> The Story of Chris the Changeling
>  by Silver Inkwell
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Story Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello there, my name is Chris, I am a male changeling, and this is my story.

My story begins after the failed invasion of Canterlot by Queen Chrysalis, I'm sure you know and have heard of that story, and it begins in the small town of Ponyville.

But before I get to where I almost am let me first explain my past some more, after the battle I did infiltrate the city and remained undiscovered, but during all the time that I was undiscovered I had to make myself useful and helpful by doing jobs, small chores, and other various tasks that were required of me, or rather the pony that I poised at the time another pony saw me. But I never remained the same pony for long, I always changed to do something more fun, or less exerting, and I never did cause any trouble to the town, or at least not much that ever was noticeable, and never anything that had to be fixed by the princess or her friends, it was always under the radar, and no one ever knew it was me, no one ever discovered that it was me, not until recently at least.

But that is enough of the past for now I think, now it is time for me to get to the events that lead me to being discovered as the real changeling that I am.

I was in my usual form of a random (as in chosen, I kept the same form every day after I met him so ponies wouldn't suspect that something was wrong), non specific, generic male pony (whose cutie mark was a quill and his body color a light brown), I decided to pick up his form after I met him randomly, he worked out very well since no pony seemed to know him, and to avoid confusion I didn’t use his name, but my name instead, and I stuck to his form the most so that I wouldn’t get confused with what pony wanted what from which pony.

Anyhow all the trouble began on a Tuesday (which seemed to happen quite a lot around Ponyville with Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends around), I was just walking around town, doing my chores and small part time jobs and blending in and not causing any trouble (I didn’t want to do anything so bad that it would cause me not to have love from any pony I knew or met, or the town in general), but that’s when it happened, I ran into Pinkie Pie (literally), and you might be asking, oh, what’s the trouble with that? Isn’t she fun? 

Well just you wait and you’ll see, I’ll tell you the truth, I bumped into her and apologized and she said, “No biggie Chris, I have lots of parties to plan today and tons of friends to see too, but I only wish that there were some way I could see them in time and all at once, like there were multiple copies of me,”

“Okay,” I said and I thought to myself that she must be crazy, “I’ll see you later then if that’s fine with you, or not at all again, which would be even better.”

“Okay then, bye,” she said bouncing off into the distance (literally) and I walked on oblivious to the trouble that would come my way later that day. When I finished up all my chores and jobs for the day I started to head towards my home (a house for rent actually) when I saw Pinkie Pie again, except that it wasn’t just one Pinkie Pie, but multiple copies of herself, and they were all running around causing chaos and confusion and destruction, I blinked in confusion at this and thought to myself, surely these are not my changeling brothers and sisters, and if they are why replicate her alone, why not replicate everyone here? It just made no sense to me, so I followed the mob or horde or swarm or mass of Pinkie Pies (what do you call a clone army? Chris thought to himself as he went on,) and after a while, after the whole incident with Pinkie Pie was over and Princess Twilight Sparkle sent all the clones away, she explained that they weren’t changelings, but rather the effect of a magic pond.

I was curious of this as I naturally was, for I wondered in my head, if I could find this magical and mythical pond, and I used it, I could create and army of myself, and Queen Chrysalis wouldn’t have to wait so long to return to power, I could take over here in Ponyville and then maybe all of Equestria (I had grand visions and plans and thoughts and ideas like hers at some times, mostly not).

So with this plan and idea in my head I set off to find Pinkie Pie and find out all I could about this magical and mythical pond, where to find it, and how to use it, the only problem would be getting her to talk, but with any luck she would spout it off the top of her head without even realizing it. So I went off in search of Pinkie Pie for the answers, and I didn’t have to wait long for it, by the time Thursday came around I had found her and cornered her and was asking her some standard questions about the whole entire event that had happened.

“So,” I said casually trying to ease and lure her in, “Tuesday was quite an event, I mean there you were hopping all around the place with that clone army of yours, but tell me, how did you ever find that mythical magical pond?”

“Simple,” Pinkie Pie said oblivious to what I was trying to do and eating her cupcakes, “I just followed an old nursery rhyme that I just happened to know.”

“And can you please tell me this old nursery rhyme? I’m sure I haven’t heard it yet, after all, I am new around here to this place, and you would be helping me a lot with any small piece of information that you could supply and give to me.”

“Sure,” she says, “It goes something like this, ‘Where the brambles are the thickest, there you will find a pond beyond the most twisted of vines’.”

“That’s very vague and general,” Chris said, “Anything else to that?”

“Nope, but I did forget to mention the part where I found the pond in the Everfree forest, a spooky place if there ever was one if you asked me, there’s lots of thick fog there that just seems unnatural, and it’s very dark as well, and not unless you also count the part of the old rhyme that says, ‘And into her own reflection she stared yearning for one whose reflection she shared, and solemnly swore not to be scared at the prospect doubly there’.”

“Well thank you Pinkie Pie,” Chris said smiling deviously, “This helps a lot, and now I have everything that I need to know, thanks a lot, Pinkie Pie.”

“Wait,” she said, “Why do you want to know all of this?”

“Uh no reason, it’s just for some research paper I’m doing on magic, that’s all.”

“Well you should go out and make some friends then if you’re stuck in your room or house all day trying to study and research all those dusty old and boring books, Twilight never made any friends that way when she was just an old and boring student and not a Princess, personally I find the whole ordeal a bit too much, and instead I find that a party canon always does the trick to make someone smile, and that is why I always bring mine around to wherever I go no matter what the situation is, and it has always worked for me before.”

“Uh okay then,” Chris said as he got up and started to walk out and leave, but just then Pinkie Pie was suddenly in front of him and fired her party canon.

“See it always works!” she said.

“How do you do that?” Chris said curiously.

“Do what?”

“You know, get from one place to another, it’s almost like you teleport or use magic, but you can’t, you’re an earth pony, so again I ask how you do that.”

“Well I’m sorry that I can’t answer your question for you Chris, because I have no idea what you’re talking about. I just do what I do, I suppose.”

“You know what? Forget that I asked that to you, anyhow, thanks a lot Pinkie Pie, I’ll be seeing you around in the future, I guess, if you’re lucky enough.”

“Alright, goodbye Chris, see you later then!” Pinkie Pie said as Chris left her home and walked out and started heading towards the Everfree forest, home of the mythical and magical pond that would create an army of clones for him.

So I went into the Everfree forest (and Pinkie Pie was right about it, it was dark and spooky and had thick fog and mist all around, but I wasn’t scared of it, I was far worse than anything that could be in those woods) and I wandered through bushes and brambles (the thickest I could find), but still no pond anywhere, “I wonder where it could be,” I said to myself out loud (a habit of mine when I get scared or nervous or excited or curious or anxious, and in this case it was the case of the last two), and I walked through some more brambles and then to my surprise I found myself falling through a hole, and when I finally tumbled all the way down and fell on my face (ouch, I thought), I got up and to my surprise and delight I saw a pond, “This must be the pond Pinkie Pie spoke of,” I said to myself again (this time out of nervous excitement), “But I wonder if what she told me was true and will work, but I suppose there is only one way to find out,” I said approaching the lake and said the words I had previously heard from Pinkie Pie earlier that day (I do take notes you know).

“And into his reflection he stared, yearning for one whose reflection he shared, and solemnly swore not to be scared at the prospect doubly there.”

And then he went through the water (a fact that Pinkie Pie had mentioned) and when he came out the other side he found an exact copy of himself standing there in his true form (he had decided to change once he saw the water for he thought it would and might only work with his true form), “Wow,” he said to himself, “I’m looking good, I wouldn’t be surprised if girls asked me out for a date sometime soon and near in the future, but I suppose that I, or we, can hold onto my, or our, dreams and hopes until Ponyville is conquered at last.”

“Yeah,” Chris 2 said (I label them as to not confuse me or you), “I suppose that works with me, but I have only one question for you, or myself I suppose.”

“What is it, me?” I asked curiously.

“Who do you want me to take form or shape of first? I mean I know your plan obviously, and I support and agree with it because I’m you, but this is all so new and confusing to me as I’m sure it is to you, so can you give me a command or something to follow? I think I would do well under leadership.”

“Good question,” I said, “When I have assembles my army here and we return and go back to town you will take form of the first pony you see or meet, as well as every other clone I make, but for a special six I will require them to take the form of the Mane 6, and then once they are out of the way nothing can stop me! Or us! I don’t really know since this is all very confusing to me, or us!”

“Well then, I got that, understood, sir,” Chris 2 said.

Chris sighed, “I have always wanted to be called sir,” he said to himself, “Now get to work my clone friend, we have a lot of work to do to build that army.”

It didn’t take as long as I expected it to, but soon I had my army of clones ready to go and take Ponyville over, and so we (or is it I?) marched through the forest of Everfree back to Ponyville, and we (or is it I?) took over the town with ease, and soon we (or is I?) had the Mane 6 cornered and ready to be taken over and replaced, but I couldn’t help myself when I entered their tree house, I just had to brag, the most common and deadly fatal flaw if there ever was one.

“Well hello there,” I said when I entered their tree house as my cloaked or veiled self, “I see that all of you are gathered here today in honor of me, how very lovely and nice of you, and how very thoughtful and considerate too.”

“Um we’re not here on behalf of you,” Rainbow Dash said, “We’re not even sure who you are really, I mean I might have seen you around town, but who knows for sure, right? Because I’m awesome and can’t deal with minor distractions.”

“I know who he is,” Pinkie Pie said, “His name is Chris and he was asking a lot of questions about the pond where I cloned myself the other day, and he was acting very strangely and odd about it too, it was almost like he was kind of keeping and carrying some sort of secret behind him.” (It was Friday now).

“Oh did he?” Twilight Sparkle said, “How very interesting, but tell me Chris, why the sudden and strange and odd curiosity of this pond she talked about?”

“No reason,” I said smiling deviously, “None at all.”

“Shucks, you’re lying as I know it and as we all know it here around this table in this room here, so tell us the truth now,” Applejack said furiously.

“Very well then,” I said, “Since you demand to know the truth, I’ll show it to you, but trust me when I say that you won’t like what you see at all.”

With that said Chris transformed to his true self, “Now do you see what I am, Princess Twilight Sparkle? Now do you see the real truth that was hidden?”

“What have you done?” Twilight Sparkle demanded furiously stomping her hoof on the table and flaring her wings out to show and display her anger.

“Me?” Chris asked innocently, “Don’t blame me, blame Pinkie Pie if you must, I asked her the questions about the pond ad she told me where it was and how to use it, even if she did neglect to mention falling through a hole. But never mind that now, it’s too late for all of you, I have already cloned myself enough times to clone every single pony here in Ponyville, so even if you could defeat me here in this room Princess, you still have an army of me to deal with.”

“We don’t blame our friends for mistakes that they’ve made,” Twilight Sparkle said looking at Pinkie Pie with a look of what Chris assumed was forgiveness, but he wouldn’t know since no one ever gave any to him, “but we do blame the actions and results that our enemies make against us, including you.”

“Oh but Princess, you can place the blame for anything that happens on any pony you want and all you want, but that doesn’t make it true, everything here in the land of Equestria influences another, every action taken by one inspires another, every result that follows the action leads others to act on their own, or in other words Princess, every action has an equal and opposite reaction.”

“Enough of this,” Twilight Sparkle said with anger and fury in her voice, “We know a way to defeat you and your army and send them back to where they came from, and we can and will do this together, as friends, let’s do this girls!”

With that said Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends rushed out of the room together and ran past Chris completely ignoring him (which came as a surprise and shock to him) and outside to where clones of Chris were walking around in disguise, and that was when Twilight Sparkle started blasting a spell at the clones and as soon as it hit them they vanished into a purple smoke and went away, presumably back to the mirror pond had visited earlier to clone himself, as Chris watched the scene unfold with horror he thought to himself, no this cannot be happening, it cannot, I had my plan laid out perfectly before me, everything was perfect and was in place, how could this plan fail?

Soon enough Princess Twilight Sparkle was sending every clone of himself away and soon enough he had no army, and then soon enough after that the Princess and her friends all found the lost ponies of Ponyville which Chris had hidden away well enough, and soon enough before it he had no army and was cornered into the town square all alone without any friends to help him out.

“I’m sorry every pony,” Chris said vainly trying to apologize for his actions.

“I didn’t mean for it to come this far (although he actually did), I only wanted some well deserved love, because it’s something I need to live on, and not just something that I want or desire like you ponies, can’t you understand this?”

“Oh we understand why you did this,” Princess Twilight Sparkle said, “You wanted to first take over Ponyville then all the rest of Equestria, just like every other villain we have met so far, but for your actions Chris, you are hereby and henceforth banished from the town of Ponyville, and if you want some free advice from me I would highly suggest staying far away from any other town.”

With that said the crowd all looked at Chris with anger and fury, and with some guilt at what he had done in his heart Chris started to leave the crowd and town, “All right,” he said as he was leaving, “So be it then, as you wish."

> A New Friend and Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With that said Chris soon left the sight of the crowd, but he continued onward out of the town, he would willingly accept his punishment and would go where no one would ever mock him or hate him, he would go and try to find his true home, but as he was on the road out of town he suddenly bumped into the pony that he had taken the form of, and with Chris mirrored as him it would look very strange and odd to any pony that passed their way and saw them, fortunately for the two of them however the road was empty except for them.

“Who are you?” the other pony said to Chris first.

“I’m Chris, and I’m a changeling,” he said reverting back to his true form, “What about you? It took your form but know nothing about you at all.” 

“I am Quentin, and I am a historian and time keeper, if you or any pony else has a story to tell, or one not to tell, or one that you want to keep secret and hidden away from the rest of the world, then I’m your pony to see, because I literally record all the goings and comings of Equestria, every story there was, is, or ever will be I will write down, in fact I am the one who recorded the story of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna bringing balance by raising the sun and moon, and of using the elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon, so if there is anything of the past you want to know just ask, but the life of a historian is a boring and dull one to say the least, without much excitement or surprise or shock, but I’m afraid that I already knew who you were Chris even before I asked you, and the only reason I asked you was to see how you would react, that is the only thing that gives me a surprise, delight, and joy, it is to see the face and reactions of other ponies, will they scream, run, shout with fear, hide away from me, or actually embrace the truth for once, the answer is different for each pony because every pony is unique and special and different.”

“Well okay then, Quentin, but tell me, what are you doing here on the road to Equestria? I mean it can’t be a coincidence that we met each other, can it?”

“No, it is not, there is no such thing as coincidence, only the illusion of it, we are here because of fate, although others believe that you can write your own story and ending, but that is what is called destiny, the path or journey to fate, for a pony can become whatever it is that they are destined to, but there are many different ways and paths to get there that they do not see, but I do.
We have met here today because I sensed and knew that you would become lost after this event that has just happened to you, and I knew that without a guide or friend that you would become just like every other changeling there ever was, but I intend to change that, I intend to make you better than before.”

“Good luck with that, I doubt that I’ll ever change, but speaking of fate, if it was my fate to become like every other changeling there ever was, why come here to me? Why try to change something you say has already been written of?”

“Because I don’t believe in fate, I never have, I never will, I may not see the future all the time, and not so far away either, usually no more than three weeks at best, except unless it is an important event to effect all of Equestria.
But I sincerely do believe that you can change for the better and for the good, and if I can change one changeling, perhaps I can change others fates as well as my own, and then I can finally be free of this curse that holds me down.”

“What curse?” Chris asked curiously.

“I’m immortal, I can’t die no matter what happens to me, in fact I have even tried to kill myself on more than one occasion, especially on days that I feel down and ones where I feel hopeless, but I come back from death almost instantly, so it is useless to attempt or try to even kill me, and while some may see that as a gift, I don’t, if I have someone interesting or one that I care for, or maybe even love, I have to watch that person slowly grow old and then die and eventually fade away from memory, to be forgotten and lost as the eternal sands of time, endless and vast as the ocean, I doubt that I will ever be free of this curse that holds me down since history will always need to be recorded down in Equestria, but hopefully someday maybe I will pass my mantle down, and then I can finally die and rest in peace at last, and then I will be no more.”

“Are you messing with me, or are you actually telling me the truth right now? Because I can’t ever tell when a joke is being played on me, but even I have my doubts to this story, like how can you be immortal if you’re not an alicorn?”

“A good question, but you must tell me what you decide and think of what I am telling you here and now, for I can tell and show the truth to any pony, but it is for them to decide if they want to accept it, or to live in the lie they know. So once again and once more I ask; tell me what you think about all of this?”

“Why are you trying to make me pick a side? Aren’t you the historian and all that and what not, aren’t your words supposed to be subjective and true?”

“Again another good question, but once again I ask, what do you think?”

“You’re just going to keep saying that to me until I say my mind, aren’t you?”

“Yes, yes I will.”

“Fine then, I think that you’re lying and making all of this up, no pony can be immortal without being an alicorn or having alicorn magic at the least, and you’re just a unicorn, and I have no idea what magic you might have inside of you that you can harness and use, I have no idea what your potential energy is, in fat I have no idea if this thought I have is even entirely true or not.”

“Very well then, if you think that I am making this up, then I am, but I am no liar, for I will only tell you the truth, so see this story I have made up not as a lie, but as the truth of a story that I have written if you must, and nothing else until you accept the truth or live your whole life with the lie that you know.”

“Well enough of this talk, it doesn’t matter whether or not you mad up this false story or lie for your life even if it is true, it still doesn’t change the fact that I am banished from Ponyville and can’t return and now I have no home now, I can’t live anywhere and unless I find a job soon enough I won’t eat.”

“Ah, but you can eat and drink at my house, although I think you would rather prefer love than the material food and drink that we would provide, so come with me if you will, back to my home in Ponyville and stay with me there.”

“Didn’t you hear me? I can’t go back there, I’m banished.”

“And when have the rules ever stopped you before? Besides, my house is on the edge of town itself, ponies won’t even notice that we’re there, and I’m sure if you take on a new and different form, they will not notice you either, and they will not know that it is you a second time unless you say so by giving yourself up as you did last time, a fatal and critical mistake that you did make.”

“Alright then, I’ll come with you to your house, but only for a short little while, I don’t want to invade upon your home or upon the ponies of the town.”

With that said Chris and Quentin headed towards Ponyville, Chris with some fear, and Quentin with a calm reassurance and authority that he carried about him, it was strange, Chris thought, it seems like he almost has some other kind of magic that I do not know about, like an aura or something else that you can’t just name or something else that you just don’t know, even if you see it.

Soon enough they were at the outer edges of the town and at Quentin’s house, and then they entered inside and what Chris saw came as a pleasant shock and surprise to him, it was a simple house, but well decorated and designed with everything that a pony would and might need, the walls and ceiling where colored blue and there was a simple wooden floor underneath (I wonder what type of wood this is, Chris thought) and everything had a pleasant look to it.

“It’s simply beautiful and divine,” Chris said in awe looking at it.

“Yes, yes it is, or at least to you it is if you say so,” Quentin said strangely.

As Chris wandered around the place exploring the kitchen (which was to the right of the front or living room), the dining room (which was to the right of the kitchen), the bedrooms (which were upstairs since it was a two level house, and what was odd was that there were seven of them clearly lived in, and two for guests, and all had their own bathrooms and closets in them), and finally the entertainment or library room (to the left of the living room), he couldn’t help thinking to himself that this was such a big place for one pony to live in.

“Tell me,” he said once he had finished exploring the house, “Do you live here all alone? I mean surely it must get lonely for a pony like you; surely you must have some guests that stay over here for quite some time, even long extended periods of time, maybe even so long that they almost become part of the family, I only ask because I noticed you have more than one room upstairs.”

“A very good question, to which the answer is that I don’t live here all alone, I have six sisters, who also live with me, and the other two rooms are for guests, and finally the last room upstairs is for emergency storage of food and water, books, and other items that we might and would need should a crisis ever arise here in Ponyville, but that is of no matter or consequence to you, for you will stay in one of the guest rooms during your stay and you may pick whichever one you prefer more although they are basically the same, and while you are here during your stay I can only hope that you may enjoy it very much.”

“We’ll see,” Chris merely responded not caring one way or the other, “But tell me, where are your sisters right now, for I do not see them here right now.”

“They are out right now, away on their various tasks and jobs.”

“That’s a vague and general answer, but do you ever answer a question without ever being vague and general so that others don’t have to ask more questions?”

“What do you think?”

“You know what? Forget that I asked, clearly you won’t ever answer anything I ask to you directly, so well done on avoiding the obvious and direct question.”

“I will, but anyhow my sisters should be arriving home shortly, and then when they do I will introduce you to them all, and I’m sure we’ll all be great friends.”

“Sure we will, and I’m not a changeling at all,” Chris said sarcastically.

Soon enough as Quentin said his sisters came home, once they had all entered and gathered inside Quentin spoke, “May I proudly introduce to you in no particular order or fashion my sisters, this is Mirror Dawn and Rose Dawn,” he said pointing to the first two ponies on the left, Mirror Dawn had a silver body and mane and gray eyes while Rose Dawn had a red body and mane and green eyes, “And this is Sunset Dawn and Twilight Dawn,” he continued pointing towards the next two ponies, Sunset Dawn had an orange mane and red body with purple eyes while Twilight Dawn had a purple body with an orange mane and gray eyes, “And finally Midnight Dawn and finally the youngest member of our family, Eve Dawn,” he said pointing at the last two ponies that were lined up in a row, Midnight Dawn had a blue body and mane and eyes, while Eve Dawn had a yellow body and had a red mane and blue eyes too as well.

“And that’s all of my family, our parents passed away some time ago, but we do fine here just on our own without anyone else here, and we’re all very happy here on our own without anyone else, but we always do enjoy some guests.”

“Well thank you for the introduction, but I think I should go now.”

“Nonsense, you’re here to stay, and since you’re here to stay now it’s just about time for all of us to have dinner, come on every pony, time for dinner!”

With that said every pony went to the dining room and sat down at the giant table that was there that could have easily sat twelve to fourteen people.

Every pony sat down at the table (except Chris) and ate the prepared dinner.

“Oh, one more thing,” Quentin said, “My last name is Dawn as I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, so now I, or we, can officially say that we have really met.”

“I don’t understand,”

“Before our meeting was casual, not it’s official, so welcome to the family, you can go upstairs to one of the guest rooms if you don’t feel comfortable eating down here with us, or just being here with us, just do whatever you want to make yourself feel at home except leaving the house, I can’t have guests of mine wandering off all alone in the darkness by themselves now can I? They could get lost and be in great danger in peril, not that I don’t trust you to take good care of yourself, but more in another way that I’m protecting you.”

“Well thanks for all the help, I’ll be upstairs if you need me,” Chris said leaving.

“All right then, I’ll see you later then, have fun while you’re up there and get some rest and sleep if you need to,” Quentin said as Chris vanished from sight.

With that said Chris went upstairs and into the first guest room he saw which was on the left and went inside and lay on the bed thinking all alone.

He thought of how he ever could make a home or ever find friends now that he had been revealed as his true self and form, he doubted that he ever could do either, he doubted himself and the people he was staying with, he doubted everything he ever knew in life, and always would, it was just the way he was.

With these uneasy and troubled thoughts Chris fell to sleep without much ease, and when he finally did fall asleep it was not in a perfect peace.

> Meeting the Family
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the morning came and Chris woke up slowly he yawned and got up from bed and went downstairs and saw that every pony else was already gathered at the dining room table eating a big breakfast that was already prepared.

“Good morning,” Quentin said, “You slept in late, but no matter, you’re here right now and that’s all that matters, but tell me, how did you sleep last night?”

“Fine, not that you would really care,” Chris said lying.

“Oh but I do care, we all care, and because I care I can sense that within you that you are lying to me about last night, so tell me what really happened.”

“Alright, I might have had a troubled sleep, but nothing too bad to worry about, especially for some pony like you who has other matters to deal with other than me, like your friends and family, I’m sure they’re more important than me.”

“Perhaps, perhaps not, family and friends is an important thing like magic, love, and friendships are, but who can really say what the best of them is?”

“I could, I have my own views and perspective and opinion on this matter.”

“Yes you do, but I don’t like to play favorites or pick a side of anything.”

“So you’re completely neutral on subjects and ponies and other stuff?”

“I try to be, it is my personal goal to be objective and not subjective.”

“Well I think that you’re rather good at it right now, maybe too good in fact.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You should care about stuff in life, you should take a side and an opinion, even if it is the wrong one if you stand up for it firmly enough than how can it be wrong, especially if you choose it when you thought it was the right thing to do, even if it were in a moment of stupid and reckless thought and emotion.”

“Well said and supported, but may I remind you that all of what you have said is coming from a changeling who has never really been appreciated in life or ever known or even ever fully and really truly loved as you would your family.”

“Your point is taken, and your objectiveness is noted, well done,” Chris said.

“There’s no need to get upset or angry Chris, I’m just merely telling the truth and stating it as it is, and whether you accept it with grace or not is up to you.”

“Grace is for those with style or class, or for those who need their past actions removed and forgotten from every ponies’ mind, but no matter what you try to do to make up for your past actions, they’ll never truly forget or forgive you.”

“Sure they will, you just have to give them the chance and trust them for once.”

“I doubt that I can do that, in fact I doubt that I can even change.”

“Well I don’t doubt you, I believe in you, and I know you can do it if you try.”

“Perhaps, perhaps not, we’ll just have to see,” Chris said.

“Ah, now you’re learning to act like me, well done, but sadly I cannot afford to lose any more time today with idle talk, I have work to do so I best be off to do it, so if you could be so kind girls would you clean up the table then go on to your other various tasks and jobs? That would be most helpful if you could.”

With that said the girls leapt into action cleaning up the table which they had just finished eating breakfast on and soon enough the whole entire table was cleared off with all the ponies doing their small part and effort and work.

“You see,” Quentin said, “When we all do our own small part, we contribute to something bigger, better, and greater than ourselves, maybe even so big, large, and grand that we couldn’t possibly imagine what it would be or even mean.”

“I assume that this is some bit of wisdom that you have stored in that big vast mind of yours, and I also assume that you have even more to share with me?”

“Both of your assumptions are correct,”

“Alright then, but tell me, what are you working on?”

“A memory spell for all the ponies in Ponyville, I want them all to forget that they ever knew you, met you, seen you, or talked to you, all memory of you would be gone, and it would be like you were never really there at all.”

“But I was there, and how can you cast a spell so powerful and large and wide that you can wipe out every single memory of me at once? Not even Princess Twilight Sparkle can do that, and she’s an alicorn now for crying out loud.”

“Oh I don’t plan to take out every ponies’ memory out at once as you say, since not even the Princess can do a spell like that with all of her powers, no, my plan is rather much more simple than that, and a lot easier to enact, I am going to get every pony to forget you by giving them something to eat or drink that will ensure that their memories of you will be gone forever, and the best part is that no pony will ever know that they had their memories wiped and erased, it will be the most perfect act and crime known to all the lands of Equestria and beyond! And it is simply genius and simple I must say if I might add; no pony will be able to resist my gifts, even if the spell has to be in water.”

“But why, why do all of this just for me? I’m a changeling remember?”

“Oh I remember, it’s not like I can forget, but the answer to your question if you must know is this, the reason why I am doing all of this is because I truly do believe in you with all of my heart and mind, even the deepest parts of it.”

“You’ve said that to me so many times before now, but now I think I’m truly starting to understand you and your reasons and views and stance, now I think I’m truly starting to understand why you did this for me, and what you have said to me, all of it, every word, it was somehow true in some way, even if I didn’t see it at the time, so now I guess I have to thank you for teaching me.”

“You’re welcome, and I hope you’ve learned your lesson by now, I have work to do so I can’t explain it, and do I have a lot of work, I mean the baking alone…”

With that said Quentin went off into his room rambling about the amount of work he would have to do and how much energy it would take and how many spells, it all made no real sense to Chris so he just left Quentin to his rambling and work, Chris in the meantime however would try to explore this house and actually make it feel like home, and he would start by talking with the family.

So with that in his mind Chris went off in search and pursuit of Quentin’s six sisters, and soon enough he found them all and talked to them, Mirror Dawn and Rose Dawn were both earth ponies and Mirror Dawn made and sold mirrors, both generic and very special, unique, and custom design ones, while Rose Dawn on the other hand just grew and sold roses, both had simple jobs and ways really and weren’t that interesting to talk to so 

Chris went on his way once more in pursuit and search of the other sisters he had not fully met yet.
When he finally found Sunset Dawn and Twilight Dawn, who were both unicorns, he found out that they just worked and studied magic, and he didn’t bother for more long boring details, so he went on his way once more again.

Finally he found Midnight Dawn, a Pegasus, and found out that she just worked the night shift of the weather control, figures, he thought hearing the information, her name is Midnight and she works as night, go figure.

> Eve's Story and a Question
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

So he left Midnight Dawn and went in search of the last pony he had not yet fully met, Eve Dawn. It took him awhile to find her since none of the sisters knew exactly where she was and gave only vague and general hints and clues (which seemed to run in the family with their answers), but he did eventually find her, but whenever he tried to get close to her she just ran away from him.

She just must be shy or nervous towards strangers, he thought, or perhaps it’s really just me. But he did eventually corner her in an alley way (literally).

“Come on,” he said, “Do you really not want to talk to me that much?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to talk you,” Eve said, “But the fact that you’re new, and a stranger, and I really don’t get along or talk with new people I’ve just met or strangers, and I’m really sorry if you felt that I have been avoiding you.”

“Wait, the fact that I’m a changeling doesn’t bother you?”

“Nope, not at all, I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff, and you don’t even compare.”

“Oh really, what kind of strange stuff have you seen?”

“Well the strangest stuff I’ve ever seen has always been with the Doctor.”

“A doctor you say, what is he a doctor of exactly?

“That’s almost exactly what I said when I first met him, he’s just a doctor of stuff, all kinds of stuff, science, magic, history, technology, time travel, you name it and he’ll probably know it, he is after all the smartest pony I’ve ever met; he always seems to be two steps ahead of every pony else as he always says and claims, and he’s saved my life from danger many times; and that is including my brother who was previously the smartest pony I ever knew.”

“But what is his name; surely he does have a name, this Doctor Who.”

“Just the Doctor, but that’s another story for another time, this is your story.”

“Alright, so he knows a lot of stuff probably and you didn’t get his name, and he’s saved you from danger many times, a detail I want to hear more about later, but can you please tell me when you first met this Doctor of yours?”

“Absolutely, it was many years ago on a cold Heart’s Warming eve, I was a young and curious filly at the time and almost anything would have caught my attention and urge for action, adventure, and danger. So when I heard a strange noise outside, a noise that I will never forget for it was out of this world, I rushed outside to investigate; now I was awake at the time since I couldn’t sleep that night for some reason, but still when I ran outside to investigate what I saw surprised and shocked me, I saw a blue rectangular box standing outside on the cold snow ground with cold snow falling around us. 

I say us because there was the Doctor standing outside of his box and he was looking all around the place and then he asked me if the house I came from was the house of Eve Dawn, and I said that it was, and that I was her. He just merely laughed at this statement politely and said that of course I was her and then he went on talking to himself about how blind he could be to miss it.

Then he said something very strange and odd and curious to me that I still do not understand to this day, he said that this was the last time he could ever meet me like this, in the way, the shape or form, that he was, then he plainly explained to me that many years from now, or then I suppose, that I would meet him again, but he also said that he wouldn’t recognize me and that I would have to do anything and everything that I could do in my power to make him trust me and take me along in his blue bow, and when he was done he made me promise never to forget this, to never let it slip my mind, I did so and I have kept my promise ever since, I’ve never forgotten that moment when I first met the Doctor, I doubt I ever could, even if I wanted to do that at this point.”

“Wow,” Chris said amazed, “That was quite the story you told.”

“Yes, yes it was,” Eve said, “Now if you excuse me I have other stuff to do.”

“What stuff? I didn’t see you working on anything when I came to find you, you were hiding away from me and others when I first saw you there, and then you ran away from me to hide some more, which gave me quite the chase to catch up with you, but I did, and I won’t leave here without all the answers I want from you, straight and direct ones, not vague and general like your brother.”

“Well I don’t have a job per say, I mean I do work with weather control and all.”

“Anything else that you do, or is it just that?” 

“That’s just about it, I think, except when Cloudsdale comes around here.”

“Well that figures, but tell me this, do you honestly think that I can make a home and friends with your family? Or do you think this is all pointless?”

“I think that you’ve already made friends with the family, especially me.”

“Ah, that’s so sweet and nice of you to say that to me, you honestly don’t have to or need to say it, except of course if the pony really doesn’t know that.”

“But I do have to say that, you asked me to tell the truth, and I did.”

“Well thanks for the talk, it was interesting, perhaps we can talk again soon?”

“Sure, I would enjoy that, I’ll see you later then, I suppose.”

And with that said they both went their separate ways saying goodbye to each other, Chris went on his way to the library to read some books to pass the time and have some fun and also research the Dawn family and how many books Quentin had written if any, it wasn’t that Chris doubted he was a historian or researcher, but he did wonder how much could possibly be written by him.

He didn’t really find anything there in the time that was left in the day, but he did nonetheless find some interesting books to read that did pass the time.

So when the end of the day came and Chris had to return home he was sad that he didn’t find anything that could help him at the library. However he was glad that when he came home that Quentin said he had the spell ready for every pony. However there was one downside, he wouldn’t pass it out until Monday, “I’ll be ready to pass it out by Monday,” he said, “Why Monday?” Chris asked, “Because tomorrow, which is Sunday, I plan to rest and relax.”

“Okay, you make a fair and reasonable point, but why?”

“Because in a busy week that’s the one day where we can relax and rest.”

“Alright I get it, you need your rest and relaxation, but first thing when Monday comes you’ll go out and spread or pass that spell to the ponies I trust, right?”

“Of course, I would never fail you my dear friend.”

“Perhaps, perhaps not, ponies do make mistakes you know, even you.”

“I know that I can make mistakes sometimes and do not deny the truth of it at all, but the real question to be asked of you, is merely just this, do you?”

Chris didn’t answer that question, he didn’t want to, he didn’t know how to or if what he said would be true once he had uttered it, so with that question lingering and looming in his mind Chris went off to his bedroom upstairs to see if he could find the truth to the question and find the real answer deep inside.

> Remembrance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the next day came Chris still hadn’t found the answer yet. But luckily enough for him Quentin did not expect an answer that day, he only expected one once Chris was finally ready to answer, but he didn’t know when that would be, he would just have to wait and find out and see if it would come.

Nothing really happened of note on Sunday so when Monday came around and Quentin went around handing out the spell to the ponies, it was exciting.

However despite nothing of note happening on Sunday, Chris still had the chance to do stuff, like talking with the family for information, but surprisingly enough the one most interesting to talk to was Eve, who was quiet and shy and really didn’t ever say anything to anyone except in the case where she had something important to say (the others were good, but not as good as Eve was).

“I thought he might have come today,” she said suddenly interrupting the conversation Chris was having with Midnight Dawn (the details of her night shift were really quite interesting since she all kind of night animals prowling).   

“Wait, what was that?” Chris asked.

“You know, him, the doctor, I wish he was here with us right now, eating dinner with us, each day I keep waiting for him, hoping that he comes, hoping that he will keep his promise to me that one day I will see him once again.”

“Is this Doctor of yours the only thing that you can talk about it, or is there other things and ponies you could talk about but merely don’t, Eve?”

“I’m sorry if you feel that way,” Eve said, “But he was the first pony, the first person that I ever liked, the first one that I ever loved, he broke my heart when he went away, and the feelings I have had for him since, they never go away, and I doubt that they ever will, I can’t ever forget him or the way I feel about him, even if and when I wanted to, he’s just too deep inside of me now to ever fully go out, he’ll always be a part of me, even when he’s not here to look out for me, even when he’s not here because of adventure or danger in order to fix it and the chaos that it would wreak. 

He was always there for me on our journeys, always there to look out for me and protect me from harm and danger, and he always did manage to find a way to do that and stop the crisis and danger, but the one thing that he couldn’t and didn’t count on was hurting me emotionally in the long run, a pain far worse than and physical injury that I could have received on the journeys. And as I said earlier, each day I hope he will come back to me and keep his promise, I know that he will, he has never once broken his word before, but each day I hope that it is the day I see him again once more, and then I can hold him in my arms, and then maybe my dream can finally come true, maybe I’ll finally have my wish one of these days.”

“What is your wish and dream?”

“To be with him, having a romantic date, walking in the park, it doesn’t matter where we are or what we’re doing, so long as it’s with him I’ll know it’s fine.”

“But does he know this? Does he know your dream and wish?”

“No, not fully, I did tell him once, but he doesn’t know all of it just as you.”

“Wait, there is more that you’re not telling me?”

“Yes, but I think every pony is entitled to their own secrets, don’t you think?”

“Yes, I do agree with that, but why won’t you tell it?”

“It’s far too personal for me to tell except for my family who already knows it.”

“Alright then, I’ll respect your right to privacy and your untold secret, but don’t expect me not to be curious about it, or for me not to ask questions about it.”

“Alright then, I can live with that.”

With that said the rest of the dinner went well and Chris continued to talk to the other sisters while Eve on the other hand remained quiet for the rest of the dinner and didn’t say a single word except for when she wanted something passed, and after that dinner things weren’t the same between Eve and Chris.

Chris would always wonder what secret Eve hid, and Eve merely would never respond and just sit there in silence instead, gazing out towards the distance with a look of longing and patience, as if she was waiting for somebody.

> A Talk With Eve
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday came and Quentin gave the spell out to every pony quite successfully, and Chris was very glad, yet at the same time he still felt like he was missing something deep down inside, he didn’t know what, but he wanted to find out what it was and pursue it with all his heart and mind until he had gained it.

Some time passed in the Dawn house and Chris became very close and acquainted with the family, so much in so that he almost felt like he was part of it and that this was truly his first real home. But despite as much as he knew about the family, Eve was still a mystery to him and there was some unspoken tension between the two of them that couldn’t be broken apart.

“What is up with Eve?” he finally asked the rest of them one day when Eve went away to her room early not finishing her dinner she had partially eaten.

“We don’t really know,” Midnight said, “She’s sometimes even a mystery to us and me, and I’m the oldest,” Sunset said, “The oldest sister,” Quentin said, “Don’t you forget little sister that I am the oldest and eldest in this family.”

“Like we ever could forget, you keep reminding us,” Rose said.

“Come on girls, there’s no need for us to fight about this,” Mirror said.

“Oh, but we do,” Sunset said, and with that the room erupted into chaos.

Chris saw the fight and decided it would be best if he went upstairs and out of their way in order for them to sort and figure out the whole entire mess.

But when Chris went upstairs instead of going to his room he found out to his surprise that he was instead outside of Eve’s room instead, I must be pretty lonely and desperate to talk to some pony as he knocked at the door.

“Eve, I know you're in there, please come out and talk, I know you're scared, and I know that you don't have to face this all alone, but please can you listen to me, and come outside to talk? Come on Eve don't hold back, don't hold onto your fears anymore, you don't need to be afraid, when everyone is here for you, all you need to do is to talk, and then you can be free. Your past doesn't define you, because you can change today, but don't forget yesterday either, but don't let it hold you back either, instead let go of it, and be free of the past. I know you can do this, just as your brother knows that I can change for the better.”

Once Chris was done talking to Eve outside of the door she opened the door slowly, “I heard you; you can come in now if you want to talk to me.”

So with that said Chris went inside of her room to talk to her.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so distant from you lately,” she said, “But my thoughts almost always tend to stray towards the Doctor, he’s too deep inside of me, so much so that I couldn’t forget him, even if I wanted to, I just can’t.”

“So I’ve heard and noticed before, you keep on saying that over and over again.”

“I have? Well I’m sorry, but perhaps now you won’t forget why I’m distant and why I tend to repeat myself, especially when I’m nervous, which always seems to happen when I’m around strangers, or when I’m around new people too.”

“Nervous habit of yours I guess then, but tell me, where is this Doctor?”

“I don’t know, if I knew I would be there, you see he travels a lot, and not just in distances, but in time as well, his magical blue bow, it’s magic like I’ve never seen before, but he says that it’s not magic, but it’s science instead.”

“Wait, he can travel in time? Like for real?”

“Yes, for real, I’ve been in the past and in the future of this land, and I’ve seen things so beautiful that you can never forget it, I’ve seen places so great and grand it just makes you want to cry, I’ve been in outer space for crying out loud, and the future of this land, it’s just so beautiful and perfect for everyone who lives in the land of Equestria, but I have to live here in this now, and I’m not sad because of my family, but I just wish I could tell ponies what I’ve seen, and then I wish that when I did they wouldn’t think that I was a crazy pony.”

“The more you talk about this Doctor the more interesting he seems and sounds, and the more you paint his picture, well it just makes me curious and it makes me want to meet him in real life and see what he really is like.”

“I can see why you would want to; he is after all an interesting character.”

“Do you think that I could meet him, and if so when?”

“I don’t know if you can, he’s only ever shown up when I’m alone, and even then it’s when I am in danger, and as much as I want to meet him again, I don’t want to put my life in needless danger in order to meet him again.”

“Okay, I can respect and appreciate that, I just wish that I could meet this Doctor of yours, from the way he sounds maybe he could help me.”

“I’m sure he could, he could help everyone, he wants to help everyone, he wants to save everyone from danger, peril, and chaos, he said that he fought so hard and so long fighting to keep everyone alive, and that he never got any thanks or appreciation for what he did, he would do something for others and they would never even know that he did it. When he finally came to Equestria, he said that he finally found peace, he said that he’s never seen people fight so hard for their home or what they believed in, he said that he’s never seen any kinds of people this happy before, he said that he finally believed that he might not be needed anymore with the princess and her friends and the magic of the land, and he also said he never saw magic or unicorns or a Pegasus before this land, he said that this land like all the rest, was special and unique in its own way, but he also said that he’s never seen anything like it before he got here.”

“Well I’m glad to hear from you that he found peace.”

“He thought he had, but he didn’t know, he was still worried for this land, still worried for me, still wanting to save my life and protect my life from harm, but even with all his genius and science, he can’t do everything and be everywhere at once, even he can’t save everyone, and he’s said so to me many times.”

“Well that’s just sad, but thanks for the talk anyways, I enjoyed it very much.”

“So did I, I hope we can talk again sometime soon.”

“I’m sure we will,” Chris said and then left the room and went to bed.

> Discord Enters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some time passed after the talk and news of the town eventually came to his ears from Quentin, “Did you hear that Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends are trying to reform Discord?” he said trying to talk casually.

“Really, they are?” Chris asked curiously.

“Yes, yes they are, just this Tuesday Princess Celestia came into town with the statue of Discord and they freed him from his prison, but in exchange he has to learn the magic and real value and the truth of friendship, and I am sure that the Princess and her friends will not fail in this royal task and duty.”

“I’m sure they won’t either,” Chris said smiling deviously.

“You’re planning something bad aren’t you?” Quentin said.

“Planning, why would you ever think I’m planning something?”

“That smile, I’ve seen it before, it’s an evil plotting smile; you can’t fool me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! I would never plan something bad.”

“Now you’re just lying with sarcasm, and I hate that more than anything else.

I won’t have liars in my house Chris, so whatever you’re planning, you better do it soon before I can stop you, or before you regret your choice.”

“Alright then,” Chris said leaving the house, “Bye!”

With that said Chris went off on his way in a new disguise to find Discord.

He asked around town and asked the Mane 6 and he eventually did find out the location of the chaotic spirit (he was currently at Fluttershy’s house). 

So he went to Fluttershy’s house and knocked on the door and promptly enough Fluttershy responded, “Oh hello,” she said shyly, “Who are you?”

“I am Chris,” he said in a generic blue pony’s form, “May I ask you if I could come inside for a moment? I’ve been traveling for so long now and I’m tired.”

“Sure you can, I have plenty of room here; you can stay here for a short while.”

“Thanks,” Chris said walking in the house and glanced at the calendar to see that it was a Friday, “Tell me, do you have anyone else here at the moment?”

“Not really, not unless you count my animal friends and Discord,”

“Wait, Discord as in the spirit of chaos and disharmony; that Discord?”

“Well yes, I’m not aware of anyone else by that name.”

“How interesting, tell me, do you think I could see and meet him?”

“I don’t know, are you sure you want to meet him.”

“Please, chaos is my specialty, I don’t think any pony knows it as much as me, I’ve spent my whole life studying it, even my cutie mark says so, I’ll be fine with him all alone, in fact I think I can even take him off of your hooves for some time, I mean how would you like that, a day without Discord or chaos, a day to rest, relax and just take care of your animal friends that you have?”

“Well I would like that, but I don’t know if I could do that.”

“Please, don’t worry, should anything happen while he’s on my watch I will take full responsibility for his actions, you need not be blamed for what he does.”

“Well if you’re taking full responsibility I suppose that I could let him go,”

“Excellent,” Chris said, “And I’m sure he’ll love to make a new friend once I meet him, but do tell me, where is he right now? I don’t see him around.”

“Oh I’m sure he’s hanging around here somewhere, you just wait right here and I’ll go find him for you, make yourself at home while you wait.”

With that said Fluttershy went off upstairs n her house while Chris waited in the front room for her to return with Discord, he was so excited he almost couldn’t wait, but he would have to in order for his devious plan to work.

Chris didn’t have to wait very long before Fluttershy came back down with Discord in tow, “Here he is,” she said, “I only hope that you can like him.”

“Oh, I’m sure I will,” Chris said smiling, “Mind if I take him out now?”

“Not at all, if that’s what you want, and if it’s okay and fine with you Discord.”

“Oh I don’t mind,” Discord said pulling out a travel bag, “I think that I’ll enjoy the company of this ‘pony’ very much; and I have my travelling bag ready.”

“Oh good then,” Fluttershy said, “You boys enjoy your time and yourselves, and have some fun while you’re at it, and make sure not to get lost on the way back, I wouldn’t want to have to come after you in the cold darkness, and makes sure to be safe as well, I don’t want to hear either of you being hurt.”

“We will, Fluttershy,” Discord said as they both left the house, “We will.”

Once they had gotten far away out of eye sight range of the house Discord finally turned to Chris and directly said, “You’re not a pony at all, are you?”

“Nope,” Chris said, “I’m a changeling; you guessed it.”

“Well I didn’t guess it so much as it was a process of elimination, you see” he said suddenly drawing a graph in midair, “I knew you weren’t a typical pony since you behaved so differently than any pony else has acted towards me, after all, no pony has ever asked to see me directly before, so that basically crossed off the entire list of ponies in Equestria,” he said drawing a big X in the middle of it, “And that only left a few options, but seeing as you aren’t an animal, the best choice or option left was a changeling, and I was correct.”

“Of course you were, although you’re confusing me with how though.”

“Well I’m the spirit of chaos, what did you expect? For me to make sense, what fun is there in making any kind of sense at all? There is no fun, none at all. And that is why I always strive to make as much chaos as possible.”

“Okay then, but I don’t think it’s as simple as that.”

“Of course not, why would it be? If it were then that would make sense.”

“Alright, but what’s in that bag of yours?”

“Oh this old thing I have?” Discord said pulling it out, “Who knows really? I’m not even sure at some times, but let’s see here, we have a rubber ducky,” he said pulling it out and throwing it off to the side, “An essential part of any bath, we have a toilet and sink,” and once more he threw it off to the side, and on he went and each time he threw the items to the side, “And we also have some very lovely curtains in here, a picture of me and the Princess, and also a picture of Bob Ross, love that man, and The Little Mermaid on DVD, and the Death Star battle plans, which shouldn’t be there, and the Back to the Future trilogy on DVD, and The Princess Bride on DVD, great movie and finally some trophies I won by awarding them to myself in every event I competed in.”

Chris didn’t understand some of the stuff (actually all of it) since it was random, “Well okay, if that’s all I think you should repack and get going.”

“Alright then” Discord said repacking the bag very quickly, “But go where?”

“Why to spread some chaos of course, isn’t that what you want my friend?”

“Well yes of course, but now I have friends.”

“And are they better than being free and spreading chaos everywhere?”

“Well I don’t know that yet, perhaps in a two part episode in the finale of Season Four would I probably be able to answer that question for sure, but in the meantime your idea does sound fun, but unfortunately I must decline.”

“But I thought for sure that you would accept my offer.”

“Sure you did, and that just goes to show how unpredictable I am.”

“Alright then, fine, but can you meet my ‘family’ first before you leave?”

“Oh I’m sure I can do that, after all it’s not like I have other stuff to do.”

So with that said they went on their way back to the Dawn’s house, “I’m sure they’ll all be surprised to see you since I didn’t tell them I was bringing any kind of guest, so just please try to accept their reactions when they see you.” 

“I’m sure I will, because I’ve seen just about every pony’s reaction.”

With that said Chris opened the door and there was the entire family gathered in the living room, almost as if they expected Chris to arrive there soon.

“Why isn’t this just quite the cast of interesting Original Characters?” Discord said stepping into the room, “You’re all so new and different, and I bet that one of you has even met other characters from other fan fictions, but of course you wouldn’t know that, you’re just a figment and piece of the author’s mind and imagination, even I know that I’m just that of someone else’s mind, but in this case I am being used as a piece of fiction to blatantly and obviously state the author’s mind and opinions without actually stating it using punctuation and making it ironically funny by having a well known character such as myself break the fourth wall and point it out to the audience, and speaking of the audience,” Discord said suddenly turning to the reader, “How are you enjoying this fan fiction so far? Is it good? Well I hope so, and I hope this attempt at humorous joke doesn’t go over your heads or taken seriously or taken with offense and that it was interesting and broke apart from the style thus far.”

“Who are you talking to?” Chris asked.

“I’m talking to no pony, but am talking with everybody, or at least everybody who is reading this at this very moment and now has come across this very particular statement and is reading it at the same time as I theoretically am speaking it. But anyhow I think that’s enough breaking of the fourth wall today we have a story to get back to, but should you not want to continue to read this story and would only like to indulge in me breaking the fourth wall then I would suggest that you stop reading right now and go find something else to read instead. And now we can get back to the story, so Chris, I see that the family is all gathered here, can you please tell me their names for me?”

“Sure,” Chris said, “In no particular order or fashion we have Mirror Dawn, Rose Dawn, Sunset Dawn, the oldest sister, Twilight Dawn, Midnight Dawn, Eve Dawn, the youngest member of the family, and Quentin Dawn, the oldest member of the family, and that’s all of them, there’s no one else.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you all, but I must go now,” Discord said, and with that he vanished into thin air away from the rest of the family.

“I assume your plan was spreading chaos?” Quentin said.

“Yes, but he said no, so now I have no idea what to do at all,”

“Well that’s easy, you do what you must, for your story is just starting, and you have a long way to go before you discover what your true purpose is…”

> The Disease
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With that said Quentin went into a strange and deep silence and wouldn’t talk to Chris anymore except to make one remark that he was very disappointed and upset in him, and so with that the family went their separate ways on to bed without any more words being exchanged, but Chris could tell from the looks on their faces that they were disappointed and upset, maybe not as much as their older brother, but enough, the only one who didn’t look upset was Eve for some strange reason, he would have to make sure to ask her why later.

So the family went their separate ways to bed and eventually life went back to normal after the whole accident with Chris, and Quentin and the others did come to forgive him of his little mistake, “After all,” Quentin said, “All of us make mistakes, none of us are perfect, if we were then we wouldn’t have anything to worry about in life, but we do, like all the chaos and confusion and peril and danger that could come to us at any moment, and we don’t expect you to be perfect either, especially since you’re on the road to becoming something better, but the road has all kinds of obstacles that you don’t know about and must face, and it’s only natural to fall if you trip over a stone.”

Time passed on for the family and eventually Chris felt safe enough to wander through town in his new form, he wasn’t afraid of being caught this time.

But as he was in town on that fateful Tuesday, something strange and unusual caught his attention, some pony was coming from the Everfree forest, and they didn’t look well, the filly in question had strange and unusual black lines like some kind of shadow or something crawling across her body from a puncture point wound in her hooves, and although Chris wasn’t sure she looked grayer than any pony he had ever seen, it was indeed a strange and unusual sight, and figuring as the filly might be in trouble or sick he decided to call out for help, “Some pony help me!” he said, “I see a filly coming out from the Everfree forest! She looks sick! She could be in trouble! Is any pony here a doctor?”

Suddenly the crowd seemed to stop what they were doing and soon enough a doctor rushed over to examine the patient, “Who is she?” Chris asked.

“She’s Apple Bloom, and she looks very sick, in fact I’ve never seen anything like it just by looking at her, but maybe I need to look at her more closely to find something, I’ll have to take her to the hospital in order to know, every pony I need you to clear a path for me, we have a sick patient on the way!”

With that said ever pony did as the nurse instructed and cleared a path for them, Chris decided to follow the two along since he was the first one that had found her and saw her first, and his natural curiosity got the better of him.

When Chris got to the hospital he had to wait outside the room for the results that the doctors would find, but as he was waiting another pony suddenly came charging down towards the room and was saying, “That’s my sister in there! Don’t you know that it’s my sister in there? Just let me see her, please.”

“I’m sorry miss,” one of the nurses who was detaining her said, “But you’ll just have to wait outside like every pony else who wants to see her, the doctor still has tests to run you know, and he can’t be bothered by any pony else.”

“Fine then,” Applejack said sitting on the bench next to Chris, “I’ll wait here, but don’t expect me to be happy about it, because I won’t, and next time you might not be so lucky from stopping me from seeing my sick sister y’all.”

With that said Applejack did as she said and sat there on the bench in meek acceptance and stunning silence. Soon enough however more ponies, the friends of Applejack, including Princess Twilight Sparkle, came to join her.

But there wasn’t room for all of them at one bench so while the others went to find some other benches and sat there, Chris and Applejack sat alone in silence. Eventually however Applejack broke that silence by asking a question to him, “Say,” she finally said at last, “I haven’t seen you around these parts or town before; are you from out of town and visiting here, and if that’s so, why?”

"“I am from out of town, and I’m visiting here on business terms.”

“Well that’s nice, I hope you enjoy your stay, but you don’t have to stay here for my sister Apple Bloom if you don’t want to, you can leave any time you want you know. If you got other stuff to do right now I wouldn’t mind you leaving.”

“Oh no, I think I’ll stay, I am the one who first saw her you know.”

“You did? Well shucks, I owe you my undying gratitude for that favor sir.”

“Why would that be?”

“Because she could have fainted before some pony saw her, or she might not have gotten home before I or some pony else could have helped her either.”

“I did not consider that, well anyhow I think I’ll stick around if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all, it’s not like this ain’t a private room or something, all guests and visitors are welcome here so long as they don’t bother or upset me or my sister. But if you’re going to stay why don’t we talk some more about each other?”

“Nah, I think I would rather prefer not to talk while I wait.”

“Well suit yourself then, each pony on their own I suppose.”

And with that said they sat on the bench waiting in silence for the doctor.

Eventually the doctor did come back and at once Applejack was on her hooves.

“Is she fine? Is she okay? What’s the news? Please tell me something Doctor.”

“We don’t know how the patient is,” the doctor said, “All we now is that this disease that she has, it’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, perhaps your good friend Princess Twilight Sparkle can help us find what it is that we’re looking for, none of our books have anything, but maybe hers do have a thing that could help us, but of course she would need to examine the patient first.”

“I’ll be more than willing to help you doctor, and you Applejack,” Twilight said (who had now moved closer as well as the others ever since the doctor had come back). With that said Twilight went into the room and a few minutes later returned, “I may be wrong,” she said, “But there is nothing I know of in my books that could help us girls, I’m afraid this is a complete mystery to every pony, and that includes me, but I suppose we could look through the books again, but that would mean you would have to examine her, and so long as it’s to try and help her, I’m sure that they’ll let you in to see her now.”

The girls got the hint and rushed inside with Chris following close behind; when he got inside he saw that around the bed where Apple Bloom lay in that the space was crowded with the six ponies who all knew the filly very well.

“She’s a bit delirious and is running a very high fever,” the doctor said, “And her blood work shows something we’ve never seen before, but we haven’t been able to get anything out of her as to where she was or any clues on how she got it, if you could find that out it would be most helpful for us to know that.”

“We’ll find that out for you, doctor,” Twilight said, “Now Apple Bloom,” she said gently nudging the pony to focus, “Do you think you can tell us what happened to you? It would be very helpful for me and the doctors to know what happened so that we can have a better clue as to what’s wrong with you exactly.”

“Well,” Apple Bloom said sleepily with a loud yawn, “I was in the Everfree forest gathering some plants for Zecora, but then I got lost and suddenly I found myself somewhere where I had never been before or seen before, it was a place like no other that I had previously seen in that forest, I mean there was green grass and stuff, but the flowers I saw, well I’ve never saw anything like them before, they had gray petals on them and then I picked one up to smell it.

But the odd and strange part is that when I tried to smell it I couldn’t smell anything, the flower didn’t have a scent on it, but it did have some thorns on it, and I guess I must have accidentally pricked myself on one because the next thing I know I’m feeling all dizzy and wibbly wobbly, I could barely stand up straight on my four hooves, and I couldn’t see or think straight either, the only thought that I had when I came out of that forest was to find you Applejack.”

“Well that’s nice to know, thanks little sister, you’ve helped us out a lot today.”

“I did? Well that’s nice I suppose, tell Granny I said hi-,”

Suddenly as Apple Bloom uttered her last word she fell asleep on the bed.

“Oh she must be so tired from her illness the poor dear thing,” Rarity said.

“Yeah, I suppose so, we better leave her to rest, but if you don’t mind I’m going to stay here with her, the rest of y’all can get back to work with helping Twilight try to find some magical mystery cure for this strange and mysterious disease.”

“Will do,” Rarity said, “On the case,” Rainbow Dash said, “Well okay, if that’s what you really want,” Fluttershy said nervously as she flapped her wings, “I don’t want to read anything else, but if it’s to help Apple Bloom, then I will,” Spike said, “We won’t let you down Applejack, will we let her down girls?”

“No way!” they all said at once in perfect unison and perfect harmony.

With that said all the girls went on to their separate ways to go and do what they could to try to help the sick Apple Bloom into a healthy recovery.

Chris felt guilty at not having anything to do, but eventually his mind came up with an idea that he could do, “You know what,” he said as he backed out of the room, “I think I know what I can do to help her, I’m going to go get that plant of hers that she described, and I’ll do it even if it kills me or worse.”

“I don’t know about that,” Applejack said, “I appreciate your concern, but you don’t need to put yourself in this much danger and trouble for a pony stranger that you barely even know, even if that pony stranger is a very sick pony.”

“Nonsense, I love to help any pony I can, so you stay right here and I’ll be back before you even notice that I’m gone, and I promise that I won’t fail you.”

“Alright then, if you say so, but I still hope you’ll be safe out there all alone.”

With that said Chris went out of the hospital and off into the Everfree forest all alone to keep his word and promise, and he would not fail any pony.

> Talking to Zecora
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When he went into the Everfree forest it was dark and scary and foggy.

He went deep into the Everfree forest looking for this mysterious flower.

But despite how much he looked for it he couldn’t find it, and then he had a thought, Apple Bloom mentioned a zebra named Zecora, maybe if he found her he could know what flower or things Apple Bloom was originally looking for.

So he went back into town and found some pony to lead him to Zecora’s and when he finally got there he got the chance to ask her his questions he had.

“Zecora,” he said, “What things were Apple Bloom looking for you earlier?”

“The thing she sought was an old thing that has been forgotten, its name is the crystal flower, and it has a strange and mysterious power. But instead of finding what I asked, she got lost in a mistake that may be her last.”

“But where do I find what she was looking for, this mysterious crystal flower that you speak of, or to be more accurately where she ended up eventually?”

“Take this compass and it will show the path of your way, for this does not point north but instead to your heart’s or mind’s desire, but do not stray, should you falter or fail then the consequences would be most dire.”

“Thank you Zecora,” Chris said taking the compass, and just as he was about to leave all alone and off into the Everfree forest, Zecora spoke once more.

“Be careful my friend or else you will meet your end, and I know that your appearance is deceiving which is why just now you were leaving. And your lies may be deceptive to others, but you cannot fool me, so why not tell the truth to every pony and set yourself free? For you cannot hide forever creature of the dark, for soon enough you will have to make and leave behind your mark.”

“Alright then,” Chris said, “I’ll take that to note and my mind.”

> The Crystal Flower
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With that said Chris went off into the Everfree forest all alone once again to find this mysterious crystal flower, taking the compass out he followed the way which it pointed, which was not North since Chris could clearly see the sun, he didn’t know how or why it wouldn’t point North except that it was a magic compass, so he followed the compass needle in the direction it pointed, it took many hours but he finally found a dark grove of gray flowers where a thick heavy fog lay all around, and now the compass needle was spinning in circles so he must have found what he was looking for. So he went over to a flower and slowly and carefully he picked one out and up without pricking his hoof.

But he didn’t just pick one flower, he gathered many in case the one he had was dead or too young, because Chris thought he knew what this flower really was and where it came from, and if his thoughts and suspicions were correct than this would be no good news for any pony but he didn’t know for sure, he needed Zecora or some other pony to confirm his thoughts and suspicions.

So now he followed the compass needle back to Zecora’s house. It took the same amount of time and hours to get back to Zecora’s house, and when he got back he showed the flowers to Zecora and asked his prevailing question.

“What is this flower exactly?” he said, “Please tell me it isn’t what I think it is.”

“I’m afraid it is, this flower is very old, and once was developed by your own kind in order to feast on the thing they need, love. However their experiments failed as you know so well, and instead of creating something that they could feed on they only failed, but they did not eliminate their experiments, they left their flowers alive, and it seems their seeds have spread to the Everfree forest.”

“I know, to any other pony it’s deadly since it has a deadly poison to protect itself from being eaten by anything other than a changeling, and unfortunately there is only one cure or antidote to the deadly poison in the flower.”

“Changeling blood,” Zecora said.

> Infection
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Fortunately I am one, as you seemed to see earlier when I came.”

“Yes, lies cannot hide from the truth of the light that I explore.”

“Unfortunately the poison spreads very fast, for a pony it changes their chemical composition, once it’s in the system no magic can get it out, and nothing will slow it down, and the first stage requires blood contact, but then it evolves to the second stage of physical contact. I don’t know how fast it spreads, but it might have spread to other ponies by now, I just hope that I’m not too late. I better get back to Ponyville, thanks for the help Zecora.”

“You’re welcome Chris, make sure to come back and visit soon.”

With that said Chris rushed off back to Ponyville back to the hospital where Apple Bloom lay, but instead of just one pony laying in bed, there were instead two, now Applejack lay on a bed too, it seems like the disease had spread.

“Oh no, it seems like the disease has spread, I just hope it’s contained and isolated, if it’s not then this is going to be very big bad news, I’ve got to go check on the rest of the town, I just hope that this isn’t any worse.”

With that said Chris went off into town and found that it had indeed gotten worse, he saw that the whole town had been infected, even the Mane 6.

> Sacrifice/ (Saving the Town)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oh no,” Chris said at Princess Twilight Sparkle’s house, “The whole town is infected, including you, and there’s only one cure for the deadly disease.”

“What is it?” Twilight Sparkle asked.

“Changeling blood,” Chris said, “But luckily for you, I am one.”

With that said Chris transformed into his true form and shape.

“But I don’t know if I have enough blood to give to everyone, but I’ll try my best, I don’t know if I can save everyone, but I do know I’ll keep my promise.”

With that said Chris went off to Apple Bloom and took a syringe and plunged it into himself, drew his blood out, and with the help of the doctors he got it in a drip for both Applejack and Apple Bloom, but he still had more ponies to save, and he needed help, so quickly he rushed over to Quentin who luckily enough with his sisters remained healthy and uninfected. “Quentin,” he said, “I need your help, the whole town is infected, the only cure is changeling blood, my blood, and I need your help to gather every pony in one place, not only will I give them my blood, but they need their memories back again, they need to remember who I am, who I was, I don’t want my sacrifice to be forgotten.”

“Alright,” Quentin said, “I’ll help.”

With that said Chris and Quentin rushed off across Ponyville and Quentin used his magic to transport the ponies to the hospital where Chris could help them.

Slowly Chris gave his blood out to every pony he could, but the more he lost, the more tired he became, and meanwhile Quentin was casting another memory spell over the ponies, “Luckily enough,” he said, “A memory recovery spell is much easier than one to forget or remove old memories.”

Eventually though every pony had their memories back, and eventually every pony that was infected was given blood, “I did it,” Chris said, “I saved every pony’s life, I saved the town, and I kept my promise, and now at least if I die I can die with honor and nobility, and knowing that I did one good deed.”

With that said Chris suddenly passed out on the floor, and the world was dark and black all around. 
> Waking Up/ (Compliments)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Chris woke up, he did it slowly, and then he sat up in the hospital bed and saw the Mane 6, Apple Bloom, Zecora, Eve, and Quentin all standing around his bed with faces of anticipation and expectation.

“We were worried for you,” Quentin spoke first, “You were asleep for three days, you lost a lot of blood to save every pony, but you did, and now the whole town is in your debt, one that can never be repaid, especially after how they treated you, but what action they took then cannot change what is happening right now. Only what you and others do right now can change what happens.”

“We’re glad that you saved the town,” Princess Twilight Sparkle said.

“And I’m glad that you saved my life,” Apple Bloom said.

“You kept your word and promise, and I ain’t ever known a changeling that did that before you came along, so I owe you an apology and a debt for saving my sister’s life, and that’s something I can never repay, no matter how much I try,” Applejack said taking her hat off in a sign and show of respect.

“You were loyal to ponies you didn’t even know, ponies that treated you unfairly,” Rainbow Dash said, “And I know few people who would save the ponies that treated you the way that we all did, so you’re good in my book.”

“Your kindness towards other ponies amazes even me,” Fluttershy said.

“You did something that surprised us all, and we can never repay you,” Princess Twilight Sparkle spoke once more in a kind and gentle voice.

“I appreciate all your thanks,” Chris said, “But I could use some rest right now, if you don’t mind I’m still feeling pretty tired, so all of you can leave me, except Quentin and Eve, I want them to stay, I need to speak to them in private.”

“Of course,” Princess Twilight Sparkle said as all the other ponies left the room.

> A Private Talk
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What do you want to talk about?” Quentin asked.

“Well first I wanted to thank you for granting my request of giving every pony their memory back, and secondly, thanks for never giving up on me.”

“You’re welcome,” Quentin said, “It was an honor to do so, but I fear that your actions have dramatically altered the timeline, this wasn’t supposed to happen, and I could not, did not see it happening, you changed everything Chris, and who knows what that will bring, if it will bring more danger and peril for other ponies, or perhaps and new and different kind of peace that we do not know.”

“Well I’m not concerned with altering the timeline or whatever, all I want to do now is to rest, and of course to speak to Eve privately, my final words are for her, and her alone, so do you think you could give us some time alone?”

“Of course,” Quentin said leaving the room.

“Eve,” Chris said once Quentin left, “I did it, I saved every pony, I kept my word and promise, but I still feel like I’m missing something deep down inside. I don’t know what it is, but I want to find out, and where is this Doctor of yours? Shouldn’t he have shown up by now with all this danger and peril around?”

“I don’t know where he is, but he didn’t come while you were gone, I guess he didn’t need to, the problem took care of itself as it always does here.”

“Well I guess so with the Mane 6 in Equestria, but tell me, what happens now?”

“I don’t know, but the town is calling you a hero, and they want to build something in your honor and memory, probably a statue or something big.”

“A statue would be nice, but I don’t want one, I want peace and quiet and rest, and I want to see this Doctor of yours, I’m just dying to meet him.”

“I hope it’s not literally at this point,”

“It just might be with my condition,” Chris said smiling at the joke.

“Did you know Princess Celestia and Princess Luna heard of your brave act and are coming on their way here?”

“They are?”

“Yes, yes they are.”

“Well that’s fine I guess, but there’s something I still don’t understand here…”

“What, is it your missing part?”

“No, a question, the crystal flowers, or changeling flowers as they should be called, they don’t have a smell, but that’s only true if the flower is blooming or is dead or if a changeling smells it, to any other pony it smells like that which they love most, it was a way to attract ponies so that we could gain their love, and that part worked, and the poison was a last resort, but here’s the thing, Apple Bloom said she smelled nothing, yet all the flowers I saw were in full bloom, so that only leaves two logical options, Apple Bloom was lying, which I find most likely considering that I do not think that she is a changeling.”

“But why would she lie?”

“I have no idea, but she must have had a very good reason to do it.”

“I can’t imagine why she would lie with her life on the line,”

“Me neither, but I intend to find out, perhaps there are other forces at work here, forces that work far beyond my knowledge and understanding.”

“Well I hope you get better, I’ll be going now.”

“Alright, I’ll see you later then, give my thanks to every pony, especially the family, and especially to your older Brother Quentin, you all helped so much.”

“I will,” Eve said as she left.

> A Letter to Eve
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once Eve had left he got out a letter and a pen and started to write what he could not express in words of what he wanted to say to her, and once he was done he set it down on the pillow for Eve to fin later, and with any luck it would, and the letter and message it contained was as follows.

Eve, this letter is for you and you alone, it has what I cannot express to you in spoken words, and I hope and pray and have faith that you will find it and read it, I wanted to thank you for your help too, you were the only pony I ever started to like, maybe the only one I could love, it was you that I thought of when no one else seemed to care, you were always the one to hold me and keep me from falling, and I can never forget you, even my promise and word seemed weak to me at times, even your older brother Quentin seemed weak at times, sure I thought of both, and they were strong, but not as strong as the thought and memory of you, that one thought and memory of you could have kept me going across all the lands of Equestria to find that flower, it could have kept me going even past these lands, it would have kept me going until I was past the point and brink of death, perhaps even further beyond that point, I could, and would die with the thought of you in my head, and even suffer pain to keep your memory in my thoughts and ideas and head. I know that you may not love me, and perhaps you never will, after all, you did confess your love of the Doctor to me openly, and so now I only deem it fair and equal to do so with you.

I do not mean nor wish to hurt your feelings or make you choose, but know that I will always be there for you, even if I will not stand by my word or promise to others, or even to your older brother Quentin, I will always stand by your side to keep you safe by protecting and serving you, you will always be the first one that is above all others, when all else is lost, you will be there in my thoughts and head, and you will guide me and help me, and even if you are a pony of few words, I know that you will speak to my heart and mind, and guide me to the right path and way, and so I thank you with all my heart and mind.

If you need me I will be at Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Tree house, but I would advise you not to follow or come to me, or your brother, or your family, I must speak to the Princesses first, all four of them, I need my last words with them before I leave this town, and before you question why let me tell you the reasons as to why I am leaving this town, and my family, and your brother, and you.

I need to find my true purpose in life, I may have done a brave and noble act of honor, but I do not think that is all I must do, I feel I have to discover something else, the missing part deep down inside of me, and I also must find the reason as to why there were crystal flowers in the Everfree forest, the seeds of the flower do not migrate, it was a genetic trait we put in the flowers to ensure they survived and would not be lost, we didn’t want them to wander off, we wanted to know where or perfect and elusive traps were, and I have a feeling that some pony must have planted those seeds there in the forest on purpose, and I must find that pony, I intend to use the magical compass I gained from Zecora to follow my heart’s and mind’s desire, I don’t know where it will take me, so you would be wise to not try and follow me, anyhow I thank your family and brother and most of all you for all that you have done for me, and having faith in me.

I would never have believed in myself or had faith in myself, or maybe even kept my word or promise if it were not for all your family, brother, and you have done for me, I don’t know what would have happened had never come along at all.

I don’t think anyone could tell, but I do know this one thing for sure, I will always remember your memory and actions and words, as well as your brothers and family, and I don’t think I could ever forget even if I wanted to.

Sincerely with all my heart and mind, one true friend and a lover, Chris


> Talking to the Princesses 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once he had written it down he placed it on the pillow and left the room and sneakily went out of the hospital avoiding every pony except for Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends because he needed them to talk to, and then he went to go to Princess Twilight Sparkle’s tree house, and he waited there for the rest of the princesses to come over to the tree house and come to talk to him.

He waited for sometime before the rest of the princesses came, and when they had all gathered they all spoke in a rushed hurry of loud voices.

“Sorry for the way I treated you,” Twilight Said.

“I applaud your brave and noble act of honor,” Celestia said.

“For a creature of the dark, you have given us light,” Luna said.

“Can all of you be quiet for one moment?” Chris shouted.

At this shout they all went quiet as requested, “Thank you,” he said, “Now on to what I have to stay, I will not be staying in Ponyville much longer, my goal and quest now is to find the pony who planted the crystal seeds in the Everfree forest, the seeds do not migrate with the wind, some pony had to plant them, and I intend to find out who by using this magical compass given to me by Zecora, it will guide me on the path and way to heart’s and mind’s desire.

Using it I will be able to find the pony responsible, and he’ll pay for putting innocent pony lives at risk, especially young ones. Where I go I do not know, and I would advise no pony try to follow me on my journey, this is something I must do alone, for I may find the missing part of myself deep down inside.”

“Are you sure you want to do this all alone?” Celestia asked.

“I’m sure some pony could help you on your quest, surely your family can help you…” Luna said, “NO!” Chris said loudly, “I must do it all alone by myself; I cannot have any pony helping me, I WILL NOT ALLOW IT!”

“There’s no need to be rude about it,” Twilight said.

“THERE IS! YOU OBVIOUSLY DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OR URGENCY OF THIS MATTER I HAVE BROUGHT TO YOU HERE TODAY!”

“We do,” Celestia said, “What we do not understand is why you would want to go on this journey alone, especially after learning about the power of all the elements of harmony, truth, generosity, kindness, laughter, loyalty, and magic, and also the power and love of your family, can you please tell us why?”

“It is so that they do not get hurt, I do not want to put any pony’s life in danger anymore; I have caused too much damage and change just by being here.”

“Well then, if that is the way you feel, I do not blame you for your thoughts or for the actions you are about to take; and good luck on your long journey ahead of you, to wherever it may take you, Chris the Changeling,” Celestia said slightly bowing towards Chris.

“Princess, there is no need to bow for me,” Chris said shocked at the sight.

“Oh but there is, should this disease not be contained to Ponyville, and had you not cured it, it could have spread across all of Equestria, and no other Changeling would have been willing, ready, or able to help, so yes, this is the proper occasion and reason for me to bow to you, as all of us should do.”

With that being said all of the princesses bowed at Chris in a sign of honor and respect, it was the highest one that Chris had ever received in his long life.

“Thank you very much, but if you don’t mind I would like to have one final word with Princess Cadence before I go, I need my thoughts and head to be clear before I go, and to do that I need to speak my last words and thoughts.”

“Very well then,” Celestia said, “We shall leave you as you wish.”

With that being said all the princesses left except for Cadence.

“What is it you wish to speak of?” Cadence asked.

“Do you know if it’s possible for a changeling, for me, to love?”

“Of course it is; you feed off of love, so why would it make any sense that you can’t love? One would have to know and feel love before taking it away.”

“I guess that makes sense, thank you princess; that is all I have for you today.”

“If I may ask, why do you wish to know this?”

“Because I think I may love a certain special some pony, but I don’t think she loves me back, in fact she confessed to loving another certain special some pony who couldn’t love her back in order to keep both of them safe and for neither of them to be hurt since the certain special some pony is immortal.

And I was asking this because I wanted to know if my feelings were actually real, or if they were just a figment of my imagination and false.”

“I can reassure you that they are very real, any feeling of love is very real.”

“Well thank you Princess, now if you don’t mind I must go, oh, and make sure that Eve gets my letter I left her on a pillow in the Ponyville hospital.”

“I assume that this would be the certain special some pony that you love?”

“You would assume correctly indeed then, in other words your guess is good, and it was indeed correct,” Chris said, and with that he left the tree house and followed the needle of the compass north.
> Discovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

He followed it for days, it took him north to the icy cold frozen lands that no pony could survive, or has ever survived in, except of course for the mysterious legend of the magic ice ponies who lived in these parts and lands, but every pony knew that it was a myth, but then again, Nightmare Moon and King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis and Discord could have been myths too, so Chris assumed nothing as he went on.

It took him weeks, but he finally found what he was looking for, there deep in the icy cold frozen lands of the north he found a small ice hut, an igloo.

He entered it and the compass needle spun around in all directions, “I know you’re here, whoever you are,” he said out loud to no pony in particular, “Why don’t you show yourself now and end this mystery by stepping out of the shadows you hide so well and easily in? Face the consequences of your actions, and do not fear what you may face from others, fear me instead.”

“Oh, but what fun is there in the light? It’s so much better to hide in the darkness of the shadows instead, where you remain a mystery shrouded by lies, clouded by the truth, and where fear makes its home to live in.

The darkness is not as bad as you might think it is, Princess Luna could tell you that, it can restore your mind with dreams after a long day of hard work, but it is still a place where evil and fear lives, and both I and she would know, you could say that on some level we understand each other, and that we are related, and not just by thoughts and ideas, but by blood as well, by a fragment of the mind and of the heart joined together in a perfect harmony.”

“Who are you?” Chris asked slightly afraid, but putting a brave face on.

“Who am I the changeling asks, and yet he does not know who he is yet, what a delightful irony I see, but to answer your question I am Nightmare Shadow, maker of nightmares and shadow, and I will live in your mind and heart and fears, I will haunt you and all the other ponies so long as both they and I live.

I am to be both feared and respected, and you will remember my name, I shall not be forgotten, not now, and not ever again! Princess Luna may treat me like I am not family or blood, but she cannot deny the truth that haunts her!”

“If you’re to be remembered, than why not show yourself?”

“You wish to see me, but what you do not realize is that I already am seen,”

“What do you mean?”

“Look at your shadow, what do you see?”

“I don’t see what this has to do with…” 

“Just humor me please,”

With that being said, Chris looked down at his own shadow, but he didn’t see just one, but instead he saw two, one that was his own, and one that was not.

“How is this possible?” he asked.

“To question magic is to question logic and reason itself.”

“I don’t know how you’re doing this, but I do know you’re the one responsible for planting the crystal flower seeds in the Everfree forest.”

“That is correct; I will not deny this blame.”

“But why, you put so many ponies’ lives in dangers, even young ones, so why did you do it? Why put the innocent lives of Ponyville under threat and peril and danger? Surely there is a better way for getting your message across?”

“THERE IS NO BETTER WAY!” Nightmare Shadow screamed, “THIS IS THE ONLY WAY! PRINCESS LUNA WILL NOT HEAR ME ANY OTHER WAY!”

“Princess Luna?” Chris asked confused.

“Yes, she is the one responsible for creating me, the one who gave birth to me, from her deepest blackest thoughts, ideas, fears, and dreams did I emerge, and now there is no going back, I will never go back. No pony will ever force me to go back to that cold desolate place on the moon, and while Princess Luna may have been fun and fine as Nightmare Moon, she has now lost that strength and turned into a pathetic weak creature, one that is not worthy of bearing the title of ‘Princess of the Night’, that title will belong to me now, the “Prince of the Night’, but not just that, of shadows, dreams, fears, ideas, and thoughts too.”

“How dare you say that about the Princess, Luna can never be replaced, not even Celestia herself was worthy or ready to replace her sister, and you are the least worthy and noble of all the ponies I have seen, you’re so cowardly in fact that you will not even step out of the shadows and show yourself to me,” Chris shouted with anger, but with a growl and shout of anger the igloo started rumbling and shaking and the ground started to split underneath him.

“HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME, IT IS LUCKY FOR YOU THAT I NEED YOU ALIVE, FOR I NEED YOU TO SEND A MESSAGE TO PRINCESS LUNA!”

Once Nightmare Shadow had spoken that the ground and igloo stopped shaking and remained calm at his feet, but then something strange happened.

The ground stopped shaking, and then the shadow under Chris gathered into a black pool of darkness across Chris and then formed into a pony, the pony had a body black as night itself, all of his body including his mane and hooves was that color, even his horn too, and his eyes were black as the night as well.

And for his cutie mark he had a silver ‘S’ on his flank.

“What’s the ‘S’ stand for?” Chris asked.

“It stands for Shadow, which I specialize in, and as you just saw I can change myself into it, so there is no way to defeat me, Chris.”

“How do you know my name?”

“News travels in the dark, even to the far reaches of Equestria, even in this cold icy frozen land of the north, but it does not matter how I know your name or anything else. What matters is that you bring this message back to Princess Luna, tell her that Nightmare Moon is coming for her and the subjects of Equestria, tell her that I will haunt their dreams and live in their mind, ideas, and thoughts, tell her I will do so until she faces me at the Castle of the Two Sisters, and tell her that if she is not brave enough to face me, I will not only haunt the ponies so long as both they and I live, but I will haunt her memory, her thoughts, and her ideas until she can no longer stand the madness of her mind, tell her that my fury will last as long as the night lives on.”

“I’ll make sure to tell her that, but I think you’ll have to say that to her in person yourself when you’re in jail. You should also think of a shorter name.”

“I don’t think that will be happening anytime soon, and as for the name since my first initials of my name are ‘NS” you can call me Ness I suppose.”

“Oh and why would that be exactly, Ness?”

“Well it’s a little thing I like to call shadow travel,” Ness said, and with that Ness put a hoof on Chris and suddenly Chris felt like he was being pulled by a mysterious strong force, and the world was black all around him, and then suddenly without any explanation or reason whatsoever, he was back in Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Tree house in Ponyville, and there in the room stood the Princess herself reading her books, but when Chris came into the room and crashed into a well organized pile of books she lifted her head up at last.

> Confession
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“How in Equestria did you get here?” Twilight said, “You’ve been gone weeks.”

“That’s exactly the question I have, but tell me, where is Celestia and Luna?”

“In Canterlot of course, performing their royal duties,”

“Well summon them here! I have a message for them of great importance.”

With that said Twilight quickly wrote a message and made Spike send it.

Soon enough both princesses came to the small tree house.

“What’s wrong?” Celestia asked.

“I found the one responsible,” Chris says, “And he says that he knows you, Princess Luna, his name is Nightmare Shadow, and he wanted me to give you a message, he says that he’ll come after the subjects of Equestria, he says that he’ll haunt and live in their dreams, thoughts, ideas, and fears, he says he’ll do so until the day they die, and says the only way to stop him is to face him at the Castle of the Two Sisters, and he says that if you are not brave enough to face him that he will also haunt your memory, thoughts, dreams, ideas, and fears, and he also says that his fury will last as long as the night lives on.”

“Nightmare Shadow, are you sure that was him? Did he have a silver ‘S’ as his cutie mark?” Luna asked in a panic and with fear in her voice.

“Yes, that’s the one, but he also mentioned that you two were related, and not just in thoughts and ideas, but in blood as well, is that true princess?”

“I’m afraid so, Nightmare Shadow is a product of my own imagination and mind; he was born when I was Nightmare Moon.”

“But you were on the moon, how could you give birth?”

“You do not understand, he was not born physically, he was a product of my mind and imagination, I was bored on the moon, and so I created a companion and partner for myself, someone that I could love, and one that could give me the love I deserved, but he did not have a physical body since he was a product of my mind and imagination, and I thought he died when my banishment was over and I was reformed, but it seems like he did not die but instead lived on, and now he will haunt the innocent ponies of Equestria for my crimes as Nightmare Moon, even now I still have not suffered enough pain for what I have done, even now the price still has to be paid. I am sorry that I did not see this sooner, but perhaps my grief has blinded me for so many long years now.”

“Luna, what you did as Nightmare Moon is not your fault, you were blinded by grief and pain even then, but now it’s time to put the past behind you by helping us right now,” Celestia said putting a hoof on her sister’s shoulder.

“How does he have a physical body if he was made out of your imagination and mind? He touched me with his hoof and sent me here instantly with something he called ‘shadow travel’ also you can call him Ness since his name is too long.”

“Nightmare Shadow, or Ness as you so wisely suggested, has a physical body by means which I do not know, whether or not he’s strong enough to form an actual real body by feeling off of my guilt and emotions and thoughts, dreams, ideas, and fears, or if he has actually taken over the body of another pony.”

“What do you mean exactly?” Chris said.

“He may not be strong enough to be corporeal yet, but while he gains the strength and power to do so he will inhabit and control both the mind and body of another pony, and it could be any pony out there, and none of us would know it, not even me, for I am not connected to him as I was on the moon, and now that he has revealed himself he will surely hide his mind away from my searching eyes and mind, unless he wants to be found, he won’t.”

“So there could be an innocent pony out there that we can’t help?”

“We can help them, but we won’t know who, and we won’t know how to help them either, even if Ness is in another pony, I do not know how to help get Ness out without possibly hurting the host body of the real pony inside.”

“So what do we do in the meantime?” Chris said.

“You do nothing, it is I who must act, I will go to the Castle of the Two Sisters, our old home, and I will face him there for the safety and protection of all the ponies in Equestria, and I would willingly give my life up to protect my citizens and ponies, but I hope it does not come to that, but I have no idea of what his power and strength might be, but I must face him alone.”

“You don’t need to; you don’t have to face this all alone by yourself.”

“I must, he’s sending me a message in my head right now, he says that if I don’t he’ll hurt the one closest to me, my sister, he also says to meet him at midnight at the castle, how typical and appropriate of a time for us to meet.”

“Luna, you don’t need to protect me anymore, we’re sisters; we protect each other by actually being there to help each other out,” Celestia said.

“I know sister, but this is for the good of Equestria, I will face him alone, and you cannot stop me sister, I must do this, just as you needed to banish me.”

“Luna, that was a different time, and for a different reason.”

“Not a completely different reason, you still had good, honorable, and noble intentions, but as you have said before, the price was too steep to pay.”

“Alright sister, if you insist on doing it alone, than you shall, I trust you, even after all you have done, and the reason why is because I love you.”

“I know sister, I know,” and with that said the two sisters hugged each other.

“Good luck sister, I hope that you do not fail on your task,” Celestia said.

“And good luck to you, should I fail I will need you to help the citizens of Equestria, you will be their last and only hope that they have left.”

“Don’t you dare say that to me, you know I hate it when you say that, I know that you’re not going to fail any of us, especially me, I need you just as much as you need me sister, we’ll always be there for each other when no one else is,”

“You know I only say that because you know that I know that you hate it.”

“And you know that I’ll always say what I say to comfort you,” Celestia said.

“And of course to play this little game of ours,” Luna said.

“Of course,” Celestia said, and once again they hugged each other.

Chris wanted to say that there was a little bit too much hugging going on and then separate the two sisters and get on with their duties and tasks, but he felt like this was not the appropriate time to express his thoughts or feelings.

After a brief moment the two sisters once again let go and without any more words being spoken by either of them, the two left the tree house.

> Coming Back Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Well that was interesting to say the least,” Chris said after a brief moment of silence in order to show a sign and display of great respect for them. 

“Quite,” Twilight Sparkle said, “This gave me a whole lot of new information about Princess Luna, but I’m sure she wouldn’t want me to tell any of this, but perhaps I should ask, but maybe I need another opinion, but I can’t get another opinion without telling them the details, oh what to do…”

As Twilight rambled on to herself Chris slowly backed out of the tree house.

As he left the tree house to go home an idea came to him, he thought he might have found out his true purpose now, it was to protect and serve the ponies of Equestria, and to be more specific, in his home town of Ponyville, and he would have both friends and family to do it, another first in his long life.

With what he thought was an answer he went home, but when he did the words spoken started to change his mind as to what his true purpose might be.

He got home and cried out loudly, “I’m home every pony!”

Soon enough there was a stampede of trampling hooves rushing down the stairs to greet him, and a cry of loud voices cried out, and while Chris couldn’t catch everything, he did catch these questions that were thrown out at him.

“Where have you been these past weeks?”

“Yeah, we were so worried, where were you?”

“What were you doing for so long?”

“Who or what were you looking for?”

“Did you get hurt?”

“Do you need food or water?”

“Do you need a bath or shower?”

“Are you hungry or thirsty?”

“Tell us something, please!”

“Did you meet any pony else while you were gone?”

And other more various questions were rapidly thrown at him, and some of them were repeated over and over again, but because it was coming all so fast at him Chris couldn’t answer anything even though he tried to. But what came next was both a surprise and shock to everyone in the room, a voice boomed and shouted so loud it made all the other voices stop and made every pony stand completely still in shock and surprise while the bearer of the voice drew nearer to Chris, the pony who had shouted was none other than Eve.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?” she asked very loudly in a demanding voice as she floated above him in a very intimidating and very threatening pose, and her eyes looked almost red with rage, or perhaps it was something else instead. 

“I HAVE BEEN SICK AND WORRIED FOR WEEKS WAITING FOR YOU TO RETURN, SO I WANT A STRAIGHT AND HONEST ANSWER FROM YOU!”

“I went to the icy cold frozen lands of the north,” Chris said nervously fearing what Eve would say next, she looked very angry and upset right now.

“AND YOU DIDN’T BOTHER TO WRITE OR TO TAKE ME ALONG? YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED, OR WORSE! DIDN’T YOU GIVE A SECOND THOUGHT AS TO WHO YOU WOULD HURT BY LEAVING FOR SO LONG? I COULDN’T SLEEP FOR WEEKS AFTER YOU LEFT BECAUSE I WAS SICK WITH WORRY!

THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR LEAVING ME THE WAY YOU DID, I GOT YOUR LETTER, AND I DIDN’T LIKE WHAT IT HAD TO SAY, I DIDN’T LIKE WHAT YOU SAID! AND WHY IN EQUESTRIA DID YOU NOT SAY YOUR FEELINGS TOWARDS ME EARLIER? I COULD HAVE HELPED YOU ON YOUR JOURNEY AND WITH YOUR FEELINGS! I COULD HAVE BEEN THERE FOR YOU WHEN YOU NEEDED ME MOST! BUT NO, YOU HAVE TO GO RUNNING OFF ON YOUR SILLY DANGEROUS QUEST OF PERIL TO FIND YOUR TRUES SELF AND PURPOSE AND TO DO IT FOR THE GOOD OF EQUESTRIA! BUT WHAT ABOUT THE GOOD OF YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY, YOU SAID IN YOUR LETTER THAT YOU WOULD ALWAYS BE THERE FOR ME EVEN WHEN NO PONY ELSE WOULD BE! YOU SAID THAT YOU WOULD CHOOSE ME OVER ANYONE ELSE! BUT I HAVE TO QUESTION IF THAT’S TRUE BECAUSE IF YOU HAD ACTUALLY BOTHERED TO TELL ME BEFORE YOU LEFT AND ASKED ME HOW I FELT I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU NOT TO GO FOR ME!

BUT YOU’RE BACK NOW, SO DO MY FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS AND IDEAS MATTER NOW, OR ARE THEY SAME AS THEY WERE BEFORE YOU LEFT?

BUT NOW THAT YOU’VE HEARD WHAT I HAVE TO SAY, I MUST ASK YOU THIS ONE QUESTION, WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?”

“I’m sorry, alright? I’m sorry I left you, but I can’t change that now.”

“THAT”S NOT GOOD ENOUGH MISTER! YOU NEED TO DO BETTER!”

“Look, tell me what to say and I’ll say it, what do you want me to say Eve?”

“SAY THAT YOU LOVE ME, SAY THAT YOU WON’T EVER LEAVE ME OR THIS FAMILY AGAIN WITHOUT ASKING ME FIRST! SAY THAT YOU’RE SORRY FOR LEAVING US, LEAVING ME IN THE FIRST PLACE! SAY THAT YOU KNOW NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO YOU KNOW YOU WON’T EVER MAKE UP FOR YOUR ACTIONS OF LEAVING US, FOR YOU LEAVING ME ALL ALONE AND BEHIND!”

“Well I do love you, and I won’t ever leave you or this family without asking you first, and I am sorry for leaving the family behind, for leaving you behind, and I already know nothing I can do can make up my actions for leaving you behind.

For leaving this family behind, but I hope in time that you can forgive me, and I know that even if you don’t, I’ll still always be there for you whenever you need me, even if you don’t, I’ll always be there to catch you when you fall, I’ll always be there to protect and serve you, the words I wrote in my letter are true as they were then as they are now, they won’t change just as my feelings of you won’t change, the words written are as permanent as my feelings are.”

Once Chris had said this Eve calmly floated down from her hovering angry pose above him that she held as she shouted and boomed at him in anger.

“I’m sorry I shouted,” she said in a regular voice, “I was just so angry at you.”

“Don’t apologize for your anger, I understand why you did it, and I’ve already forgiven you, but the real question is this, can you forgive me?”

“I think that I can now, but come on Chris, let’s go somewhere more private to talk, how about my room? Would that work with you?”

“That would work perfectly, let’s go,” and with that said they went to Eve’s room to talk privately about what they needed to, which was a lot.

Once they got inside Eve shut the door and locked it so they wouldn’t be disturbed by anyone. “So what do you want to talk about?” Chris asked.

“Well a lot honestly, for one did you find the part missing deep down inside of you? I hope that you did, you were gone for so long; I really hope that you did.”

“I did find that missing part deep down inside; or at least I think I found some part of it, but with you right here, and your words, I’m not so sure.”

“Well I hope that you figure it out soon, I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

“And I thought you were the pony that was patient and kind and gentle, but what I saw today blew that image away, but I hope I figure it out soon too.”

“Well I can be angry and loud when I want to be, but it just takes a lot for the deeper darker part of me that’s inside to come out and burst.”

“Well that’s nice to know, but is that all you want to talk about?”

“I think that’s enough for now, we can talk more sometime else if we want to.”

“Alright then, consider this an arrangement,” Chris said, and with that they left the room to find that the rest of the sisters standing outside giggling at some unspoken joke that was somehow secretly shared between all of them.

“Did you kiss him?” Sunset asked giggling.

“No, I did not kiss him!” Eve said in a raised tone and voice, but not so much as earlier, and Chris could tell she was upset, but not angry (there was a difference, despite how little and subtle it might be).

“But you were in there for so long; surely you must have done something else in there other than just talking?” Midnight said with an odd smile on her face.

“We didn’t do anything in there!” Eve said (and it was true, they had long gaps of silence while they talked, and one even after Chris said his final words).

“Alright, if you say so,” Sunset spoke once again with a smile.

With that said the girls left, “I’m sorry,” Eve said, “They can be immature at times, and I can’t control their behavior or actions or questions.”

“You don’t need to apologize, especially for something you can’t control, like other ponies, especially your family, it doesn’t matter what you try to do or how hard you push or in what way, they’ll be the way they always were.”

“I’m sorry,” Eve said once again with a shy retreat.

“You look so adorable and cute when you apologize.”

“That’s nice of you to say,” Eve said.

“Well then if you don’t mind I’m going to go to bed, after traveling for weeks without much sleep or rest, it would be nice to actually get some here.”

“Of course,” Eve said, “I don’t mind at all, go ahead and get some sleep.”

With that said Chris went up to his room and lay down on his bed and got some well deserved and earned rest, relaxation, and sleep of course.

> An Unexpected Guest/ A Heart's Warming Guest/ (The Doctor comes back again to Eve)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Time/ Day: Heart's Warming Eve

Time passed in Equestria, summer ended and winter came, and what also came with it, Hearts’ Warming Eve, a joyous occasion, and one that would become even better when an unexpected guest showed up that night.

All was bright and warm in the Dawn house, but Eve still looked outside the frosty cold window with a look of waiting and longing, and Chris knew that he didn’t know why she was looking outside, she was waiting for someone, and he didn’t need to ask to know who, she was waiting for the Doctor to come.

“You still miss him, don’t you?” he asked casually glancing outside.

“Yes, and his promise was to come by today, so he has to come today.”

“But when do you think he will show up?

“Probably at the last minute in some big dramatic show with flash, and for a time lord, that’s what he calls himself, he always seems to show up late.”

“Well that’s a real irony,”

“So I’ve noted and said before,”

“Well come on Eve, the family’s waiting for you with a nice big warm dinner, you have everything that you could need and want here… Except him,”

“Alright, I’ll join you and eat, but don’t expect me to be happy or content.”

With that said Eve went to the table and sat down and started to eat.

But suddenly before she finished her first bite Chris heard a strange and loud mysterious whirring sound that was coming from outside.

“It’s him! It’s the Doctor!” Eve shouted with excitement and ran outside in the snowy weather where snow fell down on the ground slowly making it cold wherever it touched, as Chris took all of this to note and mind he finally noticed a small blue box outside in the snow where previously there had been none, and now he was glad that he had followed Eve outside in the snow.

And there in the snow there was a brown stallion standing wearing only a red and yellow scarf around his neck, and his cutie mark was an hourglass, Chris could only assume that this was the Doctor Eve had so frequently spoken of.

“Doctor, you’re back! I’m so glad you’re back! You kept your promise!”

“Well of course I kept my promise! I would never break my word to you my dear Eve, but tell me, did you have any danger or peril while I was away?”

“Oh you know that I’ve had some, but mostly it was others instead.”

“Well I’m glad to see that you’re safe, but- Oh dear! A changeling” the Doctor said once he saw Chris, “Get back foul creature of darkness! She is under my protection and safety, and you shall not harm her as long as I live!”

“Relax Doctor, he’s with me, he’s a good guy, trust me.”

“Wait, what are you saying? Are you saying that he’s actually good? Well, that would be a first for me, but then again anything can happen I 
suppose,”

“Well he is good, he saved Ponyville from a deadly disease that spread across town and could only be cured by changeling blood, his blood, and because of that action he may have saved all of Equestria, even the princesses bowed to him in honor and respect once, the highest honor that he’s ever received.”

“Well that’s quite an accomplishment, what’s your name changeling?”

“My name is Chris,” he said holding his hoof out, “What about you?”

“I’m the Doctor, just the Doctor,” he said shaking the hoof.

“So I’ve heard; Eve talks about you a lot.”

“She does? What does she say about me?”

“Oh you know, good stuff, your noble and brave actions, protecting every pony from peril and danger, and the embarrassing parts as well, I never knew that some pony, even a stranger, wouldn’t know how to pick stuff up properly.”

“That is true, but you have to understand I’m from another realm, I wasn’t used to being in a pony form and shape, it was my first time being one after all, I didn’t know how to act or how to hold up anything; I was new.”

“Well guess what Doctor? You’re actually on time for dinner for once,” Eve said, “Dinner is still ready and warm; would you like to join us?”

“I would love to; it would be my genuine pleasure, Eve.”

> The Gift Exchange
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With that said the Doctor went inside, sat down, and they all started eating together. They talked and laughed and had a great time, they shared stories and jokes, and once the dinner was done and they had cleaned up they all went to their family Christmas tree which they had all decorated together in the living room, and then they did their tradition of unwrapping one present before tomorrow. Chris opened a present from Eve, it was a photo book, with pictures of them together, and the family, and a hand written note on the front page.

To remember all our good, special, happy moments in life, and so that we do not forget all that is given to us, and all that we have to give thanks for, was written on the front page in a stylish cursive handwriting that was fancy and elegant.

“Well thank you Eve,” he said, “I’m not sure if my gift can top yours though.”

“We’ll see,” she said smiling as she opened up a gift from Chris.

“What is it?” she asked pulling a pair of tied notebooks from the box.

“Well I was thinking to myself one day, as I do, well it thought to myself, Eve talks about the Doctor so much, but they have no real to communicate, and so I came up with this, although I did have help from your older brother Quentin.

This my dear Eve, is a pair of notebooks that are magically linked, whatever is written in one will appear in the other, so now you two can communicate, and should the Doctor not have shown up today I would have said to give it to him when you saw him next, but here he is, so you can give it to him.”

“Oh Chris, how thoughtful, it’s perfect!” and with tat said she gave one notebook to the Doctor, “Make sure to write to me as often as you can.”

“I will,” he said, “And I’m sure you’ll do more than your part.”

“You bet,” Eve said with a smile, “You can count on it.”

“You know, I didn’t know about this tradition before today, and I wanted to give you all of my best gifts today, but I suppose that can wait until tomorrow.”

“I guess you will,” Eve said, and with that the gift exchange went on.

Eve got a photo book from the Doctor, and he got a watch and calendar from Eve, “So you’ll never be late again,” she said explaining the purpose of it.

The Doctor merely laughed at the reason for he knew the joke, he was always late. The rest of the gifts between each person were exchanged with thanks and a slow but steady speed. Soon enough one gift was opened from every person in the family, and the gifts opened was one from each member of the family, in other words each pony opened one gift from each person in the family.

> Heart's Warming Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soon enough though the tradition was over and at an end and everyone went to bed, and when the next morning came Eve was the first one to wake everyone else up, “WAKE UP EVERYBODY!” she shouted, “IT’S MORNING, TIME TO WAKE UP AND OPEN SOME PRESENTS AND GET SOME CANDY TOO!”

“Is she always this excited about today?” Chris groaned sleepily with a yawn to Quentin when they met down in the living room.

“Yes, yes she is, it’s become another tradition that she’s always the one to wake us up in the morning, even if we want more sleep, but we never complain, not even once, after all, today is a very special day for every pony.”

With that said the rest of the gifts were gifts were slowly opened with the Doctor choosing who got which present next in a fair and equal manner. 

(Yet another tradition, they always picked a pony to do that role, and since the Doctor was here as a “Guest of Honor,” as Eve said, “He should get to pick.”)

When Eve’s turn came around she got a great gift each time.

The first one was a music book with only pages that were blank, “So that you can write your own music if you want,” Chris explained, “And the best part is that it’s magical, so you can name any song you want, and the words will be written down in the page, and you can change the song any time you want, and yes, I did have the help of your older brother Quentin once again.”

“I love it,” she said (she loved music); “It’s just simply perfect and divine.”

The next gift was a set of necklaces and figurines, one dolphin, one swan, and one bird, she loved birds, swans, and dolphins, and so Chris took out the time to carve a set of figurines in a very lovely, very fine and very soft wood.

“I love it,” she said, “It’s just simply perfect and divine.”

“Do you say that about everything?”

“No, not everything, I prefer to be different and change the routine and phrases that I say every so often and once in a while. I can’t be the same all the time.”

“It would appear to be so.”

The rest of the gift giving and exchanging went well, and everyone got everything that they wanted that year, well almost everything, Chris and Eve still had one thing that they both did not receive during that gift exchange, but then again, it couldn’t exactly be given there at that time appropriately.

> The Surprise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

However they did not know that they would get the one thing they both wanted, once all the gifts had been given and everyone had gone to bed except for Quentin, Chris, Eve, and the Doctor. Quentin said he was going to freshen up before he went to bed and Chris went off to follow Quentin, they had a plan for the two, a plan which required stealth, and to stay far away from the scene.

So they remained out of sight, but not out of hearing range with a little spell that Quentin had conjured up earlier when they had some free time.

“Well thanks for coming,” Eve said, “It’s been quite lovely having you here,”

“Yes, I’ve enjoyed my time here, it’s been nice to meet your family, and to have a nice warm dinner with friends, and to receive and give gifts. 

All of it has been quite the lovely experience or time as you say; I couldn’t say it any better.” 

“Well thanks for coming; I suppose you’ll be leaving now?”

“Yes, I will, I do have other stuff to do and other ponies to save sadly enough, I wish I could stay longer, but duty calls me sadly enough, it always does.”

“Well at least promise me that even if you don’t show up for another year that you’ll actually be here in time for the next Heart’s Warming Eve?”

“Of course, I wouldn’t miss it for the whole entire world.”

At this there was an awkward silence, and then Quentin used the spell he had prepared and worked on, and from the ceiling there grew mistletoe.

“Well then, same time next year?” The Doctor asked.

“I suppose so,” Eve said shyly.

Clearly the situation wasn’t going well, and so Quentin did a little spell that made the Doctor raise his head up and see the mistletoe above.

“Hey that’s new, I swear I did not see or notice that before.”

“Notice or see what exactly?” Eve asked curiously.

“Mistletoe, it’s above our heads, and did you know that in the world where I come from its traditional that if a girl and a boy stand under it that they have to kiss each other, or I suppose two lovers rather instead, but I suppose that’s just a silly old tradition of the past, we don’t need to do it, do we?”

“No, no we don’t,” Eve said, “But a tradition is still a classic.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” The Doctor said, “Anyhow I better go now, see you later.”

“Alright then, see you later,” Eve said, and with that they went their separate ways and once they were sure that neither could hear them they spoke.

“Man, I thought for sure that they were going to kiss,” Chris said.

“And I thought the mistletoe was foolproof, but then again, plans can fail, and things didn’t go exactly as we planned or hoped for, did they now?”

“No they didn’t,” Chris said with a laugh, “But anyhow, want to try again.”

“No, either they’ll realize their love for each other or not, me personally, I think I’m actually going to go off to bed for real, you can do what you want.”

“Well okay then if you say so, I think I’ll go to bed too, sounds like a good idea.”

With that said they started to go off to their rooms, but then suddenly Eve ran to the door and ran outside shouting with a loud voice, 

“DOCTOR! WAIT DOCTOR!  PLEASE WAIT FOR ME! I FORGOT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING! AND I NEED FOR YOU TO HEAR IT BEFORE YOU GO AWAY AGAIN!”

Chris and Quentin rushed downstairs and stood at the doorway listening and looking upon the following conversation that took place.

“Can’t this wait?” The Doctor said opening the door of his blue box and stepping outside in the snow, “I was rather busy cleaning the T.A.R.D.I.S,”

“NO, THIS CAN’T WAIT ANY LONGER! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”

“Alright fine, what is it that you have to say? And please make it fast, I was rather busy at the moment, and I have places to go to, things to do; so hurry.”

“Look Doctor, what I have to say is very important; it’s probably the most important thing you’ll ever hear in your life, or at least one of them.”

“Okay, I get it, move on and continue please.”

“I need you to listen very carefully to what I am about to say.”

“I’m listening,” he said.

“Are you sure? I feel you aren’t listening hard enough.”

“I am.”

“Well just shut up now and listen, this is worth the time you’re losing right now, it’s more important than cleaning or fixing the T.A.R.D.I.S, and it’s the only thing that matters right now, do you understand that?”

“Yes, but please tell me, what is it that you have to say?”

“This,” Eve said leaning forward and kissing the Doctor squarely on the mouth (at this Chris and Quentin had to contain their shouts of joy).

The kiss was held for quite some time, and when they finally ended the embrace the Doctor took a while to recover and find the right words.

“Well… that… was… interesting,” he said after a moment.

“I hoped you liked it,” Eve said smiling, she had now finally gotten her last Christmas wish, to kiss the Doctor, and she got to do it at a very special moment and day, which made it even worth more than it already was.

“Yes… I did like it… But was that your first kiss, Eve?”

“As a matter of fact, it was, because I love you, I have for a long time now.”

“Well I didn’t know that… If I had, I would have acted differently… I wouldn’t be focused on the mission or goal or quest… Instead I would think of that moment… And I wouldn’t be able to get it out of my head, no matter how hard or how much I tried… But I must ask you this, why here and why now?”

“Why not here, why not now, can you give me any reason? I think this time and place are perfect; this is after all a very special day for every pony.”

“I can’t come up with anything, but I can’t think of anything good to say after that except perhaps thanks for giving me a new experience in my long life.”

“You’re welcome, and if you can’t think of anything to say, then there be no need to say anything, you got that you silly but brilliantly genius stallion?”

“Yes, I understand, but if you don’t mind, I’ll go now, I still have other stuff to do, I’m sure you’ve said what you’ve needed to say, right?”

“Yes, yes I have, but don’t you forget this experience,”

“I don’t think I could, even if I wanted to.”

“Alright Doctor, see you next year then, goodbye.”

With that said the Doctor went into his blue box and whirred away as the blue box slowly faded from sight, but not out of memory.

> Another Surprise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I never will understand how he does that.”

“Perhaps it’s better that way.”

“Perhaps so, just like the way you once thought that no one could ever love one who committed crime or a sin, a monster, and you thought you were one.”

“And I was wrong, I turned out to be a hero instead, but I still did have the thoughts that no one ever could love a monster like me, but not anymore.”   

“Well then, I suppose that what I have to tell you won’t be a surprise or shock to you then, it’ll be something you’re completely fine and happy with.”

“What?” Chris asked, but before he was finished he too was kissed by Eve, and as he stood there in the snow he was finally happy and at peace, and he couldn’t help but smile at the memory of that moment from then on.

> Epilogue: Nightmare Shadow and Silver Star
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Epilogue: Nightmare Shadow and Silver Star

Nightmare Shadow stood in the Castle of the Two Sisters all alone, he was looking at the latest formula which Silver Star had developed and written down to try to escape Ness, (or Gray Star, or Sky Star, or Night Star, or Light Star or Sun Star, but all of those were unofficial names not to be used).

Silver Star was his name, though Ness called him Silver for short instead.

“So, you think that you can escape me Silver Star? Your formula is wise and smart, and indeed correct as I look over it, but you can never ever fully escape me, for I will always haunt your dreams, thoughts, ideas, and fears as well.

But I do applaud you on coming this far, I would not have previously imagined that you were brave enough to face me and escape me, but sadly your little experiments can go no further, I already have defeated Princess Luna and have her trapped, but that is not enough, all of Equestria must be mine, and in order to do that I need no distractions, and that includes you sadly enough.”

With that being said Ness started to work on the formula and quickly enough he gathered the ingredients and made it, and then he drank it down.

It didn’t taste that bad, but what would happen as a result of it, well it would be far greater of a prize than any taste could ever offer up to an immortal being of Nightmare Shadow’s power and size and importance. Almost nothing was of importance to an immortal being since so many moments get lost in time. When you’re comparing things to the vast ocean of time, many things seem small and can get lost, and only the big stuff really matters as you look in on it, but sometimes even the smallest seashell was strong enough to withstand the constant crashing waves and survive in the vast ocean of time, and so that is why Nightmare Shadow made sure never to underestimate any pony he met.

If he did that might result in his downfall, and he could not have that, and he did not want any fatal flaws either, which is why he had worked long and hard on removing anything that could be a weakness to him or cause him pain or hurt or cause his plan to fail, and now he had one last thing, or rather pony, since he was in another’s body, to remove from himself in order to be free.

Suddenly with a scream of agony as the liquid or potion had been drunk the two separated very fast in a very strange sight to be seen by any others who could have been looking at this odd spectacle taking place here, and now instead of one pony inhabiting the other’s body there were now two separate ponies standing across from each other and looking right at each other. 

Silver Star had a gray body and mane and eyes, with a cutie mark of three silver stars arranged in a triangle shape, and the look in Silver’s eyes was one of fury and anger, and his whole body, even his horn, was ready to fight.

“Ah Silver Star, we meet at last, it has been so unfortunate for me that you take control in the day, and me at night, the arrangement has not been pleasant for either of us, but now it is over, I’ve heard so much about you, but I never imagined you could look like this, so weak and pathetic.”

“Your plan of taking over Equestria will never work,” Silver Star said stomping his hoof in anger and raised his horn to try to cast his magic.

“Your magic will not work on me, it is no use; even Princess Luna could not defeat me, what hope do you have against me, an immortal being of immense power, strength and knowledge? You have none; that is the correct answer.”

“I know your plans, I know what you’re going to do; I can stop you.”

“Ah, but do you think that I would ever fully let you into my mind and ideas and thought? How do you know that I have not hidden something from you?”

“Because you want to kill me, and if I were of any use to you then I would live so that I could be used to misdirect the other ponies, but you would have to make it look like you wanted to kill me making me think that I knew everything, and then you would somehow falter and fail mysteriously, and I would be able to escape with my life and I wouldn’t be connected to your mind anymore, because you know that should you haunt me I could get in your mind as you can do with mine. I know all your thoughts and ideas and your plans, you can’t fool me Ness, I am your equal now, I can beat you because I know you, I know your thoughts and plans and ideas, and I can use what I know to defeat you, and because of this I am your Sherlock Hooves as you are my Moriarty, we are now enemies, and as such you will play games with me and let me live, but do not think that I do not see the trap and the bait.”

“Well I must applaud you again, you’ve figured me out, and as such I will allow you to leave with no fight, you can go home now, I promise you.”

“You can’t let me go this easily, you’re hiding something, tell me what it is.”

“Well you are correct, but it would be no fun if I told you, it would ruin the surprise, and then where would you be? You would be spoiled! And we can’t have that now, can we? No we must not, no spoilers for you Silver Star.”

“Fine then, but I’m going to figure out what you’re hiding” Silver Star said as he left the castle in a rushed hurry and went on to Ponyville to warn the others.

“I’m sure you will,” Ness said to no one in particular, “And that is exactly what I am counting on, anything less of you and I would be disappointed. You see Silver Star, you might know me, but I know you too, and I know what you will do, you’re a hero, and that will be your ultimate downfall, by helping other ponies and representing the elements of harmony; that is how you will fail.

And the sad thing is, you’ll still think that you’re a hero, that you’re doing the right thing, you’ll still think that, even when at the end I will kill you.”

With that said Ness moved over to the books he had neatly piled and stacked up in a corner from the vast large library that was held in the castle, it was lucky for him that the two sisters loved knowledge, power, and strength almost as much as he did, all of them were interesting, but he needed something from each of them, power and knowledge. And the books written by Star Swirl the bearded, or ones about him, were the most interesting in particular.

He was the most powerful wizard of all time, and Ness wanted to know his secrets, he wanted to know all the secrets of every pony, unicorn, and Pegasus who has ever lived, even the princesses, Discord, and Tirek himself.

Even Twilight herself had studied Star Swirl, and she had not only completed one of spells, but also found and used the time travel spell, what she did not know was that with enough power, strength, and knowledge, it could be used to not just go back a week in time, but to go back in time to any place and period in all the history of Equestria, and he could change any event that he wanted to, it was sad really of how little the ponies knew of the power of magic.

He would learn from them until no one could ever defeat him no matter how hard they might try to do, any attempt would be in vain, it must be in vain, he couldn’t have ponies getting hope, except for a false one, for he would create false hope which was a lie, and then should any pony come so far as to discover it, they would be crushed in spirit, mind, thoughts, ideas, and dreams far better than what any physical torture could do, and with that thought in his mind he unfurled his wings that he had hidden and soared in the sky, for he was the only alicorn prince, the prince of shadows, darkness, and the night. 

And his reign would be a long and glorious one, one that would last beyond any other ruler of this land or any other lands that lay beyond, his reign, it would last an eternal night, an eternal night of darkness, fear, and shadows.