The Redemption of a Never Ending Ambition

by Time Reaper

First published 9th of June, 2017

One day, Twilight found a new type of gem that she has never seen before and brought it to her library. Spike is a dragon that eats gems and the gem Twilight brought has awoken feelings that he haven't felt in a while.

As Twilight Sparkle was strolling around Ponyville during a visit to Applejack, she found a new type of gem that looked a lot like a Ruby but that was more maleable and contained a new type of magic she has never seen before, so she decided to bring it to her library to study it and see what it could bring to her and Equestria for prosperity.

As Twilight was studying the rock, Spike started to notice the gem to have a very nice shape and that it looked very enticing. As Spike got closer to the gem, he felt how it was calling him, ready to bring him something that he has never tasted before.

As he ate the gem, Spike very soon realized that it even wasn't an actual gem, but something far more insidious.

Crossover with the anime Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, an idea that's been going around my head for the last few months, I hope you like them.

An Unnatural Meeting

It has been a very brief death for him. He was very sad for not being able to achieve all the goals he wanted while he was alive but, at least, he made some good friends. He wasn't sure what would happen to him now that he was dead, especially considering that he wasn't a human being, and he was sure that whatever happened to humans after death wouldn't happen to him. He even wondered if he would go to some sort of heaven or hell considering what he did during his whole life, he hoped to not lose his memories for he really cherished his moments with that young dumb prince and that blond dwarf. Maybe he should've taken the prince's offer, but he didn't regret his choices in life, being king of the world is a very tempting choice after all.

As he was about to accept fading out of existence, he noticed that he wasn't on his planet anymore. Wherever he looked around, he saw himself surrounded by white lights everywhere with a huge door in front of him. As he watched the door in front of him, he noticed a white sphere which only recognizable feature was a mouth, other than that, it didn’t have anything remarkable that he could point out as important. Regardless, the white space was more important to him, he heard many stories about it from his father and he always wanted to know how it looked like, especially considering the door being guarded by the white sphere and what it could mean for him.

“What are you looking at?” - He asked. The white sphere just looked at him and smiled with its mouth before responding.

“I’m looking at you.” - He spoke with a soft but echoing voice that was impossible not to hear. - “You were born out of your father but you became independent of him. Instead of following his motives or desires, you decided to become yourself and oppose him. You’re especial.”

He took those words and decided to respond with pride:

“Yeah, father was an obstacle so I decided to help stopping him. That way I could become the king of the world.”

The white sphere started to laugh, he new it was laughing at him and that made him mad.

“What is so funny?!”

The white sphere stopped laughing and decided to respond him with the same tone it has been talking to him but with a weight that felt judging.

“You know that wasn’t the true reason you decided to help them in the end. Both you and I know what you really wanted from the very beginning and that’s why you’re here instead of facing your judgement.”

His face changed its expression to shock now, this wasn’t what was actually going to happen to him? Then, why was he here?

“Then why I am here? You wanted to hear my life and crack a few jokes about it?”

The sphere only kept a straight face.

“You’re here because you’ve been given the option of having a second chance” -. It let him take the information in before continuing. - “Since you died on your world, you cannot return to it. But you can be given a second chance somewhere else to see if you can go where your friends will be in a few decades”.

This was a very tempting offer for him, if he was going to die again, then he wanted to go where those kids where going to be, but this sounded too good to be true.

“That’s it? I thought you were going to give a cake for trying to be a good guy? Or is there something else?”

The white sphere’s response shook his being.

“Your other option is to face your judgement and be sent where your father, brothers and sister are and will be until the end of times."

As he heard the other option, it was quite clear that there was an obvious winner.

“Well, you got me there. I would rather have this second life in a world of rainbows instead of going with my father. Send me there!!”

As he said this, the sphere smiled once again, showing his white tooth, and proceeded with the next step for his redemption.

“Good choice, now, since you lost your body, you’ll have to wait until somebody accepts you, but you will have your second chance.”

As it said this, the huge door behind it started to open, revealing a huge gray eye with seven different tone shaped irises in the middle of a black background that started to create dark arms which took him into the door. He was surprised by this, was his second chance behind that door? He wouldn’t have a body? What was going to happen to him now? He turned around and looked at the white sphere one last time as it was smiling to him.

“Wait!” - He said with a hint of fear. - “Just like that? No goodbye party, cake or celebration for choosing to be a good guy?” - The sphere kept its smile and simply said as the door closed and he was surrounded by darkness:

“Don’t worry, where you're going, there will be lots of cakes and party for you”.

---

Celestia’s bright sun shone all around Equestria, its benevolent rulers where having one of the best moments in their life as they were preparing a celebration in Canterlot. This was going to be a special celebration for the princess of love, and Celestia’s current niece, was about to marry to the general of the Royal Guard, something that would help the nation a lot in its near, middle and long future. This would be a very important celebration for Equestria and the princess of the sun wanted all the ponies close to her being there, she now was having a debate regarding how she should invite one of her most important ponies and faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, to this celebration since this wedding was one that she shouldn’t miss.

Perhaps she should make this an informal invitation informing her about the details of why she wanted her there or she could make it as formal as possible. She wanted to show how close she was to her faithful student, but Celestia was sure that Twilight was going to feel weird out if she wrote something informal after so many years of correspondence between teacher and student, so she wrote a formal letter informing her of who were going to be the ones marrying and what she wanted her (and her friends) to do in the wedding so they could feel more involved. The letter was going to be sent in a few days and it would give her enough time to prepare, both herself and the wedding, for the beautiful couple marrying.

So it was decided how Celestia would write to her faithful student and, thus, she started to think what kind of jobs both her and her friends could be doing on the wedding. This was how Celestia was preparing everything to bring Twilight into the celebration that would make both of them closer, even if she was now miles away in Ponyville, living in a library and with the company of her dragon Spike. This separation wasn’t one that Celestia minded, after all, Twilight was living in Ponyville to be with her new friends whom have shared with her multiple adventures, defeating Discord the most important achievement of all, and all of this friends were having a nice life in Ponyville as well.

Fluttershy, the kind pegasus, was living on a shelter for animals that she personally cared, proof of her cutie mark and connection to the element of Kindness.

Rainbow Dash, the daring pegasus, was bold, capable of facing any danger in front of her just to protect her friends, as she was the most loyal of all, and that cloud house made her very efficient to move quickly wherever she wanted.

Pinkie Pie, always laughing and trying to make everybody happy with her parties and jokes. It wasn’t so surprising to have her living on a giant cupcake.

Rarity, the most generous unicorn, capable of making the finest clothes on her tailor shop just for a needed foal. She was, truly, one of a kind.

And, finally, Applejack. So true to herself and never letting lies being in her way of thinking. Celestia was sure that living with her family was what made her who she was, a hardworking mare capable of doing the best for others. That barn, built by the apple family decades ago, was truly something incredible. Built on the foundation of Ponyville, it managed to withstand the test of time and it was the place Twilight was leaving right now to go back to her library. She have finally managed to arrange a picnic with her friends in a few days and she wanted everything to be perfect.

Twilight have finally made her checklist and she was now going home to see how long it would take Spike to prepare everything for tomorrow. Twilight was wondering what she could do that could make the picnic a good day for her friends, perhaps she could bring Spike with her, he would love to be with them from time to time.

As Twilight was making her way towards Ponyville, she noticed in the border to the Everfree Forest a small, round red gem that was somewhat pulsing with magic. As Twilight looked at it, she couldn’t ignore the amount of magic it contained. She really wanted to investigate it now, but she was aware that it would make her forget about her friends for tomorrow’s picnic. As she debated whether or not she should be taking the gem with her, Twilight realized an easy solution, she would only have to ask Spike to guard the gem and she would give him a nice reward.

With that settled, Twilight levitated the gem and introduced it into her saddlebag but not without noticing how it reacted to her magic. It pulses when they both touched and, for a brief moment, Twilight felt as if her magic was stronger. Definitely something worth investigating.

It didn’t took her too long before getting back into her library and, once she entered, she found her loyal assistant Spike ordering the library’s book quietly. It didn’t take her too long to decide whether or not he could come with her to the picnic with the girls after seeing him working so diligently. He turned around and looked at her, saluting her and asking her how it was her day.

“Hi Spike! I’ve been talking with the girls and we’ll be going to a picnic on a few days and I would like to know if you would like to come with us.”

Spike’s face went shocked for a brief moment.

“Really?”

“Sure Spike, you’ve been helping a lot and I’m very sure the girls wouldn’t mind. I think you should get some rest after helping around the library so much.”

Spike’s face couldn’t make a bigger smile in that moment.

“Wow! Thank you Twilight, I’ll help you out whoever I can.”

And, as Twilight started to take out her stuff from her saddle, she took out a very small red gem that grabbed Spike’s interest, Twilight noticed Spike’s new interest once she saw what he was looking at.

“Oh! This is a strange gem I found near the Everfree Forest when I was coming back. I decided to take it with me to study it since I managed to find magical properties in it.”

As she was talking, Spike couldn’t stop from looking at the gem and how delicious it looked like. He was already wondering how it tasted and he couldn’t help but feeling as if the gem was actually calling him to be eaten.

“Spike!”

Twilight’s voice woke Spike out of his zone and he soon realized how close he was to actually take the gem, once he realized what he was about to do, he moved away his hand and apologized to Twilight.

“Sorry Twilight, I don’t know what happened to me. It’s just that it looks so delicious.”

Twilight couldn’t stop noticing how Spike was looking at the gem so, hoping that it would stop him, she offered him a deal.

“Spike, look, tonight I have to go to Applejack’s Barn with the girls to have a slumber party, so I have an offer to you. If you don’t eat this gem while I’m out, I’ll let you eat three gems of your choosing.”

That offer managed to, once again, wake Spike out of his fixation towards the mysterious gem and, very eagerly, accepted the offer. Twilight, ever so careful, still decided to hide the gem somewhere in the library to make sure Spike didn’t feel any temptation of eating it.

That way, as the day passed, Spike proceeded into helping Twilight to get ready for her slumber party at Applejack’s by giving her all the preparations Twilight needed (including a checklist of all the things she would do at the slumber party) and making sure that she wouldn’t forget about anything. At the end of the day, a very excited unicorn was ready to spend a great night with her friends and a young dragon was happy to have a night for himself. After a very brief goodbye, they both departed into their personal desires for the night.

Spike decided to pass the night by reading comics while eating some food that Twilight rarely let him eat (like cookies) and playing alone imagining that he was one of his favorite super heroes defeating the evil villains once again. As Spike fought the bad guys, he started to move around the library while avoiding the attacks of the evil doers trying to stop him from rescuing his beloved princess Rarity. So focused was Spike on his world, that he failed to notice how he went from the main section of the library to his and Twilight’s bedroom and how he was picking the stuff placed on the room to defend himself of the magic blast from the evil Darkside and his ability to move his attacks on midair. So enthralled he was on this fight, that, when he decided to jump from the bed, he ended up hitting a bookshelf containing some of Twilight’s favorite books, making said books from falling over.

“Shoot, Twilight’s book! I better put them back into place, I’m pretty sure Twilight would be mad at me if she finds out that I disorganized them.”

And, as Spike was picking the books back into place, he found on the floor a weirdly round and small shaped gem. In the moment Spike saw the gem, he immediately remembered Twilight’s offer as a way to deter him from eating the gem. Spike saw no problem in this, he has always obeyed Twilight when it came to not eating the gems without her permission, most of the time, so the idea of not eating this small gem in exchange of three gems of his own selection was an ever better deal that he could even dream off but, the more he saw the gem, the more he couldn’t stop from looking at it. When he picked it up, he tried to refuse the temptation of eating that very good looking gem.

“I should be putting back this gem where Twilight hid it, that way she wouldn’t suspect I found it but, where it was hidden?”

Spike repeated to himself as he looked around the bookshelf, he started to inspect the gem with his claws. He started to move it around to see how round it was, how smooth it was and how nice it felt to touch it. Spike found a place he thought it was where the pony he cared about the most hid it and, when he was about to put it there, Spike couldn’t stop from seeing the gem and his eyes couldn’t stop themselves from noticing how round it was, how vibrant and colorful was that red color and how much it felt as if the gem was calling him.

Spike tried to put the gem back but he didn’t want to, he wanted to keep looking at the gem, praising it for its magnificent beauty and how precious it was. The more Spike saw it, the more he wanted it for himself, he could understand what was Twilight’s interest in the gem, it was perfect, but Spike wasn’t so sure about letting Twilight study the gem and potentially harm it. This gem was so perfect, so beautiful, Spike wanted it more than three measly gems, this was the perfect gem and there was only one place where it would be safe from Twilight and her dangerous experiments.

And, as Spike swallowed the gem, he felt a huge burning sensation crossing through his body that forced him to shout with all his strengths. He felt as if his body was about to erupt from the excessive energy caused by his perfect snack. His body started to burn from the inside and begun to break itself, Spike felt as if his body was fighting a foreign entity that was trying to take him over. The library started to fade and it was being replaced by red, before he could even realize what was going on, the library disappeared and it was replaced by a red world with strange faces screaming on a tormented tone that was always close to destroy Spike’s ears but it never crossed the mark needed for him to stop hearing the laments of whoever this were and, as he felt close to lose himself, he saw a figure being formed from the hellish red that was torturing his form.

The more Spike saw this figure, the more he wanted his life to end. All it had was a huge face with no recognizable features except two huge tooth (one on each extreme on the lower side of his mouth), red marks going through his face, no eyelids and going around with an expression that made him feel awful while it was inspecting him with its right eye.

“Well, what do we have here? A chimera dumb enough to swallow me?”

Spike could barely listen, somehow, he could just understand him well enough in that chaos of screams and shouting. He could feel its smug and condescending tone and how much it annoyed him. All Spike could do was shouting.

“I’m not a chimera! I’m a dragon!”

“Oh! A dragon! And it can talk. Tell me, didn’t your parents teach you to never eat gems? They can cause you a stomachache.”

Spike couldn’t stop feeling angry towards it.

“Dragons can eat gems and if you don’t shut up, I will vomit you!”

“Well, would you look at that! This kid has some nerves. I’m starting to like you, so let’s do this: If you let me in, I’ll grant you whatever wish you want.”

Spike, already weakened mind could barely keep up with the conversation. His mind was too eroded by the chaos that he was starting to consider this offer from this strange being.

“Whatever I want?”

As Spike was considering this deal, he started to remember his beautiful Rarity and how many gems he could eat is he had the bits the buy them. The face smile deviously.

“Yes! Whatever you want. Money, fame, women, power, anything you want if you only let me in.”

As Spike considered this, his body started to grow, his claws became sharper and his teeth grew larger. His eyes stopped being emerald green and started to have a light violet tone.

Spike’s mind couldn’t resist the temptation provided by this being and started to see how good of an offer he was getting.

“Yes, I accept. I want it all.”

The face started to laugh at his new body.

“Excellent! You made the right choice kid. Now, it’s time to finish this.”

And as the face started to consume Spike, his body now had the height of Princess Celestia, his claws were sharper than knifes and his jaw started to smile happily. But there was something Spike needed to know before letting in his new host.

“Wait! Who are you? Why do you want me?” - His mind could barely stay awake. - “What will... happen... to...”

The face decided to give one answer to the dragon that saved his life, responding with limitless joy.

“Listen to me kid, because this is the name of the great partner you made today.”

Spike could barely keep up.

“My name!”

His eyes started to fade.

“Is”

All he could do was listen to the name that would be haunting both him and his friends for a long time in Equestria as he lost his conscience.

“GREED!”

Author's Notes:

Following the same pattern as with Applebloom in the plains. If this story gets enough support, I will turn it (eventually) on a full story.

I hope the delivery was done right and that I didn’t made it too easy which series I was making this crossover.

EDIT June 9th of 2019: If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

Inducing Madness

"Spike!"

Spike's mind could barely register what he was hearing, a fog was clouding his mind and he wasn't sure what was going on as a minor headache was leaving his head.

"Spike! Wake up right now!"

That voice started to clear the fogginess on his head, Spike's mind was starting to come around as he remembered that voice belonging to Twilight, he was trying to wonder what was going on or why she was screaming, but he was sure that he wouldn't know unless he decided to move around and open up his eyes.

As Spike returned to his senses and decided to get up from his bed, eyes still shut, he tried to remember the last thing he did yesterday. All he could remember was how he was keeping everything in order while having the library all for himself for a night, he remembered that he was playing with his imagination as he save Rarity from a villain, but anything beyond that was a foggy mess that only caused him a small headache. As he started to remember Twilight's promise, he began to open his eyes in expectation that Twilight was going to reward him with his three gems but, to his confusion, all he could see was an angry Twilight looking at him with a very disappointed look.

Spike was feeling a bit nervous for Twilight's look, but he knew that he had to greet her, since it was the nice thing to do.

"Hey, Twilight, how are you?" - Spike waited for her response but she only gave him silence. - "Did you have fun on the sleepover?"

As he waited, Twilight decided to answer with a very tense and long said yes, that made him feel quite nervous, but he thought that maybe something happened at the sleepover and she wasn't going to say what it was.

Spike tried to guess why she would be like that but, as he started to look around, he noticed how their room, and the library as a whole, was a total mess. Books were thrown around the place, the chairs were scratched and the kitchen looked like if Twilight or Sweetie Bell tried to use them with hay thrown around everywhere on the floor, many spaces on the kitchen having burned marks and the pots were on the floor while containing a strange green goop that Spike didn't want to know what it was. While Spike tried to wonder what could've caused such a mess, all his mind could tell him was that he may have been related to it.

"Uhm, Twilight, do you know what happened here? Because I remember leaving it clean last night" -. As Spike said this words, he could feel how Twilight's glare only got worse at him. - "Really?" - She responded on a cold tone that acted as the preview to a storm that was about to hit him. - "Maybe you ate too many candies last night and don't remember what you did? Because I can see that you ate the special gem I left last night."

This words made Spike feel trapped inside a vortex that was going to shred him apart, after all, he remembered how dangerous that gem was and he was sure that said jewel didn't pass through his mouth. Twilight was very excited to examine said gem and Spike knew that eating three gems was a much better reward instead of eating a single gem that he wasn't sure how good his stomach could've receive.

"What? What do you mean by that? I remember very clearly that I cleaned the library and then started to play around. I never touched your gem Twilight" -. As he said this, Twilight started to move around on a direction that, for some reason, felt very familiar to Spike. - "Really?" - Stated Twilight as a matter of fact while pointing at a very specific place. - "Then, please, explain me why the gem I found yesterday isn't on the place I left it."

As a very speechless Spike tried to figure out what happened last night, so he could answer Twilight properly, he started to realize that he couldn't remember what events transpired the couple hours after he played around the library, all he could gather was a foggy memory of him, accidentally, crashing on the bedroom but nothing else after that. That also brought another question to Spike that it starting to freak him out: how did he woke up on his bed when he couldn't even remember how he went to sleep?

"Uhm" -. Spike tried to find a good response, but he knew that the honest truth wasn't the one that would get him out of this problem. - "I... can't remember why. Actually, I can't remember much after playing."

This answer only brought more indignation on Twilight as she started to look around, trying to find some patience for Spike.

"Of course you don't remember" -. She said in a tone that could only hurt Spike, and, to make things worse, Spike heard the words he wanted to hear the least. - "Spike, I feel very disappointed on you. Not only did you caused a mess on the library, you also ate a gem that could've been harmful to you and you broke a promise you made to me."

With those last words sounding hurtful to Spike, and being said on a tone that made it look like Twilight was hurt as well, Spike tried to make a defense for himself, to justify what happened last night, but he just couldn't come up with an argument to clean himself from Twilight's accusation and all he could do was feeling cornered for something he wasn't sure if he was actually guilty off. As much as he wanted to explain everything, the blanks on his memories only told him that there was a chance of him actually eating that gem and that only made him feel worse.

"Sorry Twilight" -. Said a very sad Spike. - "How can I make it up to you?"

Twilight's look softened a bit as she sighed and decided to move towards her bedroom. As she moved around the wooden library, each clop heard very loudly by Spike, and Spike's gaze never leaving her, she spoke on a tone that didn't sound angry or annoyed, it sounded concerned and firm.

"Look, I first have to check on you and make sure that the gem you ate haven't done anything wrong to your body but, after that, you won't have any gems for a week and I won't leave you alone on the library again. From now on, you'll have to come with me or be under somepony else's watch if I ever have to leave your side."

Spike started to look down on the floor, sad at the fact that he was being grounded for something haven't been proven if he actually did, but until it his innocence could be proven, he would have to accept it. Then Twilight, either to cheer him up or because she hadn't finished her sentence, decided to continue as she paused her steps and continued.

"That also means that you'll come with me to tomorrow's picnic with the girls" -. She then turned her head towards Spike and, on a very kind yet firm tone, asked: - "Understood?"

Spike wasn't sure how take this, on one side, he was going to spend some time with Rarity but, on the other side, this was because he was grounded, not because it was a reward of some kind, which made him feel as if he was receiving a hollow victory. But, that didn't mean that he wasn't going to capitalize on this, he understood very well that the reason why he was grounded was for misbehavior, so that gave reason to believe on the assumption that the way to lift his punishment was through a good behavior. Under this flawless logic, he decided to answer on a very upbeat tone that couldn't mask just how excited he was.

"Of course Twilight, I'll help however I can, in fact, I'm going to prepare the sandwiches for you and the girls."

But, before he could move to the kitchen, he could hear Twilight saying from above.

"Don't get your hopes up, I'm not going to lift your punishment just for some sandwiches."

Spike smiled at this and, as he looked at a very dirty kitchen that he was going to clean right now, he started to move around the library to prepare everything for tomorrow. So he started to get the mop and a clean bucket to start cleaning the big mess that was the kitchen, after all, it's better to work on a clean kitchen instead of a dirty one.

"What a drag, is she really like that all the time? Who is she, your mom?"

Spike's body tensed up as he heard that voice. It was masculine with a very light tone that felt as if it didn't belong to anyone even though Spike could hear it very clearly.

"What!?"

Spike moved around, trying to find the voice's source, but he couldn't find anyone but himself on that floor. As he asked who was there, Spike heard Twilight once again asking him what did he said, at which a very concerned Spike simply responded with a very nervous but semi-confident:

"Nothing, just talking to myself!" - He looked around, still not finding a source to that voice, and decided to prolong his answer. - "I'm going to clean the kitchen now!" - He then moved back to the kitchen and started to use the soap to clean the stove.

As the day progressed, Spike never heard that voice again. The more he thought about it, as he scrubbed the stove and eliminated the black stains whose origins were a mystery to Spike, the more he started to worry if it was a secondary effect of eating that gem, in case he actually ate it, and now he wanted more than ever to know if he was actually guilty and, in case he did eat that gem, was the voice an actual thing or just his conscience?

Spike wasn't sure of any of it, he tried to pass the time by sweeping the hay on the floor and sending it to the thrash can, in the hopes that it would help him to stop thinking on that voice. The more he thought about it, the more he wondered around the question it did. He never gave a thought about what was his relationship with Twilight, he never needed to, but if that voice was real, how to explain something he never thought about? And a bigger question yet, how to talk to that voice if Spike didn't know how to contact it? Was it related to that gem? Did he eat it? More questions arose as Spike thought about the voice and the more questions he thought about, the more he wanted to know if he actually ate that gem.

By the end of the day, after putting the books in order and helping Twilight to reorganize her bed and items, Spike thought that Twilight was going to test him and see if there was something wrong with him but, to his surprise, that didn't happen. As much as Twilight wanted to test Spike and be sure that he ate the gem and to see if that had any type of consequence, it would have to wait for tomorrow. Twilight was very excited to go to the picnic with her friends and wanted to wake up early, especially because, by spending the whole day fixing Spike's disaster, she would have to use the morning to make the sandwiches for everypony.

And, just like that, Spike passed the whole day obsessing on a voice that he wasn't sure if he heard it or not and the question it did to him only made him think even more about his whole life. As he started to make a recollection on his life, he wondered what kind of life he was having, how he was a dragon in a world of ponies, how he failed to be there when Twilight needed him the most in moments like Nightmare Moon and Discord and, like on many days on his life, wondered if he would ever do something to be as important in a moment like that, should it ever arise. Those were the kind of questions that plagued his mind until his body fell unconscious and his mind wandered into Luna's realm.

At the next day, as Celestia's sun was started to caress the town of Ponyville and it's citizens started to wake up, with the exception of a family who owned an apple orchard and were used to wake up earlier than most, the library in Ponyville was about to wake up just like the rest of them but something different happened that day, instead of having the librarian waking up first, it would be the assistant who would wake up first.

"Rise and shine kid! You got a lot to do today and you must be useful to your mom!"

Spike opened up his eyes and almost screamed in fear of hearing that voice again, his body tensed up and he tried to find the voice once more, this time moving around the library in the hopes of this being some kind of sick prank.

"Where are you?"

Asked a very scared Spike who was desperately trying to figure out what was going on.

"Wait, you seriously don't remember me?" - Asked the voice once again, the fact that it was implying that it already met Spike started to scare him even more considering that he had blanks on his mind regarding the other night. - "Come on kid! You accepted me in your body in the moment you ate me, don't you remember such a bonding moment?"

Spike was now searching under the chairs and furniture, trying to find something that could explain why only him could hear the voice, now entering in denial as he tried to refuse to accept what that voice was implying.

"I don't know who you are, but this prank is getting too far."

As Spike tried to move to the kitchen, the voice decided to topple his mental barriers.

"Prank? That's what you call looking at me with such hunger in your eyes?"

As Spike heard that, he stopped moving on the kitchen and realized what he just did that night. His mind froze for a brief second before going at lightning speed trying to assimilate what was being implied. Twilight didn't just bring a gem, she brought something that contained a mind, a mind that was now inside of Spike and he was now afraid of what that could mean to him. He could try to tell Twilight about it, but he was to afraid to move or even talk, he didn't know what kind of process would have to be done for him to be rid of this mind now invading his, was it going to erode him to slowly take over his body? He wasn't sure but all he could do now was-

"Hey! What are you doing so early?" - As Spike shook himself out of his shock, his body hastily turned around and saw Twilight already up and looking at him with a curious smile. - "Are you up to help me prepare for the picnic? That would be awesome. I'll be preparing myself while you make the sandwiches."

And, just like that, Twilight left Spike's eye view before he could say something about his current problem.

"Come on kid!" - Said the voice inhabiting his body. - "Help her out as a nice gentle... dragon? And then you can ask her about our current condition, deal?"

Spike wasn't sure why he was now listening to that voice, but he was more than happy to obligue and do something that could get his mind out of this issue. He now wanted to argue with it but he wasn't sure if it was a good idea to talk in front of Twilight to, what it would look like, himself and make her think that the gem only made him mad. No, he would have to search for a moment that could make her believe him and not think that he was insane, but when?

And, just like that, Spike spent the morning making the sandwiches for the picnic, he couldn't think of Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy or his beloved Rarity, all he could think about was the potential monster living inside of him and what it could do to him. He couldn't remember how he accepted him or why he would accept him, in fact, did they even presented each other?

Spike was now trying to dig into his memories and trying to remember the moment regarding the encounter, when did he find the gem? What happened when he found the gem? Why did he found it so delicious when he saw it? What did he see in that gem? What was he thinking back then? He was now trying to find the solutions to this questions and the more he tried to know, the more he felt like-

"Spike!"

Twilight's words shook him up from his thoughts and he was now looking at a very concerned Twilight. - "Spike, I think those are too many sandwiches, what were you thinking about?" - As Spike looked into Twilight's eyes, he no longer saw disappointment or anger, he only saw worry being sent to him and he know felt guiltier than yesterday because he was now sure that she was right about him and he couldn't say it to her in that moment.

"Oh!" - Said Spike as he was trying to avoid Twilight's eyes, searching for an excuse to his absent mind. - "I was just thinking on how the girls would be happy to have so much food for them, you know how much Pinkie Pie eats and with this amount of food you won't have to worry about her eating everything."

Spike was now trying to punch himself in the face for such a lame excuse, he knew it was dumb and Twilight was about to worry.

"Hum, that's an actually good idea, I think. Good for you to think about it Spike, but it doesn't mean that your punishment is up" -. Spike's body froze in shock at Twilight's voice, the warm words somehow freezing him on the spot. He wasn't sure if he should feel either proud or ashamed for lying to her.

"That Pinkie Pie must eat a lot if your mom decided to believe what you said... you weren't lying to her, weren't you?"

That voice, somehow, managed to get him out of his shock by remembering him that he now had to prepare for a picnic and how he should look like if he had to fake what just happened to him. So, for the rest of the trip, he would have to fake a smile on his face, trying to make sure nopony notice his worries and wait until he could be alone with Twilight to tell her the truth.

"Come on kid! Having me living inside of you isn't as bad as you may think. I was very nice to my previous host and I can grant a few goodies to you."

The more that voice spoke, the more questions raised in Spike's mind. Now he was wondering what happened to the previous host. But all of that came to an end when Spike saw the girls on the lands at the edge of the town, having fun while waiting for both Twilight and himself. While the girls asked why Spike was there with them, Twilight managed to diverge the attention from Spike to the picnic, as the girls were having fun talking about stuff that Spike didn't care, he decided move away, always on Twilight's eye view, and drink some water.

As Spike got closer to a source of clean water, preferably one with few ponies, the voice started to speak to him again.

"So those were the girls your mom was so decided to meet again? Well, they do look nice, I'll guess that the mare with the pink mane, pink coat and has so much energy is Pinkie Pie."

As Spike finally quenched his thirst, he decided that he had enough of the voice and decided to question it.

"Alright, I had enough about you, how do I get rid of you?"

Spike waited for a moment for the voice to answer, he looked around once again to be sure that he was alone and, as he appreciated the green peace that was joined by the serene passage of the river, the voice answered back.

"Get rid of me? Sorry kid, our relationship became a really special one in the moment you accepted me and any way capable of extract me from our body would be very painful."

Spike's anger was starting to rise, already getting tired of having a voice on his head capable of seeing and hearing everything he saw or heard.

"I don't care, how do I get rid of you?"

"You sure? I mean, you haven't even heard what goods can I bring you or who-"

"Now!"

The passionate dragon said, almost screaming. A deafening peace being his answer, the green lands and peaceful animals trying to calm him down, the silence only being broken on Spike's mind with a single question.

"Does any of your friends know alchemy?"

Before Spike could even process the question, his body started to convulse, a surge coming from his stomach, which then turned into a belch that expelled a small smoke that quickly turned into a letter. As Spike read the letter, his eyes wide out realizing how important it was for Twilight, so he started to run fast, forgetting about the voice, to deliver the information that was incredibly shocking to him and for Twilight.

As Spike got close to Twilight, his body convulsed once more and belched another letter from Twilight, right in front of her, at which she quickly grabbed it and started to read with a lot of excitement. When Twilight saw the letter, she became more than animated, a letter from her mentor was something that very rarely happened and she wanted to know what could be the reason behind the letter, so she started to read it in high voice, both for herself and her friends to know its content.

Dear Twilight, I'm sure you are as excited as I am about the upcoming wedding on Canterlot

"Wedding?" - Twilight could only look at her friends perplexed for now being aware about a wedding that she never new about.

I'll be presiding the ceremony, while I would like for you and your friends to help with the preparations for this wonderful occasion: Fluttershy, I would like for you and your chore to make the music

The bashful pegasus could only accept in a quiet gratitude that was barely above the tone she usually spoke. - "Oh my goodness, what an honor".

Pinkie Pie, I can't think no one like you to hold the reception

The Party Mare made a flipping pirouette to show her happiness.

Applejack, you'll be in charge of the cater in the reception

The Farm mare could only respond as she would. - "Well, color me please as such!"

Rainbow Dash, I would very much like you to perform a Sonic Rainboom for the couple as they complete their "I do's"

The tomboyish mare lifted herself to the sky as she celebrated the fact that she was going to do what she knew best.

Rarity, you'll be responsible for making the dress for the bride and the bridesmare

The bombshell dizzed out the fashionista and her eyes and body started to move randomly. - "Princess Celestia wants me to make the dress for the canterlot wedding..." - And that was all it would be heard about her before fainting.

And as for you, Twilight, you will be playing the most important role of all, making sure that everything goes as planned. See you all very soon, yours all

Princess Celestia.

In that moment, Twilight decided to skim through the letter, trying to find something that she was very interested in knowing.

"But, wait, who's supposed to marry?" - In that moment, Spike took out the first letter he had to give her, allowing her to read the letter that she had to read first.

Princess Celestia, appropriately invites you to the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and...

"My Brother!?" - The shock that Twilight felt was huge, she never knew what was her brother doing and she never expected to know about a wedding this way, same thing for Spike, so the shock that both Spike and Twilight felt was very well understood, they weren't aware about how such a close relative to them was getting married.

But the one that took the most interest in those letters was the one living inside of Spike, for he wasn't aware of how well connected was his new host, not as well as the previous one, but well connected nonetheless and he was sure to capitalize on that very soon.

Perhaps, this time, he could achieve his desires.

Author's Notes:

EDIT June 13th of 2019: If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

A Journey of Desires

As Spike tried to relax one more time, he felt Twilight's machines scanning him once more to see if there were some secondary effects for eating that mysterious gem. He could hear the machines moving wildly as the metal helmet scanned his brain and the wires attached to him analyzed his body, he saw Twilight reading the charts, hoping to get an answer out of this but, after minutes of reading, Twilight released a frustrated groan due to how disappointing to all of this research was being.

"I don't get it" -. She said as she tried to understand the reading. - "It clearly detects a foreign source of magic but it cannot analyze it so we could know what kind of magic this it" -. She took a second look at her most recent analysis and looked back at Spike. - "Are you sure that you don't feel anything different in you?"

As Spike thought back into what just happened to him, his fire remained just as useful, he didn't feel any different and his body haven't changed since he ate that gem, there was only one difference though.

"What can I say? I've always been unique in my family and she has just scientifically proven it."

That voice was the only thing that has appeared in Spike ever since he ate that gem and, even though it promised to bring some goods to him, it certainly wasn't enough to convince him of keeping it inside of him. The problem was that, he was very afraid of telling Twilight that he was hearing voices. She might believe him but, what if she doesn't?

"No, Twilight" -. Said a paranoid Spike as he looked down. - "Nothing very different, I don't feel any different and I haven't done anything that shows that the gem helped, not even cool super powers like the Power Ponies."

"Hey!" - Said the voice. - "I do bring cool super powers, I can create a shield and it's a very nice one."

Disappointment filling Spike's mind now more than ever, he just decided to ask Twilight the one thing he cared about the most.

"So, do you think you can remove it?"

Twilight looked at the data and moved her eyes as she thought back and forward all the ramifications of trying to take out a foreign magic that was completely unknown for her, all the ways it could go wrong, all the mysteries revolving this gem and how it could affect Spike one way or another. Her resolve was done, she would not risk Spike's life.

"No Spike" -. As she saw him making a shocked face, she tried to explain herself. - "Look Spike, we know nothing about that gem, what kind of magic it is, how it works, what is it doing in your body or even if it's either helping you or hurting you" -. Spike kept looking at Twilight but his face showed now that he understood her reasoning. - "I don't want to risk your life, Spike, and I would rather wait until we have a better analysis of it before doing anything dangerous."

And, with that said, Twilight used her magic and released Spike from the huge machines that were studying him and tried to smile at his number one assistant with a supportive smile, but all it did was making him feel worse.

As he moved to the stairs, Twilight had an idea that, she hoped, would cheer him on.

"You know? I think Princess Celestia would be more than eager to help us out on this. Maybe we could ask her help once the wedding its over, does that sound good?"

As Spike gave this a thought, finally hearing something that made him feel better, the voice decided to give his own opinion on the matter.

"You see? There's no reason to be so sad, in the meantime, we can now spend more time to know each other."

As Spike tried to ignore the voice once more, he decided to go up and start making the baggage so they could leave as early as possible but not before hearing another message from Twilight.

"Spike, I know you want to leave soon, but remember that we won't depart until a few hours, so I hope you don't take too many things with you" -. She said as she was leaving with a small bag. - "Pack light stuff and we'll meet on the train station."

And, with that said, she left the library with an air of indignation whose origin Spike was too young to understand, leaving him alone once more with the voice in his head, who was more than eager to know more about this wedding.

"So" -. He started with a tone typical from those who were expecting some 'idle chat'. - "If what you're mom's singing said was true, then we're going to a very important wedding and we're the VIP. That's something remarkable."

Spike couldn't just stand the voice and decided to respond to his assumptions, not understanding that it exactly was what it wanted.

"Yes, this is a very important wedding for Shining Armor but you're not VIP, only Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and myself, you're not invited."

Spike expected it to respond with something, but he wasn't very happy with this voice coming with snark remarks.

"Maybe, but I'm inside of you so I'm an indirect guest for this wedding and I'll finally be able to meet some refined figures, it's always a good idea to be around the high society, you know?"

Spike could only roll his eyes but his mouth couldn't resist to respond.

"Look, there's a high chance that only a very few selected will be part of this wedding, so unless you only want to meet only Princess Celestia, I doubt you'll meet anyone of importance during the wedding."

Should have Spike been able to see the voice's face, he would have seen it smile and shiver as he heard it changing the tone of its voice to a more conniving one.

"Oh, yes, Princess Celestia, who both you and Twilight think will be able to figure me out and be able to take me out of you. Are you sure she's so powerful?"

Spike could only feel angry at the idea of some random voice putting to doubt the power of Princess Celestia so he let his impetuous voice to help more that little figure inside his head that was obtaining just what he wanted.

"For your information, Princess Celestia is so powerful that she can control the sun and make rise, dawn or stay in the sky as much as she want it to. She could easily take you out should she want it."

The voice's silence brought Spike some hope that he wouldn't have to put up with it until the wedding but, sadly for him, it was just an empty dream, for the silence lasted a few seconds.

"The sun, huh? With so much power, no wonder nobody tries to question her as a Princess, she would only have to send them to the sun. Father would be proud."

Spike's indignation couldn't rise more, something the voice was proving to be possible, and his voice was now near shouting and he was no longer packaging.

"How dare you say that about Princess Celestia!" -. Spike said as he pointed out to the air, symbolically aiming at the voice. - "She's the most honest, trustworthy, wise and gentle pony we've ever had as a princess. Nobody on her 1.000 years of rule has ever dared to question her for how good she has been."

After he said that, the voice once again remained silent, leaving Spike prepared for another sly comment but, to his surprise, his response only sent questions to his mind and wonder in what kind of conversation he just had.

"So she's immortal as well, eh? I suppose I may not be as unique as I thought I would be."

This time, Spike resisted the idea to keep the conversation and, to both his surprise and relief, the voice also remained in silence, hopefully for what could be left of the day, so he decided to end his packaging and went to the train station, wondering what kind of being he was holding inside of him, who wasn't strange to the idea of immortality and that thought of Celestia as an equal rather than a superior, even though it was just living inside of him to survive but, regardless, he wouldn't have to worry anymore once he got to Canterlot and Princess Celestia helped him to get rid of this thing.

As Spike went to the train station, he started to wonder on what kind of a mess he was right now. He now had something weird, that held magic of some kind and was sentient, living inside of him and it looked like taking it out was going to be complicated. The more he talked to it, the more questions he would get, why did it want to meet royalty so bad? Why it wasn't afraid of Celestia's power? Why it thought that Celestia was immortal and why it didn't see it as strange?

Spike saw the citizens of Ponyville moving around, continuing with their lives, unaware of what was happening to each other, making Spike wonder just how different and similar he could be to all of them. Perhaps there were some stories that he could sympathize with, perhaps some of them were more similar to him than he thought and maybe, if he knew them better, he wouldn't have been on this mess, how? He wasn't sure, but it was something worth thinking.

As Spike got to the train station, he found Twilight and her friends being followed by some interesting guest in the shapes of three colorful fillies, forcing Spike to ask about it.

"Apple Bloom? Sweetie Bell? Scootaloo? What are you doing here?" - He asked wondering with real curiosity. They turned around and decided salute him with the answer.

"Hi Spike!" - Said a very excited Sweetie Bell. - "Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash decided to allow me, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo over so we could see the wedding, isn't that cool?"

Seeing her eyes shining with gleam, Spike could only say his congratulations to Sweetie Bell as he moved to the train, following an angry Twilight, really hoping to get to Canterlot soon and show her brother how 'happy' she was, and get into their respective seats and prepared for the train ride. As the mares and fillies started to get into the train while chatting about the wonders of going into Canterlot to see a Royal Wedding. As he saw all of this, Spike couldn't stop thinking that this may not be as bad as it looked for him, sure, he had something strange living inside of him but that wasn't a reason to not enjoy the trip, after all, all the voice did was commentating on his life and that was something he could get over with eventually or it would be gone soon enough to not even bother about.

Nonetheless, Spike decided that this was probably a better moment to enjoy the situation and mingle with the other ponies. As the Cutie Mark Crusaders started to play on the other parts of the train, Spike decided to go to the train's window and see how Canterlot started to get closer to them as the train moved forward. He could see the majesty of Canterlot Castle in all of its glory, with its majestic towers, white walls, beautiful waterfall, the rainbow coming out of it as it all combined to reflect the greatness that was Princess Celestia's home.

As he saw the castle, Spike couldn't stop thinking about the few moments he shared in there with both Twilight and Shining Armor and the memories made him want to have a moment of celebration with him to remember those days and he was sure that, once that thing was out of his body, nothing would ruin this great moment to celebrate in Equestria's history. Yeah, he couldn't stop waiting to reach Canterlot soon enough.

"Kid" -. Said the voice. - "Why is there a shield surrounding the Castle?"

Spike stopped remembering and decided to take a closer look at the Castle to see what he meant but, as soon as he was going to take a better look, the train took a curve to climb the mountain, making it impossible to see Canterlot and check what was talking about. Then, Spike realized something else.

"Hold on, how did you see that?" - Said Spike to the voice, at which he was responded by a feminine voice in the outside of his head. - "Spike, dear, who are you talking to?"

Spike turned around and saw Rarity looking at him with a curious look while Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Applejack were talking about the wedding with Twilight looking at the mountain dejectedly. Spike quickly tried to think of an answer for Rarity and, sadly, he had to say the first thing he could come up with.

"Oh, Rarity, uh, I was saying that how did you see how... beautiful was Canterlot, yeah" -. Rarity looked at Spike with a suspicious look as Spike tried to change the conversation. - "I mean, it looks just perfect for a Royal Wedding and once I get there, I'll make a Bachelor Party with Shining Armor" -. Spike said that hoping to change the subject but he then realized something. - "Wait, what's a bachelor party?" -. Which caused all the mares to laugh at him, moment he decided to use to move from the wagon to another one just to keep the conversation going.

After leaving the wagon for a brief moment, and see that nobody was looking at him, he decided to briefly speak to the voice.

"Alright, now explain me, how did you see a shield in Canterlot if you are inside of me?"

The voice didn't laugh, at least, but it's tone sounded like if Spike's question was self explanatory.

"Kid, I am inside of your body, I can see what you see and hear what you hear, that's how our connection works" -. Spike took a moment to realize that he would never have a private moment as long as he had this thing on his body but it didn't last long as the voice decided to continue the chat. - "This also means that I can hear stuff around you that you may not be focusing on, since we share the same hearing abilities, at which I guarantee that I'll try to warn you if I hear something suspicious and, speaking of it, return to the other mares before they suspect anything. You don't want to ruin the wedding before it even begins, right?"

Spike accepted and decided to go back to the other girls and, right as he was passing through them to seat on his place, he saw a huge pink wall crossing the train and going through him, although he didn't feel anything wrong with it. As the barrier passed through, he went outside and saw how they were reaching the Canterlot station and, surrounding the whole city, there was a giant shield covering them all, making Spike wonder how good must his eyes be if that thing noticed it from so far away while he didn't.

As the train stopped, Spike couldn't feel some fear from seeing the guards looking at the train with some ferocity and suspicion, it was understandable the security, according to Rarity, since this was a royal wedding and those were too rare to take lightly, but Spike couldn't stop from feeling how something else was happening that he wasn't aware off, something at which, sadly, there was nothing he could do about.

As he was leaving the train with Twilight and her friends, he saw how Twilight decided to move faster in the search of her brother to give him her two bits regarding not telling your sister that you were going to marry, leaving all her friends in the train and a worried Spike surrounded by guards with lances.

"Don't worry kid" -. Said the voice inside of Spike with complete confidence. - "If something wrong happens, I'll back you up."

Since there was nothing a voice in his head could do, Spike was sure it was just bluffing, all he could do was to pass through the regulations and hope that nothing wrong would happen. Thankfully, there was nothing wrong in the packages and the invitation was enough for them to be let passed into the city and, hopefully, get a better experience than being received by the royal guard.

Surprisingly, there was a better reception as Princess Celestia, Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor (with a very confused Twilight behind them) were there to receive them, each one of them with their respective forms that made them stand out.

Princess Celestia, couldn't hold the happiness she felt of having Twilight's friends, including Sweetie Bell, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, and treated them with a humble and friendly tone that only showed how important they were to the princess.

"Greetings my little ponies" -. She said as everybody knelt down to show their respect toward the princess. - "Please stand up, for you are part of this great moment in our history and you deserve as much respect as I do."

The ponies stood up and saw Shining Armor getting close to them and, as he knelt, he said his greetings in a tone that showed how he looked at Twilight's friends.

"Hello everybody, it makes me feel great to see Twilight's friends to come over here, even more to know that Twilight made some friends" -. His remark was quickly responded with a punch sent by Twilight to his brother for that little remark, at which he could only laugh. - "Hey, you didn't have any friend here, it makes me glad to know that you aren't so sheltered anymore and even more to know that your best friends came here."

He then looked down and saw a very happy Spike to see him.

"Well, look who's also here" -. He got close to Spike and gave him a hoof pump. - "Glad to see you too as well, I hope you've taken care of my little sister while I wasn't there to check on her."

Spike saw laughed at this and responded with glee. - "Sure, she sometimes try to stay all night awake but I make sure she goes to sleep from time to time" -. Another remark that was responded with a deep glare made by Twilight, glare that quickly told him to stay silent.

Then came Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, who Spike recognized as Twilight's baby sitter, Cadence. And saw her treat all the other ponies in a way that was quite different to both Celestia or Shining Armor.

"Hello, all of you" -. She said in a tone that sound tired and wishing to have this over with. - "I'm glad to see you here and I hope that all eleven of you help us to make this wedding a very nice one."

Once she said this, all the ponies looked at her with a strange look, with Twilight being the first one to show her concern.

"Eleven?" - She then look back at her friends, making sure that everypony was there and said back to Cadence. - "Only nine ponies and one dragon came, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell, Scootaloo and myself, along Spike and all of that amount to ten. There are nopony else in here."

Cadence looked at Twilight and then looked back at the other ponies and saw, to her dismay, that there were only ten individuals in front of her and no more, making her give a very perplexed look.

"Oh, yeah" -. She said. - "It must probably be the tension from the wedding that made me miscount, sorry."

The ponies accepted the apology and told her that there was nothing to worry about and decided to go to work on the wedding, not suspecting what was all that about.

Meanwhile, the eleventh guest to the wedding decided to talk to Spike one more time, in a very serious and private tone, suspiciously enough for Spike.

"Hey, kid! Be careful with the pink princess. I think she's hiding something."

Since Spike was surrounded by mares that could hear him, all he could do was keep the facade and hope that he could get a private moment soon so he could have a discussion with that voice.

Meanwhile, very far away, outside of the shield surrounding Canterlot, a group of individuals were being chastised for giving the, apparently, wrong numbers. For they counted eleven ponies going on that train when only ten showed up and now the ones inside the city were trying to change the alcoves quickly before anyone noticed the extra room prepared for the visitors.

Author's Notes:

Well, it took longer than I realized but I'm glad to see this story having a final update before year's end.

This is officially the final chapter I'll write this year. I wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy Good Year, everyone.

EDIT June 16th of 2019: If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

Released

As the preparations for the wedding passed, what would have been just Spike toying around as Twilight and her friends made the preparations for the wedding ended up being him having to put up with the voice inside his head talking about how Cadence was being strange, that he shouldn't be trusting her, even accusing her of being dangerous. Normally, had this accusations come off from Twilight, which she did later that day, he would have just brush them off as her being over protective of her brother but this accusations coming from the voice were now being more mean, after all, how dare him to accuse Cadence of being suspicious when he didn't even know Cadence at all?

Sadly, during all that time, Spike was always making company to one of Twilight's friends, so he never got the chance to speak to that voice and finally tell him to shut up, something that he wanted to do more and more as it said things like "a princess wouldn't lie to her servants" or "a princess wouldn't look dirty her braids just because they disagreed with her" but he didn't have that chance and all he could do was to fake up his annoyance by playing with the wedding couple's toys.

That way, everything advanced until the next day, when the practice wedding was made and Twilight made quite a scene by accusing Cadence of being evil by making weak arguments that were easily brushed off by her brother. After that, Spike decided to leave Twilight alone because he wasn't quite sure what to tell to her and he was sure that she needed to think on what she did but that didn't stop the voice from saying "she gave weak premises, but she wasn't wrong about her being evil" at which Spike decided to go to his room, alone, making sure that nopony was watching him and finally talk with that voice.

As Spike was finally getting a private moment on his room, with the rest of the girls helping on the wedding. He decided to finally talk to that voice regarding what it said about Cadence and how "suspicious" she was being.

"Look!" - Said the young drake while pointing at the air. - "One thing is to be annoying in my body and a completely different one to accuse Cadence of being suspicious. She's a nice pony who wouldn't even harm a fly."

This time, the voice didn't take its time to answer, this time with a sense of urgency that wasn't quite normal from it.

"Kid, I understand that you may think that based on what you've told me and what you've seen but eyes can be deceiving and, trust me, she's not acting normally, even your mom noticed it or don't you find strange that the one pony that should know her the best doesn't trust her?"

Spike took a moment to think about it, after all it was true, Twilight has already stated why she didn't trust in Cadence but everypony blamed her behavior on the wedding planning increasing her nerves and, sure, Twilight did brought up some interesting points last night but she behaved horribly with Cadence and even called her evil and those accusations were plain wrong.

"Look" -. Responded an annoyed Spike. - "Twilight was just jelous, you'll see how she apologize to Cadence very soon."

With that said, Spike decided to go to the altar to search for Twilight and prove the voice that all of this was just paranoia but, as he got closer to the altar, he saw something that made him feel strange. Twilight was gone missing.

According to Cadence, Twilight decided to leave the wedding as a form of apology and that she would be seeing them back in Ponyville and all Spike could feel how the voice was telling him just how this was more and more suspicious for the one pony that said she was evil was now, suddenly, "leaving the wedding", which, as annoying as it was for Spike, there really wasn't much to argue against until he could find Twilight and prove the voice wrong, but that would be after the wedding.

That way, the wedding went on with Spike holding the rings and waiting until the wedding was over and the married couple would finally be together. It was a lovely sight, seeing the arrangements being used so well, the girls look fabulous, specially Rarity, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were doing a good job throwing the flowers, Cadence looked gorgeous, Shining Armor looked as well as a Stallion could look like, it looked like everything would go fine until Twilight appeared.

When Spike saw her, one part of him was relieved to see her but another part of him was feeling anxious because it didn't look like she was changing from her attitudes although Cadence's remark did caught his interest:

"Why does she has to be so possessive of her brother?!" - Now, it wasn't what she said what sounded strange, it was her tone of voice which, many noticed, was more dismissive and mean, contrary to the common neutral tone she was using so far in the wedding preparations and it became extremely suspicious when she suddenly changed her tone and modified her statement as she realized how strange she sounded herself, this time with more sobs. - "Why does she has to ruin my especial day?"

Thankfully for Spike, before the voice could even say anything, another voice erupted from the doors besides Twilight. Much to Spike's chagrin it was the pony he expected the least to see, for it only gave the voice the reason it was searching for.

"Because it's not your especial day" - Said Twilight as the other pony entered, this one being a pink alicorn with a disheveled mane, dirt all over her coat and looking, overall, as she has seen better days, it was none other, than Princess Cadence who decided to shout her affirmation, one that made very clear that Twilight, and the voice, was right all along. - "It's mine."

The whole room shouted in shock, seeing now two Princess Cadence, and letting very clear that something very wrong was going on here and it was all made even more clear as the Cadence besides Shining Armor claimed with an angry curiosity.

"What!?" - Anger and malice spewing from her snout. - "But how did you escape my brides maid!?"

The two ponies in the entrance looked at each other with a knowing look and explained how distraction was an underrated tool, making very clear that ingenuity was their forte.

"Clever" -. Said the fake Cadence. - "But you're still too late."

"But Ah' don't understand" -. Said Applejack as she made a legitimate question. - "But how can there be two of them?"

"The fake one can shape shift!"

Said the voice inside Spike's head and this was confirmed by the real Cadence.

"She's a Changeling! She takes the form of somepony you love and gain power by feeding from your love for them!"

As Princess Cadence was making her accusations, the Fake Cadence's eyes were glowing green as her face showed all the anger she could muster. Anger released in a huge green fire that surrounded her being, burning away her fake form and showing her true form to the rest of the audience.

Her true form was of one with an insect's wings filled with holes each wing, a black chitin covering her body with her extremities filled with holes as well, her horn being twisted in weird forms, a bluish mane with a hole in it, green eyes with cat like slits and a small crown on her head.

Spike, along the other ponies in the room were in shock as the changeling started to laugh, showing how confident it was at this moment.

"Right you all, princess" -. Her voice sounded distorted as if it was unable to hold a defined voice on herself. - "And is queen of the Changelings, it is me who has to find food for my subjects" -. She then started to move towards Cadence, the pink alicorn remaining as stoic as ever, and continued on her gloat while Spike was unable to move due to the shock. - "Equestria has more love than any place I've ever encountered, my fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it that we will gain more power than we have ever dreamed on!"

Cadence decided to refute the Changeling Queen, her determination remaining as tall as ever.

"You will never succeed! Shining Armor's protection spell will keep them from ever reaching us."

The Changeling Queen laughed at her and simply responded.

"Oh, I doubt that" -. Her horn then started to glow green while she was looking back at Shining Armor. - "Isn't that right dear?"

The mind controlled stallion could only nod, his will clearly gone by now but, instead of depressing Cadence, all it did was making her run straight to him before the Queen's hoof stopped her as she made sure that Cadence wouldn't move again.

"Ah, ah. Don't want to return to the cave now, do you?"

Cadence simply stepped back, clearly too weak to face her. With that solved, the Changeling Queen went back to Shining Armor as she continued in her speech.

"All of this was to help me, I've been feeding from Shining Armor's love for you, every moment he grows weaker and so does his spell, even now my minions are cheeping away at it."

She said as she was looking up, clearly knowing what was going on right now.

As all of this was happening, the voice was trying to speak to Spike.

"Kid, listen, I know how to fix this..."

But Spike was more focused on what he was seeing rather than what he was being told right now.

The queen simply laughed, clearly winning so far, and continued as she put her hoof in Shining Armor's snout.

"He may not be my broom, but he's under my control now and unable to do his duties as captain of the Royal Guard."

"Not my Shining Armor!" - Said a Princess Cadence that was getting anguish as the situation developed in front of her. Meanwhile, the queen continued, her body now floating as her joy was increasing.

"Soon my changeling army will break through the shield and we will take Canterlot first and then all of Equestria-"

"No!" - Said a voice that has been remained in silence for enough time, now that she was completely aware of the danger her ponies were in, Princess Celestia decided to take cards into her hoof. Her tone being cold and menacing. - "You won't."

The changeling queen then lowered herself to the ground, now aware that there were still some issues that still had to be dealt with.

"You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell" -. Said Princess Celestia, confidence dripping in her voice. - "But now that you have foolishly revealed your true self" -. She then charged towards Chrysalis, the changeling queen responding back by charging to her as well. - "I can protect my subjects" -. Celestia then raised herself to the air and prepared a huge yellow spell against the queen. - "From you." - And she fired the spell towards the alien invader.

The changeling queen responded back with her own spell as well, making the two beams clash in a fight of wills that Celestia was winning at first but the Changeling Queen then started to put more energy into her attack, giving her an edge that took Celestia by surprise and knocked her out into the ground, making all the ponies watching fall into despair as their monarchic matriarch was unable to protect them.

Twilight and her friends quickly moved to Celestia's aide and see if she was fine while the changeling queen started to look at her horn with a huge amount of surprise.

"Ah, Shining Armor's love for you is even stronger than I thought" -. Said the queen that was realizing how much power she was actually capable of right there and then. - "Consuming him made me more powerful than Celestia!"

The six mares got close to the princess and heard her last words before falling unconscious.

"The Elements of Harmony, you must get to them and use their power to defeat the queen!"

The six mares looked at each other, understanding that their duty was calling them, took off their dresses and moved to the Elements of Harmony (ignoring how Rarity delayed them by making sure the dresses she made were fine) hoping to stop this nightmare before it was too late.

Meanwhile, the voice finally managed to get through Spike's shock.

"Kid, listen to me!" - Spike finally started to listen as he saw Cadence, Shining Armor, Princess Celestia and the changeling queen while trying to figure out what to do. - "Kid, listen" -. The voice continued. - "I know how to fix this but, first, you must make sure that everybody's fine. We can see for your mom and her friends later but I know that some fillies came here with you, right?"

Spike quickly moved his eyes and tried to find Applebloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo, hoping they were fine, but they were nowhere to be found, making Spike listen even more to the voice.

"Kid, first make sure they're fine and then I'll tell you how to solve this, ok? Don't worry about the princesses, the queen won't harm them, trust me on this one, but there's no guarantee that those fillies will be fine."

Spike, for the first time in his life, decided to listen to the voice and went to search for the Cutie Mark Crusaders as Cadence was shouting his name and asking where he was going. All Spike could do was saying that he would go search and see if the fillies were ok before leaving the room that contained a fainted Celestia, a trapped Cadence, a mind controlled Shining Armor and a maniac Changeling Queen.

As Spike went through the castle, searching room by room for the fillies, his mind started to fill with fear over how dangerous the situation was and how helpless he felt over the idea of him being unable to do anything to stop these invaders.

For each room Spike would pass by, he would open the door and see if he could find the fillies but he couldn't find them. He was starting to feel as if he was going to fail again when, finally, after opening another room for the fifth time, he would hear a little gasp coming behind a small table on one side of the room.

"Apple Bloom? Is that you?"

He asked. A small female voice responded back with certain hints of fear on the call back.

"Stay away... we are very strong fillies and we can beat you should we want."

Spike quickly decided to easy their doubts.

"Don't worry girls, it's me, Spike, you have nothing to fear."

He was thinking that this would work but he was soon proved wrong by Sweetie Bell.

"How... how do we know you're not one of those things pretending to be Spike? Tell us something only Spike would know about."

Spike tried to quickly think something and decided to dig up on of his most well guarded secrets, hoping that it would allow them to trust in him, even if he almost whispers it.

"Well... I... kind of... like Rarity..."

He waited for a few seconds and, to his shame, he was responded by Scootaloo with a shocking revelation that he was wishing to be false.

"Ha! You can't fool us, everybody knows about Spike liking Rarity, so try something else or we will kick your flank."

There were some whispers he couldn't hear so well but that wasn't as important as trying to keep himself up after finding out that his secret wasn't so secret but none of that mattered as he started to hear one of the scariest sounds he ever heard on his life, it was the sound of a huge object in the sky was being shattered, its pieces falling down to the city and being followed by multiple crashing sounds into the ground, as if multiple heavy objects were thrown to the streets and, once Spike went to a close window to see what was that sound, he found that, as he guessed, the shield fell down and the changelings were now crashing down into Canterlot.

Spike's mind rushed with fear over the idea of those things taking Twilight and all the other girls but he knew that all he could focus for now was trying to keep the cutie mark crusaders safe, so he entered back into the room and closed the door.

"Ah! He's going to attack us!"

He heard Sweetie Bell talk but he soon tried to make sure they understood what kind of problem they were now getting into.

"No I won't, in fact, I'm trying to help you. The shield is down and they're invading the streets, we must close this door and hunker down while hoping they don't find us, understood?"

For a brief moment they didn't respond but the fillies quickly started to look up and saw how Spike was now trying to pick up a chair and put it on the door as if that would block it. They quickly followed suit and tried to block the door but that soon was found out to be useless as the door quickly started to shook for the force being inflicted on it, small cracks quickly appearing on the door, which forced Spike and the little girls to move a table to a corner and hunker down, hoping to last as long as they could.

Terror was filling up Spike's mind as he tried to think of a way out of this and found no solution to this but, before despair could get him, the voice once again decided to talk to him.

"Kid, listen, I can help you out of this problem but you must listen to me."

Spike was annoyed but, as desperation was creeping in, he found no other reason to avoid him.

"Alright, what is your idea?"

He ignored Apple Bloom's weird looks at him as the voice started to give him the solution for his problem.

"Look, I can easily beat this guys down if you just give me the possibility of it."

The door quickly busted, a hissing sound following it as a changeling quickly entered in the room. Spike was now listening closely and responded through whispers.

"Alright, how can you help me, what must I do."

And, as Apple Bloom was starting to ask Spike to whom he was talking to, the voice gave him a solution that made him feel fear on levels he never thought possible.

"Just give me your body. Allow me to take it over and I will get rid of these shape shifters before you realize it."

Spike was feeling wrong, as if making a deal that he shouldn't be doing, but the changeling wasn't giving him many alternatives.

"Alright" -. Said a trembling Spike. - "Just, please, get rid of them."

And, as Spike shut his eyes with fear and the changeling found them hiding behind the table while Apple Bloom was shaking him, thinking he was going insane, Spike's mouth suddenly formed a smile as his teeth sharpened and his voice became more mature.

"It's a deal then."

Spike then opened his eyes, no longer green emerald, and looked at the changeling that was now going to transform into his first victim on this fight.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for taking so long, I'm trying to make at least one chapter of these every three months (that way it doesn't clash with the updates of my other stories and gives me time to think better how to develop this) but this month was so busy I almost fail at it.

Regardless, just two more chapters and you'll see a fight worth reading. I promise.

EDIT June 17th of 2019: If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

The Party's Soul

Canterlot is being invaded by a species capable of feeding from somepony's love and her queen managed to defeat Princess Celestia, the one pony powerful enough to stop her. The elements of Harmony were on a race against time to get the elements while they were being swarmed by the invaders and it was hard to tell if they would make it on time.

Unbeknownst to them, there was another figure fighting the changelings. It was inside the palace, on one of its many halls, with the creature, a purple dragon at that, being surrounded by the waves of changelings but still managing to smile as they tried to get a clear hit on him.

This dragon wasn't a very normal one to begin with, it was a very small dragon just a couple moments ago, which was fitting considering that this was the personal assistant of the unicorn Twilight Sparkle but the changelings just couldn't figure out how it was capable of growing in size so fast. Not only that, but it also managed to develop fighting skills that were giving them many problems, if any of them tried to attack it on the front, it avoided their attacks, pick them and then throw the drone into the other soldiers in the hopes of stunning them.

The dragon moved fast, making it hard to hit, it was slim, making it into a very mobile target, it was capable of hitting hard which forced the drones to hold themselves from attacking recklessly but the part of this fight that the drones found the worst were its scales. It was normal for a dragon to have very hard scales that made it resistant to strong hits but what wasn't normal was for this dragon to have a second cape of scales that it was capable of growing at its own desire.

This new series of scales were completely black and were resistant to any type of attack, it was even capable of holding magic beams with the palm of its claws as if it were just a toy and no scratch was visible on its skin whenever they attacked it with their hooves. They weren't sure how did this dragon managed to achieve it but it was already becoming a bigger obstacle than Celestia or the Element Bearers.

The battle was becoming a stand off where the only one that would come out on top would be the fighter with the highest stamina and the dragon's smile was all this drones needed to know just what else this dragon had. They needed to defeat it before they could get tired and that led to an idea they hadn't tried before, transforming into it.

For a Changeling, the idea of transforming into another creature has always been more as a mean of confusion, to make sure the target is unable to know who it's fighting, a very useless strategy when fighting a lone target but transforming had its advantages, one of them being their capability to copy the physical form of their target and that included this dragon's shield.

This was why, the dragon stopped smiling when it saw how he was now surrounded by multiple copies of himself who had the same black scales around its arms, the drones were the smiling ones now that they had nullified its main advantage over them, creating a huge barrage of attacks that weren't capable of hitting the dragon only because this lone dragon was for some reason faster than them.

Still, as the attacks came, it was becoming harder for the lone dragon to avoid all the attacks being sent to him until, finally, one black claw finally landed a hit on his right cheek, creating a small cut that was making him bleed and forcing him to retreat while the other copies of him were smiling at their small victory, it would be just a matter of time, but they had the numbers to slowly cut him until it was unable to move or, at least, that was what they were thinking until they heard the dragon laugh with full strength at them.

Before they could even try to ask why he was smiling, the lone dragon showed its face onto them, with one finger pointing at his new wound and, to the shock and fear of the drones, they saw the wound being surrounded by red lightning that was restoring it to a point were there was no damage in that face anymore.

"You may be able to copy my face and armor" -. The dragon was saying in a cocky tone. - "But you cannot copy my fighting skills and, from what your faces can tell, you certainly cannot copy this as well" -. His smile grew wide as his eyes starting to fixate more and more on the trembling changelings, now realizing that this couldn't even be considered a dragon at all. - "That means that, if I stop holding back, I will get through you in no time."

The monster then started to get closer to the scared drones who, no longer seeing a possible victory on this, decided to run towards the safety of their queen who, regardless of her ferocity, was more likely of defeating this creature that probably came from Tartarus itself than the feeble and weak drones who were unable of run away without screaming with their lungs out of fear.

And, as the invaders were running away and dropping their disguise, they failed to listen the words of their former objective.

"Well, that was easier than I thought. Wish I knew they were so scared of getting cut before, it would have made my job much easier."

And, with that said, the lone and tall dragon started its way towards the wedding room, where he was sure he was going to find the one enemy that could call off this invasion if he managed to defeat it.

And, as the two groups were running, they were unaware of what was doing Queen Chrysalis. She was glad that her plan had worked so well, which was easy to tell as she was looking at the city being filled with drones chasing down their food supply, she couldn't feel anything but realization at how well all of this was executed.

Celestia was captured, Shining Armor was under her control, Princess Cadence was too weak to confront her, the Royal Guard has already been subdued and the best was coming to her as she saw how the Elements of Harmony were already captured. Chrysalis couldn't do much more than grinning of happiness as every single detail that could thwart her plans were already taken care off.

"You do know the reception has been cancelled, don't you?" - Said the shape shifting queen at her captured enemies, then, she looked at her drones and gave them a new order. - "Go!"

And, with that, the drones started to leave the room, with only Chrysalis and her enemies in that room, giving Chrysalis time to enjoy this moment.

"It's funny, really" -. She started as she picked Twilight's face with her hoof. - "Twilight was suspicious of my behavior all along" -. At which Twilight decided to drop her hoof while Chrysalis was making her speech although she didn't mind. - "But you were too focused on your wedding planning to realize."

At this, Applejack started to get close to Twilight and apologized for not listening.

"Don't worry" -. Said Twilight as she looked at Chrysalis with anger. - "It was her who fooled you."

Chrysalis didn't mind this accusation, in fact she enjoyed it to be reminded of her successes.

"I did, didn't I?"

Then, she started to get close to the balcony and started to hum as she saw her drones capturing the equestrians, everything was going perfectly but, in her confidence, she wasn't realizing how Twilight was trying to sneak into Cadence to help her but that was stopped by something nobody saw, or heard, coming: Screams.

"What!?"

Chrysalis turned around and saw, to her concern, her drones quickly opening the door and entering into the wedding room with much haste as they were screaming orders among each other with much fear in their voice.

"Quick! Close the door!"

"But the rest of us haven't-"

"Just close the door!"

And, just like that, they started to close the door before all the drones entered in the room, making the changelings outside the room screaming in complete and utter terror at the sight of the room containing their queen closing in front of their eyes. Twilight would always remember those screams for the rest of her life, for she never heard so much fear concentrated in a group that just a few minutes ago seemed so confident and fearless.

While all the ponies seemed confused at this turn of events, which was distracting them form making a plan to defeat Chrysalis, the conquering queen was too angry to care about what were the ponies doing. All she cared was about her drones closing the doors and not letting their own brothers enter even though they were screaming and kicking the door with all their might to enter.

"Explain right now what is the meaning of this!" - Demanded Chrysalis with an authority that rivaled Celestia's herself.

Her drones looked at her and tried to answer as true as they could, even if that could mean getting punished by their queen.

"We found something that we cannot overcome" -. Said one drone using magic to hold the door knobs in place as another drone putting its hoofs on the upper side of the door continued. - "We have never seen something like it and its abilities have overwhelmed us."

Chrysalis was skeptical about this, something capable of overcoming the drones that have just defeated the Royal Guard? That sounds ludicrous.

Twilight, meanwhile, was very curious about this development, what kind of creature have the changelings encountered that they found overwhelming when she along her five friends were captured after some struggle? This probably was a magic creature of the likes of Celestia or Chrysalis herself. What creature had so much magic, besides an alicorn or Discord, that alone was capable of doing what she and her friends couldn't?

"Don't be foolish" -. Ordered Chrysalis. - "You have more than enough numbers to overcome anything you could encounter. What could this creature have that you don't or cannot copy?"

Her drones were about to answer when, suddenly, all the room inhabitants heard the drones outside screaming even more.

"It's here!"

"Please open the door!"

"Don't leave us at its mercy!"

"Save us Queen Chrysalis!"

And this shouts were quickly followed by more attempts to open the door, which were quickly stopped by an equal determined force of drones who were trying to make sure that this monster wouldn't enter into the room. Something that Cadence didn't missed.

"What's this Chrysalis? So there's something outside that's challenging your might and it's very likely that it will defeat you."

Chrysalis just couldn't ignore this jab at her and decided to send a comeback at the princess.

"Don't be so sure princess, for all we know it may not be sided with you either" -. She then looked at her drones and decided to order them again. - "And you, I order you to open the door and let me handle this foe."

The drones were at a moment of thought. They were sure their queen had enough strength to face this creature but they really didn't want to risk her well being neither wanted to be closer to that monster with mysterious magic.

"My Queen" -. Said a changeling holding the left door with his front hooves. - "This isn't a common enemy, it has magic never seen before and that could even be described as unnatural. We do not recommend you to face this creature until more intelli-"

"I order you to open the door!" - Ordered Chrysalis as she put her hoof on the floor with enough strength to for cracks, really putting into perspective to Twilight and the other ponies that this wasn't a common foe and that, whoever was behind those doors was going to have a hard battle to rage if it wanted to defeat her.

The drones were trying to see what to prioritize, if to follow the orders or to ensure the health of their queen, when, to their horror, the screams, along the kicks, at the other side of the door ended.

Chrysalis felt a chill going through her as she realized the reality of her drones being defeated by this mysterious creature, Twilight wondered what this creature was, Rainbow was thinking that a very awesome creature must have been behind those doors, Fluttershy was shivering in fear at what creature could've been outside and hoped that it wasn't aiming to hurt her or her friends, Applejack was wondering on the strength that creature must have gotten to defeat an army on its own, Rarity was dreaming of a charming knight to her rescue, Pinkie Pie was feeling that she going to make multiple parties at once that night, Cadence was hoping for this newcomer to be a bringer of goodness and it was then that Twilight made the question that she didn't realized until now she should've made.

"Where's Spike?"

Before her question was answered, a huge force hit the door from the other side, moving the drones and separating them from it by a few inches before they went back to the door and pressure it with all their strength in an attempt to stop whatever it was outside trying to get in, scaring the ponies about the creature's power.

Chrysalis was perplexed with this new development, it required a lot of strength to do something like that and she wasn't aware of any common creature capable of doing something like that.

"My queen" -. Said a desperate drone that was trying to keep the door locked. - "We also think that an explanation has been found regarding the train incident."

Both Chrysalis and the ponies looked at the drone with quizzical eyes.

"The train incident?"

Chrysalis's question was then followed by another huge blow to the door that, for a fraction of a second, opened the door before the drones barricaded it once again with their bodies.

"Yes, my queen. Do you remember when we notified you that there were eleven individuals on the train where the Elements were located but only ten individuals were there?"

This brought up a lot more curiosity from the ponies, the idea of a stowaway that managed to get through Shining Armor's shield was unheard off.

"Yes, I do remember that. It put my cover at risk" -. Said Chrysalis as she turned to the ponies. - "Thankfully, nobody made questions regarding it and only took it as a mistake on my part."

"Well" -. Said the drone as he put all his being into holding that door. - "I think we have managed to understand where that eleventh passenger was located."

In that moment the door got yet another blow, which started to send cracks into it while the drones tried their best to hold the door closed.

"Explain! Now!"

Chrysalis voice was now giving hints of desperation that the ponies weren't missing as they were also feeling a huge wave of anxiety crawling up their skin as they knew that, whatever was trying to enter, was something of the likes they have never seen before.

"Well, I think that said passenger managed to get through by using magic of the likes we've never seen before, magic that allowed it to only be noticed by us due to our ability to detect other creature's emotions but that it made it undetectable to the ponies. Now it's too late for us, we've never faced something like this, a creature with unparalleled magic capable of doing what's impossible for us."

In that moment, the drone looked at their queen with the saddest eyes, filled with upmost regret as they said their last words before losing consciousness.

"My apologies my queen, we have failed to you."

In that moment, the door was hit with strength enough to destroy it, sending away all the drones as Chrysalis prepared her magic at whatever creature was now entering into the room.

The ponies were in no better way, they were all entranced into this newcomer capable of scare away the changelings and put their queen into a feeling of dread. None of them were sure what to expect, was this a savior or a new conqueror? Was this a magical creature that Equestria has never seen before? Was this an awesome being that enjoyed showing it's skills? Did it like parties or was it a snob?

All of those questions were answered while at the same time only sending more questions to the individuals in that room as the newcomer entered and made everybody wonder what was going on, especially for Twilight, as her question was already answered. Now she knew where Spike was.

The greatest mystery to the ponies now was why Spike looked so different, for he no longer looked like a child, he now had the body of an adult, his arms gained muscle just like his chest, his legs also grew up with him, making him taller than the average pony but slightly smaller than Princess Celestia or Queen Chrysalis. Only Twilight noticed it, but the back of his right claw now had a strange circle on it, although she was unable to determine what it was exactly. Everybody in that room also noticed how his face now had more mature look and, to the fear of some ponies and awe of others, his jaw was now filled with sharp teeth and his claws looked extremely sharp as well but there was one thing that shook them off as if there was something wrong with Spike, something they weren't sure exactly what it was, not noticing how his eyes were now of a light violet tone instead of green emerald although his smile was menacing enough for both the ponies and the changeling queen to feel agitated.

All the ponies and the changeling queen were looking, with extreme confusion, at the dragon entering into the room. He wasn't looking cowardly or with fear, he looked with confidence and as he was going to take down anything that stood on his way as he made his proclamation with a resounding voice.

"Don't worry folks, the party's soul is finally here!"

Author's Notes:

Compared to the last chapter, this was much better to write and the next one will be among my favorite to write so far, trust me, it will finally happen guys and I hoe to deliver when the time comes to write the next Chapter.

Thank you all for waiting and see you in three months.

EDIT June 17th of 2019: If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

Ambition vs Desire

As the now grown Spike was ending his presentation, the wedding room was quickly filled with the laughs coming form Queen Chrysalis, not capable of taking seriously what she was seeing at that very moment.

"Is this a joke?!" - She laughed while 'Spike' was looking at her with disappointment while Twilight and her friend where looking at him with faces that went from 'what are you doing?' to 'run'. - "I thought that my warriors were scared of an actually dangerous creature, not a dragon that went through a growth spurt."

'Spike' looked around as if trying to search for someone before responding with a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Well, I'm not seeing anyone else around here so I suppose I'm the only one they could've been running away from."

Chrysalis took the response immediately, stopping her from laughing as she decided to take a better look at the dragon in front of her and noticed a few other changes besides the height. Namely the change on the color of his eyes as well as how one of his claws had a strange symbol on the back of said claw and that wasn't even mentioning how his tone of voice was now more mature.

"I suppose so" -. She retorted. - "But if you want to take the credit of such feat, I recommend you to provide any evidence of what you are claiming, otherwise, you're only making a joke of yourself if you want me to believe that you took down my army on your own."

In that moment the dragon started to smile with malicious intent as his face read how he was accepting the challenge. In that moment, his left claw started to turn black as he started to get close to one of the chairs. He then picked one of the chairs with the black claw and, effortlessly, crushed the wooden chair by closing said claw with such ease that surprised the ponies, who knew Spike wasn't that strong.

Chrysalis raised her eyebrows at the feat. Certainly interesting but not surprising at all. She then looked at one of the walls in the room and, with a piece of her magic, took a chunk of the rock, big enough to fit in Celestia's hoof, while smiling deviously at the dragon, much to the mares' worries.

"Oh, please..." - She said as the piece of rock was levitating besides her. - "Breaking a wooden chair isn't surprising at all. Now, what about this!"

"Spike!"

As Chrysalis shouted, and Twilight screamed with worry, she threw the piece of rock at 'Spike' with a huge speed, at which, he managed to move aside just in time to avoid the attack but still managing to pick the rock with his left, and still black, claw. Chrysalis raised her eyebrow at this and her face suddenly went to shock as the dragon crushed the stone with the same ease as the wood while keeping his malicious smile.

"Tell me" -. He said with complete confidence. - "Is your chitin any stronger than rock?"

Chrysalis quickly took the hint as her eyes widen at what she saw. She wasn't sure how, but that dragon got more than a simple growth spurt and she was now believing the possibility of it being the thing her drones were so scared about, but she still thought that the situation could still be salvaged, all she needed to do was getting rid of the dragon to close any ties that could stop her.

Meanwhile, the ponies were surprised at the display of power made by Spike as they tried to make sense of what he just did.

"Twilight" -. Whispered Rainbow Dash at a surprised Twilight. - "When did Spike got so strong?"

That question took Twilight out of her shock and forced her to asses the situation with as much carefulness as she could before realizing the kind of danger Spike was getting into.

"Spike! What are you doing!? Run away, she defeated Princess Celestia!"

'Spike' turned his head towards Twilight and looked at her with a mixture of boredom, confidence and dismissal.

"Spike isn't home right now, try calling him later" -. He then moved his right thumb towards himself as he continued with a smug tone that reminded Twilight of Rainbow Dash as he smiled by showing his sharp teeth. - "My name, is Greed."

In that moment his right claw started to get black as well and with said black scales (in both arms) covering up his arm to bellow his elbow as he started to get closer to Chrysalis, who started to get a little nervous at the sight of said black scales.

"You should listen to your little friend in there" -. Chrysalis pointed out to Greed. - "Do you really think you can defeat the queen that took down Princess Celestia herself?"

Greed just kept his smile as he started to speed up his pace.

"The answer is simple, do you think your spells can affect my Supreme Shield?"

He then jumped directly at Chrysalis with his right fist prepared to attack, forcing Chrysalis to move aside while preparing a powerful stun spell in the hopes of knocking him up before those arms could even get close to her. As she fired, she noticed how Greed put his arms in a defensive gesture as they took the brunt of her spell, sending him flying away and cracking the right wall, making the debris to fall into him.

"Spike!"

As Twilight shouted with worry and her friends were getting worried for his life, Chrysalis couldn't feel but in control once again as the dragon was quickly put under control.

"You see" -. She quickly said. - "You were no match for me."

In that moment the debris was blown over from the bottom as the dragon raised up from it without a single scratch on his body while he was snapping up his joints, nobody noticing the small red sparks coming from his body as it cracked its bones, and he kept his smile with complete confidence.

"You see" -. He said with complete confidence as he saw with joy how his enemy was now having her face filled with shock. - "Your spells are no match for my Supreme Shield."

All the magical beings were in shock at the display, for it was imposible that the rest of his body could have no damage from it, making them wonder what kind of magic was 'Spike' pulling out right then.

Greed then quickly picked pieces of debris and threw it at Chrysalis, forcing her to fly up, while he ran in her direction and used his black claws to take any spell that Chrysalis threw at him.

"You'll need something stronger if you want to have a chance against me!"

Greed's taunt almost got Chrysalis but she didn't fall for it, well aware that using too much magic would drain her and leave her wide open to be attacked by this unusual dragon but she would try to increase her attacks as she noticed how he was starting to get closer.

Chrysalis quickly raised a shield as Greed jumped at her and gave his first punch, instantly cracking up the shield and sending her to the ground, with the energy of the fall finishing to crack the shield down, which forced Chrysalis to gather up her thoughts quickly at how the situation was getting out of her hooves and Greed was simply smiling with a glee akin to a predator who was about to finish up its prey for the joy of hunting rather than for feeding. The idea of being a simply prey for this dragon sent shivers to Chrysalis.

"Next time" -. Greed said with happiness in his face. - "Don't try to stop my Supreme Shield with a low class barrier. No matter how strong you are, it'll never match up to mine."

In that moment it hit Chrysalis what he was meaning by 'Supreme Shield', the black scales, and, in a desperate act, she quickly moved aside and started to charge her best spell with as much magic as she could. This, instead, gave Greed enough range to start swiping at Chrysalis with his claws.

Chrysalis tried her best to dodge the attacks, for every right swipe she would dodge back or move to the left and for every left swipe she would try to go up or move to the right but she would never stop from charging up her spell even if it meant that her chitin would start to get scratches for Greed's swipes.

"What are those scales made up from?"

It was the main thought going through Chrysalis mind as she tried to focus on multiple task at the same time, and that was including having to watch Greed's face, which showed no doubt or mercy at her as his swipes were started to aim at her legs and horn, something that Chrysalis quickly took notice off and started to react by moving more her legs and trying to stay afloat but Greed quickly put her down by throwing rocks at her at a extreme speed and a deathly accuracy.

In the meantime, Twilight started to notice how the fight was moving both Spike and Chrysalis away from Cadence and Shining Armor, giving her enough time to get close to her and release her from the slime holding her hooves down which, in turn, allowed her to move to Shining Armor and release him from Chrysalis spell.

"Wait.. What is going on?"

As Chrysalis heard Shining Armor's voice, she realized that her love reserves were going to be cut very fast, so she decided to stop charging up her spell and quickly kicked Greed toward another wall with her bare legs, she then got a close range with Greed, close enough that only she was capable of seeing him, and, was now having him cornered, she shouted in victory.

"Let's see if your shield can cover you from this!"

And she then released all her magic spell in a single blow, much to the ponies' worry at the display of power, with a torrent of magic pouring down on Greed as she could see and smell his body burning from all the magical power she put into the attack, hoping for it to be enough to finally put him down as she put all of her strength into this desperate offensive maneuver.

When she finally stopped her attack, she felt in shock at what she saw. The dragon was with many parts of its body damaged beyond repair, his chest no longer had any type of scale from covering his flesh, his head had third degree burns and his shoulders were black as coal but his black scales remained unaffected from the attack but that wasn't just it. What shocked Chrysalis the most, something that the ponies couldn't see for the angle they were in, was how Greed was now expelling red energy from his body as all those burns and damages were being eliminated from his body.

Chrysalis couldn't believe what she was seeing, the dragon was recovering from its wounds at an alarming rate while looking at her with a face that said how aware he was of the futility of her attack. His malicious smile covered by a black face was what made Chrysalis fall into fear at what she was seeing, she never knew of any creature capable of such a powerful shield neither of recovering at such alarming speed, this wasn't a dragon, this was a monstrosity, a monstrosity with enough capabilities to stop her right then and right now as she realized how she used one of her most powerful spells and almost depleted her magic reserves fighting an enemy that just couldn't be defeated by normal means.

It was in that moment that Chrysalis felt that emotion that, as much as many writers can try to describe, it can only be understood by those who feel it: Absolute terror.

All Chrysalis could do was step back from the monster she was fighting right there, for she couldn't defeat it, she couldn't stop it, she was no match for it. She finally understood what her drones felt when they ran at her for protection and she felt despair at the realization that she couldn't protect them from this creature that already recovered from its wounds and looked as if nothing ever happened to him.

"I'll give you credit, that one hurt a lot" -. The monster smiled. - "But it costed you a lot of magic, right?"

It was its plan all along...

In that moment, a huge pink wave, coming from Cadence and Shining Armor, was released and hit a Queen Chrysalis that no longer felt any type of emotion as her senses were overload with the multiple feelings coming from her, all of them unable to give her a proper direction to take except letting her realize that her wishes to conquer Canterlot were already gone and there was nothing she could do about it.

It was over.

The pink wave took all of Canterlot by surprise as all the known changelings were caught up by it and ended up being thrown out of the city, much to the relief of the ponies, especially the ones in the wedding room, who were now feeling extremely happy for their current victory.

"Yahoo!" - Shouted Rainbow Dash. - "We did it! I can't believe it, we were so close to lose but we did it!"

"I have to agree with you, darling" -. Complimented an exhilarated Rarity. - "It was a moment too close for my own liking but I'm glad we made it."

"You are right" -. Continued Twilight with an innocent glee in her face as she started to see Spike. - "And I have to thank you so much Spike, who knows what would have happened if it weren't for you."

And, as she started to get closer to Spike, she noticed that he wasn't showing any type of affection towards her, he wasn't even looking at her as if he knew her and his next words almost broke her heart.

"Thank you but I already told you, Spike isn't home, I'm Greed."

Author's Notes:

Sorry for such a short chapter but I wanted to focus just on the fight and this fight wasn't one gave me many freedoms to make it good.

But don't worry, this isn't the last time Chrysalis and Greed will fight

Meanwhile, I have to carefully plan this next chapter, I don't want to ruin it, so see ya in three months, College is about to start so let's see how much time it will give me to keep on writing.

And now, what story to update next...?

EDIT June 17th of 2019: If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

Desperate Measures

As Twilight heard 'Spike's' word, something inside her started to break, she wasn't sure of what exactly but that didn't stop her from first trying to understand what did she hear him saying.

"What?" - She asked to her number 1 assistant. - "Spike, what are you talking about? Of course it's you, I mean, who else I could be talking to?"

'Spike' looked at her with his eyes, that Twilight was now starting to notice that they weren't their common emerald color, and responded with a voice that didn't drip in malice or even some sort of sarcasm but that it still hurt to hear.

"You don't get it? Look, to help you out, I made a deal with Spike, a simple one actually, I would help you out to defeat Chrysalis in exchange of this body. I helped you out and now I get to keep this body" -. He then started to raise both hands and just make a simple shrug while his face started make a content smile. - "Quite simple actually."

Just dealing with Chrysalis left Twilight both physically and mentally exhausted and she wasn't sure that she had the energies for this new twist on her life but, still, she would try to make sense of this.

"What? No, that doesn't make sense, what or where were you when Spike asked you for help and how did you even managed to take control of his body?"

"Me?" - He said with a calm tone of voice. - "I've been with him for a while now, not that you would've noticed of course, but I've always been quiet most of the time... hum?"

In that moment his eyes zoned out, as if his mind wasn't on Equestria any longer but, before Twilight and her friends could even react at what they were seeing, 'Spike' came back to his 'normal' self.

"I know that I've talked a bit kid but, trust me, I've been very quiet regarding what I've seen of your life."

Twilight wasn't sure of what exactly was that, but she got a hunch regarding at who was he talking to.

"Wait" -. She quickly commented. - "Was that Spike? Why don't you let him out?"

"I told you" -. Said the dragon with a still calm voice. - "The deal was that I would help him to defend you and, in exchange, I would keep the body. I understand if you miss your son but a deal is a deal. This body is mine now."

"Oh yeah!?"

Both Twilight and the dragon looked back at Rainbow Dash, who was looking too eager at what she was hearing.

"What if I have something to say about it?"

Her challenging tone was sending this conversation into a direction Twilight wanted to avoid. She wasn't sure of what exactly Spike agreed to (or, to be more precise, how he did it) but she was sure that this entity was still using Spike's body and Twilight wasn't too eager to the idea of hurting it in any way whatsoever, for the time being.

Sadly for her, the entity possessing Spike's body didn't seem very annoyed by Rainbow's eagerness to a fight.

"Well, what do you have to say about it? I'm all ears."

Rainbow started to get closer to him with an angry look while Twilight was trying to find a way to diffuse the situation.

"Well, I don't think it's nice of you to be possessing something that doesn't belong to you, so give Spike his body back or else-"

"Or else what?" - Asked a defiant Greed. - "Are you going to hurt this body? I'll remind you that Spike it's still here. And, besides, it would be quite unfair that, after helping you to defeat Chrysalis, the only thanks I get is a fight. I mean, I now I aren't the most popular neither the best speaker, but I was expecting a little thank you, you know?"

"What!?" - Asked the angry pegasus as she was getting inches close to the being possessing Spike's body. - "What on earth makes you think that you helped? We had it solved before you came in."

"Rainbow..."

"Oh really?" - Asked the possessed dragon in a sarcastic tone. - "So being captured were you fixing the situation, now I'm curious how the scenario would be when you finally defeated her."

"That's it!"

"Rainbow Dash! Refrain yourself!"

When Rainbow Dash turned around, she saw both Applejack and Rarity looking at the situation in a depressed mood as they were trying to get a hold of what was going on as Rarity was now talking.

"Look" -, she said as she was trying to stop the situation from escalating, - "I understand your concerns and frustrations right now, Rainbow dear, but fighting the one being that scared the changelings and gave Chrysalis a hard time isn't going to bring Spike back. That... and he is right..."

"Wait, what?" - Rainbow was started to get frustrated as she too, tried to make sense of what she was seeing. - "Rarity, come on, we cannot let Spike turn into this dude."

"Rainbow" -. Rarity quickly interjected. - "I never said my agreements with Spike's possession, what I said is that he is right on the part of him needing to be thanked. Who knows what would've happened shouldn't he be present."

"Thank you!" - Shouted the being possessing Spike. - "Now I see why Spike is so interested in you. Now, I think that it would help a lot if you let me keep this body."

"My apologies" -. Rarity responded with a solemn tone of voice. - "But I never agreed with the idea of you keeping my Spikie-wikie's body, which now begs the questions, who are you and how did you two meet?"

In that moment, the dragon started to move very slowly, his body language showed confidence as his eyes were slowly analyzing the mares, and stallion, present in the room, who were equally analyzing his very moves in an attempt to predict him on the case he decided to keep the body. The dragon quickly broke the tension by responding to Rarity's question.

"Well, I suppose I could answer those questions. First off, my name is Greed."

The ponies tried to assimilate the name, sure, they heard it already but they weren't expecting it to be his actual name. Regardless, they now had a way to address this entity invading Spike's body.

"And regarding how Spike and I met. I have to admit that it wasn't a conventional meeting, after all, not even I was expecting to meet the young drake, but I suppose I have to thank Twilight for that."

"Wait, what?" - Twilight quickly responded as Greed started to rest his body on the room's balcony with complete calm as the scholar unicorn tried to make sense of this new statement. - "I've never seen you before in my life. How did I help you meeting Spike?"

"Oh, Twilight, you hurt me" -. Said Greed as he raised his right claw towards his chest as he moved towards the balcony, giving Twilight another chance to look at the strange symbol in it. - "Don't you remember how we meet not too long ago on Ponyville? You saw me very close to a fence and thought that I was a very strange thing, so you asked Spike to watch over me while you were with your friends on a sleepover."

Twilight was about to retort and say that she never saw him but she then remembered that she did see something that day Greed was talking about. Yes, she saw something that day but it wasn't a pony or a dragon, in fact, in that moment, Twilight thought that it wasn't even a living organism and her epiphany saddened her as she also remembered Spike eating that strange gem she found that day.

As Twilight was putting her hooves on her mouth, realization dawning into her, Greed decided to quickly explain to the mares what was going on.

"You see, that little gem that you saw back then, and that Spike later ate, was me and it was then that the two of us met. Now, I admit, I wasn't expecting anything of what was happening but, I have to say, that learning from this world will be quite insightful now that I have a body again."

"Wait!"

Everybody turned to Princess Celestia who, for the first time since her fight with Chrysalis, was now trying to get involved in the situation at hand, catching Greed's interest.

"Perhaps we can make an exchange? Is there something you desire enough so we can give it to you in exchange of Spike regaining his body?"

Both pony and dragon exchanged glances as they tried to see and predict what kind of response they could get from the other one. All ponies were expecting for Greed to accept, after all, he helped to save Equestria, he could get riches beyond anyone's dream, he could even become a lord and be on a high position on Celestia's court, heck, Twilight would gladly help him on his search of either another host or see what was the deal with him. Nobody expected his actual answer.

"I don't know princess, I'm sure you could get me a great reward for helping, but I doubt you could give me what I truly want and for that, I need this body specifically."

He then moved his arms back, as he started to yawn, and so far back he moved his arms that his body went beyond the balcony and started to fall from the castle itself, much to the shock of everypony, unable to move as they didn't expect Greed to actually drop himself to the ground, from a castle, on a room that was too high to actually survive.

By the time the ponies finally were able to react, they were quickly rushing to the balcony trying to find the broken body that belonged to Spike but, much to their shock (as well as Twilight's relief) said body wasn't lying dead on the ground but, rather, was running away from the castle at a very acceptable speed and it wasn't slowing down.

"Rainbow!" - Shouted Twilight. - "Quick! Capture him before he run away with Spike's body."

Rainbow Dash quickly spread her wings as she decided to drop to the ground (gaining some speed in the process) and started to chase Greed down. Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle and her friends decided to go first to where Greed supposedly landed in the hopes of finding a clue of how he managed to survive that fall.

It was now up to Rainbow Dash to finally capture Greed and, hopefully, get Spike back. He was running at a moderate speed, sure, but Rainbow was capable of surpassing that velocity easily and with little to no effort, which is why she was very close to capture Greed when he suddenly decided to make a quick turn in an alley, something that Rainbow Dash didn't find strange at all.

When Rainbow Dash finally got there, she saw that Greed was quite calm as he was analyzing the dead end he was caught on, when he turned back, and saw Rainbow Dash, he simply smiled as he decided to move on her direction, albeit slowly.

"Well, I was wondering how long it would take you to chase me down" -. His eyes then started to look around as if searching for something. - "So, where is Spike's mom and her friends. Are they coming or you decided to come here thinking that you alone would suffice to capture me?"

"Get real!" - Shouted Rainbow Dash. - "I'll take you down before my friends get here, besides, how do you know the princesses aren't coming either?"

"Well" -. Responded a very calm Greed as he kept his smile. - "The princesses have to fix the mess their military is into so they'll be too busy just seeing what happened to the country and trying to calm down the ponies and I know that only you would be fast enough to catch up to me, after all, that was a high fall and no normal being would be able to survive that. They had to go the long way to get down there."

Rainbow Dash started to feel some sort of nervousness when she heard him saying those words, they inherently admitted that he shouldn't have survived that fall but still did somehow and she wasn't sure if it was a good idea to fight someone who could avoid death that easily, not that she was starting to get scared or anything but it was better to be precocious.

"So?" - Responded the brash Rainbow Dash. - "It's not as if I couldn't stop you or anything. All I have to do is to keep you down while they are getting here, no problem."

"Sure, if you want to believe that."

"Hum? What do you mean with that!?"

Greed started to increase his smile as he stopped at just a few steps away from Rainbow Dash as his tone of voice started to sound mocking.

"I mean, I managed to keep Chrysalis at bay while you got captured by a bunch a drones. Suffice to say, if you tried to get to me, all you would do is failing at it, in fact, I doubt you would even be capable of capturing me at this short distance."

At hearing those words, Rainbow Dash decided to show him who's boss as she flew at the highest speed possible against Greed, only to then see black as she quickly crashed into his body and her head felt a huge hit before she could even realize what happened. By the time Twilight and her friends finally caught up with her, all they would find is a knocked down Rainbow Dash as there would be no sign of the Dragon they were searching for, much to Twilight's dismay.

It was during this time of running away that Greed would finally be able to leave Canterlot and have all of Equestria free for him to explore but, where to?

This was the dilemma Greed was having right now as night was finally on the equestrian sky and he was deep into some Equestrian forest, wondering where to go into.

"Let's see..." - He said to no one. - "I don't know enough of Equestria to move wildly but I certainly don't want to go back into that city, it would be a very bad idea. Now, where I could go where there is enough information for me to know this world but I run little to no risk of being captured?"

"Well" - Said Spike inside the body. - "You could go back, apologize for what you did and try to befriend them? I'm sure Twilight would gladly tell you all you want to know about this world."

Greed gave it a thought but quickly brushed it off.

"Maybe kid but you don't understand. If I just wanted to make friends or to know about of this world, I would have accepted that offer but I want more than that kid, and being with them or just giving up this body would mean abandoning all of that."

"Huh? And what do you want then?"

"Kid" -. Said Greed as he looked at the moon. - "Please remember, what is my name?"

"You name? Well, Greed. What does that have to do with your..."

As Spike remained in silence, Greed just kept on smiling.

"Exactly kid, I am Greed" -. As he said this, parts of his body started to grow. - "I want more than just riches. anything that princess could have offered me wouldn't have satisfied my ambitions. I want more kid and to get any of that, I need this body specifically."

"Wait" - Continued Spike. - "What do you want so much that not even friendship could satisfy you and why is my body your best bet?"

"Kid" -. Said Greed again, still smiling as he saw the moon as he raised his right claw to the air, as if trying to capture the moon. - "Remember my name, try to see the big picture, what is the greatest position that could be desired? What is the position that could ensure us the greatest riches? What it could be that grant us what we desire the most? Not a simple position of noble, not even ruling a single nation but rather, the whole world."

Spike didn't answered to that, but he was wondering if he made the mistake of accepting a deal with a potential villain and, perhaps, putting the whole world at risk of being controlled by someone like him. In the meantime, Greed finally realized what to do and decided to start moving.

"Well, at least now I know where I can go now."

"Huh? Really?"

"Yeah, Ponyville, after all, there's a library in there I can use to gather some intelligence about this world and, from there, I can tell where to go into."

As Greed started to move, his body quickly started to reduce in size into what was seen originally in the fight against Chrysalis, something that Spike wouldn't realize and that Greed would remain in silence since he was also interested to know about the other species in Equestria and he was hoping to know more about dragons.

It was during this journey that they would be seen by another being, without any of them realizing it, who did recognize Greed as the dragon who defeated Chrysalis and, suffice to say, he was very eager to follow someone as strong as him.

Meanwhile, in Canterlot, after hours of screenings and searches, the military was unable to find the dragon they were searching for and it was during the night that, after a very hot debate, that it was decided to finish the wedding before any other type of creature decided to make things more complicated. There was a small celebration to remember the equestrians that the Changeling threat was finally defeated but the common folk never realized the absence of a certain dragon although there would be rumors circulating of how some strange creature managed to defeat the queen herself before Cadence and Shining Armor gave the rest of the invader force the attack that would remove them from Canterlot.

From here on out, Twilight would use her library to determine who was Greed, what was Greed and see if there was some spell she could use to bring Spike back.

Author's Notes:

EDIT June 17th of 2019: If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

Desperate Needs

There was tension on the train moving to Ponyville from Canterlot and it wasn’t a coincidence that the source of said tension was none other than Twilight Sparkle, who was trying to gather her thoughts once again as she saw the landscape on the train’s window. She was glad to be right about how Chrysalis was impersonating Cadence, she was glad for her friends to recognize it and apologize for not believing her and she was especially glad for the usurper queen to be defeated and expelled from Equestria, but none of that mattered for she lost something far more precious to her than the meaningless and egotistical pride of being right: she lost one of the most valuable friends she had since she could remember.

While it is true that Shining Armor was her BBBFF since she had any semblance of memory, the reality was that Spike was the closest thing to a friend she remembered ever making, both figuratively and literally, and the idea of Spike, her number one assistant, being possibly lost to some strange creature of dubious origins was, to say the least, heartbreaking.

By this point she was beyond refusing the idea of Spike being gone and she was no longer enraged at her friends for continuing the wedding while one of the guest was still missing (and she has already apologized for her behavior after that night) but she still wanted to think of a way to find him. Maybe there was a tracking spell in her library that could help her to find Spike?

She had to try; it was the minimum she had to do. Celestia herself said that she would try to search for Spike and Luna would try to search for him on the dream realm. She couldn’t stay behind on this search; she had to do something to find him.

“Twilight.”

The purple scholar turned around and saw her friends, looking at her with worry in their eyes.

“Yeah?”

The ponies looked between themselves as they tried to gain enough bravery to tell Twilight their worries. In the end, the first one to talk was Rarity, worry and doubt filling her face.

“Do you feel… better now?”

Twilight moved her head sideways as she tried to understand her query.

“What do you mean?”

“Well… is just that…” - Rarity looked at her friends before continuing, hoping to not enrage Twilight again. – “You haven’t said anything to us since last night and, my apologies for the intrusion but, I was hoping that, by this point, you would have some plan already made by now.”

“Plan?” – Twilight tried to remember the conversation she had with her friends last night, in how she had to apologize to them for shouting and accusing them of abandoning Spike and how she promised that she would try to find a way to bring him back even if she had to do it by herself. She then looked back at her friends and continued. – “You mean, a plan to bring back Spike?”

Rarity nodded.

- “Indeed. We know that you weren’t in your best last night and we are thankful for the apology but, I hope neither I nor any of us need to remind you of how you are not obliged to do this on your own. We are here to help you to recover our little Spike.”

After hearing this, Twilight’s inner storm calmed, emotion reflected in her smile as she remembered how her friends were still there and how glad she felt for knowing that they were going to help her on this.

“Thank you for being the best friends I could ever ask for.”

“Aw, shucks, sugarcube, there’s no need fer that. You know that we’re gonna help ya’ to find Spike and save him from that blasted Greed.”

Applejack’s confidence was quickly followed by Rainbow Dash, who was still wearing those bandages on her head, caused during her encounter with Greed in the streets of Canterlot.

“Darn right, and you can count me in. That Greed made me look uncool, I have to meet him once again and show him how awesome I truly am.”

“Yeah” -, continued Fluttershy, - “while I am thankful for him on fighting Chrysalis, I don’t think it was very nice of him to take Spike’s body. Hopefully we can talk him out of it and give it back?”

As she tried to build confidence on the idea of telling a being strong enough to fight off Chrysalis that he should give up on the one thing he likes the most, Pinkie Pie decided to give her piece on the subject matter.

- “Yeah, we can make him give up Spike’s body and then probably make a new body for him, and then we can make a party to him for both helping on defeating that meany Chrysalis and for having a new body. It will be great, especially because if we make him a body then who knows what else can we do and-“

“Wait!” – Twilight interrupted. – “Pinkie, what do you mean by ‘making him a new body’?”

Pinkie looked at them as if she said the most basic of things and they were the ones who had no idea of what they were dealing with.

“Well, he said that he wasn’t giving up on Spike’s body and if he originally was a jewel then probably the reason why he doesn’t want to go back is because he would then be turned again into a jewel and while there is nothing wrong with being a rock, I’m very sure that if my rocky friends turned into pony, griffon, dragon, changeling or any other creature then they probably wouldn’t like to go back to be a rock unless they actually turned into something worse than a rock which is very hard to find because-“

“Alright, Pinkie, we get it” -. Interrupted Rainbow Dash. – “He probably won’t give up on Spike’s body if that means going back to be a jewel” -. She then looked at Twilight with a thoughtful look. – “Any plan for that egghead?”

Twilight’s mind quickly started to think of a way to solve this new problem. While it wasn’t something she was actually thinking about, she was very sure that this problem was going to hit her soon enough and it was clear that she not only needed to find a tracking spell for Spike, but she also needed to find a way to give Greed a proper body if the idea of negotiating was ever going to be made. Still, that brought her another question, one even more troubling and worrisome.

Was it possible to create a body? And, if so, was that even ethical to do?

As her mind tried to bring an answer for that, the train started to stop, signaling them the end of their journey and the return back into their homes. Not being sure of when she would be able to talk back to her friends, Twilight decided to answer them the best she could before getting back to her library and started to research on this subject. And it is worth mentioning that she would take the following words to her heart to a level beyond what many couldn’t even fathom was possible to do so.

“I don’t know, girls, but I can assure you this: I’ll find Spike and I’ll bring him back, no matter what I have to do and no matter the cost.”

Only two of her friends wouldn’t worry about what she just said, either because they didn’t think of how bad things could get or because they underestimated the danger of the following events that were coming in their way.

And so, The Elements of Harmony dropped from the train station, with some very silent, and quite shocked, Cutie Mark Crusaders following them, and each of them went back to their houses, hoping to calm down a bit, think a little bit and wait for the best moment to act. At least, it would have been that way were not for the inconspicuous signs that something happened in Ponyville not too long ago.

The first sign for Twilight Sparkle was seen when she moved the way to the library and many ponies started to look at her as if she already met them early. She, at first, wasn’t aware of those looks but she started to notice them halfway through her way to the library as she saluted Bon Bon and, instead of asking her about the wedding or about where was Spike, she looked at her weirdly and asked her why was she saluting her again as well as if she was now on the mood to respond to her original question of where was Spike.

“What?” – Asked a very confused Twilight Sparkle as she tried to make sense of what she was just told. – “What do you mean by that Bon Bon?”

The earth pony looked at her with an annoyed expression and continued with her comment.

“Are you playing or did you really forget? You just passed by this morning and said that you were too tired to remember what happened at the wedding.”

She was about to brush off this comment until she remembered that she just came back from fighting a species capable of shape shifting, making her worry on the idea of a changeling taking up her appearance, which was quickly followed by asking where did the faker go.

“Bon Bon” -. Quickly said a very worried Twilight. – “Do you remember where you saw me going to this morning.”

The sweet maker stared at Twilight with a very confusing look, unable to make sense of what she just said, and simply answered.

“Well, you said that you were going to the library to get more comfortable and you would later go out… by the way, when did you leave?”

Under other circumstances, she would have probably freaked out once she was told that ‘she’ went to the library but, after all the events she went through yesterday, she was emotionally spent right now and all she wanted was to get the impostor before it was too late, so she quickly moved, leaving a very confused mare wondering what just happened and why were everypony acting so crazy that day.

When Twilight finally got to the library, her mind started to formulate all the immobilizing spells she could remember, especially after noticing that the door was still open. She entered into the library with extreme carefulness only to see, to her shame that it was empty and how many of the library’s books were on the floor. She quickly moved around to see how was her room, only to find (to her shock) that none of her belongings were taken and (to her greater shock) that many of Spike’s belongings were robbed while Owloiscious was trapped on the wall by green goo, one that she was already too familiar with.

“Owlowiscious!” – Twilight shouted as she removed her pet owl from her gooey prison. – “Do you know who did this!?”

“Who?”

“Yes! Whoever did this!”

The owl quickly nodded, at which Twilight added.

“Alright, go and search for Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie and bring them back here at the library, I’ll try to search for Applejack.”

“Who?”

“This isn’t the time for games, now go!”

The owl quickly listened and moved, giving Twilight the opening to go to her farmer friend. As she moved, though, she passed by Big Mac who she quickly decided to salute.

“Hi Big Mac! Tell me, is Applejack on the farm?”

The staunch and calm Macintosh answered with his all too calm ‘eeyup’, which would have been enough for Twilight were not for what he said next.

“Say ‘hi’ to Spike on my stead since you are going there.”

Twilight froze when she heard that, her mind quickly trying to make sense of what he just said.

“Wait, what did you just said?”

Big Mac looked at her questioningly and answered as if it were a matter of fact.

“While I was heading to Ponyville, Ah’ saw Spike heading to Sweet Apple Acres but he was in such a hurry that Ah’ didn’t have the time to say ‘hi’.”

Twilight was now worrying over what he just said, she needed to confirm.

“And, as he passed by, did he look bigger than usual?”

She didn't ask from where he was seen or how was he moving or even if he looked mean intended, all Twilight needed to know was his appearance, at which Big Macintosh only had one answer:

“Eeyup!”

There was no time to waste. All Twilight could do was to head towards Applejack and, hopefully, subdue Greed before it was too late. By the time Twilight Sparkle got there, while it wasn’t late yet, it was very close to, as she found many apple cores on the ground, multiple apples plucked out from their trees and her friend Applejack knocked unconscious on the ground as a familiar dragon was entering into the Everfree Forest while holding a huge bag on his back.

Under other circumstances, Twilight would have first checked Applejack and see if she wasn’t badly wounded but, as of right now, all she could see is that Spike’s body was leaving her again and she couldn’t waste this chance presenting to her at this moment, so she almost ignored Applejack’s body (she did see if there was any blood or if she was breathing with no problem, although her legs didn’t look too well at first glance) and chased after Greed.

Thankfully, it wasn’t a long run, for the thing holding Spike’s body was waiting on a tree, while using a fancy suit with its sleeves being cut out from the torso and a pair of shades covering his eyes, not too far from the Everfree’s main road, and he didn’t look too bothered to find Twilight Sparkle looking at him with a serious look.

“Well, what do we have here? If it is Spike’s mom.”

Twilight remained unaffected by the comment, not that it stopped Greed from commenting more, although he looked worried for something.

“Why the icy glare? Is it because of your friends I left unconscious?” – He then started to look up as he scratched his head with his right claw, not noticing how Twilight was now looking at him with increasing anger. – “Look, I’m sorry for that, in fact, I really don’t like hitting girls but the blue pegasus didn’t stop from following me and your farm friend decided to pick up a fight with me” -. He then looked back at Twilight, who appeared to be even angrier now, and quickly tried to calm her. – “Ok, I’ll admit that I challenged her to stop me but, when I saw how much hurting she was going through for her legs, I had to knock her down so she stopped feeling the pain, I swear it was done with the best intentions!”

Twilight couldn’t stop from feeling anger at him, of how he was justifying his violence towards her friends and, even worse, how he was ignoring the main reason why she was chasing him.

“Really?” – She started responding with a tone of voice that showed how much she was trying to remain calm. – “You really think saying sorry will fix up everything?”

Greed kept looking at her, his eyes, now covered by his shades (which seemed quite familiar, same with the suit) making it hard to tell what he was feeling but his tone of voice at least gave Twilight an idea of what he was trying to convey.

“Well” -. He began, with an apologetic tone of voice. – “No, actually, I don’t think that saying sorry will be enough, but I do promise to pay back all the expenses they may go through.”

Now he was picking Twilight’s interest.

“Pay back all the expenses?”

Greed just looked confident as he said this.

“All of them. From the medical expenses to everything I just took from your friends and with interest. I promise.”

It was then that Twilight noticed how those shades belonged to Rainbow Dash and the suit belonged to Rarity (she was definitely going to rage once she figured out that Greed was cutting the sleeves she designed with so much care) and angered even more, after all, there was something that Greed was forgetting.

“Really!?” – Twilight started yelling with complete anger at the perpetrator she was now facing. – “You really think that we are all going to forgive you for stealing from us just because you have just promised to pay us back!? Not only that but you have even done it by using Spike’s body. Do you really think nobody will ignore how Spike has been stealing from others? You are ruining Spike’s life and all you can say about it is an apology and promise that you’ll pay us back!? How do you even plan to pay back Spike for ruining his life!?”

Greed gave Twilight a hard stare before sitting back and started to give the situation a bigger thought, at which, he simply answered.

“I know that an apology isn’t enough, but it was hard to make up a plan on the short term. I need stuff to start my true plans and, to make it a reality, I had to do something that could create the platform needed to start it all. Again, sorry, but this was the best I could come up with.”

Twilight was about to shout once more when Greed decided to cut her once more.

“Besides, what makes you think that I’m ruining Spike’s image?” – He then started to smile, showing his sharp teeth while he started to show his right hand, the one containing the symbol Twilight couldn't make up back in Canterlot. Now that she could look at it with a better eye view, it was a snake eating itself up. – “For all they’ll know soon, Spike helped defeating Chrysalis and the changeling invasion and, very soon, they’ll start to hear about Greed and how great he is.”

Twilight was starting to wonder what he was trying to say but Greed continued talking, stopping her from forming a cohesive thought about what he was saying.

“Besides, it wasn’t an actual theft. Let’s call it an ‘unilateral loan with a promise to pay back the interest’ at a monthly 1% interest rate. It’s not a bad deal” -. He then looked with a smug smile as he simply stated. – “And, even still, if you really want to call it theft, well, it wasn’t me who stole it. I have done nothing wrong so far accusations go.”

And it was this the moment Twilight was waiting for.

“Really? What about Spike? You stole his body!”

Greed simply looked at her in a boring way and answered back.

“This again? Look, I already said it back in Canterlot, so I’ll say it again. It was a deal between Spike and me, he gave me the body and, in exchange, I would help on getting rid of the changelings. I did my part and now I own the body, this is legitimately mine and I’m not giving it back.”

Twilight knew this and she knew Spike enough to be certain that he would do a deal like that to help them, but she needed to know.

“If that’s so, then why he didn’t tell me anything?” – As she said this, and involuntarily, she started to tear. – “Why he didn’t tell me that you were there? Why acted as if everything was fine…? I need to hear it from him…. Please.”

Greed looked at Twilight and started to look at the air again as he simply responded with ‘hold on’. As time passed, he then decided to turn around, probably to think, at which he started to say.

“Are you sure?”

Twilight wondered what he meant by that but he just continued talking.

“Look, I was there when she was reprimanding you and the way you acted doesn’t, exactly, fit with what you just said right now.”

It didn’t take too much for Twilight to understand who Greed was talking to.

“Spike? Is that you?”

The body turned and, for a brief moment, Twilight wondered who was looking at her.

“Please” -. She begged as she tried to stop herself from tearing again. – “Tell me what happened.”

For a brief moment, she felt that she was looking at Spike and not Greed. For a brief moment, she felt as if she was talking to her number one assistant and not a mysterious creature of dubious origins. For a brief moment, she felt as if she could finally talk back to the young drake she hatched years ago and with who the best moments she wanted to share with were of the two of them being together on the library and not grounding him for disobeying her.

“Twilight…” – it was his voice. – “I…”

Twilight’s heart started to increase its beatings as she tried to control herself from doing something dangerous, she wanted this moment.

“Spike, talk to me” -. She said in a hopeful voice. – “Is there something I did wrong for you to stay away from me? Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”

The silence was deafening, not even the Everfree looked like daring to break this silence that was broken, once again, by Spike.

“No, Twilight, you didn’t do anything wrong” -. He grabbed his left arm with his right hand and moved as if he regretted something. – “It was me who…” -. Then his eyes increased and shouted. – “Twilight! Quick! He told me once that, in order to separate us, you need to know alchemy!”

Twilight quickly took note of this and wanted to know more but, to her utter sadness, Greed’s voice took over with a cheery tone and made sure to shut Spike up.

“Sorry, but it looks like your number one assistant needs to gather his thoughts better. You can make an appointment for a next time and he, hopefully, will have something to actually say to you that is actually related to what you asked him.”

This was a moment where it’s hard to tell what one would do. One, for certain, would have started to weep on the ground at the idea that one of the beings you love the most being taken away from you. Others would have begged for another chance right there and then to talk again or to know what he meant by alchemy.

But for Twilight, who still wasn’t accepting the idea of Spike gone, decided to take matters on a more direct way as her horn started to shine, involving Greed with Twilight’s magic and, much to his worry, started to get him closer to her.

“No” -. Quickly said a defiant Twilight. – “I will not give up Spike yet and certainly not when I know there is a way to get him back.”

Greed was moving his whole body, trying to be released, only to realize that he was now captured by Twilight (much to her satisfaction) and she was going to take him back to the library.

“Look, I understand that you may not like this, but that body doesn’t belong to you, it belongs to Spike and I am going to recover him, no matter what” -. She then remembered what Pinkie said about Greed being more lenient towards the idea of giving the body back if there was a way for him to get his own body and continued. – “And, if you are so worried about having a body, well, I-“

She was quickly interrupted by a spell that brought a lot of pain to her body for a brief instant, quickly paralyzing her as she saw a mint green unicorn getting close to Greed, who was back to the ground and cleaning his suit.

“Sorry for taking so long” -. Responded the mare with a serious tone of voice. – “But I ran into a few troubles in Ponyville and was forced to lose the Elements of Harmony from tracking me as well as searching for a moment to get all the stuff you asked me for.”

She then moved her head back towards her saddlebags and brought out a book.

“I also decided to stop by the library once more and picked another book that’s related to the things we may find in the Everfree Forest, since you seemed too keen on the flora and fauna surrounding this place.”

Greed looked at her with a certain hint of anger but that was quickly replaced with a smile.

“Alright then, I suppose that I can forgive you if that is why it took you so long” -. He then looked back at Twilight, who was starting to lose her consciousness as she looked at what was happening to her. – “And what will happen to her?”

The unicorn simply shrugged and continued as if nothing wrong happened.

“I used a special spell on her that’ll first paralyze her body and then start to knock her down. The pain and speed of the process depends on the will of the spell’s victim” – She noticed how Greed was looking at Twilight and the scholar unicorn could notice how there was some doubt being drawn on his face, at which, the minty unicorn continued. – “She won’t die, if that is what worries you, but it’s more likely that the creatures of the Everfree will kill her if we leave her alone.”

It was then that Twilight, Greed and the mint green unicorn heard Rainbow Dash’s voice not too long from where they were located.

“Well” -. Said a calm Greed. – “I suppose that means she won’t be alone very soon. Shoot a flare to indicate that cocky pegasus where we are so she can find her friend.”

Twilight saw how the unicorn nodded and shot something to the air, quickly followed by both Greed and the unicorn leaving her as she was losing the rest of her consciousness. She tried her best to focus on where they were going but whatever hit her was doing a good job on knocking her out and what was remaining awaken in her mind couldn’t feel but frustrated at the sight of Spike being so close to her and so far away at the same time and he was getting farther and farther. She was about to lose her consciousness but not before hearing some final words from Greed.

“Also, why are you keeping up that appearance? You do know that you don’t need to look like that anymore right?”

Next time she would wake up, Twilight would find herself on her library, surrounded by her friends minus Applejack, discussing about what happened while she was giving chase to Greed and the one thing she would remember the most is what Spike told her.

If she wanted to rescue him, she would have to research alchemy and she was going to find the answers she needed very soon.

Author's Notes:

EDIT June 18th of 2019: If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

Desperate Needs - Reverse

How long has Greed moved through the Everfree on his new body until he finally decided to take a break was unknown but, once he decided to finally stop and rest, he started to take a good look around his location to get an idea of where he was moving to, after all, he needed to gather his thoughts now that he was finally free and he had a better idea of how this world worked.

As he looked at the silver moon, he remembered how just a few nights ago he was planning to go out of Ponyville’s library without any knowledge of where he was and how everything worked, an idea that he was very glad of not following through.

“In hindsight, I’m really glad of deciding to stay low and see first where I was. Who knows what would have happened had I tried to go around blind on this world” -. He thought gleefully. – “I probably would have ended up being chewed by those monarchs or got removed by that Chrysalis had I tried to leave that library on my own.”

He then decided to take out some branches and plants he found on his surroundings and started to make a fireplace so he could feel some warmth. It was during this time that he finally started to contemplate and reflect on this new opportunity he was finally getting.

“Who would have thought that a place like this would exist?”

He then decided to take a better look at his body, the scales surrounding it already looked tough, combined with his armor, he probably was untouchable by now but there were some perks from his previous body that he would miss, like how nimble it was, or how it was from an actual prince.

“This body may be tougher than the previous one, but it really lacks speed. I think I’m starting to miss the other kid’s swiftness.”

“Other kid?”

Greed took a moment to listen to Spike’s voice, remembering that he wasn’t alone and, apparently, this kid was probably going to be as energetic as the other one.

“Yeah” -. Responded Greed with his voice. – “You’re not the first one that has hosted me, kid. There was another one.”

“Oh, I see. And, how was he?”

Greed took a moment and started to remember his time with Ling Yao. His determination and understandings of what a king should be and, among many things, how easy it was for him to accept him.

“Well” -. Greed answered as he looked at the moon, reminiscing of those times with the prince of Qing. – “He was a few years older than you. He was very swift and nimble as well as a great sword wielder.”

“Really!?”

Hearing Spike’s surprised voice certainly brought some joy to Greed. The idea of telling his tales to a younger generation may make him feel old, but at least it was a tale to prove what great deeds he has done.

“Oh, yeah kid. He was a great warrior. And a prince as well.”

He started to imagine Spike’s face as he was told about this. He would have probably peeled his eyes as well as getting excited as if a kid was being told the location of a great treasure. To say that Greed was smiling would have been an understatement.

“A prince!? You were hosted by a prince!? That’s amazing!”

GASP

Greed stopped smiling as he heard that. He was certain that Spike didn’t do that noise but he needed to make sure that, whoever was spying on him, if he was being spied, wouldn’t think that its cover was blown. So he decided to keep the facade and continued talking.

“Yeah, there was a competition among him and his brothers and sisters for the succession to the throne, so he decided to make a great journey in the search for something that would earn him the honor of being the next king… journey on which he met me.”

As Spike was gathering his thoughts for the next question, Greed decided to sharpen his senses, searching for the place where the spy was located but, as much as he tried, he couldn’t find it. A sad thing, he was sure Ling would have found it by now.

“So” -. Continued Spike on the conversation, completely unaware of what was going on outside of the body. – “What kind of deal did you offered him to get his body? I mean, if he was searching for something to be king, you had to offer it, right??

“Yes, I did a deal with him. I offered myself.”

“Yourself?” – Now that was something that Spike wasn’t expecting. – “What did you have to offer that he would see as good enough to accept you?”

Greed decided to remember his first encounter with Ling, how brash and determined he was to get the Philosopher’s Stone and obtain immortality. He looked at his draconic body and remembered that there weren’t so many instances where he could actually show what Spike got when he took over the body, so he looked at the fire and decided that if this wasn’t a better moment to show, then he didn’t know when it would be.

“Alright kid, you want to know what I had to offer?”

He then moved to the fire and grabbed one of the wooden branches being burned. He could feel Spike getting nervous.

“Wait, what are you going to do?”

“Just watch and learn.”

He then grabbed the torch with his bare claws only for, to his surprise, not feel much pain or even getting burned.

“Well, I didn’t see that one coming.”

“What the hay were you thinking!?”

Only Spike’s angry tone of voice gave Greed an idea of how his face would be right now and it was a good thing for Greed the fact that Spike couldn’t see Greed’s face of embarrassment at the fact that he knew little to nothing of his new body’s biology.

“Well” -. Spike continued, unaware of what Greed intended to do. – “Good thing my body is fire resistant.”

“Really?” – Greed took that bit of information to himself and decided to put into later thought. – “Well, I suppose I can see what good it offers me later, but it totally ruins what I was planning to show.”

“Show?” – Spike asked as his curiosity was peaked again. – “Wait, are you immortal or something like that?”

“Of course I am kid, don’t you remember how I healed from all those injuries while fighting the changelings?”

“Well, I never actually saw it. I do remember some pain that quickly left but I never saw what exactly happened… wait, you healed all of that?”

Greed rolled his eyes as he remembered that Spike probably never saw his fight against Chrysalis from an outsider’s perspective, so he may not understand how his healing factor worked and, since he was fire resistant now, he may probably need something else to show him. For now though, he would focus on just talking.

“Yeah, kid, I healed all of that, in fact, my regeneration factor is so good that I can even slow down my age progression, so you can bet that your lifespan will increase a lot.”

There was a sudden silence as Spike took all of that in, long enough for Greed to look around, searching for his little spy, but nothing showed up.

“How…?” – Spike continued. – “How long will I… will we live now?”

Greed smiled as he noticed how Spike was now a bit more accepting of the idea for, minimum, sharing the body but that would come for later, for now, he would just keep the conversation.

“Well, while I’m not too sure of specifics, as long as we don’t get into any trouble, have a healthy life and don’t go around getting too much harm, we could probably hit the 1.000 years. Does that sound good?”

GASP

Greed quickly turned around and went quickly to the source of the noise only to find a rock, much to his displeasure.

“Wait, did something happen? What was that noise?”

Greed was about to let it go but he then remembered how he fought a species capable of shape shifting, so he decided to pick up the rock with his right claw.

“Don’t worry kid, nothing wrong happened” -. He then smiled and started to play with the rock, throwing it to the air, just to quickly grab it as he continued talking with Spike. – “Now kid, do you remember how strong you have now become?”

“Hum, I guess, why?”

Greed then added a malicious tone to his voice as he started to fiercely grab the rock.

“Would you like to see me making this rock crumble?”

“Wait… what-“

“Please don’t!”

As he smiled, Greed threw the rock to the ground, which quickly transformed to a changeling who was too shaky to move due to the scare Greed just made him go through. The changeling then turned around and looked at Greed with complete fear as he wondered what kind of mess he was getting into.

“Th-thank you for not destroying me to pieces sir…”

Said the changeling with a male voice but his thankfulness was meaningless to Greed, who put a stern face as he decided to get closer to the changeling, well aware of how dangerous they were, and started to form his shield on his arms, preparing for any strange movement or ambush (on the case this changeling wasn’t alone) and looked at the intruder straight to the face.

“Don’t thank me yet” -. He then started to smile as he showed his right claw to the changeling, making him cringe in the moment. – “You first have to prove that you haven’t come here with bad intentions because I still remember how friendly you and your friends were back at Canterlot and I may decide to be just as friendly to you or any friends you brought here.”

The changeling cringed at that accusation and quickly responded.

“I came here on my own, I swear” -. He then decided to kneel as he begged for his life. – “I am well aware what you did to Chrysalis and how you fought many of my companions back in Caterlot, that is why I decided to defect and follow you.”

Now this was something Greed didn’t see coming. A changeling defector.

“I see” -. Greed responded while keeping his shock under his confident face. – “So you decided to leave your queen for me or am I missing something?” – He then grabbed the changeling, who got stiff as he was grabbed by something capable of destroying his carapace with no problem, and put him besides himself and started to talk to him on a more casual tone. – “Why don’t we first start by talking about yourself? What is your name and why did you decided to leave?”

The changeling looked at Greed with shock, unable to form a coherent thought at what he just said, and did the only thing he was capable of doing: Answering Greed’s question by talking about his own, personal life.

“Well… my name is Thorax… and I…”

The rest of the night consisted on Greed listening to Thorax, how he never quite liked following the changeling way of stealing love and how he never felt adequate with the others, not even his brother, and how he always wanted to live a life where he didn’t have to steal and pretend. How he yearned for a life where he could be himself and get love for being himself and both Spike and Greed listened to his plight, both coming to very similar conclusions.

“I have to say” -. Greed commented once Thorax ended his tale. – “That is quite a tale and, after seeing what Chrysalis did in Canterlot, I don’t blame you for wanting to leave.”

Thorax quickly reacted with a small shock before wanting a confirmation of what he just said.

“Really?” – The lonesome changeling asked. – “You don’t blame me?”

Greed just looked at Thorax with a hopeful surprise as his smile gave him a sense of acceptance that he was searching for so long.

“Of course not” -. Said Greed. – “You did what you had to, the same way that it’s common on a community to leave when they no longer feel at home, you did the same and, even better, not because of some selfish reason but because of something that any good intended being should strive for” -. He then gave a confident smile as he talked to Thorax. – “To be accepted and be who you are. For all I care, you are fine in my book.”

At hearing this, Thorax’s heart started to race. The idea of finally being accepted, it was just too good to be real.

“You mean, you don’t even feel disgusted for how I look?” – Thorax’s face then started to show some disbelief. – “Sorry but, I really can’t believe it, nobody is so open to others.”

Greed simply chuckled and continued.

“Oh, if you only you knew the kind of people I was friends with.”

“People?”

“What’s that?”

“And” -. Continued Greed, ignoring their questions for the time being. – “If you think you look ugly, you should see me when I get angry or, even worse, see some of my brothers.”

Hearing that Greed had a family certainly picked both Spike’s and Thorax’s attention but Greed never let them time to ponder on it.

“Trust me, some of them were really ugly, especially Envy. He was so ugly that…” – he then looked at Thorax for a brief moment and quickly changed what he was about to say, - “that he actually needed to change his appearance to be among others, unlike you, who has nothing wrong with how you look.”

Thorax gave Greed a skeptic glare as he wondered how truthful he was being at this right moment.

“Sorry but” -, responded the changeling, - “I don’t believe you. I mean, how ugly must he had been to actually need to change his appearance?”

Greed kept his smile as he factually said:

“He has multiple legs, multiple eyes, a melting face and is taller than a building and I am being nice on the description of that good for nothing abomination.”

Both Spike and Thorax got surprised at his description and tried to bring some sense to it as they wondered if he held the same opinion of the rest of his family. For Thorax though, he could only accept the fact that he, indeed, wasn’t as repulsive as he thought of himself to be.

“Alright then, I suppose he was actually ugly but how can I be accepted after what Chrysalis did?”

Greed took a moment to think about that, after all, if changelings weren’t hated before, they would certainly be hated now and there was little to nothing he could do about it at this moment.

“Well” -, Greed answered with certain doubt on his voice, - “you got me there” -, he then gave a warming smile, - “but that kind of things are fixed over time, not on a single night, so let’s rest on this night while we try to think on what to do.”

“Night?” – Asked Thorax as he indicated up, pointing out how the moon was starting to set down and leave the sky clear for the sun very soon. – “Sorry but, I think we won’t have much of the night to rest, also” -, he then started to look around the forest with huge worry, - “I don’t think it’s a good idea to sleep on the Everfree Forest. It isn’t a very safe place.”

At this Greed showed much interest, so he decided to ask more about it.

“Really? And what makes it so dangerous?”

Thorax quickly looked at Greed with big bafflement and quickly responded.

“Well, the animals in here are very ferocious, the weather works on its own and the plants grow at their own pace and not even counting that some of them can be poisonous. Not even the ponies can control it, so many prefer to avoid it altogether.”

Greed started to think about it. Sure, it sounded dangerous to pony standards albeit very common compared to where used to live. Perhaps the mysterious flora and fauna made it slightly more dangerous but nothing he couldn’t handle. He would later see what he could do about it.

“Well, if you put it that way, I suppose it could be dangerous for the common folk.”

Thorax couldn’t feel anything but curiosity at what he just said but he wasn’t sure how to see more into it, not that it stopped him from trying to ask more about it.

“The common folk? So you’re not afraid?”

Greed looked at Thorax with confidence on his eyes and simply shrugged.

“Me? Of course not, I doubt that there is a single creature in this forest that can stand to me and I’ll be sure to be careful with the plants and as long as you are with me, you have nothing to fear either.”

Thorax was shocked by this; sure, he understood that Greed could have some acceptance of him as a changeling, but allowing to follow him after what was done to Canterlot?

“Wait, being with you? Are you sure of that?”

Greed simply smiled as he assured Thorax that nothing wrong was going on.

“Sure” -, he calmly said, - “I see that you are well intended and I see no reason to not trust you so far.”

Neither Spike nor Thorax knew what Greed was thinking at that very moment. Spike, while he was accepting of the idea to forgive Thorax, since he was more on the side of not judging all the changelings equally and that everybody deserved a second chance, but he was well aware that Greed wasn’t exactly that kind of thinker; Thorax, meanwhile, wasn’t so sure if Greed was someone you could trust but, the hard facts were that, he had nowhere else to go, going to the ponies was dangerous on its own, going back to his old hive was out of the question and he was certain that living alone wasn’t feasible so he had no other choice but to stay with Greed.

“Well, uh” -. Accepted an undecided Thorax. – “Thank you.”

“No problem” -. Said a very calm Greed as he stood up and started to move. – “Well, time to go; as you said, this is no place to rest.”

“Really?” – Asked a worried Thorax who was still anxious for the uncertainty of what was to come very soon. – “Where to?”

Greed put one on his claws on his chin and started to gather his thoughts, not really sure of where to begin his plans but really sure he needed to start somewhere. He looked at the forest as he contemplated his plans, what he wanted, what he truly wanted.

He wanted everything; that was for sure. From gold to gems, from loyal subjects to female companions, from every piece of land this kingdom had to the very sun and moon (something quite possible in this world) and, as he pondered on this desires, he failed to notice how his body slightly grew but, before he could keep on thinking on what his heart ambitioned, he went back to the ground and asked the real question: how was he planning to achieve all of this?

Reality was that, he first needed to make a name for himself. Preferable, one as far away of Spike‘s as possible and that meant that he couldn’t take credit from helping on Chrysalis’s defeat, at least not for now.

He started to move sideways as his mind started to think on all the ways possible to make himself a name. This wasn’t a conflicting nation, so going to war wasn’t an option, at the same time, he couldn’t try to get close to the government on the risk of getting captured, knowing very well the Equestrians may try to separate him from his body and Spike. That left him with only one option: Starting a business and raise from there.

He then started to look at his appearance and how ‘naked’ he was. This wouldn’t do, he needed to change his looks if he wanted to be among the equestrians and he needed to be as far away from Spike’s friends as possible. That only left him with one route, one that he was certain it was going to carry him more problems on the long run but he saw no other way out so far.

“We’ll go to Ponyville first, gather some stuff from there and then we’ll move somewhere else.”

That was a decision that neither Spike not Thorax saw coming but they were sure that this wasn’t a ride where they could decide where to go so they decided to follow him, especially because Greed needed both of them to move around the treacherous forest and finally get to Ponyville right before dawn and, seeing that Fluttershy’s house was still empty, Twilight and her friends still weren’t here yet.

Seeing the town so peaceful was a something that all of them wanted to look at and enjoy. Compared to the chaos suffered in Canterlot, Ponyville remained peaceful and quiet, as if it were immune to the dangers of the world despite living so close to such dangerous forest capable of lurking the most furious creatures ever known in history.

“Alright then” -. Said Thorax as he broke the silenced brought by the Equestrian town. – “What do we do now?”

Greed then decided to look at his changeling partner with a simple smile and told him with a confidence only held by those who are perfectly aware of how nuts the plan is but that it can still work due to how insane it could actually be.

“You are going to Ponyville, disguised as one of the Elements of Harmony, and you are going to bring me some stuff I need.”

“What!?” – It was the best word that could encapsulate all of Thorax’s thoughts and feelings at that moment. – “Is that why you accepted me? So I could get in there and do some fetch for you?”

“No, trust me; I really believe your word” -. Reassured Greed to the skeptic changeling. – “And, I assure you, that I would have done this anyway but your skills are much more useful than me and, besides, we’re still early so it’s very unlikely that anyone could make some questions to you.”

“Alright then” -. To say that Thorax was really doubtful of this would be an understatement but he saw no other choice for him. – “But why the Elements?”

“Simple: The stuff I need may be easier to get if you take their appearance, more specifically, clothes to hide my looks and some books to now more of Equestria, especially one about the flora and fauna in the Everfree Forest.”

Thorax gave Greed a questioning look, he could easily understand why he wanted to change his looks but he still wasn’t sure of this plan.

“But” -, pressed Thorax, - “what if I get captured? How do I know that you’ll go for me?”

Greed simply made a smug smile, showing his razor-like teeth (slightly scaring Thorax) and he answered in a way that made Thorax wonder what kind of individual Greed actually was.

“Easy, you can be certain that I’ll go for you because I am Greed; I want money, I want women, I want power, I want a privileged position, I want it all. I cannot abandon anything I own because my greed is too big to be controlled and that includes you. Since you are with me, I cannot simply abandon you. Should something happen, I’ll go after you because I cannot accept that anything under my care to be put into harm.”

This was enough for Thorax to, for the time being, put his trust into Greed, so he took Rarity’s appearance and moved (not before Greed reminded him of also getting Spike’s stuff on Ponyville’s library) but for Spike, this was what made him understand that Greed wasn’t going to let the body go.

If he was at least a bit, just a little bit, serious about how greedy he was, then he was never going to let the body go. Sure, Spike was grateful with him for helping into stopping Chrysalis but he wanted the body back, he wanted to move around, he wanted to be back with Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and the precious Rarity.

The thing is that, Spike wasn’t sure of how to get the body back. Sure, he could try to make a deal with Greed but just how much would he allow him to use it? He was certain that Greed wasn’t going to let Spike go back to the library, that was a certainty if he was planning to leave with his stuff as well.

This was something that Spike would be dwelling on as Thorax would come back from time to time with some saddlebags and pieces of clothing that Greed would put on himself, making him look slightly different from before but it wasn’t a perfect fit as the shades weren’t the exact kind he liked and the suit felt more for those refined nobles that used it more for show rather than mobility, which is why he decided to cut off the suit’s sleeves (much to Spike’s dismay) but it would suffice for the moment, all he needed was something to cover him up while he made the funds to get a better look.

Then came all the books Greed was asking for: pony anatomy, equestrian history, laws, botanic research, Spike’s belongings and the latest scientific magazines, no Everfree book or anything related to dragons though. It was all he could ask for except for a few things.

“Well” -, Greed happily said, - “all we need left is a map and probably a huge bag to hold all of this stuff.”

Thorax sighed and started to move back but not before Greed told him.

“Look, don’t worry, this is the last I’ll ask for you and then we’ll head somewhere else, I promise. Now, if you excuse me, I’ll go to the farm to check what do they have in there and then come back here.”

Thorax simply shrugged and went back to Ponyville, this time disguised as Twilight Sparkle and started to move while Greed went to Sweet Apple Acres. To make it short, this was the moment where Twilight and her friends got back to Ponyville and while Applejack wouldn’t see the fake Twilight, both Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy would and they, along an angry Rarity and Rainbow Dash, would begin a chase around Ponyville trying to capture the changeling which would lead to Thorax getting back to the Library (searching for a place to hide) and he would find the book related to the Everfree Greed asked for as well for a map. He would then change his looks for Lyra and claim that she asked for the book and Twilight allowed her to take it.

It would be between this time and the other Elements getting to the library, thanks to Owloiscious’s work, and seeing that Twilight wasn’t there that they would go after Applejack in the hopes of finding their two friends, not aware that the changeling they were searching for took a very different direction.

Meanwhile, when Greed finally got to Sweet Apple Acres, he couldn’t stop himself from taking a good look at the sweet red apples on those trees and remembered that he now had a body that needed sustenance.

“Well” -, he thought, - “not as much needing sustenance and more making sure of not wasting my Philosopher’s Stone on replacing the necessary energy that I could simply get by eating.”

So, after searching for a big enough bag that could hold all the stuff he found, he started to pick the apples that would sate the hunger that was invading his stomach. And it was during this moment that he was interrupted by a very familiar voice.

“Hold it right there, you vermin!”

Greed turned around and saw, to his surprise, none other than Applejack, the Element of Honesty, and realized that, if she was here, then the other Elements were in Ponyville as well and that meant that Thorax was in danger but, before he could go back and search for him, he first needed to deal with the farmer.

“Vermin?” – Started to answer Greed on a confident tone of voice, well aware that he wasn’t on the best position to be found. – “Is that how you call the one who fought Chrysalis while you stood there and did nothing?”

Applejack visibly flinched at this accusation, still feeling awful for not being able to help much on the invasion but that wouldn’t stop her from doing what she had to.

“Now don’t change the subject there, fella’” -, she responded with determination, - “You may have helped with Chrysalis but that doesn’t excuse you from taking Spike’s body, knocking down Rainbow Dash and stealing from mah’ farm.”

Greed looked at her seriously for a brief moment, but he then started to give a smug smile and decided to clarify what Applejack said.

“Alright, on the first place, I knocked her down because she was chasing me and, as amazing as I may be, I’m not the type who likes stalkers; on the second place, as strong and powerful as I may be, this body still needs care and sustenance and I’m not too sure of what is edible on the Everfree, so you can look at this as a loan with a promise to a back payment with interest” -. And, once he said this, his smile started to turn malicious in nature, making Applejack shudder and remember that she was talking to the one who decided to take on a changeling queen while she was a simple earth pony. – “And, on the third place, I already made a deal with Spike, so this body is now mine” -. His claws then started to turn black, something that Applejack still remembered what it entailed, and dared her. – “If you really think you can do something about it, then come and take it.”

Applejack stood there, motionless, as she saw Greed taking a fighting posture, ready to face her should she decide to fight him but, what could she do? She may be strong, sure, but she wasn’t sure that she would be able to fight him on her own and Greed knew this.

“Just as I thought.”

And with his answer given, he decided to leave the farm, apples in tow, to get back with Thorax.

Now, while he was leaving, Applejack’s mind quickly started to think on what to do. She was certain that she couldn’t win a fight but, as the situation got more desperate, she tried to rationalize that she didn’t actually have to win the fight. No, all she needed to do was to immobilize Greed long enough for her friends to get there and everything would smoothen from there onward.

It was under that rationale that she decided to take her lasso, tie Greed’s neck and bring him down. From there, she was going to try and tie him up but, to her surprise, Greed’s claws not only were strong, but also sharp, for he simply cut the rope with little effort thanks to his black scales.

He then looked at Applejack with a face that only told her of how much she screwed up. She felt as if she opened The Gates of Tartarus and it was about to unleash all of its fury on her. His eyes were shining with pulse, making it feel as if he was now asking for her body while his smile was peeling his razor-like teeth, making Applejack wonder just how strong his bite may be as well. His muscles started to flex and his black scales started to grow to the point that they now covered his whole arms.

“Just how far can you make those scales grow?”

It was the only question Applejack’s mind could make up as she saw how Greed was now getting closer to her with what, it looked like to be, pure anger.

- “So” -. Greed said as his voice almost spitted venom towards Applejack. – “You can complain and accuse me of being a bandit all you want but it is fine for you to make a cowardly attack on my back, right?”

As he started to get closer to Applejack, the farmer could only but shrink on fear, knowing full well that she started something she couldn’t finish.

“St-stop right there” -. She tried to vocalize with her fearful voice. – “Or I’ll buck you hard enough to send you flying back to the Everfree.”

Seeing Greed’s smile widening wasn’t the effect Applejack was hoping for.

“Oh, really?” – Greed started to challenge as, for a brief moment to Applejack’s ear, it felt like his voice was starting to change. – “Is that something you’re actually going to do? or will you do that while I’m not looking?”

Seeing Greed getting closer (and faster) forced Applejack to quickly turn around and prepare the strongest buck she ever did on her life, not seeing how Greed’s black scales were now expanding even more and they were now covering his whole body except for the head so, when Applejack made the buck of her life, she ended up hitting the strongest material in existence.

Suffice to say that Greed didn’t suffer any type of damage but he did fly quite a few meters, much to his surprise.

“Ugh” -. It was the first thing Greed could say after going through the shock of being flung away from a single kick. – “So that’s what she meant with ‘bucking me’” -. He then started to regain himself, trying to see where he landed and where his stuff was located. – “I’ll have to give her credit though, she did send me flying” -. He passed his claw through his stomach, well aware of how much strength is needed to pull out something like that. – “Good thing I raised my shield, otherwise, she may have actually hurt me.”

He then saw her on the ground, crying, wondering for a brief moment what was she doing until he remembered what happened to the last thing that punched him hard while he was wearing his full armor. If he was capable of breaking an automail made of full metal, then he was certain that bones were going to brake.

Seeing Applejack crying in pain for her broken legs made Greed wonder if it would have been better to receive the full blow, but he also wasn’t keen on getting that kind of pain, as short as it may have been felt.

“What have you done!?” – Asked an angry Spike. – “You hurt one of my friends!”

“Sorry kid” -, said Greed on his most truthful voice, ignoring if Applejack was listening or not, - “my intention was scaring her, not breaking her bones.”

“Really!? What did you think she meant when she said, ‘I’ll buck you hard enough to send you flying back to the Everfree’!?”

“I don’t know! How was I supposed to know that what I know as ‘kicks’ you know it as ‘buck’!? Now I have to see how I can fix this!”

“Fix!? You actually think you can fix this… wait… you can pass her your healing abilities in some way?”

“Sorry kid, but no. Only I can use it and the only way they can be used by anyone else is by someone who knows healing alchemy and is skillful enough to use my… powers… to cure her.”

“Sis’! Are you alri…”

When Greed turned around, he saw, to his dismay, the little Applebloom in shock at what was going on to her big sister. Greed was trying to say something but the little filly quickly went back to the house, probably to get some help from her family, leaving Greed alone with Applejack once again, who was still in pain for her broken legs. In the end, Greed only saw one possible option; knocking Applejack down with a strong enough hit and hope for some medical pony to treat her while she was still unconscious.

“Really? That’s the best you can come up with?”

“Sorry kid” -. Responded Greed with a tone of voice that showed no emotion. – “She is in a lot of pain and this is the best I could come up with. Hopefully, she’ll get medical attention before her senses come back. For us, though, we are getting late. We must return to the rendezvous point and meet back with Thorax, he must be getting worried for us not being there when we were supposed to... if they haven’t captured him yet. If they did, then we have to make an escape plan.”

And so, they left Sweet Apple Acres with the big bag and a lot of apples and, when they got back to the meeting point, started to put all the stuff they got so far on the bag, thinking that this day couldn’t get any worse.

“Stop right there!”

Or so he thought.

By this point, Greed wasn’t on the mood to see anyone else but it would be a lie if he said that he didn’t expect Twilight to be the exact one to find him there so, even though he wasn’t on the mood to talk anymore, he decided to respond in the best way he could come up with:

“Well, what do we have here? If it is Spike’s mom.”

Seeing Twilight unaffected by his comment didn’t give Greed any confidence but he needed to ease the tension right now if he wanted things to smooth up.

- “Why the icy glare? Is it because of your friends I left unconscious?” – He then started to look up as he scratched his head with his right claw, trying to think of the best way to let clear that he didn’t actually want to hurt them, far from it. – “Look, I’m sorry for that, in fact, I really don’t like hitting girls but the blue pegasus didn’t stop from following me and your farm friend decided to pick up a fight with me” -. He then looked back at Twilight, who looked even angrier now, and quickly tried to calm her. – “Ok, I’ll admit that I challenged her to stop me but, when I saw how much hurting she was going through for her legs, I had to knock her down so she stopped feeling the pain, I swear it was done with the best intentions!”

Seeing Twilight getting angrier didn’t give Greed much confidence but, he hoped, that maybe talking he could solve this situation, so he let her talk now.

“Really?” – She started responding with a tone of voice that showed how much she was trying to remain calm, much to Greed’s relief. – “You really think saying sorry will fix up everything?”

Greed kept looking at her, really understanding what she was meaning by that but, as hard as he thought, he really couldn’t think of a way to apologize for what he did except, probably, paying up the medical expenses on a later future.

“Well” -. He said with a tone of voice that, he hoped, would convey how awful he felt for that. – “No, actually, I don’t think that saying sorry will be enough, but I do promise to pay back all the expenses they may go through.”

Seeing Twilight’s eyebrows rising with curiosity gave Greed some hope.

“Pay back all the expenses?”

Greed started to gain some confidence as he saw how Twilight was probably open to what he said.

“All of them. From the medical expenses to everything I just took from your friends and with interest. I promise.”

After saying this, Twilight started to give Greed a second look and, much to his displeasure, she only looked even angrier.

“Really!?” – Twilight started yelling with complete anger at him. – “You really think that we are all going to forgive you for stealing from us just because you have just promised to pay us back!? Not only that but you have even done it by using Spike’s body. Do you really think nobody will ignore how Spike has been stealing from others? You are ruining Spike’s life and all you can say about it is an apology and promise that you’ll pay us back!? How do you even plan to pay back Spike for ruining his life!?”

Greed gave Twilight a hard stare before sitting back and started to give the situation a bigger thought, at which, he simply answered.

“I know that an apology isn’t enough, but it was hard to make up a plan on the short term. I need stuff to start my true plans and, to make it a reality; I had to do something that could create the platform needed to start it all. Again, sorry, but this was the best I could come up with.”

Greed noticed how she was about to shout again, so he decided to quickly continue talking before she had any chance of keeping on accusing him of doing wrong.

“Besides, what makes you think that I’m ruining Spike’s image?” – He then started to smile, showing his sharp teeth while he started to show his right hand, the one containing the snake eating itself up. – “For all they’ll know soon, Spike helped defeating Chrysalis and the changeling invasion and, very soon, they’ll start to hear about Greed and how great he is.”

Granted, he couldn’t say what those plans were, but he could at least give some clarifications where he could.

“Besides, it wasn’t an actual theft. Let’s call it an ‘unilateral loan with a promise to pay back the interest’ at a monthly 1% interest rate. It’s not a bad deal” -. He then looked with a smug smile as he simply stated. – “And, even still, if you really want to call it theft, well, it wasn’t me who stole it. I have done nothing wrong so far accusations go.”

And then Twilight said the words that ruined Greed’s mood once more.

“Really? What about Spike? You stole his body!”

Greed simply looked at her in a boring way, already getting fed up of that accusation and answered back with the patience of a teacher trying to explain as carefully as he could to a student that had a hard time understanding a simple fact.

“This again? Look, I already said it back in Canterlot, so I’ll say it again. It was a deal between Spike and me, he gave me the body and, in exchange, I would help on getting rid of the changelings. I did my part and now I own the body, this is legitimately mine and I’m not giving it back.”

He hoped that she would at least try to understand but he certainly didn’t expect her to start breaking up in tears.

“If that’s so, then why he didn’t tell me anything?” – Seeing how she was tearing up, Greed started to wonder if her case wasn’t as much as her not understanding and more being on denial. – “Why he didn’t tell me that you were there? Why acted as if everything was fine…? I need to hear it from him…. Please.”

Greed was going to answer but he then heard Spike trying to say something about it, forcing Greed to stop the conversation with Twilight to first listen at what Spike was saying.

“Hold on”.

“Look” -, Spike started saying, - “When I woke up that day, I wasn’t aware of you. In fact, I didn’t even remember meeting you until you started to talk but, by that point, I wasn’t sure of what to say, all I thought was that she would probably scold me for lying and that scared me a bit.”

As he heard Spike, Greed decided to turn around to listen better as well as hoping that Twilight wouldn’t attack him on his back.

“Look, if you really are going to keep the body, could you please give me a moment to tell her sorry and to explain how I was afraid of her?”

“Are you sure?”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“Look, I was there when she was reprimanding you and the way you acted doesn’t, exactly, fit with what you just said right now.”

Greed was going to explain how he noticed Spike being angrier than scared but, before he could elaborate, they were interrupted.

“Spike? Is that you?”

Greed turned and saw Twilight with a face that only spelled how heartbroken she was. It was quite clear to him that she was probably missing him a lot and made him wonder if there was something he could do to ease the tensions. Perhaps he could let him talk to her from time to time or maybe just loan Spike the body for a few hours so he could enjoy some moment with her.

“Please” -. She begged, really making Greed considering what he could do about this situation at hand. – “Tell me what happened.”

It was here that Greed decided to let Spike get the body for enough time to, at the very least, make amends with Twilight and have a conversation that could allow then to patch things up, situation that Spike wasn’t expecting at all.

“Twilight…” – Spike tried to formulate any kind of words to the one that has been there for him since he was hatched but they just wouldn’t come up. – “I…”

He knew he had to say something, but he wasn’t sure of what. Sure, he wanted to patch things up but, only for Greed to keep the body for the rest of eternity and never see her back? What could he say if this was the last conversation he could have with her?

“Spike, talk to me” -. Her words were starting to get to him. – “Is there something I did wrong for you to stay away from me? Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”

She doing something wrong? No, if there was something Spike was certain of, was that Twilight didn’t do anything wrong and he had to clarify that.

“No, Twilight, you didn’t do anything wrong” -. He grabbed his left arm with his right hand while he was regretting never being honest about this situation on the first place. – “It was me who…” -. Then Spike remembered that moment he asked Greed how they could be separated and an epiphany came to him. – “Twilight! Quick!” – There was no time; he had to say it before Greed took over once more. – “He told me once that, in order to separate us, you need to know alchemy!”

“You clever little snake.”

Spike’s mind then saw how he no longer was controlling the body and was sent back to the corners of his mind as Greed took over once more as his tone of voice sounded angry and it scared him how cheery he was behaving on the outside.

“Sorry, but it looks like your number one assistant needs to gather his thoughts better. You can make an appointment for a next time and he, hopefully, will have something to actually say to you that is actually related to what you asked him.”

As Greed was starting to leave, quite certain that Twilight wasn’t going to leave him and he no longer felt safe around her, he then felt a lavender aura started to surround his body and it raised him up from the ground.

“No” -. Said a defiant Twilight. – “I will not give up Spike yet and certainly not when I know there is a way to get him back.”

Greed tried to free himself up from being levitated but, to his frustration, all his attempts were for naught. He was captured by Twilight Sparkle, who wasn’t wasting her time in telling him what he was really tired of hearing.

“Look, I understand that you may not like this, but that body doesn’t belong to you, it belongs to Spike, and I am going to recover him, no matter what” -. She then mentioned something that quite picked his interest. – “And, if you are so worried about having a body, well, I-“

She was then interrupted as something struck her on her back, quickly releasing Greed, who reincorporated himself and started to clean his suit as he saw a mint green unicorn getting close to him.

“Sorry for taking so long” -. Responded the mare with a serious tone of voice but it was enough for Greed to understand who it actually was. – “But I ran into a few troubles in Ponyville and was forced to lose the Elements of Harmony from tracking me as well as searching for a moment to get back all the stuff you asked me for.”

‘She’ then moved ‘her’ head back towards ‘her’ saddlebags and brought out a book.

“I also decided to stop by the library once more and picked another book that’s related to the things we may find in the Everfree Forest, since you seemed too keen on the flora and fauna surrounding this place.”

Greed the decided to look at the book Thorax brought and it eliminated the anger he got from what just happened.

“Alright then, I suppose that I can forgive you if that is why you took so long” -. He then looked back at Twilight, who was starting to lose her consciousness as he noticed how she looked around everywhere with her eyes. – “And what will happen to her?”

Thorax simply shrugged and continued as if nothing wrong happened.

“I used a special spell on her that’ll first paralyze her body and then start to knock her down. The pain and speed of the process depends on the will of the spell’s victim” – Greed then looked at Twilight and she looked back at him. Greed was really wondering if nothing wrong would happen to Twilight but Thorax reassured him of it. – “She won’t die, if that is what worries you, but it’s more likely that the creatures of the Everfree will kill her if we leave her alone.”

It was then that they all heard Rainbow Dash’s voice not too long from where they were located.

“Well” -. Said a calm Greed. – “I suppose that means she won’t be alone very soon. Shoot a flare to indicate that cocky pegasus where we are so she can find her friend.”

As they were starting to move, Greed decided that he really needed some time to properly talk with Spike. Something like this should never repeat itself again and he was going to make sure that Spike never tried to pull out something like this. He then looked back at Thorax, who was being surprisingly loyal despite being put into so much danger and Greed decided to make the obvious question:

“Also, why are you keeping up that appearance? You do know that you don’t need to look like that anymore, right?”

Thorax looked back and saw how Twilight was finally knocked down and decided to remove his disguise, certain that his true appearance wasn’t going to be seen and continued his way as Greed started to look at the book Thorax brought.

“Oh yeah” -. Greed said in a cheery tone. – “You did a fine job Thorax, with this; we can finally start doing something more responsible and ethical than being simple thieves. Very soon, we’ll start to gain funds by doing a very well earning and respectable job.”

This brought some curiosity to the changeling. His plan to rise to fame was through actual work? Well, that would explain why he needed all of this stuff but, regardless, that was a conversation for later. Right now, there was only one thing he wanted to know.

“A job, ok, it doesn’t sound so bad. What kind of job are we going to make?”

The answer certainly wasn’t what Thorax expected from someone like Greed although it did make sense when you thought about it.

“A bar!”

Author's Notes:

To be honest, I'm not very glad with how this two chapters came out but its what came out when I wrote this. I seriously needed to write the transition from the wedding to the next part and this is what was needed. I hope you enjoy this.

Also, no, this double post isn't an apology for taking so long. I had it written for a long while but I didn't have the time to post it and I had to fix some problems that came up when I made the transfer from a document to Fimfiction.

Anyway, see ya.

EDIT June 19th of 2019: If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

The Eden's Apple

Manehattan was a city known for always being on the move. There was activity filling the streets every hour and it was impossible to visit the city without getting something out of it and two of its newest visitors (or, at least, one of them) were really trying to get something worthwhile. Mainly, they were trying to sell drinks and failing at it.

“Oh, come on!” – Said the dragon now known as Greed in a very frustrated tone of voice as he was completely frustrated; he was walking through the streets of Manehattan while carrying a small bag on his back. - “Why is it so hard to make a bar in this kingdom? Last time I tried it was much easier than this.”

“Sorry Greed” –, said an ebony unicorn stallion on a tired tone of voice as he was pulling a huge bag with his magic, - “but the banks aren’t going to lend money to some weird-looking strangers who appeared out of nowhere and bars aren’t as profitable as one may wish when we are on a city filled to the brim with them.”

Greed turned around and gave the changeling known as Thorax, now disguised as an ebony unicorn with yellow eyes, a white mane and with a cutie mark consisting on a bunch of packages being lifted, trying to pull with his magic the bag holding all the materials they gathered from the Everfree Forest and answered with a frustrated tone of voice.

“I know, I know but still, this city has so many citizens that it’s just a matter of choosing the right location and we could just make massive profits” -, he then added with a coy smile, - “maybe just enough to get all the mares you need to never feel empty again.”

Thorax blushed at the comment but said nothing about it, he was getting too tired to respond and he was more than wishing to have some love right now to stop feeling empty on the inside.

“That reminds me” -, continued Greed as finally stopped moving and was now looking at Thorax, - “what is your name again?”

Thorax let out a puff as he was getting annoyed by Greed not remembering the names of the ponies he changed into.

“I told you already that I’m Weight Lifter! Please, I know remembering something like my name could be a bit hard but, could you at least try to remember it?”

“Sorry” -, responded Greed while his face was bearing a bored face, - “but it’s hard to remember it when you always talk of how you want to change it.”

When Thorax heard the word ‘change’ he quickly panicked and dropped all the weight he was carrying and moved to shut Greed’s mouth as he tried to whisper, although actually sounding high enough to be listened by anyone who actually decided to pay attention to what he said.

“Please don’t go around saying that, it’s too…” – As he realized how high his voice was, he started to whisper while he was trying to see what kind of words use to make sure nobody in the vicinity could interpret his words as him being a changeling. – “Embarrassing to admit I want to change my name and, as of now, people tend to badly react just by hearing the word ‘change’ so, could you please be more careful with what we talk in public?”

Greed only smiled and put his right claw, now covered by a black glove with openings on his fingers, on Thorax’s head while keeping a calm tone of voice.

“Don’t worry, I understand but you need to learn to relax a bit, otherwise, people will find you strange for how you act so nervously all the time.”

Hearing Greed’s words (and it’s hidden warning) made Thorax relax a bit and finally sit down on the street to think on how he had to improve on his hiding skills but that was quickly stopped by a slap on the head from Greed himself, much to Thorax annoyance.

“Hey!” – Thorax almost screamed. – “What was that for?”

“That was for dropping our stuff” -, said Greed as he was pointing at the bag containing all the flowers, fruits, plants as well as Spike’s belongings among other stuff they have gathered during their journey which Thorax dropped to the ground not too long ago, - “some of those items may be fragile so it’s in our best interest for them to be fine.”

Realizing that Greed was right, Thorax quickly decided to open the bag and check how their belongings were, but Greed once again stopped him.

“Not here, look” -. As Thorax looked on the direction Greed was pointing at, he noticed a park very near to them. – “Let’s go there and rest up a bit while I plan what to do next and you check on our stuff.”

Accepting Greed’s idea, the two of them moved towards the park and decided to take a rest. As the two of them were taking a breather, they decided to look at their surroundings and see how clean the air was compared to the rest of the city.

The trees, flowers, grass as well as the wildlife made it so the two of them could feel themselves relax while the sound of the ponies playing with their foals (and the foals themselves laughing for the pure fun they got from their silly games) helped Thorax to relax as he could have some love from his surroundings while Greed was capable of relaxing as he looked at the innocents enjoying their time together, bringing him memories of those with whom he used to have good times as well.

He closed his eyes and started to remember how they used to work hard for him while he was making sure that nothing wrong happened to them. He remembered how he used to be at dinner with them, eating and drinking as they shared stories or had small chatter among each other, most often than not making fun of the animals they were mixed in.

He remembered how useful was one of them with his strength and was usually doing work as his personal bodyguard or doing the heavy lifting for everybody. He remembered how one of them was a very good friend and, usually, was helping anyone she could find. He remembered how one of them was following him under the excuse of his dog genes making him too loyal.

“Roa… Marthel… Dolchetto…”

He remembered all the happy moments he had with them and started to wish to have them back again, to see them again if only one more time to share those laughs once more. His mind started to drift into the world of sleep as he started to dream through his memories and how happy he was with them. But those memories were soon interrupted as another memory resurfaced of him having his hands stained in blood as fainting words burned on his mind.

“Lord Greed… we used to be friends…”

“Greed!”

The draconic homunculi opened his eyes as he looked around at Thorax, who was looking at him with a worried look.

“Are you alright? You looked worried for something a moment ago.”

Greed simply wavered off Thorax’s worries and started to stretch himself a bit.

“Don’t worry; it was just a bad dream” -. As he finished stretching himself, he looked bad at his companion and asked as if there was nothing worrying him. – “So, do you have any ideas?”

Thorax looked at Greed with curiosity as he tilted his head sideways.

“I thought you were the one thinking of a plan.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I won’t hear any idea you could have.”

As Thorax heard that, his eyes widened a bit and moved a hoof towards his head as he tried to think of something. His mind being blank, he started to look around in the hope of getting any kind of idea and, thankfully, he found it on the form of a gathering of ponies being made not too far away from where they were located right then.

“Well, we could go there and see why everypony are gathering there. How does that sound?”

Greed thought about it as he wondered a bit about it and simply nodded.

“Good enough, it’ll be a nice distraction at the very least.”

So the two of them started to carry back their bags and moved towards the gathering of ponies in the hopes of seeing what was going on there. To their surprise, what they found was a blue unicorn mare with a silver-like mane that was wearing a magician’s hat and had her cutie mark covered by a purple magician's cape but, if one payed enough attention, it could be seen that her Cutie Mark was a light blue crescent moon with a light blue star on top of it.

She moved around the crowd as if every single one of her moves were meticulously calculated and premeditated. She then started to use her magic to throw fireworks as she started to talk but, sadly, Greed and Thorax were too far away to hear anything she said. As she moved around, she started to use magic to show off some of her skills and while Thorax didn’t look impressed at all, Greed looked at her with interest. He looked how she always wore a face as if she was the greatest and how she was trying to look impressive while her magic didn’t do much beyond simple aesthetics that were impressive to the eye but, in reality, they didn’t have anything impressive but that didn’t stopped Greed from looking at her intently something that Thorax managed to notice as he wanted to know Greed’s opinion of her overall.

For the way Greed looked at her, it was clear for Thorax there was something in her worth looking, but it was hard to guess what. Sure, the way she moved showed confidence and her spells were nice to look at but she didn’t show to be capable of anything too important and the audience became quite clear of it as they started to throw tomatoes and shout ‘boo’ at her much to the mare’s chagrin, who started to show anger and shout at the crowd some unintelligible words from the distance but Thorax was sure some of them must have been quite bad for the audience started to boo at her even harder.

Eventually, the mare started to look at the crowd with anger before saying something else and disappear behind a big purple smoke that appeared out of nowhere, leaving an empty made up stage and an angry crowd which, as they mumbled with contempt, both Greed and Thorax took their time to listen at.

“Annoying mare.”

“Flimsy spells.”

“Empty boaster with nothing to back it up.”

“I’ve seen better shows.”

Hearing those words felt a little bit harsh for Thorax, after all, she was just trying to make her income but the biggest surprise for him came from Greed, who was just smiling as if he found a well-hidden treasure.

“Weight Lifter.”

“Yes sir?”

Greed didn’t even look at him as he started to move towards the forest while leaving his small bag.

“Take care of our baggage and follow after me if I haven’t come back in five minutes.”

“What!?”

Before Thorax could even complain, Greed started to move towards the forest in the search of something, leaving a very confused Thorax who was now wondering what was all that about.

Thorax wasn’t aware that Greed found something that could ease up his overall quest if he played well his cards. Something called Trixie Lulamoon.

Now, Trixie was a unicorn mare that was usually known for being a show mare, in other words, she used her magic to impress and let her audience in wonder and desire for more. She always loved to show off her abilities as she was sure nopony was as skillful as her in the art of making a big show to impress an audience, after all, she was the best unicorn in all Equestria.

Or at least, she thought of herself as the best until she went to Ponyville and met Twilight Sparkle.

Trixie thought that her visit to Ponyville was going to be a simple one: she would do her show, impress some ponies, prove herself to be the best to those who dared to challenge her but then those two colts had to go and bring an Ursa Minor. Trixie may have said that she defeated an Ursa Minor and that may have been a lie but that doesn’t mean those two had to go and bring one neither she had to prove herself to be true and, even worse, accept to be humiliated by that Twilight Sparkle who managed to get rid of that Ursa so easily. It wasn’t fair.

Not only it wasn’t fair to be humiliated by Twilight Sparkle but to have her cart to be destroyed, her only mean of transportation which held her most important belongings and, even worse, she was now a mockery to any town or city that she went to.

No matter how many times Trixie tried to improve her show, no matter how many times Trixie tried to make a better show, all Trixie got were insults and getting booed by the audience. It wasn't fair, all she wanted was to do what she enjoyed the most and she was being denied of that. All Trixie wanted to do now was to cry in the middle of the forest and hope that nopony could find her crying for how tragic her life turned around. She didn’t want to be seen at her lowest point…

But she was denied of even that.

“Hey! Sorry for the interruption but-“

The intruder was quickly shut as Trixie started to throw stones at him while she was wearing a scowl on her face.

“Leave Trixie alone!” – She shouted with complete despair in her voice, hoping that throwing the stones would drive her pursuer away but, much to her chagrin, he wasn’t leaving. – “Trixie is not in the mood to hear you insulting her anymore!”

The unicorn failed to notice how the one trying to get close to her wasn’t a pony at all, but rather a dragon, but she was noticing how his voice was still close to her.

“Stop throwing stones, you are going to hurt someone!”

The warning wasn’t enough for the Distraught and Agonizing Trixie who, in her hopes of driving away her would be pursuer, she decided to aim directly at the head and, without realizing, managed to hit the individual on the head strong enough to send it to the ground.

As the body stopped moving, Trixie no longer threw rocks and started to realize the deep trouble she may start to face soon as she noticed how her would be pursuer wasn’t a pony but rather a dragon and how the last rock she threw was right in the left eye socket and it thrust very deeply into that new orifice that managed to pierce his dark glasses, glasses that were very probably inside the left eye and causing irreparable damage.

“Oh no…” – Muttered Trixie as her mind started to panic. – “I-Trixie has done something irreparable. Trixie is going to jail…”

The poor unicorn mare was starting to picture all the crimes and charges that were going to befell on her, quickly ignoring the draconic body whose left arm was starting to move once more in the direction of his own eye.

“What is Trixie going to do? What is Trixie going to do…? Trixie is too young to go to jail, what to do? What to do…?” – In that moment Trixie’s features brightened up as she realized what a potential solution could be for her predicament. – “Bury the body… YES! That is what Trixie will do. The body is buried and nopony will suspect a thing.”

As she muttered her ideas to hide her crime, she was still unaware of the dragon still trying to find the stone crusted on his eye and remove it.

“Alright then, Trixie will bury this body and-“

It was then when she turned and looked at the dragon she supposed murdered and felt her body freeze with a mixture of shock, terror and slight curiosity as she saw the dragon’s hand inside his eye socket and pulled out the rock she threw at his eye.

That alone would have been enough to make Trixie shout in terror but she remained unable to react as she saw how the dragon’s eye started to rebuild itself up, with only small red lightning being shown.

Before Trixie could even react or realize of what was going on, the dragon was standing up again and moving as if nothing wrong had just happened with his broken shades being the only evidence of Trixie’s attack.

“Dang it” -, said the dragon in a very annoyed tone of voice, - “that really hurt, could you please calm down and listen?”

The dragon then started to look at the Shocked and Fearful Trixie and how she wasn’t moving at all.

“Hello? Are you alright?” – Greed then started to poke at Trixie, hoping to get some reaction from her. – “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

Those words managed to get a reaction from Trixie as she managed to respond to Greed.

“What kind of reaction is that to give to the mare that threw a rock to your eye?” – She then decided to give a better look at his eye and notice how it really looked as if it were perfectly healed up. – “What kind of magic is that which allowed you to recover from that? It’s impossible to heal up that fast without the help of unicorn experts.”

The dragon then started to laugh at Trixie’s words much to her indignation.

“What is so funny!? Trixie is being serious right now!”

The Dragon then started to look at Trixie as he stopped laughing and answered: “There’s nothing impossible!”

He then moved his right thumbnail at himself.

“Especially when it comes to me.”

The Curious and Befuddled Trixie looked at the dragon with wonder, trying to decipher his words, as he then started to point back at where her show recently was made.

“I looked your show back then, it was very impressive.”

Hearing that, Trixie’s mood started to sour, unable to hold the obvious attempt of mockery made at her.

“Oh, really? Could you please tell Trixie why you think of that?”

“Well, where I come from there aren’t many that use their talents to entertain and, seeing your show for the first time, I think you gave me a good impression.”

Trixie started to shrink her eyes in skepticism, she had an idea of where this was going but she needed to be sure.

“So, there aren’t many unicorns in your homeland?”

The dragon moved his hands towards his head in a thinking pose as he tried to remember.

“Well, I don’t exactly come from somewhere within Equestria but, suffice to say, in my home country the citizens were raised to use their talents for work, never to entertain.”

Those words froze Trixie as she pondered on the idea of never being able to use her special talent for what she loved to do the most. It really irked her and she was now wondering who was this dragon and what he wanted with her.

“And what does someone like you want with somepony like Trixie?”

The dragon put his hand behind his back and started to smile with a light blush.

“Well, it’s a bit embarrassing to say but, I need a business partner.”

The Skeptic and Bewildered Trixie was now sure that she either has gone mad or the world was turning upside down as the dragon capable of regenerating serious injuries was asking her to be a partner. No, there had to be something wrong here, a plan to damage her, anything and she needed to know what.

“And what kind of business do you want Trixie to be part of? Trixie hasn’t even heard your name and you expect Trixie to work with you blindly?”

The dragon looked at Trixie with a mild shocked face, but he quickly turned it into a great laugh that lasted a few seconds before he decided to answer Trixie’s question.

“You are correct, where are my manners?” – He then lowered his right hand and torso, letting his face to be on the same level Trixie’s, and made the proper greeting as he extended his hand in the form of a salute. – “My name is Greed, nice to meet you.”

“Greed?” – Trixie asked on her mind as she decided to give the dragon a second look and realized, not only his height, but also how there was something… off… about him. – “What kind of name is Greed?”

The Worried and Careful Trixie, nonetheless, extended her hoof towards Greed’s claw and saluted back.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie, at your service” -. With their names properly presented, Trixie decided to find out more about this mysterious benefactor. – “Now, what kind of partnership is this? The Great and Powerful Trixie won’t accept any kind of deal that Trixie finds too low for Trixie’s standards.”

“Gee, do you always have to talk of yourself on third person? It can get kind of annoying when you’re not doing it on the show. You know that, don’t you?”

Trixie frowned and harrumphed as she was already expecting this kind of response.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie takes her job very seriously and is always prepared to be as professional as ever.”

The dragon known as Greed just looked at her with a plain look and answered with the wisest answer one could have come up at the moment:

“Right.”

Greed then started to smile and continued with his proposition.

“Anyways, what I want to propose is simple. You see, me and my partner want to create a place where many would like to join together after a hard day of work and drink a couple of drinks to relax before going back home.”

“So” -, Trixie concluded, - “a bar?”

“Yeah” -, continued Greed as he didn’t seem to mind being interrupted, - “but we are lacking the funds to make a proper start up and no bank wants to loan us the necessary bits because they think this idea won’t make profit.”

Trixie quickly started to raise up her right eye brow getting an idea of where this was going.

“And where does Trixie fits into this?”

"I’m getting there” -, Greed continued, still not showing any kind of annoyance and keeping his smile, - “you see, after seeing your show, I realized that, even if we could make the bar, we would still lack some source of entertainment and here is where you enter.”

Trixie didn’t need to think on her answer.

She just turned around and started to leave, much to Greed’s worry.

“Hey, hey! Where are you going?”

Trixie turned around and barely gave Greed a look before answering.

“Trixie told you, The Great and Powerful Trixie has standards and being an entertainer for a bar isn’t even close to Trixie’s standards so, if you are done, Trixie is now going to leave. Thank you for the offer.”

And, with that said, she left but Trixie didn’t even make three steps before Greed appeared in front of her, smile still on his face, and continued.

“Thankfully, I’m not done yet with my offer. You see, have you heard of alchemy?”

Trixie’s mind quickly started to think back at what she heard of it before giving an answer.

“Yes, but only in name. What of it?”

Greed then started to smile, it was here when, for the first time in all this conversation that Trixie noted how sharp were Greed’s teeth and, not only that but, she also started to feel something strange coming from him, it was the same sensation she had when he started to recover from his injury just moments ago.

“Would you like to have something that no other unicorn has ever done in Equestria’s history?”

It was here when Trixie started to feel something crawling up her hooves, but she wasn’t sure what exactly was that feeling, so she decided to keep on listening to Greed’s offer.

“You see, it is true that Equestria has some knowledge of alchemy but what can be find is connected to how you use your magic, in other words, while all the ponies could, theoretically, use alchemy, it wouldn’t work the same way for all of them for their abilities are completely dependent of what kind of pony they are.”

Trixie was starting to get where he was going and that strange feeling was now crawling through her legs and, for some strange reason, Trixie wasn’t feeling worried about it.

“Where I come from, we have vast knowledge of how alchemy works and the theories, while a bit heavy, can be used by anyone who understand them and that includes if whether or not they have magic.”

That strange feeling was now crawling through Trixie’s spine and she was no longer fearing it, she was craving it more and more as she was starting to understand what she was being offered. She was being offered a chance to show how she was the best unicorn in Equestria by mastering a field that was scarcely known and she was loving it.

“Will you teach Trixie how to regenerate her wounds so quickly.”

Greed simply waved his finger at Trixie and answered with a tone similar of how a master is willing to offer his knowledge to their students but always letting them crave for more.

“Ah, ah, ah” -, Greed said as he was tempting Trixie with his sweet and delicious apple, - “That is for later, right now the offer is this: I teach you the basis of my home’s alchemy and, should you be able to practice them, you’ll let me and my partner to offer our drinks in your shows so we can start to have a name. The same way, once we manage to grow beyond simply roaming the kingdom, we’ll then start to make our own set of bars where you’ll be our main star while I teach you more of alchemy and, before we realize, we’ll have hit big score.”

Trixie was now feeling everything she craved for. Fame, fortune, power and perhaps more but, before she could even shout her acceptance to the deal, Greed quickly put his fingertip on her muzzle and muttered.

“But that is only if you accept and manage to learn what I am trying to teach you and that includes listening to me. Deal?”

Trixie ignored every warning she could get from this, she ignored the fact of her having zero knowledge of who he was, she ignored any voice inside her head screaming of how this was a bad idea, she ignored any warning she could get from Greed’s devious smile, his strange eyes or his unnatural abilities, she even ignored how he ignored of her accidental murder or the fact of having no knowledge of who his partner was. Trixie ignored any potential consequence that she could face for joining sides with someone like him or the possibility of later regretting this decision (and she would) because all Trixie wanted right now was to gain power that no unicorn has ever fathomed and show once and for all who was the best unicorn in all Equestria and if she had to take this offer to achieve it, she would take it.

“Deal.”

Said the Mischievous and Vengeful Trixie as she started to shake Greed’s claw with enthusiasm while his smile started to widen and his height started to increase, if only for a couple millimeters. Greed then grabbed Trixie and started to celebrate as if he got more than he bargained for.

“Excellent! Thank you so much for accepting. This is the beginning of a great partnership.”

In that moment an ebony unicorn who was carrying two bags (one huge, the other small) came from where Trixie just did her show and looked at the two of them with curiosity as he finally reached them and said:

“Sorry for coming Greed but you were taking too long and I was worrying for you” -, he then looked at the duo and asked, - “did I miss something important?”

Greed simply grabbed Trixie with his very strong arm and hugged her as he talked in a very certain tone of voice and responded as if the best thing ever happened.

“Don’t worry, Weight Lifter, I managed to do a partnership for our bar. A partnership that may turn our luck back on good track.”

The unicorn stallion known as Weight Lifter raised his eyebrows with wonder, not expecting a result like that from a simple conversation and started to look at her partner with interest.

“Really?” – The dark stallion asked as his voice started to fill with inquisitiveness. – “And what kind of partnership is this one?”

Greed started to wave off at him and responded with confidence oozing on his voice.

“I’ll tell you later, for now, I need you to go and prepare a third bed in our resting spot and prepare our equipment.”

The Stallion starting to look worried as he was now wondering what kind of crazy mandate was Greed going to impose on him, feeling both dread and wonder about it.

“Prepare our equipment? What for?”

Greed briefly looked at Trixie before he smiled once more, he then turned at Weight Lifter and said in a tone of voice that set Trixie some chills on her body.

“To prepare ourselves for our big score.”

Author's Notes:

You won't believe how easy it is to write this chapters while marathoning Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Chapter 10, 22 and 26 still makes me tear) and listening to NICO Touches The Wall (you know which song), it really helps a lot to give this story a much better flow while writing to the point that I have better structured future chapters.

Also, I finally got to the point where I can add Trixie to the story. I hope I can add all the characters I'm thinking off.

If you like how I write this stories and want to support me somehow, please do it through my Ko-Fi where any aid really helps me out.

Testing the Drinks of Wisdom

When Trixie heard that Greed and Weight Lifter were short on money, she wasn’t expecting them to be so broke that they could only live under a bridge, not that it seemed to mind either of her new ‘business partners’ who were trying to put all of their stuff on wooden tables that looked as if they were about to break.

“Well” -, Greed said as he got comfortable on a sofa that had many of its parts missing or breaking up, - “put yourself comfortable before we start the training.”

Trixie looked at Greed curiously as she tried to understand his words.

“Training? Aren’t you going to first teach Trixie a new way of alchemy?”

Greed looked at her relaxed and without a worry while holding a finger up, which was pointing at her.

“Yes, we are, but alchemy is something that requires both a mental and physical fortitude. You need both a strong mind as well as a physical body and I need to see how well are you both on the mind as well as the body before I can properly plan a way to teach you.”

Trixie frowned at that, ready to complain, but the memory of Greed recovering from that wound made her just snort as a response and search for a place to sit down.

She started to look around the slum to see where she could sit properly but, to her surprise, there wasn’t much where she could put herself comfortable. There were only two wooden chairs, one of them being used by Weight Lifter (who was on the table, taking out the stuff in their bags) and the other one being empty, the sofa Greed was sitting on and only one bed, which is what brought the most curiosity to Trixie.

“Wait? Who sleeps on the bed?”

Trixie’s question prompted the dragon and unicorn to look back at the worn out bed, then to each other, and seriously responded at the same time.

“We take turns.”

And seeing no other place free, she decided to sit on the worn out and not so comfortable bed, making Trixie wonder how those two managed to get some sleep on the thing.

It was during this time when Trixie would try to look at how Greed and Weight Lifter behaved on their private time. She started to see how Weight Lifter just started to pull out, with his hooves, flasks, glasses and other similar things to hold liquids; he also pulled out some books, quills, feathers and, most strange of all, flowers and fruits (being the only things he touched with his magic) which then prompt him to start reading the books, hold some of the fruits and then take some notes on one of his ledgers.

Greed, meanwhile, just stood there quietly as he started to space out, looking at the roof for a while. It was hard to tell if he was asleep or not, since he was looking away from Trixie, but, she guessed, he was probably awaken as he would, from time to time, pick up a book and read a few pages before putting it back down and then space out again.

Trixie wasn’t sure how long this lasted, she felt as if this lasted a few hours but, from all she knew, these were only a couple of minutes. Nonetheless, her patience was wearing thin and she wanted to either learn a new trick for her show or to leave this wretched place.

“Trixie thought that you were going to teach her something? When are we going to train?”

Greed turned around and gave her a simple look before responding with nod.

“I think this is a good moment to start our training” -. He then lift himself up and started to move a few meters away from the place. – “Come, if we are going to train, I would like it to be out of the working zone. We wouldn’t like our stuff to get damaged because we weren’t careful enough.”

Trixie nodded while rolling her eyes, finally getting what she wanted, and started to follow Greed a few meters away from the slum they had as a house. When Greed got to a point where he felt safe to teach her, he turned around and asked Trixie (while still holding his humble smile) what did she know of alchemy in general. Taken aback by this question, she tried to respond at the best of her knowledge.

“Well, from what Trixie can remember” -, she said while holding a hoof on her mouth as she was thinking about the subject, - “alchemy is looked as a weakened version of what we have today known as magic.”

She then started to look at the walls as if they held the little information that she was trying to remember.

“Unlike unicorn magic, which can be used in multiple ways with the user being the only limiting factor, most of the time, alchemy has many stiff rules that makes it practically useless when compared to what an unicorn can usually do with common magic.”

Greed simply smiled and started to add.

“Well, yes, and that is why, what I’m going to teach you on alchemy, will really help you out on your show.”

Trixie looked at Greed as if he grew an extra head and wondered what he meant by that as she let him talking.

“You see, what many of the scholars don’t understand when studying alchemy, is that it allows you to do things that goes beyond what magic can actually do, but only if you work by the rules and the main one is the Rule of Equivalent Exchange.”

Now this got Trixie’s attention.

“Rule of Equivalent Exchange? What is that?”

Greed simply stood calm and continued.

“It’s quite simple, actually, it consist on the idea that, in order to get something, you must first give out something else of equal value” -. He then started to grab some fragments of rock on the floor as well as an empty bottle he found on the ground and continued. – “All of these materials you can find surrounding you are made from certain components and, with alchemy and by understanding them, you can decompose almost anything and then remake it into that of which you want to create but only on an equivalent level of what you used first as a base for the alchemy to work. Did you get that?”

Trixie had a brief moment where she almost lost Greed, not that she would ever admit it, but she managed to understand him. She nodded.

“Good” -. Greed Continued. – “Now you understand the main rule to do transmutation through alchemy from my homeland.”

At this Trixie’s curiosity increased.

“Wait, and how is that different from Equestria’s alchemy?”

Greed decided to wave his index finger at her in a negative form as he responded with confidence.

“Ah, ah. That is something we may cover later, suffice to say for now, Equestria’s base knowledge of alchemy is grounded on a very different, fundamental level; compared to what the alchemy I know off is based on. Very different at their core and is that what will give you a great trick the next time you decide to impress your audience with something never seen before.”

It was then when Trixie started to feel that same sensation she got when Greed offered her that deal just a few hours ago. The sensation of being given something beyond compare and that would give her the edge needed to finally defeat Twilight Sparkle.

“And what is that trick you are talking about?”

Trixie thought that Greed was finally going to talk but he just decided to smile and keep on waving his index finger.

“No, no, Trixie. We are too far from that, you still need to understand that fundamental levels of what my alchemy is based on. The Rule of Equivalent Exchange was the first step and we now have to take the next metaphorical step: Everything is connected.”

To say that Trixie was confused would be an understatement for that didn’t make much sense to her. Yes, somethings were connected, like magic, plants, etc. But how was possible for everything in general to be connected? Connected to what for that matter? And, most importantly, how was that related to Alchemy?

To this, Trixie decided to respond with what many would respond: total anger and bafflement.

“What does that even mean and how is that related to alchemy!? Are you trying to make a fool out of The Great and Powerful Trixie!?”

Unbeknown to them, Thorax, who heard Trixie’s outburst, would mumble, – “there’s no need for that, you already do it on your own” -, and continued on his analysis over the everfree plants as he then started to pulverize some of them and added them to some of the glasses.

Greed, meanwhile, would simply shrug and respond with complete certainty.

“Look, this is a fundamental principle for alchemy in general. If you cannot understand this, then you failed in alchemy overall” -. His face then started to smile, showing his sharp teeth, and added. – “Is The Great and Powerful Trixie admitting that she cannot understand this?”

Trixie started to blush, taken aback by Greed’s challenge, and she decided to respond the exact way Greed was expecting her to act.

“Nonsense, The Great and Powerful Trixie is capable of understanding anything she dares to understand” -. She then gave a thought to what Greed said and added, quite humbly. – “But The Great and Powerful Trixie would appreciate if some clarity could be given.”

Greed put his right hand on his chin and decided to think about it for a moment. For how long he did, Trixie wasn’t sure but, in the end, he decided to accept Trixie’s request.

“Alright then” -, Greed started to say with the same confident tone he always wore on his face, - “I suppose I could give you some help.”

He then decided to get closer to Trixie and, when he was face to face, he asked her with his cocky grin.

“Do you know what happens to a plant when it dies, or rather, why it can die?”

Trixie tried to think about it but, as hard as she tried, only one logical conclusion came to her head.

“It can die because it has no sun to keep it alive?”

Greed frowned at that, so he decided to go back to where Weight Lifter was located as he responded.

“Technically correct but that’s not the answer we’re looking for.”

Trixie was about to shout in frustration when Greed added.

“Perhaps you should stick around Weight Lifter if you want to get a better idea of what I mean.”

Trixie, once more, was about to complain but the question was challenging enough to keep her mind working, so she decided to follow suit and went to see in what was Weight Lifter working on. Unsurprisingly enough, it was quite boring as all he did was looking at some plants, apparently create a drink out of them and take notes from whatever resulted from the drink.

After watching for a while, Trixie decided to take a look at the notes he was making but, before she could even grab them, Weight Lifter quickly levitated them back into his saddlebag as he started to glare at Trixie, making her to make a sheepish grin before trying to justify herself.

“Sorry, but Trixie is quite bored and hoped that, whatever you have written would give Trixie some idea of what Greed meant with his ‘everything is connected’ nonsense.”

Weight Lifter looked at her for a moment as he tried to give a thought to Trixie’s current mental challenge. In the end though, his mind didn’t give him a proper answer.

“Sorry but I don’t think I can figure that one out” -. His mind tried to crack the code once more but frustration was his only response. – “I... actually can’t figure it out as hard as I try. Greed actually wants you to figure it out? Are you sure it wasn’t a trick question?”

For a brief moment, Trixie considered the possibility but, after seeing the sleeping Greed and remembering how he was looking at her after showing his regenerating ability, she quickly dismissed the idea.

“No, Trixie is certain that there is an answer to this riddle and she plans to find it.”

After that, Trixie remained idle for two hours before giving up and tried to see what Weight Lifter was doing. Again.

“So” -, Trixie said as she tried to process the unicorn’s explanation, - “you are seeing what kind of drinks can be made with those plants and fruits?” – After seeing Weight Lifter nod, Trixie made the next question. – "And from where did you get them?" - She got shocked when Weight Lifter responded that it came from the Everfree Forest, after digesting the answer, she made the real question that should be made. - “Is that ethical or legal?”

Weight Lifter shrugged as he aimed his right foreleg at Greed’s sleeping figure.

“Well, according to the one who decided to spend multiple sleepovers reading Equestrian laws, yes, we can do it (especially because nopony else has done any type of drink with content from the Everfree) but we’re taking our time to ensure that the drinks will be as safe as an alcoholic drink (or infusion) can be.”

Trixie gave the drinks a glance as she noticed how some of this tea like drinks (like the light red one or the yellow one) looked quite nice but there were others (like the deep blue or the smoking purple drinks) that looked more like downright poison rather than a relaxing drink.

“And are you sure those two are safe to drink?”

Weight Lifter looked at the blue and purple drinks with complete uncertainty on his features as he tried to make a comprehensible answer.

“I’m… actually not sure. The blue one is made out of concentrated Poison Joke while the purple one was made of…” – He then started to read through his notes to see what was the fruit that created such horrible looking drink but he then started to frown. – “Actually, I cannot find the note regarding them.”

He then turned toward the sleeping beauty known as Greed.

“Hey! Greed!”

The purple dragon started to move and looked into Weight Lifter’s direction. Trixie took note that Greed had a habit of sleeping with his glasses on.

“What did we use to create this purple drink?”

Greed watched the dubious drink for a brief moment before looking back at where the other drinks were located. After some brief thinking, he quickly responded.

“I think that one was made out of some blue berries we found on the Everfree and it originally was between blue and lavender, so it’s interesting to see the drink being purple now.”

Weight Lifter quickly started to look back at his notes, while Greed decided to get closer to the drink, and quickly found what he was looking for.

“Oh yeah, here they are. It says here that eating them may cause the user to feel in a state between awaken and happiness but it can also cause rash on the skin.”

As Weight Lifter said this, Greed took the drink and started to smell it, much to Trixie’s disgust.

“Weight Lifter, when did we make this drink?”

Hearing Greed, the unicorn decided to look back at his notes and answered quickly.

“About two days ago, why?”

Greed then decided to make one more sniff to the drink before answering with glee.

“Because I think it’s already fermented.”

Weight Lifter quickly took note of it as he saw Greed dumping the whole drink on him, much to the two unicorn’s worry.

“Are you insane?” – Shouted Trixie with complete worry in her voice. – “Aren’t you worried this could kill you?”

Greed smiled briefly as he simply answered with a complete lack of worry on his voice.

“Don’t worry, I doubt a simple drink can kill me off that easily. Besides, someone must drink this stuff to know if it’s ready for the bar and I don’t plan to put others in risk when I know I can easily survive this stuff.”

A few seconds passed as Greed’s face started to smile but his body then started to throw small red sparks, followed by Greed no longer looking happy and then talked to Weight Lifter with complete calm.

“Weight Lifter. I think we better mix this thing with other drinks, otherwise, I doubt it’s safe to give to future customers.”

Weight Lifter quickly took note of it and started to see what kind of drinks could be compatible with it as Greed told him how it tasted and what he felt after drinking the beverage.

To hear that he felt invincible and capable of seeing the flow of light wasn’t taken lightly, especially for poor Trixie who couldn’t grasp how Greed was using himself as a guinea pig for something as dumb as a bar.

“Greed” -, Trixie started to say as soon as her mind processed what she just saw, - “could you please tell Trixie why you, having an ability that goes beyond what any other living thing, in all of Equestria, could even dream to have, are wasting all of that on something as pointless and stagnant as a drinking bar?”

For a brief moment Greed looked at Trixie with a puzzling look, made even harder to solve since Greed never removed his shades. He then moved his hand behind his neck as he started to give a warm smile and chuckled a bit.

“I suppose that is a good question, after all, why to aim for a little bar when I could strive for more, right?” – He then started to look up to the sun and his smile started to increase as his sharp teeth started to show. – “I suppose it could be said that it’s the first step of my overall plan.”

This caught both Trixie’s and Weight Lifter’s attention as they started to pay more attention to Greed’s figure overall and, for a brief moment, it looked as if his body started grow a little bit but both of the unicorns dismissed the idea and forgot about it as Greed continued to talk.

“I am Greed, I want everything but, in order to get what I want, I first need to make a name that everybody can get to know. To be known, I first need to tons upon tons of money; and, to have so much money, I first need to work for it.”

He then started to look back at both Trixie and Weight Lifter with his confident face, as it radiated a feeling of trust that made them want to follow him.

“That bar is just how I decided to start all of this but do not think I plan to stay there. I plan to reach the top of the world and, I promise, you’ll be there with me to watch it.”

He then looked at the drinks, plants, fruits and other instruments they gathered from the Everfree Forest and continued.

“And, regarding the drinks, look: if I didn’t drink them, then they would be the dinner of some creature from the Everfree so I was just ending their life cycle.”

As she heard this, Trixie decided to think about what Greed just said and mulled on his words for the next following hours as she saw how Weight Lifter would make a beverage that Greed would later drink to see if it was safe or not to drink (yet) with some of Greed’s comments regarding the effects of the liquids he ingested before his abilities nullified the ailments.

“This one” -, he said talking about the yellow liquid Weight Lifter made as an infusion, - “tasted like honey but I think it gave me an indigestion” -, hearing his stomach still grumbling even though he should no longer feel any side effects brought some concern to the three figures, - “and I think I need to go now, I’ll be back soon!”

And, just like that, Greed ran for the closest place he could use as a bathroom while Weight Lifter quietly decided to write down a potential name for the drink:

“Sweet Express.”

Seeing all of this forced Trixie to release a chuckle as she decided to keep on thinking how Greed was now giving back what he took.

And it was here when the epiphany came to her. Trixie’s eyes grew wide as shock filled her face, her mind finally understanding what Greed was trying to make her understand.

“Everything is connected.”

Weight Lifter looked at her with curiosity as he wanted to know if Trixie finally figured out Greed’s riddle.

“Trixie finally gets it: the plants get their food from the sun, they are eaten by another creature, which is then eaten by another one and so on and so forth until it reaches an apex predator, who will then die and give all that energy back to the ground, which will be then used to create a new plant and the cycle begins anew.”

She then remembered Greed’s words of what he plans to achieve and realized that even all of that was connected.

“Trixie sees now” -. She then started to remember her own lifestyle before Ponyville, how she used to work hard to get some bits and even her plans to get revenge on Sparkle and realized the truth. – “If Trixie wants to achieve her dreams, she needs to put more than just words into it. She needs to give more than just a show; she needs to give her best in order to get what she wants so much.”

“Well, I’m glad to know you got it so fast.”

Trixie turned to see Greed just coming back from wherever he went to and he was looking at her with his usual confident grin. Trixie just smiled and started to move as if she were in the middle of one of her stage shows.

“For The Great and Powerful Trixie, there is no riddle too hard to solve neither challenge too hard to surpass.”

Weight Lifter snickered at that.

“Yeah, right. And Greed giving you so many hints had nothing to do with it.”

Trixie blushed as she snarled at Weight Lifter for his comment.

“Oh, shush you. The Great and Powerful Trixie would have still solved it eventually.”

“Anyways” -, Greed interrupted before the situation could escalate, - “what matters now is that you finally understood both the main rule of alchemy as well as its most important principle. By understanding the meaning of these two, we can now start practicing alchemy.”

When Trixie heard this, she started to look at Greed with anxiousness, wondering what kind arcane secrets he would show her. Her mind started to create images and dreams of herself using vast and powerful magic that would swoop down Twilight Sparkle and would earn her the love and appreciation of all the ponies in Equestria.

“Oh, Great and Powerful Trixie!” – Begged the Twilight in Trixie’s mind. – “Please show mercy and accept me as your student for you are the greatest unicorn in Equestria.”

She could dream of Princess Celestia recognizing her superior skills.

“I Princess Celestia, hereby decree that The Great and Powerful Trixie shall become a professor at my school for gifted unicorns where she’ll be the first unicorn in history to teach alchemy.”

Trixie couldn’t stop herself from dreaming on the possibilities. She was certain that the journey would be hard but it would be so worth it.

That is why it was required from Greed to throw a piece of chalk at her head to bring Trixie’s mind back to the land of the living.

Trixie was about to shout at him, but she then noticed that he was looking at her seriously while his right index finger was pointing at the chalk he threw at her.

“Alright then, now that I have your attention once again, I think we can continue our training.”

His smile then came as if he were anticipating something great to come from Trixie.

“Draw a circle.”

Author's Notes:

If you want to support me and/or want to commission me to do more stories similar to this, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day.

Cultural Exchange

Weeks have passed since the wedding, in Canterlot, that revealed the existence of changelings to Equestria. To say that things have gotten under control would be, at the very least, an understatement.

The ponies were now in a state of distrust, no longer sure of who were they talking to, and the Royal Guard, being defeated by Chrysalis’s troops, only left everypony with a low morale. It didn’t matter the guards were now helping to track the changelings, all the citizens could see where changelings in disguise with uniforms.

This state of distrust was felt across all of Equestria, the ponies were unable to feel safe as, they wondered, when and where would the changelings strike next.

With one exception.

There was one pony, which was ignoring all the things that kept the common populace preoccupied. It’s not that she wasn’t aware of it, far from it. Rather, it was more that she had other issues in her mind, issues which, she considered, would help her to save those who were still in immediate danger.

As of now, she was in Ponyville, locked on her room, studying what little information she could gather in alchemy while she added, on her chalkboard, any theory she could gather, in the meantime, that would, hopefully, help her on the quest of getting back her number one assistant.

How long did she spend locked on her room? She didn’t know nor care. What she cared about, was how she was going to make her first experiment, right then, and see if she was, one step, closer to get back Spike.

She looked at the floor; a series of materials (sticks, colored gems, bits and some glasses) piled up together, and started to focus her magic into it. At the beginning, nothing happened, but, as she started to determine what she wanted and her magic started to pore, the materials began to shine and move around each other. Twilight watched with fascination as the materials in front of her moved; they seemed to try and fuse together as some of them started to melt, with Twilight, as she felt her magic draining quickly from her, focusing hard on making sure her experiment worked, for it looked like the materials would stop moving if she wasn’t paying enough attention.

For a brief moment, Twilight felt how the objects were going stop, either because of her lack of concentration; a lack of magic; or some unknown factor to her, but she never faltered and continued. In the end, the materials finished their movement and finally came together into one object, bringing joy to Celestia’s faithful apprentice (even though she was, both mentally and physically, exhausted) as she saw her experiment being a complete success.

Meanwhile, in the outside, a group of ponies were gathering in front of Ponyville’s library: A blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane, a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane, a pink earth pony with a puffy pink mane, a white unicorn with a purple and well cared mane, her little sister and the little sister's pegasus friend.

They were in front of Ponyville’s library in the hopes of making a very important decision, the only problem, though, was that they couldn’t decide how to make the first step towards it.

“Alright, here’s the plan” -, said a, very, focused Rainbow Dash as she was looking at a piece of parchment, - “Pinkie Pie will enter first to distract her. Then, while she is distracted, I’ll enter in and grab Twilight from behind. Then you” -, she then aimed her hoof at Fluttershy, who could barely look at Rainbow Dash as the plan was laid, - “Fluttershy, will take care of keeping Twilight steady with your stare while Rarity” -,she then aimed her hoof at Rarity, who looked like she wasn’t even taking Rainbow Dash seriously, - “will hold her down with her magic.”

She then started to look at her friends, hoping they were paying attention to her, and continued laying out her plan.

“Once we have Twilight pinned down, we’ll try to make her listen to us and then drag her down into the outside world. Got it?”

Pinkie Pie saluted Rainbow Dash while Fluttershy could barely move her head, Rarity, meanwhile, was barely looking at Rainbow Dash, who wanted to make sure Rarity listened to her.

“Rarity, got it!?”

Rarity was having none of it.

“Oh, please, Rainbow Dash. Are you listening to yourself? You are talking as if the pony behind those doors weren’t our friend to begin with. What’s gotten into you!?”

“Oh, come on, Rarity!” – Almost shouted Rainbow Dash. – “It’s been ages since Twilight locked herself in and we must take her out before she becomes a hermit.”

“Rainbow Dash” -, said Rarity as she tried her best to not let the worst of her to come out… yet, - “I’ll remind you, dear, that it’s only been a couple of weeks since Twilight Sparkle decided to go into her library and research on a way to recover Spike.”

Rainbow Dash was now wanting to explain why it was so important to get Twilight out.

“Ages!”

Rarity was, very, close to shout at Rainbow Dash a piece of what she was thinking of her plan, but Fluttershy stepped in and prevented the verbal massacre from happening.

“Well, she also needs to go and see Applejack. She only went to see her once in all this time she's been hospitalized.”

Rainbow Dash then aimed her hoof at Fluttershy as if the ultimate response was given.

“Exactly, it’s been too long for her and we need to make sure she is alright” -. She then started to move into the library’s door. – “And knowing how she is when she gets into books, we better make sure to take her out before it’s too-“

Rainbow Dash was then cut off as the library’s door was opened by an excited Twilight, who almost failed to notice her friends being right in front of her but, completely, missed how Rainbow Dash was crushed by the door she just opened.

“Oh” -, those were Twilight’s first words as she saw her friends for the first time in weeks, - “great, you are already here- wait, where is Rainbow Dash?” – She then saw the library’s door moving, revealing a crushed Rainbow Dash, who fell to the floor while leaving a mark on the library’s wall. – “Perfect, you are all here.”

Rainbow Dash then lifted herself up, as if nothing wrong happened to her, and moved right in front of Twilight.

“Nuh uh! We’re still missing Applejack!”

Twilight blushed as she remembered her good friend, who was sent to the hospital a few weeks ago, and asked.

“Oh, yeah. How is she? Do you think we still have time to pay her a visit?”

Fluttershy, then, decided to speak to Twilight and explain a critical piece of information that, she considered, had to be pointed out.

“She is going to be given the leave today, actually.”

Twilight blinked as she started to dwell on that piece of information.

“Really…?” – She then started to think for a brief moment and asked. – “For how long have I been lock-, studying, on the library?”

Pinkie then got close to Twilight and continued.

“Well, considering the amount of parties I’ve made since then, divided between the hours Applejack has been on the hospital and the average of times Spike made sure you didn’t lock yourself in…”

As Pinkie was making the calculation, Rarity decided to answer for her.

“Ever since you last visited Applejack, which is over two weeks.”

“Exactly!”

Twilight then decided to look at herself, noticing how she was a bit thinner than she remembered, and realized that she may have misbehaved regarding her personal health and hygiene.

“Oh, yeah, I suppose you are right” -. Her mind then started to process all the possible moves she should do and opted, clearly, for the most optimal. – “Well, I suppose I can take care of that after paying Applejack a visit.”

She was then magically grabbed by Rarity, who gave her a sniff, and, after showing her disgust with her smell, retorted.

“Sorry, darling, but I think it would be more prudent to clean you up first before visiting Applejack.”

And, against Twilight’s wishes, Rarity entered into the library, with librarian in tow, and started to clean up Twilight Sparkle. Making Pinkie laugh, and Rainbow Dash feeling angry at, the idea of, bringing Twilight back into the hole she had to get out from.

This is the reason why, Applejack would find herself only accompanied by her little sister, for a while longer, on her hospital room. She has been, in fact, using her time in, almost, solitude to think.

She did get plenty of visits, though. She was visited fairly often by her family, including Granny Smith and a very worried Applebloom, and her friends, except for Twilight, but that didn’t stop her from feeling alone when the visits were no longer available. On this occasion, Granny Smith was too tired to leave and Big Mac was busy with the work at home, leaving only Applebloom with enough time to go and stay with Applejack for her leave.

It was during this lonely hours, before her leave was made official, when Applejack would think on many things.

She thought of how her family needed her, she thought of how her recklessness made her family worry and, more often than not, of how she failed to even stun Greed.

Applejack looked at her hind legs once more, they were still in a cast, and no matter how glad she was to be released from it, that day, she still couldn’t take out of her mind the display she had with Greed. She was certain, without a doubt, of her throwing the biggest buck she ever made in her entire life, strong enough to even harm a tree, and Greed, even though he was sent flying, was barely hindered by it.

In the scant memories she held of that day, many fogged by the pain of her legs breaking, she could still remember how he looked so unfazed by her kick. He should have stayed there for at least a few minutes on the ground but no, in less than a minute he was looking at her, helpless, weak, fragile; and, just like that, he knocked her down.

As much as Applejack wanted to stop it from affecting her, her mind just couldn’t but think of how unfair it was. No matter how hard she tried to help into bringing Spike back, she just didn’t have what it takes and there was nothing she could do about it.

“Sis, are you ok?”

Applejack looked up to see Applebloom staring at her with concern, something else Applejack felt guilty off. Letting her little sister to be so close to a situation like that twice (first with the changelings and then with Greed) in where she couldn’t protect her.

“Yeah, Applebloom” -, almost lied Applejack, - “Ah’m just thinking on some stuff.”

Aplebloom looked at her for a brief moment before asking again.

“Are you thinking about Spike again?”

Applejack winced at the mention of that.

“Am Ah so obvious?”

Applebloom looked down for a moment before answering, hoping that it wouldn’t make Applejack to feel any worse.

“Nah, Ah’ve just seen you making that face every time Ah visit you.”

Seeing her sister flinch, made Applebloom doubt if she actually made it better for her.

“Ah get ya” -. Continued Applebloom. – “Ah saw how that monster was taking you down” -. Applebloom’s ears then went down. – “And all Ah could do was run away to ask fer help. At least you tried to stop him, all Ah could do was only stare at it.”

Applebloom could still remember how Greed took over Spike, back in Canterlot, and, ever since she realized what happened to Spike in general, she always wondered if there was something she could have done to prevent it. Maybe Spike wouldn’t have accepted that deal if she had something to fight off the changelings, right?

“Don’t think like that, Applebloom” -. Said Applejack, interrupting Applebloom’s line of thought. – “Just by looking fer help you did a lot fer me, if it weren’t fer you, Ah probably wouldn’t have gotten to the hospital so quickly.”

That did made Applebloom cheer, especially knowing that Applejack’s cast was going to be removed today.

“Yer, right, sis” -. Responded Applebloom. – “And Ah’m going to help ya out with the recovery so, in no time, you’ll be applebucking back with Big Mac and me, right?”

Seeing her sister trying to cheer her up so badly, infected Applejack with a smile and made her to be just as cheerful.

“Yer right, Applebloom, Ah’ll be Applebucking before ya know it.”

She then turned to the door, medic and nurse entering with the utensils needed to remove Applejack’s cast, but no friends in sight. Even after removing the cast imprisoning her legs, there was no trace of her friends inside the hospital, much to Applejack’s worry. Granted, she was expecting this from Twilight and her hermit way of studying but not from Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie or even Rainbow Dash.

“Maybe they’re trying to get Twilight to come with them?”

Hearing her sister’s reasoning brought some ease to Applejack, and made her chuckle, but she would’ve preferred it if they tried to do that earlier. Who knows how long it could take to pull Twilight out of her studies, especially now that Spike was gone.

Thankfully, it wasn’t as hard as Applejack feared for, right as the hospital’s doors were opening, she managed to see all of her friends, as well as Applebloom’s, getting close to where she was while they were discussing about… something.

Thankfully, they all stopped arguing as they looked their friend in the distance, strong and standing, and they all charged up to hug-tackle her with as much happiness and care as they could muster.

Suffice to say, Applejack felt all of her worries melt away.

“Ah'm so glad to see ya’ll, what took you so long?” – She then gave Twilight a look and noticed how thin she was, compared to a couple of weeks ago, and deduced. – “Were ya’ll trying to get Twilight out of her library?”

Twilight blushed and remained silent, prompting Rainbow Dash to respond.

“Yeah but, thankfully, the egghead left on her own, so it wasn’t so hard to bring her here” -. She then glanced at Rarity. – “But then, Rarity brought her back because she considered Twilight to be ‘too dirty’.”

“Pardon moi, but it would have been too inconsiderate of us to come and see Applejack, while Twilight would still smell like a hobo.”

Applejack wanted to hold her laugh, but seeing Rarity trying to hold a snarl as she justified herself was too much. Her friends looked at her with concern, but Applejack’s words just said everything needed to be said.

“Ah missed ya’ll!”

Hearing her friend being so glad, all of the ponies in there decided to laugh for a good chunk of minutes before they decided to leave. As they did, Applejack decided to ask Twilight for the reason of her studies.

“Well” -, started Twilight, - “it took me a long while of research but, I think, I may have managed to find a new way to do magic.”

All the mares, and fillies, looked at Twilight baffled, wondering what could she mean by it. The librarian, meanwhile, was searching for something on her saddlebag.

“And” -, she continued as she found what she was looking for and pulled it out, - “this! Is the evidence of it!”

When her friends gave a look at what Twilight was holding with her, they saw a small, wooden, statue of Princess Celestia adorned with various small decorations that gave the statue multiple colors. The ponies could see how there were colored gems in the statue's mane, making it a very faithful representation of Celestia's, while her hooves and crown were adorned with some bronze-like metal with a, small, cap of, transparent, glass covering the statue as a whole. It was nice looking, but nothing special to the eyes of the mares.

“Uhm, Twilight, dear” -, said a worried Rarity, - “do not take me wrong, the statue is nice looking, sure; but, how is that going help us getting Spike back?”

Twilight’s smile didn’t falter at the incredulity coming from her friends; instead, she decided to explain them, what made her achievement so great.

“Girls, what makes this statue so groundbreaking isn’t the statue itself, is how I made it.”

Now they were getting more interested in the statue.

“You see, as great as magic can be, there’s just so much you can do with it. In example: you can’t just create a statue with magic; it can be really hard, even if you managed to find the tools to create it” -. She then motioned once again at the statue being held by her hoof. – “This statue, though, was created with a mixture of magic and science: alchemy.”

“Hold on, hold on!” – Interrupted Rainbow Dash. – “Are you saying that you used a new type of magic to create a statue? How will that even bring us Spike?”

“Rainbow” -, responded Twilight as she was going to start lecturing her friend, - “alchemy isn’t just a type of magic. It’s a method consisting of using magic in a more scientific way.”

“Great, more egghead stuff.”

“It’s not that complicated. All I have to do is to apply the magic by using a set of rules-“

“Egghead stuff!”

“-And…!” – Said Twilight in a tone of voice that spelled how her patience shouldn’t be tested, and continued. – “If you follow those rules, you can create things that magic alone can’t” -. She then motioned once more at her statue. – “Such as this statue.”

Rainbow Dash simply shrugged it off and pretended to not be too interested on it.

“Ok then, you found something that can make an unicorn more awesome, cool for you and Rarity, but how would that help us to get Spike back?”

Twilight simply grinned as she responded to Rainbow Dash’s concerns.

“It’s more than just that, it’s not exclusive to unicorns.”

All of Twilight’s friends stopped moving, filled with shock, as Twilight’s words were being assimilated by them.

“Wait, wut?”

Twilight continued her lecture as she motioned at them to continue moving, hoping to reach the library soon and use the tools she had there to give a better explanation.

“I know, that’s what makes this so great. From what I gathered, since alchemy only requires magic to be used, it means that both pegasi and earth ponies can also use it, but through other means” -. She then motioned at Rainbow and Fluttershy’s wings; then at Applejack and Pinkie’s hooves, and continued. – “So you can all make alchemy if you want. All you need is the knowledge, and to follow the right procedures, for alchemy to be done by any of you. Isn’t that great?”

All of Twilight’s friends tried to register what she said, always giving the small statue some looks, and considered the possibilities. Applejack was the first to ask.

“So” -, she asked very carefully, - “that means that Ah could do that fancy magic with a buck?”

Twilight considered her question seriously and, after some thinking, she responded.

“Well, yeah, I think so. Why do you ask?”

Applejack looked up, remembering her encounter with Greed, and answered calmly.

“Just wondering…”

As they were starting to reach the library, all of them thinking of the possibilities, Twilight decided to continue her lecture.

“Now, I know this sounds amazing, but there are some things that I haven’t fixed so far.”

As her friends were looking at her with curiosity, now fully invested into what she was teaching them, the scholar opened the door to the library and continued.

“In example: just making this statue was much harder than I expected.”

This brought the interest of Rainbow Dash.

“How so?”

“Well, while I managed to follow the theory and rules, the amount of focus and magic it was requiring from me to keep the process was exhaustively big.”

That started to put all the mares worried as they considered the implication of it, if Twilight Sparkle herself was having a problem with this, then the problems a common unicorn would have were borderline impossible.

“But” -, Twilight continued, - “I don’t plan to give up yet” -. This slightly cheered her friends, who now wanted to know more. – “I want to make some more attempts before making any statement, but I think I may know what the problem with the process is.”

“Really?” – Asked Rarity. – “Then, please, tell us what is it.”

Twilight continued sharing her knowledge with her friends as they were trying to see if they could help somehow.

“I think the main problem is, a lack of connection between us and that of which we want to transform” -. As she noticed her friends confused stare, Twilight explained. – “When I started to make the transformation, I noticed the lack of something capable of focusing the magic I was pouring into the objects, without it, most of the magic used was lost due to the magic itself leaking into every direction possible. I need to figure out what could help me keeping all that magic concentrated, that, in turn, will make the whole process with alchemy much easier to do so.”

“And” -, asked Fluttershy, - “have you figured out what is needed?”

Twilight gave a look to her notes and decided to share some theories.

---

“Draw a circle?” – Trixie gave Greed an incredulous look as he told her the next step into alchemy. – “Just… why?”

Greed continued looking at Trixie with complete confidence, his smile never leaving, and answered as if he were a master on the subject.

“You see, to make the process of alchemy, which is called Transmutation, you need for something that can catalyze the process between yourself and the objects you are going to transmute. This method to catalyze the transmutation was found, by alchemist, with the drawing of a circle” -, as he said this, Trixie started to draw a circle on the ground with the chalk Greed threw at her, - “and, to improve (or refine) the process, the alchemist add to the circle a series of symbols which works to add more complexity to the transmutation.”

As she heard this, Trixie stopped drawing the circle and looked up at Greed, hoping he could provide her of at least a hint regarding what kind of symbols she should add. Greed looked at her, and simply told her.

“You can start with a triangle. An equilateral one whose points touches the circle.”

Trixie obeyed and continued the drawing as Greed explained her how the equestrians, by lacking the drawing of a circle, made the transmutation process much more difficult, to the point of making alchemy almost impossible. ‘Weight Lifter’, meanwhile, was paying close attention to what Greed was teaching and taking into consideration what he was saying.

If the ponies had a way to make alchemy through their bodies and just by adding magic, then, was it possible for changelings to do so as well? If so, did their shape shifting abilities gave them a possible edge? And, could Greed’s knowledge be applied to them as well?

This, and more, were the things crossing through ‘Weight Lifter’s’ mind, as he wondered if there was something in here he could bring to his fellow changelings.

As Trixie finished drawing the circle, she tried to wonder what could she do to prove her skills, Greed quickly grabbed a bunch of bottles, which were scattered around the place, and put them where Trixie’s circle was drawn, much to her confusion.

“What are you doing now?”

“To do the transmutation” -, Greed responded, - “you’ll need some materials to do alchemy and using glasses made out of sand are among the safest options.”

Trixie nodded and, once she looked at the bottles, started to focus her horn into the circle, only to have Greed stopping her once more.

“Why are you interrupting Trixie now? She thought that the circle alone would suffice to make the transmutation much easier.”

“Yes, it will” -, Greed said, - “but I am teaching you more than just making better alchemy. I am teaching you a new way of making alchemy and, for that, I need you to join you front hooves first. Like this.”

Greed then moved his claws together, and then motioned to put them on the circle. He then explained.

“What all equestrian theorists say, is that you must pour your magic into the objects and focus to make the transmutation. But what they don’t get, besides the need of the circle, is that magic isn’t mandatory to do alchemy” -. He then noticed how Trixie was looking at him with curiosity, but confused at the same time, prompting him to continue. – “What you need to do alchemy is just energy, it doesn’t matter from where.”

Seeing Trixie’s eyes bulge in realization made Greed’s smile to increase, fully prideful of his teaching skills, and continued.

“The energy that equestrians try to use, more often than not, is their own magic. But you can use other sources of energy, like the magic around you, if you can feel how it moves, or” -, and he really emphasized on this part, - “you can use the energy from the planet itself. Since the planet has its own type of energy, you can use it through the circle to make alchemy.”

Trixie processed the information with all the details she could remember. The more she analyzed it, the more she realized the true magnificence of what Greed taught her.

“With this…”

She wanted to say it, but a little part of her was too skeptic to say it, leaving it up to Greed to say the words as close to her as possible.

“… You can do alchemy without magic” -. He then added, hoping that Trixie could remember what she was being given. – “It would be your greatest illusionist trick: to do magic without using your horn.”

The two unicorns close to Greed stopped thinking for a moment, unable of believing what they were being told. It was just too surreal to be true but Greed wasn’t giving them enough time to think; he wanted to let clear all the details before Trixie could do her first attempt at alchemy.

“And, by joining your two hooves together, you are taking the last step needed to make the process, for the two hands act as the first step from your body to start the process.”

Trixie’s mind quickly focused back into what she was about to do and decided to, quickly, join her hooves and put them on the circle, focusing on what she wanted to do with the bottles but, to her dismay, nothing passed. She looked up to Greed, practically asking with her mind what went wrong, to which he said.

“Join your hooves, like this” -. He then repeated the action with his own claws, putting special emphasis in the way he did so. – “Like if you were praying to a god.”

Trixie then decided to put much more focus on her moves, she put her hooves together, almost praying that this worked, and put her hooves on the circle, trying to feel the planet’s energy, and tried to use it in those bottles as ‘Weight Lifter’ and Greed were looking at her.

For a brief moment, nothing happened, much to ‘Weight Lifter’s disappointment but, before anyone could even react, the circle started to shine.

Both Greed’s and ‘Weight Lifter’s eyes focused at the display of energy. They could feel it passing by, moving into the bottles as it started to melt them with complete ease. Weight Lifter was in shock at what he was seeing, a huge window of possibilities opening to him while Greed could feel how he was moving one step closer to his true goals, with Trixie now becoming into a very important piece in all of this.

Trixie could feel the energy moving at her will, as if it was waiting for her command while it was transmuting the bottles at the same time. She took her time with the bottles, knowing full well that energy would remain on the circle, as she morphed the glass into a shape she would find the most appealing.

‘Weight Lifter’ was sure that only brief seconds passed by, but it felt as if minutes were falling into him due to how Trixie was making sure that everything went the exact way she wanted.

In the end, though, the light show ended and, where once were a bunch of glass bottles over a circle, was now a green glass statue of The Great and Powerful Trixie, much to Trixie’s joy, who couldn’t stop herself from jumping into the air with pride, practically shouting how ‘she did it’, as both Greed and ‘Weight Lifter’ were hugging and congratulating her for the deed.

Trixie felt their hugs and, though she wouldn’t admit it, it felt very nice to be hugged, with something warm going through her being, as they were cheering for something she never thought was even possible.

She couldn’t wait to show Sparkle who was the best unicorn now.

---

“Well, sugar cube” -, started to say Applejack as she heard all of Twilight’s theories, even though she didn’t understand most of them, - “if you managed to think all of that in just a few weeks, then you are the best unicorn in all of Equestria.”

Twilight blushed as she heard her friends agreeing on Applejack’s words. She wasn’t really certain she deserved such praise.

“Oh, girls, thank you but I didn’t do that much. All I did was taking all this theories and put them all together, hay, I haven’t even tried them to see if they can actually work.”

“Oh, darling, don’t be so hard on yourself. Not many are capable of doing what you are doing right now. You should, at least, accept some credit for yourself.”

“Yeah, egghead, but, still, how is this related to save Spike from that blasted Greed?”

As Rainbow Dash finished her question, everypony in the room fell silent, also wanting to hear the answer. Twilight, meanwhile, adopted a serious look on her face as she tried to think on her next words.

“Does… does any of you remember my last encounter with Greed?”

“Uhm, yeah” -. Fluttershy answered. – “It was when you were close to get him back but a changeling stunned you, right?”

Twilight nodded, those memories still burning in her mind.

“Yes. It was then when Spike talked to me for the last time” -. Hearing her friends flinch at that, Twilight tried to hold back her emotions as she tried to continue answering. – “And, as much as he wanted to talk to me, he instead told me of how Greed once said that, in order to separate them, it’s required to know alchemy.”

At this, all of her friends gasped, including the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who were trying to read some of the stuff Twilight wrote.

“And, after seeing Greed silencing Spike, I figured out that there was some truth in it. Alchemy is needed to separate them. Now, I don’t know how Greed knew this or just how much he actually knows, but I am certain that, had Spike been lying, he wouldn’t have silenced him and tried to run away” -. She then looked at her friends, all of them looking back at her solemnly, and continued. – “That is why I need to search for more information on alchemy. The answer to save Spike is in here, perhaps there are even answers regarding Greed’s nature, and I plan on figure them out.”

When Twilight finished talking, all of her friends started to look at Twilight’s statue (her first step into alchemy) and, after a while, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie got close to Twilight’s notes and the prismatic Pegasus asked.

“So, this alchemy stuff is supposed to be really hard to do?” – As she saw Twilight nodding, Rainbow Dash just started to grin. – “Alright then, if this stuff can be done by pegasi, then I’ll become into the first equestrian pegasus and that will make me one of the most awesome pegasi in history.”

As Rainbow finished talking, the rest of her friends started to smile as well, and started to discuss how they were supposed to do all of this stuff. Seeing all of this support, Twilight started to smile, glad to see her friends getting as involved on this subject as she was, and got more certain than ever that Spike’s rescue was underway.

Author's Notes:

Feel free to comment, I think I am improving into this conversations between characters and I would like to hear your opinions of it.

Also, what do you think of the idea of Twilight and her friends doing alchemy (equestrian style)? What do you think will happen in the future? I have some of these thought out by now, but I like hearing opinions. Feel free to share.

If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

Under The Moon's Reflection

It was almost nighttime in a public park in Vanhoover.

The ponies were gathered, waiting for the show to start. They've been waiting for weeks for this show to get into their vicinity, after all, they heard that this unicorn was capable of some strange magic unlike any other but, the audience bet, this was all just words invented to make the magician more attractive to the onlookers.

As the ponies reached the park and started to rest, they noticed how there was one dragon and an unicorn offering drinks to sell. Some were worried about the sellers but, when the sellers showed their permits to sell alcohol, they would later calm down.

The sun was setting and the moon was rising, the fireworks began to lighting up the sky, surprising the audience with the light show that made a display of a pony committing various types of stunts. And while the ponies were trying to decipher the scenes being displayed, they heard a huge female voice that sounded like it came from various places at the same time.

"Greetings, citizens of Vanhoover! Are you ready to be surprised!?"

The ponies started to make slight cheers as they were expecting something out of this show.

"Then prepare yourself for one of the greatest mages in the history of Equestria!"

Those who were close and attentive enough would hear one of the waiters (a dragon wearing a pair of shades, despite getting dark, and a nice suit, covering his arms) chuckling at the voice's statement.

"Tonight, on her first grandiose appearance, The Great and Powerful Trixie!"

A great, purple smokescreen exploded from the middle of the stage and, as the smoke rescinded, a blue unicorn was now on stage, standing on two legs, wearing a purple cape and hat, with a whitish mane. She was with her closed eyes but she opened her eyes and her face was invaded with a confident smile that looked prepared to show them what was she capable off.

The audience didn't look very surprised by her presentation but she didn't seem to mind that very much, in fact, it looked more as if she was expecting that.

"Greetings my great audience. The Great and Powerful Trixie humbly thanks you for coming by."

She then started to move from her cart-stage to the audience.

"Please, enjoy your stay with the drinks provided by our good helpers, We're sure you'll enjoy the taste of their fine drinks as The Great and Powerful Trixie entertains you with magic never seen before, such as... this!"

Her horn gave out a huge flash that evoked shock on the audience and, as the light subsided, everyone got surprised by seeing she was now back at her cart with a series of objects, like ropes, pottery, chalk, a chair and a transparent jar containing dust, all of that appeared out of nowhere and it brought a lot of curiosity to the ponies watching her show.

Some ponies decided then to take a shot at the drinks while the stage artist picked up the ropes with her magic and started to tie herself on the legs.

"Can anyone on the audience come to test the rope and see how well tied The Great and Powerful Trixie is?"

For a brief moment, the audience was quiet, but a stallion then decided to raise and moved to where Trixie was and tested the ropes, certifying that they weren't loose.

"Thank you" -, responded Trixie, - "and now, The Great and Powerful Trixie is going to release herself, without! Using! Magic!"

All the unicorns gasped at this, followed by some who laughed at the absurdity of what the mare just said. If she was that well tied, there was no way for her to untie herself, although some bystanders noticed how her face never faltered at the laughs. In fact, it looked like she was expecting that.

She started to move her legs slowly, probably trying to release herself from her ropes, while the ponies were enjoying the drinks offered by the dragon and pony. As the unicorn was trying to untie herself, the sun was finally set down by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna started to raise the moon, meanwhile, many ponies were starting to doubt on the mare's capabilities.

"Hey, lady, don't you want so help?"

"Are you sure you are 'great and powerful'?"

"Perhaps she's new on this!"

And, just as the crowd was starting to rile up, to the surprise of all, the ropes were unbound and Trixie was free. She then turned to the shocked audience as she shouted, ignoring how the crowd was just mocking her, with absolute confidence.

"Could, please, someone from the audience come and see if the ropes were broken, cut or were influenced by magic?"

A stallion (different from the one who checked her ties just a while ago) came to the stage and verified that, indeed, the ropes were in perfect state and had no cuts or magical influence whatsoever. Trixie then moved forward and proclaimed.

"You've been witnesses to The Great and Powerful Trixie's astounding capabilities! Now, who want to see more!?"

The audience shouted with glee as Trixie then moved forward and started to draw a pair of circles, with some geometrical figures within them, with the chalk. As the audience looked at her drawings with curiosity, others were still skeptic of her skills. As Trixie finished drawing the circles, she picked up a vase, moved around it to show the audience that it was empty, she then placed it on one of the circles and looked at the audience.

"And now" -, she continued, - "for my next trick, I am going to teleport this empty pot from this circle to the other one."

Once again, this only prompted the audience to shout at her and taunt of how teleportation of objects wasn't anything new or amazing. As far they could tell, she wasn't doing much on magic worth calling 'great' or 'powerful'. Nonetheless, Trixie ignored them and used her magic to teleport the vase from one circle to another, and just as the vase appeared on the second circle, Trixie called for an earth pony stallion from the audience.

"Excuse me, sir, could you please hold this with your hooves right now?"

The stallion came and tried to hold the vase as he was looking bored from all of this. Trixe then let the vase drop on his hooves, just to slip through his hooves, drop and break into the circle, much to the Stallion's surprise. When the audience took a look at the broken vase, there was a small sized box that it looked like it was put inside the vase while it was being teleported.

"Behold!" - Shouted Trixie. - "The Great and Powerful Trixie transported the vase and manage to add something in it, certainly something not many unicorns can do!"

The audience were now stomping the ground in approval as Trixie was smiling at her success. She then looked at the broken vase, the stallion now with the audience, and prepared to do her next trick.

"Do not worry sir" -, responded Trixie, - "for The Great and Powerful Trixie is going to fix this pot right now and in front of your eyes, without using magic!"

This was a breaking point for many on the audience, who started to boo at her, pointing out the reality that it was impossible to repair something like that without magic. She just made a smug smile and moved forward.

"But The Great and Powerful Trixie is aware that some of you may not believe her, so to prove herself, she'll show you this."

She then opened the box that was inside the vase and it revealed a ring. The audience wasn't surprised in seeing a ring inside the small box but Trixie was aiming at them being skeptics of her talents.

"This isn't a common ring, dear audience" -, she said in a foretelling tone of voice, - "this is a suppression ring and, to prove that this is a real one, I ask once more for a member of the audience to come here and test it out."

The audience briefly doubted the veracity of Trixie's claim, but nobody was willing to try out the ring on themselves until one brave unicorn stallion decided to come forward and try it out. Trixie put the ring on him, to the shock of the audience, it was a real one. Once it was established the reality of the ring, Trixie picked it up and placed it on her horn, effectively nullifying her magic. She then moved towards the broken vase, she stood up in two legs, and shouted:

"And now, the Great and Powerful Trixie will fix this vase without using any type of magic!" - She then joined her two forelegs and threw herself towards the ground as her voice could be heard by all the ponies in the audience. - "Behold!"

Her legs then touched the circle and, to the amazement of the crowd, nothing happened...

For about two of the longest seconds the ponies in Vanhoover has ever felt in their life.

Then, to the audience's surprise, the circle, as well as the vase, were engulfed in light, melting the vase and moving it as if it were changing its own state of form. Before the audience could even comprehend what they were looking at, the light subsided and, to the audience's surprise, the vase was fixed as if it were never broken in the first place.

This, understandably, lead to one of the greatest stomps and cheers ever done, something that Trixie was very pleased to hear as she moved saluted the audience.

Hearing the crowds' shouts of surprise, The Great and Powerful Trixie rose up to her hooves, showing that her trick was done, earning herself an absolute ovation as the ponies of Vanhoover started throwing their bits towards her without questioning.

A few hours later, as the ponies have already left the park, some more surprised, and drunk, than others, Trixie started to save her belongings back into the cart as the dragon and unicorn were getting closer to her. She looked at them as the dragon decided to speak to her with a very confident tone of voice.

"Well, Great and Powerful Trixie, are you satisfied with the results of your training?"

Trixie looked at her hooves, still trying to assimilate the fact that she performed something that no other pony could ever consider possible. She could feel herself getting closer to compete against Twilight Sparkle and that only made her happier than the prestige she just earned with the crowd.

"Yes, Greed, Trxie can certainly say that she is."

The dragon then started to smile with glee as he then commented.

"In that case, my part of the deal is done."

Trixie's happiness almost stopped to a crawl, remembering the deal she did with Greed not too long ago.

"Does that mean you won't be with Trixie anymore?"

The dragon kept his smile as he brushed aside Trixie's worries.

"No, you still need to do your part. Besides, you may become an integral part of my plans."

This brought Trixie some curiosity about Greed.

"That reminds Trixie, what are your plans overall? Trixie doesn't remember hearing what those plans were."

Greed kept his smug smile as he gave a very simple retort.

"Don't worry Trixie. once my plans become operational, I'll tell them to you. For now, all we need to worry about is to help you out on your alchemy and to earn more money for ourselves."

'Well, you certainly live up to your name.' - Trixie thought on her mind, commenting on Greed's desire for more money. She then looked at the bits they earned through legal means and pondered on them. - 'But Trixie won't deny that you have skills to get what you want.'

In that moment, they heard something on the bushes. At the beginning, they were going to brush them off as a random animal but, out of nowhere, Weight Lifter got up and moved close to the bushes with extreme care, as if there was something to worry about. Trixe was going to call him but, before she could even react, a huge green spell came out from the bush and hit Weight Lifter, sending him flying towards them, knocking him out, putting his body in green flames and revealing a changeling on his place.

Trixie quickly fell into shock and her body remained on this state as more changelings came out of nowhere and surrounded the two figures still standing. Trixie was taken quickly, with her inhibitor ring being placed on her horn before she could react; Greed tried to fight but, as his armor was reaching his shoulders, a changeling got close to his head and shot a spell, sending him to the ground, unconscious.

Trixie was going to shout but, once more, her body was filled into shock as Greed's body started to shrink into the size of a little foal. A familiar draconian foal.

Trixie's mind would have tried to digest all she was looking at, but a bag was put on her head, allowing her to finally react and scream in fear, as the drones started to tie her up and make sure she didn't give much of a fight.

"Why don't we knock her out too?"

"She's inconsequential, we can simply use a muffling spell on her and be done. It's easier to carry bodies that are awake, besides, she cannot use her magic."

"What about that thing she did on her show? She did it without magic."

"It was just a trick. I don't know how she did it, but it was just a trick."

"But-"

"Enough!" - Shouted the one in charge of the operation. - "We have our targets, we're now taking them to our home and our queen will have her revenge."

Author's Notes:

If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

Hidden and Uncovered

Spike was hurting right now, he could feel how his body was trying to fix itself as fast as possible, rage and frustration fueling him in order to ignore the pain caused by his right arm being removed, and his throat being pierced. He could barely focus on where he was, it was a sewer, probably, but he had a hard time trying to figure out where exactly.

As he lifted his head, he could see two of his best henchmen preparing to attack the one who had just cut him down and destroyed 15 of his lives. He tried to rise up with all his strength but it was for naught, by the time he was up, his two most loyal henchmen were already dead and the man guilty of that, as well as the murderer of all his gang, was standing up and looking down as if none of this was worth his time.

"Hey, hey, Mister Bradley" - Spike said with his voice hiding his anger. - "You really think you'll get away with doing this to my men?"

The man, Bradley, didn't turn around, a serious aura emanating from him, as he responded at Spike in a condescending manner.

"You're feeling sympathetic now? How silly."

"Sympathy?" - Spike said with a sarcastic tone of voice. - "Who do you think I am?" - He then started to flex his arm as his body was ending the regeneration. - "I'm Greed. Money, women subordinates..." - he was really hoping the talk would give him time to regenerate and recreate his shield. - "...everything belongs to me!" - Still, he was ready to fight until the very end. - "Which is why I won't abandon what's mine. I'm a greedy guy, after all!!!"

Bradley then turned around, blades ready for another combat, as he mocked Greed once more.

"Greedy? This is beyond silly."

Bradley then moved at a speed Spike never witnessed in his life, forcing him to raise his protected arms in an act of self defense, but Bradley jumped to the air before he could even realize it, and making Spike lose his balance in the process but still managing to deflect Bradley's mid-air strike. Still, it was for naught, as Bradley still managed to stab the joint on his shoulders, followed by two quick strikes on the lower sides of his torso, causing so much damage and pain on Spike that he was forced to fall to the ground while Bradley, still standing, said the words he would remember the most from his encounter in the sewers.

"How about you lie there for a while."

His mind was now fuzzy as the last thing he could remember was the shouts of Martel trying to fight Bradley, while being stopped by a little boy and how all, suddenly, went silent...

He then heard a very annoying voice shouting in a tone that was destroying Spike's ears.

"...dark, icky cave with no way out! Why must Trixie be here!? All Trixie wanted was to show Sparkle who's best not to...!"

Spike quickly tried to cover his ears as he was starting to wake up, only to notice his body being completely tied. As he opened up his eyes, he noticed his body being completely covered by chains and the jacket his body was wearing, as Greed, was gone, along with the shades. He then looked up and saw both Thorax and Trixie, who weren’t chained but did have nullifier rings on their horns, looking at him with expecting eyes. Spike had an idea of what could, possibly, be going in their minds but he first had to do what he had to do.

"Hi... uhm..." - he tried to come up with some kind of phrase to greet them, but nothing came to his mind, - "how are you?"

"Greed!"

The two of them shouted at the same time, with Trixie being the first one to talk.

"Thank Celestia you've awaken. Please, be good and help Trixie to get out of this! All Trixie needs is for you to remove this nullifier from Trixie's horn and Trixie will get the two of us from here."

"Wait" -, interrupted Thorax, with some air of anguish on his voice, - "two of us? Are you going to leave me here?"

Trixie looked at Thorax with disgust and answered nonchalantly.

"Of course we are. You are just a changeling who took Weight Lifter's place and tried to steal our love."

Thorax suppressed his urge to groan and shout in order to give a proper response to Trixie.

"Look, there was never a Weight Lifter, it was me all along."

"Yeah, right, as if The Great and Powerful Trixie were dumb enough to fall for your tricks."

Thorax started to groan as Trixie refused to believe him; he then looked at Spike with begging eyes, hoping he would be able to tell Trixie the truth. Spike, meanwhile, was trying his best to stop a potential headache from taking over as he tried to figure out why he was in charge of the body and not Greed.

He closed his eyes and focused on the inside, trying to see if he could hear Greed's voice but all he heard were the wails and screams of the things Greed brought along with him, when Spike swallowed him, but nothing on the greedy thing itself. After confirming that Greed was indisposed, Spike decided to focus once more on the couple in front of him; their bickering wasn't making anything easier for him.

"Alright, enough" -. Almost shouts Spike. - "Could you, please calm down? I'm trying to see how bad our situation is right now."

"Our situation?" - Said Trixie in a very agitated tone of voice. - "We've been captured by changelings, we don't know where Weight Lifter is, you lost your muscles, there's no clear way to escape and, worst of all, Trixie has her magic nullified. How could this possibly be worse?"

"First off" -, responded Spike while trying his best to not lose his temper, - "that changeling over there" -, he said as his head was moving towards Thorax, - "is Weight Lifter, I met him as a changeling and, after telling me how he wasn't like the other changelings, it was agreed to let him come with us. Secondly, just because I lost contact with Greed doesn't mean I lost him at all."

This made both Trixie and Thorax's minds stop in their tracks.

"Wait" -, interrupted Trixie, - "what do you mean with 'lost contact with Greed'?"

Spike took a deep breath before making his explanation.

"Greed and I are different... individuals... I am the original owner of the body but, during Chrysalis' invasion of Canterlot, I allowed Greed to take it over in exchange of him helping my friends."

Both Trixie and Thorax remained silent for a while before Thorax commented.

"That explains why Greed was talking to himself when I found you... he was talking to you, right?"

Spike simply nodded before continuing.

"Moving on, in the third place, we still has a mean to escape, after all" -, he said as he started to look back at Trixie, - "you can still do alchemy, right?"

Trixie's eyes widened as she remembered that small fact but she then faltered as she remembered another problem.

"Yeah, but Trixie needs chalk to draw a circle, Trixie cannot make alchemy as of now."

Spike then snickered as an idea was forming on his head.

"Don't worry, I know what to do."

While all of this was going on, Queen Chrysalis was preparing herself for all the potential outcomes that could be produced from capturing her foes. She had right now a dragon with never before seen powers, an unicorn that was capable of performing magic without her horn and a traitor that, probably, knew how they did it and more intelligence on Equestria as a whole. If she managed to play well her cards, she would be able to earn enough power to control all of Equestria and beyond.

She moved with a firm pace as her mind sought for ways to take the information away from those pesky creatures. The traitor would be easy and she spent enough time among the ponies to think of a trick or two to fool the annoying mare, still, she needed to find a way to convince the dragon of telling her what she wanted to know. There were some ideas coming to her mind but she would rather talk first to determine which methods were more certain to make him talk.

As she moved to the jail cell, she noticed her guard's horn and how it was using its magic on his own ears. She tried to pick his attention with a small harrumph but the guard didn’t notice it. Realizing how the guard just blocked his own ears, she stood in front of him, making the guard realize that his queen has been trying to pick his attention, scaring him out and making him turn off his magic.

“So” -, started Queen Chrysalis on a cold, but angry, tone of voice, making the guard shake out of fear, - “I leave you guarding this dangerous prisoners and, instead of paying attention to whatever they might be planning, you decide to block your own ears from listening?”

She then got closer to the guard, sending new waves of terror on him as he wished his queen didn’t punish him too badly, and kept her reprimand.

“These are some of the most dangerous creatures we have encountered, and a traitor, and by ignoring them, you have just given them time to plan an escape plan.”

“Bu-but…”

The guard’s mouth started to wimp as he realized the mistake of trying to retort to Queen Chrysalis. She then started to look at him with venom on her eyes, while silently challenging him to keep talking. The guard wasn’t sure why, but his mouth kept blabbering.

“Both the unicorn and the traitor are wearing rings and the dragon is chained, how could they possibly escape?”

By this point, Chrysalis was too anxious on the issue, so she made it quick.

“That unicorn, somehow, managed to do magic without using her horn and, I’ll remind you, that dragon can change his size. Now open this cell before I start to think in new ways to punish undisciplined actions.”

The guard quickly obeyed and opened the cell with his magic, letting Chrysalis in and see how her prisoners were still in there, chained and nullified, with the traitor on the right and both unicorn and dragon together on the left.

As they noticed Chrysalis entering the jail cell, Trixie quickly moved in front of Chrysalis, kneeled to her and started to beg for mercy.

“Please” -, the incredibly annoying Trixie began, - “let Trixie go, she promises to not tell where you are as well to say anything you need, just let Trixie go, please.”

At this, Chrysalis resisted the urge of laughing in front of them but she decided to indulge on this, though, to see how desperate could this unicorn be.

“Alright then, tell me, how did you manage to do magic with your horn blocked?”

“It’s not magic, it’s alchemy.”

This piece of information actually surprised Chrysalis.

“Alchemy? What is that?”

“Don’t tell her!” – Spike shouted, with some desperation and betrayal on his voice. – “She could conquer Equestria with that knowledge.”

“Silence you fiend!” – Chrysalis shouted at Spike with as much venom as she could possibly muster. – “I’ll take care of you after I’m done with the interrogation.” – She then looked at Trixie and talked to her, in the same tone of voice a mother would tell her children to tell her how well it was behaving. – “Now do go on.”

“It’s a more ordered method of magic that can manipulate matter and reshape it in ways that common unicorn magic can’t.”

“Oh, really?” – Asked Chrysalis as her mind started to think on all the possibilities something like this could bring her. – “And what do I need in order to attain such magic?”

“Trixie! Don’t tell her!”

Chrysalis looked up and saw the annoying dragon which she spited so much. She quickly shot a stun spell at him, of the most painful kind, as she demanded his silence.

"Don't you dare to speak, monster, if it weren't for you, Canterlot would've fallen into my grasp long ago."

Spike tried to hold the pain as he tried to move his head towards Trixie, pledging with his eyes to her to not divulge the information, but Trixie's eyes, filled with anguish, showed little to no care for even Spike. Meanwhile, Chrysalis turned back towards Trixie and kept asking with a devilish sweet tone of voice.

"You were saying?"

"Yes" -, Trixie said, - "alchemy is a form of magic, which you can use in order to reshape everything around you, the difference between using alchemy and your typical unicorn spell, is on the basis of alchemy not requiring the same principles. So even a weak unicorn can use it, if it knows how to do it."

Chrysalis looked at Trixie with doubt in her eyes, it was starting to sound too good to be true. In particular because she remembered the trick consisted in not using the horn and Trixie was being forced to use the inhibitor from her act.

“And how do I know that you’re not trying to fool me? Explain, how did you do it with your horn inhibited?”

Trixie looked around while her mouth failed to form a coherent answer. After some quick thinking, she made a simple “AHA” and responded with enough confidence to make it look like she wasn’t a crumbling mess of nerves.

“Well, your highness” -, responded Trixie, - “Trixie was simply using a special inhibitor that can be stopped from working with a very special trick. To show you, and if you’re willing to spare Trixie for something to make alchemy, you can be surprised of how The Great and Powerful Trixie can do-“

“Silence!” - Shouted Chrysalis with enough strength to be heard beyond the jail cells. – “Do you think I’m dumb enough to spare you of something that could put me on danger!?”

Trixie started to shake as her eyes were starting to look again around the cave toward Spike and Thorax as her mind was trying to find a solution. Thankfully for her, she found the solution quickly.

“Well, your majesty, it’s not much what Trixie needs, just some iron, like a spoon or two and Trixie will show you what Alchemy is all about.”

Chrysalis gave this a thought before deciding that just that small amount of iron wouldn’t be so harmful. After all, what Trixie has shown so far is that it can repair broken vases but she was really curious about ‘reshaping’ things.

“Alright then” -, she complied, - “I’ll tell the guards to bring some iron in here.”

Trixie smiled as she saw how the changelings brought small utensils made out of iron, which she promptly used to carve out a small circle (much to Chrysalis’ curiosity) with a triangle in it. As the materials were dropped into the circle, Trixie quickly a small gesture with her hooves as she said:

“Usually, a magician doesn’t reveal its secrets, but just for you, your majesty, The Great and Powerful Trixie will make an exception” -. She then pointed at her inhibitor and explained. – “This inhibitor ring has a special enchantment to stop working when I make a very specific pose, more specifically, this.”

As she said that, she quickly clapped her hooves and put them on the ground, surrounding the small circle, causing it to glow in a bluish light. In that moment, the pieces of iron started to reshape itself into a weird state of being dust but also being semi liquid, when it all ended, the iron was transformed into a small statuette shaped like Trixie. To say that Chrysalis was surprised would be an understatement.

“Fascinating” -, she said with the most pleasure her voice could ever say, as she looked back at Trixie with more questions, - “with this, we could easily turn simple tools into weapons, we could be unbeatable!”

Trixie coughed at that statement, making Chrysalis turn at her with a questioning look.

“There’s a slight problem, your majesty, there are certain rules regarding alchemy that must be followed before trying.”

Chrysalis looked at Trixie with scorn as she asked for the details.

“Well” -, Trixie began, - “to begin with, we need something of equal value to make the transmutation.”

“Transmutation?”

“The process of alchemy, your majesty” -, Trixie continued, - “in example, if you pick a pile of gold, you can only turn it into another object made of gold. You cannot take something of one material and turn it into another type of material.”

Chrysalis huffed at that, but it wasn’t enough to shock her or be an actual obstacle for her plans.

“The other part is that the process requires a lot of magic to perform, so unless you learn how use an alternative source of energy, you would probably end too exhausted after some transmutations.”

Chrysalis pondered at that, wondering if there was a way to bypass the need of magic. Then she remembered Trixie’s magic arts and something was off from what she said.

“If alchemy is so exhausting, that means you had to find an alternative, what is it?”

Trixie started to stammer but, before she could even think of a response, Chrysalis quickly realized something.

“Not only that, there’s no way for you to suddenly realize any of this” -, she then turned to Spike and aimed at him, - “he had something to do with this, it would also explain how he managed to regenerate his injuries so quickly but, if it’s true that something must be given in order to obtain that something…”

Chrysalis’ eyes widen as she started to connect the dots.

“What did you use as a source to regenerate from your injuries?”

Her voice was cold, with a slight hint of disgust, as Spike was trying to form a response that was impossible to find. The only one who could answer that was Greed and he was indisposed at the time being.

“I…” – Spike stammered, trying to find an answer. - “I don’t know, he never told me.”

Chrysalis had to arch her eyebrow at that comment.

“He? You mean the one living in you?” - Spike quickly turned towards Chrysalis in shock, never thinking she could have known about him. Seeing his reaction, Chrysalis also realizes this and keeps talking. – “Yes, I was aware of that thing living in you for a long time, so I would like you start explaining your relation with that thing, starting with its name.”

Spike looked around as much as the chains would allow him, seeing how even Thorax and Trixie were curious as well. With a deep and resigning sigh, he decided to explain.

“Greed, he has been inside of me since a few days back, before the wedding at Canterlot. Twilight found a strange gem that day and I ate it when she wasn’t looking. Before I realized, he was already inside of me, talking about everything we came across” -, Spike then looked at Chrysalis and smirked before adding, - “he even noticed there was something wrong with your transformation.”

If this piece of information affected her, she didn’t show it.

“He later convinced me of giving up my body to him in order to stop you.”

Trixie gasped as she heard this while Thorax’s and Chrysalis’ eyes widen at this revelation.

“And you agreed to this?” – Seeing Chrysalis’ shocked face made Spike wonder what was going on through his mind. In the end, he nodded, thinking that Chrysalis may see some sense to this, but all hopes were lost as she started to laugh at him. – “You are one of the most foolish dragons I’ve ever met” -. Her laughs could be heard far through her hive, as the many servants wondered what was bringing her so much joy. – “Who would give up the control over its own body just to save some useless ponies?”

As Chrysalis’ laughter resonated through the prison cell, both Trixie and Thorax started to frown at the changeling queen but, before any of them could respond, Spike’s voice quickly responded in a high volume.

“Because they are not useless!”

The response quickly silenced Chrysalis as she decided to look down on Spike, whose face now looked determined and prepared.

“Twilight and her friends are not useless; they are one of the most dependable ponies I’ve ever met! They’re always there to help you and never give up on you!” – As he said this, Chrysalis’ face started to contort in anger, this would usually drive away in fear other changelings, but Spike felt no fear to her in that moment. – “I wouldn’t be surprised if at this very moment, Twilight is trying to find a way to help me get my body back and, the same way they would never give up on me, I’ll never give up on her or her friends!”

Rage wasn’t enough to describe the face Chrysalis was making, it would be impossible to describe in written text the amount of anger and hatred erupting from her as she heard the preposterous words coming from this petulant drake who didn’t know best. She started to get closer to a still chained Spike, as she responded to him on a daring tone, challenging him to respond as she started to charge a spell once again.

“Really?” – She said in a cold voice that didn’t even try to hide her desire to strike Spike down. – “You would never give up on her?” – Her face then started to make a sadistic smile as her horn started to aim at Thorax. – “Even If that means giving up on him?” – She then aimed at a very scared Trixie, now shivering and covering her face with her hooves. – “Or her?” – She then aimed at Spike, as her spell was now pulsating with energy that looked like it was wishing to be released once and for all. – “Or are you willing to be destroyed to protect these inferior creatures as well?”

Spike hesitated for a brief moment, he wasn’t sure if he could use Greed’s regenerative skills without the mysterious entity, especially when he didn’t know from where he was getting the energy to do so. But he then realized that both Thorax’s and Trixie’s lives were on him and one thing was certain, there was no way he could look at Twilight’s face if he ever abandoned them to someone like Chrysalis.

He then decided to do the one thing that would anger Chrysalis the most: smirk.

“I choose… neither” -. And, before Chrysalis could even say anything, he then shouted with all his strength. – “Now!”

In that moment, a huge light came from the circle made by Trixie as the iron once again was reshaped while another bluish light came from behind Thorax, creating a small earthquake that broke the ground, making them all fall to the next floor.

As they were falling, Thorax started to fly, quickly picking both Trixie and Spike, much to his pain, and started to fly down in a pace that would allow them to properly land. Meanwhile, Chrysalis got into a state of shock before she could realize what was going on, her wings quickly started to flutter, keeping her on the air as she realized what just happened.

“That was alchemy" -. She said in shock. - "That traitor did alchemy" -, she tried to process the information, but it didn't make sense, - "he had an inhibitor ring, he couldn’t have used magic…" - It was then when she remembered something very important about her throne, something that made Trixie's story fall apart. And to realize that only made her rage. - "That means…”

A large shriek told all the changelings that their queen had just lost her temper and it was for the best of the collective to remove the one thing that was causing her anger.

Meanwhile, as the dragon, pony and changeling landed, Trixie quickly revealed a set of keys she made through alchemy to look, and work, just like the ones the guard held back at their prison cell. Quickly using them to liberate themselves from their chains and inhibitors, followed quickly by a small cheer.

“Oh boy” -. Started Spike on a very happy tone of voice. – “I can’t believe that worked.”

“Yeah!” – Responded an equally enthusiast Thorax. – “After so much theorizing, I finally managed to test it. I think this way of making alchemy will help changelings so much.”

“Yeah, now all we need to do is getting out of here, right?”

Thorax quickly nodded but they then noticed Trixie’s silent, making them turn towards her and notice how she was in a state of mild sadness.

“So you’re Sparkle’s dragon?”

Spike’s smile got removed, knowing what it meant.

“Yeah, you want to talk about it now or after we get out of here?”

Trixie didn’t move her head, she just asked.

“And is true all you said? That you would never give up on her?”

Spike simply nodded, waiting for her to make the next question.

“And would you give up on Trixie?”

Spike simply got close to her, looked her directly into her eyes, and said with as much maturity as his voice could muster.

“I’ll never give up on you. You may not know me well enough, but I do know you and that’s enough to consider you my friend, even if you don’t and I don’t plan to abandon any of my friends, you hear me?”

Trixie’s eyes held themselves from tearing up as the Emotional and Sentimental Trixie nodded. Spike them smiled and quickly felt his motor functions fail him as a familiar voice resounded on his voice.

“Hey! Not bad, are you sure you’re a kid? Because that sounded very mature from your part.”

“Greed?” – Asked a surprised Spike as his body started to grow in size. – “When did you wake up?”

Greed’s laugh was heard as he confidently responded with the tone of voice of an old friend who peeped on his best pal practicing a confession.

“I woke up a while ago, that was a very nice speech by the way. I would’ve liked to take over and get rid of that old insect, but it would have been rude. But time is up, you’ll need me if you want to get them out of here.”

Spike puffed, knowing Greed was right but not before responding.

“Alright, but we’ll have to talk about this later.”

Greed didn’t respond, but Spike felt he acknowledged him before fully taking over.

As both Trixie and Thorax looked in shock how Spike grew up, his arms getting more muscle tone, his chin getting more jagged and his eyes changing in color to the ones they were familiar the most, Greed smiled as he pointed at himself with his thumb.

“Hey, how are you? Did you miss me?”

His response was a quick slap coming from Trixie, leaving him in shock.

“How dare you taking over a foal’s life as It belonged to you! We’ll have to talk about this later, understood!?”

Greed simply smiled.

“Sounds fair, but we’ll have to wait before we have the talk.”

He then looked up as a resounding buzzing started to vibrate through the whole building, making it shake. As the trio looked around them, myriads of changelings surrounded them from all sides, with one single imposing queen coming down, looking at them with cruelty on her eyes. Both Trixie and Thorax were shaking, not sure if they could get of this one, but not Greed, he looked confident, prepared, ready to take over the whole place, as he responded to the pony and changeling.

“Because, right now, I have to take out the thrash.”

Author's Notes:

For a brief moment, I thought I wouldn't make this chapter on time, but thank God I got my creative energy back. Not sure how long it will last but I'll try to keep this up as l try to write more stories.

If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

Avarice vs Jealousy

The undergrounds were filled with the haunting buzz from all the changelings surrounding Trixie, Thorax and Greed. They were completely surrounded and Chrysalis intimidating aura only made things worse.

The Fearful and Trembling Trixie was unable to think of a solution, for her, it was the end of the ride and she wasn't prepared for this moment.

Thorax was afraid of what Chrysalis would do to him. He was already in danger of being tortured but he hoped that Chrysalis wouldn't do anything against his brother, Pharynx, and his niece, Ocellus, but her sight indicated that Chrysalis was planning on being as ruthless as possible with her newest victims.

Greed, meanwhile, looked confident enough to smile his lips at her. He positioned himself between the not-for-too-long changeling queen and his two followers; his pose remained calm and collected as he made two steps towards Chrysalis and revealed his sharp fangs in a threatening way. Seeing how Chrysalis showed more anger at his attitude only made Greed happier.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to anger the one who will capture you, monster?"

If that insult affected Greed, he did a good work not showing it.

"You are correct, it's not a good idea, which is why you should tell your drones to get down and show some respect to me."

"You!? Respect!?" - Chrysalis was now getting furious, even her drones were even insulted at the prospect of following the creature that stopped them from controlling Canterlot. - "How dare you even suggesting the idea of you capturing us when we have you surrounded. Who do you think you are, a king?"

The changelings couldn't help themselves but laugh at the idea of a monster ruling over changelings and hearing her drones laughing made Chrysalis grin, hoping it would bother the creature. None of them noticed how Greed slightly grew before answering

"Soon enough, yeah."

All the changelings stopped laughing at that and started to look at Greed in shocked. His smile just remained as Chrysalis tried to make sense of his words.

"And how do you plan to become the new ruler of the changelings? There is a ruler in place already and I don't plan to hand it over to you."

Greed remained confident as he simple made a pose for combat.

"Well, then it's just a matter of taking over the crown."

Chrysalis gave Greed a second look and, after realizing that he was serious, she couldn't stop herself from laughing, whether it was for fear or at the absurdity of it, she wasn't sure.

"Hehehe, please, hahaha, you can't be serious. Hahaha! You really think that you can just come a fight me? Or that just by defeating me, my changelings will accept you as their new king? Please, hahahaha, don't make me laugh."

"Well, on the first place, I already defeated you once" -. Greed then knelt down, as his arms started to become black, and managed to pierce the ground with his arms, grabbing big chunks of rock, and then started to move towards Chrysalis once more. - "On the second place, I'm sure I would make a better king than you."

Chrysalis' face showed the scorn she was feeling towards Greed, but her voice managed to give the impression of not being affected by him.

"You? A better king? Please, you know nothing of my changelings, how would you even try to feed them when you have no way to provide love to them?"

By this point, Greed's shoulders and his legs were already covered by his armor, but he was keeping his talk with Chrysalis as if nothing major was about to come.

"You think I know nothing of them? Are you blind or did you just forget I've been with one of you for the last weeks?"

All the changelings remembered the existence of Thorax and immediately started to scrutinize him, wondering what kind of secrets did he reveal. Naturally, Thorax only felt worse, wondering when would his own kind jump and destroy him; at the same time, Trixie, being besides Thorax, felt just as confident as the changeling besides her.

Greed meanwhile, just turned at Thorax and smiled at him, while showing him a thumb up.

"He told me how you feed and the struggles you've been going through." -. He then turned towards Chrysalis and eyed at her with a threatening glare, his smile now gone. - "And while he didn't give specifics, just by listening to him, I can easily tell that you are an awful ruler."

His fist started to pressure the rocks, crushing them at a slow rate as he kept his combat pose.

"You are unable to feed your own kind, you tried to take over the love of others and failed in a spectacular way and, your worst mistake, you failed to measure your opponents correctly, mistake you are doing once more."

Chrysalis showed her fangs as her response started to resound through the chamber, strongly resonating on her drones.

"How dare you to accuse me of failing, I'll inform you that the only reason why I failed was because of your meddling and nothing else. If it weren't for you, I would have the love from Equestria all for myself, and my changelings would've more than enough for themselves" -. She then tried to imagine once more that moment in Canterlot Palace, how she wasn't feeling hunger, how she felt satisfied, she was still wondering if said satisfaction would've lasted forever. - "No more hunger" -, for a brief moment, her voice sounded passive and elating, but looking at Greed once more reminded her of the one who stopped her from succeeding, - "but you ruined it."

"Please, don't be so nice to me" -, said Greed as he showed no fear towards the changeling queen, - "there were others that could have stopped you hadn't I been there. You are so oblivious to your own mistakes that, to this day, you still fail to realize this."

Chrysalis quickly started to charge a spell as her patience started to wear thin.

"And, if so, why did you intervene and saved those ponies? Friendship?"

"Please" -, said a sarcastic Greed, - "I don't believe in that kind of thing" -. He then looked at Chrysalis and, as his body slightly grew, something Chrysalis managed to take note of, Greed said in a determined tone of voice. - "I did it because I take care of what belongs to me."

That took Chrysalis by surprise, almost making her lose concentration on her spell.

"What belongs to you?"

"Yes, as the owner of this body, anything belonging to this kid is also my responsibility. In other words, I have to protect the lives this kid wants to protect because, what belongs to this kid now belongs to me."

"And why do you have to protect them?" - Said Chrysalis in defiance to Greed's thinking. - "Once it belongs to you, it's yours, you can let others take care of those annoyances. Besides, why to care at all? They weren't yours to begin with, it would be much better to not let them have anything, if you're not allowed to have what should be yours by birthright" -. Chrysalis then made a malicious smile as she continued. - "Although, maybe that's why you want to care so much. Since you are an abomination with no birthright, you want to care for what belongs to others, thinking that you can do a better job than them."

Greed's smile faltered at Chrysalis's words, making her smile slightly, just to then see Greed smile once more and answer as if her words had no effect on him.

"I may not be the most handsome of all, but at least I don't try to hide my actions under such pathetic excuse as birthright. When I want something, I just go and take it but, I'll admit, I do believe I can make a better job than others protecting what belongs to me, I'll give you that" -. He then started to run towards Chrysalis as his fanged smile remained in place. - "And I'll show you I can take care of this drones better than you."

He then jumped directly at Chrysalis as she quickly reacted and shot her spell at Greed. He guarded himself by putting his two arms in front of him, blocking the spell and allowing him to be close enough to Chrysalis to try and punch her, but Chrysalis quickly evaded him, remaining in the air, as she tried to grab Greed with a telekinesis spell.

Greed's body was surrounded by the sickly green of Chrysalis' magic, making him levitate, but Greed quickly threw one of the pebbles he had on his hands towards Chrysalis, forcing her to release Greed and create a shield to protect herself. Greed took the opportunity and jumped straight at Chrysalis, punching her shield, and sending her flying back.

Seeing that the shield didn't break gave Chrysalis some relief but, after giving her shield a quick glance, she noticed a small crack on it. She then started to pour more magic into it, fixing the crack. When Greed came and punched the shield once more, launching Chrysalis backwards and making her lose her concentration which, in turn, made her shield disappear.

Greed then jumped towards Chrysalis, ready to hit her once more, but he was captured once more by Chrysalis' telekinesis and this time the Changeling Queen made sure that Greed wouldn’t move by constraining his body with her magic. Greed tried to move, but it was no use, much to Chrysalis delight. Seeing his face getting frustrated only made her smile with sadistic joy.

"Well, now that you're no longer a threat" -, she says as she starts to turn towards Trixie and Thorax, - "I suppose we could start our conversation anew."

Trixie started to get scared while Thorax remained unable to move due to the terror he was having.

"As far I can remember" -, Chrysalis continued, - "you two managed to do alchemy when you weren't supposed to."

Hearing this, both unicorn and changeling wide their eyes.

"You" -, she said at Thorax, - "used alchemy when your horn was inhibited and you" -, this time referring to Trixie, - "used alchemy when this place nullifies unicorn magic. That means you used something else as a mean to do alchemy."

Chrysalis then got closer to the two figures filled with fear and said to them in the kindest and simplest tone of voice she could muster.

"Now, could you explain what did you do to bypass my magic nullifiers, or else I'll show you what I do when I get in a bad mood."

Trixie was in a crossroad, she wanted to live, but she didn't want to abandon her friend and see if Thorax could be a friend as well; the same way, she wasn't sure Chrysalis would follow her word if she promised to not harm her or Thorax. But, before she could even decide on what to do, Thorax stood in between her and Chrysalis, horn aimed at the changeling queen, as he tried to defend Trixie.

"Stay away from my friend or else-"

A kick from Chrysalis sent him away, as he landed, Thorax was held down by a group of changelings, he looked up and gasped as he recognized one of them.

"Brother...?"

The changeling spat at him and put his hoof over his skull. Trixie meanwhile, could only stand in fear as she felt Chrysalis' stare getting closer to her. She tried to muster once more a plan to free everyone but she was well aware that she didn't have the time to draw a circle or make a spell.

"Hey, fake queen!"

Trixie swore, and would always say, whenever asked about that day, Chrysalis' eyes flashed a malicious hatred as the queen herself turned back towards the creature known as Greed.

“My apologies” -, Chrysalis said, - “but I think I misheard you, did you just called me a fake queen?”

If it weren’t for his armor, Greed would have noticed how the spell was constricting him even more. Thankfully, Chrysalis was too angered to notice her spell failing the constriction and Greed’s smug grin only made things worse for her.

“Yes” -, he said, - “because you are a fake queen.”

“Hum, Greed” – Interrupted a terrified Spike on Greed’s mind, - “Are you sure it’s a good idea to make her angrier than she already is?”

Greed seemingly ignored him as he continued to taunt Chrysalis.

“You only use your title to take over but you are unable to protect your own subjects, you may have the title of queen, but you aren’t fit to bear it.”

"Oh, really?" - Asked the Changeling Queen. - "And you think you could do a better job than me?"

Greed snickered as Chrysalis was squeezing him with her telekinesis.

"Of course I would, after all, I care for what I own."

"Again with this!?" - Chrysalis shouted in anger at Greed, forgetting that Trixie and Thorax were besides her. - "I have you captured right now, how can you actually believe that you can still take my throne when you're not even capable of defeating me?!"

In that moment Chrysalis felt a constraint in her magic as Greed started to get heavier. She took a look at Greed and him smiling back as he started to respond.

"I will have your crown because I'm Greed."

He then started to grow in a very noticeable way, making it very hard for Chrysalis to keep him on the air.

"I take everything because it belongs to me."

By this point everyone surrounding Greed started to become scared and tried to stay away from him, as he started to tower over Chrysalis herself, to the point that the changeling queen was no longer capable of holding him with her telekinesis.

"There's nothing I don't want and there's nothing I can't get because my greed is too big to be controlled."

Thorax took Trixie and flied away from the site as they noticed how Greed was going to reach the sealing, making the place crumble before him while Chrysalis was trying to defend herself, from the debris, with a shield. All the while, Greed's armor was growing with him, now covering his whole body, much to Chrysalis' horror. Greed's voice was by now booming and resounding through the whole site.

"This palace is my palace, this land is my land, your crown is my crown, anything that doesn’t belong to me will belong to me and I will have everything until I feel satisfied.”

Greed was, by this point, so gargantuan that the changeling palace was no longer capable of holding him, collapsing as all the changelings were flying away, except Chrysalis who, whether for terror or bravery, nobody could tell since they were all fleeing, decided to stay, watching Greed growing beyond what she could ever imagine.

By the time Greed stopped growing, there was nothing left of the changeling palace, except for Greed’s monstrous figure, taller than a mountain, who watched Chrysalis and dared her.

“Now, are you ready for round two?”

Chrysalis noticed a giant, dark, draconic tail moving her way, which she quickly dodged with her flying skills. She then shot one of her best spells designed to kill, but it bounced off from Greed’s shoulders as if her was immune to magic, at which Greed simply chuckled.

“Hehe, was that supposed to hurt? Now, let me show you how to attack!”

He then opened his mouth and breathed a giant wave of fire at her with ease, forcing Chrysalis to avoid it with a teleportation spell. Greed quickly felt Chrysalis’ attack from her new location, at his back, which he turned around and, after seeing Chrysalis, he answered with a tail whip. The changeling queen had little time to react at the tail, only having enough to create a shield which broke at impact, but managed to save her, despite being thrown to the ground.

Greed then turned and threw a fireball, as a tired and constrained Chrysalis barely had enough time to teleport. Once she appeared besides Greed, she tried to attack the giant dragon monster with a spell to the head, but it barely had any effect on him, as his size reduced the efficiency of any kind of spell thrown at him. Once more, Greed attacked Chrysalis with his paws, sending her to the ground, just to quickly pick her up with his gigantic claws.

By the time Chrysalis managed to react, she was already at Greed’s grasp, noticing how he had her horn pressured with his own nails, just enough to not break it, while his other claw had the rest of her body captured.

Seeing the amount of control Greed had over his titanic body sent a wave of terror at Chrysalis, now realizing that, whatever she was fighting, it wasn’t natural. Calling it a monster was more of an insult, but she was now thinking Greed could be something even worse.

Even when the changelings were attacking at Greed, it was clear their attacks were useless, since Greed seemed far more interested on Chrysalis.

“Tell them to stop!”

Chrysalis knew it wasn’t an actual shout, just that it felt as one since she was a bug compared to him. Fearing the consequences of disobeying, she obliged.

“Halt!!!”

All the changelings stopped their attack, befuddled, and watched their queen terrified of this creature. Some of them were shocked, some of them were worried and some of them were hopeful, soon, they would know what would be their future.

Greed got closer to Chrysalis, the changeling queen fearing for her life, as he started to chuckle.

“Say that you resign your crown and now pass it to me. Do it, and you will live.”

For a brief moment, Chrysalis refused to do it, her pride didn’t allowed it. But, after realizing the reality of Greed’s threat, she quickly made her mind.

“I resign my right to the changeling crown!” – As her voiced resounded through the land, the changelings’ mind stopped working as they started to realize the incoming end of everything they knew. – “I hereby give it to Greed! Now he’s the king of the changelings!”

Trixie and Thorax were shocked at what just happened, Greed actually managed to defeat Chrysalis and take over the changelings. Who knew what else was he capable off.

Greed, meanwhile, started to laugh as he released his grip on Chrysalis and allowed her to fly as he got his face closer to her and made the threat.

“Now leave my presence, you’re not even worth being close to me.”

Chrysalis tried her best to remain collected and protested.

“What? Why!? I have experience! I know how to rule over the subjects! How do you plan to rule over the changelings without me!?”

Greed simply laughed at her protests.

“You can’t fool me, I know for a fact that, as long as you’re near me, you’ll always try to take back the crown. You think of me foolish enough to give you that chance?”

Chrysalis tried to respond, but she couldn’t deny the accusation and, before she could find an excuse, Greed quickly continued his response.

“Now, to show my mercy” -, he then turned around to the changelings and told them, - “any of you who think she still can help you, you’re free to go but, I warn you, she is unable to defend her throne and she’ll never be able to keep you alive. Meanwhile, I’ll not only protect you, but I’ll make sure you never have to survive on love and I can guarantee this because I protect that which I own.”

For some moments, the changelings remained static, not knowing what to do, but soon enough, a big part of the changelings quickly went with Greed while another part remained stationary, waiting for their exiled queen to go with them.

Chrysalis quickly turned to Greed with a cold look, silently wishing for the moment of her revenge on him to come soon. She then took off with all the few loyal changelings she still held, leaving Greed with his new Changeling subjects.

As Chrysalis and her loyalist left, Greed turned over to the changelings that decided to stay with him, grinning, and started to shrink as he felt part of his plans being satisfied. By the time he was shrunk back to his original size, he started to look over his subjects, Thorax and Trixie, and decided to talk.

"Hello everyone, you're all welcome to be with me. Before we start to move, I would like to answer to any question you may have."

Some changelings raised their hooves as they wanted to know more about their future, Greed, casually, just aimed at the first changeling he found and allowed it to ask.

"Hum, yes." - the petit, female changeling said, which much fear in her voice, - "I would like to know what is your plan to help us get love?"

Greed kept his smile as he decided to answer.

"Good question... erm... what's your name?"

The small changeling cringes before answering.

"O-o-Ocellus... sir."

"Don't worry about" -, calmly responded Greed, - "It's a bit simple, actually, while some infiltration tactics are going to remain the same for now, my long term plan is for you to be better accepted by the population."

Many changelings gasped in shock, while one changeling in particular went directly towards Greed, anger on its face, as Ocellus tried to stop him.

"What kind of answer is this!? There's no way the ponies will never accept you or any of us! What kind of plan do you have to make ponies accept us in the first place"

Greed kept his grin as the angry changeling looked at him defiantly, prompting Ocellus to stand between the monster dragon and the angry drone.

"P-please King Greed, spare my father! H-he's just worried about us!"

Greed kept his smile as he waved his hand towards Ocellus.

"Don't worry about it, but just call me Lord Greed from now on" -, as Ocellus nodded, Greed looked at Ocellus' father and answered, - "as for you, my plan may sound crazy to you but, remember, that I'm immortal, I can easily plan for the long term and get us all on the same level as ponies so I recommend you to watch, you'll soon realize that you're following the right one now" -, he then looked at the rest of the changelings and screamed, - "and this also comes with the rest of you! Understood!?"

All the changelings nodded, making Greed smile once more as he aimed with his finger at Thorax.

"And, if for some reason you need to ask for something and I'm not around, you can ask him" -, all the changelings gasped as they started to look at Thorax questioningly, - "He knows me quite well, so you can talk to him to clear any doubt about me or if you need to reach me. That way, even if I'm not close, I can know what is troubling you."

Thorax remained shocked as he heard this, trying to comprehend the implications of what Greed just did and hoping no other changeling would try to reject it. Thankfully, nobody said anything and, seeing this, Greed clapped and continued.

"Alright then, since nobody has anymore doubts, I think it's time to move somewhere else" -, he then looked around at the destroyed remains of the changeling palace and added, - "This isn't a good place to plan how to become king of the world."

A voice then, hard to tell among the crowd, made the question.

"And where should we move into, then?"

Greed looked at his changelings, Thorax and Trixie, and smiled deviously as he had that answer ready for a while, with this new followers would fit just nicely.

"Where else? A city."

Author's Notes:

Well, I've been planning this encounter for years now, I hope you like it. I was originally planning to go right then to the next action sequence but, after seeing the pacing of the story, I realized that this was going way too fast and the only reason why it feels like a good pay-off is because of the story being updated each 3 months, so the next chapters will be a bit more calm to make a build up for the next part of the story.

If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

Yes, I'm still posting this, I need food to stay alive and keep on writing.

Bonus Chapter: Illuminating Others

As the changelings were preparing to move from their, now destroyed, home, some grabbing personal heirlooms, others by planning the road ahead to a proper city they could start inhabiting, three figures went to a more secluded zone and started to talk about an already promised discussion.

"Alright then -, started Greed the conversation, - "how would you like to start this conversation?" - He then looked at Trixie and Thorax and added with trust on them. - "Feel free to ask anything."

The two of them looked at each other before Trixie stepped up and made her first question:

"Alright then, Trixie would like to know, what are you?"

Greed closed his eyes as he thought of an explanation, after all, none of them ever heard of a human. He opened his eyes, now thinking of a solution, and answered with calm on his voice:

"Well, to put it simple, I'm a homunculi."

Thorax and Trixie looked at each other, hoping the other had any idea of what did Greed meant, but Greed chuckled and added more to his answer.

"I doubt you've ever heard the name but, in simple terms, I'm an artificial life form, created by my father, with certain abilities that no normal living being is capable off."

"Like your shield?" - Asked Thorax.

"Yes" -, smiled Greed, - "like my shield."

Trixie and Thorax thought about it and tried to form another question.

"Sparkle's dragon said he found you as a gem. Why you were in that form?"

For a brief moment, Greed's smile banished, but he smiled again and answered.

"I had a rebellious phase with my father and he punished me by destroying my original body."

Both Trixie and Thorax flinched when they heard that, imagining the kind of pain Greed had to go through. But that only lead to more questions.

"So is that gem your original form?" - Asked Thorax.

"No, it's more like my soul."

"Your soul?" - Asked a wondering Thorax. - "So, if that gem is destroyed, would you die?"

"No" -, answered Greed, - "it's more like, if I die, the gem would be destroyed, since the gem holds what allows me to stay alive."

"And is it related to your regenerative magic?" - Asked Trixie.

Greed simply gave a devious smile, as if he was hiding something she shouldn't know about.

"That's a way to say it, yes."

Trixie felt tempted to ask more, but seeing Greed's smile, and her knowledge of how alchemy works, she felt scared of knowing the source of Greed's energy to regenerate his wounds. So she decided to ask something else.

"So, are there others like you?"

Greed put a serious face for a brief moment, looking at Trixie for a moment, before answering.

"Yes, I had other five brothers and one sister, but last time I checked, they were gone along my father, so I'm alone in this world."

Thorax reflected on his words, wondering how it had to be to lose your own family, while Trixie tried to comfort him.

"Oh, Trixie gives you her condolences."

"Don't."

Greed's cold words stunned Thorax and Trixie as they hear Greed explaining.

"I never liked them in the first place, I would rather move on"

They looked each other out, deciding to drop the issue of Greed's family, before Trixie made the next question:

"If Trixie remembers well, you said you were planning to rule over Equestria, is that true?" - Greed nodded, worrying Trixie. - "And how do you plan to do that?"

Greed looked at her and simply smiled, without showing his teeth.

"Slowly, first making sure to grow some reputation before anyone considers the idea of relying on me as their ruler."

"And how would a bar help on that?" - Asked a curious Thorax. - "I'm not exactly sure how that would help."

"Simple" - answered Greed in a very relaxed way. - "With a bar, we can start to know all the ponies passing through the city, by knowing the masses we can plan for ways to gain their trust" -. Thorax's eyes started to widen as he heard that, it was starting to make sense as Greed continued talking. - "With the bar we can have an easy, and secure, source of income, so we can eventually start growing into other ventures, from news media, to producers of goods, etc. From there onward, it's just a matter of getting more and more notorious, until we can convince the population of how I would be a better king than Celestia."

"But the ponies would never accept that, Celestia is beloved by everyone."

Greed showed his sharp teeth as he simply answered:

"Maybe not now, maybe not in ten years, but time is one of the things I have the most, I'm certain I can grow for enough time to achieve it" -. He then saw how the changelings were finishing their packing before moving, prompting Greed to make the final question. - "Does any of you have anything else to ask or is this conversation done?"

The pony and changeling thought for a while before Trixie remembered something important about Greed.

"What about Sparkle's dragon?"

Greed stopped smiling as he knew where this conversation was heading towards.

"What about him?"

Trixie took a step forward, with a serious look on her face, and continued.

"It's not fair for him to stay locked inside of him, you have to let him go."

For some brief seconds, Greed and Trixie looked at each other, as if sizing each other out, and before Thorax could intervene, Greed relented.

"Alright, I'll talk about it with him. Just remember that this body is now mine" -, he then smiled once more, - "so expect to see this pretty face very often on your working shifts, understood?"

Trixie made a small smile and nodded, hoping this would allow Spike to be out more often.

"Alright then" -, said Greed, - "time to move on" -. He then looked to the equestrian lands, remembering the cities he visited, both before and after he met Trixie, and started to move with the rest of his companions before telling them. - "And the first thing we'll look for is for some new shades and jacket, I have to keep my good looks, alright?".

This prompted some laughs from Trixie and Thorax as Greed decided to make one more promise to the one who gave him the body.

"Don't worry, I keep my promises" - Thought Greed to Spike. - "We can talk about how long will you be out once we can rest from this travel, alright?"

For a few seconds, Greed heard nothing, but then Spike answered.

"Can I, at least, have enough time to read some comics?"

Greed reflected on that, wondering if there were any advantages on it, but deciding on thinking later on it, he just relaxed as he moved in front of the changelings and lead them towards their new home.

"Sure."

Author's Notes:

Since this conversation wouldn't fit in any other part of the story, I decided to publish it now. Don't worry, since this is a bonus, I still have to write the chapter for December. Please, feel free to comment to know what do you think of this and where do you think this story is goin towards.

If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

The Gaze of the Sun Which Everything Sees

A young orange pegasus is flying towards Canterlot Castle as fast as possible.

He carries a series of letters with him.

As he manages to reach the Canterlot gardens, he's stopped by a group of Royal Guards.

"Stop!" - Order one of them. - "Soldier, name your business flying towards the castle!"

The young flyer takes out the first letter, and shows it to the Royal Guard.

"I am the Private Flash Sentry, I'm coming here under orders from the Eastern Command, to deliver a report to Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza regarding suspicious activities on the region."

Flash Sentry gave the guard a letter explaining his directives, once the guard read the letter, he nods and allows Flash Sentry inside the Castle.

As he enters, Flash Sentry notices an unusual amount of soldiers and officials moving around the castle. He wanted to ask about it, but he knew what was his task and focused on it, looking for directions on Princess Celestia's whereabouts, at which he was given the direction of the audience chamber.

As he reached the chamber, he saw Princess Celestia hearing from an unicorn a demand that piqued his interest.

"Which is why I ask for your council, Princess. It's true that we shouldn't misjudge other ponies, and it's true that the paperwork was done correctly, but I've sought for more information on them and I've found no trail of their origins. At best, that they come from the cities bordering Equestria, but the response from the officials from all those cities I've inquired from hasn't shown up in all these weeks of waiting, I can find no trace of where they got their money from and it's worrying me how they are buying so many places in one swift stroke."

Celestia remained impassive as she pondered on the unicorn's plight, before giving the answer he deserved.

"I understand your fear, my little pony, but I think you must try to find more evidence for your suspicions than just the mysterious nature of this ponies. From what I understand, there doesn't seem to be a connection between this ponies beyond their lack of background and, from what I understand, they haven't done anything wrong yet, is that correct?"

The unicorn looked deflated as he heard Celestia's response, at which he nodded, but not wanting him to leave the court disappointed, Celestia decided to give him some comfort.

"What I can recommend is to keep a watch on them, to ensure they keep on behaving correctly, as you wait for more responses on their background. If the worst comes to be, I'll be there to help you."

Hearing that he princess was still looking out for him, he smiled, he then nodded, thanking Celestia for listening to him, and left the place. Once the pony was gone, Flash Sentry approached Princess Celestia, presented himself to her, gave the letter sent by the Eastern Command, and waited for her response. At first, Celestia seemed impassively happy but, as she progressed on reading, her face turned more serious. After reading the letter, she took another report in the folder and gave it a quick read, widening her eyes, and making her step up from her position, called off any new hearing, and asked a guard to call up her sister, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor into the war room, with the express mention for both Luna and Shining Armor to bring up their most trusted commanders. She then glanced at Flash Sentry and ordered him to follow her.

As they reached the war room, Flash Sentry started to wonder why was the castle in such a hurry and, thankfully, he was with the one Alicorn that could answer that.

"My apologies, princess." - The guard said as Princess Celestia turned towards him. - "But, if I may, why are the staff so active lately? Last time I came it wasn't this active."

Princess Celestia looked at the guard for a brief moment before smiling and answering with a kind voice.

"Well, Flash Sentry, ever since the changelings invaded us, we had to make arrangements on the staff to ensure who were changelings and who were real ponies" -. Her smile then turned into a small frown, with her voice turning slightly sad. - "and between that and my faithful apprentice's assistant getting foalnapped, we've been moving a lot on the administration to gather as much intelligence as possible. The School of Wizardry has also been quite active since Twilight Sparkle sent them the results of a recent investigation she's been doing the past few weeks."

Flash Sentry nodded, now understanding what was going. Not too soon after that, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence and Captain Shining Armor came into the room followed by a white earth pony in golden armor, a black bat-like winged pony with deep red eyes and fangs that stood out just enough; a pearly white unicorn with gray mane and yellow eyes wearing a violet robe, and a flame-maned pegasus, with yellow coat, wearing a military suit.

"Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, I'm glad to see you here."

"Same here, Tia" -. Said Princess Luna, followed by Princess Cadence. - "It's great to see you Celestia."

"Captain Shining Armor, I'm glad to have you here."

"It's an honor to keep serving you, Princess."

Princess Celestia then looked at the white earth pony and addressed him.

"Captain Stronghold, I hope I haven't interrupted anything."

"Worry not, princess" -, he said with a calm but disciplined voice, - "I trust you called me for a vital task."

"Arch Mage Star Bright, I'm certain you must have found something interesting to report as of now."

The pearly white unicorn, grayish mane, deep yellow eyes and confident smile, answered to Princess Celestia with the most humble tone of voice.

"Indeed I do, my princess, but that will have to wait, I infer that my calling here wasn't for the mages most recent investigations, is that correct?"

Princess Celestia made a modest smile as she nodded.

"That is correct, Arch Mage, but I'm certain you will find this calling to be of the most relevant for your investigations."

Star Bright raised an eyebrow as Celestia looked at the pegasus.

"Commander Spitfire, I hope I didn't interrupt the training of the new cadets."

The Wonder Bolts commander made a smug smile as she responded to her princess.

"Worry not, princess, they'll wish I was out for a longer time once I'm done with them for today's training."

Celestia then looked at the dark guard with bat wings and deep red eyes.

"Nice to see the commander of the Lunar Guard here as well."

The Guard saluted Princess Celestia as he presented himself.

"Captain Rópalo of the night guard, I'm here under Princess Luna's orders to help as much as we can."

Celestia smiled as she looked at Flash Sentry and, with a kind voice, made the order.

"Private Flash Sentry, could you please wait for us outside of the room? Once we are done, we'll give you the letter with the next orders for your command to follow."

Flash Sentry nodded and left the room as all the relevant ponies started to talk, starting with Princess Luna.

"Alright sister, why did thee call for us? What has thou found out that required for us to be here?"

Celestia then brought the letter Flash Sentry gave her and started to read.

"As ordered by Your Majesty, we have been investigating on the whereabouts of your apprentice's dragon partner. We have been informed about his foalnapping by a dangerous creature of unknown origins, we have also been informed about his dangerous powers, but it has managed to remain elusive, even after getting help from the other commands across Equestria. But a recent series of events has given us the breakthrough needed to make you the following report.

After close to two months of investigations, we started to see a series of strange patterns on multiple cities. In the city of Vanhoover, in example, a fairly small bank was recently bought by a pony that, allegedly, comes from the south; in the city of Maretroit, meanwhile, a small hotel, which was near bankruptcy, was bought by another pony, this time alleging to come from the north, and so on and so forth. Most cities under our notice has a pony coming from another side of Equestria making an acquisition of a very small businesses that were either financially unstable or too small to even be seen as relevant. None of this would be seen as a pattern with one exception:

In all the cities this trades and acquisitions were made, a dragon with a description too close to belong to Spike was seen not too long before and/or after the acquisition was made. The color of the scales fitted but this dragon was much taller and bulkier than Miss Twilight's dragon partner, he was wearing a jacket, open gloves and shades that attempted to disguise his appearance but we are certain it must be related to the dragon we are looking for in some manner.

After looking for leads on the dragon, we managed to find both him and another dragon, this one resembling much closer to Spike's appearance, even in size, in the city of Vanhoover. They usually go to a bar called "The Chimera's Den" which started to run not too long ago and has a good amount of ponies going in and out of it. So far, we have found no illicit activities going on there, but our whistleblowers have informed us that many of the ponies in there don't behave in a way that seems to be normal from other ponies. We would've suspected changeling activity, but we are aware that the creature known as Greed had a fight with Chrysalis so we're only working on assumptions right now.

All the relevant information, from trade deals, to tax payment, photos, notes from other commands investigating this mysterious ponies, among many others, are annexed in the full report presented to you.

Greetings:

Watchful Eye, Commander of Equestria's Eastern Command of the Royal Guard."

As Celestia finished reading the report, she looked at the ponies in the room and tried to read their faces. Many of them were stoic and showing no emotion, with Princess Cadence being the first to break the silence.

"Is there more? I would like to read anything regarding potential changeling activity."

Celestia passed Cadence the full report, also gaining the interest of Captain Rópalo, Shining Armor, Stronghold and Spitfire, who wanted to know more about the activities in the western side of Equestria.

"Now" -, Celestia continued, - "while, you are reading the report, you have probably guessed already why I summoned you here."

"Is it to assess the situation and prepare a plan to seize Spike and liberate him from Greed's clutches? Is that correct sister?"

"Yes, Luna, after reading what he is capable off, and witnessing how he defeated Chrysalis, to try and take him on without a plan would be foolish."

"My apologies" -, interrupted Star Bright, - "but I'm not familiarized with the creature, not much has been said about the changeling invasion and this is the first time I've heard of it. What are we dealing with exactly?"

Celestia looked at the arc mage, and decided to explain.

"I assume you know about how Princess Cadence and Captain Shining Armor defeated Queen Chrysalis, correct?" - Seeing Star Bright nodding, Celestia decided to explain her more details. - "What you, and the other captains, may not know is that there was someone else in there who helped on the fight, a creature known as Greed."

Hearing this, Star Bright raised an eyebrow, interested on this new development.

"And why we weren't informed of him? If he helped, he should've been given a medal and been awarded for his contributions."

"It is true that, under normal circumstances" -, responded Princess Luna, - "this creature would've been rewarded but, there were serious complications on the matter, starting for what he is."

"What he is?" - Asked Star Bright.

"This is Greed?"

Star Bright turned towards Captain Rópalo, showing a picture of a muscular dragon, wearing a jacket covering part of his body, a pair of shades covering his eyes and some gloves covering the palm of his claws. All the while wearing a smug smile on his face that boasted a big level of confidence that, just barely, didn't cross the line with egocentrism.

"Yes, captain" -, responded Celestia, - "although the clothes are new, that was how he looked like when he fought Chrysalis."

"Well, he doesn't look like that big of a threat" -, added Commander Spitfire, - "if anything, he looks like a normal dragon."

"I'm afraid to say" -, responded Celestia, - "this is where you are wrong, commander, because Greed isn't exactly the dragon."

Spitfire, Rópalo, Stronghold and Star Bright became confused as Celestia explained.

"What he revealed to us is that he is actually inhabiting the dragon, the true nature of Greed's species hasn't been discovered as of now."

Spitfire gave the dragon possessed by Greed a more through look and made a simple guess.

"I suppose, then, that the dragon being controlled by Greed is Twilight Sparkle's dragon, is that correct?"

The princesses nodded as Shining Armor gave more information.

"He told us how Spike accepted a deal with him: the body in exchange of Him defeating Chrysalis. Greed fulfilled his part of the deal so he decided to keep Spike's body for himself."

"That makes sense, I guess" -, responded Spitfire with a certain level of skepticism, - "So why are we going after him again? Nothing wrong with him so far, putting aside the abduction of a body."

"Well" -, continued Princess Celestia, - "when he decided to run away with Spike's body, he was chased by Rainbow Dash but Greed decided to knock her unconscious; the very next day, he went to Ponyville and stole practically all of Spike's belongings, as well some other goods from residents of Ponyville, while leaving another element, Applejack, heavily harmed with her hindlegs broken."

The captains quickly reacted to this, now seeing the dragon in the picture with more contempt. Captain Rópalo himself starting to see the reasons of arrest.

"So burglary, assault and injury? That does sound like a reason to go after him" -. He then remembered what the report was saying about potential changelings with him. - "And he may be working alongside enemies of Equestria. But I take it we're going after him for more than just recovering the drake, is that correct?"

"You are, indeed, correct captain" -. Responded Luna on a neutral and even tone of voice. - "We are concerned he may have more knowledge than he lets on, since he was the one revealing, if by mere accident, that the only way to remove him from Spike is through the use of alchemy."

Star Bright gasped as she saw at Princess Celestia with shock.

"Is that why your student suddenly started to investigate alchemy so much? To see what could help her to save Spike?"

Princess Celestia nodded as her eyes gave a grim look.

"Yes, after seeing Spike being taken away, Twilight decided to research alchemy as much as possible. I hope her notes has been useful to you and the other magical scholars."

Star Bright nodded as she started to realize something.

"So the reason why we are also going after him is for his potential knowledge on alchemy?"

Princess Celestia nodded and answered.

"Quite, if he knows enough of alchemy to separate himself from Spike, then he probably knows more which makes it imperative to capture him before whatever secrets he has becomes known by any potential enemy trying to take over Equestria."

All the equestrian commanders gave the princesses an understanding look, knowing exactly what she meant and hoping Greed hadn't revealed much so far.

"Alright" -, responded Commander Spitfire, - "before we can start any kind of operation on the thing, what kind of powers it has? We must be prepared for any type of counter attacks he might prepare to avoid capture."

"Well" -, starts Princess Celestia as she brings up a piece of document separate from the report, - "when he was fighting Chrysalis and her changelings, we noticed that he was capable of turning his scales black."

Commander Spitfire scoffed at this while answering in a mocking tone.

"So he can change the color of his scales? Doesn't sound too threatening."

Princess Celestia continued, ignoring Spitfire's comment.

"The scales turned black, somehow, were strong enough to break rocks and, according to Twilight Sparkle, it could get hit by a buck strong enough to tear down a tree and rise up as if he never got hurt at all. His scales also showed strong resistance to spells designed to directly attack him."

Spitfire whistled in surprise as Captain Rópalo analyzed the situation.

"So he can become immune to all kind of physical aggression aimed at his body..." - an idea then came to his mind, - "and what about a telekinesis spell to hold him up?"

Celestia continued reading the document.

"According to Twilight, she managed to hold him up with a telekinesis spell, which means he cannot resist all types of spells."

"It's something" -. Captain Stronghold noted. - "But that still doesn't help much, if it was capable of defeating Chrysalis, a changeling army, and it has an armor capable of resisting most attacks, then we need a better plan than just swarm him with multiple royal guards hoping to succeed."

"Especially if he has changelings helping him" -, added Captain Rópalo, - "we may have to prepare for heavy resistance, even prepare for a new confrontation against Chrysalis."

The sole idea of confronting the changelings, and their queen, so soon, when they were still recovering from the invasion, was a dreadful idea for all the ponies in the room, even more if they had to fight the one creature that managed to fend them off.

"Well" -, started Captain Rópalo, - "our duty is to defend Equestria and if Greed decided to side with the ones who attacked us, then he might as well has become an enemy of Equestria."

"Hold on" -, responded Princess Cadence, - "don't you think that's strange that Greed is working with the changelings?" - All the ponies in the room decided to listen to Cadence, understanding where she wanted to go. - "Just think about it, he stopped Chrysalis from having an unlimited love farm and now she is working with him? Just... what happened between those two?"

Everypony started to think about, it made sense. Something must have happened for Chrysalis to suddenly start working with the creature that stopped her plans, but there was no indication of what was that something.

"I think we may have an idea" -, responded Shining Armor, - "or, at least, a way to find an answer to said question. How has the Eastern Command given us all this information?"

All the ponies reading the reports started to search for the answer until Captain Rópalo found the answer they were looking for.

"Here it is, apparently, one of the sources of information is a whistleblower working within Greed's bar. A griffon, apparently, looking for some quick bits before going back home."

Princess Cadence, along Shining Armor, Princess Luna, Princess Celestia and Captain Rópalo, quickly reached the same conclusion, as Cadence started to write in a fresh parchment.

"Alright, we must then ask the command to see if this whistleblower can discover more from this business. It must find out if there are changelings working in there, and, if so, it must find out if there's a connection between Greed and Chrysalis."

As Cadence stopped writing, she looked around, asking if there were any more ideas worth asking the command while they were preparing to go after Greed.

"Well" -, started Shining Armor, - "we should first be aware of the logistics the Eastern Command has at its disposal. That way, we can help them prepare to fight Greed and anypony who might be helping him."

"I agree" -. Concluded Princess Celestia. - "I will add that, while we are preparing for this, we must also coordinate with the other commands to investigate all this strange ponies acquiring businesses. If this are changelings, we must put a stop to them before they get to do any harm on us."

All the ponies on the room nodded, as Celestia continued.

"I also think that the Eastern Command should be in charge of the operation, regarding capturing Greed, since they are the ones who know the location best. Any objection to this?"

Shining Armor quickly raised his hoof, at Celestia's surprise.

"Captain Shining Armor, you are the last one I was expecting to object."

"Do not misinterpret me, Your Majesty" -. Responded Shining Armor. - "I do believe it would be best to leave it to the Eastern Command to deal with Greed himself, but what I wanted to request was for me to go there and help directly."

"What is this Shining Armor?" - Teased Spitfire. - "Wanting to meet the hero that saved both you and Princess Cadence?"

Shining Armor ignored the tease and, keeping a straight face, continued his request.

"Not quite, I don't think I can see someone who foalnapped Spike, harmed Twilight's friends and is in some potential shady businesses as a hero. What I want is to help in the capture of him, as an unicorn, I'm confident enough to be of help for this operation."

Princess Celestia gave both Luna and Cadence a look implying they would discuss it later before Celestia responded.

"It will be taken into consideration, something else Captain?"

"Yes" -, responded Shining Armor, showing no overconfidence but also no feeling of overstepping with the request, - "I would like to have my sister and, should they want, involved in the operation."

All the other commanders gasped as Shining Armor continued his request.

"We're speaking of someone very important to Twily, if she finds out we did this operation without asking her to be part of it, even more if she is never told of this. At the very least, she must be asked if she wants to be part of this."

Celestia gave it some thought before nodding, knowing very well what will Twilight answer, if asked about helping capturing Greed.

"Alright then, I'll ask her. Perhaps she'll show us the results from her investigations on alchemy."

"Oh!" - Interrupted Star Bright. - "That would be so useful, perhaps we might even share some notes on what the mages and her has been discovering."

The rest of the meeting was reduced to a debate about what would be the new orders for the Eastern Command, along with a bone structure of how the operation would go. Once the ideas were set, a new letter was written and given to the private Flash Sentry, for him to go and deliver to the Eastern Command, who wouldn't be so thrilled with the idea of civilian ponies, even if they are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, being involved in a military operation.

Meanwhile, in Ponyville, a scholarly unicorn would receive the letter that would put to the test her resolve to have her number one assistant back.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the heavy delay, it took me a while to focus on this chapter. I hope you like it, next year will have some very interesting chapters for you to read.

If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

Those Who Hide From The Sun

"Before this start, miss Gilda, I would like to say once more of how grateful we are for your services."

That's what Gilda heard, but, overall, she couldn't care any less of what these ponies were thinking of her. All she wanted was the money, the more the better for her.

"Now" -, continued the grey maned guard, in a serious, yet friendly, tone of voice, - "is there something you would like to inform us today?"

Gilda just looked at the guard without a care as she started to remember the details of her last days on the job.

"Well, I remember you asked me to keep a watch on the ponies that work in there, figure out who the owner of said bar is and see if I could detect something shady in there, right?"

The guard nodded.

"Well" -, Gilda continued, - "the ponies in there has been warming up to me, so they let me move with more freedom" -. She then looked around the room, noticing how bare and boring it looked with the gray walls and only one window. - "There are far more ponies working in there than you may think" -, she gave the guard a look, seeing if the information shocked him, but he didn't flinch, - "I don't know how, but the amount of ponies you see entering the bar to work are small potatoes compared to the real amount of ponies working in there, I had a hard time counting, but I wouldn't be surprised if they got up to a hundred ponies working in there."

The guard simply nodded as he asked in a neutral tone.

"Any idea of how they get in the building without passing through the main entrance?"

Gilda gave some thought about it and, after some reflection, she negatively moved her head.

"No idea, there's probably a secret entrance somewhere, but I'm yet to find it."

The guard nodded and continued asking.

"Alright, have you figured out who is the bar's owner?"

Gilda nodded as she started to answer.

"Yeah, it was hard to figure out, for a good while, I thought it was that unicorn dweeb Weight Lifter."

"The one who hired you?" - The guard clarified. Gilda simply nodded.

"Yeah, that one, after some talks with the other staff in the bar, I discovered that the real owner isn't Weight Lifter, is some dweeb called 'Lord Greed'."

The Guard's eyes, for the first time since Gilda can remember talking to him, widen open as he heard this revelation.

"And have you seen this 'Lord Greed'?"

Gilda rejected this.

"Nah, never saw him. Whenever I ask for him, I'm told he's out doing some businesses in other places."

The guard then pulls out a saddlebag from under his desk, then he take a picture from it, and shows it to Gilda. There, she can see a dragon wearing shades, open gloves, a jacket and a smug smile that is extremely close from being an over confident smile.

"This dragon" -, asked the guard, - "have you seen him?"

Gilda gave the dragon in the picture a closer look and nodded.

"Yeah, I saw him once or twice on the bar but that was only the day I got recruited, what about him?"

"We suspect he is Greed, the actual owner of the bar."

Gilda's eyes widen with curiosity as she heard this. She never suspected that a dragon would be the owner of a bar where only ponies worked.

"Do you know when will Greed show up again in the bar?"

Gilda nodded as she remembered what Weight Lifter told her recently.

"I do, actually" -. The guard almost raise from his seat from the emotions he got when he heard this. - "I think he came back yesterday. My supervisor told me that, thanks to my hard work, he'll see if the boss gets to meet me personally, so I'll see him sooner than expected."

"Good" -, the guard said, with a slight hint of emotion on his voice, at least from Gilda's perspective, - "this would be a great opportunity for you to get more information on what happens in there."

"Are you sure something fishy is going on in there?" - Asked a reluctant Gilda. - "I've been watching them for weeks by this point and, so far, despite some weird... huh... quirks from them, they haven't done anything that could be seen as morally wrong or illegal."

Gilda never saw a body reaction from the guard, but she would always swear something on his eyes twitched as she said that.

"It may look like it, but the dragon known as Greed is involved in a foalnap."

Gilda's eyes widened when she heard that, looking at the dragon in the picture with new eyes.

"We also suspect the ponies working in there may be changelings."

Gilda went in shock as she heard this, hoping she heard wrong.

"What? How did you come to that conclusion?"

The guard then takes some more pictures and sheets from his saddlebag. He first shows the picture of a pony Gilda recognizes a Weight Lifter.

"There's no record from this pony ever existing. We looked for birth certificates in the city he claims to come from but we found nothing, we also looked for the school he said he graduated from, and while the school does exist, there's no record of him."

He then pointed out at other ponies Gilda recognized as workers in the bar.

"This pony does exist, but we found her living in Baltimare and with a family; this stallion comes from Appleloosa but the last we heard from him was about two days after the invasion of Canterlot Castle from Chrysalis, after that incident, this pony disappeared from Equestria's record until you saw him working in there; this pegasus has been found working in three different places at the same time and this pony was among the confirmed identities used by changelings to infiltrate among us."

He then showed the picture of a blue unicorn mare with a wizard hat, Gilda recognized her as the extremely annoying pony that likes to talk in third person and whose boasting always made Gilda lose her patience.

"So far, this is the only pony we have managed to confirm as an actual equestrian citizen working in there but, every time we tried to contact her, she would avoid us or give us unreliable information about what happens in there, so we suspect she may be working with Greed."

Gilda looked at all the ponies and started to wonder if she was still on time to leave the place before it was too late for her.

"So you want me to risk my life, going back in there, to inform you if they are actual changelings or if they are doing something illegal?"

The guard stood silent for 10 full seconds before he answered Gilda.

"We could increase your payment if you want" -, the guard tried to relief Gilda, - "we do understand your concerns but you have helped us a lot. If possible, all we need left is a confirmation of how long will Greed be at the bar and a confirmation of changeling activity in the place."

"And how do you plan me to confirm that?" - Asked a beffudled Gilda, - "maybe the boss but it's not like I could go there and ask them if they steal love from innocent ponies."

"It doesn't have to be that direct" -, responded the guard, - "all we need is you witnessing one of them transforming or, if needed be, ask something to then that could contradicts the information, in example" -, he then pulled another picture of a small yellow coated filly with a red mane, cutie markless, and yellow eyes, - "this foal you've seen in there, calling herself Pearseed, is actually called Applebloom and is member of the Apple family living in Ponyville. There's no record of her ever leaving her home since the invasion attempt by Chrysalis but you've seen her living in that bar for the past few weeks."

"That annoying filly?" - Asked Gilda. - "you want me to interrogate a foal? Even if that's an actual changeling in disguise, I don't think I'll have an easy time asking her much, especially in public."

"Do not worry" -, the guard said to relieve Gilda, - "again, it's not much what we're asking for. Just a confirmation, after all, the target is Greed and, as long as we know how long will he stay in there, you'll be rewarded once your work is complete."

"That reminds me" -, Gilda said with a slight hint of bitterness in her voice, - "since I'm risking my life, I want the double of payment" -. Surprisingly for Gilda, the guard didn't even flinch when he heard that. - "I don't plan to put my life on the line for a small payment."

"If you give us the information we need" -, the guard immediately responded, - "we'll give you ten times the usual amount of bits we're giving you right now."

Gilda's mouth opened wide as she heard that.

"Five hundred? Deal."

"Excellent" -, the guard then started to put all the pictures and sheets back on the saddlebag, - "it was a pleasure speaking to you, miss Gilda, may Celestia help you on your venture."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever" -. Gilda dismissed the guard. - "Just prepare those bits for me, I'll have that information for you before you know it."

Gilda then raised from the chair and left the household apartment the guard was using as a facade, moving through the building block until she left the place, trying to ignore the fact she just met a guard in one of the most dangerous places in Vanhoover and she was, in a few hours, going to a place filled with a criminal and potential changelings.

Tonight was going to be so much fun...

As Gilda left her rented house, later that day, she made her travel to the Chimera's Den to earn some more bits and see if she could find out if there were actual changelings or not. Who knows? Perhaps those weren't changelings, they could be ponies that managed to avoid registry, or had twins...

"Gilda!?" - The griffon turned up and saw, to her unpleasant surprise, Rainbow Dash, who spent no time in getting close to her, frown on her face, to question her. - "What are you doing here?"

Gilda formed some ideas on her head as she saw her ex-friend getting closer to her, 'that's none of your business' was one of them, but she decided to go with a simpler one.

"I'm having a job here and I'm going to my job right now."

Gilda tried to move but, for her detriment, Rainbow Dash's other annoying friends were there.

"Oh, is that the meanie Gilda?"

Especially the pink one.

"Leave me alone, I'm getting late to work!" - Gilda tried to get rid of them, but the pink one was still in front of her. - "Leave me alone or else I'll do something nasty to you."

"Pinkie!" - Shouted the purple one. - "Come back here, Rainbow Dash, we need to go, you can talk to your friend later."

They were talking some more, but Gilda had zero interest in whatever they were talking, all she wanted was going back to her work and see how many bits she could get out of it before her other employers decided to do something in there.

As she managed to get to the Chimera's Den, she thankfully managed to get to her job on time but that didn't stop her from being saluted by her supervisor.

"Hello Gilda" -. Said Weight Lifter in a neutrally happy tone of voice. - "I'm glad to see you here."

"Really?" - Asked a curious Gilda. - "And why's that?"

"Well" -, continued Weight Lifter, - "ever since you came here, the clients have behaved much better with the staff and our female employees have less things to complain about."

Gilda chuckled at that.

"Well, my job is to ensure nopony steps out of line, all I can say is that you picked the right girl for this" -. She then remembered what she was told about Weight Lifter, and decided to check him out, noticing how weak his body looked like, very convinient for a changeling to look easy to beat down on a fight. - "Say" -, she added with no hint of nervousness on her voice, - "is there something else for you to see me?"

Weight Lifter then started to sweat as he tried to make sense of his words.

"Well, the boss got back from his business trip yesterday and, after telling him of your excellent job, he has said that he wants to meet you personally."

For some reason, hearing this only made Gilda nervous.

"Really? Probably because he needs to be covered from my coolness" -, she said as she tried to hide her nerves, not noticing Weight Lifter rolling his eyes at her comment, - "can I do that after doing my shift?" - She added, hoping to get some time to prepare for the meeting.

Weight Lifter, meanwhile, raised his brows at Gilda's comment.

"Well, sure, but knowing you, I thought you would prefer to see him first."

Gilda started to sweat a bit at the comment, they were starting to know how she behaved.

"Well, yeah, usually, I would. But not now, I get paid by the hour and I can't spend my time with the boss, so I'll see him later."

She nervously looked at Weight Lifter, hoping that he would buy her lie, and relief came to her once she saw her supervisor shrugging at her remark.

"Alright then, he said there was no rush, as long as you meet him today" -. Gilda suppressed the sigh she wanted to released, trying to keep Weight Lifter unsuspecting of her, which probably happened as Weight Lifter gave her the next order. - "In that case, though" -, he then pointed at one of the corners of the bar, - "go to watch over the place and ensure nopony oversteps in here."

Gilda nodded as she started to move to her place and looked around the 12mt square bar to ensure everyone were behaving. From the entrance, to the barman's spot (6mt away diagonally form the entrance), to the spot where ponies came to do their shows (on the opposite side, and in front of the drinking bar), to the entrance to a hallway that was besides the drinking bar itself.

She started to see around the velvet carpeted walls and the well electricity lit roof and how the ponies were already starting to gather on the bar. Some were the usual annoying stallions trying to get something from the mares on the staff, nothing Gilda couldn't fix with a simple intimidatory look; some of the clients would usually get to heated for drinking too much and would try to get into a fight, something she could easily fix by removing one of the fighters and, if needed be, she could also take care of both.

After her second hour, that night, the annoying filly came to her.

"H-hi, miss Gilda."

"Beat it, I'm working."

The filly flinched at her remark, but it didn't stop her from talking, much to Gilda's annoyance.

"S-sorry, it's just that, I heard Mr. Greed wants to talk to you and... I wanted to congratulate you."

Gilda raised her eyebrow and looked at her, making the poor red mane filly to shrink even more than she looked like.

"Congratulate me?"

"Ye-yeah... the boss rarely talks to anybody, he usually delegates his orders to Weight Lifter or someone he trust... so y-you must have done something good to gain his attention."

"Naturally" -, Gilda says as she brush her feathers in complete 'coolness', - "no one is going to mess around here as long as I'm in charge of security."

'Pearseed' blushes as she tries to form the next sentence.

"Y-yes, that's why I hope to r-repay you for helping me out."

Once again, Gilda rolled her eyes at this sappy moment.

"Again with this? Listen, I was doing my job, there's nothing especial on me getting rid of some ponies picking up on you."

'Pearseed' tried to form a response, but Gilda brushed her off.

"Now, leave, I need to work, you can tell me how great I am later."

'Pearseed' tried to respond once more, but instead nodded and left Gilda alone. Other than that, nothing unusual happened on the calm bar. Usually, there's the show with that annoying unicorn, but for some reason, she took the day off, and some new ponies were trying to make some sort of show based on whatever special talent they had, which were quickly booed by the audience.

In the end, despite enjoying seeing those ponies getting mocked, the end of Gilda's shift came to be, and she had to go to see the Boss.

"Best wishes Gilda, I hope he gives you a raise."

Gilda looked back and saw it was the mare behind the drinking bar, the one that's supposed to have a life in Baltimare, and have a family. Her blue coat, brownish mane, yellow eyes and 'Bar suit' made her undistinguishable from the bar, but for some reason it was impossible to ignore her right now, as if the information Gilda held made her look at everypony in the bar with different eyes.

Eyes trying to hide away their fear of what they could be.

Nonetheless, Gilda moved to the back of the bar, besides the drinking bar, moving through the long hallway, noticing the many doors in there. Some doors were either open or had small windows that allowed to see what happened behind them, like the one leading to the kitchen, or the door leading to the stairs that lead to the upper building. But there were some doors, Gilda noticed, that were closed and with no way to notice what happened behind them, even if there were many ponies going in and out of said doors. Nonetheless, right at the end of the hallway, Gilda reached the door belonging to her actual boss.

"Alright Gilda, calm down, it's just a dragon, nothing you can't handle" -. She told herself. - "A dragon that may have kidnapped a foal and leads a potential changeling army."

After taking some quick breaths, Gilda knocked the door three times, and waited for a response.

"Come in."

Answered a smoot voice, very confident, and that sounded kinda 'cool'.

When Gilda opened the door, she was surprised to see a room decorated with yellow paintings, goldenish lamps, a red carpet, a nicely looking wooden desk and, behind that desk, a muscled dragon with his eyes covered by a pair of shades, a nice looking jacket, claws covered by open gloves and giving her a smile with his open mouth that showed his pearly white, sharp teeth.

Somethign was telling Gilda that the room would be decorated with far more expensive things if this dragon had the funds to pay for it.

And the final thing that Gilda noticed on the room were two beings, her supervisor, Weight Lifter, at the dragon's right side and that annoying Unicorn, at the dragon's left side, giving the air of guards protecting their master.

Gilda was really hoping this was about giving her a raise.

"You can sit" -. The dragon said, pointing at a chair that was right in front of him. - "I hope it's comfortable to you."

Gilda moved to the chair and sat on it, it was weirdly comfortable.

"Thanks" -, Gilda responded, - "it's actually nice and comfortable."

The dragon looked back at Weight Lifter and moved his lips in such a manner that it looked like they said 'I told you', at which Weight Lifter looked annoyed as he rolled his eyes. The dragon then looked back at Gilda and proceded with the meeting.

"Now, do you remember me?"

Gilda nodded.

"Yeah, I saw you on the day I was hired, you were on the drinking bar as Weight Lifter was interviewing me, and the next day, as I was starting to guard the place from anypony trying to start a problem."

"Good" -, the dragon said, keeping his smug smile, - "I suppose that, by this time, you must have figured out who I am, right?"

Once more, Gilda nodded.

"Yeah, you are the actual boss from this place."

The dragon nodded.

"Correct, do you know my name?"

Gilda nodded.

"Yeah, you are who the staff calls, 'Lord Greed', I'll admit though, I wasn't expecting you to be a dragon."

Greed simply shrugged, while closing his eyes momentarily, before continuing.

"Understandable, not many ponies can get along with different species. Not a problem for me, though" -. Gilda took a good look at Greed as he started to look at both Weight Lifter and the annoying Unicorn with a knowing look before looking back at Gilda. - "And now, after hearing so much about your good job, I would like to know more, are all the griffons as capable as you?"

Gilda quickly responded to this with complete confidence.

"They may be capable of fighting, but you'll never find a griffon as capable as me."

Greed widened his smug smile at this.

"Really? Well, that's something I would like to test."

Gilda raised her eyebrows when she heard this, trying to figure out where he was going with this.

"And what do you mean? You plan to replace me?"

"Oh, no" -, responded Greed with complete calmness, - "you see, I am planning to open more sites like this and I would need more guards and you left me a good impression on griffons."

Gilda tried to think about what he just said and, after remembering what the guard told her about him, she started to feel worried about what he could do to other Griffons.

"No need, I'm the best griffon you'll ever find, no other griffon will ever reach the same level as me."

That false bragging didn't seem to deter Greed.

"Oh, do not worry about that, even if those griffons aren't at the same lever as you, I plan to train them so they can work properly."

Once more, Gilda didn't like how that sounded.

"Ok, that sounded creepy."

"My apologies" -, responded Greed, - "but that's the most appropiate word I can think off to get what I want."

"What you want?"

"Yes, I want more money."

"I shouldn't be surprised with a name like Greed" -. Gilda thought as she started to pay attention to what Greed said.

"But for that money I need to expand and, being honest, I see the griffons as a good acquiescense to get what I want, so I'll need more griffons for my main objective."

"Well, tough luck" -, responded Gilda with a certain level of confidence, - "because griffons are greedy and if you want to hire all of us you'll need far more money than you can get."

"Oh" -, responded Greed with his smug smile, - "but that won't be a problem, after all, the deal is almost done."

"...what?"

That was all Gilda could muster after what Greed said.

"You heard me" -, the dragon responded, - "you see, my most recent travel was to Griffonstone to see if anyone was willing to work for me on my projects and, at first, they didn't want to listen to me so, after some tough negotiations, I managed to convince them to work for me under some special conditions."

"W-what... kind of conditions?" - It was, by this point, almost impossible for Gilda to hide her nervousness.

"The second one was a sign that I could get for them what no other griffon was capable of getting, which wasn't so hard after getting a relic that was very important for griffons."

It took Gilda a few seconds to process what he meant but, once she did, her feathers started to put on edge.

"You... you mean.. you got the lost treasure of Griffonstone?"

Greed's smug smile became predatory as he heard Gilda.

"Yes..."

"That's impossible!" - Gilda said in a panicked voice, trying to make sense of what she heard. - "No griffon has ever managed to get close to that thing, the winds are too strong, you don't seem to have wings and it's impossible for you to climb all of that."

"Nothing is impossible" -. By this point, Greed was looking at Gilda with the smile of a predator and the griffon was feeling more and more like prey. - "All you need is the will to go and take what belongs to you, the same way I decided to go for what belongs to me."

"W-w-what belongs to you?"

If Greed had anything to say on Gilda's fearful nature, he didn't say it, he just answered her questions.

"Yes, everything belongs to me. Money, power" -, he then looked at Trixie and Weight Lifter, - "loyal subjects. Whatever there is, it will belong to me, if it doesn't belongs to me already."

"E-even..." - Gilda was too afraid to say the words, but she knew she had to if she wanted to get the information she wanted. - "Even Changelings?"

Gilda could swear she saw a light shining on Greed's eyes, through the shades, as she muttered those words. She was now realizing that, as tough as she was, this Greed was probably much tougher than her, especially if it managed to get Griffonstone's most prized possession. And, as she cowered before Greed, she saw him getting closer to her, with a more calm nature, closing his mouth and, for the first time, allowing Gilda to see his light violet eyes and showing a sympathetic nature.

"Dear, what makes you think I'm working with Changelings?"

Gilda was about to respond, when she then saw the two ponies behind Greed seeing her in a suspicious manner, then she realized she said something she shouldn't know and fear started to corrode her even more.

"N-nothing, just wondering since you said that everything belongs to you, I got curious if you would even own changelings."

Greed's sight became more meticulous as he started to move back to his chair while answering nonchalantly.

"Of course I would, I am that merciful" -. He said as both the annoying unicorn and Weight Lifter rolled their eyes at the same time. - "I really don't care about the species, I would still own it and protect it as I do with any of my possessions, after all, someone as brilliant as I would never miss the chance to own a species just because they aren't as good looking as I."

"Gee" -. Gilda thought. - "I almost miss how big of an ego he has, I think it could easily rival Rainbow's."

"In example" -, Greed continued, - "of how smart I am, I took notice of how you were informing the Royal Guard of my activities."

For the first time in a long while, Gilda was speechless as Greed started to move his claws in a manner of control, intercrossing the fingers while putting his elbows on the desk, his hands covering his mouth.

"You really think my workers wouldn't notice you were informing the Royal Guard of our activities?"

"So... you actually have something to hide?"

It was hard for Gilda to presume any sign of strength when, in reality, she was in a closed room with three figures who could easily overpower her. If she was going to get captured, then she would at least know what she was asked to investigate.

"Because I was told you were working with changelings and that they were probably working on something dangerous."

"Well..." - Greed responded in a pensive manner. - "I don't think it could be considered dangerous or illegal" -. He then looked at Trixie and asked in a serious manner. - "We're not doing anything illegal, right?"

Trixie looked despondent and responded.

"Of course not, The Great and Powerful Trixie would never do something illegal."

"Good" -. Answered Greed back. - "Because I remember telling you to not do anything illegal, making gold included."

"Wait" -, asked a beffudled Gilda, - "making gold? You can create gold?"

"Well" -, once again, Greed answered but in a doubtful manner, as if he wasn't sure he wanted to say this kind of information, - "we technically can, but that's illegal, and it can create inflation, which harms the economy, and makes everyone poorer. What I want is for everyone to get richer, and creating gold won't help us in the long term."

Gilda gave this a thought when, once more, she remembered something crucial from her conversation with Greed.

"Wait a minute, if you said that you hired all the griffons in Griffonstone and that you weren't creating gold, how do you plan to pay all the griffons to work as your body guards? Griffons are greedy and no griffon will work for you under the promise of riches that won't appear soon, with or without treasure."

Greed practically scoffed at this, as if he wasn't really expecting the question due to how simple the answer was.

"Easy, actually, I'll remember you that the treasure was the second sign I gave the griffons that I was capable of making them rich. Along with the first sign, I managed to convince the griffons that, following my rules, they would achieve riches never seen before."

"And what was the first sign?" - Asked a wondered Gilda.

In that moment, to Gilda's eyes, she saw Weight Lifter using his horn, enchanting Greed's head and neck, as he was starting to answer.

"That is a good question, I was waiting for you to ask for it. Well, it's hard to explain but-"

In that moment, Greed's neck was twisted to such a way that his body stopped moving, leaving it very clear to Gilda he was no longer alive. Her emotions were all over the place, she was afraid of the murder she just witnessed, she was angry at the horrible crime she saw, frustrated at having the information she sook being taken away, and more. All she could do was hearing the two unicorns speaking as if it was a normal day.

"I think you were too hard Weight Lifter" -. Answered the annoying Unicorn. - "He's going to have some residual pain neck for a few hours today."

"You think so?" - Asked Weight Lifter as if he did nothing wrong. - "I remember he asked me to make sure the twist was strong enough, otherwise, it wouldn't seem convincing."

"What in tartarus are you talking about!?" - Shouted Gilda at the two murderers, not noticing Greed's arms shaking. - "You just committed murder! How can you talk about it as if you did nothing wrong!?" - She was shouting at the unicorns, who were looking at her with smiling faces, while Greed's body was starting to move, although Gilda didn't seem to notice it yet. - "You think I'll let this one go? I don't care how many ponies are with you, but I'll inform the Royal Guard of what you did so you can get-"

In that moment she saw Greed's body raising from the desk, head still twisted, and moving as if he was still alive. Once she saw it, Gilda's body stopped functioning, now unable to process what she was just seeing.

Greed's arms started to move on their own as his claws took his head and twisted it back into its original position, followed by some red lightning coming froom his neck, after which Greed started to complain.

"More careful next time Thorax, that twist is going to give me some pain neck for the next few hours."

"Sorry, I'll be more precise next time."

Greed then turned towards Gilda, still processing what she just saw, as he said the next words.

"And that was the very first thing I showed the griffons in Griffonstone. I am very hard to kill and I have enough time to give them all the riches they want, so how does that sound to you?"

As Gilda processed the information, she started to understand the benefits of what her fellow griffons were offered. They were given the chance to work with something like Celestia, immortal, caring enough to give its subjects something to be hopeful, powerful and willing to promise its subject what they wanted.

Granted, that was what her mind in shock was processing, she would later have the time think more carefully what she was now seeing. In the meantime, Greed was giving her the offer that he gave to all the other griffons, under the promise of getting out of the shameful state they were living under right now.

"Now Gilda, this is a one time deal, and if you accept it, you'll be given a chance at something you never had in your life. Are you in or not?"

It didn't take her long to figure out her response.

Author's Notes:

If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.

Reencounter in the Shadows

"Are you sure this is the dragon you saw a few days ago?"

The young, green maned and blue eyed stallion looked at the picture of a young, purple dragon standing along Twilight Sparkle and her friends. He looked quite happy as he was besides a purple unicorn. After looking at the picture for another while, the stallion looked back at the purple unicorn in question and answered.

"Yeah, I'm certain, he was wearing some clothes, but the eyes and scales make him easier to recognize. He used to come here at least once a week to buy a new comic, but he hasn't shown up lately."

Twilight deflated as she heard this, another chance to find information about Spike dashed once more.

"Well, thanks for the information" -, she looked at the store, noticing the price of some of this comics, and wondered, - "say, could you please tell me who payed you for the comics he was buying?"

"If you mean as who pays me, well, the dragon, but if you're asking as from where did the dragon take the money" -.The stallion shrugged. - "Every time I asked, he told me 'his uncle' gave him the money to spend."

"His uncle?" - Asked Twilight as one eyebrow of hers started to rise.

"Yeah, that's what he said."

Twilight gave it some thought before deciding that she had enough.

"Alright then, thanks."

"Thanks to you" -, answered the stallion, - "if you see him, please tell him that our new edition of Supermare vs Batmare has arrived and I have one copy saved for him."

Twilight nodded and left the comic book store, with a young royal guard waiting for her.

"Did you find what you needed to see, miss?"

Twilight rolled her eyes as she answered with an annoyed tone of voice.

"Yes Flash, you don't need to call me miss. How many times do I have to say it?"

"You may say that" -, answered the young cadet, - "but I'm certain your brother wouldn't like it if a soldier under his command talks to you in a casual way, miss."

"Ugh, Shining and his over protectiveness" -. She then saw the sun as it was getting closer to the sunset and determined it was time to get back to her temporal residence. - "It's getting late, we must get back with the rest of the girls."

Flash Sentry nodded and escorted her back to the residence where Twilight and her friends were living. She moved past the guard watching her room, with Flash Sentry joining him after a small salute, and she opened the door to her room, being greeted by her room mate.

"Twilight, dear, how was your day out? Did you find what you were looking for?"

Twilight looked at Rarity with a dissapointed face as she gathered he thoughts.

"Well, yeah, I could only confirm what my brother told me. Spike has been seen in many places around the city, for weeks, to the point of even being a normal customer in some comic book stores."

Rarity was confused about that.

"But, from what I can recall, you said Greed was the one in control of the body, right? Then how come Spike has been able to move around?"

"The only conclusion I can make" -, responded Twilight with slight confusion and sadness, - "is that he must have struck a deal with Greed, so he could move around freely from time to time. But, if so, why he hasn't tried to communicate with me?"

"Oh Twilight" -, Rarity tried to alleviate her sorrows, - "knowing my Spikey Wikey, he probably tried, but I doubt that hooligan of Greed would've allowed it."

Twilight thought about it and considered what the comic seller said today.

"You're right, Rarity, Spike must have tried, which is why Greed didn't allow him to leave in the last few days."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, all the ponies who knew Spike going to the places where he has been seen told me that he hasn't shown up in the last few days."

"Oh" -, said Rarity with a tonality of tragedy, - "poor little Spike. I cannot fathom the kind of atrocities Greed must have been doing with his body."

They both shuddered at the idea itself, especially if he was working with Chrysalis, as Shining Armor and the rest of the Royal Guard suspected. Who knew what kind of plan was Greed making, but if his name was anything to go by, that bar he must be working on has to be only the first step on his plan.

"Yeah, which is why I'll try my best to separate those two as soon as I can."

"And how do you plan to split Spike from the meanie Greedie?"

"GAH!"

Twilight shouted as she saw Pinkie Pie appearing on the room out of nowhere, the door never knocking nor sounding being open.

"Pinkie! From where did you enter the room?"

"Silly Twilight, I was allowed in!"

"Pinkie, dear, that doesn't make sense."

Pinkies giggles said all the two ponies needed to know, it was better to not ask, so Twilight preferred to focus on answering the first question.

"Well, I've been planning on first figuring out the nature behind Greed. My first guess is that he is a spirit possessing the gem, so once I discover the components making said gem, I'll use alchemy to separate the two of them by removing what binds them together."

"And will that hurt? I don't want to see my Spikie wikie any more than he already is suffering by being near that dreadful Greed."

Twilight thought about it for a moment before asking.

"Well, maybe... I'm not too sure, but I'll try to make it as painless as possible."

In that moment the door was knocked.

"Miss Twilight" -, Flash's voice was heard, - "your friends, Miss Applejack, Miss Rainbow Dash and Miss Fluttershy are here, do you want to let them in?"

Twilight rolled her eyes as she told him to let them in. As they entered the room, Rainbow noticed Pinkie.

"There she is Fluttershy, I told ya she was with Twilight."

Fluttershy gave a deep sigh of relief as Applejack decided to enter into the conversation.

"Well, that's good to know, now Ah would like to know what were you talking about, Ah think Ah heard you talking about Greed."

Twilight smiled at this and decided to add the rest of her friends on her plans.

"Well, I was talking about my plans to separate Spike from Greed once we manage to capture him."

Rainbow grinned at the thought of getting back to Greed for stealing Spike, punching her hoofs against each other.

"Aw yeah, that would be sweet, I've been training to show my awesomeness to that uncool thief."

Applejack looked at her bare legs, mentally preparing to show Greed a buck he would never forget.

"Ah cannot wait either" -, she then turned towards Twilight, - "so how do ya plan to bring that feller in?"

Twilight thought about for a brief moment before answering.

"Well, I think my brother's plan to capture him and his followers is good enough but, just in case, I've learnt a few tricks with alchemy that, I'm certain, will allow us to capture him. Once we have him, we'll bring him back home, where we'll be searching for a way to separate Greed from Spike's body."

"I can't wait to have Spike back" -, added Pinkie, - "he's been missing so many parties that I'll compensate it by throwing him all the parties he has missed at once and then I'll give him all the sweets he hasn't eaten and I'll then invite him to more parties I've been doing and then..."

"Pinkie!" - Shouted Rainbow Dash. - "We get it, we all want Spike back and we'll make sure that Greed pay for all he has done."

"Yeah" -, agreed Pinkie Pie, - "just because he saved us from being conquered by Queen Chrysalis, probably deposing her, and probably reforming the changelings doesn't excuse him of taking Spike with him and then stealing from us, that's of such a meanie pants."

All of Pinkie's friends were looking at her with slight shock as they tried to understand what she just said.

"You think he deposed Queen Chrysalis?" - Asked Rainbow Dash.

"I mean" -, added Pinkie, - "if what Twilight's brother said is true and there are changelings working with him, that probably means that he must have removed her, does that mean I have to throw him a 'congratulations for defeating Chrysalis for the second and penultimate time' or a 'congratulations on giving changelings a second time'? Oh, I know, maybe I could throw him both along a 'we hope you reform in prison' party and-"

"Pinkie!" - Shouted Twilight, with an annoyed tone of voice, as she ignored Pinkie's antics. - "Not now. We must first capture Greed and separate him from Spike before determining what to do with him."

"Um" -, added the timid voice of Fluttershy, - "does that mean that we'll keep Greed on his gem form?"

Twilight and the rest of her friends remained in a slight shocked as that detail was reminded to them, while Fluttershy almost flinch from becoming the center of attention.

"It's not that I don't think he doesn't deserves to be punished, it's just that I don't think it's fair to keep him on that state. I mean, I don't think I would like to live as a gem, as pretty as I could be."

Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked at their wings and hooves respectively, understanding what Fluttershy was trying to say, after all, what could be a worse prison than being removed of any kind of physical body beyond a small gem, unable to even breath, just stay inside as a thinking mind, probably unable to detect what happens on your surroundings.

At least Discord was unconscious but it seemed Greed was sentient enough to tell what happened around him.

"Well" -, Twilight thought, - "I suppose I could build him a body, it shouldn't be too hard after all. I just have to see what a body is made of and then put Greed's soul in there."

Twilight's friends gave a wary look, a part of their mind telling them that, most likely, it wasn't that simple or easy to make a new body, but unable to think of another alternative, they just nodded.

"Oh, ok" -, added Fluttershy, - "I suppose that, after that, we could try to teach him to be more friendly towards others?"

Twilight's friends gave it a thought for a brief while, after all, he did defeated Chrysalis and saved Equestria, heck, he told Twilight that he never intended to harm Applejack, so maybe Greed wasn't evil per se, he just didn't know how to act like a proper pony.

"Well, while his name may be as dreadful as greed can be" -, responded Rarity, - "I suppose he could be given another chance. Perhaps I can even teach him how to properly dress."

Rarity's friends giggled at the thought of a creature named Greed being taught by the element of generosity to properly behave, but it would be fun to watch.

"Alright, sure" -, added Applejack, - "perhaps after Ah teach him a lesson of being responsible, and make him work for his wrongdoings, then I can probably give him another chance."

"Meh" -, added Rainbow Dash, - "that means I would have the time to show him who is the best pony around here, and, I could get back at him for knocking me down in Canterlot."

Twilight smiled at her friends, and eventually laughed with them, as they are always seeing the best potential outcomes from any situations.

With friends like this standing with her, anything was possible for there was nothing impossible for the magic of friendship.

And so, as the day came, Twilight and her friends started to move around to the bar belonging to Greed, the one known as the 'Chimera's Den', in order to move ahead with Shining's plan to bring him into custody. They never expected the place to look so...

"Twilight" -, asked Rainbow Dash, - "are you sure it's here?"

All of the element bearers were looking at the entrance of the bar, it was in the back of an alleyway, practically unnoticeable if it weren't for the signpost showing its location, with the entrance having a set of stairs going downwards, giving the sense that they were going down to Tartarus as the lack of illumination made it seem like they were getting into a bad place.

"Yep, my references say it's here" -. She added as she read the indications given to her by her brother. - "It must be here, even the name of the bar is there."

"It's just that" -, Rainbow said with an almost unnoticeable tone of disappointment, - "I was expecting something more 'villain looking', you know?"

"Yeah" -, added Pinkie Pie, - "there are no red carpets, or dark tones, or big meanie henchmen guarding the entrance."

"It just looks so... uncool..."

"Not only that darling" -, added Rarity, - "the illumination is so poor you can barely see the entrance, said entrance has no contrasting colors to give it a proper decor, there is nothing surrounding the entrance that gives a magnifiqué style, everything with this entrance is such a drab it would be hard to think this is a villain lair."

"That's probably why it looks like that, so nopony suspects of this place" -. Twilight thought as she remembered the instruction given to her by Shining Armor. - "Alright girls" -, she said, - "remember, we enter, we look for places they could be hiding Spike, and wait for the guards to show up."

"Then we start kicking flanks" -, Rainbow said as she smashed her own hoofs, - "right?"

Twilight thought about and simply nodded, hoping that it is that simple.

"Alright girls" -, said Twilight with slight doubt on her voice, - "let's do this."

Twilight then knocked the door, and waited for a few minutes before noticing no one was going to open them.

"Not even somepony to open the door?" - Asked a disappointed Pinkie Pie. - "That's so lame."

Twilight opened the door, expecting to be greeted by an intimidating pony but, instead, she saw that nopony in particular was watching them. She noticed the pony at the bar noticed them entering, and it seemed it peeled its eyes after seeing them, but overall it didn't seem like security was important in the place.

As they looked around the place, Twilight decided to take note of the bar looked on the inside, a large red carpet below them, all the walls were covered in white stone (or at least it looked like it was painted) and with many chandeliers but with low lighting. They noticed a lot of ponies in the place, drinking and seeming to enjoy the relaxing music while the stage seemed to be performed by a very fat and a very thin pony. As Twilight watched, she and her friends decided to seat on a table located between the entrance and the stage show, picked the four menus located at the table and started to decide what to order while listening to the duo making their comedy skit.

"So who's on the third table?" - Said the fat pony.

"No, Who's on the first table" -. Said the thin pony.

"What?"

"What is on the second table."

"I don't know what is on the second table" -, the fat pony then looked around, - "nor where it is."

"Well, Where is on the third table"

And as the skit moved on, the ponies were laughing, it even seemed Pinkie was enjoying the show while Rarity seemed interested on the menu itself, trying to find something suitable to drink. In the meantime, Twilight tried to look around, searching for clues of where Greed may be hiding. As she looked around, she noticed a very familiar griffon on one of the corners of the bar.

"Rainbow" -, asked Twilight on a low tone of voice to the pegasus who seemed more interested on the comedy show than the operation itself, - "isn't that Gilda?"

Rainbow turned around and, to her surprise, Gilda was effectively there, she also seemed to notice them since she avoided looking at them while giving a vibe of not really wanting to be there.

"What is she doing here?" - Asked a confused Rainbow.

"My brother told me they had someone telling them information about the place" -, she inferred, - "so she probably is the one helping us."

"Does that mean Gilda is no longer a meanie?" - Asked a curious Pinkie Pie. - "I could throw her a party to be sure."

"We'll think about that later Pinkie dear" -, responded Rarity, - "for now, I think it would be best if we try to look less suspiscious by asking something to eat and drink."

She then made a gesture to indicate a waitress passing by to come and take their order.

"Hello!" - Said the earth pony stallion in a confident tone of voice. - "I'm Serving Principle, your waitress as you stay here" -, he then took out a note and pencil from his pockets. - "May I take your order?"

"Well, yes darling" -, Rarity then looked at her menu, - "for drink, I would like some sparkling soda, please."

As the stallion wrote down Rarity's order, Twilight's other friends started to look at the menus with more detail.

"Well, Ah would like some appletini before taking something strong."

"You're going to like it!" - Said the waitress with enthusiasm. - "Our batch of Appletinis are home made with apples grown on the Apple Farms."

This made Applejack to rise her eyebrows.

"Oh really, well, let's see if you can use mah family's apples well."

The waitress peeled his eyes as he understood the implication.

"Wait, you're a member from the Apple Family?" - Seeing Applejack nodding and presenting herself, the stallion looked exhilarated and remarked. - "Oh, what an honor, I hope you like how we treat your apples."

Applejack just smiled as Pinkie Pie came next.

"Oh, I would like to try this chocolate milk shakes, they sound yuppironi."

"We make them with some very special cocoa beans we cook on our own secret way here, I'm certain you'll find the taste unique."

"Uhm, well" -, said Fluttershy, - "I think some vanilla milkshake mixed with strawberries sounds fine, if you don't mind."

"Oh, excellent, we just started to make those, you will be among our first clients tasting them."

Hearing that made Fluttershy blush as she hid behind her mane, meanwhile, Rainbow decided to take her pick.

"Let's see, I want something strong" -, she then smiled as she found something that picked her interest, - "what is this 'rainbow fruit mixer'? Sounds interesting."

"That's one of our special drinks that we offer only once a week, it's a mixture of 7 special fruits that we secretly pick and blend together into a special shake that gives a color set similar to the rainbow."

Rainbow thought about it.

"What does 'once a week means'? That you'll only serve it today?"

The stallion nodded.

"Yes ma'am, after today, you'll have to wait another week before having the chance to drink it again."

Rainbow snickered as she heard this.

"Alright then, give me one."

Twilight, meanwhile, looked at some of the foods offered at the menu.

"Uhm, excuse me" -, seeing the waitress looking at her, she decided to ask, - "why do you have meat on the menu?"

For the first time, Twilight noticed a drop of sweat going through the stallion's muzzle.

"Well, we've been noticing that there are more than just ponies on this city, so we're trying to add meat-based food into our menu for potential new customers."

Twilight thought about it, it made sense, she has been noticing more griffons on Vanhoover lately.

"Alright then, I suppose that would be enough for now, I would like some iced Chamomille tea, please."

The stallion nodded and left the place quickly as Twilight and her friends got closer to speak together.

"So, what do you think?" - Asked a concerned Twilight to her friends.

"8.6/10 Too many liquids" -. Responded Pinkie Pie.

"What?" - Asked a confused Twilight, before going back on topic. - "No, I'm talking about how suspiscious you think this bar is?"

"Well" -, started Rarity, - "the outside may look ghastly, but the customer service is quite commendable."

"Yeah, if this is an evil lair" -, added Applejack, - "this fellas made a good job on looking like a normal bar."

"Yeah" -, added Pinkie Pie, - "even all those black circles looks cool."

Twilight decided to give the bar a second look and noticed that, effectively, all the walls, even the floor, had multiple black circles, all connected with small lines, surrounding them. It was an odd choice that left Twilight perplexed, but it did made the bar look more appealing.

The waitress reached then in that moment with their drinks, which the ponies started to drink with some doubts, just to be impressed at the quality of the drinks.

"Delightful" -, added Rarity as she drank from her sparkling soda, - "I'm quite impressed with the service here and this soda taste amazing" -. She took her time to enjoy her drink, noticing how her friends were also enjoying their respective drinks. - "Oh, I have to give my personal gratitude to whoever made this drinks possible."

"Oh my" -, said a very familiar voice next to Twilight and her friends, - "I must say" -, they all turned to the voice's origin just to see a purple dragon with green spikes, wearing a pair of shades, with open gloves and a very nice jacket covering his body, grinning smugly to them, - "I feel very gratified by being commended by one of the elements of harmony" -, he then took Rarity's right foreleg, while she was still in shock, and bent his head towards it, - "and I feel honored to have you visiting my humble business noble lady."

For a brief moment, Rarity blushed, but she quickly took her hoof back and started to look at the dragon with a frown, emotion that was quickly replicated by her friends.

"Do not try to win favor with your attempts of flattering" -. Rarity said as she was still blushing. - "You know very well you lost your ground in the moment you decided to keep Spike locked inside his own body."

Last time the subject was brought up, Twilight remembered, Greed seemed frustrated as he kept on saying that he was the new owner of Spike's body. Instead, this time, he kept grinning as he picked up a chair and sat between Rainbow Dash and Applejack, right in front of Twilight and Rarity.

"Really?" - Greed asked with a tone that sounded with a mixture of legit curiosity and just wanting to see where would this argument would lead now. - "So it would've been better to let Chrysalis take over Canterlot?"

All the mares scowled at his question, as if the only possibilities for Greed were to let Chrysalis take over or him taking over Spike's body.

"Don't act as if you couldn't share the body with Spike" -. Said Fluttershy in a very stern tone of voice. - "There was no need for you to keep him inside the body and only letting him out if you say so" -. She then gave Greed a stare that, if it affected him, Greed didn't show it, and she added. - "Spike deserves to have a happy life, especially if it comes to use his own body."

"Yeah" -. Added Pinkie, almost shouting, although many ponies, and Gilda, were starting to pay attention to the discussion the mares and the bar's owner were having. - "If you had chosen to stay with us, maybe we would have helped you to adapt to Equestria while I made you a party for defeating that meanie Chrysalis."

"Not only that" -. Added Twilight with some frustration in her voice. - "We would've even tried to help you have your own body, there was no need for you to keep Spike's body for yourself" -. She then added, noticing Greed's smug smile faltered after hearing her say that. - "We could've even been friends, why don't you try to come with us peacefully?"

Greed looked at Twilight's plead for a brief moment, Twilight herself wondering if Spike was trying to reason with him on the inside and, if so, she hoped all of this could be fixed peacefully, without having to resort to violence.

"That sounds..." - Greed started to say, his tone of voice wavering, as if he wasn't really expecting that proposition, he then started to give his smug smile, this time showing his teeth, and responded. - "Really boring."

Twilight's friends were shocked after hearing that, never expecting Greed to reject such offer.

"You really think I came here just to have a happy life? To have parties, never worrying about the future? To have friends at every corner of the street as I parrot of how you can have a good life if you follow the teachings of friendship as if this was some boring story were everything goes well to everyone?" - He then started to laugh for a bit, after that, he looked at Twilight with a serious look and responded with a grave tone of voice. - "You really don't know me girl."

"Girl?" - Twilight thought, wondering what was that term used for.

"I'm not a simple pony, I am Greed, I want everything that I can grab and that which I can't grab is what I want the most" -. He then looked at the ponies and said while wearing his smug smile. - "You think I stopped Chrysalis because I was some noble hero? That I wanted to beat the bad guy because of altruism?" - He then started to show his fanged teeth and he made a big laugh. - "Ha! Don't make me laugh" -. He then looked at Twilight with a serious face, not noticing Applejack looking at him with a raised eyebrow. - "I only did it because Chrysalis was standing my way."

"Standing on your way?" - Asked Pinkie. - "What do you mean by that?"

Greed kept on grinning as usual, but the mares couldn't shake the feeling that he was somehow more sinister as he spoke.

"I have an ambition, a desire, something I want dearly. Chrysalis was in the way of that and I found it far more convenient to take her out" -. He then looked at Twilight directly on her eyes, the scholar unicorn feeling a dark gaze coming from his eyes covered by the shades as he spoke. - "Adding that she reminded me of my brother Envy, who I despise, it wasn't very hard to take her out of the picture."

By this point his presence no longer felt normal, all of Twilight's friends felt as if they were talking to a creature far more dangerous than Chrysalis, and if it was true that he got rid of her, then they had a potentially good indicator of how he could've won the control over the changelings.

"And..." - Asked Fluttershy, now having problems to look at Greed directly to the eyes. - "wh-what is what you want...?"

She hid behind her mane in the moment Greed looked at her, it was the same kind of view a predator gave before going after its prey, and his response felt just as threatening.

"I want everything."

It took Twilight a few seconds to try to digest the simple answer.

But she had to be sure.

"What... do you mean by... everything?"

Twilight would never forget the dreading feeling coming from Greed as he smiled, his fangs showing up, and he started to confirm her fears.

"Every single thing you can imagine, from books, to cities, to jewelry, to even power. I want to own everything I can grasp, including the throne."

Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack moved closer to Greed, while giving him a glare that spoke miles about what they were wanting to do to him, not that Greed seemed to be even shivering of it.

"Do you really think you can defeat Princess Celestia?" - Asked Rainbow Dash on a threatening tone. - "Just because you defeated Chrysalis doesn't mean you can defeat her, Princess Luna and Princess Cadence."

"Not only that" -, added Applejack, - "do you really think everypony is going to accept you as their new prince after dethroning the princesses? They are very beloved and nopony would ever accept them being replaced by someone like you."

Greed just scoffed at this, as if this wasn't an obstacle to him.

"That's not a problem for me, I can just wait until the ponies are convinced that I am their best choice, after all, who do you think could do a better job to protect them, the one who defeated the changelings, or the one who was defeated by them?"

By this point all of the element bearers were looking at him ready to fight, or at least stare him to submission in the case of Fluttershy, but Greed still seemed as if they weren't a threat to him.

"And what makes you think Princess Celestia or Princess Luna would even consider to submit their throne to someone as brute and undignified as you?"

Rarity would never know how many "ponies" were giving her a deathly glare, on that bar, for saying that.

"Perhaps not now" -, responded Greed, - "but with enough time, they would have to do it because the ponies themselves would demand it from them."

"Demand it from them?" - Almost shouts Twilight, in a mixture of shock, indignation and anger at to what Greed was insinuating. - "Why would the ponies would ever consider you as a better choice than the princesses?"

Twilight would never forget Greed's smile as he said that. His fangs were showing up, he held his claws together as if he had control of the situation, his figure seemed to have slightly grown in that moment and it looked like his eyes were shining through the shades.

"Given enough time, they will be convinced, and I have plenty of time to prepare for that moment."

While this conversation was going on, unbeknown to Twilight, the comedic duo of the fat pony and the skinny pony was over and they were soon replaced by a pony Twilight's friends would've found very familiar, with her magic wand as a cutie mark, her boasting personality and her always talking in third person. She was making her show by, first, showing basic illusion spells and, by the time Twilight was about to jump at Greed, she was starting to ask for members of the audience for her most impressive spells.

At the same time, unbestknown to Greed, a lot of ponies were slowly entering into the bar, filling the seats. At the start, it was one or two every 5 minutes, then, when Greed showed up and started to talk with Twilight and her friends, it was now one stallion every minute and, by the time Greed's conversation with Twilight was getting to its most important moment, practically all the seats were covered, something Greed's staff (including Gilda) were noticing with lots of nerves.

And while Greed and Twilight were talking, there was a particular duo of ponies besides Twilight's table, one of them was a pegasus stallion with a blue mane and an orange coat, while the other was a red coated earth pony stallion with a green mane. They were both listening intently, waiting for the right moment to give the sign that would start the operation.

"You have plenty of time?" - Asked a confused Twilight. - "What do you mean by that?"

Greed only made a light chuckle and added in a mysterious tone of voice that got Twilight, and her friends', attention.

"Your princesses aren't the only immortals on this world anymore."

In that moment, Trixie was calling for everyone's attention to make one of her especial tricks, the waitresses were bringing the drinks to multiple clients, the bartender was pushing a bottom below the table and both Twilight and Greed were about to make a move right when a single stallion's voice was heard across the whole room.

"Now!"

In that moment the majority of ponies lifted up and started to move against all the other civilian ponies or went behind the doors located besides the bartender. Many of the ponies on the bar, especially the workers, were tackled and arrested while more and more guards started to surround Greed, Gilda herself tackled Trixie and put a ring into her horn while more and more guards went into the back door, shoutings and screamings heard all the while Greed was still seating, smug grin finally gone, and Twilight and her friends were looking at him with a grin of victory on their faces.

"I'm surprised I didn't see this coming."

"Really!?" - Asked a baffled Twilight. - "You take Spike, you harm my friends, you just confessed us that you were planning on dethroning Celestia and you didn't think we wouldn't do something about it?"

"Well, after seeing how easy it was for the changelings to infiltrate on your ranks... yeah."

As Greed looked around, he saw more and more guards now circling him, spears and unicorn horns aiming at him, as one of the guards got close to Greed and took out a pair of hoofcuffs.

"Greed, you are under arrest for foalnapping, conspiring against the crown and working with the enemy."

"Hey, what do you mean by 'working with the enemy'?"

"You have been working with changelings, who are also working with the invader Queen Chrysalis."

Greed gave the guard a good look, he gave the same emotion of a young guard, filled with hope and ready to do his duty. He grinned.

"Well, I guess you have evidence for all of this, right?"

The guard snorted and practically dismissed Greed.

"I have no reason to talk to you criminal."

He then started to push Greed towards the door while the element bearers were showing different emotions, Twilight herself was feeling nice, seeing that no violence was needed, emotion replicated by Fluttershy; Rarity felt proud of being able to help on the recovering of Spike, while both Applejack and Rainbow Dash were showing slight disappointment at not being able to give Greed a good hoof to the face; Pinkie Pie, meanwhile was starting to have a nagging feeling on the back of her left eye, like something was off about this.

"Twilight" -, Pinkie whispered, - "something doesn't feel right."

"What do you mean?"

Pinkie got closer to Twilight and aimed at her left eye.

"I don't know, my left eye is nagging me, like there's something important going on and we're ignoring it."

"Oh, come on Pinks" -. Rainbow Dash responded. - "He has been arrested, there are plenty of guards here how could this possibly turn around for him?"

"What is the meaning of all this!?"

Everyone turned around to the bar's stage to see a very annoyed blue mare with a wand as a cutie mark looking at the Royal Guard with indignation on her face.

"Trixie?" - Asked Twilight, not noticing when did she showed up. - "What are you doing here?" - She then noticed Trixie wearing a nullifying ring. - "And why are you wearing that?"

"Well, Sparkle" -, responded Trixie, while saying Twilight's name with a level of venom that Twilight never heard on her life, - "after losing my credibility, thanks to your friends, Trixie tried to keep making shows from town to town, but in everytown Trixie went, she was mocked and ridiculed" -. She then looked at Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity with deep hatred. - "It took Trixie months to start recovering her audience, all thanks to this gentledragon, who decided to give Trixie a chance worthy of her might."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were already starting to give Trixie the stink eye while Rarity tried to argue with her.

"Dear Trixie, have you listened to what the guard said, this... thing, has been accused of conspiring against Princess Celestia, can't you consider that something suspiscious has been forming while you were performing here?"

Trixie just snorted.

"Ridiculous, The Great and Powerful Trixie has been extremely careful with who to deal with and Mr. Greed hasn't done anything of the sort."

The guard that arresting Greed moved towards Trixie and asked.

"If that's so, would you then come with us to give your testimony on the matter?"

For a brief moment, Trixie gave a look that showed doubt, but she nodded.

"Trixie agrees, there is nothing to worry about here, sir...?"

"Flash Sentry, ma'am."

"Oh, Trixie sees you're quite the gentlestallion."

Twilight's friends rolled their eyes at the exchange, certain that Trixie had some kind of deal with Greed, they just had to figure it out.

"Now, lady, would you please come with us?" - Flash then turned to his partner. - "Go inside the establishment and see why the guards are taking so long to come back."

Right as his fellow guard was going to enter, Trixie stood on her barelegs and practically shouted.

"But before we leave, The Great and Powerful Trixie will end her show" -. Rainbow Dash was going to shout but, before anypony could say anything, Trixie followed her statement. - "For The Great and Powerful Trixie is a professional and she will end her show."

She then clapped her hooves, causing Greed to smirk, with only Trixie and Gilda seeing, and brought then to the floor, her hooves touching the circle on the stage.

In that moment, the circle on the stage was filled with light, which then moved towards the lines connecting all the circles on the bar, turning them all on, creating a chain reaction that shocked all the ponies in the place, not giving any of them time to react, as the circles started to form smoke, reshaped the walls and floor, or even even created small hooves that grabbed any guard close to the walls and captured them.

By the time Twilight opened her eyes, she saw Trixie trying to remove the nullifying ring on her horn, and shouting to Gilda.

"Help Trixie take this ring out! Was it really necessary to put it?"

"If I didn't the guards would've suspected me, now shut up and stay still!"

Twilight, who was still trying to make sense of what just happened, quickly looked back at Greed, who had the cuffs broken with extreme ease and was moving towards the back of the bar. He then looked back at Twilight and said with his usual smirk.

"Well, this was an entertaining reencounter, but if you excuse me, I made a promise of never allowing my property to ever be taken away from me again, and I plan to follow through."

But, before he could even get past the door, the ground took shape and lifted itself up in the shape of bars, surrounding and trapping Greed from passing to the back of the bar. He then turned back, with an actual face of shock on his face, with Twilight smirking at that as Applejack and Rainbow Dash stood besides her.

"What did you just do?" - Asked a still shocked Greed.

"That was alchemy" -. Said Twiligt with complete pride. - "Don't you recognize it? It is what was discovered in ancient equestrian history" -. Applejack cracked the bones in her neck and legs while Rainbow Dash cracked the bones on her wings, both ready to charge at Greed while Twilight continued her speech. - "It was the result of Spike's help and it will be what help us stop you right now, so this is your final warning Greed: surrender now!"

"Or prepare to get your tail kicked" - Said Rainbow Dash, bravado filling her at the chance of getting back at Greed for the hit he gave her back at Canterlot.

Instead of seeing him afraid, Greed did what Twilight expected of him, he smirked, as if she and her friends weren't a threat to him, and, as his black scales started to grow from his arms, broke the jail like structure created by Twilight. He then started to move towards Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, black scales covering now both arms completely, as he said with complete confidence.

"Bring it!"

Author's Notes:

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Ok guys, the next two chapters are some of the ones that came to my mind as the story was concieved and I hope to deliver to you. Thanks for reading for so many years, I hope you still enjoy what I write.