> The Shadow of Equestria
>  by Eruedraieth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue - Zero Hour(Contains Gore)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Madness....

That's paradise compared to the nightmare I'm in now....

"I shouldn't have trusted her.... I should've seen it coming..... But how? How could I foresee her own sister to be the cause for her destructive rampage..?"

I was rocking back and forth, huddled up close to the corner. The entire room was filled with bodies..

"You could not. And that makes it all the better..."

She walked towards me, grinning. "Do you want your turn now?"

"PLEASE! I BEG YOU! END THIS SUFFERING!"

"Shhh... I can not do that. You know I do not want to, either.. You do deserve a reward for so generously bringing me what I wanted.."

She summoned a dagger, and brought it to my arms. The same dagger she had used to torture me with every time she came back. "The mark of your existence, and it's going to end it. Quite the coincidence, is it not? But I want to see you go through hell, and the part beyond it too for good measure."

I was screaming far longer, even when she left me in that horrid room. The smell of death, blood and decay clung to me, torturing me.

"All of them.... murdered in front of me, while I could do nothing to stop her..."



Fluttershy.... Always cautious, always caring...
She went first, sacrificing herself in the hope that the rest would come out unharmed... She was so, so dreadfully wrong...

I watched in horror and dismay as she was devoured by the animals she once called her pets. Meanwhile, that devil was mocking me during the entire thing, laughing at the display of savagery..




She took Natura to me after killing Fluttershy. He could not bear to know she died in vain, and as such he wanted to be killed next.

She used his essence to make him tear out his own heart, becoming one with the hunt...




Twilight was the next to die in this disgusting room...
She planned for anything and everything.... but she never saw this coming... and by then, it was too late.

A bookcase was brought into the room, along with Twilight. Seeing the confused look on my face, that demon wiped it straight off by barbarically tearing through her limbs and flesh. She took one of the books off the shelf, erased all the letters, and started re-writing the book.. in Twilight's blood. After she was done, she removed the cover, and created one from Twilight's skin. She gave that book to me as a reminder.




Applejack tried to resist, tried to fight her... It was of no use, however...
This was the only time I was taken outside by my shackles. She took me to Applejack's farm, and the reason why got clear to me too soon...

Again, that psychopath viciously tore into Applejack, shredding viscera and leaving nothing for the scavenging birds to salvage.
She took her blood, and coated each apple in a layer of it. A single tree on the farm was left without fruit, and for a purpose I would've rather not known.

That lunatic took Applejack's vital organs, and replaced the fruit of that single tree with it! The vision of that tree, along with the hat that rested on top of the tree, was burned into my mind forever..




Spirit, much like Natura, couldn't bear the thought of staying alive once she was done with Applejack. The farm he once called his home when Applejack took him in was transformed into a place of evil... a broodplace for the vile and corrupt...

As with the others, Spirit recieved a fitting end aswell. He desired balance in all things, and was torn in half. After tearing him up, she sew both parts back together, using his intestines as thread and a tooth with a hole in it as a needle..




Rainbow Dash was the worst of all of them...
Her need for speed and daring attitude was tested, by a test she could never succeed in.

A rope was tied tightly to her neck, connected to a pole in the middle of the room. She was promised release if she flew fast enough to escape the rope's confines...

It was a lie. I watched as she desperately flew to release the rope, but she only managed in pulling it tighter... She choked to death in mid-air after I watched her torture herself for a full ten minutes...




Pinkie Pie's death was the most sadistic of all...
For this, I had to watch Pinkie bake a cake as she would have done normally..

You would ask: "Now that is not so bad, is it?"

Untill you notice the ingredients she was baking with...




Rarity's murder was a mocking statement to her art. That demon made a dress out of her, the lining made with intestines, the fabric made of muscle tissue, the straps keeping it up were made from blood vessels....

And as a crownpiece to it all, her heart was placed in the middle of it..




And Aqua....

She came along with me to this world, as an accident caused by her caring heart. Only to end up like this....

Smack-dab in the middle of the room, she'd make a fountain. The fountain's water was replaced with her blood, and it was wired up to make it flow from part to part.

As a centerpiece, her head was placed on the spike on top, facing me. It stared straight into my soul.




"Oh, I am so close.... too bad you can not watch me finish this..."

"Oh sweet mercy.... sweet, sweet mercy..." I cried as I once again begged for death.

"No mercy will find you... not now, not ever. You are to be put in eternal stasis, reading the blood-soaked book I wrote for you, made out of the one you held close."

With this, she left the room, and I never saw her again.
> Chapter 1 - A story worth telling
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ow.... Why was it necessary to land on my head..."

I tried to stand up, but somebody, or somepony was on my back.

"Whoever is on my back, mind moving? I'd like to stand up." I said.

"Oh, haha. You do make quite a good pillow, though" I heard a voice say from on top of me.

"Twilight, come on. Even though I'm a good pillow, my back is not a good place to languish on."

"Yeah yeah okay, grumpy man." she said as she got off my back, after which I stood up and stretched my back, looking around at the others that crash-landed in the field of mana-generating flowers. Everyone was on the ground, dazed.

We were not the only ones around, however.

"There you guys are! How did you get outside all of a sudden?" a young voice asked.

"Oh hi, Cutie mark Crusaders. You followed us, didn't you?" I asked back.

"Um.. yeah we did kind of follow you inside after a few minutes... Promise you won't get mad?" Sweetie Belle said.

"Of course not. Curiousity is a healthy thing to have, even if it killed the cat. Any idea how long we were gone for?" I asked.

"I think it was, um, about 10 minutes? We went inside after we stopped hearing you talk about a minute later. All we found was that odd frame with things beside it, and the stone on the pedestal. The stone looked a bit weird too.""Scootaloo said.

"Weird? How so?" Twilight asked, having joined our conversation.

"Well, there were these strange markings on it, and it glowed slightly." Sweetie Belle said.

"Hm, curious. I'll check out that stone later." Twilight said.

"As for your earlier question of how we got outside, the "odd frame" inside is a teleporter, powered by liquid magic. We just got back here, along with 2 friends of mine." I said, pointing over to Shervin and Robin. "I think we owe you an explanation about all of this, though, so I suggest going to Twilight's home to continue this conversation."

I turned my attention to the others. "Everyone, I'm going to Twilight's home with these young fillies here to give them an explanation of how and why, with the portal and all. Other than Shervin and Robin, the rest are free to do as they please." I said.

"I think I will return to my sister. She would want to hear about our trip." Luna said, flying off towards Canterlot Castle.

Just now, the young ones noticed Nightmare moon, and screamed. "It's Nightmare Moon! Run!"

I quickly created an electric stasis field in front of them to prevent them from running away. "Relax, you three, she won't harm you. Right, Night?"

"That is correct, Primal. I realize I made some grave mistakes in the past, and I wish to do everything I can to right that wrong, starting with you three. How can I prove myself to thee?" Night said.

I dispelled the stasis field, certain they wouldn't attempt to run again.

The three fillies had a long, good think. Eventually, Apple Bloom spoke up.

"Could you do a trick for us?"

"Why certainly, what would you like to see?" Night answered.

"Just anything, really. Show us something cool!" Scootaloo said.

"Alright, here goes."

She created a shadowy tendril, which started flowing through the air. It stopped shortly after, and the tendril disconnected from herself. It then started to curl around, creating shapes in the air. It first created an earth pony, then a pegasus, and then an unicorn. It then split itself up, creating those three shapes around a shield, and they started gaining colour. The colours of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"Cool!"
"Awesome!"
"Amazing!"

"I am glad you three are liking it. As for what I wanted to do, you do not mind me joining you in the library to listen to your story?" Night said.

" 'Course not, you're more than welcome." I said.

"I think I will go to Canterlot aswell, see if Celestia or Luna want an extra explanation for things." Michelle said, turning herself into water vapour and flew off.

"I'll just come along to my own house after I gather the rest of my friends from town. You don't mind waiting for me and the others, right?" Twilight said.

"It's fine. Just be quick, it's gonna be a long story which may or may not take the entire day." I said.

"Luckily it's sunday!" Twilight said, before teleporting off to gather her friends.

"Even though their work schedules are hardly standard." I muttered under my breath. " Let's go girls. Night, I'll assume you will teleport there? " 

"I will indeed. " 

" Good. See you there. " 

"I sincerely hope you were wondering where I was. " I heard someone say. 

" In fact, I just was. You just have a tendency of coming and going, Sabrina. " I said. 

" I am hardly the one to be blamed for that. Your friends still do not completely like having a panther around, I can tell. " Sabrina said. " Let alone a talking one. " 

"They'll come around eventually, just give them some time. " I said.

Meanwhile, the Crusaders had just been staring at the two of us conversing, as were Shervin and Robin.

" Come now, all of you. It's not polite to stare. "  

" My sincerest apologies Sabrina. I have simply never seen a talking black panther before. " Robin said in a courteous manner. 

"My my, such manners. What is your name again?" Sabrina said.

"The name's Robin, pleasure to meet you." Robin responded.

"And the other human?"

"Name's Shervin."

"Okay. Nice to meet more humans, we obviously do not see them often here other than Primal and Michelle." Sabrina said.

" Alright, enough waiting. Let's go to Twilight's home. I'm quite interested to see what all of you think about the story. " I said. 

The others nodded, and we went to the Royal oak library. 


WWWWW 


"Ah, I missed this tree. Even though it was just a single day. " I said. 

" Count me in on that one. " Twilight said, appearing next to us. " 

"Where's the others? " I asked. 

" Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie are at sugarcube corner. Rainbow and Fluttershy should be flying here together. " Twilight responded. 

"...And who be those ponies?" Shervin asked. 

" Very close friends of mine, and wielders of the Elements of Harmony, along with me. " 

"Are those some kind of ancient relics? " Robin asked. 

" Yes, and no. It's physical form is a relic, but in reality the relic is just a focus for the power inside of us. " Twilight explained. " There's six of them: Magic, which I hold, Honesty from Applejack, Generosity from Rarity, Laughter from Pinkie, Kindness from Fluttershy and Loyalty from Rainbow. They're used to keep harmony in Equestria. " 

" There's more elements than just those six, but they are the most important ones. The Elements of day and night, held by Celestia and Luna, Darkness held by Nightmare moon, and Assassin held by me. We've yet to see Michelle have an element, or to see Celestia's counterpart, Daydream Sun, the probable holder of the Element of Light." I said. 

" Well that explains some things. But how about-"

CRASH!

Twilight, me and the crusader fillies were used to the dramatic entrances of Rainbow Dash, but both Shervin and Robin jumped up in surprise. 

" Quite the entrance there, Rainbow. " I said sarcastically.  

" Good, eh? I perfected it since last time, and timed it to land at a perfect moment!" she said, responding in the same sarcasm. 

" You're not hurt, right? "  Robin asked. 

" Me? No way. Takes more than a crash landing to take me down. " 

"Your looks say otherwise, though. You got quite a big cut there, possibly from a loose stone you scraped against. Mind if I check it? " Robin added.

Rainbow nodded, and Robin stepped closer to inspect the wound on her front hoof. " Could someone give me a piece of fabric, if there's any around? " 

I quickly shadowstepped inside to grab the bandages I had seen before, and gave them to Robin. 

" Thanks. Maybe got some water or disinfectant too? It's quite a deep cut by the looks." 

This time, Twilight teleported back and forth and came back with an odd looking potion. 

Robin gave Twilight a confused look. " Throw the contents over the wound. It works similarly to disinfectant. " Twilight said reassuringly. 

Robin did his work cleaning and bandaging the cut and Rainbow stood up after, albeit shakily, looking perplexed at the stranger that had taken such care for her. 

" Thanks dude. What's your name?I haven't seen ya around before. " Rainbow said. 

" My name is Robin. Pleasure to be of service to you. " 

"I didn't know you were so good with first aid. Where'd you learn it?" I asked. 

" I did a course for it back at high school, and kept repeating it every year to keep it mastered. I knew it would be useful someday. " 

Fluttershy came flying in not too long after, slowly landing next to Rainbow. " Umm.... hi." She said, shyly hiding behind her mane. 

" You must be Fluttershy, correct? " Robin asked. 

" y-yes..."  she responded. 

" Well, don't be afraid. I saved your friend there by bandaging her wound. " 

" Hey, I wasn't hurt that badly! " Rainbow retorted. 

" The cut was deep. You would have definitely got an infection if it was left untreated. And trust me, infections are painful and annoying. " Robin said. 

" Okay okay maybe just a little bit. " 

"Y-You did that for her? You didn't know about her, right? " Fluttershy asked. 

" Other than her being a pegasus named Rainbow Dash, and her being a carrier for the Element of Loyalty, I don't know anything. 

" That must mean you have a kind and protective heart! Who is the other stranger, though? " Fluttershy said. 

" I'm Shervin. I usually just keep to myself. " he said. 

" So..y-you are a bit like me then?" Fluttershy asked. 

" I ain't shy, if that's what ye mean. I just stay quiet most of the time. "  Shervin said. 

" But when needed, he's nowhere to be found. " I said, chuckling. 

Robin chuckled aswell, knowing what I was implying. The others were just looking at me with odd expressions. 

" Nevermind, I'll explain later. " 

Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie arrived at that moment, and Twilight ushered everyone inside towards the living room. Spike, who was woken up by all of the ruckus, came walking out of his room rubbing his eyes. 

" What's the emergen - 'yawn' - cy? He asked. 

" We've got some new guests, and Primal is going to tell his story about coming here and what he did. " Twilight said. " Could you get some snacks and drinks for everyone? " 

" On it! " he said, shooting off towards the kitchen. 

" Well, you heard Twilight. Make yourself comfortable and prepare. Prepare for a story about a scientist, landing on a colourful, alien world, which still looked quite familiar somehow. " 

Night teleported in at that moment, and noticing everyone was taking a seat, she sat down herself on a nearby chair. 

Everyone got settled : Twilight had moved some extra chairs in, and a beanbag for the crusader fillies to sit on. Spike placed some food and drinks on the table, and took his spot next to Twilight. I walked over to a spot where everyone could see me. 

I gulped once, before starting my story. I never liked being the center of attention. 

"I landed on this  colourful, alien world after an experiment which I heard of had the ability to allow world travel. Michelle, the girl who transformed into water vapour, was my assistant on Earth in the lab I owned. She got sent here accidentally when she thought I had been caused harm by drinking the solution for world travel. "

I took a sip of water before continuing. 

" Unlike me, Michelle's welcome on this world was not so inviting. She told me she saw a monster that looked frightening. According to some others, the monster had no evil intentions to begin with and only wanted to warn her for unforeseen dangers. Ironic, really, because the panic reaction caused by the monster led her straight into a haunted cave. " 

" Why was the cave haunted? " Sweetie Belle asked. 

" There was a dark and evil presence in it, that whispered evil things to Michelle. It manipulated her, tortured her, and eventually morphed her into something evil. Were it not for the Mane six and me, we would've had a whole lot more to deal with by now." 

I took another sip of water and a small bite of a sandwich before continuing.

"Ofcourse, the fight inside of that cave was not the end of the tragedy. Princess Luna eventually found out that Michelle was still tainted by the corruption's presence, and Celestia sought out a ritual to purge her from it completely. It did require a few... exquisite materials."

"We found them together, and brought all of them to Princess Celestia!" Rainbow Dash said.

"Quite. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy claimed the All-consuming Branch, used to siphon the corruption out of Michelle. A focus was needed too, for the corruption was volatile and could easily escape. Myself and Twilight ventured to the Crystal Empire to obtain it. The corruption had to be put into something, which the Rock of the phoenix served it's purpose for, embalmed with Death Lotus to keep the corruption inside. These were also gathered by me and Twilight. Finally, we needed a way to burn away residual corruption from Michelle's soul, so we used Lunar wood, gathered by Rarity and Spike, and set it alight with the Everburning Torch, gathered by Applejack and Pinkie Pie."

"What happened to the rock with the corruption, though? Sounds like you don't want that anywhere near you to me." Scootaloo asked.

"After the ritual, the stone was brought to the moon by Princess Luna. Something went wrong however, and the corruption freed itself from the stone and possessed Princess Luna. Nightmare Moon herself came back to Terra to tell us, knowing that if Princess Luna would die, she would too. She teleported all of us to the moon, and we fought the corrupted Princess Luna. We won in the end, but it would take a while for everyone to return to daily life. Michelle was out for the count for a while, and I wasn't in much better shape after that fight, being tossed into rocks and absorbing a massive amount of energy casted by Princess Celestia and Nightmare moon, only to focus it at Princess Luna after."

"Wait, you absorbed energy? Why?" Apple Bloom asked.

"To purge Princess Luna of the corruption, Princess Celestia and Nightmare moon worked together to cast an extremely powerful spell. The spell went awry when Princess Luna struck Nightmare moon, causing it to become unstable. The massive vortex of energy was bound to explode, so in a rush of what I now think of as stupidity, I jumped into the vortex. Instead of tearing me apart however, it transferred into me. Nobody can hold those amounts of power however, so I channeled the power into a single, powerful blast aimed at Princess Luna."

"Princess Luna was alright, yes? I doubt my first aid would be of any use if a beam like you described injured her." Robin asked.

"Yeah she was fine, oddly enough. I was out cold for a day, however. That power took quite a lot out of me."

I emptied the glass of water I had, and sat down on a chair.

"Other than that adventure, we visited Earth yesterday. Just to check up on things really, and then we returned with Robin and Shervin here, and to you following us out of curiousity." I said, concluding my story. "Any questions?"

"Just one. How did you meet Sabrina?" Robin asked. "And how come she can talk?"

"She couldn't always talk, obviously. We met her near the edge of the swamps southeast of here. She approached us in a friendly manner, and after not simply walking away and staying with us, I made her my pet. Now though, she's much more. She's what me and her call a 'Spirit companion', since being called a pet is a bit demeaning on a creature with intelligence and the ability to speak. She got her speech through a rune I enchanted her with, and for some reason it didn't disappear when I lost my powers over the other elements."

"You had power over the other elements? So y'mean you could shoot fireballs 'n stuff?" Shervin asked.

"Yep. I slightly abused my powers though, come to think of it. I much prefer having just Air as my element. Such power is not meant for individuals."

Scootaloo, turning to Rainbow Dash, asked: "Tell us more about your adventure to get the branch!"

"Oh, that? That was nothing, really. The branch was at the Galloping Gorge, and after searching around for a little while we found a cave where it was in. All that stood against us was a miserable stallion who didn't realise I could do more than just deliver kicks and punches." Rainbow Dash said, humbly.

"More? Like what?" Apple Bloom asked.

"You'd best not do that inside, Rainbow. Neither Twilight nor the tree would like that. Me neither, come to think of it." I said.

The fillies looked confused and threw pleading looks at Rainbow Dash.

"C'mon, I can give them a simple demonstration outside, right?" Dash asked pleadingly.

"Fine. Maybe Twilight can create a few targets for you to aim at, so you don't burn down the entire town."

Everyone followed Rainbow Dash and the fillies outside, and Twilight created a set of three stone pillars for Rainbow to fire at.

Rainbow unleashed a bolt of fire, frost and lightning at the three statues respectively. Both the crusaders and Shervin and Robin watched in awe.

"Wait a sec', I know tha' sign on Rainbow Dash's front hoof! That's the constellation for Destruction, from Skyrim!" Shervin said, surprising the others.

Shervin, having noticed that, looked at the other Element bearers now, and called out the other signs aswell.

"How did all o' ya get those signs? Joshua's doing, I assume?" Shervin asked.

"Yeah. Another abuse of my powers back then, even though it worked out for the better. Also, please just call me Primal here. Don't want to pull too much attention to my real name on this world."

"Cool!" The crusader fillies shouted in unison.

"What can the others do, though?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I say each of them shows you!" I suggested.

"Really? I'm not much for showing off." Twilight said.

"It's just a simple display, nothing more. Besides, the fillies will love it. You'll do it for them, right?" I encouraged.

"Ah fine, but just because you asked it." Twilight said.

She stepped forward, and cast a spell using her mark, creating an armour of rock around herself. She transformed the armour into water using her mark again, and then used her elemental abilities to create a stone bowl for the water. Then, using her own magic, levitated it back to the ground.

"Pure, clean water." Twilight said.

"The mark, her unicorn magic and her elemental magic all compliment each other." I added.

"It's nothing special." Twilight said humbly.

"Ofcourse it is! You did all of that flawlessly, and within a matter of seconds. You can't deny you are a unicorn gifted in the arts of the arcane." I said, complimenting her abilities.

Twilight didn't reply. Instead, a small blush formed on her cheeks, and she quickly stepped back to her friends.

Rarity took the liberty of encouraging Fluttershy to demonstrate her healing abilities. Rarity herself created a blade with which she made a small cut in her hoof. Fluttershy focused her mark, healing the cut almost instantly.

"You had the power to heal all this time? So it wasn't even necessary for me to patch Rainbow up!" Robin said angrily.

"You showed kindness with the gesture though, which did more than just mending the cut." Twilight said, having recollected her composure.

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry for that outburst." Robin said, apologising.

"It's alright, but you shouldn't apologise to me." Twilight said, motioning to Fluttershy.

"Right." he said, turning to Fluttershy. "Sorry for getting mad at you for hiding your healing abilities."

"It's okay. I don't like using these powers too much anyway, so seeing others who know how to apply first aid is a welcome sight!" Fluttershy responded.

"Darn right." Applejack said, who was now standing next to Fluttershy.

"Wait, the white unicorn was next to you just a sec' ago! Where'd she go?" Shervin asked.

"I am right here dear." Rarity said, still standing next to Pinkie Pie.

"How in da blazes did ya do them tricks?"

"I can disguise an' create illusions o' mahself." Applejack said.

"I made Rarity and Applejack invisible, and Applejack disguised as Rarity was standing next to Fluttershy after she had cast that spell!" Pinkie cheered.

"I created the dagger to create a cut, and after Pinkie turned me invisible, I quickly walked back to her." Rarity said.

The fillies gasped in amazement, hearing how they pulled of their little tricks.

"Well, now you've seen everything. It's about time you three head on home, your parents are bound to be worried about you." I said.

The fillies nodded, and headed off.

"I should go and continue practicing! And to get some rest before the fillies, me, Rarity and Applejack go camping tomorrow." Rainbow Dash said, flying off.

"She made a good point, we should get some rest before we go camping tomorrow." Rarity told Applejack, and both headed to their respective homes.

"I got some cakes to bake before tomorrow. See ya!" Pinkie said, and bounced off.

"My animals need feeding, so I will see you around." Fluttershy said, but before she could fly away, Robin stopped her.

"Sounds like you have quite the affinity with animals. Do you mind if I... stay with you? I quite like animals myself, and maybe I could help you." He asked.

"Sure! I'm certain you could be helpful somehow!" Fluttershy said, flying off with Robin following her.

"Well, that leaves just us then." I said, referring to Twilight, Spike, Shervin and Sabrina. "Michelle might not be back today, so I suppose you could use her bedroom."

"This place sure does look friendlier than Earth. Man, I hated that place. Got my certificate and everything, and nobody wants to offer me a job!" Shervin said. "Besides, them fancy powers o' yours intrigue me. Maybe I'd have my own powers sometime?"

"It took Michelle a little while to realize she had powers too, so maybe you already have yours, but you don't know how to use 'em yet. Twilight could help you discover them, if you'd like."

"Definitely! And maybe find out more about why your kind mysteriously gets powers the moment they get to Equestria." Twilight said, her studious voice appearing again.

"Let's get back inside, it's getting cold." I said.

We all headed back inside, and Spike prepared some tea for us.

We discussed today's events and drank our tea, before heading off to bed aswell, the time having reached near-midnight.
















> Chapter 2 - Mysterious Figures
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sound of buzzing near my bed woke me up. And Twilight aswell.

" What's that buzzing noise? Are we under attack by changelings? " Twilight asked, fear welling up in her. 

I looked to my left, and found the culprit located on top of the nightstand next to the bed. 

" There's no changelings, it's just my phone. I wonder what I got a notification for though. " I said, easing Twilight's tension.

I unlocked my phone, and found a notification for a game I played, telling me my research was done.

" Really now...? This is why I keep it on silent in the mornings. It's barely 8 o' clock! " Annoyed, I placed my phone back on the stand and attempted to go to sleep again. 

A futile attempt. 

'CRASH!' 

" That can only be one somepony. " Twilight said. 

" I don't even need to guess. So much for sleeping. " I said, and quickly walked to the bathroom with a fresh set of clothes. 

After freshening up and allowing Twilight to use the bathroom, I headed downstairs to find the one responsible for crashing on the ground at 8 am.

"Rainbow, did you really need such a dramatic entrance this early in the morning? " I asked. 

" I do if I bring important news! Me, Applejack and Rarity are going camping with the crusader fillies! " 

" We already knew that. " I said. 

" Really? Who told you? " 

" You did, silly. Did you forget already? " I asked. 

" Did I? I did, didn't I... " Rainbow said, hiding her face in embarrassment. " It's like I'm forgetting everything lately. " 

" Maybe you should check in at the hospital? See if those dramatic entrances of yours caused collateral damage. " I said, worrying about Rainbow Dash's reckless landings. 

" I will, after the camping trip. Well that's all then, I'll see ya later! " Rainbow said, and shot out of the broken window. 

Twilight walked down the stairs after, followed by Shervin. 

" There's a broken window, so the suspicions were correct. " Twilight said, and used her magic to fix the window. "I should charge her for magical strain. " 

Shervin looked puzzled, so I simply said Rainbow's name. 

" The flyin' cyan pony?" He asked. 

I nodded, and proceeded to gather the newspaper that just arrived. 

" Seems we pulled some attention towards us. " I said, referring to the main article. 



Ponyville News

Equestria's humans draw in even more humans. Are we being invaded? 




"After all you've done for them, this is still how they see you. " Twilight said. 

" They have some rights to be suspicious, though. Maybe Celestia should announce the four of us as official citizens of Equestria in public. They sort of know me through my actions as the Shadow of Equestria, but the ponyfolk barely know Michelle, and Robin and Shervin are completely new. " I said. 

" Maybe we coul' 'ave different names too, to fit in better? " Shervin suggested. 

The sound of a flame interrupted the conversation, and Spike came running in with a royal letter. 

Twilight wrenched the letter from Spike's claws, and read it quickly. 

"What does it say? " I asked. 

" Who's it from anyway?" Shervin asked. 

" Y'know Twilight, we should make him read up on some Equestrian lore. " I said. Turning back to Shervin, I responded : " The letter is from Princess Celestia. Twilight here is her student, remember? "  

"Remember what? I've never known!" Shervin retorted.

"Oh right, sorry. I thought I'd told you already." I apologised.

"Princess Celestia asks for all of us to visit her today. She says it's important." Twilight said, answering my question.

" If it's Celestia, it's always important. Let's go round everyone up then and head that way. I assume all of us means Shervin and Robin aswell, right? " I said. 

" Think so. Maybe Night has to come too. She went back to her castle I think."Twilight said. 

" Tell you what: we round up all the others, starting with Fluttershy and Robin, and then over to Night after the other Elementbearers have been gathered, and THEN we go to the portal at the shack to save travelling times. That way they see everything. " I suggested. 

" First, we eat. " Twilight said, walking over to the kitchen to prepare some food for us. 

" I could ask Celestia if she could prepare something for us. " I said. 

" Oh yeah, forgot you could do that. We could eat with all of us together at Canterlot! Sounds like a great idea! " Twilight cheered. 

I asked Celestia to prepare breakfast for us for when we arrive, and told Shervin and Twilight to follow me over to Fluttershy's cottage. Sabrina was as always nowhere to be found, but she would appear eventually. 


WWWWW


Change of Character - Primal Dagger -> Shervin

So far, this odd world a' ponies was mysterious, but strangely friendly. The newspaper said that Josh and that assistant of his be plottin' for an invasion by bringin' me an' Robin ova' 'ere, but that ofcourse be complete madness. I know I won't dare to hurt these friendly ponies 'ere, but I couldn't say the same 'bout otha' humans. 

I wonda' what this Princess wants of us, though. From what I understand she be a solar princess or summin' along those lines. Who knows wha' power a Princess of tha sun could hold? 

" Hey Shervin, you alright there? You looked a bit fazed out. Been smoking too much weed again? " Joshua, or rather Primal Dagger as he's called 'ere, said chuckling. 

" Y'know I don't actually  smoke weed right? Is just sum silly joke you guys came up with. " I retorted. 

" Ofcourse I know that. It's still funny though, since you actually started it. With that group you created back then. " 

" I told ya that was just a joke right? " I said. 

" Again, I know. What were you thinking about anyway for you to faze out like that? Had I not asked you would've walked into the building there. " he said, pointingto the building we turned away from. 

"Mostly 'bout how this world looks an' feels so friendly. Earth be dark compared to this. Also 'bout that princess we goin' to. Is she friendly? Should I fear for my life for possibly stagin' an invasion on this planet? The folk 'round here seem skeptical. " I said. 

" Don't be silly, Princess Celestia won't do anything to you. You have my word as her protégé. " Twilight said. " We're here, by the way. " Twilight knocked on the door of the rather shabby lookin' cottage. 

" Wait a second, did you hear that? " Primal said. 

" Hear what? Fluttershy headed for the door? " Twilight asked. 

" It sounded like... laughing. But in a very maniacal way. Almost... teasingly. " Primal said. 

" I didn't hear nothin' . " I said. 

" Probably my imagination, but I will tell Celestia- WAIT! Did you see that? " 

"Where? What? " Twilight said, worried now. 

" A shadowy figure over there headed into the woods! Either something is playing tricks on me or there's something weird happening around here. " Primal said, pointing to the treeline. 

" Princess Luna's Night guard should be able to find out if there's something happening here if you tell her. " Twilight said. 

Fluttershy opened the door just now, covered in various animals. " Hey guys! My animals all jumped up in panic for some reason so I had to round them up, and then you knocked. Come in!" 

We stepped inside, and the place was a mess if I've ever seen one. Robin was on the couch, looking distressed. 

" 'Sup Robin? Had a good rest at this place? " I asked him. 

" Yeah, I did. The place didn't look like this before though. Those animals sure did a number on the room when they panicked. " he said. 

Primal had his hand on his chin, deep in thought. Fluttershy noticed and asked him what was wrong. 

" I think I might know the reason for the panicking animals, although I'm not sure how. I saw a figure outside, and heard maniacal laughing. There's definitely something sinister happening around here. " he responded. " We should make haste and collect the others to go to Canterlot. " 

" Princess Celestia asked us to visit her at Canterlot. Primal asked her to prepare breakfast so all of us can eat there. " Twilight said. 

" Okay. No time to waste then! Lead on!" Robin said. 

Twilight and Primal led us through town, to a small hill with what looked like... a house made from clouds above it? This world can't get any weirder. 

" RAINBOW DASH! " Twilight and Primal shouted in unison.

Something struck my back, and I fell over. 

" Hehe, sorry. Shervin, right? " the cyan winged pony called Rainbow Dash said, and she helped me up. 

" It's fine. An' yea, that be me. " I said. "What are you and that Fluttershy anyway? Winged ponies? " 

" We're Pegasi. Twilight and Rarity are Unicorns, and Pinkie Pie and Applejack are Earth ponies. " Rainbow said. 

" An' the princesses? They special too? " I asked. 

" They are alicorns: larger ponies with both wings and horns. " Twilight said. 

" What's up? I gotta go to Rarity's place soon to prepare for the camping trip. " Rainbow Dash said. 

" Slight change of plans. Celestia asked us to come pay a visit. Said it was important. I'm sure you can go camping after she told us whatever she wants to tell us. " Primal said. 

" Okay. Let's go then! " Rainbow said, already flying off somewhere.

We had a bit o' trouble keeping up with the pegasus, but we arrived at a strange carrousel-ish looking building just as she did. The three fillies we met yesterday were here too. 

" Hey Rainbow! Why are you here so early? And why is the rest here? " an orange pegasus with purple mane and tail asked. 

I noticed now that these three didn't have those odd markings on their flanks.

" So every one of you gets tattoos on their behinds at a certain age then?" I asked. 

" Those "tattoos " are called cutie marks.  Yes I know, the name is stupid. I didn't come up with it. I've got one too. " Primal said, moving his arm to me to show a crystalline dagger with something that looked like air and lightning  flow around it. 
" Hm, looks like it's changed too since my other elements got stripped. Now there's just air currents and lightning bolts flowing around the dagger. Anyway, the cutie marks depict a pony's talents -or in my case a human's - and they appear when they find out what exactly they are talented at. " 

" And we don't have them yet! That's why we created our group, the Cutie Mark Crusaders! Are we going camping now? " Scootaloo said. 

" Not exactly squirt, we got a change of plans. Princess Celestia asked to see us A.S.A.P. Don't worry, we'll be back before you know it! " Rainbow explained. 

" Awww, okay. Promise us you will be back as soon as you can? " Sweetie Belle asked. 

" We promise! We need Rarity too, could you go get her? " Rainbow asked. 

With a quick reply, the three ran inside to fetch Rarity.

They returned just a few moments later. 

" What is the rush, dears? Why have I been dragged outside? " Rarity asked. The fillies had only taken her outside and hadn't explained anything. 

" Celestia needs to see us." Primal said. 

" It sounds important enough. Do we still get to go camping though? I finally got myself so far as to actually go with you, so I would rather not see it cancelled. " Rarity said, frowning. 

" I think tha' Princess o' yours said ye could go campin' after whateva' she wants of us. " I said. 

" Alright then. Tally-ho! No time to spend standing around here! You fillies stay here, alright? " Rarity beckoned. 

The fillies nodded, and our small party continued onwards through the snaky streets of the town towards what they had called Sugarcube corner. I didn't quite understand why. 

"HELLOWHATAREYOUGUYSDOINGHERE? HAVEYOUCOMETOTASTEMYNEWESTCUPCAKE?" 

Until a rambling pink pony made it quite clear, that is. 

" Calm down, Pinkie!" Twilight said. " We're not here to taste cupcakes, we came to take you with us to see Princess Celestia! " 

" Oh! Why didn't you say so then?" 

" She just did...." Primal said. 

" No but I mean say it before she said it! " Pinkie was rambling nonsense at this point. 

"I... Nevermind. Let's just get Applejack and go to the portal shack. " Primal said, sighing. 

The pink mare bounced off towards where Applejack supposedly lived, luckily without saying another word. 

We followed her until I noticed we were leaving the town centre and entered the outskirts. 

" Where does this Applejack live? " I asked. 

" She lives and works on her farm just outside of town, Sweet Apple Acres. " Twilight said. 

" Wait! There it is again! " Primal said, taking a defensive stance. " Show yourself, scum!" 

The laughing only got louder, and the sound of fire reached our ears. 

" I think something might be on fire nearby! Quick! Find out where while I try to search the culprit! " Primal said, and vanished in a puff of smoke. 

Twilight teleported instantly, and Rainbow and Fluttershy took to the skies to survey the area. Me, Robin and Rarity all ran towards where the sound came from. Pinkie bounced on ahead. How she was still this energetic in a situation like this was beyond me.

" Someone get water! I found the fire! " Twilight shouted. 

Rainbow surged towards the farm to get water, while the rest of us ran over to Twilight to help stabilise the spreading flames. 

Smoke announced the return of Primal.  " The bastard was nowhere to be found! " 

" Let us deal with this fire first. Rainbow went to the farm to get water, maybe you could help her out? " Rarity said.

" Will do. " 


WWWWW 


Change of Character - Shervin  - > Primal Dagger 

" Will do. " I said, and shadowstepped to the farm. 

Rainbow was already getting a bucket of water filled up. I ran towards her and took another bucket to fill that up aswell, and quickly teleported back to deliver it. 

Rainbow flew in just after I threw the water unto the fire, and emptied her own bucket as well before shooting off again. The process was repeated several times untill the fire was completely doused. The trees that had been struck by the fire were completely charred, and even the ground had scorch marks. 

" Whoeva' did this 'ere to mah farm's gonna pay for it! Y'all can darn well bet yer horseshoes Ah'll make 'em pay! " Applejack shouted. 

" Now I will definitely tell Celestia about it. Let's quickly go to Night's castle to pick her up and go to the portal shack after. " I said. 

" Whoa nelly, not so fast! Ah was gonna go on a camping trip in jus' a moment! " Applejack said. 

" We gotta go see Princess Celestia first, Applejack. I don't think she said what for but Primal and Twilight said it was important. "Rainbow said. 

" Shame we don't get to see the rest o' ya farm. Otha' than them burnin' trees, tha' is. " Shervin said. 

" Ah could give ya a tour if ya'd like when we're back from the trip. " Applejack said. 

" I'd like tha'. " Shervin replied. 

Everyone was slightly spooked by the forest, but we reached the castle of the royal pony sisters in no time thanks to the winds guiding our steps. 

" Night! You here?" I shouted. No answer. 

" She isn't home. Let's leave a letter so she knows she has to go to Canterlot. " Twilight suggested. 

She quickly wrote the letter, and hanged it on the front door. 

"Too bad she isn't here. The castle is quite impressive to see from the inside. " I said. " Let's go to the portal shack. " 


WWWWW 


" Right, we're here. Get inside and start up the portal's matrix." I said. 

All but one pony looked at me with confusion, and the one that did not walked inside and booted up the portal's matrix. 

" It's not that hard to understand. It's just called a matrix, but really anyone could turn it on. " I explained. 

The portal hummed with idle power. 

" Now we just need to add the liquid mana so it can charge it's phasal energies. Anyone proficient with magic, provide some of your power at this stone here. " I said. 

Rarity and Twilight stepped forward, and their horns touched the cold stone ball. I placed my hand on it as well, and the various runes on its surface lit up. Our magics transformed into a liquid state and travelled through the pipes, powering the portal. 

Sabrina instantly jumped through without waiting. " The panther is eager enough. Jump in! " 

I waited untill everyone had jumped into the portal before going in myself. 

And ended up in Luna's private chambers.

"Now this is quite unexpected. Six ponies, three humans and a black panther, all in my chambers! To what do I owe the pleasure?" Luna said.

"We were on our way to visit Celestia. She sent Twilight a letter, asking all of us to meet her today. She said it was important." I responded.

"Ah, right. My sister is currently in a meeting, but I shall notify her that you all have arrived. In the meantime, would any of you care for some tea?" Luna asked.

"I'd like some tea, thank you." Robin said.

"I could do with some aswell." Rarity added.

"Ah, might aswell. I'd like some aswell." I said.

Luna proceeded to procure several cups and some tea from seemingly nowhere, and poured everyone a cup. "Sugar?"

"Just one cube, please." Robin said politely.

"I do not drink tea with sugar, thank you." Rarity said.

"I don't either, so I'll pass." I said. "By the way, Luna? Could you and your Night Guard do a favour for me?"

"What is it?" Luna replied.

"We had some very strange happenings this morning. I heard laughing and saw a shadowy figure near Fluttershy's home, and later at Applejack's farm we heard the same maniacal laughing, and a few trees were set on fire. I tried finding the culprit, but he or she is very elusive. Could you track him or her down?" I said.

"Hm, that is quite strange indeed. You did not get any visual information on the person?" Luna asked.

"Other than being hooded, shadowy and laughing creepily, we saw no more of him or her. And possibly has ways to set stuff on fire, too." I said. "Sorry"

"It is not much to go on, but I will try what I can to find more reportings of strange activities such as laughing and burning. You have my word."

"Thanks. I'll tell Celestia too, see if she knows anything." I said, and took a few sips of my tea. "Ugh, I should've added sugar.

"So, how have the rest of you been lately?" Luna asked, referring to the ponies who did not accompany us to Earth.

"We were supposed to be goin' campin' by now with them crusader fillies. But then Primal 'n Twilight 'n them others appeared to stamp out the orchard fires, and said we had to go see Princess Celestia." Applejack said.

"I am sure Celestia would not keep you from your camping trip if it was not very important."

"It's still annoying though. I was looking forward to camping with Rare, Applejack and those three young ones!" Rainbow returned. 

" Ah, I sense she is ready to see all of you now. She is currently in the dining hall." Luna suddenly said. 

" Perfect. Thanks for the tea, Luna. " I said. 

" My pleasure. Now go, my sister has a lot to talk about. " 

I lead everyone through the halls of the palace, with most looking around in awe at the decor. 

" Ah, there you all are. I shall have some breakfast prepared for you, sit down please. " Celestia said. 

We each took a seat at the extremely long dining table. I sat at the end, next to Twilight and an empty chair. Next to Twilight was Shervin, and next to him was Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy, Robin, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were next to that, and Rarity was at the other end of the table. 

A watery fog rolled into the room.

" Ah! What is this?!" Twilight shouted. 

" Haha, relax Twilight. It's just me, Michelle. " a voice echoed throughout the mist. 

The fog started collecting in one spot, and soon it took the shape of Michelle. She took the seat next to Rarity. 

A dark flash interrupted us after, and Night appeared. She took the spot next to Michelle. 

" Stealthy as ever, I see. You're doing a good job at disappearing and reappearing like Sabrina usually does. " I said, causing the mentioned panther to purr a response. 

Luna walked into the room at that moment aswell. " What can I say, she and I just have a talent for that. " she said, smirking as she took a seat next to her alter ego. 

" Thanks for leaving that letter, by the way. " Night said. 

" My pleasure. " Twilight said. 

" The plot thickens. The company grows. What will breakfast do now against such mighty opposition? Find out in a moment!  " I said jokingly. 

" Random as always, are you not. Luckily you don't just space out like you used to." Robin said. 

" Heh. " 

" Looks like we have even more guests. Add another three into the order please! " Celestia shouted towards the kitchen. " Welcome, all of you. Breakfast should arrive shortly. "

And, as if on cue, the table started magically filling up with various types of bread, cheese, jam and other delicacies. Sabrina got her own personal plate with various types of meat, imported from the gryphon lands for when their ambassadors decided to visit. 

"A feast! Enjoy!" Celestia said, and proceeded to fill up her own plate once she took the seat next to mine. 

Everyone took to the food like a pack of hungry wolves, and soon everyone had their share on their plates. Celestia had even managed to get Zap Apple Jam, which had been quick to disappear onto various pieces of bread, including mine. 

Once everyone was full, and the table was cleaned, Celestia took to initiating the conversation. 

" You must all wonder why I called you here on such short notice. Firstly, the newcomers to Equestria. I hereby officially welcome you to Equestria, and are welcome to stay for as long as you like. You shall be considered citizens. " Celestia began. 

" My thanks to you, Princess. Is there any way we could contribute to this society, should we wish to stay longer? " Robin asked. 

" I suggest you ask your fellow friends for work, if anything they offer suits your skills. Otherwise, either me or Luna could think of something. " Celestia said. 

" We'll see if there be anythin' we can do. I already like this place a lot more than Earth. " Shervin said. 

" Count me in on that statement. " Robin added.

" Secondly, and this concerns both of you and Michelle. Your names. Due to all the activities lately we did not have much time to discuss this with you Michelle, but I feel each of you should have a fitting name to better fit into society. "  Celestia continued. " Any thoughts? What do each of you like, what do you stand for? " 

"Since I hold the power over Water, and frequently use it as healing, I thought it would be fitting to be called Aqua Vitae. I had a few Latin lessons back on Earth. Aqua stands for water, and vitae stands for life. Combined, they form 'the water of life' " Michelle said. 

" Which I'm certain has more meaning to it. " I said. 

" Yes, which also fits me. It's fun with me around, isn't it? " Michelle retorted. 

" Quite. " 

" Alright, you shall henceforth be named as Aqua Vitae. And the two of you? " Celestia said, turning to Robin and Shervin. 

" Well, I don't really have much ideas, but I've always had an appreciation for nature, and what belongs to it. " Robin started, but something peculiar interrupted him. 

Thorns and vines started surrounding his chair, and grew in such a way that they seemed to protect him from danger. Once Robin held his hand close to the vines, they started retreating. 

" Hm, interesting. " 

" Looks like nature listens to your calls. You might be a druid after all, ey?" I said. 

Robin cleared the vines from his chair, and turned to face Celestia. 

" I have a fitting name for you. Natura Thorn. Your connection with nature is undoubtedly strong, and from what formed and your pure intentions, you would do anything to protect your friends, and will strike out when attacked." Celestia said. 

" That sounds like a suitable name. Thank you again, Princess Celestia. " Robin said. 

" I have done nothing to owe thanks, and please just call me Celestia in friendly gatherings such as these. My title is reserved for those lowly nobility who continue to mock me with their scandalous proposals. " Celestia said. " And you, Shervin? " 

" I tend to keep all things in balance. How much I speak, how much I eat, what I eat. I probably would do a similar thing in combat : I strike a balance between defendin' friends an' fightin' enemies. I also hold spiritual energy in high regard an' as a result I meditate quite often. " Shervin said. 

" I didn't know you did meditation. " I said. 

" I never told ya. An' why should I? Meditation is to provide peace of mind. " Shervin said. 

A glowing white orb appeared over his head, and surged into him. He shone brightly, before channeling the energy back into an orb. It then disappeared into the ground. " I knew it! " he shouted. 

" Looks like both your powers have manifested themselves. And I also have a fitting name for you: Spirit Equity. And, fitting jobs for both you and Natura. " Celestia said. " Although I am unsure if you are both up for the tasks. " 

" What could those tasks be, Celestia? "Natura said. 

" Yours involves a third matter I wanted to discuss. Since you have control over nature, you should have little trouble dealing with the Everfree Forest. I recently found out it is housing an evil presence, and parts of the forest themselves have gotten corrupted. I charge you with the protection and cleansing of said forest, and you will receive a sum of money for it as compensation. " Celestia said. 

" Sounds perfect. I would need some place to stay, however. " Natura said. 

" You could stay with me. If you would like that, ofcourse. " Fluttershy suggested. 

" Ah, thanks Fluttershy. I promise I will not burden you too much. " Natura said. 

" As for you, Spirit, I have been wanting to extend the reach of the law to more isolated towns. I would like to introduce a new regiment, the Justice Guard. And I want you to be its first member. As part of a guard regiment, you will be paid like a soldier would be. Maybe you will earn a promotion to leader of the Justice Guard in the future? " Celestia said. 

" I'd never 've seen myself as part of an army, but it sounds like somethin' I am willin' and capable of doin'!" Spirit said. " I would need to report back to you frequently, I suppose? " 

" That is correct. From what I understand, Primal set up a portal directly linking the palace and Ponyville. I suggest you live near wherever that is located. " Celestia said. 

" The portal shack is closest to Applejack's farm, I think. " I said. 

" Then ah suggest ya stay with me an' mah family at the farm. Ya could help 'round the farm too whenever ya have spare time. " Applejack said. 

" I accept your offer, Applejack. " Spirit said. 

" Then everything is settled. " Celestia said. 

" Actually, sister. Primal notified me of some strange happenings around Ponyville, including maniacal laughter and pyromaniac activity. Do you know anything about this matter? " Luna asked. 

" I do not, sister. I suggest you utilise your Night Guard to do some reconnaissance. " Celestia responded. 

" I also would like to say something on the topic of jobs, if I may. " Aqua said. 

" You may speak. " Celestia said. 

" Since I have healing powers,and have heard of some strange diseases gripping these lands, it would only be fitting if I could provide assistance in healing the sick. " Aqua said. 

" Then I will appoint you as Royal Healer of Equestria. You have my permission to do as you please to keep general health up across the land. Anything else that requires mention?" Celestia said.

"Nothing major, I was simply wondering when I would get my next job." I stated.

"It seems for now, the criminals of Equestria are laying low. I will notify you if something happens."

"Right, I think that's about it then. You girls got a camping trip to prepare for." I said.

"Yer correct sugarcube, we should git on tha' right away." Applejack said. " Where's the portal to git back, though?" 

" Not in Luna's chambers, obviously. Think the matrix needs to be recalibrated. It's down a corridor in the direction of Luna's chambers, though. " I responded. " Follow me. " 

I lead the six ponies, three humans, pony demigod and black panther through the various halls leading towards the return portal. 

" It should be in the room ahead. " I said, after taking a right turn. 

I opened the door to the room, but what we found was unsettling. And slightly dark. 

" Is that.... a pony carcass?" Twilight asked. " It's mangled beyond any state of recognition! Who would do something like this? And why here? " 

"I'm sure this wasn't here before, and only a few among our current party knew of the location of this portal. Either someone has been spying on us, or we have a traitor, the latter I doubt. " I stated. 

" Maybe the odd figure you saw at Fluttershy's cottage had something to do with it? " Robin asked.

" I doubt that too. That one is a pyromaniac, not a barbaric animal. I know enough to know that the two are not easily combinable. " I said. " Twilight, teleport the corpse out of here if you please. And start up the portal so everyone can go back home. I'll go back and tell Celestia and Luna what we've seen. "

Twilight made the body disappear, cleaned the room with help from Aqua, and proceeded to turn the portal on. I stayed long enough to watch everyone pass through before I headed back to the dining hall with haste. 

Celestia and Luna were just having a conversation when I barged in, panting from running. 

" You would not come running  back if it was not important. What is wrong? " Celestia asked. 

" I almost don't want to tell you, it's too morbid. But I have too. " I said, before taking a quick breather. " We came upon a mangled corpse in the portal room here in the castle. I don'tknow how or why. "

"A corpse? A pony corpse? " Luna asked, to which I nodded. " Could you identify who it was? " 

" Sadly, no. The body was ravaged beyond recognition. I'll spare you the details of how the room looked like." I said. 

" Could it be linked to the fire starter? " Celestia asked. 

" It's possible, but I very much doubt it. " I said, which drew confused looks from both of them. " A pyromaniac works in a completely different way than whoever would do something like this. " 

"Even more mysteries. Equestria is getting darker by the minute. I will scour pony's dreams tonight to see if I could spot something. " Luna said. 

" Isn't that a privacy breach? " I asked. 

" I do not meddle with their dreams or even look at them in detail. With just a glance I can see what is happening. Besides, this is a matter of national safety. " Luna said. 

" It's still a privacy breach, but whatever. I'd rather break that than lose lives because of maniacs. " I said.    "Find out what you can, and please tell me if you have something worthwhile. " 

" I will. Now go, your friends are wondering where you are. " Luna said. 

I headed back to the portal room, which was now completely clean. The portal was still online, luckily. I stepped through to the other side. 

" Not again! " I yelled before slamming face down into the mana flowers. " Ow, my face. " 

"Some could say you... fell into position. " 

"No amount of sunglasses will help you out of that bad joke. " I returned. I picked myself off the ground, and faced Twilight. 

" Why would I need sunglasses for that..? Nevermind, it's not important. The others already left. Just me and Sabrina stayed behind to wait for you. What did they say? " 

" Luna said she would scan the dream world tonight for any suspicious activity. Other than that, they seem distressed by the fact that Equestria suddenly got this macabre. You don't see ravaged bodies like that every day. " I said. 

" Or firestarters, for that matter. We haven't had cases like that in a few years now. " Twilight added. 

" So, everyone left? What were you going to do?" I asked. 

" Don't know. When I'm not going around saving Equestria and beyond, I don't do much beside studying. " Twilight responded. 

" I just realised something. Rainbow is going to the Wonderbolts flight school soon, right? " I asked. 

" She is yes, why? " 

" Hm, that means I'm currently in the making of the next episode then. " I said aloud. 

" What? " 

"Nothing, never mind. So eh, any ideas on what you intended to do today? " I said. 

" Study? Relax? I'm not sure what I could do. " Twilight contemplated. 

" We could practice magic together, maybe? I haven't used mine properly for a while now, since most got stripped away. " I suggested. 

" I didn't get to use mine properly either since I found out I could do more than shoot lasers and lift objects. " Twilight said. " Let's go! " 

I shot a quick glance at Sabrina, who simply grinned for as much as a panther could do that. 


WWWWW 


Change of Character - Primal Dagger -> Princess Luna 

Some time later, on the same day

" Sister, I will take over court for you. You look tired." I said. 

" No, I am fine. Do not worry about me. " Celestia responded. 

" I can clearly see you are pushing yourself to your limits. You really need some rest. " I said, hoping to drive her to give up.

" I am an alicorn, I do not need rest! "

So much for that hope. 

" Even if you are an alicorn, your body can and will get exhausted from over exertion. Go get some sleep, you can continue tomorrow. " I said. 

" But I-"

" No but. You are going to rest. Now." I said.

" Oh fine. Just do not accept too many crazy proposals. " Celestia said, finally submitting with a defeated sigh. 

" That should not be too much of a problem. " I said. " You just go rest, I will handle them. " 

Celestia trotted off towards her room, and I waited for the break to be over and the boring politicians to return. "i am already regretting my decision. "

The nobleponies returned, and were already unhappy. 

" Where is Princess Celestia? We demand to see her! " 

" Celestia had to rest, she is exhausted. I will take over the remainder of court. " I explained. 

The noblepony still seemed unhappy, but sat down anyway. 

"This will be a long evening. "


WWWWW 


"Finally!  It is over! These ponies sure know how to drive somepony crazy."

As the last noblepony left the room, I looked outside. It was nearing the night, and Celestia had to lower her sun soon. I trotted to her room, and found her sleeping on the bed. I poked her softly.

" Celestia, you need to lower the sun. " I whispered in her ear. 

" Eugh, just a minute. " 

She stretched, and stood up from her bed to perform her ritual of lowering the sun, whilst I raised the moon in its stead. 

" You can go back to sleep now. We can discuss everything tomorrow. I have dreams to check up on. " I said. 

I left the room and headed for my own, since tonight was going to be eventful. I hoped to atleast find something which could explain things. 

I settled down in my own bed, and my consciousness quickly travelled through the air. It scoured the land, checking up on the dreams of the ponies already sleeping. I would have to scan another time later, to catch those sleeping later. 

I found Primal's dreams to be slightly weird, but left them alone. And Twilight seemed to be dreaming about... Primal? I figured I would just keep it to myself, since prying was something not done here in Equestria. 

Eventually, I came across a dream with lots and lots of fire. I inspected the dream closer, and found that the fires were caused by someone. The dream cycled on to an image of a world burning, again caused by someone. 

I could not decipher who was dreaming about this, but I knew it came from within the Everfree Forest. "This must be the pyromaniac. " 

I left it alone for now, since the dream was mostly about fire. I scoured onwards to check if somepony would be dreaming about chopping up bodies aswell, but I had no luck with that. 

I quit scanning dreams for the night after having scanned most of Equestria twice by now, and returned to my own body to start dreaming myself. I was stopped by Night, however. 

" Hey. I still have not gotten around to apologising to you for taking control of you back then. " she said. 

" This again? Let me tell you this: in my eyes you have redeemed yourself. Besides, you acted because you felt unloved. I felt the same, but you can not let the past consume you. You just have to keep doing good, and eventually ponies will start accepting you. " I said. 

" Are you sure? Ponies still much loathe you and prefer Celestia, who says it will not happen again? " Night said worriedly. 

" Nonsense. You and I both made a mistake, and we will not make the same mistake twice. " 

" You really do believe it.... Thank you, I needed that. Good night, Luna. " 

" Sleep well, Night. " 

> Chapter 3 - Howl at the Moon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week had passed since I notified Twilight and Primal of the pyromaniac's location. They had sent back a report every few days, stating all of their searches proved fruitless. There were no more fires being started, which was good.

They did, however, have more unsettling reports about ravaged bodies, and most ended up in the portal room at the castle. I made sure to visit the room regularly, and found three pony bodies, each more mangled than the previous one. 

Celestia had to deal with court again today, but I had a day off, so I decided to visit Ponyville before Rainbow Dash would go to the Wonderbolts academy, to see if she would be accepted.  I wanted to wish her succes in person, and to help Primal and Twilight find out who was causing all these brutal murders. 

" I will not need any guards with me, I can take care of myself. " I said to a guard who wanted to accompany me. 

" Are you certain, Your Highness? " the guard asked. 

" Yes. Ready the carriage, I want to leave as soon as possible. " I said.

The carriage was ready in about five minutes, and the two guards pulling it waited for me to enter before taking off. 


WWWWW 


The carriage touched down just outside the town, and I dismissed the guards. I instantly headed towards the Golden Oak library, home to Twilight Sparkle and Primal Dagger, along with Primal's companion Sabrina and Twilight's assistant Spike. 

Aqua  had moved out, desiring a home of her own, and bought a house nearer to the town's hospital. 

Spirit had moved out aswell, needing close proximity to the Ponyville-Canterlot portal link, and now lived at Applejack's farm. 

I knocked on the door, and Primal opened the door to a room full of ponies and humans. 

"I didn't know you were visiting today? You're just in time though, Rainbow was about to leave. " he said, and allowed me entry.

" Hello Princess Luna, how nice of you to visit! " Rarity said. 

" Just Luna is fine, please. No need for titles here. " I said. 

" Did ya come to wish me good luck too? 'Cuz I don't need it, really. " Rainbow said, smiling. 

" I have, but you seem confident enough. Do not get overconfident, however. I have seen many fall to it. " I said. 

" Thanks. Well, I'll be going off then! No point in keeping those slowpokes there waiting for the fastest flier!" 

And with that, Rainbow shot out of the open window, towards Cloudesdale.

" Ugh, someday she'll regret boasting like that. That day can't be soon enough." Primal sighed.  

" Rainbow will be Rainbow, I doubt she will change much. " Twilight said. " I do think you came to visit for more reasons than just to wish good luck to her. " 

"Ever vigilant, as always. Yes, I came to aid you in your search for the pyromaniac. Did you find anything on the bodies yet, by the way? " I asked. 

" I might have a theory." Primal said. " Pinkie, you know everyone in town, right? " 

"I sure do! Why? " 

" Did you notice anyone missing? " Primal asked. 

" Now that you ask it,  I haven't seen Junebug, Thunderlane, Blossomforth and Davenport around for a while now. The first three I don't see often, but Davenport owns Quills and Sofas. The shop has been closed for a while now. " Pinkie said. 

" Damn, I think we have our victims, then. And all are Ponyville residents. But that doesn't quite explain why they end up in the Canterlot portal room, though. " Primal said. 

" Maybe the killer sent them through the portal? " I suggested. 

" Nobody but our group knows about it though.... Wait. " 

" What is it dear? " Rarity said. 

" I think I might know who the killer is, but we will need to wait untill the moon rises. I'm going to stay near Fluttershy's home tonight, to keep a close watch on the border of the Everfree Forest. " Primal said.

I looked at him questioningly.

" Trust me on this one. If it works, then we will have one less to deal with. " 

"Sounds like y'all got it figured out. Ya comin', Spirit? We gotta tend to tha farm. " Applejack said. 

Applejack and Spirit left for the farm, and Rarity said she would go back to her boutique aswell. 

Michelle decided to go back to her new home to continue decorating it, so she left too. 

Pinkie had nothing to do, and wanted to spend time with me. So did Fluttershy, Natura and Twilight.

" Looks like they all wanna spend time with you. Go ahead and do something fun today, I have some stuff to do. Coming, Sabrina? " Primal said. His faithful companion jumped to his side, and together they vanished in smoke. 

" Well Luna, Looks like you will haveto deal with us today! " Twilight said. 

" I do not mind in the slightest. It is way better than sitting in court listening to nobleponies' troubles. " I said. " What will we do today? " 

" I haven't eaten anything yet. What about you girls? " Natura said. 

" I have!  But I can always go for more! " Pinkie said. 

" I haven't either, and I assume Fluttershy didn't eat yet either. What about you, Luna? " Twilight asked. 

" I could do with some nourishment, yes. Any suggestions where we could go? " I asked. 

" OOH, I know! Let's go to Sugarcube corner! My treat! " Pinkie cheered. 

" Alright, sugars corner it is then. Take the lead, Pinkie Pie. " I said. 

The pink mare did not need further encouraging, and bounced towards her bakery, us in tow. 

" Take a seat! I will make the food myself! " Pinkie said, and bounced towards the kitchen. 

" She didn't even ask what we wanted... " Natura said. 

" Don't worry. Pinkie is a master at knowing who likes what. You won't be disappointed. " Twilight said. 

" I hope she brings me her caramel-taffy cupcakes. I ab-so-lutely loove those cupcakes. " Fluttershy said, mouth watering. 

" There's a 90% chance she brings me what I think she'll bring me. The other 10% could include a new cupcake I haven't tried yet. She knows I like tasting new things. " Twilight said. 

" I wonder what she brings me. I suppose she is a master for a reason, I will probably like it anyway. Celestia told me everything about her amazing baking skills. "I said. 

" So, what do you think Prima had to do? " I asked Twilight, after a short silence. 

" I don't know! I have no idea what he's up to, he hasn't told me anything. " she answered. 

" Weird. You'd think he'd atleast tell you about his plans, right? You two seem close enough for that. " Natura said. 

" I am not close to him! I wouldn't even dream of it! " 

I couldn't hold it in, and I let out a laugh. " Apologies, Twilight. But you should see the way you look at him from time to time. " 

"You visited my dreams, haven't you? " Twilight said, already knowing the answer. 

" I cannot stop myself from seeing a pony's dreams. It comes naturally to me, and sometimes I come upon dreams like yours. I promised myself I would keep it quiet, but since the topic was brought up..." I said. 

" I suppose I kind of have a thing for him,don't I. What if he doesn't like me back though? I don't want to lose a dear friend! " Twilight said. 

" I am unsure if he feels the same way or not. From his actions, he does like you to a degree. How far that degree goes, I cannot tell. His dreams are really weird most of the time. And other times he simply does not dream at all. " I said. 

" How is that possible? Everyone dreams about something!" Twilight said.

" Yet he does not sometimes. It did not occur often, but I found his dreams were empty once or twice maybe. " I said. 

" Food is ready! " Pinkie shouted, and soon enough she walked over with four plates holding various confectionery. 

A midnight blue muffin in the shape of a crescent moon was placed in front of me, and it took up the space of the entire plate. 

Twilight had multiple violet cupcakes in the form of stars, Fluttershy had three butterfly shaped cupcakes with dripping caramel, and Natura had a green claw-shaped muffin. 

" I'm not going to say what's inside, Find out yourself! It's a surprise for everyone! Except Fluttershy, maybe. " Pinkie said. 

I took a bite from my cupcake. The savoury taste of blueberries filled my mouth, with a hint of Zap Apple Jam..... How did she know I liked Zap Apple Jam? 

" Noo! The moon is being eaten! What will be in the sky now? " Pinkie said. 

" As long as me and Night are alive and well, the moon will find its way back to the sky. Even if it has been slightly devoured. " I returned. 

" That's comforting. Now just to make the ponyfolk see that Night does not mean any harm, and recognise you as equal to Princess Celestia. " Twilight said. 

" They aren't equal? " Natura asked. 

" They are, but ever since Night took control of Luna and tried forcing eternal night over Equestria, the ponies have shunned both Luna and Night. Even now, when it's been so long ago, ponies prefer Princess Celestia over Luna. " Twilight explained. 

" Night has talked to me about it, and she is truly sorry for what she did. She worries it will happen again in the future. "

" That won't happen. You have the Mane Six behind you, and the aid of four kind-hearted humans. You and Night won't fall prey to corruption again. " Fluttershy said. 

" Thanks. But the ponyfolk need to know, not me and her. That is the main reason for their shunning. Also, three of the humans are indeed kind-hearted and pure, but I sense an impurity in one of them. " I said.       "I think that is what Primal is doing. " I added under my breath. 

" What was that, Luna? " Twilight asked. 

" Nothing, do not worry. Just something I thought of. " I said.

" Alright. Well I hope the one with the impurity finds out soon, otherwise we might have a problem. " Twilight said. 

" We already have." 

Primal appeared next to our table, shrouded by smoke. He had his assassins' garb on.

" Apologies for the smoke, got caught up with some troublesome ponies. " he said, dispelling his gear back to the ethereal plane. " Looks like you're enjoying yourselves, don't let me keep you. " He wanted to walk away. 

" Wait!  Stay with us. " Twilight said. 

" You were finishing your meals, were you not? Just enjoy the day, you can worry later. I still have some business I have to take care of, I simply stopped by. What I had to tell can wait until later. " he said, and blinked away this time. 

" Wait!- "

" Well, you tried. " Natura said. " If he had something to do, I'm sure it's important. " 

" He better. Otherwise whatever he faces now will be nothing compared to me. " Twilight scoffed.

" Oh don't take it so personal. The guy wouldn't know a girl wants him even if she slapped him in the face with it. Give 'm some time, he'll come around. " Natura said. 

" Want  him? " Twilight responded. " I don't-"

" Calm down Twilight, you are getting worked up over nothing. " I said in an attempt to ease the tension. 

" NOTHING?!" Twilight shouted, and stormed out of the building. 

" Well, so much for those comforting words. I think you should go talk to her, Luna. " Natura said. 

" If she wants to listen, that is. " I said, and left the building.

I noticed Twilight had ran towards the nearby trees, and was quietly sobbing. I walked over and sat beside her, putting a comforting hoof over her figure. She crumpled up against me, and continued sobbing, now louder. 

" Shhh, it's alright. "

We sat there for about a quarter of an hour, with me quietly comforting her. 

Natura, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had also left the building now, and walked up to us. 

They all gathered together in a group hug, nearly drawing the breath out of us. 

" I can't believe I'm hugging ponies now. " Natura said. " 'Twas like yesterday that I was still at my home, playing games on my computer. Can't say I don't like it though. " 

We broke apart, and Twilight was clearing away her tears now. 

" If it's any solace, I have felt exactly the same as you. Rejected, unloved, turned down. Unlike Primal, I kept trying even after she said no. Eventually, she opened up to me, and told me she couldn't be with me because we were so far apart. I proved her very, very wrong. " Natura said. " Primal got turned down aswell, and has never tried again, fearing further rejection. Show him you're there for him, and he'll realise. " 

" Out of all people, I expected to hear that the least from you. So much strife, yet you persevered in the face of it. " I said. 

" What won't kill you, only helps to make you stronger. " 

" Could not be more true. " I agreed. " You okay now, Twilight? " 

She nodded, and lifted her head to acknowledge it. 

" Thanks for the advice, Natura. " she said, sniffing. 

" No problem. I know Primal, he's just a bit clumsy when it comes to situations like these. " he said. 

" I'll keep that in mind. Mind if I head home? I don't feel like going out now. " Twilight asked. 

" No, I have a better idea. How about we head to the lake? " Natura suggested. 

" I'm up for that! We could swim in the lake!" Pinkie said. 

" And play with the critters! " Fluttershy added. 

" I will not swim, but a relaxing day near the lake sounds like a good idea." I said. 

" I don't know....I-"

" C'mon Twilight!  You look like you could do with some relaxation. " Fluttershy said. 

" I - Oh alright, I'll come. I do feel like I could use it. " 

" Perfect! Let's go! " 


WWWWW 


Change of Character - Princess Luna - > Primal Dagger 

" It's done, Celestia. The bandits are no more. " I said while kneeling. 

" Great work, Shadow of Equestria. You will receive your payment tomorrow morning. " she answered.        "Dismissed. " 

I stood up, and vanished in a cloud of smoke, reappearing at the Ponyville library. 

"Thank the heavens for these powers, they're so damn useful. " I muttered to myself.

" Shame you don't use them the way you should, though. " 

I turned around, and faced a hooded figure the same size as me - human, by the looks. 

I charged a lightning bolt in my hand, and aimed at him. " Give me one good reason not to zap you to the beyond. " 

" I come with an offer. Side with me, and we can rule this pathetic world together. " 

"Why would I do that? You would rather see it burn than to rule it. " I said. 

" True, but it will go all the faster if you join me. Give up on those lowly ponies, they aren't worth your time." 

" Lowly? Nah mate, you made a grave mistake there. What is your name, by the way? " 

"They call me Searing Hatred. " he said. 

" Good. I'll make sure they place that on your grave. " I said, and lightning crackled. 

It simply hit the ground.

" Damn, that guy is slippery. Atleast he has a name now. And that voice, he sounds so... familiar. I can't place it though." I said to myself again. 

A few ponies came to check why they had heard lightning, and saw me standing in an offensive position staring at the ground I just zapped. 

" You alright mister? We heard lightning and came to see what happened. " a mare asked. 

" I'm fine, thanks. That part of the ground there angered me for some reason, and I decided to zap it. Carry on. " I said. 

The mare looked puzzled, but questioned no further. I headed inside the library, and left for the bedroom. I had left my phone on the nightstand, and decided to take it with me now. 

"Even though there's no service here, it could be useful somehow. Let's test if I can get the compass to work. " 

After a few minutes of calibrating the compass, it now pointed north - supposedly. I walked up to the stargazing balcony to check. 

"Canterlot is there, and the compass points to the left of it. It works, alright." 

Statisfied, I placed the phone in my pocket and leaned on the railing on the balcony's edge. I saw Twilight, Luna, Fluttershy, Natura and Pinkie walk towards the east of town. 

"Might aswell join them, wherever they're going. The night isn't due for a few more hours. "I said. 

I walked into the shadow realm, speeding up my travel significantly. Once I reached their party, I left it again. 

" You going to the lake? I'm done with the job Celestia gave me - sorry about earlier, I really couldn't stay. Bandits decided to run for it, but I gave them a bit of a head start before I catched them. " I said. 

" You play with your prey, then? " Luna asked. 

" No, I decided to give them a chance to outrun their fate. Survival of the fittest, you see. Too bad they weren't fast enough to outrun the shadows." 

" If you want to call it that, fine. " she said.  " And yes, we were going to the lake. " 

" Great, I could use some rest before tonight. " I said, and followed them. 

" What will happen tonight, then? " Natura asked. 

" I can't tell for certain. I'd rather be sure about it and tell you after tonight, okay? " I said. 

Luna looked at me with a glint in her eye, but said nothing. Natura decided to leave it at that and continued towards the lake. 

The rest of the trip was composed of Pinkie shouting various plans for what she would do when we got there, and each of them sounded crazy. I couldn't be happier the moment we reached the lakeside. 

" Ah, we're here! Let's settle down. " 

Twilight placed down a blanket to sit on, and Fluttershy placed a basket with food on it. 

" CANNONBALL!!!!" Pinkie shouted. 

"SPLASH"!

Half of the blanket was now soaked, along with Luna.

" I thought I had said I would not be swimming? " Luna said mockingly.

" Sorry Luna! " Pinkie shouted. 

" It is fine. But I will have my payback soon, do not worry. " Luna said. 

" Careful. Pinkie'll see that as a challenge and return it in even worse fashion." Twilight said. 

" Against the Princess of the Moon? I would like to see her try! " Luna boasted. 

" You do know you face Pinkie Pie, destroyer of sanity and harbinger of parties? " I said jokingly. 

" She's not that bad, right? " Natura asked. 

" You haven't known her long enough then. Although it's not as bad as Primal states. " Twilight said. 

" Well, luckily I can blow-dry my clothes afterwards. GERONIMOOOO!!!" I shouted, and blinked into the air to cannonball into the water next to Pinkie, hitting Luna with another wave of water. 

"Grr, just you wait, you two. Just. You. Wait. " Luna sneered. 

" Wait for what? You didn't want to swim, right? " I said, challenging her. 

She cast a spell, which was probably supposed to do something but I couldn't find out what. Before we knew it, she teleported high into the air and raced towards the water at breakneck speeds. 

I couldn't really tell what happened next, but my world seemed to be made of water. I had to use my magic to pullmyself back up to the surface, along with Pinkie. A purple shield was placed where the blanket was, and the entire area around it was now submerged with water, slowly draining back into the lake. 

I looked back to see a triumphant Luna smiling at us. " Told you! You cannot win from the Princess of the Moon! " 

" Okay, I give you that one. That was good. "I said. 

" Do it again! " Pinkie cheered.

" No! Are you cra- wait nevermind, you are. No, don't do it again. Look at the others! " I said. 

Twilight had lowered her shield now, and had a non-amused look on her face. 

" Join us, you three! The water is good! " I shouted. 

After a second of hesitation, Twilight walked over to the edge of the water and dipped her hoof in. After testing the waters, seemingly statisfied, she waded towards where we were drifting. 

Fluttershy flew over to us and gently dipped into the water, and Natura followed after Twilight not too long after. 

We swam for a solid hour before returning to land. I dried everyone using my magic, recieving a few 'thank you's' for my services. We sat down on the blanket, and Twilight took sandwiches out of the basket and handed them out to everyone. 

"Ah, that was refreshing. I have not gone swimming for a very long time. " Luna said. 

" Happy you joined us? And all it took was a challenge. " I said mockingly.

" I did win. " 

" Yeah you did. Quit boasting lest you want another Rainbow Dash. Speaking of, how do you think she's doing at the academy? " I said. 

" Probably out-flying everypony and showing off. " Twilight said. 

" Nothing gets in the way of Rainbow when she's competing. " Fluttershy added. 

" Well, it's slowly getting late, and I need to get ready for tonight. You all coming along? " I asked. 

" It was a fine day. Let us finish this day with a proper evening meal before I return to Canterlot. " Luna said. 

" I could cook for us, if nobody minds. I had a recipe for soup I wanted to try out. " Fluttershy said. 

" Sounds lovely." I said. 

" Make that two that think so." Natura added. 

" Three! " Pinkie added. 

" Four!" Twilight chimed in. 

" Five it is, then. " Luna said. 

A silent 'yay' escaped Fluttershy's lips, and she happily lead us to her home. 


WWWWW 


"The soup is ready! " Fluttershy shouted from the kitchen. 

Natura stood up and readied the table. Fluttershy flew in, holding two bowls of scalding hot soup. The heat got through her gloves, causing her to quicken her pace with placing them down. 

Once everyone was served, she came back and took her own seat. 

" Enjoy! " she said. 

And enjoy I did. It didn't quite match my grandmother's soup, but it sure got close. 

Everyone simply enjoyed the hot meal. When everyone finished eating, Natura was the first to speak. 

" That was absolutely delicious. You have to teach me how to make it. " 

Fluttershy chuckled. " It's my own recipe, but I can give you a list. It's not that hard to make. " 

" That was quite fulfilling. Alas, it is time for me to return to my sister. She is probably worried about my whereabouts now. " Luna said. 

We waved her goodbye as she flew off towards the mountain.

" I'll be staying around this evening, in the hopes of my plan actually working. I think your bed is calling for you, Twilight. And your energy must've run out by now, Pinkie. " I said. 

" Think you might be right. Sure you don't need my help? " Twilight said, barely suppressing a yawn. 

" Hah, I should be fine. Go to bed, tomorrow I'll tell you if it worked. " 

" Alright. Good night, everyone. "

" Don't let the bed bugs bite!" Pinkie added, before they both left the house. 

"I'm going to stay outside for a while, you two just go to bed too. I'll wake you if I need anything." 

"Right. G'night Primal. " Natura said. 

" Good night Primal. " Fluttershy said. 

They both headed upstairs to their rooms. 

I headed outside, and duplicated myself. Shaking hands, we left to opposite sides of the house, and waited. 


WWWWW 


"I do hope my suspicions were correct. I'd hate staying up this late 'n having no results. " I muttered to myself. 

I had been casually sharpening oneof my knives on a nearby rock, when I heard a door inside open up. 

" Let's see. " 

The front door opened, and I hid myself behind a rock. My duplicate had taken cover behind a tree on the other side of the house. 

I saw Natura walk outside, and he looked at the moon. Suddenly, he started changing, growing bigger and gaining fur. 

" Looks like I was right. Now to get back inside and wake up Fluttershy while my clone tracks him. " 

Natura howled at the moon, and ran off towards the forest. My clone blinked from cover to cover, staying out of sight but in range of the werewolf. 

I teleported into Fluttershy's room, and gently nudged her awake. 

" Fluttershy, I need your help. My suspicions were correct, Natura is a werewolf. How the bodies ended up in the portal room is still a mystery, though. " I said. 

" WHAT ? I've been housing a werewolf? " 

" Calm down, you couldn't have known. What matters now is that we get out there and "tame" him or atleast keep him on a leash so he won't kill any pony. " I said. 

" Where is he? " 

" My clone is following him, come with me. " I said, and ran outside in the direction of my clone, Fluttershy in tow. 

After plowing through endless amounts of tall grass, walking over branches and around various trees, we found my clone. But no sign of Natura. 

" Where'd he go?  He was here just a minute ago. " Me and my clone said. 

" Did you lose him? " Fluttershy asked. 

" No, he can't escape the shadows. I'll use the surrounding winds to track him instead. It won't be as effective as sending myself after him, I'm afraid. " I said. 

I channeled the necessary spell to control the air around us, and commanded it to flow outwards from our position. The winds flew past everything, and eventually they flew past something that wasn't a tree. 

" There's something this way. Either it's a wild animal or it's him, but tread carefully. " I warned. 

I lead her towards where I thought was something, and we finally found him. He was crouching over a dead animal, probably eating it. 

" Do your thing Fluttershy, but be careful. Who knows how he'll react. " I said. 

Fluttershy flew over and landed next to him, using her 'Stare' to try and subdue him. 

" Listen to me, Natura. This is not who you are! I know the real you wouldn't hurt innocent creatures! " 

The werewolf seemed to listen to her, thinking about her words.

Everything went silent for a minute. 

Then, he howled and leaped at Fluttershy, claws out. I quickly blinked in and teleported myself and her into safety before turning back to the now feral wolf. 

" Looks like he wants it the hard way then. We gotta find a cure tomorrow with Twilight, thus can't go on forever. " I said. 

I balled my hands up, gathering power. Opening my hands and facing them to each other in a mantra position caused lightning to arc furiously between my hands. 

The wolf noticed us now, and prepared to leap again. 

I shot the spell I had been channelling towards him, hitting him in mid-air and placing him inside a stasis field of arcing electricity. He was now floating in the air. 

" That should keep him busy for a while. I think we either set up a camp nearby or try to take him back home. What do you think? " I asked. 

" I think we are better off moving him. This forest isn't known to be safe. " Fluttershy said. 

" Alright, I'll try to urge the winds to gently push him along. I might be one with the air and all but I'm not immune to the effects of lightning." I said, and commanded the winds to push the stasis prison forward. 

"You know the way back? " I asked. 

" This way. " she said, and walked in a direction. I quickly checked my phone's compass and found we were travelling north now. 

I held a close eye on the prison, constantly checking for signs of breaking. So far, it held well. My clone was watching my back now in case something attempted to attack us. 

We reached the edge of the forest without much hassle. Fluttershy's cottage came into vision. 

I noticed the prison was starting to break, however. 

" Fluttershy, fly to Twilight's home and get her here NOW. I'll attempt to keep him busy. " I shouted. 

She flew off faster than I've ever seen, and waited for the prison to fully break. 

He broke free with a blood-curdling roar, and instantly lunged at me. I blinked away just in time to dodge his razor sharp claws, but he turned around quicker than I realised and managed to swipe my arm. 

" Ow, you bastard! I don't want to hurt you, but you're pushing it now! " 

He lunged at me again, and againI blinked away, further this time. 

Again he was much faster than I realised, and he cut my arm again. 

" Urgh, fine! Eat THIS!" I shouted before zapping him with lightning intended for his muscles. It did it's work, and paralysed him partially. Hestill managed to leap at me again, but he was much slower now. 

Before i had to blink away, a purple field stopped him mid-air and levitated him upwards. 

Twilight created a small earthen cage, and dropped him inside it. " I should've stayed, foolish of me. " 

"It's fine, Twilight. He broke his prison much faster than I anticipated, and that spell needed more time to recharge. " I said, holding my bleeding arm close. " Could you heal this, Fluttershy? " 

She flew over, and gently placed her hoof over the wounds, healing them but leaving some scars. " Thanks. Now I look like a war veteran." I chuckled. 

" That cage won't hold him forever either by the looks of it. " I noted. He was clawing away at the stone barriers. I walked over and zapped his muscles again, this time amping up its power to disable his nerve system aswell as his muscles. He slumped down onto the ground. 

" He's going to feel that in the morning. Twilight, do you know of any cures for his situation? " I asked. 

" I don't, but maybe there's a book on it? " Twilight said. 

" Go and find one, we should be fine now. Else Fluttershy can come charging at you. " I said. 

" Alright, but tell me the moment he starts moving. " she said, and teleported away. 

" It's gonna be okay friend. We will find you a cure. " I said. 

" He can't hear you right now, you know that right? " Fluttershy said. 

" It wasn't just for him. "

"You worried we won't find a cure? " she asked. 

" Yeah. He seems pretty far gone now. He'll turn back into a human once it's day again, but he won't remember anything. And the next night the cycle just repeats itself. "

" Twilight will find something. She always does. " Fluttershy said comfortingly. 

A poof announced Twilight's return. 

"It will be morning soon. I'm afraid I couldn't find anything. Maybe Zecora might have a potion that could work? " Twilight said. 

" You really couldn't find anything? " I asked. 

" If I had, I would've said so. "

"Wait a minute. Ofcourse! We can ask Luna for help! " I said in sudden revelation. 

" Why do you think she could help? " 

" Well, her and Night. They are related to the moon and to darkness. Werewolves only come out with the moon, and it's dark then. One of them might have an idea! " I said. 

The first rays of the morning light broke through the skies, and Natura howled and started transforming again. Twilight quickly removed the cage. 

" Morning, Natura. You've finally woken up it seems. " I said. 

" Weh-What? Why am I outside? And - aargh - why does it feel like my muscles are destroying me? " 

" Something happened, and you got knocked out I think. How you ended up out here is a mystery to me too, I found you when I came back from the forest. " I said. 

" Well at least cover me up then, sheesh. I'm outside and nearly naked." he grumbled. 

" Go inside then. Fluttershy can probably make you some food. I'm going with Twilight, we have something to discuss. " I said, and left for the library, Twilight in tow. 
> Chapter 4 - Howl at the moon Pt.2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

" We should pick up Nightmare and head to Luna as quickly as possible. Forget Zecora, Luna will have the answer we need. " I said. 

" Why didn't you tell Natura what really happened? " Twilight asked. 

" Well, to put it simply : I don't want him panicking. I might still have to tell him, but hopefully Luna could help out in explaining things to him. Ugh, these scars still hurt. " 

" Maybe we could check the library one last time? See if I really didn't miss anything. " Twilight suggested. 

" Sure, but we better be quick. " I said as I walked into the library.

Twilight took to scouring the books using her magic, going through the entire books within a matter of seconds. I checked a few specific books which I thought could help, but to no avail. 

" Definitely didn't miss anything. Let's go get Night. " Twilight said. 

She teleported the both of us to Night's castle. After politely knocking on the front door, she opened it. 

" Twilight!  Primal!  I did not expect to see the two of you today. To what do I owe the pleasure? " 

" Teleport the three of us to Luna. It's quite important, and we should make haste. I'llexplain when we arrive." I said. 

We huddled close, and Night took us along in her teleport. We appeared right next to Luna, but not where I expected. We were in the palace gardens, near Discord's statue. 

" Hello Princess, sorry for barging in, but we got an important matter we were hoping you'd have a solution for. " I said. 

" Is that so? Come with me to my chambers then, I prefer not talking near his statue. He can still hear everything. " 


WWWWW 


She closed the door to her chambers behind us. 

" Well then, what is so important to interrupt my morning stroll through the gardens? " Luna asked. 

" I'll just state it bluntly: Natura is a werewolf. " 

" What?! When did you find this out? " Night asked. 

" Last night I stayed by Fluttershy's place. I had a few suspicions already, but I hoped they were incorrect. Alas, they were most definitely not. He turned and ran into the woods. I had taken cover near a rock, and sent my clone after him while I went to wake Fluttershy up. " 

"And you chased him into the forest? " Twilight asked. 

" We did. I was hoping Fluttershy's extraordinary ability with animals would work on him too. I'm afraid it didn't. I managed to trap him in stasis, and we took him back to Fluttershy's home. The stasis broke quicker than I expected, so I sent Fluttershy to get you while I kept him busy. Got a few scars, but I should be fine. " I said. 

" Hm. There is a way for him to be cured completely. But since he has such a strong connection with nature, it seems wasteful not to try and utilise his bestial form. " Luna thought out loud. 

" How will he utilise it if he blanks out, though? From what I've been told and seen, he didn't respond kindly. " Twilight said. 

" There is a way for him to assimilate the werewolf's essence, and use that essence to transform in a controlled manner. He will have to be cured first to rid him of the feral wolf in him. After that, we would need someone else to transform into a werewolf so he could absorb that essence into him, curing the other and giving him a way to shapeshift into a werewolf at will. " Night said. 

" Well, I might already be cursed, since I've been struck. I'll offer myself for the transforming part. " I said. 

" I have scanned your essence, and you are indeed influenced by it. Alright, that leaves the cure. It is not a hard recipe, but it will require some odd ingredients. " Luna said. 

" Like? " 

" Wolfsbane roots, which grow in the Everfree itself, a drop of blood from the afflicted's race, purified water created by boiling water mixed with Light's dust, and a Moon's tear. " Luna said. 

" The blood and roots shouldn't be too hard. I have no idea where to get Light's dust or Moon's tears, however." 

" My sister might have some of the dust. She keeps it safely hidden away, since it is considered a narcotic. Night could harvest some Moon's tears from the moon, quite the strange flowers they are to grow in the vacuum of space, supplied by the moon's innate magic field." Luna said. Turning to Night, she continued. " Bring more than required, we could use some more of those. " 

" Good. Could you teleport the two of us to Fluttershy's home after we've spoken with Princess Celestia? " Luna nodded. " Thanks. Let's go get some drugs, Twilight. " 

"Really? If you bring it like that she'll definitely not give it to us. " Twilight said, following me to the throne room where Celestia currently was. 

" Relax, I'm not going to say that. Drugs are very bad for you, and I wouldn't even dream of using them." I said. 

Knocking on the door again, I waited for either a reply or a door opening. 

" Who knocks? " a stallion voice called. 

" You. " 

" You who? " 

Recieving an annoyed look from Twilight, I couldn't help but chuckle. 

" Sorry. It's Primal Dagger together with Twilight Sparkle, requesting an audience with Princess Celestia. 

" The Princess is in a conversation, but you can enter and wait by the door. " the stallion responded. 

He opened the door and allowed us passage. Celestia was at the other side of the room, talking with what looked like nobility. She looked up to see who entered, and nodded before continuing her talk. 

The stallion, who is a member of the Royal Guard, was standing firmly by the door. 

"So, did you hear about the new Justice Guard forming? " I asked the guard idly. 

" The what now? The Princess didn't tell us anything about a new Guard." 

" Hm. She must have her reasons to keep it quiet then. She'll tell you in time. " I said. 

" You speak as if Her Majesty is a friend of yours, yet I've never seen you around. " 

"That's the point. My work for her involves not being seen. " I said coolly. 

" You're doing a bad job now, then. " Twilight joked. 

" I'm not working, am I? " I retorted. 

"Who knows?  You might be. "

" Ah, whatever. "

" So, you're the stealthy type, then? Don't look much like it to me. " the guard said. 

" Trust me, I could dissappear in a heartbeat if I wanted to. " I said. 

" Well show me, then! The Princess will likely take a little while longer. " 

I shadowstepped behind him, and tapped his shoulder. Before he turned around, I blinked again to stand on the other side of Twilight.

" Impressive. Sure you don't want to be part of the Night Guard? They could use you quite well. " 

" I have my own position, appointed by none other than the Princess herself." I responded. " So no, thanks."

I looked to the side and noticed Celestia was done talking with the nobles, and made amends to move to us. The nobleponies asked one last thing before leaving the room through the door next to us, and threw disrespectful looks our way when they passed us.

Once the ponies were gone, and the guard to stand outside the door, Celestia spoke up. " Hello Primal, hello my student. How are you both doing today? " 

" I'm happy now that we found a way to cure Natura. " I responded. 

" Cure Natura?  Of what? " Celestia asked. 

" Lycantrophy. " Twilight said. 

" Lycantrophy? Oh my. I suppose you need Light's dust then? " 

" Yes. How did you..?" 

" Let me just say we had a case of it in the past. I will go get the dust for you, stay here. The stuff is pretty sought after. " Celestia said, and teleported away in a flash of brilliant light. 

" I hope all of this works out alright. " Twilight said. 

" Me too. There's lots of things that could go wrong and spell disaster upon us.Let's just get this over with as quickly as possible, I don't like the thought of transforming into a werewolf. " I shuddered. 

" I don't like it either, but if this works your friend will be a lot more powerful. D'you think he could shapeshift into a pony too? " Twilight said. 

" Probably. Anything that isn't human he can probably transform into, but it would require the essence. And from what I understood, he will take all of the essence. Do that to a pony, and I'm not so sure the pony will stay alive after it. " I said. 

" By Celestia, you mean he would need to kill a pony to become one? " Twilight asked. 

" Yup. " 

" Maybe the pyromaniac could be a test subject. " Twilight said. 

" Don't think so. Y'see, the pyromaniac is a human. He approached me, asking me to join him on his burning crusade through Equestria. I declined, ofcourse, and attempted to zap him after he insulted my friends. He got away though. " I said. 

" And you meant to tell me this when, exactly? " Twilight asked. 

" Now? It happened yesterday, and I haven't had much chance to talk to you about it what with all the werewolf stuff happening. " I said. 

" You could've been hurt! You should've told me the moment it happened! " 

"So I had to like, stop talking with him, rush over to wherever you where at that moment, and tell you that the pyromaniac is, now was,  talking to me? " I asked. 

" I....Nevermind. Just tell me sooner next time, okay? " Twilight asked. 

" Fine by me. By the way, shouldn't you give Princess Celestia your friendship reports? " I said. 

" Don't turn this around now. Unlike you, I send my letters to Princess Celestia the moment after I learn something new. " 

" You have indeed. Here is the dust. " Celestia said, who had just appeared again. " Take good care of it, a lot of shifty ponies want that stuff. Off with you!" 

" Thanks Celestia. Hopefully we'll be back soon to tell you good news. " I said. 

We walked back to Luna's room, and found her sitting on a chair, reading a book. 

" Good book? " I asked. 

" Yes. Daring Do is amazing at creating thrilling novels. " Luna answered. " Night should be back soon."

While we waited, I decided to play around a bit and battle my own clone using harmless lightning bolts and shields. 

" Careful! " Twilight shouted. 

" They're harmless, both the bolts and the shield itself, even though they are made of lightning. " I said. " Here. " 

I shot one such bolt at her, which hit her directly on her horn. " I'm not sure how you managed to do that, but okay. Maybe you could battle me? " Twilight said. 

" And get shot straight out of the window into a tree again? No thanks, I'll pass. " I grumbled. 

" I'll use simple light bolts then, and my own shields. Ready? " 

" As ever. " 

Bolts of violet and bolts of lightning flew back and forth, and eventually things got a bit too competitive. A broken flower pot was the result. 

" Why did you think it was a good idea to have a battle in my room? " Luna asked. 

" Because.... Ah nevermind. Could you fix that pot, Twilight? " I asked. 

Twilight used her magic to recreate the pot, and placed it back where it was. 

" There, nothing happened. Now where's Night? " I said. 

" I would not know. She should have been back by now-"

" Hello! Sorry I took so long, the plants were tougher to find than usual. " Night apologised, and held the strange plants in front of her. 

" They certainly look tough. " I stated. 

" Let's make haste. We still have stuff to do! " Twilight said. 

" Stand near me, I will teleport us to Fluttershy's home. " Night said. 

We stood nearby Night, and the world disappeared for a split second before reappearing in a different image. 

"Teleportation is so fascinating. Imagine what humans could do if they found out a way to teleport. Or even worse, find their way here and discover you ponies casting teleportation spells like it's nothing. "

" What is so bad about that? In return for giving them teleportation, they could give us their technology. And maybe create some allies along the way. " Luna said. 

" Uhm. Yeah, not gonna happen. There's loads of humans that would rather use it for personal gain or warfare than those who would do good with it. Let alone ally with talking, mythical ponies. " I retorted. 

" It is that bad? " Luna asked. 

" No no, I'm just overstating it. But there's a likely possibility. You don't want power-hungry humans. Or suicidal terrorists. " 

" Terrorists? What do they do, cause terror? " Twilight asked. 

" Yes. Basically commit crimes to inflict as much chaos and terror on the populace as possible. Some do it for religion, others have a goal to reach like sabotaging governments, and others do it for the fun of it, I guess. " I explained. 

" What could possibly be fun about killing people? " Night said. " I wanted to plunge the world in darkness but I did not want ponies to die for it. " 

" Don't ask me. I wouldn't know." I answered. " We got roots to collect though, so we better get moving." 

" Should we split up? You with Twilight and myself with Night?" 

" Good idea. If you find the roots, tell me using your mind. " I said, and we went our seperate ways into the forest. 


WWWWW 
 

Change of Character - Primal Dagger -> Nightmare Moon 

" I cannot believe Primal's world is so vicious. Why would those humans just kill for fun? Killing others is not something to be considered fun. " Luna said. 

" I do not understand either. I get trying to reach a goal, or having a belief that killing is justified, but for fun? Even I hated the thought of killing others. " I responded. 

" Luckily, you did not, which means I did not. Funny how we were inside the same body back then, but now two separate beings, still linked to each other. " Luna said. 

" You will be stuck with me for the rest of eternity though. Does thou really want that? " 

" Depends if thou helpeth me on finding these roots. " she returned. 

" Alright alright, fine. Why do we not use a spell to search for it? " I suggested. 

" That is quite a good idea. Do you know any?" 

" I might, but I would have to modify one I know already, which may have side effects. " I stated. 

" Go ahead. What could possibly happen? " 

" Missing body parts, corruption, magical overflow.... Let us just see what happens. " 

I cast the modified version of a spell I used to detect lifeforms during my short skirmish a few months ago. Instead of ponies, it searched for plants now. But it was not very specific to which kinds of plants...

" Well, my world is a freak disco now. About everything is lit up. " 

" Great. Can you discern any roots though? " Luna asked. 

" I will try my best, but you should better search manually in the meantime. I can barely see anything now." I grumbled. 

" So much for that idea.... Wait, what is that ?" 

We stepped over to what looked like an oversized apple with many grotesque impurities on it. 

" What kind of disgusting fruit is this? " I asked. 

" I think that was an apple. Seems like it is corrupted. I can..... Oh my, that is definitely bad. " 

" What is? " I asked, getting impatient.

" Well, my sister and myself recently found out that this forest is slowly getting corrupted. We do notknow how, or by whom or by what. If it got this far however.... We need to hurry in curing Natura, he could attempt to heal these troubled plants. " she explained. 

" Luna... Look next to it.... " 

" What? " She looked to the spot next to the deformed apple. " Oh! The roots! We will need a few more than just this, however. " 

Luna pulled the roots out of the ground, and held them in the air with her magic. " I cannotlevitate these forever. You find anything yet?" 

" I do not... Wait!  I think I see some, behind that bush! And by the look of it, there are loads of them there! " 

Luna hurried over to check, and let out a cry of relief. " You are right, there are a lot of roots here! I will contact Primal, you harvest the roots in the meantime. " 

She dropped the roots she was levitating and fazed out to contact Primal. " Sheesh. Let me do the work while you contact him, sure. " I mumbled. 

I lazily started pulling the roots out of the ground using my mouth. I could have used magic but I could not be bothered to do so. 

" Alright, Primal said they found an odd cave and wanted to investigate. Twilight will teleport back to Fluttershy's home with the materials she was carrying so we can start making the potion. " 

" Why did you not just add the roots to the bag I have here? " I asked. 

" That holds the Moon's tears, yes? You do not want to mix them up like that. " she said. Luna collected the roots I pulled out and bundled them together using long blades of grass. 

" Let us make haste for Fluttershy's home, it is nearing the afternoon. " I said. 

" Teleport or walk? I am unsure if using our magic now for such a task is wise, since we do not know what will happen tonight. " Luna asked. 

" It is not that far off, just teleport. That small amount of magic loss is nothing for us alicorns." I said. 

And with a flash, we reappeared back at Fluttershy's home, to find a bag with a note on it that read : "For Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon. " 


WWWWW 
 

Change of Character - Nightmare Moon -> Twilight Sparkle 

" Splitting up again to hasten up the process. I hope we find the roots quickly. " I said. 

" You and me both. I can't wait to be rid of that nagging feeling that I'll transform into a savage animal tonight. " Primal said. 

" I do hope you meant werewolf. " I said slyly. 

" Maybe I didn't . You wouldn't see the difference. " he teased. 

" Hey c'mon, it's not that bad is it? " 

" You can be pretty oblivious from time to time. So could I, though. " he said. 

After more minutes of trudging through bushes and circumventing trees, we found an odd sight. 

" Is that a cave? " 

" No it's a friggin' helicopter. Ofcourse it's a cave, what else could it look like? " he said. 

" For the record, it was a rhetorical question. Thanks for answering, though. You have been selected as one of the possible winners for a bag of bits. " I joked. 

" As if I need more of those. " 

" Maybe you can buy some useful things for it instead of burning it on food and drinks. " I jested,

"Ha ha. Let's check the cave out now, alright. Wait hold on, Luna is attempting to contact me. " 

I watched him slightly shimmer away from sight, as was usual when he was speaking with someone through the power of the mind. 

I looked around while I waited to see if I could spot any of the roots, but the area around the cave was stripped clean of plants other than trees. 

Primal returned to normal, and shook his head before looking at me. 

" Still gets me nauseous, doing that. Anyway, Luna and Night found the roots. Could you teleport back to the cottage and place the dust back there so they can start making the potion? " he asked me. 

" Sure, be right back. " 

I teleported, and placed the saddlebag I had been carrying down near a fence post, and attached a small note to it. I teleported back to Primal, who had started exploring the cave already. 

" Couldn't wait for me, huh? " I asked. 

" I could, or I could scout out the cave to check for danger so we don't run into anything. " 

"Fair enough. Let's go. " I said, getting slightly excited at the promise of adventure. If only Daring Do was here! 

The cave lead out into a much smaller section,and eventually tunnelled a dark, snaky path towards a large chamber. 

Other than an odd pedestal of some sort and an ancient looking door, the cave was empty. 

I inspected the pedestal, and discovered it had four holes for objects of some kind to fit in. 

" Hey Primal, check this pedestal. I think it's the unlocking mechanism for that door, it requires four objects by the looks of it. " I said. 

He stepped over and inspected the pedestal too. He then looked at the door. 

" I think I have some idea as to what has to go in those holes. They are related to the four primal elements depicted on the wall: Earth, Air, Water and Fire. And look, there's a plaque here. " 

It read :




"The ones who mastered the primal aspects will each find their relative key in a location that suits their abilities. Only then will the door be unlocked."



" A location that suits their abilities.... I have no clue where any of those could be. Any ideas? " 

" I guess the water key will be found somewhere in a location with water? I don't know, we should ask the Princesses about this. " I said. 

" Good idea. Let's leave this cave for now. Luna and Night will probably be done with the potion by now. " he said. 

We left the cave, and made our way back to Fluttershy's home, marking the location of the cave in our minds. 

Princess Luna and Night were still working near a cauldron of bubbling water, and Fluttershy and Natura were watching with interest. 

"Hello everypony. Is the potion nearly done? " I asked. 

" Almost. Only the dust needs to be added now, and then it should be.... Done!  " Night said. 

" So I will drink the potion, and we bind Primal so he can't harm anyone. Then I'll siphon the werewolf's essence out of him and attempt to control it? " Natura asked. 

" I have made an abundance of liquid, so if it goes awry we have a backup potion. Several, in fact." Night said. 

" All that's left now is to wait for the night to come. It's still a bit early, and we haven't had dinner yet. How about we eat something? " Primal suggested. 

" I recently imported some fine cuisine to my castle. We could eat at my castle. Should provide a safe place for the activities of tonight, too. " Night said. 

" Out of the way, so if something bad happens the townsponies of Ponyville won't be harmed. Excellent idea. " Primal said. 

" We could get a better look at the inside of your castle too. Last time we visited it was barely decorated. " I said. 

" It is now. It looks the part now to accommodate the avatar of Darkness now. " Night said proudly. 

" I have not seen the inside of the castle yet myself, apart from our fight back then, that is. " Luna said. 

" I'm hungry! Let's go already before I start thinking about eating you. " Natura teased. 

" You better not else we still chain you up together with Primal. Without dinner." I said. 

" Hey, what have I done to deserve that!? " Primal whined. 

" Being annoying. " 

" I am not annoying! Merely crazy, which does not mix well with certain people. "

I teleported him to Night's castle. " There, peace and quiet. " 

" Where did you send him to? " Night asked. 

" Your castle. Let's go before he decides to wreck the place. " I said, and teleported off to the castle. 


WWWWW 


Night appeared with the others just after I did, and Primal was sat against a rock, looking glum. 

" Aww, it wasn't that bad was it? " I said, actually pitying him now. 

" I don't like being sent off somewhere alone. " 

" You do Princess Celestia's contracts alone, didn't you? " I asked. 

" Yes, but that doesn't mean I liked it. Now, I take Sabrina with me every time. It's better, but not by much." 

"Why that? " 

" Well, I don't have all of you guys around. I got quite attached to every single one of you." 

"Ain't that cute. " Natura said. 

" Hey c'mon, you didn't get rejected and turned down at every turn. " 

" Very much true. But we're here now, right? Get up and stop feeling sorry for yourself, you're not alone. " Natura said. 

Primal slowly got up, given a hand by Natura. " Thanks Robin. " 

"No problem buddy. We're here for you. " Natura said. " Now get your ass inside, I'm starving. " 

We followed Primal and Natura inside, and Night walked off to the kitchen to prepare the food. 

Taking a seat in the dining hall, and the others doing the same, an eerie silence fell over us. A soft 'poof' broke the silence. 

" Ah Sabrina. Hello again, had a good time hunting? " Primal said. 

" Yes, much better to catch my prey. Eating fish all the time gets dull quickly. " Sabrina said. 

" Good to hear. What do you think about this place? It's Night's castle. " Primal asked. 

" It looks fitting for a dark pony such as her. Not saying she is evil, but she still looks the part. " Sabrina said. 

" Gotta agree with that. She said she learned from her mistakes, but she still looks evil to ponies who don't know that. No wonder they get scared. " Natura said. 

" I suppose. How does thy insist on altering my appearance? " Night asked, just walking in on the conversation. 

" You could assume a disguise, but I doubt you'd like to live a lie... Maybe... No... too radical...too plain....." Primal thought out loud. 

" How about sharing your ideas, Primal? Maybe they might still be applicable. " Luna said. 

" Nah, it's mostly pointless. I got none, apart from actually showing the ponyfolk that you have truly changed. Maybe a task of some kind? No, wait!" He said, before running off. 

" What was that about? " I asked. 

" He probably got some weird idea and ran off to get something? " Natura said. 

He came running back holding up what looked like a map, and slammed it down on the table. " Yea...yea... and then here...past this place...passing through this town..." he mumbled. 

I huddled over to figure out what he was doing. He noticed, but instead asked me for a pen. I handed him one from nearby, and he began drawing a line on the map. 

Once he was done, he shoved the map to the middle of the table. " Here's my idea. You see this line? You start here, in Ponyville." He traced the line along. "And then you end in Canterlot."

" But, what do I do then? " Night asked. 

" Not just you. Celestia and Luna, too. I'll vouch to take over political business with Twilight, if she's interested. You and the Princesses can go from town to town, socialise with the populace, perform tasks if need be, and try to get the generaltrust of the public. Along with some more publicity for Luna, and an active ruler-esque image for both you and Celestia. " he explained. 

" Past all these towns? Do you have any idea how long that would take? " Luna said. 

" Think of it as a semi-vacation. Not now ofcourse, what with the werewolf stuff, corrupted forest and possible psychopath pyromaniac. But after that... " 

" Hm. It does sound like a tempting idea. But you will need to convince Celestia too, if you want her to come along. And what about security? Conspirators against the throne could take that opportunity to strike at us. " 

"Hm, that is a good point actually. Maybe... Twilight? " 

" Don't tell me what I think you're going to tell me... " 

" Well, you do like organizing, don't you? Besides, you would probably not do it alone. I assume Celestia has some ponies that work for her involving those matters. " 

" She does indeed. All we do is talk with the nobleponies really, and listen to complaints and proposals. The paperwork is handled by other ponies. " 

" I would need to think about it. What would you do, then? " I said. 

" I'm not one for spotlights. I could serve as the security for the Princesses and Night, maybe together with Spirit. Would be good practice for him, too. " 

"As long as you put it all together, you have my consent. " Luna said. 

" Mine too. It would be an excellent opportunity to redeem myself to the populace. " Night said. 

" Good. I'll pull some strings and put it together after these problems are handled. " Primal said. 

" The food should nearly be ready. I know you two are meat-eaters, so I took the liberty to stock up on some for you. " Night said to me and Natura. 

" I haven't eaten meat in what feels like ages. Thanks. " Primal said. 

Night walked off to the kitchen again, and the aroma of food drifted over....


WWWWW 
 

Change of Character - Twilight Sparkle-> Natura Thorn 

" Come on, drink the potion. " Twilight said. 

I took the bottle from her, and gulped it down. It tasted disgusting. 

" Yugh, don't make me drink that again. " I said. I felt a shiver run down my spine, and before I knew it, I clenched my fists in agony. " AH! It feels like I'm burning from the inside out!" 

"That is an unfortunate side effect of the potion. Means it has worked, however. " Night said. 

" Now we chain Primal up and wait for nightfall. " Luna said. " You know what to do, Natura? " 

" Just repeat one last time, just in case. " I said. 

" Search your inner self for your essence, and tether it to his. Then, search his essence for the werewolf part, and place it into yours, but make sure it DOES NOT touch your own essence. You have to see your essence as if it is trapped in your body. Usually, the main essence is located near the brain, so that is where you need to look in Primal's essence. Make sure you don't damage his in the process of removing the werewolf. " 

" So basically, I'm going to play brain surgeon simulator. Great. Where do I place the werewolf essence in my body? " 

" Place it where you deem it right. " Luna said. 

" Alright then, I'm as ready as I could ever be. " I said, cracking my knuckles and neck. " You holding out okay there Primal? " 

" Apart from being shackled? Fine, I suppose. You sure these chains won't break when I turn? " 

" I hope so. Otherwise, we have three adept magic casters here. And one that commands nature, but he will be busy. " Twilight said. 

" I can feelthe moon pulling. Time to place it in the sky. " Luna said. 

She levitated upwards, and the moon could be seen sliding over the night sky. 

" It's happening. Get re- AARGH! " 

He started turning, and I waited for Luna's signal so I could start. 

" NOW! " 

I closed my eyes and did as I was told, and found my essence - a twinkling green orb I saw in my mind's eye - and threw it out towards Primal. I could feel it chain together with his, and a small wispy line formed between the two of us. 

The now savage Primal did not like it, however, and attempted to break free with much fury. 

" Keep him chained, this might take a little time. " I mentioned.

I could see the dark red and black essence of the werewolf, half-merged with a brightly shining yellow essence. And apart from that bundle, a... vividly purple essence? 

" He has another essence in him apart from his main and the werewolf.... It's seperate, though. Located within his heart. " I said. 

I heard Luna gasp and whisper something to Night, but I couldn't hear what. I started carefully cutting the werewolf essence off of his own essence. Every cut I made incurred a growl from the beast, however. 

I was about halfway when I missed slightly, cutting into the werewolf essence. This time, the wolf howled, and broke free from his shackles within seconds. " Quick!  Contain him!" I heard Twilight shout. 

I heard a spell being cast, and felt a warm breath in my face. " Get it out of my face, will you? " 

" He nearly got you there. Work quickly, Natura. " Luna said in a strained manner. She was the one maintaining the spell. 

I nearly completelyseparated the essence, whenthe wolf made a last ditch attempt to break free from its magical prison. It succeeded, and I could hear it leaping at me. 

" One more cut... Got it! " I shouted. 

The wolf failed his leap, and fell crumpled on the ground, screaming in a combination of human screaming and werewolf growling. 

I undid the linkbetween our essences after moving the werewolf essence over to my body, placing the dark red and black orb in my left hand. 

I opened my eyes again and looked next to me to see Primal on the ground, panting. 

" Ugh.... I knew those shackles wouldn't keep me. I...AAgH! WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW?! " 

He started having what looked like a seizure, but he stopped shaking as quickly as it had started. Clouds formed above him, however....

" What the- YEOWWW! " he shouted as a lightning bolt zapped him from above. The lightning didn't leave his body, however. 

" I think removing the werewolf essence triggered this other essence to activate. And if I think what I think it will be..." Luna said in a slightlyworried tone. 

He started floating up, as another bolt struck him. " AAGH! Make it stop!!!" 

Another bolt struck him, and this time, his flesh started transforming again. It became... immaterial? 

" What's happening to him? " I asked. 

" He is turning into his respective element. " Luna said. 

" So that means... " 

Thunder crackled and roared, and a bright white flash blinded us. Deafened by the noise, all I could hear were distorted shouts from Luna and Night. 

Once both symptoms passed, I opened my eyes again. Where once was Primal, now there stood a being made out of pure lightning. A few enchanted pieces of armor contained the otherwise volatile electricity. 

" Greetings, mortal beings from the material plane. My name is Xiz'Rath, and I,  am the embodiment of Air. This, Primal Dagger, as you mortals call him, serves as my vessel. I... Wait. Is that you,  Sister? " the elemental said, looking  (?) at Twilight. 

" Me? Your sister? You must have the wrong idea. " Twilight said. 

" Not you. Your essence. Is that... Gaia, is that you? " 

" You mean I house an elemental too?" Twilight asked. 

" Yes. It seems Gaia still lies dormant. I trust you will take care of her, and tell me if she wakens. If you fail to protect her...." Xiz'Rath exploded into an orb of lightning, randomly striking the ground and leaving various scorch marks. 

Twilight backed off in fear, shielding herself with her hooves. " Don't! I'll protect her with my life, I promise!" 

The elemental returned to his previous state. " Good. I shall take my leave, my host will have contact with me. Oh, one last thing : duck. " 

A shockwave erupted from the elemental, ceasing his existence and returning an unconscious Primal to us. 

" I'm glad he warned us. Let's take him back inside the castle and tell Fluttershy. " Natura said. 

" No. Take her outside and I will teleport the four of you back to Fluttershy's home. Me and Luna have some things to discuss. " 

" Alright. "I jogged inside, and found a cowering Fluttershy behind the dining table. " It's alright, Flutter. It's over. " 

"I -Is it? I got f-frightened by t-the thunder." she said shakily. 

" It's okay. Come. " I opened my arms ina comforting gesture. 

She ran into my opened arms, shaking but calming down slowly. 

" Let's go outside. Night is going to teleport the four of us back to your home. She and Princess Luna have some things to discuss regarding recent events. "

" Why? W-What happened? " 

" Let's just say I'm far from being the only one with another form now. " I said. 

She looked at me quizzically, but didn't question further as we walked outside.

" Alright, gather together. Could you take Primal, Natura? " 

" I'll carry him. " Twilight said before I could do anything. She carefully placed Primal on her back with his arms around her neck. " He's actually not as heavy as i expected. " 

" Ready? " 

We nodded, and Night cast the teleportation spell on us. 


WWWWW 


"Home sweet home. Atleast, if I'm allowed to call it that. " I said, looking at Fluttershy for approval. 

" My home is your home, Natura. " she said, albeit quietly. 

" Um..guys? Not to break your moment... but um... " 
> Chapter 5 - Destruction brings Creation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was devastated. Fluttershy didn't fare any better, seeing what Twilight pointed out.

Fluttershy's home, or what was left of it, lay in ruins. Burned to the ground, with just a few support pillars remaining.

"Who would do such a thing like this!?" Twilight shouted at nobody in particular.

"I don't know, but whoever done this is going to pay dearly. Even if it costs me, I will hunt whoever did this untill the ends of the earth!" I roared.

I found the essence I was looking for in my arm, and activated it. My hands started changing form, becoming bestial, clawed.... Fur grew on my body, and my teeth got sharper.

My transformation completed, and I howled at the moon...


WWWWW


Change of Character - Natura Thorn -> Fluttershy

"Natura?" I asked cautiously.

"Don't worry, I'm in control." he growled. He sniffed the air in an attempt to locate the scent of the one who destroyed my home. "I must say, this is quite weird being able to smell everything nearby to such an extent."

" How so? " Twilight asked. 

" Well, for one, you two smell rather.. odd, compared to everything else. You smell like lavender, while I can't see any around, and Fluttershy smells like... a spring breeze? It's hard to explain. " Natura said. 

" I never knew we had such scents. Can you pick up anything else? " Twilight said. 

" I can't... Wait, yes. " he sniffed the ground, and followed a trail towards Fluttershy's wrecked home. " This is the scent I'm after. It's really musky, and smells like hard labour and effort. Ugh. " 

" Could you... spare the details, if you don't mind? " I asked. 

" Yes of course. Follow me, it leads this way. " 

"Can't we rest first? We haven't slept at all this night. " I asked. 

" I agree with Fluttershy, we're quite tired. " Twilight said. 

" You two can go sleep, I'll track this monster myself. Take Primal to the library, and if he wakes up send him my way. " Natura said. 

" Will you be okay? I don't want to see you hurt. " I asked. 

" I'm a werewolf, I'll be fine. Go rest, I'll take care of this. " 

" Alright. Safe hunting, Natura. " Twilight said, before slowly walking in the direction of her home. I wished Natura good luck before following Twilight.


WWWWW 


Twilight opened the door to her library, and placed Primal down on the couch. " What a relief, he got quite heavy after a while. " Twilight sighed.

Primal turned around in his sleep, and made a funny face. 

" Oh Primal, you are crazy. But I like that... " Twilight said giggling. 

" Twilight, do you...? Sorry, I shouldn't have asked. " I said shyly.

" It's okay, I'm not doing a good job hiding it now am I? Yes, I like Primal. I don't know what it is, but there's just something about him... Nevermind, I'm sounding like a crazy pony now. " Twilight rambled. " Where is Sabrina, actually? She teleported along with us didn't she? " 

" I think she went invisible before we got teleported here. I don't know where she is now, but she's linked with Primal. She'll know where he is. " I said. 

" You seem rather.. okay, with your house being destroyed. How come, if I may ask? " Twilight asked. 

" I have you and the others to help out. Besides, I know all the animals got out. Angel is probably trying to find me. " I said calmly. 

As if by magic, a scratching was heard on the door. 

I opened the door, and Angel was there. He launched into my hooves and hugged me as best he could. 

" See? It's all fine. " I petted my bunny on his head, and he tapped his foot in approval. He jumped into my mane and made himself comfortable. 

" Atleast you are okay. I hope nothing bad happens to Natura.... " 

" Natura? Where is he? Where am - Oh wait. I'm at Twilight's home. Where is Natura though?" Primal asked, having just woken up. 

" He went after a scent in his werewolf form to catch the one that destroyed Fluttershy's home. " Twilight explained. 

" Wait, WHAT?! Why?! Why would somepony do that?" Primal asked. 

" SomeONE. Natura believes it wasn't a pony. " I said. 

" Oh that damn devil. Damn him! I should've killed him when I had the chance! Any idea which way Natura went? " 

" Towards the forest, I think. He asked to send you over to him when you woke up, but I don't think you should. " Twilight said. 

" Why? I need to help him! " 

"You had a long night. You turned into a werewolf, turned back into a human only to get taken over by an elemental, and when he left you got knocked out. You should rest, like us. He'll handle it. " Twilight said. 

" I... Ah, it's okay. Sabrina acknowledged, and she went over to help him. I'll stay here and rest, I am actually feeling a bit tired.  " Primal yawned.  

" You can stay in the guest room, Fluttershy. It shouldn't be occupied. Upstairs, second door to the right. Mine and Primal's room is at the far end. " Twilight said. 

" Okay. Good night, you two. "I said, and headed to the guest room Twilight pointed out to me. 

Angel took a spot at the end of the bed, and I slipped into the bed myself and closed my eyes, letting exhaustion wash over me. 


WWWWW 


Change of Character - Fluttershy -> Sabrina, Panther of the Moon

I did not like those winged unicorn ponies teleporting me places, but I had to say it was useful. Just in case there were strangers around I had become invisible before teleporting. 

The sight of the ruined building , and seeing the pegasus, human and unicorn upset about it did little to me. After all, it was simply a house. To my knowledge, they are easily rebuilt. 

The human had transformed into a werewolf, and while I took caution, he assured that he was in control. He said he would track down the perpetrator alone. I decided to follow him, as I knew Primal would want me to. 

Once he got into the forest, I uncloaked next to him. " You look like you could use some assistance. "I said. 

He jumped back slightly. " Don't scare me like that. You were invisible and following me, weren't you? " 
I nodded. 
" Alright , stay close and alert me if you spot anything. This guy knows how to cover some of his tracks, but he obviously doesn't know how strong a werewolf's sense of smell is. " 

He took low to the ground, sniffing various parts of the ground and slowly making his way forward. I could smell the scent aswell, but not as clearly as him. My eyesight was better than his in the dark, however, so I used that to my advantage. 

I could see a grotto in the distance, draped with various animal hides. 

" Natura, there is what looks like a grotto ahead of us. It is lined with animal hides. " I told him. 

" Stay quiet, and let's check if the scent leads that way." He whispered back. 

The trail led to the grotto, as I expected. "Wait here, I will go invisible and scout it out. " I whispered to him. He nodded, and took cover in a bush. 

I made myself invisible, and carefully stepped over to the grotto. My feline nature helped out with making no noise, as being invisible did not account for sound. 

The grotto stretched back and down a small bit, and ended in a stone wall with a wooden door. I could see a faint light coming from under the door. 

I made my way back and told Natura what I found. "Let's ambush him. He won't see anything coming. " He said.

We crouched over to the door. Natura motioned to  check if I was ready, and I nodded. 

" Meet your maker, scum!" Natura yelled when he barged into the room. 

There was nobody there, however. The light came from a nearly burnt out fire. 

" Damn. I hoped that we'd find someone here. Let's leave a message in case the one who stays here comes back. " Natura said. He transformed back into his human form, which conveniently saved his clothes from being shredded, and took a sharp rock from the ground to carve a message in the wall. 

"We... Will... Find... You... There, that should do it. Let's go back to the library, got nowhere else to stay now anyway. " he said. I silently followed him back to the ponies' town. 

"They're already asleep." he whispered. " Good night Sabrina, and thanks for the help. "

I gave a nod of approval, and headed to my sleeping spot in Primal and Twilight's room. Twilight was snoring peacefully, and Primal was continuously turning around in his sleep.

" Must be a bad nightmare. I hope the pony Princess of the night helps him sleep. " I muttered to myself. 

I placed my head on my paws and closed my eyes, content with the adventures of the day. 


WWWWW 


Change of Character - Sabrina, Panther of the Moon -> Primal Dagger 

"You should really rest. I cannot have you weak and tired. " Xiz'Rath said in my thoughts. 

"I can't sleep, and I don't know why. Can't you find out why?"  I replied. 

"You are my host, but this does not mean I control you in any way. Only thing I can do is talk to you like this if I am not in my form. Your actions are your own. "  he said. 

"Ugh, great. Let me try talking to Luna, if she responds. "   I said.  I attempted to link with Luna's mind, much like calling her on a phone. She accepted the link. 

"Hello Primal, what is it that you need at this time of night? "  Luna asked. 

"I have trouble sleeping. God, that sounds cringy. I was wondering if you had any solution.  "  I said. 

" I can cast a sleep spell on you, but I can't promise it will work or if it will help at all. Other than that, I cannot do much. "   she said. 

"It's better than nothing. Do it. " 

I could feel my mind getting foggy, but I was still clinging to consciousness. 

"Seems like it did not work. I am afraid you will have to find the cause yourself. "  Luna said, and closed the link. 

I might go to hell for doing this, but I gotta find out what's wrong. 

I swiftly made my way out of my bed and carefully poked Twilight.

" mmh.. leave me alone changelings.."  she mumbled in her sleep. 

I poked her again, this time a bit more enforced. Still no response. 

"Damn, you can't be woken up easily now can you? " I muttered. " Hmm, what to do..." 

I got a slightly creepy idea which required me to get a bit closer to avoid potential damage. I touched her horn softly, and sent a small shock through it. 

" Yeow!" Twilight shouted. " What'd you do that for? " She whispered when she saw me. 

" Well, I tried to wake you up, but that proved quite difficult to do with just poking. I dunno why, but I can't seem to sleep. " I whispered back. 

" You can't sleep? Now that's a first. " 

" I even asked Luna to put a sleep spell on me, but that didn't work either. Also, I feel chillier than usual for some reason. " I whispered. 

" Interesting, I didn't know you humans got the same things we ponies do. What you mentioned there are symptoms of missing the comfort of someone else. " she whispered. 

" So, you're saying my body wants to be with someone else, huh. Can I... No, that'd be too intrusive to ask... " 

" I don't mind. If you want to know, I had the same thing yesterday, but I somehow managed to sleep through it, even if it took ages. " Twilight said silently. 

" God, this is so awkward. Thanks anyway. " I whispered, and got into her bed. I attempted to keep a bit of space for her, but instead she huddled closer to me.

" It's okay, just don't think. " she whispered into my ear. 

I could feel my mind slowly drifting away now thanks to the added warmth of Twilight's body...


WWWWW 


"Aaah, what a lovely morning. " I yawned, stretching my arms and back. I looked next to me to see Twilight still sleeping. " So it wasn't some weird dream after all... " 

I absentmindly stroked her mane with my hand, causing her to softly murmur in approval. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Shut up and continue" she retorted.

"O-kay then..." 

I continued stroking her mane, and she seemed to like it a lot. "Mmh, for some reason this feels so good.."

I wonder if I can magic my phone over here. I bent the air around my phone in an attempt to get it to float over to me. It took a little while, since moving objects with just air wasn't exactly fast. Eventually, the phone was in my hand, and I checked the time. 10:37.. What time did we go to bed last night?

"Twilight, you got any idea when we went to bed last night?" I asked.

"About 2 o' clock, I think? I'm not sure. Why?"

" It's nothin' important. We should get up sometime soon, I wanna know if Natura and Sabrina discovered anything. " I mentioned. 

" Aww, just a little longer.. Please?" she begged. 

" Ugh, fine. I suppose Natura is still sleeping after tonight. " I said, and continued stroking Twilight's mane. 

" We should do this more often... " 

"I'd rather not make it a habit. I mean, what will everyone think? Me, sleeping with you? They'd go mental! " 

" Hmm... Or they won't. You can't tell, and neither can I. Maybe they would encourage it instead? " Twilight said. 

" Unless this... 'missing comfort' thing happens again, I'd rather lie low if you don't mind. Even if they would encourage it, I'm not sure if I can fully accept it. " 

I heard her mumble something about 'patience' and 'giving space', but I was unsure what that had to do with anything. 

She looked at me. " Alright, we should get up now. Spike's probably wondering where his breakfast is. " 

I got out first, quickly changing dimensions to put on my clothes. I heard my voice echo back to me: " Thanks for these powers, whoever granted them to me. Honestly, I don't deserve them, but I won't say no to controlling Air, and being one with the shadows. " 

"Nonsense, you do deserve these powers. Look at all the good you did so far. " Xiz'Rath said. 

"You've been with me all this time? Why didn't you show yourself earlier? "  

"I was not able to. Your friend 'woke' me up when he touched your essence. I could not act, merely spectate, untill that happened. You know what happened after that." 

" Primal? Where did you go? " I heard Twilight ask through the veil between the dimensions. 

"You should go back to her. She is genuinely concerned about you, if you want to know. " 

I phased back into the normal world, and Twilight let out a small gasp in surprise. 

" I just went to put on some clothes, don't worry. " I said calmly. 

"Without taking a shower? " 

" I took a shower yesterday before heading to bed, remember? " I said. 

" Oh yeah. I got annoyed because you took so long, and just went to sleep. I will go shower now, if you don't mind. " 
And with that, she left for the bathroom. 

" I'll never understand... " I mumbled as I opened the door to the guest room. Fluttershy and Natura were in their beds, looking peaceful. 

" Rise and shine! " I shouted. 

Fluttershy shot up with a look of fear on he face, and Natura merely opened his eyes and yawned. 

" Oi, you scared her. " he said. 

" Apologies. Did you discover anything this night? " 

" No, unfortunately. We found a grotto draped with animal hides and a room with a campfire, but other than that it was deserted. I left a message in case the guy would go back there. " Natura said.

" Doubt it. But ye never know, he's a crazy bastard." I said. " You two gonna get ready for breakfast? Twilight's in the shower right now, so take your time. " 

" Sure, we'll be down soon. " 

I left their room and headed downstairs. I was met with the pleasant smell of food, and fiund Spike preparing breakfast. 

" Morning Spike. Did you count for 2 humans, 2 ponies, a panther and a dragon? " I asked. 

" Two more? Who? " he asked.

" Natura and Fluttershy. Fluttershy's home got destroyed yesterday, so they're staying here for now. " 

"Destroyed? Who'd do such a thing? " Spike asked. 

" I have a hunch. Natura and Sabrina went out to pursue the one who did it last night, but they found nothing interesting. " 

" You will find out who did this, will you? " he asked.

" No doubt. And I'll make him pay for his crimes. " I said with determination. 

" Good. Give 'em my regards! " 

" I will. What're you cooking there? " I asked. 

" Pancakes! I figured all of you would've wanted something tasty today. "

" Lovely. " I sat down on the couch, and pulled out my phone from my pocket. 

" Haven't had much time to do this. Let's see what that research was now, shall I? " I mumbled to myself. 

I opened up the game, and played it for a little while until Twilight walked down the stairs. She looked more done up than usual, for some reason..  

" Morning Primal, Morning Spike. What are you cooking? I thought I would make breakfast today. " she asked. 

" I felt like making pancakes for all of you. " Spike replied. 

" Okay. Natura and Fluttershy should be down soon, they went to take a shower. " Twilight said. 

" Together?" 

" Seperately, ofcourse. I never said 'together', did I? " Twilight asked. 

" Never say never. God I'm going to hell for that one. Screw the guy who made that song. " I said, facepalming.

Twilight threw a confused look my way, but didn't question it further. "What are you doing there on that device of yours? " 

" Playing a game. Got nothing else to do right now anyway. " I said. 

" Can I watch? " Twilight asked. 

" If you're able to on this small screen, who am I to say no? " I stated. 

She sat down next to me, and looked down at the phone's screen. I was just queuing up a research for a new card combination, and made my way over to defeat the king of the castle once more to get more gold for packs. 

" What do you do in this game? " Twilight asked. 

" You do research for new card combinations and buy new cards for your deck with gold. In this part, you fight a 'boss' using the combinations you got with the cards in your deck, and try to defeat him that way. It's pretty simple, but a bit grindy sometimes. " I explained. 

" What does 'grindy' mean?" 

" Repeating the same or a similar process in order to achieve a far-fetched goal. The further the goal is, the grindier it gets. It's only acceptable if said process is enticing enough to keep you hooked. " 

I just defeated the boss, and got a golden booster card from it. " Sweet. I never got one of these before. " 

" What does that card do? I suppose it's pretty powerful if you didn't get it yet. "

" That's a booster card - can be disenchanted for dust to upgrade cards with. It provides a lot, so it should be pretty rare. Not this rare, though... " I said. 

" Interesting game. Ah, there's Fluttershy now. " Twilight said. 

Fluttershy floated down the stairs, Natura following shortly behind.

"You pegasi and your wings... Too lazy to walk?" I asked.

"Oh... I...umm.. force of habit?" she said hesitantly, and dropped to the floor.

"It's alright. I can basically fly too, just have to use a lot of effort to make it happen." I said.

"You can fly? How?" Fluttershy asked.

"I got the element of Air, I can bend it to do what I want. I use it to push myself upwards and into the air, but it requires a lot of power."

"Do you... Could you... Show us?"

"I think I might've already done at some point, but if you so desire." I stood up, and went through the rhythm of bending air to get myself floating. "It's highly inefficient, and requires a lot of power... Hold on, I got an idea."

I dropped down again, and instead of bending air to propel myself, I used it to create a small cloud-like platform made of wind. I stepped on it, and moved the platform instead.

"Haha, genius! I got a cloud-like hoverboard now!" I shouted in glee. My cloudboard shook a little, nearly causing me to fall off. "Whoa, gotta keep focus though. It's not very stable."

"Amazing. I wonder what kind of things I could do with my Element." Twilight said.

"Anything Earth-related, I'd imagine. Maybe.... Maybe you could try actually becoming one with the Earth?" I suggested.

"Becoming one? As in my body merging with the ground?" Twilight said, confused.

"Yeah, sorta. Try it, see if it works."

She stood up, and I could feel magical energy humming in the air. A moment later, Twilight disappeared into the ground.

"Three cheers for imagination! Now you gotta un-do it"

Twilight reappeared behind me. "That was certainly an.. odd.. feeling. I could feel the ground all around me."

"You could use that for quickly travelling around, if it doesn't cost you too much energy." I said.

" I don't think it did. " Twilight said. " Anyway, what did you discover Natura? " 

He and Fluttershy sat down at the table, and me and Twilight joined them. " As I told Primal, we found a grotto with animal skins, and a room with a campfire in it. That's it. " 

" Disappointing. I'm sure we'll catch that maniac at some point. What did you say about those bandits again Primal, they can't outrun their shadows? " Twilight asked. 

" Something like that. I got you guys to help though, so don't think it's just me. We will catch that lunatic together, make him pay for his crimes. " I said. 

" Breakfast is almost ready. " Spike called out. 

" Smells good! " Natura said. 

" Let's see if dragon-made pancakes are as tasty as they should be." I said. 

Spike readied the table for the food, and placed a stack of pancakes in the middle, with jam and sugar on the side. 

" Enjoy! " 

"Ohho, enjoy I definitely will... " I said as I captured a pancake for myself. 


WWWWW 


We all ate our share untill we could eat no longer, and then some. 

" Now, I'll oversee the reconstruction of your home, Fluttershy. I'll go to Canterlot in a moment and talk to Celestia if she has the time, I'm sure she can help out. " 

"Where will you build it, though? " 

"Exactly the same spot. I'll take down the remains personally, and make sure that the foundation is stable for rebuilding. " I said. 

" Sounds like you got a lot to do. Need a hoof? " Twilight asked. 

" I'd appreciate it. " I said. 

Natura gave Twilight a sly wink I didn't see. " You'd better get working then. When did you plan on finishing it? " he asked. 

" Hopefully by either tomorrow or anywhere untill next week. " I said. 

"That's wonderful. Thank you so much Primal. " Fluttershy said. 

" Thank me when it's done. " I said. " You two will be okay for today, right? " 

" Yeah, me and Fluttershy will try to recollect the lost animals. " 

" Good. You coming, Twilight?" I asked. 

" Yep! Let me just give Spike his to-do list. " she galloped off to her room, and returned a moment later levitating a note, which she gave to Spike. 

I was waiting by the door for Twilight, checking my phone for no real reason. 

" Alright, done. Let's go! " Twilight said happily. 

I opened the door, and Twilight bounced outside. " Those pancakes were filled with energy, I presume? " 

" Nope! Just happy! " she replied. 

" Right. " 

I followed her to the ruins of Fluttershy's home, mostly staying silent. My mind was far from silent however,as I had a conversation with Xiz'Rath. 

"How do you think we can awaken Gaia? "  I asked. 

"In your case, it was triggered when your friend removed the essence of the werewolf. I do not think it will work the same way for her. However, I know it has to be triggered by something related to the element or the bearer. "  Xiz'Rath said.

"How did removing that essence link to waking you, then? " 

"I.. am not sure, actually. I think it might have been linked to you and your desire to protect your friends, now that I think of it." 

"So Gaia could maybe be woken by Twilight's friendship with the others? "  I said. 

 "I honestly cannot tell. We will have to wait and see. " 

" We're here! What did you have in mind for breaking this down? " Twilight asked. 

" Wanton destruction. " 

" Let's keep it controlled, though. Don't want to upset the town's residents. " Twilight said. 

" Aye." I saluted. I began channelling power to create a small, localised tornado. 

" A tornado? That's not what I would call 'controlled' "Twilight said, slightly annoyed.

" I control the tornado, though. So technically it is controlled. " I replied. " Use your magic to sever the bonds between the ground and the ruined parts. "

Twilight channelled her own magic, surgically tearing the wrecked building apart piece by piece. Said pieces got picked up by the tornado, and once the ruins were no more, I moved the tornado to an open area and slowed it down, gently putting all the pieces on the ground. 

I quickly checked the foundation for signs of damage, and found none. "Looks good. Let's go see Celestia. " 

"And leave all that junk there?" Twilight asked. 

" What else did you want to do with it? It's not going anywhere, and Celestia probably has a better way to get rid of it. " 

" You are talking to Celestia's student. I know how to get rid of it, let me handle it while you go see Princess Celestia. " 

"Oh how could I forget.. " I said teasingly. 

" Shut up and get your flank to Princess Celestia before I kick it there. " 

" Woe unto thee, I am already gone. " I shadowstepped away, reappearing in the portal shack. 

" 'Course, I still need to get this stuff sorted. " I mumbled to myself. 

"I could help you with that. " 

 "How? You are part of me, are you not?" I asked. 

 "Correct. But you can provide me with a physical manifestation of my being, along with yourself. It might be slightly draining, but I can fix this place up quickly. " 

 " And how will you do that? Place wires everywhere? " 

 " Exactly. " 

I shrugged, and made Xiz'Rath into a physical elemental. The raging Air elemental stood before me, and quickly exploded with gusts of wind, travelling across the entire building. I could hear zapping noises, and the portal lit up shortly after. 

He reappeared in front of me, and did a quick bow before returning back to my body.

 " Impressive. " 

 " Having Lightning closely linked to Air is quite useful in situations like these." 

I stepped through the portal, reappearing at Canterlot.

"Let's see if Celestia is around now, shall we?"

"You shall. I cannot do anything other than talk to you, remember?" Xiz'Rath replied.

"You're still a part of me, even if you can't do anything other than talk."

"I... Thanks. My previous host did not consider me as such, and used me as an extent of his powers."

"What happened to him?" I asked.

"He got overconfident, and thought he could defeat this 'Celestia' by himself. He was terribly wrong." Xiz'Rath replied.

"So, to some extent you have fought with Celestia?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I hope she will be forgiving if she finds out I am still around. I did not have much control over his actions."

"So you have to follow commands? That's horrible! I won't use you like that, I promise. When we fight, we do so together." I said.

"You might just turn out to be the promised one, together with your friends."

I didn't understand what he meant by that, so I was sure to ask him later. Now, however, I had arrived at the throne room. There was a guard posted in front of the closed doors.

"Hail, guard. Is Celestia inside? I need to speak to her." I asked.

"I will check if her majesty accepts visitors at this time." The guard replied.

"Oh, I'm not just a visitor. And it's quite important." I said.

"Whatever. I shall check if her majesty is available."

The guard went into the throne room, and I could hear him talking to Celestia.

"Princess Celestia will finish current activities, and will see you personally in a moment."

Sickening... I suppose she has to keep up appearances for her subjects..

I pulled out one of my daggers, inspecting the edges for signs of damage. The blade was still in perfect condition. These sure are durable.

"You will not go in to the throne room with those." the guard demanded.

"I can and I will. I'm a personal friend of Celestia's, and I'm quite tired of you guards not seeing that. Also, I am in service of 'Princess' Celestia. I cannot go anywhere without my trusted daggers." I said, annoyed by the guard's demands.

"The Princess has not told us about anyone else 'in service' of Her majesty."

"That's because my position requires secrecy. I am already telling you too much, but I'm fed up with her personal guards not knowing who I am." I responded.

"I will make sure to tell my guards about you, and Spirit, as you are both in my service." Celestia said, walking in on the conversation. "Mostly Spirit, since he does not require much secrecy as you do."

I stood my ground, much to the annoyance of the guard, and followed Celestia into the throne room.

"Now, what was it you wanted to see me for?" she asked.

"Quite a delicate matter. Last night, we managed to purge the werewolf from myself and Natura, and he has full control over his form. However, once we got back to Fluttershy's home, it was completely destroyed. I was unconcious at the time, so Natura went with Sabrina to track the villain. They have not found anything other than a deserted grotto, seemingly abandoned after the incident."

"Why were you unconcious? Backlash from removing the essence?" She asked.

"Not really. You see, I am host to Xiz'Rath, Element of Air. He took over my body shortly to establish his connection with me, after which my body needed time to recover." I explained.

"Xiz'Rath..? The name sounds familiar, but I cannot place it."

"He said he had to fight you because of his previous host. He had no control over his actions." I said.

"Oh yeah, now I remember. That pony was quite the arrogant type. Shame to see Xiz'Rath used in such undeserving ways. I am sure you will be a much better host for him than that pony was."

"I've already told him I'll refrain from 'using' him, and when we'd fight, we would fight together. Anyway, back to the point, Fluttershy's home is destroyed, and she and Natura have no home now. I wanted to ask if you could provide some aid in rebuilding her home."

"I could send an architect and some workers over. What was your plan for her home?" she asked.

"I wanted her home to remain the same as it was before. It served her well, and it's such a disgrace it had to be destroyed in such fashion." I said.

"My architect should still have those building plans somewhere, and if not, he could retrieve them from Ponyville's major. What happened to the remains of the building? I assume you want it in the same spot?"

"Already been removed and taken care of by myself and Twilight. I took the liberty of checking the foundation for signs of severe damage, but found none, so it should be good to go."

"When did you want it finished?" 

"As soon as possible. I was thinking either tomorrow or anywhere between then and next week." I said.

"I will send adequate workers to have it finished in two days. Decorating is something Fluttershy will have to do herself." Celestia said.

"Alright, thank you. So... How have you been lately?" I asked.

"Bored, tired, but otherwise alright. These nobleponies sure know how to annoy somepony."

"Perfect. That brings me to another matter... Do you have interest in a... 'trip' across Equestria?" I asked hopefully.

"A trip? Why so?"

"Well, since both Luna and Night are still largely shunned by the pony population, I thought you and them could go around Equestria's various towns and cities and pay a visit." I handed her the map with the route on it.


(Image link if the picture is unclear: Map)

"I see you have already made certain preparations." Celestia remarked.

"I have indeed. I wanted to leave transportation to you, Luna and Night to decide over. As for protection, I will offer myself, and I suggest Spirit aswell, as his first task in the field. As for governing, I assumed you have some subjects under you to do that for you, and Twilight could help out aswell." I said.

"I do indeed have some subjects to do that for me. Those nobleponies can wait untill myself and Luna have returned to relay their ideas." Celestia said.

"So you agree?"

"It sounds like you have it all figured out, so yes, I agree. You have talked with the others already?" Celestia said.

"I haven't talked to Spirit yet, but I figured you could do that. I wanted few, but skilled guards to protect the three of you." I said.

"Excellent idea. As for transportation, we could either use a carriage, or simply use the trains. A carriage would be more suitable for accessing Cloudesdale and Los Pegasus. When will we go?"

"We could go after Fluttershy's home is ready. I am going to oversee the building for it to make sure it goes without flaws."

"Oh, but Hearth's Warming is in just four days. We should plan to leave after that." Celestia said.

"Hearth's Warming...? Is that the equivalent to Christmas in my world?"

"It's the celebration for the founding of Equestria, celebrated on the 25th and 26th of December."

"Alright, so it is the equivalent. Good to know. It'll be interesting to celebrate it here..." I said slowly.

"Do you have regrets about staying in Equestria?" Celestia asked.

"Noo, it's okay. It's just... Christmas was always a special time on Earth.. and to not celebrate it with my family feels... off."

"I will make sure that Hearth's Warming will be just as special as Christmas was for you, you have my word." Celestia said reassuringly.

"Thanks... I should get going, Twilight might still need my help." I said.

"Take care of Twilight for me, will you? She is.... a bit uncertain at times. Reassure her when necessary, and make sure she does not dedicate herself to work too much. I will send the workers and the architect tomorrow."

"I will, and thanks again." I left the throne room, and headed back to the portal room, casting a quick glance at the guard near the door. He seemed unfazed about what happened.

We meet again, portal. The cake is not a lie this time!


WWWWW


Twilight was nowhere to be found near Fluttershy's home, and neither was the debris.

"She did tell me she'd handle it. Where could she be now?"

My question was answered a second later by a 'Poof' from behind me.

"Ah Primal! You're back! Did you get Princess Celestia to help out?" Twilight asked.

"I sure have. She also agreed to the trip I had planned for them."

"Wonderful! Say, want to grab some lunch? It's about 3 o' clock by now." Twilight asked.

"Yeah sure, why not. What did you do with the debris, by the way?"

"I know somepony who handles waste processing. He agreed to take the debris." She answered.

"Great. Where did you want to go for lunch?" I asked.

"Me and the girls went to The Silver Spur once. We could go there!" Twilight suggested.

"Fine by me. Could you maybe.. turn down the excitement just a tiny bit? You're almost acting like Pinkie, and one is definitely enough." I said.

"I can be happy, can't I?"

"Ofcourse you can, but you don't need to overtly show it, do you? You can be happy and not bounce around everywhere." I said, sighing.

She stopped bouncing, realizing what she was doing. "Oh sorry, got a bit carried away on the bouncing. I'll try to keep the bouncing to a minimum."

"Thanks. Let's go."


WWWWW


A few hours later...

"We finished lunch, and it's almost time for dinner already! Well, it would be, if I didn't want to suggest skipping it. I'm full to the brim!" I stated as we walked back to the library.

"We can skip it, but what about Fluttershy, Natura and Spike? We can't not make something for them!" Twilight said.

"I'm sure they can figure something out. How about we...umm..."

" 'We'? You want to do something with me? Not as in 'do' do something, but you know, do something?" Twilight asked.

"If that vague description is what I think it is, then yes, I guess?"

"FINALLY!" she shouted.

I looked at her with concern, and mostly confusion. "Are you... alright?"

"Never been better!" she replied.

"O-kay then... Did you have anything in mind?" I asked.

"We could gaze at the stars together, or read books, or... I don't know.... I'm not so good at this kind of thing..."

"Wait... You want to be.. 'together', with me?" I asked, still confused.

"YES! I mean.... Yes." Twilight smiled happily.

"I assume Natura told you about my previous relations...?" I asked.

"He has. He told me you had a tough time dealing with rejection, and you have not tried again since." she said.

"Well, that's partially true, but I suppose I never told him. I did try again, but got rejected again. After not getting any kind of attention, I just stopped trying altogether, thinking my life was to be lead alone." I said.

"But you don't have to be alone... I'm here for you, and will always be here for you. If you accept me, that is."

"I... I don't know..."

"C'mon Primal.... What do you want me to do to prove myself to you that I will not leave you?"

"I... Just give me some time to think about it... okay?" I said hesitantly.

"Anything you want. Take as much time as you need."

"Thanks... I think I'm going to go to bed early. Got a long day of overseeing tomorrow." I said.

I left for the bedroom once we entered the library, saying nothing to Natura and Fluttershy who were lounging in the room. Twilight will probably tell them... Am I up for a relationship? I wondered.

"Time will tell, Primal. I, however, can clearly tell that she wants to be with you." Xiz'Rath said.

"I can tell too... I... I'm just going to go sleep, see if I've made up my mind by tomorrow."

"Disappointing her is a much worse fate than being with her, I can tell you that much. And you will dissapoint me aswell, since she is host to Gaia..."










> Chapter 6 - Hearth's Warming
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

" The house is finished, sir. " 

" Great. I'll check if it's up to par. Could somepony get Fluttershy and Natura over here? " I shouted in the mess of workers swarming the building. I knew she'd send workers, but this many...?

" I will retrieve the yellow pegasus and ginger-bearded human for you. " The architect said, walking off towards the library. 

"All of you did an amazing job. I heard Pinkie Pie made some treats for all of you to pick up in Sugarcube Corner's bakery. " I said once I got the attention of all the workers. 

The workers left one by one towards the bakery, leaving just me near the new building to wait for the architect to return with Fluttershy and Natura. I admired the building, looking intently at the framework and how masterful it was put together. 

I heard hoof- and footsteps nearing the house. I walked over to the front of the building to greet them. 

" Hey guys, ready to check out your new home? " I asked. 

" I sure am. Sweet Celestia! They even made these? " Fluttershy called out once she found the pens for the animals. 

" Princess Celestia told me you were quite in touch with animals, so I hath altered the blueprints slightly to add those in. " The architect said proudly. 

" They are perfect! Thank you so much, mister...." 

" Just Architect will do. I do not confide my own name with my clients, whoever they may be. " he said. 

" Okay. Thank you, Architect. Let's go check the inside out! " Fluttershy said. 

" It's mostly empty, as most of your furniture was destroyed. You'll have to re-decorate yourself." I said. 

" Oh, I remembered something. Princess Celestia told me to give this bag to Fluttershy. " The architect said, and handed her a bag. 

She gasped as she saw it's contents. " Oh my... that's...that's a lot of money... " 

" You should see the bags I get sometimes. You can literally make it rain for a steady 5 minutes with those amounts of bits. Celestia cares a lot about her subjects. And her friends even more....  "   I said. 

" I will have to thank the Princess at some point... " Fluttershy mumbled. 

" If my services are no longer required, I will take my leave. " the architect said. 

" Pass by the bakery in Sugarcube Corner before you go, Pinkie Pie has made something for you aswell." I said. 

" If you insist. " The architect said, and left for the bakery this time. 

" I'll leave you two to admire your home and think about the interior. Twilight needs my help with the preparations for Hearth's Warming. And I might have to talk to her about something... " I said. 

" Alright. Thanks for setting this up for Fluttershy. And me, to some extent. " Natura said. 

" No problem, my friends. See you around. " I said as I walked over to the library. 


WWWWW 


I could hear objects being thrown around inside once I neared the great tree. I rushed inside, and narrowly dodged a chair that broke through the door leading to the main room. 

Picking up the half-broken chair, I opened the door to the actual home, being careful not to step on the pieces of shattered glass left in the library.

" Twilight, calm down! No need to take your anger out on the furniture! What's the matter?! "  

"HGRRHH! IT WON'T DO! THERE'S HARDLY ENOUGH!" she shouted. 

" What isn't there enough of? " I asked calmly. 

" Everything! We're running short on EVERYTHING and I have to take care of it all!" 

" Well the house is done, so you won't have to take care of anything on your own now. Put your organising skills to use and tell me what we're missing. " 

" Food. Presents. Ornaments. More food. Socks..." 

" Socks..?" I asked. 

" To put on the hearth for presents to go in. " 

"Really...? That sounds highly impractical. On Earth we would simply put the presents underneath the Christmas tree. " I said. 

" Tree? You want me to bury the presents under this tree?" Twilight asked, confused. 

" What?! No! Don't you have those pine trees for putting baubles in, with a star on top of the tree? " 

" Umm, no? We just put decorations on the buildings, and line the hearth with the socks. " Twilight said. 

" Alright fine. By the way, a hearth inside of a wooden tree? Is that safe...?" 

" Magically contained. " Twilight responded. 

" Oh, okay. Right, gonna have to find myself a pine tree then. Hopefully I can get a large one so I can put it in front.. " I mumbled. 

" You're going to get a pine tree?" Twilight asked sarcastically. 

" Well, maybe if you're so kind to help me out.. " I hinted. 

" No! I can't go running off to get pine trees when there's this much preparation stil to be done! " she said angrily. 

" Forget the socks. We're gonna do it the Earth way, and I don't care what happens but I'm going to make sure it's the fanciest Christmas tree you've ever seen. Well, you haven't seen any, so it will be regardless BUT STILL." 

" Promise me you will help out with the rest of the preparations after we get this stupid tree of yours? " Twilight asked. 

" I promise. And it's not stupid, it's friggin' magical, just you wait. Follow me, I might know just the place to get a pine tree."

Twilight followed me to the Everfree Forest, which we entered. I led us through the forest to the cave we found which contained the elemental door. 

" This place? " Twilight asked. 

" Yup. While we were here, I looked around for a bit. And found.... These. " I said, standing next to a large pine tree. 

" Pine trees. How will we get them back, though? " 

" Simple. I'll dig up its roots, and you can shrink the tree afterwards so we can carry it back. " 

"Or, I'll just pull it out so I won't have to waste time staring at you digging. " she said as she charged her magic.

The tree got torn from the ground, and shrinked in size as Twilight used her magic on it. 

The now tiny tree rested in the palm of my hand. "Aww, such a cute little tree. Let's go back and plant it in front of your library. " I said. 


WWWWW 


Once back, we planted the tree in the ground and Twilight made it grow big again. 

" Now, we have a tree in front of a tree. Happy now? " Twilight said nonchalantly. 

" We're far from done yet. We gotta decorate it! You got baubles and lights? " I asked. 

" There should be enough for this tree, but we will need more. SPIKE!" 

Spike came running outside when he heard Twilight shout. " What do you need? " 

" More baubles, and more lights. Could you get some socks aswell? " 

" Already on it! " he said as he ran off into town. 

" You're still... Oh nevermind. Where them lights at? " 

She levitated a few baubles and lights with hangers over. 

" Those should do. String the lights around the tree going up starting from the bottom. I'll put the baubles in. " I said as I took the baubles. 

We went to work decorating the tree, and eventually, we finished. 

(Have a tree I randomly found on the Internet.)


"Atleast we had a star lying around. Dunno where it came from but it fits perfectly after a few adjustments. " I said. 

" Lucky you... I must say, the tree does look good. What do we do now? " Twilight asked. 

" Put the presents underneath it. Don't open untill Hearth's Warming, ofcourse. " I said. " I'll run around the homes nearby to ask if they want to join in on the presents. " 

I approached every home near the square , and asked if they would join in on celebrating the present opening together. Most were hesitant at first, but gave in once they saw Twilight moving her own presents under the tree. 

Applejack and Rainbow Dash came by once I convinced the last home.

" Hey guys, what's with the tree? " Rainbow asked. 

"Hearth's Warming, the Earth way. We celebrate it by putting the presents under the tree instead of in socks. " I said. 

" Now that be soundin' much more practical ta me. Them darn socks always fall off the wall. " Applejack said. 

" I asked everypony living near the tree to join in on opening presents together. Want to join in? " I asked. 

" Ah'm 'fraid Ah can't. Ah always celebrate it with mah family on the farm. Sorry. " Applejack said. 

" It's okay. You, Rainbow? " 

" I got nothin' else to during that time, so why not? I.. usually just celebrate it on my own... " she said. 

" You won't have to this year. Say, could you maybe ask Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Natura? And Spirit aswell, if he doesn't celebrate it with the Apple family that is. " 

"Sure thing! " she said, and flew off. 

" Ah don't know what Spirit wanted ta do. He seems mighty happy 'round us,  but Ah'm not sure how he'd prefer ta celebrate it. " Applejack said. 

" Up to him to decide. I'm not going to persuade him into doing something he doesn't want. " I said. 

" Are we done now Primal? We still have things to do." Twilight called. 

" 'Course Twilight. " I replied. " Well, gotta run. Twilight needs me with the decorating. " 

" You do that. Sorry again that Ah can't join ya." 

" It's okay. Traditions above all, right. I'll see you around. " I said, and followed Twilight who was going into the library. 


" What do you need me do now? " I asked. 

She threw various things at me, ranging from festive hangers to fragile baubles and mysterious presents. 

" Careful with those baubles! " I shouted. 

" You catched them all, didn't you? " Twilight returned.

" Jeez, what's up with you? Are you angry because I didn't help sooner? " 

" No, it's... Nevermind. Just go and decorate the outside of the library, okay? " she said. 

" Alright then. If you need anything else, you know where I am. " I said, and took the decorations outside. 

Observing the tree from a distance, I wondered how I was going to do any decorating at all. 

"Maybe I could be of assistance to you? "  Xiz'Rath offered.

"What did you have in mind..? "  I asked. 

"Give me control over your body, and you will see. " 

The essence belonging to the elemental was activated, and my body turned into pure lightning. My mind went blank, and I could feel myself swapping spots with Xiz'Rath. 

A torrent of energy shot out of our body as Xiz'Rath finished the transformation. 

" Ah, to feel the air again is such a welcoming sensation. " Xiz'Rath said. 

"I see what you mean now, with the whole spectator thing. "  I said. 

"We are still one, even though I took control of your body for the moment. My power over Air is vastly better than yours, but I lack your shadow-based abilities. " 

"If we are to fight as one, maybe we could consider alleviating those lacking features for both of us, or find a way to swap forms quicker. "  I suggested. 

"I do not feel at ease with providing your mortal form with my power... yet. The future could hold such a possibility should it be required of us, but for now, I will attempt to hasten the swapping process. "  Xiz'Rath said.

"So.. What are you going to do? Do remember there's ponies watching us. " 

" Do not fret. I will show you. " Xiz'Rath said out loud. 

All the decorations were lifted into the air, guided by currents of wind and electricity. Each piece took its spot somewhere on the tree, and in just a minute the entire tree looked properly festive. 

" Who are you? No, no, better question. WHAT are you? " We heard someone ask us. 

Xiz'Rath turned around to face the pony asking the question. It was Rainbow Dash. 

" Hail, Rainbow Dash. My name is Xiz'Rath, and I am a being of pure Air. Myself, and the one you call Primal Dagger, share this body. He allowed me to take control over our form to ease the process of decorating this tree for reasons unknown to myself. " 

Xiz'Rath gave me form outside of his, to prove his point. I waved and said hi to her as my spectral image hovered in the air. 

"Primal! What did he do to you?! Did he trap you? If he hurt you in any way he's going to regret appearing here. " she bellowed, hooves raised in offense towards Xiz'Rath. 

" Relax, Rainbow. He told the truth. We share this shell, just like Twilight shares hers with Gaia, even though she lies dormant still. " I said calmly. 

"Return us to my form, just in case she still doesn't believe it. Which is likely. "  I said to Xiz'Rath in my mind. 

We merged again, and Xiz'Rath returned us to my body. 

"See? Nothing to worry about. " I said. 

"Could you give me form? I wish to converse with the ponies. "  Xiz'Rath asked. 

I projected his essence in front of me, giving the elemental a material form again. 

" Apologies if I have upset you in any way, Miss Rainbow Dash. If you have any questions, I can answer them for you. " Xiz'Rath said. 

" I do have a question, if you do not mind. You said Twilight and 'Gaia' shared a form like the two of you do, but why is Gaia dormant, and you...well, not? " Rarity asked, appearing behind Rainbow Dash. 

" We are both still unsure why this is so. Primal believes that the friendship linking the six of you together might lead to the awakening of Gaia, but that is merely a thought. " Xiz'Rath explained. 

" Wait, didn't you know Gaia , though? You recognised her essence the moment you saw Twilight. " I said to him. 

" I do... Well, did. Untill something drove us apart. I have not seen her or the other two Elements of Creation in centuries. " 

" So there are two more... I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Aqua holds the element of Water. Could somepony go and ask her to get here? " I asked. 

" I'll be right back! " Dash said, and shot off to fetch her. 

" What drove you apart? " I asked Xiz'Rath. 

" I cannot remember. Whatever separated us made sure we would forget about it. It did not account us returning, I suspect. WaIt, is that the Element of Nature? " 

Natura stepped forward. "If that means me, yes. " 

" There has to be something sinister and dark looming over this land for it to return the Elements of Creation and the Element of Nature back to existence. " Xiz'Rath said. " She seems to be asleep aswell. I notice you have control over your essence, however. How did you not notice her essence? " 

" Who's essence? All I can find is my own essence, and that of the werewolf. " Natura said. 

" She must have hidden her essence from you so she could slumber peacefully. As with Gaia, I do not know how to wake her up. Only time will tell. " Xiz'Rath said. 

" Where is her essence? Maybe I could try to activate it? " Natura asked. 

" That is unwise to do in such company. The awakening of a slumbering Element in such a way could provoke her to do something she could regret. I myself have done something I regret, and I do not wish it on you or her. " 

" Okay, we'll do that later then. Why did you ask for us, Primal? " Natura asked. 

" I asked for all of you to come here because I wanted to propose something. Celebrate Hearth's Warming here, the Earth way. And with here, I mean near this tree, together with the other townsponies nearby. " I said. 

" I'm obviously going to say yes for myself, but I don't know what Fluttershy wants. " Natura said. 

" I don't mind. But...will there be...a lot of other ponies..?" Fluttershy asked. 

" Depending on how many live near this tree, there should be a few. I doubt you'll need to present yourself to everypony though, if that is what you are afraid of. " I said. " Besides, you got Natura. " 

"Hey! I'm not 'with' her, if that was what you were implying!" He responded. 

" I wasn't implying anything. " 

" Good. "

" I usually celebrate it with Twilight, so naturally, I shall be present as well. " Rarity said. 

" Ponies?! Together?! This calls for a PAAARTYYYY!" the pink menace shouted, and vanished into thin air. 

"Right. Party. She has a reason to plan a party for anything, doesn't she..? " I said plainly. 

" Yup. That's Pinkie Pie. " Twilight said, appearing from the library. " You decorated the tree quickly. " 

"With thanks to my buddy here. " I motioned to Xiz'Rath. 

" Ah, Xiz'Rath. Weren't you part of Primal? " Twilight asked. 

" I am. This is merely a projection of myself. " He demonstrated it by walking through me. 

" Interesting. Also, you said Gaia's essence was within me, slumbering? Any ideas on how to awaken her? " Twilight asked. 

" None yet, other than it having to do with your friendship with the other Elements of Harmony." Xiz'Rath said. 

" I know how to awaken her. But I want something in return. "

We turned to the cloaked newcomer. It was the pyromaniac. 

" If you think anyone here is going to accept that, you're in the wrong town. " I said, daggers poised. Xiz'Rath had a lightning bolt charged and ready to launch at him too. 

" Oh, but that is where you are wrong. For you see, I have something, or rather, somepony that  belongs to all of you. " 

"And who would that be? " Twilight asked. 

" The brash pegasus, Rainbow Dash. " A cage appeared, holding an incapacitated Rainbow Dash. 

"Rainbow!! You monster! " Twilight shouted. 

" This seems almost too much like Krampus, now... Only you're not some half-goat monster. " I stated. 

" What can I say? I just love seeing you squirm." 

" You must've had quite the bad upraising for you to turn out like this. " I said. 

" My parents actually did a good job at raising me. Too bad I got pulled into this world the moment I finally fixed my life. Getting close to the brink of insanity and escaping it only to get thrown back to it does wonders to one's mind. " 

"And that's why you need to cause suffering to all around you, Searing Hatred? " I mocked. 

" That, and a very tempting deal with a dark and evil being. It offered me salvation if I carried out its plans."

" Great. A devil's deal, then. What did you want for Rainbow Dash and the knowledge for awakening Gaia? " I said.  

" You. And either for the pony, or the knowledge. My master does not want both in your hands. " 

" What could it possibly want with me? It already has you, doesn't it? " I said. 

" It's always a good thing to expand one's army. " 

"Don't do it Primal! We'll find another way to get Rainbow back! " Twilight shouted. 

" Twilight, I have to. I can't let this monster harm Rainbow Dash, and if it wants me, so be it. " I said. 

" Good...Good... Step into this circle here, and I'll release this pathetic pony. " Searing Hatred said. 

A dark-red runic circle appeared on the ground. I slowly walked over, and stepped into it. The magic shackled me, and teleported me to a different place....


WWWWW 
   

Change of Character - Primal Dagger -> Twilight Sparkle 

" NOOOO!" 

Searing Hatred let Rainbow loose, and she dropped to the ground. 

" I'll see you soon.... " 

With that, he dissappeared in a puff of smoke and fire. 

" Why.." I sobbed. 

Fluttershy dashed over to Rainbow. " Are you okay?" 

" Unghhh.. What happened? I was flying to Aqua's home to tell her to come here, and then everything just went.. black..." she mumbled. 

" You got captured. Primal traded himself so you would be released. " Natura said. 

" Not exactly... but you will find out in a moment. " Xiz'Rath said. 

I threw him a confused look, but my confusion cleared as I realised what Primal had done. 

" Oh, you clever, tricksy devil. " I said. 

" What? What do you mean?" Rainbow asked. 

" I have to give it to him, that was clever. I doubt it will work another time, but we should be more prepared by then. " I said. 

Rainbow was begging me to tell her what happened, but I remained silent. 

" How about we further discuss the celebrations while we wait?" Xiz'Rath suggested. 

" Good plan. Could you girls get and place your presents under this tree? We'll open those tomorrow, during the actual celebration. As for this evening, there's no show planned this year I believe, so we could spend it at my home, or visit Applejack at her farm. What do you think? " I said. 

" The sudden change in subject is odd, but okay. As for this evening, I think we should spend it together at the farm. With everypony and everybody. " Rarity said. 

" But I want to know what happened to... Ah nevermind, you're not gonna tell me anyways. " Rainbow said. 

" That is correct. " I said with a smug smile. 

" Party at Applejack's farm! " Pinkie cheered. " Will you join us too, mister Xiz'Rath?" 

" Ofcourse. " 

" FANTASTIC! I got a 'Welcome to Ponyville weird lightning thing' party to plan too! " Pinkie said. 

" Yes, right... " 

" Let's go get everypony's presents under the tree. " I said. " Each of you go and get your presents you got for everypony and everyone of our closest friends, and we'll meet back here in half an hour to go to the farm together. "

" It sure was difficult getting presents for all of you, and all our newest friends. " Fluttershy said. 

" I'm sure whatever you got for me,Spirit,  Primal and Aqua will be perfect. As for the rest, you've known them longer so I doubt it would be a problem. " Natura said comfortingly. 

" I'll pass by Aqua and tell her what's up. " I said. 

Each of us went their own ways, and I made my way towards Michelle's new home. 

Once I got closer, I heard rummaging inside. I knocked on the door, and Aqua opened it, carrying a box in her hands. 

" Hello Twilight, I'm kind of busy, but what do you need me for? " She asked. 

" I wanted to ask, or rather tell you,  that we will be celebrating Hearth's Warming together near the tree we planted in front of my library. " I said. 

" You planted a tree? I'm guessing that was Primal's idea. " she said. 

" It sure was. He wanted to celebrate it the 'Earth way'" I said. 

" Luckily I managed to get some presents for everyone just in time for the celebration. " Aqua sighed. 

" When you're done, could you either go to the tree or to Applejack's farm, depending on how long you will take?" I asked. 

" I'm actually almost done. Why don't you come inside for a moment? " 

" I got to... Eh, sure,  why not. I live right next to that tree, so moving the presents won't take much time. " 

She stepped aside to allow me entry, and closed the door behind me. 

" Don't mind the mess. Moving all sorts of stuff around is tiresome, so I just leave most of it lying around. " she said. 

" You sure got a nice place. " 

" Yeah, it's perfect. Close to the train station, and close enough to the actual town. Plus, it's quite spacey! " Michelle said, placing the box in the corner. 

I noticed a broken mirror with a very ornate decoration next to a table. 

" Why do you keep a broken mirror like that around? " I asked. 

" Oh, that? I read up on that specific mirror in a book here, it apparently has magical properties, but only if it's twin is connected to it. And the mirror has to be whole, ofcourse. " 

" Twin mirrors.... twin mirrors.... It does ring a bell. " 

" The Twin mirrors of Alumesh is what they were called, I believe. " Aqua said. 

" Alumesh? The phase-portal mirrors? Where did you get this from? " I asked. 

" A shop belonging to that rich pony Primal had to take care of. " 

" Interesting. Well, if I come across the other mirror, I'll let you know. Shall we go? " 

" Sure, let me collect the presents first.  " 

We left for the plaza together. Rainbow Dash was already there, having moved her presents over faster than anyone else. Aqua placed hers next to Rainbow's. 

" What a lot of presents. It's going to take the entire day if we have to open all of them! " I stated. 

" Let me help you get yours outside." Aqua offered. 

" Oh, Thanks! Follow me! " 

I guided her inside, and pointed to the pile of presents I had neatly stacked together next to Primal's. 

" Let's get those outside too while we're at it. " I said, motioning to Primal's presents. 

We moved all the presents outside, and Fluttershy and Natura had arrived aswell with their share of presents. 

" We could fill an entire home with these if it continues like this. " Natura said. 

" Where's Rarity and Pinkie? " I asked. 

" HERE!" Pinkie shouted as she appeared in an explosion of party streamers and 9 presents. 

" That is convenient. You just explode and leave your presents everywhere. " Xiz'Rath said, who had been quietly waiting near the tree. His body expanded slightly as the hum of magic got audible when he moved all of Pinkie's presents together in a neat pile next to the others'.

" Thanks! I need to modify my party cannon slightly, it's too inaccurate!" she said, mysteriously acquiring her cannon from somewhere and started wrenching it. 

" Pinkie is here now, where's Rarity? " I asked again. 

" I think I see her approaching over there. " Natura said. 

Rarity was indeed approaching, towing forth a small cart loaded with presents.

Xiz'Rath used his magic to move her presents next to all the others. 

" Thank you, kind Elemental. These presents were getting heavy." Rarity said. 

" My pleasure. It looks like everyone is here, let us go to the farm pony's farmhouse." Xiz'Rath said. 

" We should make haste if we want the Apple family to include us this evening. " I said. 

Me, Fluttershy, Natura, Aqua, Xiz'Rath, Rarity, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash all headed to the farm. I was silently wondering what was taking Primal so long to return, but I simply waved it off as part of his plan. 


WWWWW 


" 'Ello everybody! What brings all o' ya to our farm?" Applejack asked as she saw our party.

"Well, since you are celebrating with your family, I wanted to ask if you got space for nine more. If there isn't enough space,  we can just-"

" Nonsense! There's always enough room at our farm! Come inside, it's gettin' mighty cold out here. " Applejack said. 

We followed her inside, and were greeted by an excited Applebloom.

" Hey guys! Are y'all staying over this evenin'?" 

" They sure are. Wait jus' a minute, ya said nine right? You're with eight. " Applejack stated. " Where's Primal? " 

"He... uhh... will join us later. " I said. 

Applejack shot a mistrustful glance at me." Well Ah'm sure he'll be here soon. " 

" He will, just give him some time. " Xiz'Rath said. 

" Mah sis' told me y'all have a festive tree near the library! What's it for? " Applebloom asked. 

" It's a Christmas tree, or rather, Hearth's Warming tree. Its something Primal, Aqua, Spirit and Natura use back on Earth to celebrate it. They put the presents underneath it instead of in socks. " I said. 

" I sure do miss Earth. Actually, I don't really. Apart from my job there's nothin' back there. " Spirit said. 

" I miss my girlfriend.... But I hope she could understand. I sent her a quick message telling her I'm leaving somewhere and I had to break up with her. Something along the lines of it not going to work anymore. " Natura said. 

" Primal basically dragged the two of you here, didn't he? " I said. 

" Kind of. He didn't really tell us anythin' 'bout this place. Apart from seein' you, that be all we had for information. " Spirit said. " Not that I really mind. " 

" I don't mind either. Apart from my girlfriend, job and family who I never talk to anyway, I left little behind. I think Primal had to leave the most behind, since he had regular contact with his mum and had a laboratory of his own. You don't leave such things behind easily. " Natura said. 

" He seems okay with it though. " Rainbow said. 

" He has accepted it to some degree. " Aqua said. " I don't think it'll ever be perfect, though. For any of us. Even though we made peace with leaving Earth, the memories will linger. " 

" Those memories would be crushed in a matter of a few years back there anyway. Earth was dying. " 

" Primal! You're back! " I shouted happily. 

" 'Course I'm back. Sorry that took so long, had to keep the facade real for as long as possible. They found out though, this scar serves as a reminder of the torment my clone went through. " he pointed at a long scar on his arm. 

" They ain't messin' 'round are they. " Applejack said. 

" Definitely not. They'll be back sometime." 

" You said Earth was dying? " Rarity asked.

"Yeah. The reason for the world-travel experiment in the first place was to find a new home for Earth's inhabitants. The planet was slowly heating up, thanks to an overdose of grenhouse gases. " 

" Why is that bad? Means more sunny days and sunbathing! " Rarity said. 

" Well, if the north and south pole of the planet are covered with ice... which melts rapidly thanks to the increased temperature... increasing global sea levels... more devastating natural disasters... harsher weather..."  

" This planet is pollutant-free though. " Spirit said. 

" Yup. And I'm not going back to tell the humans about it either. This world is peaceful, and inviting billions of humans here will probably result in disaster. Both for the flora and fauna, and the current inhabitants." Primal said. 

" Food should be nearly ready. " Applejack shouted from the kitchen. 

" There isn't even enough space here for all of us to sit down! " Primal said. 

" Oh, there is. Show 'em, Applebloom! " Spirit said. 

Applebloom buzzed around the room, and within moments the room contained a large table big enough for at least twenty ponies ot humans. 

" I said nothing. "

" How did Applebloom do that all on her own? " Aqua asked. 

" Earth pony power! " the little filly said. 

" Applebloom, Spirit! Ready the table for everyone! " Applejack shouted. 

They both went to the kitchen to collect the food and plates.

" Did you learn anything about Searing Hatred's master? " Xiz'Rath asked. 

" Not really. My clone was blindfolded beforehand, so I only heard a voice. " Primal said. 

" Disappointing. " 

" Well, enough about that. Time for festivities! And LOTS OF FOOD!!"


WWWWW 


Change of Character - Twilight Sparkle -> Primal Dagger 

"Last Christmas, I gave her my heart. But the very next day, she gave it away...."

I paused momentarily to check if Twilight was awake before continuing my singing.

"This year, to save me from tears, I'll give it to somepony special..."

"Thats so... touching.." Twilight said silently.

"It's a christmas song from Earth." I said.

"Christmas song? Sounds a bit gloomy for a christmas song, doesn't it?" Twilight asked.

"Heh, it's quite funny actually. Most christmas songs on Earth are lyrically gloomy, but the music makes it sound cheerful. Hidden meanings like 'Third world countries don't have christmas' and things like that." I said.

" Third world?"

"A term used for countries that are economically poor, and lack behind on social servicing and teaching to the rest of the world." I said.

"I can't imagine what that would be like... Here, most ponies live in relative wealth. Everypony has adequate schooling, too."

" Having seven billion people on a planet like that takes it's toll, both on the environment and on the populace. Honestly, I'm more worried about the environment than about the populace. You can't replace an entire planet."

"You talk as if the populace are a commodity to be used..."

"I suppose everyone deserves to live, but I couldn't really be bothered to care about seven billion others. In fact, I try not to care about anyone other than myself. Brings too much pain when something goes wrong."

"You're a cold-hearted person, y'know that?"

"I guess. Skipped years, school trouble and nobody to care for you but your parents can do that to someone." I said.

"Well, we care for you! We all do!" Twilight made clear.

"I know.. Habits are hard to change..."

"Aww, c'mon. Let's get ready for today, we got a lot of presents to open!" Twilight said.

"Go on ahead, I'll be right behind you."

I waited for Twilight to leave the room, and Xiz'Rath appeared in the room in a flash.

"I do not think she picked up on that." he stated.

"I'll just tell her later... She'll probably be over the moon then."

"Careful what you say. Who knows, she might get banished to the moon for some weird reason." he said, and disappeared again.

"I sure do hope not. Don't want to have a corrupted Twilight to fight." I mumbled. I quickly got into my clothes, and headed down the stairs. Spike was not awake yet as I could hear loud snoring from his bedroom. I poured myself a glass of orange juice and sat on the bench.

"Look who's being lazy again." Twilight said as she walked down the stairs.

"I'm a man, I'm supposed to be lazy all the time." I replied.

" You could chose not to be lazy though. " 

"What am I going to do at this time of day then? " I asked. 

" I don't know, maybe... Make breakfast? " 

" It's going to be terrible most of the time if I make it. " I said. 

" Nonsense. Last time you made those Croque Monsieur, they were pretty tasty.  " Twilight complimented. 

" Yeah, that was once. Besides, I'm not really that hungry to begin with. " 

" You could've atleast made something for me. " Twilight said, annoyed. 

" Ah, yeah. I'll make it up to you a next time, 'kay?" I said. 

" Fine, I'll hold you to that one. "

'CRASH!'

" Could you... stop making dramatic entrances like those? Especially indoors? " Twilight said. " It's quite frustrating to fix the damn window every time. " 

" Hehe, sorry. I really have to stop trying out new stunts near Ponyville. " Rainbow said. 

"Or just don't try any stunts that close to the ground. I don't want you lying on the ground, broken and somewhere only Celestia would know where. " I said. 

" Why would you think Princess Celestia knows where I'd be? " Rainbow said. 

" Because figure of speech. I don't mean anything with it. She may be powerful, but I doubt she knows the locations of all her subjects. " I said. 

" Anyway, everypony is waiting at the tree for you guys. I got bored of waiting so I took to practicing my moves. " 

I shadowstepped onto a chair, and shadowstepped outside, taking said chair with me. 

" Well, I'm ready. " I called out, taking an extremely relaxed position on the chair. 

" Really? You're that lazy? " Aqua said. 

" No I'm tired. 'Course I'm lazy, gotta keep it up somehow don't I? "

" Where's Twi?" Pinkie asked. 

" Inside, getting something to eat. Actually, be right back. " 

I blinked back inside, and proceeded to Spike's room to wake him up. 

"Spike! Wake up, the others are here already! " 

" Rarity too? " the baby dragon said.

" Yes, she's there too. " 

Spike shot outside within seconds. I left the room, shrugged when Twilight looked at me with a questioning gaze, and left through the open door. 

Spike was near Rarity, as expected. Rarity looked at me with asking eyes, but I shrugged again. 

" Nice to see you are awake, and quite full of energy. " Rarity said to Spike. 

" Anything for you. " Spike sighed, love-hearts appearing in his eyes. 

Twilight trotted outside, levitating a sandwich. 

" We got a lot of presents to go through. Whose do we open first? " Twilight mumbled, mouth full. 

"Mine! " Rainbow shouted. 

" Where are yours? " I asked. 

" Over here! "

" There's just four here, though. " Aqua said. 

" Yeah... I...umm... only got presents for Rarity, Twi, 'Shy and Pinkie. I didn't really know what to get for you guys... " 

" That's okay, I don't mind. If you truly had no idea, then no harm is done. It's quite hard to grasp what we'd like if you don't spend that much time with us like you do with your pony friends. " Natura said. 

Rainbow gave the corresponding present to everypony, and waited for them to open them. 

Twilight was the first to cry out. " A SIGNED copy of Daring Do's latest book?! How did you get this? " 

" Had to pull a few strings, but I managed it in the end. " Rainbow said proudly. 

" A skystone gem? You must have been through a lot to get one of these! " Rarity said.

" I somehow had one lying around, think I got it from somepony a year ago. I thought you'd like it! " 

"I sure do! These gems are exquisite! " 

" A... feather? " Fluttershy said. 

" Not just any feather. Look closely. " 

" Oh my... It's a phoenix's feather.... thank you! I know where to put this! " 

" A piece of cloud? I know I'm random but this is just plain kooky! " Pinkie said. 

" Don't you guys ever look further than just what it looks like? " Rainbow said, slightly annoyed. 

Pinkie squeezed the cloud gently, and snow crystals felll out, chilling the ground they landed on. 

" I don't see why this is useful! " Pinkie exclaimed. 

" GAH! Use that over something you want frozen!" 

" But why would I want something frozen? I'd rather let it go instead of freezing it! " 

"Pinkie, you're making zero sense right now. " I stated. 

" You could use that cloud for a new kind of frosting, maybe? Or make instant ice cream!" Twilight said. 

" Ofcourse! Ice cream! I have to wait untill summer though..." 

" I'd eat ice cream any day, even in winter. " I said. 

" OH! That reminds me, be back in a second! " Pinkie said, and disappeared. 

" What was that about? And how does she move so quickly? " I asked. 

" It's Pinkie, don't bother trying to make sense of her. " Rainbow said. 

" Alright, mine next. They're a bit small, but don't let that deceive you. " I said. 

Xiz'Rath appeared next to me in a bolt oflightning. I got used to him being able to summon himself, but the others jumped in shock. Rainbow managed to dodge out of the way just in time. 

" Gimme a warning next time! " She said.

" I don't know when he decides to summon himself. " I said apologetically.

" I should have told him beforehand so he could warn you, my bad. " Xiz'Rath said. " I will tell you now, you will like his gifts. " 

"You guys will definitely like my gifts. I've marked each of the with a symbol only seeable by myself and Xiz'Rath, so I'll hand them out." I said.

I gave everyone their respective present, and waited for them to open them.

Rainbow Dash was the first to cry out this time. Holding up the pin i made:

"Oh my gosh this looks cool! Did you make these? " Rainbow said. 

" I have. Took a lot of time and secrecy, but I managed to make them quickly enough for noone to notice. "

Twilight held up her pin next. 

" It's amazing, thank you. " Twilight said. 

Rarity was next to hold up the pin. 

" This must have taken you really quite some time to make these. " Rarity said, admiring the pin in her hooves. 

" Custom works require some effort.I can't surpass your artistic skills though. " I complimented her. 


" Wow... It looks so much like my cutie mark... "  Fluttershy held up her pin so everyone could see. 

" I obviously based them off of that. It's a great idea to make each gift feel more personal. It's a bit rough around the edges here and there, but atleast I tried to make it life like. "


" Look at mine!  Look at mine! " Pinkie was bouncing around, the pin shaking too much to get a good look." 

" Stand still Pinkie, I can't look closely at it! " Twilight said to Pinkie.

" Oh, right! " 

" Hey, you even got one for me. " Natura mentioned. 

" You got one for my mark too. " Aqua said. 




" 'Course I did. You have your mark, don't you Natura? " I said. 

Natura lifted the sleeve of his shirt to reveal the green claw marks. " I never noticed. " 

" I made one for Applejack, Spirit and myself too. I'll give the pins to them later as a delayed gift, but I can show mine. 



" Whoa, that looks quite badass. " Natura said. 

" I know, right. Your claw mark is very cool, too. The thing I made for Spirit is also pretty damn awesome. " 

We proceeded to open all of the remaining presents. Rarity made custom outfits for everyone, including myself, Aqua, Spirit and Natura. 
Pinkie had dashed off earlier to retrieve cupcakes with everyone's mark on them, and varying flavours. 
Fluttershy had hoof-picked various flowers that symbolised everyone's personalities: Lavender for Twilight, Iris for Rarity, Delphinium for Rainbow Dash, Peony for Pinkie, Viburnum for Natura, Hydrangea for Aqua and a Daffodil for me. 
Twilight got a special book for everyone to read.

" What are these potions, though? " Twilight asked. 

" I made those. Each contains a different blend of ingredients. They should have interesting effects, I haven't really tested them but I know they are not dangerous. " Natura said. 

Everyone took a sip of their potion. Mine felt like bottled lightning, as it zapped through my mouth. It left a sour aftertaste, which he knew I liked. 

Everyone was taken aback by the power of their potions. " How did you make a liquid do that? " Twilight asked. 

" The secret of these ingredients cannot be told, otherwise I'd have no special thing to make. " Natura replied. 

" Well, I'd say it's about time for dinner. It's nearly six o' clock now! " I mentioned. 

" Wow, we took long. Who will we have dinner at, though? " Natura asked. 

" My library. I got something prepared already. " Twilight said. 


WWWWW 


" That was an interesting day. I also expected that book from you. " I said. 

Everyone had left now, and it was just me and Twilight. Spike had carried his hoard of acquired gems everyone gave him as present to his room and was fast asleep by now. 

" You live in the same house, so you would've noticed the missing book. " 

" I didn't, actually. " I looked around to check the bookcases, and found where the book came from. "I have now. " 

" I'm too predictable, am I not. "

" Kind of. Doesn't make you any less likeable, though. " 

"You still didn't really give me an answer,  you know. "

"I hinted at it with the song I sang this morning, but I don't think you picked it up. " I waited for the coin to drop. 

" Oh my. Ofcourse I should've noticed that song's lyrics were slightly off. So..." 

" Yes, Twilight. I would love to be together with you. You have done so much for me, and I couldn't think of anyone else I'd rather be with than you. " 

"Shut up. " 

Her lips touched mine, silencing me. I never felt so alive, and yet time had seemed to have frozen completely. She left my lips, but came back shortly after for a more drawn out, passionate kiss. 

" You're a good kisser, you know that? " Twilight said. 

" And that for someone who had no previous experience. "

" You don't need experience, you just need the love and want to make it good. Let's sleep, you got a day to prepare for a big trip tomorrow. " Twilight said. 

Love found a way to my heart. Will it stay? 









> Chapter 7 - Journey to Nowhere
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Carefully opening my eyes, I waited for some kind of disaster to strike me again. Twilight noticed me cowering.

"What are you doing?"

"NOT tempting fate. Random, disasterous stuff always happens to me from time to time, and something tells me I should be expecting it right now." I looked around, trying to spot any potential hazards.

A faint knocking sound was heard from downstairs.

"Who in the seven heavens could be visiting at a time like THIS!?! I'll go see who it is." I offered.

I phased out of bed into my 'changing' dimension to quickly put on some clothes, and reappeared downstairs in front of the door.

I opened the door to see Celestia casually waiting. Behind her was Luna.

"Umm.. Hello? Any particular reason for such an early visit from yourselves?"

" We were going on a trip today, remember? Do not tell us you forgot... " 

" Eheheh.... mmh... I... might've? I'll be right back! " I quickly ran back upstairs to properly wake Twilight up. 
" Twilight, Celestia and Luna are here already."

"Oh.. oh my. I'll quickly get ready! " 

"I'll keep 'em company while we wait for you. " 

I ran back down again, and motioned for the Princesses to come inside. Once they were inside, Night materialised next to us.

" Twilight is getting ready. Kind of forgot you would come this early... " I shrugged my head. 

" It is fine. Have you had breakfast yet?" Celestia asked. 

" We were in bed a few minutes ago, so-"

'CRASH'

" -no, not really. Rainbow, why." 

"Oh hi! I saw Princess Celestia's carriage arrive, so I remembered you were going on a trip. I wanted to stop by before you went away! " 

" And stop by you did indeed, Rainbow Dash." Night quickly fixed the window and removed any leftover glass shards from the floor. 

"Well, before we were so rudely interrupted." Celestia glared at Rainbow "Once Spirit Equity has arrived, we can go to Canterlot. I will instruct Twilight about governing, and you two and Night can do whatever you wish."

" 'Right. Lemme quickly get the map to familiarize with the route we were gonna take." I ran upstairs to where I placed the map, and ran back downstairs to place it on the table. Everypony flocked around it.



"Do we start in Canterlot? Or d'we start in Cloudsdale and save it for last?"

"Hey, you guys are goin' to Cloudsdale! Say hello to the Wonderbolts for me if you spot them!"

"We shall. I suggest we start in Canterlot first, since we are there when I teach Twilight. Most ponies know about the trip by now so we can expect them to be excited."

"At least I don't have to be near you four. Imagine all the odd looks you'd recieve when you travel with Luna, Nightmare Moon and a human. I doubt everypony has seen a human by now." I traced my finger over the path on the map, memorising it in case we lost the map.

Celestia walked back and forth, seemingly impatient. 

"Sister, why art thou pacing? This is not like thee."

"Spirit should have been here by now. Is he always this late?" Celestia asked me.

"Yup. Always count on him being a bit late, that's how I managed to get through school with him."

We waited in silence for a few moments, with Rainbow still studying the map I placed down.
"I hope you make it to the Crystal Empire okay. Gets real chilly up there. Anyway, Have fun! I'll see ya around!" She left through the door, much to the surprise of Twilight and me.

"Well who figured? She did leave the door open, though" I walked to the door to close it, but Spirit arrived just as I was about to close it.

" 'Ello ev'ryone, sorry I'm late."

"Bad habits never die ey?" I poked his arm. "Where's your armour, though?"

" I'm'a pick it up at Canterlot armory. Princess prepared a special set o' armour for me."

"You have finally arrived. Let us not waste time." Celestia walked out the door, towards the carriage, and Luna following her closely.

"I will see all of you at the castle." Night morphed into a wisp of smoke and shadows, and the trail headed to Canterlot.

"You heard the princess. Let's get moving." Engulfing myself in shadows and donning my armour, I followed Celestia.

"Hey, y'think ya can do summin' like yer armour for me too? Think it be easier if I can summon it on a whim."

"I can't enchant any longer. If you want something like this, you probably need to talk with Pinkie Pie. Speaking of enchantments, where's that panther gone now?"

"Right here" Sabrina materialised next to me.

"Ah, so that's how you keep appearing and disappearing. What d'ya use, some kind of pocket dimension to stay in?"

"Sort of. Methinks it is best if I do not reveal my secrets, lest I be discovered."

"Good point. If I need you, I'll call upon you again."

"Works for me." Sabrina vanished again.

Twilight was already next to the carriage Celestia and Luna were in, a saddlebag filled with books on her back. I didn't need to guess to know how Twilight got there before we did.
"You two finally here?" 

" Some of us can't teleport like you." I spat back. 

" I was only joking Primal, relax. " 

" I don't take kindly to jokes played on me or friends." I got into the carriage, crossing my arms and pulling the hood of my outfit over my head. " If you really need me, I'll be here, silently watching. Otherwise, I'm pulling back to another dimension for now, one called deep thought.  " 


WWWWW 


Change of Character - Primal Dagger -> Princess Celestia   

There is something bothering Primal Dagger, but it might be best if we leave him alone for now. 
" Come Twilight and Spirit, you must be hungry by now."

" Actually, Ah've alr'dy eaten summin'. Applejack be nice 'nuff ta prepare summin' for me before I left. They be wakin' up early times 'nyway ta work in dem fields."  He took a spot next to Primal, being careful not to disturb him too much. 

" Glad to hear it." I waited for Twilight to take a seat before signalling the guards to take off. 

The flight was uneventful, as expected. We landed near the field designated for air travel, and walked the short route towards Canterlot's Castle. I guided the others towards the dining room which served as a general room as well. 

" I assume I can leave the three of you here while I instruct Twilight on what she needs to do while myself and Luna are gone? " 

" Definitely, Sister. I shalt keep them company whilst thou teaches thy boring work to thine student. " Luna turned to face Primal and Spirit, looking at them with a very disturbing smile.

" Do not think about it, Luna. Not unless myself be included with whatever thee hath planned." Night grinned as her smokey trail recieved a solid form.

" The ponies of Canterlot should be expecting us around twelve, if we follow schedule. It is currently ten, so you will have enough time for yourselves. " A quick nod came as an answer.

I took Twilight to the throne room, where most political meetingswere held. 
" Any questions before we begin, Twilight?" She shook her head. " Good. Then let us get started." 

Along came an elaborate explanation of the daily business around Canterlot Castle. All important proposals would be delayed untill our return, so I skipped that in my explanation. Other than the proposals and the raising of sun and moon, it mostly came down to paperwork. 

"I will tell my servants to bring paperwork to your original chambers. I assume you would want to stay there? " 

"Will you be gone for long, Princess? Otherwise I might start missing my friends..."

" I will leave Philomena here so you can send letters to your friends. If you want, you can ask them to come over. I will tell my servants to look at you as if you were me."    

" Thank you, Princess. I think I'll be fine. Could we go back to get some food? I'm starving." Her tummy rumbled in response, after which she grinned sheepishly. 

I nodded, and ordered a nearby maid to retrieve food for Twilight from the royal kitchen and deliver it to the dining room, to which we walked to meet up with the others. 

"Hello everybody, we are back. Twilight should be amply prepared for when we are gone. Right now, we have about half an hour untill we are supposed to be in town."

"I'm going to head to the forge to sharpen my blades, just to give them a little edge. I believe Spirit here needs to retrieve his armour as well." He walked to the door, but waited for Spirit to follow him.

" Y'r rite. Ah'll be rite behind ya" Spirit quickly followed Primal.

" 'Twas just getting interesting, Sister! Primal Dagger was nearly going to talk to us!"

"Nearly. I suggest we all leave him alone untill he fixes what is bothering him."

A maid came in, carrying plates of food for Twilight. She placed them down on the table, nodded politely, and left the room.

"Food!" Twilight shouted, and charged at the food, devouring most within a few bites.

I chuckled warmly at this display of hunger, and Luna smiled. Night was looking outside, she did not notice Twilight's eating.

Now to just wait untill we had to arrive in the city...


WWWWW


Change of Character - Princess Celestia->Primal Dagger

"Spirit, can I let you in on a little secret? Don't tell the princesses, please."

" Sure, tell me."

"I'm afraid. Not for a particular reason, no.... I'm just worried I won't be able to properly protect the Princesses while we're out. There's something terrible lurking out there in the world, ready to strike, ready to pounce on an opportunity."

We walked into the forge, a few ponies were working on repairing the armaments of the Royal Guard. A set of shiny silver-esque armour was placed on a mannequin near one of the forges, next to an ancient, curved silver sword emblazoned with various runes and a silver-white shield with the emblems of both the solar and lunar princesses.

"Is that your gear?"

"Sure is. Look'it the trimmin' on tha' armour.."

The armour itself was made of a different material, we got told. It looked silver because of the innate magical properties and the enchantments put on by Celestia. The entire set had a gold- and blue trimming, the golden trimming on the right hand side of the armour, with Celestia's mark on the right arm, and the blue trimming on the left hand side, with Luna's mark on the left arm.


(Basic armour look, without the trimming and marks.)

"You're going to look like a proper force of balance with that stuff. Go ahead, try it on!"

He walked to the set, and a nearby pony helped him strap the armour on. He took up the sword, and placed the shield on a scabbard on his back.
"How'd I look?

"Put on your helmet, and you will be the silver phalanx. I doubt anyone will attempt to fight the Princesses with this walking next to them." I walked to a nearby grinding stone, took out one of my daggers and started sharpening its edge. "Try walking, and test the blade on one of those dummies over there."

He placed the helmet on his head, drew his sword and shield, and marched towards the dummy. Giving his sword a few practice swings in the air in front of him, he turned to me with a confused look. 
" How d'ya even kno'how ta sharpen weapons?" 

"It's not that hard. Just put the blade on the grindstone and carefully sharpen its edge. Making or repairing them is much harder. " 

He turned back to his dummy, and started cutting into it with his sword. It proved more effective than I thought, since the dummy got cut in half. 

" That's one hell of a razorsharp sword. " 

" Indeed. I crafted it myself, by Princess Celestia's orders! " A weary but sturdy looking pony walked up to us, smiling and proud of his work. " Careful with that edge, you're sharpening it off. 'Ere, lemme help ya out. " 

I gave him my blades, and he quickly went to work re-sharpening the edges to a much better degree than I had done. Once he was done with both, he handed them back to me.

" Fine blades. Where'd you get those from? " the smith inspected the blades in my hands. 

" Celestia gave them to me. No doubt one of the smiths here made them. I enchanted them further when I still could, some time ago.." 

" Oh ofcourse, I remember! Sheesh, that was long ago. I got that order from the Princess. Had to be some fancy material she supplied me with. " 

" Great to meet the creator of my blades. They served me very well thus far. Thanks for sharpening them, too. " 

" My pleasure. Do come by if ya need somethin' else made, y'hear?" 

" Will do, thanks again. You done, Spirit? " 

" Yesh, comin' afta' ya. " His metal armour rattled along to the rhythm of his footsteps. 

We said goodbye to the smith, and headed back to the dining room. 

"Look who hath arrived. 'Tis the knight in shining armour, and thy knife in the shadows. Thou art ready, we presume? " Luna walked to the other side of the table, checking up on Spirit's armour. 

" Ready to be of service,  m'lady. The shadows conceal my footsteps, and any who dare threaten your presence shall know the fury of my blades. " 

"I be standin' right beside ya. No livin' thing'll pass me ta harm ya!" 

"Great. Twilight, you know what to do, correct?" The violet unicorn nodded fiercely. "Good. Let us proceed outside, our subjects are eagerly awaiting our presence. " Celestia took the lead, trotting outside. Luna followed closely, with Spirit in tow. Night walked right behind them, and I made up the rear, hood over my head and daggers drawn.

The ponies of Canterlot cheered when they saw their revered ruler trotting out of the palace. They silenced somewhat when they noticed Luna and Spirit. 

"It's Nightmare Moon! What did she do to our Princesses?!"

"And what are those two-legged creatures near the princesses? That one in the back has his daggers drawn! " 

I quickly vanished from sight, watching from the shadows as Celestia addressed the growing crowd. 

"Silence, and listen well, my little ponies. Nightmare Moon is no longer a threat. She wants to make up for past mistakes, and is willing to do all in her power to help you, the ponyfolk, in times of need. Such times are now, too. Reports came in from Vanhoover, the city is completely destroyed. The five of us will visit various cities and towns, including those destroyed, and will attempt to provide any help we can give. All I ask of you is to treat the others in my presence as you would me. " 

I reappeared next to Celestia, bowing to further ensure the ponies I meant no harm to the princesses. 
Spirit stomped up next to me and took a defensive stance, and gave a quick salute . 
Luna and Night took the other side of Celestia, both bowing too. 

"Princess Celestia speaks truth. I hath made mistakes in the past, attempting to forcefully lay claim to what my desires wanted. I see now mine failures, and wish to make amends. I wish only for thine respect." Night bowed again after her speech. 

"Nightmare Moon is part of me, which maketh myself responsible for our mistakes. As we wish thine respect for Nightmare Moon, so wish we for thine respect for myself as well. We shalt do all in our powers to help thee in such troubling times. Sister, the cause of the destruction of Vanhoover is undefined, is it not? " 

"Indeed, Luna. We do not know who, how or why somepony or something attacked and destroyed Vanhoover, but we will ensure the town's reconstruction and vengeance for the fallen. " 

The crowd was silent for moments, untill one pony started cheering. Soon, others joined in, and eventually the entire crowd was loudly cheering for all of us. 

"Thank you kindly for your understanding. If any of you have any questions, be sure to ask them now before we leave for Vanhoover. " 

"Who are the two-legged beings to the right of you? " a mare called out. 

Celestia looked at us, motioning us to introduce ourselves. 

"My real name will stay hidden, but you will know me as The Shadow of Equestria. I serve as Celestia's right hand in all manners dirty and underhanded, carrying out missions in Her orders. " I deftly bowed, and let Spirit talk. 

"Name's Spirit Equity. I'm the Princesses personal livin' wall and appointed to the newly formed Justice Guard. If any of yee threatens them Princesses, I'll make sure you'll regret ever gettin' close. " He placed his shield in front of him. 

[i"All you need is a set of wings and you could pass as an angel."  I made sure only Spirit heard what I said. 

He grinned, but did not say anything in return. 

"Any other questions?" Celestia's voice rang pure and clear through the air. 

"Princesses, you stated you and your party will travel to Vanhoover after you are done here... Where will you go next? And after that?  " 

Luna took the word. " We shalt head to the frozen north, thy Crystal Empire. 'Tis the original plan, but we intend to ask Princess Cadance and Shining armour for their assistance. After that, we visit Cloudsdale. We intended to head there first but since Vanhoover likely needs our help..." 

The pony that asked the question bowed respectfully, and stepped back into the crowd. 

"More questions?"

The crowd stayed silent this time. 

"That will be all, then. We will make sure our journey around Equestria is as swift as possible. "  

Celestia walked towards the landing platform, and the rest of us followed. We stepped into a carriage designed for more passengers, and this one had three pegasi pulling it. They were already awaiting our arrival, and now waited for Celestia's order to take off. 

"To Vanhoover, with haste. "

The guards took flight, and pulled the carriage with them with speeds that could make someone dizzy. 

"Such sad times. We remember Vanhoover... 'Twas destroyed once before, a long time ago.  Now, 'tis destroyed again... " Luna smiled to Night as she shared her own and Night's memories of the city. 

"I don't think it'll be the first either. We'd best be prepared for anything. I hope this Cadance 'll help us out." 

"She will. The Crystal Empire may just recently been freed from King Sombra's shackles, but the Crystal ponies are fierce and loyal. I have no doubt they will help us. " 

"I be believin' it once I see dem helpin' us." 

"If need be, you might want to step aside if they need to pass, big boy. God, to think we were in school together back then... Now we're flying in pony-with-wings pulled carriages that somehow fly, equipped to the teeth and going on a trip across a land inhabited by talking, colourful ponies. How times change, ey?"  

He nodded, but remained silent as I reminisced our past and the present. 

I took to carefully inspecting my daggers' enchantment integrity, and had small talk with Xiz'Rath in my mind. He didn't have an obvious judgement about what could possibly raze an entire city and not leave a single trace of itself. I was rather curious myself, but my thoughts were interrupted by the carriage touching ground. 

Vanhoover was not what I expected it to look like. I imagined ruins, debris, fire.... 
Well, there was that, but the way it looked was extraordinary. Buildings were cleanly cut in half in a diagonal cut, the top half likely sliding down, causing wreckages on the ground. Ponies were sat on the sidewalks, being sorry for themselves and their dead kin.

" What... happened? Celestia, this doesn't look like something from Equestria would've done this. There's something worse at play here... " I surveyed the ruins, checking for any obviously trapped ponies. 

" 'Tis.. 'tis could not be... Sister...? " 

" I am afraid what you are thinking of is true. Myself and Luna have seen this once before, in another city, another time... " 

" How...? How could these beasts return to our world? " 

" I'm afraid neither me nor Spirit understand what you two are talking about. " Spirit nodded in agreement. 

"Their name has long since been forgotten... existential creatures, drawn from a place even darker than Tartarus itself. Their leader fell at Luna's hooves, but it came at great cost. Entire cities razed within an instant... Ponies and gryphons alike swept aside or swallowed whole... " 

I got curious quickly. "The gryphons faced these too? " 

"The gryphons fought them alongside us. Many o' their kin died.. " Luna's eyes went blank, as she no doubt remembered all that perished battling alongside them.

" Am I correct in assuming that this happened before mine awakening? " Night asked curiously. 

" Thine awakening followed up on the aftermath of that terrible war. Our subjects feared the shadows after, leading up to mine emotions of envy and hate... " 

" How 'bout we talk lata' 'n try ta help dese ponies first? " 

I nodded, and so did the princesses and avatar of Darkness. Each of us went to help ponies nearby, mending wounds, saving them from burning wrecks or fallen rubble, and providing support for the distraught. 

Eventually, I tried asking various ponies if they saw anything of what happened. None gave clear answers, however, only that they looked like 'beasts from Tartarus' darkest corners'.

Most ponies gathered in the middle of the city, amongst the rubble. Most looked up at Celestia for guidance, while giving looks of distaste towards all others. Others simply stared ahead of themselves. 

"Princess Celestia, what do we do now? " a stallion asked, shooting distrustful glances mostly at Nightmare Moon. 

" First, you will stop treating Nightmare Moon as if she is going to hurt you. Secondly, I am not alone here; Princess Luna can also be asked for guidance. Now, did any of you spot whoever or whatever did this? " 

A few ponies gave her the same vague description they gave me. 

" Then it might be as we feared. They have returned.. Does anyone have paper, a quill and ink? " 

Night gave her what she needed, I could not decipher where from since she carried no saddlebags...

Celestia wrote a quick letter, and sent it away. " I have sent a letter to Canterlot, asking for a squadron of guards to assist the ponies of Vanhoover. Myself and the others will head to the Crystal Empire, in the hopes of recieving Princess Cadance's help. " 

We left the area and headed for the carriage. 

"Cadance will likely help us...  but I think we will need even more than that.. We need to awaken the other Elements of Creation. "  

"How...? Gaia is slumbering, the Element of Water is likely missing too, and the Element of Fire is even more missing than Water! " 

"Nyneve... her name is Nyneve..." 

"Who, The element of Water? And Fire, then? "  

"Fire... has been lost even longer than we have... When he did have a host, he picked creatures that were on the verge of good and evil. Striving to find their true path... He helped them find it, and continued with them, both ways.. His last known host, like mine, attempted to seize power. Not over Equestria, but over the Minotaur Kingdoms. Noone knows what happened to him or his host. "

 " I think I might know his current host... Another human... The Pyromaniac." 

 " Then the situation might be even more dire than we thought. We need to make him, make them see that there is more to this world than burning everything. "  

" Primal Dagger? Art thou ready to depart? " Luna waved her hooves in front of me. 

 " Go now, focus on the world. We will deal with the element of Fire later." 

" 'Course Luna. Sorry, fazed out a bit there. Wanted to discuss something with Xiz'Rath. " 

"Why didst thou not summon him forth? Twilight told us you were able to."

" She told you I could, yes. What you or she didn't know however is that it is quite taxing on my energy. Both our energies. We still need to figure out an effortless way of summoning seperately. I've been... hiding the fatigue every time I summoned him. " 

" You needst not hide anything, especially not to Twilight Sparkle. Besides, we may have a way for thee to exist seperately, like us. " 

 "I  do not think whatever she is going to suggest will work for us. I and my brothers and sisters are unlike her. She is a literal extent to Luna, her feelings and emotions, her thoughts.. We are seperate entities. "    

 "Stay ready, I'll summon you. " 

I channeled his power, and a ball of lightning formed between my hands. I threw it forwards, and it expanded mid-air, taking Xiz'Rath's vague shape. 

" Greetings, princesses. " He humbly bowed.  " And human. " 

" Hello Xiz'Rath, it has been long since I have seen you in person." Celestia bowed too. 

" Likewise. Nightmare Moon, or Night, as you wish to be called now. What did you intend to suggest? " 

" Myself and Luna... Mostly Luna, performed a ritual, seperating us from each other. She hoped to be rid of mine influence, but since we are linked, this didst not turn out the way she wanted. We separated, but in mind, we are still linked. " 

" I am afraid such practices will not work for me and Primal here. We are not linked, we are separate entities altogether. I.... posess Primal, and give him my power in return. I can exist seperately from his body if need be, but this would mean leaving the possession. I would need to find a new host. Right now, we still share thoughts, but this draws from both our energies to sustain it. " 

" Why can't ya no' re-posess Primal? Tha' could work, rite? " 

" If you want Primal's soul to be gone forever, by all means. His own soul will resist re-possession, whether he wants it or not. " 

" Oh...Ye, tha' ain't good..." 

" Hm.. I hath no alternatives now, but certain books in Canterlot Library could provide a solution. We have to check once we return to Canterlot. " 

" Good plan. Primal, you do the honours. " 

Xiz'Rath reshaped into a ball, returned to the space between my hands, and I absorbed his essence back into me. 
" Our power is extensive, but finite. I... can manage for.. now. But I will prefer to speak to him in thought. If there is anything, I'll act as relay. Now, we were off to the Crystal Empire, yes?" 
I rubbed my hands in delight. " Can't wait to see those crystals.. I heard they got quite the interesting properties.. "  
> Chapter 8 - Crystals in the Dark
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Crystal Empire was slowly coming into sight, the large tower where the Crystal heart was kept looming over it all.

"We're getting close now. I don't really know much about Cadance, only saw a little bit of her. I'll stick to the shadows for this part, as i usually do."

"Ah doubt y'ell need a livin' wall 'ere. Ah'll jus' stan'by 'n watch." Spirit noted while adjusting his armour. 

Myself and Spirit sat next to each other in the carriage again, with Celestia next to Spirit and Luna on the end of it. Night had assumed her usual wispy form and was following the carriage at high speed. 

"I will speak to Cadance with Spirit and Primal, Luna can go with Night to see if the populace knows something. The Crystal ponies won't know much about Nightmare Moon, only that she's an alicorn and slightly imposing. Maybe an idea to lose the armour for now?" 

Night nodded, and made her armour slowly vanish. 

" Umm, maybe just keep the helmet on Night..." I tried to hold back a chuckle, and nearly failed. 

"Why dost thou thinkst we still need a helmet?" She looked at me with confusion and slight mistrust. 

" I... can't really take you seriously if you look bald. I thought your wispy hair would cling to you more-"

"Oh, that. That wouldst be a side effect of mine armour. This shouldst look better. " Her hair turned less transparent and encompassed her head now. 

" That looks much more friendly than that full armour. Why do you even have that? You can simply blast anything away without it ever getting close. " 

" 'Tis a relic of past ages. Thou art right, I hath no need for it. It serves to terrify mine foes now only."

" I'm sure your combat expertise will prove useful against whatever it is that's destroying the cities. What is it anyway? You all seemed to be holding something back"

" I do not hold anything back. I hath been formed in the aftermath of their war. " Night pointed a hoof at the other princesses. " 'Tis not my right to speak of the memories of Luna. " 

"I will tell you two after I have spoken to Cadance. She knows more about it, since a family member of hers was the one who drove them back then." 

The carriage landed in an open spot near the castle towers. All of us exited the carriage and went on our way towards the palace. 

" Something's off... Stay alert, Spirit. " I kept careful watch of our surroundings, and most of all, the guards.

I noticed Spirit was watching the guards too now,he saw me inspecting them as we walked by. The princesses were completely oblivious. 

"Stay alert so I can summon you when necessary. "

"I understand Primal. Just give the word and we'll blast them all to smithereens. " 

" Spirit, stay close to the princess, don't lose sight of her. They have probably accounted for the princesses, but not for the two of us and Night. They probably know a bit more about Nightmare Moon, but the two of us are wildcards. " I made sure no one but him heard me.

" Wha'll yu do? " 

" I'll slip away, see what I can find. " I replied. 

I saw an opportune moment to slip away unnoticed, and quickly went invisible in a puff of smoke. 

 Let's see what they are up to... 


WWWWW


 Change of Character - Primal Dagger - > Spirit Equity 

Ah didn't know exactly wha was goin' on, but ah knew he'd not lie 'bout danger.

Ah followed tha princess further, an' noticed some o' 'em were lookin' slightly confused now. Ah quickened mah pace ta walk next to Princess Celestia, an' leaned closer to her. 
" Ah think summin's wrong. Primal's already gone ta investigate. " 

Ah saw tha princess frown, an' looked concerned fo' a slight second before regainin' her composure. 

" Princess Cadance and Shining Armor should be right here, through this door, if memory serves. " Tha princess open'd tha doors with a quick flick o' her head, an' entered tha room. 

We entered a big room, eas'ly made ta house quite a few ponies in... 

Ah cannae believe he got me so far as ta go inta dis 'ere world...

Ah le'out a silent sigh, straighten'd ma back an' marched inta the room, followin' tha giant white unicorn pegasus hybrid... alicorn or whateva she was named.

Ah do get ta wear cool lookin' armour n' wield a sword in a world where colourful talkin' ponies can fly 'n cast magic.

" Ah, Cadance. I have not seen you since the wedding, I believe. How are you? " Tha princess started tha conversation steadily, comin' ova' as calm 'n relax'd.

" Hello Celestia. Give me a moment, will you? " Tha pink princess turned to her guards ta dismiss 'em, leavin' just the princesses, tha white unicorn who ah assumed was Shinin' Armor, an' mahself.

" Celestia, I am sure you noticed... " 

" I did not, in fact. My faithful right hand noticed the guards' weird behaviour. He is scouring for information as we speak. " 

"Your.. right hoof, you mean?" Cadance questioned, an' jus' now noticed me standin' still. " And who, or what, is that?" She pointed her hoof to me.

" Right hand, and that is a humanoid by the name of Spirit Equity."

" Seems like I missed quite a bit when I settled everything over here. Anyway, why have you come? I doubt you knew about the guards yet. Even Shining doesn't understand what is wrong with them. " 

"I do know what's wrong, Cadance. " Primal appeared in tha room, lookin' slightly exhausted but otherwise fine. " They are not your guards. " 

" You mean... They are... Changelings...?!" Cadance an' Celestia asked in unison. 

" If that was what you called them, yes, they are. Keep it quiet though, I doubt they know just yet. Except for maybe the one 'guard' I tormented. "

" They know you know now, but they do not know that all of us here know now. The changelings work like a hive mind, sharing thoughts between them. "  Cadance explained. 

Ah stomped mah foot on tha ground. " Wha do we do? We cannae jus' sit 'ere 'n watch as they continue whateva' they be doin' 'ere!" 

" We just play along for now. I'll stay out of sight when I'm with all of you, keep an eye on things again. Continue what we came here for in the first place. " He dissappeared again. 

" Which is? " Shining armor asked now, curious. 

" Ah yes. Vanhoover was obliterated. We fear an old enemy, from worse than Tartarus. Even now we still do not know why it appeared back then-"

" It was summoned. And worst of all, I know by whom... The Changelings. " Cadance shivered as she remembered the past from the stories told to her. 

" Ye got ta be kiddin' me!" 

" No, I am not. Which is why I am actually glad you have these humanoids around."

" The humans have been quite resourceful. There are two more humans in Equestria, A woman now named Aqua Vitae, and a pyromancer of sorts who Primal claims is an old friend of his, gone rogue." Celestia sat down in a nearby chair before continuing. "You have met Primal briefly back there. He is my right hand for all manners underhoofed. And this is Spirit Equity, captain of the Justice Guard and personal bodyguard for the three of us right now. " 

Ah bowed as deftly as mah armor allowed me. " Pleasure ta be o' service."

" You look like nothing could get past you. I am glad you protect Celestia. Also, three of us? Where is Luna? And who is the third?"

" Luna is in the city, together with Nightmare Moon, now called Night-"

"Wait, Nightmare Moon? THE Nightmare Moon? Why is she with Luna?" Cadance said. 

" Night is on a path of redemption. She has realised her mistakes, and wishes to make up for them. They are going through the city to gather information. " 

" What for?" Cadance asked. 

" About any possible clue as to whom or what destroyed Vanhoover. " Celestia answered. 

Ah heard some mov'ment outside tha door, an' opened it slightly to check. The 'guards' were pacing around impatiently. 

Ah closed tha door quickly an' walked back ta Celestia 'n Cadance, an' told them about tha guards' behaviour. They nodded, an' continued their conversation.

" Only myself, Shining and a handful of ponies who have access to the royal library know about that ancient monstrosity. I have my doubts they will find anything. " Cadance sighed.

" Anything is valuable. We need to know more about what we're dealing with. Could we have access to the royal library? " 

" Ofcourse, Celestia. We can head over there right away. " Cadance motioned to tha door. 

"Well le's get movin' den! No time's to waste!" Ah said, 'n marched outta tha door.

WWWWW 

Change of Character - Spirit Equity  ->Primal Dagger

After returning from Cadance's room, I headed out to search Night and Luna and aid them in their quest for information.
I asked them what they found out so far when I encountered them, and they told me that most of the Crystal ponies know next to nothing about the destruction of Vanhoover.
A few knew about some kind of monstrosity capable of such destruction from friends with access to the library, but they knew too little to be of much use. 

My thoughts wandered off for a while. Not untill I saw a flash of purple in the corner of my eyes. A familiar flash of purple, too.

 Was that who I think it was..? 

I didn't even notice we got to the room where Celestia should've been until Luna called my name.

"Huh, What? Oh, we're here already." 

" If you are looking for the Princesses, they headed to the royal library. " The guard by the door said. 

" So you're guarding an empty room now, then. Useful. "I scoffed. 

The guard gave me a menacing look, but kept his mouth shut.

" I guess we continue to the library, then." I walked off, not particularly waiting for Night and Luna. 

" Thou seemst not thineself." Night remarked, after having catched up to me. "If there is anything thou needst off thine mind-"

"It’s nothing. Just daydreaming. " 

" Well , if thou sayeth so... If thou wishes to share thine mind, know that we are here. " 

" I know, thank you. For now, let's focus on the matter at hand. " 

We continued to the library, in silence again. My thoughts wandered off once more, thinking of what I saw.
 It can't have been... She's not even here... 

I nearly bumped into Celestia's hindquarters if not for Luna calling my name again. 

" Ah, Primal, Luna and Night. Did you discover anything? " Celestia asked kindly. 

I wanted to reply, but Luna cut me off. " We didst not find anything, sister. The local populace knew nothing of it. " 

" Ah, that is too bad. We were just about to go through this book. Cadance ensured me that this book should have some information on the ancient evil, presumably summoned by the changelings. " 

" Twilight would've read the entire library by now. " I said nonchalantly. 

“Aye, but Twiligh’ ain’t here rite now. So it be up ta us ta search fer sum answers.”

'Right. Let's go digging for them then." I motioned to the book.

While Celestia and Cadance were going through the book together, I walked over to where Shining Armour was sitting. I motioned for Spirit to come and join me aswell.

"Do you know anything about why the guards have been replaced, Shining? They can't all just have disappeared!" I said, somewhat quietly.

"I have not seen or heard anything about guards going missing. I'm worried for all my guards. The changelings are quite effective at taking over positions.. we found that out during our wedding."

"We'll find tha guards 'n make dem changelin's pay fer wha' they done! Ye can count on dat!"

"First, however, we need to find a way to deal with these changelings. Preferably without them knowing." I pondered.

" That will be very difficult, Primal Dagger. " Cadance walked over to us. " You see, the changelings work like a hive mind. Hurt or kill one, and all the others will know. "

"Does putting them to sleep work?" I asked tentatively. 

" I am unsure. We ponies do not really have any subtle ways of putting others to sleep. Other than magic, but there are no known unicorns alive who know of those spells. " 

" In In that case.. Stand guard here,and let me try it out." 

I slipped into stealth and made my way over to the guard that was in front of Cadance's room. He looked pretty bored, and was not paying much attention to anything. 

I carefully opened the door behind him, causing him to jolt up from the noise of the creaking door. He went into the room to check it out, and I followed him into the room. 

Let's see what the daggers have to say to you.. 

I drew upon the magic of the daggers to imbue them with incapacitating powers, and then carefully poking the guard in the neck with them.

The guard fell flat on his face, out cold. I waited for a response from any of the other guards, but none came.

Great!

I quickly hid the unconscious guard's body, closed the door of the room and made my way back to the others to tell them what happened.