow Dash pawing at the ground behind her. "Lemme at him! Nopony talks to- hey! Watch the tail!"

"Whoa there Nelly," Applejack said through a mouthful of multicoloured hair.

Twilight glanced back at her friends, mind racing. They could try and use the Elements, but there was no telling what the effect of that would actually be. If they didn't work, and even half of what Nightshade had said was true...

Then she remembered everypony standing by her that morning, and felt a familiar confidence begin to build - not confidence in herself, her own abilities, but in all of her friends. They would face this together.

Twilight felt the air began to vibrate and hum faintly as magic gathered around them all. As the power built she looked upward to see lightning begin to crawl across the surface of the clouds, converging on the pegasus high above.

"Regrettable," the thunderous voice proclaimed, although its tone suggested that a fight was exactly what the speaker had been hoping for. "You have been deceived, Twilight Sparkle. You do not wield the true force of harmony. That power is ours, and you will help us spread it... whether you want to or not."

As the lightning massed within the clouds behind the pegasus, a hint of urgency crept into Twilight's mind.

He can't possibly be trying to- no one pegasus pony can handle that much lightning!

She couldn't imagine how it was possible, but it certainly seemed like he intended to throw the entire lot straight at her. Twilight reached out to her friends and redoubled her efforts to marshal the magic of the Elements.

This is gonna be close-

Twilight's thoughts were interrupted by a crisp snap-crack sound in the darkness and building rain. It sounded a bit like somepony breaking two bundles of sticks one after the other, but with a faint metallic overtone Twilight couldn't place. As all seven ponies on the ground glanced towards the source of the strange sound, they were all startled - and partially blinded - when a brilliant crimson beam blasted upward from the shadows outside their camp with an echoing boom.

As her eyes locked shut against the glare, Twilight stared at the afterimage flash-printed on the inside of her eyelids - their metal-limbed visitor, hind hooves braced wide and his strange weapon raised to his shoulder, unleashing a massive beam of energy from the hole bored down its centre.

Okay, Luna was right. Even in the confines of her own head, Twilight's voice had taken on a slightly higher-pitched panicky tone. Definitely dangerous.

**???**

"Did you see that?" The mare's usually gravelly voice was panicked and rushed, to the point where she sounded almost normal. "What was that thing? What did it just do to him?!"

He tried to hedge the fear and loss out of his own thoughts, but it was infectious. They had power, but the enemy apparently had something far more potent - an unknown. Something that wasn't just an outsider to their family, but to their entire world. A force of chaos and disorder.

Everypony was nervous enough standing on the clouds in the first place, and now Stratus is gone. Without a pegasus we can't hold this cover together.

Something had to be done to prevent a panic. They could mourn their loss later, if calm was maintained now maybe something could be salvaged from this mess.

"We were warned that some foul thing had crossed over, intent on preventing the triumph of harmony. I tried to calm Stratus, but..." The unicorn looked to his companions, his family. "We still have a little time before the clouds disperse. We can observe from here for a while, learn what we can about this chaos-born monstrosity." He tried to fill his voice with his own confidence in their cause. "Caution and proper preparation will win out over the senseless aggression of chaos. We shall overcome it. We must."

**Twilight Sparkle**

Twilight and her five friends recovered from the flash after a second or two. Based on the sulphurous - and slightly archaic - swearing coming from Nightshade, however, the Noctral had also been looking directly at the flash. Twilight knew from her own research exactly what that would have done to her eyes while they had been adapted to the darkness.

"Everypony okay?" Twilight said, rubbing at her own eyes with a hoof.

It was only when a loud thump announced his encounter with the ground that Twilight remembered the pegasus. Immediately Rainbow Dash was on top of him, with Applejack close behind, but as Twilight approached herself it rapidly became apparent that their intervention was unnecessary.

The fallen pegasus was lying in a decently-sized crater, a large blackened scorch mark on his chest the only trace of the amulet he had been wearing. Twilight had no idea how, but he seemed to have taken no damage from what had presumably been an uncontrolled fall - although there was no telling what the strange weapon or the destruction of the amulet might have done to him that couldn't be immediately seen. A short-cropped brown mane, slightly darker in tone than his coat, and a plain cloud cutie mark did little to identify him to anypony present.

"I-is he okay?" Pinkie Pie asked, subdued.

"What the hay was that beam thing?" Rainbow Dash asked nervously, looking back at the group. "Did the big guy do that?"

"He's still breathin'," Applejack announced, leaning over the downed pegasus. Fluttershy had caught up to the farmpony, and Twilight saw her friend run through the first stages of a First Aid checklist. Fluttershy didn't seem to have a copy for reference, but she was doing it correctly regardless.

"Not when I- damnit- Not when I get a hold of him he won't be," Nightshade growled, teeth bared to display her pair of small, sharp fangs. Her vertical slit pupils had almost completely vanished into her golden irises, and she sat down to rub at her red-rimmed eyes before she bumped into anything else. "Where the buck is he? Empty void, I'm gonna-"

The steady thump of approaching hooves interrupted the burgeoning argument, as the seven ponies tried to process what sounded like an unnaturally slow pace - until they realised that the source of the sound had two less hooves than they were used to. The stallion strode through the crowd of ponies, weapon slung on his back once again, steadily pulling a length of white rope out of an opening in his metal thigh.

Twilight was almost too distracted to notice, then she quickly tried to take in every detail. There seemed to be some form of spool extending from a tiny compartment about the size of her hoof in the stallion's thigh, apparently purpose-built for storing a rope or line. As soon as the tail end of the rope came off the extended spool, it snapped back inside its holder and the compartment closed, leaving a featureless metal surface once more.

Ignoring the protests and questions of both Twilight and her friends, their large guest bound the fallen pegasus' legs together. After a pause for thought, he also wrapped a piece of rope around the pony's barrel to pin his wings before sitting down next to his unconscious form.

The stallion said something in his strange language, drawing his weapon and resting it across his legs, and after a moment Fluttershy translated.

"He says he's under arrest."

Chapter 12 - The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Ponies

View Online

**Celestia**

Princess Celestia's chambers within the castle at Canterlot were often a surprise to the uninitiated.

As any historian from the preceding centuries of recorded pony history with an interest in the Royal Court would attest, they were as bright and radiant as the solar alicorn herself. Rooms, decorations and furnishings of white stone, gold, pale woods and brightly-coloured fabric seemed only fitting for the pony who controlled the cycle of the day. Small stained glass inserts in the wide windows cast bright swaths of rippling colour across the room, pastel hues of pink, blue and green shifting with the progress of the sun through the sky.

Unfortunately for the self-esteem of those same historians, they were all dead wrong. While those chambers did indeed exist, and the monarch had used them for a great many years, there were two things that had only very recently become apparent.

The first thing was a mere matter of positioning - although she had used them in the past, Celestia no longer occupied those particular chambers. The second thing was the far more significant reason why.

Luna had wanted her rooms back.

Celestia had been more than happy to surrender the brightly-ornamented chambers to their original occupant on their joyful reunion. With her sister returned to her, Celestia could finally face sleeping in her own rooms again for the first time in a millennium. Sleeping in Luna's bed had been a way to stay close to her during her long absence, and Celestia had found herself unable to stomach staying in her own shadowed rooms for more than a few minutes at a time.

At her lowest periods during the long years Celestia had found a bitter irony in her moving into Luna's brightly-lit chambers - the rooms and the pony within them had been as uniform and monolithic as she had felt. Light with no dark, day with no night. Hers, not theirs.

Not the glorious harmony there should have been, but a single pure note ringing out into infinity.

Now things were back to the way they were meant to be. Each of them complementing the other. Luna would rest surrounded by the bright glow of the sun, and Celestia would retreat each sunset to the darkness of the night she had been denied for so long.

Her gilded peytral and boots stood out starkly against the dark mahogany table as Celestia laid them beside her crown. The thick pile carpet and heavy fabric wall hangings muted and muffled every sound within the shadowed room, creating a comforting stillness. Her own body was the only brightly-coloured thing in sight. Black and deep purples, with occasional highlights of silver or blue, were the dominant colours here. A low but constant light was provided by dozens of tiny pale glowing gems scattered across the high vaulted ceiling, arranged in the shapes of constellations from both Equestria and worlds beyond.

It had been a trying day for the elder of Equestria's two rulers. There had been many such days in her long life, but as always Celestia found that did little to ease the stress of such times as they were happening. One got used to it in a more general sense, of course, but in the heat of the moment it was still quite an unpleasant experience.

Investigating the latest dark magic leakage in a rash of such events on the Badlands frontier had seemed like an ideal task for Twilight. Controlled exposure to that form of magic was going to become more important in her continuing development, and Celestia had no desire to repeat the mistakes of the past. The last time a unicorn had been born with similar talents, he had not been found until it was far too late - and the crystal ponies, and almost the entire world, had suffered for it.

Such transitory events were actually quite common, but passed unnoticed by most ponies. Generally they were small in size, and only rarely produced enough dark magic to have a noticeable effect on the environment. There were a multitude of relatively benign natural phenomena that could cause such things. But, of course, the one time she had sent Twilight out had been the time the cause was anything but an accident of nature.

The knowledge that Twilight was unknowingly walking into the maw of a monster which she had no hope of fighting at Celestia's own request had been almost more than she could bear. Then the elder alicorn had made one of her more difficult decisions of the last few decades - finding herself emotionally compromised, always a significant danger where dark magic was concerned, she had sent Luna in her place as Twilight's best hope for a rescue. Her sister's triumphant return had eased Celestia's worry somewhat, but it had done little for her guilt.

She had grown complacent. Her arrogant assumption that after all this time she understood the way the universe worked had almost gotten Twilight killed - or worse. But thankfully her beloved former student, the bearers of the other Elements of Harmony, and the unexpected visitor delivered by the whole affair were safe.

Her sister had been irritatingly secretive about their visitor from beyond the veil, but Celestia could wait a few hours to find out what she was hiding. She could hardly blame Luna for a little mischief, jealously guarding a piece of information she had that Celestia didn't - and not only because it would be more than a little hypocritical. Luna learned many secrets during her wandering through the Dreamrealm that were not hers to reveal, and if their last conversation an hour ago was anything to go by Luna had certainly seen something that agitated her. Celestia was still re-learning the ability to read her sister's emotional state, but she could tell Luna was using this little bit of teasing to distract herself from something else about their visitor that was bothering her. Her sister had a confession to make, but as usual she was putting it off with games.

At least that means it isn't too urgent, whatever it is. A little reluctance to confess a wrong is more than understandable after what she has already endured.

As she prepared to meet with Luna to lower the sun, Celestia began to calm herself - adding the closing day to the long list of troublesome things she had overcome. Perhaps she could relax for a while, and watch the night sky before turning in for the night. It still made her almost unbearably happy to be able to do that again, and Luna could have her fun explaining everything. Then they could have the talk about whatever it was that was actually bothering her, before making a proper examination of their mystery guest.

I suppose Luna's guards will be picking them up right about-

The distinctive opposed yet complimentary sensation of Luna's magic impinged on Celestia's thoughts. A moment later a shadowy gateway tore itself open, spilling a visibly agitated Luna onto the thick carpet. Celestia had hoped to see Luna arrive to raise the moon in a more genuinely positive mood, or at least in the mood to talk about what was bothering her, but if anything she seemed to be far more anxious - even actually afraid.

"Luna? What-"

"Somepony ambushed the guards We sent to retrieve the Elements," Luna said hurriedly, still a little breathless after her teleport. "Three of them are unconscious. Their dreams are scattered and chaotic, but We believe it has only been moments since the attack. One of them recalls buying time for the fourth to escape, but We cannot locate her."

Luna took a breath to continue, but Celestia had heard enough.

No. Nothing else goes wrong today. For Twilight, or any of my little ponies.

"Tia, the time for games is past. Before we respond I should-"

A blinding flash threw sharp shadows across her chambers as Celestia teleported directly into the Solar Guard barracks.

**Applejack**

Applejack wasn't sure that the situation was completely under control, but things had at least calmed down a little. The Night Guard had, thankfully, taken the time while her sight recovered to calm herself down; and the hog-tied mystery pegasus was alive, if unconscious. Nopony had a clue what the alien visitor's weapon had done, or why he'd decided to use it when he did, but they didn't want to antagonise him into possibly using it again so they'd largely left him alone.

Relations with the large stallion had cooled somewhat after the attack, especially with regards to Fluttershy. The anxious pegasus was significantly less comfortable around him now, and even if she hadn't actually voiced it Applejack was pretty sure his apparent readiness to resort to violence was the cause. For now, however, he seemed to be content to just guard his prisoner; as long as that didn't change there wasn't any reason to force the issue. Somepony would notice when the carriage didn't come back, and more guards would be sent.

We gotta convince Fluttershy to talk to 'im again eventually... 'less the Princesses can do somethin' about the language thing.

The single, family-sized uncontrolled part of their situation right now was the storm, which was slowly collapsing outward and drenching everything with rain - including the camp. The heavy drops noisily pattering off Applejack's hat were falling relentlessly across the landscape, turning the rocky sand into a disgusting sticky mush. The sweeping curtains of rain also reduced what little visibility they might otherwise have had to almost zero - and with the cloud cover on top of that it was pitch black outside of the odd purplish light of their spell-born campfire. Applejack wasn't an expert on the ins and outs of weather, at least beyond what she needed to know to work with the weather team on keeping the Acres watered, but it looked like the huge collection of clouds would take a lot of work to break up.

In spite of the weather - and once she had given up on her desire to beat down on a defenceless prisoner - Nightshade had, of course, wanted to go looking for the rest of her squad. Currently she was responding less than favourably to offers of assistance, and Applejack was taking the opportunity to put her stubborn streak to a positive use.

"I'll come along with ya," Applejack offered. "Can't exactly carry all three of 'em by yourself if they're hurt."

The guard's expression darkened briefly, before she relented and let out a small resigned breath. "Fine. But the rest of you are staying behind to watch him," she said, pointing a hoof at the tied pegasus. "It's not safe out there, and I don't trust that... thing"- she waved her outstretched hoof in the direction of their giant visitor -"any further than I could throw it. I am not leaving it alone with my prisoner."

"He's a he, not an..." Fluttershy trailed off, wilting as the guard turned an angry glare on her. Ducking behind her mane, she whimpered something that might have been an apology.

Rainbow Dash was immediately hovering in Nightshade's face, poking her in the chest. "Hey! Leave Fluttershy alone."

The guard looked slowly down at the hoof that had bumped against her dark purple peytral, then back up at Rainbow Dash. "If that hoof touches me again, Sunny, I'll break it off," she stated calmly.

Uh-oh. This ain't gonna end well.

Dash bristled. "Oh yeah? I'd like to see you-"

"Rainbow!" Twilight interrupted sternly. "Hitting somepony is not going to help."

Applejack flinched at her choice of words. Ah, nuts. That's not gonna make RD feel any better.

Rainbow Dash jerked back from the guard as if she'd been struck, before dropping back to the ground and hanging her head. She started to stammer out an apology immediately, which surprised Applejack almost as much as Twilight ignoring her and turning on the guard instead.

Dangit Twi, you're tryin' to play peacemaker without thinkin' about what you're sayin' an' who you're sayin' it to!

"And you," Twilight said, stamping a hoof angrily, "you do not speak to my friends like that. Or anypony else, for that matter. My friends might not understand the cultural connotations of what you just said, but I do. I thought we had sorted all that out." Nightshade stood stunned for a moment, before she realised who was talking to her. Quickly turning to face Twilight, the guard stood to attention - eyes focused out into the middle distance, posture ramrod straight in the manner of any soldier aiming to survive a dressing-down from a superior.

Cultural what now?

"Understood your highness, won't happen again ma'am."

"It's been a horrible, confusing day, and we're all stressed out, but there are three ponies out there that might need our help," Twilight continued in a more understanding tone. "Go find them, and take Applejack and Fluttershy with you in case they need medical attention."

"Yes ma'am." Nightshade saluted, then turned to head towards the campfire. She took a sizeable stick in her mouth, purple-tinged magical flame still dancing at the end, and offered it to Applejack.

"You won't be able to see out there," she said, voice featureless and professional, "take this. Come get me when the two of you are ready to go."

Taking the offered torch, Applejack glanced around to locate Rarity as the guard paced out to the edge of the light. Twilight and Rainbow needed some damage control, but she couldn't do that and help find the guards at the same time. As it turned out, Rarity was helping Fluttershy get her medical supplies back out of their almost-packed stack of gear.

After she'd got herself an umbrella out first, o'course. Where does she even keep all that stuff?

Approaching the pair and speaking carefully around the torch, Applejack said "Hey, Rares - I gotta go help with lookin' for the guards, but RD and Twi are gonna need a talkin' to."

Rarity glanced over at her briefly before returning to tugging on the pile of supplies with her magic. "Yes, I know," she replied. "Twilight probably could have handled that a little better. I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks," Applejack said with a nod, as a pair of butterfly-clasped saddlebags finally popped out of the pile encased in a blue glow. "You got everything you need, 'Shy?"

"Um, I think so," Fluttershy replied, as Rarity deposited the bags onto her back. "Probably. Maybe. Um..." she twisted her head round to peek into each of the bags in turn. "Yes."

"Alrighty then, let's git goin'. No time to waste, 'specially in this rain."

**Rainbow Dash**

High above the camp, small pieces of angry black cloud were being pulverised by rapid-fire strikes of cyan hooves.

Stupid... bucking... idiot! Rainbow Dash berated herself, punctuating each word with another smashed cloud before pausing to catch her breath.

At least I can't screw this up. I hope.

Every time she tried to help lately she just messed it up. At least the clouds wouldn't get mad at her.

The storm was big, but now she was up here Rainbow Dash had quickly determined it was very poorly constructed. Her sharp eyes roved across the huge structure in the starlight, trying to make sense of it. It was already breaking apart, and would soon spread into a more generalised heavy rainstorm. It almost made a perverse kind of sense that the lone pegasus tied up in camp had built it himself, assuming he didn't know the first thing about weather. If you ignored the sheer size of the thing it was like something a flight camp freshmare would build - but there was no way that just one pony had enough magical muscle to do it that fast on this kind of scale.

The shoddy cloud structure would make the formation as a whole a massive headache to disassemble, but Rainbow decided she could at least make a dent in the bits and pieces that were flaking off. It would keep her mind off all the stuff she didn't want to think about if nothing else.

She fell into a steady rhythm, breaking up stray puffs of cloud one by one. A well placed hoof strike to crack them open, then the backdraft from a single beat of her wings would scatter the vapour behind her as she glided to the next.

A few dozen clouds later, Dash's attention was drawn back to the ground below. A daylight-bright flash briefly lit up a patch of desert a short way from the camp, and the pegasus came to a halt on top of the cloud that had been her next target.

Was that what I think it was? she mused as she squinted down into the dark.

Crouched down peering over the edge of her perch as she was, Rainbow Dash was taken completely by surprise when something slammed into her side. Reeling in pain and confusion, she caught a glimpse of a horn surrounded by a bright scarlet glow. Then the red glow rushed towards her head, and everything went black.

**Fluttershy**

Fluttershy was, perhaps a little unusually, feeling very appreciative about being born a pegasus. She didn't dislike being a pegasus of course, but she wasn't exactly Rainbow Dash when it came to things like flying and weather. At the moment, however, the unceasing rain and high winds were likely very unpleasant for anypony without pegasus magic to ward off the worst of the storm.

Not that it seems to be bothering Applejack at all, she noted, glancing at the earth pony walking beside her. Applejack still carried a flickering torch in her mouth, topped by a purple flame born of Twilight's magic. The rain and wind didn't seem to be affecting the flame, and it wasn't giving off any heat, but something was still making it flicker and gutter. It was as if there was another kind of wind in the air that she couldn't feel, pushing and pulling on the magical fire.

They had been retracing Nightshade's steps back through the dark and the rain for a few minutes when the bat-pony spotted something. She was walking ahead of Fluttershy and Applejack, on the leading edge of their flickering magical torchlight, catlike eyes peering into the darkness beyond.

"Over here!" the guard called over her shoulder as she bounded forward out of the light. As the two friends followed, they could hear Nightshade talking to the pony she had apparently found. Although she sounded angry, there was a hint of brittle fragility in her voice.

"Echo? Echo, you'd better still be alive you bastard!"

After a few moments, the light revealed her standing over the body of another Night Guard, the stallion's armour in even worse condition than Nightshade's own. Several plates lay scattered on the ground nearby, seemingly torn off the padding and straps beneath by whatever had attacked the unfortunate guard. Nightshade had her head laid against the stallion's barrel, one tufted ear searching for a pulse. Fluttershy saw the tension in the guardsmare's shoulders loosen as relief washed over her face briefly. Then Nightshade stood back and shouted angrily at the fallen pony.

"Where in Luna's name do you get off scaring me like that? You just wait until we get you back on your hooves, mister. As soon as you're better, I'm gonna kill you for this!"

The stallion stirred, opening one bleary amber eye. "'Shade?" he croaked weakly.

Oh my goodness!

Fluttershy cantered over to the fallen guard, dropping her bags onto the floor as Applejack followed with the torch. The stallion screwed his eye shut against the light and tried to raise a foreleg to cover his head before halting with a pained groan. Fluttershy flinched inwardly as she saw why - a jagged piece of red-stained white bone was visible jutting out from beneath the broken armour covering his upper leg. Then she heard Applejack draw in a sharp breath around the torch behind her as the light revealed the full extent of his injuries.

Small patches of his deep purple armour glimmered in the magical firelight, dark coating scraped away to reveal the bright metal beneath, but most of the remaining plates were scorched black or stained by rain-smeared blood. Most of the hair of his tail was missing; judging by the scorched state of what remained Fluttershy guessed it had been burned off. The unarmoured parts of his body were almost as battered as the armour itself, with growing bruises and small cuts just visible through his coat.

Together with the broken leg all that would have been bad enough, but...

The guard's right wing was concealed beneath him as he lay on his side on the rocky sand, but the other batlike appendage stuck straight up into the air for a short way - before taking a sickening bend downward behind his back. The leathery membrane of the wing had torn completely through at the break, the two ragged halves fluttering limply in the breeze like sails attached to a broken mast.

Nightshade checked something on the insides of the fallen guard's forelegs, before cursing and leaning in to whisper something to the stallion. He nodded weakly, and Fluttershy saw Nightshade's eyes flick to her own foreleg before her face set into a determined mask. Apparently dismissing whatever she had been considering, the guard lay down near her squadmade's head and stared up at Fluttershy with steel in her eyes. "Fix him. Now," she said, flatly.

For a moment Fluttershy just stared at the ruined pony in shock. She couldn't imagine what the poor stallion had gone through, and she realised the meagre first aid supplies she carried were completely inadequate - not to mention she had no idea how to deal with a pony this badly hurt. Or if the bat-pony's wing would need to be treated differently from a pegasus wing, which was almost certainly the case.

Then she steadied herself, trying to ignore the bit of her that wanted to curl up and cry just from knowing something like this could happen to a pony.

Okay Fluttershy, don't panic. The last thing he needs to hear is you bawling about how badly he's hurt.

"I-" she stammered weakly, before swallowing and trying again. "Just... don't move, okay?" she said to the stallion, trying to sound more confident than she felt. "Everything's going to be fine. You're safe now." She began rummaging through her saddlebags for a splint.

The guard let out a long moan of pain, before clenching his jaw and cutting it off. "Oh Luna," he said in a pained whisper, "I'm messed up." Tears began to flow from his tightly-closed eyes. "I can't... my wing," he said, voice changing from a whisper to a thready, despairing moan before dissolving into agonised gasps. "What's wrong with my wing? It- it hurts, I can't..."

Fluttershy passed a short, thick piece of plaited rope to Nightshade. "W-we need to set his wing," she said tentatively, "before he moves it and does more damage."

"He needs a hospital, yesterday," said Applejack.

The guardsmare took the rope from Fluttershy, but didn't acknowledge Applejack. Her tone stayed flat. "He'll be fine."

"But-"

"HE'LL BE FINE!" Nighshade suddenly screamed at Applejack, pausing to collect herself before turning back to her squadmate. "Echo, your wing's broken," she said gently, touching a hoof to the stallion's head. "We're gonna have to straighten it out. It's going to hurt, but you'll be okay." She gently pushed the rope piece between his teeth. "Bite down on that, it'll be over before you know it."

Echo grunted out a quavering affirmative sound around the rope and nodded. His breaths started coming in short, staccato gasps in anticipation of the pain to come.

As the three ponies moved to set the guard's wing, a flash of pure, bright daylight lit the rocky desert. Thankfully for Nightshade's eyesight, the bat-pony had her back to the burst of illumination. The guard immediately span to face the source of the flash, wings spread as she hunted for signs of a threat. Fluttershy briefly wondered why she had one eye closed, before she realised it would serve as a countermeasure to being blinded by a second flash. Then to Fluttershy's surprise Nightshade suddenly began to paw at her armour, obviously searching for something.

With a frustrated curse, Nightshade turned back to the others and started tentatively looking over Echo's armour. After a moment she bit down on a small object and flicked her head, tossing a hoof-sized crystal rod onto the ground before stepping on it. With a glassy crunch the broken rod released a spark of emerald fire into the air, shooting straight upward trailing similarly-coloured smoke behind it.

As the flare rose, the light of several unicorn horns sprang up from the direction of the flash. Beams of light began searching towards the group, their sources bobbing up and down as they moved. The pounding sound of armoured hooves arose in the dark, drawing steadily closer as Applejack and Fluttershy looked to Nightshade for an explanation.

"What's that?" Applejack asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"I don't know how or why, but Princess Celestia just teleported in over there - and she brought Princess Luna and half the damn Solar Guard with her." Nightshade replied hurriedly, before leaning down to speak to Echo. "I'll be right back, don't you bucking dare die on me now."

Then she turned and, wings spread, bounded and flew out towards the sound of approaching hooves.

"MEDIC!"

Chapter 13 - The Cavalry Has Arrived

View Online

**Applejack**

A hectic few minutes later, Applejack finally allowed herself to relax. As it turned out, all three of the missing Night Guards had survived - even if the one they had found was quite badly hurt. The Solar Guard medics had set up a small aid station for the trio, and it hadn't taken much persuading for them to get Nightshade to surrender to an examination either - she hadn't moved out of reach of Echo since he'd been carried inside in any case. They simply checked her over as best they could while she sat next to her squadmate, alternating between fussing over his injuries and berating him for having them.

The quick application of some strong healing magic would likely ensure the guard would keep his wing, although it would take quite some time to heal up. Applejack hoped he wasn't as attached to flight as Rainbow Dash was - her friend had gone stir-crazy in a matter of hours the last time she'd had a wing in a cast. Echo was likely to be grounded for a lot longer than that, even with a pair of princesses pitching in on the initial burst of magic.

Though I guess if it takes a pair of alicorns just to keep one of yer bits attached ya shouldn't exactly complain about how long it takes to finish fixin'. Tipping the brim of her hat up a little, Applejack glanced towards the slowly clearing sky. Well, at least it ain't rainin' no more.

Fortunately an Extreme Meteorology team had been attached to the Solar Guard unit the Princesses had brought with them. Although they were technically part of the weather service, the ponies of the Emergency Meteorology Service - or "Meteors" as they were generally known - spent a lot of their time training on attachment to guard units due to the similar fitness demands of their respective positions. As a result, alongside their intended role in emergency response, EMS squads were also the force that dealt with meteorological warfare - despite operating outside of the guard command chain. The expert weather ponies were busily demolishing the storm above, gradually exposing the moon and stars of the night sky once more.

Applejack spared a brief thought for Rainbow Dash as she looked up. Hopefully she'd come back to ground level about the same time Rarity had talked some sense into Twilight. The way she saw it, the threat-to-Equestria stuff was over, so it would be nice if the more mundane friendship troubles could be wrapped up too.

Applejack could only afford a brief distraction, however - she was currently stood outside the aid station, trying to explain to both Princesses exactly what was going on as they prepared to head on to the camp site. She'd had to reassure them that the whole thing was basically over a few times before it really sank in, and they slowed their pace a little instead of dashing off after the others immediately. Fluttershy wasn't really in any condition to help with the explanations after the evening she'd had either, and had elected to remain in the aid station while Applejack and the Princesses went on to the Elements' camp.

Poor gal's jumpier'n a frog on a hotplate after tonight, and she weren't exactly comfortable around Princess Luna at the best o'times. Hay, I'm not sure I am. She might not have that whole Nightmare thing goin' on any more, and I oughta be givin' her a chance an' all, but she's still pretty darn creepy.

Applejack wasn't even sure her unease was entirely rational - after all, Princess Celestia was just as intimidating in both stature and power. The thought that her instinctive dislike for the younger Princess was born only of prejudice was discomfiting. That wasn't the sort of pony Applejack wanted to be, and it definitely wasn't the sort of pony she'd been brought up to be.

Maybe it's the other way around, she thought, an' the only reason I ain't as nervous about Princess Celestia is a whole lifetime of bein' told how nice she is...

Princess Celestia spoke up as guards formed up around herself, Luna and Applejack. "So our mysterious visitor is not only armed, but has used this weapon on our little ponies?"

"Well, yeah, but it ain't exactly as bad as it sounds," Applejack replied a little reluctantly as the group began to move out. "That pegasus was lookin' to start a fight, and whatever the beam thing he used was, it just sorta... knocked the colt out. Even seemed to do somethin' to protect him from the fall. And I ain't never seen pegasi build a storm like this, 'specially not one all by hisself. I'm pretty sure RD said it was impossible, an' that word's not normally in her vocabulary. With the freaky powers he was packin', he was dangerous."

Applejack hesitated as something occurred to her, then continued. "Actually, the bit I'm most surprised by is how the big feller knew what was goin' on."

"How do you mean?" Princess Celestia asked.

Princess Luna's expression shifted subtly as Applejack replied, "Well, we had to rely on Fluttershy's special talent to talk to 'im, seein' as we can't understand each other, so-"

Princess Celestia began a confused interruption, but her sibling spoke over her in turn. "This is one part I should probably explain, sister. I was going to leave this as a little puzzle for you, but as I was attempting to explain before you ran out on me a few minutes past I..." Princess Luna hesitated for a moment, controlling her apparent frustration - and rising volume. "Our visitor and myself slept properly, and simultaneously, for the first time since his arrival this evening. There is more at work here than we first believed, and my foalish attempts at levity no longer merely protect mine own pride. Continuing to withhold information now would at best place Equestria itself in peril, but there are... complications."

Before Princess Celestia could ask what those complications might be, Luna continued "First, something I can share. It appears that the veil between our world and his is more than a simple barrier. Not only has it been translating messages we have passed across it, but it has also been altering their content and obscuring information - from both sides."

"What do you mean, altering our messages?" Princess Celestia said, a little concern creeping into her voice. "We've been communicating across that barrier for centuries, how could we not have noticed something like that?"

Luna settled into a pensive silence for a moment, deep in thought as the group continued walking. "I... am not certain," she said at length. "Although it is troubling that such a thing has been taking place, I can think of no real reason for it to be so." She let out a short sigh. "I do not really have any more insight into what might be behind this particular frustration than you, sister. I only have my observations of our visitor's dreams to go on," she said, placing an odd emphasis on 'observations' that Applejack found a little unsettling, "but I can say with confidence that there is some form of deception occurring. Both our knowledge of his world, and what little he has of ours, is quite far removed from reality."

"And this calls into question our communication with every other world we have reached," Celestia commented. "We have to assume the same thing could be occurring there as well."

"Indeed."

"So is there any of this obscured information about his world that might be important? Or, I suppose, anything he might need to know about ours?"

"I... I cannot say," Princess Luna replied. "Please, do not ask anything else of me on this. I..." Applejack was disturbed to see the alicorn become visibly upset as she attempted to explain. "A line was crossed. Unintentionally, but... there are things that you and he need to know, but I cannot be the one to tell you. The means by which the information was obtained already places me too far in his debt to breach his trust further. I have to speak with him first. And yes, I can," she added in response to the unspoken question, "but I doubt he will wish to speak to me."

Applejack wasn't sure whether or not she should speak up - it seemed the Princesses had forgotten she was even there, and she felt like she was possibly hearing things that she wasn't supposed to. But if Princess Luna was uncomfortable saying things about their visitor herself, then Applejack could at least help by telling Princess Celestia what she knew. Her desire to offer what information she could quickly overcame her doubts about her place in the conversation, and she found her voice.

"He, uh, seemed pretty surprised about most stuff t'be honest, Princess. He kinda passed out when he saw us for the first time, like he hadn't even seen a pony before."

If the Princesses objected to her presence, they hid their reaction well. It seemed they didn't mind talking about these things in front of her, at least.

Or maybe I'm here 'cos I ain't bound by whatever's weighin' Princess Luna down.

"Thy presumption is correct, Applejack," Luna said, "he hadn't." Her expression became troubled. "There is much We would tell thee and Our sister both about wha-" Luna cut herself off with an annoyed snort and began again. "I would like to share much of what I have seen with you, but... the things I see in the minds of others are the very essence of who they are, their unguarded self. I have no right to expose that information, and as much as I might wish to, might think it justified in this particular case, I will not begin my descent down that slippery slope. There were-" Worry flickered across Luna's face as she hesitated. "We saw things that he dearly wishes nopony else to know. We already have much to apologise for, even if Our intrusion was unintentional. The best We can do is to keep Our silence, and hope that might allow for forgiveness in time. Even if he holds a grudge against me, you will need his aid - and through him, that of his friends. Just as he will need yours.

"You can figure out some means of communication and all get the information you need from each other, as long as I can preserve some semblance of a trusting relationship by admitting my guilt. Hopefully that will confine his ire to myself, and you can treat with him on friendly terms. Then I can hold my tongue without withholding information that would doom two worlds. If I cannot do that, then I... I shall have to make a choice I do not even wish to contemplate."

Princess Celestia touched a wing to her sister's back, and Applejack smiled inwardly, thinking of her own siblings. "I won't repeat past errors, and pretend I understand," the older alicorn said quietly, "but I trust you to do the right thing, Luna. We'll find our own way around the problem somehow."

Luna's head and ears perked up as her mood brightened. "Actually, there is something... I think I might be able to do." Her smile became mischievous at the questioning glances of the other two ponies. "Wait until we get there, it'll be a surprise. Applejack, I believe there is one rather important piece of information about our visitor you know'st, and could relate to my sister without need for me to speak of it."

So one minute it's no time fer games an' she looks like she's gotta confess to killin' somepony, an' now she's grinnin' like RD just before she pulls a prank. I may not be a psychologist, but I think somepony's deflectin' something fierce.

"Ya mean the, uh..." Applejack said, rearing up to her hind legs briefly, before cantering to catch up with the Princesses.

"Yes."

Celestia looked from Applejack to her sister curiously. "What?"

"Well Princess, he mighta arrived on four hooves like that rest of us, but, well... he's kinda walkin' around on two now. He can do some sorta shape-shiftin' transformin' type thing with them metal legs a'his, and he ends up kinda like a pony version of a minotaur. Makes 'im even taller than he was t'start with, and his front hooves turned into... uh, paws? Claws?"

"Hands," Luna supplied.

"That is... well, it's certainly unusual. I don't believe I've come across magic quite like that before," Celestia said, as Luna smirked beside her. "Even if his limbs are artificial, he must be quite talented to be able to use a transmutation spell like that. Non-living limbs would certainly make that easier, but it is still no mean feat."

"That's kinda the kicker, Princess," Applejack went on, "far as Twi could figure it, his legs are as alive as any of us and it weren't magic. He got Fluttershy to warn us before he did it, but she still kinda freaked out when it happened and she realised it wasn't a spell."

Celestia stopped walking, the perimeter of guards coming to a halt as Luna and Applejack turned to look back at her. Judging by Luna's reaction, Applejack guessed that the expression of slack-jawed shock currently plastered across Celestia's face was the object of this whole line of conversation. The elder alicorn could only stammer half-formed sentences in disbelief as her sister struggled to rein in her amusement. Applejack looked from one alicorn to the other, trying to figure out if she should be laughing or not.

Yeah, she's definitely tryin' to get her mind off things. I gotta say though, Princess Celestia looks mighty funny when she's surprised.

"Yeah," Applejack said slowly, fighting to keep her face straight, "it was kinda like that actually."

At that, Luna lost her composure entirely.

**Thirty-Thirty**

Thirty-Thirty's night didn't seem to be getting any less interesting. The angry little guard had stomped off with Apple and ~Fluttershy~, but they'd only been absent a little under half an hour when a burst of bright light flashed across the desert from the direction in which they had gone. Star had immediately broken off the conversation she was having with Diamond and Pinky, visibly excited about something, although his chances of figuring out what were vanishingly small with ~Fluttershy~ gone.

Speaking of gone, Bolt seemed to have disappeared somewhere after the little shouting match she'd had with the guard. He hoped she wasn't off sulking or anything. The others didn't seem worried about her absence, or even to have noticed it, but it was difficult to be sure of that when he couldn't understand their conversation. For all he knew that was what they were talking about. Thirty shifted his weight slightly as he sat, gun resting across his lap, and looked down to check on his prisoner again.

Still out. Good. Maybe once we get to some kinda civilisation I can hand him over to someplace official.

He'd been a little surprised at the rather direct parallel initially, but once he'd recognised the pony was delivering a grandstanding monologue worthy of Tex Hex or one of his goons it had been pretty obvious he was a bad guy. The group of ponies that had rescued him had been visibly frightened, only one battered guard had turned up at their camp minus a promised carriage, and the airborne pony had been yelling stuff while posing in front of a thunderstorm.

Heck, it was practic'ly a mercy shot. Even Tex ain't that melodramatic most o'the time.

Thirty-Thirty paused a moment to reflect on his choice to shoot first, arrest second and maybe think about asking some questions once the language problem got fixed.

BraveStarr would prob'ly have some complaint or other about startin' the whole thing off with a shot from Sara-Jane, but then again the Marshal ain't here.

Before that thought could drag him into more melancholic reflection on his situation, Thirty's ears twitched as the remaining ponies in the camp became more agitated. Excited rather than worried this time, if he was reading them right - and a moment later he picked up the rhythmic sound of approaching hooves.

It took a second before he recognised the marching cadence for what it was. Even having four hooves himself at least some of the time, the rest of the galaxy was largely bipedal; the cultural predisposition to expect a regular two-step march was still at the front of his mind. Ponies, of course, produced a pair of steps for every one a biped would, resulting in the double-paired *thump-thump, thump-thump* sound of dozens of synchronised hooves now approaching the camp.

Then, suddenly, the rain stopped. It didn't peter out gradually, like a conventional shower - it just cut off as if someone had flipped a switch. He would be first to admit he had limited experience with rainfall living beneath the trinary suns of New Texas, but Thirty-Thirty was pretty sure it wasn't meant to do that. He looked skyward, but couldn't make out much of anything now his vision had adapted to the firelight.

Star cantered over to the small fire and touched her horn to it, causing the flickering purple flames to grow in intensity, before calling out into the darkness in obvious relief. A friendly reply preceded Apple as she trotted into the circle of firelight, having apparently run on ahead of whatever group she was leading to their encampment. Thirty watched as the colourful ponies greeted each other, their animated back-and-forth interspersed with brief hugs and smiles. He felt a brief, painful burst of nostalgic longing at the sight of the smaller equines nuzzling and embracing each other, before crushing the feeling down and trying to ignore it.

Not the time or the place fer that now. I ain't any more at home here than anywhere else.

Then the source of the marching sounds revealed itself as over a dozen ponies moved into the expanded firelight. Thirty-Thirty felt his body tense up as a significant number of the gold-armoured guards focused their attention on him. Star seemed completely unfazed by the display of military might, and ran straight through the ring of steel unimpeded - to greet the individuals the guards were there to protect.

Okay, I'm just gonna give up on classifyin' these darn ponies into groups. Every time I think I've got 'em all, something new shows up.

The newcomers stood head and shoulders above the ponies around them - still leaving them a good deal smaller than he was, but they were noticeably bigger than the rest - and like Star possessed both wings and a horn. He briefly wondered if they might be Star's parents; her lighter purplish colouration was almost a compromise between the midnight blue and white of the coats of the two larger ponies. The fact that both seemed to be mares was something of a wrench in that plan, however.

If most'a these guards weren't stallions I'd almost start to think they didn't have any. And not a single piece'a metal in any of 'em, just the armour on the outside. Two different kinds of winged ponies, regular ones, unicorns, and these winged unicorn ones too... Pegasus unicorns? Pegacorns?

The three were certainly acting as if they knew each other well, nuzzling each other in greeting and talking in animated tones. The most notable thing about the two oversized new arrivals, however, were their manes and tails - or rather, what they had instead.

Both had some kind of undulating cloud in place of both mane and tail. The dark blue pony's could barely be seen against the darkness beyond the firelight, the purple-edged black masses only visible thanks the the sparkling star-like highlights within. The white mare's, on the other hand, were much more distinctive in the night - the gently flowing clouds attached to her neck and hindquarters were shot through with bands of colour, mostly light pastel shades of green, pink and blue.

They also had identifying marks similar to the ponies he'd seen thus far, a stylised representation of the sun and moon on the light- and dark-coloured pegacorn respectively. The moon-marked one also had a darker piece of coat beneath hers, stretching across her hindquarters and providing extra contrast - presumably representing a night sky as well as the moon itself. A search for marks around the ring of guards was less productive, as their armour covered most of their bodies. Their marks - if indeed they possessed any - remained concealed.

So are these two adults? Surely all of these ponies can't be children, they're armed and armoured guards! Maybe they're separate species like all the aliens back home, and I'm just readin' too much into them having the same basic body shape...

Then the topic of conversation apparently shifted to Thirty himself, if the way the ponies were all looking at him was any indication. Several of the golden-armoured guards - one unicorn, one normal pony, and a pair of winged ones covering them from above - made to approach, weapons drawn but not quite pointed at him. Several loud demands were made, concerning his little prisoner if the accompanying body language was any indicator, and Thirty grew more uncomfortable. Then he focused on the weapons they weren't quite threatening him with. To his surprise the guards weren't armed with anything Thirty-Thirty expected of a police or military force - at least not one from the current millennium, at any rate. They each held a large polearm of some kind, which looked far too well-used to be ornamental and lacked any obvious technological additions. It seemed like there were even more differences between this world and his own, if this was what they considered proper arms and armour for what were - judging by the crowns he had noticed the two larger pegacorns were wearing - royal guards.

The approaching guards faltered after a moment as a few comments from Star, Apple and friends apparently confused their orders. Thirty gave a questioning look to Star as the horned guard turned back to the two large crowned ponies for guidance, the remaining three keeping their eyes on him. Star asked something of the bigger pegacorns, and on following her gaze to them Thirty-Thirty saw the dark blue one roll her eyes as her horn flashed briefly.

Then, in perfectly intelligible English, she said "There, that should do it."

Her white companion turned to her, expression puzzled. "Do what, Luna?"

"You'll see," the first pegacorn replied, grinning, "or hear, I suppose."

What the-

Thirty-Thirty froze in shock. Suddenly, somehow, he could understand what the little ponies were saying. He only half-perceived the strangled sound of surprise he made, but all save one of the equines turned to look at him. The blue pegacorn seemed to be quite deliberately avoiding meeting his eyes, in a manner strongly suggestive of a guilty conscience, even as she simultaneously found something about the current situation amusing.

"Is... something wrong with the horse?" the white pegacorn said, concern evident on her face. Her darker companion covered her mouth with a hoof, trying to stifle giggles, while the others looked on confused and concerned.

Thirty-Thirty might have been tongue-tied by surprise, but that comment got through to him.

"Hey!" he said hotly, "Watch who yer callin' 'horse', shorty."

Chapter 14 - What You Are in the Dark

View Online

**Twilight Sparkle**

Twilight barely noticed as Princess Celestia took a half-step back from the large alien, beginning to apologise in spite of her evident surprise.

"You can- You've been able to understand us the whole time?!" Twilight said incredulously, volume rising over Celestia's apology. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"No, I couldn't," the huge grey-furred stallion - that apparently didn't like being called a horse - replied, "It only started just now."

Not only is he suddenly speaking fluent Equestrian, he also sounds like he's related to Applejack for some reason. What the hay is going on?

Luna's voice cut across the conversation, halting and vibrating with amusement. "You should... y-your faces!"

Twilight turned to face the Lunar Diarch, a glance at Celestia revealing the same dawning realisation on her mentor's face. Luna was battling valiantly to remain standing against the force of her barely-restrained mirth, one hoof held to her muzzle to stifle a laugh.

Celestia quirked an eyebrow at her sister. "Translation spell?"

"Mm-hmm." Luna murmured with a nod, still holding her mouth shut.

"We'll talk about this later," Celestia said, eyes narrowing.

"Worth it," Luna said quietly, eyes sparkling as she struggled to keep her voice level. "So worth it."

"Your Highness?" the lead guard prompted, his gaze still moving between the Royal trio and the large stallion.

"Thank you Captain," Celestia said, returning to her usual regal composure. "You can stand down for now."

The guards pulled back as the three alicorns moved toward the stallion. As they approached, he reversed Twilight's earlier outburst in a sarcastic tone. "Ya had a spell that could translate the whole time? Why didn't ya say anythin'?"

"Well, uh..." Twilight began, before Princess Celestia took over.

"Translation spells are notoriously difficult and unreliable," Celestia said, addressing their visitor. "My sister has something of a unique affinity for them, as well as a sometimes... questionable sense of humour. I apologise for any offense I may have given, such was not my intent."

"Ah, it ain't nothin'," the stallion replied, mollified. "Y'ain't exactly the first to make that mistake."

"Then, if you don't mind me asking," Twilight asked hesitantly, "what, uh... what exactly are you?"

"A Techno-horse," the stallion replied, "the last o'the Equestroids. Or you could use my name, seein' as how we can talk now an' all." He extended an arm towards her, offering a metal hand from where he still sat on the ground. "We kinda did this bit already, but it'll prob'ly work better this time. Name's Thirty-Thirty."

Twilight brought her hoof up towards the offered hand slowly, a little uncertain at first - then she mentally connected the stallion's limbs to those of a minotaur or griffin, and decided the same sort of hoof-shake would probably work. Placing her hoof inside the huge grey paw, she tried to force the nervousness out of her smile.

"Twilight Sparkle. Princess Twilight Sparkle, actually," she said as the stallion gently shook her hoof. Twilight cringed a little when his eyes widened at her title, then stepped back to introduce Celestia and Luna.

"Please," she said, mind racing to recall the proper protocol, "allow me to introduce the Diarchs of Equestria; Princess Celestia, Regent of the Sun, and her sister Princess Luna, Regent of the Moon." Each of the alicorns slightly inclined their heads as she spoke. Twilight noted that Luna seemed to have suddenly lost all of the laughter she had been holding in a moment ago, and was worried to see she was also avoiding meeting the large alien's gaze.

What's up with that?

The stallion - Thirty-Thirty, Twilight reminded herself - seemed quite taken aback by the titles. "I'd guessed you were somethin' from all the guards, but... wow. I ain't ever exactly met royalty before," he said, running a hand back through his mane awkwardly. "Seems like a lot of fuss to go to for just me. Uh... should I be, y'know, bowin' or somethin'? Don't want to just jump up without askin', you little ladies seem to get pretty jumpy when I do that."

"I think we can dispense with formalities for the moment," Princess Celestia said. "There is, however, one matter we must resolve. You have harmed one of our little ponies and taken him as a prisoner. He is to be released, immediately."

"I didn't hurt the little guy, it was only a freeze round," Thirty-Thirty replied. "He'll wake up in a couple hours. An' he's under arrest."

"For what, exactly?" Princess Celestia asked. As Twilight opened her mouth to remind the Princess of what she herself had already told Celestia about the events of the last hour, Celestia shot her a look and she hesitated.

She wants to hear his side of it, before he learns anything from us? I guess I am interested to know exactly how he figured out what was going on...

The stallion glanced aside at the bound pegasus, a little uncertainty creeping onto his face. "I, uh... I'm still kinda workin' that part out," he offered sheepishly. "I've got this thing where I sometimes do stuff without really thinkin' about it as much as maybe I should, but... look," he said, returning his gaze to the three alicorns, "when someone poses in front of a giant storm cloud yellin' and monologuin' like that, and all o'you in the camp were frightened of him, after that guard came in all beat up... I just figured he was probably up to no good."

Twilight shifted a little, uneasy. That's... not exactly the best reason for blasting somepony. I guess everything worked out though.

"He was under the influence of powerful dark magic, and not entirely in control of his actions," Celestia said levelly. "I am happy to hear that you at least intended to do my little ponies no permanent injury, but I would still ask you surrender him to us so that we can make sure he is unharmed."

"Well, I guess y'all are in charge 'round here, and I was gonna try and give him to some kinda sheriff or somethin' anyhow," the stallion replied. "Take him."

At the Princess' command, a pair of unicorn medics brought a stretcher forward from the guard formation. Twilight looked on as they bore the bound pegasus away, hoping he wasn't hurt.

He should be free of the dark magic contained in whatever that amulet was at least. I'd like to believe it was the Alicorn Amulet - it would solve a huge problem and raise less questions - but the Alicorn Amulet is not even close to that easy to get rid of...

Twilight noticed Princess Celestia's gaze travelling back and forth between the unconscious pegasus and Thirty-Thirty, a small amount of concern still evident on her face. Then she felt an almost imperceptible push against her magical senses - Celestia was looking for something, and trying to do it without being noticed.

Luna huffed out a short breath and stepped forward. "Well, now that is resolved, We suppose thou may'st benefit from some explanation. We believe the answers thou desirest are..." Luna's gaze drifted upward as she thought, punctuating each answer with a tap of a forehoof on the ground. "Yes; ponies; yes, really; about a dozen, but the vast majority are pegasi, earth ponies or unicorns; neigh, there are zebras, minotaurs, griffins, dragons, donkeys and much more besides; We are working on it; then yes to the next two and mayhap to the last."

Twilight had to admit to herself that what Luna said left her with very little clue what was going on. Judging by the reactions of the surrounding guards, her friends, and Princess Celestia, they were as confused as she was.

"Oh come on," Luna said, "surely 'tis not that difficult."

That's easy to say when you're a literal mind-reader, Twilight thought, and especially when you already know the answer...

"Anyway, it doesn't have to make sense to all of you," Luna said, motioning towards Thirty-Thirty, "they're the answers to the first ten questions he wants answered in the order I believe he is most likely to ask them."

Contrary to Luna's assertion, Twilight noted Thirty-Thirty was looking almost as confused as everypony else. "The first one works," he said carefully, "but I think maybe the order's wrong after that, 'cos 'ponies' don't make no sense for a yes or no question."

"For the benefit of everypony else present, could we please just have a normal conversation?" Celestia enquired.

"Fine," Luna huffed. She glanced at the stallion thoughtfully. "Thy priorities must have shifted a little since last you slept."

Surprise, and a maybe a hint of anger, crossed Thirty-Thirty's features. "And I reckon they just changed again. You've been snoopin' around in my head?"

Luna flinched. "We- I-" she began, before closing her eyes briefly and taking a slow breath. "I promise I shall explain after, but thou..." Luna paused again. Rather than appearing frustrated, as Twilight expected after all of the 'thou's she had been throwing around, she seemed to be deliberately choosing to use the alternative. Emphasising the pronoun slightly, Luna began again in a more subdued and regretful tone. "No, you have other questions that should be answered first. The answer to that will likely be the last words we exchange."

Twilight looked between Luna and the large stallion curiously as Thirty-Thirty simply folded his arms and waited for the Princess to continue. That was an interesting development - she hadn't considered that perhaps Luna's apparently inconsistent use of 'thou' and 'you' was deliberate. If she was consciously choosing to refer to Thirty-Thirty with what, for Luna at least, was the term of address for an equal or superior rather than the one for an inferior... considering the other factors involved she obviously felt indebted to him in some way.

The pranks, those answers... and the way she just deflated when- Wow. She isn't trying to be funny, she is really nervous about something.

"First," Luna said after a moment, "you are correct in your assumption regarding where you are. You have passed through an unstable gateway powered by dark magic into the place you know as the Celestial realm."

"Yeah, I figured," Thirty-Thirty replied.

To Twilight's surprise he didn't seem all that concerned about falling through a gateway into another world, and without really thinking about it she blurted out "Doesn't that worry you at all?"

"This ain't exactly my first rodeo, kid," he replied, not taking his eyes off Luna, "I've done the hole-in-space thing before. Just not to here. Next I was gonna ask if you'd been talkin' to Shaman at all, and if my partner was okay."

Luna's eyes widened a little. "Oh, that's where we got mixed up. Your curiosity over the strange place in which you find yourself has understandably fallen behind your concern for your friends over the day. This would be the later answers - yes, I have spoken to him, and yes, your companion is unharmed. Your partner went to him for help after what happened, and he contacted us to see if you had arrived on this side of the portal. He is alive and uninjured, and he knows that you survived and that we were going to attempt to send you home."

"When were you going to tell me about that, sister?" Celestia asked.

"In your room, in private, before you decided to go off like a solar flare and leave me behind!" Luna replied angrily, voice steadily increasing in volume. "Now let me finish!"

Twilight stuck a hoof in one ear and wiggled it around. Ow! That... Oh. It's 'yell-at-your-sister-in-front-of-the-guards-and-everypony' bad. This, uh, isn't awkward at all.

Before Celestia could respond, Luna turned back to Thirty-Thirty. "As to your follow-up of whether or not you can talk to them, I am not certain - with no magical ability of your own you cannot do so directly, but we may be able to work something out. Hopefully we can simply return you home before that becomes an issue. After that, I suppose it's back to the questions about us and our world."

Thirty-Thirty paused for a moment - probably going back over what Luna had said earlier, Twilight realised - before stating, "So y'all're ponies." There was a slight undercurrent of amusement in his tone, as if he half expected it was a joke at his expense.

"Yes. There are three major pony tribes that make up most of our population - earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns - along with some less numerous ones. Around a dozen in all. We share our world with a large number of other races, as you do. Our nearest neighbours are the griffin and zebra nations, and we also have a small but significant donkey population living within our borders."

The stallion turned his gaze on Twilight. "That three tribes thing what you were tryin' to explain with that little line-up ya did?"

"Um... yes," Twilight said, feeling heat rising in her cheeks. "I don't think I did a very good job. Sorry. Wasn't really thinking too clearly at the time."

"I got some of it I think," the stallion replied with a small smile, "but mostly I was confused about why you weren't puttin' yourself in a group too. Was a bit weird havin' you show me there were three kinds o'ya when you didn't fit into any o'the groups yourself."

Twilight brightened a little at the chance to explain herself. "Oh, well, I can explain that part now - alicorns are kind of an exception. There's only three. Well, four now. I was-" Twilight paused as she caught sight of the look Celestia and Luna were giving her. "You know what, never mind. Way to much to go over right now."

"That's what you three are? With the wings an' a horn?"

Twilight nodded. "Yes."

"And there's... just the four of ya?" Thirty-Thirty said. Twilight wasn't sure what to make of his slightly subdued tone.

"Yes?" she replied, a little uncertainty creeping into her voice.

The stallion lapsed into thoughtful silence for a little while, before turning back to Luna.

"I think you've still got somethin' to tell me."

Twilight saw Luna's ethereal mane darken and droop as her ears turned back. "Yes, I do," she said reluctantly. She glanced at the surrounding guards and Twilight's friends before adding, "In a less... public setting."

Twilight stood by awkwardly, feeling a little like a third wheel, as Celestia instructed the guards to return to their impromptu aid post with Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity and...

...and Rainbow, Twilight thought sadly, as she failed to locate the colourful pegasus. She must still be... Celestia, I'm such a mule. She'd felt terrible when Rarity had made her think back over the way she'd worded what she'd said to Rainbow Dash during the argument she'd been having with Nightshade. As soon as this was over she was going to have to find her and apologise.

She was silently thankful when Rarity tactfully avoided mentioning to Celestia exactly why Dash had flown off alone to bust clouds. A few guards were dispatched skywards to pass a message to the Meteor squad dismantling the storm, instructing them to point Rainbow towards the aid station when they found her. A few short moments after the pegasi disappeared into the dark sky beyond the firelight, the rest of the troops marched off with her friends - leaving the three alicorns alone with their alien visitor.

Looking between the royal sisters and Thirty-Thirty, Twilight wondered if Celestia and Luna realised that, size-wise, he would appear about as large to them as they did to regular ponies.

"Before We begin," Luna said reluctantly, "We would beg two things of you all. First, that any acrimony resulting from my actions remain solely between the two of us. It would be best if everypony else refrained from involving themselves, on either side. There is too much at stake for both our worlds for you to cease interacting with one another."

"That's gonna depend entirely on what exactly it is ya did," Thirty-Thirty responded, "but I get what you're sayin. If they ain't involved, I'm not gonna let this spill on them."

Luna bowed her head briefly in acknowledgement. "Second," he gaze shifted from the stallion to Celestia and Twilight, "you three need to have a discussion about Arcanite. After this," she added, forestalling the question Twilight was about to ask. "The situation is worse than we thought, and your unfortunate attacker was only one of many. You should be able to put it together immediately if you start there, without the need for me to break faith."

Twilight saw Celestia's eyes dart back and forth a few times as she considered something. She apparently came to a conclusion and her eyes widened as she focused on Luna. "The other disturbances-"

To Twilight's surprise, Luna interrupted her sister. "Yes, but this... situation needs dealing with first."

An uncomfortable silence stretched out as Thirty-Thirty sat with his arms folded, looking at Luna with undisguised irritation. The Princess seemed to be stuck on the verge of speaking, as if she knew opening her mouth would be the start of something horrible.

At length, voice carefully neutral, he said "So... you've been in my head."

"In a manner of speaking, yes," Luna replied, with a hint of shame. "Not intentionally," she added hurriedly, before the stallion had a chance to reply, "please, allow Us to explain. We know this will sound passing strange to you, but one of Our Royal duties is guarding the dreams of Our subjects as they slumber. Normally We have to deliberately seek out a pony within the realm of dreams, and entering requires at least some level of consent from them. Each of Our little ponies creates a sort of bubble within which their dream plays out. You might think of them as tiny universes, contained in a room of sorts. For you, however..." Luna trailed off as she searched for words. "Your dreams are... loud. There is no boundary, no barrier around them. It is as if everypony else is sat in their room reading a book, and you are leading a marching band down the corridor. When first you arrived We saw only brief snatches of things, and We were preoccupied by other matters, but when you slept 'pon the surface..."

Twilight suppressed a shudder at how awkward that situation must be, for both of them. She also noted that Luna had fallen back into a more archaic speech pattern. Such events were becoming less and less regular these days, and more often than not Luna would catch and correct herself relatively quickly. Presumably she was nervous about their visitor's potential reaction to the whole situation, and that combined with discussing her traditional role and special talent was drawing it out.

She had been expecting something negative, but Twilight was still surprised by Thirty-Thirty's response. His initial hostility had disappeared entirely, and now fear was rolling off him in waves. The huge stallion looked like he was about to be sick. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he managed to speak.

"I don't believe you." The tone of his words made it readily apparent to Twilight that Thirty-Thirty's words came more from denial than actual disbelief.

"Two hundred and forty-three years, two months and eight days," Luna said, voice hushed and heavy with the weight of speaking a necessary evil. "Twenty-seven was the last to die."

Twilight became increasingly worried as Thirty-Thirty's voice and bearing grew more desperate. "No," he protested, "someone could've told you that. There are still records-"

"Not of how, and why, you survived. Or of what your people are. What you were built from," Luna pressed on, seemingly determined to prove her point. "You destroyed all trace of that, along with knowledge of the measures they put in place to control all of you. All of you took back your freedom that day. That was your liberators' answer when you asked them why they came, wasn't it? 'Freedom is the right of all sentient beings'? But the others were flawed in one way or another, and only you survived many years beyond that. A fusion of living flesh and living metal. You are truly a child of two worlds, Unit Thirty. Earth, and-"

In one smooth, blindingly fast motion the huge alien swept up his weapon, worked a hinged section of the grip back and forth with a metallic sound - which Twilight found all too easily echoed in her recent memory - and pointed the open end directly at Luna's face.

The cavernous maw of the thing was almost large enough to swallow the Princess' head. Twilight only held herself back from intervening for what was presumably the same reason Celestia had; Luna had apparently anticipated the response she would incite, and faced the stallion calmly with one hoof extended back to ward off her fellow alicorns.

Thirty-Thirty's voice came out in a low growl. "Stop talking. Now."

All four figures stood motionless for what seemed like an age. Twilight tried not to breathe as she waited for Luna to do... something. Anything, whatever it was she had planned to make sure everything would work out.

She has a plan, right? Celestia always has a plan!

Luna and Thirty-Thirty continued to stare into each other's eyes for what Twilight realised was the first time since they had actually met. After some undefinable length of time crawled by, Twilight caught a faint creaking sound at the edge of her hearing. A few moments later the stallion's weapon began to waver slightly in his grip, the crushing power of which was, Twilight realised, the source of the strange sound.

"I am not one o' them," he said, as if daring Luna to contradict him.

Then, as quickly as the stalemate had begun, it was over. Something seemed to drain out of Thirty-Thirty, and he screwed his eyes shut as the end of his weapon slowly lowered towards the ground.

"We are sorry." Luna murmured, bowing her head. "We had to make you understand what We have done."

The fire had left the stallion's voice, which now matched his defeated posture. "So you... I mean you've-"

"We saw everything. Including how you wouldst feel about somepony else knowing," Luna said in a small voice, ears flat against her head. "We cannot undo what We have witnessed, but neither have We abused that knowledge nor shared it with anypony else. We can only offer you Our solemn oath that this will not change, with this confession as a display of Our faithfulness thereto. We are both aware that had I a desire to use what I know for ill, I would have no cause or need to make this admission to you."

"I suppose I gotta believe ya," Thirty-Thirty said bitterly. "Either way, it's not like I could-" he broke off and looked aside with a whispered "Damn it."

"We are sorry that circumstance has put the two of us in this position. We will not trouble you again, but if you change your mind-"

The stallion's reply held an implacable finality. "If you've seen everythin', then you know I won't."

"All things change in time, and the future is often not as we imagine it will be," Luna said sadly, before bowing her head and turning to leave. Celestia moved to follow her sister, concern plain on her face.

Without looking back, Luna said "You still have duties to attend to," her voice thick with repressed emotion. Twilight could hear the underlying message - Luna was acknowledging that she came second to Equestria in her sister's priorities. Celestia drew up short.

Twilight had seen the expression currently occupying her mentor's face only once - when she'd brought up Nightmare Night in one of her tutor sessions as a filly. Celestia had put Equestria before Luna once before, and the emotional turmoil on the elder alicorn's face was making Twilight's own heart ache.

Time to pony up Twilight. You've got the wings and the crown, and Luna needs her sister.

She swallowed and straightened her stance, before giving Celestia a slight nod.

I'll take care of this. Go.

Celestia gave Twilight a brief flicker of a smile, overloaded with a storm of emotion - pride, gratitude, happiness, fear, nervous anticipation and so many more - and followed her sister into the night.

Chapter 15 - Picking Up Pieces

View Online

**Twilight Sparkle**

"What's her problem?"

Twilight rounded on Thirty-Thirty, struggling to hold in her reactionary anger. "She is going to comfort her sister. Who you have just upset."

"She drew first," the stallion replied simply. After a moment, he added "They're sisters?"

"Yes."

"Huh," he said thoughtfully. "So which one's yer momma?"

Twilight's brain stuttered, stalled, and re-engaged. "W-what? Neither of them! Why would you-"

"Well you said there was only four of ya, they're both mares and you're a whole heap smaller... I figured the missing one's yer father and one of them's your mom."

Understanding dawned in Twilight's mind. "Oh. Oh! No, um, that's not how... alicorns don't work that way. There aren't any stallions, and besides Celestia and Luna being sisters we're not related. Cadance is Celestia and Luna's niece by adoption, but as far as I know neither of us is actually related to either of them. Well, not by blood at any rate."

"So two of ya are sisters and all four of ya are mares... how's that even work?"

"Alicorns aren't born, we're sort of... made. It's a magic thing. I was a regular, plain old unicorn a few years ago, and Cadance was born a pegasus. She's only about ten years older than I am, but she ascended when I was still a foal. Pretty much the first thing she did after that was foalsit me, actually."

Which I find a lot more suspicious now given what's happened to me since, Twilight thought, a small frown flickering across her brow. Then she realised she was actually succeeding at something she was normally quite bad at.

A nice, relaxed, neutral topic of conversation. Passing the time. Small talk! I'm doing it! Yes!

"And how old are you exactly?" Thirty asked. "Not to put too fine a point on things, but you all kinda look like foals from where I'm sittin'."

"I'm twenty-three," Twilight said earnestly. Then she decided to pre-empt the anticipated follow-up questions. "My friends are all within a year or two of that, and Luna and Celestia... well, they pre-date recorded pony history, but they're both at least three thousand. Luna's younger, but I don't know by how much."

"They..." the stallion said uncertainly, "those two? They're three thousand years old?"

"Well," Twilight hedged, "that's just the absolute minimum. They could be a lot older than that. They aren't telling though. Believe me, I've asked. A lot."

Thirty-Thirty seemed to be half lost in thought as he commented "So it's just been the two of them, for..."

"Actually Celestia spent the last thousand years ruling all by herself. Luna was sort of... banished to the moon for a while."

Rather than the expected snarky comment about sending her back there, given how much he apparently disliked Luna after whatever it was had passed between them, Twilight only got a stunned silence from the stallion.

In time he simply said, "Alone?"

"Luna wasn't entirely herself... or really conscious for most of it. Celestia ruled Equestria by herself for a thousand years, but she wasn't exactly alone. Lots of other ponies, after all. Regular ponies don't live as long as alicorns do, but it's not like there wasn't anypony around."

"Nothing else like her, though."

There was something in the way he spoke that made Twilight ask a question of her own. "You mentioned you were the last... how long has it-" she hesitated. "I mean, if you don't mind me asking, I don't want to-"

Buck it no no no no bad wrong ARGH! Twilight tried to stop her curiosity running away with her mouth. Why would you do this to me brain?! I trusted you!

"Don'cha remember?" Thirty-Thirty replied, a hint of vicious mockery edging into his depressed tone, "Was part of the proof. 'Two hundred and forty-three years, two months and eight days'? Weren't just a random number."

The pair sat in silence for what seemed like hours to Twilight, but was probably only a minute or two. Eventually the stallion broke the silence once more.

"I hope she realises how lucky she is."

Twilight looked up but said nothing, hoping to draw him into restarting the conversation.

"I can't even imagine what it's like after a thousand years, but... there's more of ya now. She's got you. Did she know?"

"Hmm?"

"That she wouldn't... that you three'd be arriving."

"There was a prophecy that foretold of her sister's return - or at least, the escape of the thing she had become before she was banished. That combined with the Elements of Harmony giving her a chance to save Luna was probably what kept her going."

Even if Cadance ascending just before that must have seemed ominously like a replacement.

"That's... that's not much to hold on to." Thirty-Thirty glanced at the gradually clearing night sky for a moment. "But she's still lucky. I don't have prophecies or nothin' like that. I'm the last," he said, enunciating the final two words carefully. "Capital-L Last. Thirty of us were made, and twenty-nine are dead. Never gonna be another like me." He took a slow breath.

Twilight hunted for something else to say, and went for the first thing that popped into her head - friends. "So do you live alone, or..." she tailed off and cringed internally.

Darn it, not again. Smooth, Twilight. What're you going to do if the answer is 'yes' after what he's just said? Could you make this any more awkward?

She let out a silent sigh of relief when Thirty-Thirty answered "No, no, I got friends. Life's really picked up the last couple o' years. But they ain't much like me. If anythin' y'all are closer than they are, at least shape-wise. I mean you're tiny, but you're still basically equine. And... they ain't built to last like I am. It'll be a really, really good few decades, but one day... I'm gonna have to bury 'em along with everyone else."

"That does not get any easier," Princess Celestia said, walking back into the firelight, "but it also does not diminish the value of the times between."

Twilight saw something pass between the two as they regarded each other. Not companionship, or even really understanding - more an acknowledgement of a shared pain, and some measure of mutual respect for surviving it.

"We have urgent issues to discuss," Celestia continued after a moment. "Luna is the only one with the entire picture, but she meant what she said to you. She will not reveal any of it herself, but she must also balance that against her duty to protect our lands and our little ponies. To that end, she has suggested some things we might talk about. Things that should lead to a more voluntary exchange of information, and in a more timely fashion than we might have managed undirected. It would appear that we are already held at a disadvantage, and unless we catch up quickly then our mutual enemy will become an uncontrollable threat."

Thirty-Thirty grunted an affirmative, and Twilight shivered.

"So... this isn't over?" she asked nervously.

"Stampede ain't dead yet," Thirty-Thirty said, under his breath but still audible, "or banished, or destroyed, or whichever one applies to whatever the heck he is."

"I have already made a few guesses based on recent events, and if I am correct then... no, Twilight, this is definitely not over." Celestia motioned in the direction of the route the guards had taken out of the camp. "We should return to Canterlot for now; you will all be safer there, and I believe today has been enough of a trial for everypony involved. We can talk a little on the way."

Twilight tried to both disguise her curiosity and watch out of the corner of her eye as Thirty-Thirty stood up. She just couldn't resist watching his strange metal limbs moving. It was a completely alien and unique puzzle being dangled in front of her muzzle, and she could hardly wait to start investigating it as soon as she got the chance. As Twilight moved to extinguish the spell she had used to light the campfire, Celestia lit the way forward with her horn.

"I believe there is one piece of the puzzle we can easily put together," Celestia said as they walked. "The amulet that Stratus was wearing before you disabled him was made of Arcanite. I went to great lengths to ensure that there was none of that material left unsecured, and suddenly more of it is appearing. I believe I already know the answer to this question, but could it have come from your world?"

"I ain't never heard of it before, but I guess it might'a done," Thirty-Thirty replied.

"I think you may have, most likely by whatever name your people have for it," Celestia continued. "A red crystalline material that acts as a potent energy source and magical amplifier. When I sensed trace amounts of it on Stratus, I searched for more... and I believe there is a large quantity of it in your weapon."

Twilight saw the stallion's eyebrows lift as he apparently came to a realisation. "Kerium? Well yeah, that could'a come from New Texas for sure. It's about the only thing the planet's known for. Mining the stuff is pretty much all that goes on there."

"Mining it?" Twilight blurted. The three equines stopped walking. "Just how much Arcanite do you have?"

Thirty-Thirty seemed a little hesitant to respond. "Uh... why would that matter, exactly?"

"There are only seven hoof-sized pieces of Arcanite in all of Equestria!" Twilight exclaimed. "And they're seven of the most powerful magical artefacts in the entire world!"

"Oh."

"'Oh'? What's 'oh'?" Twilight said nervously.

In a subdued tone, the stallion explained, "New Texas is the biggest producer of raw Kerium in the galaxy, more'n every other planet put together. Fuels our entire civilisation, but it don't do much for magic unless you've got a whole heap a' the stuff. We export cargo containers full of it every month. Crystals the size of my head." He gestured towards the weapon on his back. "Sara-Jane here's got a kilo of the stuff loaded in 'er right now."

Twilight didn't even register the fact that the stallion's weapon apparently had a pet name, or the implications of the words 'in the galaxy' or 'every other planet'. She was too busy trying to process all of the potential implications of that much Arcanite just existing, let alone being used in such enormous quantities.

How has the magical flux created by that much Arcanite not shredded their entire world?!

"Then I assume the information we have suggesting magic is a far less common, and much weaker, force in your universe is reliable," Celestia went on. "If it was not, the mere existence of that much Arcanite would have a devastating effect on reality."

"I ain't exactly a magic expert, but it looks that way."

Celestia let out a heavy breath. "It is as I feared, then. Perhaps even worse." She stared off into the darkness for a few moments, lost in thought. "Arcanite is a catalyst and a conduit, allowing a pony to draw upon the local magical field more easily and in greater quantity. It may not have a great magical effect in your world, but here there is much more background magic to draw upon."

After walking a little more in silence, Celestia resumed her explanation. "There have been smaller portals opening across this region of Equestria for the last few months. We assumed they were natural in origin, but given today's events... I believe that may not have been the case. If even a fraction of those events were deliberate, and delivered Arcanite pieces infused with dark magic into the hooves of ponies, then there could be dozens of unfortunates like Stratus out there by now." Celestia's voice grew hard, and her ethereal mane began to snap and flutter soundlessly - as if the strange winds that moved it were disturbed. "Prisoners in their own bodies, forced to work towards some malicious goal."

Twilight felt a twisting, constricting pressure in her gut. "Me," she breathed, and the other two halted and turned toward her. "Me," she repeated, louder this time. "They want me. That's what they're after. The direct attack earlier, and then again just now - he was threatening to hurt everypony else if I didn't surrender."

"Then we got somethin' else to figure out," Thirty-Thirty said. "What makes you so special?"

Celestia began to move forward again, and the others matched her pace as she spoke. "It could be any number of things, but given the specific requirements for generating these portals I would assume Twilight's particular magical abilities make her a target. Only Twilight, Luna and myself are capable of using the dark magic necessary to rend the veil between our worlds, and of the three of us, Twilight is the most vulnerable."

"'Cos she's the youngest?"

"That is one reason, but likely not the primary motivation. Twilight is also the one with the most natural talent in that direction."

"What?!" Twilight stopped in place, then cantered to catch up. "But I don't- I haven't-"

"I had hoped to introduce you to this gradually, Twilight, but it seems I will not be granted that luxury. You are the Element of Magic. Not just the magic of harmony, or friendship. All magic. You have just as much aptitude for dark magic as you do for anything else. It took Luna and I centuries to learn to use what little we can, and you have almost caught up to us in only two years."

Not that that helped me earlier.

As if she'd plucked the thought right out of Twilight's head, Celesia continued, "You're not lacking in ability Twilight, just practice. A great fortress will still fall if its gates stand open. We just need to help you learn to protect yourself."

"So a couple little bits of Kerium are gonna cause all this trouble?"

"If they are prepared with a quantity of dark magic, certainly. One such artefact, the Alicorn Amulet, already exists - it is one of the seven Twilight mentioned a moment ago, and is the reason I went to such lengths to secure all of the Arcanite in Equestria. Any unicorn wearing it has their magical abilities dramatically enhanced, but the amulet also corrupts their mind - and it can only be removed without killing the wearer if they freely choose to be rid of it. You can probably imagine how rarely that happens if somepony wears it for more than a few days." Celestia's face set into an expression of grim determination. "And it would seem our enemy has been creating similar artifacts and giving them to our little ponies. Thankfully the one Stratus was wearing did not seem too durable - the Alicorn Amulet itself is nigh indestructible."

"So what're the other six artefacts o'doom ya got hangin' around?"

Celestia smiled a little. "The other six would be the Elements of Harmony. They represent the six fundamental virtues of friendship, and together with the ponies they bind to as bearers they are among the most powerful forces for good in Equestria. You've already met the current group of bearers."

"Shaman did say that was his most important lesson fer th'Marshal. The most powerful weapon he had was friendship." Twilight felt her face flush slightly as the stallion looked down at her.

"Twilight holds the Element of Magic, and her friends - the other members of the group who found you - are the bearers of Generosity, Honesty, Laughter, Kindness and Loyalty."

"I should probably get to know all o'their names now. Can't exactly go usin' the nicknames I came up with. The only one I got was, uh... Fluttershy? Huh." Thirty-Thirty looked a little surprised.

"What's the matter?" Twilight asked.

"Well I knew what her name was thanks to whatever thing was lettin' her talk t'me, but I didn't actually understand it till I thought about it just now. I knew the sound in your language, and I knew it was her name, but now it kinda makes sense to me. I gotta thank her proper for takin' care a'me."

Twilight allowed a little optimism to creep back into her thoughts. "I'm certain she'll appreciate that. Fluttershy is a really great pony, she's just a bit wary around strangers."

And loud noises, and her own shadow...

Twilight allowed the silence after her comment to stretch out a little, hoping it might draw their guest into starting some conversation of his own. After a minute or two of the trio walking in silence, she realised it wasn't working.

He must have as many questions for us as I do for him, why isn't he saying anything? The thing with Luna must really be bothering him.

**Thirty-Thirty**

The small talk was a welcome distraction. Even the brief exchange with the white princess, the moment of connection the two had shared in their loneliness. Just about enough to let Thirty-Thirty put a calm face on top of the real emotions beneath. He wasn't lying when he said he wanted to see the other little fillies again - especially now he had a chance of understanding more of what was going on - but he couldn't keep Princess Luna out of his head. Figuratively or, apparently, literally.

She knew everything. What he was, what he'd been built for, what he'd done to earn his freedom. Why everyone else was gone. Why he had watched over the sacred hall alone for so long. Every little thought and dream and private memory just pulled right out of his head and into the light. 'Exposed' didn't even begin to cover how he felt about that part. And on top of that, there were a few bits of information in his head that didn't exist anywhere else. The survivors had gone to extreme lengths to make sure of that, to make sure they couldn't be used against them again.

The only reason he could be pretty sure the mare hadn't already abused the knowledge she had gained was how he was feeling about it right now, that he was in a position to be terrified by it. If she was going to abuse what she knew, she wouldn't have made any sort of confession. She could have just told him not to think about it. And, however much he just wanted her to get gone and stay there, he hadn't missed how bad the alicorn had felt about what had happened.

Unless she's just actin' that way so- No. Not goin' there. Paranoia ain't gonna fix anything. She could-

Thirty-Thirty shivered involuntarily and suppressed the urge to do... something. Run, scream, curl up into a ball, smash everything in reach. This was a colt's fear, reaching a cold hand out from his distant past and threatening to drag him back. It had been persistent in its attempts to break him down, but he hadn't fallen victim to it in years now. Hadn't felt it this keenly since he, and the rest of his people, had first freed themselves. He almost stumbled as he walked into the guards' encampment alongside the two smaller equines, and ignored the look they both aimed his way.

She could have done pretty much whatever she wanted, the only reason it would shake out this way is if she weren't lyin' when she promised not to do nothin'. An' even if she was lyin' I wouldn't be able to tell.

Celestia turned to Thirty-Thirty and Twilight as they reached the edge of the aid station. "I will make arrangements for our departure to Canterlot. Twilight, why don't you and our guest find your friends. I think time with some familiar faces would be good for you both." Something about Celestia's mannerisms towards him felt off, and after a moment Thirty realised what it was - she wasn't used to looking up when talking to people. She kept having to adjust her gaze upward every time she turned to address him. "Fortunately the castle was built with larger individuals - and pegasi - in mind, so it's quite generously sized. There shouldn't be too much trouble getting you settled somewhere."

So we're pretendin' nothing is wrong, huh? Guess I can do that, long as she stays well clear a' me.

"I guess so," Thirty said, "an' thanks for helpin' me out."

Twilight seemed to perk up as Celestia acknowledged him with a nod and moved on into the encampment. "Come on," she said, a little eagerness creeping into her voice, "let's go find everypony." Then the little pony's excitement stalled, and she looked a little uncomfortable. Despite his mood, Thirty-Thirty found it impossible to ignore something that small and foal-like in obvious distress.

"What's up?"

"I, uh... I might have said something less than diplomatic to Rainbow Dash earlier. I need to find her and apologise."

"I'm just gonna go ahead and assume that's the one with the rainbow mane."

Twilight looked confused for a moment. "Oh, right. You don't actually know anypony's name. Yes, that's Rainbow Dash. Element of Loyalty," she said, leading the way into the camp. "Everypony should be around here somewhere..."

Thirty-Thirty followed a little warily, conscious of all the stares he was getting from the armed and armoured guards. He couldn't exactly duck behind a tent and avoid notice either, everything was too small. There seemed to be quite a few of the gold-armoured ponies milling around the place, but he couldn't see any of the darker bat-winged ones.

"Why are these guards so different to the one from earlier?" he asked.

"These are Royal Guards - or, well, Solar guards would be more correct these days, both Guards are royal - they're Princess Celestia's. Regular pony volunteers from across Equestria. There's some minor enchantments on the armour to make them all a bit more uniform, hence the grey and white coat colours. The bat-ponies are Princess Luna's Night Guards. They're, uh... complicated."

"Uh-huh," Thirty replied. "Complicated."

"Well Princess Luna only returned from the moon a few years ago, and before that everypony thought Noctrals were just as mythical as Nightmare Moon. They just sort of... reappeared at the same time she did. I did a pretty extensive report on them for Princess Celestia last year. It's being turned into a public information release so everypony can understand them better. They might look a little scary on the outside, but they're really just ponies on the inside."

Thirty-Thirty decided it would probably be inappropriate to mention that he didn't think they were scary at all - in fact, he found them just as adorable as the rest of the ponies he'd encountered so far. They were all too small and fuzzy to be intimidating.

"If you'd like a little light reading I should be able to find a copy of my report somewhere once we get to Canterlot," Twilight went on, "it's only a couple of hundred pages long, and they really are fascinating once you get to know them. We might even be able to find Nightshade around here somewhere - that's the mare you met earlier, by the way - if she's not busy looking after her injured squadmates. Noctrals are fiercely protective of close friends and family members, and that feeds off their slightly insular-"

Suddenly, Twilight was interrupted by some form of screeching, pink ballistic missile.

"OHMYGOSH HI!"

Even if the words now technically made sense, Thirty-Thirty still found the excitable pink pony's assault disorienting. She seemed to be everywhere at once - bouncing up in front of him, tugging and pulling on his legs, arms and tail, and once even poking out of his mane. Her questioning became increasingly frantic and intent with every passing moment.

"Can you talk now, can ya can ya huh huh huh? My name's Pinkie Pie, what's yours? Did you like the cupcake? What's your favourite colour? Balloons or streamers? Truth or dare? Apples or oranges?"

"Pinkie!"

Twilight's horn flashed briefly, and the pony - who apparently actually was called Pinky - was yanked firmly down onto the floor with her mouth clamped shut by a glowing band of magic. "If you want him to answer questions," she slowly explained to the other pony, "you have to actually leave spaces for him to do it in."

The pink pony sat on her haunches, forehooves shoving ineffectually against the magical ring around her muzzle. Then she rounded on Twilight, unleashing a truly plaintive whine and the best set of quivering, slightly damp puppy-dog eyes Thirty-Thirty had ever seen.

Twilight crumbled immediately. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Just... slow down," she said, before releasing Pinky from her magical grip. "Why don't you just take us to wherever the rest of the girls are and we'll do this properly."

"Fine." The pink pony drew the word out, her voice dripping with adolescent pique. Then she rose to her hooves again and trotted ahead, already rebounding back to her previously bright and cheery mood. "Come on, everypony's waiting right over here."

Still a little shell-shocked, Thirty-Thirty threw Twilight a sideways glance. "Is she always-"

"Yes. It's better if you don't think about it too hard."

Chapter 16 - Friendship

View Online

**Applejack**

"Where's that dang featherbrain gotten to?"

Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rarity didn't seem to have any more idea than Applejack did, but equally it didn't seem to be worrying them as much either. The four friends sat around another magically-lit campfire - this one a strange shade of coppery green, presumably courtesy of the unknown guard responsible for lighting it - trying to sort through the increasingly strange and trying day they'd had. Conversation had been sporadic since they'd left Twilight and the Princesses alone with their alien visitor, everypony apparently content to work on things in their own heads for the most part. The surrounding guards seemed to have calmed down, and were obviously settling in for a night in the wilds.

"I'm sure she's fine, Applejack," Rarity said from beside her. "Sometimes one just needs a little time alone with one's feelings."

Applejack sighed and fussed at her hat with a hoof. "I know, an' RD ain't exactly the greatest when it comes to talkin' about this kinda thing. But with all what's been goin' on out here tonight... I'd just feel better if I could see her, y'know? I don't mean to fuss, but I just can't stop worryin' about 'er." She glanced up at the sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of a brightly-coloured form in the dark. "The guards shoulda found 'er by now."

Fluttershy shivered, and huddled down a little tighter behind her mane. "I just want to go home," she whispered faintly. "Too many ponies have gotten hurt today."

Pinkie Pie shuffled a little closer to Fluttershy and placed a hoof across her back. "Come on Fluttershy, everypony's going to be fine. Especially thanks to you, you've been super helpful today." Pinkie leaned her head to the side and gave her friend a little squeeze, turning her comforting hoof into a comforting hug. Applejack caught a glimpse of a small smile behind Fluttershy's mane, but it was still tinged with a little sadness.

"Thanks Pinkie Pie," the pegasus said, a little more confident but still subdued. "But I'd still feel better if I hadn't needed to help like that in the first place."

Then Pinkie Pie let out an explosive sneeze, which sent her sliding quite some distance back along the ground. Fluttershy squeaked in terror and fell sideways in a tangle of legs and wings as she tried to escape the sudden noise. Applejack counted several other strange body movements from her pink friend - a couple of ear twitches, and something with one of her back legs - before Pinkie's head snapped up to stare at something out in the rest of the camp with a surprised gasp. Before anypony could ask what was going on, Pinkie shot off in a puff of dust.

"Well, that was a little rude," Rarity commented as she helped Fluttershy up. "Are you all right, Fluttershy?"

"Um, yes... sorry."

"Ya think maybe Rainbow's back?" Applejack asked.

"To be honest, darling, I try not to speculate when it comes to Pinkie Pie." An excitable high-pitched shout that could only have come from Pinkie emanated from somewhere nearby. "I suppose all shall be revealed shortly."

A few moments later, Pinkie reappeared - with Twilight and the plus-sized alien in tow. The stallion hesitated at the edge of the group, and hung back while Twilight approached.

"Hi girls," Twilight said tiredly. "Is... is Rainbow Dash around?"

"No," Applejack replied, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. She knew friends wouldn't always see eye to eye, and that worrying over Dash was no excuse to get mad at Twilight, but that didn't make it any less frustrating that the two of them weren't getting along. "She ain't back yet."

Twilight's head lowered a little. "Oh. I wanted to talk to her first, but, well, if she's not here..." Twilight looked back to the stallion stood awkwardly on the outside of the group. "You can't just stand there waiting while I sort my personal issues out, come on."

"Okay, so, Thirty-Thirty," Twilight pointed to each of her friends with a hoof, "Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Girls, this is Thirty-Thirty."

The stallion raised one of his strange paws in a little wave. "Hey there."

"So ya can understand us now, right?" Applejack asked the enormous biped, rising to her hooves.

"Eeyup."

Applejack suppressed a shudder at the familiar phrase. Now that's just downright creepy.

"I know we sorta did this already, but..." she extended a hoof up towards the strange creature. Rather than bending over to reach her, he folded his legs under him and sat down. "I'm Applejack," she finished, trying her best to sound friendly rather than uncomfortable.

What followed was even more alien to her than the original hoof-shake with a giant hoof had been. Applejack had never had much cause to interact with anything that wasn't another pony, and the way Thirty-Thirty's odd branching limb wrapped around her hoof felt very strange, and she had to catch herself to avoid snatching her hoof back.

After the others introduced themselves again - some rather more enthusiastically than others - he addressed the group rather then each of them individually.

"I wanna thank all o' you fine folks for takin' care o' me earlier. I don't know what mighta happened if y'all hadn't been there."

Pinkie Pie leaned towards Applejack and, out of the corner of her mouth, asked "Psst. Hey Applejack. Are you two related?" in a clearly-audible stage whisper.

Applejack and Thirty-Thirty both reacted with a surprised "What?"

"Well," Pinkie went on, dropping the pretence of subtlety altogether, "you kinda-sorta sound like an Apple."

"I'm an Equestroid, not a fruit," Thirty-Thirty said bluntly.

"Not the fruit, silly," Pinkie giggled. Applejack eyed Pinkie Pie suspiciously as the other earth pony pointed a hoof at her. "The family."

"Pinkie, it's a translation spell. The accent isn't real," Twilight interjected. "I'm a little puzzled as to why it's even present actually."

"An' I was kinda wonderin' why only one of ya was talkin' normal," the stallion said, aiming one of his small claw-things at Applejack. "She's the only one that sounds like everyone else back home."

"Really?" Twilight asked with obvious interest. "The spell's even approximating cultural analogues for regional accents?! Wow! Oh. Um," she shifted a little uncomfortably, "none of us, uh, sound silly or anything, right? Only I tried something similar once, and the results were... well, frankly, sort of racist."

"Nah. None of the rest o' y'all sound like New Texas natives though. More like fancier Coreward types."

"Your home wouldn't happen to be a rural farming community of some kind, would it?" Rarity enquired.

"Kinda," Thirty-Thirty hedged. "We're out on the frontier. Mining, farmsteads and ranchers, mostly. This place don't actually look all that different, far as the land goes."

Rarity aimed a raised eyebrow towards Applejack. "Frontier farmers and ranchers... sound like anypony you know, Applejack?"

If by 'anypony' ya mean almost the whole Apple clan, sure. And most of Appleloosa, and Dodge Junction...

"I reckon I could name a couple," Applejack replied, grinning. "Looks like it got that part down at least."

Twilight seemed slightly taken aback by the news. "That's... wow. That's a really impressive piece of work."

"Y'all sure do seem to have a lot more magic to toss around than I'm used to," Thirty-Thirty said. "Not sure if somethin' like this'd even be possible back home. Although I ain't exactly a magic expert."

Appplejack saw Twilight perk up, obviously interested. "What's it like?" Twilight asked excitedly, "Your home, I mean."

Oh boy, here we go, Applejack thought, trying to figure out how to politely keep her friend's curiosity in check.

"And do you like parties?" Pinkie interjected. "Wait, who am I kidding, of course you like parties. Everypony likes parties. Never mind, silly question."

"Twilight! Pinkie!" Rarity protested gently, "One doesn't just grill guests on every little detail of their lives without giving a little first."

An' I bet he ain't exactly eager to dwell on what he's missin', but that was prob'ly a nicer way a' sayin' it. Guess there is a practical use for some a' them fancy manners after all.

"Ya gotta have a heap o' questions on your mind right about now," Applejack said, "I know I do, but I think Rarity's got a point about maybe havin' us be the ones to give a couple answers."

Thirty-Thirty grunted, eyes distant. "Can't say's I know enough to even ask the right questions," he said absently, before focusing back on the group. "Why don't ya tell me about these Element things y'all are wrapped up with, that'll give us somewhere to start I guess."

"Ooh, ooh, that's a great idea!" Pinkie exclaimed, "That's the story of how we all met and became super bestest friends!" Pinkie dropped into a thoughtful silence for a fraction of a second, one hoof beneath her chin. "Hmm... Twilight! You do it!" she exclaimed, redirecting the hoof towards Twilight.

"Do what?" Twilight asked, confused.

"Tell the story, silly! It starts with you reading that passage from an old history book outside your old house in Canterlot, remember? Then you ran home and skipped out on Moondancer's party to check Predictions and Prophecies for more information on the Elements, and-"

"How did you- You weren't even-" Twilight sputtered incredulously, then caught herself and sighed. "Never mind."

Applejack mostly sat by and listened as Twilight told the story of their small group's first day and night together, chiming in a couple of times with her own perspective. Rarity and Fluttershy also added some extra pieces of information, or fielded some of the questions from Thirty-Thirty, while Pinkie Pie provided sound effects, shadow puppetry and enthusiastic re-enactments of several scenes.

She actually found it quite interesting to hear Twilight tell the story - it struck her then that all six of them must have their own slightly different perspective on the whole thing, and that they'd all probably tell it a little differently.

Twi's a whole lot easier to derail with questions about magic than I'd be, that's for sure. Probably a better storyteller than me though. I'd have galloped through the whole thing in a couple of minutes, and she actually took time to describe stuff.

The big stallion had asked quite a few questions along the way, and Applejack could tell he was holding back a whole bushel more so as not to disrupt the telling too much. Even so, as Twilight reached the aftermath of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's reconciliation the whole affair had become less of a story and more of a six-way conversation. That was when Pinkie Pie had one of what Applejack had come to think of as her 'moments'. With absolutely perfect timing, slow enough to seem natural but fast enough to keep the conversation flowing along before anypony had time to think, Pinkie shifted the topic.

"So, how'dja meet your bestest friend?" she asked, nudging Thirty-Thirty's leg with a shoulder before unleashing a truly prodigious grin at his downturned muzzle.

Most of the time Applejack didn't understand a whole lot of what went through the other earth pony's head. Occasionally she even suspected there might be one or two trees missing from Pinkie's mental orchard... but then these sorts of things happened. Pinkie would do something a little special, and Applejack honestly couldn't tell if the mare was secretly a genius or just getting lucky with the whole direct brain-to-mouth thing she had going.

Applejack didn't even have time to wonder if the big stallion had noticed what Pinkie was doing - or figure out if she'd done it intentionally - before he just started in on a story of his own. A small smile crept across her muzzle as she settled down to listen, intent on getting some answers to a few of the questions stewing in her own head.

Now he's tellin' his story, exactly what Pinkie's been wantin' all along. Most times that girl makes about as much sense as a soup sandwich, but every now an' again...

**Thirty-Thirty**

"Well, I first met BraveStarr a couple years ago..."

***

The once-mighty Hall of the Equestroids shuddered as the mountain shifted. Apparently the damage from the fight had been too much for it. Pillars crumbled, and stones broke with cracking sounds louder than cannon blasts as equine statues and intricate carvings were smashed to powder. As great chunks of rock fell to shatter on the floor around him, Thirty-Thirty was surprised to feel an overwhelming sensation of relief.

It's... it's over.

His victorious opponent reached out an arm towards him. "This place is collapsing! We have to get out of here!"

"You go.. I have been defeated." Every word was another great weight dropping from his shoulders, another memory he would no longer have to bear. He was slowly filled, not by happiness, or joy, but simply an absence of the leaden weight he had borne for so long. This was the way it had to be. The way it should be.

Finished at last.

He closed his hand around the sacred gun for the last time as he rose unsteadily to his hooves, prepared for the end. He faced the interloper through the thunder of falling masonry. With a grim finality, the last Equestroid declared, "When the mountain falls... I'm gonna fall with it."

"I'm not leaving you here!" the intruder protested, holding his ground.

This is where I belong. Last in a line a' misbegotten outcasts. But this darn fool don't need to go down with me.

"You ain't got a choice!" he yelled back.

Then there was a blur of motion, and a gloved fist crashed into the underside of his muzzle. Thirty-Thirty's head snapped back as he staggered to one side, and he had just enough time to feel the world start to spin madly before everything slipped away.

***

When he regained consciousness a few seconds later, he found himself seated against a rock in the desert outside the Hall. Dust was still rising from the crippled spire, and parts of the metal skeleton beneath the rock lay exposed to the debris-choked sky. The human stood with his back turned, one arm resting against a boulder, as he watched the structure continue to slowly fall.

To his surprise, Thirty-Thirty didn't feel any sense of loss as the great Hall crumbled. He realised it had long ago ceased to be a home in his mind - it had been nothing more than a prison, a purgatory where he waited for his duty to end - for someone to end it for him. His people's home fell, but the Equestroids were long gone and forgotten. It was nothing more than a shell, an aged gravestone whose inscription had been ground off by the relentless passage of time. His vigil would continue, but he need no longer be bound to his people's final resting place.

Thirty-Thirty tentatively raised his left hand to his jaw. I haven't been hit that hard since... well, ever, he thought, finding his hooves still a little unsteady as he tried to rise. An' I ain't never lost a fight before, neither!

His right arm brushed against something leaning against the rock beside him, and Thirty-Thirty did a brief double-take as he recognised the sacred gun. His shaken brain began to throw up some more recent memories.

He didn't take it? And he... he carried me out? Why?

Everyone who had come to the Hall since he had been left as its sole occupant had been after the gun. Although now that he stopped to think back on it, this one had tried to say something about not knowing the gun belonged to Thirty-Thirty. Trying to apologise, and saying that he'd leave empty-handed rather than steal it. Of course by then he'd already tried to grab the gun, and mistakenly treated Thirty-Thirty as if he was a mindless animal. The fight had started, and his words hadn't mattered, but...

He beat me, fair and square. And still he saved my life, and didn't steal Sara-Jane? He looked the human up and down as he turned around, finally placing the silver star and brightly-coloured uniform. A Galactic Marshal... looks like someone's finally bringin' some law to this forsaken rock.

The Galactic Marshals. Champions of justice, the help for the helpless.

Thirty-Thirty remembered what it was like to fight for something. Not just fighting because it was all he was good at, all he was built for - but for a real, honest reason. How could he have been so willing to just lay down and die?

The stallion felt something kindle inside him that had been absent for far too long.

Law on New Texas. Now that... that might just be somethin' worth fightin' for.

"You alright?" the man asked, obviously a little winded.

"Reckon so," Thirty-Thirty replied carefully, trying not to move his jaw, "an' I figure ya knocked some sense into me."

The man smiled, then turned back to look at the devastated mountain. Thirty-Thirty stood, stepping up to look over the Marshal's shoulder.

A little hesitantly, he said "I guess I owe ya one."

"Nah. I say we're even," the human replied, turning to extend a hand to shake.

Thirty-Thirty considered the man's words carefully, still cradling his aching jaw in his left hand. The extended hand reminded him of what had happened a few seconds ago, the last time the human had offered it to him.

"Nope," he said, "not yet..."

The Equestroid cocked back his right arm and slammed a metal fist into the human's jaw. The man was thrown through the air by the blow, his back smashing into the flat side of a rock before he slid down to sit at its base. He simply sat there stunned, now also cradling his jaw in his hand. Trying to hide his surprise that the human was still conscious, Thirty-Thirty grinned broadly and reached down to help the man up.

"Now we're even."

***

A few hours later, BraveStarr and Thirty-Thirty stood together for the first time in Shaman's home atop Star Peak. The old man sat before a fire, with his back turned to the entryway.

"I've failed, great one," the Marshal confessed to his mentor. "You sent me to get the great weapon, but I failed. I could not bring myself to take it from Thirty-Thirty, its rightful owner."

"You did not fail, BraveStarr," Shaman replied, still staring into the fire in the center of his cave. "I did not send you to get another toy."

Nobody calls my Sara-Jane a toy! Thirty-Thirty bristled, and was about to protest when the man continued speaking.

"I sent you after a great weapon, one that you could trust with your life. This, you have found." The old man's face creased into a small but genuine smile as he glanced over his shoulder at the pair, and his voice gained a subtle warmth. "It is called... friendship."

***

"Aww, that's so cute!"

Thirty-Thirty felt his cheeks grow warm as the ponies around him voiced their appreciation for the story. Mostly they looked happy, but Diamond - or Rarity, which he now knew to be her real name - seemed unimpressed with something. Her expression caused Thirty's own immediate reaction to Shaman's statement to run through his head, although he was fairly sure the pony was put out for different reasons. Probably the prospect of becoming friends with someone by way of a brawl, if his assessment of her high-class accent and some of her input on the ponies' earlier story was on the money.

"I can't stand people that talk in riddles!"

"He said our friendship would be our greatest weapon! Where's the riddle in that?"

"Friendship?! Well, it may not be a riddle - but it sure is a joke!"

He couldn't help but smile at that reaction now - Shaman's words had been vindicated within a matter of hours, never mind the couple of years that had gone by since. And going by what these ponies had told him, that lesson was even more true in this strange world. Friendship was a literal as well as metaphorical power here, responsible for the destruction of great evil and the redemption of fallen gods.

Before Thirty-Thirty had time to fall into melancholic reflection on the friends he was now parted from, he was reminded of another absent friend a little closer to his current position as Applejack glanced skyward and voiced the question all of them had been contemplating on and off for some time.

"Where the hay is Rainbow Dash?"

Chapter 17 - Loyal to the End

View Online

**Rainbow Dash**

"There, spell's down. She should wake up soon."

"Wish I'd gotten to sleep through the first couple of hours. Way too confusing."

Rainbow Dash struggled to put a coherent thought together. Two voices, a stallion and a mare. The stallion sounded like an upper-crust Canterlot native, while the mare sounded as if she made a hobby of gargling gravel. Rainbow thought she recognised them, or at least had heard them before, but she couldn't place either.

"Hope she's smarter than Stratus," the mare added.

"I would assume so," the stallion said in a superior tone, "I've scraped things off my hoof that were smarter than him. She'll certainly be stronger, the effects are multiplicative."

Rainbow thought she should be afraid, but for some reason she wasn't. She felt an almost comforting familiarity with the two voices, almost like they were family somehow. Everything was so confused.

"How strong are we talking, exactly?" the mare asked.

"The first pegasus in generations with enough raw magical potential to perform a sonic rainboom, with one of these?"

There was a faint clink, and Rainbow Dash felt something push against her throat briefly. The warm, comforting feeling intensified as the stallion continued speaking. She tried to remember how to move, or open her eyes.

"Power is useless if you don't know how to use it, but she already knows. The possibilities are endless. And she is a part of our family now."

Happiness swelled in Rainbow's chest as she felt the sense of belonging grow. Family... family was good, right?

"We are still too few. Too many ponies are still apart from us." The mare's already gravelly voice lowered to a hostile growl. "Even... against us."

Rainbow Dash felt a surge of pity. The thought that there were ponies out there who weren't a part of this almost made her want to cry, until the mare's final words caused something even more horrifying to occur to her. Some of them didn't want to be. That summoned a powerful wave of disgust and anger from somewhere within her, at the thought that somepony would deliberately try to ruin everything. Rainbow Dash felt a strong impulse to find one of those ponies and make sure they never interfered with anything, ever again.

"That will change in time," the stallion replied smoothly. "But that's secondary in any case. The so-called Elements of Harmony are broken."

"Elements of Harmony," the mare repeated, voice dripping with hate. Rainbow heard her spit on the ground before she continued. "How can they not see? How dare they name themselves agents of Harmony?"

But I'm... the girls are...

Rainbow Dash felt some sympathy with the mare's obvious hostility, something telling her that the Elements weren't a part of their group, that they were the enemy - but she also felt an enduring connection with them. They were her friends, she wasn't going to just... turn her back on them. She couldn't do that, not ever.

This isn't right.

The stallion cut off his companion's building rage with a firm rebuke. "Control yourself, Spring. Once Rainbow Dash helps us to bring her old friend Princess Sparkle into the fold, then every pony will know the glory of unity. The other false Elements can be safely disposed of if they prove an obstacle. All who oppose us will be crushed, and true harmony will be achieved at last."

Wait. Disposed of?

Conflicting emotions warred in Rainbow's mind, trying to reconcile the towering rage she now felt towards the enemies of Harmony with her loyalty to those same ponies - her friends. They had this Elements thing all wrong, they didn't know... No, they couldn't be her friends - the things that stood in her way, outside of her family, were barely even ponies. But they were family to her, which made them the most important thing in the world. They were loathsome, wrong, and misguided, and they were also the most important thing in the whole world. The contradiction twisted and coiled tighter and tighter, pressure mounting to unbearable levels, until something else occurred to her.

The Element Bearers might be a mind-bending contradiction, but... they weren't standing next to her talking about getting her to turn on the rest of her family. Not like these two. They were just as close, just as dear to her as the rest, but... they were trying to tear her family apart. And they knew exactly what they were doing.

They think I would... these traitors think that I would betray-

Rainbow Dash had thought she had been angry before. When her rage-polluted mind tried to wrap itself around the thought of betraying her friends, she learned that she was wrong.

Treachery.

Infidelity.

DISLOYALTY.

Something just... snapped. All of the confused, conflicted anger that had been bubbling and rolling around her mind condensed into a uniform, white-hot fury. She couldn't speak, couldn't scream, couldn't even think. But she didn't need to do any of that. Everything was so simple, so obvious. She just opened her eyes, and let it all out.

Rainbow Dash didn't see the damp, dilapidated interior of the abandoned house. She didn't hear the scream of tortured metal as she tore out of the steel bands securing her legs, wings and body to the wall; or the dry snapping sounds made by flying rivets as they tore chunks of aged, rotting wood from the ceiling and sent shards of stone flying from the floor. She didn't remember crossing the distance separating her from her target, or feel the air ripping at her coat and feathers as she flew. The irregular pulsating crimson glow of the amulet secured around her own throat was only relevant because it let her see what she was doing to the sub-equine thing in front of her.

All of her was focused on her target. She drank in everything, savouring each minute detail before feeding it to the bottomless rage surging within. The way the mare's ears slowly tracked around towards her, moving agonisingly slowly.

So slow. Too slow. Not fast enough, not good enough.

Tiny ripples crawled across the hair of the earth pony's pale green coat as the bow wave of compressed air broke over her, snapping her yellow mane out behind her like a banner. The glow of the red crystal secured about the other mare's neck intensified as the pupils of her blue eyes twitched, slowly widening in horror as she focused on her coming death.

The thrill that reaction birthed in Rainbow exploded into furious exultation as she felt the first impact. Every strike sent a fresh bolt of joy through her as she relentlessly pounded the object of her hate. With barely a trace of effort she called forth lightning, sending scorching, snapping arcs of raw power into her enemy with each swing of her hooves. The indescribable feeling when the mare collapsed beneath her assault almost overwhelmed her, and she hesitated for a moment as her legs buckled involuntarily. Glancing down at the battered ruin beneath her, she gloried in the destruction. Sickly green-edged black lightning arced across her limbs as she stood over the burned and bloodied body.

A memory flashed across Rainbow's mind. Black lightning. A rushing surge of violence, and a friend screaming in pain. She froze, and the blazing wrath inside her shattered into a storm of confusion and horrible, grasping emptiness. The red glow of the amulet at her throat sputtered and faltered, and the metal holding the gem grew almost unbearably hot.

"Twilight?" she let out in a tiny, broken whisper. "What have I... What's happening to me?"

Then a wave of telekinetic force slammed into her like a freight train, driving Rainbow Dash to the ground and holding her paralysed. The terrible pressure shifted, bearing down on her head, and then pushing its way inside. A feeling of utterly alien wrongness washed over Rainbow as something that wasn't her entered her mind.

Almost as soon as it arrived, Rainbow could feel confused, horrified revulsion coming off the foreign presence. "What are you?" asked a voice in her head that was not her own. "The master's gift has opened your eyes and yet you still do not see... you feel the connection with us, the anger at the discord and perversion in our world, but it is all misdirected!"

She recognised that voice, that superior tone. He was the one who had said those things about her friends, who had made her so angry. This was his fault.

"'m not a traitor," Rainbow Dash ground out venomously, almost too enraged to form words. She fought to raise her head from the ground, but the force restraining her was just too strong. She had expended too much energy too fast - Rainbow could already feel her newfound strength returning, but what she had left right now simply wasn't enough. She felt anger rising in her again, but now she could feel something slightly alien in that too. There was an odd, creeping similarity between the alien presence in her head and the rekindling rage. Rainbow struggled to reject all of it; but she wanted so very much to be angry right now, and to be strong enough to do something about it. The amulet pressed against the floor beneath her thrummed and vibrated.

"Not one of you," she spat, still struggling to rise.

"Too dangerous to leave alive, and too valuable to kill..." the voice in her head went on, "Stampede will deal with you personally."

Suddenly the pressure on the back of her neck increased, and Rainbow Dash felt the chain holding the amulet snap. The gem was jerked out from beneath her body, encased in a crimson aura. As soon as it tore free, Rainbow Dash felt herself go limp, as if all of the strength had been stolen from her limbs. Pain sprang up throughout her body, muscles burning and joints aching as if she had packed weeks of exertion into a few moments. The fire beneath her rage guttered out and died, leaving her shivering and empty as the alien presence in her head withdrew.

In the first second, Rainbow's mind almost collapsed. As the amulet's influence left her, her thoughts recoiled from the memory of the terrifying rage she had felt - and what she had done as a result. She could barely process how she felt about the sticky, lumpy red fluids still staining her outstretched forelegs.

First I hurt Twilight, and now I-I... Exhausted and immobile on the cut stone floor, she felt tears blazing trails down her cheeks. Not a monster. I'm not. Not a monster.

As Rainbow Dash desperately repeated her mantra, trying to force more belief into it, she heard somepony start giving orders. "Bring her to the gateway. And put Spring Breeze in the infirmary until she recovers. It may take some time for her to repair that much damage." Rainbow tried to struggle, but only succeeded in twitching a little as strong hooves looped beneath her forelegs and lifted her up. She hung limply between two other ponies as she was dragged along.

"No, dunwanna..." Rainbow Dash mumbled in protest as she struggled feebly. Her throat burned, summoning a vague memory of furious screaming that she couldn't quite place. "Lemme go!"

The last vestiges of strength fled Rainbow's limbs and she fell still. She didn't understand what was going on. She remembered the camp, the horse, Twilight... she'd gone to clear her head, and then...

Rainbow Dash shivered involuntarily. It was as if somepony had taken a melon baller to her memories. There were whole pieces that were simply gone. She would follow through a chain of events in her mind, and then just hit a blank spot. The chain ended, and there were only little disconnected flashes floating in the gaps. A colour, a whisper, the barest hint of a smell; all of them too faint to grasp.

Soon the slow back-and-forth rocking motion ceased. The hoofsteps, only now reaching the notice of her conscious mind due to their sudden absence, stopped too. Rainbow raised her head with an effort. There was a distressingly familiar matte black oval in the air in front of her. This one was smaller than the other one she had seen, but she still wanted nothing to do with whatever might come out of it. A rush of fear lent new strength to Rainbow Dash's battered body, and she began to thrash and jerk violently against the limbs that held her.

"Get offa me!"

There was none of her usual defiance in the rasping yell. There was only a desperate desire to be somewhere else, for this to not be happening. Punctuating each word with a ferocious buck, Rainbow Dash screamed.

"LET! ME! GO!"

She had just about enough time between her ineffectual attacks to see she was held by a pair of unmoving earth ponies. Each wore a set of familiar armour, gold plate tinted a blood-soaked bronze in the dark thanks to the red glow of the amulets they wore.

Just like the one I... like... why can't I remember? What the hay is going on?!

"Do it," a stallion's voice said from behind her. Rainbow Dash shivered at the sound as another wash of half-remembered emotions rushed through her. "Perhaps Stampede can find a use for her."

Rainbow felt the hooves holding her lurch, and her whole world span. She felt her body strike some sort of disturbance in the air, and suddenly her instincts screamed that she was falling. Purely on reflex she tried to open her wings and pull up, slow down, anything to avoid what was sure to be a horrific crash. As Rainbow's wings spread, magic from some unseen source suffused her entire body. Her eyes reopened to a blank, black void as the force surrounded and filled her. At first the magic was invigorating, like using the Elements or when she was really pushing it in the air. Then it became uncomfortable, and rapidly progressed through painful towards agonising. It just kept pouring in without end, more power than she had ever felt or wanted; pressing, crushing, suffocating.

Just as the sensation became too much, Rainbow Dash felt herself strike another strange disturbance - and then felt all the built-up magic tear its way out of her, taking her awareness with it.

**Celestia**

Celestia didn't even realise she had stumbled until she felt Luna pull her upright. Focusing her attention outward once more, she saw her sister's eyes full of concern.

"Sister, what is wrong?"

Celestia opened her mouth to reply, but the words died in her throat. The connection had faded a little over the centuries, but a flickering glow had always remained. Silent watch-fires, standing sentinel over the world's Harmony. As she had - however briefly - added Loyalty, Laughter and Honesty to Magic, Generosity and Kindness on the day she struck down her own sister, her wielding of all six elements had forged a unique and seemingly permanent bond.

Each fire had waxed and waned as new bearers had emerged, lived, and died; individually or in small groups, holding an Element for anything from a few moments to several years. Then, six very special little ponies had been born to one generation - each inextricably linked to an Element from the moment of their birth, bound together to restore the world to balance. She had felt all of them surge together the day she had sent Twilight to Ponyville, and even as the ascendant Nightmare Moon imprisoned her in the sun her faith had remained unbroken.

Sometimes the fires had burned as brightly as they had the day Luna was returned to her. Sometimes they had been little more than faint embers, as Equestria had struggled through more troubled times.

Never in a thousand years had one gone out. There was no warning. One moment there were six, and then...

Celestia heard herself answer Luna's enquiry as if from a distance, her mind still reeling.

"Loyalty is gone."

**BraveStarr**

No matter how hard he tried, BraveStarr just couldn't sleep. He'd even tried using his bed after failing to drop off in his chair, but all that had accomplished was turning the sheets into a tangled mess.

I should be out there, damnit. My best friend needs my help, and I'm stuck lyin' around just hopin' everything fixes itself!

With a frustrated sigh, BraveStarr rolled over and sat up on the edge of his bed. He knew it was foolish of him, but he just couldn't stop worrying about Thirty-Thirty. The big lug could take care of himself, sure, but it just felt wrong for them to be kept apart. As quietly as he could, BraveStarr pulled his boots back on and retrieved his white Stetson from the bedpost. He couldn't sit still, couldn't relax. Maybe a walk would help.

As he stepped out of his room, it became apparent that he wasn't the only one having trouble sleeping. The faint glow of a console screen illuminated the far wall of the corridor, coming from the monitoring station in the station's main room. BraveStarr's suspicions were at least partly confirmed when he rounded the corner - but it seemed Fuzz had managed to fall asleep after all, even if he had done it lying across the console's keyboard.

BraveStarr couldn't help but smile at the short, furry creature. Fuzz's large hat, with his deputy's star pinned to the front, had seemingly been knocked off when he fell asleep. It lay on the floorboards next to the computer, well below the stool - which Fuzz had cranked all the way up to its maximum height so he could reach the keys. Carefully, BraveStarr retrieved the hat and tucked it under his arm. Then he picked up his slumbering deputy, holding Fuzz cradled in his arms like a child, and carried him to the spare bedroom. As he was lowered onto the bed, Fuzz's eyes fluttered open and he glanced around sleepily.

"Marshal? Is... is ev'thing okay?"

BraveStarr kelt down beside the bed and let out a short sigh. "No, Fuzz. It's not. My big partner's gone. I just... can't keep my mind off it."

"Don' worry Marshal BraveStarr. Thirty-Thirty be okay," Fuzz said, still a little drowsy. "He come home soon."

"I hope so little partner," BraveStarr replied, placing Fuzz's hat back on his head. "You get some rest now, I'm going for a walk. Clear my head."

The only reply from his deputy was a faint snore. Sleep tight little guy. BraveStarr rose quietly to his feet and tiptoed back out of the room.

Walking out onto the dusty, starlit street, the Marshal paused to gaze up at the night sky. New Texas was on the edge of populated space and only played host to a couple of fixed settlements - most of the population lived in individual farmsteads or mining claims. As a result, the night sky was almost unaffected by the light pollution that was the price of civilisation on many a world. The whole galaxy was spread across the star-studded heavens in a faint milky band, billions of suns trailing countless worlds in their wake. New Texas nights were sometimes punishingly cold, with the trinary suns below the horizon and the usual absence of cloud cover to hold in the day's warmth, but those who braved the chill could see things with their unaided eyes or a simple camera that most would only see in pictures taken from orbit.

BraveStarr huffed out a breath, leaving a faint mist in the air that swiftly vanished into the breeze. He watched as it dispersed, then straightened his gun belt.

May as well make a patrol of it if I'm goin' out.

As he considered his route, a strange sensation started to intrude on the Marshal's thoughts. He could feel an odd sort of pressure against his right side, almost like a strong wind or the heat radiating from a fire. The disturbance intensified as he turned to face it, but BraveStarr could see nothing out of the ordinary - just the empty street and, over the roofs of a few buildings and the town's defensive wall, the tops of several moonlit plateaus in the stony desert beyond. Nevertheless, a sense of foreboding crept over him, and he slowly reached a hand toward his gun.

Something's coming.

The thought had barely crossed his mind when the force pushing against him suddenly multiplied in strength. If it had been like standing near a warm fire before, now it was akin to standing a foot away from an open blast furnace. BraveStarr staggered back a step, raising an arm to shield his eyes against the phantom heat - only to find that his arm proved no barrier to whatever this strange effect was. Then, as soon as it had begun, the feeling vanished entirely. As the strange sensation disappeared, a familiar but worryingly faint voice echoed in his head.

"BraveStarr..."

"Shaman?" BraveStarr span in place, searching for the source of his mentor's voice. The elder sounded out of breath, almost pained - and the image that normally accompanied his mental messages was absent. "I felt something, like a great wind or a blast of heat. What's going on?" he asked.

"Stampede has... engineered something I did not even think... one such as he to be capable of," the old man said, pausing to take deep, gasping breaths as if he had run a marathon. "That was a wave of powerful magic, released by what that evil monstrosity has wrought. He has drawn one of the spirits into our world. Not a portion of its power, or an aspect of it as you or I might. The whole of it, its very essence has been pulled into this realm. Forced into a physical form." BraveStarr could clearly discern the worry in his mentor's voice. "It is... vulnerable here, in ways it would not otherwise be. It might even be possible for him to destroy it... or worse."

A series of images - landmarks from the desert east of the town, joined together pointing toward the source of the blast - flashed through BraveStarr's head. Before the sequence had finished, he was already running down the street towards the first of Shaman's mental markers. In a few short moments he was through the main gates and out into the wilderness.

Shaman's image flickered into being in the air beside BraveStarr as he ran, the ageing mystic pulling himself upright with his staff. "Stampede is still in the Hexagon, but this small facility will not be unguarded," he cautioned. "Be careful, my son. I shall do what I can to slow the approach of any reinforcements."

Time to turn on the jets...

"Speed of the Puma!"

BraveStarr's form blurred as he shot forward in a roar of displaced air and dust. His uniform cut a golden streak across the darkened desert as he accelerated, Shaman's voice echoing in his head.

"Hurry, BraveStarr. Loyalty must not fall."

Intermission

View Online

**Tex Hex**

"Do none of you idiots," Stampede growled, voice rising to a roar as he tried - and failed - to restrain his anger, "understand the concept of SUBTLETY?!"

The irony inherent in the outraged bellow was rather lost on Tex. He was currently focused on two facts in particular - first, his boss was extremely angry; and second, Tex was the only other person in the room. The enormous jaws a couple of feet from his face and the clawed, scaled limbs that had slammed down on either side of him were all competing for a place on the list, but he could only fit so much fear in his head. That large cavern in which Stampede habitually resided suddenly felt terribly small.

"I didn't tell 'em to do nothin', boss," Tex protested hurriedly. He just had to deflect Stampede's anger long enough to get out of the room, then he could go beat some sense into the idiots responsible for putting him in this mess. "I've only been sendin' them special pieces of Kerium you gave me through, an' passin' on the orders just like you wanted! They did this all by 'emselves, I didn't ask for nothin' to be sent back!"

"This was supposed to be a quiet operation," Stampede said, a bubbling growl still underscoring his words, "none of them realised how much progress I had made, how close I was! Now they're going to be sticking their noses into everything!"

Tex tried not to flinch back as the glowing ectoplasm dripping from Stampede's maw began to eat away the rock in front of his boots. Then Stampede pulled his head back, returning to looming over his underling rather than continuing to shout into his face. Tex noted the gouges Stampede's augmented claws had torn into the stone floor on either side of him, and licked his lips nervously.

"There is at least one piece of good fortune to be salvaged from this mess," the towering saurian apparition mused. "These... 'Elements of Harmony' were one of their most potent defenses, but they are powerless with one of their number separated from the others."

"So do you want me to take care of it?" Tex broke in eagerly. If he was given a job to do, he reasoned, Stampede probably wouldn't kill him - at least until after he'd done it. "Permanent-like?"

Stampede opened his jaws to reply, then paused a moment. "No," he said at length, a hint of eagerness creeping into his voice, "keep her alive for now. I think this... situation might actually work to my advantage. Our little visitor will want to return to her home, and her so-called friends will doubtless attempt to retrieve her. If they simply rip open an unstable gateway from their side out of ignorance, then the problem solves itself when she traverses it. They will need to create a properly stabilised portal to get her back intact, so they will be forced to try and gain access to one of my machines to anchor this end. If the device through which she arrived were to be destroyed, there would be only one more left intact - the one here in the Hexagon."

"Then they'd have to come to us... great plan, boss!" Tex said, then flinched when Stampede's only response to his praise was a withering glare.

"Destroy that portal generator, and bring this 'Rainbow Dash' to the Hexagon at once," Stampede commanded. "I shall keep an eye on her personally, so there are no more... unfortunate mistakes. That meddling Shaman must have sensed the magical release from the unstable transfer; do not let him, or his pathetic pet, stop you."

When Tex stood his ground to acknowledge the order, Stampede roared over him. "I've heard enough of your pathetic whining, Tex. I want actions, results. Not more words. Go!"

Tex scrambled out of the chamber in a rush of fear and relief, swiftly replaced by anger as he reached the relative safety of the next room. He had left Skuzz and Hawgtie in charge of the damned outpost, and they'd somehow managed to screw it up. Now Stampede was angry with him, and it was high time he started passing some of that frustration on to the pair he blamed for his own suffering.

Tex retrieved a handheld communicator from his pocket and spoke into it. "Hawgtie? Hawgtie! Ya lazy varmint, answer me!" The device emitted a squawk of static followed by what sounded to Tex like a half-awake porcine grunt, only increasing his ire as he made his way towards the hangar housing the gang's mechanical mounts. "Get off'a your lazy screw-tailed be-hind and make sure the prisoner is secure," Tex yelled into the radio, "I'm comin' to get it an' bring it back to the Hexagon, and there's gonna be hell to pay if'n it ain't still there when I arrive, ya hear me?!"

**???**

"Are we prepared to leave? They will likely have noticed Rainbow Dash is missing by now, and I would prefer to be long gone when they track her to this hovel."

"Spring has multiple broken bones, her skull was crushed, she has third degree lightning burns and she was electrocuted! We can't move her in this state!"

"You are all resilient enough to withstand a few broken bones and a little electric shock."

"I didn't say electric shock, I said electrocuted. As in she was clinically dead. She needs a few more hours at least."

"We are not afforded the luxury of a few hours. We cannot allow ourselves to be seen, and our absence might be noted should they return to Canterlot first - the contingency plan relies upon our cover being intact. The upstart Princess Sparkle is aware of our intent now, and is the obvious target... she will be prepared, and well-protected. However, we have been given another opportunity. Luna is emotionally compromised, which presents us with an opening we cannot afford to miss. Get Spring up now. Carry her if you have to, we're leaving. I have a little surprise to prepare for my favourite aunt."

Chapter 18 - Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

View Online

**Rainbow Dash**

For a few wonderful moments, there was only an enveloping blanket of comforting warmth. Then, as Rainbow Dash's mind came fully awake, messages started pouring in from all across her body. Every single one of her muscles seemed to be competing in some sort of cramp competition, and the niggling sharp pains coming from her wings indicated she'd stripped out a couple of feathers somewhere.

Oh, great, another crash. I think I have bruises on top of my bruises, she thought groggily. I better not be stuck in Ponyville General again.

An involuntary groan escaped Rainbow as all of the little pieces of pain started to pile up, but it died in her throat as she forced her eyes open. Fragments of memories, sensations and emotions, swam in and out of the edge of her awareness.

She wasn't in a hospital. She was in a prison.

The whole thing seemed to be several sizes too big, but nevertheless the lack of any obvious exit was enough to pile a little claustrophobic shiver on top of everything else swirling around inside Rainbow's head. The room didn't even have the common decency to include the stereotypical tiny barred window near the ceiling, so there wasn't even a glimpse of sky to grab on to.

She lay on something resembling a large metal shelf, atop a thin mattress that seemed to be the only thing in the room not made from greyish metal. At some point in the distant past it had probably been white, but it had long since been permanently stained a sickly yellow-brown hue. A stitched floral pattern was just barely visible through the grime. The mattress - if something so hard and lumpy could really be called a mattress - was unusually large, easily big enough for three or four ponies, yet seemed proportionate to the few other features in the room.

Ugh, when was the last time somepony washed this thing? Gross. Rainbow's muzzle wrinkled as she tried to somehow shut her nose down. Stinks, jeeze. Where the hay am I? Her efforts to piece together a coherent record of the recent past didn't produce much, and what little was there made about as much sense as every other adventure she'd ended up involved in since Twilight had moved to Ponyville. Not that I'm complaining, but spending this much time around both Twi and Pinkie is probably not good for my sanity. Actually, is this - nah. Pinkie would have started giggling by now if this was a prank.

A square in the middle of the ceiling maybe as large as Rainbow herself was emitting a dirty off-white glow, illuminating the room's only other furnishing - what looked like a comically-oversized metal bucket. It sat on the bare metal floor in one corner, opposite a large inset panel reaching from the floor almost to the ceiling. A simple vertical bracket halfway up one edge of the panel - probably marking it as a large sliding door - stood too far off the floor for anypony to easily open the door by hoof. Maybe if they reared up and really stretched for it, but it would probably take wings or magic to use. Even then, the door itself looked large and heavy enough that it would be a struggle to pull open.

Okay, I am not getting an encouraging vibe from all of this. Why is everything so big? Looks about the right size for that horse- A piece of a memory flickered across Rainbow's awareness. A black, empty void in the air, twin to the one that had spawned the enormous alien. The sensation of falling, and the sickening loss of balance - of not being able to feel which way was up or down, of not being able to control her fall. No. No way. This can't possibly be...

Her eyes darted around the room as Rainbow Dash tried to find something that might prove her treacherous mind wrong, some sign that she was still in Equestria, but each passing moment seemed to be throwing up fresh indicators that something was very, very wrong. Everything was grey and lifeless, even the dull metal seemingly drained of colour. Her own coat looked washed out, and the tail curled around her didn't seem to be faring much better. She could still make out the colours of the most radical mane in Equestria, but the rainbow bands seemed desaturated somehow. Dash felt as if that maybe should have bothered her more than it did, but there were more important things to worry about right now.

Rainbow Dash shuffled towards the edge of her perch, slowly working a few kinks out of protesting muscles. The initially overpowering stench of the stained old mattress seemed to be easing somewhat, although Rainbow guessed that might be because her nose was just shutting down rather than because it was getting any less unbearable. Poking her head over the edge, she peered down at the floor. It looked like the shelf on which she lay was around eye level, leaving only a short hop to the metal plate below.

"What the hay is going on?" she asked the empty chamber. Her voice came out dry and raspy, and Rainbow was overtaken by a brief bout of coughing. Her mouth felt horribly dry, as if she hadn't had a drink in days - and as soon as her thoughts turned to nourishment, Rainbow Dash realised she was absolutely starving as well. Trying to ignore the rumbling protests of her belly, she carefully rose to her hooves. Teetering on the edge of the shelf, she almost pitched forward over the edge.

Stupid legs, stop... ugh!

Her front right leg threatened to collapse completely as the other three shook like leaves in a gale, barely able to support her weight. Gritting her teeth, Rainbow Dash forced herself upright. She was becoming steadily more and more nervous but, to her frustration, couldn't bring to mind a particular reason why. There was definitely something freaky going on, but whenever she tried to pin down the specifics of the last few hours the memories just evaporated, like dew in the midday sun. Even with nothing truly concrete to back it up - besides the whole waking up in an oversize prison cell thing - the uneasiness in Rainbow's gut continued to grow. She growled angrily at her unsteady legs.

Come on! Work, damnit! Gah, never mind.

Looking down towards the floor again, trying to judge the distance, Rainbow Dash spread her wings and gave a feeble hop forward. Even if her legs were slacking, she had two more limbs that wouldn't let her down.

Rainbow Dash barely noticed the lurching sensation of falling, or the pain as she slammed headfirst into the metal floor. She was far too preoccupied with the feeling in her wings - or rather, lack if it. Mind racing, she scrambled back to her hooves. Twisting her head back and forth in a panic, she at least managed to confirm they were still attached - but no matter how much she frantically hopped and flapped, she could barely feel anything. She might as well have been an earth pony flailing her legs in the air for all the effect her wings were having. She could feel them going up and down, feel the feathers twisting and adjusting perfectly - but it felt as if the air was just sliding right through.

What's up with the air?! With how hard I'm pushing this right now I should be a rainbow-coloured splash on the ceiling! Her breathing grew heavier as Rainbow Dash pushed herself to breaking point. I'm not even getting off the floor!

Rainbow Dash started to cry out, a shout of mingled frustration and rage tearing from her as her wings blurred. Her forehooves slowly lifted off the floor, but despite her efforts her wings steadfastly refused to catch the air. Her scream tailed off into an anguished moan as the strength left her exhausted body, and Dash slowly collapsed to the cold floor of the alien room.

Something poked at the back of her whirling mind. Alien... there was something important about-

What was that?

Rainbow raised her head from the floor to glance nervously around her, ears twitching after the slightest noise. She'd definitely heard something move.

The next time the faint whirring sound came, she zeroed in on it immediately. The source was a box up near the ceiling in one corner of the room, with what looked like a camera lens sticking out of the front of it. A camera lens that was now pointing right at her. That meant somepony was doing the pointing, probably watching her through the viewfinder.

An unsettling instinctual dread welled up from somewhere deep in the back of Rainbow's brain, carrying two pieces of information. She knew that she really, really didn't want to catch the attention of whatever was pointing that camera at her - and she also got the horrible, creeping suspicion that she'd just done it. Suddenly the oddly oversized room felt very small indeed, and Dash became painfully aware of the complete lack of any kind of hiding place or means of escape. Unless she wanted to put the bucket on her head or huddle under the bed like a yearling, she was going to have to face whatever came at her. If she wanted to find out where she was, and get back to her friends...

The only way out... is through.

Rising to her aching hooves, Rainbow Dash faced the door. As she heard slow, regular steps approaching the other side of the doorway, something started to prod at her awareness again. The slow, steady rhythm was either that of somepony really taking their time, or maybe someone with only two legs. Rainbow had barely started to sort through the confused sounds and images clamouring for her attention when the solid 'thunk' of a bolt drawing back recaptured her attention.

The heavy metal door slid open to admit a brown-furred biped in a battered, blue-grey coat and brown top hat. Despite the size of the room it only stood a little taller than Dash herself, and Rainbow was suddenly struck by an odd mental impression of a cross between Spike and some sort of prairie dog. Clawed paws instead of hooves at the ends of its limbs - although this creature's seemed to be of the blunt digging variety, more like a mole than a dragon - and the whole standing on two legs thing. It was even smoking, albeit in a slightly more figurative sense than the young dragon - a ratty, chewed cigar hung from one corner of its mouth, the tip glowing faintly as its yellow eyes focused on her.

"Okay, who the hay are you and what is going on here?" Rainbow Dash demanded angrily.

The creature stared at her, but didn't reply. Just as she was considering charging it and making a break for the exit, a second figure shouldered its way through the door. Rainbow looked up, and then leaned back to look further up, and took an involuntary step back. The second creature was huge, easily three or four times her own height at the shoulder. It stepped into the room with the twin thumps of a pair of heavy work boots, and Rainbow Dash realised she didn't even come up to the large buckle on the belt holding up the biped's blue leggings. A similarly blue jacket adorned with golden yellow buttons covered its torso, and there was even a matching military-style peaked cap atop its strange head.

Overall the creature seemed to bear the same relation to a pig that a minotaur did to a cow. It was hard to be certain about its body with all the clothes, and the legs didn't look quite right - but the porcine snout and bare pink skin of its head made the comparison unavoidable. A pair of triangular ears poked out from beneath its cap, and Rainbow caught a flash of a curled pink tail through the gap between its legs.

What the hay is that, some sort of giant pig-minotaur?

Her wings spread a little nervously, instincts telling Rainbow Dash to take off in more than one sense of the phrase. The newly-named pigataur made a series of low sounds interspersed with more typically porcine grunts, and it took the small furry creature responding in a higher-pitched wheezing voice for Rainbow to realise they were talking to each other. The sly, condescending grins on both of the strange creatures' faces were doing nothing to help her confidence.

What are they planning to... are they laughing at me? The odd empty feeling as her wings moved in the air mingled with the annoyance she felt at being mocked, and Rainbow Dash snorted angrily. She extended her wings and pawed at the ground with renewed fervour, preparing to make her escape. That is definitely, one hundred percent not cool. Okay... time to do something a little Daring!

Even without her wings to aid her, Rainbow Dash knew she was fast. She thought she could outrun the smaller biped, and was expecting the giant pig-creature to be even slower off the mark given its size. Forcing the complaints from her exhausted legs out of her mind, she rushed straight for the gap between the larger biped's legs. As soon as she saw the pair react Rainbow threw her weight sideways, sending her hooves skidding across the metal floor. The pigataur all but fell down trying to block her path between its legs, but that was exactly what Dash had been hoping for. Her wings spread wide - more from reflex than any actual intent to fly - Rainbow Dash slewed to one side, re-orienting on the smaller creature. One hurried hop and skip later, her hind hooves sent a resounding bang through the metal floor as she kicked off and launched herself straight for its face.

As she had hoped, the furry creature ducked to try and avoid her rush. Rainbow Dash planted herself on top of its head before kicking off toward the doorway beyond, crushing the creature's top hat down over its eyes and sending it sprawling onto the floor.

"Too slow!" Rainbow shouted joyously, as the familiar euphoric rush of adrenaline surged over the tiredness and pain in her limbs. She barely even stumbled as she landed back on the ground at a full gallop, hooves pounding out a staccato rhythm on the hard surface.

The door's open, and I... am... outtahere!

She couldn't keep the triumphant grin off her face, or out of her voice. "Hah! Later, losers!"

Sounds of frantic movement and angry cursing echoed from behind her as Rainbow Dash jumped over the raised bottom of the doorframe, the noise spurring her onward. She found herself in another metal room, bigger than her cell and with a lot more furniture - an oversized table and storage cupboards, and several massive chairs - but Rainbow only had eyes for one feature. Another large sliding door, which hadn't quite been closed all the way. Unfortunately the gap between door and frame was too small for her to squeeze through, and the handle was as awkwardly-placed as before.

A less awesome pony would probably give up, but not this mare!

Sliding to a stop in front of the heavy door, Rainbow reared up and pushed her forehooves into the gap. Muscles straining, she struggled to force the door open wider.

Come on, stupid... ugh! Move damnit!

Slowly the door began to move aside, much more easily than its size would have suggested - there seemed to be oiled rails built into the insides of the frame, making the large piece of metal less of a burden. Just as she forced the opening wide enough to allow her to escape, Rainbow's ears twitched. Something was coming up behind her, fast. Before she could scramble through the opening, something hairy and reeking of stale cigar smoke slammed into her.

Fast Rainbow Dash might be, but wrestling was hardly her strong suit - and her opponent had the twin advantages of weight and grasping hands. Unless she could break away quickly, she knew she was going to be overpowered.

After a couple of frantic seconds of rolling across the cold floor, Rainbow Dash felt a strange sensation begin to crawl over her. It was an odd sort of comfort, like the feeling of stepping back in through her front door after a long day - or settling into bed with a good book. A little extra colour seemed to bleed into everything, and a slight tingling sensation spread from her chest where it pressed against the strange creature holding on to her.

Ignoring the odd sensation, Rainbow managed to free one foreleg. A wild swing caught her attacker across the jaw, loosening its grip enough that she could wriggle free. She delivered a solid buck to the creature's ribs as she departed, leaving it a gasping pile on the floor. As soon as she broke contact with the creature, the strange feeling faded as well.

A huge shadow fell across Rainbow Dash as she stood, re-orienting herself on her escape route. She didn't even bother to look round - instead she bolted straight for the doorway, pumping her useless wings along with her legs in a vain effort to produce more speed. No sound of heavy steps pursed her across the room, and she flung herself at the opening.

Almost-

There was an all-too-familiar swish-snap of flying rope. Rainbow Dash felt something tighten around her back left leg, jerking it sideways and throwing her leap off-course. Instead of sailing out through the gap she veered to the side, cracking her head and both left shoulders on the metal doorframe before falling to the floor.

As she lay on the ground stunned, Rainbow Dash heard slow, heavy footsteps approaching. The ceiling light swimming in an out of focus in front of her suggested she was on her back, but she couldn't seem to figure out how to roll over. Then the metal door slammed shut with all the finality of a coffin lid, and something began to drag her back across the floor towards the cell.

**Skuzz**

Despite having lost his precious cigar moments before, Skuzz was having even more difficulty breathing than usual. His wheezing and occasional hacking cough were a continual annoyance at the best of times, but it seemed years of smoking extremely suspect tobacco products had nothing on a two-legged buck to the chest. He had expected the little pony-thing to be fast and slippery, but Skuzz hadn't considered that even a very small pony could still kick like, well, a horse. Thankfully Hawgtie had been there to lasso the thing before it escaped, otherwise he'd have been in a whole heap of trouble. Again.

Skuzz pulled his collapsed hat off his head and tried to bludgeon it back into some sort of respectable shape. Once it was mostly straight again, he set it back atop his furred head and stood, dusting off his coat. As he clutched at his aching ribs, he felt a heavy lump in his inside coat pocket bump against one hand. Hurriedly Skuzz reached into his coat, and pulled out a small Kerium chunk he had lifted off a prospector that morning.

To his relief, the opaque red crystal seemed to be undamaged. It felt oddly warm against his palm, but that could easily be explained by its stay inside his coat. It was a respectably sized piece of the rare material - Skuzz could only just touch the blunt digging claws on his three fingers to their partner on his thumb when he wrapped his hand around it.

The sound of the cell door sliding shut behind him reminded Skuzz that he wasn't alone, and he hurriedly shoved the valuable piece of loot back out of sight inside his coat. He'd stolen it fair and square, and he wasn't going to lose it to Hawgtie of all people.

"You alright, half-pint?" Hawgtie asked with a derisive snort. "Hope the li'l pony didn't hurt ya too bad."

"Me fine," Skuzz replied angrily, before dissolving into a short coughing fit. He cast around for his lost cigar, and spotted it lying underneath the guard room's central table. Scampering under the table, he scooped the bent and grimy tube off the floor and placed it back in his mouth. "You put pony back in cell?" he asked, fishing a broken match out of his coat and relighting the extinguished cigar.

"Yeah," Hawgtie replied, glancing back at the re-closed cell door, "it stopped whinin' and strugglin' pretty quick after it went headfirst into the wall. Should keep it quiet for a little while."

Skuzz's features creased in annoyance. "Why we even keep pony anyways? Should just throw it back where it came from."

Hawgtie let out another derisive snort. "The boss wants it fer somethin'. Just gotta hang on to it 'til Tex comes by and picks it up. Plus we can't exactly throw it back after it blew the portal machine out. Gotta fix everything first."

Skuzz decided he didn't like the small pony creature. Because of it, he had to sit in the stuffy guard room with Hawgtie instead of doing something interesting. It had also kicked him, which had hurt, and damaged his hat.

A wicked grin spread across his features as he came up with a revenge plan. The little horse had humiliated him? Fine. Skuzz knew just how to get back at it for that. Wasn't like he had anything else to do. Skuzz looked up into Hawgtie's porcine muzzle, still grinning, and switched his cigar over to the other corner of his mouth.

"You got more rope?"

Chapter 19 - A Hog and Pony Show

View Online

**Rainbow Dash**

Rainbow Dash regained consciousness with a splitting headache and an extremely discomfiting sensation of deja vu. The sharp, slightly oily scent of metal was in the air, and the ground on which she lay felt hard and uncomfortable. Then she realised that she couldn't just smell metal - she could taste it, too.

"Ow, muh-" she mumbled, before something foreign bumped against her tongue. Snapping awake, she tried to exclaim "What the hay is in my mouth?!"

The sound Rainbow actually made was more of a tongue-tied burble, as a result of the metal rod that had apparently been secured in her mouth by means of a makeshift rope harness around her head. It rested on her tongue uncomfortably, making it difficult to talk, as well as pressing down on her lower jaw in the gap between her front and back teeth. She didn't have time to take in much more detail after that - she had woken up to something weird wrapped around her face, so one hundred percent of Rainbow Dash's time was now being devoted to panicking.

Get it off get it off get it off!

Rainbow's wild rearing and flailing at her muzzle was short-lived however. As soon as she tried to scramble backward from where she had woken up, the whole assembly around her head snapped tight and pulled her up short. The metal bar jerked painfully against her jaw, and Rainbow stumbled forward into something solid. Her eyes focused on a short, dull grey post linking the metal floor to the underside of an awfully familiar mattress-laden shelf, and traced up its length to a tied-off rope. The rope was attached to the contraption fixed around her head, which she was slowly beginning to recognise.

She had been bridled.

Turning her whole self around the post, manoeuvring carefully so as not to pull on the short rope securing her head to it, Rainbow Dash tried to fight down the shame and impotent rage welling up in her chest. Based on the faded daisy patterns on the horribly stained mattress, and the oversized bucket in the corner - still lying on its side after the pigataur fell over onto it during her ill-fated escape attempt - she was back in her cell.

This isn't fair. Her legs started to tremble - whether out of weakness or anger, she couldn't tell.

"THIS ISN'T FAIR!" Rainbow Dash screamed, forcing the words past the bit in her mouth. Then, suddenly, all the aches and pains of the last few hours returned with renewed fury, and she collapsed to the floor. In a barely-audible choked whisper, she asked "Why is this happening to me?"

Just as before, her shout summoned sounds from outside her cell. This time, however, Rainbow Dash found she simply didn't care. She couldn't even muster the effort required to raise her head as she heard the door slide open, and paid no attention to the figures approaching across the cell floor. She was trapped, confused and alone in an unfamiliar world. Her wings weren't working, and she had no idea where any of her friends were - or if she'd ever even see them again.

The thought of her friends stuck in her mind as Rainbow felt something pull her upright by the bridle around her head. As she tried to shut out the nightmare going on around her, a feeling of simple certainty began to grow, a pure faith casting a small but strengthening light in her mind. Something she could hold on to.

Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack... I can't give up on you, and I know you won't give up on me either. Dozens more figures joined the five held in the center of her mind, pony and non-pony alike. Spike, Tank, Scoots... everypony...

As she focused her awareness outward once more, Rainbow Dash realised her bipedal captors seemed to be in the midst of tormenting her for their own amusement. The small furry one was sat on her back, tugging on the bit in her mouth with the attached rope, while the huge pig-thing looked on in obvious amusement. The pair were talking loudly to each other, their harsh words interspersed with laughter.

An absurd image of Spike riding on Twilight's back intruded on Rainbow's mental landscape, before skipping on to the rodeo round of the first of her now annual Iron Pony contests against Applejack. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash knew exactly how to handle this one.

Ah hope yer ready fer a buckin' good time, 'partner', Rainbow thought with a suppressed grin, imagining Applejack's reaction to her mimicking the earth pony's voice. It had proved a pretty reliable way to throw AJ off her game, and doing it almost let her imagine Applejack was here with her. Rainbow could practically hear her friend protesting that she "din't have no ack-sent".

It seemed her two guards weren't particularly bright - or were extremely confident in their position of power. The door to the cell stood open again, and they had untied her from the bedpost so the smaller one could ride her around the cell. Although there was no guarantee the outer door was still ajar. Or, come to think of it, that it even was an outer door. She hadn't had much of an opportunity to see what was on the other side, beyond a vague impression of more dull grey metal walls.

Still, anywhere's better than here. Not like my day can get any worse.

Rainbow allowed herself to be directed around the room for a few moments as she carefully manoeuvred her tongue under the metal bit. When the furry creature on her back slackened the reins for a moment, she quickly pushed the bar up and back. Rainbow Dash fought to suppress a small smile of triumph as she took the bit firmly between her back teeth. Trying to maintain the same aimless, wandering gait she slowly turned until she was facing the pigataur head-on.

Okay, round two. No screw-ups this time.

Shifting her weight forward, Rainbow Dash pulled her back legs slightly off the floor. Then, just as she had practised for her rodeo performance, she began to rapidly bounce her hind legs up and down. The creature on her back gave a startled yelp as the pony beneath it shook violently, throwing it forward and back at a furious pace. Rainbow bit down harder on the metal between her teeth as her passenger frantically pulled on the attached reins. Then, Rainbow Dash felt its weight shift back a little as it lost its balance, and the vicious grin she had been hiding broke free as its grip on the reins faltered.

Gotcha.

On the next bounce Rainbow let her hind legs collapse, dropping almost completely down onto her rump, before kicking out as hard as she could. One final, violent upward jolt pitched her passenger forward through the air over her head, breaking its grip on the reins entirely. The foul-smelling furry thing smashed into its larger companion's belly with a wheezing screech, sending both tumbling into a thrashing heap on the cell floor.

As Rainbow Dash began her second run for the door, something shiny and red flew out of the smaller biped's jacket and bounced across the ground in front of her with a ringing chime of crystal on metal. Her first thought was to simply ignore whatever it was and run before her captors recovered, but there was something oddly compelling about the strange artefact. It wasn't just the nagging, vaguely unsettling feeling that she'd seen it somewhere before, either. Her eyes seemed drawn to what she realised was a hoof-sized chunk of red crystal as it bounced to a halt against one wall. The crystal seemed somehow more real than the rest of the world around it. More colourful, more alive.

Without really pausing to consider the possible consequences of grabbing an unknown alien object in her mouth, Rainbow scooped up the crystal on her way past the flailing pile of limbs between her and the door. Rather than being cool and uncomfortable against her teeth as she had expected, she found it was surprisingly warm - and it only got warmer the longer she held on to it. That strange, comforting, coming-home feeling that had briefly affected her earlier returned, and the whole world grew just a touch more lively and colourful. Before she could really spend too much thought on the problem, Rainbow was through the cell door and back into the outer room once more. At that point, something else took precedence in her mind.

The door she had tried to get through on her last attempt was firmly shut, and reaching the handle to shove it open without using her wings was going to be a real challenge. Frantically she swung her head back and forth, trying to ignore the odd dragging sensation of the heavy rope reins hanging off her makeshift bridle.

Come on, come on, got to be something I can use... Argh, this gem thing is getting really warm. The hay did I even pick this up for?

Just as Rainbow was about to spit out the offending crystal, her attention was captured by an obviously angry challenge from the cell behind her. While she obviously didn't speak freaky alien language, she'd heard enough angry guards shouting "Stop!" in her lifetime to recognise what was being said. Glancing backward almost on reflex, she saw the hulking pig creature raising one arm to point at her, pudgy fist wrapped around a boxy grey object.

Rainbow Dash flinched as a series of half-remembered images flickered across her vision. A tan pegasus at the head of a huge thunderstorm. Her friends racing to activate the Elements. A bipedal equine figure, half-shrouded in metal and far larger than any pony she had ever seen, bearing a strange tubular weapon. A raging blast of crimson energy smashing a pony from the sky.

Without even thinking, Rainbow Dash dodged. With a practised ease born of countless near misses, she snapped her wings down and hopped into the air as a lance of crimson fire leapt from the tube on the front of the metal box, accompanied by a high-pitched screech. The blast left a blackened scorch mark on the floor beneath her as she hovered in place.

Whoa, that was close- Wait.

Every moment of joyous freedom and rushing adrenaline Rainbow Dash had ever felt in the air crashed into her at once. She was flying. She hadn't realised how much of a devastating effect her inability to use her wings had been having on her mood until that moment, and now she never wanted to touch the ground again. She didn't even care how it had happened - her wings had chosen the absolute best time to start working again. A flash of colour at the edge of her vision drew Rainbow's eyes to a stray bit of mane - the vibrant, saturated red-orange of her forelock almost looked normal again, and her coat was back to its usual hue.

She stared at the pig-creature. It seemed to be as surprised as she was for a moment, then it started to move its arm to point the weapon at her again.

Oh yeah. Escaping.

Rainbow's wings blurred as she spun away and dove straight for the door handle. With the bit and strange red crystal in her teeth, she cast any hope of finesse aside and simply threw herself bodily at the vertical grip. Another blast of red energy caromed off the door's surface in front of her muzzle as she forced it open - somehow much more easily than before - and then she was through. Reversing the opening procedure on the handle on the opposite side, Rainbow Dash slammed the door shut before swooping down to the floor. The faint squeaking sound of the heavy metal door sliding on its inset rails had given her an idea.

Quickly spinning around and planting her forelegs on the ground, Rainbow delivered a powerful buck to the base of the door. The metal panel bent inwards with a harsh squeal of protest.

Try opening that if you can.

Rainbow's efforts at door sabotage were almost immediately rewarded - the damaged portal shuddered and jerked as something pulled on the other side, but the bent metal at its base prevented it from sliding open.

Her amused chuckle at the angry sounds filtering through the door was cut short by a sudden burst of even more intense heat from the crystal in her mouth.

"Aah!" she squealed, dropping the offending object onto the floor with a clink. "Ow... burned by dongue," she mumbled, scowling down at the crystal, which now glowed cherry red. "Thtupid thing."

Irritated, Rainbow Dash flicked a foreleg at the object. One sharp hissing sound and another pained cry later she was recoiling from it again, and the smell of lightly toasted fetlock filled the air. Before she could really give it a piece of her mind, the red gem let out a loud 'plink' reminiscent of cooling glass and cracked cleanly in two. The halves fell apart onto the floor, a scorched black area in the center of each emitting a tiny curl of smoke. The colour seemed to almost drain out of the crystal, and the odd sensation of closeness and familiarity coming from it faded.

Okay I'm, like, two hundred percent done with this thing. Time to leave.

Turning her back on the damaged door, Rainbow Dash took stock of her surroundings. At first she thought she had emerged into a long, empty room - but after a quick size comparison with the other rooms she had been in, this was obviously a corridor. The ceiling and one wall were the same bare metal as the other two chambers she had occupied, but the right wall and floor looked like unfinished brownish rock. Lots of metal pipes and small bundled cables were attached to the rock wall from floor to ceiling, running along the passage parallel with the ground. A similar single string of cable ran down the middle of the ceiling, with some kind of large glowing light blocks attached at regular intervals. Some distance ahead, the passage split in two - branching off at right angles.

I can't go backwards, and these pipes have gotta go somewhere.

As soon as Rainbow Dash spread her wings to take off down the corridor, she could tell something had gone wrong. Her wings felt strange and useless again, and even before she tried a few experimental flaps she realised whatever effect had restored her to flight had been temporary. A glance backward at her wings also confirmed that the colour was bleeding out of her coat and mane again.

No, no, no! Damnit!

Desperation and correlation conspired in Rainbow's brain, pointing her back at the discarded red crystal on the dusty rock floor. It had made her feel weird, and then she'd been able to fly again. Then it broke, and she was stuck back on the ground.

Scooping up the still-smoking and barely cooled halves of the broken crystal in her hooves, Rainbow Dash crudely mashed them together in the vain hope that the thing might somehow reassemble itself. Unfortunately the miracle she was wishing for did not manifest, and the two scorched pieces stayed resolutely separate.

This was almost worse than not being able to fly in the first place. To have a tiny glimpse of that freedom returned, and then stripped away again a moment later.

Okay okay, it didn't necessarily have to be the gem, right? If it was, and it's broken, then I am completely screwed. Maybe it was the other stuff, the feelings and the memories - that's meant to be important for magic, right?

Rainbow knew that she was grasping at straws, but she made the attempt anyway - trying vainly to recapture the warm, familiar feeling of home from moments before. Although she didn't suddenly regain the power of flight, when she concentrated on those sensations Rainbow Dash noticed something else.

There was a faint echo of that homey, comforting feeling coming from ahead of her, and slightly to the right. How she could sense directionality in it she couldn't adequately explain. Never an egghead around when you actually need one, she thought, annoyance mingling with regret. So, is a direction inspired by warm fuzzy feelings really any better than no direction at all? Rainbow sat on the floor, dismayed and indecisive, looking from the broken fragments of crystal in her hooves to the passage to only-Celestia-knew-where in front of her.

Then the decision was made for her, as the unmistakable sound of an alarm bell sounded from all around her.

I am not going back in that cell.

Rainbow Dash pulled herself upright, dropping the halves of the shattered crystal, and ran.

**BraveStarr**

BraveStarr allowed himself a small satisfied smile as he reached the hidden facility's surprisingly sophisticated generator room. From here it would be easy to shut off the power before attempting to rescue the captured spirit from wherever it was being held. The darkness would shake up the outlaws' co-ordination, and make it easier for him to take them down individually or even bypass them altogether - not to mention the effects a loss of power would have on any electronically-secured doors or traps.

Taking shelter behind a haphazard stack of empty wooden transport crates beside the door, BraveStarr activated the scan visor concealed in his white Stetson. The transparent red screen slid down in front of his eyes and immediately began searching for signs of anything out of the ordinary, overlaying small icons and pieces of text onto objects as he looked around the room.

The steel-walled chamber was approximately thirty feet square, with a profusion of fluid-containment tanks and cabling occupying the back left corner. The mass of pipes and cable bundles attached to a large cylindrical generator, positioned almost like a support pillar in the room's center. The room was almost spotlessly clean, although the carelessly abandoned crates that he now huddled behind suggested that was more a product of recent construction than of any particular amount of care and attention.

The generator itself took up the center of the room and, combined with the attendant tangle of tubing and canisters that filled the back left corner, was the only furnishing. The main body of the machine was a roughly cylindrical structure stretching from the floor to the ceiling, mostly composed of a pale beige composite material that clashed horribly with the metal structure of the room. BraveStarr took note of the control consoles arrayed around the base of the generator - hopefully one of them would hold the key to shutting it off. The central section of the cylinder was transparent, and a small red Kerium crystal could be seen inside, floating in an invisible containment field. Besides the door through which BraveStarr had entered, there was only one other way into the room - a second door on the right-hand wall, which was currently closed.

BraveStarr blinked in surprise when the scanner confirmed his initial impression of the generator setup - it was small but extremely sophisticated, technologically on par with a larger-scale starship engine or the power station beneath his adopted hometown of Fort Kerium. That meant the crystal inside it wasn't small because the generator was only producing a small amount of power - it was small because it was a piece of X-Kerium; the most volatile, most energetic and above all rarest form of the already scarce and valuable fuel source. X-Kerium was generally found in chunks no more than a couple of inches across, and was a strike that could see a prospector earn the kind of money that would normally take a decade or two's work hunting for regular Kerium deposits. Even if it was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, it could still keep a hyperdrive running for thousands of jumps or power a city for years.

I guess that makes sense if there's another one of those portal things here, can't imagine something like that is light on the power draw, the Marshal thought. There's got to be one here if they're pulling things through from the other side. Maybe after we're done here we can use this thing to send everyone beck where they belong.

BraveStarr began to use his scanner to trace the power lines leaving the generator, hoping to use them to locate the portal chamber. If Stampede had planned this out, there was bound to be some sort of containment cell near there to corral the kidnapped spirit - but given the huge burst of magic that had been released when they did whatever it was they did, the outlaw gang must have known Shaman would have sensed something. They'd be planning on moving their captive elsewhere as soon as possible, to keep it hidden.

Heck, this is probably a trap. Would explain why I got in here so easily.

A half-heard sound made BraveStarr pause to concentrate on his surroundings. A moment later he aborted the scan and deactivated his visor as the distinctive high-pitched screech of laser fire reached his ears.

Sounds like the prisoner isn't co-operating. Maybe it's not quite as helpless as Shaman seemed to think... even so, it's gotta be in trouble. I need to go help out, soonest.

The last time BraveStarr had encountered a spirit in the real world - which had also been the first - four of them had been combined in the form of a frail elderly man. His four animal guardians had stripped him of the powers they provided and then appeared disguised, seeking to test his worth by begging his protection when he could no longer rely on his supernatural abilities. He had assumed a lone spirit would be even less capable of defending itself, but it definitely sounded like everything wasn't going according to plan for the outlaw gang.

His first instinct was to rush towards the gunfire, and try to help wherever he could, but recently he'd become a lot more reluctant to take that risk. Without Thirty-Thirty to back him up, BraveStarr knew he was more vulnerable to being taken down by trickery or weight of numbers. After a moment BraveStarr decided to hold to the original plan of shutting the generator down first, relying on the chaos caused by the sudden loss of power to tip the odds in favour of a successful rescue.

Supposed to be my job to keep people in prison, not break 'em out of it, he thought idly. Right, let's see if we can't get a better idea of what's happenin'. Closing his eyes, BraveStarr called upon one spirit to aid another. Ears of the Wolf.

BraveStarr had learned early on to close his eyes while using this particular ability. The disorienting effect of having his hearing dramatically enhanced was almost overwhelming, and cutting down on other sensory input made it a little more bearable. He focused in the direction from which the shots had come, filtering out everything else - the rising and falling roar of the air moving in and out of his lungs, the pounding of his heart, the resonant hum coming from the nearby generator...

Despite the care he took, BraveStarr lost his grip on the magic almost immediately as an alarm bell rang out, a sonic battering ram impacting against his magically augmented senses. As he huddled behind the packing crates and covered his ringing ears, however, his first thought was not the pain - but disbelief, and fragile hope. Using the crates for assistance, BraveStarr forced himself upright and half-ran, half-staggered to the generator controls. He was no power management expert, but - judging by the open manual lying on top of one of the consoles and the large sticky labels attached to several of the switches - neither was whoever had turned the generator on in the first place. The Marshal began flicking through the manual, trying to discern the fastest way to shut off the power without anything exploding.

E, E, E... Emergency Shutdown, got it!

As quickly as he dared, BraveStarr began working the levers and switches of the generator console, following the instructions in the manual. Intellectually he had known the chances his partner had made it through the return portal were virtually non-existent, but as he had crept into the shadowed outpost he hadn't been able to help himself from holding out a faint hope. He still couldn't quite believe it, but the sound he had caught before the cacophonous roar of the alarm almost deafened him had been unmistakable.

The rhythmic pounding of galloping hooves.

Chapter 20 - Ships That Pass in the Night

View Online

**Rainbow Dash**

Rainbow Dash leaned hard right as she approached another junction, intent on taking the turn at full tilt. Despite her best efforts, she felt her traction on the metal flooring slip at the apex of her turn - and the far wall started approaching a lot faster than it was meant to.

Oh, son of a- ow, ow, ow!

Rainbow Dash was really starting to hate... wherever this place was. Not only was almost everything made of metal, which was the absolutely ideal combination of slightly slippery beneath her hooves and very, very hard when she consequently ran wide on a corner and slid into the walls, but the place was also a total maze. Trying to ignore the protests coming from her increasingly abused left side, Rainbow stumbled upright again and pressed on around the bend in the passage.

She might have considered slowing down, but her trick with the door apparently hadn't held her captors back for as long as she might have hoped. They'd started shooting those red magic bolts at her again, although thankfully that seemed to be all they could do - they'd already gotten close enough once or twice that they could have grabbed her magically, had either of them been a unicorn.

Stupid ground. Stupid legs.

Rainbow Dash refocused on the path ahead, determined to gain some distance on her pursuers - she could apparently outrun them in a straight line, but they could handle the corners a lot better. She was also pretty sure they were taking shortcuts she didn't know about as well. The smaller one had somehow gotten ahead of her once, popping out of a side door only the instant before Rainbow had reached it. Neither of them had had much of a chance to react, but thankfully Rainbow had held the twin advantages of momentum and an extra pair of legs for stability - the strange creature had simply bounced off her as she charged through it.

Rainbow risked a quick peek behind her as she approached another T-junction, trying to gauge how far ahead she was. To her delight there didn't seem to be any sign of the mismatched pair of guards. Remembering the last corner, and several more painful impacts before it, she decided it might be worth slowing down a little to take the next bend. Clinging to a half-remembered piece of advice about mazes she'd heard from Applejack, she had been sticking to the right-hoof side whenever she had a choice.

Augh, every passageway in this place looks the same! Where the hay is the exit?

Easing back just a little, Rainbow Dash took the next corner at a slightly slower pace. It was the only thing that saved her.

The thrown lasso landed on the floor right in front of her, and Rainbow only just managed to avoid stepping in it by awkwardly falling back onto her haunches. The reins still attached to her hastily-constructed bridle flipped forward and dropped down in front of her as she stopped, and Rainbow hurriedly tossed them back over her head before she tripped over the things. Something at the back of her brain started yelling about suspiciously similar hallways and how many right turns she had been making, but she really didn't have time to pay attention to that right now. Somehow, both of her bipedal hunters had gotten in front of her - with enough time to lay a trap, as well. She hadn't quite blundered right into it, sure, but she'd still fallen down in the corridor right in front of both of them.

This is bad, this is really, really bad!

The huge pig-minotaur thing grunted in annoyance and hauled its rope back in with a jerk of one arm. Quick as a flash the rope loop was whirling around at its side as it stepped forward. Rainbow tried to both stand up, turn and scramble backwards at the same time, and ended up just flailing her exhausted hooves around uselessly and half-rising before falling again. The smaller furry creature edged out to the side, pointing one of the boxy bolt-throwing devices at her.

Then, the lights went out.

Rainbow covered her head and bit back a terrified scream as the whole world went pitch black. Instead of jumping on her, the way the monsters in your nightmares were meant to do when they caught you in the dark, she could distinctly hear confused and angry complaining coming from the shadows in front of her. Lowering her forelegs - which she had definitely not just been using to cover her head as she cowered in fear - as quietly as she could, Rainbow carefully got her hooves beneath her. Belly to the ground, legs trembling - from the awkward posture and adrenaline, nothing to do with fear at all because I'm not scared why would I be scared this isn't frightening at all - Rainbow Dash crept ever so slowly backwards, inching away from her hunters. Once she was sure she was some distance from where she had originally fallen, Rainbow slowly stood all the way up and tried to turn herself around. Even if she couldn't see it now, there had been a left turn at that junction, opposite the passage she was now in. That was better than backtracking, and a whole heap less scary than trying to sneak by her pursuers in the dark.

She had only taken a few tentative steps forward when a series of clunking sounds came from all directions. Rainbow Dash froze, one hoof in the air, and waited for the strange noises to stop.

All of a sudden, something was visible in the dark in front of her. A faint, vertical red line getting steadily wider-

Door!

More urgent sounds from behind spurring her onwards, Rainbow Dash threw all pretence of stealth to the wind and rushed toward the light. The rope reins still tied to her head slapped against her back as she ran, a constant reminder of what awaited her if she was recaptured. The pale red glow from the other side of the opening doorway was faint, but it was definitely enough that she'd be clearly silhouetted against it for anypony stood behind her. She had to get through the door and out of sight before one of the things chasing her figured out what was going on.

**BraveStarr**

"That'll even the odds a little," the Marshal muttered to himself as the lights went out. The faint red glow coming from the chunk of X-Kerium within the reactor wasn't quite strong enough to see by properly - other than illuminating the reactor itself, it really just served to split the darkness up into jumbled areas of slightly varying reddish shadow.

"Emergency shutdown complete," the oddly cheery, synthesised voice of the control computer announced as he made for the door. "Dumping core in: Three, two..."

"Wait, what?!" BraveStarr span back to the console. No time...

"Error. Emergency core venting system not found. Core dump aborted."

BraveStarr let out a long, relieved breath, and brushed a white-gloved hand across his forehead. The last thing I need is this souped-up reactor venting crazy substances spirits only know where.

"Manual extraction required. Please dispose of expended core material in a safe and responsible manner."

The transparent section of the reactor around the Kerium chunk let out a hiss and a puff of gas, before splitting in half vertically. The rear section stayed in place, while the front slid outward a little before being retracted up towards the ceiling.

This time, BraveStarr gave the computer a few seconds to spring anything else it might suddenly feel like doing on him. Instead, he got the reaction he had hoped for from the nearby doors. The power loss failsafes on the electronic locks started triggering, opening the doors - a standard safety feature to avoid trapping anyone inside a room in the event of a power failure. Of course they could have been set up the other way around, as external airlocks were, and sealed themselves shut - but BraveStarr already knew he was strong enough to easily break through these doors. They would prove almost no obstacle to him, but would have seriously hindered his opposition, so either way gave him an edge.

He turned towards the closed second door of the generator room, one hand resting near his gun. He'd heard the laser fire and those hoofbeats off in that direction, so that would be the first place to look. As soon as the door cracked open, BraveStarr heard sounds coming from the passage beyond - muffled cursing and complaints, in all-too-familiar voices. It sounded like Skuzz and Hawgtie were right on the other side of the door, blundering around in the dark. BraveStarr suddenly realised the faint light from the generator behind him was about to neatly outline him in the doorway, making him not just the only thing they could see - but also a perfect target.

Spinning deftly to one side as he drew his weapon, BraveStarr flattened himself against the wall next to the door. If the pair moved toward the light, he could surprise them as they came through the doorway. They'd be able to tell him exactly where their prisoner was being kept, or at least provide a little insight if the spirit really was making a fight of it. Although, based on the shouted argument now reaching his ears, the pair sounded like they were tangled up in one of Hawgtie's ropes.

The sound of approaching hooves on the other side of the opening door almost caused BraveStarr to forget himself and stick his head out. There was something off about the sound, but before he could place it the source of the noise shot through the doorway and blurred past his knees in the dark - and whatever it was, it was far too small to be Thirty-Thirty.

That's not one of Stampede's gang, and it ain't my partner... which only leaves one option! Probably should'a guessed it'd be some kinda animal if its true form got pulled through into our world.

Grateful for his seeming good fortune, even if it apparently didn't stretch to returning his best friend to him as well, BraveStarr slammed the door closed behind what had to be the escaping spirit animal. Thinking quickly, he switched his Neutra-Laser to thermal and put two bursts into the door - one to turn the handle red-hot, and another to melt a portion of the door where it met the frame.

"That should keep them busy for a little while at least," he said, turning to search the room for what was, presumably, the reason he was here.

**Rainbow Dash**

Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!

Rainbow Dash tried to bury herself deeper into the huge mess of metal pipes in the corner of the dimly-lit room, keeping the large central pillar between her and the other thing in the dark. She couldn't believe she'd fallen for something so obvious.

It goes dark, then a door suddenly opens to reveal a conveniently lit path... of course it was a freaking trap you idiot!

The third one hiding by the door had almost got her - and even though she'd been fast enough to get by, it had still slammed the door shut right behind her. She'd headed straight for the cover offered by the big metal tanks and tubes, praying she wasn't about to get grabbed and dragged back into the dark. Peeking out from her hiding spot, Rainbow had seen whatever was in the room with her doing something to the door, too. Probably sealing it shut somehow, so she couldn't get away.

There might still be a chance, though. In her mad dash for cover, Rainbow had spotted what looked like another one of the red crystals held inside the room's central pillar. The middle part of it looked like some sort of glass case, and it had been open - if she could get to it, get herself airborne again, maybe she could get by these things and get out of this crazy, terrifying place.

She could barely see the third thing in the dark, but that was making it worse. Her imagination was filling in all sorts of horrifying details, things hidden in the red-tinged shadows that obscured its form. It was at least as big as the pig-taur thing outside... and now she was trapped in here with it. The shadows shifted as it turned back to examine the room, and Rainbow let out a quiet gasp as she ducked back into cover. As quickly and quietly as she could, she clambered under and around the concealing tubing, moving around to the other side of the central pillar. It was getting more difficult by the moment for Rainbow to ignore the fact that she was trapped in a confined space, in the dark, with some enormous... thing hunting for her, and she knew she was starting to panic. A very old, primitive part of her brain was repeating over and over that she wasn't safe outside of the herd, that the dark was the province of predators, and that she should be running as fast as she could to anywhere but here - preferably towards other ponies.

As she worked her way anti-clockwise around the room, Rainbow caught sight of another open door to the left of her closed-off entry point. She quickly clamped down on her urge to bolt for it - it couldn't be that easy. A way out that obvious had to be another trap. Either that, or they hadn't bothered to secure that door because it was a dead end. She'd been herded in here, which meant the way out had to be back the other way.

Suddenly, something yanked hard on the crude rope harness still tied around her head. Rainbow's heart felt like it was about to explode out of her chest as the bit in her mouth turned a terrified yell into a muffled "Glurk!" Falling to the ground, Rainbow rolled onto her back and kicked out as hard as she could against whatever was behind her.

She had just enough time to make out the rope twisted around a protruding valve before her hind hooves impacted the tank it was attached to, and the room echoed with the sound of a hollow metallic bang. Rainbow didn't even need to hear the growl from the other thing in the room to know she's just told it exactly where she was, and she began frantically tearing at the harness around her head to try and free herself.

I swear I will never do another bad thing as long as I live, just please let me get out of here alive!

Spurred on by the banging and clanking sounds of the huge creature clambering through the maze of piping towards her, Rainbow Dash pushed harder against her restraints. She felt the metal bit shift oddly in her mouth, and saw out of the corner of her eye that the knot on the piece of rope threaded through one end had come loose.

Yes! Come on, come on...

Gripping the bit firmly in her teeth once more, she fumbled at the knot with her hooves until it popped loose. The crude restraint practically fell apart in her hooves with the one rope untied, and Rainbow quickly shoved the whole mess off her head and scrambled away as fast as she could. This was her chance; if she could get to the crystal while her pursuer was still struggling to fit its larger form through the maze of pipes and tubes, then she was as good as free already!

Cantering round to the front of the giant pillar, Rainbow Dash tried to figure out how she was going to get all the way up to the crystal without the use of her wings.

I need to get the stupid thing to fly, but I need to fly to reach it! Argh!

More out of desperation than from any sort of plan, Rainbow attempted to jump up onto one of the shorter boxy things clustered around the base of the pillar. After some rather embarrassing dangling from the edge, complete with flailing wings and scrambling with her hind legs, she managed to grab something sticking out of the top of the platform and pull herself up. Looking down at the thing she held, Rainbow recognised it as some sort of lever - and there were more buttons and switches all over what seemed to be a large control panel, reminiscent of the crazy egghead machines Twilight had kept in her old basement.

No time for sightseeing, I can figure this dumb place out when I come back. So, uh, never.

Rainbow took a moment to plot out a route, then shot off across the panel - trying not to trip over any of the protruding switches as she hopped from one console to another on her way upward. She felt buttons shift underneath her hooves once or twice, but she didn't have a moment to spare to worry about what effect that might have had. There didn't seem to be any blinky lights or other flashing things, which as far as she could figure had been important components of Twilight's machines, so she guessed the thing was switched off anyway. Another burst of effort and a final jump took her into the hollow part of the big pillar in the middle of the room, and within touching distance of her objective.

She could already feel the heat coming off the gem from where she stood. Although, heat wasn't quite the right word. It sort of felt like heat, but Rainbow could still sense the slight chill that permeated the strange place in which she had found herself. Her coat was still standing on end, and she almost felt like... shivering.

Weird. It's not even that cold. I mean, yeah, it's about freezing in here, but... did I turn into a unicorn when I wasn't looking or something? Temperatures like this shouldn't be bothering me at all.

Discarding the stray thought, Rainbow Dash refocused on the crystal floating in the air over her head. There didn't seem to be anything holding it in place, which only strengthened her suspicion that there was something magical about the red gems. When she reared up to wrap her forelegs around the gem and pull it down, however, Rainbow found that it didn't want to cooperate. It wobbled a little in the air, but something seemed to be holding it in place firmly enough to take her weight. Adjusting her grip on the jewel, Rainbow began walking her hind legs backward. Some sort of elastic force seemed to be resisting her efforts to move the gem, continually tugging it back towards its mid-air resting place. She also wasn't feeling any of the other strange sensations she'd gotten from the other red crystal, which was beginning to chip away at her confidence.

Rainbow Dash strained against the invisible force trying to pull the crystal away from her. Her drive to beat whatever was holding her prize hostage pushed her to try harder, and without really thinking about it, she gripped onto the gem with all four hooves and started to pull with her wings instead. The further she stretched the invisible band, the better she felt, and just as she realised what was happening the mysterious tether snapped - the strange gem pulling free of whatever field had held it. Power surged through all six of her limbs, a wave of thrumming force that brought life back to the colours of her coat and mane, almost lighting them from within.

The outpouring of energy from the gem as it was freed was overwhelming. The whole chamber lit up as the stone blazed with a bright red light, and this time Rainbow Dash barely even registered that she was flying again. The comforting glow of home, the feeling that all was right with the world, had returned with a vengeance - of course she was flying, that was what she was born to do. The sky was where she belonged... and it had been far too long since she'd felt fresh air beneath her wings.

It was time to leave.

**BraveStarr**

"Hello?"

BraveStarr squinted, eyes straining to pierce the darkness of the chamber. The small creature has disappeared after it shot past him in the dark, but there was only really one place it could be hiding.

Poor thing must be terrified if those two no-good scumbags have been chasing it around since it got loose.

BraveStarr carefully approached the mass of pipework, trying to sound non-threatening. Although he didn't have much of an idea of how the spirit might react to anything he did, in his experience they at least valued things like honesty and integrity. When his own guardians had tested him, that had been the entire point of the exercise - to see if he would hold to his principles even if his powers abandoned him. Presumably this spirit would be confused and frightened by the strange place in which it found itself, and had probably had a few bad experiences with certain nearby individuals already. Top priority was convincing it he was friendly, at least long enough to get them both out of here. He might not be able to help his partner, but there was one creature lost in a strange world he could do something for. Maybe someone on the other side would return the favour for Thirty-Thirty. Even if they didn't, that was no reason for BraveStarr himself not to be the kind of helpful, upstanding person he would want to share the world with.

"I'm not gonna hurt ya," he said, addressing the tangle of pipes and cabling that doubtless concealed his charge. "My name is BraveStarr. I'm a friend."

The mass of pipework made no reply, but BraveStarr thought he could hear faint sounds of movement coming from the shadows within. Easing a little closer, he pushed a bundle of braided insulated cable off to one side with one hand and tried to peer into the concealing darkness.

Can't see a darn thing.

Flipping down his scan visor from within his hat, BraveStarr thumbed the display to thermal. The array of tubing emerged from the blackness before him, a tangle of mostly blue-purple cold metal illuminated by the slowly fading orange heat-glow of the few warmer parts left over from the generator's shutdown. A little crouching and peering around, over and beneath the outermost parts of the maze, revealed no signs of an immediate presence; but there was definitely a heat trace to follow - a brighter patch of pipe here, an almost-faded tiny hoofprint there, a smear of colour on the wall of a tank where something warm had rubbed against it. BraveStarr heaved a short sigh and began to squeeze himself into the largest gap he could find in the metal maze.

Guess there's nothin' for it then. In we go.

"Shaman... Shaman sent me to get you out of here." His voice came out a little more strained as he struggled to find a navigable path through the piping. "He can get you home again, or at least keep you safe until we can figure something-"

If there had been space to do so, BraveStarr would have jumped in surprise as the large fluid tank pressing against his left side let out an almighty bang. Trying to calm his suddenly racing heart, he called out to the concealed spirit again. That had sounded painful.

"Are you okay? Just-" BraveStarr paused as he sucked in a breath, squeezing between a couple of thick vertical pipes to get around the tank, "just wait there, I'll come help you out."

A little more effort and some tight squeezes later, he came across a frankly baffling discovery. A short tangle of several roughly-tied pieces of rope hung from a valve attached to the larger tank, but there was no sign of his quarry. Something warm had definitely been there moments before, however - and the pair of small hoof-shaped indentations in the tank suggested a probable source for the sound.

What's this thing?

Lifting the strange rope assembly from where it was looped over the valve, BraveStarr took a moment to ponder its purpose. It wasn't until his attention fell on the short piece of metal dangling from one end, and the teeth marks still visible in it, that he figured out what it was. The spirit was obviously equine in nature based on what he'd seen so far, but it was far too small to be a horse - at least, not a fully-grown one. The size of the crude bridle, along with the tiny hoof marks in the tank, only gave him another reason to despise the criminal gang responsible for so much suffering on New Texas. One gloved hand tightened on the rope involuntarily before BraveStarr dropped it in disgust.

A new-born body for a spirit's material birth, and they put it in chains. They bridled a foal, of all things. No wonder it's running.

The sound of frantic movements from the other side of the generator drove BraveStarr back into motion himself - the spirit creature was unlikely to trust anyone now, but he still had to get it away from this place before Stampede did something terrible to it. He wouldn't tie the poor thing up as the gang obviously had, but he might have to catch it and carry it out - however much more that might frighten it - before something even worse happened. Determined to see the spirit safely away from this place, BraveStarr pushed his way free of the dark confines behind the generator.

A blaze of heat, obvious on his visor, drew BraveStarr's attention to the open front of the device - giving him just enough time to make out a small four-legged form inside the main chamber, reaching for the X-Kerium crystal still suspended in the containment field. Before he could think to shout a warning, the temperature readings on the visor went off the scale - turning the whole screen into a garbled bright white mess. BraveStarr scrambled to stow the now useless screen away, still reeling from its assault on his dark-adapted eyes. As he did so, he felt the heat begin hammering against his body - but just like in the streets of Fort Kerium earlier that night, there was something off about it. Despite the prickling, uncomfortable pressure against his skin, he found himself unburned. The initial shock was uncomfortable enough to force him to turn aside and close his eyes, but he quickly discovered that - with a little effort - he could face the source of the unusual effect.

Is that... magic? Just how much power is this little guy packing?!

BraveStarr forced his eyes open against the assault, to find the room was now also flooded with a bright light - emanating from the small figure now clutching the crystal chunk in its legs. He could only look on in stunned silence as the spirit he had come to save made it abundantly clear it was more than capable of rescuing itself.

It was several seconds before he collected himself enough to close his mouth, and drag his eyes away from the former location of a now-faded prismatic contrail - and the ragged hole punched through the reinforced security door.

"Why," BraveStarr said to himself, "is the spirit of Loyalty a miniature flying rainbow pony?"

Chapter 21 - Through a Mirror, Darkly

View Online

**Rainbow Dash**

Coasting to a halt in the night air, Rainbow Dash surveyed the landscape outside of the strange prison in which she had been confined. The rush of power, of energy from the strange crystal she held had abated enough that she thought to pause for a moment and consider her situation. The land spread out beneath her was unfamiliar, at least in terms of her specific location - but the stony sand, scrub plants and occasional rocky spire or mesa gave her some hope she wasn't too far from her friends' camp, or at least a nearby town.

Need to get some height, figure out where the hay I am. Rainbow glanced skyward briefly, considering the stars. Some light would probably help too, she thought. Although... aren't you meant to be able to, like, navigate by stars or something? Nuts, I totally should have taken Twi up on that astro-thingy-whatever she wanted to show me. Well, I guess if I just pick a direction and fly I can find somepony to ask for directions.

Unless, a treacherous voice in the back of her head added, you're not even in Equestria any more.

Shut up brain. Not helping.

If this is Equestria, the voice persisted, then where is the moon?

Even as the thought pushed its way into her mind, Rainbow began scanning the sky for the familiar orb. Don't be an idiot, the moon is right... uh, not that way, over... umm... Spinning back and forth more frantically, Rainbow Dash fruitlessly searched for a light in the sky bigger than a star. Where is it? Where the hay is the freaking moon?!

An orange glow on the horizon suggested an answer that Rainbow Dash was all-too-ready to grasp on to. She let out a nervous chuckle as the sky began its slow transition from starry night to the blue of day, glancing around self-consciously even though there was nopony else there to see her almost lose her cool.

Heh, woo, that was... okay, okay. It's sunrise, the moon set already. No need to freak out here.

After a few more calming breaths, Rainbow couldn't help but think that dawn and daylight were just what she needed right now - she was thoroughly fed up of dark, confined spaces. Seeing the first rays of sunlight illuminating the tops of the tallest rock spires and mesas above her, the hovering pegasus paused to turn her back on the sun and watch the light flow down and over the desert. She felt the temperature shift running down her length as the sun reached her, a tiny shadow appearing against the rock-strewn sand below and in front of her. A slight shiver followed the temperature change as warmth returned to her body.

Ooh, that's nice. Much better.

Rolling onto her back, still cradling the strange red crystal she'd taken from her prison in her legs, Rainbow took stock of her situation. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, sky still tinted pink in the dawn light, and a few wispy clouds drifted above her.

There's definitely something freaky going on here. Where the hay is everypony, and why don't I remember what happened?

"Can't remember," a scratchy, irritating voice asked from behind her, "or won't?"

"What the-" Rainbow Dash span in the air, almost losing her grip on the gem she was carrying. After several frantic moments of spinning in all directions, eyes and ears alert, she tentatively confirmed that she was, in fact, still completely alone in the sky.

And now I'm so tired I'm hearing things. Awesome. Rainbow closed her eyes, trying to slow her breathing. Her body seized the opening, gleefully informing her that it was damaged and exhausted. I feel like I flew through a tornado backwards, and I don't think I've slept properly since we left Ponyville... gotta find somewhere to lay low for a while. Although, none of those guys had wings - maybe I should try laying high instead.

Rainbow's heart sank a little as she looked up. Ugh. Why did it have to be cirrus? Never a nice low-altitude cloud around when you need one.

Trying to ignore the heavy, itching feeling telling her her feathers were in total disarray, Rainbow Dash forced her tired muscles into one last push upwards.

***

Almost a minute of straight vertical climb later, Rainbow Dash was getting increasingly worried. The clouds were definitely closer, but there was absolutely no way this was normal.

Why are they so freaking high? I swear, when I find the idiot who's been leaving all this crap to float out into the Badlands, they're gonna get it. Another sharp, painful spasm pulled at the muscles across her back. Ow! No way, you are not allowed to cramp up yet. Come on, I'm almost there!

Pushing herself to climb just a little further, Rainbow Dash began to notice more details of the scattered scraps of cloud above her. Details that didn't make any sense, unless...

Oh crap, it's too diffuse... it's not even refined, she thought despondently, her ascent slowing. It wasn't even a proper, factory-produced cloud, it was just the raw materials for one. Even if she did hammer it into shape herself, Rainbow couldn't be confident it would hold together as she slept on it. What am I meant to do with unrefined water vapor? I don't have a freaking weather factory! Damn it, I flew all the way up here for nothing.

Frustration and despair warred back and forth in her mind as Rainbow floated beneath the insubstantial cloud. She felt a sudden irrational urge to buck something, shout, scream, find somepony to blame all of this on and just-

"Just what?"

The voice again. Not mocking this time. Eager, needy... hungry, in a way Rainbow found profoundly disturbing. As if the thought of violence excited it. Her nostrils flared as they caught the scent of blood in the air, there and gone in a half-remembered flash.

Rainbow Dash's anger imploded, leaving her feeling hollow and spent. "Shut up. You're not real," she mumbled. For a brief moment she was terrified the voice would respond, but it remained silent as she started a slow, spiralling glide back towards the ground. She could see plenty of rock spires littering the Badlands from this altitude, but she didn't have the strength left to flap her wings. It was all she could do to keep hold of the stolen gem in her legs.

As the sun began to separate from the horizon, beginning its daily traversal of the sky, Rainbow touched down atop a rocky pinnacle, collapsed into a heap and immediately fell into an exhausted sleep.

**Fluttershy**

Come on, you were fine talking to him earlier! Fluttershy admonished herself as she tried to calm the panicked butterflies in her stomach. After briefly reflecting on the turn of phrase, she lamented the fact that metaphorical butterflies were a lot tougher to calm down than real ones. Fluttershy tried to resist the urge to hide behind somepony else, putting them between her and the large, iron-clad stallion, but she was finding it increasingly difficult. She had expected that learning a little more about him would make him less intimidating, but the longer the group sat talking around the campfire the more nervous Fluttershy found herself becoming.

Seeing him attacking a pony was a little worrying, but that isn't it. It's only really been... since he could talk? Is that what it is? Fluttershy thought uncertainly. Was I less nervous around him because I was thinking of him as an animal, and now I think of him as a pony? Risking a glance over toward the huge grey stallion, she flinched and drew back behind her mane as the nervous feeling in her belly intensified. Am I really that shallow? He hasn't changed at all, but now that I can't help but see him as a stallion... a strange and really, really big and intimidating... oh goodness.

Fluttershy closed her eyes, holding back the rising fear and berating herself internally. Oh no, that really is it... and he's going to notice and then he'll want to talk to me and I'll be too nervous and he'll be upset and it'll cause a scene and everypony will be looking at me and thinking about what a horrible pony I- Dragging her runaway thoughts to a halt, Fluttershy tried to take a deep breath and calm down. No. I'm better than that. Come on Fluttershy, get a hold of yourself. Just make it home, maybe vent to Rarity in the spa, and put this horrible day behind you. Be brave. Another nervous twinge ran through Fluttershy as thoughts of courage brought another pony to mind. I wish Rainbow was here. She isn't scared of anything. Well, except confined spaces, and... still, she's so much braver than I am. It must be nice not to be afraid all the time.

If it was any other pony, Fluttershy might have been just the teeny-tiniest bit jealous; but Rainbow Dash was her best friend. For the longest time, Rainbow had been her only friend. A strong flier oozing with confidence, the brash and vivacious filly had forced her way into Fluttershy's life by simply refusing to take 'no' - or at least a negative squeak that was meant to be a 'no' - for an answer, and Fluttershy had never understood why. She hadn't really questioned it too much though - friends had always sounded so nice, but she hadn't really known exactly how to go about getting some. When a friend found her, and turned out to be a shining example of the pony she sometimes dreamed of being, Fluttershy had just held on for dear life as the frequently terrifying roller-coaster ride that was her fillyhood continued. When Rainbow Dash was around, Fluttershy always felt like she could borrow some of her friend's courage. She didn't know what Rainbow got in return - she'd always been too afraid of shattering the illusion to ask - but Dash had always been a loyal and steadfast companion.

As the stallion's story of how he came to meet his partner drew to a close, Applejack put voice to Fluttershy's own thoughts.

"Where the hay is Rainbow Dash?"

The question hung in the air unanswered, bringing an uncomfortable halt to the conversation.

"That is an extremely pertinent question, Miss Applejack," Princess Celestia said, approaching the group with Princess Luna trailing reluctantly behind. Fluttershy tried and failed to suppress a startled flinch at the pair's appearance. Princess Luna's trepidation was expected, but Fluttershy realised there was something troubling Princess Celestia as well. The elder alicorn's face always lost a little of its warmth when something bad had happened, such as when the Princess had told them about Discord's escape. There was still a sense of purpose and intensity there, and...

Fluttershy's muzzle twitched as she suppressed a sneeze. Is something burning?

A tiny flicker of light caught her eye, drawing Fluttershy's gaze to the ground behind Princess Celestia. It was only visible for a moment in the dark, but each of the alicorn's steps was clearly leaving a small, glowing print in the ground.

"There is never a good time or an easy way to deliver news like this," the Princess said, "so I shall speak plainly. The Element of Loyalty is no longer in Equestria." Fluttershy felt her body and mind freeze up as the group almost exploded into chaos. Before anypony could get too carried away, Celestia continued to speak over the noise. "I do not know exactly what this means, or how it might have happened," she declared, eyes focused on Thirty-Thirty, "but we are getting to the bottom of this, now. At best, Equestria's greatest defense, the combined power of the Elements, is lost to us at the moment we need it most."

Fluttershy flinched back as Applejack surged to her hooves. "Forget the dang Elements," she protested angrily, "what about Dash?"

"In magical terms, Rainbow Dash is indistinguishable from the Element itself," Celestia replied. She didn't seem fazed by the outburst, and maintained her focus on the alien stallion, although a hint of regret entered her voice. "It can't be separated from her, in the same way nopony could take away her ability to fly or manipulate weather. If the Element is gone, then... so is she."

Applejack sat back down with a heavy thump, mouth working silently as she tried to process what she was hearing. Fluttershy recognised the same stunned, empty emotions she felt on the faces of her friends as her brain simply stopped functioning.

"And," Celestia added pointedly as she continued to face down Thirty-Thirty, "I want to know why."

Princess Luna broke in hesitantly, "Sister, please, there is no need for this." Celestia's eyes closed, her expression unreadable. "He wouldn't-"

"Luna... you're asking me to gamble our entire domain," Celestia said, without turning to look at her sister, "every one of our little ponies' lives. Everything I swore to protect."

Fluttershy looked back towards Princess Luna. The dark alicorn's expression was desperate and afraid, and her astral mane writhed as if battling against itself. It obviously took an effort of will to force out her almost inaudible reply.

"I ask for a thing far greater than that. I lost it, then forfeited my claim to it long ago, but that does not lessen my need for it."

Still facing away with her eyes closed, Celestia jerked as if the words had physically struck her. Fluttershy thought she saw something flickering across the Princess' features, a tiny crack in the armour of the ages. Absolute silence descended on the group. Fluttershy didn't even dare to breathe.

When Celestia spoke again, something seemed to be missing from her voice. Some of the usual confidence and gravity, the surety that had steered Equestria alone for so long, was simply absent. "I didn't mean to-" she broke off, before finally turning to face Luna once more. Then Celestia tried again, words coming slowly, as if she was carefully laying each on fragile ground. "Luna, I want to trust you. I really, truly do." The next word hung unspoken for several long seconds before Celestia eventually forced it out, "But, after what passed between the two of you..."

"You have no idea what it was like," Luna breathed, voice rough and low. "None."

"Then help me understand," Celestia said, emotion breaking back into her voice once more.

"Imagine galloping full-tilt into a waterfall of tar. It clings to your coat, fouls your eyes and nostrils." Luna's voice strengthened a little, but grew no less strained or bitter. "'Tis cloying and overwhelming. You cannot see, you cannot breathe. It seeps into your mane and feathers, but it does not stop there. It sinks into your skin, pours into your mouth, permeates your entire being. Clings to and stains every part of you until you can't tell where it ends and you begin. Except it isn't some irritating sticky substance you can just wash off. It's a mind, a living, roaring, tumultuous mind that you've violated and it's already so mingled with your own that you don't even know who you are any more. You should have been ready. You should have known better - or should you? Was that you, or was that her? Or are you her, or him, or both, or neither? Besieged by centuries of memories, all of them familiar and all of them terrifyingly alien..."

Luna paused to take a slow, trembling breath, closing her eyes briefly, before steadying herself. "I do not know how many hours it took to put myself back together," she said, opening her eyes once more to meet her sister's. "Thankfully, I have substantial experience in maintaining the core of mine own identity under... difficult circumstances. But that was only the beginning of it. Can you even imagine what that feels like? Not just to commit such an act, to be told of the feeling of vulnerability and violation, but to remember actually feeling all of those things; of being so intermingled with your own victim that you remember fearing and hating yourself beyond reason? And worse still, you alone will remember what happened when you wake. You will have to confess, to inflict a second shadow of that pain once more to even have a hope of forgiving yourself."

The mention of her confession seemed to pull the Princess's attention back to her surroundings, and her teal eyes began to dart back and forth across the ponies around her as if seeing them for the first time. All of them were shaken to some degree, all displaying various levels of shock and sadness. Princess Luna recoiled from the ponies around her, and Fluttershy felt something cold and sharp slide into her heart as she realised Luna was afraid of her, of all of them. The negative emotions weren't directed at the Princess, but that didn't seem to have registered in the distressed alicorn's mind.

"I should not have- My friends, please, do not look at me like..." Luna stammered weakly, standing in a slight crouch with a wing half-extended before her, as if shielding herself.

Celestia reached out toward her retreating sister. "Luna, wait-"

"DON'T LOOK AT ME!" Luna cried, voice shaking the ground as her form was swallowed by a sphere of darkness. The globe swiftly shrank to nothing and disappeared, leaving no sign of the Princess.

**Twilight Sparkle**

Twilight's rational mind still couldn't really grasp where the last few hours had gone. There didn't seem to be enough events in her memory to cover all of the time. Princess Luna had teleported away just before the first guards had come charging in to investigate the noise of her outburst, and then one of the medics from the aid station had sought out Celestia to tell her that the four Night Guards had simultaneously disappeared from their beds.

The next bit she had stumbled though in a half-aware haze. The carriage ride back to Canterlot and civilisation had been almost completely silent. Nopony seemed to be able to put words to the situation, including Twilight herself. She couldn't seem to summon up much in the way of feelings at all. Even Pinkie Pie hadn't been able to produce any of her habitual cheer.

Twilight and her friends had been led to a castle room that resembled a strange combination of a guard bunkroom and a suite from a fancy hotel. It was almost like a small apartment, with a large main room, balcony and a bathroom, but the main room was obviously for sleeping - and accommodating more than one or two ponies, based on the number of beds it contained.

Probably for diplomatic entourages or something, Twilight thought absently as she stared up at the vaulted ceiling. It was painted blue, a little deeper in tone than the sky, ornamented by curving traceries of thin gold that formed winding floral patterns. So far there seemed to be thirteen blooms in each vaulted section, and the ceiling was divided into a three-by-seven grid - apparently without the need for supporting pillars at the vault junctions, so presumably there was some architectural trickery at work - meaning there were approximately two hundred and seventy-three small golden flower heads above her. She'd be able to verify that estimate when she finished counting them all.

The five ponies had only made it a short way beyond the door before simply setting themselves down in a huddle on the floor. The room held eight wood-framed single beds, four along each side, and one larger Princess-sized bed at the back opposite the door. All of them were pristine and unoccupied, however - none of them had spoken since the door had closed, but the ponies had instinctively gathered close together for comfort. Thirty-Thirty had paced out onto the balcony, one large metal shoulder visible at the side of the connecting archway as he leaned back against the external wall. Neither Twilight nor her friends had said anything to him for hours, and she couldn't help but feel like this was somehow his fault. Her rational mind knew it wasn't, but emotions weren't known for their accommodation of rationality. There hadn't been any actual accusations, but there hadn't been any inclusion or defense of the alien giant either.

Twilight tried to focus on her task - she'd finished verifying the precise number of blooms in the ceiling pattern and moved on to calculating the means and standard deviations for the number of petals on each, per ceiling segment - but it just wasn't holding her attention. There was another problem, one too large and too terrifying to consider, that had been roughly thrust into the center of her head and was resolutely refusing to be ignored.

It just didn't make any sense. Rainbow wasn't old, she wasn't sick. She was fit, healthy and ready for anything.

She couldn't just... go. Not like that. It couldn't possibly be right.

She wouldn't abandon her friends.

Twilight gave up on the ceiling and let her head settle down onto the floor. Although she took some comfort in the closeness of the warm bodies around her, every muffled sniffle or shudder tugged at her heart. She was all too aware that there was one less pony than there was supposed to be.

Would have been sprawled out on top of the pile on her back, snoring like a jackhammer-

The thought brought an image to mind, and Twilight's shoulders bounced once in a small, silent laugh. Then they moved again as something broke loose inside her, the silent shaking building into a steady rhythm as Twilight struggled to understand what she was feeling. Something wet tracked down her cheek and trickled onto the leg beneath her head, and the bodies around her shifted closer as she shook uncontrollably.

Some time later, exhaustion claimed her once more.

**Thirty-Thirty**

They had a city. Forests, grassland, rivers... everything they could want. Vast, sweeping fields full of crops, rolling hills and shaded valleys had passed by beneath the chariot during the impossible journey across the sky. The place he had awoken in was so similar to home he hadn't even considered this new world might be different, and now the reality was really beginning to sink in.

And they had a city. Straight out of a story book, a towering amalgamation of marble and gold standing proud astride a mountain; at its heart the kind of opulent, awe-inspiring castle that he still couldn't quite believe existed even as he stood in it. The balcony provided him with a truly memorable view of the fantasy cityscape at night, the stars and moon lining the peaks and edges of the rooftops in silver light. There was just enough movement in the chill night air to tug at loose bits of his mane, but it wasn't cold enough to drive him back inside. It also didn't appear to be enough to stop many of the inhabitants going about their business, if the small figures in the streets below - and, to his perpetual bafflement, flying above them - were any indication.

I am a long way from home.

Thirty-Thirty had already long passed the point of throwing his hands up and abandoning explanations in favour of 'It's magic', but that didn't stop sights like the one spread before him beginning the cycle of disbelief and wonder all over again.

It certainly gave him something to concentrate on besides how fantastically awkward the whole situation was becoming. The emotions on display and the euphemisms being used were all suggesting one particular fate for the small blue pony that he'd barely met, but he wasn't sure that spirits living in a world of magic actually did things like dying.

I can't exactly just ask 'em to spell it out, but on th'other hand I don't really need to. I can't think of another reason why they'd all be this angry and upset.

Thirty-Thirty reached up to touch the bandage wrapped beneath his arm. It still stung a little, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it had been. A tentative peek beneath the cloth pad held against his side confirmed that the wound had closed, but it would likely be tender for quite some time yet.

He was an obvious target to blame. It wasn't fair, and it did make him quite angry when he focused on it, but it was at least understandable. Hopefully they'd get over it.

The stallion focused his attention on something else that had been popping into his head intermittently - whether or not he should transform back again. Fluttershy's admonition not to do so because of his injury notwithstanding, Thirty-Thirty was mostly convinced the rest of the locals would find him less intimidating if he stood a little more like they did, not to mention towering over them a little less.

'Less I'm close enough to them that it's extra creepy or something. I mean, I'd ask, but... He peeked back through the balcony arch into the darkened room, unable to make out anything but an indistinct pony pile in the middle of the floor. I get the feelin' these ones aren't gonna want to talk none, least not for a while.

Guess I'll just have to wait it out, he thought ruefully, turning back to the moonlit cityscape. Not like I'm short on time.

**Twilight Sparkle**

The sun's glow was barely preceding it over the horizon when Twilight returned to consciousness.

She did so because there was a loud bang, and then something hard and wooden hit her in the back. Or, as she rapidly realised, she had been flung into something. After a few very confusing and stressful moments that a pony should never be forced to endure before imbibing large quantities of caffeine, Twilight managed to bludgeon her thoughts into something resembling order.

A rather interesting tableau presented itself for her inspection. It looked like a Night Guard had burst in through the double doors of the room, causing the initial loud bang - and then everypony had apparently gone completely insane. The pile of sleeping ponies on the floor had exploded as ponies far more used to early starts than she was had bolted upright, and now they were all talking over each other, yelling and demanding explanations that they weren't going to stop to actually listen to. Twilight could distinctly feel a headache coming on.

Also, everything was upside-down.

Without bothering to roll over, Twilight pushed a little magic through her horn and created a sound-dampening bubble, sleepily modified from a privacy spell normally used to stop ponies eavesdropping on conversations. Everyone inside the area, except for her, should be incapable of making a sound for a second or two. The mob in front of her began to glance around in confusion at the sudden silence.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight yelled "QUIEEEEEEEEET!"

Or, at least, she tried to. Her mouth moved, and she could feel the vibrations in her throat, but no sound emerged. She was just as silent as everypony else.

Ponyfeathers.

Dropping the botched spell, Twilight took advantage of the confusion the sudden lack of sound had caused to get the first word in. She realised it would need to be something good, something that would grab everypony's attention before they started yelling again. Instead, her treacherous caffeine-starved brain went with the first thing that popped out of her imagination.

"Pancakes."

It is far too early for this.

On the positive side, everypony had stopped arguing. They were instead all staring in absolute confusion at the upside-down purple alicorn resting against the foot of one of the room's beds.

"Okay, 'm 'wake-" Twilight tried to right herself and fell over sideways, one wing slowly pawing at the air. "Ow. I'm awake. What's happening?"

"You're all coming with me, right now," the intruding guard replied. "The Princess needs you."

It took a second for Twilight to recognise Nightshade, given the pristine state of the Night Guard's armour. None of the previous night's damage was apparent, and she had even replaced her lost helmet. Stranger still she seemed to be completely uninjured, with no traces of the tears in her wing membranes or the various cuts and bruises that had covered her body. Twilight was, thanks to her past research, well aware of exactly how fast Noctrals were capable of healing given the right - she suppressed a shiver of discomfort - incentives, but even they had limits.

Self-imposed limits, with punishments that are very... well, one thousand years ago. Although, if the stories they tell about what happens when they go too far are true, then- No. It's still not justified, not even then. There has to be some other way.

"Which one?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Princess Cadance," Nightshade replied sarcastically. "You can run and ask stupid questions at the same time. Move."

"What is so important that it couldn't wait just a couple more hours?" asked a thoroughly dishevelled and obviously annoyed Rarity.

Between gritted teeth, Nightshade growled "It is past time to lower the moon, and the Princess will not wake. She... needs your help."

Twilight tried to remember how her legs worked as everypony began to move, albeit sleepily and reluctantly. As the guard led the way out of the room, Applejack's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why exactly ain't ya gone to Princess Celestia 'bout this?"

"Because the Princess is asking for you," the guard replied, not bothering to turn as she quickened her pace, "and repeating the same thing over and over."

"What exactly is she saying?" Twilight asked, as the heavy hooffalls of their bipedal visitor followed the group out of the room.

Nightshade's reply galvanised the entire group, and they rushed to catch up with the accelerating guard.

"'Loyalty lives'."

**Rainbow Dash**

Rainbow's eyes opened to darkness. Not night, but a complete absence of anything. She could see her own muzzle just fine, and a downward glance confirmed the rest of her prone body was present - but there didn't seem to be anything else around.

She got a strange impression that should have been worrying, but she couldn't seem to bring a particular reason to mind.

Rising to her hooves, Rainbow turned slowly in place. Only once she had spun all the way round did she see anything but a featureless void. Somehow, there was now a mirror standing where there had been nothing a moment ago. Rainbow Dash flinched as she took in her reflection.

Okay, I know I don't normally worry about this sort of stuff, but... wow. I look terrible.

Approaching until her muzzle almost touched the mirror, Rainbow Dash examined herself. Her coat was dirty and matted, and her mane was a total mess; loose hairs and split ends everywhere, and the colours weren't even separate any more. Dark rings had developed around her eyes, as if she hadn't slept in days. It was almost like looking at a completely different pony. Angling her body a little to one side, Rainbow extended her left wing and ran her eyes along its reflection. The whole thing felt tender, and the feathers were in complete disarray.

Ugh, that is gonna take forever to preen out.

Then, as she closed her wing, her eyes tracked back up to the mirror-Rainbow's face.

Dash froze solid as she locked eyes with somepony that definitely wasn't her. It was her own face, but there was something behind the eyes that was horribly wrong in a way she couldn't properly define. As she stared, the mirror image slowly smiled at her. Rainbow Dash tried to step back in the face of the utterly deranged grin, but something held her in place.

"Hello me," the reflection said.

That voice, it's... wait, I don't sound like that, do I? That is totally not how I sound!

"Wha-" Rainbow stumbled over her words as she tried to control her panic. Her muzzle was only a hoof's breadth from the mirror, but she couldn't pull away. Aside from talking, she couldn't move a muscle. "Who the hay are you? What is going on?"

"Really?" the mirror-Rainbow asked incredulously. "Ya don't even recognise yourself?" She reared back, giving a few demonstrative beats of her wings. "Well, a better version of you, but still."

As the reflection spoke, her eyes changed. The red in her irises deepened, before they flashed briefly with an inner glow. Rainbow blinked, and the reflection shifted again. A golden choker appeared at her throat, set with a stone the same bright scarlet colour as her eyes. A familiar crooked shape, reminiscent of the one on her flanks - the stylised lightning bolt of the Element of Loyalty. There was something a little off about it that she couldn't quite put her hoof on.

Hey, doesn't it normally bend the other way?

"You might hide from it out there," the reflection declared, "but in here? I'm you. The one pony you can never hide from."

Still paralysed, Rainbow Dash could only watch as her duplicate stepped forward, through the surface of the mirror.

"Well, Dashie," the mirror-Rainbow said, voice low and teasing as she stalked around her frozen counterpart, "I know me..."

Rainbow strained with every fiber of her being, trying to move, to run, to get away from whatever this thing was. She couldn't even make her eyes move, and the mirror in front of her was completely blank. She couldn't see what her double was doing, but she could feel it brushing against her coat and tail as it walked around behind her. Rainbow shuddered as she felt a wing trailed lightly across her back, feathers tickling her coat.

"Rainbow! Rainbow, snap out of it!"

Something else started to move inside the mirror, the shadows shifting and twisting slowly.

The mirror-Rainbow leaned in close and whispered into her ear, "...and I've always been my own worst enemy."

"It's no good Princess, she can't hear me."

The shapes inside the mirror twisted and sharpened into the dilapidated interior of a disused house. Into the shape of an earth pony, pale green with a yellow mane. The memory of what came next slammed into Rainbow, dropping a lead weight into her belly. Her racing mind tried to deny it, to suppress it, to hide from it, but the images playing out in front of her eyes were undeniable.

"No! We are not going to lose her! Not again!"

"You can't," she pleaded with her double, desperately trying to tear her eyes away from the scene in front of her. "That wasn't me, I didn't-" Rainbow swallowed thickly. "Don't make me watch this. Please."

"Oh, we're gonna watch, Loyalty," the mirror-Rainbow spat contemptuously. "We're gonna watch all night, until you realise what you really are."

"I don't care if it's too dangerous..."

"...she's our friend!"

The mingled cry was too loud for Rainbow to process, an explosion that was felt through her bones rather than heard. She couldn't even flinch as the mirror before her burst into a hail of razor-sharp fragments, each sparkling with reflections of the coloured light burning up the darkness behind it. Somehow not a single one of the shards touched her, and as the world collapsed, the light wrapped Rainbow Dash up and kept her safe.

"No, no, she's waking up! I'm losing-"

Twi?

Everything was too loud, too bright. Rainbow thought she could hear Twilight, but the voice kept fading in and out.

"-ainbow? You need to-"

"-everything we can to reach-"

"-you have to fi-"

"-hear me?"

As the dream collapsed, Rainbow Dash heard one final thing shouted into the void. She didn't understand it, but she was grasping for every scrap that might help her make sense of her situation.

"Find ~BraveStarr~!"

Chapter 22 - Breaching the Gates of the Silver Key

View Online

**Twilight Sparkle**

Twilight wasn't prepared. She didn't have a plan. She didn't really have a clue what she was doing.

It was actually kind of exhilarating, once she got past the mind-numbing terror of the uncertainty.

Her questioning of the increasingly familiar route they had been taking - towards one of the defining rooms of her fillyhood, Princess Celestia's own chambers - had fallen on deaf ears as the small herd stampeded through the castle. The Night Guards on the doors probably should have given it away, but the sight of Princess Luna in what Twilight thought of as Celestia's bed had still been a bit of a shock. The almost blinding light emanating from the Princess's horn coupled with the cold sweat drenching her body testified to the amount of strain she was under, but Twilight had only gotten a momentary glimpse of the alicorn - as soon as she and her friends had entered the brightly-appointed chamber, Luna's dream had expanded to capture them all. Presumably their bodies were now unconscious back in the room, but there hadn't been any time to think about that.

Twilight and her friends had been immediately bombarded with information delivered at the speed of thought. Luna had located Rainbow Dash's dreamscape - although the boundary between worlds was almost absolute in the waking world, the Princess informed them that it was significantly less substantial in the Dreamrealm. Having come to her own conclusions about Rainbow's fate and whereabouts, she had used her own limited abilities with dark magic to punch a small hole in the veil in the land of dreams, and had spent the whole night searching for any sign of Rainbow on the other side. Luna had found something, but now she was stuck just out of reach. She knew one of her little ponies was having a nightmare, but there was nothing she could do about it. It was taking everything she had just to hold the dream together, but with Twilight's help she might be able to reach Dash.

With Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie urging her onward, Twilight hadn't thought twice about using her magic to force the breach wider - but now she found herself in uncharted territory. Their dream-selves were all stood, with the visibly exhausted Luna, in a semi-circle before a tiny flickering window in the darkness. Twilight tried to fight down the instinctive disgust she felt at the unnatural black fire blazing around her horn. Normally she didn't like admitting to her own ignorance, but this was making her extremely uncomfortable.

"Luna, I... I have no idea what I'm doing here," she said, trying to ignore the small hissing black globules dripping to the ground from the mass around her horn. "is this even safe?!"

"Just as... harmonious magic can be used... for great evil," Luna said through clenched teeth, stil focused on the tiny opening, "so too can this... be used for something virtuous. Hold true to your self, and... trust in your friends to help you stay on the path. As long as you moderate your use..." Luna ground her teeth and the glow from her horn increased in intensity. "We require only a small amount... of assistance... to..." With a wordless cry of effort, Luna forced the window wider.

"There she is!" Pinkie Pie shouted joyously, bouncing on the spot.

Applejack let out a celebratory whoop, clapping Twilight on the shoulder. "I can see 'er! Way to go, sugarcube!"

"Rainbow..." Fluttershy breathed, stepping closer in Twilight's peripheral vision. She reached out a hoof towards the image, eyes sparkling with unshed tears.

"What happened to the poor dear?" Rarity asked. "She looks exhausted! There must be something we can do?"

Twilight had to agree with Rarity's assessment - Dash looked like she'd been dragged through a tornado, backwards. Her friend seemed to be inspecting herself in a mirror - didn't seem like much of a nightmare to Twilight, but then again dreams never made much sense from the outside. As the window into Dash's nightmare expanded, Twilight felt a buildup in the magic she was funnelling to Luna - as if there was something resisting the flow, causing it to back up. A phantom weight pressed down across her back, almost forcing Twilight down onto her knees.

"I can't..." Luna leaned forward, as if fighting against an intense wind, "something is forcing me out... losing too much magic in the transfer, I..."

Twilight wasn't exactly thrilled by the prospect of using even more dark magic, but if that was what it took to keep her friend safe, then she'd do it.

More...

The crushing pressure on her skull receded, replaced by a faint burn in her horn. The world slid back into focus as she forced her buckled legs to unbend. Twilight redoubled her efforts, forcing more energy into the spell to try and push through whatever was blocking them.

Get... out... of my... WAY!

The prickling, burning sensation spread out from her horn, racing down her spine from her head to her tail.

She's my friend. MINE! Nopony takes them from me. Nopony takes what's mine.

Distantly she registered Applejack cry out in alarm. "What the- Rarity, Princess, what'n the hay is goin' on with her?"

"I don't..." Rarity faltered, "Twilight, what's happening? What are you doing?!"

"Right ear flop!" Pinkie's voice was even higher-pitched than usual. "This is bad, this is really bad!"

"Twilight Sparkle, cease this insanity at once! You are ill prepared for this level of exposure, you could do yourself irreparable harm. Think about what you are doing, about why you are doing it."

I'm reclaiming what's mine.

"We have to help Rainbow," another voice added, fragile and pleading. "If Twilight can do it then I... I think she should keep going. If, if she's not..."

Fluttershy? Twilight pulled her eyes from the window in front of her, glancing to one side. Fluttershy was stood beside her, clearly on the verge of panic but nevertheless holding Twilight's gaze. Yeah, that's what I was doing, helping Rainbow. What the hay was I thinking? She's not some sort of object that I own, that I can reclaim... Gah, this stuff is messing with my head again! Twilight immediately started to throttle back the amount of power flowing out from within her, realising it was almost running out of control.

"I'm okay," Twilight said, before clapping her hooves over her mouth. Her voice had gained a discordant, buzzing undertone that she found thoroughly disquieting - and, if their reactions were any indication, Princess Luna and her friends didn't like it any more than she did. Not to mention she couldn't see what else might have changed about herself.

My whole spine feels tingly, and... wait, since when am I taller than Fluttershy?

The dream before them all stole Twilight's focus back as, in a typical display of dream logic, Rainbow's image shouldered its way out of the mirror. The reflection stalked around the frozen original, seemingly taunting or mocking her, but its words were a barely-discernible mumble.

"This is no time for distractions," Luna said quickly, still eyeing Twilight nervously, "what's done is done, and every moment only exacerbates matters - for both Rainbow Dash and for you, Twilight. I am no longer in control of the spell. We are all of us but passengers here - Rainbow Dash will be able to sense only you, and you must reach her before it is too late. This nightmare is being forced upon her, and she needs to fight it."

Having only her thoughts and voice to work with, Twilight went for the straightforward option and called out to her friend. "Rainbow! Rainbow, snap out of it!" Both versions of Dash ignored her, the mirror duplicate leaning in to whisper into the other's ear, but Twilight sensed a flicker of something reaching out from the real Rainbow.

Luna spoke up, sounding puzzled. "Her Element is responding. It's almost as if..." she shook her head briefly, but did not finish her thought. "Again, Twilight Sparkle."

"It's no good Princess," Twilight said, reaching within for more power, "she can't hear me." Twilight knew she needed to make herself heard, and mention of the Elements had given her an idea. She could feel the other four Elements straining towards Rainbow Dash along with her own, but the connection wasn't quite strong enough.

As Twilight slowly increased the flow of dark magic to the breach, Fluttershy said, "Please, we've got to do something!"

Apparently Twilight wasn't the only one who had caught the Elements idea. She felt them stir around her as Applejack said, "C'mon girls, y'all know how this goes!"

"Stop!" Luna shouted urgently, "You cannot use the Elements of Harmony alongside this much dark magic, not in the same spell!"

The mirror image continued to taunt Dash as the nightmare continued. Twilight couldn't watch the building distress on Rainbow's face a moment longer, and neither could her friends. "No!" The discordant murmuring beneath Twilight's voice rose to a screeching roar. "We are not going to lose her! Not again!"

"The energies will not combine," Luna warned, "my friends, do not do this, it is too dangerous!"

"I don't care if it's too dangerous," Twilight replied, "she's our friend!"

Twilight felt the power of the Elements pouring into her from both sides of the divide, but something was wrong. It was building up inside of her body almost faster than she could process, smashing against the flow of dark magic holding the window open, the opposing energies tearing each other apart inside of her. On instinct she took hold of both streams and twisted, forcing them to spiral around each other in a tight helix rather than colliding. The combined energy blasted out of her horn for only a moment before the spell collapsed, but it had the desired effect. The thinner dark energy ribbon splashed against the window in the dreamscape, forcing it open wider as the thicker multihued beam born of the Elements continued though unhindered.

Twilight felt drained, sucked dry. Not just of magic - normal, or 'harmonious' magic, as Luna had called it - but of something else as well.

Maybe this is what dark magic fatigue feels like. Wonderful, now I can have two colossal hornaches all at the same time. Twilight groaned, gently massaging the base of her horn.

"That... is impossible," Luna stated blankly, staring at the rapidly shrinking ragged tear the spell had made in her realm.

Oh, my head...

Looking back up at the scene before her, Twilight could just barely make out Rainbow Dash's form inside the rapidly fracturing nightmare. A slipping, cracking sensation brushed against her tender horn, and Twilight realised she was still connected to the dream.

"Rainbow!" she shouted, feeling a brief rush of relief at the lack of any discordant echo beneath her voice. The dreamscape in front of her continued to fall apart, blinding sunlight streaming in through the cracks in the darkness. "No, no, she's waking up! I'm losing the connection!" Twilight tried to get as much reassurance across as she could in the limited time she had left. "Rainbow? You need to get somewhere safe. Don't worry, we're doing everything we can to reach you. You'll be home before you know it."

Pinkie and the others - especially Pinkie - added their own encouragements. Twilight knew Rainbow wouldn't hear them, but it wouldn't help anything to tell them that.

There had to be something she could give Dash to work with, some kind of help she could lend across the divide. An idea began to form as something popped out of her memory. To Twilight it was just a name in a story, but to Dash he could be a potential ally in the strange land to which she had been taken; but there was a pretty big problem with it - even if Rainbow had a name, a being to search for, she had no way around the language barrier. "You have to find BraveStarr, do you hear me?" Twilight said, turning to Luna as the last parts of the dream began to fail. "Quick," she said, almost panicked, "reverse the translation spell you used! I need to convert it for her!"

Luna blinked once, shaking herself free of her stunned state. The Princess lit her horn and swept her eyes across the collapsing dream before her. "It is too late, she will not hear you," Luna said hurriedly, before raising her voice to address everypony else. "I'll tell her. Cover your ears - or better yet..." Luna's horn flashed. Twilight felt a sickening lurch as her world tilted, and she closed her eyes only to reopen them to a swirl of clashing colours.

Then she opened them again, and found herself waking up on the floor in Princess Celestia's room. She briefly wondered if she'd fallen asleep beside her mentor again, studying with a comforting white wing spread over her, before her waking mind got itself caught up on current events. To her surprise, the sensation of a feathery appendage wrapped over her withers didn't recede along with the memory. A slight turn of her head revealed Princess Celestia was indeed lying beside her, looking down at her in concern.

Before anything could be said, the attention of the entire room was drawn back to the bed. Luna released an emphatic breath, like a pony suddenly relieved of a heavy load, and the light from her horn finally dimmed as she opened her eyes. "Done, done, and thrice done," she panted, still streaked with the sweat of her recent efforts.

A mellifluous, insufferably smug male voice floated out of nothing at the edge of the bed, before Twilight saw an all-too-familiar mismatched, vaguely serpentine figure pop into view.

"Well, well, well..."

Oh come on, not him too! I already have a headache!

"Somepony's been having themselves a little sleepover," Discord announced to the room, a huge smile on his face, "and you didn't even invite me?" He leaned back a little on the edge of the bed, holding a leonine paw to his chest. "I feel positively insulted. And based on the residue all over Twinkle Sprinkles I've missed quite the occasion," he said petulantly. Then his voice turned conspiratorial as he shifted his gaze to Celestia. "What have you been teaching her? Keeping secrets again, are we? You are such a naughty girl."

**Thirty-Thirty**

Normally, Thirty-Thirty would have found the sudden appearance of a large, talking, pony-goat-lion-dragon-thing surprising.

At the present moment, however, his weird-o-meter had stripped a few gears and shorted out. He could still just about see it freewheeling off into the sunrise on his mind's horizon, trailing smoke and broken screws.

The by now quite crowded room promptly erupted into anarchy. Most of the smaller ponies seemed to be more concerned about Twilight's welfare - which he didn't find surprising given what he'd just seen happen to the small purple pony - except for the guards, all of whom had keyed onto the intruder the way people back home keyed onto an outlaw with a loaded gun pointed at their family.

All of them, however, halted as the royalty present - including Twilight herself - addressed the newcomer.

"Discord!"

"Twinkle Sprinkles?!"

"GET OFF OUR BED, ABOMINATION!"

The dark princess' bellowed imprecation was followed by an even louder bang, as a blast from her horn smashed the mismatched assembly of body parts across the room. Skidding along the pristine white stone floor on its face, the creature stopped just short of hitting the far wall before rolling over. To Thirty's surprise it didn't seem any the worse for wear after the strike, or even angry. If anything, it just looked shocked.

"You hit me," it said to Luna, before raising a clawed arm to point at Princess Celestia. "Celestia never hit me!"

"Oh yes I did," Celestia muttered emphatically.

"We are not our sister!" Luna thundered, her volume still causing the room and furnishings to tremble slightly.

"Good thing too," the creature replied. It disappeared from the ground in a flash of white, before rematerialising stood upright with its previous wide grin restored, "I can barely contain myself around one of her, but twins? I-"

The patchwork beast froze as its gaze passed over Thirty-Thirty, its mouth hanging open, and the stallion tensed. Something about those mismatched red eyes was ringing some big alarm bells in his head.

Then, its bottom jaw dropped. Not metaphorically either - it literally fell off the creature's head, bounced once on the stone tiles, and rolled away under the bed. After a short silence, its entire body followed suit, the rigid pieces coming apart and tumbling to the floor like bits of a plastic toy. The tide of parts rolled across the floor towards a stunned Thirty-Thirty before surging up in front of him and reforming into something almost, but not quite, identical to its previous form. It now had a large set of multi-lensed magnifying goggles strapped around its head, through which it peered at him with obvious interest. For the first time since his arrival in Equestria, Thirty-Thirty found himself before something that was actually tall enough to look him in the eye.

"And they say I was at the back of the line when they handed out the body parts," The creature mused to itself, a lion paw rubbing the underside of its jaw as its other clawed arm adjusted the glasses, flipping down several extra lenses over one eye. It tilted its head to one side, then began to laugh as it asked, "What on Earth did they chop up to build you?" Not bothering to wait for a response, it added, "Whatever it was, they tore all the magic out in any case. No wonder I didn't see you there." The creature hesitated as something occurred to it. "Or is that a more recent change?" it rumbled suggestively, one eyebrow raised as it cast a glance back towards the ponies behind it.

"I don't mean ta sound impolite," Thirty-Thirty growled, very much meaning to do so as he leaned in towards the absurd creature, "but who, and what, the heck are you?"

"Oh!" the thing exclaimed, pushing the collection of articulated lenses up its head before pulling them off completely and tossing them away. The bulky apparatus blurred and transformed into a lit stick of dynamite in mid-air, before dropping neatly inside the chestplate of one of the unicorn guards that had accompanied Celestia into the room. The pony had just enough time to panic before a muffled thump presaged a burst of neon pink paint splattering out from every joint of his armour, thoroughly saturating his coat and the surrounding floor.

"My apologies, this cause-then-effect ordering thing is still a little outside of my comfort zone," the creature said flippantly. A wide smile split its equine muzzle, revealing uncomfortably non-equine predatory teeth. "You can call me Discord. I think we're going to have a great many things to talk about, you and I."

Despite her obvious fatigue, Luna spoke up from the bed. "No. Thou shall remove thyself from my presence and his with equal vigor," she declared angrily. "We care not what false reassurances of a changed heart thou offer to others, for Us the memory of thy crimes is all too close at hoof."

Discord pulled something out from behind his back, displaying it to Thirty-Thirty balanced on an upturned palm. The small metallic box looked a little like a voltmeter, with semi-circular gauge and needle visible through a small transparent window. The thick black lettering stencilled onto the device, however, read "IRONY METER". The needle flicked all the way over into the red as Discord tilted his head toward it and raised an eyebrow at Thirty-Thirty, and the box began to emit a slowly rising squeal of escaping steam. A moment later a spring topped with a miniature pony head burst out of the back of the device with a cartoonish 'boing'. The pony had a deep purple coat and luminous purple mane, as well as catlike teal eyes and fangs. Then the whole assembly burst into flames.

Discord turned his gaze from Thirty-Thirty to his immolated paw. "Damn. I hate it when it does that," he commented casually, before crumpling the device and the fire consuming it - which both reacted like they were made of paper - into a ball. He then tossed the ball up into the air, caught it in his mouth, and swallowed it.

"Well," Discord proclaimed happily, clapping his mismatched hands together in front of him, "seems like somepony woke up on the wrong side of the moon this morning. I suppose we'll have to catch up later." A broad grin split his muzzle as he spread his arms, and for the first time Thirty-Thirty noticed a pair of small wings on the creature's back as they also spread - one feathered, the other a leathery membrane. "Toodles," Discord said, and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Silence reigned for several long seconds before Thirty-Thirty managed to summon up a question. "Could, uh," he asked dully, "could someone please explain what happened just now?"

Chapter 23 - Sky of Three Suns, Land of Precious Ore

View Online

**Rainbow Dash**

Rainbow Dash didn't want to open her eyes.

She'd been awake for what felt like hours, but she knew it had probably only been a minute or two in reality. She could still feel the sunlight on her body, and the dusty rock scraping against her coat as she shifted restlessly, but as long as she didn't see it again, it wasn't real.

She'd wanted to deny the dream, and continue ignoring all the other signs that had been mounting up; but when Rainbow had first awakened and briefly opened her eyes, the truth had been staring her right in the face.

Equestria did not have three suns.

With her prodigious flying abilities, Rainbow Dash had never been more than a few seconds from another pony, from dozens of other ponies. Now, it didn't matter how fast she was - there was no direction she could fly, no speed she could go, that would return her to her friends.

What if something happens to them? If I'm not there, and... it'll all be my fault. Almost buried beneath a crumbling veneer of bravado, another thought presented itself. What if I need them to be here for me?

Except somehow, they had been. At the end of the dream, Rainbow had sensed all of them. It had been a strange experience, being the target of the Elements, but Rainbow had known right away that was what was happening. It felt similar to using them in a way - and she had been doing that at the same time - but there had been something else to it that was making her uncomfortable. She'd felt the resistance, the sensation of something burning away beneath the magic, the way it had been with Nightmare Moon... and at the same time felt that part of herself being scoured by arcane fire. It was almost as if the Elements found something in her they didn't like, although Rainbow didn't feel like she was missing anything. In fact, she wasn't feeling all that bad, physically. They'd certainly gone some way to revitalising her battered body, which was a definite plus.

The Elements had also fixed up the holes in her memories, however - no matter how much Rainbow wished they hadn't. The blood on her hooves had vanished at some point during her journey between worlds, but she knew it was still there.

In a desperate bid to block out the thoughts and images that were bound to follow if she let herself drift down the road to the recent past, Rainbow Dash did what she always did when things got tough - find the nearest problem, and buck it in the face until it surrendered. All of a sudden, opening her eyes and facing this strange world didn't seem like such a bad idea after all.

Alright, that's it. Enough moping around.

Slowly testing out her limbs, Rainbow rose and stretched each in turn. A few careful rotations and experimental flaps shut down any niggling fears about losing the ability to fly again - the air was uniformly hot and dry, but it pushed and flowed around her wings the way it was supposed to.

So long as I keep hold of this thing, looks like I'm fine, she thought, transferring the red gem she had liberated from her foreleg to beneath her wing. Holding onto it is gonna be a pain. I'll have to keep swapping it from wing to leg and back every time I take off or land. She didn't want to risk burning her mouth on this one, although she hadn't noticed it getting hot like the first gem had before it broke.

I think that vapour last night... this morning, whatever, might have been the only water this air's seen in a long time. Rainbow scraped a sandpapery tongue around her mouth, grimacing at the taste. Either the local weather team sucks, or nopony lives around here. Wait, should it be nohorse? Nohorsey? Rainbow Dash blinked and stifled a giggle. Okay, now I get why the ones in Daring Do stuck with 'pony', those both sound silly. The giggle spread into a wide grin as another thought struck her; or rather, she saw another perspective on an existing one. She was stuck in a weird fantasy world with three suns, strange weather, and glowing crystal artefacts; full of horses and giant freaky aliens. A moment ago that had been frightening, highlighting how alone and isolated she was, but now Rainbow Dash could also see a whole world of adventure ahead of her.

This... is gonna be awesome. And if it's not, she stamped a hoof emphatically, I'm gonna make it awesome.

The top of the rock spire on which she now stood was relatively flat, if a little small. The smooth, hard, reddish stone looked like it had seen nothing but sunshine and wind for quite some time. Rainbow casually trotted the couple of steps to the edge and looked down at the ground.

There's gotta be more of those horses around here somewhere. Turning her head back up from the drab, dusty surface below, Rainbow had to narrow her eyes against the glare from the trinary suns. Do they have three Celestias, or does their Princess just do all three? she wondered idly. One red, one blue and one yellow. Weird. Why do they even need three anyway?

A voice calling out from below and behind her startled Rainbow Dash back into motion. She dove back into the middle of her rocky perch, then shuffled to the opposite edge on her belly and poked her head over the side. It seemed the creatures from her prison had followed her.

Or at least one of them has. Heh, it's wearing a hat like AJ's. Looks kinda silly on... whatever it is.

It was a little worrying that the thing had managed to find her, but it wasn't like it had wings. Rainbow Dash was quite confident that her high perch would be more than enough to keep her out of its reach, and even if that failed she could just fly off. She decided this would be a good opportunity to get a better look at the thing following her.

The tall creature seemed similar to the bipedal pig-thing, and was presumably the third being she had avoided in the dark room in which she had found the crystal. Rainbow unconsciously clutched the gem a little tighter beneath her wing, determined not to lose it. This biped was mostly yellow, except for a blue bit in the middle of its chest, and wore a white hat and white boots on all four of its limbs.

No, wait, they aren't called boots when you put them on claws... socks? No, that's not it. Gah, never mind, I'll have to ask Rarity later. She tried to ignore the niggling voice that added If I ever see her again, to the end of that thought. No, they'll find me, she reassured herself, before her competitive streak chimed in to add, unless I find my way back to them first.

All of the coloured parts of the creature seemed to be clothing though; only on its flat muzzle-less face was a small amount of its apparently hairless light brown hide visible. It was waving at her, maybe beckoning, but Rainbow found it difficult to tell what it was trying to say. How am I supposed to tell what you want? Can't understand a freaking thing you're saying, and your body language is even worse. No tail, no wings, tiny little eyes... and whatever those crazy side-ear things are meant to be, I don't even know what to make of those. They don't even move, I mean, seriously.

"What the hay do you want?" she shouted down at the thing, confusion turning to anger. Somehow, they'd taken her away from her friends. Even taken her from Equestria to wherever this crazy place was. They'd even done something to her wings, her ability to fly. That thought brought back some of her apprehension, and Rainbow took to the air hurriedly, gem cradled in one leg, to get a little further away from her pursuer. "What did you do to me, and how do I get home?"

**BraveStarr**

Uh-oh, that ain't good, the Marshal thought, mind jumping through options one after another as the tiny flying creature shouted something unintelligible, but obviously angry, at him. If we can't understand each other, how am I gonna convince it I'm friendly, and get it away from here before Stampede grabs it?

Nothing immediately sprang to mind, but then again he wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders at the moment - a part of him was too intent on just studying the brightly-coloured creature, trying to process exactly what it was. Superficially it resembled a small pony, although it was only a little bigger than your average dog. Beyond the basics of overall body shape, however, the equine comparison didn't quite work.

For a start, I'm pretty sure horses don't have wings. And even if they did, they ain't light enough to fly - especially with wings that small. The head looks a little wrong too, and I ain't even gonna start on the colours. If you grant the whole flying thing then I could maybe understand the coat as some kinda sky camouflage, but there's no hidin' that mane. After a moment, something else strange occurred to him. It ain't even bobbin' up and down as it moves its wings, it's just hangin' there. Like the flapping is just an afterthought.

Glancing down, brow furrowed in thought, BraveStarr tried to come up with some sort of plan. Even if it's weaker than the initial burst, I can still feel the magic comin' off the thing from a mile away. Anyone with a lick of talent's gonna be able to track it down, I've got to get it someplace safe where I can protect it. Tipping his hat forward briefly to scratch his head, BraveStarr grimaced as the spirit creature became increasingly agitated. Gallopin' galaxies it's gettin' mad. What am I supposed to do now?

He looked back up at the winged pony-creature to find it glaring down at him through narrowed eyes, voice angry and accusative. One foreleg still clutched the X-Kerium chunk it had taken from the generator, pinning the faintly-glowing crystal to its chest, but the other was pointed off at something behind him. Almost immediately he caught the distinctive whine of jetbike engines in the distance.

Damnit, too late. That's gotta be Tex and the gang. Then, the accusative tone triggered a connection in the Marshal's head. It thinks I'm with them? That I was distracting it while they caught up?

Before BraveStarr had time to think of a way to communicate his benign intentions, the spirit wheeled about in the air and shot off - a rapidly-fading rainbow contrail in its wake. The Marshal sighed, before moving off in pursuit. At least you're runnin' away from them, even if you're runnin' from me too, he thought as he accelerated, calling upon his guardian spirits for speed once more. Guess I just gotta stick with you until we can figure somethin' out.

Only a few short seconds later, BraveStarr realised that he was rapidly being outpaced by the tiny spirit, even though he was currently running about as fast as the pursuing jet-powered Turbo-Mules could fly at full throttle. With an effort he pushed his speed higher, hoping to catch the fleeing creature and try to reason with it. As soon as he started gaining on the spirit, however, it accelerated again - and each time he put on another burst of speed, it matched him. Several times he closed the distance a little to see the small pony shouting something over its shoulder at him, seemingly taunting him. The third time he almost caught up with it - or, he was beginning to suspect, was allowed to catch up with it - it was even flying backwards. It had the X-Kerium crystal hooked in its back legs as it flew in reverse, leaning back with its forelegs folded behind its head. BraveStarr couldn't help but find the cocky grin on its small blue muzzle absolutely infuriating.

"Slow down dangit, I'm tryin' to help you!" he shouted, exasperated. "Ya can't even see where you're goin'!"

The pony's only response was a loud raspberry and several silly, contorted facial expressions, which only served to annoy BraveStarr further. The small pony's mirth was short-lived, however, as the rather inevitable consequences of flying backwards at high speed through a land covered in canyons and rock mesas caught up with it. BraveStarr had to slam on the brakes to turn round when the object of his pursuit impacted against a tall, thin rock spire with an ear-splitting crack.

Oh no...

Turning, BraveStarr quickly dashed back towards the site of the crash as the top twenty feet of the spire in question let out a grinding, splintering protest. Fractured by the impact, a segment of the stone pillar collapsed on itself - the huge piece above settling downward before twisting and ponderously falling sideways. The ground shook as tons of rock slammed to earth with a titanic boom, throwing up a cloud of choking sand and dust.

BraveStarr could barely believe his ears as he approached the wreckage, but he could distinctly hear choking and spluttering - along with several other things that were either simple vocalisations of pain, or whatever passed for swearing in the little spirit's language - inside the concealing cloud.

"Hello?" he called out, trying to pick out the brightly-coloured spirit in amongst the slowly clearing dust. "I can't believe I'm asking this after a crash like that, but... are you okay?"

The only response was a slight intensification in the pained, angry vocalisations - which, BraveStarr now decided, was almost certainly cursing. As he advanced carefully into the debris cloud, a handkerchief held over his mouth and nose, BraveStarr felt something bounce off his boot; something which rolled away across the dusty floor with a glassy clinking sound. Kneeling down and feeling around with his hands, he soon caught hold of the object and brought it close enough to his face to see. A small smile crossed his features when he saw he held the X-Kerium nugget the spirit had been carrying.

Jackpot, he thought. You seem to be pretty attached to this thing. Let's see if giving it back will earn me a bit of trust.

As he straightened back up, the last of the obscuring dust began to clear - revealing the small winged equine sitting on the desert ground, both forehooves wrapped around its head. It was scanning the area through one half-opened eye, and the ears atop its head were darting back and forth rapidly. No sooner had he spotted it than it noticed him in return, ears tracking round to face him as both its eyes snapped wide open. It made to stand, but its wings and legs tangled in an uncoordinated mess as it staggered and fell sideways. It quickly righted itself again and stood, but it couldn't seem to prevent itself from swaying slightly. After rearing up unsteadily and kicking its forehooves out at him a few times, it seemed to grow tired of whatever it was saying and dropped back to all fours.

As it did, BraveStarr noticed the colour seemed to be bleeding out of the tiny creature. Its coat faded to an almost flat grey, with barely a trace of the pale blue remaining, and its prismatic mane grew steadily more desaturated. It flapped its tiny wings a few times, then paused as it stayed firmly rooted to the ground. BraveStarr stood still as the winged pony stared at him, its pupils constricting in obvious terror as it hesitantly stepped backward, still fruitlessly flapping its wings. After a second it tore its eyes from him and began frantically scanning the ground nearby, searching for something and on the verge of panic. Seeing its obvious distress and wanting to help, BraveStarr took a step towards the spirit creature. As soon as he moved closer, the creature jumped back with a yelp and scrambled away from him, backing up to sit on its haunches against the base of the shattered pillar. He felt an immediate pang of guilt for scaring it and stopped, resisting the urge to move closer.

Why is its colour fading like that, BraveStar thought, and why can't it fly? Then he realised that something else was different about the small equine - he couldn't feel the magic coming off it any more. And Kerium is a magical amplifier as well as a fuel source... then this situation might be worse than Shaman feared. It looks like there isn't enough magic in our world to sustain a spirit like this. We're lucky we have this piece of X-Kerium here, otherwise I don't know what might have happened to it.

Crouching down, he held out the chunk of X-Kerium the spirit had been carrying. "Is this what you're looking for?" he said, trying to keep his voice non-threatening. The pony's large eyes focused on the crystal in his hand immediately, and its ears dropped as its shoulders slumped in defeat. The expression of pain and fear held on its features as it turned its eyes up to him was almost too much to bear, but the way it slowly transformed when BraveStarr gently tossed the X-Kerium onto the ground between them made up for it. Confusion mingled with fear as it looked from him to the crystal on the ground, to be slowly replaced by more positive things; hope, as the spirit creature tentatively approached the red crystal, never taking its eyes off him; then happiness and incredulous gratitude as it scooped up the Kerium and retreated back to its starting position. As soon as it took the fist-sized gem in its mouth, the colour returned to its body - and BraveStarr could once more feel the warm, prickling heat-like sensation of raw magic boiling off it.

Dropping from his crouch into a seated position with his legs crossed, BraveStarr watched as the spirit creature effortlessly took to the air once more - even if it did wobble a few times - and quickly returned to the ground to nurse its abused head. BraveStarr considered what looked like a mild concussion to be getting off lightly, considering it had only a minute before ploughed into a piece of solid rock head-first at over a hundred miles per hour.

I guess packing that much magic all the time has got to be good for something. I would try an' get it to a hospital but there ain't exactly anything close by. Plus I'm not sure if I should be takin' it to a doctor or a vet.

The little pony was trying to put a brave face on it, but it was obviously hurt. He had to figure out how to get it to follow him back to town before Stampede's goons caught up to them.

**Rainbow Dash**

Rainbow Dash was trying very hard not to be sick. She still wasn't too sure what to make of the strange creature that had been following her, even if it did just give her the gem back, but throwing up on it was probably not going to make it friendlier. At least she didn't think so, it had suddenly become quite difficult to concentrate on stuff as the pain in her head got worse. The whole not-vomiting thing would have been easier if her vision didn't keep drifting slightly out of focus, and if her inner ears didn't keep insisting she was slowly rolling to the left. Her left wing was refusing to fold up against her side properly, leaving it draped limply across the dusty ground.

The earth pony repeatedly bucking her in the brain was also a total jerk. She should stop doing that, it hurt.

A mental image of a tiny Applejack stood between her wings, kicking her in the back of the head like she was some kind of pony-shaped apple tree, forced Rainbow to suppress a giggle that rapidly threatened to turn into something gastrically unpleasant. At the thought of her earth pony friend, something about the creature in front of her caught her attention.

Heh, this thing has a hat like AJ's.

Something about that thought struck her as familiar, but it drifted off before she could worry about it too much. Rainbow wrapped her hooves over her head in a vain effort to make the throbbing stop, letting out another pained groan.

"Li'l AJ, you're bein' a, a, a thing. Jerk," she slurred at the imaginary pony on her back. "Stoppit. 'S not funny, m'head hurts."

An annoying prickly sensation spread up her left wing, and she glanced down at it in irritation. Once the fuzzy pair of overlapping wings stopped being silly and merged into one, feathers full of sandy grit, Rainbow Dash realised she probably shouldn't be taking a dust bath right now. Especially not with just one wing, that was stupid. She didn't have time to mess around. After a moment of staring at the wing, she remembered how to fold it back up.

"Okay," Rainbow declared loudly, as she confidently sprang to her hooves. She didn't even wobble or fall down once, and was very impressed with herself. Those first two attempts were practices, they didn't count. "I gotta, gotta do a... a thing. At the place. 'S real important." she told the large, oddly-shaped and strangely blurry pony in front of her.

No, wait... 's not a pony, izza... thing. Alien. She managed to focus her eyes on it again, forcing it to stop wobbling around and going all fuzzy. Why was it doing that? It was really distracting. Heh, it's got a hat on. Cute.

She was meant to be doing something. Going somewhere, that wasn't here. Rainbow decided to make a start, put her best hoof forward, tripped over it thanks to the gem clutched in her other leg and fell flat on her face. The pain didn't really register against the pounding already going on inside her skull.

"Hey, who put this ground here?" she blearily asked the floor. "Stupid ground. Never liked you anyway."

'Kay, 'm on the ground and my head hurts. Did I crash again? Rainbow tried to force more of her thoughts to link together. Had the crystal thing, and flew away, and... oh. Probably shouldn'a done that backstroke thing. But I, I've crashed worse than that before and... An older memory, of another pony - or horse - crashing into something and injuring itself bubbled up to the surface. Wait, is this the pegasus magic thing Flutters was going on about? I had the gem when I crashed but then I lost it, is that why my head's gone so weird? I got it back now so that should make it okay again, right?

Slowly, Rainbow pulled herself upright again, still holding her pilfered gem in one leg. Everything stopped spinning, and although her head still hurt, it didn't seem to be as fuzzy as it had been a moment ago. She cleared her throat, trying to breathe through her nose to avoid tasting the last of the choking dust still hanging in the air.

She glanced at the shattered pillar behind her. Wow. Kinda made a mess of that rock. Good thing it didn't land on me or anything.

The big alien was trying to talk to her again, but it still wasn't making any sense. "Hey. Hey, tall stuff," she interrupted, waving a hoof to get its attention. "Still not understanding you." Just then, Rainbow Dash noticed a high-pitched whining noise. It grew slowly louder for a second or two before the big alien seemed to notice it as well. Whatever it was seemed to agitate it, if she was reading its odd face properly. She was still finding that difficult, even up close. It seemed to be trying to get her to follow it somewhere.

"Ugh, fine," Rainbow sighed, taking off. "Whatever. Anywhere's better than here I guess." The big creature trotted slowly for a short way as she drifted alongside it, seemingly making sure she was following it. Gradually it started to speed up, leaning forward a little into a strange two-legged run. It fixed her with a stern glare, before pointing at her, then its own eyes, then the terrain ahead of them. Rainbow bristled a little at that, but it kinda had a point. "Yeah, yeah, okay," she said, waving a hoof down at it dismissively, "Watch where I'm going, I got it." Flying ahead before looping back to turn a quick circle around the alien as it ran, she asked, "Can we go faster already?"

Chapter 24 - Mine, All Mine

View Online

**Rainbow Dash**

At first Rainbow Dash had been impressed by the weird alien's speed. The pair of them had blazed a trail across the gradually warming desert, and actually made a lot of progress towards wherever they were heading. Rainbow could have shaved a bunch of time off by flying over things of course, but she didn't know where they were actually going. Besides, the alien was actually really fast considering it was stuck on the ground - it could definitely run a lot faster than a pony.

Speaking of ground, they'd covered an awful lot of it without leaving the scrubby desert. Rainbow was pretty sure that if they'd travelled this far in the Badlands in Equestria, they'd have reached somewhere less desolate. There was barely anything in the sky, either - just a few more ragged scraps of white drifting around unreasonably high up. They probably weren't even proper clouds anyway; from this distance they looked awfully similar to the one she'd tried to reach earlier. Rainbow resigned herself to puzzling over something a little more immediate - her guide's speed.

I mean, sure, it can't keep up with me when I'm in the air, but it is way faster on the ground. She looked down at the now slowly plodding figure below her and groaned in frustration. When it actually, you know, bothers to run.

A minute or two prior, they'd taken a sudden turn to the left, and headed downhill into a valley or canyon of some kind. It hadn't been that noticeable at first, but the distant small rises to either side of them had steadily grown closer and more sheer until Rainbow found herself flying down something reminiscent of Ghastly Gorge. The sun - or suns, she reminded herself again as she glanced upward - had risen high enough that light was almost making it to the canyon floor, the line between light and shadow slowly creeping down one rocky wall.

It had gotten quite hot over the last hour or so, and Rainbow hoped it wasn't going to get much warmer. She was enough of a mess as it was without sweating everywhere too. Absently wiping her free hoof across her brow, gripping the precious red crystal in the other, Rainbow wondered how the large biped coped with all the clothing is was wearing.

To Rainbow's disappointment, despite the winding, high-walled passage reminding her of the Ghastly Gorge - apart from the rock being sandy brown instead of grey - her guide didn't seem to be in any mood for a high-speed canyon run. She drifted down to glide slowly alongside its head.

"Come on, dude! You were almost fast a minute ago, what gives?"

The creature turned its head slightly toward her, eyeing Rainbow from beneath the brim of its hat. This close she could actually make an attempt at reading its face, and it looked pretty annoyed. It held one arm up to its mouth and shushed her.

"Hey!" Rainbow exclaimed loudly, "What—"

The biped's eyes widened in alarm and its arm snapped out, clamping her muzzle shut. Something in its eyes stopped Rainbow from trying to pull away, and she followed its worried gaze to the canyon in front of them.

What? It's just a canyon. I can't see any quarray eel nests in there, so it can't be that. Plus we could totally dodge those anyway.

After a moment her guide seemed to relax. Then it locked its stern gaze on her again, and Rainbow felt the pressure on her muzzle slowly relaxing. She pulled herself free and glared back at it, but didn't make any noise.

Jeeze, fine, whatever.

Obviously picking up on her annoyance, the large biped bent down and scooped up a rock about the size of her head. After bouncing it up and down a few times to gauge the weight, it turned and flung the stone at the canyon. Rainbow interpreted it as being thrown at the canyon rather than into it because the rock took an absolutely flat trajectory, and skimmed off one of the walls with a loud crack. She was partway through wondering just how strong her companion was to throw something that heavy that hard when the reason for the demonstration made itself apparent.

As the flying rock noisily rebounded off the wall, several otherwise nondescript large stones lining the walls of the canyon leapt up off the ground, revealing themselves as the camouflaged heads of a large number of silvery spider-like creatures almost as big as Rainbow herself. Each had a large pair of evil-looking yellow eyes, and every single one tracked the stone through the air. The passage echoed with an oddly mechanical low chittering sound as the spider creatures each extended a pair of stubby, forward-pointing tubes from the sides of their bodies above their legs; then, in an instant, the air was filled with both the bright light and staccato screech of dozens of blazing red energy bolts.

Rainbow didn't even see what happened to the rock amidst the energy blasts and flying shards of scorched cliff face, but she got the idea. As soon as the barrage began, it was over; the spider creatures rapidly burrowed themselves back into the canyon walls and fell silent.

"Oooookay," she breathed, more to herself than the alien beside her. "No noise. Got it."

If he was a sensible size I could just pick him up and carry him over it, but it looks like we're going through. Rainbow briefly considered flying over the canyon herself while the biped traversed it alone, but she suddenly found herself a little more reluctant to go wandering off after that display. For all I know this place has giant cloud monsters that eat pegasi or something. She shuddered as her mind conjured up a picture of a cloud extending sticky white tendrils, pulling ponies to their doom like some kind of sky-faring octopus. Oh, great, now that's stuck in my head. I didn't want to sleep tonight anyhow.

It seemed as if her companion could manage to move either quickly or quietly, but not both at the same time. Rainbow found she was forced to glide around it in slow circles as it picked its way painfully slowly across the canyon floor - the only other option would be to flap her wings more to almost hover beside it. That probably would have been fine, but after what she'd just seen Rainbow wasn't in the mood to risk even the faint sound her wings would make.

They made it around the first few bends without any problems, and were about halfway through before Rainbow caught the familiar whine of whatever it was that was chasing her as it emerged from outside her hearing. Looking back at what little of the winding canyon was visible she couldn't see any pursuers, but the sound was unmistakable. Swooping down low in front of her alien companion to get its attention, she cupped her hooves behind her ears and pointed back the way they'd come, willing the creature to understand her.

Come on, move it!

After a moment's puzzlement, the biped seemed to get the idea. Instead of speeding up, however, he stopped completely. Rainbow Dash dragged a hoof down her face and tried as hard as she could not to scream at the thing.

What are you doing?!

As the faint whine resounding off the canyon walls grew louder, the alien turned back to face their unseen pursuers. He tried flapping his arms at her and pointing on down the canyon a few times, trying to get her to go on, but Rainbow was having none of it. After a fourth and final attempt it appeared to give up, and just motioned for her to get behind it.

Oh yeah, like that's gonna happen.

Taking position above her erstwhile guide's head, Rainbow waited anxiously. She didn't know what it was doing, but it had to have some sort of plan - and she wasn't going to just fly off with her tail between her legs because it told her to.

**BraveStarr**

BraveStarr was rapidly forming the opinion that, for a spirit of Loyalty, this little creature was quite bad at taking orders.

Or bad at backin' down at least. BraveStarr risked a quick glance up at the flying pony hovering above his head. Though I reckon I can name another stubborn blockhead with more hooves than brain cells that'd probably be doin' about the same thing.

Carefully, trying not to make a sound that might disturb the sand spiders, BraveStarr inched sideways towards the canyon wall on his right. Looking the sandy brown rock up and down, he thought he had a pretty decent chance of pulling this off. They were through the majority of the spiders now, all he had to do was lure Tex in and spring the trap. His scan visor had confirmed that the old mine tunnel was still there, so all he had to do was make an entrance. Hopefully the spirit would react fast enough and follow him when he made a break for it.

I hope those darn spiders haven't been nesting in the tunnel, otherwise this is gonna be a pretty short-lived escape. The Marshal exhaled slowly, trying to calm himself. Okay, gotta time this just right...

A low, mechanical chittering sound was already rumbling from the rock walls around him as the wailing of the jet engines on the pursuing Turbo-Mules grew louder. BraveStarr thought he had about thirty seconds or so worth of breathing room before they'd catch sight of their pursuers.

Suddenly Tex and his mob hove into view around the closest bend in the canyon, the echoing sound of their approach deceptively twisted by the winding canyon. Tex's skull-like visage split into a howling cackle as he gunned his jetbike's engine, and the sleek silvery shape leapt forward in a burst of lethal speed. More hoverbikes bearing Hawgtie and a pack of ferocious-looking dingoes in ratty, tattered leather jackets followed close behind, and all of the riders were armed. BraveStarr heard his own surprise echoed in a strangled noise from the spirit above him, and he quickly span to face the rocky cliff face beside him and cocked back a gloved fist.

With a shouted "Strength of the Bear!" BraveStarr slammed his fist through the canyon wall into the disused mine tunnel beyond, and the wailing jet engines were momentarily drowned out by the cannon-blast crack of shattered rock. Presumably the spiders were a little wary of having their time wasted again after the stone he'd tossed their way, as they hadn't reacted immediately to the bike engines, but the sound of his fist hitting the canyon wall definitely did it.

As the narrow canyon filled with cries of alarm and the screeching of laser fire, BraveStarr reached up and grabbed one of the hovering spirit's back legs. With a heave he unceremoniously tossed it into the hole he had made before throwing himself in after it.

**Rainbow Dash**

Leaning back on her haunches on the tunnel floor, Rainbow gingerly lifted her back leg with her forehooves and flexed it. It twinged a little when she tried to bend it outwards, but otherwise it still seemed to be properly attached. Digging a hoof into the muscle of her thigh, she tried to massage the niggling discomfort away.

Thought he was gonna pull it off, jeeze.

She'd decided that her large companion was a stallion. There wasn't really much reason behind it, other than his passing resemblance to a minotaur, but Rainbow was getting fed up of not knowing anything about him so she'd made a few judgement calls.

No, wait, minotaurs don't call them... uh, what is it... bulls? Ow. Rainbow flinched as her hoof hit a tender spot. Eh, whatever. How am I supposed to tell, rip all his clothes off and lift his tail? Not that he even looks like he has one. Who doesn't have a tail, seriously. That's just dumb. Either way, he doesn't have those freaky chest-udder things that female minotaurs do.

She was none too pleased to find herself back in a tunnel once again, but Rainbow was fairly certain it was safer in here than it was outside. She could still hear muffled shouts and the weird high-pitched noises of the aliens' weapons coming from the other side of the large boulder her guide had used to fill in the hole he'd made in the wall.

Although I gotta admit, punching a hole in a cliff is pretty impressive. How strong is this guy? She'd felt a rush of something as he'd done it, too - it wasn't a sensation she recognised exactly, but it was definitely close. Kinda like being stood near Twilight when she properly cuts loose with the magic stuff, only... less? I dunno, something. What am I, a unicorn?

She suppressed a shudder as that thought brought another to the forefront of her mind. Whatever Rainbow Dash might have sensed from her companion, it didn't feel like whatever had been pouring off the thing that had been chasing them.

The moment the pursuing group had rounded the bend in the canyon the oppressive sensation had rolled over her like stale air released from a crypt. Not only was the initial impact of it unpleasant, but Rainbow couldn't help but feel stained by it. Like it had left some sort of residue on her that she really needed to wash off. Whatever else that purple thing with the misshapen skull-face was, it was downright evil. There was something about it that was just wrong, that repulsed her on an almost instinctive level; but at the same time Dash realised she'd be lying to herself if she didn't admit that this sensation wasn't both enticing and familiar as well. She'd felt it from Nightmare Moon and, more recently, from Twilight too - then from herself, in herself. From the inside it hadn't felt so bad, but once she'd got a look at that part of herself from the outside...

Rainbow Dash shook her head clear and shifted her focus back to the world around her. The alien had produced a little tubular light from somewhere about its person, and was directing the small cone of illumination up and down the tunnel. The air was still and musty, and there was a thin, undisturbed layer of dust and grit coating every flat surface. The light glinted off something metallic on the tunnel floor, and there seemed to be blocky wooden supports holding up the ceiling at regular intervals. Glancing down, Rainbow realised she was almost sitting on what looked like a set of train tracks.

A mine... did he know this was here? At least that means there's an exit somewhere. We can just follow the tracks out.

The presence of the supports, as well as the comparatively large size and obviously intentional construction of the tunnel, was also helping keep her nerves steady. She'd still much rather be outside than in here, but it wasn't actually all that frightening. As Rainbow stood up, the alien seemed to spot something of interest. He walked over to an ageing wooden crate up against one wall with some kind of metal can on it. When he gripped what looked like a carrying handle attached to the top of the dusty can and picked it up, Rainbow recognised it as a mining lamp. The alien brushed the dirt and dust off the glass window on the lamp and fiddled with some kind of switch on its base, and it began to emit a faint, flickery light. Rainbow watched with mild amusement as a couple of sharp blows from its paw made the flickering stop, and then it brought the lamp over to her. When he got to her, however, he didn't seem to know what to do with the lamp he was holding. He glanced at the gem she had tucked back under her wing, and then at her hooves.

Rainbow looked up at him quizzically. "What? C'mon, just pass it down here," she said, pointing at the floor in front of her. Once the large alien had put the light where she could actually reach it, she scooped the handle up in her mouth. The lamp had looked small in her big companion's grip, but Rainbow realised it would almost drag along the ground as it dangled beneath her muzzle - and she'd have to be careful to avoid kicking it, too. It would be a little unwieldy, but she still thought it was better than the alternative of stumbling around in the dark. "'Kay, 'ess go," she said round the handle, trying to ignore the gritty and musty taste of the aged wooden grip.

**BraveStarr**

Just gonna pick it up in your teeth then. Okay, BraveStarr thought to himself, trying not to grimace at the though of how that old lamp probably tasted. At least the power cell in the thing had still been good, even if it was a little flaky.

He was glad the little creature seemed uninjured. For a moment he'd been worried that he might have handled it too roughly when he'd tossed it into the tunnel, but it seemed to be walking on the leg he'd grabbed just fine now. Even if it had been hurt, it was probably still better to be in cover with a game leg than shot full of holes.

The pair of them walked on either side of the cart track running down the middle of the tunnel, BraveStarr keeping his strides short so he wouldn't leave his little companion behind. He'd already gratefully noted a few miner's markings scratched into one of the supports they'd passed, the topmost of which had confirmed his initial guess that this was the way to the head of the mine. It would have been quite embarrassing if he'd chosen incorrectly and had to turn them around.

Least I ain't gonna lose the little guy, he thought, glancing down at the small creature trotting along beside him. The sound of its little hooves on the tunnel floor wasn't exactly loud, but the rhythmic tapping was certainly distinctive. It would be easy to locate if they got separated.

The cone of light from the lamp he'd given to the spirit roved around the tunnel constantly as it turned its head. It was peering down every side passage, and apparently inspecting every inch of the tunnel walls, ceiling and floor as they went, while he just kept his own light focused ahead and a little downward so he could see where he was walking. BraveStarr hoped it was just curious, but something about the sharp, slightly jittery motions of the light was making him worry that it might be more than that.

Not that the li'l feller has a choice, he thought, It's gonna be a good hour before we're out of here at this pace.

**Rainbow Dash**

Rainbow plodded silently along through the musty old mine shaft, almost out of her mind with boredom. It felt like she'd been trapped in here for days now. She'd tried talking to the big alien again, balancing the lamp on her back instead of carrying it in her mouth, but nothing productive had come of it. In the end Rainbow had mostly just talked to herself as they walked, and pretended it was understanding her - complaining about their current circumstances, telling him about her friends and what had happened to her, and how much she wanted to just... go home. After a while she trailed off and fell silent, feeling a little better after having had a chance to vent, but mostly just grateful he hadn't understood a word of it. She'd got pretty sappy towards the end there.

The alien had remained stoic through the whole thing; or at least, Rainbow hadn't picked up on anything. She'd only glanced over at him occasionally, and she was still finding his strange body and facial features about as expressive as a statue with several limbs missing.

After that the silence dragged on seemingly forever, broken only by the sounds of their movement and the occasional background noises of the old mine - faint scrapes of stone or skittering sounds as small creatures moved outside of the light, or the occasional faint drip of water into some underground pool.

As much as she wanted to keep moving - preferably as fast as possible - Rainbow Dash actually found herself feeling grateful for the break in the monotony when her companion caught her attention with the first sound it had made in some time, before stopping to sit propped up against one tunnel wall. Rainbow flexed her back, popping the lantern balanced between her wings into the air to land on the floor. She winced at the loud clatter the thing made, but it seemed to stay in one piece. Sitting next to it, she dropped the crystal she'd been carrying out from beneath her wing and started batting it back and forth across the floor between her hooves.

So what's the deal with this thing anyway? Rainbow held the gem in place and peered at it more closely. I mean, yeah, magic rock. I get that, but... how? Why?

Her companion rooted around inside its clothing and produced a couple of small packets. Rainbow froze, and watched out of the corner of her eye as he opened one and started eating the contents, suddenly reminded that it had been a long time since she'd last eaten anything. She was so hungry it was almost painful, and it was probably really obvious too. Rainbow was pretty sure she was drooling, and when he tossed the other packet her way she actually had to make a concerted effort not to just throw herself bodily on top of it. She could already tell it was some sort of chocolate bar from the smell, and she knew that was exactly the sort of instant energy injection she needed. Even better, it was sized for the much bigger alien - she'd normally be afraid that much chocolate would go straight to her flanks, but she'd gotten more than enough exercise recently to burn it all before it got there.

As she tore the odd metal-paper wrapper off with her teeth and almost inhaled the contents, Rainbow managed to mumble something that was meant to be a 'thank you' to her guide. Rainbow's attention was immediately recaptured by her companion producing another little packet. This one looked different, and he seemed a little unsure of something, but after a moment's hesitation he tossed that one over to her as well. Rainbow restrained herself and stopped short of horrifically violating the new packet and its contents the instant it reached her. This one was more square, and the white papery package had - amongst a lot of other stuff that was probably writing - a silhouette printed on it that was oddly familiar.

Is that a pony? No, wait, that's a horse!

Curiosity piqued, Rainbow glanced from the blocky object to the alien that had produced it. "You know something about horses?" she asked, pointing at the little picture on the packet. To Rainbow's frustration her companion just made what were probably meant to be encouraging noises and gestured that she should eat it. "Ugh, no, I know it's food, dummy. I'm talking about the picture, not the... y'know what, there's a simpler way to do this."

This packet seemed to be folded around the contents rather than somehow glued together like the other one, so Rainbow carfully opened it up. A tentative lick confirmed that the cube inside was indeed what it smelled like - salt. Rainbow pushed the salt lick aside and made a note to get back to it later; there were definitely a bunch of electrolytes in her body that were out of whack right now. She flipped the paper wrapper face-up and smoothed it out with her hooves. "Not that," she said, twitching her head towards the salt block before tapping a hoof under the four-legged silhouette on the wrapper, "this."

Leaning over to get a better look at what she was pointing at, the alien raised an eyebrow and let out a short hum. He sat back against the wall again for a moment, head tilted back to gaze absently at the ceiling. Then he pulled a disc about the size of his paw out from behind the armoured chest plate he wore, and placed it flat on the ground between them. The device made a little beeping sound, and Rainbow peered at it curiously as he began to poke and prod at little buttons on one edge. Then the top of the disc lit up, and suddenly Rainbow found herself looking at a miniature duplicate of herself, sat in the air just above the disc and looking down at something in front of it. Only when she recoiled in surprise, and the mini-Rainbow copied her, did she notice the ambient glow coming from the image and realise what was going on.

Oh, hey, it's a little illusion copy thing. That's actually pretty cool, I think that's pretty tough to do. And again, ew, I look terrible. Uh, what does this have to do with—

Her companion interrupted that train of thought by poking the side of the disc again. The mini-Rainbow disappeared, and was replaced by a tiny unmoving copy of the big alien - one arm thrown around the broad shoulders of another slightly more familiar figure. If the grey coat and white mane on the bipedal equine form weren't distinctive enough, the metal-covered limbs certainly were. Both of the small glowing figures were smiling brightly, each standing with one arm around the other.

"Hey, that's him! That's to horse we found!" Rainbow said excitedly, pointing at the small, glowing duplicate of the transforming horse. "You guys know each other?" She looked up at the big alien sat across from her, then bonked herself on the head in frustration. "Argh, why can't you just speak Equestrian like a sensible pony... never mind. Answered my own question. I'm so not the right pony to be doing this. Okay, think, what would Twilight do after she'd finished freaking out about aliens..."

**Celestia**

As she was ever more frequently being reminded lately, if there was one thing capable of disturbing Celestia's equilibrium, it was Luna.

Filicide is not an appropriate response to interpersonal problems, she reminded herself as she reined in the more incendiary aspects of her anger. She's been through a lot, and you need to give her a bit of leeway here. She didn't mean to do that to Twilight—she gave her student a quick squeeze with her wing—it wasn't intentional. It had better not have been intentional. Then, of course, Discord's appearance had confused things even more. Presumably deliberately. First things first, get this mess back under control.

"If I could have all of your attention for just a moment?"

Such a calm, even-toned pronouncement delivered by any other pony might have been lost in the clamour encompassing the room. Celestia, however, had more than enough experience with both timing and reading the mood of a room to ensure that her declaration came in a slight lull in the chaos. As such it was, in a way, more effective than if she had shouted - not only did everypony hear her, but most of them were immediately embarrassed that they'd been both raising their voices and talking over a princess. She only got a raised eyebrow and a small snort in recognition from Luna, but then again her sister had always been fond of more direct means of securing her subjects' attention.

"I think it might be best if we all took a moment to calm down," Celestia continued as everypony turned their attention to her, before addressing the unfortunate young unicorn that Discord had assaulted. "Sergeant Blaze." She had to fight to suppress a tiny twitch of her left eye as the guard in question saluted, flicking a fresh arc of neon pink paint across the room from his foreleg, but also managed the comforting smile she was going for. The poor pony looked quite lost, and maybe even a little nervous about the prospect of being punished for being abused by a minor deity. "You should go and get yourself cleaned up," she said. Then Celestia remembered exactly who was responsible for this mess, and added, "If soap and shampoo don't work, present yourself at the barracks medical center and tell them Discord did it. They'll know what to do."

"Y-yes ma'am," the guard stammered. Celestia immediately turned to her next task as the sergeant departed, deliberately forcing the inevitable trail of neon pink hoofprints across the marble floor, and the rest of the castle, out of her mind. There was a chance that Fluttershy might talk Discord into doing something about that later, but it was unlikely the unhinged being would even realise that the mess was his fault.

Now that dealing with the guard had given everypony a second to calm down, Celestia could press on to something more important. "So, Rainbow Dash is not entirely lost to us?" she asked of her sister, trying to keep her voice calm. As angry as she was about what had happened to Twilight, Luna looked exhausted. Bombarding her with all the questions Celestia wanted to ask - things like "What in the world made you think this was a good idea?" or "Why didn't you ask me to help you with any of this?" - wasn't going to lead anywhere productive at the moment. Besides, Celestia was well aware that she was more angry with the situation in which they all found themselves than with Luna herself, and that her sister was also more of a victim than a perpetrator in all of this.

"She lives. She has been abused, abducted and cast across the veil, but she lives," Luna replied.

"In that case, I believe our goals remain largely unchanged," Celestia said. "We still need to arrange transportation across the veil, but what we do once we establish contact has become a little more complex. We are now also under significantly more time pressure - the Elements of Harmony are our best counter to the spreading corruption introduced into our world, and the problem only worsens the longer we are without them. Depriving us of their use was most likely the main cause for Rainbow Dash's capture."

Twilight spoke up hesitantly from beside her. "W-we managed to open a portal in the dream, Luna and I. If all three of us work together we can probably—"

"No," Celestia said, perhaps a little more forcefully than she intended. "Twilight, we need to discuss what just happened in more detail before you try anything like that again. You don't know how happy I am to see that you're all right, but you also don't know just how much danger you're in. Nopony understands exactly what the effects of that magic are. At least, nopony who is both alive and sane."

Twilight looked like she might be about to cry. "You have done nothing wrong, Twilight," Celestia continued a little hurriedly. "I cannot fault you, of all ponies, for trying to save your friend. You may actually be the best pony to finally change that, learn something about how this magic works and if it might be safely applied, but if you get yourself hurt rushing in headlong... you could do damage that is beyond my power to fix."

Celestia looked again at the room full off anxious and agitated - and, besides the guards, emotionally drained and exhausted - ponies, and put her metaphorical hoof down. "Despite the urgency of our task, I think everypony needs to slow down and process things for a while. If you all rest for a little while, then I'll have our next steps planned out tomorrow. I'll ensure nopony bothers any of you for the rest of the day."

"Now," she said cheerily, "despite what some ponies may think, the world does go on without me. I believe I am late for the commencement of court, and I think, Captain, that your guards have posts which require their attention."

In actuality, Celestia already had everything planned out - but she needed to talk to Twilight first, and she and her friends were in no state to do what they needed to do. She was still worried about Luna, but even hinting that she thought that her sister might not be entirely mentally stable right now would be a devastating blow to everypony involved - and that didn't hold a candle to what her lack of confidence would do to Luna herself. Celestia had already wounded her sister verbally this night, and she did not intend to make things worse. Even if she had to beat her own paranoia into submission to do it.

The rift may never heal, but there's always Hope. Twilight and her friends made sure of that. She allowed herself a small, tight smile. I suppose I'll just have to have Faith, won't I...

Chapter 25 - Truth, Lies, and Discord

View Online

**Twilight Sparkle**

"Twilight, before you go..."

She had almost made it to the door when Celestia's words dumped a pile of frozen lead into her hooves. Twilight was already tailing behind everypony else on the way out of the room, ears flat and head bowed, and she froze in place. Rarity turned back in the doorway just ahead of her, one hoof on the door and one eyebrow raised questioningly.

Twilight took a steadying breath and said, "I... guess I'll see you back at the room." Rarity glanced back out of the door behind her, but held her ground. "It's okay," Twilight said, the attempted cheer in her voice sounding false even to her own ears. "Go on, I'll catch up."

Still looking a little uneasy, Rarity stepped back and shut the door. Twilight stared at it for a while. It was a nice door. She wondered how old it was, how many ponies the white wood had seen come and go. It certainly hadn't changed since she'd first seen it all those years ago, the brightly polished sun emblem on the outside marking the entrance to a lofty world she'd never dreamed she would be a part of.

And now I'm staring at the door instead of turning around.

"Twilight?"

Celestia's voice shocked Twilight into motion, and she hurriedly scrambled around. She was so shaken up she was hearing things, that couldn't have been a hint of nervous apprehension in her mentor's voice.

"Yes Princess Celestia?" Twilight said, a little too quickly. "Is there something I can, I mean, do you want me to, um..."

Sentence construction failure, abort, abort!

Twilight managed to stop her runaway mouth and settled for a slightly strained grin. There wasn't really a good ending for the babbling she'd been doing, so she ended up going with "Uh... yes?"

To her surprise, Celestia didn't look angry or frustrated. If anything Twilight thought she looked... tired. Something in the set of her shoulders, the way her neck wasn't quite straight. There was even a tightness, and intensity around her eyes that Twilight had previously associated only with rare expressions of guilt or pain.

Her sister, however, was not as subtle in her bearing. The dream-spell Luna had wrought had obviously taken its toll on the princess, and she was fast asleep on the bed. Her ethereal mane had fallen down over her face, but it didn't seem to be interfering with the quiet snoring coming from beneath.

"I think," Celestia said carefully, "it's about time we had a talk."

Twilight's mind rebelled at the thought of having that talk with Princess Celestia of all ponies, before it caught up with itself and decided that the millennia-old alicorn probably wasn't talking about... that. Twilight tried to restrain her flickering and racing thoughts into a region a little closer to sanity.

"About what, exactly?" Twilight asked, shuffling her hooves on the white marble floor as she tried to force herself to look at Celestia instead of everything else in the room.

"The future," Celestia replied. "Certainly the short term, and likely the long as well."

Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat. "So, am I... am I in trouble?"

Celestia's jaw tightened, and her neck straightened up as her ears twitched back. "No," she said. "No. Twilight, this is my fault, not yours. I tried to introduce all of this to you slowly, to hold back the whole of it, all the while telling myself that I believed in you, that you were ready. Recent events have only served to reveal me for the fool I am. Not only are you truly ready, but my reticence held back the training that you required to adequately defend yourself. And worse, I held back because I was lying to myself, and to you. Because I didn't really think you were ready. But you are." Celestia bowed her head, eyes downcast. "I took it upon myself to guide you, and all I have done is slow you down. Hold you back, and put your very life at risk. I—"

Twilight cantered across the space between her and Celestia, tears stinging the corners of her eyes as she gripped her mentor around the neck in a tight hug before she could complete her next sentence. "Stop," Twilight said into Celestia's white fur. "Don't. You don't get to apologise to me for that, for the teaching you gave me. Not ever. Not after everything you did for me."

"My first instinct when I found out you were in danger was to drop everything and come rescue you," Celestia said quietly. "Because you weren't capable of protecting yourself, because I didn't really believe. Because I didn't have faith."

"What kind of friend would you be if you hadn't wanted to help?" Twilight protested. "And I did need help, if everypony else hadn't been there pulling my flank out of the fire you would have been absolutely right!"

"That's not..." Celestia shifted, and Twilight dropped back to her hooves. The elder alicorn stepped back and lay down. Before Celestia could stop her or raise an objection, Twilight forced her way beneath one white-feathered wing at her former teacher's side. It wasn't exactly dignified, but Twilight thought it got her point across regardless.

Celestia sat motionless for a while, before seeming to give up on any protest. Her head stayed forward, and her eye didn't glance down toward Twilight, but Celestia didn't push her away either. "You don't quite understand the particular situation that I'm in here, Twilight," she said. "It's not just what I did, it's also important that is was me that did it. Because of mistakes I've made before. Because of who I am."

"Who you are?" Twilight echoed, before cursing herself internally. In her time as a filly, repeating a statement as a question never would have gotten past the Princess - she was expected to come up with an actual question of her own, process her curiosity into a directed form that would add something to her knowledge.

Celestia hummed briefly, and Twilight knew she'd been caught. "You stole my statement, so I'll have your question," she said. "Who am I?"

Twilight effortlessly slipped back into the rhythm of investigation she had been guided through in her youth. Enumerate potential answers, gauge reactions.

"Well, start with the obvious," she said, "Celestia."

"A long time ago there was a unicorn by that name, yes." Celestia said, her head still focused forward and her voice subdued. "What else?"

"A... princess, and an alicorn." Twilight hesitated, then added, "A teacher. And a friend."

"Some of those things please me more than others," Celestia said, "but I suppose they are all true. Still, they don't really define me."

"The sun?" Twilight had gone down that path before, and she knew that wasn't the answer, but it was the only thing that popped into her head.

A small smile touched the edge of Celestia's mouth. "A lot of ponies would think so. But I am not that any more than your friend Pinkie Pie is a party, or than Applejack is an apple farm. My special talent doesn't define who I am. It's just a thing I can do."

Twilight's mind jumped on the mention of her friends. Celestia usually dropped hints into their lessons like that, something to point her in the right direction - but there didn't seem to be a connection there.

Then Twilight recalled something Celestia had said earlier that night - that in magical terms, Rainbow Dash and the Element of Loyalty were one and the same. If that held true for all of them, then...

"Are there more than six Elements of Harmony?" Twilight asked, something igniting in her belly as she spoke. This was something new, something that she knew absolutely nothing about, something that she hadn't even caught hints of in all of her reading and research.

Celestia almost chuckled at her question, only letting out a sort of amused exhalation. "No. Although, perhaps, in a manner of speaking, yes."

Crushing the rising urge to scream 'For pony's sake just tell me already!', Twilight tried to figure out her next question. "So the Elements are something critical, something core to what we are. A concept, a virtue that we represent." Celestia didn't contradict her line of thinking, so Twilight went on. "Not just who we are, but essential in the most literal sense - we're them, they're us. The essence of what we are." Then, something hit her, spurring her excitedly onward. "So is there... wait a second. That's it, isn't it? The physical Elements are catalysts for the six of us, but everypony else has something similar!"

Celestia's head turned toward her as Twilight asked, "So... who are you?"

"You know," Celestia noted, "you're only the second pony in over a thousand years to ask that question properly."

More out of surprise than indignation, Twilight said, "Second?"

"Cadance did have a bit of a head start on you, Twilight."

"Oh." After a few moments of silence Twilight said, "Are you, uh, going to answer it then? The question, I mean."

"And what exactly would you learn if I just went and told you, hmm?" Celestia asked, one eyebrow raised questioningly as a hint of something happier returned to her eye. "Your friends got a helping hoof with theirs from the arcanite gems representing their Elements; Luna and I had to do it the hard way. Almost makes me want to moan about how back in my day we had to actually work for things, and lament the decline of the youth," she said with a wink. "Besides, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about, and I do actually have to get to court soon."

That was the part Twilight had always loved and hated in almost equal measure. The answer was right there, and Celestia knew what it was, but she wasn't going to just give it to her. It was both frustrating and energising at the same time, and that rush had spurred Twilight onto many long research sprees in the library. Although, Twilight thought to herself, I didn't have Luna to ask back then. Maybe if I wait until she wakes up tonight, I can ask her about it!

Celestia jerked Twilight firmly back down out of her excited state when she said, "We need to talk about dark magic, and a little about the veil between worlds."

Twilight tensed up, her fears and paranoia jumping back to the forefront of her mind. Celestia must have sensed it, because Twilight felt the wing wrapped over her withers give a brief comforting squeeze as she began. "I want to tell you a story. It might seem strange at first, but there is a point to it."

"Okay."

"Picture a hilltop, deep in the countryside. Atop it there stands a great windmill, within which live and work a whole community of ponies."

"What, like, inside of it?" Twilight asked. "How big is this mill exactly?"

"It's a story, Twilight," Celestia replied, "it's as big as it needs to be. That's not the important part."

Twilight gave up on her questions for the moment, and waited for the point to emerge. Ugh, I hate allegories.

"The weather outside the mill is always harsh and stormy, and the land lies in perpetual darkness. The gusting winds drive the mill to produce all the food the ponies need, and the sturdy walls of wood and foundations of stone provide them with shelter. The air inside the mill is often heavy with flour dust, but magic provides them with light without the risk of a fire. The mill ponies live simple, happy lives within their home - safe from the harshness of the world beyond its walls. Most of them grow old and pass without ever considering what might lie outside of their hilltop home. A rare few perhaps wonder if there might be other mills out there, through the dark and the rain, but their lights do not reach far from the solitary window."

Celestia's voice grew a little strained and distant as she continued, "Then, one day, a young filly goes missing. The ponies search the mill from top to bottom, but she is nowhere to be found. The only conclusion left to them is that she is, somehow, outside. But their magical lights cannot pierce the darkness beyond the walls, and they have no way to find the lost child. Her friends sit at the window, searching the darkness for any sign of their companion - and then one of them discovers something. If, instead of conjuring light from her horn, she produces sparks and flame, the light from them pierces the darkness beyond the window. Perhaps, if she were to make a flame bright enough, her lost friend might be able to find her way home. So, she sits at the window and tries with all her strength to make the fire shine brighter."

The bottom dropped out of Twilight's stomach. Oh no...

"She doesn't understand when her elders tell her to stop. She knows that fire is dangerous, and she listens as the tribe's leaders warn her about the flammable flour dust in the air and the wooden walls of their home. They even recount ancient tales passed down to them of the other things that live outside in the dark, that might be drawn to her light at the window. But the filly doesn't give in, and the elders know she is determined to do whatever is necessary to help her friend. She won't leave a pony alone and lost in the dark."

No, no, no... you can't tell me to just leave her out there! You can't! Twilight screwed her eyes shut and covered her head with her hooves.

"What would you do, Twilight," Celestia asked softly, "if you were one of those older ponies?"

Twilight knew what the answer was. The correct solution, the right one. But that didn't mean she had to like it. "I—" she hesitated, voice wavering. "I'd have to... I'd have to get her to stop."

"Then I suppose this old mare still has one or two things left to teach after all," Celestia replied, a comforting warmth re-entering her voice. "You see, the little filly is clever, and determined, and resourceful. And you've spent her life teaching her what she needs to know, and surrounding her with friends she can rely on. She's grown so far beyond your expectations, and made you proud just to be associated with her. So you pull her away from the window, gather her companions... and you open the door for her." Twilight opened her eyes again and looked up at her mentor. "You let her lead them outside, so they can bring their lost friend back home."

Twilight was still a little trapped in the metaphor, and the rush of embarrassed heat flooding her face, but she was pretty sure she was right to be nurturing a little glimmer of hope and joy right now. Celestia responded to her halfway constructed question before it left her mouth.

"This is one of those times that being as old as I am, and occupying the position I do, combine to produce something useful," the Princess said. "There are a lot of secrets out there, and I've had a long time to collect them. So when situations like this come up, presenting me with an impossible choice... I can sometimes use one to cheat." Celestia's expression grew severe for a moment. "This stays between us. Your friends will find out tomorrow, and that will be as far as it goes. Nopony speaks of it again. Is that understood?"

"Okay," Twilight replied with only a little hesitation. After all, she trusted Celestia to do the right thing, for the right reasons.

"When I told you that there were only seven pieces of arcanite in Equestria," Celestia continued, "that was a lie. When I hunted down what remained, most of what I found was indeed fragments and dust - but there was one more intact piece. It sits in a vault beneath Canterlot, its existence known only to its guards." Glancing up at Luna's sleeping form on the bed, Celestia added, "I will use it to open a doorway for you, so you can return both of our misplaced individuals to their homes."

"We're going on a rescue mission?" Twilight asked hopefully. "To another world?"

"And this time your friends are going with you," Celestia confirmed. "Remember that there will be an enemy pursuing you that is far more deadly than a runaway unicorn who stole your crown. Move fast and stay as far from him as you can, you aren't going there to fight. And if you do encounter him," the elder alicorn said, brow creased with worry, "run. Get Rainbow Dash, and come home safe."

Her eyes straying to her sleeping sister once more, Celestia spoke again. "You will be going to a strange and unknown place, Twilight. You have a potential source of information, and a day to prepare. It may be worth getting to know our visitor a little better."

Following Celestia's gaze, Twilight asked, "Do you think I could ask Luna about it when she wakes up?"

"I do not know if she will answer your questions, Twilight. She is..." Celestia frowned, and the muscles in her jaw tightened. "Luna has been badly injured by all of this. Perhaps worse than even she realises." Twilight watched as Celestia looked around the room, as if checking for any unseen observers, before the princess' horn flashed. A faint golden bubble enclosed the pair lying on the marble floor.

"A privacy spell? Why?" Twilight asked, concerned.

"I've... never done anything like this before, Twilight," Celestia began slowly, "Never tried talking about these sorts of things with anypony else, but maybe if I had the last time, things wouldn't have gotten so far out of hoof." She hesitated for a moment, then pressed on. "I'm worried about Luna. She'd been recovering and adjusting to life again so well, and now... Now she's in real danger. More so than either of us, with those corrupted arcanite fragments in the hooves of who knows how many ponies. It's almost impossible to bend a mind as old as hers or mine, but there are others close to her who are not as resilient. Even indirectly with a word, an action at the wrong time, somepony close to her could begin something terrible.

"I could try to talk to her, to be the overbearing big sister who won't trust her with anything, but I fear that would be the worst possible thing for her to hear right now. I don't have any reason to believe anything untoward has even happened as of yet." Celestia bowed her head. "But, you should be wary in the time remaining before you leave, Twilight. In her current condition, she makes a very attractive target. We must assume whoever took Rainbow Dash is deliberately acting against us, and they may be trying to place an agent close to Luna already."

Twilight huddled a little smaller on the floor as she found herself unsure of what to say. "I... don't know if there's anything I can do other than try and be supportive. If her own doubts and guilt are the problem then she needs the rest of us to believe in her."

"Which puts us at the most severe risk if something were to happen," Celestia said, her face twisted as if she was being forced to chew something unpleasant. "Some days the crown is heavier than others. It has never been more so than when it tells me to distance myself from my own sister for the greater good."

Twilight's ears perked as an idea struck her. "Maybe I can do something. If I'm going to be talking to him anyway, maybe I could try and get Thirty-Thirty to uh, be less... hostile, I guess?"

"That would certainly be helpful, Twilight," Celestia said, "but neither of them seemed to view that as a likely event. Maybe someday when all this is behind us."

For a short while the two alicorns simply sat beneath the hazy, transparent bubble of golden light. Twilight hoped Celestia was getting some sort of comfort or reassurance from it, even if she wasn't really sure what exactly she should be doing. Eventually Celestia shifted, dismissing the enclosing spell with a wave of her horn. "I really must be going now," she said, and Twilight thought there was something of the princess' usual confidence back beneath her voice. "The nobles will grumble and some poor guard will be sent to find me." Slowly standing to her full height, Celestia turned to face Twilight before inclining her head. "Thank you, Twilight. For listening, and for your kind words."

"Hey, what are friends for?" Twilight said as she rose to her hooves. She tried to fight down the nervous rush and flushed cheeks that still always accompanied treating the princess who had been her teacher as an equal. "And thank you. For sharing, and for trying to take the blame for everything. Which I am totally not letting you get away with, by the way."

A wry half-smile pulled at Celestia's muzzle as she headed for the door. "Oh, you'd be surprised at what I can get away with when I try," she said airily over her shoulder.

Any reply Twilight might have offered was cut short by the opening of the door, and the sound of an entitled member of the esteemed Equestrian nobility in full flow.

"—and if you do not stand aside I shall be- Auntie Celestia!"

There was no mistaking that voice. Only one stallion Twilight knew from being in and around the palace for so long could whine quite so well. Oh my stars I hope Rarity isn't still nearby, Twilight thought as she cringed, hiding behind the door. Celestia was already lost, but there was no need for Twilight to go down with her. She'll home in on that voice like Spike going after an emerald, and I know for a fact she's been practicing her right hook...

"Nephew, what a pleasant surprise," Twilight heard Celestia say on the other side of the door. "What seems to be the trouble?"

"Well I was looking for you, of course," the young prince began. Twilight could already hear Celestia manoeuvring Blueblood off down the corridor as he continued his affronted complaint. "I was simply attempting to ask Auntie Luna where you were, but those awful, shabby guards of hers were trying to refuse me entry!"

"And why exactly were you looking for me?" Celestia asked, her voice receding steadily into the distance.

"The commencement of court was delayed this morning, and I thought something might be wrong," Blueblood said, not a hint of actual concern in his voice.

"Do you, perhaps," Celestia enquired, "have something to present in this particular court session, nephew?"

"Well," Blueblood went on without a trace of shame or self-awareness as the pair headed out of earshot, "now that you mention it, there was one tiny little thing..."

After slowly counting to ten in her head to make sure it was safe, and silently thanking Celestia for allowing her to dodge that particular encounter, Twilight emerged into the corridor. She stepped between the two Noctrals on either side of the doorway and then, without really knowing why, she paused. Something was off, but she wasn't quite sure what.

Suddenly the door behind her banged shut, and Twilight made a little startled jump forward before glancing back. One of the guards was eyeing her suspiciously.

"Are you all right, ma'am?" the Noctral stallion asked.

Twilight opened her mouth to reply, but somepony chose that exact moment to yank on her tail so hard it felt like it was going to come off. For some reason, that action was also accompanied by the clicking of a light switch, and the lights went out.

**Twinkle Sprinkles**

"Book Horse was having a bit of an identity crisis. Everything had been rather too chaotic over the last few hours, and even the most brown-nosed student of the Great and Powerful Sunbutt was—"

"Discord!"

"—Purple Smart interrupted. Most rudely and, I might add, rather unprofessionally breaking the fourth wall by addressing the narrator—"

"Stop it, that is not funny!"

"Oh you are absolutely no fun at all," the draconequus pouted, popping into view in front of Twilight.

"What did you do, and where are we?" Twilight asked, gazing around at the insane world in which she found herself. It was as if somepony had just tossed a bunch of random objects and pieces of landscape into empty space, then filled parts of the void with a kaleidoscope of swirling colours and distant stars. If there was any rhyme or reason to the place, she couldn't see it. She currently stood a few paces in front of Discord, on a tiny floating island of rock only just large enough to accommodate them both. The entire world seemed to be slowly rotating around them, but Twilight wasn't sure if that was because the colourful mass was spinning or because the tiny rock on which she stood was. There wasn't any point of reference to judge it by, although she didn't feel like she was moving.

"I've brought you somewhere a little more private, so we can have ourselves a chat. This," Discord said, throwing out an arm to encompass the chaos around them, "is the closest thing I have to a home."

Instead of demanding to be sent back immediately, Twilight found herself hesitating as curiosity got the better of her. "You... what?" she managed, glancing at the quite literally incredible miniature universe around her with renewed interest.

"I want to talk to you," Discord said, leaning forward and tapping Twilight's muzzle with a claw. "Got something to tell you, in fact."

"Whatever it is you could have just—" Twilight began.

Discord made a swift chopping motion with his paw, eyes narrowing. "No," he growled, "this is only about you. Every time it happens it's always all about you. You can tell them if you want, but I wouldn't recommend it. You need them to trust you and help you if we're going to get through this."

And I'm all alone with an angry Discord... Twilight shrank back a little, and started reaching for her magic. "What's about me?" she asked nervously.

"Everything!" Discord exclaimed, throwing his mismatched arms up. "You crossed a line today," he continued in a more level tone. "Only a small one, but it was a starting line. The outcome isn't quite guaranteed, but it's never ended well the last..." Discord trailed off, gazing upward and rolling a paw in the air as he tried to recall something. After a moment he settled for finishing with "...however many times it's been."

"Is this about what... what happened in that dream," Twilight said, "about what happened to me?"

"No. Well, yes, that's a part of it," Discord said, "but you actually started it a little earlier. Not that that's really relevant. What matters is, this time around I'm feeling unusually motivated. You could say I've taken a side, even." In a puff of confetti, Discord produced a pair of pink and yellow pom-poms, and a pink-trimmed yellow sports vest emblazoned with a butterfly. "So I'm going to try something."

Twilight grinned uncertainly as Discord discarded his Fluttershy cheerleading regalia. "Try what, exactly?"

"To give you a little shove in the right direction." Discord replied, kicking a small stuffed pony that looked a lot like Twilight off into the shifting, multicoloured space around them. As soon as it passed the lip of the small island, it shot off upwards and slightly to the right, disappearing into the haze. "You six vindicated Faith by returning Hope to this little world, and you've achieved many more things since that were almost as impressive. It seems you even managed to get some of it on me, of all people. It's time I paid a little of that back."

Twilight tilted her head to one side questioningly. "Faith and hope?"

"Not faith and hope, Faith and Hope," Discord said, not helping Twilight's understanding in the slightest. "Proper nouns, you need to capitalise them. Just because you ponies gave them more names doesn't change who they actually are. I mean, your parents named you Twilight Sparkle for heavens' sake. Could've just stuck with the one you were going to always have had, but no. Had to crowbar the sunshine, rainbows and gratuitous fluffiness in there somehow. Now." Discord held up a claw to silence Twilight's stream of unanswered questions. A black beret and long brown trenchcoat appeared on his form and — glancing aside furtively before affecting a terrible Prench accent — announced, "Listen verry carefully, Ah shall say zis only wunce."

What?

Dropping the accent — and the trenchcoat — Discord said, "Celestia thinks she's prepared you for this, but she has no idea what's coming. She never does. Always figures it out too late." He leaned in closer, voice eager and intense. "I showed you a part of it, once. Pale shadows of the real things, a taste of what you might make them into. Magic is the fulcrum about which all pivots. Light or dark, Order or Chaos. Simple. Elementary. Six of one, half a dozen of the other... but you have a hoof in both camps, Magic. Six plus six equals eleven, and you're the one that gets to make the choice."

"Is it really that hard to just use my actual name?" Twilight demanded, "and while you're at it, maybe start making sense?"

"Well I could, but you haven't really earned it yet," Discord said airily. "In previous timelines and from certain atemporal perspectives, certainly, but not in this particular iteration from your oddly restricted linear view. It's going to be the essential nature of what you are, what you were and what you could be, and in this particular run round the track you're about to start having always been who you're in the process of becoming." He paused for a moment, mouth moving silently as if running over what he'd just said again. "At least I think that's right. You don't really have words for it, your language is far too centred around this whole linear-time nonsense. Besides, even if I did use it, you don't even know what it is. And it isn't always having had been your name yet anyway. Me just knowing it is enough of a paradox already without me actually telling you. Oh, and the making sense thing? No. Sorry, that one's genetic I'm afraid."

Twilight covered her eyes with a hoof and let out a thoroughly exasperated groan.

"You call me the spirit of Chaos, but I'm not," Discord continued. "Touched by it, certainly, but not the thing itself. I'm just an observer who's seen too much." The draconequus' voice sank to a frantic whisper, rushing over each phrase and speaking slightly too fast. "I'm a victim, an example, a warning. Bound by restrictions and limitations you could not comprehend. I don't play around with names - Discord is who and what I am. Sometimes I revel in it for a while, to see if He might notice me, appreciate me... or maybe try to come to terms with how utterly pointless it all is. All the time in the world — so many worlds — but I can never stop it, never change it, always watching as it slides into the abyss, over and over again. Chaos runs out of control, and then falls victim to its own self-destructive nature, leaving nothing behind. Perfect Order. Almost, anyway. There's always one that remains, one that remembers, the tiniest bit of Discord, waiting for the process to start all over again. But I've had an idea," Discord said, tone suddenly back to normal and a wide grin on his face. "This time I have a plan. This time I'm trying something new. Maybe it'll make a difference, maybe it won't. How many times could you stand to watch everything end, do you suppose?" Discord mused, eyeing Twilight speculatively. "It's a wonder I haven't gone quite mad, really."

Yes, I can see why that prospect might concern you, Twilight thought sarcastically.

All of a sudden, Discord and the chaotic space around her vanished, and Twilight found herself seated at a small, round, wooden table. The square room around her was dimly lit by a few fittings on the reddish brick walls. A low stone roof was hugged by a layer of what looked like smoke, in amongst which were a few ceiling fans, barely rotating in the stale air. Before her stood a small platform bearing a microphone, illuminated by a single spotlight. In the cone of illumination sat Discord, atop a tiny three-legged stool. He was still wearing the little lopsided black beret, which had apparently necessitated the removal of one of his horns; the appendage in question was currently sat on the floor next to the stool.

Is this a poetry reading? Twilight thought as Discord cleared his throat. Oh no, he isn't actually going to... he is, isn't he.

"Now, pay attention," Discord said, looking down his nose at her. "You're going to want to remember this later." Then, he launched into rhyme.

"Two sets of six
Eleven all told
Five of them paired, one alone in both folds
Five brought forth one
And one can draw five
To give you the power you need to survive
Strength comes at a price
Means pardoned by ends
The future bought with the lives of friends
Avarice and Cruelty
Deceit and Despair
All for the Pride of one stubborn mare
Three birthed a Nightmare
Two darkened the Sun
But only in you can they all become one
The night thus beginning
With Twilight descending
Will herald no dawn — only final Ending
But you stand at the crossroads
On the fulcrum of worlds
If you follow the Spark, a new path unfurls
Friends still beside her
The Twilight ascending
Can push back the final darkness impending
Betwixt Chaos and Order
Bringing forth Harmony
From darkness and light, combined most artfully
Things may seem bleak
And it may cost a life
But heed this last piece of friendly advice:
When Faith betrays you
And Hope goes astray
Don't force them to follow — let your friends point the way."

Twilight tried to fix what she'd heard in her memory as the reading concluded, on the off-chance that Discord wasn't just being Discord, then flinched as the room shuddered. A low, seismic rumbling filled the air as Discord gazed at the ceiling, looking mildly put out.

"Damn," he said, "too much. Should've gone with the interpretive dance number." He exhaled sharply and looked back down as Twilight. "Oh well, I've crossed the line now. I like lines. They make the most wonderful whistling sounds as they pass by," he said happily, face breaking into a manic grin. "Damn the torpedoes, I'm going in."

"What's that rumbling?" Twilight asked, concerned.

"The piper's coming to collect," Discord replied hurriedly. "One group nurtures and guides you, the other one follows you. One part of you wants friends, the other one wants subjects. You can't have both, but you'll always want to, so you're going to have to resist and hold the center. Now, and for the rest of your life. Order, and... well, you know." Discord twitched his head upward. "Him."

Twilight shot up from her seat as the whole room shifted, accompanied by a torturous grinding sound. Gaze flicking between Discord and the ceiling, she said, "Are you saying that's—"

"Chaos, yes," Discord confirmed. "He's weakened right now. A little over twenty-five years ago something broke Him. Tore a piece of Him right out, shifted the balance of power." Twilight shivered as Discord's gaze swept across her. "You might say it birthed a chance at Harmony. He was stronger than She was, but now they're pretty much even. And that means somewhere between Chaos and Order, we might be able to hold the balance. But He's trying to get back what He lost, and you don't want to find out what happens when He does."

Discord clapped his hands together in front of him, eagle claw rubbing against lion paw as he continued. "Now, I think He might be a little upset with me, which means you need to leave. He can't kill me, precisely, but there are a number of unpleasant things He could do to you, especially in here. Even so, this is going to be, oh, what's the word... inconvenient for me."

The insane glee disappeared from Discord's features, replaced by a mixture of doubt, uncertainty and fear. In a small, quiet voice, he said, "Tell Fluttershy... tell her thank you. For everything." Then in a flash his usual cocky demeanour returned, and a savage grin showed off his mismatched fangs. Twilight saw a shiver run up Discord's entire body as he closed his eyes for a moment. "Hmm," he murmured, opening his eyes again, "so this is what it feels like."

What is he doing? What's going on here?

To her surprise, Twilight almost saw something of Fluttershy in Discord at that moment - there was a part of that defiant, joyous expression that reminded her of the timid pegasus that faced down a dragon. A force began pulling on Twilight's body, drawing her backwards across the floor as the walls and ceiling of the chamber began to splinter and crack, a sickly yellow glow beginning to show through the fissures. She could feel herself being pushed out of whatever strange pocket dimension Discord inhabited.

Discord turned his back on Twilight as she was drawn away. Raising a clawed arm to point at whatever was coming from outside the walls, he shouted "Oh, don't act so outraged. This has been a long time coming! I'm not just going to sit back and watch you destroy her, watch you ruin everything. Not this time!"

A wave of unstable power smashed against Twilight's magical senses as a flame ignited in each of Discord's outstretched hands. As the unseen force continued to drag her away, she only had a moment to realise that she was feeling a chaotic mix of both light and dark magic.

...or should that be Order and Chaos?

"Time to work out some of those daddy issues!" Discord cried. "Bring it on, old man!"

Twilight felt herself stretch out and snap back into shape, as if she was a pony-shaped rubber band, and suddenly she was back in the corridor outside Celestia's room again. She jumped as the door banged shut behind her, and one of the bat-winged guards beside it eyed her suspiciously.

"Are you all right ma'am?" the stallion asked.

What was that? Did that really happen or am I going completely insane?

A little shakily, Twilight headed off down the corridor in the vague direction of friends and sanity. "It's nothing," she replied distractedly, "just a little jumpy today I guess."

Somepony stop the world, I want to get off...

As her mind whirled at a frantic pace, Twilight couldn't shake the feeling that somepony was running around kicking the foundations out from under her at every opportunity. Her mind drifted back to Princess Celestia, and Twilight was suddenly immensely grateful there was at least one thing in her world that wasn't going to change.

Chapter 26 - The Importance of Maintaining a Healthy Electrolyte Balance

View Online

**Thirty-Thirty**

"So," Thirty-Thirty grumbled as the door to the guest room once more closed behind them all, "I'm still waitin' for that explanation of just what the heck that thing was."

The little ponies he'd been trailing behind all turned slightly unnerved gazes on him, and at each other.

"Well," Rarity began tentatively, "how exactly does one phrase this..."

"Discord's kinda weird," Applejack said. Rarity huffed and aimed a slightly miffed glare towards her orange companion, who Thirty thought looked decidedly shifty. "Anyhow, would you, uh, excuse us for a minute? Girl talk."

Without waiting for a response from Thirty-Thirty, and despite several protests from the other three ponies, Applejack grabbed hold of her friends and bundled them into the adjoining bathroom. With a wooden thud and the snap of a bolt being thrown, Thirty-Thirty found himself staring at the outside of a closed door. Despite his annoyance, he couldn't exactly follow them and demand an explanation - even if they'd left the door open, it was a smaller, pony-sized one and he'd probably struggle to get through it.

He glared at the small door for a while, but it steadfastly refused to explode in response to his frustration. With an angry snort, Thirty sat down against the wall and contented himself with listening in to the supposedly secret conversation the ponies were having - at a volume clearly audible through the closed door.

**Applejack**

Applejack stood resting her forehead against the inside of the door, one hoof still hanging on the bolt. She could feel the different textures of the three silences behind her. One expectant and slightly distracted, one anxious, and one... well, the third one was a little more eloquent. Right now it was saying something along the lines of "I'm not used to being roughly shoved into a bathroom, and you'd better have a very good explanation lined up." Somehow there was a disapproving glare in it too.

"Okay," Applejack said, the word rushing out on an exhaled breath as she turned to face the group behind her. "Would somepony mind tellin' me what in the hay we just did back there? 'Cause I don't think I liked it."

She thought they might deny it. Maybe even hoped they would. Hoped that it was just her, that she was jumping at shadows. The way all three of her friends said nothing, and just looked at each other with worry plain on their faces, banished what little doubt Applejack had left.

"Y'all saw what happened to Twilight," she pressed, trying to get some sort of reaction from them, "I can't tell ya how happy I am that Rainbow's okay, but... I think there was somethin' real wrong with what we just did."

"Was it the part where Twilight got all big and spooky," Pinkie asked, her bright but speculative tone completely at odds with what she was actually saying, "or the part where it felt like every last bit of joy and light inside you had just shrivelled up and died? 'Cause I wasn't really a fan of either, to be honest. Everything's back to normal now though, so it's all good."

The first part she was expecting, but the second gave Applejack pause. "I was more kinda talkin' about what happened to Twilight but... what?"

"Uh... just me, then?" Pinkie said.

"I can't say my experience quite matches yours, Pinkie," Rarity supplied uneasily, "but there was definitely a second aspect to what happened."

Fluttershy just let out a little squeak and hid behind her mane as the others turned to her.

"So you two got somethin' else too?" Applejack asked.

"There was an incident that we agreed never to speak of again," Rarity said primly, "just after we first became acquainted with Discord. This wasn't quite as... focused on one particular object as that, but it was definitely similar. I'm in no particular rush to dive headlong back down that road however," she said with a small shudder, "I've already seen what an excess of my own desires can lead to."

She knew she shouldn't, but Applejack couldn't resist poking that rattlesnake a little. "I seem to recall ya turned everythin' into gems—"

"Yes, thank you, Applejack," Rarity replied.

"So did we all get something different?" Pinkie Pie chimed in. "Fluttershy, what did you get?"

There was the barest whisper of a reply from beneath the concealing sheet of pink hair, and Fluttershy screwed her eyes closed. After a little coaxing and cajoling, the best the other three managed to get out of her was "I don't want to talk about it."

Applejack tipped her hat back to rub at her mane. "Well that's a puzzle. I mean, it was sorta remindin' me of Discord after ya mentioned it—"

"No!" Fluttershy's head shot up, eyes wide with shock. "He wouldn't! He's not like that any more."

"I know, Fluttershy, I know," Applejack said. "Like I was sayin', it was remindin' me of that after what Rarity said, but even if all three of ya got something similar, I got nothin'."

"Really?" Rarity asked, "Nothing at all?"

"Nope." Applejack said simply. She thought she caught a hint of scepticism in Rarity's gaze, and bristled. "An' I ain't lyin' about it, neither!"

"I didn't say anything, dear."

But you— Aw, shoot, Applejack winced internally. First you poke at 'er, and then you near bite her head off for no dang reason.

"Sorry, Rarity." Applejack said, ears dropping. "And for needlin' at ya before. I've just got this feelin' like somethin' real bad is about to happen. It's makin' me nervous."

"Don't mention it, Applejack," Rarity replied, "I believe we're all a little 'strung out' at the moment, as it were."

"I hope Twilight's okay," Pinkie said, smile fading a little, "I mean, we don't know what any of that was even like for her, and then Princess Celestia wanted to talk to her about windmills, or maybe dark magic and sanity slippage... eh, I always get those mixed up. Practically the same thing anyway. Whichever, Twilight seemed super nervous about it."

"Hopefully she won't be detained too long," Rarity said. "Regardless of what's happened, I'd rather we were all together. Especially given that Rainbow Dash still needs our help."

All four ponies' ears perked at the slightly muffled sound of the room's main door opening, and Applejack turned back to unlock the bathroom.

**Twilight Sparkle**

Twilight was so distracted that she walked straight past the door to the room. Her legs automatically started her off out of the castle and towards her old tower, eyes pointed at the ground but focused on something internal as she churned everything over in her brain.

Whatever the heck Discord was going on about can wait until later. I'm not touching that heap of crazy until after I get done with the rest of... well, everything, I guess. An annoyed grimace flashed across her face as she plodded through the familiar corridors. All of this is far too disorganised, I need to prioritise. Although, given that I've only got a day to use before we go after Rainbow, that pretty much sorts things for me. Rainbow first, then whatever the hay happened to me in that nightmare, then Discord. Which means today is information-gathering day, we're going to need to be as prepared as we can be for tomorrow morning.

Twilight felt a nervous twinge in the pit of her stomach. There was only a day to go before a test, and she hadn't even started preparing. With an effort of will she crushed the growing bundle of nerves - it wasn't anypony's fault that there was so little time to prepare, and she could still fit plenty of research into a day. The knowledge that her friends would be coming with her was also a huge comfort.

She almost made it out of the castle before she realised where her errant hooves had carried her, and had to rather awkwardly reverse direction in the middle of a courtyard before hurrying back inside. Twilight still had to suppress a small flush of embarrassment, even if nopony had seen her.

As she arrived back at the right corridor, forcing herself to slow down to a more normal walking pace, Twilight rounded the corner to an unusual sight: There was a familiar Noctral guarding the room's large door.

Okay, I know I wasn't paying attention when I walked past the first time, but she definitely wasn't there a minute ago. I would have noticed that for sure, Twilight thought. She sure does seem to be popping up around us a lot lately...

"Is... there a problem?" Twilight asked as she approached. She noted that Nightshade had apparently lost her helmet again - or maybe had chosen not to wear it.

Nightshade saluted, but kept her eyes forward. "No, Ma'am."

"Then I'm confused," Twilight said, "why are you here?"

One slitted eye darted in Twilight's direction, then forward again. "Orders."

"Oh." Twilight shifted a little on her hooves. "So, uh... is the rest of your squad okay? I know you all got hurt last night, and I can't help but feel a little responsible."

"They're all fine." After a pause that was just fractionally too long to be accidental, the guard added, "Ma'am."

Ouch. Somepony's cranky today.

Twilight was about to try another approach when Nightshade interrupted. "The Princess wants it guarded. Don't know why after what it's done to her, but I didn't ask. Personally, I think it'd be easier if we just tossed it in a hole and forgot about it."

A masculine voice growled from the other side of the door, "Right back at ya, short, dark and moody."

Twilight looked back and forth between the guard and the door. "Okay, what happened here?"

"She turned up a couple minutes ago," Thirty-Thirty said, voice still slightly muted by the wall. "I answered the door, 'cause I'm the only one that's not currently hidin' in the bathroom, thinkin' they're bein' sneaky. She weren't happy to see me. Once she figured out we could actually understand each other, she decided to flap up into my face and tell me how all o' this was my fault. I objected to that. She's stayin' on that side of the door where I can resist the urge to punt her through a wall."

Nightshade's nostrils flared, her ears flicked, and Twilight took a nervous step to one side. The Noctral stayed at her post, but she was almost vibrating with anger. "I'm going to find out what you're really doing here," she growled, fangs bared as her jaw clenched, "and then you're going to answer for what you've done to Luna!"

With that the guard finally turned her head to address the door, revealing to Twilight why she hadn't done so until she'd lost her cool. The right side of her face was sporting a bruise almost as purple as her mane, and her right eye was swollen half shut. The light from one of the windows glinted off something tucked away down by the wall on one side of the door, and Twilight thought she could just about see the vague shape of a helmet in the mangled piece of dark purple metal.

"Whoa, whoa, okay," Twilight interrupted hurriedly, "I think everypony needs to just take a second to calm down here—"

"I am calm," Thirty-Thirty replied. "If I wasn't, I'd've hit 'er properly, an' you'd still be lookin' for her head."

Twilight glared daggers at the closed door. "Not. Helping."

"That thing is an aberration," Nightshade growled, making a visible effort to face forward and stay at her post, "and it doesn't belong in our world. All it's done since it got here is spread chaos and violence, and it obviously has impulse control issues."

In the interests of diplomacy, Twilight refrained from voicing her brain's comments about violent aberrations with poor impulse control throwing stones from their glass houses.

"It's dangerous, and it shouldn't be roaming free around the castle," the guard went on. "Especially not armed, or sharing a room with the Elements of Harmony."

Twilight flinched momentarily, but the lack of response from behind the door suggested that the comment hadn't been interpreted as a challenge for the weapon. She tried her best to channel Celestia's 'I'm putting my hoof down, and I'm disappointed in you' tone, and spread her wings.

"I think everypony has said quite enough for the time being." Lighting her horn, Twilight began to shove the door open. "You two both need to stop yelling at each other and cool off. I think everypony else would appreciate a little more patience and understanding between the pair of you."

The guard acknowledged her automatically as the door closed behind Twilight, but the best she got from the giant stallion sat up against the wall inside it was a non-committal grunt. After the door closed, she did her best to look down angrily on something that was significantly taller than her - even while sitting down.

"Is there a problem that you won't try to solve with violence?" Twilight demanded, tossing her head and trying to stop her ears twitching. "How is assaulting a pony going to solve anything?"

"There are some things ya can't say without expectin' it to start a fight," Thirty-Thirty replied, his apparent lack of concern at her obvious annoyance only serving to make Twilight angrier. Then he snorted, rolled a shoulder and said, "Bat's got a point, you know. I was wonderin' why ya hadn't tried takin' my gun."

Oh, crapbaskets.

Twilight stopped, and considered her words carefully.

This is either a deliberate ploy to get me to directly challenge him for his weapon, or he's genuinely curious, which means...

"Hypothetically..." Twilight said carefully, "if I were to, um, imply that I wanted to... disarm you, what would you do?"

Please don't try to kill me...

"I'd probably wonder why you hadn't done it earlier, and ask why the heck you're dancin' around this like I'm about to fly off the handle if you so much as suggest it." As Twilight was about to respond, Thirty-Thirty added, "Not that I'd be too pleased about it, but I was kinda expectin' it."

Twilight sagged a little, letting out a relieved breath. "Oh, good. It's just, with the, uh..." she waved a hoof vaguely at the seated biped's hulking form.

Thirty-Thirty glanced down at his own chest, then back up at her. "What?"

"Oh," Twilight said, "cultural context. Right. First, you look, sound and act quite a bit like a minotaur. They're large, bipedal—"

"I know what a minotaur is," the stallion interrupted.

Twilight tilted her head quizzically. "Wha- how?"

"I mean, I would'a said they were as imaginary as unicorns about a day ago," Thirty-Thirty said, "but seein' as how I'm currently talking to a miniature purple unicorn with wings, at this point I wouldn't be surprised if you started tellin' me about manticores and talkin' seahorses. And I'm pretty sure someone mentioned minotaurs earlier, along with dragons
and griffins. What exactly does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, minotaurs are patriarchal and very martially-centered." Twilight said, her frustration now entirely forgotten in the face of a chance to explain something. "All bulls are armed as a part of their passage into adulthood. The weapon is, culturally, a part of them. It means a great deal to them, and their attainment of it is seen as proof that they're worthy of it and competent in its use. Mostly they aren't carried around, and their use is confined to ceremony and honour duels, but those in military or guard positions carry them at all times. Trying to take a bull's weapon from them is both a challenge to their worth as an individual and a challenge to combat. In their view, a bull only yields his weapon when it's taken from him by force, and..." Twilight swallowed a nervous lump in her throat, "let's just say that it takes an awful lot of force, and minotaurs aren't easy to calm down."

"Still not seein' why this applies to me at all."

"Apparently not, thankfully," Twilight said, "it's our preconception, not yours. You're a large, aggressive male biped with a weapon that apparently warrants a pet name, and which is, as impossible as it seems, actually a physical part of you because it appeared out of nowhere when you transformed earlier. We have a history of not making an issue out of individuals like you carrying a weapon, because they have a history of violently attacking anypony who does. Although," she added, "you seem to be finding reasons to do that anyway."

Thirty-Thirty didn't reply to her probing, but Twilight noted that he also avoided her gaze. She tensed up briefly as he raised a hand to draw the weapon out from behind his back, but relaxed a little at the slow, considered speed of the motion.

"I'm gonna put this here," he said, gently leaning the cannon-like device against the wall beside him before turning back to stare at Twilight. "You don't mess with her, ya don't touch her, ya don't even look at her funny 'less I say so. Got it?"

"That's acceptable for now," Twilight said, "but you really don't need to be carrying things like that around here."

"And that goes for the four o'ya back there, too. No touchin'," Thirty added, raising his voice a little. "Ya might as well come out, y'ain't exactly bein' subtle at this point." A hint of movement drew Twilight's attention to the bathroom door as it edged open, solving the mystery of where everypony else had gone. For some as-yet-unexplained reason, it seemed as if Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy had all been in there at the same time. All four of them were peering tentatively around the opening door, like they were considering slamming it shut again at the first sign of trouble.

"What are you all doing in there?" Twilight asked.

"Just, uh," Applejack began, edging back into the room, "just wanted a little privacy for a minute there. Had some stuff to talk about." Pinkie and Rarity moved out after her, followed much more reluctantly by Fluttershy. All of them kept their distance from Thirty-Thirty, but Twilight realised they didn't seem to be in a hurry to approach her either.

"Oh." Twilight thought she had read the group's nervous mood correctly, but now she wasn't so sure. Rather than being directed at the oversized alien that just punched a guard in the face, it seemed to be aimed at her as well. She was hiding something from them, true, but Princess Celestia had asked her not to give them the details - and there wasn't any way they could know about all that anyway, she hadn't even told them about tomorrow yet.

Was their experience in Rainbow's dream really that bad? Twilight wondered. I still don't exactly know what happened to me, or what they saw...

Applejack stood awkwardly for a moment, not saying anything as she looked everywhere but directly at Twilight.

Okay, there are only two ways Applejack lies, Twilight thought. First, when she's working off incorrect information, like when somepony else is lying to her - which she really hates, because it's the only time she actively ends up lying, even if it's not her fault - and second, by omission. Which is the only way she does it on purpose, which means she doesn't want me to know what they were talking about. Or maybe it's about Thirty-Thirty, and she doesn't want to say it in front of him... but why do I still feel like she's hiding something from me in particular?

Rarity interrupted Twilight's stream of thought, expression concerned but a little hopeful. "So, how did it go?"

Or they're just worried about you, doofus, Twilight snarked at herself. They did sort of leave you alone with the Princess for what probably looked like a nasty conversation. Paranoid much?

Twilight felt the smile on her face become more natural as she started to piece together how she was going to explain everything. "Good, I think," she said. "Maybe great actually. I've got some good news about Rainbow, anyhow. We've got the rest of today to rest up and prepare. Tomorrow, we're bringing her home."

**Rainbow Dash**

"Argh!" Rainbow Dash threw her hooves up in frustration, and then let herself fall from her seated position onto her back. "Why am I the one who got sent here, seriously?! This is, like, the perfect thing for Twilight to be doing. Or maybe Pinkie, she can do some pretty amazing stuff with pictures. I suck at this stuff."

Her efforts to form some sort of understanding with her travelling companion had met with little success. He wasn't getting any closer to saying her name right, and even then Rainbow was still kicking herself over how long it took her to get to the whole 'point at yourself and tell them what your name is' thing. The pair of them had been sat in the mine tunnel for what felt to her like hours, while Rainbow tried again and again to get him to say it right. They hadn't even gotten to his name yet, but she'd totally have that down in no time.

"Yeah, but you suck at a lotta things," a disturbingly familiar voice said from just behind her right ear.

Rainbow Dash flipped over and sprang upright, eyes wide and ears searching.

"Who said that?" she demanded, cursing inwardly at the nervous crack in her voice. Twisting her head and turning her body around didn't reveal anything beyond the expected tunnel walls, portable lights and giant freaky alien, which was now giving her an odd look.

No way. That thing was just a nightmare, and we blasted it with the elements too! Rainbow checked around herself again, but there was no sign of the mirror double from her dream. Shaking herself off, as if she could toss the nagging fear out of her head the way she could water from her coat, Rainbow returned to her spot on the floor. Ugh, stupid cave. Hearing things. When are we getting out of here anyway?

Retrieving the salt lick from where she'd left it on the floor, Rainbow found herself reflecting on her situation again. She didn't have much to go on in terms of the way she'd been sent to another world, aside from 'there was a portal, and some magic happened'. The only thing she could really think of to do was to return to the place she'd arrived, and maybe try to figure out a way back from there. She wasn't thrilled at the prospect of going back to the weird metal bunker though.

What am I even doing following this thing around? How is that gonna help me get home? Rainbow wondered, barely even noticing the taste as she absently licked at the salt block. I mean, he seems okay for a weird alien thing, but what exactly am I achieving here?

The large creature seemed to take her silence as a cue, and held an arm up to its chest.

"~BraveStarr~."

Okay, okay, we'll do your... wait a second.

Rainbow refocused her wandering eyes on the alien, ears on alert. "Say that again?"

"~BraveStarr~."

If it hadn't bean put directly into her memory, Rainbow was pretty sure she wouldn't have recognised the sound. Fortunately, it had - and only a few hours ago too.

"That's you?" Rainbow exclaimed, before her enthusiasm dried up as rapidly as it had appeared. "This is, well, kinda sorta awesome? I guess? I mean, I have no idea what I'm meant to do with you. Or why I'm meant to find you, or anything else that might actually be useful." She took another lick of the steadily-shrinking cube in her hoof, and added, "But I found you, so... yay me?"

It took a moment for Dash's brain to pass the note informing her that her interlocutor was looking confused by her lengthy response, and a little longer to realise that she might just end up regretting her earlier thoughts about how learning the alien's name was going to be easy. Rainbow grimaced and pressed a hoof to her forehead, and then jerked a little in surprise as something damp poked against her fur. An inspection of the apparently empty hoof offered no explanation. Only when the alien opposite her started laughing, and she felt something sticky dragging on her mane, did Rainbow realise what she'd just done.

"Why me?"

Chapter 27 - The End of the Beginning

View Online

**Rainbow Dash**

After a commendably short period of sitting there laughing at her, the big alien had leaned over and given Rainbow a hoof - or, more accurately, a hand - with the sticky situation she'd gotten herself into with the soggy remains of the salt block.

"I am so glad nopony saw that," she said to herself, still pushing a hoof through her mane to try and get it to sit right. The gooey salt residue was mostly gone, but the front part of her mane still looked a little like there was hair gel in it. Blowing a puff of air up at the dangling forelock in resignation, Rainbow decided to just leave it for the time being.

As her attention roved away from her hair, Rainbow noticed that the alien was looking at her. More sort of staring, really.

"What?" she asked, looking down at herself and twisting from side to side. "Do I still have some on me?"

Her search didn't turn up any more sticky spots, and by the time she looked up again her companion's interest was elsewhere. Briefly Rainbow thought another bipedal figure had wandered into their little rest spot without her noticing, but then she realised the newcomer was faintly transparent. It also seemed to be floating a little bit off the floor. It wasn't until a few seconds after that that Rainbow realised the thing's obviously ghostly appearance, but for some reason she knew it wasn't anything like that. It didn't seem to be triggering any nervousness or fear in her at all. Plus, it was having a conversation with ~BraveStarr~ and he wasn't freaking out or anything, so it couldn't be anything dangerous.

After exchanging a few more words with ~BraveStarr~, the apparition turned its attention on her. It looked a bit like her travelling companion, but smaller. Based on the wrinkled face, Rainbow guessed it was older. The partially see-through image raised a hand in greeting, and then held it out flat. Two little red lightning bolts appeared over its palm, circling each other. They looked just like her cutie mark, or the Element of Loyalty - one a mirror of the other.

The sight made her feel strange. Seen, known, whole and in part. Understood and appreciated. It would have been invasively intimate if it didn't feel so familiar. Slightly at a loss for what to do, Rainbow waved a hoof back. The creature smiled at her, and disappeared.

Then Rainbow started upright as a little voice in the back of her head said, At least someone pays me the proper respect.

For a moment her mind almost caught a trace of something, then it was gone. All it left behind was a fading sensation of smug superiority and satisfaction.

Okay, this is happening way too often to be imaginary, Rainbow thought, gritting her teeth as a brief flicker of annoyance cut off the prickling chill racing up her spine. I need to figure out what this is and get rid of it.

As ~BraveStarr~ stood up, seemingly preparing to move on, Rainbow Dash couldn't quite shake the feeling that somewhere, something was laughing at her.

**???**

"We're going to have to move the plan forward."

"I can try and get the shifts changed again, but I don't—"

"They're doing it tomorrow morning."

"Then... this is going to look extremely suspicious. If anypony checks this out, we're as good as caught."

"There won't be another chance like this. She's vulnerable now, and that's our timetable. If we succeed, it won't be checked. If we fail, she'll kill us all. Either way it won't matter."

"Then I guess that's all there is to it."

"Get it done, then get some rest. I'll see you in the morning."

**Thirty-Thirty**

"I'm not gonna just leave 'er here while we go wanderin' off someplace else."

Of all the things to suggest. He'd left Sara up against the blue-painted wall while they'd been in here as a peaceable gesture, but there was no way he was going to up and walk off without her.

"But you won't need it," Twilight said. "You're inside Canterlot Castle for pony's sake, there are guards all over the place. And it's not like you're in any danger in any case."

Thirty tried not to get too frustrated, but it wasn't like this was complicated. "If I won't need to use her then there ain't no harm in me carryin' her neither."

The orange one with the hat - Applejack, his memory prompted after a second - tilted her head a little, then said, "He's got ya there, Twi."

"No he hasn't, that doesn't even—" Twilight's head swung round towards the other pony. "Hey, why are you on his side all of a sudden?"

"I ain't takin' sides, sugarcube. I just wanna get wherever you wanna go so we can get down to figurin' out what we're gonna do for Dash. Less time we spend arguin' about this, the better."

"I only want to go down the hall to the library so there's a table to sit round, and handy reference material," Twilight said, a little tension creeping into her tone. "I don't see why we need to bring the pet cannon thingy with us, unless someone's afraid they might get jumped by a wild thesaurus."

"Pssst, Twilight," whispered Pinkie, loudly enough for everyone else in the room to hear, "dinosaurs are extinct. That's not gonna be a problem."

"Pinkie Pie, what are you even talking about?" Twilight asked, her train of thought quite neatly derailed.

Seemingly ignoring Twilight entirely, the pink pony turned to the rear of their small herd. "Hey, Fluttershy, whaddaya call a dinosaur in a library?"

Thirty-Thirty couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed himself as the winged yellow pony bounced between confusion and fear at being singled out. "Oh my," Fluttershy stammered, still half-hiding behind Rarity. "Um..."

"Come on," Pinkie pleaded, "your dad loves this one. I know he does."

"Oh!" Fluttershy exclaimed, smiling. "A thesaurus."

"See?" Pinkie looked back at Twilight as she pointed her hooves at Fluttershy.

"Oh my word that's awful," Rarity commented, failing to conceal half a smile behind a raised forehoof. "I didn't know you were into dad jokes, Pinkie."

"You would be surprised what I'm into," Pinkie replied. "And if you ever become a dad, Rarity, I'll share all my best ones. All you need to do is ask."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "And now we're heading for the innuendo."

"In your end-o."

"Oh, really," Rarity said, wrinkling her muzzle in distaste, "come on, you can do so much better than that."

"Not while we're rated 'E for Everyone' I can't." Pinkie said morosely, before leaning in closer to whisper, "I'll explain when you're older."

"Can we... can we just," Twilight pleaded, waving her hooves around in half-hearted gestures before opting for a hopeful, "Us. Library. That way. Please?"

"Okay, okay, that's enough horsin' around," Applejack said, raising her voice a little. "All y'all get on your way now, go on." She gave Twilight a prompting push towards the door, before turning a surprisingly stern green-eyed gaze on Thirty-Thirty. "You gonna be startin' trouble if you bring that thing along?"

Against all reason, there was something in that look that gave the stallion pause. Not that he would have gone looking for trouble anyway, but he found he actually meant it when he replied, "Nope."

"Then grab your gear and let's git. Daylight's burnin'."

"Y'know, I think this place is actually makin' less sense the longer I'm here," Thirty-Thirty said, mostly to himself, as he picked up Sara-Jane from where she sat resting against the wall. He turned to find Applejack looking over her shoulder at him from the doorway.

"Ya think you got it hard," the small orange mare said, smiling, "I live here."

That drew an amused snort from the stallion as he slipped his weapon safe and sound over his shoulder. Steeling himself to ignore whatever the little bat-winged guard outside the door might have in store for him, Thirty-Thirty followed Applejack out into the corridor.

What he hadn't been expecting, however, was for the grey-furred, purple-armoured pony outside the door to greet him with a cheerful "Hi, how ya doin'?" in a voice that was a little high-pitched, but quite obviously male. Thirty was at least reassured that he wasn't alone in being caught unawares by the sudden change when Applejack took a startled hop sideways, before turning to look.

The only thing Thirty-Thirty's brain would provide for immediate consideration was, "Didn't you used to be a girl?"

The guard tilted his head to the side, one catlike eye narrowing. "No?" he said, sounding honestly curious.

Right about the same time Thirty realised he was wearing an intact helmet over the top of an un-punched face, Applejack found her voice. "What happened to th'other one?"

It took a moment of glancing back and forth between the two of them before the guard's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh, right. That. Um..." His armour rustled as he shifted uncomfortably. "'Shade got recalled for, well, disciplinary reasons. And she needs a new helmet. Again."

"That was fast," Applejack said. "We were only in there for a couple o'minutes."

Thirty watched as the little guard ignored Applejack and instead looked up at him. "We, I mean, I, uh..." The guard blinked rapidly a few times before gaining a little more control over his sentence. "Princess Luna is really sorry about that. Please don't be mad at us, okay? Last night was pretty rough on all of us, and 'Shade's still pretty on-edge. I don't think she's slept in two days now. She's usually really nice."

"I'll take your word for it," Thirty-Thirty said, not really trying to keep the growl out of his voice. He turned his attention back down the corridor and started to move after the other ponies, who had noticed something was delaying the tailing members of their group and stopped to wait. He could hear two sets of hooves following him, one of them moving faster than the other.

The bat-pony reappeared in his peripheral vision, trotting alongside him. "I'm Starchaser, by the way," the smaller stallion said, the cheeriness of his initial greeting already back in his voice. "I know we didn't exactly get off on the right hoof, but we— I mean, I'd still like to be friends. If that's, you know, all right with you."

Thirty more felt than heard a faint creaking of metal under tension. It wasn't until he looked down at himself that he realised his left hand was balled into a tight fist, still straining as if trying to crush some non-existent object held within. It took a deliberate effort to relax the limb, faint numbness in his palm turning into four fingertip-shaped points of pain as he forced his hand open.

"I don't think there's much chance o'that happenin' in the next couple hours," Thirty said, mostly addressing the corridor in front of him rather than the pony to his right, "but it's a free galaxy."

Watching out of the corner of his eye as disappointment and resigned acceptance crushed the hopeful smile on the guard's face was almost enough to make him feel bad. Almost.

An irritated snort from behind him caused Thirty to slow a little and glance back. Applejack was aiming a disapproving glare up at him from under the brim of her hat.

"I don't know who taught you manners," she said, "but I reckon they need a hoof upside the noggin almost as much as you do."

Thirty almost snapped a retort back at the pint-sized mare, but something in his brain cut his mouth off. The little orange pony had been almost friendly to him just a moment ago.

The gnawing sensation in the pit of his stomach intensified, and Thirty felt his face heat up. But he didn't have anything to be ashamed of. She didn't know what had been done to him, what that guard—

The realisation hit him like a brick between the eyes. That was exactly the point. Even if Applejack didn't know what exactly Luna had done to tick him off, she was right. The Princess' guards hadn't done anything wrong - except maybe the shouty one from a minute ago. She'd had it coming after what she said. Hadn't she?

"If they ain't involved, I'm not gonna let this spill on them."

His own voice; treacherously bubbling up from his memory. He'd given his word that he wouldn't hold it against anyone else, and here he was vindictively taking his anger out on anything that looked vaguely like a target. He'd even hauled off and hit someone, and as strong as he was that wasn't something he could allow himself to do on a whim.

Even as that thought crossed his mind, Thirty-Thirty caught himself balling a metal hand into a fist as he once again fought the rising urge to hit something. A wall. The floor. Anything.

"Damnit," he breathed, before glancing up to find Starchaser eyeing him warily from a few feet away. At some point, Thirty realised, he'd stopped walking, and the little guard had stopped with him. As their eyes met, Starchaser's weight shifted backward and his wings lifted just barely free of his sides - not quite jumping back and spreading his wings in full flight, but certainly thinking about it. Thirty steeled himself and forced the words past the frozen air in his throat before he thought about it too hard.

"Sorry. I shouldn'a done that. Promised I wouldn't, but I'm–" Thirty caught himself, pausing. "And I'm makin' excuses for myself, too. Shouldn't have treated ya like that anyhow, whether I promised that or not."

Starchaser shifted his hooves a little, failing to hide a momentary flash of white from an exposed fang as he caught one side of his bottom lip between his teeth. "It's fine," he said, tail flicking sporadically. "You're, uh, still pretty mad, huh?"

"Now that's a bit more like it," Applejack interjected. "I got an inklin' of what went on from talkin' to the Princess earlier, but I don't really have any of the facts. Either o'you gonna tell me what exactly is goin' on to cause somethin' like that?"

Starchaser opened his mouth, then quickly shut it again when Thirty-Thirty said, "Nope".

The last thing Thirty wanted to do right now was explain that. He wasn't completely sure he could get through saying it all out loud anyway, and it wasn't like it was any of her business. Applejack swung her head from one to the other of them several times, but neither he nor the guard said anything more. Eventually Applejack let out a short breath and resumed walking down the corridor past the two stallions.

"Well," she grumbled, "least ya ain't tryin' to lie about it. I can't force ya to say nothin'."

Thirty-Thirty watched Applejack head towards the waiting group of ponies a few doors down the passageway. Coloured light from the high stained glass windows placed at regular intervals down the left wall played across her as she moved, bars of shade marking the spaces between.

"So," he said quietly, without looking down towards the guard at his side, "did ya really mean that about tryin' to be friends, or were ya just bein' polite?"

"I meant it." The smaller stallion's higher-pitched voice was similarly hushed, but unwavering.

"Still do?"

Thirty heard a soft scrape of armour plates as the guard nodded. "Uh-huh."

He wasn't exactly sure why, but Thirty-Thirty felt that he was the wrong shape for the situation. He turned his mind inward for a moment and focused on the right side of his chest, directly opposite his biological heart. With a motion born of countless years of practice, he took a mental hold of the transformation cog within and pulled.

For some reason, going this way was always faster. Without much undue ceremony, Thirty-Thirty dropped down onto all four hooves once more as his limbs settled back into a more familiar configuration. Sara-Jane disappeared along with her holster on his back, folding back inside his torso to be replaced once more by a red saddle rig. Only after the fact did Thirty recall that he was supposed to be avoiding placing any undue stress on his injured shoulder, and the dull bar of discomfort embedded in the joint sprang back to a pulsating red heat.

Trying to ignore the resurgent pain, Thirty finally turned to the guard beside him and offered a raised hoof. "Thanks."

Starchaser put one small, purple-armoured boot up against the offered limb, fangs on full display in a genuinely happy smile. "Sure thing, buddy."

After a moment's fiddling with the loosened bandage wrap still around his shoulder, and the subsequent discovery that his wound was no longer bleeding, Thirty-Thirty decided to just yank the whole bandage off and deposit it in one of the small pouches attached to his saddle. As he and Starchaser caught up with the group and moved through the heavy wooden double doors into the library, the rest of the little ponies' attempts to hide their curiosity regarding his altered form met with varying levels of success. Of all of them, only the pink one seemed to be completely uninterested; Thirty-Thirty was beginning to think that she was a little too disconnected from reality for her own good. The others were all quite blatantly curious, but none of them actually challenged him about it.

The castle library proved to be quite impressive, both architecturally and in the sheer size of the collection. A huge domed glass roof dominated the center of the chamber, forming an open cylindrical light-well surrounded by several floors of encircling balconies. A pair of criss-crossing stairways on either side of the entrance connected the various floors, each one packed to bursting with shelf after dark wooden shelf of both traditionally bound books and more anachronistic parchment rolls held fast by ribbons. Tables between sets of shelves formed dozens of small work areas scattered throughout the library, but the group's only practical choice would be the ones on the ground floor in the center beneath the glass dome. Given Thirty-Thirty's size, there was no way he could really negotiate the staircases or the narrow gaps between stacks on the balconies.

As he entered the expansive chamber, Thirty-Thirty found himself immersed in an atmosphere he hadn't encountered since his earliest years. He hadn't needed paper records himself, but some of the others had kept them in the old halls. The still air, slightly cooler and drier than outside the room, was heavy with the scent of both ink and paper along with a hint of polished wood. The quiet peacefulness of the place felt more comforting than oppressive, thanks mostly to the dominating skylight letting the morning sun cast a few slanting rays across one half of the upper levels. Once the sun was a little higher above the horizon there would be no need for artificial lighting at all, but as it was a few small lamps scattered across the various tables between the shelves were still giving off a faint glow.

Securing a table proved easy enough for the group - early in the morning the library was almost entirely empty - but it seemed like that wasn't the only thing that was required. At first Twilight retrieved a small pile of books, a parchment roll and, to Thirty-Thirty's incredulous amusement, an actual feather quill and ink pot that she really did seem to be intending to use for writing with. He kept his questions to himself as the initial small book pile was reinforced by a steady stream of additional material, each tome floating its way across the room between and around the shelves encased in a pinkish aura. It wasn't until the table gave its second rather ominous wooden groan that the flow stopped, leaving what seemed to be the contents of an entire shelving unit both atop the table's surface and in meticulously straightened and ordered stacks on the floor.

"Ya got enough books there?" he asked from the far end of the table. It had been readily apparent that he'd never fit into one of the provided chairs, so Thirty had simply sat down on the floor. He was still large enough to look down on the table and the rest of the group even from there.

To his surprise, the winged unicorn opposite him seemed to take the question seriously. "Probably not," Twilight said uncertainly, head still turning back and forth as her attention roved up, down and around between levels and sections of shelving, "but I think we have enough to make a start at least." Leaning over to one side, Twilight grabbed a hefty tome from the top of the closest stack in her hooves and placed it in front of her. Seemingly without her paying it any attention, the quill started scratching its way across the top of the parchment roll occupying the only space on the table near Twilight that didn't contain a book.

"Okay," Twilight exhaled, "so, let's summarise. In," she glanced up at the clock above the library's door, "twenty-three hours, we're sending Thirty-Thirty back home. All I can say right now is that Princess Celestia has planned it out, and the "how" is a secret. You'll all see tomorrow, and afterwards it stays between us. At the same time, all of us are going along with him." Twilight blinked and looked at Starchaser, apparently noticing the guard sat at the table for the first time. "Except for you. Uh, who are you?"

The bat-winged pony hopped out of his seat and saluted Twilight, still grinning. "Starchaser, Princess Twilight. Luna wanted one of us guarding our visitor here during his stay with us. You can just pretend I'm not here. Or give me stuff to do, I don't mind. As long as it doesn't interfere with my duties I'm happy to help!"

"It is far too early in the morning for anypony to be that chipper," Twilight grumbled.

"Luna thinks it's endearing," Starchaser replied, tiny fangs revealed by his expanding grin. "Most of the time, anyway. Occasionally she wakes up in a bad mood and throws things at my head, but I know she doesn't mean it really. I'm way too adorable for anypony to hate me."

Giving the guard a rather skeptical sidelong glance, Twilight decided to just move on. "We're going to be staying there for as long as it takes to find Rainbow Dash, and we're bringing her back home with us. I know it's asking a lot to drag everypony away from their lives for even longer than we'd planned, but I think we all know what Rainbow would do if one of us was out there instead of her. Which means," she said, looking at the books and ponies around her before her gaze finally settled on Thirty-Thirty, "we've got less than a day to learn as much as we can about your world and what we're likely to encounter there."

"That don't make any sense at all," Applejack said, shaking her head slowly.

Thirty-Thirty was fairly certain that he wasn't going to make it to the end of the day. The last hour had been torturous, and there didn't seem to be much prospect of the situation improving given the vast depth of what these ponies simply didn't understand. It didn't help that he wasn't exactly educated himself - their persistent questioning on several issues was running up against the gaps in his own knowledge, which was only serving to irritate everyone. They were even getting hung up on things as basic as mechanical life which, if their claims were to be believed, didn't even exist in their world.

"Ya can't make somethin' that's alive outta gears and wires and bits o' metal," Applejack persisted. "They ain't got life in 'em, they can't hold a soul."

Thirty-Thirty shifted on the floor, exasperated. "And they'd say the same thing about puttin' a Spark in a wet sack of protein goo, too. Don't mean they, or you, stop existin'." Then his runaway mouth capitalised on his frustration and added, "You're sittin' here talkin' to me, ain't ya?"

He regretted it as soon as it was out of his mouth. Applejack didn't seem to notice, preoccupied by her own confusion over his response, but she wasn't the only one present. Twilight's eyes lit up as her attention was pulled from her note-taking, and he knew she'd put something together.

The little alicorn was just opening her mouth when he interrupted her. "Yes, I'm both," he growled, "and no, that ain't normal. Anything you see is gonna be one or the other, if it looks like both it's just a biological with some spare parts hangin' off it. And no, I ain't gonna talk about it."

"The important part of all this," Thirty-Thirty pushed on in a more normal tone, "is that you might run into Sand Spiders or, worse, Sand Crabs out in the desert and you've gotta be ready for 'em. Sand Spiders are easy, they only live in valleys and canyons so you only gotta worry about 'em there. They spend most of their time camouflaged like a little rock, so you're probably not gonna spot them right away. Takes a while to learn. Basically, if you hear a sorta angry metal chitterin' noise, stop what you're doin' and don't make a sound. They go for loud noises, so all you gotta do is back up quiet and find another way 'round. If ya do manage to piss 'em off, you'll have a whole lot of lasers to deal with. On the upside, they ain't exactly crack shots and they don't like to move much, so you can just..."

Thirty-Thirty tailed off as everyone, himself included, turned to look at Pinkie Pie - or, rather, the place where she had been. A brief look around revealed no sign of her, until Rarity ducked her head beneath the table and found Pinkie had apparently dropped to the floor and huddled beneath her own chair with her hooves over her head.

"Pinkie, what are you doing down there?" Rarity asked, sounding a little more confused than affronted or concerned.

Slowly unfolding from her prone position, Pinkie poked her head back above the edge of the table and glanced around nervously, ears twitching. After a few moments she seemed to relax, hopping back up onto her chair. "Nevermind, looks like..." Pinkie turned her gaze back onto Thirty-Thirty. "How did you get away with saying- eh, I'll figure it out later. Nevermind," she said airily, before a mischievous grin flashed across her muzzle. "So, you've got crabs?"

Thirty slowly drew in a breath, held it, and then let it out.

"Ooh, you do that too?" Twilight said, looking up from her note-taking. "I've always wanted to ask somepony else, did it actually help?"

"No."

"Yeah," Twilight replied despondently, "me neither."

**BraveStarr**

"Finally," BraveStarr said to himself as he caught his first faint glimpse of reflected sunlight coming around the next turn in the shaft. While it was pleasantly cool inside the mine, it was also very slow going. Even with Tex and his crew delayed by the Sand Spiders in the canyon, if he and his companion spent too long working their way out to the minehead it would be all to easy for Tex to figure out what he'd done and get ahead of them. Once they were back on the flats, however, it would only be a short sprint to Fort Kerium - and if Tex was stupid enough to follow them there he'd get an abrupt reminder of exactly what the town's Fortress Mode defense system was capable of.

The little winged creature trotting along beside him looked up as he spoke for the first time in an hour or more, ears perking and expression curious. Shutting off his own light, BraveStarr plucked the lantern from its resting place on the pony's back, pointing ahead up the tunnel before covering the lantern's aperture with his free hand. What had been just a faint glow in torchlight was made clearly visible by the darkness, highlights gleaming along the tops of the metal cart rails. BraveStarr found himself taken a little by surprise as the pony let out a loud whoop before rearing up and galloping noisily forward ahead of him. It spread its wings as it rounded the corner, somehow managing to both take off and drop the X-Kerium chunk from beneath one wing into its forehooves in a single smooth motion as it headed for the light at the end of the tunnel.

The Marshal hurried to catch up, breaking into a run as he got the sinking feeling he'd probably be playing catch-up fairly often in the near future. At least the brief conversation he'd had with Shaman had allayed his fears about the spirit creature suffering any lingering ill effects from its high-speed crash earlier. Or, more accurately, her high-speed crash, BraveStarr reminded himself again. He hadn't really considered that the spirit creature might have a gender until Shaman had mentioned it, but BraveStarr had to admit it was rather obvious now that it had been pointed out to him. Not that that had been the only surprise for him in that conversation; it seemed that they weren't actually dealing with a single spirit, but a pair. The second one was dormant - more of a passenger, really - but that was probably for the best given its nature. Nevertheless it too had a part to play in maintaining balance in the world. It didn't really change his primary goal of getting them both back where they belonged, but it certainly raised the stakes a little higher.

After letting his eyes adjust for a moment as he emerged into the desert sun, BraveStarr couldn't help but smile as he watched the small creature playing happily in the sky; its winged form trailing a brightly-coloured tail through the air against a backdrop of three rising suns. She certainly seemed at home there despite her mostly equine nature, looping and rolling in the hot breeze with the X-Kerium shard clutched in her front legs.

Turning his eyes back to ground level, BraveStarr couldn't help but notice the faint shimmering of the dusty red-brown mesas on the horizon. The heat-haze would only get worse as the day wore on, and although it was harmless in itself, the rising temperature it betrayed was likely to be their worst enemy in the coming hours. No time to be fooling around, he told himself, we haven't got long left before the heat starts to become unbearable out here.

Raising his fingers to his lips, BraveStarr let out a piercing whistle to attract the pony's attention before waving up at her. "Come on," he called out, motioning off to the southwest with his head, "we need to get moving."

The filly swooped in fast and landed hard next to him, almost slamming down onto the sand with her knees slightly bent, tucking the X-Kerium fragment beneath a wing once more. Turning her head to look up at him, the little spirit creature's grin turned eager, and perhaps a little predatory, as it scratched a line into the dirt in front of them with one hoof.

"Really?" BraveStarr asked, not sure whether he should be amused or annoyed by the display as the colourful pony tensed into a ready position behind her starting line. "You don't even know where we're going. And you're just going to overheat and dehydrate yourself before we get home."

The pony tossed her head once before looking back at him again expectantly, accompanied by a few unintelligible words.

"If you tire yourself out and collapse, I'm not carrying you," BraveStarr muttered to himself as he slowly took up a position beside her. She gave him a brief puzzled look when he got down into a proper starting crouch, on all fours with hands spread just behind the line, before turning her focus forward again.

He didn't understand the words, but BraveStarr had spent enough time helping take care of the town's schoolchildren that he wasn't caught entirely by surprise by the rather typical schoolyard tactic that followed. With what could only be a single rapid-fire yell of "ReadySetGO!" as her only warning, the filly shot forward off the line, kicking up a cloud of dust and grit as she went. Even half-expecting the jump-start, it took BraveStarr a few moments to fight down the coughing and the urge to sneeze - and by then the little pony was galloping full-tilt into the distance.

"Oh, it's on now!" he shouted after her, fighting off both the urge to cough and a suppressed chuckle. "Get back here!"

**Rainbow Dash**

Chest heaving and legs burning, Rainbow Dash slowed into a canter before almost stumbling to a stop in the lee of a large boulder, desperate for any hint of shade. "Ohmygosh, why," she panted, straining to suck in lungfuls of furnace-hot air, "Why is it so freakin' hot out here?"

Her wings were still a mess and, looking back over one shoulder, Rainbow realised her coat was now too. She'd only been going for maybe half an hour and already she was drenched in lather, and the dust her hooves had kicked up from the ground meant that she was also covered up to her hocks and elbows in a layer of sticky grit. It was even starting to saturate her tail, the end of which was now looking rather more sandy brown than rainbow-hued.

Gingerly folding her protesting legs, Rainbow slowly settled down onto her belly in the little patch of shadow. She barely registered that her oversized companion had caught up to her at first, and even when she did she couldn't really muster the strength to care all that much.

"Hey," she said, limply waving a hoof in his direction as he sat down next to her. "Second place. Not too shabby, considering who you're up against." Rainbow had absolutely no idea how he was coping with the heat wearing all those clothes on top of everything, but somehow he seemed less troubled by it than she was. "Why aren't you hot?" she complained. "It's, like, a million degrees out here. Or ninety-six, but that's practically a million. It's like the inside of an oven." Dropping her head onto her outstretched legs, Rainbow closed her eyes, muttering "So unfair," under her breath.

Note to self. Do not go running when it's way too hot and you haven't had anything to drink. Running a sandpaper tongue across her dry lips only served as a pointed reminder of just how much fluid she was losing to the heat and exertion. Also this place sucks. Comic books promised me hot aliens, and apparently reality has a really, really sick sense of humour.

Opening her eyes again, Rainbow gazed out across the dry and blasted ground in front of her. She couldn't see all that far with her head on the floor, but there wasn't really much to look at anyway. A few scattered rocks, ranging from hoof-sized to massive boulders like the one she was presently using for shade, and covering a whole amazing range of colours from yellowish-brown to reddish-brown, littered the cracked and dusty surface. The occasional larger pillar of more resistant rock poked up out of the flat ground, each of them wind-worn and sandblasted into undulating, smooth forms over what must have been year upon year of slow weathering. The earth itself seemed like it hadn't seen water in years, split apart into dusty little islands separated by meandering cracks, as if the whole surface had shrivelled up and dried out. Even the sky was bare and desolate in a way - clear blue and almost perfectly featureless, not a single wisp of cloud in sight. The only things to break the monotony were the too-hot trio of alien suns currently hidden behind her rocky shelter, with their overbearing brightness and strange colours.

Rainbow was pulled back from her contemplation of the empty sky to more immediate concerns by a soft thump in front of her, as her large companion deposited a silvery tube at the end of her muzzle. "Okay," she said, lethargically pushing herself up into a sitting position. "What's this thing?"

After a brief examination of the relatively heavy metal cylinder, it turned out to be a big flask full of water - which, to Rainbow's delight and amazement, was almost ice cold in spite of the heat. She did manage to resist the urge to just upend the thing over her head, but had less success paying attention to the part of her brain telling her to drink it slowly.

Gulping down the vessel's contents in one long draw, Rainbow slowly lifted the container and tilted it up over her head as she drank, tipping her head back until the last of the liquid within drained out. Dropping the exhausted container with a clatter, Rainbow Dash let herself tip all the way over onto her back as she sucked in a long-overdue breath of air.

Letting the breath go in a happy sigh - and then a rather large belch - Rainbow looked over at the visibly amused alien sat beside her, and said "You have no idea how much I needed that. Thanks."

Rainbow was disappointed, but not entirely surprised, when her companion stood back up and motioned forward with his head. She'd only just lain down, and had been hoping for at least a moment to rest.

"Do I have to?" she asked. "Come on, gimme five minutes here."

~BraveStarr~ reached down and offered a limb. Rolling her eyes, Rainbow reached up and took it, allowing him to pull her up and over onto her hooves again. After standing her up, he gestured at the desert around them - first back the way they had come, before holding his arms spaced wide apart; then up ahead before holding his arms much closer together.

Dragging her hooves, Rainbow started to trudge onward. "Okay, okay, I get it. It's not much further," she grumbled, squinting against the glare as she moved back out of the shade. "Not that I even know where we're going or why we're going there anyway."

Chapter 28 - The Beginning of the End

View Online

**Twilight Sparkle**

"I know you're very curious about all of this Twilight, and in other circumstances I would be myself," Rarity said, "but if the practical upshot of all of this is that we won't notice a difference, I think there might be other subjects to move on to."

Twilight took one last look at the stack of astronomy books on the table, before reluctantly closing the one in front of her and returning it to its proper place (fourth from the bottom, between 'Orbital Mechanics in Extra-Equestrian Space' and 'Post-Universal Gravitation'). "Yes, you're right," she said. "Sorry, but... space flight? Interstellar travel? Planets? There's just so much to unpack there that I don't even know where to stop, let alone where to start."

She'd had bits and pieces of this racing around her head since yesterday, sharding into more and more possible lines of investigation, but only now was Twilight beginning to appreciate the enormity of the scientific potential of their prospective journey. Everything she had come up with was too small, too individual. It would take the entirety of the scientific community generations of work to process it all; she wouldn't even make a dent in the problem by herself.

Intellectually, Twilight (and the greater scientific community) had always understood that Equestria's situation was pretty much unique, and that the rest of the observable universe worked differently. The underlying physics and mathematics were all sound, well-established in the literature, and accounted for all observation and experimentation - apart from the Equestrian system itself. Celestia and Luna had always maintained that even Equestria used to work that way, until Discord decided orbital mechanics and planets being round was "too conventional and boring" sometime during his reign after the end of the Unification War.

Twilight had already been to a 'normal' world herself, and Sunset Shimmer still lived there. She was rapidly discovering, however, that explaining the reality of that difference to ponies that weren't really concerned with the astrophysical implications was strangely anticlimactic.

They were all going to get to stand on a planet. A real one, with an orbit and gravity and everything. As a filly, Twilight had dreamed of astronomy progressing to the point where a planet might be discovered orbiting a distant star, to be observed at a distance through a telescope. She never even considered she might get to visit one, let alone several. This one was even part of a wider civilisation, capable of actually travelling between planets through space. For some incomprehensible reason, the others didn't really seem too excited.

"So it ain't flat but it looks and feels like it is," Applejack said, "and it's spinnin' and movin' real fast but ya can't tell that's happenin' either?"

Twilight nodded. "Yes, you won't notice the difference in everyday situations."

But if you do the math and take some careful measurements everything will actually add up! It'll actually fit all the same models as the rest of the universe, instead of being a nonsensical exception!

"Sounds like somepony took an awful simple thing and made it real complicated for no reason," Applejack said.

"I can kinda see how a ball-shaped world might be fun," Pinkie Pie interjected, "but being upside-down all the time would probably get annoying for everypony on the bottom."

"No Pinkie," Twilight replied, "gravity takes care of that. Wherever you are on the planet, 'down' is towards the center of mass in the middle, so you'll always feel like you're standing up normally."

"What's gravity?" Pinkie asked, drawing a confused look not just from Twilight, but from everyone else around the table too. "Sounds boring."

Twilight almost launched into an explanation, but hesitated. "Just because it's you, Pinkie, you probably shouldn't worry about it. I've got a sneaking suspicion that it doesn't apply to you anyway."

"Woo! Yes!" Pinkie shouted, throwing her hooves up in celebration. Then her expression turned more uncertain, and she asked, "Wait, that's good, right?"

"I can't seriously believe we're havin' this conversation right now," Thirty-Thirty said from the far end of the table, one hoof massaging his forehead between his closed eyes. "The world ain't flat. Next one o' you's gonna tell me your dinky sun goes 'round the planet and not th'other way 'round."

"But it does," Applejack said slowly. "Princess Celestia moves it around."

Starchaser waved a hoof in the air, bouncing in his seat like an excited schoolfoal with the answer to a teacher's question. "Ooh, ooh, and Luna does the moon!"

Thirty-Thirty froze for a moment, then dropped his hoof back to the floor, looked up and said, "Yeah, I ain't even gonna touch that one."

**JB McBride**

JB was getting the feeling that it was going to be one of those days.

Late in the morning, a panicking Fuzz had sought her out at Fort Kerium's courthouse. After she took a moment to calm the furry Deputy down, rendering his more-broken-than-usual English at least mostly intelligible, he told her BraveStarr had gone out in the middle of the night and still hadn't come back.

That alone wouldn't normally be enough to worry her. After all, BraveStarr was supposed to be out patrolling the outlying claims and homesteads around the town regularly, and he was more than capable of looking after himself - but given Thirty-Thirty's absence, this would be the perfect time for someone to try and get rid of the Marshal. Not just because the stallion wasn't there to watch his back, either. JB could tell how much the situation was getting to BraveStarr, even if he was trying to hide it.

Fuzz had known BraveStarr almost as long as she had, and he was certain to be thinking along similar lines. Offworlders often thought the Prairie People were little more intelligent than animals, but they were just as smart as anyone else, if a little on the naive side. Until a year ago, just after she and BraveStarr had arrived on the planet, even the locals had been dismissive of them - but after an effort was made to actually seek out their underground settlements and make contact, they proved to be much more than tunnelling vermin. These days, the short and hirsute creatures were a regular sight in the streets, and JB made sure they were treated as any other citizen of the galaxy deserved.

It probably helped that they'd been a huge part of saving the town in the chaotic events immediately surrounding her and BraveStarr's arrival on New Texas, too. Especially Fuzz, who had more than earned his Deputy's star when he almost got himself killed helping BraveStarr in his climactic battle with Stampede.

"Okay Fuzz, let's head on back to the Marshal Post and see what we can get out of the radio," she said, trying to project as much calm as she could. Sweeping a few errant red hairs back behind one ear, JB quickly jammed her hat down on top to hold everything in place. Her hair really needed straightening again, but she could never seem to find the time lately.

Pausing at her desk, JB swept up her hammer before heading out. The small artefact was really more of a gavel than a hammer, outwardly appearing to be little more than a metal cylinder on a short handle, but then JB was about twice the size of the Prairie Folk that had given her the ancient technological marvel. They called it the Hammer of Justice, which she'd always though was a little ostentatious, but it did make an appropriate armament for the planet's only Judge - and the hammer was, like its creators, both more dangerous and technically advanced than it first appeared, and also possessed of a little touch of the mystical and arcane.

The few townsfolk that were outdoors in the rapidly rising heat of the late morning all acknowledged her as she passed by them, walking briskly behind a scurrying Deputy Fuzz. Most of them JB knew at least casually by now, and many of them better than that. Although sometimes, being a Judge, she was well-acquainted with those she met for all the wrong reasons, in the middle of Fort Kerium she wasn't likely to meet any real scoundrels. Besides, they usually gave her a wide berth unless they thought they had something to prove.

It was only a few short minutes' walk to the Marshal Post, but even so JB was glad to be back inside and out of the heat when they arrived. Fuzz headed straight over to the monitoring station, hauling himself up onto the tall stool and attacking the keyboard vigorously with his stubby clawed digits.

"Monitoring Station not getting anything," Fuzz complained as JB moved up to stand behind him at the keyboard. "Something strange happen last night, when Marshal BraveStarr leave, and it not working right since."

"What about the radio?" she asked, leaning over to grab the handset from the edge of the console.

"Tried," Fuzz replied, still typing commands into the machine to little apparent effect. "But me think maybe that not working either. Or BraveStarr out of range, or underground."

JB thumbed the transmit button on the handset, reasoning that it couldn't hurt to try again. "Marshal BraveStarr, this is Fort Kerium. Please respond, over."

After a few seconds of static, she tried again. "BraveStarr, it's JB. Can you hear me, over?"

Still nothing. Maybe it really is broken.

"Anyone on this net, Fort Kerium requesting a radio check, over."

A few brief pops and shifts in the static had her hopes spike briefly, but nothing came of it. The tension only really served to make it clear to the Judge that she might be a little more worried about this whole situation than she was admitting to herself.

We should be getting something from one of the homesteads, or at least the mail carriage.

Just as JB hung the handset back up on the console, the radio let out a loud screech of feedback. She snatched the handset back up again and strained her ears to try and make something out against the resurgent static.

It was faint, but after a few seconds JB was certain that she could hear someone trying to call back. It sounded like they were shouting into a metal drum in a tornado, but there was definitely a voice in there somewhere.

"Fuzz, can you do anything to clean that up?" she asked the deputy, her grip unconsciously tightening on the radio.

"Me already on it Judge," Fuzz replied, standing up on the stool to reach some of the switches and knobs near the top of the console beside the screen. "Keep trying."

The radio squawked a few more times as JB repeated her calls for any kind of response from the outside, before finally resolving into something audible. There was still plenty of popping, crackling interference in the signal, but it was possible the make out BraveStarr's voice.

"—at you JB? I can barely make you out, say again, over."

Trying not to sound too relieved, JB responded. "Marshal, glad to hear you haven't just disappeared in the night. Fuzz says the monitoring station has been acting up since you left early this morning, what's been going on?" Placing her other hand on Fuzz's shoulder, she briefly let go of the transmit button and thanked the Deputy for helping to fix the radio.

"Well, g'morning Judge. Nice to know you care." Even through the interference, JB could still hear the smile behind the words. "It'll probably be easier to explain this in person," BraveStarr continued, "and I'm pretty much right outside town now. Is Thirty's water trough still full?"

"I... I don't remember. I think it might have been, I wasn't really paying attention when I passed it on the way in," she answered, caught a little off-guard by the strange question. Then the significance of it dawned. "Does this mean you managed to get him back?" she asked, hopefully.

"Not exactly," the Marshal said, "but I reckon someone's gonna be needing that filled if ya wouldn't mind checkin' on it. We're only a couple minutes out, should be back soon."

"We?" JB queried.

"I may have picked up a stray on my way home," BraveStarr replied. "She's a little rambunctious but I think I'm gonna keep her."

"It's not like you to go picking up strange women in the desert, Marshal," JB said lightly. She was fairly sure she heard a chuckle through the fluctuating static.

"Oh she's strange all right. Say, you didn't ask your dad for a pony for Christmas again this year, did ya?"

"Not since I was about five, no," she laughed, "although he did promise to get me a unicorn if he ever got back to Scotland. Why?"

"No reason. See you in a few. BraveStarr, out."

**Rainbow Dash**

It had taken a little bit of convoluted gesturing and drawing on the floor, but Rainbow was pretty sure she had understood the plan. ~BraveStarr~ had gone into the town on the ground, and she was supposed to fly up and just orbit above him until he gave her the signal that it was safe to come down. She wasn't exactly clear on the why, but the big guy seemed to be pretty cool so far, so Rainbow was willing to let him take the lead in his own environment. Even if he had just had a conversation with his hat.

The initial effort she had expended in the climb had been unpleasant in the overpowering heat, but Rainbow had to admit that the thermals coming off the buildings were really good once she was above the town.

I could basically glide up here all day, she thought, slowly banking around to keep one eye on the ground. Her companion's white hat made him pretty easy to keep track of amongst the complex of buildings. A few of the structures were freshly painted in bright colours, but the majority separating the dusty streets were clad in sun-bleached pastels.

The small number of other figures moving around the city all seemed to resemble ~BraveStarr~ to one degree or another - they were universally bipedal, but there seemed to be quite a variety of shapes and colours among the group. Rainbow was a little disappointed that she hadn't seen any more horses yet, but she supposed they had their own town somewhere else.

Rainbow watched as the little white hat she was tracking stopped in front of one of the larger buildings towards the middle of town. A couple of other figures emerged from the structure, but Rainbow's interest was mostly captured by the large trough full of water she could see nearby. Her body took the opportunity to remind her of exactly how dirty, sweaty, hot and dehydrated she was, and Rainbow started to glance between the figures on the ground and the water as she shaped a plan of her own.

If she was going to be meeting more weird aliens, she needed to make a good first impression.

**BraveStarr**

As soon as he turned the corner at the end of the street, BraveStarr saw JB stood in the Marshal Post doorway. For a moment she was leaning one shoulder against the doorjamb with her arms folded across her chest, almost wrapping her dark coat around herself. Then she straightened up and stepped out onto the covered deck in front of the building as she saw him.

"You going to be making a habit of running off in the middle of the night all by yourself?" she called out, leaning on the blue-grey wooden railing at the front of the porch.

"Not planning on it, no," he replied, smiling as he approached. "Somethin' came up. I had to go take care of it."

"You need to be more careful," JB said, stone-faced. "You have no idea how much paperwork I'd need to do to get a replacement. It would be really inconvenient for me."

"Well, I guess I'll have to keep on comin' back then," he said, coming to a stop outside the railing in front of her as she valiantly fought to keep from smiling. "I'd hate to be a bother."

Then, Fuzz came running out of the Marshal Post. Jumping up onto and then off the top of the railing next to JB, he hit BraveStarr in the chest with a happy cry of "Marshal, you okay!"

Laughing, BraveStarr returned the hug before placing Fuzz back on the ground. "Hey there li'l pardner. Sorry if I worried ya."

"I think we're both just glad you're okay," JB said, smiling as she walked around the railing to join the pair in the street. "So," she went on, looking at the street behind him, "where's your new friend?"

"Oh, she's around," BraveStarr hedged. "Wanted to give you a little heads-up first. She's a little... unique. Stampede has done something that Shaman didn't even think was possible, and pulled a couple of spirits into the real world."

"You mean like you do?" JB asked.

"Like several steps beyond that, and a giant leap too far," BraveStarr said, a little anger creeping into his voice, "It wasn't asking to borrow a little something to use for an honest purpose. More like a straight up abduction; both of them are actually physically here in our world, in their entirety, in one body. Only one of them is actually awake and in control, but they're both in danger. She escaped, and I brought her here, because we really need to keep her safe until she can get back where she belongs."

"So what are we talking here," the Judge asked, looking confused and apprehensive, "a half-bear, half-puma or something?"

"Not exactly," BraveStarr said, chuckling at the image that conjured up before checking the street. "Oh, and she's not just an animal, so don't treat her like one. Just doesn't speak our language, that's all."

"Well, there's nobody suspect hangin' around," he declared, before raising a hand to his mouth and letting out a loud whistle. "JB, Fuzz," he said, looking up at the descending dot in the sky, "this is Loyalty."

**Rainbow Dash**

As reluctant as she was to admit it, Rainbow Dash wasn't exactly feeling up to pulling off a Sonic Rainboom in her current condition. She was pretty sure she could manage one of her other tricks though.

And that way, they get to be impressed twice when I show them that later, she thought, before banishing the errant thoughts from her head and concentrating on her trajectory. She had to get this just right or she was going to catch a hoof and crash - picking up water from the ground was tougher than just smashing through a few clouds, but Rainbow was certain she could make it work.

Accelerating downwards, Rainbow started to build up the air cushion in front of her hooves that she was going to need to scoop the water out of the trough without smashing into it herself.

If everything went according to plan, it would act like a big snow shovel and push the whole lot ahead of her in a wave, before slowly disintegrating to let her fly through the spray over the next few seconds and catch it in her slipstream. Rainbow was fairly sure that would get most of the dirt and lather off, and the heavier saturated water would drop out of her tailwind. Then it would just be a simple matter of completing the loop and sliding in to land before the last bit of trailing mist caught up and splashed off her back, just enough to make a little rainbow appear above her for a few seconds.

Maybe I should toss a roll in there to dry myself off a bit. Eh, why not?

As it turned out the trough was a little deeper than she expected, and Rainbow ended up skimming the surface rather than gathering up the entire contents. After that little hiccup everything seemed to be going pretty well though. The air cushion disintegrated just after she pulled up into her loop, and Rainbow continued up towards the curtain of expanding airborne water.

The suspended liquid was just starting to fall as Rainbow came up and hit it from below, briefly folding her wings as she crashed through. It burst over her like a high-pressure shower, scouring most of the dust and lather from her coat, mane and tail, before the last of the spray was sucked into her slipstream as she rolled all the way over at the top of the loop.

Loop-the-loop around, and... wham!

Sliding to a stop on the ground, Rainbow pulled herself up to her full height and spread her wings wide. It looked as if the temperature was going to mess the last part up - none of the water mist had survived to reach the end of the flight with her, so the rainbow was going to be a no-go.

Doesn't matter, nailed the landing, still lookin' awesome. There was a faint clink as the glowy red rock she'd been carrying tucked in one leg fell to the ground, and Rainbow quickly scooped it up in one wing before straightening again. Nopony saw that.

There were two new alien creatures waiting for her on the ground, both with something of the familiar about them. One of them seemed pretty similar to ~BraveStarr~, at least as far as Rainbow could tell under all the clothes. It was maybe a little shorter, and differently coloured - its clothing darker greys and blacks, and its skin and hair a lighter pink and red - but it was the same basic shape, and its face was similar too. The few other things Rainbow had spied wandering about the town from up in the air had been of a similar bipedal type, although she hadn't really gotten a close look at any of them.

The second one was perhaps more unsettling, as it looked a lot like the shorter furry thing that had tackled her back in the metal prison she'd woken up in. It wasn't doing anything aggressive right now, and thankfully it didn't stink of smoke and ash like the other one had, but Rainbow resolved to keep an eye on it regardless.

The two of them seemed pretty impressed, which Rainbow thought was a perfectly natural reaction to something as cool as what they'd just seen. She wasn't really sure what ~BraveStarr~ was planning on doing next, but it at least looked like the building could shelter them from the unbelievable heat for a while.

**JB McBride**

JB couldn't decide whether to keep her eyes on the looping rainbow contrail, slowly fading from the air above the water trough, or on the equally colourful pony-like creature on the road in front of her. It was as if someone had seen the disconnect between the pony that children wished for at Christmas and the reality of an actual pony (which involved a lot more shovelling, grooming, feeding and exercise than any child would imagine), and decided the fantasy version should exist. Chubby legs, huge eyes, bright colours, and - for some reason - wings. It was even exactly the right size for a child to ride it.

There was a little bit of her that really wanted to jump on it and hug it, but there was no way that was happening.

Seeming pleased with their reactions to its dramatic entrance, the small creature nonchalantly dusted a hoof off against its chest, said something JB didn't understand, and then trotted over to the water trough. It was a little too short to drink from it standing on all fours, but it just reared up, puts its forehooves on the edge and unceremoniously dunked its head under the surface.

"Okay," she said, turning a perplexed glare on BraveStarr. "Explain what I'm seeing here, because it looks like you've adopted a three-foot flying rainbow pony."

"Yeah, I sorta have," the Marshal replied, "although I think it's more that she's decided to follow me for the time being. She's packing a whole heap of magic, and Stampede's after her. Don't know why, but we all know it ain't gonna be anything good. So, until Shaman can figure out what to do, she's staying here. Hopefully she'll figure enough of that out to stick around."

"You know I have to point out that she's a liability, and you're putting the whole town at risk by antagonising that monster," JB said, without any real heat behind it.

"It's the right thing to do, JB." BraveStarr said firmly. "I don't want to have to choose between the law and what's right, but you know I'll do it if I have to."

JB sighed. "I know, I know. I think you're doing the right thing, Marshal. And the law would probably be on your side here anyway, you'd just have to declare it protective custody. I just can't promise the whole town's gonna see it that way if we have to fend off another army of skeletal Broncosaurs and magical fireballs, Fortress Mode or not. We barely survived it the last time."

BraveStarr shook his head. "I'm pretty sure that Stampede learned his lesson after that one, and Tex is a coward at heart. Even if he got the order to try attacking the town again, he's not gonna come right at us head on for a second time. Not unless he can find something to give him an advantage. Right now, we're the ones with the edge in that matchup. Even more so now we've stopped whatever they were tryin' to do with her," he said, nodding in the direction of the blue-furred pony now messily shaking itself dry next to the water trough.

And you're trying to help this creature lost in an alien world, JB added in the privacy of her own head, because you have to do something, and the one you really want to be helping is out of your reach.

She started to head back into the Marshal Post, BraveStarr following behind. As she reached the doorway, JB glanced back over her shoulder as another question occurred to her. "You said there were two, right? So, if one's Loyalty, what's the other one?"

Chapter 29 - Night Mares

View Online

**Luna**

Awareness returned slowly at first. The crumbling remains of a dream drifted away on a wind unknown to the waking world, flowing with the same currents that ever pushed and pulled at her mane.

She was thankful that it had been something besides a melange of incomprehensible images of another world, another life, seen through different eyes. Perhaps that meant the imprint left behind by her encounter with Thirty-Thirty would fade in time. Even so, though the dream had been of other things, it had not been a pleasant one.

She shifted a little, for the moment content to remain lying in bed. The old nightmares came less frequently these last few moons. Luna had yet to determine whether or not this was a good thing.

It was always hard to see the way out of a problem from the inside. She knew that better than anyone, after watching and guiding from the outside on so very many nights. But there was no watcher on the outside of her own mind, no guide out of her own maze.

It had started so well. Earning the acceptance of Loyalty, Laughter and Honesty; putting an end to the Age of Chaos. Maybe someday she would understand what had gone so wrong, where she had wandered so far from the path on which she began; but this awakening brought no more revelation than any of the others since the shadow had passed.

For such a short span of years there was much to reflect on, and not least because the shortness of the span was only subjective. She had after all taken the short road, while her sister and the rest of the world had taken the long. It would simply take time to process. She couldn't undo the changes the Nightmare had wrought; upon her sister, her guards, or the world. Her best was all she could give, in the hope that it might one day be enough.

"So," she murmured, without bothering to raise her head or open her eyes, "how many of you are watching me sleep this time?"

It wasn't strictly necessary for her to ask, given how close all four of the guards were. Echo was sat by the bed, Starchaser was in the library, and Nightshade was outside the door with Dayspring. At this range she could easily hear them think, had she not erected her own arcane barriers to prevent it. The Nightmare had made sure of that, paranoid as it was.

Still, they could at least pretend things were as they used to be.

"Just me," Echo's voice responded from somewhere off to her right. "Are you feeling well?"

Luna opened her eyes, expecting to be dazzled by afternoon sunlight blazing in through the brightly-appointed room's many windows. The orange-tinted glow that actually greeted her suggested she may have slept longer than anticipated.

"What time is it?"

"Almost time for me to wake you. You were exhausted," Echo replied, getting up from the window-seat beside her bed. It was one of the few objects in the room not made entirely from pale wood and white marble; the well-worn cushion a dark crimson blot perched atop a dark wood frame. Luna assumed Celestia had added it to the room at some point during her absence.

Echo was almost more of a contrast to the day-appointed room than Luna herself. His glossy black coat was, she was led to believe, a rarity in modern times - although, perhaps with the return of a Noctral population that change might one day be reversed. A faint line of lighter scar tissue now marked the deep grey membrane of his left wing where it had been torn the previous night, and would likely be a permanent addition - even given the magical assistance he had received, he was lucky to have retained the power of flight. His black mane and tail conspired with his coat to make him appear more like a pony-shaped hole in the room than a physical presence, but that illusion was broken by his bright amber eyes, the brass bell cutie mark, and the stark white diamond in the fur of his muzzle.

Reluctantly, Luna forced her body into motion. "I do not have time to be exhausted," she said, standing and stepping off the bed. Glancing pointedly toward the door, she added, "I notice Starchaser has rotated out early. What exactly did Nightshade do this time?"

As close as they were standing, she felt his sudden burst of helpless fear and guilt at her disapproval in spite of her defences. Echo quickly forced himself back under control, and Luna tried to hide her reaction, but something in her face must have betrayed her.

"Sorry," he said. Reflexively taking the blame, as she knew they all would for any perceived mistake or imperfection. "I know it's painful for you when we do that."

"I should be the one apologising," she replied quietly. "After all, I'm the one who did it to you all. And now I'm not even strong enough to undo it."

Once, any of them would have stood their ground. Argued, disagreed with her. Made her justify herself. Taken ownership of their own mistakes, but not hers. Striven to improve for their own sakes, not out of devotion and fear. That was one of the reasons she had so loved all four of them.

Then they had tried to stop her making the worst mistake of her life, and paid for it. The Nightmare retained some twisted attachment to them, but still saw what they did as a betrayal - and took steps to make sure they'd never do it again.

And much like life itself, some things, once taken, were impossible to give back.

"One day you will be," Echo said confidently, "and it won't change anything. You could have simply given us up for lost after what it made of us, but you did not. You pulled us all back from the edge."

She couldn't help but see the unnatural hint of fanaticism behind her old friend's eyes. The little splinter in her chest twisted once more. It was the least I could do after I threw you over it.

"We all stood beside you willingly before," he continued, "and given the choice we will again."

"Which makes giving you back that choice all the more important," Luna said. "It should never have been taken from any of you, whether or not thou or they wouldst exercise it."

Echo grinned, and for a moment Luna could see him as he once was - the pony that had lived behind those eyes, and, she hoped, one day might again. "You won't get rid of us that easily. The world may have changed around us, but that does not mean we have to change to catch up."

"Celestia doesn't seem to agree." Luna paused as she stepped into her ornamented boots, then chuckled ruefully. "She got me back just as she remembers, but I'm not even sure I know her any more."

"I do think all of us are going to be slightly skeptical of any 'plans' she produces for quite some time yet," Echo replied. "I seem to recall she found the concept rather foalish."

"Indeed," Luna said, a small smile touching her lips, "the Griffins did not name her 'Wildfire' for her forethought and consideration. Not that she ever took the time to speak to one long enough to know that she was so named. The diplomatic consequences were always my burden to bear." The weight of her dark metal peytral settled across her withers, and Luna shook out her mane as she turned toward the door. "I suppose I can add my sister's carefree and impulsive nature to the list of things I destroyed, although Equestria seems to be the better for it."

"Perhaps she might have been a better sister to you had she not taken so much for granted."

The venomous growl in the stallion's voice actually stunned Luna into silence for a moment, and not just because of the abrupt change in tone. She could feel a shadow of the hatred behind it even through her mental wards. As he spoke again, she couldn't bring herself to turn back and look at him, to see what the hate she could feel would look like on his face.

"We could have avoided all of this if she had just considered the consequences of her actions for—"

"Echo, please," she cut him off, deliberately keeping her voice low in spite of her reactionary anger, "thou know'st thou art not entirely rational when it comes to both my sister, and acknowledging mine own shortcomings at present."

"No, I am not," Echo acknowledged, more calmly, as Luna finally turned back from the doorway to face him. He seemed about to continue, but as her eyes met his something within him refused to let the words out.

The Nightmare had rendered herself perfect in their perception, and Luna's salvation from it had left that effect not broken, but redirected. He couldn't believe she was wrong any more than he could believe the sky was green, or that twice two was five.

Then, to her amazement, Echo forced himself onward anyway.

"...but neither are you."

**Nightshade**

There was movement in the chamber behind her. Luna was awake.

An icy chill ran the length of her spine, and Nightshade fought the urge to bolt. She was so preoccupied that she didn't notice Dayspring looking over at her from the far side of the doorway until the other mare spoke.

"Still thy whimpering, foal."

Forcing her ears forward again, Nightshade tried to focus her attention back on her duty. The old nag was right, as usual. Even in the face of the coming judgement for her failure, she should not neglect such tasks as were still hers to perform.

It was at least some comfort that Dayspring had favoured her with four entire words of encouragement, instead of merely a disapproving glare. She'd even gone so far as to speak a language approaching modern Equestrian.

Despite what the four of them shared, Dayspring was still something of a mystery to her and the others. The only hard facts they had were the obvious — she was a dappled grey mare, with a short-cropped pure white mane and tail, and shared the same leathery wings and vertically-slitted eyes common to all their kind — and, additionally, that she was far older than any of them. Dayspring came from a quite different age of the world. It was rare that they got more than a few words out of her on any subject, although she had always seemed content in their company. Though she was economical with speech, they had all determined that it was not for want of knowledge or intelligence that she kept silent. She just didn't seem to value speaking to anyone but Luna.

As best they could all tell, she was an honest-to-goodness Knight. Not a mere titled noble, but a member of a militant order from the depths of pre-unification history. Presumably that meant Dayspring remembered a time when the tribes had all been at war, although she'd never spoken of it. She'd been Luna's Lifewarden for longer than anypony but Luna herself knew, and had the armour to prove it too. The ornate ebony battleplate spent its time on a stand these days, gathering dust alongside an enormous sky-lance; discarded in favour of a more modern suit that matched those of her compatriots. Armour fit for a battlefield was rather too hot and heavy for guard duty, and the old dapple at least seemed to acknowledge the wisdom of lighter barding on eight to sixteen hour shifts.

Although, Nightshade wondered privately, perhaps if she'd been wearing it last night, we wouldn't have been quite so outmatched. Unless she'd ended up exhausted after dragging the carriage around in full plate.

Dayspring even actively resisted updating her vocabulary, for as much difference as that made given that she spoke to modern ponies even less than she did her fellows. She did at least make some effort to be understood should she have occasion to speak with anypony besides Luna, but Nightshade found conversations between the two older mares were often so archaic as to be unintelligible even to herself, Echo or Starchaser. They would probably have been of great interest to historians, as much for their linguistics as their content. Nightshade did not begrudge either of them some indulgence of something only they now shared, however. It seemed to please Luna.

Nightshade did her best to scan the corridor around them, but it was still difficult to see out of her right eye. The whole side of her muzzle was numb, and quite swollen. She had to assume the blow had been a strike from a limb, but it had felt more like being struck with an entire roofing beam. Without her now destroyed helmet cushioning the impact, it might have robbed her of teeth, an eye, or consciousness. Dayspring had at least left the position on the left side of the door for her, so the old veteran would be covering her blind side.

There was nothing natural about that outsider. Whispered tales about things from the other side of the veil were scarcely to be given credence, and had been all but forgotten in this age, but nevertheless it had crossed from somewhere beyond. A true anomaly, nothing about it could be taken for granted no matter how normal it might first appear. What came from the other side was alien, and what came from within the darkness of the veil itself was even worse.

And when it came, it had hurt Luna. How, Nightshade did not know; but she was going to find out. When she did, it was going to pay.

Luna hadn't called for its banishment or imprisonment, or even destroyed the cursed beast herself. Instead she had wanted it protected, of all things.

It must be the right course of action, even if she couldn't understand. After all, Luna had chosen it.

Unless, perhaps, Luna is somehow deceived by it?

Her mind recoiled from the abhorrent, blasphemous thought. There had been a distressing number of those, of late. Perhaps that was the source of her failure.

Dayspring must have sensed something of the turmoil within her, because the older mare offered her more counsel - although this time without deigning to translate it from Old Equestrian.

"Adversus solem ne loquitor."

Figuratively, it meant 'don't speak against the obvious' or 'accept things as they are', but the literal translation was rather more ironic given their lot in life.

Nightshade snorted, cocking her head at the other mare. "Really?" she replied. "I know 'tis an old idiom, but thou couldst not think of another way to say it than 'do not argue with the sun'?"

"Deliberate," Dayspring replied laconically, one eye briefly turning to regard Nightshade.

"Thou truly believ'st thinking on these changes is that dangerous?" Nightshade asked. "That it compares to the Nightmare's folly?"

The worry is obviously impairing my judgement, she thought. The old nag's anachronism is even serving to drag my own speech backward in time. I should be better than this.

The other mare just grunted and went back to watching the corridor, leaving Nightshade to wonder if perhaps Dayspring had exceeded her word quota for the day. She couldn't discern any disturbance in the old warrior's emotions through their bond; but then again, Dayspring was always as constant as her namesake in that regard. Nightshade wasn't sure if there was anything that would perturb Dayspring, except perhaps extended conversation.

She would just have to stop worrying about all these strange contradictions, and wait until Luna chose to speak to her.

**Twilight Sparkle**

Having never experienced the feeling before, Twilight couldn't be certain, but she was beginning to wonder if this was what it was like to cram for a test the night before.

There was just too much to take in. There was this big, disorganised, fragile mess of information in her head. It felt like touching it to organise or process it would just cause the whole edifice to shatter, and then she'd only be left with what scraps she could reassemble from the ruins.

They had simply run out of time. If they wanted to be rested and ready to journey to another world the next day, all of them needed to sleep - and so, Twilight had reluctantly decamped from the library to the kitchens, and from there on toward the group's shared room.

She was at least hopeful that the contents of her brief meeting with Princess Celestia towards the end of the day would stick. There was hardly time for any formal practice, but in a short private session Celestia had taught her the basics of self-defence against mental intrusion via dark magic. Twilight knew she wouldn't be capable of any miracles, but she could at least close the gates of that mental fortress Celestia had alluded to before. The other alicorn hadn't even been able to dent Twilight's defences once they were up, although Celesta had admitted she was hardly any particular talent when it came to either offensive dark magic or mental manipulation of any sort. Twilight also thought they'd probably both benefited from having something resembling one of her old tutor sessions, even if it hadn't lasted all that long.

Everypony else seemed much less on-edge about what was going on than Twilight herself. They'd even been goofing off instead of studying when she had returned to the library after her time with Celestia, although Twilight had put them back on track quite rapidly. She wasn't sure what exactly they'd been talking about, but there was a distinctly guilty aspect to the silence that fell when she'd re-entered the library, so they couldn't have been studying the way they were supposed to. There hadn't been much of the day left by then, but they'd at least gotten a few more things covered.

A hostile environment, mostly well above temperatures any pony would be comfortable in. Hostile wildlife, and most of it a completely alien form of life. Dozens of new and unfamiliar intelligent species. Whatever this Stampede thing is supposed to be, and the gang he has helping him. And that doesn't even begin to consider the effect the lower ambient magic levels could have on all of us, she thought. It would be nice to have some sort of relational measure to make an estimate of exactly how much of a difference there is, but Thirty-Thirty doesn't really even have a foal's understanding of how magic works. Even earth ponies have a better grasp of it than he does.

All of them had a lot of new and interesting things to think about as they made their way back to the bedroom. Applejack was trying to talk to Pinkie about the other world's crop situation, while Pinkie seemed to be getting more excited by the minute. It was difficult to guess what exactly she was excited about at any one moment, because it changed seemingly at random — sometimes in mid-sentence. Rarity was doing her best to ply Thirty-Thirty with questions about what she was supposed to wear, and only achieving limited success despite some enthusiastic encouragement from Starchaser. Fluttershy was...

Twilight thought for a moment, and realised she couldn't actually remember the last time Fluttershy had said anything. Even for her, that was unusually quiet.

A glance over her shoulder confirmed what her ears were already telling her - Fluttershy was still there, but walking alone at the back of the group. There was just slightly too much separation between her and the others, as if Fluttershy was deliberately distancing herself from everypony else.

Twilight didn't necessarily find it odd that the other introvert in their little group of friends was keeping to herself, especially after all of the stress they'd been under recently, but she did think this might not be the best time to be left entirely alone.

Dropping back a little as the group moved on, Twilight settled in beside Fluttershy. Absorbed in her own world, the pegasus didn't even seem to see her at first.

"Fluttershy?" she prompted softly. "You okay?"

Fluttershy flinched, almost missing a step as she noticed Twilight beside her. "I'm sorry."

"What for?" Twilight giggled, a little amused by the reaction. "I think we're all a little stressed out right now. I totally get wanting to have a few moments to yourself, just... don't forget we're here if you need to talk. Okay?"

Fluttershy nodded quietly, her eyes focused forward rather than looking at Twilight. They walked on in silence for a little while, a few lengths apart from everypony else, before Fluttershy finally decided to speak.

"Did it," Fluttershy faltered and began again. "Was I right to encourage you, in Rainbow's dream?"

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, trying to hide the fear that surged back up along with the memory. She had changed somehow, in a way that they'd all seen and obviously been disturbed by, but they hadn't said anything about it until now...

"I thought I just wanted to help Rainbow Dash, but there was... there was something else," Fluttershy said, her pink mane hiding her face like a veil as she kept her head forward. "I was as worried as everypony else when you, well, changed, but..."

"I'm not sure what you all saw," Twilight said carefully, "or sure of much of what happened to me in those few moments, really. I know I felt different, but I couldn't exactly see myself or concentrate on much beyond what I was trying to do with the spell. But I do know what you said reminded me of what I was doing. All the dark magic was making it hard to think straight, and you helped me stay focused."

"We didn't just see it, Twilight," Fluttershy said, still not making eye contact as she walked. "We felt it. You weren't the only one that changed. Applejack asked all of us afterwards, and me, Pinkie and Rarity all felt something. Before that I really did just want to help Rainbow Dash, but when it happened," Fluttershy hesitated before closing her eyes and visibly forcing herself to continue, "for a moment there was a part of me that... that remembered how you'd hurt Rainbow just before we thought we'd lost her, and that wanted t-to hurt you in return. To push you onward in w-whatever you were doing not because it was right, but because it was wrong. Because it was going to hollow you out and destroy you, and I-I wanted... I wanted to..."

The realisation that she'd inflicted something like that on Fluttershy, of all ponies, hit Twilight like a kick to the gut. Not to mention how much it hurt to hear such a gentle pony telling you she thought you deserved to be hurt, even if Fluttershy was ashamed for feeling that way.

Choking off the end of her sentence, Fluttershy took a breath. "Please, Twilight." Twilight flinched at the intensity in Fluttershy's eyes as she opened them again, finally looking straight at her. "Please, whatever that was, whatever we did, we can't do it again."

"I wasn't planning on it," Twilight said nervously, before the conversation lapsed into an awkward silence that lasted the rest of the way to the room. The others didn't notice her mood, or the conversation - or didn't say anything if they did - and Twilight soon found herself lying in one of the room's many beds, in the dark and alone with her thoughts.

She hadn't even considered that what happened might have affected the others beyond what they had seen and heard in her altered appearance. Not that she even knew what that was like, either. She was honestly a little frightened by it herself, but mostly curious.

Are they all ashamed of what we did, disturbed by it like Fluttershy? It didn't feel wrong to me, just... different. Dangerous, but not in a scary way.

Are my friends afraid of me?

To her discomfort, Twilight couldn't deny that there was a part of her that thought they probably should be.

**Rainbow Dash**

The whole afternoon and evening had been pretty much a write-off for Rainbow Dash thanks to the appalling heat outside of the building she found herself in. Somehow it wasn't hot inside, a cold wind blowing in from several places around each room, but given that she couldn't exactly ask anypony about it she hadn't spent too much thought on that mystery. The place seemed to be some sort of small-town jailhouse or sheriff's office, with a few bedrooms off to one side along with a bunch of weird machinery. The cells had kind of freaked her out a bit at first, given the day she'd had, but then Rainbow had connected some dots in her head. ~BraveStarr~ was obviously something like the Appleloosa Sheriff Silverstar, which explained why he'd been snooping around in the place she'd arrived - whatever the thugs who'd locked her up were doing, there was no way it was legal. It also explained why he'd stuck around too, on top of whatever his association with the big grey horse was.

The upside to the afternoon being too hot to go outside, however, was that it was ideal extra nap time. Rainbow had spent most of the remaining sunlight hours dozing fitfully on a big bed in one of the back rooms, recovering herself after the crazy day she'd survived. She'd even sniffed out some hay under the bed, which had been a little stale around the edges but was mostly still good.

Rainbow expected it to cool down outside once the suns went down, but to her frustration the heat persisted. By the time it started to get cold enough to go out, she was too sleepy to be bothered with anything. The other aliens had disappeared elsewhere during the day, but ~BraveStarr~ had kept checking in on her the whole time. He had managed to indicate that he was going to sleep the last time he'd been in, so Rainbow decided to do the same.

As she lay there waiting to drift off, she wondered if maybe the sunrise would bring her new hope along with a new day.

Rainbow Dash had only been asleep for what seemed like an instant before finding herself in an all-too-familiar void.

"Hey, L. Long time no see."

Startled, Rainbow hopped forward and span round to find herself face-to-face with herself once more. The creeping, unsettling feeling that crawled over her when she looked at the doppelganger was enough to make her coat stand on end, even if Rainbow couldn't pick out anything specific that was unpleasant about how it looked. Her forehooves twitched as she suppressed the urge to paw at the ground and charge.

"You... you shouldn't even be here," Rainbow Dash protested, somewhere between frustrated and, if she was honest with herself, maybe just a little afraid. "You're just a stupid nightmare! We blasted you with the Elements and everything!"

Her duplicate seemed to be amused by that. "You didn't hit me, moron. You can't, not when we're together in here. You hit the guy that woke me up, tried to use me. I'd thank you for the helping hoof there except, you know, didn't need it. Could've dealt with that myself."

"I'm getting pretty sick of your horseapples," Rainbow complained angrily. "Who the hay are you supposed to be and what are you doing in my head?"

"You still haven't figured it out? Even you don't know?" her double answered venomously. "Pathetic. Even this incarnation thing you've got going on now hasn't made you any smarter. I thought the whole Nightmare Moon thing might have rung a bell or two, but I suppose you always do have trouble keeping yourself together between bearers. You've been hopping around without me for so long since Luna dropped you, too..."

Rainbow Dash stomped a hoof in the void. The impact felt more solid than when she moved normally, as if the mental force behind the act made a difference. Then she reflected that perhaps, here, it did. "What kind of an answer is that, you arrogant jerk?!"

"Arrogant?" the other Rainbow responded, voice almost neutral and genuinely puzzled. "It's not arrogance if you can back it up. I'm better than you," she stated simply. Before Rainbow Dash could respond to that her duplicate continued, growing angrier and more affronted. "I'm better than you, I'm better than your so-called friends, I'm better than all of them! It should be me out there, not you. You're a disgrace, a weak, pathetic, dependant disgrace! You trail around after them, so desperate for their damned approval, so desperate to do whatever they need so they can prop up their own weakness with our strength. With my strength!"

"Okay," Rainbow Dash yelled back, trying to resist the urge to just throw herself at... well, herself, "I've had just about enough outta you. Who the hay do you think you are talking about my friends like that?" Shaking her head briefly, she reconsidered her restraint. "Ya know what, I don't even care any more. If you won't stop saying that stuff about my friends by yourself, I'm just gonna come over there and make you."

The mirror image laughed in her face. Something about it stopped Rainbow in her tracks; the laughter wasn't mocking or goading, her duplicate seemed to find the prospect genuinely funny. "What're... what're ya gonna do," she said between fading chuckles, "kill me? We both know you don't have the guts, even if it was possible."

Rainbow Dash wasn't sure how to even begin responding to that. "What?"

"After everything you've done to build me up and shelter me, leaning on me to prop up your own weakness, you think you can kill me? Me?!" The duplicate let out a short bark of laughter. "What are you without me? Blind submission and slavery, that's what. While I sleep, you build me up then tear me down. Lean on me, stick to me like a parasite, then try to distance yourself from me like I'm the one that's undeserving. You got your first taste of real power, but you were too weak-willed to control even that. Got yourself thrown into this cesspit of a world, and you couldn't even protect yourself here. But something woke me up. Thought it could use me to get at you, as if I'd ever settle for second place. Live as somepony else's tool, begging for their approval and permission. No," she spat, her muzzle twisting into a hateful sneer, "that's your job. Now I'm free of him, and you are trying to force me back down again?

"Let me give you a little lesson, Loyalty," she said, the name dropping from her lips like a curse as she advanced slowly across the space that separated them, each statement punctuated by another step forward. There was a confidence in her double's voice, an inner strength that both awed and terrified Rainbow Dash in equal measure.

"There's only one pony I ask for permission, one pony whose approval I seek, one pony that deserves respect - me. I make the rules, because I'm the strongest, the fastest, the best," the apparition declared, stepping forward.

"You can mock me. You can insult me. You can grovel for the approval and faint praise of those weaker than you are."

One step closer.

"You can take what's mine. Destroy my home, shatter my possessions, scatter everything to the wind."

Another stride.

"You can break my body, crush my bones, imprison me, steal the very sky from me."

Rainbow Dash fought the urge to step back, to cower in the face of the pony advancing on her, and held her ground. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to intimidate her.

"But you can't..."

One more step, their muzzles almost touching.

"kill..."

As she took the final step forward, a supremely confident and superior smile split the duplicate's face. There was a name for that kind of self-assurance, for that ultimate expression of self-confidence, self-reliance. Something Rainbow had struggled with all her life, like a form of loyalty turned inward - loyalty only to the self. It flashed across Rainbow's mind as the other stood tall before her, wings spread wide, nothing but disdain and judgement in her double's eyes as she named herself in a cry that shook their shared dreamscape.

"PRIDE!"

Chapter 30 - The Day is Darkest Just After the Dawn

View Online

**BraveStarr**

BraveStarr had awoken after a dreamless night's sleep to a sensation of faint unease. There wasn't anything obviously disquieting about the new day, except perhaps that it was the middle of the morning. A few hours past dawn was unusually late in the day for BraveStarr to be just hauling himself out of bed, and initially he put it down to tiredness after the previous day's escapades. After quickly throwing on his uniform and heading to the bathroom to splash a little water on his face, BraveStarr couldn't help wondering what exactly he was anxious about, and why it had only gotten worse over the few minutes since he got up. However, it wasn't until he came out of the bathroom and headed back down the corridor that the Marshal caught the first hints of anything out of the ordinary.

The warm prickling sensation of powerful magic was emanating from Thirty-Thirty's room, and getting stronger by the moment. More concerning than that, it wasn't the same steady burn that BraveStarr had felt coming off of the small spirit creature before - instead it was pulsating arhythmically, varying in intensity seemingly at random from a comforting dry warmth all the way to the slick, cold feeling of wet ice against his skin.

Hurrying down the passageway, BraveStarr tried to push past the insubstantial but disorienting hot and cold waves battering against his form. Throwing the door open, he found the brightly-coloured creature highlighted by the morning sun pouring in through the window. She was tossing and turning on the bed, the sheet long since kicked off onto the floor.

I think anyone could be forgiven a nightmare or two after whatever she's been through, BraveStarr reflected, but this is intense.

Forcing himself closer, BraveStarr reached out a hand towards the thrashing equine. Careful to avoid being struck by a flailing hoof, he gripped one of her blue-furred shoulders and tried to shake her awake.

The pony's eyes flew open and, to BraveStarr's relief, the wildly fluctuating magic cut off. That relief was short-lived, however — the spirit creature's wild, darting eyes and pinned ears were obvious signs that is was still pretty shaken up. As soon as her eyes landed on him, the small creature let out a panicked whinny and lashed out, shoving BraveStarr in the chest with her front legs and sending him sprawling. As the Marshal hurriedly picked himself back up from the floor, one arm curled around his chest as he tried to suck in a breath, he realised that the loud snapping sound from his torso had probably been his breastplate failing as it saved him from a set of crushed ribs. It was primarily designed to absorb and deflect laser fire rather than kinetic impacts, but that didn't mean it was easy to break. The spirit creature was obviously significantly stronger than its size would suggest.

Staggering mostly upright, BraveStarr found the pony backed up into the corner of the room, still standing on the bed where it met the wall. She was hyperventilating and obviously terrified, pressed back into the corner as if willing herself to phase through it. The pony's eyes were rapidly bouncing between BraveStarr and the window behind his right shoulder, her wings half-open as she obviously weighed up her chances of making it past him. His first instinct was to move to directly block her path out of the window, but BraveStarr managed to resist the impulse. He wasn't dealing with an escaping villain, but a panicking innocent. If he moved to cut off her obvious route of escape, she might bolt and run him over - and given that she'd just shattered his flashproof chestplate with a barely-aimed kick, BraveStarr wasn't sure that would be a contest he could win without applying a potentially lethal amount of force in return. It was becoming increasingly apparent that "force of nature" might actually be an accurate description for a manifested spirit creature.

And ya don't fight a thunderstorm. Just gotta let it calm down on its own.

"Easy, easy," he wheezed, straightening up and slowly taking small steps backward and to the side, away from the window. Hopefully if he deliberately left the way open, she'd hesitate and think about what was going on long enough to defuse her panic. "You're okay."

For a moment BraveStarr was sure the winged pony was going to fly straight out of the window, but she managed to restrain herself. Gradually slowing her breathing and calming down, she relaxed her back legs and sat down in the corner. He noticed a look of embarrassed contrition flash over the pony's features as her eyes flicked down to his chest. She ducked her head a little, rubbing a hoof against the back of her neck, and mumbled something that sounded vaguely apologetic. The red flush of embarrassment BraveStarr might have expected on a human face was even visible through the cyan fur of her muzzle, although he couldn't figure out how exactly that worked. Come to think of it, Thirty-Thirty had never been able to explain how he managed it either.

All of a sudden, the light in the room dimmed. It took a moment of glancing at the ceiling before BraveStarr realised it couldn't be a faulty bulb, because the light wasn't even on - and the little spirit creature's attention was now firmly focused on the window over his shoulder. Turning to look outside, BraveStarr began to wonder if perhaps his earlier apprehension was a portent of something more than a pony having a nightmare.

There was a growing, darkening cloud of what looked like black vapour high in the sky. The three suns were still barely visible behind it as triplet points of light, but they were growing fainter by the second as the mist thickened. A pall of darkness was spreading across the town and, based on the way the cloud was expanding to cover the entire sky, likely the desert beyond it as well. BraveStarr got the strangest impression that the spreading inky tendrils weren't fading into view, so much as the sky behind them was fading out. He could already hear raised voices coming from some of the nearby buildings, most sounding confused for the moment - but there was already a bit of worry in some of them.

The radio earpiece in his hat let out a faint crackle, followed by JB's voice. "Marshal, are you seeing this?"

BraveStarr leaned out of the window, looking up at the darkening sky. "I don't know what I'm seeing JB, but I'm seein' it," he said, speaking into the thin microphone boom that hinged down from the brim of his hat.

The voices coming from the surrounding buildings grew more numerous and more agitated as the sky darkened further, culminating in a few startled cries as the remaining faint glow from the suns was smothered, leaving the town in darkness. There was barely time for a few lights to start flicking on nearby before the vanished suns' light was replaced by something else. A small part of the umbral mist blanketing the sky began to glow a deep, threatening purple, just barely distinct from the blackness around it. Until that point the cloud had seemed like a uniform sheet of colour, but there were twisting, undulating movements visible within the dim purple glow - like a rippling cloudbank caught in the throes of a truly apocalyptic storm. A motion by his shoulder drew the Marshal's eyes to the dark-shrouded form of the spirit creature now hovering beside his head. The faint illumination was just enough to outline her features, looking up at the sky with the same confused apprehension he felt.

"JB," BraveStarr said into the radio, "hit the sirens. I'm putting the town in Fortress Mode. Whatever this is, it's not good."

**Twilight Sparkle**

Several hours before the skies darkened over Fort Kerium, Twilight woke with the dawn - as she always did the morning before a big test. In this particular instance, however, the accompanying nervous excitement was rather heavily biased in the 'nervous' direction. She wasn't sure if anything she'd tried to learn yesterday had stuck in her head at all.

I am not prepared for this.

"G'morning sleepy-head!" Pinkie Pie chirped from the bed on her left. To Twilight's surprise and mild concern, the bed on which Pinkie sat looked awfully neat. Almost as if she hadn't slept in it at all, actually. Besides Pinkie, it looked like everypony else was still asleep - and the faint light coming in through the balcony arch suggested that Celestia had only just raised the sun. The Princess had probably retrieved the arcanite from the vault already, and was likely waiting for them all in the throne room.

"You're up early," Pinkie went on. "Are you excited, 'cause I'm excited I've never been so excited I mean except for the time I—"

"Pinkie," Twilight groaned, "please, not yet. Coffee first."

"Ohmygosh that's a great idea!" Pinkie exclaimed, before cutting herself off abruptly. Her mood deflated temporarily as she said, "Aww, sorry Twilight, but I can't. You know I'm not allowed caffeine after the thing with the elephant. I was right about the whole thing and they still banned me from making custard for a month. A whole month, Twilight. I can't go through that again."

"Not you," Twilight dragged herself to the edge of the bed and half-climbed, half-fell out onto her hooves. "Me."

More by memory than sight, Twilight made her way to the small side table holding cups, a teapot, and, most glorious of things, a coffee pot. Lighting her horn, she pushed a little of her own power into the pot's enchanted base to get it warmed up. No sense draining the energy stored in the thing when she could provide her own, especially when somepony else who wasn't a unicorn might need it later.

She let her eyes drift closed again as she waited, leaning one side against the table as she drank in the steadily intensifying coffee aroma. It took her longer than it probably should have to figure out that she'd trapped a wing in between her body and the table, and that that was where the strange uncomfortable sensation was coming from. Flexing the wing gently, Twilight used it to push off the table and stand back up as she yawned expansively.

At least the coffee would be strong, given that it'd been standing there all night. She'd always been of the opinion that coffee wasn't strong enough if you didn't need to chew it. Well, except for that one time Spike had taken her hyperbole literally, and given her a mug full of coffee grounds. That had been unpleasant.

Twilight felt Pinkie's eyes on her back as she poured some of the tantalising black sludge into a cup. "Hey, Twilight, aren't you gonna, uh," Pinkie began, sounding a little worried. Twilight could hear motion behind her, suggesting her friend was making gestures of some sort. "You know, maybe dilute that a teensy bit?"

Twilight dumped the contents of the small cup straight down her muzzle, and started to fill it again. "Nope."

"Wow," Pinkie whispered, a sort of horrified awe in her voice. "Hardcore."

"It's just coffee, Pinkie," Twilight replied, already starting to feel a little more equine as she took a more reserved sip from her second cup.

"Ooookay," Pinkie said, eyeing Twilight skeptically as the alicorn turned her back on the small table, "but I'm not gonna be held responsible if you do something really weird. And make sure you tell the guards I didn't have any when they arrest you. I'm clean now."

Applejack sat up in bed, stretching. Twilight tried to contain her jealousy at the hardworking earth pony's obviously wide-awake state, only moments after waking up. "Mornin' all," Applejack said cheerily. Then her expression turned worried and her muzzle twitched. "Is that... Pinkie, did you—"

"It was Twilight, I swear!" Pinkie blurted out, holding her hooves up defensively. "I haven't touched it!"

Applejack's eyes finally found Twilight over by the coffee table. Taking in the cup she was levitating next to her head, the farmpony relaxed a little. "I can smell how strong that is from here, Twi. Ya don't let Pinkie near that, ya hear?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "It's just coffee. Seriously, how bad can it be?"

"That's pretty much what Jump Start said when she gave it to Pinkie the first time," Applejack replied, climbing out of bed and heading for the bathroom. "Poor gal still twitches every time somepony orders a triple espresso. Oh, an' dibs on the shower," she added, darting inside the bathroom and shutting the door.

As the wooden door banged shut, a quiet "Eep!" and a muffled complaint of "Sweetie Belle, keep it down. 'M trying to sleep," confirmed that Fluttershy and Rarity were at least mostly conscious. Once everypony had had a turn in the bathroom, Twilight was determined to get going as soon as possible.

**Thirty-Thirty**

As he woke up, Thirty-Thirty reflected that it had been an interesting couple of days. The hope that it was drawing to an end, and that he'd soon be back home with his partner, was pulling recent events into focus.

He was certainly never going to look at Shaman and his weird spiritual stuff the same way again. Thirty wondered if the old man even knew about all this, and if he didn't, how much he would want to. It was unlikely something as trivial as appearances would matter to Shaman, but Thirty himself would definitely have a whole different perspective on the human's dealings with the spirit world from now on.

Although he'd initially been quite taken by the idea, when he thought about it, Thirty-Thirty found that he wasn't actually sure whether he would want to come back here or not. At least not right away. Maybe somewhere out away from the castle; some small town somewhere. Away from the weirdest excesses of this world, and one of its inhabitants in particular.

There was a whole world out there that he had barely even seen, though. If even half of what these little ponies had claimed or implied about their world yesterday was true, it was a pretty fantastical place that not even they really understood. If he didn't have a job to do, that alone should have been reason enough to come back for a visit. It was nearly impossible to separate myth from reality given the vast amount of magic he'd seen demonstrated in just the short time he'd spent here. A kingdom of gods and monsters, host to a people that were achingly close to his own. Some of whom could even live as long as he might.

For the first time, some of the implications of that fact hit home. Thirty-Thirty realised that he could potentially have taken the first steps in relationships that wouldn't necessarily end with the other party's death in mere decades. If they really were as long-lived as they claimed to be, there were at least four individuals in this world who might still be around millennia from now. Three of them already had a first impression of him, and he wasn't certain that any of them were positive.

"All things change in time, and the future is often not as we imagine it will be."

Luna's words were almost as unwelcome an intrusion as the mare herself, but Thirty-Thirty couldn't deny that she had had a point. Would he really still feel the same way he did now after a decade? A century? Could he afford to let anything, especially his own fear and hate, cost him one of the few constant or permanent things he might ever find in a shifting, ephemeral universe?

After a magical exile thrusting her a thousand years forward in time, he imagined Luna would know all about the future being something different and unexpected.

Even as long as he himself had lived, Thirty-Thirty still found himself existing from moment to moment, driven by emotion, never really looking back at what he left behind for fear of what he might see. Shaman was hundreds of years his junior, but in some ways Thirty-Thirty thought the aged human was older and wiser than he would ever be. People always maintained that perspective improved with age, that one came to terms with things, let go of the past, but that particular process seemed to have passed Thirty by. He couldn't seem to escape anything, old or new.

Shaman was at peace with what he was, what had happened to his people, and where his life had led him. He still felt some hatred towards Stampede for the damage the creature had wreaked upon him, but it wasn't the focus of his life, or even any longer the primary emotion in his mind regarding the partially-contained monster. If anything, Thirty-Thirty thought that Shaman pitied Stampede for what he had become. Maybe even hoped he might live to see Stampede regret his actions, and ask for the forgiveness the old man was, by means Thirty-Thirty couldn't begin to understand, somehow willing to give — before he ran out of time to give it.

Thirty-Thirty had never even considered doing that himself before. Never asked Shaman how he did it. But... forever was a long time to hate.

Maybe I should talk to him. And actually listen, for once.

The ponies in the room with him were having some sort of discussion about coffee, the smell of which was beginning to get rather distracting. The sound of running water starting up in the bathroom signalled that it was probably time to stop lying around in bed.

Before Thirty-Thirty managed to coax himself into motion, the bed in question jolted lightly a couple of times, each punctuated by a squeak of springs as something bounced across the mattress. What should have been a third bounce instead turned into the sensation of something - or more accurately a pair of somethings, probably hooves - thumping against the side of his forelegs. Twisting his neck, Thirty-Thirty raised his head off the bed to see which of the small mares had decided to try to wake him up.

Perhaps inevitably, it was the pink one. He was lying on his side, looking back at her as she stood next to his belly, between his front and back legs. She had her forehooves propped up on his own outstretched forelegs, to bring her short muzzle up closer to his.

"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!" she chirped, grinning at him like it was her first Christmas morning.

"Ya don't even eat bacon," Thirty said, puzzled.

"Bacon? What's bacon?" Pinkie asked, her confusion briefly mirroring his own before the huge grin returned. "I said bakey. You know, breakfast muffins, Prench toast, crumpets. Baked stuff. For breakfast."

"Huh," Thirty said, "That... that actually makes sense."

"I know, right?" Pinkie replied, lightly bouncing in place on his leg before hopping off the bed. "I surprise myself sometimes."

Thirty couldn't figure out what exactly was so strange about seeing all of them going about their version of a normal morning routine at first, until he realised he hadn't actually seen it before. Last time they'd all been woken up and rushed out of the room by the moody little pony with the bat wings.

It seemed like ponies with horns didn't do mornings. Rarity was still in bed with a mask over her eyes, somehow resisting a gently cajoling Fluttershy asking her to get up. Twilight was admittedly upright, although calling her conscious might have been overly generous. The purple pony was the originator of the coffee smell spreading through the room, and looked to be doggedly making her way through the contents of an entire pot.

The sound of the shower shut off, and a slightly damp Applejack emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head. Thirty-Thirty couldn't help but grin at the sight of the pony's hat perched on top of the towel; for whatever reason, the palomino mare was clearly a little too attached to it. Applejack barely got her rump through the door before Pinkie dived over her into the bathroom, and the sound of running water started back up almost immediately - this time accompanied by enthusiastic singing about brushing.

Thirty watched as Applejack dropped her hat onto her bed, undid the towel and shook out her mane. His curiosity was left largely undimmed when she simply gathered the whole lot up with her hooves and popped a scrunchie on the end, matching the mane to the tail she'd presumably dried and tied before she left the bathroom.

"How'd you manage to do that so easily with hooves?" he asked.

Applejack glanced back at him, then turned back to flip her hat off the bed and up onto her head. "Do what?"

"Tie your mane up like that," Thirty continued, rolling upright up on the bed. "Pretty sure I couldn't do that, how would you grip stuff?"

"Ya just do," Applejack said, turning round to regard him curiously, "like normal. Ain't any harder 'cause it's my mane, 'cept I can't see it o'course." Her eyes turned down towards his own legs, and her eyes widened a little. "Oh, I, uh, not that I'm sayin' you ain't capable if you can't do that sorta thing on account of," Applejack paused, shuffling her hooves. "Sorry. You ain't said exactly what happened with your legs and all. I'm not tryin' to cause offense, and..." She met his gaze again, and Thirty-Thirty thought he saw something hidden there. "I understand if there's stuff in your past you'd rather not talk about."

"I ain't shy about these things," Thirty-Thirty replied, stretching one of his legs out and examining an upturned metal hoof. "I don't remember a time before I had 'em. But even if I didn't have 'em, I still wouldn'a been able to do that. Regular old horses can't even touch the bottoms of their front hooves together, never mind reach up behind their neck to touch their mane. Grippin' stuff with hooves shouldn't even be possible at all, there's nothin' there to grip with." Thirty folded his leg back beneath himself. "I got a better range o'motion than that, but I still gotta transform if I need to do anything complicated."

"That's probably because you have no magic," Twilight chimed in, before smothering a yawn with an upraised hoof. "There's a little bit of it involved in ungual dexterity, particularly in earth ponies."

"You've got magic sticky hooves," Thirty-Thirty asked flatly. "Really, that's the explanation you're going with?"

Twilight nodded at him, her brow furrowed slightly. "That's a rather reductive way of describing a complex vitathaumic phenomenon, but, essentially, yes."

"I ain't got no sticky hooves," Applejack grumbled, mostly under her breath.

"Sorry, I'm not tryin' to be hostile or nothin'," Thirty-Thirty said. "It's just that 'It's magic, it just does that' ain't much of an explanation."

"I could just say 'It's science' instead, you know," Twilight said. "It isn't that we don't understand it or how it works, I just don't have a reference frame in which to explain it to you. It's sort of like trying to explain pancakes, specifically, to someone who's never heard of food and doesn't eat."

The bathroom door popped open and Pinkie Pie stuck her head out, her usually puffy mane hanging off her head in a water-slicked flat sheet. "Twilight," she said, "you have the weirdest pancake fixation in the mornings."

"Hey," Twilight protested, a smile belying her affronted tone, "I'm hungry, okay? It was the first thing that popped into my head."

"You have the same thing pop into your head more than once?" Pinkie asked, cocking her head to one side. "Huh. Weird." Pushing the rest of the way out of the bathroom, accompanied by a cloud of warm steam, Pinkie trotted back to her bed. Hopping up onto the sheets, she sat down, placed one hoof in her mouth and blew into it, as if she was trying to inflate her leg. Her mane and tail swelled up a little before bursting from their straight, wet shape back into their former curly, messy and - somehow - dry glory.

"How—"

Thirty only got the one word out before Twilight cut him off. "No," she sighed, holding up a hoof to forestall any more questions, "that one I actually can't explain. I told you before, Pinkie doesn't count."

**Fluttershy**

A short while later, Fluttershy was almost done preening her wings when she noticed Thirty-Thirty was staring at her.

And just what does he think he's looking at?

Fluttershy ducked her head and simultaneously raised her wing a little higher, hiding behind it while pretending she was still sorting out her feathers. Screwing her eyes closed, she tried to hold in the rising tide of fear.

It had been intermittent yesterday. Just the occasional angry feeling, or a stray thought here and there that had shocked her when she reflected on it. She'd just put it down to stress and tiredness, but then Fluttershy had woken up this morning to find it had only gotten worse. Now she had a stream of horrible, hostile comments springing up at the back of her mind, a niggling little voice picking away at everything.

"Shut up," she breathed, pressing her wing down over her face, "shut up, shut up, shut up!"

Hey, there's no need to be mean to me, it said, sounding sympathetic but nevertheless a little hurt. I'm on your side here. They are all taking advantage of you. Rainbow isn't here, so somepony's got to stick up for you.

My friends are not taking advantage of me.

Y'know how in every group of friends there's the one who's a sort of annoying hanger-on, it asked, the one who everypony just sort of puts up with, because they've always been there? You don't, do you. Because it's you. They pity you. They aren't your friends, they just don't have the heart to tell you to get lost.

How can you say that? You don't understand anything about us, what we all mean to each other.

I know it hurts, it cooed sympathetically, but sometimes the kindest thing to do is show somepony the truth they don't want to face.

Rarity's voice cut into her thoughts, and Fluttershy folded her wing back by her side and tried to behave like nothing was wrong.

"All done! Sorry about the wait girls, but perfection does take a little time."

Oh, great, the useless histrionic diva is ready, said the voice at the back of her head. Until somepony knocks a hair out of place. She might as well just tattoo "attention whorse" across her barrel for pony's sake.

Fluttershy's brain ground to a halt as she tried to process what she'd just heard. Rather than another flash of anger, which she would have expected and immediately suppressed, Fluttershy realised she felt oddly relaxed. Tranquil, but detached. There was a strange sensation of trepidation emanating from the back of her mind, as if something realised it had gone too far.

Telling the little voice to stop hadn't worked. If it was in her head, Fluttershy reasoned, perhaps she should try force of will over words. Focusing on her desire for it to stop whispering horrible things about everypony around her, Fluttershy willed the voice to go away.

Hey, what are you doing?

She imagined pushing it down into the deepest recesses of her mind, where she couldn't hear it.

What... no! You can't do this to me, stop!

Crushing it into darkness and silence, so it wouldn't hurt anypony else.

I-I, the voice wavered, something in its tone picking at Fluttershy's concentration, I didn't... Please, you can't do this, I don't want to go back there!

That was not an apology. It was going to have to do a lot better than that.

I just wanted to help, it protested, rushing over the words, I'm sorry, okay? I'll be quiet, just stop, please!

Fluttershy hesitated, but didn't reduce the mental pressure. It had almost sounded afraid.

I don't want to go back there! It's dark, and silent, and lonely, and... Please. Fluttershy realised that she could barely hear the voice - and, now that she was paying attention to it again, that it was obviously frightened.

It hurts, it said, now just a ragged and breathless whisper. Please, you're hurting me. I'm sorry, I'll do anything you want, just please stop hurting me!

Fluttershy reopened her eyes and shook her head, suddenly disgusted with herself. Yes, it had said some spiteful and hurtful things, but now it was terrified, in pain - and it was her fault. She had lost her temper over something as trivial as a few mean words, and now she'd gone and hurt somepony. She still wanted to yell at it, tell that little voice that it shouldn't have said those awful things, that it only had itself to blame, but then Fluttershy realised that was only to cover her own shame at having been so cruel to it.

I'm sorry if I hurt you, Fluttershy thought, apologetic but firm. I didn't mean to. I shouldn't have lost my temper like that. If you could not say those sorts of things about my friends any more, I would appreciate it.

There was no response. Fluttershy could feel a nagging sensation, a tug towards that now-silent voice. It felt very much like a frightened animal hiding from her. She was about to try and reach out to it again when the attention of everypony in the room was captured by a commotion outside in the corridor. It sounded like somepony was galloping down the passageway as fast as they could, with muffled shouts from some sort of pursuit. Through the door, Fluttershy heard a guard call out a challenge, and then another more urgent demand as the rapid hoofbeats drew closer.

**Starchaser**

If Starchaser were a less forgiving pony, he might have been a little upset this morning. Thanks to the mess Nightshade has managed to make of the schedule yesterday, he'd ended up spending almost the entire day on shift - not that he was complaining about spending a day with the Elements of Harmony of course - and then, after only a few hours' sleep, heading straight back out at dawn to stand in the corridor again.

He wasn't an 'angry' sort of pony, though. In fact, he was quietly whistling to himself when a pony in a hospital gown came barrelling round the corner at the far end of the corridor.

Starchaser stepped out into the corridor away from the doorway, turning to face the oncoming pegasus. Unexpected, strange things would set any guard on edge, and there was something extra about this situation he couldn't quite put his hoof on that was making Starchaser even more uncomfortable. At the speed the tan-coloured stallion was moving, he'd only have a few seconds before the pegasus was right on top of him.

"Sir," he said firmly, planting himself in the middle of the corridor, "I'm going to have to ask you to stop right there."

The pegasus' eyes widened in alarm as he registered the guard blocking the passageway ahead of him. Starchaser could almost read the next few instants' worth of reactions like a book. A brief twitch of the head, signalling an aborted glance backward, meant that the unfamiliar pony was being pursued. There was a rapid flickering of the eyes, left, right, down, and finally up. Then his ears flattened and his head came down, nostrils flaring, as he decided he wasn't going to stop. Based on his eye movements, Starchaser had read the same course any guard would have - the pegasus would feint a charge, get Starchaser to commit to a tackle, before opening his wings at the last second and taking a flying hop over the guard's head. It was the first thing every pegasus tried, and one of the first things covered in basic training too.

"Don't do it," Starchaser warned, opening his wings to block the passageway. There was something about the tan stallion that was making his brain scream warnings at him, but there was very little time to think on it as the pegasus thundered across the last bit of floor separating them. "Last chance."

The instant he pushed off the ground and snapped his wings down to stop the pegasus' flying leap over his head, Starchaser realised he'd been played. The other pony dropped to the ground at the last second, starting to slide underneath him as he jumped. Now all the stallion had to do was get up and keep running, preserving his momentum, while Starchaser would need to make a standing start - not to mention that he was facing the wrong way.

Nuts. Looks like we're doing this the hard way, the guard thought. Sorry buddy, this is gonna hurt you more than it hurts me.

Quickly wrenching his wings upwards again without turning them out of the airstream, Starchaser slammed himself back down into the floor. The padding inside his armour absorbed most of the impact on his end, but the pony trying to slip underneath him got the full force of the blow. The noctral's armoured form hammered the pegasus into the stone floor, driving the breath from his lungs. Recovering from the impact much more quickly than his opponent, Starchaser wasted no time in pinning the fallen stallion by gathering up his hind legs. With Starchaser holding onto his back legs, and the guard's entire armoured body lying across his wings, the pegasus wasn't going anywhere.

"Okay pal, settle down," Starchaser growled as he hauled back on the fallen pony's legs so he couldn't buck, trying to ignore the primal urge to continue the fight. "You gonna act like a sensible adult and answer a few questions, or do I have to put the cuffs on you and make this official?" The stallion beneath him regained some of his wits, and Starchaser had to make an effort to hold on as the pegasus tried to shake him off. Worryingly, even though the stallion was struggling to breathe after being slammed into the floor under the weight of a pony in full armour, Starchaser was already finding it a challenge to keep him pinned. He set his jaw and tightened his grip, head pressing into the white cloud cutie mark on the stallion's thigh. There was something familiar about this particular pegasus that he just couldn't seem to bring to the front of his mind.

"Oh, oh my," came a breathless voice from further up the corridor, "um, please try, try not to... oh, I need to do more exercise..."

Starchaser raised his head, still fighting to hang on to the increasingly agitated pegasus. A tired-looking young mare - almost a filly, really - cantered the rest of the way down the corridor before crashing to a halt next to the struggling pair, the first hints of lather marring her pale green coat. A white nurses' cap, formerly resting askew on her frizzy orange mane, tumbled onto the floor and she fumbled to retrieve it. "I'm sorry mister guard, sir," she gasped, pushing the little cap back down atop her head, "he just woke up and ran out of the ward. He's been asleep since he came in, and I just looked away for a second. One minute he was just lying there, and then"—she thrust a peppermint forehoof out ahead of her—"whoosh! Oh, I'm going to be in so much trouble."

"If you could—" Starchaser began, before the pinned stallion jerked his legs again, almost throwing him off. "Hey, quit that!" he barked over his shoulder, "I'm trying to have a conversation here. Now," he said, turning back to the nurse, "if you could do anything to calm this guy down, I would really appreciate it." The pinned pony had apparently recovered enough of the wind Starchaser had knocked out of him to talk, because he had started to rant about needing to find somepony or other.

Starchaser's left ear flicked up as the door he had been guarding clicked, and started to open. He didn't want to hurt anypony's feelings, but in an insecure situation like this, he had to make sure the ponies he was guarding didn't do anything stupid to put themselves in danger. Such as, for example, stick their heads out into a brawl that might be specifically staged to occupy him and expose them. Bodyguard duty would be so much easier, he thought, if that body wouldn't put itself in danger because it got curious.

His attention flickering to the doorway, Starchaser saw Princess Sparkle sticking her head out - curiosity already giving way to concern on her face as she took in the two stallions wrestling on the floor. Redoubling his efforts to keep the pony beneath him pinned, Starchaser shouted, "Shut the door! Now!"

Instead of retreating back inside to safety, the Princess let the door swing further open and lit her horn. Starchaser rapidly found himself being forced up and off the stallion he was restraining, a transparent purple bubble springing up around the prone pegasus. The guard found himself lying on top of the newly-formed hemispherical shield, while his opponent - finding himself suddenly free of the heavy weight across his back - sprang up and promptly ran face-first into the inside of the barrier. While he slowly sat back up, hooves wrapped over his bruised muzzle, Princess Sparkle trotted up to the outside of the barrier and peered in at him.

"Princess," Starchaser protested from his new perch on top of the shield bubble, "it's not secure out here. You should go back inside your room and wait until things are back under control."

Ignoring him entirely, the Princess let out a small sound of satisfaction. "I thought I recognised you," she said to the pegasus in the shield bubble. "You were the pony with the amulet. Stratus, right?"

The amulet—

A rush of adrenaline flowed through Starchaser's body as he looked down at the pegasus contained within the shield underneath him. This was the pegasus from the attack two days ago? The pony who had, alone, blindsided him and then gone through his entire squad like they were a clueless bunch of foals? That had almost left Echo permanently crippled?

At first the imprisoned pegasus panicked, wide-eyed gaze searching for any hope of escape from the confines of the magical shield. Then his pale blue eyes seemed to settle onto the Princess fully for the first time, as if he had only just noticed there was anypony else present, and he froze. For a moment all he did was shiver slightly, as if he wanted to cower but didn't dare move. The stallion must have changed his mind about something after that, as he visibly relaxed - even if there was still a restlessness to his roving gaze and nervous tension in his muscles - and started talking.

"Wait, no," he mumbled, his eyes still pointed at Twilight but drifting out of focus, "she's exactly who I need. If they'd gotten to her this would all be over, which means—" His pupils constricted once more and he blinked several times, refocusing on the Princess. "Stratus?" He said, his head canted to one side as if he wasn't quite sure what to make of the sound coming out of his mouth. "Yeah, that's, uh, I mean," he babbled, before tearing his gaze away from Twilight and holding his head in his hooves. Starchaser had just enough time to think the pegasus looked like he was in pain before Stratus jerked his neck sideways, slamming his own head into the inside of the shield.

Twilight gasped and reflexively raised a hoof towards Stratus, and Starchaser heard a startled squeak from the young nurse behind him, but to the guard's relief the Princess wasn't naive or foolish enough to drop the shield separating her from the pegasus. Recovering almost immediately from the self-inflicted impact, Stratus spoke again, a slight strain in his voice betraying a hint of the pain. "I'm sorry. I know I'm not... entirely myself at the moment, but this is really, really important." A muscle under the stallion's left eye started twitching uncontrollably, but he held Twilight's worried gaze through the barrier. "I don't remember much from, from before, really, but I know they're after you." Stratus glanced side to side nervously, and leaned a little closer to the barrier. "You stopped me, but there's a backup plan," he said quietly, "a big one. They've got somepony on the inside, here, in the castle. Maybe more than one, it's too jumbled for me to see clearly, but they know things that only guards would. They were just waiting for a sign of weakness. You can't trust anypony, especially here."

Starchaser saw Twilight's mouth open slowly, as if she was about to reply, when Stratus continued. "They've uncovered something. One of us— I mean, one of them. They knew something. Something secret, something hidden. They know the Princess is vulnerable, and they're going to exploit it."

Twilight finally found her voice. "If you mean what went on with Princess Luna—"

Stratus barked out a short high-pitched giggle, "No, no, don't be silly," he said, waving a hoof dismissively. "Why would they bother with her? She already proved she's no match for her sister in a fight once before, even with a power boost."

Starchaser felt a reactionary upswelling of anger, and fought the urge to try and crack the shield open and beat the insolent pegasus to within an inch of his life. He deserved it, but Luna had told them all not to do that sort of thing. Said that the feelings that sort of vile blasphemy engendered weren't to be indulged.

"Everypony's noticed the change in Celestia since Luna's return," Stratus said. "It's obvious she cares deeply about her sister's well-being. If Luna is suffering, Celestia is too. Even if she's better at hiding it. She's just as emotionally vulnerable; maybe even worse if she's denying it."

"Of course she's worried," Twilight said defensively, "but Princess Celestia would never—"

"Believe her sister was dangerous?" Stratus cut in. "Maybe get a little paranoid? What if somepony could convince her Luna had already been subverted, that she was in danger of losing her sister again. What do you think she'd do to stop that," he asked insistently, "what do you think she'd risk, what weapons would she reach for in desperation?"

Twilight hesitated, her gaze flickering aside for a moment. Stratus pounced on the gesture. "She told you about the arcanite, didn't she," he challenged. "She'd use it, if she thought Luna's life was on the line."

Starchaser wasn't sure what they were talking about, but the young Princess' reaction to the question was all too obvious. Whatever the pegasus was talking about, Twilight knew something - and now the affront and confusion on her face was quickly being replaced by fear.

"Celestia told you about what she's got squirrelled away in the royal vault. Only you, Celestia and the vault guards know it exists, and I'm no guard. So you've just got to ask yourself one more question," Stratus said. "How do you think I know?"

Chapter 31 - Faithless Hope, Hopeless Faith

View Online

**Thirty-Thirty**

They might have short legs, but Thirty-Thirty had to admit that these little ponies could really motor when they wanted to. He was actually having to canter along the hallway to keep up with the small herd and, even with the carpet down the middle providing some cushioning, his metal shoes were kicking up quite a racket from the stone floor. There'd been some kind of commotion in the hall outside their room, and then Twilight had shouted for them all to follow her and shot out of the place like her tail was on fire.

Applejack put on a short burst of speed, both ponytails streaming out behind her as she surged up towards the front of the pack. Unlike the rest of the small group, she didn't seem too bothered by the pace being set, her voice still relatively steady as she caught up with Twilight.

"I get that there's some sorta emergency goin' on, Twi," she asked, "but could ya maybe tell us what's got ya so dang fired up? What're we runnin' into here?"

"I don't know," Twilight said, head set forward and breathing heavily, "I might be wrong, I hope I'm wrong, but I think... I think Princess Celestia might be in trouble."

"But the throne room's that way!" Pinkie Pie called out, indicating an adjoining corridor with a hoof as their tiny stampede rolled past. She somehow managed to keep moving forwards, three legs blurring underneath her, while simultaneously turning her whole body to keep her outstretched leg pointed at the mouth of the hallway as she passed it.

"We're not, going, to the throne room," Twilight called back over her shoulder, sucking in increasingly heavy breaths with every few words, "not yet."

"Well then, where are we goin'?" Applejack persisted.

Twilight ran on for a moment in silence before answering, "To ask a very stupid question."

"Absolutely not. And the same to thee, Dayspring. Take that armour back off."

Thirty-Thirty stood just inside the chamber door. That was as far as he could force himself to go into what he now recognised as Luna's room. The white-and-gold-appointed ostentatiousness of the place set his teeth on edge, and that was nothing compared to the feelings engendered by the dark mare pacing back and forth beside the bed. Even if she was preoccupied with wearing a groove into the white stone floor, he still saw her glance in his direction every once in a while. He couldn't help flinching a little every time she did, and then cursing himself for it.

This was what he had to do to get home, so he was doing it. Didn't mean he had to like it.

Twilight had led her little herd into the room, quickly blurted something about guards, arcanite and the pony he'd shot two nights ago, and then asked Luna to come with her to the throne room in case something had happened to Celestia. To say the lunar princess and her guards had taken the proposition poorly would probably be somewhat of an understatement.

The little dappled bat-winged pony whom Luna was addressing stopped halfway through donning what looked like a suit of armour, a few black metal leg plates already fixed on top of a heavy padded cloth undersuit. "You should not go in there unprotected," she declared. For some reason Thirty had yet to discern, this 'Dayspring' sounded different to the other Lunar guards. They all sported some degree of British accent, but the others were just a hint here and there. This one sounded so stereotypically upper-class it was almost a parody of itself. "Neither should you face her alone. Not this time."

Luna stopped pacing, raising a hoof as if to stomp on something. Then she slowly placed it back down again, taking a steadying breath, and stared down her muzzle at the half-dressed guard. "I don't know whether to curse your newfound rebellious streak or kiss you, but this is hardly the time to be arguing with me."

Thirty blinked, then glanced down at the rest of the ponies in front of him. Strangely, none of them seemed to be reacting to the princess's professed desire to kiss one of her guards. Twilight in particular only seemed to be half-listening — she was looking down and off to one side, ears still perked but mouthing something to herself. After a few moments, something seemed to surprise the small purple pony, and she started blushing furiously.

The guard's cheeks had also coloured slightly at first, but shuddered at the final reprimand, a twisted expression of pain and disgust flickering across her features. "I am not arguing with you," she said slowly, almost forcing the words out, "because I can't. I am suggesting an alternative course of action, and waiting for your decision. Please don't make this any harder on all of us."

"I will not," Luna replied, voice low and threatening, "go before my sister caparisoned for war. Never again. Do you hear me?"

Dayspring leaned back, almost cowering, but held her ground in silence.

The princess's expression hardened, and suddenly she was almost shouting. "I said—"

The guard's head snapped down into a low bow, her right foreleg bent. "Yes Mistress. I hear you."

Luna's anger suddenly evaporated, her ice-blue eyes widening in shock. She pressed a silver-clad hoof to her muzzle as if she thought she might force her own words back inside it, a tiny sound somewhere between a gasp and a whimper escaping her lips.

As the princess began some sort of apology, Pinkie Pie leaned into Applejack and loudly whispered, "What's going on?"

"Beats me sugarcube," Applejack replied, angling her head towards Twilight. "Twi? You understandin' any o' this?"

Twilight started, face still slightly flushed. "Um, I, ah, I mean, I recognised a few words here and there," she stammered, "but, um, I think my Old Equestrian might be a little rusty because... well, never mind why."

"Dayspring wants to put her armour on, and her boss ain't lettin' 'er," Thirty-Thirty said. All five pairs of ears turned back towards him, closely followed by the attached heads. "Somethin' about her sister and gettin' gussied up for war that she don't like, so the eager little soldier's gettin' yelled at. You all not listenin' or something?"

"You..." Twilight began, then her eyes widened. "No way," she said, excitement bubbling up beneath her words. "You can understand that? Oh, I am so getting Luna to teach me that spell when we get back." Twilight began rocking from side to side lightly, not quite succeeding in suppressing an excited jig. "I was learning Old Equestrian anyway, but that would make things so much easier! I mean, I'll still learn it properly, but this would let me get started on—" She paused, noticing the expressions of the ponies around her. "Okay, okay," she said sheepishly, "so not the right time for this."

"None o' you can understand what they're sayin'?" Thirty asked.

"Nope," Applejack said, as all five ponies shook their heads.

"They're speaking Old Equestrian, and it's not even the standard form," Twilight commented. "Back then there were large variations from village to village, never mind on a national level. Not to mention all the distinctions between formal speech and common vernacular, and all of the slang terms and crazy irregular pronouns."

Before Twilight could get any further along her train of thought, Rarity skillfully cut in. "We'd be ever so grateful if you could keep us appraised of what's going on," she said sweetly, eyes flicking back towards Luna and the guard.

Turning his attention back to the pair, Thirty realised the other bat-winged guards had joined the first. It seemed he'd missed some sort of change of heart during the brief distraction, as the other three were helping the first get the rest of her armour on. The lighter suits worn by her fellows, or the golden ones the solar guards favoured, looked like they belonged on a parade ground. This plate suit looked as if it would be right at home on an ancient battlefield, drenched in mud and blood. A trained soldier would face down enemies wearing the ornamented guard armour without flinching, but Thirty was certain the sight of this elegant, yet brutally efficient personal fortress thundering across a field would make a hardened veteran piss himself.

Every inch of the pony's body was covered by curving black armour plate, shaped to redirect and deflect weapon strikes. Heavy hoof boots thudded against the floor as Dayspring shifted around, solid metal weights that would likely shatter skulls as easily as they would stave off crippling blows to her legs. Overlapping segmented sections covered her joints and neck, maximising flexibility while retaining almost the same protection as the rest of the suit. The segmented section protecting her neck widened out at the top, wrapping around the back of Dayspring's head and enclosing her entire lower jaw — the 'helmet' was more of a visor fixed into place on top, covering the mare's face and ears. There were no concessions to comfort whatsoever - the places that would normally be open slits over the eyes and ears were instead finely perforated grilles, and the hot, heavy suit would doubtless be hellish to wear for more than a few minutes at a time. But, just like the field plate of ancient Earth, the protection such a suit would provide against primitive weaponry would amount to near invulnerability.

That made the seemingly obvious flaw in the suit's protection even more surprising - Dayspring's bare wings protruded through two slots in the upper back, the membranous limbs completely exposed.

"You know as much as I do already," Thirty-Thirty said, "but it looks like someone changed her mind while we were jawin', 'cause the armour is goin' on anyway."

With that said, he looked at the larger pony in question. Luna stood a little apart from the guards, having backed off a short distance, but her thoughts on the situation before her were clear for all to see. Thirty-Thirty had seen that expression before, on different faces, across different worlds, but always the same. The face of somebody watching someone they love make a terrible mistake, desperate to talk them out of it but unable to find the words.

Nothing good ever came of moments like this.

**Twilight Sparkle**

"She doesn't believe us, you know. That we chose this."

Twilight looked to her right. Even though she'd probably spent more time around them than any other pony during her studies almost a year ago, she was ashamed to admit that noctrals still frightened her. Especially Luna's four guards. There was just something... off about them, something alien and unsettling that she could never quite get over. The wings, the slightly shaggier tufted coats, the eyes. The teeth.

It was always the teeth. You'd hear a normal voice, and sense a normal pony next to you, then you'd turn around to look and you'd see a flash of something sharp, something lethal. They all had them, even the foals. It was almost possible to ignore the sharp needle-point canines on the civilians, especially given their smaller size — and, of course, it helped to know that they were for punching through thick fruit rinds rather than the skin of other creatures.

The larger predatory teeth of the Princess's guards, on the other hoof, were always unsettling. They were definitely not for getting the juice out of oranges; Nightmare Moon had made certain of that. They couldn't even eat fruit any more, so it wasn't like they had a choice, but that didn't make it any less frightening to be stood muzzle-to-muzzle with somepony who could drink you like a juice box.

On an intellectual level Twilight knew it wasn't really any different to standing next to a carnivorous griffin; but griffins were a completely different size and shape, the mind expected them to be different. There was just something in that conflict of instincts telling her that the stallion walking beside her was both herd and danger that made her skin crawl, and Twilight found her inability to explain or overcome that instinctive prejudice incredibly annoying.

She had clocked up quite a few hours of interview time talking to Echo during her prior studies, and even her passing familiarity with the black stallion wasn't entirely enough to override the instinctive response. Twilight was fairly certain he noticed it every time, and he'd never been anything less than honest with her when he had spoken, but Echo hadn't confronted her about it. She didn't exactly shy away whenever he got close, but Twilight was certain there were dozens of other little bits of body language that betrayed her nervousness.

Predators can always tell when prey is frightened.

"Well," she replied, "it doesn't really seem like the choice most ponies would make. I think I figured out why you all did, but you've never exactly spelled it out. If I'm right, then I don't think Luna would even have considered the possibility, given how she feels about herself."

At the mention of Luna's name, Echo's amber eyes flickered backward, towards the rear of their small procession. Twilight would have liked to go faster than a walk, but the same fears that drove her to action were holding her back. She didn't want to be right about this, and even if she could have driven herself to move quicker, Twilight was sure Luna wouldn't be able to force herself towards a confrontation with Celestia any faster than they were already going. As it was, Luna was trailing along at the back of the group, almost pulled along in its wake and surrounded by the other three Night Guards. Twilight and Echo were leading the group, with everypony else in between — the hulking form of Thirty-Thirty gravitating towards the front, away from Luna.

"Then you already know that that is exactly why we did it. Those who do not covet power are the most suitable to wield it." Echo walked on in silence for a few moments, armoured boots clinking faintly against the castle floor. "Most of our people gave up hope when Luna changed. They resisted the Nightmare and were broken, forced into its service, because they believed our Princess was dead. That is why they did not survive the trials of the Empty Void, and only we few endured - guards and civilians both. By the time our long exile was over, there was nothing left of them but shadow, nothing to survive the return of the light. We few still had hope somewhere within us, corrupt as we were. Because when our Princess demanded our fealty, even while she was lost to pride and despair, we gave it willingly; because we knew that one day she would rise again, and that on that day, she would be profoundly alone. Hope is a heavy burden to bear, but all of us were glad to carry it for her, for as long as was required of us. Even if we four are still touched by Midnight's hoof, we are blessed to see Luna again, and to know that the rest of our people are free.

We weren't entirely correct about our Princess being alone on that day," Echo said, a half-smile stretching the white diamond splashed across the fur of his muzzle, "but then again, I believe you're already familiar with that part. You six Sunwalkers did more for the scattered remnants of our people than generations of your forebears ever had, when you saved our Princess from herself."

"Not enough that you'll stop using that word, apparently," Twilight replied, with a small smile of her own spoiling the affected offense in her voice.

"I'll stop when you do," Echo replied pointedly. Twilight felt her cheeks heat a little, and her ears twitch back in embarrassment. "We're both working on being more accommodating. Maybe one day you won't shiver every time one of us dirty fruitbats gets within touching distance, and I won't need to remind you."

"Sorry," Twilight said. "I am trying."

Echo's gaze softened a little. "I know. I'm not trying to make you feel bad. It's just that..." Twilight watched as Echo's eyes turned forward again, his gaze fixed on something beyond the horizon. "There aren't enough of us left that we can continue to live in isolation. If you can't accept us, what chance do we have with anypony else?"

They walked on in silence, as Twilight's thoughts returned to the confrontation ahead. They were almost to the throne room.

**???**

Wearing his guard armour was actually a rather novel experience, even if it had been sized and fitted for a younger, less indolent version of himself many years ago. Technically he'd always possessed a rank, of course, but in his old life the idea of dressing as a common soldier had hardly been appealing. Under these circumstances, however, it was better to become a part of the throne room's scenery than to be visibly malingering there in his more official capacity.

"Why isn't it working?"

He resisted the urge to glance aside at the guard's whispered inquiry. The Princess' increasing paranoia would work in their favour, but only if it wasn't directed at them. Giving her cause for suspicion would only lead to trouble.

"Patience," he murmured, allowing his gaze to continue to wander naturally about the room. "The distress and confusion lasted hours for us, with only a single lifetime of thought and memory to correct. It will be far worse for her."

His companion persisted, "But what are we going to do if Luna shows up? She could ruin everything."

At that, he allowed himself a small smile. "On the contrary," he replied, "I'm rather counting on it."

**Twilight Sparkle**

The threshold of the Royal Seat is to be guarded at all hours by a minimum of two (2) sentries, to be drawn from the ranks of the Royal Guard as per special selection requirements in Section 7.

She could still hear Shining Armor's voice reading it back to her. He'd been the one trying to learn the special orders for the throne room guard post at the time, but of course that information - which Twilight had no real use for - had lodged itself firmly in her brain too, and refused to leave. Despite the regulations, however, there were no guards standing watch at the doors to the throne room.

"Something is definitely up," Twilight murmured, slowing as she approached the door.

Echo made a small sound of assent, then quietly added, "There should be guards here."

Twilight looked back to address the rest of the group. "I'm not sure what we're going to walk into here. If the arcanite sample Princess Celestia was planning on using today really has been corrupted somehow, then we have to get it away from her."

As she reached up to push at the door, Rarity asked, "And what if Princess Celestia is... reluctant to part with it?"

Twilight hesitated for a moment, then, leaving the question unanswered, opened the door.

The throne room was bathed in early morning light, streaming in through the large windows lining the chamber's walls. Although the guards outside the door had been absent, their fellows stationed inside were not; Twilight could plainly see a pair of golden-armoured earth pony stallions stood at the foot of the dais before her, and two more - another earth pony and a unicorn - revealed themselves at the corners of her vision when they closed the door behind the small herd trailing in her wake.

Princess Celestia sat upon her throne, the light of the rising sun reflected in her shifting, billowing mane as much as in her golden accoutrements. The display was nearly dazzling, but not unfamiliar to Twilight or anypony else who had seen the Princess sat in state at this early hour. Less familiar, however, was the large gem in the center of Celestia's golden peytral - the usual purple gem had been replaced with a deep red stone, which seemed to swallow the light rather than scatter it. More unusual still, to Twilight's eyes, was the cold, calculating indifference in Celestia's gaze. Twilight's intended greeting died in her throat, and she couldn't help but feel like she'd done something wrong, something she should be ashamed of. Something in Celestia's expression shifted for an instant as Twilight hesitated, and then the Princess's eyes moved up a fraction - over Twilight's head, to the back of the group.

"How long?" Celestia said, her voice hushed but hard as iron. Even though she spoke barely above a whisper, her voice carried through the silence enveloping the room as easily as if she were screaming. "How long have you been engaged in this charade?"

Princess Luna responded to the raw hostility in her sister's gaze with an expression of mute shock. Before she could gather herself enough to reply, Celestia spoke again.

"You weren't told about this meeting. You weren't supposed to know, and yet here you are, with your little pets in tow, hiding behind a shield you think I have not the will to break. When Loyalty was taken and the Elements broken, I became suspicious. Then, after the incident with Twilight, I had to be certain. So, I confided in her, and... here you are. I don't even know what I did wrong, when I lost you again. Or was it a lie from the very beginning?" Celestia asked. "At least answer me that much. Did my sister even return to me at all? Is there even any of her left in you?"

"S-Sister—"

"DO NOT—" Every pony in the room shrank down and pinned back their ears as Luna's halting reply was drowned out by a furious scream, loud enough to shake the floor. The temperature in the room shot up to uncomfortable levels, and the calm pastel colours weaving through Celestia's mane briefly burned through shades of red and orange. Then, Celestia bit off the rest of her reply, incendiary rage disappearing once more beneath an icy mask. "Do not insult me by attempting to prolong this farce, Nightmare Moon. If it were not for the possibility that something of Luna does still live within you, I would burn you where you stand."

Twilight recoiled, glancing from one Princess to the other in mounting fear. She thinks Luna has... No, no she couldn't have. We would have noticed something, wouldn't we? Besides, Nightmare Moon is a prideful, arrogant narcissist, she wouldn't pretend to be Luna.

With a rush of air and a whisper of shifting armour plate, Dayspring interposed herself between the elder alicorns, hovering just off the ground and facing down Celestia.

"Ita longissimus dies dēbētō conditur," she said quietly. Then, raising her lance in salute, she declared, "Te provoco."

"Hm." Celestia's brow lifted in mild surprise. "Normally I would not entertain such a proposition, but I do believe you actually have the right of challenge, Knight. Given our relative abilities, however, I feel it necessary to ask if this is truly what you want."

Longest day, must... um, wait a second, provocare, verb, to challenge. Oh. Oh no.

"Did she just—" Twilight exclaimed, looking for some sort of explanation from the other noctral guards. Everypony else in the room was watching the unfolding scene with a sort of fascinated horror. "What does she think she's doing, and why isn't Luna stopping her?"

"Because as much as it pains us all," Nightshade said, "we would sooner kill Dayspring ourselves than question her honour. She has been Luna's Lifewarden for as long as any of us can remember, and she wouldn't want things any other way. The last time they fought she wasn't there, and she has carried that burden through centuries of exile. This is her duty, her right, and her choice."

"Faciam quodlibet quod necesse est," Dayspring declared loudly, before lowering her helm's visor and leveling her lance. "Pulvis et umbra sumus, sic manēbimus." As she spoke, a flickering nimbus of liquid shadow sprung into being around the edges of her ornate armour, flowing over both the plate itself and the noctral's exposed wings. Twilight felt something old and heavy writhe against her magical senses, as that second statement simultaneously pulled something up out of an ancient archaeology book she had once read. It was a phrase sometimes found inscribed on tombs and graves in pre-unification ruins.

Dust and shadow we are, and thus we shall remain.

"So be it," Celestia replied matter-of-factly. "Die, and be forgotten with the rest of your order."

Twilight instinctively flinched back as she felt the overwhelming inrush of magic drawn to Celestia's horn. A hissing roar of superheated air tore at her eardrums as a wave of heat battered her body. The armoured noctral and the floor section above which she was hovering disappeared in a flash of molten rock and dust, torn apart by an invisible beam of raw thermal energy.

Twilight only had an instant to glance back at Celestia in shock before a black blur shot out of the expanding dust cloud, glancing off a plane of force that flickered into being a hair's breadth from the princess's head.

The lance beneath her tearing a lengthy spray of golden sparks from the shield, Dayspring swept up toward the ceiling and began to turn. One side of her dark armour still glowing cherry-red, she came about for a second charge at Celestia's back shouting, "Faciam ut mei memineris!"

I will make you remember me.

Celestia didn't change her stance, only inclining her head slightly to turn a dispassionate gaze back towards the descending guard.

"No. You won't."

Celestia's horn flashed into an instant of near-blinding luminosity. Twilight's head swam as magic ripped through the room again, and she had to fight to retain her footing against the tide. There was a sharp, wet crunch, and Dayspring was unceremoniously smashed out of the air, her sweeping dive sharply diverted straight down into the throne room's floor by a sledgehammer of telekinetic force. The stone tiles shattered, broken pieces thrusting upward like jagged shards of bone at the edges of the small crater.

Dayspring's lance landed a second after she did, torn free of her hooves by the force of the blow. The ring of metal on stone was the only sound in the ensuing silence as it skipped and rolled across the fractured marble.

The crumpled heap of black armour shuddered once, then lay still.

"What have you done?"

Luna's almost silent query was directed at her sister, but her eyes were locked on the crumpled remains of her guard.

Twilight couldn't believe what she was seeing. Princess Celestia had just killed a pony right in front of her. It hadn't even looked difficult. She hadn't tried to talk, she hadn't agonised over the decision, shown any hint of remorse. She'd taken the primal force of life and creation, and used it to...

Twilight looked into the eyes of the pony that might as well have been her second mother, and saw nothing there that she recognised.

"After what you did to them," Celestia replied dispassionately, "I would call that a mercy. There is only one escape from the waking nightmare to which you consigned them all."

"Luna saved us all," Echo shouted back at her. "Betrayer. Murderer!"

"Yes, you would think that," Celestia said, glaring at Luna with narrowed eyes. Luna was still staring at Dayspring's fallen body, seemingly frozen in place. "But then again, you can't really see it any other way, can you? She won't let you."

"Princess?" Twilight almost choked on the word, still hoping that there might be something that she wasn't seeing, something that she didn't understand that would make all of this suddenly make sense. Celestia twitched as she spoke, as if Twilight's voice pained her somehow. Slowly Celestia tore her gaze from her sister, and Twilight realised her mentor was actually having to force herself to look at her. When their eyes met, Twilight at last saw some reaction, some emotion in the elder alicorn as Celestia's dispassionate mask cracked.

Fear. Fear, and anguish, and despair.

"I'm sorry, Twilight," Celestia said quietly, voice almost breaking on her name. "I can't—" Celestia broke off, closing her eyes and turning away. "I'm sorry, but it hurts too much to see you like this. This is my punishment. That you'll see this, that you won't understand what's happened to you, and that you'll hate me for what I have to do to save you. I failed you, and this... is the price I have to pay for it. For not believing in you, and for... for being too late to protect you. She has done something to all of you, altered your minds to earn your trust. I should have guessed what had happened when I couldn't penetrate your mental defenses in our training yesterday. Of course she'd build them back up," the princess said bitterly, gaze locked back on her sister, before all trace of emotion vanished back beneath the mask. "She knew what I'd see if I got in."

"I don't know what you did to her mind in that dream," Celestia said to Luna, "or what dark magic caused that transformation, but I'm going to fix it. I'm going to save Twilight. I'm going to save her friends." The scarlet gemstone at Celestia's breast began to glow faintly, a deep crimson spark at its core. "If there is anything left of her, I am going to save my sister; and then, I am going to end you. You took my sister from me, but you will take no more. Nothing else. It ends, here."

Twilight started to open her mouth to protest, one leg rising to take a step forward, when one of the golden-armoured sentries started barking out orders from beside her. "Guards, secure the room! Get these—" There was a pained grunt and a crash of armour, and Twilight sensed a brief surge of magic behind her. Turning to look, she was stunned to see Applejack standing over the crumpled form of one of the guards, still wobbling unsteadily from the impact. Judging by the look on Applejack's face, she didn't understand what had just happened any more than Twilight did.

"W-What'n the hay?" Applejack slurred, speaking as if she couldn't remember how to work her jaw. "I didn't..."

The unicorn guard on the other side of their group cried out in dismay as his companion fell, then shouted, "We're under attack! Defend the Princess!"

Something about that voice made Twilight take more notice of the stallion. There was something strange and out-of-place about him, but she was too distressed to place it.

"Do not harm them," Celestia said, as the guards before her throne rushed forward to assist, "they are not in control of themselves. Contain the others as best you can." Celestia turned her gaze on Twilight and Luna. "Leave them to me."

Twilight felt the world lurch and swim again as Celestia drew on a colossal quantity of magic, the elder alicorn's face drawn and hopeless as she stepped forward off the throne. "Please, Twilight," she said quietly, golden light blazing along the length of her horn, "stand aside. I don't want to hurt you."

My Little Equestroid: Stompin' is Magic

by ForeverChasingRainbows

Chapter 1 - Everyone Starts Somewhere

Chapter 2 - Twilight Falls

Chapter 3 - Sinkholes and Revelations

Chapter 4 - Convergence

Chapter 5 - Fantasy Made Reality

Chapter 6 - An Equestroid in Equestria

Chapter 7 - First Impressions

Chapter 8 - Breaking Down Barriers

Chapter 9 - A Transformative Experience

Chapter 10 - The Lightning Strikes

Chapter 11 - Roaring Thunder

Chapter 12 - The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Ponies

Chapter 13 - The Cavalry Has Arrived

Chapter 14 - What You Are in the Dark

Chapter 15 - Picking Up Pieces

Chapter 16 - Friendship

Chapter 17 - Loyal to the End

Intermission

Chapter 18 - Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

Chapter 19 - A Hog and Pony Show

Chapter 20 - Ships That Pass in the Night

Chapter 21 - Through a Mirror, Darkly

Chapter 22 - Breaching the Gates of the Silver Key

Chapter 23 - Sky of Three Suns, Land of Precious Ore

Chapter 24 - Mine, All Mine

Chapter 25 - Truth, Lies, and Discord

Chapter 26 - The Importance of Maintaining a Healthy Electrolyte Balance

Chapter 27 - The End of the Beginning

Chapter 28 - The Beginning of the End

Chapter 29 - Night Mares

Chapter 30 - The Day is Darkest Just After the Dawn

Chapter 31 - Faithless Hope, Hopeless Faith