> Stagnation is Death
>  by Firefoxino
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> [OLD]Chapter 1 The Lab     [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here I am in an hospital bed, alone, and I have what? 5,10 minutes before the cancer claim my life? Not that I can complain seems like the world doesn't like the idea of me having a family. Yep, they all died I know it's sad but with the years you learn to cope with that and... Dammit! I was telling this without introducing myself first! Ok then, hello there I'm Philip Mercer.
No, my dad is not Alex Mercer, I'm a 20 year old man with short black badly kempt hair and brown eyes, I'm 175 cm tall and I HAD a good figure until 5 months ago, and most important information of all, I'm a brony. Yep I discovered MLP thanks to a friend of mine and I immediately loved it, but that's not important, right?.

Now where was I? Oh right, I was dying yeah. Just before I started to close my eyes for the final time I felt something, and everything just became grey. Everything stopped, the nurses, doctors everyone; and then someone talked.

"Heeeeello my boy, how are you in this beautiful day?" I immediately  looked at my right and then I saw him. Discord.
 "What are you doing? Trying to imitate a goldfish?" He asked.

I just continued to stare at him then I said with "Uhh oook, so now I'm officialy dead and I'm imagining you or what?"

He laughed and answered me"Or what. No my dear boy you are not imagining me and you are certainly not dead. See, your old friendly chaotic neighbor is here to ask you something. What's the thing that all the living creature do to survive?" He asked.

"They evolve themselves, so they can survive better and better." I answered. He looked at me and then he grinned with a look of satisfaction.

"Then you won't have a problem with becoming the best at that, would you?" He said in a low voice. He snapped his paw and after that, nothingness.

DISCORD POV

It's done I did it! You can try to kill me Celestia but chaos never die. Let's see how good you are against something that not even you can predict hahahaha!

"Discord. It's time."Said an old voice with a kind  yet authoritative tone.

"yeah yeah I know big guy. I know"Good luck Philip, you are the only one that can save Equus from destruction now.

PHILIP POV

Dark, darker, yet darker, I can't see anything but I can hear...voices? No not exactly voices more like thoughts but they are not thoughts either. Strange...I'm dead? No I'm not, I don't know how I know this, I just do. I feel something new. I try to open my eyes to see and  indeed I see something, some kind of green liquid surrounds me. I can watch outside and if I wasn't paralyzed I would certainly have jumped all the way to the roof. They...They are ponies?!

WHAT?!



What the fuck, how? How can they...wait a second ponies don't walk on two legs, and don't have hands but the muzzle and the hooves are unmistakable. Discord threw me into Equestria the question is, why? And while I was asking myself all of this they noticed me.

"Professor Becker! He’s awake!" Shouted a vanilla mare with a lab coat and a brown, curly mane.

Becker? Really? I thought.

"Really?" Said another voice, this time male. Becker, I presume. "Finally. Quick, tell the princess about this and prepare test chamber number 8"

Test chamber? I feel the tank I'm inside shifting and moving and I can see they are transporting me away.

You remember how I told you that I love MLP? Forget it! On the way for the test chamber I saw horrible things.

A long line of cells filled with ponies in chains, some without fur and some with disfigured extra limbs, some with fangs too long to be useful.

I then arrived at a gruesome, revolting scene. A group of three ponies almost unrecognizable with no fur, no mane, muscles could be seen beneath their skin with big gross veins. They had clawed fingers and were festering with the blood and interior of another pony, a light grey stallion with a green mane with no clothes, this one was chained by his hands to the ceiling.

And it was alive.

The screams. God the screams were horrible. I couldn't believe it. How? What sick person could do something like that? But the worst part was that I didn't feel repulsed, yes it was horrible to see and hear but I wasn't feeling sick or disgusted.

I was feeling hungry.

"NO. nononononono. I can't feel hunger at that display I just can't, it's inhuman. What's happening to me? Why I'm not freaking out?  At last, we arrived to the test chamber and I felt the liquid drain away and found myself falling.

I landed on my back and as I try to move this time, I succeed. I try to stand, but it seems I'm a bit rusted and I fall on my face, strangely with no pain.

"Have they drugged me?" I get up and I start to analyze where I am. It's a circular room with no windows and only one door,the structure seems made of concrete while the door was made of metal, steel I presume.I was suddenly interrupted by a loud voice.

"Hello subject 000 I see you can stand, can you comprend me? Can you talk?"The voice asked .

"Yes. Yes I can, now a question for you. Where the fuck am I? What do you want from me? Why are you calling me subject 000?" I angrily asked.

"Those were three questions, but I'm a kind soul and I will respond to all of them. First, welcome to the Genetic Engineering Neverdawn Establishment or G.E.N.E for short. I'm here to test you, and you are the first living creature genetically enhanced by us to shapeshift, consume, and evolve, thus the name subject 000. Enough talking, we shall start testing now! "

"Genetically enhanced? Consume, shapeshift, and evolve seems like...like the blacklight!"

I have to try this I look at my hands and I start thinking about them becoming claws like in the game, and just like that, they do.

Suddenly the door in front of me opens up and I can see something, a pony? A red furred with a darker tone of red mane. I couldn't even think about what I was supposed to do. The pony started to run in my direction, screaming and showing me his fanged mouth. I wasn't thinking anymore I didn't know what to do, so I did the only thing my brain could come up with. I start running! But when I sprinted I didn't expect to run so fast, I barely avoided crashing against the wall.

"What are you doing 000? Kill him!"Shouted Becker.

"No! What's wrong with you? Why would I do that?" I shouted back.

"Because if you don't, he’ll kill you!".

I then noticed an error from my part, I wasn't looking to the mutant. I felt a scream from my right and I barely dodged the fist of the mutant. CRACK. His fist cracked the wall! He cracked the fucking wall!

Ok if he hit me that will hurt, they won't let me escape right? And after all he is just like the zombies on prototype he is not himself anymore and there is no other solution, besides I'm gulp hungry. Oh God.". With my claws I ran towards him and slashed him.
Right through the middle of his body, severing his lower half from his upper half. Then multiple tentacles sprouted from my body and connected with his. That was my first consume. And it was magnificent to finally satiate that hunger. Strangely I didn't receive any memory from him.

Is it because he was mutated like that? They don't have any emotions, nor desire then? Well at least I can say I didn't kill him. He was already dead. I felt a surge of power though. Had I just absorbed his strength?

Becker talked again."Wonderful, wonderful. 000 the princess will be pleased and I will be recognized for my genius hehehehehehehehe. Now then, sleep." I heard a click and the characteristic sound of gas, then blackness.

I woke up in a cell of some sort, completely covered in plates of metal. I was wearing a sort of straightjacket but my arms were free, instead I had a white colored metallic collar around my neck.

"000 the princess is here to see you. Don't try anything funny if you don't want to know what that collar does." Said a female voice that I had never heard before.

"Try something funny? I'm not an idiot. If I'm really made of blacklight now, I have to evolve before doing anything".The door opened and a tall mare with white fur and a celestial mane stepped in. Celestia.

"Hello subject 000 how are you, my most powerful weapon?"
> [OLD]Chapter 2 First innocent blood    [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I looked Celestia directly into her eyes without saying a word, I just stared at her.

"Not so talkative are we? No matter, I'm not here to listen to you, I'm here to welcome you officially into the G.E.N.E facility, I'm princess Celestia. Ruler of Equestria, Goddess of the Sun, and your master, of course." Celestia said, smiling.

"You are no master of mine, Celestia!" I replied "You will never control me, NEVER! Mark my words!" I said snarling at her.

"And there, is where you’re wrong 000" She said grinning at me. "I will break you, and you'll break my enemies in return, it's just a matter of time.” She continued, her tone became deeper and her eyes flashed with the light of sadism “And we have all the time in the world" She turned around and started to walk away before continuing to face forward, saying "After all I made you." Then she resumed walking away.

"She made me? I have to know more." I stopped her by saying. "What do you mean by that?"

Celestia answered again without facing me. "Exactly what I said, I created you 000, you started from a unicellular life form discovered in the north. We extracted the cell from the ice and cultivated it. After some time we noticed that the cellule was evolving and growing, so we fed it. We gave it D.N.A. from all the three pony tribes: earth pony, pegasus and unicorn. We thought that this way we could create a new powerful weapon. We succeeded, hehehe, goodbye 000. We will meet again." With that she walked outside the cell, the door slamming shut leaving me to think.

"So that means that I was created to kill everyone she pointed me at? I have all three types of pony D.N.A., so that means I can do magic and fly? I need to start understanding what I can do and what I can't do" I tried  again to morph my arms into claws, when a powerful electrical current zapped me. "AAAAAAAH DAMMIT THAT HURTS!" I screamed, lying on the floor in pain.

"Seems like somepony forgot what I said not two minutes ago, try again to morph and the shock will be more powerful, understood?" The voice at the intercom said in a cold tone. "Come on and get up, it’s feeding time, go near the door and take your food."

I slowly got up and walked to the door, where a little window opened at the door's base and a tray filled with... something came out."You call this food?I'll be lucky to not die eating it! " The "food" was a brown paste with some granules, and I think I saw it moving. Next to it there was a little bowl of water. "And they didn't give me a spoon. Assholes." I thought. I approached with my hand to the brown stuff when suddenly some tendrils came out of my hand and entered the culinary abomination, consuming it."Woah, ok, weird. At least I didn't have to taste it." I then tried to take the water, and the same thing happened. When I finished "eating" my food I stood up and started to analyze my room better, it seems that there is a camera in the corner of the room, the room itself is small, just 15 or so square meters, there is a bed though. I tried laying in the bed, but when I sat down the bed collapsed under my weight. "Seems like I put on some weight. No wonder Mercer in the game created craters whenever he landed. I thought.

"Hey 000 good news. You know what time is it?" Said the voice in the intercom.

"I.MUST.RESIST.I HAVE TO. I... " "It's muffin time?"I asked. "Nooo brain why? You failed me!

"What? No. It's testing time~~"She said in a sing-song voice.

The door opened and an earth pony stallion entered my cell. He wore a mask made out of some kind of hard material, military black pants and a black armor, probably bulletproof. On his torso were strapped several grenades, or whatever they use. He had no magazine with him, but he had a weapon. A metallic rifle, probably automatic, with a scope and a long barrel. Yet again no visible magazine.

"How can you fire with one of those?" I thought.

He entered, followed by another three identical stallions, only difference was the mane and tribe, two earth pony, one unicorn, and one pegasus, I will now call them Yellow, Blue, Green and Red respectively. Blue is the unicorn, Green is the pegasus and yellow the other earth pony.

"Stay still 000," Red ordered. "Chain him." He said to the others.

They brought in four steel chains and attached them to my collar. Strange enough the chain just entered the metal of the collar as if it was there from the start. Magic, I assume. They then escorted me to a test chamber, this time number 9. For the duration of the trip I didn't say anything I was thinking.

"Let's summarize. I'm now a being made of blacklight and it seems they don't know what that means. Blacklight is a virus not a cellule maybe the virus was in the cellule when they extracted it. Yeah, that’s the most reasonable theory. Celestia wants me to become her weapon. I can't believe it, I just had to be sent in the Equestria where she is a madmare, huh? What can I do now though? They’re gonna do tests on me but it seems they have taken all precautions to prevent my escape. That doesn't matter, I need to get out of here, I will act as a good inmate for now, but at the first opportunity, I'll break out. Then I’ll find out what they’re doing in here. Then, I’ll kill them all."

I just finished that thought when we arrived to the test chamber. Then they took the chains from the collar and hastily exited the room. "Hello again 000, it's good to see you again after yesterday." Becker said.

"Wait what? I slept for a full day?"

"Now let's start shall we? Hihihihihi." He said in his annoying voice.

I heard the sound of the door in front of me open and four mutants came out. I braced myself for the inevitable and quickly morphed my arms into claws, with no shock this time fortunately. I sprinted towards them and slashed at the first, severing his head. Then one of them, a mare with a gray mane and no fur, tried to punch me. I dodged it and responded with a slash of my claws, cutting off her arm. Meanwhile one of them punched me in the back and threw me against the mare without the arm. I grabbed her remaining limb and threw her against the third mutant making them both fall. While they were trying to get up I confronted the backstabber by first cutting off his right arm, then his left and finally, beheading and consuming him."Two down, two to go. I'm not even winded, this’ll be easy." I thought. I turned to where the other two were when they fell, and I saw them trying to eat each other. The mare was losing because of her missing limb, I took advantage of this, slashing both of them with a vertical slice, cutting them in half and quickly consuming them.

"Very good 000 seems like this one will never be a challenge for you and we can't allow that, can we? Let in the Hammerhead." Becker said malevolently.

"Ok, I don't like how he said that. And what is a Hammerhead?"

A powerful and deep roar above me gave me my answer. I looked up and I saw a beast hanging from the ceiling by a chain, then it fell down.

With me under it.

Fuck.

I ran away from the zone just in time for the beast to come crashing down on the floor. It was something that I never saw before a tall, bulky, bipedal, thing with no face. It had enormous arms with  muscles too big to be natural and big, four fingered hands at the ends of them. The head was big and thick  shaped like an anvil with a black oily horn on the forehead. The legs were big and probably strong enough to smash a skull with no problem. This monstrosity was four meters tall and very, very angry.

"What the hell is that thing?! Why does the universe hate me so much?!"

It threw a piece of concrete at me that I barely dodged. "Damn! You stupid beast! I angrily thought

It quickly charged me head down to try and impale me, I sidestepped it and It did something I would have never imagined one with its body size could do. It raised its head and jumped landing on the wall, and then it thrust itself against me. I couldn't dodge fast enough, and it hit me like a train. I was launched all the way against the opposite wall smashing against it and falling down face first. I moaned and got up just for seeing it charge at me again, I rolled on the ground avoiding it and used a claw to slash the ground and used the momentum to return on my feet. I sprinted towards it slashing at it in the side with my claws. It roared in pain and charged at me again. I dodged it again and it used the same strategy of before, but this time I was prepared. When it thrusted itself against me I jumped. I jumped a little bit too high though, just six meters or so heh.’Crap I forgot that now I can jump higher than before!’ Nonetheless I started to fall down, I morphed my right arm into an hand again and grabbed it on the horn trying to stay attached to it. It tried to dislodge me but my grip was strong, I then swinged myself in order to gain velocity to get on its head, and I succeeded.  After this it really tried to dismount me so I did the only logical thing to do.

"Yeehaw! GO beast! Come on, is this the best you can do?" I taunted. It tried to grab me but it's muscles were in the way so it charged a wall trying to bash me against it. Right before colliding with the wall I jumped down and it impacted against the wall and got stucked. I jumped again but this time I landed on it's back where I start to dig into it's flesh with my claws. After ten slashes, I impaled it where I thought the heart should be.

And I was right! It roared in agony before crashing down and go still, it was dead

and I consumed it.

While I was consuming it something happened, I saw my skin starting to move with tendrils on the surface, this lasted two or three seconds, after that, I could see that my skin was more thicker, and I was feeling stronger.

‘Uh so absorbing it caused me to develop a type of light armor and some extra strength, interesting. Well thanks dude!
Don't worry though, you will be avenged like all the others mutants, I will kill all of these monsters in lab coat. I swear!’ And with my oath done I faced the camera in the corner just in time to hear Becker talk again.

"Very well done subject 000, I'm proud of you! You deserve a prize, how about some nice unmutated flesh?hihihi"Said that, I heard the door open again, I immediately shift again but what I saw was not what I expected.

It She was a mare. A normal mare.

"Noooo. please, no. don't do it. please spare me. don't kill me. pleeeaase."She said between sobbing and tears.

She was a cerulean mare with crystalline blue eyes, even if they were a little mismatched,  and she had a mane with two colored strands interconnected, one deep blue and one aquamarine. I walked slowly towards her with my hands in front of me "Shhhh calm down, calm down. I won't kill you, please don't cry. Calm down please." I said, trying to calm her.

"You" *sniff* "won't kill me? H...how can I be sure y..y..you’re not lying?" She said.

"Don't worry, calm down miss. I won't hurt you, I promise. Just calm down." I said kindly. "Let's start with something simple, all right?" I proposed, sitting down in front of her. She shuddered fearfully, but didn't move. "I'm Philip Mercer, who are you?" I asked.

"My name,” *sniff * " my name is Windy. Windy Wind." She said, and continued "I..I was the local weather pony of Ponyville."

"Wait. Weather pony? But she doesn't have any...." 'gulp' "Miss Windy if you were a weather pony, where...where  are your wings?" I asked, already expecting the worst.

I hate being right.

"They..they c....they cut them off!” *sob* *sob* *sniff* She broke down and started to cry wailing in her desperation for the loss of the one thing that makes a pegasus, a pegasus.

‘No.....how....how could someone do something like that? Why? Why she was here, why did they take away her wings? It's not fair.’ I thought "Windy why are you here?" I whispered. I went to her and hugged her, she hugged me back, and started to cry even more. Her anguish and grief were destroying my heart like a hammer with a window. Hot salty tears were soaking my clothes, but I couldn't care less about them.

When she stopped crying and calmed down a little I asked her "Why are you here? Why did they cut off your wings?"

"Because of my eyes, you see they are a genetic defect. All of my family had them, even my daughter....They took my wings because they said that I was not worthy of them, because of my defect." She said, with trembling voice.

‘Those damned mercyless monsters. How could they do it?!’

"Subject 000 what are you doing?! Eat her!" Becker commanded.

I immediately stood up, my fists were clenched and my anger was incredible. I was so mad I could have killed every single one of them with only my bare hands, without even using my weapons.

"NEVER! YOU SICK FUCK, I WILL NEVER DO IT YOU MONSTER! GO BURN IN HELL!"

"Hihihihi but you see, if you don't eat her, we will be obligated to use her as a test subject for the mutation liquid." Becker replied.

"What?" I whispered, my anger drifting away like a mist. "No, no way. I...I can't, she’s innocent."

"Philip." I heard her saying. "If there are really no other ways then....then do it." she said looking at me in the eyes.

"What?! Are you crazy?! You want me to kill you? No! No I can't, you’re innocent, I can't kill you!" I retorted.

"But you have to! I don't want to become like them, please." She begged.

"I...I" I stuttered.

"Please" She pleaded.

"Are...are you sure?" I asked softly.

"Yes, just one thing, if I can ask that is." She said in a low voice.

"Anything" I answered back taking her hand in mines.

"Promise me. Promise me that when you finally get out of here, you'll watch over my daughter. Please!" She begged again.

"I'll do it. I promise you, I will take care of her. She’ll be safe. Tell me her name." I said without thinking twice.

"Derpy. Her name is Derpy Hooves. She is a loveable little filly with a gray coat and blonde mane, she....she’s my little bundle of joy. She’s a little clumsy ,you know? Ehe, *sniff*, she’s my pride and joy, my sunshine when my days are grey."

In that moment, my heart skipped a beat. This mare is the mother of Derpy? And I have to kill her?! "But.. but how could I look her in the eyes after killing you?" I asked with tears in my eyes.

"Don't worry, my friend... I... I forgive you, and she will too, she has a golden heart, you know?" She said.

"I...I’ll make this quick and painless, ok?" I said softly.

"Thank you." She barely whispered, closing her eyes. And with a strike behind her skull, she was gone.

I cried.

I cried so much for her, maybe it will never be enough. I then consumed her, I won't let them have her corpse. But this time, the memories came. And they came like a flood. I saw everything, how she played, how good she was in school. And then I saw her.

Derpy, she loved her so much.

‘Don't worry Windy, I will keep her safe. I swear!’ I thought, my focus back on those monsters and my anger returned stronger than ever.

I then shouted with all my wrath towards the ceiling.

"CAN YOU HEAR ME, BASTARD?!""

Tears streaming from my eyes.

" I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU! YOU WILL ALL BURN IN HELL, DO YOU HEAR ME?!


CELESTIA POV



I'm descending the stairs to the dungeon where Luna is right now, that monster isn't my sister anymore, she is not worthy of that title. I continued my descent with my  hoofsteps echoing in the empty staircase. The dungeon are nothing special, made out of stone they arrive right into the hearth of Canterlot mountain. But the section I need is deeper than that. I finally arrived to the lower level of Canterlot dungeon, here, behind twenty five different warding spell and chained with darksteel chains resided her.

Luna.

"Hello sister"She told me

"I'm not your sister monster! You are not a creature worthy of tha title!"I snarked back.

"When you'll stop this madness Celestia? How many ponies do you want to sacrifice for your crazy plan?"she asked.

"They are not ponies! They are errors! Errors that will have to be eliminated. There's no place for them in my utopia!"

"You are crazier than I thought then, I pity you."Luna retorted with a smug grin on her tired face.

"You don't have the right to pity me monster! How foolish I was to think that the Elements cured you. But now, now I see the truth, and I know what to do."I said back

"What are you planning to do demon?" she asked.

"Ah ah ah no spoilers. Hahahahah"I laughed maniacally before going back to the castle.

"Is there really no hope?" luna whispered.


LUNA POV


"My sister, no... she's not my sister anymore. That demon what she have in mind?  What can I do? 

And then it was like the world was hearing her, and the world sent a message.

"What is that? Is...is that a dream? But how? How can I dreamwalking? I thought this place was completely isolated."Luna saw indeed a dream the classical door was there, alone. A red and black door with tendrils on all the surface twisting and turning in a sickening fashion.

‘Gross! What's this substance? No matter I need to contact the dreamer, I need help if I want to stop Celestia!’

And I then entered the dream.


PHILIP POV

I found myself in a glass chamber, the wall and the ceiling were made of glass I never saw this place before.

"Where am I? I remember fighting with the hammerhead and then Windy. Windy...I'm so, so sorry "I saw with the corner of my eye, a movement on my right."Who's there?! Show yourself!"I then heard an ear shattering scream with the voice of...

"Windy...?" I said still wincing from the sound.

"Why did you killed me?! What have I done to you?!"Windy shrieked.

"Windy?B..but how can you be here? I....I k..killed you. I...I don't understand."

"Yes you killed me you monster! Why did you do that?!" She asked again.

"You know why."I said softly."I didn't have a choice!"I replied.

"Maybe...but you see now you CAN do something just stay still and..."She approached me

"G̶̕͡͞Į̴̸V̢̕̕͟E͏͠ ̵̸̡M̧̨E̴̡͜ ͘͠͏Ý̧O͘Ư͟҉͢R̷͜ ̢̧̕S̷͜͞O͟͏̀͟U̷̴̧̧Ĺ̸̛͢!̸̴́"She screamed in a demonic voice before jumping against me, while mutating in an horrible twisted version of herself, with predator teeth, blood red eyes with a black sclera and a hole through her chest.

"STOP, YOU WRETCHED ABOMINATION AND BEGONE, THE MISTRESS OF THE NIGHT COMMANDS YOU!"Someone yelled. And with that Windy just vanished. I turned myself to my savior to see a tall black furred mare, with an ethereal mane filled with stars that continued to move along her mane, she wore  just a plain blue dress ripped and burned on some point, her left wrist was also absent, torn away. Her  eyes were a beautiful blu with a slit pupil. I immediately recognized her.

‘Nightmare Moon?!’

"Don't be afraid my subject you are safe now."She said in a reassuring tone."I'm here because I need your help."she stated.

"What? First. Who are you? Second what do you mean?" i asked "I don't really need to have to explain how I know her."

"My name is Luna, mistress of the night and Goddess of the Moon...well, ex Goddess now. 'Sigh'.You see my sister, Celestia imprisoned me, for one thousand years on the moon because I was against her plan to subjugate all the other races of Equus that she deemed inferior. I recently returned to see that nothing changed. She tried again to convince me but I refused, she then imprisoned me in the Canterlot dungeons. I'm here because you were the only dream I could enter, before you I was completely severed from the dream wolrd."She said looking at me.

"Why are you telling me so much? I'm a stranger to you."I said.

"Yes you are, but you are also my only hope now. My sister had gone insane she wants to use the Elements, for what purpose I do not know."Luna said

"Well I myself are not to fond of her you know hehehe, oh what I'm saying, I'm fucking FURIOS with her! She threw an innocent soul to die because of her eyes, CUTTING BOTH OF HER WINGS!" I shouted, panting I then neared her and she stepped back.

"You want my help? Very well I'll help you, the name is Philip Mercer your highness and remember my words I will kill her! I don't care if she is your sister, she did too much." I said calming down a bit. I was still angry but not as before.

Luna replied"Was her the nightmare I drove away? What happened?"

"She captured her, cutted her wings and then throw her at me to eat her. I didn't want to but if I didn't they would have turned her into a monster. And you know what her sins were? Her eyes! Because they were mismatched, she deemed her unworthy of having wings! Leaving a filly with no mother nor father! That's what happened, Luna!" I watched her eyes watering while I was telling my story but she quickly dry them out, and replaced the tear with a look of determination.

"I can't believe it, she wasn't so obsessed back then. What happened to her to become such a monster? Listen Philip, even if I don't like it, I know what we have to do. We must stop her, with any means necessary"She then continued "Listen you must..." Before she could finish the entire room trembled.

"What's happening?"I asked to Luna.

"No time to explain you are waking up you must go, you have to get out of where you are as quick as possible, now go we will talk again!" She shouted before vanishing and then the room broke.


IN THE REAL WORLD

I opened my eyes and I was again in my cell. I looked around and found another tray of food,but I wasn't hungry. Suddenly without even thinking about it I could feel myself mutate my bone and guts. Again strangely, no pain.

"Uh. So what? Now I'm made of..."I checked out trying to feel my cells."Yep I'm now completely made of biomatter so now I can...wait a second. The collar! It didn't do anything! Maybe, it can't sense if I'm mutating under my skin? This... is incredibly useful to know. I can use it at my advantage. But I have to wait, if the collar has not been constructed to recognize it, it means that they don't expected it to happen. I can't let them find this out, I need to play my cards just right" I  finished my inner dialogue and I heard the door behind me open again. It was Red that opened the door, immediately Blue Yellow and Green stormed in with the chains. Again. They attached them to my collar and tried to move me. But failed. They tried again.

And failed again."Move 000 you are awaited for your health check. Now move!" He yelled.

‘Interesting, I'm now so heavy they can't move me with brute force anymore.’ I started walking with them."Yeah, yeah I heard you no need to yell"

They took me into a gym with several machine, I could recognize some, such as a treadmill and some weight. Other were completely new to me.

"Alright guys you can go now" The scientist said, the same vanilla and brown mare I saw first when I woke up.

"Hello 000 I'm doctor Hearth and I'm here to test your physical attributes. Now please go on the treadmill and don't try anything" She said in kynd voice.

‘Maybe not all of them are crazy mad scientists, maybe there is still ho.. ’

"But if you really want to, then scream for me! do you want to? hahahahaha" She maniacally laughed.

‘Nope, scratch that, they're all insane.’ I stepped on the treadmill and it creaked under my weight, Hearth just hummed and wrote something on her notebook.

"First test."She said "Endurance, begin!"

I ran for about three hours before they stopped the experiment, I wasn't tired at all thanks to the virus.

"Incredible results, I'm astonished!"Then she walked towards the weight."Second test strength test,begin!"

This time I didn't use all of my strength to lift the weight, I stopped to 140 kilograms before giving up. They will think I'm not so strong and will lower their guards.

"Good results, in the norm. Now we will measure your weight. Step on the scale."

I did as instructed. The scale started to go down, and down, and down, until...

"SIX HUNDRED KILOGRAMS?! How can you weight so much?" She asked

"Hey I'm not fat, I have big bones."I replied in false indignation.

She gave me the stink eye and walked away to another machine.

"For the final test of the day we will measure your thaumic level."She explained.

‘What the heck is a Thaumic level? Some kind of magical value or something?’ I pondered.

Nonetheless I approached the machine, it was a chair with a metallic helmet. Frome it's surface various multi colored wire sprouted out and entered another machine, this one similar to a computer of the 90's. They place the helmet on my idea and the machine hummed to life. I felt a tingling sensation across my whole body but nothing more.

"So doctor, what's the verdict? Am I pregnant?"I casually told her.

"W..w..what?! What are you..It's impossible  uh,ah,uuuh"She stuttered. She was completely without words.

"Hahahahaha oh my God I can't believe you! hahahaha. You actually believed me? HahahaAAAAAAAH" The bitch shocked me!

"You will learn proper respect you beast!" She hissed. "Now, let's see your values. Three hundred thaums? That's... pretty low, an average unicorn have at least one thousand thaums. Disappointing 000" she said frowning

"Well seems like I won't go to Hogwarts, shame." I thought.

"We have finished for today. Escort him to his cell." She commanded the guards and they obeyed her."Sure thing doc." Said Red.

When we were halfway from my cell, the radio of Red came to life, with orders it seem. I saw him positionate the radio to his ears away from me. But I could hear it anyway.

"Corporal here is Horseshoes take subject 000 to the test chamber number 0 ASAP." The voice said.

"Yes sir,over." He motioned to the others."Come on, change of plans we are going to the test chamber 0."The orders nodded in acknowledgment.

After three minutes of walking. ‘How big is this place anyway?’ We arrived to the test chamber, this one was different. For starter it was completely white, made of marble with a shrine in the center. On the shrine there were six gems: a pink, red, orange, blue, purple and finally a lavender one.

‘The Elements! What are they doing here?’ I pondered.

"Well arrived 000."Said the inconfundible voice of Celestia. "These are the Elements of Harmony: Kindness, Loyalty, Honesty, Laughter, Generosity and Magic. And with your help I will make them more than simple gems, I will make them alive!" A bright light sparkled under me I tried to go away but my left arm was taken, and I couldn't move.

‘No no dammit what she's gonna do now?’ I thought worried.

"Now please stay still while I use them on you, thanks. Hahaha" Said that the Elements started to circle her and she rose up in the air, her eyes completely white.

‘Shit What do I do now? I can't move! Think THINK! ’ I shouted in my head.

An idea popped out in my mind, a crazy idea but I didn't have any other choice.

I morphed my right arm into a claw.

And cut off my left one. And suddenly, pain. Excruciating immense pain.

‘Mental note: Never cut off your arm without disabling the pain receptors! It fucking hurt!’

I was just in time because the Elements fired immediately after, coating my ex left arm in rainbow light.
A sudden explosion of light blinded me for a moment, when I regained my sight, I saw my arm glow with a rainbow light that acted like Celestia's mane. I then looked at my missing left arm commanding it to regrow. After having witnessed my first limb regeneration Celestia spoke to me.

"You are still alive? No matter. Your arm will do regardless, thanks again 000, you just helped this nation to become unstoppable! HAHAHAHA! Now you can go bye bye 000."

I felt my world blur around me and before knowing what was happening I found myself in my cell.

‘What happened? Ok Celestia fired at me with the Elements, the question is, why? She said that she will make them alive,
Was she talking about the bearers? But the Elements weren't shaped with their cutie mark. Grrr I need more information!’

Father!

"Huh?" Who talked?

Father!

‘Again?! Am I going insane? I hear voices too now?’ I thought

"Can you hear me father?" A little girl's voice asked.

“Who are you?!” I half whispered half shouted.

"I don't have a name yet father, I'm your daughter however."The voice replied.

"How can I have a daughter?" I asked

"I was born not more than twenty minutes ago, father, you see, when the Elements hit your arm your cells absorbed the energy of the Elements. And now it's creating the ovul for the birth of the bearers, and because it used your cells, this makes you our..."

"Father” I interrupted.

"Yes. I'm just sorry you will never talk to me again." The voice said

"What?! Why?”I asked.

"You see father, I shouldn't be able to know how to talk. I'm using the information I could extract from your arm , but my time is short now. I will regress back in my zygote form and I will forget ever talking to you.”

“No wait, there have to be a way to save you!” I shouted.

"No father. There's not but don't worry, I'm not going to die after all. Just come, come and take us home, please. Ok?"She weakly said.

"Yes sweetie I promise, I'll get out of here and you'll come with me. We will build a home, we will laugh and play and..." I whispered.

"Thank you father....Thank you......."She said before vanishing.

’I will find you sweetie. My family in my old world, is now  lost. But I REFUSE to lose this one too! Wait for me. Daddy is coming! And he will destroy everything that will DARE to stop him!’
> [OLD]Chapter 3 The escape [UNEDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A whole week has passed from the day when one of my daughter, I can't believe how weird it feels saing this, not the wrong way of weird you know? The good way of weird. Weird.

Anyway I was saying, a whole week has passed and a lot of thing happened.

First of all the very next day of my exposure to the Elements, Becker condamned one of his man to death. Throwing him at me into a test chamber. The accusation were of favouritism towards the 'errors', as they call the ponies with genetic defects. He was a middle age stallion with a charcoal coat and a blue mane with some hint of white at the base of the skull, he wore a blue lab coat without gloves, his cutie mark, they have it on their backhands it seems. Anyway his cutie mark was a biological hazard sign next to a petri dish. I killed him, obviously, with an hint of guilt too, before searching inside his memories and found out that the only motivation he had, was to use the 'errors' as sex slave. Strangely that guilt faded away almost instantly. But the good news is that he was a virologist, a good one too. With his memories and knowledge I started to experiment with the virus. I started with a minor modification that infect the host and paralyze it's nervous system. I tried it on a mutant and it worked perfectly. After some more experimenting I found out I could alter almost everything about the virus and practically make it do anything I want it to do.

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Second day was another day of physical examination. This time I really thought to be fucked, because they wanted to use a X-ray machine on me. With me having no bone I was sweating bullets, even if I can't sweat. Outside I was calm, but inside I was screaming to my cells to recreate my skeleton. Fortunately I made it in time and no one suspected anything. After that I just turned my new skeleton into biomass. Let me tell you this, that stuff is incredible, it can do the work of both skeleton and muscles, one word: awesome! 

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Third day was mostly uneventful, some fight with some mutants, an Hammerhead... and a fucking lighting-throwing lizard!

I was in the test room 3 and I was waiting for the next monster they would toss at me to arrive, when suddenly the air became filled with static energy.I heard a mighty roar above me and looked up.  An enourmous lizard was trapped into a cage and was being downed from the ceiling. The...uhm."How do I call you now? Uhmmm aha! Idea, you will be... The Teslazard!" I thought. The lizard was at least four meters tall and ten long, it's scales were a bronze colour with a hint of gold here and there. It's mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth and it had a forked tongue, on it's head were two lightning shaped horns that glowed with an electrical color. It's eyes were tiny and the same kind as those of the dragons. The Teslazard was pushing against the bars trying to to escape while hissing at me for the whole time. After a short alarm, the bars vanished"Yeah, fuck you too magic." I thought throwing my hand into the air.

The lizard came out of the cage and looked at me, then it opened it's mouth, I could see a faint blue electric color. All my instinct were screaming at me to get the fuck out of there, I rolled away just in time to see a lighting exit it's mouth and hit the ground where I stood before.

"Ok that's bad."I thought while I was jumping around it to spot any vulnerable points and avoid it's electrical strike. "I can't afford to be hit by his electrical ray or I die, if just a weak shock can leave me agonizing on the floor, this one will surely kill me."Another blast missed me by a millimeter. "That was too close. I need to find his vulnerable point. If it have any, thats it." I went to the other side of the room to put some distance between us as I resumed my thoughts."Maybe his underbelly? It is a common one after all. Umm maybe the horns? They glow when it's going to blast after all, if I broke them will it lose its ability to launch them? Or would doing that cause it to shortcircuit itself? No matter it's my best chance after all. Let's go! " And with a plan in mind I ran toward the Teslazard. 

It readied itself to fire another blast but I jumped in the air, out of the way of the blast landing on his back, I grabbed one of his scale to remain on the lizard. Then the beast did something I didn't foresee, it shocked me."AAAAAAAAAAH NNNNGH DAMMIIIT!" I shouted in pain while I was dislodged and thrown against the wall."Fuck, it have a defensive mechanism! I can't ride it, I need to destroy it's horns quickly without landing on it. This suddenly became more difficult, Goddammit!"I angrily thought.

In my dizziness I saw at the last moment the Teslazard charging another blast to finish me off. I quickly scrambled away just in time and stood up again. "Ok fucker now I'm pissed!" I shouted. I created my claws and dashed against it, I then jumped forward and slashed at one of it's horn, only for my claw to bounce off without even scrath it.

"It's no use." Said Becker. "That specimen  was created to be extremely tough against cutting weapon, this means that you'r claw are ineffective hihihihihi. Don't worry you won't die, we just want to see the effect of high voltage on you! Hihihihihi." I started to grow worried, if my claws don't work, what can I do?

"Ok time to try something different. I started to morph my hands, adding more and more biomass rendering them more and more heavy and bulky, I then started to reinforce the knuckles with extremely compressed biomass, I created my Hammerfists. When I felt they were heavy enough, I slammed one of my new hand into the ground shattering a big part of it and leaving a modest crater, between one, and one and half meters in diameter. "Oh yeah, I did it, you are in deep shit now!  I thought smiling like a baby with a store of new toys. I jumped in the air all the way up to the ceiling, then using it as a launching platform I dived toward the Teslazard. The beast noticed me and started charging a new blast, but it was too late I slammed against it's head at terminal velocity shutting it's mouth and obliterating it's horn. Unfortunately no shortcircuit. Shame.

With it's horns gone the Teslazard wasn't capable of firing anymore blast and tried to bite me. Big mistake. I grabbed the upper part of it's mouth with one of my hand and the lower part with one of my feet.

"Sorry, bitch, but you didn't pay the electric bill!" I shouted, before slamming my other hand into it's upper mandible with all my force blowing it off. The beast screamed with a sound of metal grinding agains metal and tried to get away, but I was pinning it down with my foot still. I smashed it's lower mandible with a fist too leaving it without a mouth. Done that I jumped on it's back and shattered it's scale, and probably it's back too, then I recreate my claws  and started digging into it's flesh and eventually consuming it.

From the Teslazard I gained another boost to my skin armor and a medium resistance to electricity. Now only big shock, like the one the lizard could blast can seriously hurt me. I got a tingling sensation too but I hadn't discovered what it was. Yet.

After humiliating Becker once again I returned to my cell, the guards were obviously on edge. Maybe the scientists started to see me as a major threat now? "It dosn't matter they can't stop me anyway.. Whyle I was escorted to my cell I catched an extremly useful conversation.

"Have you heard? Princess Celestia will go out of equestria for a meeting with the griffon kingdom!" Said one

"Yeah? When?" Another replied.

"Four days from now, this monday."

"So it's friday today? Well at least now I know what day is it. And Celestia will leave monday eh? That's my chance to escape, without her here, the escape will be much simpler." 

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The next day I started to create the new two types of virus that I will need for my escape. "One for the scientists, and one for Becker. Even if I never saw him before, I'm sure I will find him, I have to! " After thinking that sentence my world became red and yellow for a moment before settling in a red tonality.

"What's happening? Then the wave of yellow returned and with it the world's colours. "Ok, so that happened and..." I turned my head so fast I think I would have broke my neck if I still had one. In my line of sight I could see a pony figure, it was far away but it glowed with a red aura so it was difficult to miss. "Who is that? I just thought I wanted to find Becker when... No way!  " I started grinning "Oh yes! I don't know how, but I unlocked the viral radar!
stll I don't know how this works but it does, so who cares? Now you can't escape me Becker~~"I started to shake in anticipation "Now you are mine!" Meanwhile the aura was fading, but it didn't matter, I had  a new power!

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Saturday was uneventful fortunately, but while I was laing on the floor preparing my viruses I fell asleep. Yeah I think I got a little bored after fifteen hours inside that cell, so I dozed off.

I was again in the glass chamber, I started to look around franatically to see if Windy was here again, I didn't found her instead I found my favourite princess.

"Your highness" I said with a bow. "You are looking worse than before." I stated walking towards her.

"Philip!" She shouted "I was so worried!" She hugged me and continued. "I felt the Elements fire again, and you weren't here the next day nor the day after, I was sick worried you know?! Now tell me immediatly what happened!" She ordered.

"Wow I never saw her so pissed. I thought.

"Of course I'm pissed you idiot! You are my only hope!" She said pointing a finger to me.

"Wait what?! You can read my mind?" I asked backing away "Don't do that please."

"You silly." She giggled "Where are we?" She asked.

"In a dream and oh.... got it"I said facepalming myself.

"Now enough chit chat, tell me what happened to you."

I told her everything that happened into this past six days. When I finished She was wearing a thoughtful look. I opened my mouth to speak but she cutted me off. "She used the Elements against you to create their living embodiment? That's not good, not good at all. You need to get out of there fast. Take your new daughters away from Canterlot, take them to the Everfree forest there you will be safe, the forest is filled with chaos magic, she can't find you there with her gene scrying spell." She explained while creating a map of Equestria." You are probably here" She indicated at  the south side of the mountain"A thousand years ago there was a safety bunker there so it's where you are probably contained. Travel south and head for the forest, there search for the tree of harmony, maybe with it's help you can grow strong enough to free me, then we will stop Celestia in a fight!" She explained.

"Nope. sorry but we can't. We are only two and Celestia has an army we can't fight her and her army at the same time we need help, and we need to play dirty."I retorted

"What do you have in mind?"she asked looking a me.

"I will start a rebellion. This ponies are under an iron fist, maybe here in Canterlot they don't care, but I bet that in the little village on the frontier the raid of the Neverdawn are a real problem. I already saw something like that, all that I need to do is to create a spark to start the fires of revolution in this country. We will attack their supply and liberate as many prisoner as possible, this will gain us the favour of the lower class. We will dethrone Celestia and bring peace again to this land. Celestia doesn't fear her subjects, but she should." 

"People shouldn't be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people, Luna."I said citing V 

"...That was....very inspiring. Alright then we will follow your plan. But when will you free me?" She asked closing the map.

"As soon as possible. Now excuse me but I have an escape to prepare see ya!" I said before waking up in my cell."Back to work then." And I resumed my work on the viruses.

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Sunday I started experimenting with my biomass's mass. I learned that I can move my mass almost everywhere but I can't compress it too much or I become a mass of tendrils. Speaking of testing I succeeded in creating a new organ, I created an eye on my hand to watch myself cause there were no mirror here. It was... strange? Yes let's go with that, being able to see yourself and your eye at the same time is, as I said, strange. I didn't change too much the only difference now was that I didn't have any impurities on my face, my hair remained the same , but my eyes... When I saw my eyes a dreadful feeling passed through my spine.

They were red, with a black sclera. Just like the ones Windy possessed in my nightmare. I didn't changed them, they will serve as a memento, and they'll scare everyone I'll pose my eyes on.

Let's return to my experimets shall we? As I was saying I discovered how to change my biomass concentration in every part of my body, and I thought of the most daring, stupid, life threthening and awesome plan I ever came up with. Seeing my precedent plans I'm confidant this will work. Now we wait tomorrow.

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"Today is the big day . " I'm waiting for the door to open.

"They will come here to take me to another test chamber." I started to move my biomass out of my head and inside my torso.

"I will wait them to come near me." My head now was composed only of sensorial nerves and some minor muscles, just to keep it on, and see.

The door clicked."And then..."

The door opened."I WILL TAKE BACK MY FREEDOM!"

The guards entered, not the same though. Oh well this changes nothing. They approached me and then with a single rapid movement, I punched my head away from my body, and with that, the collar too.

Too shocked to do anything, they just saw someone behead himself, the did nothing if not stare. I regenerated my head and punched one of them, his body exploded against the wall out of my cell, the other two were thrown against the walls by the shockwave of my hit and the door closed. 

But before smashing my way out of here, I need proper clothing. I created with biomass a leather jacket with no sleeves, a pair of leather fingerless gloves, black long jeans and a pair of red sneakers.

Creating my hammerfists I slammed the door off of it's hinges and I stepped out. My eyes  immediatly intercepted a scientist, a mare with purple mane and magenta fur, I dashed towards her and grabbed her for her neck.

"NO, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" She shouted, my ears were deaf to her pleas, no mercy for any single one of them. I transformed one of my finger into a homemade syring and injected the first virus into her. She started to cough and move to free herself. When her body stopped moving I let her down, she stood up and looked at me.

With red and black eyes. "You know what to do." I said to her while pointing away "Now go!" And with that she took off in a sprint and vanished around a corner. I activated my viral radar to pinpoint the position of my daughters.

"Uh, two level above me, I need to find an elevator I can't risk destroying the facility with them still inside." I started to run in search of an elevator, when the sirens started to sound and the intercom shouted.

"WARNING, SUBJECT 000 HAS ESCAPED FROM HIS CELL, ALL UNITS ON HIGH ALERT. CIVILIAN WILL GO TO THE SAFETY BUNKER, AND WAIT FOR THE EMERGENCY TO END. REPEAT ALL...." 

I couldn't hear anything more because a ray of blue energy passed in front of me, I looked to my right and saw one guard with a smoking rifle in his arms. He fired again and hit me in the wrist, the shot passed all the way through.

"Son of a..." I said looking at him from the hole, I dashed onwards and impaled him before he could fire again. Thanks to him I now know where the elevetor is at least. I then started running towards it. I didn't encounter any more scientists nor guards on my way to the elevator. "This isn't a good sign." I worriedly thought, I finally reached the elevator and called one, but the elevator was signaling that it was blocked. "They think this will stop me? Fools!" I smashed the elevator's doors with an hammerfist and, using my tendrils as  climbing hooks, I started to go up.

After two minutes of climbing I finally arrived. I broke the elevator's doors and stepped on the new floor. Only to find myself completely surrounded by guards. I started to panic because, if one can pierce through me with those rifles, so many of them will probably kill me. In my panicked state I didn't noticed the sparks from my right hand, until I clearly saw them. I don't know why but I had the impulse to just throw them. And I did, the lighting soared through the air an collided with one guard, then the lightning started to spread and in less than three seconds they were all dead. "Incredible... " I thought watching the sparks in my hand go away. "I need to know more about magic." I muttered. They were all fried, no memories from them it seems. Shame. I continued to go forward using my radar to search for the girls. "I'm coming."

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"HURRY; HURRY" Shouted a guard I dashed towards the metallic door of the bunker, an enourmos circular door surrounded by concrete. The guards were letting the scientists enter the bunker. I managed to enter at the last second, just before the bunker's door closed.

"Time to do my work" I thought while walking to the center of the large chamber. A big structure spoiled and with only some beds and canned food and water. I reached the center of the chamber and started to do as I was ordered.

"I was created to go in the centre of the room, then start to create as much biomatter as possible before detoning. And I will do it!" I starte with the operations, when I was completly full

I exploded. BOOM!

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The infected exploded and a sickening sound of teared flesh, broken bones and screams filled the air.

"AAAAAAH MY LEGS! MY LEGS!" "I CAN'T SEE! I'M BLIND SOMEPONY HELPS ME!" "WHAT HAPPENED?" Chaos broke loose.

"WAIT! WHAT IS THIS RED MIST? WHAT AAAAAAH" Screamed one when a scientist next to him started to bite him.

"STOP STOOOOP, AAAAH GLLLURGH" He said before his throat was bited away, in all the chamber more and more newly infected started to kill and eat their fellows scientists. 

"NOOO STOOP!" "HELP!" All their pleas fell on deaf ears. No more than two minute passed before all the non-infected died, the survivor started to kill each other until only one of them remained.

This one just pulled away his head and died.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

"I wonder if the scientists appreciated my gift." I wondered, then grinned "Who I'm kidding, they surely loved it!
I was now near the chamber where the girls were detained. I slammed open the door. I then saw them, they were inside multiple tanks filled with green liquid. They were all the size of a little child, maybe around two or three years old, They were all suspended in this liquid with their eyes closed. Three on one side: Flutthershy, Pinky Pie and Rarity, and the other three in the other side: Twilight Sparkle, Raimbow Dash and Applejack. I started to approach when...

"FATHER!" They happily mentally shouted.

"Yes girls. Father is here. Don't worry anymore you are safe now." I mentally replied. I started to grow  to four meters tall expanding my torso, I prepared for them some tendrils and enough nutrients for the escape. I extracted them and one at one I deposited them inside of three specific sacks, one for unicorns, one for pegasi and one for earth ponies. After having done this I closed my torso and reinforced it with as much biomass as possible. Their safety was my priority after all. "Now, we go out!" 

I returned to the elevator and climbed my way to freedom. The girls remained quiet for all the climbing but their vitals were ok so I wasn't worried, much.

I arrived to the end of the elevator shaft, I started to running to the nearest exit, making the floor tremble with each step until someone talked to me.

"WAAAAIT!" The voce shouted "Please help me!" She continued. 

I looked in the direction of the voice and my eyes caught the sight of a yellow unicorn mare with a red and yellow mane, her eyes a watery blue, filled with sadness. She wore a leather jacket torned and consumed on some spot, a pair of blue jeans missing the left leg up to her knee." Sunset Shimmer!" I thought. 
"What are you doing here?" I asked her.

"Celestia imprisoned me here, she wants to use me for breeding powerful unicorns like me, p..pl..please" She was on the verge of tears."Please save me!"

"That solar bitch!" I thought "Stay back I'm going to destroy these bars!" I told her. When she backed away I tore the bars away from the wall.

"Thank you! A thousand thanks! My name is Sunset Shimmer ex students of Celestia herself." she happily said while trying to hug my now enourmous body. "Now let's go" She said interrupting the hug and walking away.

"Let's? You mean we?" I asked following her.

"Of course! You saved me, and I don't have anywhere else to go, so I guess I'll stick with you!" She explained stopping herself.

"Listen." I started "It's really dangerous. You really don't have, I don't know, friends and/or family outside?"

"No." She coldly said. "My family was killed by the Neverdawn trying to let me escape, when I escaped, I went to one of my friends, Countess Nobletitle of the Blueblood house. She sold me to Celestia, ehe.' Sigh'. They brought me here not a day ago, so no, I don't have anyone." She finished looking at me.

"Alright, you know what? You can come with me." She beamed with joy "At one condition."I continued raising one finger.

"Anything!" She immediatly answered. 

"You will help me raise my daughters." I happily stated. "They will need a feminine figure in their life and I'm not a girl, sooooo you will help me, what you say? Deal?" I said offering my hand.

She grabbed it and shaked it."Deal."

"Very well then, hop on!" I said crouching down. She did as I said and we ran away towards the exit. We passed a multitude of rooms used as offices, until I saw a stair in the distance heading up.

"Up on the stairs" She said while pointing to the stairs. "After that take a right turn and then.." She was cutted off when the stair exploded in a shower of debris. "...Buck...Ok what do we do now?" 

"We jump!" I said before running towards the ex stairs and jumping up reaching the next floor.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" She shouted at me.

"Meh, maybe" I shrugged. "Ok now, you said right then...". I stopped a distant sound of hoofsteps alarmed me, there were, at least, a batallion of guards heading towards us. If I was alone I could fight my way out but I can't risk my daughters and Sunset. So I turned left away from the arriving guards.

"What are you doing? I said right!" She contested flailing her arms.

"Too many guards, I can survive. You can't. Can you teleport?"I asked her

"Only on short distances and only one time, then I will be drained." Sunset explained.

"Ok do you know any other exits?" 

"There is one, but it is a sky dock. It's for airships." She retorted.

"Can you teleport us there?" I asked

"Yes, but why?"She asked agitately. Now she could hear the approaching hoofsteps too.

"Trust me!" I shouted "Do it!" Her horn glowed and in a fraction of second my sight remodelled itself, we were now on the sky dock. The dock was filled with airships, some big with a sail, and some with motors. On the dock were positionated some dock cranes that were empting and loading ships. In the distance I could see the guards running towards us. "Ok, now please work" I thought. I started to use biomass to create my first wings, slowly but surely, they started to form.

"Incredible.... What are you?" Sunset whispered. My wings were now complete.

"Oh right! The name is Philip Mercer an Evolved." I said smirking, my wings had the form of bat like wings with razor sharp edges, completely red and black, about four meters of wingspan. I crouched down again and motioned her to climb up. "Come on! we don't have all day!" I said at her

She climbed up on me and I start to walk towards the edge."Have you ever flied?" She asked?

"Eenope" I said before jumping down.

"Oh well that's a...WAIT WHAAAAAAAT?!" She shouted while we were falling, I opened my wings and tried to glide. I tell you even gliding is fucking difficult! After some more swearing and death threat from Sunset, I stabilezed myself and started heading to the Everfree forest.

"You.YOU BUCKING IDIOT! What where you thinking!? Jumping down from a sky dock without know how to fly? Who is so so stupid?! She shouted."And where are we going?"She asked

"Towards the Everfree, there we will be safe. We need to do other things though, I'll explain everything one we'll land. Oh and ehehe funny story you know, I...uhm I don't know howto land?"

"YOU WHAT!!!" She shrieked."I swear if we survive. WHEN I'LL GET MY HANDS ON YOU, I WILL DISASSEMBLE YOUR MOLECULES!" She shouted covering the rushing wind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~CELESTIA POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

"Your majesty!" A guard said. "We have bad news. A report said that 000 escaped the G.E.N.E. facility and is now on the loose."

"Well it is a shame but."I was cutted off.

"Your majesty, he took the bearers too!"He said

"How dare him!" I shouted before grabbing the guard by his neck with my telekinesis.

"Your majesty, 'coof' please don't 'ahck' spare me!" He pleaded

"This. Is for daring to interrupt me" I said in a cold tone before snapping his neck and tossing him away.

"CADENCE!"I shouted. The little pink alicorn entered my rooms.

"Yes princess?" She said bowing.

"Found 000 use every means you deem necessary."I ordered

"Yes, your majesty." She responded before walking away.

"I will find you 000, you can run, but you can't hide forever. And then I will take back my bearers and use your body,
as an example." I darkly thought "hahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA,
> [OLD]Chapter 4 The Ever-Free welcome part 1 [UNEDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's your captain who's speaking, we will now start to land. FACE FIRST TO THE GROUND!"
I shouted starting to lose quote over the Everfree forest, Sunset was just screaming with her eyes closed, while gripping onto me with all her strength.

"Wearegoingtodiewearegoingtodiewearegoingtodie..." She repeated like a mantra.

"No one is gonna die Sunset! But brace yourself, this will be a hard laaaaAAAAAAH!" I crashed against the roof of branches and fogliage  that composed the forest. I took Sunset in my arms and coiled around her. We started to go more and more down, fortunately the branches slowed us down. 

I crashed in the ground and left a trail of broken trees and dirt. "Ok, I need to check if everyone is alright."

I started with my daughters (sorry Sunset!) and let out a sigh of relief when not one of them was hurt. I started a check-up on Sunset too, she too was alright. I uncoiled myself from her and when she stumbled out I asked her."Sunset, are you alright?" Her response was a flip off of her hand before vomiting, leaning on a tree.

After she finished she sat down and calmed down a bit,"Remind me...to never...ever...fly with you!" She half panted half shouted.

"Look at the bright side Sunset, we are safe now right?" And said that I swore, I saw the universe itself rubs it's hands with an evil grin. 

I heard a big roar similar the one of a lion behind me. A tall muscular beast was there, looking at me, it's mouth was big and filled with teeth, it had bat-like wings and a scorpion tail. "A manticore!"

It roared again and charged at me, unfortunately for it, I killed beings far more intimidating and faster than it. I quickly brought up my right hand and punched it on it's head, making it slam into the ground with a whine.

"Listen and listen good"I started, laying my foot on it's snout while looking at it in the eyes."I'm now the new apex predator here, as such you better go away, before I kill you." It looked at me with confusion.

" UNDERSTOOD!? I roared in it's face, it immediatly stood up and started running back into the thick foliage.

"Was that a manticore?" Sunset asked

"Yep." I responded cheerfully "And now is gone, come on, we need to find a shelter before nightfall."We then started walking through the forest.

"Say..." She started. "You said you were an Evolved? Right? What are those?" 

"You see I'm a virus." Her eyes widened."As such I can shapeshift and control my body 100%, every being can become like me, all that they  need is to come in contact with the virus. The probability, however, to become an evolved naturally are more or less zero, for the most part you will become a mindless monster. If it is an evolved to inject you the virus, and he or she wants to, then you will surely become one too."

"That's.....that's some big news you know? So you are a virus."I nodded."What can you do exactly?"She asked.

"Right now I can shapeshift in anyone if I've got their D.N.A." I shifted to Red to demonstrate."If I consume someone I can even get their memories if the brain is intact. I can lift roughly 50 to 70 tons of weight, it depends all on how much biomatter I have in me. I can jump pretty high up to 20 or 25 meters, I can run at 150 Km/h and right now I weight one ton, any more question?" I lifted her up again on my shoulder.

"B-b-but that's impossible! How can you be so strong? Can you even be defeated?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, I can regenerate of course, but magic can affect me pretty bad. Their rifle can pierce my skin and I can die if I take too much damage." I responded. "Huuum let's see, shelter...shelter..."I continued to search for a shelter when Sunset spoke again.

"Why are you telling me all of this? Don't you fear I could use this information against you?" She argued.

"Naaa I trust you, after all you accepted to help me with the girs." I retorted.

"You... you trust me?...Thank you." she said blushing.

"Don't sweat it and, after all, you're too cute to be a traitor"I chuckled.

"M-m-m-m-me?! C-c-c-cute? W-well t-thank you." She said while her face started to become crimson.

After that we fell into a silence while I was searching for refuge. Then Sunset spoke again

"Say... you said you have daughters. Where are they?" Oh I knew I was forgetting something.

"But of course here..." I put her on the ground. Then opened my torso. "This are my little girls. From left to right we have,
Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Twilight. They are all my little stars. They are beautiful, don't you think?" I asked with a proud smile on me.

"Yes." She said looking at them with a motherly look."They are. So you got six girls eh? No boy to continue your family?"

"One" I started "I don't care what gender they are, I love them regardless. Second, I'm ageless so I don't need an heir. Third, I have seven daughters." I said, smirking at her while closing my torso again.

"Seven? Where's the seventh?" She asked me trying to mount up again.

"My seventh daughter is near here, in Ponyville. Her mother was a friends of mine and I promised to her, that I would watch over her daughter. She is a foster daughter, you could say. Her name, is Derpy Hooves. Windy...she died in that facility, I had to...kill her."Sunset gasped and put a hand over her mouth. "If I hadn't do that, they would have mutated her, killing her regardless. Her last wish was for me, to watch over Derpy. And I will." I said resolutely, in my voice not a drop of hesitation.

"I...I'm so so sorry."She said patting me on the head.

"Don't be." I said looking at her."It wasn't your fault."

"Regardless, I'm sorry, she didn't deserved that." She whispered.

"No. No she didn't." A looming silence fell again on us.

After twenty or thirty minutes of walking, we stumbled across a cavern. It was fairly large and probably deep enough to discourage predators. "Should I mark the territory? No now don't be ridiculos Phil." The cave was completely dark, but fortunately my night vision activated so I could see where I was going. Ah the marvels of this virus. Anyway we started to go deeper in the cave, we arrived in what I assumed was the main chamber. The cavern was humongos and filled with piles on piles of gold, gems and other piece of art. I grabbed one coin and observed it, then a deep, powerful voice spoke up.

"oboediatis verbis meis dicit mortale" Thundered the voice. Then continued.

"Occidere arte capi!" I felt Sunset's hands on my neck immediatly, she started to chocke me, well she tried, anyway. 

"Sunset, SUNSET. Snap out of it!"I told her, but to no avail. I approached a wall then and, with some biomass I created a cocoon, soft but hard enough to resist against Sunset's hits. I then tossed her in. "Sorry Sunset, but you are not yourself right now. Don't worry I will free you. But for now, you will stay here, sorry again." I said closing the cocoon trapping her in. I then created another cocoon, this one filled with nutrients and heavely fortified. I put the girls inside it for safekeeping, I won't endanger them.

"OK FUCKER,COME OUT AND FACE ME!" I shouted trying to lure the bastard out. An immense pile of gold rumbled and shifted, before sliding away in order to reveal a massive green scaled dragon.

MEIS AUDES?" The dragon said.

"Speak english you fucker, I can't understand you!" I angrily said while creating my claws. "You know what? Nevermind, for daring to control Sunset's mind, I hereby sentence you to death!" 

The dragon was an enourmous opponent, far greater then the ones I faced before. He was at least 40 meters tall and 120 meters long, his face was filled with scars, one in particular stood out. His eyes were a glowing amber colour, massive spikes were on his back, long at least five meters. His wings were folded to his side because the cave was too small for him. He spoked again.

"HOW DARE YOU,  MORTAL, DEFY ME?! YOU WILL FACE THE WRATH OF AATHURNAS, GREAT DRAGON OF THE DRAGON HORDE!" He boomed before trying to smash me with one of his massive claws. I stood my ground and waited his claw, when it collided with me, the force was gigantic, it was like trying to move a mountain, but I didn't give up. I started pushing back, and with a powerful roar I pushed back his claw. Aathurnas looked at me with a bewildere look, I didn't let him any time to breath. I jumped and landed on his right arm and slashed it, only for my claw to bounce on his hard scales. 

"Grrr dammit! Again? Ok let's try again." I shifted to my hammerfist and slammed them on his arm, again and again. After twenty hit, the scales weren't damaged at all. I was growing worried. "His scales are too hard for me?" Then a massive claw collided with me launching me to the wall of the cave. I exited the crater I created and started thinking. 

"If I can't hurt him from the outside... I will just have to go inside!" With a new plan in mind I rushed against him, skidding down his arm, evading his blow. I concentrated a great amount of biomatter in my arms, then I threw all of it against his lower jaw. The blow was powerful enough to throw him on the ceiling, the tendrils then came to life. They grabbed his snout and attached themselves on the ceiling, pinning him to it. I run towards one of his scales and started pulling hard, when the scale detached from him I consumed it. 

Immediatly I started to fell something on my skin, I looked at myself to see that I was now in a full body armor. The primary colour was black, with a lighter shade of gray on the joints and face. I used the same kind of biomass of the armor and created a shield. Hopefully hard enough to whitstand his blows, fireproof too, I hope.

Aathunas ripped away my tendrils and looked at me angrily.

"Die in the flames, insect!" 

He roared before taking a deep breath. When he breathed out a torrent of flames escaped his mouth and went against me. I tried to dodge but the armor was too heavy and the fire caught me. Fourtunatly the armor was indeed fireproof and I didn't feel anything. Knowning this I run towards him while in the flame, I then jumped inside his open mouth. I started descending into his throat while he was trying to gag me out. I didn't want to see if my armor was acidproof too so I entered his wind pipe, then I arrived inside his left lung.

"Ok, let's see how sturdy your lungs are, shall we?" I clawded and slashed at everything inside his lungs, I thought I was doing a great job, cause I could hear him roaring in pain, but instead his lungs were regenerating over and over.
"This is not good, I can't kill him it seems, what to do? Mmmmm. Aha!"

"If you can't kill them..."  I slashed again and jumped outside on his beating heart.

"Then obligate them to join you!" I then plunged my claws inside his heart pumping in the virus. The effect were instantaneous, the heart got coated with black and red tendrils, the conversion was extremely painful, if his roaring were of any indication. Still the virus continued to work. After ten minutes, I felt that it was done, I ordered the virus to open a way out for me. Tendrils got out of the way, and I jumped outside his body.

"Master. He said "What are your orders?"

"Neat." I thought "I have a giant dragon for servant,andI can subjugate everyone that I infect? This is good news indeed. But I'm not an evil overlord, this will be my last card only if the situation is hopeless. Or if someone deserve it." I then responded to Aathurnat "First, liberate Sunset's mind from your control. Second, Shrink down to a manageable size." He nodded and spoked.

"Tu liber es." He the shrinked down to four meters tall and only ten long. Still big, but not enourmous.

"Wait here." I walked away and returned to the cocoons, first I took my daughters again, then I liberated Sunset.

"W...what happened?" She said looking around confused."Why am I in a cocoon? Phil?"

"A dragon subjugated you to his will, I had to entrap you here while I fought." I said "Are you ok?"

"Yes, a little fuzzy but I'll live. I'm free, does it means that you defeated him?" She asked exiting the cocoon.

"Yes and no, I defeated him but he is not dead. I infected him with the virus and, because I'm the most powerful blacklight being, he obey my order now." I explained.

"Wow...it's not a bit extreme? You know stripping him of his free will." She asked me.

"He would have killed you Sunset, I did what I did because I had no choice. I despise mind controll ok? I hate when someone do it, his punishment is just."

"If you say it like that, I see your motives. But please refrain from doing it again." She pointed a finger to me.

"Don't worry, it will be my last resource in battle, or if someone deserves it. If you want I will ask your opinion before doing it ok?" She nodded and then asked.

"Now what do we do?" I pointed at the cavern with a tumb.

"Now we build a refuge and then we start planning the rebellion."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CELESTIA POV ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Cadence, are you ready?" I asked Cadence, she was again in my throne room, bowing to me, she nodded once." Then you may go, return with 000. Or don't come back." She hurried  out. 

I stood up and went behind my throne."Let's check on them." I thought. Behind the throne was positioned a numeric keypad, I inserted the code "191512" I muttered under my breath. Once I inserted the code the wall next to the throne opened revealing a staircase. I got down while the door closed behind me. I made my way down the stairs with torches as mean of illumination, when I reached the bottom of the stairs, I stared at the white metal door in front of me. Grinning, I opened the door and walked in. The room was completely dark, I stopped myself in the center and spoke the activation code. "Ostende mihi siderum!" The room immediately came to life and dozens of illusion popped out. In a quick motion, the illusion reached the center of the room, where they created the stellar map of the Equi galaxy. The stars were a blue colour, but the one I was interested in was red.

"Soon..." I muttered "When the stars will align, HE will be free. Wait a little more my love, I will free you and together, WE WILL CREATE THE PERFECT WORLD! HAHAHAHAHA!

I exited the room and returned to the throne room. With my magic I called a scryng spell pointed to Luna. 
"Still motionless eh?" I thought "No matter, when everything will be corrected I will correct you too, don't worry."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"And done" I said watching the big stack of wood in front of me. "Ready Sunny?"

"Sunny?" Sunset thought. "When'd I became Sunny?"

We were in front of the cavern, a full day has passed after the dragon fight, I was stacking wood to build a little house.

"The moment I became Phil of course." I smirked at her.

"Oh...ehe eh upsye?" She retorted blushing a little. "But yes, I'm ready, this should be fun" She lit her horn and all the wooden logs lifted in the air. The logs started to bend and move in a coordinated manner, after a minute or two, the logs started to build the floor. Then the walls were built, after that the second and third floor, for the final touch, her horn became brighter and windows, door knob and the roof popped in existence. A green beautiful foliage adorned the house, It resembled a little Fluttershy's cottage. I was speechless, Sunset was very good at this, I'm lucky to have such a brilliant assistant. 

"And that ass..." What? Why I thought that? I don't have the time for it! " I need to think straight, I need to start preparing myself for the rebellion, not think about a powerful...intelligent, beautiful mare...Fuck. No I can't! Philp you are immortal now, she is not, you will outlive her you can't!" 'sigh'

While I was having my internal conversation, Sunset finished the house. 

"All done!" She shouted happily panting for the stress.

"Well done Sunny, you were marvelous! This house is beautiful." I stated.

"O...I-I was m-m-m-marvelous? You are too kind." She said buryng her muzzle in her hands.

"If I say that you were marvelous, you were. Ok?" I retorted while half hugging her. "And beautiful too. I thought. Man I got it hard eh?

"O-o-ok then. D-do you want to see the inside?" She asked pointing to the newly built house. The house was an hybrid, between a medieval english wooden house, and a german one. The door was big enought to permit me to enter even if I was carrying the girls. The windows of the first floor were adorned with intricat details. The central window of the second floor had a balcon, a marvelous parapet, made out of white wood and bended to create a little heart in the middle. The rest of the house was a mixture of black and white wood.

"Yes, that would be appreciated." I said. 

All in all the house was composed of, three bathroom, one per floor, a gigantic kitchen, twelve bedroom, a cellar and a attic. The house was completely bare. We will buy or create the furniture later.

"And with that we are done" Chirped Sunset. "So, what do you think? You like it?"

"Like it? Sunny I love  it!" I hugged her and she eeped."Thank you, you are the best friend an immortal bio-weapon could ask for."

"I-I'm glad eh-eh. Thank you." She said hugging me back.

"Now I will go to the cellar, I will leave the girls there with nutrients. I'll go check out the forest a bit." I said breaking the hug, she nodded and with a 'be careful' I entered the cellar. There, I created with some biomass a cocoon for them, stuffed nutrients inside of it and then I leaned gently my daughters inside. "Sleep well sweeties."

Said that I exited the house, saluted Sunset and made my way in the forest. I walked for three hours and I decided to go back, I didn't find anything worth mentioning, as such I turned back and started heading for the house. However I heard a sound to my right. I immediately activated my augmented vision, and started searching for something.

I looked left and right, I was finally giving up when I saw a movement in the foliage. I oredered at my eye cells to become better, so I could see in the vegetation. My eyes obeyed and suddenly my sight became more focused and cleaner. Then I saw it.

A bipedal beast, withe the lower half of a goat, and the upper half of pony, the fingers were sharp as razor blades, it's body was very odd, as if it was underfed, It's muscle weren't very prominent in it's arms. It's legs however, seemed very powerful. It had a brown fur with no mane nor hair, it's eyes were completely black with no sclera, It noticed me staring at it, and jumped high on a branch, then it's skin changed colour and it blended almost perfectly with the environment.

"Uh, ok you will be the...mmm... Chupacabra! Yes.I named it

Almost. I jumped and tried to slash it, but it was faster than me and it evaded my hit. It screamed at me, then it attacked me with it's fingers, it struck true leaving me with a large wound on my torso. I healed immediatly and attacked it again, this time I concentrated my biomass in my legs and I ran towards it. With my legs 'enhancement' I was in front of him in a blink of an eye, I grabbed it for it's throat, then I slammed it on the ground and stomped on it's skull devouring it.

I gained the ability to blend into the environment, my speed was increased and my claws became sharper.
"Not bad, not bad at all, this will come in hand in stealth situations." I thought.

I then started thinking about what to do regarding my feeling on Sunset. "I love her? Probably, but we could never be together, I'm a powerful immortal virus, and she is a normal mare. She could never love me. 'sigh'

Suddenly in the middle of my thought, four Chupacabras ambushed me frome the foliage, I was fast enough to create my armor and their claws just skidded on me.
"I must thank you, I really needed something to distract myself." I taunted them. "Come at me."

They all jumped against me, but thanks to my armor the did nothing to me, I grabbed one with my arm and slammed it against another, then I consumed the one I had in my hand. I created my claws and readied myself for the other three, one of them atacked again, only to be cut in two with a fast vertical slash. The death of the other two scared the remaining and they started to retreat. But another one of them arrived with incredible speed, took one of the two with it's claws and cut it in two. The other just fled.

The remaining one was different from the others, this one was mostly red and it's muscle were very prominent, it'eyes were green and not completely black. It charged at me and before I could react it slammed me against a tree destroying it.
"Wanna play bastard?" I said standing up. "I will show you why I'm the new master of this forest!" I shouted charging at it, I took it by surprise and threw it away in front of me. I then followed it in mid air punching it in the gut, it flew away and smashed against a tree.

"Not so powerful, are you?" The beast tried to stand up, but I grabbed it and started pounding it's muzzle, again and again before consuming it.
"Someone else wants to kill me?!" I shouted. 

Seems like this forest is alive, because when I said that I heard an hiss behind me. I turned around and saw an enourmos snake, it was completely black with bright yellow eye and a forked tongue. When I looked at it in the eyes I felt my legs turning in stone.

"Shit! I thought, detatching my legs and regenerating them after."A basilisk!"

I closed my eyes to evade it's look, but I was also blind so I didn't see it's tail bashing against my side threw me against another tree. I started to slash blindly trying to hit it. No luck. The basilisk hit me again but this time it's tail coiled around me and started to bash me into the ground. After the fifth hit I grabbed it's tail and slashed it. The basilisk hissed in pain releasing me, I fell on the ground, then I stood up.

"I need a plan!" I thought. "Maybe I can create a pair of eyes resistant to it's gaze? But I don't know how. I could try to blind it. Yes let's go with this plan." I opened my eyes and located it, the basilisk noticed me and prepared itself. I created a mass of tendrils in my arms, then I threw it against it's face coating it in tendrils. Now that it was blinded, I rushed towards it and smashed my hammerfists in its gut. The basilisk hissed in pain and tried to hit me with it's tail with a low sweep, I jumped and evaded it. I the tackled it to the ground and started to slash at it's body, after it was dead I consumed it. 

I looked around and I noticed that now, I could see heat signature. This way I found some more chupacabras, they all fled at my sight. Having had enough of this forest, I started to walk back to the house.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CADENCE POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I walked away from the throne room heading to my quarters. After entering it I started crying. 

"Why? Why Celestia has done this? Why kills so many innocent ponys? And why can't I disobey her?"

My tears were flowing down of my cheeks but my body couldn't care less. I walked towards my closet and changed, I took a military uniform with the insignia of the Neverdawn. A bright sun with wings inside it. My uniform was completely green and brown with some pink in the joints, my berret was white and three, five pointed star were on it. I dried my tears and walked out. With my magic I summoned my sniper rifle. A 220X45 thaumic power rifle, with a range of ten kilometers strong enough to pierce steel. The ammunitions were special though, the enormous amount of thaumic energy used is so strong, that everypony hit by this weapon will explode of magical overload.

I hate this weapon.

After a minute of walking, I entered the war room. 
"Gentlestallion." I said, making my rifle disappear, to the other three general in the room, all of them had their features obscurated by a darkness spell. "We are here because Her majesty, Princess Celestia ordered the capture of subject 000."

"How much freedom do we have?" one asked.

"We can do whatever we want in order to capture him. The dossier will explain everything we know about him. I request you to approve the mobilitation of Omega Squad."

"Are you crazy!?" One shouted indignantly

"They will kill everypony that stands against them! They are not controllable!" Another said.

"I know. But we need the best in order to capture this monster. He maneged to kill almost everypony inside the G.E.N.E. facility. We need them." I countered.

"It's your funeral Cadence, do what you wish. Remember though that if something go wrong, you will be considered responsible." The last one said.

"Understood." And said that I exited the room, I had a squad to prepare.

"What have I done?..."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I was almost home when I heard someone scream. I run with all my speed towards the source of the scream. I then saw Sunset fighting with a chupacabra, she was wounded, the chupacabra was above her with a claw rised, ready to finish her.

"STOOOOOP!"I shouted, the chupacabra turned around and, after seeing me he flashed me an evil smirk.

It's claw then came down. The world stopped. I could see it's claw coming down towards Sunset, her eyes were wide and filled with fear, it was my fault, I was away, if I was here none of this would had happened. 

It was my fault. In a single sickening 'slash' Sunset went limp, on the ground with a pool of her blood surrounding her.

"NOOOOOOO" I run towards the chupacabra and after grabbing it I tore it piece by piece.

After consuming it I looked at Sunset, she had a profound gash on her torso the blood was everywhere.

"She's gonna die... she's gonna die. And there is nothing I can do to save her. NO! I refuse to lose another friend!"
I used my tendrils to try and close the wound, but her heart was weakening, her breath was almost gone. I was desperate.

I did the only thing I could think to do.

"You can hate me Sunset, Hell you could even leave me alone, but please, please. Open your eyes. I just hope you will find in your heart to forgive me."

I created a claw with my right hand, and praying to every god out there, I raised my hand to the sky, With a pained scream, I stabbed her in the heart.

Pumping in the virus.

"Please Sunset... open your eyes... don't leave me" My tears were falling on her. "PLEASE! OPEN YOUR EYEEEEES!"
> [OLD]Chapter 5 The ever-free welcome part 2 [UNEDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"W...Where am I?" 

Falling, Sunset was falling.

"What happened?.... It's dark here. Where am I?"

Sunset stopped falling, she landed on the pitch black nothingness that filled that place. She stood up, she watched around her but saw nothing, only darkness.

"Hello?... Somepony's there?" She called. "I'm scared."....."Hello?"

"Greetings." Spoke a deep male voice. "I'm Blacklight."

"Blacklight? Who are you? Show yourself!" She shouted in the darkness.

The voice chuckled "As you wish."

A tall bipedal beaing appeared, he was completely white, he had no face, no clothes, nothing.

"As I said, I'm Blacklight, and I'm now you." He said pointing at her. 

"What are you talking about? Why am I here? What happened? I remember fighting a monster, then I saw Phil... then nothing." She said.

"You perished."He stated, Sunset's eyes widened in response."You were defeated by the monster and sustained  heavy injuries. Philip tried to save you infecting you with the virus." A door, completely white appeared on the right side of Sunset.

"Pass through that door, and you will die. No more pain, no more suffering. You will encounter your family again." He then pointed to the left. "Pass that other door." A blood red door appeared. "And you will come back to life. Choose wisely Sunset Shimmer. If you want to return to the living world, you must have something to attach on. Or you will come back as a mindless beast. Now, choose."

A million thought passed through Sunset's mind. "I almost died. I have to come back but... my family... I won't get another opportunity. And Phil? I can't leave him I....I can't. I don't know what to do!" She crouched down and started sobbing. "What am'I supposed to do? Phil... Where are you?" The tears were now streaming down.

Sunset.

"huh?" She said. "What was that?"

Sunset.

"Who's speaking?" She said loud.

"Sunset! The voice shouted.

"Sunset. The voice said softly. She recognized the voice, it was a soft lovely voice. Her mother's voice.

"Mom?" Sunset said. "Is that you?"

"Yes, my dear. Come with us, abandon this world and come with me." She said softly.

"You want me to die?!" Sunset asked. "Mother are you insane?"

"My dear filly, don't worry, there's no pain in the Elysium. Come with me."

"SUNSET! SUNSET PLEASE, OPEN YOUR EYES."

"Don't listen to him dear! Come with me!"

"Sunset!"

"Sunset!"

The voices were arguing with eachother, she recognized the voice of her mom, but the other one was a mistery. Who was he? Why she was so sure that she knew him? Sunset didn't know what to do, she was starting to lean nearby the door on the right when the voice spoke up again.

"Sunset... Please... Don't leave me... Don't leave me alone, Sunset! You can't go away! I-I've know you  for three days, and however, I can't imagine to live without you." 

Sunset's heart was beating faster, a knot formed on it. She knew that voice... her eyes were watering now.

"You know, never before have I saw before a mare more beautiful than you, I would have told you about my feelings one day, but I was scared. Scared of your possible rejection, but now... Please Sunset... it doesn't matter if you hate me,
but please, come back... I-I-I LOVE YOU!"  The voice. No, Phil said. Sunset was crying now and a happy smile was on her face.

"Sorry mom." She said. "But I have someone who's waiting for me." She turned around from the white door and walked towards the red one.

"Are you sure?" Spoke Blacklight."You won't get another chance" He warned.

"Thanks, but I'm sure" Blacklight nodded and Sunset grabbed the doorknob.

"Sunset! Reconsider your choice! Are you really willingly to come back in that dreadful world? You will be happier here with me." Her mother said.

"Sorry mom, but as I said, someone's waiting for me. I have to go, requiescati in pace, mother." And with tears streaming down of her face, Sunset opened the door.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Please...please...Please wake up..." I whispered softly holding her body tight, tears of sadness were streaming down of my cheek, I didn't care. At least ten minutes after the inciden, it started raining, I didn't care.

Suddenly the rain stopped, a single ray of light pierced the heavy cloud, and Sunset moved. It was a little movement, then her entire body was coated of tendrils. After that, the tendrils retired inside her body, leaving her with no more wounds. She was changed too, gone was her muzzle, at its place was now a tiny nose, her horn was gone, she now had a pink skin with no fur, on her chest a pair of big breasts sprouted forth. Her eyes became red with a black sclera, like mine, her hooves were gone too, they changed into feet, a pair of leather boots were covering them, even her tail was no more. She became a human.

"Phil...? Are you there?"She weakly said.

"Yes Sunny... I'm here now." I said looking at her in the eyes, now open, we were facing each other, she was in my arms looking at me. 

Then she kissed me. I was shocked, but after a few millisecond I joined her in the kiss. We broke our kiss and she looked at me.

"Wow..." I said "Why did you-"

"I heard you" She said softly. "I heard you calling at me, and I heard your confession. Thank you..." She gave me a soft kiss again. 

"I love you, Sunset" I said without even thinking.

"I love you too, Phil" She said, by now the sky was clear, the tempest and the rain gone, just like my sadness. I hugged her again and we stayed like that for minutes, glad to be there. 

After ten minutes we broke the hug and she looked at her new form.

"What happened exactly? I don't remember having paws instead of hooves. Or breasts this big." She giggled.

" The 'paws' are called feet and the breasts are normal for my species, they are used to feed our babies and to attract the males." I explained

"Oooh, we ponies don't have them so big all the time, only when we are pregnant. Mmmh." She squeezed them making me blush. "Do you like them?" She asked with her eyes half closed.

"I Uhm...errr yeees?..." I stuttered out bewildered." She giggled again at my antics, so for revenge I picked her up in my arms, making her blush a little and I said smirking. "Don't try to walk yet. Sweetie.". She nodded, blushing and covering her face, then we entered the house, she sitted on a chair while I was standing.
"Ok." 'Inhale' 'exhale' "When I saw you dying I panicked and... I infected you with the virus." She gasped. 
"I'm sorry, for turning you into a monster Sunny I..." I was cutted off by her hand slapping me. That hurted.

"Never... don't say that never again. You are not a monster. You are a wonderful stallion and a loving parent. And you didn't turn me into a monster neither. At least now I can defend myself. But you will teach me. Deal?" She said offering her hand.

"Thank you Sunny, and you in return will teach me magic, ok?" She nodded and I shook her hand, then she yanked my arm and kissed me again. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CADENCE POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Ma'am" A guard spoke. "You airship is here."

"Very well." I responded, the guard saluted and left. I was in my rooms, waiting for the airship, it will take me to the position of Omega squad. The only way to go there is fliyng. I stood up and made my way outside, after three ramps of stairs I finally arrived to the skydock. The royal skydock was massive, it could offer landing for dozens of heavy carrier airship. My flying transport was the Crystalline, an ex scout class airship, used now by me for personal transportation. Armed with 25X15 thaumic cannons, enough to damage a little fregate but completely useless against the heavy ones. It's beautiful lavender and prismarine colours were shining against the pomeridian sun. 

"Ma'am, your ship is charged and ready for the take off, we are awaiting your orders." Another guard said.

"Very well, let's go. You know where to go." I ordered. Our destination was the floating fortress 'Olympus'. An enormous fortress heavily fortified, its walls are strong enough to withstand a thaumic explosion of the 4th and 5th grade. The fortress is guarded by sixty thousands guards, all trained at the best of our abilities. Olympus is the final retreating zone if everything fail, it's also the only thing that can contain the Omega squad.

"Tower, this is the Crystalline, recognization number 57-96-97-98-90-90-92 we are requesting permission to take off, copy." Said the pilot

"Crystalline, this is the tower, permission granted, good fly, over." Responded the radio. And then we were in the air.

After twenty minutes of travel, I could see the Olympus, its sheer size always amazed me, its five sides were covered in thaumic cannons, the metallic coloured walls were divided in squares, each fifteen meters in diamater. The fortress was pentagonal shaped, with the upper region guarded by an immense number of guards and cannons, in the center was positionated the headquarters. From afar it could seem that the HQ was defenseless, but an invisible shield alimented by the engine was all around it. In the lower part of the fortress, the skydock could be seen, it was hosting twelve heavy carrier airship, the dock was put under the main fortress, the engine were also there, two hundred class  Faust engines, capable of lifting the impressive fortress. Olympus was built on levels, I only knew of the 4th and 5th. They were used as barracks, prisons, and as the living quarters of Omega. Olympus floated at 2500 meters of altitude, it was 300 meters tall and with a square area of six hundred thousands meters. This humongous fortress, with its one hundred and eighty million  cubic meters, weighed 811'260'000 tons. Imposing was a weak word for this fortress. 

The mighty fortress, that as a filly always amazed me, now scared me. 

The control room of the Olympus intercepted us and asked the recognization number. The pilot repeated again the number and we were authorized to land. 

"Welcome aboard the olympus." Colonel Hawker Hurricane said greeting me while I was exiting the Crystalline, a pegasus stallion with a light brown coat, a white mane cut short and with deep purple eyes, a long scar run through his face, from above his right eye, all down to the chin. He wore the standard high officer uniform of the Neverdawn. A beige dress with tons of medals attached to it, the sleeves were decorated with golden strings. The button were made of pure gold, on his hands, he wore a pair of white gloves, his cutie mark was printed on them, a triple circle, black on the outside white in the inside with a red dot, a pair of golden wings sprouted from the circle, just as it was flying.

"It's a pleasure to encounter you again Colonel." I said. "How is you daughter? She was promoted to the rank of captain last time I checked."

He grinned with pride in his eyes and said. "Yeah, my Spitfire sure is good at her job, she is well and good, with another succesfull mission she will take the rank of major. I'm really proud of her... But you are not here to listen to me. You are here for the Omega, this way." He gestured to follow him and I did. We passed the dozens guard stationed on the roof of Olympus, then we entered the main fortress. The insides of the Olympus were completely covered of anti-gravity plate, they were there to impede gravity manipolation so that nopony coul try to make the fortress crash, without a horrible bloody fight of course. We reached the lower floors passing by several teleportation platform, they are used for fast travel inside the fortress. Anyway we arrived in front of the door labelled Omega.

"They are here, good luck." Hawker said, I nodded and he get away. I opened the door and entered. The room was completely white, with white tables and chairs. In the center of the room six pony stood there, watching me. All of them had their features covered by a hood, all except for their captain.

The captain of the Omega. An unicorn with white pristine coat and azure eyes, a shield with sparkle was visible on his backhand, he then greeted me, with a sadistic, murderous glare and smirk.

"We were wainting you, Cady."

"Shiny... what happened to you?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"And this is what happened" I was amazed, Sunset finished to tell me her encounter with Blacklight and her mother.

"Wow... you sacrificed the opportunity to see your mother again... for me?" I aked her.

She giggled and gave me another little kiss. "Yes, you silly. It seems that now the girls will get a motherly figure don't you think?" She said smiling.

"Yes they will, now come on it's time to start your training." I took her outside, I put her on the ground, she wobbled a bit before regaining her balance. "Well look at you! You are standing like a pro!" 

She looked at me unamused.

"Ok,ok sheesh don't give me that look. Ok first lesson is shapeshifting. Look at my arm and try to copy me." I morphed my arm into a claw, she looked at it with wide eyes, then she nodded and tried.

She took half a minute before shifting her arm into a claw. "Look! I did it! I did it!" She exclaimed joyously.

"Yes, I'm very proud of you Sunny. Continue practicing, I have someone to talk to." And that being said I walked towards the cave.

"Aathurnas! Come here this instant!" I ordered. The dragon exited a pile of gold and quickly made his way towards me. He then bowed and spoked.

"Master, I-" 

"WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU!?" I shouted in his face, punching him in the gut. He covered his belly and struggled to speak.

"M-master... I-" He started but I interrupted him once again.

"I TOLD YOU, TO DEFEND MY HOUSE. WHERE.WERE.YOU?" I shouted again looking at him in the eyes.

"I was 'grumble'" He muttered.

"Speak up!" I ordered.

"I was defending my hoard, Master." He confessed.

"You...were what?... You... You were defending your HOARD!? YOU BASTARD! SUNSET WAS WOUNDED, MY DAUGHTERS WERE IN DANGER, AND YOU STAYED HERE!?" I exploded in his face, while saying this I was becoming bigger and bigger. When I reached five meters of height, I grabbed him by his throat and spoked in a cold voice.
"Give me a reason for not destroy you here and now."

"Master 'ack' please it-it will never happen 'coof' again, please give me another 'gah!' chance!"

"Now listen and listen good. You will defend my home with your life if needed, you will guard this house until I say otherwise and remember. Fail me again and I will make sure to strip you of every emotions, I will make you an empty dragon shaped husk. Understood?" I said letting him go.

He massaged his sore throat and replied. "Clear, Master."

I returned to my normal size and exited the cave. I returned to where I let Sunset, I found her with both of her arms shifted into claws while testing them cutting trees. I thought of a little prank and made myself invisible. I then approached her from her back and whispered in her ear. "They really are sharp."

"AAAAAAAAH" She shouted afraid, jumping back and slashing at me, I blocked her attack and started to laugh.

"HAHAHAHAHA oh my god! HAHAHA" Now I was on the ground rolling left and right with tears on my eyes.

She huffed and, after morphing her arms again, punched me in the arm. "Jerk." She said offended.

"Wooo ok, ok I'm good. Sorry Sunny, didn't mean to scare you so much. Ok now seriously, I see that you improved, very good, now ehm... You need to learn how to consume something." 

"..."

"What?" Sunset asked.

"Ok, let me show you." I activated my thermal vison and searched the nearby area, I then individuated a small rabbit. I used a tendrils and captured it. I hold it and I continued. "Ok now, because of your new phisiology you will need meat, I know it's difficult and I understand if you are not comfortable with it but-" She took the rabbit from me and put it on her hand. Then the tendrils came out and consumed the rabbit.

"Not bad" Was her comment. I was staring at her with wide eyes imitating a goldfish. "What? We unicorns can and must eat meat to sustain our magic, I just never before ate something raw, or alive, it wasn't bad you know? You think is the virus that's making me so calm?"

I scarched my chin and then responded. "It could be, after all it transformed you into a human. Are you okay? No nausea or pain anywhere right?"

She shook her head and said. "Nope, I'm fine. I'm not even hungry." Then she tried to take a log from the ground with her telekinesis, only for the log to be crushed into a tiny ball of wood. She let the log go, frightened.

"What-what happened? I didn't use so much force, it was just a normal telekinesis. Wait a moment." She sat down with her legs crossed and closed her eyes. After ten minutes of... meditating I suppose, she opened her eyes and gave me an incredulous look. "No way. No fucking way! This is wonderfoul, Phil! The virus, the virus modified my magic core somehow, my canals too, even without my horn I can channel magic without problem. I can now produce and canalize one hundred times my normal! This is awesome! OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh" She started to jump in circles repeating 'ohmygosh' before I grabbed her and planted a kiss on her. She went still for a moment but then she calmed herself.

"Calmer?" I asked, she nodded. "Ok now, from what I understand your magical ability enhanced right?" She nodded again. "Well than it really is a wonderfoul news!" I said "Now you can teach me magic?"

"I'm sorry but right now I have to calibrate myself. So much power, I'm not used to it. In a day or two ok?" She said, I just nodded, then she continued. "What kind of path you have?"

"Path?" I asked "What is it?"

"You don't know? Ok a path is in short the branch of magic in wich you are more prominent. My path is fire, for example. The path are divided in three branches, Natural, Elemental and Dark. The first contain the elements of: Metal, Electricity, Ice and Light. The second one contain: Fire, Water, Earth and air. The last one is formed of: Darkness, Fear, Necromancy and Death. The Elemental paths are the most common, the dark ones are the second and the Natural are the rarest of them all, of the four electricity is the wildest and difficult to controll but also the most powerful."

"Metal controls metals, how they act, it can even animate them. The Ice can control temperature and create weapons made of ice, it can also create golems. The Light one is a tricky one, it can bend photons creating an invisibility around the user or use them to burn through the enemies. The Electricity can control and manipulate electromagnetic fields, making it a real powerful weapon if used correctly. Fire, Water, Earth and Air are self explanatory they control that element. Darkness can bend the shadow and use them as weapons. Fear can plunge the enemies into their worst nightmare, only a strong mind can survive the assault of a trained Fear user. Necromancy can resurrect the dead, also liches are common for this path. Death, one could think that is the same as Necromancy, but it's wrong the Death path can communicate with the spirits, allowing them to pass in the afterlife, also the user of the Death path are ageless, they also can kill with a single touch." She explained.

"Hmm ok then, uh I-I think I'm an electricity user then. I killed a dozen of guards with a lightining bolt in the facility." I said.

"Wow that's awesome! Ok give me some time to prepare and we will start with your lessos ok?" She asked.

"Great, now come on let's go inside it's getting dark." We made our way inside the house and to our bedrooms. "Ehm Sunny? Just so you know, we don't need to sleep." I said to her.

"Really? Well then, we will use the night to train me." She stated.

"Oh! uhm ok then? Let's go to the basement, there we will not cause damage."

After descending into the basement I took a look to my daughters and to my surprise, they grew! They were only 35 cm tall more or less two days ago. Now they are 1 meter tall, and they were not pony anymore, as I excepted when I saw Sunset transform, they were now humans. All of them were a beautiful light pink. I approached Fluttrshy, and put a hand on her little head. Suddenly though tendrils shoot out from her head and enveloped my hand. Fluttershy opened her eyes and my entire body paralized.

"'Gasp' Oh my Faust, are you ok Phil?" Sunset asked worried.

"Yeah I'm okay don't worry. Just startled is all." I said. "What happened?" I searched through my cells and discovered that Fluttershy copied my basilisk's gene. Gaining it's paralyzing ability. "Strange though, I didn't gained that, most peculiar. Maybe they can absorb more traits when they are in the pods? Or when they are growing in general? I will do more test later, for now let's focus on Sunny's lessons." And with that thought I faced Sunset and spoked "Alright let's start!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ THE DAY AFTER~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Ok" I said "Got it?" 

"Yes, ok, ok 'inhale'...'exhale' I'm going ok? Three, two, one." A moltitude of tendrils covered Sunset, when they disappearead Sunset was gone, at her place was now standing Red.

"Very good Sunny!" I said clapping my hands. She leaned towards me but I blocked her. "No kisses in other forms, especially males ones" I said to her. She sheepishly nodded and changed back. Then, she kissed me.

"Thank you Phil, for everything, thanks." She said while she was hugging me, and me, her. The moment was ruined by the call of Aathurnas.

"Master!" He shouted. "We are under attack!" 

I immediately broke the hug and got out with Sunset behind me. "Who's attacking Aathurnas?"

"I never saw some creature like that, sorry Master. They resemble an insect though, black chitin and green wings." Then a buzzing sound made itself notice. I put Sunset behind me and created my armor, I was ready.

The buzzing sound grew stronger and stronger, until a swarm of insect like ponies flow through the air towards us. "Changelings!" They were without clothes, but they were armed with lances and bows, most of them were just skin... chitin and bones... I think they had bones. Anyway they charged us with their lances forward, there was only forty or so of them and I wasn't a bit intimidate, those crude weapon had no chance against my skin.

"Aathurnas." I said "Scare them off, they are no threat to us."

Aathurnas nodded and grow to fifteen meters tall, then he unleashed a mighty roar that broke their formation and scattered them. After they were all grounded by the roar groaning, I approached one, a male I thought, and grabbed him by his arm.

"Who are you, Changeling?" I asked.

"My...my name is Xarx, Hunter. Please don't kill me we didn't know that the mare was yours." The changeling said.

"She's not mine, she's just my girlfriend and-" The changeling went still all of a sudden, then his eyes morphed from the normal insect like, blue colour to a green lime one, a pair of irises also apperead, they were thin like the one of a cat.

"Greetings Hunter, I'm-" I cut him off.

"Chrysalis." I stated, his eyes widened, then continued bewildered.

"How do you know my name?" She asked. I then channelled my inner Bill Cipher and responded.

"Oh I know lots of things." My voice got down of two octave. "Lots of things." I returned my voice to normal and continued. "Anyway what do you want? And how do you know me? Why you call me Hunter?"

" We know of you because one of my subject witnessed your rage, remember the manticore that attacked you?" She said.

"Oh! It was a changeling?" "Yeah I remember it. It was one of your changeling?" I asked.

"Yes, you scared him pretty bad you know? Anyway I'm not here to talk to you about that. I'm here because I need your help." She said.

"My help?" I asked, and she nodded "For what?"

"Come to my hive, we shall speak there." She replied.

"'uff' Ok, Aathurnas, guard the house. Sunny stay here I'll go alone." I said to the two.

"Are you sure Phil?" Sunset asked worried.

"Yes, don't worry they can't hurt me." I smiled to her. "Now go I'll be back asap." I said.

"Ok let's go!" I said facing Xarx/Chrysalis.

"You are not worried of this being a trap?" Chrysalis asked.

"Nah, as I said, you can't hurt me, now let's go."

We took off and started to go ovest, I knew that because it was barely dawn and we had the sun on our backs. Anyway we traveled into the forest, after a hour of walking I asked to Xarx. "Are we there yet?"

"No Hunter, we will need another three hours at this pace." He answered.

"Too slow. Mind if I get there before you?" I asked impatiently.

"But Hunter, you don't know where the hive is." He rebutted.

"Don't worry I'll find it, see ya there!" And that being said, I sprinted away from them. I used my radar and pinpointed a large amount of changelings all in the same spot. I followed the signal, until I arrived at the feet of a mountain. The mountain was filled with holes, from them a multitude of chitin like walls could be seen. I used my radar again and I noticed that the majority of the changelings were deep into the ground. I made my way to the entrance, I continued my descent into the moist and silent tunnel, there were no torches in the tunnels.

"Maybe the changelings have night vision?" I thought, I hadn't the time to think anything more because I finally arrived in the what I thought was, the main chamber. A gigantic room with the ceiling barely visible, in the room were around thirty changelings. "Strange, I thought there were more of them. With them being insect and all, no matter I can just ask Chrysalis.. I walked towards the group of changelings, they noticed me and scattered screaming and pleading to not kill them. I was ready to shout at them to shut up, but Chrysalis beated me to it.

"STAY STILL!" The voice of the queen boomed in the room. "He is not here to kill us, I asked him to come here." She said authoritatively, then added in a more motherly tone. "Don't fear him my children." Then she spoke to me.
"Come forward Hunter, I'm in the the room in front of you."

I shrugged and walked forward, the changelings were all watching me, some in fear, some in awe. I gave them no mind and continued. I reached the end of the room and found a massive black door, with some glowing green veins into it. I pushed the door opened and saw Chrysalis. She was inside a pod, her eyes closed while she was floating in the jelly like substance.

"Thank you, for coming here." She said without opening her mouth.

"Chrysalis? What happened to you?" I asked.

"Celestia happened." My wrath grew more intense at her words. "You see, she cursed me with an Astral curse. I will not sugarcoat it, I'm diyng, Hunter." My eyes widened. 

"There is no way to break the curse?" I asked, pity in my voice.

"No, no there isn't. Don't pity me Hunter, I know my days are coming to an end, this is why I invited you here. You see an Astral curse is the most powerful type of curse, only an Astral being like Celestia can cast one. The curse will kill the cursed slowly, not even the immortal are immune to this." She explained.

"How can I help you if the curse is unbreakable?" I asked her.

"Simple, my children too are cursed, not with my curse, theirs is a much less powerful than mine. However their lifespan is for now around twenty years." At her statement my heart skipped a beat, twenty years...

"What was the normal lifespan before the curse?" I asked.

"Around ninety." She stated.

"Damn you Celestia! You ruined these people." I thought angrily then I asked her. "Why? Why'd she cursed you?"

"Why? You see, I wasn't always this way, my past name was Amore. I was the alicorn of the love. When Celestia started her mad plan of an utopia I volunteered to her experiment. I did it because I had faith in her. How foolish of me."  Her voice was filled with sadness and rage, she continued nonetheless. "When I first started to change, I didn't  think I would become a changeling. First to change were my eyes, then my wings and finally my body and mind. With each change, Celestia hated me more and more, she never showed it, but I could sense it. After ten years, after so many experiments, she deemed me unworthy of the power of the love. She stripped me of my magic, leaving me with an insatiable hunger for Love. She then cursed me and threw me out of Canterlot. After some time, my first children were born. At first I was so scared, heh, I wasn't expecting to lay eggs you know? But I loved them anyway, they lived for almost a century before dying of old age. This was five hundred years ago, after them they started to die faster and faster, until now."

"Hunter." I watched her, my heart heavy with sadness." I want you to save them, there is no salvation for me but they, they can be saved. Unleash on them your blessing. Save them like you saved your mare." She begged.

"Chrysalis, you don't know what you're talking about. Sunset was fortunate, normally my virus kill or transform people into monster! You can't expect me to use it on them! This is madness!" I replied.

"They will die anyway!" She shouted. "At least- at least there is a little hope. 'sob'" She cried.

"Chrysalis... it's really what you want?" I asked.

"Yes, 'sniff' after-a-a-after I die, consume my body, this way you would be able to talk to them freely." She stuttered out.

"Chrysalis, you know what you are asking me right?" I continued. "If I consume you, I will take your memories too. Is this really what you want, think carefully Chrysalis, I will infect your subjects, but I will also give you a propel funeral if this is what you want."

"No." She said firmly. "No take my memories, you will need them to guide my subjects, guide them towards a better future, they will help you kill Celestia too." 

"I don't want them to be pawns Chrysalis! They are living creature, I will NOT use them!" I shouted.

"And that's why I asked you Philip. Please, promise me you will guide them." She begged again.

I breathed out a heavy sigh then responded "Ok, I'll do it Chrysalis, when you are ready, tell me."

"I don't have anything to do, just let me say goodbye to them a last time." She stayed silent for three or four minutes before resuming, her voice was cracked with sadness. "A-alright... I'm ready. This won't hurt... Right?"

"I approached her pod and touched it with my hand. "No, it will be painless, don't worry. Goodbye Chrysalis, I know you only for three hours, but I will be honored to be considered your friend." I said.

"Yeah, me too." She said, my tendrils now were all around her. "Goodbye, my friend." She said before passing away. I then consumed her body.

"Goodbye Chrysalis, my friend."
> [OLD]Chapter 6 The seventh daughter [UNEDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chrysalis's life was assaulting me, an endless stream of memories entered my mind. From her foalhood to her transformation, up until now. Thanks to this, now I know how to speak with the hive through the hive mind. This will be very useful, maybe I can link Sunset too? Whatever I need to focus, I promised to unleash the virus on the changelings, but first I will seal all exits, and I need to wait for the other soldiers still out there. I just hope I'm doing the right thing. 

"Now let's see if I got the hive mind right." I thought, then I concentrated and closed my eyes, I recalled the memories of Chrysalis and started to search the other changelings, with what she called the Hive Eye. Figures started to fill my vision, at first slowly, but after seconds, I could see a multitude of green and blue dots. I concentrated and focused on a particular blue dot, when I did that, the dot expanded and assumed the form of a changeling, a female if the blue dot is of any indication, at least that is how Chrysalis built the Hive Eye. I then tried to think about something to say to that changeling, and I established a contact.

"Hello?" I 'spoke' in my mind. "Can you hear me?"

"H-H-Hunter? I-i-i-is that you?" The changeling said/thought-I think.

"Uhm yes it's me, how did you guess?" I asked her.

"Uhm, you see, changelings can know the name of the one they are speaking to, through the trace they leave in the hive mind." She explained.

"So, it's like an IP adress." I stated.

"What's an IP adress? If you don't mind answering it, that's it. Oh I'm sorry for s-s-speaking out I-I-I'm sorry your majesty don't k-k-kill me!" She pleaded.

"Woah, woah calm down, calm down. I won't kill you. What made you think that I would do something like that, just because you asked a question? And what's with the majesty thing?" I asked.

"You see your majesty, I-I thought that you were going to kill me because of what you said at the first changeling you encountered. A-a-also it's our tradition to call the next king or queen of the hive, his or her majesty. Queen Chrysalis, in her final speech-'sniff'- S-she appointed you as her successor, making you our king." She said.

I interrupted the link. "You just had to do that to me, hadn't you? God Chrysalis I'm no king. Yes I have your memories on how to rule, but... I never did something like that. Sigh. No use to bitch about this, I have a princess to kill and one to save, I'll need all the help I can get. 'snort' 'King Mercer'...it sounds ridicoulos. 'Sigh'" I reestablished the link. "Ok, I'm back. First thing, I would never, ever kill one of you just for speaking. Asking question is the first step to comprehend the world around us. So ask, ask yourself why, ask me whatever you want to know! If it is in my power I'll answer you." I said trying not to be too informal, but not too snobbish. I guess it worked.

"Oh thank you your majesty!"-Sigh-"Thank you so much." She thanked me bowing. Yes I can see her in real time, it's like having her here in front of me. Then I heard a sort of call from my right.

"Your majesty? Are you there?" The voice spoke.

"Ehm-yes. Who's speaking?" I asked the voice.

"You don't know? I'm Xarx your majesty." He appeared in the hive mind in front of me he too was bowing. "I'm here to inform you that we have arrived to the hive, we are waiting your orders."

"Alright, come inside. I need to speak to everyone and I'm not good enough at using the hive mind." I told him.

"At once, your majesty." He said before fading away. I closed the Hive Eye and headed towards the pod where Chrysalis lived.

"You were serious when you made me promise to guide your hive, uh?" 'sigh' "I will maintain my word don't worry, I hope you are now in a better place Amore, Requiescati In Pace."

After saying my final goodbyes to Chrysalis, I exited the room and went into the center of the main cave. Here I saw the soldiers heading towards us, the other changeling were all watching me, tears in their eyes and, something else... Hope. Hope for a means to cure them from the curse? I don't know what will happen to them, but sure as hell I'll do my damned best to help them! I waited for the soldier to arrive near me then I started my speech.

"Greetings, I'm Philip Mercer. First thing, I want to tell you that I'm really, really sorry for your lost. As per the wishes of your prior queen, I'm now your new king." I watched the crowd and when I saw that everyone were paying attention to me I continued. "I'm already aware of your curse, Chrysalis asked me to try and cure you. Maybe I can, it will be risky though, I won't force anyone to submit to my treatment. The chance to survive are unknow unfortunately. If everything go well you will change, you will probably mutate to another race, my race. I'm an evolved, I'm a shapeshifting predator, I'm the strongest non-magical being on this planet. You will probably become like me. If anyone don't want to submit to the treatment then he or she can tell me, I will create another chamber where you will be unexposed. I will give you some time to think about it." I turned back and started to walk away when someone spoke up.

"Do it!" The voice shouted. "Do it! We are dead either way, queen Chrysalis already warned us about the risk. We will survive, for our queen and for us. So do it!" He repeated.

"Is this what you really want?" I asked to the crowd, they all nodded simultaneously. 

"THE HIVE WILL SURVIVE!" They all shouted together.

"Then brace yourself." 'Inhale'...'Exhale' "Here I go!" And said that I used my biomatter to block all exits, After that I created a red mist between my hands, then I expanded my arms and unleashed the virus.

The red mist that was the Blacklight, reached every single one of them, they all fell into the ground shaking and spasming while their bodies mutate. Their wings changed colour, from slimy green to a black and blood red coloration. Their muzzles started to retreat into their skulls, leaving behind human like faces. Their horns were gone too, the chitin on their body remained though.

"Now let's just hope they won't go berserker." I thought worried. After ten second of thrashing on the floor one of them stopped. I was terrified that one of them died, I started to approach him but he moved a little, he grasped the ground then he got to a kneeling position, before standing up. He wobbled a bit but managed to remain on his feet.

"Are you ok?" I asked him, hoping for an intelligent response.

"Y-yes your majesty, I feel... I feel wonderful, I think you did it!" He smiled happily."You did it! Haha, I can't sense the curse anymore. We are free!" He threw his arm on the sky losing his balance, thus falling on the ground. But he was still laughing for the joy. At his cry of joy more and more changelings started to laugh and thank the gods above. I was extremely happy of course...but something wasn't right.

"How could this be possible? Normally the blacklight turn its victims into mindless beast. With Sunset I thought I was fortunate, but now... it's not luck anymore. My version of the virus is different from the normal one. I need to do some tests and I need some more knowledge, maybe some Neverdawn scientist will be ok with teaching me. A very quick and bloody, lesson."While I was thinking the changelings all stood up now, and they were looking at me. 

"Thank you, your majesty." They all said in unison.

"Did you have any aches, pains or confusion?" I asked them, they all shook their heads. I then picked up a little detail, I couldn't sense any biomatter in the room except for mine. 
"You." I said pointing to a random one. "Come here please, I need to do a check up." The changeling ran towards me awkwardly, obviously unbalanced by her new feet, but quickly grasped the concept of how to run, must have been their changeling nature, after all they were used changing form. She stopped in front of me. I stretched out an arm forward, then I coated her in biomass. The other changelings gasped and backed away frightened.
"Don't worry."I said. "She's fine, I just need to check up on something." I used my radar and scanned her body. I found no trace of biomass inside her.

"She's not an evolved. Not one of them is. They said the curse was vanquished, maybe the virus destroyed the curse but sacrificed all the bonus of being an evolved in order to do it. Fascinating, my virus really is something else. " I retracted the tendrils from the poor girl and generated another radar pulse. As I thought, no one here is an evolved.
"Ok listen, good news is, you are free of your curse." They all cheered. "Another good news is, you are still changelings only a bit different, nothing that you've never done before am'I right?" Another cheer erupted from the crowd. "The bad news is..." They all stayed quite, waiting for me to speak. "There is no bad news!" I shouted. This caused the crowd to go crazy with joy.

Parents were hugging their childrens, lovers were kissing each other,but most of them were just crying for the good news, I can understand after so much time watching your friends and family die in a matter of a few years, I would be crying out of happiness too.

I waited for them to calm down, then I adressed them again. "Ok, now I need to go back to my house, don't worry if any problem arise just call for me in the hive mind."

"Your majesty, you can't leave it's dangerous outside, and your place is here with us. This is your hive now." A soldier said.

"I know, I know. But right now I need to go back, when I return we will start to build more houses and a new palace, also I will upgrade your military equipment and training. For now celebrate, you deserve it." I said while walking away.

I made my exit, several changelings bowed to me and thanked me. I exited the hive and headed to my home. After ten minutes of running I returned home, finding Sunset with a dragon scale in her hands, watching it. Intensely.

"What are you doing?" I asked her, she stopped staring at the scale and stood up walking towards me, then hugging me.

"Welcome back." She said with a soft kiss. "So, what happened?" She asked.

"Nothing major, I just hope you like being a queen that's all." I said nonchalantly.

"WHAT?!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ DERPY POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I was at home, alone... After the bad pony took away my mommy, I left my house and escaped them, after some time they gave up and I came home once again.

"Mommy... where are you?..." I whispered in the dark, cold corner of my room. Alone, I was so lonely. Then a loud bang on the door startled me.

"COME OUT." A voice said from outside. "WE KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE, COME OUT AND YOU WILL SEE YOUR MOM AGAIN."

I wasn't stupid i knew they were lyng, and mommy said to not trust stranger. I stood up and ran to the back of the house, there I found the kitchen's window. I climbed it and exited the house. I started to run towards the forest. Mommy said that the forest is dangerous, but maybe there they won't follow me. So I ran, they noticed me and started chasing me, I ran faster, faster, "I can't let them take me!" 

They were approaching, I started to cry. "I'm not fast enogh, and I don't know how to fly yet!"

They were close now, the forest too was close though, I could see the end of the clearing I was in and the start of the forest. "Come on! Just a bit closer! I was there, I was safe, I... 

I tripped.

I fell to the ground unceremoniously. The pony approached me and punted their rifles at me.

"D-don't kill me" I sobbed backing away from them. They chuckled.

"Oh don't worry little one, we are not here to kill you. We are here to capture you. Error." The soldier said before smashing the holder of his rifle against my head.

Before my world became all black I saw something in the forest. A creature, completely black, with yellow glowing eyes and black wings. The creature looked at me and vanished. Then nothing.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"And that's what happened in the hive." I finished recalling everithing. Sunset was looking at me, then she took a thoughtful look and muttered something under her breath.

"Phil... I'm so sorry for her death." She said softly. I just nodded, leaning my head on her shoulder.

"So." She said loudly. "You are now the king of the changelings?" I nodded and she continued. "Ok, not the weirdest thing that happened, we should try to link me to the hive mind though, that will be useful."

I grinned and responded. "Yep, I was thinking about that too. I have an idea..." I raised my hand and in front of me.
"Ok sunny, grab my hand and try to absorb my changeling genes." She nodded slowly hen said.

"Ok, I'll try." She grabbed my hand and I ordered the virus to create a copy of the genes to give to Sunset. After I sensed that the trasfer went well, I broke the handshake.

"How do you feel? Can you enter the hive mind?" I asked her.

"I-I don't know" She said slowly. "I'm seeing just green and blue dots in the distance. You though, are gold colored. Is that because you are the king?" She asked.

"Probably, I..." Then I noticed her, she was golden coloured, like me. "Interesting, it seems that I gave you the queen genes, you are now a queen changeling. Congrats!" I said cheerfully.

"Oh good. At least now I'm one in both mind and flesh." A sound interrupted us and Xarx stepped in front of us bowing.

"Good day your majesties, I noticed that your mate became a queen, that's very good. We never had a full monarchy before now. But I'm rambling, one of our few friends in the forest spotted an unusual occurrence on the edge of the forest near Ponyville." The name piqued my interest immediately, I gestured him to continue with my hand.
"Our friend saw a squad of Neverdawn chase a little filly, then when they captured her they transported her back, muttering something about an error and a laboratory. He described the filly as a probably ten years old foal with grey fur.

"No,,,"

"Blonde mane."

"No, no no..."

"...And mismatched blonde eyes"

"Derpy! They took Derpy!"

"No, nononono. Fuck! Goddammit, motherfucking son of a bitch I will kill them all!" I shouted with all my rage. Sunset looked at me and asked.

"Is her someone you know... No wait don't tell me she's...?" She stuttered worried.

"Yes, they captured Derpy, my seventh daughter. And they will rue the day they did it!" I then looked at Xarx and spoke again. "Xarx! Prepare all the avaiable troops we are going to rescue her, I need you to infiltrate their ranks and discover where they took her. Go!" 

"At once" He said before disappearing.

"I'm going to Ponyville, I'll see you when I'll come back." I said to Sunset, disabling the Hive Eye.

"Absolutely not! I'm coming with you!" She retorted.

"Sunny is too dangeorus, you are not strong enough." I said

"Not strong enough?! Phil I can compress a boulder into a marble, I cand destroy a forest with my fire. And you say I'm not strong enough?!" She shouted visibly pissed.

"Sunny, understand that they are using magical rifle and electricity. You are not resistant to neither of them." I said back calmly.

"I don't care! I can create a shield, I can move fast enough, I can help Phil!" She shouted again.

"Sunny please, believe me you are not strong enough, you need to evolve your skill in order to help me in battle. 'sigh' But I see from your eyes that you aren't convinced. Ok then I will give you a little shock, if you resist you can come along, otherwise you will stay here. Ok?" She nodded, I charged a little current in my hand and touched her. As I predicted just that tiny amount of current pained her, she collapsed into the ground screaming and thrashing because of the electricity.
"See Sunny? I used a fraction of their voltage and still you are here, completely defenseless. I can't risk losing you Sunny... Please understand that. We will think on how to make you resistant to electricity when I'll come back ok?" She weakly nodded and I helped her standing up. I carried her towards a nearby stump and she sat up on it. I gave her a little kiss and whispered in her ear. "I'll come back as soon as possible, don't worry." Then in a more playful voice I added. "And besides, it will take more than a couple of soldier to take down my awesomeness, after all I'm too good looking to die am I not?" I said in an horrible french accent, striking a model like pose while making my hair longer, just to make them sway in the wind. She giggled at my antics and smiled a bit. Then spoke up.

"Good luck, Phil. I love you." She said.

"Love you too sunny." I stood up and watched towards Ponyville. "Gotta go, see ya later!"

"Your highness." Said Xarx in the hive mind. "We are ready and waiting your command."

"Then let's move, I have a daughter to save and dozens of guard to kill." I said darkly making my way towards Ponyville.

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A week has passed from the outbreak. 

A week has passed, and the bunker is still closed, we don't know what happened to the personeel inside it. We can just hope they are alright.





We made it! We discovered how to open the bunker, we will start operation as soon as possible. Celestia is blessing us.

I walked toward the elevators, a guard motioned for me to go inside. After arriving to the lower level I exited the elevator. 
Doctor Becker was there, His green coat and perfectly styled black mane was inconfundible. He wore a white coat with the G.E.N.E. symbol on it, a dual strand of D.N.A. in a black circle. His face as always was perfect, with a perfect body, and a genial mind, Becker was the wet dream of many mares.

He gestured to me to approach, I did and when I was near enough he spoke.

"Ah! Good you are here, we were waiting for you, we are going to open the bunker. We'll start in one minute, get ready.

The guard moved toward a machine, it was a giant box made of metal, with a tesla coil on it, when Becker gave the ok, the unicorns started to charge the machine, and slowly the bunker started to open.

I was so excited! I would finally see my team again.

How wrong I was.

When the door opened, a red mist came out, it was crawling on the floor like it was alive, it touched a guard and he started to scream in pain while vomiting blood. He fell on the ground, from his back massive tumors were sprouting, after that he stood back and looked at me. Celestia his eyes... they were, I can't describe them they were an endless tunnel of darkness. Then he screamed, an horrible inpony scream, his mouth was filled with teeth. He charged a nearby guard, he bashed her into the ground multiple times before eating her head with an audible and sickening crunch.
We were all speechless, then chaos. Scientists were escaping towards the elevator while the guards were trying to kill the guard now beast, after dozens of shot it finally died.

The bunker's door meanwhile was finally opened, it was horrible, the entire room was filled with blood red tentacles that covered all the room up to the ceiling. A guard mustered the courage to step inside with a hoof.

Big mistake.

A tendril shoot out from the ground and wrapped itself around the guard, snapping the poor pony in two, then it ate him. After that multiple tendrils started to come out. The guards opened fire while retreating, a tendril hit Becker rendering him unconscious. I reached for him and put him on my shoulder, I then started to ran towards the elevator. I called one and fortunately one arrived, I entered and immediately started to click the ground button. The doors closed just before I saw multiple tendrils exiting the bunker, while killing and eating more and more guard, some of them stood up mutated in the same horror that was the first mutant.

I exited the elevator and in my panicked state, called for the emergency shutdown.

We were having another outbreak.






Author


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Your majesty, we are ready." 

"Excellent. You already know what to do?" I asked to my soldier.

"Yes your higness." One replied.

"Then go." I said. We were now in Ponyville, I just sent out my soldiers to capture and replace some guards in order to find the city commander's position, while they were gone I started to look around the city trying to find some buildings I knew from the show. Ponyville was very different now, the town hall doesn't exist, at its place was a big building made out of concrete with the Neverdawn symbol on it. little loopholes were facing all sides. The main gate was made of steel, on the front of the building was a little courtyard, on the roof there was a little skydock, four semi automatic turrets were posted on the four angles. The turrets were made of two separated cannons, a faint purple light was coming from the barrel, the turrets weren't automatic and that helped a lot. Further, I couldn't see the Sugarcube Corner nor the Carousel Boutique, obviously, the Golden Oak library was there though.

After twenty minutes, ten guards approached us, they gestured me to come forth, I followed them to the back of a nearby house then one of them said. "Your majesty, we individuated the commander Garden Soil, he is inside that yellow house a the end of the road. He is a light brown earth pony with a green mane." He explained. I was trying so hard to not laugh at his name.

I failed.

"Hahahahaha, oh, oh, Hahahaha, Oh my god! Who-Who would name his hahahaha his children Garden Soil?! With a green mane and a brown coat hahaha... weeew, ok, ok, I'm good." I cleared my throat. "Anything else?" I said.

"No your majesty." He replied, unfazed by my outburst, good discipline indeed.

"Well then you can go, I will retrieve the hostage, you will wait at the forest. Take her to my house." I ordered.

"Yes, your majesty." he said saluting.

I walked towards the house, shifting into my Red disguise. The road was empty, no guards and no habitants, nothing. I reached the yellow house, I knocked on the door and waited. After some time an audibly irritated voice answered.

"What the fuck do you want? It's two in the morning!" He said opening the door, he was like my troops desrcibed him but with deep green eyes.

"Are you Garden Soil?" I asked him.

"Yeah I'm, What do you want?" He asked irritated.

"Just one favor." I said raising a finger.

"What?" He asked.

"Die." And saying that I impaled him with a claw devouring him. After that I turned around, with the new knowledge about the whereabouts of Derpy, I headed towards the barrack. I also learned that they need a repeater in order to call the reinforces.

"It would really bad if someone destroyed it. Really bad..." I darkly thought. I stopped and headed instead towards the outskirt of the town, reaching the repeater, I coiled my fingers around one of the steel pylon and pulled until the entire structure collapsed into the ground. My good deed for the day done, I walked again toward the barrack. Meanwhile I created my armor, then my claws. When I reached the door I smashed it off of it's hinges shouting.

"ALRIGHT FUCKER, COME OUT AND DIE! YOU WILL RUE THE DAY YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD KIDNAP MY DAUGTHER!" Immediatly alarms shouted and dozens of guard exited the barrack doors. They all punted theur weapons at me.

Then hell broke loose.

There wea a lot of screams, a lot of guns being fired and a lot of blood. I ran forward while their projectile bounced off of my armored skin, I reached the first row of guards and sliced through all of them in a single slash, then I morphed my left arm into a hammerfist and slammed it in the direction of another group of guards creating blood like spikes from the ground impaling them. Others tried to fly up and go towards the turrets, I condensed some biomass in my arm, then I thrust it torward the nearby pegasus guard. My arm morphed into a long, thick whipfist, with a single sharp blade on the sides that could detach at multiple point and twist themself in order to create a drill like effect. The top of the whipfist was a incredibly sharp three pointed hook, with the movement of a normal hand, with that I can perforate and grab at the same time. In addition, on the shoulder I got a bio tank filled with more biomass that I could throw from the tip like an assault rifle.

"Awesome" I thought meanwhile my arm reached the pegasus and coated him into tendrils devouring him. I retracted my arm and started firing my biomass against the remaining guards killing a dozens more, then I noticed that my biomass couldn't go too far before withering away. I shifted again to my claws and slashed my way into the building. More and more guards went to face me, and more and more died to my hands. Thanks to the vast amount of magical knowledge inside the unicorns one I learned how to channel my magic so because there wasn't any danger of killing innocents, I started to shoot lightning frying them all. After making my way deeper into the building I finally reached the prisons. There, there was a large amount of cells filled with maimed ponies. Some looked at me scared other just gave me a side look before returning to stare at the ceiling.

"I'm not here to kill you." I said. "I'm here to free you, remember I'm Philip Mercer, king of the changelings. If you want revenge, against the one who imprisoned you, the one that killed your family then remember my name." And said that I used my biomass to destroy the bars of the cell freeing them all. They all ran away silently, but some looked at me and nodded as thank you. I continued my advance and reached the final cell, then I saw her, Derpy.

Her body was full of bruises, her mane ragged and ruined, her right eye was closed and with a black circle around it. I immediately destroyed the bars, retracted my armor and ran crouching down in front of her. She was scared to death and backed away against the wall while pleading me to not hurt her. My heart was broken right there.

I sat up and smiled at her. "Derpy..." I said softly. "Don't be scared, I'm here to save you."

"No, no you are lying you are here to beat me again aren't you? 'sniff' Just leave me alone." She said before bursting into tears.

"No Derpy, I'm really here to save you. Your mommy Windy, sent me." I said again calmly.

"M-mommy? Mommy sent you? Is she alive? I-I can meet her again?" She asked hopefully.

I was torned inside, how can I say to a child that her mother was dead? How can I when she looked so full of hope? This world, isn't fair. 

"No..." Her smile faded away. "I'm sorry Derpy... your mother is... in abetter place now." Her eyes watered again and she cryied desperate. "I'm so sorry derpy."

After ten minutes, she stopped crying. "Come on Derpy, we need to get out of here." I told her.

"Why should I?" She asked and I froze. "I'm alone now, mommy is gone, my friends are gone everypony abandoned me... Just go and let me die." She whimpered.

I gave her a slap across her muzzle and said. "Derpy. Your mother sacrificed herself to save you. She asked me to watch over you, and you will not throw away her sacrifice by giving up on life! You are a child, you have so much to live for, your mother said that her daughter was a kind gold hearted filly, and she never gave up. So who are you now?" I asked her.

"It doesn't matter! I'm alone, to them I'm an error! Something that shouldn't be alive." 'hic' "I'm alone..."

"You are not alone!" She looked at me. "I will be with you, I will protect you, I will give you a proper foalhood. If you just let me." I stretched out my hand. "So what do you say Derpy? Would you like to have me, as your guardian?"

"You promise you won't leave me alone?" I nodded.

"I won't abandon you Derpy. Trust me, your mother did." I looked at her with hope in my eyes as she grabbed my hand, with her little grey one.
> [OLD]Chapter 7 Family [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ok now Derpy, you need to trust me and close your eyes. Don't open them until I say so, got it?" I told Derpy. She nodded and closed her eyes. I Took her in my arms and started to walk towards the exit, but some hoofsteps startled me, more guards were coming. I put Derpy down and said to her. "Stay here I'll come back, I have to clear the exit." She nodded again and backed into the corner of a cell. I stood up and faced the exit, I charged some biomass ready to launch it. When the guards popped out I threw my biomass coating all of them killing them instantenously. I absorbed the biomass and returned to Derpy. I took her again in my arms and ran away. 

We managed to exit without encountering anymore guards, I was using my radar to individuate them and avoiding them. When we exited I ran towards the edge of the forest, here a group of changelings were awaiting me. I approached them and put down Derpy. "Alright, take her to my home. I will come back shortly, I have business to take care of." They all nodded and approached Derpy, she was scared of them and backed against my legs. "Don't be afraid Derpy, they are my loyal soldier, they will take you to a safe place. Don't worry." She nodded a little and let go of my legs. I nodded to them and gave a little smile to Derpy before turning around. I sprinted towards the barrack just in time to see the remaining guards all posted in the courtyard, there was thirty of them. "Perfect." I thought.

I jumped into the air and I should have landed in the middle of them but instead I made my way down into the ground. There I expanded all of my biomass around the hole, when I reached my maximum radius I unleashed a great number of thick, extremely sharp and deadly tendrils towards the surface, impaling and killing all of them in less than two seconds. After devouring them all I coated the entire barrack in biomass with the order of eating away all of the building. This would have sent a message to all that suffered because of her. I bring hope for them, this day I showed them that Celestia isn't invincible. This will show them, that fighting her is possible.

After that I returned back to the forest heading towards home. After two minutes of running I came back and witnessed Sunset talking with Derpy in the garden in front of the house. I walked towards and Sunset noticed me.

"Welcome back." She said. "I see that your mission had gone well."

"Yep, Derpy is now safe, she will stay with us for the time being." I said. "Now come on Derpy, go to sleep, it's late for you ." She pouted a little and said.

"I'm not-Yaaaawn- tired..." She said yawning adorably.

"Sure you are." I said calmly. "Come on, to bed. Tomorrow I'll give you the tour of my palace." 

"Ok. Night, mr Mercer, night mrs Shimmer." She said before heading into home.

"Alright." I said then continued. "Hey Sunny I learned how to throw lighting, wanna see?"

"Please no. The other one was extremely painful." She said taking a step back.

"Alright, alright. How about this, I will give you the genes I accumulated so far. How about that?" I offered her.

She shrugged and said "Ok."

I offered her my hand and she took it, I then started to transfer genes to her. When she got all of them she took a step back and tried them. The claws were like mine, but with less red and more orange colouration, her hammerfists though were a little smaller, her armor wasn't very thick also hers was a fiery red with a touch of yellow on the face and joints, and just like mine covered her completely even the face.

"Amazing..." She said softly. "I can feel my magic getting stronger while I'm in this armor. We need to study the capabilities of the virus more thoroughly." She continued. She then created my whipfist, but when she tried to fire biomass, she fired actual fire instead, like a flamethrower. Interesting, the virus adapts itself for the user abilities.

"Ok, now for the final test." I said making a little current in my hand. "Stay still, the current is the same as before." I touched her but this time she didn't even flinch. "Success!" I said with a smile.

"Oh good at least that major weakness is gone now." She said relieved.

"Hey." I started. "I have an idea, why don't we go visit the girls? One of them absorbed some of my genes, maybe they can absorb more, and yours as well. And with that you would become effectively their mother, in status and blood." I said. She took a thoughtful expression before smiling and saying.

"I would be delighted to be considered their mother." She said smiling softly at me. I leaned down and gave her a kiss, then I said.

"Let's go then." We headed for the basement and looked at the girls. They grew a little more, but Fluttershy was the more noticeable, probably because she absorbed my genes first. I walked towards her and touched her head once more. Nothing happened, I motioned to Sunset to try, when she touched Fluttershy a moltitude of tendrils enveloped her hand before retracting into Fluttershy once again.

"I-I...That was amazing... I think she took a bit of my genes but nothing major and..." She stopped mid sentence when she noticed that on Fluttershy head a streak of orange hairs appeared, the streak travelled from the base of her skull down for all the hairs lenght.

"Incredible..." I said amazed. "It looks good on her." I said smiling towards Sunset.

She was completely speechless, but managed to say."She's beautiful... She got a part of me, it's, it's marvellous."

"Let's continue, now I'm curious on what they will pick from the both of us." I walked in front of Raimbow Dash this time, again I touched her head and the tendrils shot out. She picked the genes of my claws and electric abilities. She sprouted a pair of claws coated with lightining for a few seconds , before they reshaped into arms again, her wings too were crackling with electric power. Sunset touched her too and when the transfer finished Raimbow's wings assumed a more orange like coloration, like the sky when sunset approach.

We continued going towards Rarity, from me she picked out my camouflage pigments and the whipfist, in fact she became completely invisible for some time inside the cocoon, not even the tendrils that touched her signaled her position before she reappeared. When sunset gave her her genes, she gained the mastery of the telekinesis also the ends of her curled hair became a fading shade of red.

Next was Applejack, I had a hunch that she would have picked my strenght and armor. She indeed picked them, coating herself in tendrils before revealing a completely orange and yellow plate armor that covered her completely. When Sunest gave her the genes, Applejack bursted into flame.

"Fuck! What's happening?!" I shouted terrified.

"I don't know!" Sunset too was freaking out. I was ready to open the cocoon when the fire subsided. A soft light came from the inside of the armor, as if lava was coursing inside the armor itself.

"What happened?" I asked her.

"She took my fire path... But that shouldn't be possible, she is not a unicorn." She explained then continued. "Probably it will be more of a passive ability? Like being fireproof?"

"It could be... I'll keep an eye on her though." I said.

"That would be best. I hope she is all right..." She said.

"Come on, don't dwell on those thought, let's continue."

We reached Pinkie, when I touched her nothing happened though. That was very peculiar not even Sunset's touch did anything. Pinkie was being Pinkie even when she was an infant. I chukled a bit thinking about it, when we were ready to leave and go towards Twilight, Pinkie opened her eyes for a moment, in that fraction I saw that her eyes were now etherochromatic one blue and one orange. I smiled softly at this, Sunset too. Then we moved to the last.

Twilight, we reached her pod and transferred our genes to her, from me she took the ability to shape and control biomatter, also she created a blade, long more than her arm, the blade was a shade of purple and black shaped like a crescent moon, she took my electricity path too coating her blade in lightning. From Sunset, she grew a single streak of orange hair instead of her normal purple one, she also took a big chunk of her magic and her fire path making Sunset gasp in disbelief.

"What?! That's impossible! She can't have two path, no one can!" She shouted. "I-I don't know what will happen to her now." She said worried.

"I think it's normal." I started. "You see, the girls were born from the aspect of the Elements of Harmony Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity, Honesty, Laughter and Magic. Twilight here is the embodiment of Magic itself, so I think it's normal for her to have more than one path." I explained.

"That- That could be, I never researched the Elements so I don't know if this is the real reason, but it's a good guess. Still we should keep an eye on her too." She said and I nodded.

"For tonight." I said, changing the subject ."I will teach you how to create living life form from the biomass, then we will do some experiment. Ready?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ THE NEXT DAY, CELESTIA POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"I'm here to report your higness." A guard said bowing.

"Speak." I ordered, eyeing him.

"Your majesty, the G.E.N.E. facility is in the middle of another breakout, this one much more deadlier and faster than the precedent." He said.

"Explain." I said coldly, while an intense burning rage made itself know inside of me.

"We managed to open the vault your majesty, but we found inside that the structure was completely covered in red biological substance. The substance killed all the guards inside converting them into monsters, Dr Becker was injured too in the attack, right now the facility is in lockdown. We call it the Red Event" He blurted out.

"Dammit! I can't believe it. Not only did I lose the Elements but the facility too is now useless." I angrily thought.

"That's not all your majesty." He continued.

"Then speak!" I ordered him. "Don't waste my time."

"The substance, is growing. Our estimates show that the Red Event will completely take over the facility in a week. After that we don't know. We don't know if it can get out and the vault kept it inside or if the Red Event is only expanding inside and once it will coats everything inside it, it will stop. We just know that if that thing get outside, we will all die. The Red Event ooze out an unknown number and quality, of diseases." He finished.

I hummed a bit before retorting. "Execute order sixtysix." His eyes widened. "The entire facility will be destroyed and sent into the void. Now go."

"Damn it, I lost my most important research facility in one night, I just hope that Dr Becker survive. I will need his help to rebuild another one. It's all 000 fault, I know it. I angrily thought.

"As you wish, your majesty." He said before going out.

I heard a knock from the door. "Come in." I said. A single Neverdawn soldier entered, he saluted then started to talk.

"Your majesty, the barracks situated in Ponyville was attacked this very night, no one survived, the building itself is gone, no rubble and no blood or corpses. The repeater turret was also destroyed." He said still saluting.

"Have we any idea of the culprit?" I asked him.

"None your majesty, as I said no one survived to give us a description of the attacker." He said

"I want all reports of the Ponyville's barracks, everything that happened, I want reports for every single little thing no matter how small. I want to know what in Tartarus  happened there, heads will roll if you don't find the perpetrator, am I clear?" I retorted.

"Y- ye-yes your majesty." He stuttered before going away.

"Damn you 000... I know that you did it, but don't worry. You will be punished." I thought.

"Moondancer!" I called. A vanilla coated mare with a crimson mane and three different streaks of colour in her mane and tail entered the throne room, she was wearing a pair of squared glasses. She bowed in front of me and asked.

"What can I do for you, my princess?" 

"I want the genetic branch of our study to be prioritized. I want experiment 0 and 1 operative in two weeks time. Understood?" I ordered.

"I live to serve your majesty, I will get to work immediately." She answered.

"Excellent..."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Got everything?" I asked Sunset. We past the night trying to create a some sort of guardian for the girls when we will not be around. 

"I still need to refine my control, maybe tomorrow or in a few hours I will be ready to create the first guardian." She said.

"Very well then, I'll head to the hive. I have a training regime to create." She gave me a little peck on the cheek and I made my way towards the hive.

At some point I used the Hive Eye to contact Xarx. "Xarx, I want all the soldiers in the throne room for a meeting."

"At once your majesty." He responded.

After ten minutes of running I arrived to the hive, the changelings were rebuilding their houses outside, a little farm was on the outskir of the settlement. The changelings all saluted or greeted me when I passed, I greeted them back before heading inside the hive. I entered the throne room and saw that the changelings were alredy there, all ready.

"Very well gentlemen, welcome to my refresher course, here I will teach you all about the weapons, armors and tactics of the equestrians, I will teach you how to fight, how to survive and how to spy the enemy, here you will become the best of the best, you will crush the enemy with superior firepower and training." I looked to all of them and noticed that all were paying attention. I continued.

"First." I created a copy of a classic rifle of the equestrian a short and compact rifle with a medium barrel and no magazine, with my biomass." This, is the ordinary rifle for the troops, it's a 12X2 telekinetic rifle with three mode of fire, auto, semi-auto, and single. This weapon is cheap, fast and easy to get your hands on. Because of that it's used only by the police force, simple armor will suffice against this." I then created another weapon, it was formed by a long barrel, a scope and a wooden handle. "This one, is the standard automatic rifle of the Neverdawn, it fires an automatic barrage of telekinetic and elemental projectile, the calibre can variate from a 12X2 up to 20X4. This type of weapons are extremely precise and deadly, only the best armors can withstand their penetration force."

"There are many type of weapons in the possession of the Neverdawn but this is their most used one, we will talk about the artillery and heavy class battleship in another session. In this one I want you to understand what you will probably encounter. Next is this." I created a full body armor, black with the Neverdawn insignia on it.

"This one is the standard armor of the Neverdawn, it can be extremely tough to cut and penetrate, if you don't have an extremely sharp sword or an enchanted one, then forget about cutting through it. But like everything in this world, it have a weakness, here." I pointend on the part of the armor that cover the collarbone. "If you manage to hit here, you will pierce through it, gaining an insta kill of the user."

I continued to talk about the variations of the Neverdawn arsenal until an incredibly loud and powerful roar pierced the air. The changelings all panicked and started to take their weapons.

"Stop!" I shouted. "What's happening?"

"Sir that was an Ursa's roar!" One of them stated

"An Ursa eh?" I thought, then I spoke out loudly."Don't worry, I will take care of it."

They all stared at me with wide eyes. "Sir you can't be serious, not even our queen could defeat it." Xarx said.

"Remember Xarx, that I'm much stronger than what you think. Bring all the civilians inside the hive." I ordered and said that I ran outside, I used the wall to go outside in order to not encounter any resistance. After I exited I saw it.

An immense bear the size of two stories bulding, completly blue with stars inside it. It was at least 600 meters away from the hive, so I ran towards it head on. It noticed me and talked.

"Hunter." He said with a deep male voice. "I was excepting you."

"What do you want Ursa?" I demanded.

"I'm here to challenge you! A duel to the death to confirm who is the real apex predator of this jungle. If you win I'll die, if you lose I will devour you and all of your bug friends. Like this." He said and opened one of his paws to show me that he took one of the changelings, eating her immediately after. 

My hands were so clenched that I could have smashed a steel bar. "Very well Ursa! I accept, just don't start to ask for mercy, because you won't receive any. For the crime of murdering one of my subjects, I,  Philip Mercer, king of the changelings, hereby sentence you to death!" I roared out. 

I jumped with all my force against his gut making him whimper for the impact, there I started to slash at his star like flesh, I ripped off a good chunk of it before tossing it away, meanwhile the Ursa was roaring in pain. He used one of his paw to swat me aside against the trees. I stood up once again. "Motherfucker!" I thought. I started to ran again, but this time I activated my armour and hammerfists, when he tried to crush me with his paw I jumped back and slammed my fists into it, with a soundly crack I knew I broke his bone, he roared again and tried to swat me away with his other paw. But this time I was ready I crouched down and dodged the sweep, I created a single spike that sprouted from the terrain and impaled his broken one.

Now that he was pinned I waited for him to try and hit me again, when he did I grabbed his other arm, planting myself in the ground with more biomass, I then started to pull until I heard his shoulder dislocating. But I didn't stop there, I pulled more and more until his entire arm was ripped off. He roared with all his might before silencing and just staring at his severed arm, then he looked at me. He was clenching his teeth incredibly hard then he broke free of his restrain, he hit me again launching me against a boulder destroying it. I stood up and I saw him grabbing his own arm then nearing it to his stump, the two pieces then reconnected and he regained his arm. 

I created my whipfist and jumped into the air, I thrusted my arm towards his snout and grabbed him, then I pulled myself towards him, when I landed on his head I created another whipfist, I used one to close his jaw, while with the other, I tripped him making him crash down into the ground. Then I pumped more biomass into the ground and started to restrain him again with a multitude of tendrils. When he was incapacitated I used my whipfists to grab it's upper jaw and started to pull. I jumped down from behind him but I continued to pull. With an animalistic roar I severed his upper jaw completely from his skull. After that I launched the jaw away with all my force, I jumped and landed on the remains of his jaw, teeth and blood were everywhere he was in extreme pain, but I didn't care. He killed one of my subjects, he will die.

I created my hammerfists and started bashing in his skull, again and again until I saw cerebral matter together with the shards of skull and the blood. I then started to devour him.

After one minute of devouring I finished. I gained from him a much more large and efficient magical core, I also sharpened my other senses, but the biggest change was my sight, I could see a multitude of canals and rivers everywhere, in the trees, in the air. I looked at myself and saw that myself too had these canals. I charged some magic and saw that the ones in my hands brightened. I could see magic in all it's form.

"Amazing... this will be extremely useful against magic users." I thought and with that I returned to the hive.

When I came back Xarx and his men were there. "Your majesty! You're okay!" he shouted happily

I scoffed. "Of course I am. A giant bear will not take me down after all." I then continued. "Xarx, start training your troops accordingly to what I told you about the Neverdawn, I will start and search around to find you weapons."

I departed from the hive, after two minutes of running I sensed another creature nearby. I stopped and looked around, with my new magic sight I saw a pony hidden in the foliage. I created an underground tendril and captured the pony, I approached him, the tendril was keeping him still. He was a bat pony, with yellow eyes, a black coat and silver hair, it was clear he was living in the forest for some time, his mane and coat were completely ruffed and dirty.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"Me... me is Feral Wing, good bugs call me that." He said.

"Alright Feral, why were you following me?" I asked again.

"Me was follow you because you saved little pony, in the city. It was me that tell the bugs of her!" He explained.

"So it was you?" He nodded. I didn't sense any lie in his statement so I let him go. "Then thank you, you helped save my daughter. How can I repay you?"

"Give me permission to hunt here." He said.

"That's all?" he nodded. "Alright then, you have my permission to hunt in my territory, happy?" He nodded vigorously with a big smile before flapping his wings, he took fly and disappeared in the forest. 
"What a strange guy. The question is, why is he here? I will ask Xarx later."

I continued to run until I returned home. Sunset greeted me and we walked inside.

"Derpy just woke up." She said. "What was that noise though?"

"An Ursa attacked the hive. I took him down. Oh, he gave me the ability to see the magic in the world, wanna try his genes?" I offered her my hand wich she took eagerly, after the transfer she formed her armor only different. This time she was floating instead of walking, also with my magic sight I could see that her core and canals were much larger and thicker.

"Wow... My magic got stronger still..." She returned to her normal state. "You should really greet Derpy, she is in the kitchen." I nodded and headed for the kitchen where I saw Derpy put her cup in the sink.

"Good morning Derpy." I greeted her.

"Good morning mr Mercer I-" I cut her off.

"No mister with me, just Phil ok?" She nodded and continued.

"Mr- Phil I wanted to ask you something." She said

"Ask then." I said softly sitting down and motioning to her to sit down next to me.

She sat down and asked. "How did you meet my mommy?"

I sighed. "This... is not a good topic Derpy, I met your mother inside the G.E.N.E. facility, she was a prisoner like me. For the evil actions of some scientists I was forced to fight her. I refused, I refused but they then threatened her to mutate her, they wanted to render her a mindless monster." Derpy's eyes were watering. I continued. "She asked me to kill her." I whispered. "I refused but she told me that death was better than becoming a mindless zombie. She then made me promise to watch over you, and I will no matter what." She was crying now, I hugged her and she cried onto me. I waited for her to finish and when she stopped crying, she looked at me.

"T-thank you... for telling me... I needed to know." She whispered.

"I'm sorry Derpy, for everything." I said to her.

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault." She said.

"Still, I couldn't save her, it was my fault, I should have done something more. I'm sorry." I replied.

"It wasn't your fault. You did what you could. And... if she forgave you for this, then I forgive you too." She said softly.

"Thanks Derpy, this really means a lot." I whispered to her. We were there for a bit when I suddenly felt a movement inside the basement. I put Derpy down and headed towards the basement worried that some monster entered.

I entered in an hurry and then looked around, the pod were all empty and I couldn't see the girls anywhere. I shifted to my magical sight and gasped in awe.

They were all there invisible to the naked eye, the girls were in front of me watching me, then their invisibility fell and they returned visible. A big smile made it's way on my face.

"Sweetie, come to give your father a big hug would you?" I said crouching down and opening my arms.

"Daddy!" They all shouted in unison tackling me into the ground hugging me.

"I'm so happy to see you all awake." I said, I hugged all of them making sure to not crush them or their wings. When I broke the hug Pinkie thrust a hand inside her pink poofy hairs and gave me a cupcake, where she found it is a mystery.

"Thanks Pinkie." I said. She tilted her head and asked.

"Pinkie? Is that my name? Uuuuh I like my name." She giggled. They all watched me and asked in unison except Pinkie.

"What's my name?" "No my name first!" "I said me!" "ME!" "ME!"

"Stop!" I said firmly. "I will give all of you names don't worry, first." I pointed to Fluttershy. "You are Fluttershy." I said, she smiled. "You are Rainbow Dash, and will be the fastest, I just know it." I said ruffling her head. I let her go and looked towards Pinkie. "You are indeed Pinkie, but your full name shall be Pinkamena Pie. I can see you like it." I said watching her bounce around and smiling brightly. "You are Rarity, a gem among some, but first and foremost a generous friend." I told her in the eyes, she smiled and nodded. "You are Applejack. I said pointing at her, like a tree stay true to yourself and do not be afraid of being honest." I told her. She nodded firmly. "And at last, you will be Twilight. You can already see it don't you? The magic in the air and in the soil, it is yours to command always remember this." I told her. "But be warned, from power comes also responsibilities." I said absolutely serious. She winced a bit but nodded. "And all of you are in the Mercer family always wear your names with pride for they are yours, and welcome to the family." I said finally.

Fluttershy asked softly. "Who is she?" pointing to Derpy. They all stopped and looked at her.

"She is Derpy Hooves. The daugther of a friend of mine, she will stay with us too." I said. The girls were all beaming.

"Weeeeee a new friend. Hello I'm Pinkie Pie and I'm incrediblyously happy to meet you" Pinkie said jumping in the face of Derpy. then I noticed a little tiny detail. The girls were all naked, they were little girls yes, but still. I took Pinkie in my arms and said.

"Yes it's beautiful but first we need to give you some clothes. Wait here a moment." I said then I opened the Hive Eye. "Sunny, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, what's up?" She asked, looking at me.

"The girls woke up! Come and meet them!" I said. She gasped and said.

"I'm coming stay there!" She shouted excited.

After ten seconds flat Sunset burst out of the door.

"Ohmygosh you are so cuuuuute" She squeked. She grabbed little Applejack and snuggled her, the little girl giggled and responded in kind.

"Alright girls, say hello to your mommy!" I presented Sunset to them, they all watch her with wide eyes before shouting.

"Mommy!" They swarmed her tackling her into the ground while laughing, Sunset too was laughing.

"Alright Sunny, now that you are here I have something to ask you. I need you to pick up some outfits for them." I said to her.

"I'll love to." She said under the pile of little girls. "Give me some minutes though hehehe."

I noticed Derpy looking at the unfolding scene, she sighed sad. I patted her on the head.

"It reminds you of your mommy, doesn't it?" I asked her softly.

"Yeah... I miss her so much." She said.

"I can't bring her back Derpy, but I will do my best to be a proper guardian for you, Sunset too would be happy, you know? She really likes you, and she cares for you." I told her.

"Really? She does?" She asked.

"Yep, I'm serious." I patted her again."Don't rush dear, take your time, cry your tears and when you are done, give us the beautiful, cheerful little filly your mother talked about." I finished with a little smile.

"Alright." She said softly.

"Ok I'm ready." Said Sunset. "Girls stay still please." She coated them in tendrils and when she retracted them I saw the new clothes of the girls.

Fluttershy wore a sleevless butter colored shirt with a pink overcoat that covered her arms but it wasn't covering her belly, she also had a light lavender skirt without any cover on her legs, on her foot a pair of light blue ankle boots.

Rainbow Dash wore a sleeveless black shirt that covered her entire form, on her hands a pair of light blue gloves appeared, she had a pair of short jeans and a pair of white sneakers.

Rarity wore a dress that covered her al the way to her knees, the dress was purple colored with fire details orange coloured. She wore a pair of shoes without laces that opened in the back of the feet, but covered the rest, they were red coloured.

Applejack wore a red and white plaid shirt with a brown coat, she wore a pair of leather shorts, she had a pair of brown boots at her feet.

Pinkie Pie wore apink shirt, a light blue jacket and a pink skirt, on her feet were a pair of mary jane with a lower heel they were pink.

Twilight wore a purple shirt, a lavender coat covered her shoulder, she had a pair of light purple leggings with long socks that came out of her black leather boots.

All in all they looked amazing.

"You are all beautiful..." "It's so good to have the whole family reunited."
> [OLD]Chapter 8 The guardians of the forest [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Come on girls." I said looking at them. "Come upstairs, I'll show you your rooms."

They all cheered with a "Yay!" before running upstairs. And they exited the home, right. Just like I told them 'sigh'.

"And who are you?" I heard Aathurnas say. "You are what? Snacks for me?." He chuckled. I ran upstair and I was ready to destroy the door and skin that dragon alive before a yelp came from him. I stopped curious and opened the door normally, then I saw the funniest scene I have ever seen. There he was, Aathurnas pinned into the ground from six little girls while they were all riding him. Meanwhile Aathurnas was trying to say something but Pinkie was on his snout blocking him from making any sound except for some grunts.

"Yuuhu come on fly!" Said Rainbow. "Fly, fly." Cheered the others. As amusing as the scene was I needed to show my girls their rooms.......

Maybe I'll wait a little bit though, that would be a lesson for him, don't eat anything sentient.

After ten minutes of cute torture I intervened. "Come on girls, release your prisoner." I said them.

"But we want to fly!" They replied. Twilight was flailing her arms in the air while saying that.

"I will teach you soon, for now come back inside." I said softly taking Twilight in my arms.

"Ok, thanks daddy!" They said, and hopped off of Aathurnas, heading inside. He had wide eyes and was looking at me fearfully.

'gulp' "They are your daughters, Master?" He asked scared.

"Yes, Aathurnas, they are, and you will defend them, play with them and if I see even one of their hair out of place...Let's just say that we will need to pick you up with a spoon." I said smiling at him with a full fanged mouth.

He nodded vigorously before re-entering his cave. I shook my head an entered home. "Ok girls follow me."
I took them on the second floor, then I assigned to each one of them a room. The rooms were all the same, so they could personalize them however they like. 

"Girls." I called. They quickly exited their room and looked at me. Derpy though wasn't there. "I need to get out and do some business, mommy has to come too, so..." I pointed at Fluttershy. "Fluttershy will be in charge until we came back." The others groaned while Fluttershy 'yelled' a "Yay". "If you need anything, ask Aathurnas, he will help you." And said that I leaned towards Fluttershy and whispered. "Don't let them do anything too reckless, alright?"

"Don't worry dad." She whispered back. "I will make you proud."

I smiled and called Sunset. "Sunny! We have to go on a little trip, I'll wait for you outside." I reached Derpy's room and knocked on the door.

"Come in." She said. I entered and she was sitting on the edge of her bed, looking down.

"Hey Derpy, are you okay?" I asked her.

"Yes Phil... I'm...okay." She said sadly. 

"Hey I have an idea. Do you want to see my palace in the hive?" I asked cheerfully.

"Y-yeah, I mean, it's better than staying here crying right?" She whispered.

"Then I'll call Xarx, he will guide you to the hive." I said

"You are not coming?" She asked.

"I need to do some business in the forest. Don't worry though I won't stay away for long, after that we will all visits the entire hive together. Tell me... What do you think of the girls?" I said to her.

"They are nice... Pinkie is my favourite so far, she talks like my mommy. The others, well, I need to know them better." She responded.

"It's okay, I'm happy that you got along with Pinkie, she is a really good friend. Now come on I already alerted Xarx, he will be here in ten minutes." She nodded and we exited.

After a minute, Xarx showed up and took Derpy to the hive. After a bit Sunset exited the house and asked. "Where are we going? Who will watch over the girls?"

" I made Fluttershy the one in charge, Derpy is visiting the hive and we need to go and create some guardians to defend the forest from intruders." I replied.

"Are you sure Fluttershy will rein them in? And are you sure that Derpy is safe?" She asked.

"Absolutely." I said, and we headed towards the edge of the forest.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ FLUTTERSHY POV ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Oh my..." I thought watching Rainbow trying to reach the ceiling while flapping her wings. "Please Rainbow, it's dangerous..." I said.

"Come on Flutter, where is your sense of adventure?" She replied, flapping her wings harder, then in a quick burst she shot up in the air and hit the ceiling. Her head broke the wooden ceiling and she remained stuck in it. "Awww..." She groaned.

"Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, daddy will be furious." I thought. "Rainbow! Are you ok?" I asked worried.

"Weeeeeeeeee" I heard Pinkie shout, she was running against the wall, then she walked on it, then on the ceiling and repeated when she returned on the floor. Leaving big holes where she walked. 

"Pinkie! You are ruining the walls!" I said, but she ignored me.

"Mmmh let's see if I do this I obtain..." Twilight muttered before transforming our table in a watermelon. "Success!" She yelled throwing her hands to the sky.

"Twilight please, transform it back..." I said, but she too ignored me.

"This curtain could use some more style! Oh I know I'll do it." Rarity said ripping the curtains off with her telekinesis.

"NO! Rarity! The curtains!" I shouted. "Leave them alone."

"Hey look!" Said Applejack. "I can lift the entire sofa!" She said while lifting it on her head.

"Applejack! Put it down!" I scolded her. 

More and more noise was forming inside the house, and more damage was being done. I couldn't take it anymore and I snapped.

"ENOUGH!" I shouted. they all stopped and looked at me. "STOP MAKING DISASTERS!". The girls were looking at me with wide eyes before going still and falling face first into the ground. They weren't moving anymore.

"No... What have I done?! I killed them? Nonononono... I need to find dad... he will fix this..." I grabbed them and positioned them on the sofa. "I'm sorry..." I said crying "I-I will fix this." Then I ran outside.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Any ideas on what guardians do you want to create?" Sunset asked.

"Yep. Here I'll show you." We were now on the west edge of the forest, Ponyville was on the north one. I created a human figure with my biomass, it was completely black with red eyes, long arms and long legs. Its entire body was covered in cancerous growths making it more horror-like. It was three meters tall and four tentacle sprouted from his back.
"I'll call this, a spectre. This one is here to scare off anyone who wants to enter the forest without authorization."
The spectre was an hybrid between an enderman and the slenderman, it could become invisible, teleport and it oozed out of his body a chemical compost that causes hallucinations in the victim, also hearing it's scream would knock anybody unconscious, then the guardian will bring he or she, out of the forest. It was the perfect non-lethal guardian.

"Spooky." Said Sunset. "That's all?" She asked.

"Nope, I asked you to come with me because you will create more copies of it while I create the other type of guardians, I will divide the forest in three sectors. The first one will be patrolled by the spectres, the medium one will be patrolled by more lethal guardian, and finally the inner circle will be defended by the most powerful and lethal ones." I explained. "Now I'm going inside to create the others, make like a thousand of that, then reach me." She nodded and I took off.

I reached the middle circle of the forest and started to engineer my guardians. "Let's see, I need something that is both scary and dangerous, but what?....Aha, Lovecraft!" With an idea in mind I started to create the first one. An enormous beast covered in black fur, six meters tall with a mouth that opened vertically and that covered the entire length of the head. It's eyes were pink and protected by bones protuberance. It's arms were armed with incredibly sharp claws, also it's arms had two forearm, normally the gug didn't talk. But mine did.



"Master." It said in a deep male voice. "What are your orders?" He said bowing.

"You will protect me and my family from intruders, here." I gave him my memories of Sunset and the girls, the changelings and Aathurnas."These ones are permitted inside the forest, everyone else will die understood?" I commanded.

"Yes, master." It replied.

"Now wait here until Sunset reaches you, she will create more clones of you and... wait a second." I said and started to think. "Why don't I make them self replicating? I'll give them a maximum amount of copies so they don't cover the entire forest, and I'll have a semi-invincible guardian who can self-replicate. It's perfect!" I turned around smirking.
"I need to do a little modification, stay still." I reached it with my tendrils and started to modify it's genetic characteristics rendering it self replicating.When I was finished I saw it cough and then throw out of it's mouth a little copy of itself. "Perfect."

Then I created another Lovecraftian beast, I had a heavy fighter now I needed a quick one, so I created the ghasts. Bipedal abominations with a vague human face, completely white with white eyes, a skeletal frame and long acuminated claws, it had powerful legs to run fast, they will be stronger in groups.The ghast was tall as a little horse no more than one meter. All in all it was monstrous. 



"I have to go now, spread around in the forest and defend it with your lives if necessary." Without awaiting for a response I went into the inner circle of the Everfree.

"Let's see. What is deadlier than a gug?Let's see what happen if I kick the mutation rate in overdrive and go at random." I thought, I created a mass of tendrils and as I said I augmented the mutation rate. After the tendrils got away I saw my new guardian. It was a bipedal creature covered in brown fur, a pair of antlers sprouted from his head, his hair were black and a complete mess, his eyes  were a bright green that glowed in the dark, his mouth was tiny but filled with razor sharp teeth. His torso was covered in bark, multiple branches sprouted from his back, his arms finished with incredibly long and sharp claws, his legs were completely made out of wood, inside his torso a beating wooden core was visible before more branches covered it completely, hiding it. He was 1.8 meters tall. I'll call this one the Woodman.

"Greetings creator." He said with a bow. "I'm here to serve, what are your orders?"

"I want you to defend this section of the forest, what can you do exactly?" I asked.

"I can enter every tree and move inside the forest as I please, I can regenerate myself indefinitely if there is a tree in a kilometer around me, I can turn into ironwood and become extremely hard to kill. I can talk to the wild fauna and flora, I also can turn invisible. My weapons are this claws, my intelligence and my collection of poison and venom from nature itself. I can control the flora and ask it to block a passage or to attack an enemy." He explained.

"Marvellous, now wait here. I need to create three more guardians." I said, he nodded and I returned to work. This time though I got an idea. I created another mess of tendrils and when they retracted I saw my new guardian. A xenomorph, but a much more powerful one than the ones in the movies.

"Greetings master." She said in a feminine voice.

"Uh a female xenomorph, ok I'll go with that." She was like the xenomorph, she was taller though up to eight meters tall, completely black and armed with extreme strength and a powerful tail, her face however wasn't without eyes, they were tiny and black but they were there, also she was more muscular than a normal xenomorph, from her back ten tendrils sprouted out with razor sharp stingers that dripped poison, the poison at contact with the ground burned it and created a green smoke of death.

"What are your abilities?" I asked her.

"I can travel incredibly fast, also my armor is almost impenetrable, my poison is strong enough to corrode metals, my tendrils and tail can penetrate even the most resistant armor, my bite can crush a skull with ease. I can see in the dark and heat signatures, and I have echolocation. Also I would like to be called Regina." She explained. I nodded and said.

"Very good, now wait there with Woodman until I complete the other two." She nodded and went next to Woodman. I then created another guardian, this one would be a mystery like Woodman.

When my tendrils retracted, a humongous bipedal figure stood out. He was ten meters tall, he got four incredibly muscular arms, he was a deep red coloration with yellow glowing eyes. His mouth was nonexistent and he had a massive torso and powerful legs, the ends of each forearms consisted of a hammerfist, big enough to destroy boulder with a little movement. As I was expecting he didn't talk.

"Master." Woodman said. "He's saying that it's a pleasure to meet you."

"You can understand him?" I asked, and Woodman nodded. "Very well then, tell me what can he do."

"He said that he is incredibly strong, enough to lift a house if needed, he also said that he can morph his fist with claws and blades. He can jump up to one hundred meters and run very fast, he admitted that he is not the brightest of us and as such he is more useful when he follow orders. He said that his name is Viribus." Woodman said.

"Very well Viribus, go next to the other while I create the last guardian." I said. He nodded and I started with the new guardian, this one will be the strongest of them. And I have an idea on who to create.

When I was finished, I retracted my tendrils and admired my masterpiece. A bipedal being, three meters tall with white hair, a mask with three tips the central one being the longest that covered his eyes, a white robe adorned his entire figure a central blue crystal was ion his chest, seven long case black coloured hanged down from his robe they were attached to a golden ring on his waist while in his black gloved hands a glaive formed. The glaive was white with a red handle, the pull was black and yellow, his legs were covered in black cloth and he was hovering on the ground, his blade was made out of solid lightning. Ferdinand was born.



"Greetings, Emperor." He said.

"Ferdinand." I said. "Tell me everything you can do."

"As you wish. I can teleport, my strength is in the order of the terajoules of energy, my blade can cut through everything thanks to an atomic reaction that strips the electrons of the materials that I want to cut destroying it's bonds. I can move without teleporting up to mach 3 if needed, I'm almost indestructible, the only thing that can hurt me is you Emperor. I can command an army if you wish, or I can be your personal guardian." He finished with a bow.

"Thank you Ferdinand, you will defend this part of the forest, the only one that can cross this area are myself, my subjects and family, you will command this little squad. The others are there." I said pointing to the other three guardians. "I have the maximum trust in your abilities." I finished.

"I won't disappoint you, Emperor." He said before teleporting away next to the other three guardians.

Then Sunset dropped from the sky and greeted me. "Hey Phil, I finished with the Spectre and the other ones were self replicating so I came here, who are they?" She said pointing at the guardians.

"They are the four main guardians of the forest. They are Ferdinand, Viribus, Regina and Woodman." I pointed each of them and the nodded in return. "They will defend the inner circle of the Everfree." I said

"Are you sure they can? I want to test them." She said. I looked at her amused before grinning and saying.

"Very well. Guardians!" I called them. "Sunny here wants to test you, she will try to go past you, you will stop her. No lethal blow, but no caresses either, she's pretty strong. Ok I'll give you five minutes before starting." I then looked at Sunset. "You should prepare yourself, they are pretty strong."

"Don't worry, I'm strong too." She said boasting.

"We will see."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ FLUTTERSHY POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Where is he?" I thought. I was running inside the forest for what seemed like hours, I was desperate but at least I stopped crying. I was lost though.

"Anyone there?" I called, hoping for someone to hear me, but nobody came. I was alone, I was never alone I lived with my sisters besides me up until then, I was lonely.

A roar covered the normal sounds of the forest and a manticore jumped against me pinning me down.
"P-p-please mr manticore don't eat me. I-I-I need to find my dad." The manticore stopped and looked at me strangely.
"He is a tall man with black hairs." A drop of sweat formed on the manticore's forehead. "He wore a long sleeved leather jacket." More and more sweat formed on it's body and it started to shake. "Oh, his eyes were red and black like this." I said morphing my eyes to recall the ones of dad. The manticore leaped away and crouched down on the ground wimpering. 

"D-d-d-don't kill me. P-p-p-p-please I-I-I didn't know." The manticore spoke, while green flames covered it revealing a changeling.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"You-you won't kill me?" I nodded and he continued. "I'm Lexio, a hunter for the hive. What's your name? If you don't mind answering that's it." He said still shaking.

"I'm Fluttershy Mercer. Daughter of Philip Mercer, it's a pleasure to meet you." I said.

"Princess!" He shouted bowing.

"P-p-princess? You must have confused me for someone else." I said to him.

"Your father is Philip right?" I nodded. "Philip Mercer with his mate Sunset, are the king and queen of the changeling. This makes you our princess." he finished.

"I'm a princess? Dad is a king? Mom is a queen? I need to ask them and... wait no I need to find dad first." I thought, then I said to Lexio." Can you tell me where is my dad? And please stop bowing thanks."

He stood up and said. "Of course your majesty. Follow me."

And so, we departed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CELESTIA POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I was in the throne room and I was waiting for a messenger to arrive, I was starting to lose my patience when a knock was heard. "Come in." I ordered. A stallion with brown fur, brown mane and a pair of glasses entered. He wore leather armor and he had an envelope in his hand.

"Your majesty, I'm here to report." He said, I gestured for him to continue. "My princess, Dr Becker is still in a coma our best medics are trying to wake him but nothing is working. The griffin are growing more and more impatient, they want the Maresace and the Coltraine, they say that it's unfair for us to have all the gem mines."

"They can cry me a river for all I care." I said coldly. "Don't worry I'll take care of them when the times come. Continue now."

"Yes, we are registering an increment of shipment from the Zebrica, all of their errors are being shipped to us." He said

"Excellent" I said.

"We also-" He was cut off by a guard that stormed inside.

"YOUR MAJESTY!" He shouted panting. "We have terrible news regarding the Red Event."

"Messenger you are dismissed go." He bowed and left. After the doors closed I said. "What news?"

"The Red Event reached the security vault where the void spells were stored. The Red Event consumed them, order sixty six cannot be executed." He said.

"That's impossible!" I shouted. "Nothing can enter that vault." 

"Your majesty it happened regardless. Also we have another problem." He said.

"What other problem?" I said looking at him in the eyes.

"The Red Event stopped growing but from it's generating zombies and nightmarish beasts, we have created a defensive line to hold them back, but we won't resist for long, they are fearless and charge without care into the formation killing everypony they see! Ponies are dying out there." He said.

"Send the third and seventh battalions to the facility as reinforcement, prioritize the research of a cure and hold the line. I also want some live specimen for study." I ordered

"At once your majesty." He said before exiting the room.

"I miss you my love, you wold have know what to do here better than me."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Ready?" I said. Sunset nodded. "Then go!" I shouted.

Sunset ran towards the center of the forest, she was really fast but suddenly Regina exited from behind a tree and tackled Sunset into the ground, Regina punched her to the face repeatedly after the third punch, Sunset teleported away. A sudden movement however alerted her, but she was too late as multitude of vines and branches enveloped Sunset's entire form. Sunset was trapped but managed to free herself with her flames. Regina returned to the fight swatting her against a tree and using her tendrils to immobilize Sunset. The Woodman appeared next to Regina and commanded to the tree to encase her. Sunset though was quicker, she ignited herself and teleported twenty meters away from them. She was now sure of her success, but Viribus exited from the ground under her and grabbed her. He then pinned her down in the ground. 

Sunset was now panting and she was covered in blood, her wounds healed but her magic loss was evident. She then used her armored form and took Viribus in her telekinesis sending him against Regina and Woodman. She then took flight and flew towards the center. Until Ferdinand teleported in front of her. With a powerful blow, he hit Sunset in the head, making her crash into the ground with a gigantic crater. He hovered down and took Sunset on his shoulder, he returned to me and handed me Sunset. The game was over in less than thirty seconds.

"Incredible." I said. "Good work guys." They all nodded. "You are dismissed." I took Sunset and made my way to home, but in the way I encountered Feral Wing.

"Hunter." He said. "Little pretty girl search you. Pink mane." He then pointed towards north. "That way, ask for
Lexio, he is with her." And without waiting for me to answer, he was gone.

"Pink maned little girl? Fluttershy!" I thought.

'groan' "What happened?" Said Sunset.

"You were destroyed by Ferdinand, he defeated you with a single punch." I said to her.

"Really?" I nodded. "Wow, he is very strong."

"Come on, Fluttershy is searching for me." I said to her.

"Why?" She asked.

"Dunno. I guess we'll find out." I responded.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  FLUTTERSHY POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"We are lost aren't we?" I told to Lexio. He grunted but continued. "You know maybe-" A sudden roar cut me off. From the foliage next to us, five head sprouted they were brown with razor sharp fangs and green eyes. They were all watching me intensely, then all of them roared again and tried to bite me. I sidestepped and in the panic, I kicked one of them ripping it off from it's neck. A shower of blood coated me.

"Blood... So much blood..." A drop of that blood entered my mouth and I swallowed it. "Delicious!" I thought. I devoured all the blood on my body with a grin on my face. I then looked at the hydra and jumped on one of it's heads while it was disoriented. I instinctively morphed  my arm into a sickle, blood red coloured with multiple black veins on it's length, then I decapitated another of it's heads, and this time I devoured the head too. I jumped off from the beast and onto the ground. I slashed at one of his legs cutting it off, the hydra lost its balance and dropped down. Then the first stump stopped bleeding and two more heads sprouted from it.

"Interesting." I thought I enlarged my sickle and with one single motion cut off all it's head. The hidra went still before fourteen new heads exited from the body, it's leg regenerated too. They all roared at me and attacked me again, I evaded all of them while cutting more and more heads, as such more and more heads grew back.

"Will you forget the head-slicing thing?!" Lexio shouted from afar.

"You are not really helping you know?!" I shouted back. "At least shut up!" I dodged another bite before an idea struck me. I ran against the hydra's body, dodging as many heads as possible, the I slashed at it's body opening it like a stuffed doll. A ton of blood and intestines exited from the wound before regenerating. Then one of the head took me off guard and bite my wings pulling me up in the air. They were now all facing me with their jaws open. I didn't know what to do so I tried the same thing I did with my sisters.

"DIE!" I shouted, in an instant the hydra went still and stone started to cover it. All the way the stone completely coated her. Then it was dead, I returned on the ground and stared at the new statue. "Wow..." I said. Then a loud boom generated behind me. I turned around and saw my dad with mom in his arms.

"DAD!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I landed in the area where I heard the loud noise and found Fluttershy, covered in blood with a statue of hidra in front of her.

"DAD!" She shouted and hugged me, fortunately Sunset was fast enough and she landed on her feet.

"Fluttershy! What happened?" I said.

"Dad... I-I did something horrible." She stuttered out, crying in my shoulder. "I-I think I killed my sisters. Please you need to come home, I didn't want to please!" She said crying.

"SHe killed them? That's impossible I would have noticed." I thought, I hugged her more and said. "Don't worry sweetie, you didn't kill them."

"A-a-are you sure?" She asked softly.

"Absolutely. Come on let's go home." And so we departed towards home.

After a minute of walking in silence we reached the house. I entered and saw the girls, they were all on the couch paralyzed. The house was a mess, utensils and piece of clothing were all over the floor, the walls were damaged and the table was now a watermelon. I shook my head and used my tendrils to remove the stone gaze effect from them.

"Finally! I think I would have gone insane." Said Rainbow. "Thanks dad."

"Wowie finally free." Said Applejack. The others said all similar things. Until...

"Fluttershy! How could you!" Shouted Rainbow. "You wanted to kill us?" She said hovering in front of Fluttershy pointing at her with her finger, wich was covered in lightning. I saw the danger in time and shielded Fluttershy before the lightning hit her.

"Rainbow Mercer Dash!" I shouted. "How dare you trying to hurt your sister?" I said. She hit the ground and looked at me with watery eyes. "She didn't mean to paralyze you all, she used her stone gaze power unconsciously. This is not her fault. But mine." I said. They all gasped and said.

"No dad this is not your fault!" 

"Yes it is. I should have trained you on how to use your powers, instead I went out. Stupid me!" I said.

I contacted Xarx in the hive mind and asked."How is Derpy?"

"She's fine your highness, she is playing with the other nymphs right now." He responded.

"Very well." I cut off the contact and addressed my daughters. "From tomorrow you will all be trained to use your powers. Twilight, Rarity you will train with mom. Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow and Fluttershy, you will train with me. Today though we will visit the palace and we will present you as the new princess of the kingdom." They all looked at me with wide eyes except Fluttershy.

"You are a king? We are princess?" They said together. Then Rarity added.

"Oh dear it will be such a fine and wonderful day then." She did a little pirouette. "Do you think this clothes will be elegant enough?" She asked concerned.

"They are perfect, don't worry. Also before I forget, who made this mess?"

"Us..." They said in unison. Then Twilight spoke up." Fluttershy asked us to behave but we ignored her." She looked at Fluttershy and said. " Sorry sis." Then all of them looked down and did a little bow with their heads. "Sorry sis." They said.

"I forgive you." Fluttershy said. "I could never be angry at you." She elongated her arms and hugged all of them.

"You will be a perfect big sister Fluttershy. I'm proud of you. Now come on we need to go chop chop." I said smiling.

Something patted my shoulder and said. "So, you were absolutely certain that Fluttershy could rein them eh?" Sunset said with hidden anger in her voice.

I gulped hard. I screwed up.
> [OLD]Chapter 9 The search for the Heart [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What do you have to say in your defense?" Sunset asked, quiet pissed off.

"Sorry Sunny..." I said looking down. "I will keep a better eye on them." 

"'sigh' I'm not angry Phil... it's just that, I'm worried. Look at how much damage they caused, and they were just playing. We need to do something." She said.

"And we will. As I said we will train them to use their power better. Now let's go we need to present them to the changelings." I said, but suddenly Xarx contacted me.

"Your majesty we got a situation!" He said worried.

"What happened?" I inquired.

"It's Derpy my king, she-she grew up." He said.

"W-what? What do you mean?"I said.

"Please explain." Said Sunset in the hive mind, her voice filled with worry.

"Your majesties, Derpy grew up, she gained ten centimeters in a matter of hours." He said.

"How could this happen?"I said. "What the hell is happening here?"

"I can explain." Said a male voice in the hive mind. I turned and looked at the new speaker. He was a changelings with no hair, he was also old and his eyes were closed, he wore a ruined brown cape. 
"My name is Veteris Sapentia , I was the counselor of queen Chrysalis."

"How can you look so old? Chrysalis said that curse made your lifespan much shorter." I said.

"You see my king, the forest is special. Inside the forest every living thing is always subjected to changes, and those changes often are caused by predators that eats their preys. Because of this the creature of the forest adapted with a much more quicker growth. In time the very magic that permeates the forest got that same change. Everything inside the Everfree age ten times faster than normal until they reach adulthood. I'm a special case, I survived the curse for more years than normal and as such all the years that I saved up because of the curse, hit me all at once rendering me blind and old. Little Derpy is growing at a fast pace now, and even if you got her out of the forest, the process won't stop." He explained.

I was shocked, Derpy is growing faster than normal. I promised her mother to give her a normal foalhood... and I failed AGAIN! I smashed the floor with a stomp making the entire house and cave trembling under the force of the blow. 

"I need to get there! NOW!" I shouted breaking the link, Sunset watched me but then nodded. I ran with all my speed towards the hive, and in less than five seconds I was there. Now that I think about that the Ursa really gave me a boost, normally I took two minutes to reach the hive, and I ran up to 150Km/h. But then I bursted up to 4500Km/h that's like mach 3.5! But I had other things in mind in that moment, I needed to find Derpy. But suddenly a powerful gust of wind generated behind me, when I looked back I noticed that I'd destroyed all the trees in my path, and I left a 8 meters wide crater. 

"Holy fuck!" I thought. "What the hell happened?! Later, the scientific explanation can wait, I need to find Derpy." I entered the hive and used my sonar to find Derpy. When I reached her I was shocked. She was now taller and her wings grew more, also her clothes were stretched because of her sudden growth.

"Derpy!" I shouted. "Derpy are you ok?" I asked. "You imbecile of course she's not okay!" I thought to myself.

"Phil, I-I-I don't know what happened, I'm suddenly taller and bigger, what's happening?" She asked scared.

"The forest Derpy, I didn't know that but the forest make everything inside it grow faster. I'm so, so sorry... It's my fault I promised you a normal foalhood and now I'm taking that away from you." A tears traced my face. "I'm sorry" I whispered hugging her.

"I'm scared Phil. I'm going to die soon?" She whispered crying.

"Don't say that Derpy, you are not going to die soon, you will lose your foalhood years though, I'm sorry." I whispered back.

"Your majesty." Said Veteris in the hive mind. "Before you rushed away, I was going to say that there is a possibility for Derpy."

"Speak!" I ordered. He flinched but talked nonetheless. "There is a potion that is being said gift the drinker with their youth once again." He said.

"Where is it?!" I shouted in the link.

"Your majesty please calm down." He said, I just looked at him." The ingredients for the potion are inside the Everfree Heart. The Heart is legendary, no one ever found it. Countless of lives were lost in it's search." He explained.

"They were not me. Tell me what you need for the potion." I ordered.

"Your majesty this is madness, the Heart is a legend, and if it's not than it's impossible to find!" He retorted.

"TELL. ME. WHAT. YOU. NEED. NOW!" I shouted pointing every word with a step towards him and creating my claws.

"A-a-a piece of crystal from the Heart's Tree. That's all." He said scared.

"Very well. Xarx take Derpy home, I have an heart to find." I said firmly. Then I hugged Derpy once again and whispered. "I'll fix this, don't worry" She nodded and dried her tears.

I made my way outside the hive and created my wings, then I flew up and started to scan the entire forest with my magical sight. Something so important HAD to be filled with magic.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CADENCE POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

We've arrived to Ponyville after the disappearance of the barracks. Me and the Omegas were sent to investigate the strange phenomenon, needless to say the civilian avoided us like the plague. Maybe it's the fact that one of us had a coffin on his back, but that was just a hypothesis. Anyway we arrived to the site of the disappearance. A cordon of guards was finished secure the crime scene, I neared one of them and showed my badge, he let me pass but blocked one of the Omega.

"You can't enter with a coffin here." He said. The Omega with the coffin chuckled under his hoodie and said.

"But you can enter this coffin though." And slammed the coffin on the guard's legs, breaking them, then the coffin opened and a skeletal hand exited and took the guard by his mane. The guard was screaming but nopony moved a inch to save him, the skeletal hand yanked and the guard fell into the coffin, vanishing. No corpse, no screams. Nothing.

"Let's go." I said. They nodded and after picking up his coffin the last Omega reached us, we arrived to the terrain where the barracks were supposed to be and started to search for anything useful. After an hour, we finally found something, a single red and black tendril was in the ground. One of the Omega tried to yank it out of the ground, but when she reached for it the tendril went underground. We stared at the little hole for a bit before an earthquake surprised us, from the hole more and more tendrils shot out and merged together. They formed a single massive tentacle, it was twelve meters tall and five wide, with two bony protrusion that acted like fangs and many more little sharp teeth between the two of them. The giant tendril 'watched' us, it didn't have any eyes but it saw us. It leaned forward before opening it's massive fangs and letting out an acute shriek. Then it shot out a red tendril from it's mouth, I sidestepped it while the Omega dodged it. The tendril managed to grab a guard, this one was then pull against the tendril where he was cut in half before his body was completely absorbed by the red flesh.

"KILL THAT THING!" I shouted conjuring my rifle while creating a distance between me and it. The female Omega conjured her weapon too, a sickle like the one that Death itself uses, she started to giggle and slash at the beast. The tendril didn't even flinch, instead it swatted her aside with a powerful blow, the mare was flying above the ground but she used her sickle to stop herself before crashing against a house.

"Stay back! Hehehehe... That's mine!" She said laughing like a mad mare. The others shrugged and sat down waiting for her.

She cut the air and generated a pressure wave that struck the beast, she severed off it's right fang but the beast after a bit of thrashing regenerated it, she ran towards the tendrils giggling all the way and jumped, when the beast shot out another tendril, she purposely grabbed it and reached the fangs, there she slashed both of them and two jets of thick red blood came out. The beast now was trying to shake her off uselessly, seeing that what it was doing was useless it started to go underground, but the mad mare instead of disengaging her prey, followed it.

After they both got underground a giant pillar of blood exited the hole, then she exited completely covered in blood and with a giant grin on her muzzle. "That was fun." She said licking away the blood on her hand moaning in pleasure for every centimeter of blood drank. With a pop she cleaned her thumb and looked at me. "What now?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I was flying over the Everfree when I sensed that the hydra in Ponyville got killed. "Bad news incoming" I thought grimly. "I need to find the Heart."

I continued to fly over the forest for a few hours, when I reached the exact center though I picked up a gigantic amount of mana, I'd never seen so much mana all at once before. There was also something else, like if the mana was blue coloured, then there was some gold inside that aura, that was strange I needed to investigate. I landed a hundred meters away from the source of magic and continued on foot, I reached a giant cave with multiple crystalline stalactites hanging from the ceiling. The cave resembled a giant mouth filled with teeth, I made my way towards the entrance when the magical aura that I detected before spiked up. A titanic bear generated right in front of me, it was a light lavender colour with an enormous amount of stars inside its body, it keep growing and growing until it reached the forty meters of height, then it spoke with a deep feminine voice that oozed out authority.

"Who are you, stranger? There is nothing for you inside this cave." She stated.

"I'm Philip Mercer, and there is something inside this cave that I need. It's a crystal that grows on the Heart's tree." I said.

"Foolish mortal, you will never enter this cave if you don't pass the test of the Ambrosia." And with that she opened her gargantuan mouth and a stream of gold mist exited, the mist circled me for a bit before being absorbed, the Ursa looked at me with wide eyes before roaring.

"HOW?! How can you have the Ambrosia inside of you? You are not a celestial creature. Wait... I recognize that kind of Ambrosia... YOU! YOU ARE THE ONE THAT KILLED MY CUB!"

"You are the mother of that Ursa minor?" I asked before continuing. "Then yes, it was me that killed him, he killed one of my subjects and threatened to kill the rest of them too! He gathered what he sowed!" I shouted back.

"You, murderer! I will avenge my cub! Prepare to die!"

She tried to smash me with her gigantic paw, but I dodged it she was slow fortunately, she continued to attack me with her paw before going bipedal, she then sucked in a large amount of air before slamming down onto the ground and unleashing a powerful blue colored death ray. I made my way inside the ground to avoid the attack. After the ground stopped trembling I came out and witnessed the total destruction of the forest behind me. I refocused on my enemy in time to see another paw heading in my direction, I created my claws and slashed her I made a big cut on her paw and a good amount of golden blood exited, the wound then closed immediately.

"How are you able to hurt me? No one except a celestial creature can!" She roared before staring into the air and then assume an even more angry look."YOU ATE MY CUB!" She said roaring again and creating an enormous sphere made out of pure mana, she then took it and throw it at me. I created my armour and planted myself into the ground, then I used my hammerfist and punched the sphere with all my force. The energy of that sphere was immense, the strongest thing I ever felt, but I couldn't give up so I pushed more and more. After a good twenty seconds of struggling, the sphere started to give up. I managed to take two steps forward before, with a loud roar, throw the sphere in the air. The sphere passed the clouds before detonating in a almighty crimson and golden explosion, it was like the birth of a sun.

"That's all you got?" I taunted. The Ursa gritted her teeth but said nothing. She then disappeared and reappeared right behind me and hit me with a powerful blow, sending me away through the trees of the forest before stopping against the side of a hill, cracking it for a good forty meters. I looked up and saw another death ray heading in my direction, I dislodged myself from the hill and went again underground, I used my magical sight to make my way towards her while underground. I exited the ground in front of her and leaped into the air uppercutting her with my hammerfist.
The Ursa flew into the air and landed on her back making the earth tremble. I saw my occasion and used my hammerfists as a weight to give her a powerful double punch in the belly. The ground around us shattered under the massive blow and she let out a pained roar, when she tried to swat me away with her paw I used my lightning magic to electrocute her, with the power of a thunderbolt the Ursa thrashed around. I was forced to interrupt when she rolled over trying to squash me.

"Damn you mortal. I will kill you!" She said before her entire form was enveloped in a bright light. 
"I'll show you the power of the gods!" She shouted. I readied myself for more trouble.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~  SUNSET POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I was repairing the door and floor that was destroyed by Phil's outburst and mad run. I was halfway done when suddenly.

I sensed an enormous amount of mana inside the Everfree forest, I recognized Phil's mana but the other source was an enigma.

"Mommy." Said pinkie. "Where is Dad?" I looked at her and her poofy hair were now long and straight. 

I sighed. "I don't know sweetie but don't worry, your father is strong far stronger than anything inside this forest." I smiled at her. "Don't worry he will come back. Now why don't you go upstairs and start to think about your dress for the ceremony?" I said.

"Okie dokie loki." She said cheerfully while her hair poofed up again, she then bounced up the stairs.

I shook my head and then I said. "You can come down Fluttershy, I know you are there." True to my words, Fluttershy leaped down from the ceiling and landed on the floor.

"What's really happening?" Said Fluttershy. "And don't try to sell me some reassuring thing, I want the truth."

"Your father is searching the Heart of the Everfree. It's a legendary place that contains a special ingredient to cure Derpy." I said looking at her.

"Derpy is sick?" She said concerned.

"No she's not, she's growing too fast though. It turned out that every living creature inside the forest grows ten times faster than normal in order to reach maturity. Phil is searching for the ingredient to create a potion that will give Derpy her youth back." I said.

"How about us?" Fluttershy asked. "Won't we grow faster too?"

"Our race is far more complicated, we are shapeshifters, if we really want to we could remain babies forever. Also we are immortal so your growth will be the last of your worries." I explained.

"We will never die?" She asked, I nodded. "Neither dad?" I nodded again. "And Pinkie, Rainbow, Applejack, Twilight and Rarity?" She asked excited. 

"Our family is the same species, we will all live forever." I said.

"Oh my, that's so awesome, I could just scream! AAAAAAAH" She 'shouted'.

I shook my head amused and rubbed her hair a bit before saying. "Yes it is indeed."

"But Derpy? She is immortal too?" She asked.

I sighed and answered. "No dear, Derpy is a pony. I don't know if she will become an evolved like us, that's her choice and Phil's too."

"But then... that means she will die eventually..." She said with tears in her eyes.

I hugged her and said. "I know it's sad sweetie, but we can't force anyone to become immortal like us. Alright I think that now is the best time to teach you about us." I said then I shouted. "GIRLS! Come here please."

Pinkie popped out from behind Fluttershy and said. "You called?" 

"How did she?... Nope I will study this later."

Rainbow came down flying while Rarity and Applejack used the stairs.

"Where is Twilight?" I asked, before a sudden pop behind me startled me.

"'huff' 'puff' I'm-I'm here... hehe." She said.

"Did you teleport?" I asked surprised.

"Yes mommy, I don't know how but I just knew how to do it. It's harder than I thought though." She said regaining her breath.

"There is an explanation. Now sit down and I will teach you everything you need to know about our species."

"Booooring." Said Rainbow.

"Shush" Twilight silenced her. "Continue Mom."

"Thanks dear, Rainbow look." I morphed my arm into a claw. "Do you think that this is boring too?"

"Sooooo coool!" She squeaked.

"Now that I have your attention." I transformed my arm back. "We will start lesson."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CADENCE POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I was inside a green tent with the Omegas, after the battle against the giant beast we mounted a little camp on the outskirt of town, the tent was bare with just a lantern to make light and a wooden table with a holographic emitter.

"We will start searching for the thing that generated that beast and-" 

"Mammoth!" I was cut off by the same Omega that killed it.

"What?" I asked.

"I want to call him mammoth, you know because of his size and the teeth." She said.

"How do you know that it's a male?" I asked curious.

"Well he does  resemble a giant co-" "Too many details!" I shouted cutting her off.

I cleared my throat and continued. "Anyway as I was saying, we will start searching about the, uh 'mammoth' starting with the Everfree. It's the best place to find some abominations. The mammoth also was very similar to the creatures of the Red Event, I bet my rifle that 000 is the cause of this entire mess." I finished.

"What information we have on 000?" Asked Shining Armor.

"Very little unfortunately, he is incredibly strong, fast and can absorb his victim in order to assume their form. We don't know how much similar he can get while disguised so we will go with the worst case and say that he gain every memory of the victim. He can morph his arms in extremely powerful weapons, the maximum of his power is unknown for now. In no case you are authorized to fight him alone, if you spot him you will retreat and wait for reinforcement. Am I clear?" I asked.

"Pfff hahahaha." Laughed the crazy mare. "Bitch you are not my captain, if I want to fight him alone I will!" She shouted.

"How dare you!" I started before a motion of Shining stopped me.

"Let this go, if the crazy one wants to die just let her. I will take full responsibility." he said.

"Very well..." I muttered. "We know also that he have allies, six mares are currently with him, they are the personification of the six elements of harmony, they are the same as him but much weaker, they are his daughters. From now on we will use codename to identify them." I created the image of 000.

"He will be Hunter, because of his status as a predator." Then one of a little purple filly. "She is Magic." 
A butter coated pegasus. "Kindness." A rainbow maned one. "Loyalty." An orange earth pony. "Honesty." A pink one. "Laughter." and finally a white unicorn. "Generosity."

"Is of the utmost importance that they are captured alive all of them except for Hunter. If you have understood everything you are dismissed." I said, the Omega stood up and exited the tent. 
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

After the blinding light faded away I looked at my foe, she wasn't a giant bear anymore. She was now a two meters tall anthropomorphic bear, with a light lavender fur, blue sky eyes and a massive hammer in her hands. She wore a light armor made out of some kind of silk, it was completely golden with an intricate white design that depicted her constellation among many others. Her ears were more like human ones, her hammer was at least 1.8 meters long completely made out of some kind of white metal, it was covered in intricate pattern that depicted hunt games.

She pointed the hammer towards me with one hand saying. "Fell the wrath of the heavens!" She charged at me with astounding speed, she was so fast I almost missed her I saw her but seeing the attack coming and dodging it is different from just seeing it. When the hammer made contact with my face I was rocketed away leaving behind a giant shockwave that destroyed the nearby trees and made me fly for a hundred meters.

"Dammit that hurt!" I thought, I created my armor and claws, then I returned to the battlefield landing with a loud thud. "That hurt you know?" I said. I tried something new to surprise her, I used my electricity to enhance my legs and speed up to mach 3 in a matter of seconds. With my newfound speed I punched her in the snout with my hammerfist destroying her snout and producing two gigantic shockwaves, the first when I sprinted and the second when I hit her. She destroyed several trees in her flight and when she managed to return, she had her entire snout completely broken with a lot of golden blood on her.

"That." She said while her snout regenerated. "Hurt too." She finished charging at me again with her hammer, I paired her blow with my hammerfist and locked the fight, I started to push against her but she was strong too, in the end we jumped away from each other before charging again. I empowered my speed again and went behind her with my fist raised, when I tried to hit her she rolled away  and springed back with her legs, she did a backflip and hit me on top of my head, I fell face first into the ground. She was ready to hit me again but I morphed my legs into arms and blocked the attack, then I moved my head from the ground up to my new upper body.

She backed away and asked. "What are you, a demon?!"

"I'm an extremely pissed off and concerned father!" I shouted back, I created my whipfist and grabbed her leg, then I yanked and started to bash her into the ground before rotating on myself and launching her in the air. I followed her into the air enhancing my speed, I was over her and then I used my hammerfists and lightning to propel myself towards the ground, with her in my trajectory. I hit her and smashed her onto the ground leaving another gigantic crater in the terrain. She coughed up golden blood and I heard the sound of multiple bones snapping. I stood up and I was ready to consume her, but she lifted a hand and shot me in the face with another magical ray.

"Would you kindly remain dead?!" I shouted. "I don't have time for this!"

"You foolish mortal! I'm a god! How dare you defy me!"She shouted.

"Gods don't bleed." I stated. I charged again and tackled her, with my speed though we entered the cave. We rolled giving punches at each other until we stopped against a giant crystal tree, I was on the top so I rolled up, breaking her arm and threw her against the wall. She regenerated her arm and looked at me then she smirked before erupting in laughter.
"What's so funny?" I asked.

"Hahaha, nothing, just thank you for bring me here, I really needed the extra power emitted from the Heart's tree!" She thrusted her hand inside the tree and started to glow more brilliantly, I switched to my magical sight to shield myself from the sheer brightness and saw that her aura got brighter too, also the entire cavern was filled with magical conducts, but the most impressive was the tree itself, it was like if it was an endless fount of magic. I refocused on the fight. She was fast before, but after absorbing the tree's energy, she was extremely fast. She sprinted and reached me in a fraction of a second, hitting me again with her hammer, then she grabbed my leg in mid-air and started to spin before launching me against the same wall I launched her against before.

I stood up and created my armor and claws. She charged me with her hammer rised, I paired her hit with my claws and I was shocked when she made my feet collapse under the ground, she was stronger than before. I broke the standoff and slashed her arm with my claw, she didn't even flinch. I grabbed her arm and threw her away, then I created my hammerfist and slammed them into the ground raising my spikes, she jumped into the air avoiding them. She then landed on the ground slamming her hammer onto it and creating a massive golden wave. I used my biomass to create a shield around me, when the wave passed I retracted the shield and created my whipfist. I tried to grab her again but she dodged and smashed my whipfist with her hammer destroying it.

"It won't work twice, mortal!" She shouted.

I regenerated my arm and stared at her. "I need something new, something that she never saw before." An idea struck me why I never thought of this before was beyond me. I used my biomass to create a new weapon, a long lance with a long double edged tip so that it can thrust and slice near the tips, a single rope was hanging with a deep red colour like almost all the spear. It was covered in intricate symbols and arcane runes, I never saw those signs before so I didn't know how I created them, nonetheless the rest of the lance was reinforced with a big amount of compressed biomass, the lance could snap open and be used as a short, mid and long ranged weapon. Not only that but I created it in a way that it could canalize my lightning, in this way I could throw them at will. Strange enough, it wasn't my arm that morphed into a lance, but the lance formed as a separated entity so I could take it in my hands. The design, the coloration, I recognized it immediately. 


"Gungnir!" I thought.

When I did that the lance brightened and I felt myself grow more powerful and lighter. Then I sensed it, the lance was filled with the same coloration that was inside the Ursa, she called it Ambrosia. I smirked at my opponent, then I rotated Gungnir multiple time in my hands before pointing it at her and saying. 

"Prepare yourself Ursa. The real battle starts now!" She charged at me with her hammer but I swatted away her attack with Gungnir, the blow was powerful enough to make her skirt along the floor for four meters. She watched me and my new weapon with fear and anger in her eyes. 

"That's impossible! You can't use a godly weapon, you are a mortal!" She shouted.

"Wanna bet about that?" I said taunting her. She shot another beam at me, I deflected it like it was nothing and looked at her with a teeth filled smile.

"You're gonna have to try a little harder than THAT!"
> [OLD]Chapter 10 In the Heart of the forest [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey look AJ I have freaking claws!" Rainbow shouted excited.

"Yeah, yeah I know. You already showed them to me." Applejack said unamused.

"Pft spoilsport. Hey look Fluttershy." She said talking to Fluttershy.

I shook my head and let out a small sigh, then Twilight spoke.

"This is incredible mom, we can do almost anything with this power." She created her blade. "Just look at this blade! I bet it can cut through almost everything." She said.

"Yeah sweetie, but that's exactly why I taught you how to use them. Come on repeat the rules."

"Never kill innocent people." Said Rarity.

"Never oblige someone else to become one of us." Said Rainbow, bored.

"Always help the family." Said Pinkie.

"Don't trust strangers, but only ourself." Said Fluttershy.

"Never use your power for personal gain, with exceptions." Said Twilight.

"And most important of all?" I asked.

"Never, ever release our virus in the environment." They said in unison.

"Very well sweeties, now go preparing for the coronation, come on chop chop." I said clapping my hands.

Twilight teleported away, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy made their way to their room walking. Pinkie disappeared without a trace, and Rainbow flew out of the window and landed in her room.

"And now we wait..."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Out of my way Ursa!" I shouted swatting away her hammer on the side once again, after I formed Gungnir the Ursa became more furious and predictable, she was guided by pure rage right now.

I parried another upper blow and used the bottom of Gungnir to hit her in the face while I sidestepped her incoming momentum, she was now dizzy and I used that moment at my advantage aiming my lance to her heart but she saw it incoming and dodged so I instead hit her shoulder. Gungnir entered her flesh with ease and then I yanked in the opposite direction, opening her shoulder and splattering her golden blood everywhere. The Ursa roared in pain and jumped away from me, I noticed that her regeneration was slower than before, she took a good ten seconds before closing her wound.

"Are you a little tired?" I taunted. "Then get out of my way I just need the tree's crystal, not your life." I stated.

"Shut up murderer. This cave will be your grave even if I have to drag you with me inside of it!" She shouted, then she pierced her chest with her hand and extracted her heart. "You see, what I'm going to do is a sacrilege between astral being, if I sacrifice my heart I will become more powerful, but I will also lose myself. But I don't care, I will kill you no matter what!" She the destroyed her own heart and immediately after, all of her muscles bulged outwards and grew in mass, her teeth became sharper and longer, her armor shattered when her torso grew more and more, her hands turned back to paws with long and sharp claws, her hammer disappeared and her fur became a black so deep that light couldn't escape it. She was still bipedal but without anymore intelligence in her completely black eyes. She let out an incredible roar and charged me.

I used Gungnir to parry her charge but she managed to throw me into the air somehow, I grabbed the rope on the lance, then I thrusted it against the ceiling where it embedded in it. Then I used the rope to lift myself up onto the ceiling, I extracted Gungnir and looked at the Ursa, she created another laser, this time completely black and aimed it at me. I started to run on the ceiling avoiding the ray, when she stopped I jumped and impaled her right paw with Gungnir into the ground. Then I used the lance as a pillar to rotate myself and kick her in the face, the force of the blow made her fly away, but her paw was impaled into the ground by the lance, so a big chunk of it was severed away. The Ursa didn't even flinch, she regenerated her paw and attacked again. 

She jumped into the air and tried to crush me with her arms, I jumped back and grabbed her arms, then I launched her behind me, while she was in the air I threw Gungnir at her. The lance impaled her square in the chest and pinned her on the wall, she tried to grab Gungnir to free herself, but when she touched the lance the runes on it glowed brightly and she shrieked in pain flailing her burning paws. I went in front of her and with my claws I pumped biomass in the wall, creating more tendrils that pierced her arms paralyzing her, then I used the hammerfist to beat her head to a pulp. After I was sure that she was dead I jumped down and extracted Gungnir.

I was ready to devour her until suddenly her entire body started to shake uncontrollably, shadows started to condense around her now absent head, then she regenerated it and screamed in pain. She stopped and started to grow, she was expanding like a balloon, her eyes bulged out and exploded then her body collapsed on itself and left behind a tiny black sphere. Then I felt it, a massive increase in the gravity inside the room, that thing was a black hole!

"Fuck! A fucking black hole?! How am'I supposed to stop it? At least it's effect are restricted to inside the cave.... How the fuck I know this? I don't care I need to stop it but how? "fragmentum requiem aeternam" What was that?" I said. Meanwhile the gravity was increasing and my time was ticking, I needed to act fast before the black hole killed me. And suddenly I knew what to do. 

I grabbed Gungnir and concentrated all my magic and probably ambrosia inside of it, the runes glowed brightly and became brighter for every passing second. When I felt that it was ready the rune were now shining like a star, I shouted those words and threw the lance.

"Fragmentum requiem aeternam!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CELESTIA POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I felt the discharge of Gungnir weakest attack immediately.

"So, that's where you threw it eh? Discord you are a poor fool, you just condemned a mortal. They can't use that lance without dying." I heard a loud pop behind me, I turned around and saw a ghostly Discord.

"Test, test." He said pocking with it's eagle claw on a microphone. "Is this thing working? Alright, alright. Hello Sunbitch." He said, and I clenched my jaw."So just before we start, this is just a pre-registered message it's designed so that it will play itself when my champion uses Gungnir for the first time. First of all, you are wrong he isn't a mortal. Second, he will be far more powerful than you I can guarantee you that, so prepare your flank because it will be kicked. Third and last thing." He grinned and snapped his paw fingers. I felt all my stored magic go away, my eyes widened and I teleported inside the secret room with the stellar map.

"Ostende mihi siderum!" I shouted immediately. The stars positioned themselves in the air and I noticed with horror that the red one was now more distant than ever. "My love..." My eyes were starting to fill with tears but then an incredible rage overcame me. I teleported once again in the throne room where Discord was, he was smirking at me. "What have you done!?" I thundered.

"You are now surely asking me, 'What have you done?' It's simple really, you will toss me into the sun, in a matter of minutes so I used all of my energy to go and found my champion and place a magical chaos jammer in you castle that will completely deplete all of your stored magic." He started to laugh mocking me. I gritted my teeth almost cracking them. "Hahahaha, tell your beloved that I said hi will you? Hahahahahahahahahahaha" And he vanished laughing.

"GRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH DAMN YOU DISCORD! YEARS OF PREPARATIONS GONE!" I launched a magical blast against one of the column of my throne room destroying it. I breathed deeply, in... And out...

"Calm Celestia, calm. Not all is lost." I watched outside my windows, the sun was now descending towards the horizon.

"Fortunately I didn't stack every last bit of magic in Canterlot. But this will surely delay everything, at least for a year i can't do nothing now, just wait."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I threw Gungnir with all my might and saw that in mid-air it created a multitude of red and golden spirals all around the tip and the shaft. Then it started to rotate faster and faster until the two colour completely fused together, the lance reached the black hole and pierced it in the middle. Everything stopped suddenly, Gungnir was embedded on the wall while the black hole was starting to slowly expand and recompose the body of the Ursa. I didn't waste any time and reached for the lance, then when her body finally reformed I impaled her neck with it. She thrashed a bit weakly but then went still. I was ready to create a claw to devour her but Gungnir anticipated me and absorbed her. I suddenly felt much more powerful and with new knowledge, then I re-absorbed Gungnir and started to go down deep in the cave.

"Seems like the old changeling was wrong, it's not the crystal on the Heart's tree that he needs, but a shard of pure magic generated from the Heart itself." I thought. After ten minutes of walking inside crystals filled tunnels, I reached the Heart.

It was a sight to behold, a giant completely crystalline cave filled with immense crystal column that reflected the light emitted from the Heart creating a wonderful rainbow all around the cave. Inside there was a incredibly flourish flora, flowers that looked like they were made of crystal and trees with perfectly shaped leaf, waterfalls of pure crystal-like water traversed the entirety of the cavern and at the center of all there was a single lake. The heart was on top of it, barely touching the water, but where it touches it then stalactites of pure magic grew. The Heart was a perfect crystalline structure, with a hexagonal base, then composed by more and more perfect polygons, too many to count but a single ray of light shined from the ceiling perfectly on the Heart. From it the beautiful light brightened the entire cave.

I walked towards the heart and a bridge made out of pure condensed rainbow formed under me, I continued until I reached the Heart. I moved my hand towards one of the spikes and grabbed one, it went away from its previous position without problem. I nodded and silently thanked the heart before making my way outside.

I exited the cave and witnessed the extreme damage done to the forest, I was mulling on how to fix this when an idea struck me. I knocked on a tree and called for Woodman, after two seconds he was there.

"How can I help you, Creator?" He said.

"Can you repair the damages done to the forest by my fight with the Ursa?" I asked.

"Of course, Creator. I will start immediately." he said.

"Wonderful, see ya later." I waved him goodbye and flew towards the hive once again. I landed in front of the hive after five minutes of flight and entered, there I saw Veteris. "Hello Veteris, I have what you needed." I said showing the shard.

"What?! But how? The-the tree exists? The Heart exists?" He asked awestruck.

"Simple I found the Heart, defeated it's guardian and retrieved it. Easy peasy lemon squeezy."

"I will start the potion immediately, in a hour I should have it completed." He said.

"Very well. I'll go with Derpy." I said.

I pinpointed her with my sonar, "I need to find a name for it, mmmm. Invenient, that's a good name.  Invenient it is." I used  Invenient and reached Derpy. I found her inside a chamber that I never saw before, it was filled with nymphs and green light was shining from the ceiling. Derpy was now as tall as a normal mare and she was playing with the little nymphs, they were all tagging each other it was a really beautiful scene, her happy face will always be beautiful in my eyes, like with the others.

"Hello Derpy." I said, they stopped and looked at me. "There is something there..." I trailed off pointing at her nose nearing her.

"What is i...."  "TAG you're it hahaha!"  And I ran away with the others, that after a bit started laughing and running themselves.

"I will catch you! Hahahaha"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  CADENCE POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

"Ok, are we all ready?" I asked in the radio.

"Squad 1 ready."

"Squad 2 ready."

"Squad 3 ready."

"Squad 4 ready."

"Very well then we will start the operations immediately." I said.

"Ma'am are you sure? It's almost nightfall, the Everfree is a nasty place filled with monster." Said a guard in the radio.

"You are not here to contest my orders, now move out!" I ordered. "Omega, with me."

We entered the forest, immediately the untamed magic that filled the air made itslelf know, it was difficult breathing and the darkness was increasing more and more. We were walking inside for a minute before a scream filled the radio.

"Aaaaaah HELP ME, HELP ME TAKE THEM OFF, TAKE THEM OFF!" "Splinter you are not making any sense what the... Hell... OH FUCK NO! NO NO NO YOU CAN'T BE HERE! YOU WERE IN CANTERLOT NO NOOOOO!" 

"Corporal! Corporal what the fuck is happening there? Corporal!" Silence filled the air, not even the forest made a sound. "Have you any..." I turned around to ask the Omegas a question but they were gone now. "...Idea?"

"Alone.... Alone.... All alone...."

"Who's there?" I called.

"Poor little Cadence now she is all.... Alone.... They abandoned you, they left you. They left you like HE did hehehe."

"Don't you dare talk about him! You know nothing!" I shouted in the now blackness of the forest.

"Oh but I know many thing, are you not tired? Tired of being manipulated? Tired of being useless? Tired of being a weight?"

"YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A WEIGHT!"

"Stop it!" I shouted covering my ears.

"Useless winged unicorn! You can't even steal enough!"

"DAD STOP PLEASE!"

"You are no daughter of mine!"

"STOP IT!" 

"You ̕co҉u̶ld̕n't͠ ̀̀̀̀̀̀̀̀̀̀̀̀̀̀̀̀s͟av͞e ͡us!͘" "Ẃ͡hy͟͢ ̢y͘͡ǫ̵u ̷a͏̧́b̧a̷n̴̕͜d͏͡ơn̴̨͠é́d͝͞ ͡҉͡ú́s͢͡͝ ̸C͘a̸͝di?̛̕͠"  The voice of a multitude of foals filled the air while an ocean of blood and darkness formed at my hooves, hands upon hands exited the red ocean. Heads, guts and screams. 

"I̷̡̕͢t̡'̷̀͝s̵̡҉̶ ̸̴͘͝͠y̴̵̛ǫ̶̛̕u̷̡̨͘͢t̨̢͏ ͡҉f̶̶́͟á̢͠͠u҉̶l̵̢̛͢͢t̷̵͞͏!҉̨" More screams filled the air, foals and mothers alike where all screaming for me to die.

"Ḑ̸̕i̡̨͏͞e͠!̸̴̧ ̶̵̡͞Y̧͢͞ò͞͠u͏͜ ̢̛́͝a̧̕ŗ̨̢e̷̕͝ ͏͝҉a̢͘͟  ̶̕͞͡m̸͏̢o̶̧͢ņ̴̸̕͡s̴̕͜t̸̶̶̀e̸͝r̨͡!̨͠͏͘͝ ̡̧̀͞͞"  "W̢͜͠͝h̶́͢͜y̢̢  ͜͝͞͠a̴͘r̴̢͡͏ȩ́͞͏͠ ̴͡y̷͢ò̢͜u͢͞ ̶̨͘͘͝d̸̵̵͢͠ó̷̕i̴͜ņǵ̕͟͟  ̡͜͝͞t̨̡͟h̸͟͢i̷͠s̷?̡!̡̀͘͟"

A face completely skinless with her blue crystal eyes liquyfing, grabbed my heads and looked at me in the eyes before opening her mouth revealing more and more mouths filled with screams and blood. Then it spoke in a demonic voice cursing me forever.



C̡͠Ú̸R͡͞͏Ş̸E҉͏ ̴̡̕͘Y̴̡͜͡O̕͜Ú̶͟͡ ̷̵̢͟T̨͞͡O̴͢ ̸҉͠Ḩ̛͞É҉̀͝L͘͡҉L̷̨͜͝!̴̧̛͟͝


"STOP IT! STOP IT! STOOOOP! I'M SORRY!" I shouted crying. Then everything stopped, I looked around and saw a face. A completely black face with no features except two brilliant red eyes and a giant grinning white mouth filled with sharp teeth. It went in front of me and in a whisper said.

"A͢p͟͞Ol̶͞Ò̵ǵ͏̀Ie̢̛S̸̡ ҉̧W̴̧w҉W̧̛͞oN͟͞ţ̸͟ M̨̕͜a͞Ké̷͜ ͏͜T̶ḩ̶Eḿ͟͝ A̡l͏͠I͟͝v͏͘E͏ ̀̕Ag҉A͟͡i̴͜͝N͠͡!" Then it opened it's mouth and let out an impossible scream. I started to fall, spiraling into an endless abyss of death and despair that I alone have created with hundreds of souls. They all wanted one thing.

"D̶͝I҉̸́̀É̵͘͘"

More hands were reaching for me while I tried to swat them away they were all chanting the same thing over and over. They want me dead, they started to bring me down in the blood, my ankles, my shoulders, my chin.

"And would really be so bad to give them what they want?" I thought crying more and more, until the blood completely submerged me, then nothing.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Your majesty!" Veteris shouted. "We are ready!"

"Wonderful come on let's go. Derpy!" I called.

"Coming!" She replied, right now she was completely grow up with modest breasts, long blond hair and beautiful blonde eyes, 1.70 meters tall and her wings were fully developed. She wore a toga created by the changelings for her new stature.

We entered the throne room and waited for Veteris to show up, after a few seconds he came out of a nearby door next to the throne, in his hands a vial filled with blue liquid.

"Drink this Derpy." He said. She nodded, she leaned her lips to the vial and drank it. Suddenly the throne's doors opened and a creature made of multiple part of animals entered.

"Don't drink!" He shouted rushing towards us, the guards tried to stop him but he phased through them. "I'm too late..." He said deflated.

"Discord?!" I shouted recognizing him. "You are alive?"

"No, I'm pretty much dead." He smiled a little. "It's good to see you again, but I'm sorry to bring you bad news."

"What news?" I asked.

"That potion, the inscription was incomplete. Yes it gives the drinker theirs youth back but not by making them return young." He inhaled and  made a little pause. "But by rendering them immortal."

"What?" I said. "Discord if this is one of your jokes I swear." 

"I would like it was. But it isn't. Derpy is now immortal in every sense of the term, age and time can't kill her. And if someone manages to kill her, she will just regenerate. Not even complete annihilation can stop this, in that case she will regenerate back to the Heart." He explained.

"Derpy..." I said looking at her shocked face. "Derpy I'm so, so sorry." I said hugging her. "It's my fault, your mother made a mistake by trusting me with your safety. I understand if you don't want to see me again."

"Why would I?" She replied in a calm tone.

"Derpy what are you talking about? I ruined your life! You won't have a foalhood, you won't have your teenage years!" I said looking at her.

"I won't die either though." She said smiling.

"Derpy that's not a good thing. Immortality means that you will see the people who you care about die around you of old age." I explained to her. "And-and you won't see your mother again."

"I don't think she would like for me to die in order to see her again, I think that she would be happy for me. And in this way I can make friends with all of the girls and we can play as much as we want!" She said.

"But Derpy, are you sure?"

"Aren't you immortal as well? Won't you see your loved ones die around you too?" She asked.

"I have a family." I started then I stopped and whispered "... A family." I remained silent for a bit before continuing. "Derpy, would you like to be part of my family?" I asked softly.

"Well,  after all you need a normal one inside of it right?" She said smiling with tears in her eyes. "You know 'sniff' I really REALLY thought about it and... I never had a father, my biological one abandoned us when I was born, so I was wondering if you... well you were very nice with me in the past three days and mommy trusted you so... Would you be my dad?" She asked with tears trailing her cheeks.

I leaned down and dried the with my hand. "I would be honored to be your father sweetie." I said smiling. She hugged me and whispered a soft thank you. I trailed my hand in her hair while she was still hugging me. After a while we broke off the hug and looked at each other.

"Go home now sweetie, I need to talk with your uncle Discord." I said smirking at him. He shot me a glare but said nothing. "And tell the news to your sisters!" I said while she was running away. I turned around and looked at Discord.
"So, what do you want to talk about? And you are alive thats wonderful. Are you here to help me fight Celestia?"

"First thing, I'm not alive. I'm a chaos construct designed by the original Discord to help you with you powers. Second I already helped you with Celestia, I managed to gain at least a year before HE comes back." He said.

"What powers? Are you talking about the Ambrosia?" I asked.

"Ding ding ding. We have a winner. Yes my boy that's exactly why I'm here, but before that." He gestured towards the guards and Veteris. "They have to go." I told them to leave us alone in the hive mind and they exited without a sound.
"Ok first, we will start with the basics. You possessed the Ambrosia from the start, original Discord gave it to you before sending you here. That small amount of Ambrosia was the thing that permitted to your arm to resist the Elements's power. Thus creating you daughters, that's also why you managed to kill the Ursa minor, after that you absorbed his Ambrosia and started to develop Celestial abilities, such as the trick that you did with your lightning in the fight with the Ursa major and all the incredible augmentation in your physical abilities." He popped in existence a ghostly blackboard and continued. "Right now you have barely the amount of Ambrosia of a demi god, you are leagues under Celestia. But that doesn't mean that you are weak, far from it. Normal attack that aren't imbued with Ambrosia will phase though you harmlessly. For you to understand why, we must start with a basic concept."

"Look." He drew stick figure on the blackboard. "This is a 2D figure, it cannot touch or harm a being of the third dimension because it can't even comprehend that third dimension. You humans in your world." He draw a cube. 
"Are creature of the third dimension, in this world every creature is of the fourth dimension where the fourth one is magic. Now me, you, Luna, Celly every being that has Ambrosia is of the fifth dimension. That means that normal ponies can't even touch you if you don't want them to. That's in theory, but you are different. The Ambrosia is inside the very soul of a living being but in your case the Ambrosia is inside the very virus that compose you." He said.

"But that means that..." I started.

"Yes, your guardians, your daughters and Sunset. All of them have Ambrosia inside of them, it's enough for them to touch another Celestial being but not enough to be intangible. That being said now we will train you to gain the ability to throw God tier spells and master Gungnir. That was my weapon you know? I'm very impressed that you managed to use it's weakest god-like attack." He said.

"You mean fragmentum requiem aeternam? That's a weak one? It fucking stopped a black hole! I call bullshit on this one!" I said.

"It was it's weakest attack believe me, but that's why I'm here to teach you how to use it at it's maximum. So now let's get started and-" A sudden tremor shocked Discord. "Dammit Celestia!" He said blinking in and out of existence.
"Listen boy, Celestia is severing my connection from the world, I don't have the time to teach you everything I'm sorry." 

"But you said you were a construct!" I replied

"Yes but I still need the natural magic of the world to sustain myself and right now Bitchlestia is severing mine!"

Another ripple crossed his body and his lower half disappeared. "Listen well, you need to travel and find the remaining Astral creature, they are all allys of Celestia and you need their knowledge and power to fight her! Gah. Dammit. Now go you have one year remember that but before I go." He touched me with his eagle claw and transferred all of his knowledge on the whereabout of the Astral, their aspects, their spells and who they are. "That's all I can do boy goodbye..." He said fading away.

"Goodbye Discord, and thank you. For everything. Requiescati in pace.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CELESTIA POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"I don't know what you were doing in that forest, but sure as hell I won't let you do whatever you want. You can call this a payback for ruining my plans." I thought while I completely severed his connection with the magic of the world using a complex magical array, suddenly a guard entered the throne room and addressed me.

"Princess Celestia." He said bowing. "I'm here to report."

I dispelled the magical array and said. "Go ahead."

"Of the two hundred guards sent there one was killed by one of the Omegas, another one was killed by a creature called a Mammoth, we have a file that describes the creature. And all the remaining guards showed sign of extreme fear due to an unknown means. Those who were interrogated stated multiple different scenario where something scared them to death. All of them are too traumatized to return to their post. Finally General Cadence fell into a deep coma and she's now in observation in the Canterlot Royal hospital." He finished.

"I need to see her. You can go now, dismissed."I said and teleported to the Royal hospital. At the reception I asked where I could find Cadence, after have being told the room I quickly teleported in. Cadence was there on the bed unmoving, a mask was covering her muzzle and her eyes were closed. Shining Armor was there too arms crossed on his chest in the opposite corner of the room.

"What happened?" I asked.

"We don't really know." He started. "We heard the scream in the radio and went to investigate, then a mist came out of nowhere. I created a barrier between us and it but Cadence wasn't there. When we finally found her she was on the ground crying asking for forgiveness. When we exited the forest she entered in the coma." He finished.

"That's not good, alright Shining Armor I give you the full authority on the Omega squad. Find Hunter and bring me his head." I finished coldly.

"As you wish, your majesty."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ SUNSET POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Girls!" I called. "Are you ready or not?"

"Coming!" They called, then I heard a loud noise and a sheepish laugh. "Hehe maybe five more minutes?" Said Twilight. I facepalmed and groaned, then the door behind me opened and Derpy entered.

"Hello Sunset!" SHe said cheerfully.

"Derpy? What happened, why are you so big?" I asked.

"Are you calling me fat?" She asked unamused.

"What? No, nononono. I mean why aren't you a foal? Philip failed?" I asked worried.

"No, Phil succeeded but, instead of making me younger, he made me immortal." She said.

"Really?! But how?" She then started to tell me what happened and what Discord told her, I was speechless. I never heard something so powerful as the immortality of the Heart. I didn't know how to react, on one hand Derpy won't die no matter what, but in the other... how will she be able to found love?

"You are immortal?" Said the voice of Fluttershy who was now hanging from the ceiling. "That's wonderful! we can be friends forever!" She said jumping on Derpy and hugging her.

"In reality... We are not friends." Derpy stated.

"W-what?" Whispered Fluttershy.

"I asked Phil and now we are not friends." She said, before smiling and hugging Fluttershy with all her strength."We are sisters!" 

Fluttershy's smile returned with the radiance of thousands of suns. "Yes, yesyesyes, we need to tell the others come on hurry!"

"You did it eh? Good for you" I smiled softly before heading upstairs, the girls have already swarmed Derpy and were hugging her senseless.

"Alright girls all in line it's time to see your dresses." I said. They all stood up and straightened their dresses, except for Rainbow Dash.

First in line was Twilight, who was wearing a beautiful dress with a big skirt, the dress was purple with thin sleeves, the skirt resembled the night sky in a magical night, with specks of white and lavender that twirled and fused together like if it was a spell,she wore a pair of purple long gloves that reached almost her elbow. Her hair were all brushed and were sparkling with light. At her feet a pair of lavender heels, filled with sparkling powder.

Second in line was Applejack who wore a very beautiful and simple dress, with a skirt smaller than the one Twilight used, her dress was prevalently a bright red with leaf of green that sprouted from the back hugging her figure, her torso was criss crossed by a light brown fabric that kept the dress in place. It was sleeveless and she wore no gloves, her hair were braided in a beautiful way. She wore at her feet a pair of brown low heels.

Third was Pinkie Pie, she wore a pink and cerulean dress that resembled a cupcake, with the base in a cerulean colour while the middle body was a light pink that spiraled up until it met the whiteness of the upper torso, there it bended perfectly into it and created a beautiful mix of colour. Her dress had thicker sleeves than Twilight's and her hair were poofy as always. She wore a pair of pink ballerina pumps with a cherry on the top of it.

Fourth in line was Rainbow Dash, her dress was more like a toga, with a single sleeve that sustained the entire dress with a single coin with a thunder on it as a button. The rest of the dress was a cascade of iridescent colours that created the illusion of moving along her body. At the end of her skirt was a beautiful cloud like pattern that terminated the rainbow. Her hair were braided and closed in circular fashion around her head, like if they were a golden laurel. At her feet were a pair heels with a cloud like design on them.

Fifth in line was Fluttershy, She created a nature themed  dress, her principal colors were the bright green and brown, her skirt resembled the foliage of a tree with branches made of different type of fabrics, her torso was hugged by more tree like designs up to the torso were they created an intricate pattern with leaves and more branches. She was the only one that didn't wore any shoes.

And finally Rarity, Her dress was a beautiful fusion between the crystalline properties of the amethyst and the diamond. Her skirt was filled with precious gems, while the dress itself was a wonderful blending between purple and gold, the edges of the skirt were golden that faded on purple. This combination created a rose like pattern that reached her torso where the two fused together. Her dress was sleeveless, on her neck was a beautiful pearl necklace. She wore a pair of long purple heels with a diamond pattern on them.

"You are beautiful, come on the ceremony is starting!"
> [OLD]Chapter 11 The coronation [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It's everything ready?" I asked Xarx.

"Yes your majesty, the population has been informed and the preparations are going smoothly." He said.

"Very well." I said, then I called Sunset on the hive mind. "Sunny, are you and the girls ready?"

"Yes Phil, we are waiting for the right time to come to the hive." She replied.

"Ok, be here at 19:00 and we will start the official coronation and the festivities. Also you have to choose your name as queen." I said.

"You mean my official name?" She asked.

"Yes, you will choose your name and all of our subjects will call you like that." I responded.

"Very well, I will think about it. See ya at the ceremony!"

And with that she severed our link, I turned around and talked to Xarx, who just entered the throne room.

"Hey Xarx, can I redecorate the throne room right? Also I need a full report about our numbers. Troops, civilians and children."

"For your first question, of course you can. And for the second, wait a moment..." He started to mutter to himself for a bit before speaking again. "Alright we have a total of four hundred soldiers, eighty hunters, one thousands civilians and two hundred children roughly. For some real numbers we will need to do a census." He replied.

"Very well, how is the training going?" I asked.

"It's hard, harder than the one we usually did, but this will make us stronger. Also we found out that we don't need love to survive anymore, it's more of a stimolant and a powerful booster for healing and strength, but it's not required to survive anymore." He said.

"It was the curse that made it that way? The whole survival thing I mean." I said sitting on the throne, it was strangely comfortable, considering it was made of stone and all.

"Yes, it was the curse that obligated us to feed on love. If there isn't anything more I'll bid you farewell my king, I need to-" He was cut off by the door opening suddenly and two teenager entered.

"Dad! Where were you? You promised to train us and-" Xarx cut him off.

"Shut up Thorax, don't you see that you are in the same room as the king?" He scolded him.

I raised a hand and said. "Calm down Xarx, no harm was done." Then I talked to Thorax directly. "You are Thorax right?" He nodded. "And who are you?" I asked refering to the girl.

"I'm Therax your majesty." She said bowing.

"A pleasure to meet you both." I said nodding. "So, you want to train. For what exactly?" I asked.

"We want to become soldiers like dad." Thorax said.

"And I already told you that I will train you after my meeting with the king." Xarx said.

"What weapon do you use?" I asked to them.

"I'm mastering the twin swords." Thorax replied.

"And I'm mastering the pendulum." Therax said.

"Really? That's really uncommon especially the pendulum. What conviced you to use it?" I asked Therax.

"I saw in a picture that my grandad, Pharax, used it. He was known as the 'Pending Death' and I want to take that title for myself." She explained.

"Why thought?" I asked curios as what could have convinced such a young one to become a soldier.

"Those equestrians. They not only cursed us but they killed our mother! I will kill every single one of them then-"

"That's enough!" Thundered Xarx. "Go back to the barracks, I will come soon." He ordered.

They said nothing but obeyed and left the room. I then looked at Xarx with an apologetic look and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry for your loss." I told him.

"It's not your fault. That happened two years ago... but it still hurts. 'sigh'" He said looking down.

"What was her name?" I asked him.

"Letitia. A wonderful name for a wonderful wife." He responded.

"Go now, you can take the day off if you want. Spend it with your nymphs." He looked at me with wide eyes. "Come on go." I said gesturing him to go out. He nodded and exited.

"Let's see now. I really need to change this throne room, after all only one throne won't be enough." And with an idea in mind I started with closing the doors, then I poured biomass in the room coating it completely. I moved Amore's throne into a special room built entirely with biomass, this way it would be safe and never forgotten. After that I started to create the furniture and the layout of the room itself. The whole room was made of some kind of chitin that was much weaker than my biomass, so I substituted it. I created the lower half of the room wich consisted of an area of forty square meters with a floor that resembled marble. To do that I used my cloaking pigments. At the center of the floor there was an intricate mosaic that pictured the silhouette of myself and Sunset back on back with a fiery red background. The rest of the floor was white with an hexagon pattern. 

After that I created the upper part of the room whre the thrones were situated, I create my and Sunset throne, they were made resembling the branch of a tree that sprouteted from the ground, they were a red coloration with gold inlay that resembled the runes on Gungnir but weren't the same, the differences between the two were that mine was mostly red and black, while Sunset's throne was prominently orange and gold, also on the top of Sunset's throne there was an epigraph of her cutie mark, while on mine there was the symbol of the evolved. They were in the center of the upper half, then I created seven more thrones that were in a semicircular pattern so that everyone could see anyone, one for each girl. 

First was Fluttershy's throne, it was like mine and sunset's with the difference that hers was green and brown colored, with green inlays that resembled a foliage, on the top of it was the epigraph of her cutie mark. It was on my right. 

Second was Rainbow's throne. This one resembled a cloud and was created with swirls and lightning figures on it, the back was rainbow colored with a golden inlay on it, on top of it there was her cutie mark. This one was next to Fluttershy's.

Next one was Applejack's throne. Hers was made resembling a tree that grew from the ground, the back of it was the trunk while on it were lots of little branches filled with leafs, inside these leafs there were three red apples that symbolized her cutie mark, the legs of the throne were brown while the back had a crimson inlay. Her throne was next to Rainbow's.

The last of the line was Derpy's throne. Her was made like a normal throne but with bubbles that traveled all of it, from the legs up to the top, it was gold and grey coloured, the two colours clashed with each other at the middle of the throne creating multiple swirls on it on the top was her cutie mark.

Next to Sunset's throne was Twilight's one. Hers was made resembling a book, with the back being an open page while the legs were created with an intricate purple spiral inlay filled with dozens of different runes, the throne continued with a six pointed star on top of it that resembled Twilight cutie mark.

Next to Twilight's throne was Rarity's. Her throne was made resembling a crystal sprouting from the ground, with an intricate pattern of diamond like inlay and multiple gems that filled the perimeter of the back, the throne was a pure white with a purple back. On top of it three big diamonds resembled her cutie mark.

The final one was Pinkie's throne, hers was pink and white, the lower half resembled the foundation of a cake while the back was like the frosting on it, the pink and white fused harmoniously between them and created a beautiful arrangement of colours. On top of it three balloons were there to resemble her cutie mark.

With that done I created the banners that covered the walls, they were red and black with my symbol on it while the others symbols circled it.

"It will be a pain to move all of this into the surface when the new city is built. Oh well let's see what I can do to help the changelings build their homes.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ SHINING POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Alright team, you remember the orders?" I asked to the others.

"Yes cap." They replied.

"Then we can go." I turned around and looked to the little family we tied up in order to use their home as a operation base. "Oh right, I almost forgot about you." I created a bubble around the heads of the three and collapsed it making their head explode. "All done."

We exited and entered the Everfree once again, this time in the daytime. We entered and the fog returned immediately, I created my shield and moved forward, after a bit the fog retired and the forest returned normal, as  normal as this forest can be, that is. 

"So what do you think happened to Cadence?" I asked to the team. They all shrugged and moved on, I rolled my eyes and followed them. Suddenly we heard a sound inside a bush, we prepared our weapons and moved towards the bush. The bush started to move a little, when we were a meter away from it the movement stopped. I used my sword to open the bush, when I did a squirrel exited and squeaked loudly before running away.

"What a little jerk." I said, then an extremely loud shriek filled the silence, dozens of little bipedal monstrosities exited the foliage around us and surrounded us, they were all white with horribly disfigured faces. They emitted another shriek before jumping on us, I create my shield to fend them off, they used their claws to hit and slash my shield but they were really weak so I hardly noticed. After two minutes of attack they relented and escaped, I lowered my shield and suddenly we felt a trembling. Immediately after a gigantic creature with a mouth that stretched it's entire body appeared roaring in front of us. I raised my shield again and the creature slammed all of it's four arms on it, destroying it.

"Damn you!" I said when the backslash of the spell hit me. The others attacked him and in a matter of minutes they killed it, but several more exited from the jungle.

"Come and get us you bastard Hahahaha" One of them shouted before jumping in front of them.

"This will be a long day." I muttered.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After I helped the civilians with some work here and there I made my way towards home. On my way though I heard a low growl and a wolf made out of wood exited the foliage in front of me. "A timberwolf. I was starting to worry, they should be common inside of the Everfree."

While I was thinking this the wolf crouched down ready to leap at me, I created a tendril and blocked it onto the ground, after that I neared it and crouched down as well. "What are you doing here?" I asked it hoping for a response.

"She is here to help me out, she track and scout." A voice said behind me, how she neared me without me noticing is a mystery for another time. "Now don't move, or your heart I'll have to remove." She said in a threatening tone, I wasn't scared, so I used my lightning to enhance my speed and went behind her while snapping her lance, then I created a claw and put it against her throat.

"Now who is it that shouldn't move?" I asked her, before morphing my arm again and letting her go. She turned around and looked at me, then I recognized her. She was Zecora, she wore a brown bikini that covered her lower parts and her almost non-existent breasts, she had a little bag filled with herbs and potions.

"Who are you attacker?" She asked. Then her eyes widened before speaking again. "You are Hunter?!" She said.

"In the flesh." I said. "So why are you with a timberwolf, Zecora?" I asked her.

"How is it you came, to know my name?" She asked backing away.

"I have my sources. Now answer the question." I replied.

"She is my pet and the last of her kind. After the solar crusade came I made her mine." She explained.

"Solar crusade?" I asked confused.

"Yes the solar tyrant ordered the beasts slaughter and most of them died, she and I hid but we did not falter." She said.

"Zecora, I want to ask you a question. How good are you with potions and similar?" I asked "Her help would be nice, her knowledge of the herbs of the forest could save someone's life." I thought.

"I'm a shaman but my situation is dire, what do you require?" She asked.

"I want to hire you as my personal herbalist. You will live inside the hive with food, shelter and company. Also I can help with your wolf's problem." I said stretching my hand towards her. "Deal?"

She looked a bit unsure and looked down at her wolf, then she got a determined look and shook my hand. "Your word for mine, we'll keep it and we'll be fine."

"You won't regret it." I said "Hey Woodman." I called. He exited the tree behind Zecora startling her.

"Yes Creator?" He asked.

"Can you do something with this timberwolf? She is the last of her kind and seeing that they are made of wood I thought you could help." I asked him.

"Of course I can Creator." He looked at the wolf. "So tell me your name..." The wolf barked and Woodman nodded. "A beautiful name." He said.

"What's her name?" I asked.

"Ehine, that's her name. Now Creator please free her so that I shall start." He asked, I retracted the tendril and freed her. "Now let's see..." He put a hand on a trunk and it started to glow green. After a minute the branches of the tree started to fall onto the ground, then they levitated in the air and started to compose a little timberwolf. After a bit the glow faded away and the puppy opened its eyes. Then it ran towards Ehine and hid behind her legs.

"At my eyes I don't believe, you have all sorts of tricks up on your sleeve." Zecora muttered.

"Let's go Zecora I will show you your room and the laboratory."I said 

"Ok Hunter, pray tell can you wait for me to bid her farewell?" I nodded and she crouched down to Ehine height. "Be good my friend, how to be a mother you will have to apprehend." She said petting her, then she stood up and returned to me. 

"Ok, Woodman when you are finished with this contact me. I have a mission for you." I said walking away. Zecora followed me and in a matter of minutes we arrived at the hive. We were greeted by a group of nymph, they all looked excited to see me but then they noticed Zecora and asked me what was she doing here. 

"She's here to be our herbalist and medic, so treat her with respect ok?" I said to them, they nodded and asked her.

"What are you miss?" They asked her.

"I'm a Zebra, of the tribe of Salembra. I came here from over the oceans, where I learnt how to brew potions ." She replied gently with a smile.

"So you can heal people?" A little girl asked.

"Yes little one, that's my pleasure and fun." She replied crouching down to her height.

"Then I want to be like you!" She shouted happily. "So I can heal people too!"

"That's a very kind dream." I said. "If Zecora wants she can take you as her apprentice, what do you say Zecora?" I asked her.

"I would love to teach my arts to this little kind heart." She said smiling ruffling the head of the girl.

"Come on follow me Zecora, the laboratory is inside. Also if you want at sunset there will be my and my girlfriend coronation, along with the presentation of my daughters to the citiziens." I told her continuing down into the castle.

"I will be honored to attend, because you already helped my friend." She said and I just nodded. After a bit we arrived to the laboratory where a multitude of different vials and potions rested. The laboratory was in the deepest part of the hive, probably to ensure that if something went wrong then the damage would be reduced, still the laboratory was filled with different machines and plants.

"Here is where you will work." I said to her. Then I motioned for her to follow me, I returned to the surface and went to an isolated part of the outer hive, there I planted my arms inside the ground and pumped biomatter in it, then I ordered it to assume the form and texture of wood. I created a two story tall hut with a wooden pointy roof, the door was circular made out of oak wood, it had a total of four windows on the walls, on the top there was a chimney that transported the fumes of the cauldron out.

We entered and I showed her the interior, there was a total of five rooms, the central one was the one with the cauldron where she could create her potions, on the back was situated the warehouse where she'd store her supplies, on the right of the central room there was the bathroom and on the second floor there was her bedroom.

"What do you think?" I asked her when we exited the hut after finishing the tour.

"It's beautiful, and see it fill my heart in full." She said. "Thank you, this gift won't be forgot now excuse me but I have brews to do." She said, I nodded and she re-entered her new home.

I started to walk away when suddenly I sensed the presence of Woodman nearby. "Strange, this never happened before. Discord said that they have Ambrosia too, it means that I can sense other beings with Ambrosia?" I thought. To prove if my theory is right I closed my eyes and expanded my senses. Immediately I picked up the trace of Woodman, then Regina, Viribus and finally Ferdinad. The latest had a large amount of it though. Strange.

Anyway I sensed Woodman and I greeted him. "Hello Woodman, have you finished?" I asked him.

"Yes Creator." He said exiting from a nearby tree. "The race of timberwolves will come back. What was the mission you told me about?" He asked.

"Ah yes, you see my relationship with Sunset is, let's say rushed. I don't know why I feel such a strong attraction towards her and she towards me, but nonetheless is incredibly rushed. So I wanted to take her out to a date, after the ceremony. And all I need, is your help." I said pointing at him.

"I'm all ears."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ SHINING POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  ~ ~ ~

"This is the last of them." I said to the Omegas. "Let's go."

We departed from the now clear spot, leaving behind dozens of giant corpses. They put up a decent fight, if we were a normal battalion they would have decimated us. Still we continued forward, if this is the maximum this forest can do than Cadence is worse than I thought.

After an hour of walking, where nothing happened, a sudden chill traversed my body. There was something that was watching us, and it didn't have good intentions I unsheathed my sword and prepared for the worst. Suddenly the trees started to move and they were blocking our path, branches and trunks were all twisting in order to cover the passage. I walked forward and hit a tree with my sword, I was shocked when the trees, not only resisted my blow, but gave out the distinctive sound of metal hitting metal.

"What the..." I muttered. "What are these trees? They are made of metal. Guys try to cut them down, now." I ordered. The Omegas all drew their weapons and started hit the trees but to no avail. No matter how strong the blow was the trees wouldn't budge.

"Stop." I ordered. "This could be a problem. Let me check something." I closed my eyes and reached with my soul an higher dimension, where I took a small amount of Ambrosia. This technique can give the user the temporary ability to see and hit the gods. I opened my eyes and they almost bulged out from what I saw. The whole mass of trees was traversed by a layer of Ambrosia. 

"No wonder we couldn't cut them." I thought. I turned around and started to walk away. "Let's go, there's nothing we can do for now. We'll need the help of Celestia if we want to cut those trees." I said.

"I'll come back, Hunter. Your little trees can't protect you forever."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ SUNSET POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

It was finally time, we were travelling towards the hive by foot. Rainbow complained that we could have flown but Rarity scolded her because flying would have ruined the dresses, teleportation too was out of the question.

"So do you think you are stronger than me?" Said Rainbow Dash.

"Yes, and I will repeat it again if you want. I. am. stronger. than. you." Applejack replied.

"You and me arm wrestle. Now!" Rainbow said.

"Absolutely not." Said Rarity firmly. "You won't ruin my fine dresses with your uncouth demeanour."

"Go Dashie!" Said Pinkie bouncing up and down with a big glove resembling a hand with a number one on it. "You can do it!"

"Pinkie!" Rarity shouted. "Stop it immediately, you will ruin your dress!"

"Shut up Rarity, they are just dresses." Said Rainbow.

Rarity's right eye ticked. "Just dresses?"

They started then a full blown argument about demeanour and dresses. I sighed and said. "Girls."

"Girls" I said louder. "Girls!" I shouted, but they still ignored me.

"GIRLS!" I shouted stomping my feet into the ground creating a crater beneath me. They stopped and looked at me with a fearful expression.

"Will you kindly shut up?! We will be late. I don't care right now about your argument." I pointed at Rainbow and Applejack. "If you two wants to test your strength than do it later." I pointed then to Rarity. "If they are not fan of dresses, then it's not in your right to oblige them." I pointed then to Pinkie. "And you Pinkie..." She was absolutely still, her big glove gone and her dress was perfect. "... Nevermind."

After the argument we moved on and arrived to the outer hive. The road was filled with changelings of all ages, our path was covered in beautiful red petals. I awkwardly greeted them with my hand, Applejack, Flutteshy, Derpy and Twilight were all trying to become smaller, they could have but they didn't. Rarity, Pinkie and Rainbow all basked in the attention that was being given to them. Rainbow was saluting everyone with a boasting attitude while Rarity was doing it with style. Pinkie instead was greeting them all with a shake of hand.

We reached the inner hive and walked inside the throne room. Here we saw the new room and the thrones, there was one for each of us, Philip was at the bottom of the stairs waiting for me. He wore a formal attire that consisted of a crimson red armor filled with an intricate pattern of runes,his arms were covered by armor only his hands were naked, on his legs he wore a pair of black pants covered by armor but not too much to cover the entirety of the pants, his shoes were made of black leather. He also had a red cape, now everything else was quite fitting but that cape. That cape was horrible. Nonetheless we reached him.

"You are beautiful." He whispered, looking at me in the eyes.

I wore a dress mad by Rarity, a beautiful white with traces of red and orange that created the illusion of flames under it. The dress was filled with different gems, where Pinkie found so many is still a mystery. The dress covered me completely, it had only a epaulet, a split that showed a diamond necklace and a second split that started at a fourth of my left leg and went all the way down.

"You too." I said whispering back. "But the cape is ridiculous." I giggled. He snorted a bit but he had a smile on his face nonetheless.

"My fellow changelings." An old voice said. "We are here tonight to crown our new king and queen. As you all know, our beloved queen Chrysalis, passed away three days ago. Her will was to crown our savior as the new king, and consequently his mate and daughters, we are here now to start the official crown ceremony and acknowledge our new king rule." He then pointed at me and said. "Come now, my king. Sit on the throne that our queen left to you."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I started to walk, I neared the throne. "This is it. No turning back now, if I sit there I will be the king. I will have to take responsibility, I will have to keep them safe and I will have to keep my promise. Am I ready?" I searched in my memories and found all of chrysalis's years of reign. "With her knowledge and wisdom, I can do it. But more importantly." I created a little eye to look behind me and I saw Sunset and the girls. "With them beside me, I know I can."

I reached the throne and sit on it.

"Ave,rex omnium nostrum." They chanted. 

"Now my king, what will be your name?" Veteris asked.

I put on a smile and said. "You can call me Philip. Philip Mercer."

He nodded and talked to the crowd. "All hail king Philip Mercer."

"Omnes Laudate regem!" They shouted. 

"Now you'll need a crown, we don't have one right now but we will ask to the blacksmith to forge one." He said to me.

"Don't worry Veteris, I got it covered."I said, then I created a crown with my biomass. It was an eight pointed crown, with a bright red gem in the center, on the points were engraved my daughters and Sunset's cutie marks. The central gem was connected to the points with a red thread.

"Very good my king, now for the queen." He gestured to Sunset. "Come here my queen."

Sunset climbed the stairs and reached her throne, but didn't sit on it immediately.

"Ave regina ad omnes" They chanted again. Then Sunset sat on the throne.

"My queen." Veteris said. "What will be your name?"

She looked at me and shot me a kind smile before answering. "You can call me Sunset. Sunset Mercer"

I was shocked. Completely and utterly shocked. "She changed her last name, for me? I never told her to do it, I would have never obliged her with this choice. But she did it of her own free will. Sunny... I'm now more sure than ever that I will always love you." I thought smiling at her, she reached towards me with her hand and I grabbed it without hesitation.

"Omnes laudare regina!" The crowd cheered.

"And for your crown?" He asked.

"I have an idea in mind." She said, and created a crown also with eight tips, on them there were eight different gemstones. From left to right they were:  a sapphire, a ruby, an emerald, a diamond, a topaz, an amethyst, an andalusite and an alexandrite. In the center on top of them there was a big gems with the crystalline representation of our daughter's cutie marks. The crown was impossible to reproduce.

"And now we will present the princess of the hive. Step forward and tell us your name." He said.

First was Fluttershy. "Call me Fluttershy Mercer, please." She said with a kind smile, then she sat on her throne. She created a small semicircular crown with a simple design, it was made of silver with a butterfly shaped spinel.

Second was Rainbow Dash. "I'm Rainbow Mercer Dash, remember it because I will be the best." She said boastful as ever she too sat on her throne. She too used a simple crown with a rainbow opal. A virgin rainbow if I remember right.

Third was Applejack. "Call me Applejack Mercer. AJ for my friends" She said with wink. She then reached her throne and sat on it. She used the same crown as the others but with an apple shaped ruby on it.

Fourth was Twilight. "My name is Twilight Mercer, if you need anything related to magic come and talk to me ok?" She said a bit nervous and sat on her throne. Same type of crown as her sisters but with a star shaped amethyst.

Fifth was Rarity. "I'm Rarity Mercer, you can count on me for the design of the place." She said smiling, then she sat on her throne. She used a diamond shaped purple diamond to decorate her crown.

Sixth was Pinkie. "Hello! I'm Pinkie Mercer Pie and I want to be your friend!" She shouted happily bouncing towards her throne. For her crown she used two different gems, two sapphire and a topaz all shaped in three balloons.

We all looked at Derpy, and she looked back at me. "M-m-me too?" She stuttered.

"But of course, you are now my daughter and as such you are a princess." I said with a gentle smile. "Now say your name and sit here with us."

She stepped forward a little hesitant than spoke. "I-I'm D-Derpy Hoo- Derpy Mercer Wind." She said finally then sit on her throne. Because she couldn't create a crown of her own I made one for her. Same style as the others but I used pearls for her cutie mark.

"Why did you change your last name?" I asked.

"My biological father abandoned us, thus I abandoned his name and took your and mom's name. You aren't angry are you?" She asked.

"No." I said shacking my head. "I am honored." I said.

"Ave!" The crowd shouted at last. Then the formal ceremony ended and the party started. A multitude of changelings came to us and congratulated to us for our coronation, but the real deal now was the talk with Sunset.

"Hey Sunny." I said to her, she was drinking some kind of beverage but I didn't really focus too much on it. "How are you feeling?"

"Honestly? A bit overwhelmed. So much happened in so little time, but I'm happy regardless. I have a coltfriend, seven beautiful daughters and a lovely home. And I'm not even counting eternal youth and powerful magic." She hugged me. "Thank you, without you who knows what would have happened to me."

"Now listen Sunny, don't dwell on the what ifs but instead enjoy this party. After this, I would like if you accept to go on a date with me." I said bowing at her.

She blushed a little and responded. "I would love to."
> [OLD]Chapter 12 The date [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Shall we?” I said gesturing for her to grab my hand.

“With pleasure.” She replied. “But what about the party? And all of the guests?”

“They will be fine, also,” I said, watching Pinkie bouncing all over the place setting games everywhere. “I think Pinkie has her work cut out for her, the girls are enjoying this too.” I said pointing to the girls. Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Applejack were all talking between themselves while the others were either playing Pinkie’s games or just chatting with the guests.

“you’re right.” She said smiling. “Then let’s go.”

I took her hand and walked outside, once there I took her into the forest. “Where are we going?” She asked.

“It’s a surprise.” I said winking at her. We walked for a bit then we reached the cave that leads to the Heart of the forest. The outside of the cave though was completely different, thanks to Woodman of course. The clearing in front of the cave was filled with a multitude of different kind of multicolored plants that filled the empty space in front of the cave, in the air there were dozens of fireflies that lit the place like spirits traveling through the night sky. The moon was in her prime and her beautiful light basked the entire thing in an almost supernatural way. At the centre, there was a path that climbed all the way to the top of the cave. The cave itself was now cleaner, the fangs were polished and the entrance was littered with torches.

“It’s beautiful…” Said Sunset.

“You didn’t see anything yet.” I responded. “Come with me.” We followed the path and reached the top of the cave there, there was a tree big enough to almost cover the sky, we walked under it and I sat on a low branch, then I patted a branch next mine suggesting to Sunset to sit down too.

“Why are we here?” She said sitting.

“You’ll see.” I said, then the music started.

Moon Without The Stars, I always loved that song, I just felt that it was the right thing to sing there and there.

I made her stand up and wrapped a hand around her waist and started to dance to the rhythm her eyes darted around trying to grasp everything that was happening when she noticed how close we where she blushed a little before smiling and leaning her head on my chest. The fireflies from before started to rise and flew around us like an audience, watching us.

I was feeling like I was in a dream, the night, the sky and the moon. All paled in comparison to Sunset. She was beautiful with a smile that lit the night with its sheer beauty. The tempo was lento, and we danced it. The song really get my words out for Sunset to hear. I couldn’t think of an existence without her now, I was finally, truly happy.

I slowed the dance and I stared into her eyes, almost losing myself in them, a tiny breeze formed and all around us the grass moved and almost shared our dance.
While we were dancing, almost on cue, the branches of the tree moved away, and the light of the full silver jewel of the sky that was the moon hit us like if it was a spotlight. There were only me and Sunset right now, nobody else. The world was our stage and we, danced on it with our heart, free from the bonds that chained us to the world.


The branches lifted more and cleared our vision of the moon, the moon was right behind us basking us in her beautiful light, and I held Sunset closer than ever, I don’t know how really but, we started to leave the ground, now the jeweled night was our ballet stage. Luna’s moon shined brighter than ever, the stars around it gave the illusion of millions of other dancers around us. While we were dancing in a circle we went higher and higher, the fireflies flew up around us in a column of light that lit Sunset’s face.
Then it started, a magnificent meteoric shower that filled the sky, Sunset looked at me with teary eyes and without even thinking I leaned her closer to the point that our noses were touching each other.

“I love you” I said.
“And I love you too.”

We kissed under the moonlight, with an intensity that I never experienced before, I could feel Sunset’s love and her mine. The song continued while we danced and showed our love to the world. The song was now reaching the end, that beautiful dream finished like so many things, but I knew deep inside that our love would remain eternal.We started to descend and the fireflies flew away in the night while the song gave out its final notes filled with emotions.
We broke our kiss and just stared at each other before Sunset spoke up.

“Wow…” She said. “That was, beautiful.” She started to cry. “Thank you, thank you.” She said hugging me tightly, and I reciprocated. “I love you.”

“I love you too, my phoenix.” I said with a smile.

“How did you set up all of this?” She asked.

“A little help from Woodman and a stroke of luck with the meteor shower.” I replied. “Now come with me there is still one thing that I want to show you.” We walked down and entered the cave, I guided her through the tunnels. At the last turn, I asked her something.

“Now Sunny, close your eyes and don’t open them until I say so ok?” She nodded and I entered the main cave. Once there I waited for the right moment
“Open your eyes.” I said, then I pointed at the Heart, the moon had arrived at its zenith, the light from the moon shined from the hole in the dome right on top of the Heart. When the silver light reached it the Heart divided the moonlight creating an aurora borealis of silver colours, a moon rainbow. The entire cave was immersed in this beautiful light. Sunset was completely speechless, so I just hugged her, and we remained there admiring nature’s work.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CADENCE POV ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I was in a dark place, around me there was nothing but darkness. Then in that endless darkness a light shined, it was a deep red colouration and it was reaching me. The light started to condense into a pony shape when it was about three meters away from me, then at a meter of distance it finished and took the form of somepony I knew very well. An almost exact copy of me, but her mane was red with a patch of green in it, her coat was pitch black with some specks of purple on it, the specs were more visible around her waist and breasts. She also wasn’t wearing anything on her. All of this with her almost sickening smile.

Hatred.

“Hello, cady!” She greeted me. “How is the pony that I hate the most in this world?”

I snorted, crossing my arms. “Quit the games Hatred, you hate everypony the same.” I said.

She immediately narrowed her eyes and said.”Yeah, you’re right.” And she continuing. “So why are you here?” She asked while biting off her finger before regenerating it.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked.

“What? This?” She said biting off another finger, I nodded and she continued. “It’s easy, it’s because I hate myself, as such I will make myself suffer for it. Oh don’t worry, I hate you as well, and your clothes and this world.” She explained.

“I was inside the Everfree when some kind of fog appeared. Then I woke up here.” I won’t tell her what really happened.

“You really are an idiot, aren’t you?” She stared at me in the face and started to cry blood. “Li͞st̕e̵n here and ̛l̷i̧st͡ȩń we͝l͜l ̧Ca̡de̢nce.̶ ͏I ̷AM ỲO͟U!̕ ͞T͠h͘e͠r̀e i̵s͢ not͏hin͝g y̷o͟u ͝ca͘n ̧h҉id͝ę ̛f̸r̸om͏ ͝m͞e҉.̨ ͟A̧ND͜ I HAT̸E ̧IT!"̀ She said in a distorted voice. “I ̶͏s̸a̕w̶͞ ҉́͟w҉̶h̸҉at ̕͟h҉́a̵̕p͟͏̧p̀͞e͏̀ǹéd ̧̕H̨͏̀A͏H͝A̸̡H̷̕A̴.̛ ̕͜D́Ơ̵ ͞Y҉͘ÓU ́R̷Ȩ͟A̛͢L̴L̵̶͡Y҉̡͟ ͡T̸͞H̛Ì̴̀N̵͢͝K̛͟ ̷͠Y͢O̶͟U͏ ̛C̡͘O͞U̢͘LD ̛SA̵͏͢VE̡̕ ̷TḨ͏̀E̸͝M?̵́͞ Y̧͜O҉̡U ͝҉̶W̨̢ER̵E̷̸ ͞͡N҉̷E͢͡V͡Ȩ҉R̶ ̷̨́T̶̡͡H͢E̷ ̵̵Ǫ̵͝NE̕͜͟ I̷̶̢N̨͏ ͜͡C҉̕O̸N̛T̵R̷Ǫ͢L͜!̀̕͞ ̴̧Ǵ̷͠Ó̸̢ ͏͟A̧͟ŃD̢͜ ̷̨H̷̡͠I̷͢ḐE̕ ̡͢BET̀͠W̴̡EE̢̕Ń͠ ̵̴͡Y̸͜͡Ó̡͜U̶R͜ ̨̕C̸A̢͘̕P̢͟͟T̴̶OR̢’S͘ L͏E̶G̶S͢ W̢I͞L̶L̵̶͡ ̴Y̧Ơ҉Ų?͡ ̡͢I͝ ̢͠H̨A̴͟͝T́E̸ ͏͡Y͝͝O͟͠U A̸̴N̢D͟͡͡ I͏ ͡HÁ҉T̴͜͞E̕͡ ̵̴̧C̴̕E͘͘L̢̡̛ES͡T͜I̢͞A͏̧͘! G̶̸͘͜O̴͟ ̛͝Á͡N̨D̨͘ ̴̨̕͞B̷͘U̴͘͞͏̵R͜͏͟N͞͠ ̛́͘͜I҉̡͏́͜Ń̴́͟͜ ̵҉T͜͡H̵̕͞͡͠E̴̢͝ ̷͜S̴̵̢͝Ṕ҉͞͝Ȩ̡́͡C̢̕͝I̶҉̷͡A̷͟͞͠L̕͘ ̢͡H̵̕͠Ę͜L͟͝L̀͞҉ ̢͟҉͏Ì̶͘͟҉ ́͝B̸̷Ứ́̕͞Ì͘L͏̷̧̀T̨̀͟ ̧͝͞F̵̨͠Ơ̴̸̡͡R̷̸̨̧̛ ̡̡͜͜͟Y̶O̕͝͠U̕̕͘͝͝ ͞͏W͢͡͠I͘T̨̧̢͘͜H̸̶̡͘ ̷̸̶T̶̴̶H̡̢͞͞E͝Į̸̷͏R̡̀͠ ̡͟S̵̢̀O̕Ư͘Ĺ̸S̢̧ ̶̕̕W̵̴͢I̧͏͟L̢͘L͢ ̡̛͞Y̴̴͜͠Ǫ̷҉͜U̸̵̸?̴͢ ̶H̀͘͡A̕H̨̨̕͟͞A̶͡H̢͘҉̨͞A̸҉H́҉͞͏A͘͝H͜͏A̴͟.”

I couldn’t take it anymore, I charged my fist and punched her in the face with all my strength making her fly away.

“It’s your fault! It’s your fault I have to wear that damned necklace! It’s your fault I have to kill! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT! I̧ ͟H͘AT̢E YOU!I͜͞͡ ̨̛̕HA̷͘T͡E̛ YO͢͏U̵!͏̵I҉́͞ ̵̵͘͢H̷͘Á̢͝T̷͘͠E̡̨͟ ̨͘͟͝͝Y̴͝O̢͜Ứ!҉” I shouted in a distorted voice, too similar to hers for my liking.

“I hate myself too hahahaha you fool! You are too weak to fight me! Give up, lend me your body so that I can finally kill everyone!” She shouted appearing in front of me.

“Never, I will never do it! Demons like you should be burning in hell!” I shouted angrily at her.

She restricted my movements and whispered in my ear. “Then it’s really unfortunate for you, that I am you… we will reach that famous hell hand in hand hahahaha. Look at yourself, you can’t even control a figment of your own imagination, worse you gave it sentience, you brought this on you.” She backed away from me. “Admit it! You are a creature of hate! Love is meaningless the only real force in this world is pure HATRED!”

“I’m Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess, and Goddess of love and I will never become like you!” I said feeling that I was starting to wake up, the world around me started to crumble.

“You’re right. You will never become like me.





Yͫͣͮ̕͝͏̸͕̞͚̣͕̥͕̼̼̲̦͉̣͞Ő̷̸͇̗̬̘̮̙̱̞̹̬̘ͤͣ͗̏ͯͦͤ̚͜U̧̿̔̍̔͗̌ͩ̊́̕҉̤̠̬̬͙̀ͅ ̴̢̀ͤ͗ͤ̿̄͛̅ͫ̉̑̉ͮͨͪ͏̢̻̩͔̫̦̬̼̯ͅḀ̴̤̱̰͌̈́ͩ͛͋́L̴̷̛̲̲̖͓͇̘̰͇͚͙̦̮̠̮͛̐̌͂͒̂ͬͮ̈͋͛̽̄̓ͯͪͩ̅͠ͅR̸̛͐͋̆̿ͫ̎̍͡͠҉̱̺̮̝̝̘̺̱͚̘̱͖̞̖̹̙̼̠ͅȄ̸̜͎̱̳̞͚̱͓̟̼͕̲̄̂͂̚͟Ą̶̛̩̞̭̯̺̳͈̩̳̹̠̥̮̝͂͑̃ͣ̓̕͡D̼͈̤̫͕̥̻͙̜͖̪̦̪̼̺ͣ͊̾̔̓́͝͠ͅͅͅY̵͖̳͖͙̟̯̗͕̹̺̌̑ͭ͆̕ ̢̩̩͈͕̪̫͎͚̖̮̥̲̲͕ͯ͊̎͐̑ͯ͒ͭ̂ͣ͊̅ͯ̾͐͟͝A̸͚͕͈̲̞͖̻̗͖̟̮̦̟̥͓͙ͩ̍̎ͧ̑̄ͮͥ͂ͨ̈́͐́͝R̸̡͔̱̥̳̬̮̬̤̤͚͈͕̗̫̖̄̋ͨ̔̌̎̿̈́̈̈́̿ͭ̍͗ͮ̑̓̚Ȩ̢͈̟̙̪̹̙̗͈̝͉̫͂͛͐͒̎͋̊ͦͦ̀̄̚͢ͅ!̵̸̷̱̭̖̺̱̜͔̰̼̼̠͚͔̝ͦͭ̏͒ͩ͑͊͡͝ HAHAHAHAHAhahahaha.” She said while fading away.



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CELESTIA POV ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I heard a scream from Cadence’s room, I was there to visits her again and to check the necklace. I rushed inside and saw Cadence screaming and panicking on the bed, the nurses were trying to stop her but she swatted them away like nothing. Cadence was growing more and more violent until she almost snapped the neck of one of the nurses, she grabbed her by her neck and almost killed her. I reacted quickly and used my magic pinning her down against her will.

“Servi oboedite dominis.” I said in a firm tone. Cadence immediately fell limp and stopped moving, the necklace on her chest was now glowing signaling that the spell was still in function.

“I’m yours to command.” She said in a monotonous tone.

“Calm down and listen to me, when I’ll give you the command you will be still and you will explain to me what happened.” I said.

“Yes domina” She replied.

“Evigilare faciatis” I said and Cadence resumed her screaming and flailing. “Stop!” I said firmly.

Cadence stopped abruptly and said. “I was in the forest, the demons inside of it forced me to see my worst memories and almost destroyed my psyche. I fell into a coma and met Hatred. We talked and she told me that I’m not the goddess of Love because I’m her and she is me. I’m a being of hate.” She explained.

“I don’t care what your imagination says to you. Get up, you have to find Hunter, we believe he is in the Everfree forest. I sent the Omegas alone to investigate, reach them and resume the search, Now!” I said. Cadence was on the verge of crying and I didn’t have time for that.

“Status miles.”  I imparted, Immediately her face was devoid of any emotions, without a word she stood up, grabbed her clothes and made her way out of the hospital.

“Now let’s see if the Omegas already sent a report.” I said while teleporting to my throne room. There there was a messenger ready to read the new report. “Talk,” I said.

“Yes, my princess. Shining Armor here, we encountered resistances inside the forest, it seems that new monsters now inhabit it. The new monsters are already coded with three different codenames. The Ghosts, little white creatures with maimed faces, extremely rapid movements and deadly if in great numbers. Devourers, at six meters tall these beasts can destroy a powerful shield with their fists, they can withstand a large amount of damage before dying, their peculiar characteristic is the enormous mouth that traverses their whole body. The last one was never seen but we suspect it exists, for lack of physical description we will call them Nightmare, they can emit a powerful fog filled with hallucinogens that can make someone relive their worst memories, if left unchecked they can scare off entire armies with fear alone. Finally, we reached the center of the forest but a multitude of trees filled with Ambrosia blocked our path and we can’t move forward. We request the Solar blessing to cut down those trees. We are currently in ponyville inside a tree library, we are waiting for orders. End of the report.

‘New creatures eh? Where are they coming from? The solar crusade killed the majority of the dangerous species and brought many others to the point of extinction. I will need a live specimen of the first two to study them, I also need to start producing anti-fear charms to counteract the effects of the Nightmares.’ I thought.

I teleported from my room a little vial filled with blessed water and gave it to the messenger.
“Take this to the Omegas, be quick and if you break this…” I said leaning on him with a cold look. “Be sure to break your neck next understood?.” I said. The messenger swallowed hard and nodded taking the vial with him.

“I will be quick your majesty, trust me.” He said. I just nodded and he hastily got out of the room.

‘ Now let’s see if we can do anything to find those nightmares…’

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~                                                                

After the light show in the cave I took Sunset home, there we found out that the girls were already there all waiting with a frown.

“Where were you?” Asked Rainbow flying directly to my face. I put a hand on her shoulder and grounded her.

“Your mother and I were away on a date.” I said. They blushed a little and looked at the floor.

“I-I’m sorry.” Fluttershy said.

“Why my dear?” Asked Sunset.

“When we noticed that you weren’t at the party anymore I panicked and sent everyone away to search you.” She said covering her face with her hands.

I put a hand on her shoulder, crouched down and said. “Don’t worry Fluttershy, it was very responsible for you to do this.” At her confused expression, I replied. “You see, you saw two important guests disappear without a trace and your first thought was to find them. I assume that you all helped her?” I asked the others.

Twilight took a step forward and said. “Yes, I coordinated the searchers, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity all joined the various teams. Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Derpy all searched from the sky. We didn’t find you anywhere so we returned home to think of a better plan, and then you entered.” While Twilight was explaining the others nodded when she mentioned their names.

“My little brave girls, you don’t need to worry. Daddy is strong.” I said in a joking tone, then I whispered. “The only one that scares me is your mother while she’s angry.” I said, they giggled a bit, then Sunset hit me on the back.

“I’m not scary!” She said pouting.

“Oh noooo a scary mother! Scatter!” I said and then we all started to run away while Sunset was chasing us.

After a good twenty minutes of running we were all laughing on the couch, I stretched my arms and hugged them all.

“I love you so much.” I said. They snuggled a bit inside my hug and let out a happy sigh. Now I have something for you.” I said breaking the hug and standing up.

“What is it?” Pinkie asked. “A gift? Oh-oh-oh ah-ah mmmmh a guitar? A weapon? A kitty? Ooooh please be a kitty.” She said bouncing up and down on the couch.

“Nope, sorry Pinkie. What I have for you is a special gift called the Hive Mind. With this, you can always contact me and the others changelings. You will recognize each other inside of it because we are all golden points instead of blue and green. Blue dots are female changelings, green ones are male changelings.” I explained. “I will transfer to you my genes on the hive mind now. You are ready?” I asked.

“Yes.” “Hit me!” “Sure.” “Absolutely” “I’m ready.” “Yuppi doo!” Twilight, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie said.

I nodded and sprouted six different tendrils that embedded inside of their chests then I transferred my genes of the hive mind. After the ordeal, I retracted the tendrils and said.
“How are you? Everything alright?”

“Yeah totally!” Rainbow replied.

“Very interesting…” Twilight muttered.

“Oh thank goodness. I told to the guards to stop the searches. I’m just confused on why they didn’t try to contact you.” She said.

“I was inside the Heart of the forest, where the hive mind probably doesn’t work. It’s my best guess anyway.” I said then continued. “Now we need to discuss your training. Rarity will be training with Regina, she will teach how to be stealthy end lethal. Fluttershy, you will instead train with Woodman he will teach you how to mold the forest into your ally. Applejack you will train with Viribus and Sunset, he will teach you how to fight with only your fists, she will teach you how to control your fire powers. Pinkie, you and Rainbow will train with me, I will teach you how to fight with all of your weapons, Rainbow will especially be trained in her lightning abilities. Twilight, you will train with Ferdinand, he will teach you how to fight with a sword and how to use powerful magic.” I said. “Questions?” They all raised their hands.

“Who are they?” They asked.

‘I knew I forgot something!’ I thought. “Well, you see they are…”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ SHINING POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

We were inside of the library ready to move, but the messenger wasn’t there yet. So we waited.

And waited.

Until a knock was heard from the door.

“Who’s there?” I said.

“Sir, I’m corporal Stone Edge can I come in?” Somepony said from outside.

“Yes, enter.” The guard opened the door, he was a grey maned stallion with a grey mane and grey eyes, the name was fitting it seemed. “What do you want?”

“Sir we found another error on the outskirt of town. A unicorn mare, cerulean, and silver streaked mane. Her name is Trixie Lulamoon, her horn is disabled and seemed incapable of using magic.” The guard said saluting.

“Never heard of her. Do the usual.” I ordered. He saluted again and started to go away when I got an idea. “Wait!” I shouted “I got an idea. Take her to the forest tomorrow morning, the monsters inside of it will deal with her hehe.” I said chuckling darkly.

“Sir, yes sir.” He said before exiting.

“Now that that was taken care of, let’s see if there is something worthy of reading while I’m here.” I thought. I saw a book and picked it up.

‘Daring Do and the sapphire stone. Interesting.’

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  TRIXIE POV  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The guard returned, after he captured me and chained me at a pole, I had to sleep like an animal chained and unable to truly sleep because of the cold winds. He left me in the middle of the street and I was panicking on my fate. I thought he would just leave me here to die of starvation, but at last, he returned.

“Where are we going? Where are you taking the Great and Powerful Trixie?” I said.

“Shut up, error. You have no right to speak.” He said in a cold voice.

“How dare you-” He cut me off slapping me across my face, a trickle of blood exited my nose.

“I said. Shut up.” He replied and this time I kept my mouth shut. We walked for a good minute before reaching the forest.

‘Where are we going? I-I don’t wanna die!’ I thought scared. ‘It’s that forest’s fault if I’m in this situation, before entering it my horn was fine!’ My horn was vastly different from a normal one, mine looked like it blossomed like a flower, and my magic was inaccessible.

“Here we are.” He said. “Go in and don’t come back.” He pointed to the forest.

I nodded and walked inside. Better be in danger inside of that forest that trapped like the other errors. ‘No, they are not errors. They are unfortunate souls like me, how can I think of them like that when I’m like them?’ I thought.

I continued to walk until a strange fog appeared. Then the environment started to change, the trees were all bending at impossible angles and the ground was sometimes near and sometimes far away. I was confused and dizzy but I continued nonetheless, sometimes I caught a glimpse of something watching me but with all the weirdness around me, I just dismissed it. After some time, I don’t know how much my sense of time was in disarray, anyway I encountered a being. It was very tall, completely black with two red eyes that stared at me.

“Who are you?” I said to it.

“Poo͘r litt͏le p̀o҉n͟y͟.” It said in a male voice.

“I’m not little, I’m the Great and Powerful Trixie, now tell me what do you want!” I shouted to it.

“Aband̨on͜ed͡ by ev̀e͏r͝y̨ǫn͏ȩ, ͞r̢e͟j͞e̸ct̴e͢d͞ a̧n̴d l̴aug͝h͜e͝d ̨a͢t͟.” He said, I think it was an he anyway.

“What are you saying? I-I was n-never a-a-abandoned.” I said with some tears in my eyes. He leaned down and walked in circles around me while talking.

“I̕ s̸a͟w͏ y҉o҉ur̶ ̛p҉ain,̸ what̛ ̶y͟o̵u ̴ha͜v͜e en̸d͜ured,͡ ̢wh̀at y̴o͝ư h͠ave ҉s̴a̸c͞r̀if̡iced ̢t̡o ͝come̷ ͜a̶t ̀t̷hìs ͞p̷oi̕n͟t̨.͡ Y̛et ev̷er̸y͏t͢h̷in͢g̕ ͘is no̷w̧ ̷gǫńe̡,̡ bec̴a̴us̢e ̷o̸f si͢m͠p̧le ̴j̸ok̷e͜ ̴a̴ńd à c͞r̸ue̕l͝ ͡su҉n̢.͟” He said in a strangely kind tone.

“What do you know?! Who-who are you? How do you know so much? What do you want from me? Are you here to kill me? That guard sent you didn’t he? Then do it. Kill me just for a simple ‘joke’ as you are saying.” I said now angry, if the universe wants to kill me then I won’t give it the satisfaction of seeing me kneel and beg.

“̡I͠'a̶m͢ ̢a Sp̸e̶ct̴r͠e ̀a͡n͠d I͜ w҉il͡l guide͏ y̷ou͝ ̶to̷ saf͞ęty,͝ ̴m͏y ̕mas̢t͘e͢r̵ ̨w̡ill̨ ̨pŕote̢c͞t̢ yo̢u f̷r̛o͟m ͏the̢ ţyrant, ͟ḩe͝ w̸i̶ll͘ h́e̶a͞l ̕yo҉u ҉and ͢g͢iv̴e̶ ̵yo͡u ̶b҉a͡c͜k͟ your ̨pŕíd̵e. ̕You̵ ̡will ̴mak̀e f͟r̕ien͠d͟s, ́may̛b̀e ͜you'͞l͞l f̧ind̵ love͏,̛ t̡akę ͠mý h̡a̛nd́ an͘d ҉I̸ ҉w͡i͢ll̡ t͏a̕k̴e ̕y҉ou͢ tó hi̡m̛.͞ ͏Re̛f͘use, an͟d I̵ w̧íll̴ sh̷o͡w you҉ ͢t̵he wa͞y ̸o̶ut o͞f ̧the҉ f̕or͜es͝t.̧”

“W-w-what?” I said a little spark of hope lit inside of my heart. “He can really heal me?” I asked. He just nodded, I pondered on what to do, I could take his offer of just go away and exit this dreadful forest but… A feeling, a strong feeling that I never experienced before grew inside my chest. I was Celestia’s best unicorn, I was her best student, I'm of the Lulamoon house! And still… she wanted me dead, she didn’t even try to heal me, she wanted me dead without a second thought. ‘I will get at her, I will get my powers back and I will get my REVENGE!’

“I accept,” I stated firmly.

Th̀e̢n̴ ҉co͝me ̴wi̷t̢h̶ ͜me ͏T҉ri͢x̕ie͘ Lul̸am̀oon, y͞ơur n̨e͟w͜ ̷lif͘e ̧sta̴rts todáy.̀ He said. I nodded and followed him, how he knew my name was a mystery but it wasn’t the time to dwell on such things.

“Who is your master though?” I asked.
“H͠i͟s ͜nam͠ę ̧is Philip ̸M͢e͞rc͞e͜r,̸ ̡b͢u̕t ̛I̷ ̧t͞hin͠k̸ ͢y͡ou k̷no͢w h͞i҉m̷ ͠w͝ith ̶t͠he ̡na̶m̷e҉ ̡of̀ ̸H͝u͟n͡te̷r.”

“Hunter!?” I said shocked. “The stories are true then?” I asked, I heard about him on my short visit to Ponyville, ponies said that they saw a figure destroy the barracks but didn’t see it well enough to give a description. They call it Hunter though.

‘Interesting, I sure hope he can help me.’

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I used a big chunk of the night explaining the training routines and their trainers to the girls and a bit of the morning to explain to them what is going to happen.

“So let me see if I got this right.” Applejack said. “Celestia, an evil Goddess with control over the sun wants to kill every single being that isn’t perfect in her eyes?”

“Pretty much, yeah.” I said.

“And you want to create a rebellion to kill her and free the prisoners?” She asked.

“Yep,” I said.

She smirked and said. “Then I’m game. We will show her what we can do.”

“Yeah, we will show that meanie.” Pinkie said bouncing around.

“We will need weapons and money though.” Twilight said. “How are we will get them?”

“I thought about- Wait a sec.” I sensed that one of my guardians was trying to speak with me.

“What is it?” I said in the hive mind talking to the Spectre.

“M̷a̵s͘ter,͞ I ̶fou̷n͞d̷ ͜a͜ p̨ońy̡ th҉a̷t͘ ̸nee̵d͞ ̛y̕ơur pow̡e̕rs. ̵H͟er̀ name̢ ̵ís͠ ̵Tr̛i͜xi̴e ̢L̕ulamo͠o̷n̛.͢” He said.

‘Trixie? Uh, let’s see what she needs.’ I thought. “Take her to me.” I ordered and he nodded.

“Sorry girls we need to cut this short, a guest showed up and I need to greet her.” I said.

“Can I come with you?” Sunset asked. “I want to meet her too.” She said, she probably eavesdropped on me while I was talking.

“Alright, Pinkie, Rainbow you can come too.” Rainbow and Pinkie got out and waited for us in the garden. “You girls find your trainers and start with your training ok? Also Fluttershy, you are in charge until we come back.” I said, Fluttershy nodded and they got away saying bye while they were passing, but Twilight said something else.

“We need to talk later, about the rebellion.” She said and I nodded, then she nodded back and exited.

“Alright let’s go.” I said to my group, I created my wings and took Sunset and Pinkie in my arms before flying off.

“Weeeeeeee!” Pinkie cheered, “I believe I can flyyyyyy, I believe I can touch the skyyy!” She said happily, I chuckled and Sunset giggled at her while Rainbow just muttered something about her being random.

We reached a clearing where I saw the Spectre with a pony next to him. She wore a classic magician attire blue with accents of cyan on her legs, she wore also the remnants of a cape. Her mane was a mess and she had bags under her eyes, her coat also was a little paler, if that could be even possible.

“You are Trixie Lulamoon aren’t you?” I asked her.

“Y-y-yes Hunter.” She said.

“Please call me Philip. You are not one of my enemies after all. She is Sunset, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.” I said presenting the girls.

“A pleasure to know you. I’m the great and powerful Trixie.” She said. “Or at least I was…” She continued trailing off.

I then noticed the condition of her horn, I sensed a characteristic magical signature around it.
“Poison joke? It could be after all it messed up Twilight’s horn too.” I thought.
“Did you stumbled around some blue flowers?” I asked her.

“Yeah, I was traveling towards Ponyville when I tripped and fell into a bunch of blue flowers why?” She asked.

“They are called poison joke, it’s a plant that plays a prank on anyone that touches it.”

“Your horn, Hahahaha” Rainbow Dash said laughing finally noticing her horn.

“Ignore her, now come here and stay still.” I said. From the memories of the guards I devoured, I learned that the antidote to the poison joke exists in theory but it’s almost impossible to get. You have to coat the area of effect of the poison joke with Ambrosia, I don’t really have the problem of procuring it so I readied myself to cure Trixie.

Trixie neared me and bowed her head a little, I touched her horn with my hand and pumped Ambrosia on it, the poison joke tried to retaliate but I overwhelmed it and won. The horn visibly folded itself and returned back to its original state.

Trixie touched her horn hesitantly and then started to cry, she then tried to use magic and picked up a flower from the ground. She was so happy she cried and hugged me while continuously repeating thank you.

“Hehe, I see that you are really happy, sorry to break this to you but I’m already taken.” I said. She let go of me and blushed a bit.

“S-sorry, it’s just-” I cut her off.

“Don’t worry I understand. Now that I have restored your magic, what will you do?”

“I will help you kill Celestia!” She said firmly and without hesitation.

“Are you sure? It will be dangerous you could die.” I said.

“I prefer to die with my magic and with my freedom fighting her than just remain passive and let her kill me.” She said with no fear.

“Then welcome aboard. Trixie Lulamoon.”
> [OLD]Entry log 0 [2 years before project 000] [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Entry log 0
Name: Doctor Malleus.
Profession: Researcher for the royal medical hypothetical discoveries.
Date: 25th of Gelia 2059 A.A (After Alicorns.)

Subject: a single cell found in the frozen north 2000 Km from the disappeared Crystal Empire.

We discovered a cell inside a glacier 400 meters in depth. The discovery was made possible thanks to an earthquake that opened the ice enough for us to scan it. The priority of the research wasn’t to find that cell,  but we were searching for the Empire. Anyway, we found it and took with us at the Canterlot G.E.N.E. (Genetic. Engineering. Neverdawn. Establishment.) for studying purposes. End log.

Continue of log 0
Name: Doctor Becker.
Profession: Head researcher for project 'Perfection'.
Date: 1st of Froste 2060 A.A

Subject: A single cell found in the north by Doctor Malleus.

Fascinating, the cell is responding to our stimuli. The cell eats and multiplies at an astounding rate, we tried to insert a colony of harmful bacteria into the petri dish of Perfection. It killed and ate every single external bacteria, even extremely harmful ones.

Two days after the second addition. An accident happened, a researcher tried to touch a part of Perfection, the cell was at that time as big as a pony hand. The blob of red and black substance was fairly uninterested with our experiments and didn't show any sign of sentient. Until that researcher tried to touch it without protection, Perfection grabbed the researcher's finger then it wrapped itself around its hand and broke it with an audible crack. When the security finally removed Perfection the researcher's hand was gone. We saw Perfection play with their hand and almost taunting us like as to say 'Try to do that again, and a hand won't be the last thing that I will detach from you.' Then it devoured it and grew again in size. Project Perfection was renamed project Hunter, with only one specimen subject 000.

End of the log.

Addon for Log 0
Name: Doctor Becker.
Profession: Head researcher for project 'Hunter'.
Date 1st of Froste 2061 A.A.

Subject: Subject 000, project Hunter.

The growth of Subject 000 is incomparable to any other living organism, the possibilities are infinite. If we can replicate its D.N.A. we will create invincible soldiers and perfect creatures.
I'll ask at her majesty for more funds at the next meeting.

Two days have passed after the meeting and her majesty approved my request for more funds, Subject 000 is growing more and more and now resemble a fetus, more and more interesting indeed.

We put subject 000 in a containment and growing tank where we can study it and make it grow at the same time.

End log 0

Continuation of log 0

Name: Doctor Becker.
Profession: Head researcher of project 'Hunter'
Date: 15th of Solstitium 2061 A.A.

We detected an abnormal spike of thaumic energy inside subject 000's tank, we don't know what caused it but our sensors went into overdrive and we needed to repair them. After that, the magical abilities of subject 000 grew exponentially obliging us to use instrument far more powerful than before. The instruments will be all tared to the Gigathaums (106 Thaums) Without alerting anypony in order to avoid panic.

Subject 000 is still growing, it's now as big as a foal, approximately 80 cm, but it doesn't resemble a pony at all, more information can be found in its personal report. We did a field test to see how powerful it is against full armored ponies. The guard chosen for this job was corporal Air Strike, the test started and the corporal attacked Hunter immediately. Hunter didn't dodge and let itself be pierced by the lance, the lance embedded inside its eye but it didn't twitch at all, the suddenly it grabbed the spear with a hand and broke it in half, it grabbed the half still in corporal's hands and yanked him towards itself. Then Hunter opened its mouth to an impossible width and bit off Air Strike's arm in a second. Air Strike screamed and called for the test to end, the guards were rushing inside to stop Hunter but they were too late, Hunter grabbed Air Strike by its neck, stretching its arm doing so and bit off his head, then it devoured the entire body without leaving a trace. The guards entered and followed protocol, at least 10 m of distance between them and Hunter, unfortunately, Air strike's wife, Juice Hoof was also present and charged Hunter. Hunter grabbed the incoming lance at an outstanding speed and used it to open Juice Hoof's belly making her internal organs leaks out. Hunter then beheaded her too and devoured her, but somehow we could still hear her screams from inside Hunter.

All in all that day was incredibly good and we made giant leaps to understand Hunter abilities and behavior.

End of Log 0.
> [OLD]Chapter 13 The training [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hop on.” I said to Trixie. “We’ll fly towards the hive.”

“H-hop on?” She said uneasily. “You won’t let me fall right?”

“Haha don’t worry Trixie I won’t.” I said laughing. “And even if I do, Rainbow will catch you, right?”

Rainbow shrugged and smirked. “Maybe.”

“Ehm thanks for the offer but I can go on hoof he-he.” She said and nervously laughed while backing away.

“Don’t worry Trixie.” Sunset said. “I will teleport you there, ok?” Trixie nodded eagerly and went next to Sunset.

“You could have teleported?” I asked. “Why you didn’t?”

“Well, it isn't every day that you carry me princess style.” She said blushing and giggling a little, Rainbow was faking a gag while Pinkie was sparkling… somehow.

“I will carry you princess style every day if you want.” I said kissing her. She didn’t back away from the kiss and instead prolonged it until Rainbow coughed in her hand and made us return to reality.

“Sorry to interrupt, but can we go?” She asked.

“Yes sorry, sweetie he-he.” Sunset said and charged her horn, then we all returned to our home in the garden.

“Why are we at home Sunset? We need to go to the hive.” I said.

“The hive is too crowded and I fear I might pop us in someone else.” She explained.

“Oh ok then, hop on Trixie, seems like you will still fly with me.” I said chuckling.

“Oh dangit.” She murmured but climbed on my back regardless.

“All right, brace yourself we are going to take off. The emergency exits are there, there, there and everywhere, please don’t use them.” I said very rapidly.

“Wait, what?” Trixie said.

“TOO LATE HERE WE GOOOO” I shouted.

“AAAAAAAAH YOU MANIAC!”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ FLUTTERSHY POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I heard a strange sound from the distance but I didn’t think too much about it, the forest is always filled with strange sounds after all. I instead refocus my attention towards Woodman who was now explaining to me how to understand animal language.

“You see little one, an animal is far more fragile than a person, a person can lie, a person can endure physical and emotional pain, and if in pain they can tell you about it. Animals, on the other hand, can’t, it’s up to you to understand their sufferance, you’ll have to see not only with your eyes but with your heart too.” He explained, then he opened his hands and I saw a cute little bunny in them.

“This is Angel. He was abandoned by his family and now he’s alone.” He handed him to me, the bunny looked at me a little uneasy. “I want you to take care of him, befriend him and when you have done that, we will start training you with plant communication.” He said, placing the bunny in my hands and then disappeared inside of a tree.

“So, ehm how are you?” I asked as softly as I could. Angel just huffed and jumped down from my hands, starting to run away. “No wait, please.” I said. “Oh my… please come back I can’t let you go into the forest alone.” I said following him.

Angel huffed again and made an angry go away motion, then he started to hop off again. I continued to follow him until he stopped by a river, he was watching the other side.

“Do you- do you want to pass the river?” I asked unsurely. He nodded and motioned for me to pick him up. “Oh, very well then Angel bunny.” I said happily. I picked him up and dashed across the river landing on the other side, all of that in a second.

Angel was trembling and was using his little paws to stay attached to me for dear life.
“I’m sorry I startled you, Angel.” I said picking him in my arms and hugging him softly.
“I shouldn’t have done it so fast and abruptly. I’m sorry.” I said apologetically

After a minute Angel calmed down and shot me an angry glare, I was so sad I could have cried. Angel hopped off of my arms and went away, I just sat down and wailed in my sadness.

‘It’s my fault, I startled him and now he fears me. I will never befriend him, I failed Woodman and daddy.’  I thought sadly.

Suddenly the ground shook and I heard a loud roar in the direction of where Angel hopped off, I stood up immediately and ran toward the sound fearing the worst. I arrived in time to see a chimera standing on top of a terrified Angel.

“Hey, you.” I said. “I know that this is the cycle of nature, but please refrain from eating that bunny.” I said firmly, the chimera just looked at me, then it chuckled and spoke.

“You are funny, little pony.” Said the goat head.

“Do you really think we were doing it for hunger?” The lion head said.

“We just want to kill it for the thrill of the hunt.” Said the snake head.

‘ They are the mysterious animal that is terrifying the changelings? So they weren’t just telling stories. Thorax and Therax were right at the party.’

“How dare you?”

“What?” They said in unison.

“How dare you?!” I shouted. “How dare you kill innocents just for the thrill of the hunt? Don’t you have any respect for Nature?” I said growing angrier, my eyes were now completely red.

“Nature is a cruel mistress, only the strongest survive.” Said the goat head.

“And we will do whatever we want.” Said the snake head, plunging forward to bite Angel. I reacted quickly and grabbed it’s head with my hand, traveling ten meters in a fraction of a second leaving a deep trail in my passage.

“Last warning leave him alone.” I said coldly.

“You can’t control us bitch! We are the strongest!” The chimera said, the lion head tried to bite me but I dodged it easily, I still had the snake head in my hand so I pulled it and ripped its head off, almost showering myself in blood, my shirt was filled with blood and my pants too. I absorbed the blood on them and shot the chimera a wicked grin.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” I said and created my sickle, plunging it deep into the lion head, leaving only the goat head in agony but alive. “You like to hunt for fun?” I said raising my sickle.

“Then I will enjoy this.”

I plunged my blade into its final head and killed it, I then devoured its body and took its memories, they killed a lot of different innocents, from animals to changelings and ponies. Only just for fun.

I turned around and looked at Angel.

“You are safe now Angel, sorry for earlier and sorry for this. You shouldn’t have seen that side of me.” I said.

“That was fucking terrifying and cool at the same time,” said Angel.

“Eeeeeeeh I can understand you?!” I squeaked.

“You can?” He asked.

“Yes I can, oh I’m so happy, now we can be friends much faster.” I said.

“You are incredible.” He said shaking his head.

“What do you mean?” I asked confused.

“Nothing, nothing. So shall we go away from here?” Angel asked.

“Oh, of course, come on.” I said and we headed off towards home.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ RARITY POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Regina was talking to me about the in and outs of stealth and on how to do ambushes when we heard a strange sound from home.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Dunno, it doesn’t matter, darling. Now have you grasped everything I told you up until now?” Regina asked, I nodded and she continued. “Then we will start a little game. Hide and I will try to find you.” She said and I took off immediately.

I ran into the forest before camouflaging myself against a tree, Regina showed up in a matter of seconds after me and started to look around her, seeing a giant black insect-like creature roaming the woods and then locking her eyes on you can be pretty scary. I won’t say I screamed because that totally didn’t happen but I blew up my cover anyway.

Regina walked towards me and booped me with one of her claws on the forehead.
“What did you do wrong?” She asked.

“I exposed myself when you startled me?” I answered puzzled.

She shook her head and replied. “No, darling. Your error was that you indeed were hiding well, but you didn’t hide your magic. Every guard of Celestia is trained to detect foreign magic in the air, you need to learn how to hide it, I’ll show you.” She said, I blinked and she was gone.

“W-what? H-how she did that?” I looked around trying to scout her but I only saw trees in every direction. I started to walk aimlessly but suddenly an icy feeling overcame me and my instinct told me to duck. I did so and one of Regina’s tendrils passed above me missing me by a millimeter.

I immediately turned invisible and hid in the foliage, I waited for Regina to do her move. When I saw her jump off a tree and land on the ground I triggered my trap, I used my whipfist and coiled it around her pinning her down.
“Yes! I did it, see Regina? I’m not so bad, darling.” I said smirking proudly.

“Indeed you are good.” A voice said behind me, then a pair of strong claws and tendrils coiled around me and pinned me down.

“But seems like I’m better. Darling.” Regina said.

“How did you do that? Dad said you couldn’t teleport.” I sid.

“Yes, I can’t teleport but you see, when Master becomes stronger we too become stronger.” Regina explained. “I gained the ability to create clones of myself, they can only do simple tasks and they are extremely fragile but excellent as bait.”

“You got me.” I conceded. “Can you free me now? You are ruining my dress!” I said.

Regina giggled and uncoiled me.”As you wish, Princess.” She said mockingly. I just huffed and she laughed some more. “Now let’s continue our training shall we?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ APPLEJACK POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was breaking some boulders that Viribus was throwing at me with my fists when I heard a sound from the house. My curiosity though cost me a boulder on the head.

Viribus made a confused grunt then a stern one.

“Yeah, yeah I know. Don’t get distracted right?” I asked him. Thankfully Woodman passed by early and told me what Viribus wanted from me, then he lent him a little plant of his own invention that translate thoughts into words. It needs some adjustments though, sometimes it wouldn’t work.

“Yes, Applejack.” Said Viribus with a monotone voice.

“We will do this for all the duration of the training?” I asked him annoyed, I wanted to learn how to fight, not how to smash boulders.

“If you want, we can do a sparring session.” He said with no emotion at all.

“Really!?” I asked enthusiast.

“No.” He replied.

“Dangit.” Viribus took another boulder and throw it at me, I grabbed the boulder and used it’s momentum to rotate myself and throw it back at him. He didn’t expect that and was hit right in the face.

“Good move.” He ‘praised’.
He was ready to throw another boulder when we heard a loud roar nearby. I jumped in the air and surpassed the roof of the forest, I searched in all directions and finally saw what was causing the loud noise.

A dragon.

It was a mighty beast, at least twenty meters tall and covered in red fiery scales, on its long pointed muzzle was a line of segmented horns that traversed the middle of his muzzle slowly growing in length the more they traversed its body. Its wings were leathery and with some holes in them, but that wasn’t even bothering it.

“AATHURNAS! SHOW YOURSELF, COWARD!” It shouted with an impressive voice.

In the meantime I was again on the ground, Viribus looked at me puzzled so I explained to him what I saw.

“I won’t allow you to fight it.” He said.

“Why not?” I responded. “It’s a wonderful training!”

“It’s too dangerous.” Viribus replied.

“Then come with me! If something goes wrong then you will be there to take care of it!” I said angrily. “I will fight it, with or without you!” I finally shouted.

“Stubborn as a mule are you?” He said and continued. “Very well then, let’s go.”

We ran off in the direction of the dragon.

“I’ll put you down and I’ll show dad how strong I am”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ TWILIGHT POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Did you hear that?” I asked Ferdinand.

“Yes, princess. Though I don’t know what is causing such a sound.” Ferdinand replied again, in his deep voice.

“I’m gonna give a rapid look around.” I said, I created a platform made out of pure magic and took off in the air. Then I saw a giant red dragon, it was raging around the forest destroying trees and launching giant chunks of dirt everywhere. I teleported down and reported to Ferdinand.

“A dragon is here, rampaging through the forest.” I said. “Can you teleport us to Aathurnas? Maybe he knows it?” I asked.

“Of course, princess.” He replied, in an instant, the world shifted and we reappeared in Aathurnas’s cave.

“Aathurnas!” I called.

The giant body of Aathurnas exited one of the giant piles of gold, he moved his face and glared at me.

“What do you want?” He asked annoyed.

“There is a dragon here. A red one big and with tons of spikes on its body. Do you know it?” I asked.

“YOU CAME HERE TO DISTURB MY SLEEP, AND YOU ONLY WANTED TO KNOW A DRAGON?!” He asked angrily, growing bigger.

Ferdinand walked towards him and grabbed his chin with a hand, then he slammed his face into the ground creating a giant web in the ground.
“I assure you that it's far smart to answer the princess’s question. We don’t want to call the emperor, do we?” He asked in a threatening tone.

Aathurnas made a low growl but shrank down nonetheless.

I projected an image of the dragon that I saw and showed it to Aathurnas. “Do you know it?” I asked.

“Yes, he is Pharas. A dragon from the Dragon’s land in the north. He is still angry at me because I stole some of his wealth after defeating him.” He chuckled.

“Thank you for your help.” I said. “Ferdinand let’s go. We have to talk with him.”

“Yes princess.” He replied and we teleported away.

We reappeared near the rampaging dragon, he was now breathing fire everywhere burning down the forest.

“Pharas! Stop it!” I shouted.

“WHO ARE YOU MORTAL? HOW DARE YOU ORDER ME SOMETHING? I WILL KILL YOU FOR THIS!” He shouted and immediately breathed fire at me, I used a barrier to defend myself and waited for him to stop.

“Ferdinand. You stay back, I will pound some sense into this lizard alone.” I said, now pissed at the dragon.

“As you wish, princess.” He said and vanished away.

The fire stopped and I lowered my barrier.

“ARE YOU STILL ALIVE? HOW DARE YO-” He was abruptly stopped by Applejack who fell from the sky and punched him into the ground with an enormous shockwave, then the dust was blown away by the wind and I finally saw Applejack on top of the dragon.

“Howdy Twili! Ya here too to beat this dragon?” She asked nonchalantly.

“Yes, yes I am. And I will probably study him after.” I said eager to finally have a normal dragon to study.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ THIRD PERSON POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paharas started to rise again, now angered by the blow. Applejack leaped down from his muzzle and joined Twilight on the ground. They looked at each other before nodding, Twilight thought of a strategy and shared it with Applejack via hive mind.

“I WILL KILL YOU ALL!” Phalas shouted he used his claws to try and kill Applejack and Twilight who were now running around him, both of them were avoiding his claws and this was angering him more and more.

Applejack stopped suddenly and waited for him to strike, when the claw reached her she grabbed it. She skidded a bit from the blow but managed to stop it. Then she used her biomass to enhance her strength when the second blow arrived she used her other hand and grabbed that one too.

Meanwhile Twilight gathered her magic, after a quick build up she raised her hand over her head and unleashed a gigantic amount of magic in the form of a laser that hit the dragon’s back. The dragon was thrown forward by the amount of force, then Applejack let go of its claws and let it fly over her.

Applejack then ran towards Twilight who was now preparing a new spell, when Applejack approached her she used a kinetic push to propel her into the air. Applejack, now in the air fired some biomass from her back and propelled herself towards the ground at breakneck speed. When she made contact with the dragon's belly a tremendous shockwave traversed the forest, then the dragon shouted in pain and spit out blood.

“Applejack!” Twilight shouted. “Restrict him!”

“Will do!” Applejack then used her biomass to block the Pharas’s arms while twilight blocked his legs.

“Will you listen to me now?” Twilight asked.

The dragon said nothing and continued to stare at her, his bright green draconic eyes fixed on her. “Why are you here?” Twilight inquired.

“I’m here to get my hoard back.” Pharas replied.

“And the best way to do that was to destroy the forest?” Applejack said.

“I needed to drive Aathurnas out of his hideout.” Said Pharas. “So come on, get over with it.”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked.

“You bested me in combat, you will kill me now right?” He said, firmly.

“No, we won’t.” Said Applejack. “You are free to go.”

“What?!” “What!?” Said Twilight and Pharas.

“Wait a little moment will you?” Said Twilight and dragged Applejack behind a tree.
“What are you doing?” Twilight asked in the hive mind.

“What do you mean? He’s not a threat. We will let him go.” Applejack replied.

“Absolutely no! Think about how much I can learn from him! Think of the possibilities and-” She was interrupted by a slap from her sister. “What…”

“Now hear me Twilight!” Boomed Applejack. “I don’t care if he can be the most incredible discovery for you. I don’t give a fuck! Remember what dad said? What Celestia and those scientists did to him and to Windy? Do you want to become like them? Because that’s what the fuck you are doing right now!” She shouted, flames were exiting from her eyes and smoke was forming on her head.

“I-I-I” Twilight stuttered, then she lowered her head. “I’m sorry. ‘Sob’ I-I’m sorry sis.” She said crying.

Applejack immediately hugged her and held her close. “Shh, shh sugar cube. It’s okay, it’s okay. You didn’t do anything, you saw reason, right.” She said in a soothing tone.

“What-What if I become like them…” She asked shaking.

“You won’t. You won’t sugar cube, me, the girls, mom, and dad are all here for you.” She said reassuringly.

Twilight cried some more for a minute or so before stopping.

“Thank you Applejack. Thank you for stopping me.” She said, slowly.

“Any time sugar cube, now let’s get back and free that poor dragon shall we?” Applejack said. Twilight nodded and they returned to the Pharas.

“So? What’s the sentence?” He asked.

“You are free to go.” Applejack said and removed her restrictions.

“Yes, you can go now.” Said Twilight and removed her restrictions too.

“You defeated me, and still you let me live. Why?” Pharas asked.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, you were just angry. You don’t deserve to die.” Applejack said.

“Then tell me your names, I’m forever honor bound to you now.” He said.

“There is really no need Pharas.” Twilight said.

“Yeah, you don’t need to do this.” Applejack commented.

“I must. You defeated me and spared me. I will be honor bound to you.” He said firmly.

“There’s nothing we can say to make you reconsider?” Twilight asked. Pharas shook his head and the girls sighed.

“I’m Applejack Mercer, daughter of Philip Mercer and Sunset Mercer, princess of the changelings and element of honesty.” Applejack said.

“I’m Twilight Mercer, daughter of Philip Mercer and Sunset mercer, princess of the changelings and element of magic.” Twilight said.

“Applejack Mercer and Twilight Mercer, I will remember your names. Now if you want I’ll return back to my den. Call my name, and I will arrive to offer you assistance. Farewell.” He said and took off into the sky.

“What a day eh?” Said Twilight.

“You can say it, sugar cube.” Replied Applejack. The both of them started to walk back home with the sun that now was going down.

“And what’s up with the ‘sugarcube?’” Asked Twilight.

“Dunno. Really, it just felt right. Like the symbols on our thrones, you felt that too right?” Applejack said.

“Yeah. Strange.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ MOONDANCER POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


“Doctor.” Said a soldier. “Experiment 0 and 1 are ready for the test.”

“Thank you.” I said and made my way towards the test chamber. I was inside of another G.E.N.E. structure 20 km away from the Red Event. I was finally ready to start experimenting again.

I entered the observation room and I was greeted by all my assistants ready to log the data.
Inside of the test chamber, there were two cages, the left one contained experiment 0 while the right one contained experiment 1.

“Here is doctor Moondancer, you have the clear to start.” I said in the interphone. The soldiers nodded and opened the cages. Experiment 0 was the first to come out, she was a seemingly normal mare, she had a purple coat with a white mane, her eyes though were a crimson red. She exited her cage without a problem and walked up to the center of the test chamber, where she stopped and waited. On the other side, experiment 1 exited his cage too. He was a big black stallion with a blue mane, potent muscles filled his body and his incredible stature helped his overall intimidating factor.

The colossus advanced and looked down to experiment 0.

“What do you want, flea?” He asked arrogantly.

“I want to kill everybody in the world.” Experiment 0 replied with an extremely low voice, so low that our instrument registered it with sheer luck.

“What? I can’t hear you! Speak up!” Experiment 1 said.

“I want to eat your heart.” She replied this time louder.

“Wha-?”

“I want to kill everybody in the world.” Experiment 0 said before pouncing on 1 ripping off his right arm. Then the jets of blood covered the entire window, we heard the pained screams of 1 but we couldn’t do anything, for science.

When the noise toned down and stopped entirely we opened the door and observed the scene, pieces of 1 were everywhere in the room. 0 meanwhile, was in the center on some remains of his body eating his heart. When she finished gulping it down she stopped suddenly and started to cough intensely.

She vomited out blood and the remains of the heart but immediately after her whole body was coated with red and black tendrils.
‘The Red Event…’  I immediately thought, experiment 1 was infected and somehow we didn’t notice? How!?
“RED ALERT, TOTAL SHUTDOWN! WE HAVE ANOTHER RED EVENT!” I shouted with all my force, then I started running towards the exit. Fortunately, I managed to exit before the doors closed, the same thing cannot be said for my assistants though. I heard screams and breaking sound from the inside before a giant hole was created from the wall next to me.

Experiment 0 exited from a cloud of dust and blood. She reached me and looked at me with her eyes, now black and red.

“I will kill him.” She said and ran off, leaving me there confused but alive.

‘I need to warn the princess!’

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“So what do you think?” I asked Trixie, I showed her her bedroom inside the palace and we were now exiting the Hive, I used the opportunity and took off my armor.

“It was lovely thank you, your majesty.” She said.

I held a hand up and said. “Please none of that, we are friends now. I helped you and you’ll help us. There is no need to call me majesty. Because if you do then I will call you Archmage Assistant.” I said.
“What?” She asked confused.

“I just thought that, since Twilight will be my head researcher she will also carry the duty of Archmage or at least the title. You are good with magic so I would like to offer you to study under Twilight. So what do you say?” I asked.

“Really!?” She asked with the puppy dog eyes.

“Yep.” I said.

“Yes! Thank you, your majesty, ehm Philip.” She corrected herself noticing my raised brow.

“Very well then. Right now the girls are training with the guardians, but I will have to adventure outside of Equestria. When that happens you will study under Twilight. For now, try to reestablish your magic and train a little ok?” I said.

“Why are you going to travel?” She said.

I waved to some changelings outside, they were all re-entering their houses in order to rest. The city was growing wonderfully, changelings are really awesome builders. “I have to hunt some Astral beings, I already killed the two Ursas but I need to hunt the other twelve beasts.
Arietem, Tauri Emotum, Corona Australis, Cancer, Lio, Virgin, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarium and Piscis.” I explained.

“Why though?” She inquired.

“I need their strength to kill Celestia.” I answered bluntly.

“Will you go alone?” She asked.

“I wish, but knowing Sunny. She will come with me no matter what.” I responded. “Alright Trixie, I’ll go home now. You can go back to your room, see ya tomorrow.” And said that I took off and headed towards home. But I still heard Trixie say something.

“Alright, ‘Your Majesty’” She said mockingly. I shook my head and smiled.

I landed outside my home and went inside, immediately after me, Applejack and Twilight entered.

“Hi, daddy!” Said Twilight.

“Heya, dad.” Said Applejack.

“So what did you learn today?” I asked curiously.

“Well… we ehr. Twili?” Applejack staggered, I narrowed my eyes.

“Well, we-we. We fought a dragon and won but I was tempted to keep him prisoner as a test subject but Applejack convinced me otherwise please don’t send me away.” Twilight blurted out.

“Wut?” I asked perplexed. They then explained the whole story, slowly this time. I was divided between being proud for winning against a dragon or being mad at them.

“I don’t approve that you faced a dragon so recklessly.” I said sternly. “But I’m also incredibly proud. Good teamwork and good use of magic.” I said with a smile. “Now, give me a hug.” I ordered opening my arms. They jumped into it and I snuggled them for a bit before letting them go.

We were now at the kitchen table talking about the resistance when I remembered something.

Rainbow and Pinkie were still in the garden sparring! I ran outside and saw them fighting, Rainbow was in a bad shape while Pinkie seemed extremely tired they were in front of each other smiling and throwing punches. I walked towards them and blocked their attacks.

“Enough sweeties.” I said. “Go in and rest, you two did great.” They smiled and nodded then they entered home. Fluttershy then exited the forest and approached me.

“Hey, daddy! Look I made a friend!” She said happily showing me a bunny. “Say hello to my dad Angel.”

‘Angel bunny… you better be good with her…’ I thought. Angel made some noise and Fluttershy seemed pretty happy about it.

“He says hi.” Fluttershy said.

“You can understand him?” I asked.

“Yep, after devouring a chimera I can now talk to animals. Isn’t that great?” She said happily.

‘ I will let that chimera comment slide, for now.’ I thought. “Good for you sweetie.” I said ruffling her head, she let out a little giggle at that. “Now head inside and rest.” I said.

Suddenly though I sensed something, something really bad. Someone else became an evolved using the strand I left inside the G.E.N.E. facilities.

‘ That’s not good.’  I thought darkly.

“Something wrong?” Asked Fluttershy.

“No Fluttershy, it’s all good. Go inside I need to talk to Woodman and then I will come too.” I said.

“Ok, daddy!” She shouted and ran inside.

I walked for a bit, then I called Woodman. “Woodman. Come here.”

“What is it, Creator?” He asked.

“Yeah what is it?” Asked Sunset making me jump.

“S-Sunny? How did you know I was here?” I asked.

“Fluttershy told me, she’s not stupid. She noticed that something was wrong, so what is it?” She asked.

“Ok listen, someone inside Canterlot became an evolved. I don’t know how and I’m really worried, these powers are incredibly dangerous. Woodman, I want you to increase security around the forest.” I said looking at him. He nodded and entered a tree.

“So what now?” Sunset asked.

“Now we wait for their moves. There is nothing now that we can do.”
> [OLD]Chapter 14 Setting the pieces [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A whole week has passed from the night when I sensed the new evolved. The guardians and I trained the girls as best as we could, the training was brutal but necessary. Pinkie discovered finally how to use her abilities at best we even understood what is the source of her powers, Chaos magic. She absorbed it from me and now she is fully capable of using it.

Rainbow Dash learned how to use her lightning to enhance her flying speed, without them she was able to break the sound barrier flying at Mach 1, while when she was empowered she could go twenty times that speed creating a Sonic Rainboom. She also mastered her control over lighting and learned how to do short extremely rapid movements, she called it ‘jump’ with that ability she converted her entire body in pure electricity and moved at 100.000 km/s. unfortunately, she could only use that ability for short distances. She also learned how to create a shield around her made of electricity. If she amplifies the currents though she can create a plasma barrier around her rendering her almost untouchable. She could coats her Claws in electricity too and create a thin layer of plasma on them.

Fluttershy learned how to communicate with plants too, she made a friend too. A little Venus flytrap, the only difference is that this one is 1.6 meters tall and could bury itself in the ground in order to follow her. She also learned how to order to the trees to attack and defend, and learned how to sense when someone is dying in the proximities, during her train she would often go into the forest to visits her animals friend. Many times I found her giving the last goodbyes to old and ill animals, but I also saw her gut out many dangerous creatures which only wanted to cause harm to the forest.

Applejack learned to focus her mass into her arms thus incrementing the force behind her fists dramatically, she also got a minor understanding of her fire path. She can coat her fists with it thus gaining an advantage against the enemy. Also, her armor is incredibly thick and it slows her down, but she is almost immune to all types of damages.

Rarity mastered her cloaking abilities, she was invisible to almost all types of sights, only my eyes were able to spot her. She also mastered her fighting abilities with the whipfist but she told me she would like another weapon. I told her that she could use whatever she wanted and she ran away giggling. She came back after some time and showed me her new weapon. A compound bow made out of biomatter, with two recurved ends, a cluster of pointy bones that adorned the entire bow and three different strings to nock the arrows on. She demonstrated her bow firing a single arrow, one kilometer away there was an apple on a fence, she hit it in the center destroying it.

Twilight under the training of Ferdinand became a true master of the sword, her technique was both elegant and lethal she used both her paths to get an edge over her enemies. She was so good that she managed to spar with Ferdinand, only with pure techniques obviously otherwise Ferdinand would have overpowered her without a problem. She also mastered all of her paths, she could coat her sword in flames, electricity or even both. She mastered her teleportation skill and learned how to use them in combat

Derpy for the duration of the week remained for the most time inside the hive playing with the nymphs or inside the Heart’s cave, she told me that that place calmed her, it felt right.

I also discovered that my guardians became stronger the stronger I got. Woodman was now able to create new types of flora and fauna to help him. Viribus became stronger and he could now control the earth around him to a degree. Regina gained the ability to create clones of herself. Ferdinand though hadn't gained anything, anything noticeable of course.

For the duration of the week I trained myself in controlling my electric powers I learned how to become pure electricity for a short time and I refined all of my weapons rendering them more resilient and deadly. I trained with Ferdinand with Gungnir trying to learn more and be ready to fight Celestia.

Now we are all at the center of the forest waiting for them. Celestia moved two regiments of soldiers to the edge of the forest and was ready to attack, we won’t go out to face them, we will use the forest at our advantage, they will attack as one so they will be slow and easy to hit. We will use the cover of the trees to strike and then flee, weakening them until they reach the central clearing there we will attack them from all directions.

I assigned to the girls their personal objectives if they see any of Omega’s member they are hot clear. If they encounter Celestia the order is to fall back and wait for me and Sunset to arrive.

Now we wait.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CELESTIA POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

‘That useless messenger. I had to wait an entire week because of him, of course, he had to be killed on his way to ponyville and I had to send another one to retrieve his body. Fortunately, the solar blessing wasn’t damaged.’ I thought grimly. We found out that that useless messenger got himself killed along the way. So we had to wait a whole week between founding the corpse and retrieving the vial. What a waste of resources, but at least the vial is in the Omegas hands now and the army is now ready to attack. Colonel Hawk is at the head of the attack.

‘ I also can’t forget, the loss of experiment 0 and 1 and that damned Red Event is still kicking. I need to find a solution for that too, that shield around the structure won’t resist forever’ We established multiple stations Connected with each other, they are casting a shield field around the building but the beasts are becoming stronger, we don’t have much time.

“Moondancer!” I called.

“Yes, your majesty.” She entered and bowed to me.

“Have you found anything against the Red Event?” I asked.

“None your majesty, the Red Event is mutating at an alarming rate thus rendering the search for a cure almost impossible.” She replied.

“And Hunter can control it anyway, why?” I asked.

“We theorized that Hunter is the Alpha strain of the cell rendering him the absolute head of the entire Event.”She said.

“There is a way to create something that would control the Event like him?” I asked.

“We don’t know your majesty, we-”

“Yes, there is.” Said Becker opening the doors of the room.

“Ah, doctor Becker. You are awake.”I said unfazed. “Care to explain what do you mean?”

“Yes, you see your majesty when I was hit by one of them I was infected with the Red Event. I fell into a coma and inside of it, I heard voices, many many voices they all told me to obey Mercer, that he is the Father of us all. I shut them down and made my way towards the exit of that nightmare. After three days I finally managed to wake up and then I discovered my new powers.” His arm was coated with an impressive amount of tendrils and finally morphed into a long thick blade.

“As you can see I can modify my body as I like.” He dismissed the blade and his arm returned. “I can also assume different forms and shapeshift. But the most important thing is that I can regenerate almost instantaneously observe.” He ripped off his right arm and then it regrow it immediately.

“See? Now, princess, I want your approval for an experiment.” He said.

“What is it?” I replied curiously.

“I want to try and control the Red Event.” He said.

I smirked. “Granted.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ XARX POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“Listen and listen well cadets.” I thundered. “There is a battle incoming. You were trained to be the best even in this short amount of time. You will use an attack and flee strategy, remember don’t attack them head-on. Now I want all of you to prepare and wait for orders. Clear?!”

“SIR, YES SIR” They replied.

“Very well, dismissed.” I said. We were in the external courtyard in front of the hive, the recruits all took off and flew towards their assigned posts.

“What about us?” Asked Thorax.

“What about you?” I replied.

“We want to go, dad.” Therax said.

“Absolutely not. You are not ready yet.” I said firmly.

“We are more than ready dad! We will avenge mom!” Thorax said.

“I said no. That’s an order.” I replied. Thorax made a face full of anger and took the hand of Therax saying.

“Let’s go Thera, seems like we are too little for him.” And retired inside the hive.

I sighed, it’s not that they are too inexperienced but their hatred towards the Equestrians will be their downfall someday. They are not ready, their heart is not.

“Everything ok?” Asked his majesty through the hive mind.

“Yes, your majesty. Just a little family problem, don’t worry I already sent the troops.” I replied.

“Alright thank you Xarx see you on the battlefield then.” He replied.

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ TRIXIE POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I was walking towards Zecora’s hut, I needed some alchemical ingredients and I was sure she had those.

‘Twilight said we need poison joke ugh… and an Ester flower. This should be easy.’ I neared Zecora’s hut and knocked on the door. The door opened without anyone opening it and I entered.

“Zecora? It’s me, Trixie!” I shouted in the seemingly empty room.

“Ah, hello?” Said a filly voice, a little nymph with a red fiery mane and green eyes exited the storage room. “Did you want anything?”

“Ehm yes, I’m the great and powerful Trixie or just Trixie. Is Zecora here?” I asked her.

She shook her head and replied. “I’m sorry miss but she’s out for ingredients, but I can help you! What do you need?” She asked eager to help.

“Uh well, I need some poison joke and an Ester flower.” I said.

“Right I’ll get them for you immediately.” She said and ran into the storage room. She came out after a minute and handed to me a jar with a poison joke inside and a pot with an Ester flower.
“Do you need anything else?” She asked.

“No, thank you little one see ya later. Oh before I forget, what’s your name little one?” I asked her.

“My name is Alissa, Miss Trixie.” She replied.

“Well then Alissa, thank you for your help.” I said and exited the room. I walked back to the laboratory and found Twilight mixing a green concoction inside a becker.

“Trixie, you’re back finally. Here hand me the poison joke and the Ester flower.” She said, I gave them to her and she ripped off some petals from the both of them.

“Are we ready then?” I asked, she was excited. We were working on a type of potion that should be able to heal almost any injuries, no matter how fatal. Unfortunately, it’s really hard to create and expensive.

“Yes, I believe we are. I would test this on myself but my sisters and I can regenerate anyway. So let’s go to the nursery, I found a volunteer.” She said sparkling.

“Ok let’s go.” I replied and followed her on the way towards the nursery. We entered the chamber and found a nurse in it behind a counter.

“Hello, are you here to visit a patient? Or you need an appointment?” The nurse asked, she had a blonde mane and amber eyes, she wore a white nurse coat.

“We need to visit Lexio.” Twilight said. “Which room is he in?”

“Room number 85 your majesty, do you want for me to show you the way?” She asked politely.

“No, thank you. Come on Trixie let’s go.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ TWILIGHT POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

‘80, 81, 82, 83, 84… Aha, 85 here it is’ I counted mentally.

I knocked on the door and waited for him to answer back. “Come in!” He shouted.

I opened the door and entered the room, the nursery rooms were different from the other rooms, instead of black and green they were mostly white and light green. Dad decided to make them that way. Anyway, I entered the room and saw him on the bed, bandages covered his torso and his head.

“Good morning Lexio.” I said, softly.

“Hello your majesty, ehm… how is Fluttershy?” He asked awkwardly, everyone knew he had a crush on Fluttershy, if she knew that though she never showed it.

“She’s okay, now let us begin with the experiment. I will pour this paste on your wings and they should regrow in a matter of seconds. Are you ready?” I asked him.

“Yes, princess.” He said.

“And please refrain from putting yourself in danger on behalf of Fluttershy, she is way more resilient than you.” I said scolding him. Fluttershy and Lexio were walking into the forest and a basilisk attacked them, the basilisk tried to bite Fluttershy but Lexio shoved her away and got hurt in her place. We later found the basilisk remains all around the path and Fluttershy took Lexio to the nursery, the bite took off his wings.

He blushed ashamed and nodded. I applied a bit of the paste on his back where the stump of the wings were visible. We waited for a moment, he told us that it was itching a lot but I ignored that. Then in front of us his wings started to grow back and slowly but surely they fully healed. Even the wounds on his torso vanished.

“Trixie, this is a complete success!” I shouted. “We must tell dad!”

“What do you have to tell dad?” Asked Derpy, who just entered the room. “Something happene- Oh goodness Lexio, your wings. They are back! This is wonderful!” She said happily.

“Hey Derpy, what are you doing here?” I asked her curious.

“I wanted to check on him.” Then she leaned over and whispered to me. “Fluttershy told me, she was too shy to do this herself.” I giggled at the thought. Fluttershy, the strongest among us and the most brutal in combat, was too shy to check on a guy.

“That’s like her.” I whispered back. “Ok Lexio your wings are ok now, rest for two or three days and then you should be able to fly again.” I said smiling.

“Now let’s contact dad.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“That’s wonderful honey.” I said through the hive mind. “That medicine will save lots of lives. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks, dad.” She said blushing.

“Now prepare yourself and call your sisters I need to talk to you all.” I said, she was already opening her mouth but I immediately continued. “In person.” She closed her mouth and nodded.

I nodded back and closed the link. “Everything alright?” Sunset asked me. We were in front of the Heart’s cave and we were just admiring the sight from the hill.

“Yes, I just need to see them and tell them to be careful. I can’t go into battle without seeing them at least once before.” I told her. She leaned on me and kissed me.

“I said once before and I’ll say it again, you are a wonderful parent.” She said.

I returned the kiss and replied.”You too are a good mother, remember the cooking lessons?” I asked her.

She started giggling before laughing aloud. “Oh my god yes, the only one that made something edible was Pinkie. I think that some trees died of poisoning that day.” She said laughing. She then calmed down and sighed. “I really love them. I will never say this enough times but thank you Phil, for everything.”

“Thank you too Sunny, for being here with me and put up with me.” I said back. I looked towards the sky and continued to talk. “I will have to leave after the battle.”

“Why? And where?” She asked.

“I need to find the twelve astral beasts, I need their powers to kill Celestia.”I replied.

“Then I’m coming with you.” She said firmly. I just chuckled and shook my head. “Why are you laughing?”

“I knew you would say something like that. I won’t stop you, you are your own woman.” I said and her eyes widened in shock.

“Really?” I nodded. “You know that the girls will want to come too right?”

“I know, but I can’t let them. Not all of them at once at least.” I said. “If we all go away, who will make the hive work? Yes, the guardians are powerful but the Changelings still needs a guide.” I continued.

“Well, this was supposed to be a surprise but… Trixie and I started analyzing the Heart’s magic and we discovered something incredible, there are at least twelve other hearts in the worlds and they are all connected to each other. If we manage to create a device that would permit us to use those channels as a vector to transport someone, then we will have a working long ranged teleportation platform. We will take with us only two of them at a time and the others will remain here, then when we will manage to reconnect the other hearts we will teleport them back and forth.” Sunset explained. I hugged her and pirouetted her with me.

“Thank you Sunny, you really are the best woman I could have fallen in love with.” I said to her.

“Charmer” She giggled.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ BECKER POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I was now nearing the G.E.N.E. facility, my old lab… Anyway, I was there to finally eradicate that plague from my lab.

“Sir!” A guard shouted at me. “I’m sorry, but we can’t grant you access to the facility and-ARGH” I didn’t let him finish his sentence, I just grab it by his neck and squeezed.

“Listen to me, I don’t care who you are, but I WILL enter this lab with or without your authorization.” I said.

“You-ack You are just, an error like these monst-hack.” I squeezed his neck harder.

My anger rose and I slammed him into the ground. “I’M NOT AN ERROR!” I said enraged, I started punching him in the gut and face. After some punches, he started to turn red and finally he disappeared while tendrils from my body ate him. A myriad of images and feelings overwhelmed me, I saw his entire life. I was almost completely destroyed by this. I stood up and watched my surroundings, then I heard it.

“Come with us… Serve your master… “

“Out of my head abominations! I will not serve you!” I shouted back.

“You will, in time…”

“Out of my head!” I shouted again, the voices stopped and I took a minute to calm down. I finally calmed down and walked to the edge of the shield, I punched it with all my strength and the shield in kind, returned all the strength I used to punch the shield against me throwing me against a house destroying a wall of it. I stood up from the rubble.

‘I can’t destroy it with brute force, I need to find the shield stations and put them down.’ I thought, I started to follow the edges of the shield searching for those stations. I found a total of six different stations, they were basically a scaffold with a central gem which on it were placed wires and plates, they were then connected to multiple tanks of a glowing bluish liquid.

‘Liquid thaums, very expensive. This explains why the shield is so strong sorry but I need to destroy you.’ I kicked the scaffolding, destroying the gem and the tanks. Immediately the thaums volatilized and flew in the air. The gems fell on the ground and broke. Then I continued to destroy them, I encountered some resistance but I either killed them or they fled immediately. After the sixth station was destroyed the shield blinked and then imploded.

Immediately after that, the whispers returned.

“Come to us, Becker… you are a child of the darker light…”

“SHUT UP!” I shouted. A creature exited the facility, it was a tall beast walking on four legs, with big claws and teeth, it was without fur and it was very muscular. It’s tiny eyes locked on me and then jumped at me trying to kill me with its claws.

I create my two blades and dodged to the left, then I slashed at it, opening a big wound in its torso the wound closed immediately and the creature attacked again. It slashed at me and opened a wound in my arm, I regenerated the wound immediately and I then impaled its arm on my blade. I used the other one to hit its head killing it, immediately after the same tendrils absorbed it.

Tons of images hit me at once and I fell on the ground screaming bloody hell, then more tendrils sprouted from my chest and entered the building. Then everything got black.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CADENCE POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I was inside the tree library waiting for the attack order to arrive and in the meantime, I was inspecting my rifle, I don’t really remember how I arrived here but nonetheless my mission was to kill Hunter.

“You have cleaned that rifle for the hundredth time, will you stop it?” Asked Shining Armor.

“My weapon must be in top shape, Hunter is extremely dangerous and if my weapon fails me, I’m as good as dead.” I replied pissed.

“Woah no need to chew me out chill. Anyway, Cady, what happened to you in the forest?” He asked.

“That’s not of your concern. Mind your own business.” I replied.

“Come on Cady you know you can-” He said trying to grab my shoulder, I interrupted him immediately spinning around and hit him in the face with my rifle.

“Try to touch me again, and it will be the other side of the rifle that will hit you.” I said threatening. I walked to the upper floor and slammed the door behind me, I crouched down and looked under the bed, I took the case that was under it and inserted the code.

User: Cadenza
Password:Wvtfvl
Key:kxxuxy

Access granted.

I opened the case and took the gem inside of it, a violet gem filled with intricate runes and symbols. Inside of it, lightning could be seen. I inserted the gem into my rifle and closed the mobile breech. When the rifle gave a satisfactory hum I nodded and I put it away on my shoulders.

‘I only have  one shot, I have to make it count.’I thought, those gems are incredibly powerful and very expensive.

I opened the door and walked down the stair in the main room. “Shining? Will the princess activate the solar blessing?” I asked.

“I believe so, it would make things easier.” He responded grumpily.

“Then prepare yourself the battle is near.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~APPLEJACK POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I was on a rock looking to the horizon when a call from dad startled me.

“Applejack, I have an important request for you and your sisters.” Immediately after he said that the girls appeared in the hive scape. “Alright, you will be assigned a team, remember the engaging protocol and stick to them. Fluttershy, you will take squad Alpha and guide them into the forest, you will also take sector 1 east of here after three kilometers.” Fluttershy nodded and vanished from the hive scape.

“ Rainbow, you will take squad Beta and patrol the skies of sector 2 and 3 respectively at north-east and north-east-east.” Rainbow did a backflip and yelled “Oh yeah!” And vanished from the hive scape.

He paused and then continued. “Rarity you will take squad Delta and cover sector 4 it is north-north-east from here.“ I blinked and she vanished from the hive scape too.

Pinkie, you will instead act alone, disrupt their formations if you can and cut them off from the supply lines.” Pinkie giggled and vanished from the hive scape.


“Twilight, you will command a small unit instead, your mission is vital found any kind of officer, lieutenant, or even better a general. Once you find them kick their ass and take their memories, this way we can know where their weapon storages are positioned and where their troops are located.” Twilight looked thoughtful for a bit but then smiled and nodded, vanishing.

“Applejack.” He said. “Yours is the most dangerous task, you will command the largest group of them all, your objective it’s to fight the enemy as much as you can. When Pinkie finishes cutting their rears we will surround them. You will then be the hammer that will destroy them.” Dad said firmly. He smiled a bit and rested a hand on my shoulder. “Applejack, don’t act foolishly. You are far more important than another dead enemy, remember that you are all my family and your safety comes before anything. Promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”

“I would promise that dad, but I can’t. If someone needs my help I will help them, I won’t turn my back on them just for my safety.” I replied.

He sighed and smiled at me. “I’m very proud of you, I am and I also hate it. As a parent, your life is more valuable than anything else, but I’m also very happy to hear that you would do whatever you can to help whoever is in need.” He poked my chest where my heart should be and said. “Stay true to your heart, and you will not fail.”

I hugged him. “Thanks dad, But where is my squad?” I asked him.

“Three kilometers north of here, Xarx is waiting for you.” He replied.

“Then I’m on my way!”  I was ready to sever the link but dad denied me. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“One thing... “ He said and created a brown Stetson hat with his biomass. “Here, I think it suits you.” He said.

I took the hat in my hands and observed it, it was perfect for my size and the material was obviously very durable. “Thanks dad, I will never go anywhere where without it, Thank you.” I said and hugged him more.

“Now go my little cowgirl, and stay safe.” He said.

“I will dad, don’t worry.” And with that said I severed the link.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ FLUTTERSHY POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I exited the hive mindscape or hive scape for short and headed towards my squad position. When I reached it I walked around searching for them.

Finally, I found a campfire and some tents, the squad was there talking around the fire. I camouflaged myself with the environment and approached them when I was a meter away I created my sickle and almost beheaded the captain of the squad.

“Cut. You're dead.” I said, they all jumped and grabbed a weapon before realizing it was me.

“P-p-princess? What are you doing here?” The captain asked.

“First of all, I want your name.” I ordered.

“Captain Chitin, your majesty.” He replied.
“About your inquiry, I’m here to command this squad into battle, and the first thing I see is that you haven’t appointed any guards to watch duty. Why?” I asked.

“Ma’am the enemy is too far away for a watch to be utilized.” He replied.

“WRONG!” I shouted. “Absolutely wrong. We are at war Chitin, the enemy could be anywhere. You must keep in account that the enemy already passed our defenses and it’s on its way to our position.” I said sternly. “You all.” I pointed to them. “You are now on watch duty, shifts of four hours each begin now.” I ordered.

“Yes, ma’am.” They said and spread out to cover the perimeter of the camp.

“Things will change from now on, I won’t tolerate this lack of security during a war. Am I understood?” I said to Chitin, he was trembling under my stare and responded scared.

“Y-yes ma’am.”

“Dismissed.” I said and walked away from the camp, I wanted to scout the zone a bit more.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ RAINBOW POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I was flying at Mach 1 towards the rendezvous, after a few minutes I saw the indicated zone and landed. Here I found a group of changelings in avian uniforms talking amongst themselves.

“Soldiers, report.” I said.

“Princess?” One of them asked surprised.

“No princess bullshit on the field, I’m just commander to you from now on am I clear?” I asked sternly.

“Yes, commander.” He replied again.

“Very well, now show me your scout patterns and your flying strategy.” He motioned for me to follow him and we entered a green tent, inside of it there was a table with some papers on it.

“Very interesting…”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~PINKIE POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I was running through the forest sometimes I teleport but I ran most of the time, I started to go through all the camps to check on them, Fluttershy had already rein them in and the situation was under control, same thing for AJ, Rares, Dashie and Twili.

“They are wonderful commanders.” I said to myself. “The enemy doesn’t stand a chance.”
I jumped over a cliff and landed on a rock, but then the rock started to move and I fell down. “Whoopsie, sorry mister rock I didn’t know you could move.”  The beast turned around it resembled a crocodile made of rocks.

“You are you a crocorock?” He roared and charged at me, I grabbed his face and forced his mouth closed. “Bad crocorock.” I said scolding him. “Now you will be good and stay still alright?”

The crocorock was now angrier and tried to free itslef. “ALRIGHT?” I said with a creepy smile and a cracked voice. The crocorock whimpered and stayed still.

“Good crocky.” I said cheerfully.

I heard a loud bang in the sky and looked up, noticing the signal.

“Ready or not, here I come~~~”
> [OLD]Chapter 15 The battle for the Everfree [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The signal was launched and in that moment, the battle begun.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ FLUTTERSHY POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I heard and saw the attack signal in the sky, I immediately commanded to my troops to move and so we headed towards our sector. We moved rapidly and silently, we encountered no enemies in our path so far and I started to feel uneasy.

‘Strange, the order was given a while ago and still no sign of the equestrians…’

In the middle of my thoughts I heard several screams from afar, I signaled for my squad to come with me. We didn’t have to march much we reached a clearing in which there were several boulders, in there I saw what screamed. Several bodies covered the ground all of them leaking out litres of blood from their wounds.

I snorted and started to search for the enemy, I found my target in a blood coated unicorn mare with a red mane, in her hands was a scythe , dark as the night with white pearls on it that shined like the stars in the night sky, it was covered in blood. She wore leather armor that hugged her body and showed her muscles.

She turned around and noticed me. “And who we have here? Who are you creature?” she asked with a malevolent grin.

“Captain you and your men needs to fall back, she’s mine.” I said.

“But-” I interrupted him. “No buts captain, that’s an order. Fall back.” I said sternly.

“As you wish.” He said and retreated in the forest with the whole squad, now only me and her filled the space.

“I am Fluttershy Mercer, proud daughter of Philip Mercer and princess of the changelings. Who are you?” I said to her narrowing my eyes.

“A princess?! Hahahaha” She laughed maniacally. “I’m truly fortunate I will have the honor of having your blood on my scythe too! My name is Red Ocean your majesty.” She said in a mocking tone bowing.

“Very well, Red Ocean. As a princess of the changelings and daughter of the king I hereby sentence you-” I created my scythe too and it glowed a dark light. “-TO DEATH!”

I charged at her immediately and slashed at her from below, she parried my blow with one of her own but I was stronger and swatted away her scythe, then with my other arm I impaled her hearth. She gurgled some words but they were lost in her blood.

“I hope you’ll have a nice stay in hell.” I said to her and started to walk away, but I could feel that the battle wasn’t finished yet. I heard a chuckle behind me and turned around, her blood was returning to her body and closing her wound.
“Wonderful princess! Never before has someone actually killed me! You are not a normal creature if your weird powers are of any indications, nonetheless I will kill you and add you to my ‘collection’ “ She said and picked up her scythe, on her weapon a strange light appeared before dissolving in a scream, that scream was inhuman on every level and I could feel its pain.

Before arriving I sensed a large lots of souls in the area, but when I saw her alone I thought I was wrong. Now I know that not only has she killed them but she also took their souls!

“Wonderful! Truly wonderful! Never before someone managed to kill me that fast, you will be a worthy opponent Fluttershy.” She said, her voice dripping malevolence.

“Your action are disrupting the balance of the nature. I will not tolerate this. Prepare to face Death.” I said darkly and charged at her. She parried my up blow with her scythe and actually resisted me, I jumped away and thrusted my scythe into the ground using my mass to create deadly spikes in front of me. She jumped dodging them and slashed at the air in front of her, I heard another scream and a shockwave came towards me. I jumped and stayed in the air with my wings, then I ordered the roots in the ground to grab her, when she returned to the ground the roots immediately grabbed he. I then flew towards her and in an instant I passed her taking her head with me .

I heard another scream as her head regenerated she then spun around, destroying all the roots, I sprinted towards her again and slashed at her, we locked our weapons in a standstill. I used that moment to activate the stare trying to paralyze her, but for some reason she was immune to that. Seeing that my plan failed I used another tactic.


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Fluttershy started to glow with a red light on her body, Red Ocean immediately disengaged fearing a new attack from her opponent. Fluttershy’s wings retracted inside her back and her scythe became longer and larger, the handle became longer and another blade sprouted from it two eyes were adorning the conjunctions between the handle and the two blades. On the blade there was engraved a symbol of a snake that ate its own tail. The new scythe was mostly red with eyes on the conjunctions between the handle and the blade were shining with malevolent intent and were looking straight at Red Ocean. Her legs became bulkier and then she detached the new weapon from her arm.
“Here I come” Fluttershy said rushing towards Red Ocean leaving a crater behind her the two clashed their scythes between them and started to trade blow after blow, Fluttershy fought with a fine mastery over her weapon while Red Ocean didn’t even try to parry at one point and just hit with reckless abandon, Fluttershy gave a powerful thrust upwards and broke Red Ocean’s guard then with the other blade she cut off her arm. Fluttershy caught it in mid air and showed it to her.

“You need this?” Fluttershy asked before crushing the limb with her hand. “Ops sorry for that.” She said mockingly.

“Bitch.” Red Ocean replied and once again blood from her destroyed limb gathered and moved towards her, until a powerful blast of air from Fluttershy’s scythe scattered it away. Fluttershy immediately ran towards Red Ocean and again slashed at her severing her other arm.

Red Ocean remained impassive without any emotions on her face, until she grinned with a smile that crossed her entire face.

“Hahahahaha” She laughed at the skies. When she calmed down a deep purple aura coated her entire body. “Seems like I really need to use everything I have to kill you. Very well then, let’s dance.” And immediately after her arms returned from thin air and attached to her, she picked up her scythe and an opera of screams filled the air.

Fluttershy readied herself and almost missed her enemy movement, Red Ocean was now behind her ready to slash at Fluttershy. Fluttershy ducked and thrust her scythe upwards behind her, Red Ocean parried the blow and kicked her back sending her away with a devastating blow. Fluttershy found herself inside of a big crater in a boulder, she came out of it regenerating her completely shattered arm. She looked at her opponent and her eyes widened when she saw red right in front of her, Red Ocean grabbed her by her neck and smashed her against the boulder.

“What? Already tired?” Red Ocean taunted, Fluttershy said nothing and instead morpher her right leg into an arm and picked up her scythe impaling Red Ocean with it, using that distraction she morphed her body again and slipped away from Red Ocean grip she then reformed her body and grabbed the scythe still inside her opponent and used that to throw her away. Red Ocean was thrown against a tree destroying it.

Red Ocean stood up once again and ran towards Fluttershy with only anger and revenge in her mind she jumped in the air and tried to slash at her, Fluttershy sidestepped the blow and instead impaled her scythe in Red Ocean head, the latter gave out a gurgling sound before grabbing the scythe and swatting it away.

“I had enough of you now.” Fluttershy said. “You are a Death path user, so you are really hard to kill. But I can see that the souls you gathered are finally finished, then the only thing that I must do is to send you with them.” She said with a kind face before she twisted it in one of pure hatred. “If you didn’t destroy them forever!” She shouted in her face. “I have the perfect punishment in mind for you. Want to hear it?” She asked.

Red Ocean stood up once again, her body filled with wounds and bruises she picked her scythe and tried to slash at Fluttershy once again. Fluttershy grabbed her scythe and broke the handle, she then cut off Red Ocean legs leaving her at screaming in the ground.

“As I was saying, your punishment won’t be death. Not yet anyway, no you will be devoured and you consciousness will remain yours, you will suffer the pain of hell for ten years before I’ll give you the blessing of death.” She said with a stoic face that showed no pity for her enemy.

“Go to hell!” Red Ocean shouted.

Fluttershy said nothing, she just readied her scythe to impale Red Ocean heart. “I don’t think that they accept the Death there.” She said before thrusting her weapon in her, then the virus started to eat at her flesh and bones. Red Ocean screamed until the virus reached her head and finally silence returned to the clearing.

Silent tears fell into the ground they were light but also heavy as lead, they were filled with the missed opportunities and the destroyed dreams of many, many innocents.

‘So many, you killed so many. Men, women and childrens, maybe ten years won’t suffice… ‘

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ RARITY POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I saw the flare in the air and the sound of the signal as well, I motioned for my squad of thirty changelings to follow me and we headed up in the forest. We heard a movement ahead of us, I scouted in and saw that here was a platoon of equestrian marching in direction of the hive.

“I will go first in the centre and disrupt their formation, when they are distract attack them, no prisoners.” I said darkly and jumped in the air. I didn’t have the mass nor the power of Applejack or Fluttershy but I knew how to cause a big damage with little effort. I created my bow and started to fire arrows in the platoon hitting the officers and causing them all to panic. A single one though managed to grab one of my arrow but did nothing after that. I landed in the middle of them and unleashed a deadly tornado of blades thanks to my whipfist killing a good chunk of them.

“FOR THE EVERFREE!” I heard my troops shout before they exited the forest and started to kill the equestrians, the battle now started was becoming bloodier and bloodier as time passed.

“Hey you!” I heard. “Come here and fight me! Your troops are too weak!” I heard the voice say. A male voice filled with self esteem.

I turned around and noticed a young pegasus with cyan coat and blue mane, a single brown streak crossed his mane, on his hips a sheat was present but the sword was in his hand instead. At his hooves four changelings laid dead.
“Who are you?” I asked him.

“The name is Mirror Smoke baby. Official member of the Omega squad and higher rank on this battleground, who are you?” He asked in a sultry tone.
“My name is Rarity Mercer, daughter of Philip Mercer and princess of the changelings. And your opponent as well.” I said firing three arrows at him, he smirked and deflected them before flying in the air. Then he passed his hand on the blade and a whirlwind manifested on it, he then disappeared in a blink. I felt pain in my right arm I turned towards it in time to see him pass and slash at it cutting it off.

“Surrender baby, you don’t stand a chance here. Maybe in the bed.” He said.

“Don’t be too sure of yourself you ruffian.” I said regenerating my arm. “The real battle starts now.”

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Mirror Smoke chuckled and took the air once more, he was ready to plunge his blade in Rarity’s heart now, he started a dive towards her but Rarity spun around and slashed at him with her whipfist. He saw it on time but still the blade cut his cheek making him bleed.

Rarity now smirked and fired another two arrows at him, this time though a thick cloud popped in existence in front of him, she lost sight of him and started to look around her searching for him. A gust, sharp as a razor flew towards her from behind and cut her arm then another one showed up, and another and another.

In mere seconds Rarity found herself surrounded by deadly wind blades that were cutting at her without mercy, she stomped her foot in the ground and created a crater. She managed to dodge the remaining wind blades and started to think of a counter offensive. Her eyes widened when she noticed that the blades were now all above her ready to plunge down and impale her.

“Surrender baby. You have lost.” The cocky voice of Mirror Smoke said.

“Darling, I must say that you are quiet the fighter.”Rarity said, then tendrils of biomatter seized Mirror and held him on the ground.

“What?! How!?” He shouted in disbelief.

“But you need to be more careful.” Rarity said appearing in front of him, Mirror thought that he was crazy, there were two Rarity now in the field one in the crater and one in front of him.
“Any last words, darling?”

“Yes.” He said. “You can’t seize the wind!” And said that multiple blades appeared and cut off the tendrils holding him then he widened his arms and breathed out a thick fog that coated the entire field.

“Now let’s play hide and seek.” He said seriously now. ‘This one is dangerous, I get hit once and it’s over for me. I must be careful.’ He thought worried.

Rarity remained impassible and waited for his opponent’s move. She activated all of her sense now but the fog made for her impossible to pinpoint Mirror’s position, she saw though the incoming blades and started to dodge.

She paired the few blades she could but still many hit her, she then entered the forest to create obstacles between her and him. She heard his taunting here and there but mostly ignored them, the blades cut through the canopy like a knife in butter and she had to focus in order to dodge them all.

“Run baby, run! Hahahaha” Smoke shouted from his position over a cloud of his making, he watched her run and dodging his blades and he was quite amused from that. Suddenly though Rarity started to fight back she created her bow and fired explosive arrows at the incoming blades dissolving them in midair.

She continued to destroy them but her magical reserves were running low, she needed to do something fast to end that fight, she splitted her body and sent her clone to distract him while she turned invisible, she then jumped in the air and searched for him. When she spotted him on a cloud she plunged towards him and stabbed him in the shoulder with her whipfist. She then landed on the cloud and threw him against another cloud.

Mirror Smoke screamed both in agony and surprise. “How did you?” He said before gritting his teeth and creating more clouds around him. Wounded, Mirror created multiple clones of himself and hid in the bank of clouds around him.

“I know that they are just clones darling, they are not wounded like you are.” Rarity stated and slashed them all with her whipfist dispelling them. “Now.” Rarity said before plunging her whipfist inside the cloud Smoke was hiding in. She grabbed him by his throat and held him in front of her.

“I… Can’t move- What have you done to me?!” He stuttered out.

“My dear sister created a special posion just for me, a variation of a paralyzing toxin from a plant in the Everfree, it’s usually slower but she made it a little more powerful, lovely isn't it?. Now, any last word? And don’t try your little trick again.” She said creating a whole dome of arrow around them, in the centre of the dome a symbol appeared, it was a crescent blue moon. “It won’t work again.”

“Fuck you!” He said.

“What a shame, and here I though at least in death you would have gained some manners. Good sword though, I think I will keep it.” She said holding his sword in front of him.
“Now darling, die.” She said and plunged her other arm in his heart killing him and absorbing his memories.

‘Just because they robbed you of your freedom doesn’t justify you to do the same with the lives of innocents.’

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PINKIE POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I made my way into the forest, while I passed I saw several troops in the Everfree marching in and battling my friends, so I did whatever I could to cause chaos in their ranks. Like throwing balloons filled with pepper on the enemy troops or scaring them with Gummy. (The Crocorock I found nice name eh?) Anyway I did whatever I could to distract them, while they were busy with my distractions the changelings attacked and killed a lot of them before pushing them back.

I also found how they got their supplies, a whole fleet of airships were at the edge of the forest with supplies and hospital camps. Ponyville has become a military camp filled with tents and weapons. I had an idea and then I created lots of little clones of me and sent them into the city, the soldiers started to panic and shoot at them but they were too many, at one point one of them shot one that was on a crate filled with grenades gems.

“Fuck…” A soldier said before a huge explosion tore the entire camp and threw it in more disarray than before, my clones died because of the shockwave but I didn’t care too much, after the big explosion I took a still unexploded crate from the camp, set it on fire and launched it at the main airship when the crate hit the deck it explodes killing even more soldiers and forceing the airship to retreat.

I heard a sound of clapping behind me, I turned around and saw a mare. She wore a black full body coat  that covered her entire body, on her muzzle sat a pair of black sunglasses. Around her neck was a rosary with the symbol of Celestia on the end, on her waist there was a curved blade black as onix. The mane of hers was not visible, hidden by the coat hood but her fur was visible, an ash grey colouring with traces of white here and there.

“I applaud you, you caused a lot of chaos and mayhem in a very short time.” She said in a dull and uncaring voice. “What’s your name?”

‘Gaaasp’ “ Hello my name is Pinkie Mercer Pie and I’m the princess of the changelings the daughter of my dad and mom and I’m here to cause chaos and also I found this crocodile in the forest his name is gummy and also I like parties be them small or large my favourite colour is pink and I want to see my friends smile. Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m Stone Heart. Now die.” She said launching herself at me with her blade.

“Woooo Sharp toy you have!” I said dodging her swing. “Let’s play a game!” I continued creating my hammerfists. “Whack the mole!” Then I swing my fists at her, she dodged it with a backflip and I ended up destroying the ground. “That was fun!”

“You are not a creature of the forest, are you? What are you?” She asked in the same dull tone.

“I’m Pinkie silly!” I giggled. “Now let’s play!” I shouted, jumping in the air before slamming my fists in the ground creating spikes that started chase her. She jumped, dodged and one time tried to just climb on a tree but the spikes destroyed it. I stopped the spikes and readied myself.

“Why did you stop? Your strategy was good to keep me at bay. Maybe you can’t do that forever?” She asked me.

“If it is too easy then where is the fun in it?” I told her. She tilted her head but said nothing then she charged and started slashing at me with cold murderous intent, I dodged her attacks to the best of my ability and managed to not get hit. Suddenly her hands glowed with a black aura and the same aura started to radeat from under her hood, immediately after the aura started to coat the area leaving us in the dark.

“Fear will consume you.” She said.

I giggled like a madmare and started to jump around punching the ground. “Silly, you just have to laugh in front of the fear to shoo it away.” I explained to her, then I sensed her touching the ground at my right and slammed my right fist on the ground behind me. This disrupted her focus and the darkness vanished. She backed away and returned to her fighting position.

“You are indeed strange.” She said and then charged again but his time her attacks were faster and more calculated forcing me to defend and dodge.

“You know what? I thought of another game.” I said giggling. “Tag!” I slammed my fists down and teleported myself behind her catching her off guard hitting her with a powerful blow.
“You’re it!”

“Seems like I will need to do everything I can to beat you… Very well.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  THIRD PERSON POV ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stone Heart opened her mouth and immediately an oily liquid exited form it coating the area around her in a sick black, her eyes became completely black while her skin peeled off leaving her muscles exposed. Then her coat became a mass of various insects that roamed freely on her body.

She clenched her hand around her blade and vanished in the darkness, then from nothing she struck. Pinkie though predicted that kind of move so she teleported away in the air avoiding the hit.

“You really want to play in the dark?” Pinkie asked.

Stone Heart said nothing, she just jumped and slashed at Pinkie who was still in free fall, Pinkie used her hammerfist to shield herself blocking the blow. They were both thrown away from the blow and landed on the ground, Pinkie then jumped again and slammed her hammerfists on the ground but before reaching it she teleported on Stone Heart crushing her into the ground. Instead of Stone Heart exploding from the pressure she divided into million of different insects and reformed away from Pinkie.

“You slippery snail!” Pinkie shouted before charging again slamming her fists into the ground creating more and more craters in the city, they fought for minutes before an opening presented itself to Stone Heart, Pinkie missed a hit and she was finally able to hit her with her black aura covered blade.

“L̨͞e̢̢t'͝s s̢̢e͢͡͞e͞ h͜o̢͢w͢ ̶͜y̡͟͝ǫ͢u ͠han̛̛d͘͢l͜e ̡͠y҉ơur̴ ̕͞w̷̸o̸r̕s҉͘t ̷fe̢a͝r.̕͠” Stone Heart said in a distorted voice.

When Pinkie was hit she stopped moving, her hairs immediately flattened and her eyes and hair became grey, her hammerfists vanished, in their place a sledgehammer formed, it was black with several red vein that pulsed along the handle. The head was wide and thick on it there was engraved a pictureof eight arrows pointing at eight different directions. She grabbed it and slammed it into the ground creating a huge crater and destroying the nearby windows with the shockwave.

“I won’t lose them... “ Pinkie murmured. “I WON’T LOSE THEM! I WON’T BE ALONE!” She screamed before letting out a scream that shattered even more windows in the area, she then charged Stone Heart at an incredible speed slamming her hammer on her body destroying it and creating a cloud of insects.

“Fascinating.” Was all Stone Heart said before she was interrupted by Pinkie slamming her hammer on her head, she reformed her body but Pinkie was ready and hit her again and again until Stone Heart finally exhausted herself. The darkness around her receded and she returned to her normal state, but her horn was broken, her coat destroyed and multiple wounds spilled blood on the ground around her, the bones in her legs were mere powder now.

Pinkie jumped in the air and her hammer became bigger, and continued to grow until it was the size of a small house, then she slammed it into the ground and onto Stone Heart. All that Stone Heart saw was a face filled with hatred for her and her alone with an impossible grin that showed how happy Pinkie was to kill her. Before the hammer ended her life though she saw an eye on it and when she gazed in it she finally saw it, she finally found it.

True Terror.

And with her heart filled with pure fear her life ended in a mighty shockwave that flattened a fourth of the town and left a crater big enough to contain a two story house in.

Pinkie panted and huffed before retreating up a tree, to cry, she checked the hive mind and she found out that all her sisters were fine, that brought a huge relief to her heart and she started to giggle to herself.

“Silly me, they are far stronger than death.” She said.

‘Now let’s continue my work.’

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ RAINBOW DASH POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was scouting the area over Fluttershy’s sector before a giant cloud of dust rose from Ponyville. ‘That’s Pinkie alright’ I thought.
“Commander!” One of the changelings shouted, “We are nearing a zone of high air instability.”

“What!?” The soldier than explained to me that ahead of us there was a zone were all the currents were thrown in disarray causing enormous problems.

I was roaming around checking the edges of the zone when a giant pillar of fire exited the canopy of the forest and almost hit me. I managed to dodge it and then I searched for the source, suddenly multiple pillar shot from the forest aimed to my soldiers.

“Fall back! Fall back dammit!” I shouted at them. I grabbed nearby clouds and used them as cover for their retreat.

“Commander where are you going?!” One of them shouted.

“To kick some ass!” I replied and then I dived towards the ground charging a huge amount of electricity in my body, when I hit the ground I unleashed it generating a loud explosion that scorched the ground around me and destroyed the nearby trees.
“Ok fucker come out! I’ll show you what happens when you attack me!”

“As you wish!” A voice said and then huge tendrils of fire attacked me, I dodged them and searched the source, I saw in the distance an unicorn stallion. His coat was brown and he wore a standard Neverdawn uniform, on his head there was no mane at all. He lifted a crossbow and fired at me, his arrows though were made of pure fire and scorched the earth when they passed on it. I dodged the arrow and when it hit a tree behind me it exploded in a ball of fire.

I charged at him and reached him in a fraction of a second using one of my jumps, I punched him in the face and he flew against a trunk.

“Hello, my dear.” He said inside the trunk, he lifted himself up and dusted himself off. “I’m Kel Fareh, the walking hell. Who are you?”

“Less talking more fighting you bastard!” I shouted creating my claws and coating them in electricity.

“I agree.” He said and suddenly a huge column of fire generated from the ground under me scorching my skin and feathers.
“And with that I’m done.” He said thinking I was dead.

“Now where do you think you are going?” I told him. “Don’t you dare think that a simple fire will be enough to kill me!” I charged my claws with electricity and dashed at him slashing his arm. When my claw reached its arm though it turned into flame and I phased through it without leaving damage.

“You won’t be able to kill me you cunt, they don’t call me the living hell for nothing!” He shouted and fired more fire bolts at me, I managed to dodge some but other struck true and exploded on my body making me waste biomatter in order to regenerate the wounds.
I charged my claws again and used a jump to reach him slashing his head, again it became fire and I phased through it.
“You must be an idiot. I already told you that you can’t kill me!”

“It’s true only until you are dead!” I replied and poured more electricity in my claws, the extreme current started to create plasma around them and they glowed with an ominous orange light. I used another jump and slashed his arm again, this time though I struck true and he bleeded.

“What!? HOW!?” He shouted enraged and confused.

“Seems to me that your flame aren’t so powerful hehe” I taunted him and readyed for more.

“You will pay for this! Feel the Hell!” He shouted.

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Kel Fareh widened his stance and a jet of flame exited from his arms they continued to exit until they stopped and started to move, they moved like a snake and in fact on the extremities a snake head made of fire formed. The two snakes now formed immediately moved and attacked Rainbow viciously leaving very little window to dodge.

Rainbow was obliged to took the air in order to avoid the two serpents, though Kel had one more trick to use. He poured even more flames in the area creating a giant zone of pure fire where the ground melted and transformed into lava, then he poured even more fire into the snakes changing them. On their backs they grew bat like wings and took fly chasing Rainbow in the air.

Rainbow used her lightning to shot at them only disrupting them temporarily, meanwhile above the battlefield more and more clouds popped into existence because of the clash between cold and hot air. A mighty tornado was forming.

Kel fired bolt after bolt at Rainbow Who could only dodge both him and the serpents. She was tired though to do so. She charged a big amount of electricity and shot one of the serpent disrupting it entirely, Kel was already forming another one but she used his distraction to her advantage and striked at him hitting him with a lightning that disrupted his evocation.

Because of that the second serpent flickered and dropped into the ground, Rainbow capitalized on that and appeared behind him slashing at his torso, Kel was fast though and ended up with a minor injury, he rolled away and summoned more pillars of flames.

“I will kill you!” He said bursting into flame, his entire body was coated into flames and his clothes burned away, though more intense flames covered his lower body. Then he zipped against Rainbow punching her in the gut and then kicking her in the face in mid air sending her away.

Rainbow recovered and went to the offensive immediately, Kel then created a blade made of pure fire and used it to parry Rainbow’s blows. They hit each other many times but neither of them wanted to give up. With a powerful strike and a sudden spike in the power usage Rainbow managed to slice through Kel’s sword and slashed his torso. Kel though managed to touch Rainbow’s chest and then unleashed a torrent of flames that enveloped her. They both went away from the other, they were both panting from exhaustion.

‘I need to close this fast, my reserves are dangerously low I can’t take another hit like that.’ Rainbow thought worried. Suddenly a single drop hit her head making her looking up, she noticed that an enormous amount of clouds were rotating above their battleground, they were black and ready to create a downpour. An idea struck her and she started to fly up.

Kel watched her flying up before noticing the clouds and his eyes widened before he started to chase her. He was almost there but Rainbow managed to enter the clouds and then giant lightnings covered their entire surface. A drop hit him evaporating immediately on his flaming body. But also causing him to fear that single drop.

A torrent of water like a waterfall started to rain on him, the flames fizzled and sparked, they resisted as much as they could but in the end they gave up and finally died. Ken Fareh dropped on the ground completely exhausted, all of his magic was now gone all because of that mare.

“I’m not finished yet!” He shouted. “I will kill you even if it will cost me my life!” Blue flames enveloped his body and once again he rose from the ground.
“Blue Dragon!” He shouted sending an enormous dragon made of blue fire towards the heavens and towards Rainbow. Rainbow stared at the dragon and then poured every last amount of electricity in the clouds. They fizzled with barely contained charge before…

“Wrath of the Skies!” She shouted and a shower of lightning poured all over the area coating everything in their immense lights, several soldiers lost their hearing that day. Kel Fareh was hit again and again until all that he could feel was just pain and all he could see was light.

After a minute of incessant strikes the lightnings subsided, but before the attack ended a symbol glowed in the clouds, an arcane symbol that symbolizes lightning. The symbol glowed and then a powerful final lightning struck the ground scorching the earth and leaving behind the same stigma, forever embedded into the ground. Kel dropped on his knees and fell with his back on the ground, completely and utterly defeated and at the doors of death. He looked at the skies and noticed the warm rays of the sun hitting his face.

Then a rainbow colored streak landed next to him, with barely a breath he asked only one thing. “Who… defeated me?”

“I… I’m Rainbow Mercer Dash… Princess of the changelings… Don’t forget my name whenever you will go to.” Dash replied in a tired voice, she too was exhausted and barely standing.

“I… Won’t…” He said before the life exited from him like a feeble flame under the wind. Rainbow plunged her claw in his body and consumed him.

‘Such a passion, a shame it ended like this.’

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ APPLEJACK POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was preparing myself for the oncoming battle when the signal was shot in the sky.

Xarx looked at me and nodded. “Are you ready princess?” He asked.

“I am.” I answered briefly. The ground trembled while the canopy moved, the equestrian were coming, but our guardians were coming too. From the forest behind us dozens of Gug exited and hundreds of Ghast followed after them. The Changeling panicked seeing them but I reassured them all in the hive mind that they were ally. They calmed down and readied themselves for the battle.

‘They incoming.’  “Prepare yourself guys! They are coming!” I shouted. We waited a bit and after five minutes Pinkie contacted me telling me that their supplies have been destroyed and that they were surrounded now.

I exited the cover of the forest and waited for them to show up in the clearing where we waited them. Finally I heard the unmistakable sound of armored hooves. The bulk of Celestia attacking force was arrived. They formed a line in front of us and we did the same, a silence casted upon us and the tension could be cut with a knife.

“What are you waiting for?!” A deep voice roared from their group. “ATTACK!” And in an instant they were charging at us their rifle in fire position.

“FOR THE EVERFREE!” I shouted.

“FOR THE KING AND QUEEN!” Xarx Shouted.

“WE WILL BE FOREVER FREE!” The changelings replied and then they charged too, the majority were equipped with spears and bows but a few were using swords and other weapons, while very few sported a kind of rifle designed by Twilight. Those rifle could pack a big punch and their only ammunition was biomatter, so if there were plants or enemies in the battleground those rifles will never ran out of bullets.

I jumped in the middle of the enemy formation and hit a soldier in the face with a punch, the shockwave made four other fly away and hit their comrades, I concentrated and summoned my flames, then I breathed them out like a dragon and burned several soldiers into a crisp. I morphed my arms and put more biomass in them, then I slammed my fist in the ground raising giants stones around me, then I started to punch them and sending them against the equestrians.

I felt a chill down my spine and jumped away from my position just in time to see several skeleton hands exiting the ground trying to grab me, when they failed they returned in it and disappeared. I landed onto the ground and again the ground shacked and more hands came out of it.

‘What the hell are this things!?’ I thought, I needed to find whoever was using them and put him or her out of the battle. An idea struck me when I landed on the ground again, I started to run away from the battle until I reached the top of a hill. Then I waited.

“Already on the run?” The deep voice of before asked, I turned around and saw him exiting from behind a tree on the hill, he was a stallion with a slender figure, a coat of a deep blue, his mane was black but several streaks like flames traveled through it. He wore a purple coat with multiple skulls on it, at his neck there was a necklace made out of jaws while on his head sat a crown made of skeletal fingers. On his back there was a giant coffin, easily twice his height. He took it and slammed it on the ground.
“I’m not running. I just want to fight you one on one, you are too dangerous and I will kill you before you can touch my soldiers.” I replied.

“A wise choice, for your stallions that is. But because of that now you’re going to die. A shame.” He replied with a grin and opened his coffin, several hands exited it and started to drag themselves out from the coffin. Multiple skeletons of different creatures exited the coffin and stared at me with only blue flames as eyes.

“Who are you?! How dare you toy with the dead?!” I shouted at him, if there was something that pissed me off was the disrespect of the dead.

“The name is Rigor, not that it matters.” He said then he raised an hand and pointed at me. “Kill her.”

The skeletons immediately reacted and charged at me. Their bones rattled and they shrieked running towards me, I punched one of them and immediately it collapsed into a pile of bones. I punched the air in front of me with enough force to send out a shockwave that destroyed the other skeletons in front of me.

“That’s the better you can do? You know they are pretty weak.” I said to him squaring him.

“Yes, yes they are.” He chuckled. “But they are also very, very hard to put down.”

“Wha-” A hand grabbed my feet and tried to yank me away, I kicked the hand away and turned around, the skeletons were all reassembling themselves ready to battle again.
“I don’t care how many times you rise, I will put you again in the grave!” I shouted and kicked the air with more strength than before causing a massive shockwave that made them fall apart again, but they recomposed themselves again. This went on for a lot of time until I finally had enough of them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ THIRD PERSON POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Applejack defeated the skeletons again but using the short time that they needed to recompose she concentrated and started to summon her flames. They started to exit from her arms and coated her hands forming a ring around them. On her back a symbol appeared made out of fiery flames, it was a tree with multiple roots.

She charged a punch and striked a skeleton in the head setting it on fire while scattering away it’s bones. The fire burned in those accursed bones making them black, finally the flame inside the socket of the skeleton turned from blue to orange before expire.

“What have you done?” Rigor asked.

“I set it free!” Applejack shouted at him firing another shockwave filled with fire, he dodged it but it was clear that Rigor was pissed with her.
‘I don’t really know how I did it, but i’m not gonna complain about it’ She thought.

Applejack punched and burned the remaining skeletons, now that she was free of them she could focus on Rigor himself. She reached him and started to hit him in a flurry of punches, Rigor was good though and managed to avoid being hit by her.

Rigor disengaged and reached for his coffin, he thrusted a hand in it and extracted a rapier, the weapon was simple with a grey stone colour and with nothing different from a normal rapier, except a single skull on the knob of it.

Rigor then passed to the offensive and attacked Applejack with impossible speed. She didn’t expected it and was hit in the arm by the rapier. Immediately her flesh started to decompose around the wound consuming her arm. The virus regenerated the lost flesh but Applejack knew that it was only a waste and ripped off her own arm. She threw the severed arm away and regenerated another one. Meanwhile the severed limbwas now completely decomposed and only ashes remained of it.

Applejack now was completely focused on her opponent and she won’t repeat the same error again, she launched in the offensive and the fight continued.

The two skilled fighter traded blow after blow, Rigor was weaker than Applejack but he compensated the lack of strength with incredible dueling skills and finesse. The two battled each other for a while before Rigor once again disengaged and reached his coffin.

“W̵kh̸ ͞ghd͞g̛, ̢v҉kdoò ͡gdqf̡h͢. D̡qg doo͢ K͏hoo͟ vkd̶oơ ͘v̛lqj̵.҉” He recited in an arcane tongue that Applejack couldn’t understand. Immediately A giant eye opened inside the coffin and an inhuman scream exited it. An arm, an amalgamation of different arms exited the coffin. Then slowly the main body exited the coffin. It was a giant creature made out of different parts of ponies, griffons and other different creatures, it was at least four meter high, it was biped but just barely. It had multiple head and all of them were stuck in a pained expression others though were also screaming in impossible pain.

“What the hell?” Applejack said before the giant hit her from the flank and threw her into a tree two hundred meters away from the hill. Applejack recovered and sprinted from the tree and returned to the hill.

“Go Dolor.” Rigor said and the beast advented on Applejack. Applejack readied herself and dodged the several fast strike that Dolor was throwing at her. She dodged and parried but after a bit she passed to the offensive striking the abomination with a vicious blow that destroyed it’s right arm in one blow. Dolor shrieked and with it several heads in its body screamed. Then bones and flesh reformed recreating its missing arm.

Applejack threw several punches at Dolor burning it and destroying chunks of flesh every time a hit landed, Dolor was shrieking in pain but apart from that it was unfazed by Applejack’s hits.

‘This one is tough, maybe I have to step the fight up.’ A very powerful blow hit her in the face so hard that she ended up decapitated. The body of Applejack remained still for a moment before she regenerated her head.
‘Yes, time to step up the fight!’

Applejack called forth her flames, which enveloped her entire body. In the flames she created her armor then she recalled the flames inside of her. Now the armor was showing multiple veins made out of a red substance that resembled lava. Her entire body was covered in thick armor and her knuckles gained some spikes and an additional layer of fire rings.

She stayed still and then suddenly she punched the air in front of her unleashing a powerful linear explosion that caught Dolor off guard burning ninety percent of its body to a crisp, the forest behind it was hit too and an immense roaring inferno came to life eating the forest. Dolor screamed in immense pain and its other heads did it too. Applejack didn’t waste any time and neared the beast.

She readied her leg and kicked the abomination with an impossible strength, the ground under her shattered and the tree around the hill bended, the flames from the fire twisted and blinked. Dolor was hit by this powerful blow, the kick was so strong that its entire body fell apart before catching fire and burn away in the wind. All of this in less than five seconds.

“It’s your turn now, Rigor.” Applejack threatened and ran towards him in a charge, Rigor readied himself but his eyes widened when he saw Applejack pass him. His eyes widened even more when he saw that Applejack was running towards his coffin!

“Noooooo!” He shouted but too late, Applejack reached the coffin and with powerful punch destroyed it in thousands of pieces, immediately after, thousands of souls emerged from the coffin, they were so many that created a tornado of souls. The sky opened for a moment and a pure light scaturited from it, the souls all gathered towards that entrance and then disappeared.

“What have you done! You ruined years of gathering!” Rigor shouted, anger and hatred clouded his mind and he made a fatal error. He charged Applejack openly.

Applejack noticed him and sidestepped his sloppy attack. She grabbed the rapier with her hand snapping it in the middle, then she took Rigor by his neck and raised him from the ground.
“Rigor, for your sins and crimes. I, Applejack Mercer, will gladly send you to hell!” She shouted before slamming him into the ground and stomping on his head devouring him.

‘The battle isn’t over yet. I need to return to my squad. I need to inform dad on that castle though…’

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ TWILIGHT POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After the signal was shot in the air I motioned to my squad to move and so we started to march through the forest heading towards the fleet of ships above Ponyville, where I thought the commanders should be.

We neared the outskirt of the city and a tremendous explosion went off on one of the ships, the ship was obligated to retreat while the others remained stationary. I morphed and took the appearance of a captain of the Neverdawn, the other three shapeshifted into more soldiers and we headed towards the ships.

“Alt! Identify yourselves.” A soldier said.

“I’m captain Iron Heart, let me pass.” I said.

“Yes, sir!” The soldier replied saluting.

We passed the soldier and neared the magical elevator, I gave my rank and name and they allowed us into it and with it we reached the deck of the ship.

“Welcome on the Radiance captain.” A soldier said. I nodded and explored the ship. The ship was massive easily 200 meters long and 50 wide. The ships was lifted by four engines, the ship was white with golden pieces on the sides, it had three different level not counting the lower decks. There were hundreds of guard on the ship, we asked one of them where were the commanders and they were more than happy to oblige.

‘Fools.’ I smirked, thanked the guard and headed towards the indicated position, we entered the war cabinet and searched for them. I found one of the commander leaned on a table with multiple maps on it. I didn’t waste any time I created a single spike impaled him and consumed him.

‘Several ships around the forest and other three camps in the proximities of the forest. Interesting…’ I contacted Ferdinand in the Hive mind and asked him to go to the other ships and destroy them.

“As you command, princess.” He said bowing closing the transmission.

‘That will take care of the ships.’ I also contacted Woodman, Regina and Viribus asking them to deal with the other three camps.

I exited the room and stood in front of the door, I would make anyone go away while my squad took everything of strategic value, Everything was going smoothly but suddenly I felt a massive spike in magical energy and ducked avoiding a purple ray directed at me. I searched for the font and I saw a tall white stallion, his mane was an electric blue while his eyes were azure.

He was wearing a full purple armor with the symbol of an Omega on it.
“You are not a normal guard are you? No, they are not that fast reacting. You are either Hunter himself or one of his daughters so which one?” He asked.

I dropped the disguise and answered him. “I’m Twilight Mercer, who are you?” I asked.

“The name is Shining Armor, a pleasure to know you.” He said with a mocking bow.

“How did you know that I wasn’t a real guard?” I inquired.

“I didn’t! Hahahaha” He said laughing.

“So what? You are saying that you would have shot him, your ally, because you wanted to?!” I shouted. At his nod I stomped the ground angrily. “You monster…”

I created my blade, and I made sure for it to be particularly sharp. “I’ll clean this world from your filth!” I stated and in a burst of speed I charged him, his eyes widened and was too slow to react so I hit him with the plate of the sword knocking him away through a window and throwing him in the center of the deck.

I followed him and entered my battle stance, a style that I learned from Ferdinand. My blade was in front of me high up and with the plate towards my enemy. Meanwhile Shining stood up and swept off some blood from his snout.

“You will pay for this.” He said, and leaned his hand forward, in it a purple glow created and soon a full blade generated from it. A long sword with a strange mist that poured from the blade.

He charged at me and in a heartbeat he was at my right ready to slash at me I raised my blade and paired his blow. My eyes widened though when his blade started to cut through mine. I jumped away and regenerated the blade.

‘That sword is made of pure raw magic… I need to counteract it but how?’ I thought but Shining didn’t leave me any time to create a good plan and in a second it was again my blade against his. His blade started to cut again and in desperation I channeled electricity through my blade electrocuting him.

He jumped away this time and glared at me, his hand was shaking and I knew I landed a good blow on him. Suddenly he dispersed his blade and created a lance, he readied himself and charged, he used the tip of the spear, impaling it into the gorund to pass over me catching me off guard, he landed behind me and impaled me where my heart should be if I had a normal biology.

True I didn’t have any heart but that lance hurted a lot. I screamed in pain and rotated my arms and head to face him, then I grabbed the lance and yanked it out of my body.

“And you called me a monster eh.” He said, throwing away his lance and conjuring a warhammer.

“I’m an evolved. Not a monster.” I replied. “A being is a real monster only when it acts like one.”

“Keep telling yourself that. Monster.” He laughed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ THIRD PERSON POV.~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Twilight was infuriated by Shining words and so poured electricity and flames in her blade creating a fire that crackled with barely restrained energy, at the same time a symbol appeared on her blade, it was an ancient symbol that meant magic. Shining was surprised by this, he never before saw someone wield two elements at the same time. But he was also dead set on killing Twilight so he focused on that.

Shining readied his warhammer and charged her, he struck her with a powerful blow from above, Twilight blocked it and the shockwave was so powerful that a gust of wind raised from them. The other soldiers were too scared or they were enjoying the show too much to go there and help. The clash through the powerful captain of the Omegas started and no one wanted to lose the show.

Twilight threw Shining away and took the offensive slashing and thrusting her sword at him with precise strike that left no opening for him to exploit, Shining though was extremely skilled too and paired blow after blow showing an impressive strength.

Twilight finally managed to throw away Shining’s warhammer and then thrusted forward hitting his shoulder. Shining cried in pain and jumped away from Twilight. He conjured a bow and started to fire arrows at her. Twilight countered each and every arrow with grace cutting them in the center splitting them in two. After another arrow she threw a fireball at him forcing him to dodge, Shining dodged the attack but Twilight created ten other smaller swords on her main one and in a swing she threw them at him.

Shining managed to conjure a shield in time and avoided being impaled by the swords. He was starting to feel tired though, the battle was now several minutes long. He focused and conjured several purple bubbles in the air, he commanded to them to attack and they launched themselves at Twilight.

Twilight dodged as many as she could but one managed to envelope her leg. Shining smirked and snapped his fingers, instantaneously the bubble collapsed and destroyed Twilight’s leg. Twilight gritted her teeth in pain and regenerated the missing limb. Shining called forth other bubbles and ten of them popped in existence.

‘This is bad, he’s strong.’ Twilight though and started to search for a pattern or an opening while dodging the bubbles. She didn’t find any opportunity and in the meantime she lost her legs and half of her body because of the bubbles. But she wasn’t going to surrender, she focused and created dozens of electric filled fireballs. She threw them at Shining, he tried to protect himself but there were too many of them.

When the projectile impacted with his body he was burned and electrocuted at the same time, the action beared an incredible amount of pain within. Twilight was panting for the usage of so much magic, she managed to remain on two feet but her magical reserves were almost depleted. She was sure that Shining was dead and she walked to him to consume his body and destroy the ship, but a purple laser traversed the air and hit her in the chest.

Twilight cried in pain and surprise to the sudden hit, she fell to one knee but she managed to stood up again.

“I-’huff’- I will not DIE!” Shining shouted with his arm raised pointed at her, he summoned a giant sphere twelve meters wide.
“If I can’t win, you won’t too!”

Shining was ready to make the sphere collapse, starting a chain effect that would have destroyed him and the ship but a sudden shot traveled the thick air, a pink burst of concentrated magic came from the top of the ship. The shot landed squarely on Shining heart. The shock made his spell fade and the sphere dissolved in thin air. Twilight looked up and saw a pink mare with pink and yellow hair, she wore a green camouflage and on her chest several ribbons adorned her uniform, she had a giant rifle and from its end a trail of smoke exited. The mare said nothing, she jumped and landed on the deck in front of Twilight.

She took Shining body from his armor and tossed him to Twilight.

“I must thank you Magic, without you I would have never be able to kill him.” She said.

“Who are you? Why did you help me?” Twilight inquired.

“I’m Mi Amore Cadenza but please call me Cadence. As for the why well this scumbag always tried to get in my pants if you know what I mean, his method were brutal and sickening. His demise bring peace to my heart so thank you. I won’t fight you this time, but we will see each other soon enough. Bring my greetings to Hunter, bye.” And said that she used a little device and teleported away.

Twilight picked up Shining body and devoured it.

‘Good riddance indeed.’

Suddenly she heard a massive roar and Aathurnas exited from the forest and flew right after her avoiding the shots from the ships and shrugging off the lesser ones.

“Princess, Master sent me to aid you in the destruction of the ships.” Aathurnas said in mid-air.

“Only you?” Twilight asked.

“Nope, me too!” Pinkie said cheerfully popping out from behind Twilight.

“Pinkie!” Twilight shouted in surprise, you will give me an heart attack one of these days.” Twilight said.

“Silly, we don’t have a heart hehehe.” Pinkie said giggling.

“Come on we have a job to do.” Twilight replied.

That day a third of Celestia’s airships fell to the might of the evolved.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I watched the battle from the hive mind, I commanded the guardians to strike in the most vulnerable positions and thus ensuring the victory of my troops. My daughters shined through the battlefield, I saw them fight and they became so strong.

‘Cadence… What is that you really want?’ I thought, I couldn’t understand that mare, first she try to kill me then she helps my daughter only because she disliked Shining. There had to be something more than that.

While I was thinking I looked around me, I was at the top of a mountain in the centre of the Everfree forest, from it I could see the vast canopy stretch towards the horizon. Suddenly I sensed another presence, it was fast, strong and it was running towards me.

“Sunset.” I called in the Hive mind. “Go to the city, I will take this one. Should I fail, hide and defend them. Do not try to fight it ok?”

“Phil… I-I can’t leave you there alone, I can-” I interrupted her.

“No. I won’t let you endanger yourself. My decision is final, remain into the city. Please Sunny…” I pleaded.

“Alright… Come back, please…” She said.

“I will. Don’t worry.” I said aloud and prepared myself for my foe. I saw a giant figure four meters high, it was running at me destroying everything in his path, then it’s voice reached me.

“H̴h̕͞h͏͢҉h͞u͟͜ń͞t͝͝͏è̡͡è̕ȩèe̴̡r̨̧͘rr̷̷̀r̶̴̵!̶͠” He said with a strange voice. That voice reminded me of someone…

‘Wait, I know that voice.’ “BECKER!” I shouted with venom in my voice. I jumped from the peak of the mountain and hit him at full speed with my hammerfists pinning him into the ground and creating a giant crater easily thirty meters wide. I picked him up and punched him away with all my strength, throwing him a hundred meters away from me.

I looked at him better when he got up and my eyes widened, that wasn’t Becker anymore. It was similar to the super evolved, with his pale skin and the bloodshot eyes, his arms were very thick and from his back several tendrils squirmed and lashed out at everything. Everything that made him a pony was gone.

“Hhhunteeeerrr!” He shouted again and charged at me, I was caught off guard from his extreme speed, he hit me square in the chest and launched me away, I shot two tendrils on the ground and using my momentum I created a slingshot, like a bullet I hit him with the power of a train launching him against the wall of the mountain. While he was recovering I grabbed his arm and slammed him into the ground cracking it even more.

Becker though wasn’t dead and suddenly grabbed my arm and threw me away, he morphed his arms and created big sharp claws, he thrusted them into the ground and from it a large amount of spikes exited chasing me. I jumped and ran around avoiding them, they finally stopped and I restarted my attack. I created Gungnir and used its property to handle it as a short sword, I passed behind him and cut off two of his tendrils.

Becker hissed and screamed then he backhanded me making me fly away, he then took one of his tendrils from the ground and attached it to his arm creating a whipfist. He started to attack me from the distance forcing me to keep the distances. I jumped away from his range and charged Gungnir.

“Fragmentum Requiescati Eternum.” I said and threw Gungnir at him, the lance soared the air and hit him, he tried to shield himself but the lance passed through him creating a hole in his body, around the wound the flesh started to die away withering. Becker morphed and confined the dying cells into his right arm and then he cut it off. The arm died away and he regenerated a new one.

Becker looked at me with pure hatred and screamed in the air. Immediately his body heated up and he turned a bright red, then without any hesitation he was gone, next thing I felt was a powerful blow from behind and then I hit the ground.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ THIRD PERSON POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Becker was completely red with smoke that exited from his mouth and torso, he punched Philip with so much strength that the crater expanded even more reaching fifty meters in diameter. Becker angrily stomped and punched Philip who was still recovering from the blow.

Philip reacted and blocked one of Becker punches, Philip then enhanced himself with lightning and hit him in the arm with a punch at mach 2 destroying Becker limb. Philip now free ran away and enhanced his senses, this time he saw Becker move and reacted. Becker tried to punch him in the back again but this time Philip did a backflip landing on Becker’s back. After that he summoned Gungnir and pierced Becker’s head with it, then he twisted the lance and beheaded him.

Becker was flailing his arms in the air trying to found Philip who was already on the ground reading another devastating blow. He charged Gungnir with an enormous amount of electricity and the released it all in a single instant generating a powerful lightning that scorched the earth and hit Becker. Becker without a head couldn’t scream but his movements made Philip know that he was in deep pain.

Finally Becker managed to regenerate his head and became even more furious. His body pulsed and twisted from his back twelve tendrils emerged, each one morphed into a different weapon. Becker charged again and his weapon followed along, Philip tried to dodge as best as he could but he couldn’t go without a single error, eventually Philip got hit and Becker took hold of him.

He threw Philip in the ground and used all of his weapons to bash him into a paste, Philip though created a tunnel under him and escaped leaving only an empty husk behind. Philip summoned Gungnir and charged it with immense amounts of electricity, in the sky black clouds formed and started to rain. Philip jumped and landed on Becker thrusting his weapon inside Becker, then a lightning bolt struck the lance and hit Becker as well.

Becker screamed in pain but endured it and grabbed the lance throwing it away, he then opened his mouth and fired a jet of hot plasma coating the entire crater in extremely hot lava. Becker threw one of his weapon, a greatsword, at Philip and then he jumped in the air.

Philip dodged the sword but failed to notice Becker now in the air, Becker widened his arms and dozens of tendrils exited from his body coating his body making him bigger and bigger. After ten seconds Becker fully transformed into a titanic beast, it was a hundred meters tall, his torso was fourty meters thick and each and everyone of his arms were immensly strong he had dozens of them and five heads each one of them with burning vapor that exited from their open maws showing hundreds of sharp teeth. He roared and attacked Philip.

‘Just perfect.’ Philip deadpanned and started to dodge the incoming attacks, the other heads started to spit acid at him making everything even more difficult. Everytime Becker twisted or hit something, he generated a mighty shockwave that raised big clouds of dust. Philip was out of ideas to bring him down so he tried something desperate. He launched himself at Becker and created his whipfist, then with his electric powers he coated it in hot plasma. He threw itin a wide arc at Becker's heads blinding them. The titan roared in pain and flailed his arms wildly.

He summoned Gungnir once again and charged the invocation spell, but this time he used every ounce of strength he had in his body and the lance reacted, more runes glowed more brightly than ever.

“Aeterna iecit” He shouted and threw the lance which seemed to gain more power for every secon it was soaring the air, Gungnir hit Becker in the chest and the immense strength behind it destroyed his entire torso leaving a giant hole where the lance passed. His arms started to fall and he returned to his old form. From the remains of the titan, a giant hand raised and Becker stood up.

Philip was tired, he used everything he had against him and he stood up again. The battle was so intense that the crater widened even more than before. Becker catched Philip and held him by his neck in the air, Becker thrusted an arm inside Philip and tried to consume him.

Philip’s body shacked and spasmed trying to resist Becker intrusion.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After Becker tried to consume me I found myself inside a strange room, all around me I could see planets and stars. The floor was made out of the night sky and all around me constellation and galaxies danced.
“Where am I?” I asked aloud. The room trembled and from the air the reality shifted and twisted, the space itself opened and a figure came out of it. It was completely black, with millions of stars that coated its body, its face was a mystery shrouded in pure darkness.

“Who are you?” I asked it.

“I’m Space.” He said, and then he pointed a finger at me. “But you are not ready to know me yet. I’ll help you this time, slay the twelve and return here.” He said and placed his finger on my chest. And everything went black.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ THIRD PERSON POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Something happened, Philip body shined with an extremely bright light and his eyes opened, in them there was pictured tha vastity of creation, Becker arms disappeared in a mist and all around Philip the reality started to twist and bend.

“Twisted creature. Your days ends now.” He said and snapped his finger, in that simple gesture he splitted a single atom in two. And everything became white, a cataclysmic explosion tore through the forest, from everywhere everyone saw a second sun, then a giant cloud that raised from the centre of the forest up to the sky. Suddenly a blue dome sparked to life and the giant wave of death stopped in midair against it. The giant shockwave though passed and while the Changelings suffered no damage from it, many equestrian ended with ruptured eardrums. The light only faded away after minutes from the explosion.

When the light vanished and the dust settled the girls rushed towards the event. There they searched for their father, they found him in the centre of a giant crater 5 Km wide and hundreds of meters deep, he was standing, looking up into the sky. In his hand he had the head of a strange beast, then he consumed it and looked around confused.

“W-what? Girls? What happened?” He asked.

“Dad I don’t know how, but you just created an atomic explosion.”Twilight said.

“WHAT!?” He shouted. “How?”

“We don’t know.” Twilight said.

“How many died? How many have I killed?” He said grimly.

Fluttershy smiled and answered. “No one dad. A giant blue dome appeared and it stopped the explosion. The only one that is dead is the one you just devoured.”

“Becker.” Philip said. “It was him, I saw his memories but still I can’t understand why he did something like that. He tried to consume the hive in Canterlot but his plan backfired. He was overwhelmed by the virus and it brought him to madness. Then he died at my hands.” He explained.
“I remember encountering a strange being, he called himself Space. He surely did something that caused the explosion.”

“Phil! Are you ok? What happened!?” Sunset screamed in the hive mind extremely worried.

“I’m okay my phoenix. The battle is over, the equestrians are fleeing and we defended our home. The earthquake was caused by me because I detonated an atomic device somehow. Anyway we are coming home, I’ll tell you every detail there”

“Let’s go home girls, our battle is over. Now we need to reassure the population and then we will make preparations for a long journey.” He said.

“A long journey?!” Asked Pinkie.

“Where are we going” Inquired Applejack.

“All around the world to find the Twelve beasts.” Philip replied.

“It will be wonderful, we could see so many things!” Said Rarity excited.

“Woo hoo an adventure! I’m in!” Said Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy remained silent but nodded anyway, and with that the whole family headed towards home.
> [OLD]Extra file:1 Family
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Philip Mercer.
Race: Evolved.
Parents: Unknown [Deceased]
Age: 20.
Occupation/status: King of the changelings.
Eyes: Red with black sclera.
Hair: Black.
Height: 2 M./6.561 ft
Weight: 1.5 - 100 tons./1.653-110.23 US tons/1.47-98.4 UK tons (Until now) [100 tons after he devoured the Ursa. Normal weight is around 100 Kg]
Particular signs: Very protective and extremely dangerous.

He usually wear a black jacket with a strange symbol on its back, he wear blue jeans and a black simple shirt and wear simple red and black snickers.

‘I will do anything for my family’


Name: Sunset Mercer (Shimmer)
Race: Evolved unicorn.
Parents: Sky Sunset and Star Shine (Father and mother) [deceased]
Age: 21.
Occupation/status: Queen of the changelings.
Eyes: Red with black sclera.
Hair: Orange with yellow streaks in it, straight and curly in the end.
Height: 1.79 M/5.8 ft.
Weight: 80-500 Kg/176-1102 lbs. (Until now)
Particular signs: Very protective and a strong magic user

She usually wear a black jacket with the insignia of a phoenix on its back, she have also a red shirt with a yellow and red sun on it, she wear a light blue pair of jeans and black boots.

‘We will fight and live to see another sunset’


Name: Fluttershy Mercer.
Race: Evolved.
Parents: Philip Mercer and Sunset Mercer (Father and mother) [alive]
Age: ~5 weeks, Apparently 14 years old.
Occupation/status: Princess of the changelings, Element of Harmony representing Kindness.
Eyes: Crystal blue.
Hair: Long straight pink with a single red streak in them.
Height: 1.55 M/5 ft.
Weight: 25-100 Kg/55.1-220.4. (Until now)
Particular signs: Double personality one kind and one cruel, she also have butter colored wings.

She usually wear a sleeveless butter colored shirt with a green overcoat, a lavender skirt and a pair of light blue ankle boots.

‘Balance shall be kept'


Name: Applejack Mercer.
Race: Evolved.
Parents: Philip Mercer and Sunset Mercer (Father and mother) [alive]
Age: ~5 weeks, apparently 15 years old.
Occupation/status: Princess of the changelings, Element of Harmony representing Honesty.
Eyes: Emerald green.
Hair: Long braided blonde hair with a red streak in them.
Height: 1.60 M/5.2 ft.
Weight: 25-110 Kg/55.1-242.5 lbs. (Until now)
Particular signs: Very fond of honesty and protective of her subordinates.

She usually wear a red shirt with a brown leather overcoat, she wear a pair of deep blue shorts and a pair of brown boots, she have also a brown stetson.

‘If you lie, honesty will one day punch you hard sugarcube.’


Name: Rainbow Mercer Dash.
Race: Evolved.
Parents: Philip Mercer and Sunset Mercer (Father and Mother) [alive]
Age: ~5 weeks, apparently 14 years old.
Occupation/status: Princess of the changelings, Element of Harmony representing Loyalty
Eyes: Magenta.
Hair: Rainbow straight and wild hair.
Height: 1.59 M/5.2 ft.
Weight: 20-90 Kg/44-198.4 lbs. (Until now)
Particular signs: Brash hot headed and prone to fighting, she have a pair of wings colored with a particular colour that reflects the colours of the sunset.

She usually wear a plain black shirt and a pair of sport short, she wear a pair of white snickers.

‘Live fast, live forever!’


Name: Rarity Mercer.
Race: Evolved.
Parents: Philip Mercer and Sunset Mercer (Father and mother) [alive]
Age: ~5 weeks, apparently 16 years old.
Eyes: Ocean blue.
Occupation/status: Princess of the changelings, Element of Harmony representing Generosity.
Hair: Purple curly hair with an orange fading at the end of them.
Height: 1.57 M/5.1 ft.
Weight: 20-80 Kg/44.1-176.3 lbs. (Until now)
Particular signs: Skilled dressmaker and very generous with her possessions.

She usually wear a purple half sleeves dress with red open shoes.

‘Gaining everything and giving nothing is not different from stealing, darling.’


Name:Pinkie Mercer Pie.
Race: Evolved.
Parents: Philip Mercer and Sunset Mercer (Father and mother) [alive]
Age: ~ 5 weeks, apparently 15 years old.
Eyes: heterochromatic eyes one blue and one orange.
Occupation/status: Princess of the changelings, Element of Harmony representing Laughter.
Hair: Poofy pink hairs.
Height: 1.59 M/5.2 ft.
Weight: 25-150 Kg/55.1-330.6 lbs. (Until now)
Particular signs: She loves parties and seeing her friends smile she also have the habit of breaking the physics laws of the universe.

She usually wear a pink shirt with a light blue jacket and a pink skirt, she wear a pair of red mary janes

‘Life is always a surprise, as such, smiling is the best thing to do!’


Name: Twilight Mercer.
Race: Evolved.
Parents: Philip Mercer and Sunset Mercer (Father and mother) [alive]
Age ~ 5 weeks, apparently 15 years old.
Occupation/status: Princess of the changelings, Element of Harmony representing Magic.
Eyes: Purple.
Hair: Straight long lavender hair with an orange streak in the middle of them.
Height: 1.56 M/5.1 ft.
Weight: 20-85 Kg/44.1-187.3 lbs. (Until now)
Particular signs: She loves studying new things and new magic, she has a bit of OCD.

She usually wear a purple shirt with a lavender overcoat, she wear a pair of light purple leggings and a pair of black leather boots.

‘All knowledge is good knowledge.’


Name: Derpy Mercer.
Race: Pegasus pony.
Parents: Windy Wind and [unknown] (Mother and father) [deceased]
Age: 14 apparently 20 years old.
Eyes: Mismatched golden eyes.
Occupation/status: Princess of the changelings.
Hair: Blonde ruffled hair.
Cutie mark: 7 bubbles.
Height: 1.74 M/5.7 ft.
Weight: 55 Kg/121.2 lbs.
Particular signs: Strong and kind with a big heart.

She always wear a grey sweatshirt with a hoodie, a black shirt underneath it and a pair of gray leggings. She wear a pair of yellow snickers.

‘Everyone deserves a second chance.’
> [OLD]Chapter 16 Preparations part 1 [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“And basically that’s what happened.” I finished. We returned home and I explained to Sunset what happened in the battle.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Sunset said. “And so what will you do with their memories?”

“We will probably write them down somewhere just for the sake of knowledge.” Twilight replied.

“And we will put these weapons inside some vault, they are dangerous.” Applejack said looking at the remains of the rapier in her hand.

“Alright girls you do that, I have to talk to the guardians and then start counting who survived and who didn’t.” I said dismissing them from the throne room. Sunset remained with me though.

“What weights on your mind?” She asked.

“Am I doing the right thing? I mean yes the rule of Celestia cannot continue but so many died. Am I really worthy to be a king?” I asked.

“Phil… This is a war, it’s impossible to fight one without casualties.” She said softly.

“You’re right… It’s just, it’s just sad you know? Chrysalis trusted me to guide them towards a better future, and the first thing I do is a fucking battle!” I shouted punching the armrest of my throne shattering it into a million pieces.

“It’s not your fault Phil… They attacked us first.” She said putting a hand on my arm. “It’s not your fault.”

“I could have done something more. I could have… I could have infected the equestrians with the virus and killed them all without a problem.” I said Sunset said nothing. She looked away for a moment and then replied.

“And what about you? You would have died that day too, not from an injury nor from the time. But from yourself, you would have killed everything you stand for. Phil, I was equestrian but you still saved me… If you had used the virus I would have died. You are not evil, never will. I believe that you will always do the right thing, I love you.” She said caressing my cheek.
“It’s not pretty, this war. But it’s better than what you proposed.”

I stayed silent for a bit, thinking. ‘She’s right. I wouldn’t be any different from Elizabeth Greene.’
“Thank you sunny.” I said standing up. “Thank you, you’re right I will not take the easy route. You’re the best girlfriend one poor bioweapon could hope for.” I said kissing her.

“Flatterer.” She said. “Now come on, we need to assess the situation and check on the hive.”

We exited the throne room, waved the guards at the door and entered the outer city. Fortunately the invaders didn’t manage to reach the city, I scanned in the Hive mind and found Xarx. I made my way towards him, I found him looking at a coffin made out of a green substance, the entirety of the thing was more similar to a cocoon. He dropped to his knees and punched the ground hard.

I ran to his side and asked.” Xarx, what’s wrong?” He didn’t answer and so I looked at the coffin. Through the crystalline structure, I saw who was inside.

“Thorax…” I breathed out. “How…?” I asked to no one.

“He fought.” A voice said. “He fought alongside me and he died. We were surrounded and he shielded me with his body while a volley of magic bullets came towards me.” Therax said apathetically.

“Why…?” Xarx breathed out. “Why were you on the battlefield? You weren’t ready.”

“Father-”

“WHY?!” He shouted. “Why have you disobeyed me? He stood up and looked at Therax straight in the eyes.

“We wanted to be useful, we wanted to help!” She shouted.

“But you didn’t, you useless waste of love!” A voice shouted from the air, we looked up and saw a male changeling. He was tall with red hair and a muscular body. On his body, there was a multitude of scars proving that he was a veteran fighter.

“You're little escaped costed the life of our brother!” He shouted angrily.

‘Brother?’ I thought. “Who are you?” I asked him.

“I’m pharynx, your majesty.” He said landing and bowing. “I’m- I was Thorax and Therax older brother.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” I said. “You are a soldier aren’t you?”

“Yes, I’m the best soldier among the changelings of the hive, I passed ten years on the training field and ten more on the battlefield.” He said. “When you arrived at the hive I was at the doors of death because of the curse, but you saved me and for that, I will forever be loyal to you.” He said bowing.

“I’m glad I saved you Pharinx and again I’m sorry for your loss.” I repeated. I moved my eyes away from him and locked them on Therax. “Therax. What you did was extremely reckless and stupid. You can’t deny that part of this is your fault, as such I think that you feel like shit right now.” I said all of them watched me with wide eyes at my language.
“I want you to train under Pharinx.” I stated.

“WHAT?!” Pharinx and Xarx shouted in unison.
“Your majesty that’s madness! She should be punished not this!” Xarx said.

“She already has been punished.” I pointed to the coffin. “That’s punishment enough. I want for her to become stronger, she will use this day as a lesson and her memories as a push to become better. She couldn’t win today but she will win tomorrow, after all, I have plans for her so…” I looked at Pharinx. “What do you say?”

“I don’t know what do you have in mind, but I’ll do it. Therax, your training starts tomorrow at dawn, meet me in the outskirt of the city.” He said and bowed again before taking off.

“Phil, they are waiting for you in the central square” Sunset said in the hive mind.

“I’m coming” I replied. “I have to go Xarx, take care and again I’m sorry.” I said putting a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s a terrible day for rain isn’t it?” He asked.

‘Raining?’ I thought. “It’s not-” Then I noticed the tears that streamed down from his azure eyes.

“Yes… yes, it is” He replied.

“It sure is…”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ TWILIGHT POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Heya Twilight.” Trixie’s voice said. “How are you doing?” She asked.

“Fine.” I said shortly. She must have felt that something was wrong though because she replied.

“No, you are not fine. What happened? You can tell the great and powerful Trixie what's wrong.” She said with a hand on her heart.

“Am I a monster?” I asked.

“Wha-”

“Am I a monster? What am I, I mean I’m me but… Trixie, I killed them I took their memories and even if they were bad, I-”

Trixie ran at me and hugged me tightly. “You are not a monster Twi.” She said. “You are a kind mare-woman, ask yourself this.” She said locking her eyes on mine.
“Why did you killed them?” She asked.

“I-”

“The answer is simple. You did it to protect your family, your subjects, your friends. There is nothing bad about it, you killed but that doesn’t make you a bad person. Phil too killed, he too did it for you all. You are not a monster. Never say that again. Monster is as monsters does.” She said firmly.

“I-I- Thanks, Trixie.” I said hugging her tightly.”Thank you.”

Several seconds passed before her hand tapped my shoulder, I looked at her and saw that she was starting to become blue-er.

“Oops, sorry ehe.” I said letting her go.

Trixie breathed in a big gulp of air before wheezing out.”That’s alright, you are not sad anymore are you?” She asked me.h

“Nope, all better now. Thanks to you.” I said, I took her and lifted her up over my head. “Now come on we have Science to do!” And said that I sprinted down through the corridors with a screaming Trixie over my head and myself giggling like an idiot.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ SUNSET POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was wandering through the streets of the city, many changelings waved at me and some even bowed. I was… Well, I was a little embarrassed by it but I knew they were doing it to show respect to me so I didn’t do anything to stop them I just bowed my head back and they were smiling just for that.

“Excuse me.” Said a little voice from my right, a little girl neared me and called me.

“Yes, little one?” I asked her crouching down to her height. She blushed like a tomato and thrust a paper in my lap before running away.

‘What?’ I looked at the paper and saw that it was a drawing, in the messy drawing there was a tall orange stickman with an arrow pointed at it that said “Queen.” At the bottom of the drawing, there was a little note that said. “I want to become like you one day, a pretty tall princess.” I reread the note and smiled softly at it, then I folded it into four and put it inside my jacket.

‘What a cute little girl’ I thought smiling. 'They are the cutest thing…’

After that heartwarming encounter, I continued to wander in the city until I arrived at the central plaza. There were several green cocoons, probably used as coffins. Many changelings were present shedding their tears over them. They noticed me and looked at me, there was a light in them, it was a desperate calling for their ruler to do something, anything to make them come back. But…

“I’m sorry.” I mouthed to them, the pain in my heart, it clenched it in an iron vise threatening me with silent and sad tears. They nodded, understanding the hard truth and returned to their mourning.

I saw a dozen of guards around a stage in the center of the square, I moved towards them and asked. “What are you doing here?”

“We are waiting for his majesty, your majesty.” He said bowing his head. “We are waiting for him to give them a final speech.” He said gesturing towards the crowd.

I opened the link to Philip. “Phil, they are waiting for you in the central square.”

“I’m coming.” He replied and so I waited for him to show up. Several minutes later e finally reached the square, he walked towards the stage and jumped on it. The wood squeaked under his weight but it managed to resist.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I looked around the square, the entirety of it was swarmed by changelings. In the center, there were reunited all the coffins, two hundred and seventy-two of them.

‘Too many’ I thought.

I enhanced my voice and started my speech for them.

“We are here reunited, to say our goodbyes to who had sacrificed their lives for us. These soldiers, these changelings. They are heroes they fought for us all and it’s thanks to them that our children are safe now. This is a sad day, to see so many go from our life is heartbreaking but, they wouldn’t want for us to despair. They didn’t sacrifice themselves for us to make us miserable with sadness no. They gave their life for a better future, today we mourn them and we respect them for their actions, we offer them our tears our words and our heart. Today we mourn, but tomorrow, we will live for them just like they wanted for us to do.” I said. "It breaks my heart too, to see them gone. I was your king for barely a week and already... Already I feel that each and every one of you are important for me. I can't see you as only citizens or subjects, but as family. And as such." I gestured towards the coffins. "We all grieve, together." I said with fresh hot tears that streamed down my face.

Suddenly from the coffins a multitude of orbs raised forth, the orbs circled around in the air before swarming around Fluttershy who was now arrived into the square. The orbs then swelled into the air and remained still for a moment before vanish away in the skies.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ FLUTTERSHY POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I watched in awe while the orbs transformed into their former appearance, the ghosts appeared in the air and waved at me with a smile. Suddenly one of them exited from the groups and neared me.

It was Thorax.

“T-Thorax?” I asked.

“Yes… I-I died in the battle.”

“But you weren’t supposed to fight in it.” I stated.

“Yeah, I disobeyed the orders, I died protecting Therax from a volley of bullets, it was my fault. I told her to go I convinced her to join the fight even if our father prohibited it. It was my fault but still, I made her feel responsible and I can’t accept it.” He looked up into my eyes. “That’s why I want to remain here, I cannot pass knowing that I made her life harder. I saw a glimpse of the future and I found around seven volunteers, you will know who they are in a matter of minutes.” He said.

“I don’t know, are you sure?” I said.

“It doesn’t matter, I swore to protect this place and my peoples with everything I got and I will.” He stated in a firm tone.

“Who are the others that you are talking about?” I asked.

“Kerat, Perth, Shix, Bareth, Titus, Alexander and Nix. They are the ones who decided to remain here with me.” He said.

“Will I meet them?” I asked now curious.

“In time, for now, wait for your father.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I gave Fluttershy a passing glance wondering who was she talking to, I could see the orb but I didn’t know who it was. But I would have to question her later.

“My subjects, my friends, my family. What we have witnessed today was truly a miracle, now that we know for sure that our beloved are safe and happy… We can bury them.” I said clapping my hands, I put some biomass under every coffin then I started to dig down. After the holes were made I took the coffins and leaned them inside the grave.

After that I made everyone stand back, I thrust my biomass inside the ground, inside of it I started to create a memorial for them.

‘It’s easier when one of those assholes was an artist ehehe.’ I thought, chuckling. When I was satisfied with the memorial, I made it rise from the ground, it resembled bronze but it was in reality made out of pure biomass. The memorial was an enormous pillar with a girl and two childrens on top of it, the pillar was rounded and completely engraved with the names of them all. At the base, there were eight changelings, all armed and armored that faced an invisible enemy while they were protecting the pillar from said enemy. These eight were standing proudly and they were facing the eight cardinal points of a compass. The whole memorial was twenty meters tall and forty meters wide.

As a final act, I put an enchantment on the pillar, whoever will touch it will hear the story of this soldiers. I learned the enchantment from one of the unicorns I consumed, it wasn’t really difficult.
Suddenly though eight orbs entered the eight statues which shined with a bright light. In that light, they twisted and morphed.

The statue that faced north became a slender woman dressed with a heavy plate armor engraved with symbolic runes, she had a longsword and the tip was thrust inside the ground while she rested her hands on it. Her head was protected by a helm but her face was visible, in her face there was a firm determination.

The statue that faced north-east was a bulky man with thick muscles and an unruly beard, in his hand, he was holding a pair of axes, he wore a simple leather armor that didn’t cover his bulky frame. His face was twisted with an untold fury directed towards his invisible enemy, he was constantly crouched in a battle ready position.

The one pointed to the east was again a man, this one though was covered completely in a long vest. On his hips, there were two long curved daggers. His face was completely covered except for the eyes which were kind and warm.

The east-south statue was now a tall woman with braided hairs her face was filled with pictures and hunt marks, she wore a simple pelt that covered her barely. She was holding a long spear with a string at the base which was attached to her wrist. She was sitting on a boulder and watched the horizon.

The south statue left me completely speechless. It was Thorax, he wore his leather armor with his two twin blades on his hips, his arms were crossed on his chest and his face was dead set on the horizon, I said nothing but when I turned to check the other statues I swear he winked at me.

Next was the south-west statue who was another man, this one wore a tunic filled with arcane symbols, on his hand he had a book adorned with engravings and jewels, he was an old man with a long beard. One of his hand was outstretched and pointed forward.

The west statue was a bulky and tall woman, her hair was unruly and untamed, she wore clothing that belonged on a farm, she had a sweater around her neck and her muscular body was easily two times the one of a normal man. The only thing she possessed was a lasso on her hip.

The final statue was very little, easily shadowed by the others, in her little hands she wielded a yo-yo that was frozen in mid-air like if she was playing with it. She wore a sleeveless dress with a bunch of bows that adorned it, her hair was long and straight going all the way down to her knees.

‘I don’t know what happened but I like the look.’ I mused in my head.

Fluttershy ran towards Thorax’s statue and asked. “Will you tell me who they are?”
Seconds passed and Fluttershy yelled. “What do you mean “in time?” “ She asked the statue.

“Fluttershy who are you talking to?” I asked sincerely confused.

She turned around snorting. “To Thorax. He said that we will know who they are when the time is right.”

“But Thorax…” I started.

“Is dead. Yes I know, I can talk with them dad. With the dead.” She said with a smile.

“Interesting, you are one surprise after another aren’t you?” I said patting her head. “Sure things are becoming more interesting around here.” I then faced the crowd and announced the name of the square.
“This square will from now on be known as “Guardians Plaza” I announced loudly. The changelings all cheered at that and many of them neared the memorial either to pay their respects or, for the young ones, to hear the tale of them.

“It’s beautiful…” Sunset breathed out.

“Yes, yes it is.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  APPLEJACK POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After the fight, Rainbow and I walked around the forest and told each other our fights.

“No way!” I said shocked. “Take me there, I want to see it.”

“Alright AJ but when you’ll see it you will eat your words.” She said snickering. She took the skies and I followed her from the ground jumping around the forest, she didn’t go too fast and in a matter of minutes, we reached a completely scorched and burned part of the forest. Woodman was already repairing it but the damage was very vast.

“I don’t see anything.” I said looking around the field.

“That’s because you are too close to it.” She said smirking, she flew down and took me off the ground. She flew higher and higher then she stopped.
“Look down...” She said.

I did just that and my eyes almost fell out of my head. There was a fucking giant scorched symbol in the ground, exactly how she described it.

“...”

“AH!” She said. “I was right and you were wrong!” She shouted doing a little dance in the air wiggling me around. “In your face.” She finished,

“Whatever!” I shouted making her drop me, I landed on the ground creating a crater and waited for her to reach me.

“Sore loser.” She said landing.

“I was thinking…” I started changing the subject. “What about those symbols on our thrones?” I asked. “I never saw them before but I feel that they are I don’t know right but also not wrong.” I said.

“Yeh, I have the same feeling you know? Not cool. The symbol that is here though… This symbol is all right in my book.”

I summoned a small flame and my symbol returned. “Yeah… Me too.” I said.

“Why don’t we ask mom or dad? They should know something.” Rainbow proposed.

It was a good question. “Sure let’s do it.”

“Hey, dad!” I said in the link.

“Hey honey, how are you?” He asked.

“I wanted to ask you a question.” I said.

“Ask then.” He replied.

“What do the symbols on our thrones stand for?” I asked him.

He was silent for a second before answering. “Those are called Cutie Marks, they symbolize the fate and destiny of a pony. I created them because they should have been your marks. I now see I was wrong, I based my assumptions on you being more similar to ponies but you are much better than that. And that is demonstrated by your new Cutie Marks.” He explained.

‘What…’ “I don’t understand, why did you think they would have been perfect for us?”I asked.

“You can say that I saw a version of this world, another reality if you want. That’s why. But I now see the error, I will change the symbols on your thrones as soon as possible.” He said.

“Another reality?” I asked. “What was it like?”

“For one there was no dictatorship. Princess Celestia is a good ruler there, she doesn’t have all of the power this one possess though, far from it. That really is a peaceful one.” He concluded.
“That’s why I’m fighting. I want for this world to be peaceful notin constant war.”

“Thanks for your answer dad, I-I need to think for a bit.” I said.

“Of course, will I see you at home tonight?” He asked concerned.

“Yes, of course, I will come home.” I replied.

“Good, then bye honey. I love you” He said in his fatherly throne.

“Love you too.” I said closing the link.

“So? What did he say?” Rainbow asked.

And so I told her everything.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was an idiot.

‘Stupid dumb idiot! You gave them their cutie marks in a world where they never gained them in the first place! How stupid can you be?!’ I thought angrily.
‘At least they accepted my explanation which isn’t a lie in itself.’ I truly saw a different version of this world, the cartoon.

“Your majesty.” A guard called.

“Yes?” I asked looking at him.

“We need your help, many families lost their family hunter and now they can’t catch enough prey to sustain themselves.” He said.

I thought about the problem for a bit, yes I could create the food for them but they need a real economy. Then an idea popped into my head.

“This is what we will do, find all the hunters of the hive and tell them to contact me with the hive mind.” I ordered.

The guard nodded and remained still for a bit before speaking again. “They are ready.”

I entered the hive mind and noticed a large group of connected dots, I connected myself to them and all the hunters popped in my vision.

“Alright listen up. I will create a hunter guild, in it, you will hunt and seventy percent of the meat you'll catch will be held by the guild. Then the guild will pay you for your work and will also sell the meat to those who cannot afford to hunt.” I explained.

“Your majesty, what do you mean by selling?” One of them asked.

I created a simple coin with my symbol on one side and Sunset’s on the other. “This will be our currency, it will be called Denarius and it will be divided into Sesterzi” I created another coin, this one a little smaller and with the symbols of my daughters around a 50 depicted on it. “These will have half the value of a Denarius, the Sesterzi has three other variants.” I created three more coins, they looked the same but were each a tiny bit smaller, also the background was different depicting the memorial, the hive, and a single changeling warrior head. They were numbered with a 20, 10 and a 5.

I then started to explain to them the basics of an economy, after an hour of explanation they nodded and exited the link to spread this information to the populations.

“Dad!” The voice of Twilight called. “We found something while we were doing a little experiment, can you come here?” She asked, with a hint of worry and surprise in her voice.

I didn’t respond I immediately teleported inside the laboratory. “What’s the problem?”

“Dad! You teleported! How?” Twilight inquired.

“Thank the guys that I ate for that, it’s a bit tricky but I found out that it’s not extremely difficult.” I said. “But that’s not the point why did you call me?”

“Trixie and I were doing a bit of research on the nature of Ambrosia and my sensors picked up a peculiar signal.” She showed me a cart with several graphs on it, on one of them, there was a massive spike. "You see I calibrated them to catch even the widest kind of signals and they barely sensed this one. It's a spatial ripple, something just created a ripple in the reality and connected itself with another dimension. That spike is the anomaly, it happened two weeks before the battle.”

“Something strange happened that day?” I asked. She shook her head. “Nothing at all? Cosmic alignments, nothing?”

She took a pensive look and put a finger to her lips. “Now that I think about it there was something.”

“What?” I asked.

“A full moon.” She responded.

“The portal…” I breathed out.

“The what?” She said.

“I’ll explain later, I need to talk to someone.” I said exiting the lab.

I entered the throne room and sat on my throne than I entered my REM and drifted away in the dream realm.

I opened my eyes and I noticed that I returned to the same glass room.

“You finally came back.” The voice of Luna said greeting me.

“Yes, Luna, sorry for the lateness but shit hit the fan.” I said Luna sneered at my foul language.

“Well then, tell me what happened for… shit to hit the fan.”

I started to explain what happened in the previous days. When I finished the story she fell in a thinking mood.

“I’m sorry for your losses.” She said.

“It’s not your fault.” I said. “Anyway, I’m here to ask you something.” I leaned down to her level and said.

“What do you know of the Mirror?”

“W-what Mirror?” She said feigning ignorance and failing at it.

“You know very well what Mirror. Tell me everything you know about it.” I requested.

“I-I-I” She stuttered.

“Answer me, Luna. What. Do. You. Know?” I asked pointing my words with the narrowing of my eyes.

She hung her head in defeat and answered me.” The mirror was created by Starswirl and was used by Celestia to travel to other worlds. When I was banished she told me she found out a new world ready to be conquered. The portal opened up every thirty moons, but I used my powers to make it open up every full moon. Now that Celestia stole my magic she can open it every time she wants.” She explained.

“Interesting.” I said turning around. “Where is it?”

“If she didn’t move it then it is in the Vault.” She said.

“Tell me more about this… Vault.” I said creating a chair with my biomass and sitting on it.

“It will be a long talk.” She warned.

“I’ve got time. Now talk.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CELESTIA POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ten thousand fallen and a third of my fleet was destroyed by him. My Omega team was destroyed my troops are in disarray and most faithful allies are starting to lose faith in me. I smashed my fist on my armrest destroying it. The guards at my right and left winced with the strong sound and the debris.

“Dammit!” I shouted with my hair and tail bursting into hot white flames around me. After ten seconds of costant hot white plasma I finally calmed myself.“Ok, ok I’m good I’m calm.” I said, I looked around and noticed that I blackened the walls of the throne room, liquified the throne and vaporized the guards around me, but I had other things more important to do. “Servant!” I called. A terrorized mare dressed as a maid entered the room, her eyes widened at the sight of the state of the room but even more when she noticed the lack of guards and the melted weapons on the ground.

“Clean this mess ASAP” I ordered and left the room.

“I still have it.” I teleported inside a specific room deep inside the mountain. There I used my magic to dispel the powerful illusion and defenses that coated it revealing a door made out of pure gold, in front of me my metal golems raised and approached me, they were forged thanks to an ancient diamond dog's technique, they resembled a full grown minotaur, shackles were on their wrists. They put themselves at my flanks and acted as personal guards. We entered the room and passed the item filled corridors, many artifacts were stored in it, from light blessed sword and shields to Darkness filled ones. I continued to walk until I entered the portal chamber.

Then I stopped myself in front of the mirror. It was a beautiful mirror with a gold inlay and a perfect surface. I channeled my powers into it and using the magic that I stole from the Beast I opened the portal against its will. I readied myself and entered the mirror.

I passed through the Canal, an ancient method of transportation created to pass through dimensions, when I exited the Canal I looked around me. In front of me, there was as usual that wretched school and I was inside that useless flesh body. It was nighttime and as such there was no one in sight. Eventually, my contact finally presented herself and I greeted her.

“Hello Dawn.” I said at the cloaked figure.

“How many time shall I tell you?” She asked revealing her face.

MY face.

“Call me Celestia, Celly.”
> [OLD]Chapter 17 Preparations part 2 [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“And that’s all I know.” Luna said she finished telling me what the Vault was and what it held in its bowels.

“Thank you, Luna, don’t worry I will get you out of there.” I said.

“Thanks, Phil. You are my only hope. But don’t do anything stupid to get to me.” She said.

I nodded and exited the dream. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t.’ I thought finally.

“Dad? Have you finished?” The voice of Twilight asked in the hive mind.

“Yes honey, I now know all the details. The thing you picked up was the opening of a special kind of portal. Its function is to transport living creature to another universe, and if I’m not wrong it should be a universe filled with humans and little to no magic” I explained to her.

“Really!? A new whole different world?” She asked eagerly. “Can we visit it? Can we please.” She pleaded

“Unfortunately no. The portal is inside the Vault in Canterlot, the problem is that if Celestia remains there than we have no chance to get it, she is too strong.” I replied to her. Twilight features visibly deflated and looked down.

“I understand…” Then shot up with a pensive look. “But if… I have an idea. See ya later dad bye!” She shouted and immediately vanished from the hive scape.

“Ok?” I said out loud. ‘Let’s see what could I do now? I will probably need to build walls around the city as well as starting to train the guards with the rifles. No, I will create my own weapon screw the equestrians.’ I thought, so I started immediately to tinker a new type of weapon, I entered my chambers. I created them with the throne room but I never used them until now, the room was a simple one a double size mattress, a desk and a separate bathroom even if I will never use it. Anyway, I entered my chambers and created a tinker table where to create my new weapon.

After several hours, I finally managed to create my new weapon. It was a long barreled rifle equipped with three different visors, a tunnel one, a viral one and a night visor. The visors could be switched simply by rotating a little wheel on it. The body of the rifle was studied to be easily used and it has three type of fire. Single, burst and full auto. The rifle was charged with special ammunition designed by me. The bullets were made out of biomatter, to charge the rifle you need to open the back handle and thrust the tendril that exit from it into whatever is made out of biomatter. I designed so that it cannot take changelings DNA so I will avoid accidental deaths, at full charge the rifle could fire for ten minutes straight in full auto mode, firing forty projectiles per second for a total of two thousand and four hundred projectiles per minutes and a total capacity of twenty-four thousand projectiles at full charge.

‘This weapon is a fucking cheat!’ I thought. ‘I like it.’  Unfortunately, I didn’t consider an important detail, the weight. I can lift it but the rifle is very heavy at full charge, it goes from 3 kilos while empty up to thirty. It could have been a nuisance in the middle of a fight so I created another item. It was a pouch where one could store biomass in it, this way the rifle would remain at twelve kilos of weight while able to fire at full charge without weighing too much on the soldier. I modified the room and create a ballistic ground to try the rifle, after some test I found out that the rifle has an effective firing range of one kilometer in single shot mode while the number lessen if you used the other firing method going from a kilometer to eight hundred meters in semi-auto and at seven hundred and fifty in full auto. The rifle could penetrate standard equestrian armor if it hit the weaker parts while it needed more shot against the harder parts. All in all, it was an incredible rifle, but because of my strength, I didn’t know how much recoil the rifle had so I called a guard and instructed him to fire at the target. The guard lifted the rifle and shot a single round, the recoil wasn’t so bad, but it was a single shot. When he tried at full auto he was having high difficulties to maintain it somewhere near the target. I thanked the guard and continued to tinker on it.

‘The recoil can become a problem in the long run, I cannot enhance them directly, I don’t have the knowledge to do it properly, but maybe I can create an exoskeleton to sustain the recoil and enhancing their strength without modifying them.’ I mused.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ TWO WEEKS LATER~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A week passed and I finally managed to create the exoskeleton, it was composed of different tendrils, all of them were created to be attached to the nervous system of the soldier. The exoskeleton gave them the triple of a normal changeling strength thus making them more than able to fire with the Merciful, I called the rifle that way.

In the weeks that passed through the city grew and changed, first of all, I built the hunter’s guild so that the supply of food could be restored as soon as possible. Then the girls and I started the new economy, there was some skepticism about it but we managed to convince them that it was the best solution. After that, I created the walls around the city with Woodman and Viribus. The walls were made of a special kind of stone that was extremely hard to break, the walls were then reinforced by several layers of runes and enchantments created by Twilight and Sunset. The walls were fifteen meters high and five meters wide, they circled a totality of two hundred square kilometers. We also had a full census of the population done, there was a totality of 19857 changelings of which the 48% of them were female. The city was inhabited both on the surface and in the hive under it, I called forth the gug from the forest and together we started to build several houses in the city. Thanks to the great space we managed to create several houses big enough to host families of four members. Meanwhile, we moved all the changelings from the hive outside of it, that’s because I had to do modifications to the hive itself.

In the two weeks, I also started to consume the vegetation around the city and create more gugs. With them, Twilight and I started to dig inside the mountain where the hive resided. We hollowed it almost completely leaving only a twenty meters thick wall of rock on the outside while the inner mountain was completely empty. With the stone that we gained from it we built our castle, it was created in the gothic style with many statues and ornaments. The castle was built with several layers one over the other, the upper layers were used as bedrooms for guests and for my family, the throne room was in the middle layer where anybody could access. In the lower layers, there were several bunkers designed to protect the population in case of attack by Celestia. To produce light inside I created a bioform which the only purpose was to create light. The bioform was a nonsentient plant-based entity. It got its nutrients from the roots of the trees outside the cavern and produced light. Several smaller specimens of it were around and inside the castle to provide illumination. The castle was imposing and fairly dark with spires that stretched up and many balconies. The entrance of the cave was hidden by the vegetation that Woodman created and even if someone found it anyway there were two heavy metallic doors keeping it close.

The castle was built to sustain heavy damage and thanks to the biomass around it could reattach lost pieces of itself thus regenerating itself. Under it, we put bunkers and storage rooms where we stored emergency food reserves, in the lowest layer there was the storage room that contained the Omega’s weapons.

“It sure is imposing.” Applejack said. We were all on the main road that leads to the castle.

“A bit too grim in my opinion.” Rarity replied scoffing.

I laughed at her attitude and said. “I know sweetie but we need to remain hidden and secure. When Celestia is dealt with you can make the castle fashionable ok?” She hummed for a bit before nodding.
“Ok now go inside and pick your room. Twilight the laboratories are in the first underground layer while the magic outpost is in the top of the castle.” I explained to her and she smiled eagerly before vanishing with a teleport.

“Now-” I was interrupted by Twilight when she popped up again in the middle of us, grabbed Applejack and disappeared again with a “Sorry I need her!”

“Sure… As I was saying, I need for you to help Pinkie.” They looked at me with confused faces. “Pinkie. I need for you to create the most awesome party you can to-”

“To celebrate the construction of the castle! Yepperoni daddy I’ll do it count on me!” She said with a soldier stand before starting to jump higher and higher until she touched the ceiling and bounced away out of the cavern.

“Whoops I need them too!” Pinkie shouted suddenly reappearing and taking the girls with her.

“Would you like to visit the castle?” I asked Sunset, now that we were alone.

“Yes.” She said rapidly.

“What’s the problem?” I asked knowing already what the problem was.

“It’s that… I don’t know I don’t feel it like our home. We lived there for a short time but still, I miss it.” She said looking down.
I took her hand. “What if I told you that, there is more of our house in this castle than the eye can pick?”

I made my way inside the castle and reached the throne room, the new thrones were all there with the new Cutie Marks on them. I went behind our thrones and put my hands on the back of them. I focused and with a soft glow several runes came to life, the runes created a pathway that leads inside of a wall. I took Sunset’s hand again and walked through the wall.

When we emerged from the wall Sunset’s eyes widened immediately, there behind a simple wall there was our home in the middle of a beautiful field filled with colorful flowers and a wonderful sky...

“How?” She asked with a tremble in her voice. “How did you do that.”

“Simple, the wall is a teleportation rune which is connected to an underground space. I put the whole house there, and here we are.” I said.

“And the sky? And-and the flowers?” She asked.

“For them, you should thank your daughters. Rainbow provided the clouds, Twilight enchanted the cavern to look like a summer sky, Applejack and Fluttershy created the beautiful flower camp and Rarity and Pinkie well, you will see.” I snapped my finger and activated the magic of the cavern, the sun that was at his zenith started to go down under the horizon, then a myriad of stars shined in the alabaster night sky and a wonderful white full moon appeared.

“Rarity designed the stars and the moon, Pinkie put them there. Applejack though created the sun with her flames. The whole thing is created and maintained by an extremely complicated array of runes created by Twilight.” I looked at her. “So… do you like it?”

My only answer was an intense and passionate kiss and a night to be remembered.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PINKIE POV ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

‘Ok let’s see, balloons… check. Confetti… check. Streamers… check. Gummy…’

“No! Let go of me you stupid pile of rock!” Shouted Rainbow while Gummy was trying to eat her leg.

‘... Check.’ “Ok girls we have everything let’s send this invites!” I shouted bouncing around happily.

“Yeah, that’s good and all but would you please tell your pet to let go of me before I make him?” Rainbow shouted at me.

“Gummy! Stop trying to eat Dashie she doesn’t taste like Skittles!” I told him and he let go of her.

“Skittles?” Rainbow muttered at herself. I saw Fluttershy walking down the road, with her there were several children that followed her in a straight line.

“Ok children now remember to be good.” She said to them.

“Yes, princess.” They replied.

“Alrighty now! You know what to do GO!” I shouted giving them the invites for the party.

“Yay!” They shouted, running to different locations. The party will be held at Freedom Plaza and everyone was invited, my “Good work you finished the castle.” party Will be a success.

“Where’s Rarity?” I asked Fluttershy.

“She is at the hunters guild giving the children a course on archery.” Fluttershy replied.

“Ok” I said. “Alright now help me with cooking the cake.”

One hour later we finished our cake, it was a three layers cake with cream, strawberries, and chocolate. The cake has the same form as the castle. The children returned with their hands empty of invites and a crowd was forming around and in the plaza.

I created a speaker with my biomass. “Are you ready to PARTY?!” I asked the crowd. They cheered but I wanted more. “Can’t hear you. ARE YOU READY TO PARTY?” I shouted.

“YEAH!” The crowd erupted and immediately the party started.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ RARITY POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was in front of the Hunter’s guild and I was waiting for the children to arrive. The guild wasn’t anything special, it was a three-story building, the first floor served as a bar and it was where you could buy the meat while the second floor was where some member of the guild lives. The last floor was the office of the master of the guild.

The honor to be the head of the guild fell on Lexio and he was absolutely ready for it.

“I’m not ready for this princess!” Lexio shouted worried.

“Now, now you are just nervous.” I said trying to calm him down.

“You don’t understand princess, I’m not so good. I mean Phoenix is at least twice me in both skills and experience.” He replied.

“Lexio, Pharinx is a soldier, not a hunter.” I said. “Don’t worry if my dad appointed you for this then it must mean that you have something that the others don’t.”

“Let’s talk again later ok? The nymphs are here.” Lexio said and I nodded.

“Welcome children, I’m princess Rarity and today I’ll teach you how to use a bow.” I said gesturing to my right where multiple bows were resting on a rack. All of them eagerly took one and we moved to the back of the guild where was built a training ground.

“Ok at first I’ll let you see a demonstration and then you can practice for a bit ok?” I asked and they all nodded. “Very well first thing. Draw your bow.” I said and created my bow in my left hand.

“Woooow” The children said in unison. One of them raised his hand and I nodded to him to speak.

“We can do it that too?” He asked.

I shook my head and replied.” No, my dear, only me, my sisters, the queen, and king can do that.” he seemed a little sad about that.
“But don’t worry, just because you cannot create your bow like me you can become the best archer in the world.” This lifted his spirit up and nodded.

“Ok, second, ready the arrow.” I created an arrow made out of biomass, it was designed to go at supersonic speed and to pierce through thick armor, I reduced its ability to penetrate for the sake of demonstration.

“Third, aim. Breath.” I locked my eyes on the targets.

“Fourth, fire.” I fired the arrow and it hit the target in the center.

“Fifth repeat until the enemy is rendered silent,” I said and fired a volley of arrows. All of them hit the target and broke the precedent arrow that was embedded, in the end, it created a blooming flower made out of broken arrows.

The children were staring at me with wide eyes and when I motioned to them to try they sprung and started to take arrows to throw. The arrows were modified with a blunt end so that no one would kill someone on accident.

I was busy explaining to a little girl how to properly ready an arrow when I noticed Lexio. He was in the middle of a large group explaining where to hit a target, how to hit it and what to do against heavily armored enemies.

‘And he said he wasn’t good. I think he will become the best tutor here. Now that I think about it… this city doesn’t have a name yet. I will talk about that later to dad’ I finished my thought.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ RAINBOW POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Down in the plaza, the party was going very well, a lot of people were either dancing or eating or both. Pinkie really knew what to do, I was soaring the skies in the meantime. Flying was something that I always loved and I always will. While I was flying I encountered a big solitary cloud, I thrust in it and I pierced it making it pop.

I flew around a bit more until I crossed a black cloud filled with electricity. I grabbed the cloud and squished it into my hands. When it became too little it exploded with a thunderous clap freeing the charge that was inside.

‘So thunder clouds explode if you press them too much… What if I put them into a container and ask Twilight to find a way to make it explode whenever you want? They can be our grenades.’  The idea was wonderful so I started to search for more clouds, fill them with electricity and found out when exactly they blow-up.

After ten minutes or so I discovered that if squiz them down to a little ball they remain stable, but if you reduce the space, even more, the explodes. The dimension though was different depending on how much electricity was in them.

‘This things will be a blast when we will make them perfect. Hahaha’

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ DERPY POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was at the Heart of the forest, I was passing more and more time there. I was trying to understand my connection with it, I discovered I could make cute crystal like flower blossom but nothing more.

“What can I do?” I asked the Heart. “You made me immortal, why?” I touched the heart with my hand and immediately my vision shifted and I found myself staring at a planet from its orbit. I recognized Equestria and several others countries, my vision continued to move and did a full round of the planet. What really attracted me were the seven points on the planet, six of them were grey while one was a bright white. The bright one was the Everfree Heart.

‘Are those other hearts? Why is the Heart showing me this? I don’t understand.’

Suddenly a malicious sensation gripped my body and washed me with untold fear. I turned around and saw in the vastity of space several burning stars. With all their light though a great seemingly limitless darkness lounged over them, like a coat made out of pure horror, the darkness was slowly encompassing them all in its embrace. When I tried to take a better look, a sudden and even stronger feeling of terror struck me.

I screamed in terror and suddenly I found myself back at the cave. I cried in pure terror, when I felt a hand on my back I screamed in raw fear but the hand morphed into a hug, then I heard the kind and calming voice of Ferdinand.

“Do not fear princess. I will protect you from any harm.” He said, and so I continued to cry until there were no more tears in my eyes. Ferdinand remained here with me all the time without moving even a single time.

“What is that struck such fear in your heart?” He asked.

“Horrors that lay beyond the stars.” I muttered between tears.

“Do not worry. If they come here to get you, your father will send them back.” Ferdinand stated. I nodded at that and broke the hug standing up.

“Thank you, Ferdinand, come with me I want to show you something.” I took his hand and walked towards the Heart, I rested my hand on it and the crystal that formed the Heart opened letting me and Ferdinand enter.

Inside the Heart, there were six empty frames. I discovered the room by accident one day and I wondered about his purpose. The room was constantly filled with light from above and that gave the entire room a crystalline appearance. From inside you could see outside but from outside you could see nothing inside. The six frames were adorned by six symbols, A dragon, a griffin, a fish, a spider, a buffalo and a zebra. In the center of the room on the floor, there was depicted a heart enveloped by thorns.

“Does your father knows of this?” Ferdinand asked.

“No, I want to study this room better before telling him. I know it sounds stupid but, I have this feeling that I HAVE to understand this room but I need to do it on my own.” I replied. “This sounds crazy doesn’t it?”

“My princess I witnessed things far crazier than a feeling. I won’t tell your father, but if he asks I will have to.” He said.

“I understand Ferdinand. Thank you.” I said exiting the room. Suddenly a dreadful feeling overcame me and I fell on the ground.

“What is it?” Ferdinand asked worried rushing at my side.

“Something is going to happen. Something dark and powerful will be found. Today.”

‘I need to go to the castle. I just hope I will be on time.’


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ APPLEJACK POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Remind me again why I’m here?” I asked Twilight.

“Well it’s fairly easy sis, you see I want to study the portals magic and right now I got the background energy from the portal’s magic. What I need now is a stabilizer and you are that stabilizer.” She said.

“And why?” I asked now intrigued with where this was going.

“You see between us all you have the more powerful earth tuned magic. You are extremely tuned to this planet and that is why you can act as a stabilizer.” Twilight explained.

“Are you sure it is safe though?” I asked the lab was very advanced with multiple bio-machine that constantly pulsed with life. Twilight had both of her hands inside a giant one in the back of the room. She grew two more hands and walked to me with the other two still attached to the main one. She created several pins and stabbed them into my body, two for each arm and four for my chest.

“Now this pins will canalize your natural magic and will transmit it to the central computer.” Twilight muttered more to herself than to me.

The pins weren’t painful so I just remained still while she worked.
“Alright, already let’s try with this!” She exclaimed. She sat down with her legs crossed and her entire body was suddenly encompassed in a lavender aura, she started to levitate in the air and her eyes shined with blinding white light. The light was growing in intensity before suddenly vanishing making Twilight yelp and fall to the ground.

“Are you alright sis?” I asked her ejecting the pins and running to her side.

“Yes-I-I’m fine.” She said with short breath.

“Why don’t you wait for Trixie? She can help you.” I proposed.

“No, Trixie is researching alchemy with Zecora. I don’t want to disturb her.” She said, standing up.

“If you say so…” I said with a hand scratching the back of my head.

“Now, let me regain my strength and do some more math and we will try again.” She said formally hushing me out of her lab.

“Ok, ok geez.” I said jokingly. I exited the lab and decided to take a quick walk around the castle, I traveled towards the higher layers to explore some more. I found the doors to my sisters and my parent's room. I passed several other guests room but I stopped at my room to retrieve my hat, I put it there when we moved everything in here but I forgot to get it.

'It's good to see you again partner. From now on always on my head understood?' I giggled in my thoughts putting the hat on my head, dad said it suited me and darn it I will keep it with me.

I traveled even higher and reached the magic lab where Trixie was working. I entered the lab and found her mixing some kind of potion with her tongue out of her mouth.

“Yes. If I add this and these… yes, it can be done. IT. CAN. BE. DONE!” Trixie shouted like a mad.

I was growing a little worried and curious so I remained to see where that was going. Trixie shacked the vial in her hand vigorously before opening it, she sniffed it and recoiled for the horrible stench it emitted but nodded happily. She then poured the content of the vial on her head.

Immediately a foul fume rose from her and hid her. I then heard her screaming so I rush at her breaking up the door.

“Trixie!? Where are you?” I shouted in the dark mist. A light blue light sparked in the darkness of the smoke and made the whole thing disappear, I turned towards the light and saw Trixie with her hand on her hair in front of a mirror.

“Applejack dear, look at my mane! It’s wonderful, thanks to this potion I will never have to wash it nor to style it every morning! Isn’t it wonderful?” She said with a huge smile.

“That was all the ruckus?” I asked in a deadpan voice and a flat look.

“Well yes, now I can work without worrying about my mane, also I can sell this recipe and no one will ever have to worry about their manes!.” She explained excited. “You girls are so lucky you never have to do your manes.”

“Hair” I said, she looked at me strangely. “They are called hair, not manes.” I explained further.

“Same thing dear.” She said dismissively with a hand. “So why are you here? Do you need something?” She asked.

“Not exactly, I was just walking around waiting for Twilight to recover-” I was cut short by the familiar feeling of teleportation and I found myself in the lab with Twilight again.
“You can at least warn before doing that.” I said with a scowl.

“Yeah, yeah we don’t have time sis. This experiment is of the utmost importance.” She said in a solemn voice.

Twilight again put the pins in my body before sitting down once again, but this time she attached herself to all the machinery in the lab creating a huge web of tendrils. Her aura showed up again and all the tendrils brighten up in a lavender light, her cutie mark appeared behind her shining in the air, it appeared on the ground under me too. The more Twilight concentrated the more the room was starting to curve and flex.

“Twilight! Stop, what's happening?!" I shouted at her but she didn’t hear me. “Twilight!” I continued. The room was now almost upside down, a wave generated from Twilight and bounced on her cutie mark before coming straight at me. The wave hit me and knocked me to the ground, from the pins eight rays shot out and created a sphere in the air. In the sphere, I saw a street with what seemed like humans but only for a bit before the image blurred away, the sphere was growing larger and larger on its edges the space was distorted and I completely lost vision of Twilight behind it, I tried to move to do anything but I couldn't move. I flailed uselessy until it finally reached me. When it touched me I started to break apart.

“TWI!”
> [OLD]Chapter 18 A dark encounter [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a secure alley of Canterlot city, Applejack was studying the plans between her hands before hearing a crackling sound from behind her. Several lightning bolts shot out from the air, hitting the walls and the ground. Scared, Applejack threw herself behind a nearby garbage can for cover, the lightning grew in intensity until it created a sphere. The sphere became bigger and bigger until it finally exploded, gallons of a red and black substance shot out covering the entire alley. 

Applejack behind the garbage can, visibly shaken by the lightning and the explosion of viscera grabbed the handle of the garbage can, squeezing it too hard and deforming it. Meanwhile, the black and red matter started to move and twitch, it all converged to a single point and reformed into a humanoid figure. When the mass had finished Applejack’s eyes bulged out, standing there was a copy of herself but younger. The copy looked around and locked eyes with Applejack.

“What…?” The copy said before sprinting away from her and in a single giant leap reached the roof of the nearby building, then she jumped again and vanished from her sight behind the skyscraper of the Canterlot Bank.

Applejack stood there, the plan forgotten and with a new objective she darted inside the main road and headed towards the hill. 

‘I need to tell him what happened, this is not Celestia’s usual bullshit.’

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ APPLEJACK POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

‘What the fuck was that? Where am I?’ My thoughts were in disarray the last thing I remember was that the strange sphere swallowed me before I needed to rebuild my body. ‘Am I actually in another world?’ I looked around me, the skyscrapers where massive and tons of peoples were walking down the roads.

‘I’m definitely not in the Hive anymore…’ I turned from the edge of the building and took a look at myself in a mirror I found on the roof, probably lost by someone else. Anyway, I looked at myself, ‘ I'll have a hard time laying low with my actual body I need to grow up a bit.’ I modified my body and let it grow naturally at a fast pace, just to see what I would become by growing up normally. I was shocked when I saw myself, not only I was taller but I also appeared more mature. Aside from that though the problem was that I was practically identical to that girl I saw in the alley, that would work against me so I changed some of my features. First my hairs, I changed it from a golden yellow into a copper shade I also made it grow longer until it reached the end of my back, I changed my clothes too instead of my normal attire I wore a tank top and a pair of blue long jeans, a pair of leather straps crossed my midsection and hugged my entire body. Finally, I changed my eyes from emerald green to bright blue.

With my body modified I had to find out where I was and how to return to my world. 
‘I can't just grab someone and take their memories so I need to find another way.’ The sun was going down while I reflected on my situation. ‘Perfect, the night will give me an advantage.’ 

I waited until the sun completely disappeared under the horizon and went on ground level, I used a tendril to slow myself in order to not leave a crater as I landed. Now that I was in the streets I started to look around for any clues on where I was. The skyscraper I just dropped off of gave me the answer.

‘Canterlot Bank, I'm in Canterlot? Maybe a different version of it, sure the buildings are different so it’s plausible. I still need to find out how to get home.’ I wandered around the city in search of clues. after a while I arrived at an empty park, only the streetlights kept it alight, I sat the bench almost breaking under my weight and pondered my next actions.

‘I can’t just go around the city, maybe I can ask a guard? Even if that girl reported me they cannot prove it was me, also…’ I tried to ignite my flames but I found myself unable to do it. ‘There is no magic here, at least not enough to summon my flames and definitely, no Ambrosia. I will have to rely on my biological powers then.’ While I was thinking I noticed a strange animal nearing me, I took a better look at it and noticed it was a snake-like creature with two menacing glowing eyes, it had strikes at the sides of its head that glowed with the same orangish light, when it saw me it retracted at an incredible speed and disappeared into the darkness. Immediately after I heard a sound and saw two people running towards me.

“That’s her, watch out she has light around her!” One of them shouted while walking into the light. They were men, about average height wearing brown trench coats, one of them had long hair and no beard while the other was bald with a long beard. They both held a small device in their hands, they pointed it to me and shouted again.

“Stand up! You are coming with us.” The bald one said.

“Or?” I replied, they really thought that that tiny thing could kill me? “I have a better idea.” I said standing up and walking towards them. They pointed the things at me. “You tell me what I want to know and I don’t beat the shit out of you.?” I said cracking my knuckles.

“You are crazy if you think you can beat us! Bro lets just kill her.” The bald one said.

“No Dawn, the boss wants her alive. But not unharmed.” He said and sheathed his ‘weapon’, then he assumed some kind of fighting position and charged at me. I remained motionless and took his punch in the face, I almost didn’t feel it.

The punch collided but instead of me shouting in pain it was the long-haired guy that did.
“Shit! What the fuck!? How in the fucking hell is she so hard?!” Dusk said massaging his right hand.

“Are you alright?” The bald one said.

“Yeah just, she is tough, I have a bad feeling about her.” Dusk whispered out, I heard him anyway.

“I really don’t have the time to play with you so…” in a swift motion I took both of them by their necks and held them in the air. “Will you tell me what I want to know?” I looked in their eyes and noticed their fear. I rolled my eyes and let them go making them fall to the ground. “Please?” I tried.

“Fine, it’s clear we can’t beat you and-” I felt a powerful blow hit my back and threw me to the ground. “-And you fell for that.” Dawn finished. I looked behind me and noticed the same snake-like creature from before. It slammed its head against my back, in the action both of its lights dimmed. 

The snake attacked again, I grabbed it by its head before it could reach me. Then I grabbed its body with my other hand and ripped it in two, then I crushed its head in my hand. I didn’t absorb it strangely, so that means that it’s different from anything I have seen before.

“SHIT!” The both of them shouted.

“Alright, alright I will tell you what you want.” Dusk said. “If you catch this!” He said and threw a ball at me after he made some movements with it.

I grabbed the strange metal object and I was ready to ask him what that was when it suddenly exploded in my hands. 

“YES! Good job Dusk, we showed her who’s the boss!”

“You said it, Dawn!”

I heard the both of them cheering about tricking me into grabbing the bomb and I felt angry, I grit my teeth and regenerated the damaged tissues on my hands before morphing them into two thick tendrils. I shot them outwards and grabbed the two men by their neck and raised them off the ground.

“Now I've had enough!” I shouted, in my rage, I stomped the ground creating a huge crater. “I want answers and I want them now!” I shouted, my tendrils flickering and lashing out at them.

“Alright alright, please don’t kill us.”Dusk pleaded. 

“We still have guns!” Dawn said.

“Look at everything that happened and tell me, honestly if you think that a bullet could stop her. She destroyed the demon head and survived a grenade going off in her hands for fuck sake! Just shut up.” He said.

“A wise choice, now, first question, how did you find me?” I asked.

“Could you just let us go? I swear we won’t run away.” Dusk replied.
I thought about it for a second before releasing them onto the ground. “Fine. Try to do something like that again and I’ll get my answers directly from the source.” I said.

They coughed a bit and stood up dusting themselves off. “We found you by searching for nearby light energy. You are drenched in it.” Dusk said glaring at me.

“What’s, light energy?” they looked at each other confused before Dawn answered.

“Light is the opposite of Darkness. Both powers wage war to see who would rule the world and Light is not the good one here. Both have their downside but Light energy has the bad habit to enslave people to its will.” Dawn explained.

“Alright, first of all, I don’t know why I was drenched in light energy. I popped up here because of a magical accident. Second, I’m not in my home world anymore.” I said they looked at me like I was crazy.

“You want us to think your an alien?” Dawn shouted.

I neared Dusk and took a strand of his hair, then I said. "Would you believe your brother?” I said while morphing into dusk

“Incredible…” Dusk muttered.

“so, who wants to see me?” I asked them.

“Oh yes, please let us introduce ourselves properly. I’m Dusk Night and he is Dawn Night, we are part of the Darkling, the most powerful gang in the city.” Dusk said proudly.

“You didn’t answer my question.” I pointed out.

“Our boss wants to meet you. His name is Jackie, Jackie Estacado.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Sunset and I were watching the stars, after the whole ordeal.

“That was… Wow.” Sunset said putting her head on my chest. “I love you.”

“I love you too Sunny, and I concur that was wow.” I replied gaining a giggle from her. Suddenly though a horrifying feeling washed over me, I sprang up and looked around trying to understand what it was. Then I felt space rip inside the laboratories.
“Sunny! We need to go. Now!” I said and took her hand teleporting us both in the laboratories.

“PHIL!” She shrieked. “I’m not decent!” She hissed.
I raised a brow at her and changed into my normal clothes.

“Oh…” She said blushing creating her clothes too.

I looked around the laboratory and noticed how ruined it was. Shelves were destroyed or ripped from the walls, many of the instruments were destroyed and I could feel a rip in space right at the center of the room. Some rubbles started to shift and move, I heard a moan from it, I recognized Twilight’s voice immediately. I rushed to the rubble and dug her out.
“Are you okay sweetie?” I asked worriedly. “What happened?”

“I-I’m sorry dad, I tried to study the portal b-but- Applejack got sucked in!” She shouted alarmed.

“You tried to study the portal?! Why!?” I roared. “I know you like science Twilight but here we are talking of extremely dangerous things. What if you opened a portal to a world where she would die instantly instead of the human world?!”

“Phil calm down.” Sunset said hugging my arm. “Twilight, why did you do something so foolish? What happened to Applejack?”

“She probably is in that other world. I’m sorry.” She said sad and filled with guilt.

“We will deal about this later, now we need to find Applejack.” I called the others in the hive mind and told them to come to the laboratory immediately. “Just perfect… Now we need to steal that mirror.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ APPLEJACK POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“So where is this Jackie?” I asked them.

“If you follow us we can take you to him.” Dawn answered. “That was the mission anyway…” Suddenly though I heard incoming footsteps, I looked around and noticed several other people headed towards us.

“Are those your friends?” I asked them.

“Shit! The Lightbringer, run.” Duske said in a hurry.

“Why? Who are they?” I asked.

“They are followers of the light! They'll kill us all!” He said. “Let’s go!”

I nodded and followed them, I could have killed them easily but I didn’t want to cause a panic with the fight so we just fled. 

“Where to?” I asked them. Dusk pointed to a building on a hill on the outskirt of the town.

“That one, that’s our destination.” he explained.

We ran towards the building, unfortunately, though the Lightbringer started chasing us with those strange machines and were catching up with us. I scooped Dusk and Dawn up under my arms and jumped in the air. I landed on a nearby building and continued to jump until we exited the city, losing our pursuers. From there I just ran towards the building.
After a minute or so we arrived at its front door. They were both panting.

“Oh my God, don’t do that again ok? My heart can't take it.” Dusk said weakly.

“That. Was. Awesome!” Dawn said happily.

“Seems like someone appreciated the trip.” I said giggling a bit.

“Figures, a trip that normally takes forty minutes by car, done in less than a minute.” Dusk said still weak. “Are you related to Rainbow Dash?” He asked.

I froze up at Rainbow’s name. “WHAT!?” I shouted.

“Woah! Tune it down dammit.” Dusk lamented.

“ How-Wha-Wh- How do you know that name?” I asked confused.

“She is one of the boss friends, she is a cyan girl with rainbow hair.” He replied.

Even if the color didn’t match perfectly that was a pretty close description of Rainbow. “Why should I know her?”

“Well, she is incredibly fast.” He responded.

“Wait… What’s the name of the girl that told you about me?” I asked almost sure of my answer.

“Applejack.” 

“God fucking dammit.” I replied. “Fan-fucking-tastic.” I deadpanned. ‘ So the other me is going to be here.’ I thought.

“Well no use in standing here, let’s go inside.” I uttered and opened the doors. 

“No, wait!” Dawn’s warning arrived too late because when I opened the door a wall of demon heads shot out at me. I created my armor just in time for them to get to me, I raised my hands and created wide gauntlets that covered them. Then I started to bash the heads, they didn’t stand a chance and in a few seconds they were all dead.

“Fucking stupid heads…” I muttered. I motioned to the brothers to enter and they followed without saying a word. The building was filled with several expositional tanks, several items were on display on pedestals too. I made my way toward the stairs to go to the next floor seeing that no one was on the first floor. 
When we arrived on the second floor I saw a cyan blur in front of me, I enhanced my eyes and reactions waiting for it to attack. I didn’t have to wait much longer as I saw her perfectly trying to punch me at supersonic speed. I grabbed her arms and punched her lightly in the gut before raising her in the air with a tendril.

“You must be Rainbow Dash. I said to the cyan woman, she didn’t have wings, she wore a blue hoodie and a pair of tight black pants. At her feet, there was a pair of black running shoes.

“Yes, I am.” She said struggling against my grip. “How are you doing this?” She asked confused.

I giggled at her. “You are fast, but I saw faster beings than you.” I responded. ‘She’s not even close to my RD's speed, she can even catch dad by surprise if he’s not ready for it.’ I thought. ‘I already miss her… I miss them all.’ 

“Ehm, can you put me down now?” Rainbow asked. 

“Sure.” I shrugged. “Aren’t you startled by my powers?” I asked.

She landed on her feet and answered. ”Not really, Jackie has tendrils too.” She explained. “Now though, who the fuck are you?” She asked.

“My name is Ap-” I stopped, I couldn’t tell her my name that would only lead to more problems. “I’m Appolonia.” I answered. 

“You're the one that Jackie wanted here right? Where are Dusk and Dawn?” She asked. I turned around and saw them finally arriving from the stair. 

“Sorry ladies but when we saw Rainbow speeding next to us we stayed back to avoid the shit storm.” Dawn said nonchalantly. “How did you miss us RD?”

Rainbow blushed at that and just signaled us to follow her. We passed the second-floor main room which had a good panoramic view of the lower floor. We then entered what seemed to be an empty room before Rainbow moved a locker and showed us a secret tunnel behind it. We followed her inside, the hole ended up in another ramp of stairs at that I questioned her.

“Why there is a hole to access the stairs?” I asked her.

“We collapsed the normal entry so you gotta know where the secret entrance is to get to the third floor. And we are here.” She said we arrived at the third floor which consisted mostly of tables and beds, the dome was obscured by dark fabric. At the center of the room there was a desk and sitting on it was a man.

The man had long black hair, his face was pale with two amber eyes. He wore an elegant black suit adorned with red and white details, there was also a brown trench coat on the desk. The man was without any doubt, Jackie.
“You must be the anomaly that Applejack told me about. Do you have a name?” He asked in a polite voice.

“My name is-” I started but he stopped me immediately.

“Holy shit a human!” he shouted pointing at me.

“What?” I asked confused.

“Sorry, sorry only, you are the first real human I encountered until now and the difference is Huge!” He said laughing. “Anyway, my name is Jackie Estacado, and I’m completely at your service. In more way than one if you know what I mean.” he said right in my face. I admit it he was handsome but…

I punched him into the gut and make him fly through the room smashing against a wall, cracking it. 

“I’m Appolonia.” I replied. 

“Huh, interesting name.” He said dusting himself from the febris of the wall.

“That’s my name, that’s all.” I said it was obviously a lie and even a child could tell you that much. ‘Why do I have to deal with this? Rarity is better at this then I am.’  Jackie either didn’t know I lied or didn’t want to show it but relented and nodded. The room became safer and the shadows retreated.

“Very well then.” He said jovially. “I welcome you into my humble lair.” He said out loud, then neared me and whispered in my ear. “Meet me on the top of the dome, then you will tell me your name.” 

“What did you mean with that I was the only real human you encountered so far?” I asked him also whispering. 

“Later” he replied and headed away at his desk. “You can sleep here until morning comes if you want.” He offered.

“Thank you but I don’t need sleep.” I replied to his offer. 

“Very well, then see ya!” he said and became shadows disappearing from my sight.

“Is he always like this?” I asked Rainbow.

“You get used to it, Jackie is 90% of the time either cheerful or just happy. Even in this shit hole, he can see the humorous side in everything.” She said. She then jumped startled and brought a hand to her ear clicking something on it.

“Rainbow Dash, this is Twilight I found another one of the Lightbringer building, I’m sending you my coordinates the place is full with Lightbringer's men. We need you to come here with reinforcements.” Twilight said at her com. 

“On my way I-” I took the com from her ear and talked into it.

“This is Appolonia, seems like you are in a trouble, I’m coming to help.” I said and tossed the com to Rainbow.

“Hey! What the hell are you thinking?” She asked.

“If I want your help in finding out how to return home then I better start pulling my weight, don’t worry I’ll be fine.”  I jumped and exited the dome from an empty frame.

“Oh, you are here sweet! Now-” I cut Jackie off.

“No time to talk gotta go bye!” I shouted and jumped again landing outside the building and running at full speed to the city.

“Well, fuck you too then.” Jackie said, smirking.

‘Ok let’s see if it works even here.’ I used my viral sonar and tried to find Twilight. The signal bounced in a zone not too distant from me, I traveled through three alleys before arriving at Twilight's position. I landed on the roof where she was scouting and approached her.

“Hello, I’m Appolonia.” I said. I must have startled her because she used some kind of telekinesis to shove me against a wall. “Now that was uncalled for.”

“Who are you?” She asked, gritting her teeth from the effort.

“I’m Appolonia, your back up.” I said, walking towards her. Her telekinesis was strong but she couldn’t hold a candle to my Twilight. In the end, the telekinesis stopped and she fell onto the ground. 

“Dammit.” She said with a strained voice. “What are you?”

“Me? I’m an evolved.” I said.

“A what?” She asked confused.

“Listen we can do twenty questions after you tell me what to do with that building ok?” I said and she nodded. She pointed at the tall building in front of me, there was a bar called Joe.

Twilight didn’t seem really convinced but she also knew she couldn’t save all the people inside without my help now.“We discovered that the Lightbringer are abducting people and put them inside this building to sacrifice them to the light. Unfortunately, we don’t have the means to enter and there are too many grunts.” She explained.

“Is the owner of the bar with them too?” I asked searching for some way to enter without destroying the whole building. 

“The bar has been abandoned for a long time, when the owner, passed away.” Twilight said. “There is an entrance but it’s basically suicide with all the grunts, there.”

“So do you know where the hostages are held?” I asked.

She pointed to a room in the far back of a blueprint which showed the building's layout. “They are probably here in the refrigerator.” She said.

“Very well.” I said stepping on the edge of the building. “Then I’m going in.” I launched myself over the edge landing on the street. I walked towards the entrance and opened it. Immediately several men all pointed their weapons at me. I didn’t give them the chance to say anything before I formed my armor and punching one in the face making his head explode... 

Then all hell broke loose. Several of them shouted to take me down. Unfortunately for them, their guns were practically useless against my armor so I just ripped and punched everyone in the room until one of them entered from a door and fired at me with an explosive weapon. The projectile hit me and sent me against a wall breaking it. I found myself in the storage room with bags of flour and boxes. 

“Is that thing dead?” One of them asked. The debris and smoke covered me completely and I used it at my vantage, I took the body of one of them and consumed it gaining his form then I acted.

“I think so.” I said standing up. “Where are the unworthy? We need to check on them.”

“They are in the refrigerator would you like to come with me?” He said. I grabbed him by his neck and broke it. 

“That won’t be necessary.” I said dropping my disguise. I passed the destroyed main room where several tables and couches where held. The bar was a mess with cobwebs and a lot of dust. I went into the back of the bar and found the refrigerator, I grabbed the steel door and unhinged it then I threw it away.

“You are safe, you can come out!” I said to the twelve peoples inside. They all ran, a woman remained behind to thank me.

“Thank you so much, I thought I was going to die.” She said, she was a cream colored woman with a two-color hair, she wore a cream-colored dress with three green candy on its sides. “My name is Bon Bon, if you ever need anything call me.” She said and wrote a number on a piece of paper with a pencil she had with her.

“Ok, now get out of here.” I said to her and stored the number away in my pocket. ‘It could come in hand in the future.’  I stepped out of the building and immediately Twilight floated down to meet me.
“What  was that?!” She shouted. “How did you do that?”

“Well, I’m an evolved as I said, I’m not a normal human.” I explained. She put her hands on her temples in distress. 

“Whatever, now I need to call the guys to clean this mess.” She said and started to work on her cell phone, taking memories from that guy was useful. 

“Oh, you don’t need to.” I told her. “ I can do that on my own.” 

“Wha-?” She asked before silently staring at the sea of tendrils that completely covered the building eating and consuming all the bodies while also cleaning off the blood. In less than ten seconds I was done.

“See?” I said turning back to her. “Easy.” And then she fainted.

“Fuck.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I finished explaining my plan to the guards and sent them to their patrols outside the throne room where we were having the discussion. Basically, we will steal the mirror while Celestia is gone to the griffon empire. We will have two hours top to enter, locate the mirror, and exit. I tried to send some tendril and a hydra there but the spells that envelope the Vault are too strong to be opened by them. 

“Alright, you know what to do right?” I asked Sunset, Rarity, and Twilight.

“Yes” Sunset replied we will deal with the spells on the door.

“Perfect then, Pinkie?” I asked her.

“I’ll stay back and cause a ruckus if needed otherwise I have to remain in the shadows, and if possible recover some info, All in here.” She said pointing at her head.

“Wonderful. Rainbow?” 

“They will receive the most powerful tempest they ever faced.” She boasted flying in the air.

“Dad” Fluttershy said.

“Yes?” I asked her.

“The plants in the royal garden say that they will help and so do the animals.” She said.

I nodded. “Ok, now that all of you know what to do we wait until Celestia is gone.”

“I still think I should follow her to be certain that she is gone.” Rainbow pouted.

“No, she is strong and we don’t know if she can sense you nearby you would be in too much danger alone.” I said firmly.

“Fine.” She said defeated. 

I put a hand on her shoulder. “Rainbow I’m not doing this because I don’t trust you. It’s too dangerous. Please believe me. I’m doing what I can to protect you all.”

She said nothing but nodded, still she wasn’t convinced so I hugged her for a bit. When we broke the hug she flashed a little smile and exited the throne room. 

“What do we do until she goes away?” Sunset asked.

“Unfortunately, we wait.” 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ APPLEJACK POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I put Twilight on my shoulder giving her a piggyback ride and returned to Jackie’s hideout, I jumped and landed on the third floor passing through the broken window. I landed and everyone noticed me. Rainbow flashed from across the building and arrived in front of my face.

“What did you do?” She asked gritting her teeth.

“Absolutely nothing, to her.” I said. “I rescued those people and took care of the bodies, though Twilight didn’t react all too well.” I explained.

Twilight chose that moment to shift and move waking up. “W-what happened?” She asked.

“Appolonia here brought you here after she took care of the Lightbringers.” Rainbow answered. 

Twilight screamed and leaped away from my back landing on the floor, she then moved away from me scared. “Stay away.” She said afraid. “You won’t eat me like you did with them.” She stated.

“I won’t.” I said I don’t have anything to gain from devouring you. I need your and Jackie help to return back to my family.” 

“You have a family?” She asked interested but still scared. 
“Yep, my mom, my dad and my six sisters.” I said, avoiding mentioning any name. “Oh right!” I shouted and jumped on the dome again leaving the two of them.

“Finally! Goddammit, woman, you are slow.” Jackie said laughing. “Now that we are alone, mind telling me what your real name is?”

“I’m- I’m Applejack Mercer. From another dimension.” I said to him.

He laughed again before replying. “Happy to know you properly then!”
> [OLD]Chapter 19 The brightest light [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So what are you telling me is that you are from a different dimension where all the inhabitants are anthropomorphic ponies, and you are a princess of a race called the changelings?” Jackie asked in one breath.

“Yep.” I replied without hesitation.

“Alright, why the fuck not?” He laughed. “You said you need help to return to your world right? Well, we need help to defeat Celestia before she summons the Angelus. My powers are severely weakened in the city, and I cannot fight the Angelus in my condition.” He said standing up offering me a hand. “Help us, and I will find a way to return you to your world.”

“So what’s the first step?” I asked grabbing his hand.

“The first step is introducing you to the whole gang of course.” He said and jumped down into the dome. I followed him and landed right next to him. “You already know Dusk and Dawn I presume.” I nodded, and he continued. “Then wait here for a moment, and I will call the whole gang.”

After some phone calls and a long wait, two more men entered the room followed by eight girls. “Alright, here in order we have Star Chart, Neon Light, Octavia Melody, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, and Sunset Shimmer.” He said, I cringed at the mention of Sunset.

‘Mom…’ I sighed. “Nice to meet you all, I’m Appolonia.” I said with a smile.

“It’s nice to meet you, darling.” Said Rarity. 

“Same.” Said all the others. Pinkie though was eyeing me. 

I neared a grey woman who wore an elegant grey suit and fedora, on her back, there was a violin case. “Who are you?” I asked her.

“I’m Octavia Melody, head cellist of the Aria Grande. A pleasure to know you.” She said in a refined voice and accent.

“So why exactly are you here? I mean what is a cellist doing in Jackie’s gang?” I asked.

“A fair question, you see I encountered Jackie when I was leaving one of my concerts, he told me that he greatly appreciated my music and we started to talk a bit. Unfortunately, the Lightbringer where there too, turns out they saw Jackie enter the Opera and waited for him to exit to strike, I was caught in the crossfire. Long story short, Jackie killed them all and saved my life. From there I started to help him take them down.” 


“I see.” I told her, she nodded politely and walked towards the Nights who were having a contest of iron arm. ‘I wonder how they are fairing. I hope Twilight isn’t in any trouble because of all this.’ 

“Hey, girl.” Rainbow called. “The Nights says that you can shapeshift into other people?” She asked I nodded. “Cool, transform into me come on!” She asked eagerly. I took a strand of her hair and shifted into her.

“So, what do you think? Awesome isn’t it?” I asked her in her voice.

“So cool! What are you an alien?” She asked immediately Twilight and Sunset were over me like vultures and the others followed shortly.

“You can say that yes. I ended up in this world after an ‘accident’ with explosive results.” I explained.

“You're the thing that exploded in the alley!” Applejack shouted at me pointing her finger. 

“Yes, yes I am.” I replied.

“You’re an alien!” Sunset and Twilight shouted in unison, from there I was bombarded with a multitude of questions and propositions to be studied. I answered their question but refused to be tested, my excuse was that I carried a deadly virus and I would kill them if they spilled my blood. That made them step back a bit.

“So she completely destroyed a demon head and survived a grenade explosion?” Jackie asked them. I overheard them and neared them to enter the conversation a bit after leaving the girls on their own.

“Yes, I did.” I answered. He turned back and watched me.

“How though?” He asked curiously.

“I’m an evolved, a race of almost unkillable beings.” I replied. “But I’m not here to answer these questions. I want to fight you.” 

He laughed at my proposition when he finally calmed down and regained his breath he talked again. “Girl, if what you say it’s true then I cannot fight you. Not here, we would have to go outside the city, my powers are severely weakened here.” He replied. “Sorry to disappoint you.” 

“I'll fight you!” Rainbow shouted zipping between us blocking Jackie. “I can do it!”

I put a hand on her shoulder. “No offense here Rainbow but… You are simply too weak, you wouldn’t manage to damage me at all.” I said.

She clenched her fists. “How about this!” She shouted and punched me in the face with all of her strength, unfortunately for her the only thing that happened was a sickening crunch. She yelled in pain and fell on one knee before standing up trying to kick me. Jackie intercepted the kick.
“Stop it Dash, you are going to destroy your body before you even move her.” He said to her. Tears were at the edges of her eyes, she freed herself from Jackie’s grip and ran away. “I’m sorry for that.”

“Don’t be. It was her mistake. Not yours.” I replied to him. “We could leave the city for a bit for our sparring though.”

“It’s too dangerous. We don’t know when Celestia is going to act, we must remain here.” He said firmly. “We can spar after all of this is over alright?” 

“Fine.” I said still disappointed. The party continued without anything of note happening. The day after I was asked by Jackie to enter the Canterlot High School and try to get some information about the Lightbringers.

“How would I even enter the school? Shouldn’t I enlist in it or something?” I asked him.

“No, that's completely unnecessary. You legally don't exist right now no one will recognize you, and with your abilities, you will be able to infiltrate the school nicely” He took a brief pause and continued.

“You start tomorrow.” He said smiling and exiting the room. After all the people were gone I jumped from the building and returned to the city, I wanted to explore the school exterior before doing anything. I found the school pretty quickly. The school was a majestic building decorated with finesse. Near the front was a statue of a horse, I neared the figure to examine it better but before I could the statue’s eyes flashed white, and a portal opened on one side of the pillar that supported the statue.  

From the portal exited a figure wearing a white dress with jewelry and golden inlays, immediately after another figure exited the school doors. She was tall and wore a white blouse over a white shirt, she also wore a pair of plain blue pants. I immediately morphed into a mouse and waited to see what would happen. I was in time too, because the mysterious figure looked where I stood, seeing nothing it continued to walk forward.

“Celestia.” She said in a feminine voice.

“Hello, Celly.” Celestia said. 

‘Celestia is here!’ I thought, panicking. ‘This is bad, this is really bad if this world's Celestia is an ally of our Celestia than we have a big problem, I need to stay low and spy on them as much as I can.’ 
“Come inside, would you care for a cup of tea?” Celestia asked.

“No, I’m not here for long, and I’m not here to indulge into pleasantries with a mortal. I’m only here to get your report about the Angelus.” Celly replied.

“As always.” Celestia said looking bothered. She took an envelope from her purse and gave it to Celly. Celly took it, and without saying anything left through the portal, it closed immediately after her.

I could have killed Celestia and the memories I needed from her but, doing so could worsen the situation in my world, I needed to play my cards right. I followed Celestia inside the school and I saw her heading for her office when she entered she closed the door behind her. I started to pass under the door in the form of tendrils, I made one of them so that it could give me the location of Celestia as well as some hearing. I heard a soft click and then nothing, I entered the room completely, it was empty. 

‘There is a secret door or something here. I just have to find it.’  I checked the whole room and found a button hidden under Celestia’s desk, I pressed it but nothing happened. I pressed it again but this time an alarm rang in the air, the windows closed with metals and the door shut itself. I went towards a window and destroyed it running away. ‘Fuck, this is not good’ 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Twilight informed me Celestia used the mirror today, and that the meeting was nearing its date. ‘Perfect timing, but why was she in the mirror again? Could it be, she found Applejack? No, if she did she would have already captured her to use against me. We need to enter that portal one way or another.’ “Twilight, what do you see?”

“Celestia just exited the mirror and is boarding the Astra. Our spy plants cannot follow her there.” Twilight said connected to the main brain of the castle.

“Excellent, we will wait a little more and then we move in.” I said. “Are the infiltrator ready Rarity?” I asked her.

“Yes dad, quick, deadly and silent just how you ordered them.” She replied. I asked her to create a type of bioform that could infiltrate the castle to retrieve vital information, so far the results were good. The infiltrator was a pitch black bipedal creature with no visible eyes or mouth, they could see via thermic vision and had very acute hearing. They were fast and could turn invisible for a period of time, they can also shapeshift to fool the guards.

“Perfect, deploy them immediately.” I ordered and Rarity nodded. For this operation, I built an extra room of the castle where Twilight stored a giant brain which served as a mainframe for all the operations, from there we let the infiltrators go and waited for Celestia to get further away.

“Your highness.” Xarx said entering the room. “The squad you requested is here.” He said.

“Perfect, Rarity go and tell them what to do. They are all yours now.” I said to Rarity and she nodded exiting the room with Xarx. After the door closed I sighed and stared at the big bio form. ‘We will save you AJ.’

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ APPLEJACK POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“...and that’s all I know I swear!” The Lightbringer soldier said scared. Apparently, the only one who can access the hideout under the school is Celestia herself or her right hand who’s name I didn’t find yet. I looked at the terrorized soldier and whispered in his ear.

“Runaway or I’ll eat you.” I said flashing him a smile with sharp teeth, scared he run away. I scoffed and shook my head as I returned to Jackie’s hideout. After I entered the room I searched for him and found him at his desk looking at some papers.

“Hey Jackie.” I said to him, he put the papers down and looked at me.

“Any news?” He asked.

“The only one who can access that hideout is Celestia or her right hand, unfortunately, I don’t know who that is and neither does her common grunts.” I said.

“That’s unfortunate.” He sighed and looked outside, the sun was coming up. “Your first day on the field starts today, go.” He said. I shrugged and exited the room heading towards the school. The school shined under the morning sun like a beacon for the students all attracted by it, but I knew what that building really hid. I entered the school, hundreds of students were all going around busy with their lives. Suddenly I felt someone touching my shoulder and I turned around to find Bon Bon staring at me, I flashed her smile and brought her to a more secluded place where we could talk privately.

“Oh my god Appolonia, I’m so happy to see you! Do you attend this school too?” She asked me, she wore a white shirt and a butter skirt with three green pieces of candies on it.

“No.” I said shaking my head. “I’m just looking around. Mind giving me a tour?” I asked her with a soft smile. 

She nodded and replied. “But of course I will follow me.” She said and took my hand, I followed her around the school, she showed me the gym, the library, various classrooms and in the end we arrived at the headmistress's office. On the wall, though I noticed something I completely overlooked last night. 

“What’s up with that casket?” I asked Bon Bon. There was a casket made out of blue and black roses with a picture of a dark blue-skinned woman in the middle of it.

“That was the office of vice-president Luna. She was found murdered two weeks ago in her room. Celestia was destroyed after that and secluded herself in her office.” She explained.

“Huh, interesting.” I muttered. “Let’s continue.” We visited the whole school but there were no signs of the Lightbringer anyway, I would have to return later after school hours.


“Thanks, Bon Bon.” I said to her when we returned to the hub of the school. “Now I have to go, see ya.” I said and waved her goodbye she waved back and I exited the school. I didn’t have anything more to do so I wandered the city exploring it in the meantime. I continued to wander the city until five. 

I returned to the school just in time to see several cars parking on the front of the school, I saw a man exiting his car he had a suitcase in his hands but he fell and the suitcase popped open revealing the robes of a Lightbringers before he quickly closing it, decided to follow him. When he entered the school and I was sure no one was around I grabbed him from behind forcing his mouth closed as I brought him to the bathroom and consumed him, assuming his identity. Turns out there was a meeting with the officer that commanded the south part of town today at five thirty. 

Just in time.’ I thought while exiting the bathroom, finding the secret entrance behind the broken locker in the locker room was easy enough, I put the code in the lock and entered the room underneath the school. There were several men all waiting for this officer to shows up.

When the officer arrived everyone made space for him, he was a tall guy with a light blue coloration and deep blue hair, probably in his forties, he wore the same robes of everyone else but he also had a cape and the symbol of the sun over his heart.

“Greetings, I’m officer Nightlight and I’m the newly appointed officer for the south part of the city.” He then proceeded to explain the route that the patrols must follow to get around the city and avoid the police. He also said to bring the unworthy that are found inside the abandoned warehouse.

After the meeting ended I exited the school and went back to Jackie to tell him the news. I found him on the roof this time watching the sunset.

“Any news for me?” He asked perking up looking at me.

“Yes, the Lightbringers got a new officer for the south part of the city a man called Night Light, seems like he knows how the police move and also appointed the abandoned warehouse as a holding cell for the ‘Unworthy’.” I told him sitting down putting emphasis on unworthy. “What should we do? I’m all for going there and killing them all.” I said eagerly.

“I know you want to, but there would be too many witnesses and we cannot cause a panic especially if said panic is brought forth by an invincible man-eating woman.” He explained.

“Fine.” I accepted, I didn’t like it but I could see his reasoning. “And what about Nightlight?” I asked.

“Nightlight eh?” He said. “Where did I hear that name…?” 

“What?” A voice asked from under us. I looked down and saw Twilight looking up at us. 

“Hey, Twilight do you know a guy called Nightlight? He’s the new commanding officer for the south part of the city if you know anything it would be appreciated sugarcube.” I asked and Twilight immediately paled at my question. “Something wrong?” I asked concerned.

“It’s impossible…” She muttered. “It can’t be....” She then took me by force with her telekinesis and thrust me into the ground, breaking a part of the dome and the floor. 
“You're lying!” She shouted.

The telekinesis was stronger than the first time we met but it still wasn’t enough to keep me down, so I stood up and walked to her, I looked at her right in the eyes and shouted angrily. “The fuck are you trying to do?”

“Twilight! Stop this immediately.” Jackie shouted emerging from the shadows. 

“She’s lying Jackie! Dad cannot be a Lightbringer!” She shouted, running away with tears in her eyes.

“Nightlight is her father?” I asked Jackie.

He nodded, “Yes that’s where I heard the name before.” Jackie said realizing the problem. “Nightlight and Twilight Velvet are her parents.” He explained.

“What should we do now?” I asked.

“Nothing. She needs to calm down on her own.” Jackie said.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

After an hour of waiting, we finally departed towards Canterlot. We disguised ourselves and flew towards the looming mountain, after landing we entered the city, the air itself was filled with prejudice and fear. No one could trust anyone, ponies were afraid of being seen with each other fearing repercussions from the guards. The once cleaned and polished streets filled with busy ponies were now a ghost of what they were, empty and abandoned few dared to go around the city in these difficult times, the presence of the guards didn’t do anything to ease those fears on the contrary, after the loss of the battle of the Everfree no one wanted to trust the royal guard. The few that were out were often criminals or homeless ponies who were hiding if the guards found them they were authorized to either banish them or killing them on sight. There wasn’t space for them in Her perfect Utopia. The very definition of harmony was crumbling under the heavy losses and an unforgiving system, the royal guards were patrolling the streets, we witnessed brawls and fights starting in the street. Canterlot was a powder keg ready to explode.

We managed to walk straight through the city towards the castle without any problems, we stopped near one of the walls and checked that no one was around. “Alright, Rarity tell the infiltrators that they can go in, Twilight prepare the device.” I ordered.

Rarity sent a signal to the infiltrators that were waiting outside the city while Twilight picked up her backpack and pulled out a specially made radar. Twilight engineered it so that it could track vast amounts of magic, it could also detect illusions so that even hidden magical artifacts could be found. We used it to find the position of the Vault, which resided in a secluded area of the castle hidden by multiple illusion wards. 

Knowing that they were there I was able to break the wards easily enough and we then entered the door. The invisible door was in fact a portal like the one I had in my castle and teleported us to a crystal filled cave. The air was dry and buzzing with magical enchantments, in front of us loomed a giant door filled with beautiful decoration and at its sides there were two statues of a strange hybrid between a minotaur and a diamond dog, I paid them no mind and instead reached for the door as soon as I touched it the statues swung their hammers at me. I blocked their attack and destroyed the hammers, Twilight took them in her magic and teleported them in her laboratory to study. I pushed the door open and entered the Vault, there were a lot of magical items in there and I even saw the Alicorn amulet. ‘What should I do with this now? It is a dangerous artifact…’ 

“Hey, dad what’s that?” Twilight asked pointing to the amulet.

“This is the Alicorn Amulet, a powerful artifact that grants the user an increase in magical strength costing them their sanity. I should destroy it.” I explained.

“No, wait!” She stopped me. “Can I study it, Please?” She pleaded.

“I don’t know, I don’t want for you to become a victim of it.” I said.

“I won’t put it on, I’ll keep it away and use it for research only I promise.” She said.

I was still unsure about that though. “We will bring it to the castle, better there than here but I will supervise any experiments with it, Deal?” I asked.

“Fine.” She said rolling her eyes. 

“Hey I’m not doing this because I don’t trust you, I don’t trust this thing.” I explained. I got no response. We continued to explore the room until we found the mirror, fortunately, it was undamaged but it was also deactivated, Twilight took it in her magic and teleported it home. Though immediately after that the radar picked up a powerful beacon spell and an alarm started to ring giving away our position to the guard and possibly to Celestia herself. We ran away from the Vault and took flight towards the Everfree.

‘I’m coming Applejack.’ 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ APPLEJACK POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 


Two full hours passed after Twilight outburst, her friends came here to ask about her but we didn’t know where she was either so we decided to wait for her to show up after calming down, this kind of news is not easy to digest. I was going around the city searching for more information about the Lightbringer when I saw two of them heading into an alley, I followed them and listened in to there conversation.

“Hey where are you?” A voice asked from a radio.

“We are patrolling the east sector why?” One of them replied.

“Why are you there, the commander called everyone.” The voice said.

“Fine, fine we are on our way. Stupid purple bitch ruining my day…” He muttered while the other just laughed.

‘Twilight!’

I ran as fast as I could leaving craters and destroying windows and cars as I passed by. I located her using the viral radar and In under two minutes, I reached her position Twilight was against the wall of a house trapped, her wrists were chained to the wall. All around her there were at least a hundred Lightbringers.

“Twilight Sparkle, I’m incredibly disappointed in you. I thought you were better than this. Don’t you see? The Light is the truth. But you decided to betray me and your mother, you betrayed the truth and sided with evil, with the Darkness!” Nightlight said shaking his head in disappointment. “No matter you will be used to call the Angelus and save the world! You should feel honored.” his face showing nothing but pure, cold determination.

Twilight couldn’t or wouldn’t accept reality and just kept crying from the betrayal.

I jumped into the air and plummeted to the ground destroying the body of one Lightbringer, I then created more arms, a total of six of them, and ripped and tore any that got too close, I took one soldier and used him as a mace against the others until he snapped in half so I just discarded him. I then thrusted tendrils inside some of them turning them into mindless bloodthirsty zombies that attacked their allies. From the original hundred soldier, there were only twelve around Nightlight.
I neared one of them and took his head, then I used it to smash open the skull of the one nearest him, I punched another one at to left with enough force to make him and the others behind him explode from the sheer pressure. The remaining two put their rifles down and started to run. I made spikes appear under them, impaling them, after that, I forced the remaining zombies to explode.

“Hello, Nightlight.” I greeted the man, I put a hand on his right side putting on a menacing smile charged with malevolence. “And goodbye.” I said grabbing him by his neck.

“No, wait! Please!” Twilight shouted flailing against her restraints. 

“Let me think… No. He’s a traitor, the worst kind of traitor, he betrayed his family! He dies tonight.” I stated in a cold tone.

“Please have mercy.” Nightlight said gasping for air.

“Sorry, mercy ain't my element.” And with that, I pushed him into the ground and smashed his head and devouring him with my tendrils. 

“Monster.” Twilight said without any emotion, her eyes were dead, a fire in them died. 

“Yah, I am” I said freeing her from her binding, ripping away the metal around her wrists. “Let’s go to the hideout. You need rest and I need to talk to Jackie.” 

“Me too.” She said. I put her over my shoulders and ran towards the observatory to report to Jackie.

We arrived at the observatory, I left Twilight outside the room so I could speak with Jackie alone and so she could wrap her head around what happened. I found Jackie at his desk, this time though there were three girls I didn’t recognize with him.

“You are just in time Appolonia. These three are the Dazzlings my best informants.” He said. 

The three girls turned around and greeted me. “Hello, I’m Adagio” The one with red hair said, she wore a lavender shirt under a black trenchcoat, she also wore a purple skirt.

“I’m Aria.” The one with purple hair said.

“I’m Sonata!” Said the last one happily, “Pleased to meet you!”

“Uh, Nice to meet you too. Anyway, Jackie, we have a problem.” I said.

“We already know.” Adagio said. “That’s why we were here, Nightlight created a trap for Twilight.” She explained.

I nodded. “Yes he did, I already resolved the situation, Twilight is out the room right now and she’s fine. Though she hates me now because I killed her father.” I replied.

“You killed him?” Aria said sternly, “You should have captured him for information.” She said.

“I got some information from him, his wife is in the north region of the city preparing a big hit against the Canterlot bank to fund the cult. She will strike 48 hours from now.” I replied.

“Excellent. We must be ready, you can all go. Appolonia, send Twilight in please, I need to talk to her.” Jackie said. With nothing more to do, I told Twilight to enter left the room of the dome.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

We returned to the castle and Twilight immediately started working on the portal, without any good results though. Nothing was working and the portal stayed shut, I was wrecking my mind to find a way but unless we free Luna there was no one that could open the portal before the full moon. 

“Dad!” Twilight shouted entering the throne room. “I found a way!” She shouted. “Basically the portal reacts to a very distinct magical imprint. I think it’s Luna’s that would make the most sense… Anyway we discovered that Rarity can charge it for us and force it open.” She explained.

“Excellent! I knew you could do it Twi.” I praised her. “How long do you think we will have to wait?” 

“From my calculation I think two days, maybe three the portal is such a strange and powerful artifact it’s difficult to predict exactly how it will behave.” She said.

I sighed, “Fine then we will have to wait.” 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~APPLEJACK POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

After leaving the Twilight to Jackie I headed up towards the city for a walk both to unwind and to think. 

“You monster.” Those words really stung, I did the right thing though. Right? “I must have, he betrayed his own daughter how can someone do something like that? But… maybe I should have just captured him? I don’t know, I don’t know what to feel, never before someone called me a monster for killing an enemy…”

“Is that what we are? Monsters… I can’t believe that my sisters are monsters nor my dad or mom they just can’t be. Dad is always right… Right?” With my head in turmoil I didn’t even notice that I bumped into someone else.

“Hey ow.” She said. “Appolonia! I called for you all this time and you didn’t even noticed me, what gives, something on your mind?” Bon Bon replied.

“No… I’m fine.” I wasn’t but those weren’t her problems.

“Liar. You are terrible at lying you know that? Come with me, I’ll guide you to my home and we can speak there in private alright?” She said over the sound of cars, lives and lights in the air.

“...” 

And so we arrived to her home, her parents weren’t in and we immediately entered her room. It was a nice room, a lot of posters of a band I didn’t know the existence of, her bed was with light cerulean blankets and her walls were pink. There was a desk there filled with magazines and books. She sat on the bed and motioned to me to do the same, fortunately I left a lot of biomass at the hill and so I didn’t destroy her bed.

“So… What happened?” She asked me.

“Well… I did a mistake, or rather I don’t know if I did.” I said.

“You must be a little more precise there App.” She said.

“App?” I asked confused.

“Short for Appolonia come on don’t change the subject.” She replied.

“Fine, I- Let’s say I wanted to protect a friend of mine, but in doing so I hurt her too. Her dad attacked her and I injured him.” Such a fine lie. “And now she is angry with me, did I do the right thing?” I asked her.

“Although you are still lying somewhere there I think that she was just angry and-” 

I couldn’t keep it up anymore, I can’t lie… Doing that makes me feel wrong so wrong. I just can’t. “Forgive me.”

“I killed him.” I said.

“W-what?” She replied numbly.

“I killed him, I killed her father. He was going to kill her and I killed him, not only that but when she pleaded me to let him go I said no and killed him in front of her. I’m a monster.” I said. The truth was out, as well as the tears. An arm got around me and Bon Bon hugged me.

“Shh. It’s alright.” she said in a soothing voice. “I want to understand, but I need you to tell me everything from the start.” A complete stranger which I met two days ago and I was already in tears before her… 

“I’m pathetic… I just met you and I’m already crying.” I said.

“There is nothing more honest than tears that comes from the heart. And these one, are from it. So tell me, I won’t interrupt nor judge until you finish.” 

And so I did, I told her about my world about who I am and what I am. She held true to her promise though not once she interrupted me until I ended my tale.

“I see… Well from what I understand, I think that you did the right thing. Maybe Twilight will hate you for what you did but you didn’t know any better. You were born into a world where killing is the common response. Now you do though, you do know better, you feel terrible about it right? But not because you killed him but because she called you a monster.” She said I just nodded. “You are not a monster Applejack. 

“A monster doesn’t save her friends from danger, a monster doesn’t cry from pure guilt over a kill, I can’t ask you to not kill but. When you will have to, or you’ll have the choice to, try to think about what will happen, who will miss him or her what will be the consequences and if there is really no other way. If you do that and you still believe that killing is the right choice, than you have nothing to blame on you. And if you ever need help,” She said hugging me again. “I will be here waiting.”

“Thank you Bon Bon…”
> [OLD]Chapter 20: Exodus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After some time I finally managed to let go of Bon Bon, she still wore that friendly and kind smile on her though. “Thanks… I feel better now.” I said to her.

“Any time AJ.” She replied softly, “What will you do now?” She continued resting an hand on my shoulder.

“I will return to Jackie’s place and prepare for the incoming hit at the bank.” I replied.

“Wasn’t that do for the day-” She looked at the hour. “-For tomorrow?” She corrected herself.

“True but I don’t really have anything else to do.” I shrugged.

“That’s not true, we do have something to do to pass the time. Truth or dare?” She asked.

“What?” I replied not knowing what that was.

“Never played it? That’s fine. Basically the whole game revolve around one question, truth or dare. If you chose truth you must answer a question truthfully, if you chose dare then you need to do what the one that asked you tells you to do.” She explained.

“I dunno...  There aren’t a lot of secrets with me and-” She shushed me with a hand.

“Yes or no?” She asked.

“Fine.” I conceded.

“Yay, I’ll go first. Truth or dare?” She asked.

‘Let’s go with an easy one.’ “Dare.”

“I dare you revert to your baby form to make me snuggle you.” She said with a smirk.

“Wut.” I asked. “Fine I guess.” I returned to my child form and she immediately pulled me into a hug squeezing me.

“You are soooo cuuuute.” She said with glee.

“Happy to know that.” I said in her hair. “Truth or dare?” 

“Truth.” She replied.

I had to think for a moment to know what to ask but I went with an easy one. “What’s your favorite food?” I asked.

“Really?” She asked unamused. “That’s the best you could do?” I shrugged at that. “Fine. My favourite food is cream pie. My turn now! Truth or dare?” 

“Truth.” I replied.

“What’s YOUR favourite food?” She asked.

“Uhm, errr I don’t know? I never really tasted anything yet?” I said.

“WHAT?! I must give you my special cream pie then wait here!” She ordered rather forcefully. I complied and waited her return in her room and waited. 

She came back with a freshly cooked cream pie. It was good.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ TWILIGHT POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

‘Why. Why aren’t you charging fast enough!?’ I thought angrily at the portal in front of me.

“Darling if you continue with that frown you will get permanent wrinkles.” Rarity said stroking her mane.

“Shush I’m thinking.” I hissed. I watched over my calculation and analisis once again but I couldn’t find the culprit, I was going crazy. We had to rebuild the laboratory after the incident and now it’s completely made out of biomass hard enough to withstand a good beating so it came to no surprise that when my punch hit my desk I only dented it instead of completely shatter it.

“Why do you not work!” I screamed. The hit though made the item that was covered by stacks of paper jump out. It was the Alicorn amulet, dad said I couldn’t take it without him knowing but I’ll show him I can work and study a dangerous item without a worry. I then noticed, when I picked it up that the gem was glowing.

“Uh… Wait. YES Hahahaha YES!” I shouted happily. ”I got it!” 

“You got what darling?” Rarity asked.

“I figured out why the portal isn’t charging fast enough, the magic you are pouring is leaking through the runes of the portal, it requires an incredible amount of power to activate because of that. I just need to find something to cover the leak, but what?” I pondered. I looked once more at the amulet, ‘I wonder…’  I grabbed the central gem and yanked it out of the amulet, the gem immediately got destabilized and started to flash an angry red. I opened the floor of the lab and threw the gem in it waiting. After a second the gem exploded with a thunderous sound that echoed in the entire castel. The floor held true though but the damage was done.

“Fuck.” I said.

“Twilight what was that?” Rarity shouted still pouring magic in the portal. 

“Nothing!” I said quickly.

“TWILIGHT!” I heard my dad shout.

“Fuck.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ FLUTTERSHY POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“TWILIGHT!” I heard my father shout from the castle.

“Twilight… what happened this time?” I muttered to myself shaking my head. 

“Hey sis catch!” Rainbow shouted throwing the ball to me, I reacted just in time but the shout distracted me so I threw the ball away from the others. 

“Fluttershy you need to remain focused you silly you.” Pinkie said. “Otherwise this whole volleyball match will be lost.” She said in her usual tone bouncing up and down. “Am I right gummy?” She asked to her cragadile pet, who just nodded lazily before returning at his sunbath.

“I’m sorry girls the shout distracted me.” I apologized. 

“Yeah seems like dad is angry with Twilight, who knows what she did this time?” Rainbow mused. “But that’s not our problem now come on Flutter.” She said holding the ball.

“No thank you I think I will go checking on Angel and then Derpy.” I said.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Fine, come on Pinkie.” 

“Awww.” The children said, they were so happy to play with us but I had to go.

“I’m sorry little ones but I really, really need to go.” I said apologetically. 

“Ok.” They said all together. 

“How about this when I’ll come back I’ll bring you some present is that ok?” I proposed.

“YAY!” “You are the best Fluttershy!” “No Rainbow is more awesome!” “Pinkie is funnier.” “Rarity is the best!” “NO” “NO.” They argued, I held my hand up.

“Now, now there is no need to argue. Every one of us is special in some way, there is no real best between us.” I said.

“What? I’m the best!” Rainbow boasted doing a loop de loop in the air. 

“Children please do not boast Rainbow’s ego or it will block out the sun.” I said smirking.

“Yeah because I’m the best.” She said hovering in midair. 

“Oh no the sun it’s gone!” Pinkie shouted. 

“No that’s the ball in front of your face.” A children said. 

“Oh right.” She said laughing, she took the ball and tossed it to the children where all laughed with her and I finally departed. I walked into the forest and called for Angel, the little bunny replied to my call and arrived from a nearby bush.

“Hello Angel.” I said.

“Hello Fluttershy.” He replied.

“Come with me, we are going to visit Derpy.” I said,

“Do we? That place is strange.” He complained.

“Oh Angel there is nothing wrong with the Heart.” I replied softly and motioned for him to jump over my hand. 

He did so and we started moving. “How are you faring in the forest? Are the animals good?” I asked.

“Well after that show with the chimera only a fool would go against your laws.” He replied.

“I’m happy to hear that.” I said. “The forest is a wild place but at least near the roads and the city I don’t want any problems.” 

“I understand, could we hurry then?” He asked with hurry.

“Why is that?” I asked. 

“Ehm, it’s...Private?” He said sheepishly.

I smirked to him. “A little bunny found some, company?” 

He flushed a bright red sputtering excuses and apologies. I just laughed at his expenses. “Don’t worry I won’t pry Angel, then we must hurry or you will be late.” I claimed and ran towards the Heart.

We arrived after some minutes of running and entered the now called Derpy’s room cause she remains here most of the times to talk to the heart. “Derpyyy?” I called.

“Over here Flutter.” She replied from the Heart waving at me.

“Hello Derpy, how are you?” I asked. “We didn’t hear anything from you for a day, dad was worried.” I said sitting down and motioning to her to do the same.

“Well, I was pretty busy with the Heart. You see when we found it it was almost dead so a lot of its functions were down. I was repairing it so to say. The repairs are going smoothly too and I think I’m ready to re-align the internal nexus to bring the Heart back to its former glory-”

“Wait.” I stopped her. “How do you know so much about the Heart? Surely you weren’t studying it while in Ponyville.” I said curious.

“I-I don’t really have an answer for you. I just know that I know how to do what I do you know?” She said.

“Ok… Sooo you just know what to do?” I asked.

“Well yes.” She replied calmly. “Now then I as telling you how I would re-align the nexus so I can put the Heart back to 100%” 

“What does that entail?” I asked.

“With the Heart at full capability it can do it’s old tasks such as defending its inhabitant and keeping strangers away, but the best thing it’s a powerful teleporting capability inside the forest, special trees will grow and with those you can travel to all corners of the forest. There is another feature but that one is useless without all the other Hearts active.” She explained.

“Well, I’m glad you’re okay, don’t stress yourself over it too much ok?” I said.

“Yeah Flutter, don’t worry I’ll be fine.” She said and hopped off. “Now I have to return in the Heart see ya later.” She said cheerfully.

“Ok, bye.” I said, with that she walked away and re-entered the Heart.

“Well that was something, now can we go?” Angel chipped in.

“Yeah lover boy, we can go now.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ APPLEJACK POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A day passed after my encounter with Bon Bon and I went around town enjoying the view of a such different city. But the time for me to head back to prepare for the hit has come thus I headed back to Jackie. I just landed in front of the observatory in time to find Twilight in front of it.

“Twilight I-” I started.

“Monster.” She said interrupting me, with a coldness in her voice of the which I never heard before.  

“I’m sorry.” I said truthfully.

“Sorry won’t make him return back.” She said emotionlessly.

“I don’t understand Twi, he tried to kill you.” I tried to reason.

“That alone doesn’t give you the ability to judge.” She said sternly and walked away dismissing me with her hand. “I don’t want to see you ever again.” She said and disappeared from view.

I admit that I was considering going back to Bon Bon, seeing my sister face and hearing her voice, her venom inside those words...  it hurted. 

Alas I contained my emotions and entered the observatory. I found Jackie at his desk going with a phone.

“Yes, I understand that but you see.” “Now there is no need for this.” “Calm down will you?” 

I grew tired of hearing a one way conversation so I modified my ear to hear the other voice too.

“You don’t understand Jackie you idiot! The hit is bound to happen in broad daylight you cannot go out there like that, you will die.” A feminine voice said, a voice that I recognized as Octavia.

“We cannot stay here and just let them waltz in there, we need those money, even more if to get them we take them from the Lightbringer.” Jackie said calmly.

“But not in the middle of the city and in the middle of the day!” She shouted enraged.

“I will think of something I-” He finally noticed me. “I have to go I’ll call you later.” He put the phone down and shot a smile to me. “Hello Appolonia what brings you here?”

I didn’t say anything I just watched him with a flat look.

“You heard the whole thing did you not?” A few moments of silence passed. “Fuck. Alright then if you have any idea I’m here to hear them, though I would prefer if those ideas didn’t involve Twilight and her friends. The stunt you pulled yesterday hit heavily on them all especially Twilight. Her friends are backing her so you are alone this time.” He said not letting me reading his emotions.

“I already said sorry to Twilight, please don’t bring the conversation up again.” I said putting a hand in my hair. “About the idea though we could just follow them, see where the money will go.” I proposed.

“We can’t, they will see us from a mile away.” He countered.

“What if I go first and follow them and you follow me? I can stay hidden and you will find their hideouts anyway.” I said.

Jackie thought about this for a bit before answering. “The idea is possible but how exactly are you going to pull it off?” He asked.

“Simple, I will follow them from the roofs in the city and then-” I morphed into a pitch black wolf high enough to reach Jackie waist. “-I will use this form for the woods if they actually exit from the city itself. What do you think?” I asked morphing back in my Appolonia disguise.

“I think we have a plan.” He said with a giant smirk on his face. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PHILIP POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“Twilight I want to know what happened in there.” I said sternly.

“Well, you see… I was trying to understand why the mirror was taking so much to charge up and then I noticed that the Amulet was pulsating with magic so I deduced-”

“The amulet. You mean the Alicorn amulet, the very Amulet I told you not to play with and to not touch without me knowing about it, that Amulet.” I said as a matter of fact. 

“Well…” She said with a hand behind her head.

“I’m very disappointed.” I said. “I clearly told you to not use it so why did you take it from the vault?” 

“Oh come on dad!” She shouted catching me by surprise. “I’m not some child or baby, I’m a near invincible mass of virus! I know what I’m doing and I don’t need you there every single second of my life to tell me what to do or what not to do.” She finished with an exasperated sigh. 

“Did you know what the amulet could have done?” I asked, masking my surprise at her outburst.

“I-” 

“The Alicorn Amulet is called that way because it grants the magical power of an alicorn on the user. To do so though the amulet will twist and corrupt the mind of the user as well. Furthemore the amulet is impossible to remove unless the wearer do so.” I explained.

“I didn’t need to wear it to study it.” Twilight rebutted.

“May it be that it doesn’t change the fact that what you did was extremely dangerous, you could have got hurt or you could have got corrupted, what then? I would have to save you from that accursed thing, and I don’t know how I would have done so!” I finished shouting. “With a normal person I would have just obliged they to take it off but how could I do the same to you, and would that even be possible with your kind of body?” I said. Then added. “I could have lost you Twilight, we all could have lost you.”

“I... I’m sorry…” She said finally looking down. 

I sighed. “It’s okay. You are fine that’s what matters.” I stood up from the throne and hugged her. “It doesn’t matter anymore the past is in the past. Just next time at least tell me, ok?” I received a nod as an answer. “So, what did you find out? If what you found is really important then I might give you enough trust to let you handle dangerous and cursed artifact. Ok?” I started to let her distract from this whole thing.

“Well, the mirror is leaking off sixty percent of the magic it absorb, maybe it’s because it’s so old so the runes are deteriorating or the design is flawed somewhere but in the end we need some kind of insulator.” She explained with her normal brightness that only she has when explaining something. From there she rocketed off with some more details about how the matrix could be at fault and where to find the perfect material to repair the leak, and I listened to all of it.

“Very interesting, I admit it I don’t have the slightest clue on how to actually repair something like that.” I said honestly. “But I know this, you are the perfect person to find a way to do it.” I said with a big smile crossing my arms.

“Thanks dad. I will go and find a way, I have to! Applejack’s counting on me.” She said determined and started walking out of the room.

“Oh one last thing.” I said, she looked back. “While I am sad you didn’t tell me about the amulet I am also proud of hearing you standing your ground against me. I will not always be right, you will probably be more than me so don’t be fearful, if what you want to say it’s important say so, ok?” I asked. 

She smiled and nodded before running out of the throne room. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ APPLEJACK POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I was standing on the roof of a skyscraper right in front of the bank where the Lightbringer were supposed to be. I waited for them until after an hour the showed up, they arrived in a big, black truck and five of them exited it armed with guns. I saw them enter the bank and shouting then after half an hour they exited with a lot of bags supposedly filled with money then they ran off at full speed away from the bank just in time for the police to arrive on the scene. 

I stood up and started to run on the roofs following it along the whole city, they were headed to the forest just out of town. Unfortunately the buildings were starting to finish so I had to drop onto the ground and morph into a wolf to follow them. After another half an hour passed they finally stopped and exited the truck then waited there probably for someone to get the money. 

I used the little device Jackie gave me to give him my position, I activated it and then I waited for them to show up. No longer than a few minutes later they in fact arrived to my position, Jackie was the first to arrive by exiting from a shadow then the brothers showed up and Octavia too. “Where are they?” Jackie asked. I pointed him to the direction where they stopped, it was a small clearing covered by the foliage of the trees making the whole thing covered in a light shadow.

“Let’s go then we have money to take.” Jackie said and so we moved forward, he put a hand on the ground and ten little thing crawled from the shadows. 

“Hey Jackie! Ready for a good ol massacre?” The little brown thing asked, it was very small with long arms and sharp teeth.

“Yep. Go.” He ordered them and they happily obliged launching themselves to the ignorant soldiers of the Lightbringers. Or so we thought.

“NOW!” A voice shouted and immediately the truck opened revealing a strange device inside of it which then turned on flashing us all with a very powerful light, then I heard some more little device being launched on the ground, they all exploded keeping us all blind with a tremendous light.

The little things of before screamed, and so did Jackie. I on the other hand shutted off my eyes and used sound instead to find out where the enemies where, I counted a total of six of them two in front of us ad four on the back near the truck. I was ready t go there and kill them all when I heard the sound of beating wings over me then a powerful arm grabbed me and pulled me in the air, then it threw me away in the forest where I collided with several trees breaking them. I opened my eyes once more and saw a seemingly human figure, he was clearly a male and was sporting a well toned body with a pair of big white wings on his back. His attire was a simple one with just a simple kilt to cover him, in his hand rested a long, golden halabard. 

“Who the fuck are you?” I shouted to him.

“I am the Angelus.” he said in a monotone voice. “I knew you were here all along, something like you couldn’t hope to remain hidden for long in this world. Your existence is a blight, a disease very much like the Darkness. I will put you both down and the universe shall live in eternal light!” The Angelus said and charged at me with his weapon in front of him I sidestepped the first assault but he quickly spun around and hit me with his weapon drawing blood from my chest. ‘So this one can actually hurt me? This will be a real pain in the ass.’ I thought.

I healed my wound and charged at him ducking his incoming attack and punching him straight in the guts noticing how hard his body was, I managed to threw him in the air with my punch but he quickly recovered and pronounced some kind of words rotating his halabard in the air. Then on top of him a big lance made out of light shot out towards me, I quickly sidestepped it but it exploded blinding me with a powerful light.

I recovered from the blindness just in time to see him charging at me, this time he actually hit me and impaled me with his halabard. I screamed from the pain of it, but grabbed his halabard trying to get myself off of it. He noticed it and promptly threw me away against a tree.

“That one hurt you bastard.” I said through my teeth, I then covered my body with my armor and empowered my fists with a large amount of biomass. “You just want to die don’t you?”

I charged at him and jumped in the air then I slammed my fists on the ground breaking it and making several har spikes of biomass come out from the ground trying to impale him. He flew away from the spikes and intoned the same kind of words he used before. This time though I was ready, I grabbed a tree and after eradicating it, I threw it at him. The tree hit true and the Angelus fell to the ground, I didn’t waste my opportunity and jumped in the air, then I plummeted fists first right onto him destroying the ground around him. 

He wasn’t finished though cause I felt his halabard piercing my armor on my flank and then he threw me off of him, he stood up at the same time as me and so I saw that even with all that I did nothing major to him, he readied his halabard and charged again. I ducked then I moved backwards to avoid his second hit, seeing an aperture I struck him in the ribs and then in the face throwing him on the ground. I then grabbed his legs and started to smash him on the ground several times before finally making him bounce the last time where I hit him directly in the face while he was mid air. 

He was sent straight up with a bloodied face, though his expression didn’t change at all. He recovered and started to attack me once again, his halebard shined and he slashed the air in front of him generating a pulsating wave of golden light that cut through the air. The wave was too fast and big to avoid so I braced myself for the impact, the wave hit me and slashed my forearms completely severing them, then the wave continued and slashed my chest almost cutting it in half. Fortunately my armor and flesh blocked the fury of the wave.

I screamed in pain for losing my forearms and dropped on one knee, the Angelus landed on the ground and was walking towards me, as if he thought he was done and he had already won.

“Don’t you dare thinking ah’m down you fucking chicken!” I shouted. I stomped the ground and raised a big cloud of dust, then with the cover I created I rushed him and hit him in the face with my head throwing him away against a tree in the distance. I then used my left biomass to regenerate my arms and went to absorb back my cut off arms. With that done I grabbed a nearby tree and absorbed it to gain more biomass, with my reserves refilled I moved to face my opponent once more.

“You really pissed me off now!” I shouted to him when I saw him standing up, he readied another slash attack and so I jumped on the air to avoid it, I fell back to the ground charging at him. When I got my hands on him I created four more arms, with four of them I kept him still grabbing his legs and arms, while with my other two I pounded his body until it broke. 

‘Harder, Faster!’ I redoubled my efforts, my fists were almost a blur. Finally I let him go and smashed all of my fists on him while he was down on the ground, his body was basically destroyed, multiple bones were pointing out of his chest and his arms were broken his face was battered and hardly recognizable. But he was still moving.

“Time for you tah die varmint!” I shouted. I grabbed his legs with three of my arms and with the other three I grabbed his midsection, then I started to pull. After a bit his body finally gave up and so it opened up with a terrible sound of ripping flesh and broken bones. I was expecting a shower of blood but instead only light escaped from his broken body, I threw the parts away and witnessed them starting to increase in brightness until they disappeared in a cloud of light. 

“Fuck this shit. Without magic everything is harder… I almost died, stupid chicken.” I muttered. “Fuck, Jackie!” I remembered and sprinted to the ambush.

“Any final words Jackie?” A woman said, who I assumed was Velvet, pointing a gun to a defeated Jackie on his knees. 

I jumped in the air and slammed my fists on the truck destroying it completely and killing for of the seven ambushers in the explosion. With the light gone Jackied grabbed Velvet’s gun and threw it away, then he stood up and punched her in the guts making her fly against a tree. “Where are the others?” I asked walking towards Jackie.

“Hey boss we are done here!” Dawn shouted from nearby. 

“That answer my question. Jackie I think I killed the Angelus.” I said happily.

“I would like to believe you but… the Angelus cannot be killed only her host can. What you fought was probably a manifestation of the Angelus.” He said destroying my good mood.

“Well shucks.” I replied. “What do we do with her?” I asked pointing to Velvet.

“You… You are not going to do anything to me… The light will win and it will burn you all in its infinite power!” she shouted.

“You think I have to torture you to make you talk? I don’t need to do that.” I pointed out to her.

“Oh I know… The Goddess already told us of what you and your kind can do.” She said pointing another gun that she took from her waist at her head. “Too bad for you isn’t it?” She said smirking pulling the trigger. Her body fell on the ground a large pool of blood already was forming.

“Fuck!” I shouted. “Fuck now I can’t see her memories.” I said angrily. “What do we do now?”

“I don’t know. But it’s not like we don’t have time right?” Jackie said and right on clue the ground trembled. From the city an almighty pillar of light shot out to the sky clearing the clouds and leaving only the sun.

“...” I looked at him.

“Well shit.” He said.

“I have to go. I need to enter Celestia’s secret door one way or another even if I have to destroy the entire school to do it. There must be clues in there to take her down” I said then walked to Velvet’s body, I searched in her pockets to find anything useful and miraculously I found something. A picture of her and another woman, this one with pink hair and an ornate white wedding dress, the picture was taken in a church and at her right there was a tall boy with blue hair, probably the groom. I showed the picture to Jackie. “Who is this woman?” I asked.

“That’s Cadence. Their babysitter when Twilight was little, she always talked about her and how great she was. Why?” He asked.

“We need to find her. She might have the answer we are seeking.” I answered. “All of this is too connected to be just a coincidence. She is probably Velvet’s daughter in law, she has to know something.” I said.

“She works at the Crystal Prep School. You can find her there, but please do not kill her on sight.” Jackie said. 

“There’s no time Jackie.” I said. “Or did you miss the giant pillar in the center of the city?” I continued pointing at it.

“I see that and that’s not good news but you cannot go around killing people just because you had a hunch!” He shouted pointing at me.

“I don’t have to kill her. I just need to make her talk…” I looked at Velvet’s body. “...and I know exactly how.” 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ TWILIGHT POV~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“You were saying darling? Before dad called you to the throne room.” Rarity asked me, I was a little lost in my thoughts so I completely forgot to tell her the whole thing.

“Yeah,sorry. As I was saying I found out why the portal is so slow and-” An immense amount of magic came out from the portal, a blinding light coated the whole room and made the whole castle tremble. Then as quickly as it came it went away.

“What was that?” Rarity asked shocked.

“I don’t know, let me-” I checked the portal and my eyes widened. ‘The values are all over the place! The portal is going mad and soon it will collapse, I can’t let it happen but what can I do? The amulet is not big enough to cover the entire portal and at this rate it will completely shut down in under a minute!’ I was furiously searching for a solution any solution. 

“Darling I don’t think I can keep this portal stable for much longer please tell me you have something in mind.” Rarity said in a strained tone.

I was so stressed and frustrated about this whole situation, everything was going straight to hell and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.

“Twilight…” Rarity said again.

“STOP!” I shouted with all my force towards the portal. As if the portal actually heard me the magic started to return back to normal. 
“W-what?” I asked in bewilderment.

“Good job sister, I don’t know what you have done but it worked.” Rarity said happily hugging me.

“But I don’t know what happened.” I said.

“You channeled your element.” The voice of mom said from behind us, she walked towards us and sat down on a chair nearby. “You were born when Philip was hit by a powerful artifact called the Elements of Harmony, you six were born from those and from his flesh, you all inherited their powers each shard is inside of you.” She explained. 

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“It’s simple really. The elements of harmony were six. Laughter, Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity and Magic. You my dear Twilight, you possess the element of Magic, but you do not just control and wield its power, you are that power. An incarnation if you want. It seems that your desire to stop the portal from collapsing and save your sister was strong enough to let you tap into your true self.” She finished. 

“This, this is so confusing. Aren’t you my mom?” I asked with a heavy heart.

“Yes, I am.” She said. “But not in the traditional way. You see when I fled with your father away from Canterlot he asked me to keep an eye on you and to be your motherly figure, I was skeptical at the beginning you must understand. I barely knew this stranger and he asked me to be the mother of his daughters, weird, but I didn’t have a choice back there and so I accepted. Unfortunately I was attacked by the creature of the forest and I was almost killed. He saved me though, he made me in what you see right now. I was a pony before, a unicorn, the personal student of Celestia herself.” She said with a shadow in her eyes, those memories still hurt her. “Until she decided to make me into the first of many living weapons for her army… When I almost died your father saved me, from there we decided to become a couple, a bit rushed yes but I had a feeling that he was the perfect one for me, after all we already had kids so why not right?” She said winking at us then continued. “After that we went down into the basement of our first house to check on you, that was when I noticed that by touching you I gave you a bit of myself.” She said pointing at my red streak in my hair. “So even if I wasn’t the one that gave birth to you, you are still technically my daughters, and you will always be.” She said with a loving smile.

The story while a strange one was not unwelcome, knowing where I come from and what kind of dangers my parents traversed to protect us was very heartwarming. Not only I now knew how I was born I had also the possibility of studying a new form of power, one that resided inside the most powerful artifact in existence. 

‘Oh I will enjoy studying this power, the possibilities are endless. If I can control magic like I did before, where’s the limit, and what kind of power did the others have? I must find out! For science of course.’ 
> Chapter 1 Hunter [Edited]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A knock arrived from the door while I tiredly looked outside the windows, I lazily drove my sight from the outside world and looked at the entrance where a doctor had just entered my room. He was an old little man with white hair, a pair of black glasses hanged down from his neck, the doctor wore the standard white coat with a pair of black loafers. At first, he said nothing, maybe he thought I was asleep, but when he noticed that I was looking at him he started talking.

“Mr. Mercer, should I call someone, a priest maybe?” He said in a soft tone.

“That won’t be necessary, thank you.” I replied. He courteously nodded and exited the room without a word. I didn’t want anyone witnessing my death, and prayers weren’t going to make me feel better.

‘Prayers and a priest, pft what a joke… as if Gods ever cared about us. It doesn’t matter anyway.’ What counts is that I’m going to die and I will have to see for myself what’s there in the afterlife if there is one that is. It’s with those thoughts that I saw my room grow greyer, the instruments slowed down until they stopped completely while outside the birds stopped their songs remaining silent.

“Am I already dead? Cause if I am the afterlife it’s pretty shitty.” I muttered trying to stand up and failing horribly when a terrible pain shot out from my guts. “The afterlife sure sucks, the cancer came with me too?” I struggled to say through gritted teeth.

A strange light filled the room blinding me. When I opened my eyes I saw before me a mismatched creature. His body was snake like but mostly fur covered, mostly brown but its head was completely grey. The tail of the creature was covered with hard red scales with a white patch of fur at its end. The creature had four limbs of which not one of them was the same as the other, where his legs where the one of a goat and one of a lizard, his upper limbs were a talon of an eagle and the paw of a lion. To complete the confused picture of the creature there was his head. For starter he had a pair of horns but even those where different from each other, them being an antler and a narwhal horn respectively. On his back he sported two wings, one from a bird and one of a bat. Finally his eyes were yellow with red mismatched pupils, a single elongated tooth was there upon his face alongside a white beard.

“Hello there!” He said in a jovial tone. I couldn’t muster a proper answer so I just stood there trying to understand what was happening.

“What? Speechless? I would be too if I would have to admire such a handsome draconequus such as myself. But as of right now I kinda need you to not be completely amazed by myself. Even if I completely understand.” He said laughing, then a mirror appeared in front of him and he started to look at himself in it, while being upside down.

“What are you?” 

“Who moi?” He said putting his claw on his chest. “I’m Discord, Lord, Spirit, God, Prankster and winner of the chaos award but you can call me Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony.” He said holding out a cup with his name on it.

“D-Discord? Are you kidding me? That Discord, from Equestria?” I asked trying to understand what was happening. “I thought I was dead not thrusted into a tv show.”

“Why yes! Thirty points to you. Also my dear I already told you my name do you have some kind of memory issue?” He asked popping up a chair from thin air and sitting on it, then proceeded to read my medical papers. “No nothing here, then you just like to ask questions? Probably but either way, I would love to continue our chat over a cup of chocolate tea but I’m in a bit of a hurry here so I have a question for you. What is life?” He asked.

“Life? What kind of question is that?” I asked confused on what he wanted me to answer.

“Just stick with the question and answer truthfully.” He replied.

“Well, ok not like I have anything better to do… Life is, a complex merging of feelings, memories, emotions and experiences.” I tried to answer.

“No not like that.” He said pinching his nose with a claw. “I mean what happens in life?” 

“You are born…” I started, “then you reach adulthood after some time?” I finished awkwardly.

“Yes but what do those two things have in common?” He asked again growing frustrated.

“You grow up.” I answered.

“And what happens when you grow up?” He asked probably annoyed by my wrong answers, seeing that he set up two portals one on the ceiling and one on the floor and started to fall forever through them.

“You change?” I tried once again.

“YES!” He said happily making a giant sign appear with the word winner on it. “Finally, you are not the brightest bulb in the factory are you?” 

“What.” 

“But let’s not focus on that, that was the past. Anyway I’m on a very tight schedule and I really need you to hear me out, I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse.” He said in a weird accent while wearing an elegant suit.

“An offer? From a God?” I said spitting the word out. “I don’t want anything from a God, especially one that boast himself as the prankster god, and god of Chaos and Disharmony. You don’t strike me as the best moral character.” 

“Such venom in your words I’m almost physically hurt.” He said in a mocking tone putting a paw on his heart. “I do not know why you hate gods so much mr…” He put himself upside down and read my name on the bed. “Philip Mercer but know this, I’m dying so I don’t really have anything to trick you with. My offer is easy, I will save you from your certain death and you will save my world from the catastrophe.” He said seriously. “The thing is, some other force is trying to make the world static and that will not be good for anyone, the world needs changes but I’m no longer there and here is where you come into the picture.” He said snapping a photo with his talon, then he spit out a photo of us on a paradise island. “See? Usually I’m not the most responsible one out there but I care about my titles, if everything goes stagnant I will be the laughing stock of all the other Chaos Gods out there! The horror!” He shouted “fainting” on a convenient couch right under him while muttering something about Khorne and that he would never heard the end of it.

I thought about his offer for some time, on one hand I would have to trust Discord and even if I knew him already he was still a god, beings that usually tricks mortals for their own amusement. On the other hand he can save me from this shit, I was already dead so I didn’t have anything to lose so I finally conceded.

“Fine.” I said. “I will go to your world, and do my best, but I cannot do much in my conditions.” I said pointing at myself.

“You will?” He shouted springing back up and hugging me tightly. “Oh and don’t worry about that I already choose the perfect body for your mission.” He said while putting me down on the bed. “Deal?” He asked holding out a paw.

I flinched at that but then grabbed it. “Deal.” We said in unison.


PHIL POV LABORATORY 000 CANTERLOT 


“Doctor, the test subject is starting to wake up. The final transformation did nothing to its vitals but it assumed the form of a completely new species, it has some similarities to a pony but... Shall we continue the test?” A voice said. A female.

“Absolutely, this will give us more data than ever before.” Another voice, this time a male.

I couldn’t see anything, I could only hear voices. I tried to move but found myself restrained by some force. ‘I shouldn’t have trusted him. Where the fuck am I now?’ I angrily thought.

“Test subject is ready doctor.” The same female voice said.

“Excellent.” The doctor replied with glee. “Let’s start with an easy one, basic stimuli. Dispel the tier 1 protection spell.”

Immediately after I could finally start to move even if only a little bit, with my movements reduced to barely a crawl I started to feel my body. Nothing changed at first impression but I wasn’t so sure. I immediately felt a spike of electricity going through my arm which immediately jerked back to my chest, I wanted to make a sound but found myself incapable of doing such.

“Again.” Another spike and this time my leg jerked back and I felt myself fall backwards before the same force blocked my fall. ‘Am I standing?’ 

“Excellent, let’s try a new one. Release of tier 2 restrictions” The doctor

I felt the force on me weaken once again, that though also meant that I fell to the ground. I didn’t feel any pain even if I should have, still I was blind so next step was to try and find some sort of light somewhere. 

“Specimen 6890 is ready doctor.” 

“Excellent open the gate, let’s see if its hunting skills have changed.” The doctor said.

‘Hunting skills? What are they talking about?’ I thought more confused than ever. I heard the sound of a door opening and then a guttural growl from behind me. I didn’t think about it I just turned around and punched whatever it was. My recompense was the sound of broken bones, a low hurtful growl and the sound of something hitting a wall hard. 

‘I’m tired of being blind.’ I thought. 

“Yes… it became even faster in reactions… excellent! Send in more!” The doctor shouted jubilant.

More doors opened. ‘Fantastic’ Multiple roars came from different angles at once. Now something like that should scare anyone to death but I found myself not scared at all, I felt like I was being attacked by completely harmless critters, they could try but I was still the superior force in the room.

I spun around and grabbed one of those, from what I felt was its face, and threw it at another one that was right in front of me from the sound of it. I hit true and the both of them were thrown away against a wall. The more I remained in there the better I was becoming to hear them and understanding where they were, up to a point where I could almost see them like a bat would. After fifteen of them were disposed of the sudden force returned and I was blocked once again.

“A very interesting test. This time Hunter didn’t absorb any of the specimens.” The doctor said. “Curious.”

‘Hunter?’ I thought confused. ‘Is that what they call me? Am I just a test subject or a creation of said experiments? Why am I even so calm about this, I- I can’t feel my heart fluttering in excitement nor in fear… What am I, what happened to me? I-I want to see for myself. I want to see!’ My thoughts were interrupted by a thin line of light in what I thought was just an abyssal darkness. 

I held onto that light, I reached for it, I wanted it I grasped the light that was presented in front of me like a child does to a mother and so finally I could see again. ‘What was that? What has happened… that light, did I just imagined it?’ I looked around me only to see decay and death, dozens of corpses, twisted and corrupted by an enormous amount of flesh which covered their faces blinding them all. The room I was in was filled with those bodies, the sight was one spawned from a nightmare, like hell itself opened its doors and let me peek inside for a moment.

Around me, the wall were covered in blood, the floor was drenched in it so much that it was impossible to see what was lying underneath it. I on the other hand was motionless, my gained sight didn’t gift me back my capability of moving. I never before witnessed such abhorrent vision as the one I saw in that room, that cell. Though, for all my disgust at such a spectacle I couldn’t find in myself the will to be repulsed by it, worse I was curious on what happened and who caused this. The recent ones I was sure, it was I that struck them down, did I felt guilty about it? Not even a bit, they attacked me I didn’t have a choice.

Then though a thought crossed my mind, how did I do that. I couldn’t be so strong, no man could. My witnesses were the dismembered part of one of them, while another had its back broken at an impossible angle while some had their heads completely crushed under extreme pressure, the most violent though was one which was severed in half vertically not by a blade but from pure brute force that ripped its flesh like paper. My musing ultimately was useless because no matter how much I would have wanted to move I couldn’t, so for the moment I remained there, waiting.

Time passed but I didn’t feel it at all, I was too busy dealing with hallucinations, I saw places, events, memories of someone else. Ponies and names that held no meaning for me but I knew those already, I thought I ended up in pony Equestria turns out it’s an anthro one, curious. Anyway my stay in the room was accompanied by those very visions of someone else, even that though was interrupted by the same metallic sound of before. ‘Already a day passed?’ I wondered. I looked around but the sound was coming from behind me so I couldn’t see what was happening.

“There it is Princess.” The doctor voice announced proudly.

“Yes I can see it, is it ready?” A feminine voice asked, one that radiated power and solemnity. 

“No your majesty, we still need to conduct a few more tests.” The doctor said.

“Then be fast. I won’t tolerate any further delay.” The voice replied firmly and mercilessly.

“Yes, your majesty.” The doctor said, and then footsteps echoed meaning that she exited the room. “Alright, let’s start the next test.” The doctor started. “All physical abilities are still functional now to test its intellect. Let the test subject enter.” 

In front of me one of the walls actually started to rise and revealed a new room behind it. 

“Lights on.” The doctor ordered, with that the entire room was washed with an intense light, I was seeing in the dark until that point and wrongly assumed the room was illuminated. The sudden arrival of the light blinded me but not for long, in a moment I regained my vision.

“I don’t like this. Do I really have to do it?” A voice asked from the room behind the wall. She was scared, her voice trembled with barely contained fear.

“Yes, now move.” A stern voice replied.

Immediately after a pale pegasus entered my room, she was holding a mirror in her hands and slowly walked towards me eyeing the dead bodies with pure horror. When she finally arrived in front of me I saw a young mare with crystal blue eyes, a blond straight badly kept mane and the shadow of fear in her very movements and eyes. With trembling hands she held the mirror in front of me. “Who are you?” She asked in a whisper.

In front of me I didn’t see my old self, in front of me there was a pale face with a little uncut beard, the hair were messy and black as the night. The eyes though… They were red as blood with a voracious look into them, those were the eyes of a predator one that was the peak of the food chain. Those were now my eyes.

I tried to speak but in vain, I couldn’t utter a single word. All I could do was stare into the mirror.

“Remove restrictions, tier one and two.” The doctor ordered and I immediately felt myself falling, I recovered fast enough this time and managed to keep myself upright.

“What!? No, no wait please no! I don’t want to die!” The mare shouted frantically, the door behind her closed with thunderous might. She watched her only exit close, desperate she scrunched down on the floor keeping the mirror up above her head hoping that it might defend her from danger. 

I moved my hand and grabbed the mirror, only for it to shatter in a thousand pieces like it was nothing. My hand jerked back thinking I got myself hurt, but nothing happened, the mare though flinched and made herself smaller crying on the ground. I grabbed a piece of the mirror, this time I made sure to use only a small amount of strength, and managed to keep it together. I looked at myself in the mirror piece once again. 
‘What have I become?’ I thought checking myself.

I looked down at my arm, I reached for the mare but to my surprise my arm almost erupted into a multitude of tendrils. I backed off while the mare continued her desperate cry, I tried once again and again my arm changed. I didn’t want it to change though, I wanted to touch her with my hand and nothing more. I steeled myself and again I reached for her, the tendrils were coming but I didn’t want them I willed them to go away, and they did. 

Finally I touched her, she flinched badly and screamed in terror. I jerked back and kept my hand for myself, the mare resumed her hopeless cry on the floor. I didn’t want to cause her anymore strife so I left her alone and walked towards one of the bodies I killed, I reached for it without thinking and so the tendrils came back. This time though I didn’t stop them, I was curious. 

The tendrils exited from my arm and shot into the body, carving it like it was nothing. Plunging into it, then they covered it completely and soon I felt it, the tendrils were devouring it, consuming it, in a second the body disappeared and no trace remained behind. I felt better after that at least physically, mentally I was trying to understand what happened. ‘Tendrils, red eyes, inhuman strength, and memories that are not mine. Could I be?’ I wondered and looked around reaching for another corpse. This one was at least two meters from me, I stretched my arm towards it, I wanted to do the same thing I did to the other one. I wanted its flesh for myself, in an instant a thousand tendrils shot out from my arm twisting and bending they grabbed the lifeless body and again consumed it in seconds before returning to me. 

‘It seems like it. Red eyes, new memories, inhuman strength, blood red tendrils controlled by me. Just one more test to see if…’ I looked at my arm, and imagined a weapon from my memory, one that I saw many times before, to my bewilderment my arm was coated by tendrils, I felt my flesh turning and bending, it created something, something hard, powerful and deadly. After the tendrils disappeared I stared at my hand now claw. Red pulsating veins stretched through my whole arm, my fingers were replaced by five long and narrowed claws that shined under the light. I moved them as to make myself believe that those were still my fingers, the claws responded and moved. Amazed I moved to one other corpse and plunged one of my finger into it, I perforated its skin like nothing, I shifted my finger and cut it open ripping its flesh apart.

‘Yes. I am.’

‘Prototype.’  
> Chapter 2 Escape [Edited]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After trying my claws I finished consuming all the corpses in the room, in the end I was left alone with the young mare, I didn’t dare to approach her, not that I was afraid or that I truly cared if she was scared or not but I didn’t want to make all of this harder for her. 

“Curious.” The male voice said. “Hunter refrained from killing her on sight, It also cleaned the whole room from the bodies and created a new weapon for itself. Truly fascinating, its body is in itself a weapon.” 

‘True, if I truly have full control over the blacklight virus then I am now one of the most lethal creature on the planet.’ I thought. ‘Did they create this just like Blackwatch did? Did they want me to be their weapon?’ My thoughts were interrupted by the same voice talking again.

“Guards, escort the subject out from Hunter’s cell. We will try another test.” He said. Immediately two guards entered the cell and reached for the mare, one of them pointed his gun at me and waited for the other to exit before retreating, never taking his eyes away from me. The guards were not like the ones in the show, instead of shining armors they wore actual secret operations suits. Their face was completely covered and they carried large guns with them. They were also all unicorns for some reason.

I didn’t move, I didn’t want to be regarded as a danger and possibly die before even starting to understand what my body can do. ‘Can I die though?’ I thought, truly it was something to think about, but later.

“Very well Hunter, we will bring in some pieces of paper. On them you will find pictures, what I want you to do is to simply point at the one I describe to you.” The voice said. “Begin.”

The wall opened once again and a single guard pushed a tray inside, on the tray there were two stacks of papers, the pictures I figured. The guard left the tray in front of me, some meters away and hastily retreated back. I walked to the tray and looked at the pictures, on one there was a lush garden filled with green and life, on the other there was a picture of some unknown pony with another one. They were getting married as it was clear by their dresses.

“Point to me the one where you see the ponies.” The doctor dictated. I did as he said, there was nothing more to do after all. I pointed at the marriage picture. “Excellent, I see you can identify precise figures and that you can actually understand me. Very well, discard the first two and look at the others.” How he managed to see that I truly pointed at those picture is beyond me, there were no cameras, no mirrors. I scratched it up with ‘Magic’ and forgot about it.

I took the two pictures and set them away from the other two stacks, I then looked at the new two photos. On one there was a smiling pony with a small sign in her hands with some gibberish written on it, on the other there was the same pony with the same sign but the gibberish were a bit different. 

“Which one says:”Welcome to Canterlot”?” The voice asked. I couldn’t read what was written on the signs so I took both of them and put them away shaking my head. “You can’t read? That’s problematic, but not an impossible wall to surpass, we will deal with it at a later date. That’s enough, I think we can conclude that you are smart enough to understand orders. I will now send in a test subject, subdue him without killing him. Begin.” The voice finished and as soon as he said it the wall opened again, a tall muscular pony stepped forth. He had a white coat and was dressed in a similar suit like the guards, he put himself in front of me and put up his guard.

After a second of me just staring at him he attacked, his blows were fast, precise and wasn’t holding back. Unfortunately for him he was slow from my perspective. A skilled warrior for sure but I had an absolutely unfair advantage. ‘How can I stop him without killing him? I could try to choke him but with my new strength… I don’t think I could control it so finely to avoid killing him.” While I was thinking I was also dodging, ducking and skipping to avoid all of his hits. Not because I was afraid of getting hurt I just didn’t know if I would subconsciously attack him in retaliation or if touching my body would end in a contamination on his part.

‘I could break his legs.’ I suddenly thought. ‘What? No, no I don’t want to harm him, he isn’t an enemy, merely a test subject he doesn’t have to suffer because of me.’ I discarded that option. ‘Idea!’ 

I jumped back from a vicious uppercut and clapped my hands, hard. The result was a powerful shock wave that cleaned a short area around me of all the dried blood and threw the pony away against the wall where he came from. He didn’t stood up again, but I knew he was alive, I could hear him breath. 

The wall opened and three guards brought him inside before closing the wall behind them. “Excellent.” The voice said after some time of total silence. “Your method was a bit unorthodox, but the results were there, very good. Now we must collect data on how you react to firearms. We did this test before and you survived, but now you are different, smarter even. So we must repeat the test to see if anything changed.” The voice said. “Activate tier 2 and 3.” My body froze up and I remained paralyzed in the center of the room. 

The same wall opened, a single unicorn guard exited with him, he had the same gun of before, he took off the safety of the weapon and aimed it to me. Then he opened fire, the sound was loud and the room echoed it even more, he fired a single round which was now embedded in my body. I could feel the bullet and I wanted it gone. ‘Stupid bullet.’ He prepared to fire a second round but this time I was ready. ‘Oh no you don’t!’ I tried to will my biomass to concentrate on the exterior of my body. While I was hoping to recreate the armor from the game I wasn’t completely disappointed in the results.

The bullet, which was inside my body was expelled and fell on the ground, the guard fired but this time the bullet ricocheted on me. The bullet hit the wall on my right leaving me unharmed, I smirked. “Curious. Let’s try with magic.” The voice ordered.

The guard exited the room, immediately after another one entered, again, an unicorn. He charged his horn and fired a bright blue laser at me. The laser hit my left shoulder which immediately exploded in a shower of blood, my now severed arm hit the ground without being stopped by whatever magic they put on me. 

The bullet didn’t hurt me, this didn’t really hurt either but it was very very uncomfortable, I was ready to recreate a new arm when another laser flew through the air and hit me in the head. I immediately lost my sight, I couldn’t hear anymore and I found myself completely lost in a sea of darkness. 

‘You son of a bitch!’ I angrily thought, very soon though that anger became fear. I felt completely lost, I couldn’t see, I couldn’t hear I was cut off from the world, I was on the verge of complete panic when a new sensation took root in my body. I don’t know how can anyone describe it, but I could feel myself, not just my relative position in the space but MYSELF. I could feel my every cell, all of them, there were so many of them, billions. I was them and they were me. I could even feel a connection to my fallen arm, but it was weak. 

I basked in this new sensation, a feeling of absolute control and security, I finally felt myself back, I wasn’t lost anymore, but just like that I felt my emotions slip away from me, I didn't care, I couldn't care. I focused, I wanted to regrow a new head, I wanted it back. Just like that, I could feel something happening, I felt my cell creating my cheeks, my teeth, my tongue and my eyes. I opened them and looked at the now frozen guard, I looked at my severed arm, I tried to move it. It twitched a bit, I tried again.

It moved.

I moved it using its fingers as makeshift legs and “walked” towards the guard. He had to pay for what he did. The guard screamed and tried to zap my arm, I avoided every single one of them, maybe he could have hit it if he wasn’t in such a panic but alas my arm jumped and grabbed his face. I morphed one of the fingers into a claw, not nearly as long as the one that I created before but I had only so much biomass to work with. 

I retreated the finger back far more than a human one should, then I plunged the claw inside his skull, I felt him die right there and then. I felt myself entering his body, consuming him from inside, I devoured his being and surveyed his memories, a normal guy. I won’t say anything more, but I did learn where I was and that was good. I also learned that he was nothing but a simple soldier, no title, he knew a little bit about offensive magic and a whole lot regarding shields. Why he didn’t used them is puzzling. . .  Also the language barrier was shattered thanks to him. After what felt like minutes of seeing memories I looked around and saw my arm being almost done consuming him, the entirety of his torso was now absorbed and only the legs remained. I finished it and moved the arm back to me, it jumped and I made it connect to me once again. It felt good to have it back.

“Astounding.” The voice said. “Hunter is susceptible to magic, having its limbs severed though seems to not impair it for long, furthemore it is capable of extreme regeneration.” The voice recalled, then he laughed. “Hahahaha! Wonderful! Such an incredible creature, stronger than anything we have ever see. Yes! Go call the Queen, Hunter is ready.” He said jubilant. Several  hoofsteps ran away from what I could only suppose was a secret room somewhere near me. They didn’t took off the strange enchantment on me and waiting for them was quite boring so I started to experiment. 

I wanted to get free from that thing so I tried first to escape using brute force, while I did had some result it wasn’t nearly enough, so I had to come up with something else. I detached my arm again and it fell down on the ground. I tried the same with my other arm and I obtained the same result. ‘Now to find where you cannot keep me still…’ I started to create several tendrils that came out of my torso, upon creation they were rendered immobile, I continued creating a hundred of them. 

‘The enchantment, it’s failing.’ I could feel it, the magic was starting to break down trying to keep so many different limbs still. I smirked, I was elated with the news, I found a way to destroy this bothersome enchantment. I will not let them control me this way, if they want my help they will play by my rules. Who knows how many curious things I will find after all. More than that, who knows if I could meet the Mane six?

After the 300th tendril the spell failed and exploded outwards in a shower of white sparks. Immediately after an alarm blew off, the walls of my cell changed from concrete to pure metal and remained like that until a brilliant flare bathed the room in a white light. I recoiled from the sudden light and closed my eyes, they burned away from the sheer luminosity of the event. I regenerated and faced whatever was that did that.

In front of me stood Celestia, her hair were flowing like in the show but instead of them being rainbow themed they were made out of pure flames. Her eyes were a bright yellow while her sclera was almost pitch black, she wore a golden armor with an uncountable number of details, refinements, depictions and symbols. Not only that but the armor hummed with pure power, only her head was exposed. The rest of her body was encompassed with that golden mastercraft. Her wings were massive, but even they were protected by a layer of golden metal, they stood on her back proudly engulfed partly in flames and embers.

“So…” Her voice carried the same power her appearance radiated. “You are Hunter.” She walked towards me, we were equal in height so I looked at her directly in her flaming angry eyes. “I am Queen Celestia. Goddess of the Sun and ruler of Equestria.” 

‘Figures, a Goddess she says.’ I already didn’t like her. 

“And you my hunter, you are the new weapon I created. But don’t be sad, you obey me, you stay alive.” Her horn brightened and I felt myself once again trapped in a magical snare. “Disobey me, and I will destroy you.” She said calmly. She let go of me and continued. “Now show me what you can do. Hit me.” She ordered. 

What can I say, I wasn’t complaining. I moved a great amount of biomass back to my right arm, when it became too heavy even for me to keep in air I smashed the ground behind me creating a huge crater in the floor, then I swung it towards her with all my strength. Celestia seemed completely fine until my attack almost caught her right in the head, then for a brief instant I saw a glint of worry in her eyes, but immediately after it was substituted with contempt and glee. A barrier appeared around her which blocked my attack, when my fist collided with it though the shockwave caused all the blood on the floor to simply evaporate while on the floor a multitude of cracks appeared. In all of this I didn’t looked away from her eyes, she did the same. 

I smirked. ‘Exactly what I thought would happen, she is strong, her magic is impressive. I will have to be careful, very careful.’ I thought. 

Celestia backed away from me and I ended up smashing the ground with my fist furthering damaging it. “Impressive, you are strong, unbelievably so. I like you.” She said smirking. “Walk with me, Hunter.” 

I recomposed myself, while doing so I finally discovered why I couldn’t speak. My entire throat was a full block of biomass, that wouldn’t do. I couldn’t go around like a silent video game character, I needed to speak. I rearranged my throat and created a set of lungs for myself, I tested them a bit by breathing for the first time until my “awakening.” 

“Philip.” I croaked out, at first slowly and quietly. 

“What?” Celestia said looking back at me.

I spoke again, this time louder. “Philip, my name. My name is Philip Mercer.” I finished. 

She completely turned around and walked towards me. She looked at me in the eyes and smiled showing off her predatory teeth. “A pleasure, Philip Mercer. You don’t mind if I call you Hunter though right?” She asked.

I stared at her in the eyes, and answered. “No, but don’t forget my name. Celestia.” I said slowly, smiling showing my own incredibly sharp teeth.

“How bold, aren’t you scared of me being angry if you talk to me like that?” She asked more amused than displeased. 

“I don’t think you would truly kill me, after all I did cost a lot of resources to create. Right?” I replied.

“Hahaha.” She laughed walking away towards the wall. “I truly like you, Philip Mercer.” She said almost exiting the now opened wall. “Let’s go with this, I can call you Hunter and you will have the absolute privilege to call me Celestia. What do you think?” She proposed.

“I agree.” I replied briefly.

“Wonderful, now then. Walk with me.” She said. I did so.

We walked for a couple of minutes inside the Canterlot underground military complex. The whole thing was carved inside the mountain itself and had an open hangar on the side facing south, also the entire city was very different from the show. Instead of a medieval looking one the city was more akin to a modern city, it had some skyscrapers and the like but the most wonderful creation they had were the floating districts, giant piece of lands that floated around the mountain granting canterlot even more space than before. The old part of the city is now where the majority of the nobles stays.

How do I know that without ever exiting the complex? Well that guard did live there so, thanks to him I know quite a bit about the city. Unfortunately everything regarding magic was more of a blurry than anything else. Which was strange, but maybe it’s me still adjusting to the new situation.

We passed some cell with a glass panel on one side where some inmates were either resting or pacing nervously around their rooms. One of them though stood up, she was a red coated, white maned earth pony, she wore a straightjacket and was looking at the ceiling while we passed. Until she immediately stood up and tapped the glass with her horn, “GLVWUXWWRUH! 3!3!3!3!” 

“Ah, Broken, she is well, a bit special.” Celestia explained. “Don’t pay her any mind.” She dismissed the mare with a flick of her wrist before continuing. 

“MCINEFDEP HTOELHTAN EHTRLEHRA CUOHELOFX NNEWRAESQ GNUITRWUS IESYDNEEZ SSTTIUVOR IATGAEBEP ONPIFLIHO IT!!!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, I didn’t understand a thing she said so I just dismissed it as mad rumbling and continued following Celestia. Which for being a bit different from the show she is not that bad.

We continued through the cells wing and arrived to an elevator, the guards posted there saluted immediately and opened the doors, we entered and she pressed the third button from the bottom. “Alright so, this will take a while.” She said crossing her arms.

“Can I ask a question?” I asked. 

“You did.” She replied with a smile. 

“I’m not amused.” I replied seriously.

“That’s your problem then.” She said sternly.

“What were those thing in the cell. And what about the mare?” I asked regardless.

“Those things were nothing more than experiments, they were our first test subjects for your creation. As for the mare she is a lowly pegasus, why would you care?” She asked uninterested with the topic at hand.

“Why do you speak of her with such harshness in your voice?” I asked, that was a bit strange.

“She is a pegasus, just like earth ponies they are inferior to unicorns who can manipulate and command magic the most powerful weapon in the universe.” She said with pride. 

“So, she is nothing to you?” I asked, that wasn’t what I expected, if tribalism was so bad here then how were the windigos banished?

“Absolutely not. She is not only a pegasus but a defective one at that. I think you noticed.” She said dismissively. 

“What do you mean?” I asked curious, I didn’t notice any sign of genetic malformation on her body nor face when I saw her before.

She snorted. “She can’t fly dear Hunter, she is a pegasus and a useless one at that.” She said with poison in her words. “Me, the unicorns and yourself. We are superior we are above these mortals, and if everything goes as I intend it to go, then you will assist to the rise of perfection!” She declared, waving her hands like if she was addressing a crowd.

‘Let’s see, Celestia is a possible xenophobic, tribalistic goddess that can control and move the Sun with her mind. She is insanely powerful and can probably destroy me if she so wishes. I need to know more though.’ “What do you mean with perfection?” I asked. 

Her eyes shined with excitement. “Perfection, a world without death, pain, suffering. An ideal place where all the unicorns can live in perfect harmony. No war, distrust, doubt and betrayal… A paradise.” She explained. 

“How can you make this happen? It seems to me as an impossible task.” I said confused.

“Leave the technicalities to me, just know this.” She said and looked at me in the eyes, a glint of madness was darkening them. “When my plan comes to fruition there will not be a single pony that will not want to obey my rules.” She said laughing maniacally. “Everything will be perfect and they will accept it one way or another.” 

“You want to impose this on them? Won’t they go against it?” I asked.

“No my dear Hunter they won’t, I will not give them the power to. They will remain still, a perfect doll for me to make everything absolutely perfect! I will make a picture of this world, so that nothing will ever change and will always remain perfect as it should be!” She shouted. “Mortals are flawed. I will rectify this.”

‘No changes uh? So this is what Discord was talking about, a plan to make everyone a perfect little doll for her so that everything may be absolutely as she wants, absolute control. No more free will for anyone else, not even the world itself. I made a deal with Discord. And I will keep my word at all costs. 

‘Celestia will die.’ I thought with determination.

“Now, my dear Hunter I will place a little enchantment on you so you can’t disobey me. Be ready for it!” She said with a mad smile on her face. 

Her horn flashed with magic and a strange golden aura appeared on my body, then everything was flooded with light and I saw no more. 

I don’t know how much time passed, I only felt myself being in many places. After some time I finally managed to pull myself together, literally, and rose on my legs. Around me there was a wreckage of what was once an elevator and a workplace, the entire structure was melted from extreme heat, dozens of burned corpses could be seen everywhere. I was probably at the lowest level of the facility, the elevator went down somehow after Celestia hit me with her spell and she was also nowhere to be found. 

I started to walk through the wasted corridors, I didn’t bother to check the rooms, they were empty anyway, I was instead searching for live ponies scientists if possible to learn what was inside this place. The previous guards unfortunately didn’t know anything about it so I was in the dark. I sharpened my senses and finally heard a single cry of help in the midst of the crackling sound of the multiple fires.

I walked towards the direction of the cry, when the path was blocked I just tossed away the rubble or destroyed the wall to make a passage. After a minute of walking I ended up in a strange room, it was almost completely destroyed except for a single metal door. The cry was coming from there.

The door was two meters tall and one wide, I grabbed it from the hinges and started to pull, when I felt it wasn’t enough I started to put more biomass in my arms and finally when almost all of my reserves were almost depleted I ripped the door away. I tossed it away making it crash with a slight tremble of the ground and continued inside.

Behind the door there was a room, it was filled with paper, blackboards and instruments. It was a giant laboratory, and in the center of it there was a lone figure crouched down with its hands on its head. It wore a simple orange dress mostly covered by a white lab coat, its hair were orange with stripes of yellow here and there its fur was a yellow tonality with a hint of orange, very much like the colours of a sunset.

I tilted my head and spoke up, “Who are you?” 

She gasped and looked up to me, she slowly rose up to her feet and answered. “I-I am Sunset Shimmer, p-personal student of Cel-Queen Celestia. Who are you? How did you enter this room?” She asked with a slight tremble in her voice.

“My name is Philip Mercer, or Hunter as they call me.” I replied evenly.

“H-Hunter!” She shouted. “Y-You are you here to k-kill me?” She asked with fear backing away from me. When her back bumped against the wall she shuddered.

“No.” 

“N-No?”

“No.” I replied. “I heard someone crying here and I just went to check.” 

She breathed out with relief. “I’m grateful for that… What happened? I felt an immense magical backslash from the elevator and everything started to catch on fire!” She said flailing her hands in the air. 

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Celestia hit me with one of her spell and I “woke up” with the elevator destroyed and everything on fire.” I said explaining my situation.

“You disrupted one of her spells?” She asked shocked.

“No I did not. I don’t know what went wrong.” I said crossing my arms.

“Incredible… Then what can we do now? The guards will be here soon and we will go back to our tasks, so why don’t you just answer some of my questions in the meantime?” She proposed taking a scroll and a pen. 

I shook my head, “Sorry but no. I am going away.” I said as a matter of fact.

“What? But why?” She asked looking up from her scroll.

“Celestia wants to create some kind of perfect world where everyone is happy and no one can be evil. Emphasis on can, no free will.” I answered.

“She told you about that? I am the one who is working on the spell!” She said excited.

In a second I was in front of her and pointed a single claw to her throat. “Then why shouldn’t I just kill you?” I asked.

“W-Why would you want to do it?” She asked gulping down and looking at my claw with fear.

“Why? You are the one that is going to create the spell which will end every single life form will power and you ask why?” I asked a bit surprised.

“What? No! The spell will just make everyone more harmonious and will banish evil from the face of Equus. That’s why I’m working on it.” She replied with firmness.

“Then you are a fool.” I said. “If that’s what Celestia told you then that’s a lie. She is going to erase any free will from everyone, she will control everything you do so that everything may be perfect. She will stop every natural occurrence and nothing will change ever again. Everything will be nothing more than a mockery to life.” I explained to her.

“You are lying! She would never do that!” She shouted.

“I am not lying.” I said once again.

“Then prove it. Show me some kind of evidence.” She protested.

“I don’t think I could. Unless you are able to see inside my mind then I don’t know how you should find any evidence. We were alone in the elevator and she will not tell you this.” I explained.

“I actually can, but you must be willing to. Mind magic is very very dangerous, I studied it of course but still…” She said.

“Then do it. I don’t see a problem with it, what’s the worst that could happen?” I said.

“I could accidentally make you forget things, change memories or worse, destroy them all.” She said with a whisper. 

“Then you are going to die.” I said and she looked at me in pure shock. “I can’t let you continue that spell, and you will not believe me. I can’t let you go away with that kind of information, it is too dangerous.” I said and started to walk towards her.

“N-no wait wait. M-maybe there is a way!” She said immediately. “I-I was working on a prototype, a kind of mind reading spell which can make the user see the outer thoughts of a pony’s mind. Maybe it could work? It is not as invasive as the normal spells but I never tested it and I don't know if it will work.” She said in a panic.

I stopped and thought about it, there was nothing wrong with trying and having her on my side would be better, she is a genius of sort and taking her away will hinder Celestia’s plans. “Very well.” 

She nodded and lighted her horn and hands, she then put them on my temples and I felt her magic inside of me, I didn’t try to oppose it, even though I was a bit worried about what could happen seeing my last interactions with magic. 

“N-n-no” Sunset whispered trembling.

“Did you see what you wanted to see?” I asked looking at her, she was crying and sat down on a chair breathing heavily.

“She...she lied to me?” She asked. “But-but why?” 

“Would you have helped her if she told you all of her plans?” I asked. 

“NO!” She shouted horrified. 

“That answers your previous question.” I flatly replied.

“Can’t you be a little less cold?” She asked crying. “M-my mentor, my whole career is built around a lie to create one if not the most evil spell in creation!” She shouted at my face.

“I do not feel your despair.” I said truthfully. “When I awoke, I found out I couldn’t feel any emotions, just curiosity, determination and desire.” I explained.

“I-I’m sorry.”She said apologetically.

“Do not be, it is not your fault.” I said simply.

“We need to go away from here. I-I don’t want to die. B-but I can’t remain here.” She said.

“Then you are coming with me, I will get out of here. You will be a criminal though, you may even have to kill.” I said.

“I-I know… I-I don’t know if I could k-k-kill but I will try to not be in your way. I can't work here on a spell that could do that” She said with a barely audible whisper. 

I nodded and took her up putting her over my shoulders like a sack of potato. “Good to know.”

“Hey! Do you have to carry me like this? I can walk you know?” She said protesting.

“You would be too slow.” I replied and hurried out of the room. We barely stepped outside and Sunset immediately started screaming clasping her head in her hands. I put her down.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“My head, it hurts. I-I am forgetting the spell. Celestia enchanted the room with something and AAAH!” She screamed clutching her head. I didn’t know what to do, there was nothing I could do but wait and hoping that she would survive.

After twenty painful seconds she stopped screaming and breathed hard, tears were coming down from her eyes and she finally looked at me. “I-I forgot the spell… I can’t remember it anymore.” She said with a ragged voice.

“That’s probably for the best.” I replied. 

“No it’s not! Who knows what that spell did to me!” She replied hurted.

“We can find out later, we have to go now.” I said with urgency. I didn’t wait for her response and resumed carrying her like before, I returned to the destroyed elevator and ran upwards through the shaft.

“How can you do that?” She asked surprised.

“I’m using my tendrils to grapple the walls, a mix between a gecko and a spider.” i answered.

“Fascinating!” She replied excited.

I ran all the way up the shaft and arrived on the highest floor, once there I pried open the doors of the elevator and looked around. The room was a hub of sorts and all of the personnel were not present, I was going to run away when I had a little idea.

‘Every single thing here could be useful to her, I must try to destroy as much as possible.’ I focused on my biomass once more and started to come up with a way to create a being out of blacklight. The outcome was a little red and black blob. The blob tried to wobble around my hand and failed, it was weak, probably unintelligent but still something. I modified it a bit so that it could control its own biomass without me having to be near it and then let it fall inside the shaft.

“What was that?” Sunset asked.

“A little something I came up with to destroy this facility, or at least I hope it can.” I replied.

“Incredible, you can create life?” She asked utterly shocked with the revelation.

“Seems like it, to a degree at least. Let’s go.” I said. I ran along the room and jumped through a window and ran away from the facility, there were some guards around the building but the majority were firefighters trying to doze down the flames that just now catched up with us and engulfed the hub. 

“Do you have a house here?” I asked.

“Yes, on the third island, Horn street.” She replied pointing to the general direction of it. A giant flying island that orbited around the mount of Canterlot, there was no physical connection through the island and the mountain though.

“How do we get there?” I asked.

“Magic of course.” She said and lighted her horn before we disappeared from the street in a flash of yellow light.
> Chapter 3 Beacon of kindness [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I opened my eyes once again I found myself in a small living room, it had a table, chair, a TV, and a couch. Sunset was already rummaging through stacks of papers on the table trying to finding some kind of document. “What are you searching for?” I asked curious.

“I’m trying to find any documents that may help Celestia with the spell. I swear I had stashed them here somewhere.” She said continuing to search. I just looked around and waited for the moment, that is until an immense explosion of light blinded us all. When I regained my vision I immediately went to a window to check what was happening and in the sky over the mountain there was Celestia. 

She was casting an immense and bright light over the whole city, with my enhanced vision I scrutinized her and saw that her fur was much more whiter than before almost blindingly so she had a majestic crown of pure light on her head and her eyes were aflame with fury, her hair angrly whipped the air and struck the mount melting it whenever they touched it. 

“HUNTER!” She shouted with pure fury and hatred almost breaking the glass of the window. 

“Sunset it may be better to just go away.” I said to her. 

“Yes, yes we better do that, I don’t know if she can track me or not but she knows where I live and she probably already knows that I exited the facility.” She said with hurry and worry.

“Did you get everything that may help you?” I asked.

“There isn’t much to begin with.” She said a bit sad.

“Very well then, get out.” I ordered.

“Why?” She asked getting to the door.

“You’ll see.” I answered. When she closed the door behind her I started to erupt into a multitude of tendrils, I started to eat and destroy all the papers in the room, then the furniture then I started to break the walls. When I completely destroyed the walls I started to coat everything with my biomass eating whatever I could and completely destroying everything else. When I was finished only a smouldering pile of broken walls and glass remained. Around us there wasn’t any other house apparently Sunset managed to get her hands on a very isolated house.

“Well, bye bye to my hard earned house.” Sunny said flatly.

“We cannot let them have anything useful, now where to?” I asked.

“We could go to the Everfree, but it is dangerous. Otherwise we can go to Manehattan, it is a very big place and they will be hard pressed to find us there.” she proposed. 

“How about-” I suddenly stopped when I saw a mighty column of energy coming from the Everfree, it was rainbow coloured and pierced the sky illuminating the whole scenery. “What is that?” i asked her.

“What?” She replied.

“That column of light.” I said pointing towards it.

“I-I don’t see anything.” She said.

“We must go.” The beam was for me in that moment like a flame to a moth, I had to go there. 

“How do we exactly go there? We are a thousands meters in the air you know?” She asked to me.

“I have my ways.” I said as I grabbed her by her midsection and tossed her on my shoulders, then I created two tendril that held her in place. 

“H-Hey what are you doing?” She shouted in surprise.

“Now, we go.” I said and jumped away from the house running towards the ledge of the island, there was a very tall wall to keep ponies away from the ledge, I jumped over it and started to fall.

“ARE YOU CRAZY!?” She shouted at the top of her lungs. I ignored her and opened my arms wide and tried to do the glide from the game, fortunately the body had some instinct and without even knowing I could feel myself decelerating and we started to glide. I looked around my body to find what was causing this and found out that I was using extremely pressurized air to propel myself. 

My body mass was too excessive and I didn’t want to experiment with Celestia hot on my trail so I kept the standard glide, I did though create a membrane that connected my arms to my torso increasing my glide capacity. 

Sunset in the meantime was starting to sweat and breathing hard. “You are safe.” I explained. “There is no need for you to be scared.”

“Easy for you to say!” She shouted over the wind. “If I was meant to fly I would have been born Pegasus!” 

I decided to finish the discussion there and focus on the task ahead, the ground was nearing quite quickly, at some altitude I started to correct my position to a vertical one further decelerating and finally halting my momentum, then I landed. It was rather smooth all things considered and we were rather close to the forest. 

“Never… never again…” Sunset muttered, she weakly climbed down from my shoulders after my tendrils released her and sat down on the grass. “You are crazy…”

“Possible.” I replied. “We need to go, we are almost there.” I said.

“Can we just stay and recover? Night is almost there, I barely slept and after all of this I need to sleep!” She shouted with determination. 

“Fine, you can sleep.” I said. “I’ll keep an eye out for everything else out here.” I told her.

“Don’t you sleep?” She asked.

“No.” Was my curt response.

“I see…” Sunset said as she summoned a bed in the middle of nowhere, climbed upon it and without ceremonies she fell on the pillow.

“Asleep in a second…” I said quite amazed at that. And so I waited, I didn’t have anything to do other than keeping my eyes open, I didn’t feel concern or anything else for Sunset but she could have been useful so I wanted to keep her alive. ‘I could just consume her.’ I thought. ‘But I won’t, she is not a danger anymore, she doesn’t deserve to die like that.’ 


???


I was minding my own business in my cell when the ground started to tremble and shaking. I got up from my bed, scared and went to the cell door, I looked around from the bars and saw that all the guards were absent. Then the tremors ended, I returned to my bed and waited for guards to come, they had to. ‘Right?’ 

What I didn’t expect was to see a little red and blackish blob, it had a sickly oily texture and was moving towards me. I looked at it curiously to see what it was doing, it started to move again and always towards me, it passed the bars going through the gap between them and arrived at the feet of my bed. 

“Hi?” I asked insecure. The blob didn’t do anything, so I tried to pet it. It seemed lonely all by itself. “Don’t worry little Blobby.” I said affectionately putting it in my hands, it was very warm to the touch. “Windy Breeze will take care of you!” I said with vigor. 

The blob immediately started to shake and went down from my hands on my arms and on my shoulders, I then felt a lot of pain from my neck. “AAAAH What? How!” I cried in pain. “NO! NO! Let me go!” I screamed and kicked trying to pry the blob off from me, I felt it enter my body and then darkness.


PHILIP


It was dawn, the sun was up and the night ended. No animal tried to go near us and so Sunset slept without a problem. I then woke her up. “Wake up.” I said flatly shaking her.

“Five minutes…” She said slepply. 

“No.” 

“Yes.”

“No. Wake up, or I’ll bring you along with force.” I said.

“Fine!” She said quite angrily. She then looked around, “It’s dawn!” She said shocked.

“Of course, we have to move quickly, you slept enough.” I flatly stated. “Now let’s go.” 

She started to talk again but she suddenly blushed and took off to the forest. “What are you doing.” I asked keeping pace with her effortlessly. 

“I have to go to the bathroom.” She said blushing hard.

“Oh, I will wait here then.” I said stopping midway towards the edge of the forest. 

“Oh thank you.” She said quite taken aback. “I thought you were going to come with me to keep an eye on me.” She said.

“I’m emotionless not stupid, I know when something is awkward and when I have to keep away from someone. Just be quick.” She nodded and scurried off.

After the problem was taken care of we took off into the forest canopy, I slashed through the vegetation and kept away snakes and the like. While I did that I also consumed a variety of plants and animals, I then started to concoct a venom in my own body for combat purpose, we kept quiet through the whole journey strangely enough, I thought Sunset was more than eager to ask me questions. 

We finally reached an uncrossable chasm, across it the castle of the Two sister remained in its fallen and decayed glory. The bridge that once connected the two ledges is completely broken and cannot be used, not like I could have used it anyway I would have been to heavy. “Can you teleport there?” I asked.

“Yes, I think I can.” She said nodding. 

“Do it, I’ll come immediately after, no need for you to take me with you.” I said, she nodded once again and disappeared in a flash of yellow, I jumped and reached the other side of the chasm. She was already there waiting for me, we didn’t exchange any words and just entered the castle.

“I never believed I would explore this castle.” Sunset said with awe when she entered. “Look at this, these halls are full of history and magic from ancient times!” She said. “Not that I’m not happy but why are we here?” She asked. 

“The beacon took me here. We must find something here, something powerful or peculiar.” I said, I had my theory that the Elements of Harmony were in play right there but I wasn’t fully sure. For one I didn’t have any of the requirements to wield them and even if I had there weren’t six of me. 

“Uh, uh.” She said unconvinced.

We walked through the decayed and old halls of the ancient castle, which was mostly empty aside from some kind of spider. Which is strange, the local fauna should have inhabited this place after it was abandoned, it offers coverage and everything else so why not use it? But I wasn’t an expert by any means so maybe I was wrong. In any case we encountered a long staircase that lead up in the easter tower, we carefully started to climb up, when we reached the top I started to look around trying to find a familiar device.

Inside an ancient room, where the confrontation between Twilight and Nightmare Moon happened I found the Elements, they were in their stone form and obviously the sixth was missing. I walked towards the elements but right before I could take them they disappeared in a flash of light. 

“What?” Sunset asked surprised by the sudden light. “What happened? What did you do?” 

“Nothing, there were some stones here but before I could take them they disappeared in a flash of light.” I explained flatly.

“Why did you want them?” She asked looking around.

“Not sure myself, I found them interesting.” I lied.

“Whatever you say, so we can you know, go away now?” She asked pointing out. “Not that I don’t like the possibility of exploring and studying such ancient ruins and all that but we are too close to Celestia.” She explained.

“There is still one place I need to check. Follow me.” I said and motioned her to do so. 

“Where to?” She asked catching up with me.

“At the base of the castle, from there we go inside the chasm we saw before.” I explained.

“What do you think there will be there? And how can you know this if you were just created in a lab?” She asked with suspicion.

“What I know and how I know that is not of your concern.” I answered swiftly and sharply. “For now I just know where to go, trust me on this.” I said a bit more softly.

“Fine.” She huffed, “But I will get my answers out of you.” 

“Whatever you say.” 


CELESTIA


“What do you mean he is gone!” I shrieked in anger. 

“M-my queen we couldn’t follow him in any way, the camera were all destroyed and our soldiers were mostly dead.” The guard, this sorry excuse of an unicorn said. 

“Utter failures the lot of you!” I shouted from my perfect throne, made out of pure marble and chiseled and modelled by my hands. “Find him. I don’t care how, DO IT!” I ordered. The guard snapped a salute and exited the room immediately. ‘Failures all around me!’ I angrily thought, the armrests of my throne were starting to light up from the heat, I had to calm down a bit. 

Suddenly the door opened once again and yet another guard scurried inside. “Your highness! We’ve got a situation!” The guard shouted with worry.

“What is it.” I replied calmly. 

“Other specimens escaped the facility.” He said although I could feel that wasn’t everything.

“That’s hardly as grave as Hunter’s escape.” I said icely.

“That’s not the worst…” The guard muttered looking down.

“Out with it!” I ordered standing up. “What happened?” I demanded.

“The-” He gulped. “The element of Kindness disappeared.” 

There I stood, completely staggered and taken aback by a simple phrase. The element of Kindness, one of the five I collected all those years prior and the only thing that can help me further my goals. Gone. 

Years of study, research, billions of bits to build an unbreachable fortress around them… AND ONE OF THEM IS GONE!

“WHAT!” I shouted in the canterlot voice, breaking all the windows of the throne room and killing both guards that were at my side from pressure alone, their eyes bulged out popping off from their skulls while their body slowly lost all blood inside of them. The guard who brought me the news was shaking like a leaf under my glare. The throne cracked and then melted down in a puddle, the armor of the guards melted as well, their dead insides bubbled from heat and in a burst of blood and brain tissue their skull exploded with force. But I didn't care.

An immense aura of pure light encompassed me and I shouted to the lone guard. “HEADS WILL ROLL FOR THIS! I WILL OBLITERATE THE WHOLE SQUAD THAT SHOULD HAVE GUARDED THEM!” I pushed  the guard against the golden doors of the throne room.

I grabbed him with my magic and melted his body from inside out, his screams will be a warning to all of the others who would dare to fail me. I let go of the charred body, now more bones than anything else, I opened the doors revealing the rest of my guards terrified against the wall so to be as far away from me as possible. “TRIPLE THE GUARDS FOR THE ELEMENTS FIND ME WHO LET THIS HAPPEN AND BRING THEM TO ME!” 

‘ I can feel that this is Hunter’s fault, I can just feel it in my soul! Damn you!’ I angrily thought cooling down the temperature of the room. 

‘First he manages to resist my compulsion spell and now this!? How did he even do that in the first place, he shouldn’t have been able to I used my own Ambrosia to bypass any magical immunity so how… No… no He couldn’t it can’t be. There has to be another explanation He can’t have it too… he can’t! He can’t be a God!’ 


PHILIP


After ten minutes of walking we exited the castle and reached the deep chasm, I warned her that it would have been a long fall and that I could carry her if she wanted to. She refused trusting her spells more than me, that was fine. I jumped down and landed with a thunderous echo all around the chasm leaving a giant crater under my feet. I then waited for Sunset.

Sunset apparently had the same idea as I and she arrived at bullet speed against the ground. I immediately took action and went under her with my arms raised ready to catch her. ‘Why am I doing this?’ I couldn’t help but ask. Sure she was important but not this much, I shouldn’t have cared for her wellbeing. 

I caught her in my arms and slowly dropped her on her hooves on the ground. “Are you crazy?” I asked. 

“I had several failsafes you know?” She replied back.

“You could have died!” I shouted, a pang of… something… struck me in the heart, or where it should have been anyway. I recognized it immediately.

“Worry.” I whispered.

“What?” She asked looking at me.

“Nothing.” I said recollecting myself, ‘It is so strange to feel something else after all this time, it wasn’t much but I honestly can’t recall what the other emotions feels like. But why with her? The other mare in the lab was in much more danger but I felt nothing there so why…’ 

“Come, it is here somewhere.” I said and started to walk off trying to find the entrance to the tree of harmony cave, we continued to explore around the chasm without success, for some reason I couldn’t find the entrance anywhere. 

“This place is empty.” Sunset stated. “Are you sure there is something here?” 

“Positive. I just have to find it.” I answered back, suddenly though I felt another presence. I ran towards Sunset and took her away just in time for a Manticore to come down where she was standing moments ago. 

“A manticore!” Sunset shouted in worry. 

I put her down and faced the manticore, I created my claws and jumped. The manticore jumped too towards me and our claws encountered midair, upon contact I swiftly kicked it in the gut propelling it towards the sky. I landed and waited, the manticore recovered and returned down to attack us, I dodged its claws and slashed mine in its side causing it to roar in pain, it suddenly hit me with its tail using it like a whip. The venom in the barbed appendage tried to flow into my body but I immediately destroyed the toxin and refocused on the battle. I sprinted towards the beast and when it tried to slash at me I slid under it exiting from behind, I then jumped on it and grabbed its wings. I then slashed them at the base basking the creature in its own blood.

Again the tail hit me from behind but this time I managed to latch onto it, I started to pull but the creature’s tail was stronger than I thought and threw me against the opposite wall of the chasm. I created a crater upon contact with the wall and was immediately buried under the stones. I pushed the stones away and ran again to the manticore, I took a rock from the ground and threw it at it right in its right eye. The creature now half blind tried to attack me again, but it was sloppy and slow. The blood loss was starting to have effect. 

I viciously slashed at its sides while it was unable to hit me because of its injuries, I impaled its right paw in the ground with a claw and embedded it into the ground, then I did the same for the other. Now pinned I jumped in the air to end it when I noticed the creature tail rising, thinking it an attack towards me I raised my arms trying to block. What I wasn’t expecting was Sunset scream which made me look towards her, in her arm there was a long thin needle. 

I changed from claws to hammerfists and bashed the head of the manticore with as much force as possible completely destroying its skull rendering the body immobile. I consumed the entire body and swiftly ran towards Sunset who was on the ground white as a ghost.

“Sunset?” I asked worry in my voice. “Do you have some kind of antivenom?” I asked her.

She weakly shook her head and started to cry, she mouthed a silent “I don’t want to die” and closed her eyes. I tightened my fists and started to tinker, I didn’t have much time. ‘Its venom will give me the antivenom, I just need to start some tests… ‘ I looked at Sunset once again. ‘Quickly.’ 

From the outside not more than thirty seconds passed, from my prospective it passed an eternity, I created more and more venom and more and more enzymes to break it down. Whenever I had a breakthrough I created a sane pony cell and tried it on it. When I failed I threw the whole thing away and restarted. After a lot of experiment I had it, an antivenom. 

I quickly created a modified version of the claw, one that could also inject liquids into somebody. I didn’t have the time to do more tests and I wasn’t sure of what would happen but I had to hope that she would have been alright.

I injected the antivenom in her carotid and hoped for the best. At first nothing happened, then I noticed that her heart wasn’t beating anymore, I immediately ripped away her clothes and did an incision on her chest, I put a tendril in it and went for her heart. Once I found it I started to manually pump it, I did this for a couple of minutes, I was starting to give up when I felt her heart beating again on its own. She drew in a heavy breath and coughed a bit but nothing more, she remained unconscious. 

I recalled the tendril and closed the incision with my own cells, I obviously converted them into functioning cells, I then sat down and put her head on my lap to let her rest a bit more comfortably.

‘Why did I do that? There was no reason to. I could have just killed her, took her memory and be on my way… instead I’m here doing the pillow. Why did I save her?’

‘Because she didn’t want to die.’ I suddenly thought, ‘She didn’t want to die, she wanted to live. I-I cared for her and her plea actually worked. I saved her. ‘ I realized.

“I saved her.” That was what counted in that moment, I couldn’t think of anything else other than the fact that I actually saved her. And I felt content, I felt content of this. Suddenly across from where we were resting the wall sparkled and vanished, from where I was I could see the Tree of Harmony. It was magnificent, it shined with a majestic rainbow colour, around it there were several small lakes and it was right at the center. On its branches there were hundreds of different creatures I never saw before in my life, the entire cave it called home was filled with beautiful crystals which pulsed in rhythm with the tree itself.

I don’t know what it is still. But in that moment, I truly felt as I was still a human, I felt sadness for Sunset, crippling worry for her that I almost lost her. Not because she was an asset but because I cared for her, maybe it’s because I already knew her from the show or something else… and I felt pure happiness in managing to save her life. 

I felt hate towards Celestia, pure hot red hate for what she did, for what she wanted to do. I felt disgust for my actions, for what I did. I was a murderer and I killed in cold blood. Did they deserve it? Maybe, I’m no judge they did kill innocent pegasi and Earth ponies but I… I don’t know.

I felt a comforting hum from the Tree, it emanated a warm energy that engulfed me. A form came out from the Tree, it was a girl, she had a pair of beautiful wings that shined in the sun. Her entire body was made out of a sparkling pink mist that almost looked solid.

“Never forget.” she said. I blinked and she was in front of me. “Never forget this Kindness, for it is what makes you, you.” The figure said and crouched down, she hugged me with her arms and wings and held me there. I was too stunned to react but I could feel pure shear kindness from her, but also a deep buried, hidden rage. Red and hot but it dwarfed against her kindness. The figure started to shrink down, she started to become more juvenile by the second.

“You will find us all. I’m the first of six, I will help you. I will be at your side and together we will save this world from stagnation. Will you do it?” She asked now as little as a newborn. 

“Yes.” I answered immediately. “I will save this world from stagnation and keep my promise. I will save it, for me, for you…” I looked at the still form of Sunset. “...And for her.” 

“Thank you… Free me from my prison… Goodbye.” She said and in a flash of pink she was gone, what remained of her was a single pink gem. The element of Kindness. I reached for it and took it in my hand.

‘Who am I?’ She asked.

“Fluttershy.” I said with a smile. 

‘I like it… who are you?’ 

“My name is Philip Mercer.” I answered.

‘That’s nice… Will you help me?’ She asked sweetly.

“If you want me to, then I will.” I said, I started to feel my emotions crawl away leaving me.

‘You poor man… don’t worry, you will be whole one day, I will help you. We will help you. Farewell…’


???


Agony… pure agony, I don’t know what happened, after the blob touched me I felt as thousands of needles were piercing me, I could feel my bones liquify and my body catch fire. I opened my eyes, my surroundings were destroyed, the walls were full of a strange organic material and my once closed cell was now completely open. I didn’t think twice and started to run away, I fled from the facility. On my way out though I tried to open and free some more test subjects, I couldn’t leave them there after all. Many of them had some kind of collar around their neck, I removed it once they told me that it was causing a lot of pain for them.

When I tried to open a door I wouldn’t have imagined to completely rip it from its hinges, I didn’t have time to truly question it so I just continued, in my mad dash for freedom. Everything was stopped by a single obstacle, the elevator was completely broken and aflame. I couldn’t use my wings to fly up and I knew there weren’t any stairs anywhere. That’s when one of the subjects helped me.

The pony, a blue coated silvery maned earth pony inhaled and then exhaled a powerful jet of water that extinguished the flames in seconds. He silently nodded to me before turning into water himself and starting to make his way up the shaft. Many others passed by me with similar capabilities, who could turn into a flock of raven and who could just climb upon the wall with it’s bare hands. 

I decided that I had to go out too so I flapped my wing and took off, too much force though made me connect with the ceiling. I went against it and then fell off to the ground, for some reason I couldn’t trust my wings… That was sad. I went near the shaft and tried to do something, maybe I had some other powers other than just super strength. Imagine my surprise when my hands coated themselves with tendrils that stuck to the shaft. I was so shocked I couldn’t breath for a good minute, when I finally noticed my lack of breath I started to breath once again, manually. 

If my hands could do that who could say that my hooves couldn’t do the same? I put a hoof against the wall and once again I remained stuck to it, I put another one and found myself on the wall. I smiled happily and giggled like a filly. I started to run on the vertical wall and didn’t stop until I reached the top. 

From there I exited the shaft and walked out of the facility. I can’t believe I finally managed to exit that horrid place, the moon in the sky was there waiting for me, but what was truly important was the feeling of something, someone that made it out with me too. 

“Hey, sweetie… we did it. We are out of there… Oh my dear, I would have never thought that this day would have arrived… I-I “ I started to cry tears of happiness. “I’m so happy… “  
> Chapter 4 Stellar Reception[Edited]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I decided to wait some more time for Sunset to wake up, in the meantime I looked at the element of kindness in my hand, it was just like in the show albeit without the resemblance to Fluttershy’s cutie mark, it was instead hexagonal and perfectly polished, so much so you could see yourself in it. In the end I just put it inside my torso for safekeeping and resumed my wait.

After some more time passed Sunset started to wake up, she shifted and opened her eyes, “W-where am I?” She asked with a raspy voice. “What happened?” 

“You were attacked by a manticore.” I replied to her. “I was fighting it when it plunged its tail and venom into you. You almost died.” 

“What…?” She asked uncertain and confused.

“You almost died. Fortunately for you I found an antivenom just in time and saved you.” I replied dully. 

“Oh…” She said looking down. “Then thank you.” 

“It was no problem, I need you alive after all.” I said, unsure if I should have told her the truth. 

“Well, thank you anyway.” She said before continuing. “But what about that light?” 

“Light?” I asked.

“Yes, I saw a magnificent light coming from somewhere, I don’t remember a lot about what happened until now but I do remember that light clearly.” She explained.

“Ah, yes. You must be talking of the Kindness.” I said, I reasoned that there wouldn’t be anything bad by telling her what happened. “A spirit made of kindness, appeared to me. She gave me a gem, then disappeared. She said she would help us.” I explained.

“Kindness? Can I see this gem?” She said finally sitting down on her own on the floor. 

I took the gem and held it in front of her. “Impossible…” She said with awe. “This is one of the elements of harmony. But how…” She said in awe.

“I don’t know either, the person just told me that it will help us and disappeared.” I explained. 

“Can I study it?” Sunset proposed. “I can try to figure out what to do with it, and unknowingly we just hindered one of Celestia’s plans.” 

“How so?” I asked curious.

“You see, Celestia started to collect these like a thousands years ago, after her sister went mad with power and dark visions. Celestia used these to weaken her enough and then executed her.” She said.

‘Luna’s dead? Celestia didn’t just put her on the moon she actually killed her. I noticed that there was no mare in the moon but this... ‘ 

“After that she kept them inside Olympus, her personal fortress and are extremely heavily guarded, but I think that if they really want to go out they can hehe.” she said with a dry laugh at the end.

“I suppose.” I replied, “No matter, we need to go. If what you say is true then Celestia will be throwing a fit right now, and if that light show that happened before held any particular magic then she will detect it.” I said.

“True,” Sunset nodded. “The energy of that, vision, was so intense the effect is still here lingering.” She said with her horn glowing. 

“All the more motive to depart.” 

I carried her over the wall and continued inside the thick forest. The air was heavy and very humid, Sunset wasn’t faring well, her coat was shining with droplets of sweat rolling down. “Don’t you have any spells for the heat?” I asked her.

“Yes, but I don’t want to waste magic if possible.” She replied with a sigh. “I hate this place already.” 

“You never came here?” I asked.

“No hehe, I-I was always inside some lab or in a library doing research, not like I could do anything more than that.” She said with a hint of sadness. 

“I dare say you weren’t happy.” 

“Not in the slightest, I was so cramped up, I don’t know how I managed to survive this long.” She replied. “I-” I interrupted her by putting a hand on her muzzle. 

“Shh.” I ordered. “I feel something, something dangerous. Keep your voice down, move where I move.” 

I started to walk crouched, I pushed my senses further out to find whatever my guts was telling me to look out for. I didn’t have to look much further away, I poked my head through a bush and I saw it, the creature was easily as big as a house its fur was cyan with a distinct magical glow to it, the sky itself was embedded in its flesh. 

I looked around, there was nothing around the creature, it was looking around searching for something in the middle of a valley surrounded by the vegetation. “What is that.” 

“An Ursa… “ Sunset said with both glee and fear. 

“Ah yes, tell me everything about it. If we have to fight it I want to be at an advantage.” I replied not removing my gaze from the Ursa. 

“The Ursa are big, extremely powerful and are full of Astral Magic. This one is probably a cub, you can see it from the stars that are inside of it, furthermore the colouration indicates that it did not arrive to the adult stage of its life. The Ursa have an almost impenetrable hide, add that to their natural regeneration and you have the most powerful predator of the Everfree. Not even the hydra or the Basilisk dare to face one.” She explained while I made mental notes. 

“You suggest we stay well away from it right?” I offered.

“Absolutely, only Celestia managed to kill a celestial being like the Ursa.” She said striking my curiosity.

“There are more?” I asked.

She nodded “Right now there are thirteen: Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo and the Ursa. There was one more but it’s the one that died, Draco the celestial dragon. He was the absolute ruler of the dragons but when he claimed the land of Equestria as his own Celestia challenged him to a battle, she won and now he lays dead.” 

“Interesting.” I said shelving the information for later. “Come on, let's just go around this Ursa.” I proposed.

We started to make our way through the foliage of the forest being wary of going too near the edge, we managed to arrive right next to the Ursa without being spotted and were starting to go away from it. But then suddenly the Ursa swatted its paw in our direction, I dropped on the ground pulling Sunset with me and narrowly evaded the attack.

“It saw us!” I shouted and threw Sunset away from the danger, she used her magic to slowly fall on a tree branch and hugged the trunk tightly in order to not fall off. Meanwhile the Ursa swatted again at me this time hitting me squarely and throwing me away. I destroyed three trees before stopping, then I regenerated and ran at the beast. 

I jumped over another blow and landed on its outstretched paw, I formed my claws and buried them deeply inside its flesh, the Ursa roared in pain and dislodged me. It went on two legs and tried to hammer me down with its front paws, I rolled away from it and used a tendril to try and slash at its eyes, the creature saw it coming and narrowly avoided it by throwing its head up. 

Its eye was saved but I managed to latch onto one of its teeth and by using a lot of force I yanked it out making a cascade of blood come from its mouth. The bear howled in pain and anger, now without a tooth it tried to squash me with its immense paw, I narrowly avoided the hit and instead latched against its arm and started to climb up the tooth still in my grasp.  

The Ursa tried to make me lose my grasp by suddenly throwing up its arm, what that accomplished was that it threw me into the air, I was expecting something like that though so I left my left hand buried in its skin and stretched my arm up to the maximum height of my flight, once there I just restricted it all at once creating a slingshot effect. The tooth in my right hand ended up buried deeply into the beast’s left eye with a sickening sound of exploding flesh and jelly like substances, the hit was so tremendous the bear lost footing and fell down howling in pure agony clutching its useless eye. 

I landed near the Ursa and walked to its face, the beast couldn’t see me approaching from its blind eye, I readied a massive hammerfist using a good chunk of my biomass, I was ready to bash the skull of that thing without a slick of remorse and continue our journey when I heard a voice.

“It’s over…” The voice of Sunset said from the destroyed treeline. “You won, there is no need to kill it, the loss of another celestial beast is a grave one for this world.” She said coming down from a tree with her telekinesis. She approached me dead serious and stared into my eyes, “I won’t allow you to kill it.” She said with incredible firmness.

“Ok.” Was my sudden reply, I removed my hammerfist and just walked to the downed beast. “Today I won Ursa, be this a reminder to not attack me again less you want to end up in a grave.” I told it, it snarled and growled but made no effort to attack.

“That was so stupidly useless to say. Your edge may have cut me.” Sunset deadpanned. 

“Oh ha ha.” I drily replied, then morphed my body so that it was filled with blades everywhere. “Like my edge?” 

“Idiot.” She said with a huff and proceeded to walk into the forest direction unknown. 

“Now that we are safer than before, why don’t you tell me where we are going?” I asked her.

“We are going to Manehattan, there is a unicorn there called Moondancer she was my assistant before Celestia sent her to another research facility. We are going to find her, she was studying the nature of the divine before her research was stopped to deal with a machine capable of harnessing the Elements of Harmony energy.” She explained.

“That’s cool. What will that accomplish?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” She asked honestly confused by my words.

“Well you talk of her research like they will be important for my quest.” I replied.

“How can you even start your quest without knowing your enemy? Celestia is a Goddess you can’t just walk to palace and fight her. No, you must understand how her godly powers work, and how to counter them you idiot.” She explained sternly.

“Godly powers?” I asked. “You sure? Ok then, I guess. At least that will be interesting.” I replied curious on how her powers would work here if she truly has god like abilities. “How long till we arrive?” I asked.

“At our current pace we will probably reach the outskirts of town in two weeks.” 

“Too slow.” I said and grabbed her by her midsection, threw her onto my shoulder and started to sprint at max speed in the same direction.

“Oh shit are you insane!?” She asked terrified by the rapidly disappearing scenery around us. 

“So how much faster is this?” I asked casually.

“Probably something like a lot faster.” 

“That wasn’t very scientific.” I lamented.

“Well sorry if I don’t have a calculator or anything with me to understand how fast we are going.” She said. 

“Well we will arrive when we are going to arrive.” I said and continued my run.

After two hours of run Sunset asked. “Don’t you get tired?” 

“Nope, can’t get tired, hungry, sleepy, I can’t feel pain if I don’t want to and I can turn my body into whatever I want to.” I said and demonstrated it by creating a second head on my back that started to talk to her. “See?” 

“Gross.” She said disgusted. “Make it go away.” She pleaded.

“Oh fine.” I said with a little smirk. 

“I really don’t understand how can you do these things.” She wondered.

“Well my body is one giant mass of cells that can be remodeled and recreated via bio engineer manipulation through the strings of RNA my virus contains, only I can do that to every cell at the same time resulting in extremely high speed mutation as well as a complete control over every part of my body at any time.” I explained.

“Fascinating, and can others be turned into what you are? Infected is what I’m meaning.” She asked summoning scroll and quill.

I sighed. “Yes, I can indeed turn other living beings into something like me. The only downside is, I can’t really choose what they will become. Let me explain, when I infect someone with the virus there is an extremely high chance of the subject of dying immediately due to the absurd quantity of mutations in the body happening all at once, even if the subject actually survive this process there are several things that can go wrong. First and foremost the most probable thing is for the subject to become a mindless zombie only capable of consuming everything in their path, no control over the virus at all, the contrary in fact. If someone like me is near enough to one of those it can start a hive mind connection controlling them and all of those who were near it. If you don’t become that then you could become a mindless brute built like a tank, or a gigantic beast. Both of them and everything in between sharing the same mindless thing.”

“There is then the possibility of you becoming an Evolved, you will then retain your mind but have limited control over the virus, you will be able to change form at will and create one type of weapon for yourself, still it is not even close to the power of a true Prototype. I am that Prototype, I’m at the top of the food chain in every conceivable sense, I can eat anything and I’m basically unkillable without using extremely powerful weapons or magic, even with that there is still a possibility that I survive.” 

“In conclusion yes I could create others of me, the cost though would be astronomical.” 

She remained silent through my whole explanation, she then sighed and threw away her parchment closed her eyes and just rest there. I didn’t say anything more and focused on the run.


CELESTIA


‘What an utter waste of my time.’ I angrily thought. ‘Killing these idiots won’t bring back the element, at least I can increase their security… But why risk it? I’ll call for a transport tomorrow and I’ll bring them all back here in my hands, no more letting them roam around it’s too risky.’ “Guard.” I called the remaining one that was outside the room.

“Yes your majesty?” He asked bowing deeply before me.

“Send a message to Olympus, tell them to come to Canterlot immediately all their further movements will be postponed, stand-by until further orders are given, priority is red get going.” I ordered.

“Yes.” He said quickly and ran out of the room. 

‘Damn Hunter, he is still out there, I could send out an order of capture, but who am I kidding? He survived my magic, these pathetic mortals will only slow him down at best and just give him a good meal at worst, no I must think of something to bring him down. But what… ‘ A sudden realization struck me, “Yes… Hahaha…” ‘I might just have what I need… hehehe.’ 

I went down to my cellar, I passed the still body of my oh so dear sister, encased in stone. “We could have ruled together, but your own blindness to the greatness we are just got you killed, you were the foolish one weren’t you? Look at you, you threw everything for one measly mortal and lo and behold you won’t even share a tomb with him!” I shouted punching her face destroying it in a thousand pieces, I then calmed down, rebuilt the statue and continued my journey.

“She loved you more than she would have ever loved him. You know that right?” A voice said, that lousy little impertinent voice dared to speak to me without my consent. 

“Tantabus… if you truly want your essence to not be ripped apart by the Sun itself you better close your mouth right here right now.” I seethed looking at him through his worthless cage of magic and machine. A giant cube that shined with pure power, and inside the lone figure of a somewhat similar Luna, but the colour of the hair were different, much darker. The eyes were completely white and yet they still radiated sadness.

“You have become a monster, what do you really want.” He asked.

“Hehehe…” I chuckled, darkly coating him in my magic. “Perfection.”

Oh how adorable were his screams, like a thousand of innocent dreams and hopes being crushed for my own projects, well, that may be because it is exactly what happened. 

“You still cling on that one don’t you?” I asked.

“You, will never get your hands on it…” 

“True, then again.” Screams. “I never said I wanted it in the first place but it’s amusing to see you defend it anyway.” 

“You’ll die.” He promised.

“Dream, that’s all you can see. And reality is much more worse than your nightmare!”


???



We finally arrived to Ponyville, the only town where we could have some peace. “Hey!” Somepony yelled from behind me. “Hello I’m Daisy!” She said waving at me, she had a pink coat with a light green mane. She was wearing a light coat with a pair of sport leggings. “Do you come out here to train too? Although I never saw you… Who are you?” 

“Oh, hi my name is Windy Wind, happy to meet you!” I greeted her waving my hands. “Yes, I’m new here, I just moved from Canterlot and I’m wondering if I can find somewhere to stay until I get a job and then buy my own house.” I said a bit ashamed of having to rely on this stranger already.

“Oh, dear it’s no problem at all, you seem like a nice girl I guess you could stay with me for the future, I have a spare room anyway in my home so you can stay there and pay rent when you find a job.” She offered. “Up until then you will help me in the house keeping it clean, what do you say?” 

“Well I accept!” I eagerly said. “Thank you so much!”

“Well then for now do you mind keeping me company until I finish my run? It’s short after all, we just go through the Whitetail wood and come back, no haste or nothing just a leisurely pace will do.” She said still keeping her legs moving. 

“Sure.” I accepted.

When we were back dear Daisy was sweating everywhere while I wasn’t even tired at all, I followed her up and talked to her about my life before the facility and about how I wanted a fresh start. I completely avoided talking about that dreadful place I didn’t want her to be worried about me.

“Windy… How can you be this calm after this run?” She asked between gasps.

“Oh, uhm I’m very fit?” I tried to say with a smile.

“Oh, sure I guess, well my home is right around Sugarcube Corner come I’ll show you your room. We walked past a curious building shaped like a gingerbread house, it was a bakery she explained one that served the best sweets around here. It’s also where she works, her house was just behind it across the street it was a fairly simple two stories house. The walls were white with the windows being in a pinkish tint, “Here is my humble abode.” She told me presenting it.

“Come in.” She gestured to me opening the door, I entered and was greeted with a pretty living room, there was a couch on the right and on the left a single marble table with a big chandelier over it, the kitchen was right after the entrance and a set of stairs brought me to the second story, my room was the second from the left, the room was obviously empty except for a bed, a desk and a drawer. “You can do whatever you want here but no painting the walls, I can’t stand the smell. Alright I’ll go take a shower now you go in the kitchen there are several Muffin there for you to snack on if you like.” 

I nodded and went downstairs to the kitchen and found a basket of muffins idly standing on the wooden circular table, I took one and was ready to munch over it when my entire hand became something else and instantly devoured the pastry without a second to waste. I was so shocked I actually fell down and started to stare at my hand, it was back to normal. 

‘What’s going on?’ 


PHIL


While I was running to Manehattan I kept an eye open for any kind of danger around the forest, as I predicted we were almost attacked by many creatures all of them though got scared when I started to impale them without slowing down and with no hands so we continued our journey in somewhat peace, that is until we found a strange thing in the forest. I couldn’t see it from distance because of the thick foliage but I smelled smoke, I ignored it at first thinking of a camper or something but then I noticed that the forest actually started to diminish and many trees had signs of fire over them. 

“A fire started?” I wondered loudly.

“Seems like it, but look closer the tree is burned only from a single direction.” Sunset pointed out.

“Right…” I continued forward and arrived in a cleared part of forest, ash was falling from the sky and hundreds of trees were either on the ground or almost there, in the center of the embers and ashes there was a man on his knees, he was completely naked and most of his body was alight with flames, his skin was black as coal and his eyes opened looking at me, they only contained a small flame that burned with determination.

“Who are you?” He asked sounding like a fire started when he talked, embers and small flames came out of his mouth as well.

“I could ask the same thing really, but I’m Philip Mercer and this is Sunset Shimmer. But you can call me Hunter.” I replied, upon hearing my name his eyes widened and stood up.

“Hunter?” He said again, “Then you are the one that caused the immense explosion at the facility!” He shouted pointing at me.

“Yes.” I simply replied.

The man actually started to cry, well he cried lava so tears of joy is wrong but you get the idea. “Thank you! Thank you!” He shouted hugging me, he basically teleported bursting into flames and reforming right in front of me.

“Not that I don’t appreciate your… affection. But you are a smouldering boulder right now, you are indeed burning me.” I said calmly.

“Oh sorry, sorry.” He hastily replied backing off. “My name is… was Fire Tempest, I guess I live up to the name at least.” He said with a tinge of sadness.

“Your name is appreciated but what are you?” Sunset asked from behind me.

“I was the first living subject that survived the implantation of a raw fire core inside my soul.” He said.

“The first?” She asked trembling.

He nodded, “Indeed, before me countless tried but died.” 

Sunset stopped talking and just stared at the ground. “So Fire Tempest, what were you doing here?” I asked pointing around.

“I just got free and I just wanted to try my powers and magic, unfortunately it is extremely destructive as you saw. But at least now I know what I can do to a degree, eh… get it?” He said pointing his fingers at me.

“Indeed.” I replied with no emotion. “You don’t appear to be a pony anymore though.” 

“Yes, they said it was a side effect of becoming a living embodiment of fire itself, I became a strange creature, and unfortunately my new form is very against clothing so I’m sorry about that as well.” He replied scratching the back of his head.

“I see…” I said observing him. “Are there others like you?” I asked.

“Indeed, I was just the first to get out, but there are at least three more, wind, water and you guessed it earth. All three of them having abilities similar to mine I think.” He said shrugging.

“I see… Well I’ll be off now, I need to reach Manehattan and find a pony there.” I said.

“I would gladly follow you and help, but as you can see I’m not exactly easy to conceal nor exactly the best at not burning anything I touch.” He said dropping his head.

“Given enough time I’m sure I could just create a completely fireproof vest.” Sunset said. “But I would need time and resources I lack here.”

“That’s fine Mrs Sunset, freedom is more than enough for now.” He replied easily.

“Well, Fire Tempest, I hope you’ll find what you want to do with that freedom.” I said and started to walk away.

“One of the ideas was to kill that bitch of Celestia, but I know when I’m sorely outmatched. Still I can certainly fire some of them from service. Hehe.” He said laughing at his own pun.

“Sure, you do that. Just don’t do that in Manehattan, I don’t want any trouble while I’m there if I can avoid it.” I said, “I hope to see you again, farewell.” 

And thus that’s how we encountered Fire Tempest, we left the smoldering area and continued our journey to the city, while we were running through the forest though I heard something coming and it was absurdly big, I went behind a tree and looked around but I couldn’t find whatever it was making the sound. Then a giant shadow covered us both and I looked up, in the sky there was a humongous structure, it was pentagonal in shape and had five roaring engine in the corners keeping it afloat, the building was covered in guns and all kind of magical defenses, the structure hummed with the sheer energy required to keep it afloat, the fortress was blindingly white with dozens of statue all representing Celestia made out of pure gold, all around the immense vessel there were hundreds of other smaller ones yet even those were incredibly big. 

All of them had some kind of giant structure in the back where the engine were located not only that but they were all armed with a multitude of weapons, in the remaining spaces there were hundreds of thousands of smaller vehicles swarming around the fortress following it. “What in the hell is that?” I asked shocked.

“Olympus, and apparently the whole Pantheon is en route too, they are all going to Canterlot.” Sunset said.

“Why.” I asked remaining as hidden as possible.

“The disappearance of an Element of Harmony must have caused a massive panic in the Olympus, probably Celestia recalled them all to keep the Elements near her.” Sunset concluded. 

“The Element of Kindness was inside that thing?” I wondered aloud.

“Indeed, and don’t you even think about that, we can’t attack it. Olympus is absolutely impenetrable, there are thousands of guards and the shields will never let us through, maybe the only one capable of destroying it through sheer power would be Celestia.” Sunset explained.

“Wasn’t in my plans to actually assault it, but we may have to do it in order to retrieve the other Elements, that or we have to find out how this one arrived here in the first place.” I said taking the jewel in my hand, it shined with a comforting light.

“Keep it hidden we don’t know if they can sense its presence.” Sunset hurriedly said.

“Right.” I complied and put it back in my body. “Do you have any information on Olympus?” I said after the ships passed leaving only their thunderous sounds behind. 

“Olympus is the ultimate fortress, it’s completely self-sufficient and has no need for fuel, the source of energy for this immense structure is a single singularity that Celestia created using the corpse of the Stellar Dragon, it has gardens inside which produce food for the troops inside and a magical system to recycle water. The guards inside are the best of the best in all kinds of combat and strategy. Olympus has five layers of shield, everything alive that comes into contact with it gets reduced into nothingness by the energy in it. Lastly the armor that covers it is absolutely magic resistant and can actually fire the spells back to the casters, even without that the entire structure is heavily reinforced with a military secret alloy of steel, which makes it almost Indestructible, only extremely powerful unicorns can mold that alloy and even they risk severe injury. All in all Olympus is as I said, impenetrable.” 

“Sounds grim, no matter. I’ll find a way inside.” I replied.

“Didn’t you hear me? I told you it is impossible.” She said looking at me like I was crazy.

“Possibly, but I made a deal, and I will keep it through to the end.”

“You are absolutely insane.” She said. “For now let’s just arrive to Manehattan and find Moondancer, from there we can concoct some kind of plan to stop Celestia.” 

“I agree, then let’s go. I want to reach the city before night falls.”
> Chapter 5 Manehattan [Edited]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

We arrived to Manehattan right before the sunset, the megalopolis stretched in the horizon with a multitude of buildings the setting sun bathed the streets with an orangish glow that stuck to the eye from a hill far from it, the city was good looking. Sunset was absolutely enamored with the sight so much so that she asked if we could stop there to look at it some more, I reluctantly agreed. 

“So, where to?” I asked after a minute or so.

sigh “Do you always ruin good moments? Can’t you lay back and enjoy the scenery?” She asked.

“I don’t see why, we are here to find Moondancer and find a way to kill Celestia, not to look at the scenery.” I bitterly said.

“Fine.” She huffed annoyed. “Follow me I’ll take you to her, but I will need some kind of camouflage I can’t be seen by the guards and start a whole operation to find us in here.” She said.

“Let me check if they have standing orders to find and capture you, wait for me here, stay hidden and if anyone comes here beside me either hide or kill them.” I ordered her, she visibly winced at the last word but nodded nonetheless hiding behind a tree. I on the other hand turned into the first guard I consumed and tweaked his facial features a bit so that he could not be recognized. 

I made my way into the city and looked around, the city was fairly similar to my Manhattan, lots of people and lots of cars. That Celestia was worried about my escape though was evident, there were patrols all around. ‘Taking one of them might be difficult, I can’t just blaze in it and kidnap one like in the game, I don’t think they have Alzheimers here. What to do…’ I continued to look around until I found one guard that was detached from the patrols. 

He was a tall muscular brown unicorn, he had blue eyes and a speck of blonde mane could be seen coming out of his helmet, he was wearing a much more complex suit of armor, it was black as the others but had lots of extra padding and metal straps. I approached the stallion calmly, he saw me but didn’t acknowledge my existence, he just looked up then took out a small pad on which he started to push some buttons. 

“Hey.” I started the conversation.

“What do you want? Who are- wait… You are one of the ELDS aren’t you? I heard that some experiment went really bad up there. What happened?” He asked looking up from the pad.

“Shit happened, a rogue experiment got free and freed all the others. We are going around searching for them now. Hey I just arrived ya know, I was wondering if any new info went through. Do you guys have any orders from the higher ups?” I told him trying to sound friendly enough.

“Shit mate, well yeah we do.” He said and showed me his pad. “Look at this shit, they want us to patrol the streets 24/7 can you believe it? I’m absolutely drowning in papers, not only that but they want us to report if we see this girl.” He said showing me a picture of Sunset, it was a bit outdated but it was clearly her. 

“Truly a pain in the ass I know. Oh wait.” I feigned an incoming transmission. “Yes, yes sir. Immediately, over. I have to go man pleasure talking to you.” I said and went to walk away when his hand stopped me. I almost ripped his head off but I got myself under control just in time.

“Hey name’s Blaze Sword. If you want to hang out you can come up to our base here in Manehattan, 21st Alicorn boulevard can’t miss it.” He said with a smile.

“Sure mate, and name’s Shield Fortress.”

I returned back where Sunset was hiding I disposed of the disguise and searched for her. Fortunately she was still where I left her although sleeping. I nudged her awake. 

“Uh… wha?” She said groggily, she looked around and saw me glaring at her. 

“So, how would you have gone into hiding while sleeping exactly?” I asked her.

“I had an alarm spell set up, if anyone except you walked towards me it would have awoken me.” She said smugly. “I may not be a super being like you but I’m not an idiot.”

“Alright sorry.” I said a bit ashamed, I also heard a faint giggle coming from the Element of Kindness. ‘Oh haha laugh you little…’ I stopped my thoughts and returned to reality I had things to say. “Ok so yes they are searching for you, the city is basically a fortress right now guards are everywhere.” I told her.

“What do we do then? We have to find Moondancer.” She replied starting to think it over. “What about a disguise?” 

“Too risky, if anyone notices that you are indeed masking your face they will get suspicious. No we need something radical and far more difficult to identify. Can you magically change your face?” I asked.

“Some master illusionists can, but that’s not my field of expertise.” She replied shooting down the idea. 

“Well I could biologically change your face, it would be fairly easy for me, but possibly very traumatizing for you to look at yourself and seeing someone else.” I told her.

“Can’t you just, I dunno return my face as it was?” She asked actually thinking about it. 

“Well yes but the operation would be fairly long, while I could completely replace all of your cells I don’t want to risk rejections of any kind, that means having to change the skeletal structure and the fur completely by hand, the mane is easier at least.” I told her going through the whole operation in my head.

‘Uhm, can’t we just go in at night?’ The voice of Fluttershy asked me.

“Nice to hear you again Fluttershy” I told her. 

“Who are you talking to? Is this one of your powers too?” Sunset asked looking at me. 

“No, no. I’m talking to Fluttershy the Element of Kindness.” I replied.

‘Give her my gem.’ She said, I obliged retrieving it from inside my body. 

“She told me to give you this.” I replied handing it over. 

Sunset took the stone with trembling hands. “I can’t believe I’m holding one of the most precious treasures in the world…” She said in awe.


SUNSET


‘Hi, I’m Fluttershy.’ The element told me.

“Oh, uhm hi! I’m Sunset shimmer.” I awkwardly replied. 

‘Oh, uhm I knew that already heh, I uhm overheard what you were saying before and why don’t you just sneak in the city at night?’ She told me.

“Well… Uhm…” I said trying to come out of a very awkward situation where I got outsmarted by an Element of Harmony. “Right, didn’t think of that. Hehe.” 

‘There is nothing wrong with it. Everyone needs a hand sometime. I will need yours soon as a matter of fact. But now is not the time. Please return me to him, I really like you but I can’t stay too far from him for too long without a body. She said. I immediately handed the gem over to Phil and he took it with a look of surprise.

“I thought you would have wanted to ask her some questions.” He said putting the gem back into his chest.

“Well yes, but she told me she can’t stay too far from you for too long.” I replied. 

“I see, well she told you how she wanted to go in right? Can’t believe we didn’t think of that.” He said with a trace of merriment in his voice. 

“Right.” I said laughing a bit at the silliness of it all, we almost made an extremely difficult to complete plan when we could have just done that. 

“Alright then, we wait for nightfall then. Where does Moondancer work?” He asked me.

“Well last time I checked she was still working in an underground lab at 21st Alicorn boulevard.” I replied.

“Oh, I see…” He said with a thoughtful look on his face. “Then we may be in luck.” 


PHILIP


I then proceeded to tell her how I met a guy that possibly works there and how that could grant us some sort of access to the facility if we played our cards right. “He doesn’t know who you are by name, he only knows your face, he knows me by a pseudonym and will let me through. I can tell him that you are my charge or one of the runaway lab experiments. This way I will probably have an excuse to mask your face.” I explained.

“Well I mean sure, but what if he starts asking questions?” She replied.

“In that case let me talk, you don’t utter a word ok?” I asked her.

“Fine, I’ll be good.” She accepted sitting down. “Now I would like to clean my magical conduits thank you very much.” She told me. At which I got confused, there was no knowledge on those magical conduits anywhere inside that guard’s memory. He was a unicorn though so why didn’t he know?

“What are those?” I asked her making her open her eyes in annoyance but then she smiled in glee.

“Well, magical conduits are metaphysical representation of where the magic flows. They are not entirely physical nor entirely magical in nature. They serve as a bridge to link us to the Mana around us, when a unicorn uses a lot of magic like I did it has to clean those conduits or face a decreased efficiency and in extremely rare cases even death from magical poisoning.” She explained conjuring a floating blackboard and drawing on it the open section of a unicorn. The canals were highlighted with blue while the body was entirely white, the canals were mostly in the cranium right under the horn and then they spread out through the body.

“Interesting…” I said. “Is there a way to block them with purely physical meanings?” I asked.

“Not completely but yes, as I said they are partially physical, the more powerful a unicorn though the less they are that way. In my case specifically eighty percent of them are purely magical, so even if you hit me in a node filled with those I would be able to use magic still.” She explained.

“What about Celestia?” I asked, she stopped immediately, sighed and cleaned the blackboard. 

“I don’t know a lot of it, what I know of is because I needed her for an early theory on the spell, what I do know is that her conduits are entirely magical and have a strange substance mixed in it too. We codenamed it Ambrosia, unfortunately I don’t know anything about it.” She said making the blackboard disappear.

“That’s ok, we are going to this Moondancer just for that right?” I told her reassuringly.

“Yeah.” She said with a little smile. “Now please let me focus.” 


Windy Wind


Me and Daisy were sitting at the lunch table without uttering a word, she asked me where the muffins went and I just blatantly lied to her telling her that an animal came inside and took them all. She actually believed it blaming the forest itself, she then prepared a good looking lunch. And that’s how I ended up with a nice meal in front of me but the terror of eating it.

“What’s wrong?” Daisy sweetly asked. “Something you are allergic to?” 

“Oh, no no.” I hastily replied. 

“Then come on, dig in!” She happily said chomping down on a very appetizing piece of veggie, still though the fear remains. I grabbed a fork from the table and without even thinking or even noticing it I snapped it in two.

“Oh!” I shouted in alarm.

“My goodness Windy, you ARE in shape!” Daisy said with a mouth full of food. 

“Uhm, sorry… I shamefully told her, I put the fork down with as much care as possible. 

“Oh it’s no problem Windy!” She said waving off. “I have so many forks after all. Why do I have so many forks?” She asked actually perplexed.

“Oh, no no please I have to refund you… Somehow.” I said looking down, I didn’t have any money after all. “Do you need any help around?” I asked hopefully. 

“Well I do have to move some very heavy pots filled with dirt…” She said, so I immediately shot up and went to the door. 

“Show me where then, I can totally help you!” I said, I grabbed the handle and ripped it off. “Hehe, oops?”

“Windy… I can see you are such a cute and caring mare. But don’t try to play me as a fool, I may be just a flower mare but I’m not an idiot.” She said standing up and putting her hands on the table. “How are you that strong?” 

“I-I don’t know!” I shouted almost in tears. “I’m sorry.” I told her kneeling down.

“W-wait you don’t have to cry please.” She said immediately coming down to me. She touched me on the face and immediately took her hand off as if I burnt it. “What the-! You are absolutely scalding!” She said in horror.

“W-what?” I asked confused I felt fine after all. 

“You are extremely hot. Not in that sense…” She said. 

“I feel fine though.” I told her.

“This is so strange, Windy where do you come from?” She asked sitting down on the floor in front of me.

I sighed and told her my story.


PHILIP


Night finally fell on a tired Manehattan, the inhabitants lazily went back to their homes after a day full of work while we set off to start ours. We used the shadows to enter the city avoiding the patrols, when all roads were blocked we simply used the roofs. With my agility and speed it was a matter of minutes before we arrived at 21st Alicorn boulevard, there we saw a building taking the majority of the space, it was surrounded by a tall wall and iron fences, tens of guards were patrolling around the building. The building itself was fairly simple, a boring rectangular shaped building completely grey with little windows.

“Ok we are here.” Sunset whispered.

“Perfect, now we will go down there, remember-” 

“No talking. I know.” She deadpanned and put the mask I created back before we entered on her, the mask was simple enough, it had the number 357 on it and displayed a mouth sealing device that from a distance seemed to impede speech, the mask left only a really
small gap for the wearer to see from. 

“Wonderful.” I told her, I grabbed her and descended the building, that done I put on my disguise and went on the front of the guards headquarters in Manehattan. “Hey you.” I called one of the guards.

“Who are you?” He asked obviously.

“My name is Shield Fortress from the ELDS, I’m here to meet Blaze Sword, he asked me to come here after my turn and I gladly accepted.” I replied. “I would have called but my comm was destroyed when I captured subject 347 here.” I said pulling Sunset in front of me.

“Who is she?” He asked reaching forward with a hand.

“Woah dude, slow down, if you want your hand to be vaporized then go ahead but if not I would keep my hands well away from her face.” I said to him blocking his arm. 

“Uh, yeah right we were briefed.” He said with a scroll of his shoulders. “Sure here you can use mine for now.” 

I put in the number of Blaze and dialed him. In three tries he picked up. “Hello?” He asked.

“Hey Blaze dude, it’s me Fortress.” I replied.

“Fortress my friend, why the call?” He asked happily.

“I finished my job here and I was calling to know if I could come in the headquarter to talk for a bit before going to a nice bar.” I offered.

“Sure thing mate!” He said.

“You heard him.” I told the guard.

“Sure enough, open the gate!” He shouted, immediately after the heavy iron gate opened up letting us in. We entered the building without a problem, Blaze was there in the lobby probably waiting for us. 

“Blaze!” I called him. He turned around and immediately greeted me.

“Fortress, it’s good to see you all in one piece, who’s she?” He asked.

“She is subject 357, I recently captured her and subdued her. She is no danger for now.” I told him, “So how is it going?” 

“Oh well all right I guess.” He told me starting to walk along the corridors. “I had my whole slice of work, papers mostly. I also did some research around to possibly help you out on your mission, I’m glad you were able to do it all by yourself though, less work for me haha!” 

He said merrily walking us to his office. He opened the door and closed it behind him. “So, he said in a much more serious tone.” He sat down on his chair and stared at us with a cold unflinching expression. “Who are you?” 

“What?” I asked feigning confusion.

“Don’t play me for a fool. An ELDS in Manehattan and no one told me? I did my research as I told you before, and turns out dear fortress is dead, killed in the accident in the Canterlot central laboratory.” He said putting a stack of papers on the desk. “Care to explain?”

I sighed, I can’t believe my cover was already blown. ‘I guess this is what happens when you use a dead guard as a disguise…’ “Alright, you got me.” I told him I dropped my disguise and returned to my true form. “My name is Philip Mercer, you can call me Hunter though.” I told him.

He didn’t even flinch he just stared. Then he asked a question. “What do you want?”

“Honestly?” I asked, he nodded. “I’m here to meet Moondancer, I need her knowledge.” I told him.

“For what?” 

“To kill Celestia.”

“... I should kill you for what you just said, but I’ll humor you. Why would you want to do that?” He asked. 

“You may believe me, or not. But Celestia is not the good Goddess you may think she is, she literally wants to encase the entire world in a sort of bubble that will stop everyone from moving or living ever again. She wants to do that for her demented idea of perfection.” I told him.

“Right, I don’t believe you. Do you have some proofs?” He asked.

“I can vouch for him.” Sunset said. 

“Oh, so she is not really subject 357?” He said with no hint of surprise.

“Forget it, it’s true, listen to me I was working on that spell when Phil rescued me, believe me, she really wants to do that.” She said removing her mask.

“You are Sunset Shimmer.” He said in monotone.

“Yes, now please believe us, I can even show you part of my memories if it helps!” She said.

“How do I know they are not tampered with?” He asked actually showing some emotions.

“You should have with you your mind ring, I should know, I created it. Used to be certain when mind magic was used upon someone, you will see that it will not activate for I will use magic on myself.” She clarified to him.

“Alright, I’ll humor you. But if you try something…” He said clearly threatening her. I decided to not say anything, threats will just alienate him further, and he doesn’t seem to be a bad guy, just doing his job more than anything else. ‘I also need him, having an ally in her military will prove incredibly useful, I’m not at all ready to create my own Evolved yet.’ 

And thus Sunset used her magic, she was covered with a deep orange aura around her whole body and Blaze’s eyes immediately rolled back but he remained immobile otherwise. After a second or so, he closed his eyes and opened them. 

“Impossible…” He said in disbelief. “She really has gone mad. You must forgive me Phil, I really didn’t want to believe it but confronted with such crushing proofs I can’t defend her anymore. You need to visit Moondancer right? Come with me. After this I’ll make my resignations… “ He said sounding so defeated.

“No.” I told him firmly. “If you want to help us take her down you have to stay here. I will need your help and at worst you can feed us useful info.” I told him putting a hand on his shoulders.

“I don’t know if I can or want to.” He said.

“You followed your guts and discovered me though didn’t you? You were able to find me out in a matter of hours. You are good Blaze, don’t let those gifts go to waste.” I told him.

“It’s true Blaze, you are a good stallion I can tell, we might need your help in the future, especially if we need any military information. You can help us all, you can save Equestria.” Sunset told him grabbing his hands. 

sigh”Fine. I’ll do it, but just because a pretty mare asked.” He said smirking when Sunset promptly blushed. “Come now.” We followed him to a nearby elevator which brought us down to the last floor in the basement. “Here we are, she is in the third room usually.” He said and returned in the elevator. “I have to go now, it was nice knowing you Phil.” 

“Same.” I replied when the doors closed. 

“Let’s go.” Sunset simply stated and so we moved onward. We reached the third door and opened it, inside we found a lone unicorn mare with a razzled mane and thousands of papers all around the room. 

“It reminds me of your room.” I told Sunset. She shot me a glare but said nothing else. The unicorn in question had a cream coloured fur with a three toned mane, the red was the most prominent while the purple and lavender were much less present, she was wearing a pair of black square glasses and a lab coat over her purple shirt, she also wore a pair of jeans too big for her.

“Moondancer?” I called her. 

“Yes? What do you want?” She asked annoyed shooting us a glare. 

“We need to talk.” I replied closing the door.

“What about?” She said fully turning around. I dropped my disguise leaving her speechless. 

“I have a god to kill.”


WINDY


After the explanations Daisy sent me to retrieve those pots, we decided that I could remain with her until I found a job in exchange I would had to help her around the house. It wasn’t a problem at all seeing that I was incredibly strong and durable right then, as a matter of fact I picked up the pots effortlessly and brought them in her garden without a sweat.

“You are insanely strong!” Daisy said from the back window of her house. “You can leave them there, I’ll prepare the spot for them later.” She said closing the window. 

“I’ll go around looking for a job ok?” I shouted much louder than I would have liked.

“Jeez yes, stop shouting like that.” She replied opening the window again. “You do that, let me know if you find anything.” She said with a smile afterwards. “Good luck!” 

I waved her off and jogged in the city to the town hall, while I was walking around I saw many ponies all going around happily, there were lots of families with foals running and playing around. One such foal ran into me and ended up with his rump on the ground. 

“Oh, I’m sorry little one.” I said crouching down, I almost offered a hand to pick him up but then remembered my strength, so I desisted. 

“Sorry miss.” He said, he was a cute little colt with a brown mane, a white fur dotted with brown spots, he went back on his hooves and waved at me. “Sorry again miss.” He said and ran off with his friend. I returned to walking with a little smile on my face, life was good.

I entered the town hall and looked at the job applications, there were severals but unfortunately many required things I simply didn’t know how to do, like candy preparation, baking and so on… I was almost out of applications when I saw one that could truly work for me, mailmare sounded nice enough. I took the piece of paper and ran off to the mail office, unfortunately I forgot that I was actually pretty fast too and so I knocked a mare over. “Oh, I’m so sorry miss.” I said in a panic on if to land her a hand or not. 

“Oh it’s alright, don’t worry dear.” The mare said, she wore a nice suit and had a pair of good looking glasses, she also had a grey mane and a pale coat, the most prominent piece on her was a strange green piece of clothing around her neck. 

“I’m so sorry miss I didn’t see you there.” I said apologizing again.

“Oh as I said it’s alright, my name is Mayor Mare and I am the hehe mayor of Ponyville.” She said offering her hand once she returned upstanding. I was in a panic right there, ‘I could refuse, but then it would be suspicious. Ok Windy, deep breath and use the utmost care.’ I thought, I took her hand and shook it as carefully as possible. 

“A pleasure to know you, I’m Windy Wind and I’m hopefully a soon to be mailmare.” I told her letting her hand go.

“Oh heavens yes, the last mailmare retired a month ago and we are swarmed by complaints about missing letters, I’ll be more than happy to hear you got the job Windy. Now excuse me but I’m quite busy, see you soon!” She said with a smile and walked on the upper floor. 

I walked, emphasis on walked, out of the town hall and asked directions on where the post office was. After getting my indications from a nice mare I went there, I knocked on the cozy looking building. I opened the door and entered, there was a lot of ponies there making a line to a single stallion that was sweating bullets trying to calm the most of them down.

“We don’t have a mailmare yet! We cannot send you letters I’m sorry!” He said almost on the verge of crying himself from stress.

“I’m here for the job!” I shouted loud so everypony could hear. The stallion looked at me like an angel sent by Celestia herself. 

“Thanks the heavens!” He shouted, “You are hired I don’t care just deliver these!” He pointed to a stack of letters.

“Sure thing!” I said happily, but then I stopped immediately and looked back. “How much do I get?” 

“3000 bits per month plus 50 for every ten letters delivered fine?” He said absolutely devastated by the thought that I could say no.

“Ok!” I sweetly said and took a bag hanging from a wall, a single cap with an M on it and put it on my head. “Ready!”


PHILIP 


“We need your help, we must know about Ambrosia.” I told Moondancer.

“What the hell are you?” She shrieked.

“That’s not important. Tell me what you know.” I told her.

“Alright, but don’t come near me! Please.” She said scared to death.

“Fine. Start talking.” 

“We don’t know much about Ambrosia, what we know is that it acts differently from normal magic, Ambrosia is so impossible in its existence that normal magic can’t even pick it up. We had to create very special Thaumoscopes and even from that we picked up very little. Ambrosia can be used to fuel up spells that are magnitudes stronger than the strongest spell we normal unicorns can use.” She said all in a rant.

“Furthemore Ambrosia is so volatile that when it goes out in the thaumic atmosphere of Equus it gets dissolved almost instantly. From what we know, only Celestia herself is capable of using it at all, and also the only one able to produce it as well, her powers were so impossibly high that our own most advanced Thaumoscopes were blown off by it. To our current day we don’t know how powerful she really is.” She continued.

“If you wish to even fight her you would need to be able to produce Ambrosia yourself, our theories says that the stellar beasts can indeed produce Ambrosia too. Unfortunately we never managed to study one or even get near one. So if you want my own opinion you should hunt down those.” She said finally.

“You are awfully talkative about something that might kill your princess.” I said.

“I don’t care about politics, I only care about my research, if there is nothing more I would love for you to fuck off.” She said annoyed.

“I guess. Bye.” I told her walking away, my mind was already making plans. ‘Kill the beasts, kill Celestia.’ The plan was simple.


MOONDANCER


I waited five minutes for Hunter to get out of my room, then I picked the phone up and dialed. 

“Yes?” The voice asked.

“He came, just like you said he would.” 

“Did you tell him what you had to?”

“Of course, he knows about Ambrosia and where to get it, he will go there now.” 

“Fantastic work Moondancer, your loyalty shall be rewarded shortly, maybe we do need a new lead scientist here in Canterlot, especially with the disappearance of Sunset Shimmer.”

“She might have been here too, Hunter had a mare with him.”

“Wonderful news, two birds with one stone. Keep up the good work and if he returns obey his orders.”

“Yes, my Princess.”
> Chapter 6: New life, old lies. [EDITED]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week has passed. Sunset and I remained in Manhattan for that long trying to find out what exactly to do. While we had some clues thanks to Moondancer, we still didn’t have a laid out plan to foil Celestia. 

The situation in the city started to become suffocating. The military was everywhere, and the ponies started to get angry about it. Curfew was unmerciful, and anyone caught outside after it was severely punished. Everyone was on edge. Sunset is starting to doubt herself over the fact she cannot come up with a spell to actually track down a celestial beast. “A shame I let that one escape. I hope Blaze Sword gets some news soon, the waiting is killing me,”  I thought while walking to the nearest grocery store to pick up some food for Sunset.

I went inside, got everything I needed, and went “home”. Not really a term I would use. We took an empty flat in a residential area of town, and thanks to Blaze we didn’t have to look for money for it. “I’m back!” I shouted into the silent flat.

“You got everything?” Sunset replied from her room, which was more of a lab than anything else. 

“Yes.” I replied while putting everything in the fridge.

“Good, good.” She said still from behind the closed door of her own room.

I went over and entered without knocking, “Do you knock?” She asked, irritated.

“Overrated. Did you manage to find a way to locate them?” I asked. 

“No,” she replied saddened, “They can’t be picked up by magic. All the books I have found say that the only being able to do so is Celestia, but you can see how that won’t help us at all.” 

I thought about that, “Celestia won’t help at all, but what if we had more eyes around? I could create some spies to send around, but I’m not too sure I could keep them under control. What to do…”

“Hey Sunset,” I started.

“Yes?” she asked without looking at me.

“Do you perhaps have any information on changelings?” I asked her.

“Changelings? Never heard of them, what are they?” she asked, confused.

“Hm, interesting. Well, I’ll be back later. I have someone to find.” I hurried out of the flat and walked calmly to the forest, no need to be hasty after all. Chrysalis won’t go anywhere.

After an hour or so of wandering into the forest, I started to think about how to find them, I could use the smell in the air, or the pheromones even. If I had a changeling on hand I could have used it to gain access to their hive mind, if they had one. In the end, I went with simple heat vision and pheromone tracing. It wasn’t hard to find, they didn’t have any reason to hide such traces after all. I had many false signals of course, other animals were obviously present. Unfortunately, I hadn’t found any mystical blue glowing bears. “How hard can it be to find it? I found it completely at random for fuck’s sake, I could have killed it right there. But no, I had to let it go,” I thought with bitterness. 

“No matter, they are near,” I muttered to myself. I sharpened my senses and followed the now much thinner trail of changelings’ smell. In a matter of minutes, I pinpointed the source of the smell. It was coming from a cave deep in the forest, cleverly hidden beneath layers of leaves. I proceeded with confidence, removing the leaves and walking inside. 

Something hit me in the neck from my right. Unfortunately for the attacker, it didn’t even scratch my skin. I grabbed the dart and examined it. “Covered in neurotoxin. Dangerous stuff, but now who fired it?” I looked around for clues, but I couldn’t see anything other than rocks and moss. I paused to smell and find out if there was anything amiss, and there it was: an extremely thin trail leading to a boulder. 

I walked to the boulder and, in a flash, grabbed it with a tentacle, wrapping it completely in my hold. “Why did you shoot me?” I asked the boulder. With a bright emerald light the boulder showed itself to be a changeling. Like the ponies it was humanoid in shape, but still had a black exoskeleton and both horns and wings. Its eyes were compound ones. 

“You should be dead,” the changeling, likely male from the voice, said with a snarl.

“A simple neurotoxin such as that won’t be enough to kill me,” I replied evenly. “Now, bring me to Queen Chrysalis.”

“I-I will never betray the Queen.” He stammered with fear and determination.

“Listen buddy, I don’t want to make an enemy out of your queen, and killing you to find her will most likely do that. I don’t really need your help but with it we can make everything go faster,” I told him.

“Never.” 

“Fine, I tried.” I threw him away at a wall, knocking him unconscious. “Let’s see where this will bring us.” After some time I found what could be seen as the entrance of the hive itself. I entered, and was blown back by the sheer amount of smells, and sounds all around me. I had to tone down my sensibility to not get overwhelmed by it all. 

I started to look around, the walls of the hive were made out of black chitin. They were changing every so often. Fortunately there were no guards around so I just walked deeper into it. The hive was confusing, and while I could have just smashed the walls to get through it I didn’t want to make an enemy of Chrysalis. After an hour or so of aimlessly walking around I finally encountered a pair of changelings. They were all similar to the one I found previously, but these ones were carrying a cocoon of some kind. Upon noticing me they froze. “May I know where I can find Queen Chrysalis?” I asked them.

“I-we-I mean.” One of them, a female started to say stammering a storm, I ignored her and looked at the other one. 

“Can you?” I asked him bluntly.

“What if I don’t?” He asked in false bravery. 

“I eat you.” I replied back.

He started to sweat, which was weird considering his skin. “I don’t believe you.” He said resolutely.

I morphed my head and torso so that I could open it like a giant maw stretching all the way, filling it with countless teeth and tongues. I then started to make my arms longer with three barbed claws at the end of each. All around my body eyes opened up, and looked at him, “Care to try me?” I told him with a ragged, deep and malicious voice.

The female fainted immediately, the male though didn't; instead he remained frozen in shock in front of me like a deer on the road. I went near him, almost touching him.

“Don’t kill me please!” He pleaded in tears.

“You know what to do then,” I told him, still in my nightmarish form.

“Yes, yes please don't kill me!” 

I returned back to my original form, “Lead the way.” I told him with a bow. 

“C-can I please take her in one of our rooms?” He said stammering a bit.

“Sure.” I told him and waited for him to bring her to a more comfortable surface. After that was done he took the lead and showed me the way. The hive was as intricate and complicated as before, but this time I could feel that wherever we were going there was purpose behind the drone’s steps. After what seems to be a couple of minutes we reached a set of stone doors. They were covered with pictures, and they were currently closed, and guarded by two more changelings.

“Halt! Who are you? How did you get here?” One of them asked. 

“I asked around.” I replied, I ignored him and went for the door.

“Don’t you dare make a step forward intruder.” They both threatened, pointing their spears at me. I didn’t acknowledge them, and simply started to push the door. They sprung into action, trying to impale me with their weapons to no avail. Every thrust was met with a resounding sound of metal hitting stone, doing nothing to me. I easily opened the doors and revealed the insides of a throne room, it was as black as the rest of the hive, but had a sort of chandelier on the ceiling made out of a green bioluminescent substance. 

“Who are you?” A voice demanded. It was female, and from what I remember should be the voice of Chrysalis herself. I looked around and saw her coming down from the ceiling and gracefully land on her throne. She was far taller than a drone, she was wearing a long emerald cape that showed off her body but kept it decent. She was extremely attractive and would swoon every male of every race with a kiss. 

Unfortunately for her I wasn’t affected by her charm. “Queen Chrysalis, my name is Philip Mercer,” I started. “But you can call me Hunter.” The instant I said that I had to shield my body from a powerful slash of a sickly green scythe now in her hands.


Windy


The last week passed with no problem, my job was easy and with my body it was a breeze to bring letters around. I moved out from Daisy’s house three days after I got my job. In less than an hour I managed to bring all the letters they kept at the office, and that brought me a lot of bits to spend on my house. ‘Today is a good day,’ I thought. The sun was shining and the birds were happily chirping away. The foals were playing in the streets while the busy were around, working. The fact that I moved out from her house doesn’t mean I wasn’t in contact with her on a daily basis though. We usually hang around whenever I pass in front of her house for a letter, and with my speed I had no problem with using my time with her. 

During those days when I wasn’t at work we also did some experiments with my powers, we used all the dumbells in the gym to see how strong I was, but not even all of them was enough. Next we tried with my tendril problem, it took a while but now I can safely touch other ponies without morphing my arm. 

Interestingly enough I could eat wood, this was discovered when a pack of timberwolves attacked us while we were on the outskirts of town. The pack lunged at Daisy completely avoiding me like I was some kind of dangerous animal. In a quick burst of speed I grabbed one, and threw it at another one smashing both of them. Then I took the last one and crushed his skull with a kick, from my hoof then multiple tendrils came out and devoured the wolf. 

That really scared Daisy but she was more scared about the attack then my abilities. Weirdly enough I’m starting to feel some light nausea in the morning. ‘I’ll talk about this with Daisy,’ I thought to myself. I took my beret, and put it firmly on my head. Then I opened the door, and went to work. The day passed easily enough, after my shift I went to Daisy for that question.

I went to her door and knocked on it. “Daisy?” I called. Moments later the door opened and a smiling Daisy welcomed me in.

“Windy, come in.” She happily said. She sat down at the table, and started munching on a banana, she offered one to me. “Want one?” 

“Sure,” I said. I sat down and devoured the banana with my hand. 

“Uh, right,” She said. Then nibbled her banana some more. 

“So, I had a question,” I started. “Every day, I wake up, and I have nausea, do you think I’m sick?” I asked her.

“You? Well I mean maybe?” She said thoughtfully. “I’m not a doctor of course, I would tell you to go to one, but I understand why you can’t. I have nothing really, if it gets worse come back here, and we will think of something ok?” She said.

“Seems good,” I told her with a nod. “So did you hear of this new teacher at school?” I started.

“Cheerilee? Oh yeah she…” 


Phil


I grabbed her scythe with my right arm, and tried to pry it from her hands. Instead of fighting me over that, she used her wings, and propelled herself alongside the scythe. Now that she was behind me, she kicked me on the back of my head as hard as she could. Unfortunately for her that wasn’t enough, I stumbled a bit, but recovered immediately. I grabbed her still outstretched hoof, and then proceeded to slam her on the ground hard enough to crack the floor. I was ready to smack her again but she twisted her leg, and pried my hand open. “Apparently I wasn’t keeping her tight enough. Won’t happen again.” 

“I know what you are…,” She said with venom dripping from her mouth. She balanced the majority of her weight on her good leg, limping a bit with the other. Her wings were in shambles, and showed cracks with blood oozing from it.

“Then you know you can’t win. I don’t want to hurt you Chrysalis, I’m not here for Celestia.” I tried to tell her.

“Liar!” She shouted, blasting me with her horn. I reacted quickly, and put a shield in front of me. Blocking the barrage of magical missiles, I slowly inched towards her until I was close enough. Then I slammed the shield in her face, and restrained her with my tendrils. 

“Listen to me, I’m not here for her,” I told her again. But to no avail she continued to fidget, trying desperately to get free. “Stop struggling, you can’t win. But I’m also not here to hurt you,” I told her. I then put her back on the ground freeing her.

“I don't know what your game is, Hunter. But know that I won’t be fooled,” She told me with gritted teeth.

“No games, no deceptions. I need your help to find some celestial creatures and I don’t want to kill you for it,” I explained.

“Why would you want those?” She asked, now curious.

“To kill Celestia,” I told her. 

She remained silent for a bit, she then moved back to her throne, and sat on it. Her face a visage of tiredness. “Do you have any idea how ridiculous that idea sounds like?” She asked.

“Sure, but I have to,” I told her back.

“Fine, you can have the information, but we never talked. If you fail I don’t want my hive to be hunted down,” She said in defeat.

“You won’t regret it,” I told her. “So where are they?” I waited patiently for her to reply.

“It depends, which ones do you want to meet?” She finally said.

“Explain, how many are there?” I asked.

“There were thirteen of them, now only four are alive. The Ursa Major and minor, Gemini and Libra. All of the others got slaughtered during the battle between Celestia and Luna over a thousand years ago,” She told me. “The Ursas both reside in the Everfree most of the time. Gemini fled to the griffon lands, while Libra remains alone in the Temple of the Stars.”

“What is that Temple?” I inquired.

“The Temple is an ancient building created by Luna to house her creations. It is in ruins, and the only inhabitant is Libra herself. We know for a fact that she is still there. Gemini is basically lost to us. The griffin lands are too far away to have reliable information, and the Ursa are not too hard to find. Just look for massive caves, and you will most likely find them.” 

“Wait, one friend told me that there are still thirteen of them around,” I replied skeptically to her.

“Are they a pony?” She asked. I nodded, “Then it is no surprise, Celestia removed all historical archives about the Celestial Beasts. The ponies still believe they are all alive, unfortunately for them that is false,” She said.

“I see,” I started. “Thank you Chrysalis, if there is anything I can help you with…”

“Leave my hive alone, I don’t need the help of one of Celestia’s mad creations,” She said with disgust in her voice.

“Farewell then.” And with that I took off. I exited the hive undisturbed, and walked back to Manehattan. The journey was quick, and uneventful. It was late in the night when I finally arrived at the flat. With a very disappointed Sunset glaring at me.

“Where were you?” She asked.

“I was busy retrieving some information from the changelings.” I replied leaning on a wall.

“The changelings? Are you crazy!? They could have kidnapped you, and harvested your love!” She all but shouted. I cocked an eyebrow up.

“Really?” I asked dumbfounded. “Are you really ranting about how I, the same guy who fought off the Ursa Minor could be captured by a bunch of bugs?” I deadpanned.

“Well…” She said looking down with a bit of a blush. “If you word it like that…” 

I sighed, “I’m grateful for the worry but it wasn’t necessary,” I told her somewhat softly. “But that aside we have new info. First of all the thirteen astral creatures? Almost all dead, the only ones alive are Gemini, Libra and the Ursas,” I told her. She gasped lightly at that and retrieved a book from her room.

“But here it says…” She started but I interrupted her immediately.

“I know, but the books were all written by Celestia’s regime. We can’t trust them too much. On the other hand we can’t trust the changelings either, but we don’t have too much of a choice. In any case once I consume the Ursas I will know the truth.” I told her.

“What do you mean?” She asked, curious.

“Are you sure you want to know? Knowing this information may make you look at me with fear,” I warned her.

“How? You can already kill me at any time and I’m not afraid of that,” She told me with a shrug.

“When I consume a sentient creature I also gain access to their memories. All of them. If I really wanted to I could eat a pony, recreate his or her body, and put the memories back. Modified to suit my needs thus creating a servant for me. Or I can just be that person for as long as I want,” I told her. As expected she looked at me like a deer at an approaching car. She backed off against the opposite wall from me but I didn’t move.

“B-but how?” She asked.

“I am…” I hesitated a bit. “I am not even alive by the term itself. I’m a virus all the way through. I’m a mess of RNA stuck together that achieved sentience. I’m technically a bioform so powerful that my introduction in the biosphere would make all existing bioform go extinct. I’m what you would call a nightmare or a monster. The only thing that doesn’t let me lash out killing everything is because I know it is not the way to go. I saw where that route goes anyway,” I told her. She remained silent for a while. So did I.

After five long minutes she finally spoke up. “So what you are saying is that you could very well kill everyone on this planet, just like that?” She asked.

“Yes, if I really wanted to I could make it quick even. Maybe a matter of months.” I told her. 

“But you won’t. Right?” 

“No. I’m not a monster. I may be called that but I won’t be the end of the world. I’m here to prevent just that in fact,” I told her with absolute determination. 

“I-I believe you, but…” She trailed off.

“How can you be sure that your thoughts are your own?” She hesitantly nodded. I sighed. “Other than my word there is nothing that I can offer you as evidence. You will have to trust me on this. I haven’t modified any of your memories. I will never do it,” I told her.

“I guess that’s the best I can hope for,” She sighed. “So what do we do now?” 

“You remain here, and continue your studies. I go into the Everfree, and kill a bear,” I told her easily enough. I was ready to depart when we heard the radio crackle.

“-an you hear me? I repeat can you hear me?” The voice of Blaze called from it. Sunset took the radio and answered back.

“We can hear you Sword, what’s going on?”

“An emergency draft. One of the Elements of Harmony disappeared from Olympus, and now the entire nation is on high alert. Celestia wants as many soldiers as possible, and ordered me to start a city wide raid to draft as many ponies as possible. Get out of the apartment before my troops come there too. Make it appear like that it was sacked, leave no clues behind.” He told us

“What about the civilians?” Sunset asked.

“They won’t be civilians anymore. I can try to put as few as possible on the draft but there is not much that I can do here without compromising my position.” 

“I understand, do what you must. We are getting out of here.” I told him taking, the radio from Sunset’s hands. “We will relocate to the Everfree.”

“In the Everfree? How can you live there?” He asked.

“I have my ways, we will talk later. Over,” I told him, turning the radio off. 

“Where should I stay in the Everfree?” Sunset demanded. “Did you forget that I almost died there?” 

“I know very well. This is why you will live with the changelings,” I told her. 

“What? No!” She shouted.

“It’s either that or live in the wilderness. Which one do you prefer?” I told her with a hard stare.

“I-” 

“I know you don’t like changelings, and that you are scared by them. But believe me, this is the best decision right now. This city will become too hot for us to remain here,” I told her, trying to use her own analytical mind against her.

“Yeah. You are right, damn,” She said. “Ok fine, but how can I be sure they won’t just put me in a cocoon?” 

“I’ll make sure of that, don’t worry,” I told her. She nodded and went for the door. 

“Can you destroy this place? I don’t know if I can destroy books in good conscience,” She said, closing the door behind her.

I shrugged, and used my tendrils to make as much destruction in the room as possible. I put holes in the wall. Ripping books, and smashing furniture. When I was happy with my handiwork I went out too. Together we then exited the city before the patrols could close it completely. We ventured into the dark with me guiding Sunset’s steps. In less than an hour we got out of the city, and into the wilderness.

I guided her through the dark, and damp forest being as watchful as possible for any predator. It was an hour later that we reached the hive’s entrance. Once again I entered it like I owned the place. This time though I didn’t need any scared drone to guide me through it for the throne room.

I pushed open the throne room’s door making them groan with the force behind it. clearly they were never opened to their fullest much. “You?” Chrysalis asked with anger. “How dare you come back?”

“Peace Chrysalis, I’m here because I need your help, hear me out, please,” I told her. she allowed it with a nod. “Ok, so she is Sunset Shimmer, maybe you heard of her.” Another nod. “Manehattan is under lockdown, and all civilians are being drafted. I need you to keep her here for the time being so that she may stay safe. I can’t bring her with me hunting the Beasts.” 

“You ask much of me, what if I say no?” She replied, challenged even. 

I narrowed my eyes threateningly. “I’ll be very upset.” I told her with cold murder intent in my voice.

She remained silent for a bit looking in my eyes, then she sighed. “Fine, she can remain. But I don’t want to hear of any incidents with her here,” She said.

“There will be none, right?” I told Sunset.

“Yeah, keep your drones away from me, and we will get along just fine,” She replied coldly. 

Chrysalis chuckled, “Very well. You can go now Hunter, we will take good care of her,” She said to me.

“Not so fast, first I need to do something.” I stretched my arm, and opened my hand. ‘Here I go, I hoped to have more time before this but I’ll make do.’ I pushed my cells outwards and started to create, first, a body that’s easy enough. Then, abilities, a bit of everything but most of all medical capabilities. And in the end. Now for a mind, a thinking breathing mind, am I really going to create a conscious?’ I asked myself, it was a big step. One that every normal human would have had to pass years thinking about it. I didn’t have years. 

I transferred some of my memories into it, I put medical knowledge, combat, info about the changelings, and the world around us. Then I put inside a burning sense of duty to protect Sunset from anyone who would wish her harm. And finally to my greatest shame, a kill switch, I couldn’t trust a newly formed creation of mine to be perfect, if anything went wrong I had a means to terminate it before it got out of hand.

I looked at my now blinking creation, it was a boy more than anything, barely taller than Sunset with red fiery hair and a tan, it had blue crystalline eyes and by my hand, it had a simple leather jacket very similar to the one Sunset had in the mirror. It also had a pair of black jeans and finally a blue shirt, on said shirt there was a symbol, it was the stigma of Alex Mercer. 

And while the symbol once held a completely different meaning now it can be used for our own battle. I finished and put my hand back from his shoulder to my side. “Greetings.” I told him.

“I…” He said moving his mouth around getting a feel for it. “Hello.” He finally said with a deep grave voice, one that really destroyed the image of him as a boy. 

“Do you want to choose a name for yourself?” I asked.

He nodded. “Primis, my name shall be Primis, creator,” He said. Stumbling a bit at the word.

“A fine name, the first, fitting.” I put a hand back on his shoulder, “I have to go now. Your priority, you already know. Protect her from anything that would do her harm. Good luck,” I told him. He nodded, and went to stand behind her.

“What the hell happened!?” Sunset demanded. 

“I made him. I created a bodyguard for you. He will keep you company, and defend you from any harm.” I told her as a matter of fact. “He is trained in medicine and combat. He will be able to act as your guard on a 24/7 basis seven days a week.”

“You can’t just create a new living creature from nothing!” She roared.

“But I did,” I told her. I saw her seething with anger at what must have been to her eyes a crime against nature itself. “You can know more about him whenever you want, but he will answer only questions he wants to answer. He is not a slave after all,” I told her. Then I looked at Chrysalis, “With this done I can now leave. Farewell Chrysalis, and don’t worry he won’t kill anyone unless you force his hand,” I told her.

“I’ll be back as soon as possible, goodbye for now.” I walked out of the hive and started to run around looking for the Ursa. ‘I will find it soon enough, a giant constellation bear can’t hide very well now can it?’ 


Celestia


I teleported to the cave, the Ursa was already there waiting for me. “Why hello little cub,” I told the minor. Who growled at me in defiance. “You will not growl at me beast!” I shouted, firing a ray of pure heat into his paw carving a hole through it. the Ursa whimpered in pain but otherwise remained silent. 

“That’s better.” I told it. “Now, your task is easy. When he arrives you will use this.” I showed it the bottle that I held in my hand. ‘And then you’ll die.’ 

“Don’t disappoint me.” I warned it, and left the cave leaving the bottle behind. I arrived right onto Olympus. I proceeded through the controls, and arrived where the Elements were held. they were still there, or at least the remaining four were. 

The thought of Hunter stealing my element threatened to bring me back into a rage enough to melt the entire room. But I had to hold my cool, I couldn’t start going around blowing holes everywhere. A scroll appeared in front of me and I quickly scanned it over.

Seems like Moondancer did her work with absolute perfection, I wrote down my orders to extract her from Manehattan, and to be escorted to the palace. “Seems like I got myself a nice, juicy new pawn. Soon, this world shall be...Perfection…”
 
> Chapter 7: Misguided
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Turns out yes a giant constellation bear can hide pretty well, I searched around the Everfree for hours and didn’t even find a single hair of it. ‘This is impossible, how can they disappear just like that?’Yes the Ursas disappeared in the short time I stayed in Manehattan and now I can’t find them at all.

‘Why can’t I have a marker point like in the game?’ I sighed and shook my head at my own stupidity. I stopped in a cleared area of the woods to think for a bit. Fortunately enough any creature that stumbled on me was either a passive one or didn’t try to eat me so I stood there in peace for a bit.

“You should really start to ask your friends instead of doing everything alone.” The voice of Fluttershy said from within.

“You say it like it is easy for me to do so, I have no friends here. Maybe Fire Tempest, but he is just somebody I know the name of.” I told her. 

“That’s not true, you have Sunset.” She insisted, with a care I couldn’t honestly understand that much.

“She hates me, I am a monster, not even a real creature, an amalgamation of thoughts and personalities who thinks are a person. For all I know my-” I stopped.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“What doesn’t? Is there something that troubles you?” 

“Nothing you need to be concerned about. How would I use Sunset to find these creatures anyway?” I replied.

I could feel she was dissatisfied with my answer, “Use, is the wrong term my dear. We don’t use ponies, we help each other. Harmony is what brings us together, what makes us stronger.”

“Strength of this kind can’t defeat Celly can it?” I said.

“I won’t tell, anyway why don’t you try to ask your other friend if you find the thought of going back that revolting?” She suggested. 

“Not revolting, unappealing. I just don’t want to face her now, too much was done in too little time.”

“Maybe that’s wise, but still. Find in yourself to open up to her a bit, to find your strengths one must first pass through the weaknesses.” She finished.

“I’ll see what I can do. Thanks.” 

“Anytime dear, now why don’t you start looking for him? He should be much easier to find, no? Just follow the fires.”

I stood up and took flight, it wasn’t long before I saw a plume of smoke in the distance. “Follow the fire it is then.”


WINDY


The first day of being a mailmare was a wonderful one, I got to visit all the city. The ponies were friendly and they even thanked me with some goodies like muffins, I do like muffins. They smiled and waved and they were so happy to see me!

“So how was the day?” Daisy asked from the kitchen.

“It was wonderful! A lot of ponies were there and they were all so nice.” I told her, and she then exited the kitchen with a sandwich.. 

“That’s nice, so how much did you make?” She asked simply.

“Uhm, something something three thousand bits.” I replied remembering each and every coin I was given, that was weird.

“Thre-” She sputtered coughing from her choking on the sandwich. “Three thousands?” She continued flabbergasted.

“Yup. Not bad uh?” I giggled.

“Holy moly that job is gonna make you rich Windy, you won’t have to live here anymore.” She replied with a tinge of sadness.

“Uhm, nah.” I replied sitting down on the couch. “I like it here, and best of all it is free. Comes with a wonderful friend too.” 

“Fine.” She said with a huge grin. “But you better pay the rent.” She then sat on the couch near me. “So wanna try how fast your legs can go tomorrow?” 

“Sure.”

The very next day we did just that, we walked to White tail wood and once we were sure there was no one around we started running.  Daisy started strong with a paced run to not tire herself out fast, I followed her up close and stood there while she ran. She usually ran very silently. She told me it was because only then could she really feel the world around her. I dared not break the silence. After half an hour of running she finally stopped to get her breath under control, and only then did she speak. We stopped at the edge of a long straight section of the running course throughout the woods.

“Come on Windy, let me see how fast you can go, from here,” She pointed her finger towards the far end of the road. “,to there. Come on!” She cheerfully added.

“Ok, come on legs, let's do it!” I said, pumping a fist in front of me. I crouched down like those runners do, I saw it once on the TV! 


DAISY


So, how to explain it? Have you ever seen documentaries about some kind of insects or reptiles? The one where they stand perfectly still and then BAM, they explode into motion?

Yeah something like that, I could see it perfectly. WIndy’s legs kicked off almost twenty centimeters of earth from the ground up in the air, then she sprung up in blur, behind her she only left small holes the size of her feet and Celestia, was she fast. I saw her clear the whole thing in less than ten seconds, I swear I was counting! Those were over five hundred meters! 

I stood there slack-jawed, I couldn’t formulate a response to that, how could I? Nothing could move that fast and not while also making holes in the freaking ground. After another second or so I managed to take control of my mouth again only to see Windy smash against the tree on the other end, she collided with the thing taking it down in a shower of splinters and leaves. Her hand shot up from the debris waving at me and then giving me a thumb up.

“Dear me, don’t ever, EVER, pick a fight with Windy. Yours truly Daisy.” 


PHIL


I did like Kindness told me to, I started to follow the small but easily spotted fires around the forest. How the whole thing wasn’t already a smoldering ash field I’ll never know. It wasn’t hard to track down Fire Tempest, after the first empty spot I managed to follow his distinct footprints in the green of the forest itself.

It was after a half an hour that I found him resting on a blackened rock, which was also almost ready to finally give up and melt. He saw and immediately perked up. “Hey Hey friendo!” 

He said, waving his flaming hand. I jumped up to his rock, wrong move, it collapsed immediately making us tumble down. No damage on my part but I should have considered my weight before doing that. 

“Holy fuck!” He shouted tumbling downhill and falling face first into the unyielding ground, he landed with the particular sound of a campfire being moved by the wind, peculiar to say the least. He mumbled something but I couldn’t quite catch it.

“What? I can’t hear you if you speak into the ground.” I told him.

“And whose fault is that I am face first into the ground?” He replied, shooting up and massaging his weirdly bruised face. 

“This time I will admit my fault, I did not think the rock was that damaged by your flames.” I told him, showing no hint of real regret.

“Was that supposed to be a compliment about my strength?” 

I shook my head.

“You know what? Fuck you, I can’t even be angry if you make that blank face. What do you want? You were quite serious when you told me I couldn’t help you.” He shot back at me.

“I was mistaken, there were unforeseen events that now bind me to ask you for your help. I am in need of your fellow experiments, the one that controls the earth to be specific.” I explained.

He went and put a finger under his chin as if thinking. “Good old Ignus eh?” He said with a chuckle, he then started to hum and most likely think. “I would tell you where he is if I knew that.” He finally said after a bit.

“So you don’t know where he is?” I asked for confirmation.

“Unfortunately, we separated, remember?” He asked, as if I could forget anything. Utterly useless, I wasted my time for nothing. I will have to just search the forest more thoroughly and if that isn’t enough I’ll just make some underground mutants. 

I turned back and started to walk away when he put a hand on my shoulder. Not as hot as Celestia’s flames.

“Woah wait wait! I don’t know where he is but I may know a place where he could be.” He said with urgency.

“Explain.”

He made a sour face, he still talked though. “There’s a rock farm not far from here, barely two hours by train from Ponyville, he told us that that’s his farm where his wife lives. If he went somewhere it's there, worth a shot uh?” He proposed.

“Uhm, yes it will be faster than just exploring this whole forest.” I concluded. “Where exactly is this farm?” I asked.

“I can take you there, I know the way.” He said proudly, pointing a finger to himself, “At least I think so, I mean he described the way very well but eh, never went there myself cause… You know, lockdown and all that.”

“Will you be able to keep the pace with me?” I asked.

“I guess?” He answered with a shrug. I morphed my back to allow the sprouting of a pair of wings and started to take flight. 

“Take the lead then, I will follow you. If you are too slow I shall instead pick you up and you will give directions.” I said firmly.

“Sure, sure.” His flames bursted up and in a second he was ahead of me, he was very fast and he liked to rub that in my face. I will not forget his mocking grin. 

I started to flap my wings and so, together, we left the forest in search of Igneus. The flight wasn’t a long one, nor was it adventurous or anything like that, it was calm, almost relaxing. Of course the sight of Olympus looming over Canterlot really put everything back into the dull light of annihilation.

Ignoring that though the scenery did look quite good. I wondered what was going on on my homeplanet, I would never know.

After a total flight of one hour we finally descended into a dilapidated field, full of only rocks and devoid of any vegetation, in the center of this sad reality was a lone house, big enough for a family of six, once.

Now thought, it lies in ruin, forgotten by even time itself, on the brink of collapse. “Is this the place?” I asked.

“Should be, I recognize the house from what he told me but, I thought his family lived here. I don’t understand, Igneus!” He called out, he called again and again but only after his fourth try did something happen.

The ground started trembling, I sent thousands of hair thick tendrils into the ground to find out if it was a natural occurrence or something else. It was the latter.

A literal monolith of stone arose from the ground, easily well over ten meters tall, looming over the house as if it was just a plaything. The stone then started to get a shape, first were the legs, unrefined, mossy but still looking quite powerful, then it was the torso. It was sculpted to resemble the chest of a pony of this world, the only divergence was the hole where the heart would be. 

At last the arms and the head took shape, the arms, as unrefined as the legs. But the face, it was the face of an aged pony, it bore a sad longing expression, his mouth was just a thin line and his eyes rarely sparkled in the sunlight even if made out of gemstone, his mane was a conglomerate of several rocks held together by some kind of string, or fabric. For the standards of the world he would be considered handsome to some and scary to others, with an unreading face and an almost fatherly look.  

“Fire.” He pronounced, his deep voice shaking the earth and with it, us. “Why are you here?”

“Igneus dude! I’m glad to see you are still alive, but where's your house man?” Fire Tempest asked, looking behind Igneus.

“Time, time did not wait for me. I arrived too late.” He said, it was a hard and sharp answer, held back by what I could imagine was sorrow. How can a mass of stone and rocks convey so much sadness, it is beyond me. Who am I to talk though, when not even I am alive.

“Igneus.” I interrupted. “My name is-”

“Hunter. Yes, I know of you.” He said, not allowing me to finish. “You were the first escapee, the Magnus Opera of Celestia herself.” He concluded with a wave of his hand. “Thank you for freeing me and my quite temperamental friend here.”

“Yes, to all that. I’m here to ask for your help. Will you?” 

“No. I’m sorry but I won’t, I thank you for the freedom you granted me. But too strong is my grief, let me to mourn” He said, he turned around and went towards the house. Fire went up to his face and after not finding any other way grabbed him by his eyebrow. 

“Hey, man I-I’m sorry about what happened to you, but we really need your help. He- well I didn’t really ask why he needed your help to be fair but he is hell bent to kill Celestia. Isn’t that reason enough to help him?” He said, trying to convince the giant.

“Revenge? For what? Will it bring my family back? Will it make time reverse and free me from this stone curse? I don’t think so.” He said looking directly at Fire.

“Well of course not, I think. But hey you can at least make her pay for what she did to you!” Fire insisted.

“To go on the path of revenge is to dig two graves. I am already dead.” He responded looking at the house. “I died with them.” 

“What is your goal now. To mourn and live like a dead man already?” I asked. “Would they want you to?” 

“Do not talk to me like you know me Hunter. You know little, you did not have a family, you did not lose anything.” He replied coming back with thunderous steps, he bent down to look at me directly.

“Why would you care? You are the perfect being according to her, why would you even care about what happens to us? How dare you put yourself in the throne of judgment?” Igneus asked.

“I don’t.” Was my straightforward answer. “I don’t care, I  have the morality to follow my own belief without peculiar things like emotions to keep me on the right path. I want to kill Celestia because she is a danger to my survival, for your world’s, she is a problem that I cannot face alone and thus I need your help.”

“Then you admit to being a monster? To be nothing more than a golem, a weapon.” Igneus pressed. He was right in my face. 

“A tool.”

“Igneus dude!” Fire shouted, “There’s no need to be that harsh.”

“Yes.”

“For fuck sake dude!”

“I am who I am, I can’t change how I was made. I can only do what I must to survive and to save your world. This I promised, this I’ll do. Help me, if not for you or me, then for them” I proposed.

“For them you say, yet they are gone. Dust to the wind.” He lamented now looking back at the house again.

“I couldn’t find them, you know? I looked for days, yet nothing remains. Not in the mines, not in the house. Not in the cold house and the silent barn. Nothing.”

He slumped his shoulder and sat down with a deep rumble. “I’ll never see them again. What does it matter if this world is naught but done?” 

“Igneus…” 

“But you could be wrong. They could be still alive.” I said, my voice breaking the silence.

“Don’t you dare play with me Hunter. Don’t you dare!” He angrily responded smashing his fist in the ground making the earth tremble.

“I don’t. You didn’t find them anywhere, yet you believe they are dead. Can’t you see your own flaws? And even if they were truly dead, don’t you think that maybe some of your kids survived? That you could be a grandfather by now?” I stood still in the blazing midday sun. “Would you really let them live in a world such as this?”

“Wow, then you can make actual conversations dude.” The bonfire said.

“Shut or I’ll extinguish you. Bonfire.” I threatened.

“Omg we are already at the fake threat stage! I can’t wait to see how far our friendship will go now.”

Yeah fake. 

“Do you really think so? That they could still live?” He asked, no begged to be told yes.

“I do.”



Windy



There I stood held at gunpoint by a maniac who is trying to rob Ponyville’s most prestigious shop. 

“Oh but why me every time!” I angrily thought, didn’t I suffer enough? Wasn’t my torture over?

“You all don’t move!” He cried out then pointed the gun towards mr. Rich. “You put the money in and be quick!” 

The robber wasn’t much, using a common cloth to cover his face, brown maned, brown furred, the robber was not someone who stood out, wearing a simple shirt with a jacket on top and baggy pants of a kaki like color he wielded the gun, the most unremarkable of the ponies now has the means to end someone else’s life. 

“Should I do something?” I wondered.

“P-please let me go, my daughter… She is waiting for me!” A mare tried to plead, moving forward as to kneel before the attacker.

“D-don’t move dammit!” The robber said, startled, he pulled the trigger. The mare fell, a look of horror and fear on her face, mirrored only by her killer. 

“I told you to stay put, dammit dammit be quick! Fuck!” He screamed foam at his mouth damping the cloth.

I saw the mare hit the ground in slow motion, it was so sudden, so impossibly sudden. In a moment she was a breathing pony, now she is naught but a body.

How dare he!

“How dare you do this to her!” I screamed in fury. “To a MOTHER!”

“S-s-stand back!” He screamed firing again against me, the shop now crying out in fear and terror.

I thought I would have been a goner. Turns out, I'm pretty sturdy, the bullet entered my body and I could feel it move inside me. Then it stopped and the hole in my chest vanished.

“No.” I moved forward, a bang, barely a feeling, another step. 

“Stay back! What the fuck are you!” He cried in horror.

“You did something that can never be repaid.” I raised my hand and slapped him across the face, making him shot down on the floor with a sickening crack, I cringed at that remembering that I’m far stronger now and that I may have killed him. “Way to go idiot, you just chewed him out for killing and you do the same? Fucking hypocrite.” 

“Ugh…” He moaned. 

I sighed a breath of relief. I knelt down and whispered to him “Now you’ll remain here until we can find the police, ok?”  I stood back up and stared at the corpse of the mare that was shot. She had lost so much blood, the store was basically swamped. I did not say anything to her, maybe in retrospect I should have, she will haunt my dreams won’t she? I wanna die. 

I walked out of the shop and went home. I cried. 

It was late in the afternoon when I finally got distracted by Daisy coming home;

“Hello? Windy? I bought Neighponese!” She shouted in the house, I managed to roll down from the bed not even caring if I hit the ground.

“Not like I’m gonna feel it.” And sure thing, I didn’t. “Great, I’m not hungry” I yelled from upstairs.

“You're not hungry?” She said with skepticism, then I heard her footsteps coming closer to my room. “You are never not hungry.” She opened the door and walked inside. “Why are you on the ground?”

“Tired.” I replied.

“Yeah, sure. What happened? Some douchebag at work?” She asked with a tinge of anger in her voice. 

“A stallion robbed the local mart. A mare died. I feel like shit.” I said.

“Oh… OH!” She covered her mouth with her hands, then she immediately threw herself on me hugging me.

“I’m so sorry.” She said. She was so sad.

“...” 

We stood like that for some time. It was nice.


PHIL



There we stood in the forest. In the end Ignus accepted to help, he would track down the beast and then I would help him however I could to find his kin.

“Sooooooo….. Hobbies?” 

“Hating you counts as one?”

“Nnnnope but at least we can say that you do feel something.” He replied quite happily.

“You are gonna feel my punch if you don’t shut up a bit.” Before he could reply the earth trembled and Ignus appeared. Now much smaller, thankfully he followed my advice. 

“They are two kilometers ahead of us, north-northeast. I will guide you there.”

“Make way Ignus.” I answered.

“Sweet we are gonna usurp the constellations!” 





The way there was bothersome and distasteful, not the forest. Just the overwhelmingly yapping company. But in the end we arrived at our destination, a lonely cave big enough to contain a three story building.

“How did I miss it?” 

“Hard to spot if you don’t know it is there, or can’t feel the earth as if it were you.” Ignus answered. “i found your prey, I shall wait here.

“You are not going with us?” Fire said bewildered.

“You aren’t as well.” I continued.

“WHAAAT? Why not?” He asked outraged.

“My hunt, my prey. I need to do this alone, it is too important and I can't distract myself. If you are in the way of danger I may be unable to kill it.”

“Aw, so you DO care!” 

I grumbled into the cave. If I started to ramble away with him I would never go down there to start this job.

The cave was damp and humid, most likely it had a lake in it somewhere. The enormous paw prints on the muddy floor made this easier than I thought, in a short minute I was where I needed to be.

There in the heart of the cave, a giant purple bear laid, and right next to it the blue one. The blue one still sported the beating I gave it. 

The Ursa Major was either sleeping or couldn’t care less I was there, or didn’t hear me at all. In any case I pressed on. The cub was the first to see me, he sprung up with his teeth bared and pure hate in his eyes. Shortly after the Mother started to stir.

She wasn’t as I remembered, her face was almost thin, like she was malnourished or ill, this was starting to get strange. Her fur spotted with bare flesh underneath and her movements lethargic.

“Why…” She spoke, she spoke like the words itself hurted. “Did you come here?”

“I am here for your power. For Ambrosia, I need it to defeat Celestia.” I answered. 

“Gone… It is not here what you seek. Leave me be.” 

“No, I need it, I won't go without it.” I replied.

“Mother told you to go!” The cub shouted with rage.

“Shhh, be calm my child, please.” She soothed the young. “I do not have what you seek, it was taken from me and for that I am dying.” 

“Do you think I would deter then?” I asked.

“No, you never will,” She sighed. “Come then, take my last fragments, free me from this curse worse than death. But leave my cub alone, this only, I ask.” 

“Mother!” 

“Silence my dear. You know what must be.” She told him. “Come now, free me.”

Suspicious, too easy of a target and she won’t even defend herself, it stinks of a trap. Yet I can’t do anything else, either I spring this trap and survive or go back with nothing.

“Very well.” I walked forward, the Ursa outstretched her paw and I touched it, I then started to eat it.

“I am so very sorry.” She said.

Fuck

I couldn’t stop, a weird energy was siphoning me, like a draining that took me away, in a second I was gone. 

Am I?

I felt my very being devoured, destroyed. Like a part of me that I never felt was being removed and it felt like my own heart was taken away. 

I

Devoured?

How dare it. 

I pulled back, don’t know how exactly, I felt the devouring indulging in my challenge, it came and tried to finish me. 

But I am the true Hunter. The devourer was bit by bit consumed, first slowly then faster and faster before it could go back it was too late. The very power that sought to destroy me was now absorbed and I understood. Eyoa

I woke up with screams around me, my hand now completely coating the Ursa’s arm, she was screaming and crying unable to pull away 

“HOW!?”

“I am The Hunter.” I soon finished her, devouring her very being, not leaving even a molecule behind, it was over and yet it was only the beginning. 

“NOOOOO! MOTHER!” The cub cried out in sadness and regret “This is not how it should have gone! WHY WON’T YOU DIE!?”

“I have yet things to do. So it was indeed a trap, as I thought.”

“Don’t speak like she wasn’t even here! You monster!” He attacked with his paw and swatted me against the hard wall of the cave, I shot up and against his chest leaving him breathless, then I followed up with a powered up punch right in his guts. 

He keeled over in pain, much more pain than when I first fought him actually.

“How did you… do this?” He asked now panting and being on the verge of throwing up. 

“That thing, that thing your mother had inside. What was it?” I asked him. “I saw her drinking it. Celestia gave it to her, now answer me.”

“The poison… the poison to kill you… How could you not die when my mother was!?”

“Answer. My. Question.” I repeated grasping his muzzle with my hand.

“I don’t know! I don’t know, she said… she said it was a poison to kill everything, and that my mom would die. But if she did that I would be spared, she accepted and I could do nothing.” He replied with watery eyes “She’s gone…” Tears streamed down his face, “She…” 

They say that when a parent die, it is normal. We all die. Yet how do you explain normality, how do you cope when a bastion of light thought to be eternal, is gone?

The cub wailed his sorrows, to the earth and to the heavens but none answered. In the end I left him alone in the cave to mourn. Maybe later I will come back and visit him again. I couldn’t believe Celestia would stoop so low as to use the mother as bait to get me. 

Was she to die? Yes. After all I would have killed her, yet I could see that in another life, in another time she would have passed away with peace instead of fear and anguish. The road to save this world is bloodier than I thought, maybe it is good that I hold no feelings? 

“Do you though?”  

“What do you believe?” I asked the element.

“That your actions were guided not by kindness but necessity. Yet it would not be my element if I didn’t forgive you. But please, do the right thing for me?” 

“How, how can I go back there? He hates me.” 

“Yes, yet it is your weight to carry, it is your duty to be there with him. It is the least you could do, let me show you…

For a brief moment I felt it, the pain and the loneliness of the cub as if it was my own. It was too much, so strong… Raw 

I fell down to my knees uncontrollably shaking, tears in my eyes and crushing guilt in my heart.

“What have I done?” 

I slowly but surely went back, there I found the cub. There I saw not a beast or a god. But a child.

I stood there with him as sad as he was, a killer comforting the victim, how utterly crazy.





Hours passed before I could rein my emotions back, it was only after the cub finally had no more tears to shed and could only now look up to nothing.

“I’m sorry.” 

“I know.” 

“I’ll go if you wish.”

“No. Please. Don’t leave me alone. Stay a little longer.”

“As you wish,”

“Baruk”