> Project F.R.I.E.N.D.S.H.I.P.
>  by SaltWriter the leviapony
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> prologue: giving life
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It was another beautiful morning in the hills of Equestria. The palace of Canterlot shined with the suns rays and the town bustled with it's usual activity. And just off the mountain, to the west of the town, stood a lonely house, build into the rock, so as to make it invisible to only the most vigilant of flyers.  It was designed Victorian, with tall spires, a grey exterior, and rounded windows. In this house, a earth pony resides, and feeling lazy, woke with a yawn today.
“Huh, looks like another late start today.” the pony said with a stretch. This pony was named Tinkerer, known for his clock Cutie Mark and scientific genius. As he walked into the bathroom, he looked at the face in the mirror. The stallion was handsome, not old enough for age to show, but out of the young stage of adulthood.
“Darn it, looks like I need to reapply the dyes again,” He shook his head at the dull colors he saw in the mirror. Being the genius he was, he had extended his life through magic and science. Unfortunately, the colors of his body had faded from the experience, and he had to dye his fur and hair to make himself presentable.
He placed the bright blue dye into the bath water, and wrapped a cloth around his tail and mane to keep the colors out.  A ten minute soak later, he got out of the bath, drying off with a towel and removing the covers from his hair and tail. His fur had returned to it's navy blue sheen, and with a comb, he brushed out his hair, giving it a dark red look with striped grey. And, applying green eye lenses, he went downstairs to get some breakfast.
“Buttercup, did you get my meal from the shop?” He spoke out, laying down on the couch near the kitchen.
“Of course” the unicorn spoke out, her voice coming from the kitchen, “I got them at the same time you asked, but since you slept late today, I had to put it in the fridge.”
“Thank you, I know my weird sleep schedule is odd to you, but I like to make sure I don't break into a routine.” As he said this, the lanky unicorn walked into the living room, carrying the aforementioned breakfast. Buttercups orange and white swirled hair swished as she entered, her maids outfit covering most of her caramel fur. Her chocolate eyes looked over the items in front of her, the warm coffee, the white chocolate muffin, and cream for his  breakfast.
“No problem doc, and your items are ready for work.” She placed the clothes next to the table, and went off to the balcony to place the larger bag she held onto it.
“You didn't open that bag, did you?”
“No sir, you told me to wash the outside of it, drain it, and keep the bag clean. I didn't look in.”
“Very good, didn't want you to worry.” he nodded at the mention, and picked up the grey lab coat she placed on the table and put it on. In the front pocket, he found a headset and placed it on.
“Operation, code dragon, send Fangorn to pick me up, thank you.” After saying this, he placed the headset back into his pocket, walked over to Buttercup and gave her a kiss on the cheek, causing the unicorn to blush.
“Doc, i know you don't mean it, but could you..”
“I do this as a means of appreciation.” The Tinkerer said, putting a hoof over her mouth. “Love is so easily forgotten, but compassion is remembered much longer” As he said this, he pulled out a small bag of bits and placed it onto the floor.
“Whats this for?” she asked, picking up the bag with her magic.
“Just something to occupy your time while you wait between lunch and cleaning. Go get yourself a soak in the local spa, you deserve it.”
“Thank you, thank you. I don't know what to say.”
“Just have lunch ready by twelve thirty.” The unicorn nodded, taking the bag and heading out to get changed. The Tinkerer nodded at the sight, and went onto the balcony to wait for his ride. Buttercup had been born with a talent for origami, and because of that, never had a chance for a real job. He still remembered coming across her in the market, playing with a few sheets of paper. He had called her Buttercup for her coat color, and a paper pony later, she followed him around. Maid was just what he wanted her to do, being close in his house (and out of his dangerous experiments)
“There you are friend, have a good sleep?!” He shouted out at the figure approaching from around the mountain. The figure landed on the balcony with a thud, turning towards the Tinkerer with a smile.
“As much as I could with the bed I have in the lab.” The dragon retorted, bending his back with small popping noises. He was still small for a dragon, but large enough to make a pony scared of his appearance. He has grey scales, covered with leather straps to hold on his polished stone armor. The spikes on his back were a stark orange, but the strangest part of his appearance was the blue blindfold, covering his eyes.
“Sorry my friend, we can’t have real gems and gold in our lab for sanitation reasons. But that's a minor thing to gripe on, I have something special for today.” as he said this, he gave the bag a gentle kick, the dragon looking in the direction of the sound. It was a shame he had been blinded by being born through a wall, but it didn't matter to the Tinkerer, he enjoyed his other senses, and he even taught him magic to give some sight to him.
“Where did you find this, you didn't do this yourself, did you?” Fangorn asked, sniffing the bag with a blank expression.
“Of course not, I found it on the edge of the Everfree, she was practically dead from Timberwolf bites and scratches.”
“So this will be the thing to start your new project?”
“Yes, her soul is still in the body, and when I place it into Project Time breaker, we will finally begin my most ambitious experiment. After some time to train her, of course.”
“Very well, I’ll take your word on it, and see it for myself.” The Tinkerer smiled at his friend's statement, leaping onto Fangorn's back and settling into the straps on his back. The dragon picked up the large bag, and flew off the balcony, flying around the mountain away from Canterlot, and circling around the back of the rock. The Tinkerer pushed a button on his headset, and a large door open up in the mountainside, the dragon turning to the sound of it opening and flew inside.
As he flew into the building, Fangorn placed his feet onto the guide rails in the floor and was slowed down to a stop. As he placed the bag down, ponies in lab coats (their fur and hair dyed grey and their Cutie Marks obscured to keep their identities secret) helped The Tinkerer down and showed the two through the doors to the main lab.
“Are all things going on schedule in the upper divisions?” The Tinkerer asked one of the coated ponies, holding out a hoof to the pony.
“Yes sir, the labs are on schedule, Otaku is down the hall waiting for you, and Ms. Keros is down stair in the testing rooms.”
“Thanks you, I hope to finish one of our major operations today, and having them prepared assures me of our success.” As he spoke, the pony handed him a pair of anklets, the objects he placed eagerly onto his hoofs, smiling as he activated the magic devices. He may not be a unicorn, but these allowed him to perform magic on his own accord. He and Fangorn made there way down the hall, passing doors where minor scientist worked on small products. Nothing major, just candies and products to make a quick bit (and fund the deeper research). As they made their way down the hall, a Pegasus saw them, and beaming, waved them down the hall.
“Tink, hey, what's up, my friend?” The Tinkerer cringed at his friends abbreviation of his name, but recovered from it as he embraced the Pegasus with a hug.
“So Otaku, how are things going with you Keros? I imagine you would have moved to the next step by now?” The pink Pegasus blushed at his comment, his left wing twitching from its resting spot on his grey lab coat. As his name suggested, he was a anime fan, several buttons from his favorite series aligned his coat, his blush vanished when he saw the bag in Fangorn's claws, and he rushed over to it, his dyed purple hair bouncing as he got close to it.
“This bag is for bodies, are you going to put a REAL SOUL into the project downstairs?”
“It would be more reliable then AI systems here in Equestria. Besides, she was near death anyway when I picked it up.”
“Cool, Its a bit weird to use a body, but HEY, this is what I signed up for.” Otaku said with a shrug as the three friends made their way to the elevator at the end of the hall. Otaku pushed the keys into the elevator, the doors sliding open, and the three went inside. Otaku pressed a key code onto the pad in the elevator wall, and the three descended towards the lower levels of the lab.
When the doors opened, a different sight was before them. The white floors were pooled in grey lights, and the ponies that worked down here were silent, hand picked and made to work in secret on the darker experiments that went down. The ponies that worked here had only the routine of their lives to do, always silent, and never to leave.
As the three made their way down the hall, a figure was communing with some of the local hands, and upon seeing the three, waved off the others and approached, giving Otaku a hug. She was a changeling, but had been mutated by accident, making her apart of the Tinkerers team. She was white instead of black, with a neon green shell and electric blue eyes. Her tail and mane had turned a violet from the mutation, and instead of the regular wings, she had a set of 2 dragonfly wings, and an intelligence brewed from being The Tinkerers second in command.
“I had hoped you’d come down soon, we just finished the last few preparations for the Alicorn, and we were waiting for you to start.” The changeling voice of hers ringed in the small hall that they were in, and as she broke off the hug, Otaku blushed hard, his pink fur showing the red off well.
“I brought something for that too, Keros.” as The Tinkerer said this, Fangorn walked past them with the bag, placing it on the floor near the door to the lab.
“Yes, you had said you wanted to use a soul for the Alicorn, but I didn't think you would..”
“I didn't kill it, if that’s what you’re thinking.” The Tinkerer said, waving a hoof dismissively at the statement.
“Very well, you go ahead and put the soul in, I’ll prep the chambers and make sure everything's stable for the transference.”
The Tinkerer nodded, levitating the bag with his artificial magic and walking through the door to the machine that lay on the table. To the untrained eye, it would have looked like an unfinished animatronic, or perhaps a Nightmare Night costume. It was a Alicorn, a layer of leather working as the skin over it's metallic body. It sat strapped to the table, as if it would jump to life at any moment, despite a lack of light in it's eyes.
“Now young one, it's time to give you a new life, and be apart of something beyond your own life.” As he said this, his eyes went a pale yellow color, a magic ring appearing around the bag he had on the floor. As the glow continued, the robot began to glow with a similar glow.
“animae, novum transferrem ad corpus!” (This is a Latin spell, it was how he used magic, and with his gauntlets, he could use spells). As he said this, a wisp came out of the bag, following the trail of yellow, and landing in the mechanical body. When the glow died, the Tinkerer collapsed on the ground, breathing heavy from the spell, the bag dissolving when the glow died. 
“You weren't kidding Doc, the soul is already adapting, and energy readings are rising steadily. Begin activation process.” Keros’ words rang through speakers in the facility, and 4 workers rushed into the room. The three in front ran past the Tinkerer, carrying equipment to the robotic body on the panel, it's eyes now glowing pink and electric pulses coursed through the veins. A 4th unicorn picked up the Doc and the lifeless body with its magic and brought the Tinkerer back into the testing chamber, laying him down by Fangorn and rushing off to prepare the body for later work.
“Stay focused, magic shields up, attach battery, revoke regulators, run the artificial blood, and finalize status codes.” Keros continued to say orders into the speakers, the ponies working fast to comply with the orders. The Doc, with Fangorn and Otaku nearby, began to recover from his magic spell. Getting up, he walked over to the window, supported by Otaku.
“Soon, my greatest experiment, will be ready, and with time, the tests, will begin.” The Doc spoke in ragged breaths, not fully recovered yet. As he watched, the scientists began to back away, the Alicorn had been stabilized and the lights had been dimmed for the initial activation.
“We’re ready to activate her now.” Keros whispered, nodding to the Tinkerer and Otaku. The two nodded, getting into position by the window, Otaku on the left and the Doc in the middle. With a signal, the lights were dimmed, and the robot was raised so that her head was facing them, a switch was flicked, and the three watched as the machine activated.
Jade woke up with a start, trying to turn her head to see around her. That was when she made two realizations, she could only move her eyes, and she couldn't feel her body. She began to panic, her eyes darting around to see anything she could recognize.
“If you calm down, you may get answers to your questions faster.” Jades panic stopped as she heard a deep voice come from in front of her. Steadying her breathing, she focused her eyes forward. She saw three figures, a Pegasus, an earth pony, and a unicorn, their bodies covered in silhouette from the way the lights were. They seemed almost dead still, except for an occasional twitch from the Pegasus.
“You are dead, that means you are ours and ours to keep, accept that now, and things will go much smoother for your new life.” Jade saw that the earth pony was speaking, he seemed to be the leader of this operation, and his tone oozed with enough truth to hurt.
“You will now be referred to as Time striker the Alicorn, only for now. When we identify your cutie mark, you will get your normal name among us.” This was the unicorn speaking, her voice much softer compared to the earth pony. She must be a second in command if she spoke next.
“Well, ok….one two three. Darn it, this head….works right for once.” the Pegasus was talking this time, his voice cutting in and out by the faulty audio, but it was fixed as he continued, his voice edged from embarrassment.
“Sorry about that, anyway, You will be put through several trials to make sure you work properly. We will also do our best to make sure you are comfortable. You are now apart of our family, and we will do GREAT things once you get to know us…..did I do well?” he turned to the earth pony to see, and he nodded at the Pegasus. She saw him give a hoof bump to the earth pony, and he turned to her and spoke again.
“You are very special my dear, and we will make sure you become a legend in Equestria.” Jade almost thought she saw a smile grow on his face. The sight of it made her shudder, what could they be planning for her, and what was she now, that she needed tests? Before she could say anything, she felt something switch off in her mind, and she fell into a dreamless sleep.
> ch. 1, beauty and blood
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It has been one year since Jade awoke to her new masters and strange lifestyle. Those months were spent doing small training exercises to get herself adapted to the Alicorn magic and robotics of her new body. It had been rigorous, spell lessons, flight training, and use of her bodies bionics. She had tried to escape during the 1st few weeks, but after looking in the mirror, seeing her topaz eyes, deep green fur, and purple mane and tail, she realized that her life was linked to her new friends, and decided to cooperate. Jade had actually gotten to like them better, especially the maid Buttercup.
Now, standing on the balcony of the Tinkerers home, she was about to head out on her first mission for the doctors “Project F.R.I.E.N.D.S.H.I.P.”, a plan that she had been made to perform. As she looked at the sunrise over the horizon, the Tinkerer walked onto the balcony with her, wearing his usual grey coat and gauntlets.
“You seem nervous, you should get those thoughts out of your head if you’re to finish this.” Jade turned to him with a blank expression. It was true, she hated to admit it, but the things she had to do?
“Listen darling, this is no different than the simulations. Just a little more ‘interesting’ is all. Don’t think of yourself in the wrong here, science has only one color, morals aren't our thing.”
“Easy for you to say Doc, i’m the one going into the field, the only thing you’re going to do is watch and see how much I fail at this.” Jade flinched when the Tinkerer put a hoof around her shoulder and hugged her close.
“Failure, is that what you think will happen? I have full confidence in you, and as for sitting around, nothing is the last thing i’ll be doing.” as he said this, he pulled out a stack of rolled up papers from his pocket, showing it to her with a flick. It was quite a lot of papers, easily as round as a hoof, and having a lot of small questions on them.
“I would rather be in your position. YOU at least get to go out and do something interesting, meanwhile I have to fill out a test while sitting in front of a screen watching you go have fun. Now, Buttercup prepared something for you before you go. Have fun, and make sure to finish the job.” He said the last few words with a edge, but walked off with a smile to the entrance to the lab near the back of the house.
Sure enough, Buttercup came out of one of the downstairs rooms, wearing her maid outfit and carrying a broom and cloak in her magic. She approached with a smile, handing the cloak over to Jade and putting the broom down nearby.
“This is something I usually wear when I go to town for groceries. It should fit you well enough, and should cover your wings and Cutie Mark. remember, all you have to do is go by Carousel Boutique and pick up the clothes,, got it?”
“Yes Buttercup, as a robot, it would be hard to forget, especially with the Doc reminding me a few seconds ago.” The two shared a laugh, and with a wave, Jade made her way to the edge of the platform and took off, flying around the mountain to Canterlot. She landed just on the edge of the area, and, looking to see no one was watching, put the cloak on.
Back in the lab, several scientists were scribbling and typing away at their keyboards, taking notes on Jade's performance and status through parasprite mounted cameras. The Tinkerer, along with Keros and Otaku, were sitting in a booth together, taking their own notes and observations.
“This is so COOL, we are looking at the 1st robotic Alicorn in action. Are you guys as excited as I am?” Otaku asked, a smile on his face as he continued to write.
“I am definitely looking forward to seeing what becomes of her, good or bad.” The Tinkerer spoke, waving a pencil-holding hoof in the air “as long as she works, i’ll be fine with whatever performance she does.”
“I hope she doesn't push herself too far, this will be hard for her as is, the missions going forward will be even tougher. I hope things go smoothly.” Keros spoke from where she was, not taking her eyes off the screen as Jade made her way through Canterlot.
“I’m sure this will be a breeze, picking up a few outfits aren't going to be a challenge.” The Tinkerer spoke from his position. Nodding his head at the reactions he saw on the screen.
“That wasn't what I was talking about.” Keros retorted, writing down more notes on her notepad and watching the screen. Jade had finally reached her destination. The three watched as Jade knocked on the door to the boutique.
“Just a second, i’ll be with you in a moment.” A voice came from inside the boutique. Jade stood outside, looking around the place to the other nearby unicorns. She noticed a lot of them didn't approve of the grey cloak she wore over her body. She didn't mind though, it was better then the reactions she would get if she showed her true figure.
“Hello, welcome to our boutique, how can we help…” Sassy Saddles looked at the unicorn standing outside with a strange look, but shook it off and, regaining her composure, she tried again.
“Sorry darling, i wasn't expecting a visitor with such a ‘strange’ cloths choice. Come inside and i’ll get your order ready.” Sassy motioned with her head, and Jade walked inside, taking in the various decor and dress products that were on display. Nothing she would find amusing, but it wasn't for her that she had come.
“I came to pick up an order from Clock Gate. He had placed a large order a couple of months back and I came to pick it up for him.”
“Yes, give me a second to get it. Rarity, could you entertain the guest for a little bit while I go and get her order from the back.” as she spoke, the white unicorn came out from a nearby door, carrying some sewing supplies and fabric over to the mannequin on display.
“Sure thing, love. I’ll be with you in a moment.” Rarity spoke as she began to dress one of the empty mannequins with the fabric she was holding. “I must say, I’m glad you came to pick up that order, it was quite an ordeal to finish all the designs. Who would even come up with a red and  dark blue wedding dress, with an emerald in the chest spot? And to match it up with a WHITE tuxedo? Simply strange, but I do hope the larger tuxedo fits whoever you asked it for, I didn't have a model in that size, so I eyed it out with a tree to the best I can.”
“I’m sure he can manage with whatever you made for him, and thank you for being so willing to commit to it. It was a tall order, we know.” Jade spoke with the best enthusiasm she could muster, but clothes weren't really her thing.
“Here you are, love. The bits came with the order plans, so you can just take them.” Jade nodded, taking the boxes with her magic and using a teleportation spell to send them back to the lab.
In the lab, the team received the packages with a poof, and worker ponies took the packages and sent them upstairs for Buttercup to clean.
“Everything seems to be going well, and these notes will help on our later automaton research.” Keros took her papers and began to walk upstairs, Otaku following behind.
“Whats going on Tink, not done with your papers?” Otaku looked at the doctor with an odd expression, wondering what he was writing on his pages.
“Just go upstairs, i want to make sure nothing goes wrong on her way out.” Otaku nodded, despite not believing him on this, he trotted down the hall to catch up with Keros.
“Sorry my friends, but this is something you won't approve of watching. Activate the Hunter program, and make sure no one gets in until the act is done.” as he spoke this, the doors were locked, and the workers dimmed the lights, leaving the screen for Jade the only light source. The Tinkerer picked up one of his gauntlets, and typing out a code, activated Hunter mode in Jade, and returned to his notes to see what happens.
As Jade was walking out the door, giving her goodbyes to the two unicorns, she suddenly stiffened up, her pupils retracting, and then collapsing on the floor in a heap. The unicorns rushed over to the crumpled ponies, asking if she is alright, only to be knocked away by a sharp movement as she shot upright.
“It seems that you have some problems that I need to address, sorry loves.” Jade was speaking, but her voice had taken a metallic edge to it, her eyes now glowing a bright violet and staring at the two startled unicorns.
“Goodness, what’s wrong with you dearie?!” Rarity exclaimed, looking at Jade as she began to use magic to lift sewing needles out of their storage areas, floating them around like a carnival ride
“Well, nothing is wrong with ME, you two aren't going to enjoy what i’m about to do.” as Jade said this, she began to thrust the needles at Saddles, her body twitching and spazzing from the needles impact into her muscles and bones. Poor Rarity fainted from the bizarre sight, and soon enough, Saddles body was a stiff pin cushion, her screams of pain and fear no longer able to come as her neck muscles were unable to move.
“Now, since you won't be coming out of this, my superiors could have use of your horn, so I hope you don't mind if I take it from you.” As Jade said this, she pulled out a clothing knife from a nearby drawer, using a small laser from behind her eye to heat the blade to a piping red.
Rarity had managed to wake up from her stupor, only to faint again, as she saw Jade carve out Saddles horn. She watched as Jade sliced in front of her eyes, cutting around the small area, the flesh beginning to burn and the blood flowed out. Poor Sassy had to live through the whole process of her scalp being cut through.
The stiffened figure of sassy was left alone after, as her body died from the blood loss. Jade took the horn into a small pouch, and walked over to the crumpled form of Rarity, smiling at the figure lying on the floor
“Now, miss dress pony, it will be unfortunate to let yourself be wasted like your friend here. So, you will be reshaped for ‘delivery’ and be given away to your friends.” As she spoke, Jade retrieved several items from around the shop, threading a needle with her magic and beginning to sew her mouth shut.
Upon seeing this, the Tinkerer shut off the footage feed, and motioned for the scientists to finish the work. He made his way outside, closing the door behind him to ensure no disturbs the last phases of the operation.
“Alright, Jade has gone and finished off the dress makers, go and get our secret tool.” the Tinkerer spoke softly into his speaker as he walked down the hall.
“Understood, make sure that the job is finished for the boutique.” on the other end of the line, Fangorn was sitting on the outskirts of Ponyville, watching over the area for the target. Soon enough, the worker beside him signed for him, and Fangorn flew down to pick up the target. He swiftly took the Pegasus and flew out of town to the spot where his assistant was.
“Don't squirm Derpy, it is only me. Just relax and we can talk.” the mail pony stopped her struggle in her captor's hand, and opened her eyes to see the dragon. She breathed a sigh of relief, and Fangorn let her down on the ground. When he did, Derpy flew up and hugged his neck, smiling at the large figure.
“Hey Fangy, you startled me when you rushed me like that. You could have just asked if you wanted to see me. What is this about?” Derpy flew down to the ground, looking at the dragon with her usual stare. Fangorn nodded, and motioned for the nearby worker, who handed Derpy a small earpiece like the one the others wore.
“We seem to need your services Derpy, and since you are in our debt, you will cooperate with us for a while.” Fangorn's words caused Derpy to blush, she had forgotten about the ‘muffin’ incident, and about the debt she owed the Tinkerer. But, not one to disappoint, she let the worker put the headpiece on, and listened to the voice she hadn't heard in a long time.
“It has been a while since we last talked, young mare.” the Tinkerer’s voice came from the speaker in her ear, causing her to spin around to try and find the Tinkerer.
“Doc, is that you, I can hear you, but I can’t find you.”
“I’m not going to be their, the headset will be how we will talk for a while. But don’t worry, we will be meeting each other eventually.” Derpy took the headset off to look at it, but the nearby worker put it back on, shaking his head no.
“Listen Derpy, we need to have you do a few things for us. We need you to deliver packages for us, but we need you to keep an eye on twilight for us as well.”
“But, why do I need to watch her, I normally deliver letters and packages, but to watch a pony like her? It doesn't sound right.”
“Don't worry about that, just make sure to watch her movements out of the castle. Dinkey will be taken care of by Buttercup, so don't worry about her. Now, for your first delivery. Follow Fangorn and he will get your first mission.” Derpy exclaimed happily from this, and followed Fangorn as he flew off to get the delivery.

Twilight was sitting in the library of her castle, looking over the various books to see if she needed to reorganize the shelves again. While she was looking them over, a knock came at the door, and a voice came from outside
“Hey Twilight, special delivery.” Derpy’s squeaky voice came from outside, making twilight smile.
“Hold on Derpy, Starlight, could you get that for us?” As she spoke, the pink unicorn teleported to the door, opening it with her magic to get the package. It was a rather large one, more than big enough to hold a large chair in it.
“This is quite the package Derpy, what’s in it?” but before she could continue, Derpy had already left, flying out of sight, and meeting with Fangorn again to fly back to the Tinkerer.
“Huh, strange for her to just leave like that, oh well.” Starlight shrugged, taking the package with her magic and bringing it into the main area of the castle. Twilight and spike had both come into the room to see what was in the package as well. It was just a simple brown box with nothing distinctive about it. Using her magic, twilight broke the seal on the top of the box, letting the four sides fall down and reveal the sight inside.
Before they could truly examine the gift, the overpowering scent of musk and strong perfumes was suffocatingly released into the library, causing the three to cringe from the strong smells that came out. Twilight had to grab a bucket to throw into, and Starlight used her magic to open a window and throw the smells out. Spike seemed to be the least affected, almost enjoying the different smells that came from this object.
Once the smell had been contained, the three were able to look over what had been given to them. It was a mannequin, but it had white fur covering itself instead of the usual cloth. There were several stitches in places that normally don't have them, such as near the eyes and the mouth area. Dark colored spots dotted the visible sections of the mannequin, as well as some spots on the dress.
The dress itself was a bright orange color, with swirls of yellow that reach to the shoulders. The bottom part of the dress was a purple, with bright blue fur offsetting the color. On the chest was a pair of designs on flat sheets of fur, one with Rarity’s cutie mark, the other with sassy saddles. Hanging in-between the two accessories was a small note, which twilight picked up with her magic and opened.
Hello, princess of friendship. This may sound odd, but I have brought you your friends body for a test. The biggest cliche in our world is ‘friendship is the STRONGEST magic in Equestria.’ well, this is the first test of this all powerful ‘magic’. More will come soon, and I hope you are ready for them.
Twilight’s eyes began to bulge out of their sockets at this news. Someone had just killed one of her friends, and has sent her their body made into a dress, so she could try and REVIVE them with friendship magic? Horrifying, or not, twilight realized that she was about to face the hardest test of her magic and mind to this date.
> Ch. 2 kindness and chaos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 2


“Closed, what do you mean closed down?” Twilight asked, looking around the spot where she was. What had once been the carousel boutique was now a pile of disjointed building materials and mannequins being placed into shipping boxes.
      “Sorry miss twilight.” The worker pony stated, reaching into his orange worker vest and pulling out a set of papers “it was miss rarity’s decision to tear this place down, don't blame us for doing our job.”
      Twilight picked up the papers from the earth pony and began to sift through them quickly. Sure enough, they were proper legal forms, filled out with rarity's signature. She couldn't believe this. Why would rarity just dismantle the business she worked so hard to make?
      “Well, thanks for the info. Have a good day, and tell rarity hi for me.” With that twilight flew out of the small area in canterlot, wondering what could have happened to make her friend do such a change.

     The worker watched twilight fly off, then went to the work desk in the area. Keros got rid of her disguise, and pulled out the headset that was in her jacket.
     “Twilight just came by sir.” The changeling said, looking over the plans that were on the table in the room “she's making her way back to ponyville as we speak.”
      There was a brief pause as she listened to the tinkerer, before replying back.
      “Yes, I made sure she was going back and not to the princesses. The next phase of the operation can continue as planned.”
     Keros nodded her head as the words came in from the radio, and she quickly put the headset away. Changing back into her worker disguise, she quickly went to finish the work around the boutique.

      Jade woke up from her nap with a start, breathing heavily. The last thing she remembered was passing out in the carousel boutique, which wasn't a very comforting thought. She quickly got out of the bed she was in and looked around.
     She appeared to be in the guest room of the tinkerers mansion. A simple place, with a white wall, a single bed, and a mirror in one of the corners. Since he didn't get many visitors, it wasn't designed elaborately.
     Jade walked to the corner of the room, examining herself in the mirror. She appeared to have been bathed, her mane still slightly damp with water. Other then that, she seemed no different from when she had been at the boutique.
Guess the tinkerer got me out when I passed out. Better talk to him about it. Jade thought this as she made her way out of the room and to the kitchen.
      When she went there, she found buttercup and the tinkerer working on breakfast. The maid was making grits and pancakes, while the tinkerer worked on coffee and toast. When the two noticed Jade, they smiled and waved her inside.
     “Good morning Jade.” The tinkerer spoke, not looking away from the coffee maker “your mission was a success. I hope you slept well.”
     “That's what I wanted to ask about.” The alicorn replied, glancing at the two ponies with concern. “how could it have been a success if I passed out halfway through? And more importantly, what happened WHEN I passed out.”
     “It seemed that the clothes pony managed to find out about our little plan, so she knocked you out with magic. You were lucky we got there to rescue you.” his words made Jade's heart sink. Had she really been bested on her first mission for the project?
    Her gaze must have showed her intent, as the tinkerer went up to her and gave a brief hug. “You still did well for your first assignment, now head into the other room and we'll discuss your next mission.” Jade nodded, heading out of the kitchen into the main area.
     “You're not going to say what really happened?” Buttercup asked, placing the breakfast items on a tray.
    “I'm sure about that. I'd rather have her find out on her own accord then to just say it. Besides, repeating events will make her believe it more.” The tinkerer walked out of the kitchen, letting buttercup follow close behind.
    
It was a beautiful day in ponyville, and things were going quietly for the town. Fluttershy was busy enjoying a get together with discord, as they had been doing for the past few weeks. As they talked and enjoyed the sandwiches, a knock came at the door, getting the attention of the two lovers.
    “that's odd, I wasn't expecting any visitors today. Excuse me for a moment.” Fluttershy got out of the chair she was sitting in and made her way to the door, with discord watching her go.
    Standing in the doorway was a unicorn, wearing a long cloak (despite the warm weather). She appeared to be glancing around nervously, and jumped back when the door opened. Fluttershy waited for the pony to get composed before greeting her.
    “Well, hi there.” The newcomer said in a meek voice. “Is a Mr. Discord here? I heard he comes over to your house sometime and I need his help.” As she spoke, the draconequus appeared behind her in a poof of magic, causing the unicorn to jump behind Fluttershy.
    “You called?” Discord gave the mare a smile, before walking next to Fluttershy. “This better be good, we were in the middle of something and I don't want this to take long.”
    “Yeah, it shouldn't.” The mare added, trotting out from the house and down the street a little. The two followed close behind her, with discord still munching on a cucumber sandwich.

    The tinkerer watched the events playing out on the screen before him. Jade seemed to take on her job well, despite what it intelled. While he was thinking, one of his lab assistants turned to him and asked a question.
    “I'm sure the spell will work on him.” The tinkerer replied, turning back to the screen. “This magic was made before the dawn of Equestria. It'll work on the chaos creature, I'm sure of it.”

    The three made there way to a small area on the outskirts of the town. It was a secluded area, where most ponies don't go to on a average day, making it ideal for what was to come. Once there, Fluttershy and discord looked around in confusion, wondering what the meaning of this was.
    Before they could ask about it however, the unicorn suddenly collapsed onto the ground, making the two rush over to help. As they approached, the cloaked unicorn got up, moving in a slow, methodical way. Then, in a flash, the two were surrounded in a dark green aura, the unicorns eyes now growing violet and the cap flapping in the magic power.
   “et contra levantem se et non magica, chao creatura. quod mortalis est, et morietur meis carminibus coactam.” The words came out in a harsh voice, and discord had a rainbow light emanate from his mouth, into the now glowing unicorn.
   Discord and Fluttershy then fell to the ground, both in shock at what just happened. The unicorn then threw off the cloak, revealing her wings to the two.
   “Shame I have to do this.” Jade said, looming over the unconscious discord and Fluttershy. “But I have my masters wishes to do.”
  With that, she placed discord in a second bubble, her magic glowing green, with stones revolving around her horn.
  “et conversus sum ut lapis.” as she said this, a large circle of green appeared on the ground, and Jade dipped her captive into it. When discord reappeared, the once living draconequus was a stone statue. Fluttershy began to wake up, and saw her friend turned into a statue again, her heart sank.
  “Don't be upset my dear.” Jade spoke mocking, hovering the statue above Fluttershy. “Your love life would have never worked out. He was immortal, you weren't. And we all know you only cared for him because you're the element of kindness. Be thankful I'm lifting the burden away.”
  Fluttershy didn't seem to respond, she only looked into the stone eyes of discord, hovering just inches above her. Silent tears formed on her face. She turned to Jade, but instead of anger, it was full of pain and sadness.
  “All this power, all that talk, and yet you think I'm the fool for loving discord? Go ahead, finish me quick, but PLEASE spare discord! He's suffered enough as a statue, and the last thing I want to see is to have him trapped again. please?!” Jade looked at Fluttershy, and smiled warmly.
  “If you say so.” With that, she threw the statue into the air, and sent it crashing down at high speed, crushing Fluttershy's head and breaking the statue to pieces. Her last thought was if discord would be ok when she died.
  “My work here is done. Now to get the scene ready for tomorrow's headlines. Just as the tinkerer asked.” She carried the remains of the two, the discarded blood quickly swept away with a spell, to begin the next phase of the plan.

  Jade sat on the balcony of the tinkerers home, looking at the moon. Once again, she had passed out from something on a mission. This couldn't be a coincidence, could it?
  As she sat, Fangorn came out from inside, carrying a cup of hot chocolate for himself (thought it was about a gallon for a regular pony). He placed himself next to her, looking up at the stars with her. Eventually, he turned to her, wiping chocolate off his mouth as well.
  “What brings you out here tonight? It can't be to watch the stars, since even in your body, your brain needs sleep.” Jade avoided his blind gaze, looking away to a different part of the sky. He simply waited for her to respond, his silent staring boring into her mind till she finally gave in.
  “I found myself passing out again. I thought the first time it was a fluke, but twice? I'm smart enough now to see a connection. Yet, I can't find out what it is because the tinkerer has parameters around it.”
  “Sometimes, ignorance is more fruitful than knowledge.” With that, Fangorn walked back into the house, dropping a newspaper as he went. Curious, Jade levitated it to herself and began reading.
   Trouble in ponyville. Twilight read the headline with a sinking heart. First canterlot, now here in ponyville? Shaking her head, she continued. local ponyville resident and former element of honesty, Fluttershy, has had her house brutally ransacked and burned down. No sign of the yellow pegasus, or her animals were found at the scene.
   Residents say the fire began after a loud crash heard in the hills. While unconfirmed, reporters believed that the former king of chaos, discord, was also found at the scene. Neither he, or Fluttershy have been seen to prove this theory.
  Twilight was snapped out of her trance as a knock came at the door. She quickly put the newspaper away, and ran to the door. Starlight stood in the door, carrying a package with a letter on it.
  “Another gift from our 'secret admirer’ just came in.” Starlight walked past her, placing the box onto a table in the room “it at least is small compared to the last one.”
  “And smells better, it seems.”  twilight ripped the attached letter open, and she began to read it, starlight standing nearby.
  “One soul fell in glamor, now a second falls from kindness. Two friends are gone, and to sweeten the deal, a nuisance in the form of a king is gone too. Here's something to remember your friends by. I hope it keeps your young dragon warm.”
  The two went back over to the box, quickly opening it with magic. Inside, they found a small, hoof stitched blanket. It had a checker design, with several colors, furs, and symbols on each square. The most prominent ones, were yellow squares with a single butterfly symbol on it.
  The two looked at the blanket, feeling the various furs and the feather stuffed blanket. It had been shampooed recently, by the strong smell of honey lavender emitting from the cloth. Not a single blood stain to be found.
  Twilight draped herself in the blanket, it was softer than even the bed she slept in, and walked to her bedroom, silent tears falling onto the castle floor. Before she entered, she turned to starlight, a determination growing in her eye as she spoke.
 “We have to warn the town. Get some sleep, and be ready in the morning. One way or another, we WILL make whoever did this pay.” With that, she entered her bedroom, holding spike closer to her heart then she had ever done before.
> Ch. 3 cakes and trains
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 3


    Ponyville was a scramble, but not in the usual hustle and bustle way. That morning, of the news of Fluttershy's disappearance, and discords defeat, had caused a mass panic in the town. Many mares and stallions were packing up their possessions to leave on the soonest train.
   Twilight was standing by the train station with starlight, watching the various ponies packing up and heading into the train. She had been warned of this, but couldn't figure out what it was about. And now, a second friend has been removed from her sight. Her thoughts were cut off as starlight began tapping her on the shoulder. The train conductor had walked up to twilight and was speaking.
   “Sorry, I've had a lot on my mind recently. What did you say?” The train conductor nodded in understanding. She had a charcoal cost, wearing a standard uniform over it. Her cutie mark was a conductor's hat with train tracks crossing it.
   “That's alright miss, I'm use to it.” The conductors voice had a thick accent to it, one that twilight didn't recognize. “I was sayin we're ready to head out, and I promise to bring all these ponies back safely once this blows over.”
   “Thanks you. That helps my nerves a little.” The conductor made her way to the front of the train, blowing the horn to signal departure. And with that, the train went off down the track.
   “Do you really think this can just blow over?” Starlight asked, pulling out the notes from the last two messages.
   “No, I doubt it.” Twilight mentioned, heading out from the station. “But one way or another, I will make sure to find out whoever is doing this, and make them pay.”

   At the tinkerers home, he sat in the living room watching the TV that was in the room. It was tuned to an anime website, playing the latest upload of SAFIRE. He sat eating his usual breakfast, buttercup by his side.
  “Tink, I need to talk to you.” Jade walked out from her room and stood behind the couch, looking down at the two as they watched. The tinkerer turned his head to look at Jade.
  “Can't it wait till this episode finishes? I want to see how this episode goes.”
  “No, it can't.” jades voice told him that she would interrupt him If he didn't listen. So the tinkerer sighed, pausing the episode and finishing his breakfast. He made his way around the couch and stood facing her, buttercup taking the dishes to the kitchen.
   “What is it you want to talk about?” he got up from the couch and stood before Jade. Jade felt nervous, despite her robotics and alicorn power, the tinkerer still had a cold presence.
   “What happens when I pass out, what REALLY happens? Once may be a coincidence, but twice is suspicious.” Buttercup seemed to grow nervous on the couch, but the tinkerer stayed calm, looking into jades green eyes.
   “Project friendship is a plan I had worked on for awhile now. I needed a soul to get the mechanics working, but that only partially gave the body life. To properly fuel the body, I needed a second soul, which ended up being you.”
   “I, I don't see how that relates to my question.”
   “You were never meant to be apart of this, my original plan involved someone I loved a long time ago. It's only through you 'passing out’ that she can work on the plan.” 
   “I'm still not following. What does that have to do with what I'm asking?”
   “If you still can't follow what I'm saying, then perhaps showing you would be better.” The tinkerer went out from the room into the restroom, followed by the two mares. Buttercup stood outside the door while the two looked at the mirror in silence. Then, the tinkerers hoof began to glow bronze as he held it to the mirror.
   “Speculum: revelare interiorem spiritum meum” the glow absorbed into the mirror, and soon the image began to shift. Instead of jades normal body, a different pony showed in the mirror.
    She was clearly built for military. Having a dark green coat and a body much bulkier than an average unicorn. She had fiery red eyes and wore military garb. The mane and tail were a muddy brown, and all over were specks of mud from a time long ago.
   “This, is general Jewel Flame of the 1st solar army. Not many ponies know of this, but the crystal empire used to lead attacks on ponyville and it's towns. She was one of the first members of an army that drove back the threat.
   That was, till the crystal empire was sealed away by the elements of harmony. The army was disbanded afterwards, leading to several ponies not being able to live normal lives. She found me, and I decided to use her talents for the plan you are now apart of.”
   Jade looked at the pony in the reflection, then looked at herself. Was she really just a fluke that lives with this spirit inside of her? Was this the only reason she was cared for by the tinkerer?
   “I… I need to sleep on this.” Jade walked out of the restroom to the bedroom, sinking into the couch and falling into a dreamless sleep. The tinkerer looked at his own reflection, wiping away a silent tear, and walked back to the main room to finish his show.


   The train that had left ponyville was now in the mountains, the afternoon light showing on the train as it passed through the uphill weaves. The ponies inside continued to bide the time, waiting for the train to reach its destination.
  Suddenly, the train began to slow down, and then stop. The ponies inside looked out at the place where they were, and saw the expanse of rocks below them. The conductor soon got over the intercom and told them the situation.
  “Sorry folks, rocks blocking the tunnel. Please stay inside the cabin till the cleanup crew comes from canterlot to help. Please be patient with us.”
   The passengers groaned there displeasure, not hearing the subtle clicks of locks being activated. The ponies in the cabin soon began to fall asleep, as an invisible gas began to fill the cabins. Soon, all the passengers were sound asleep, and the conductor removed her disguise.
   “Alright Fangorn, you're up.” Keros spoke, flying out of the train with her dragonfly wings and landing on a smaller cart.  “I will go ahead and tell the word about the 'accident’ here. Good luck” with that, she resumed her disguise and went down the tracks on a small handcart.
    Above the tracks, the dragon flew down from his perch on the mountain, and landed at the kaboose of the train. Inside the cake family, along with a few other ponies, were fast asleep. He grabbed the cakes and began to fly off with them. the family still asleep from the drug they had inhaled.
    Before he left, he shot a fireball at the engine of the train. The impact causing an explosion that destroys part of the track, and causing the train to fall into the ravine below. No one inside felt the impact of the spiked rocks when the train landed, killing all on board without a sound.
   “What a waste of life. But it's all business” with that, he flew off to the tinkerers home with his prize.




   Jade walked down the silent streets of night time ponyville. The night time air was cold and slightly wet with dew. She made her way to sugarcube corner, the place with her next target, cloaked to conceal her look.
   She had spent the afternoon thinking on what she saw, and had decided to ask for freedom on this mission. Surprisingly, the tinkerer was fine with the idea.
   “Just remember, when the time comes, you can't hesitate. If you do, I'll call up flame, so don't disappoint.” So here she was, about to face the next of her targets, unaware of what to expect. She eventually made it to the doorstep of the sweet shop, and went inside.
    The door was unlocked, despite the time, and she stepped into the empty halls of the restaurant. Seeing that the kitchen was empty, she made her way to the upper floor of the building. At the end of the hall, she saw something she didn't expect, a single strawberry cupcake. 
    It was placed on a stool, as if it were being used for bait. Rolling her eyes, Jade made her way to the small item, picking it up with her hoof. Before she could take a bite of it, a large thump sounded behind her, causing Jade to freeze.
    “Ohh, the killer actually has fears. Good to see!!” Jade slowly unfroze, and turned to see who was behind her. She saw a pink pony, who seemed similar to pinkie pie, but had a paler coat color and a flat mane and tail. She turned to face the pony and saw that she was holding a cannon in front of her.
   “Someone like you, threatening someone like me? Funny.” Jade tried to hide the fear in her voice, with minor success. Pinkie tilted her head in a twisted smile. Then gave a small chuckle in response.
   “You're right, it’s kinda funny. It would be more funny IF YOU HADN'T KILLED MY FRIENDS!!!” Jade flinched at the strange shift in pinkies voice. But she stayed focus, looking at the cannon in front of her.
   “I hope you don't plan on killing me with balloons and confetti pinkie. Cause even you know that's dumb to try.”
   “Hehehe, well OF COURSE that would be dumb. That's why I put something SPECIAL in this blast. LOOK FOR YOURSELF.” Jade tilted her head to look into the cannon. Inside was a large cake, black and hardened to be intentionally inedible. It was filled with various metal objects, ranging from sharpened spoons to whisks twisted into a sharp point. She pulled her head back and looked at pinkie with her best poker face.
    “Since you've been SO RUDE as to make my friends go away, I figured I'd do the same for you. I spent ALL DAY making this special dessert for you. I hope you enjoy it, BECAUSE IT'LL BE YOUR LAST MEAL IN EQUESTRIA!!!” Pinkie began to laugh at this, her whole head twisting back as she maniacally laughed at Jade. Has the loss of her friends really caused that much grief? 
    “Alright pinkie, if this is my last meal, I want to get in some final words first.” Pinkie stopped her laughter and looked at Jade, her face now unbelievably calm as she waited. But instead of talking, Jade quickly kicked the cannon, rotating the barrel to face pinkie now. She then used her magic and lifted it into the air, aiming the cannon right at pinkies face. The pink pony looked in shock at the sight, then at Jade.
    “Surprise.” With that, Jade pulled the trigger on the cannon, the blast making a powerful blast and knocking pinkie through the floor. The cannon itself was embedded into the ceiling briefly, before falling through the hole it made to the second floor.
    Jade walked down to the second floor, and grimaced at the sight. There say pinkie, her body pinned to the floor with her array of blades, with bruises and cuts along her body. Her face was stretched into a wide grin, with small pupils and  light breathing. Before Jade could reminisce on this, the earpiece she had buzzed to life, the tinkerers voice coming through it.
    “You surprised me Jade. I didn't think you'd actually take her down, let alone to this degree. Now, start a grease fire in the kitchen, and bring her body back to the house.” 
    “Sir?! That doesn't sound…”
    “Did I stutter? Get it done before someone comes by and you get seen. That's an order!!” Jade flinched at his harsh words, but went to it. She quickly began a fire in the kitchen using cooking grease and the oven. She then levitated pinkies body and made her way out the back door. She had tears in her eyes, but whether or not it was from sadness or the smoke, she didn't know.

    The tinkerer sat on the balcony, waiting for Jade to come in with her prize. The preparations for the next invitation were ready, and he had to get the pink pony to finish the work.
    Jade flew in a few moments later, carrying pinkie with her. He smiled at the sight, and motioned for his assistants to take the body. They quickly grabbed the body and rushed back to work on the package, while the tinkerer walked up to Jade and kissed her on the cheek.
    “You did well on this assignment. I wished it could have been done smoother from flame, but you did it great as well. Just make sure to listen and not judge my commands next time.”  he made his way back inside, but stopped when Jade didn't follow.
    “I don't want to do this anymore.” The tinkerer frowned at jades words, but stayed silent as she continued. “It was one thing to be a tool for your plan, I had no choice in that. But to kill ponies? I can't keep on like this.”
    “You act like you HAVE the option to leave. You're apart of this, and have already gone too deep to go out. Even if you wanted to leave, you couldn't. Now come inside, we have your next assignment to discuss.”
    “Alright, sir.” Jade walked into the living room and listened as he began discussing the plan. She only partially listened, as her mind went back to what he had said. She wanted to escape, to live without the orders and fear. But where would she go? And the ponies she has already killed, if unintentionally, could they be something she could forget?

    Twilight woke up to the sound of banging on her door. She had spent the day writing down the various ponies that were left in ponyville, and needed to get some sleep. But the desperate knocking at her door made her get up anyway. Starlight stood outside the door, a she wore a somber expression on her face.
    “it seems our secret killers struck in the night. We need to go down to sugarcube corner.” Twilight quickly got out of her bed and grabbed her saddlebag. And heading to the balcony, the two flew off towards sugarcube corner.
    Twilight landed near the building with shock. The place was almost completely burned down, with half of the building charred beyond repair. Pegasi were already on the scene, removing the rain clouds they had used to put out the flames. More ponies had gathered around to see the remains of the building, and twilight turned to the leader of the fire brigade.
    “Was anypony inside the building?” She asked, a bit of panic in her voice.
    “No ma'am, the building has been abandoned for awhile now. We searched inside and couldn't find any bodies.” this made twilight even more nervous. Once again, she has lost a friend and no evidence of there whereabouts. But that also means she'd be getting a present from the killer.
     Twilight flew back to the castle with starlight. And sure enough, a package was there on the doorstep of the castle. Twilight brought it inside, and she placed it on the table before opening it.
     The two ponies jumped in surprise as the box shot confetti into the air. A happy party tune began up, and out of the small box arose a multi layer cake. It stood 10 layers tall, with small figurines and a single note placed on the topper of the cake.
     It was expertly crafted, the top most layer being a eclipsing sun and moon, twilight's cutie mark just underneath. Each subsequent layer was modeled after each of her friends, with three more layers based on the crystal empire, the residents of ponyville, and the dragon lands. Had it not been from the killer, it would have been the most intricate cake ever designed. Twilight grabbed the note from the top of the cake and read it.
    Another of your friends has fallen to our wishes. Yet, the power of friendship doesn't seem to be making things better. However, to show we aren't heartless, we made this cake to comfort you in your time of grief. Keep the models, they were made for you. Signed, your secret admirer.
    Twilight crumbled the note and incinerated it with her magic. All these deaths, and yet she isn't any closer to finding the culprit! Starlight had used the knife to cut the various layers of cake, and sure enough, each was flavored by the favorites of the pony it represents. Twilight walked back to her room, wondering when this will end, and when she will be next.
> Ch. 4 shadows and apples
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 4


    Jade found herself looking into the mirror in the restroom. She saw what she was, yet, she didn't like seeing it. Could she change things, make things better for herself and the others around her? The thought plagued her mind as she stared into her own reflection.
    As she did so, she heard a voice coming from another room. She pushed the thoughts aside and snuck around the dark interior of her home. Jade came to the door of the tinkerers room. And she opened the door slightly, to look inside.
    The room was dark, and the tinkerer laid on his bed asleep. The voice she had heard seemed to have stopped. Thinking it was just sleep talk, she walked back to her room, closing the door behind her.
    Her small view had made it hard to see Fangorn sitting in the corner of the room. He stood guardfully over the sleeping stallion. The silence between them continued, until a shadow began to rise from the floor. It took a form similar to the tinkerer, but with no color and white eyes. It spook in a whisper near the bed.
   “well, look where we are now.” The voice said, the Spectre standing close to the bed of the tinkerer. “you are FINALLY doing the great act of skill you've wanted for years now. And yet you still don't acknowledge the facts.” He made no movement from his speech, so it moved closer.
   “You know that once this finishes, you will die. You have that planned for this, and for flame as well. Another life added to the multitude you've used to make this possible. You can't ignore the guilt, and you can't ignore me for much longer either.
    Don't you want her to stay alive? You've let the souls live in limbo, and they want payment from you, JUDGEMENT. Finish this, and you'll have to leave all of this behind. Even the souls you've bound to your labs. Can you handle that?” The Spectre reached its hoof out, planning to grab the bed.
    Fangorn quickly moved from the corner, smashing the Spectre in a single swing of his tail. The black mist dissolved away, leaving no trace of itself behind. The tinkerer woke up from the sound, looking at his friend with dreary eyes.
    “Thank you, I know this is alot to ask of you, but it helps.” he removed the sheets he was lying in and sat up in the bed. Fangorn made his way to the side of the bed and sat beside him.
    “For the one who took me in, I'm glad to help in any way I can.” Fangorn took out a small stone from a pack he had to sharpen his claws. He continued as he sharpened. “I felt these plans you do are a bit extreme, but at least I can make myself useful to someone.”
    “Well, these illusions have been coming more and more often. Guess my sins have a way of coming when I don't need them.” Fangorn nodded, putting away the stone he had been using. He got up from the bed and went out the door, stopping at the entrance to the room.
     “When this plan is over, will we be able to find peace? I know you plan on it for yourself, but for us?” The tinkerer looked at his bed, putting his head back on the pillow and looking at his friend.
     “We will all find peace Fangorn. My plan will wipe this timeline from existence when it's all over. Our lives will be finished. For now though, we all need our sleep after the events of the past few days. Goodnight.” With that, he pulled the covers over his head and fell asleep. Fangorn lightly closed the door behind him, and went to his room to sleep.

      The next morning, a very different crew had gotten together to discuss plans. The cmc had gathered in their treehouse to talk about the events of ponyville. Scootaloo had spent the last hour making meaningless sketches on the board, while sweetie bell stared absently out the window.
     Applebloom made it to the treehouse and burst through the door, carrying several small juice boxes. Scootaloo quickly stopped her drawing and went to grab one of the boxes. Sweetie remained motionless, seemingly not even noticing applebloom’s arrival. The filly took her place beside sweetie, offering her a juice box as scootaloo began.
    “Alright crusaders, with most of the town gone, we need to figure out who is doing all these acts of violence.” She quickly began drawing on a small chalkboard. “Rarity, pinkie, and Fluttershy have all been confirmed missing. We need to figure out who they'll target next.”
    “The only other ponies around that they  would target are applejack and twilight.” Applebloom mentioned, taking a small sip from her juice box. As scoot began drawing on the board again, sweeties eyes lit up in terror, and she quickly turned towards the girls.
    “We need to go, a dragon just landed outside, and we need to run!” Applebloom and scootaloo gave the filly confused looks, but soon felt something latch onto the treehouse. The three fillies were flung to the floor, as the tree began to shake violently and the swish of a blade could be heard.
    Fangorn was cutting the tree down with his blade. He could have just smashed the treehouse with his fists or burn the children alive, but the tinkerer had asked otherwise. With one final swing, he cut the tree from its roots and it fell crashing down. The treehouse had been smashed to pieces, and the three foals made their way out of the wreckage.
   Before the three could get their bearings, Fangorn grabbed one of the fillies from the ground and bit off their head. Scootaloo screamed in fear, and applebloom quickly covered her mouth, leading scoots away from the dragon. She made a silent gesture, and pointed to the blindfold on Fangorn. She nodded and the two began to sneak off towards the apple farm.
    “You two are quite brave, I must admit.” Fangorn spoke, throwing the rest of sweetie bells remains into his mouth. “A normal filly would scream more, making them a easy target. Yet you stay silent, impressive, it really is.” Fangorn unsheathed his blade, and made his way forward, making slow steps towards the treeline the fillies hid in.
    The two continued to sneak into the trees, hoping to get away from the looming dragon. But before they could get far, scootaloo stepped on a twig, and Fangorn swiftly slashed his blade at the foal, smashing scootaloo into a bloody pulp. Applebloom gasped, but ran away to the farm, tears rolling down her face at the loss of her friends.
    “Alright Jade, the foal is heading in your direction. Good luck with your work.” With that, Fangorn grabbed the remains of the pegasus and began to drink her blood. He honestly didn't enjoy this, but, business is business.

    Applebloom rushed to the farm as fast as she could, heading towards the house in a panic. She burst through the door and found Applejack sitting in the kitchen, drinking a glass of cider. She quickly ran into her and began to cry, startling the farm horse.
    “Ohh sis, it's terrible! Some dragon came out of the sky and...and…” applebloom chocked on her words, and continued to sob in her arms. All Applejack could do was hold the young filly as she cried.
    “Calm down sugar. I'll see too it once I finish up in the barn.” Applejack gently removed the filly from her leg and made her way outside. Applebloom grabbed onto her back leg, begging her not to go outside. But she ignored her and made her way to the barn.
     She went into the barn, with applebloom still attached to her leg. As they entered, the door magically sealed itself behind them, a magic aura circling from the door around the barn. Applebloom straighten up, and Applejack got on her guard, ready to fight.
    “Alright. I don't know who you are or what you want. But I assure you, I'm not scared. Come and face me like a stallion.” The two looked around the barn, trying to find some sign of an intruder. Applejack heard a crunch behind her, and quickly bucked with blind might at whatever it was.
     The two turned around to see what had happened. A dark green alicorn stumbled back, clutching her face with a hoof. When she removed it, the two mares stared in shock. The right eye was shattered, and a large amount of the right side of her face had been broken off. Her magic wrapped around the broken part and tore it off, revealing a leather interior and small glowing eye.
     “Well, Jade WAS going to end you quickly, like that red stallion that had came in here yesterday. But, since you got me out, i’d like to end you in a more PAINFUL manner.”
    “Red stallion? What did you do to my brother?!” The alicorn stepped forward, nodding a head upwards to the ceiling. The two mares looked up and became horrified. There Big Mac was, hanging silently from the top of the barn from a rope. The mares backed further away from the alicorn, who began to laugh at them.
    “It's a real shame you have to die to keep the project going. I always enjoyed what this family represents. Ohh well, we've waited too long to work this out, and no sentiment will prevent it from happening.”
    Applejack felt a spark of anger build in her, and grabbing a nearby pitchfork, threw it at the alicorn with app her might. It missed, but the sharp prongs hit the rope holding the body of big mac, causing the body to fall on flame. A sharp crack of bones and splatting of organs followed, a pool of blood forming from the impact.
    Applejack didn't look, instead, grabbed the petrified applebloom and hurried to the barn doors, banging desperately on it for help. Flame thrust her wings through the body of the stallion and ripped him in half, tossing the two parts aside. She got up, her body uneven from the impact and slippery from the blood, and made her way to the two mares.
    Using her magic, flame grabbed the pitchfork from the wall and launched it into the mares, impaling applebloom and flinging the filly towards her. With a hoof, she punched the filly out of the air, crushing her skull with a sickening crunch, and then thrust the prongs up Applejacks rear.
    She cried in pain and fell to the floor on her back, two of the prongs digging into her thighs and the third drawing blood from her marehood. She ignored the pain, and began bucking the prongs out of her hips. Flame then stood over her, an angry expression on her half mare face.
    Flame pulled the prongs out, then thrust them into Applejacks neck, causing her to choke to death on her blood. Then, using her magic, she gathered the remains of the ponies and hid them under a pile of hay. She released the spell from the barn, and limped outside, looking over the fields of the farm.
    She tried to contact the tinkerer on the radio, but her communication systems had been damaged in the scuffle inside the building. As she stood there, Jade began to take consciousness in the unharmed part of her body.
    “What's going on? I can only see, I can't feel my body.”
     “Don't worry, we had an accident, and now I'm in control to keep the plan on track. But now, we have some cooking to do.”

     The tinkerer slammed his hoof into the console in front of him, causing a huge indenture in the machine. The workers around him simply watched as he boiled over with rage. The loss of communication and the current direction flame was going weren't apart of the plan.
    One of his workers quickly grabbed a bottle of liquor and handed it to the tinkerer. He chugged the content quickly and began to calm down. He shook his head and returned to the console, sending word to Fangorn to meet flame in cloudsdale with a message. We will NOT have his plan compromised.

    Rainbow dash flew at top speed to the cloud factory, the ponyville weather team close behind. She had been given the red alert code from the factory, one that hadn't been used for many years in the area. She made her way to the presentation room, where spitfire and the rest of the wonderbolts and weather staff were.
   “Listen up team, this will be the biggest weather work in recent history. I'll put this bluntly, apple acres is on fire, and we need to control the fire.” Rainbow suddenly felt fear, but stayed focus as spitfire continued.
   “We'll split you up into four groups, the wonderbolts will work on transport of the rain, team one and two will focus on concentration of rain and cloud creation. The rest will use wind to control the flame and keep it out of ponyville. You have your jobs, so let's move!” With that, the pegasi made their way around the factory, preparing the work and getting the rain running over time. All the while rainbow was worried about the fate of applejack and her family, hoping they'd be alright.
> Ch. 5: rainbow perceptions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 5.


Twilight sat at the edge of what was once sweet apple acers. She was exhausted from using her magic to help contain and help keep the fire from spreading. The pegasi had came a short while after she had noticed the fire beginning at the farm, and had quickly put out the flame with the combination of rain and wind.
     She looked out at the charred orchard that had not even a few days ago had produced another batch of cider to give to the world. Aside from the pegasi that made up the wonderbolt team and weather factory, no pony was around to see the sight. Spitfire had flown down beside twilight and waited for her to notice her presence. Eventually, she coughed, getting twilight's attention from her thoughts.
    “Ohh, sorry. With how things have been happening around here I haven't been able to focus to much.”
    “No kidding. Well, we were able to save a few trees in the back of the orchard, but most of the place has been trashed. The house and barn seemed to be the first place to go, but we haven't found any pony around. We need to get back to cloudsdale to report, so good luck on your own assignment.” With that, spitfire called together the wonderbolts and they flew off back to cloudsdale.
     Rainbow dash landed beside twilight, her face was gloomy and her fur covered in soot from the fire. The faint smell of apples and smoke coming off her coat. Their were streaks down her face from tears, but from what twilight was uncertain.
    “I can't believe the farm is gone. All the times, the apple family, just gone. Since we didn't find aj and her family, do you think they're still around?” twilight simply looked at her friend with a sorry expression. How could she tell her that one of her friends was now dead? And more importantly, that she knew it would happen?
    “I can't say for sure, but I can say they might be out there. For now, I say we should just go and move on. Your weather team should be returning to cloudsdale soon, and you don't want to fall behind.”
    “Yeah… yeah, I guess. If you hear anything, tell me right away. I'll be down here faster then you can say apples” with that, she flew off to rejoin the pegasi who were heading back to the cloud factory. Twilight took one last look at the charred orchard, and then walked back to her castle, hoping to hear back from Celestia about this.

    Flame sat by a small pond just outside of the now burned down farm. She had come to this spot after realizing her communication was down, and went to repair herself while she hid. The process could have been easier if Jade hadn't been aware the whole time, taking control of half of her face. She began working on one of the wings she had injured during the scene, when Jade spoke up from her side.
   “This is turning into a disaster. I should have quit when I had the chance. I should have gone away and done something else. Now look what happened.” Jade continued to fix the wing, not caring so much about her speaking.
   “Flame, how can you be so silent about this? We’ve killed so many lives, destroyed multiple businesses, and are literally fueled by souls! How can be calm about this?”
    “I was raised for combat, nothing more.” Flame finally finished the wing and reattached it to her body. She then detached the other wing and began to repair it.
    “Really? I guess I was never told your story. I guess we have some time, would you be willing to tell me?”
    “If I told you it, you wouldn't care or listen to it. Why tell stories if the one you tell it too will forget so easily?”
    “Well, we are attached to each other. And it's not like we can separate. I'll listen, if you're willing.” Flame stopped what she was doing, looking up from her work. The exposed eye seemed to shift in it's socket, before she went back to repairing her wing.
    “My name was sparkling cracker before I went out. I grew up in a different time then now, when the three races had different opinions of each other and the crystal empire was a myth. I knew my destiny would bring me to war, and so, I joined a changeling watch force.
   “We did our best to watch the movement of changelings, using what we had to see where they went and how they acted. Unfortunately, we got careless on one of our missions, and ended up captured.” Flame finished working on the wing, and reattached it to her socket. She then noticed a lake and moved to wash off.
   “And I'm guessing tink came and rescued you?” flame scoffed at that, grabbing a emergency soap bar and began to clean the discolored fur.
   “he had to be saved himself from the bugs. Fangorn had followed him to where I was and resuced us, along with killing the small swarm we had been following. Tink followed us out on our way, and he offered us a place at his home. We denied of course, needing to return to the hide out.” She switched her scrubbing and moved on the the other side of her body, scrubbing the mub and blood from her fake coat.
   “when we came back to base we were put off the team due to getting caught. After the time we spent together on the field, we weren't sure where to go. I took up tinks offer, and ended up as his advisor over things. I guess I started to get soft, because he and I began to feel for each other.
    We ended up getting married, and had a daughter. It was around then I ended up dying. When he brought me back with this…” her voice trailed off, remembering the sea of voices of faces she had to go through till they could talk. She quickly shook the memory away and finished cleaning up. They stepped out of the water and looked at themselves.
    Their coat was still matted in spots, and the stains couldn't be completely removed. She figured that they'd be fine from a distance, and stedied her wings, getting ready to fly.
    “Story time is over. Time to go to cloudsdale. Tinkerer will hear of this soon. Accelorato!” With that, they soared off to the clouds at high speed. As she flew, Fangorn heard the sound of her take off, and signaled the tinkerer.
    Otaku sat on a cloud outside of the city in the clouds, binoculars over his eyes. He was observing the various ponies that flew around, trying to monitor their movement. When the fire began in the orchard, he had been assigned to watch for signs of anything out of the ordinary.
    Because of this, he didn't notice the alicorn speeding up to the clouds and stopping just by the rainbow falls. She flew behind the pegasus and gave him a quick tap on the shoulder, causing him to jump in surprise.
    “Hey, don't scare me like that. Tink was worried enough about you, and I'm on edge as is. Thought, I see why you got him so worried.” The mechanical eye looked to the side, but the covered section gave him a confused look. The pegasus noticed this, and he gave a closer look to the split halves. He gasped in surprise, then quickly took out a pen and began to write things down.
    “A clean case of split personality to the highest degree, caused by blunt trauma. Wow, it's like one of those serial killer mangas I like to read. We need to get you back to base and have that repaired.” Flame landed on the cloud with him, and she quickly grabbed the com out of his hoof.
   “I had to sneak into this place to meet with you. If two pegasi suddenly left at the same time, it would be quite suspicious. We should just carry out the mission and move on. Besides, I'm sure with the event's recently, we'll need to act quickly, so let's go.
    “Well, I guess I have no choice then.” He then felt himself become covered in a magic aura, knowing it was an invisibility spell. The two then went through the clouds, prepairing the final task.
     The afternoon was quiet, Fangorn sat in the dim twilight waiting for derpy to come by. She had been coming at a consistent time, and this time, he was going to talk. He usually left packages at the spot for her to pick up, but not tonight.
   The sound of wings could be heard, and Fangorn turned to the direction of the pegasus. She looked at him in confusion, and landed nearby.
   “Hello Fang, what brings you here? I haven't seen you since our first encounter, don't get me wrong I like seeing you. It's just, with things as they are, if twilight or someone sees you.” She was interrupted as he placed a claw on the back of her head. She flinched from the touch, but went back to it as he stroked her mane.
   “I know young one. I wish I could be off and safe, but my job comes before anything else. To make sure you're safe and waiting for orders.” Derpy backed out of his claw and looked at his face, trying to see if he was lying. But his face was serious, and she turned to look back at where she came from.
  “This used to be harmless, just some deliveries to a friend. But now, the orchard is gone. Do you know who did this, and why?” Fangorn placed his hand on his chin, looking towards the sky, as if it would give the dragon answers. Then he turned back to derpy and gave a sad smile.
  “Even I don't know why the field went up in flames. It wasn't in the plan we had made, so I assume it was something out of our control. All will be fixed my dear, I can promise that at least.” Derpy looked back at the now empty fields and the sleeping city, then hovered close to Fangorn.
   She gave him a kiss on the cheek, causing the dragon to blush in the dim light. He turned to face the mare, who was also blushing a deep red.
  “I know that was a bit weird, but if things don't turn out well, just know that I don't hold anything against you. And thank you, for believing in me.” With that, she flew back to the town, humming a tune to herself. Fangorn was glad for that, he didn't want her to see the tears that stained his blindfold.

   Twilight sat in the inner walls of her castle. Her face was that of thought, a deep thinking of the events coming up. She looked at the various papers that adorned the table. She read the notes over and over again, the frown on her face becoming deeper with the passing silence.
   Spike and starlight came into the room, disturbing the silence of the moment. They each looked at her face and wondered if they should just leave her be. But twilight motioned for the two to come on, and they stepped next to her.
   “We still haven't gotten any word from Celestia. We also haven't gotten any luck finding Applejack and her family.”
   “And we haven't gotten a package, or a letter yet from our overseer. I don't think we'll get a package tonight. That may mean something.” Twilight continued to sit in silence, spike and starlight waiting for her to respond with something. After a few moments, twilight got up from the table and walked to the balcony, stopping to face them.
   “i’m flying up to canterlot. It's clear whoever is doing this is interfering with our letters. Watch over the town while I'm gone. And if I don't come back…” she paused, her face softening a little from the cold seriousness of before.
   “Know that I had the best years of my life with you spike. And starlight, take good care of him for me.” With that, she cast a spell on her body and zoomed off from the castle, heading towards canterlot at high speed.
   Fangorns ears perked up at the sound, and he quickly pulled out his communicater and called up the tinkerer. Their was a brief pause before he answered.
  “Sir, bad news. Seems twilight has decided to head to canterlot by magic instead of train. She’ll get their sooner than expected, orders?” In the lab, the tinkerer slammed his hoof into the console he was at, startling the nearby workers. He had been monitoring otaku and flames output over cloudsdale, but quickly took his focus to this.
  “What?! You sure about this?”
   “Yes. What are my orders?” The tinkerer put a hoof on to his head, a headache beginning to form from the thought. He then turned back to the cameras and spoke quickly.
   “Seems the last phase of the plan will need to be executed quickly. I'll contact otaku and have him get flame moving. You should check on the castle, to be sure that her little dragon is taken care of. Get it done, and report when the town is secure.” The tinkerer quickly signaled buttercup, and she gave him a bottle of Scotch, which he quickly drank for himself.
   “Guess this really is the final few days of our lives, huh tink?” Buttercup grabbed the bottle and threw it into the trash. Tink sat back in his chair, the alcohol working through the headache he had. He then shook his head and contacted otaku.
   “You'll have to finish your work without her mate, seems twilight is heading to canterlot by flight. Tell flame to get moving and begin the last phase of the plan!” The pegasus quickly relayed the message, and the alicorn flew off to canterlot. Tink shook his head and leaned back in his seat.
   “Why couldn't things have just gone to plan?” He got out of his seat and walked out of the lab, buttercup close behind. She was quietly concerned for him, but said nothing, knowing he wouldn't care to respond. Maybe, soon, they can finally relax together. But for now, the plan moved on, and she wondered if flame could pull off the next step.
> Ch.6 royal encounters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 6.


     Celestia sat in a small briefing room, looking over the various forms and notes that had been delivered to her. She was worried about the recent events that have slipped by under her notice, and was taking action to get caught up on these events. Somehow someone had made things normal for her, and because of this she saw the blaze of sweet apple acres much too late. From this, she had meet with various ponies to get updated on what was really happening.
     The news hadn't been comforting. While still loose, the news that came had mostly been the same, ponies are disappearing, and some force they have never seen before is involved with it. In her years of living a force like this has never worked against them, even chrysalis wasn't this well structured with their plans.
     Her thoughts were interrupted when Luna stepped through the doors to the room. She appeared disheartened, bangs under her eyes and a feel of tiredness from her lack of sleep. She slumped into a chair in the corner of the room and drank from a cup of coffee placed on the table. She had spent many hours gathering info from ponies as well, forgoing sleep for speed. Celestia waited for her sister to finish before speaking.
     “Luna, I know things seem bad, but straining yourself like this will only make things harder. Please, take some time to rest, and we'll discuss what you've learned later.”
     “It cannot wait sister. I've seen the spread of the chaos before even the fire, yet I ignored the signs of distraught. I need to make up for lost time and effort, even if I must resign sleep to do so.” She placed the cup back onto the table and pulled a set of papers from a bag she carried with her. Celestia took them up with her magic and began to shuffle through them.
    “These are lists of ponies I've noticed missing on the dreamscape since last month. I've noticed that the elements have been specifically targeted, since over the course of these past few days they've become absent.”
    “Yes, the town reports confirm this too. But what concerns me is how the perpetrator was able to mask their deeds so well from us. News outlets, magic letters, all seemingly blocked or altered to a degree no other villain we've fought before has.” Celestia put the papers down and grabbed a cup of coffee from the other table in the room. She delicately sipped it before looking back at Luna.
    “I imagine whoever is behind this will strike here at the castle soon, so we best be prepared for whoever it may be.” The two got up, and went to the throne room to talk to others of the guard. They had little idea what was to come.

    On the outskirts of the castle, a mare with a long cloak sat under the shadows of a nearby building. She watched the movements of the guards, and began to make her approach. As she did so, one of her eyes flashed pink, and stopped her in her tracks.
    “Remember, let me talk. I can't guarantee our safety if you step out of line. Stay quiet, and if things go south, I'll take control.” The eye returned to the darkness, and the mare resumed walking to the castle. At the gate, the guards blocked her entrance with their spears. Flame smiled, and gave the guards a polite curtsy.
    “Forgive me if this seems unaccounted, but I have urgent news regarding the recent events around here. I have to tell her majesty Celestia right away.” the guards gave each other a glance, then lowered their weapons to allow her through. As she walked past, her left eye glowed excitedly.

    In ponyville, starlight paced the floor of the castle, pondering about twilight's decision. Spike sat nearby, watching from a chair. Finally, the unicorn turned to the dragon and shook her head.
   “There isn't anything here for us to do, what with the town being mostly empty. Come on, we should help twilight.” She motioned for him to get on her back, but he hesitated.
   “but she wanted us to stay here in case the mystery pony tried to do something here.” As starlight thought about this, a large thud was felt in the castle, coming from the balcony. The two rushed up to find a dragon, gleaming in strange armor, smash through the glass doors with a large sword. He walked in and stood upright, looking around the room before settling on the two.
   “Forgive me this rude interruption, but I have orders to make sure you two don't do anything dumb while the plan finishes.” As he spoke, spike gave starlight a 'told you so’ look before stepping out with her.
   “Well, tell your 'master’ that I won't go down so easily. I'm going to end your plans, whatever they are, here and now.” Starlights horn fired a barrage of beams, which the dragon deflected with his large sword. He then swung the sword at starlight, causing it to smash into the spot where she once stood. She fired a few more beams at him before he turned, his eyes glowing yellow under his eye band.
   “magicae cincinno.” With that, a circle formed around starlight, chains binding her horn to the floor, along with her head and hooves. Fangorn turned around and gave her a smirk. 
   “You didn't believe I would fight against a magic user without bringing measures to counter magic, did you?” Starlight continued to struggle with the restraints of the circle as fangorn prepared his sword. He hesitated when a spray of magic fire hit him in the face, searing the blindfold in the process.
    “Hold on starlight.” Spike began to fumble with the chains, his scaled hands being burned by the magic energy. Fangorn rubbed the ashes of the fold away, revealing the pale white eyes underneath. In a quick motion, he brought the sword on top of the two, a spray of magic and blood forming around the library. A tear fell from the dragon's eye at the sight, pulling his sword out to clean the blade. 
    “the job is done sir, thought it seems a hollow victory with the current set of events.”
    “You'll have to get over it fangorn.” The tinkerers voice responded through his headset. “We still have a lot to do before the end, and I need everything to be right. Now, get here and be ready to execute on the next phase.” With that, the headset cut off, and fangorn looked at the mess in front of him. He wiped the feelings away and began working on the damage.

     Celestia and Luna listened to the strange mare in front of them, her words helping to paint the picture more. It was a bit sudden for the info she brought, but it helped clear a lot of the misconceptions in their work.
    Which only made them on edge. The cloaked form and the knowledge made her statements all the more untrustworthy (despite helping fill in some gaps). Not to mention the glow in one of her eye.
    As she finished her explanation, the door to the throne room burst open, twilight flying in and landing in front of the princess's. Everyone in the room looked at the alicorn, clearly tired from use of magic, as she began to turn to the cloaked mare.
   “So… you're the one… causing this.” Her ragged breaths could barely be heard, but even that small bit was enough for the sisters. Celestia shut the doors with her magic, while luna flew down to help twilight up from the floor.
   “What's going on my princess?” Emerald asked, trying to keep the sharade up for the two. The three princesses made their way towards the unicorn, twilight staring back with barely hidden fury.
   “I think you should know, since you've caused all this.” Celestia noted her students malice, but continued to look at the unicorn.
   “But, you have no evidence of that. I just came to help the princess's with their problem.” Before she could continue, twilight fired a beam from her horn, blasting away the cloak that she had placed on her body. 
    Luna and Celestia gasped at the sight of emerald, now decloaked to them. Her face and eye torn off, reveiling the mechanical underlayer and glowing eye. The blast also burning away some of her feathers, reveiling the metel feathers and joints. But twilight, undetured, began to fire another beam at her, this time being blocked by a magic shield.
    This knocked the two out of their shock, and the two princess's fired a beam as well. The combined strength destroying the sheild and blasting emerald into the door. The strike continued, shredding the mechanical alicorn in a blast that they didn't expect, and were knocked out from it.

    At the base, the tinkerer looked at the now blank screen of emerald, cracking the bottle in his hooves from the tight grip. The workers nearby waited in silence for their next command, watching as he placed the bottle back on the table. He began to type on the keyboard and pressed a button on the dash, shaking his head as he did so.
     “It seems we have no choice. For the plan to continue, we have to use the combat protocol. I thought we could get by without it, but I guess even I can't plan for everything.” He finished the preparation, then hovered his hoof over the final switch. He took a deep breath before pressing it in.
     “I'm sorry emerald, I didn't want this for you.” He turned back to the screens and watched.

     The three princesses walked over the chared remains of the alicorn, the two sisters in a state of disgust, while twilight smiled wickedly. The parts still sparked and one of the eyes still glowed, but the body remained motionless. 
     “Whatever was this thing?” Luna asked, giving a worried glance to her sister.
     “I guess it doesn't matter, now that it's dead. Let's get rid of it so…” before twilight could finish, the eyes flared to life, and a blast of magic knocked the three back. The body then became surrounded in a bronze glow, swirling in and around the body. The glow soon covered the body, shining so that they couldn't see it. The ball of energy begain to rise into the air, the hue turning a silver, then to gold, before bursting out through the room.
     When the three princesses looked back, they stood speechless. The alicorn had been refitted with a brown fur pallet, camo pattern across the body. Her eyes were silver, a mane of etherial green flowing from her head and tail. Her wings were tipped with polished metel, and a set of metel claws sat on her front hooves. Her eyes glowed pink again, and she smiled at their stunend faces.
     “Now you've really done it sparkle. We had plans to work with, things we had needed to do. And now you've completely ruined them. No matter however, as the big finale will soon break you even more.” With that, she used her magic to make a large explosion, shattering the windows and breaking off the ceiling of the castle. She flew off, with Celestia and Luna close behind as she flew to cloudsdale. Twilight took a second and paused, wondering what she could mean, before flying off after them.

     The tinkerer felt the blast from the other side of canterlot, his temper flared and he smashed his hooves against the console. The workers nearby reeled at the outburst, before watching him walk out of the room. Keros walked beside him as he made his way to the door.
     “What are you doing sir? We have the monitors to show the display, why are…”
     “I need to see this myself. Fangorn will be meeting us here soon and we need to move.” He continued out to the balcony with keros close behind.
> Ch. 7 burning hearts and freezing rainbows
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 7


     The night sky shown over the peaceful cloud city. Pegasi slept in their homes and on clouds, the rainbow falls rolling to the ground below. In the silence, beams of magic fired between the clouds, breaking the silence with the sound of combat.
     Flame flew through the city, weaving through the clouds and avoiding the onslaught of beams. Celestia and Luna flew close, trying to blast the alicron away. Twilight meanwhile, flew behind them, observing the city she flew through and trying to see for any tricks or traps. They soon flew to the highest spire of the city, the princess's forming a triangle around flame.
    “enough of these foolish games and riddles. We have you surrounded, now tell us what you’re doing and why?” Luna angrily shook her hoof at the mare, who simply grunted and looked away. Twilight continued to look around, trying to see what was different about the city.
    “what I'm doing is trying to make up for the loss of the plan. Things would have gone smoothly if twilight hadn't stepped out of line.” Flame pointed to her as she spoke, twilight snapping out of her daze and pointing back.
    “What do you expect me to do when my friends are being killed under my nose, and getting letters about them with bloody gifts?”
    “We had hoped to keep you busy till we finished with the pegasi, then find your magic potential without the reliance of your friends.” Twilights mouth dropped at what she heard, replaced with a deathly glare.
    “You are killing ponies for a experiment?!” Flame nodded, then gestured out to the other two princesses.
    “and as you can see, you messed things up. But, I managed to get a new plan that still works with the current goals of the plan. Now behold, the power of UNHINDERED MAGIC!!” With that, her horn gave off a dark green glow, then beamed up and around the area.
    The three alicorns stood on a cloud, watching as the beams of light circled around the city. Twilight shivered a bit from the cool touch of the cloud. The city was soon surrounded like a snow globe, and with a flash of light, disappeared from the sky. The rainbow falls soon became a silent moat, the ponies below looking confused and shocked at what the truth was.

   The tinkerer sat on the train, it's moving wheels and rocking the only sound in the small car he was in. Otaku was sitting in the seats next to him, lightly rubbing the mane of buttercup. She laid on his lap, sleeping as the train continued on the track. A buzzing sound caught the tinkerers attention, and he walked into the car next to them. He then picked up the transmission, recognizing fangorns voice on the line.
   “Sir, what happened? I was flying to canterlot and a large flash of light came from around their. When I got closer, it seemed cloudsdale had been completely wiped off the map.”
   “Yes, that's apart of the new plan. You'll need to fly to Manehattan for the new rondevu point.”
   “Are you telling me that flame managaed to teleport ALL of cloudsdale to the city? Sir, if the original plan can still take effect…”
   “It'll be a test of the bonds with the sisters and young twilight. Sure it'll have alot of casualties, but the data will make up for the original plans failure.” Their was a bit of silence before fangorn replied.
   “You're lucky this plan of yours ends the way you've planned it. The sins we've committed would be worse then Tartarus would accept.” the tinkerer nodded, then waited for him to continue.
   “Have you told the others the ends of your plan?”
   “i’ve told keros what she needed to know for when we finish, but I haven't told the others.” He looked through the small window on the train to the other cabin. Keros walked from the front of the train and gestured for buttercup. The unicorn woke up and walked to the front of the train, taking her place in otakus lap.
   “They have enough of a burden on their hearts, the last thing I need is to put more pressure on them.”
   “they'll find out about it one way or another, and with this sudden change…” fangorn trailed off from the statement, then continued on, a bit more sombre. “I'll meet you at the remains of the city, be careful about the approach.” Their was a click as fangorn turned off his speaker. The tinkerer tucked away his device and walked back into the other room.
   “So this is it huh? The last push to finally achieve your goal. It's hard to believe I've made it with you this far.” Otaku continued to stroke the changelings mane, a half smile on his face as he spoke. The tinkerer nodded, giving his own smile back.
  “Have you finally made a commitment to keros yet? This'll most likely be the last time any formal gifts can be given.” Otaku squinted, then blushed as he got what was meant.
  “Sir, I don't have anything I could possibly use for that. And it's not like I care enough about her to make such a commitment, especially with us working for you and…” he stopped when the tinkerer placed a hoof on his shoulder. His bronze magic took a small box out of his vest pocket. He placed it in otakus hoof before backing away, heading to the front of the train.
  “I made that for you and keros. It's not quite a diamond engagement ring, but it's more practical, and can remind you of me if I'm not around.”
  “Sir, I don't know what to say.”
  “How about 'will you marry me keros?’” with that, he stepped into the main car of the train. Buttercup looked out over the window of the train, making sure nothing blocks the rails. She jumped when the tinkerer lightly brushed her tail with his magic, then turned to face him.
  “Ohh, tinkerer, what are you doing here? I was expecting you to relax in the train car till we got to Manehattan.”
  “Just wanted to give a heads up. The train needs to slow down before we get there. The city may not be standing when we get close and I don't want the train to get stuck.” she nodded, making adjustments to the train speed before heading back to the window. It took a few moments for her to realize he hadn't left, and turned to face him.
  “Sir? Is their something else?”
  “What are you going to do when I finish this?” Buttercup hid her shock before turning back completely.
  “What do you mean sir? When this is over I'll just go back to cleaning like I have been. Unless you'd rather me do something else?”
  “Tell me your dream buttercup, your aspiration. If things play out successfully, I won't have need for you anymore. What would you do?” Worry flashed on her face, which she  masked again. One of her forelegs shuffled as she spoke.
  “It's hard to have dreams when I work for you sir. You give so many benefits, have unique tasks, what more could someone like me ask for?”
  “Your cutie mark may have something to say. Don't lie to my face buttercup.” His broze aura pulled a small piece of paper out of a coat pocket, which unfolded into a small alicorn, colored like twilight sparkle. She picked up the small figure and folded it back down, placing it into her uniform.
  “Sir, it's nothing I promise you. I plan to work for you for as long as you need me. It's not a achievable dream anyway.” the tinkerer lightly moved his hoof, making buttercup look him in the eyes.
   “i’ve raised you from the streets and gave you a life. But now that life will end soon, and it's time to take your blindfold off. Talk, and I can help you.” Her face lightened up a bit, and she took a small paper out of one of her pockets, handing it to the tinkerer. Unfolding it, he looked over the poster and gave a smile.
  “Shadow puppet theater, the tales of Equestria. It certainly has a nice flare to it.” The poster was fairly basic, the shadows of the three pony types with text on the top and bottom. It had been hoof made, only slightly smudged from it's rolled up status. He handed the paper back and grabbed a paper from his own coat, handing it to her.
  “This is a dream I can support, and you'll need to pursue it once this mission is through. This should help you get off the ground.” She opened the slip, a series of numbers on it. She gave a confused look, making him smile.
  “It's my personal bank account. I've been saving cash for an occasion like this. Use it as you please, it won't effect keros or their work.”
  “Sir… I can't accept this. What's with this anyway? You've never been open or giving like this before. You also never mentioned my interests or my cutie mark. What's wrong.” He looked back through the window of the cabin, keros was hugging otaku, a ring on one of her forelegs as they embraced. He smiled and nodded.
  “i guess time is finally catching up to me, and I want to make sure you all have a life after me. Especially with how I've broken the worlds harmony.” With that, he walked back into the train car, leaving buttercup to her thoughts.

  The city of Manehattan glowed in the early morning, the lights of the city gleamed to the moon above. A few ponies roamed the lonely streets, each to his or her own agendas. A cool wind blew through the roads as the dorment city lied.
  For the few who were awake, the sight was truly horrific to see. Light suddenly flashed above the city, a swirling set of wisps gleamed and reflected the light across the city. Then another flash occurred, and above the city floated the entirety of cloudsdale. One unfortunate pony found out the hard way by being swept up by the rainbow waterfall, it's stream flowing and becoming dulled from the grime and chemicals of the city.
  Then, an echo of a voice sounded from above, it's voice barely undefined by the distance. The few awake stared up at the strange sight, trying to register the words being said. A pause, then a series of blasts rang out like shattering icicles and compressed blasts of air, then the city began to fall.

  Twilight shook her head, her eyes unfocused from the massive teleport. Celestia and Luna also rubbed their heads, trying to see what happened. They managed to clear enough to see flame standing on a point nearby, a wicked smile on her face. 
  “I hope you have more endurance then me. After that I can't stay to watch the fun. But I'll be sure to watch from a safe distance. Good luck.” She flew into the air, brandishing a small button. She shouted out to no one in particular.
 “Today will be remembered as the day the clouds fall. Time to see if the love for the masses, and bonds of student and sister, can overturn this power. I will live again!” With that, she pressed it, and flew off and away from the city.
  The three princesses looked around, blasts of air echoing around them. They flew off the cloud they were on, just as it burst open and froze into a jagged rock. Celestia quickly dived down to the city, Luna and twilight following close behind. They hovered just above the city, Celestia lighting her horn.
  “We have to make a barrier to protect the city. Spread out and ready the spell.” Luna and twilight nodded, adrenaline and instinct making movement faster. The three horns fired beams, weaving and linking into a tightly woven net. They each stood on tall buildings, using the structures to support them.
  The debre hit hard and fast, piling higher and higher as it struck the net. The weaves made small pieces of debre fall through, ponies and parts of structures falling through. Twilight turned away with tears in her eyes as a particular pegasus with a rainbow mane, frozen in ice and sleeping with a smile, crashed into the roof of a building she was near.
  Ice and snow continued to pile onto the magic barrier, straining each of the princesses as they held the net together. As the last bits of the city hit the net, a stray block of ice bounced off the barrier and struck Luna on the back. The force made her magic falter, causing snow to fall on her head and knock her down to the city below.
  On reflex, Celestia flew to try and help Luna, herself being knocked unconscious from a falling pegasus. Twilight, no longer able to support the mass, flew down to the city hooked on the falling ice. Her screams were drowned by the crashing and blasts of the buildings as the city fell.

  The early morning came once again to the world of Equestria. The farmers and early birds came out to greet the day. As they did, the ground suddenly shook beneath them, a quake which shook the very foundation of the land. Those who turned to the city of canterlot saw a ploom of fire stretch into the sky, the colors of the rainbow burned bright with the reflection of the sun through it, turning the land a multi colored landscape. None knew yet of the tragedy that befell till much later.

  The tinkerer grabbed the edge of the seat, otaku and keros also gripping their chairs as the large quake hit. Buttercup tumbled into the car, slamming the door and bracing it with her hooves. Keros spat slime onto the windows, only barely holding back the torrent of water and dust that blasted through the track.
  It took several long minutes before the train settled back and silence returned. The tinkerer was the first to react, walking out to the front car on unsteady hooves. The tracks were covered in dulled brown sludge, the wheels and track coated in it as it laid dormant. Buttercup soon walked out and stood beside him, gagging at the sight.
 “The train will slide off the track if we try to run it. What are we going to do?”
  “Let me make some calls, then I'll get things moving. And I'd rather make them alone.” Buttercup nodded, then walked back into the other car. He pulled the small radio from his jacket and make a few clicks, eventually getting through to fangorn.
  “Are you alright my friend? We just felt the shockwave at the train and I wasn't sure how you delt with it.”
  “While I can say I'm ok, my psyche on the other hoof has been hurt by the plume of colored flames rising to the sky. I thought rainbooms were strange, but what I'm seeing now is a real horrific ordeal.”
  “Just be glad we can still talk. I still hope to meet you at the remains of the city. Just stay a safe distance, I doubt it'll be easy to navigate.” With a click, he tuned the radio to flame. The only response was static, making him hang up the device. Buttercup came back to see what he wanted.
  “Did you manage to find a solution?” 
  “Yes. Start the magic flames, I'll be needing only a little time.” He walked to the front of the train, gripping the railings of the cattle guard. He began to channel magic, his eyes glowing as his bronze aura spread around him.
  “mysticum alas, purgare viam nostram.” a pair of ethereal wings bloomed on the tinkerers body, which blasted away the sludge with a flap. Buttercup started the engine again, and the train moved on the tracks, wave after wave of sludge being wiped away by the magic of his wings. The train continued to the city, slowly heading to whatever lay there.

  Celestia awakend, rubbing her temple as she tried to get her bearings. Her eyes were covered in dust, and she fumbled to find something to clean her eyes with. Her hoof eventually splashed into water, and she began washing her face in the warm liquid. When she could finally see, she reeled from the spot she was at.
  The puddle she had used was a dull red with the body of a pony in it. The light from the still early sun casted a long shadow over the wreckage of the city. She struggled to her hooves, limping in her back foreleg as she stood. Her left wing drooped to the ground, broken from the impact she felt. She began wandering through the streets, trying to find anyone alive.
  Her thoughts were answered when a alicorn landed on a beam nearby, though not who she wanted. Flame looked down at her with a gloomy expression, throwing part of Luna's armor to her.
  “Sorry Celestia, I looked for her and found her dead. I'm in no mood to hear your ideas or heroic statements either. Please follow me, twilight is still alive, and I think you'd like to talk to her before she passes.” flame began walking in a path, Celestia forced to follow since she had no other lead, unable to grieve for her sister.
  They soon came to a small clearing, where the alicorn was lying on the remains of a structure. Her head was coated in blood, and her horn was fractured all the way to the skull. She was lightly stroking a dirty rainbow mane, mumbling something to herself. Celestia limped over to her, sitting beside her. Flame simply stood to the side, waiting for them to talk.
  “Hard to imagine things could come to this, huh? Falling cities, dead friends, broken dreams. And all the while I've had hints and gifts to tell me what was happening. I failed you Celestia, and I'm sorry.” Celestia had tears in one of her eyes, and lightly embraced twilight, the blood on her head dripping onto her neck.
  “This was never something I wanted you to experience. I wanted you to help the kingdom along with your friends, not be forced into a game of death and despair. Don't be sorry, you've done all you could, and have been faithful all throughout. Rest easy, you deserve it.” Twilights hoof lightly wrapped around her neck, before falling limply back to the ground. Celestia placed her back on the ground, not bothering to wipe the tears away. Flame turned around and shook her head.
  “It's funny actually. She sent a couple of letters to you before things got too intense. My client fabricated letters from you, down to the signature and stamp of canterlot. She died believing you wanted her to settle this as a friendship problem, when in reality you were just oblivious.” Celestia turned to face her, her body quivering as the air began to heat up.
  “You took away my sister, killed hundreds of ponies, destroyed landmarks of ponyville, and broke the balance of harmony, all for the sake of a test?” The heat continued to build, the sun in the distance beginning to glow red.
  “It may have been wrong, and this wasn't meant to be the original plan, but I have spent too long suspended to not perform. At least it's all over now.” The heat began to grow more intense, the water around Celestia began to boil and evaporate.
  “I promised my family I'd bring Luna back. I promised to keep harmony in Equestria, but here we are. I'm sorry.” A fireball launched from the sun, rapidly flying towards them. Flame jumped away as it reached close to the town.
  “May the goddesses forgive me for what I'm about to do.” The fire struck Celestia, surrounding her in a flaming tornado. Flame watched as the flames swirled around, a dark laugh coming from in it. After a minute, the flames parted, leaving a new alicorn in its place.
  Celestia now stood in Golden armor, which gleamed on the sun and flames. Her wings were spread out, the feather tips glowing as if dipped in gold. The once ethereal mane and tail were now flowing flames, and her eyes glowed red and orange. Flame stared open mouthed at the sight, making Celestia laugh.
  “You will burn to a crisp, and I shall spread your ashes across the wind. Then, I will find your masters, and burn them so that no amount of magic or potions could heal the pain I inflict. The sun shall cleanse your sins!” the flames on Celestia's body burned higher and hotter, turning the dirt around her to glass. Flame looked at her, then sighed.
  “I guess I have no choice. I'm sorry tinkerer, guess our afterlife will have to wait.” Her magic aura surrounded her, giving a dark glow to contrast the flames. The two then dashed towards each other, ready for the final duel of their lives.
> Ch. 8 time spent, and time rewrote
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Ch. 8





      Years ago, during Celestia's early rule.



  Flame looked up to the buzzing sound, the changelings she had followed turning to search for love. She stopped a few distance from their stopping spot, watching through the brush.
  She signaled her troops, the small band of unicorns setting up beside her. Her camo wrappings concealed her brown fur to the bugs. Her dark blue eyes watched as they consumed the love from a family of small deers. A dark purple pegasus walked up beside her, looking out to see what was happening. Flame looked to the stallion and whispered, keeping her eyes on the changelings.
  “They should be going back to the cave now to give the love they stored for the queen. Be ready to fly off in case things go sour.” he nodded, walking back to get a better launch point. Flame motioned to her other troops, and they moved through the foliage towards the bugs. When they got just before the outing, one of the drones hissed to the air, making them stop in the brush.
  From the sky a dragon dropped onto one of the bugs, shattering it's wings and roaring at the other drone. Before it could take off, the dragon leapt onto the second one, crushing it's neck with a audible snap. The second drone tried to limp away, but was stopped by a stallion walking out of the woods and striking its face. The dragon then walked over and held down the drone.
  “Good, any new samples we can find are always a treat. Now, hold still.” The stallion took a small spike and hammer from a bag on its back, a bronze aura holding it to the changelings neck. With a quick strike, he broke the armor of the changelings, and began to put the ooze into a small canister. When it had been filled, he brought the spike to the back of it's head and killed the changeling, it's brains and blood oozing out of its eyes.
  “Just a few more samples and I can reverse engineer one of my own. Just one step towards my new life programs.” He looked where flame and her crew were hiding and motioned for them to come forward. When they didn't, he motioned to the dragon, who spat a large icicle at the trees to scatter them.
  Flame went to action, leaping out of the brush with a shield from two supporting unicorns. She fired her aura to the dragon, molding around its hands and linking chains onto it. Soon the dragon became a ball, rolling on the ground and trying to break the restraints. Her other guards walked out from the brush, approaching slowly as flame continued to hold him down.
  On closer inspection, she saw it was a fairly young dragon. He was barely taller then a regular pony, and wore a sleek stone armor, which hid his silver scales. Before she could look further, she felt her neck tighten, a cord being wrapped around her neck. 
  “forget something miss?” the Earth pony from before suddenly faded into existence, his dark blue coat a few inches from her face. The other unicorns turned in shock at their leader held down. They primed their horns, but flame shut them down with a quick motion.
  “Smart move girl. Now release my dragon and we can talk like civilized ponies.” She hesitated, but a quick pull of the cord made her magic falter, removing the cuffs from the dragon. He removed the cord and walked back to the dragon, leaving flame gasping for breath. Her second in command came to help her stand again.
  “You're clearly special units, I assume hunting changelings by your reaction to my deeds. Mind talking about it?” Flame gave him a dark expression before speaking.
  “We were tracking down the changelings to destroy the queen. But since you killed these we have no leads to the location now.” The stallion nodded, then pulled a small piece of paper out of his coat. He gave a warm smile before levitating it with a strange bronze aura.
  “The dragon and I are currently on a experiment involving changelings, so I've made a map to the various caves they've been using through the region, including the underground tunnels. I could give you the spare map we have, but I'll need a favor back.” The unit stood by patiently, looking to flame to see how she responded. Finally recovered, she walked over to the floating paper and looked him in the eyes. He gave a soft smile, his grey eyes seemingly looking past her fasade.
  “And what kind of favor would that be?”
  “Work of course. Celestia will have no need of you once you perform your job, and you'll be a bunch of trained unicorns disbanded and left to try reintegration. But I could use your skills and talents for years to come.”
  “She wouldn't. We are a valuable asset, hoof picked to defend her.”
  “Believe what you will. Meet me at the edge of canterlot, just past the rock face, and then we'll see what the truth will be.” He dropped the map on the ground, the climbed on the back of the dragon. With a leap the two glided off from the hillside and towards the town. Flame picked up the map and began to wonder about what the strange stallion meant.





Back to the present




  The train screeched to a halt outside the ruined city of Manehattan. The aura which surrounded the tinkerer faded away, leading him to roll off the cattle guard and landing on the track. Buttercup jumped off the train and ran to pick him up, placing him on her back and propping him to the side. Otaku and keros flew out of the train car, a loud gasp being heard from the other side of the train.
  “Umm, you two should come and look at this. Something isn't right here.” Keros voice came out from behind the barely standing train station, and buttercup hobbled him over to see the sight. Instead of a ruined city there layed a barren waste of sand and glass. In the center of it was a lone alicorn, sitting on a bend piece of metel with a small music box in their hooves. Otaku and keros went down into the crater to greet her, hugging and talking unintelligibly to the alicorn.
  Buttercup began to hobble the tinkerer down to the area, till a large this sounded behind them. Fangorn stood above them, his armor glowing softly in the rising sun. The tinkerer moved off of buttercup, walking to the dragon with only a small limp. Buttercup reached to stop him, but turned back to the alicorn and walked down, leaving the two alone.
  “Such a waste of life. Do you think we'll be able to work with this?” Fangorn held out a claw to help the tinkerer, supporting his body and keeping him upright. The tinkerer coughed, then nodded.
  “Harmony is always restored. The dark grows bored of itself and the light must rest to allow the dark. But I know you'll be a great asset to her once the rebuild begins.” Fangorn growled, then walked down to the edge of the crater. The tinkerer watched as the four ponies made their way up, fangorn picking them out with his tail.
  When they all got out flame walked over to where the tinkerer was, allowing him to look her over. The alicorn had lost all false body parts, leaving her a burnt husk of leather and metel. Her violet eyes shined bright within the hollow sockets of her chassie. Her left wing was broken and she had her right foreleg propped up, carrying a small music box. He gave a sad smile, and picked up the box, winding it up to play a soft Melody.
  “Hard to believe this has happened. This began so many years ago, and trapped both of us in a darkness. With everything gone now, it's time for us to end our time here.”
  “I know you wanted to apologise to Jade for getting her involved. I just hope I can make things right with our last act.” This made buttercup and otaku confused, the two giving odd looks before otaku spoke up.
  “hold on a second, are you telling me that you just plan to retire? You're immortal, and have so much potential for magic! Plus with this mess we have to clean it up.”
  “You're right, but you'll be doing it without us. This was my final idea, and it ended with such a failure. That's why flame and I will give one last act to correct our lives before passing. And we thank you for your time.”
  “Sir… w-what am I supposed to do? That's a heavy burden to put on me and…” keros held his hoof and gave him a smile. She nodded to the tinkerer, and turned back to kiss him.
  “It'll be on us. Don't worry, he planned for this while the project went out. Just follow what I say and we can rebuild Equestria like never before. Do you trust me?” Otaku opened his mouth to argue, but closed it and nodded. Buttercup stepped forward with a tear in her eye.
  “it’s a shame it had to come to this sir. I've enjoyed the time we've been together, but I guess finding my own work was inevitable. Thank you for the service, and I'll make you proud of me.” The tinkerer gave a nod, and buttercup backed to where the others were. Fangorn lifted up the tinkerer and placed him on his back before flying off. Keros used her magic to repair flame as best she could, rebuilding the wing and leg enough to make it work. She then walked a short distance away and began a spell, a magic mark appearing on the ground.
  “tunc sibimet manus, sic ego potest figere peccata mea.” the sound of a church bell rang in the air, and the alicorn disappeared. Keros put her hoof around otaku and walked back to the train, buttercup giving one last look to the crator before following.

  Flame regained herself as she stood over the sleeping city, many years before the scheme they had performed had been done. Taking a cloak from within her chassie, she went to the dimly lit streets to find who she was looking for. The wind blew through the walkways, a nice change of scenery from the grime sight of her future.
  The hospital layed silent before her, and flame made her way to the front desk. A unicorn mare was lazily typing on the computer when she noticed her entry. She gave a tired expression before leaning over the counter.
  “Welcome to the Manehattan hospital, do you have an emergency?”
  “I'm looking for a certain filly, dark green coat, named Jade I believe. Is she in the nursery?”
  “Give me a moment to see if I can find one.” She began lazily typing on the computer, squinting at the computer after a few minutes.
  “That's odd, we have a pony of that description that was born only a few days ago. The mother died and the father never showed up, so how did you know about it?”
  “An old friend of mine told me. Now I think you should rest.” Flames eyes glowed, and the unicorn fell into a deep sleep. She grabbed the keys out of the counter and made her way down the halls. She soon found the nursery, and used the key to enter the small room. The various foals sat sleeping in their cribs, and flame played the music box she had to be sure that stayed.
  As she made her way through the foals, she froze when a sudden tugging happened on her cloak. Turning around, she found a grey Earth pony mouthing on the end of it. Flame tried to shake the foal off, but it held on tight. Frustrated, she lifted her wing to shake the foal off. But the filly held on, and flame had to place the foal in a different crib to make it let go. She then continued on, unaware she had placed it in the crib of a white unicorn with electric blue hair.
  Flame then found the filly she was looking for, and cradled it in her wings before turning to the door. As she closed it, an alarm blared in the narrow halls. Looking around, she saw one of the nurses pulling an alarm, and made a rush to get to the door. The filly stayed silent from the music box, but it prevented her from flying out. Instead, she bucked down the locked door and fled out of the city, intent on getting the filly to ponyville.

  Fangorn and tinkerer stood before the tree of harmony. Though it looked less majestic then before, the colors of the elements drained and the crystal only faintly glowed. The tinkerer nodded, and the dragon pulled out his sword, striking the tree and cracking the crystal.
  Blow after blow was struck, each one sending cracks farther up the tree. A final swing shattered the remaining tree, felling the jewel and breaking the tree to pieces. The elements of harmony remained, still uncolored from the respected owners death. The two grabbed the elements and placed them into a bag which they had. The tinkerer jumped back onto fangorns back and they flew out of the cave, flying to ponyville.
  “Do you think the princess will listen to me? I doubt she would allow a dragon to enter and speak, especially with the news I have.”
  “One way or another she will hear it. I see it better to hear from a eye witness then a mere commoner. trust me my friend, this place will thrive again, and you will be apart of history.”

  Flame flew through the night, cradling the foal in one of her forelegs. She had evaded the city and flew to get it to safety. Arriving in ponyville, she landed near a small home which the tinkerer had instructed. She laid the foal at the door, placing the small music box she had in her chassie in their lap. She then knocked on the door before heading into the shadows.
  A stallion wearing a apron walked out of the door, looking around till he found the foal. He picked up the small note attached to them, and with a growl brought them inside. Flame smiled, and walked out of the city, prepping her time spell. 

  Fangorn landed on a hill outside of ponyville, sitting silent before them. The tinkerer jumped off and walked to the edge of it, overlooking the city.
 “You sure she will come? You asked a tall order of flame, and I'm not sure about her ability.” He said nothing, and fangorn simply sighed. He turned to fly off, but the tinkerer stopped him with a bit of magic.
  “Before you go, i need you to do me a favor. Remove your blindfold, so I can see your eyes again.” The dragon hesitated, then removed the blindfold from his eyes. He then popped the contacts from his eyes, reveling the glowing rainbow he had for pupils. The tinkerer smiled, then turned back to the town.
  “You wont be needing that guise anymore. I used it for all your time to give you an edge. You no longer need it, or me. Good luck with my final request, and thank you for being my friend.” the dragon nodded, and flew off, leaving him alone. A minute passed, before the sound of a church bell rang behind him. He turned and smiled, flame regaining herself from the time spell. She walked over to where he layed and wrapped a hoof around him.
  “I'm guessing the deed is done?”
  “Yeah, I'm sure when ponyville begins rebuilding she'll play into it. Perhaps even fangorn can give her something to do.”
  “It will still be a better fate then what we did. Ready to go?” The alicorn nodded, and fully embraced him, a click sounding in her chassie. A silent minute passed, neither saying a word or looking away. A loud blast came from within her, tearing the two to pieces and leaving nothing but a smoke pile to show they had been their. A small green foal walked out of her home to see what had happened.

  Fangorn landed on the paved crystal roads, his claws cracking the material slightly from the impact. He made for the castle, ignoring the panicked screams of the nearby ponies. The dragon was blocked at the entrence by two crystal guards, their spears facing to his neck.
  “Halt dragon, what business do you have here in the crystal empire?”
  “I have matters involving Equestrias balence, make way so I can speak to cadenza, least I break you into pieces.”
  “What matters could you possibly have to need the princess so urgently?” Fangorn reached into the bag he was holding and held out the dull element from the tree. The two guards gave worried glances, and parted for him to pass.
  “You should limit access to the castle now. The news I have will crush the queen in more ways than one.” Fangorn walked into the castle, leaving the guards to wonder what he meant.
> Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Epilogue





Ten years later



  Fillies and colts sat in a small dark room, chatting to themselves about the upcoming presentation. A dragon sat in the back of the room, a stand out from the others. A magical light shined on the wall, and the room grew silent, as sillouettes moved on the glowing background.
  Let me tell you a story. One not so long ago, but as strange and mysterious as legends of old. It all begins in a town off to the deserts of Equestria.
   In that town was a Colt, one who had a mind for tools and moving machines. He lived his life in a clock tower, where he dreamed of ideas no normal foal would ever see. This lead to the Colt moving away from his home to the regal land in the mountains.
   He grew up in solitude, mares and stallions being brought into his home in the mountain to serve him silently. And in his time, during a certain idea with the bug ponies, he encountered a mare. This mare was lead by the sun to deal with the bug horses, and the stallion offered them the chance to work with him, and perform as they pleased for him.
   The mare, seeing this as a way to live happily, brought her and her team to work with him. In secret, they crafted ideas and observed the world of ponies. As they watched a set of ponies, weilding artifacts of magic, began to work around the land healing and reforming evil with friendship.
   This made the stallion curious, and he devoted the work to a alicorn, not of flesh and heart, but of metal and leather. Because of this, he needed a soul of love to power the alicorn. And the mare, with her team, gave themselves for this cause. But it didn't go as planned, for them alone could not power the beast, and so they laid inside dorment and unmoving.
   The stallion, grieved by this setback, worked day and night to be bring the mare back. He went as far as to use cursed magic to extend his youth. From this he gather souls till at last he awoke the metel alicorn, though not as he wanted.
   The alicorn was giving a task, to see the elements of harmony and provoke them, then fight using her magic against their inherit love and friendship. Each pony fell, the violence to the world growing more and more as the stallion became eager for his mission.
   What he didn't count on, was the element of magic, who warned the princess's of his coming doom. They battle from the castle in the mountain to the glowing city, the protection of the ponies versus the magic force of the machine. In a desperate rage, the mechanical alicorn gave one last display of magic, and brought the city in the sky down apon them, killing them all.
   The stallion soon followed, too grieved at the loss of his girl, leaving nothing behind but the ruined remains of the city. Yet in the loss, a group of ponies found his lab, and decided to use it to rebuild the world.
   They build the city you know as eclipsed sparkle over the remains of the once thriving town. And with help from the crystal empire, the ground work for a more advanced lifestyle for ponies soon followed. But where that story leads next, is up to you.

  The colts and fillies filed out of the small theater, talking to themselves about what they saw. Fangorn squeezed out of the narrow opening and smiled at the story. A orange mained unicorn, with a silver stripped mane and tail walked over to meet him. Fangorn patted her on the shoulder and nodded to the theater.
  “Seems ponies are more accepting of your shadow puppets then you thought.” Buttercup turned her head away and wiped a imaginary speck off her shoulder.
  “It took you long enough to come and see it. I know you're busy with the delivery service, but you could have made time to see it sooner.”
  “Things happen, but don't be so down about it. Your success has made others pop up to imitate your style, with less skillfully made puppets of course.” She gave him a sad smile, then turned to head back inside. Fangorn pulled his hand back, and instead walked down the road.
  Rainbow scale lake, made from the remains of rainbow falls, laid out before the dragon. He weaved around the ponies and other creatures as he walked to the cloak tower in the middle of the lake. On the way, he spotted a cloaked unicorn, holding a small gem in her magic and the walking about. With a smile, he made for one of the allys where she was walking and waited.
  Fangorn reached his claws out, grabbing the mare by the mouth and holding her under his arm. The mare struggled, her horn sparking from her panic, till she finally noticed who was holding her. With a sigh, she waited for him to place her back on the ground.
  “You should try and make a better disguise then just an older version of yourself.” Fangorn chuckled, releasing his grip and making her fall to the ground. “I recognized you the moment I saw the mane.”
  “I'm still new to this ok? I at least got the adult form worked out, give some credit for that.” The mare dissolved into a alicorn filly, her pink swirled hair flowed down to her shoulder. She had a crystal saddlebag, along with a dagger strapped to her chest. Fangorn chuckled again and ruffled her mane with his claw.
  “I won't deny that. The last time we met you were bodyless necks and legless color swaps. Guess your time in saddle Arabia did more then give you a tanned skull.” Flurry scoffed, then pulled out a map from her bag. 
  “so you know, you were right about the element of laughter being their. The gem reacted when I got close to the ice cream tornado. I wasn't able to talk to the chaos spawn though, and she ran off before I could do anything.”
  “She seems like one that'll take time. So what brings you to this town in particular? I imagine it's not to recruit me for help again.” Flurry placed the map back into her bag and tapped her saddlebag.
  “Stocking up for a trip. I think the element of loyalty is somewhere in Las pegasus, and I want to find out if my hunch is right.” Fangorn nodded, then bent down to look her in the eyes.
  “If you ever need a rest, you know where my home is. Take care of yourself, this burden is something no pony should have to bare like you have.” She nodded, then lit her horn up. The disguise she had before appeared again, and she walked out of the ally without a word. Fangorn nodded, then flew out to the cloak tower.

  The interior of the cloak tower was abuze with sound. Clicking gears and moving parts gave the air a metallic life. As fangorn walked into the building, a stallion hanging from a platform turned in annoyance to see him. His coat was a rusted brown, specked with oil and grease stains. One of his eyes was a dark blue while the other was a milky blue. He began lowering down to the floor, jumping off before spitting into a jar.
  “Well look who it is, the mail dragon coming to bother me and my daughter at work. Here to pick up your order?” His voice almost sounded as metallic as the brass around him, almost shouting to be heard over it. Fangorn had noticed a new metal teeth in his mouth, but looked up at the clock interior.
  “Yes, I imagine she's finished it to my liking?”
  “More then that. Honestly I've had to pry her away from the stupid box just to get her to work on the tower. Hang on, I'll fetch her for ya.” The stallion went to the wall nearby and pulled on a rope, a whistle breaching the mechanical rhythm. Fangorn watched and smiled as a dark green unicorn jumped and floated on the various gears and belts. She lightly landed on the floor, the stench of grease in her mane and tail.
  “Ohh, hi Mr. Dragon. I'm glad to see you here again. I've got your box right here.”
  “Jade gearworks, how many times have I told you to use the elevator and stairs instead of running on the cloak itself?”
  “Not enough, I guess.” Jade pulled a small item from in her bag and handed it to fangorn. He looked over the small music box in his hand, admiring the metel etched design and polish. He nodded to the door, and Jade walked out with him to the back of the tower. The city noise seemed like quiet compared to the cloak interior, and fangorn wound the box to hear its tune.
  “It was difficult to get the piece you requested. Though I did manage to find and work with pon3 to get the tune down. Her partner helped make sure it sounded correct as well.” Fangorn nodded, humming along to the tune it played. He them closed the box and placed it into his bag.
  “I expect you to be keeping up with your studies Missy. You may be a good tinkerer, but you hardly seem to socialize.”
  “Don't patreonize me scale boy, it's not my fault ponies don't like me. It's their lifestyle, not my habits.” Fangorn rolled his eyes, and dropped some bits into the girls bag. She nodded, then ran back into the tower. Fangorn then turned to the hills, shouldering his bags and sighing.
  “Seems once again you thought ahead. You really were one for almost every detail. I can't promise your original vision, but I hope to help achieve whatever you wanted for us.” With that, he flew off to deliver his rounds, flying off to the new sunrise.