> For Everfree
>  by NPP6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Cell of Midnight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	They weren't sure quite what, but something about this bat pony made the guards uneasy. Maybe it was the fact that he hadn't spoken since they had arrested him. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn't struggling. Maybe it was the fact that his quiet smirk hadn't changed in the slightest. Maybe it was the fact that he had done exactly enough damage to get him arrested and then surrendered, almost turning on a bit. Maybe it was the fact that they didn't know his name.
One of the guards, a grizzled old soldier, was fairly sure that it was the fact that he seemed to want to be here.
Regardless, this unidentifiable pony had done enough damage to warrant assignment to the maximum security cell. This made the first time in anypony's memory that two stallions had been in that cell at the same time.



The brown earth pony stallion looked up as the door opened. A small group of guards walked in, one in the front, four surrounding another pony, and then two bringing up the rear. The fact that the pony the four guards were surrounding was a bat pony and not wearing armor told him everything he needed to know. He might not recognize him, but he knew who he was.
The guards chained the bat pony to the wall, forehooves over his head, hindlegs below him, wings extended and shackled at their bases.
After the guards left, the bat pony gave the earth pony a searching gaze, as if trying to figure out how he wound up here. At length, the bat pony gave what appeared to be the best shrug he could manage in his position, closed his eyes, and seemed to be trying to take a nap.
The earth pony let a few minutes pass before deciding that the silence needed to be broken, and preferably by a conversation that would actually be useful. He weighed his options and then decided to go for dramatic. The bat pony's eyes snapped open as two words fell from the earth pony's lips.
"Hello Midnight."



"Okay, congratulations, you've gotten to the point where I'm willing to trust you. If you can tell me how you know all this."
"You won't believe me."
"As you've already pointed out, I'm a human who turned into a pony when he went through a magic mirror and replaced another version of himself, and then recently ascended to alicornhood. Try. Me."
The earth pony he was talking to thought about it for a split second, then pointed at his flank, specifically his hourglass cutie mark. "Time is my special talent. I'm a time traveler."
The reaction wasn't quite the one he was expecting. There was laughter, but it wasn't derogatory. In fact, the other pony was pleased. "Well I'll be," Inkwell said, "The old geezer finally figures it out."
"What?"
"Starswirl! He finally manages to figure out those time spells, and that's how you're here!"
The pony shook his head ruefully. "Not quite I'm afraid. He might have figured it out, but I didn't use his spells to get here."
Now Inkwell was confused, "Okay, so how then?"
The earth pony sighed, "I suppose there's only one way to go about this. Let's start at the beginning, my name is The Doctor, although for the last few years ponies have been calling me Doctor Whooves..."



"...So I finally get to meet the wizard of the travelling blue box then? Well sir, it's an honor."
"The honor is mine. I do apologize though..."
"For what?"
"Well, your rescue attempt tonight was supposed to be successful. It would appear that my rescue attempt earlier put the guards on alert and so you were captured... I fear I may have destroyed the course of history..."
Inkwell started chuckling, "So I even managed to convince you? Well, looks like I did my job then, if the powerful one's are convinced. I was a little worried that I didn't do a good eough job to convince the guards."
"What?"
"Don't worry, you haven't hurt my plans in the slightest. Tell me Doctor, exterior walls three feet thick twenty high, castle walls five feet thick exterior, two interior, dungeon through six floors of said castle, complement of over two hundred thousand guards, not to mention the draconequis himself, and then I have to get them all back out. What was the fastest way to make my job easier?"
"Bypass. Eliminate obstacles."
Inkwell smiled. "Exactly. And since I already knew exactly what they'd look for if they arrested me..."
"...You knew exactly how to smuggle in whatever you would need to escape."
"So you see Doctor," The spell circle etched so finely on the crystal contact lense in Inkwell's right eye as to have been invisible to all but him until this point started to glow. "It's all part of the plan." Thin beams of light shot out from his eye and shattered the manacles on the Doctor's hooves. Inkwell then craned his neck to either side, forward and down, and then finally back and up as he blasted off his own chains.
The pony landed gracefully on the floor, and then subtly shifted his weight as he transformed from Inkwell to Midnight Star. The Alicorn smiled at the Time Charger, "Ready?"
The Doctor nodded, "Let's go save Ditzy and the others."
Midnight used his magic to silently pick the lock on the cell door, and then the pair slipped out into the rest of the castle.
> From the Inside Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Featherdancer felt Moonchaser shift uncomfortably next to him. Glancing over at her, he couldn't really blame her. After they had been arrested, when they realized she had lost her disguise charm, they had taken what seemed like the only option and hastily redone her cloak so that it was a little tighter and hid her wings. So now the mare who had grown up a pegasus was pretending to be a unicorn. Also, her wings weren't able to stretch for the first time since her last arrest, only the second time in her entire life.
The colt suppressed a shudder at the thought. Having his wings free meant everything to him, even his special talent was influenced by it. He couldn't imagine what it must be like to go a full night without being able to move his wings, let alone doing it twice.
Hearing shifting on his other side, Featherdancer turned his head to look at the mare that had attached herself to them. A gray pegasus with a yellow mane, he couldn't quite figure her out. Still, she seemed like she needed their help, so... they had let her group up with them. He and Moonchaser had discussed it, and whenever they managed to escape or get rescued, they were going to be taking her with them. They could at least do that much for her.
Suddenly, he twitched. His ear flicked back and then slowly swiveled. He smiled as he heard the sound again. The distinct splintering caused by a certain breed of mobilized wooden pony statues when they broke could only mean one thing. He gently nudged Moonchaser, "Get ready," he whispered, "He's coming."
The mare nodded slowly before motioning with her horn towards the pegasus who was tagging along. "When do we wake her?"
At the whisper, the mare lifted her head up, "I'm awake. Are they coming for us?"
"In a way," Moonchaser replied, "The rescue party seems to be at the door, get ready to run."



The alicorn and the time charger in his magical grip touched down lightly behind the three ponies staring intently at the doors that led from the massive prison room into the rest of the castle. Midnight couldn't resist, he leaned forward and whispered in Moonchaser's ear, "What are we looking at?"
The mare threw a shush over her shoulder before returning her intent gaze to the door. "We're waiting for Midnight to open the door and-" the mare abruptly cut off with an "eep."
Featherdancer rolled his eyes as he turned around. "What took you so long?"
His brother pointed at the pony he had brought with him. "My friend here needed to stop by the armory and pick up his weapon."
Featherdancer cocked an eyebrow at the pony who was having a whispered conversation with the strange mare who had attached herself to them. "Who is he anyway?"
Midnight rocked his head back and forth for a moment as he weighed his response. "Tell me, I'm not sure if it was different here, but did Mom tell you bedtime stories about the wizard of the travelling blue box?"
Featherdancer blinked and turned to look at the two strangers, not even realizing his jaw had dropped. "No way," he breathed, "Not possible. He's not real, he's just a story."
"Methinks," Moonchaser finally joined the conversation, "That perhaps we had best get used to things that aren't real being real, and things that are impossible happening."
The young colt nodded numbly before shaking his head to clear it. "Alright," He finally said, "What's the plan?" Midnight pointed. "What?"
Midnight pointed more emphatically. "That. That's the plan."
His brother and friend turned to look at the enormous double doors that led from the room they were in to the execution courtyard.
"How are we going to do it?"
Featherdancer turned to look at Moonchaser, "You do realize that he's completely lost it, right? We've got ponies who are too old, too young, too sick, or too injured to escape the city before they catch up to us."
"Doesn't matter," Midnight cut him off before he could get worked into a rant, "We can't leave anypony here. They'll kill them as soon as they realize that we're gone. We have to take them all with us, whether we think we can or not." At Featherdancer's stunned expression, he smirked, "Well? Did you want the hero back or not?"
The Doctor cleared his throat and inserted himself into the conversation at that point, "Believe it or not, we do have a bit of a plan."



Midnight took a deep breath as he finished placing the spells that would prevent sound from leaving the large room. Then he opened his eyes and let it out as he spoke in a magically amplified voice, "Hello everypony. I imagine that you're all wondering what's going on. Allow me to explain.
"We broke in here tonight to break out some specific individuals. However, circumstances have changed and so we'll be taking anypony who wants to leave with us. We advise that you hold off on making a decision until we've finished telling you everything." The ponies in the prison began turning their attention to him. "Unfortunately you don't really have many options. If you come with us, we can only keep you safe for a short time. You also likely won't be able to go home, and if you do, it will be to take your families and go on the run with them. You will be fugitives of highest priority, and will be running from the draconequi until either they catch you or somepony stops them permanently.
"If you stay, then what awaits you is almost certain death after very certain torture for letting us get away without trying to stop us. I'm sorry to have put you into this position. Believe me, I know exactly how it feels to be where you are right now."
"Oh really?" Somepony in the back shouted, "And how would you know that? You've basically just told us that we're dead either way and that our lives are over, how could you know how that feels?"
Midnight felt Featherdancer flinch next to him at the verbal assault. He deliberately kept his composure. "Because I've been there. Where you are now. I was there two and a half weeks ago. Most of you probably remember when they executed me. My name is Midnight Star." There was a ripple that went across the crowd.
Another pony spoke up, a little more kindly this time, "So you managed to get away. How is probably complicated, but why come back?"
"To protect ponies. I came back for these two," He pointed at Featherdancer and Moonchaser, "And they came for you."
The first pony spoke up again, "So why pull this? You can obviously make it look like ponies die when they don't, why not let Discord think he's killed us?"
"Because Discord isn't the only problem. Mayhem would be down here in a heartbeat, and he wouldn't bother with ceremonial executions anymore, he'd just kill you outright, might even do it himself. Also because there's somepony we couldn't let the Draconequi know they had."
The second pony looked up at him with eyes shining. He didn't know what that meant, but he knew it was good for ponies. "Who?"
"Luna," as it was rolling off his tongue, Midnight felt something following the name, "Princess of the Night."
Another ripple rolled across the crowd. Moonchaser shot Midnight a hidden glare before putting her court face on and stepping forward, magically whipping her cloak off in a showy spiral as she spread her wings for all to see. "Ponies," She addressed the crowd, "The alicorns are returning. And we're here for war. It's time to take back Equestria. It's time to take back the world."
There was a moment of stunned silence. Featherdancer let it drag on as long as he could, then couldn't resist any more. "Anypony who wants to help us fight after this is all over, feel free. Literally. This revolution is only beginning, and you can already see how scared we've got the draconequi. I would suggest that you make that decision too, because that's largely what this is about."
The Doctor cleared his throat, "Right, I think that's enough dramatic revelations for now, let that all sink in. Mull it all over, and then make your decision. We don't want to leave until you've all decided, but at the first sound of aproaching guards, we'll need to run. As soon as those great overdone doors over there open up, it's the point of no return. Either you come with us, or you stay behind. Anypony who has questions or concerns, talk to one of the five of us. Alright ponies, let's get ready for a jailbreak."



"Look, for the last time, I don't know why I stuck that ridiculous title on the end. Frankly though I think it's better than the last one you got saddled with."
"I am simply saying, you should have checked with me before announcing something like that."
"I get it, I'm sorry, alright?"
"No... Although your apology is accepted."
Midnight and Moonchaser were interrupted by the pegasus mare who had finally been introduced to them as Ditzy Doo. "Hey, everypony's ready. We're just waiting on your signal."
The pair nodded. "Well," Moonchaser whispered, "Fair is fair, right?" Before Midnight could ask her any questions, she raised her voice, "General Midnight Star," everypony heard her say, "Get those doors open."
He ruefully shook his head and stepped forward, horn lighting up with magic. "Yes ma'am. Just one thing first." The half dozen ponies who had opted to stay fell to the floor to the gasps of the rest of the crowd. "Don't worry, they're only unconscious. Anypony who wants is welcome to join them. It's a massive gamble, but it might just make it seem like they at least tried to stop us." After getting a negatory response from everypony, he turned to the door.
Midnight's horn glowed again, and this time, so did the doors. Slowly, they began to creak and inch open. "Alright, as soon as those doors open, it's going to get chaotic and fast. Everypony be ready." Another tiny bit open... and then it was like a barrier had been passed and they swung open wide, letting the light of the moon in, and the prisoners of chaos out.
> Rebel Young
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Alarms blared as the race began. Magical detection fields, motion sensing spells, and to cap it all off, doors opening that weren't supposed to. In short, several dozen overlapping calls tore through the night air as the group of escaped prisoners sprinted towards their goal.
The external gate.
Right now the only thing left between them and their freedom was the massive gate in the outer wall of Discord's castle. There was only one problem: No matter how many times Midnight ran the calculations, they didn't have enough time to get the gates open before the guards caught up to them.
Fortunately the issue solved itself. While they were still about a hundred hoofs away from and to one side of the gate, it ripped off it's hinges explosively. Sunbeam stepped through, smoke gently swirling around her alicorn form, obscuring her just enough to make her reveal dramatic. "Midnight! Next time you go off on a hare-brained scheme to rescue my sister in the middle of the night, invite me along!"
"Not really a good time, can we discuss this later?"
"At least tell me why you didn't even ask me to come!"
"You were busy! Besides, nopony was getting past your butler! I did leave you a message!"
"Message! That wasn't even clear enough to qualify as a riddle!"
Luna's voice finally rang out in exasperation, "Can we please focus on the task at hand ponies!? Namely running for our lives!?"
Featherdancer shot her a smirk, "Naturally you've already noticed that the pace hasn't slowed in the slightest!" He was being deliberately loud on this one, "I think you're just pissed that Midnight's flirting with your sister instead of you!"
Midnight just groaned while the two mares' objections were summarily ignored.



They had been running for the better part of an hour now. To be more precise, they had been on the run for the better part of an hour now. After the first twenty minutes or so, they had found a hiding place, and Sunbeam currently had them crammed into the corner of a warehouse.
The opportunity was taken to perform a headcount, revealing that by some stroke of fortune, all thirty-nine ponies who had decided to flee with them had made it here.
The warehouse's small side door opened and Sunbeam stepped through, followed by another alicorn mare. Dust Runner was grinning from ear to ear as she took in the scene before her. "So Midnight, you decided to be a hero after all. Don't give me that look, we all knew you were struggling. Frankly it bordered on an identity crisis. Luna and Featherdancer were just the only ones crazy enough to say anything."
Midnight sighed. He must have been further gone than he'd realized. Although he suspected that she had largely been looking for a way to subtly let him know that Sunbeam had told her everything that was going on, including the act that they had somehow gotten themselves caught up in. "Shade, I presume that you and Celestia are likely the only reinforcements we can count on tonight?"
The mare nodded. "We can't contact Lace or Afterburner. Not necessarily a bad thing, considering."
"If we can't contact them, it means the draconequi can't find them, right?" Featherdancer joined the conversation.
Moonchaser replied, "Exactly. However the unfortunate part is that that also means we have no way out of the city."
"And we need to get someplace permanent before dawn," Midnight added, "At first light, they'll have patrols out looking for us and our portraits up everywhere. We've probably got a pretty bounty on our heads right now too."
"Even if it's just for one day, it should still work though, right? We can hole up for a day, maybe two, then sneak everyone out?" Featherdancer offered.
"Good point." Dust Runner nodded.
"So it doesn't need to be perfect, just really good. Useable." Moonchaser summarized.
There was a minute or so of silence before Midnight broke it, "I don't suppose anypony has any suggestions?" There was a chorus in the negative.
Sunbeam spoke up, "I... I might know a pony. Don't get your hopes up or anything, I don't know if he'll help us, but he's not exactly a friend of the Draconequi, so he might. I give it a one-in-three chance of him helping us."
"Better than where we're at now," Midnight pointed out, "I recommend we go for it."
Featherdancer's nod and Moonchaser's "I concur" soon followed.
Finally Dust Runner smiled at Sunbeam, "Well then Princess Celestia, lead the way."



"These tunnels predate the poneekin transport network," Sunbeam was telling the group as they walked through tunnels dimly lit by horn glows. A faint echo accompanied her voice, "They're actually from before the rise of the draconequi. Nopony has an accurate map anymore they're so old. Originally they were used for transporting goods around the commercial and industrial districts, keep from clogging up the surface roads. Some of them are still used for that, but we left the 'known' sectors a while back. We are offically off the edge of the map right now."
"So why don't we just pick a spot down here and camp out?" Somepony in the crowd asked.
"Not a good idea," Sunbeam replied with a shake of her head. "There aren't many things down here that could hurt a pony, but there are a few, and I count seven foals in this group. I'd hate for something to stumble across us at a bad time. Also, there'd eventually be trouble with a patrol, because this is his territory."
"His?" several voices this time, some more familiar to Sunbeam than others.
"Hold on a moment, you'll see for youreselves soon enough." They turned a corner and saw torchlight coming out of a tunnel branch ahead. That was enough to quiet their questions for a time. After another ten minutes or so however, somepony started to voice an inquiry, only to be shushed by the mare. "We're here."
They turned one last corner and found themselves in front of a large set of double doors. A scrawny looking colt was laying down in front of them, his makeshift armor making it apparent that he was supposed to be on the job instead of taking a nap.
The colt jumped like he'd been struck when Sunbeam nudged him with her hoof. He landed in a salute, to many giggles from his audience. Sunbeam simply sighed and hoofed him something. "We're here to seek an audience with your master. He's not expecting us, so we recognize it might take as long as five minutes for your comrades to prepare to receive us. If you perform promptly, I'll refrain from letting slip that you were sleeping on guard duty."
The colt nodded and examined the silver object she had hoofed him. His eyes went wide and sleep visibly fled from his system, prompting him to turn on his hoof and haltingly march over to a tiny alcove in the wall next to the doors. He placed the object in the alcove, leaned forward and whispered something to it. A hoof came through what Midnight noted was a very clever disguise field and curtain combination and retrieved the object.
After a brief moment of waiting, the doors began grating open. Four more ponies in insufficient armor - all looking to be in their early teens, about Featherdancer's age - stepped out and flanked the entryway. One of them forced out, "You are permitted to enter," in what was likely an attempt at formality. Unfortunately his one-size-too-big helmet made it seem childish, and several more giggles had to be stifled.
That's one thing to be grateful for at least, Midnight grinned ruefully as he realized it, there's a lot of tension being relieved by these over-the-top ponies.
The group of ponies stepped through the portal into what had once apparently been a warehouse. Now a large chair had been set up on a pedestal of sorts to resemble a throne. The balcony running around the room that Midnight guessed had once been used to make it easier to move goods with a block and tackle had also been put to good use, there were four or five archers on every wall. Inadequate for this group, but he imagined that it must have been quite menacing to those who regularly visited this court.
Voices could be heard floating through a curtained archway behind the throne. Or rather, Moonchaser corrected her own silent observation, a voice. One specific pony's raised voice. "So help me, if this is another dispute on profit distribution I-" a brief pause "Well why didn't you say so? Who is it?" pause "What?! Her?! She is here!? You idiot, that's the first thing you should have told me! How long have you kept her waiting?!"
The curtains flew apart as a young stallion came through, cinching up the strap on his velvet red cape as he did so. His eyes quickly scanned the group and Sunbeam headed off any confusion by stepping forward. "Everypony, I present you to Rebel Young, the Thief King." She turned to face the colt in question. "Hello Rebel."
Rebel stopped short and gasped. "The Mare in the Mist. I don't believe it. What happened to you?"
Sunbeam sighed, "It's a long story, although I'm going by Celestia these days."
The caped pony blinked in surprise, then he took on a pensive look as twos started adding up with twos. "I see. You know that you've exposed yourself greatly, don't you?"
Midnight, Moonchaser, and Featherdancer all stiffened as it occurred to them that Sunbeam had just blown her cover. Perhaps more shocking was the mare's response, delivered with another sigh, "It couldn't be helped."
Rebel nodded slowly, "I feel we have much to discuss, though perhaps not before all of these gentleponies. And I'm sure you've come to ask for a favor that we will need to discuss as well."
The mare returned the nod. "Even so." She turned to the crowd. "Princess Luna, Midnight Star, Shade Darkwing, please come with us. Your aid may help with explanations. Featherdancer, please take charge of our little band." Decoded, Featherdancer, you're the only one I trust to come up with a believable cover story that won't dig us in even deeper if needed, everypony else, I need help negotiating.
Act or no, her words and presence conveyed the weight of a princess in control, and they moved quickly to obey.



Four alicorns and a pegasus stood around a hearth. "So," the slate grey pegasus with the sky blue mane, Rebel Young, broke the silence, "Sunbeam the street thief becomes a princess. That's an interesting twist of fate. Or perhaps an overly large con. Either way, I'm curious, how did it come about?"
The alicorns all groaned or sighed. Sunbeam continued speaking for them, "It was largely an accident really. That execution spell went wrong and turned us into alicorns, then dumped us out in the middle of the forest."
"After that I'm afraid it was my fault," Moonchaser offered, "I made a stupid mistake, and a full-scale prisonbreak was needed to save me."
"If you're going to shift that far, I'd say that this one's squarely on my shoulders. Although I suppose you could say that it began when we gave Discord's interrogators those pseudonyms and ridiculously fake titles. I needed to give the ponies something to believe in, so I identified Luna as 'The Princess of the Night.'"
Dust Runner piped up next, "It snowballed after that, when they figured out that Celestia and Luna were sisters, they decided that Celestia must be the 'Princess of the Day.' Doesn't help that she comes across as older and that kind of fits preconcieved cultural notions relating night to youth and day to adulthood."
"And eventually it just kept getting easier to just keep going along with it." Rebel Young finished for them. "I can see how it all happened, it's completely insane, but I can see it. I will warn you though, and especially you Sunbeam, this kind of con can get out of hoof very fast. Better find a way to wrap it up before it comes back to bite you."
Dust Runner perked curiously, "Excuse me, but exactly what about this makes it particularly dangerous as a con? Aside from the obvious life-and-death stuff we already knew about?"
"Because this is the kind of con... Where the worst case scenario is that you pull it off. Imagine if nopony ever figured it out and you won the war. Imagine getting saddled with the leadership of a country just because everypony thinks you're the 'destined princesses.' I know you especially would hate that Sunbeam, you despise power and authority. Openly." As Rebel was talking he noticed the uncomfortable look on Midnight Star's face and his conspicuous silence, but after half a heartbeat the other stallion met his eyes and gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head, so he let it pass. After years of being the Thief King, Rebel Young knew how to tell when somepony had a secret that he most definitely did not want to know.
Sunbeam meanwhile casually shrugged, "Well, the way I figure it, there's probably just over seventy or so draconequi that we'll have to take down personally, face-to-face. Now I'm not planning on dying myself, but it'll be a long war, and Celestia just might not survive if things come right down to it."
Rebel Young barked out a laugh, "And Sunbeam, just how many times do you think you can die and still have ponies believe it? How maany times can you fake your own death before they figure you out?"



Midnight was speaking from in front of the Thief King's throne. Somehow he had managed to become Luna's top general and Right Hoof Pony, and therefore spokesstallion. "...these conditions of hiding, being underground - sometimes literally - meant that while we do have some sontacts and support from all walks of life - yes, including the royal courts - the greater majority of those loyal to the princesses are those who were already on the other side of the law. High Treason Against the Draconequus Empire is a crime, and one apparently most easily committed by those who have already committed other crimes."
Rebel Young saw that the hypnotic effect of the other stallion's droning had reached just the right point, half-asleep ponies would question things far less. He had to hand it to this Midnight character, he could explain things to a ridiculous point. It was honestly slightly amusing, but it was time to step in. "Which is actually quite beneficial today, as we're going to have to break several laws to get you out of the city. Anypony who wants to stay here with my band is welcome to, you'll find yourself quite safe here. But you will be expected to pull your weight, those with moral scruples will be respected, but if you don't have skills that can help around the camp, some level of thieving will be required to earn your keep. Also bear in mind, the fewer of you we have to smuggle through the walls, the safer it will be to do so and the less likely that the refugees will get caught."
"I would suggest that you think on this," Sunbeam's voice carried around the room. "Rebel Young has graciously extended his hospitality to us for the coming day, but at nightfall you will need to have your answer ready."
Featherdancer stepped up to the foot of the dais and turned to face the room. "That sounds like my cue, since the mundane job of reading out sleeping assignments got left to me. Alright, first up we have..."
> Treason
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	In the end, fourteen of the thirty-nine ponies that they had rescued decided to accept Rebel Young's hospitality. Midnight (as Inkwell), Featherdancer, Sunbeam, Moonchaser, and Dust Runner spent the day sneaking around the city. Somewhere along the lines they had managed to pick up Cloudwing, Contrail, and Lotus Blossom as well. Nopony was quite sure how that last one's alter ego of Lace Heart had wound up as "Celestia's" general.
The purpose of their sneaking had been message delivery. Sometimes escorting the families of the refugees. All told, they would be smuggling forty-two ponies out of Everfree and into the forest.
The eight ponies were on the balcony of the Thief King's court, speaking quietly with the aforementioned. It wasn't going to be easy. They could also only take about a week's worth of supplies. Once those were out nopony knew what they were going to do. Honestly, about the only thing that they did have going for them was hope.
The fact that there were alicorns in Equestria again seemed to give these ponies hope that things could just possibly work out. That was the real reason that they hadn't told them yet about who they really were, they just couldn't bear to take that away. Even Contrail had tried, only to find his will broken by a dew-eyed filly who seemed to be about five. That had ended with him doing an hour of foalsitting retelling their previous misadventure, although Moonchaser had heard some of it and noticed that Midnight seemed to have been strangely edited out.
It seemed like things were going to work though. It was looking like they'd be able to make their getaway.
Then the great double doors flew open and the colt who had been sleeping in front of them the night before came running through. "Sound the alarm! Guards!"
Fortunately all nine ponies conversing atop the balcony had wings. They threw themselves over the railing and dove down, their landing in the center of the floor quelling the panic before it could start. (Moonchaser's training at projecting her presence in court finally paid off)
Rebel locked eyes with the colt. "Foil! Calm down and report. What's going on?"
The unicorn colt - Foil apparently - gulped. "M'Lord. There's at least three full companies of city guard poneekins on their way here through the tunnels as we speak. Scouts report at least twelve officers as well."
The Thief King swore. "How'd they find us?"
His guard's eyesdropped to the floor. "That's the worst of it sir... Rat was right at the front, leading them."
Rebel Young rocked back so far his haunches met the cold stone floor. He let out a sigh and closed his eyes. Then he turned to Sunbeam. "I'm sorry. You came here seeking safety and it seems that one of my own has betrayed you to your enemies."
The mare shook her head. "Betrayed us both old friend. You bear no blame for this."
"So what now?" Cloudwing asked.
Dust Runner spoke up. "First priority is keeping ponies safe. We need to evacuate."
Sunbeam turned back to Rebel. "Think you can handle that?" He nodded.
"Alright then," Midnight spoke up, "Second and third priorities are keeping the Draconequi from finding proof that the alicorns are back and keeping our 'princesses' safe. Agreed?" He took the other five joining him in shifting back to their birth forms as a sign of agreement.
"What next?" Everypony turned to look at Foil. None of them had realized that he was still in the conversation.
Two not exactly identical, but similar, thoughts ran through nine heads at the same time. One, if we're going to keep the illusion up, then the answer needs to come from a military leader, and two, Lotus Blossom isn't exactly our best strategist. All eyes turned to Midnight.
"I suppose it is night, so that's technically my job. Shade, Afterburner, you're on bodyguard detail. Stick with the princesses. Lace, we'll keep you with them for now as well, hold you in reserve until we need reinforcements on one end or the other. That'll also help keep us from getting cut in two by an ambush. Cloudwing, hang around there too, but fluctuate more freely, you're on medic detail. Featherdancer, I need you on vanguard duty, with your ricochet tricks and your ability to use your feathers as weapons, we need you on the front lines where you've got plenty of space to fight. I'll stay and play rearguard, I've got some surprises I can leave behind for our friends, plus I'm at an advantage if I take out light sources to cover our retreat.
"Thief King Rebel Young... I request your aid your majesty. Our forces are evenly spread now, but thinly. Your aid would be greatly appreciated, and you may feel free to deploy as you will."
The pegasus in question paused before nodding. "Foil, I want you on vanguard with the pegasus. How many thieves do we have here right now?"
"Nineteen sir, including seven too young to fight."
"Alright, names?"
After the twelve thieves were assigned (three supporting the vanguard, three supporting the medic, five guarding the group as a whole, and one additional bodyguard for Sunbeam and Moonchaser), Foil rose to go relay the orders. He stopped after only three steps. "M'Lord? Is there a reason you haven't assigned anypony to the rearguard?"
"Actually Foil, I have. I'll be taking care of that myself."



"So, explain the concept here to me."
"Ambient magic. It uses magic that's already in the environment to charge spells."
A low whistle sounded. "Where exactly did you learn how to do this? More importantly, would whoever taught you be willing to sell me some of this stuff?"
"That's... not exactly possible."
"Why not?"
"Because I didn't learn it... I created it."
"...Please, elaborate."
"Well, as I'm sure you can tell by my wings I'm a bat pony by birth, which means I can't manifest magic into spells. As I'm sure you can also tell by my cutie mark, my special talent is magic, specifically spellwork. I found myself facing one of two lives of misery, either never being able to do anything with my talents, or being forever doomed to study an art that I would never be able to do myself."
"So instead of choosing, you built a workaround."
"Yes."
"How?"
"I apprenticed myself to a mage. Initially my hope was that I would be able to discover something, some ritual or something of the sort, that would let me manifest my magic in the way that unicorns do."
"That's an interesting phrasing."
"And that turned out to be the key for inspiration. A few archaic tomes mentioned it that way - a year into my apprenticeship I had already read a good third of my master's library - I would occasionally hear older ponies mention it that way, or somepony would say it that way when they weren't really thinking about unicorns, but the magic itself. I dug deeper and found my first landmark."
"Which was?"
"We are raised, taught, to believe that unicorns are the only ponies who use magic. All the teachers and schools are wrong."
"Come again?"
"They're wrong. All ponies use magic, it just manifests itself differently. For example, you. Your magic focuses itself in your wings. Did you know that when you fly you break several laws of physics?"
"I do?"
"Yes, it's just that nopony noticed because they never thought to look at something that was such a basic part of life."
"So why'd you?"
"Because I was desperate. I won't make any pretense, I was two years into my apprenticeship and going nowhere. I was grasping for anything I could use, and this one happened to work.
"Pegasi focus magic in their wings, which lets them fly, as well as interact with clouds the way they do. Unicorns naturally focus it through their horns, letting them cast spells. Earth ponies through their hooves, giving them a massive boost to their physical abilities. Bat ponies their eyes and ears, allowing sharper day vision, night vision, and echolocation."
"So how'd that help you?"
"It gave me a place to start. After two years, I'd finally moved off of square one."
"...Wait a second... How old were you when this started if it took you this long?"
"Well, after I got on the right track the process sped up, but... when I began my apprenticeship, I was six. That was eleven years ago. I've been able to use ambient magic competently since I was thirteen."
Another whistle. "So you're saying you invented a completely new form of magic at thirteen?"
"Yes. You see, whenever anything - pony or not - uses magic, it leaves just a little bit of residual magical energy behind. Think of it like a sunburn on the world. It can be in the air, the ground, items, buildings, ponies, anything. I rebuilt the way that ritual magic works, so that it doesn't need a power source. Instead, it powers itself by drawing in and feeding off of ambient magic. Perhaps the biggest advantage to this is that it makes it completely undetectable to any modern magical sensor spells. Although the stamps are quite useful."
"Stamps?"
"Yes, I discovered early on in my experiments with ambient magic that if you attach a spell to a pony - directly or through something that they're wearing - then it will automatically feed itself off of whatever unused magic leaves them."
"...You know Midnight, I could really use a pony like you by my side. We could probably take over Equestria's entire criminal underworld together."
"That's funny, Sunbeam keeps saying the same thing."
Laughter was the only sound for a while.



Twenty-five minutes after Foil had burst through the doors, Discord's forces arrived. Midnight (as Inkwell) and Rebel Young were standing at the far end of the room, next to the curtain behind the throne, both wearing cloaks that obscured them completely. A quick head count revealed seven living opponents had arrived so far.
Rebel Young broke the tense silence, "Rat Tail you traitor! I honestly wish you had picked a different way to prove that I was right to not let you lead any pickpocket bands!"
"Traitor yourself Thief King! Helping enemies of the Draconequi!? No, there's a limit to risk, and I'm getting out now!"
Midnight rolled his eyes as a familiar unicorn guard stepped forward. "Rebel Young, alias 'The Thief King,' you are under arrest for High Treason Against the Draconequus Empire! All others with you presently and part of your organization are considered guilty by association! All of you are hereby ordered to surrender yourselves as prisoners!"
"Tell me," Midnight shouted, "How exactly does one commit treason against the traitors? Don't think that this is some kind of new movement, this is the true powers reasserting themselves. Tell the Draconequi that their coup is over. Oh, and Ever Wyte? Before you try and do something stupid, do try and remember what happened the last time you tried to arrest a thief."
The unicorn's nostril's flared and a bolt of his crimson magic flashed towards Midnight. The bat pony's eyes glowed as he activated the crystal lense in his eye that he had conjured as an alicorn. It was showy, but he had felt confident in this particular reaction. Some ponies never disappoint. The magical blast bent through the air. The display froze everypony in the room as the energy blast orbitted Midnight's head and then rocketted back at its caster, catching him full in the face.
Ever Wyte fell, hooves flying to his face as blood dripped onto the stone beneath him. As if it were a signal, the poneekins began marching towards their enemies -
And immediately erupted in flames as they met the trap spells that had been laid out for them.
It had taken two whole bottles of ink and over a score of quills, but Midnight and Rebel had arranged lines of patterns on floor, walls, and cieling. There were only a few actual spells, mostly congregated in the center of the floor, but the patterns drew the effects into a greater range, turning the entire room into one massive trap spell of doom.
They were also exceptionally lucky that the wooden poneekins caught fire as easily as they did. Once they got past that, things would start getting less safe for the fugitives. Which was why they weren't planning on sticking around.
The last glimpse that the guards caught of them was the pair of stallions vanishing through a curtain as Rebel Young's voice carried across the carnage, "Don't think this is over Rat, your treachery will not be forgotten."



Fire.
That was the only thing Sunbeam could think of as she blasted another one. The soldiers' response to Midnight and Rebels trap had been to send as many poneekins as they could down as many tunnels as they could. Fortunately, the city's supply still hadn't quite recovered from its last major battle, so they weren't coming in floods.
What it added up to was that the escapees kept running into the drones one, two, or three at a time, randomly, up and down the length of the caravan formation they had moved into. Which was why they had spaced the fighters out as evenly as they could along the group.
The only exception was the very front. Featherdancer and Foil were still spearheading their movement, with Rebel acting as guide. She could tell something was bothering her old friend, but before she could ruminate on it, wooden hoofsteps behind her drew her attention.
A group of five poneekins - street guards fortunately - marched out of a hallway to attack. She blasted two of them as the nearest thief took one down with a small sword. The other two reared up as they got in range of their targets, releasing their standard weapons, a retractible blade that came from each forehoof. Before they could attack, Sunbeam blasted the one on the left, and the thief with the sword started dueling the last one. A few strokes later, the two halves of the poneekin fell to the floor.
Distantly, she could hear the sounds of combat as another group entered a fray further up the line, but she didn't focus on it. Something was bothering her about that last exchange, it seemed different somehow, almost as if...
Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening. It was basic street guard tactics. "We're being tracked! Be ready for anything!"
Up and down the line, fighters reacted as they realized that the trail of wooden carnage they were leaving would lead their enemies right to them. Even moving the remains wouldn't do anything to bury their trail, poneekins left a beacon when they were destroyed. One that other poneekins could home in on.
Suddenly Rebel came flying past, hugging the tunnel cieling so that he could narrowly bypass the ponies below. "Add half again to the spacing! The main force should still be held up at the courtroom, but probably not for much longer. Once they get through that they can follow this breadcrumb trail right to us. Fortify the rearguard!"
It wasn't much longer before the main force came up on them from behind. The seven or so fighters who were back there managed to turn things into a fighting retreat for a good fifteen minutes, but slowly they were halted in said retreat as the group became too densely packed. While a third oftheir own forces had been occupied, poneekins had come at them from both front and flanks. Eventually, progress had been halted.
The group continued to tighten in on itself. Their only real advantage was that the poneekins had to slow their assault periodically to clear away the remains of other drones. However, the inexorable waves kept coming, and one by one the rebellious defenders found themselves worn down and driven back, out of the protecting circle and into the protected crowd.
In the end, that crowd is what saved them.
It was ironic really, that the group who was supposed the be recieving protection actually wound up carrying the day. In their brief preparations, they had completely emptied the thieves' makeshift arsenal, and the few ponies who didn't have weapons made do with poneekin legs, magic, or whatever else they could get their hooves on. It was a losing battle, a delaying tactic, but it bought time so that the powerhouses could recover and rally.
And for an alicorn powered teleporter spell to activate. Midnight insisted on being the one to open and power the portal. Featherdancer and Moonchaser were the last ones through, extracting a promise that he would come through himself before closing it behind him. As soon as they vanished into the circle of light, he closed it, then blasted the spell circle into a single scorch mark.
One of the officers had finally arrived and began monologuing before the cloaked alicorn had fired off a magical shockwave that knocked him and every poneekin within twenty feet of Midnight to the ground. "Tell the Dracoonequi that there are no more messages by word." And then in a flash of deep blue light, he was gone.



"So," Contrail was complaining, "Will somepony finally explain to me why we didn't just do that portal thing in the first place?"
"Because," Rebel Young snapped back at him, "It wasn't possible. Like most major cities, Everfree is equipped with a city shield spell maintained day and night by a dozen unicorns at a time. Thirty-six total, eight hour shifts. That spell includes a disruption field that does one of three things to a teleportation spell. It will either stop it, redirect it to a prison, or corrupt it so that what comes out isn't what goes in. Only exceptions are for spells powered by Draconequus chaos magic. Therefore we had to leave the city before we could teleport."
"But we didn't leave the city, we were still in the tunnels."
Sunbeam picked up the slack as Rebel's patience snapped and he walked off in exasperation. "Actually, we did. We couldn't be quite sure, which was why we had to go as far as we could before we tried, but we managed to go under the city walls."
The two unicorns (Sunbeam hid her wings with a similar magical item to the hornband that Moonchaser used to hide her horn) continued their conversation as Midnight and Moonchaser walked up next to the Thief King. they sat in companionable silence for a few moments until Moonchaser broke it. "So, what are you going to do now?"
Rebel sighed, "I'm going to go back to te city and my thieving ways. That wasn't my only stronghold, just my best. Besides, even though we sent runners out to warn them, I've still got ponies in Everfree. And I've got a score to settle with Rat Tail."
"And the Draconequi?" Midnight asked.
"Honestly, I still think you lot are completely crazy to think you can win this war you're trying to start. However... I'm not saying I'm ready to join your 'cause,' but I would like to think of you as allies. Perhaps we can keep in touch, you can help me... direct my operations towards more... deserving targets."
"In other words, you won't help us directly, but you're willing to commandeer supplies for us from the Draconequi and their allies. No doubt for a price." Moonchaser summarized.
"I was thinking a commission actually. We skim just a little off the top of what we take - not part of anything you've specifically requested, only from extras - and deliver the rest to you or somepony of your choice."
Moonchaser snorted, but Midnight spoke before she could. "I like it. It makes us harder to find and harder to fight if we're acting as united but separate groups. Plus, it lets each of us play to their strengths. Moonchaser, if it helps your conscience, remember that we're at war, and raiding enemy supply depots and encampments for material is universally recognized as an acceptable tactic."
The mare was silent for a moment as she thought. "I see the wisdom."
Silence continued for a minute as they looked out across the forest that they were in from the cliffside cave that had been transformed into their camp. Midnight cleared his throat. "On that note, I think I might have a perfect target for you. You remember Ever Wyte, that guard I blasted in the face? It's open season on him."
"I was going to call it open season on all guards."
"That might not be a good idea, there are a rare few who are actually trying to protect and help ponies."
"Oh, of course not the Protected."
"The what?"
"Sorry, that's our name for them. The Protected. There's about one of them for every twenty guards. That's those rare few. Part of the street code is to not hurt them and keep them out of trouble where you can."
"Well then, sounds like you know who's who better than I do."
Rebel laughed, "Only for a short while. If you keep going this way, you'll have more informants than I do fairly soon here. I'm afraid that my aid is limited to keeping the streets of Everfree safe for good ponies."
"That would be more help than you know." Moonchaser almost whispered.
The thief smiled and started walking back towards the spot he had marked out as his bed for the night. Behind him he could hear the mare's voice again, directed at the other stallion, "So why is it that every time you build a teleportation spell to help us escape we always wind up in the exact same forest?"
> Beginnings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The doors opened as the blue box finished materializing, reavealing a brown eath pony, a greay pegasus, and eight bags with pictures of plants on the sides.
"Doctor," Midnight spoke, "I figured you had somewhen else to be when you disappeared after the jailbreak. What brings you here?"
"Debt." Came the reply. "Consider these a 'thank-you' for taking care of Ditzy. If you plant all of these seeds now, the first one will be ready to harvest in a month, and then another one every three weeks after that. I know it's not enough, but there's only so much I'm allowed to do using timey-wimey stuff to interfere with ordinary events. I hope it helps."
Moonchaser's eyes shone. "You have no idea. The nine of us have actually been discussing this exact problem. We'd come up with several solutions, but none of them were quite enough."
Contrail examined the bags. "If these produce at the average rate for the seeds we sell at my parents' shop... this'll feed about twelve ponies after that month mark... out of the forty-seven who've decided to stay out here in the forest after a dozen ponies have changed their minds again."
Rebel nodded, "Then that's a fourth of our problem solved. Now how are we going to feed the other thirty five?"
"Contrail?" Featherdancer asked, "Do you think you can provide some seed bags too?"
The grocer paused for a moment before shaking his head. "If it were only a bag or two... but for thiry-five? I don't think we even have that many seeds in the store, it's not exactly our primary item. And even if we did... my family barely gets by as it is, if we just gave away that much stock we'd starve."
Moonchaser spoke up, "What if I purchased some bags?"
"Well, you're not a farmer, so any more than four would draw suspicion. Still, I suppose that that's six more ponies we don't have to worry about in the long-term."
Lotus Blossom chimed in, "I could see if I've got anything lying around. Since I'm a gardener I could probably get away with smuggling a few more bags out of the city. Maybe enough to feed... ten?"
Cloudwing suddenly realized something. "Wait a second, a third of these ponies are foals, so they won't eat as much. Shouldn't we count them as half a pony each?"
Midnight shook his head, "No, they'll ned the extra for winter, planting next spring, and in case they get any more ponies."
"Shame they can't just live off the grass." Dust Runner noted.
Sunbeam responded, "That's actually not a bad idea, that'll probably halve our short-term load and take another pony or two off our long-term needs. Won't work if that's the only thing they eat, but it can fluff up the rest of their food some."
"What about wild fruit from the forest?" Rebel asked.
Lotus nodded, "That won't be easy to find, but it'll probably cut short-term needs in half again and should combine with the grass idea for a total of three ponies."
Ditzy spoke up as she pushed the last bag out of the TARDIS and did some quick math. "That's thirty one, only sixteen left to feed." Her excitement at how well this was going was tangible.
The excitement faded as the silence grew longer, everypony waiting for somepony else to make the next contribution. Finally Rebel sighed and rested his head on his hooves where he was lying. "Nopony else has any more ideas either, huh?"



Lotus Blossom quietly walked up behind where Midnight, Moonchaser, and Dust Runner were sitting. "I finished helping them get this miniature farm set up. Good thing we don't have to worry about water with the river right there. I set it up as best I could, but... at most, they'll be able to feed forty ponies. It's just not enough."
Midnight turned to face the sunset. "I don't know what to do. I can't think of anything that could help here."
Dust spoke up, "Well, we're not going to find answers here, are we?"
Moonchaser shook her head, "No, and we'll only add to the burden on their already limited supplies. We need to get back to Everfree, send them more supplies, and see if we can't find a solution there."
"I've got an idea." Sunbeam made her way along the edge of the cliff, Rebel and Cloudwing trailing a little behind her. "But the fact is that none of you are going to like it. I know it works, I know for a fact that it works, but it's not exactly any of your styles."
"It's better than nothing," Dust Runner summarized. "It's probably either that or let ponies starve. I can tell you right now which choice I'd take."
Sunbeam took a breath to steady herself. "The only way I can think of to feed these ponies is the same way I've fed myself for the past six years. If we can't get it by any other means, then we're going to have to steal it."
"No!" Everypony stared at Moonchaser in shock. It was a good thing that they weren't near the camp. "Sunny, we've talked about this, stealing isn't right! I understand that you had to do what you did, but you don't anymore! You can't go back to that lifestyle! You... you..."
She was cut off as Dust Runner threw a hoof around her neck and Midnight spread a leathery wing across her back. (All of them were in "Civilian" form at the moment) Dust Runner was the one who spoke, "Sometimes Moony, you don't have a choice between good and bad, right and wrong. Sometimes it's between bad and worse, and something that would be wrong in one situation is right in another."
"There will be rules," Rebel spoke up, "You're absolutely correct about it not being right to just rob innocent ponies, but what about robbing Discord? Government warehouses, guard cellars, Tartarus, even if we only stole scraps out of the nobles' garbage, it would feed at least a few mouths." He stepped around Sunbeam to stand in front of Moonchaser, flaring out his wings and lowering his head and shoulders in the standard pegasus submission pose. "I give you my word, we will do everything in our power to keep innocents from getting hurt."
The tableu was still for a moment before Moonchaser assumed the position of dominance, placing her right forehoof lightly on the part of his spine between his wings. "And I will hold you to it."
According to ancient traditions, she had just accepted responsibility for taking his wings if he broke his oath.



The nine ponies stopped at a point just outside the forest where the path they were on crossed another. The City of Everfree was just down the road, maybe a mile at most. "Looks like this is where we part ways." In response to everypony's confused looks, Midnight explained, "You all need to get back to the city. For me and Cloudwing, home's the tower. I guess I'll see you the next time a fight needs to happen."
Sunbeam cleared her throat. "Actually Inkwell, it might be a good idea for youto come into town with us. Lady Starshadow - Don't give me that look Moonchaser, I'm nowhere near comfortable calling her 'Mother' - took your visit as a promise to personally deliver Moonchaser. As in, she'll be expecting you to be present when she comes home."
Dust Runner stepped forward, "Very much so actually. After Sunbeam left she asked me to make sure the message gets passed on that she wants to sit down and have a conversation with you... It will likely be a lengthy one."
Midnight bobbed his head back and forth before nodding. "It won't hurt if I'm away from the tower for a few more hours. I've already told Starswirl that I'm safe... and I suppose I can get a message through if things take longer than expected."
Featherdancer spoke up, "I'll go with Cloudwing to the tower. We'll let Starswirl know what's going on and keep a lamp in the window for you."
The group parted, seven going one way, two the other. Quiet conversations picking up as they parted ways.
"What does Mother wish to speak with Midnight about?"
"She didn't say."



Midnight sat across a small table from the mare as she quietly sipped her tea. He had stopped by his parents' home before he came here and picked up a few things. Because this was a social call instead of a professional one, Silver Monocle had taken his robes to hang by the door. His saddlebags however he had kept with him, feeling that he may need several of the items in there for the conversation about to take place.
Lady Starshadow finally broke the silence. "My daughters seem to think highly of you. Tell me about yourself."
"I'm not sure there's much to tell M'Lady. I am simply a humble mage's apprentice." He paused for a moment. "Humble apprentice that is, Master Starswirl is quite fond of reminding me to reiterate that. Something about him having an image of vanity and skirtchasing to keep up."
The noblemare sighed, "Might we please dispense with the verbal jousting? I sense skill in you, but I'm afraid my energy is not where it need be for such, and I truly meant it when I said that I simply wanted to get to know you."
The colt dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Very well Lady Starshadow. You have likely heard something of me from your daughters, though I confess I am not sure what. Why don't we start by answering any questions you may have."
"Yes, what they told me... You are... different from what I was expecting."
"No surprise." Midnight removed a mirror the size of a plate from his bag. Briefly, he rested a hoof on the runes inscribed across the surface before said surface rippled and the runes disappeared. He laid the mirror on the table, and as he spoke, floating images, the size of a child's toy, appeared in the air over it. "My physical form is likely the most obvious detail. When Moonchaser and Sunbeam met me, I was a black pegasus with a deep blue mane and tail. In the dungeon, I revealed myself as a bat pony with the same coloration. Later, after the... ascension, I suppose would be that word, I was an alicorn, still holding the same coloration. Since I managed to make it so that we can shift back and forth, I have been both pegasus and bat pony with a dusky blue coat and a grey mane with some black streaks.
Let me make myself clear, that last bat pony is my natural body. The physical form that you see before you now is the one I came into this world with." All the miniature ponies disappeared except the one that matched Inkwell's present form.
"I'm intrigued as to your methods of shapeshifting, especially as you seem to have more forms than any of the others I've met, but perhaps the more pertinent line of questioning is your name. Sunbeam knows you as Inkwell. Moonchaser refers to you as Midnight Star. Dust Runner switches back and forth. What am I to call you?"
Midnight grinned ruefully. "I think that perhaps that question is best answered by explaining first my reasoning and giving second my answer."
"Very well."
"Prepare yourself, this story is quite fantastic. But it must be told. It is after all, why and how your daughter and I met..."



"...I see," Lady Starshadow finally said, "You have taken a great risk in telling me all of this."
"No greater risk than letting you know about my alicorn side would have been. Also... it seemed only fair to trade this secret, considering those secrets of yours that I know."
"Secrets?"
Inkwell paused before pulling a quill and parchment out of his bags. Silently, he wrote a complicated sigil which he laid on the table between them. "Let's start with basic facts. I know that Moonchaser was born as an alicorn, but doesn't know why or how she lost her horn. I know that Sunbeam was born an alicorn, and is very aware of how she lost her wings, and equally unwilling to discuss it. I know that Dust Runner is part of an exceptionally small circle of confidants who know the truth about your family. I know the true meanings behind your family crest and the 'secret crest' that you keep played close to your chest. I know that you are not Moonchaser's biological mother, and I also know you haven't told her that yet.
"None of this was too difficult to figure out. I'm Starswirl the Bearded's apprentice after all, and there's a lot that comes with that. Including that sigil - which I know you recognize - and the oaths which come with it. About the only thing I don't know is why. When the Draconequi made their coup a century ago, all of the alicorns were killed or banished. Starswirl thought he was the last member of any of their old orders of guards and supporters, and yet there's you. And then we've got two mares who were born as alicorns, which isn't supposed to be possible unless their parents are alicorns. Then the ascension happens, I'm still not sure exactly what powers we unleashed there, and we now have six alicorns running around, but somehow the Draconequi haven't managed to track any of us down yet.
"So before I this conversation goes any further, I need to know what you know. I need to know what's going on. I need you to tell me your story."
Starshadow sighed, closed her eyes and bowed her head. "Very well. There is, however, a condition. What I am about to tell you absolutely cannot reach Moonchaser's ears. I have waited many years for the time to be right, and I intend to continue to wait until it is. If I am going to trust you with this, then I need your word that you will not speak of it to anypony, and especially not her."
"Upon the counter-condition that if not knowing would cause her harm I am allowed to tell her, you have it."
"This is fair. I suppose I should begin at the beginning..."



In a hollow space in the wall, behind a portrait that stood between a pair of bookshelves, Moonchaser, Dust Runner, and Sunbeam held their breath. Watching through holes in the portrait's eyes and listening in on the conversation that they had decided to eavesdrop on, Dust Runner and Sunbeam switched to holding Moonchaser as the third mare's world came crashing down around her ears.
> Secrets and Pain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sixteen years ago, approximately eight months after my husband and I were married, a basket was left on our doorstep. Moonchaser was in it, wrapped up in a blanket the color of the night sky.
Also in that basket were three things. Two of them were scrolls, a letter each to my husband and myself. My husband never showed me his letter, and I suspect I know why, given that my own letter instructed me to never show it to it to him. The third item was a small pendant, a sliver crescent moon on a thin chain. Moonchaser still has it, as well as the blanket.
The letter explained many things. My husband was Moonchaser's father - to this day I know not who her mother is, though I suppose it must be an alicorn. It requested that I take care of the filly. That I raise her as my own.
How could I refuse?
I raised the child, loved her. I had been ill recently, and so hadn't been seen much in public. We simply pretended that I had been hiding my pregnancy. The scandal blew over as soon as the next one hit, I honestly doubt anypony but me even remembers it.
The illusion was simple, and easy to continue. Moonchaser was far too young to understand. We had originally been planning on telling her on her seventh birthday.
And then everything changed.
We had kept her isolated from other foals, using the scandal as an excuse for as long as anypony remembered it. Later, we said that she was delicate, and we didn't want to risk her health. What happened may have been irony's price for such a ruse.
Night Wind was a unicorn, which was part of our half-baked scheme to explain both wings and horn once Moonchaser was too old to keep inside the manor. When she was four years old, he fell ill and unknowingly brought it home. It infected our daughter as well. By the time we realized what it was, it was too late.
I'm going to assume that they don't have hornrot in that other world you say you come from. It is a terrible disease, though thankfully quite rare. It infects a unicorn's horn, turning their own magic against them. It has cures if you catch it early enough, but...
It was too late for my beloved. Night Wind's magic had already done too much damage to his body, we couldn't save him. His death however, saved our daughter. Moonchaser was advanced, but still behind him in the disease's progression. We had only one option to save her.
Amputation.
Her horn was removed before the disease did any lasting damage. In a few months, we managed to purge it completely from her system.
And I was left to raise my daughter on my own.
The years past, and over time I continued to give myself excuses, reasons why she couldn't know. First she was too young to understand. Then she was too young to trust to keep it secret. The fact that without a horn she simply thought herself a normal pegasus helped. There were none of the questions that we had anticipated in earlier years about why she was the only pony anywhere with both horn and wings. Then, almost before I knew it, she was old enough to wonder why I had never told her before.
Which is why I can't tell her now, not until the time is right.
We always knew that this time would come. That eventually she'd find herself in a war for Equestria. There was nothing else that an alicorn infant being sent in secret to hide with us could mean. The letter even told me that when she was grown I would have to let her accept her destiny, and hoped that I would help.
And then there was that day. The day she met you. Since then it's been a rollercoaster of not knowing if she's alive or not. It seems her destiny came to claim her, but a few stubborn ponies wouldn't let it take her alone. It's honestly far better than what I had been hoping for. I cannot begin to tell you how good it is to know that my daughter isn't all alone out there. Thank you for that.
Which brings us to today. And me listening here as you laid most of my secrets bare. I must admit, I was surprised by what you told me about Sunbeam, she's even kept her wings hidden from me. And now that I've told you all of this, you have my last secrets. You have me.
What are your intentions?



Midnight had been sitting with his eyes closed as he listened to the mare's story. After a moment, he opened his eyes and mouth to answer her, only to snap the latter shut and swivel his head towards the sound that had cut him off.
A ragged sob from inside a wall.
Starshadow said a rather unladylike word as both of them realized what had just happened. The mare started running to the entrance of the secret passage she realized only now that she had forgotten to have Silver Monocle clear and guard. Midnight, on the other hoof, took the more direct approach of shifting to alicorn form, pulling the painting off the wall, and jumping through the hole it left.
Moonchaser was sobbing into Dust Runner's shoulder while the earth pony mare shook her head in wide eyed surprise and fear. "Sunny, I swear, I didn't know about any of this. Do you really think I would have helped you two sneak in here if I did?" The other mare was glaring at her hard enough that it seemed like one or both of them might burst into flames.
Midnight subtly stepped between the two as he laid a comforting hoof on Moonchaser's shoulder. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it after a minute when he realized that anything coming out would likely involve his hoof going in.
The stillness of the moment was shattered by light as the hidden door a few yards away opened and a second shaft of light spilled across them all. Starshadow stood there silhouetted. "Moonchaser, I-"
"You what!?" The mare in question snapped, "You're sorry!? You didn't want to hurt me!? You've been lying to me my entire life, exactly how am I supposed to take that Mother!? Only I can't even call you that anymore, can I!? I HATE you! I never want to see you again!" And then she bolted, knocking the older mare down as she tore her way around the corner and down hallways towards the front entrance.
The three teens stood gaping as Starshadow picked herself up. "Moonchaser, wait! Please just let me explain, please!" And then she was gone too.
Dust Runner was the first one who realized that they should probably catch up. The trio galloped full tilt down hallways, barreling around corners at top speeds, more than once having to run on a wall to make a turn. Still, they were no match in speed for the two emotionally fueled mares. By the time they caught up to her, Lady Starshadow was sitting in the small courtyard between the manor gate and the main door, the same spot Midnight Star had taken flight from a few nights ago, staring numbly up at the sky.
Silver Monocle arrived shortly after them, huffing and puffing from his own sprint through the house. He leaned only slightly on the door frame, unnoticabley really, as he took in the scene. "Lady Starshadow seems to be in shock," He finally said, "I shall take her inside and see to her needs. You three had best find Lady Moonchaser."
Dust Runner nodded as the butler quietly led the subdued pegasus mare inside. "I'll search all the places that she usually goes when she needs a break from life. Sunbeam, go through the city, get all of our friends looking for her. If we canvas Everfree with search parties, somepony'll find her eventually. Midnight, go home."
"Wh-what? But I - What'd I -"
"Nothing. You didn't do anything wrong, but my best friend is out there right now as an emotional wreck, and I'm pretty sure I know what that means. And for now, that means you need to go home. Go back to the tower and don't leave until she's found, understand? You can use some of your magic stuff to try and find her from there if that helps, but just... please. Go."
"But I want to h-"
"Inkwell," Sunbeam cut him off, "Dusty's right. For now, the best way you can help is to go back to your tower."
The colt bowed his head with a sigh. "Alright. If you both really think that that's what's best." He shifted back to his bat pony form and fired a series of clicks at Dust Runner, Just make sure she's safe, before taking flight and heading for the south gate he needed to go through to get home.



It was about three hours after sunset when Midnight opened the door to the tree. Moonchaser was standing in the light drizzle, hoof raised to knock a second time. The colt's eyes widened in surprised recognition and he opened the door further as he motioned her inside. "Hi."
"Hi," She quietly returned. "I uh... got caught outside the city when they closed the gates and I didn't want to go to Blossom because I knew she'd have questions and I don't really want to talk about it and -"
Midnight corked her mouth with his hoof. "How about we skip the explanations that I don't really need and get you inside, warm, and dry?"
She gave a grateful smile as he removed his limb. "That sounds nice. Thank you."



Moonchaser was curled up in front of the hearth, a blanket wrapped around her and a mug that had once held chocolate cradled in her hooves. A fresh pot levitated over, wrapped in a deep blue aura, and filled her cup before being set on the floor next to her.
The mare had been basically silent since her arrival, and behind her Midnight, Starswirl, and Cloudwing were having a quiet conversation.
"...get what you're saying Starswirl, but we don't really have much in the way of options. at this point it's either I sneak back into the city and stay at my parents' overnight - not a good idea considering that I'm the one she came to for help - or we put her up in my bed and I sleep on the floor."
"And the reason she can't sleep with Cloudwing is?"
"There's barely enough room for Cloudwing in that closet. And that's ignoring the fact that she barely fits on that cot."
"He's got a point. I'm very grateful for it, but I don't think Moonchaser would be comfortable in my room."
"Fine, just... colt, be careful. Both of you are pretty emotional, don't do anything you might regret."
Cloudwing facehooved as Midnight froze. "That's what this is about? For crying out loud, it's not like we already spent weeks unsupervised in the woods or anything. What is wrong with you? If she ever even found out that this got talked about she'd castrate me."
"Also, I'm upset, not intoxicated." It was at this point that the trio realized that their conversation had gotten slightly louder than it had started. Moonchaser rolled her eyes at everypony's expressions. "Honestly, I've been getting lessons on avoiding scandals since I was eleven. I'm inexperienced, not naïve. And I agree with Midnight, it might be a better idea for me to sleep in his room. Although I should really take the floor."
"Not. Happening." Midnight pointed a hoof at her. "One, you're a guest. Two, you're a mare. Three, you're a lady of the court. Four, I'm technically a knight of the realm. Five, I've seen you try and sleep without a matress, and you need more than ten minutes of rest tonight."
Moonchaser reluctantly nodded. "Alright, you win. But at least use more of a bedroll than you did when we were in the forest."
"Of course. That was an emergency, this isn't."
"Come on Moony," Cloudwing tossed her head to one side, "There's some sheets we can string up across his room, make a curtain."
The two females began walking up the stairs towards Midnight's room. "Oh? Sounds like you know his room quite well."
"Well, my room actually was just a large storage closet before I got here, and Featherdancer and I had to stay somewhere, so..." The voices faded as they reached the next floor, although shortly after they did, Cloudwing let loose a scandalized shriek followed by resounding laughter barely recognizable as Moonchaser's echoeing down the stairs.
Midnight shot Starswirl a glare. "See? Now we're all going to reap her vengeance, thank you ever so much for that."
As he turned to leave, a hoof on his shoulder stopped him. "Colt... Inkwell... Midnight. This isn't an apology, but I want you to know, none of this was about me not trusting you. I'm just very aware of the kind of stallion who's trained and raised you. Which includes being acutely conscious of his weaknesses. Learn from him, but recognize flaws and strive to avoid them. Trust me, if he's lived the same life I have... just... always live so that you'll have as few regrets as possible in the end, alright?"
Midnight nodded. "I understand. And... thank you... for caring."
The colt continued walking away from the stallion, not turning to look at him so as to give them both the right to hide the tears threatening to well in hteir eyes. Truth be told, the relationship between the Starswirls and their respective Inkwells was more father-son than master-apprentice or mentor-student. The relationship hadn't carried across when he had come through the mirror, but it looked like it was starting too.
Midnight gave a wry grin. At this rate, he'd be more attached to this world than his own by the time the portal opened back up again. He might never go back through the mirror.
He honestly wasn't sure if he'd mind that or not.



Midnight looked around. He honestly had no idea how he had gotten here. He was currently standing in a drafty stone hallway, probably inside some kind of castle. Torches lined the walls, lighting things well, it would have been just barely too dim to read by.
That wasn't his problem right now though. His problem was figuring out how he got here. The last thing he remembered was lying down on the bedroll they had made out of a few old blankets, and then he had woken up here.
Wait.
No.
That thought wasn't right, something about it wasn't... true.
He hadn't woken up here. He had just been here. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep, and then he had simply snapped to awareness in this hallway. There was only one explanation that offer itself to his mind.
Somepony had erased his memory.
He heard soft crying in one direction. For lack of a better idea, he started making his way towards it. He rounded a corner and found himself facing a rather plain wooden door with an ornate iron portcullis positioned strangely on the outside. The crying, he could tell, was coming from the other side.
"-given you a name. I never should have taken you in. I never loved you. You silly, selfish, spoiled little filly, did you honestly think you were important?" A strange voice came into being as Midnight got within a yard of the door. It was almost familiar, but something about it was... off. That wasn't the only strange thing about it, the voice wasn't shouting, but it was still quite loud. Louder than he should have been able to hear through that heavy looking oak door. And definitely louder than the soft crying that hadn't changed in volume one iota as he'd crossed this strange castle.
At this point about the only thing he could be sure of was tat there was a filly on the other side of this door, and that somepony was putting her through tartarus. Whatever was going on, he needed to reach her and help her. He could worry about figuring things out later.
Rearing up, Midnight braced his forehooves against the underside of one of the portcullis's horizontal bars and pushed up with all his might. After several seconds of futile straining, he relaxed and reexamined the iron gate. Upon closer inspection, he found that it was not a gate, but a grate. It was bolted into the stone archway all the way around. This door was never intended to open.
He supposed he could have gone around, tried to find another way through this wall and into that room, but he didn't want to risk losing the time or getting lost himself in the maze-like passages. So instead the stallion turned around and delivered one of the same bucks he had seem the farmers use in their orchards to the metal obstacle. Examining his work, he couldn't say he was impressed with the craftsponyship put into the bars. They had dented severely, two neat hoofprints embedded in it as if it were made of butter. A pair of bolts connecting it to the wall had snapped as well.
Four bucks later, the mangled metal was stuck in the doorway by only two points, one on the top and on on the bottom. Midnight wiped his brow with a wing as he turned to finish the job, then froze as he felt feathers drag through his fur. He looked down at his hoof to double check his coat color, then went crosseyed to look at his horn. He wasn't quite sure how, but up to this point he had failed to realize that he was curreently an alicorn. Further proof that something strange was going on.
He attempted to shift back to a bat pony, only to realize that either he or his body couldn't quite remember how. He wasn't sure which. His rumination on the subject was cut off as his ears were again flooded with the sounds behind the door. He wasn't sure if he had tuned them out or if they had paused, but for some reason he hadn't heard anything going on with that filly since he had delivered that first buck to the iron.
He shrugged, since he was stuck as an alicorn for now anyway, he might as well roll with it. His horn lit up with his deep blue magic, mirrored by the aura around the torn metal grating. The two remaining bolts snapped and he threw the iron backwards into the door, reinforcing the physical attack with a magical blast of his own.
The oak planks were blasted not only off their hinges, but away from each other. A sawdust haze filled the air around the door and the filly's crying and the other pony's insults skipped the briefest of beats, almost as if reality had hiccupped. Midnight froze as he realized what he was looking at.
Moonchaser.
A distinctly younger Moonchaser, perhaps nine or ten. And somepony in a hooded cloak was standing in front of the crying filly, pouring venomous words in an endless stream. "You're a vindictive little shrew who should have never been born and I-"
"Now I know that you're wrong there."
The room froze and everything went shaky for a brief moment before the hooded pony spun around to face the cloud of sawdust. Midnight had no clue how said cloud still existed, or was as big as it was, but he shrugged it off. While the phrase "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" felt inappropriate these days, the lesson remained. Or re-maned, depending on how punny one felt.
"Who's there?"
"Just a concerned bystander." Silently, Midnight took to the air while continuing to project his voice from inside the cloud. Magic plus ventriloquism, thank you Mother.
"What do you want?"
"To clarify things. Specifically some of the lies you've been spouting off. To be precise, Moonchaser happens to be the kindest mare I know, and the world is a far better place with her around. I'm certainly grateful she's here." The stallion landed, standing protectively over the filly.
"And who do you think you are!? How could you possibly know that!? You think you know this little rat better than I do!?"
It seemed fitting, so Midnight went with a thought that suddenly popped into his head. He raised one hoof and slammed it onto the stone floor hard enough to crack it and create a small spray of sparks. "I AM MIDNIGHT STAR!!! And apparently I do know Moonchaser better than you do, because I know that she's good. And I know that she's kind. I know that she's sweet, I know that she's important, I know that she's strong. I know she's better than you. I know that she would consider it a badge of honor at this point to be branded with the same title of 'rat' as some of her closest friends. In fact, about the only thing I don't know is who in Tartarus you think you are and where you get off trying to hurt her like this."
"I am her mother!" The warped voice had been getting progressively more and more shrill, and now it jumped an entire octave. The mare spun around as she shrieked at Midnight, her hood flying back as she did.
Midnight had to admit,  the mare did look like Lady Starshadow. Almost.
There were only a few problems. The mare's powder blue coat looked like it had never been groomed in her life. Her mane was the right colors, blue with a dark red streak, both colors bordering on purple, but it hung limp, neglect leaving it in greasy strings. Her wings he could see poking out under her cloak, unkempt, ragged, as if she hadn't preened in years. Her hooves were chipped, almost looking ceramic with the veined cracks running through them. But the biggest difference, the worst and most telling one, was her eyes. Gone were both color and warmth, in their place was left blackness and deadness.
"No."
"Yes. You see, I have all power in this place, and all power over her. This is my-"
"I'm sorry, you've misunderstood. That wasn't shock, it was observation. You see I've met Lady Starshadow, and quite frankly you look less like her than I do. She'd never let herself get into such a state, and more importantly than that, she is a Lady. Setting aside the pain I saw in her eyes as her daughter fled, setting aside the fact that she would never say any of the filth you've spouted here, setting aside the fact that she loves her daughter more than life itself, if she were going to try and hurt Moonchaser, all she'd have to do is keep her silence. You're nothing but a cheap copy, couldn't your masters even afford a decent mirror spell to capture the Lady's image?
"You're done here. The only reason I've let you stick around this long is so that she could see you for what you really are. You're barely enough to count as a shadow, and it's time for you to go. Goodbye."
The mare looked down at the filly in shock. Moonchaser was no longer crying, simply looking between her and the stallion wide-eyed with disgust for the former and awe for the latter.
As a sourceless wind began swirling around the room, so charged with magical energy it was tactile, the mare made a leap for Midnight, murderous intent somehow conveying itself through her dead eyes. The alicorn fell back slightly, allowing his rear legs to collapse and his forehooves to rise...
As he put a magical blast squarely in her chest.
She hit the ground and rolled, struggling to rise before she was picked up in Midnight's magic. Roughly six hundred years later, the word defenestration would be invented, but it still didn't exist yet. Despite not knowing the word, Midnight proved himself excellent at the practice of the concept.
Midnight looked down as he felt a tiny hoof touch his leg. "Midnight?" Moonchaser asked, "Is that really you?"
"Yes, it's me. I'm not sure what's going on though, I think somepony messed with my memories. The last thing I remember was the night you found out all that stuff about your parents. I went to sleep on the floor, on the other side of those curtains from you, and then... It's all blank until I was suddenly here, in one of the hallways of this castle. And you're years younger than I last saw you. Any idea what's going on?"
The filly shook her head. "The only thing I remember is this room, and that mare, my... my not-mother. I'm confused."
The stallion chuckled, "That makes two of us. Try to think though, do you remember how you got to this room, or where this castle is?"
"No..." Suddenly Moonchaser's drooping ears went up, the rest of her body following. "But I think I know how to find out!" She gallopped over to the broken window Midnight had thrown the mare out of. She wiggled as she swiveled her head outside the window, trying to find a landmark.
When she froze, Midnight started slowly walking over in concern. "Midnight," She said, "Something's wrong with the sky, and the world, and, and, everything!" The stallion picked up his pace, arriving at the window and sticking his head out over the filly.
She was right, something was very wrong. The sky had two lines of fire across it, bisecting it at perpindicular angles. One half was day, the other night. Half of each of those was normal, but the other half... a white night sky full of black stars with a few colored ones mixed in. An orange day sky with green, yellow, brown, and red clouds. Half the moon was a matte black and half the sun burned with purple fire. There were chunkcs of ground ignoring gravity, while other bits seemed to be aligned to a different gravity, upside down or sideways. In the distance, a waterfall flowed down, and then straight up another cliff out of the same pool. In the air over this pool hung a circular rainbow. It took a moment for Midnight to realize that said rainbow was colored in wedges instead of rings.
And the longer he looked, the stranger things got. The textures were off, sometimes grainy, sometimes waxy, never quite right. There were parts of it he was looking at and he knew it was monochrome, but he could still identify what colors were what. And then came the kicker.
He caught his reflection in a pond just outside the window, the angles didn't really work, but he was past trying to figure it out. What struck him was the fact that he and Moonchaser were looking out of the window of a rather small wooden cottage with a thatched roof.
He closed his eyes and pulled his head back into the room. He could just feel a headache coming on. He needed an explanation, and he didn't like the only one he had. If the Draconequi had unleashed that much sheer chaos, then it would have pushed the balance so far that a simple desk organizing spell should have been enough to snap everything back to normal and wipe out all their power. If they had found a way to circumvent even the balance... Midnight shuddered. Things were very, very bad.
"Midnight... I think... I think I know what's going on." Oh great, now he was going to have to keep both of them from panicking. Moonchaser pulled her head back in and looked at him as he took a step back. "Midnight. I... I think..." The air got strange around her, a wavy haze in it rippling back and forth. The filly grew, in three seconds she went from a filly to a nearly fully grown alicorn mare. She even shifted to her new body, the one she had picked up after the spell. She looked at him, blinked, and swallowed. "I think I'm dreaming."
Everything went dark.
> Echoes from the Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everything went dark. There was the briefest sparkle of light in the darkness, which faded quickly. Then the darkness itself faded into a different kind of darkness. Moonchaser had to think for a moment before realizing what the difference in this darkness was.
She opened her eyes to the soft darkness of the night as it filled the room. Reaching out with a hoof, she pulled back the curtain dividing the room. Midnight was there, sitting on a twisted pile of blankets. Their eyes met for a moment before the alicorn stallion gave a head toss in the direction of the door. "I'm going to go get some air. Want to join me?"
The mare thought about it for a moment before silently getting out of the bed. She followed him out of the room, down the stairs, and out the front door of the tree. They sat there for a while, just watching the moon and enjoying each others' presence.
"So..." Midnight finally broke the silence, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Moonchaser nodded, "What happened?"
"I don't know. Apparently you were right about it being a dream, but I don't know how I wound up in it. Do you think it has something to do with two alicorns sleeping near each other?"
The mare shook her head. "You went to bed as a bat pony, something about the dream made you shift. Besides, Dust Runner sleeps in an adjoining room to mine, and Sunbeam isn't far from me either."
"Then that's out... Ah well, we'll figure it out eventually. If it happens again we just need to be ready for it."
"I suppose so..."
"...For the record, that wasn't what I meant when I asked if you wanted to talk about it."
"...I know. I probably should talk about it, shouldn't I?"
"Only way I know of to get rid of nightmares."
"Really?"
Midnight nodded. "Nightmares gain power by isolating you. That's why you're always alone in them. Or haven't you noticed that nopony else is ever with you in a nightmare?"
After a brief pause, Moonchaser blinked. "You're right. I'd never noticed that before, but the first part of every nightmare is being alone. Even in the ones where there are lots of ponies, none of them are ever friendly."
"Case in point. Since you haven't told me you don't want to talk about it, I'm going to go ahead and stop letting you dodge the subject. You know that your mother would never say any of that, right?" There was a pause. "Moonchaser? You know that, right?"
The mare sighed. "I just found out that she's been lying to me for my entire life. About everything. What am I supposed to believe Midnight? How can I trust anything about her now? Can I even call her my mother?"
Silence reigned again. After a few moments, the colt spoke, "Not everything." The mare turned to him in surprise. "She didn't lie to you about everything."
"Oh really?" She snapped, "Then tell me, what part of lying to me about my parentage, race, origins, birth, upbringing, and family for seventeen years doesn't constitute lying about everything?"
"There's a word missing there and a word that shouldn't be there. Love and family." Midnight locked eyes with his friend. "You didn't see her after you left Moonchaser. She was broken, shattered. I know that look she had in her eyes, it's the one ponies get when they lose the one thing in the world that means more to them than anything else. No matter what else you doubt about her, don't you ever doubt that she loves you.
"And don't you believe for one second that you are not her daughter."
Moonchaser recoiled, caught completely off guard. Reflexively, she fired back with the first thing that came to mind. "Believe? Midnight, I know. You heard her yourself, straight from her own mouth she admitted that I wasn't her child!"
"Really? So explain to me, what part of naming you, raising you, protecting you, feeding you, teaching you to fly, providing for you, and loving you for seventeen years fails to qualify her to be your mother?"
"She's been decieving me from the day I got dropped off on her doorstep! There's not a single family tie! There is no blood between me and her!"
When the echoes of Moonchaser's shouts died away, the silence was deafening. After a full minute, Midnight almost whispered, "Remember who you're talking to." At the mare's confused expression, he elaborated, "You heard my story too Moonchaser. There's no blood between me and Featherdancer, or any of our other siblings, or our parents. Do you think we let that stop us? Family isn't about blood Moony, or is Sunbeam not really your sister either?" The mare recoiled like he'd slapped her. "Don't get me wrong, your mom screwed up not telling you about all of this sooner. Frankly, you're right to be hurt. But is the pain worth losing your family? Because trust me, that's a kind of pain that nopony should have to go through."
Moonchaser's response died in her throat as she noticed the haunted look that came into his eyes. It was just enough of a pause to make her consider things. "Fine... I'll go back tomorrow and hear her out. But it looks like I might not be the only one with nightmares, do you want to talk about it?"
Midnight barked out a bitter laugh, "Something tells me that if I don't, we're going to have a flipped repeat of our earlier adventure... before I do though, I have to ask. Do you really want to know? It's a dark story, my world isn't a very pleasant place. This could wind up simply giving you more nightmares."
The mare nodded, "I think we just proved that nightmares aren't as bad if you're sharing them."
Midnight sighed, "Alright then. But one condition. This is going to be hard enough for me. If you want me to tell you, you have to hear all of it. And if it gets to be too much and you can't take any more... the story stops there, and you never ask me to tell you any more of it."
"Agreed."
The stallion's eyes closed as he steadied himself with a breath.



Seven years ago, my mother died. It was childbirth, a death that she had managed to escape thrice. My baby sister crossed to the other side with her.
We sent news to my father, a soldier who was fighting bandits in the south. He had left before we found out Mom was pregnant, and from what we learned from those who fought with him, it did something to him, losing his wife and a daughter who he had never had any contact with. Apparently that was the point where he stopped making the weapons and siege engines and started using them. He never came home. Two months before I went through the mirror, a military runner came into town. My father had been killed in action. His body had been found surrounded by enemy soldiers.
According to the messenger he had died succesfully protecting a group of children on his own. I can only assume he finally found peace, reconciling the child he lost with those he saved.
My oldest sister was the next to go. About five years back. She was sixteen. A traveling merchant came through town, staying for about a week. He informed us that he would be adding our town to his usual route, which helped a lot of our people sell more things so that they could get by a little better. If we had only known what he was really up to.
He stopped by every three months, traded with us, always carefully making sure that every person made just the tiniest bit more money than they spent. Over time, my sister fell in love with his son. On their sixth visit, she married him. She left town with him, planning on coming back the next time they came through town. Three months with him, three months in the town. The arrangement gave her some stability for when they started having children.
We should have known better.
The morning after they left was when we started noticing that things were wrong. It took us until lunchtime to figure out what had happened. They had taken almost a dozen children.
It turns out that these "Merchants" were actually slavers. Quite notorious ones at that. They couldn't even get near a city anymore, so they had started targetting small towns. Children were easy to wrangle and sold well since they could still be trained. Of course we didn't find any of this out until later, when the soldiers came to collect them.
All we knew was that the children had been kidnapped. Even then, some of us were hesitant to believe it. Maybe the children were simply following them, or had stowed away.
And then we caught up to them. All of them.
There were sixty in all, forty of them had never come into town. What's more, it looked like they were expecting us. They had rigged up some fortifications, simple but effective. Honestly we never would have stood a chance if it weren't for the one thing they weren't counting on.
Starswirl the Bearded.
He was lashing out with fire, lightning, ice, raw magical energy, everything. The rest of us helped, Featherdancer used his bow for more than hunting for the first time in his life, I was throwing magic around myself - I hadn't figured out how to control it, but I had figured out a few things that would blow up. Ultimately though our resident wizard carried the day.
At the end of the fight, I ran my sister's husband through with his father's sword before I took his head off with mine.
So that's what you were talking about when you asked the Lupus Minor not to make you kill again.
...Yes.
I passed out after that, but apparently we took about a dozen of the slavers prisoner, and most of the town got their loved ones back.
Unfortunately we couldn't bring back the dead.
My sister had been chained up and thrown in with the rest of the slaves. She led an escape attempt a few hours before dawn, and when it failed, they executed her as an example. She was dead before we even realized the children were gone.
It stayed that way for a while, Vapor Mist and I taking care of each other and Featherdancer. And then he went on a hunting trip with some of the other men in town. Honestly, we had been reduced to a small village by that point, and losing Featherdancer only chopped us down further. Featherdancer was the best shot in Everfree, so he was partnered up with a pair of younger teens on their first hunt.
The three of them were trapped in a box canyon by a starving cougar. They killed it, but all of them were wounded and bleeding. A few hours later, the wolves found them. The boys said that they only saw five, but we found seven dead wolves, so either a second pack showed up, or the first pack was bigger than they thought.
Featherdancer's leg was torn open while they were running. He had sent the other boys to get help while he bought them time to get away. When we found him, his arrows were spent and his bow was broken. One of the wolves was covered in knife wounds and another still had his knife sticking out of it's chest. They found the missing parts of Featherdancer's throat in that one's mouth.
I'm pretty sure they'll be telling stories about that kid for a while yet. Between the cougar and the wolves, he brought in more meat that winter than any other man in the village. The wolves might still tell stories too, not a single one has been seen within fifty miles of Everfree since.
That was really my lowest point. I spent a while searching for a way to bring back the dead. Necromancy was the one I spent the most time thinking about, since it's almost all ritual magic, I probably could have pulled it off. But the price was too high, Featherdancer wouldn't have wanted me to bring him back that way.
It was a year later when I finally accepted it. Vapor and I started drifting apart after that. It was stupid of us. We should have been drawing closer together for support, but... our entire family was gone, neither of us wanted to say it, but we were both wondering how long it would be until the other one died.
Two years ago a travelling troop of performers came through town. She left with them and hasn't been back since. She writes occasionally though, lets me know she's still alive. She was supposed to come back through town a few months after I came here. Honestly that might be one of the reasons I went through the mirror. There's a reason she left, and... I lost myself in my studies. Being around town, around each other, just brought back painful memories.
I don't think you ever met the version of me from the other side of the mirror. Six months of being in this world, of interacting with my family's counterparts, of having a family, helped me a lot. At this point the old wounds are healed, though some of them scarred.



"...The point is that those wounds existed. Losing your family hurts like nothing you can imagine. And throwing your family away this easily?" Midnight shook his head. "Nopony should ever go through that kind of pain when they don't have to."
Moonchaser was silent, her back too him. He noticed that she was shaking very slightly, but before he could ask if she was cold, she turned to face him, lines of water glistening on her cheeks. "Midnight..." Her hug was as unexpected as it was sudden, almost bowling the colt over. "Promise me," She whispered in his ear, "Promise me that you'll never keep something like that to yourself again. It doesn't have to be me, but promise me that you'll always tell somepony. Promise me you'll never carry a burden like that alone again."
Midnight did the only thing he could. Relaxing slightly he leaned into the mare, wrapping his wings around her. "I promise." He whispered back to his friend.
They stayed like that for a while, even after Moonchaser had stopped crying and shaking and they had separated, they watched the beauty of the night for almost a full hour before they quietly turned and went back inside.
> Firebrand Rose
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A pair of pegasi looked up as they walked through the south gate of Everfree. A slightly younger pegasus landed in front of them. "Got your message," Featherdancer said, "I'm the only flyer, so the others are waiting."
Midnight - currently a bat pony, but wearing his harness - nodded. "Hope nopony was too worried."
The younger colt shook his head. "Nah, most everypony figured she'd wind up finding you."
Moonchaser's scandalized tirade became the background rhythm for their walk to Palatial Lane.



Dust Runner came trotting up as they neared the house. After the requisite checking up on Moonchaser, she looked over at Midnight. "We've got a problem. Sunbeam got in touch with her contact network to see if any of them knew where Moonchaser was. Obviously, they didn't find her, but Sunny found out about somepony else who needs help. She's inside with her right now, Midnight, you and Featherdancer should probably go talk with them. Moonchaser, your... Lady Starshadow is waiting for you in her room... She also said to tell you that she understands if you don't want to see her."



Moonchaser stepped into the room slowly. Glancing around, she made several observations about the state of the room... and it's occupant. She could hear Dust runner shutting the door behind her and glanced back to see that her friend had stayed outside. She wasn't sure whether to be grateful for the privacy or hurt by the abandonment.
Sighing, she began walking again, coming to the edge of Starshadow's bed. She could hear the mare breathing on the other side of the curtain hanging from the canopy, but it seemed as if she was waiting for Moonchaser to speak.
The young mare let out another sigh, "I... I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. I was hurt, and angry, and... and I don't know what else. Honestly, I'm still hurt and angry. It will take me a while to get to the point where I'm not. But... but I don't hate you. And I'm willing to... no, I want to heal our relationship. It'll probably never be quite the same again, but..."
She trailed off as a weak pair of hooves gingerly wrapped around her neck. Opening the eyes she didn't know she had closed, Moonchaser looked down at the shaking form of the frail mare. Gently, she wrapped her own hooves around Starshadow and pulled her off the bed, gently cradling her to let her know she wasn't going to disappear. "Oh Mother..."
The pair sat in silence after that, the rest of the world nonexistant.



"Before I say anything else, I want one thing clear from the outset. I don't want anypony to ever ask me if I love my mother or not. That mare is a sadistic bitch that Equestria and the world would be far better off without."
Midnight blinked in surprise at the mare sitting before him. Her name was definitely fitting, everything about the unicorn seemed to pour flames and thorns. Her tan, almost peach coat providing the wood fueling the burning in her red mane and yellow eyes, her cutie mark of a burning rose, even her voice.
This was Firebrand Rose.
He had been introduced to her by Featherdancer and Sunbeam when he walked in to the small sitting room (A different one, they were still fixing the hole in the wall on the other one), but conversation had been held off for a while until Dust Runner had entered and told them that Moonchaser and Starshadow were going to be awhile. Apparently she was an old friend of Sunbeam's from the early days of her thieving career.
Suppressing a sigh, Midnight prepared mentally to help another mare realize that her mother wasn't as bad as she thought she was, only to turn in shock as Sunbeam spoke.
"Yeah, sounds about right."
"Wh-what?"
The former thief rolled her eyes. "Oh come on now Midnight, you don't really think that everypony's decent, do you? Not all the bad ones wind up in the guard like Ever Wyte."
Firebrand coughed. "I should probably explain... My father was an amazing stallion, and I'm proud to be called his daughter. His wife Vinegar on the other hand..." She shook her head. "I still have no idea how my parents wound up together. The orphanage was my dad's life, but her... I seriously don't know where they could have met, let alone how they ended up hitched to the same wagon. After Dad died two years ago, I honestly expected her to cut and run.
"Shame she didn't, it would have left me free to run the orphanage and actually help them. Now? She's just soaking up the funding and running extras on the side. If I weren't pulling strings behind the scenes, we'd probably be a brothel by now. That's what she seems to think is the most profitable at least, given the number of times she's tried to sell Updraft.
"Last week though, I realized how far she's upped her game. There have been a couple of in-and-out orphans since Dad died, but I was never able to get too close to them. Then we had another one show up, a griffon chicklet. This one wasn't quite as shy as the others, less scared of us. Oh, and one more thing:
"She's not an orphan.
"Not uncommon to hear, 'they're coming back for me' and all that, so I brushed it off at first. Which is when she got angry and told me she'd been foalnapped. Chicknapped? Whichever.
"So I snuck into the main office and checked her file, only to find she didn't have one. Vinegar thinks she's so clever keeping her valuable documents in a secret compartment in the desk." Furebrand rolled her eyes. "It might have been a little safer if Dad hadn't shown it to me more than once while I was growing up.
"Anyway, long story short, this little grifflet had been taken as leverage. Her parents were causing a bit of a stir, so she had been taken hostage to rein them in. Same thing had been going on with most of the other orphans that arrived after Dad died.
"The problem is, I looked into all the others and found that they all matched with seriously bad stuff going down. Usually it involved that family dying.
"Second problem? I think the Draconequi are running out of use for us. Our funding is drying up, and the short-timers have been less and less often over the past six months. Another few months and the orphanage will starve."
Midnight's eyes had been closed while he was listening. He opened them an tipped his head to one side as he met the unicorn's eyes. "So why are you coming to us?"
Featherdancer spun to face his brother. "You can't be serious! You're not going to help!?"
"I didn't say that, I was just wondering what made us special enough that she would come to us for help."
"Why would that matter!? She needs help and-"
Dust Runner cut him off, "Featherdancer, I think he's trying to figure out what exactly she's expecting. What she's heard about us and our circle of friends."
"Who cares what she's heard!? Ponies need us to-"
"Oh for crying out loud!" Sunbeam shouted in exasperation, "For somepony whose special talent is angles, you're terrible at subtlety! Since all hope of being covert about this is out the window at this point... Featherdancer. Midnight is trying to figure out is she knows."
"If she knows wha-" Featherdancer trailed of mid-exclamation. "Oh... Oops... Sorry?"
The other three let out gentle signs of tired patience and turned back to their guest. Sunbeam was the one who asked, "So do you know?"
Firebrand shook her head. "No. I'm guessing that you're all protecting some kind of secret, but I have no idea what it is. I came to you because you have Sunbeam. First and foremost because she's my friend, but also because she's the Mare in the Mist. Sunbeam, you're the best thief in Everfree, so I've got two potential jobs for you. I need you to help me get the money I need to keep the orphanage running.
"But before we do that, I need you to help me steal a grifflet."
> The Orphanage
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The building in front of them was old. Not the same kind of ancient wizening that Starswirl's tree had, nor the timeless elegance of Starshadow Manor. It was just... old.
It was causing something of a mental block for Midnight, not being able to think of a specific word that fit. It didn't even truly qualify as dilapidated.
In an attempt to distract himself from the linguistic puzzle, he reviewed the situation. He was wearing his fake wings, so he looked like a pegasus. He was with Moonchaser, Sunbeam, Dust Runner, and Featherdancer. The five of them were standing outside of an ...old building, which "ORPHANAGE" written on an arch over the gate. At present they were waiting for Firebrand to come out and tell them that it was clear for them to come in. So far, it seemed like getting in to find out what was going on was going to be simple, straightforward, even easy.
He was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
...What? Some figures of speech still didn't translate completely in his head.
He was broken out of his second reverie by somepony coming up alongside him. Turning he blinked in surprise as he recognized the pair who had come up behind them. "You know, I'm actually looking forward to this next part." The Doctor gave him a grin while Ditzy began talking with Moonchaser.
The uneasy feeling in the pit of Midnight's stomach began to settle. It was quite obvious at this point that things were going to get out of hand. There likely would be some very real danger involved when things got interesting. He felt a grin of his own sneak onto his face.
This was going to be fun.
Both stallions were still grinning when Firebrand came out of the orphanage. "Are you two alright?"
"We're fine, just waiting for things to go wrong."
"And for the running, we tend to do that an awful lot you know."
The mare stared at them for a moment. "Ooooo-kay." She turned to Sunbeam. "They cool?" She motioned to the new arrivals.
Sunbeam nodded. "They're friends. The mare is named Ditzy, and the stallion... Just call him The Doctor, things are simpler that way."
Firebrand gave a mischevious smile. "Got it. Some kind of specialist, right?"
"...You could say that."
"Alright, well come on. Vinegar's out right now, so we've got the run of the place. I need to introduce you to everypony, give you the grand tour so you can figure out how we're gonna do this."
The group's progress was halted at the door as a red and purple blur streaked out of it. Firebrand and Sunbeam reacted immediately, the latter bucking the gate to the orphanage's yard closed while the former moved directly into the blur's path, absorbing the impact with a backwards roll.
When Firebrand Rose came to a stop, lying on her back, the blur was revealed to be a young unicorn filly, perhaps nine or ten years old. Her coat was a mottled red and purple, her straight mane a powder red with soft blue streaks, contrasting sharply with her fluffy brown tail. The most striking physical trait though, was her eyes. They were a piercing emerald, with that inquisitive light reserved for the young and the eccentric. Her giggling cut off as she noticed the strangers surrounding her.
"Sorry Brandy, that was an accident. Our catapult was..." Another young pony appeared, identical to the first in every way save that a second glance revealed him to be a colt. He trailed off as he too realized there were ponies present he didn't know.
Suddenly, the filly bolted, galloping full tilt for the orphanage's front door. The colt turned as she approached, obviously intent on the same escape route. Both were frustrated as the door wrapped in a yellow magical glow and shut before they could get through it. The pair scrabbled uselessly at the door for a few moments before collapsing and blubbering nonsensical apologies.
"Raspberry! Blackberry! I'm surprised at you!" Sunbeam stepped through the small crowd that was their group. "Is that any way for you to greet an old friend?"
The pair abruptly quieted, looking up at the mare. As one, they tackled her with gleeful excitement. She returned fire with a salvo of tickling and play wrestling.
"These are the twins," Firebrand said while picking herself up off the ground. "Raspberry and Blackberry. Their mother died in childbirth, no father to be found. They've been at this orphanage all their lives. They're also our resident pranksters and troublemakers, as you probably gathered by their entrance."
"Why were they so terrified of us?" Moonchaser asked.
"They didn't realize you were friends. Vinegar is a strong adherent to the philosophy of foals staying out of adults' business, and any of the children get in trouble if they are seen by somepony who doesn't want to see them specifically. A few potential parents have even wondered if there were actually any foals here to adopt."
The disgusted response to this was cut off as the door opened again and an older colt ran out. He screeched to a halt in front of them and began rattling off, "I'm so sorry Firebrand, I wasn't watching them carefully enough and they got away from me even though I was trying to keep them contained and I know you've got ponies coming, but they just slipped away from me and-"
"And this is Free Range. He's one of the oldest, so he helps me a lot with the younger ones. Free Range, relax, these are Sunbeam's friends." Those of the group not preoccupied with the twins took in the earth pony before them. His coat was a light brown with... markings (Again Midnight inwardly struggled with not being able to find a better word) halfway between stripes and slashes. The markings were the same deep forest green as his mane and tail. His eyes were a unique shade somewhere between brown and purple, and everypony except Midnight noticed that he lacked a cutie mark.
"Oh." He rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof. "Sorry about that then. I tend to... stress. Easily."
Featherdancer chuckled, "Don't worry wbout it, you should see my brother when he can't solve a puzzle."
Midnight rolled his eyes. "Come on now, I'm not that bad."
Moonchaser gave a polite cough. "Didn't your parents tell me about an unsolzed riddle nearly burning down their house?"
The response was a groan, "That wasn't entirely my fault, they kept taunting me about it the whole time. Besides, solutions involving cultural nuances can hardly be considered fair play."



The group arrived on the second floor just as a pegasus was closing a door behind her. "Updraft," Firebrand asked, "Is she asleep?"
The mare shook her head. "No. I was just going to grab us some lunch."
"Alright, well before you do, let me introduce you to Sunbeam's friends. Everypony, this is Updraft. She's the oldest, and the most responsible. In all honesty she probably does more to take care of the others than I do."
Updraft blushed slightly. "I don't know about that Brandy, all I do is help. You're the one that keeps us all going."
The group took in the mare... filly? Dust Runner noted that she seemed to carry herself as if she was in the same category as Midnight. Sometimes one, sometimes the other, depending on the situation and needs. Halfway between adult and child.
Her sky blue coat was heavily dotted with baby pink speckles, and it looked like she had pink flowers woven into the leading edges of her wings. Her cutie mark was a bird of some kind, rising between a pair of clouds. Her purple mane was ragged, but still looked cared for. The maid had studied hairstyle long enough to realize that it had been cut with a knife or dagger. Especially given the length of her tail, which was the same color, but had a turquoise streak running through it. The same impression was given by her hooves, where the fur was just a little too long, just a little too ragged, yet still obviously well cared for.
It didn't make any sense at all until Dust Runner remembered where she had heard the name Updraft before. Once it clicked, it made entirely too much sense.
She was making herself unattractive. Not ridiculously so, but just enough that the stallions would decide they could do better with somepony else, while not making herself look easy or desperate.
It was a defensive measure.
While events are not determined until they actually occur, sometimes facts are set in stone beforehoof. This was one of those times. Past this particular point of no return there was no way to prevent Dust Runner doing Vinegar serious harm. The oath that she silently swore to herself had a significant part in that.
"...downstairs to get some food now, but you should go in and see her." Dust Runner's thoughts faded as she returned to the situation at hoof. Updraft was speaking, "It'll make her very happy, she always loves it when ponies visit her."
Firebrand nodded. "That's the plan. Hurry back with that food, you know she'll wear herself out meeting them." The nod was returned and the pegasus hopped over the balcony railing, gliding gently down to the first floor. The unicorn led the group through the door that she had been closing when they first met her.
The room was small, barely large enough to fit all the ponies who crammed themselves into it. A good third of the floor space was taken up by a bed containing a small unicorn filly. She looked younger than the twins, she was maybe half their size. Her coat was pink, complementing well with her two-tone purple mane and tail. The part that would stick with Dust Runner for the rest of her life though was her amethyst eyes. Not because of the color, it wasn't actually uncommon. It was the life and energy in them. The filly was obviously tired, her boy made that quite clear, yet her eyes were still wide and inquisitive.
Dust Runner was snapped back to reality by Midnight's snort of laughter. "You're joking, right? Who actually names their child 'Star?'" (Nopony commented on the irony)
"We think that her mother was actually trying to say 'Starling,' but by the time somepony who knew about birds pointed that out, the paperwork had already been filed," Firebrand responded.
Featherdancer nodded. "Makes sense, especially with the first part of her name."
"Heya Sparky," Sunbeam sat down next to the head of the bed. "Howya doin'?"
The filly smiled brightly, "Better with friends here... Although I don't think I've got long."
Sunbeam sighed and looked up at Firebrand. "How much longer?"
"With where she's at?" The yellow mare shook her head. "Six months, seven if we can all fight with her."
A calm settled over the room at that. More of a pall really, but with death in the discussion that wasn't something anypony wanted to think about. The filly herself broke it, rolling her eyes as she did so. "Oh geez guys, really? So I'm dying and my tombstone will say six years old, boo hoo, get over it. I have." She started laughing at their shocked expressions. "Please, I haven't left this room in over a year, and I've been stuck in bed for six months now. I've had plenty of time to get over it."
There was a brief pause before Moonchaser spoke, "What's wrong?"
"I've got the Crimson Flu." The statement was greeted by muffled gasps from all but two ponies.
"So that's why." Dust shot a curious glance in Midnight's direction.
"But-" The Doctor corked Ditzy's mouth before she could finish her sentence.
Moonchaser, equallly confused, coked her head to one side. "That's funny, you don't seem any shade of red to me."
The filly giggled. "Of course not silly, that's not why they call it that."
"Then why..."
Midnight cleared his throat. "Uh, Moonchaser? It's named the Crimson Flu because of the trail of blood it leaves behind."
"Midnight? Don't wax poetic on me."
Dust spoke up, "Actually, he's not. That's the real reason. Moony... Nopony has ever survived the crimson flu."
Midnight  turned to Sunbeam. "So is this why you asked me about it after the... incident?"
The mare nodded. "I was hoping that maybe, being who you are, you might have had something, but..."
"I'm sorry. I really am.  But we're decades away from a cure. The only thing we can really do is keep it from spreading from an infected pony, though it looks like they've already done that."
Firebrand chimed in, "That was all Sunny. She just showed up one night with a potion that cost I-don't-want-to-know-how-much. None of us even knew about it until we found the empty bottle next to her pillow."
Further conversation was forestalled as Updraft entered the room with several plates of food. She told them that the others were eating downstairs, so they decided to have lunch with the sick filly, Featherdancer, Midnight, and Ditzy flying up to the ceiling and eating upside down to make more space on the floor. Moonchaser tried this as well, but returned to the floor after her third failed bite.
When asked where they learned this particular trick, all three gave a variation on "It's a long story."



After they finished lunch and said their farewells (with promises of future visits) the group made their way to the end of the hall, all the way at the rear of the house. Firebrand stopped just outside the door. "Okay, she's in here. Now remember, Vinegar's exact words were that she was 'not to leave this room' but that was really it. So as long as we don't break that one rule, we won't trip the security spells."
Sunbeam rolled her eyes. "She always was terrible at closing the loopholes in those things. I have no idea how the orphanage has survived this long."
"Pity for the poor parentless ponies, and rumors that a certain thief considers this place under her protection."
By some unspoken arrangement, Midnight, Sunbeam, Moonchaser, and Featherdancer went into the room first, the rest following behind and hanging back near the door. The room was much the same as the one they had just left, save for the occupant. Though she didn't seem much older than the sick filly in the other room, there was a stark difference between her and the grifflet before them.
The chick had tawny fur and feathers fading from russet to rust as you drew back away from her midrif and the divide there. Her amber eyes already held predatory power in them, although given that said power was directed at a ball of yarn, there wasn't quite as much tension in the air as there could have been.
After exchanging glances, with the others, Midnight spoke up, "Hello there."
The grifflet squeaked as she spun to face her audience. Featherdancer suppressed an eyeroll. And ponies think that I'm too fond of my entrances.
Midnight smiled at her. "My name is Inkwell, what's yours?"
"M'not s'posed to say. Not s'posed to tell anygriffon my name."
"Well we have to call you something," Moonchaser pointed out, "So why don't you tell us something we can call you?"
The grifflet continued to hesitate, and Featherdancer let out a sigh of exasperation. "Look, if it's really that difficult, then just make something up. Or we can if you want, but can we simplify this?"
The chick looked around for a moment before her eyes fell on a stuffed toy that was lying on the floor near her. It was obviously the source of inspiration she chose, as she named it in the next second.
She looked up and met their gazes. "You can call me Mouse."
> Of Mouse and Mares
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	She was seven years old, her favorite color was green, and she wanted them to call her "Mouse" because that's what her favorite uncle called her. That was the sum total of everything they managed to get out of the little grifflet.
Between threats from her chicknappers (They decided to use griffon terms) and warnings from her parents about talking to strangers, she wasn't about to tell them anything more. They also had to give up after about an hour so that they could sneak out without Vinegar knowing they were there.
A few days later, Vinegar was again out of the house, so they snuck back in. This time they brought Contrail and Lotus Blossom along. That turned out to be a good thing, apparently Lotus Blossom reminded Mouse of the maid whose daughter she played with. They didn't get much more out of her, but she was more comfortable, and they did get a little...



"So if she runs away, they hurt her parents. If her parents don't do what they want, they hurt her. As soon as they get what they want, they'll kill her and her parents."
"No Midnight."
"Moonchaser, come on, it's obvious! There's only one way to solve this problem. Featherdancer, back me up here."
"He's right about it being a solution. If nothing else, it'll buy time for her parents to vanish."
"What is it with you two? I never even would have thought about trying this until I met you, but it seems to be your go-to plan."
"Oh now come on Sunny, you can't say you never did it while running from the guards. And technically, it's our Plan B."
"Out of curiosity, have any of us ever seen your Plan A?"
"Yeah Dusty, I'm sure Midnight's shown it to you plenty of times by now, you just didn't realize it because it usually ends up with us using Plan B anyway."
"So what is this mysterious Plan A?"
Midnight smirked. "Of all ponies Contrail, you should see it, it's the same as your Plan A."
Firebrand tipped her head to one side. "Which is?"
The mage's smile turned predatory, "Fight your way out."
"I see the problem with using that here." Sunbeam drawled.
The Doctor cast a nervous glance towards where Lotus, Ditzy, and Mouse were playing in a corner. "It might not be our best plan, but it's still a plan. I say keep it as Plan B and find a different Plan A."
Further discussion was cut off as they heard Free Range call loudly from the front door, "Oh! Mrs. Vinegar! You're back early, we weren't expecting you for another hour! Is something the matter? Can I help you with anything?"
Eyes widened and heads swiveled.
Dust Runner and Contrail dove under the bed, hiding behind the dust ruffle. There's an interesting story in the name of that item about mishearing things and how Dust Runner wound up as a maid instead of a messenger, but that's not what you're here for. Another time perhaps?
Lotus Blossom, on the other hoof, fell back on her old standby of hiding in the closet. The rest all crammed themselves into a corner, Midnight, Featherdancer, and Ditzy standing on the cieling again, as somepony whispered, "Sunny, we could really use an illusion spell right now. Glamour, mirage, whatever you've got, just make us disappear."
The spell finished right as the door opened.



Vinegar snorted as she came through the gate of her domain. "You? Did you forget that you're useless Grass Stain? Get out of my way."
As she shoved him aside, she heard a door slamming in one of the halls. Ordinarilly, the first thing she would have done would be to storm into that room and give those rotten twins a beating. Unfortunately, she had business to attend to first.
When she reached the top of the stairs, the pegasus slut was coming out of the invalid's room. A hiss drove her back in.
Finally, after what felt like entirely too much effort, she threw open the door at the end of the hall and walked into the prisoner's room. Out of the corner of her eye, she though she saw something sparkle, but it was gone as quickly as she looked. Useless light. If only it wouldn't cost so much to remove the fire braziers and seal up the windows.
She sneered at the wretch standing on the edge of the bed. "Well freeloader, you'll be happy to know that you're going to be out of my mane by this time tomorrow." The impudent brat didn't even acknowledge her! Well, she would just have to teach her her place. "Just like your precious pa~rents" She deliberately drew out the word, "Are already out of Durcheinander's hair."
Ah, now there was the reaction she was looking for. Shock and tears were in the guttersnipe's eyes. Vinegar was satisfied, her record was unbroken. She could safely say that she could make any foal cry again. Now to twist the knife.
"I do have to thank you though, I got a promotion out of you." She gave a saccharine smile. "You see, before, they just used me like a warehouse, but now... Now I get to actually do what I want to!
"You see, it would have been another week before the assassins who cleaned up that mess got back, so I took the opportunity to offer my services instead. And do you know what my contacts said?" She leaned in close to whisper in the chicken's face. "They said yes!"



Midnight took the opportunity to take in the mare's features. Her coat was an off-white that reminded him of yellowed bones. Her mane and tail were a solid olive green that matched her eyes. What didn't make much sense to him was her cutie mark. For the life of him, he had no idea what an icicle had to do with anything.
When she left, there was a stunned silence. None of them had expected to find out they were too late.
Lotus and Ditzy descended on Mouse, trying to comfort her. Sunbeam shooed them away in disgust. "She doesn't need platitudes you idiots. Her parents got killed, not her dog. So unless any of you can bring back the dead, she needs to grieve."
Firebrand nodded, "Sunny's right, you can ask any orphan in here. She needs a shoulder to cry on and somepony to hold her more than anything."
Midnight sighed, "Unfortunately Sunbeam, it can't be you. You need to go invisible and keep an eye on what Vinegar's up to."
The mare nodded and vanished in a shimmer as Firbrand picked up the chicklett that everypony else was now afraid to go near. "In the meantime," She pointed out, "We need to come up with a plan."



Sunbeam looked ill when she slipped back into the room. She waved off help and looked at Midnight and Moonchaser. "Please tell me you have a plan."
"We've got a few," her sister said, "What did you find out?"
The unicorn swallowed hard. "I... I'll skip the details." She shuddered. "The... the point is, that she's going to cook Mouse... And then I think she's going to serve her for dinner."
Lotus Blossom and Featherdancer blanched, and Moonchaser looked like she might be ill. The Doctor and Midnight exchanged a glance and a nod. "It's settled then." The time charger said.
"Which plan are we going with?" Ditzy queried.
Midnight's voice was almost a whisper, "All of them."



Midnight shook his head as he cast the parchment littered with runes aside. "The wards are set up so that I can't take them apart or create a hole without her knowing."
"Can't you bypass it?"
"There's nothing to bypass. Whoever set this up was clever, I'm perfectly capable of making a hole or disabling the wards, but when I do, she'll know."
"Well, there went Plan A."



Sunbeam looked downtrodden as she caame back into the room. "The front door and gate are both locked and the kitchen door is open so she can watch it. We're not getting out that way."
"Well, there went Plan H."



Dust Runner sighed as she pressed the last space on the wall. "No secret passages."
"Well, there went plan Q.5."



"There went plan ZXL."



"There went plan 975."



"Plan 2376R."



"Plan Muffin."



"Plan Alphanumeric Designation."



"Plan F1R3."



"L8R."



"17 Dot Explosion."



"Three pi and a half."



"J9sev-"
"You know," Midnight cut his brother off, "Giving random names to the plans doesn't actually mean we tried any more of them."
"And it's annoying." Contrail griped.
"Well whaddaya want? Moonchaser said we're not allowed to use 'Plan B' so what was I supposed to do?"
"Doctor?" Ditzy spoke up, "I think we need to go back to Plan A."
Contrail cocked an eyebrow. "I thought we agreed that was a bad thing?"
The time traveler smiled. "Not your Plan A, mine."
Sunbeam nodded. "So what's the plan?"
"Bluff."



Vinegar stopped short as she walked into the room. Standing in front of her were a pair of stallions, an earth pony and a bat pony. The earth pony looked up at her. "Hello, I'm the Doctor. Before you ask, it's better that that's all you know me as. Now then, run along, and we'll be out of your mane as soon as we've dealt with this one." He pointed with a hoof at the grifflett where she was tied up on the bed. It looked like the bat pony was about to nuzzle her...
Or bite her the thought sprung unbidden to everypony's mind as he ran his tongue over his teeth.
The mare shook herself. "Now just a minute here, I was told that I was going to be allowed to deal with this guttersnipe."
The bat pony rolled his eyes. "You took too long. If you really wanted it that badly, then you should have finished it before we got here."
She gave him a quizzical look. "And what are you doing anyway."
"They can't can't use a blood trace on her if I drain all of her blood. It'll keep anypony from finding the body."
"I thought we wanted the body found?"
"At the right place and time. It's not enough to kill them, we have to make their deaths useful."
She took a step back. "That's not how they described you."
The pair traded a glance. "You seem to have us confused with somepony." The bat pony said, "We're new."
She took another step back. "No, they would have told me if-"
"Providing you're important enough." The earth pony again. "Besides, no good assassin gives a warning."
She took a third step and saw something out of the corner of her eye. "There's somepony hiding over there."
The earth pony nodded. "The third member of our team likes her privacy. Her invisibility spell is how we got in here past you."
She shook her head slowly. "No. They never send three. Always two." She spun and started galloping down the hallway.
The Doctor charged after her, calling over his shoulder as he did, "Midnight, Contrail, we may need your Plan A after all."
> Flame of Defiance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"So tell me Sunbeam, exactly how did you reach the conclusion that she was getting ready to cook Mouse?"
"She was talking about 'taking care' of her while getting the kitchen ready to start cooking, what was I supposed to think?"
"And it never occured to you that her kitchen looked like a low budget version of my lab?"
"Inkwell, exactly how much cooking do you really think I've done in my life?"
Further response was cut off as another bottle of potion shattered across the floor between them. This one burst into flames, which Firebrand picked up and extinguished in her magic. "My mother's talent is ice magic, but we're from a long line of alchemists. It's honestly about the only thing I'm glad she gave me."
"I'm just glad we stopped her from getting that distress call out," Moonchaser inserted herself into the conversation, "Which reminds me, Contrail? Dusty? Are you two doing alright?"
The pair responded in the affirmative, the stallion's horn glowing and the mare pushing her hooves against one of Midnight's hastily scrawled spell circles.
Another potion flew towards the kitchen door, and was quickly returned by Sunbeam's magic. The acid splashed across the wall as Vinegar ducked back down behind the table she was using as a barricade. "You foals will never get away with this! The Draconequi will exterminate you!" The mare popped back up long enough to throw another potion.
Midnight blasted the bottle with the same spell crystal he had used to escape Discord's dungeon almost as it left her hoof. A white cloud of snow erupted in the middle of the kitchen, preventing either side from attacking for a moment. "The draconequi are coming to an end," He called out, "Haven't you heard? The alicorns are returning."
"You impudent little... What could you possibly know about the balance of power?"
"We know that it's changing." Sunbeam fired a spell blindly into the swirling snow. "And we know that Mayhem and his ilk never had true power."
Moonchaser tackled her sister out of the way and Midnight slammed the door as a dozen icicles as thick around as a pony's leg speared out of the snow. The sounds of icicles embedding themselves in the wall was punctuated by the three that were poking through the door.
Sunbeam sighed. "Moonchaser... I know you don't like this - a few of the others too, but you're the most vocal about it - but... I don't think we can let her go at this point. There are too many ponies it'll put in danger."
"What? No, Sunbeam, we can't-"
"She's my mother."
Midnight sighed, "We know, and we get that Firebrand, but-"
"No, you don't. She's my mother, so this is my responsibility."
Sunbeam gently set a hoof on Firebrand's shoulder. "That doesn't mean you have to do it alone. I'll come with you."
"No, I'll go," Midnight cut in, "Your illusion magic is good, but it won't help her very much."
"I can use my other magic."
"Bad idea." Dust Runner shook her head. "We rely on that too much. We barely even know how to use our powers, and how long do you think it'll really be before they figure us out? Especially if we're shifting at every available opportunity?"
Contrail nodded. "Dust Runner's right. We need to send somepony else. It won't be you though Midnight, I'll go."
"Contrail, I know you don't trust me, I get you don't like me, but-"
"This has nothing to do with that. I won't deny it, I don't really trust or like you. I'm waiting for you to backstab us. But you haven't yet, so I won't do anything about it until you do. But your magic isn't good for this kind of thing. My lightning spells will help a lot more here."
Grudgingly, Midnight nodded. "Fair enough. I'll be ready if you need help though."
"Great." Sunbeam clapped her hooves. "Now we need to plan, and plan fast."



Sunbeam had taken Contrail's place in the disruption spell so that Vinegar wouldn't be able to call for help. Midnight and Featherdancer were flanking the door, standing ready in case Firebrand and Contrail needed help. Moonchaser, Lotus Blossom, and Cloudwing were off making sure the others kept away from the fighting, just in case.
The kitchen door was thrown open and Contrail and Firebrand dove in. The pair slid across the floor, taking cover behind some cabinets. Ice spells and potions were flying at them almost instantly, and both unicorns returned fire and lightning.
"Surrender Vinegar!" Contrail shouted, "It's your only way out of here alive!"
"You think you can defeat me? You arrogant foals, who do you think you are!?"
"A filly who is rather confused as to how you ever got her father to marry you!"
Fire, lightning, and ice collided in the center of the room. The resulting explosion knocking all three ponies to the ground. Contrail's ears were ringing as Midnight dragged him too the door. Shaking his head to try and clear it, he noticed Featherdancer doing the same with Firebrand. The younger colt dove as a barrage of icicles perforated the air.
Midnight looked up, and Contrail followed his gaze to see Vinegar shakily getting to her hooves. The bat pony's eye glowed, and then a spell shot out of it towards the mare. Contrail recognized it, most unicorns would. Basic magical blast. He was trying to decide whether or not to be horrified that the other stallion had killed the mare, when the spell hit.
Striking right at the base of her horn.
The mare's eyes went wide as the bone crossed her field of vision. She looked like she was shouting something, but Contrail's ears were still ringing, so he couldn't make it out. She threw another potion with her hooves, but Midnight just blasted it out of the air. Desperately, the mare scrambled to pull another potion out of the bags beside her, only to stare in horror as one slipped from her hooves.
The first sound Contrail heard as the ringing faded was a dull roar. Then the shattering. As bottle after bottle burst under more and more magical effects, Vinegar sitting in the center, surrounded and trapped by it. The magical energies were swirling around her, competing with each other. The vortex began pulling in the flames that had been scattered around the room by the fight.
Contrail felt another tug on his shoulder and realized that this was probably bad.
Moonchaser met them as they rushed out, the orphanage foals in tow. "Inkwell, what's going on? Ditzy and the Doctor were saying something about-"
"Impending explosion," The mage cut her off, "Everypony out now."
Further debate was cut off as said explosion occurred. Everypony was rocked, but they stayed standing. Glancing over his shoulder, Contrail was very glad that his mother had taught him to always close doors behind himself. The heavy oak was completely enflamed.
"Well, that was the explosion, so now we can-"
"Moonchaser, there's a time to calculate and a time to act." Midnight was deathly calm. "The large wooden structure we are in right now is on fire." He gestured down the hall, where several parts of the wall had ignited. "Evacuate. Now."



The entire group stood there, watching the orphanage as it burned. There was a resounding crash as the second floor collapsed into the first, sending sparks high into the air. This was followed by an anguished cry, "No!"
Everypony turned to look at Sunbeam, confusion in their gazes as they saw the normally strong mare collapsed and in tears. "Sh-she trusted us, and we... we forgot about her!" She sobbed. The memory of a sick filly suddenly returned to everypony, and all their hearts dropped in a combination of sorrow and shame.
"Don't be too hard on yourselves." They turned to see a pink unicorn mare with a two-tone purple mane and amethyst eyes, her cutie mark of three gemstones clearly visible on her flank. "You were in a burning building, there was only so much time. I really doubt that Sparky blames you at all... Though I suppose promising to never leave anypony else behind for her sake would probably make her feel better." The mare shook her head. "But anyway, what would I know, I'm just passing through."
The mare turned and walked away, slipping into an alley between a pair of shops. The crying continued for a moment before Midnight and Featherdancer simultaneously started and looked at each other. "How did that mare know Sparky's nickname?" Featherdancer asked.
Sunbeam froze. Immediately, she jumped up and ran for the alley. She and several of the others skidded into the entrance, only to find it both empty and a dead end.
Midnight cleared his throat, "Just thinking out loud here, but is anypony else noticing that our favorite time travelers are conspicuously absent?"
Further comment on this subject was cut off by another mare, a light red earth pony with a white mane and tail and a black umbrella cutie mark. "Children, just a suggestion, but you may want to get the young one away before interested parties start sniffing around."
Eyes widened, as the group looked at each other for a moment. In lieu of any other volunteers, Moonchaser took command. "Sunbeam, Featherdancer, get Mouse out of the city unnoticed. Inkwell, you're the expert in faking deaths, make hers happen. Everypony else... Meet up at the tree."
By the time anypony else considered it safe enough to arrive and watch the end of the fire, the alicorns in disguise and their allies had vanished into the wind.



"So how'd you wind up doing it?" Featherdancer asked.
"I raided a pet cemetary. Slipped a chicken and the back half of a cat into the rubble. Made sure they got very burned."
The group sat in silence for a moment, drinking their various teas and juices as they lounged around Starswirl's living room, waiting for Contrail to arrive with Firebrand and her orphans.
Moonchaser broke the silence next, a curious expression on her face. "Midnight, what did you do with the front half of the cat?"
> Interlude to a More Recent Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Smoke and embers filled the air, making it increasingly difficult to breathe. "Doctor!" Ditzy's voice felt raw, "Doctor I think you need to come up with something!"
"Ditzy, I... I'm sorry. I don't know what to do."
"Well think of something!" The pegasus looked down at the filly cradled in her hooves. "She breathed in a lot of smoke before we got here, I don't know how much time she has."
"Ditzy... She might already be-"
"I can feel her heartbeat Doctor, she's got a chance. We're not leaving her, but I can't carry her through this!" As if to punctuate the mare's statement, more of the upstairs hallway collapsed. The stairs behind her were gone. There was a twelve hoof gap full of flame and smoke between her and the other end of the hallway, where the Doctor and the TARDIS were. Wait... the TARDIS! "Doctor, maybe there's something in the TARDIS? Maybe you can bring it over here?"
"NO! Ditzy, I... I can't risk it. If I miss, even by a minute... No. I'm not getting into that box without you."
"Well then think fast Doctor, it's getting hard to breathe over here."
"Breathe... Breathe! Ditzy, you're brilliant!"
"I know dear, I know."
"Alright, when I say so, take as deep of a breath as you can. Trust me, and fly right through the hole."
"Tell me when."
"Just a moment... calibrating... NOW!"
For the sake of those readers who aren't knowledgeable about alien technology and advanced physics, I'll shorten the explanation the Doctor gave as to what he did. Basically, he used his sonic screwdriver to vibrate a cone of air hard enough to create vacuum conditions. The fire, starved for oxygen, bent around the cone, creating a tunnel. Ditzy flew through, clutching tightly to her cargo.
Her eyes were screwed shut, which was inconvenient, as her course brought her directly into her travelling companion. All three ponies tumbled across the floor, the unconscious filly rolling through the open door of a large blue box. The adults quickly picked themselves up and dove in after her, and a few seconds later, the box was gone.
Five minutes later, so was the building, though through entirely different means.



Ditzy trotted up behind her husband where he was running the controls. She jumped up and landed on him, forehooves wrapping around his neck in an ambush hug. "She's sleeping right now. It doesn't look like the smoke inhalation did anything permanent."
"That's good..."
"So she'll be alright, right?"
"Not yet. She's still sick."
"Ah. So that's where we're heading."



The alicorn outside their door wasn't mad really, she was just... miffed.
"Two months. You missed by two months."
"Come again?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow.
"Where is she?"
"Right here," Ditzy stepped out with the filly on her back. "The fire didn't hurt her, but the Crimson Flu..."
"I know." Celestia turned toward a group of ponies waiting behind her. "Lifeline. This filly has the crimson flu and recently survived a building fire. Take Steelwing and Heatwind, get her to a secure hospital, andremember that all of this is classified Blue Delta Four."
"Ma'am? I'm Blue Gamma Five."
"Congratulations on your promotion Field Medic, now go save that filly."
The pegasus chariot flew off with the unicorn medic inside tending to the filly.
Celestia turned to another of her guards. "Blue Shield, have somepony track down Alpha Tango, I want them on her security detail."
To his credit, the guard's eyes only widened slightly. "Yes Ma'am." He galloped away.
The princess finally turned back to the time travelers. "Now then. You two have arrived at a very inconvenient time.
"We always knew you were coming, that you'd bring her to the future eventually, so that we could cure her Crimson Flu. We prepared for it, even made a special little niche in the government so we could take care of her when she showed up. 'Personal Student of the Princess.' Originally 'Princesses,' but after Luna...
"Anyway. the point is, that you've now made things rather difficult. Two months ago, I appointed a new student. It is too soon to graduate her, she is too powerful to leave untrained, and I just got finished yesterday reassuring the nobility that I would not be taking any more foals under my wing in the near future. So, how do you propose I take care of her?"
Ditzy and the Doctor exchanged a glance. "Actually Tia," Ditzy grinned. "We were talking about that on the way here."
Her husband nodded. "We've been meaning to settle down anyway. That was our last trip to the revolution, we'd already gone through the entire war, just popped back to get her out of the fire."
"And your suggestion?"
Ditzy's voice was soft. "I think... I think after a thousand years, it's about time that filly got adopted by somepony, don't you?"
Celestia's jaw didn't drop, but it took some willpower to accomplish that. "You mean..." Suddenly she straightened up, then facehoofed. "I owe Midnight forty bits." She shook her head, a light smile playing across her lips. "Well then, it's a good thing an old friend of ours insisted I always bring these with me to a meeting that could have been this."
A stack of folders floated over in her magic. "What are those?" Ditzy cocked her head.
"Paperwork. Trans-Dimensional Naturalization Form, Trans-Chronal Reintegration Packet, Citizenry Shift Form Version III-A, and adoption paperwork. Along with Royal Approval documentation for all of it so that you can bypass the bureaucratic red tape."
"Okay... wait, what year is it? No, that won't help, time magic is always juggling the counting system... Your student! Celestia, which student did you just pick up?"
"Her name is Twilight Sparkle."
"Oh. Oh boy."
"Something wrong Doctor?"
"Spoilers. But yeah, I guess this is as good a time as any to raise a family. One problem though, I can fill out my own paperwork, and Ditzy can fill out her Trans-Chronal Reintegration thingy - You're about fifty years in the future by the way dear - but neither of us know much about the filly."
"Worry not, I have been her friend for over a thousand years. I will handle filling out Amethyst Star's information. You just make sure Sparkler grows up happy."